"Can I see your pins?" 12 Days of Disney Fun: Oct. 2011 3/13 It's the end.

[DisneyFirefly]

I'm so glad your bags were located! That would really have been awful if they'd stayed lost

The food at Mama Melrose looks fantastic I still haven't eaten there

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Enjoying your report ... Makes me feel I am there . Thankyou

You're welcome! Thanks for reading.

I'm so glad your bags were located! That would really have been awful if they'd stayed lost

The food at Mama Melrose looks fantastic I still haven't eaten there

I know, I was NOT happy. The CM did say that he's never finished a shift where somebody's bags were not accounted for, though. That made me feel a little better.

 

[Joyciemc]

Glad your bags weren't really missing, just 'technically' missing

Thanks for the peek at Mama Melrose's! Really looking forward to trying it

 

[Nermel9]

Yay I'm glad everything worked out with your bags, that must have been stressful!

I love Disney resorts, but it seems like no matter where you stay, deluxe or value, the walls are a bit too thin when there is a fussy or crying child nearby!

Mama Melrose always seems like they're backed up, we have eaten there twice and both times it was a pretty long wait to get seated. It's worth it though, I really like the food there!

Wow you got great pictures at Fantasmic! What kind of camera do you have?

 

[DisMomAmy]

Wow - SRO at 7:45! What time was Fantasmic? 8:00 or 8:30?

Sorry you had to deal with the stress of missing bags! But I'm glad they weren't actually missing!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

I know, I was NOT happy. The CM did say that he's never finished a shift where somebody's bags were not accounted for, though. That made me feel a little better.

Not the same thing, but this is why I always tell my mom to pack a carryon. She finally got the point when they were flying home from Seattle this summer and their connection from Vegas to Chicago was canceled due to weather (remember those horrible rainstorms we had?) and my parents got stuck in Vegas overnight with no luggage because that went ahead to Chicago somehow.

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Glad your bags weren't really missing, just 'technically' missing

Thanks for the peek at Mama Melrose's! Really looking forward to trying it

Pop was really great about the whole situation.

I was so pleasantly surprised with Mama Melrose's. I love the ambiance in there as well.

Yay I'm glad everything worked out with your bags, that must have been stressful!

I love Disney resorts, but it seems like no matter where you stay, deluxe or value, the walls are a bit too thin when there is a fussy or crying child nearby!

Mama Melrose always seems like they're backed up, we have eaten there twice and both times it was a pretty long wait to get seated. It's worth it though, I really like the food there!

Wow you got great pictures at Fantasmic! What kind of camera do you have?

It was very stressful but I wasn't as worked up as I would have been if I hadn't packed what we needed for the next day in our carry-on luggage.

I have a Nikon Coolpix L110, I believe. It is basically a step-up from a pocket digital and a step-below an SLR.

Wow - SRO at 7:45! What time was Fantasmic? 8:00 or 8:30?

Sorry you had to deal with the stress of missing bags! But I'm glad they weren't actually missing!

8:30 show time! I was so surprised b/c Fantasmic was playing every single night of our trip.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I'm so sorry to hear about the bag drama! I'm so glad it was over for you soon, though. I lost my bags on one flight years ago and I've been paranoid ever since (especially if I'm going overseas where I feel like I couldn't just go to the store and get replacement things). It's a horrible feeling!

Your pasta at MM looks really good! I'm glad you enjoyed your dinner there! And wow at the standing room only at Fantasmic! I probably would have just headed back to the hotel, so I'm impressed that you were so determined to see it!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

I'm so sorry to hear about the bag drama! I'm so glad it was over for you soon, though. I lost my bags on one flight years ago and I've been paranoid ever since (especially if I'm going overseas where I feel like I couldn't just go to the store and get replacement things). It's a horrible feeling!

Your pasta at MM looks really good! I'm glad you enjoyed your dinner there! And wow at the standing room only at Fantasmic! I probably would have just headed back to the hotel, so I'm impressed that you were so determined to see it!

I think I learned my lesson with the yellow tags; I just don't have luck with them! There's that saying that sort-of applies, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

I was really impressed by the quality of food at MM. It was reallly busy, though. I think I would have enjoyed it even more had we not been scrunched in the waiting area or felt antsy about whether or not we'd make F!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Hi guys! I'm still here.

I've been so busy with my new writing job. I work 15 hours a week from home and I also work 14 hours a week at the library; plus any weekend hours I work.

I tried uploading our day 2 pictures on PB but it errored out-twice! Hopefully I'll have time to try again tomorrow. I'm hoping to get another update up sometime in the next few days.

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Sorry for the delay. We now return to regular trip reporting.

Day 2: Friday, September 30

Knowing how tired we were from our LONG arrival day, I scheduled a wake-up call for 930am. I love to wake up to Stitch saying, “No sleeping”! Anyway, as soon as we were ready, we headed toward the main hall. I filled up our mugs one last time and we found a CM to get us a cab. This poor CM, he expressed his frustration to us at least twice because people we just walking up to the cabs instead of having him get one for them. At one point he said, “Apparently I’m not good enough anymore to get cabs for people”. I actually got a tad upset at him myself because he hailed a cab over for us and a group of women went up to the cab and he opened the doors for them to get in! Hello, that was OUR cab! I didn’t say anything, just exchanged a look with Greg. It wasn’t worth getting outwardly upset about. Once we were settled into the next cab it was a short ride over to the Dolphin.

The first impression of the outside is nothing to be wowed by but the inside is very nice! (I tried uploading a few pictures that I took later in the week to PB but it stopped uploading halfway through. UGH! I'm not waiting any longer to get this update posted.) I got in line while Greg took a seat with the luggage. I ended up having to run over to him when I was checking us in because they would place a $200 (or some outrageous amount like that) hold on our debit card if we used that to check in. I quickly got our Disney Visa from Greg and once she completed the paperwork, we were told that our room was NOT ready. Oh well, I kind of expected that. We placed our bags in the care of bell services and with a promise of a phone call when our room was ready, we headed to the boats!

It was around 11am at this point and we had one place in mind! Where were we going you might ask? Well, today was the first official start day of the Food & Wine Fest! Woop! Woop!

It was a scorcher and I was already sweating and we hadn’t even made it to Epcot yet. We were going to persevere, however, because we wanted to treat our tastebuds to some delicious food! I don’t really have much to add for our walk around the World Showcase. It was crowded and it was hot but we were happy! Here’s some pictures from our selections for that afternoon:

Canada: Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup: (Tasty but I would have preferred to enjoy it on a cooler day.)

Canada: Chicken Chipotle Sausage with Sweet Corn Polenta (DELICIOUS!)

Hawaii: Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour Dole Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise (This was not as good as either of us were anticipating. The strongest flavor we got was from the bun; it definitely could have used more sauce.)

Austrailia: Shrimp on the Barbie (Greg really enjoyed this. I’m not a shrimp person but I tried it and it was pretty good.)

Argentina: Beef Empanada (Horrible! The outside was hard and crunchy and the inside was mushy and had almost a sloppy joe flavor. We tossed most of it. Such a disappointment as we really enjoyed the roasted corn and cheese empanada from here last year!)

Scandinavia: Rice Pudding with Driscoll’s Only the Finest Berries (Simple. I liked it but I didn’t get it again.)

Scandinavia: Swedish Meatballs with Lingon Berries (Greg LOVED this! I thought it was tasty as well but he seriously still talks about these meatballs!)

Germany: Nurnberger Sausage in a Pretzel Roll (We both enjoyed it! Greg actually got it again so you know he really liked it!)

Italy: Ravioli Di Formaggio All’Emiliana (Baked Cheese Ravioli with Creamy Beef Bolognese Sauce, Parmesan Cheese and Melted Mozzarella) (One word: YUM! I got this two more times. Sadly, the first time was the best time.)

France: Coq au Vin sure gratin de macaroni (Red Wine Braised Chicken, Mushrooms, Pearl Onions and Macaroni Gratin) (Yuck! It tasted so strongly of red wine and it was presented in such an unappetizing way. I saw that they had begun using the small aluminum containers (like the one the crème brulee is served in) after this day but I just couldn’t try it again.)

France: Crème Brulee au Chocolate au Lait (Milk Chocolate Crème Brulee) (I had this a total of 3 times and just like the ravioli from Italy, the first time was the best time. The other two times the sugar wasn’t really crystallized on the top and there wasn’t a coating throughout the entire top.)

Up next: “What’s that smell?” “What do we see?” and “I’m not bringing our luggage back down one more time!” Otherwise known as time to see our room!

 

[Nermel9]

I hope you post some pics of your room at the Dolphin, I 'd love to see them!

Wow, you guys tried a lot of stuff from Food and Wine that day! I feel like when we were there, we knew the things we liked, so we weren't brave and didin't try enough. I need to go to Food and Wine again and seriously go to Epcot every single day so I can sample everything!

I loved the ravioli from Italy, that was my favorite! And the coq au vin was really good too! I didn't get to try the creme brulee, which I'm kind of uspet about, I LOVE creme brulee!

 

[Joyciemc]

That was one of the best Food & Wine reviews I've seen! Thanks for the detail pictures, and the great descriptions!

Can't wait to see what the Dolphin was like!

 

[BridgetR3]

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

I hope you post some pics of your room at the Dolphin, I 'd love to see them!

Wow, you guys tried a lot of stuff from Food and Wine that day! I feel like when we were there, we knew the things we liked, so we weren't brave and didin't try enough. I need to go to Food and Wine again and seriously go to Epcot every single day so I can sample everything!

I loved the ravioli from Italy, that was my favorite! And the coq au vin was really good too! I didn't get to try the creme brulee, which I'm kind of uspet about, I LOVE creme brulee!

I just may have some pictures for you.

We were determined this trip to try everything we had selected before we left AND to have an opportunity to have our favorites again. We shared nearly everything, so that helped!

That was one of the best Food & Wine reviews I've seen! Thanks for the detail pictures, and the great descriptions!

Can't wait to see what the Dolphin was like!

Thank you! That was such a nice compliment.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!

Thanks for reading along.

 

[DisneyCrafter]

It’s time for check-in at the Dolphin!

At least we were hoping it would be time to check-in! Unfortunately, we hadn’t received the promised telephone call yet. We decided we would just hop on the Friendship boats and head over in hopes that our room was ready. Turns out my phone was not being cooperative and not a few minutes into the ride did it show up that I had a voicemail. Our room was ready! What perfect timing!!

We head over to the front desk and pick up our keys. Our luggage is heavy but that’s okay because soon enough we won’t be moving it for nearly a week-or so we thought. We walk into the second room and we’re overcome by a musty smell. Like carpet that was wet and dirty. Yuck! I open the curtains to see what kind of view we have as we did pay for a resort view after all. Do you know what I see? The roof and a 5 foot cement wall! I wish I would have taken a picture. I was so frustrated! I had Greg call down and after a few minutes on hold they said to come back down and get new keys, they had a lake view room for us. Okay, this sounds good! We get back up to room number 2 and I hurriedly open the curtains to see a big green and white striped awning and the loading zone for the hotel. WHAT?! Sure if you look out straight ahead there’s trees and the street. At this point I’m frustrated but I’m feeling so defeated. Greg calls down again and this time they are going to send up luggage services with the keys. I really hope this room is going to be great because I’m NOT switching again!

We walk into the room and there’s actually no wet, dirty smell. That’s good. Next question, “How’s the view?”

Oh yeah, this is a great view! Finally!

If you pressed your head against the glass and looked to the left you could see:

Here’s a few pictures of the room as well. I wasn’t a fan of the sink set-up. I much rather prefer the way the vanity area is set-up at Pop, I feel like I can be more organized.

We spent some time getting settled in and then we were off to MK for MNSSHP!

 

[BridgetR3]

My goodness....three rooms!!!! That's kinda crazy but I'm glad you finally got a good one!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

My goodness....three rooms!!!! That's kinda crazy but I'm glad you finally got a good one!

Normally, I'd keep my mouth shut and just stick with the first room but I decided to give it a shot and then after the second room I just couldn't give up!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

LOVE all of the F&W pics! I can't believe the size of the sausage from Germany! And that French dish looks gross! I agree that they could have presented it so much better. The Swedish meatballs make me think of Ikea.

Ugh - I can't believe you had to switch rooms three times! How frustrating. It looks like it was worth it, though. Your view was great! I am interested to hear a full review of the hotel. I have considered either the swan or the dolphin (actually thought about it for our upcoming trip) but I feel like I just don't know enough about them!

 

[Nermel9]

I can't believe you had to switch rooms so many times, that's so annoying! Glad you finally got a great view! Look how close ToT looks!