Disney Vacay Part 2: The Food

Let's be honest....you eat a lot on vacation. It's inevitable.  We were blessed with so many amazing food experiences on our trip!  I was very nervous about the dining experience that I was going to have due to my severe gluten intolerance but fear not....I probably ate better than I ever had while I was at Disney!  If you have food allergies, Disney is definitely the place to be!

Like I said yesterday, the Hubs and I decided against getting a family suite in favor of the dining plan and a cheaper room.  Disney offers guests of their resorts the option to include a dining plan in their travel plans.  This allows the guest to have an allotment of meals that are prepaid depending on the plan they choose.  While we explored our Dining Plan options, we figured it was better for us if we bought the deluxe dining plan because it was a little less restrictive when it came to our food credits. There's about 4 different options ranging from Quick Service plans to Platinum plans.  Quick Service means that you walk up to a counter and order food.  Table service means you sit at a table and are waited on.  The Deluxe Dining Plan allows each guest to have 3 meal credits (quick service or table service...it doesn't matter how you use them) and 2 snack credits per night spent at a Disney Resort.  Other plans include just Quick Service dining or 1 Quick Service and 1 Table Service per day.  Each quick service meal included a drink, entree, and desert.  Table service meals included a drink, appetizer, entree, and dessert.  You should never leave a meal hungry on this plan.  We figured if we were going to spend the money on the dining plan (it can be quite expensive) we were going to eat at expensive places.  My OCD totally kicked in and when we booked our vacation in February, I made all of our dining reservations at the same time. Disney recommends that you book dining reservations 180 days in advance so I jumped on it as fast as I could. It was a breath of fresh air knowing that we didn't have to stress about how much meals were going to cost or having to shell out money on snacks for the kids.  And all of this was done prior to the discovery of my gluten intolerance.

I worried about eating at the parks for weeks until I stumbled across Sarah's blog, Gluten Free and Dairy Free at WDW.  She blogs about all of her dining experiences at Disney while managing her allergies.  Reading her posts made a huge weight lift off my shoulders!  I emailed back and forth with her about dining strategies and any hints she had for me.  I felt like I became a smart, more confident allergy diner.  I went into vacation excited to see what the Disney chefs could do for me.

We ate a lot of meals at our hotel. Landscape of Flavors is an exceptional dining location.  I think because Art of Animation is a newer resort, they put an emphasis on healthy choices when they created their menus.  True you can get the normal cheeseburger and pizza but they also offered salads, smoothies, caprese sandwiches, pasta dishes, chicken burgers, and more. The kids ate like kings and queens there too!!!  For an allergy girl, I had such a good experience.  I was totally confident and had no problem talking to with the chefs in each station to see what they could offer me.  On the first day, I was still a little unsure of myself but the chef made me an amazing pulled pork sandwich on GF bread.  It was HUGE and delicious.  The Hubs was so jealous of it that he ordered it the next day (gluten filled of course).  I was dumb and didn't take pics of all my meals but I tried.  For dinner, the chef made me a chicken burger with queso blanco cheese and black bean salsa with allergy fries (they have dedicated fryers and equipment for allergy orders).  It was AMAZING!  So good that I got it for lunch a few days later. I also had a few awesome salads and a great spinach, ham, and feta omelette.

Chicken burger....so good!!!!

A bright and colorful salad under an umbrella at the pool

We did 4 Character meals (Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, Play N Dine, and Tusker House) while on vacation which meant buffets.  Cross contamination is a huge concern for me but the chefs put me at ease.  At each restaurant, the chef came out to the table and walked me through the buffet.  He actually went dish by dish explaining whether or not it was safe for me to eat an item. If I had an item special ordered from the buffet, the chef was the one to take the order and he was the one to bring my food out. It was a such a personal touch that it made any insecurity I have about my allergy disappear.  I left every single meal stuffed to the gills but without an upset stomach....win in my book!!!

I might have eaten a ton of these since it was one of the only deserts I could eat (besides sorbet) all week.  Strawberry mousse in a dark chocolate shell.....delish!!!! From Tusker House at Animal Kingdom

At the non-buffet sit down meals we had, I cannot speak enough about the chefs.  Every single one was amazing and never made it seem like I was bothering them with my allergies. They made sure I had my own GF bread or rolls with my meals.  They took the time to review each menu item that was safe for me to eat or how they could make it gluten free.  They also brought my meal out themselves.  Amazing Amazing Amazing

My seafood pasta from Tony's at Magic Kingdom.
GF pasta, shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams

Lunch from Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus at Epcot
Asparagus, green beans, corn and roasted chicken (along with an amazing appetizer of salads, salmon, shrimp, and cheese)

Dinner at Coral Reef Restaurant at Epcot
Mahi Mahi on a bed of jasmine rice with a lemon shrimp sauce 

My cheese appetizer at Cinderella's Castle (yes we ate at the castle!!!!)
Goat cheese with fig jam, smoked cheddar, blue cheese with honey, and grapes

My Castle dinner
Tilapia with heirloom tomato/quinoa salad

This leaves us with desserts.  I will say that desserts can be a let down if you have allergies.  Most places had at least a sorbet or ice cream option for me. At our hotel, I got gelato, rice crispy treats, or BabyCakes NYC brownie bites. The Hubs got things like this:

Or at dinners, he got chocolate cake or this amazing treat from the Castle:

"The Clock Struck Twelve"
White chocolate mousse in a milk chocolate shell on a graham cracker crust....I was so jealous!!!!!

I did get to eat a flourless chocolate lava cake from Coral Reef which was amazing!!!

I don't know why I can't turn the picture :(

Snacks consisted of drinks, cupcakes, chips, popcorn, bags of candy, cotton candy, and my favorite of all.....

A sweet treat from my favorite coffee shop that just opened in Magic Kingdom!!!!!!!!!

We definitely made the most of our dining experience and got our money's worth too!  I would never stay for more than a weekend without getting the dining plan.  It allowed us to eat at restaurants that we normally wouldn't eat at due to cost.  Plus it adds to the memories we're making with our kids.  We surprised them with dinner in the Castle on our last night of vacation.  We would never had been able to do that for the kids if we had eaten at any of the character dining experiences.  For us, it was the smartest choice.  It might not be the best for everyone but the way we utilized it, it was worth every penny!!!!

Next up......Some of the fun we had!

Disney Vacay Part 1: The Hotel

This week is going to be photo overloaded so I'm warning you now!!!

The Hubs and I did a lot of research when it came to picking a hotel.  We've never stayed on Disney property with the kids before this trip so we wanted to make it a memorable one.  I spent many nights online chatting with Disney specialists, trying to make sure we had the perfect room for our vacation. Our top 2 hotels were Animal Kingdom Lodge and Art of Animation.  They were also at two completely different ends of the financial spectrum.  While waking up every morning with a view of the African plain with giraffes and rhinos right outside our room was tempting, I couldn't see spending that much money on a hotel room, especially when Art of Animation had so much to offer us.  So we decided to choose Art of Animation (AoA).

The nice thing about AoA is that it's the newest resort at Disney.  They have 4 different areas all themed after popular Disney movies.  They have a standard hotel style room in the Little Mermaid area as well as family suites themed as Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Cars. The Hubs and I had been to the property before just to see if it would be something the kids would like and fell in love (or at least I did). It's so bright and colorful and you can tell how much thought Disney put into the creation of this resort. Originally we were going to stay in a family suite (I think Noah wanted Finding Nemo) because they have a kitchenette and we were going to try to eat as much of our own food as possible.  Then we looked into the dining plan and decided to go in that direction (more on that tomorrow). With the dining plan, we didn't need to have a kitchen so we opted to go with a standard hotel style room.  We were able to do online check in the day before and requested a 12:00 check in time. We actually ended up getting there at 11:30 and our room was still ready!  Kudos to Disney for making that happen!!!

The kids were in awe of the property.  Noah even said "this is the most amazing place on Earth!"  When you walk into Animation Hall (the main building), you're greeted by a wall of colors as well as sketches from each of the 4 movies.  Most of it was concept art or beginning sketches but there were a few finished sketches. The light fixture in the atrium was beyond amazing.  It was filled with sketches from the movies and Jodi Benson even signed hers!!! (she was the voice of Ariel). I was excited when I spotted it!!!  I could have stared at it for hours. Disney did a great job of capturing the beauty in the artwork that their artists create.

Animation Hall in all its glory!!!  

Once we had our keys, we headed back to the car and headed towards our building. We were in building 8 which was at the complete opposite end of the property.  There was parking right outside our building so we were very fortunate.  We asked for a top floor room with a lake view but knew that we were earlier than our check in time and would be happy to have whatever room was available.  Well we were in luck!  We got a top floor and lake view!  Plus we could see our car from the room so that was an added bonus.  I got the suitcases unpacked, felt like we moved in to our new home, and the kids found all the Disney channels that they could watch.  There was one that had all the old school Disney cartoons that we grew up with!  It was fun watching them but even more fun watching our kids enjoy them too!

Our room was awesome (there's a video tour of the room on my Instagram feed)!  Every aspect of it was like we were under the sea.  From the ocean floor carpets to the shower that made you feel like you were stepping into Ariel's cave of human treasures, it was amazing! The table had the music sheets to "Under the Sea" on it with clam shaped chairs to match!  The lights above the beds were bubbles!  We even found a few hidden Mickey's in our shower!!!

We wanted to show the kids around the property but we also decided to start using our dining plan early so we headed back to Animation Hall to Landscape of Flavors, the food court area of the hotel.  It was our time to explore everything that Disney created.  The attention to detail was probably my most favorite part.  The landscaping of each area truly matched the movie.  All of the plants and bushes in the Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo areas looked like sea plants.  It really looked like you were on the ocean floor.  The Lion King area looked like you stepped into the African plains and the oasis of Timon and Pumba.  The Cars area looked exactly like Radiator Springs.  I mean these Disney Imaginears are outstanding!!!

The Little Mermaid area, complete with ocean floor plants, Sebastian leading the orchestra in Under the Sea, and the Dingelhopper!!!!  Ariel, Ursula, and King Triton stand at the end of each building looking out to the pool.  They're only 4 stories tall!!!  We were in the Ariel building

When you walked through Lion King, you were greeted by Zazu then you see Scar, perched on a rock.  They had an elephant graveyard and Timon, Pumba, and Simba walking across the area on a log.  Rafiki and Mufasa were at the other entrance.  Finding Nemo area had the Big Blue Pool, a state of the art pool.  I'll probably do a post dedicated to the pools. There were 3 but we spent most of our time at the Big Blue Pool.  Nemo and Marlon were at the Sprayground, Squirt was at the playground, while Mr Ray and Crush adorned the buildings.  The silly seagulls even make an appearance!  The Cars area truly looked like Radiator Springs, complete with the leaning tower of tires, the Cozy Cone Motel, and Lightning himself!  You walked down the street that Lightning paved and saw all of your Radiator Springs friends along the way!

All the unbelievable details!!!!

We walked the grounds a million times a day and took pictures with everything!  I think I have 3 sets of pictures of the kids with every statue, animal, etc, the hotel had to offer. I have about 7 pictures of the Dingelhopper alone (the fork).  The kids never got sick of it and there was so much to look at as we traveled back and forth throughout the property every day.  I couldn't be happier with our choice and I know the kids loved it too!  I can see our family staying at this resort for many years to come!  AoA should rank high up on the list of places to stay, whether it be families with kids or just Disney kids at heart!!!!

Up next.....FOOD!!!!!
  

A day late

I had big hopes of starting my Disney vacay recaps on Monday but my computer is acting up so I'm going to push back my recaps by a day. So they will start on Tuesday and will be picture overloaded!!! Just looking through the pictures makes me wish I was back there right now. So sorry for letting you down but what good is a recap without pictures?!?!?

See you on Tuesday for Disney Vacay Part 1: The Hotel

Happy Independence Day

The land of the Free because of the Brave

Thanks to all of the men and women who selflessly put themselves in the battlegrounds to defend our freedom.

I hope everyone has a Happy and Safe 4th of July!!!!

I'm talking First Aid Kits at TBMB

I'm spending some quality time over at the Tampa Bay Moms Blog today talking about First Aid Kits.  Do you have a first aid kit?  Need to know what you should have in one? Come visit me!!!

Can you "nest" when you're not pregnant?

I know a lot of the blog world is pregnant right now and I am certainly not pregnant but let me tell you, I am nesting like nobody's business.  Maybe I'm sensing my SIL's nesting or maybe I just needed to be in this mood, but I'm in full on nesting mode. After unpacking the enormous amount of stuff we came home with on Saturday, I proceeded to do almost all of the laundry in the house, go through my closet/purses/shoes, reorganize it all, make the Hubs do the same to his side, and ended up with 7 bags of things to go to Goodwill of my own.  Pair it with the 5 bags of things that were waiting to go to Goodwill and that makes a whole heck of a lot of things that we did not need. It kinda looked like this:

I woke up on Sunday and reorganized the Tupperware cabinet (the bane of my existence), went through all of the kids cups, and all of the junk that landed on the top of the fridge. We cleaned out the garage and finally got rid of the toys that were just taking up space. I took down the disgusting kitchen curtains that came with the house (only 4 years in the making) and have my eye on painting our bathroom. I think the Hubs secretly doesn't want this phase to end and frankly, neither do I.  I can be horribly lazy at times so this has been a great feeling of accomplishment for me.  I've been consulting Pinterest all afternoon in the hopes of coming up with a new color scheme for the master bedroom that both the Hubs and I can live with.

I'm a crazy person right now!  We'll see how long it lasts!!!
 

We're back!!!

We're back from a week at the Happiest Place on Earth!  Our Disney vacation was awesome! We ate amazing food, probably gained too much weight, had too much fun, relaxed a lot, and enjoyed ourselves. I really did not want to check out of the hotel on Friday and I really don't want to be going back to work today. Emmy told me she was mad at me because we weren't going back to the hotel. She's a girl after my own heart! She values a good vacay!!!  But that's life I guess. Last week was a great opportunity for me to unwind, get my head straight, and just chill. I'm ready to face the world with a renewed sense of being. I'm going to wait till next week to do my Disney recap so be prepared for Disney overload!!!  This week I'm catching up on things, posting over at Tampa Bay Moms Blog, and editing pictures. So until then, I'll leave you with a picture or two to hold you over til next week!!!!

When I ask for a family picture, this is what I get!

All of the poses that Em made while taking pictures.  Who taught her to "duck face" at 3 years old?