So Many ADR's, So Little Time...COMPLETE 7/24!

Everything looks great. I really want to get Mike back to Le Cellier, but I have had a difficult time doing it. His favorite Ruth's Chris has a 3 course meal for $50. If there was a per fixed at Le Cellier I could possibly tempt him. I can't seem to find what you had online. Is that posted anywhere, or was it a trial thing?

We love La Hacienda. That cheese looks so good.

Great report.
 
Wow what great updates!

I personally love Via Napoli, but when we went DH had chicken parm. that he said was just meh, so he's been reluctant to go back again. I would go back again in a heartbeat though!

Your meal at Le Cellier looked great (we usually go there but skipped this past trip), I never heard of a poutine before this season of Top Chef :upsidedow

The bakery looks fantastic - it's good to know the cakes taste as great as they look! The worst is a beautiful cake that tastes like cardboard o_O

Ohana was a one & done for us - my DH thought the wings and meat were too fatty. And our kids are picks eaters so that wasn't a fav. of ours.

Looking forward to reading more! Marina :cutie:
 
Those look so yummy!!

They were strong!

Hmm, that's not what I would imagine either, but I would steer away from it because of the description, but the picture looks like I could easily avoid the chorizo.

I'm not usually a huge fan of chorizo, but it was easily avoidable here! I was pleasantly surprised by this melted cheese!

Having a melted bowl of cheese sounds like the best meal to me!


Your view of the fireworks is pretty great and perfect for a cold night. I've seen the show so many times I should try watching from different places to get a different experience.

I had no idea what we had ordered, but I was very pleased with our melted cheese meal!

It was nice to have a different perspective of the fireworks!

Everything looks great. I really want to get Mike back to Le Cellier, but I have had a difficult time doing it. His favorite Ruth's Chris has a 3 course meal for $50. If there was a per fixed at Le Cellier I could possibly tempt him. I can't seem to find what you had online. Is that posted anywhere, or was it a trial thing?

We love La Hacienda. That cheese looks so good.

Great report.

I think that pre fixe lunch at Le Cellier was only a limited time thing? We just ate there again in January of this year, and it wasn't offered. Too bad, it was a good option!

Wow what great updates!

I personally love Via Napoli, but when we went DH had chicken parm. that he said was just meh, so he's been reluctant to go back again. I would go back again in a heartbeat though!

Your meal at Le Cellier looked great (we usually go there but skipped this past trip), I never heard of a poutine before this season of Top Chef :upsidedow

The bakery looks fantastic - it's good to know the cakes taste as great as they look! The worst is a beautiful cake that tastes like cardboard o_O

Ohana was a one & done for us - my DH thought the wings and meat were too fatty. And our kids are picks eaters so that wasn't a fav. of ours.

Looking forward to reading more! Marina :cutie:

Thanks for joining in, sorry I've been so far behind on updates lately!
 
Beaches and Cream - January 9, 2017

After reading so many rave reviews about this place, I knew we had to try it! We managed to score a reservation within a few minutes of when we wanted to – not an easy feat, this is a teeny-tiny little place!

It’s located at the Beach Club resort, close to Stormalong Bay. It’s designed to look like an old fashioned soda shop, decorated in pastel colours and retro designs.

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The menu is fairly basic – hamburgers, hot dogs, etc.

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To start, we both ordered a Vanilla Coke <3 . I love vanilla coke so much, and wish it was available more places.

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For my main meal, I went for the Grilled Cheese with Tomato Bisque– with six-cheese blend, $10.50

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This might have been the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had. I’m a person of very simple taste, but seriously – this was amazing. The bread was great, the cheese blend was great and the ratio of cheese to bread was perfect! You might laugh, but there really is such a thing as too much cheese, and it completely ruins a sandwich for me. (I love cheese, but there’s a fine balance you need to find in creating a perfect grilled cheese).

The tomato bisque was also wonderful! Luke hates tomato soup, but he tried this and actually loved it. The flavours were fantastic, and my only complaint was that I wanted more!

Luke went for the Beaches Patty Melt – angus beef burger served with sauteed onions, swiss and garlic-peppercorn dressing on rye bread – $16

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This is typically served with fries, but Luke decided to switch those out for onion rings. I did steal an onion ring (and pulled the onion out of course – I only eat the batter…), and it was pretty good! I didn’t try his sandwich due to all the onions on it, but Luke said it was good (but not necessarily great). I don’t think he loved it like I loved my grilled cheese, but he ate it all and didn’t really have any complaints.

Luke also decided he wanted a cherry Coke –

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While we were waiting outside to be called in and seated, there was a group of 5 friends who were clearly having a good time, and had made up some song/chant about getting the kitchen sink. They were seated shortly after us at a booth beside our little table, and sure enough, they ordered the kitchen sink – scoops of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookies and cream and mint chocolate chip ice cream smothered in every topping we have (including a full can of whipped cream!). Also available: chocolate lovers or Neapolitan. $29

The group noticed me trying to snap a picture of this monster, so they invited me over to get a better shot before they started digging in.

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That was obviously way too much ice cream for Luke and I, so we decided instead to share a No Way Jose – a peanut butter and hot fudge delight featuring chocolate and vanilla ice cream, peanut butter and chocolate morsels, whipped cream and a cherry $9.

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Not only is there hot fudge, but the peanut butter was also warm and melted. I’m not even a huge peanut butter person, but this was INCREDIBLE. Oh. My. God. Seriously. It’s also huge – 3 generous scoops of ice cream and no shortage of whipped cream – it was more than enough for the two of us to share.

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Look at all that peanut butter!

And after we were finished:

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This is a place I would not hesitate to return to. It’s a terrible use of credits if you are on the Disney Dining Plan though, as it costs a table service credit – but if paying out of pocket it is a great deal (as far as Disney deals go…)

The total for our meal was $48.17 (we had no discounts, so that is full price), plus tip. It was actually one of our cheapest meals on this trip.​
 


Following along...still trying to get a reservation for Beaches and Cream for our mid-March trip!
 
I love Beaches and Cream. My husband will eat a No Way Jose all to himself - he refuses to share!
 
This might have been the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had. I’m a person of very simple taste, but seriously – this was amazing. The bread was great, the cheese blend was great and the ratio of cheese to bread was perfect!

I'm sold with 6-cheese blend. I like a good grilled cheese, but I'm picky about what cheese goes on it. American "cheese" is not cheese, and belongs nowhere.

I did steal an onion ring (and pulled the onion out of course – I only eat the batter…), and it was pretty good!

Haha...that totally sounds like something I would do. The batter is usually good, but eww, onions.

we decided instead to share a No Way Jose – a peanut butter and hot fudge delight featuring chocolate and vanilla ice cream, peanut butter and chocolate morsels, whipped cream and a cherry $9.

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Not only is there hot fudge, but the peanut butter was also warm and melted. I’m not even a huge peanut butter person, but this was INCREDIBLE. Oh. My. God. Seriously.

My husband would LOVE this. I'm not a huge fan of hot fudge or chocolate ice cream, though. I figure someday we'll go there.
 


Following along...still trying to get a reservation for Beaches and Cream for our mid-March trip!

Good luck in your search for a reservation!

I love Beaches and Cream. My husband will eat a No Way Jose all to himself - he refuses to share!

Haha, good for him! It's way too much ice cream for me to eat on my own, and I typically don't like peanut butter - but the No Way Jose is soooo good!

I'm sold with 6-cheese blend. I like a good grilled cheese, but I'm picky about what cheese goes on it. American "cheese" is not cheese, and belongs nowhere.

I hate when a grilled cheese has too much cheese - there needs to be a perfect balance haha.

Haha...that totally sounds like something I would do. The batter is usually good, but eww, onions.

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I'm such a picky eater haha.

My husband would LOVE this. I'm not a huge fan of hot fudge or chocolate ice cream, though. I figure someday we'll go there.

It's huge, so just get your husband to order then then steal a few bites of the vanilla ice cream!
 
Star Wars Galactic Spectacular - January 9, 2017

We decided months and months before this trip that we wanted to do a dessert party, the only question was which one. We tossed around the idea of the Wishes one, but the cost was $69/person and it did not include alcohol (not that either of us are typically big drinkers). Then we looked at the Star Wars one for $79/person but it did include all-you-could-drink (the extra $10 seems worth it to me!). There were only 2 problems – #1) Disney had announced the Christmas-themed dessert party for Hollywood Studios, with no guarantee if/when the Star Wars one would return, and #2) I had never watched a single Star Wars movie…

Then, in November Disney announced the dessert party dates, and one of them was the Monday we were hoping for! So, we booked and paid for that. Then, the week between Christmas and New Year’s, we sat down and watched all eight of the Star Wars movies which had been released to that point (and I’m probably one of the few people who can say I watched in chronological order haha – A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Rogue One, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens. We actually had to watch Rogue One in theaters since it had only been released a few weeks prior. So – both issues tackled! Now I was really excited for this dessert party!

The official sign-in time for the party was 6:30, but they actually allowed people to start checking in earlier than that. We wanted as much time as possible to eat/drink so by 6:15 we had our lanyards and were heading in.

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There were a number of high-top tables spread throughout the party area, with 2 buffet tables of food in the centre, a bar at one end, another table at the other end with more food and another table with non-alcoholic drinks.

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The red glowing thing were the centerpieces on each table – very simple, but fit well with the Star Wars theme. You can also see Luke’s first plate of food, and the first drinks we each got (better pictures below)

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Water, watermelon lemonade and juice.

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Coffee, decaf coffee and hot water, with a selection of teas nearby.

Our first order of business was drinks! Here’s the list of specialty cocktails they offered for this party:

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I went for the Cosmic Citrus Twist as my first choice, while Luke decided to try to the Light Speed Margarita.

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Cosmic Citrus Twist – citrus lemonade and watermelon lemonade

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Light Speed Margarita – tequila, blood orange syrup, sour mix and lime juice

I’m not a huge tequila person, and that drink was strong! I can deal with my drinks getting stronger as I continue drinking, but I prefer my first one to be weak and sweet – my watermelon vodka drink was just that! I didn’t take a picture of every drink I had, but I believe I had 4 of these light pink delicious things during this dessert party, and they continuously got stronger with each one…

Now for the food:

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To satisfy your savory tastes, they had pita bread with dips – one was a black bean dip and the other a pretty standard, straight forward red pepper hummus.

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Watermelon Sabers

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Cheddar and Green Olive Sabers

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Provolone and Tomato Sabers

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Grape Sabers

All of the “sabers” were pretty straight forward, and I ended up trying them all (obviously, I picked off the tomato/green olives and just ate the cheese cubes from those ones haha).

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BB-8 Lemon Cupcake

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Darth Vader and Stormtrooper cookies

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From left to right: Citrus Financiers, Pistachio Morella Cherry Bites and Mini Chocolate Cakes

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“Blue Milk” Panna Cotta with Crispy Pearls

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Rice Crispy Bon Bons

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R2D2 Vanilla Cupcake

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Darth Vader Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

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That last bowl doesn’t look like much, but it was freeze dried nutella with raspberry sauce and dark chocolate sauce, and it was so good! The little bit in the bottom of the bowl is seriously all you need though, it’s so sweet! (I don’t think I even finished all of that, since I wanted to try so many things).

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Red Velvet Brownies

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Warm Bread Pudding with pretzels and M&M’s

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Vanilla bean sauce and fresh berries for the bread pudding. Not pictured: vanilla bean ice cream and whipped cream

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Galactic Punch – coconut rum, spiced rum, mango syrup and passion orange guave juice , and another Cosmic Citrus Twist

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Luke switched it up at one point and got a rum and coke. And yes, there’s another Cosmic Citrus Twist in the background there…

I *think* I had 4 Cosmic Citrus Twists and a Galactic Punch over the hour and fifteen minutes or so we were there, and when it was close to time to start heading out to the viewing area for fireworks I grabbed one of the to-go coffee cups they had and the bartender mixed me another cosmic citrus twist in that so I could drink it while watching the show… I swear I rarely drink, but I was going to get my money’s worth out of this dessert party haha! I can’t remember exactly, but I think Luke had 2 of the margaritas, 1 cosmic citrus twist, 1 galactic punch and 1 or 2 rum and cokes. He also had a drink mixed in a to-go cup, but I don’t remember what it was.

Around 7:30, Stormtroopers began leading the way with lightsabers to the reserved viewing area for the show. Seriously, the view could not have been better! That alone is almost worth the cost of the party! (And instead of staking out a viewing spot 1-2 hours in advance, we were filling our bellies with wonderful sweets and alcohol!).

As we entered the reserved viewing area, cast members were handing out our keepsake Chewbacca mugs. These things are ridiculous!

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The top of the head lifts up and you drink from there. I know one of these is currently sitting on our kitchen island holding pens, but I have no idea where the other one went? I think Luke took it to his office? There’s also no way I would ever buy these things, but they were included in the cost of the dessert party…

As soon as we entered the reserved viewing area, most people immediately started crowding their way to the front of the roped-off area, but not us! We hung to the back – I had read that the reserved area was larger than the number of people at the dessert party, so I knew we wouldn’t be crowded at the back – and look at all the space in front of us!

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While waiting for the show to start, two little boys (brothers I assume) were having a lightsaber fight in that space in front of us, when all of a sudden one brother drops his lightsaber to his side and raises his other hand to “force choke” his brother. The other little guy’s eyes went huge, and his hand flew to his neck – Luke and I were laughing so hard! Clearly these kids had seen the Star Wars movies a few times…

As for the show itself – I loved it! We had just watched all of the movies a few weeks prior, so they were all still nice and fresh in my memory. There’s lots of projections and lasers and lights, in addition to some fireworks, and it really does a great job of telling a story. The music is fantastic as well, lots of classic Star Wars stuff. I didn’t take a ton of pictures, I was really enjoying the show but I did snap a few with my iPhone.

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Would we pay the money for this dessert party again? Absolutely! We already have! We asked about doing a private dessert party with viewing of this show for our wedding, but that was a no-go (due to all of the construction happening in Hollywood Studios, they don’t currently have a private location to set something up - so we did Illuminations instead). But, we took some of our family to the regular Star Wars dessert party anyways!​
 
Haha, good for him! It's way too much ice cream for me to eat on my own, and I typically don't like peanut butter - but the No Way Jose is soooo good!

They will make mini versions of the No Way Jose that is more normal sized for one person!

Jill in CO
 
Turf Club - January 9, 2017

This was a restaurant we didn’t really read many reviews of, and just don’t see mentioned all that often to be honest. But, we were staying at Saratoga Springs for 4 nights so we had to make a reservation to try it!​

We made our reservation for fairly late at night, on the same night as the Star Wars Dessert Party – our reasoning was that we would be skipping supper to have our dessert first, and then after we returned to our resort we would have a late supper.​

The restaurant itself is located in the main building at Saratoga Springs, at the end of a hallway.​

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If you read my review of the Star Wars Dessert Party up above, you’ll know that we were both feeling pretty good, and had drank quite a few of the cocktails offered there… and we were still feeling the affects of that when we arrived at The Turf Club.​

We checked in, and did not have to wait very long before we were led to our table. Our waiter came over immediately to introduce himself – his name was Coy and he was amazing! He was probably the best waiter we had this entire trip, and I’m not just saying that because we were both feeling all those drinks haha.​

Here’s the menu that Coy dropped off for us to look over:​

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And they were also offering this Prix Fixe Menu:​

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Luke decided to keep the drinking going, and ordered a Mint Julep – bourbon muddled with fresh mint and agave nectar, $11.25​

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So, they definitely stuck a piece of mint on top for garnish, but I’m pretty sure that entire cup was just ice and bourbon. Luke says it was one of the stiffest drinks he’s ever been served at a restaurant. I tried it, and I think they forgot to add the muddled mint and agave and it was just straight bourbon. Luke just decided to suck it up and drink it though, but our server noticed that he was struggling with it so he brought over a glass of ginger ale to mix into it. This was not something we asked for, but it was appreciated!​

Waiter Coy also dropped off some bread:​

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With butter (and I don’t remember what was on the butter, sorry! Just be happy I remembered to take pictures haha I assume some kind of salt, not sure why it's red).​

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The plan was to just order appetizers, since we had ate/drank so much at the dessert party, but then I saw this on the menu, and it was screaming my name.​

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This is the Rigatoni Fiesolana – rigatoni pasta, creamy tomato sauce with sausage, portobello mushrooms, parmesan and fresh basil, $22. I asked for it without mushrooms of course, but everything else in that description was ok by me! This was so great, but I didn’t come close to finishing it. I did take the leftovers with me though, and reheated it in the microwave in our room and it still tasted good!​

Luke decided to stick with our original plan of appetizers, and ordered the Buffalo Chicken Dip – spicy ranch sauce with saratoga chips, $10. This was much better than we expected, it was shredded, white meat chicken mixed with what I assume is just ranch and Frank’s Red Hot, served with lots of homemade kettle-style chips to dip in. This was a huge serving, and meant to be shared – which we did. Also, here’s proof of how much we had drank that night – this is the only picture I took of this dish:​

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Yep, I should probably quit my job and become a professional food photographer based on that last picture….​

Luke also ordered the Braised Beef Short Rib – creme fraiche- parmesan polenta, baby heirloom tomatoes and crispy fried potatoes, $13. I have no idea what creme fraiche is, and no idea what polenta is (or what that odd-coloured smear on the side of the plate is), but Luke really enjoyed this. I tried some of the meat, and it was so fall-apart tender and delicious!​

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Overall, we really enjoyed this meal, and would not hesitate to return to the Turf Club if we’re ever staying at Saratoga Springs again. As I mentioned earlier, we loved our waiter, he was attentive, friendly and funny!​

Our bill came to $63.63 (I forgot to mention up above that I ordered a coke to drink at $3.49).​

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After paying, I stopped on my way through the main lobby to use the bathroom before walking back to our building. While I was in there, Luke realized he had drunkenly forgot his hat in the restaurant and had to go back to get it – so then when I came out of the bathroom I had no idea where he was. Once we found each other again, we headed back to our room and called it a night - we fell asleep quickly after all that food and drink.​
 
Thank you for sharing about the star wars dessert party! I would love to take my husband to this, and the inclusion of the drinks helps with the decision. We aren't big drinkers, but it's nice to have a drink or two occasionally.
 
I'm finally all caught up! Loving all of your review and the Star Wars dessert party looks amazing! Do you think people who have never seen Star Wars would enjoy the fireworks show?
 
I just realized that I haven't been following this. Weird. I've remedied that! I'm not usually the best at keeping up with thorough replies/comments on dining reports, but I'll try my best.

I've looked into the Galactic Spectacular dessert party a little—looks like you had a great time! And I liked your review of the Turf Club. It seems kinda underrated, probably because I lot of people don't find themselves at SSR, but it sounds like you had a great experience there!
 

Our total for an appetizer and two drinks came to $43.67.

Awesome dining reviews! I'm still catching up.:smickey:

Question for you. Did you find your La Hacienda de San Angel server had any sort of attitude (like your unfortunate Via Napoli service experience) with you only ordering apps and drinks?

Eating three full-blown meals in Disney can be a lot of food, so I sometimes stay away from sit-downs because I'd rather do what you did...apps and drinks. So I'm always curious whether there is a weird vibe or not with that in different WDW restaurants!
 
I just realized that I haven't been following this. Weird. I've remedied that! I'm not usually the best at keeping up with thorough replies/comments on dining reports, but I'll try my best.

I've looked into the Galactic Spectacular dessert party a little—looks like you had a great time! And I liked your review of the Turf Club. It seems kinda underrated, probably because I lot of people don't find themselves at SSR, but it sounds like you had a great experience there!

Welcome to my abandoned dining report haha. I've been terrible at keeping up with everyone's reports on here, and I need to change that! You are probably finished your wedding/honeymoon trip report by now, I'm so far behind on that!

Awesome dining reviews! I'm still catching up.:smickey:

Question for you. Did you find your La Hacienda de San Angel server had any sort of attitude (like your unfortunate Via Napoli service experience) with you only ordering apps and drinks?

Eating three full-blown meals in Disney can be a lot of food, so I sometimes stay away from sit-downs because I'd rather do what you did...apps and drinks. So I'm always curious whether there is a weird vibe or not with that in different WDW restaurants!

Welcome! I didn't find our service to be that terrible at La Hacienda, but it was also towards the end of the night. I find we get ignored a lot at restaurants because we don't often order alcohol, but I refuse to let that stop me from enjoying whatever restaurants I want to :)
 
You are probably finished your wedding/honeymoon trip report by now, I'm so far behind on that!

Haha not quite! I'm behind, too! At least on my own stuff. But there are probably lots of new updates there for you to read if you get back there at some point. I really want to get it done before we go back for our anniversary! Too many trips, too little time...not really a bad problem to have I guess. :)
 
Haha not quite! I'm behind, too! At least on my own stuff. But there are probably lots of new updates there for you to read if you get back there at some point. I really want to get it done before we go back for our anniversary! Too many trips, too little time...not really a bad problem to have I guess. :)

You have an excuse for being behind, studying for a Masters degree and all!

After our Disneyland trip in June, I have no idea when we'll get back to Disney, so I should have all kinds of time to get caught up on the boards :)
 

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