A Salute to all things Disney, but mostly Magic Bars; a July 4th 2019 TR*update 11/28 new TR link!

[Cloe Colton]

I'm glad you guys enjoyed your quick trip! Ours was much of the same, not a lot of rides but still so much fun! Sad we missed you! (But we were dead to the world Saturday night anyway and missed all of the Dismeets )

I cannot wait to eat at Narcooses in September!! I was planning on getting the butter poached lobster but I may need to convince DH that we need to do a make our own land and sea meal! lol

 

[amalone1013]

Hey Alyssa! I wish we were able to meet again last week! But your last day was the day we arrived and I believe we were actually only there at the same time for a few hours I hope you guys had a great time!

Yes, just a few hours overlap, hopefully we will cross paths again soon! You're going in September, right?

so who usually wins? And who did you get to your resort last week lol

lol it depends on where we are staying mostly... We've definitely ubered more than DME'd but that is partly because we are often at Swolphin or heading to Uni first. Last weekend was Swolphin. Labor Day weekend we are at AoA and planning on DME... but we get in very late and I sort of want to uber to go to bed quicker. And also back to the airport because we have a 6am flight home again

Thank you! Just posted the Narcoossee's review You need to put it on your list!

Yum! All of your entrees look delicious, especially your pasta! And how will we explain to Ricky that there is no such thing as too much chocolate? The shrimp and grits looks good too.

 

[kclark9830]

Yay, a new TR! The Contemporary looks fantastic. I do want to stay there, but it's not at the top of my list. Walking to MK would be great, though!

 

[pkondz]

It was a quick trip, a slower paced trip with fewer rides/attractions but full of friends which is the best kind of trip! Unfortunately we did miss a few DIS friends but we also were able to meet up with others and had some great times:

Sounds pretty relaxed and pretty darned nice.

being July 3rd we'd be able to watch the holiday MK fireworks from there.

Nice!

Not the best TS bread ever but it's good when you're nearing hanger and I appreciate all sea salt butter.

Butter makes everything better.

Notice the salad is not your traditional Caesar which I totally appreciated.

And yet... still a creamy dressing. Ah well.

Chris tried Steve's shrimp and grits and fell in love with grits;

Really! That surprises me!

She remembered we were from NY, not so hard once we open our mouths but she's great!

Steve and Chris both got the filet; this BTW is Chris's #1 filet on property and if you don't know this, he's the Prince of WDW filets.

High praise. Think I know what I'm gonna get if/when.

*Just a little FYI if ya don't mind. Recently there was a thread on the restaurants forum about bad service at Narcoossee's and quite a few folks replied that they'd had bad service too. This made me sad...........it's not too often we visit WDW and DON'T eat at either Narcoossee's or Citricos and I can't remember how many times we've eaten at Narcoossee's but we've never ever ever had bad service OR a bad meal. Not saying others haven't! We have eaten at super popular restaurants others rave about and have not liked our experience enough to ever go back so you know, it happens. Just needed to get the love out there for one of our favorites.

Yes it does happen. And while I'm not happy if I have bad service... and might not return for a while... I will. Eventually.
Just the other day I had a bad meal and poor service and wound up going without food that day. (Meal came overcooked and dry. I waited 15 minutes for the server to come around and check. She never did. I only had so much time before I had to leave for work. I wound up leaving it untouched on the table.)

I do not leave Narcoossee's without what I consider the best TS dessert on property:

More high praise! Now I really want to try this place!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Welcome back! Glad you had another great trip.

Your meal at Narcoosee's looks absolutely delicious. Sounds like a fun way to see the MK fireworks without dealing with the crazy crowds.

That almond crusted cheesecake looks fantastic.

 

[Jfsag123]

Enjoying your report so far! We are planning on going over the 4th next year, so it’s a nice little preview. Those desserts at Narcoossee’s look amazing! I don’t think my kids are ready for signature dining though...and I’m pretty picky myself. Loving your Contemporary pics! We debated trying to stay there next summer, but the blah pool is what made me say no, even though we love that area. BLT’s pool isn’t themed too much better, but we have nostalgia for that one, so it’s good. Looking forward to more!

 

[ariane37]

Wow you are on your TR game! I am awful and never update mine

I'm trying! It's taking me so long to finish my current dining report I'm determined to update one in a timely DIS fashion............

I’m so glad he liked them! You definitely have to make grits with proper salt and LOTS of either, butter, cream, or cheese (or all 3). Nothing is worse than watery unseasoned grits!

"No self-respecting southerner eats instant grits"
Being an old lady you should know what movie that's from!

Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down
I’d like to take a minute just sit right there
I’ll tell you how I became the filet prince of le cellier

Just one of the reasons I love you my friend

visited Narcoossee's my last two trips and loved it both times! I think it's the signature we'll try on our family trip - I love the location and my husband would be most excited about their menu. Our daughter is also a seafood fan so it will be easy to feed her off of our plates.

I'm so glad you had another wonderful experience there! I don't know that I'd stray from the seafood, but your pasta looks SO GOOD! I'm thrilled to know the filet is great as well, since my husband is also a big filet fan.

I think the location is great! While it isn't a Cali Grill view of the fireworks it's so nice standing out there watching them. It's probably hard for seafood lovers NOT to get seafood there lol but if you happen to not be in the mood for fish, either the filet or pasta is great! And you can get shrimp or chicken added to the pasta if you want

'm also comforted that you had another evening of great service there. I really enjoyed both experiences there and was concerned about recent reports, but as you said you can run into that anywhere. I look forward to another meal there!

You know there is one server there - and older gentleman who has been there for like 40 years - he's sweet and knows his job but he's on the slower side and doesn't seem to be a "smiler" if that's a word. I keep wondering how many of those that had bad service had him.....we had him once and it was definitely the slowest service we've had there but not bad and obviously nothing that kept us from returning lol but if you didn't already love the restaurant I could see him turning you off.

This picture is awesome I wished I was there!

So do we xoxo!

I still am excited to see them next year and I think I'll definitely try and watch them from the MK. Do you know if they had a dessert party for them? I think I would definitely do that just to have some space to watch.

They did have the dessert party at MK for both the 3rd and 4th. I looked for the 4th but we didn't book this trip until about 63 days out and both dates were sold out which didn't surprise me. I did at one point see openings for the 3rd but our flight didn't get in until 5:45 and I felt we'd be rushing too much and then there was the possibility of missing it if our flight was delayed. If we did the 4th again I'd probably try for it!

Super cute pic of Steve and Ricky. Did I tell you before that I LOVE their matching shirts????

Ha ha you did! Steve wore it again last week and every time he wears it he gets compliments and people asking where we got it. When we tell them Kohl's and the price they can't believe it! The bartender at Citricos this time said he doesn't know where there's a Kiohl's by him in Fl. but he was calling his mom in NJ to get one

Wasn't it nice to catch the monorail from the GF back to the CR!!!!! The CR has the best transportation and I love how you can walk to the MK.

It was; the location is like the biggest perk of staying there I think along with being able to see fireworks. Overall the theming just still seems lacking but being the least expensive monorail resort it does have enough things going for it.

 

[ariane37]

I'm glad you guys enjoyed your quick trip! Ours was much of the same, not a lot of rides but still so much fun! Sad we missed you! (But we were dead to the world Saturday night anyway and missed all of the Dismeets )

I get it, Steve and I felt that way Tuesday night! I mean it's not like this was a longer trip than usual or anything but man, by late afternoon Tues. we were just both dragging. But I swear we're there at the same time in Sept?? We're the 14-18th so we will have to chat about hopefully doing a quick meet up

Yes, just a few hours overlap, hopefully we will cross paths again soon! You're going in September, right?

Yes but I think later than you We're the 14-18th?

And how will we explain to Ricky that there is no such thing as too much chocolate?

I try doing this whenever he turns down dessert or doesn't finish one! There are some things you JUST don't NOT finish lol Last week I left some turkey and mashed potatoes on my plate at LTT because I needed room for the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake - now that I finished and that's how you do it!

Yay, a new TR! The Contemporary looks fantastic. I do want to stay there, but it's not at the top of my list. Walking to MK would be great, though!

Hi Katie and so glad you're here! Honestly the CR was never at the top of my list either; it was at the bottom. But between being able to get a good rate with my discount and hearing high praise for it from a couple of my friends I decided to give it a try, if only to get closer to my goal of staying at every Disney resort! Definitely walking to the MK is HUGE and awesome, even in the July heat it was fine.

Butter makes everything better.

Butter and chocolate and if that doesn't work there's always (omg the best part of the last DIS update is all the new emoji's!)

Really! That surprises me!

Because grits are really gross?? Yes they are! I can say that to you because you are from the way up North so you won't disown me But seriously Chris is the one who will try almost anything and has no issue with food texture like Ricky and I do so there are very few things he doesn't like!

More high praise! Now I really want to try this place!

Please do!!!! You won't be disappointed!

Welcome back! Glad you had another great trip.

The best part was being able to see so many DIS friends ♥

Your meal at Narcoosee's looks absolutely delicious. Sounds like a fun way to see the MK fireworks without dealing with the crazy crowds.

It is! And we aren't stake-out-a-spot-90-minutes-early type people so our only other option would have been in the park NOT in front of the castle. Which would have been fine! Watching from Fantasyland is what I prefer even for HEA since I don't like the projections but I think the crowds still would have gotten to us.

Enjoying your report so far! We are planning on going over the 4th next year, so it’s a nice little preview.

Hey Kelley so glad you're here! I want to go back for the 4th but not sure next year will work; such a nice time to go! Other than the 4th itself crowds were great and I'm interested to see what they do at EPCOT with no more Illuminations.

I don’t think my kids are ready for signature dining though...and I’m pretty picky myself.

We started taking our kids to signatures when they were your kids' ages! Honestly you'll find kids there every time and not all sigs take a long time either. There are so many good ones, look at some menus and see if there's stuff you'd like!

We debated trying to stay there next summer, but the blah pool is what made me say no, even though we love that area.

If the boys still liked to use the pool I don't think we would have stayed there either. The BLT pool looks better but again at this point we don't need a good pool since the only one who MAY decide to swim is Chris and that's becoming less of a thing now. But to be honest, the CR won't be somewhere we look to stay again soon...............

 

[amalone1013]

Yes but I think later than you We're the 14-18th?

Were doing labor day and then fly in late on the 18th to so HHN

 

[pepperandchips]

"No self-respecting southerner eats instant grits"
Being an old lady you should know what movie that's from!

You say grandma, I say “two yutes”, same difference

That’s actually one of the few dvds I own, and one of my law professors used it in an evidence class!

 

[Steppesister]

Your meal at Narcoosees looked so fantastic! It's been on my list for quite some time and I'm feelin' the need to go! Everything looked so amazing especially the desserts. Mmmm!

 

[kastoney]

Did you not get the memo that is it a DIS infraction to start a report when I am on vacation? I'll be back with wine to catch up but I'm here!

 

[Cloe Colton]

We'll be there until the 17th! So that would be great!!

I'm glad we weren't the only ones dragging! haha

 

[Newsies]

This dinner at Narcoosee's looks incredible! I'm kicking myself for not booking an ADR for my last trip! We'll have to add this to our must-try list.

 

[Jfsag123]

Hey Kelley so glad you're here! I want to go back for the 4th but not sure next year will work; such a nice time to go! Other than the 4th itself crowds were great and I'm interested to see what they do at EPCOT with no more Illuminations.

You are there so much, but never when I am! lol If you end up making it back around the 4th let me know. And that's encouraging to hear on the crowds. We're planning to see whatever they've got going on in Epcot on the 4th and do MK on the 3rd.

We started taking our kids to signatures when they were your kids' ages! Honestly you'll find kids there every time and not all sigs take a long time either. There are so many good ones, look at some menus and see if there's stuff you'd like!

I may have to check it out. Mine are in the transition phase where they still like character meals, but are also starting to care more about the food as well. Well, at least Cora is. Alex is still mostly about the characters.

If the boys still liked to use the pool I don't think we would have stayed there either. The BLT pool looks better but again at this point we don't need a good pool since the only one who MAY decide to swim is Chris and that's becoming less of a thing now. But to be honest, the CR won't be somewhere we look to stay again soon...............

Aw, I'm sad to hear that. I want to love the CR, and fear that I won't might also be part of why I'm putting off staying there. And the BLT pool isn't amazing, but it's got more theme to it than the Contemporary and, according to my kids, the slide is fun. They went over to the CR pool to try it once when we were staying at BLT and decided to stick with BLT each time since. I think it would be hard for us to stay there and not be able to access the BLT pool.

 

[pkondz]

Butter and chocolate and if that doesn't work there's always (omg the best part of the last DIS update is all the new emoji's!)

I stand (quite happily) corrected.

Because grits are really gross?? Yes they are! I can say that to you because you are from the way up North so you won't disown me

I've had grits. A nice DISer sent me some. I made the recipe included on the container (but wasn't supposed to. Oh well.)
We all tried it and... I've not made it since. We weren't grossed out, but... we couldn't understand what the fuss was about.

But seriously Chris is the one who will try almost anything and has no issue with food texture like Ricky and I do so there are very few things he doesn't like!

I'll usually try new things too... as long as there's no coconut in it.

 

[ariane37]

Were doing labor day and then fly in late on the 18th to so HHN

Ugh we leave the parks around 1:30 that day Oh well guess we both better start planning more trips so we can meet up again lol!

You say grandma, I say “two yutes”, same difference

That’s actually one of the few dvds I own, and one of my law professors used it in an evidence class!

That is so cool! It's one of 3 movies Steve watches over and over. And over. And again.........................

Your meal at Narcoosees looked so fantastic! It's been on my list for quite some time and I'm feelin' the need to go! Everything looked so amazing especially the desserts. Mmmm!

I hope you do try it! And I hope you have an experience like all ours!

Did you not get the memo that is it a DIS infraction to start a report when I am on vacation? I'll be back with wine to catch up but I'm here!

Oh please pardon moi Next time you're away and I start one I'll be sure to send you numerous texts to make sure you're ok with everything I write and you can proof-read too! Maybe after a night of Nomad libations, that'll make my opening super awesome

We'll be there until the 17th! So that would be great!!

I'm glad we weren't the only ones dragging! haha

OK great! I will pm you soon with our plans!

 

[ariane37]

This dinner at Narcoosee's looks incredible! I'm kicking myself for not booking an ADR for my last trip! We'll have to add this to our must-try list.

It was, but it's just so hard to fit in ALL the places we want to eat on a trip! I find that's a harder thing for me now lol is eating all the things I want rather than getting on all the rides I want Just shows you how high on my list food is!!!

You are there so much, but never when I am!

Seriously! Until our EPIC trip that's what happened with Renee @ArielSRL too but luckily this year our trips coincided TWICE! So I have no doubt one day ours will too

I may have to check it out. Mine are in the transition phase where they still like character meals, but are also starting to care more about the food as well. Well, at least Cora is. Alex is still mostly about the characters.

I miss the days mine liked characters but at least soon I'll be able to take our grandkids to those! Chris actually still enjoys a character meal here and there but won't admit it; he just casually asks for one when they're coming with us lol. In July we did the breakfast at Cape May Cafe for the first time, he asked for that or GG and he was enjoying the M&G's!

I've had grits. A nice DISer sent me some. I made the recipe included on the container (but wasn't supposed to. Oh well.)

Wow that's nice! But yeah I know from my mom (who lived down south for a good # of years) that you do not prepare them as per the box directions

I'll usually try new things too... as long as there's no coconut in it.

Oh, oooh now here I do need to disagree with you as coconut is high on my list of loves I assume this means you've never tried the popular Norwegian delicacy known as school bread????

 

[pkondz]

Wow that's nice! But yeah I know from my mom (who lived down south for a good # of years) that you do not prepare them as per the box directions

Which makes soooooo much sense.

Oh, oooh now here I do need to disagree with you as coconut is high on my list of loves I assume this means you've never tried the popular Norwegian delicacy known as school bread????

Nope. Nor will I ever.

 

[ariane37]

Evening all! Two weeks and 1 day until our Food and Wine/Grand Floridian trip Summer is winding down for us here in NY; kids go back to school next Thursday, we took Chris and a friend to 6 Flags New England today, probably having all the kids and grandkids over on Sunday. I'm trying to find a shirt I like to wear to our first HHN so I've started to look on Etsy; you guys who have been, where do you find cool horror shirts? Speaking of horror, we are up to our first FULL day of our July trip which happened to be the 4th of July and the idea of holiday crowds were a bit daunting since this was our first July trip ever..................

We were planning on MK later; but first I had talked the family into rope dropping here for EMH:



Why? I don't know! I guess I was trying to get the most park time possible out of our stay and we really had little Epcot time built in since I don't like using FP's there. Three of us arrived at 7:50 for the 8am opening. Can anyone guess who did NOT come? I'll give you a hint:




It's a few years old but you can still make out the 'tude he displays in all my TR's!
Yeah it's going to be fun getting this kid up for school again next week after a summer of sleeping until 1 in the afternoon. He stayed back in the room which meant we all had fun with no crabbiness! We RD'd TT and unlike other parks didn't have to do a cattle call-run; it was a nice quick walk with nobody stepping on our feet or knocking over small children a la 7DMT or SDD so soon we were inside and Ricky, the newest DeVizio driver, had designed this beauty:



Also as a new driver Ricky was quick to design a car HIGH on power and low on efficiency because who needs that??? Steve helped him out a bit and we ended up with this:



Not too terrible and I honestly probably wouldn't have done any better myself! I love both my boys but as many of you know Ricky's Disney attitude is a tad........more supercalifragilistic than Chris's? So it was nice to ride with 2 people who showed some excitement while my other buddy was doing what he loves to do the most

Interestingly enough as we walked out of TT Chris texted that he was walking to the monorail to meet us WHAT???? Was it my birthday??? He also requested riding Soarin'. I asked Ricky if he wanted to ride it now and again with is brother and my un-birthday surprise #2 came next when he said that he would ride FEA with me if I wanted him to WHA-HAT?????? Now I don't LOVE that ride but I'd said it would be neat to get in all 3 headliners during EMH because - again I don't know. And Ricky had never ridden it but he's nice to me sometimes and this was one time ❤ So while Steve went to wait for Chris we went for Ricky's maiden voyage with the sista's and their snowman. He wasn't impressed but I was happy and then we were able to meet up with the other 2 and ride Soarin' right at 9 with like a 15 minute wait.

We were getting close to our ADR time but still had a bit to spare for LtwL. The SB was posted at 25 while Soarin' had only gone up to 20 but the boys were ok with it and as I thought our wait was only about 8 minutes. We were soon cruising by some Lapu Lapu's in the making:



And I pointed out the test tube not so Hidden Mickey to the boys:




And with that we completed a successful holiday EMH! It was not about 10:00 and we had a breakfast reservation at Beach Club for 10:30 so we walked to the IG and did the 5 minute walk to the restaurant. This was our first time doing Minnie's Beach Bash at Cape May Cafe and believe it or not, that same guy who didn't want to get up for EMH actually requested this! He doesn't admit it outright but he usually sneaks in the request about a week or so before a trip. This time he nonchalantly asked for GG breakfast "or another breakfast maybe with characters we never did" and for the super rare times my baby acts like a baby, I meet those requests.

I'll spare you pictures of all the buffet food but we were all fairly impressed! They had a couple different things like blueberry pancakes and crepes; it was all fresh. And I have to say the outfits the characters wear are adorable!



Oh silly me, that was to keep MY character happy The best Disney Bloody Mary I've had so far is at Refreshment Outpost in Epcot followed by one in AK and this was almost a tie for 2nd place and went very well with all my breakfast eggs and carbs. Now for the characters:



I may or may not have told Daisy that Chris LOVED her:




I decided to try for one myself as I can't remember the last time I met Daisy:



The characters were coming at a nice even pace; Ricky would give a wave from his seat but he's WAY past the "I won't say it out loud but I still like characters" age. More in the next post!