PrincessTToo
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 11, 2003
- Messages
- 159
BEHIND THE SEEDS TOUR:
I hadnt planned on doing any tours on this trip. But I signed up for this tour as a spur-of-the-moment thing. I am so glad I did.
I was on the very first tour of the day (10:30 AM) on Monday, January 16th. There was only one other person on the tour so we got very individualized attention and got to ask lots of questions. And the tour was given by the director of the greenhouse area! He was a native of China so his accent was a little difficult to understand at times but it was very easy to hear him. And he was so knowledgeable.
I havent ridden Living with the Land in a while so I was surprised by how different it was in the greenhouse. The director explained that hes trying to keep the greenhouse area constantly changing (at least every 6 months).
The first stop on the tour was backstage where we got to see a video on good bugs vs. bad bugs. Its definitely not going to become a Disney or Pixar film anytime soon. It was very interesting but very savagely gross. As much as I dont like aphids, I dont need to see them getting devoured by other insects. Yuck!
Then we got to go around the greenhouse and get a close up look at the new cherry tomato farm. Its only one plant but it takes up a huge amount of space because its tied to a big overhead trellis. We got to sample a couple of the tomatoes from that plant. They were so delicious. There is nothing like a fresh-from-the-vine tomato.
Then we got to stop and check out some of the spices they grow in the greenhouse. It was fun to sniff them and try to guess what they were.
But the best part was going to the fish farm area and getting to feed the alligators. We were told they are super-hungry for the first tour on Monday because they dont get fed over the weekend. Im sure everyone thought I was crazy because I was making kissey noises at the alligators and talking to them while I was feeding them their pellet food.
The CM said that when the alligators get to be a certain size that they go back to the alligator farm. I didnt want to ask what happens to them then. Found out later that Im glad I didnt ask. Well, at least for a very brief moment in their short lives, they had someone tell them how cute they are and blow them kisses.
WEDDING PAVILION:
Another spur of the moment thing. After my lunch at the GF Café, I decided to take a look at the Wedding Pavilion. Along with a big birthday next year I also have a big wedding anniversary. Id always fantasized about renewing our wedding vows at the WDW Wedding Pavilion.
The receptionist was busy on the phone when I got there so I had some time to look around the sales area. Those wedding cakes are amazing. When she finally got off the phone, she answered some of my questions like how long ahead I have to book (8 months for a small wedding). She gave me a video to take home. And she let me go in by myself and see the chapel and the brides waiting area. The brides waiting area is actually a separate little building. Its so cute and has more mirrors than you can imagine. And lots of tissues.
But the chapel is just amazing. I literally gasped out loud. It is so beautiful and would be so perfect for a small wedding. The picture window frames Cinderellas Castle so wonderfully. Wow! The video doesnt do it justice.
I dont know if Ill ever be able to talk my DH into this but it sure was fun to be able to see it in person. And now that I found out that DCL might be going to the Mediterranean next year, I doubt well be doing the vow renewal at WDW. Maybe well do it on the ship!
FOOD:
Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco this was my first time eating here. Im so glad I did. The Jasmina salad was great. The bread was wonderful and I had to stop myself from eating it all and ruining my appetite for my entree. And I really enjoyed the Vegetable Couscous entree. Believe it or not this was the first time I ever had couscous! The waiter was wonderful. And he told me that couscous was customarily eaten on Fridays in Morocco. But the best part of the meal was the mint tea. It was so good I must have had 6 or 7 glasses of it!
Hollywood and Vine this was my first time eating here. I had avoided it before because since Im a vegetarian, buffets are sort of a waste of money. Anyway, I had lots of veggie-friendly options and must have made two or three trips through the line including one for dessert. Oddly, especially for me, I wish I had just made one more trip through the salads/vegetables/entrees and had skipped dessert.
Grand Floridian Café I dont normally mention restaurants Ive already reviewed. But this was a very odd encounter. In December, I had eaten the vegetable burger and it was wonderful. This time I ordered the same thing and it was so different. It was served on two slices of toast instead of that delicious bun. And there wasnt much of the spicy sauce on it so it was very dry. I ended up only eating half of it. I found this inconsistency very odd considering how little time there was between the two times I tried this meal.
Electric Umbrella Although I mentioned it in my December trip report, I just have to say it again. Their veggie chili is great!
MISCELLANEOUS:
I was reading an article on CNNSI.com that was supposed to be about college basketball but was rather rambling, but it had a notable little blurb that said the worst thing in the world to hear was this flight to Orlando is full. (It was written by someone who didnt like children.) Anyway, I now think the worst thing to hear is As youve noticed were having problems with the Monorail. Hopefully, well be arriving at Epcot in 7 minutes. As you sit in a stationery monorail high above the ground, the word hopefully is a little scary.
After walking from the GF to the Wedding Pavilion, I then walked all the way through the Poly to the TTC. So I literally walked all the way from the GF to the TTC. It was a beautiful day and a lovely walk. But no wonder I dont gain weight on these vacations!
I gotta tell ya, I really started to feel old on this trip. Getting in and out of the Space Mountain cars would make anyone approaching the mid-century mark feel old. Could they make it any more difficult? And I kept trying to travel light but finding that I was lost without my reading glasses. I really struggled in restaurants. Fortunately the detail for the meal was usually easier to read than the receipt so I could calculate the tip and total. Or at least I hope I did it right.
I had the nicest conversation with a couple sitting in front of me at Fantasmic. They had lived in MN at one point which gave us lots of talk about. But they also had been on the Disney Wonder repo cruise which was really fun to talk about. One of the reasons I love going to WDW solo is chatting up people while waiting in line or elsewhere. I really dont chat much with strangers when Ive got the DH with me.
As I said, during my lunch in Morocco, it was just me and one other family. The little boy with them was just adorable. The adults got into a lengthy conversation and were ignoring the boy (who was so easy going that he didnt mind). So he and I started blowing kisses to each other from across the restaurant. When his family finally noticed, they just broke up laughing. My WDW trips are always full of wonderful little memories like this one. Thats why I keep going back time and time again.
I hadnt planned on doing any tours on this trip. But I signed up for this tour as a spur-of-the-moment thing. I am so glad I did.
I was on the very first tour of the day (10:30 AM) on Monday, January 16th. There was only one other person on the tour so we got very individualized attention and got to ask lots of questions. And the tour was given by the director of the greenhouse area! He was a native of China so his accent was a little difficult to understand at times but it was very easy to hear him. And he was so knowledgeable.
I havent ridden Living with the Land in a while so I was surprised by how different it was in the greenhouse. The director explained that hes trying to keep the greenhouse area constantly changing (at least every 6 months).
The first stop on the tour was backstage where we got to see a video on good bugs vs. bad bugs. Its definitely not going to become a Disney or Pixar film anytime soon. It was very interesting but very savagely gross. As much as I dont like aphids, I dont need to see them getting devoured by other insects. Yuck!
Then we got to go around the greenhouse and get a close up look at the new cherry tomato farm. Its only one plant but it takes up a huge amount of space because its tied to a big overhead trellis. We got to sample a couple of the tomatoes from that plant. They were so delicious. There is nothing like a fresh-from-the-vine tomato.
Then we got to stop and check out some of the spices they grow in the greenhouse. It was fun to sniff them and try to guess what they were.
But the best part was going to the fish farm area and getting to feed the alligators. We were told they are super-hungry for the first tour on Monday because they dont get fed over the weekend. Im sure everyone thought I was crazy because I was making kissey noises at the alligators and talking to them while I was feeding them their pellet food.
The CM said that when the alligators get to be a certain size that they go back to the alligator farm. I didnt want to ask what happens to them then. Found out later that Im glad I didnt ask. Well, at least for a very brief moment in their short lives, they had someone tell them how cute they are and blow them kisses.
WEDDING PAVILION:
Another spur of the moment thing. After my lunch at the GF Café, I decided to take a look at the Wedding Pavilion. Along with a big birthday next year I also have a big wedding anniversary. Id always fantasized about renewing our wedding vows at the WDW Wedding Pavilion.
The receptionist was busy on the phone when I got there so I had some time to look around the sales area. Those wedding cakes are amazing. When she finally got off the phone, she answered some of my questions like how long ahead I have to book (8 months for a small wedding). She gave me a video to take home. And she let me go in by myself and see the chapel and the brides waiting area. The brides waiting area is actually a separate little building. Its so cute and has more mirrors than you can imagine. And lots of tissues.
But the chapel is just amazing. I literally gasped out loud. It is so beautiful and would be so perfect for a small wedding. The picture window frames Cinderellas Castle so wonderfully. Wow! The video doesnt do it justice.
I dont know if Ill ever be able to talk my DH into this but it sure was fun to be able to see it in person. And now that I found out that DCL might be going to the Mediterranean next year, I doubt well be doing the vow renewal at WDW. Maybe well do it on the ship!
FOOD:
Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco this was my first time eating here. Im so glad I did. The Jasmina salad was great. The bread was wonderful and I had to stop myself from eating it all and ruining my appetite for my entree. And I really enjoyed the Vegetable Couscous entree. Believe it or not this was the first time I ever had couscous! The waiter was wonderful. And he told me that couscous was customarily eaten on Fridays in Morocco. But the best part of the meal was the mint tea. It was so good I must have had 6 or 7 glasses of it!
Hollywood and Vine this was my first time eating here. I had avoided it before because since Im a vegetarian, buffets are sort of a waste of money. Anyway, I had lots of veggie-friendly options and must have made two or three trips through the line including one for dessert. Oddly, especially for me, I wish I had just made one more trip through the salads/vegetables/entrees and had skipped dessert.
Grand Floridian Café I dont normally mention restaurants Ive already reviewed. But this was a very odd encounter. In December, I had eaten the vegetable burger and it was wonderful. This time I ordered the same thing and it was so different. It was served on two slices of toast instead of that delicious bun. And there wasnt much of the spicy sauce on it so it was very dry. I ended up only eating half of it. I found this inconsistency very odd considering how little time there was between the two times I tried this meal.
Electric Umbrella Although I mentioned it in my December trip report, I just have to say it again. Their veggie chili is great!
MISCELLANEOUS:
I was reading an article on CNNSI.com that was supposed to be about college basketball but was rather rambling, but it had a notable little blurb that said the worst thing in the world to hear was this flight to Orlando is full. (It was written by someone who didnt like children.) Anyway, I now think the worst thing to hear is As youve noticed were having problems with the Monorail. Hopefully, well be arriving at Epcot in 7 minutes. As you sit in a stationery monorail high above the ground, the word hopefully is a little scary.
After walking from the GF to the Wedding Pavilion, I then walked all the way through the Poly to the TTC. So I literally walked all the way from the GF to the TTC. It was a beautiful day and a lovely walk. But no wonder I dont gain weight on these vacations!
I gotta tell ya, I really started to feel old on this trip. Getting in and out of the Space Mountain cars would make anyone approaching the mid-century mark feel old. Could they make it any more difficult? And I kept trying to travel light but finding that I was lost without my reading glasses. I really struggled in restaurants. Fortunately the detail for the meal was usually easier to read than the receipt so I could calculate the tip and total. Or at least I hope I did it right.
I had the nicest conversation with a couple sitting in front of me at Fantasmic. They had lived in MN at one point which gave us lots of talk about. But they also had been on the Disney Wonder repo cruise which was really fun to talk about. One of the reasons I love going to WDW solo is chatting up people while waiting in line or elsewhere. I really dont chat much with strangers when Ive got the DH with me.
As I said, during my lunch in Morocco, it was just me and one other family. The little boy with them was just adorable. The adults got into a lengthy conversation and were ignoring the boy (who was so easy going that he didnt mind). So he and I started blowing kisses to each other from across the restaurant. When his family finally noticed, they just broke up laughing. My WDW trips are always full of wonderful little memories like this one. Thats why I keep going back time and time again.
