A Contemporary trip report - Sept 27-Oct 5, 2008

[kathymc]

Cast of Characteres
Me - Kathymc - disney nut, loves everything Disney
DH - Danny - loves me, tolerates Disney
Mom - loves disney
Dad - loves mom, tolerates Disney

This is DH and I 8th trip in 11 years of marriage. When we got married I said part of the deal Disney every other year , its just worked that I have had a couple of conferences here and then we bought into DVC so it became more frequent yay. We do travel other places but we always have such a good time at Disney.

My parents have traveled with us probaly 5 of those 8 times. We are very fortunate that we get along with my parents so well.

We lucked out that the conference this year was going to be at the Contemporary and it happened to be on our 10th anniversary and it was F+W to boot!

OK - on with the show

Saturday September 27, 2008

Up early and flight left at 7:50, SW flight uneventful. Finally tried taking a pill to help relax me on the flight (I hate to fly) but it didn’t do much for me. Flight was totally full and we got the last seat in the back! Pretty much took off on time and pretty uneventful. When we got to Orlando the line for the Magical Express was pretty long but it moved very quickly as there were a ton of people working the desk. Waited in the line for the busses about 10 minutes before being put on the bus and then waited about another 10 minutes for the bus to take off. We dropped off at the Grand Floridian, the Poly, Wilderness Lodge and then to the Contemporary – It was actually nice to see all the hotels and the video was quite cute.

Checked in and DH asked if there was anyway we could get a Magic Kingdom view as it was out 11th anniversary. They were able to move us into one but could only get mom and dad a lake view. (they ended up loving it though) When they told us we had the view I jumped up and down I was so excited. When we walked back to mom and dad who were seated in the lounging area dad said – I saw you jump up and down and knew you got upgraded. The rooms were ready so off we go to the 10th floor (#4625).

The rooms are gorgeous and the view – WOW! I was so blown away!

Got situated a little and then took off to the Magic Kingdom for hot dogs and cheese fries at Casey’s. It was very warm out today and very crowded. We went and saw the pirate tutorial and then went onto Pirates. Got caught behind the parade in Frontierland so just watched the end of that. Got a fast pass for Thunder Mountain - Splash was down for some reason. Went over to Hall of Presidents but Danny and I were both really hot and tired so we decided to just go back to the hotel to chill. Walked through the castle and then decided to try Space Mountain. It said 30 minute wait but the line didn’t move for 10 minutes so we got out of line and left.

I had forgotten my work shirt at home (I was here for a conference) so we walked through the shops to see if I could find a polo shirt that would work. Ended up getting it at the hotel – a men’s small Mickey polo! Too funny. We were planning on taking a swim but ran out of time.

Wash up and out to our anniversary dinner at Narcoossee’s. We were a little bit late but it was fine. Waited about 15 minutes out on the deck – great views. We all started with a yummy pomegranate margarita. Mom and I got the seafood bisque that was delicious. Dad got crab cakes that he said were great and Danny got the calamari that came with a spicy coleslaw. Mom and I got the scallops but they tasted too peppery and I can make better ones at home. Dad got a special bass dish that he loved and Danny got filet that was just ok. Everyone was too full for dessert – I was bummed as I wanted to try the almond cheesecake – oh well. Nice enough meal but didn’t really blow us away so I don’t think we will be back before we try out others on our to try list.

Went back over to the Magic Kingdom to catch Wishes. Just stood at the flag pole for a different view but a tall guy stood in front of me a pretty much blocked my view, but it was cool as always. Decided not to stay for the parade and headed back to the hotel. I just loved the view and couldn’t tear myself away from the balcony. Stayed out there until about midnight - so cool to watch everything going on.

 

[kathymc]

Sunday September 28, 2008

Slept pretty crappy and left the curtains open so every time I woke up I would look outside to see what color the castle was – so cool. Woke up to Chef Mickey’s celebration – Celebrate with Mickey now. Hooting and hollering at 7:30 am! Not a bad way to wake up actually. We all met up for our breakfast. Hemmed and hawed about going, especially because of the construction going on. SO glad we decided to go, it was really fun and we had great character interaction and got some cute photos.

Food was pretty good as well and the construction didn’t go on as it was Sunday! Chatted with a couple across from us (they had the anniversary button on so I said Happy Anniversary and it went on from there.)

It was interesting as he had worked on some early construction at the resorts. I had to head off to the conference, as I had to work from 12-3:30. DH worked out and mom and dad just kind of walked around all day. Met up with DH and went for a swim and then back down to the gala event for the conference at 5:30. Had a drink and an appetizer or two and saw Mickey and Minnie and then left a little after 6:00.

Off to the Poly to try and get in early for our dinner at Kona Café (we had reservations for 7:40 and checked in at 6:30) We had to wait for about 20 minutes and then were seated. Appetizers were awesome as always. We all got crab cakes and sticky wings – delicious. We all got captains mai-tais (we had two) I had a steak that was overdone but I was so full already so no big deal, ate all the mashed potatoes though. Danny and dad got the mahi-mahi but it was different then the one I had last time – kind of plain. Mom got prime rib that she loved. Danny and I got the lava cake but it wasn’t as good as we remembered – and the waitress took it off the bill because of the steak.

Mom and dad got a cheesecake that they enjoyed. So not quite up to par but still a good deal for the cost paid.

On the way out we ran into my work team at the bar. Went and got mom and dad so they could meet them and they took a picture of us all. Danny bought a t-shirt to wear to the Halloween party. Back to the room for a drink on the lanai and to watch the Halloween party fireworks – pretty cool. Off to bed shortly after.

 

[kathymc]

Monday September 29, 2007

Up at about 7:25 and worked from 8-12. Saw a moving presentation from a woman from Rwanda. Met up with Danny and took the monorail over to the Poly to go to Captain Cooks for lunch. I had a chicken Caesar salad and Danny had a club sandwich – pretty good. Walk through the shops there and then head back to the conference.

Our client event was tonight. We had two busses bring about 80 people over to Epcot. Drove all the way through the back side – pretty neat. Walk us into the park and into a room at the coral reef. Really cool room with all windows into the tank. Buffet was fantastic and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves.

There was a 60% chance of rain tonight so they wouldn’t allow the dessert buffet or bar to be set up outside on the patio so we all got drinks to go and walked over to the Rue de Paris and wouldn’t you know it never even sprinkled! Not that great of a view and you couldn’t see the ball but everyone enjoyed the show. A bunch of us hung back and headed off to the Boardwalk to go to Jelly rolls. What a blast! We all stayed out way too late. Took a funny cab ride back and to bed at 2:00 am!

 

[kathymc]

Tuesday September 30, 2008

Up and off to the conference until about noon time. Got a sandwich at Tempo grab and go and catch up on some work/email then to the pool for a while. Tried to get the baby ducks out of the pool with towels but they kept going back in.

Off to the Magic Kingdom for our dinner reservation at the Plaza for 4:40. Cute place and we all had great sandwiches. I had the veggie - fresh mozzarella, hummus, basil pesto, cucumber, roasted red pepper, tomato, and lettuce on a freshly baked foccaccia bread served with broccoli slaw – it was really good. Danny got the Rueben and fries, mom got the cheese steak and dad got the club. Good food at a great price – definitely be back here.

Off to ride some rides and everything was a walk on! What a difference from Saturday – it felt like it was our own private party. MNSSHP started at 7:00 and it was lots of fun with minimal waits on everything.

We even had our own boat on Small World and Pirates – and I could take flash photos as there were empty boats everywhere. Got a great picture with all of the dwarfs and Snow White and got tons of candy.

Got a soft serve ice cream and they made a swirl by mistake – I wanted just vanilla so Danny got the swirl, then mine fell apart so mom got that one and I got another one! I loved all the decorations and it was fun to see everyone in costume

Caught the second parade which was a lot of fun

and then saw the fireworks from Main Street. Rode TTA and Buzz one more time (my all time high score)

and then headed out right about midnight – what a great night!

 

[kathymc]

Wednesday October 1, 2008
Meet up at around 10:30 and off to Epcot. Space Ship Earth first – update was pretty fun. Did Nemo, Crush (too cute!) and Soarin and then head to the worlds to chow. We ate all around the world. Tried a lot of stuff, most of it good.

Here is how I rated everything we ate during the day - we shared everything
Poland – kielbasa and potato pierogi with caramelized onions and sour cream 8, Chopin vodka raspberry cocktail - 9
Canada – Cheddar cheese soup- 10 but very small
Had fish and chips and a Stella in England and sat with some chef from New Orleans, wonder if he was famous.
Louisiana – Seafood gumbo - 10
Ireland – Boxty with bacon chips and Kerrygold garlic and fresh herb butter, 7 Guinness
Germany – 7
Regensburger sausage with sauerkraut in a pretzel poll, Essence Riesling 8 – didn’t try sausage
South Africa – Durban spiced chicken with coconut milk-infused root vegetables, 10 Fairview Pinotage 7
India – Red curry shrimp over rice 10
China – Pork pot stickers, 8 Mango Gingerita 7
México – Quesadilla con chorizo 7, Margarita 9
Chile – Spicy Beef Empanada – this was the only thing I didn’t like

It was pretty warm out today – defiantly the hottest it was all week. We watched a juggler in Italy and then Mom got picked as Edna in Romeo and Edna – OMG too funny. She couldn’t stop laughing.

I was craving something sweet so I finally got to try a school bread - Yum!

We bought a cute scuba Mickey in honor of DH's dive (and DH had bought me the halloween Mickey and Minnie).

Grabbed another Stella (longest line we waited in all day!) and saw Illuminations from the stairs at Canada – great spot.

Nice to sit and watch it. Home around 10ish and I really wanted to go for a swim but Danny had only one suit and needed it dry for tomorrow. Have a drink on the lanai and off to bed. I think tonight was the night they were testing the lights on the castle - too cool!

 

[kathymc]

Thursday October 2, 2008
Had to catch up on some work so we had to hang out in the room for awhile and finally left at around 12. DH - keeping himself occupied while I worked

Had a burger and chicken fingers at Electric Umbrella (I had heard the chicken had changed but it was still tasty) and did Test Track, Mission Space and Honey I Shrunk the Kids. (think its time they update that one?) Bought a couple of t-shirts at Mousegears for 40% off. Mine says vote for Mickey! We finally did the Visa photo thing. We met Minnie and Pluto – they were so cute!

Danny’s dive was at 4:30 so he met up with his group and I went off to the art store to peck around and watched the fountains for a while and then picked up our free photo.

Went back to the Living Seas and just caught Danny and the group walking in in their shorties. Mom and dad met up with me and then the group dived in. It was pretty fun and cool to see other people watching them. Got a ton of video and photos but the pictures didn’t end up coming out that great.

He finally got to swim with the sharks!

Met up afterwards for dinner at LeCellier.

We didn’t like our first table so we waited for another and got a great table with Patrick and Stephanie as our servers. I finally got the Prince Edward Island Mussels and they were fantastic. Everyone else got the cheddar soup. I started with a dirty martini, mom and dad got the Torontopolitan and Danny got a Bahama Mama. We had a bottle of St Michelle Syrah with dinner. We all had the filet that was perfect as always.

Back to the stairs again for the fireworks. We went back to the art store as there was a print I wanted of the Canadian gardens and the artist was there and he signed it – pretty cool souvenir. Back home on the monorail and off to bed shortly after.

Oh yeah - here's all the candy we got from the party!

 

[kathymc]

Friday October 3, 2008

Mom and dad went off to MGM for the day and after a few hours of work Danny and I went to Typhoon Lagoon (I didn’t know that when we booked our 5 day tickets through the conference we got one plus!) Have to finally get on a bus and waited about 20 minutes as it is the one that goes downtown. Then a 35 minute ride to get there with all the other hotel pickups. We did the shark thing first – ton of fish. Got a soft pretzel and just hit all of the rides. Crush N Gusher was a lot of fun. We rode everything once with minimal waits and then spent about 45 minutes in the wave pool.

Back to the room by 4:30 and got a great long island ice tea from the Wave. Danny and I head off to downtown for some dinner and shopping. We went to Wolfgang Puck Express. We got butternut squash soup – YUM and macaroni and cheese that wasn’t very good. I got Spicy Chicken and Sweet Peppers Pizza –good but a little too spicy and Danny got a yummy Chicken Tortilla Melt Focaccia. Great meal for a great price. Off to World of Disney to spend money. I got a pink hoodie and we picked up some odds and ends like always.

Stopped in at Goofys for a chocolate covered pretzle! OMG was this good

Walked around in the art store and the artist David Doss was there so we bought a print and he personalized it. Its so cute - its one of the beach pail ones.

Nice relaxing day.

 

[kathymc]

Saturday October 4, 2008
Mom and dad decided to go to Animal Kingdom as they had finished MGM yesterday so Danny and I are off. Threatening clouds all day but it never did rain. Got there around 11:00 and headed right to Toy Story and got a fast pass time of 5:30! Did TOT and Rock and Roller Coaster and saw Beauty and the Beast. Saw the cutest Jedi training show and then were wowed when Darth Vader showed up!

Took the boat to the Swan and walked the boardwalk (Danny got a t-shirt that he wanted to get in a larger size) Went to ESPN for lunch. Got the redwings and macho nachos – really good and really stuffed. Danny got a drink with Rockstar energy drink and I got another pomegranate margarita – have to pick up a bottle of that! Walked over to the Beach and Yacht club to see our “home” – pool was packed and then walked all the way back to MGM to go on Toy Story. Really cute and I beat Danny!

Saw the Muppets and did the animation tour and drew Pluto – came out pretty good. Then off to Illuminations. Got a pretzel and a beer and enjoyed the show as always. Even got some good pictures!

Back to the resort to pack up and enjoy our last night on the lanai.

 

[kathymc]

Sunday October 5, 2008
Up early and finish the last minute packing and we meet up to go to Animal Kingdom. Went to the first the Festival of the lion king – we are elephants.

Then to the safari –waited almost 40 minutes!

Get a fast pass for Everest and ate at take out at Yak and Yeti – pretty good. We got Shrimp Lo Mien and Kung Pao Beef and rice. Then off to see the Nemo musical – I love this. Mom and dad headed out and Danny and I went back to Everest and rode twice –cool.

Met a couple in line who gave us a couple of their dream fast passes for Dinosaur but we didn’t end up needing them. Went to dinosaur and head back to the hotel by 4:00. Get another long island ice tea and wait for the bus at 5:00. Not a bad ride and at the airport by 6:00 – video was cute again. Check in at the airport was fine and we grabbed a pepperoni pizza for supper.

Flight took off at 7:50. Should have taken two pills – had some pretty bad turbulence but flight was quick and we landed around 10:30. Pop picked us up and we were excited to see our dog Bailey. Ended up watching Danny’s dive video and going through the pictures on the tv before going to bed around 1:00.

What an awesome trip - not as crazy as usual and we werent exhausted at the end. I know we will be back next december so let the planning begin!

 

[ZZUB]

I haven't had a chance to read all of your TR yet, but to answer your question, you have to "go advanced" when you edit your post. Look for that box when you enter the edit screen. There you can change the title. You can also correct the date. According to the title, this TR took place next year.

If in fact you can see into the future, then riddle me this:

Will Disney issue a 7 for 4 deal for the late summer? And does Rogaine work?