FINALLY this update I've been promising for two weeks! I apologize for the long wait and thank you for staying with me! Laura and I got back to Illinois yesterday and had a fantastic trip! It was busy, so I've just got a moment to post!
Chapter 6: "This isn't Applesauce, It's Just a Sauce Made With Apples"
So, we were on our way to our first ADR of the trip and a few minutes after Laura was woken up, we arrived at our Dinner destination!
Everyone was really looking forward to this meal! It was a new restaurant for us and after reading so many great reviews we were hoping it was going to be a good dinner!
We were about half hour early for our 5:45pm reservation, but Downtown was just so far from crowded, I thought I'd ask if they could seat us early. I was hoping some dinner may help Laura's mood. They had no problem seating us before our reservation time!
So, we parked our stroller just inside the main door where we were told and followed the hostess toward our table.
We were led to the left into a smaller room somewhat behind the main stage. (I can't remember the name of the room...is there such a thing as the Raglan Room? Or am I just making that up?) Now, as we were approaching our table, there was a step-dancing demonstration going on in this room....and it was VERY loud, almost painful to the ears. The demo itself would have been great if it were done in the main room, perhaps, where it wasn't so enclosed.
Laura, already in a touchy mood, did NOT like the noise at all. She immediately started crying and fussing. We thought initially that it just scared her and we tried calming her. Before we actually made it to our table, the demo was over, so we figured everything would be okay then. We really SHOULD have asked to be seated somewhere else, but in the moment, it just didn't occur to us.
Laura didn't recover from first being waken up and then being startled by the demo. She was miserable. We couldn't even get her to sit in her highchair. In fact, she wouldn't even stay at the table. We had to take it in turns walking outside with her. She'd get outside and be completely fine, but the second she'd get to the table she'd start screaming!
When the waiter came to ask about drinks I asked if he could bring out a small dish of applesauce for Laura. I was hoping that if we could get her to eat something, maybe she'd calm down a bit.
Our waiter, whom I'm sure was very overwhelmed by the mayhem we brought to the table (pun intended!
), didn't really help matters by not giving us time to even look at the menus before asking if we were ready to order. I think we must have asked him to come back about five times. I felt very rushed, even within the first fifteen minutes after arriving at the table.
I can't remember his name, but he did TRY to help; just nothing was working to calm poor Laura.
He brought us our drinks: Dad ordered an iced tea and Buzzy had a Coke. John ordered a Yeungling on tap.
Mom had the Bailey's Shake which was amazingggg. Oh my, I could have had one of those (or more) a day! Mmmm!
While my Mom took a turn with Laura I snapped a few pictures.
Moms Baileys Shake!
I chose the Iced Irish initially. There was a reason I picked this first over the Bailey's (before trying the Bailey's), but I can't remember now. I do know I planned on getting a Bailey's for myself after trying Mom's.
It was good, but the Bailey's was so much better!
Our bread was brought along with the drinks.
John, Dad, and Buzzy said the bread was very tasty.
Unfortunately, these few pictures are the only ones I have of our dinner....
The waiter also brought out the "applesauce." Apparently, they don't serve traditional applesauce at Raglan Road. We were given a small bowl of what I can only assume was a sauce used as a topping to one of their dishes. It was definitely made with apples, but was NOT applesauce. So, that was no help to Laura.
It was at this point that I determined Laura was just not able to stay in the restaurant. She was not calming down and we couldn't keep taking turns walking her out the whole meal. She didn't want anything to eat or drink, she just didn't want to be there. So, I told everyone that I'd take her back to the hotel so the rest of the family could eat and enjoy the meal.
We had placed our orders already, but I asked John to just cancel mine and that we'd pay for the trouble anyway, and I'd grab something at Landscapes of Flavors after everyone got back. I also asked that someone grab the stroller, because I wouldn't be able to fold it up myself to get on and off the bus while holding Laura. I was assured it'd be taken care of.
John offered to go with me back to the room, but I felt bad enough that Laura was having a rough time; I didn't want him missing out on his first Disney dinner in eight years as well!
My parents offered to take her back, but again, I wasn't letting them miss out either and I really was okay taking Laura back myself. Was I disappointed? Sure! But, not so much that I was going to even attempt to get through the meal with Laura screaming and just so terribly unhappy. And I wasnt about to let anyone else miss out just so I could stay.
So, I took Laura and we walked out to the bus stop to get a bus back to Art of Animation. I took notice to the fact that our stroller had been moved just outside the restaurant, but couldnt get to my phone to let anyone know. I just hoped the family would find it!
The moment we left the restaurant, Laura was absolutely fine! She and I had a nice ride back to the resort and about half way there I realized we didn't have any milk in the room for Laura, so I'd have to stop and grab some at Landscapes of Flavors to take back. Thinking ahead, I was able to get my debit card out of my wallet and also grab one of the back up KTTW cards in case the doors didn't work with my magic band.
We got back to the resort, and I one-handedly grabbed some milk, paid, and carried everything back to the room. It was a good thing I'd taken the KTTW card out on the bus, because my magic band didn't work at the building door and it was easier to use it into the room since Laura was in my arms.
After walking in the room I realized I had a missed call from John and then got a text from him asking if I had the stroller. My first thought was they didnt see it was moved
and then my second, more frightening, thought was they couldnt find it at all! My parents actually had one of our strollers stolen many years back, so I was just imagining it was gone and we'd have to rent one and Laura would hate the hard plastic park rentals!
I told John I didn't have it and to look outside the restaurant. All I got back was an okay.
So, while I was worrying about what was going on with the stroller, I changed Laura into her jammies, made her a bottle and some cereal, and attempted to feed her. But, she didn't want anything. All she wanted to do was play, so that's what we did! We sat together on the floor and played! She was happy as could be! I was really happy I had brought her back to the hotel or she would have been miserable, unnecessarily, at the restaurant.
We were in the room maybe half hour or so...still without hearing from John about the stroller...when Mom, Dad, and Buzzy walked in....without John.
Turns out, right after I left the table our food was delivered, so they boxed up my meal and John ate at top speed to get back to the hotel before my food went cold. That wasn't necessary, but apparently he felt so bad and was concerned I wasn't going to get anything to eat. He's so sweet to have worried, but I was fine.
Anyway, John had eaten in record time and said he'd meet Mom, Dad, and Buzzy back at the hotel and they should just take their time. Which they did...they finished about thirty minutes or so later.
The three of them walked out to the bus stop: the one closest to Raglan Road. They got to the stop just as a bus was pulling up, so they got on, and guess who was sitting inside!!
John!!
He'd walked all the way back through the Marketplace to the far bus stops, because he didn't know there were any others! Poor guy! Then he had to wait for one once he got there! They all had a good laugh about it!
It was a few minutes after they left that John remembered the stroller and called and then texted me to find out if I'd gotten it. Since I hadn't, he rode the bus to the resort and then rode it all the way back to the second Downtown Disney stop. He retrieved the stroller, bought himself a sweatshirt, got on another bus, and finally made it back to the room a little before 9pm! Laura had gone to bed about 8:30pm, so was completely out when he returned to the room with the stroller!
I finally did get to eat my meal after Laura went to bed! I had ordered the salmon dish, but have no idea what it was called! It was really just the first thing I saw and knew Id eat.
Im sure the presentation at the table was much nicer! By the time I finally got to sit and eat, it was not very warm, but I finished the whole thing! It was good, but I cant tell if my opinion was swayed because I was really hungry or if it really was THAT good!
Mom, Dad, and Buzzy all had the fish and chips for their meals and they all liked them good enough. Dad said he thought the breading was a bit crunchy for his taste and mom wasnt a fan of the tartar sauce, but Buzzy said she thought everything was very good in her opinion!
John had a burger of some kind, but I have no idea which one. He said it was also good, but he didnt get to truly enjoy it since he ate so fast!
So, would we return to Raglan Road? Maybe. I think it's worth another chance, just to have a do over meal and get a better full dining experience, but I'm not sure we'll make it a priority in the next few trips...mostly just because there are so many other places to try!
It is a bit dissappointing to have had a less than stellar experience at Raglan Road, because everyone had such high expectations. I actually feel really bad the meal went so wrong and looking back I wish I WOULD have asked to change tables, because I believe that moving away from that particular area would have helped Laura calm down a bit since she was fine unless at the table. Have to love that 20-20 hindsight!
(I also want to point out the little tables in the above picture with my salmon! These were set in front of the couch and they were so cute! They were made to look like tree stumps, and on the top they each had lyrics to Lion King songs on them. On one was Hakuna Matata and on the other was Just Cant Wait to be King! They were really neat touches to the room and served as extra seating as well!)
After I finished my dinner, John presented me with a little surprise he found when he returned to Downtown that he thought Id get a kick out of:
He thought it was cute since I had so many plans to keep straight for the trip; however, it didnt work when he got it opened and such! Were pretty sure it was just the battery. I was bummed, but it was still such a kind thought he had to cheer me up after everything! Also, you can see the top of one of the tree stump tables in the picture!
After he gave me my little gift, we had another surprise for Mom! Her birthday was the previous day, September 16th, and wed planned to really celebrate it at dinner that night, but since I had left the restaurant with the diaper bag, and consequently her birthday present and card, we just gave it to her in the room!
Moms absolute favorite TV show (well, after NCIS), is The Big Bang Theory! Buzzy had found the perfect gift for her a couple days before flying out and I told her to pick it up and wed all give it to her when we got to Disney!
Heres mom opening her surprise!
She was so excited to see her new Bazinga! shirt! If you don't watch the show, Bazinga is what one of the characters-Sheldon-says when he's joking about something. We always drop "Bazinga" into conversation just for fun so this shirt was perfect for Mom!
We were all happy she was so surprised!
Now, you'd think at this point, it'd be time for bed after such a long day, but it wasn't! We still had one more thing on the agenda for the evening!
I felt so bad for her! 
