After being in a state of shock and awe at the length of the lines for attractions we went to Lafue's (I have no idea how to spell that) Tavern to grab a brew. We only got one to share. I despised it. It was way to sweet for me. Grizzly enjoyed it, but said it wasn't something that he would be dying to try again. It was over our brew that we started discussing our must haves from each park. For Epcot it was salted caramel squares and caramel popcorn from Germany. From Animal Kingdom it was the appetizers at the Yak and Yeti. But we couldn't come up with anything for Hollywood Studios or Magic Kingdom.
. We got excited thinking maybe there would be something at BOG that would become our MK 'thing'.
I like this picture because it nicely sums up our trip to the Magic Kingdom. In Grizzly's hand you can see a Pirate Adventure Map. We took time to explore this interactive adventure and learn the ins and outs in order to make the process speedier on our ultimate tour day. We completed 2 adventures. I actually thought this was pretty cool. It mainly just involves map reading skills and wasn't terribly interactive, but it was fun, and I could see kids ages 6-12 really getting a kick out of it. There were a couple of displays that actually made me duck out of the way of things pretending to shoot at me.
In my hand you can see a dumbo bucket. We got this souvenir popcorn bucket for our son. I knew he would just love it because he still carries around his easter basket buckets from 2 years ago. It was a pain in the neck to pack. I think I was asked by about 10 people where exactly I had found the bucket. Apparently they are just at one popcorn stand in Tomorrowland over by Space Mountain.
Other ultimate tour reconnaissance we completed included checking out what the cheapest arcade game would be to play in the Tomorrowland Arcade. We decided on skeeball because it was only $0.25 per play and it wouldn't take very long. Our Ultimate Tour plan had us meeting Merida as the first thing in the morning. We went to check out her line around 5:30pm and saw that it went from the meet and greet area all the way back up to the castle. It was insane! We talked to a cast member at the front of the line and she assured us that the wait was always this long and it was definitely a good idea to come first thing in the morning.
On our feet in the picture above you can also see our Sketcher Go Walks that we had purchased for our ultimate Tour. We were trying them out these first two days in the heat. I must say that I was not very pleased with my pair. After walking around for already not much time my arches were starting to ache. Grizzly was enjoying his this.
Overall we are used to traveling in the off season, and we couldn't get over the lines for all the attractions. Even the People Mover had a line!!!! By 6:15 we were starving and ready to eat so we wondered over to BOG to check in for dinner. We probably arrived at 6:23 and when we tried to check in for our 6:25pm reservation we were turned away because we were too early. We had to go away and come back and check in 2 minutes later. Seemed awfully silly to me.
About 10 minutes after receiving our buzzer a vicious afternoon storm started brewing outside. This caused complete chaos at BOG. Everyone with a buzzer was allowed to go inside the castle lobby. It was just nuts in there. By 6:45 Grizzly and I decided there was no way we wanted to go through this again the next night, so we asked the reservation person if he could cancel our reservation for the next night for us. He called a manager because he couldn't do it. Meanwhile I raced him using My Disney Experience and one measly bar of reception and was able to cancel the reservation myself before the manager arrived. It was less than 24 hours notice, so I hope I don't get charged the $20 no show fee, nothing told me anything about a fee when I cancelled, so I hope I don't get hit with one. We were finally seated around 7pm.
We were in the main ball room. It constantly snowed outside and was really a beautiful room to eat in. I really wanted to love BOG, but I didn't love it, and I wouldn't rush to go back for dinner. While the windows in the room were beautiful, and the ceiling was beautiful, I just got the sense that I was in a really fancy cafeteria. For appetizers I had the mussels and Grizzly had the french onion soup. We both agreed that the mussels were fantastic and there were a lot of them. They could have easily been shared. I didn't care for Grizzly's soup, but he liked it. It turned me off when the waiter recommended the steak for dinner. Even if it was actually the best thing on the menu, it was waaaaaaay more expensive than anything else on the menu and I just felt like he was trying to up his tip. Grizzly ordered the puff pastry with shrimp and scallops and I had the pork chop. We shared each dish. I thought the pastry was too dry and not fluffy enough, and the pork chop was just okay. Nothing terrible but just nothing fantastic either for those 2 entrees. For dessert we tried 2 cupcakes and both of the ones we had were delicious.
I thought it was funny that at the table next to us they had this long discussion about replacing the potato part of their entree with vegetables because they were on the Atkins diet. The waitress said she would need to get special permission to switch out a starch for a vegetable, but she would ask. This conversation went on for seriously 5 minutes about how you can only switch starch for starch and veggie for veggie and how the waitress was being so nice to ask for an exception. But THEN.....the family went through not 1, not 2, but 3 baskets of bread! Ha! So much for their Atkins diet.
All throughout dinner I kept looking for hidden mickeys in the dining room but I wasn't able to find any. We were actually in the dining room long enough for the Beast to make his grand entrance twice. After dinner we went to meet him in his study and I found some hidden mickeys on the chandelier.
I think the clovers pointing downwards look like Mickeys. Here is our picture with the Beast. He is a cute Beast. Super tall.
Overall we were happy with our meal in that we were glad we got to see inside the castle. We were happy we got to meet the Beast. But the food was just okay, and we don't feel the need to go back any time soon. So unfortunately nothing at BOG would become our Magic Kingdom 'thing'. We are still looking for that.
I'm still completely exhausted from this trip, so I've got to wrap this update up and continue on with our Top of the World lounge expedition tomorrow maybe.
One more thing....Also on this day we were informed that our SSR contract closed, so we were officially owners!!!!! We're still waiting on getting our points into our account. I'm hoping to book a 2 bedroom in January to replace an AoA stay we have planned. It's available today, but SSR is the only resort that has a 2 bedroom available for our travel dates, so I have my doubts it will still be there in a week or 2.
Up next, we venture to Top of the World Lounge for a night cap and Wishes. Thanks for joining along.
we leave in 2 weeks and I'm already partially packed! LOL granted, it's stuff that are 'vacation' clothes we don't need them between now and then
