faline
05-21-2014, 07:13 PM
Sunday, May 11 - Mother's Day
Plan for the day:
Typhoon Lagoon in the morning
Disney Studios or Animal Kingdom in the afternoon
Fastpass for Dinosaur, Expedition Everest and the Safari
Dinner Reservations at Be Our Guest
How the day went
We did not go to Typhoon Lagoon or Disney Studios or Animal Kingdom.
Instead, we started our day having breakfast from Roaring Forks (Croissants with eggs, bacon and cheese). We spent time at the pool before heading back to our room for a bit.
Today, I remembered to cancel the fastpasses I had made. I even attempted to make substitute fastpasses and was able to do so successfully!!
We think about going to The Wave for lunch but find they are serving brunch until 3 this day so decide we'll try the Grand Floridian Cafe for lunch but find they are totally booked due to Mothers' Day. Instead, we have a nice lunch at the Grand Floridian pool bar where I have a margarita flatbread and Gene has a burger.
We take the boat to the Magic Kingdom arriving around 3 or so. While they were obviously handing out carnations to moms entering the park earlier in the day, they are no longer doing so. The first fastpass I made was for Haunted Mansion at 3:05 so we headed there and rode that. Next up, It's a Small World with a 15 minute standby; then the Carousel which was pretty much a walk-on. We were both glad to hear the music playing as it had not been during our prior ride. Into Mickey's Philharmagic we went with a 10 minute standby time. Now it was time for our second fastpass which was for Pirates which worked quite well. Even though Under the Sea listed a 30 minute standby time, we got on line. As has occurred on prior experiences with the standby line on this ride, it did not take that long. There was quite a line for the people mover but it went quickly. Stitch's Great Escape only had a 10 minute standby listed (it was a walk on) and we had yet done it, so we entered a largely empty theater for this experience. It was now time for our third fastpass on Big Thunder Mountain so we made our way over there. With more time to kill before our dinner reservation, we hopped on the train - rode it all the way around and stayed on for one additional stop getting off in Fantasyland.
We slowly walked over to the Be Our Guest checkin podium. Since we were still a few minutes before our reservation time, I half expected we would be asked to step aside until the actual moment of our reservation as had happened the last time. Instead we were checked in, handed a beeper and told to wait on the bridge. Now, I was not overly impressed with our first visit here - finding the food to be somewhat mediocre but thought I would give it one more try. When our beeper went off, we were invited to wait for the hostess in the courtyard. When she approached, she told us we would be sitting close to snow but would not be cold. In fact we were led to a table against the windows in the main ballroom - very cool location. But would the food be good? Last time, we had ordered a bottle of wine. This time, we opted for beer. I had been craving greens so ordered the garden salad for an appetizer while Gene selected the onion soup. My salad was huge and quite good - could have been an entire meal had I eaten all of it! I ordered the braised pork and Gene had the pork chop. I can say I really liked my meal - perhaps we hit it on an off night last time or it was simply the particular menu item chose. - don't know. We did have dessert and I did try the gray stuff though I was not overly impressed by this. I will say we also had an excellent server. The last time we were here, I was not overly impressed by out server. My opinion of this location was definitely upgraded by my meal experience on this evening!!
It was 9:30 by time we left the restaurant. Now we could have found a spot along Main Street and watched the fireworks from inside the park but decided to go to Bay Lake Tower instead. After all, I could use the walk after that large meal. So.....we threaded our way down Main Street and out the park. We power walked our way to Bay Lake Tower and got clearance to head to the top. We arrived with 10 minutes to spare.
Boat home. Tubby. Bed.
So ends our last full day!
Plan for the day:
Typhoon Lagoon in the morning
Disney Studios or Animal Kingdom in the afternoon
Fastpass for Dinosaur, Expedition Everest and the Safari
Dinner Reservations at Be Our Guest
How the day went
We did not go to Typhoon Lagoon or Disney Studios or Animal Kingdom.
Instead, we started our day having breakfast from Roaring Forks (Croissants with eggs, bacon and cheese). We spent time at the pool before heading back to our room for a bit.
Today, I remembered to cancel the fastpasses I had made. I even attempted to make substitute fastpasses and was able to do so successfully!!
We think about going to The Wave for lunch but find they are serving brunch until 3 this day so decide we'll try the Grand Floridian Cafe for lunch but find they are totally booked due to Mothers' Day. Instead, we have a nice lunch at the Grand Floridian pool bar where I have a margarita flatbread and Gene has a burger.
We take the boat to the Magic Kingdom arriving around 3 or so. While they were obviously handing out carnations to moms entering the park earlier in the day, they are no longer doing so. The first fastpass I made was for Haunted Mansion at 3:05 so we headed there and rode that. Next up, It's a Small World with a 15 minute standby; then the Carousel which was pretty much a walk-on. We were both glad to hear the music playing as it had not been during our prior ride. Into Mickey's Philharmagic we went with a 10 minute standby time. Now it was time for our second fastpass which was for Pirates which worked quite well. Even though Under the Sea listed a 30 minute standby time, we got on line. As has occurred on prior experiences with the standby line on this ride, it did not take that long. There was quite a line for the people mover but it went quickly. Stitch's Great Escape only had a 10 minute standby listed (it was a walk on) and we had yet done it, so we entered a largely empty theater for this experience. It was now time for our third fastpass on Big Thunder Mountain so we made our way over there. With more time to kill before our dinner reservation, we hopped on the train - rode it all the way around and stayed on for one additional stop getting off in Fantasyland.
We slowly walked over to the Be Our Guest checkin podium. Since we were still a few minutes before our reservation time, I half expected we would be asked to step aside until the actual moment of our reservation as had happened the last time. Instead we were checked in, handed a beeper and told to wait on the bridge. Now, I was not overly impressed with our first visit here - finding the food to be somewhat mediocre but thought I would give it one more try. When our beeper went off, we were invited to wait for the hostess in the courtyard. When she approached, she told us we would be sitting close to snow but would not be cold. In fact we were led to a table against the windows in the main ballroom - very cool location. But would the food be good? Last time, we had ordered a bottle of wine. This time, we opted for beer. I had been craving greens so ordered the garden salad for an appetizer while Gene selected the onion soup. My salad was huge and quite good - could have been an entire meal had I eaten all of it! I ordered the braised pork and Gene had the pork chop. I can say I really liked my meal - perhaps we hit it on an off night last time or it was simply the particular menu item chose. - don't know. We did have dessert and I did try the gray stuff though I was not overly impressed by this. I will say we also had an excellent server. The last time we were here, I was not overly impressed by out server. My opinion of this location was definitely upgraded by my meal experience on this evening!!
It was 9:30 by time we left the restaurant. Now we could have found a spot along Main Street and watched the fireworks from inside the park but decided to go to Bay Lake Tower instead. After all, I could use the walk after that large meal. So.....we threaded our way down Main Street and out the park. We power walked our way to Bay Lake Tower and got clearance to head to the top. We arrived with 10 minutes to spare.
Boat home. Tubby. Bed.
So ends our last full day!