1st Trip (of many!) as Mr. & Mrs.--the TR-- UPDATE 9/9: Life Update--We're Moving!!

[khertz]

What great pictures! First off, the little girl in the front seat is showing us what a Test Track photo is SUPPOSED to look like! So cute!

I cannot wait to see the Grand Floridian in person, especially after seeing these pictures! It looks so gorgeous. And I have to say, I do think of the Full House episodes too! I think that was the best Disney special on sitcom ever. I saw the Roseanne one the other day, and it was LAME! Most of the episode was them taking about going to Disney, annoying everyone on the plane ride to Disney, and the hotel room! Full House did it best, for sure!

I'm interested to see what y'all thought of a meal at Coral Reef. The reviews on allears are so different! Hopefully y'all got an awesome view of the tank, since that is why everyone wants to go there anyway!

 

[khertz]

For some reason, I can't remember Uncle Jesse singing. I do remember Michelle being princess of the day though! I also remember Vicki and Danny eating at Coral Reef and I think some people ended up in the tank!

Jesse & Joey were doing a broadcast of their radio show inside the tank!

 

[stacikristine]

Where the heck was I? Maybe I was 'too mature' for Full House by then? No, seriously, that was one of my most favorite shows. I wasn't much of a Michelle fan, either. I am going to find this episode and watch it!



Ok--there was a whole other page after I posted this. But now I really don't know. I must have missed that one, or just totally forgotten it?!?! Because I remember the twins, but not Danny & Vicki being married....Well, that was a long long time ago....and I'm getting (old)!

Haha--you can never be too mature for Full House! I was laughing so hard watching one of the ones from the first season the other night that I almost spit my spaghetti out! They didn't get married...at least I don't think they did... I quit watching it as religiously after they all got a little older. We're all getting old!!

Of course you are invited! It workds because its so close to the wedding pavilion too! Can't wait for your review. I would LOVE to have been there when they were doing Full House or Boy Meets World episodes. They don't even have any good shows like that now that I would like to be there for. Can you imagine being there for a Hannah Montana episode or something.

I can't wait for Boy Meets World either. Those were the best!!

For some reason, I can't remember Uncle Jesse singing. I do remember Michelle being princess of the day though! I also remember Vicki and Danny eating at Coral Reef and I think some people ended up in the tank!

They were 2 of my favorites too!! I wonder what they are all doing now!

Woo-Hoo! We'll be there. Oh my gosh--I would have LOVED it. I think I'd die (and not in a good way) if I was there for one of the shows now. Ugh! Sick. I don't remember them eating at Coral Reef, but I remember Jesse singing... Michael and I actually looked them all up on Wikipedia. It's pretty interesting!

What great pictures! First off, the little girl in the front seat is showing us what a Test Track photo is SUPPOSED to look like! So cute!

I cannot wait to see the Grand Floridian in person, especially after seeing these pictures! It looks so gorgeous. And I have to say, I do think of the Full House episodes too! I think that was the best Disney special on sitcom ever. I saw the Roseanne one the other day, and it was LAME! Most of the episode was them taking about going to Disney, annoying everyone on the plane ride to Disney, and the hotel room! Full House did it best, for sure!

I'm interested to see what y'all thought of a meal at Coral Reef. The reviews on allears are so different! Hopefully y'all got an awesome view of the tank, since that is why everyone wants to go there anyway!

Haha--isn't she so cute?! You'll love seeing it. It really is gorgeous. Full House just did everything great--of course their Disney episodes would be great! I have always hated Rosanne because her Halloween episode scared the mess out of me when I was two. I'm posting our review (and the rest of our time at Epcot) right now!

Jesse & Joey were doing a broadcast of their radio show inside the tank!

Haha--that's right!

 

[stacikristine]

We’d just finished up a relaxing trip to the Grand Floridian and come back to Epcot for our 4:00 dinner reservation when I left you last.




We were VERY excited to eat at Coral Reef! It was our first table service restaurant of the trip, and we were excited to see the marine life. I honestly didn’t have super high expectations for the food since I’d heard some not-so-great reviews of it. But we were at least hoping for a good meal.


As much as I wanted to request a table next to the aquarium, it was really busy in there, and I figured we’d lucked out without making requests so far….


So we got our buzzer and took a seat next to these awesome pillars (we were all sitting on the ground since it was packed in there…only at Disney!)

If you remember, we didn’t check in until 4:00 (for our 4:00 ressie), so I was expecting to wait at least 30 minutes. Well…our buzzer went off at 4:12! We took our buzzer back to the front desk, and were led to our table……………
















Right next to the aquarium!!!

We were SOOO excited! We had the best (and worst—but more on that later) seats in the house! We were the first table on the floor, next to the aquarium. The giant turtle was RIGHT in front of our table.

Oh my goodness—he’s huge! It was a lot of fun to watch him throughout the night.



Our waiter was super nice, and he brought out our awesome bread right away. After listening to his suggestions, we decided to order the following:

Michael—Grilled Mahi Mahi - topped with a spicy pineapple chutney over cashew-jasmine rice finished with a coconut rum beurre blanc

Me— Roasted Scottish Salmon - with leek fondue, Orecchiette pasta, asparagus, and red wine reduction (I don’t remember the Leek Fondue…but that’s what AllEars said…)


While we were waiting for our food, our little friend decided to go for a swim

And we looked at the fish finding guide (I can see how this would be really entertaining for little kids!)

Before long, our food arrived. And it was EXCELLENT!

Sorry! We were too excited to remember to take pictures…but I promise this doesn’t happen often!

Michael’s Mahi was oh-so-good! I actually liked it a lot more than my salmon (which was good, but a little oily for me). But my pasta was YUMMY—I could have eaten a whole meal of that stuff!



While we were eating, our turtle friend came back

And then it was time for dessert!

Michael ordered The Chocolate Wave - served with raspberries

And I ordered Almond Gelato - with granola-marshmallow cookie, peaches, and passion fruit sauce

Michael really liked his (I’m not the hugest chocolate fan, so I didn’t care to try it) but mine wasn’t that great. The peaches were very yummy, but the almond flavor was a little weird. Oh well…I was really too full to eat much dessert anyway.



Oh—before I forget, it was slightly weird to be seated where we were. Even though we had GREAT seats, everyone else thought we did too. And since we were the very first table by the aquarium, everyone would stop right by our table and take pictures of the huge turtle. It was funny at first, but it became a little annoying. By the time we left, I was sick of having my picture taken while I was trying to eat. So that’s why our seats were the best and the worst in the house. Oh well…we were still happy to be so close to the turtle.



On our way out, we snapped a few pictures to catch the mood of the restaurant

So our over-all review of Coral Reef: Excellent! Would we go back? You betcha! But I would get the Mahi… We were very, very pleased with our first TS of the trip! And we left just full enough (I hate being stuffed…so I didn’t finish all of my food, but Michael finished his and it was the perfect size for him).



Continued

 

[stacikristine]

Continued from previous




After we left Coral Reef, we went over to Innoventions West.

I’d heard about making your own video game there, and we were excited to give it a try! This was SOOO fun! We went to this area where it filmed us. We had to jump, run, and party. After we were ok with our clips, we went over to play our video game!

SO FUN! I love Innoventions for things like this.




Right next to the video game thing is a little are that was advertising an interactive game show called “What’s Your Problem?”. It’s all about Velcro. I’d read about it on someone else’s TR (they went in the summer) and I really wanted to give it a try. Before we went into the game show room, one of the hostesses talked to us about the origin of Velcro (a man saw how burs stuck to his dog’s fur and tried to re-create that effect) and I think we watched a little video.


Then it was time to enter the game show room!

There were two families with elementary-age kids, a newly-wed couple and mom/sister in the same family, and us. The hostess introduced another hostess, and they told us how the game show would work. Oh—and we all had to yell “What’s…Your…Problem!!” many times!


The first people they chose from the audience were both sets of siblings. They went on stage, spun the wheel to see what problem they would be solving (with Velcro), and found that they had to compete to build the tallest tower out of Velcro blocks. It was really cute!

After that, she called two “manly men” up to the stage. Michael and the newly-wed guy got picked!! They spun the wheel, and found that they were going to solve the problem of “bringing up babies”!


She gave them their “Daddy Aprons” and it was time to get started~

Each guy had a roley cart with a conveyer belt in the middle. Babies were coming fast on the conveyer belt. They had to grab a baby, put a diaper on, put a bottle in its mouth, and stick it on the apron. I laughed SOOO hard!

This was especially funny since neither guy had ever put a diaper on a baby in their lives!

When the time limit was over, both guys each had 4 babies on their aprons.

Let me just say that we loved this! Sure, it was a little cheesy. But that’s the point! It was so neat that each family had at least one representative on the stage. It was just a really cute thing. We’d definitely go back, and I’d recommend it to anyone else!



After “What’s Your Problem?” we went next door to make our own Velcro frogs (sorry no pic). It was cute and quick. You could decorate your frog with any Velcro things you wanted. Mine had a crown and crazy shoes and clothes. And it’s a fun FREE souvenir for kids!




Continued

 

[stacikristine]

Continued from previous




After we left Innoventions, we decided it was time for a trip to the coolest place in Epcot—that is, Club Cool!

We decided to each start on an end, and then we’d work our way to the other side. I conveniently picked the side furthest away from the Beverly.

Oh, Beverly. Why do you taste like grossness?

I’m pretty sure he spit in the trashcan. Since I was laughing so hard at his reaction and I was “mean” in not telling him, I had to try it too.

Sick!


We decided that Beverly was obviously our least favorite (no shock there)

China’s Watermelon soda was my favorite

And Israel’s Kinley lemon-lime drink was Michael’s favorite

On our way to Innoventions East, we took some pictures at the awesome fountain

When we entered Innoventions East (we’d been here for a little while before Test Track), we were invited to visit the House of Innoventions where they have things that are available for houses now (but that are probably ridiculously expensive) in a show house.


The kitchen was REALLY cool. I loved all of the appliances.

I thought this shelf was fun

This table is too contemporary for me, but it’s really clean looking

Um…where was a bed like this when I was a little girl?! I would have LOVED this!

Michael got to play the super high-tech drums that had songs already programmed in

While I thought it was cool to go through the house, I also thought it was a little long. Michael, on the other hand ate it up. He loves nerdy, high tech stuff like that. I’m glad we toured it! (Oh—and they’re updating it constantly)



After that, we headed over to the waste station to conserve energy.

We picked a team name, got our trash collector thing (it was like a push cart shaped like a recycling bin) and took it to our first station where we worked as a team to separate the recycling.

Then we built a landfill (as a team—it was all promoting working together to help the environment)


And worked in a factory where we had to recycle hot and cold things

When it was over, we got to see our score and get a certificate!

Not too shabby! Almost a perfect score!

We had lots of fun here. I can see where kids would just eat this up—but it was fun for adults too!




After we finished up in Innoventions, we decided it was time to wrap up our Epcot Future World day and head over to Magic Kingdom for some evening entertainment. It had been a FANTASTIC first park day so far!!




Up Next:
An almost empty camera battery
Um, sure. We’ll join your family.
Our favorite fireworks show ever!

 

[praisehisname]

Yay, you liked Coral Reef! They really shouldn't put those tables right up against the aquarium. When we were there, we noticed the same thing happening that happened to you.

Sounds like a lot of fun in Innoventions. We never take the time to do that; maybe this time I'll schedule it in!

Denise

 

[misskate]

I've missed a lot!! Great updates!! Coral Reef sounded delicious. I tried to get in there for our Feb trip and nothing was available. (Strangely Le Cellier was...?) I'm definitely putting that Mahi on my future trip must have list. Sounds delicious! The big turtle was pretty darn cute too.

 

[tinkgurl]

Oooh loved the Coral Reef pics! I can see how having a table by the glass would be both good and bad.

I'll have to try the Mahi Mahi next time!

Haha, love the pics of Michael doing the baby race!

 

[Roxychica7]

Girl! Where are you finding these things at Innovations?? I have never seen ANY of those activities before!! HYSTERICAL pictures of your adventures and M and the babies!!
So glad you loved CR! We still want to eat there too, even though the reviews are crappy. I'd probably eat the Mahi Mahi so good that M liked it! Being biologists we obviously have to eat there regardless, but that stinks about the people! I guess there's always something "bad" about getting the better seats.
Cool Club...love your faces! I love the Watermelon too! And the Veggie Beta, reminds me of V8 Splash sorta. Sounds like you two are having a blast, can't wait to see how you finished up your night!

 

[BippityBoo]

WWHHHAAA?? How did I miss your Grand Floridian Trip!!!!
And I even had a cameo! hehe Thanks for the shout out
I agree, it is a very pretty resort and SO quiet and relaxing. The rooms were really the #1 reason to stay there, they are huge. However, it is not very themed. I think that we will stay there again as a couple, and maybe with the kids when they get older, but for now we are SO looking forward to the WL and the Poly!!

Loved your new update as well! Coral Reef sounds awesome, I loved the big fat turtle (ha!) But, how rude of those people to take pics by your table. It is just a turtle people. Let these two eat their expensive meal in peace! Sometimes I do not get it.

Also, the pics of your DH with the babies...SO funny. If only it were as easy as velcroing your baby to an apron and continuing with your day...ha!

Overall, you are making me so excited for EPCOT!! Can't wait to see who's family you join?

 

[jenny105]

Yes! Isn't that crazy?! Those were two of my very favorite shows... And it's kinda crazy that neither of them did much acting after those shows. But they probably made enough then to last them the rest of their lives!

She probably doesn't need to work anymore if she doesn't want to. She married a pro athlete. They are more than set for the rest of their lives! I think Kirk Cameron became really relgious toward the end of Growing Pains and does Christian programming now. I watch too many of those 'Where are they now?' specials.

Where the heck was I? Maybe I was 'too mature' for Full House by then? No, seriously, that was one of my most favorite shows. I wasn't much of a Michelle fan, either. I am going to find this episode and watch it!
Ok--there was a whole other page after I posted this. But now I really don't know. I must have missed that one, or just totally forgotten it?!?! Because I remember the twins, but not Danny & Vicki being married....Well, that was a long long time ago....and I'm getting (old)!

Danny and Vicki never actually got married. He proposed but nothing ever came of it! Youtube the episodes!


Staci, great pictures of Coral Reef but I can understand why you'd get annoyed. I probably would have to! I understand it's a great photo op but people need to respect the fact that you're trying to eat!

You didn't play Where's the Fire?? That's my favorite innoventions thing. I actually didn't know they had a make your own video game. I'll have to spend more time in there next time!

 

[Jenvenza]

I love your report! You two are too cute! I love how excited you both are. I am 31 and still get that way everytime we go! now we have a 2yo daughter, so it makes it even more exciting to see her reaction!

We loved Coral Reef, too. I had the Mahi and it was wonderful! I think if everyone had that when they went there wouldnt be any bad reviews of that place!

 

[princess_momma]

Jesse & Joey were doing a broadcast of their radio show inside the tank!

Oh yes! I remember now!! That was SO great!!

Staci!! Tell Michael that I think we're food twins!! We got the same entree AND dessert! Wasn't that mahi-mahi so good?! I just loved it!! I'm definitely glad I just took a leap and tried it!! Mmmm I could go for some right now!!

I'm also INSANELY glad that you lucked out and got a window seat! Thats so awesome. You definitely got tons of pixie dust! I can't believe you didn't even request it!! That's awesome. I love that the turtle was next to you!! That's too bad about everyone coming and taking pictures. Our table was the last one, so at the way other end of yours, and we didn't have any cute turtles right in front of us!

The make your own video game looks so fun!! I bet I could convince my mom to like Epcot more if I can get her to go back to Innovations. I'll have to show her your tr!! We didn't do anything in there! But a lot was also closed when we were there. I'm definitely taking her here when I drag her back there!

 

[crocko]

Awesome updates! You guys were having a great day

I'm with you on the best sodas. I like China's watermelon drink best.
And I also think that shelf is cool!!

 

[jenny105]

Oh I forgot to say Mexico is my favorite at Club Cool. I like that it has an apple juice kick to it.

 

[honeymooner09]

I just started reading your TR today, and I am loving it!! Can't wait for your next installment!

 

[LilAnn]

Yay! I am so glad that you enjoyed Coral Reef. I was worried you would be disappointed. Maybe you had our same waiter, he was the one that convinced me into ordering the mahi too! I polished that plate clean! You guys looked like you had so much fun at Innoventions. We haven't done a lot of those stations before and that Velcro station sounds like fun. The baby demo - hilarious. Great pictures there! I am going to have to remember that for our next trip, whenever that is. Loved the club Cool pics. I feel like I always try Beverly thinking that maybe, just maybe this time it will taste different! Sounds like your trip is off to a fantastic start.

 

[Dancegrl624]

Hi Staci! I didn't leave you, I've just been busy. Love all of your Epcot pics yet once again. That velcro game looked so funny! I love the pics of the fountain. In Jan when we went, it was being refurbed so it had lovely blue refurb walls all around it. Then, in June, it was never working!!! So, my DH and DD have never gotten to see that amazing fountain. There's always next time!

 

[bballdiva]

Oh wow that "bed" was really awesome, I would have loved that too as a child!!!