Disney World 2017 Travel Blog Part Two

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Travel — “To go on or as if on a trip or tour.”
-Merriam Webster’s Dictionary





I’m back with the second part of my Walt Disney World Summer 2017 trip recap!

Day 5:  Hollywood Studios and My Favorite Dinner Ever!

For breakfast today, my parents and I wanted to try Kona Café at the Polynesian, but we couldn’t find any reservations so we ended up at the Grand Floridian Café.  The Café has been one of our go-to nicer breakfast spots since the first time we stayed at the Grand Floridian.  This time, I tried the gluten free pancakes, and they were so yummy and filling.  Honestly, I recommend splitting them because they give you four giant pancakes.  My mom got the quiche, and my dad got French toast, which they both really liked.  After we finished, we were on our way to Hollywood Studios.

The first ride we went on is definitely my mom’s favorite ride at Disney World, Toy Story Mania!.  We got to go on the new track, and the entrance to it makes you feel like you’re actually in Andy’s room as you go through his door and wait in line next to his dressers.  My dad won, of course, and rubbed it in for the rest of the trip.  That was really the only ride we had FastPasses for, but when it was announced The Great Movie Ride was closing, I just had to go on it one last time.  I honestly almost cried getting off of it because I really liked the only ride that took you directly into the movies; hopefully, the new ride has a similar vibe.  After getting off the Great Movie Ride, we took the opportunity to go see Olaf because there was basically no line.  Since we typically see Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, we decided to see a different show there this trip, Beauty and the Beast.  The show is a great condensed version of the movie, but I think it’s funny they still have the same costumes from when I saw the show at 3 years old.

My parents and I always go to church when we’re at Disney so after having a relaxing afternoon and getting dressed up, we took a taxi to the church.  Pro Tip:  it’s actually cheaper to take the bus to Disney Springs and grab a taxi there to the church, or vice versa.  On our way back, that’s just what we did, and we took the bus straight to the Contemporary.  After window shopping in its stores, we checked in and took the elevator to the California Grill.  We celebrated my birthday at this dinner so our table was decorated with Mickey confetti.  Our waiter was absolutely amazing; he walked me through all of the gluten free options on the menu and made our dinner fun.  My dad and I decided on the Oak-Fired Filet with Black Truffle Risotto.  Instead of the steak, my mom got Black Grouper with the same risotto.  I also ordered an alcoholic Blackberry Lemonade, which was made with fresh lemonade.  Honestly, there aren’t words to describe how amazing that dinner was.  The filet was so tender and flavorful; I could honestly eat it every day if I had the chance.  Right before our waiter brought our dinner out, the new fireworks show, Happily Ever After, played, and that is probably one of the best places to view them.  I could really appreciate the music and the artistry of the fireworks together from that view.  That’s definitely one meal I highly recommend splurging on and definitely my favorite meal of the trip.

Day 6:  Magic Kingdom Fun and More Dole Whips

Since we hadn’t gone to Magic Kingdom for a morning on the trip, we decided to do that this morning.  We saw Mickey’s PhilharMagic, which always makes me laugh, and rode It’s a Small World.  The last time we were in Disney world wasn’t long after the whole Fantasyland expansion took place so we spent time actually exploring the Beauty and the Beast area.  I really wanted to try a LeFou’s Brew so we stopped at Gaston’s Tavern, and I got to try it for the first time.  It’s a refreshing frozen apple juice drink, but it’s a little too sweet for me.  We then went to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, but I was a bit bummed because we didn’t get made fun of on the screen.  My dad got a Dole Whip before we went on Jungle Cruise, and that wrapped up our morning at the Kingdom.

It had been raining all day so we went back to our room for the afternoon and ventured to Narcoosee’s for dinner, which was about ten yards away from our hotel room.  I hadn’t been there since my 16th birthday so it was nice to try it out again.  I got the shrimp and pasta dish, along with a white sangria.  The sangria tasted almost like juice, which means it was delicious, and the shrimp pasta was really good but got a bit rich towards the end.  For dessert, my mom and I split a raspberry sorbet dish with fruit, which is one of our favorite desserts.  And you guessed it, my dad held out on dessert so he could go the Polynesian and get yet another Dole Whip (yes, that’s two in one day).


Day 7:  Rainy Day in Disney

This was one of the days I decided not to schedule anything (FastPasses or dining reservations), so we didn’t actually have a plan of what we wanted to do.  We hadn’t gone to the pool a lot yet because of afternoon storms, and we had decided that’s what we wanted to do.  However, Florida had other plans for us because it was downpouring the whole morning.  So we had to figure out something else to do.  My second favorite hotel in Disney is the Wilderness Lodge, and it just got done with a large renovation of its quick service restaurant plus a new restaurant opened there.  My dad really loves the Wilderness Lodge so we decided to go there and see everything new.  We got to see where the new cabins are, which is on my bucket list of places I want to stay at Disney World (in addition to Cinderella’s Castle, of course).

For lunch, we went to the newest restaurant at Wilderness Lodge, the Geyser Pointe Bar and Grille.  As I’ve mentioned like a hundred times already, Disney World is amazing with allergy-friendly menus.  Geyser Pointe is pretty new so they didn’t have a separate allergy-friendly menu, but our waitress was super great about making sure everything was gluten free for me!  My mom and I split the shrimp on a wire and waffle fries, which was a great combo with the spicy kick of the shrimp and saltiness of the fries.  There were a couple of other things I wanted to go see before we left, like go see some of the countries in Epcot and go see The Music of Disney Pixar Live!, so we decided to go back to our room to regroup before going out again for the night.


Later that night, my parents and I went to the Germany pavilion in Epcot to buy some gummies there (Haribo for the win!).  Also, fun fact, at Club Cool, you can get a free slushy for your birthday!  We then park hopped to Hollywood Studios and got to ride Toy  Story Mania again (my dad won yet again).  Then it was time to go see The Music of Disney Pixar Live!, where a live symphony played songs from a lot of the Pixar movies while specific movie clips played in the background.  Even some of the Pixar characters were there in person!  I have my video of it linked below in case you want to see it!  The show blew my mind because it was so beautiful (you can watch it below!), and I’m so sad it’s not sticking around for the long haul.  Once we got back to our hotel, we went to Gasparilla Grill and had flatbreads.  The Cast Member who checked us out was so nice and gave my dad and I free cupcakes.  Such a great last night of our trip!





Day 8:  Leaving the Kingdom

Always my least favorite day of vacation, the day I have to go back home.  This time was even more so because the sun finally came out after days of rainy weather.  After packing up a lot of our bags, we went to the pool for the morning, and it was so nice.  The pools are definitely one of the best things about Disney resorts.  I went down the slide for the first time in 13 years (I’m still a kid at heart!).  Then, after we finished packing all of our stuff up, we went back to the Magic Kingdom.  For lunch, we ate at The Plaza yet again, but this time, I had a grilled chicken sandwich on a gluten free bun, which was so delicious.  And, as much as I hate waiting in line for rides at Disney World, we waited in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad since I hadn’t ridden it at all this trip.  My dad stopped for one final Dole Whip, and I got a Mickey Mouse ice cream cup (obviously, I can’t eat ice cream cones).  And then we were on our way back to our hotel to grab the Magical Express for the airport.






I hope you enjoyed the rest of my Disney World vacation recap!  And if you read all of both of these posts, congrats to you since they were both super long!  Where did you guys vacation this summer?

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