Lesley Wake
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2017
Day 0, Part 3 “First rule of World of Disney – you don’t separate!”
[Note: at this point my sister comes back into the story, so she was taking photos too…unfortunately I haven’t grabbed those from her (despite asking her every other day), and she is now in North Carolina for a week so I don’t know if I’ll get them in time to post this update. If not, I’ll add any relevant photos in a separate post]
We ended up getting room 5250 in the 2nd floor of the 60s section. I was pretty happy with this location. It was an easy walk down to the stairs at the end of the floor which was then easy to walk thru the main lobby to the buses. It was also quiet, as it just looked over pathways, not the pool. I always find it funny how pool views are more expensive, as I would pay more to NOT deal with the pool noise! But I guess families like that, so to each their own!
Also, some thoughts on the room. It was fine for 2 nights. But it was definitely small. We did have the inconvenience of tripping over our bags, as we didn’t want to unpack for the short stay, but still, it was a very cramped space. When you opened the door you would almost hit the bed and the bathroom was way too small for us. My hat’s off to families who are able to stay there for a longer period of time! I think the renovated rooms are probably nicer, especially because you can fold up the murphy bed and store things under the beds, giving more space.
I also found it funny house they had the Skyliner adverts already in the rooms, even though they had just started the foundation construction! I guess maybe they are doing it partly to explain any construction areas, and partly to encourage people to come back and stay there after it’s done.
By the time I got into our room, my sister had texted me that she had just gotten on a DME bus. That’s how long the wait took in the lobby! I took my time grabbing out some stuff I’d need for the next 2 nights, but left the majority of the bags unpacked. Then I meandered over to the lobby to wait for her bus. Walked through the food court, where I was able to see just how necessary that case of water was . My co-worker was not apologetic at all!
Then waited a bit for my sister, as well as admiring the fun golf cart! Doesn’t seem that it runs though!
My sister arrived about 9pm, and we dropped the last bags in the room. Lauren originally wanted to go for a dip in the Hippy Dippy Pool, but we were also both hungry. I said, we could either do the food court at Pop or head over to Disney Springs, which was still open until midnight, and hope to get pool time later. Thankfully she agreed to Disney Springs, as we knew we could get stuck with basic food during the hurricane!
By 9:20 we got on a bus to Disney Springs, with my sister wearing her Happy Birthday button proudly! The bus driver was so cute and made sure to play a special Happy Birthday announcement on the bus! There also ended up just being one other couple on the bus, so an almost private ride.
We quickly got to Disney Springs, but then I got us a bit lost trying to find our dinner spot! Definitely went down some dead-ends and retraced our steps:
But anyways, we finally made it to our destination: Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’
I had a reservation for this on our original arrival night, so was happy to be able to do it this night! It was a very busy night, so we had to wait a whole 30 seconds to be seated!
I ended up getting the Art’s Famous Fried Chicken [Buttermilk-brined for 24 hours then perfectly fried and served with creamy mashed potatoes, cheddar drop biscuits, and love]. I decided to skip a drink, as I just didn’t feel like any of the shine cocktails or beers.
I thought it was good, but not eye-opening amazing. My fried chicken was well done, with the drumstick being very moist and the breast being more on the dry side (but not in a bad way). The first few bites of the mashed potatoes were good, but then the butter was a bit overwhelming! Loved the cheddar biscuits though!
Lauren got the Fried Chicken Sandwich but substituted fries for the chips [Buttermilk-brined for 24 hours and double-battered, dressed with hot sauce aioli, aioli, iceberg lettuce, tomato and bread and butter pickles served with house-made barbecue chips drizzled with icebox dressing]. She also got a pint of Funky Buddha Floridian.
She liked the sandwich, but thought the hot sauce aioli wasn’t hot enough. Once she added some of the hot sauce which was left on the table it was better. I want to say she got some sort of sauce on the side (probably the icebox dressing) to dip her fries in, but I don’t have a picture of that! She said the beer was good and mild, which is what she wanted at that moment.
While we were eating I was checking the various Disney blog twitter accounts and saw Rose Gold Ears had been released that afternoon! Once we were done we decided to check out D Living to see if they were still there. Unfortunately not, as they had sold out within a few hours of them being put out. Oh well, I’m sure if I wait a few months there will be plenty at Disneyland, just like how the rose tumblrs sold out in hours every time they were in stock, but now they have shelves and shelves of them!
We did check out the interchangeable bow ears and my sister liked them but not enough to buy any. Maybe I’ll get her a set for Christmas, but we don’t tend to do Minnie Bows in our family (have to take them off too often for rides).
I had also originally wanted to stop at the Ganachery to get a s’more for dessert, but I was still full from dinner and thought the s’mores are best eaten fresh, so we skipped that.
Around 10:45 we made our way over to World of Disney, passing Amorette’s on the way. My original plan was to grab a sweet and take it back to the room, and I figured we would have time later, as Disney Springs was open until 12! Well, forgot to realize, DS was open to 12, but the shops were closing at 11! So by the time we left World of Disney, it was closed!
We did a bit of wandering around World of Disney. It is definitely huge and we did get separated when I went to look at Star Wars stuff and Lauren stayed to look at necklaces. Despite low crowds, it took a bit to find each other and that’s when we decided “First rule of World of Disney-don’t get separated!” We actually didn’t buy anything that night, but Lauren wanted to check out magic bands. We thought most designs would be at the Pin Traders, but left WoD after 11, so everything was closing! Oh well!
Some comparisons to the World of Disney at Downtown Disney (CA). FL is definitely bigger, but I don’t think the amount of merchandise is that different. Just in FL its more spread out within the store, which makes it easier to walk, as well as having plenty of other stores at the Springs which can have more specialty goods (so kitchenwares at Mickey's Pantry and pins at the Pin Traders). WoD in CA is very claustrophobic (has high ceilings there are just so many people and so many racks/tables/shelves you are constantly bumping into things)! So, point to WDW!
At that point we realized everything was closing so it was time to head back to Pop! We were lucky and the Pop and AoA buses had been moved to Stall 1, with a bus loading at that time. We were able to get on, but then this huge family also boarded (like 20 people), who were still collecting people from down the walkway so they held the bus until everyone arrived. Then they were going to AoA which was the second stop, and didn’t realize they needed to move out of the way for people getting off at Pop.
Still plenty of people in line at reservations/concierge!
When we got back to the room we were just in time to see a late repeat of Project Runway, so were able to check out the last half of the show.
Off to bed, pretty late, but we didn’t need to be up early in the morning as we both had work to do (since we had left 2 days early). But I did set my alarm for 8am just to help make the time change adjustment!
Cont...Day 1 - Which park would be my first WDW experience?
[Note: at this point my sister comes back into the story, so she was taking photos too…unfortunately I haven’t grabbed those from her (despite asking her every other day), and she is now in North Carolina for a week so I don’t know if I’ll get them in time to post this update. If not, I’ll add any relevant photos in a separate post]
We ended up getting room 5250 in the 2nd floor of the 60s section. I was pretty happy with this location. It was an easy walk down to the stairs at the end of the floor which was then easy to walk thru the main lobby to the buses. It was also quiet, as it just looked over pathways, not the pool. I always find it funny how pool views are more expensive, as I would pay more to NOT deal with the pool noise! But I guess families like that, so to each their own!
Also, some thoughts on the room. It was fine for 2 nights. But it was definitely small. We did have the inconvenience of tripping over our bags, as we didn’t want to unpack for the short stay, but still, it was a very cramped space. When you opened the door you would almost hit the bed and the bathroom was way too small for us. My hat’s off to families who are able to stay there for a longer period of time! I think the renovated rooms are probably nicer, especially because you can fold up the murphy bed and store things under the beds, giving more space.
I also found it funny house they had the Skyliner adverts already in the rooms, even though they had just started the foundation construction! I guess maybe they are doing it partly to explain any construction areas, and partly to encourage people to come back and stay there after it’s done.
By the time I got into our room, my sister had texted me that she had just gotten on a DME bus. That’s how long the wait took in the lobby! I took my time grabbing out some stuff I’d need for the next 2 nights, but left the majority of the bags unpacked. Then I meandered over to the lobby to wait for her bus. Walked through the food court, where I was able to see just how necessary that case of water was . My co-worker was not apologetic at all!
Then waited a bit for my sister, as well as admiring the fun golf cart! Doesn’t seem that it runs though!
My sister arrived about 9pm, and we dropped the last bags in the room. Lauren originally wanted to go for a dip in the Hippy Dippy Pool, but we were also both hungry. I said, we could either do the food court at Pop or head over to Disney Springs, which was still open until midnight, and hope to get pool time later. Thankfully she agreed to Disney Springs, as we knew we could get stuck with basic food during the hurricane!
By 9:20 we got on a bus to Disney Springs, with my sister wearing her Happy Birthday button proudly! The bus driver was so cute and made sure to play a special Happy Birthday announcement on the bus! There also ended up just being one other couple on the bus, so an almost private ride.
We quickly got to Disney Springs, but then I got us a bit lost trying to find our dinner spot! Definitely went down some dead-ends and retraced our steps:
But anyways, we finally made it to our destination: Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’
I had a reservation for this on our original arrival night, so was happy to be able to do it this night! It was a very busy night, so we had to wait a whole 30 seconds to be seated!
I ended up getting the Art’s Famous Fried Chicken [Buttermilk-brined for 24 hours then perfectly fried and served with creamy mashed potatoes, cheddar drop biscuits, and love]. I decided to skip a drink, as I just didn’t feel like any of the shine cocktails or beers.
I thought it was good, but not eye-opening amazing. My fried chicken was well done, with the drumstick being very moist and the breast being more on the dry side (but not in a bad way). The first few bites of the mashed potatoes were good, but then the butter was a bit overwhelming! Loved the cheddar biscuits though!
Lauren got the Fried Chicken Sandwich but substituted fries for the chips [Buttermilk-brined for 24 hours and double-battered, dressed with hot sauce aioli, aioli, iceberg lettuce, tomato and bread and butter pickles served with house-made barbecue chips drizzled with icebox dressing]. She also got a pint of Funky Buddha Floridian.
She liked the sandwich, but thought the hot sauce aioli wasn’t hot enough. Once she added some of the hot sauce which was left on the table it was better. I want to say she got some sort of sauce on the side (probably the icebox dressing) to dip her fries in, but I don’t have a picture of that! She said the beer was good and mild, which is what she wanted at that moment.
While we were eating I was checking the various Disney blog twitter accounts and saw Rose Gold Ears had been released that afternoon! Once we were done we decided to check out D Living to see if they were still there. Unfortunately not, as they had sold out within a few hours of them being put out. Oh well, I’m sure if I wait a few months there will be plenty at Disneyland, just like how the rose tumblrs sold out in hours every time they were in stock, but now they have shelves and shelves of them!
We did check out the interchangeable bow ears and my sister liked them but not enough to buy any. Maybe I’ll get her a set for Christmas, but we don’t tend to do Minnie Bows in our family (have to take them off too often for rides).
I had also originally wanted to stop at the Ganachery to get a s’more for dessert, but I was still full from dinner and thought the s’mores are best eaten fresh, so we skipped that.
Around 10:45 we made our way over to World of Disney, passing Amorette’s on the way. My original plan was to grab a sweet and take it back to the room, and I figured we would have time later, as Disney Springs was open until 12! Well, forgot to realize, DS was open to 12, but the shops were closing at 11! So by the time we left World of Disney, it was closed!
We did a bit of wandering around World of Disney. It is definitely huge and we did get separated when I went to look at Star Wars stuff and Lauren stayed to look at necklaces. Despite low crowds, it took a bit to find each other and that’s when we decided “First rule of World of Disney-don’t get separated!” We actually didn’t buy anything that night, but Lauren wanted to check out magic bands. We thought most designs would be at the Pin Traders, but left WoD after 11, so everything was closing! Oh well!
Some comparisons to the World of Disney at Downtown Disney (CA). FL is definitely bigger, but I don’t think the amount of merchandise is that different. Just in FL its more spread out within the store, which makes it easier to walk, as well as having plenty of other stores at the Springs which can have more specialty goods (so kitchenwares at Mickey's Pantry and pins at the Pin Traders). WoD in CA is very claustrophobic (has high ceilings there are just so many people and so many racks/tables/shelves you are constantly bumping into things)! So, point to WDW!
At that point we realized everything was closing so it was time to head back to Pop! We were lucky and the Pop and AoA buses had been moved to Stall 1, with a bus loading at that time. We were able to get on, but then this huge family also boarded (like 20 people), who were still collecting people from down the walkway so they held the bus until everyone arrived. Then they were going to AoA which was the second stop, and didn’t realize they needed to move out of the way for people getting off at Pop.
Still plenty of people in line at reservations/concierge!
When we got back to the room we were just in time to see a late repeat of Project Runway, so were able to check out the last half of the show.
Off to bed, pretty late, but we didn’t need to be up early in the morning as we both had work to do (since we had left 2 days early). But I did set my alarm for 8am just to help make the time change adjustment!
Cont...Day 1 - Which park would be my first WDW experience?
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