"I Wanna See My Castle!" October 2013 TR *COMPLETE* **NEW TR LINK!!** 7/3

[Imagineer5]

HI!! Great update!! Wonderful Duffy meet! I just had a super cute dress made for Aria with Duffy on it, so we are hoping to meet him at DCA!

HAVE AN AWESOME TRIP!! Though I won't be on much on FB but I'll look for updates when I get back!! Eeek so funny we will be at opposite coasts but both at Disney the same weekend!

 

[BOG Obsessed]

YAY for visiting Disney this week. Here's some pixie dust for you and your family, hopefully SDMT is having a soft launch for you.... so close!
Have to say your photos in Epcot turned out fantastic. Your picture of the ovens at Via Napoli was one of my favorite and of course the cute Duffy bear M&G... so adorable.
Thanks for sharing your experience, can't wait to read your next TR.

 

[missangelalexis]

YUM, glad lunch was delicious and that DH splurged a little! So sweet that they came out and sang Happy Birthday.

I am completely with you on Duffy, he has grown on me so much and now I love him. He's just too adorable, especially in his Pumpkin costume!

I can't believe you're leaving for Disney so soon! Have a wonderful time I look forward to all your Instagram pics!

 

[KelleyK75]

Via Napoli looks SO good! We had an ADR a few years ago when they first opened and had to cancel because we all ended up getting sick. Then this past trip we just couldn't fit it in. I definitely have it on my list of things to do!

Duffy looks SO cute in the pumpkin outfit!!

Have a great trip! I just requested to follow you on Instagram.

 

[courtneybelle]

VIA NAPOLI! I am so excited to go back!

That four cheese pizza looks so good I may have to try it this time, I love white pizza!

Yay for birthday songs! I hope Kylie gets one in July!

DUFFY!!! He is sooooo cute in his pumpkin outfit. I love him so much.

I hope you have an absolutely amazing trip! I can't wait to see pics of the Wilderness Lodge!! Enjoy all the Dismeets and we'll see ya when you get back

 

[afwdwfan]

Paulo was nice enough to start us off with glasses of water, and was nice looking to boot! I tried to get DH to take a picture of him, but no go. lol Then our server, Amelia from Sicily, came over to get our drink order, and she tempted DH with the beer flight.

No comments about the attractiveness of Amelia???

Anyway, I remembered reading in another TR that they had gotten bread with their meal here, and we never had, so I asked about it and Amelia brought us some right away with oil for dipping.

Why do you have to ask??? I wish they'd just bring it out when they seat you like every other Italian restaurant in the entire world.

DH and I ordered our usuals, a pepperoni for himself and quattro formaggi (4 cheese white) for myself. We didn't order anything special for DS, knowing he would share from our pizzas. Soon enough, our delicious meals arrived!

Let me just wipe the drool off my keyboard...

I know some people hate him, but sorry, Duffy has grown on me. And anyway, around Halloween he is dressed as an adorable pumpkin, for crying out loud! How can you not love it?

Well...

Then it was time for these Autobots to roll out because you know how long it takes to hike back through Future World to get out of the park.

Um... wrong park...

So trying to finish this TR before our next trip just wasn't meant to be...heck, DH is still not finished editing the pictures! But he's almost done and I have a ton uploaded to work on some updates when we get back. Yes, it's finally here, we are leaving for Disney World THIS WEEK!!! We leave Thursday and are staying the night in Destin, then getting up and driving the rest of the way Friday morning. Oh, yeah, to THE WILDERNESS LODGE!!! Seriously, I'm just as excited about the resort as I am about the parks!! And I'm also really excited for all of the DIS meets I have in the works for our weekend! If you don't already, you can follow me on Instagram (disneymom1024) where I'll be posting as many live pictures as I can manage! If we're friends on Facebook, I'll be cross-posting them there too for those who don't have Instagram. See ya real soon!!!

My favorite resort...

Have a great time!!!

 

[skier_pete]

Have fun on your trip. Wilderness lodge is on our "Someday" list, though now that we are DVC'ers maybe it will really happen someday soon.

 

[stacy~**]

Caught back up with you! Love your Epcot morning!

We have only gone to Via Napoli once and we weren't wowed but I feel like I need to give it another chance since everyone loves it. Plus the reputation of the staff attractiveness has me curious!

Love the fall themed Duffy!

Hope you have a great trip....and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Wilderness Lodge....our overall family favorite resort to date. I hope its just as magical for you. Will be looking forward to your updates on Instagram.

 

[scottny]

Again great pics. The ones with Belle were great.
I should try Via Napoli one day.
Maelstrom is fun once a trip. Very short ride.
Nice Duffy pics.
Have fun on the trip.

 

[amazingact21]

Man, teach me to be a slacker! If I'd read this update when you first posted it, we might have been able to meet up. Landon would have loved to meet Paxton. Kid is a social butterfly when it comes to fellow toddlers.
Oh well, maybe some other time.



That pizza....my mouth began watering. That has to be the best pizza on the face of the earth. Well, at least in FL. I'm sure once you go on your Italy trip you'll find one that lives up to the Via Napoli standards.

 

[khertz]

I so want to east at Via Napoli. This is definitely on my to do list. PLUS I do love some Happy Birthday in Italian.

I love Maelstrom, despite it's level of wetness, and that is one of the best over the falls pictures I've seen. Love it!!

I LOVE DUFFY!!!!! Haters be hatin'. Seriously, how can you not love Mickey's bear? He's full of hidden Mickeys!!!!

Have a wonderful and magical trip especially with all those DIS meets!!!

It's easily my favorite meal in WDW. I don't know what it is about that pizza, it's just so darn good!!!

RIGHT?!?! Although DS does not have his very own Duffy, we do think he's super adorable.

Oooh we're eating at Via Napoli for the first time in a couple of weeks so I'm looking forward to it even more. Marie and I are just splitting a small pizza though and seeing your pictures makes me more sure that it's a good idea. Those things look big XD

Also yay for the Maelstorm because you know, it's fab

And it's okay that you're not finishing. I'm trying to pack my updates in to get finished too but I have a sneaking suspicion that I might not make it. Oh well, we'll all be waiting here when you get back to hear the rest for the October tale.

The personal pizzas are pretty big. Even with sharing with DS, we usually have some left over!

YES! Maelstrom is definitely fab.

October doesn't have too much longer, so hopefully I can churn out some updates. I definitely don't think I'll have the time to juggle 2 TRs right now, so May will have to wait until this one is done.

I totally forgot you were going to be at Disney the week before me! Have a wonderful time! I hope you love the WL. It's a really cool resort and, if they still have it, you should do the lodge tour at 9am with the ranger. It is SO interesting and its only about 45 minutes long.

I LOVE VIA and I'm so happy that I will be eating there in another couple weeks!

Too cute that Paxton got his very own Happy Birthday. I actually think I got that same dessert on my birthday a few years ago. Of course, the best birthday present was a bunch of really cute Italian guys singing to me!

More adorable pictures of Paxton. He and Duffy really hit it off.

Did you start your new job yet? If so, how is it going so far?

HAVE AN AWESOME TRIP!

I'm really bummed our trips don't overlap, I would have loved to run into you again! Hope you have a great time on your girls trip. I really wish we could have done the tour, and on a longer trip, I definitely would have made time for it. It was just hard only having 2 park days and trying to fit in as much as possible. I remember listening to a podcast tour of the lobby though, I think it was WDW Radio, that I really enjoyed!

Yes, a delicious dessert is definitely made even more enjoyable by good looking Italians!!!

Haven't quite started my new job yet, but I'm transitioning. The infusion center will actually open on June 2nd. So right now, on days when Peds is either not busy or overstaffed, I am working with the director of the infusion center to get everything set up! It's all really coming together, so I'm getting excited to be over there all the time!

Those pizzas look delicious! As does the beer sampler. And so nice of them to sing DS happy Birthday!!

Duffy is so adorable dressed as a pumpkin, great pics!

Via Napoli has never disappointed! Always a delicious and filling meal. The birthday was a nice surprise!

I LOVE Duffy in his pumpkin costume! We have never met him in his sailor outfit and I feel like after seeing him as a pumpkin so many times, it would be a disappointment now.

HI!! Great update!! Wonderful Duffy meet! I just had a super cute dress made for Aria with Duffy on it, so we are hoping to meet him at DCA!

HAVE AN AWESOME TRIP!! Though I won't be on much on FB but I'll look for updates when I get back!! Eeek so funny we will be at opposite coasts but both at Disney the same weekend!

Awww, so cute! I hope you do get to see Duffy, because that sounds like it would be an adorable picture!

Too bad we were not both on the same coast, but yes, funny that we planned Disney trips at the same time but different parks! I hope y'all are having a great time!

YAY for visiting Disney this week. Here's some pixie dust for you and your family, hopefully SDMT is having a soft launch for you.... so close!
Have to say your photos in Epcot turned out fantastic. Your picture of the ovens at Via Napoli was one of my favorite and of course the cute Duffy bear M&G... so adorable.
Thanks for sharing your experience, can't wait to read your next TR.

Spoiler alert: no soft openings! It stunk, but we enjoyed just being able to see everything with the walls down and knowing we will DEFINITELY be able to ride the next time we go!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the photos. DH works hard on both taking them & editing them!

YUM, glad lunch was delicious and that DH splurged a little! So sweet that they came out and sang Happy Birthday.

I am completely with you on Duffy, he has grown on me so much and now I love him. He's just too adorable, especially in his Pumpkin costume!

I can't believe you're leaving for Disney so soon! Have a wonderful time I look forward to all your Instagram pics!

He never wants to indulge, so I'm glad he did!

He IS so adorable, I can't believe people can still dislike him! Seriously, how can you resist a big teddy bear in a pumpkin costume!?!?

Via Napoli looks SO good! We had an ADR a few years ago when they first opened and had to cancel because we all ended up getting sick. Then this past trip we just couldn't fit it in. I definitely have it on my list of things to do!

Duffy looks SO cute in the pumpkin outfit!!

Have a great trip! I just requested to follow you on Instagram.

Yes, add it to your list! It's soooooo good!

 

[khertz]

VIA NAPOLI! I am so excited to go back!

That four cheese pizza looks so good I may have to try it this time, I love white pizza!

Yay for birthday songs! I hope Kylie gets one in July!

DUFFY!!! He is sooooo cute in his pumpkin outfit. I love him so much.

I hope you have an absolutely amazing trip! I can't wait to see pics of the Wilderness Lodge!! Enjoy all the Dismeets and we'll see ya when you get back

Seriously, what's not to love about that place?! The white pizza is amazing. I always go and say, "Well, maybe I'll try something else, I'm sure it's all delicious." Yet I end up with that white pizza in front of me. I hope Kylie gets the birthday treatment, it's really fun! And better than just the vanilla cupcake they give out everywhere else.

Duffy is so adorable. I kind of want to buy on (for Paxton, of course! ) but then I know I would just go crazy with all the cute outfits and give Disney an even more ridiculous amount of our money.

No comments about the attractiveness of Amelia???

Why do you have to ask??? I wish they'd just bring it out when they seat you like every other Italian restaurant in the entire world.

Let me just wipe the drool off my keyboard...

Well...

Um... wrong park...

My favorite resort...

Have a great time!!!

Okay, Amelia was quite good looking as well! I totally agree, it makes no sense that they don't just bring the bread out when you are seated! But I'm glad we thought to ask this time, because it was very good.

I should have included a disclaimer before posting photos to prevent any drool-on-keyboard damage!

Wrong park?! Transformers are ALWAYS appropriate!!

Have fun on your trip. Wilderness lodge is on our "Someday" list, though now that we are DVC'ers maybe it will really happen someday soon.

We absolutely loved it! Having DVC will definitely make it easier to add it to your list of resorts to visit. By the time we left, DH was already talking about renting DVC in the future to stay there again!

Caught back up with you! Love your Epcot morning!

We have only gone to Via Napoli once and we weren't wowed but I feel like I need to give it another chance since everyone loves it. Plus the reputation of the staff attractiveness has me curious!

Love the fall themed Duffy!

Hope you have a great trip....and we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Wilderness Lodge....our overall family favorite resort to date. I hope its just as magical for you. Will be looking forward to your updates on Instagram.

Checking out the staff might be worth a revisit in itself! Seriously though, I hope if you do go again, you have a better experience! I just can't get enough of that place.

It was so amazing! I can't wait to share our trip with everyone, but I definitely want to get this TR finished first.

Again great pics. The ones with Belle were great.
I should try Via Napoli one day.
Maelstrom is fun once a trip. Very short ride.
Nice Duffy pics.
Have fun on the trip.

Thanks! Belle was wonderful!

I definitely agree that you should try VN. It's so delicious! A favorite, for sure.

We haven't gotten to visit Maelstrom as often as I'd like on our past few trips, so it was nice to get to do it again. We skipped it the previous trip.

Man, teach me to be a slacker! If I'd read this update when you first posted it, we might have been able to meet up. Landon would have loved to meet Paxton. Kid is a social butterfly when it comes to fellow toddlers.
Oh well, maybe some other time.

That pizza....my mouth began watering. That has to be the best pizza on the face of the earth. Well, at least in FL. I'm sure once you go on your Italy trip you'll find one that lives up to the Via Napoli standards.

That really is a bummer, Alicia! I knew you lived in FL, but I had no idea we'd be so close to where you live! We really loved the resort though, so we could definitely see doing a long beach weekend sometime soon. And if we do, I will know to tell you in advance so we can meet up!

I can't imagine pizza being any better than VN, so needless to say, I'm WAY EXCITED to try to find that better pizza in Italy!!!

 

[khertz]

Our whirlwind deluxe weekend has unfortunately, come to an end. It was a GREAT weekend, and I can't wait to share it with you! But since this TR is almost complete, and DH has to start editing the pictures, I figure I'll give him some time and wait on starting the May TR until I'm finished with this one. I have juggled 2 TRs before and I just don't think I'll have the time to keep up with 2 for right now. I'll post a link here when this one is complete. But for now, on with October!

Day 7 Continued: Monday October 28th

DH and I got up from our nap and freshened up before getting DS up at 3:30. We got to the TTC around 4:05, and we were following a couple that seemed like they had just gotten in. The woman had that excited look and was taking pictures of every detail of the TTC. It made me smile, because I know I always look like that on our first day! We walked right up to the waiting monorail and ended up in the same car as the couple. I don't remember who noticed who, but it turned out the the woman was another DIS'er named Rachel who was in the October FB group! I didn't get her username, but we chatted while we made our way to MK. Turns out, I was right, they had just arrived for their trip!

Soon enough, we were walking down Main Street and taking in all the Halloween details once again.

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Skeleton key?


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We went straight to New Fantasyland hoping to see Gaston out meeting & greeting, but no such luck. So instead, we poked our heads inside of Gaston's to look around. As much as I want to try LeFou's Brew just to say I did it, I'm not a big fan of apple juice. And nothing else sounds too appealing to me in there, especially not the pork shank! Ew!

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We looked around in Village Gifts, and the stuff in there is so great for any Beauty & the Beast lover! Wake up, Disney, you need to do this for Tangled! Just sayin'. We didn't buy anything, but we enjoyed looking around. Then DS wanted to ride, surprise surprise, The Carrousel! So we went over to do that.

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After our ride, it was close enough to our ADR time that we headed over to our dinner location, Be Our Guest! When we were planning this trip, I didn't even bother worrying about getting an ADR for this restaurant. It seemed pretty much impossible, and DH wasn't interested in it enough to warrant me spending all the time and energy it would take to keep looking for a reservation. So I put it out of my mind and thought maybe one day we would try for lunch. Fast forward a little bit to 120-ish days out from our trip. I got a Facebook message from DaveInFallsChurch, or just Dave, saying he had been stalking the website for an ADR and he had scored one for 4 people, and would we like to join him for dinner? Did I ever! I'm so happy that Dave thought of us when he made his ADR, and we were excited to share the meal with him!

We got to the restaurant and Dave made it there shortly after. He tried to check us in, but they were running behind and asked him to come back closer to ADR time. DS played around on the bridge while we waited, and we chatted while DH and Dave also took some pictures, of course.

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I think the ADR was for 5:05 pm, if I'm remembering right, and I have in my notes we went inside at 5:20 pm, so they weren't running extremely far behind.

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Walking in, I couldn't believe how amazing it all looked in person! I had seen a lot of pictures in a lot of TRs, but nothing really prepares you for walking into the Beast's Castle and seeing what an incredible and detailed restaurant they have put together! Absolutely stunning!! We were led through the ballroom and seated in the rose gallery to the right. I think we were all a little disappointed by that, but we were just happy to be inside!

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Dave got soup to start, but DH and I skipped appetizers and just ordered dinner. I went with the steak while DH got the salmon. We agreed to change side dishes since I wanted the mashed potatoes that came with his and he was more interested in the fries that came with my entree! We got DS the chicken with marinara pasta, but I don't think he ate much of his meal.

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DH's salmon


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My steak​

I really enjoyed my steak, but I don't think DH was wowed by his salmon dish. However, once the entrees were done, we were ALL interested in that dessert cart! DH and DS both went for the triple chocolate cupcake, Dave got the lemon meringue cupcake, and I got the strawberry cream cheese cupcake.

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We took tastes of each other's cupcakes, and they were all really delicious! I do enjoy chocolate, and DH's cupcake was good, but I was really happy I had gone for the strawberry one. I was disappointed to see that the Master's Cupcake, the one with the Grey Stuff on top, was not available at dinner, or I would have gotten that one instead.

Once we were finished eating, DH and Dave wanted to walk around the restaurant taking pictures. I was on board, because I wanted to see the rest of the rooms as well! The Rose Gallery room has a lot of tapestries around the walls with different images of the characters from the movies on them.

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Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 7 Continued: Monday October 28th

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After looking around, we went to meet our host, The Beast, in his library! DS was a little scared at first, but then we got him to roar at him and that seemed to help him relax a little!

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Then we made our way down the hall of knights armor. It was nice and quiet there, so we were able to hear them shuffling around, coughing, and talking as we walked through and took pictures.

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Hidden Mickey!


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After thanking him profusely for inviting us to share his BoG dinner with us, we parted ways from Dave and headed off to Adventureland. Pirates had a 15 minute wait, so we jumped in line for it.

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During the ride, DS got a little nervous at the drop. But then he had fun searching around for Captain Jack! After Pirates, we went to check the wait time for Jungle Cruise, but it was too long for us to be able to do it before finding a spot for the parade. DS said he wanted to go on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, and it only had a 10 minute wait, so we did that instead.

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I was terrible at manning the controls, and we got spit on by the camel twice! DH was not impressed but DS thought it was funny. After the ride, we cut through the bathrooms to Frontierland and I stopped with DS to potty while DH went to find us a parade spot. When we came out of the restroom, I met up with DH who had found us a great spot in front of the Frontierland Shooting Arcade. We settled in to wait for the parade, and I got a kick out of the lady next to me who had gone to get popcorn but come back to her family empty handed because the line was too long. She mentioned to her husband that she really wanted a churro after they ate dinner, but I told her, "You're in Disney World, you can have a churro before dinner!" And then she went to get one. lol

Soon enough, we saw the CM's coming through with the carts full of light up junk to tempt every child in sight, and we knew the parade would be getting to us soon!

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UP NEXT: Main Street Electrical Parade

 

[missangelalexis]

Welcome back! So glad to hear your weekend was great Can't wait to hear about it once this TR is done.

Great pics, so awesome that you ended up getting a chance to eat dinner at BOG! Love your pics with the Beast!

 

[shannn]

Your pictures are all amazing, but I absolutely love the one from the rose garden. So beautiful!! <3

And I totally agree - in Disney, churros before dinner are completely acceptable!

 

[MEK]

So look at you - you just got home and you already have a new update! I am very impressed.

Very glad you had an awesome mini vacation to the world and I'm also glad to hear that you like WL! I can't wait to see your pics.

Speaking of pics - awesome pirate pics and dinner looks pretty tasty, too! How totally awesome to have Dave invite you as his table mates. That's really cool.

Beautiful pics from inside the restaurant.

Welcome back!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

OH DAMN!!!!! That Rose/Castle photo. No words. Hubby gets MASSIVE ups for that one. Absolutely beautiful. Just WOW. Seriously I can't take my eyes off of it. One of the most beautiful photos I've seen.

How awesome to get an invite to dine at BoG. Those DISers are pretty nice I must say.

 

[amberg93]

Glad you had an awesome trip and can't wait to hear about it.

I'm watching Beauty and the Beast right now too so it's all the more fitting to see your pictures of BOG So beautiful. It's like the movie translated right there. So amazing.

Sorry about the camel but it does get the best of us

And churros are the best. We should always eat them before dinner. Great advice. I'll take it next week maybe

 

[disneybarbie]

welcome back! Hope you had a great weekend in WDW - it looked fun from the IG photos, looking forward to next TR

So glad you got to try Be Our Guest! And your photos of the restaurant are amazing - best I've ever seen, I couldn't capture the colours when we went.

Btw... We've booked a trip in October to the USA - not WDW this time...DH wanted to watch his NFL team play for a birthday present !



Emma x