On Day #2, in Orlando, Florida, I took over 180 pictures. Eeeeeekkkkkk! Talk about preserving memories. Again, I will not BORE you with ALL 180 photos, in this post, but I will share our day with you by posting some of my favorites. Feel free to view the entire photo album below by clicking on it. The captions are always great for a reference. If you are using your iPad or iPod to view this post the photo album will NOT appear. You must view this post from your computer to see all 180 + photos.
For our very first breakfast and character dining experience, we ate at "Ohana's". This restaurant is located at the Polynesian Resort. It was delicious and it's where we ate our FIRST round, but certainly NOT our last round, of Mickey Mouse waffles. We also met Lilo & Stitch there, along with a few other characters (Mickey and Pluto). For ambiance and food, I rate it a 10. You really can't mess up breakfast.
These characters were fresh in the kids' minds because we introduced the movie to the kids a few days before leaving, since we knew we were going to eat with them. This movie is now one of their favorites.
We were entitled to (3) fast passes each day. The fast passes allow you to skip the entire line and provide you the opportunity to ride the ride immediately. Our 1st day's fast passes were:
Space Mountain - I rate it a 10 (although I can't deny I'm not a fan of pitch dark roller coasters). When all systems were a "go", we glided through an energy tunnel, pulsating with blinking lights, and ascended up a 180 foot high mountain. At the top, we launched into the remote blackness of the dark universe, and "enjoyed" a roller coaster in the pitch dark.
Elsa and Anna Experience - I rate it a 9. The royal sisters from Frozen have journeyed from afar to meet new friends at the Magic Kingdom park. Given it's a new release movie and the line, to all other guests, was, that day, 5 hours long, we really lucked out getting a fast pass. Again, thanks to my wonderful travel agent and friend Tabitha. Some people think there are some things were "melting" for, but it's truly not worth more than a one hour wait. The characters say hello, interact with your children for 2 minutes, sign your book, and send you on your merry way. Waiting five minutes was worth it, but waiting in line for over 60 minutes, to me, would not be.
NOT EVERYONE was allowed to have their photo taken with Belle. We were specifically picked out of the audience. It made us feel a little special :)
For lunch, we received an extra fast pass to "Be Our Guest". This fast pass was NOT included into our (3) allocated fast passes for that day. It's sort of a hidden, free fast pass, that most people don't know about... UNLESS you use an amazing travel agent, such as mine.
The entire restaurant is centered around the movie "Beauty & The Beast". I enjoyed the ambiance, but the food was definitely NOT up to par, to me. Our food was fancifully delivered, however, in these carts. Made you feel like you were being treated like royalty. LOL! Ambiance in true comparison to the movie, I'd rate it a 7.5. Food rating 5, if that.
Here they are sporting their Mickey and Minnie Mouse swims suites!
Our resort's pool had a water slide!!! Can you spot Jax?
Lilah enjoyed the hot tub!
Florida palm trees are the best!
Our resort had a beach. This cute little bird was hanging out, eating muscles, that it found in the water.
Let me say something about the food... IF you eat at a location that has the character dining experience, you are paying for the characters NOT the food. The food is just plain average. Breakfast was always great, but dinner was never better than average and sometimes it was just plain gross. I am NOT a huge fan of buffets anyway, so maybe it's just ME! Both my husband and my brother agree with me completely. The best meals were NON-CHARACTER dining experiences, BUT like I said before, this trip is NOT about the grown-ups, unless you are one of those weird, non-parent type adults that enjoy Disney, but hate kids. I don't get those types of people. Darren and I were quite irritated entertained by them all week.
I've been waiting to see more Disney pictures :)
ReplyDelete