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43. Are Disney's Character Meals Worth It? · Mom Street USA

• 0:04
  Welcome everybody to Mom St. USA.
• 0:06
  My name is Jackie AKA Wishes Mama and joining me is my
• 0:09
  wonderful Co host and friend Kate AKA the Disney Cicerone and
• 0:14
  we are excited that you are here tonight.
• 0:16
  We are talking all about character dining.
• 0:19
  Is it worth it? What options are out there?
• 0:23
  What does that whole process look like?
• 0:24
  So we're excited to share with you guys all the information
• 0:26
  that we were able to compile for this topic.
• 0:30
  Yeah. And I was telling Jackie as we
• 0:31
  were getting ready for this one, I was like, I'm trying really
• 0:35
  hard to not put all of my, like, Disney history like fun facts in
• 0:39
  every single place. So I did pick a few little
• 0:42
  history trivia tidbits just for you to have as you plan if you
• 0:47
  if you go to any of these places so you can share with your
• 0:49
  family and be like, did you know, you know it would not be a
• 0:54
  Disney Ciceron podcast if there wasn't a little bit of some fun
• 0:59
  history facts thrown in there. So we love that about you and
• 1:03
  we're we're all here for it. So I.
• 1:05
  Try to keep it to a minimum on my Mom St., because we're here
• 1:08
  to plan more than just do history.
• 1:10
  But you know, but you are who you are, Kate.
• 1:14
  I know it's true. All right.
• 1:17
  Well, so the plan tonight is we're just kind of going to give
• 1:21
  you guys an overview of what options there are when it comes
• 1:25
  to character meals and give you guys kind of just the rundown of
• 1:29
  what that looks like. And then we're going to give you
• 1:30
  some of our advice, tips, tricks, experiences, all of
• 1:35
  those types of things. And then hopefully after that, I
• 1:39
  don't know that we're necessarily going to answer, is
• 1:41
  it worth it? But we're hopefully going to
• 1:42
  give you guys all of the information so that you yourself
• 1:45
  can answer that for your particular circumstances, who
• 1:49
  you're traveling with, when you're going, all that type of
• 1:51
  thing. Yeah, and I.
• 1:54
  I really did have to do a lot of thinking about like what is our
• 1:56
  favorite restaurants that we've dined out, which and we pulled,
• 2:00
  both of us kind of pulled some archival photos of our times at
• 2:04
  these restaurants and they're from like years back.
• 2:07
  So you get to see a little bit of younger versions of us and
• 2:11
  some of our families and things like that too.
• 2:13
  So that'll be a fun episode. Yeah, it was fun.
• 2:16
  Go back in time a little bit. Yeah.
• 2:18
  So true. All right, so shall we jump into
• 2:21
  some choices here? Yeah, Let's do it.
• 2:24
  OK. So we're going to start in
• 2:26
  Disney World just because that's what's first on our list.
• 2:28
  Why not? So Disney World has
• 2:32
  significantly more options than Disneyland that you guys will
• 2:37
  see Whenever we get to the Disneyland list here in a little
• 2:39
  bit when we've kind of got this divided up for options that you
• 2:43
  have in the park versus options that you have outside of the
• 2:47
  parks. Because I feel like that's super
• 2:49
  helpful when it comes to planning because there may be a
• 2:52
  day where you're like, yeah, we're, this is our third day in
• 2:56
  Epcot and we know that we're going to have time to do
• 2:59
  character meal or no, we only have one day in each park with
• 3:03
  an off day that we know we want to do something outside of the
• 3:06
  park. So that's kind of step one.
• 3:08
  I feel like whenever you're looking for character dining
• 3:10
  options, don't you think, Kate? Yes.
• 3:13
  No for sure, and I think it also helps if you have maybe.
• 3:17
  A day when you fly in, but you didn't buy tickets to the park
• 3:20
  that day. Then you know that there's still
• 3:21
  some places you could eat at. Or maybe it's the day you fly
• 3:24
  out. Then maybe it's the day that you
• 3:27
  fly out where you are. Wanting to eat brunch somewhere
• 3:33
  or breakfast somewhere before you hop on a plane and go home
• 3:36
  or drive home and whatever your case may be, in Jackie's case it
• 3:40
  would be driving. But whatever it is, you might
• 3:44
  have that extra time. And so we want to make sure we
• 3:46
  give you options that are not just inside the park but also
• 3:49
  out. And I think it's a great way to
• 3:50
  to divide it up. So, So we'll do Disney World
• 3:53
  first and then we'll hop over to Disneyland and do those as well.
• 3:56
  Perfect. So we're actually going to start
• 3:58
  in parks. So let's kind of hop in and
• 4:01
  we're going to start with these are kind of in alphabetical
• 4:04
  order I guess. So we're just kind of going to
• 4:06
  run down the list and then you can go from there in your
• 4:09
  planning process. And I always say this first one
• 4:12
  wrong. Aquacious, I believe, is how you
• 4:15
  Aquacious. Something like that, right?
• 4:18
  Yeah, we're going with it. Akers Royal Banquet Hall and
• 4:21
  this is located inside of Epcot for their character meals, They
• 4:26
  do offer all meals. So you will find as we go
• 4:28
  through this list so that not every character dining option is
• 4:32
  available for every meal at these restaurants.
• 4:35
  But for this particular instance, it is available for
• 4:38
  all meals. You will hear us kind of talk
• 4:40
  about price points because that's just the way that Disney
• 4:45
  breaks it down on their website. So we kind of just pulled
• 4:48
  exactly what their breakdown was and kind of imported it into our
• 4:53
  notes here. So this meal option depending on
• 4:58
  if you're doing breakfast or dinner does change a little bit
• 5:02
  when it comes to price point. So for your breakfast option,
• 5:05
  you're looking anywhere between 35 to 60 per adult and I know
• 5:08
  that's kind of a large range. That's just the way that Disney
• 5:12
  breaks it down and the prices can fluctuate.
• 5:15
  So if you want like specific exact prices for all of these,
• 5:18
  they are all available online. If you just do a quick Google,
• 5:21
  you can find kind of historically what the prices
• 5:23
  have looked like. I didn't pull them because we
• 5:26
  were pulling a lot of other information and it's just, it's
• 5:29
  just things. Happen.
• 5:30
  Usually the range is like. Children to adults, right.
• 5:33
  So it's usually like 35 is like for kids and then 60 is for
• 5:37
  adults. And you know if you're bulking
• 5:39
  and you real like 35, for my child to eat like you're not
• 5:42
  alone. Like my, I have one of my kids
• 5:44
  that will eat literally like this much food, like a little
• 5:47
  round circle of food and that, like they're full and so like
• 5:50
  the palm of their hands and then they're good.
• 5:53
  You have to really like weigh, you know, It's like the
• 5:55
  experience you're paying for more than the food.
• 5:57
  Although a lot of the times the food is actually really good in
• 5:59
  a lot of these, most of these places I would say so.
• 6:02
  But just keep that in mind that if you're like, that's way too
• 6:05
  much money for my child, that you're paying for the experience
• 6:09
  of them meeting the characters, this exclusive experience.
• 6:12
  So just keep that in mind. Absolutely, absolutely.
• 6:15
  And then at this particular location, if you're doing
• 6:17
  dinner, it is above that $60.00 mark for each individual to dine
• 6:23
  here. So do keep that in mind.
• 6:25
  It is located in the Norway Pavilion in World Showcase of
• 6:29
  Epcot. And the characters you're going
• 6:31
  to get there are princesses. And now I have to admit, as I
• 6:35
  was, as I was looking up the information for this one, I was
• 6:38
  sitting with my husband and I like, gasped out loud and he was
• 6:40
  like what? And I was like, I swore all
• 6:43
  along that Anna and Elsa were at this character meal.
• 6:48
  They would make sense, right? Right.
• 6:50
  Which makes sense. I I thought for sure it's in
• 6:53
  Norway. But then I was like, oh, right,
• 6:55
  they do have their meet and greet, like right around the
• 6:57
  corner. So that makes sense that they're
• 6:59
  not at the dining because they can't, you know, on an Elsa can
• 7:02
  only be one place at once. So it is princesses, not on an
• 7:06
  Elsa, but it is Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Aurora, Tiana
• 7:10
  and Ariel. And they do a lot of these
• 7:12
  locations. You'll hear that some of these
• 7:14
  when you get these big long list of characters, they do kind of
• 7:16
  rotate, so you're not guaranteed to meet every single one of
• 7:19
  those princesses when you go. But that is the list that they
• 7:22
  will pull from for who will be available to greet you during
• 7:26
  your dining. Experience.
• 7:27
  Yeah. It's always like I always prep
• 7:30
  my kids going into these kinds of things.
• 7:32
  It's like we're going to see princesses.
• 7:34
  Like, I don't necessarily say specific characters because you
• 7:37
  don't want to get their hopes up in case something happens and
• 7:40
  those characters aren't there, and then you have a meltdown or
• 7:42
  a really disappointed kiddo. And so just you know.
• 7:45
  Princesses is like a good term for it.
• 7:48
  Yep. And just let it be that.
• 7:49
  And then they'll be super excited whenever they actually
• 7:54
  see who they get to see. So food options that they have
• 7:58
  for the breakfast is it's kind of your standard breakfast that
• 8:03
  we think you know. They've got pastries, fruit,
• 8:06
  potato, potato, casserole, crumbled eggs, bacon, sausage,
• 8:09
  Norwegian waffles, which, you know, might be something that
• 8:12
  you're interested in. I didn't have any Norwegian
• 8:15
  waffles when I was in Norway. That's what it says.
• 8:20
  Well, you know, they're in Norway, so they're Norwegian
• 8:25
  waffles, right? You can actually see a acrocious
• 8:28
  like castle, like the thing that it's modeled after.
• 8:31
  We actually drove by it in Norway, which was really cool.
• 8:34
  It's like, hey, I know that place and everyone around he's
• 8:39
  probably like, OK. I was on a bus full of Disney
• 8:43
  people. So they're like, yeah, I got it.
• 8:46
  Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense.
• 8:49
  And then their lunch and dinner options, they do have some more
• 8:52
  kind of what you would consider, I guess, Norwegian offerings for
• 8:56
  that. They've got their left, so,
• 8:58
  which is something that you can find in the bakeries, the bakery
• 9:03
  across the way. In Norway, they've got, I'm not
• 9:06
  even going to pretend I can pronounce that, but it's
• 9:08
  Norwegian meatballs. Come on, that's what you do.
• 9:12
  Nope, I'm not. I'm not.
• 9:15
  I don't know. This word has a big O in it that
• 9:18
  has like a flash through it. And I have no idea what that
• 9:21
  means or how you would pronounce that.
• 9:22
  So I'm not even going to try. No, that's what we that's what
• 9:27
  we did when we were in Norway, where like, I don't, I don't
• 9:29
  know how to pronounce that. I don't know.
• 9:31
  I could, I could try, but it would be really bad.
• 9:34
  So Norwegian meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy, salmon,
• 9:38
  macaroni and cheese. They've got a Norwegian and
• 9:40
  chicken and dumplings. They've also got corn dog
• 9:42
  Nuggets, which just struck me as kind of funny that it's on the
• 9:45
  menu when you look at all the other options that they have.
• 9:48
  So definitely a big variety, but you have to kind of be able to
• 9:54
  to like those things that are on that list and make it worth your
• 9:56
  money for that one. Yeah, yeah.
• 9:59
  And it's AI. Do have a little fact for this
• 10:02
  one. By the way, this is one of my
• 10:06
  favorite stories about the Norwood Pavilion in Epcot, and
• 10:09
  I'll keep this short, but was that it?
• 10:13
  There's, if you look at it, it has kind of like a pink hue to
• 10:15
  it. And some of the walls in that
• 10:17
  Norway area are actually very pink.
• 10:20
  When Katie Olson, she was an Imagineer who did a lot of color
• 10:24
  work in Epcot, she was working under John Hench, who was like
• 10:27
  one of the color experts for Disney.
• 10:30
  And so she was working on the Norway pavilion in Epcot and she
• 10:33
  said she showed him like a mock up of it and the walls were all
• 10:38
  kind of like this greystone, which was very period
• 10:41
  appropriate for that time in Norway history.
• 10:45
  And and he said he was like, no, like you should make them pink
• 10:49
  because it'll like pop more, it'll be more appealing to
• 10:51
  people, it'll be more pleasing. Like he knew color psychology
• 10:54
  really well. And she was like.
• 10:56
  I can't even imagine, like, how it would look pink, like why?
• 10:59
  Why would it be pink? I can't even imagine that.
• 11:01
  And he's like, well, if you can't even imagine it, then you
• 11:04
  shouldn't be working on this project, is what he said to her
• 11:07
  that wow, okay. Yeah.
• 11:10
  So that was Jed hinted a nutshell that that's just.
• 11:14
  It was with people. So they made the walls pink
• 11:17
  there because of that, you know, exchange in John Hench's input.
• 11:20
  And actually it looks very pretty, like you don't think of
• 11:23
  it. It is very pretty.
• 11:24
  Yeah. You don't think of it as like a
• 11:25
  pink castle necessarily, but it does have like a pink hue to it
• 11:28
  and there's pink walls and stuff.
• 11:29
  So and you see the pink in netcot.
• 11:32
  You can think of John Hench and Katie Olson.
• 11:36
  There you go. I will also mention before we
• 11:39
  move on because we're going to kind of just list these off for
• 11:42
  you guys. This is one location that does
• 11:45
  have plant based options as well.
• 11:47
  So if you're someone who is completely plant based in your
• 11:50
  dining, they do have a rather a good sized plant based menu
• 11:55
  here. Not all of these locations do.
• 11:57
  So I tried my best to know when they did just to kind of give
• 12:00
  you guys that I will also mention all of these locations
• 12:04
  can fairly easily cater to different allergies or dietary
• 12:08
  requests. Plant based is not one that
• 12:11
  every single place is going to have more than maybe one or two
• 12:14
  dishes. You can typically still find
• 12:16
  something plant based everywhere, even if they don't
• 12:19
  advertise a plant based menu, but that is one thing that Akro
• 12:24
  chefs does have. Yes.
• 12:26
  And that that's really good to know.
• 12:28
  And yes, and if you do have any allergies or anything like that,
• 12:31
  just. Communicate like crazy with your
• 12:33
  server. Sometimes they'll even bring out
• 12:34
  like The Chef to see what you need for your specific
• 12:37
  requirement. So it's not like you can't die
• 12:40
  in these places just because you have some sort of restriction,
• 12:43
  dietary restriction, or allergy. So Disney's really good about
• 12:46
  that. Yeah.
• 12:48
  And if you haven't gone through that experience, there is an
• 12:50
  option when you do your reservation and when you also
• 12:53
  when you check in for your reservation for you to note
• 12:56
  those allergy concerns and any dietary issues that you may
• 12:59
  have. That's all on there.
• 13:01
  So be sure to note it because they do take that into
• 13:05
  consideration. Like I've been traveling with my
• 13:08
  best friend who's got some allergies and as soon as they
• 13:11
  greet us, it's literally OK, like, I know we've got some
• 13:13
  allergies, Let's talk about it. What's the extent, what's you
• 13:16
  know, it's like immediately where you get to, you know, to
• 13:19
  your server. So Disney is really, really
• 13:22
  great about all of that, which is really nice.
• 13:24
  Yeah, for sure. Well, should we move on to our
• 13:28
  next place? I'll let you take this one since
• 13:32
  you've got experience here. So the next one is Cinderella's.
• 13:37
  Cinderella Royal table. So this is the one that is
• 13:40
  inside Cinderella Castle in Walt Disney World in the Magic
• 13:44
  Kingdom. So if you've ever looked up at
• 13:46
  the the backside of the castle and you've seen kind of like
• 13:49
  this glass walls there, that is just the windows of that
• 13:52
  restaurant. So it's on the 2nd floor, and
• 13:56
  also consequently if you have. A lot of people don't know this
• 14:01
  because they haven't dined there.
• 14:02
  But if you've ever seen fireworks just randomly shoot
• 14:05
  off from the castle in the middle of the day and it's not
• 14:08
  associated with like a stage show, that's because it's
• 14:11
  associated with the show that happens in the dining experience
• 14:14
  inside the castle. So they have, they actually do
• 14:18
  have a picture of me. This is a really old school
• 14:21
  picture of Kate, so just as I'm so ready.
• 14:26
  So this is this is, yeah. So you have this little they
• 14:31
  give you a choice of plastic wand and I want to see if the
• 14:33
  boys have like a a sword, I think is what they got for
• 14:36
  theirs. But they give you a little
• 14:38
  plastic wand and then they do like bippity boppity Boo.
• 14:42
  And like when you hold it in the air, there's like a whole part
• 14:44
  of the show. And then when you say Boo, they
• 14:46
  shoot off the fireworks and like magic happens and stuff.
• 14:49
  So there's like a little sofa in the dining experience and then
• 14:53
  you get to keep the little sword or the magic wand and take it
• 14:58
  home with you, even if you are in a.
• 14:59
  Adults because I was a childless millennial when I had that
• 15:03
  teacher again. So you get a little old.
• 15:06
  School Kate there. But so Cinderella's Royal Table
• 15:10
  is one of the priciest meals that you can have at Disney.
• 15:14
  And I will also mention it is one where you have to prepay for
• 15:19
  it, so it's not one that you can pay once you get there.
• 15:22
  After you've eaten your food, you actually have to,
• 15:24
  physically. Pay when you make your
• 15:27
  reservation. So it's very expensive.
• 15:32
  It's, it's, it's, it's what, $60.00 plus.
• 15:35
  But it's more than that. I want to say it's $100 plus per
• 15:38
  person. It's a life.
• 15:40
  So yeah, so a lot of people will, their kids will dress up
• 15:46
  as princesses, not required a lot.
• 15:48
  You'll see a lot of it from like 2 to 8.
• 15:50
  You'll see a lot of people with their kids dressed up like
• 15:52
  princesses, which I do have some.
• 15:54
  Pictures of my little princesses from back in the day, which this
• 15:58
  is. This makes me so you can see
• 16:01
  them there. And I what you you're, if you're
• 16:07
  listening, it's I had my 2 little girls and they dressed up
• 16:11
  like Cinderella and one of them's wearing the pink dress
• 16:13
  and the other one's wearing kind of like her like more peasant
• 16:15
  dress. And I did make them these little
• 16:17
  tiny birds that like hook onto their wrists and so they could
• 16:20
  have little birds on their wrists, which was like my
• 16:22
  favorite part about that. Anyway, so you do see princesses
• 16:27
  again. I would just say princesses.
• 16:28
  You will for sure meet Cinderella as you come in
• 16:32
  downstairs. They have like a Cinderella
• 16:34
  photo shoot as you walk in downstairs into the castle.
• 16:39
  And then you go upstairs and by the way.
• 16:43
  The restroom is like based in like the stairwell.
• 16:45
  So make sure you go to the restroom either because it's
• 16:48
  really like specially decorated for the castle.
• 16:50
  Get the full experience. If you're going to pay the
• 16:53
  money, friends, go see the restroom.
• 16:56
  It is probably helpful to like, hit it before you go up to
• 16:59
  everything. That way you're not going up and
• 17:01
  down the stairs 100 times with. Your kids, yeah, it's timed
• 17:04
  though, So you have to be really careful because, like, they're
• 17:06
  move really quickly and they're like, they expect that you're
• 17:09
  going to, you're not going to linger, you're going to like
• 17:11
  they're going to, they have this, the Showtime.
• 17:13
  The princesses coming out of time, they do kind of like a
• 17:15
  royal announcement and then all Princess will show up, which is
• 17:18
  very similar to the way that they do character murals almost
• 17:21
  everywhere is they'll make an announcement for the character
• 17:23
  and then they'll like enter the room and then they'll start
• 17:25
  going table to table and see all the people.
• 17:28
  So you want to make sure you stay at your table and they'll
• 17:31
  come to you. So the princesses they have here
• 17:34
  Ariel, Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White, and Jasmine.
• 17:39
  And the food is? Actually it's pretty good.
• 17:42
  I wouldn't say it's like the most amazing meal that I've ever
• 17:44
  had in my whole life, which you kind of want it to be at that
• 17:47
  price point. But I mean we we enjoyed it a
• 17:51
  lot. My kids enjoyed it.
• 17:52
  They did like I think when we went there was a whole like
• 17:55
  cupcake decorating thing for them for dessert.
• 17:58
  So they got to like build their own, decorate their own cupcake.
• 18:01
  So it was magical for them and that and then they usually have
• 18:04
  some sort of variation on like a like a clock or like a midnight
• 18:09
  theme for for. Cinderella for the dessert.
• 18:12
  So I have a little chocolate cake here that has kind of like
• 18:15
  a printed white chocolate disk on top that has the Cinderella
• 18:19
  clock on the top of it was our dessert.
• 18:22
  So we did enjoy the food. I would say it's is not like as
• 18:28
  gourmet as you would think for that price point because you're
• 18:31
  paying for the experience more than the food, but the kinds of
• 18:35
  food they have. So they've got for breakfast,
• 18:39
  They have. Traditional breakfast with
• 18:42
  shrimp and grits, baked quiche, beef tenderloin and egg royal
• 18:47
  avocado toast. Like I didn't, I I had dinner.
• 18:51
  So I was like, I've never had like, oh, that looks good.
• 18:53
  Caramel apple stuffed French toast, some special toast.
• 18:57
  Delicious. Yeah.
• 19:01
  And then kids, there's an egg white frittata, a Mickey Mickey
• 19:04
  waffles, Mickey shaped waffle and fruit and seed oatmeal and
• 19:08
  some cold cereals. So.
• 19:09
  That's breakfast, but I usually choose recommend lunch or dinner
• 19:13
  myself in general. Then then for dinner, they have
• 19:19
  a spiced rubbed pork tenderloin, A grilled tenderloin, A beef, a
• 19:24
  sustainable fish, sustainable fish that's pretty common in
• 19:28
  Disney property, A slow braised chicken, a Parisian gnocchi.
• 19:33
  And then also they've got cocktails and stuff there too,
• 19:36
  which will be an additional cost on top of what you already paid
• 19:39
  to get in, so just be aware of that.
• 19:41
  And then kids, they've got fish of the day of beef tenderloin
• 19:45
  and chicken Nuggets and Mac and cheese, so this is a good
• 19:48
  selection for kids there as well.
• 19:50
  So for Cinder my my kind of fun fact for Cinderella Royal table.
• 19:58
  Really has to do with like what is inside it.
• 20:00
  So I have a few pictures out of here because it's just gorgeous,
• 20:03
  gorgeous inside it. It's like everybody should be
• 20:05
  able to go in here at least once in their lifetime.
• 20:08
  And I like that's. The only reason that I want to
• 20:11
  go is just to be inside the castle.
• 20:13
  Yeah, I'm actually really sad that most people don't get to go
• 20:17
  in here because not only is this reservation hard to get, but
• 20:20
  it's also extremely expensive. And so it makes me a little sad
• 20:23
  that, like, this is limited to only so many people can go here.
• 20:27
  Like, I've been here only twice in my whole Disney career, and
• 20:30
  I've been to Disney a lot because I'm just like, I just
• 20:32
  can't justify that price. It's so expensive, but something
• 20:37
  that's really fun is that the if you look on the ceiling of
• 20:42
  Cinderella Royal table, you'll see a whole bunch of flags.
• 20:45
  So there's more than 40 coat of arms on display also around the
• 20:49
  side. So there's flags, but then if
• 20:51
  you look over the archways, there are these coat of arms.
• 20:55
  And those refer to somebody who has played a significant role in
• 20:59
  the heritage and history of the Walt Disney Company.
• 21:01
  So Roy, Disney, Diane Disney, Miller, John Hench, Dick Nunes,
• 21:06
  Marty Sklar, Card Walker, like you name it, they're probably up
• 21:10
  there. So just a little Disney history
• 21:14
  if you're a fan to look for while you're there, so.
• 21:18
  Yeah. And I will mention, because I
• 21:19
  don't remember if we mentioned it, that Cinderella Royal Table
• 21:22
  does offer all of the meals of the day.
• 21:25
  So they have breakfast, lunch and dinner options, if that's
• 21:28
  something you choose. I know Kate mention a little bit
• 21:29
  about how she prefers. Lunch and dinner over breakfast
• 21:34
  or suggest that, I guess I should say is what you said.
• 21:36
  So I mean every it's your own preference, you know, like my
• 21:40
  kids are not Big Breakfast eaters necessarily.
• 21:44
  Let's say you do it. If you did it closer to brunch
• 21:46
  time, then you can kind of call it your your lunch and that
• 21:48
  might save you some money if you did it.
• 21:50
  As brunch, yeah, but yeah, no, I think that's smart if you can
• 21:54
  get one of their last kind of you.
• 21:57
  Also just you have to be careful because if you, if you.
• 22:00
  Go too late. You may end up with lunch
• 22:04
  instead of breakfast if that's what you're trying to do.
• 22:07
  But you need to make sure that you time that appropriately and
• 22:10
  that goes for a lot of these. Some of the buffets will switch
• 22:13
  out the, you know, table service family style that we've got
• 22:16
  here. They'll switch out at a certain
• 22:18
  point and those times are all noted on the Disney website.
• 22:21
  So if you're wondering like what time is the switch over to make
• 22:24
  sure that you're in there, I would say at least 1/2 hour
• 22:27
  before that switch over happens to make sure that you've got.
• 22:30
  Access to that, and if you're really concerned about it, you
• 22:33
  could always call Disney or do like a chat on the app to be
• 22:36
  like, hey, this is our time, are we going to get breakfast?
• 22:40
  Are we going to get lunch? Like, what are we going to get?
• 22:41
  The lunch and dinner menus at most places are identical when
• 22:46
  it comes to that. There's very few.
• 22:47
  I think there's maybe only one on this list that has a few
• 22:50
  differences to it. So it's really that switch over
• 22:54
  between breakfast and lunch that you want to pay attention to.
• 22:57
  Yeah, for sure, 100%. All right.
• 23:00
  So we, we talked about Acrusius and we've talked about
• 23:03
  Cinderella Royal Table. Are we ready to move on to
• 23:05
  probably one of your favorites if I had to guess knowing you.
• 23:10
  We're ready. We're staying in Magic Kingdom.
• 23:12
  We're hopping just just a few steps away from the castle to
• 23:16
  Crystal Palace, which is my favorite in park character
• 23:22
  breakfast. Because look at that, I love it
• 23:27
  so much. It's so much fun.
• 23:28
  And I have to tell you that that photo was taken when I was also
• 23:32
  childless. And that's so funny.
• 23:37
  One of me too, there. That's so funny.
• 23:40
  With my husband and yeah, that was.
• 23:45
  Right after that was like within the year after we got married.
• 23:50
  I love it. So yeah, I have one of me and
• 23:53
  Elliot and our 3rd wedding anniversary.
• 23:54
  Also check out this. And it was one that we were
• 23:58
  like, no, we're going, we're going, We love, my husband and I
• 24:01
  both love Pooh Bear, the characters, the stories, all of
• 24:04
  that. So we're like, no, we're going,
• 24:06
  So Crystal Palace is a buffet option.
• 24:10
  So if you're someone that prefers the buffet choices over
• 24:14
  the. Kind of table service.
• 24:16
  Crystal Palace is a buffet at Magic Kingdom.
• 24:19
  It is that 35 to $60.00 range for the buffet, which is pretty
• 24:23
  standard for your character dining buffets as you'll see.
• 24:28
  You obviously get 100 Acre Woods friends here, I have always seen
• 24:33
  it be Poo, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore, so those are going to be
• 24:36
  your options whenever you come here.
• 24:38
  Again, you could just leave it at Poo and friends depending.
• 24:43
  I don't know. How frequent it is that it's not
• 24:46
  all four of those characters, but super, super fun.
• 24:50
  And Kate is showing off some of the decor that they have.
• 24:52
  They've got these really cute, like faux topiaries inside that
• 24:56
  are all characters and they've got just such a cute little set
• 25:01
  up in there. It's like a little celebration.
• 25:03
  It's got a little banner that hangs in there and all sorts of
• 25:06
  stuff. So yeah, you get 100 Acre Woods
• 25:10
  friends in there. This is a a known kind of little
• 25:15
  tip. Yeah, like welcome to our
• 25:16
  Friendship Day celebration. The little banner on the inside
• 25:18
  says with celebration spelled a little long.
• 25:22
  Curiously, but this is one of the dining reservations that is
• 25:28
  known that if you can get a super early reservation, it is a
• 25:32
  great way to get to castle photos with basically no one
• 25:37
  around. So that is a little tip about
• 25:41
  this particular one because even if you get something that's like
• 25:46
  the beginning of early entry, they typically have and they
• 25:49
  have in the past have those super early entry.
• 25:52
  Or super early reservation times, they give you even
• 25:55
  earlier entry because you've got to get down there and get
• 25:58
  checked in and all that type of stuff.
• 26:00
  So this is right at the end of Main Street around the corner
• 26:03
  from where Casey's is and Kate is showing you the little front
• 26:07
  entrance there. This is, like I said, my
• 26:10
  favorite in park breakfast or character dining option, which
• 26:14
  should surprise no one who knows me because I love cougar.
• 26:16
  Like a lot. Like a lot.
• 26:19
  A lot. Yes.
• 26:20
  A lot. A lot.
• 26:21
  So for their breakfast. This buffet options, they've got
• 26:24
  pretty much, again, standard breakfast options.
• 26:27
  There's fruit, there's bacon, there's eggs, there's pancakes
• 26:31
  and waffles, cereal, biscuits and gravies, pastries.
• 26:34
  They do also have beer, cider, wine and cocktails in the
• 26:37
  morning as well, which is just an interesting.
• 26:40
  I was just kind of noting that as I went because I was curious.
• 26:43
  But it's like the majority of these options do have at least
• 26:46
  some sort of an alcoholic option, if that's so interesting
• 26:49
  to you, if you so choose to partake in that.
• 26:52
  In the mornings with your breakfast or brunch option the
• 26:56
  food For their lunch and dinner they have ravioli, fried
• 27:01
  chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables, prime rib, shrimp,
• 27:05
  Creole. They've got all sorts of
• 27:06
  different stuff, so it's pretty standard, but they do have a
• 27:10
  fairly decent variety. Previously, I know that the food
• 27:14
  quality I think here has kind of gone up and down a little bit.
• 27:16
  I think we're back on the upward motion.
• 27:19
  Oh, look how cute your kids are with papers.
• 27:21
  I love that. We have so much fun there.
• 27:24
  I love that. Yeah, and they previously, I
• 27:29
  think they've brought it back again.
• 27:30
  It's so hard to know sometimes post pandemic kind of what's
• 27:33
  come back. But they used to do a little
• 27:35
  parade with the kids on the inside of the restaurant and I
• 27:38
  do believe it has come back again.
• 27:41
  But they do like a little celebration Friendship Day
• 27:44
  parade with the kids on the inside, which is just so cute.
• 27:51
  I took a little picture of some of the food.
• 27:53
  I think this was pre the world changing, but a lot of it's very
• 27:57
  similar. Like they have a little like cup
• 28:00
  of the dirt, you know, like the chocolate pudding with the
• 28:02
  little dummy worm on top and they've got just a little
• 28:05
  selection of various treats that you can have.
• 28:09
  So it's a fun little buffet. Yeah.
• 28:12
  And if you're lucky and you get kind of a window seat, it's fun
• 28:15
  to be able to sit out and watch, like people walking up and down
• 28:18
  Main Street or, you know, people walking by as you eat.
• 28:21
  That's always fun because we where we ended up sitting was in
• 28:24
  one of those rooms that was like looking right at the castle
• 28:26
  right along the window. So I was like, this is perfect,
• 28:30
  Tracy says. It was back when we went in
• 28:32
  December. So, OK, perfect.
• 28:35
  Thank you. And Tracy also said she saw a
• 28:38
  rabbit with the other four in December.
• 28:41
  Oh well, that's just. Fighting so Rabbit may make some
• 28:45
  some special appearances I think.
• 28:48
  I feel like we saw Rabbit too in the past so oh, I'll have to
• 28:53
  show this picture because this is like my absolute favorite
• 28:55
  picture of my dad and him with Winnie the Pooh and he was just
• 28:59
  absolutely thrilled to be there. And I love my heart.
• 29:03
  Happy. Yeah, so.
• 29:05
  I love that. I love the Pooh Bear characters
• 29:07
  are just so whimsical and nostalgic, and every time I see
• 29:12
  Tigger, I am just astounded at how bright orange he is.
• 29:18
  Every time I see him, it surprises me.
• 29:19
  I'm like, I forgot how bright orange he was, even though I say
• 29:22
  that every single time that I see him, he's just like the best
• 29:25
  fluorescent orange color. And like that exists and I just.
• 29:29
  It's just so much fun. That's so funny.
• 29:32
  I had. So that picture that I showed
• 29:34
  you guys of me and Elliot with ER way back for our 3rd wedding
• 29:38
  anniversary, which was 14 years ago, that ER was actually one of
• 29:44
  the weirdest character interactions I've ever had.
• 29:47
  Because that ER kept wanting to hug me, like, over and over
• 29:50
  again, to the point where I was like, I'm done, I'm done hugging
• 29:54
  now. I'm gonna hug my husband inside.
• 29:56
  I was just like, I don't know, I don't know what's going on here.
• 29:59
  Yours just needs a lot of extra love tonight.
• 30:01
  But I'm like, I'm going to not. Hug you.
• 30:04
  I'm going to be done now. I'm like, I'm going to sit down
• 30:06
  and eat or at least pretend to eat so that you move on.
• 30:09
  And it was very strange, has never happened to me then since
• 30:13
  or before. It was just very strange.
• 30:15
  They're nice, but it was like Peter Pan.
• 30:17
  It's true. Peter Pan likes to stalk me.
• 30:19
  When Disney World Peter Pan apparently my favorite of of
• 30:24
  Peter Pan's which is so interesting.
• 30:27
  And I maybe that you just thought you were pretty and just
• 30:30
  wanted some extra hugs. It was somewhat such a strange
• 30:35
  thing. So every time I see that
• 30:36
  picture, I'm like, Oh yeah, that's that that happened.
• 30:40
  It sure did. So I I also say that I have this
• 30:46
  really wonderful little picture of my my daughter who's much
• 30:49
  older now, but she was getting something.
• 30:53
  We told them it was her birthday because we're celebrating her
• 30:56
  birthday and she got a little birthday cupcake and she was so
• 30:59
  thrilled to get it like made her day.
• 31:02
  And you can also see the little bird that's on her wrist that I
• 31:04
  was. And the bird has a little.
• 31:06
  Like a little bird? Yeah, with a little hikerchief.
• 31:11
  Cinderella. I should make those for Etsy or
• 31:13
  something. But anyway.
• 31:16
  In all your spare time in all my spare.
• 31:18
  I know so much of it so I do have a little fun.
• 31:21
  Fact too about Crystal Palace is that in the mid 19th century
• 31:28
  there was a specimen specimen. I can say that word, a specimen
• 31:33
  use Victoria water Lily. So this is like a giant water
• 31:37
  Lily that was named after Queen Victoria and it was sent to an
• 31:41
  architect named Joseph Paxton. So I got to show you a picture
• 31:44
  of this to give you a little bit of context.
• 31:45
  So these are huge, like 5 foot, 6 foot across water lilies and
• 31:50
  so on the on the bottom side, like people stand on these,
• 31:53
  there's pictures of them like standing on top of them because
• 31:55
  that's how large they are. And you can see the underside is
• 31:59
  kind of like these those channels of veins on this leaf
• 32:03
  that look like they have little compartments or like little
• 32:06
  squares. And so this is actually what
• 32:08
  inspired architect Joseph Paxton and the structure of the water
• 32:12
  Leafs, The water leaf inspired his design for Crystal Palace,
• 32:17
  which then housed the Great Exhibition in 1851 in London.
• 32:21
  So if you look at the top, oh, here's a here's a picture of
• 32:23
  what the Great Expedition Exhibition.
• 32:26
  Sorry, look like. Not expedition.
• 32:27
  It's a whole other one. This was actually like a
• 32:30
  temporary building they built and then they disassembled it
• 32:32
  and moved it afterwards. So it was this huge giant glass
• 32:36
  greenhouse. And that is where they get the
• 32:39
  design that is for the Crystal Palace that is in Disney.
• 32:42
  So if you look at the roof on top of the Crystal Palace,
• 32:46
  you'll see that it has also those kind of structure just
• 32:49
  like those water lilies. So the roof, yeah, the roof of
• 32:53
  the Crystal Palace is designed after a water Lily, which is
• 32:56
  named after Queen Victoria. And I always thought it looked
• 33:00
  like a greenhouse, which was like not that far off because of
• 33:03
  just the way that the like. It's like so grid such a grid
• 33:06
  pattern. Well, it was a great.
• 33:07
  Little compartment, Yeah. Yeah.
• 33:09
  It was a giant greenhouse that they built for the exhibition.
• 33:12
  So you're absolutely right that it looks like a greenhouse.
• 33:15
  It had a lot of problems with ventilation because it was
• 33:19
  really hot because of the giant greenhouse, but.
• 33:21
  Well, yeah. But that's kind of, yeah.
• 33:24
  Anyways, and for those of you who are listening to our
• 33:27
  podcasts, maybe audio only or later on, we are trying our best
• 33:31
  to get in the habit of also posting some of these kind of
• 33:34
  photos that we're showing during our show on our Instagram page.
• 33:38
  So if you're listening to this on the audio version and you're
• 33:41
  like, I want to see what in the world they're talking about.
• 33:43
  Check out our Instagram page and hopefully we'll be on top of it
• 33:48
  and post some some of these photos for you guys to be able
• 33:51
  to see to reference and know what in the world it is that
• 33:53
  we're showing. Yes, so that it's just a really
• 33:57
  fun connection there that not not a lot of people know.
• 34:00
  And if you've ever been to London and you've seen their Kew
• 34:03
  Gardens as well, it's the same kind of design as well that's
• 34:06
  designed after that Water Lily by Victoria.
• 34:09
  So anyway, that's my little fun fact.
• 34:11
  I won't go on and on about it but we can did we talk about the
• 34:15
  food already for this one? I.
• 34:16
  Space. We did OK.
• 34:17
  That was like busy looking at pictures, so I wasn't even
• 34:22
  noticing, OK? Yeah.
• 34:24
  We did. We talked about it.
• 34:25
  Check check it off the list. We do like our box checking here
• 34:29
  at me. Too.
• 34:30
  We do. Oh, my goodness.
• 34:32
  All right, So I know you know that's what we're here for a
• 34:36
  little bit. That's that's that's part of our
• 34:38
  role here is to drive our good friend Kirk at walrus car crazy.
• 34:42
  It's all good. OK, so for our next option here,
• 34:47
  we are going to hop back over to Epcot and we are going to talk
• 34:50
  about the Garden Grill. This location is inside of the
• 34:56
  Land Pavilion, so think about where you might ride Soren or
• 35:01
  Living with the Land. It is right inside there.
• 35:04
  It is available as a dining option with characters for all
• 35:08
  meals and it is family style dining.
• 35:10
  So we've talked a little bit about table service, we've
• 35:12
  talked about buffets. This one is a family style
• 35:15
  dining experience. It is that 35 to $60.00 range
• 35:19
  and the character friends that you will find there are Mickey
• 35:22
  Pluto. Chippendale and I feel like
• 35:24
  Chippendale are the main attraction here because I feel
• 35:27
  like everyone goes to this one to see Chippendale just because
• 35:31
  they are all dressed up in their little farm type regalia which
• 35:37
  is super fun to see and they do have or I did say it's inside
• 35:42
  the Land Pavilion so for their breakfast options they've got.
• 35:46
  Again, it's very standard breakfast.
• 35:48
  A lot of these places are going to have very similar options.
• 35:51
  Maybe little tiny variations, but very similar options.
• 35:55
  They've got a cinnamon breakfast Lows, scrambled eggs, bacon,
• 35:57
  Mickey Waffles, which is a. Pretty much a staple at the
• 36:00
  majority of these breakfast places.
• 36:02
  Fruit. They've got a cheesy potato
• 36:04
  casserole. They do have a steak option,
• 36:07
  which you don't always find at your breakfast at your character
• 36:11
  breakfasts, but they do have a steak option as well, and they
• 36:14
  do serve mimosas and Bloody Marys in the morning if that is
• 36:16
  something that you're interested in while you slowly rotate
• 36:21
  inside the land. Yes, yes.
• 36:23
  So Kate, do you want to talk about what you mean by that?
• 36:27
  Yeah. So this entire restaurant
• 36:29
  actually does slowly rotate. And if you've ever been to
• 36:33
  Seattle, you think like the Space Needle, the restaurant
• 36:35
  inside of the Space Needle actually slowly rotates as well.
• 36:37
  It's not so fast where you're going to, like, notice it that
• 36:40
  much. It's just kind of very, very
• 36:42
  slowly. So you get a different view.
• 36:44
  Your view will change as you dine.
• 36:46
  And the reason it it turns a lot of people don't know this is
• 36:50
  that the original name for it was actually called The Good
• 36:53
  Turn. So I did not know that that's
• 36:56
  cool. Yeah.
• 36:57
  So the the idea of the fact that they used all of the, the fruits
• 37:02
  and vegetables and things they were growing inside the
• 37:05
  attraction and they used them in the restaurant and it's like
• 37:08
  that's the good turn as in, you know, like we're being using
• 37:12
  resources well, right. So that was the original.
• 37:15
  The restaurant was a good turn and yeah, and so but of course
• 37:19
  it's changed now to Garden Grill.
• 37:21
  But yeah, that's why it it rotates.
• 37:24
  That's so fun. Yeah.
• 37:26
  So that is something unique about this particular
• 37:29
  experience. And then for their lunch and
• 37:32
  dinner options, they've got salad, which, you know, makes
• 37:35
  sense if, you know, living with the land and you're thinking
• 37:38
  about the different options that they grow there, They're
• 37:41
  literally right next to it. A grilled beef with with
• 37:45
  chimichurri. They've got BBQ, roasted
• 37:47
  chicken, mashed potatoes, Mac and cheese, veggies, all that
• 37:49
  type of stuff that you have a very shortcake, which sounded
• 37:52
  really good. And they do have beer.
• 37:54
  Wine options for their lunch and dinner and this is a location
• 37:58
  that has plant based options as well.
• 38:00
  Not surprised considering that it's like a very plant or a
• 38:04
  restaurant I would be. Concerned almost if they didn't
• 38:07
  have plant based options here, knowing that they are literally
• 38:10
  sharing walls with living with the land, Yeah.
• 38:13
  No things that they're growing and all of that for sure.
• 38:17
  And I love the fact that you can kind of have like the Mickey
• 38:20
  lettuce that you see on Living with the Land.
• 38:21
  I can kind of have that in a salad.
• 38:23
  That sounds really fun, so yeah. I agree.
• 38:25
  I agree. The next place on our list is
• 38:29
  Hollywood and Vine. So this one is in Hollywood
• 38:33
  studios. This has all buffet meals and it
• 38:37
  has the slightly lower price point than some of the really
• 38:41
  expensive ones we've been talking about.
• 38:43
  It's got the $3 signs next to it.
• 38:44
  So I'm like that's what I'm seeing, right?
• 38:46
  Still pretty spendy because they're just that's just Disney.
• 38:49
  But it's there's. Character meals in general, too,
• 38:53
  yeah. Always going to be 35 plus at
• 38:57
  minimum. Yeah, it's it's just you're
• 39:01
  paying for the experience, paying for paying to not have to
• 39:04
  wait in line to see all these characters and they'll actually
• 39:06
  spend a little extra time with you as well.
• 39:08
  So just keep that in mind. So their breakfast is actually a
• 39:12
  Disney Junior breakfast. So if you've got Littles that
• 39:14
  love Disney Junior, they've got Vampirina, Doc Mcstuffins and
• 39:18
  Fancy Nancy. I feel like those are a little
• 39:21
  bit older characters like that they.
• 39:23
  Yeah, it's still the same characters that they're using in
• 39:26
  the like dance party at Hollywood Studios, which I
• 39:30
  really desperately want them to update because I just feel like
• 39:34
  it needs it. Because the kids that are prime
• 39:37
  Disney Junior age right now, those shows are in in
• 39:42
  syndication. Like they're not, they don't
• 39:43
  have new episodes out. So like.
• 39:46
  They really do need an update. But I was, I was literally
• 39:49
  thinking about this as I was taking notes for This is Disney
• 39:53
  Junior right now. They honestly have been pulling
• 39:55
  from a lot of other networks that they've got partnerships
• 39:59
  with. So they're pulling things like
• 40:02
  Bluey, which is not their own you know, show and others.
• 40:06
  I know, no, I don't get me wrong.
• 40:07
  I adore that show. But it's not their own IEP, so
• 40:12
  it's not like they can just pull Bluey and put Bluey in the
• 40:14
  parks. Without more contractual
• 40:18
  agreements and things like that. So they don't have as much
• 40:21
  original because like some of the other shows that they have
• 40:23
  right now, they have a Spider Man show, right.
• 40:26
  They don't have the rights to Spider Man to be able to put
• 40:29
  that in the park. So it's like they kind of
• 40:32
  unfortunately, maybe unintentionally, put themselves
• 40:36
  in a corner with that particular thing because they just don't
• 40:39
  have access to a lot of these characters that are super
• 40:41
  popular on Disney's Junior right now.
• 40:44
  I feel like they should just mix in some of the regular
• 40:47
  characters you know with it more for that breakfast.
• 40:51
  You know put put Minnie in some kind of Hollywood and call it a
• 40:54
  day. Well and and honestly put Mickey
• 40:57
  and Minnie there because I mean Mickey is a staple on Disney
• 41:01
  Junior whether it's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or what is it Mickey
• 41:05
  mixed up Mickey or Mickey Funhouse or all those new spin
• 41:08
  off rebrand that they're doing and other going back to Mickey
• 41:11
  Mouse Clubhouse anyway. But that's that's what they need
• 41:14
  to do. And I tell you what Duffy is
• 41:17
  supposed to be in this new relaunch of Mickey Mouse
• 41:21
  Clubhouse if they put Duffy in the Disney Junior breakfast.
• 41:25
  I am going every day. Even if I go by myself and my
• 41:30
  family doesn't go with me, I am going every day to see Duffy
• 41:33
  because I think that would be a smart move to just add him and
• 41:37
  Mickey together and they can just go around and meet
• 41:39
  everyone. Because like I.
• 41:42
  Like justice for Duffy. Bring Duffy back.
• 41:47
  You want Duffy to carry it around with you in the park?
• 41:50
  Put on your stroller so everybody can know how much you
• 41:54
  miss Duffy. I know, I know.
• 41:57
  Anyway, I digress. But yes, I do think they need an
• 42:00
  update in Hollywood and Vine for breakfast.
• 42:03
  And also in the Disney Junior Dance Party show that they have
• 42:07
  at Hollywood Studios. I agree.
• 42:09
  Like because those characters were popular when my kids were
• 42:12
  little and my kids like don't really watch those anymore,
• 42:14
  which is so sad and they like my oldest who is now 7 was like the
• 42:20
  tail end of some of those characters.
• 42:22
  Zamperino was is a little bit newer than the other two, but
• 42:27
  like we watched that for a little while, but even still he
• 42:30
  like doesn't watch those anymore either.
• 42:32
  So and like my daughter really missed a lot of that and she's
• 42:36
  5, so like that's like prime Disney Junior, you know what I
• 42:41
  mean? So they just they need they need
• 42:42
  some more friends. Yeah, yeah, well, hopefully
• 42:48
  they'll add them. But let's say for let's say for
• 42:51
  lunch and dinner, they do have Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy,
• 42:54
  Goofy. They got the Fab 5 going on, so
• 42:56
  at least they do have them. For that and they do have some
• 42:59
  really fun outfits for this too. I was kind of looking it up
• 43:02
  because they've got kind of the more the like vintage, retro,
• 43:05
  1950s kind of feel to it, which makes sense for Hollywood and
• 43:10
  Vine. So.
• 43:14
  So for breakfast they've got pastries, waffles, bananas,
• 43:18
  fosters, French toast, which sounds really good, breakfast
• 43:22
  potatoes, bacon and sausage kind of your typical things.
• 43:24
  They also have a seasonal bread pudding.
• 43:27
  And a plant based frittata with tomato jam, So that sounds great
• 43:30
  for those who want plant based food.
• 43:33
  And also salmon and bagel casserole which sounds
• 43:36
  interesting, sounds like something out of the 1950s
• 43:41
  cinnamon buns, chicken and waffles and yogurt buffet.
• 43:44
  So they've got lots of really great options for breakfast and
• 43:47
  then their buffet options for breakfast are is is more
• 43:50
  extensive than some of the other locations.
• 43:52
  When you look at kind of the menu and the layout, they have a
• 43:54
  lot more to offer. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 43:58
  And so for the lunch and dinner, they've got some shaved fennel
• 44:04
  kale and seasonal fruit salad, beet salad.
• 44:07
  I don't think those all go together.
• 44:08
  I think I just listed them all together lately.
• 44:10
  I don't want fennel with my fruit salad, artichoke salad
• 44:14
  that's plant based peel and eat shrimp, sour cream and chive
• 44:19
  with potato. That sounds good.
• 44:20
  Caramelize. I'm getting really hungry
• 44:22
  caramelized Brussels sprouts. Seared salmon with Burr Blanc
• 44:26
  oven roasted Turkey breast and herbed chicken.
• 44:29
  Roasted mushroom Farro risotto. The risotto that's plant based
• 44:33
  crispy tofu with Asian glaze. Another plant based one.
• 44:38
  Roasted pork with spicy mustard and Mac and cheese with shrimp
• 44:41
  and bacon like oh, I'm there for that, right, that's all good.
• 44:46
  Olive oil, herb crushed potatoes, which actually, if
• 44:49
  they're similar to the ones that are at Topolinos, those are out
• 44:51
  of this world really good. And then a roasted beef strip
• 44:55
  loid with a horse horseradish cream and then of course
• 44:59
  cocktails, wine and beer like virtually everything else.
• 45:01
  So actually that sounds really good.
• 45:04
  Now I kind of want to eat there and I don't want to say that
• 45:06
  because it's in Hollywood studios and I was like there's
• 45:08
  got to be a catch because I feel like the Hollywood Studios food
• 45:11
  is never great so well. But I think when we've had this
• 45:14
  discussion before, Hollywood Studios quick service, yes, is
• 45:19
  not good. But they do have a few sit down
• 45:22
  locations for your or your AD Rs Advanced Dining reservations
• 45:27
  that I feel like are good. So we'll add that to the list.
• 45:29
  But I'm telling you, bring Duffy.
• 45:32
  Bring him. Bring him.
• 45:34
  Come on, Ducky will be there. I know he's, I know he's in your
• 45:37
  arsenal of characters. He still meets over in the in
• 45:43
  Shanghai and all those parks over there so he can get on a
• 45:47
  plane. If they do that, if they bring
• 45:50
  things over from those parks over like in Tokyo, like they
• 45:54
  have the little like bow buns, like would they have little
• 45:56
  characters like they look like the aliens and whatnot.
• 45:58
  I want those too. Like, can we, if we're bringing
• 46:00
  things over from the East? Like, they can just bring a
• 46:02
  suitcase full of them over to you?
• 46:04
  Yes, there. You go.
• 46:06
  I'm looking Jackie. By everybody, You mean Kate and
• 46:11
  Jackie, Yes? Clearly matters.
• 46:15
  We're clearly the center of the universe.
• 46:21
  Yeah, we clearly are not. Not true at all.
• 46:25
  Not true at all. But yeah, clearly Hollywood and
• 46:28
  Vine has a really great buffet. Like, they just have a lot of
• 46:31
  options. It's a lot more extensive.
• 46:34
  I mean, all you listed off, everything that they've got and
• 46:36
  that list was at least twice as long for all of the meals than
• 46:39
  the previous buffets that we've talked about and some of the
• 46:42
  buffets we're going to talk about.
• 46:43
  So definitely a good option if you're looking for a character
• 46:47
  meal inside Hollywood studios, yes, for sure.
• 46:51
  So let's keep this moving. Do you want to talk a little bit
• 46:54
  about Tusker House? And yeah, so we are hopping to
• 47:00
  Animal Kingdom now and we're going to talk about Tusker
• 47:02
  House. Tusker House is another buffet.
• 47:04
  They do offer all meals for their buffet.
• 47:07
  It is again that $3 sign range, which is that 35 to $60.00
• 47:12
  range. Characters here are Mickey,
• 47:15
  Donald, Goofy and Daisy, which I thought was interesting because
• 47:19
  Minnie isn't in this on this list from what I found, so I
• 47:23
  thought that was interesting. But they all, they all are in
• 47:27
  their little like safari gear and I think it's because this
• 47:30
  one, this particular character breakfast focuses on Donald.
• 47:35
  So I think that's why Daisy is included rather than Minnie,
• 47:38
  because it's like Donald and Daisy and then Mickey and Goofy
• 47:41
  are just like supporting characters in this particular
• 47:44
  instance, which is super fun. So in Animal Kingdom, Tester
• 47:49
  House is located right by the walkway to the Festival of The
• 47:53
  Lion King building kind of on your way to the safari area.
• 47:58
  It's kind of deceiving in the fact that, like, you don't
• 48:02
  really know it's there unless you know it's there.
• 48:05
  It's not true. That's so true.
• 48:07
  I've walked by that so many times and been like there's a
• 48:09
  restaurant in there. Yeah, like I literally the first
• 48:12
  couple of times walked by and didn't even think anything of
• 48:14
  it. And then the more that I did
• 48:16
  like research about different things, I was like there's a
• 48:19
  whole character meal there, like wait a minute, hold on.
• 48:24
  And this is one that is that is high on my list of places I want
• 48:27
  to try. But I need to just wait until my
• 48:29
  kiddos are a little bit older because some of the options that
• 48:33
  they have that I feel like they I would want them to try.
• 48:36
  We just we're not quite there yet because they do have some
• 48:38
  some unique flavors in some of their stuff, particularly in
• 48:41
  their lunch and dinner options. But let's talk about breakfast.
• 48:44
  In their breakfast options they have, they kind of do it based
• 48:48
  on like categories when you look at the menu for this particular
• 48:51
  one. So they've got all sorts of
• 48:53
  pastries. They've got a zebra coffee cake,
• 48:55
  which is a fun option. They've got a guava, cream
• 48:59
  cheese, Danish. They've got cinnamon buns and
• 49:01
  bagels and that type of thing as well.
• 49:05
  In the Breakfast Classics category on their menu, they've
• 49:08
  got Mickey Waffles and Symbol waffles, which is really fun
• 49:12
  that you get that little. Yeah, you get that little animal
• 49:15
  Kingdom feel there with the Symbol waffles.
• 49:17
  They've got hard boiled eggs. They've got overnight oats.
• 49:20
  They've got a fruit salad with ginger syrup, a honey Greek
• 49:23
  yogurt and granola. They've got breakfast potatoes.
• 49:26
  So a little bit different some of the flavors that we've seen
• 49:30
  kind of on the other ones, but a little bit different.
• 49:32
  They've got your standard breakfast meats with bacon and
• 49:35
  sausage. They also have rotisserie ham
• 49:37
  and and Dewey sausage pieces as well, which is exciting.
• 49:40
  You know something a little bit different if that, if that's
• 49:43
  something that you're you're looking for.
• 49:45
  And then fruit. They've got cuties and apples
• 49:48
  and grapes and bananas, which I just thought was funny that
• 49:50
  they, like put those on the on the list as part of their
• 49:55
  offerings. And then they do have cocktails
• 49:57
  as well for breakfast and then their lunch and dinner.
• 50:00
  Like I said, they do have some interesting flavors that they
• 50:03
  pull from here for their lunch and dinner.
• 50:05
  So their house, house specialties, there we go are
• 50:10
  spit roasted tandoori chicken. Oh gosh, is that Berber?
• 50:16
  I don't know how to say that berbery Berber.
• 50:18
  I don't think that other E is pronounced.
• 50:21
  I'm going to go with Berber marinated pour.
• 50:25
  That's what I'm going with. See, look, I try to not read the
• 50:28
  hard words and I still end up with the many the they've got
• 50:33
  green Curry shrimp. They've got chicken curries
• 50:35
  atar, braised beef, termula. If I can read, I just love the
• 50:41
  hard ones. I love that way too fast.
• 50:44
  So it's. Not that bad.
• 50:45
  I just read the thing. Listen Kate, listen, we've got
• 50:51
  tarula, salmon fillets and then they've got vegetarian options
• 50:55
  with a plant based rice and plant based sausage roasted
• 51:00
  vegetables, yeah. Yeah, that sounds good.
• 51:03
  Mashed potatoes, they've got, it says feisty green beans, which I
• 51:08
  think is hysterical, like spicy. Green beans feature spicy green
• 51:12
  beans and they've got cauliflower Bunny chow on the
• 51:18
  menu which is just an interesting just interesting
• 51:21
  descriptions for those. And then kids meal, they've got
• 51:25
  corn dog Nuggets, Mac and cheese, chicken legs, green
• 51:28
  beans, mashed potatoes, those types of things.
• 51:29
  And then again, your adults can choose from beer, cocktails,
• 51:34
  wines and ciders that they have there as well.
• 51:36
  So just some different options. If you're looking for a little
• 51:40
  bit more flavor, maybe added to your lunch and dinner buffet
• 51:43
  options, that's what they've got.
• 51:46
  I did find a picture of the Simba waffles.
• 51:48
  Looks like it's mixed with the Mickey waffle as well.
• 51:50
  So oh OK, they all come together.
• 51:52
  Yeah, so it's just like a little round waffle with Simba's head
• 51:55
  in the middle. Cute.
• 51:56
  Yeah, they have them at Animal Kingdom Lodge too.
• 51:59
  If you have the BOMA breakfast, they also have them there.
• 52:02
  So, all right. Well, that it definitely is like
• 52:06
  a menu that's it is more unique. It's kind of like that Boma
• 52:10
  breakfast where it's like you, there's some adventurous things
• 52:14
  there, but there's also enough things that you can have some,
• 52:18
  you know, more American taste palate, I guess flavors as well.
• 52:24
  So I did get a question that I want to answer really quick
• 52:27
  before we hop to our next one. Someone was asking about the
• 52:29
  gluten free menus. I feel confident in answering
• 52:35
  this because I have had experience with friends who have
• 52:38
  ordered from the gluten free menu.
• 52:41
  The majority of the time it's very, very good.
• 52:44
  I will warn that the gluten free waffles can be very hit or miss.
• 52:49
  The particular gluten free waffle mix that I know that they
• 52:52
  have used previously just is very tricky to bake on large
• 52:58
  scale. So I have had instances where
• 53:00
  the waffles were just very dense and very under baked in the
• 53:05
  middle, but again, that's not widespread.
• 53:11
  That's not like an issue that happens every single time, but
• 53:15
  just be warned, we've had to unfortunately request a second
• 53:19
  batch of them be made previously just because it was like, almost
• 53:23
  inedible. How did they just sit for a
• 53:25
  while? Because they don't use them that
• 53:27
  often. I don't think that's the case.
• 53:29
  I think they are made to order and I think they just don't have
• 53:34
  the time to take to ensure the the the consistency and cooking.
• 53:39
  A lot of if you know if you are gluten free, baking with gluten
• 53:42
  free can be a little more temperamental than just your
• 53:46
  standard you know ingredients that you would use.
• 53:51
  So I think it's more so that and I will also say that's leading
• 53:56
  me very nicely to my next point that if you are looking for
• 53:58
  something gluten free or allergen free, do keep in mind
• 54:03
  that it may take a few extra minutes because a lot of that is
• 54:06
  made to order or it's made on special pans that they make sure
• 54:10
  are cleaned and sanitized in between if it's an allergy
• 54:12
  concern or things like that. So do keep that in mind as well
• 54:17
  that you just may be waiting a few extra minutes for your food,
• 54:21
  especially if you're at somewhere like a buffet where
• 54:23
  everything else is already made and out and available.
• 54:26
  You may be waiting extra to get your food prepped back in the
• 54:29
  kitchen and made and brought out to you, yeah.
• 54:32
  That's a good a good tip for sure.
• 54:36
  So we shall we move to outside the parks and of course the
• 54:39
  first one on our list is one that's actually not currently
• 54:42
  available, but hopefully we'll be again at some point there.
• 54:46
  And it is 1900 Park Fair, which I have been out with my family
• 54:51
  before. This is at the Grand Floridian,
• 54:54
  which you might know is going through a lot of renovations
• 54:56
  right now. So it's and it never really
• 54:58
  opened again. Post like the world changing.
• 55:02
  It just kind of like stayed shut and now everything's getting
• 55:04
  renovated. So this is a it has a breakfast
• 55:09
  and a dinner buffet. So it's a buffet restaurant and
• 55:11
  it's the three dollar signs. So I'm doing like the three
• 55:15
  dollar signs versus the $4.00 signs on the little bit less
• 55:20
  expensive side of the character dining.
• 55:24
  And this one has really unique characters in it, which I hope
• 55:28
  they bring back they had. Mary Poppins, Alice the Mad
• 55:31
  Hatter, Poo and Tigger. So you think of kind of like the
• 55:35
  British, British ones, British people of British characters of
• 55:39
  Disney, That's who they have there.
• 55:42
  And they were really wonderful when we interacted with them.
• 55:45
  It was, it was so much fun to interact with the Mad Hatter,
• 55:48
  especially it's just a kid. So that's really fun.
• 55:52
  I will say that if you have been to 90 Niner Park Ferry, you
• 55:55
  might have seen this organ that is this little pretty pastel
• 55:58
  organ that's about 15 feet up on the wall.
• 56:01
  And this is actually known as Big Bertha.
• 56:03
  It's the name Big Bertha. It's small.
• 56:08
  It's big. It's actually really big.
• 56:10
  When it was great up on the wall.
• 56:12
  It just looks it's it's that whole what is that forced
• 56:14
  perspective? It just looks so small up on the
• 56:16
  wall up there. So this is an organ, an antique
• 56:21
  band organ that was built in Paris, France by Gevoli and
• 56:24
  company at the turn of the last century, so long, long time ago.
• 56:28
  It has pipes, drums, castanets, bells, symbols and xylophone and
• 56:32
  it's all played on paper, piano, roll books.
• 56:36
  So cool. It was used from nineteen O 9 to
• 56:39
  1955 in Ramona Park in Grand Rapids, MI, which was known as
• 56:43
  the amusement Mecca of Western Michigan and.
• 56:46
  How they got Disney got this by the way is there was like they
• 56:50
  basically just bought like a whole a whole bunch of music
• 56:54
  boxes and and organ things and pieces off of old carousels and
• 57:00
  whatnot in like a lot in like the end of the 1960s.
• 57:04
  And they put a whole bunch of them in Walt Disney World.
• 57:07
  So they you'll see also in the. Main Street Station in Magic
• 57:13
  Kingdom. You'll also see music Box in
• 57:14
  there as well that was purchased at the same time as Big Bertha.
• 57:17
  So then it's slowly like the music boxes have just been
• 57:20
  disappearing from the parks, which makes me really sad.
• 57:25
  Yeah, but there are still a few around so that is one of them
• 57:30
  that hopefully you'll be able to see and hear again.
• 57:33
  It does actually play music when you're in there every once in a
• 57:35
  while. So let's hop over to the Beach
• 57:38
  Club Resort and we are going to talk about Cape May Cafe, which
• 57:43
  I feel like this is a fan favorite.
• 57:44
  I feel like a lot of people like to try to get this one whenever
• 57:47
  they go to Disney on their trips.
• 57:49
  It is breakfast only. It is a breakfast buffet at the
• 57:52
  Beach Club Resort and it is again that $3 sign, so that 35
• 57:56
  to $60.00 range. Here you will find Minnie,
• 58:00
  Donald, Goofy and Daisy greeting you for your breakfast, and it
• 58:05
  is Minnie's Beach Bash Breakfast.
• 58:07
  So they are all decked out in Hawaiian.
• 58:10
  Fire in beach outfits whenever you visit there.
• 58:14
  The food at this one, you've got a couple little fun extra
• 58:18
  things. You've got a you've got salted
• 58:21
  caramel beach buns, which I feel like sound.
• 58:24
  Super sticky and delicious all at the same time.
• 58:28
  They've got fruits, oatmeal, waffles and French toast.
• 58:31
  They've got cheddar biscuits and gravy, which is a little bit of
• 58:34
  a different take on the biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs,
• 58:38
  bacon, sausage, omelette and carving stations.
• 58:41
  And then they just have, in general on their menu, classic
• 58:44
  favorites for children. So assume that's a lot of what
• 58:46
  you see. Some of the other buffets with
• 58:48
  eggs and cereal, grapes and cuties and bananas, You know,
• 58:54
  all those fun things, but definitely a fun breakfast
• 58:58
  option if you are looking for a breakfast buffet character meal.
• 59:04
  And I haven't been here yet, but I've heard some really good
• 59:07
  things about the food there. So it's one that I'm like,
• 59:11
  debating. We keep debating about on this
• 59:13
  next trip if we want to do a character meal or not.
• 59:16
  And where we want to go and we're trying to get Topolinos,
• 59:19
  because of course we are and we'll get to Topolinos in a
• 59:22
  little bit here. But we've got several different
• 59:27
  alerts set up on mouth signing to to figure out what character
• 59:31
  meal we want to do. And Cape May is one that I
• 59:32
  considered. But I also feel like my kids
• 59:34
  will be sad if Mickey's not there.
• 59:36
  So like, I haven't decided if that's one that we're going to
• 59:39
  do or not just because my kids are very big Mickey fans.
• 59:42
  They love all the other characters as well.
• 59:44
  But like, look at Donald. No, they're happy.
• 59:46
  And his beach outfits are so. Fun like this one with his hat
• 59:50
  and his little Hawaiian shirt. And look at Minnie little dress.
• 59:54
  She's. Got little striped and a striped
• 59:56
  hat and it's so cute. I feel like this is also the
• 59:59
  outfits that they go when they do meet and greet, say like
• 1:00:02
  Boardwalk and Beach Club and all those ones, because they'll do
• 1:00:05
  just kind of. The characters will just kind of
• 1:00:07
  walk around there sometimes at those resorts, like these are
• 1:00:10
  very similar to those outfits, if not the same.
• 1:00:12
  Ones probably, because I wouldn't say probably because
• 1:00:14
  Cape May is at the beach club, so you would think that they're
• 1:00:17
  not going to run home and change.
• 1:00:18
  That takes way too long, Kate. Way too long.
• 1:00:23
  Stacy's got a little sassy outfit.
• 1:00:25
  Cute. Yeah.
• 1:00:26
  As always, I love her. Queen of sass.
• 1:00:31
  She's wonderful. Yes, she is.
• 1:00:34
  So yeah, so that's. Cape May Cafe Shall we move on
• 1:00:36
  to a somewhat controversial Let's go dig into the
• 1:00:43
  controversy I'm all about I. Feel like it's only
• 1:00:45
  controversial because I feel like it's controversial.
• 1:00:48
  But let's talk about Chef Mickey's.
• 1:00:51
  It is controversial. People have strong opinions
• 1:00:54
  about this one. Yeah, they either love it or
• 1:00:57
  hate it is kind. Of like where they go with this,
• 1:00:59
  right. OK, so let's let's give you all
• 1:01:01
  the info and the facts on it. So Chef Mickey's is at the
• 1:01:04
  contemporary Resort. It is breakfast or dinner
• 1:01:08
  buffet, so they do not have a lunch option there.
• 1:01:11
  But their breakfast goes fairly late.
• 1:01:13
  If I remember it goes pretty much all the way up until noon
• 1:01:16
  or 12:30 I believe when it comes to their breakfast options you
• 1:01:22
  will find here Mickey. And Minnie and Pluto and Donald
• 1:01:26
  and Goofy And Kate is showing you a picture of my kiddos first
• 1:01:30
  ever interaction with Mickey Mouse and it just makes me want
• 1:01:34
  to cry because I love it so much.
• 1:01:38
  It's so cute. He was about, let's see, he was
• 1:01:42
  about 22 months and that was his first trip and.
• 1:01:48
  We weren't sure how he was going to do with the characters, which
• 1:01:52
  is why he's sitting on my husbands lap pretty much meeting
• 1:01:55
  all of them. But we had.
• 1:01:57
  I will say the one thing is the table we were at was really
• 1:02:00
  great because we could see all of the characters in.
• 1:02:04
  So if you're familiar with Chef Mickey's, they have that big
• 1:02:06
  area where it's the like self-serve, soft serve ice cream
• 1:02:10
  and like all the the fixings and all that.
• 1:02:12
  And we were right next to that. So all of the characters were in
• 1:02:16
  like the backroom and we could watch them before they got to
• 1:02:19
  us. Which was super helpful to my
• 1:02:20
  kiddo that we just happened to end up at that table because he
• 1:02:23
  could see them all from afar and watch them approach us, which
• 1:02:27
  was super helpful and. So it the food here has a
• 1:02:33
  history of being very hit or miss.
• 1:02:35
  Unfortunately, our experience on that particular trip was we all
• 1:02:39
  got sick after eating at Chinese, no?
• 1:02:43
  Yeah. And it yeah, it was like not
• 1:02:46
  quite food poisoning level. Like I wouldn't call it food
• 1:02:49
  poisoning, but like we all got sick, even my kiddo after eating
• 1:02:53
  there. So that has pretty much just
• 1:02:55
  ruined chef Mickeys for us. And that was the instance where
• 1:03:00
  my friend who was traveling with us who is gluten free had so
• 1:03:03
  many issues with the waffles that they were making for her in
• 1:03:05
  the kitchen. She had to send them back and
• 1:03:07
  get a second batch made. And it was it was a quite a big
• 1:03:11
  ordeal. It was worth it in the end
• 1:03:12
  because my. Kiddo had a really good
• 1:03:14
  experience with the characters and like that made it, made-up
• 1:03:18
  for it a little bit. But like, that is the only trip
• 1:03:20
  that I've missed a park day because I've gotten sick of the
• 1:03:23
  trip. And it was all because we ate
• 1:03:25
  there, which was like, not great.
• 1:03:26
  You're like, never again. Yeah.
• 1:03:28
  Pretty much. Pretty much like when we talk
• 1:03:31
  about we when when my husband and I are planning and we talk
• 1:03:34
  about. The options for character meals,
• 1:03:36
  It's like we don't even talk about it's not an option no
• 1:03:41
  Maybe someday would try dinner, but breakfast is is.
• 1:03:44
  Nope, Nope. Just we just won't do it again.
• 1:03:48
  It can be very hit or miss. And Buffet's kind of candy, so
• 1:03:52
  like, it is what it is. If you time it right when
• 1:03:56
  they're bringing out all the new fresh everything, then you may
• 1:03:59
  have an amazing experience. I don't know.
• 1:04:02
  I don't know if it was timing or if it was.
• 1:04:04
  Who knows just the perfect storm of the wrong experience for our
• 1:04:08
  particular party. But I also know a lot of
• 1:04:11
  families who have had really good experiences with the food,
• 1:04:14
  with the characters, with everything.
• 1:04:15
  So, and I I will say too that buffets are prone to or to you
• 1:04:23
  getting more options for. Sorry, let me rephrase this.
• 1:04:26
  Buff you can. It is easier for you to get sick
• 1:04:30
  at a buffet because you are touching all the same utensils
• 1:04:33
  that everybody else touches. And then everybody goes and
• 1:04:35
  eats. So like we that's how I got
• 1:04:38
  really sick on my Disney cruise was from a buffet, from touching
• 1:04:41
  handles of things that other people have touched.
• 1:04:43
  And they do sanitize your hands now.
• 1:04:45
  They even make you wash your hands as you as you go in.
• 1:04:48
  But people sit down and eat and then they go back and get
• 1:04:51
  seconds. And so that is my biggest advice
• 1:04:55
  for staying healthy. If you're eating in a buffet,
• 1:04:59
  you know, sanitize your hands like crazy.
• 1:05:01
  Every time you come back from that, before you touch any of
• 1:05:03
  your food or utensils or anything you're going to put in
• 1:05:05
  your mouth, just sanitize everything.
• 1:05:09
  And I because you just you don't want to miss your Disney trip
• 1:05:12
  because you got sick from the buffet like Jackie.
• 1:05:17
  I know. It was so sad.
• 1:05:18
  I was just like. Laying in bed and I of course
• 1:05:21
  like everyone else I was with, I was like please go to the park
• 1:05:23
  like do not like it's OK. And so kiddo and I stayed and we
• 1:05:28
  laid in bed and watched Mickey cartoons and took a nap.
• 1:05:32
  And I mean, it was memorable. It it also didn't help that I
• 1:05:38
  was like 8 months pregnant with my daughter on that trip too.
• 1:05:42
  So that was, yeah, it was fear of like, am I?
• 1:05:49
  Is this is my baby? OK, You know, like, 'cause I'm
• 1:05:51
  getting sick and stuff like that, that's.
• 1:05:53
  So scary and I am just the dehydration and the trying to
• 1:05:57
  keep everything down and the cast members I will say just
• 1:06:00
  total total. Side note, we were at Pop
• 1:06:02
  Century in that particular instance and the cast members
• 1:06:05
  down in the little like convenience store area where
• 1:06:09
  they have like the little grab and go like sodas and chips and
• 1:06:13
  all that stuff were so wonderful.
• 1:06:15
  Because my husband was trying to find ginger ale for me, because
• 1:06:17
  I couldn't keep anything down and they didn't have anything
• 1:06:20
  out in the cases. And he like asked the cast
• 1:06:23
  member. And the cast member like went in
• 1:06:24
  the back and broke open their newly delivered everything and
• 1:06:27
  brought him out like two big things of ginger ale.
• 1:06:30
  And it was just the cast members were very lovely and they took
• 1:06:33
  care of us and we got everything we needed and it was all OK and
• 1:06:37
  all was well. But it was not a fun 24 hours.
• 1:06:42
  No, no, Nobody wants that to happen on their vacation.
• 1:06:44
  Right. Anyway, of course it was like,
• 1:06:46
  not the end of our vacation either.
• 1:06:48
  It was like, right in the middle of the week.
• 1:06:50
  So yeah, well, we rallied and we finished OK and we made it home
• 1:06:55
  and it was, it was OK You have a story to tell.
• 1:06:59
  Me, I know. And I slept like the entire 15
• 1:07:02
  hour car ride home, 'cause I was just like, I was so done.
• 1:07:07
  So sorry, Jackie. Yes.
• 1:07:08
  So that's OK 'cause that was, you know, gosh, my daughter just
• 1:07:11
  turned 5, so that was. Over five years ago.
• 1:07:15
  But I, you know, I still have PTSD and I just, I just can't
• 1:07:19
  make myself go. But if you choose to try Chef
• 1:07:22
  Mickey, let's talk about the can we talk about no, we haven't.
• 1:07:30
  So breakfast options. They do have sausage and gravy,
• 1:07:33
  waffles, French toast. They have a corned beef hash
• 1:07:37
  charcuterie with cheese. And all that good stuff fruit.
• 1:07:41
  They do have like a little carving station with pit, pit
• 1:07:43
  ham, which I don't know what that means, but it sounds fancy.
• 1:07:47
  So pit ham is like you think it's like Hawaii.
• 1:07:50
  They what they do is they bake their ham, their ham, they bake
• 1:07:54
  their like pig underground in a pit.
• 1:07:57
  I think this is related to that style.
• 1:07:59
  I don't think they actually do that there, but I think it's
• 1:08:01
  like that's that's where the terminology comes from, is pit
• 1:08:04
  ham. If I had to guess, I'm just
• 1:08:06
  guessing. Not a food expert, Disney
• 1:08:09
  expert. Not a big.
• 1:08:11
  Expert. That makes sense.
• 1:08:13
  And they have a beef brisket, and they have eggs and
• 1:08:16
  frittatas, and they have morning cocktails there if you so
• 1:08:18
  choose. And then their dinner option is
• 1:08:24
  a they have tomato and Rosemary focaccia, they have seasonal
• 1:08:28
  inspired salad, they have a carving station featuring a
• 1:08:31
  chef's selection of meat. So whatever they have at the
• 1:08:34
  moment for that. And they have shrimp and grits,
• 1:08:37
  roasted pork. They have a plant based, they
• 1:08:40
  have plant based seasonal inspired dishes.
• 1:08:42
  So the plant based options kind of change and rotate with that.
• 1:08:47
  They have Mac and cheese, stir fry, roasted veggies, and then
• 1:08:51
  they have again, classic favorites for children.
• 1:08:54
  So. They're going to have things
• 1:08:56
  like chicken tenders and Mac and cheese and that type of thing.
• 1:08:59
  And then they have, I I didn't do a lot of dessert writing
• 1:09:03
  then, but they do have a chef selection of desserts, including
• 1:09:06
  a warm apple crisp, which just like sounds amazing to me.
• 1:09:10
  And again, they have, right? That's what I was like, oh, like
• 1:09:13
  this. This is like perfect time of
• 1:09:14
  year for that. And then again, they do have
• 1:09:17
  beer, hard cider, cocktails and wine for their dinner as well.
• 1:09:22
  That's Chef Mickey. That's Chef Mickey's.
• 1:09:24
  Let's move on from Chef Mickey's, let's move on to
• 1:09:29
  Ohana, which is a lot of people's favorite.
• 1:09:31
  I hear this all the time I have. I'm going to be 100% honest.
• 1:09:34
  I have not been to Ohana. I've just heard a lot about it
• 1:09:37
  over the. Years either, which is really
• 1:09:39
  surprising for me because Stitch is there but it I know.
• 1:09:43
  It's it's one of those things that like when we do character
• 1:09:46
  meals, we always do whatever that the kids are going to want
• 1:09:48
  to do. And so as mom, I kind of
• 1:09:51
  sacrifice my love of Stitch and let my kids do the characters
• 1:09:55
  they're going to want to do. I will say I may have set up
• 1:09:58
  mouse dining alerts for Ohana for this and oh, I hope you get
• 1:10:03
  to do it. We'll see.
• 1:10:04
  We'll see what happens. I feel like it's a good
• 1:10:06
  compromise because my kids also now are like.
• 1:10:09
  Old enough to be able to be like mom loves Stitch, so we're going
• 1:10:12
  to go see Stitch. Let me let you know, that type
• 1:10:13
  of mentality. And also Mickey and Pluto and
• 1:10:16
  Lilo are there too. So they're just fun characters
• 1:10:18
  because you don't. It's really one of the only
• 1:10:20
  places to see Lilo, which is a fun, fun character that you get
• 1:10:24
  to see there. Allie Beth says that she enjoyed
• 1:10:27
  her Ohana dinner right at firework time.
• 1:10:30
  So that's another thing you could aim for if you wanted to
• 1:10:34
  2. Two birds with one stone so to
• 1:10:36
  speak. You can see and I see the
• 1:10:37
  fireworks and also see all these characters as well.
• 1:10:41
  So that's that's an awesome idea.
• 1:10:43
  So they do have this is a family style dining.
• 1:10:46
  So if anybody's familiar with that, that's just they put bowls
• 1:10:50
  of food out on the table and then ever you kind of serve
• 1:10:52
  yourself out of the bowls so they have breakfast.
• 1:10:55
  They've got the same kinds of things that they had fresh fruit
• 1:10:58
  and all the all the the usual things but they have pineapple
• 1:11:00
  coconut breakfast bread which sounds amazing.
• 1:11:04
  Ohana breakfast skillet that has scrambled eggs and pork sausage
• 1:11:07
  links, Hawaiian style ham topped with pineapple compote.
• 1:11:10
  I wonder if that's like Spam because they're big on Spam in
• 1:11:13
  Hawaii. Like huge.
• 1:11:15
  I'm like they're just not going to say Spam because it's like
• 1:11:17
  you know, but fried island style potatoes, Mickey shaped waffles
• 1:11:21
  and biscuits, so lots of Hawaiian style breakfast foods,
• 1:11:26
  which sounds amazing. And then for dinner they've got
• 1:11:29
  mixed green salad, a signature ohana bread, honey coriander,
• 1:11:33
  chicken wings that sounds awesome as well.
• 1:11:36
  Pork dumplings tossed in a garlic chili sauce and ohana
• 1:11:40
  dinner skillet. So then they also have Ohana
• 1:11:44
  bread pudding and then a selection of cocktails, beer and
• 1:11:48
  wine like everywhere else. And there are plant based
• 1:11:52
  options there at this particular one.
• 1:11:54
  So if you're looking for that, yeah.
• 1:11:56
  And I don't remember if we did. Note this is at the Polynesian
• 1:11:59
  resort. If anyone didn't know where we
• 1:12:00
  were talking about with a hack, we jumped into.
• 1:12:04
  We jumped into like the characters and all the all the
• 1:12:06
  fun stuff. But yes, it is at the Polynesian
• 1:12:08
  resort, which makes sense for legal and stitch, which makes
• 1:12:11
  sense for all of the flavors that Kate just described to us
• 1:12:14
  in the options that they have for their food.
• 1:12:18
  Ali Beth said that they serenaded them because they
• 1:12:20
  thought they thought they were on a date.
• 1:12:22
  That's so fun. Ohana is like a a $3 sign
• 1:12:29
  expense as well. So it's it's a little bit on the
• 1:12:31
  lower side of the of the expenses for these ones, but
• 1:12:35
  shall we jump over to one that's maybe on the higher side?
• 1:12:39
  Yes, I think this is the most expensive.
• 1:12:43
  Probably the most expensive option at Disney World for the
• 1:12:46
  character dining, Yes, so that would be the storybook dining at
• 1:12:52
  Artist's Point. Wait, do you think it's more
• 1:12:54
  than Cinderella's Royal Table? I don't know.
• 1:12:58
  You'd have to look it up, yeah, they're both really expensive.
• 1:13:01
  To the price compared? Save up for these ones, friends.
• 1:13:05
  Yes. Yes, this is a dinner only
• 1:13:08
  option that they have at the Wilderness Lodge resort.
• 1:13:12
  And the characters that you're going to see here are Snow
• 1:13:16
  White, the Evil Queen, which is a super fun one to see during a
• 1:13:20
  character. Me, I think that's the only
• 1:13:23
  villain that I know of that does a character Neil interaction.
• 1:13:28
  And then you get grumpy and dopey with them as well.
• 1:13:32
  So you get some dwarves and Snow White and the Evil Queen.
• 1:13:35
  So the only the other five only come out during Mickey's Not So
• 1:13:42
  Scary Halloween party. That's that's their contract,
• 1:13:44
  Kate. They're too busy working in the
• 1:13:47
  mines they got, they got work to do in the mines.
• 1:13:52
  In the mines. All right.
• 1:13:58
  So the the food they've got their they've got cottage beef,
• 1:14:03
  stroganoff, Royal Royal Prime, rib roast, a stroll through
• 1:14:08
  nature. What is that?
• 1:14:10
  I don't know, but their names of all of their stuff is all
• 1:14:13
  completely themed. And I was like, I don't know
• 1:14:15
  what some of this is. It's like magic mirrors, slow
• 1:14:18
  braced pork Shank. I mean, guess that I was like a
• 1:14:20
  stroll through nature. Must be some sort of maybe
• 1:14:22
  salads, I'm sure. Yeah.
• 1:14:25
  Brothers, Grim Herb chicken, bashful sustainable fish,
• 1:14:28
  sorcerer spell of chicken, chicken cocktails and wine.
• 1:14:35
  It's like chicken, chicken. Oh gosh no.
• 1:14:42
  That sounds. I wanted to eat here for a long
• 1:14:45
  time because the the theming is pretty fantastic here.
• 1:14:49
  Besides the characters, do you want to go for the kids food?
• 1:14:52
  I'll see if I can find a picture.
• 1:14:53
  Of it, yeah. So they do have a kids specific
• 1:14:55
  menu as well. They have a grilled chicken
• 1:14:58
  option, a grilled fish of the day option and a prime rib
• 1:15:01
  roast. So you've definitely got to pay
• 1:15:03
  attention to the kids meal here, the kids menu here, because like
• 1:15:07
  I know for my kids in particular, they're not going to
• 1:15:10
  want what's on the menu here. They're not fans of grilled
• 1:15:14
  chicken. They're not fans of fish, and
• 1:15:15
  they're not. Fans of rib roast.
• 1:15:17
  So this is one of those options that like I would love to go to,
• 1:15:21
  but just not feasible for my family.
• 1:15:23
  Especially for the price point. Because like we mentioned, it is
• 1:15:26
  that $4.00 sign which means $60.00 or more per person.
• 1:15:29
  So your kids are going to be sitting at minimum around that
• 1:15:34
  $60.00 option. So keep that in mind.
• 1:15:38
  Yeah. And the inside of the restaurant
• 1:15:39
  is beautiful because it looks like there's these big trees
• 1:15:42
  that you're dining in a forest. So that is the setting and I
• 1:15:46
  believe that the trees also light up from what I've seen,
• 1:15:49
  because you are correct, they have.
• 1:15:51
  Like little twinkle lights kind of up in there, yeah.
• 1:15:54
  It gives the vibe, if you are at all, a Disneyland regular.
• 1:15:58
  It very much gives the vibe of the end of Snow White's
• 1:16:01
  Enchanted Wish, the attraction where it's kind of like all the
• 1:16:04
  trees light up and then you're in the forest with all the
• 1:16:06
  twinkle lights. And so it's very, very pretty
• 1:16:10
  restaurant and it looks like I'm actually looking at it now.
• 1:16:13
  I'm like now I'm second guessing myself about whether or not the
• 1:16:15
  trees light up. There's definitely lights
• 1:16:19
  involved in this because I'm looking at it and there's like
• 1:16:22
  some. Like Lantern type lights.
• 1:16:24
  I know for sure that I have, which from what you just showed,
• 1:16:28
  yeah, this one is like, I think this is the Christmas one.
• 1:16:32
  OK, but I feel like I've seen the trees light up in there, so
• 1:16:35
  maybe I'm just making up things. In any case, there is a forest
• 1:16:39
  and there are trees and there are branches, there are rice,
• 1:16:43
  there's a combination of all of them.
• 1:16:45
  But I've always, I've tried to get in here several times and
• 1:16:48
  I've never been able to get in. So someday I'm going to eat
• 1:16:53
  artist point. So that's also brings it up the
• 1:16:56
  the whole point of how do you get these reservations which we
• 1:17:00
  have a few more restaurants to go here but just take a mini
• 1:17:03
  break from the restaurants. Just to mention we've gone over
• 1:17:06
  this before. Some of our best tips for
• 1:17:08
  getting these signing reservations.
• 1:17:10
  But the best, the easiest way to do it is to make sure that you
• 1:17:14
  are early, early to the game so as soon as it opens up and it's
• 1:17:19
  60 days. Now it used to be 90, used to be
• 1:17:22
  crazy, but sixty days in advance to the minute to the second that
• 1:17:28
  your window opens, which I believe is it's 3:00 AM Pacific
• 1:17:34
  Time, but 6:00 AM Eastern Time. So make sure you set your alarm
• 1:17:38
  if you're on the Pacific Coast. You know, either wake up really
• 1:17:40
  early or go to bed really late or wake up in the middle of the
• 1:17:43
  night. It's always fun to do those
• 1:17:45
  days, but and I also recommend trying to book your hardest
• 1:17:50
  dining reservation the latest you can in your trip because
• 1:17:53
  there'll be less people that have had that date open to them.
• 1:17:57
  So that is my the biggest tip. If you can't get your dining
• 1:18:01
  reservations or something still blocked out and you weren't able
• 1:18:03
  to get it what Jackie mentioned earlier, there's Mouse dining.
• 1:18:07
  There's also really great dining reservation Finder that's I have
• 1:18:11
  in my link as well that will text you and there's some
• 1:18:16
  options out there for getting texts or emails notifications.
• 1:18:19
  Just make sure when you get those you immediately act on it.
• 1:18:22
  Don't be like, oh, there's a table and after work I'll get to
• 1:18:25
  it like, just drop everything, get your dining reservation.
• 1:18:29
  I'll take you like 2 seconds. Yeah, I literally.
• 1:18:32
  I set them up for Topolinos because that morning I tried.
• 1:18:37
  I did. I worked backwards, like I went
• 1:18:39
  to our last date that we were leaving and checking out and
• 1:18:41
  worked my way backwards to try to get it.
• 1:18:42
  Still couldn't get Topolinos because it's just.
• 1:18:45
  That hard to get. And so then I immediately got on
• 1:18:50
  and set up alerts. And later that day I got an
• 1:18:53
  alert and I immediately got on it and I was still too slow.
• 1:18:56
  Yeah, I missed it. And that's the only alert that
• 1:18:58
  I've gotten for Topolinos. And I was like, okay, okay.
• 1:19:05
  Fine. I don't need any dining
• 1:19:07
  reservations for this upcoming one.
• 1:19:08
  I was like, men, I'll find something to eat, but I go by
• 1:19:12
  myself and I go all the time, so it's fine.
• 1:19:13
  But our friend, travel Agent Liz, said she ate there recently
• 1:19:18
  at Artist Point, and they do have lights in the trees.
• 1:19:22
  They flash red when the evil Queen walks in.
• 1:19:24
  And so there's some, there's some lights in the trees and
• 1:19:28
  whatnot. So thank you guys.
• 1:19:29
  That's really cool. Nice.
• 1:19:33
  So, yeah, so that's one of those again.
• 1:19:35
  And unfortunately, a lot of these character meals are just
• 1:19:38
  tough to get. Some you'll find are more
• 1:19:41
  difficult than others like we've been mentioning, but they're all
• 1:19:43
  pretty much difficult to get and you want to book them first and
• 1:19:47
  book them towards the end of your trip to get your best
• 1:19:50
  option of having the availability that you're looking
• 1:19:52
  for and just be flexible. You know, know that you're, you
• 1:19:57
  know, maybe you've got a window from anywhere from 9:00 AM to
• 1:19:59
  11:00 AM we could go, you know, that type of thing.
• 1:20:02
  You want to give yourself enough time so that way you're not,
• 1:20:05
  you're not, you know, narrowed down and and into just one
• 1:20:08
  particular time that you're looking for.
• 1:20:10
  Yeah, like when we were more flexible, we were able to get
• 1:20:13
  more. Like sometimes you who wants to
• 1:20:14
  eat dinner at like 3:00 PM, but you just decide, like, we really
• 1:20:18
  want to eat at this place. So we're just going to organize
• 1:20:20
  our food the rest of the day to make it make sense.
• 1:20:22
  You know, you just do what you got to do.
• 1:20:24
  Exactly. Exactly.
• 1:20:27
  Shall we move on to our faith? I think it's time that we go.
• 1:20:31
  So this will be our our last one in the Walt Disney World portion
• 1:20:37
  of this character dining. And Jackie, do you want to tell
• 1:20:40
  them our very favorite character dining place in Disney World?
• 1:20:44
  That would be Topolino's Terrace at the Riviera Resort.
• 1:20:48
  It is the newest of the character meal options at Disney
• 1:20:53
  World. The Riviera opened, oh gosh,
• 1:20:55
  like mid pandemic times. I believe like 2020 at some
• 1:20:59
  point. Time to open that.
• 1:21:01
  Yeah, it is. So much fun.
• 1:21:08
  So yes, so it is at the Riviera Resort and if you're familiar
• 1:21:12
  with the Riviera, it's kind of the main area is set up in like
• 1:21:16
  AU shaped sort of. And this particular restaurant
• 1:21:19
  is the very tippy top of the one side.
• 1:21:22
  I think it's like the 13th or 14th floor, something like that.
• 1:21:25
  But it's it's up there and here you will.
• 1:21:30
  Yes, here you will find. I know I love that view from the
• 1:21:33
  balcony. I had to put that picture on
• 1:21:35
  there. So I was like, this is just
• 1:21:35
  beautiful. So here you will find Mickey,
• 1:21:38
  Minnie, Donald and Daisy. And they are all dressed up in
• 1:21:43
  their little like they're they're they're artists of
• 1:21:46
  various kinds. So Mickey is a painter, Daisy is
• 1:21:49
  a dancer, Minnie is a writer. And Donald, I think he's, he's a
• 1:21:57
  sculpt sculptor, yeah. I believe, yeah, I think.
• 1:21:59
  So just the cutest little outfits.
• 1:22:03
  So much fun. Yes, so much fun up there.
• 1:22:09
  And that you also get access to that really great balcony area
• 1:22:12
  where you can overlook the Caribbean Beach Resort and the
• 1:22:16
  sky liner than that whole area in the water.
• 1:22:18
  It's just so. So much fun.
• 1:22:21
  Oh, look at Elliot and Daisy. That's so fun.
• 1:22:24
  He's being such a gentleman. He is very dignified.
• 1:22:32
  So yes, this is just one of those perfect combinations of
• 1:22:38
  character experiences and food options on their menu.
• 1:22:42
  Just so much fun. They only have breakfast for
• 1:22:45
  their characters now. They do also have other meals.
• 1:22:48
  That are served there and the food is exceptional as well.
• 1:22:53
  But you and Minnie are like twinning with your color schemes
• 1:22:56
  in this and I love it. I know you and your Tower of
• 1:23:00
  Terror outfit so much fun. I love it.
• 1:23:04
  Well, we so we made a reservation at this one.
• 1:23:07
  This is just me and Elliot had a reservation for this, and I
• 1:23:12
  purposefully made it at like 11:30 so that we could have it
• 1:23:16
  for lunch, even though it was a breakfast reservation.
• 1:23:19
  So we had like the brunch menu, but we had it 11:30, so it felt
• 1:23:24
  like lunch time for us. And that was perfect.
• 1:23:26
  And they were cleaning up the restaurant and like, ready to
• 1:23:29
  turn it over. So it was getting really like
• 1:23:31
  empty, which was actually really nice.
• 1:23:34
  It made it a lot quieter and whatnot.
• 1:23:35
  So if you're looking for a more relaxed time, you can have some
• 1:23:39
  of those later times to book and you know and Disney makes them
• 1:23:43
  available. So it's not like we we walked in
• 1:23:45
  at the last second and you know and inconvenience to anybody.
• 1:23:48
  We would never want to do that. So it was just really fun to
• 1:23:51
  have the place to ourselves practically.
• 1:23:54
  The characters gave you a lot of attention because you were
• 1:23:56
  there, so. And we when we visited, it was
• 1:24:01
  shortly after everything reopened.
• 1:24:03
  So all of our character meets were still very distant and we
• 1:24:07
  actually didn't get like. The individual table meet and
• 1:24:10
  greet, but my kids still still talk about how much fun it was
• 1:24:14
  to eat there because they just loved the atmosphere and they
• 1:24:18
  do. Again like Kate mentioned, all
• 1:24:20
  of these places will do like little announcements or little
• 1:24:22
  songs or little, a lot of them do little parades, different
• 1:24:26
  things like that. So my kids just still remember
• 1:24:28
  that experience and we still got to see all the characters and
• 1:24:31
  they got waves, you know, and got you know to see them all
• 1:24:35
  walk around and that type of thing.
• 1:24:37
  So Disney did a really good job with.
• 1:24:38
  During that moment when we weren't really sure what we were
• 1:24:42
  going to get when we went there. So yeah, when?
• 1:24:46
  So I think the character interaction is stellar here.
• 1:24:49
  Not only do they do like table to table, but they do like a
• 1:24:52
  whole song where everybody like and they and they dance around
• 1:24:55
  and move around and stuff during the song.
• 1:24:57
  But then the food itself is just spectacular.
• 1:25:02
  It's just so good. Yes, it is.
• 1:25:05
  Do you want to show some photos while I talk about some
• 1:25:07
  different options that they have here?
• 1:25:09
  Yeah, I will show. I start off with my quiche
• 1:25:12
  because this is. My favorite?
• 1:25:14
  Yes. So they do have a quiche option.
• 1:25:16
  That cake is showing there, which looks like some quiche and
• 1:25:19
  roasted potatoes. They're like Parmesan.
• 1:25:22
  Roasted potatoes are like roasted garlic.
• 1:25:24
  Potatoes are so good. They're just really good.
• 1:25:27
  Yes, they've got an avocado toast option.
• 1:25:29
  They've got a whole fruit plate. They've got, you can get eggs,
• 1:25:33
  you can get a wild mushroom scramble, the sour cream waffle,
• 1:25:38
  which is what I had whenever I went.
• 1:25:41
  The one time that I've been able to go.
• 1:25:42
  It's so good, So good. Yeah, so good.
• 1:25:48
  They have a smoked salmon. They have wood fired steak and
• 1:25:51
  eggs and they have a it's got the salmon, yeah.
• 1:25:58
  And then they yeah. And then they have a bread
• 1:26:01
  pudding brulee and then they also have cocktails as well.
• 1:26:05
  So I definitely a an elevated menu more so than from what
• 1:26:09
  we've seen at the other places. So I will say that they've had a
• 1:26:13
  change to this. If you've eaten at Topolinos in
• 1:26:15
  the past and you were able to choose like multiple entrees and
• 1:26:19
  like eat as much as you wanted, they no longer allow you to do
• 1:26:23
  that there. So you got to pick one entree.
• 1:26:25
  But our server was like, but I can bring out unlimited sides
• 1:26:29
  for you, however many sides you want.
• 1:26:31
  They're like, do you want sausage?
• 1:26:32
  Do you want bacon? Do you want waffles?
• 1:26:33
  Do you want this? They like, they you just like
• 1:26:36
  you make the most of it because you're allowed to order all
• 1:26:38
  these sides. They're like, OK, so we're
• 1:26:40
  getting a lot of sides to try and but just be aware that if
• 1:26:45
  you have eaten there in the past, that is a significant
• 1:26:48
  change. And they do, but they do also
• 1:26:51
  have like a little selection of pastries.
• 1:26:55
  I know yours looks a little bit different, Jackie, because I
• 1:26:57
  think he went there later than us.
• 1:26:58
  Now they come in these little, like paint pots with a little
• 1:27:00
  Mickey trio of like, jam and butter and Nutella, which is
• 1:27:06
  delicious, and it's usually like croissants and muffins and
• 1:27:10
  something else I'm forgetting. My good strudel or something.
• 1:27:13
  I can't remember what it is. Like a Danish or something?
• 1:27:16
  I think it's a Danish. I think that sounds right.
• 1:27:19
  And then I will mention because I I stopped myself before I
• 1:27:21
  finished this. The kids do have their own
• 1:27:23
  separate menu here as well. They have a scrambled egg
• 1:27:27
  option, they have a fruit and yogurt option and then the best
• 1:27:30
  kids option they have these Mickey Waffle dippers and they
• 1:27:34
  come out on the plate that looks like.
• 1:27:37
  A pallet of paint and they have all these little dipping options
• 1:27:40
  and the one is a Mickey waffle and the other one is a mini
• 1:27:44
  waffle, which is just the best. Yes.
• 1:27:48
  And then, yeah, our server in the world.
• 1:27:51
  Yeah, ours, right. Our server when we went was so
• 1:27:55
  sweet. Oh my gosh.
• 1:27:56
  And he was like, here's what you want to get and he like.
• 1:27:59
  Like, pre-ordered some stuff for us because this was again back
• 1:28:03
  when you could order kind of more than one.
• 1:28:05
  That's the steak and eggs that my husband got.
• 1:28:09
  But he, my daughter was under three and he brought her out her
• 1:28:13
  own whole plate of those little waffle dippers and like asked
• 1:28:18
  what size she wanted and like so they were just, my kids were so
• 1:28:21
  happy. And that's part of it was just
• 1:28:23
  like a magical experience and like the server brought like.
• 1:28:28
  Almost like a flight of their different juice options that
• 1:28:30
  they had 'cause they have a lot of like different unique juices
• 1:28:33
  there too, which I don't know if you experienced that or not,
• 1:28:35
  Kate, when you just got the pog juice.
• 1:28:38
  And they had the pog juice and they had a couple different ones
• 1:28:40
  and so they brought out like for like all of us, like 4 cups of
• 1:28:44
  juice. Like our server was just
• 1:28:45
  wonderful. We did a whole cast compliment
• 1:28:47
  multiple for him because he was just so wonderful.
• 1:28:50
  But like my daughter got her whole her own plate and it was
• 1:28:54
  just so lovely and he like. Made sure that we knew we should
• 1:28:58
  like walk out and go to the balcony and take photos and it
• 1:29:00
  was just like, it was such a lovely experience that we had
• 1:29:03
  that I feel like it was just so wonderful.
• 1:29:06
  And they also thought I was going to pull my my little card
• 1:29:09
  off the wall. We framed our little room
• 1:29:12
  because it was just so cute and we got two of them so we framed
• 1:29:15
  them. Here, hold on, let me grab it.
• 1:29:18
  So they have these little cards that they give you as well as a
• 1:29:21
  souvenir that says fun on the Riviera and it has the four
• 1:29:24
  characters on the front and then on the back it has like their.
• 1:29:27
  I think that's their signatures on the back.
• 1:29:28
  So it's like as if the character signed it for you.
• 1:29:30
  See my. Little see my Mickey, like hold
• 1:29:35
  on, let me turn that off so that you guys can actually see, but
• 1:29:39
  yeah. We literally bring my friend.
• 1:29:42
  I know. And it hangs on our wall in our
• 1:29:44
  play room. It's so sweet.
• 1:29:47
  It's got all their little, all the little signatures on the
• 1:29:50
  bottom of there. So if you can tell by now, we
• 1:29:54
  really love the love Topolinos. I do have a little bit of
• 1:29:57
  history of Topolinos and this one I think is is really
• 1:30:02
  interesting. So Topolinos is, for those of
• 1:30:06
  you who don't know it's kind of like the Italian name for Mickey
• 1:30:08
  Mouse. It literally means little mouse.
• 1:30:12
  And this was a comic book series that was published in Italy
• 1:30:14
  starting in 1932 all the way to present day.
• 1:30:17
  There was a little bit of like a a pause of it during the war,
• 1:30:22
  which is a whole nother story in itself that I won't get into
• 1:30:25
  right now. But you can still see this is
• 1:30:29
  what Topolinos look like back in the day.
• 1:30:31
  The little. So basically what happened was
• 1:30:34
  they the person who started releasing these Mickey cartoons
• 1:30:37
  didn't get licensing from Disney before they started releasing
• 1:30:40
  them in 1930s. So they paused.
• 1:30:43
  They they eventually they they changed it to Topo Lino for a
• 1:30:48
  little while after Disney was like hey like stop using my
• 1:30:52
  mouse and they eventually did make a contract with Walt Disney
• 1:30:59
  and they start producing these continue to produce these for
• 1:31:02
  Italy. So Topolino is what they call
• 1:31:05
  Mickey Mouse in Italy and. That's so cute.
• 1:31:08
  Yeah, that's where that comes from.
• 1:31:10
  So if you're wondering, Topolino means just kind of like Mickey
• 1:31:13
  Mouse in Italian. I have a question from Priscilla
• 1:31:18
  says can you take your time eating there or are they time
• 1:31:21
  limit? They did not rush us out, they
• 1:31:24
  we lingered and they were a okay with it, so there's not a time
• 1:31:28
  limit. I know that they want to
• 1:31:30
  turntables and things like that just in general for their own
• 1:31:32
  reservation system, so it's better to not like, you know,
• 1:31:36
  stay forever. But they they definitely did not
• 1:31:39
  push us out the door and we were allowed to just watch the
• 1:31:42
  characters and some of them even came around twice to us, so.
• 1:31:45
  We were like, yeah. And the time that we sat there,
• 1:31:47
  when we went, we had, we saw all of the characters twice.
• 1:31:50
  Like they did their whole rounds twice.
• 1:31:53
  But that was they weren't going table to table.
• 1:31:56
  Yeah, so it was a little bit shorter of an interaction, but
• 1:31:58
  they would go, they would take the main walkways and pause and
• 1:32:02
  wave and do phone, do distance photos.
• 1:32:05
  Like, I've got photos of my kids sitting at the table with the
• 1:32:07
  characters in the background. So like, and they very much like
• 1:32:11
  looked for like Okay, who's taking the photos and they would
• 1:32:13
  pose and you know, that kind of thing.
• 1:32:15
  So again, I had a different experience just because it was
• 1:32:18
  right after kind of things were reopening and like.
• 1:32:22
  Our tables were distanced when we went, so like, no one was on
• 1:32:24
  either side of us. There was like every other table
• 1:32:26
  that they did. I still don't know.
• 1:32:29
  I know. I still don't know how I got
• 1:32:31
  that reservation. Like, especially at the capacity
• 1:32:33
  that they were at. And we got like a it was like an
• 1:32:36
  845 reservation. And I was like, I don't know how
• 1:32:39
  that magic happened, but it happened and it was lovely.
• 1:32:43
  I went. I went during that time period
• 1:32:44
  too. It's funny that to think about
• 1:32:46
  that, like we could have been there at the same time, right.
• 1:32:51
  But that's interesting. But yeah, I went there during
• 1:32:53
  that time, the same time period and they were doing the social
• 1:32:56
  distancing kind of thing. But now they're they definitely
• 1:32:59
  go table to table and you can give them hugs and get up and
• 1:33:02
  take pictures with them and all those kinds of things again,
• 1:33:04
  which is is wonderful. So it's at the case you didn't
• 1:33:08
  know. Just go get the reservation, do
• 1:33:10
  it, just do it. You will not regret it.
• 1:33:12
  It's amazing. And I think it's absolutely
• 1:33:15
  worth the money that you paid for that one.
• 1:33:18
  I kind of feel like it's not even as expensive as some of the
• 1:33:21
  others. It's still spendy.
• 1:33:23
  Fairly reasonable. But the thing about this is I'm
• 1:33:25
  more willing to pay at Topolinos because of the food quality.
• 1:33:29
  And I think that's really what sets it apart from the other
• 1:33:32
  options that we've talked about, from the buffets, the family
• 1:33:35
  style options, even the table service options.
• 1:33:37
  Their food here is just next level.
• 1:33:39
  Like it just is there. The menu offerings that they
• 1:33:42
  have and the theming of the kids stuff and it's just all because
• 1:33:47
  it's the newest. Option you can just tell about
• 1:33:50
  the extra little thought that they put into everything and I
• 1:33:53
  feel like it. It makes a huge difference.
• 1:33:56
  Me, I agree 100%. Well, do we want to hop over to
• 1:34:01
  Disneyland? Yes.
• 1:34:02
  Before we hop over there, I did have a question that I wanted to
• 1:34:05
  answer that I almost forgot about, but I did have the
• 1:34:09
  question we were talking earlier about making your reservations.
• 1:34:12
  Jordan asked, can you book all your reservations for the whole
• 1:34:15
  trip, 60 days out from your day one?
• 1:34:17
  Yes. So what will happen is
• 1:34:20
  automatically the system will open up for your length of your
• 1:34:23
  reservation. So the day that your check in
• 1:34:27
  day is 60 days away, your entire reservation will open.
• 1:34:31
  The only thing you'll have to pay attention to is if you're
• 1:34:34
  someone who's doing like a split stay or something like that,
• 1:34:36
  you're going to have multiple dates you have to look at.
• 1:34:38
  So do keep that in mind if you're looking, especially if
• 1:34:42
  you're doing a split stay, you're going to have two
• 1:34:43
  different 60 day dates that you'll have.
• 1:34:47
  But yes, you'll be able to book for your entire length of your
• 1:34:49
  stay. All righty.
• 1:34:51
  So shall we hop over to Disneyland then?
• 1:34:54
  And OK, so in the park, there is exactly, exactly one.
• 1:35:02
  There used to be two because there used to be another one.
• 1:35:05
  Character dining that was over where Lamplight Lounge is now.
• 1:35:08
  When it was like Ariel's Grotto, there was a wonderful character
• 1:35:12
  dining, one that included all the Disney princesses.
• 1:35:14
  And that does not exist anymore because it's now Lamplight
• 1:35:17
  Lounge, so that doesn't exist. But they did bring back
• 1:35:21
  breakfast in the park at the Plaza Inn, which is I think
• 1:35:25
  easily my favorite character dining anywhere.
• 1:35:30
  Well, toppolinos, maybe not over Toppolinos, I think it's always
• 1:35:33
  over Toppolinos. So in Disneyland, let's say
• 1:35:36
  Disneyland, this is a breakfast buffet that has $3 signs and
• 1:35:42
  this is in in Disneyland park. It's a mini and friends
• 1:35:46
  breakfast with a rotating list of characters and there are so
• 1:35:50
  many characters at this and sometimes you get the extremely
• 1:35:53
  rare ones that you don't see anywhere else and they just like
• 1:35:57
  pop out at this breakfast. So this is one of like my
• 1:36:00
  favorite Disney memories is we did kind of like a whole Peter
• 1:36:03
  Pan themed day and my son was dressed like Captain Hook and
• 1:36:10
  Captain Hook happened to be at the restaurant that morning.
• 1:36:13
  So my son was dressed like Captain Hook with Captain Hook
• 1:36:17
  and then and then my my daughters were all dressed like
• 1:36:22
  Wendy and Tinkerbell. And then we actually, after that
• 1:36:26
  we went over to Pixie Hollow and met Tinkerbell and our way out
• 1:36:29
  of Pixie Hollow. We ran into Peter Pan and he
• 1:36:31
  like sat down and talked to my kids for like 5 minutes and it
• 1:36:34
  was like crazy cool. So anyway, that's just one of my
• 1:36:38
  favorite Disney moments. But you can also see like we've
• 1:36:41
  got Max was there. When we went for fun and then
• 1:36:46
  they had OK, here's Minnie, there's my kids and all those
• 1:36:50
  outfits. So, but and then we had the
• 1:36:55
  fairy godmother was also there. Love when Fairy Godmother is out
• 1:36:59
  like they made. She is one of the most fun meet
• 1:37:03
  and greets to have. She's so wonderful.
• 1:37:06
  Like she's just she feels like your fairy godmother when you.
• 1:37:09
  Talk to her and I total total. Side note, I met her completely
• 1:37:13
  randomly in oh gosh 2015. I think it was.
• 1:37:17
  I was with my best friend who was a cast member at the time,
• 1:37:20
  and we were just wandering around Magic King.
• 1:37:22
  And she just happened to be meeting by like the Castle Turks
• 1:37:25
  back behind the castle in New Fantasyland and she was, she's
• 1:37:29
  one of those characters that can be aware of other characters and
• 1:37:34
  other universes happening. And I don't remember we had on
• 1:37:38
  character shirts or something that she made a comment about
• 1:37:40
  And then she was like, well girls, we must take a selfie
• 1:37:44
  together the best. And then and we did the selfie
• 1:37:49
  and she she did like the because at that time the duck clip.
• 1:37:52
  Pose was like the Super like funny and so I've got this
• 1:37:58
  amazing selfie. I'll have to post it in the
• 1:38:00
  discord after we get off of here of my best friend and I and the
• 1:38:03
  fairy godmother all doing that pose together and she just is
• 1:38:06
  one of the most fun characters that like when I see her, I'm
• 1:38:10
  like, Nope, I'm going, I don't even care what else is
• 1:38:12
  happening. I'm going to meet her.
• 1:38:14
  She's amazing. Oh yes, that's wonderful.
• 1:38:17
  That's such a fun. So much fun.
• 1:38:20
  They also sometimes they'll have Winnie the Pooh and characters
• 1:38:22
  from Winnie the Pooh there as well.
• 1:38:24
  I have like ones of Tigger and Winnie the Pooh and just all of
• 1:38:28
  them. So anyway, Long story short,
• 1:38:32
  this is a place to meet. A lot of really unique
• 1:38:35
  characters will pop out here and you just kind of never know who
• 1:38:38
  you're going to get, so you can't really go, you know,
• 1:38:40
  Minnie's going to be there. Usually there's like a photo
• 1:38:42
  opportunity with Minnie, but beyond that it's like Minnie and
• 1:38:46
  her friends so. Whoever is coming to the party
• 1:38:51
  that day, so they have things that it's it's a buffet so they
• 1:38:57
  have made to order omelets in it.
• 1:38:59
  They do have scrambled eggs and sausage and biscuits and gravy
• 1:39:02
  and those kinds of things. They've got the Mickey Waffles,
• 1:39:04
  breakfast potatoes, fainishes and croissants and fruit.
• 1:39:07
  It's just you're a standard kind of buffet.
• 1:39:09
  There is what's in here And so it's I would not say this is
• 1:39:12
  necessarily like for the food, I'd go for this one.
• 1:39:15
  It is definitely the atmosphere and the character that you get
• 1:39:19
  with this place is out of this world.
• 1:39:21
  So a little bit of background, just a tiny bit of trivia about
• 1:39:25
  this this place. I just want to show you some
• 1:39:28
  pictures of the Plaza Inn. For those of you who are not
• 1:39:32
  familiar with it is it's it's the end of Main Street and it
• 1:39:36
  looks towards the hub. So there is also a Plaza Inn in
• 1:39:39
  Disney World, but it's really different.
• 1:39:41
  It is not the same in any way. Used to be the Red Wagon Inn way
• 1:39:44
  back. Once Upon a Time is what it was
• 1:39:47
  originally called, but it has this gorgeous interior and if
• 1:39:51
  you feel like you are dining in luxury when you're dining in
• 1:39:57
  there, in some ways it's definitely has that luxurious
• 1:40:01
  feel. And I want you to specifically
• 1:40:02
  look at the chandeliers and the stained glass that's up on the
• 1:40:09
  ceiling because those have a history as well as some of the
• 1:40:13
  woodwork that you see, so. The stained glass ceiling at the
• 1:40:19
  entrance hall and the foyer are taken from 16 St.
• 1:40:22
  James Park in LA. So this is a mansion that was
• 1:40:24
  built for Baroness Rosa von Zimmerman in 1870.
• 1:40:29
  So all this stuff is taken from a mansion from 1870.
• 1:40:32
  Basically, Disney bought a mansion and then stripped it of
• 1:40:35
  parts to put in the Plaza Inn. That's crazy.
• 1:40:40
  Yeah, so I Walt Disney said in this restaurant, the food is
• 1:40:44
  going to be the show along with the atmosphere.
• 1:40:47
  So the Plaza Inn is also open for lunch and dinner in a buffet
• 1:40:51
  as well, but not it's not a character meal.
• 1:40:53
  So I love that he said this. This is what Walt Disney said to
• 1:40:57
  Emil Curie, who is the one who went and found all of these
• 1:41:01
  things to put in the Plaza Inn. He said the average factory
• 1:41:05
  worker or truck driver can't afford luxury for himself or his
• 1:41:08
  family. So I want you to make the
• 1:41:10
  interior really luxurious. Even our prices are going to be
• 1:41:13
  cafeteria prices. Walt wanted the Plaza Inn to be
• 1:41:16
  absolutely the most luxurious things for the average family,
• 1:41:20
  which just warms my heart, yeah. Walt gets it.
• 1:41:26
  He knew that not everybody could afford to go to those extremely
• 1:41:29
  fancy restaurants, but he wanted people to have that experience
• 1:41:33
  even if they didn't make a lot, earn a lot for a living.
• 1:41:37
  So obviously some things have changed at Disney over those
• 1:41:41
  time, but you can still experience that kind of like old
• 1:41:44
  world, kind of, you know, wealthy vibe, so to speak on for
• 1:41:50
  regular prices. So anyway, I also mentioned that
• 1:41:55
  Walt had his hideout in this restaurant on one side and then
• 1:41:58
  it moved to the other. It was basically the precursor
• 1:42:01
  to COP 33. This is where they had, he
• 1:42:03
  called it, the Palm Room. So this is where they had VI PS
• 1:42:07
  and dignitaries and what not would come and dine here with
• 1:42:09
  Walt before they opened Club 33, which Walt never actually saw.
• 1:42:13
  So this was where Walt's hideout was.
• 1:42:15
  And there's a door you can go see that's near the restaurants
• 1:42:19
  on the far, sorry, the restrooms.
• 1:42:21
  On the far side, there's a door and the exterior that looks like
• 1:42:25
  it has little like rectangles around it.
• 1:42:27
  And that was the door to the second location for his hideout.
• 1:42:31
  And it's still there. So that's a.
• 1:42:34
  Little cool. I was going to ask if it was
• 1:42:35
  like part of the restaurant or if it was somewhere separate or
• 1:42:38
  where it was. So that's really cool.
• 1:42:40
  Yeah. And it matches the door itself
• 1:42:42
  actually matches one, not exactly, because one has colored
• 1:42:46
  glass and one has clear, but it matches the door that is in the
• 1:42:49
  door in his apartment that's over the Firehouse where you go
• 1:42:53
  out to the patio that's connected to it, the door is the
• 1:42:56
  same there. So that's a door you wouldn't
• 1:42:58
  normally get to see, but you do get to see, but you don't know
• 1:43:01
  that it's special. So anyway, that makes sense.
• 1:43:04
  Right. Yes, yes, totally.
• 1:43:05
  To the average park goer. It's just a random door for
• 1:43:09
  those of you who know, you know, it's more and lots more than I'd
• 1:43:14
  say about that. But I'm going to pause myself
• 1:43:16
  there so we can move on because we've got lots of other things
• 1:43:19
  to talk about here. Yeah, so that is like Kate said,
• 1:43:23
  your one in park option at Disneyland for character dining
• 1:43:27
  is at the Plaza Inn. So let's talk about the options
• 1:43:32
  outside the park. Now as I mentioned at the
• 1:43:35
  beginning of this episode, Disney World has a lot more
• 1:43:38
  options, but they also have a lot more resorts and a lot more
• 1:43:41
  space that they can put these locations.
• 1:43:44
  So the list at Disneyland is just shorter because they don't
• 1:43:47
  have as many resorts, they don't have as many parks.
• 1:43:50
  You know, all of those things are are here to take into
• 1:43:52
  consideration. So let's talk about Outside the
• 1:43:56
  parks. Let's talk about Storytellers
• 1:43:59
  Cafe. Which is at the Grand
• 1:44:02
  Californian resort, yeah, I will say along those lines, I also
• 1:44:07
  think they do less character meals.
• 1:44:08
  Personally, I think they do less character meals at Disneyland
• 1:44:11
  because there's more locals and there's less like family,
• 1:44:14
  destination travel. And like, people are more likely
• 1:44:17
  to pay for that premium for that experience at Disney World than
• 1:44:20
  they would be at Disneyland, I think.
• 1:44:22
  Also very true. I I would agree with that.
• 1:44:24
  Yes, for sure. But back to Storyteller.
• 1:44:26
  So this is in The Grand Californian and they serve
• 1:44:29
  breakfast, breakfast slash brunch buffet for $3 signs and
• 1:44:34
  you'll see Mickey and Minnie, Chippendale and Pluto.
• 1:44:40
  And do you want to talk about the food there?
• 1:44:42
  I'll see if I can pull up some pictures.
• 1:44:44
  Yeah. So they kind of have two
• 1:44:45
  different menus that they serve based on their, what their
• 1:44:49
  buffets offer. So they have a whole section of
• 1:44:52
  cold selections, which would include things like cereal and
• 1:44:56
  milk, your yogurt, your pastries, you know, things that
• 1:44:58
  you don't have to keep warm in those kind of instances, Fruit,
• 1:45:03
  they have a smoked salmon bar, those types of things.
• 1:45:05
  And then they also have the hot selections option which is your
• 1:45:08
  your. Oatmeal, you're made to order,
• 1:45:11
  omelet, scrambled eggs, your bacon, your sausage, your Mickey
• 1:45:14
  waffles, your those types of things.
• 1:45:15
  They do have chili Verde, chilaquiles, which I think I
• 1:45:19
  said that correctly, and hash Browns and eggs Benedict and all
• 1:45:23
  sorts of other fun things, Seasonal French toast.
• 1:45:27
  And they do have cocktails, wine and beer here as well.
• 1:45:29
  So you get some cold, you get some hot, you get a little bit
• 1:45:32
  of everything, yeah. Here's Mickey looking Berry
• 1:45:39
  ready for an adventure. California he's like, I know
• 1:45:42
  he's like not quite Safari not quite like, but he they're very
• 1:45:46
  like, yeah, in their adventure gear like like, yeah, I think
• 1:45:51
  it's the canvasy looking. It's very much like if you're
• 1:45:56
  going hiking or something, you know, like this one is for
• 1:46:00
  Chippendale. They're kind of like, I'm trying
• 1:46:03
  to figure out how to explain it. Like he's got his kind of
• 1:46:06
  essential explorers, except without the, like, you know, the
• 1:46:11
  colors of the wilderness, explorers that are just regular
• 1:46:14
  explorers, but explorers, pictures of the food there as
• 1:46:19
  well. Yeah.
• 1:46:23
  So that is. Do you have anything else we
• 1:46:25
  want to share about that way Straightforward.
• 1:46:28
  I have eaten there before, a long time ago, but it was a
• 1:46:31
  different kind of meet and greet.
• 1:46:32
  So I haven't eaten at this particular one.
• 1:46:35
  And the food actually was very good when we went.
• 1:46:37
  It's just been a long time. So I can't vouch for it now.
• 1:46:40
  So yeah, but I do love it in California.
• 1:46:44
  Speaking of the Grand Californian, our next one is at
• 1:46:47
  Napa Rose, which is also in the Grand Californian, but it's in
• 1:46:50
  it's like luxury restaurant. On a side note, if you're going
• 1:46:55
  without kids and it's a special anniversary or you just really
• 1:46:59
  love to eat, make see if you can get a reservation at the chefs
• 1:47:02
  counter, which you can only get by calling the restaurant a
• 1:47:05
  couple months in advance and asking specifically requesting
• 1:47:09
  for requesting to sit out the chefs counter.
• 1:47:12
  And that's when the chef will actually prepare you a meal
• 1:47:15
  based on like they'll talk, they'll chat with you and see
• 1:47:18
  what you like and then they'll prepare you a meal based on like
• 1:47:20
  what you said. So like multi course meal and
• 1:47:23
  you'll sit right next to the kitchen looking into the kitchen
• 1:47:26
  so you're kind of in the hot seat like watching them cook all
• 1:47:28
  of the things. Sometimes they'll sit at the
• 1:47:30
  pastry counter so you can watch them prepare all the desserts.
• 1:47:33
  It's actually a really amazing experience and it's barely
• 1:47:36
  affordable for what it is. I feel like it was maybe a
• 1:47:39
  little over $100 or something when I went, Could be a little
• 1:47:41
  bit more now, but that's that's a great experience.
• 1:47:45
  It's not a character dining experience, but it's kind of a
• 1:47:47
  character. You get to see the characters in
• 1:47:48
  the kitchen. So, but for Napa Rose, to put
• 1:47:53
  it, I know so Napa Rose, they have the Princess Breakfast
• 1:47:56
  Adventures, which is very pricey, very like top tier
• 1:48:03
  pricing. They've got the characters
• 1:48:06
  rotate. They've got Mulan, Jasmine Bell,
• 1:48:08
  Cinderella, Aurora, Rapunzel, Ariel, Tiana and Pocahontas.
• 1:48:12
  And these they really, it's like to say, princesses, because it's
• 1:48:16
  whoever chose. Yeah.
• 1:48:18
  And it's like it's a good, I mean five to six to seven
• 1:48:22
  characters depending on the day. From what I saw a lot when I was
• 1:48:25
  doing kind of research on this, it looked like it was a lot of
• 1:48:29
  characters that rotate a lot and you get you get a good amount.
• 1:48:33
  Whenever you go, and I will say that I was looking at prices on
• 1:48:36
  this one in particular, it starts in the slow season at 125
• 1:48:41
  per person. That's a lot.
• 1:48:46
  So you are definitely paying. Yes, you are paying, but the I
• 1:48:52
  will say the food. The food helps that price point.
• 1:48:55
  The characters definitely help that price point, but the food
• 1:48:57
  also helps that. Price point because it is
• 1:49:00
  because it is a full 3 course meal.
• 1:49:04
  I'm like yeah, yeah, which and it looks really good.
• 1:49:07
  They've got like lobster rolls, beignets, chia pudding for the
• 1:49:10
  first course. The second course is a buffet
• 1:49:13
  style second course with Mickey waffles, eggs, bacon, fruit, Mac
• 1:49:17
  and cheese so you can get and choose what you like.
• 1:49:19
  Now the third course is a they have a large dessert menu
• 1:49:21
  featuring chocolate Princess cake pops, white chocolate
• 1:49:25
  slipper and strawberry ganache, and petite fruit tarts more so.
• 1:49:30
  I also heard that there might be a little bit of a show involved
• 1:49:35
  where they spread Pixie dust over the desserts, which sounds
• 1:49:37
  really special. That sounds fun.
• 1:49:40
  I'm guessing Edible Pixie. Dust.
• 1:49:43
  I would also doubt that, but I mean, you never know I guess.
• 1:49:48
  And I think part of the premium price is also because children
• 1:49:51
  get a lot of extra things with this.
• 1:49:53
  So you get an autograph book and a pen.
• 1:49:56
  You get a choice of a Princess crown necklace or a sword, and
• 1:50:00
  then you also get a photo portrait opportunity.
• 1:50:03
  And then adults get a special chocolate to take home.
• 1:50:05
  So it's like you get little goodie bags no matter your age
• 1:50:09
  to take home, which is I think is part of why it's a little bit
• 1:50:13
  on the steady side because they offset that cost.
• 1:50:16
  Absolutely. And I mean overall again, you're
• 1:50:19
  you're paying for the food, you're paying for the experience
• 1:50:23
  if you're paying for the goodie bags, so.
• 1:50:25
  You know the the overall question is, is it worth it?
• 1:50:28
  Well, at $125 per person, that's a question you have to decide.
• 1:50:32
  And like Kate said, this is a super fun one for special events
• 1:50:36
  or special birthdays or things like that.
• 1:50:39
  But definitely, definitely need to budget for that.
• 1:50:42
  If that's something that you want to do, yeah, for sure.
• 1:50:47
  Well, should we move on to our final, final place to eat?
• 1:50:52
  I know, I feel like we've been talking about all of these for
• 1:50:54
  forever, but there's so many good options.
• 1:50:57
  I know this is the final one. And then we have a couple of
• 1:50:59
  tips for you as well. Let's.
• 1:51:01
  Talk about Goofy's Kitchen. Goofy's Kitchen is a breakfast,
• 1:51:07
  seasonal, brunch and dinner buffet.
• 1:51:09
  Is that what that says? Yes.
• 1:51:10
  So they have year round, They have a breakfast and a dinner.
• 1:51:14
  This one was really interesting when I was researching it.
• 1:51:17
  And then they have a seasonal option for brunch.
• 1:51:20
  But it's not year round like. So right now they have a
• 1:51:23
  Halloween brunch that they serve, but that ends at the end
• 1:51:26
  of October and then at this point there's nothing to that is
• 1:51:31
  going to replace that. So they have kind of several
• 1:51:34
  different price points. When you look at that, the
• 1:51:37
  seasonal options are more. They are in that kind of $4.00
• 1:51:41
  sign category, but whereas your standard options that they have
• 1:51:46
  are that $3 sign category. So it's a little bit of both,
• 1:51:49
  depending on what experience you're choosing whenever you go.
• 1:51:52
  Yeah, this is located in the Disneyland hotel, so if you are
• 1:51:57
  in Disneyland, this would be at the end of, like Downtown
• 1:52:01
  Disney. You'd have to walk from the
• 1:52:03
  parks through Downtown Disney and then it's at the other end.
• 1:52:05
  Or if you're in Disneyland and you have Park Ticket, you can
• 1:52:08
  take the monorail out of the park down towards the Disneyland
• 1:52:11
  Hotel and it's just right around the corner.
• 1:52:14
  Characters include Goofy, Mini, Pluto, Chip, and Dale.
• 1:52:19
  And do you want to talk about the Halloween costumes?
• 1:52:22
  One that sounds really. Fun.
• 1:52:23
  Yeah, so this is brand new, something that they're doing
• 1:52:25
  this year with that seasonal option.
• 1:52:28
  And so in 20 brand new in 2023, they have it where you can wear
• 1:52:31
  like Halloween costumes and spooky clothes and get to see
• 1:52:34
  the characters in the Halloween costumes there as well.
• 1:52:37
  And again, like I mentioned, it's unfortunately the same
• 1:52:41
  menu. As the standard option.
• 1:52:44
  But you are paying that extra price point for the seasonal.
• 1:52:48
  Come on, give us some like fat waffles or something.
• 1:52:52
  Right. And I will, I will say the
• 1:52:54
  dinner did have a few slightly different options when we get to
• 1:52:58
  that, that I didn't pull the exact menu because it's going to
• 1:53:01
  change and rotate seasonally depending on what they're
• 1:53:03
  offering, but the breakfast is. Is the exact same when it comes
• 1:53:08
  to the standard option and the Halloween seasonal option, but
• 1:53:12
  you get to see spooky things and have spooky decor and they this
• 1:53:16
  year they ran that from September 21st and it goes
• 1:53:18
  through October 31st. So a little over a month that
• 1:53:22
  they ran that option and again that was something new that they
• 1:53:24
  did for this Halloween season. And I'm I'm looking at the menu
• 1:53:29
  for breakfast and it looks like you have to create your own
• 1:53:31
  omelet station. Of course, the Mickey Mouse.
• 1:53:33
  Waffles and pancakes, French toast.
• 1:53:36
  All the sausage, bacon and eggs, eggs Benedict.
• 1:53:39
  Muffins, pastries, desserts, fresh fruit.
• 1:53:42
  Build your own granola, Parfait. Goofy's favorite famous peanut
• 1:53:46
  butter pizza, which. Kind of stuff that was
• 1:53:49
  interesting. Soft serve, yogurt with toppings
• 1:53:52
  and then of course cocktails, beer and wine.
• 1:53:55
  So they have all that for breakfast and then for dinner
• 1:53:59
  they have a carving station, a fresh catch of the day, seasonal
• 1:54:03
  vegetables, salads, fruit fried shrimp, pizza, Mac and cheese
• 1:54:08
  dessert station. It seems kind of like American
• 1:54:11
  Pair is kind of what you're going for here.
• 1:54:15
  And then of course they have those specialty menus for the
• 1:54:17
  holidays, which is very typical of Disneyland in general to have
• 1:54:20
  kind of extra holiday offerings that's that's very because it's
• 1:54:24
  they have so many locals, they have to keep it fresh for the
• 1:54:26
  locals, right so. Right.
• 1:54:28
  So I just wish that they had a little bit more to offer with
• 1:54:31
  that seasonal option. But again it's it's kind of like
• 1:54:34
  they're just testing the water. So you know they're trying to
• 1:54:36
  see is this something that? People are going to come and do.
• 1:54:40
  Is this something that we should continue to offer all of those
• 1:54:43
  things or things they take into consideration?
• 1:54:45
  So I guess we'll see if they do anything for Christmas with it
• 1:54:48
  or if they just decide that it wasn't worth it.
• 1:54:50
  I guess we'll see what happens before.
• 1:54:52
  Just testing it out for now would be interesting.
• 1:54:56
  Well, I think that is all the specific restaurants that have
• 1:55:01
  character dining, but we also have some dining tips.
• 1:55:05
  If you're going to do character dining that I think that we
• 1:55:08
  should go over a little bit. Just some general tips.
• 1:55:14
  Make sure you tell your server if you're celebrating something.
• 1:55:17
  Sometimes you'll get a little extra treat or extra dessert and
• 1:55:20
  things like that. And you can when you check in
• 1:55:24
  you can like notify say like it's an anniversary or a
• 1:55:27
  birthday or just celebrating. Sometimes I've seen, I've
• 1:55:31
  actually told my server I usually kind of do both just to
• 1:55:34
  be sure because I've said birthday and celebrating and
• 1:55:38
  then I got nothing. Or like, you know, I don't
• 1:55:40
  expect things like I'm OK with like, not having things,
• 1:55:43
  honestly. But like, if it's my kid, like,
• 1:55:45
  I'm going to be like, I'm going to make sure.
• 1:55:48
  Especially you know that that location has done something in
• 1:55:51
  the past, like you know that it's something they always do.
• 1:55:54
  Or, you know, you want to make sure that, like, your kiddo gets
• 1:55:56
  in on those types of experiences.
• 1:55:59
  Yes, for sure like and also for our anniversary.
• 1:56:03
  Once at Crystal Palace we got a little heart made out of Mickey
• 1:56:06
  confetti around a cupcake for our anniversary which was really
• 1:56:10
  fun. So those two cute little things
• 1:56:12
  depending on the restaurant. Also make sure you prep your
• 1:56:16
  members of the family that are going with you for maybe not
• 1:56:18
  like Disney people for what to expect at a character meal.
• 1:56:23
  Especially if you have grandparents involved or just
• 1:56:26
  say aunts and uncles that are just not used to the Disney
• 1:56:28
  scene. Because this is really different
• 1:56:30
  dining experience than most people expect.
• 1:56:33
  It's not really a sit down and enjoy the conversation kind of
• 1:56:37
  meal. There's a lot of up and down and
• 1:56:40
  meeting characters and interruptions and then if
• 1:56:42
  there's and taking photos and if there's a buffet, there's
• 1:56:45
  running it back and forth to the buffet And it's just it can be
• 1:56:49
  also challenging if you've got Littles with the buffet.
• 1:56:53
  Not that you can't figure it out, especially if you have
• 1:56:55
  multiple adults and people can watch kids and stuff, but you,
• 1:56:57
  you know, my kids are older so they can go and get their own
• 1:57:00
  food. But take that into account if
• 1:57:02
  that's something you want to do. If you are maybe just traveling
• 1:57:06
  the two of you with your baby and like, you know, you're a
• 1:57:09
  baby. Maybe like toddler.
• 1:57:11
  Like you have to get them food and you have to get, you know,
• 1:57:13
  you food. And yeah, you know, it's it's
• 1:57:15
  doable. But it's like it's another thing
• 1:57:16
  you have to think about. Realize maybe you would prefer a
• 1:57:20
  table service. Sit down where they bring you
• 1:57:22
  food might be easier, so just keep that in mind.
• 1:57:26
  Also communicate with your server if you need to eat
• 1:57:29
  quickly and be off to something. I mean they're not miracle
• 1:57:33
  workers, they can only do so much.
• 1:57:34
  But if you know that like I've got to be at a show at X time
• 1:57:39
  because I've got tickets to something or whatever, you know,
• 1:57:41
  like are you trying to catch something?
• 1:57:44
  Just tell them, you know, like, hey, like we're just kind of on
• 1:57:47
  a time crunch. Do you mind helping us get out
• 1:57:49
  of here as quickly as possible? And they'll they'll try as much
• 1:57:52
  as well as they can. Within reason, I mean, if you're
• 1:57:55
  sitting down and your thing you're trying to get to is in 30
• 1:57:58
  minutes, it's not going to happen, no.
• 1:58:02
  But if you've got a little over an hour, that's a different
• 1:58:05
  story that you probably are going to be able to to make that
• 1:58:08
  work. So again, within reason, yeah.
• 1:58:10
  And if you'd let them know, then they'll they'll try to get
• 1:58:13
  things out sooner. But they'll also like make sure
• 1:58:15
  they drop your check without, you know, like instead of
• 1:58:17
  waiting till you're all finished and everybody looks like they're
• 1:58:20
  done, they'll drop your check early so you can pay and get out
• 1:58:22
  on time and those kinds of things.
• 1:58:23
  So and some of the character nails do include a complimentary
• 1:58:27
  photo pass photo with the purchase of the meals.
• 1:58:29
  It just depends on where you're going and what that looks like.
• 1:58:32
  Some of them in the past you've had to pay more for the photo as
• 1:58:35
  well. So it really depends on your
• 1:58:37
  location. I do have a couple of tips also
• 1:58:42
  for dining with Littles from most of my character.
• 1:58:47
  Dining was with my small children.
• 1:58:49
  So I learned you want to seat the kids where they can like
• 1:58:52
  stand, get out of their chair and stand up easily with the
• 1:58:54
  characters. Not like deep in a booth in the
• 1:58:56
  back where they all have to like climb out takes forever.
• 1:59:02
  And also you can put their high chair, kind of like in a place
• 1:59:06
  where the characters can get to them if you don't want to be
• 1:59:08
  pulling them in and out of their high chair.
• 1:59:09
  That's up to you if you want to do that or not.
• 1:59:12
  We we got tired after a while and they're just like, we're not
• 1:59:15
  getting them out again. And some of the locations the
• 1:59:19
  characters truly do come like back-to-back to back once you
• 1:59:22
  start with the first character. So like when we did Chef
• 1:59:25
  Mickey's with my kiddo when he was that little, my husband just
• 1:59:28
  kept him on his lap because we could see the other characters
• 1:59:30
  were going to be coming to us. So he just ate from my husband's
• 1:59:33
  lap for. In between we took a couple
• 1:59:35
  bites and then prepped for the next character.
• 1:59:37
  So you can kind of see. And I think at Crystal Palace
• 1:59:40
  was very similar. Like they kind of came fairly
• 1:59:42
  close together just with the way they they moved through the
• 1:59:46
  restaurant to make sure that everyone gets to see all the
• 1:59:48
  characters and all of that. So once you kind of start that
• 1:59:51
  experience, you can maybe time it so you're not having to do
• 1:59:55
  the in and out quite as much. Yes, for sure.
• 1:59:57
  And I love you mentioned, you know, having them on your lap is
• 2:00:01
  a great way to help with like the characters that might seem a
• 2:00:04
  little bit big and scary to your kids like and also mine.
• 2:00:09
  Here you can see that I put my my little little baby girl in a
• 2:00:13
  high chair and then poo just kind of like blew kisses from
• 2:00:16
  around the corner. They're so.
• 2:00:18
  Great the characters. Because I also said to the
• 2:00:21
  character, I said she's a little bit scared.
• 2:00:23
  And I just kind of even communicated that to the
• 2:00:26
  character and the handler. I'm like, she's a little bit
• 2:00:28
  scared or a little bit shy today.
• 2:00:30
  And the character then they all kind of like kept their
• 2:00:32
  distance, but they still waved and she was just like wide eyes,
• 2:00:35
  like looking at him. And when we took my son to Chef
• 2:00:39
  Mickey's, that was like his first character experience that
• 2:00:41
  we even tried with him because we weren't sure how he was going
• 2:00:45
  to do. And we kind of like the
• 2:00:47
  characters were so great about just like reading the cues and
• 2:00:51
  and going with that. Like you can see, you know, if
• 2:00:54
  if you look at the progression of the characters that we met,
• 2:00:56
  we met Mickey 1st and my my son was very much on my husband's
• 2:00:59
  lap. But by the time we got to like
• 2:01:00
  Pluto and Minnie, he was down on the ground and giving them hugs.
• 2:01:03
  So like, you know it. We eventually got to that point.
• 2:01:05
  But like the first couple, Mickey and Goofy that we met
• 2:01:08
  were so good about just they just they can read the cues.
• 2:01:11
  The more you communicate, the easier it is for them to read
• 2:01:13
  those cues. But they're just really good
• 2:01:15
  about that, too. Yeah.
• 2:01:17
  And you know, you know your children and you can kind of
• 2:01:20
  know if there's someone who might be a little bit more
• 2:01:23
  intimidated by them or might not or sometimes they might surprise
• 2:01:26
  you as well. But I think that, you know, if
• 2:01:29
  you think that your child might not be interested or you've had
• 2:01:33
  it, you've taken them to the parks in the past and they and
• 2:01:37
  and they were really scared of the characters.
• 2:01:38
  You know, take that into account that, like maybe character
• 2:01:40
  dining might not be for you in this season.
• 2:01:43
  Or maybe you can choose to kind of seek them back away from the
• 2:01:46
  characters and just like wave to the characters.
• 2:01:49
  You know, there's lots of options to not necessarily get
• 2:01:52
  up and have to hug them or be really close to them.
• 2:01:54
  If that's just like not for your child, yes.
• 2:01:57
  And there are definitely ways that like you still, if you
• 2:01:59
  still want your kids to experience that, like you should
• 2:02:01
  feel comfortable taking them because there are ways that
• 2:02:04
  they're going to be able to interact and still have a good
• 2:02:06
  experience. Yes, 100% for sure.
• 2:02:08
  I'm just like, if you want to spend the money, but you want
• 2:02:11
  your kid to interact with the characters and they're not there
• 2:02:14
  yet, maybe wait a year or two before you do it again.
• 2:02:19
  And also the same thing we've talked about in our special
• 2:02:21
  needs episode. If your child has special needs
• 2:02:23
  as well, make sure you communicate that with the
• 2:02:26
  handler and then they'll do. They usually do a fabulous job
• 2:02:30
  of of a comedy. Whatever it is that you need for
• 2:02:32
  your child or yourself or whoever you're travelling with,
• 2:02:37
  some other notes with. Dining with Littles, kids under
• 2:02:40
  three are free at character meals, but you should also count
• 2:02:44
  them in your reservation number so that they have enough room
• 2:02:46
  for them at the table so they still count for numbers.
• 2:02:50
  And I feel like I'm trying to remember if Cinderella's Royal
• 2:02:53
  table you had to pay for them or not.
• 2:02:55
  I don't think so, because they're under 3.
• 2:02:58
  I don't think so either. But you do have to see.
• 2:03:01
  I'd have to look that into that because it was like because you
• 2:03:04
  do have to pay in advance and you have to pay for a certain
• 2:03:06
  number, but I wonder if they I think you have to assign your
• 2:03:10
  people in advance to. Do you know how like when you go
• 2:03:13
  through the reservation process, you can assign who your other
• 2:03:16
  members are? I wonder if you have to assign
• 2:03:18
  them ahead of time as well, like in that whole process at the
• 2:03:22
  same time. It could be or they might ask
• 2:03:25
  you the names of the ages of the people at your party.
• 2:03:28
  That's possibility. I just hadn't booked one for a
• 2:03:31
  child that was under three, so I'm not sure.
• 2:03:35
  Also other tips is have lots of wipes on hand for messy faces
• 2:03:40
  and stuff because you want to be taking photos and maybe you want
• 2:03:43
  messy face photos, that's fine. But if you're someone who's
• 2:03:46
  like, like, prefers, like clean face.
• 2:03:48
  I like having just a thing of wipes sitting on the table to
• 2:03:50
  just easily kind of wipe things down before the characters come.
• 2:03:53
  And it's great for sticky hands too, because they if they're
• 2:03:57
  going to give characters hugs and stuff, it's just like, I
• 2:04:00
  don't know. For me, I'm like, I just want to
• 2:04:02
  be polite and not make their costumes all sticky.
• 2:04:07
  I mean, that's fair. I think that's a valid concern
• 2:04:10
  to have. Also be mindful of what is in
• 2:04:14
  your photo. If like these photos are like,
• 2:04:17
  you know, some people are more cavalry about this, like I don't
• 2:04:19
  really care. It's just for me and for fun,
• 2:04:21
  you know? But if you're like, I really
• 2:04:23
  want this to be something I can share or frame or something,
• 2:04:25
  just as it more of a photography point of view, you know, be
• 2:04:28
  aware of what's behind you, Be aware of like if there's a bunch
• 2:04:30
  of dirty dish dishes on the table, just try to stand in a
• 2:04:33
  spot or maybe or to frame it so that it's better, you know?
• 2:04:36
  It's very easy when there's so much happening in there, to
• 2:04:39
  forget to, like, pay attention to what is in your picture.
• 2:04:42
  Absolutely, absolutely. It's funny because I read that
• 2:04:45
  note that you put and then when I was looking at my pictures
• 2:04:48
  from Chef Mickeys, I was like, oh, we clearly didn't care
• 2:04:52
  because we've got pictures of like, all of our dishes, empty
• 2:04:54
  dishes and stuff. Well, it's fine.
• 2:04:57
  I think I have one with my daughter that has almost like
• 2:05:00
  shrimp shells in front of her. And I was like, you know, I look
• 2:05:02
  back on that now and I was like, oh, well, she really, she loves
• 2:05:05
  eating shrimp. So that drives, you know, like
• 2:05:07
  her whole life. So but you know, that's just,
• 2:05:11
  that's more personal preference. You know it's not a must do, but
• 2:05:16
  and I think the next thing that I see is super important that
• 2:05:18
  strollers. Strollers are not allowed in the
• 2:05:22
  restaurants. So you will have to park them
• 2:05:25
  outside or right outside. The entrance to depending on
• 2:05:28
  where you are will depend on where you park.
• 2:05:30
  Like at Chef Mickey's, they have a whole row outside.
• 2:05:32
  The restaurant you park at. Crystal Palace has parking right
• 2:05:36
  outside the door. You know, it just depends on
• 2:05:37
  where you're going. But you will not find stroller.
• 2:05:41
  You will not be able to bring your stroller inside.
• 2:05:44
  No. And if you're going to be in the
• 2:05:46
  restaurant for a while, which is is likely because they're
• 2:05:49
  usually longer dining experiences.
• 2:05:51
  If I if you're in Florida in particular, just make sure you
• 2:05:56
  put a cover over your stroller before you go in to dine.
• 2:05:59
  Because there's so many times I have walked outside and it
• 2:06:02
  rained while we were there and poured and our stroller is
• 2:06:05
  absolutely soaked. So don't do that.
• 2:06:09
  Put a cover over your stroller just in case it might rain
• 2:06:13
  because that weather moves through so quickly in Florida
• 2:06:15
  and it can just rain on the drop of a hat.
• 2:06:17
  So better to not have a soaked stroller to have to put your
• 2:06:21
  pants back into, right? And also think about what from
• 2:06:24
  your stroller you may need during your meal too.
• 2:06:28
  Because like for us for example, the way that we pack our bags,
• 2:06:31
  and I've talked about this previously with the way we pack
• 2:06:33
  our bags. Like I would need to make sure
• 2:06:35
  we brought our entire bag in with us because that would have
• 2:06:37
  like the changes of clothes and the wipes and things like that.
• 2:06:39
  Like if we had spills, if we had accidents, if we needed the
• 2:06:43
  wipes to clean hands and faces, that's all in that bag that
• 2:06:46
  typically would stay in our stroller.
• 2:06:48
  But in this type of an instance, I'm going to want to bring it in
• 2:06:50
  with me. Yeah, that's a good point.
• 2:06:54
  Other notes that I have, I have kind of just a little bit of
• 2:06:57
  character dining etiquette. Just keep an eye out if a
• 2:07:00
  character is headed your way, just be mindful of like that
• 2:07:04
  they might be coming soon. So don't use that moment to then
• 2:07:07
  get up and go get something from the buffet, because it's.
• 2:07:10
  You know, because then you have to like maybe call them, call a
• 2:07:12
  member of your party back, like get back over here so we can
• 2:07:15
  get, you know, meet Nikki or whatever.
• 2:07:16
  You know, just just kind of, it just speeds things along for
• 2:07:18
  everybody just to be respectful that way.
• 2:07:21
  And also prep any, you know, autograph books or cameras or
• 2:07:24
  phones or whatever you've got ahead of time just so that
• 2:07:26
  they're out and ready. So you're not trying to dig in
• 2:07:28
  your bag and making characters wait.
• 2:07:31
  That's just kind of a politeness for everybody else who's also
• 2:07:34
  waiting for characters to come to their table.
• 2:07:36
  And also just to remind your kids about character etiquette,
• 2:07:39
  you know, which I think is good outside of character dining.
• 2:07:42
  Just anytime, you know, remind them to be kind of characters,
• 2:07:45
  you know, hitting and pulling and things like that.
• 2:07:47
  And I always make sure my kids hands were clean.
• 2:07:50
  That's maybe just a thing for me, I don't know.
• 2:07:52
  But and then also saying thank you, you know I think it's a
• 2:07:55
  good thing just as a as a mom thing to remind them to do.
• 2:07:59
  And I will say along with that to just making sure that your
• 2:08:02
  kiddos are you're, you're reminding them to be patient
• 2:08:05
  because they're going to see the character at the table next to
• 2:08:08
  you and they're going to want to run over there and give hugs and
• 2:08:11
  be super excited. So just reminding them like, I
• 2:08:14
  know you're so excited, it's almost our turn.
• 2:08:17
  We've got to let those other friends have their turn first.
• 2:08:19
  Our turn is soon. You know, just kind of coaching
• 2:08:22
  them through that too can be helpful because I know there
• 2:08:24
  have been times where I have, like, my kids, like, OK, it's
• 2:08:27
  not going to turn it. Hold on, We gotta wait.
• 2:08:33
  Yeah, that's it is true like you can't approach the characters or
• 2:08:39
  you shouldn't approach the characters if they're not at
• 2:08:40
  your table. So that's being respectful to
• 2:08:42
  those people that are out of your tables.
• 2:08:44
  That's a good point, Jackie. Yeah, so absolutely.
• 2:08:47
  And it's hard. I get it like as as an adult,
• 2:08:50
  I'm like, I just been right there.
• 2:08:51
  They're right there. It's so true.
• 2:08:56
  Practice our patience and wait our time.
• 2:08:59
  It's true. I have.
• 2:09:01
  It's really interesting with character dining as we kind of
• 2:09:03
  wrap up the section, I think that character dining is
• 2:09:07
  probably not one of my husband's favorites because he really
• 2:09:10
  doesn't like our conversation getting interrupted like every
• 2:09:12
  couple minutes. He's a good sport about it and
• 2:09:15
  we still go and what not, but he's like he wants to sit down
• 2:09:17
  and like really enjoy our meal and that's not what this is
• 2:09:21
  about. So much as it's beating the
• 2:09:24
  characters, so you know, having expectations going intuitive
• 2:09:28
  like this is, this is what this meal is about.
• 2:09:30
  We can maybe have other. It's amazing.
• 2:09:33
  I like characters called out. I will say it's saying he
• 2:09:39
  doesn't like character. I wasn't saying you don't like
• 2:09:41
  characters. OK, well we know that Elliot is
• 2:09:46
  is a big food foodie and likes to enjoy his meals, so he likes
• 2:09:51
  to have that whole experience and the characters are can be
• 2:09:56
  viewed as a bit deceptive at times, but you just got to know
• 2:10:02
  that that's what you're get getting when you go into.
• 2:10:04
  It he's laughing, so we're OK You know he's in here.
• 2:10:14
  That's too funny. So overall, I mean the the
• 2:10:18
  overall question is it worth it? There's so many factors that go
• 2:10:21
  into it. What characters are you wanting
• 2:10:24
  to see? What is your price point?
• 2:10:25
  What is your budget look like with all of that?
• 2:10:27
  Where are you going to be? Do you have time in your
• 2:10:30
  schedule based on your other priorities for the day?
• 2:10:32
  Those are all things to consider when determining whether or not
• 2:10:35
  it's worth it. Our goal here, like I mentioned
• 2:10:37
  at the beginning, was just to give you the information, which
• 2:10:41
  I feel like Kate and I are very good at, giving you the
• 2:10:43
  information to let you decide whether or not it is worth it
• 2:10:48
  for your particular family on this particular trip with this
• 2:10:51
  particular itinerary and group of people.
• 2:10:55
  Yeah, I and I think it is you know personal preference too.
• 2:10:59
  And you might go to one and be like this is the best thing ever
• 2:11:02
  and then next trip schedule like all the character meals and or
• 2:11:05
  you might go to one and be like it was great but maybe like it
• 2:11:08
  was it was a little bit you know.
• 2:11:10
  It wasn't for us or whatever, you know.
• 2:11:12
  And then next time you don't schedule when you schedule table
• 2:11:14
  service or just quick service or you know, so I think it's
• 2:11:17
  sometimes you have to try it to see if it's for you or not.
• 2:11:20
  And but it is really fun to get that extra special character
• 2:11:24
  interaction where you get more time with them and you don't
• 2:11:26
  feel like you're still a little bit of a time crunch because
• 2:11:29
  they've got to move on to another table.
• 2:11:31
  But you have a little bit extra time.
• 2:11:32
  So you can take a little few more family photos and it feels
• 2:11:35
  more relaxed in that way. Yeah.
• 2:11:38
  So anyway, I I love character dining.
• 2:11:41
  I just, I think it's a really interesting, unique experience
• 2:11:45
  that Disney offers and I'm glad that we got to explore all the
• 2:11:49
  different options. Now I want to try a couple of
• 2:11:51
  these quite honestly. Well and we are like we also we
• 2:11:55
  love character meals but we our budget is just not to the point
• 2:11:58
  where we can do them as often as we would like.
• 2:12:00
  So it's kind of like an every other or every third trip for us
• 2:12:03
  because we when we go, we try to just, we try to get as much
• 2:12:07
  dinner in the parks as we can. And that's just the way we do
• 2:12:10
  and the way that we budget. We tend to save more on food by
• 2:12:13
  packing lunches and eating breakfasts in our rooms and
• 2:12:16
  those types of things. And even when my husband and I
• 2:12:18
  were just planning for our upcoming trip in November, it
• 2:12:21
  was OK, we're going to lay out our options.
• 2:12:23
  We're going to try a few new places, but we're still only
• 2:12:27
  going to eat out and purchase one meal a day and the other two
• 2:12:32
  are going to be in the room. So like, we're, you know, that's
• 2:12:34
  just how we do our budget. And so when we look at character
• 2:12:38
  meals, it's like okay, let's look at the price, let's look at
• 2:12:41
  what option we want for the price that we want.
• 2:12:44
  And some of those buffet options are what we end up with because
• 2:12:47
  that tends to be on that lower end of everything.
• 2:12:50
  When we, the year we went to Topolino's was a splurge for us
• 2:12:53
  because that's not something that we typically will do.
• 2:12:56
  But it's one of those things where now that we've been there,
• 2:12:58
  it's like, OK, if we can get Topolino's work, we'll figure it
• 2:13:01
  out. I.
• 2:13:03
  Hope you do. I hope you do.
• 2:13:04
  And you know, we'll see. You know a lot of the money
• 2:13:08
  saving things that we've talked about.
• 2:13:10
  For for dining, like splitting meals and stuff you can't do at
• 2:13:13
  these places because it's a per person charge and so that it
• 2:13:16
  really is a splurge in like every sense of the word in a lot
• 2:13:20
  of ways, especially those top tier ones like Cinderella's
• 2:13:23
  Royal Table. Like, honestly, I think that
• 2:13:27
  everybody should try Cinderella's Royal Table once.
• 2:13:30
  But it's so expensive. I can't be like, you have to do
• 2:13:33
  this. Like I don't recommend it for
• 2:13:34
  everybody because it's just, I don't want to be like, well,
• 2:13:38
  sorry, you can't afford it, but it's the thing you should do.
• 2:13:40
  Like it's it's really expensive. So it's okay if you can't.
• 2:13:44
  You can't afford these character dining meals.
• 2:13:47
  You can still see many of these characters outside of those
• 2:13:50
  places. So don't feel like, you know,
• 2:13:53
  oh, I'm missing out on it. And the major Disney experience
• 2:13:56
  fight and like a lot of these, it's just it's a good food with
• 2:13:58
  the characters that you see in the parks.
• 2:14:00
  So and I will say this is not also not the best food on
• 2:14:04
  property either. So, you know, a lot of it has
• 2:14:06
  really good food. But like some of them, their
• 2:14:09
  options, they're just, it's good food.
• 2:14:11
  It's not like amazing top tier, you know, level.
• 2:14:15
  So like Kate said, you know, it is what it is.
• 2:14:18
  And The thing is too, if you're someone that's like, OK, I
• 2:14:21
  really want to try to save for this.
• 2:14:23
  We have a whole episode on how to save money going to Disney.
• 2:14:29
  Like we squirt that. It's like we have a whole
• 2:14:31
  episode. Yeah, a whole episode.
• 2:14:35
  So if you need more tips on what you can do to save money, like
• 2:14:40
  discounted gift cards and where to to to splurge and where to
• 2:14:45
  not and those types of things, go check out that episode.
• 2:14:48
  We went over several different options on how to save and maybe
• 2:14:53
  that will help you. And yes, Maria makes a really
• 2:14:55
  good point on my side. Should you just do one per trip
• 2:14:57
  if you choose to, Or like I said, we don't even do one per
• 2:15:00
  trip. The last two trips we've taken,
• 2:15:03
  we haven't done any character meals or table service, so you
• 2:15:07
  just got to kind of plan accordingly.
• 2:15:10
  Yeah, and I I think you know it also.
• 2:15:12
  You have to account that it takes a lot of time as well.
• 2:15:14
  You know, budget not only your money but also your time.
• 2:15:17
  These meals are not in and out quick service meals.
• 2:15:21
  You want to take your time. Sometimes it takes a little
• 2:15:23
  while for all the characters to get to you if you want to see
• 2:15:26
  all of them. So take an account that this is,
• 2:15:28
  this is like a an investment in time which is also time away
• 2:15:32
  from all the other things you could be doing.
• 2:15:34
  So we don't do them often for that reason alone, not even
• 2:15:38
  financial, but just like. Take so much time to do it, and
• 2:15:41
  there's a lot of other things you want to go do instead.
• 2:15:43
  So right, take that and I mean I would say the majority of these
• 2:15:47
  places are hour and a half to two hours minimum of of the
• 2:15:51
  experience to make sure you see all the characters, you eat all
• 2:15:54
  your food, you know all of that. And Maria again made another
• 2:15:58
  good point, they go on and off day.
• 2:15:59
  Yeah. So if you if you have a non park
• 2:16:01
  day, that's the perfect day to do one of these outside of the
• 2:16:05
  park options. Or if you've got maybe two days
• 2:16:07
  in one park, you could do one of those inside the park options if
• 2:16:10
  you're concerned about time and whether or not you can be able
• 2:16:12
  to fit in everything else as well.
• 2:16:14
  Yeah, we like to do them at the end of the week because we're so
• 2:16:17
  tired by that point. We want to sit down for two
• 2:16:19
  hours at the end of the week. It feels like you're, like,
• 2:16:22
  hamstringing yourself and you're like, I want to go, I want to go
• 2:16:25
  on the rides. Oh, we have to sit here and
• 2:16:27
  wait. And it's frustrating, but at the
• 2:16:29
  end of the week, you're like, Nah, I'm good.
• 2:16:30
  Maybe I'll sit here a little longer.
• 2:16:35
  Right. Exactly.
• 2:16:36
  Exactly. So yeah, all very good points.
• 2:16:38
  And again, if you can do them, great.
• 2:16:40
  If you can't, maybe in a couple trips you'll be able to.
• 2:16:43
  Yeah, well, I think that wraps up our character dying portion
• 2:16:47
  of this episode. Should we go on to our our new
• 2:16:51
  segment called Ask the Moms? So today on Ask the Moms our
• 2:16:59
  question, So my family is split on what types of attractions we
• 2:17:04
  want to do. How does that work with our
• 2:17:07
  Genie Plus and our itinerary? Split, split like they're not
• 2:17:12
  sure. Like they're like certain
• 2:17:14
  certain members want to do, like the thrill rides where other
• 2:17:18
  members do not. That type of split.
• 2:17:21
  Oh, so how does that work with Genie Plus and with planning our
• 2:17:25
  the itinerary for the day, just the.
• 2:17:28
  Question. I know how to do it with without
• 2:17:32
  Genie Plus. Do you want to answer the Genie
• 2:17:34
  Plus portion And then maybe I'll do another option.
• 2:17:36
  OK, yeah. So Genie Plus is very fluid and
• 2:17:42
  flexible in that aspect of of Genie Plus because you can
• 2:17:47
  individualize everyone's bookings.
• 2:17:50
  Now the tricky thing with that becomes getting the times to
• 2:17:53
  align or making the times all make sense.
• 2:17:55
  So let's say you've got a family of five and two want to do
• 2:17:59
  thrill rides and three want to do.
• 2:18:01
  Just like the slow moving dark ride type attractions you can
• 2:18:06
  easily book the two for. Let's say we're at Magic
• 2:18:09
  Kingdom, you can easily book the two for Space Mountain and Big
• 2:18:13
  Thunder Mountain and seven dwarves and all those types of
• 2:18:15
  things where you book the three for all of the other rides.
• 2:18:20
  The tricky thing will become, you're then looking at two
• 2:18:23
  different times that you can book because you've essentially
• 2:18:27
  you're essentially running two completely separate days at that
• 2:18:30
  point in time, right? So you want to make sure that my
• 2:18:35
  best advice to you, if that's something that you need to do
• 2:18:37
  with your GE Plus is try to align your times as much as
• 2:18:41
  possible and try to align your rides as much as possible.
• 2:18:44
  So for example, if you're someone who wants to, let's
• 2:18:47
  let's say the two want to go on Space Mountain, send your three
• 2:18:51
  to somewhere like Buzz Lightyear.
• 2:18:53
  That's really close by. That way you can kind of all
• 2:18:56
  head there together. You're tapping in similar times
• 2:18:59
  and then you're meeting up again when you're done.
• 2:19:01
  That type of thing. Let's say you want the two want
• 2:19:04
  to go on Big Thunder Mountain and the three don't pick a ride
• 2:19:08
  that's nearby. Big Thunder Big Thunder's a
• 2:19:10
  little bit off the way, so you're going to have to come in,
• 2:19:13
  in the park, I know. But you could do something like
• 2:19:16
  pirates. You could do something like if
• 2:19:18
  you, you know, you could do something up further like on a
• 2:19:22
  mansion. It's a little further of a walk
• 2:19:24
  with Big Thunder, but just look at your map and kind of plan it
• 2:19:28
  accordingly. So that way you're going to
• 2:19:30
  similar parts of the park because that's going to help you
• 2:19:33
  be able to then meet up to go. Maybe you all want to go on
• 2:19:38
  Peter Pan. So you want to make sure that
• 2:19:40
  you're in a in a location that is going to make sense that you
• 2:19:43
  can all meet up and then you can all book your Peter Pan times
• 2:19:46
  all together. Because I would assume if you're
• 2:19:48
  traveling together, there are probably rides you also want to
• 2:19:50
  do together. So aligning your times and
• 2:19:53
  aligning those types of things. Yeah, exactly.
• 2:19:55
  Maria, if you're one, if you're 2 want to do mine trains, send
• 2:19:58
  your other three to poo or to a Little Mermaid or some something
• 2:20:02
  close by teacups, you know, those types of things.
• 2:20:04
  So that way you can your proximity is close and your
• 2:20:07
  timing is close. That's the easiest way to do it.
• 2:20:11
  Yeah, that's I think I agree 100%.
• 2:20:16
  And I would say if one of you has Genie Plus and is going
• 2:20:20
  towards something like let's say let's use Big Thunder again.
• 2:20:25
  So let's say if you. Don't want to use GD Plus for
• 2:20:31
  both of you, but you know this, this group wants to go on Big
• 2:20:34
  Thunder, but the other one doesn't.
• 2:20:36
  You could go to like Country Bear Jamboree or whatever.
• 2:20:39
  Just do something nearby that doesn't require GD Plus while
• 2:20:43
  you're waiting because there are a fair amount of attractions
• 2:20:45
  that don't require that. Or maybe you know Small World if
• 2:20:49
  it's slower, it's like sometimes it's close, you know, 10 minute
• 2:20:52
  wait or whatever, you know. So you could do that while the
• 2:20:54
  other person is on something that's that's bigger and I think
• 2:20:57
  that that. Just finding something really
• 2:20:59
  fun to do away writing sometimes it doesn't even have to be an
• 2:21:01
  attraction. Sometimes you grab a snack or
• 2:21:03
  like play on a play structure and like depending on what park
• 2:21:06
  you're in. So I that's usually what we do
• 2:21:09
  if. So that way you're.
• 2:21:12
  What you book for your Junior Plus next, you don't even have
• 2:21:15
  to worry about like them, like the windows lining up or like
• 2:21:18
  you know this. These people are done with that
• 2:21:20
  ride and now we can all book something that we're all
• 2:21:23
  eligible, right? Right.
• 2:21:25
  And just make sure if you do that, that you're only booking
• 2:21:28
  for the people that are going to physically use their card or
• 2:21:31
  their Magic PIN or their phone or whatever to tap in.
• 2:21:33
  Because if you have lingering passes that don't get tapped in
• 2:21:37
  for the people who didn't ride, it becomes more complicated
• 2:21:39
  because then you got to cancel stuff before you can book and
• 2:21:42
  all that. So just you just got to make
• 2:21:45
  sure you're really careful about that.
• 2:21:46
  And if you're someone who is trying to do that and you know
• 2:21:50
  you're going to have to do that on your your park days, send me
• 2:21:54
  a message. I would love to help you hash
• 2:21:57
  that all out and figure that all out.
• 2:21:59
  That is what I love to do. I love to help people plan their
• 2:22:01
  park days. So I'm more than happy to sit
• 2:22:04
  down and help you figure out what makes the most sense for
• 2:22:07
  your particular situation. Yeah.
• 2:22:10
  And I believe we do have an episode coming up somewhat
• 2:22:12
  relatively soon where we're going to talk about split
• 2:22:15
  groups, split parties they are. Let me figure out where that is.
• 2:22:19
  Do you want to talk about what you would do anything different
• 2:22:23
  without using Genie Plus? No, probably It'd be similar,
• 2:22:29
  you know, if you had to wait, but you would have to do more
• 2:22:31
  rides. Because you know, if you didn't
• 2:22:33
  have Genie Plus and you had to wait for a long time, if it
• 2:22:36
  wasn't, say, first thing in the morning, it might be 60 minutes
• 2:22:40
  or whatever, you know, 4560 minutes before they're done with
• 2:22:43
  that large attraction. So then you know you you have
• 2:22:45
  more options that way. Maybe you go see some
• 2:22:47
  characters, maybe you sit down for a show.
• 2:22:49
  Maybe like, you know, find some things to do.
• 2:22:52
  And it might be two or three rides instead of just one, you
• 2:22:56
  know? But I pick the things that you
• 2:22:57
  think those people who are on that ride have no interest in
• 2:23:00
  doing, is my best advice. Yeah.
• 2:23:03
  And I I literally have been in that situation.
• 2:23:06
  So the trip that we took where we just saw those pictures in
• 2:23:09
  our episode of my My Kiddo Meeting Mickey, that particular
• 2:23:13
  instance was the first time we had visited the park since
• 2:23:15
  Flight of Passage opened in Animal Kingdom.
• 2:23:18
  At that point it was not. There was no individual
• 2:23:21
  lightning lane. There was none of that at that
• 2:23:24
  moment in time. So my husband and our two
• 2:23:28
  friends we were traveling with were wanting to do flight a
• 2:23:31
  passage. So they rope dropped flight a
• 2:23:33
  passage. I was 8 months pregnant and also
• 2:23:36
  had my toddler so I did not go to follow passage.
• 2:23:40
  And so my son and I just enjoyed.
• 2:23:43
  We walked around Pandora, he played the drums in Pandora.
• 2:23:47
  We went and walked around all of the animal trails.
• 2:23:50
  We went into vinyl land and did Triceratops spin and just and
• 2:23:55
  saw we met Chip and Dale and you know, like we did all those like
• 2:23:59
  those types of little things. But there were a couple
• 2:24:01
  instances where like I would text my husband like, hey, is
• 2:24:05
  this OK if we do this without you?
• 2:24:08
  Like, I want to make sure that you're OK without, you know,
• 2:24:10
  with us doing this without you. And he'd be like, yeah, yeah, go
• 2:24:13
  ahead. And then some of the things were
• 2:24:14
  like, we're going to do this, but we'll come back and do it
• 2:24:16
  with you again like a second time too.
• 2:24:19
  But yeah, communicating those types of things I think is super
• 2:24:22
  important when it comes to that too a. 100%, I agree.
• 2:24:26
  Well, this episode was a lot of fun to go over all these
• 2:24:29
  different characters and opportunities to dine in all
• 2:24:33
  these different places, both Disneyland and Disney World.
• 2:24:35
  Do you have any final thoughts here, Jackie, as we wrap up, are
• 2:24:39
  we talking about what we're doing next week?
• 2:24:40
  Let's talk about what we're doing next.
• 2:24:43
  We are going to be. I'm excited for this one.
• 2:24:45
  We are going to be covering a topic fighting holiday crowds at
• 2:24:49
  the parks and like it's like so I know, right.
• 2:24:55
  So I think that one will be good.
• 2:24:56
  So that is our next topic coming up.
• 2:24:59
  And again, you can always find our previous episodes and all of
• 2:25:04
  our other content. We do pull clips from those
• 2:25:05
  episodes and things like that to post on our other content.
• 2:25:08
  You can find us on Instagram, on YouTube, on Facebook, on all of
• 2:25:13
  We are everywhere. But we do primarily kind of redo
• 2:25:21
  our lives on here on TikTok and and record our podcast this way.
• 2:25:24
  So that is the best way to get to get the info first.
• 2:25:28
  If you're someone that wants to know immediately, right away,
• 2:25:30
  you can find us here on TikTok on Thursday nights.
• 2:25:34
  Yeah, and we do have also Mom St.
• 2:25:36
  Merch and Jackie and I are both wearing our Mom St.
• 2:25:38
  USA shirts, but we've got hoodies and long sleeves and all
• 2:25:41
  those kinds of things and stickers.
• 2:25:43
  We've got a lot of Mom St. Merch and some new Dad with a
• 2:25:46
  plan and Mom with a Plan shirts that we just released as well.
• 2:25:50
  That is actually over on my website, disneysthesurround.com.
• 2:25:53
  There's Mr. Lincoln bio for that, for our merch.
• 2:25:56
  And I also do want to mention because I don't, I don't often
• 2:25:59
  talk about it on here, but I feel like I should mention it,
• 2:26:02
  that you know, Jackie is a travel consultant.
• 2:26:06
  I am a content creator, but I'm also an author.
• 2:26:09
  So I have published 2 books that are on Amazon.
• 2:26:12
  One is a nonfiction that is called.
• 2:26:17
  A glimpse of the magic finding ourselves in the Disney story.
• 2:26:20
  And it's more of a collection of writings about how we experience
• 2:26:24
  the Disney parks and including some obscure Disney history in
• 2:26:28
  it as well. So that's a nonfiction.
• 2:26:30
  And then I I just published a recently published my first in a
• 2:26:35
  series of fiction books. This one's called where the
• 2:26:38
  Firefly stance is based on Disney Live streamers who are
• 2:26:41
  history nerds who. Fall in love in the shadow of
• 2:26:44
  Seeking Beauty Castle. But with one of them hiding a
• 2:26:46
  dangerous secret, their fairy tale romance might just unravel
• 2:26:49
  into an unhappily ever after. So it is a romantic suspense.
• 2:26:53
  But a set of The Disney Park starring Leah Me to the Magic
• 2:26:56
  and Lucas Disneyard, these two creators in my book.
• 2:27:01
  So it's It is a series I'm working on the second writing
• 2:27:04
  the second one right now. But those are both available on
• 2:27:07
  Amazon, also in Barnes and Noble, both in digital.
• 2:27:11
  And in print and Glimpse of the Magic does have an Audible
• 2:27:15
  version as well. So if you'd like to hear me read
• 2:27:18
  my book, you can do that. And if you're not sure if you
• 2:27:22
  want to, you want to hear Kate because she's got the perfect
• 2:27:27
  voice over audio book voice if I've ever heard one.
• 2:27:30
  Oh, thanks, Jackie. I appreciate that.
• 2:27:32
  And I will mention Kate talked about merch.
• 2:27:35
  I do want to remind you subscribers to our Mom St.
• 2:27:38
  account you have your subscribe a specific code for 20% off of a
• 2:27:45
  Mom St. Merch item in your subscriber
• 2:27:47
  note, so check that out if you are a subscriber.
• 2:27:50
  If you are just a podcast listener, I'll give you a bonus
• 2:27:53
  time to hear this code that we've got on our website for you
• 2:27:58
  and that is Mom St. 10. So Mom St. and the number 10
• 2:28:01
  will get you 10% off a Mom St. Merch item on Kate's website as
• 2:28:05
  well. So if you are wanting to grab a
• 2:28:07
  shirt or a hoodie for chilly or weather that's coming, hopefully
• 2:28:12
  it's been really warm in Ohio and I'm over it. 77 Here today I
• 2:28:17
  was like, what is that? It was in the 80s.
• 2:28:19
  Here today. It's October.
• 2:28:23
  It's too. I don't know what Ohio is doing.
• 2:28:25
  It's it's fine. It's fine.
• 2:28:26
  We're fine. I'm not going to talk about it
• 2:28:27
  anymore because it just makes me sad because I want fall.
• 2:28:30
  I want to wear my spooky hoodie that I made last year.
• 2:28:33
  Please come on. Me too.
• 2:28:36
  I want to curl up with a good book and a fireplace and a like
• 2:28:41
  nice warm blanket. That's what I want.
• 2:28:44
  All I want to like exactly exactly.
• 2:28:47
  So yes, utilize those codes. They are good through the month
• 2:28:51
  of October. If you would like to grab some
• 2:28:54
  some fun merch off of Kate's website.
• 2:28:58
  Yeah, so Disney sisteron.com, that's there's also information
• 2:29:01
  there about all all of my books as well and links and things so
• 2:29:04
  important. Thank you everybody for joining
• 2:29:07
  us for this episode of Mom St. USA.
• 2:29:09
  It's been so fun to talk about character dining with you guys
• 2:29:12
  and all the different options that are available and also some
• 2:29:15
  like what's worth it? Is it worth it?
• 2:29:17
  Is it not having that discussion as well?
• 2:29:20
  We really appreciate you guys being along on this journey with
• 2:29:22
  us. And Jackie, do you have any
• 2:29:24
  final thoughts as we wrap up here?
• 2:29:26
  It's just been fun to chat about our personal experiences and
• 2:29:30
  kind of give you all the info to help you better make those
• 2:29:33
  decisions. And we hope that it was helpful
• 2:29:35
  to you and that you feel more informed.
• 2:29:37
  So that way on your next trip you will know exactly what you
• 2:29:40
  want to do when it comes to character meals.
• 2:29:43
  Absolutely, 100%. Well, thank you everybody for
• 2:29:46
  being with us on this journey through the character dining and
• 2:29:49
  we will see you next time on Monster USA.
• 2:29:53
  Everybody have a great night. Have a great night everybody.
• 2:29:55
  See ya. Bye.