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Fantasmic Dining Package at Mama Melrose Ristorante Italiano

If you think, like me, that a trip to Hollywood Studios isn’t complete without seeing Fantasmic, then this might just be the dining deal for you.

I’d known about the Fantasmic Dining Packages for a little while, but had always dismissed them as I assumed that they would be costly and not part of the dining plan, which I normally have, but when planning our last trip and knowing that Matthew was a huge Fantasmic lover, I wanted to do something special that would make seeing the show even more magical.

Well it was certainly a magical discovery that I realised that the dining package is not only covered by the Disney Dining Plan, but it is also only the usual amount of table service credits – I say this as the dining package is available at 3 locations, Mama Melrose, Hollywood and Vine, and The Hollywood Brown Derby, and HBD is a 2 table service credit location, so the package is 2 per person at that location. The package can be booked like any other ADR, however rather than being able to book it at the 180 day mark for the whole trip, it only becomes available 180 days before the exact date, so don’t panic if you try it a few days early and it says there’s nothing available!

What’s even better still, is that at Mama Melrose, the dining package means even more food than normal, so trust me when I say that if you book this, don’t eat for a good few hours (at least) beforehand, cos you’re gonna explode! Rather than the usual main course and dessert plus drink that your table service credit will normally get you, the package includes an appetiser also, and these appetisers include flatbreads the size of whole pizzas, and that’s before you get onto the mains of pastas, steak and more! Oh, and then there’s dessert! You get the option of a plate of mini desserts, or ice-cream, but we struggled to get past our mains!

It was my first time dining at Mama Melrose, and I thought the food was great – personally you can never go wrong with Italian if you ask me! Our server was also so lovely and made sure we had a great meal and knew exactly what we needed to do for the show later on. So onto the Fantasmic side of the package..

 

When you get the bill, your server will bring you your Fastpasses. These are paper, and a particular colour, which relates to where you’re going to sit in the theater. Its still recommended that you get to the theater 20-40 mins before the show is due to start, same as with any Fastpass, but rather than clamouring for a good seat, there is a whole chunk of the theater cordoned off for dessert parties and dining packages, and these are the centre few blocks, so don’t get swept up with the other Fastpass holders, and keep an eye out for cast members and what they’re calling out. You will need to show your passes at a few different places, so don’t put them away once you’ve started the walk up to the theater!

Well our seats were great, definitely the most central I’ve ever sat, and we were about halfway up, having got there with about half an hour to spare – if you want to be near the front then you definitely want to be queuing at the rope before the theater even opens!

If you’re not on the dining plan, then the Mama Melrose package is $42 per adult or $18 for children, but as I mentioned, you do get a tonne of food for that price. And if you are on the dining plan, I would 100% recommend doing this if you’re a Fantasmic fan because its only 1 credit and you get so much more out of it!

Some imagination, huh?

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 12

I’m afraid to say that I’ve been pretty poorly today, so a lot of the day has been spent in bed! I did get up for lunch at Pepper Market, and also did get some laundry done, but I’ve mainly been curled up watching Disney movies and feeling a little sorry for myself.

We did get out for the evening though, heading to Hollywood Studios for a few hours. We saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, grabbed some dinner at Catalina Eddie’s, while watching some of the new Tower of Terror projections and being snowed on, then went to ride Star Tours and meet BB-8 in the Star Wars Launch Bay.

We wrapped up the evening by using our the Fantasmic fastpasses we’d got from our dining package the other day. The seats were great, but it was a little windy so we got slightly damp from the fountains, but oh well!

I’m hoping to get a good nights sleep so I feel a little more alive tomorrow, let’s see how it goes!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 10

So it turns out I accidentally numbered my posts wrong and today is actually day 10, not 9 as I had thought, oops!

Today started much like yesterday, a lie in, followed by a gym session before heading out to the parks, and today our destination was Hollywood Studios. When we arrived, my first port of call was Adrian and Edith’s Head to Toe shop, as I had decided the night before that I was finally going to buy the Sorcerer Mickey hat I’ve wanted for ages, and I wanted it embroidered with my name, so we got that one going to collect later in the day. From there, I grabbed a giant cookie for brunch, then we headed to the Indiana Jones Stunt Show as we had fastpasses. This is a favourite for both Matthew and me!

After the show we hit Tower of Terror, and then Matthew went to do Rock’n’Roller Coaster; I was put off by my experience from the other day so instead I did some shops and grabbed a Starbucks before going back to meet him, and we went on to do Toy Story Midway Mania.

After Midway Mania, we headed to our late lunch reservation at Mama Melrose – we had booked this as part of the Fantasmic dining package – and then went to collect my finished hat, then met Mickey and Minnie before rushing back across the park for the last performance of Beauty and the Beast.

Unfortunately, Matthew wasn’t feeling very well after the show, so we decided to head back to the hotel, having been reassured by guest services that we could utilise the Fantasmic ticket we’d received as part of the dining package on another night instead, which was nice!

Back at the hotel, I went to pick up some merchandise that we’d sent back from the parks, and filled up our resort mugs, then started the mammoth task of reorganising my suitcase to make sure I’ll have enough room for everything I’ve bought!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 9

This morning we got up and went to the resort gym for a quick workout, and then headed for Typhoon Lagoon. It was Matthew’s first time ever, and my first time in over 3 years so we were pretty excited, and being November it was pretty quiet too!

After putting our stuff in a locker and finding some sunbeds, we started to hit the slides. First up was Misadventure Falls, then we did all three of the Crush’n’Gusher shoots in quick succession. Then we did the Storm Sliders, followed by Humunga Kowabunga, where I suffered the worst wedgie I have ever experienced in my life..

To recover from that, we hopped into the lazy river and rode that round to Leaning Palms for some lunch, then carried on round the river til we reached our starting point again. I then took Matthew to TL’s famous wave pool, and despite not believing me when I warned him how huge the waves were, he was amazed when he saw just how crazy they get!

We carried on hitting all the slides, doing Keelhaul Falls, Mayday Falls and Gangplank Falls, then headed back to do Misadventure Falls again, before spending the rest of the afternoon relaxing on our sunloungers. As it’s not peak season, to get back to the resort we had to get a bus to Disney Springs to then change for a resort bus, and back at the resort I had a few things to do – parcels to collect, paying off some of the room charges and filling our mugs – and then we just showered and changed and headed out to Hollywood Studios for the evening.

I’d managed to snag us some Fantasmic fastpasses for that night, and by the time we got to the park we only had time to look through some of the shops before we headed to the theatre and set ourselves up with some snacks and popcorn. Fantasmic is Matthew’s favourite Disney show (and we’re seeing it again tomorrow too!) so I was glad we managed to get some decent seats to enjoy Mickey’s imagination!

As the showtime was actually after the official park close time, once it was over we were flushed out the park pretty quickly, although we did catch a sneak peak at the new Christmas projections onto Tower of Terror!

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Lottie and Matthew Do Disney: Day 5

Today we were up bright and early to get to Hollywood Studios for opening. We grabbed a quick snack for breakfast and then headed to Toy Story Midway Mania, riding it once via the standby queue and then again using our fastpass, although the standby still wasn’t more than 30 mins even an hour later. From there we did One Man’s Dream, which is showing a preview of the new Pixar film, Coco, which looks so good!

After that, we decided to brave the standby line for Rock’n’Roller Coaster, but despite the line saying 45 mins, and a cast member announcement warning that it might be slightly longer, we definitely didn’t wait more than about 30 mins. My head took a bit of a bashing on the ride, so we opted for a sit down in Muppet Vision 3D after that.

Lunch was at Sci-Fi Dine In, and I was a happy girl with a steak/mac and cheese combo which was to die for! After lunch we did Star Tours, and we had hoped to do Beauty and the Beast afterwards, but unfortunately my head was really giving me grief after RnR, and I was starting to feel dizzy so instead we went back to the hotel room so I could have a lie down.

Once I was feeling a little better, we decided rather than going back to Hollywood Studios, we’d head to Fantasia Gardens mini golf, then walk along the Boardwalk into Epcot. I’ve been wanting to do mini golf in Disney for a while now, and despite having to wait about 25 mins before we could start due to it being quite busy, I really enjoyed the course, plus we timed it with the end of Fantasmic, so we could actually hear the show from the course!

At Epcot, we decided to trial some of the Food and Wine festival offerings, starting from the International Gateway and working anti-clockwise. As it was late, and we’ve got a whole day planned for this next week, we just hit a few booths but I’ve discovered a serious love for Brazilian cheese bread so yeah that’s gonna happen again..

Once we were back at Future World, we washed down the food with a few samples from Club Cool, then headed out of the park just before the Illuminations crush incurred, and managed to get a resort bus to ourselves!

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February Disney Trip Day 8

Happy Tuesday guys! Our day kicked off in Hollywood Studios, and with quite the bang – a fastpass for Rock’n’Roller Coaster, and of course we were pretty hyped to be in the back car of the limo. Sensibly, we saved breakfast for afterwards, grabbing a drink and a snack from Trolley Car Cafe and sitting to watch the First Order March through the park.From there, we had to make a quick detour to guest relations before heading back to Tower of Terror for our second fastpass of the day. Sarah dared me that I couldn’t do it without holding on – which I always do because I’m awful on this ride – and for the first time ever, I had my hands in the air for almost the whole ride! Yay me! I got myself a celebration button as a reward.

Out of the blue, we discovered Bolt meeting in front of the Chinese Theater, so of course we stopped for a quick photo with him, then got in line for Voyage of the Little Mermaid, but as we got to the front of the line to enter the theatre, the cast member announced it was at capacity and we would have to wait an extra 25 minutes for the next show, which we couldn’t really be bothered to do in the heat, so instead we went and did Muppet Vision 3D, then grabbed lunch at Backlot Express.

Bellies full of bacon cheeseburgers, we headed back to the Chinese Theater for the Great Movie Ride (cowboy, if you were wondering), then as we went to leave the park, Sarah remembered that it was coming up time for character palooza again, so we decided to swing by before we left and boy was it worth it?! Unlike the 4 character we met the other day, they brought out 11 characters, and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Pocahontas appeared followed by Meeko, and the two of them met together which made my little heart so happy! Also out were Robin Hood, Pluto, Donald, Rafiki, Evil Queen, Snow White, and Smee and Prince Ali – we were so lucky to see that many! On a side note, I’m super sunburnt today, and had to buy sun cream, and I also managed to drop and smash my phone screen, so I fully believe in karma today.

Riding the palooza high, we left the park and got on the boat to Epcot, and as we got into International Gateway, we decided to hang out in the UK pavilion for a bit in order to meet Alice, then wandered round to Mexico for a bit of air con inside the temple and a ride on the Gran Fiesta Tour. From there, we headed back to Future World and met Baymax again, before doing Living with the Land and the Circle of Life, and a quick Seas with Nemo and Friends, before going back to the UK pavilion for dinner.

As we waited for our Rose and Crown Dining Room reservation, we stuck our heads into the pub to see how authentically British it was, but the floor wasn’t sticky and it didn’t smell quite like a proper pub, so we definitely didn’t feel like we were in the UK! Our table for dinner was right on the lake edge, giving us a beautiful view of the now lit World Showcase as we dined on fish and chips and chicken tikka masala, cos y’know, UK tradition, and we were lucky enough to be served by our friend Milly who’s out here on the CRP, so between ordering we could discuss important matters like Character Palooza and a certain Wilderness Explorer.. We also got to watch Illuminations from our table, and while it’s probably my least favourite nighttime show, it was a pretty view for it.

After dinner, we hustled our way back up to Test Track as extra magic hours meant the park was open til 11pm, so we dived in the queue while it said it was a 40 minute wait, we were in and out within that time, before heading out of the park for the night, again opting to get on the bus to French Quarter rather than Riverside because the queue were that much shorter!

Goodnight y’all!

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February Disney Trip Day 7

Another day in Disney paradise! We kicked off the morning with breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe, although the crazy number of people trying to get into the parks meant we were half an hour late for our reservation, but the cast members were really understanding and it wasn’t a problem at all.

After a quick explore of the hotel grounds, we caught the bus into Disney Springs for a few indulgent hours of shopping which involved a lot of Sephora (haul post to come!) and of course some World of Disney and the other shops available. Disney Springs has been developed so much even in the year since I was last there, and it’s so beautiful now with new water features and pretty new shopping areas. We refuelled with an Earl of Sandwich, then got the boat from marketplace back to the hotel to ditch our shopping bags before heading out to Hollywood Studios for the remainder of the day.

With a little bit of time from entering the park til we could use our Fantasmic fastpass, we decided to abuse our Memory Maker and get a bunch of photopass photos in various places, then grabbed some popcorn before we made our way into the amphitheater, getting almost front row seats for the magic! Now, as we discovered, that does come with a little bit of spray if the wind isn’t on your side.. Of course the show was its usual amazing self, encapsulating some of my favourite Mickey moments and even Meeko made an appearance on the boat!

After Fantasmic, we joined the crowds in front of The Chinese Theater to watch the Star Wars fireworks, which I’d really hyped up to Sarah – the non-Star Wars fan – after I was wowed by them last year, but since the last time I saw them the display has changed a little and while it was still impressive, I wasn’t as completely blown away as I was last year. Then, to avoid the crush of people leaving the park, we stepped into the entrance area of Trolley Car Cafe for a little while and let the park clear a bit before we made our way out. This proved to be somewhat of a mistake, as when we arrived at our resort bus stop, the queue was CRAZY LONG. I’m talking maybe 3-5 buses worth of people, and that didn’t sound fun to us, so instead we queued for the French Quarter bus, and walked the path down to Riverside from there, tiring us out nicely enough for bed! Zzzzzzzz

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Baking Magic – Butterfinger Cupcakes

I’m just gonna prefix this post by saying that this is definitely more of a lazy person’s guide to the butterfinger cupcake due to the fact that my kitchen currently has a giant hole in the ceiling, so I’ve had to make do with the ingredients and space that I had!

Disney park cupcakes are the best, right? Apart from the fact that they’re often too big to finish in one go, YES. Today I’m taking on a Disney World classic, the Butterfinger cupcake.

Now Butterfingers are an American candy bar, and although you can get them in some UK retailers, I’ve made these as totally butterfinger-free butterfinger cupcakes. I feel like I’m totally cheating today, but I’m gonna pretend that I’m just making this recipe accessible for novice bakers.. BUT LOOK AT THEM YUM

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Right, here we go!

1. Start off with a batch of your favourite chocolate cupcake recipe, and to get a proper WDW experience, fill the cases a little more than you normally would! If you don’t have one, cream 125g butter and 125g caster sugar, add a dash of vanilla extract and 2 eggs, then mix in 20g cocoa powder and 105g self-raising flour and bake at 190C for 15-17 minutes. Ta-dah!

2. Once cooled, take a sharp knife and cut a hole into the centre of the cake, like a classic butterfly cake, and pop this to one side for the time being. It doesn’t matter if they get mixed up and you can’t remember which centre belongs to which cake.

3. (Cheat 1, coming your way). Well now you’ve got a hole in the middle of your cupcake that needs filling, so find either your favourite chocolate and peanut butter spread, or just a regular chocolate spread or frosting, and fill that hole all the way up. I recommend spread or frosting for this because its a little gooier than buttercream!

4. Those little cake centres, sit those back onto the cakes on top of the pool of chocolatey goodness to make a little peak.

5. Now grab some vanilla buttercream, or make some using a 2:1 icing sugar to butter ratio and a splash of vanilla extract. To replicate WDW buttercream, thicken it up with a bit more icing sugar – this will help it hold better when we load it onto the cake in a minute. Pop it into the fridge for a minute while we get a few more things ready.

6. Has anyone else noticed that basically every recipe I share involves crushing something at some point? Yep, we’re doing it again.. If you’re one of my American readers, grab yourself a butterfinger and crush it up nicely. UK friends, find yourself a peanut butter KitKat and a few cookies and stick them in a food processor to crumb them down nicely.

7. Grab your buttercream from the fridge, and using a knife or metal spatula, pile it onto your cupcake, then smooth it around the little peak you created earlier. Now grab your cupcake by its case and roll the buttercream mountain around in those crumbs until you get a nice covering.

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Is anyone else drooling?

Headed to the parks? You can get the original Butterfinger Cupcake from Starring Roles Cafe in Hollywood Studios!

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What is there for Star Wars fans in the Disney parks?

We’ve all heard the news: Disney is going to be taking us to a galaxy far, far away with the announcement of two Star Wars lands, one in WDW and one in Disneyland. Now all we’ve got to do is wait another who knows how long for them to be completed. Ugh.

The problem is, with the recent release of Episode VII, Disney has just created a whole new generation of Star Wars fans eagerly awaiting the next installment, and of course these spectacular new areas of the parks, and, clever little people that they are, they have made sure that these fans are not disappointed! So what have they got going?

Star Tours

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Star Tours is a travel company offering destination holidays to everyone in the galaxy, but unfortunately due to some issues on Flight 1401, your trip turns into a bit of a mission, uh-oh! Its a 3D simulator, and the rides have been in the parks for a few years now, but those wonderful Imagineers have given them a little tweak!

Now including scenes from Jakku, and a message from Finn and BB-8, the ride actually has 50 different variations; there are slight differences in the opening scene, ending scene, and a few differences in the middle, and there’s no telling which one you’re going to get! In January, we had about 4 different experiences, I wonder how many times you’d have to ride before you saw them all!

You can ride Star Tours in Hollywood Studios in WDW or Tomorrowland in Disneyland.

Star Wars Launch Bay

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The Launch Bay is one of the newest Star Wars additions to the Disney parks. Inside you can see memorabilia from the movies, such as Rey’s speeder, collections of lightsabers and models of your favourite spacecraft, as well as being able to meet some of your favourite characters.. Was that a wookiee I heard?!

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As well as Chewbacca and Darth Vader, you might also run into a bounty hunter or have an encounter with a trading Jawa, and you never know, Kylo Ren might make an appearance!

The Launch Bays can be found in both Hollywood Studios and Tomorrowland in Disneyland

Jedi Training Academy

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If your little ones dream of joining the lightside, you can sign them up to take part in the Jedi Training Academy shows which happen throughout the day at both Hollywood Studios and Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. Its adorable; first each little Jedi gets given a robe and a lightsaber and are walked out to the stage area in a big procession. Once on stage, they’re taught a fight routine which they’ll suddenly have to use against Darth Vader or The Seventh Sister, and the moral of the story is to stand up to your fears.

Each show has limited spaces, so sign up early in the day to avoid disappointment. Your child must be present when you sign them up, and its open to all between the ages of 4-12.

Path of the Jedi

Path of the Jedi is a short film essentially telling an abridged version of the initial six Star Wars films, and a series of non-spoiler clips from Episode VII, summing up the history of the Jedi, and what the future may hold!

Hyperspace Mountain – Disneyland

Disneyland’s Space Mountain has been influenced by the force with a little revamp, and a lot more adventure! Its the same ride as before, but the addition of lights and projections within the ride have transformed this in-the-dark rollercoaster into a rebel mission against the galactic empire, and watch out for those tie-fighters!

Don’t forget to grab a Fastpass early in the day to shorten your wait time!

Force-filled Food

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Disneyland is ahead of the game with their Star Wars inspired food, dedicating a whole restaurant, Galactic Grill, to it. The menu includes First Order burgers and Darth by Chocolate dessert, and you can even have your meal served in a Han Solo in Carbonite bucket!

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Hollywood Studios has a good range of Star Wars cupcakes, but that’s about it for the moment!

Merchandise

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As expected, Star Wars merchandise is everywhere throughout all the parks, everything from clothing and accessories to comic books and annuals, you can even buy a 4ft tall Stormtrooper! As well as being in most shops, there are dedicated stores such as Watto’s Grotto and Tatooine Traders in Hollywood Studios and Mickey’s Star Traders in Disneyland.

Are excited for the new Star Wars lands?

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WDW Day 8!

Today was our last full day in the parks, can someone tell me where that time has gone?!

The plan was to have a little bit of a lie-in, then get to the Magic Kingdom for the rope drop. Well, we missed the rope drop, but we did get to do Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder and Space Mountain all within the first hour of park time, so that was pretty impressive in any case! Fast rides out of the way, we stopped at Sleepy Hollow for breakfast: fresh fruit waffle sandwiches in the sunshine, right next to the castle as the first Dream Along with Mickey show was on – kinda perfect, am I right?

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After our late breakfast, we caught the monorail to Polynesian Village; the lobby was under construction on our last visit, so we were curious to see the changes for ourselves, and it made the perfect stop to hop across to Hollywood Studios for the afternoon. First on the agenda was Star Wars Launch Bay to hang out with Chewie and Darth, and we even got to see a rogue Jawa hanging around! After another Great Movie Ride (gangster this time, in case you were wondering), we finally caved and bought ourselves a BB-8 sipper cup each as well as some popcorn to see Beauty and the Beast live on stage.

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After the show, we headed across to Star Tours, but as we were a little early for our Fastpass slot, we decided to watch the Jedi Training Academy show, which was pretty adorable. You might have caught my tweet about how it’s been updated to include some TFA stuff, but we asked a CM today and it turns out there are 50 different variations of the simulation, crazy!

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Next up some Muppet Vision 3D, followed by late lunch at Studio Catering Co, then One Mans Dream (all the feels!) before out Tower of Terror Fastpass. You may have heard me talk about my love/hate relationship with this ride before, and it’s pretty simple: I hate waiting for the first drop, after that I’m totally cool, and it works fine because I know that it doesn’t drop until you reach the top and look out over the park. Nope, not this time! The first drop was done totally in the dark; I felt betrayed, but at least it was over. After that we made our way to Fantasmic nice and early because of our Fastpasses, and to avoid the mad rush that happens so often. It was magical as per, when Mickey comes out on the boat as Steamboat Willie..

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After the show, we made our way to our favourite spot to watch Symphony of the Stars for our last time this trip. It was no less magical the second time; you can physically feel the bangs pass through you!

Tomorrow is our last day here (waa!), but I’m getting so excited to return to Disneyland!

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WDW Day 7!

Well that’s Four Park Challenge off my bucket list!

We started this morning with Extra Magic Hours in Animal Kingdom, and first stop was obviously Expedition Everest – did you catch it on Periscope? Rollercoaster out of the way, we stopped off at Creature Comforts (the AK Starbucks) for hot drinks – yes it was that cold – and breakfast pastries, then onward to Kilimanjaro Safaris where we got to see two baby white rhinos playing, eek! We decided that for our challenge, we would get photos with Mickey at each of the parks, so we stopped off at Adventurers Outpost to see him and Minnie before catching a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge to park-hop.

From AKL we transferred onto a bus to Hollywood Studios, where we first stopped off to see Mickey, this time in his classic Sorcerers Apprentice costume. On a character meet roll, we also got a selfie with a green army man, and went to see Mike and Sully, but as we’re headed back to Studios tomorrow, we decided not to queue for any rides.

Now midday, we caught another bus onto Wilderness Lodge, for a quick look around but also so we could transfer to the Magic Kingdom by the boat that runs direct from the resort, handy right? Again, first things first, we went to see Mickey in Town Hall Theater, then grabbed lunch at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe. Would you believe we’ve never done Astro Orbiter before? Well we have now! With that experience under our belts, we got a spot near the castle for Festival of Fantasy, which was just as magical as it always is, and finished up out MK time with an obligatory Its a Small World.

 To throw another form of transportation into the works, we obviously had to take the monorail across to our final park, Epcot, and actually it wasn’t Mickey we went to first, it was Baymax. Yes again, no we don’t care. Mickey was next, at the Epcot Character Spot, then we went across to Journey into the Imagination. We had a Fastpass, but there wasn’t much of a line to bypass! Not quite hungry yet, we stopped off to watch Circle of Life in The Land, before dinner at Sunshine Seasons, probably my favourite quick service in the whole of Walt Disney World. From there we went to Spaceship Earth for our Fastpass, but again there was no line so we didn’t even bother scanning them. With time before the fireworks, we figured a 40 minute wait at Test Track (which we discovered a love for the other day) would keep us warm and indoors, but we actually waited less than 10 before we got to the design stage, then another 10 before the ride itself. In fact, we ended up doing it twice! That took us right up to our last Fastpass for the day, for Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, which was beautiful as always. It was pretty chilly, so as soon as the display was over, we joined the brisk hoard of people leaving the parks and jumped on our last bus: back to the resort!

How’s that for a busy day?

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WDW Day 6!

I slept a solid almost 11 hours last night, and it was so good!

This morning our first port of call was a Disney Vacation Club viewing; we had been talked into going by a representative in Epcot a few days ago, and were mainly in it for the free food, Fastpasses and $50 Disney gift card! Don’t get me wrong though, it was interesting to look at!

From there, we headed outlet shopping at Orlando Premier Outlets, about a 10 minute taxi ride away, and snagged some mega bargains, including new Asics trainers and some Vinylmation from Disney’s Character Warehouse. After dropping our haul back at the resort, we caught the boat to Disney Springs for lunch and the Cool Down Party.

The Cool Down Party is basically a bunch of the stores and restaurants in Disney Springs doing discounts and special offers for anyone who ran this weekend, so long as you wear your medal! This meant we got 10% off lunch at T-REX, and I also got 15% off some goodies from Basin, yay!

Still with plenty of the afternoon ahead, we decided to catch a bus to the Walt Disney World Swan hotel, then the boat from there to Hollywood Studios, as we’ve never done that before, and we had no idea how quick a ride it was! Straight away we headed to Rock’n’Roller Coaster, and passed the hour wait using our DVC Fastpasses, then we managed to catch the last showing of Indiana Jones Stunt Show Spectacular, getting to see some of the scenes we had missed the other day.

After that we did another Star Tours, and as luck would have it, the wait time for Toy Story Midway Mania was only 25 minutes, so obviously we were all over that, and in fact, we only waited maybe 5. With a little bit of time until the fireworks, we went back to the Star Wars Launch Bay to watch the film showing we had skipped before, then headed out to get a good view of the Symphony in the Stars fireworks.

Wow. I might go as far as saying it was the best firework display Disney has ever imagineered. Just phenomenal, the way they synced the fireworks to the music and how each rocket represented something.. I could go on but I won’t!

Instead I’m going to bed, goodnight!

PS. No photos from today, too busy seeing through my own two eyes!

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WDW Day 4!

Today was a successful day!

After an early start yesterday, we had crashed out by about 8-8.30pm, putting us in good stead for my 5.50am alarm. No, this wasn’t another race alarm, this was so I could join the virtual queue for limited edition RunDisney New Balance shoes. Back to sleep for another hour or so, and we headed over to the expo for my allocated pick up time slot. Yes, I got the shoes, and Dad got a pair too!

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Our park for the day was Hollywood Studios, and when we arrived it was raining Florida-style – warm-ish but fairly heavy. We arrived in time for our Star Tours Fastpass, and were super excited to discover it’s been updated to include some TFA scenes now! Keeping on theme, we went to see Path of the Jedi, a new attraction essentially showing an abridged storyline of the Star Wars prequels, then a few non-spoiler clips from TFA, before running through the rain to catch a showing of the Indiana Jones Stunt Show Spectacular. The rain meant it was a little cut down for safety reasons, but it was still great!

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After our second Fastpass, for Muppet Vision 3D, we grabbed lunch at Pizza Planet, one of my favourite QS restaurants, themed after the Toy Story classic. Beauty and the Beast and The Great Movie Ride next, then onto our final Fastpass, the ever popular Toy Story Midway Mania, which had a 95 minute wait! Even with a Fastpass we waited maybe 15-20 minutes, and unfortunately Dad did beat me by a few points but never mind.. From there we caught the last performance of Lights, Motors, Action, followed by Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and from there the force pulled us towards the Star Wars Launch Bay..

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It was awesome! We met Chewbacca and Darth Vader, and despite queue times saying about 50 and 40 minutes, we did the two in less than an hour and they were perfect! The launch bay has taken over the old Animation Academy, which I was sad to see go, but it has most definitely been put to good use! Now dark, we had a little walk around in the hopes that the Osborne Lights might still be lit (not wishful thinking, the lights were all still up, just not lit), and made our way back to the resort to prep for tomorrow!

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Friday Favourite Five – WDW Quick Service Restaurants

I’m getting super excited about my upcoming Disney World trip, and when I’m excited my planning goes into overdrive! Because we’re on the Quick Service Dining Plan, I’m pretty excited to try out a lot more of the QS restaurants on this trip, but for now, here are my favourite five from the last trip:

1. Pizza Planet Arcade

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My absolutely favourite restaurant in Hollywood Studios, Pizza Planet is like walking into Andy’s favourite place to eat: pizza, arcade games, and plenty of Little Green Men!

2. Be Our Guest (lunch)

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Be Our Guest is quick service for lunchtime only, and even then getting in can be pretty competitive, but we managed it! If the perfect setting isn’t enough, the food was amazing!

3. Sunshine Seasons

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Sunshine Seasons is inside The Land at Epcot, and boasts a pretty amazing range of international cuisine. My Mongolian Beef, fried rice and whoopie pie might have been the best QS meal I had last year!

4. Pinocchio Village Haus

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We loved Pinocchio’s so much we ate there twice! As well as great food, there’s loads of seating both indoors and out, and if you sit by the big window you can watch the boats on It’s a Small World!

5. Boardwalk Bakery

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The Boardwalk is possibly the most beautiful and underrated place in Disney World, and the Bakery is full of yummy goodies, from incredible cupcakes to handmade deli sandwiches, and if you ever need to order a celebration cake, this is the place to go!

Where are your favourite places to eat in WDW?

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50s Prime Time Cafe

Take a ride back in time to a decade where food was good, family was everything, and kitchens were retro!

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If you need to wait for your table to be ready, you can hang out in the attached Tune-In Lounge until your ‘babysitter’ seats you around your kitchen table.

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Choose from a wide selection of classic family recipes, from Aunt Liz’s fried chicken to Grandma’s pot pie, and be sure to eat all your vegetables, or your babysitter might just shout about it to the whole restaurant!

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If you’re into themed dining, then stopping by is completely necessary; kids will find the setting totally comical, and almost every adult will remember some relative that used to have a kitchen exactly like the set-up – my nan and gran in our family! The servers make everyone feel welcome, and while in my personal opinion the food left a little something to be desired, overall it was a fun family dining experience.

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Pizza Planet Arcade

Love Toy Story? Eat here.

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The Pizza Planet Arcade is a Quick Service restaurant, located in hollywood Studios, and is set up just like Pizza Planet from Pixar’s Toy Story.

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Once you’ve ordered your food from the counter, take a seat at a table, either on the ground floor, surrounded by arcade games to entertain the kids, or upstairs with the aliens!

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As the name suggests, the main item on the menu is pizza, but there’s also a few subs and salads available as well as a range of desserts; you can’t really go wrong!

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Fun for all the family and a great place to eat, don’t give it a miss!

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Sci Fi Dine In Theater

Disney is packed with unique dining experiences, but this one is fairly up there.

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Located in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the entire restaurant is set up as an old school drive in movie theater; you sit in classic cars, two by two, all pointed towards a huge projection screen playing a combination of black and white/colour movie clips, ads and classic cartoons.

Each row of the car has a little countertop style table across the row, just large enough for your meal, and comfortably fits two adults or three smaller bottoms. Sit back and enjoy the meal, the friendly diner staff take care of the rest!

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The food is classic American diner style – burgers, sandwiches etc. I had the steak, which came with garlic mash potato, vegetables and two fairly huge onion rings. Now I’m not a huge connoisseur of steak, but it was cooked to my liking and I enjoyed it very much, especially the blue cheese butter dressing, and the portion size didn’t leave me hungry – in fact, I could hardly touch my hot fudge ice cream sundae after all that.

There were a few cons though..

1. While it may work for some people, we found the atmosphere of the restaurant a little un-family friendly; while some tables are family style (where you sit around the table), most were in rows of two so felt a little unsociable, and as the whole room keeps fairly quiet so as not to disturb the reel on the screen, its difficult to feel part of a group, so I wouldn’t recommend it for families of smaller or more restless children.

2. The clips being played aren’t entirely kid-friendly. There were a few Tom and Jerry moments, but otherwise it was mainly adult sci-fi, which although part of the theme of the restaurant, didn’t appeal to the kids as much.

3. None of the tables are designed for groups of over 8. As a group of 9, we were given the option of trying to squeeze on a table of 8 (no chance would we have fitted seeing them), or to split between two cars. This meant that 2 of our group had to sit in a separate car, adding to the unsociable aspect.

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It was however a great meal, and while we, the adults, had our minor complaints, the kids didn’t seem to care too much, and in fact they thought it was the coolest place we ate!

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HS Tips and Secrets

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°o° Crowds tend to head to the big rides first (Toy Story Midway Mania, Rock’n’Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror etc), so if you don’t want to be stuck in hour long queues, save these for later in the day, or get your Fastpasses early as they’re snapped up quick.

°o° In midday heat or pouring rain, head to one of the many indoor attractions: Muppets 3D, Animation Academy etc.

°o° Try not to rush around, there are a tonne of tiny details you’ll miss otherwise!

°o° The gas pump when you enter the park represents the opening date of the park.

°o° Pull the rope of the well by Indiana Jones Stunt Show, you might just hear something!

°o° Watch out for the fire hydrant near Muppet Vision if you don’t want to get wet!

°o° Get a photo ‘Singing in the Rain’!

°o° Each limo in the Rock’n’Roller Coaster plays a different Aerosmith track.

°o° In Muppet Vision 3D, there is a sign saying ‘back in 5 minutes, key is under the mat’. Why don’t you check for the key?

°o° The nautical flags above Dockside Diner actually spell out Dockside Diner!

°o° The back of the Tower of Terror is designed so that when you see if from nearby Epcot, it blends in with the Morocco Pavilion.

°o° Outside The Great Movie Ride are a load of hand prints in the ground, have fun finding which famous person you match with.

°o° Young wannabe Jedis can try their skills out at Jedi Academy, and even face Darth Vader himself!

°o° The Fantasmic lake is only 18 inches deep.

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Day 8: One Day, Two Parks

Today we had a mission: get on the Seven Dwarves Mine Train.

The Magic Kingdom had an early magic hour, so we got into the park at about 8.30am and marched straight over, expecting to find a relatively short queue.. We found a queue working all the way round the outside of the ride, as far as Ariel’s Grotto. Luckily (sort of), however, the queue was this length due to the fact the ride wasn’t open yet, and therefore no one was in the main queue area, so once the ride opened we flowed fairly quickly. Once inside, the queue was fairly entertaining, with plenty of interactive activities and fabulous surroundings. The ride itself was a nice combination of rollercoaster (think Big Thunder Mountain), and classic ride along (Winnie the Pooh style) inside the mines, and the whole time we spent at the ride was about an hour; queuing and the ride itself.

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Mission completed, we had a wander around Main Street USA, stopping for a treat in the confectionery shop and grabbing a drink from the Main Street Bakery, and even managed to squeeze in seeing the Move It, Shake It Street Party before hopping on a bus to the next park..

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Hollywood Studios afternoon!

We had all our Fastpasses for the day booked for the studios, as well as dinner, and got into the park just in time for the first: Indiana Jones stunt show. Personally I enjoyed this a lot more than Lights, Camera, Motion! as it was more personal; volunteers were picked out of the audience, the cast of the show explained how stunts are shot for real movies etc. We headed straight from there to Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, our second Fastpass. Another great production, it summarised the film (one of my favourites!) into a short and sweet 30 minute show while keeping all the key aspects of the story, and most importantly: the songs!

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Onto dinner: 50’s Prime Time Cafe!

The restaurant was a great atmosphere, and we had a fabulously funny waitress, Mary Ann, who made sure we enjoyed our meals as well as maintaining our manners – no elbows on the table, pleases and thank yous etc. At this point in our trip, a major flaw in the dining in Disney World is really emerging: absolutely no variety in kids meal choices. Our poor youngest two of the group are being subjected daily to three options in almost every restaurant – mac and cheese, chicken nuggets and burger/hotdog/pizza with either fruit salad, apple slices or ice cream for dessert.

With everything at the park completed, we’re drawing a line under Hollywood Studios for the rest of our trip; its not quite as kid friendly and there’s nothing else we’d go back for now.

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Days 5 and 6: Hollywood Studios, Blizzard Beach and Spirit of Aloha

Beginning to realise there just isn’t quite as much time for blogging while I’m out here, given the amount of sleep I need anyway!

But still, I can squeeze a few days together 🙂

So yesterday we hit up Hollywood Studios for a real scorcher of a day! When we got into the park we were greeted by the glorious Olaf Distribution Center, where Olaf fans were being handed out, and we would not have survived without them!

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The beauty of this park is while there are fewer rides, there are more indoor, air conditioned activities like Muppet Vision 3D, Star Tours etc, so we saved those for the middle of the day heat.

We grabbed early lunch at Pizza Planet, an absolute must-do for Toy Story fans, and had bookings for an early dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater (full reviews to come), so we really didn’t go hungry..

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We also encountered the longest ride queue we’ve had so far: Rock’n’Roller Coaster, 75 minutes, and at over an hour and a half, we weren’t going to attempt Toy Story Midway Mania, so we’ll save that for another day. Other activities included The Tower of Terror and Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and the evening was wrapped up with Fantasmic, which we would have never got into without a Fastpass, it was phenomenally busy.

Today we had a lazy Blizzard Beach day; the girls could just swim all day and be perfectly content, but we didn’t need more than a few hours before we’d done most things and the heat had got to us, but that was fine because we had a booking for the 5.15pm Spirit of Aloha Dinner show at the Polynesian Resort.

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Absolutely cannot deny the service and the food were fantastic! The show itself left a little to be desired; it could have easily just been song and dance performances, but it had been scripted into a story of a group of dancers throwing a party (I’m not even entirely sure what the story was if I’m honest), but overall it was a great meal and the Samoan fire dancer really stole the show, although my aunt and uncle did give him a run for his money!

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