A Whole New World, July 2016! ~3. Disney Springs & Ohanas

[Grapesoda]

Magic Kingdom & Trex

July 5th ~ Disney Springs and Ohana's

Today is very short on photographs as it didn't really go to plan, the plan was to go to Hollywood Studios and then have dinner at Ohanas which went out the window very quickly. Looking back on it now I can see that my schedule was too full on and I hadn't took into consideration the shear scale of things and all the walking! I still can't believe that doing 3 rides at a park could take up to 5hrs!
(rookie error).

Anywhoo back to today!
I woke at 6.55am and done the usual sorting through photos and report notes.
Liam woke at 7:30am, so we got washed and dressed and went to Artists Palette for some brekkie. We got the same as we got the first day cause it was so yummy, I miss Disney breakfasts I think they were nicer than the lunch options.

We had a lovely relaxed breakfast, just me and the wee man, I started talking about hidden Mickeys and Liam got really interested, so when we were finished we walked around the lobby looking for some. We found this one outside on the horse and Liam was just amazed and for the rest of the holiday he was obsessed with hidden Mickeys haha!

We decided it would be nice to go over to Disney Springs and visit Disney Quest, if Nigel and Joseph were too tired they could have a lazy morning till we got back. We headed back to the room and whispered to the others the plan, it got a resounding grumble so just me and Liam then.

Off we went to the boat dock only to be told the boat didn't start until 10am, it was just gone 9am AAAHHHH!
Back to the room I opened curtains put on the telly and told the other two that a lazy morning was now off the agenda and they might as well get up and come with us to Disney Springs as we had to wait an hour for the boats to start. To soften the blow Liam and I volunteered to go and get them breakfast.

All fed, watered and dressed we toddled over to the boat dock and caught the 10am to Disney Springs. Oh man it was boiling hot and DS with it's concrete and little shade was a bit sickening at times. Me and Nigel were loving it, the boys not so much!

We walked around for a bit looking at all the shops until we reached The World of Disney and we decided to go in for a little gander.
It's mooohassive, just impossible to see everything!
We decided to split up with Nigel and Joseph looking for Star Wars stuff while Liam and I went in search of the hidden Mickey book.
The boys had their own spending money ($250 each),Liam also bought a Oswald plushy to match the ears me & Nigel had bought him the day before in Magic Kingdom. I bought 4 foam keyrings for $10 and because we had spent over $40 we were able to buy a Mickey Mouse backpack for $20. The backpack was so handy during our holiday it had several pockets and was lightweight and Liam now uses it for school so I'm glad we got that.
Nigel & Joseph didn't see anything they wanted, Josephs at that awkward age were Disney stuff isn't really his thing he'd rather buy PS4 games and baseball hats.

We ventured a little further to starbucks were I bought a Berry Hibiscus Venti for a snack credit, it was like a gallon of drink haha!
The boys got a couple of bottles of coke from Jofferys.
We had a little look around the Harley Davidson shop and of course we had to get a little photo on the bikes! There was loads of cool stuff in there, we were just grateful for the aircon!

Up next was the Star Wars shop, this shop is just brilliant and had a lot of things that we didn't see anywhere else in Disney. Joseph bought a silver chain and ring they were $20 each. You can just about make them out in this photo, the ring is really cool there's an outer layer that spins and has “May the force be with you” engraved on it.

The boys were dying to go to Disney Quest so that's were we went, and they really enjoyed it. I know a lot of people don't grade it and thinks it's a waste of time but I honestly think for kids the age of my two and especially boys they're just going to love it.
The boys went on loads of things that Nigel used to play as a kid in his local arcade things like Pacman, Donkey Kong, Mario Bros and Tron.

They also played Wreck it Ralph and those simulator seats were you watch a screen and it looks like your on a roller coaster sand your seat jiggles about, they were really good fun.
We went on the Buzz Lightyears Astro Blaster, me and Liam against Nigel & Joseph were you have to try and git the other persons car with a ball, the boys loved it!

After spending a good few hours in Disney Quest we were getting hungry so walked to Cookes of Dublin for lunch.
We used 4 QS credits and got the following...
Fish & chips = me
Burger & chips = Nigel
Chicken tenders & chips =Joseph
Cheeseburger & chips =Liam

We could choose trifles, ice-cream or parfaits for dessert but I knew we wouldn't want to eat dessert straight away so the CM told us we could have cookies instead. Theses were a great side order, we got 2 packs of shortbread and 2 of choc chip cookies. They were great for a snack back at the room over the next couple of days, they shortbread was amazing so buttery yum!

Everything at Cookes was lovely and we were told there would be a wait for our food as everything was prepared fresh to order which I liked. We would definitely eat here again, we used the toilets which are in the main restaurant Raglan Road. I think if we had the DDP again I would make an ADR for in there it looked lovely, the only reason I didn't book it this time is because I thought it would be silly coming from Ireland to eat in an Irish themed restaurant haha!

At this stage we were knackered, this happened a lot once we'd eaten.
We knew we needed a rest before our meal at Ohanas so we walked back to SSR which took these than 10 mins then we got the bus from Congress park to The Springs and walked the 2min back to our room, so handy.
Nigel collapsed on the bed, he said he felt a little ill and Joseph went on his tablet to watch Netflix, it's such a good feeling coming into a tidy cool room after walking in the boiling heat all morning.
Liam and I went to refill the mugs and look for SSR hidden Mickeys!

Back at the room everyone got showered and dressed for Ohanas which I had booked for 6pm hoping we could grab the last few hours in Hollywood studios to watch the fireworks.
We caught the bus at 5pm and then the monorail to the Polynesian, the resort is very pretty but I didn't love it as much as other resorts we went to. I suppose that's what Disney does best is cater for different styles and tastes!
Off we go!

Anyway, we went up to the check in desk and got a buzzer, Liam had his Hidden Mickey book with him in the backpack so we looked for those.
At a certain angle these balls mad a mickey head!

When the buzzer went off we were shown to our table and given some Pinapple bread and told our server would be along soon.

Well the server was the worst CM of the whole holiday! He came over and and took our drink order, he didn't ask if we'd ever eaten here before or explained the way things worked he just brought over our drinks and went to walk away! I had to ask him could I order some chicken tenders and French fries as Joseph is really fussy. He said that would be okay and off he went.

The salad, chicken wings and potstickers were brought down. These were all lovely Nigel and Liam ate some Chicken wings and salad but not much. Liam was starting to complain of a sore tummy so I gave him some medicine we had in the backpack.

The server then came with Josephs dish and put it down without asking if everything was okay or did we need anything, and off he went!
This was not how I had imagined things, the skewers of meat came next and I had chicken and steak but the steak was really rare,when I began to cut it I could see the sinew BLEUGHHH! Liam was now needing the toilet and Nigel wanted to go for some fresh air so he said he would take him to the loo and then out for some air and me and Joseph could finish the meal without them then come down when we were ready.

This really wasn't going well, but hay these things happen and the experience wasn't exactly mind blowing up to this point anyway

Me and Joseph carried on eating and enjoying the lady singing and playing her ukulele.

Our lovely server (*not lovely) came over and pointed to Nigels chair and said, “where's he gone?”. I explained the situation to him and he just raised an eyebrow and walked off!
A few moments later he appeared with the bill!, I had to tell him that we still wanted dessert, what an absolute ****** (rhymes with banker).:angry:
Once he brought the dessert I was well and truly ready to leave, so after a couple of mouthfuls I paid the tip, only 10% with a sad face on the bill.

It was only on my second ever day of tipping and to be honest if I'd had this meal towards the end of the holiday I wouldn't have tipped at all. I just wasn't really confident enough to not give something.

Back in the lobby we found Liam and Nigel who were both feeling a bit better after some fresh air. I went to reception to ask for some leis as we didn't get any at Ohanas! The receptionist was lovely and asked us if we'd like a family photograph with our leis on.

On our way to the monorail Liam started messing about and running ahead of me and Joseph, Nigel was dragging behind taking photographs. Well he tripped and fell on carpet, he was grand, Me and Joseph were laughing and pointing at him and I said “what are you doing down there you eejit”.
When Nigel caught up with us he over heard an American family talking about a boy falling and his Mum laughing haha!
They would probably be like “Oh sweetie are you okay honey?”
In Ireland we be like “Will you stop embarrassing yourself” lol! #toughlove

The backpack...

On the monorail we all decided to give Hollywood Studios a miss tonight as we had a few other visits planned during the holiday anyway and we were so tired now. I was a good girl and cancelled my FP, so I hope someone got the benefit of them.

We got back to SSR filled our mugs, ate our cookies and grumbled about Ohanas...

Magic Kingdom & Epcot

[Pussycat Doll]

I must admit we weren't very impressed with Ohanas! When I book an ADR at 180 days I don't expect to be kept waiting nearly an hour for our table! In fairness our server did his best to make up for me being in a foul mood by the time we sat down and the Manager came over too and bought us a drink. Your morning sounds lovely though! Pussycat

[jemima2]

Really enjoyed reading that! We live in n Ireland and raglan Rd was our fave! Had a real giggle at the American family / tripping up episode. Loads of stuff like that happened to us 😄😄 oh and what an idiot of a server 😡

[Floridaagogo]

Such a shame about your server.just not good enough 😡

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by Pussycat Doll

I must admit we weren't very impressed with Ohanas! When I book an ADR at 180 days I don't expect to be kept waiting nearly an hour for our table! In fairness our server did his best to make up for me being in a foul mood by the time we sat down and the Manager came over too and bought us a drink. Your morning sounds lovely though! Pussycat

See more...

Yeah it was a real shame, I was really looking forward to it to.

Originally Posted by jemima2

Really enjoyed reading that! We live in n Ireland and raglan Rd was our fave! Had a real giggle at the American family / tripping up episode. Loads of stuff like that happened to us 😄😄 oh and what an idiot of a server 😡

See more...

Yes Raglan Road looked really good, we loved Cookes of Dublin.
Hahaha the American family were prob ready to call social services!
The server defo was an idiot

Originally Posted by Floridaagogo

Such a shame about your server.just not good enough 😡

See more...

Bad service really can make or break a good dining experience!

[PixieBoot]

Great day, grumpy CM & poor meal aside. I've been toying with O'Hana for the ADR list, but I think I'd want to be a little 'wowed' given the location and entertainment, and with 3 out of 3 kids being fussy eaters, it might be a waste! Hope subsequent meals made up for it x

[mouselover22]

Ohana's is down there for me too Not the experience I had hoped for either.

Disney Quest is great fun I hope the rumours are NOT true and it stays at Disney Springs for a long time to come!

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by PixieBoot

Great day, grumpy CM & poor meal aside. I've been toying with O'Hana for the ADR list, but I think I'd want to be a little 'wowed' given the location and entertainment, and with 3 out of 3 kids being fussy eaters, it might be a waste! Hope subsequent meals made up for it x

See more...

The kids can order frnch fries and nuggets so don't let the menu put you off, I just hope you don't get Mr. Personality

Originally Posted by mouselover22

Ohana's is down there for me too Not the experience I had hoped for either.

Disney Quest is great fun I hope the rumours are NOT true and it stays at Disney Springs for a long time to come!

See more...

My boys loved DQ, Later in the holiday we went to POP century and they have an arcade with similar things to DQ... we spent a fortune in there, everything cost $1-2! DQ is a great bonus I hope it stays too!

[2littleboys]

Another great day, shame about your server in Ohana though! I had looked at getting my 10 year old a hidden mickey book, I think its something he would enjoy looking for too!

[i love jack]

Great day, but shame about ohanas