DDG 228 - Disney Cruise Line Palo Review

Welcome to the show notes for the Disney Dream Girls Podcast, show number 228 for Sunday 23rd September 2018. If you want to listen (whilst you read these notes) click the hand audio player below or head to your usual podcast catching place.

Coming up on todays show, Michelle is joined by frequent guest, friend and Disney-travel blogger Becky Manion. Becky has been visiting Walt Disney World for many years but having experienced her first Disney Cruise a few years ago, she is now addicted! So when Michelle wanted to talk about upscale dining on the Cruise Line, she could think of no better guest. Find Becky via her blog what_becky_did

Firstly, why pay for an upscale dining experience when you can have breakfast buffet or table service style but also in your stateroom? By the end of this, hopefully you will know the answer!

Palo is bookable via the Disney Cruise Line activities section of the website. New cruisers can book 75 days before they set sail. Whereas previous cruisers can book between 90 and 120 days - depending on how many cruises you have been on. 

Luca the server Michelle had on her brunch

On the main show, we review the brunch and then jump to discussing some news. However, select Patreon supporters have an extra special extended show with a review of dinner and the upscale ice-cream parlors.    

On these show notes, we will exclusively focus on Palo. The first thing that strikes you is the beautiful surroundings. It is an incredibly adult atmosphere and the tones of the reflect the beauty of Italy. The food offerings are two fold - there are cold and hot options available. These are unlimited and you are welcome to hop between the two. The price includes a mimosa on arrival.

The cold buffet area consists of four tables; breads, seafood, cheese and meats then desserts. The tables literally groan due to the weight of their bounty!

After enjoying everything, you can then move to the hot options. Between us we sampled pancakes, waffles, chicken parmesan and steak. Everything was delivered piping hot and delicious.

The staff did not rush us and in total we were there just under two hours. Whilst there were other guests there, it did not feel that way at all! In fact, I felt like the whole restaurant was exclusively ours. 

At the end of the meal, we received our bill and after adding an amount for the gratuity; we left. We were incredibly full and felt that the experience that was made up of a perfect marriage of exemplary service and devine food: it was well worth the price tag. This is an event we will definately repeat. 

Have you any questions about Palo? Drop us a message!

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To support us financially (and listen to the extended podcast) visit us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/DisneyDreamGirls 

DDG 227 - Walt Disney World Trip

Welcome to the show notes for the Disney Dream Girls Podcast, show number 227 for Sunday 16th September 2018. If you want to listen, whilst you read these notes, all you have to do is press the green triangle on the audio player below. Alternatively, why not listen via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or any podcast catching place!

Arrival at The Magic Kingdom was a euphoric moment

Coming up on todays show, Michelle starts to review her Walt Disney World trip with some of the stories and experiences she was able to have at one of the happiest places on earth!So where to start? I suppose the very beginning and the trip to the airport. I live in West Yorkshire, which is in the Northern part of England. Despite being only 8 miles from an airport, prices forced me to drive 210 miles south to fly from Gatwick Airport. Using airline points, I was able to save £450 so the journey was definately worth it for me. 

Prior to the trip, I played a game with listeners to guess the weight of the cases. Admittedly, in hindsight - yes I took too many items of clothing but I live and hopefully learn! On the outbound trip the prize was won by Caroline Gray (her guess was 39.5kgs and the actual was 39.3kgs) and on the return trip Kevin Curtis Allen (actual weight was 52.kg).

The hotel I stayed in for the initial leg of the trip was All Star Movies. I must say that I was impressed with the room. It was clean, comfortable and had sufficient storage for my luggage! We chose to not have housekeeping had this resulted in a $50 gift card for our 6 night stay. If I had to say one negative about the room - it would be I found it a little dark.

During the first week I had at Walt Disney World, I was able to visit all four parks,as well as Typhoon Lagoon. The crowd levels where not too horrendous and we used the Fast Pass Plus system to ensure when we had used our three pre-booked fastpasses that we obtained a further to enable us to ride without long waits. Alternatively, if we saw an attraction with a short queue - we rode. 

A big highlight was visiting the dress shop at Disney Springs with my friend Katherine. We had such fun trying on all the dresses! I will write up and share pictures on a separate post.

Another highlight was the food and no doubt I will be talking about this for many weeks to come! A big mention must be the carrot cake cookie which not longer resembles a cookie but a monster double decker slab of cake with frosting inside!

Something new for me was Toy Story Land. It is such a fun place to be and the new attraction - Slinky Dog Dash - is a big hit. That is about it now for this weeks post. If you want to get in touch with us, you can: 
Email us info@disneydreamgirls.com 
Follow our posts on Twitter/Instagram @DisDream Girls 
Join in our discussions on Facebook.com/DisneyDreamGirls
And finally, support the show financially by visiting https://www.patreon.com/DisneyDreamGirls

DDG 226 - Adulting on The Disney Cruise Line

Welcome to the show notes for the Disney Dream Girls Podcast, show number 226 for Sunday 9th September 2018. If you want to listen, whilst you read these notes, all you have to do is press the green triangle on the audio player below. Alternatively, why not listen via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or any podcast catching place! On this weeks show, Michelle begins to share details of her three-week Walt Disney World/Disney Cruise Line trip starting with the week she had on the Disney Fantasy.

First, lets begin with the journey fromWalt Disney World to Port Canaveral. As we wanted to get onboard as soon as we could, we booked a private limo service. It cost $200 for the four of us and we managed to get to the port for just past 10am.

Once we had queued to check in, we lined up again to meet Minnie in her super cute Cruise Line attire. Then we had a wait of around fifteen minutes for our boarding time to arrive!

Once onboard, we headed straight to the adult pool and ordered a drink to relax and begin to unwind in readiness for the week ahead.  

On the first afternoon, we took the opportunity to take advantage of the kids clubs having an open house. Whilst it was fun to go in and look inside, there were no actual activities taking place. 

Then Michelle moved the discussion to whether there was enough for adults to do onboard. In this section, Michelle discussed the various different lounges.

That then wraps up this weeks show. We hope you have enjoyed listening and as usual our social media links are:
Instagram and Twitter @Disdreamgirls
Facebook.com/disneydreamgirls
Email info@disneydreamgirls.com
Patreon - to join our circle of friends that support the show financially and to receive extra podcast content 
https://www.patreon.com/DisneyDreamGirls

DDG 225 - An Animal Kingdom Adventure with a Gal Disney

Welcome to the show notes for the Disney Dream Girls Podcast, show number 225 for Sunday 2nd September 2018. If you want to listen, whilst you read these notes, all you have to do is press the green triangle on the audio player below. Alternatively, why not listen via iTunes, Stitcher Radio or any podcast catching place!
These show notes are shorter than our ususal show notes due to Michelle's travel commitments. 

Photo Credit @GalDisney40

On this weeks show, we welcome our guest Disney blogger @GalDisney40 aka Lis to the show to share her experiences about  a very exciting new Animal Kingdom tour she was able to do earlier this year. 

On the show she shares lots of details about the tour - both the positive and negative elements and there were surprises along the way.

If you would like to read her blog about the trip, it can be found by using this link https://galdisney40.wordpress.com/2018/07/16/disneys-ultimate-night-of-adventure-vip-tour-in-animal-kingdom/ 

That then wraps up this weeks show. We hope you have enjoyed listening and as usual our social media links are:

Instagram and Twitter @Disdreamgirls
Facebook.com/disneydreamgirls
Email info@disneydreamgirls.com
Patreon - to join our circle of friends that support the show financially and to receive extra podcast content 
https://www.patreon.com/DisneyDreamGirls 

So until next time, it is goodbye from us!