What were we thinking going during spring break??

[LYNSUE]

Trip Dates: Friday 3-12 to Saturday 3-20.

DH and I enjoyed yet another trip to WDW. As an explanation for the trip report title, we generally go at less crowded times of the year. We are empty nesters in our very early 50’s and also DVC members. And... I don’t know what we were thinking when we planned our trip dates. I wanted to go to Florida when it was still cold here in Wisconsin. Well it turned out that it was about equal day time temperatures in both states during our visit!!! Who would have thought that would happen? Crazy Wisconsin weather, or is it crazy Florida weather??

Our hotel was planned for Wilderness Lodge Villas for 6 nights and the last two nights at Boardwalk Villas. Thursday and Friday were planned at the Boardwalk since that was the start of the NCAA tournament and we all know the ESPN Club is conveniently located on the BW. There may be a strategy involved when booking a resort, especially with DVC, but really, in the end, it is mostly the luck of the draw. As it turned out we watched the Badgers play basketball on Friday afternoon on our lap top computer right in our BW room. In fact, we never even set foot in the ESPN Club this trip.

The parks were very crowded by OUR standards but certainly manageable. We avoided any rides with more than 35 minutes waits as standby with the exception of one 40 min wait at Toy Story. Fast Pass was definitely our friend this trip.

Also we had incredible luck with all Disney transportation. Be it bus or boat or monorail and even a couple cabs…..we never waited more than 15 minutes, with most waits less than 10 minutes. Absolutely no complaints about transportation on this trip.

So here we goooooooo (to quote Peter Pan)

Thursday 3-11-10
I worked until about 2:00pm, drove over to DH’s work and picked him up and we headed for home. Our first stop was the local mechanic to pick up our van. It was in the shop for some brake work. Got both vehicles home about 2:40. Did our last minute packing and checking of the house and we were on our way to Milwaukee at 3:10pm. We are staying at the Super 8 near the airport. They have a great park and fly program. We use it every time we fly out of Milwaukee. There was some traffic delays as we got closer to Milwaukee, but nothing terrible. Arrived at Super 8 at 5:45, got checked in and dropped our luggage in the room. We walked to dinner at the Clarion hotel next door. They have a nice restaurant called the Cork & Cleaver. I happened to find a coupon at restaurants.com that offered a $25 discount if you spent $50. What a deal!! It turned out that DH had to have two drinks (old fashions) to get us up to the $50 so we could qualify for the discount. I guess it made sense to spend $6 on an extra cocktail to save $25???? Anyway, we had a very nice dinner. We both started with a cup of taco soup. For an entree' DH had salmon on a bed of greens. I had shrimp & scallops with garlic mashed potatoes. We walked back to the Super 8 stopping at the vending machine in the lobby. We purchased a twix candy bar to share for dessert. Later I chatted with my sister on the phone. It was a rather long conversation since I was going on this vacation for a week and then she was leaving on her weeks vacation on the day I got home. We have never gone two and a half weeks without seeing each other. I could keep in touch this week while I am in Florida, but the following week she would be in St. Martins and the cost to call or text would be outrageous. So definitely out of touch for a while. I was extra sad because their trip to St Martins included the marriage of her oldest son (my nephew) and I was missing this special event. But they will be having a reception locally at the beginning of June, so I can make up for it then. After the phone call we watched a DVD on the computer. Some episodes of the 2nd season of "Big Bang Theory". Then tried to sleep by about 10:00. We had a wake up call set for 4:00am as our flight was leaving at 6:00am. We are flying Delta. This is actually a “free” frequent flyer flight. It took us a long time, but we finally each had enough miles to get a free flight.

It was a very restless night.

Next post will begin the actual WDW trip.

 

[cmp1111]

Sounds good - can't wait to hear more!

 

[OhMari]

Hi
LynSue,
I can't believe we missed each other by 10 days.
One day, we will meet up in Florida.
Our weather was cold too, but the sun still felt good, sort of like the "promise of a spring day in Wisconsin."

I'm taking my dh to the airport at noon today. He flies out at 1:00 and and he thinks we can leave at 11:00. I told him, he is crazy, because you never know if there will be a traffic back-up, especially around the zoo exchange. They are redoing that whole interchange.

Also, my goddaughter is getting married in July and my sister wants to maybe shop Friday afternoon at Fox River Mall and look for a dress at Macy's. She hates shopping on the weekend.

Looking forward to seeing how your week went at WDW.

 

[LYNSUE]

Our week went fantastic. I could not have asked for a nicer trip. In fact, it was so perfect that toward the end of the week I was afraid murphy's law was going to kick in and cause something to go bad. But it did not!

Some upcoming highlights: We did a tour at Epcot one day. "Undiscovered Future World" Great tour and tour guide. In fact DH and I were the only two on the tour, so you could say we had a private tour. One day we had a most wonderful meal at Saana at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I can't wait to tell you about that. I have photos of the restaurant which I will post. But we got so involved in the meal we actually forgot to take photos of the food.

Hang in there...the fun stuff will start later today.

 

[LYNSUE]

Friday 3-12-10

The wake up call was scheduled for 4:00am. However, I was up and about on my own at 3:50am. It was a very short night. We caught the 4:40 airport shuttle. Very easy time through check-in and security. I was surprised because there were more people in the airport than I was expecting at that time of the morning. But remember, it was spring break.

My brother and his wife and my other sister (not the one going to St. Martin) and her husband were also flying out of Milwaukee this morning on a trip to Mexico with their flight leaving at 7:00am. We were hoping to run into them at the airport this morning but we did not. I am sure it was because they were flying international and we were flying domestic. Those are two totally different areas of the Milwaukee airport.

We arrived at our gate at 5:15am. We each had a breakfast bar that I had in my carry on bag and we shared a bottle of water. The plane was there and the board listed our flight as on time at 6:00am, so everything was going smoothly. We loaded and departed on time and arrived in Cincinnati at 8:30am (lost an hour on time change). It was a very short walk to our next gate. Good thing, because that flight was starting to board when we arrived. We were scheduled to depart at 9:06. I knew that little breakfast bar was not going to stick with us until we got to our hotel in Orlando, so I was hoping we might have time to grab a snack before we boarded this second flight. There was a little stand not too far from our gate, so I took a chance and ran down there to grab something. I purchased a turkey sandwich on Ciabatta bread for $6.67. I am pretty sure (from the taste/texture) it was left over from the day before. I got back to our gate and DH and I were one of the last to board. Shortly after getting seated, it was announced that we were waiting for 15 other travelers that were coming in on a connecting flight. DH and I had plenty of time to share our turkey sandwich prior to take off. Finally the others arrived and got seated. It was only a fifteen minute delay and we took off at 9:20. This flight had a lot of turbulence. In fact I was rethinking the need for that sandwich!! The turbulence caused the beverage service to be delayed so when they finally did it, it was very rushed. But all of the commotion made the flight time go by very quickly. The captain announced that we would be making our decent and that the temp was 65 and it was raining in Orlando. We did manage to arrive on time at 11:25am. It is amazing how much time can be made up during the flight. There was a huge bump when the plane touched down. I was kind of glad this flight was over.

Next post will start with our Magical Express ride. But before that I wanted to show you a picture of DH and I. In checking our pictures from this trip we do not have one picture of the two of us together. I know, how shameful!!! So I did choose a picture from a previous trip (09/09) just so you can see who you are traveling with…… I apologize that I look so scary in the picture. In real life I am NOT that scary!! It is pretty obvious that it was rather warm in September. I have that lovely shiny look!

 

[buzz for boys]

Im in!!!
Cant wait to read more x x x

 

[LYNSUE]

Still Friday 3-12-10

We landed in Orlando at 11:25 and we were on the ME bus at 11:55. The bus left the airport right away. We stopped at Poly, Grand Floridian and then the Wilderness Lodge. There would have been a stop at the Contemporary also, but there were no passengers for that resort.

Check-in was very smooth. I did the on-line check in, so there was very little to do once we arrived. The on-line check in even allows you to put your credit card info in there, so that was all done ahead of time too. And guess what…..our room was ready, at 12:45pm. Can you believe it!!! I had to wonder if on-line check in had any bearing on that.

The only thing left to do at the check-in counter was pick up the package I had shipped to WL via UPS. I had checked the day before and was informed the package was there. This package contained our breakfast items for the week, one lunch and one snack. The items shipped were, oatmeal packets, dry cereal, peanut butter, honey, cranberry juice, can of tuna, small container of pickles, mayo and mustard packets, 2-Hormel microwave meals, our daily supply of acai berry juice, a small supply of cookies, salt/pepper packets and some equal. Our next stop was the Wilderness Mercantile to make a few additional purchases to round out our food supply. DH waited on a bench outside the store with our carry-on luggage and package while I went in and purchased a gallon of water, half gallon of skim milk, a loaf of whole wheat bread, a yogurt, an orange, a banana and a 6oz package of ham lunch meat. Those purchases came to exactly $20.00. We were definitely set for the week with breakfast and more.

We dropped everything off in the room and headed to the boat dock to catch the boat to Magic Kingdom. First stop would be guest services to exchange our vouchers for the actual annual passes and also to get the Tables in Wonderland card. The card costs $75 and allows a 20% discount (including alcohol) at most WDW restaurants. We love this discount card. In fact we already made up the $75 cost on this trip, so our next trip in the fall will be true discount. We are not fans of the dining plan. We tried it twice in the past (back when it still included appetizer and tip) and found it was not for us. The TIW card is what works best for us. As we were leaving the GS window, it was pouring rain. I am thinking….its not that far to the monorail from here so I won’t put on my rain poncho. Well it was a long way and I got soaked.

We were heading out to find some lunch so we got on the resort monorail. We had three choices in mind. Kona at the Poly, Wave at the Contemporary, or Grand Floridian Café at GF. First stop was Cont, passed it by. 2nd stop was TTC (no food there). 3rd stop was Poly, passed it by. 4rd stop GF where we got off to head for the café. We were really starving by this time. We arrived at the podium at 2:10pm. They stopped serving lunch at 2:00. I was very sad. They suggested we try Gasparilla’s food court just down the way. It was counter service….but at this point, I really did not care. Sorry no pictures. We had not gotten into the groove of taking food pictures yet. I had chicken soup and some chicken nuggets with coleslaw. DH had a jerk chicken wrap with coleslaw and we shared a bottle of water. For CS, the food was ok. I was sad that we missed GF café, but in the end it saved us about 45 minutes in time and probably $20 or more in food cost. I was definitely ok with that! Also this was our first time trying Gasparilla’s. Our goal was to try new restaurants this trip. So we accomplished that as well. This food court did not take the TIW card, so no discount.

Our dinner reservation is at the much coveted LeCelliar in Canada. It has been years since we were able to get into this place. I was looking forward to it. I need to find out if the rave reviews are all hype, or if the food is still that good. Just a little hint… we were not disappointed. And we remembered to take pictures!!!!

After lunch we got back on the mono-rail to ride to the TTC where we transferred to the Epcot monorail. We arrived at Epcot at about 3:00. I have been in Florida since 11:30 and still have not been on a ride….unless you count the ME bus, the WL boat, and three mono-rails. Frankly, I don’t think those should count.

Next post….we finally ride something fun.

 

[heaven2dc]

What a long day already! I have been seeing reports regarding the TIW card and am trying to figure out if it would work for us (there will be 9 of us traveling the end of November). I'm beginning to think the Basic DDP is best. The discount sounds great but it is limited to certain restaurants and I'm not sure how many cards we would even need to purchase (you can use only one card per table, right?). Plus we would have to be all together to eat which may not work with my gang It sounds perfect for you both though and discounts of any kind are great, aren't they!!

 

[LYNSUE]

Still Friday 3-12-10

Our very first ride of the trip……Spaceship Earth!!

I am just a little disappointed about being at Epcot because traditionally we always start and end our WDW time at Magic Kingdom. That didn’t happen this time. We got close to the MK when we visited the guest services window, but did not get into the park. Getting that coveted LeCelliar reservation for our first day is what decided that Epcot needed to be our first park. When making our dining reservations, I was expecting LeCelliar to be a difficult one to get (as usual), so I started with our first day and was going to go from there. Imagine my surprise when one was available right away. So of course I booked it. So there is the long explanation of how we started our vacation at Epcot.

We had a great ride on SE with very little wait. It was pretty much a walk on. After that we checked the wait time board. Every thing had long wait times, so we headed to World Showcase. I was very interested in checking out the new margarita/tequila bar in Mexico. I don’t drink, but it is always nice to see new things at WDW. The old counter service restaurant at Mexico was boarded up (making that walk way quite narrow) so I assume good things are coming there in the future. Some of the food reports I had read about the quality of that CS restaurant made me cringe. So this revamp will have to be an improvement. The temporary CS stand in Mexico had a huge line. It was located at the same spot as the F&W booth usually is. But again, that was making the walkway past Mexico even more narrowed. We managed our way through the crowd and into the building. We did the boat ride first and then checked out The Cava Bar. It was packed. We briefly looked at the menu outside of the bar and then just said to heck with it. The place is very small. We will have to return on another day. (and we did).
Here is a picture of the sign above the bar.

The Cava is located directly to the right at the end of the sloped walk into the Mexican pavilion.

We then made our way to the American Pavilion area to see the Flower Power concert. After passing the narrowed area in Mexico, the rest of Epcot was not that crowded. I am sure the continuing rain had a lot to do with that. As I recall, we were wearing rain gear during the performance. This weekend was Paul Revere. The concert times are 5:15, 6:30, & 7:45 Friday Saturday and Sunday. This the second year of only weekend concerts. It was about 4:30 and no line had started forming yet. We were able to walk right in and find a seat about four rows back just left of center. We were close enough to the stage that the over hang covered us from the rain and there was a huge down pour near the end of the concert, so I was very glad we were under cover. We had about 45 minutes to wait, so each of us did some texting (not to each other) to pass the time.

Do any of you remember Paul Revere and the Raiders from the late sixties?? At that time, their featured singer was Mark Lindsey. Mark went onto have a very successful career of his own. But tonight it was only Paul, (and his band) and Paul was surprisingly good. He did tell us he is age 72. Of course he did some geriatric jokes. Also lots of jokes about the costumes they wear which include the tight fitting stretchy pant. One other thing Paul told us was his band was promoted greatly by Dick Clark. The thinking was that Paul Revere and the Raiders would be the American counterpart to all of the British invasion bands of the sixties. Hence the name. I found that interesting.

He performed behind this vehicle front end (think it was a mustang). His keyboard was hidden behind this. The lights actually worked on the vehicle.

By the way...that is his real hair sticking out of the tri-corner hat.


They squeezed a lot into the 35 minutes they had.

The lead singer was the guy shown in the photo below. He was an excellent singer.

A picture of most of the band and stage.

We enjoyed the concert very much.


Next up the conclusion of our evening at Epcot and our wonderful dinner at LeCellier.

 

[LYNSUE]

The rest of Friday 3-12-10

After the concert we did the American Adventure Show. We had about a 15 minute wait for it to start. We looked at the historical paintings on the walls as we waited. Always enjoy this show. It gives me that “feel good about America” feeling. Very patriotic. After getting out of that show, we watched the last half of the 6:30 show of Paul Revere. We just stood in the back. From what we saw, it was a slightly different show. We stopped for a few minutes in England and listened to the Beatles then headed toward Canada for our 7:35 ADR at LeCellier. Arrived in Canada at 7:20 and were seated at 7:40, so they were running pretty much on time tonight. The place was packed. We were entertained during our 20 minute wait by a CM. She would alternate between Canada trivia questions and a game of 20 questions of what Disney character/thing am I. The winner always got stickers.

We were seated near the back of the restaurant in the British Columbia section. Our waitress was Aliyyah. She was very busy, but very attentive to us the whole time. DH started with a glass of wine. Then the wonderful bread sticks and butter came out. There was the pretzel bread, sourdough, and multi-grain. The multi-grain was my favorite. It was very difficult, but I waited until my cheese soup arrived to sample the bread. I wanted very much to dip it in the soup. DH's appetizer was the duck three ways. His entrée was salmon two ways, so the waitress teased him that he really had five things for dinner. LOL. My entrée was the spice crusted pork chop. I substituted the polenta with cream cheese mashed potatoes YUM YUM.

Our appetizers of duck in the back ground, cheese soup in the front and and a piece of pretzel bread to the left.

DH entrée of King Salmon two ways

My entrée of spice crusted pork chop with cream cheese mashed. That chop was huge!! (but I managed to eat most of it). I know I am old fashion, but I like my pork medium/well. Many upscale restaurants tend to serve pork a little to rare for me. But this was done perfect. Just slightly and I mean slightly pink in the center.

All I can say is fantastic. I felt that the restaurant DID live up to the hype. We got our TIW discount of 20% here which always makes the final bill a little easier on the eyes and pocket book. This meal was paid for with our rewards dollars from our Disney Visa card. We had a starting total of $225.00 on the card. This dinner put a little dent in that card. But in reality, the dinner was free because we had earned those reward $$ at no extra cost to us. Can you tell I love my Disney Visa card and the rewards program??

After dinner we walked to the front of the park to the buses. Only had a 10 minute wait for the bus. Back to our room by 9:25. We are on the 4th floor in a studio room #4543. At 9:30 we could hear the Electrical Water Pageant going by. We stepped out on our balcony. We could hear it ok, but the view was very shrouded by trees.

We got to bed by 10:00 and slept well.

That was one long day. But very typical of our first day of vacation at WDW.

Stick around to see what Saturday will bring. This adventure is only beginning.

 

[LYNSUE]

Saturday 3-13-10 Morning

We were up at 6:15am. Got ready and had breakfast in the room. Cereal, milk and toast with a thin slice of ham. This was the first of the same old boring breakfasts we would eat in the room all week. So for future mornings, I will spare you the boring details. We actually had one breakfast planned for Kona on Sunday morning. But we ate so much at Fultons on Saturday night, we just skipped it.

So we were on our way to early entry (8:00am) at DHS. On the bus at 7:30 and arrived at the park at 7:55. We were really rather late (by our standards) which put us too far back in line. The bag check line was very long and all of the turnstiles were full. We went to the far right upon entering which helped a little, but the masses were already on their way to TSM. While waiting to enter we saw many large groups of cheerleaders. They were a little dramatic and loud but well behaved none the less. I do have to make a comment here about the cheerleaders’ makeup. Honestly, I have seen showgirls in Vegas wearing less eye makeup and glitter then some of these girls. And some appeared to be as young as 10 or 11!!!! I understand that it may be “part of the performance” but in my opinion it is very inappropriate. At such a young age, with so much natural beauty, why would those lovely young girls want to hide behind all that gunk on their faces?? I really don’t get it. (stepping down from the soap box now)

DH ran ahead with our tickets and got in the FP line at TSM. He got a return time of 9:30. Then we did the stand by line with a 20 minute wait. Next we did TOT two times, then RNR as single riders

Here is a random picture of a statue standing in the garden area of TOT. Very obscure, I know. In fact it took me a while to realize where that photo was from.

Next is a picture of the floor tile in the line at RNR. The picture also shows that we are a Croc wearing family. "One likes socks with their crocs and the other does not". That was my best Dr. Suess imitation. Best shoes for touring the parks ever!!! Especially when we were dealing with all of the rain yesterday (Friday). I just took off my socks and it did not matter how wet your shoes got. Those Crocs dry instantly. Comfortable and convenient.

This is a picture of the marble window you see before entering the RNR studio. Many kids (and adults) just can’t stop themselves from rolling those marbles with the palm of their hand. They do make a lot of noise.

After RNR we made our way back to TSM and used our FP. I will tell you now….we road TSM about 6 times this trip and DH beat me every time. I don’t know what the problem was??? Usually it is a nice competition where the winner varies... but not this trip. Of course I told him I was just not trying that hard…LOL I must get revenge in the fall when we return. On our way out of the ride we got a FP for TSM with a late afternoon return time. We knew we would be giving this away. Next was Prince Caspian which was a walk in/on. It was a neat presentation of the movie preview, but way past it’s time. Next we did American Idol.

All three contestants were good and it was hard to choose. There were two girls and a guy. They guy ended up winning. Figures….I had voted for one of the girls. After AI we did the Great Movie ride with a 20 minute wait.

Considering it was spring break, the wait times were pretty manageable at the Studios this morning. Don't worry, it gets much worse as the week goes on.

It was about 12:25 when we decided to leave the Studios. We gave our FP for TSM to two young girls and then started our walk from the Studios to Epcot. We had a 1:10 ADR for Tokyo Dining. We have done the walk from park to park many times. We have it down to about 30 to 35 minutes. The pace of our walk varies with the temperature. It was plenty cool today, so our pace was pretty fast.

Up next in the afternoon section… Some time at Epcot.

 

[LYNSUE]

Saturday 3-13-10 Afternoon

We made our way from DHS to Epcot via the walking path that passes through the Boardwalk area.

Here is a picture of one of the displays for the Flower & Garden Show.

We had a 1:10 ADR at Tokyo Dining. We arrived at about 1:05 and they took us in right away. This restaurant is in the same building as Teppan Edo. When entering the building, Teppan Edo is to the left and Tokyo Dining is on the right. Two sides of the dining room have huge windows looking out over Epcot. We were lucky enough to be sat by one of these windows. Here is our view.

You can see there is a rather large crowd in World Showcase.

Here is a picture of me waiting.

You can see it was still somewhat cool out as I am wearing a long sleeve shirt over my t-shirt.

Here is a very dark picture of the sushi preparation area.

DH started with a beautiful looking drink called a Tokyo Sunset. Our appetizer was Seaweed Salad for DH

I had the tempura appetizer.

I apologize for this photo since we had already started eating before we remembered the photo. DH just turned his salad around, so it looks ok. However mine is missing two pieces of tempura. You see the shrimp and chicken. Already consumed was a zucchini slice and sweet potato slice. It came with a wonderful Japanese dipping sauce. I really loved it. Next time I will get the tempura as my meal instead of just the appetizer.

For our entrees, DH had the grilled chicken and I had the breaded fried chicken. Both came with white rice and steamed veggies. I am embarrassed to say….no pictures. We got way too wrapped up in the food and atmosphere and totally forgot. Anyway both were good. The breading on the fried chicken was a little thick and I peeled a lot of it away. The veggies were broccoli, carrots and green beans. Since DH dislikes broccoli, I swapped my carrots and beans for his broccoli. DH was very happy about that. As I said above, next time I will for sure have the tempura entrée. DH felt he enjoyed a very healthy meal here with his salad, grilled chicken, steamed veggies and steamed rice. Me….not so much healthy, but very tasty. This was a first time restaurant for us and we would definitely return again some time. We did use our TIW card here for a 20% discount. This meal was paid for with our Visa Rewards points, so I consider it a free meal.

On our way out we stopped in the store in Japan. I like to check to see if there are any new pearl settings available at the “pick a pearl” counter. I already have two very lovely pearl necklaces from there, but a third piece would be ok. The counter where the settings were displayed was three deep with customers and I could not even get near it. So we said forget about that for now. Next we did the boat ride in Norway and then onto Future World where we did Test Tracks as single riders. We were getting a little tired of the crowds at Epcot, so we came up with a bright idea. We went to Guest Services to check out the movie times at DTD. We wanted to see the new 3D Alice in Wonderland. I am a Johnney Depp fan. There was a very nice CM helping us at GS. She could find the movie listings on her computer at the counter, but the program did not allow her to print a copy of it. She had to get a supervisor’s permission to print this on another computer. She checked with someone in the back and they told her it was possible to print from the computer she was on. She was pretty sure it was not, but tried anyway. After not having any success, that supervisor came out of the back and attempted to print it himself. Of course it did not work. So finally they both went in the back and printed it. Our wait time was about 20 minutes, but we finally had what we wanted. We chose the 5:10 showing of Alice in Wonderland.

We walked to the bus stop and only waited about 10 minutes for our WL bus. Back to the room by 3:45, freshened up and rested for about 30 minutes and then on a DTD bus by about 4:30. I was a little worried about getting to the movie on time. But the worry was for naught. Got there in plenty of time. The tickets were an extra $3 because the price included a pair of sturdy plastic rimmed 3D glasses which you got to keep. What a deal. We were seated inside the theater with plenty of time to see all of the coming attractions (and there were a lot of them). I was so tempted by the smell of the movie theater popcorn. But I was able to resist. I did not want to spoil my appetite for my very favorite restaurant, Fultons coming up later. This movie was very well done and worth the time to see it and definately set up for a sequeal. It was a very nice way to spend our early evening hours. It was close to 7:30 when we got out of the movie so we headed over to Fulton’s for our 8:00pm ADR.

We had about a five minute wait for our table at Fulton’s. We were seated up stairs to the right with a window table.

Up next I will describe our Fulton’s dinner. Again, I was enjoying the meal so much that we forgot the pictures. And the worst part is, we would set the camera right on the table….and we still forgot. Also our meal was very distracted by a large table right behind us. It was four adults and four small kids. The kids were ignored by the adults and were allowed to run around the dining area and be very noisy. Several times there were near collisions with wait staff. One child actually climbed on the back of my chair to boost himself up to see out the window. Not one word was said by the adults.

More on that later.

 

[LYNSUE]

Saturday 3-13-10 concluded.

So I will continue our adventure of dining at Fulton’s. Fulton’s is my favorite restaurant mostly because I am a lover of seafood. There is no place else on property that you can get seafood any fresher then here. We have dined here many times and I have never had any complaints about the food, or service for that matter. I will agree with others though…. this place is expensive. But now, Fulton’s accepts the TIW card and they also give DVC members a 20% discount at dinner (lunch is 30% discount). So we had a choice of using the TIW or our DVC card. We used DVC….just because.

The last few times eating here I have ordered the King Crab Claws. They are fantastic. But this time I want to try something different. I decided to try the Lobster Narragansett which is a roasted lobster stuffed with scallops and shrimp.

Our waiter was Mark and he did an excellent job……considering he was also responsible for the table of banshees seated behind us that I mentioned earlier. Once Mark found out how familiar we were with the menu, he relaxed his spiel a little and just talked about the items on the menu in a more general way. He definitely put aside the up-sale factor. Also he highly recommended the lobster dish I wanted to order. He said that due to special preparation, the lobster dish could take 30 to 40 minutes to prepare. That was ok with us.

DH started with a glass of Riesling wine. DH ordered an appetizer of Mahi Mahi fish tacos. I passed on the appetizer because the Lobster Narragansett sounded pretty rich in the description and I wanted to enjoy as much of it as I could. Besides I knew DH would give me a taste of his tacos. We placed our entrée orders of Lobster Narragansett and DH ordered the grilled mahi mahi with mashed potatoes.

Just minutes later Mark was back at our table with a menu in hand. He explained that they were serving a large convention group and the kitchen was way behind. The chef could not squeeze in a lobster Narragansett preparation right now. Mark was very apologetic and was feeling bad. I said it was no problem and I could try for it again on our next visit. But now I was back to square one on what to order. So of course I went back to my old reliable….crab claws. But I ordered the combo of crab claws and lobster which comes with red potatoes (potatoes are another one of my favorite foods). Then just for fun, I threw in a cup of Lobster Bisque so DH didn’t have to eat his appetizer alone.

As you can see, DH and I really like appetizers with our meals and very very seldom order dessert. In fact, sometimes we like to get appetizers AS the meal. That is one of the main reasons the dining plan does not work for us. We would be paying extra for the appetizer and have no desire for the dessert, partly because we are always too full and partly we are not dessert eaters in general. And to order an appetizer as your entrée is just not very cost effective on the dining plan. Plus the fact that DH enjoys a cocktail with dinner are all reasons why the TIW card works so well for us. I just wanted to provide that information for any of you out there that are trying to decide between the dining plan and the TIW discount card.

Our appetizer of lobster bisque and fish tacos arrived. Both were very good. We each ate a portion of the item we ordered and then switched and tried the other. I enjoyed both items equally. Our waiter Mark told us that the fish tacos are available on the lunch menu as an entrée. We said we would try to make it back for lunch one day this week to have them again. (And we did make it back to Fulton’s later in the week). And I have pictures to prove it. Pretty rare for us to do the same restaurant twice in one trip. But the fish tacos were THAT good.

It was a little difficult to enjoy our food with the noisy children behind us. They kept venturing further and further from their own table. I figured it was only a matter of time before one of the kids tripped a waiter with a large try of food or drinks. But the adults paid no mind to them. They just continued their conversation (none of which was in English). In other circumstances, I may have quietly said something to the kids, especially the one climbing on my chair to see out the window. But I didn’t know if they would even understand what I was saying. We thought about maybe moving, but the restaurant was very busy and it seemed that the group may be finishing up soon. Unfortunately, they lingered there for almost the rest of our meal. When they did leave, they left the table and floor a huge mess. I felt bad for the bussers.

We both enjoyed our entrees. The crab claws were as wonderful as always and the lobster was good too. DH enjoyed his grilled fish as well. Fulton’s did not accept the Visa Rewards card as payment. Besides, the balance on that card was too low now to cover the cost of this meal. Our form of payment for this meal was our Disney gift card I had purchased at the Disney store on line about two months prior to our trip. The maximum available to put on a single card is $500. So I put that amount on the card. This works very well as a type of pre-pay for your meals. And it eliminates carrying so much cash or charging to your room. Often people mention one of the things they like about the dining plan is it pre-pays your meals. You can accomplish the same thing using the gift card. Just another suggestion for those making that dining plan decision.

We walked our very full tummies to the DTD bus stop. We waited less than 10 minutes for our WL bus. We were back at the resort by about 9:35.

Just to have one picture in this section, I have included the picture of the elevator doors in the Villas. They were embossed with pictures of wildlife and were very scenic. The picture does not do it justice, but it gives you a idea of the vast detail Disney provides in all things. You can make out the bear head on the left and a ram on the right. There are pine trees and a lodge.

We read for a while and were to bed by 10:30ish.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is all Magic Kingdom all day. The park is open from 9:00am until 3:00am. That sure is a strong hint that the spring break crowds are present and being accounted for!!! I can’t believe I waited until day 3 of the trip to visit the MK!!!! And although the park is open until 3:00am, us slackers only made it until 11:30pm.

Stay tuned for our MK day.

 

[gbpackfan9]

Hi! Lynsue's DH here. Checking in and going along for the ride. I too, cannot believe it took until the 3rd day of our vacation to get to the MK since it's her favorite park. I am partial towards DHS. I love TSM, RRC, and TOT. Also the walk from DHS to EPCOT is a good way to get our exercise in while taking a short break from the parks. Hope you enjoy hearing about the rest of our vacation.

 

[LYNSUE]

Sunday 3-14-10 All Magic Kingdom - All Day - And Night

Yay, it is finally MK day. We experienced the day light savings time change last night so we lost another hour of our precious vacation time and another hour of sleep time. So I wasn’t surprised we slept a little later this morning. It was about 7:30am when we got up. Yes, we were headed to the MK but we were not in any hurry this morning. Since the park was open for 18 hours today….we were sure we had plenty of time to enjoy it. The weather was predicted to be sunny in the high 60’s to low 70’s. Great temps for touring the parks.

We both got dressed in our workout clothes and headed to Sturdy Branches. The facility is on the first floor of the WL Villas and provides a good variety of equipment. There were about six others working out when we arrived. We were able to get two treadmills right next to each other with a good view of the TV playing ESPN sports center. It was our intention to use the work out facility at least every other day. That is what we discussed before leaving home. Along with the large amount of walking we were doing, we figured it would keep us on pace with what we are use to doing at home. (Both of us really missed our Wii while we were gone). Well, before you start thinking what wonderful dedicated people we are, let me tell you….. this was the only day we made it to the gym! After a 40 minute brisk walk to no where, I headed back to the room.

We had our usual BB (boring breakfast) but we did eat out on our patio which made it rather pleasant. While sitting on the patio enjoying breakfast, I heard the train whistle from the MK train. That struck me as so unique and gave me the feeling of really being on vacation. Here is the view from our patio.

It was really very swamp looking with standing water. Behind the trees was the waterway where the Electrical Parade passed by. That explains why we could hear the EP but not see it very well.

The original plan this morning was an 8:30 ADR at Kona in the Poly for breakfast. But after that very rich dinner at Fulton’s last night, we just said no way!! DH will have to wait until next trip for some Tonga Toast.

We finished breakfast, got ready and caught the boat to MK. While waiting for the boat we had some entertainment. There was a bass fishing excursion boat pulled up right next to the dock where the MK boat transportation boards. There were four guys and a guide. They were actually having some luck while we were watching. We saw about three fish caught and released during our 15 minute wait. Here is a picture of one of the fish. (I hope the fisherman doesn’t mind me posting his photo)

We arrived at the MK at 10:00am…. on a Sunday morning…. during spring break. Once again, WHAT WERE WE THINKING. This is so unlike us to contend with these kinds of conditions. We always take advantage of the less crowded early morning hours at the park…. but none the less, here we are!!!!

We continued down Main Street. It was our intention to pass through the castle into Fantasyland then into Liberty Square to get to the Haunted Mansion. There was a show going on at the castle, so that did not happen, we had to go around. We entered Liberty Square via the path to the left of the castle.

We arrived here and enjoyed a ghostly ride with a short wait.

After HM we did stop at Peter Pan, but only for a FP. The line was way too long to wait in. Then onto Philharmagic where we walked right into the theater. Absolutely no waiting.

Here is a picture of a cute display in the shop where Philharmagic comes out. I like Maestro Mickey.

Then we did something we don’t do very often….We road the Carousel.

I have found recently, that if the horse stops in the “high position”, it is very difficult to get on or off. When did that happen???? It never used to be a problem dragging my butt up or down from that horse, no matter where it stopped. LOL

Next we did Snow White with a 5 minute wait. While we were waiting to board, we saw a family of 9 people (six adults and 3 kids) get into one vehicle. It was absolutely hilarious. I sooooo wanted to take a picture, but it would have been way too obvious. I am sure you can imagine. Two of the adults were more out of the car than in. (Please don’t think I am being cruel)

After that we did the TTA in Tomorrowland. Then we waited in a very long line just to get a fast pass for Space Mountain with a return time of late afternoon. Then we used our FP for Peter Pan. The lines at this ride never cease to amaze me. After PP we walked back to Main Street. Could not go through the castle because that show was going on again.

Our schedule showed no plans for lunch. Since we were getting a bit hungry we thought we should make some plans. Eating in the MK (without an ADR) was not an option today. So we jumped on the resort mono-rail with every intention of going to the GF café. We were still sad we missed it on Friday. But for some reason, we got off at the first stop at the Contemporary to eat at the Wave. (now that’s spontaneous!) We never did get to GF café this trip.

Up next a nice lunch at the Wave.

 

[LYNSUE]

Sunday 3-14-10 continued

We arrived at the Wave in the Contemporary and we were seated almost immediately. We did not have an ADR, nor did we need one. The restaurant was less than a third full. And even though the restaurant had many empty tables, we were seated right next to another couple. The seating was along the side wall where there is a long bench seat with a chair on the other side of the table. This couple was about two feet from us. I was not comfortable with this at all, but I tolerated it. Neither of us could have a conversation without the other couple overhearing. You could tell the others were uncomfortable as well. Anyway, they were already getting their entrees, so I figured it would not be too long before they were done. I just don’t understand this practice in a practically empty restaurant.

We each started with a soup. Mine was the tomato bisque with a miniature toasted cheese sandwich. The sandwich was wonderful dipped in the soup.

DH had the black bean chili made with pork tenderloin and jalapeno served with a mini corn muffin.

This time we ALMOST forgot the picture. I apologize for the half eaten portions. The soup bowls look terrible, especially the chili. Believe me, they were beautiful when they arrived. Will we ever get this right??

For an entrée I had the lettuce wraps from the appetizer menu. (notice it was totally uneaten)

DH had the Reuben with potato wedges. (notice it was totally uneaten)

See that small dish of green stuff on the side? Well that is a side of the cilantro chutney that is normally served with their sustainable fish. Cilantro is my favorite herb...I just love it. The cilantro was to put on top of the potatoes (my other favorite food). So I did enjoy most of DH's potatoes with the cilantro. He was happy with his Reuben and just a few of the potatoes. Note that the Wave did not charge us for the side of cilantro chutney. We did use our TIW card here.

After lunch we walked back to the MK. It is a very short walk from the Contemporary to MK. When we returned the park was even more crowded. Here is a picture of Main Street taken from the train station. WOW. I should submit this photo to the crowd picture thread.

Since we were at the train station, we decided to take a ride around the park. We road the entire circle and then past Main Street again getting off at Frontierland. Splash was a 60 minute wait NO WAY (and besides, it wasn’t warm enough to ride that). BTM was a 100 minute wait, NO WAY! So we wandered over to Pirates which only had a 30 minute wait. That was doable and within our guideline of wait time. The line snaked outside of the portico down toward the Jungle Cruise. I thought it would be more than 30 minutes, but it ended up pretty close to that. Upon entering the actual ride building we always have that crucial decision of left line or right line. Which will be faster?? On a crowded day like today I didn’t think it much mattered so we took the right line. But just to test it… DH spotted out a guy in the left line. (he was memorable because of a loud printed shirt he was wearing). Anyway, whenever the left line was visible to us, DH would try to find this guy and try to gauge his progress. The guy (in the left line) reached the boats before we did in the right line. Theory determined is, the left line is shorter or quicker or possibly both. I’m still of the belief…it didn’t much matter. But a few days later when we rode Pirates again, DH insisted we used the left line.

Next we passed by the Jungle Cruise showing a 55 minute standby wait. NO WAY!

We headed over to Tommorowland to use our Space Mountain FP. Before entering the line we got another fast pass with a return time of 9:30pm. Actually we were surprised there were any FP’s left. We figured this fast pass would end up being a give away later in the night. And besides, one ride per day on SM is enough for us middle aged people. Even with the FP, the wait was about 20 minutes. We did see the new interactive game area that is in the standby line. I wasn’t close enough to see what the actual games were about, but the kids playing them seemed to be having fun. Also with the fast pass line you don’t have to worry about deciding to go left or right on this ride. The line you are in (FP or standby) decides that for you. Finally it was our turn to get in the gates to ride. We were behind a lady and her three children. The kids were obviously excited from the wait. Mom looked at DH and I and asked us if we were traveling with just the two of us and no kids. I leaned in closer to her (so the kids would not hear) and said Yes, and it is wonderful. She smiled and said that she thought it would be wonderful too. I responded telling her, that day would come….and sooner than she might imagine. The look in her eye made it clear it had been a long and trying day. The revamped SM ride is smoother than it use to be, but still a little too jerky for my liking. Again, once is enough.

After SM we had enough. We headed toward Main Street. Now here is something you don't see very often....The Tomorrowland Noodle Station was actually going to be open tonight from 5 to 9!!!!

We walked out during the 3:00 parade.

It was a little tough getting through the crowd on Main Street but we managed. We headed for the boat dock to sail back to WL. Well the boat dock was closed due to the winds being too strong. So then we made our way over to the bus stop. We were back to the room by 3:30pm. We rested for a few hours so we could be fresh for EMH at MK tonight. After resting we got freshened up a bit and put on some warmer clothes for the evening. At 6:00 we watched the NCAA selection show. The Badgers would have games on Friday and Sunday. At 6:40 we made our way from the Villas over to WL for our 6:55 ADR at Artist Point. This was a first time visit to this restaurant. We have stayed at WL before and we have read the menu for AP many times. For the price, we were just not sure the food offerings would be to our liking. Of all the menu items, I did have my eye on the mushroom soup. That sounded fantastic. So I figured I was sure to love the soup and the restaurant location was very convenient right in our resort, so what to heck…give it a try. We were not disappointed. And we have lovely pictures of the food with no bites taken out.

Coming up, our dinner at Artist Point and then night hours at MK.

 

[LYNSUE]

Sunday 3-14-10 concluded

We arrived at Artist Point restaurant at 6:40 for our 6:55 ADR. We were seated immediately at a nice table near the back of the dining room. We were not next to the window but still had a nice view none the less. Our waiter was Andres and he did a very nice job. He had many tables to deal with. One was a large party of about 9 people which included some children. And even though this party was pretty demanding, Andres still was able to serve everyone equally well.

DH started with a Grand Margarita. He said it was good. Our appetizer order was the mushroom soup for me and a house salad for DH. The menu describes the soup as “smoky Portobello soup with roasted ****akes and chive oil” (please note I was not swearing, the missing part is a type of mushroom. think syitake)

It was as wonderful as I imagined it to be. I did dip some bread in the soup as well. If the only thing I had tonight was the soup, I would still have been more than happy with Artists Point. But of course there were more good things yet to come.

The house salad is described in the menu as “mixed greens with roasted pear and champagne vinaigrette, black diamond cheddar and candied hazel nuts” DH said it was a very nice mix of ingredients.

For our entrees we had Pork Chop for me and the signature Cedar Plank Salmon for DH. The menu described the pork chop as “Marinated Grilled Berkshire pork chop with butternut squash ravioli, wild mushroom ragout and roasted garlic demi-glaze. I requested fingerling potatoes in place of the ravioli. The glaze was very strong so I only used a little on the meat.

The menu describes the salmon as Cedar Plank King Salmon with sourdough bread dumpling, brocolini and mulled red wine brown butter. DH subbed carrots for the brocolini. The salmon was served table side arriving on the cedar plank and then placed on top of the dish. The waiter explained that throughout the year, they get their salmon from different areas depending on the season. Tonight’s salmon was a Silverbay salmon….whatever that means???

While we were waiting for our entrees to arrive, we noticed our waiter was with another customer and they were looking at one of the many paintings on the walls. All of the paintings were outdoor scenes from the Great Northwest area. The waiter was pointing out a hidden Mickey in the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall. After they were done, DH and I went over to take a look. He could see it, but I could not. That Mickey was very very hidden for me.

Once our food arrived, I had an extremely strong déjà vu feeling. If you remember…just two nights ago at LeCellier, DH had the salmon and I had the pork chop. Since we are adventurous eaters, I found it odd we would have the same dinner again. But they were different flavors and sides, so it was not exactly the same. The food and the service were both top notch and dinner was paced very well. But the prices at this signature restaurant really would make us think about returning again, even with the TIW 20% discount.

After dinner we sat in one of the many lounge areas in the lobby. Some areas have stuffed chairs and others have old fashion rockers. We took a seat in the rockers and called our kids. We had a nice chat. Then we walked to the dock to catch a boat to the MK. It was about 9:00pm when we arrived and the first parade of the night was going on. (remember we left MK when the 3:00 parade was happening) So we fought our way down Main Street thinking that most everyone was at the parade. Wrong!!! We arrived in Tomorrowland and the crowd was still huge.

First we did Laugh Floor Comedy and then (against our better judgment) did Stitch. It had been a few years since we did this so we needed to be reminded just how bad it is. Besides it was one of the few things that did not have a huge line. In the ride we were seated behind a mother and about 6 year old boy. You could see the boy was very afraid. During the show he did start crying very loud to get out. The CM came over and tried to calm him but it was not working. The CM finally had to let them out of the theater.

Next we made our way over to Space Mountain to use our FP. The standby line was way out the door. I was not sure how long the wait was for the FP line. While we were standing there contemplating if we really wanted to do SM again, a dad and 10 year old daughter walked up to the FP machine. The girl was very disappointed that the FP’s were gone for the day and they started to walk away. The dad was apologizing to the girl about them missing the ride. Well, you guessed it, we walked up to them and offered our FPs. They were very excited and appreciative. It was a good moment. After that we made our way toward Main Street to find a spot for Wishes at 10:00. We usually view Wishes in front of the castle. This time we tried a spot on the bridge between TL and Main Street. There was one tree off to our left, but we thought it would be ok. It turned out to be a different angle on the fireworks, but I liked it just the same. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the show to start, but we were somewhat entertained. It is really amusing how territorial some people get over a spot of concrete. Wishes was wonderful as always. It is my favorite night time show at WDW. In fact, when I need to go to “my happy place” it usually is standing in front of the castle watching Wishes. (with DH of course).

After Wishes we went back to TL and did Buzz. The standby line was down to a reasonable 30 minute wait. Our position on the TL bridge for Wishes gave us a quick exit to Tomorrowland, so we got to Buzz a little ahead of the crowd. After Buzz, I had just had it with the crowded park. I knew it was time to leave. I’m sure if we had stayed until 3:00am the crowds would have been much less, but that was not happening today. We headed toward Main Street. On our way out, we stopped at the MS bakery. DH had a hankering for chocolate cake?? We didn’t know if they would have chocolate cake this time of night but we stopped. The line was a bit long but we waited anyway. Behind us in line was a mother and her cheerleader daughter. (I could tell she was a cheerleader by the uniform, eye makeup, glitter and hair ribbon). This child was being horribly sassy and nasty to her mother the entire time we waited. You could tell from the mother’s reaction that she was used to it. Well our wait turned out to be successful. We got a piece of cake to go, paid for it, and made our way to the boat dock. As we were leaving the MK, the 11:00 parade was starting. This afternoon we left at 3:00 with a parade, we re-entered MK at 9:00 with a parade, now we were leaving at 11:00 to yet another parade. Maybe we should have taken the time to watch at least one of them.

While we were waiting at the dock, there was a family trying to get to DTD. They asked several people in line and also a CM, but they were still pretty confused about getting there. Since their English was not the best, I assume the directions were difficult for them to understand. They did comprehend about getting to a resort, but catching a bus after that was not making sense to them. We indicated to them that we could guide them so they got on the boat with us. Upon arriving at WL we waited for them to get off the boat and we walked them to the WL bus stop. We said, just wait for the bus showing Down Town Disney. They were very grateful for our help.

We were back to the room by 11:40. We poured ourselves a cup of cold milk and sat down to share our cake. It was a lovely dessert. What a nice ending to a very full day.

 

[heaven2dc]

What a lovely ending to your day! Don't you just love passing along the magic to others? That was very nice of you - the fastpasses and helping the people catch the correct bus

I can't remember if you are staying at the Villas side of WL. A co-worker and his family are going on their first trip to WDW the first week in May and I helped them rent points from a DVC owner for 6 nights. I'm excited for them (probably more than they are ) and can't wait to hear how much they liked the villas. They are renting a studio (2 adults, 2 daughters under 10) and I hope it is enough room for them. Are there any special tips you could offer first time WL guests?

 

[LYNSUE]

Yes, we are staying on the Villa side of WL. The best thing I like about WL is the size. It is just perfect. Anything you want to get to is only a few minutes walk. (as compared to some other resorts that are so sprawled out). They have a nice variety of food options on site from snacks, to counter service, to casual dining, to fine dining. Also the tranportation is great. That boat ride to MK is wonderful.

Space may be a little tight with four people in a studio. But this being their first visit, they won't know the difference and I am sure they will love it.

I don't even know these people and I am excited for them too.

 

[LYNSUE]

Monday 3-15-10

It is my un-birthday today. (six month before and six months after my actual day). Also it is the Ides of March (look out Julius Caesar) But most importantly it is our Epcot tour day. We are signed up to do the “Undiscovered Future World” tour. The tour begins at 9:00 and they expect us to arrive by 8:45. By booking this on my Disney Visa card, we were able to get a 20% discount.

We were up at 6:00am. We did not want to take any chances on being late for our tour. We had the usual breakfast in the room, got ready and were at the bus stop by 7:30. Waited only about 10 minutes for the bus. Today was early entry at AK, so there were lots of people waiting for that bus. (Epcot…not so much) There was one lady waiting with three very young children and a stroller. I learned from her conversations with the kids that her husband had ran back to their room to get jackets for everyone and he was taking a while to return. She was getting very nervous. Well an AK bus pulled up and she debated weather to get on it. (it would have been very hard for her by herself with the kids and the large stroller). She decided not to get on. She was sure she made the wrong decision and was actually near tears about not getting to AK for early entry. I felt very bad for her. Not five minutes later another AK bus came and her husband was still not there. So she started to get her and the kids on the bus. Just then the husband arrived. If looks could kill…. that poor guy would be dead. But she didn’t say anything…. At least not while she was in ear shot of the rest of us. I do hope they got to AK in time for early entry.

Our Epcot bus arrived right after that. It was a long ride because we had to stop at Fort Wilderness first. We arrived at Epcot about 7:55. Lots of time to spare. Now, we have taken an Epcot tour in the past so we went to that same area which is near the guest services windows. There were no other people around yet, but it was very early. We used our waiting time to walk up and down the Epcot entrance area to get a little exercise. Here is a picture we took from outside the entrance gates.

By about 8:30 we went back to the meeting area. There were definitely more people waiting now. At 8:45am some tour guides came into the area and announced what tours were leaving from this location. OUR TOUR WAS NOT MENTIONED! In a panic…I quickly asked about the Undiscovered Futureworld Tour. He said we needed to check at the guest service window. (If I had read my paperwork closer I would have seen that it clearly stated “8:45 @guest relations window outside”) But I did not, so now WE ARE LATE!

We waited in line at the GS window to be told that we needed to enter the park at the furthest gate down from the GS window. The CM helping us was kind enough to call ahead to the Guest Services inside the park and let them know we were on our way. I was so sure the tour would leave without us and we would have to catch up. We are never “those people”. We pride ourselves on always being on time and prepared. I am totally blaming this on the Ides of March curse. LOL. We were really moving it as we raced to Guest Services. Definitely got our morning work out, even without the gym. We arrived shortly after 9:00 and quickly went to the counter. We apologized for being late. Since there were no other groups hanging around I had to assume we missed their departure. Well it turns out we did not miss it. DH and I were the only two scheduled for the tour today. We were the whole tour group! We were given our name tags and asked to wait on a nearby bench for our guide. I wonder if they were secretly hoping we would not show up so they could skip the tour altogether. (but that would not be very Disneylike, would it??) We waited about 5 minutes and then met Sarah. Let me say right now….Sarah was fantastic. And even though there were only two of us, she still gave it her all. She first asked us if we were more interested in the mechanical part of things or the historical part. She looked relieved when we said historical. She told us she normally had to do both parts, but since it was only two of us, she could gear it more to our liking. Sarah definitely put us at ease and made us totally forget about our hectic time getting there.

We are asked not to give away too much of the info learned on the tour. But I can still give you an idea of what we did without too much detail. We visited each pavilion in Future World and learned lots of history. The tour started right inside guest services. There are three very large black and white poster board pictures behind the counter. Each one shows Walt in a different stage of his career. Sarah gave us some details about Walt’s life and what was going on at the time of each picture.

Some highlights of our 4 ½ hour tour: Visited the Living Seas area behind the Coral Reef restaurant. This is where they hold large parties and wedding receptions. It was a very nice area with fish tank views all around. We saw the private lounge for Hewlett Packard which is above the Mission Space ride. Don’t know if you ever noticed, but there is a moon rover vehicle hanging from the ceiling in the line for Mission Space. It is right across from the large wheel of living space. For years it was an actual moon rover on loan from the Smithsonian. Well about a year ago, the Smithsonian wanted it back. So Disney made an exact replica and that is now hanging there. This is not telling any secrets, the sign under the moon rover clearly states it is a replica now. We saw several back stage areas like where they repair the test track vehicles, where they clean the 3D glasses (that was great to see). I always just thought they squirted some disinfectant spray on those things and sent them back out. OH NO, it is much more than that. You need to see it to believe it. Think “car wash” on a smaller scale. We saw the CM’s costuming area. That is one huge closet!!! They have a magnificent operation for obtaining and returning their costumes. We also saw the area where character costumes are made. It was amazing. We also saw the CM locker room/lunch room area. Everyone comes here before entering “on stage” There were many inspirational quotes painted on the walls.

About half way through the tour we went to the Land pavilion. We took a break and so did Sarah. (I’m sure she needed it with all of the talking she did) DH and I took this opportunity to get a Soarin FP for later. Epcot was extremely crowded today, so this was our only chance to get a FP before they were gone for the day. We also visited the Sunshine Seasons food court. We enjoyed a snack of two hard boiled eggs. Touring is hard work. We needed to keep our energy up. Besides, our ADR in Germany was not until 2:00. We met back up with Sarah and got to back door the Soarin ride. We were placed top row in the center. It sure felt like the VIP treatment. At least that’s how the other guests were looking at us. We also got to go behind the scenes of the boat ride in the Land. One of the last things we did was meet with a CM from France (absolutely adorable young guy) He told us about his time with Disney and what he would like to do in the future. His work visa with Disney would expire soon. He was planning to return to his small home town in France for a while. But he definitely wanted to have more experiences with Disney. I suggested maybe Paris….He said maybe. (with the cutest French accent, of course).

I am sure there were some things I have forgotten to mention. Thank you so much Sarah. You made this very special for us. That 4 ½ hour tour was worth every penny we spent on it. We highly recommend it.

Up next our lunch at Biergarten in Germany.