May 13th, Part 3
After the Enchanted Tiki Room, we checked out the shops on Main Street.
At lunch, Kira was telling me exactly what kind of ring she was looking for. She's a big Beauty & The Beast fan and she wanted a rose ring that wrapped around her finger, with the stem and with leaves on it. Well, she found
exactly that at this store here....and she bought it.
I showed Rob & Kira Walt's bench...yes, this is the actual bench where he sat and watched his girls ride the carousel and had the idea for Disneyland.
Then we saw some of the props they used in Aladdin...
Saw this and thought of my friend Nancy
Saw these and thought they were awesome! I even bought two of them and then got home and looked at them closer. I knew you had to build them but I did not realize how ridiculously hard it would be so I lovingly handed them off to Rob to build for me.
Rob was eyeing this sucker....
After shopping, we headed back to the hotel for our daily rest. I am so glad we did this. Last year at WDW, we did 5 straight days of full-day theme parking and it was rough on all of us. Disneyland lends itself to some rest time so much easier than WDW.
Rob and I ended up watching the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones that afternoon. We had missed it the day before since we were at the parks and he really wanted to see it before he read spoilers. I was not as eager to watch it on vacation, I would have preferred to wait until we got home so we could watch it on our big screen. The TV's at the Disneyland Hotel are small and we were streaming it from Rob's iPad and it looked very dark. I was straining to see it, even with our room pitch black. It was enjoyable but I was a little grumpy afterwards because of it and Kira had a huge attitude about doing the homework she needed to get done and that bit of stress had manifested itself into my health and by the time we got back to the parks, I wasn't feeling so good.
I had read about the delicious chicken at Flo's V-8 Cafe, many said it rivaled the chicken at The Plaza Inn so we decided to eat there because Rob and Kira had never had that pleasure.
We sat down at a booth and were a little shocked at how high the table was.
We moved over to a table and felt way more comfortable.
You can tell from my red face (lupus rash) that I wasn't feeling my best.
The plan was to split a chicken dinner and then if it was that good, we would get another. This was mostly a stop for Rob, we weren't super hungry anyway as Kira had been snacking in the room and I was feeling off.
Not only did the fried chicken NOT even compare to the Plaza Inn chicken, it was disgusting!! It was WAY overcooked and super crunchy, very hard to eat. The rest was good but we actually hurt our mouths eating this chicken!!
This was the only bad meal we had the entire trip so really I can't complain too much. I went back up and got an order of fries for Kira and I to share while Rob ate this crap. He doesn't like to waste food and he hates to leave food on his plate so he ate it all.
This tiny plate of fries was $4 USD
On our way to Flo's we had stopped to get Kira a new phone case. Hers was cracked and her pop socket had come off. We had been looking at all of the stores for a new case and we finally found the perfect one for her. I actually picked it out for her and when she looked at it and discovered how much she liked it, she said "Are you sure????? It's Minnie!"
My kid knows my aversion to Minnie Mouse so she thought I would object HAHAHAHAHA! I explained to her that I would never buy it for myself but I was totally okay with her having it.
The fries had tied us over and I knew we would be eating soon anyway but the temperature had dropped quite a bit and Rob was freezing by the time he had finished eating his chicken dinner. He ended up going back to the hotel to change into jeans and get his heavy jacket. He also brought hoodies for me and Kira just in case. I ended up wearing mine later but mostly because I didn't want to carry it around. Kira didn't need hers at all.
We had MP's for Racers so we waited for Rob to get back. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to use them. We had something special planned and we had to be there soon!
Since this would be Rob and Kira's first time seeing World of Color (it was in refurb during our last trip in 2015) I wanted to do something special. Also, I wanted to have this experience under my belt so I had booked us the World of Color Dessert Party.
My confirmation said to start lining up at 8:15pm but we had passed by there before 8pm and there was already tons of people in line so Kira and I hopped in line while we waited for Rob to get back.
So pro-tip, when doing any dining packages, don't listen to the time they give you, go way earlier! We were early at Fantasmic and there were almost no spots left!
This was better because even though we were way behind in the line, there were plenty of spots for us. You check-in here at this sign...
They come around and ask your name just to confirm that you're in the right place and then when they let you in, which was about 8:10pm, they check your name on the list and give you wrist bands so that if you need to leave the area to go to the bathroom or something else, you can get back in. Rob found us just before we were let in.
Once you get your wristbands, you head down this sloped walkway and then take a hard right and into the area where they check your bands and then assign you a table. You have two choices, a lower table in the front row or a high top table in the back row. We requested a high-top for the best view.
The best thing about the Dessert party is that you get to SIT DOWN and watch the show.
After a long day and especially since I wasn't feeling the best, this was AWESOME!!!
And even though I felt there were tons of people in front of us already seated, there were plenty of good tables left and we sat at the best table, IMHO
Looking to the left from our table...
There was a bread basket and menus on the table waiting for us.
Looking to the right from our table...
Our server came around right away, like the second we were seated! He offered us drinks. Alcoholic drinks (2 max per person I think?) were included but we don't drink so we just got some Diet Cokes and a coffee for Rob. Kira got a lemonade and then someone else brought us some bottled waters.
Right after we got our drinks, they brought each of us a plate with food and desserts. Rob and Kira loved that we had our own plates, they thought we had to share it.
Since I hadn't had dinner, I mostly dug into the cheese and bread and saved the desserts for last. Everything was fresh and delicious! The server came around numerous times for refills and even suggested and then brought us some hot chocolate. He said it was especially good and he was right! I don't even drink hot chocolate and I tried it and thought it was delicious!
He also took some photos of us.
And even made sure to get a photo from both sides.
We felt spoiled! The service was beyond fantastic, the food was delicious and it was so nice to sit down and relax and not have to fight for a spot to watch the show from.
My favourite thing on the plate was the cheesecake followed by the shortbread cookie, yum!!
It was now time for the show!
Photos do NOT do it justice, it's really so beautiful!! Rob and Kira LOVED it and both could not wait to watch it again!
Our server had brought around some to-go boxes for us to take our leftovers back to the hotel which was great and Rob ended up snacking on them over the next few days. I also ate Kira's cheesecake the next day since she had hardly even touched it! Sa·cré bleu!
When we walked out of the area, we saw TONS of wasted food that was left on the tables.
We talked to the CM's and they said that they actually use it to feed their animals. Not sure the sweet stuff gets used but I'm glad to hear that it's not all just tossed.
As we walked to the exit, we watched the fireworks from MMM.
I didn't have the capacity to deal with the Downtown Disney crowds just then so we ended up going through the Grand Californian and the back way to the Disneyland Hotel. Kira got a little worried and wasn't sure if I was taking them the right way. I asked her if her Mom had ever steered her wrong in Disney and she said no but still didn't trust me until she saw our hotel.
When I saw this palm tree, I snort-laughed and said this was Rob's tree. We all broke into laughter
If you've read previous trip reports of mine, you will know just how much Rob enjoys his food. He's kind of known for it at this point and we've met up with fellow DISers on some of our trips and they've asked him if he's eaten enough food
This trip was no exception of course and he had filled himself to the brim at every meal. At the end of every meal, he would rub his over-filled tummy and exclaim how full he was. I joked that he had a food baby at each meal and that he shouldn't eat so much. Kira and I don't like to feel full, plus it's hard to do rides over and over when your tummy is so full so we pace ourselves. (I actually did overeat on one occasion, that I will eventually tell you about, and I totally regretted it!
)
Despite getting an average of 24,000 steps per day, Rob ended up putting on some weight this trip. I told him he's no spring chicken anymore and can't eat the way he used without consequences.
He's now on keto with me and after only 1 week, has already lost his vacation weight. Ugh, men!