The Tri-City Tour November 2021: DLP Day 2

[Gill H]

<<DLP Day 1

Wednesday 17 November

Unlike yesterday, we were determined to make the most of EMT today as we normally do. So we set an alarm for 6am, got ready over a cuppa and left the room, remembering this time to bring our masks and phones! We nipped out to security for today’s wristbands, and were outside the Downtown restaurant before it opened at 7am. We even had time to check out some more of the art.

This one in particular is a dead ringer for one of my fellow podcasters on the Great British Mickey Waffle! (Except she isn't usually green ... only on occasion.)

The restaurant was much quieter than it had been the previous evening. We had a good view of the Asgard chandelier in the Manhattan restaurant (which adjoins Downtown).

Am I the only one who has to have ‘Miel Pops’ at some point in a DLP holiday? I miss having these in the UK!

Love a ‘cold meats and cheeses’ breakfast.

When you have to queue each time, you end up getting a bizarre mix of foods on your plate…!

[Gill H]

We let the hotel in plenty of time to get through security and be in Town Square by 8.30 am.

After yesterday’s tip-off, I had brought my Mastercard with me and I went straight to City Hall to see if we could get the preferred seats for the ‘Rhythms of the Pridelands’ show. The CM outside told us that they were released 2 hours before the show, and we should come back at 10.30.

So we made our way up Main Street and, for the first time on this trip, went through the castle. It was reaching the end of its substantial refurb, and from the front it was pristine, but there was still scaffolding at the back at this point. The dungeon was still closed, as was the upstairs, so the dragon and the snoring knights would have to wait till next time.

Peter Pan had a 5 minute wait (the best reason to use EMT if you are not a fan of Big Thunder!) As usual we enjoyed the ride, although I found the seat very painful for my dodgy knees. We were in a front seat and I suspect the back seat might have more room, so will remember to ask for that next time. It’s such a short ride though, I could put up with painful knees!

Dumbo had next to no queue. As we are not small people, we always ask for ‘one and one’ and go on separate elephants. The legroom was fine for me, and as always we enjoyed great views, although it was a shame to see the works at the back of the castle.

Carousel had virtually no queue either. We normally look for the carriage as I find it tricky getting on the horses. This time a CM was seating people by number, so we asked for a carriage and she said ‘number 9 on the left’. I don’t know if this is a new thing but I liked it. Usually people spend ages deciding which horses to go on and it means there is a long wait before the ride gets going. I can see there might be tears if your little one has a favourite horse though.

Then it was on to Teacups, which is always a squeeze for me getting in, but I just about managed it.

By now we had done all the Fantasyland rides that were usually open during EMT. We had a little sit down at March Hare refreshments (which was closed, so I’m sure nobody minded us using the seats), and noticed that Alice’s Curious Labyrinth was open.

We hadn’t done this for some years, and certainly not since it had a substantial refurb, so we headed in.

It’s actually a really good maze with lots of fun details from the film – including of course the Queen of Hearts, who pops up every now and then to threaten visitors. We made it to the castle, and Peter went up the stairs to the top, while I rested my aching legs downstairs.

[Gill H]

By this time it was almost 10am so we went over to my absolute favourite ride – yes, It’s A Small World.

I was sad to see that the fountain wasn’t working and wondered if it had been turned off as a covid measure. Hope it’s back soon. I loved the ride though – I know it’s cheesy and the music is the ultimate earworm, but I love spotting all the little details of the various countries.

I love that DLP's version has America in it, which the US version doesn't!

I'm the king of the Small World!

Goodbye...

We headed for the toilets near Pizzeria Bella Notte but they were closed, so instead we went through to Liberty Arcade. By now it was 10.20 so we went to join the queue at City Hall for the Mastercard seating. There were 15 people in the queue including ourselves. The CM who was managing the queue told us that there were 15 Mastercard seats available at every performance, so we figured we would be OK. However, some people must have been getting seats for others in their party, as we were soon told there was only one seat left.

On a whim we decided to pay for Premier Access seating instead – the first and so far only time we have used the new Premier Access system. At least we got AP discount on the 15 Euro price.

[Gill H]

Then it was time for a visit to Salon Mickey. As we are Shareholders’ Club members we still get this free perk, and it’s always lovely to knock on the door and be welcomed into the small lounge. And by Walt's creepy head that follows you round the room...

We were each given a shortbread biscuit with Nutella in the middle, in the shapes of Jessie and Woody. I only got a photo of Woody!

We also had a pain au chocolat for me and a chocolate muffin for Peter, along with a coffee and a bottle of orange juice each. It was nice to relax there for a while, admiring the Christmas trees.

Our next destination was Frontierland. We noticed there was a magic photo point near the shops but it wasn’t currently open, so we had a browse in the shops and then Peter went on Big Thunder, which had a 15 minute wait this morning.

Meanwhile I sat outside Fuente del’Oro to wait for him. When he came off the ride, we checked at the photo booth and were glad to see that the Photopass ride photo had worked this time. Interestingly, WDW doesn't have a ride photo on Big Thunder - I wonder why?

[Gill H]

It was now time to make our way to the Frontierland Theatre for the ‘Rhythms of the Pridelands’ show. As mentioned earlier, we had paid for Premier Access and so expected to be able to join a much shorter queue – a useful thing, as the regular queue was stretching way back to the Cowboy Cookout restaurant. However, it wasn’t clear where we needed to go, and we eventually had to be directed back to the Premier Access queue entrance.

The last time we saw this show, we had booked the Festival package which included preferred seating, and we had been shown to a separate area to sit outside and wait for the theatre to open. I had been hoping for something similar this time, but no such luck. We still had to stand for over half an hour, and my legs were really complaining, as standing is much worse for me than walking.

Eventually the theatre opened, and after the disabled guests had been welcomed in, we were next. I have to say that the seats were excellent, and we certainly didn’t have to wait as long as many people in the queue, so perhaps it was a good use of the money in the end.

And once the show started I forgot about the pain in my legs and got swept up in this wonderful spectacle. For those who haven’t seen it, the show is completely different from any other version of the Lion King. It’s not always running, but if it is on when you go, do try and see it.

Walking back through Frontierland, we noticed that the magic photo point was open now, and managed to get some fun snaps with Meeko.

[Gill H]

It was about 1.20 by the time we left the park, and our Spiderman meet was booked for 2pm, so we didn’t dawdle in the Village, just stopping into New York Style Sandwiches on the way. We got a ‘Menu 1’ to take away, which consisted of a baguette with ham, cheese, lettuce and pickles, and a soft drink. We just had time to take these back to our room and put them in the fridge, before going down to the Spiderman meet.

This was in the other wing of the hotel from our room, and was listed as the Super Hero Station. I guess perhaps they may have other character meets there in time, although Spiderman will always be a popular choice. We were introduced to Spidey and had a nice chat with him before posing for some official Photopass photos.

I guess all the European travel he did in ‘Far From Home’ had left its mark, because I’m sure he had a slight trace of a French accent in there somewhere…!

Then we moved on to what is rather grandly called the Marvel Hero Photo Stations. These are basically just a series of backgrounds for you to take your own photos against, with music and lighting adding to the atmosphere. They’re fun, and I think Marvel-mad kids would love them, but I think there is scope for them to do more – perhaps have visual effects which you can set off by pushing a button.

That said, the opportunity to crawl on the ceiling in Peter Parker’s bedroom is a cool one.

And of course you just have to try to lift Thor’s hammer – sadly we weren’t worthy.

The whole thing took about half an hour. Considering it is free (and limited to hotel guests only) we thought it was a nice perk.

[Gill H]

Once back in our room we had our sandwiches and drinks, had a nap for a while and then completed our passenger locator forms for the return journey.

We didn’t feel like going back into the parks, so instead we had a browse in the Village. We needed to find presents for family members, none of whom were particularly Disney fans, and the lack of general merch was something of a problem. However, we found some little pop-up shops selling French souvenirs. Here we managed to get a pen for my sister-in-law Sharon, who we always buy pens for everywhere we go. We also got a nice toiletries bag for Peter’s mum, and a decorated tin of shortbread for my mum and dad. Hooray for non-Disney shops!

As we came back into the hotel we noticed that the Skyliner Bar was open and there was currently no queue, so we popped in to try it out.

The screen showing views of New York behind the bar featured Stark HQ of course, and every now and again a Marvel character would appear. Very cool little detail.

We both had one of the non-alcoholic cocktails, the Orange Fusion Reactor. This consisted of orange juice, mango and passion fruit nectars and strawberry coulis, and came with a little ‘fusion reactor’ made of melon.

We also shared a little treat – the Doctor Strange choux pastry. This was filled with vanilla whipped cream and topped with freeze-dried raspberries and a white chocolate disc printed with the Doctor Strange logo.

We got talking to the family next to us who were also from Wales. They were staying in a different hotel but had decided to come over and check out the bar, and I can’t honestly blame them – it’s lovely.

Back upstairs in that beautiful lift...

It was now gone 6pm so we could check in online for tomorrow’s flight. We chose our seats and ensured our boarding passes were in our Apple wallets on the phone, as well as being visible in the Verifly app.

[Gill H]

Dinner tonight was booked for 7pm in the Manhattan restaurant. This was the meal we had most looked forward to, as it had been a favourite with us in its previous incarnation.

We were shown to our seats by Remi, who was fortunately a person rather than a rat! We figured he had heard every possible joke about his name and so refrained from making a comment, but he acknowledged the Ratatouille connection with a smile. Our seats were near the beautiful chandelier.

This restaurant is definitely one of the most sophisticated in atmosphere currently available at DLP (at least while Walt’s and California Grill are closed). I wouldn’t say not to bring children – there are child-friendly options on the menu – but tonight the diners were mostly adults.

We were on the half-board dining plan so we chose from the Little Italy menu. As this is supposed to be an Italian restaurant, all the menu was in Italian first, then French and then English, which takes a little while to get your head around as everywhere else just has French and English!

Even the plates here are beautiful.

Our server soon arrived to take our order. Unfortunately I have forgotten his name (you may realise later why that is no bad thing…)

First came the bread - two kinds, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping.

To start, I chose the burrata (a speciality mozzarella) which came with a vegetable caponata and thin Sicilian flatbread. This was absolutely gorgeous, with fresh, zingy flavours, and is probably one of the best things I’ve eaten at DLP ever.

Peter went for the minestrone soup, which unlike the version you tend to get over here was properly Italian, light and flavourful. So far, we were seriously impressed.

For our main course we had both gone for the saltimbocca – a traditional Italian dish of chicken pieces wrapped in ham with what was described as a sage sauce. This came with a side dish of potatoes roasted with garlic, rosemary and onion butter.

When the dishes arrived they looked a little underwhelming – the ‘sage sauce’ was one crisp sage leaf, and there didn’t seem to be any vegetables.

Nevertheless we tucked in enthusiastically. And that’s where things started to go a bit wrong…

[Gill H]

If you have read my other trip reports you know that I have a thing about cold food. If it’s supposed to be hot, then it needs to be hot. This is something Disney seems to have major problems with – we have sent back cold food in WDW and on the cruise line as well as in DLP. And to be honest, lots of places elsewhere too. Peter is a trained chef and can tell you the temperature hot food should be served at – and these days, it rarely is.

With one bite we discovered that our chicken was barely warm. We discreetly flagged down our server, and while waiting for him to come over we started on the roast potatoes. These were piping hot and utterly delicious.

When our server arrived we explained politely that the food was cold and asked him to replace it. He apologised and took our plates away, but we asked him to leave the dish of potatoes as we were happy with them and didn’t need any more.

A few minutes later the server arrived with two new plates of food – and another dish of roast potatoes. We explained that we had said we didn’t want any more, but he insisted on leaving them there.

This time the chicken was warmer – still not as hot as we would have liked, but we decided to eat it. However, we were annoyed about the potatoes as we had specifically said we didn’t want any more, and there was no way we were going to finish all these. So we asked nicely if we could talk to a manager.

A few minutes later a manager appeared and asked what the problem was, so we explained. He didn’t understand at all, and kept saying that we wouldn’t be charged for the extra potatoes, so what was the problem? We explained that we had clearly asked not to have any more, and it was a waste of good food as well as disrespecting our wishes. We were nice about it – but firm. Eventually the manager apologised, and went away.

From then on we had a different server, but the original one was still around and deliberately blanking us every time he walked past. The manager didn’t do anything to improve our experience such as offering us a free drink or a coffee (not that we expected this but it would have been nice).

Eventually we finished the chicken, which was pretty bland, and as many of the potatoes as we wanted (and don’t get me wrong, they were amazing). When our new server came we made a point of being nice to him, as we didn’t want to be ‘those people’… you know what I mean!

For dessert I ordered the cannolo (yes, just one, cannoli is the plural!) This came filled with buffalo ricotta and candied fruit, sitting on a chocolate and pistachio praline cream. It was light and very tasty.

Peter went for the limoncello baba with citrus whipped cream and exotic fruit salad. He asked first whether there was any banana in the fruit salad as he’s allergic, and to the restaurant’s credit they made a thorough job of finding out and reassuring us. His dessert was likewise delicious, and beautifully presented.

As we were on the dining plan there was nothing to pay, so when our server took our plates away we made sure to thank him and to praise the starters and desserts.

Overall this was a good meal, although I would choose a different main course next time and definitely ensure some vegetables were included.

[Gill H]

On our way through the lobby, Peter went over to the concierge desk to feed back our experience and explain that we weren’t very happy with how we had been treated. We didn’t ask for any recompense, but just wanted the hotel to know what had happened for future training.

When we got back to our room we made ourselves a cuppa and got ready for tonight’s big adventure – the Great British Mickey Waffle podcast. Normally we all broadcast from our homes every Wednesday night, but last week we had been able to include Ben and Becca broadcasting live from Walt Disney World. They were still out there this week, so the plan was to switch between us in DLP, Ben and Becca in WDW, and the others back in the UK. This was quite an undertaking, as we had no way of knowing if it was going to work.

We kicked off at 8.30 pm UK time as usual, which of course was 9.30 for us in DLP and mid-afternoon for Ben and Becca. Somehow we managed to overcome patchy wifi and the broadcast went really well. We showed off our room and the hotel lobby, and then Peter tried to broadcast from the Village, but the wifi really did cause issues there. We did get to spend some time with Ben and Becca too as well as some of our American listeners, and the whole thing was infused with the fun and excitement of being back in a Disney park. Credit has to go to John and Sammie who managed to keep a lid on what could have been barely controlled chaos! If you want to check it out it is still on YouTube as Episode #44 of our Wafflers' Wednesday shows.



After the show we needed to wind down, so went over to the hotel shop for some soft drinks and a bag of crisps to share, before settling down to sleep on our last night in these lovely comfortable beds.

Join us tomorrow for our last day in the park and our journey back to London, before the final leg of the tour.

Travel Day 3: DLP to London

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