Dealing with Disney

Making the best being on a dining budget at Disney and still eating well! For Breakfast, I ate at the Resort's food court! I selected the kids' Breakfast option, Breakfast Platter which came with Eggs, Bacon, Breakfast Potatoes and Apple Slices. This breakfast potato option was cheesy hashbrowns. They were SOOO yummy!  I am leary of the term 'breakfast potato' which at Disney can mean a variety of potato options. Always best to ask or look at prior to choosing.  This option was only $6.29 It was very filling. Could you go cheaper. Yes, You can bring oatmeal from home, pop-tarts or granola bars.  Could make a run to a local fast food location but unless you drive 30 minutes out, it will be about the same cost plus the extra time spent driving will eat into your day.  This meal also came with a drink option. I was also able to substitute the apple slices for another item which I did. I usually will try for a cookie or a bagged snack so I can take it

Recently. I have been seeing posts about Rope Drop. The advantages and different perspectives of doing it. In Theory, if you Rope Drop a park, your goal is to reach a popular attraction ahead of others to have a lower queue time than if arrived later in morning/day. The questions in debate is if this is saving time over all in wait time. We will use Flight of Passage as an example. Park opens at 9am. If you arrive at 8 am to be ahead of the crowd, get in, go through gates, arrive at attraction and usually still have between 30-45 minute wait time. If you arrive even earlier, you could have less than 15 minute wait time. To me it’s simply accounting for the entire time in general. Waiting in one place versus another. Either way, still waiting. So, arriving an hour early. You are waiting 1 hour ultimately for the main intended attraction headed to. One also has to account for the wait time once officially in queue. In all this, you have dedicated 1.5 hr for intended

One of my favorite Quick Service locations at Animal Kingdom is Satu'li Canteen Their cuisine is not a standard and best to have an open palate when choosing this location! Located in the Land if Pandora nestled near the exit of Flight of Passage. This dining location has an inside and outside seating area. They serve their meals with real pates and real silverware which is a nice treat from the standard paperware other locations offer I would so purchase their dining wear, I love it. Here is a quick link to Disney's Site, you can find current menu options as well as price range. It is slightly higher on the scale of quick service meals which means it makes a great selection if using the Disney Dining plan meals. I have tried many items from this locations Grilled chicken bowl~ Super good, every party of it! Cheeseburger pod ~taste somewhat like a sloppy joe to me Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousse~super delicious  not too rich but definitely shareable. and a break

Do you want to touch a rhino!? This is the tour for you!! I finally was able to experience this tour offered at Animal Kingdom and thoroughly enjoyed it! The tour is offered at 11am most days for all ages 4 & up Tour lasts 1 hour and is $40.00 per person. Really a great deal for a tour/Disney experience. Of course, pass holders do get 15% off!! You start off checking in at the tour desk located by Kilimanjaro Safari attraction. You go back stage to hop on a shuttle that takes you to the Rhino housing. At the Rhino house is where the real tour starts. You learn so many things about them such as the breeds, their habitat, how endangered they are!!!, their care and needs. It is fascinating. Especially for those that love wildlife. Unfortunately since everything on this tour is backstage, no pictures are allowed which is a bummer!!!! Blah. Towards end of tour, you are able to touch one of their rhinos. It is absolutely amazing to be able to touch such an amazing anim

We had a feast with the Grinch! The Gaylord Hotels located around the states offer fantastic experiences and one of those is character dining. I went one year and saw Shrek characters but I didn't partake in the opportunity at that time. They usually rotate the experiences between the resorts. Orlando location currently has Peanuts dining experience which was in Nashville last year. This year Nashville location is offering the Grinch! We were able to meet the Grinch and his faithful companion Max! They were adorable! The meal is a pre-paid ticket event for a breakfast buffet, Tip is included in the price which isn't too bad. You do need to purchase in advance to make sure you can secure a time slot for your stay dates. If we were to compare to Disney (master of character dining) it is about $10-15 cheaper per head. Not even including the tip aspect! The cost was $32. per adult and $16 per child. that includes tax and tip They offered an omelette station, waffles

This is my second adventure through the ICE exhibit that Gaylord Resorts offer annually! It didn't disappoint! I do appreciate the arts though too! Walk through attraction to see amazing ice sculptures hand carved (some tools used~by hand) This year's theme at the Nashville's Gaylord Opryland hotel was The Grinch who Stole Christmas which I am a huge fan of the story! It is amazing the colors they put into the ICE sculptures as well. Hard to tell on some pieces if it is really ice or an object placed there. Down in the Orlando Gaylord, they had the Peanuts (Charlie Brown) theme. These enormous sculptures are kept in a building that is set at 9 degrees!! that's right, it was freezing! They do provide a full thermal coat for each guest. It keeps you pretty warm BUT I recommend bringing gloves, a hat and thick socks. I would not wear a coat but maybe just a thicker shirt. My body was fine under the heavy coat. The previous year I bundled with a coat and the ther

I hope you find this humorous ~ my idiocy for the day! You know how it seems when things go wrong or one makes mistakes, it is like a roll of them before you get back on track! That is how my trip seemed to go last go around! I wanted to give a huge should out to the World of Disney staff of Disney Springs for going above and beyond in correcting MY own mistake!! Also, it will give others a littler perspective when making certain purchases! I really wanted to surprise my kids since they were left home while I went to Disney. I wanted a real SPLURGE, something fun and unique! I saw it, sitting right there as if a spotlight was shining upon on it as soon as I walked into the glittery store! The Chocolate Ganachery house! SO beautiful and meant to be destroyed with the adorable little hammer! What kid would not like to break something like this apart??? When do we ever get to 'destroy' something that looks so glorious! Plus, all the yumminess it had waiting at the crac

The Let the Magic Begin Show! Opening show of Magic Kingdom It starts 5 minutes before the park itself officially opens. What does this mean? For example, on my recent trip. The park officially opened at 9am. We arrived and in the parks at 8:15am (through bag check and ticket/band scanners). The show started at 8:55am. It only lasts 5 minutes. Right at the end of the show, the ropes drop! We were not the first either. The park layout into each land is like a wagon wheel. Main street leads you to the center and the different lands are branched out like spokes on the wheel. The entrance to each land is roped off. This is what is meant by being there at 'rope drop'. When the park officially opens, the cast-members will lead the way for guests into each land by slowly walking with the rope or just pulling the rope over for entry. when you arrive prior to official opening hours, you can take advantage of picture opportunities with Photo Pass crew, shop,

The very easily overlooked The Plaza Restaurant available at Magic Kingdom right off the back end of Main Street USA is something one should consider! This is a small table service dining location. No frills or thrills to it but restful and enjoyable options. They have mostly typical 'American' cuisine. You can be served a nice larger portion meal entree that is only a little above a quick service meal. There is something to be said about taking advantage of resting during a park touring day! We ate here during a non-planned Magic Kingdom day. We did have two fast passes selected but just played out our day as we went along! Very relaxing to us and we were able to pretty much do what we wanted. We did miss Haunted Mansion and 7 dwarf Mine train but we were okay with that. It was also only a half day spent there. That morning we wanted to get to the park very early for rope drop and see the morning show. This meant we went without breakfast in favor of getting up a little