Flame Tree BBQ Lunch Review

Oh, Animal Kingdom. I love you but you have a long way to go. I will be really interested to see what Avatar Land does. Hopefully brings more air conditioning. We managed to land at the park on a day when it was a balmy 95 degrees with a heat index that got up to 105.9 degrees. We wandered a bit trying to decide on our best lunch option and finally settled on Flame Tree Barbecue.

The Walt Disney World Boardwalk Inn & Resort Review

During our Walt Disney World trip in August 2015, we had the pleasure of staying at the Boardwalk Inn & Villas Resort. This was my first time staying there, and it was a big upgrade from Caribbean Beach. Not to knock the latter, it always served my family well, but you really can't beat the convenience of the Boardwalk.

The Boardwalk at large, which includes the resort as well as a number of restaurants, shops, kiosks, and  portrays the elegance and grandeur that combined with the carnival atmosphere to create the Atlantic City Boardwalk in the early 1900s. One thing that can be said about the Disney Boardwalk? It is absolutely beautiful. The main lobby is really stunning and is full of tons of intricate details. Some of my favorites were the working miniature carousel (ya'll know I love a good carousel), the hippocampus electrolier light fixture, and, of course, the creepy nanny chairs. As always with Disney, make sure you look up.

My husband and I took the Magic Express from the airport and got to the resort a little earlier than my in-laws (who were driving in). We went up and let them know we had arrived, and were told that our room wasn't quite ready yet. This was no problem, as our bags would be placed in our room once it was ready.

Since we were there and had some time to kill, I asked about linking our credit cards to our separate Magic Bands. There was a young gentleman on his second day at the job, and with some guidance from his mentor, we got everything all set up. We wandered around, browsed a bit in some of the shops, and nabbed my first Mickey Mouse Premium Bar of the trip.


We wandered down by the swimming pool, where I was very impressed to find a sign for the "New Balance Running Trail," an eighth-of-a-mile loop that takes you along the Boardwalk, past the Yacht & Beach Clubs. You could also increase the distance by crossing over to the Swan & Dolphin and head over towards Hollywood Studios. How cool is that?

For four people (two couples), we rented two rooms. My mother-in-law asked when she booked if we could get adjoining suites. They told her they would try but couldn't make any promises, but we ended up having adjacent rooms with the little door between. Also, check out the cute Ferris wheel themed carpet in the hallways. Super adorable, right?

The only blip in service that we had was with our luggage. My husband and I came in from the airport via Magic Express, and our bags were delivered to our room no problem. My in-laws drove in themselves, and my mother-in-law left her bags with the bellhop. It took a VERY long time for them to come up to the room, to the point where we were waiting around for them instead of going to the park. Eventually, she called down and they were brought right up, but it does knock the service rating down a bit. To correct it back a little, my husband was having some minor allergies to something in the air, and when the hotel's little gift shop didn't carry anything other than very expensive large quantities of otc allergy meds, the woman called down to one of the gift shops along the boardwalk and found out exactly who had something less expensive so I didn't have to run around a bunch.

To be honest, the rooms themselves are never a big factor when I stay in a hotel, especially in Disney. Is it clean and does it have a bed? Then I am good to go hang out in the parks and really only sleep and get dressed in the room. We had two double beds, plus a little fridge, and were just down the hall from the ice dispenser which is handy when you have a malfunctioning ankle. That said, our rooms had a beautiful view looking out towards Hollywood Studios and the Swan & Dolphin, and the beds were very comfortable.

The biggest upside of the Boardwalk is its convenience to Epcot. We were an adult only group and completed our goal of having one drink in every country spread out over the course of our trip. That meant that, even after a day in another park, we'd take the bus back to our resort, relax for a few minutes, then head into the World Showcase. It worked out perfectly, and I think in the future I will definitely look hard at all of the Epcot resorts because of this. Plus, you can either walk back along the Boardwalk or, as we often did with my ankle getting grumpy by the end of the trip, take the Friendships back and forth from the hotel to Epcot. Plus, it is pretty hard to beat that view.

TLDR Breakdown
Room Rating: B+
Atmosphere Rating: A
Service Rating: A
Convenience Rating: A+
Service Rating: A-
Overall Rating: A
Bottom Line: I would 100% stay here again, and on future trips will likely do so unless given a really good reason not to or outvoted.

Chefs de France Dinner Review

 I love France. I studied French in college, I've visited the country six times, lived in Nantes for a semester, Paris for two separate months, and of course visited Disneyland Paris twice. So it is a given that whenever we're in Epcot, I love getting to eat at the France Pavilion. Our first in-park stop on our first day of our last trip was to try the first of our Drinks Around the World at Les Vins des Chefs de France (I went with the Grey Goose Slush, yum!). Our last day I'd actually been planning to eat lunch at the quick service Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie, but we ended up eating dinner at Chefs de France so we ended up eating our last lunch in Japan at Kastura Grill (review coming soon!).

La Hacienda de San Angel Dinner Review

One of my favorite things to do in Walt Disney World is to eat, especially around the World Showcase. Sure, a lot of the food is a slightly watered down version of what you might get if you actually traveled to those countries, but it would much harder to eat lunch in Japan and dinner in France. My parents were never big on Mexican food, but my in-laws (who we took this trip with) eat it quite often so I knew this was a safe bet. 

Starring Rolls Cafe Lunch Review

Our day at Disney Hollywood Studios went by very quickly, but we still managed to ride all of our top choices. Between Rockin' Roller Coaster, Toy Story Mania, and strolling through the exhibit before "Walt Disney: One Man's Dream" (you can take the girl out of the museum...) we managed to squeeze in lunch at Starring Rolls Cafe. My husband and I are big sushi fans and I knew they served sushi as well as cafe style sandwiches, which would appease my non-sushi eating in-laws. Plus, they are known for their cupcakes. Hard to go wrong there!

Big River Grille & Brewing Works Lunch Review

During our trip to Walt Disney World in August we stayed at the Boardwalk Inn. My husband and I arrived (via Magical Express) just after noon, and my in-laws pulled in around 1:30. Before jumping into the parks, we decided to start with our bellies full. As a family we like to visit craft breweries, so my father-in-law voted that we visit the Big River Grille & Brewing Works, located right on the Boardwalk next to our hotel.

Also, I managed to take exactly 0 pictures while we were at lunch, so my apologies for not having images to go along with this review. You'll have to channel your inner Figment and use your imagination!

Be Our Guest Breakfast Review

We had the chance to eat at so many awesome places during our trip to Disney World in August, and I wanted to share my experiences with you. There are so many options for dining in the parks that it can get very overwhelming. I may or may not have a spreadsheet just to help me keep everything sorted. Here's the breakdown of the only real breakfast we had in the parks (my husband and his parents are not big breakfast eaters).

Be Our Guest Breakfast, August 2015
Making Reservations
I feel like we really lucked out in terms of our reservations. Being slightly Disney obsessed, I get a lot of news updates for new and exciting things happening around the parks. I knew they had been doing a test-run of breakfast at Be Our Guest, but it was scheduled to end before our trip and all the remaining lunches and dinners for the duration of our stay were already booked. Luckily, I saw the news that breakfast was being extended, and after a brief consultation with my mother-in-law we made the booking. The process was very easy online, and you use a credit card to hold your reservation.

iWalk 2.0 Review - The Upsides

Yesterday, I posted the downsides of my experience with the iWalk. While there were some small things, there was absolutely nothing that would dissuade me from wholeheartedly recommending it to anyone who finds themselves needing crutches. Here are the things that I really loved about the iWalk 2.0 Armless Crutch, in no particular order.

Easy on the Arms
This is 50% of the motivation behind getting the iWalk. I've had chronic pain since 2008, and had surgery in 2012. While that largely resolved it, the dead last thing I wanted to do was cause more problems with it. That meant that traditional crutches were out of the picture, as people with perfectly healthy arms and shoulders end up sore or injured because of them. The iWalk has been the 100% perfect solution to this.

iWalk 2.0 Review - The Downsides

Heading into my foot surgery, I tried to do a lot of research to be as prepared as possible. I actually did not find a lot specific to my procedure, but I did stumble across this gem. The iWalk 2.0 Hands Free Crutch has been the absolute best part of my recovery, although there have been some ups and downs (but luckily no falling downs). I want to be very clear. I highly, highly recommend that if you're going to be in a foot cast, you look into renting or purchasing the iWalk 2.0. It has made a tremendous difference in my recover, but I wanted to touch on some of the frustrations or unexpected hurdles before I start singing its praises.

Weight Restrictions
Be aware before you order the iWalk that it is limited to individuals under 275 pounds, and your upper thigh need to be smaller than 27". I was unable to find height limitations, but in my tennis shoes I am the most comfortable at the tallest setting. I am 5'7", but the majority of my height is in my legs so someone taller than my can in theory utilize this without an issue. Just something to make sure you check before you order!