The Unexpected Festive Family Trip - 28.12.18 – Day 4: Dwarves for Dinner

[Rescuer]

28.12.18 – Day 4: Dwarves for Dinner

Day 3 is here

Index

By this point we had tired Mil out so she was ready for some time chilling out away from my military precision planning, not that she ever looked at her perfectly printed and laminated daily plans anyway, lol. Only kidding. Mil is not a fan of AK or anything animaly actually so when we planned we agreed that today she might do her own thing if she decided she wanted a break from the parks and we would do AK.

Our Day

Ak did not have EMH today and opened at 8. We ran into the Contempo Café and picked up 2 banana nut muffins to take with us, too many mornings at AK in the past with nowhere open for food, although it does seem better now. We made it to the bus stop just in time to catch the bus at 7.36am. It did not take long to get there.

It was very busy heading in and I think most people had one objective, FOP, that was not thankfully our plan. As we walked up and round into Pandora the line for FOP was all the way back to Nomad Lounge. We walked right past as we wanted to ride the Navi Boat Ride. Now I’m not weird and like most of the population I like FOP way better but we had only ridden this once and found it disappointing as we did it after we had been on FOP. I wanted to give it another chance.

It was no more than a 5-minute wait at opening. It was really funny as in the line a little girl behind us kept trying to take my hand and tried to follow us on to the boat, her family were laughing as she was obviously tired and got me and her mum confused so ds nearly gained a sister.

I was really glad that we gave Navi another chance and we really liked spotting all the little details, it is so well themed. I’d never sacrifice a FOP fastpass for it but I’d do it at rope drop. We knew we would be back in Pandora later for our FOP fastpass so off we went.

As we were deciding exactly where we wanted to go next, yes I did have a plan but it had a little flexibility built in, we stopped for a photopass, this was timed at 8.14am bearing in mind the park opened at 8 and we had already done Navi.

The photographer was lovely and suggested we might want to see Minnie and Mickey at the outpost in their Christmas outfits as it was super quiet. It was indeed, we waited a matter of minutes and the interaction was great although Mickey was a bit confused as to why I was not wearing anything Mickey like the other 2. It was great to see them both together for once.

After that we headed round to Dinoland USA and rode Triceratops Spin, which is essentially just Dumbo in a different outfit but its fun and there was no line. We also rode Primeval Whirl as my spine needed realigning, ds loves this ride and we do always have a laugh on it but as a 3 someone always has to sit alone and is thrown all over the place, today DH was that lucky soul.

Afterwards we thought a Starbucks might be nice but the line was mental so no to that… On our way back round for our FOP line passage we passed a cm holding this.

Why, no matter how good it is would you wait this long? Plus, it was only 9.05am. We stopped for the flying Banshee magic shot on the way to FOP. The whole Pandora area was mad, you actually had to wait to cross through the FOP line and every so often the CM sectioned it off with ropes to let us through. We were on in 5 minutes, our lowest wait ever and as before it was stunning and an amazing ride experience. When we came off the wait was showing as 315 minutes!

We had now worked up a bit of an appetite so decided to grab a snack. We had the glazed pecans as a snack, love these even though they are probably totally unhealthy, the almonds that they do are amazing as well but equally unhealthy.

Round to Dinosaur for our next fastpass. It was having difficulties and wasn’t working just as we entered the loading are, we waited about 10 minutes before it was up and running. I can never make up my mind about this ride.

Our next fastpass was for Everest but it had not been running all morning, I think ds was secretly pleased. So it meant we could pursue the thing I wanted to do which was meet Chip and Dale in their dinosaur outfits. SMILE. They were not very well signposted but that was probably a good thing for us as we spent ages interacting with them.

Time for more snacks, we headed to the Eight Spoon Café where ds and Dh had the sweet chilli prawn mac and cheese and the pulled pork - sorry for the half eaten photo but I wandered to get something else and they assured me they didn’t know they were to meant to take photos - yeah right I only do a food report on every trip! They really enjoyed these and thought they were a great use of a snack credit.

I bought a pastrami slider which was also really nice for a snack credit. Which I totally took a picture of but I can't find it now

We were still hungry and decided to try flame tree barbecue. I tried to use mobile ordering but couldn’t get it to link to my credits. A cast member came and helped me out. Seemingly you need to link your dining in through your reservation. By the time I had it working ds and Dh were near the front of the line anyway.

Ds and Dh wanted more mac and cheese with the pulled pork. I wanted the ribs but I was outvoted. The mac and cheese was actually good - not really cheesy at all which suited me.

We had a vodka with mandarin lemonade to go with it. It was lovely.

A non-alcoholic version of this was also on the menu but the cm said they had none left, they were obviously keeping it for the more expensive alcohol option.

We also ordered a large Fanta and the loaded fries with cheese and pulled pork on snack credits. The fries were awesome!

There is loads of additional seating behind Flame Tree BBQ overlooking the lake. We were feeling a little bit tired out by now and decided to leave without using our anytime fastpass, we were happy with what we had done.

Again, following the theme, a few more photopass pictures on the way out.

Meanwhile Mil had had a lovely chilled out time and had visited the Grand Floridian on the monorail for lunch and some shopping.

Once back at the Contemporary the 3 of us went for a swim and to play some volleyball. I was thinking, how had it taken me so long to use a Disney Hot Tub?

Swim over, time to get ready for dinner at Artists Point. Mil is a huge seven dwarves fan and has always wanted to meet Dopey so as soon as I read about the start of Storybook Dining I was desperate to get a reservation for her.

Before catching the boat across to the Wilderness Lodge we took some photos down by the Mickey Statue.

There were a few families waiting for the boat across to Wilderness Lodge, 2 boats arrived, one that went directly to WL and one that went via Fort Wilderness which was the one we managed to get on.

We had never been to WL before and I was very impressed.

The Christmas decorations here were amazing and I really liked the design and theming.

We didn’t even see the outside. I’d like to stay here at some point.

This was the dining thing the 3 of us were looking forward to. More to see mil’s reaction. Snow White was the first movie that mil had ever seen and is her absolute favourite. She’s met Snow White but never Dopey. We told her about this on Christmas Day and she was suitably excited. Plus we had never been to the Wilderness Lodge before.

We checked in and were told it would 15-20 minutes so we opted to have a drink in the bar. We had just ordered when the pager went off. I went to check in and say the others would be a few minutes and was told they needed to be quick not to miss the characters. The woman at check in went off to the bar to hurry them along while ds and I sat down. I’d mentioned this was mil’s favourite to the greeter who had obviously said something because all the characters went to her first.

For drinks from the lounge ds had a Diet Coke, mil had the watermelon lemonade.

I had a raspberry mojito and it was lovely, the server commented it looked very Christmassy with its red and green colours. Dh had a sparking alcoholic water which was weird but surprisingly good.

Once seated we saw Snow White, Dopey then Grumpy. The interaction was really really good. After we had eaten our main courses we were told to go and see the queen. She was amazing. I was so glad we had done this as Mil was over the moon.

The starters arrived quite quickly. The soup was really nice and it was a nice touch with the melting marshmallow. It was really only a mouthful or two.

The chicken and truffle pies were good too. The stone fruit preserve made these even more tasty. For mushroom haters like my Dh he enjoyed the pie as the flavour is reasonably subtle.

The prawns were good, they come in a large jar and it’s just 1 massive prawn each. For anyone like my mil who doesn’t have a bit appetite you needn’t worry that these starters will fill you up as it’s definitely quality over quantity! Ds stand out starter was the soup.

For mains ds had the seafood stew - this was lovely and packed with seafood, I thought the fennel might overpower things a little but not at all.

I had the veal shank, this was amazing, so tender and really nice flavours, quite a sizeable portion as well. For once I had the stand out main course.

Mil had the chicken and thought this was delicious. I have to say I am a firm hater of Brussels sprouts but the ones with the chicken were really good.

Dh had the prime rib, this was nice but a little boring. He thought it was alright but not amazing. From what I’ve read the carrots have caused great controversy with their smoked flavour. I thought they were really nice.

We ordered drinks with our main course. I had the enchanted apple cocktail, it was lovely, the description of sour had left me a bit sceptical because I really like sweet drinks but this was lovely!

Dh had a brew of peaches. He liked it. I did not it was bourbon based and was really strong.

Mil had the herbal tea which she really enjoyed and ds had the transformation potion which he was sceptical about but actually really enjoyed it and drunk it all.

The desserts came out as another shared platter. The Miner’s Treasures - Sponge Cake, Chocolate Gems, and Buttercream Icing was not to my liking, too sickly but the others enjoyed it.

Poison” Apple - White Chocolate-Apple Mousse, Sour Center was really nice. Not overly sweet, beautiful presentation and just the right size.

The standout for most of us though was the Fairy Tale Gooseberry Pie with Meringue, Gooseberry. Again small but nice just the right level of sweetness.

The server then came round with The Hunter’s Gift to the Queen which was Crackled Maple Popcorn, Ganache Heart. Not really noteworthy in terms of taste but nice enough and a lovely touch to end the meal. All about the presentation for this.

This meal overall was great value on the dining plan, we had originally booked it just for the characters, however, everything about it was good. Dh and ds had said before hand it would be a once and done, however, it’s now one of our top adrs we want for July.

Afterwards we sat by the Christmas Tree in the lobby to finish our drinks.

On the way out I nipped into the quick service place and bought MIL a refillable mug with the 7 dwarves on it. I knew she would love to have it and would use it at home even though it could only be filled at the Wilderness Lodge.


We caught the boat back to the Contemporary and managed to catch Wishes from the boat just as we were arriving. I think we were determined to try and see Wishes from as many different viewpoints as possible.

It was the perfect end to a perfect night.

[JessBlu]

Sounds incredible

[Kat11]

Who are these people waiting 5 hours to ride FOP?! I would've been gutted if I'd waited that long as when I went on it I couldn't look when the banchee was flying (which was pretty much the whole time) I felt ill. 😔

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to trying Storybook dinning. 😃

Another great day!

Kat

[Inky]

Mm food looked lovely

[collybird]

Mickey and Minnie are very cute in their Christmas outfits, it is always fun to meet them together.

Oh my goodness, 5 hours for FoP, wow, just wow!

I have wanted to try the pecans or the almonds for a while, I’ll make sure we pick some up this year, they smell delicious.

I love Chip and Dale in their dinosaur outfits, they are so cute!

We are definitely going to Flame Tree this year, I just have to narrow down what I’m going to have, but I think I might go to town with the platter, the loaded fries and some onion rings haha.

MIL looks so happy in the pictures from dinner, I am so glad she enjoyed it. I am so tempted by this meal, it is definitely something we’ll do in the future.

[clochette]

5 hours for FOP! No just no!

The Storybook dining looks really good. I'm in two minds about this for July but I would have to pay OOP because we have QSDP and I am really mean about things like that

[dreamofmagic]

Absolutely love your report, Snow White is also my number one especially Dopey, looks like it was amazing and your MIL just looks so happy, looking forward to your next day x

[Goldia]

I love Mickey and Minnie in their Christmas outfits. How nice of the photographer to tell you it was a short wait.

I totally agree about waiting for 300 minutes for anything. I could never do it, however marvellous the ride is by the time I'd got there I'm sure it would not be able to live up to the expectation.

The hot tubs at Disney are fab, I'm glad you had a chance to relax a bit in the afternoon.

The dinner at Storybook Dining still looks fabulous. You timed the return boat trip perfectly to catch the fireworks, what a perfect end to the day.

[mick]

A great day and good meal to finish off with

Glad your Mum in law enjoyed her relaxing day

Joan

[Rescuer]

Originally Posted by JessBlu

Sounds incredible

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It was. Much to my surprise

Originally Posted by Kat11

Who are these people waiting 5 hours to ride FOP?! I would've been gutted if I'd waited that long as when I went on it I couldn't look when the banchee was flying (which was pretty much the whole time) I felt ill. 😔

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to trying Storybook dinning. 😃

Another great day!

Kat

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Thanks. I would not have the patience. That's a shame that FOP made you feel unwell.

Hopefully you will love Storybook Dining.

Originally Posted by Inky

Mm food looked lovely

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It was, the veal was amazing.

Originally Posted by collybird

Mickey and Minnie are very cute in their Christmas outfits, it is always fun to meet them together.

Oh my goodness, 5 hours for FoP, wow, just wow!

I have wanted to try the pecans or the almonds for a while, I’ll make sure we pick some up this year, they smell delicious.

I love Chip and Dale in their dinosaur outfits, they are so cute!

We are definitely going to Flame Tree this year, I just have to narrow down what I’m going to have, but I think I might go to town with the platter, the loaded fries and some onion rings haha.

MIL looks so happy in the pictures from dinner, I am so glad she enjoyed it. I am so tempted by this meal, it is definitely something we’ll do in the future.

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Definitely try the nuts at animal kingdom, they are so moreish. Flame Tree Loaded fries were great, I love that runny cheese

Maybe you might book Storybook Dining if (when) you upgrade to DDP?

Originally Posted by clochette

5 hours for FOP! No just no!

The Storybook dining looks really good. I'm in two minds about this for July but I would have to pay OOP because we have QSDP and I am really mean about things like that

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It's a lot of money oop, yes it was a great experience and great value on ddp but there are way more better value onsite dining options around. We are doing it in July again but we have ddp, if we didn't I'd be looking elsewhere.