How Many Days In A Row Will We Wear Tie Dye (or Disney 2009 review): Part 6featured

I’m so sorry it’s taking me so long to update this. We’re doing some redecorating and things are a bit hectic. I’ll try to be better about it :o) These are getting kind of long, so if they’re too long to read in one sitting, let me know and I’ll start splitting them up into smaller installments.

Obligatory reminder: please don’t take pics off this site without my permission, yadda yadda yadda.

It was muggy and hot when we woke up, but we were very pleased at how cool our room remained. Some hotels have thermostats that are pre-programmed and don’t go too low, but we kept the room at a frosty 68 degrees for most of the week. Because it was so hot outside and so cool inside, we woke up every morning to a frosted window. While it would have been nice to wake up every morning to Cinderella Castle, there’s something just as magical as waking up to a nice view of the Contemporary and the monorail. It’s just so Disney to us.

The wake-up call came before 7:00 am this morning and I could barely keep my eyes open…even if we were in Disney. We had a 7:50 am reservation at ‘Ohana and even though we were still pretty full from dinner there last night, we forged ahead towards another gastronomic endeavor.

I don’t think I remembered to mention it, but even though we only spent a few hours at Magic Kingdom the day before, I had some painful blisters on my feet already. I tried soaking them in hot water to try to get them to pop, then cold water to get the pain to subside a bit (and the swelling to go down…my feet ended up swelling up more than a size in the insane heat, but more on that later) and nothing helped. Thankfully, we had a LOT of Moleskin and that helped ease the pain a bit by protecting the area. But I couldn’t wear my gym shoes since they were the offenders and settled for a pair of slides.

Grandma had a headache and just wanted to sleep, and since the fare at ‘Ohana wasn’t anything special, she opted to take a Tylenol and have some waffles in the room and try to sleep it off. We all had headaches during the week…probably from the change in climate (we had an unseasonably cool summer in Chicago and it was a good 25 degrees warmer in Disney than it was at home) and the wet heat.

We took our time getting grandma settled and this made us run slightly late. You’d think taking the monorail from the Contemporary to the Polynesian wouldn’t take more than 15 minutes. After all, it’s just two stops. But, I’ve noticed that the monorails don’t really run regularly in the morning and they’re always getting delayed. We met a family on a mother/daughters trip who were also running late…but their reservation was 10 minutes before ours. We all hopped on the monorail and hoped for the best. I know ‘Ohana is notoriously hard to get into and I knew people would be trying to walk up and we needed to claim our reservation ASAP!

We made it to the Polynesian exactly at 7:50- our reservation time- and made a beeline for the podium at ‘Ohana. It was busy, as we expected, with people trying to get a walk-up (they couldn’t be accommodated…and according to the hostess, they usually aren’t) and we quickly checked in and were told it would be a few minutes. They directed us to a photo area to get our picture taken, but we weren’t interested. As it was, right as we went to sit down, our beeper went off and we were taken to our table. Like the night before, our server walked us past the kitchen areas and grabbed a bread basket on the way to our table.

At ‘Ohana, I think we’ve sat in the same section every single time we’ve dined here. This time, not only were we sat in another section, but we had a table for three looking directly out at Cinderella Castle! I didn’t even know these tables existed (and we wouldn’t be able to sit here under normal circumstances with our party of four), but this was prime real estate! It must be pretty magical there at night with Wishes.

While we were enjoying the view of the Magic Kingdom, our “cousin” Ehab came over with some fresh orange juice and to explain the meal (served family style all-you-can-eat, characters come by every few minutes) and to ask what additional beverage we wanted (you get two drinks at breakfast on the dining plan). I, naturally, went straight to the coffee. It wasn’t the amazing Kona coffee they serve next door at the Kona Cafe, but it was caffeinated and that alone made it heaven in a cup.

The basket our hostess grabbed on the way to our table had a slightly sweet pineapple bread and a very sweet cinnamon raisin bread. I thought I’d like the cinnamon bread more, but I really enjoyed the subdued sweetness of the soft pineapple bread. Stephanie and Mom preferred the sticky cinnamon raisin bread. I really could have just made a breakfast of the coffee and the pineapple bread.

Ehab brought out a tray of fresh fruit with the various condiments for the rest of breakfast. I’m not usually a big fruit for breakfast kind of person because I don’t like too much sweet with my breakfast, but this fruit was just so good. It was perfectly ripe and it wasn’t too sweet. I could tell it was really fresh because it wasn’t soft and the melon had a nice, soft crunch. Mom and Stephanie (and grandma, too) are more fruit-for-breakfast kind of people and they had this tray refilled a few times.

Mickey Mouse came to say hello right after the fruit came. Stephanie thinks she’s too cool to have her picture taken with characters (sometimes I force her hand in it and just start snapping) but I think there’s fun in it at any age.

While our meal at ‘Ohana the previous night was too fast-paced for my liking, this meal was perfectly paced. I’m a notoriously slow eater and the pace of this meal was right up my alley.

After Mickey left to greet the very excited children at the next table, Ehab brought out a breakfast skillet filled with eggs, bacon, potatoes, sausage and biscuits. His assistant server followed closely behind with a plate of Mickey shaped waffles.

The food was very good for what it was (regular breakfast fare). The bacon was crisp (always a must in my book…no one likes limp bacon), the sausages were served in the form of very large links and had some very subtle heat and the eggs were nice and fluffy. The potatoes were excellent- perfectly browned with some nicely sauteed onions that provided a nice sweetness- but the wedges were rather thick and they were entirely too heavy. The waffles? Well, they were Mickey waffles. They’ll taste the same anywhere you go.

Ehab was very diligent in making sure that we didn’t want for anything and that we had anything we could have wanted (I think we ended up getting some more eggs, fruit and bacon). Our drinks never went empty and service was prompt and pleasant.

Pluto came to visit us next and since Mom had her back to the dining area (she was facing the Magic Kingdom), he snuck up on her. And I got Stephanie to pose for a picture with a character!

I was uncomfortably full and even though Lilo and Stitch hadn’t visited yet, we got the check and left after the conga line cleared through our area. I’d heard Stitch was fun to visit with and I was curious as to what mischief he’d get into, but I needed to walk off our breakfast. Pre-tip, breakfast came to $60.68 and we used three dining credits.

Feeling incredibly full, we decided to walk around the Great Ceremonial House (aka the building the monorail stops at). I love the smell of the Polynesian kind of in the same way I love the smell of gasoline. The Polynesian vaguely smells of a mix of soft florals with a very strong note of wet chlorine. It’s not a good smell, but I love it. It’s just so…Disney. We stopped in the shops to check out the merch and took some pictures with the waterfall before heading back to the monorail.

We were thinking of splitting up- Stephanie and I taking a bus to Disney Hollywood Studios and Mom taking the monorail back to the room and seeing if grandma felt up to going out to the parks and then coming to meet up with us- but we ultimately decided to all go back to the hotel and just take it kind of slow. I know a lot of people are kind of go-go-go-every-minute-planned kind of people at Disney, but we’re more go-with-the-flow-and-enjoy kind of people.

Mom went straight back to the room while Stephanie and I detoured to Fantasia to check out the merchandise. I was disappointed with the merchandise this year, as everything seemed to be the same as the year before (with the exception of the “What Will You Celebrate?” merch that took the place of the “Year of a Million Dreams” merch). Even many of the pins were the same.

We went back to the room and grandma still wasn’t feeling like going out. I really wanted her to come out with us, but her headache wasn’t going to get any better in the heat and bright sunlight. Stephanie went to go refill her mug so she had some fresh Powerade if she got thirsty. Mom was tired, too, so we decided that me and Stephanie would head to the park and try to get Toy Story Mania Fast Passes and she’d rest up with grandma wait to see if grandma felt any better and meet up with us in an hour.

So Stephanie and I headed down to the Contemporary bus depot and waited for a bus to DHS. The last time we went to DHS was in 2001. On every trip we’ve been on since then, we’ve only gone to Magic Kingdom and Epcot, so I was really excited to see what was new at DHS. Since we always stay on the monorail, we’d never had the Disney bus experience (other than when we’re resort hopping, but we do that away from the parks). I’d heard a lot of negatives about it, but we figured that if it was as bad as everyone said, we’d just take the car next time.

As it was, it wasn’t bad at all, but that was for us. I can see where the frustration is. See, the thing with the busses is that it seems that the bus experience can be largely swayed by where your resort is on the pickup/drop off schedule. The Contemporary is always the first to be picked up and the first to be dropped off, so when we’d take the bus, it’d usually be empty. By the time it got to the next stop (the Polynesian), it’d be full and everyone would have to stand. Then, there’s always drama regarding people who think they’re entitled to seats, bus drivers who cram as many people onto the busses as possible (which just doesn’t seem safe to me) and kids screaming in the ears of the people sitting in front of them. It’s not to say this doesn’t happen on the monorail, but tensions seems be lower on the monorails because they’re constantly running, whereas if you miss a bus, you’re looking at a 20 minute wait for the next one.

So, while we had seats on the bus, the bus was packed by the time we went to the Polynesian and though while the smart solution would be to send us off to DHS and dispatch another bus to the Polynesian, the Disney solution is to go to the Polynesian, entice people to cram in as if the person next to them would give them a back massage and a Mai Tai and then head off to the park.

It was super hot, even though it was early in the morning and the bus was air conditioned. I was like a sardine in the can that was the bus. And frankly, the can of sardines probably would have smelled better. Deodorant is your friend, especially in 100+ degree heat indexes. We came to the conclusion that the busses weren’t for grandma and if she came out with us, we’d go back and get the car. Even though her wheelchair would have plenty of room, it just didn’t seem too safe with people cramming into any and all available space and the heat. And I didn’t want her to deal with the stares and harsh words of imbeciles who are inconvenienced when the seats in the priority section go away when a wheelchair or scooter needs to board.

After a brief and slightly unpleasant bus ride, we found release and fresh air at the Disney Hollywood Studios gate. Though we hadn’t made it to rope drop, we weren’t too late, either, and I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly we passed through bag check and the ticket gates. As a creature of habit (I still call Macy’s Marshall Fields and US Cellular Field Comiskey Park), I spent the day referring to DHS as MGM.

I love the theming of DHS. There’s a quality of it that reminds me of Universal Studios in Hollywood (which is distinctly different from Universal Studios in Orlando). It’s almost like being transported to the heyday of Tinseltown.

The big masterpiece of DHS, arguably, is the replica of Grauman’s Theater, where you’ll find the Great Movie Ride (at the replica, not at Grauman’s…though that would be kind of cool!). While at Grauman’s, you’ll find the hand and footprints of Hollywood legends like Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Shirley Temple and Joan Crawford, you’ll find the handprints of the likes of Minnie Mouse at the DHS version. The resemblance to the original Grauman’s is uncanny, right down to the Marilyn Monroe fountain to the far left of the building (if you’re facing the building), though I’m not sure if they dedicated the fountain to Marilyn Monroe at DHS. We visited Grauman’s on a post-cruise trip to Disneyland and Beverly Hills a few years ago and I have such fond memories of that trip that the replica conjured up.

DHS Grauman’s

Stephanie and I at real Grauman’s in Hollywood, 2006

And for fun…me and Marilyn Monroe (well, her prints, anyways)

We didn’t initially spend much time checking out replica Grauman’s since we wanted to grab some fast passes for Toy Story Mania since we were sure they’d run out not long after the park opened. As it was, I can’t follow a map of DHS if my life depended on it apparently and I took us the wrong way and it took us three times as long to find it (I went to the left of faux Grauman’s and it was a bit to the right but immediately behind). As a plus, though, we got to see a lot of DHS that I didn’t remember.

We finally found Toy Story Mania and waited in line…for fast passes! It was crazy! The park had not been open for an hour and a half and not only were our fast passes for the early evening, but we had to wait in line for them! We planned to ride standby, but the wait was nearly two hours and no ride is worth over 100 minutes in line.

Stephanie had an application on her iPhone with Disney wait times and it said that the Great Movie Ride was basically walk on so we headed back (the right way this time) to faux Grauman’s for a go on the Great Movie Ride.

The Great Movie Ride is to DHS as the Kilimanjaro Safari is to Animal Kingdom, Spaceship Earth is to Epcot or Peter Pan is to Magic Kingdom. It is the ride that encapsulates everything the park is about.

As nice as it is to walk right onto a ride, the queue of the Great Movie Ride is filled with fantastic movie memorabilia, including one of the carousel horses from Mary Poppins. I wish we had more time to look things over before walking past. After a quick walk through the cool and dim queue, we found ourselves in a theater (though still in a queue…there’s just no escaping them), watching clips of old movies in black-and-white.

We weren’t in the theater five minutes before we were waiting to board one of the ride vehicles. One of the best things about this ride is that it’s still led by a live cast member. Living with the Land used to be, but the cast member narrating and driving the boat was replaced with an automated audio track. I think the human element really adds something fun and human to it, and I think the only rides narrated by cast members in person now are the Great Movie Ride, Jungle Cruise and Kilimanjaro Safari. Our cast member was cute and bubbly and had a striking resemblance to one of the social hosts on our last cruise. No flash pictures are allowed on Disney rides, so my pics didn’t come out as good as I wanted. A perfect excuse for me to get a low-light prime lens!

While I really liked the Great Movie Ride (and, for some reason, had very little recollection of riding it before even though I know I rode it many times on my previous trips to DHS years ago), the animatronics aren’t at a level anywhere near Spaceship Earth. On Spaceship Earth, everything is so real. On the Great Movie Ride, it’s like riding through a moving diorama, where everything is nice to look at, but obviously fake. And, on a side note, you know how everyone has a ride or a scene of a ride they never, ever want to get stuck on? For some, it’s the heat room on Test Track (where we did get stuck…and had to be evacuated…but that story will come later) or the burning room on Spaceship Earth. For me? It’s the Wizard of Oz scene on the Great Movie Ride. Those dolls…there’s something not right with them LOL.

When we got off the ride, we noticed that we had a missed call from Mom. Grandma still didn’t want to come out so she was coming out to the park to meet up with us and we’d check in with grandma again after lunch. It was crazy hot out and my legs were starting to kill me. I had a problem with shin splints when I was in high school, but they hadn’t bothered me in years. I can walk long distances at fast paces (in heels, no less) no problem at home. I walk everywhere and anywhere on shore excursions when we cruise with no problems. I’ve done many trips to Disney and never had leg pain before. I felt like my shins were being cracked with hot pokers and I wasn’t sure if it was because I left my runners at home and was wearing unsupportive shoes, or if it was muscular and caused by dehydration or lack of potassium or if I did too much too fast, but it was something that would continue to get worse throughout the week and would force me to sit and stretch every 10 minutes or so I spent walking.

So we found a bench in the shade right off the iconic hat (which houses a pin store, by the way) and just sat. I took some Advil and Stephanie concocted the perfect heat remedy (a spritz of Evian mist followed by an electric fan) and we waited for Mom.

We noticed a crowd gathering nearby and a parade float coming through. It turned out to be a showing of the High School Musical 3 Pep Rally, which would park in front of the hat every hour or so (maybe longer) and have a singalong and dancing. I love High School Musical so I went over and enjoyed. Stephanie massively dislikes everything High School Musical. Sometimes she’ll tolerate it for me (she let me throw a sangria party at her school apartment for some of my friends for the debut of HSM2). She wasn’t really happy when I dragged her over to this street show not once, but twice that day. But it was a really cute show and it has some great opportunities for interaction if your child is a fan.

After the show, Stephanie and I went back to our shaded spot and discussed our priorities for the day. Since neither of us do thrill rides (Test Track is as thrilling as we get…or as I like to call it, wild-but-mild), Rockin’ Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror were out. I wanted to do Star Tours, the Backlot Tour, Muppet Vision 3D and Toy Story Mania at least twice and see American Idol and Fantasmic. Stephanie wanted to do the Backlot Tour, Toy Story Mania and Muppet Vision 3D, but her priorities were to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the Beauty and the Beast show. We probably should have planned our day better since we didn’t even get to do a fraction of what we wanted to, but maybe that’s the downside of planning: when we didn’t finish what we wanted to do, we were disappointed. It’s a theme that would continue for the rest of the trip: making plans, not keeping them and feeling disappointed or like we wasted our day. I’m not sure if we need to plan more and stick to the plan or if we need to plan less. Either way, we need to figure out a way to avoid disappointment on future trips.

Anyways.

Mom finally arrived and we decided to try to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid. The show was starting soon and the line was long, but the cast member told us we still could make it in. As it was, the line was shut off 10 people or so ahead of us. The next show was something like a half-hour later, and it seemed like such a waste to just stand in line and wait for it so we decided to leave. The cast member who told us to try to get in saw us leaving and gave us three expired fast passes and told us we could use them any time that day to see the show later, which was really nice of him.

Since the Great Movie Ride was right there and was still walk on, we went around again. The first time, we had the mobster sketch and this time, we had the cowboy sketch. It was nice to do both. But this time, our cast member guide wasn’t as good of an actor as the first one. The fact that they all have the same script for the most part became painfully obvious and while with the first guide, it felt natural, with this guide, it felt scripted.

After the ride, we decided to make our way over to Muppet Vision 3D but we only walked maybe half of the way there before we had to duck into the Writer’s Stop store to cool off for a few minutes. The Writers Stop is kind of like a microcosm of Barnes and Noble, complete with coffee shop. It’s got a small selection of books, along with kitchen stuffs and some random memorabilia. We looked around long enough to cool off and then went back into the sweltering sun to make our way over to Muppet Vision 3D.

Muppet Vision 3D is one of the shows I remember most from my first trip to Disney World. My friends all loved it and I ended up loving it, too. So the next year when I went to Disney World with Mom and Stephanie, I took them to see it and they loved it, too. It’s hokey and cheesy, sure, but the Muppets (and Muppet Babies) was such a big show when I was growing up. Something about the show brings me back to my childhood and it’s such a happy feeling. We walked right into the show and aside from Toy Story Mania, I didn’t really find many lines at DHS. So, it either really wasn’t that busy or everyone was crowding onto Toy Story Mania, Rockin Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. Either way, I wasn’t complaining!

Since we weren’t far from the Sci-Fi Dine-In, where we’d be having lunch, we decided to check and see if we could get in early. I spaced out when I made our reservations back in May and really spaced out our breakfast, lunch and dinner. I thought it would work well for us. Stephanie thought I spaced them out way too much. We ended up changing our dinner to an hour and a half earlier, but leaving lunch since I thought 12:30 pm would be too early. As it was, it was 12:45 pm and we were hungry and really wanted a long rest out of the heat.

The restaurant was packed and they first said they could seat us early at one of the tables in the back (I think they hold these for walk-ups) but then said they couldn’t, and we didn’t want one of the picnic tables anyways, so we left.

Stephanie’s iPhone said that the Backlot Tour was walk-on so we went over towards the tour and it was indeed walk-on. I think we missed the first part of the show where they chose the participants because they were getting ready to start the main show when we got there.

The show part of the tour is kind of cool. They take people from the audience and put them in poncho suits so their clothes stay dry and do movie scenes that involve water. They make a short movie clip and it’s cool to watch at the end. After the show, you walk through a queue into a small prop warehouse. On our way to the indoor warehouse, we noticed a young woman laying on the pavement with (I assume) her husband sitting next to her. Like I said, it was really, insanely hot and there was no forecast for rain so it wouldn’t be cooling off. Seeing her on the ground made me glad grandma was in the room and out of the heat. She could take it in small doses, but she’d be better off at Magic Kingdom or Epcot, where we could quickly and easily get her back to the room if she got too hot.

But back to the prop warehouse. It was really neat. I’m not sure if they were props from real movies or simply decoration but it was really interesting to look at.

After you get through the queue in the prop warehouse, you’re loaded onto a tram for a ride through some of the backstage areas. Since it was Sunday, there was no one working backstage, but it would be kind of cool to see the costume makers working their magic instead of an empty studio. I really liked the canyon part, where water pours over the tram and fills the canyon (while leaving you bone dry), but Mom got a small scare out of that. Probably my fault for not telling her, but it’s funny to see her squirm sometimes. The first time I took her on Spaceship Earth, at the top of the ascent, I told her to prepare for the big drop and made her think she was on a rollercoaster. I’m bad, I know. The tram also took us behind the Lights, Motor, Action show and we saw a little bit of it from the tram (enough to know it wasn’t something I cared to see).

The tram ride leaves you off at another warehouse with more memorabilia and props. Stephanie was excited to see one of the dresses from Enchanted, which is one of her favorite movies.

We walked around for a little while before the heat started getting to us again. Our lunch reservation was in a half-hour and we decided to check in early and just wait inside.

The check-in area of the Sci-Fi Dine-In is pretty innocuous. It’s small and there’s literally nothing to look at. It reminded me of the area outside one of the studios at a TV station I used to intern at in college. We waited for maybe 10 minutes before we were called to be seated.

The dining area was fascinating and it was clear to me that, keeping with the movie studio theme of the park, the pallid check-in area was meant to be like the outside of a studio set. I don’t know if Disney has a better themed restaurant than Sci-Fi, which is modeled after a drive-in movie theater in the 1950s. The restaurant is very dim, meant to create a night-time ambiance, with the glow of the movie screen providing most of the light in the room.

We were not seated, as I had hoped, in one of the coveted car seats. Instead, we were “hitch hikers” at the back of a car, which meant we were at a table in the back of the theater, near the kitchen (or “concession stand”). In the furthest part of the room away from the screen are picnic tables, which, I assume, are for walk-ups.

Our server, Ashley, quickly came over to explain the menu and what we were entitled to, and to take our drink orders. I’d heard that Sci-Fi had amazing milkshakes that were covered as a beverage on the dining plan, but that was just too heavy given how hot it was outside. They also have flavored Cokes, but I hate soda as much as Mom and Stephanie love them, so I stuck with a nice, cool iced tea. Stephanie had a cherry Coke and Mom had a diet Coke. Ashley was very quick in getting our drinks, and even quicker at refilling them when I downed my first iced tea within a few minutes.

I started with the Spinach and Artichoke dip (a blend of Monterey Jack, Swiss and Asiago with spinach and artichokes) which was served with tortilla chips. It wasn’t anything special. It was warm and creamy with a nice, thin layer of melted cheese on top, but taste-wise, it wasn’t much better than the frozen TGIFriday’s spinach dip that they have at the supermarket. The portion, though, was more than ample and could have been a nice starter for two or three people. It was served with some nice multicolored chips, but they gave me more chips than I could have ever used with the dip.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Stephanie and Mom decided to share the Double Dip for Two, which was a serving of Seven-Bean Chili and a serving of Spinach and Artichoke Dip with tortilla chips. Ashley told them that even though it was an appetizer for two and needed two people to order it on the plan, they could also get another appetizer, so they ordered the onion rings. I had a taste of the chili and it was good (and Mom and Stephanie certainly enjoyed it), but I thought it was just okay. It needed some more seasoning. The onion rings were served in quite an ample portion of large rings of onions with a light breading that was fried to crispy perfection, but with no dip, it fell into the category of “good, not great.”

Double Dip for Two

Onion Rings

For her entree, Stephanie ordered the Smoked Turkey Sandwich (smoked turkey, crispy bacon, lettuce and tomato with an avocado mayonnaise on multigrain bread), which was served with some sort of black bean relish. She didn’t really know what to make of the relish, but thought the sandwich was really good. It was a really stuffed sandwich and she ended up boxing half of it to take back to the room.

Smoked Turkey Sandwich

Mom had the Angus Chuck Burger (flame-broiled beef patty topped with cheddar or swiss cheese, sauteed onions mushrooms and crispy bacon) with fries and thought it was excellent. The burger was cooked perfectly for her (well-done, no pink…which basically amounts to killing the cow twice…but it’s how she likes it) and was very tasty. The fries were slightly salty and crunchy and very good.

Angus Chuck Burger

I wanted something a little lighter, so I ordered the Beef and Blue Salad (sliced butcher-tender steak with a wedge of Iceberg lettuce with blue cheese dressing, tomatoes and bacon), but without the tomatoes and with the dressing on the side since I’m picky with my dressings. I really didn’t care to have the beef with the salad since I really just wanted the salad, but I didn’t omit it so I could try a little piece. I’ve had some good wedge salads. This wasn’t one of them. It was just okay. The lettuce was crunchy, but entirely too wet, which took some of the crunch out of the bacon. The dressing was bland and the salad would have benefited from a sprinkling of blue cheese instead of relying on the dressing to provide the punchy flavor. I tried a little piece of the steak and it was overcooked and chewy. I left the rest off on the side of the plate since I didn’t want it, anyways. Overall, it was nicely refreshing, but if I was really hungry or looking for a really good salad, this wouldn’t have done it for me.

Beef and Blue Salad

In between entree and dessert, I wish I could say that I watched some of the movies playing, but I was so entranced with the atmosphere. The food here really is nothing special (just okay at best), but the ambiance is what makes the restaurant so popular. It really is a fun place to eat just for the retro throwback element alone.

When it came time for dessert, Stephanie and Mom decided to order two desserts and split so they went with the ice cream sundae and a fresh fruit bowl. The sundae was large (certainly enough for a family to share) and very good, but the fruit wasn’t as fresh as the fruit we had for breakfast. It was a bit overripe, so it was a little too soft and a little too sweet. The portion was small and if one was hungry for a larger portion, it would have been very disappointing. Still, it provided the light freshness they were looking for.

Hot Fudge Sundae

Fresh Fruit Salad

I’d heard many good things about the peanut butter chocolate cake, but ultimately went with the cheesecake, which was served with caramel corn, M&Ms, whipped cream and caramel. I couldn’t discern what the cheesecake was crusted with (caramel corn dust maybe, coconut maybe…it didn’t have an identifiable taste or texture). The cheesecake, itself, was good, but it won’t hold up in any Jewish deli or Cheesecake Factory.

A Sweet Ending To Your Celebration… Cheesecake

Our server was really fantastic for this meal and we really felt she went above and beyond to provide a nice experience for us. She even offered to take our picture before we left and drew little Mickey heads on our check to indicate fields we needed to fill in.

The check came to $101.80, pre-gratuity, and we used three dining credits. Around this time, Stephanie realized she didn’t have her Key to the World and had no idea where it was. She obviously used it to get into the park, so she didn’t leave it on the bus or in the room. She thought maybe she dropped it, but it wasn’t there so we went straight to guest services to report it missing.

Luckily for us, no one had used any of our dining credits or charged anything to our room, but no one had turned it in, either. We assumed that Stephanie didn’t grab her card out of the fast pass machine that morning when we were at Toy Story Mania. They couldn’t reissue her card at guest services, so we had to go back to the hotel to get it done. We were going to go back soon, anyways, to see if grandma wanted to come out for dinner, but this meant no American Idol, no Voyage of the Little Mermaid and no Beauty and the Beast show. It also meant we probably had time for one or two more rides, and probably shopping or Fantasmic, but not both. Needless to say, we were all bummed.

We got to the bus depot to see our bus pulling away. We contemplated taking the Magic Kingdom bus and walking, but it was hot and we were tired (and my legs were still killing me) so we decided if we had to wait for both, we should at least wait for the one that would drop us off right at our doorstep. I think we waited around 15 minutes for the bus. We were at the front of the line so we got seats, but they packed that bus in as tight as it would go.

It was a relatively quick ride back to the Contemporary. Mom went to the room to see if grandma wanted to eat lunch and I went with Stephanie to the Contemporary front desk to get her card reissued. Grandma was eating the rotisserie chicken we bought the day before when we got back but she really didn’t care to go to the park and we all decided to rest in the room for a few hours before heading back to the park for dinner. We contemplated going to magic hours at Epcot that night, but we were going to play it by ear.

Stephanie and I went into the master bath and sat on the edge of the tub and soaked our feet in ice cold water for awhile before laying in bed to watch a movie. Mom and grandma went over to the Contemporary to go shopping. It was the right choice for us. As much as we were disappointed later that we didn’t finish what we wanted to see at DHS (because we never went back for extra hours as we intended to…another thing we meant to do and didn’t…another thing to add to the disappointment list), I wouldn’t have traded the afternoon time we had to rest (we did this nearly every day). Our room was frigid cold, which was refreshing for us, and the beds were comfy as could be. At Disney, there’s so much to see and do, but not at the expense of running yourself ragged and making yourself miserable. I probably could have stayed in the parks and just kept at it, but I would have been miserable, Stephanie and Mom would have been miserable and they’d be mad at me for keeping them miserable and we’d all be in a bitchy mood. If I had brought my swimsuit, it would have been perfect swimming time since it was late in the afternoon and most people were back in the parks from their afternoon breaks.

We had a 5:30 reservation at the 50s Prime Time Cafe for dinner and we left our hotel around 4:45. We really didn’t leave ourselves enough time, as it was 5:25 by the time we reentered DHS. We stopped to take a quick picture down Hollywood Boulevard and then walked briskly towards the restaurant.

We made it to the restaurant exactly at 5:30 and it was swamped. The 50s Prime Time Cafe is another really popular restaurant at Disney and I hear it’s very hard to get reservations here. I’d heard the food was better than Sci-Fi, but that it was another restaurant you go to for an experience rather than for the food.

Mom checked us in while Stephanie and I grabbed a couch and observed the area. The 1950s were a good 30 years before my birth so I don’t know what it was like in the 1950s, other than what I saw on TV, what Mom remembers of the 1950s and the antiquated trinkets I’d find around grandma’s old apartment but this was what I imagined being transported back to the 1950s would be like from the acting and diction of the cast members to each facet of the decor.

So, funny story. Grandma comes from a really large family (second oldest of seven kids). She has dozens of nieces and nephews, and a zillion cousins. Like I said: we have a BIG extended family. My Mom used to tell me that one of my aunts (grandma’s sister) used to call for one of my Mom’s cousins in this really loud, almost cattle-call like manner. So, about 15 minutes after our reservation time, one of the cast members (our “annoying little brother”) stepped in front of the waiting area and SCREAMED Mom’s name in the loudest, most annoying way possible. She was MORTIFIED and shot out of her seat and Stephanie and I were almost on the floor laughing. Oh yes. This would be exactly as I’d hoped.

We were taken into the kitchen room and were seated at the most perfect table. I swear, it was almost like being in grandma’s old kitchen. I think she even had some of the same tin containers and nicknacks. The TV at our table played short clips of 1950s TV shows, but I was so focused on the decor and being in this kind of almost role play.

We watched the server (sorry, the “big sister”) of the tables near us and she seemed to have a lot of fun with it and I hoped our server would, too. We sacrificed eating at a fine dining restaurant for the experience here and I really wanted it to be worth it for Mom because I thought she would get the biggest kick out of it since she’s a 1950s baby.

Our babysitter, Lou, came by not long after we were seated and told us what he expected of us for the night and what Momma’s specialties were and told us we better eat all of our veggies and not put our elbows on the table! He asked us whose turn it was to set the table (I nominated Stephanie) and took our drink orders. But, before he left, he asked us if we’d washed our hands before we sat down to eat. I told him we had (which we kind of did, we always use sanitizer before we eat if we aren’t near a restroom) and he called my bluff and asked me what color the soap was! I guessed blue and I guess I was right because he went off to get our drinks, but how mortifying would it have been if I didn’t know? And it got me thinking: how many people actually do wash their hands before they eat at Disney World? We always do it at home, but it’s sanitizer most of the time for us before we eat. It’s proper manners, but it always seems to be forgotten. Needless to say, we were more vigilant of properly washing our hands after this!

Lou brought out our drinks- cherry Sprite’s for me and Stephanie and an iced tea for Mom- and took our orders. 50s Prime Time Cafe also had a reputation for really good milkshakes (notably the PB&J shake), but in such intense heat from sunrise to sunset, I wanted a beverage that would be refreshing and light and not something so heavy it would make me sick. And the cherry Sprite was perfect. It was sweet and fizzy and very light.

A table near us was celebrating a birthday and our big sister came over to us and asked us to sign a birthday card for the birthday boy and had the entire room sing to him. He was a teenager and was pretty embarrassed by all the attention, but I’m a ham and thought that would be so much fun for a birthday…almost like dinner theater where you’re part of the show (which, essentially, was what this entire experience was).

After an enthusiastic verse of Happy Birthday, Lou brought out the appetizers and chided Mom for having her elbows on the table. Mom and I started with the onion rings, and Mom was really nice to split them with me when she had some for lunch. The appetizer selections aren’t picky-eater friendly and it was that or soup and it was too hot for soup. The thing is, they were an appetizer for two and Stephanie wouldn’t get them with me. Mom wanted a caesar salad, but since she eats those all the time, she split the rings with me. And they were fantastic. The breading was much more flavorful than the lunch onion rings and the onions were soft with a bit of a bite while the outside breading was nice and crunchy. The menu said beer breaded, but I didn’t really get any beer from them, though I suspect it would have worked well if it provided a more profound note. They were served with a creamy horseradish sauce which was nice, but I wanted to get more kick from the horseradish than the dip provided.

Beer Battered Onion Rings for Two

Stephanie is a soup fiend and even though it was hotter than hell outside (and I can say that because I’ve been to Hell…Hell, Grand Cayman), she went with the soup. It looked pretty bland, but she said it was good, so I’ll take her word for it. It had large chunks of chicken, carrots and celery and the noodles weren’t too limp, but I think that when the temperature outside exceeds the temperature of the soup, it isn’t soup time, so I didn’t ask for a taste. It was served with some saltines, which went untouched.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Mom had Dad’s Traditional Meatloaf (a blend of beef and pork topped with tomato glaze, mashed potatoes and green beans) for her entree. She said it was very tasty but not the best she’s ever had (she maintains that her meatloaf and grandma’s meatloaf is better…I didn’t taste it so I can’t say but I believe her). She was served two nice, thick slices of meatloaf drizzled with ketchup and she didn’t even make it through one. Depending on how hungry you are, this is definitely a dish that could be split between two people. I can never eat more than one slice of meatloaf in a sitting so that plate probably would have fed me two dinners.

Dad’s Traditional Meatloaf

Stephanie had Aunt Liz’s Golden Fried Chicken. It was served with mashed potatoes, gravy and collard greens, but Lou asked Stephanie if she wanted a sub (she did and she subbed green beans), so I guess a lot of people aren’t fans. Stephanie liked it, but it was, like Mom’s meatloaf, unremarkable. Another very ample portion here (I think she had a breast and a thigh…or maybe two breasts…I don’t remember).

Aunt Liz’s Golden Fried Chicken

I really debated between the meatloaf and the Chargrilled Butcher Tender Steak (red wine sauce, sauteed mushrooms, cheddar scalloped potatoes and green beans) and I ultimately went with the steak because it came with mushrooms and I had a taste for some good sauteed mushrooms. I like my steak cooked medium/medium well so when I’m not at a fine restaurant, I’ll under-order my steak because it’ll likely come out overdone, and such was the case here. I ordered it medium and it came out almost well-done. It wouldn’t have mattered, as the cut of meat was rather cheap and poor and it would have been chewy regardless of how cooked it was. The veggies were excellent. The green beans were perfectly seasoned and the mushrooms were delicious with the red wine sauce that came on the steak. I only had a bite of the potatoes and they were unremarkable.

Chargrilled Butcher Tender Steak

Needless to say, the portions here were huge and none of us earned clean plate stickers. We have pretty good manners and I think if we didn’t, the experience could have been a bit more fun. I don’t put my elbows on the table. I always eat my veggies first. Maybe next time, I’ll alter my behavior and see how it affects the experience.

We really didn’t have any room for dessert, but we figured since they came with our meals, we’d get them anyways and pick at them. We all wanted the same thing, but we opted to order different things so we could try a few different dishes since we were too full to finish anything ourselves anyways. I was disappointed because every other table used viewfinders (a toy we played with a lot when we were little) and we got plain paper menus. I suppose they ran out of them, but I really wish we could have played with them.

Mom ordered the seasonal cobbler a la mode, which was an apple cobbler. She didn’t like it. It tasted alright, but it didn’t work texturally. She liked the ice cream, though, but that was probably just plain Edy’s vanilla.

Seasonal Cobbler a la Mode

Stephanie had Dad’s Brownie Sundae (brownie with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge and caramel topping) and there was a lot going on on her plate. It was a large dessert…certainly enough for all of us to share if we weren’t on the dining plan. The brownie was good, but it was served too tepid for my tastes. I like my brownies nice and hot so the ice cream gets all melty. Stephanie really enjoyed this, though, and ate most of it even though she was pretty full.

Dad’s Brownie Sundae

I ordered the angel food cake, which was served with an assortment of berries. This was what I wanted in theory- soft, airy and fresh and served with a great berry sauce. But, it was so dry. I wanted something more like what I had at Liberty Tree Tavern, where the cake was infused with a strawberry syrup or sauce or maybe some whipped cream on top to give it a smoother texture. I had a bite or two of cake and a few berries and called it a meal.

Low Fat Angel Food Cake

The check came to $98.40 for the three of us, and we used three meal credits. The waiting area and the adjoining bar were packed when we left and I got a view of some of the other dining areas. We certainly had the winner of the rooms. I think we didn’t comment on the food more because we weren’t really focused on the food. We were so immersed in the theming and the experience and even though the food was lackluster, the experience more than made up for it.

We were still contemplating going to another park later that night for extra hours and Mom decided to go back to the hotel to rest and see if grandma wanted to go anywhere or have dinner delivered to the room and Stephanie and I went off to Toy Story Mania.

Here’s where we had the drama of the day. Toy Story Mania had broken down and was going back up when we got there. When rides go down, people tend to line up for when they go back up because the line dissipates, so it was crazy over there, as it had been all day. Lines were blending people were everywhere and I couldn’t tell where we needed to be, so I went to go talk to a cast member to ask. I guess I crossed over the wrong way and some piece of trash got in my face. I told her we had fast passes and before I could tell her I was just going to ask the cast member a question, she stuck her hand in my face and shoved her tickets in my face and shouted “We have fast passes, too. Don’t be cutting me.” Okay. Really? You’re going to start a fight over cutting in line? We had no intention of cutting her and we actually had a good laugh over how worked up she was. I hope she realized how foolish she looked when she realized anyone who wanted to speak to a cast member had to cross in front of her.

As it was, the ride was still down so we decided to go elsewhere and come back in a bit. We ended up at the One Man’s Dream exhibit, which is a large exhibit of Walt Disney memorabilia that tells the story of how Disney World came to be. It was actually kind of fascinating and it’s something we totally would have missed if Toy Story Mania hadn’t broken down and we hadn’t gone looking for some air conditioning. There were Disney memorabilia displays, figures of Disney landmarks and even a mockup of Walt’s office.

There was a film showing after the exhibit, but we didn’t want to wait for the next showing so we sat in the waiting area for a bit and then headed back to Toy Story Mania. This time, the lines had dissipated a little, but they were still quite overwhelming for a non-thrill ride during dinner time in an otherwise uncrowded park. I made an offhand comment to Stephanie that this ride better be worth it (waiting all day to ride it, dealing with short-fused idiots, waiting in insane lines to get on) and a woman getting off heard me and told me that it was “very worth it.”

I thought the inside of the queue would be kind of short given how long the lines were all day outside the building, but this has to be the worlds longest queue line. And just when you think you’re getting close, you’re hit with more lines or stairs. It’s well-themed and there’s plenty to look at, but it’s like a never-ending maze. I can’t imagine ever riding this standby because even with fast passes, we waited forever to get on.

We were finally loaded into the cars and were in the game. The game is fun, but entirely too short for the wait that precedes it. I barely beat Stephanie in total points (even though she looked up hints on how to score higher online), but I smoked her in accuracy.

We’d already missed the last showing of American Idol and one of the Fantasmic! showings was going to be starting within the half hour. I really wanted to see it, but Stephanie said it would probably be impossible to get seats together so we decided to go shopping and then catch a bus before they got busy. The merchandise was basically the same everywhere we went, so I got some souvenir books and a Vinylmation figurine (they’re a surprise design…I got an Ariel one).

We didn’t wait long for a bus and caught up with Mom and grandma back at the BLT. We really wanted to go to Magic Kingdom or Epcot, but we were drained so we decided to hang out at the hotel. We rested for a bit and then headed over to the Contemporary to do some shopping. We went back to the room, turned off the lights and all laid on the sofa bed to watch Illuminations from the living room since our balcony was covered in crow crap.

I probably could have gotten some nice pictures if I put on my zoom lens, but I was more focused on the experience. We had a GREAT view of the fireworks and it was the perfect end of the day to all watch fireworks together from the comfort of our room.

Stephanie and I went back to the Contemporary to refill our mugs and caught Wishes from the bridge before heading back to the room. I took a quick shower and then soaked in the whirlpool for awhile before settling into bed to watch a cruise special on some financial channel (which was absolutely fascinating!). We stayed up late watching the special and some movies before falling asleep.

Up next: Does the “E” in Epcot Stand for Evacuate?