She tends to say whatever comes into her circuits. - Marathon Weekend 2020 Dining Report with Bonus Trip - 2/12 California Grill

Dis_Yoda

DIS Veteran
DVC Silver
Joined
Apr 26, 2008
Table of Contents

Who: Dis_Yoda & Mr. Dis_Yoda, 30-something married DINKs
When: January 8th to 13th, 2020
Where: Boardwalk Villas

January 8th, 2020
ESPN Grill
Enzo's Hideaway

January 9th, 2020
Oga's Cantina
ABC Commissary
Wine Bar George & Sprinkles

January 10th, 2020
The Plaza
Takumi-Tei

January 11th, 2020
Via Napoli
La Hacienda

January 12th, 2020
Beaches & Cream
Oga's Cantina
Flying Fish

January 13th, 2020
Nothing

Bonus Trip!!!

January 24th, 2020

Kimonos

January 25th, 2020
Festival of the Arts
Enchanted Rose
California Grill
 
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ESPN Grill

We were up at 6AM thanks to our daily wakeup call of Gantu cleaning himself loudly. Sometimes it is just his paws, sometimes it's something else. He just makes sure he is loud enough to wake us up as you know, he needs his breakfast by 6:30AM or he turns into a very sad dog.

I mean, just look at that face...

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So they were fed. I ate some string cheese and my husband some cereal. Aren’t we exciting for a dining report?

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We loaded up my husband’s truck with our stuff and the two furry children (our third is off on an adventure with a professional handler to teach her how to be a show dog along with some shows- she returns January 26th) and took them to our boarding facility. With that taken care of, we headed onto I-75 to fight traffic through Fort Myers and Charlotte County before continuing onward to Disney. We timed it to miss Sarasota & Tampa traffic though!

As we had alcohol, chocolate and other things that shouldn’t really just hang out in a truck bed in an unattended parking lot at ESPN Wide World of Sports, we were heading to the Boardwalk to drop off our luggage, booze and Jell-O shot mixing supplies since our room wouldn’t be ready yet. I am very glad my husband was driving as around 9:20AM, I checked on my phone and noticed our room had been changed to a handicap accessible room with a roll-in shower. Um, what? I doubled check to make sure I had reserved a normal standard room and we had. We had been changed by the room assigner. So I try to call DVC member services and get a busy signal so I did online chat. They gave me the number to BWV guest services who then put me in contact with operations. Not that I have anything against handicapped rooms on most trips but my husband was running Dopey and the need for a tub was there. Epsom Salts and Ice Baths were in his future! They took my number and told me they would call us back. Well, at 11AM we arrived to drop off the luggage and head to ESPN Wide World of Sports and never got a call from them. But we’ll get to more of that story later.

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At ESPN Wide World of Sports, I was on the verge of hangry and in need of a beer or cider as well. We went to the grill as our first stop since it was the easy option for food.

My husband and I both went with the cider option as the beer was either an IPA or Bud Light. The cider was very refreshing. Our food arrived quickly enough on real plates. Sorry for the bite out of the photo but as I mentioned above, hanger was there! My buffalo chicken sandwich was exactly what my stomach needed. Chicken was nicely fried and had a buffalo ranch sauce on it.

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Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

My husband went with the Turkey sandwich. He was happy enough with this.

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Turkey Bacon Club Sandwich

Not the fanciest meal but it met our needs and the food was fresh. Despite all our race weekends at Disney, this was the first time we’ve eaten at the ESPN Grill at Wide World of Sports. We’ll probably go back if similar situations are present to us.

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We went through the expo and I got more beer. It was a little more hoppy than I like but my husband and I shared it and the citrus helped me put up with the hops well.

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Sunshine Brunch

I liked that the shops had these options for shirts and I almost got this but I went with a Stitch “I run on coffee and chaos” instead.

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We headed back to the Boardwalk a little after 1PM to park the truck and to make sure that our room situation was handled. We were ensured it was and that we were rebooked back to the room we needed. (Side note: I went through my dvc point manager when home and it looks like they had changed my reservation to a handicap room on January 5th without notifying me) Our room wasn’t ready but they made sure that the ‘guest waiting’ was checked and they had our cell phone number correct. My husband didn't want to do much so we hung out in the lobby for an hour and then decided to go take a ride on the Skyliner so kill some time as our room was going to be ready by 4pm right, especially since we were waiting?

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The skyline was a nice time killer and we made it back to Boardwalk around 3pm. Room wasn’t ready so back to the couches we went and I played on my cell phone and wondered why Todd was all alone.

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At 4pm, no room and the check in was like, we have no updates. We were more than annoyed now, given the other issue we had to deal with this morning and how we never got the call we were promised anyway. And now that it was after 4PM, we called it and decided to drive to Disney Springs so we could get dinner.​
 
Sounds like a rocky start with the room situation. I would have been very annoyed! Hopefully you got some good DS grub and came back to the correct room??
 
Following along. Looking forward to reading more. Fingers crossed that your next update has your room ready and the right room type !
 


Sounds like a rocky start with the room situation. I would have been very annoyed! Hopefully you got some good DS grub and came back to the correct room??

It was a rocky start and yes, very annoying. I'm sure my name is on the problem child list from here on out at BWV after what happens upon return from dinner...

Following along. Looking forward to reading more. Fingers crossed that your next update has your room ready and the right room type !

Thank you for joining in. My fingers were crossed too during our meal!
 
Enzo’s Hideaway

Parking at Disney Springs on a Wednesday evening was a breeze! Got a nice spot in the Orange Garage and looked in a couple shops for the Mandalorian Spirit Jersey without success before we checked in for dinner at Enzo’s Hideaway.

In need of a cocktail, we decided a pitcher was a good idea. This was extremely refreshing and hit the spot for us.

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Santa Marinella Punch - Cruzan Aged Rum, Orange Curacao, Fresh Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice, Angostura

We skipped appetizers and went with just mains. Even though it isn’t something I normally go for, I went with the classic lasagna as it just sounded good to me. I wasn’t even the one needing to carb load for races! It was excellent and I only made it through half of it and couldn’t eat anymore. The sauce was hearty and the right amount of cheese for me!

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Classic Lasagna - Thin-layered Egg Pasta, Braised Short Rib Ragu, Bechamel, Fior di Latte Mozzarella

My husband went with a simple pasta with meat sauce. Today was his carb loading day for the races. He easily finished this off and was really happy with his food.

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Bucatini Bolognese - Traditional Braised Meat Sauce, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Basil

At 5PM, we still didn’t get a room notice and here is what My Disney Experience said…

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So both of us weren’t happy.

When we returned to the hotel, my husband asked for the manager. The supervisor tried to handle it and my husband was like, no, I said manager. I may have also cried from frustration as it was 5:30pm and we weren’t in a room. Magically, our room was ‘ready’ and yeah, none of our room requests were honored but I wasn’t going to complain because at least it wasn’t a handicapped room.

And all we got for all that frustration and stress?

2 multiple experience fastpasses for Thursday & Friday...

We got into the room and I called bell services to get our luggage delivered. I had a task I needed to complete for the 10K and made my Jell-O shots. I also attempted pudding shots but those didn’t turn out as they should have but I learned you really need the cool whip for those.

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I was asleep by 7:30/8 as I don’t remember much more of the evening once I finally settled in.​
 
So EXCITED when I saw you have a new report! I would not have been a happy camper if I got that room notice. I have on more the one occasion nicely said to a front desk person “yeah that is not going to work for me”! Hopefully it’s smooth sailing for you after this!
 


So EXCITED when I saw you have a new report! I would not have been a happy camper if I got that room notice. I have on more the one occasion nicely said to a front desk person “yeah that is not going to work for me”! Hopefully it’s smooth sailing for you after this!

Usually with DVC you don't get too many "yeah that is not going to work for me". It felt so good to finally get into the room.

Glad you are excited! I know its been a bit since I did a Dining one for WDW as I skipped doing them on my November adventures!
 
Oga’s Cantina

With my husband waking us way before the crack of dawn each morning due to his running Dopey, I knew the chances of us getting on Rise of the Resistance would be slim. The only day that it was going to be possible this trip was this day. The 5K started at 5:30AM and my husband was in Corral A. I told him he needed to race this run if we had any shot of getting a boarding group.

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Driving in for the 5K was a breeze and we got a spot that was closer than where the buses would have dropped off anyway. While in the pre-race area, I got a coffee and a hot chocolate to warm myself up (it was around 55 this morning) and we hung out until it was time for him to leave me to make sure he got towards the front of the corral. I watched the start line for the first two waves of Corral A and then headed back to the truck until he returned. I think I ended up walking at least a 5K between 3:30AM and 5:50AM when I got back to the car!

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At 6:12AM, he was back at the truck sweaty and gross and I drove us over to Hollywood Studios. We actually didn’t get a terrible parking spot and we had no bags so we got through security quickly enough.


I also think his sweat kept people away from us. It is one of his few times of wearing a medal in a park post race as he wanted people to know how insane he really is.

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I got a coffee and a diet coke from a stand as we both needed caffeine (we had already been up 4 hours at this point) and at 7AM, I went for our boarding group in the app!

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Score! #71!

And we immediately left the park to go back to the hotel so he could no longer be a sweaty runner.

When we got back to the park, we used one of our Multiple Experience Fastpasses to ride Rock’n’Roller Coaster before heading to Toy Story Mania and Launch Bay. At 10:25am, we checked in for our 10:45AM reservation at Oga’s Cantina.

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Menu

It wasn’t too long until we were brought inside to a table where a lady was very annoyed to be sharing her half of the standing table with anyone. So we forced her to move over and didn’t care. Maybe my husband should have stayed in his race clothes...This was my 3rd time at Oga’s Cantina so I knew what to expect but it was my husband’s firsts. Its crowded and loud and well exactly what I expect a bar in character for Star Wars to be like.

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When our server came by, we ordered and people watched.

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I got the Bespin Fizz which was enjoyable. Dry ice makes things fun!

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Bespin Fizz - Bacardi Superior Rum, Yuzu Puree, Pomegranate Juice, White Cranberry Juice, Cloud Swirl

My husband decided to go for one of the specialty cocktails and was happy for this. Who doesn’t like their lips to be numb?
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Fuzzy Tauntaun - Ciroc Peach Vodka, Bols Peach Schnapps, SImply Orange with Tangerine, Pure Cane Sugar and Buzz Button Tingling Foam

Since we didn’t have enough Jello Shots in the room, we got another one. Alcohol for breakfast is where it is at!

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Rations

We skipped a second round as well, we hadn’t eaten anything and had already been up for 8 hours. We didn’t need to be drunk. We debated if were going to use our Star Tours FP+ or get as we checked out.​
 
Woohoo!!! You're back where we belong on the dining boards!!!!

I mean, just look at that face...

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He's adorable!!! I could't resist giving him everything he wants

we were heading to the Boardwalk to drop off our luggage, booze and Jell-O shot mixing supplies
I'm gonna guess the latter may be something bell services doesn't see too often

At ESPN Wide World of Sports, I was on the verge of hangry and in need of a beer or cider as well. We went to the grill as our first stop since it was the easy option for food.
Here I kept thinking you were going to the ESPN food thing right there at the Boardwalk. I don't know why but I'm not sure I even realized they had food at wide world of sports and I've been there at least twice :confused3

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Santa Marinella Punch - Cruzan Aged Rum, Orange Curacao, Fresh Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice, Angostura
Now that should drown your room sorrows

I just made lasagna for dinner last night and now you are making me want to go have a piece for breakfast!!!

Magically, our room was ‘ready’ and yeah, none of our room requests were honored but I wasn’t going to complain because at least it wasn’t a handicapped room.
I can't believe you all had so much trouble and got in a room so late. At least it was a standard though

Now I'm guessing that is something housekeeping doesn't see every day

It is one of his few times of wearing a medal in a park post race as he wanted people to know how insane he really is.

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Race and at the park before 7??? That is insane!
 
Usually with DVC you don't get too many "yeah that is not going to work for me". It felt so good to finally get into the room.

Glad you are excited! I know its been a bit since I did a Dining one for WDW as I skipped doing them on my November adventures!
Mine have all been on DVC... usually they are really great with working with me or explaining why they can’t.
 
I'm in for this report because there's cute dogs! And Disney food of course...


I noticed the VooDoo chips in the background! An American friend did up a cute little USA-snack box for me on our last trip and included a bag of these, and I loved them!

I liked that the shops had these options for shirts and I almost got this but I went with a Stitch “I run on coffee and chaos” instead.

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This is awesome! Hahaha.

At 4pm, no room and the check in was like, we have no updates. We were more than annoyed now, given the other issue we had to deal with this morning and how we never got the call we were promised anyway. And now that it was after 4PM, we called it and decided to drive to Disney Springs so we could get dinner.

I'd be so annoyed by this!
 
Woohoo!!! You're back where we belong on the dining boards!!!!
I am! It's been a while I know - that France report took a long time to do!

He's adorable!!! I could't resist giving him everything he wants
Oh, he's spoiled. We just have to keep some rules in place so he doesn't get rude with begging or such with strangers. Instead, he'll just stare at you and drool. At least that is a bit better than pawing or jumping on you!

I'm gonna guess the latter may be something bell services doesn't see too often

Well, they probably didn't see it at least as it was all in the cooler. I would have shared though if they asked!

Here I kept thinking you were going to the ESPN food thing right there at the Boardwalk. I don't know why but I'm not sure I even realized they had food at wide world of sports and I've been there at least twice :confused3
Well, it isn't widely reviewed as people don't really have a reason to eat there. It is located in the arena the shopping expo is located in but if you would only pass it while leaving unless you know what to look for. The souvenir shop is right there so that also distracts people. We had seen it during our many RunDisney trips but never really needed to eat there but I was on the verge of hangry and there was no way I was going to wait much longer to eat. I was actually really happy with the quality but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there.

Now that should drown your room sorrows
And it did! So good!

I just made lasagna for dinner last night and now you are making me want to go have a piece for breakfast!!!
Hope you had that for breakfast as that sounds right up my alley right now too. I'm debating on lunch currently and Italian sounds really good.

I can't believe you all had so much trouble and got in a room so late. At least it was a standard though
Yeah - not very happy about that. Funny enough, my last minute room I have booked for this Saturday was altered yesterday to a handicap room at the Grand Floridian. I'm not gonna complain about that one though since the room is only to sleep in when I pick up Qi'ra on Sunday in Ocala. I'm still hunting DVC for a room on Friday night which I'm hopeful the weather up north will cause some cancellations (I know that is horrible) but my mother will join me so we can do Rise of the Resistance and then Festival of the Arts on Saturday!

Now I'm guessing that is something housekeeping doesn't see every day

Not at all!

Race and at the park before 7??? That is insane!
Well, at least I never claimed to be sane.

wow ! efficient morning . run a race and get a boarding pass.

It was an extremely efficient morning! I know we could have tried for slinky dog or smuggler's run but I knew not to push it too much with my husband since he was still in his race clothes. Luckily it was cooler this morning as it wasn't as bad as it could have been!

Mine have all been on DVC... usually they are really great with working with me or explaining why they can’t.

Good to know - I will keep that in mind when it counts. We don't return to the Boardwalk until November and hopefully the note on my account will make all these issues mute.

I'm in for this report because there's cute dogs! And Disney food of course...
Cute dogs are very important. I just got Qi'ra's first Major Point win photo so I'll be posting that shortly.

I noticed the VooDoo chips in the background! An American friend did up a cute little USA-snack box for me on our last trip and included a bag of these, and I loved them!
Yes - at ESPN Grille you either get these as your chips or you can upgrade to Tater Tots. I cared more about the sandwich so no need to upgrade when you get decent chips with the sandwich! They are so good.

This is awesome! Hahaha.
It is! I really need this shirt - hopefully its there in April.

I'd be so annoyed by this!
Oh we were! At least we finally got in and settled but not a good start to the day!
 
Qi'ra Comments

For those that followed along in France, you may already know we added a third dog to our home in May. Qi'ra is a Rhodesian Ridgeback that I got from the same breeder at Gantu but unlike him, she has a ridge and actually was the top pick of the litter. She is the last litter the dam will have since you really should only breed a dam three times before retirement, outside some other special circumstances (single pup litters, losing an entire litter, etc). We own her with full registration and will be showing her to earn her Championship. In the last quarter of 2019, she earned all three levels of Canine Good Citizen (Normal, Advanced and Urban) along with Novice Tricks. I attempted to show her in mid-November but my nerves played off her nerves and well, it wasn't pretty. I enlisted the help of a professional handler to help me since I didn't know what I was doing and there wasn't any quality handling classes nearby. It was worth every penny!

She showed the first weekend of January in Miami and went Reserve Winner for two of the three shows, losing to her half sister & Gantu's full sibling. My handler pulled her from the third show because the judge would probably be too much for her (very tall, really felt up the dogs on both sides). This paid off though!

She then had 10 shows in Brooksville starting the Thursday of this trip and they ended this past Sunday. She went 1st in her class twice (on the 9th and 12th) and then she won Best of Winners/Best of Opposite Sex last Thursday for 2 points. This past Sunday was the real winner though! She went Best of Winners/Best of Opposite Sex over a special on Sunday to earn a 4 point major! This girl has come such a long way and I'm so very proud!

She has four more shows this weekend and I bring her home on Sunday, hopefully with a couple more points but if not, that's alright. I hope she gets 1st in her class at least three times as she needs those to earn her Puppy of Achievement.

It also means, I'm going to Disney this weekend as who wants to drive to Ocala and back on the same day?


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ABC Commissary

After cocktails, we headed to Star Tours where we enjoyed the new Rise of Skywalker additions to the ride. From there, we decided to eat where there was air conditioning was a good decision and went to ABC Commissary where I forgot to take photos of our food. (Nothing but liquids all day is what I’m blaming here)

My husband went with chicken fingers with fries and I had the BBQ Pork Ribs. I was actually really happy with the quality of the ribs for being from a quick service restaurant. Yes, I could tell there were the fattier cuts of the ribs but I was able to get enough meat to fill me up. My husband knew chicken fingers are an easy food that are never a bad choice at Disney. The best part? Once we sat down to eat, our Rise of Resistance Boarding Pass was called!!!!!

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Ok, that might be the reason I forgot to take photos as I was excited.

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And the ride was worth it for all that chaos and early morning!

But after we were done with the ride (around 12:30), I was running on empty and needed a nap. We took the boat back to the Boardwalk and we stopped by the store to get something sweet. I really enjoyed my cake pop at it was just enough sweetness to curb that craving.

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Cake Pop - Vanilla Cake w/ Chocolate Coating, Sprinkles and Mini Marshmallows
 
Wine Bar George & Sprinkles

After a nap and relaxing in the room, we headed back to Disney Springs for dinner. We had planned on keeping the meals we were planning on really drinking at for early in the trip since it was safest for his races. My husband really wanted to try Wine Bar George after our stop there during a Disney Springs bar hop on a previous trip and who was I to deny him?

We again got an awesome parking spot at the Orange Garage and were quickly seated upstairs. As soon as our waitress said there was a special champagne flight - no need to say more, I was sold! It didn’t feel like that bad of a deal either for $60 considering the wines included. I was very happy!

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Special Champagne Flight - Ruinart Rose, Krug Grande Cuvee, 2008 Dom Perignon

My husband had a glass of white which he enjoyed but he really enjoys Antinori wines.

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Antinori Guado Al Tasso, Bolgheri, Italy ‘18

For dinner, we decided to go with three small plates and share. The first was the cheese board which was subbed out the blue cheese for more manchego and that was the right choice to make!

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Cheese Board - Manchego, White Cheddar, Smoked Guoda w/ Almond, Honey and Crackers

We also got the meatballs which were a good protein selection. My husband got 2 and I had one but we had no problem finishing them off. The polenta was also nicely seasoned.

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House-Made Meatballs - Triple Cheese Polenta, Tomato Sauce

Of our three small plates, the chicken was the weakest. Not that it was bad but it was more like it didn’t fit the flavors of the other two dishes and just felt like the third wheel in our dinner. We finished them but I wouldn’t order them again.

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Chicken Skewers - Togarashi/Asain Slaw

We finished our first round while we were noshing on our small plates, so we got seconds. I did the frozen red wine cocktail and I found it really refreshing. I just wish they didn’t have to use paper straws as frozen beverages are terrible to drink with paper straws.

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Freaujolais - Beaujolais, Vodka, Raspberry

My husband went with a three ounce pour of the only white wine that is produced in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It was very minerally but a nice wine to sip and enjoy.

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Outstanding By the Ounce - Chateau de Beaucasel Chateauneuf-du-Pape, France’16

We skipped desserts at Wine Bar George as prior to the meal, we had already picked up desserts from Sprinkles. I picked up a Dr. Pepper & Black & Wine Cupcakes for myself and my husband got Vanilla Milk Chocolate and Salty Caramel. We each ate one when we got back to the room and we were very happy with that!

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Sprinkles Cupcakes
 
I am here! Only a bit late but i made it!

UGH so annoying when a room isnt ready on time! But i am happy the resolved the handicap issue part of the room!

I am very excited to see what you do with all these jello shots!
 
Your dog looks a lot like our vizslas that we used to have growing up! She's a beaute!

Congrats on the marathon! We saw runners toward the beginning of our trip and I was really in awe of anyone that can run in WDW and then hit the parks up. I work out and my legs and feet were absolutely KILLING me toward the end of our days!

Wine Bar George might be my new favorite place and where I'm instructing my husband to scatter my ashes lol.

Can't wait to read more!
 
I am here! Only a bit late but i made it!

UGH so annoying when a room isnt ready on time! But i am happy the resolved the handicap issue part of the room!

I am very excited to see what you do with all these jello shots!

At least not too late in the game - still lots of food to be had!

We are very happy the handicap room was resolved. I do find it funny that VGF also moved my studio for tomorrow night to a handicap room but I'm not going to complain there. Its for one night and no one will be racing this weekend.

The first of the jello shots being used coming up!

Your dog looks a lot like our vizslas that we used to have growing up! She's a beaute!

Congrats on the marathon! We saw runners toward the beginning of our trip and I was really in awe of anyone that can run in WDW and then hit the parks up. I work out and my legs and feet were absolutely KILLING me toward the end of our days!

Wine Bar George might be my new favorite place and where I'm instructing my husband to scatter my ashes lol.

Can't wait to read more!

When our ridgeless boy was developing - a lot of people asked if he was a vizsla. Now he's way too big (90 lbs) so he just gets confused with a cur if he's out without Qi'ra. She is a beauty with attitude but that is what makes her so fun. I can't wait to have her home on Sunday!

Race weekends we take it easy in the parks which helps. We go for around 3/4 hours using our fastpasses to our advantage. Then we take a nap as well, 3AM wake up calls take it out of you even if you are asleep in bed by 8pm.

Wine Bar George is one of our favorites now too. It was a great lighter dinner.
 

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