Day 10: A Star Wars Kinda Day / H&H@TP 2017

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Day 10 of Hibiscus & Holly At The Poly 2017, the latest of my Disney Trip Reports, is here! We started the day with breakfast at The Wave at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, spent some of the day at Hollywood Studios, and went to Magic Kingdom in the evening.

The Hibiscus & Holly at The Poly 2017 Trip Report Index tells you a bit about the planning of this trip, as well as some info about me and my family (the Cast Members!) In short you have me, Michelle; Steve, my husband; and Liam, my son. It also, of course, has the full list of days for the trip.

Day 10: Hollywood Studios

Breakfast at The Wave / Contemporary / Bay Lake Tower / Magic Kingdom
December 16, 2017
You will be able to find all of the images from Hibiscus & Holly At The Poly 2017 in my Flickr Collection of albums from this trip. To see just today’s photos, you can view this Flickr Album.
Hibiscus & Holly At The Poly: Trip Report Index | Pre-Trip Report

We started the day fairly early (for us at least!) at 9am, where we checked in for our breakfast reservation at The Wave… of American Flavors, at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

Whilst it is just a short distances from Poly, where we were staying, it meant having to go all the way around the loop on the Monorail to get there. (There isn’t a walkway between the two Resorts). Because we would be heading over to Hollywood Studios after breakfast, we took the car and parked up.

The Wave is a completely new restaurant to us, as we have never dined here before. It’s tucked away on the first floor (the ground floor for us Brits), and I didn’t even realise it was there, despite visiting the Contempo many times over the years!

We were seated at a table pretty much straight away after checking in for our Advance Dining Reservation (ADR), and given our menus to look at as we waited for our server to arrive for drinks orders.

Our server explained how breakfast at The Wave works – you can either have the Breakfast Buffet, which is all-you-care-to-enjoy (and includes soft drinks too: juice, tea, coffee, sodas). Or you can choose from the à la carte menu, which has several entrees to choose from: American Breakfast (eggs, breakfast potatoes, bacon or sausage), Eggs Benedict, Citrus-scented Brioche French Toast, Continental Breakfast (croissant, Danish, butter and jam), Egg White Frittata, and Wave Signature Sweet Potato Pancakes (with pecan-honey butter and choice of bacon or sausage).

There were other drinks that we extra charge – cocktails like Bloody Mary and Mimosa, as well as Sangria and spiked latte. There were also non-alcoholic specialties, with kid-friendly mocktails.

The Wave… of American Flavors

Since we would be skipping lunch, we decided to fill up on the buffet – especially as most of the items on the à la carte could be found on the buffet itself.

As with most, if not all of Disney’s menus, the price depends on the season, and also the day of the week! We paid around $23 per person for the Breakfast Buffet, which wasn’t too bad a price.

Breakfast buffets across Walt Disney World restaurants have many of the same, standard breakfast items – eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, Mickey waffles etc., but some also have items that are unique to that location. Now, I believe what is unique to The Wave are the Sweet Potato Pancakes, but don’t quote me on that!

Here are some photos of the items on the buffet – I remember it feeling very sparse, and much like the restaurant location itself, the buffet was also tucked out of the way too.

There were a selection of parfaits: Berry & Mint Greek Yogurt; Honey-Vanilla Yogurt; and Banana Caramel Greek Yogurt.

There were some other cold offerings: Smoked Salmon with the usual fixins’ – capers, onions, tomatoes and chopped boiled egg; and Deviled Eggs which were stuffed with Boursin Cheese and Crispy Prosciutto; and Ham and Cheddar Pinwheels.

Hot offerings included Mickey Waffles; Steel-cut Oats; Biscuits and Gravy; Scrambled Eggs; Bacon; Pork Sausage; Applewood-smoked Bacon; Egg-White Frittata; Eggs Benedict with Key Lime Hollandaise; Hashbrown Casserole; Tillamook Cheddar and Bacon Grits; and Sweet Potato Pancakes.

We received a bread service at our table with bagels, and bread rolls; and there was an assortment of pastries, croissants, muffins, and Danish at the buffet too. I believe there were also cereals and fruit, but I don’t have photos of those.

After paying our bill (which also include our Tables in Wonderland discount) we took a short tour around the Resort, as we’ve not ventured much around Contemporary before, other than directly to dining locations.

As for what we thought about The Wave – meh, we could take it or leave it. It wasn’t amazingly good, nor was it amazingly bad. It was fairly quiet in terms of tables filled, and if you’re looking for somewhere to get out of the hustle and bustle of the theme parks, it may be a good location to try. They also serve lunch, and dinner as well as breakfast.

I expected a huge tree inside the lobby area of the resort, but that was saved for outside! Inside were some smaller trees and decorations with a red and gold colour scheme.

We went up to the 3rd Floor where you’ll find Chef Mickey’s, the Resort’s shops, and other amenities. The Contemporary’s Gingerbread House was at one end of the floor – the design was Cinderella Castle, and was a flat design, rather than 3D.

There was a table nearby where you could buy gingerbread, and other Christmas treats. I’m pretty sure we bought a few things while we were there, and we of course had to pop in the stores for a browse!

I really wanted to buy this handbag, but it had quite a hefty price tag, and I couldn’t quite justify it to myself. I still want it though, it’s gorgeous!

We ventured out to the back of the Contemporary and discovered the Mickey Sculpture that I had seen in photos online, but never with my own eyes before! We didn’t stay for long as other than the pool, boat dock, and the beach, there wasn’t much to look at, so we made our way over to Bay Lake Tower, which is a DVC Resort, to see their Christmas decorations.

We did spy this Sorcerer Mickey topiary too, but I am not a big fan of the Contemporary – it just feels very… well, boring to me. And concrete-y – it just feels cold and charmless – sorry to the fans of this resort! I know you can walk to Magic Kingdom from Contempo, but give me Poly any day of the week!

Don’t get me wrong, the shape of the building is iconic and the fact that the Monorail goes THROUGH the hotel is awesome, but so. Much. Concrete!

There is an elevated walkway from Contemporary to Bay Lake Tower, but we ventured inside from ground level. The lobby area here is tiny, and just feels like any old hotel you could stay in. The only bonus of staying here would be to have a theme park view. I would like to stay at BLT since it is a Disney Vacation Club Resort, and we want to try and stay at every one (I think we only have a few to go now!), but other than that, I am not blown away. Gosh, what a grump!

With the decorations seen, and the two resorts, kind of explored, we headed back to our car. But first we stopped by the giant Christmas tree in front of Contempo. The balls were huge!

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