Luke here. Fallon asked if I wanted to ghost write any of her trip report. I said “nah that’s your thing” but the tone of her okay had some disappointment. I can’t have that. But since we’re talking disappointment, let’s use it a segueway to Be Our Guest Breakfast!

In 2016 we were on the Disney Dining Plan. As such, we had secured breakfast, lunch and dinner reservations at this most desired establishment. And for the most part those experiences were good. We had a very good supper, a solid lunch despite not being famished and most importantly – we learned how valuable a pre-park open breakfast reservation was.

Last year we were able to get photos in a mostly empty park, had pre-ordered our food and were able to secure a table in the coveted west wing and were able to ride Seven Dwarves Mine Train & Peter Pan’s Flight without fastpasses AND I was able to have 1.5 very mediocre coffees.

So the plan in 2017 was to repeat that as best we could. And we kinda did. With mixed results.

I’m not sure where Fallon is with her reports so this might be a spoiler of sorts. But after 5K race day we’d learned how easy it was to get from the Contemporary to Magic Kingdom. It’s less than a 10 minute walk. So on this day we used that knowledge to make our 8AM reservation. We called an Uber and told the guy at the Contemporary gate we were heading to an ADR. It’s important to phrase it that way because saying “we have an 8AM at Be Our Guest and frankly don’t want to get dropped off at the TTC” prolly doesn’t work. Honesty aside.

So we walked to MK from the Contempo and slipped through the much shorter resort side security checkpoint. So far so good. Then things started going not as planned…

I forgot the wallet. With all the dollars. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU…

Most people just shake this kinda stuff off. Like the whole “Oops. People make mistakes.” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That’s… not really my style. I’m more of a seethe and beat yourself up and never cut myself a break kind of guy. One of the things I love about myself and find super easy to change. Yup. Totes magotes.

…UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU…

So while I was being super easy on myself, we experienced the new pre park open procedure. The railroad was down for refurbishment so now anyone showing up for rope drop is ushered into Main Street USA and cut off at the square if the don’t have a reservation for Cinderella’s Royal Table, Crystal Palace or Be Our Guest. They can get a breakfast hot dog though. Which is 90% likely a better choice than actually eating the food at BOG…

…UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU…

We show our ADR confirmation number at the checkpoints and meander our way though MK. No more empty park photos because of everyone congregating for the opening show. C’est la vie. A downer, sure. But them’s the breaks.

We get to the restaurant and check in.

We knew to pre-order for our food though. Be Our Guest is quick serve at Breakfast and Lunch (the best QS credit use on the DDP based on pricing too) so people go to these kiosks to place their order. That’s cool. But dreadfully slow if you don’t know what you’re doing. We know the skinny though so we had pre-ordered our food. When you do this you bypass the kiosks and head right to the register to pay. It saves you ~10-20 minutes really. And that’s time you can use to bask in the warming and welcoming glow of Nicholas Cage as he ushers you into the building.

…UUUUCK!!!! I’ve got like 70 bucks in my wallet for all day at Magic Kingdom. It’ll have to do since Fallon’s is at the hotel (with ducats galore) because I forgot to pack it. I suck. My muck up is AMEX’s gain. We pay and head to the West Wing.

If we hadn’t pre-ordered there’s no chance outside of dumb luck we’d be able to snag a spot here. The west wing is the most coveted section of Be Our Guest and it is super cool. There’s the torn portrait of the beast, the rose losing its petals and a pretty good Coca-Cola fountain too.

Be Our Guest is kinda neat. You pay for your food and get this rose that submits a radio frequency so servers can know to bring your order to your location. While we sat, Fallon headed to the commode because she knows that being in the bathroom = your food showing up while you make #1 or 2..

You snagged a Be Our Guest reservation. Congratulations! These are hard to come by (Hack tip: if you can’t get a reservation for 2 – look for reservations for 1 within a shorter time frame at breakfast or lunch because it’s a quick serve at that time and you can just pay separately and show up at the same time since it’s general seating inside anyhow). Always always always pre-order your food. It save so much time. And you can pre-order up to 30 days in advance.

Our reservation was for 8. We had our food by 8:08 or so. We’d pre-ordered Gaston’s somethingorother – it’s bacon & eggs. And a grey stuff cupcake. And a coffee.

Here are the reasons to go to Be Our Guest for breakfast:

1. Impeccable theming (see below)
2. Prime location in fantasyland for post-meal rides
3. They have that hand soap in the washroom that smells good
4. …
5. Solid use of QS credit
6. uh…
7. the food

In 2016 our food was decent. Fallon had the Cronut and I had their version of eggs benny. It was alright. Not amazing. Nowhere near the worst meal of that trip (Looking at you Yak & Yeti Quick Serve). But alright.

This time – the pastries you get with your food had improved. The rest… not so much. Fallon’s cupcake was meh to the mehest. Also – what gives with those cupcake baking cups that can’t be peeled off a cupcake without destroying its structural integrity? And my meal was coooold. As a Canadian, I feel qualified to certify temperate coolness. My eggs were cold. Like they weren’t even microwaved properly. The bacon was pretty standard fast food fare and the potatoes were unworthy of wasting ketchup on.

But you know what? It doesn’t matter.

Because nobody goes to Be Our Guest for the food. And nobody heads there before 9AM to stay inside long. Because if you know what you’re doing – you’re not paying $24US for a mediocre at best scrambled egg breakfast. You are buying 2 extra fastpasses.

We’d finished our foodstuffs by 8:43 or so. Grabbed a coffee refill and headed out to the Mine Train. Unlike 2016 – this was roped off.  But a line was forming of Be Our Guesters who wanted first dibs when the park open. And like last year – that’s what we got.

At about 8:55 they ushered our group into the line. By 8:57 we were off the ride. It’s super cool to get to be the absolute first people on this. I would never ever wait 210 minutes to get on this ride. It’s a super cool, smooth, roller coaster with an awesome animatronic segment with Dopey, Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Sneezy and the other guy. But no way is it worth that amount of time. It is worth paying twice as much for a breakfast you can get at a resort quick serve to walk on without a fastpass though.

And the best part? Since we were done Mine Train before 9, we were able to scurry along to Peter Pan’s Flight and walk on that by 9:10. Another ride that’s good and cool – but I don’t really get. Sure it’s the vastly superior of the Disneyland 1955 Originals – but it’s not worth 2 hours of your time (despite how cool the queue is).

But it is worth choking down luke-warm potatoes so you can use that Fastpass for Space Mountain instead.

This came across as more negative than I’d like it to. I’d like to reiterate this. Ultimately a bad meal at Disney World is irrelevant. Because you’re still at Disney World. Life is pretty good when that’s the case. Nobody gets there by accident. So gulp down your standard sausages, ride a roller coaster, use your credit card and have a great damn day.  That’s what we did. It was great 🙂

P.S. if you’re one of those people who makes a pre park open reservation then just buys a 69 cent Mickey straw so you can take advantage of the Mine Train loophole – you’re the problem and should probably get diarrhea.

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.

If you read my review of the Star Wars Dessert Party, 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 drunk haha.

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

And they were also offering this Prixe Fixe Menu:

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

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:

With butter (and I don’t remember what was on the salt, sorry! Just be happy I remembered to take pictures haha).

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.

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:

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 (I assume it’s that odd-coloured smear on the side of the plate), but Luke really enjoyed this. I tried some of the meat, and it was so fall-apart tender and delicious!

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).

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!

After waking up at an ungodly hour, and putting way more steps on my Fitbit than I care for, we were both exhausted by the time this reservation rolled around. We thought about cancelling it, we weren’t even that hungry after just eating at Peco’s Bills a few hours earlier, but we also really wanted to see the inside of this restaurant – who doesn’t love dinosaurs?!

So, after leaving Magic Kingdom and heading back to Old Key West to change, we made our way over to Disney Springs to check in at T-Rex.

That place was slammed! And our reservation was at 2pm – not exactly peak time for lunch… luckily we did have a reservation so we only waited about 10 minutes before being called.

We were led to a little two-top table right beside a – whatever this dinosaur is. Triceratops? Let’s go with that. (I actually don’t know much about dinosaurs…)

The menu had lots of things that appealed to me, but I was so exhausted I didn’t think I could eat much of anything.

We looked at their cocktail list, and most of it sounded amazing but I just wasn’t feeling it at that point. So, I ordered a fancy glass bottle root beer ($4.99) and a glass of water.

Luke got way too excited about ordering a Blue Raspberry Icee, $4.99. If you read my Disneyland trip report from his birthday, you’ll see he also ordered an Icee the night we went to the movie theater – they don’t sell them in Canada so he has to get one whenever he has the chance in the States. He also ordered a coffee (not pictured), $3.79

Despite not being hungry, one item on the appetizer menu was calling my name – Mega Mozzarella – seared mozzarella, marinara and mozzarella fingers, $9.99

Just look at that beautiful plate of cheese! This was nothing special, but it was exactly what I wanted at that point, and Luke was kind enough to spilt it with me (eating that much cheese all at once would make me sick!). The mozzarella fingers (finger? who calls them that? They are mozzarella sticks!) were standard but delicious. I had never heard of seared mozzarella before, but it was exactly as described, and quite tasty!

We also decided we needed to share a dessert, so we ordered this beauty:

This is the Ice Age Indulgence – layers of ice cream sandwiches, fudge sauce, whipped topping, Heath Bar Crunch, $9.99 (for two). This was awesome! It’s a very generous serving, and is definitely meant for two people. It was so good.

The total for our meal was $35.20 – pretty cheap meal!

The restaurant itself was really awesome!

This was not a very exciting meal, but we were so tired we would not have enjoyed a full meal. After we paid our bill, we actually went back to OKW and had a long-overdue nap that was wonderful…

After our crazy early morning and completing my first ever 5km, and a few busy hours at Magic Kingdom, we realized we were hungry. So, we had to go to one of our favourite quick service locations – Peco’s Bills!

Luke decided to keep it the same as last year, and ordered the fajita platter – with barbacoa beef and chicken, cilantro rice, beans, and tortillas, $14.99.

The main difference from 2016 to 2017 was the meat. In 2016, we had a choice of beef or chicken, but in 2017 you receive both on the platter. I believe you can still request all one or the other, but it’s nice to have the option of both!

I went for an option that wasn’t on the menu in 2016 – the beef nachos – tortilla chips topped with seasoned ground beef, tomatoes and lettuce, $11.99. Of course I requested mine sans tomato – because gross!

The nachos do not come with cheese, but this is a very easy fix – Peco’s Bill’s has a really fantastic “fixin’s bar” – they have little plastic cups and self-serve salsa, shredded cheese, guac, sour cream, etc. Here’s our food and tray after our visit to the fixin’s:

Not pictured is the large Coke we purchased to share, $3.29.

We didn’t realize until we sat down just how tired we were. It had been such an early morning, and once we sat down, it took awhile before we were ready to stand up again haha.

This meal was fantastic once again, and easily remains one of our favourite food options at Magic Kingdom! I love that the fajitas are build your own – so you can add as much or as little as you’d like (you receive 3 flour tortillas – that’s what’s inside that tin foil), and the nachos were super basic – which is right up my alley!

Our total cost for both of us was $32.24.

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.

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

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

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

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

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 –

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.

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.

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.

Look at all that peanut butter!

And after we were finished:

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.

After we booked our flights and knew we would be spending Luke’s birthday in California, I asked him what he wanted for birthday supper. I told him it would be my treat, whatever he wanted – Napa Rose, Steakhouse 55…. but he decided he really wanted to go to Trader Sam’s to celebrate being another year older. So, Trader Sam’s it was!

This Tiki Bar is located by the Disneyland Hotel – not quite inside the hotel, but close to the pool.

We arrived, and were able to find a table right away – we were pretty excited about that! We had been to the one at Walt Disney World a few weeks prior, so we know how busy these places can get.

First things first – some pictures of the drink menu!

I had the Uh-Oa in Florida, so I already had that souvenir glass. I knew I wanted something different this time, so my drink #1 was the Hippopotomai-Tai – light and dark rums, orange curacao, orgeat (Almond) syrup, organic agave nectar and fresh lime juice. Served in a souvenir Tiki glass, $21.

Before you see the picture I’ll tell you exactly what our server told us – even though the menu states that it is served in a souvenir glass, they actually serve it in a normal, plain, boring glass. I did get the Tiki mug to bring home though 🙂

I love that the one I brought home actually says Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim CA on the back – I guess I now need to get one from Florida so I have the set 😉

The drink itself was like all Trader Sam’s drinks – very strong! It was good though, and definitely one I would order again.

Luke’s first drink was Shipwreck on the Rocks – Bourbon with freshly muddled lemon and mint with organic agave nectar. Served in a souvenir tiki mug.$25

This pretty much tasted like straight bourbon. I hate the taste of alcohol, but for some reason have always liked bourbon, so I thought this was pretty good. Luke liked it once he got over how strong it was.

I loved the mug this was served in, and I was really excited to add it to our collection. When you pay for the mug, it shows up on your receipt, and you pick up a brand new mug on your way out of the bar. When they are handed to you, they are boxed up and taped shut. I didn’t open the boxes until we were back in Canada, and instead of getting this awesome barrel-looking glass, they accidentally gave us the Shrunken Zombie Head mug (that was in the picture with my Hippopotomaitai glass). The Zombie Head was going to be one of my first choices on our next trip, and it’s a really cool addition to our collection, but I’m a little sad we didn’t get the Shipwreck One. I’m sure I could have contacted Disney somehow, but I had no idea how to go about that.

When we placed our order for our first drinks, we also ordered food! The first thing to come out was the Pu-Pu Platter : sweet and spicy Asian wings, glazed Portuguese sausage bites, panko-crusted Chinese long beans, tropical slaw and sriracha aioli $17.

The wings were too spicy for me, but Luke really enjoyed them. The sausage bites were really tasty, the sauce on them was so good! I’m not a big coleslaw person, so I have no comments on that. The sriracha aioli wasn’t too spicy, and was so amazing with those beans. Oh, those beans. So, so, so delicious. Shortly after this trip, Luke actually tried making his own version of them using green beans, and they were also awesome. We both agreed we would order this platter to share again.

For my main entree, I ordered the Kalua-Style Pork Flatbread: Pulled pork, barbecue sauce, red onion, cilantro and mozzarella cheese $9.49

This was also really great! I ordered it without the red onions of course… The sauce had a nice flavour, the flatbread was good. I wouldn’t hesitate to order this again either!

Luke’s main entree was the Angus 1/3LB Hawaiian Cheeseburger: Ground Angus burger wit teriyaki sauce, fresh caramelized pineapple, havarti cheese, bacon, lettuce and tomato on a multi-grain bun. Includes choice of one side: sweet potato fries, classic french fries, island fruit or tropical slaw $12.49

Luke chose the sweet potato fries as his side. He said this was a really great burger, and he ate it all. According to him, the flavours all worked really well together and he would gladly order this again sometime.

While we were eating, Luke ordered his second drink of the night – a Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum: reserve rum, cream of coconut and pineapple and orange juices dusted with cinnamon and nutmeg. $12 (no souvenir mug).

Of course we had to sing the name of this drink over and over… It was really tasty! Not as strong as our first two drinks, but it was not lacking in rum either! The cream of coconut was interesting, and the cinnamon/nutmeg really brought some new flavours into it. I would order this myself next time!

My drink #2 was Piranha Pool: Strawberry vodka blended with pineapple juice, cream of coconut, strawberry puree and blue curacao $11(again, no souvenir mug)

Mmm, a drink named after bloody water…. The name of this drink aside, it was tasty! I love slushie-type drinks, and I love flavoured vodka – this checked off two of those boxes! Again, the cream of coconut is interesting – I don’t think I love it, but I did finish this drink… I think I need more taste tests before I determine my feelings on it haha.

Luke decided to order one more drink – it was his birthday after all! He asked our waitress for a Murky Mojito but she told him that it was a terrible drink haha. She said most people that order that one end up sending it back, and she can’t figure out why it’s still on the menu. We took her word for it, and he instead went for the Mosquito Mojito: strawberry rum, organic agave nectar, falernum, mint and fresh lime juice topped with soda water $10.75.

I loved the slight Strawberry taste the vodka gave this! This was probably my favourite drink of the night, and Luke seemed to enjoy it as well.

By this point, we had spent about 2 hours at our table and had drank 5 drinks between us. This might not seem like a lot, but those drinks all packed a punch, and neither of us drink all that often. When we stood up, oh boy. We were having a good time!

Since I had just purchased an annual pass, this was my first time getting to use it 🙂 It saved us 15% off the food only, so $5.85. Our bill came to $121.63 after the discount – it was an expensive start to our vacation, but a very tasty one! Happy birthday Luke!

We enjoyed this meal so much on our January 2016 trip that we made it one of the few repeat restaurants on our January 2017 trip. We also figured it would be a good option for the night before our 5km race – not that a 5km is that hard, but I knew I didn’t want to be eating greasy, deep-fried foods the night before my first ever runDisney event.

We checked in for our 4:50 reservation pretty much on time, and didn’t wait long before being led to our table – a 4 seater on the top level (same as the year before). According to the time stamp on the following picture, we were at our table by 4:56 (with a cute hidden Mickey formed out of a plate and 2 bowls).

For those not familiar, Garden Grill is a pre-set menu served at your table family style. The restaurant itself revolves around The Land – but it is very slow and you barely notice the movement.

The first thing your server brings to your table are the warm buns – which are fairly basic, but I will rarely complain about warm white bread served with soft butter!

Next up is the salad, some of which is made with ingredients grown by Disney themselves. Immediately, we placed all of the egg, the radishes and the cherry tomatoes on Luke’s plate, I don’t like any of those things haha. But, there’s still plenty in this salad for me to eat – fresh mixed greens, cucumbers, bacon!, shredded carrots, etc. I also like the light dressing they put on this. I’m pretty sure we cleaned out this entire bowl.

Then the main platter comes out – turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, sausage and pot roast. The presentation was different from the previous trip, and the beef option was different, but everything was still so delicious!

They also drop off some side dishes – sweet potato fries and mac n’ cheese with Goldfish crackers.

Since it is a family-style meal, you can ask for seconds of any item you wish – we asked for more green beans and pot roast. We were both hungry clearly – here’s the empty plate that had our second helping of beef and beans haha –

Here’s the picture Luke took of our food:

I tried the mac and cheese again this year – I’m still not a huge fan… The sweet potato fries are ok, but kind of unnecessary with everything else. The mashed potatoes were good and creamy, the turkey was nothing special, but we ate it all, the gravy on it was fairly standard turkey gravy.  The stuffing was good. I let Luke eat all of the sausage, since I’m not a huge fan (and it wasn’t huge anyways). The green beans were clearly cooked in lots of butter/oil – making them delicious! And the pot roast was so tender – yum!

Once you’re stuffed, they bring out dessert:

A mixed berry shortcake. This is sooo good! There are large sugar granules on the cake which is just so amazing mixed with the tartness of the berries. We weren’t able to finish this, but we made a decent dent in it!

Of course, this is also a character meal! So while you are eating, Chip, Dale, Pluto and Farmer Mickey are making their rounds to say hello.

This was the tiniest little Mickey! I’m only 5’2, and you can see above that I’m taller than this Cast Member…

This is not a cheap meal, as with all character meals the cost is $45/person. You leave stuffed though! We will definitely eat there again at some point.

Also – there is a hidden Mickey in the mural on one wall. It’s a tough one, but once you see it, you can’t un-see it!

After watching the animatronic show about US history in the American Pavilion, we had to rush to get over to the Italian Pavilion to get to our reservation on time. We made it, and checked in at the booth about a minute before our reservation at 6:35pm…and then stood around for 20 minutes. That place was slammed! So many people were trying to get in without a reservation, and were being turned away – there were some angry people.

We were finally led to our table, a little 2-top against a wall. I had read so many fantastic reviews of this place, I was really looking forward to trying it.

Shortly after being seated, a young man approached us to offer water. Luke took him up on his offer of sparkling water, and ordered a bottle of it.

Yes, I forgot to take a picture of it until later. I think carbonated water is one of the most disgusting things ever created, so I did not try any of this. Luke seemed to enjoy it though. This bottle cost $5.

Here’s a picture of the menu:

Once again, we had read the menu prior to our trip, and knew exactly what we wanted to eat.

To drink, I ordered a Blood Orange Acqua Frescas – our signature house-made fruit juice cooler, $6

This thing was delicious! Our server was really trying to push us into buying alcohol, but neither one of us were feeling like it at this point. Then we apparently angered our server even more by ordering a large pepperoni pizza to split instead of separate entrees…

Let’s start by saying this pizza was really tasty! I love Neapolitan style pizza more than any other kind, and this one did not disappoint.

Now for the bad – our actual server didn’t even bring it to us – another server did. Our server did not stop by even once to check on us to ask if everything was ok, or if we needed anything else. Had he come by, I would have probably ordered another one of those blood orange drinks. We saw him checking in on the other tables he was serving around us multiple times, but not once did he acknowledge us after taking our order. We assume it was because we weren’t drinking and our total bill wasn’t going to be very expensive compared to what other tables were spending – but I find this very unacceptable. Then, once we finished our pizza, we ended up sitting there for awhile before he finally reappeared with our bill – without even asking if we wanted anything else. How did he know we didn’t want to order dessert or a coffee or something? (We didn’t want those things, but a server should not just assume that). It was very clear he just wanted us out of there as quickly as possible so he could get someone else at the table. I do understand that they were extremely busy, but I expect so much more from a waiter working at Disney.

Our total bill came to $46.54. The pizza was great, but the service left a lot to be desired. We did leave a tip, but not even close to what we typically leave. I imagine we’ll be back to eat there again one day, but it’s not at the top of our list.