This was our first day in the parks! We started out in Epcot so we could get around all of the countries for the Festival of the Arts. Most of us had lists of the food and drinks we wanted to try. We were planning on starting our VIP Tour in Epcot the next day, so we were saving the big rides for that.
One bonus to this time, was they were also preparing for the Flower and Garden Show! We were able to see some topiary displays and they were beautiful. One side note…it was chilly at points during our trip, and they actually had to cover up some plants!
Some of the group did go on Soarin’ and Living with the Land. The Land was pretty bustling!
It was close to 11:00 a.m., when the World Showcase opened, so we headed directly to Mexico. We wanted to get a table at La Cava del Tequila so we could get some chips and queso and drinks. I just love the Mexico Pavilion! I love the ambiance inside.
We got in line around 10:40 a.m. and it was all the way up the ramp already. Here’s a Tik Tok I made poking some fun:
Besides all of the beverages available here, they have the best chips and queso! We waited about an hour for a table for 5 people. It’s a super small area inside, however, if you are just coming for a drink, you can order at the bar and leave right away. That wait is not long at all.
Just before we left, I mobile ordered one of my favorite snacks, the cookie from Karamell-Kuche in Germany, so I could pick it up on my way through the countries!
I saved it for later in the day and it was 10/10 as usual!
I only had one special food stand I realllllly wanted to try this year. This is probably good, because I was full from the chips and queso. This was located in the America Pavilion:
It was actually really good! I loved all 3 things…steak, potatoes, asparagus. The lines for all of the food stands were long, but moved quickly.
Another of my favorite pavilions is Japan. I love the shop here and the views!
We slowly made our way around and got back to the front of the park to catch the monorail. We had 3:45 p.m. reservations at The Beak and Barrel in the Magic Kingdom!
I was supposed to be at Beaches Turks and Caicos for a long weekend with some friends. Sadly, that was canceled, and we had to pivot quickly to decide what we wanted to do. Disney World was the perfect answer! Three of us celebrate birthdays in March, and I turn 50.
We booked a 2 bedroom villa at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, and the rest was history!
I had a super early morning flight from Newark. (Also let me say, a surprise snowstorm was supposed to hit the east coast on 2/22-2/23.). The flight was fine and we were on the ground in Orlando by 11:00 a.m. We took a Lyft and were to the resort by noon. Some of our group were already there, as they had flown in the night before. We met them in the main lobby building. To my surprise, our room was ready! I got the text while in the Lyft on the way to the resort.
I have stayed at Saratoga Springs numerous times. I love the 2 bedroom villas here! They are super spacious and clean. One drawback is the resort is HUGE! There are multiple bus stops and transportation times can be longer, so plan that in your travels.
Our section was the Grandstand. This section is right next to the lobby area, about a 10 minute walk to our room. It also has a nice pool and pool bar. I ordered lunch on the mobile app and took it with me to the room.
This was a fun surprise:
This is the living room area looking into the kitchen. In this room there is a pull down twin bed, and a pull down queen bed, sleeping 3 total people. Both are comfortable and NOT sofa beds. Having the fridge was nice because we placed a small grocery order.
This is the king bedroom that sleeps two.
This is the queen bedroom that sleeps 4.
There are two full bathrooms which was also nice, as well as a washer and dryer, and multiple closets.
This was my lunch. It got jostled a little bit while I was carrying it back to the room, but it was really good! (Mobile order at The Artist’s Palette in advance of when you would like your food! Hit I’m here before you actually get there. I found it to be super slow each time I used it. Also go check for it to be ready before you get pinged on the app. One time they forgot to ping me!)
Grilled Chicken and Rice Bowl–$13.49
After doing a little bit of work in the room, we headed down to the pool to get some sun and warmth while waiting for everyone else to arrive. I was actually surprised at how many people were at the pool in the middle of the day and not at a theme park!
It was nice to get out of freezing cold Pennsylvania!
We had dinner reservations at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ at 6:00 p.m. We decided to leave the room at 5:00 p.m. and take the boat. The boat goes directly from Saratoga Springs to Disney Springs. This was a longgggg process! We walked to the boat dock, which took probably 10 minutes or so. The line was super long. We weren’t sure we were going to make it on the next boat. However, we were the last ones to make it on and we were a party of 8! One of us had to stand. I haven’t been on the boat post-Covid since they started using them again. There used to be multiple stops at Disney Springs. Now there is only one! And it drops you wayyyyyyy over at the end near the Rainforest Cafe side. Once it drops you, everyone is funneled through security. Then we had to walk allll the way over to Homecomin’ on the clear other side. We got there right at 6:00 p.m.!
Homecomin’ is my favorite restaurant at Disney Springs. They have so many things on the menu that I like and I can never decide what I want!
I opted for the Fried Chicken Salad and split this with a friend so that we could order something else.
This was so good and the perfect amount splitting it with someone. They served it on two separate plates that you can see below which was super nice and I didn’t even ask for them to do that. I just told him we were sharing.
They have some of the best side dishes, and they used to have something on the menu were you could order 3 of them as a sampler. I didn’t see it on the menu but I asked and he said yes! We could still order it. We went with the Momma’s Mac and Cheese, Broccolini, and Creamy Mashed Potatoes.
All of this was SO GOOD! I loved the Broccolini the most. It had the best flavor! The Mac and Cheese was delicious and Mashed Potatoes were super good too. I would order all three again!
Of course we had to order some dessert! It was hard to decide but we got the Hummingbird Cake and it was massive. Definitely big enough to share with multiple people.
This frosting is AMAZING! And the cake was super moist. Delicious dessert that I would definitely get again.
After dinner, we took the bus from Disney Springs to the Polynesian Resort to check out Trader Sam’s. Since we were a large group, the wait was too long, so we sat outside on the deck and had a drink there. A musician was playing some tropical music for us and that was a nice touch. We got to see the Electrical Water Pageant, and the Happily Ever After Fireworks. They pipe the music in. It was the perfect end for our night!
We decided to monorail over to the Grand Floridian and check out the new bar in the lobby.
Sadly it was closed! So we decided to go to the Enchanted Rose. I haven’t had a chance to go here yet, so this was perfect. We were seated outside on the patio. I actually ordered a hot tea because I was starting to lose my voice. This place was packed!
We ended up taking a Lyft back to Saratoga Springs.
I came back to the room to it being decorated! Thank you to my wonderful friends!
That wrapped up our long day. I was super tired. I had been up since 3:00 a.m.
Posted at 9:37 pm by taryngirl, on February 9, 2025
12/14/24
Continuing on with our arrival day, here is a tour of our room! This is a Bay Lake Tower 1 Bedroom Villa (803 sq. ft). This room features 1 king bed (separate bedroom), 1 queen size sleeper sofa, and 1 twin size sleeper chair, as well as 2 full bathrooms, a full kitchen, living room, washer and dryer.
Here is a tour of our room:
One of the bathrooms:
The dining area:
Full kitchen:
Living room:
The couch pulls out into a queen
The chair pulls out into a twin
Washer, dryer, closet:
Bedroom:
View from the bedroom:
Master bathroom:
We loved the room. It was super spacious for the four of us, and in a great location.
After getting settled in, we were tired! We were going to try to go eat at Steakhouse 71, but saw that they had a Mobile Order option. I was so happy about this!
I had eaten here one time for dinner before. It was very good! I knew that I wanted a steak. I opted for the steak from the kid menu. This popped up for my choices:
Fork & Knife Caesar Salad:
This was very good!
Kid’s Grilled Steak (served with two sides and a drink):
This was the perfect size and was delicious!
Kid’s Chicken Breast (served with 2 sides and a drink):
Fish of the Day:
This was also very good!
Overall, 10/10 from everyone! They also packaged silverware for us even though we had some in our villa. I LOVE the convenience of mobile ordering here since we had a villa and could eat in the kitchen!
After dinner, we wanted to go to the Top of the World Lounge to watch the Magic Kingdom’s fireworks show. Disney Vacation Club members have exclusive access to this. They do offer a few paid experiences:
We opted to just chance it and hope there was general space available for us.
The view was amazing! They pipe in the music and dialogue from the show.
Our view:
After the fireworks, we just went back to the room. Here’s the pool at night from our balcony:
Posted at 8:42 am by taryngirl, on January 23, 2025
12/14/24
This trip came about as a birthday celebration for my youngest daughter. We decided to let her pick a friend to join us. The night before we were flying to Florida, her friend suffered an injury in her high school basketball game. She arrived to our house in the morning on crutches and with ice packs! Ackkkkk! Since we were flying Southwest Airlines, I went into her confirmation and added a wheelchair to it. I had NO idea the extent of the injury, but I knew I wanted her to walk the least amount necessary!
Southwest was great! We checked in like normal and then went to a “wheelchair assistance” desk. They scanned her boarding pass and we were off to head through security. We went through a special entrance and there was no line. They also wheeled her to the gate and upon boarding, we all were permitted to preboard with her. Our flight was not full.
Once on the plane, she did have to get up every 20 minutes and take a stroll down the aisle to avoid blood clots. (Her crutches fit in the overhead bin.)
Now, let me do a preview…
We are Disney Vacation Club members. We had 3 day tickets for Universal Studios Orlando. So for our arrival day, we took a Lyft to Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, which I booked with our DVC points. My plan was to take the monorail around to the resorts and look at the Christmas decorations and gingerbread houses, wake up the next morning and Lyft to Universal.
Our Lyft from the airport to Bay Lake Tower was $50 plus tip.
We landed around noon and were at our resort by 1:00 p.m. Our room was not ready yet, so we checked our luggage with Bell Services, and went to get something to eat.
It was a beautiful day!
Bay Lake Tower is connected to the main Contemporary Resort by a Skybridge walkway. This is located on the 5th floor of BLT. The gingerbread display was located directly inside the Contemporary once crossing the Skybridge walkway.
I loved seeing this:
It was amazing in person! There also was a little stand set up where they were selling gingerbread goodies.
For lunch we went to Contempo Cafe, which is one of my FAVORITE quick service locations.
We mobile ordered. The menu:
If you do not mobile order, you can order at the cashier and then they will deliver the food to your table.
I ordered the Vegetable Flatbread–Zucchini, Red Onion, Roasted Red Pepper, Roasted Tomato, Asparagus, Mozzarella, Parmesan, and Pistou finished with Balsamic Glaze and Chives $13.29
This was actually amazing! The taste was so good, and it was a good serving size. I could not eat it all.
Chicago Style Italian Beef Sub–shaved Italian Beef, Mozzarella, Giardiniera, and Seasoned Au Jus $13.99
This was also really good! He ate the whole thing.
Kids Chicken Strips–Served with 2 sides and a drink $8.49
Fun fact, anyone can really order a kid’s meal at a quick service location. It’s a good portion size and comes with choice of 2 sides and a drink. Both girls got double fries and a water. They loved these!
Chili-Cheese Fries $6.99
We also ordered a side of the Chili Cheese Fries. These were also really good!
Here are some of the desserts that were available:
Overall, 10/10 meal here! It was super busy and tables were limited.
From here, we hopped on the monorail and headed out to check out the Polynesian and Grand Floridian. We all four had a backpack because we weren’t able to check into our room yet. So I had my laptop, others had ipads, etc. Security was crazy. All 4 of us were flagged and they had to go through our bags at every single checkpoint during this journey.
Our first stop was the Polynesian. This is one of my favorite Disney resorts! I love the vibe here!
This is the view walking in from the monorail:
The decorations were so pretty!
We looked in the shops and then got back on the monorail to go to the Grand Floridian.
This is the view when walking in from the monorail:
It was bustling with activity in here! The gingerbread house was up and there was a longgggg line waiting to buy some gingerbread goodies.
The cast members actually stand INSIDE the gingerbread house to serve the customers. It’s huge!
From here we got back onto the monorail to head to our resort. I had received a text that our room was ready!
Up next…Bay Lake Tour 1 Bedroom Villa, Dinner at Steakhouse 71.
Posted at 9:30 am by taryngirl, on October 11, 2023
9/12/23
This short trip had been in the works for months. My travel agency owner called an informal meet up to help celebrate the agency’s 10th birthday!
I left my house at 2:30 a.m. to drive to the Philadelphia Airport. I picked up my travel bestie since she lives about 15 minutes from the airport. Our flight was earlyyyyyyyy on Frontier. We met up with another agent who was flying down just for the day.
We landed, got our luggage, ordered an Uber, and went to our resort, Disney’s Saratoga Springs. We changed, freshened up in the bathroom of the lobby, gave our luggage to bell services, and headed off to the bus stop for Magic Kingdom. We were inside the gates at 9:30 a.m.! Today was a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party event, which meant the park was going to close to regular guests at 6:00 p.m. Those who purchased the event tickets were permitted to enter at 4:00 p.m., while everyone else had to leave by 6:00 p.m.
I was excited to see everything decorated for fall and halloween!
We didn’t really have a plan at all for the morning and afternoon. We checked wait times and decided to go directly to Haunted Mansion. It had a 20 minute posted wait time. From there we went to Pirates of the Caribbean. That was down for the entire morning until now. It had just reopened and we only had a 5 minute wait.
My travel partner got a return time for Tron. So we went over to Tomorrowland. I had a drink break and went on the People Mover while I waited for her. I also decided spur of the moment to make a lunch reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern, which is in my top 3 meals at Disney! There was plenty availability the day of, which is unusual.
In fact, look at the wait times for the rides at 11:00 a.m.:
I’ve been saying this for years…Not So Scary Halloween Party dates are GREAT days to visit Magic Kingdom as a park day! Enter at park opening, and be finished sometime between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. You should be able to hit a majority of the rides, and have some table service dining options if you did not plan ahead.
It was EMPTY!
Our lunch reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern was at 12:30 p.m.
Liberty Tree Tavern is served family style, all-you-care-to-enjoy. Current pricing is $39 per adult, $21 per child, plus tax and gratuity. All serving sizes shown were for two of us.
We started off the meal with the delicious rolls. These are served warm, and were slightly different than what I remembered from the last time I ate here. These have some kind of butter mixture on top. Regardless, they were soft and delicious!
Next was the Declaration Salad–Mixed greens, Apples, Cranberries, and Cheese tossed with Housemade Dressing
This salad was also different than I remember. It was good though. The dressing had a good flavor and was very light. I’m not a huge fan of cranberries, and these were a non-factor really.
After a short while, the main platter and sides came out.
House-made Macaroni & Cheese
This was very good! I like it so much better than the Stouffer’s that they used to serve!
Seasonal Vegetables (Green Beans! I have never seen them serve a vegetable that wasn’t green beans…) and Mashed Potatoes
These were yummy! We did get more of the potatoes. They really are so creamy and good! I personally like to eat the pot roast with them…
Roasted Turkey, Pot Roast, Oven Roasted Pork, Herb Stuffing
The turkey and pot roast are AMAZING! I don’t know that I even tried the pork because I love the other two so much! We did get more pot roast. The stuffing was okay, but I love the mashed potatoes so much that I don’t waste my time with the stuffing. 🙂
House-made Gravy is also served.
The grand finale course here is the Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake–Vanilla Toffee Cake, Chocolate Sauce, Vanilla Ice Cream
This is my favorite dessert in alllllll of the land! The cookie part is warm. IT’S SO DANG GOOD!
We were done eating around 1:30 p.m. We had some plans for the evening non-Disney related, and we still had some time before we had to go back to the resort.
We went to Fantasyland and went on It’s a Small World and Little Mermaid. We walked through the shops on the way out to the bus.
We were back to the resort before 4:00 p.m. I had received a text that our room was ready. So we went to Bell Services to get our luggage. They gave us three options. We could take our luggage and walk to our room. (Saratoga Springs is HUGE so that was a definite no!) We could go to the room and call for our bags. Or they could drive us on a golf cart with our luggage. Of course we opted for the golf cart! I did tip the cast member who drove us, as he carried our bags to the room for us.
We were staying in a 1 bedroom villa. Here’s a little room tour!
I absolutely love this resort. It’s been renovated, and I love the pull down bed in the living room vs. the old sofa beds that were not very comfortable. I also love the full kitchen in the villas. It’s nice to have the option for drinks and snacks.
My friend had scheduled someone to come to the room to give us henna tattoos.
We loved the final products!
After our tattoos, we jumped in an Uber and went to dinner with some friends that live in Windermere. It was a fun night! And we were ready to hit the ground running the next day at Hollywood Studios!
After we got checked into our room, we decided to walk over to Epcot with no real agenda. We didn’t have any particular rides we wanted to do, but we did want to check out some of the Flower & Garden displays. The walk from the Beach Club Resort to the International Gateway entrance is very short…just minutes.
Here are just SOME of the beautiful displays around Epcot right now:
This one was super cute and themed after Encanto! It was a walk through with a few different sections.
Each country had displays that were appropriate for that particular country. This was Japan with super cute Bonsai trees:
Outside of Mexico:
There were so many more displays. These are just a few from throughout just some of the countries!
The views in the evening are pretty amazing!
Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival is held each year for a few months throughout the spring. Besides the beautiful topiary and garden displays, there are special outdoor kitchens featuring the season’s freshest flavors. Think Food & Wine Festival that is held in the fall…but with a spring spin!
Up next…Dining Review of Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie!
We made Theme Park Reservations for our arrival day at Hollywood Studios. We had nothing specific we wanted to do attraction wise. We just wanted to get some pictures and videos. We decided to get there by way of boat. I just love the view around this whole area!
We arrived around 11:30 a.m.
We walked through some of the shops on the way in.
We were walking toward Toy Story Land, when we came upon some filming going on:
We took some time to go in to see Walt Disney Presents, and had a meet and greet with Sulley! Yes, character meet and greets are back!
We finally made it to Toy Story Land, and decided to get in line for Toy Story Midway Mania, which had a 40 minute wait time posted.
My friend reallllllllly wanted to get the Margarita flight at the The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge. I had never been here but always wanted to try it! It’s seating just outside of the regular Brown Derby restaurant. So that was our next stop. The menu they gave us was actually different than the one they had posted online. This one included items from the actual inside table service The Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant.
I am just noticing that I forget to take a picture of one of the beverage pages. I ordered the Sangria pictured below and I don’t see it on the menu! There were so many good drinks to choose from and this was super refreshing during this hot day.
Chrissy got the Margarita Flight.
We also ordered the Charcuterie Board:
I am not a charcuterie meat person, but I did like the cheeses and the pickles. Chrissy prefers the one at BaseLine Taphouse.
And the famous Cobb Salad:
This was amazing! And I absolutely would get it again.
I did ask for this cheese to be on the side because I don’t like too much of it.
Overall, I really liked it here. I liked the expanded menu, the outdoor seating for the right time of year, and the staff was great.
After our snack here, we decided to head back to the resort because our check in time was approaching.
As I stated in my last post, I used my DVC points to reserve a night at Disney’s Beach Club Villas. This is one of my favorite resorts for several reasons.
I love the theming and decor. I am a beach person!
The pool is hands down my favorite (Stormalong Bay).
The location is perfect for walking into Epcot through the International Gateway, and boating or walking to Hollywood Studios.
If you like some downtime, this is right next to the Boardwalk area, that features a few restaurants and some entertainment.
We hadn’t received a text that our room was ready, so I went to the front desk to inquire at about 4:15 p.m. They did give me a room once I went to the front desk.
Walking in the door, there’s a mirror with hooks.
To the left was the vanity/sink area and the closet.
The shower/toilet are separate.
This particular location still has the individual sized toiletries.
The closet has the safe, ironing board, extra bedding for the pullouts, and a luggage rack.
On the right when walking into the room was the kitchenette. This area has a microwave, mini fridge, coffee maker with all of the fixings, paper towels, paper products, a toaster, and a small sink.
The bedroom consists of a queen bed, a sofa pull out bed, and a twin sized murphy pull down bed.
The murphy bed pulls down from the table under the television.
We had a small balcony with a table and two chairs.
Overall, I LOVED this resort and the room. I would definitely stay here again and it’s usually one of the first resorts I look for just because of the pool.
My Annual Pass expires on May 14th…so I knew I had to take one last, quick trip to Disney! My good friend and fellow travel agent, Chrissy, joined me. I was able to find one night with my DVC points, and a travel agent rate for the next two nights at a different Disney Resort. Our flight left Philadelphia at 5:30 a.m., and once we landed, another fellow travel agent texted and asked if we wanted her to pick us up from the airport and stop for breakfast.
We checked My Disney Experience for dining availability and landed on Cape May Cafe, which is located at the Beach Club, where we were staying for the night. This used to be a character dining experience, but that has not yet returned.
Disney’s Beach Club Resort
The restaurant is located right off the main lobby of the resort.
Right inside the entrance to the restaurant is an omelette station.
They have returned to a regular buffet style meal. There are four different sides with food. This side had the fresh sliced ham and rolls.
It also had fresh fruit, yogurt, and oatmeal with toppings.
The first dish on the left was a steak and egg scramble, then regular scambled eggs, bacon, and sausage.
Also on this side was a poached egg on top of hash, asparagus, breakfast potatoes, and something with tofu/vegetables.
The third side featured the kid section…Mickey waffles, chocolate chip pancakes, and tater tots.
And CREPES! There were also a few toppings for the crepes that are not pictured here.
The fourth side has eggs, bacon, sausage, and biscuits with sausage gravy.
My FAVORITE item at this buffet were the Salted Caramel Beach Buns that were brought to our table. This was also served with a vanilla sauce not pictured. This was like cinnamon roll texture. Super soft and squishy on the inside!
Overall, we all loved the meal and would definitely return. It was $25 per person for an adult. Our waitress was great!
Posted at 10:28 am by taryngirl, on April 20, 2022
12/29/2022
Today was our first Hollywood Studios day! Park hours were 8:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m. Because we were staying at a Disney resort, the park opened at 7:30 a.m. for us. We were at the gates at 7:00 a.m. Our plan this day was to try Genie+. We purchased it and right at 7 a.m. logged on to reserve our first attraction. We were trying for Slinky Dog Dash and the first return time we could get was 5:15 p.m.!
Once the gates opened, we went immediately to Rise of the Resistance. We did not want to pay for Individual Lightning Lane to ride it, so we chose standby. We were on the ride by 7:45 a.m.
After Rise of the Resistance, we went to Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. A 30 minute wait was posted, with an actual wait time of 20 minutes. Next was Star Tours. At this point, some of us were hungry, so we mobile ordered from ABC Commissary for pick up at 10 a.m. Our dinner reservation was at 3:50 p.m., which was an odd time. So we had to plan our food times accordingly for the rest of the day.
Side of fries:
Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese with Fries:
We have ordered this before, and it’s the only reason we come back here to eat…it’s SO GOOD! A great change for a counter service meal.
Chicken Club Sandwich with Fries:
This was also very good!
While on our “lunch” break, at 10:30 a.m., we were able to get our next Genie+. The pickings were already slim, and we chose the Frozen Sing Along. We did hit some other attractions…Muppets, Millennium Falcon, Indiana Jones, and then had dinner at Mama Melrose. A separate review will be forthcoming for that meal!
Here are some random pics from around DHS throughout the day!
(One of my favorite spots to sit and people watch or grab a quick snack, is Baseline Taphouse!)
After dinner, we went on Toy Story Midway Mania, Slinky Dog Dash with our Genie+ return time, Alien Swirling Saucers, and then hit the shops on the way out. We were on the bus at 7 p.m. Some people from our group went to Magic Kingdom, and the rest went back to the resort for the evening.
Overall, it was a great day. Crowded and super long lines everywhere, and Genie+ didn’t really help, but we got on most of the rides we wanted to. A large part of our time, we spent refreshing the app to see if we could get a better return time. We did have great weather though!
Taryn Travels 