What should we drink to? Let’s drink two and see where it goes. - Star Wars Half 2019 -Update 5/5

Wow, Highway in the Sky looked like so much fun! I had no idea that this was offered, can’t wait to try it.
It was a ton of fun. It is only offered during the week as they want full monorail use during the weekends. Well worth the splurge!
 
Morning Wanderings

I woke up and was really glad I wasn’t doing the Star Wars 5K after seeing all the drama online. A strong line of thunderstorms was coming through the area which ended up causnig them to evacuate the start line and move people to either innovations, the buses or their cars. RunDisney tried to communicate to all using social media which I’m sure was the best they could do given the circumstances. I know people complained but moving 10,000+ people out of the way for safety can’t be an easy task. I made sure to pack my poncho for the day just in case I got caught in the rain. I headed over to Gasparilla Grill for breakfast but I wasn’t really feeling many of the breakfast options and went with a salad. It did its job of putting something in my stomach before I took the bus over to Hollywood Studios.

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Garden Salad

While the new bus stations are still further than the original bus stops, the walk doesn’t feel as bad since all those construction walls are down. As I was among the initial crowd in the park, I headed into Starbucks to pick up a tea and was given a new name. I enjoyed my tea while we waited for the park to open.

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Peach White Iced Tea

The park officially opened about 15 minutes early and I was able to stay among the front of the pack heading into Toy Story Land. This meant I got on the 2nd train of the day for Slinky Dog Dash! That is awesome as I wasn’t able to get FP+ for it with the change of plans.

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Slinky Dog Dash

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Alien Swirling Saucers

I walked right onto Aliens afterwards before decided I needed to quench my thirst and pick up something from Woody’s Lunch Box as there was zero line there. I should have tried one of their tarts but I wasn’t feeling like that this morning. My lemonade was wonderful even though it was all of 9:08am!

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Grown Up’s Lemonade - Three Olives Cherry Vodka, odwalla All-natural Lemonade & Black Cherry Puree

I headed over to Star Tours along with a visit to Mickey, Minnie and Olaf before heading to the Frozen Sing-a-Long as it looked like it was going to rain again so perfect place to avoid the rain. Not sure if it ended up raining or not but I enjoyed the show. I used my FP+ for Toy Story Mania before leaving the park to head towards Disney Springs as I would eventually be meeting up with one of my RunDisney friends.

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Defective Droid

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Red Carpet Dreams

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Minnie Photo

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Mickey Photo

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Olaf Photo

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Toy Story Score

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Best In Vehicle
 
Jaleo

To get to Disney Springs from Hollywood Studios, I hopped on the Saratoga Springs bus. Amusingly enough, the exact same driver team (trainer & two trainees) from my morning journey were now driving this bus. I’ve never had that happen before! I remembered them so much as one of the trainees is going to make a great Disney rumor mill driver! Once at Saratoga, I got off at Congress Park and walked over to the Springs. The boat from the Marketplace over to Westside was pulling into the dock so I got in and took the boat over to the Westside as I wanted to try a new place for a small bite to eat. I was able to walk right in and be seated without an issue.

My server was very nice and suggested a lot of things from the menu. I went with two tapas and a cocktail for my meal. I ended up going with the sparkling sangria as I figured it would be a light cocktail as I knew I had more drinking to do today. It was exactly that and I would totally get it again.

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Sangria de lujo cava - Fruity, refreshing and sparkling sangria

Like a true tapas restaurant, food comes out as it is ready. I figured the cheese would have come first but my shrimp came out first instead. These shrimp were so good! Tons of flavor with the garlic and butter. The bread it was served with did a great job of soaking up the sauce that was left over after all the shrimp was gone. I was easily full just from this one course.

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Gambas al ajillo - shrimp sauteed with garlic

For the other tapas, I went with a selection of three cheeses - Queso Massimo - Asturian Raw Cow’s Milk Cheese, Cured for Four Months w/ the pulp from Asturian Apples; Rey Silo Blanco - An intensely-flavored cow’s milk cheese paired with honey, rosemary and almond shortbread and PX Reduction; Queso Manchego - traditional raw manchego cheese paired with moscatel compressed apples. I knew I would love the manchego and I did. The other two were new cheeses for me. I really enjoyed the blanco but I couldn’t eat all of it as it was a very intense cheese. The massimo wasn’t for me but that doesn’t mean it was a bad cheese. I’m glad I at least tried it!

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Quesos - Selection of Three Served with Picos

I will totally be back here eventually - although there are too many options around Disney Springs to pick from!​
 


I find it funny that the HITS FW area is the 4th floor near the bridge. I don't know why but their advertising seems like it'd be on a higher floor.
 
Nice to see a review of the Highway in the Sky, it looks like an awesome event!

Score on SDD and Aliens right at the start.

Jaleo is getting some really good reviews, I hope to try it one of these trips!
 
Catching up! Apologies for random order, stream of consciousness comments.

I can’t wait to try Jaleo. Everything looks and sounds so good, albeit $$$. They’re having a gin & tonic festival and I am all about that! Totally agree on # of great spots in Disney Springs now. Know a lot of people bash it as an outdoor shopping mall but I absolutely love it. I want to plan a weekend at Saratoga Springs where all
I do is pool, maybe spa, and Disney Springs.

New puppy?!?!?!

I am a yum yum sauce fanatic. So good. Pretty sure it’s mayo and ketchup and some spices. I never think about Teppan Edo ... May need to change that.

Highway in the Sky looks fun. What do you think about it as a solo? Was it awkward? I’m used to doing F&W events solo so I think I’d be ok with this. That trio looked great at the Poly but can totally hear the Top Chef judges in my head cautioning against doing something two or three ways.

What do you think about the Mizner’s redo? I’m so sad I didn’t get to say goodbye. I was nervous that it would be overly themed and appealing to kids but concept art seems subtle on the Beauty and the Beast angle and still adult oriented. I’m all for expansion and a patio.

What a score on a last min studio at the Poly!!!

I’ve never done the dining plan but agree it might be fun for a night or two.

Love Cali Grill but the service is super inconsistent. Your fish looked delicious!

Ok, guess that’s all. Love your reports!
 


Check in for Highway in the Sky started at 5:45PM and I just wanted a drink after my frustration with check in at the Grand Floridian & Bell Services.
The best kind of drink!!!

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Gin Cocktail w/ Cucumber & Strawberries
Oh this sounds great! Though I love me some gin. You can keep your bourbon!

The drink we were given was a mai-tai. I thought it was weak but apparently some other people thought it was too strong for them so your mileage may very there.
:rotfl2: Why do I have a feeling your weak is everyone else strong.

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Polynesian Food - Fish w/ Soy-Lime Sauce, Tuna Poke, Kona Coffee Rubbed Filet w/ Potatoes
These look great, even if you had to wait for them.

Odd they serve this after dinner. With the meats seems more of an appetizer to me.

They didn’t pipe in music and thus I got distracted as there wasn’t enough to keep my interest as the show is so projection heavy. This is probably my only big complaint about this event.
Weird they didn't pipe the music in. I can't imagine seeing one of these shows without the music (even if I make fun of it :P)

I haven't seen much about the highway in the sky. Do they have alcohol at the end too? I'd need a lot more than 4 drinks to keep me going.

HI Alyssa nice to meet you!

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Grown Up’s Lemonade - Three Olives Cherry Vodka, odwalla All-natural Lemonade & Black Cherry Puree
Drinking before noon = Disney perfection :thumbsup2

I will totally be back here eventually - although there are too many options around Disney Springs to pick from!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it. We have a few Jaleos here and they are some of our favorite restaurants. Doubt we'll ever get to DS to do it but I'm hoping Disney gives it the love it deserves.
 
Ooh, your choices at Jaleo all look yummy!

They were! I hope to try more of the menu on a future visit! They have a tasting menu too which could be interesting.

I find it funny that the HITS FW area is the 4th floor near the bridge. I don't know why but their advertising seems like it'd be on a higher floor.

I kinda agree there. I mean it isn't a bad view from there and it is blocked off so you have that area to yourselves. They really should have piped in the music though.

Nice to see a review of the Highway in the Sky, it looks like an awesome event!
It was! I'm glad I finally got to try it out. I wish there were more reviews out there about it!

Score on SDD and Aliens right at the start.
Agreed! That was some decent luck to be able to stay towards the front. My husband hates the mad rush so we usually end up passed.

Jaleo is getting some really good reviews, I hope to try it one of these trips!

It is a nice addition to Disney Springs! It has some nice vegetarian options as well for Andi!

Catching up! Apologies for random order, stream of consciousness comments.
Random order is better than no comments!

I can’t wait to try Jaleo. Everything looks and sounds so good, albeit $$$. They’re having a gin & tonic festival and I am all about that! Totally agree on # of great spots in Disney Springs now. Know a lot of people bash it as an outdoor shopping mall but I absolutely love it. I want to plan a weekend at Saratoga Springs where all
I do is pool, maybe spa, and Disney Springs.
It is expensive but I kinda went in there knowing that it would be. You can enjoy your gin & tonic festival ;) I'm so not a gin girl typically. We love Disney Springs! Yes, there is a mall feel to parts of it but at the same time, sometimes you just need the stuff they offer. I like being able to go Sephora or get other things that come up as needed.

New puppy?!?!?!
Yes! She comes home the week of May 13th. She'll be a show quality Rhodesian Ridgeback from the same breeder Gantu is from. My Instagram is going to go even more to the dogs!

I am a yum yum sauce fanatic. So good. Pretty sure it’s mayo and ketchup and some spices. I never think about Teppan Edo ... May need to change that.
Yeah - pretty sure its heavy on the mayo and other stuff but its so good! Too many options around EPCOT that it does get ignored from us as well.

Highway in the Sky looks fun. What do you think about it as a solo? Was it awkward? I’m used to doing F&W events solo so I think I’d be ok with this. That trio looked great at the Poly but can totally hear the Top Chef judges in my head cautioning against doing something two or three ways.

It wasn't that awkward for the most part. The cheese course was probably the only time I was truly alone. If you are used to F&W events solo, this would be no big deal!

What do you think about the Mizner’s redo? I’m so sad I didn’t get to say goodbye. I was nervous that it would be overly themed and appealing to kids but concept art seems subtle on the Beauty and the Beast angle and still adult oriented. I’m all for expansion and a patio.

I am not happy. Mizner's was easily my favorite bar on property and such a staple in my life. I don't think Beauty & the Beast fits the Grand Floridian whatsoever. If it was an Alice in Wonderland themed bar, I may have been more receptive. I may or may not boycott it as I'm stubborn!

What a score on a last min studio at the Poly!!!
I was super happy about it even if they ended up screwing up my magic band!

I’ve never done the dining plan but agree it might be fun for a night or two.
Yeah - it was decent for the night, especially with using it for a signature dinner and a decent sized lunch.

Love Cali Grill but the service is super inconsistent. Your fish looked delicious!
Yeah - ever since the renovations, service is no longer as good as it used to be. Guess they know the view and the food will just keep people coming anyway.

Ok, guess that’s all. Love your reports!
Thanks for always reading along. One of these days, you'll hopefully finally be a part of them ;)

The best kind of drink!!!
Exactly!

Oh this sounds great! Though I love me some gin. You can keep your bourbon!
You do love your gin. I love my bourbon. At least there are enough of both for us to be set!

:rotfl2: Why do I have a feeling your weak is everyone else strong.
That probably is true although I bet my weak is similar to your weak. Lots of practice!

These look great, even if you had to wait for them.
Yeah! I really enjoyed watching him prep. I may have been the only person paying attention to all the detail involved!

Odd they serve this after dinner. With the meats seems more of an appetizer to me.
True..I didn't think about that. It was still enjoyable.

Weird they didn't pipe the music in. I can't imagine seeing one of these shows without the music (even if I make fun of it :P)
Yeah - it didn't hold my attention well. At least I had booze.

I haven't seen much about the highway in the sky. Do they have alcohol at the end too? I'd need a lot more than 4 drinks to keep me going.
They had bailey's, amaretto, amarula and frangelico as an add on for your coffee or hot chocolate. It didn't seem you could get a glass of it on your own. I had two boozy hot chocolates as I didn't want caffeine at this point of the night.

HI Alyssa nice to meet you!
Nice to meet you too!

Drinking before noon = Disney perfection :thumbsup2
It is! It wouldn't be the last drinking before noon of this trip!

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. We have a few Jaleos here and they are some of our favorite restaurants. Doubt we'll ever get to DS to do it but I'm hoping Disney gives it the love it deserves.
Well - here they serve the croquettes on a pillow instead of the shoes he serves it up there on! I don't blame you for wanting to give up other dining places for a place you can get at home. It is why we don't go to Shula's since we moved to Naples.
 
Candy Cauldron

I began wandering around Disney Springs and the Candy Cauldron caught my eye with the pretty Briar Rose Gold treats. I went with the cake pop as it was a nice small bite to fix the sweet tooth but not overly stuff me. I really enjoyed this!

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Rose Gold Cake Pop

Afterwards, I went to various stores around Disney Springs but I mostly window shopped but I did pick up a pair of the castle silver minnie ears. I may have a Minnie Ear problem. I was amused at the under construction lego builds at the Lego Store! I had already ordered Steamboat Willie from the Lego Store so I didn’t need to get anything else there this time around.

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In Progress Lego Builds
 
Hanger Bar

After I was done window shopping, I was needing to kill some time before my RunDisney friends arrived from the expo. I didn’t want to walk anymore so I headed into the Hanger Bar for a drink. I went with the Anything Goes as I love the glass it is served in. The drink has a bit of a kick from the dragon fire so I helped me not chug it.

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Anything Goes - Byejoe Dragon Fire, Sprite, Fresh Lime Juice, Passion Fruit & Pineapple Juice
 
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Paradiso 37

I met up with @mrsg00fy & @Princess KP once they arrived at Disney Springs from the Rival Run Expo. They had some bus issues leaving the expo. @mrsg00fy was craving chips and a margarita so we headed into Paradiso 37 to satisfy those cravings! As I had already had lunch, I didn’t really care where we ended up. The three of us split a pitcher of margaritas. They all ordered real food but I went for a dessert since it was around 2:30PM and I had eaten at Jaleo earlier.

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Margarita

My dessert was super rich and amazing. It was also nice to get a chocolatey dessert with ice cream that I didn’t have to worry about my husband stealing a good portion of.

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Paradiso Chocolate Stack - Decadent Chocolate Cake layered with Creamy Chocolate Mousse Served with Warm Caramel Sauce and topped with Vanilla Ice Cream

We hung out for a while. It was a nice time! We parted ways as they headed back to the parks and I headed back to the hotel to relax.​
 
Fun afternoon! I was just professing my love for Disney Springs but I’ve never been to any of these 3 spots. I’ve also never had a cake pop and hadn’t heard of dragon fire. I feel like I’ve been doing life all wrong! That drink does look pretty! I love “Mexican” food so not sure why I haven’t hit Paradiso. I think it just suffers from being one of so many great options.
 
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Anything Goes - Byejoe Dragon Fire, Sprite, Fresh Lime Juice, Passion Fruit & Pineapple Juice
I ordered this on our first trip to Jocks and really enjoyed it. Sadly I ventured elsewhere on or last trip and didn't enjoy it nearly as much but this is a great spot to grab a drink.

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Margarita
If a margarita is drank in a restaurant and no one is there to photograph it does anyone get tipsy? :P
 
Following along! Great report so far, fun dining choices. I love solo trips. :goodvibes I can just feel the relaxing vibe...
 
Fun afternoon! I was just professing my love for Disney Springs but I’ve never been to any of these 3 spots. I’ve also never had a cake pop and hadn’t heard of dragon fire. I feel like I’ve been doing life all wrong! That drink does look pretty! I love “Mexican” food so not sure why I haven’t hit Paradiso. I think it just suffers from being one of so many great options.

Well, there are a lot of spots in Disney Springs so it is understandable that you haven't been there. I haven't been to many of the newer quick service places outside of Blaze, T-Rex or the new Wolfgang Puck yet. I've been to Paradiso a few times. I won't purposely set a reservation for it but will go there when asked by friends, if that makes sense?

I ordered this on our first trip to Jocks and really enjoyed it. Sadly I ventured elsewhere on or last trip and didn't enjoy it nearly as much but this is a great spot to grab a drink.

If a margarita is drank in a restaurant and no one is there to photograph it does anyone get tipsy? :P

It's a shame when you order a drink and it just isn't what you hoped it to be.

I think no one gets tipsy as one pitcher of margaritas split 3 ways is only about a glass and a half per person. Then again, I'm not a light weight when it comes to drinking.

Following along! Great report so far, fun dining choices. I love solo trips. :goodvibes I can just feel the relaxing vibe...

Solo trips are relaxing! My husband is about to join in to solo time is ending but I'm glad I got to enjoy the 2 days on my own.

Enjoying your reviews
Thank you for joining in!

Thank you for sharing your reviews. Those drinks look yummy!
Yes! The drinks were yummy.
 
Grand Floridian Cafe

Back at the resort, I decided to try the other magicbands to see if they worked so I would know before my husband arrived. Well, not a single one of them did. No naps were going to happen for me on these solo days! I had to go down to the front desk of the Villas to get them fixed. I nicely complained about the issue between yesterday and today and ended up with three extra fastpasses for Saturday at the Magic Kingdom due to the amount of time I had spent with problems. This was at least something that would prove to be helpful the next day as the parks were busy!

My husband ended up knocking on the door a little after 5:30PM as he made decent time from Fort Myers. The orange magicband he keeps in his truck wouldn’t work at the guard shack (which didn’t shock me at this point.) I tried to move up our dinner reservation as we both knew 8PM was too late for us to eat but I was only able to get it moved up to 7:45PM and I kept checking. We did check in at 6:45PM hoping we could get seated early but the lady told me that isn’t likely to happen so we gave my cell phone number and got some soda from the counter service using my mug and shopped around the Grand. We got bored of that eventually and then hung out in the lobby to listen to the band until my phone got messaged right around our reservation time.

We placed our order all at once with each of ordering an appetizer and entree. My husband went with a cocktail since it was the start of his vacation. I was boring and went with Pellegrino but I did have a fair amount of alcohol at Disney Springs and needed to make sure I was hydrated for the 10K.

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Grand Colada - a tropical blend of Meyer’s Original Dark Rum, Coconut, and Pineapple topped with Blue Curacao

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Pellegrino

My husband went with his standard appetizer here as who doesn’t love a rich broth and lots of cheese? He never eats the onions but at least he does finish off the broth and cheese. I stole some of the cheese off the side before he got it all as I love cheese.

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Caramelized Onion Soup Gratinee - Traditional French Onion Soup

Speaking of my love of cheese, I went with the fried mozzarella for my appetizer. It was smaller than I was expecting it to be. I enjoyed it though!

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House-breaded Fried Mozzarella

I was glad I had the Pellegrino for us as our server kinda disappeared for awhile. With the pellegrino, we didn’t have to wait for refills! When our entrees finally arrived, my husband quickly dug in. He loves the caesar here and the chicken was nice and warm. It was also a safe pre-race option for him.

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Caesar Salad w/ Grilled Chicken

You only see one entree here, right? Well, that’s because there was a problem with mine. I ordered my Grand Sandwich which I have gotten from Grand Floridian Cafe many times over the years. Always the same way - no tomatoes and no ham. Well, it arrived and had ham and tomatoes on it. As it is an open face sandwich with a cheese sauce on top, it wasn’t a matter of simply removing the ham and tomato and going along with my meal. I would have lost all my cheese sauce doing that. I refused the dish from the food runner and said to just remove it from our meal. When the server stopped by 5 minutes later, I asked to get us our check so we could just leave once my husband finished his entree. Since it took 30 minutes for the entrees to arrive after our appetizers came, I wasn’t about to wait for them to fix my meal. A manager did come over and asked again if I would like to have it fixed but it really just didn’t matter to me anymore. I was tired and frustrated. I took a few bites of my husband’s chicken caesar to make sure I had some protein in my stomach. When our check arrived, only my entree was removed. I used cash to pay for the meal so we could go. I totally didn’t eat normal for a day before the race but it happens. My husband was off to a great start to his vacation arriving to a wife that was just frustrated and probably looked on the verge of tears between the magicband drama and then this dinner. We headed back to the room and we were asleep very quickly. At least it gets better from here!​
 
Sorry they screwed up your dinner and didn't make it right. I can't believe they didn't bring you out a free dessert.
Hopefully you don't have any more hiccups on your trip
 

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