Anyone Game? It’s my Sep 2013 Blog! I'm home; with a TR link in #1189, 10/14

Sounds like a great time had by all! And how lucky are you, that magnet set is awesome :cool1:

My, all that food looks delicious!

I'm really happy with magnets. And as Pete found out, it was the perfect gift for me. My fridge is covered with magnets! :thumbsup2



I want to come to Melbourne and have a DISmeet at your house!

You name the time.


She said it first, but yes, that would be great!:goodvibes

Absolutely Fabulous.



Now that's an awesome DISmeet.

::yes::


How cool to have someone come to you! Dinner looks awesome. Would be fun if we could all come over there!

It looks like consensus. So....remind me again.....are we planning a DisMeet at WDW or should we change it to my place????




I think Disney needs to build a park there to give us all more incentive to visit PIO.

Who needs to wait for Disney to build a park? There is always an ABD trip to Australia. :goodvibes



Hello there,

Just stopping in to check your "blog" before we leave Melbourne. First off, thanks you to you and DH and DS for showing us a wonderful ewe would love tovening.Second for those that have followed PIO for a while, her cooking tastes just as good as it looks in the photos.:thumbsup2

We had a great time chattingthe evening away, and comparing Disney notes.Actually the first hour I don't think we talked Disney at all.
Just a fun evening with "friends we had not yet met". We discussed the planned trip next October and while we would love to join in I think the dates might be too early for.

And...you may feel free to post the family shot if you wish.

SkierPete

Pete - Thanks for stopping by during your holiday time. :goodvibes
Sorry to read that you can't join in for early October; but I suspect that you might have a PTR to nudge along yourself for late October. We can hang out on each other's PTRs again....er....correction....your PTR and my "blog".


And thanks. I will post the family shot; but I think I'll wait till we post it on your TR before updating it here. :goodvibes
 
Food Porn courtesy of another four-letter word: W-O-R-K


It's been a full-on week for me.

Aside from Skier_Pete coming to visit, we celebrated DS birthday earlier in the week. And if those two auspicious events weren't enough, I ended up having to do an overnight off-site meeting for W-O-R-K!

I know. I know. I really should avoid using four-letter words on the Dis but somehow, this particular word seems to slip pass the DisFilters every single time!

The company I work for decided that it was way past time for us to come together and reconnect with each other. Whilst there was a lot of work involved in the weekend and I missed being with DH and DS, truth be known, these weekend work love-ins can be a lot of fun as well.


There was no mandatory room-share involved. We all got a room similar to this.

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And as I was not assigned Room Monitor status, I cannot speak for the optional room-sharing; but I can attest that I spent the night solo...well....aside from this fellow.

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For some reason, I got a room with HA facilities.

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I did miss having a bath in the room; but given that I was only there for one night, it really didn't matter much to me.



The resort was located near wine country; with a golf course. I had been here at the start of the year....and those of you that are interested, feel free to head back to the HK PTR/TR and take a look at that mini-vacay at the Yarra Valley in January.

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My company knows what is truly important for a work weekend. Food!


Our dinner menu....

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The fish cake starter.

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The prawn/shrimp starter (plonked down on my place).

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The beef main.

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The fish main (which I scored. Would have much rather had the beef, but that was the luck of the draw).

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Dessert - NOT the Creme Brulee and we still don't know what it is or what happened to the promised brulee! :confused3

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The Chocolate Fondant (what I scored!)

(Note: For those of you that kept track of the menu....DEFINITELY contains nuts!)

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Truly amazing!

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I drank more wine than normal but even that wasn't enough to knock me out for the night. I did turn in early but my room was sadly close to the main facilities. I got woken up by some of my colleagues 3 times during the night when they were returning to their rooms....12.30 am; 1.15 am and finally at 2.30 am.





It ended up being an early morning start, and the day did show signs of promise at that time of day....

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...er.....I mean the breakfast buffet! I decided not to intrude on my rampaging colleagues and only took pictures of my plate.

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It did get hard after this to get any decent pictures of morning tea and lunch. But suffice to say, the morning tea rivalled the desserts we were served the night before and lunch was pretty decent as well.


Despite the hard w-o-r-k and the "rudeness" of having to give up Friday night and my Saturday for the event, it was a lot of fun. And the food was great!





princess::upsidedow
 
I can honestly say that your WORK place knows how to treat its employees...

We have never had anything that nice!
 


It was always called pay for your own lunch. I am glad they treat the employees right. The food looks so good.:thumbsup2
 
We always did our "teambuilding" activities at a hotel during worktime in their ballroom with a catered lunch of cold cuts and cold salads. Serve yourself.

Yours looks much better, but I would have rather had a tub too.
 


I can honestly say that your WORK place knows how to treat its employees...

We have never had anything that nice!

I do like the company I work for.


Same here. Ours thinks a quarterly potluck is going to do the trick.:lmao:

That's a long time between potlucks!



It was always called pay for your own lunch. I am glad they treat the employees right. The food looks so good.:thumbsup2

The food was really good that night. I don't think anyone had complaints....well, aside from most of us wanting to swap the fish for the beef.



We always did our "teambuilding" activities at a hotel during worktime in their ballroom with a catered lunch of cold cuts and cold salads. Serve yourself.

Yours looks much better, but I would have rather had a tub too.

Somehow, it just doesn't feel like a complete bathroom without a tub. :goodvibes
 
Theoretical (a)Musings about My Itinerary



We're still over a year away from this trip and I can't book anything just yet. Actually - given that franandaj will be booking the WDW component, I won't be booking anything anyway.

However, that doesn't stop me from thinking about what our itinerary could look like and starting to research possible hotels and places of interest.

This is what I've come up with so far:

4 nights in Anaheim. I'm hoping to DisMeet with franandaj, spend at least 2 days in DLR and just get over jetlag and adjust to the US timezone. We normally like to stay at Residence Inn Maingate; purely because they do a hot buffet breakfast, but I'm seriously thinking of shacking up at Fairfield Inn. I'll need to check out the breakfast options at Fairfield Inn and price difference before broaching the subject with DH and DS. They both like the hot breakfast options (and cook your own waffle) at the RIM. Taking away the hot breakfast might just tip them over the edge!



4 nights in NYC. DH has come round to the idea of hitting the big Apple. We've been to NYC at least 2 or 3 times before and have pretty much done most of the tourist things. Still....I'd like to walk the Highline, maybe take a trip up the Rock and spend more time at Central Park. Even higher on the priority list will be catching musicals, maybe some jazz, shopping and eating. I have no idea where to stay and I know NY accommmodation is expensive. We have stayed around 33rd street, Times Square and MidTown East side.



3 nights in UA, maybe in one of the on-site hotels. We are definitely going to be Mickey Cheating with Harry and I've started to take a look at the 3 options and really don't have a clue. I've taken an initial look at the accommodation threads on the UA part of the DisBoards but it just seems really confusing to me. I guess I might need to head to Trip Adviser for some reviews. Anyone have any recommendations?



6 nights at WDW. Thanks for franandaj, we will rent DVC and stay at BCV. I'm still wondering if I can tweak the plans so that we end up with more nights at WDW and this will be something that DH and I will need to work through. Suffice to say, we will be enjoying F&W, rides, Disney and DisMeets here. I think we want to hit a water park and I'd definitely want to go to MNSSHP....but I'm not sure if there will be a party on during this time.



3 nights in Hawaii. So it turns out at DH isn't exactly set on going to Hawaii afterall. I'm keeping this in the plans as the decision to go here will be flight availability and costs. A stopover option in Hawaii used to be part of the standard air route from Australia to the US. The air route was changed in the late 1990's and now the Hawaii stopover is an expensive add-on. It is almost cheaper to plan a holiday from Australia to Hawaii separately than to include it as a stopover on a US mainland holiday. We'll just wait and see.


So.....any thoughts on hotel options in any of the locales?



princess::upsidedow
 
You got a good itinerary PiO. 3 days is not a lot of days in Hawaii and I agree with Angela that you could add extra days to your WDW trip.
 
Theoretical (a)Musings about My Itinerary

We're still over a year away from this trip and I can't book anything just yet. Actually - given that franandaj will be booking the WDW component, I won't be booking anything anyway.

However, that doesn't stop me from thinking about what our itinerary could look like and starting to research possible hotels and places of interest.

This is what I've come up with so far:

4 nights in Anaheim. I'm hoping to DisMeet with franandaj, spend at least 2 days in DLR and just get over jetlag and adjust to the US timezone. We normally like to stay at Residence Inn Maingate; purely because they do a hot buffet breakfast, but I'm seriously thinking of shacking up at Fairfield Inn. I'll need to check out the breakfast options at Fairfield Inn and price difference before broaching the subject with DH and DS. They both like the hot breakfast options (and cook your own waffle) at the RIM. Taking away the hot breakfast might just tip them over the edge!

I woudn't trade out for a place without Make it yourself waffles. That is a deal breaker for me!!!!!! However, we can't make waffles when we stay on property, but I know that isn't an option you are considering. I'm guessing you will have a car so it would be nice to meet up at restaurant in Long Beach, I'm sort of leaning toward the Shabu Shabu place that will open up in the Shore later this month. I keep driving by it saying "open, open, open" but you probably didn't have that commercial down under for that reference to make sense to you!

Shabu, shabu would take care of your pesky vegetarian's needs since he could order whatever he wanted and cook it to his heart's content. Me, I just like the beef and the fact that there will be a place only ten minutes away (well maybe 25-30 while we look for parking) but the fact that we don't have to get on the freeway for 20-30 minutes to get there, I keep driving by to see how close to opening it is! [/QUOTE]

3 nights in UA, maybe in one of the on-site hotels. We are definitely going to be Mickey Cheating with Harry and I've started to take a look at the 3 options and really don't have a clue. I've taken an initial look at the accommodation threads on the UA part of the DisBoards but it just seems really confusing to me. I guess I might need to head to Trip Adviser for some reviews. Anyone have any recommendations?

We have stayed at the Loew's Royal Pacific Hotel once before, it was the most economical and was very nice. It gave us the early entry and front of the line access back in 2008. We are staying there again this year so we can give you report before you really need to book.

We really liked it, the place was close to the parks, we ate a Emirils restaurant and it was fabulous and they had a couple other options that weren't as high end, but we did want the high end restaurant so it worked out for us. WE are doing it again this Fall.

6 nights at WDW. Thanks for franandaj, we will rent DVC and stay at BCV. I'm still wondering if I can tweak the plans so that we end up with more nights at WDW and this will be something that DH and I will need to work through. Suffice to say, we will be enjoying F&W, rides, Disney and DisMeets here. I think we want to hit a water park and I'd definitely want to go to MNSSHP....but I'm not sure if there will be a party on during this time.
Well somehow we will all do an afternoon of yummies either in a room or by the pool. Between yours and my culinary skills I think we need to have a meal that is home prepared and enjoyed by all of us, we can all contribute in the manner we can, but I'm sure we can have an afternoon/evening feast for one day that we all participate in. For me that woulld be something more fantastic than any attraction or whatever, to get together as friends and prepare a potluck meal would be the greatest attraction of the day! I actually love preparing meals on vacation because I love to cook and to do it when there is no stress make it even more enjoyable!


3 nights in Hawaii. So it turns out at DH isn't exactly set on going to Hawaii afterall. I'm keeping this in the plans as the decision to go here will be flight availability and costs. A stopover option in Hawaii used to be part of the standard air route from Australia to the US. The air route was changed in the late 1990's and now the Hawaii stopover is an expensive add-on. It is almost cheaper to plan a holiday from Australia to Hawaii separately than to include it as a stopover on a US mainland holiday. We'll just wait and see.

So.....any thoughts on hotel options in any of the locales?



princess::upsidedow

Well I think I gave mine....:confused3
 
Between the last update I have no idea what I wrote...I tried to edit it so many times that I have no idea what I said so take it with a grain of salt. I am trying to go to bed now. good night!
 
Hello! :wave:

And thank you! So glad you stumbled on in here and I hope you stick around. Nice to see someone else starting to plan for Oct 2013 and I noticed a couple more PTRs on this section of the boards as well. I'll definitely need to 'stumble' in their PTRs as well.

My camera? Until very recently, I was shooting with the Canon T2i. It is a couple of generations old now....I believe that line is up to T4i.

I'm currently shooting with the Canon 7D, which is what I used for the zoo shots. I had the opportunity to pick this camera body in Hong Kong for a crazy deal.
Thanks for asking.

I know Allan (cafeen) does include his camera gear details in his PTRs/TRs and it is a great idea. I just wasn't sure if there was anyone following my rambles interested enough. I might go update my second post with my camera and lens details next time I have a blog post.





Plenty of room (still) in that blog-wagon!

Thank you for getting back with me on the camera info... you really have me thinking of getting one. :goodvibes

I also love reading about your trip... it sounds wonderful!! :)
 
Not sure I can add much, but I would forgo Hawaii, if I could go back later and spend more time....

I would add the time to CA or NY myself, the food options and just things to see in NY are amazing. I could spend an entire day in pickle district, or trying out all the dim sum places (might not be a place you want to go) but the sheer amount of food places is amazing...
 
In our case it's not long enough.:rotfl2:

Well if you skip Hawaii you could add those days to WDW or a split between a few locations.

Now....how to convince DH? :scratchin




You got a good itinerary PiO. 3 days is not a lot of days in Hawaii and I agree with Angela that you could add extra days to your WDW trip.

Thanks Bret. I suspect that if we didn't go to Hawaii that both DH and I would be tempted to go to New Orleans instead....:idea:



I woudn't trade out for a place without Make it yourself waffles. That is a deal breaker for me!!!!!! However, we can't make waffles when we stay on property, but I know that isn't an option you are considering. I'm guessing you will have a car so it would be nice to meet up at restaurant in Long Beach, I'm sort of leaning toward the Shabu Shabu place that will open up in the Shore later this month. I keep driving by it saying "open, open, open" but you probably didn't have that commercial down under for that reference to make sense to you!

Shabu, shabu would take care of your pesky vegetarian's needs since he could order whatever he wanted and cook it to his heart's content. Me, I just like the beef and the fact that there will be a place only ten minutes away (well maybe 25-30 while we look for parking) but the fact that we don't have to get on the freeway for 20-30 minutes to get there, I keep driving by to see how close to opening it is!



We have stayed at the Loew's Royal Pacific Hotel once before, it was the most economical and was very nice. It gave us the early entry and front of the line access back in 2008. We are staying there again this year so we can give you report before you really need to book.

We really liked it, the place was close to the parks, we ate a Emirils restaurant and it was fabulous and they had a couple other options that weren't as high end, but we did want the high end restaurant so it worked out for us. WE are doing it again this Fall.



Well somehow we will all do an afternoon of yummies either in a room or by the pool. Between yours and my culinary skills I think we need to have a meal that is home prepared and enjoyed by all of us, we can all contribute in the manner we can, but I'm sure we can have an afternoon/evening feast for one day that we all participate in. For me that woulld be something more fantastic than any attraction or whatever, to get together as friends and prepare a potluck meal would be the greatest attraction of the day! I actually love preparing meals on vacation because I love to cook and to do it when there is no stress make it even more enjoyable!




Well I think I gave mine....:confused3

Thanks Alison. I do remember seeing your pictures of Royal Pacific and was really impressed by the rooms there. I'm just wondering about Portofino. As with everything else, it will come down to cost. I'll be keen to see what you think of RPR this year.

Shabu Shabu sounds great for all of us...including the pesky vegetarian.

And yes, cook-in at the BCV is definitely something we should plan at least once!




Between the last update I have no idea what I wrote...I tried to edit it so many times that I have no idea what I said so take it with a grain of salt. I am trying to go to bed now. good night!

Hope you slept well. It made perfect sense to me.



Thank you for getting back with me on the camera info... you really have me thinking of getting one. :goodvibes

I also love reading about your trip... it sounds wonderful!! :)

Thanks Tink. Glad you've stopped back in!



Not sure I can add much, but I would forgo Hawaii, if I could go back later and spend more time....

I would add the time to CA or NY myself, the food options and just things to see in NY are amazing. I could spend an entire day in pickle district, or trying out all the dim sum places (might not be a place you want to go) but the sheer amount of food places is amazing...

Brandi - I would happily spend more time in either location. And after Hong Kong, I'm still not ready to face a dim sum yet. Maybe by 2013.....:lmao:
 
Brandi - I would happily spend more time in either location. And after Hong Kong, I'm still not ready to face a dim sum yet. Maybe by 2013.....:lmao:

I can so understand that, when we go visit my dad in Mexico, we eat and eat all the Mexican food we can and when we get home it takes months to look at Mexican food the same!
 

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