Author Archives: jennypersons

Sci-Fi Drive in Restaurant

I had wanted to eat at the Sci-Fi Dine in Theater Restaurant on our previous trips to Disneyworld, but we never had the chance. Last time, we were on the dining plan, and I didn’t think it was the best use of our table service credit (which is correct, not the best use). We wanted those for the expensive Character Meals. Well, this time, we were not on the dining plan, and I wanted to finally try it out!

I ended up switching the days we were going, so I had to change our reservations. This left us with a reservation at the first seating of the day, or right when then opened at 11. This worked out great. The place was mostly empty and we got great service!

My boys were in Heaven!! My 9-year-old did NOT want to leave. He wanted to stay there and just watch the videos. Since there were 7 of us, we got one of the bigger cars. Along with the videos, you get to eat in a car. This place is alot of fun!

One of the things I really liked about the Sci-Fi Drive in Restaurant, was the price! It was not overpriced, and actually fairly reasonable. In fact, the Kids meals were similar priced to Be Our Guest, except the kids got Ice Cream (and you pay a tip). Plus, thanks to the videos, my kids were entertained and well-behaved! They each ate all of their kids meals as well!

When you go, you MUST order a Milkshake. We ordered a couple and the Oreo was my favorite… Mmmmm… I could go for another RIGHT now! It was DELICIOUS!! I got the Turkey Sandwich and my Husband opted for the Ruben. Both were really good – nothing spectacular, but it was good! I wanted my husband to try The Famous All American Picnic Burger, but he wasn’t feeling adventurous enough that day 😉

After an hour in the restaurant, the videos start to repeat themselves, so we knew it was time to tear the 9 year old away from his new favorite restaurant.

I have NO complaints about the restaurant. We had a great visit and the food was good. Plus the atmosphere and entertainment was great. It is a restaurant we are going to have to schedule on all our Disneyworld trips from now on! My 9-year-old said is was his favorite restaurant of the entire trip (second favorite thing, only to getting the Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream)

So make a reservation (do so as early as 180 days in advance. When I switched reservations about 3 months in advance, our choices were limited to one time!) and enjoy this fun restaurant on your next trip to Hollywood Studios at DisneyWorld!

Slurping down the delicious Oreo milkshake!

Kids ice cream is included with their meal – complete with Mickey Sprinkles!

Empty cars since we were some of the first in the restaurant for the day

9 year old and 1 year old LOVED it!

Coloring while they wait

Fantasia Gardens Mini-golf

Fantasia Gardens is the first mini-golf course we tried, many years ago, at Disneyworld. It is the course that made me fall in love with the Disney mini-golf courses. It is wonderfully themed with, you guessed it, scenes from Fantasia. It is fun and whimsical for all ages and a great family activity!

Fantasia Gardens are located across the Street from the Swan and Dolphin, or a short walk from the Boardwalk Inn, Yacht & Beach Club, or Epcot. Simply take a bus for the Swan and Dolphin and cross the street to the Mini-golf course. If you are staying at the Boardwalk, like we were, simply walk there.

On this trip, we went on my son’s 9th birthday, after spending the day swimming at Typhoon Lagoon. There was actually quite a bit of people, so we had to wait our turn to golf. We, unfortunately, got behind a rather large group, that were supposed to split up, but they kept watching each other and taking FOREVER! We also tend to golf fast, so it was getting a bit annoying that they were taking so long and not following the rules. Since it was August, and there is very little shade, our brains were starting to fry, so we were not so happy by the end, after being irritated by these people (we had people after us, we were all stacked up about 3 groups deep waiting for these people!) and dying from the heat. My son and sister-in-law gave up just before the end and went to sit in the shade.

The course is great though, and would be better with some more shade 🙂 I enjoy the water effects at the end. They surprised me (so I won’t give it away), even though I have been there before! I guess I’d forgotten!

Despite the heat, frying our brains, and the annoying group in front of us, we had a good time. We’ll be back for sure! Next time you are in Disneyworld, give one of the Mini-golf courses a try! They are great family fun and you can’t be the atmosphere 🙂

(I can’t figure out why some of the pictures show up sideways! Where I write the post they are upright, and if you click on the pictures they are upright. I can’t figure out how to fix them on this page! *sigh* technology!)

This part has my favorite water features (and the part behind it!)

Winter Summerland Mini Golf

If you have never tried one of the Mini-golf courses at Disneyworld, you are missing out! We love to Mini-golf when we go to Disneyworld, and have done so on each trip! It is a must-do for us! The courses are just so much fun and the theming is terrific – really they are not to be missed. We have done all the courses – this last trip we did all 3 courses during our 2 weeks at Disneyworld.

Out of the 2 different mini-golf courses (Fantasia Gardens and Winter Summerland), I think Winter Summerland is my favorite one. Don’t get me wrong, they are both great, but Winter Summerland has more shade, which was nice in late August 😉

Winter Summerland is located right outside the entrance to Blizzard Beach, so simply walk there when attending Blizzard Beach, or take any bus with Blizzard Beach as the destination. You will pass the course on your way into Blizzard Beach.

Since we had 10 day Park Hopper and Water Park and More tickets, there was no way we would be able to use all 10 Water Park and more uses, so we decided to use 3 of them on Mini-golf (not the best use of the extras, if trying to get the most for your money, but we only had 14 days to use all 10 and our 10 park days, so this was a good use to get all 10 used up and have some fun!). Since we had so many extras, it was worth it to us to go use up a few on the Mini-golf, especially since we have such a good time when we go Mini-golfing as a family 🙂

One day we did the Winter side and another day we did the Summer side. I really enjoy both sides. If I HAD to choose a favorite, it would have to be the summer side, simply because I love the squirting fish, and I have fond memories of my oldest son, on a previous trip, trying to outsmart the fish, and avoid being squirted with water. Makes me smile just thinking about it. This time, our youngest son was fascinated with the squirting fish (you can see the videos below). However, both sides are great and I like them both! Christmas in my favorite holiday, and both sides have a Christmas time theme, so they are both very enjoyable and just fantastic on the themes.

I think the winter side is easier. My 9-year-old was able to get like 6 holes in one, 4 for the 11-year-old, and my 4-year-old even got 2 holes in one! Whereas on the summer side the 9-year-old only got 3 holes in one, 2 for the 11-year-old, and just 1 for the 4-year-old. Maybe they were all just really doing well the day we did the winter side?

The winter side has a snow castle and the summer side had a sand castle. Many of the holes have a similar theme, one just being summer and the other winter. Christmas music plays on the winter side, and summer/surf type music plays on the summer side. Both sides have a decent amount of shade, so that was nice, especially in August! We went after spending the day at Blizzard beach, so we were all in our swimsuits and cover-ups.

Next time you head to Disneyworld, take the time to try out one of their mini-golf courses! It is fun for all ages 🙂

(I can’t figure out why some of the pictures show up sideways/upside down! Where I write the post they are upright, and if you click on the pictures they are upright. I can’t figure out how to fix them on this page! *sigh* technology!)

11-year-old after a hole in one on the Winter side

9-year-old after hole in one on winter side – I think everyone got a hole in one here!

He could have stayed there all day watching the train!

4-year-old trying to avoid being squirted – summer side

Sleigh outside the winter summerland course

Pirate Adventure – Disneyworld

The Pirate Adventures offered at Disneyworld sounded like so much fun, I knew my kids would love it! We booked it for our last trip, but it was cancelled due to cold weather – Floridians are wimps! Well, we knew it would NOT be cancelled due to cold weather in August 🙂 So I booked it for my 3 oldest.

They offer the Pirate Adventure at the Grand Floridian, Yacht & Beach club, Caribbean Beach, and Port Orleans Riverside. We were staying at Port Orleans for a night, and then at the Boardwalk (so Yacht & Beach would be close), but we ended up booking the Caribbean Beach resort one. We wanted a certain day – and each adventure only sails on certain days of the week. We wanted the morning we were checking into Port Orleans (for one night only), because we didn’t have anything else planned and we weren’t going to be using our park passes, so it was the perfect day for it. Well, Caribbean Beach was the closest one that sailed on Friday morning, so we went with that one, thanks to the recommendation of the Cast Member that I booked the Adventure with. I booked almost 6 months in advance, and you can book your pirate adventure by calling (407) WDW-PLAY, and a cast member will assist you in booking the adventure that will work best with your schedule and accommodations. Kids need to be between the ages of 4-12 and must be potty trained.

The Pirate Adventure was scheduled to sail at 9:30. We got there shortly before 9:00, because there is paperwork to fill out and things to get ready. They tell you to be there early, and it is a very good idea to be on time and early! You will fill out waivers (I had 3!) and pay for your children. They will ask for a credit card when you book, but this is simply to hold the reservation, they do not charge you. You pay after filling out your paperwork. Once everyone has paid and the paperwork is done, they fit all the kids with life jackets:

and then they get to pick out their bandannas!

They will also get name tags 🙂

Once everyone is set to go, the Cast Members take the kids off to the Pirate Ship!

Getting last minute instructions from the Captain, before boarding their ship

Heading to their ship!

Following in the Captain onto the ship!

All ready to cast off!

….and their off!

My husband and I enjoyed a couple of quiet hours without the big kids. The baby was tired from all our travelling, so he slept the ENTIRE time in his stroller, so we got a nice little date out of the morning! 🙂 My kids LOVED it!! It was one of the highlights of our entire trip! We would pay for them to do this again in a heartbeat. They had the time of their lives and we got a wonderful, quiet morning out of it!

Husband and I enjoying quiet time while the kids were on the Pirate Adventure and baby was napping!

Now, since I was not on the boat, this is what my kids said about their adventure:

They got on the boat

They traveled a bit

got off the boat onto the beach

and then looked for a clue in the sand,

Which Jonathan (my son) found and it was

a piece of the map with a sign that said:

“Pirates Keep Out”

There was also a skull in the black bag.

A pirate then took their flag

They tricked the pirate into giving them the flag back

by trading him the black bag with the skull in it and telling him there was gold in it.

Oliver (my son) was the kids that got to do the trade.

The lake police then came and was able to capture the pirate

They got back on the boat

They drove around and found a bottle in the water

Another piece of the map was inside the bottle

They drove under a stone bridge

and one of the Captain’s disappeared (they had 2)

They got off the boat to look for the captain

and found an egg with another piece of the map

and a note from Jack Sparrow

that said: “I got here first! ARRR!”

They then found the other captain taking a nap

They found a treasure box with instructions on where to go next

They then had a snack of Stinky Fish, Sticky Clumps, and Murky Water

or Goldfish, Rice Krispie Treats, Apple Juice and they also got bottles of water

They then used the map to go look for the key

Sabrina (my daughter) was the one to find the bag with the key

Once they found the key, they were able to open the treasure box

Inside was bags of treasure (all ready separated and ready for all the kids)

bags full of necklaces, gold coins, pirate bookmarks, gems, ball, eye patch, ring, stickers, etc.

Then the adventure was over

They seemed to have a great time and really enjoy the adventure!

They also got Pirate Bandannas they got to wear and keep 🙂

…and they are back! They’ve found the treasure chest, and need to find the key!

I love the orderly line following the captain with the treasure chest!

Looking for the key to the treasure chest!

They found a bag… What is in it?!?!

Crowding around the treasure chest!

JUST opened the Treasure Chest!!

Grabbing their loot!

My kids examining their loot!

Luigi’s Flying Tires

Luigi’s Flying Tires is apparently closing in January for an 11 month “refurbishment.” This is a fairly new ride – we rode it a few months after it opened – but this is a rather lengthy closure for such a new ride. This is leading many people to believe that Disney is scrapping the ride and putting something else in its place, or at least giving it one major overhaul. A Year is a very long time to have a ride down, and when that ride is practically new, it makes you wonder what is going on.

I personally, would not miss this ride, if it were to not come back. We LOVED the Radiator Springs ride (and have ridden it several times) and it is one of my favorite rides at Disneyland. We also adored the Mater ride in Cars Land because it was fun, there was no height restrictions and never a wait (even when we went 2 months after it opened), which was GREAT when child swapping on Radiator Springs!

Luigi’s Flying Tires was another story. While we have ridden the Mater ride probably 20+ times and Radiator Springs at least 10 times each, we have only ridden Luigi’s Flying Tires twice. The line is usually long and barely seems to move and the loading time is outrageously long. It seriously seems to take 5 minutes to just load each ride (I may be slightly exaggerating), I am certain it was the long load time that made for such long waits. Then once you FINALLY on the ride, it is actually rather difficult to get moving. Once you get the vehicle moving, the ride is actually quite fun! But by the time you really get into it and are enjoying yourself, the ride is over… That long wait and the frustratingly long load time for what then becomes a very quick ride.

Once you get your vehicle moving, it is a fun ride. However, That brief, fun ride was not enough to convince us to wait through the line and load time again. If they are going to keep this ride, they need to lessen the loading time and make the vehicles get moving faster.

I will not be heartbroken if the ride does not come back. However, I would be heartbroken if they did not put another ride in its place, preferably one without a Height restriction (they need MORE rides in California Adventures without a height restriction!!). If it does come back, I am hopeful it will be better – it could be a very fun ride, if they could fix a few of its flaws!

Have you been on Luigi’s Flying Tires? What did you think of it? Will you miss it? Or excited to see what changes are brought (either an improved Luigi’s or an altogether new ride)?

Here are pictures of us the 2 times we did ride Luigi’s Flying Tires! My sister, Becky, was with us on this trip:

Hollywood Studios Sorcerer’s Hat

Disney has confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel the that Sorcerer’s Hat at Hollywood Studios is set to come down early next year. I can’t say that I am sad to see it go – I am neither a fan nor one of the rabid haters of the Sorcerer’s hat, but rather indifferent to its presence. I honestly don’t really remember Hollywood Studios (or what was called MGM at the time) without the Sorcerer’s Hat. The Hat went up in 2001 and I had only been to Disneyworld once before then, when I was 12 in the mid-nineties.

This last trip, all the Frozen stages and stuff for the “Coolest Summer” celebration were covering the front of the hat, so we barely paid it much attention:

It will be a change, but usually (but not always), change is good at Disney. With the closing of the Backlot tour and other changes in the park, I am excited to see what they are going to be bringing to Hollywood Studios in the near future – I know my Husband and Kids are hoping and keeping their fingers crossed for a Star Wars Land 🙂

My daughter was a bit sad about the news. I didn’t realize this last trip would see the end of so many rides. attractions, and iconic hat’s! I guess we picked a good time to go to see them all before they closed (not knowing it would be the last time!). Hopefully our next trip will be filled with many new attractions to take their place! Our previous trip to Disneyworld was just one week before the Toontown Fair closed for the last time (to bring about the new Fantasyland – they had already started building the new Fantasyland).

We took many of Photopass pictures with the Sorcerer’s hat in the background on this last trip. Wonder what the scene will look like on our next trip? I guess you’ll be able to see the Chinese theater again! (home of the Great Movie ride, which for some reason, my kids absolutely LOVED on this trip – seriously, they thought it was great?!? Not a bad ride, I am just surprised they all liked it so much!)

Disneyland Half Marathon #2

OOPS! I was going to post this months ago – and apparently I completely forgot! Well, here it is – my review of my second Disneyland Half Marathon, the 5K, and the kids races!

Disneyland Half Marathon:

I think I actually REALLY enjoyed this race – I put NO pressure on myself other than to finish and within the time limit (which for me was 3.75 hrs). (FYI – I was about 4 months pregnant when running this race). I was a bit worried that it was already hot in the morning – seriously the LOW was 70 degrees. I am used to being cold waiting around for races not so with this one :S

I had Corral D (there were 4 corrals behind me) which was actually the Corral I was missing (I’ve been in B, C, and E)

The first mile was HARD! I could feel all the walking we had done ALL week! (we’d spent the week previous in Disneyland). Plus the lack of training (I hadn’t run in a month in a half at this point due to my breathing issues). I was seriously wondering if I could even finish. Then I put that out of my mind and did great on miles 2-5. Then around mile 5, the sun was up and it was starting to get hot, so I decided to walk the next mile to see how long that would take me. That was when I said screw it, I am walking the rest because I can, and I will still make it within the time limit and I will feel much better in the end (obviously my walking slowed down towards the end, because my miles got slightly longer in time).

So that is what I did the last 7 miles. I really liked it 🙂 I did a few running bursts, but not many. It was great and I enjoyed it! I did still bloat from the heat, but by the end I was feeling great!

It was basically the same route as last year (a bit different through the parks because of Cars Land) and the medal is similar to last year. I did decide I wanted to finish within the time limit, even if I did have an extra 15-20 minutes because of my corral, so I did! I still had a good 20-25 minutes I could have finished in. So I made it in plenty of time. Not bad for walking a vast majority of it!

So with that, my year of Disney races was complete

Disneyland 5K & Kids Races:

Saturday morning, Joseph and Becky (my sister) ran the Family Fun Run 5k. It was Cars themed. Then we met them in Downtown Disney and went to the kids races. Seriously the BEST money you can spend at Disney – low price for a t-shirt, snacks, and a medal! (we also bought the special mickey ears, which we have for each race – they now have 3!)

The kids had fun. Oliver did not want to walk/run. So Joseph had to “help” him. The older kids ran together. They LOVE getting their own medals 🙂 Oliver loved that is was Lightening McQueen! Oliver Zonked out on the way back to the hotel (it was only like 10am). I guess he was tired from the week 😛

Boardwalk Bakery

While staying at the Boardwalk Villas, we went into the Boardwalk Bakery at least once a day, mainly to refill our Rapid Refill cups. (Mmmm… Hot Chocolate!) But going in there everyday also made it impossible to resist their delicious looking pastry case:

Boardwalk Bakery pastry case

I’ve always heard that there are usually lines out the bakery. We were there during the low season and I guess we were never there in the morning, so we never really saw a long line. Luckily, they have a second entrance for Resort cup refills, so we didn’t have to fight with any crowds that there were.

When making a choice on what to get, it was not easy! So many delicious looking choices! Alas, I didn’t want to spend all of our retirement savings in there, so we narrowed it to 4 choices. We took our desserts with us, and walked to Hollywood Studios and ate them while watching Fantasmic.

All of the cupcakes were HUGE and gorgeous – seriously some looked like pieces of Art. My kids opted for the Mickey Mouse cupcake. I did not even get a bite of this cupcake, but my kids enjoyed it quite a bit 🙂

Salted Caramel Ganache and Mickey Cupcake

We also got the Salted Caramel Ganache – My Husband and I shared this

Salted Caramel Ganache

This was pretty good. However, I think it would have been better cold – I should have stuck it in our refrigerator for a few minutes before eating it. It was delicious, nonetheless, and I would probably order it again 🙂

We also ordered he Cheesecake Brownie and the Sticky Bun. The Cheesecake Brownie was really good! I mean, brownie and cheesecake – you can’t really go wrong. Unfortunately, my kids loved it too, so I only got one bite 😛 But that bite was heavenly! The Sticky bun was also very good. I think the opposite of the Salted Caramel Ganache is true for the Sticky Bun – the sticky bun would have been a tad better slightly heated up. I also couldn’t help but compare it to the Sticky Bun we get here in our hometown at a local Hungarian restaurant that are handmade each morning (a family restaurant) and are seriously the best thing you’ve ever eaten. It is really hard to compare to that, so it really is not a fair comparison. This Sticky Bun was delicious and probably one of the better ones I’ve ever had. And for the price, this is HUGE and more than enough to share. Not that you’ll want to 😉

Brownie Cheesecake and Sticky Bun

The Boardwalk Bakery is worth the short walk from Epcot, or in our case from our Villa 🙂 I think just about anything you get here will be delicious! I wish I had the time, money, and waistline to spare on trying every single item offered… The Bakery is definitely a must visit place for us (even when we are not staying at the Boardwalk Villas!)

Backlot Tour

A few weeks ago, Disney closed the Backlot Tour at Hollywood Studios, to all visitors. What will go into that space is being widely speculated about – from a bigger Toy Story Mania (MUCH needed), or Star Wars Land (my Husband would LOVE), but only those in the “know” at Disney are not letting it known to anyone, the reasons behind the closing of this ride.

I have to say, I was not impressed with the tour on this last trip. It seemed so much shorter than it used to be. When we got to Catastrophe Canyon, our car didn’t even rock like it was supposed to (others on the tram did, but apparently ours was broken or something). I remember getting off the ride thinking that the entire tour was much lamer than I remembered from past rides, and not really worth the time to go on the tour. So when I heard that is was closing a mere few weeks after we rode it, I wasn’t surprised. It just wasn’t as great as I had remembered it.

So the Backlot Tour bites the dust a few weeks after we were there. Malestrom closed down a few days after our vacation. We must be death on rides! 🙂

Here are a few pictures we took on what was now our last ride on the Backlot Tour.

My sister-in-law and the back of my son’s head 🙂

My boys ready for the tour!

My daughter, baby boy, and me

The Backlot Tour was the one place to get a view of this iconic water tower

Memory Maker

Before going to Disneyworld, we purchased the new Memory Maker photo option. I had pre-purchased the photopass cd before, but I was really interested in the new Memory Maker option, mainly because you automatically get your ride photos as well. I always want our ride photos, but I am too cheap to buy them.

So I bought it, and I loaded it into MyDisneyexperience, and it was automatically linked to our magic bands. My cousin and his wife were at Disneyworld at the same time we were, so we were able to get their pictures loaded onto our memory maker as well!

We stopped whenever we saw a photopass photographer – any chance we got to have a picture taken. My boys eventually got annoyed and no longer wanted to be in the pictures. I did insist on at least ONE family picture per day. They were ok with that.

After our first ride with a ride photo, we asked how to get the photos added to our magic bands, because we did not see a place to add them to our bands. My husband was told that the pictures would automatically show up in our account via “Disney Magic” I was a bit skeptical, but sure enough, I pulled out my phone, looked up our account, and low and behold, the ride photos were there! How cool is that?!?! Automatically added to our account. Another reason to love the magic bands! If you don’t have magic bands, they give you a card that you can take with you to have scanned, but we never broke that out (I may have even left it home on Oregon…)

With your memory maker, you get all your photopass photos that you get taken, ride photos, and photos from Character Meals. I LOVED it. After our first week, we left our fancy DSLR camera at the hotel, and just let the photopass photographers take all our nice pictures. Well worth the money, in my opinion!

If you order at least 3 days ahead of time (here) then you will save $50 on your memory maker and all your photopass and ride photos. We were there for 14+days, so we got our money’s worth! So if you heading to Disneyworld for more than a few days, I HIGHLY recommend getting the memory maker!

Here are some of my favorite Memory Maker photos from our vacation. We had well over 400 pictures, so I won’t post all of them 😉