"We seem to be made to suffer. It’s our lot in life" - Feb/April 2017 - 5/9 Half/Grand Floridian Ca

[Dis_Yoda]

I know, right! Darn school breaks! Lol! Thanks Disney for making me spend more $$ haha. Have a super time!

I'm so lucky I don't have to deal with school breaks for my travel plans! The one day our pass doesn't work for our Star Wars Dark Side - we're just going to enjoy Disney Springs and relax! Disney does love making us spend money. My surprise trip should be cheap though - I just got my Disney Visa Rewards ($200!) so I shouldn't actually be spending cash outside of gas money!

Yum! Charcuterie boards are the best!!

It was such a great board! I'm glad they had it as an option for the festival as it was totally better than some boards you can get in their restaurants!

Wow, looks like I would love some of those food choices at the Festival of the Arts! Maybe we'll try to hit that up next year!

The food choices were so creative! I loved it! I think because it was new nothing feels tired yet of the selections and they had to creative food that truly was artistic!

Love how our combined hatred of mushrooms manifests itself so differently. You're content to pick the mushrooms out and I wouldn't even eat at a booth that was serving them

You all did much better at the festival than we did. You'll see when I get to my review we were highly disappointed, but we're partially to blame. I'd done next to no research and presumed the festival was in every country like flower and garden. I of course was wrong and we ended up missing just about every booth you got to eat at.

Our hatred does manifest differently. I do actively avoid blue cheese though even worse than mushrooms and avoid that strongly!

I hadn't done a ton of research either. I found it weird that most of the food items were all centered around the front of the World Showcase! It made me not spread out my eating and thus I got full way quicker than I originally planned and a little buzzed as I had some strong alcohol in less than an hour! I wish I had more excess cash that weekend so I could have bought the pretty art!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Boathouse

We headed back to the room to relax for a bit. Eventually we headed to Disney Springs by bus on the way there as it was a Saturday Night and parking at Disney Springs could be a nightmare. Why deal with it when you don’t have to? Plus if we wanted to have a few drinks, we wouldn't have to worry about that driving thing. It was raining a bit when we arrived but nothing that bad. We went shopping around the new Town Center where my mother bought flowy pants at Anthropologie and I bought masks from Sephora. We headed over to West Side so I could purchase some things for my husband as he likes nerdy things from the Star Wars store or the Marvel store. We ended up by the Boathouse near the time of our reservation.

This was probably the roughest meal of this trip, not because of the service but because of mental states. My mother and I were seated in the back room that has the bar for the restaurant. Our server’s name was Steve. This made her really on edge for the meal. I tried to use logic that there are at least 1 million people in the US named Steve (it is one of the top 20 most popular names in the US) but logic doesn’t always work on emotional people.

I ordered myself a Moscow Mule and she ordered herself some champagne while we reviewed the menu.

I ended up ordering different than I originally planned as my stomach wasn’t overly hungry, probably thanks to the medication I was on for that sinus/ear infection. I wanted some vegetables and ordered myself a caesar salad. This salad was HUGE! I do love it though even if I could barely eat half!

Caesar Salad

My mother ordered the lobster bisque as that was the last thing her husband enjoyed at Boathouse. I forgot to take a photo as I was in mine-field prevention mode.

*Again* Bad Dis_Yoda! No Photo!
Lobster Bisque

My mother ordered one of the chilled appetizer options as her entree as she can only eat so much. We ended up making a slight scene here. She couldn’t crack open the claw so I attempted to do it for her. Well, it went flying as I’m a klutz. Well our server noticed this and in turn, gave her a new lobster cocktail for free. That was really nice of him!

Boathouse Lobster Cocktail

I went with the Baby Back Ribs as I knew it would be something that would keep well. I knew there wasn’t any way I would be able to finish an entree this evening thanks to the medication and how my stomach was feeling. This was the best choice for that! I had three of the ribs and they were so very tender and the sauce was great. I had the rest of it boxed up as I knew it would travel well when I went home the next day. (They did - I had them the next day and they reheated well in my toaster oven and made a great lunch!)

Full Rack Competition Style Baby Back Ribs

We paid our bill and tipped him well. We took the boat back to the resort and picked up breakfast for the next morning from Artist’s Palette. We cleaned up for the day and went to bed. The next morning is uneventful as I had my apple slices w/ caramel before heading home! We have another mother/daughter trip over Labor Day weekend. Planning is already proving to be interesting as our hotel selection as changed three times already - I think it is finally 100% decided thanks to that special Travel Agent rate - we’re going to Beach Club in a Standard View Room August 31st to September 4th!​

 

[Vernie822]

Wild Mushroom Risotto, Aged Parmesan, Truffle Shavings & Zinfandel Reduction

All of your Festival options look great! Since our MLK trip was so short we didn't end up trying any of the items, but I think they all look awesome, especially the deconstructed BLT.

Surprise!

Totally just booked a last minute weekend trip with a girlfriend! 3/31 to 4/2! SSR 1 Bedroom On Points

This will be a cheap weekend though - hopefully my Disney Visa Points come in time as that's like $200!

Woooooo! @pepperandchips and I will be there this weekend, also!!

Caesar Salad

Love a good Caesar salad!

We paid our bill and tipped him well. We took the boat back to the resort and picked up breakfast for the next morning from Artist’s Palette. We cleaned up for the day and went to bed. The next morning is uneventful as I had my apple slices w/ caramel before heading home! We have another mother/daughter trip over Labor Day weekend. Planning is already proving to be interesting as our hotel selection as changed three times already - I think it is finally 100% decided thanks to that special Travel Agent rate - we’re going to Beach Club in a Standard View Room August 31st to September 4th!

Yay for Beach Club - that sounds like a great trip!

 

[TeeterTots]

I always love a good Caesar salad! Yum to the lobster.... Love! Haha we warm our ribs in the toaster over too! I'm glad you and your mom had a nice weekend. Beach club sounds fun! I really want to start venturing out to new DVC resorts! Epcot area would be awesome. Poly has been a favorite as it's so convenient!

 

[nco91590]

What did you think of the Moscow Mule at Boathouse? Unfortunately, it's on my list for "worst drink i've ever had at Disney" award. It tasted nothing like a Moscow Mule.

 

[disneyAndi14]

We enjoyed the Caesar salad at Boathouse as well, we are also going to be at Disney the end of August through Labor Day with an awesome deal. It was magical! Enjoyed your dining reviews, I checked out some of your other ones, you and your hubby get to Disney on both coasts quite often, how nice for you two!

 

[mousegear]

Caesar salad at Boathouse looks yummy as well as the lobster! Disney Springs have so many new restaurants we want to try and we don't have enough days this coming trip.

 

[kastoney]

Sorry your Mom had such a hard time with the meal, but I can completely understand. I'll get around to it in my report, but you may recall my best friend died suddenly last year. Well there was a drink at Tiffins with her name in it and it quite literally made me start crying in the restaurant. Tears on the menu and all. I know how to prepare myself for holidays and other events, but its the things you don't expect and something as simple as a name can knock you on your a$s.

Ok, onto happier things. Glad the meal at least was good. Kudos to boathouse for replacing the lobster!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

All of your Festival options look great! Since our MLK trip was so short we didn't end up trying any of the items, but I think they all look awesome, especially the deconstructed BLT.

Hopefully you'll get to try them next year! I love a good pork belly so that deconstructed BLT was yummy!

Woooooo! @pepperandchips and I will be there this weekend, also!!

What are your plans?

Friday Night we're going to Disney Springs for food and drinks. Lots and lots of Drinks.
Saturday we will be at EPCOT.
Sunday, we're having breakfast at Grand Floridian Café before we go home.

Love a good Caesar salad!

Me too!

Yay for Beach Club - that sounds like a great trip!

Should be good! I like free vacations!

I always love a good Caesar salad! Yum to the lobster.... Love! Haha we warm our ribs in the toaster over too! I'm glad you and your mom had a nice weekend. Beach club sounds fun! I really want to start venturing out to new DVC resorts! Epcot area would be awesome. Poly has been a favorite as it's so convenient!

The toaster oven is my best friend when it comes to left overs. They taste better than the microwave but less effort than the oven!

We aren't staying DVC that time - she's paying for it so we're at the main resort. I've stayed at all of the DVCS now and all of them have something I love about them, except Old Key West. We just didn't like that one!

What did you think of the Moscow Mule at Boathouse? Unfortunately, it's on my list for "worst drink i've ever had at Disney" award. It tasted nothing like a Moscow Mule.

I thought it was ok but my stomach also wasn't the happiest at that point so if I thought it tasted off, I probably thought it was because of that rather than the drink. I usually get one of the whiskey cocktails there and love those!

We enjoyed the Caesar salad at Boathouse as well, we are also going to be at Disney the end of August through Labor Day with an awesome deal. It was magical! Enjoyed your dining reviews, I checked out some of your other ones, you and your hubby get to Disney on both coasts quite often, how nice for you two!

That's awesome you are going to Disney around the same time! If you see us, say hello! Which hotel are you staying at with that deal?

We get Disneyland once a year because of the runs. I love that we get to do that! WDW is such an easy trip for us as its only 3 hours away from our home and with DVC and APs, there is less out of pocket expenses for the trips.

Caesar salad at Boathouse looks yummy as well as the lobster! Disney Springs have so many new restaurants we want to try and we don't have enough days this coming trip.

There are a ton of new restaurants! Well, all the new restaurants just means you need to have more trips to WDW to try them all! I mean, that's my excuse for so many

Sorry your Mom had such a hard time with the meal, but I can completely understand. I'll get around to it in my report, but you may recall my best friend died suddenly last year. Well there was a drink at Tiffins with her name in it and it quite literally made me start crying in the restaurant. Tears on the menu and all. I know how to prepare myself for holidays and other events, but its the things you don't expect and something as simple as a name can knock you on your a$s.

Ok, onto happier things. Glad the meal at least was good. Kudos to boathouse for replacing the lobster!

I do remember that as I remember you leaving the boards for a while as you dealt with that. I understand about the little things that set it off. I also know my mother's is really fresh and still in her process as well.

Our server was so awesome with his friendliness.

 

[Vernie822]

What are your plans?

Friday Night we're going to Disney Springs for food and drinks. Lots and lots of Drinks.
Saturday we will be at EPCOT.
Sunday, we're having breakfast at Grand Floridian Café before we go home.

I replied to your post on @pepperandchips TR but hopefully we can all figure out a meet-up! Would be fun to have a few drinks.. first unofficial meeting of the DIS Mimosa-lovin' Crew... or whatever our club was called

 

[pepperandchips]

Popped back over to say that I would never have thought to order ribs at boathouse but those look so good! I am sorry your mom lost her husband. It was good that you ladies had a bit of a getaway even if an occasional painful reminder brought fresh grief.

Glad you are able to get away this weekend with your friend. I'll be looking forward to the Mickey Mimosa Club inaugural meeting!

 

[Vernie822]

Popped back over to say that I would never have thought to order ribs at boathouse but those look so good! I am sorry your mom lost her husband. It was good that you ladies had a bit of a getaway even if an occasional painful reminder brought fresh grief.

Glad you are able to get away this weekend with your friend. I'll be looking forward to the Mickey Mimosa Club inaugural meeting!

MICKEY MIMOSA CLUB! YES!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I replied to your post on @pepperandchips TR but hopefully we can all figure out a meet-up! Would be fun to have a few drinks.. first unofficial meeting of the DIS Mimosa-lovin' Crew... or whatever our club was called

Hopefully we can meet up! Its probably a good thing I didn't text you last night while at Disney Springs. After the work week I had, I had a very large drink by myself and became a silly silly mess. So glad I could walk back to our room!

Popped back over to say that I would never have thought to order ribs at boathouse but those look so good! I am sorry your mom lost her husband. It was good that you ladies had a bit of a getaway even if an occasional painful reminder brought fresh grief.

Glad you are able to get away this weekend with your friend. I'll be looking forward to the Mickey Mimosa Club inaugural meeting!

I normally wouldn't have ordered ribs either because I love their steaks there but I just wasn't feeling steaks! I'm totally going back to my steak love in 3 weeks.

I think getting away was good for her. She's really looking forward to Labor Day already and keeps updating our restaurant plans!

MICKEY MIMOSA CLUB! YES!

Yay! I hope we get to meet!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Planet Hollywood Observatory

If you followed along in the comments, I booked a last minute weekend trip to Disney for March 31st to April 2nd using DVC points. I would be going with one of my girlfriends.

We left Naples, FL around 4:30PM once she was home from work and proceeded to drive up I-75 and I-4. We hit traffic around the nightmare that is Sarasota. We arrive at Saratoga Springs around 8:30pm because of all that traffic. I was kinda annoyed at Saratoga Springs at first as they didn’t text us the room number despite doing online check in. My annoyance went away when I got our room number as we are literally in the closest 1 Bedroom to the walkway to Disney Springs (on the 2nd floor) in Congress Park. This made me super happy! We drove over to Congress Park and got settled in our room.

After getting settled, we walked over to Disney Springs to head to our dinner reservation. We checked in about 5 minutes early but we had to wait about 20 to be seated. It was a very busy place! As we waited, we looked at the costumes and shops.

We were sat on the second floor. One look at the speciality drink menu, I knew what I was going for and luckily they had no problems with me ordering this drink on my own. This was strong and I liked it.

Halley’s Comet Planet-Bowl - Cruzan aged light rum, SKYY vodka, Beefeater Gin, Jose Cuervo Especial Gold Tequila, DeKuper Blue Caracao, Fresh Lemon, Lime Juice and Sprite. Includes your own take-home 45 oz souvenir glass

After looking through the menu, I decided to keep it simple since I cared more about the alcohol than the food. This was probably the safe bet as Planet Hollywood isn’t known for great food. The chicken fingers were really crispy and the coating was definitely sweet. I was glad they had the creole mustard sauce to dip them into as it helped balance out the sweet cereal coating.

World Famous Chicken Crunch - All-natural chicken tenders hand-breaded with a crunchy sweet coating, served with our signature Creole Mustard Sauce

I’m not sure why I ordered fries as I’m not a huge fries lover but I think I was thinking ahead for my drinking. The seasoning on the fries were good but I didn't like the puffy fries at all. I stuck with the waffle fries and the regular ones!

Triple Fries

Over the course of dinner, I finished my drink. I wasn’t feeling much pain. My friend had ordered the Nachos Bell Grande and said there was little flavor on it, as if it needed a lot more salt. She enjoyed her mojitos though!

Finished Halley’s Comet

So shortly after I finished Halley’s Comet...they had a Let It Go singalong on the screen. You know where this is going….

She gave us the dessert menu but the item I wanted was already sold out of for the night. (No banana pudding for me!) After this, we had to wait a bit to get our check and by the time we were done eating and drinking, we were tired and gave up on drinking anywhere else at Disney Springs. We paid and left to walk back with making one pit stop first!​

 

[kastoney]

We do online check in every time and I have never once gotten a text. I want to blame disney, but at this point I think my phone is playing a bizarre trick on me and just not letting them come through

Looks like a great night!!!!!!!! That drink is HUGE. No wonder you were feeling no pain. And speaking of which, from a girl who may have imbibed a little too much last night (though thankfully for the world no sing alongs for me), I could totally devour that chicken and those fries right about now!

 

[pepperandchips]

Gotta say I am very glad you elected to post the frozen sing along photos as they are AWESOME and DH was wrong you look cute.

Planet Hollywood looks actually shockingly okay! Those fries look super yummy.

Hope you guys get/got home safe today! Wonderful hanging out with you (spoiler alert)

 

[toomuchtv]

I just read the entire report so far and I'm loving it. Sorry about your mom taking her husband's death hard. Hopefully the trip helped a little.

Now onto the food...

I went with my standby Art Smith favorite! Art Smith has a restaurant in Naples and I always order the fried chicken there and I always love it. After the crappy drive and knowing what I would be dealing with, I wanted something that would make me happy and this did that. The fried chicken is so flavorful and tender and crispy in the right places. The cheddar biscuit is also moist and perfectly crumbly! I wish there were more of them! I’m sure the mashed potatoes were tasty but I skipped those to eat more meat!

Art’s Fabulous Fried Chicken

Ahhh, that looks SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD! I'm trying to decide if I want to get this or the chicken and donuts when we go in May, but that doesn't come with the biscuit, I think. And then there's mashed potatoes or mac & cheese. It just all looks so good!

Kicking Butt at Buzz Lightyear

I don't even know if I've gotten a score as good as your mom. I really need to figure out where the big targets are!

Artist’s Palette

My mother wanted breakfast this morning so we headed to the food court at Saratoga Springs before we would head over to Hollywood Studios to do a couple rides. I went super healthy as you can tell since I did get fruit. I ruined (err...made tastier) it with the yummy caramel sauce! The cinnamon roll was also nice and warm and gooey which is how a cinnamon roll should be! I had no problem finishing it off!

Cinnamon Roll & Apple Slices w/ Caramel

Fruit automatically makes a meal healthier. It's the rule. Also, that cinnamon roll looks yummy!

I ordered the Wild Mushroom Risotto despite hating mushrooms. I know I’m crazy. I picked them out of the risotto and enjoyed the cheesy, truffle goodness! My mother enjoyed some of the mushrooms I picked out and told me to grow up.

Wild Mushroom Risotto, Aged Parmesan, Truffle Shavings & Zinfandel Reduction

Oh man, I need to eat that. Too bad it was a Festival of the Arts dish...

My mother ordered one of the chilled appetizer options as her entree as she can only eat so much. We ended up making a slight scene here. She couldn’t crack open the claw so I attempted to do it for her. Well, it went flying as I’m a klutz. Well our server noticed this and in turn, gave her a new lobster cocktail for free. That was really nice of him!

Boathouse Lobster Cocktail

Haha...that is totally something I would do. Very nice of the server to give another for free.

Halley’s Comet Planet-Bowl - Cruzan aged light rum, SKYY vodka, Beefeater Gin, Jose Cuervo Especial Gold Tequila, DeKuper Blue Caracao, Fresh Lemon, Lime Juice and Sprite. Includes your own take-home 45 oz souvenir glass

That looks yummy, but it would knock me on my butt!!

I’m not sure why I ordered fries as I’m not a huge fries lover but I think I was thinking ahead for my drinking. The seasoning on the fries were good but I didn't like the puffy fries at all. I stuck with the waffle fries and the regular ones!

Triple Fries

I'm not a big fry person either. The skinny ones look good, but I want nothing to do with that puffy thing.

Looking forward to more!

 

[TeeterTots]

Looks like you had a blast!!! I hope you had a safe trip home and a nice Sunday!
So how does one know when they've been on Dis too much....or reading updates before bed? I had a dream you were staying the weekend at my house because your DH had a race and it was snowing and icy but we were running the streets to get some sort of food and we had to meet up with @kastoney...omg I swear I'm not nuts! Lol

 

[Dis_Yoda]

We do online check in every time and I have never once gotten a text. I want to blame disney, but at this point I think my phone is playing a bizarre trick on me and just not letting them come through

Looks like a great night!!!!!!!! That drink is HUGE. No wonder you were feeling no pain. And speaking of which, from a girl who may have imbibed a little too much last night (though thankfully for the world no sing alongs for me), I could totally devour that chicken and those fries right about now!

I put the blame on it not coming through as I booked my hotel on Monday. I did On-line Check In on Tuesday and got there on Friday. I don't think their system likes last minute! That is annoying you've never gotten the text! You should use your husband's phone number next time to see if its your phone

That drink was huge. 45 ounces huge (although half of it was ice) After the work week, I was so very glad to just indulge in that and have fun!

Gotta say I am very glad you elected to post the frozen sing along photos as they are AWESOME and DH was wrong you look cute.

Planet Hollywood looks actually shockingly okay! Those fries look super yummy.

Hope you guys get/got home safe today! Wonderful hanging out with you (spoiler alert)

Yeah - I just decided to go for it. I'm sure there are worse photos out there in existence. Shockingly okay is a good way to describe Planet Hollywood. I probably won't go out of my way to eat there again but if traveling with certain people in my life, that could end up being a safe option. We did get home safe Sunday around 2:30/3! It was awesome meeting you!

I just read the entire report so far and I'm loving it. Sorry about your mom taking her husband's death hard. Hopefully the trip helped a little.

Now onto the food...

I think this trip did help some. I think the planning for our trip in September is also helping some.

Ahhh, that looks SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD! I'm trying to decide if I want to get this or the chicken and donuts when we go in May, but that doesn't come with the biscuit, I think. And then there's mashed potatoes or mac & cheese. It just all looks so good!

Just so you know - you can order a side of biscuits. If you want to do the chicken and donuts - you can still enjoy the biscuits!

I don't even know if I've gotten a score as good as your mom. I really need to figure out where the big targets are!

For Buzz - the three high spots that I usually go for are as follows:
1) Inside the Robot's Hand in the first room
2) The top of the volcano
3) The bottom of Zurg's Spaceship

The other main tip I have is to keep the button pressed down the whole time. It allows it to have a constant pulse of the laser which helps with knowing how to move your blaster!

Fruit automatically makes a meal healthier. It's the rule. Also, that cinnamon roll looks yummy!

I'm glad all my disboard people understand my struggle to make the meal healthier!

Oh man, I need to eat that. Too bad it was a Festival of the Arts dish...

Festival of the Arts is coming back next year! I just loved how creative the dishes were! Much more interesting than Flower & Garden or Food & Wine although the prices reflected that.

Haha...that is totally something I would do. Very nice of the server to give another for free.

Yay for not being the only klutz! SOmetimes these things happen and I'm just like only me!

That looks yummy, but it would knock me on my butt!!

I'm not a big fry person either. The skinny ones look good, but I want nothing to do with that puffy thing.

Looking forward to more!

It did knock me on my butt. I slept so well that night all alone in my large king size bed! I probably snored loudly - luckily for my friend, there was a door I could close between us!

Looks like you had a blast!!! I hope you had a safe trip home and a nice Sunday!
So how does one know when they've been on Dis too much....or reading updates before bed? I had a dream you were staying the weekend at my house because your DH had a race and it was snowing and icy but we were running the streets to get some sort of food and we had to meet up with @kastoney...omg I swear I'm not nuts! Lol

We did have a blast this weekend! I'm totally sunburnt now on the back of my neck from Saturday though.

Well, you do dream of the items that were most recently in your mind so its probably reading updates before bed rather than being on the dis too much! At least your dream seems sortof realistic rather than some of the dreams I have sometimes.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Goofy’s Candy Company

We both wanted sugar, so we ducked into Goofy’s Candy Shoppe. I selected an adorable cake pop that had Lady on it! I have a cocker spaniel and a cocker spaniel mix so this is perfect for me! I totally ate it once we were back in the room before bed.

Cake Pop

I also picked up a cupcake I 100% had for breakfast the next morning. Gotta keep up that healthy eating trend It wasn’t as good as sprinkles but it did its job!

Cookies and Cream Cupcake

I also lucked out and was given a free blue slushie! Apparently the sales lady had accidently made an extra one and didn’t want to throw it out so I got to be the lucky recipient, especially since the store was going to close within the next 15 minutes! Win! My body was happy for sugar without alcohol which I think helped me not feel it the next morning.

Free Blue Slushie

We headed back to Saratoga Springs and went to bed!​