Disney and Other Theme Parks aka PB's fairgrounds for young girls

[Onyx2]

8 hours ago, johnnyboy said:

It's silver coloured frosting, of course it's delicious.

I will be sure to use that line next time I review a restaurant. 

[Van Dammer]

19 hours ago, johnnyboy said:

If you're adventurous Epcot's World Showcase and Animal Kingdom are a bit more "out there."  If you don't mind going to other resorts then Animal Kingdom Lodge's restaurants are very highly rated, although I haven't been there personally.

Of the character meals that I've done personally I'd rank them:

1. Garden Grill breakfast at Epcot
2. Tusker House dinner buffet at AK
3. Cinderella's Royal Table dinner in the castle at MK
4. Akershus in Norway (Epcot)
5. Crystal Palace dinner with Pooh and friends in the MK
6. 1900 Park Fare breakfast in the Grand Floridian
7. Ohana breakfast in the Polynesian (done it twice.  Once was shit, once was fantastic)
8. Chef Mickey dinner in the Contemporary (done it twice as my kids love it - breakfast is better value.  Can be really noisy.  Wasn't a great choice for Valentine's Day but it was the closest to our room)

Dinner at Be Our Guest isn't really a character meal.  You get a photo done with Beast on your way out.  It's visually stunning inside, but it's a fucker to get a reservation for.  Breakfast and lunch it's quick service, dinner is table service.  Had lunch there on Valentine's Day and it wasn't as good as dinner.  At lunchtime it becomes the world's swankest looking cafeteria.  The grey stuff is delicious.

Regular food:

1. The Wave in the Contemporary for dinner.  Hidden gem in the basement.  The peanut butter chocolate pudding after dinner is one of the most indulgent things I've ever eaten.  Everyone goes to the Contemporary for the California Grill of Chef Mickey's.  The Wave is much easier for a reservation.
2. Coral Reef in Epcot.  You must like seafood.  Gets slated by some, but we loved it.  One entire wall is an aquarium (you're the backside of The Seas exhibit in Epcot!).
3. Tokyo Dining in Epcot is good if you're into Japanese food.  Turns out I'm not.  Atmosphere and that is spot on.

Yeah, we mainly do character meals

Quick service options in Epcot are excellent both around World Showcase and in Sunshine Seasons in the Land Pavilion.

Thanks Johnny. We went with Chef Mickey as its our sons 2nd birthday and Mickey Mouse is his favourite Disney Character and the other character places at or near MK seemed to have other characters he probably wasn't familiar with. I felt the first time he met a 7ft fluffy character it should probably be one he has atleast seen before. 

 

I tried for Be Our Guest too but it seems to be sold out already, I wish id known about the 6 month rule for booking restaurants, having looked into it now I can see forums of people hugely into booking it up the minute it becomes available. Any other suggestions for dinner in MK per or during fireworks? Preferably non character as its likely to be just us grown ups, although I wouldnt be against it either.

[Van Dammer]

9 minutes ago, johnnyboy said:

My kids love Chef Mickey.

For the fireworks in MK have you considered booking the Tomorrowland Terrace dessert party?

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/magic-kingdom/tomorrowland-terrace-fireworks-dessert-party/

There aren't really restaurants overlooking the fireworks like at Epcot around world showcase, even The Crystal Palace has a lot in front and not many seats by the window.  The other place would be the California Grill in the Contemporary as Nick suggested.

A table service that we missed out on was The Jungle Skipper Canteen.  That has some more adventurous adult stuff on the menu.

Yeah looked at the Dessert Party but all sold out. I would look at California Grill but as its the other halfs first time I kind of want to stay in the park and soak up the atmosphere a little bit. I think an earlier grab and go dinner and then infront of the castle will be best. Especially as I assume they still use projectors onto the front of the castle etc? Which if you're on a balcony to the side will miss some or all of?

 

TBH I understand the early bookers, if I had the DDP id be doing the same. I just didnt expect so much to go so fast.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Van Dammer

[Van Dammer]

13 minutes ago, johnnyboy said:

Yeah, the new Happily Ever After show is more like Dreams/Illusions from Paris with projections and fireworks rather than the pure fireworks of Wishes.  Is even the Plaza Gardens view dessert party option sold out too?  That has you outside in a fenced off area in a central location - acutally a better view but you can't sit throughout.  Eat earlier and grab a spot would be the best option otherwise.

Yeah both gone, I think ill stick to standing amongst the crowd. Possibly look into something dinner wise the night were at Epcot, but again from reading it sounds like you arent guaranteed a good view at any of the restaurants, 

[Van Dammer]

Yeah the Tier 1 will be used on Frozen or either Soarin or Test Track (I think theyre Tier 1).

 

Ive read a story today that The Great Movie Ride is potentially closing after the Summer season. Will be really disappointing if I cant ride this in November. Probably in my top 3 along with Tower of Terror and The Mummy Ride.

[quote the raven]

Great movie ride is being replace with a mickey ride by all accounts

[Monkee]

So, we're almost done for this holiday... we've done Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay. Still to do Animal Kingdom and Typhoon Lagoon. Tonight we're doing the Star Wars Dessert Party. I'll probably do a longer post when I get home but a quickie on Volcano Bay...

I loved it. I think it's great. The park itself is very small but doesn't feel cramped. There are a lot of slides and the virtual queuing with the TapuTapu is great too except there isn't a central tapping station, you have to walk to the ride, tap, go away for how long, go back, queue then ride. And the only way to see current wait times is via the app but the wi-fi is very sketchy. A central post where you can see/book everything would be good.

Maps! Maps would be amazing to know where you are, where you've been and where you want to go. We saw ONE map board for the entire park. The only other way to see everything was via the app and that meant going back to the searing area and dodgy wi-fi.

We had premium seating but regular would have been fine. We went on a Sunday a week after it opened and thought it would be busy but it really wasn't. We rode Krakatau the aquacoaster twice and it was fantastic. First time we waited 10mins with the TapuTapu, the second time later in the day was a 50min wait I think.

Food was OK but nothing special. Being able to pay with the TapuTapu was really handy too. Would be good if the TT also had the time on it though just for reference.

I might write a proper review on my blog when I get back as I'm sure there's stuff I've forgotten to mention but overall Volcano Bay is great and Disney really need to up the stakes in their water parks.

[Van Dammer]

Thats good to hear about Volcano Bay. It sounds like the opening weekend was carnage with the park full to capacity and a few teething problems with the TT and general ride maintenance and park completion. Really hoping the virtual queuing works and it can get rolled out across other parks. I agree that a central post for tapping into queues might work, or even just being able to do it remotely on your wristband would work.

[Monkee]

We went to Animal Kingdom yesterday and didn't really know what to expect from Pandora. The area itself looked fantastic. It was very impressive to see the theming and the flora and fauna there. I've never seen the film so have no idea if it's anything like that.

While we were in the area both the Flight of Passage and Na'vi River Journey went down. We had a FastPass for the River Journey later in the evening so weren't worried about that and we'd resigned ourselves to not getting on Flight of Passage as there were no FastPasses available and it always had 3-5hr stand-by time. However, while we were sitting there, Flight of Passage opened up and only had a wait time of 60mins so we decided to go on.

We did end up queuing for about 90mins as there were further technical difficulties but OH MY GOD it's amazing. We'd heard it was like Soarin' at Epcot and we both hated that so we had pretty low expectations of Flight of Passage but it is absolutely phenomenal. You sit on a motorbike-like seat as your meant to be riding a banshee so it's like a saddle. You have goggles on (not 3D) and there's a huge screen in front of you. You really do feel like you're flying and the banshee is breathing between your legs. There are even different smells for the areas you fly over or land on like some luminescent caves or through waves and you get the wind through your hair and splashed by some of the water hence the goggles.

I was genuinely in awe and I wish there was a ride photo to have seen the expression on my face. Everyone getting off sounded like they'd had this spiritual awakening or something because they were all just saying about how amazing it was.

I'm so glad we got to experience the ride before we left and I wish we could have done it again!

Side note - the Na'vi River Journey was a shite water ride for toddlers. Not doing that one again that's for sure.

Also, the stand-by time when we got off Flight of Passage had gone up to 340 minutes.

Edited June 9, 2017 by Monkee

[quote the raven]

I'm booking for next year as soon as I can get cheap flights. I'm currently trying to upgrade two dining plans mine and wife to the quick service from free breakfast. However my son only drinks nutria milkshakes so his upgrade is pointless. Finding out they won't do it and it's all or nothing. Going to try Disney direct see what happens 

[Van Dammer]

How old is your son? I think if you call them and explain, they'll probably work something out for you. Worth tweeting @wdwtoday as well and asking what they can do.

[quote the raven]

24 minutes ago, Van Dammer said:

How old is your son? I think if you call them and explain, they'll probably work something out for you. Worth tweeting @wdwtoday as well and asking what they can do.

He will be 9 next year, going to have to see how the airlines class a suitcase full of milkshakes and pads. My guess is they must be classed as medical and therefore allowed as extra baggage. 

 

Thanks for the heads up about the twitter account 

[Van Dammer]

1 hour ago, johnnyboy said:

I just realised that I missed off the most fun restaurant.  The 50s Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios where you get pelters from the staff.  Very much you'll either love it or feel very intimidated, but the classic american food like pot roast and mom's chicken plus bants is great fun.  However, I couldn't finish the chocolate and peanut butter cake as my wife had "made" me have a funnel cake earlier in the day.

I was very interested in booking this when i read about the theme, food and just the vibe I imagine its got in there. Then I read about the staff and immediately knew it wouldnt be for me! In fairness, I didnt read in great depth about how they are, any spoilers?

[Nick Soapdish]

5 hours ago, johnnyboy said:

Keep your elbows off the table!

My wife hadn't finished all of her dinner.

  Hide contents

Server gets a fork of her mash and hums the Thomas the Tank theme to get her to eat a bit more like you would with a toddler.

Some others got asked to clear their own stuff off the table.  If you don't I'll tell mama and that kind of thing.

If you're willing to play along it is a lot of fun, we loved it, but not the place to go if you suffer social anxiety or want a quiet meal.

Plus my favourite

the viewmaster desert menu

 

Edited June 11, 2017 by Nick Soapdish

[Monkee]

I got home yesterday evening after a 5-hour delay and nightmare traffic from Gatwick. I feel as if I've been away for a month because there was so much packed in!

I'm already planning the next trip though - decided on 2020 so I can save up extra money, go for 3 weeks and squeeze in a few days at the Star Wars hotel which will be open by then.

On a side note - has anyone heard of Universal's Q-Bot? We hired one but we'd never heard of it, never read anything online about it and even some of the staff at Islands of Adventure had no idea what it was. Before I go into it I wondered if any of you knew about it.

Edited June 12, 2017 by Monkee