JerseyJanice
A Disboards original...
- Joined
- Aug 20, 1999
- Messages
- 10,764
Early in the morning, DH went downstairs to get our son from his grandparents' room. Our little honey came back excited, full of tales about character meetings, and with lots of new souvenirs, including a stuffed Stitch he bought with his own money. How he loves that stuffed animal! He's been sleeping with it ever since he got it. (I took him to see the movie when we got home. We loved it--what a cute and sweet story.)
Since my sister was arriving today, we decided to make it another resort day. We had a PS at Chef Mickeys for 8:15 that night and planned to catch the fireworks from the rooftop observation of the Contemporary.
DH and I didn't eat much the night before, so we had breakfast at the Whispering Canyon. Our server that morning was Tiny, a young man who was anything but tiny. My nephew told us Tiny was their waiter when they ate dinner there and that he thought Tiny was a hoot. So I told Tiny that, and he very much enjoyed the compliment.
The WCC offers an All-You-Eat-Skillet for breakfast, but we ordered off the ala carte menu because we wanted fresh eggs. DH and I both hate the "bulk" scrambled eggs that come with AYCE. My eggs were a bit runny, but I managed to dunk as much as I wanted to, so I didnt say anything. When Tiny took the plate, he noticed I didn't eat them and offered to do something for me, but I said it wasn't necessary.
I did our laundry (what a small laundry room for such a big hotel!), and we stayed by the pool most of the day, dodging a couple of thunderstorms and eating lunch yet again at Roaring Forks. I expected to hear from my sister earlier than I finally did. She wasn't too happy on the phone when I finally found her. She didnt get the location at POR she requested so she was annoyed about that, plus she and her hubby were quarreling. I told her to hop on a Magic Kingdom bus and take the ferry boat to the WL. I gave her our room number and told her to meet us there.
When they didn't come after a while, DH and DS decided to go down to the dock to meet their boat. I stayed awhile longer in the room, enjoying the Lifetime Movie Network. After we put a new roof on our house, we're getting satellite TV so I can get this station at home. I love Lifetime movies!
It seemed quite awhile that the boys were gone, so I went down to find them and ran into the whole gang in the lobby. Yay! My baby sister is finally here in WDW with me! We walked around the lobby with them, pointing out the more interesting things we discovered. My brother-in-law was blown away by the Lodge. He was very impressed.
We went back up to the room to have a few beers, then left around 7:30 to catch the boat to the Contemporary. We asked the boat driver how late the boats ran back, and he told us 10:00 p.m. would be the last one leaving the Contemp. I mentioned to the others that we couldn't see the fireworks and make that boat, so we'd take the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom and then the ferry boat from there. The boat driver heard me say this, so he chimed in to tell us that rather than taking the monorail to the MK, we should take it to the TTC and the bus to WL from there. Boy! I wish I knew earlier in the week about this alternative. Those LONG boat rides to/from the MK and WL were getting on my nerves. I was relieved to hear there was another option.
On the boat dock of the Contemporary was a gigantic bird with the most comical looking face. My brother-in-law said it was a Great Blue Heron. I thought it was such a funny-looking bird, but my son approached it very cautiously; it was taller than he is.
We stopped at the Mickey ears outside the Contemporarys main building to take some photos. My sister got a big kick out of, as I did when I first saw it during our stay there in 9/00. We went up to the Main Concourse and ran into my sister-in-laws family, who had just finished dinner at Chef Ms. They said it was great.
We were early for our PS, but they were ready to seat us. This was something that bugged me. I didn't make my PS arrangements until about a month before the trip because I was working on our plans. The only time they would give me for Chef Ms that night was at 8:15 p.m., later than I wanted since we have a 5 year-old. I called back a number of times to see if I could get something earlier, but was told it was all booked. For that matter, my mother-in-law wanted to take the kids there the previous night, but couldn't get a PS at all. They wound up going to Cinderellas Castle and hated it (bad prime rib).
Anyway, Chef M's was the least crowded I had ever seen it. There were open tables in the main room the whole time we were there. Did a lot of people book PS's and not show up? Or did the lack of available PS's scare a lot of folks from trying to dine there? Really, it was a shame to see the place so empty and think that Disney lost themselves a lot of business that night because PS's werent available.
We decided to pose for the photo at the big plate. This time, they asked us whether we were interested; during our previous two visits, they hustled us over there before we had a chance to turn them down. I was thinking I'd buy the photos this time unless they came out very badly. This was our third dinner at Chef M's, and I wanted a momento of the place because we always enjoy it so much.
We were seated in the main room, as I requested, and I could see how excited my son was. He loves Chef Mickey's! I think it's his favorite thing to do at WDW. Between twirling his napkin around and hanging with the characters, he thinks it's the best restaurant in the whole world (not just Disney World!).
The food was wonderful here this night! Our best here yet and it was very good on our last two visits. The prime rib was perfect--juicy, tender and delicious. If only Boma had served meat like this the night before! The grief it would have spared me! The peel and eat shrimp were larger than usual, and everyone loved them. The parmesan mashed potatoes are ALL THAT! Theyre so good, Id eat here if they were the only item served. They also had a tandoori spiced chicken that was very tasty. My brother-in-law couldnt eat enough of it.
Goofy and Donald Duck stay stationed most of the time near the dessert bar. The rest of the characters go around to the tables. The first one who came our way was Chip. My son delighted in telling my sister how to tell Chip and Dale apart, and Chip was jumping up and down that he knew it. Next, we saw Mickey Mouse and got his autograph. Dale came along next and I was videotaping him with my son and sister. He went behind me, I thought to go to the next table, and then started rubbing my head. He got rough, and I nearly dropped my camcorder. Next thing, I knew, he had me in a headlock and was giving me nookies! I yelled out, "When chipmunks go bad!" and all of us laughed so hard, we nearly cried. Under my breath, I told Dale I hoped he wasn't some dirty old man.
He went to another table and acted like a normal character there, but at the next, he started wrestling two young teenaged girls. When my brother-in-law saw this, he got a bit concerned that Dale was interested in copping a feel, if you know what I mean.
My sister and son went up to ask Goofy if he could help them make a cupcake. The Goofster used to man a cupcake decorating station, and my little one remembers that well. Goofy no longer does the cupcake thing (I doubted he did since there wasn't anything set up for it), but he was willing to accompany them around the dessert table.
Dessert there to my son meant filling a dish with candy meant to top ice cream sundaes. In case you haven't been there yet, Chef M's has an unbelievable ice cream decorating station. It looks like more than 20 different kinds of things to put on your ice cream. In addition to the usual ice cream toppings like fruit, sauces and sprinkles, there are a lot of candies: non-pareils (chocolate and mint flavors), red hots, M&Ms, gummy things, etc.
DS and my sister came back to the table with a MOUNTAIN of candy piled into a dish. Oh, boy! No way could we ever eat all of it then. I saved just enough room to fit in a slice of Mickey chocolate mousse cake. How I love this cake! Each slice has a little chocolate "coins" with Mickeys face painted on. Very cute and very yummy.
At one point, our waiter came by to clear plates and startled my sister. She told him she thought he was a character, and he thought that was very funny. We told him about Goofy "helping" at the dessert bar and apologized for taking a mountain of candy. He told us he wanted Goofy to stay in the other room because his big feet trip the waiters up. What a nice man! He graciously brought out a Ziplock bag so we take the candy. Thanks, dude! I was feeling bad that it would all get thrown out. I asked if he would mind if I added a few cookies to the bag (they're so good there, but there was no room in our tummies by this point), and he brought over a plate of oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, plus a few brownies. We took very good care of him in our tip.
My buddy Dale came back into the room, and I got nervous. Another round of nookies, I did not want or need. Of course, everyone else thought it was a riot that he came after me, so they were waving to him, pointing to me and yelling, "Hey, Dale, your girlfriend is here!"
Before he got to our table, he happened on one with a couple of kids and started horse-playing around with them. I don't know where they came from, but then two larger boys jumped in and started beating Dale up! I guess they got over-excited when they saw Dale fooling around. They punched and kicked him and ripped his apron off. Dale ran out of the room after that happened. My son was completely hysterical watching this incident. He thought it was the funniest thing ever.
Someone came around with the photos we had taken on the way in. The package cost $26 for two 5 x 7s and two refrigerator magnets. My brother-in-law threw the cash down, and they were ours. I look awful in it--I rarely photograph well anyway--but everyone else looked good.
After this highly entertaining dinner, we went up to the observation deck outside the California Grill, planning to watch the MK fireworks from there. My sister and her DH had never been up here, so they were very impressed with the view. It is neat! Gotta love seeing the Epcot ball and the Tower of Terror from up there. And the Castle is a wondrous sight, especially at night when the lighting changes colors. My sister was thrilled to see it; for her, it was like she'd finally arrived in Disney World.
We had a good 15 minutes to wait before the fireworks were scheduled to start. It wasn't looking good for them, though. There was a lot of lightning in the sky. DS remembered that the gift shop in the Contemporary had stuffed animals dressed like the Chef Mickey characters, i.e., in chef hats and aprons. So my sister and I took him down to the Fantasia shop to see if we could get Chip and Dale. There were no such animals available, but dont worry--DS found a sorcerer Mickey he wanted instead.
We went back up to the California Grill to find out that the fireworks were cancelled because of the weather. Oh, well! We all boarded the monorail; we got off at the TTC to catch a bus back to the WL. My sister and her DH took it to the MK to catch the bus back to Riverside.
Since my sister was arriving today, we decided to make it another resort day. We had a PS at Chef Mickeys for 8:15 that night and planned to catch the fireworks from the rooftop observation of the Contemporary.
DH and I didn't eat much the night before, so we had breakfast at the Whispering Canyon. Our server that morning was Tiny, a young man who was anything but tiny. My nephew told us Tiny was their waiter when they ate dinner there and that he thought Tiny was a hoot. So I told Tiny that, and he very much enjoyed the compliment.
The WCC offers an All-You-Eat-Skillet for breakfast, but we ordered off the ala carte menu because we wanted fresh eggs. DH and I both hate the "bulk" scrambled eggs that come with AYCE. My eggs were a bit runny, but I managed to dunk as much as I wanted to, so I didnt say anything. When Tiny took the plate, he noticed I didn't eat them and offered to do something for me, but I said it wasn't necessary.
I did our laundry (what a small laundry room for such a big hotel!), and we stayed by the pool most of the day, dodging a couple of thunderstorms and eating lunch yet again at Roaring Forks. I expected to hear from my sister earlier than I finally did. She wasn't too happy on the phone when I finally found her. She didnt get the location at POR she requested so she was annoyed about that, plus she and her hubby were quarreling. I told her to hop on a Magic Kingdom bus and take the ferry boat to the WL. I gave her our room number and told her to meet us there.
When they didn't come after a while, DH and DS decided to go down to the dock to meet their boat. I stayed awhile longer in the room, enjoying the Lifetime Movie Network. After we put a new roof on our house, we're getting satellite TV so I can get this station at home. I love Lifetime movies!
It seemed quite awhile that the boys were gone, so I went down to find them and ran into the whole gang in the lobby. Yay! My baby sister is finally here in WDW with me! We walked around the lobby with them, pointing out the more interesting things we discovered. My brother-in-law was blown away by the Lodge. He was very impressed.
We went back up to the room to have a few beers, then left around 7:30 to catch the boat to the Contemporary. We asked the boat driver how late the boats ran back, and he told us 10:00 p.m. would be the last one leaving the Contemp. I mentioned to the others that we couldn't see the fireworks and make that boat, so we'd take the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom and then the ferry boat from there. The boat driver heard me say this, so he chimed in to tell us that rather than taking the monorail to the MK, we should take it to the TTC and the bus to WL from there. Boy! I wish I knew earlier in the week about this alternative. Those LONG boat rides to/from the MK and WL were getting on my nerves. I was relieved to hear there was another option.
On the boat dock of the Contemporary was a gigantic bird with the most comical looking face. My brother-in-law said it was a Great Blue Heron. I thought it was such a funny-looking bird, but my son approached it very cautiously; it was taller than he is.
We stopped at the Mickey ears outside the Contemporarys main building to take some photos. My sister got a big kick out of, as I did when I first saw it during our stay there in 9/00. We went up to the Main Concourse and ran into my sister-in-laws family, who had just finished dinner at Chef Ms. They said it was great.
We were early for our PS, but they were ready to seat us. This was something that bugged me. I didn't make my PS arrangements until about a month before the trip because I was working on our plans. The only time they would give me for Chef Ms that night was at 8:15 p.m., later than I wanted since we have a 5 year-old. I called back a number of times to see if I could get something earlier, but was told it was all booked. For that matter, my mother-in-law wanted to take the kids there the previous night, but couldn't get a PS at all. They wound up going to Cinderellas Castle and hated it (bad prime rib).
Anyway, Chef M's was the least crowded I had ever seen it. There were open tables in the main room the whole time we were there. Did a lot of people book PS's and not show up? Or did the lack of available PS's scare a lot of folks from trying to dine there? Really, it was a shame to see the place so empty and think that Disney lost themselves a lot of business that night because PS's werent available.
We decided to pose for the photo at the big plate. This time, they asked us whether we were interested; during our previous two visits, they hustled us over there before we had a chance to turn them down. I was thinking I'd buy the photos this time unless they came out very badly. This was our third dinner at Chef M's, and I wanted a momento of the place because we always enjoy it so much.
We were seated in the main room, as I requested, and I could see how excited my son was. He loves Chef Mickey's! I think it's his favorite thing to do at WDW. Between twirling his napkin around and hanging with the characters, he thinks it's the best restaurant in the whole world (not just Disney World!).
The food was wonderful here this night! Our best here yet and it was very good on our last two visits. The prime rib was perfect--juicy, tender and delicious. If only Boma had served meat like this the night before! The grief it would have spared me! The peel and eat shrimp were larger than usual, and everyone loved them. The parmesan mashed potatoes are ALL THAT! Theyre so good, Id eat here if they were the only item served. They also had a tandoori spiced chicken that was very tasty. My brother-in-law couldnt eat enough of it.
Goofy and Donald Duck stay stationed most of the time near the dessert bar. The rest of the characters go around to the tables. The first one who came our way was Chip. My son delighted in telling my sister how to tell Chip and Dale apart, and Chip was jumping up and down that he knew it. Next, we saw Mickey Mouse and got his autograph. Dale came along next and I was videotaping him with my son and sister. He went behind me, I thought to go to the next table, and then started rubbing my head. He got rough, and I nearly dropped my camcorder. Next thing, I knew, he had me in a headlock and was giving me nookies! I yelled out, "When chipmunks go bad!" and all of us laughed so hard, we nearly cried. Under my breath, I told Dale I hoped he wasn't some dirty old man.
He went to another table and acted like a normal character there, but at the next, he started wrestling two young teenaged girls. When my brother-in-law saw this, he got a bit concerned that Dale was interested in copping a feel, if you know what I mean.
My sister and son went up to ask Goofy if he could help them make a cupcake. The Goofster used to man a cupcake decorating station, and my little one remembers that well. Goofy no longer does the cupcake thing (I doubted he did since there wasn't anything set up for it), but he was willing to accompany them around the dessert table.
Dessert there to my son meant filling a dish with candy meant to top ice cream sundaes. In case you haven't been there yet, Chef M's has an unbelievable ice cream decorating station. It looks like more than 20 different kinds of things to put on your ice cream. In addition to the usual ice cream toppings like fruit, sauces and sprinkles, there are a lot of candies: non-pareils (chocolate and mint flavors), red hots, M&Ms, gummy things, etc.
DS and my sister came back to the table with a MOUNTAIN of candy piled into a dish. Oh, boy! No way could we ever eat all of it then. I saved just enough room to fit in a slice of Mickey chocolate mousse cake. How I love this cake! Each slice has a little chocolate "coins" with Mickeys face painted on. Very cute and very yummy.
At one point, our waiter came by to clear plates and startled my sister. She told him she thought he was a character, and he thought that was very funny. We told him about Goofy "helping" at the dessert bar and apologized for taking a mountain of candy. He told us he wanted Goofy to stay in the other room because his big feet trip the waiters up. What a nice man! He graciously brought out a Ziplock bag so we take the candy. Thanks, dude! I was feeling bad that it would all get thrown out. I asked if he would mind if I added a few cookies to the bag (they're so good there, but there was no room in our tummies by this point), and he brought over a plate of oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, plus a few brownies. We took very good care of him in our tip.
My buddy Dale came back into the room, and I got nervous. Another round of nookies, I did not want or need. Of course, everyone else thought it was a riot that he came after me, so they were waving to him, pointing to me and yelling, "Hey, Dale, your girlfriend is here!"
Before he got to our table, he happened on one with a couple of kids and started horse-playing around with them. I don't know where they came from, but then two larger boys jumped in and started beating Dale up! I guess they got over-excited when they saw Dale fooling around. They punched and kicked him and ripped his apron off. Dale ran out of the room after that happened. My son was completely hysterical watching this incident. He thought it was the funniest thing ever.
Someone came around with the photos we had taken on the way in. The package cost $26 for two 5 x 7s and two refrigerator magnets. My brother-in-law threw the cash down, and they were ours. I look awful in it--I rarely photograph well anyway--but everyone else looked good.
After this highly entertaining dinner, we went up to the observation deck outside the California Grill, planning to watch the MK fireworks from there. My sister and her DH had never been up here, so they were very impressed with the view. It is neat! Gotta love seeing the Epcot ball and the Tower of Terror from up there. And the Castle is a wondrous sight, especially at night when the lighting changes colors. My sister was thrilled to see it; for her, it was like she'd finally arrived in Disney World.
We had a good 15 minutes to wait before the fireworks were scheduled to start. It wasn't looking good for them, though. There was a lot of lightning in the sky. DS remembered that the gift shop in the Contemporary had stuffed animals dressed like the Chef Mickey characters, i.e., in chef hats and aprons. So my sister and I took him down to the Fantasia shop to see if we could get Chip and Dale. There were no such animals available, but dont worry--DS found a sorcerer Mickey he wanted instead.
We went back up to the California Grill to find out that the fireworks were cancelled because of the weather. Oh, well! We all boarded the monorail; we got off at the TTC to catch a bus back to the WL. My sister and her DH took it to the MK to catch the bus back to Riverside.
