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

Your trip report caught my eye because we were at WDW the same time that you were, except that it was only four days for us and we left on Jan 16th.
DAY 1: Sunday, 1/12/20 Travel Day and EPCOT
We were up at 3am for our flight, too. When we stay at the BC, which we often do, we always go into Epcot for lunch on arrival day. It is nice to be able to walk into a park just minutes after arriving. :)
We stayed at POR for this quick trip and took the boat to Disney Springs.
About a week before, we were seeing temps of 80-85 and sunny for pretty much the entire trip. EXCITING!
The weather was amazing. :) Not only were the five days that we were there perfect weather, but it was some of the best weather we have ever had in WDW. We felt lucky that they were having a January heat wave during our trip. :)
Pretty soon we were pulling up to the Beach Club Villas
The BC villas are such a nice place to stay. We've stayed there three times. Your parents were smart to buy points there. :)
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.
I did an unbelievable goof, too, for this trip. I usually plan these trips perfectly and with minimum stress. But I planned going over to Hollywood Studios for the Rise of the Resistance. Needless to say, it was a big fail. Your BOG reservation would have been fine if you didn't have a 1/2 hour delay getting seated.
I woke up to find my babies all snuggled up. GAH! They are so cute.
The kids look so sweet like that. :love:
We hopped on the bus to Animal Kingdom and were lucky enough to see some of the beautiful holiday decor. Now, I know some people do not like to see holiday decor after Christmas, but I liked seeing the trees and the little touches around the parks.
I was surprised to see that the parks were still decorated. I liked it. :)
They seemed to have cut down on their portions significantly. I remember the sandwiches being much bigger
I noticed that the sandwiches were much smaller that I remember them to be.
I was able to get us a reservation at Trattoria al Forno over at the Boardwalk.
This restaurant is very convenient to go when, especially when staying at one of the Epcot area resorts. We have dined here many times and have had good food, until our December trip. They no longer had any of the favorite entrees I had before. I ended up with some sort of mushroom ravioli with scallops that was not good at all. I think Trattoria is off our list, at least until the menu changes.
Day 4: January 15, 2020 - Part 1: All the Star Wars shenanigans
We were at DHS the same day as you were. We got boarding group 49 and managed to ride it without any delays.
While we were in there, I got the text that our BG was assigned btwn 2:30-4:30pm. SWEET.
You had a pretty good return time. But that sure made for a long day for your family. :)
We actually ended up with a booth with another family of 4 and a cute couple that took a family pic for us!
The family picture turned our really good. :)
Um--ma'am, you done crossed the line.
That was creepy, weird to offer to buy drinks for the kids. DH and I are grandparents and we will talk to other adults in situations like that, but we don't usually talk to families with kids unless they initiate the conversion.
we went over to Docking Bay 7 for lunch
Your food looks good. It is such a "hole in the wall" place, though, that we haven't really looked into it. In fact, with none of the buildings, shops, restaurants being labeled with English words, it is hard to know where anything is.
If you couldn't tell, the kids were SUPER into Jedi training! This show was so fun to watch....could have been the drink, but I really enjoyed it!
It looks like a lot of fun. Your kids are the perfect age for it, too. :)
You guys...this ride is like nothing I've ever been on. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but you really feel like you've been captured and are running from Storm Troopers. I have to say, as much of a PITA it is to be up before dawn and in a park for almost 12hrs waiting to go on, it's worth it. I'm glad we committed ourselves to going on it. It was worth the sweat and breakdowns lol.
This ride is awesome and I was glad that I hadn't read any spoilers before riding it for the first time. We are big Star Wars fans so this was lots of fun for us. :)
You may know from my previous reports that IllumiNations is one of my most favorite things in the world. It makes me cry almost every time. Especially in our world, a message of peace and togetherness is super meaningful to me. You may not like what I'm going to say...but I did NOT like Epcot Forever. It was very "meh". Although the guys decided that driving the jet ski with the kite attached would be the best job ever lol.
I loved the music from Illuminations. We would stay at the BC a lot and I loved that we could hear the music from the resort or make a quick trip into Epcot to see it. But it was very boring in the middle. I really like the new fireworks show. The kites are very cool. :)
We were over in America and hopped in the "Washington Crossing the Delaware" painting when people were laughing at us. I looked behind me and saw that Rowan was pretending to throw up over the side of the boat
So clever! :)
The kids were dying to get their faces painted in Africa and we had some time to kill...
They look really cute. :)
I don't know why we always end up having lunch here, but we do lol. I don't even like Mexican food all that much. Maybe it's the margaritas??
I think that it is the outdoor dining with seats beside the lagoon that appeal to us. And the fact that it isn't hamburgers. ;)
Ale and Compass is a great place if you're staying in the BC/YC/Boardwalk area. I don't know if I would travel a long way to eat here, but we had some really solid dishes and great service. It was the perfect dinner choice for all of us that night!
We have had excellent meals there, including breakfast, lunch and dinner. I agree that it is convenient if you are staying there, but nothing to go out of your way for. :)
 
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Wow you all certainly packed a lot into your MGM day! We so travel like you all and know from experience on the rare days we are in a park an entire day it certainly wears on us too. I guess that is why they have alcohol :P

I seriously cannot believe the creepy lady in Oga's. Who offers to buy someone else's kid a drink let alone make the comment she did. Good thinking getting the heck out of dodge.

I think I need a couple of friends like yours to hit happy hour with! Glad to hear Crews Cup and Ale and Compass were such good experiences
 
saw that Rowan was pretending to throw up over the side of the boat 😂😂😂😂😂
lmao that's hysterical!
I don't know why we always end up having lunch here, but we do lol.
We eat there often also! But I love Mexican food and I think it's one of the better qs options there.
Pappardelle Pasta with Chicken
Hmm ok. I had this the one time we did dinner at A&C - we did not like our food. I did breakfast there in October and it was better than dinner, lots of people like it for dinner so maybe we need to give it another chance. Crew's Cup on the other hand, I'll go there any day!
night out at Il Mulino
One of my favorites :love: Can't wait to read about that!

I do have to say I liked Epcot Forever :duck: I wasn't a huge fan of Illuminations :duck::duck:so don't miss it and I like the nods to past Epcot attractions in Epcot Forever. I'm actually not looking forward to the new show coming either because I believe it has projections and I hate projections!
 
DAY 6: Friday, 1/17/20 EPCOT, Dinner at Il Mulino

Today was our full Epcot day and I was super excited to be there for the opening of the Festival of the Arts. We had a 9am FP for the Frozen ride, which was a very good thing. It was 9:05am and they were already showing a 70min wait! It was a delightful ride that we all enjoyed. I couldn't go to Norway and NOT get myself a school bread. Mmmmm so delicious. Not too sweet roll filled with yummy custardy- whipped cream and topped with toasted coconut. Man. I could eat one of those every day.

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The kids were starving so we went over to Sunshine Seasons for something for the kids to eat. Rowan wanted an Uncrustable meal (comes in a little pack with grapes and a juice box) and Alice got a cereal and milk. Scott ordered a breakfast sandwich on a croissant. At this point, I knew we were spending our meal credits/snack credits VERY unwisely. It had been kinda nagging at the back of my brain the whole trip. It's like, you do all this research on where the best bang for your buck is, but when you get there, it's almost as if all your planning just flies out the window.
Most of our wasted credits were at breakfast....so don't make the same mistake I did and make sure you pack cereals, granola bars, poptarts, squeezie yogurts/applesauce. Anything that can be consumed on the go and is relatively portable.

Next up was Living with the Land which was awesome as always and a walk around the Living Seas aquarium where we met up with some friends from NY! Alice's ballet studio has a competitive dance group that had traveled down for a national dance competition Thurs - Sat. It was great to see our friends and we hung out for Turtle Talk with Crush before heading our separate ways. We would see them again for our afternoon of cocktails on the monorail.

We made our way back to World Showcase to check out the booths. Not all the booths were open at this point, so we decided to bop around on our own and start the Agent P's Adventure while we waited.

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Um--ok...that works too, Rowan!
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Grabbed myself a Magners Pear Cider at the booth outside of Rose and Crown. Very cold and refreshing. Not too sweet. An excellent choice for strolling through a very HOT World Showcase. Then we jumped in line to meet our second favorite Alice:


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At this point the crowds were brutal and Scott and Rowan had enough. They wanted to go back for a swim. Alice and I decided to stroll around and hit up some of the FoA booths before they got too crowded. But first Grey Goose Citron slush for Mommy. When can I have this in a bigger cup?? This is just not a big enough serving lol.

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We had some really lovely Mommy Daughter time together, going into the various shops and countries. She was so cute in that store in Japan. Just squealing in delight at all the cute things in there! Alice asked for a Kakigori from Japan which she thoroughly enjoyed

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Cont. on next post
 
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DAY 6: Friday, 1/17/20 EPCOT, Dinner at Il Mulino (Cont.)

With Alice happily eating her shaved ice, I thought it would be a good time to hop in a FoA booth and finally try some of the snacks that I had been reading about on the blogs for months. The last time we went to Disney was during Flower and Garden and it was so crowded that we barely went to any of the booths. I was determined to burn some of these snack credits and get some good shots the Dis.

I decided to start in the booth by Italy for Vodka Rossini: Vodka, Strawberry Purée and Prosecco. We waited in line and after I ordered, the CM asked to see my ID. I opened my wallet and low and behold....NO ID.

Kay....remember when I said we went bagless through DHS? I gave Scott my ID to hold on to and he still had it....back at the room.

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I apologized and explained that my husband had my ID, but I'm almost 40, and here's my 9 year old daughter and she still wouldn't serve me 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 I think she felt bad, but she was like "It's the first day of the festival and we are IDing every single person who comes through the line" UGHHHHHH. I will say that was the ONE AND ONLY time I was asked for ID the entire trip. So maybe that was a very strict rule Disney was enforcing.

That was embarrassing.

And basically, I was too nervous to go through any more lines just to get ID'd and didn't want to send the message to Alice that the rules are bendable in that regard lol. So yet again, thwarted at the festival booths. You really have to commit to waiting in line for those booths. The lines were VERY long and seemed to be populated with younger people without kids in tow. Sigh....I don't even think I'm going to say "maybe next time". I think I might be off the booths???

Cut to the evening. Steven and Renee had asked to take us out to dinner and we decided that a restaurant at Swan and Dolphin would be a good choice. Close to the hotel and we could put the kids in Camp Dolphin for 2 hrs for free if we ate at any of the signature options at Swan/Dolphin. I chose Il Mulino as I had heard such wonderful things and I wasn't really feeling a big steak and I don't love seafood--so BlueZoo and Kimonos was out.

I signed the kids up at Camp Dolphin a few days prior to leaving NY, but there were people signing kids up that evening. It is definitely not as nice as the Sandcastle Club was at Beach Club. This place is just two rooms, kinda shabby looking...but Alice was excited to have a bunch of drawing materials and they had video games for Rowan. Seemed safe and secure and I felt good that we were just eating at across the way at the Swan. Beach Club does have another option called Captain Hook's Hideaway where they take them for a boat ride. I just was NOT comfortable with my kids being on a boat without me being there. Just didn't feel right.

The kids were like--scram, so the grownups started our night out! We stopped for a cocktail at BlueZoo. Renee ordered a glass of brut rose, Scott and Steven both ordered the New Fashioned: knob creek single barrel bourbon, amara montenegro, brown sugar, angostura bitters, orange bitters, cherry bitters garnished with a fresh orange peel and a brandied cherry and I ordered The Serenity: a masterful combination of cucumber vodka, st. germain elderflower liqueur, muddled strawberries, basil, rosemary, lime, and a splash of pineapple juice. My drink was DELICIOUS. It was sweet without being clawing and was very refreshing.

They were offering a happy hour menu, so we ordered a flatbread and these little crab beignets. The flatbread was OK...but I really liked the crab beignets. They were fluffy and crispy and the remoulade sauce with them was really tasty. I highly recommend these if they're still on the menu.


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The drinks, food and service here were excellent but we had to scurry over to The Swan for our reservation. We were immediately seated at a lovely table overlooking one of their courtyards. We had two waiters assigned to our table and one of them was named Giuseppe and was absolutely over the top in the best way! He was cracking us up all night. Very attentive and sweet.

Renee ordered a bottle of the Moet and Chandon Nectar Imperial for the two of us to share and Steven ordered Nickel & Nickel Branding Iron Cabernet Sauvingon from Napa Valley. Just like I like to pose with expensive champagne, Scott likes to pose with expensive Cabs lol. It was a VERY nice bottle of wine.

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We all ordered Insalata Trattoria to start and was pleased to know that they served 1/2 portions of pasta. So I decided to give pasta carbonara another whirl. The 1/2 portion was just right. Still not as good as my own..the sauce was a little greasy to be honest. But it was still delicious.

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It's so funny. I can't think of the last time I had pasta 3x in one week or in Disney World period. This trip was full of noodles I guess lol. Between the conversation and the bottle of champagne, I didn't really take notes on what everyone else got--but I think Renee had the 1/2 of Rigatoni con fungi and Scott and Steven both had the Fruitti di Mare and everyone loved their meals. The benefit of only ordering 1/2 portions is that you actually have room for dessert!

Tiramisu and the Torta di Cioccolati. Both were incredible! We had the best time here and we were absolutely treated like royalty which felt really special.

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We had some time to kill before picking the kids up, so back over to BlueZoo we went for a night cap (or two!) We picked up the kids around 10 and they had a really fun night. Met some friends, played endless video games. Everyone was happy that night!

I took the kids back to the room and Scott met up with Renee and Steven over at Crews Cup. Those crazy kids I don't know how they managed it! I was ready for my PJs! Scott and Steven had their last fishing excursion in the morning and we could all sleep in because it was our "No Park" day.

Another amazing day in the books!
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Next: Disney Springs, Jock Lindsays, Wine Bar George, Raglan Road
 
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Crab beignets at Bluezoo? I would have loved to try those. They weren't on our happy hour menu. Although I can only whine so much since we did have crab nachos. But still...fried dough with crab? That had to be paradise!
 


I couldn't go to Norway and NOT get myself a school bread. Mmmmm so delicious. Not too sweet roll filled with yummy custardy- whipped cream and topped with toasted coconut. Man. I could eat one of those every day.

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You and me both! Though I have a bad habit of picking them up and taking them back to the room for later and then someone who may be the same age as Alice alway steals it for breakfast the next morning

He makes a great Frida!

apologized and explained that my husband had my ID, but I'm almost 40, and here's my 9 year old daughter and she still wouldn't serve me 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 I think she felt bad, but she was like "It's the first day of the festival and we are IDing every single person who comes through the line"
Oh no! So sorry this was such a bust for you. Disney always pushes the convenience of a magic band but in my much younger years my complaint was always you had to carry an id anyway. If only they had figured this out by now the day would have been saved

I signed the kids up at Camp Dolphin a few days prior to leaving NY, but there were people signing kids up that evening. It is definitely not as nice as the Sandcastle Club was at Beach Club
I'll get there in a few more updates but we put Casey in there for the first time on our last trip and we felt terrible afterwards. Compared to the Disney childcare centers I thought I was dropping her off a jouvie.

I just was NOT comfortable with my kids being on a boat without me being there. Just didn't feel right.
Oh I feel the exact same way. Who puts their kids on a boat with strangers??????

The Serenity: a masterful combination of cucumber vodka, st. germain elderflower liqueur, muddled strawberries, basil, rosemary, lime, and a splash of pineapple juice. My drink was DELICIOUS. It was sweet without being clawing and was very refreshing.
Yum! I had this once and it was so good. Bluezoo really does have amazing and inventive cocktails

Nickel & Nickel Branding Iron Cabernet Sauvingon
Are they looking for new friends? Cause I could use a couple of friends whose splurge wine isn't the $17 bottle from Trader Joe's :P

We had the best time here and we were absolutely treated like royalty which felt really special.
What a wonderful evening! After your day it definitely made up for it.
 
:laughing:
Loving the lady in the background in the picture of Scott and his wine bottle: the word judge-y comes to mind, ha ha. Your "Serenity" drink at BlueZoo looks and sounds amazing. Glad your grown up dinner was a winner!
 
You and me both! Though I have a bad habit of picking them up and taking them back to the room for later and then someone who may be the same age as Alice alway steals it for breakfast the next morning

Alice is a picky eater--but that girl LOVES coconut! She didn't like all the cream inside, but ate the top of my bun lol. I'm totally jelly Casey has such a refined palate!

Oh no! So sorry this was such a bust for you. Disney always pushes the convenience of a magic band but in my much younger years my complaint was always you had to carry an id anyway. If only they had figured this out by now the day would have been saved

Eh--it's ok. I just haven't timed these festivals out correctly. I live in a collegetown and don't get ID'd anymore which is sad in it's own way. So I guess I should be happy that I got ID'd to begin with lol

I'll get there in a few more updates but we put Casey in there for the first time on our last trip and we felt terrible afterwards. Compared to the Disney childcare centers I thought I was dropping her off a jouvie.

Yeah...it was sparce to say the least. I legit think they let Rowan play video games for the entire 4 hours 🧟‍♀️ Alice met some little friends and they were all coloring quietly when I picked them up. I make myself feel better by saying they needed some Disney decompression time 😂

Are they looking for new friends? Cause I could use a couple of friends whose splurge wine isn't the $17 bottle from Trader Joe's :P

Ha! I know. They are the kindest most generous people we've ever met. When we lived in TX they were like family to us and I'm so glad we've kept our friendship going. Sometimes when I hang out with them I feel like I'm a Real Housewife or something. Just a totally different lifestyle than we have FOR SURE.

Loving the lady in the background in the picture of Scott and his wine bottle: the word judge-y comes to mind, ha ha. Your "Serenity" drink at BlueZoo looks and sounds amazing. Glad your grown up dinner was a winner!

HA! I noticed her too!!! BlueZoo was really nice! There was a definite trend of the food and service being better at all the lounges than at the restaurants...with the exception of Il Mulino. Our Italian waiter was out of a movie I swear! He was the best.
 
Alice asked for a Kakigori from Japan which she thoroughly enjoyed
Kakigori was always a favorite with our kids and now our grandchildren. And it is a good use of a snack credit. :)
We had some time to kill before picking the kids up, so back over to BlueZoo we went for a night cap (or two!) We picked up the kids around 10 and they had a really fun night. Met some friends, played endless video games. Everyone was happy that night!
It is always a relief when the kids have fun, too. Your adults only dinner sounds like it was very enjoyable. It is nice to be able to do things without the kids at Disney.
 
oday was our full Epcot day and I was super excited to be there for the opening of the Festival of the Arts.
This was the day we got down there! We did the festival the next day and the crowds weren't really that bad.
I couldn't go to Norway and NOT get myself a school bread.
::yes::
Grabbed myself a Magners Pear Cider at the booth outside of Rose and Crown.
Ooh you're hitting a few of my faves today!

1/2 of Rigatoni con fungi
I adore Il Mulino and think it's the best Italian on property and this is what I always get 😊 and we were there just a few nights after you with the wonderful Mr. and Mrs. @pepperandchips! Glad you had a good time, we've also always had above standard service.

But that sucks about your ID at the booths man. Doing booths at the various festivals is something I look forward to but of course I haven't been asked for ID anywhere in years :rotfl2: Now that I said that, I'll be asked next time we go!
I'll get there in a few more updates but we put Casey in there for the first time on our last trip and we felt terrible afterwards. Compared to the Disney childcare centers I thought I was dropping her off a jouvie.
Oh I can't wait for this one....................
 
Just caught up and joining in. You seem to be making good use of dining credits so far, but I can see where it can fall apart with snack and QS credits. That is my biggest hesitation with the dining plan.

Your friends sure are cool and classy...I wanna know someone who has bottles of Moët & Chandon waiting for me! 🙏🏻

I feel the same way about the pirate thing with the boat and I know my kid would love it, but I need to know, IN DETAIL, how they manage the kids on the flippin pontoon. PONTOON.
 
Crab beignets at Bluezoo? I would have loved to try those. They weren't on our happy hour menu. Although I can only whine so much since we did have crab nachos. But still...fried dough with crab? That had to be paradise!

It's weird! I looked for a picture of them online to share and didn't see one. I wonder if it was a special app? They were REALLY good.

Kakigori was always a favorite with our kids and now our grandchildren. And it is a good use of a snack credit. :)

My kids had giant shaved ice last summer in Lake George and LOVED them--so they were super excited to have one on a hot day in Disney.

This was the day we got down there! We did the festival the next day and the crowds weren't really that bad.

See, I thought Saturday would be a worse day for the Festival. All the crowd predictors were saying that the parks would be a mob scene because of MLK day. But I had heard the weekend wasn't as awful as they were predicting. Maybe because it was literally busy all week long people didn't see a huge increase??

Just caught up and joining in. You seem to be making good use of dining credits so far, but I can see where it can fall apart with snack and QS credits. That is my biggest hesitation with the dining plan.

YES. The QS and snacks were a total waste for the most part. I was hoping to use them at the FoA booths but that wasn't meant to be :(

but I need to know, IN DETAIL, how they manage the kids on the flippin pontoon. PONTOON.

This made me laugh out loud! I completely agree. When I was reading the description on the website I was like "Ahhhh---excuse me? You're taking them on a boat ride???" No thanks!
 
Day 7 - Saturday, January 18 - Pool day, Disney Springs: Jock Lindsays, Wine Bar George and Raglan Road

We had been hitting it hard all week and I think we all needed a day to relax and take it easy. Scott and Steven had another fishing morning so the kids and I slept in a bit. I decided that I would attempt to do a load or two of laundry to get us semi-packed up. The studios do not have washer dryers in the room like the 1 and 2 bedroom suites, but the location is pretty convenient on the 4th floor just as you get off the elevators. Anyway--here is the laundry room in all her glory:
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Scott was coming off the boat so we met him over at Boardwalk Bakery for a more substantial breakfast. Alice ordered a plain bagel with butter, Rowan wanted a chocolate chip muffin with a side of bacon, Scott ordered the "butter butter" sandwich and I got the "everything everything" sandwich. My sandwich was a pretty standard bacon, egg and cheese bagel sandwich. Scott's was good--more like a breakfast panini and I really enjoyed the fontina.

Full from a big breakfast the kids and I went down to Storm Along Bay while Scott went to shower and grab our clothes out of the dryer. I was so excited for the kids to finally be big enough to go down the Flying Jib and week Alice had been psyching herself up to go on it and today was the day! After a couple panicked false starts, she finally made it up the stairs and went down the slide! I'm a nervous nelly at SAB...it's a really big pool with lots of hidden nooks and crannies. And they have PLENTY of life guards but I still am on high alert. The kids are excellent swimmers but still 😬😬😬

Scott made it down to meet us and was swimming with the kids so I could have a bit of a break. A waiter was coming around taking drink orders... YES PLEASE! There's something very indulgent about poolside drink service 🍹

Here's my yummy Mai-Tai:

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I posted this on my insagram and definitely got some hate mail from my friends in NY. There was a snow storm, so people were not super excited to see my post lololol. They're all in Florida now for our February break so they are getting their revenge!

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Had an awesome afternoon by the pool and around 1:30 we went back to the room to change and meet up with NY friends over at Disney Springs for happy hour before dinner at Raglan Road. Another set of friends were in town so we decided to meet them at Jock Lindsays. We ordered mojitos and an everything pretzel to snack on:

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I know it's weird that we kept ordering the same type of food all week, but it's hard to find things that we will ALL enjoy. Rowan liked all the meat--prosciutto, pepperoni and a sausage of some sort, Alice ate the pretzel and cheese and Scott and I picked at whatever was left. We got to sit outside on their patio over the water and visit with our friends and catch them up on our vacation so far. After a second mojito, Renee and Steven had texted us that they were over at Wine Bar George and had a table for us. We said our goodbyes and went over to quite possibly my new favorite place in WDW---Wine Bar George.

Renee and Steven had already been to WBG a couple times already on this trip. While we were schlepping around DHS in the baking hot sun they were getting to try all the amazing wines from their menu and also their "Outstanding by the Ounce" menu that George himself came over to talk to them about. This menu allows you sample super rare and expensive wines that were around $1500/bottle and up. WHAT?!?!?!? So basically, they take a syringe and stick in in the cork to pull out a 1-6oz tasting (depending on what you pay for) and it seals the bottle back up so it doesn't turn. What a time to be alive!

We gave the kids our phones to play on while the grownups got to chat and try some fantastic wines. I only remember what I ordered: Chalk Hill Chardonnay, a really oaky buttery chardonnay that was recommended by our server. It was perfect for me. We also ordered the mac and cheese balls to share: Got this from DFB, but it looked just the same. I don't really like mac and cheese balls as a whole, but these were pretty good and gone in a flash.

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I think the next time we go to WDW, Wine Bar George would be #1 on my list to just hang out at and have some fantastic wine and try out some of their other appetizers. I think it is a MUST do for any food and wine enthusiasts. I'm pretty sure I could spend an entire day there lol.

It was close to our Raglan Road reservation and we were seated in the back room which definitely did not give us the best view of the stage, but it was more suited for conversation as the tables by the stage are VERY loud. We did not order appetizers, but I did order a delightful cocktail:
The Pride of the Peninsula
Dingle Irish Gin, Fever Tree elderflower tonic, fresh lime, cucumber & mint

Scott took this picture of me and posted this very sappy comment on FB about how great I am LOL. We are not a very PDA type couple, so it was very sweet and appreciated because I definitely planned this entire vacation without any help whatsoever from him and he just got to show up in Disney World and have the best time ever thankyouverymuch. Not that I'm holding any resentment or anything 😂

Here's my delightful drink! It was big and super strong. After my mojitos and wine I was feeling pretty good so this drink was a sipper for sure.

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Unfortunately, my dinner the Braised Be Beef was a total bust. The meat was AWFUL. Like shoe leather and was so dry and chewy I couldn't even eat it. The veggies were tasty and palatable but good lord I've never had such terrible beef in my whole life. Dinner had taken a long time to get to us, so I wasn't going to send it back or anything like that--but if you get this dish and it comes out as bad as mine did PLEASE take the time to complain for me!



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On the bright side, it did free up some very valuable stomach real estate for my favorite dessert: Ger's Bread Pudding (see profile pic)

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Why is this sideways?? Anyway, it was delicious as usual. After Raglan Road Scott took the kids to the Star Wars store while I stayed and finished my drink and waited for the check. Disney Springs was an absolute madhouse and I almost lost my family! They said it was literally shoulder to shoulder in the Star Wars shop, but they still managed to come out with some goodies:

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We trudged 3 miles to the Disney Springs bus stop (not really 3 miles but it is FAR) and waited.....and waited...and waited. A Boardwalk bus came around and we jumped on as it is a very short walk over to BCV.

Rowan and I stopped to watch the fireworks together from the Boardwalk and it was really special. We were all super happy and full and exhausted. I wanted a good night sleep for our big day: California Grill Brunch and Flights of Passage!

EEEEEK!!!!
 
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I feel the same way about the pirate thing with the boat and I know my kid would love it, but I need to know, IN DETAIL, how they manage the kids on the flippin pontoon. PONTOON.
The kids are divided up into two groups according to age. So the younger kids are separate from the older ones. And all of them wear life jackets. In fact, they leave the building wearing them. That is all I know. ;)
A waiter was coming around taking drink orders... YES PLEASE! There's something very indulgent about poolside drink service 🍹
We absolutely love sitting at SAB and ordering drinks. We will plan at least one pool day that includes lunch. A Mai Tai is my go-to drink there. :)
We got to sit outside on their patio over the water and visit with our friends and catch them up on our vacation so far.
We always ask to sit on the patio over the water. It is so different than anything we have here in the Midwest.
It was close to our Raglan Road reservation and we were seated in the back room which definitely did not give us the best view of the stage, but it was more suited for conversation as the tables by the stage are VERY loud.
We ate at Raglan Road on this January trip and were seated in the back room. Two dancers brought a little stage with them and danced near our table. One musician played for them. It was a nice that they did that since we could not see the stage at all.
Unfortunately, my dinner the Braised Be Beef was a total bust. The meat was AWFUL. Like shoe leather and was so dry and chewy I couldn't even eat it.
Your meat looks awful.
 
The Pride of the Peninsula
Dingle Irish Gin, Fever Tree elderflower tonic, fresh lime, cucumber & mint
Well, that’s my kinda cocktail! The name of the gin is also delightful and makes me giggle in a juvenile manner.

After Raglan Road Scott took the kids to the Star Wars store while I stayed and finished my drink and waited for the check.
I LOVE when my husband removes the child while I finish my wine and pay the check. It’s as relaxing as those moments when you have an infant and get to go to the grocery alone.
 
Oh that beautiful Ger's Bread Pudding. (It still looks good, even sideways, ha). Were you able to eat more this time? I remember you said you barely made a dent the last time you were there. Great report, keep it coming!!
 
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