The 50th, 50th & 50th Disney trip - April/May 2022 - Day 2, Magic Kingdom

[sha9]

Today was planned for Magic Kingdom and if our first ADR of the trip at the Turf Club at Saratoga Springs. The dining report for today is here.

I had a better sleep last night waking a couple of times but back to sleep quickly. I woke properly around 5am and just pottered about having coffee and a muffin. We had a message on the answer phone to say the Magic Bands we pre-ordered were at reception so I wandered across to get them while everyone else was getting ready.

MK opened at 9 so early entry was 8.30 but we hadn’t told Mum, thinking that with the jet lag she'd be up early and would therefore get up and get dressed. This was when we realised she needed to be told specifically what time we planned to leave at or she would have just lay in bed all morning, even if she was awake at 4am. So despite being up at 5am we didn’t get to MK until after 9am. The park was pretty busy.

Our Genie plus issue wasn’t fixed either. I went ahead and booked Big Thunder Mountain for Mum and I at 10.25am and we went straight to guest relations. They called the ticket guys who thought they might have fixed it and gave us a complementary LL for Peter Pan. He didn’t give us a choice even though I hinted for 7DMT . He also added Dad and Marie to the BTM LL. We went straight to Peter Pan via the big shop and rode that. We were a bit hungry after that so went to Friars Nook for some cinnamon donut bites to share. They were ok, nothing special. The coffee was pretty bad.

By the time we’d done that it was time for BTM so we rode that while Mum waited for us. When we tapped in we made another LL for Buzz for around 45 mins later.

We rode the riverboat on the way to buzz. I was sure I had taken pictures but I can't see any. We saw a turtle and I know I tried to take a picture but it was gone. We rode buzz and made another LL for Haunted Mansion for after lunch. We hoped to have time to ride the People Mover before lunch but it was a 20
min wait and we didn’t have time. We went straight to The Plaza and saw the parade was on so watched the end from Tomorrowland Terrace.
We checked in a bit early - you can now do this on MDE - so we sat at the tables outside waiting to be called. It was only a few minutes before we were seated. Our table was at the door which wasn't great. I don't ever remember there even being a table that close to the door before. Luckily the Plaza is usually so cold the warm air was nice. The menu didn't seem to be as extensive as I remember it so I ended up with the meatloaf. Dad also chose this.

I prefer meatloaf with gravy over ketchup but this was nice enough. Beware the green beans though! They were everywhere! I haven't been able to eat them since I came home .

Mum and Marie had the Monte Christo which is in French toast batter.

This wasn't as nice as they thought it would be. The batter made it too much - too fatty and greasy I think. The jam with it was weird and didn't really go. I had a wee taste and it was ok but I think a whole sandwich was too much.

This cost us $109 plus tip which was probably about $40 more than QS would have. I'm not convinced it was worth it on this occasion but maybe different menu choices would have made a difference? We were able to pay with the dining credit but with no hand held scanner the server had to actually take my phone away through the back which I didn't love.
We headed for our Haunted Mansion LL and while there made another for Little Mermaid. HM is still terrible to get on the ride. You’d think with Covid they’d change the way you get on and avoid that bottleneck crush after the stretching room. We left after Under the Sea and headed back to the resort about 3ish for a rest before dinner.
I didn't take a lot of photos in MK. Again it was really busy and we didn't want to hang about.

Dinner was a new one for us - The Turf Club at Saratoga Springs. We'd been meaning to try for ages and its also a nice way to see other resorts as we've never stayed here. Our original plan was to get the boat to DS and walk to SSR but between Mum having sore feet, Dad having a sore knee and us just generally being tired we scrapped that plan and I drove.

For some reason we were sat at the door again . In the Turf Club that wouldn't normally have been an issue as it's inside so the door just leads to the lounge. Unfortunately there was a loud group of people in the lounge which was quite disturbing. I often wish we were more like the Americans and had just asked to move to a different table. Anyway it didn't detract from the lovely food!

We were brought lovely bread rolls to start.

Marie and I had the filet mignon, well done. This came with roasted garlic potatoes, smoked vidalia onion and a cabernet-fig jus.

This was lovely and the steak was cooked to perfection without being butterflied (which we're asked a lot with well done steak).

Mum ordered the pan-seared salmon which came with roasted fingerling potatoes, caramelised root vegetable and a shellfish bisque.

She said this was really nice and I wished I'd booked the Turf Club twice so I could try it!

Dad ordered the Braised Lamb Tagliatelle which came with peas, crispy potato straws, whipped goats cheese and sherry gastrique.

Despite not reading the menu properly and thinking he was getting a lamb shank he enjoyed this!

Mum decided she wanted a dessert and since I can't see someone else with one and not get one myself so did I!

Mum went for the Black and White which was basically a panna cotta with chocolate.

I ordered the Mango-passion fruit creme brûlée.

These were both lovely. I like a creme brûlée as it's a nice light way to finish.

This was a really nice meal (the noisy group aside) I will definitely have this on the list for next time. It cost us $173 plus tip and we were able to use the dining credit easily as the server had a hand-held scanner. I didn't think that was too bad for 4 of us at Disney and I think some of the outlying resort restaurants are better choices for a nice meal than the more expensive and "fancier" ones.

Today we got trash emptied and towels and coffee etc replenished.
We had another early night with the jet lag still being an issue.

[mick]

Good day at MK your meal at The Turf Club looked lovely

Joan

[sha9]

Originally Posted by mick

Good day at MK your meal at The Turf Club looked lovely

Joan

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It was really nice! Definitely on the list for next time!

[Taffy1959]

Food at the Turf Club looks really good.
Magic Kingdom is my favourite park and while it was busy we got on plenty of rides

[sha9]

Originally Posted by Taffy1959

Food at the Turf Club looks really good.
Magic Kingdom is my favourite park and while it was busy we got on plenty of rides

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The Turf Club is lovely. I can’t believe it took us so many visits to get there.

MK always used to be my favourite but now it just feels to crowded for me. Hopefully when we go back crowds will be a bit better.

[Jaspercat10]

Wow the Turf Club looks great I am going to give that a try at Xmas thanks for sharing x

[Goldia]

How annoying that even though you were all up super early you didn't make it for early entry. Ah well, you did manage a few rides. Although it's very frustrating the tech issue on Genie+ hadn't been fixed. That would have really annoyed me too.

Your magic bands are gorgeous though and now you have 2 pretty sets.

[sha9]

Originally Posted by Jaspercat10

Wow the Turf Club looks great I am going to give that a try at Xmas thanks for sharing x

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Yes it’s lovely!

Originally Posted by Goldia

How annoying that even though you were all up super early you didn't make it for early entry. Ah well, you did manage a few rides. Although it's very frustrating the tech issue on Genie+ hadn't been fixed. That would have really annoyed me too.

Your magic bands are gorgeous though and now you have 2 pretty sets.

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We quite often don’t get to parks as early as we’d like. I always underestimate how long the journey is, or how long Mum will take to get out of the room .

Having 2 lots of MBs was definitely a bonus. I switched them according to my outfit .

[Cinderella]

Turf Club food looks great 👍