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Hello everyone,
At the end of May we spent ten days at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, where we attended (part of) the 24 hour event and two Star Wars Weekends. In this first part of my photo trip report, I'm going to cover the 24 hour event, the Four Seasons breakfast and Star War Weekends. The second part of this report will cover everything else.
This report is very photo-heavy, so be sure you have a good connection before clicking to continue.
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Hello everyone,
This past weekend Jon and I visited National Harbor in Maryland to experience their Christmas season, which has become something of an annual tradition for us. The Gaylord National Resort there holds its very festive 'Christmas on the Potomac' which includes the very popular ICE! event, and of course, characters!
We started the day with breakfast at the "Madagascar Crack-A-Lackin' Cook-In Breakfast". The restaurant is on the lower level, with the entrance right in the main square area near the fountain. The restaurant is a buffet restaurant and offers everything from waffles, French toast, fruit, cereal, yoghurt, pastries, hot food (eggs, bacon, etc), custom omelets and more. The restaurant is divided into two areas, one for those who do not want to meet characters, and those who do. The character dining part is out the back in a separate dining space. The character dining was available from 8am until 11am, and we called ahead to make reservations because we didn't know how busy it would be. You do not need to be staying at the hotel in order to make a dining reservation.
Now to the important part, the characters! Being a Madagascar themed breakfast, I was expecting at least the core characters from the movie such as Alex and King Julien, and I wasn't disappointed! We got five characters at our meal in total. In attendance were Alex, King Julien, Skipper, Private and Mort. I would have liked to have seen Gloria there, as I know that she exists as a character at other resorts around the world, but I wasn't really complaining. Five characters is fairly standard for most Disney character dining experiences, so this really wasn't any different.
When we arrived it was very early, and the restaurant was empty! Alex and Skipper were pretty much having a party of their own when we arrived! We took a lot of photos, and they were very willing to pose for the cameras!
In the second rotation were Private, Mort and King Julien. Throughout the morning the characters would hold dance off competitions and dance parties around the dining room. It was very lively, in good spirits and definitely a lot of fun. All the staff really got into it and were dancing fiercely around the dining room too! It was hilarious!
Overall we had an excellent experience at the breakfast. We paid $70 total for the two of us, which by all accounts for a character buffet breakfast, especially compared to Disney prices, was very reasonable.
Next up, we wanted to meet Gingy the Gingerbread Man (from DreamWorks' Shrek) who holds his own gingerbread decorating experience upstairs from the restaurant.
Hanging around on the lower level and the mid-level we also found some other characters! Princess Fiona and Puss in Boots from DreamWorks' Shrek and the penguins from Madagascar were all greeting fans. We were told that Shrek also appears, but he wasn't out when we were there.
After the character greeting fun, it was finally time to head into the ICE! exhibit, which this year featured Frosty the Snowman. We always enjoy coming to this. It's a very unique experience. However, not to be too critical, I will say that it seems to have becomes shorter and shorter each year while the price increases. Anyway, you enter the ICE! exhibit, hand over your ticket, pick up your none too flattering Parka jacket (to protect from the cold), and prepare to enter the Arctic... Well, not really, but it is extremely cold inside!
Every year they have an ice slide inside the exhibit, which you can ride as many times as you like. I always have to do it! It's really great fun, and surprisingly fast!
As you come to the end of the Frosty the Snowman part, you enter a room where you can see a real ice carver at work.
There was a random ice carving of Turbo, too.
In the final room is a traditional Nativity scene all carved from ice.
To finish, a shot of the Christmas Tree at the Gaylord National, and one of the Christmas Tree outside in the "downtown" area of National Harbor.
Overall, we had a great day, and I look forward to seeing what ICE! feature they have next year, and which characters will appear.
Dan. |
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