FREE Poly Upgrades!! DRINKS around the World!! TONS of Pics of Food and Madness!!

[Jess4Disney]

***Decided to rename the TR in hopes of getting a few more readers. No biggie, though. Thanks to everyone's who's been reading up to this point!



Hey all! Whoop whoop. 10 posts to my name, and here goes my trip report


Note: I'm also OBSESSED with that dancing banana.. <drool>

Absolutely love these forums! Have been reading since before our trip.. don't know WHY I didn't post then. Oh well, better late than never, right?

First, let me say that I can be very sarcastic. Please don't get offended by my dry sense of humor. DBF knows me better than anyone, and even he sometimes can't tell when I'm joking.. I guess I sometimes lack the 'laugh out loud' expressions when I'm being silly? Ehhh...

I'm also very emotional, and can be a downright sissy! So I cover ALL sides of the spectrum! Now.. on with the show!

Let's start with my Pre-Trip Report.



****
DBF: For your 25th birthday, wouldn’t you like to do something romantic? A cruise to the Caribbean? A romantic getaway to Hawaii?
Me: Umm.. how about a Drink Around the World tour in Epcot?
DBF: Disney World?
Me We can stay at the Polynesian. A little Disney.. a little Hawaii.


A LITTLE ABOUT US
Me (25) - Cocktail waitress in California Bay Area. Used to go to Disneyland every year with the family. Did a trip a few years ago with Mom, (2) DBs, and DB's girlfriend. So excited to finally be going to WDW!!!!

Heehee. This was taken snowboarding this past Winter.

DBF (24) - Drummer in a punk rock band. Has almost every single Disney movie on VHS. His grandmother gave them to him when he moved away. He's definitely not Disney obsessed like I am, but I can tell he's really looking forward to this trip!

WHERE: Universal Studios (Portofino Bay Hotel) and WDW (Polynesian Concierge and Yacht Club)

WHEN: April 22-May 2.

WHY: Because it's DISNEY!! And of course my 25th Birthday. We've dated off and on for 3 years, and been together officially for 2, moving in with each other over a year ago. While our tastes may differ when it comes to music <cough> we share one important love: F-U-N! And we certainly do have a blast together.

MARCH 2008

We started planning for this trip very late in the game <gulp>. In actuality, we probably booked the trip less than a month and a half out. Aside from a few of the restaurants (Garden Grill and CRT) we actually got most of the ADRs we wanted, even still! When we finally made it to WDW we realized we had booked more ADRs than we actually were able to enjoy, but we we happy with what we got, none the less.

So after breaking the news to our dogs (man, were they PO’d!), I booked them their OWN resort stay near our house. Okay, so it’s not really a resort, but it is listed on the internet as ‘a deluxe doggy hotel.’ And YES, I AM one of those people who pay top dollar for my pets’ comfort. Now... before you start throwing tomatoes at me, know that while I AM one of THOSE people... I am NOT one of THESE people: a) who spend more on their dogs’ clothing than on their own. b) who let their dogs have more reign of their pillow than themselves c) who let their dogs eat off their plates. Okay, so the last is a bit of an exaggeration. Hey, and no insult to any of THOSE people. When my mom babysits my dogs SHE becomes one of THOSE people! =) Hehehe! Unfortunately, in the Bay Area there are only a few solid, reputable dog boarding facilities. I do not like the places where the dogs are crated for hours upon hours, and I am totally willing to pay premium prices to make sure they are kept safe and happy. Dang! There I go again, running away with the topic...

My little Molly girl. She's a maltese.. and the sweetest cuddler ever!!

.... and the terror: MILES! Heehee. He is a silky terrier. Such a stuborrn little brat, but so sweet. Thought this was the funniest photo.. DBF had him wrapped up like a baby!

Okay, so after I made doggy reservations it was time to choose our itineraries for the parks. A small note here. I changed these itineraries multiple, MULTIPLE times! I picked the parks we would visit first, then I booked our ADRs. I also changed THESE multiple times! I was becoming one of those...those... PLANNERS! But you know what? Change is good. And I was beginning to enjoy the transformation of myself! It’s true: Why pay all of this money on a vacation, only to be turned away from restaurants/activities/attractions because you failed to plan? It’s like buying an expensive car without the insurance!

Here are our itineraries as of today...

4/22-4/25 Universal Portofino Bay

4/25 Arrive Polynesian around 730am to drop off bags.
Make our way to AK as close to opening as possible.
ADR Yak and Yeti 1130pm.
Leave AK around 3pm to head back to Poly for check-in/relaxation/quick snack.
Make our way to DTD for 6pm La Nouba.

(We realize this will be a long day, but we both work nights and are used to going to sleep very late. We also go to school and are also used to waking up early after a late night. We will be taking plenty of afternoon naps. We also realize that if some of the mornings don’t work out, they simply don’t. We’re okay with that. We will do some ‘tweakings’ of itineraries if need be.)

4/26 ADR Crystal Palace 825am.
MK morning. FP rides/walk-on must do’s early.
Swim/Relax/Nap for the afternoon back at Poly.
ADR Narcoosees 830pm.

4/27 RD HS
ADR Mama Melrose 12pm. (Originally had Sci-Fi, but reviews on the food were not so hot.)
ADR Citricos 725pm.
Head to MK for Wishes. EMH from 11-2.
Depending on how the lines are for attractions, might ride one or two, or do some shopping.

4/28 Sleep-In Day
Epcot when we wake. noon.
ADR Tokyo 12pm.
Visa Meet-and-Greet sometime in the afternoon.
This is our drink-around-the-world day!! Probably want to do the meet/greet before we start this. LOL! Can you imagine!
ADR Chef’s de France 7pm.
Illuminations 9pm.

4/29 ADR Ohana 810am
Check out the Boardwalk
ADR Coral Reef 130pm.
Back to Poly for relaxation/swim/drinks.
ADR Kona 645pm.
Watch Wishes from the beach.

4/30 Back home <pout>


FOUR HOURS TO GO

As I type this, it's now 12:30am California time. My mom is picking me and DBF up to drive us to the airport in four hours! I am soooo excited. I haven't even packed yet! BUT I have all my clothes picked out. All I gotta do is put them in my suitcase. AND that commercial just came on! "Can't sleep... too excited..."

Can't wait to go! Will be taking mucho mucho mucho pictures. Yaaaaaay =)

 

[Jess4Disney]

Page saved for Table of Contents..

 

[Jess4Disney]

APRIL 22 PT 1: FLIGHT AND ARRIVAL IN ORLANDO

Started off the morning very early. Flight was at 6:40am out of Oakland. Dogs had been dropped off at the boarding facility the night before. We woke at 4:00am and all that was left to do was pack. PACK?!! Okay, I admit it. I am a laaaaaaaaate packer. I actually surprised both myself and DBF this trip, however. I had laid out everything I needed the night before. We had looked at the weather forecast for the next week and a half, and it looked beautiful. With only shorts, dresses, and tanktops to pack, my things would all fit in one large suitcase. Note this.. I have been known to pack 2 suitcases for just a weekend trip, so one suitcase for a trip this long was SHOCKING to DBF. He couldn't believe it his good fortune at only having to schlep one suitcase each down the stairs. LOL.

So after showering and waking DBF, I placed everything in my suitcase as he got ready. It only took me 15 minutes to fill my suitcase, double check everything, and place it by the stairs. Not bad, eh? Packing from the house was easy. I actually managed to remember everything!

That was until I realized one thing that I hadn't remembered. Why hadn't I remembered it? Because it was something I didn't even have in the first place! A charger for my camera! I had completely forgotten that I had lost my charger on our trip to Mexico. You have GOT to be kidding me. No time, however, so we would have to get one in Orlando. This would be the first of many camera mishaps.

My mom arrived at our house about 4:45 and we were at the airport by 5:10. Pretty nice living so close. We hugged her goodbye and checked in at the desk. Security was a breeze at this time in the morning. Our first flight was with Delta, and was uneventful. After touching down in Houston, we had about an hour and a half to kill before we needed to make our next flight. We decided to grab food and drinks.

I can't recall the name of the bar that we ate at in the Houston airport, but the food was actually really good! It was then that I pulled out my camera.. DBF looked at me like I was crazy, and basically said something along the lines of, "Okay.. now you're going overboard. I promise to not say a thing about you taking photos of all of our food at US and WDW but at the airport? Give me a break." LOL!

So no foodporn from the airport. He had the mac and cheese which was made with like five different cheeses. It was sooooo good. Gruyere, parmesan to name a couple. I had a spinach salad which was also really good. Winner of the meal? The Bloody Marys. OMG. They were so good! They must have used a lot of fresh ingredients, because those definitely weren't made with plain bar-mix. I also had a small dessert, which was a 'guilt free' dessert... glucose free? Or something like that. Plus that day, all of the proceeds from dessert went to an Autism foundation, which was pretty much the selling point for me. I have several friends who have beautiful kids with autism.. and I know how difficult it can be. I was happy to contribute to the cause, even in such a small way.

I was stuffed by that point, but hey.. help a cause AND eat sweets that aren't quiiiite so bad for you? I felt double-unguilty for eating it.

Second flight was also uneventful. I think I slept through it. I even learned some math along the way..

" Two drinks + flying = happy camper. "


APRIL 22 PT 2: THE HOTEL

Anyyyyhoo.. the weather in Orlando was awesome!!! Not humid at all, and beauuuuutiful. (If you can't tell by now, I have a thing with stretching out words. I don't speak that way, but I do type that way for some odd reason. Sorry if it annoys. LOL) We grabbed a cab outside, and watched the Magical Express buses whiz by. Woohoo! Made me so excited for WDW!

We got a cab, and told the driver where we were headed. Portofino Bay! We also asked if he would take us to a camera shop along the way. We stopped at a camera shop on the main road where they have the Ripley's Museum, and most of the restaurants. We were in and out within five minutes. I know not to dilly dally when you've got a meter running, lol. Actually, though, I believe our driver stopped the meter when we were inside. He was a really nice guy. The camera charger was waaaaay more than it would have costed at a regular electronics store, but we didn't have time to pick and choose between shops. We were just happy to have it out of the way!

When we pulled up to the hotel, we were amazed. It was beautiful! It truly looked like a postcard.

We couldn't WAIT to get to our room. Excited, jumping up and down, giggling, we were like 10-year olds on Christmas morning as we walked up to the check-in desk. After greeting us and looking up our reservation, the woman got a kind of blank-stare on her face, and excused herself to the backroom. I got a bad feeling in my gut. A few moments later she appeared, with a manager in tow. He looked very sympathetic at us, and as he opened his mouth to speak.. I knew it wasn't good.....

NEXT UP ~~~~> What the BLEEP do you mean they oversold our room?

 

[froglover2]

Can't wait

 

[nateryan]

Great job so far. Can't wait to hear what happened at PBR!!

 

[disneykibbes5]

I am on board. Can't wait to see what happens next

 

[Jess4Disney]

Wheee!! Thanks for reading! Here we goooo....



APRIL 22 PART 2

Hey everyone! So a little side note.. I failed to write down the exact items of the food we ordered at all of our meals. While I tried to take pictures of everything, sometimes we (mostly DBF, hehe) were so hungry by the time we ate, that we didn't take pictures of everything either. We did take a ton of pictures of most things we ate, though, which I am so excited to share. =)
Also.. I didn't write down the meals, so I will go by the pictures, and the menus on Allears. I also didn't keep tabs of the prices of everything, since DBF paid for most meals. I'm a bad trip-reporter! Sorry! But Allears does have the prices on their menus as well. But I'll try to make up for it with plenty of food porn. (YAY!)


So I tried to keep my cool as the manager introduced himself to us, and politely explained that somehow the computers had messed up a few of the reservations. Ahhh yes! Those COMPUTERS! Mean little buggers, always with their trickery and pranks! <snort> Okay, I admit it. While I am usually a cool-tempered person, I can also just as easily fly off the handle as well. I'm only human! DBF could sense my upcoming outburst. Or perhaps he just noticed my face turning from flustered to flushed to red to purple.. hehehe. He placed his hand on my shoulder to calm me down.

The manager's name was Raj, and it was his FIRST day with PBH! He had just transferred from The Hard Rock, having been there for a long time. Wow, what a way to throw you under the bus your first day on the job! I managed to bite my tongue as he explained that PBH had overbooked the rooms but they would be putting us up at the Peabody for that first night. Since we didn't have any set plans that night, and Universal Studios had already closed for the day, it wasn't too big of an issue for us that we would be staying at a different hotel. Raj also explained that not only would our room for the first night be comp'd, but we'd also be receiving free drink vouchers as well as breakfast the next morning. I thought that was a pretty fair way of making up for their mistake.

We grabbed drinks at the bar (on them of course, lol) and waited while Raj took care of our reservations with The Peabody. He then drove us in the company car (a really nice new Navigator) to The Peabody. I thought this was a nice personal touch, rather than sending us via taxi. Raj was a really cool guy, chatting with us along the way, and telling us about all of the restaurants which we should eat at while there. He also called the restaurant that we would be dining at that night, and set up our reservations for us. He went above and beyond, and I will be sending the hotel his praise!

The Peabody was actually a very nice hotel, just a short 5 minute drive from PBH. After exchanging numbers with Raj (he would also be picking us up in the morning and taking us back to the PBH), we checked into our room at The Peabody. Supposedly they have a 'duck procession' every night there, but I believe we were to late to see it. Imagine a row of ducks being led out of the elevator, and out the door. LOL! We would see plenty of other ducks on this trip, however. <grin> Our room was very nice! Very clean, spacious, and even with a small view of Epcot. LOL.

Room with two beds.

bathroom

view of the pool

Dang.. so in the pic itself, you can't really see Epcot. It's in the far right corner if you zoom in LOL. I swear it's there! We saw it =)


So we rested for a little bit, freshened up, and then strolled over to Tommy Bahamas for dinner. Let me tell you.. this was a great restaurant. Awesome ambiance, and huge interior. The dining area could clearly hold a ton of people, but the layout was great, and didn't feel cramped at all! Our dinner was FANTASTIC. Everything was great, and the seafood was very good! Being from the Bay Area, I am somewhat of a seafood-snob, LOL. This restaurant met my expectations, and I would highly recommend it.

Us with the beautiful chandelier and centerpiece.

Our waitress was very sweet and DBF ordered a glass of wine while I ordered a Pina Colada.

YUMMY!

For dinner we each had a cup of the lobster bisque (sorry no pic!) which was extreeeeemely rich and wonderful. I've had lobster bisque that was watery, before. Anyone know what I mean? But this was almost like a cream of lobster, LOL! It was simply delicious.

We split the crab cakes...

Raj had mentioned that he loved the snapper here, so of course I took his word for it. This meal did NOT disappoint!

DBF ordered the ribs..

....which he pretty much inhaled.

Then we finished the meal with a few more drinks...

and of course... THE SILLY FACES!

After dinner, the waitress brought us our check. She comp'd the drinks for my birthday (how generous!) and also brought me a complimentary key-lime tart wrapped up to go, since I was simply stuffed to the brim by that point! We thanked the waitress and managed to walk/waddle back to our room. Heehee.


NEXT UP ~~~~> Portofino Bay Hotel, A few wisecracks from that cuddly little character from Shrek, and an indecent proposal from BEETLEJUICE! Plus... more foodporn of course =)

 

[Jess4Disney]

APRIL 23 PART 1: PB AND UNIVERSAL STUDIOS


We woke early the next morning because we had plans to check-in to PB (WITHOUT any problems! LOL) and to go over to Universal Studios. Raj picked us up from The Peabody and brought us over to Portofino Bay. We were given breakfast vouchers for one of the cafes out in the plaza area of the hotel. After bringing our luggage up to our room, I decided to snap a few photos. The room was huge, and they gave us one of the best 'view' rooms in the hotel! We overlooked the water, and the outdoor area (which I refer to as the plaza), and had a great view of the live opera every night.

I thought the window that opened from the bedroom to the tub was pretty cool..

And our view..

We decided to head down to the concierge to purchase our park tickets and deposit a credit card to link to our room keys. While purchasing the two day tickets, we also added on the Blue Man Group for the following night. (We never made it to that show, but I'll get to that later.) Come to think of it, they didn't even explain to us that our room keys doubled as 'express passes' for the attraction lines. I'm glad I did my research first! You'd think they would make it known to people, as these passes were a complete necessity with the crowds we faced those few days!

After that, we headed to Trattoria to eat breakfast. Unfortunately, the breakfast vouchers were only for a continental breakfast, and not the buffet. It was only a few dollars extra, however, to add the buffet option. The buffet was wonderful! They had tons of fresh fruit, an omelet station (MMMmmm), sausage, bacon, tons of cereals, juices, milk and coffee, yogurts and more. We ended up doing the buffet both mornings as we enjoyed it so much. We were so hungry by this point that I failed to take pictures <whine> But believe me, it was good!

By this point, it was about 10am and we headed over to the dock to catch the boat to Universal.

Boats come pretty often, I believe around every 15 minutes or so, and we were loaded up and on our way within 5 minutes of arriving at the dock. It was a really nice ride, especially since it was so hot out, and the breeze felt awesome.

About ten minutes later (probably quicker than that, actually..) we were at THE SIGN. Wheee!

We were in the parks and decided to hit Shrek4-D first, since it was pretty much the first ride we come across, LOL. We didn't have any set plans for our two days at Universal, since we had our express passes. We never waited longer than 10 minutes for any ride, and usually only waited a few minutes. Shrek was actually one of the longest waits we had, which is to be expected since it's a 'show' type ride, with only one auditorium. We tried not to make eye contact with all of the people we passed while being ushered through the Express line. This would also become habit..

Shrek was a really fun 4-D attraction! The woman sitting next to me had her daughter on her lap. Her daughter looked very young, probably around 5 at the oldest. She was terrified within the first couple of minutes of the movie, and was holding on to her mother for dear life, pressing her face into her chest. I felt really bad for her, but I really think it depends on the child, if they would be scared or not. I saw other young children who were laughing and having a great time the whole show.

After Shrek, we headed across the way to check out the photo area with Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey. This was a really cool setup! They had Donkey behind barn doors, and he spoke to people as they came up to greet him. He was a RIOT! Cracking jokes left and right. It was terrific interaction! He sounded EXACTLY like Donkey from the movie (Eddy Murphy, right?)

We stepped up to take our picture with him, and he commented on my boots (Uggs), that they looked similar to Shrek's shoes. LOL. He also asked how long me and DBF had been together (two years), and asked where my ring was. DBF turned the same shade as I did when PB told us they had oversold our room! ROFL! Donkey told me that if I didn't have a ring in hand by the end of the year, to come check him out instead. Hahaha!

Next up was Fiona and Shrek. They also both did a wonderful job with people interaction. Fiona's voice was right on as well! Shrek didn't speak, but he did point to my boots and start dancing around. It was really cute

We decided to walk over to The Mummy at this point, and it was our first encounter with the Universal 'locker system.' While I did appreciate the effort to keep people's valuables from flying off during rides, Disney also has rides that are roller coasters, some even like RnR that go upside down, and they don't use the locker thing. They have the netted bags which I think work perfectly. The locker system at Universal uses a finger-print mechanism to designate you a locker, as well as open the locker after you're done. It was such a pain at times! The scanner wouldn't work half the time, and once it even opened somebody's locker who had items still in it! But it IS cool that they offer them free of charge while you ride the rides... I just don't know why they don't use the netted bags in the front of the ride cars?

Back to The Mummy.. So it was around 11:00 or so at this point in the day, and The Mummy line was already listed as 40 minutes. Holy cripes! We flashed our cards, and walked straight up to the ride. We had 2 groups infront of us, so we boarded on the third car. This all took a whopping 3 minutes. Yay! Okay.. so I've been to Universal in Hollywood before, but it was probably 10 years ago. I had heard that The Mummy was a fast-action ride, but I more of expected an Indiana Jones Disneyland ride. No, no, no. This ride is F A S T. And AWESOME!!! I loved the backwards motion part, and the 'launch' part of the ride. You know where they shoot you from 0-50 or whatever in a couple seconds flat? I've been noticing that many rides, again like RnR and The Hulk are using this technique.. and I love it!

Next up? The Mummy again. LOL.

Then we headed over to Amity. On the way, we passed Twister! Okay.. this ride? Ehh, wouldn't do it again. The pre-attraction movie was waaaaaay too long, and the attraction waaaaay too short. They hype you up so much, I felt, and when the actual attraction was over, I was wondering, is that IT? Some people probably love this attraction... Me and DBF both did not.

We also hit up Disaster! The Ride. The line for standby was 50 minutes. I would have been reaaaaaaalllly upset if we had waited that long for this attraction. While it was fun and entertaining, I felt the real earthquake in San Francisco... way scarier than the actual ride.. well of course.. hmm, bad comparison on my part. The audience participation in the 'movie' at the end was pretty funny though! I actually laughed out loud when they played it. I did manage to snap a photo of the train route on the wall after we boarded our Bart train. I used to take Bart all the time when I lived in SF, so that was pretty cool...

We spotted Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! along the way to Jaws. He was hilarious, and had a great voice as well. Beginning to sense a pattern among Universal's characters? I commented to his 'entourage' that they had awesome bodies, and stomachs 'to die for' hehe I'm corny, I know.. Beetlejuice had no problem accepting the compliment as his own, and answered back, "thanks, must be all the beers I drink." LOL! After we snapped the photo, he nudged DBF and whispered to him about meeting up later to grab a keg. LOL! This guy just doesn't stop.

Finally we arrived at Jaws. We actually managed to tackle the beast before even going on the ride. Whoop whoop!

This ride was pretty cool. Most people comment that it needs to be refurb'd and it looks very dated. I think the corniness adds a nice touch, hehehe. Plus I'd never rode it before, and everything's better the first time, right?

I thought Universal did a great job with the San Francisco section of the park. It really did look like Fisherman's Wharf!

We waltzed over to Men in Black, and did the whole locker mambo. Again, we cut a huge 45 minute wait down to 5 minutes using our passes. Man, I was beginning to treat these things like gold! This ride was soooo much fun. I had cheated and looked up a couple pointers along the way. This would be the first and only time I'd beat DBF, since he'd never ridden it before, and wasn't aware of my cheats, LOL! He scoffed at my score, and challenged me to a rematch. Hmph! I shoulda just left well enough alone. Heehee. But we did get a cute pic out of it, which we purchased. I'll scan it in later =)

By this time we were hungry, and decided to head over to Finnegan's Bar and Grill for lunch. I heard they had good beer and live music. Sweet! We passed The Simpsons Ride on the way. Woah! I thought it wasn't opening until next month? We were told they were doing a soft opening, but it was having technical difficulties, and weren't letting anyone else on. Plus, since it wasn't an official ride opening, they weren't going to have Express line open. We decided we would hit it the next day, first thing, before doing IOA.

There was no wait for a table at Finnegan's, and the waitress sat us immediately. I ordered a beer cocktail, which I had never had before. It was a mixture of Hard Cider and Heffen! Really good and thirst quenching! DBF ordered a beer on tap, but I can't remember which. I ordered the cheese soup and a beefstew-type dish that can with mashed potatoes. DBF ordered a burger, which he said was awesome. Grrrr, no photos of this meal either. I dunno WHAT was up with me that day. Sorry!

We chilled out for a while, enjoying the ambience, and the music. As we were paying the bill, The Blues Brothers were also starting their show outside, and we headed out to watch them. They were very entertaining, and I enjoyed watching everyone dance to the music.

We finished our day there with ET (hmph, the ride vocals got messed up at the end and we didn't get to hear our names), another go at MIB (man, did I need ANOTHER blow to my ego?) and of course The Mummy again! DBF looooooves that ride! We were out of the park by 2, and headed back to the hotel for some R&R. A nice surprise awaited me back in our room..

This was soooooo delicious! DBF thought so too.. I practically had to fight him to eat MY birthday treat! Hmph!

We called the concierge to make reservations for Mama Della's and they were completely booked for the night. Bice had open reservations, so we made them for 9:00.

We headed down to the lobby around 8:00 and sat and had a few drinks at the bar. We headed over to Bice earlier than our reservation time, but they had no problem seating us. I love this restaurant! The mood lighting, beautiful views, and elegant room appointments made for a fantastic meal. We started with a glass of champagne, and then a pomegranate martini.

We split a caprese-type appetizer....

Then had a shrimp dish...

Both of those starters had wonderful, fresh flavors. Unfortunately, I wasn't too impressed with the main courses. We both had pasta dishes, which were pretty bland, but not bad-tasting at all. Just lacked spices, KWIM? The flash was acting funny at this point, and those two pics didn't come out.

 

[Jess4Disney]

APRIL 23 PART 2: EVENING ENTERTAINMENT!


Yay! So we were well stuffed, and ready to start our first evening at CityWalk! We had CityWalk passes, which gave us free entry to all of the nightclubs. We were told that the boats to/from Citywalk (the same boats that take you to US and IOA, since they're right next to each other) ran until 2:00am every night. Actually, the last boat departs Citywalk at 2:15am. Since the clubs close at 2:00, they want to make sure to give everyone enough time to walk/stumble back to the dock. We chose the latter method.. stumbling. LOL!

We walked to the dock at PBH, and waited for the boat to come. There were probably only about 3 other couples there, around 10:30pm. The boat arrived, and several other couples stumbled off. Stumbling would be the new way of walking that night and the next! And not just for us <laugh> Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures this night. This is becoming a pattern... the more drinks I have, the less pictures <grumble> Sorry everyone!

Arriving at CityWalk, we were surprised to see hardly anyone there! Maybe because it was a Wednesday night? Oh well, we'd make our own fun. We headed up the stairs to where the clubs were. I was feeling pretty good by this point, and heard the blasting music coming from The Groove. Ahhh.. I recognized that tune! "Soulja Boy"... I had the bright idea to do my own version of this dance, made popular by YouTube. LOL! Look.. by now you should know how corny I am. So don't be surprised! Since DBF wasn't at all interested in doing the 'Soulja Boy Dance' with me, we decided not to head in the direction of the thumping music of The Groove. DBF convinced me that we should try a more mellow environment. Or so we thought. We flashed our CityWalk passes, and entered Pat Obrien's.. or as I like to call it.. the Piano Bar. =)

Here's the website's description of this bar: "An authentic reproduction of New Orleans’ favorite watering hole, Pat O’Brien’s is the original home of dueling pianos, the “flaming fountain” patio, and the world-famous “Hurricane®” specialty drink. Cajun style appetizers, entrees, and desserts are served in the main bar, courtyard, and terrace level. Entrees include catfish fillets, jambalaya, shrimp Creole, and wings. "

This place was JUMPING! Hehe, okay, so maybe not exactly jumping.. but there WERE a good amount of people around, and dueling pianos?!!! How can you beat that? We took a seat at the bar and ordered a few beers. Since DBF is a musician, he certainly appreciated the live music. The bartender was a really cool guy. I'm really bad at names, so I'll just refer to him as Cool Bartender. Anyhoo, he explained to us that we can write down our music requests on a napkin, and give it to the piano players. Slowly we learned which of the two players we liked better. Hey, they were both really good, but one of them had a little more enthusiasm when he sang. LOL. So we wrote down our first request, wrapped it around several bills, and handed it to him. Before I had even returned to my seat at the bar, the music filled my ears. I even got butterflies in my stomach. And NO, it wasn't the alcohol moving around in there. <laugh>

He began to sing, "This is the day of the expanding man.. That shape is my shade. There where I used to stand."

Steely Dan. Deacon Blues. Now I know, I'm 25 years old, and some of my friends like to tease me when I blast this music in my car. Other people ask me how I came to like this music, being so young. My father played it all the time when I was growing up. I get my good taste in music from him! I sat there singing along as Beloved Piano Guy played the song. He did a wonderful job! His voice was awesome. My eyes even teared up as he played the final chorus. It's a very nostalgic song for me, having lost my father less than 2 years ago. I like to listen to his favorite songs and remember him Beloved Piano Guy finished up, and shouted through the microphone "Thanks for picking Steely Dan!" I guess he had good taste too! <grin>

DBF sensed me getting a little teary-eyed, and knew just the ticket to shake me out of it. He brought the paper up to our guy, and returned to the bar. The two piano players did a whole variety of other songs, ranging from slow songs, to reggae, to ballads, to country, to rock, to rap.

After about 10 minutes, Beloved Piano Guy points to DBF and goes, "OH. MY. GAWD. BECKY. LOOK. AT. HER. BUTT"

Baby Got Back! By Sir Mix-Alot. I just about spit my beer all over the place. DBF has a crazy sense of humor. I love it! LOL. The whole bar jumped up and started shaking their thang! It was a great ending to the night, and the piano players were awesome, and great sports!! We thanked Cool Bartender, and told him to give us a shout if he's ever in the San Francisco Bay Area. I told him it'd be MY turn to wait on him. (Cocktail waitress, remember?)

We joined the other stumblers, and went home.


APRIL 24 PART 1: US AND IOA

We rose early (with the help of a little Advil) and made our way downstairs to The Trattoria. We wanted to get to US early, before there was a long wait at The Simpsons ride. Look what I saw when we got down to the plaza!

Notice how the Dad of the group moseys along, taking his leisurely time, as the Mom does all the work, herding the children? Haha! Just playing =) Seriously though..

I ran to get this upclose shot.

I obviously wasn't going to touch the little things, but I guess DBF thought otherwise. It was at this point that me and DBF got into a friendly debate about ducks, and how he said that if you touched baby ducks, the smell from your hands would prevent the mother from taking them back. Umm.. HELLO? This is a wive's tale, used to stop kids from touching these animals. So of course.. I looked it up on my IPhone. YES, another reason I love this thing. I can easily prove DBF wrong. <evil laugh> I looked up National Geographic's website, as well as other animal sites. They all explained how ducks have a poor sense of smell, and it is in fact a MYTH. DBF rolled his eyes and replied, 'Well you still shouldn't touch them." HELLO? DUH!

Okay, so we quickly ate our breakfast, and headed over to the boat dock. We could see a boat already leaving, in the distance.

We arrived at US about 9:30. Later than planned, because we missed the boat, but still early enough. The Simpsons wait was posted as 30 minutes. Now we did much planning this trip to avoid long lines if possible, but since this was a new attraction, and didn't take the Express Passes yet, we decided to do it anyways. We actually only ended up waiting about 20 minutes, and it WAS WORTH IT! Woohooo! That ride was FUN. It's a simulator ride, and is located in the same building that Back To The Future was. I vaguely remember that ride from USH, but I remember it being very jerky. The Simpsons wasn't jerky at all. I can't even describe it, because there was so much going on! I was worried that I might get a little dizzy, as I sometimes do on simulator rides, but I didn't. By the time we exited the ride, it was about 10:15 (It was a pretty long ride, and there was also a long preshow) and the line was already over 60 minutes. Glad we did it while we did!

Of course, we had to do MIB once more, and then The Mummy (both were walk-ons with the Express Pass), and then left the park to head over to IOA.

I really loved this park! We first made our way over to Spiderman. This was a really cool, and unique 3-D ride! You're seated in a car, and the car moves the whole ride. Not just moves around like a simulator, it actually is on a track that moves through the building (like on Disney rides). It also spins a bunch! The movement of the car, paired with the 3-D vision was a combination I have never experienced before.

Next up was The Hulk. Now, I LOOOOOVE rollercoasters, but I always get nervous before trying a new one. The wait for this attraction was posted as 65 minutes, but we were boarded up on a car before I even had time to protest. We literally waited less than 3 minutes. This ride was awesome, but I didn't want to ride it twice in a row. I was feeling a little hungover, plus the extreme heat was taking a tiny toll on me. DBF wanted to ride it again, so I posted myself by the water, where I could try and snap a photo of him coming through the 'tunnel' part of the ride. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Okay.. 15 minutes later, I was like what the hey? 15 minutes doesn't seem like much, but when we had just practically walked right on the ride, I wasn't expecting to wait this long. Plus, I realized there hadn't been many of the cars going by. Suddenly, the ride started again, but empty. For the next 10 minutes, empty cars were the only things running. Five minutes later, and the car are filled with people. I guess a slight malfunction? I'm glad we weren't in line when this happened. I would have booked it out of there, and never got to experience the ride! I'm sorry, but rollercoaster mishaps are not my idea of fun. LOL. About 2 minutes later, DBF appeared at my side. I had my face to the camera, trying to get ready for his car to appear. Guess he was on the second one, and I hadn't spotted him. Ehh, oh well.

We made our way over to The Cat in The Hat. Another spin-ride! Man, Universal loves these rides that spin you around and around. Think Winnie The Pooh type attraction, but include TONS of spins. Like Roger Rabbit in Disneyland? Unfortunately, I couldn't convince DBF to go with me on the scariest ride of the park.. <sigh> Red Fish, Blue Fish. IOA's version of Dumbo =) I didn't want to ride it by myself, but I bet I would've had a lot of fun!

After that, I got arrested!!!!!

But I managed to sweet talk my way out of it...

We then headed over to the Jurassic Park ride, and almost got eaten on the way!!!

The Jurassic Park ride was really fun. I had done the one in USH, and this one seemed like the drop was longer.. Come to think of it, it's a REALLY high drop. Felt much, much longer than Splash Mountain!

We had worked up a big appetite by then, so we waltzed over to Mythos restaurant, which I had heard was really good. We stopped to take a couple pictures.

At Mythos, we gave the woman at the podium our name, and she told us it'd be about a 10 minute wait. No problem. We waited in the air-conditioned lobby, and were called to eat just shy of the 10 minute mark. The inside of the restaurant was awesome! It had so much detail, and carvings in the walls. I got a few pics, but it's hard to see everything. Pictures don't do the architecture any justice.

Can you see the carving in the background, of the woman? It was really cool!

The service was pretty slow, but not horribly. The restaurant was pretty busy, so we understood why service was a little slow. The waitress was really sweet, though, and catered to our special food requests. I wasn't feeling particularly good at this point, and DBF was pretty exhausted too. DBF ordered the tortilla soup, and the sushi appetizer. He also ordered Buffalo chicken wrap. I ordered the spinach salad, and the chicken wrap, minus the tortilla. The tempura sushi was reaaaaallly good. Unfortunately, DBF cut into it so fast that I didn't get a pic. You see... DBF loves to mack down his food REALLY fast. On the other hand, I am a slow eater.. so most of the pics were of my entrees. I did get a few pics of his food, but I practically had to grab it from him before he could chow it down.

The entrees on the other hand.. horrible. Actually, DBF's wasn't as bad as mine. I think he enjoyed his chicken wrap.. and the asparagus wasn't THAT bad. It was just way overcooked.

I am NOT a picky eater. Neither of us are, to tell the truth. But does this look appetizing to you?

<COUGH> Those are 'whipped potatoes'.. I'm sorry, but DBF broke out laughing when they delivered mine. I was more annoyed. The chicken was cold, the veggies overcooked once again, and the potatoes? Ehh.. I won't even go there.

I'm hoping that the chefs were simply having an off day. I would try the restaurant again.. maybe.. but definitely not that same entree. And the food certainly didn't make my upset stomach feel any better.

We decided to leave the park at this point, sadly we didn't even get to ride Dueling Dragons. I was just honestly feeling like crap. So we headed back to the hotel, and hoped I would feel better by 7:00. We had tickets for the BMG that night, and didn't want to miss the show! To make a long story short, I DIDN'T feel better by 7:00. I barely felt better by 9:00, and we had dinner reservations at Emeril's. We had both really wanted to eat there, and talked about it even before going to Orlando. So I forced myself to get up, get dressed, and suck it up. LOL. I'm glad I did.. because this dinner was
F A N T A S T I C and more than made up for our bad experience earlier!

 

[Einetius]

Great report! We were in the Bay area last summer. SF is one of the best cities I have visited.

 

[heaven2dc]

Great report! I have to run an errand and wanted to sub so I wouldn't lose my place!

 

[Jess4Disney]

Great report! We were in the Bay area last summer. SF is one of the best cities I have visited.

Yay for SF! Since I actually work in SF.. I don't play too much there. I actually live right across the Bay Bridge. It's an awesome place to visit, though, and everytime my family comes to town, I enjoy doing the touristy stuff with them!

Great report! I have to run an errand and wanted to sub so I wouldn't lose my place!

Yay thanks for reading!

Great job so far. Can't wait to hear what happened at PBR!!

Thank you They took care of it pretty well, LOL.

I am on board. Can't wait to see what happens next

Yay for readers!!!

Can't wait

My FIRST reader. Thank you :

 

[Jess4Disney]

APRIL 24 PART 2: EMERIL'S AND MORE CITYWALK

So on the way over to Emeril's, we decided that if I still wasn't feeling too great at dinner, we would call it an early night, and not do CityWalk. Dinner was just the key, however, to me feeling better! The restaurant was huge, and had a big cut-out wall where you could see the workings of the kitchen. It was really cool. We were seated in the back section of the restaurant (a partly enclosed section, where they held larger groups), and right against the window. A perfect table. Our table next to us, unfortunately, was the table from Hell! Luckily they were just about leaving when we had our drinks brought to us, and were long gone by the time our food arrived.

It was a group of about 10 guys who thought it was hilarious to talk about their sexual escapades.. and LOUDLY. I'm sorry, but with their annoying laughs, blatantly rude mannerisms, and cussing every other word (there were plenty of children about, mind you), I don't know how ANY of these guys could get a girl to even TALK to them, let alone... okay nevermind. You get the point. At one point, I stood up to give them a piece of my mind (I can only take certain things so long.. ESPECIALLY when I'm trying to eat). Their server appeared at this instant, and basically forced their check on them, even though they weren't ready to leave. The whole back area of the restaurant cheered. I kid you not. We cheered! The guys got the hint, and hurried out.

Ahhh.. now to THE FOOD!

We started with a cup of the Seafood Andouille Gumbo. Heaven in a cup!!! HEAVEN!

We also ordered the mac and cheese with a twist. I believe it had lobster in it? They were out of the regular mac and cheese, which has some other kind of meat in it.. so the chef made one special for us!

Soooo rich and good!

Then we had two entrees..

Andouille Crusted Texas Redfish - With a grilled vegetable relish, Creole meuniere sauce, toasted pecans and a pile of crispy shoestring potatoes.

Now, that entree was delicious. But this one...
Roasted Atlantic Salmon - With poached fennel, saffron bouillabaisse butter sauce, brabani potatoes and pea shoot salad. (I got that from AllEars menu.. but as you can see in the pic, there's a slight deviation, and added shrimp. I think it may have been a special that night.)

..was delicious too! Heehee.

After dinner, I was feeling GREAT. MmmmmmMmmm I'm hungry right now, just looking at the pics. We waltzed over to CityWalk's Margaritaville to watch the live band. We only had one drink to share (didn't want a repeat of the night before!) and really enjoyed the music and atmosphere. Plus, there was a really funny bachelorette party going on, and they so silly when the band made them go onstage with them! It was an 80's cover band, and I was once again.. IN HEAVEN.

DBF approved of the band..

I had fun 'driving' the booth. Hehehehe.

Our day had REALLY turned around! Nothing can raise your sprits better than a GREAT meal, and great music, eh? So we skipped our way back to the docks (skipped, not stumbled, heehee) and arrived at the room shy of midnight.

I awake in GREAT spirits, suuuuuuuper excited to get going!!! We were going to WDW THAT DAY!! Smiling, singing, and bouncing around, I go to grab my purse and check my cellphone messages. My purse.. yes.. okay.. uhh.. where was it???????

.............................




APRIL 25 PT 1: MY PURSE FIASCO AND OUR ARRIVAL AT THE POLY

SOOOO.. I proceeded to RIP the room apart!! I mean, I was flinging things this way and that.. jumping off the walls looking for the dang purse! It was a tiny Gucci purse.. one that I had spent far too much money on, and now it was GONE! With all of my cards, not to mention Drivers License! GGGRRRRR. This was SOOO like me to lose things! DBF kept trying to calm me down, all the while mentioning that it's harder to find things when you're upset. Okay.. this is true. So I tried to breathe. And calm down. And then it dawned on me.. this was our first day planned for WDW! We HAD to get to Animal Kingdom by rope drop! <sob> Okay.. THINK. THINK! So I asked DBF where he had seen it last. He remembered me having it at Margaritaville, but didn't remember if I had grabbed it from the booth when we were leaving.

I asked him for the camera, and scanned through the pics. DANG, no pics of us on the boatride back to the hotel. (I was trying to see if maybe I had the purse on my shoulder on the boatride back to PBH that night) Okaaaaay.. I immediately got on the phone with Guest Services, and asked them to transfer me to the Lost and Found. I described the purse to Lost and Found, but she said that they wouldn't be open for another couple hours. I guess the operator isn't located at the desk, and the people working the Lost and Found didn't start their shift till around 10:00am or so.

It was now around 8:10 and I was FREAKING out! In our Pre-Trip itinerary, we had planned to leave PBH by 7:00am in order to make it to rope drop at 9:00am. However, while in Orlando those first few days, we realized it would only take us about 30 minutes max to get to The Poly, and we would only be checking our bags, and then cabbing it over to AK. So we had adjusted the itinerary accordingly, to allow us one more hour of sleep.

Our new plan said that we were supposed to leave PBH by 8:00am at the latest, giving us about 30 minutes to get to The Poly, then drop off our bags and cab it over to AK in time for rope drop. This was soooooo NOT gonna happen at this rate! I contemplated just telling Guest Services to have the bag shipped over to The Poly when Lost and Found opened up. DBF stared at me, jaw dropping to the floor. "Okay.. you're not SERIOUS. You are going to LEAVE your purse behind, all because you have an ITINERARY to follow?! Get REAL! You should call Guest Services, find out what time Margaritaville opens, and then hightail it over there to talk to the workers before it even opens." To which I replied, of course, "BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS WILL DO TO OUR PLANS!!!" DBF just shook his head at me. <sigh> I knew he was right. Besides, how would we even check into the hotel without my ID? I needed it.

All of a sudden, my cell phone rings. And rings. And rings. Woooohoooo!!!! And where did it lead me to? UNDER.MY.FREAKIN.SUITCASE. I had checked everything IN and AROUND my suitcase, but genius me, had not bothered to check UNDER it. I hadn't even thought of calling my cell phone from the room phone, because I could have sworn I had turned my ringer off the night before.

Again.. DBF stares at me, jaw dropping to the floor. He just shakes his head. He didn't say a word. I didn't say a word. Completely and utterly embarassed, shoulders slumped, I retrieve my purse from under the suitcase, and we head out the door.

All mishaps aside, we managed to hop in a cab by 8:30. The driver wanted to know where we were going. "THE POLYNESIAN, PLEASE!" I shouted to him, waaaaaaaay too excited. Hey, I had just barely escaped death! Okay.. hehe, not death.. but you know. Pretty much the death of our day, if we hadn't found that dang purse!!! I WAS excited! Then he replied, "Which Polynesian?" I didn't even know there was more than one.. "Um, Disney's Polynesian?" He smiled, nodded, and then we took off! This driver was really cool. He was from Haiti (a lot of people we met that vacation were), and we chatted the whole ride. He told us about how he ended up in Orlando, and about many of the people he had met while working for the cab company. He also told us how he was a lens (for eye glasses) maker in Haiti, and when he arrived here in the United States, they paid him very little because he didn't have a college degree. He said other coworkers of his made almost double what he was making, because they had degrees. This saddened me, but I guess that's how it sometimes works. I have a college degree, and frankly, I never use it.

We were so busy chatting that I almost didn't notice when we pulled up to the huge WDW sign! Just kidding, OF COURSE I noticed it! Being our first time to WDW, we were already very impressed! These grounds were sooooo beautiful! There were plants and flowers everywhere, signs pointing this way and that way, and I could already feel the magic. Hmph. I guess I was so overwhelmed that I forgot to snap a single picture the whole trip over to The Poly. This is the way I am... I get so excited about things, and I don't want to miss a SINGLE. THING. that I often forget to take pictures to remember them! Ahh well. I have a great memory album in my mind =) Of course, this doesn't help you readers, though <pout> Sorry!

We pulled up to The Poly just short of 9:00, thanked our driver, and dragged our suitcases the whole 5 feet from the curb to the bellhop desk. They gave us a slip with our number to retrieve our bags later. We didn't have much time to stop and gawk at the hotel's beauty. We were on a mission to make it to Animal Kingdom! There was no line at the Check-In desk, and the older gentleman was soooo kind who helped us out. I can't remember his name

He printed out our room keys, which would double as our 5 day park hoppers. He then showed us our room on the hotel map. When I had originally booked the hotel with Disney, they didn't have club level available. I told them which longhouse we would like to be in, and also told them that if ANY club level room opened up, to please notify us so that we could pay to upgrade. We requested the Hawaii building for this. So back to our room on the map. He informed us that we would be in the Hawaii building. I blinked. "Isn't that club level only?" He smiled and nodded, also telling us the times for the breakfast, afternoon snacks, and evening desserts. "Oh! So a room opened up! Will they just charge the added fee to our credit card?" He laughed, shook his head, and told me to have a wonderful birthday and a very magical stay. Wooohoooo!!!!!! Free upgrade! Our day was surely turning around! I did everything in my power to not jump over the counter and hug this unsuspecting man. Heehee. We thanked him and power walked back outside to catch a cab to AK.


APRIL 25 PT 2: ANIMAL KINGDOM!
We pulled up to the cab stop at AK at about 9:30. Not too bad, but definitely missed rope drop! We used the Rain Forest Cafe entrance, because there was still quite of a line at the main entrance. I'd never before experienced the 'thumbprint' technique at a theme park's turnstyles. Do these really do anything??? Then I placed my ticket through the slot, and CHA CHING! JACKPOT!! Then DBF followed suit.. Only to be rewarded with an obnoxious sound which just REEKED of 'bad bad bad!' The CM asked him to retry his ticket. Same obnoxious sound AGAIN echo'd from the turnstyle! [How to describe that sound... similar to a fire alarm throwing up? Hehehe. Eww.. weird visual.] Ohhhh great. We both let out a loud groan. The CM was very kind, though. We explained to her that it was our first day in the parks, and were already running very late. She let us through, and told us to please have DBF's ticket checked out later in the day, if it was still not working properly. We thanked her and entered the park.

We were in! Woohooo! Our first park of the trip! We didn't stop to take any pictures, because we were on a MISSION. We had big plans to meet a YETI!!
We hightailed it around the park in search of Expedition Everest. We could see it in the background, and it looked huge!!! My adrenalin began pumping. By the time to managed to walk/run over to EE, it was about 9:45. StandBy posted at 20 minutes. Not too bad. We walked over to the FP machines, which only had about 2 people in each of the lines. We insert my ticket first. Success! Next, DBF. I swear, if you listened closely enough, you could hear that same obnoxious sound from earlier. Luckily, there was a CM nearby, and we motioned her over. I guess many people that day were having the same problem. She gave us a 'fastpass' ticket that would work in lieu of DBF's parkhopper. It would only be valid for that day, and that park. We placed his FP ticket into the machine. VOILA! Sucess!! I think it's great that Disney has CMs who attend the FP booths. We didn't see them at all of the FP machines throughout our trip, but there were a good number of them. Imagine how annoying it would be to run for your favorite attraction, have your ticket not work, and then have to go all the way over to Guest Services to get it fixed.
FPs in hand, we jump into the standby line and are face to face with you-know-who (the yeti!) in less than 15 minutes. The cool thing about the Standby line was the artifacts and photos you got to look at. You don't get to see any of this attention to detail in the FP line. We snapped a few photos throughout the queue.

We were tempted to ride Standby again, but decided to head over to Dinoland instead. We had our FPs for later, anyways. DBF took a picture of this huge dinosaur!

Standby for Dinosaur read 20 minutes at 10:15am. I had heard that it often reads that long, and the line is usually way shorter. We decided to try.

This cute little boy offered to take our picture. He did a pretty great job!!

We were in the pre-show room within 5 minutes of entering the queue. 5 minutes later we boarded our car! 30 minutes standby? More like 10 minutes! I have to say that I loved this ride. If I had really young kids who were squeamish, I would definitely not take them on it. It was PITCH BLACK in there, and the dinosaurs were looouuuuuuuuud! The picture at the end of the ride was hilarious! Everyone in the car has these terrorized looks on their faces, and of course MY FACE has this look like "Did I miss something?" I look more concerned than anything.. DBF is covering his ears in the photo. He said that next time we wanted to ride it, he'd wear earplugs.

After Dinosaur, we bathroom break'd at the potties right by the ride exit. While waiting for DBF, who do I spot walk by in their cute little safari outfits? Pluto and Goofy! The bathroom was pretty close to where they set up shop for pictures! Man.. could DBF be taking ANY LONGER? By the time he exited the bathroom, there were already like 10 families in line for the characters. Oh well! I HAD to get our first PhotoPass pic! AND with two of my favs! So we wait in line for about 15 minutes, and then it's our turn. Yay! We tell the Photopass photographer that it's our first Photopass opportunity. She was a lovely woman, and told us to make sure we kept our card for the whole trip, and to even take a picture of it with our camera incase we lost the card, so we'd still have the number. Brilliant!

 

[Jess4Disney]

We did the whole greet-dance with the characters, snapped a few photos, and received our Photopass card. JACKPOT! =)

Next up.. EE with our FPs, and get another set of FPs for the Safari! With our FPs, we waited less than 5 minutes for EE, which at this point in the day had a Standby of 55 minutes. Ouch! DBF managed to leave his sunglasses in the bag-holder of the car. He realized this AFTER we exited the ride. We told the CMs who were manning the photo booth, and they told us we'd have to wait until the cars went the full rotation. This didn't take long, and we had his sunglasses back within no time. Yay! Our 'almost lost' tally was now at... 2. And this was only our first day!

We skipped over to Safari to retrieve our FP set, which had a return time of around 2:00pm, if I can recall... Seemed pretty late, but I guess FPs for this ride are spaced out more than other rides? Someone correct me.

It was 11:15 and we had an ADR for Yak and Yeti at 11:30. We strolled over to the restaurant, which hadn't yet opened. The CM took our name down, and told us that the restaurant would be opening shortly. We decided to snap a few photos while we waited.

Man.. even WDW's RESTAURANTS are elaborately themed just like the attractions! This was gonna be one GREAT vacation!

At about 11:35, the CM told us that the servers weren't quite ready yet, but we were free to sit at the bar and eat. I really wanted to enjoy a window-side table, so we politely declined, but told her that we would grab a drink while we waited for our table. DBF ordered the Empress Bloody Mary and I opted for the Yak Attack. Mmmmm!!!! Woohoo!

A few minutes later, we were seated at a cute 2-top table by the window. My camera was now showing the dreaded battery-low image. Grrr! I had forgotten to charge it. We didn't take pics of our food, because we wanted to save the camera life for other things.. so I snagged some food photos that I found online, to help narrate this experience
Our waitress was a very sweet woman, and she commented on my Yak Attack drink, that it was her favorite! So of course I ordered another <laugh>

Here's what we ate:

The Dim Sum basket- Pork pot stickets, shrimp siew mai, cha su bao & pork siew mai steamed on a banana leaf and served with soy lime dipping sauce.

Lettuce Cups - Minced chicken breast, chopped veggies, maple tamarind sauce, and crisp lettuce cups.

Crispy Honey Chicken - Tempura chicken, broccoli, carrots and honey sauce.

Everything was FABULOUS! I'm half Chinese, so I eat many of these foods all of the time. Disney's Yak and Yeti restaurant is simply AWESOME. I would eat there again and again!

NEXT UP ~~~~> SAFARI, FINDING NEMO THE MUSICAL... AND I GIVE BIRTH TO A BABY SIMBA?!!!!!!

 

[Einetius]

The dummplings look good. We will have to try Yak and Yeti next time we are in AK.

 

[Nicole786]

This TR rocks!! SO cool about the free upgrade!! My dream is the Poly, so we'll see maybe one day!

 

[disneykibbes5]

Great Update.
OMG what in the world was with those whipped potatoes. I think I would have lost my appitite as soon as I saw those.
It looks like you had a great meal at the Yak and Yeti though. I just might have to try that one the next time we go back.

 

[Jess4Disney]

APRIL 25 PT 3: MORE ANIMAL KINGDOM


Sooooooo after stuffing our faces, we decided to walk off a few pounds and mosey around. Animal Kingdom is a really beautiful park, with tons of plants and flowers to gawk at. We enjoyed just slowly strolling around, gazing at everything. Later in the day, the heat was getting pretty intense, but we were leaving the park by then. We stopped to look at the crocodiles for a little bit.

I had really wanted to see Finding Nemo the Musical, much to the dismay of DBF. I'm sorry, but this was MY trip (heehee) and he was just going to have to suck it up! As we were walking over to check the next show times, we saw this band playing.

These guys were AWESOME! They were so sweet, they even stopped playing to pose for this picture. I love steel drums. My mom used to be in a steel drum band when she was in her early twenties, and I've always loved the sounds. DBF is a drummer, and he appreciated the band as well!

We must have had great timing this day, because Finding Nemo was about to start!

We entered the theater to find it pretty crowded, already. The theater was larger than I expected. We found a seat in one of the upper bleachers. I had read on someone else's review that if you sit to close, the puppeteers can be somewhat distracting. We sat next to a father/son duo, and DBF began chatting with the father. The father was at the show by 'force' too, because his son absolutely looooooved Nemo. LOL! Way to go, Kid! =)

You're not supposed to take flash photography during the show, so I managed to snap only a couple photos without the flash on. Didn't come out too good, as expected.

I really loved this musical. DBF admitted it was 'pretty good'. The jellyfish part was amazing, and I loved how the actors flew through the sky. The music got stuck in my head!

The exiting was horrendous, but expected as well.

After this, DBF found some drums of his own!

As we were walking over to look at the Tree of Life, we spotted her....

She is so beautiful! And a wonderful entertainer. We stopped for a good five minutes just to admire her. It was funny to see the people pass by, aware that something was going on (there was a small crowd), but not knowing what we were looking at. Her camouflage is marvelous. I googled Devine when I got home, and came across a website of entertainers who are 'living landscapes.' Really cool!!!

 

[Jess4Disney]

Then we came upon the Tree of Life. Words can't quite describe this amazing art masterpiece. Me and DBF spent who knows how long just gawking at this huge tree, trying to spot all of the different animals we saw. It turned into quite a fun game of 'eye spy'. GRRRRR. Camera really running low at this point, so I only snapped this one.

Luckily, there was a Photopass woman standing nearby. She was happy to take a few shots for us!

The photopass woman asked us if we had a big backyard. We raised our eyebrows at her. Huh? Becaaaaaaausee.......

We were now proud parents of the cutest baby Simba!

As we made our way back to EE for our ride with FP, an older couple asked us if we were going to be riding EE. They had FPs for us! Woohoo! Now we could ride it twice more! Not too bad for such a late start, huh?

ROCK ON!!! <laugh>

5 minutes later, and two more FP's (thank you, kind couple!).. we had ridden EE twice in 15 minutes. WHEEE!!

We then waltzed over to Safari, stopping along the way to grab a single use camera at one of the shops.

The standby wait for Safari was over 90 minutes. Wow...

We waited about 10 minutes with the FPs. Before boarding, we ask the CM how long the Safari was. "2 weeks long" was his response. LOL, gotta love Disney. I hope I packed enough!

Of course, my camera dies as I'm attempting to turn it on. So we spent the Safari snapping photos with our disposable. Haven't developed them yet..

The Safari was pretty cool, but I think because of the heat, and the early afternoon time that we rode, the animals weren't very active. Pretty cool, however, that they have the pictures of the animals as well as their names inside the vehicle. Fun trying to point them out

We left the park around 3pm and headed back to the Poly via the resort bus. This was the only time that we used the bus system. I found the ride very enjoyable, but usually we were on such tight schedules, racing around to get things done, that cabs worked better for us.

We were happy to be back at our hotel, and very exhausted! We didn't want to be tired for our dinner at Victoria and Alberts, and already had reservations for Cirque that evening. We asked the kind woman back at the Club desk if we could possibly switch our Victoria and Alberts dinner to a different night. They were able to accommodate us. Woohoo! Unfortunately, we would have to cancel our Narcoosees reservations, but we REAAAALLY wanted to try V&A, so we were willing to sacrifice.

We went back to the room for a nice nap before our trip to DTD for La Nouba!!




4/25 PT 4: LA NOUBA!


So we head over to DTD via taxi to watch La Nouba! We didn't bring our camera, because it was out of battery charge, plus we knew we wouldn't be able to take any pics inside the show.

Once inside the tent, I ordered a champagne, and DBF ordered a Redbull and Vodka. When we purchased our tickets, it was about a month before the show. (Remember, we planned this trip way late!) So the only tickets left for that night were either waaaaaaay to the right side of the theater, or smack in the center, 4 rows back. I had read that this close was not a very good place to sit. It actually worked out great for us! Sure, it was close, and when the trapeze part was in action, we had to raise our heads to the sky. But so did everyone else <grin> So it was fine! =)

We have seen almost every Cirque show in Vegas, except for the Beatles one.. I've heard it's really good! So we knew it was going to be a wonderful performance. I also saw the one in SF when it was here about 6 months ago. That one was good, but I didn't feel it was GREAT. La Nouba? It was GREAT. Although that weird dude with the reaaaaallly small outfit (was he even wearing an outfit?) with the bald head, and twisted body.. what the heck was he supposed to be? He really FREAKED me out! And it felt like he kept staring at me. DBF even teased "Look babe, he's making eyes at you!" <shudder>

The Chinese acrobat yo-yo girls... OH.MY.GAWD. They were incredible! And you could tell they just looooooved performing! Every trick they did, of course, was responded with a huge round of applause, and they just ate it up! They were so cute, I just wanted to pick them up and put them in my pocket. LOL! They were definitely the highlight of the show, for me. And of course, DBF loved the live singing and band. I think it's so awesome how Cirque includes all of these details!

Funny sidestory about the four little girls with the Chinese yo-yos. I mentioned how everyone clapped during their performance. Okay.. I can really clap. For a 5'2 woman, I can make A LOT of noise. DBF got annoyed with me for clapping too loud! Well, sheesh, if I feel something deserves praise, I'm gonna give it to 'em! And NOT half-arsed. LOL! So I'd clap.. and others around me would clap. Then I'd clap louder.. and they'd clap louder! It was like a clapping war.. and I was NOT going to lose. Hmph! Okay, I'm a weirdo.

After La Nouba, we were REALLY tired, so we decided to check out DTD, more, another day. Seemed like they had a lot of really cool shops, restaurants and bars though! (Unfortunately, we never made it to Pleasure Island <pout> We knew how our CityWalk nights had ended.. and set us back for a few days, LOL, and we didn't want to miss ANY of WDW. But we will definitely hit it up next trip we go! And it WILL be soon. DBF even told me he'd appease my newlyfound Disney obsession, and that we could go back this year! Whoop whoop)

We cabbed it back to The Poly, ordered room service, and I passed out before DBF even finished his! If recall.. we shared a chicken noodle soup, ordered the crab cakes, and he had chicken wings and a sandwich. For some reason, I have this picture on my camera.. I don't even know how he managed to snap it, with the camera having died.. ehhh...

 

[paula34]

hi there subscribed...nice reading about universal and IOA, Oh how I miss them, wish they would build in scotland lol, nice trip report I am enjoying reading it so far, sounds like my kinda trip hee hee