Rise of the DDP Resistance January 12 - 21, 2020 - COMPLETED: Final day-final thoughts

nco91590

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 23, 2014
Part 1: Intro

Well hello there friends! Welcome to my third dining report for the Dis. We just got back from a very LONG, quite crowded visit to Walt Disney World. I always enjoy reading everyone's culinary adventures and missteps (we have a few!) and drunk notes from the field (@kastoney).

We tried some new restaurants, rode some new rides, met up with friends from TX and NY and was even lucky enough to meet and fangirl over @pepperandchips 🙌 So I'm going to do my best to share with you the highs and the lows and some tips that might help you with your next Disney World vacation!

If you haven't read my previous reports, I'm Natalie, mom of two amazing kids: Alice, 9 and Rowan, almost 7 and wife to Scott.

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They all equally drive me insane and also melt my heart. Weird how that happens lol. This was our first trip to Disney without strollers or diaper bags and it was pretty great. Despite the long hot days, they were real troopers. I think I was more tired and worn out than the kids most of the days! Traveling light was definitely key in securing our Rise of the Resistance Boarding Group too.

We purchased the dining plan on this trip mainly for the included cocktails. We ended up with a ton of leftover snacks and kids QS and still paid a bunch out of pocket. I'm not really sure how or why that happened, but I have firmly made up my mind on the DDP after this trip. We shall discuss at the conclusion of my report :)

I reaaaaalllly tried to photograph my eats and drinks, but I would give myself a B- on that endeavor. I ran into some major phone issues toward the end of the trip that made photos a PITA. I'll snag some photos from the interwebs to fill in gaps where I can.

Chefs de France
Be our Guest Breakfast
Crews Cup apps
Flame Tree BBQ
Trattoria al Forno
Oga's Cantina
Docking Bay 7
Biergarten
Les Halles
Ale and Compass
Il Mulino
Jock Lindsay and Wine Bar George
Raglan Road
California Grill BRUNCH
Nomad Lounge
Monorail bar crawl

In the process of organizing my life and photos after this trip so hoping to update again this weekend!
 
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Yessssssss! So happy and excited to read, as you are definitely one of my favorite writer's on the Disboards, I just love your style and sense of humor. Will for sure be following!!!
:yay:
 


Hi! I was there at the same time!! I couldn't believe how HOT it was! We go in January every year and this was definitely the hottest trip! My kids are 7 and 4, so we still had the double stroller. Ugh. I can't wait to not use that on a trip, although the whining might be worse? Haha!
 


DAY 1: Sunday, 1/12/20 Travel Day and EPCOT

Happy Friday everyone! It's been the longest "short" week ever. Being at WDW already seems like forever ago and I'm afraid I'm going to forget stuff. So I'm going to try and bang this report out.

It's been a crazy couple of months with Christmas and then a Disney trip to get ready for. Its been a real blur. But having Disney to look forward to helped to minimize the post-holiday blahs. The last few times we've been to Disney was pretty chilly: freezing in the morning and night, moderately warm during the mid-afternoon. So I was packing for that type of trip. About a week before, we were seeing temps of 80-85 and sunny for pretty much the entire trip. EXCITING! But also annoying because I had to pretty much dig out and make my kids try on all their summer clothes and shoes. And it's pretty impossible to find any sandals in January, btw. I don't really know what I was thinking.

Thankfully we were able to get everyone all set and packed up and by 3:00am Sunday we were off to the airport. Now, originally, we were set to arrive in WDW at 11:00am, but the airline switched our flights and we now had a big layover of about 3.5hrs. I wasn't too worried because the kids had homework to do and we could sit and have a leisurely breakfast in the airport (which was terrible, btw). Uneventful flight and arrival to MCO. We had a bit of a wait for the Magical Express and I could tell the kids were starting to fade a bit.

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Two seconds into the bus ride, this little guy was out like a light. I think this has been the only time I wished for a LONGER Magical Express ride lol.

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Pretty soon we were pulling up to the Beach Club Villas and I was so very very happy! My parents have Beach Club as their home resort for DVC and I'm so glad they do! Our room was ready about when we got there, although there was a slight wait in the lobby. Look at this kid 😂😂😂 Totally out of it.

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Alice rallied:

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Mommy and Daddy rallied and we decided to head over to EPCOT for a few rides before dinner at Chefs de France

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The kids were asking for a drink and a snack, and a beer sounded really good. So we stopped in Canada and grabbed a box of maple popcorn for Alice, a Powerade for Rowan and two La Fin du Monde beers for the grownups. Alice LOVED her maple popcorn and got it again later in the trip. It's kinda like caramel corn, but not. Kinda like kettle corn, but not. I don't LOVE maple flavor, even though I'm a girl from the northeast. I REALLY liked it! We don't give the kids soda or powerade at home, so it was a treat and one that we struggled with for Rowan all week lol. He was in heaven with all his fizzy drink options that we had to limit him to one soda per day.

Alice is old enough to take pretty decent pics now! So this vacation actually includes pics of Scott and I TOGETHER! Here we are drinking our beers. I didn't really like this one. It tasted like grass. I'm more of a cocktail/wine kinda gal, so it's not surprising that I didn't love it. But Scott wasn't super into it either.
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We went over and did Nemo and Soarin'. This is when Alice's pattern of psyching herself up for a ride, sitting in the seat and panicking and running out of the room started. Poor thing. She conquered some major fears later in the trip and I was super proud of her 💞

Next we went to our ADR at Chefs de France. I've always enjoyed my meal here, I like the ambiance and we've always had good service. I typically order the 3 course prix-fix but this time, Scott was wanting a cheeseboard and I wasn't hungry enough for cheese AND a soup AND dinner AND dessert. Here's our cheeseboard (w.o walnut bread because Scott is allergic) and my St. Germain cocktail (sparkling wine, st. germain and sparkling water). Scott ordered the house Cabernet Sauvignon.

They did not supply us with a list of cheeses, nor did the server discuss with us, but I'm pretty certain we received a goat cheese, a wedge of brie, a wedge of Port Salut (YUMMMMMM--one of my most favorite cheeses ever), a gouda and a blue cheese. The bread served with it was a stale brioche roll which was sucky. But we had baquette at the table anyway, so it was fine.

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Rowan ordered a cheeseburger, Alice got the pasta with cheese and ham, Scott and I both ordered the filet. Kids were pretty happy with their meal. I unfortunately was NOT impressed by my steak. It was very stringy and the potatoes had zero flavor. They were also slightly grey like they had been sitting out.

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Overall, I am not in a huge rush to go back to Chefs. We had a great table off the main dining room, great drinks and service, but the food was just OK. Alice and Scott wanted to head back to the room, but Rowan and I had one last FP for Test Track and it was only open that day and then down for refurb. So we treked over there and spent some QT together just the two of us.

We got back to the room and pretty much all collapsed into bed.

Up next: Be Our Guest Breakfast, my master plan goes to pieces and a very hot and sunny day in Magic Kingdom 💫
 
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Joining! We were there with our good friends Mr. and Mrs. @pepperandchips and she said she was going to meet up with you :goodvibes Glad you did get to meet, she's awesome and a very good friend! I'm also going to do a dining report and hope to start soon..............

St. Germain cocktail (sparkling wine, st. germain and sparkling water).
Ooh this sounds like something I'd enjoy
I unfortunately was NOT impressed by my steak. It was very stringy and the potatoes had zero flavor.
We ate there in Sept. with Billie @Elevationist as part of the Eat to the Beat concert dinner package. Steve and I hadn't been there since 2012 and while our apps were good my entree which was the filet was also "eh" - I've had MUCH better in Disney. I'm in no rush to go back either unfortunately!
 
Joining in! And I agree that the potatoes look like they were sitting - grey stuff should only be related to cupcakes at BoG, not potatoes at Chefs!
 
Following along. Great line up . Looking forward to reading more
 
Joining! We were there with our good friends Mr. and Mrs. @pepperandchips and she said she was going to meet up with you :goodvibes Glad you did get to meet, she's awesome and a very good friend! I'm also going to do a dining report and hope to start soon..............
She was just as sweet in person! So many people were in WDW that week. Looking forward to your perspective!!

Joining in! And I agree that the potatoes look like they were sitting - grey stuff should only be related to cupcakes at BoG, not potatoes at Chefs!
Lol. So true.

Excited to read more! We are staying BWV in May so eating a lot of places that you visited!
I love the whole Boardwalk area. So nice and peaceful!
Great review! Your children are adorable!
Thank you so much!! They are very adorable and that gets them out of A LOT of trouble lol
Joining in!
HI! Thanks for joining!
Following!
:welcome:
Following along. Great line up . Looking forward to reading more
Thank you for joining!
Following along! :wave2:
Hey there! Thanks for joining in :)
Following, great start!
Thank you!
 
Joining in. Your poor steak and potatoes just makes me sad for you butr at least you had some booze. That popcorn and beer sound so good. I've never tried that popcorn as I always get my cheddar cheese from Imagination.
 
DAY 2: Monday, January 13 - Magic Kingdom, BOG breakfast

I consider myself to be a pretty intelligent woman. I am a planner. I think of things from all angles. I have SPREADSHEETS people. So I'm not sure why in the world after such a long travel day I would schedule a BOG breakfast the very next day. Perhaps it was the only morning I could get an early reservation for?? But in any case it was kind of a bad move. We really should have all slept in a bit because we all really needed it! We were up before dawn and on the bus at about 7:30am for our 8:20am BOG reservation. I was determined to implement the "Get an early breakfast at BOG, take pics on empty main street, walk on SDMT" strategy. If you're not familiar, basically you try to get an 8am BOG breakfast so that you're already in the park and in Fantasy Land before the regular rope droppers. This is supposed to give you an advantage to jump in line for some of the main attractions (Peter Pan, Mine Train and the mountains) Did it work????

Well, kinda/sorta. We were able to get some great castle pics and stroll through an empty Main Street and Fantasy Land:
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HA! Rowan tried REALLY hard to pull that sword from the stone.

It was really nice to start our day in a very quiet, empty park. But as soon as we got up to BOG, we could tell there were some shenanigans afoot. The line was VERY long and it looked like both the advanced order and on site order lines were not really moving. So we waited about 15 minutes to be checked in. They were having Magic Band connectivity issues coupled with a VERY slow internet connection. Already we were at 8:30am and I was starting to get nervous about not finishing breakfast before 9am.

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The kids wanted to sit in the West Wing, which is not good for picture taking. I didn't get any food shots here (OOPS!) but the food was pretty standard breakfast food. Alice had the oatmeal, Rowan got french toast, I had the croque madame and I ordered the Feast a la Gaston for Scotty. And even though it was pretty early, I wasn't going to pass on my first adult beverage opportunity at Magic Kingdom! I ordered two mimosas that were included in our QS.

The breakfast was pretty good. Nothing earth shattering here. The pastries were a bit dry and stale tasting but I enjoyed my croque madame, Alice seemed to enjoy her oatmeal, and despite Rowan's complaint that his french toast was NOT in stick form as he is accustomed to (🙄) he ate it all up! But the IT troubles continued and by the time we exited BOG it was already 9:20am and despite RUNNING to SDMT, which is not fun after chugging champagne, the line was already at 70 minutes. So basically, we just got up atrociously early for nothing lol.

Overall we got a ton of rides done that morning. Walked on Ariel, only 30 min for Peter Pan and I've never actually waited through that line. The nursery is SO CUTE!

Peter Pan mermaids are a whole vibe aren't they?
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After Small World we made our way to Adventure Land and rode some magic carpets and Rowan tried his very first dole whip! He LOVED it and had about 4 more by the end of our trip. I utilized mobile ordering for the first time and y'all---it is the only way to go. We didn't wait for any of our food. Just placed the order, said we were there and bam--ready for pickup! I ordered the pineapple upside-down dole whip and didn't love it. I found the cake to be very dry :( I mean, taste-wise it was great, but I think next time I would just stick with the old tried and true.

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Alice is my picky eater and was having none of the dole whip and it was starting to get REALLY hot. Like high 80's. It was a bit of a shock to the kids system for the first few days and Alice did quite a bit of complaining about the heat. We went over to Main Street for an ice cream cone and a bit of shopping

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With new ears, a porg and snowman in tow, we decided to head back to the room for a little rest and swim. We were all on the hot and cranky side and needed to decompress. Crowds were pretty high as well. Seemed like a good time to call it a day!

My next update: Crews Cup appetizers, dinner at Grand Floridian Cafe, security run-in and tears at Happily Ever After.
 
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