From no trip to celebrating 20 years together… planning it all in less than 100 days! LIVE UPDATE 3/10 - Page 13 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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All your dining plans sound wonderful. How nice that you'll get to dine with Deb and Linda again too! The Star Wars dessert party sounds like fun and since they have included alcoholic beverages for that price, it just might be worth it since you're guaranteed such a great viewing area. Hope they have some good desserts that Mark can partake in.
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I'm so excited to hear that the Star Wars fireworks are on during your trip! Right now they're not showing for my trip in April, but I'm hoping that they'll be added as the time gets closer.
FYI, I did read on the Disney Food Blog that the pineapple soft serve will be available with or without coconut rum. Definitely on my wish list!
Naomi Bar is like a chocolate layer bar, I think with coconut too. So how they put it into a trifle.... with some creamy layers? Sounds good to me!
Oh Ok, that sounds intriguing now...
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The buttons from Canada I received came without having to answer any trivia. I guess it depends on who you get. Although, the CM was from Calgary and I told her we were going to Calgary this summer so maybe she was happy with that and didn't care about any trivia!
Possibly - we'll just tell them about our road trip last year and how much we loved their beautiful country and hopefully that will see us through.
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Enjoy the DVC club, it looks very cool and quite relaxing.
I've heard good things about the Star Wars party too - especially the fact that alcohol is included. Not that folks are going overboard with it or anything, but we all know Disney drinks are expensive! So this helps with the price tag. Plus - that viewing area, as I've understood from reading, is the best location to be in. Good choice!
I'm really looking forward to it - and not just because of the alcohol being included, but also because of the location. Hopefully it will live up to expectations!
I'm so excited to hear that the Star Wars fireworks are on during your trip! Right now they're not showing for my trip in April, but I'm hoping that they'll be added as the time gets closer.
I'm sure they will be. I think we got that booked maybe three or four weeks ago now, so perhaps anytime soon?
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FYI, I did read on the Disney Food Blog that the pineapple soft serve will be available with or without coconut rum. Definitely on my wish list!
Disney Food Blog is showing that the Parrot Bay Coconut Rum Pineapple Soft Serve will still be available. in 2017. So I'm hoping it is as it is one of Luke's favorites. The Key Lime Sparkling Wine is one of my favorite, but a good friend would agree much more with you. But you and I agree on Moscato! I did think of you immediately when I read about the macarons at France. I want to try this, too. We viewed the Star Wars Galactic Fireworks right behind the viewing area for the party and it was awesome.
I've made Naomi (Also called Nanaimo) Bars. They are delicious! The bottom layer is made with cocoa, coconut, graham cracker crumbs, almonds and butter. The center layer is made with butter, custard powder, cream and powdered sugar and the top layer is melted chocolate and butter. They are a Canadian treat.
We did the dessert party at World of Color and I indicated a lactose intolerance for Mike. He didn't get cheese, but got more fruit than me, and he had delicious desserts that he thought were as good as what was on my plate. Better maybe, as mine had a giant coconut macaroon, and he hates coconut and didn't have one on his plate.
Disney Food Blog is showing that the Parrot Bay Coconut Rum Pineapple Soft Serve will still be available. in 2017. So I'm hoping it is as it is one of Luke's favorites.
That's great to hear!
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The Key Lime Sparkling Wine is one of my favorite, but a good friend would agree much more with you. But you and I agree on Moscato! I did think of you immediately when I read about the macarons at France.
Can't think why....
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I want to try this, too. We viewed the Star Wars Galactic Fireworks right behind the viewing area for the party and it was awesome.
I've made Naomi (Also called Nanaimo) Bars. They are delicious! The bottom layer is made with cocoa, coconut, graham cracker crumbs, almonds and butter. The center layer is made with butter, custard powder, cream and powdered sugar and the top layer is melted chocolate and butter. They are a Canadian treat.
Thanks for the explanation - now I have much more of an idea of what they are.
We did the dessert party at World of Color and I indicated a lactose intolerance for Mike. He didn't get cheese, but got more fruit than me, and he had delicious desserts that he thought were as good as what was on my plate. Better maybe, as mine had a giant coconut macaroon, and he hates coconut and didn't have one on his plate.
Pre-trip report – part thirteen: it would be nice to get another signature meal in…
Friday 3 March
Around this point, we move over to the newly named Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge (it’s going to take me a long time to get used to that! ) and we’ll spend the day at the Magic Kingdom.
This is the day we’ve got our lunch at the Crystal Palace, and the DVC Member event. We’ll take a break at some point during the day, and I’ve booked dinner at Trail’s End. We have never once made it in there in all our visits, despite hearing good things about it over the years. Hopefully this time, we will finally get to enjoy it!
Our Fastpass choices for today were tough. I always say that Epcot and the Magic Kingdom are the parks where I would like more than three choices, as there are so many things I want to do in each park. The Seven Dwarves Mine Train is, of course, a no brainer to be one of those choices, and we’ve also snagged Fastpasses for the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.
It’ll be interesting to see how busy the park is, and how much we manage to do that morning, as by the time we ride the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, potentially as early as 11:10am, we could then get another Fastpass. I’ve read some people’s trip reports, and comments on Facebook, where they were saying what a bonus this is, if you get all your Fastpasses early on in the day, as then you can just use the app to make more. We’ve never had the opportunity to do that, so I’ll be fascinated to see how that works, if we’re able to do it this time. It will almost be like a return to the good old days, where you’d pass a Fastpass machine, grab another one, then head off to do something else, grab another one, as soon as the window for the previous one opened. Ah, fond memories…
Now as I’ve already mentioned earlier on in this pre-trip report, this is the night of the DVC Member exclusive event at the Magic Kingdom, so I wanted to stay reasonably close to “home” with our dining plans for this evening. In all our visits to Walt Disney World, we’ve never made it over to Trails End once. I have heard so many great things about it, and what good value it is, and I figured as we’re staying nearby, this will be the trip that we finally get to sample it, so that’s it – plans sorted for the evening… right?
That was our plan for quite a few weeks, until I started to look at whether or not we should get the Deluxe Dining Plan for one portion of our stay on property. I know I may be one of the few remaining people who still believes that the dining plans (the deluxe one anyway ) still gives good value, but it just wasn’t going to work for our stays at Old Key West or the BoardWalk Villas, given all the time we’d be spending off-site this trip. However, it might just work for our stay here… hmmm…
I worked it out, and obviously Trails End wouldn’t be great value. Now we had the equivalent of five credits on our existing meals we had booked. If I could perhaps convert one of those meals to a signature restaurant, then I’d have the six credits for a two night stay. We already had Artist Point, and I wanted somewhere else that would be easy to get to. The one that immediately came to mind was the California Grill, but I really wanted it for a Saturday night. If we were going to change our plans for tonight, I wanted it to be to Artist Point. That way, we could get dressed up for dinner, then go back to our room and change into something more casual to head out to the DVC Member party. I couldn’t see how we could easily do that if we were at the Contemporary.
Anyway, I am jumping ahead here to the next night, but after a couple of weeks’ worth of stalking the dining reservations page on the Walt Disney World website, and only coming up with a 9:30pm opening for the Saturday night, which wasn’t going to work for us, imagine my delight when one showed up two hours earlier! I immediately jumped on it, prayed the website would work for once (thankfully it did! ) and I had my ADR. I then rescheduled Artist Point to this night, so that’s now our plan.
On the subject of the dining plan, I still think we’ll come out ahead, given that the two signature meals will, I reckon, come to over $300, and the Dining Plan comes in at around $420, give or take. Now add in lunch at the Crystal Palace will be at least $76, judging by the prices on All Ears Net. Well, to me that sounds promising and we still one more meal to add into that, along with all the snack credits. I think it will work for us anyway…
So…. Returning to the subject of Artist Point. We haven’t eaten there for some time now, but we’ve had some really good dinners there before, although not that many, I think because it’s a bit out of the way. I know many of our friends have had amazing dinners – Bob and Larry I’m talking about you here.
I just have to share our favourite memory of Artist Point here. It was back in 1999 on our honeymoon, and back then, Artist Point did a breakfast, as well as a dinner, and it was with Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore (I don’t remember Piglet being there). The food was excellent, the characters were great, but the lasting memory is the kid who managed to drop his drink all over the floor. Winnie the Pooh fell over in it, sending the kid flying, and all the Cast Members went straight to the kids. Poor old Winnie was lying there on the floor, with his legs waving in the air. Oh my goodness, it was quite the sight!!
Saturday 4 March
The next day we’re planning on going over to Discovery Cove. We won’t be doing the dolphin swim, as we’ve done it twice before, and I can’t imagine that’s changed much, but they do have some other new things I want to see.
As you already know from what I wrote about the day before, we’re now going to be catching the boat launch over to the Contemporary to have dinner at the California Grill. I have honestly lost count of how many times we’ve eaten here, which I think tells you something. We absolutely love this restaurant, even after the refurbishment. Yes, that did increase the noise levels there, but the food still remains out of this world, and with superb views. And of course, if we get to see Wishes that night, then bonus.
Next: what are we going to do before we join our cruise?
You will have great success with the FP this way! I've done that many times now - finishing up by 11 or 12 - and just keep going and going and going on the app for more rides. Remember that you can often change up the time after you grab one. I've found that it doesn't automatically give you the closest time available, so I'll grab at 1:20, modify it, and what do you know?! A 12:40 is actually open.... Oh Disney.
I also remember when Artist Point had the character meal - ate there on my birthday! The good ol' days. Glad you're making it back to California Grill. I'm thinking it just wouldn't be a trip to WDW without it for you guys.
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Good choice!
But you and I agree on Moscato! 
I did think of you immediately when I read about the macarons at France. I want to try this, too. 
) and we’ll spend the day at the Magic Kingdom. 
I immediately jumped on it, prayed the website would work for once (thankfully it did! 
Oh my goodness, it was quite the sight!! 
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