Toy Story Pizza Planet

Continuing in the thread of favorite counter service restaurants, here's our favorite at Hollywood Studios. Toy Story Pizza Plant has individual pizzas and really good salads not to mention cookies. The pizzas are big enough to be shared unless you are feeding teenagers. The restaurant is located next to Muppet Vision 4-D. Here's the menu:

• Buzz's Meal Deal - Individual Cheese Pizza, with Garden Salad $7.79
• Woody's Meal Deal - Individual Pepperoni Pizza with Garden Salad - $8.09
• Junkyard Meal Deal - Individual Veggie Pizza (with mushrooms, peppers, onions, and tomatoes) with Garden Salad $8.29
• Individual Cheese Pizza $5.79
• Individual Pepperoni Pizza $6.09
• Individual Veggie Pizza (mushrooms, peppers, onions, & tomatoes) $6.29
• Pizza Planet Chicken Salad - Mixed greens, grilled chicken, cantaloupe, cucumber, red onion, tomato, green peas, fresh basil and balsamic vinaigrette $7.19
• Caprese Salad - Mixed Greens, red and yellow grape tomatoes, mozzarella, kalamata olives, cucumber, fresh basil and balsamic vinaigrette $6.49
• Garden Salad $2.19
• Cookies: Chocolate Chip or Oatmeal Raisin $1.89
• Mickey's Crisped Rice Treat $2.69
• Chips $1.29
• Apple Slices $1.29

Flame Tree Barbecue

Last time I wrote about one of our favorite counter service restaurants at the Magic Kingdom. This time, I thought I'd continue in that theme and write about another of our favorite counter service restaurants; however, this one is at the Animal Kingdom. It's the Flame Tree Barbecue. You'll find it just before you get to Dinoland. It's a fairly small, walk-up only stand and is fairly easy to miss. There isn't any place to sit down and if you hit it during a crowded time you'll have to fight the tight space to get your food. But...the food is worth it.

Here's a sample of the lunch menu:

Soups/Salads

Smoked BBQ Chicken Salad - Served without chicken $4.99 - $6.99

Entree/Main Course

1/2 Slab of St. Louis Ribs - Served with baked beans and corn on the cob. - $8.49
Fruit Plate - Seasonal sliced fruit served with Honey Yogurt. - $6.99
Smoked 1/2 Chicken - Served with baked beans and corn on the cob. - $7.99
Smoked Beef or Pork Sandwich - Served with baked beans and corn on the cob. - $7.29
Smoked Turkey Breast Sandwich - Sliced turkey breast served on a multi-grain bun with coleslaw. - $7.29

Side Dish

Cole Slaw - Cole Slaw - $1.69
French Fry Basket - French Fry Basket - $3.49
Onion Rings - Onion rings - $3.79

Dessert

Chocolate Cake - Chocolate Cake - $3.59
Key Lime Pie - Key Lime Pie - $3.59

We found that the portions, typical of Disney, were large enough to split making this a very economical place to eat. We usually take our food and go over to Restaurantasaurs to eat so we have a place to sit down, too. If you get there by 11:30 you can beat the huge crowds.

Harbor House

One of our favorite in-the-park counter service restaurants is the Columbia Harbor House. It's located right across from the Haunted Mansion and between Fantasy Land and Frontier Land. If you didn't know better you'd think that it was a typical fried fish, french fries kind of place. In general you'd be right. However, in recent years, they've added some healthier, or at least some more appetizing menu items. We especially like the Garden Galley Salad (mixed greens with chicken, pecans, pineapple and feta cheese).

For a complete menu see http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningdetail.cfm?Restaurant.ID=149

Hacking Buzz Lightyear

I've never scored high when riding the Buzz Lightyear ride at Walt Disney World. I always chalked it up to poor marksmanship. Still, I've always wondered how in the world anybody could amass the point totals that were displayed. Well, I came across this article that explains the tricks behind getting those points. One main tip is that not all targets are worth the same. Here's the basic break down:

Round Target: 100 points
Square Target: 1000 points
Diamond Target: 5000 points
Triangle Target: 10,000 points

Of course, it would also probably help if I didn't let my 4 year old son pilot our space craft. His main objective is to see how many times we can spin around, not how many points we can get!

When to go where

So you've spent a small fortune for your Disney tickets and you want to make the most of them. There are definately strategies for touring the parks that will allow you avoid the majority of the crowds. Part of the trick is to know which parks to avoid on certain days. Other tricks include knowing which rides to do at certain times of the day. It's sort of like playing the stock market, you have to buy when everybody else is selling if you want to win.

Sound complicated? It can be. That's why there are services that can help. Three services, in no particular order, that have loyal followings are:

• The Unofficial Guide
• Tour Guide Mike
• Passporter

They each have different qualities. One thing I like about The Unofficial Guide that the other two do not have is the crowd calendar. It's handy if you are free to choose when you are going to Disney World since it shows historical crowd levels.

I've never personally used Tour Guide Mike or Passporter but lots of people swear by them. I tend to try to go during times when the crowd levels are low enough that I don't have to worry about crowds. However, if you are going during a mid-to-high crowd season then I think I would spend the $20-$30 and give it a try.

Strollers at Disney World

Go to any Disney forum and ask the question, "Should I take my own stroller or rent one?" and you'll discover that this is one of the most controversial topics in all of Disney vactiondom! There seems to be very little room for middle ground in this discussion. The camps have very clearly drawn lines. You are generally either a die hard "owner" or a die hard "renter".

Bringing your own stroller

Pros:

• Free
• More comfortable
• Can be used outside the parks

Cons:

• Can be difficult to get on/off public transportation. If you think about it, this is more than just folding up your stroller. You have to take everything, including possibly a sleeping baby, out of the stoller. If you have more babies than adults this gets interesting.

Renting a Stroller

Pros

• You don't have to pack it on/off public transportation

Cons

• Expensive
• If you are leaving after the fireworks, you'll have a mad-rush of other people trying to return strollers to content with
• You won't have use of a stroller outside the park

My own experience is that it really depends on the circumstances. When we've stayed on-site we leaned toward having our own stroller. This is because you tend to do a lot of walking in the massive Disney resorts to get to the bus stops. Also, the busses generally are not all that difficult to get strollers on to, except during rush hours. However, when we've stayed off-site we really don't do much walking to get to the parks and it is very hard to get a stroller onto the parking lot trams. In those cases, we've been very glad when we didn't take our own stroller.

Also, if you only have 1 small child and 2 adults, having your own stroller is very managable. However, we found when we went with 2 very small kids (under 2) that it was easier to be able to ditch the rental stroller and each carry a kid than have one parent carry 2 kids and the other wrangle the stroller, diaper bags, and packages.

On our last trip our kids were 10, 8, and 5, I was realizing that this might be our last trip with a stroller. As I was pushing the stroller, which was loaded with rain coats, food, and drink cups and not a single child, I wondered whether we would still need to rent a stroller just to use a mule!

A couple of tips if you decide to rent strollers at Disney that we've learned:

• You can rent strollers for more than one day at a reduced rate.
• Tie a scarf or something to your stroller so it stands out from the herd. Cast Members will often move your stroller while you are away, so this will help you find your stoller.
• You can take your "rental" with you when you hop from park to park.
• You can drop your rental off at one end of the park and ride the train to the other and pick up a different stroller.
• Cover your stoller with a poncho if it looks like rain to keep it dry.

Some resources about Disney strollers:

• AllEars.net
• Disney World Guest Services

Renting "Mouse Points"

I recently discovered Disney's Vacation Club (DVC as those in the know call it). It's Disney's version of a time share. However, it works quite a bit differently. The owners of DVC pay an up front fee in exchange for a certain number of points each year for the length of their contract. These points can be exchanged for various vacation options throughout Disney.

For those of us who have chosen not to purchase into DVC, it can also be a good deal since DVC members occasionally "rent out" their points. You can typically get a much better deal on a deluxe room this way than going through the normal process of getting a room. Also, you get most of the benefits of being a DVC member during the time you are there. The downside is that it is more like a "home away from home" rather than a hotel. That is, you do not have room service every day.

For more information, you can check out these web sites:
http://www.mouseowners.com/
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/index.html
http://www.dvcrequest.com/