Really enjoying your report. Can’t wait to read more.
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That view was amazing! Congrats on the great choice!
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I am sorry that the Wave did not deliver. I have really enjoyed both of my trips there.
I am enjoying your report very much. Great storytelling!
I remember your earlier posts and how fun they were! Was just wondering how your trip went, glad to see the report!
VDay 3- BBB, CRT and AKERSHUS day (** otherwise known as there is such thing as princess overload and what the hell was I thinking)
** and pictures!! I posted pictures!!!
I would like to preface this particular report by saying that sometimes I do stupid things, and I must have been on some good drugs to think that booking CRT and AKERSHUS (or whatever it’s called) on the same day was a good idea 4 months ago. Not only did I book them on the same day, I had them both booked within 5 HOURs from each other. My rational was that DD4 (known as Coco) loved Princesses (so I thought, more on that later) and we were already going to BBB so I wanted to just get all the princess stuff over with. Besides, like most of you, I spent hours (hehe) literally googling CRT vs AKERSHUS, and just decided to do both. Anyways, moving on…
So this was the only day that I didn’t make any changes to the touring plan. Our family was to head to Disney Springs as Coco had a 9:40M am appt. at BBB and then just the two of us would head to CRT for an 11:40 ADR. We would then meet up with the rest of the family to eat dinner at AKERSHUS in Epcot at 5:30 then head off to our first fast passes of the week- Frozen (for the girls) and test track (for the boys). My big goal was also to meet Baymax from Big HERO 6. He is my holy grail character (don’t tell Mickey lol).
We started off the morning by grabbing a quick bite at Gasperilla’s Grill (we basically went there every morning). It has great food and really nice seating. Then, around 9am, headed to the bus stop to discover that we just missed the Disney Springs bus and needed to wait an extra 20 minutes. So DD4 and I took a cab while the others waited for the bus as we didn’t want to be late for BBB. The cab ride was around $20 and we got to our appointment right on time. Unfortunately during the cab ride, I realized I forgot Coco’s princess dress (I literally had a suitcase full of them), so we opted for the makeover package for $200 (included dress, wand, tiara, hairstyle, makeup nailpolish and a necklace). I could literally hear my bank account crying when I handed over my credit card but since this is a one and done (and my only daughter), I decided that it was worth it.
The good news is that BBB was running on time, so Coco was accepted a few minutes ahead of schedule and met her fairy godmother to start the makeover process. It really was an amazing experience. She was pampered and her fairy godmother was so sweet. The whole process took about 45 minutes and tons of pixie dust later this was the final result, presenting TINKER BELL:
For some reason, we were not able to find the Tinker Bell costume in Canada, so it was great that we could find it here. After the makeover reveal, we were whisked away to little photography studio with a carriage to get photopass pictures taken and then it was time to head over to MK for our CRT reservation. We met up with the rest of the family in Disney Springs and since we only had an hour, we needed to high tail it MK. From Disney Springs, you cannot take a bus directly to the parks, so we had to take a bus to a resort then transfer to MK. We jumped on the first bus that came (old key west) and was able to transfer to MK from there. We arrived at CRT just in time, left the rest of my family and Coco and I finally checked in to the castle and took our picture with Cinderella (yes; that’s me!!!What a fun awkward pic lol)
So, I went here with low expectations. Our server didn’t have much personality (didn’t get my jokes, barely smiled) and threw our wand on the table. Sadly, due to some of the reviews I read, I was kind of expecting this 
However, the food really blew my mind. I inhaled my salad (with tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella) and then was extremely pleasantly surprised with my beef tenderloin, it was perfectly cooked medium. I think that Coco ordered chicken nuggets and had grapes and cheese which she devoured. Dessert was lovely, i has the lemon chiffon cake (could have been a bigger piece lol) and Coco had a build your own cupcake and I was thanking the lord that they were pretty small and not those humongous ones that you see all over Disney.
But, we weren’t there for the food. I didn’t pay over $140 for just nuggets and cheese. We were there for the princesses (this is the only pic where Coco smiled)
All in all, it was a good experience. The interaction was good, food was great. This was a once and done for us, but definitely would recommend.
After CRT, we headed back to GF for a bit of a rest for some relax time (in other words for me, modify and looking for ADR time) and before we knew it it was time for all of us to go to Epcot for out 5:30 ADR at AKERSHUS and then go on our first rides of our trip!! We arrived at our ADR on time (for me, on time meant that we made it within the 15 minute grace period of our ADR) and Coco fell asleep in the stroller so we just wheeled her in. Normally, we would take a photopass pic with Belle before we enter the dining room but since we had sleeping beauty in the stroller they were going to let us take the pic later.
I know I am going to sound like a broken record, but I had low expectations of the food here. I consider us to be adventurous eaters (except for Coco and DS9, who lived on nuggets, Mac and cheese burgers during the week), so was hoping that the food would at least be somewhat palatable. Boy, was I surprised. The food was actually really great, I would consider it one of the best meals I had on the trip. We started off with the appetizer buffet (fruit, smoked salmon), which, could have been a whole meal in itself. Ds13 proclaimed that the pasta salad there was the best that he had ever had, and for our entrees, most of us had either the chicken or the meatballs. The chicken was delicious, so moist and flavourful. My son enjoyed the meatballs and Coco had woken up by this point and her and DS9 were thoroughly enjoying their Mac and cheese.
Then the princesses started showing up. Coco had lost interest at this point and not in a good mood. She also refused to wear her costume for the rest of the day and keep tugging at her hair. We made the boys take pics with the princesses (lol) and then realized that Coco was miserable because her hair bun was too tight. So we went to the bathroom and removed all the bobby pins and the donut and the hair extensions and her attitude did a 180. We were then ready to have our pic with Belle (say hello to the family!!!)
side note- booking two princess meals back to back was a bad idea. If I could do it over, I think that I would have done CRT (for the castle experience). This is one touring plan that I wish that I abandoned.
We then moved on to the next highlight of our trip- the Frozen ride!!! I originally had a Fastpass for all 7 of us for Frozen but decided earlier that day to modify 4 of them for the boys to do test track 45 minutes later. Frozen was Coco’s first Disney ride ever so it was great to experience this with my mom as well. The funny thing is, is that when we got through the fast pass line, I turned around to see my dad there. He had absentmindedly followed through the Fastpass line and wasn’t caught so that was a nice little bonus:
Once we were done Frozen, the boys hopped over to Test Track while we girls headed off to find Baymax. You can only imagine my surprise that when we found him there was NO LINE!!! This was around 8pm on a Monday night. Coco had no problems interacting with the masked characters, she loved them much more then the princesses. Baymax is Great, despite his awkward movements he can hug and looked and felt like giant marshmallows:
Then, we hopped over to Joy and Sadness. While I did not see the movie, Coco has several times and even told me that she cried during the movie. The wait was about 20 minutes and well worth it. The interaction was great, they spent a good 5 minutes with us hugging us.
Poor Sadness. I mean, I get it, she’s a sad cartoon character, but yet, I felt so bad for her. I just really wanted to slip her some of my Zoloft.
Afterwards, I ran to Test Track get the boys to get a pic with Baymax. Once again, no line. Then my dad wanted to get in on the Baymax action so we went back there again. The CM welcomes us in with open arms lol. We ended the night with a ride on Spaceship Earth (no FP needed at this time) and headed back to the GF to watch the fireworks on our balcony.
Next up- Day 4-MK day - who plans for a day in MK the night before? ** this girl***
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Your Coco is adorable!
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Love it!
What a beautiful family! I’d rather meet Baymax than a princess too.
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Where exactly is Baymax? My 12yo really dislikes character interaction…but loves Baymax. This could be very cool for him!
He is in Epcot, across from the character spot with Mickey and gang. There is a big sign with Joy and Sadness and Baymax over the doors. He typically has a short line.
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We were there at the same time, May 6-12! It rained on our arrival and departure days, but all 5 park days were beautiful! Glad your family had such a good time.
What an idiot. What a ridiculous waste of money.
Oh my God. My heart is melting. That is the most beautiful picture. Whatever you paid for it, it wasn’t enough. You’re going to treasure that photo for the rest of your life. I hope you have it in ultra-high quality, because it’s going on the wall in your house.
I should say that (a) I hate children and (b) I hate princesses but that photo honestly brought a tear to my eye. Worth every cent.
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Your Coco is adorable!
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All I have to say is, wait for the chewbecca pictures, lol
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Really enjoying your report!
Coco is so cute and what a great family pic with Belle!
FDay 3 - Magic Kingdom Day!!! #1
So, according to my original TP, today was supposed to be the 1st of our 2 AK days. Fast passes were previously booked for Na’vi River and KS and FP for FOP were booked for two days later. However, I was eager to get to Magic Kingdom asap and made the decision to switch my AK day to the next day (Wedsnday) and had to say goodbye to my hard earned AK FP’s (you know, the ones that I work up at some godforsaken hour to book at 60 days and almost divorced my husband for making me drive him to the bus stop at 6:55 lol). I also had to face the fact that we had no decent FP’s for MK (like PP and 7DMT) as I gave them up on the Sunday (our original MK date that we changed due to weather).
So to recap, we had no fast passes for the holy grail rides, we had no PPO breakfast reservations to get us on those holy grail rides, and I was too lazy (I mean, uh, kids were too lazy) to RD.
LINER FAIL.
However, the one thing that I did have was a positive mindset, lightening fast fingers and wi-if that allowed me to book a few decent fast passes for MK the night before. So we were off to MK with FP’s for HM, Buzz lightyear (BL)and the Tomorrowland speedway (TS).
We headed off to MK around 9:15am, the park did not have EMM but had a special ticketed event from 7:45 -9:00am. The park was pretty packed and the line for 7DMT was already more then an hour long . So before we started on the rides, it was time to take some family pictures:
Jumping for joy!!!
Look what good actors we are lol
First off, I just want to sing the praises of Photopass and memory maker. Holy cow, what a great service. I am the type of person that will take full advantage of something if I have paid good money from it. For example, if I’m on the dining plan, you can bet that I will order the most expensive thing on the menu ALL THE TIME. So you can bet that if I purchased the memory maker, I was going to make in rain in Cinderella castle pictures. Another reason we got the feature is because of my poor dad. Not to bring in racial stereotypes here, but 1) my dad is Asian and 2) he LOVES to take pictures). Unfortunately, dude is stuck in 2002 because he has this little digital camera that he insists takes the best pictures and is one of those guys that takes FOREVER to take 1 picture before we always hear him say ‘s**t, I forgot to turn it on’. You know, the type, right? So, we convinced my dad that memory maker costs so much money and to to put his camera away. This lasted about 5 minutes. But anyways, more pics:
We love BUZZ!!!
So after our many photo sessions, it was time for our first FP, Haunted Mansion. We started our morning off in Liberty Square, then headed towards Fantasyland to squeeze in some standby rides (IASW, Mickey’s Philharmonic). We finished the morning off with our 2 additional fast passes in Tomorrowland before returning back to Liberty Square for our first mobile order experience of the week at Columbia Harbour House. Kudos to Disney for putting in this awesome feature in. I placed my order while walking to Liberty Square from Tomorrowland and felt like a rock star when we walked in and our order was sitting there waiting for us. Our group ordered a mix of lobster rolls and salmon with couscous and it was all good. Totally recommend. Afterwards, we noticed a short SB line for Hall of Presidents and the kids wanted to see Donald Trump (pretty sure that they have no idea who the Prime minister of Canada is but they know ALL about Donald) so we hopped in there. All in all, a pretty successful full morning/lunch at MK!!!
During our afternoon hotel rest at the hotel, I had to make a difficult decision regarding dinner. I had previously booked BOG dinner at 8:15 months ago, but the reservation was only for 4 people, which meant that our group would have to split up for dinner. This is one ADR that I didn’t plan well, and I considered just going for desserts and meeting the Beast, but decided to let the ADR go as we were going to meet another hairy beast (Chewbecca!!!) in just a few days and I cannot wait to post about that one!!
Anyways, with a few hours to go before dinner, we had slim ADR pickings for dinner. So the new plan for the evening was to book an ADR with Whispering Canyon at 5:30 and then head back to MK by boat to go on BTMM at 7:30 as I had scored a 4th fast pass and spend some time in Frontierland. So off we went to Wilderness lodge (WL), taking the monorail to MK fro:GF and then transferring from MK to WL. The lodge as you can imagine, is gorgeous, very different motif from the GF but look s like something that you would find in Banff, Canada. We were seated on time and I was really looking forward to the antics. I was hoping for the rowdiness that I had read about in the reviews, the embarrassment on my kids faces as they requested straws and ketchup and the adults riding the wooden horse sticks. I wanted it all. And… we got nothing. We asked for Ketchup, we got one bottle placed on the table. We wanted rowdiness, we got a few people tossing their napkins around while some kids rode on the wooden horses (including my little Coco). We even told our waitress that we wanted the crazy, but we didn’t get it. Oh, and I forgot, that we were also there for the food. You’ll notice that I didn’t mention the food right away because it was just OKAY. We ordered the all you can eat skillet and had the cornbread and one of the kids ordered the milkshake. The food all kinda tasted the same after a while and before we left we noticed that the guests took it upon themselves to create their own antics, shouting we need ketchup and literally toddlers running around putting ketchup on other people’s tables because their parents told them to. All in all would not recommend unless you have some dining’s credits to burn.
So after our okay experience at Whispering Canyon (which I now think the name suits the restaurant so well), we jetted back to MK without my parents and headed off to Frontierland to ride our last FP of the day. The other kids love roller coasters, but Little 30 Pound Coco had never ridden one but she did make the height requirement so we literally just strapped her in and I hoped for the best. The good news is that she didn’t puke, cry or scream. She calmly walked off the ride, looked at me and said softly ‘mama, I don’t want to go on that again’. So we joyfully walked over to some other standby rides (including Country Bears Jamboree, which was sooooo corny but I loved the inappropriate song lyrics with children present) and then headed back to the GF to watch the fireworks and prepare for our first attempt at RD at AK the next morning.
So, how did we handle AK with only 2 Fastpass’s going into the park? Did the fastpass God’s feel pity for us and grant us a 3 person FP for FOP while in the park? If so, did my fear of motion sickness have me squawking to the chicken exit? Stay tuned…
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You mean “Liner fail”. TP didn’t fail - you didn’t use it 
Those are actually pretty good FPP actually. I always suggest getting it for TS if you’re riding because the queue is dreadfully boring and the fumes are horrible. Well worth it for us.
GREAT photo!
That’s really sad to me 
I’m glad the guests took it into their own hands. Of course, eventually someone will get booted for doing what they’ve always done there This has been one of our favorites that the kids - my DS10 in particular - loves to go to for the antics. I’m not sure we’ll go back (we did enjoy the food though).
I LOVE this report. Your writing style is soooooooo readable and entertaining! Keep it up 
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Beautiful family!
Loving your report!