It seems we’ve been visiting The Wave often around here, and we have. Every once in a while they change the menu, or we want to grab some breakfast before visiting the Magic Kingdom. On the 40th anniversary, we legitimately wanted to get breakfast. In fact, we weren’t sure we wanted to even bother with the crowds at MK that day. We were turned away at the gate when we said we didn’t have a dining reservation. We couldn’t even request valet. Yes, a sign was out explaining the high volumes and all that jazz, but we were hungry. We drove over to the TTC drop off area while I made a reservation on my iPhone.
It was around 10am at the time, and the earliest I could make a reservation was noon. I took it and we headed back to the Contemporary, which had by then built up quite a line of cars. With a reservation number in hand, we had no issue parking. We went right to The Wave’s check-in desk, cancelled the noon reservation, and requested a table for breakfast. The restaurant had maybe 5 tables of guests that that point. I’ll talk a bit more about this at the end of the review.
We looked over the menu, and had contemplated having their amazing buffet again. Instead, we each opted for a bowl of Tillamook Cheddar Cheese Grits with Neuske’s Smoked Bacon.
Until this past summer, I’d never had grits. I remember driving to Florida when I was growing up, and we stopped at a Burger King or McDonald’s in probably Georgia for breakfast. I saw them on the menu an asked my mom what grits were. I believe her response was, “Exactly what it sounds like.”
I’m sure the fast food place’s weren’t as amazing. We were not disappointed in just ordering a bowl of these. Oh, and some Bloody Marys as well. They’re not on the “Wake-Up Call” menu, but they’ll be happy to make you one. We each had ended up ordering two, and were given different garnishes each time.
We had headed over to the bar area which wasn’t open yet so we could watch some ESPN and finish our drinks. We decided we would stop by MK since it was in fact a big day for the park. We received some to-go cups so we could finish our drinks on the walk.
The park was indeed quite busy. We received a commemorative button, got some special edition park maps, and headed over to Adventureland. Pirates was at 50 minutes, so we instead took in the Pirate Tutorial show for the first time. After that, we decided we would head back to the Contemporary and grab a light snack at The Wave. We also received a commemorative resort button.
We were talking with our bartenders about drinks of WDW past, and were shown the Rolodex of recipes. Matt asked if they’d be able to make the Monorail Yellow drink, and they were. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the ingredients for a Monorial Purple for me; no grape juice handy!
Yeah, it’s pretty much just a pina colada:
A few months back, I had ordered an darn tasty Rock Shrimp Flatbread. It has since been replaced by a BBQ Pork Flatbread.
This flatbread was quite delicious. I think I enjoyed the shrimp more, but this one also made Matt happy. There was a great balance of sweet and savory.
We had a nice, calm 40th celebration that morning and early afternoon. Now, regarding reservations…
While I understand certain times of year and special events create high traffic, CMs who work at the bar are getting the short end of the stick, as lounges do not accept reservations. Monorail resorts and the ones flanking Epcot are the big culprits. I don’t have a resolution to remedy that fact. I can only offer the advice to be sure you have a reservation if you plan on visiting one of these resorts during a peak time. I also know that many of these restaurants with bars will be penalizing no-shows, so take that into consideration as well.
Have you had a similar experience trying to park at a resort during a busier time of year and been turned away? What advice might you be able to share?
