Meal Time Monday - Biergarten

If you are looking for more then "just a meal"  look no further then Biergarten in the Germany Pavilion in Epcot's World Showcase.  You get immersed in the sights, sounds, and smells of Germany.  

A live band transports you to a small Germany village located high in the Alps for an Oktoberfest feast.  

Located in the back of the pavilion it is easy to find as you make your way through the town square.  

Inside it is night time as the show is about to start.  The town square theming is continued all around you.

The dining room floor is tiered to allow better views of the show.  The seating is also family style.  Most of the table seat 8 or more.  We dined with a family of 3 from Tampa.  Meeting someone new can sometimes be the highlight of the trip.  Other times you basically have your small talk and the music starts so its hard to talk anyway.  

There is even a tree and water wheel in one corner of the town square.

The band played for about 30 minuets after everyone was seated and we had already made a trip to the buffet before the show started.  The play at both dinner and lunch.   They played a wide variety of traditional music and interments.  This is a short video showing just a small sampling of what you can expect.  

The food is also a great reason to join the party.  The buffet is made up of all the essential German staples.  The family favorite is aways the pretzel bread.  The kids love the traditional mac and cheese.  The deserts also never disappoint.  To see the whole menu look here!

Biergarten is one table service credit on the Disney Dining plan.  Reservations are definitely needed.  This is one location that can accommodate larger groups better then others!  

It is located in the Germany Pavilion in the World Showcase in Epcot.  A park ticket is required to enter Epcot Park.   To get here take a bus from any resort or the Monorail.  

This meal is recommended for anyone that enjoys live music and filling food.  

Meal Time Monday - Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

Do you like to dine with royalty?  Of course you do and there is no better place then at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, located in Epcot.  This meal is a combo family style/buffet for breakfast and off a menu for lunch and dinner.  

Your meal starts with with a picture with Belle.  There is a Photopass Photographer there to capture the magic.

If you book a 8:00am breakfast you get into the park early and can enjoy a few pictures with no one else around.  It is quite a hike all the way back to the Norway pavilion in the World Showcase.  Make sure you keep the walk in mind when planning your arrival time.  It can take a good 10 to 15 minuets to walk from the front gate to Norway.  

A look at the food.  The plate in the middle of the table is what comes for the family style part of breakfast.  It has eggs, bacon, sausage, and an egg bake.  You can ask for  a refill because it is all you can eat.  The food on our plates is from the buffet.  Lots of fruits and pastries to choose from.  Breakfast is American food but lunch and dinner is Norwegian inspired.

When you travel with a 1 and almost 3 year old they both ate for free that day.  Buffets and Family style is great when you have someone under 3 with you, even if Alden ate the menu.  

A little older but the plate does not look much different.  

Clair at the age of one. This bagel kept her entertained for a while.

Now for the real reason we are here, the PRINCESSES.  You never know who you will get.  They will not guarantee you certain ones.  Aurora(Sleeping Beauty) made it to our table first.  

Then we got a visit from a mermaid.  These were the types of pictures that we learned from.  You need to get up to take the pictures so you don't have a plate of half eaten food in them.

Look we are getting smarter by the time Snow White stopped by.

Mulan made Alden giggle.  

Clair on the other hand at the age of one was terrified of the princess.  You never know how little kids will react.  If only you could hear the screams coming from such a small person.

Cindy, Sam, Clair, and a bagel.

Samantha has always liked Snow White and loved meeting her while wearing her dress.  In about 2010 the wearing costumes to Disney parks trend was just starting to take off.  In 2015 almost every little girl at a meal like this is dressed up.  In 2008 we can not find a single dress in the back grounds of our pictures.  

Lastly Aerial stopped by.  This might be the best picture of Clair with a princess.

They have a little princess parade around the dinning rooms.  Smiles from all the little princesses.  

Out front we got a picture with the Girls working from Norway.  We always try to have the kids interact with the Castmembers from around the world.  

We have only eaten breakfast at Akershus because we are just not brave enough to have a Norwegian-inspired meal for lunch or dinner.  At lunch and Dinner you get an appetizer and a choice of entrees and dessert.  

This meal is one of the best uses of a Disney Dining Plan table services credit because it is an expensive meal.

It is One Credit on the Disney Dining Plan.  An ADR (Advanced Dining Reservation) is required and should be booked well in advance.  180 days is recommend if you want to have your choice of times.  The 8:00am tends to fill up first.  People like to do this because you can be done eating right about the time the park opens.  However by the time you walk back to Sorin' or Test Track lines would already be formed.  

You can see the whole menu HERE.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall is located in Epcot and a park ticket is required for entry.  

Over all we really enjoy this meal.  It is a great alternative to Cinderella's Royal Table in the Magic Kingdom.  You get to meet many princess and it is only one Credit.  For the younger kids it is nice to mix into your afternoon/evening at Epcot.  

Trip Report 2013 - Day #5 - Epcot Rope Drop, Cape May Cafe

Rise and Shine!  Not sure my girls know how to use a bed.  

It's a Monday during the Food and Wine Festival so that means we are heading to EPCOT!  We try to avoid Epcot at all costs on the weekends during the Food and Wine Festival.  Lots of people love it and that translates into crowds.  

We found our favorite spot.  Right at the rope with no one in front of us.  

This a picture at about 8:10am

Way down to the right (as you look at the park) is the character meal entrance.  If you have an ADR before the park opens for Akershus this is were you need to head to, in order to get into the park.  

This picture is from our spot on the rope looking back at about 8:40.  It is so nice of all these people to remind us why we get up a little earlier than them.  

First stop today was Soarin'

We then walked into the Character Spot with a very little wait.

We all got in the photo with Goofy.

Clair is having trouble with which camera to look at.  

Heading to Test Track to use our Fastpass +  

Alden photo bombing Samantha in the line at Test Track.

In the design center, the girls are mostly focused on pink and stars.

The girl team with their car.

The Boy team with a monster truck.  

A close up of our vehicle.  We still had lots of time to change things if we wanted.

What do you do after the fastest attraction at Walt Disney Wold?  Go to a late breakfast!  We walked over to Disney's Beach Club Resort.  It is just a 5 min walk from the International Gateway (Epcot's back door).

We had a late breakfast ADR at Cape May Cafe!

Mickey waffles for everyone.

We had a great time with the characters here.  Minnie was first up.

Not sure why Alden is checking out Donald Duck's armpit.  Thank goodness for digital cameras.  We can snap so many pictures and not worry about wasting film and paying to have the armpit shot developed.

That's a better one.

Minnie stopped by a second time.  The place was really starting to clear out so 3/4 of the tables were empty.  We had one of the last reservation times.  We never felt rushed and they still had all the food out on the buffet.   Minnie Mouse also drew a picture with Alden.

Alden got a better picture with Donald the second time around.

Izzy seems to go everywhere with Clair on this trip.

A picture of our girls outside the Beach Club.  It is one of our favorite resorts because of its location and pool.  

Back into Epcot and it is time for Duffys and Perrys to color.  Our first stop is in Morocco. 

The learning never stops at Epcot.  The kids had fun learning words from the Kidcot Cast Members.

A photo op with the Torii Gate.

More stops at Kidcots. We worked on our Japanese.  After some coloring we checked out the shops and the museums that the pavilions offer.  The kids love the Japan exhibit about Anime Art.

On to the American Adventure!

Always arrive early to catch the Voices of Liberty.  It is one of the best performances in the parks.  After the singing we headed to the show and continued to learn things about America.

Time to try out our Italian.

To mix it up a bit we signed up to help out Agent P and capture the Evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

It involves lots of looking at the Communicator and following instructions to find the next clue.

 Back to coloring in Germany.

Snack time in Germany.  If you like caramel then this is your stop, The Karamelle-Kuche.  It servers Werthers caramel and has a "show" kitchen.  The kids enjoy watching the treats being made while we wait in line. There are lots of choices, I always get just the basic caramel apple while Doug gets the pineapple spear.

Back to our mission…we defeated Germany and now we are doing China.  After you defeat him in one pavilion, it gives you the option to stop or keep going.  One adventure can take about 15min or so depending on how crowded the shops and other places you have to go are.  

After rounding out the World Showcase we headed back to Future world.  In the late afternoon early evening Future world really empties out and lines are nice and short compared to earlier in the day.  We walked right on the Seas and then talked to Crush.

Some fun in the Imagination Pavilion.

Heading into The Land for some Dinner and to use a Fastpass+ at Soarin'.

The kids wanted a picture with the sign.

A quick spin on Living With The Land while we wait for our FastPass+ window to open up.

After our flight over California we got a bite to eat at Sunshine Seasons.  This is one of the best counter service restaurants at Disney World.  It is a food court style place so that allows lots of options but that also translates into more than one line to stand in to make everyone happy.  We really like the Chinese food here.  It is better then the counter service restaurant in the China Pavilion.  

We still had time to sneak into the Disney Visa Photo Place before it was done for the night. It runs daily from 1pm to 7pm.  With your Disney Visa card, you get an exclusive meet and greet.  It usually features 2 to 3 members of the fab 5.  You also get a free 5 x 7 print.  

This time around we got Mickey and Goofy.

  You then go to the photo shop and pick out a picture that you want printed.  The rest of your pictures will be on your Memory Maker if you purchased it.  

Since we were in the Innoventions building for the picture we learned about fire safety at the "Where's the Fire" exhibit.  They have an interactive house that the kids have to crawl to get out of.  The Cast Members working do a great job of teaching the kids about fire safety.

It was time to call it a night.  We did something today that we rarely do, stay in one park.  With no hopping, that also means no break for a nap, so we will see if that haunts us tomorrow with a certain 4 year old.