Category Archives: Disney

Disney

January 7, 2018 – Part Two

After Test Track, Laura and Cathy decided it was time for a coffee. They found a Joffrey’s stand close by and found a spot to sit down to enjoy. The other four of us – Jill, Devin, Larissa and I – went and jumped into the standby line for Mission Space: Green side.

After our trip to Space, we went and watched marathoners for awhile, cheering them on. We were predicting Luke to finish sometime between noon-1pm, so we still had time before he’d be making his way into Epcot, so we decided to grab some food and headed over to Sunshine Seasons. When we got down there, Cathy made a comment about Soarin’, and how it was one of her favourites from her previous trip years ago – I had intentionally not scheduled a Fastpass for that for anyone, as we had a special surprise planned involving that ride so I just made a nonchalant comment about the long wait time haha.

After checking out the menu, Laura and Cathy decided they weren’t hungry, and left to go wander around. The rest of us ate though – Larissa is a vegan and Sunshine Seasons had decent options for her, which is why I suggested it. You can read about my meal over here.

Once we finished eating, we noticed that Living With the Land was a walk-on. I knew that Larissa would love this, so I led the way over. Laura and Cathy had rejoined us, so all 6 of us went on this.

While we were riding, Luke texted me. He was unfortunately not going to finish the marathon, and been swept from the course around the 32km mark for not maintaining the minimum speed required. He was currently being loaded onto a bus which would take him to the finish line (just past Epcot). While training, he had a knee injury that set him back (he was actually diagnosed in 2021 with severe arthritis and a torn meniscus in his knee – which I’m sure dates back years), and he was sick in December which derailed his final month of training – so he knew this would be a possibility. However – he still ran 32km that morning! 32! I was so proud of him! There’s no way I could have accomplished something like that today.

The 6 of us set off to go meet him by the finish line. Once we exited Epcot we were basically walking just beside the actual race route, so we watched dozens of people in the final km of their full marathon. By this point all of the true athletes had long since finished, so these were just regular, everyday people accomplishing one of the greatest achievements – I always find it very motivational to be near the finish line of an event like this!

The walk was actually farther than I thought it was going to be – but there was no way I was about to complain while seeing all these people who were about to finish a full marathon!

Eventually we found the area just past the finish line, where Luke had been dropped off. Even though he didn’t finish, he still received the medal and the special marathon ears, and we made him pose while we all took pictures of him haha

Also – I can’t seem to find any of Luke’s Photopass pictures from the marathon, and now I’m questioning if I ever downloaded them – major fail on my part. I feel terrible if that’s the case… He didn’t really stop for any of the characters though because he felt like his pace was off right from the beginning, and he wanted to make it as far as possible, but there should have been photos of him actually running. The only picture he has on his phone is this one – Richard was out cheering on the racers so Luke stopped for a selfie. For those who don’t know, Richard was a long-time greeter at the Grand Floridian, and he was a very well-known man in the Disney Wedding community. He sadly passed away a few months after this trip, at the age of 92.

After congratulating Luke, we all split up. Luke went alone to catch a bus back to Old Key West so he could shower, eat and have a nap. Devin and Larissa headed back into Epcot, walked over to the International Gateway and exited the park. From there, they caught a boat over to Hollywood Studios (this was their only real option to see that park, so I had set up their fastpasses for that park). Laura, Cathy, Jill and I went in a different direction, and hopped on the monorail. It was time for us to park hop, and introduce Luke’s family to their second Disney park!

January 7, 2018 – Part Three

Disney

January 7, 2018 – Part One

I woke up briefly as Luke was getting ready at some insane hour (I think he was out the door by 4am to catch a bus?) – but I quickly went back to sleep after wishing him luck and telling him how proud I was of him.

I didn’t sleep too long though – my alarm went off and I was out the door around 8:30. At the bus stop, I met up with the three members of Luke’s family who had already arrived in Florida – his mom, Laura, sister Jill and Aunt Cathy. My Dad had decided he wanted to sleep in and hang around the resort for a bit this morning, so he did not join us at this time.

Introduction time! Laura, Jill and Cathy were all sharing a room at Old Key West from Saturday-Saturday (we had walked them through renting points). Laura had a 5-day park hopper ticket, while Jill and Cathy each had a 4-day hopper (they spent a day at Universal together to check out the Harry Potter sections). This was the first trip to a Disney Park for Laura and Jill – Cathy had been before but it was years ago when her now-adult son was still young. They had spent time the day before checking out Disney Springs, so I was excited to take them into their first park of the trip!

Our destination this morning was Epcot! After getting through security, we stopped at guest services to activate their Canadian discount tickets. I was messaging two of Luke’s friends who had arrived the day before as well, and were also meeting us at Epcot – and then we realized we were standing less than 10 feet apart haha. They were also in line to activate their tickets – when you purchased tickets using the Canadian discount, you had to show proof of citizenship at guest services in order to activate them.

Time for another introduction! Devin is one of Luke’s long-time friends, and a groomsman in the wedding party. He and his wife, Larissa, had booked a room at All Star Music from Saturday-Thursday using the discounted room block we had set up through our Disney wedding planner (it was a crazy good deal – like $101/night or something!). Neither of them had ever been to a Disney Park before, but they were very excited about it!

After everyone was all set, we entered the park!

After stopping for a few pictures, we headed off for our first Fastpass of the day – Spaceship Earth! Devin and Larissa had their Fastpasses set for Hollywood Studios later in the day, so they were just going to use the standby line – but when we arrived there wasn’t a wait at all! We decided to drop our Fastpass and just use the regular line so we could all enter the ride together. Devin and Larissa sat together, Jill and Cathy sat together and I went with Laura (my Mother-in-Law). I don’t think we planned on making similar faces, but this turned out hilarious haha –

After we exited, I checked the app and encouraged Devin and Larissa to run over to Test Track – the standby time was listed as 20 minutes which is excellent for that ride, so they took my advice and started heading over there. Jill, Cathy, Laura and I actually had a Fastpass for Test Track, so we went in that direction as well, but we did stop to cheer on some of the marathon runners making their way through the park (I love being in Epcot on marathon day – we were there in 2016 and it’s what inspired Luke to even attempt a full marathon).

The Jamitors were also out this morning, so we stopped to enjoy them for a few minutes –

And then it was Test Track time! I think Laura and Cathy had the same reservations as my Dad the day before as they approached the ride, but they both ended up really enjoying themselves. Since there were four of us, they split us into two pairs for the design portion of the queue line. Laura and Cathy designed one car, and I let Jill take control of the second one (I’ve been on this ride a few times, I wanted to let the first-timers truly enjoy it!). Here’s the creations haha –

And our on-ride photo – I’m the one in the front with the sunglasses, Luke’s sister Jill is directly beside me, Luke’s mom Laura is directly behind me and Luke’s aunt Cathy is in the middle seat in the back row. The other two were single riders.

We hung out in the post-ride area and waited for Devin and Larissa to exit (we had beat them, thanks Fastpass (and also RIP Fastpass). We didn’t have to wait long until we were all back together again.

I had everyone from our group linked to me as Friends and Family through the Disney account. I also had the super fancy Annual Pass for this trip that was valid in both Disneyland and WDW, so I was able to download the Photopass pictures for every single person – Devin and Larissa are in the front row of this Test Track car, facing away from the camera haha –

Disney, Food Review

Aloha Isle – January 7, 2018

After Splash Mountain, we decided to grab a snack and went to Aloha Isle. The line was quite long, so I used mobile ordering, and bought myself a regular Dole Whip, which I shared with my Dad. I think Jill and Lisa also each got one – but I have no photos to prove this, only a picture of mine –

This was as delicious as always! It’s not a Disney trip unless you’ve had a Dole Whip (or three or four haha).

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $0 – not planned                                                              Actual Cost: $4.78 (Used mobile ordering)                                                                     Over/Under: Over by $4.78                                                                              Remaining: $1219.17

Disney, Food Review

Casey’s Corner – January 7, 2018

After Lisa, Trevor and my Dad spotted the foot long hotdogs and decided they wanted one, we placed Mobile Orders for Casey’s Corner. I had actually never ate here (I’m not a huge hotdog fan), but I was interested in trying their fries! I’ve rarely met a french fry I didn’t love – and I knew Casey’s had shoestring fries – my favourite! Plus it had been like 3.5 hours since I’d last ate haha.

My Dad and I decided to share an All Beef Foot-Long Hot Dog and an order of French Fries – $11.70 total. I don’t have a record of the exact cost of each item – but I’d like to point out that today, in October 2021, the exact same order would cost $16+tax, so about $17. That’s over a 45% increase in less than 4 years – that is absolutely insane. Shame on you Disney. We’re just talking about a plain hotdog and fries here – even at $11 they would have been making a huge profit. Anyways, rant over. Here’s a picture of said hotdog and fries –

I only had a bite or two of the hotdog, and about a third of the fries. The hotdog tasted like a hotdog, and the fries were good! The bottle of water in the picture was one my Dad had brought from the hotel room, it was one from the welcome bags we gave everyone.

Would I go back to Casey’s? I did on our 2019 trip with Luke. At today’s prices though – probably not. I can find something much better than a hotdog for that price.

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $0 – not planned                                                              Actual Cost: $11.70 (Used mobile ordering)                                                                 Over/Under: Over by $11.70                                                                           Remaining: $1223.95

Disney, Food Review, Food Review

Sunshine Seasons – January 7, 2018

I had ate at Sunshine Seasons back in 2016, and enjoyed my meal so I decided to get the exact same thing haha.

Pork Chop with BBQ Sauce and two sides (mashed potatoes and green beans) – $13.99

This doesn’t look all that appetizing, but it really was quite good! And yes, I like pepper and coated everything in a generous serving of it haha – I do that with a lot of food (I just typically take my photos before dumping pepper all over it). The potatoes were creamy, the pork was juicy and the green beans…. were standard Disney green beans. I ate the majority of this plate.

I also grabbed a Coconut Macaroon – $3.49

I’m definitely in the minority with this hot take, but a macaroon is far superior to a macaron.

This was tasty – not dried out at all, and just the right amount of chocolate.

I enjoyed this meal in the company of Jill, Devin and Larissa. Jill had the same thing I did, and the other two ordered two of the vegan selections offered that day – I didn’t take pictures of other people’s food.

No Table in Wonderland savings offered here.

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $22.12                                                                                 Actual Cost: $18.62                                                                                         Over/Under: Under by $3.50                                                                           Remaining: $1235.65

Disney

January 6, 2018 – Part Three

I checked wait times on the app, and led Dad over to Mission Space. It was only about a 10 minute wait for the green side before we were circling the Earth in our spaceship. 

Luke was texting me, after taking a bus back to Old Key West and a brief stop in our room (I think he brushed his teeth and changed his socks?) – he caught the boat to Disney Springs. He actually had the entire boat to himself, and sent me this picture –

He met up with his family, and I think they browsed a few stores before heading back to the resort?

Next up for my Dad and I back at Epcot was a Fastpass I had grabbed while we were sitting at the Indiana Jones show waiting for it to start – Test Track! As we approached the ride, Dad looked at me and said “you’re taking me on that? It’s going pretty fast, isn’t it?”. I convinced him he would be fine, and he ended up really enjoying it! 

After this, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the evening, so we caught a bus back to OKW. We stopped at the main lobby, Dad had to check in to his own room for the rest of the week (he had originally booked a room from Saturday to Saturday, but then we had difficulty finding a flight that day, so he flew in on Friday. By this point, OKW was all booked up due to Marathon Weekend, so we had added him to our room reservation for one night). They gave him his room number and new Magicbands, and then bell services told us to hop in their golf cart. All of Dad’s bags were in our room, which was in a different building than his room so I thought it was great of them to help us move them.

Of course, we get to Dad’s room and his Magicband won’t work. I texted Luke, he was in the next building over with his mom, aunt and sister, so he came over to stand with Dad’s stuff while the bell services guy took Dad back to the front lobby. I ran back to our room to quickly get changed and ready for the evening. Once Dad got back, I helped him move everything into his room, he quickly got ready and the two of us headed out. By this point, Luke had gone back to Disney Springs with his family.

I called an Uber for Dad and I, and we headed off to Orlando to see our first ever NBA game! Neither one of us are huge basketball fans, and we don’t live in NBA markets (there’s only one team in all of Canada, the Toronto Raptors), but we are both huge sports fans in general. The Orlando Magic on their own isn’t enough to make me excited enough to go to a game, but Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers happened to be in town that night, so I couldn’t pass up that opportunity. Luke was actually really sad he wasn’t coming with us, but he had to be up at a ridiculous hour the next day for the full marathon. 

The Uber ride felt like it took forever, we hit some traffic at one point that slowed us right down. We eventually made it, and our driver let us know that the arena was not in the greatest neighbourhood – we should head straight back to Disney property as soon as the game ended. When we arrived, I immediately started to get out of the car, but my Dad was so confused- I had forgot that this was his first experience ever with Uber (he lives in a really small town that doesn’t even have normal taxi services). He started pulling his wallet out, because we “still had to pay the man, but where’s the meter to tell us how much this ride cost?”. The Uber driver started laughing as I explained how it worked, that everything was done through the app, and the ride would be automatically charged to my credit card on file. As we were walking towards the arena, Dad was trying to give me money – “that must have cost at least $60 or $70, we drove for over half an hour”. Needless to say, he was completely shocked and discovered a new love for Uber when I showed him that our ride had only cost $24…

These tickets were my Dad’s Christmas present from me, but we were still in the nosebleeds – tickets were expensive thanks to Lebron being in town. We stopped to grab food from some place called Gringos Locos inside Anway Centre – I took a picture of the name, but no pictures of our food. Dad actually paid for my food, so I didn’t include this in the food budget for Luke and I. 

When we reached our seats, there were people sitting in them. I tripled checked to make sure I was in the right spot before I asked them to move – their seats were two rows back so I don’t know why they thought our seats were that much better? Two rows doesn’t make much of a difference when you’re practically at the ceiling already? They seemed a little put-out that I asked them to move out of the seats I had paid for…

Anyways, the game started, and Dad and I enjoyed it. It’s still not my favourite sport, but I’m really glad I can now say I’ve been to a game live. I actually got really into the NBA the next year, it was quite an exciting time to be Canadian and see the Raptors win the championship! 

During half time, a lady on a unicycle rode around the court while balancing bowls on her feet/head. I googled her, apparently she’s really popular for NBA half-time – Dad and I were entertained!

At some point, back on Disney property, Luke and his family had found themselves at Amorette’s. The four of them decided to split these two delicious desserts – the Key Lime Cheesecake and the Mickey Mousse. I have no idea who paid for these, so they didn’t get counted in our food budget. I’ve had the Mickey Mousse before, and it’s very good. According to Luke, that key lime cheesecake is amazing.

Back at the game, I was texting my Maid of Honour, Ashley – she was at the game with her husband, but they had splurged on seats in row 12 at center court. I was also texting one of Luke’s best friends (and groomswoman), Lisa – she was at the game with her husband as well. All four of them had flown in that day (and on the same flight, although they hadn’t met before), and they were all staying at All Star Music for the night. There was talk about the 6 of us taking an Uber together after the game and possibly heading to Disney Springs, but Ashley decided she just wanted to go to sleep, it had been a long day of travel. Lisa and her husband Trevor were interested though, so after the game my Dad and I met up with them. My Dad immediately took a liking to Trevor, and the two of them talked about their shared love for the Toronto Maple Leafs for the entire drive haha.

Dad was once again amazed at Uber – Lisa had a $25 promo code so our ride back to Disney Springs cost $0.12 or something silly like that. It actually took us awhile to get an Uber after the game, we ordered one but the guy didn’t understand where we were. None of us were familiar with where we were, but we had followed a large crowd to what appeared to be a fairly major intersection. We were watching the little car on the app, and it seemed like the driver kept making wrong turns… eventually he found us and we made it to Disney Springs.

We were dropped off at the far end of the Springs by the now-defunct Cirque du Soleil. We decided we wanted a drink and a small snack, and since no one had any suggestions I led us to Homecomin’.

By the time we finished eating, it was late and we were all tired. We walked over to the bus stops, where Lisa and Trevor caught the All Star Music bus (their hotel just for the one night, before moving over to Old Key West the next day), and Dad and I hopped on the Old Key West bus. Dad and I were in different buildings, but I had talked to the front desk and every single one of our friends/family staying at OKW were in the Old Turtle Pond area. It was so nice to all use the same bus stop!

By the time I got into my room, Luke had been asleep for hours – he had a very early wakeup coming!

FitBit Steps: 15,477

Disney, Food Review, Food Review

Homecoming / EOS / NBA Game- January 6, 2018

Luke and his family ended up back at Disney Springs while my Dad and I were at the hockey game. The four of them split these two delicious desserts from Amorette’s – the Key Lime Cheesecake and the Mickey Mousse. They didn’t get counted in our food budget, as Luke didn’t pay for them. I’ve had the Mickey Mousse before, and it’s very good. According to Luke, that key lime cheesecake is amazing.

They decided on something quick, easy and inexpensive for supper, and ended up at Earl of Sandwich. I have no photos, and no idea what kinds of sandwiches Luke purchased, but I do know he bought two of them – one to eat now and one to bring back to the room to eat tomorrow afternoon after the marathon.

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $31.95 (We had no idea where Luke would end up eating, so we just estimated $30)                                                                           Actual Cost: $17.02 (2 sandwiches)                                                                                   Over/Under: Under by $14.93                                                                           Remaining: $1285.95

While at the NBA game, my Dad and I grabbed food from some place called Gringos Locos inside Anway Centre – I took a picture of the name, but no pictures of our food. Dad actually paid for my food, so I didn’t include this in the food budget for Luke and I. 

After being dropped off at Disney Springs, we decided we wanted a drink and a small snack, and since no one had any suggestions I led us to Homecomin’. By this point, it was fairly late so we had no trouble walking up and getting a table immediately for the four of us.

Our server, Anthony,  was a little intense at first, trying to explain the entire menu, offering recommendations for food and drink despite us saying we were just there for something small. He finally got around to asking if we had ate at Homecomin’ before, and everyone looked at me. I explained that I had just been there less than a week earlier, and we would be back on the upcoming Wednesday for my wedding reception. He was so excited about this, and was full of questions for me the rest of the night. I was a little put-off by this guy at the beginning but by the end of this meal I ended up loving him – he genuinely cared about his job and the food he was serving. He made a comment at one point about going to check his schedule to see if he was working Wednesday so he could try and serve my Wedding – he must have asked because, spoiler alert – he was one of the designated servers assigned to our private reception.

For this meal, I went with my favourite, the Moonshine Mash – watermelon infused moonshine, fresh watermelon, lime juice and simple syrup, $12, and Dad had a can of Michelob Ultra (his beer of choice at the time). We decided to share the Thigh-High Chicken Biscuits – three biscuits topped with Chef Art Smith’s famous fried chicken thighs and bread and butter pickles. Drizzled with honey, $15. I also had to get another piece of Chocolate Pecan Pie – a 100 year-old traditional Smith Family Farm recipe. Served with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, $10. It’s just sooo good! I don’t remember what Lisa and Trevor had, and I didn’t take a single picture of our food – I only have a picture of our receipt haha. Also – Anthony gave us a discount on our meal, despite the fact that I didn’t have my Tables in Wonderland card with me – which was so nice of him, and not something he had to do!

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $0 – not planned                                                              Actual Cost: $31.68                                                                                         Over/Under: Over by $31.68                                                                           Remaining: $1254.27

Disney

January 6, 2018 – Part Two

We decided to stop in Walt Disney Presents, where they have rare artifacts from Walt’s life as well as models of some of the new construction. We hung out in there for a bit, my dad loves museums and things like that, so he found it all really interesting. 

I eventually hurried him along, since we had to get to our third and final Fastpass of the day – reserved seating for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. Luke and I had started watching this on our first trip back in 2016, but left early to get to a dining reservation, so we were looking forward to actually watching the full thing. 

As we made our way towards the Indiana Jones show, the Star Wars stage show was starting, so we stopped to watch a few minutes of that before making our way over. 

We entered the Fastpass line for the stage show, and ended up with great seats only a few rows from the front. We all really enjoyed this show – even myself, who had not seen the original Indiana Jones movie…(don’t worry, I’ve watched it since this trip).

Once the show ended, we were close to our reservation time, so we took our time and walked the short distance to 50’s Prime Time.

While we were watching the Indiana Jones show, Luke was receiving text messages that his mom, sister and aunt had arrived at Old Key West and were planning on heading over to Disney Springs. Once we finished eating, we all left Hollywood Studios. Luke went back to OKW, then took the boat to the Springs to meet up with them. Apparently while we were eating at 50’s Prime Time, Jill, Laura and Cathy were eating at Paradiso 37. (I’ll introduce the three of them a little later).

Dad and I went in a different direction, and hopped on a boat to Epcot. We entered through the International Gateway, and spent a bit of time looking around the World Showcase. 

Disney

January 6, 2018 – Part One

Introduction: My Dad, Perry. This was his first Disney trip, and he was only here because it was my wedding. I was really hoping I’d be able to make him fall in love with the Disney Parks and possibly return with us again one day – but you’ll need to keep reading my report to find out if that will ever happen haha! He hasn’t seen many Disney movies recently, and when I asked him about Star Wars the response was “I think I saw the original ones when they were new?”. So yeah, not a big movie guy. He also did zero research on Walt Disney World, and allowed me to plan everything for him – so he was going into this entire week blindly. It was going to be exciting! Also – I live on the other side of the country from my dad, so I only get to see him once a year or so – I was looking forward to spending time with him.

I woke up excited! My dad was already here, I was going to take him to his first Disney Park today, and most of Luke’s family would be arriving today (along with quite a few of our friends). 

The first order of business for the day was breakfast. We had made a reservation at Olivia’s, so we didn’t have far to go.

After eating, we caught the bus to Hollywood Studios. My dad had no idea what Disney was going to be like, he had never been and didn’t really have a huge desire to ever go, but he told me he didn’t care where I got married, he would be there. I think he was already impressed though, “so, these buses are free and they take you right to the park?”. 

I told him to smile, and for some reason, this is the face he gave me…

Once we arrived at Hollywood Studios, we had to stop at the ticket gate to get Dad’s park tickets activated. He had purchased a 5 day hopper with the Canadian discount (or, rather, he gave me his credit card and I purchased a 5 day hopper for him haha), so you must show your passport before you can use them. 

Once his tickets were active, we entered the park. I think he was expecting a typical amusement park, so I could see him quickly taking everything in. We were already in our first Fastpass window, so we went straight to Star Tours – my Dad’s first Disney ride ever! I was so excited to see what he would think of the rides, and I was just hoping he wouldn’t get motion sickness and refuse to go on anything else for the rest of the week. 


We took our time walking through the queue line, it’s one of my favourites but you miss so much when you’re in the Fastpass line since you can typically walk at a normal pace. We stopped a few times, letting others go past us so we could point out different things to my Dad. He took pictures to show his Star Wars-obsessed great-nephews when he got home, he was impressed by the animatronics. 

I glanced over at my Dad a few times during the ride and the look on his face was priceless- he had the biggest, goofiest grin. His first Disney ride experience was a hit, I was so relieved! When we got off the ride, his only comment was “whoa!”

I stopped in the gift shop to take a picture of Jedi Stitch 🙂

We were close to being in our window for the next fastpass, but we knew we had a bit of time so we headed over to MuppetVision 3D. 

The posted wait time said 15 minutes, but it was less than 5 before we were making our way into the auditorium to find a seat. I made my Dad take a selfie with me and our pink 3D glasses while we waited for the show to start haha.

My dad loved this show. He thought the 3D was awesome, he was laughing… it hadn’t taken long for Disney to win his approval!

We headed over to our second fastpass, Toy Story Midway Mania. I think this area is so cute, I’m really excited to see Toy Story Land (I obviously wrote this part of the trip report awhile ago haha – I’ve been to TSL a few times now, and it’s adorable!)

They had already shut off the main queue line at this point, and both stand-by and Fastpass people were being held outside for the most part. This was because they were reconfiguring the entrance and the queue line to open up into Toy Story Land.

Luke insisted I sit with my Dad, and he went alone. I think it’s just because I beat him every single time on this ride haha. 

I did beat my Dad by a decent margin, although his accuracy was better than mine (and I’ve been on this many times before).

Disney, Food Review

Olivia’s Cafe – January 6, 2018

For my Dad’s first morning at Disney, we decided to take him to Olivia’s Cafe, located at Old Key West.

Luke went for the exact same breakfast he had on our previous trip there the year before – Eggs and Hash: 2 eggs served any-style over sweet potato ham hash, topped with key lime hollandaise, served with a buttermilk biscuit ($14). He also ordered a coffee ($2.99).

Luke once again loved this meal, and joined the clean-plate club! I actually don’t see this on the current menu – hopefully it’s just because of Covid and all the restrictions in place – otherwise Luke will be very sad!

I went in thinking I’d order the banana bread french toast again, but our server let us know there were a few special offerings just for Marathon weekend. After hearing the description of each item I decided on the Chicken and Waffles ($16), and a glass of apple juice ($3.59).

This needs to be on the full-time menu! I don’t have the official description, but it was classic Mickey waffles and the same chicken Olivia’s uses for their Southernmost Buttermilk Chicken on the dinner menu. There were also pickles and strawberries on the plate, maple syrup on the waffles and everything had a shake of powdered sugar over top. I loved this (I mean, what’s not to love?!). I actually did a decent job on this and put a considerable dent in my plate (except for those pickles, they were all shoved to the side because yuck).

My Dad went for the Waffles and Eggs – Waffles with Two Eggs-Any Style with choice of Bacon, Ham or Sausage with Maple Syrup ($15). He chose bacon, and asked for his eggs scrambled. He also had a glass of orange juice ($3.49). He also ordered the side of Strawberries and Whipped Cream ($5)…. they are a little generous with the whipped cream hahaha. My Dad loves fruit, and just wanted some for breakfast – instead he received a few strawberries and a bowl of whipped cream….

His plate doesn’t look too exciting, but you can never go wrong with Mickey waffles!

Luke and I love Old Key West, and I’m sure we’ll stay there again one day – which means we will eat at Olivia’s again in the future!

For the below math, only mine and Luke’s meal counted towards our actual cost, since my Dad paid for his meal himself.

Tables in Wonderland original cost: $150 Break Even Point Before this meal: $62.32 Savings this Meal: $12.01 Total Until Breaking Even: $50.31

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)                                        Estimated Cost of this meal: $35.44                                                                                  Actual Cost: $31.17                                                                                          Over/Under: Under by $4.27                                                                           Remaining: $1345.57