Photo Flashback! Remember

9/11 is a time to Remember those who died in the attacks on the World Trade Centers.

Here at Growing Up Disney I'd like to take this time to remember two special people who died too early.  I remember Granny and Granddaddy.  Amy's grandparents and my in-laws.  They were fun to be around.  These photos are from November 1997 when Amy was in the College Program at Walt Disney World.  Granny loved the parks and enjoyed getting on the first bus that came by to go visit the hotels.  Granddaddy loved not having to drive once he got to WDW.  On one trip, after visiting the Wilderness Lodge, instead of going back home they booked at the Wilderness Lodge just to stay a few more days.

Granny and Tigger

Pooh and Granddaddy

DisneyDad, Granddaddy, Amy, and Granny

Amy and Granny

Amy and Granddaddy

Granny left us in 1999 and Granddaddy in 2004.  I still miss them.

Who are you remembering today?

--DisneyDad

Magical Blogorail: Favorite Disney Character Dining

Welcome to those of you joining me from A World View and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the 3rd stop on our Magical Blogorail.

This month, Magical Blogorail Red is sharing our favorite Walt Disney World restaurants for character dining. I've covered this before (click here) so I am going to take a slightly different approach from what I expect the rest of the gang is doing. I'll be briefly discussing the character meal locations within the theme parks.

Magic Kingdom

Crystal Palace: Serves buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. Characters are Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet.

I prefer breakfast here over the other meals. I love how bright it is in the morning and it's a fun way to start the day. I find buffet character meals to be chaotic and this one is no exception but a Pooh bear hug seems to make it better. And my children eat breakfast better than any other meal, so that helps it be a more enjoyable experience.

Oh, my lovely Crystal Palace costume

Expecting Tink, October 2008

Bear hugs!, May 2013

This girl loves breakfast

Cinderella's Royal Table: Serves plated breakfast, lunch and dinner. The characters are Cinderella and her royal friends (no specific list is guaranteed.) For those on the Disney Dining Plan, two table service credits are required. A photo package is included in the cost.
This used to be a family favorite going back to the King Stephan's days but I haven't been here since 2005. At that time it was my choice for my post-marathon celebration dinner and other than the occasional meet and greet with Cinderella in the lobby, characters were not involved except at breakfast. I have two little girls so I am sure we will dine with Cinderella in the future. Since we are frequent WDW guests, I am spacing out some of the quintessential Disney experiences to make them more special. I think both of my girls will be the perfect age for this in about two more years.

Epcot
Garden Grill: We've dined here a few times, most recently as May 2013. This is a dinner served family style and Mickey, Pluto and Chip and Dale visit each table. The food here is very good and I have an overall good impression of the place. Gotta love a rotating restaurant. On our last visit, it seemed very hot and very loud but it just wasn't our best night so I'm not sure anywhere would have worked out smoothly.

Hanging out with Dale, May 2013

Couldn't resist a selfie

Menu from May 2013

Ridge with Mickey in February 2007.  I don't think Mickey's costume has changed.

Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: One word: Fabulous! Akershus offers breakfast, lunch and dinner with an assortment of princesses. A photo package is included. The hot food is brought to your table and a cold buffet is available as well.

My brother and I had lunch at Akershus many years ago and other than a running inside joke, the experience didn't inspire us. Now this is a character dining location and it's wonderful. On our girls only trip in January 2013, we had the best time here. I can't do it justice in a paragraph. You'll just have to check out the review.

Me, my girls, my BFF, and Belle. 

One of my favorite Disney moments.

I do have pictures other than her eating...somewhere...

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Play 'N Dine at Hollywood and Vine: Breakfast and lunch buffets with characters from Disney Junior shows. I haven't been yet since my girls didn't really know the characters well enough to spend more time and money on character meals. However, Janine from our Minnie Moms had a fantastic time there for breakfast.

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Tusker House: African-inspired breakfast and lunch buffets with Donald greeting outside the restaurant and Minnie, Daisy and Goofy visiting inside. Dinner is not a character meal.

We have had lunch here twice since it changed format from counter service to buffet and both experiences were very good. One of the advantages of writing a blog is being able to look back at what you thought in the past. After Tink's first WDW for her first birthday, I reviewed Tusker House as our best meal of the trip. We took both girls to the character buffet there in November 2012 and also had a good time. As I've said before, my girls eat breakfast well and we made our first pass on the buffet during the transition from breakfast to lunch. I was able to get Mickey waffles for the girls and the adults could begin to enjoy the seafood stew, samosas, and the other lunch offerings. As with other character meals, it was hectic for a time but the restaurant seemed to settle down about halfway through our meal.

The best pictures at character meals tend to come when the restaurant is slow, so the beginning or end of a meal period can work out well.

DisneyDad getting in on the fun

(If the spacing on today's article looks odd, I apologize. My computer is fighting my efforts to correct the overly spaced sections. It's after midnight as I write this and I am about to give up and go to bed. ~Amy)

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is My Dreams of Disney.
Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Colorado Mountain Mom

2nd Stop ~ A World View
3rd Stop ~ Growing Up Disney
4th Stop ~ My Dreams of Disney
Final Stop ~ Disney Donna Kay

Magical Blogorail: Disney Breakfasts

Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Red. Enjoy the ride as we share with you our favorite spots in Disney for breakfast.

The Growing Up Disney family loves breakfast and when you can combine that with Disney, all the better.

At home, we make Mickey pancakes and have three different Disney waffle irons: Cinderella, Pooh/Tigger and Mickey and friends mini waffles.  

Clean out a bottle from ketchup, pizza sauce, etc. and use it for pancake designs.

But the best Disney breakfasts are, of course, AT Walt Disney World.  We've been a Disney Vacation Club family for nearly 20 years and most often have our vacation breakfasts in our villa.  With a full kitchen at our disposal, those meals can be anything from a quick bowl of cereal to scrambled eggs for seven to sausage balls when Mom is in the mood to make them.

My mom and Aunt Suzie.  This wasn't breakfast but Mom did cook in the kitchen for this pre-wedding party.

The full kitchen in one and two bedroom villas at Old Key West.

When we want to go out for breakfast on vacation, Kona Cafe and its Tonga Toast are at the top of the list.  Even with the cult popularity of this dish, 'Ohana's character breakfast gets most of the attention at the Polynesian so we have always found mornings at Kona to be calm.  I tend to order the Tonga Toast and share it with my brother or husband, having them order something savory.  The press pot of Kona coffee is a treat but the carafe of coffee isn't too shabby either.  Tink wanted to ride a boat on our last vacation, so we took a bus from Old Key West to Magic Kingdom and boarded a boat to the Polynesian from there.  After breakfast, it's a quick monorail ride to the Magic Kingdom.

Tink enjoying a boat ride to breakfast.

Mickey pancakes from the kid's menu at Kona.  This was one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments.

Tonga Toast

This was at Kona for dinner.  Tink liked the umbrella in her cup.  They didn't do this at breakfast on our recent trip but you could always ask.

The classic Disney morning meal experience is the character breakfast.  Our favorites are Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's.  I worked at Crystal Palace during College Program so it is a sentimental favorite.  Pooh and friends are my favorites so I love to begin the day with a hug from the silly ol' bear and his pals.

Our first visit to Chef Mickey's was in the early 90's, back when it was at what is now Downtown Disney Marketplace.  Our most recent visit was in 2010 for Tink's first birthday.  I wanted her to spend some time with the Mouse on her big day.  It was very busy but we got a good table and a warm birthday cupcake.  Next week, my best friend and I are taking my children to Walt Disney World for a girls' trip.  We will be kicking that trip off with a late breakfast at Chef Mickey's.

I haven't been to breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table but with two daughters, I am certain that is in our future and I'd like to wait until Granddaddy (DisneyDad) can go too.  Thankfully, that's not the only place to dine with the princesses because it is a must-do on a girls' trip.  We are all looking forward to  trying Akershus for breakfast.  I am glad that at least some of the meal is served family style.  Full buffets have the benefit of being able to get a plate in front of a wiggly child quickly, but they aren't the least bit relaxing.

Until I became a mother, I didn't totally understand the appeal of the character breakfast.  I knew it was a way to have a meal and meet characters without waiting in line.  Now I see the beauty of getting everyone up and out of the room and sitting down to a meal together before anyone needs a nap.  No matter how I try to work with my kids' current schedules, it seems that the ideal time for lunch is hard to predict.  

Using the theory above, our upcoming trip will include the two character breakfasts that I have mentioned plus a trip to Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Lodge.  We aren't particularly in a hurry to get to the parks in the morning so we'll spend a little time exploring the resort after our meal.  I have enjoyed the restaurant's antics at dinner and think we will have fun at breakfast.  The Mickey waffles on the all-you-care-to-enjoy breakfast platter should assure that my children eat well.

Be careful what you ask for at Whispering Canyon.  You might end up with a little soda or a huge one.

What is your favorite Disney breakfast?

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is My Dreams of Disney.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1st Stop ~ Growing Up Disney
2nd Stop ~ My Dreams Of Disney
3rd Stop ~ Disney Donna Kay
4th Stop ~ Colorado Mountain Mom
Final Stop ~ A World View

Photo Flashback! Granny and Grandaddy at The Crystal Palace

Granny and Tigger

Grandaddy and Pooh

In 1997 Amy was working at The Crystal Palace at the Magic Kingdom while in the College Program.  Mom and I, along with her parents, Buck and Margaret Webb, went to visit just before Thanksgiving.  Granny & Grandaddy had a ball when they visited WDW.  Here we were at dinner at The Crystal Palace having fun with Pooh and Tigger. 

She passed away less than two years after this visit and he died just over four years after her.  I still miss them both.

--DisneyDad

Magic Kingdom Notes for the Picky Eater

I have a couple of months until I need to make ADRs for our fall Walt Disney World vacation and I have started the process of poring over the menus at AllEars. Before kiddos, we just chose our favorites and a few new places and worked on the spreadsheet to fit them all in based on touring days. I learned the hard way that I need to be very prepared when it comes to feeding Tink on vacation. She'll be three and a half on our next trip and while she's made great improvements in what she'll eat, there are some places that we'd be best served to avoid for a while. Baby Minnie will be 17 months but so far she is easy to please. I'm saving this in the notes section of my phone for quick access in the parks. I figure I can keep the whole group happier if I know where we should go, not only for sit-down meals, but also for counter service or snacks.

This is based on my choosy child but I thought it might help someone else. I have a couple of notes about things I like but basically, if a place doesn't work for the girls, it's either excluded or in the avoid section. I'm not sure if Tink would eat the uncrustables PBJ sandwiches sold at WDW so I'll pick up a box closer to the time of the trip to see how those go over. We will be staying at Old Key West so I will have a full kitchen and will likely pack a small cooler for the girls to supplement the options at the parks.

**Counter service:
Columbia Harbor House: Mac & cheese, pbj, yogurt
Cosmic Rays: chicken nuggets, pbj
Pinocchio Village Haus: Mac & cheese, grilled cheese, cheese pizza, could split chicken nuggets from adult menu
**Snacks:
Aloha Isle: ice cream, Dole Whip
Auntie Gravity's: ice cream, coffee floats, cereal & milk
Cheshire Cafe: cereal & milk
Liberty Square Market: fresh fruit
Lunching Pad: sweet cream cheese pretzel
Main Street Bakery: fruit, but could be a hard sell with all the cookies around
Sleepy Hollow: ice cream cookie sandwich, coffee float
**Sit-down:
Crystal Palace
Liberty Tree Tavern: Mac & cheese, veggies, apples, cheese pizza
Plaza Restaurant: not bad but not exciting
**Avoid:
Casey's Corner: hot dogs
Cinderella's Royal Table: meh, save until the girls are older
Pecos Bill's: weak choices for Tink, maybe pbj
Tony's Town Square: meh

Guest Post: A Toddler's First Experience with Character Greetings

Last December we took our then 23 month old to Walt Disney World for the first time for a 5 night, 4 day vacation. I was so excited to introduce him to the place I love so much! I spent hours reading web sites, other blogs, books and message boards about taking a toddler to WDW. I carefully mapped out our trip so there wouldn’t be any late nights right before early mornings, or late breakfast reservations too close to an early lunch and even mapped out when we could head back to the resort to rest. I booked breakfast on our first day at Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom with Pooh and friends. I wanted to eat here early so we could get a good photo of the family in front of the castle before all the crowds started piling in the park. We did get a good photo, but the breakfast was a disaster! That’s when I realized I missed a key component in planning my trip: prepare your toddler for meeting characters!

 

My son knew all the main characters by name from watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Toy Story. He even knew a few others from books we’ve read and the vacation guides we used in our planning. I didn’t think there would be any problem when it came to meeting these same characters at the parks. I couldn’t have been more wrong! He was TERRIFIED to say the least. He was excited when they were 10 feet away or more, but once they came closer this is what we got: 

I’m sure he was thinking “Get those big animals away from me RIGHT NOW!”

As our trip progressed, he slowly warmed up to the characters. I still had to hold him as we approached the characters, but by the end, he was giving high fives to his new friends from the comfort of my arms!

As our next trip is fast approaching, I have some thoughts on how to get your toddler prepared for meeting the characters. 

• Make sure your toddler is familiar with the characters before your trip and knows some of their names. Watch cartoons and movies, read books, watch youtube videos of meet and greets, and look at pictures.
• If possible, show your toddler photographs of family members with the characters from the parks. Try to explain how “big” the characters are when you get to meet them. Show your toddler that Goofy and Woody are taller than daddy. Show him that Donald and Pinocchio are the same size as mommy. They aren’t going to be the same size as the stuffed animals in his crib!
• While you are making plans for your vacation, remember to take it slow! My advice: don’t book a character meal first thing! Save those for later in the trip. 
• Once you are at the parks, try to meet the face characters first. These are the characters that have a human face: Mary Poppins, the princesses, Alice, Aladdin, etc. These characters are easier for toddlers to get to know since they can talk and interact with you. If you must have a character meal on the first day, consider a meal with these face characters.
• Once your toddler is used to the face characters, try progressing to the masked characters. Sit for a few parades and watch some stage shows. Watch the other children meet the characters. Let your toddler know that they aren’t scary.
• When you think your toddler is ready to meet the masked characters, take it slow! Don’t force it on him. Carry him to the character and talk him through it. Tell the character and the handler that you just want to visit and say hi without any hugs or high fives. Let another family member approach the character and give hugs and high fives. This shows that they are our friends!
• Avoid the villains and witches at all cost! Even when your toddler is comfortable with the masked characters, the villains area always scary!
• Follow the lead of your toddler. If they never warm up to the characters, accept that fact and move on with your vacation. Don’t push it on your child. It will only make it a miserable experience for the whole family!

Contributed by Beth G. of Decatur, AL. Married mom of two boys trying to stay sane as a full time youth minister, mom and Disney blogger; creator of A Disney Moms Blog and proud member of the Magical Blogorail Green.

Photo Flashback! It's the little things

The Growing Up Disney family recently did a team post on why we keep going back to Walt Disney World.  For me, one reason is the little things Disney does to make your day special.  This series of photos was taken in 2008 on Main Street USA as we walked to breakfast at Crystal Palace.  Plenty of people just walked right by this young man.  This custodial Cast Member was "painting" Mickey Mouse, and quite well I might add, on the pavement in water.  It's such a fleeting thing but just one more example of why you need to slow down and take in the details during a WDW vacation.  And I don't know if he was really from Custodial or not, but I do know there are lots of aspiring artists among the rank and file Cast Members.  When I worked at Crystal Palace, one of the other seaters was a talented animator working in the park to pay the bills while he pursued his real passion.  

Photo Flashback! Crystal Palace 1997

That's me in the oh-so-attractive Crystal Palace seater costume.  I participated in the Disney College Program during the fall of 1997.  It was a great experience.  I got to watch the parades and fireworks almost every night of my 5 shifts a week.  As a huge Winnie the Pooh fan, I adored working with the Hundred-Acre Wood crew.  The Main Street background music always reminds me of my CP days.