Trip Review February 18, 2017 - February 26, 2017 - Port Orleans Riverside

Tuesday 2/21/2017

We had a 9:15 am breakfast reservation at The Garden Grill and got to Epcot at 9. This being our third trip in under a year, we’re maybe not as experienced as some, but we know the drill… You’re not “officially late” until 30 minutes beyond your reservation. No sweat. There was a line for people with breakfast reservations after the obligatory “random search.” If you grow a beard, they search you more, but I digress. We zoomed right into the park and got to our breakfast reservation about 5 minutes late. Upon checking in, I had a lively discussion with the Cast Members who loved my shirt and then we were seated pretty quickly like pretty much immediately. Let me tell you about this joint. The Garden Grill at Breakfast was my absolute favorite breakfast of the trip. The food is amaze-balls and it’s family style, so like a buffet except they bring you the food. Everything was so flipping delicious. We got extremely full here. I went full fat boy.

After breakfast, and with a full belly we headed over to Journey into your Imagination with Figment at the request of DS then onto Mission Space. DW hates spinning, so decided not to ride since DS and I planned to ride Orange. It was awesome! You don’t get the full experience if you don’t ride Orange. After mission Space we hit up our Fast Pass for Test Track and as usual, we loved it. By now, it was time for lunch already at Le Cellier. We grubbed so hard. I got the meat and cheese plate for an app with the Rib-Eye for an entree and the Nainamo Pie for dessert. The steak was one of the best I have ever ordered and I don’t say that lightly. We’ve eaten at some primo steak houses in Chicago, DC and Boston and this rivaled every single one. The meat and cheese plate, I wasn’t so much a fan. The cheeses were offensive for the most part. If you like strong cheese, you’ll dig it. The Nainamo Pie was out of this world. Honestly, for a food lover like myself it was “When Harry Met Sally”-eque if you catch my drift. DW got the Vanilla poached Lobster app, Filet for an entree and cheesecake for dessert. DW and I agree on the quality of the food here. I tried her app and as a native New Englander, I wasn’t impressed. Why do that to perfectly flipping delicious lobster? The vanilla was offensive. Her steak was amazing, yes I tried it and the cheesecake was almost as good as the one I make and I make a Bomb cheesecake. DS got the cheese soup for an app and macaroni and cheese for his entree with mousse for dessert. He was full so didn’t eat much and in hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have either. The soup was delicious and DW tried the mac and cheese and said it was incredible. That’s saying something as she’s a bit of a mac and cheese snob. After lunch we all agreed it was time for some rest, so we headed back the resort to hit the pool and chill. We had a dinner reservation for Kona, but I called and canceled it. They asked why and I told them it was because DS wasn’t feeling great and we were headed back to the resort. It wasn’t a lie, he was tired. The Cast Member waived the cancellation fee for us.

After swimming, we headed back into the Magic Kingdom. We headed into the park and rode small world then headed and over to Columbia Harbor House for a Quick Service supper. After we had some food we rode both Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain then headed up to the speedway for our fast pass. After the speedway DS asked to ride the tea cups then decided he’d had enough and asked to go back. We were all beat, so gladly obliged.

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We’ve already started to plan our trip back to Disney next year during President’s Day. We would both really like to stay at the Poly…

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Such a funny read. So the 30 minute “being late” thing. So you think others restaurants follow that? We have a 9:20 ROL dining package at Tusker House (nothing else avail, but I’ll keep looking every day for 8:00) was hoping to squeeze in Kilimanjaro Safari before (of course we’d be late for res) most people say no way. We’re first timers so we have no idea. Park opens at 9:00, we’d be there early for RD 8:15-8:30. Thoughts?? Not sure if we could knock out any other ride before. Pandora will have opened the week before and will be packed I’m sure.

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An ADR isn’t really a reservation. They will try to fit you in whenever you get there.

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Yeah, you’ll be fine as long as you don’t have to wait too long to get on the safari. It’s literally right next door. We’ve been late to more than half our ADRs without a problem. I found this out when I was standing in line for Toy Story at HS last April and we knew we’d never make out dining reservation. I called while in line and they told me not to worry that 30 minutes was standard and that it’d often not be an issue later. The latest we have ever been was 40 minutes and just once. We try to make sure we’re within that quoted 30 minute window now. Honestly, we try to get there on time, but we don’t stress it either, you know?

The thing that keeps my anxiety under control at Disney is that they take the “magic” very serious. They will go out of their way to please you in my experience so long as you’re nice and polite and your request isn’t something that’d get them in trouble or absurd.

Great report. You’ll love the Poly.

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I just thought of something. If Animal Kingdom is anything like Epcot they’ll let you in early to make your reservation for breakfast. I bet they’ll let you in through a dining reservations line as early as maybe 8:30. You could chat with a cast member or call to confirm. If that’s the case, you’ll definitely have time to do both. You can casually stroll up and be first in line on the first animal wagon out the gates. If you do, you’ll most definitely make it on time for your ADR. i can’t say for sure since we didn’t rope drop AK.

That’s a good point. I hadn’t thought of that! Thanks

Wait a minute, I just realized they are opening AK on 8am in June (given that pandora will be open) I knew they added late Hours that day till 1, but didn’t realize opening at 8 also! Perfect!!!

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Dope! FTW…