Parks, Pins, Puke, Pennies...Not Enough Planning April / May '17 Day 13: Golf & MK

[moosha]

Day 13 - Thursday 4th May 2017

We got up around 7 ish which was a nice treat. By this point we were all feeling really tired and had decided to head to Winter Summerland for a round of mini golf this morning. Mat went down to the BoardWalk Bakery and got the girls and I chocolate croissants which were a bit stale, and a multigrain seeded croissant for himself (bleurgh). He also got me a fruit cup which wasn’t great as Disney fruit cups tend not to be; they’re all unripe melon and squishy grapes (although this one was apple instead of grapes). We ate our breakfast on the balcony which was pleasant.











We had planned to leave at 9.30 but as always we were about ten minutes late getting out. We arrived at Winter Summerland at 9.50 ish and it was really quiet, even at the entrance to Blizzard Beach. As it was ten minutes before opening, we put on suncream in the car park and then headed to the entrance.

















One of the shutters around the check in desk was still closed and a CM was busy getting everything ready. We waited patiently a little way back from the desk, and then as the CM was opening up the other shutter, another family appeared from nowhere and tried to go around us . The Cast Member told them politely to wait and checked us in.

The BoardWalk had given us free passes for a round of mini golf when we checked in, which I think is pretty standard with Disney room bookings, but obviously we get mini golf included in the Ultimate tickets so we used those. I asked the guy if the free passes can be used after 4 pm as Ultimates can’t and he said you can actually use either after 4pm if it’s quiet. He also said we were to take no more than six shots per hole, and when he noticed Seren’s birthday badge, he told us to keep an eye on the candy canes for pins if it’s your birthday. We didn’t have a clue what he meant, and when we asked a different CM who collected our clubs at the end, he just talked about the story on each candy cane. Odd.







































We played the summer course which is our favourite. We do love mini golf, especially Winter Summerland. It was a bit annoying as the family who had tried to queue jump were right behind us which always makes it feel a bit pressured. And there were only two people playing the winter course while we were all bunched up. I was the winner today.

After golf, we drove to the TTC...



...parked in Zurgy...





...and took the ferry to Magic Kingdom.





Continued below...

[moosha]

...continued

The girls don’t like going on the ferry so they had a bit of a moan, but Mat and I prefer it to the monorail by a mile, and today the ferry was already waiting in the dock so it was always going to win. Amazingly we had timed everything just right as we were walking into Magic Kingdom at 11.50 am and had a lunch ADR at Tony’s Town Square at 12 pm. We checked in and were seated within a couple of minutes.

Now, everybody knows that Tony’s has a bad reputation. We had only booked it for the Festival of Fantasy dining package because we really don’t like staking out a spot for the parade ages in advance and all the stress of trying to hold onto your spot while you wait. We actually weren’t expecting Tony’s to be bad after reading a fairly favourable review in Stephanie’s (dixonsontour) food report. Mat and I had eaten at Tony’s before on our honeymoon in 2001 and we have two overriding memories of our experience. Firstly it was mid-afternoon, possibly during the few very strange days after 9/11 when Disney World was really quiet after it re-opened, and the restaurant was empty apart from us with maybe one or two other parties arriving while we were there. Secondly, we both had spaghetti and meatballs (at the time we had both given up vegetarianism). We were served a big bowl of spaghetti each with one massive meatball on top of the pasta. We had never seen anything like it, it was not nice at all and definitely had a hand in encouraging us back to being vegetarians again not long after. We have joked about that meatball ever since.

Anyway, today we were seated at a pretty nice table and we all said we liked the interior of the restaurant. Our server, Casey from Rochester NY, introduced himself and he was an absolute star. Casey was our best server of the trip and I think we left a Cast Compliment for him after the meal. He was so friendly and professional. He talked to Seren about her dietary challenges (besides her tree nut allergy and pescatarian diet, she was also very much borderline on the kids’ / adult meal thing this trip being technically a Disney adult but finding the adult meals a bit fussy and too large.) Casey said she could have the children’s meal if she wanted and she chose the kids’ cheese pizza.







Lady and the Tramp:



I had a Diet Coke, Mat had raspberry lemonade and it looks like I also had a little glass of wine too:



Seren had an apple juice and Freya had milk. The bread we were served was nice and crispy on the outside and really good, we all hoovered it up. I think we were given butter as well as olive oil with it.



We each got three courses on the FoF dining package. I had the zucchini fries as my appetiser, they were delicious and I could have done with a few more actually as the portion was pretty small.



Mat had pasta faglioni vegetable soup which he really enjoyed.



The girls had sliced apples which they were very happy with.



The girls enjoyed playing the game on the kids' menu:



So it was all going very well until the entrees. We had all chosen pizza thinking it was a safe bet as I remember reading bad things about the microwaved pasta here.

Children's cheese and tomato pizza:



I had the vegetable pizza..



...and it was pretty much inedible . It was so salty. I tried eating both just the topping and just the base but both the cheese and the base were incredibly salty. The pizza had spinach under the cheese which made the base really soggy. In the end I ate the spinach, tomato, olives and onion off the pizza and that was about it. Everyone else said the same thing about their pizza too. This is Mat's cheese and tomato pizza:



For dessert Seren wanted more apple slices. Casey brought her a double portion and two of them had birthday candles in which was sweet .



Freya had vanilla ice cream:



Mat had a cheesecake with strawberries which was really small and had no base:



I had no added sugar raspberry sorbet which was massive and had an artificial taste. I didn’t eat it and Seren ended up having it.



Because Seren was eating a children’s portion at Casey’s suggestion, he put her meal through on the check at the children’s package price of around $17 rather than the adult price of $46. We hadn’t expected him to do that and it was very kind of him, so we left a generous tip (which we would have done anyway because of his excellent service.) So a mixed bag at Tony’s; great service but the entrees were poor so I don’t think we’d hurry back.





When we left the restaurant, there was a very short line to meet Stitch (Seren’s favourite character) so we waited five minutes to meet him.













Then we decided to use our paper FastPasses from last night on Pirates of the Caribbean.







With the FPs we walked straight on.

We had Mine Train FastPasses from 2.05 - 3.05 pm so did that next and were given the second to last rows. This ride is so much better in the back so we were happy.

Casey had said we shouldn’t bother to check in for the parade with our dining package passes until 3 pm because it was a quiet day and as the parade starts in Frontierland, it wouldn’t get to Town Square until about 3.15. So we had a bit of time to kill. It was very hot and Mat was flagging so I suggested we go to Philharmagic for the air conditioning. The posted wait was 10 minutes and we queued all the way through rather than just walking straight to the theatre doors which is usually the norm for us here. When we got inside the theatre, a CM made an announcement that we should ask anyone who hasn’t moved all the way down the row to do so rather than stepping over them. I prefer it when the CMs get people to move.

Mat slept all the way through the show and I was panicking because it was 2.53 pm when the show started and we needed to get back to Town Square to check in at 3ish. In the end it wasn’t too bad, we made it to the parade viewing spot just after 3 pm and it wasn’t very busy. Randomly we were stood next to the guy who was in front of us in the line to meet Belle the previous day at DHS.









We do love Festival of Fantasy and we enjoyed watching it with a bit of space and a good view so definitely felt the dining package was worth it (shame about the pizza). A few of the performers called ‘happy birthday’ to Seren and when Tiana said it, I cried. Exactly the same thing had happened on her eighth birthday too.

[moosha]

...continued

































Happy:



After the parade we took a walk back up Main Street and saw this guy with two massive coolers which I wouldn’t have expected Disney to have allowed him to bring into the park .



Mat grabbed a double espresso from Starbucks and we got some of their delicious tap waters too.





We had 3.15 - 4.15 pm Big Thunder Mountain FastPasses so we walked over to Frontierland with our drinks. We were at the loading dock pretty quickly and the girls politely asked the CM if we could wait for the back which was no problem. The girls sat together for the first time and I was a bit worried Freya was going to slip out.

As we headed towards the exit, we took some photos at the entrance to Adventureland and a nice lady passing by offered to take a photo of us all together, bless her.









On Main Street we got the girls a Mickey head balloon each which was sort of a treat for Seren’s birthday. However, today probably wasn’t the best day to do it as it was really quite windy. The balloons were blowing all over the place, so Mat and I held them on the way out of the park. I was getting really annoyed with the balloon I was holding as it kept bashing me in the head.

The plan was to take the express monorail and when we got to the platform, Monorail Coral was already sat there empty with the doors shut. We were all able to gather on the loading platform but it was clear that we weren’t getting on this monorail anytime soon. It sat there for ten minutes and then moved off. It was pretty hot and claustrophobic stood there waiting but there was an apology announcement and luckily it wasn’t long before Monorail Black arrived to pick us all up.

We got half way around to The Polynesian and then the monorail stopped. I really don’t like it when you’re sat up there between stations not moving, and we sat there for another ten minutes .



We could see Monorail Coral was in the station at the TTC, obviously it still had issues, and this was continuing to affect our journey. More apology announcements were made and I was just glad when we finally got moving again and were able to get off the monorail and get in the car.

Back at The Boardwalk, and the girls were loving the balloons:















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[moosha]

...continued

We got back to our suite at the BoardWalk about 6.20 pm and I had a quick shower while Mat took the girls down to the pool. When I joined them, Mat got me a glass (plastic cup) of Cabernet Sauvignon (he already had a drink on the go) which hit the spot. It had got pretty chilly and was still windy but the girls were loving life in the pool and riding the creepy clown slide.











At 8pm, Leaping Horse Libations (the pool bar) closed up. We had a quick look on t’internet for somewhere around the BoardWalk for a quick bite and decided on Hurricane Hanna’s as the online menu looked pretty good for us. I believe at the time they had fried shrimp, a tuna sandwich and, well, cocktails of course.

The girls got changed in the pool restrooms and we wandered round to the Yacht Club.



Dodgy nighttime phone photos, sorry:









We love the Yacht Club, it was our home on our first trip with the girls in 2012 and we had just booked to go back the following year so I couldn’t help but take quite a few photos of the beautiful resort.











Once we got to Hurricane Hanna’s, not only was the menu different to what we had seen on the Disney website, but they told us they stopped serving food at 8pm and it was now about 8.20 pm.



I’m pretty sure the food service hours there have been cut over the years because I remember on our first stay, we got to the hotel quite late when we arrived in Orlando but were hungry. We went out to Hurricane Hanna’s for some fries, catching Illuminations while we were out there. The CMs suggested we go to the Crew Cup Lounge inside the Yacht Club instead so that is what we did.



I believe that what was the Captain’s Grille restaurant was all boarded up at the time while they renovated it and turned it into the Ale and Compass restaurant and lounge. I seem to remember there being lots of construction in the public areas of the hotel at the time. Having just got back from the Yacht Club as I write this and having eaten at Ale & Compass, it’s hard to imagine now how it looked then.

The Crew Cup Lounge had a nice atmosphere when we walked in and Mat was pretty happy we had been directed there.





Our server was nice and friendly, and we ordered a Bahama Mama for me (nice but as usual for these kinds of cocktails, too icy), and Mat had a Rye Manhattan which he enjoyed.









We got three portions of fries, a crab cake and this monstrosity which was basically a plate of different deep fried onions:









It all tasted good though, and it was just what we needed. Sometimes at Disney you just want to relax and eat a chilled out meal and this was definitely that. After my cocktail, I had a glass of Merlot which actually wasn’t as good at the plastic cup of a Cab Sav I’d had out by the pool earlier.



Once we were all done, we walked back round to the BoardWalk.





Seren persuaded us to stop at Ample Hills so she could get a scoop of Oatmeal Lace ice cream. It was about 10 pm at this point.



We sat on a bench while she ate it...





...then went back to the suite and the girls had showers before we all went to bed at about 11 pm.

[Lisa29]

What a lovely laid back, relaxed day you had. You got lots done but it didn't seem like a busy day if that makes sense.

I only seem to read/hear negative things about Tony's which is such a shame as on paper, the food sounds good, and the location and decor should make it a stand out place to eat.

I had balloon head bopping issues last time too! It really is annoying!

8pm is very early to close a counter service, like you said, if you get in late and just want something quick, the option isn't there.

Looking forward to reading more.x

[Goldia]

Do you know what? We've still never played mini golf at wdw. It was in my plans for this summer but it was one of the things that I sort of knew would get dropped. We had the 2nd Sunday as a non park day and after Cali grill I'd thought we could do mini golf but in the end we were too lazy and went back to the resort, the kids had fun though as they wanted a night swim anyway so they were really happy to have pool time.

The Winter Summerland course looks really good in your photos and the girls look like they are having fun. A shame you felt like you had to keep up the pace and couldn't just take it at your own speed.

Now for my 2nd admission of things we've never done...The ferry from TTC...We've always stayed on site and never driven so it has been Disney buses or the monorail for us

I recently saw a vlog of a meal at Tonys Town square and they raved about it...But until that I've never seen any good reviews, I've seen Pete from the dis unplugged moan about red sauce out of a can being dreadful, as there are so many restaurants I've never even looked at the menu. Such a shame your pizza was so salty and you couldn't eat it.

How lovely that lots of the characters were wishing Seren a Happy Birthday!

A lovely walk around the Boardwalk in the evening, it's so pretty at night time.

[i love jack]

Another lovely day. Love wintersumerland it is a pain when you have someone right behind you though
Shame about Tony’s but your evening at Boardwalk looked lovely

[Zomax25]

What a lovely day! I really hope we can stay on the Boardwalk one day.

[dixonsontour]

Busy day. We love winter summerland golf too but I hate people breathing down your neck too.

The pizza doesn't look very appealing at Tony's. At least the parade view was good. I loved those zuccini fries though.

We were in the Florida Keys a couple of weeks after 9/11 and the atmosphere was very odd. On the plane home people who had been to the parks said how empty they had been.

Your evening looks lovely and relaxed.

[collybird]

I am intrigued about the birthday pin thing at Winter Summerland.

I am so sad that your meal at Tony’s was disappointing, we have actually had two great meals there, you’ll be pleased to hear that their pizzas have changed and the one we had last month was delicious. The zucchini fries aren't on the menu anymore, which is disappointing.

Considering the lack of QS options in the Crescent Lake area it's nuts that Hurricane Hannnas stops serving at 8, obviously Crew's Cup was a great alternative for you, but if you were someone who wanted to stick to the dining plan that wouldn't have worked.