Day 9 in Review

Today was our last full day at Disney and what a LONG day it has been!  We started our day with an 8:05 reservation at Be Our Guest Restaurant!  Having an early morning reservation was to our advantage, and allowed us the rare opportunity to see a nearly empty Main Street USA, and we were able to get some great pics of the castle with very few people in our way!

  
Be Our Guest restaurant was a nice experience and was much less crowded than it was during lunch.  We enjoyed dining in the West Wing.  Breakfast in my mind was a good use of a quick service dining credit, however, with that being said, I would not pay $19.99 for that meal outside of the dining plan.

   
   
As soon as we were done with breakfast we saw there was only a 10 minute wait for the Flight of Peter Pan!  It hard to find this ride without a 80 minute wait, so it was nice to take advantage of this short wait and see the new interactive queue.

   
 After Peter Pan we headed to Tomorrowland, and had time to check out Monsters Inc Laugh Floor before our Space Mountain fast pass!  I just love the laugh floor because it’s a different show every time!

Space Mountain was awesome as usual, and we were able to take in some of the favorites around Tomorrowland afterwards; Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, People Mover, and Carousel of Progress!

Our next fast pass was to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel, so I did a picture with Rapuzel (who played her character SOOOO well!!!) and Craig did a photo with Cinderella!  This was our first time in Princess Fairytale Hall, and would recommend it to anyone with young princess fans 🙂

   
 After the princesses we headed to Haunted Mansion for one last ride through, and then we were off to Splash Mountain for our final fast pass at the Magic Kingdom!  Rather than walk back through the crowds to the park exit we decided to ride the Magic Kingdom Railway back to Main Street USA.  Saying goodbye to the Magic Kingdom is always saddening, but it’s never really a goodbye, it’s “Until we meet again!”

  
  
We enjoyed lunch and napping back at Pop Century before heading to Hollywood Studios for the evening.  When we arrived at HS we headed straight for a kiosk and got a fast pass for Star Tours.  We had just enough time before dinner to head to Muppet Vision 3D (everything else had AT LEAST a 1 hour wait!)

  
Dinner was at the Prime Time 50’s cafe and was AWESOME!!!!  I highly recommend it to anyone!  Food was awesome and the atmosphere was really fun if you’r willing to play along. We joined the elite club of “Clean Plate Club” and were told by our server that we were his best behaved guests of the evening 🙂

   
   
After dinner wait times were still crazy long for just about everything, so we hit some of the shops before our 8:15 fast pass for star tours.  We were a little disappointed that everything still had such a long wait time!  Fantasmic was standing room only at that point, Toy Story was closed for the evening, and so was the Great Movie Ride.  Rockin Roller Coaster was a 150 minute wait, and Tower of Terror was 70.  With all of that we decided to just head back to the resort :-/  It was a little saddening that I didn’t get to ride RnR on this trip (it was broken down the first time we were there) because it’s my hand down favorite Disney Coaster!  Hopefully as HS goes through its re-vamp it will be better in the future.  It was definitely the most disappointing park on this trip.

Today’s Step Count-

  
And the Highlight of my day was meeting Elsa, with absolutely no wait!

  

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Fun Fact Friday- Favorite Snacks Calories

Everyone has their favorite Disney snack to grab when they’re in the parks!  I usually don’t even think about calories when I’m at WDW or DL because I know in my heart that I’ve walked enough to “earn” that treat lol… either that, or the magic of pixie dust makes calories not count at Disney :-p

So here are a few of my favorite Disney snacks and the favorites of some of my friends!

Premium Mickey Bar

Premium Mickey Bar

Premium Mickey Bar

330 calories

22g fat

Dole Whip

Dole Whip soft serve

Dole Whip soft serve

80-120 calories (depending on size)

0g fat

Mickey Pretzel

Mickey Pretzel

Mickey Pretzel

480-520 calories (I couldn’t find the exact calorie count for the Mickey Pretzel… this is an estimate based on the average calories in a soft pretzel)

4g fat

Churro

Churro

Churro

170 calories

5g fat

Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich

Mickey's Ice Cream Sandwich

Mickey’s Ice Cream Sandwich

280 cal

12g fat

Strawberry Cupcake at Be Our Guest Restaurant

Strawberry Cupcake from Be Our Guest Restauarant

Strawberry Cupcake from Be Our Guest Restaurant

390 calories

Mickey Rice Krispy Treat with Chocolate

Mickey Rice Krispy Treat

Mickey Rice Krispy Treat

390 calories

16g fat

AND THE GRAND DADDY OF SNACKS

Turkey Leg

Andrew Zimmerman chowing down on a Turkey Leg with Goofy

Andrew Zimmerman chowing down on a Turkey Leg with Goofy

720 calories

32g fat

Want more Disney fun facts?  Follow Confessions of a Mouskaholic on facebook- http://www.facebook.com/mouskaholic

Ready to plan your next Disney vacation and get your snack on?  Be sure to email ashley@charmingtravelsllc.com for you free quote.  Her planning services are free of charge!

ashley@charmingtravelsllc.com

ashley@charmingtravelsllc.com

Tuesday’s Tip- Making the Most of the Disney Dining Plan, Part 2

Tuesday’s Tip- Don’t use your dining credits on quick service breakfasts. *** (see exception at the very bottom)***

I’ve traveled to Disney MANY times, and I’ve had trips where I’ve used the Dining plan, and trips where I haven’t used the dining plan.  One of the things that I’ve learned along the way is to not use my dining plan quick service credits on breakfast.  All quick service meals include an entree, dessert, and drink.  When you use the credit for breakfast, you’re losing out on a dessert, as there are no desserts with breakfast, the savings are even less if you’re a coffee drinker.  You get a mug that you can refill at your resort, so you don’t even need to use your drink option on coffee.  And most breakfast entrees are significantly less expensive than lunch entrees.  If you’re trying to get the most bang for your buck, this isn’t the way.

For example, here is a sample of a Disney resort breakfast menu vs. a Disney resort lunch menu.  You’ll notice that the breakfast prices are considerably less expensive (and did I mention you get a dessert with lunch!?!)

Pop Century Breakfast Entrees

Pop Century Breakfast Entrees

Pop Century Lunch Entrees

Pop Century Lunch Entrees

quick service breakfast

Okay, so with that being said, you still have to eat breakfast!  Here are some tips-

1) Bring non-perishable breakfast items in your luggage and plan to eat those!  All resorts have a toaster in the food court area where you can toast your own bagels or breads.  Granola bars are a great option as well as cereal!  You can get a small carton of milk to use for cereal from the food court.

2) Consider using your snack credits at breakfast time.  With all dining plans you get 1 snack per person, per day.  Grab a pastry or a muffin from the self serve area in your resort’s dining area and fill your resort mug with your beverage, and bam, you’ve got yourself a quick breakfast that can maximize your dining plan.

3) If you love breakfast foods, consider using a table service credit at one of the character breakfasts!  Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort is great or the Ohana Breakfast at the Polynesian, as well as the Crystal Palace at the Magic Kingdom!

Meet Lilo and Stitch at the Ohana breakfast

Meet Lilo and Stitch at the Ohana breakfast

Crystal Palace Breakfast Buffet

Crystal Palace Breakfast Buffet

4) Even with the dining plan you may end up spending some out of pocket money for meals… save those dining credits for lunches and dinners and if you have to pay additional money for a meal do it at breakfast!

**** Here is a great exception to the “Don’t use your quick service meals on breakfast”  Be Our Guest Restaurant at the Magic Kingdom JUST started serving breakfast.  The cost is $19.99 for adults, and $11.99 for children.  It includes a breakfast entree, pastries, and a beverage.  This still counts as a quick service restaurant at breakfast, so by ALL means, try to visit and get a lot of bang for your buck at this location!

Be Our Guest Adult entrees

Be Our Guest Adult entrees

Want even more tips on planning your disney vacation, and maximizing your dining credits?  Book your vacation with Ashley from Charming Travels LLC.  Contact her today for your free quote- ashley@charmingtravelsllc.com

ashley@charmingtravelsllc.com

ashley@charmingtravelsllc.com

Be Our Guest Restaurant- Explained by Imagineers

Happy Wednesday fellow Mouskateers!

Craig and I are just 6 days away from our Disney vacation!  I am excited about the inspiration for new blog topics that will come, fulfilling blog topic ideas, and taking pictures for the blog that will happen next week!  Today though I am happy to share with you a video that I ran across about one of Disney’s newest restaurants- Be Our Guest Restaurant.  BOG is located in “New Fantasyland” in the Magic Kingdom. New Fantasyland is a MASSIVE expansion that started in the Magic Kingdom in 2011, and began opening in stages in 2013.  The final piece of the New Fantasyland puzzle opened in June 2014- The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, officially completing the expansion.

Be Our Guest is one of two restaurants in New Fantasy Land, both with a Beauty and the Beast theme.  The first, Gaston’s Tavern is as it suggests a small tavern where you can grab a snack or a quick service meal.  Be Our Guest is the much grander of the two.  The unique part about Be Our Guest is that it is both a quick service restaurant and a table service restaurant.  At lunch time (10:30-2:30) it serves as a quick service location, where you can grab a “Croque Monsieur on Millet Bread” (Grilled Sandwich of Carved Ham, Gruyere Cheese and Bechamel on Millet Bread with Pommes Frites) or Braised Pork – (Eight Hour Slow-cooked Pork with Mushrooms, Onions, Carrots and Bacon served with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans Jardiniere).  At Dinner (4:00-9:30) it becomes a table service restaurant serving up Herb-crusted Lamb Rack, Pan-seared Salmon on Leek Fondue, and Grilled Strip Steak.  If you want to get reservations for dinner, plan on selecting the 180 days out with the Advanced Dining Reservations.  Like I said, this is one of the hottest new restaurants on property.

Craig and I will be having a quick service lunch at BOG on the final day of our trip.  We lucked out and scored some fastpasses for lunch, where we were able to preorder our meal and come at a reserved time for lunch.  I am excited to experience it and to take photos of the ornate detailing that went into this restaurant.

Check out this video and get a view of the restaurant from the perspective of the imagineers who created it!