"No, We're Not Getting Married at Disney!" a 2018 tripS report - update 10/25 AKL food + DHS Day

[pepperandchips]

Yeah, the character meals are all around that price, but we don't do character meals often so I think that's why it seems so expensive, plus we'd have to spend some money to Uber to the Four Seasons too so I can't wait to see your review if you make it there!

Yeah even if you have a car you have to pay to valet. I mean they validate for all but $5 of it, so no big deal, but I'm also considering Uber (also so we can all drink and not be worried about driving safely after)

Great report, and another August birthday girl here, as well as my oldest niece, as she born on the 13th too. We never forget her birthday, as she was born on a Friday. My youngest was born near the end of August, on the same day as my DH’s one nephew. Will never forget his birthday either.

Have to try those fries, they look lush.

So glad to have you here reading along!

We have a ton of August birthdays in my family too! Always something to celebrate.

The fries definitely hit the spot! I'm a salty snack person usually so I liked having the new option!

Oh thank you! I might have to take you up on that, I love the flower ears, but I've never been able to commit!

Just let me know!

I had no idea you could do OpenTable at any of the disney owned restaurants. I'll have to remember that.

Yeah! It seems like it's the "less popular" restaurants (aka our favorites, like Sanaa) and sometimes it looks like they hold off on releasing more popular times, but it's nice to do it this way in case plans change. I just made an opentable reservation for morimoto next month!

Did he wear these the whole trip???? They are awesome!!!!! Totally looks like he is back in the 80's

Yes I think he did. They do look pretty RAD! The pattern is Mickey heads, and this is actually my second pair. The first pair was a "necessity" as I broke mine from home on Space Mountain. Then I broke those (I think at home) and these are the backup pair. They came in handy! We love driving overnight but one risk is that it's easy to leave your sunglasses at home when you're departing in the dark...

I totally forgot it was your birthday too. Yeah for Leo's!!! I'm the 20th so we'll be there for the actual National Holiday that is the day of my birth.

No better way to celebrate!!! That's so exciting.

Il Mulino looks so good! We have an ADR there, and I'm so happy that we are going there.

It's easily become a favorite of mine over the last couple of years. I hope you love it!

Vanilla is yum! Maybe I should try that French touch but the Grand Sandwich gets me every time!

I know, I always think that option looks amazing but on this visit we were definitely there for the French Toast so there was no way I was ordering something else! I feel like GFC could use a little decor update but it's definitely a hidden gem, cuisine-wise.

So glad we are not the only ones that call it chez farts

Right?! Like how did the marketing team not look at #chefartsmiths and see the word "Fart" there?! We live in Atlanta and there's another Art Smith restaurant here called "Southern Art". I feel like they could have done a play on that at Disney Springs and avoided flatulence all together

 

[pepperandchips]

The Pink Coat Continued, or January 14, Part 3:

So when I last left off, we'd stopped for some of the Tree of Life Awakenings before we headed to Epcot from Animal Kingdom, via a bus to the Boardwalk, hoping to sample more of the Festival of the Arts offerings. We both wanted something from France, and having come in the International Gateway it was close by, so we stopped there first.

Rillettes du Mans, Cornichons, Carré du Boulanger: House-made Pork Rillettes, Cornichons and House-made Bread – $8.75

And of course I had to pair it with another Frosé: Frozen Côtes de Provence Rosé Wine with Grey Goose Vodka and Peach Purée – $11.00

As we were enjoying our treats, Aurora appeared for her meet and greet!

This is the face of an adult still enamored with one of her favorite princesses:

We compared notes on our pink "dresses"

And eventually we both posed for some photos

My prince!

After we finished our treats, we wandered over toward Morocco and grabbed another snack that sounded appealing

Mediterranean Flat Bread with Zaatar, Olive Oil Artichoke, Olives, Mozzarella and Feta Cheese – $8.00

We also grabbed beer from the Block & Hans kiosk before posing for a few more photopass at the themed art photo ops

Our final snack of the festival was the

Crema Fitta, Pesche e Rucola Pesto, Ciliege di Amarasca: Cream Fritters, Peach and Arugula Pesto and Amarena Cherries – $7.00

My notes say this was "cheesecake meets beignets". Yum! We were again underwhelmed by the festival options and totally freezing, so we decided to head out of Epcot. On our way out, we posed for a few final photopass pictures. It was COLD that night!

I had on a wool headband to cover my ears and my gloves. The cold sort of zapped our energy and we'd had such a good time at Il Mulino the night before that we decided to sit in the Il Mulino lounge back at our resort and get a few more items from their menu that we weren't able to fit in our tummies before!

Yes, we were going to Il Mulino AGAIN for the second night in a row.

I started with the Bramito Chardonnay from Umbria ($12) You can see in the background that R had his usual bourbon and soda, and PRO TIP: Il Mulino lounge serves these AMAZING cheese-straw type bar snacks. OMG. Evil. So good.

I really love arancini when it's done properly (*cough* Citrico's) so we decided to sample Il Mulino's version:

Arancini - ($9) Italian Rice Balls over Spicy marinara Sauce. The menu doesn't mention this, but as I recall, these are stuffed with ground beef. Vegetarians beware! They were fine, but nothing like the magic of Citrico's arancini.

Next, we tried their bolognese, but substituted spaghetti for gnocchi. ($24)

It was delicious! And of course, we would not be leaving without more dessert...

We had the tiramisu in our room again. Dessert in bed while watching Stacey is a pretty fantastic end to a vacation day, if you ask me!

Our total for two drinks each, the shared app, the shared entree, and the one tiramisu to go came to $97.01 with our TIW discount and gratuity. We hit the hay with an early alarm set.

Up next: our final day of this trip, full of magic and yummy food!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Festival of the Arts looks interesting, the photo ops are fun!

I can't imagine being at Disney when it is cold! My mind always pictures heat and humidity.

 

[pepperandchips]

Monday, January 15, 2018: the Pink Coat's Last Ride

We woke up bright and early on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to pack up and load our luggage in the car before heading out to the parks this morning. We had been in room 351 at the Swan, and while it was a standard room overlooking the porte cochere, I really didn't mind the view.

You can even see the Hollywood Tower Hotel back there!

Despite that little bit of pixie dust, our Swan stay this time was not the best. We were not given shower gel, the phone in our room did not work, it was an extremely loud room location near the elevator, and when our supplies were refreshed the housekeeper left us ONE coffee. I would definitely still return, it was just an off stay for us.

Of course, we had to use our final morning to say goodbye to the Magic Kingdom!

We were there pretty much at park opening, and rode Big Thunder Mountain first, and then hit Pirates of the Caribbean to bid farewell to this slave version of the redhead:

I had to summon my best pirate impression for the new photopass picture, of course. I think it's so weird that they put the camera opposite a show scene that a lot of people like to look at, so half the boat is inevitably facing away from the camera.

On our way back to Fantasyland, we ran into my favorite bears!!! Shaker and Wendell were just out mingling but I was able to grab a super quick photo.

We next rode Peter Pan with our first fastpass before deciding we were in need of a snack. On the way there we stopped for another photo opportunity

Before heading in to get our treat!

Massive cinnamon roll time! This was R's pick, while I was bound and determined to get my old favorite, the pepperjack pretzel, which I'd heard was back at The Lunching Pad, so we hoofed it across the park to Tomorrowland

YESSSS! This was everything I'd remembered, but with a totally unnecessary disgusting cup of plastic cheese (and not the good kind from a pump)

We'd also remembered to ask for extra icing for the Cinnamon Roll this time! Woop woop. It was good to have something both savory and sweet. Tummies filled, we headed off to use our next Fastpass, for Space Mountain.

I lived, despite nearly being accosted by a space creep!

A quick spin on the peoplemover, a cruise through the rivers of the jungle with our final fastpass, and a stop in guest services for a new Tables in Wonderland rounded out the balance of our Magic Kingdom morning. I'd decided to go ahead and "renew" my TIW membership as I wasn't certain whether I would be getting another annual pass on my next visit. Since every TIW card is technically a brand new membership and there are no "renewals", I was able to buy the new one with no problems even though my current one was valid for another few weeks.

All too soon, we were headed back to the Swan to retrieve our car.

Since we had the car and the ability to have lunch anywhere we wanted, we decided the best way to say farewell to Walt Disney World and end this trip was to eat at one of our all-time favorites, Sanaa! R did not have another trip on the books, and this was a nice way to end on a highlight.

We found seats in the lounge with no delay and orderd our usual, the bread service with all 9 dips. ($16)

And all of the breads. So yummy!!!

We each had a "Whiskey Breeze" - Jim Beam Black Extra-aged Bourbon, Cointreau, and fresh Lime Juice with flavors of Guava and Mango ($11.25). This was a little on the sweet side for us but is a good new addition to the standard disney cocktail list.

We also ordered my favorite lounge appetizer, the Samosa - Potato and Pea Samosa with Tamarind and Mango Chutney ($9) I probably like the smaller ones that were formerly on the menu at Mr. Kamal's in Animal Kingdom park a bit better, but these are always tasty and today was no different!

And, unlike our usual order of sticking to appetizers, we decided to share a Potjie Inspired ($26) with selections of Goan Seafood Curry and Paneer Tikka. The seafood curry was a little fishy for my tastes but both were good and hearty with plenty of seafood and cheese, respectively. We were pretty full after this but unwilling to say goodbye just yet, so we ordered a final beverage

R had our fabulous bartender make him a concoction of bourbon, soda water, and a splash of the juice from the whiskey breeze ($10), while I had a cappuccino with a shot of amarula cream liqueur ($9)

I tried to order just coffee with amarula, but the bartender (our server) offered me a fancy cappuccno instead. I didn't even know they had a cappuccino machine at Sanaa so this was a fabulous treat!

We settled the bill ($95.46 after TIW and gratuity) and departed WDW for the last time on these annual passes.

I'd be back in April for my bachelorette but R wouldn't be back until after our wedding (and even then, wouldn't be going to the parks).

Next trip: Mindie Mouse Bachelorette time!!!

 

[smilie]

I absolutely LOVE the couple in the front!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Yum! This looks so good.

This is the face of an adult still enamored with one of her favorite princesses:

My notes say this was "cheesecake meets beignets". Yum!

Oh my gosh, is there really any better combination of food items? Because I can't think of one right now.

We had the tiramisu in our room again. Dessert in bed while watching Stacey is a pretty fantastic end to a vacation day, if you ask me!

This sounds like heaven. Dessert and Stacey are two of my favourite things/people!

Despite that little bit of pixie dust, our Swan stay this time was not the best. We were not given shower gel, the phone in our room did not work, it was an extremely loud room location near the elevator, and when our supplies were refreshed the housekeeper left us ONE coffee. I would definitely still return, it was just an off stay for us.

That's too bad. What is it with housekeeping and not bringing enough coffee!!? It doesn't bother me typically because I can't really drink it anymore, but when we had a suite at All Stars with my mom, Nathan, and my grandmother, who all drink coffee....and then they only brought like one packet of decaf....that did NOT work well.

and then hit Pirates of the Caribbean to bid farewell to this slave version of the redhead:

Bahaha Sums up my mixed feelings about the redhead quite nicely.

I had to summon my best pirate impression for the new photopass picture, of course.

I love it!! I'm already trying to think now about how to improve this ride photo for us for next month. Maybe there will be eye patches involved??

Massive cinnamon roll time! This was R's pick

Yum! R and I share an appreciation of cinnamon-y treats.

We settled the bill ($95.46 after TIW and gratuity) and departed WDW for the last time on these annual passes.

But what a way to go with your delicious lounge experience! Omg. I was jealous just reading about it.

 

[paradesintherain]

And of course I had to pair it with another Frosé: Frozen Côtes de Provence Rosé Wine with Grey Goose Vodka and Peach Purée – $11.00

Of course!

Just smitten! Once again rocking the face character interactions!

Out to steal your man!!!

Love this! You look so classy!

Um, yum! Your TR is making me drool at work.

I had on a wool headband to cover my ears and my gloves.

Because I'm an idiot, and because you're at Disney, I assumed you meant the wool headband was to cover your Minnie ears, not your regular human ears

We were there pretty much at park opening, and rode Big Thunder Mountain first, and then hit Pirates of the Caribbean to bid farewell to this slave version of the redhead:

I see what you did there!

I've never had this and I love cinnamon rolls!

Does it have caramel or something on it too or is that just the icing mixing with cinnamon sugar?

Since we had the car and the ability to have lunch anywhere we wanted, we decided the best way to say farewell to Walt Disney World and end this trip was to eat at one of our all-time favorites, Sanaa!

I love the way you guys think!

OOO this is so cruel to look at while I'm at work. I'm probably just going to have to fit Sanaa into my next trip... there is no other option.

 

[disneyAndi14]

I love your Epcot pictures, you do look chilly, brrrr.

Thanks for all the awesome food pictures and reviews, yummy

I agree about the picture at PoTC, it is in an odd spot and so dark. I was looking for the culprit with a flash mode on the camera the first time, not realizing it was a photo op!

I also love your pink coat and ears so darn cute, the color is flattering on you!

 

[amy1115]

I'm so excited to celebrate another birthday at Walt Disney World.

My birthday is in August too and we'll be at WDW!! First time to celebrate my bday there. I cannot wait! Loving your combined trip report so far!

 

[fallonkendra]

I am trying to decide when to post my wedding photo drama... I'm still kinda upset so I feel like I should still wait but I might just need to vent.

Oh no! Photography was so important to me on my wedding day that we flew our photographer from Canada to Orlando, since we knew she was the one we wanted. I have zero regrets about that part of our budget!

For what it's worth, all of the pictures I've seen of your wedding have been beautiful!

Like where?! We did just go to Asheville, NC for 5 days to sort of satiate R's desire to visit places other than Disney. And we're planning a massive trip to Italy so I feel like I am compromising?

You're doing better than us! We're going to Winnipeg to visit Luke's family in October, and heading to Fargo for two nights from there... I know you're now jealous

I think I knew we had a tiny overlap but I didn't want to suggest a meet because I knew it was your wedding trip I figured you were busy with all of your guests or your new husband!!!

Getting away from my guests would have been welcome by that point

I might get a wallet this year though, depending on the design. My wallet is falling apart, quite literally!

I was out for supper with my best friend one day, and she commented on my wallet - her mom bought it for me 7 years ago, and I'm still using it hahaha - I think I need to look into a new one....glad I'm not the only one who wears them out!

The first thing out was my favorite part of the Grand Floridian Cafe French Toast:

Ok, this alone looks amazing and worth a trip to the Grand!

So we had a photo shoot. Errrr... I tried to get R to take a decent photo of me in my ears. At the time I had a pretty successful Etsy shop and I was trying to get social media content.

I remember you mentioning an Etsy shop at one point - I've always loved your wire ears!

this is me, posing with someone else's ECV...

And a trash can...

Great props!

we headed out to my favorite park!

My favourite too!

Mr. Kamal's Seasoned Fries - topped with tzatzki salad and sriacha ketchup $5.49. These are fantastic - the toppings worried me a bit as they didn't sound like they went together, but they somehow work making this a great savory treat. R picked this out but I got to help enjoy them! Yummy!

This is something Luke always wants to get, but we never remember to leave stomach space for it haha

Chez Fart Smith Homecoming brunch!

I look forward to your review of this! We have a reservation for brunch on our December trip! Also - yay for calling it Che Fart Smith!

This is the face of an adult still enamored with one of her favorite princesses:

I love this! You look so happy!

Crema Fitta, Pesche e Rucola Pesto, Ciliege di Amarasca: Cream Fritters, Peach and Arugula Pesto and Amarena Cherries – $7.00

Sounds amazing!

We found seats in the lounge with no delay and orderd our usual, the bread service with all 9 dips. ($16)

And all of the breads. So yummy!!!

 

[petals]

Where is the camera in Pirates? In Paris it's on one of the drops

 

[pepperandchips]

Festival of the Arts looks interesting, the photo ops are fun!

I can't imagine being at Disney when it is cold! My mind always pictures heat and humidity.

The photo ops were definitely fun! I did not enjoy the food offerings at the Festival of the Arts as much in 2018 as I did in 2017. In fairness, I kept myself from ordering the things I'd enjoyed the previous year, so maybe that was a recipe for disaster. The dishes at the Festival of the Arts are just really expensive. We spent hundreds of dollars and came away hungry (and sober, haha).

It was definitely unusual being at Disney when it was cold enough to need gloves! Even when I've been before in November and December, it wasn't quite this cold.

I absolutely LOVE the couple in the front!

Right? So cute, getting a little snuggle in on POTC. I find the Peoplemover to be the most romantic ride, but I don't hate the idea of getting a little close with your sweetie on any dark ride!

 

[pepperandchips]

Yum! This looks so good.

Oh my gosh, is there really any better combination of food items? Because I can't think of one right now.

Yeah, the rillettes and the fritters were two of the best dishes we had this year. I actually liked most of them, I just had an issue with paying through the nose for them! I definitely spend more when we go to Disney during festival season! Good thing the August trip concludes before F&W begins!

That's too bad. What is it with housekeeping and not bringing enough coffee!!? It doesn't bother me typically because I can't really drink it anymore, but when we had a suite at All Stars with my mom, Nathan, and my grandmother, who all drink coffee....and then they only brought like one packet of decaf....that did NOT work well.

I have a feeling that coffee is probably the most-requested refill and hence the issue with not having enough on the carts to go around We had an issue with this at the Dolphin in April too, but we had long days and were drinking a lot of coffee.

Bahaha Sums up my mixed feelings about the redhead quite nicely.

I had a feeling from all of your amazing FB posts that we were on the same page

I love it!! I'm already trying to think now about how to improve this ride photo for us for next month. Maybe there will be eye patches involved??

THIS!!! Yes please! Christmas card-worthy!

 

[pepperandchips]

Just smitten! Once again rocking the face character interactions!

Maybe I'm not as bad at these as I thought? It's definitely easier when there's not a big line behind you!

Out to steal your man!!!

I had the same exact reaction but decided not to post that as the caption... He had to be forced to get in the photos so it was pretty funny that we even ended up with one of him alone with Aurora!

Um, yum! Your TR is making me drool at work.

Sorry about that! I wish this flatbread was on the permanent menu somewhere. I feel like it would do great at Tangierine Cafe!

Because I'm an idiot, and because you're at Disney, I assumed you meant the wool headband was to cover your Minnie ears, not your regular human ears

I feel like that is a completely reasonable assumption! My mouse ears did just fine in the cold... human ears definitely improved with wool headband!

I've never had this and I love cinnamon rolls!

Does it have caramel or something on it too or is that just the icing mixing with cinnamon sugar?

I think it's just another kind of icing... I don't remember any special flavor but I did think it was odd that it had the two colors of icing. According to a quick google and the Disney Food Blog, apparently the darker icing is supposed to be maple flavored. I didn't pick that up, but I prefer the more dense kind of cinnamon rolls than this fluffy, yeasty kind anyway.

OOO this is so cruel to look at while I'm at work. I'm probably just going to have to fit Sanaa into my next trip... there is no other option.

I know... it's torture! I hate going to the same places over and over but sometimes you can't improve upon perfection

 

[pepperandchips]

I love your Epcot pictures, you do look chilly, brrrr.

Thanks for all the awesome food pictures and reviews, yummy
I agree about the picture at PoTC, it is in an odd spot and so dark. I was looking for the culprit with a flash mode on the camera the first time, not realizing it was a photo op!

I also love your pink coat and ears so darn cute, the color is flattering on you!

Thank you! Yeah the first time I went on POTC after they installed the camera I didn't realize it was a camera, I was just like "oooh new thing" and then later saw the photo in my account.

My birthday is in August too and we'll be at WDW!! First time to celebrate my bday there. I cannot wait! Loving your combined trip report so far!

Yay! Happy almost birthday. Make sure you get your button and tell all your servers at table service restaurants! Cupcakes galore! Thank you so much for joining the report and commenting!!! Glad to have you along.

 

[pepperandchips]

Oh no! Photography was so important to me on my wedding day that we flew our photographer from Canada to Orlando, since we knew she was the one we wanted. I have zero regrets about that part of our budget!

For what it's worth, all of the pictures I've seen of your wedding have been beautiful!

Thank you! Your photos were gorgeous and totally worth it. I wasn't too picky about most stuff for our wedding, it was basically just a big party to me as I've been all-in on spending my whole life with R since a few months into our relationship, so I didn't get fussed over making sure we had the photographers of our dreams (our dream photographer was about 3x my budget) as long as we had GOOD photos, and we do. I just didn't get exactly what I was expecting, but our photos ARE beautiful. If I'm being honest with myself, I'm just being a diva about the fact that my flowers don't look "true to color" in our professional photos. BUT THEY WERE FLOWERS! Good talk, I'm getting over it

You're doing better than us! We're going to Winnipeg to visit Luke's family in October, and heading to Fargo for two nights from there... I know you're now jealous

I am bad at Canadian geography and had to look up where Winnipeg was the "not spending every vacation at Disney" compromise is currently killing me as I really really really want to go to Disney in a couple weeks (the first weekend of August) but I am being made to save all my money for our triumphant return to Hawaii/real honeymoon. Husband being all practical and whatnot...

I was out for supper with my best friend one day, and she commented on my wallet - her mom bought it for me 7 years ago, and I'm still using it hahaha - I think I need to look into a new one....glad I'm not the only one who wears them out!

Mine is a vintage minnie mouse vinyl wallet that I LOVE and can't find another of on ebay or anything. I'm sad to let it go but it is totally falling apart.

I look forward to your review of this! We have a reservation for brunch on our December trip! Also - yay for calling it Che Fart Smith!

I'm ridiculously excited for this! Will definitely review.

Where is the camera in Pirates? In Paris it's on one of the drops

It's after the skeleton beach scene but before the drop... it's weird because there is a show scene on the right (the skeleton steering the ship) that I've always enjoyed and then they put the camera in a jolly roger thing on the other side of the show scene... so half the people aren't looking at the camera! So odd

 

[MeghanEmily]

I had a feeling from all of your amazing FB posts that we were on the same page

I'm definitely sensitive to all the opinions out there on this change. And it makes me sad that a piece of Disney history was lost in taking away some of the old tracks with the original voice actors, etc. And I get that they're pirates. But just because pirates did those things, doesn't mean it's beneficial to perpetuate those ideals now, or that there might not be a better way to present such a scene. Aaaaannnyway, I haven't been particularly vocal on the issue because I'm not a fan of debate, and I liked riding Pirates, and I still like riding it now, so I'm good! But I'm just the kind of person who's all for empowering women, and less for...you know...selling them. (These are the kind of views that get me in trouble with Nathan's parents! )

 

[kastoney]

You and Aurora completely look like twins here. You could totally be one of her friends

I don't think R got the memo on which picture he was in

Crema Fitta, Pesche e Rucola Pesto, Ciliege di Amarasca: Cream Fritters, Peach and Arugula Pesto and Amarena Cherries – $7.00

My notes say this was "cheesecake meets beignets". Yum!

Cheesecake meets beignet???? Yes, please, and thank you!

I had on a wool headband to cover my ears and my gloves.

I can't believe how cold it is! We've only been there once when it was cold but it was enough to hope we don't encounter it again.

It was delicious! And of course, we would not be leaving without more dessert...

Love how you all got over to Il Mulino again. If it was in the lobby of my hotel I'd be there several times over too.

Your bolognese looks amazing. Totally what you needed on such a chilly night.

We had the tiramisu in our room again. Dessert in bed while watching Stacey is a pretty fantastic end to a vacation day, if you ask me!

Disney dessert in bed is one of my favorite activities!

I had to summon my best pirate impression for the new photopass picture, of course.

Aargh matey

We'd also remembered to ask for extra icing for the Cinnamon Roll this time! Woop woop. It was good to have something both savory and sweet.

I'm gonna have to go with R on this one. I love the cream cheese pretzel, but the Cinnamon roll beats the spicy pretzel any day of the week.

And all of the breads. So yummy!!!

Best food on property! Awesome way to say goodbye!

We also ordered my favorite lounge appetizer, the Samosa - Potato and Pea Samosa with Tamarind and Mango Chutney ($9) I probably like the smaller ones that were formerly on the menu at Mr. Kamal's in Animal Kingdom park a bit better, but these are always tasty and today was no different!

I don't think I've ever even seen Samosa's on the menu. Are they only on the bar menu?

 

[pepperandchips]

I'm definitely sensitive to all the opinions out there on this change. And it makes me sad that a piece of Disney history was lost in taking away some of the old tracks with the original voice actors, etc. And I get that they're pirates. But just because pirates did those things, doesn't mean it's beneficial to perpetuate those ideals now, or that there might not be a better way to present such a scene. Aaaaannnyway, I haven't been particularly vocal on the issue because I'm not a fan of debate, and I liked riding Pirates, and I still like riding it now, so I'm good! But I'm just the kind of person who's all for empowering women, and less for...you know...selling them. (These are the kind of views that get me in trouble with Nathan's parents! )

Agreed... I have been quasi-vocal about my opinions because I know that human trafficking is devastating for those involved, and even those who witness it. As an advocate for human rights it is hard for me to argue that theme park history is more important than not perpetuating/glorifying/depicting such a horrific crime. I totally get why people were attached to the old redhead scene. I loved her too! And I am among the privileged who've never been impacted personally by human trafficking, so I had the privilege of not noticing or being offended by the wench auction scene. I have a button that says "We Wants the Redhead" and even have a trading pin of "We Wants the Redhead" as THE MOST prominent pin on my lanyard (okay that was so dorky). Still, I think that the new redhead is just as good. And those who never saw the old one are going to be like "oh another cheesy stereotypical pirate scene" rather than critiquing why this woman would be auctioning rum, among the other criticisms I've heard of it. And, ultimately, it frustrates me that those who are criticizing the change are often people who enjoy the same privilege I do of not having been personally affected by human trafficking and also not recognizing that this is a privilege. End rant!

 

[pepperandchips]

You and Aurora completely look like twins here. You could totally be one of her friends

Thank you! I swear it's just the amazing lights they install for character meet and greets. Nevertheless... The $20 I promised you in exchange for you saying this is in the mail...

I don't think R got the memo on which picture he was in

I had the same thought. Great job there, Mona.

I can't believe how cold it is! We've only been there once when it was cold but it was enough to hope we don't encounter it again.

I much preferred freezing my booty off to having a sweaty and miserable husband. One time I made the mistake of suggesting we walk from the Boardwalk to Hollywood Studios... in July. I've never lived that misstep down!

Love how you all got over to Il Mulino again. If it was in the lobby of my hotel I'd be there several times over too.

Your bolognese looks amazing. Totally what you needed on such a chilly night.

Yeah, it was just too convenient to pass up! And if you sit in the lounge you can totally scarf down your pasta while reclining on a comfy sofa

I don't think I've ever even seen Samosa's on the menu. Are they only on the bar menu?

You know, I think they are only on the lounge menu. It's been a long time since I've sat in the real restaurant... we pull a Kari most of the time and fly without ADRs so we just automatically go sit at "our table" in the lounge. I'm sure you could order them from the restaurant though!