"could I have another glow cube?" - spring 2017 DR - COMPLETE 8/17 Homecoming

[nco91590]

YAY! I'm here for the brunch

 

[Neverland_Girl]

Joining in! Your drinks at Trader Sam's sound good and strong! My mom just bought points at the Poly so hopefully we'll be there on our next trip and I can check out Trader Sam's.

 

[KacieD]

Yay!! I'm in too! I think this is the trip where we overlapped! I was one monorail stop over at the GF--my new favorite place on earth. Can't wait to read more! And I like the plane train selfie

 

[Simba's Girl]

Yum! An adult beverage TR...my favorite! Joining in. Can't wait to hear about the check-in drama.

 

[CupcakeLisa]

Great start, looking forward to reading more

 

[WDWNan]

I really enjoyed your last report and am here to follow the shenanigans...

 

[pepperandchips]

everyone!!!

Wait, wait, here I am let the drinking go on!!! And on, and on, and on.......
Nice you got to stay at the Poly. Steve and I did 2 nights there last year and while we won't rush to go back the convenience factor is definitely +++.

And on and on and on is correct, my friend The convenience factor was absolutely primo on this trip and I can't get over the two bathroom areas in the studios. For a girls trip it simply cannot be beat. So glad to have you here reading along! It's funny how you feel you get to know someone through trip reports, I would be sad without you!

Yay another trip! Maybe someday we'll be there at the same time!

Speaking of friends I would be lonely without... Welcome!! I really hope that YES we are at Disney at the same time! I would love to meet you guys I've never had a real life dismeet! Although, fun fact: I saw one of my favorite disney photographers at Animal Kingdom this trip. I wanted to say hi but he was too quick!

I can't wait to see your F&G reviews.

Well you won't have to wait too long! They're coming up shortly. We didn't hit too too many booths but I think we hit most of the things that the Disney Food Blog picked as their highlights and I concur. The food was excellent.

That is awesome that they all love WDW! Mine are just like "Disney again?" haha.

Weeeeellll we definitely have some of those too. And we certainly have lots of friends and family members who think that. What can I say, some people are Disney people and some don't get it. Have you seen that college humor video going around the interwebs about dating a disney person? It's frighteningly accurate.

h what a cute DR! I can't wait to hear about F & G! I'm planning on doing Trader Sam's on our arrival day, too! Keep the drinks coming!

Thank you! And welcome Trader Sam's was an awesome arrival celebration. And be careful what you wish for on the drinks coming. There were many

YAY! I'm here for the brunch

Natalie! Welcome! Glad you stopped by. And glad you started your dining report. I found this for you:

Joining in! Your drinks at Trader Sam's sound good and strong! My mom just bought points at the Poly so hopefully we'll be there on our next trip and I can check out Trader Sam's.

Your mom is a smart lady! I am trying my darnedest not to contract DVC add-on-itis because I am sure the day will come that we don't travel to Disney this much but it's just such a good deal sometimes. I don't know any other way that you could stay at the Polynesian like that on the low-low! No matter where you stay next you should DEFINITELY check out Trader Sam's -- or my favorite, the Tambu lounge

Yay!! I'm in too! I think this is the trip where we overlapped! I was one monorail stop over at the GF--my new favorite place on earth. Can't wait to read more! And I like the plane train selfie

My Georgia girl! Welcome The GF is also my favorite place on earth, and we spent a fair amount of our time there... more particularly in Mizner's lounge

Yum! An adult beverage TR...my favorite! Joining in. Can't wait to hear about the check-in drama.

Ha! Yes, they should really make a special subforum for drinking reports here on the Dis. So glad you stopped by to say hello! Pull up a chair, join in the shenanigans! Check in drama coming next.

Great start, looking forward to reading more

Yay! Thank you for joining in and saying hi! More dining coming up soon!!!

I really enjoyed your last report and am here to follow the shenanigans...

Of course, I mean you can't spell sheNANigans without Nan! So glad you liked the last report and am doubly glad you found the new one. Welcome!

 

[nco91590]

 

[pepperandchips]

3/3/17 - Part One: Magic Kingdom

We left off with a great first taste of dining at WDW - we'd filled our tummies and wet our whistles at Trader Sam's and closed the place out around 12:15. Afterward, it was time to check in, and of course my luck continues to amaze me, since we were plagued with problems throughout.

We had a run-in with a bell services CM who had a spectacularly bad attitude and then our magic bands wouldn't open the room door. It took the poor CM at the desk over an hour to figure out what was going on, get it fixed, and get us into the room. Apparently the last guests in the room weren't checked out of the system properly and so the computer system wouldn't activate our MBs for the door. It was a giant headache and I was absolutely exhausted and fit to be tied at the end of the whole process. Oh, and I did send my concerns to member services and they basically just said "oh sorry, we'll pass along the info." Yeah, that's totally reassuring anyway, I hope my complaint keeps it from happening to someone else. Fortunately, that was basically the low point of the trip so it was good to get it out of the way early!

While I was waiting to be checked in I was watching these guys changing light bulbs or something. This set the catch phrase for us for the rest of the trip as KJ exclaimed "Oooooh a look behind the magic!" An eternal optimist, that one.

The next morning we woke as bright and early as we could muster after our late night - and in case you didn't already know, the Polynesian studios are perfect for two ladies to get ready simultaneously as there are two separate bathroom areas that both have sinks/vanities so we were never in each other's way! And if you read my last dining report, you'll know that I feel very strongly about DVC studios because they come with a FULL SIZE COFFEE POT! (yes, I sometimes drink beverages other than alcohol, but don't tell anyone, it would ruin my street cred). I was also particularly delighted to find this view from our balcony:

We were more or less in the location I'd requested, Tokelau north end, high floor. You can't see it too well in this photo but we had a nice view of Space Mountain and I think in this photo you can actually see the Contemporary Resort in the distance. While this was the view craning over the balcony rail to the left, there was also a lovely garden view of the grounds straight ahead. We were in 2923 in case anyone cares.

Snagging breakfast bars to bring with us, we walked over to the TTC and took the express monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Once there, our first stop was the CM on main street to pick up our celebration buttons! KJ had just celebrated her birthday about two weeks earlier and we were carrying on the celebration - I picked up an "I'm Celebrating" button for good measure. Properly adorned, we hit a FP+ kiosk to see if there were any decent same day fastpass (FAQ here - not for those with weak stomachs) using spare bands that I'd brought along for members of my family that weren't with us. Fortunately at MK there are usually plenty of good SDFP and by hitting the kiosk early we had quite a lot of choices - I even saw 7DMT come up in the app later that day. We were saving our pre-booked FP+ for Epcot, but were able to get SDFP for Buzz, Haunted Mansion, and Space. However, there was one very important thing we wanted to do together since no one else will ever ride with either of us...

Splash Mountain!

Yeah. Great ride pic. Thanks, ladies. Cons of back of log: hands in front of face. Pros of back of log: we barely got wet. We used our Buzz FP+ and learned about innovations in homemaking through the last century on the Carousel of Progress. That was KJ's pick, so mine was the pooper! I mean... the peoplemover.

Shortly thereafter it was time for one of the very few ADRs we'd made for this trip. We'd be lunching at one of my favorite casual options and at a new spot for KJ - the lovely Plaza Restaurant on Main Street USA! Here we are in our matching shirts:

You can see we were seated in the side, glassed-in sunroom which I love.

At this point everything was looking good for lunch, but one particular entree caught my eye

The Fried Green Tomato Sandwich ($16.00) A Deep-fried Green Tomato served with Bacon, Arugula, Tomato, and Pepper Jack Cheese topped with Alabama White Barbecue Sauce on a toasted Kaiser Roll with choice of Seasonal Vegetables, Homemade Chips, or French Fries. Clearly I went for fries. They were light and crisp but I didn't come anywhere close to finishing them because this sammie was divine! The fried green tomato was plentiful and perfectly fried crisp, while the tangy tomato inside was soft. The bun was likewise fresh and tasty and all of the flavors marry well. I gotta give a shout out to @kastoney because I know she loves a nice peppery arugula as much as I do and the addition of arugula to this sandwich really balanced everything fabulously.

KJ went with the grilled chicken sandwich ($17.00) Grilled Chicken Breast topped with Bacon, Rémoulade, Bruschetta, Provolone, and Arugula served on a Kaiser Roll with choice of Seasonal Vegetables, Homemade Chips, or French Fries. To be honest, I thought this sounded totally boring on the menu. I could not have been more wrong! It was so good. (See, another reason you gotta just love KJ, she's a food sharer!!) The chicken was not dry at all and had tons of good flavor. It was just as fresh and tasty as mine and the sauces on this sandwich gave it a great zing. If we go back and no one will share with me I'd honestly go with the chicken sandwich, it was that good!

I'll take the opportunity here for a shout out to our adorable server Darlene. She was perky and attentive and everything you imagine when you think of someone working at Disney World. She snuck in a certificate for KJ's birthday into our billfold - it was good for fastpass entry at ANY attraction in WDW for our party! We could not have been happier with this meal as our first official whole meal at Disney.

We had thought that was a pretty good celebration but sneaky Darlene brought KJ a birthday cupcake packaged to go (we had declined dessert after failing to finish our sandwiches). How adorable is that?!

We had such a magical lunch. The tab would have been $40.00 pre-tax/gratuity for the two sandwiches and our two diet cokes, but Tables in Wonderland yielded a 20% discount. This is a great value since it gave us such a wonderful experience and isn't much more expensive than counter service. I made sure to reach out to Disney on Twitter after our trip concluded and was rewarded with this adorable tweet back from my compliment:

Oh, and that cupcake? Regretfully forgettable. KJ likes frosting and ate most of it off the top of the cupcake. But hey, who's questioning quality of a birthday freebie?! Not us. Plus it was just stinking adorable.

We had concluded lunch in time to use our FP+ for a visit with Master Gracey at his spooky abode, and we booked our flight to the moon via Space Mountain before we took advantage (with varying success) of the Magic Kingdom photopass service.

Hellooooo, wind!

Thoroughly exhausted and full of pixie dust, we got a leisurely ride back to our room via the resort launch. We took a short afternoon break from about 2:20-4:00, after which we'd be headed to Epcot to start enjoying the Flower and Garden Festival!

(my home )


Up next: we sashay through (and out of) Epcot and we celebrate KJ's birthday with DRANKS and double fireworks. Oh, and the first glow cube makes its appearance

 

[mousegear]

Joining in for your adventure! I don't drink much at WDW when traveling with DS. He is still minor and I feel like I need to be alert just incase something happens. So I am living vicariously through your dining report!

 

[toomuchtv]

Joining in! I just read through your NYE Bucket List report and LOVED it! Looking forward to the rest of this one, especially Flower & Garden stuff since I will get to go there for my first time in May.

 

[fallonkendra]

I figured I should get over here since *someone* noticed I hadn't commented yet...

You're adorable!

Before I started working there, she was well known as the Disney-crazy member of our team, but now we share that crown happily!

I wear that crown at my workplace as well haha, but I also work with all men...

we spent the majority of this trip eating and DRINKING.

I like your style.

our drinks were somewhere around $16-17 each

Eeeek! And that's not even Disney prices!

I took the opportunity to watch Kubo & the Two Strings which was much much better than I was expecting.

We just watched this last weekend, I really liked it as well!

In California if you order this drink, they don't serve it in the souvenir glass. I still got to bring the souvenir glass home, but I had to drink my alcohol out of a plain, boring glass....

We ended up with this glass from California as well, even though we didn't have the drink. It's on my list to try!

I had this when we were in Florida - so much fun!

I did send my concerns to member services and they basically just said "oh sorry, we'll pass along the info."

Gotta love that...

Hahaha, this made me laugh.

 

[Raeven]

Speaking of friends I would be lonely without... Welcome!! I really hope that YES we are at Disney at the same time! I would love to meet you guys I've never had a real life dismeet! Although, fun fact: I saw one of my favorite disney photographers at Animal Kingdom this trip. I wanted to say hi but he was too quick!


Well you won't have to wait too long! They're coming up shortly. We didn't hit too too many booths but I think we hit most of the things that the Disney Food Blog picked as their highlights and I concur. The food was excellent.

Aw thank you! Yes we should make it happen! I've never had a dismeet either but this May trip will be full of them!

Yay! I'm glad to hear it was all good.

The shirts are cute!

I'll take the opportunity here for a shout out to our adorable server Darlene. She was perky and attentive and everything you imagine when you think of someone working at Disney World. She snuck in a certificate for KJ's birthday into our billfold - it was good for fastpass entry at ANY attraction in WDW for our party! We could not have been happier with this meal as our first official whole meal at Disney.

We had thought that was a pretty good celebration but sneaky Darlene brought KJ a birthday cupcake packaged to go (we had declined dessert after failing to finish our sandwiches). How adorable is that?!

Yay for fps!

The cupcake is so cute! We ate at The Plaza once on our first trip and I remember it being really good. I'd love to go back sometime because we only split a burger that day.

We had such a magical lunch. The tab would have been $40.00 pre-tax/gratuity for the two sandwiches and our two diet cokes, but Tables in Wonderland yielded a 20% discount. This is a great value since it gave us such a wonderful experience and isn't much more expensive than counter service. I made sure to reach out to Disney on Twitter after our trip concluded and was rewarded with this adorable tweet back from my compliment:

This is also so cute!

 

[MeganS721]

That sandwich at the Plaza looks amazing!

 

[Neverland_Girl]

No matter where you stay next you should DEFINITELY check out Trader Sam's -- or my favorite, the Tambu lounge

We tried Tambu last trip and it was great! How have I gone 21 years of life without Ohana's bread pudding?

At this point everything was looking good for lunch, but one particular entree caught my eye

The Fried Green Tomato Sandwich ($16.00) A Deep-fried Green Tomato served with Bacon, Arugula, Tomato, and Pepper Jack Cheese topped with Alabama White Barbecue Sauce on a toasted Kaiser Roll with choice of Seasonal Vegetables, Homemade Chips, or French Fries.

I had this on our MK day and was surprised how good it was. I'm going to have to start eating fried green tomatoes more often now.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

I was wondering how long was an appropriate amount of time before I sent up a flare to let you know about the new report so glad to have you here, Amber!

Oh, no worries, I was totally stalking the board watching for it! In, like, a totally non creeper way

Maybe it wouldn't be as fun since you'd miss the effects but I highly recommend either the Trader Sam's outside patio or the Poly pool bar to grab a tropical drink, you know, if you just happen to be around I know it probably doesn't assuage any of the weirdness about being "that mom" but Disney does allow kids into Trader Sam's prior to 8:00 pm (I think it's 8:00) and you know how I feel about it being perfectly fine to bring kids anywhere at WDW. It's disney world! Trader Sam's reminds me a lot of the Tiki Room so Sean might actually enjoy it (it is Sean that is coming on your next trip right?). But I totally get not wanting to focus your trip around bringing your son into bars. It's all about balancing mama's needs with other Disney stuff to keep everyone having fun!!

Yeah, if we go it will definitely be around the time it opens, and just because I WANT that zombie mug! DH and I did Trader Sam's both nights we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel back in 2015 and it was definitely more of an adult/bar vibe, but we also went pretty late in the evening (and ditched the boys in the room). Hoping Sean (good call, you got the right kid!) and I can at least stop in at some point for a nice afternoon drink for me, since we all know that a mama with a cocktail is a happy mama!

 

[nco91590]

Omg I am living for Darlene right now!!! I am a firm believer in providing positive and negative feedback equally. So kudos for making Darlene's day. We had such great CM interactions when we were there and I just don't think they get enough snaps for what they do.

The midnight shenanigans at Poly tho....I am not sure how you could deal with that after the Uh-Oha at Trader Sams. That drank made my tummy feel no bueno. I would've passed out on the couches for sure.

I love the wire ears!!! Adorbs!

 

[ariane37]

So glad to have you here reading along! It's funny how you feel you get to know someone through trip reports, I would be sad without you!

It was a giant headache and I was absolutely exhausted and fit to be tied at the end of the whole process. Oh, and I did send my concerns to member services and they basically just said "oh sorry, we'll pass along the info." Yeah, that's totally reassuring anyway, I hope my complaint keeps it from happening to someone else.

Ugh, I always dread check in because I'm afraid something like this will happen! But I guess I shouldn't because you seem to suck up all the bad check in juju for everyone you know

Fortunately, that was basically the low point of the trip so it was good to get it out of the way early!

Glad that was the worse of it and you got it over in the beginning!

We'd be lunching at one of my favorite casual options and at a new spot for KJ - the lovely Plaza Restaurant on Main Street USA!

OK, question I can't seem to get an answer to - are they still only taking reservations for the one hour a day?

The Fried Green Tomato Sandwich ($16.00)

This must be new! I mean it has been over a year since we've eaten there but I know this sandwich wasn't on the menu in Nov. 2016 because I love fried green tomatoes and I would've gotten it. So happy they are making an appearance in a few places around the World now! Here, Homecomin', and I swear I just read about a fried green tomato app somewhere else down there, too

 

[Raeven]

OK, question I can't seem to get an answer to - are they still only taking reservations for the one hour a day?

Last time I checked that was all that was the only time available for adrs. But that was like a month or two ago.

 

[pepperandchips]

Joining in for your adventure! I don't drink much at WDW when traveling with DS. He is still minor and I feel like I need to be alert just incase something happens. So I am living vicariously through your dining report!

Well, welcome! I certainly understand. We are fortunate that we only have to be responsible for ourselves on vacation... Happy to do the drink tasting on your behalf and report back with the results

Joining in! I just read through your NYE Bucket List report and LOVED it! Looking forward to the rest of this one, especially Flower & Garden stuff since I will get to go there for my first time in May.

Woo hoo! I'm so glad you enjoyed the report. I don't think there's any better time to visit WDW than during Flower and Garden in the spring. Epcot is so gorgeous! not to mention all the glorious foooood!

I figured I should get over here since *someone* noticed I hadn't commented yet...

And then I felt like a big jerk after I read why you'd been MIA. Nevertheless glad to have you here!!!

Eeeek! And that's not even Disney prices!

That was what I was thinking! Holy cow, these are expensive and we're not even to Disney world yet. Things even out though - we each got a cocktail on the plane and they didn't charge us for them. Probably because it's such a short flight, they don't have time to get out the machine thing! LOL.

In California if you order this drink, they don't serve it in the souvenir glass. I still got to bring the souvenir glass home, but I had to drink my alcohol out of a plain, boring glass....

Um, that's lame! At least you got the fancy one for home consumption

Hahaha, this made me laugh.

Me too! We don't really care that much about ride photos so it was no big deal but I was like seriously? Could you have made this photo any weirder if you had tried (yes, I'm sure). The funny thing is my sister somehow manages to do this to me in the Expedition Everest ride photo like 70% of the time.

The shirts are cute!

Thank you! My mom has one of those fancy embroidery sewing machines so she helped me make them just before the trip!

The cupcake is so cute! We ate at The Plaza once on our first trip and I remember it being really good. I'd love to go back sometime because we only split a burger that day.

It's one of those sneaky places that surpasses my expectations. We definitely had better service (by a mile) than the last time we ate there.

That sandwich at the Plaza looks amazing!

It was so tasty!!

We tried Tambu last trip and it was great! How have I gone 21 years of life without Ohana's bread pudding?

How did I go 29?! Spoiler: may have done that for the first time this trip

I had this on our MK day and was surprised how good it was. I'm going to have to start eating fried green tomatoes more often now.

Oh yeah!! The homecoming fried green tomato appetizer is amazing!

Oh, no worries, I was totally stalking the board watching for it! In, like, a totally non creeper way

I have to lurk the board every once in a while to see what I've been missing so I totally get that!

Yeah, if we go it will definitely be around the time it opens, and just because I WANT that zombie mug! DH and I did Trader Sam's both nights we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel back in 2015 and it was definitely more of an adult/bar vibe, but we also went pretty late in the evening (and ditched the boys in the room). Hoping Sean (good call, you got the right kid!) and I can at least stop in at some point for a nice afternoon drink for me, since we all know that a mama with a cocktail is a happy mama!

Well if you did the original and got to see the effects then maybe "Sam's East" isn't as high of a priority. Still think it could be a fun stop! And Sam's or no Sam's, I have NO WORRIES about your ability to find an afternoon libation!!!

Omg I am living for Darlene right now!!! I am a firm believer in providing positive and negative feedback equally. So kudos for making Darlene's day. We had such great CM interactions when we were there and I just don't think they get enough snaps for what they do.

I totally agree. She was worth tweeting for as was another CM we spent quite some time with later in the trip... I also made sure in my whining email to compliment the poor front desk CM at the poly who checked us in. She was the only one there and very obviously out of her league with our weird issue! But she was very sweet.

The midnight shenanigans at Poly tho....I am not sure how you could deal with that after the Uh-Oha at Trader Sams. That drank made my tummy feel no bueno. I would've passed out on the couches for sure.

Believe me, I thought a time or three about just taking up residence in the lobby... but then there were those pesky plastic covers on all the best couches while the crew was changing lightbulbs or whatever.

I love the wire ears!!! Adorbs!

Thank youuuuuu. I have an ear addiction, I think I brought like 8 pairs for a 4 night trip...

you seem to suck up all the bad check in juju for everyone you know

Ain't that the truth! Except it seems to just be the first night that's a problem for me. After all that resort switching we did in December, I only had issues (my own, admittedly) at Royal Pacific. The Disney stays were smooth sailing!

Glad that was the worse of it and you got it over in the beginning!

Exactly! It was practically forgotten by the morning. Or was that the tiki drinks that made me forget?

OK, question I can't seem to get an answer to - are they still only taking reservations for the one hour a day?

I have not heard anything further about it! But I definitely think it was the case when we made our reservations. We had an 11:05 or something like that, and honestly I think that's the best time to go. We got seated in a mostly empty restaurant and from the time we were seated until we left the chaos just mounted. It was nice to start off the meal in peace.

This must be new! I mean it has been over a year since we've eaten there but I know this sandwich wasn't on the menu in Nov. 2016 because I love fried green tomatoes and I would've gotten it. So happy they are making an appearance in a few places around the World now! Here, Homecomin', and I swear I just read about a fried green tomato app somewhere else down there, too

I thought the same thing. I had a reuben last time and there is no way I would have picked deli meat (as much as I love corned beef) over a FRIED GREEN TOMATO! If you find out where that other app is being served, let me know. I do love me a good FGT!