Disney World. Day 3. Rapunzel, meet Rapunzel.
Today did not get off to a great start.
Let’s go back to last night though. We put Hallie to bed and all seemed to be well. It looked like her antibiotics had kicked in rapidly and she was happy and back to normal. I’m so jetlagged so I passed out, but all of a sudden I wake up to Tzvi rummaging around the room looking for the nebulizer. It was around 10 or 10:30 he started to hear her coughing. The coughing got worse and worse until finally he decided to nebulize her. I don’t think it was really asthma coughing – it was more mucous– but better safe than sorry. After that it was a bit of work to get her back to sleep but once she did she was good for the rest of the night.
Below Hallie poses as both the benevolent princess and her evil malevolent sister the queen.
Hallie woke up at 7. We did breakfast and got ready but I desperately needed coffee so Tzvi drove across the street to get Starbucks for me and my dad. They of course didn’t have brewed decaf, so he waited about 10 minutes while they made us pour overs. Thanks Tzvi.
(I don’t think this barista cared to be featured on our blog)
We made it out around 9:45 and got to the Magic Kingdom at 10:00. Parking was much easier than yesterday, except we had to ride a tram to the transportation center, where we should’ve been able to hop on the monorail to the park, except the monorail was down so we had to wait about a half hour for the ferry boat. We didn’t get into the park until almost 11:00 am.
The park is beautifully decorated for Christmas and there’s constant Christmas music playing. It’s very nice, but just seems a little early. Once Thanksgiving hits I’m all in on the holiday spirit, but it’s a little much for November 13th (and 85 degrees).
We tried to take a photo with Hallie in front of the castle. It didn’t really work.
We gave up on the castle and tried the Main Street background, but that didn’t really work either.
Back to the castle, one parent edition.
Eventually this was the best we could do.
Our first stop of the day was Ariel’s Grotto where we rode the Little Mermaid ride. Hallie was scared of the dark but recognized the characters from her dolls and bath toys so I think she enjoyed it. Next we made a stop at Gaston’s Tavern where we ordered everything on the menu for a late-morning snack. We had the Lefou’s Brew (which I think they came up with to combat the Harry Potter butterbeer they sell at Universal), as well as a cheese platter, hummus and pretzels and veggies. After that Hallie and my parents went on Dumbo, which she seemed to enjoy.
You can take the girl out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the girl.
Next up was the Fantasy Fare where Hallie got to meet princesses Rapunzel and Tiana. Hallie was dressed as Rapunzel, and very excited to meet the princesses. We had fastpass, so we sped right in. Rapunzel was first and then Tiana. Both were great in character. Tiana was too good, and she spoke with such a New Orleans accent that Hallie had no idea what she was saying.
After the meet and greet we went on the Carrousel. Hallie rode her own horse and loved every minute of it. I think at this point my parents went to ride Big Thunder Mountain. Sad I missed that one; the things we sacrifice for our children.
At this point Hallie was refusing her almond butter and jam sandwich, and we were hungry, so we went looking for food. We went to the Harbor house, a quick service place that I think is technically in Liberty Square. We shared a tuna sandwich with kettle chips and grilled salmon with string beans. Hallie actually ate the salmon which was great, because she’s been eating such garbage this trip. My parents joined us and we finished up lunch.
We stuck Hallie in the stroller because it was definitely nap time, and made our way over to Splash Mountain, our 3rd fastpass of the day. Tzvi and I went first. They now give you little Ziploc baggies to put your phones in. Smart. My parents went after us. It’s great how Splash Mountain hasn’t changed at all over the years. It’s such a relic of another time – it’s got great drops, you get wet, and it still has the same racist cartoonish design that it’s always had. It was fun.
After Splash Mountain we walked around waiting for my parents to finish their turn on the ride. As I watched I saw someone lose a hat, which was funny. Then my parents were finished and texted, “Done with ride. Dad lost hat.” We waiting while he shopped for a new hat.
Tzvi then walked into Adventureland. My parents rode Pirates of the Caribbean while Tzvi and I shared a Dole Whip, and then we went on Pirates. Tzvi was in a mood at this point. He had some reason, but I think it was just hot and the middle of the day. He was fine after the Dole Whip.
Next we walked back to Fantasyland for our fastpass to It’s a Small World, which was good nap time for my parents, and then went on to Tomorrowland where we rode the People Mover. Hallie was good with that, except during the dark parts. Tzvi had to turn the flashlight on his phone during the dark parts, and then we were fine.
After that we were basically done so we walked back to Main Street. We caught the end of the show in front of the castle, which featured all of Hallie’s favorite characters – Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Anna, Elsa and Olaf and Rapunzel and Tiana. She watched on Tzvi’s shoulders and absolutely loved it. When that was over we walked through some of the stores on Main Street, but Hallie was starting to lose it. The park was closing soon (it closes at 6:00 so they can then let people in for the nighttime Christmas party, which is a separate $100 ticket).
We made it out around 5:30 and rode the monorail back to our cars. We said goodbye to my parents and Hallie and we were off. My parents took Hallie to a kosher place for dinner and Tzvi and I went back to the hotel to change for our own dinner out alone. When we got to the hotel we found (1) a blackberry on the carpet, which we only noticed after stepping on and grinding into the carpet and (2) that the refrigerator had been left open and pretty much everything was warm.
Anyway, we took showers, got dressed, and made it out by 6:30. We drove over to Disney Springs by 7:00 and made our way to the Edison, a new bar (that’s connected to a bar of the same name in LA that we’ve been to (see our LA Summer 2017 blog). The bar is supposed to be really cool, but unfortunately we didn’t get to go in, as it was closed for a private event. That was unfortunate, but we spent the next hour shopping instead, which was nice.
At 8:00 we made our way to STK for dinner. There are STK locations all over the country, including the original STK in New York, which we’ve never been to because there isn’t really anything on the menu to eat. The restaurant here is very nice – it’s trendy and decorated like a trendy NYC restaurant, but it’s still in the middle of Disney. I wonder if these restaurant groups think about how Disney (and its patrons) fits in with its brand and just decide that there’s too much money to be made to not do it. If you go to the website for STK Orlando you see a lively bar scene, a DJ spinning records and a lot of fashionable people dancing at their tables. While we did have a DJ, it was mostly the convention and t-shirt and shorts wearing crowds during our dinner.
Anyway, all of that being said, dinner was great. We started with cocktails – I had something with basil, lemon, honey and tequila, and Tzvi had some sort of a Manhattan. To start I had a delicious salad with shaved brussels sprouts, cranberries and almonds, and Tzvi had a tuna tartare with avocado and giant taro chips that he really enjoyed. For our mains I had tuna with chickpeas and pita chips, and Tzvi had Chilean sea bass with bok choy. I should also mention the bread, which was promised to us at the beginning of the meal but didn’t actually show up until after the appetizers, though it was amazing – soft, doughy pull-apart bread that came in a cast iron skillet with a chive oil that was delicious. I also got a side of broccoli, which first came with cheese even though it didn’t say it on the menu but the waiter took it back and brought me a cheeseless one. Tzvi had a side of corn pudding that looked gross but he loved and ate all of. For dessert we shared a bag of donuts, which were pretty good, and a chocolate dessert that had chocolate cake, chocolate “crack” (basically like rice krispies with chocolate around them) and chocolate whipped cream. It was delicious.
After that we were stuffed and exhausted so we went back to the hotel. Hallie was sleeping when we got back, so we put on bathing suits and went to the hot tub for a quick dip.
Great day.