A fun fall trip with food and wine

[LYNSUE]

DH and I traveled to WDW from 10-14 to 10-20. We visit the mouse about twice a year and have done so for a long time. But we still find each and every trip unique and interesting. We are both in our early 50’s and have been empty nesters for about 4 years. We absolutely love traveling to WDW with just the two of us.

I have done trip reports in the past, so hopefully some of you remember them. My most recent was from March 2010 entitled “What were we thinking going during spring break”. That was a very hectic week. But as always I will include a lot of detail and I like to highlight any unusual human behavior or unusual things we encounter along the way. I also include our dining details right along with the trip report (I don’t do a separate dining report). There are lots of pictures to post and many of them are of food. We enjoyed many offerings at the Food and Wine Festival.

It was my intention to skip the vacation eve details this time, but I do have to mention a large group of people that took over our hotel the night before we flew out. I have never seen anything like it. We always stay at the Super 8 near the Milwaukee airport. They have a great park and fly option. We usually enjoy a nice quiet evening prior to our departure. However, this time we walked into the small lobby about 7:00pm on Wednesday 10-13-10. There was a group of about a dozen people in the lobby sitting around. There were several large coolers full of beverages close by and the group was already extremely loud. The desk clerk handed us our room key card indicating we were on the first floor not too far down the hall. I asked him where the large group was staying since I was concerned about the noise level already. He said they were down the same hall as us but much further down, so it should not be a problem. I said ok even though I had my doubts. We put our things in our room and went next door to have dinner. We arrived back at the Super 8 about 8:30. The group, the amount of coolers and the noise level had grown immensely. It was now about 25 people. The desk clerk had allowed them to move into the breakfast room and the party was in full force along with the mob mentality of drunkenness. I had to assume since it was all adults in a partying mood, they must be going to Vegas. After seeing this, we stopped at the desk to see what time the group was planning to use the airport shuttle in the morning. Luckily our scheduled time was about an hour before theirs, so we would be ok on transportation. Well we tried to relax in our room just down the hall but the noise and the hooting and the yelling just kept getting worse. At 10:30 I called the front desk to complain. They nicely offered us a different room on the third floor. (which I should have insisted on from the begining) I was grateful for this, but it did mean we had to pack up our suitcases, get dressed and haul our stuff. But it was worth it. When we came back down stairs the next morning at 6:15am there were still people in the breakfast room and they were still drinking, but it was not quite as loud as the night before. I can’t imagine boarding a flight when you are still drunk from the previous night’s party!!!! Airport Security must love that! We usually partake of the Super 8 breakfast…..but not today. We would be enjoying airport food instead. But anyway…..I did find this whole scenario somewhat unbelievable. A large group of people can completely take over a hotel and ruin the experience for many other guests and there was nothing the hotel could really do about it. It says a lot about our society and how it has deteriorated. It was definitely a unique experience, so I had to include it.

Thursday 10-14-10

We flew Southwest Airlines for the first time. I have to say….it was probably the best flight experience we have had. Their unique boarding process works great. I am hoping someday all airlines use this method. It may not be the best if traveling with children, but if it is absolutely necessary that your group be seated together then you always have the option of paying the extra fee to board first. We checked in 24 hours ahead of time so we did get boarding group A position 33 and 34. We lined up at our appropriate silver post in numerical order and every one proceeded to find a seat. There was no waiting in the aisle for people ahead of you. It was amazing how quickly the plane boarded and there was none of the usual chaos. Our flight to Orlando and our return flight were actually boarded and ready to depart ahead of schedule.

I did want to mention a mother and 12 year old daughter we chatted with while waiting to board. The daughter was very excited because they were attending the Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom that night and she and mom each had a pirate costume to wear. It was fun talking with them. It was their fist time flying Southwest as well and they were boarding group B. They didn’t get to sit together but they were close. We actually run into them a few days later at a very crowded Epcot. DH spotted them. I don’t know how he did it with so many people around.

The flight was great. Eventually the beverages were served along with a tiny bag of peanuts and some mini cookies. Southwest does not drag that beverage cart down the aisle which means none of the people sitting in the aisle seats get their elbows clipped. (great perk) The attendant takes drink orders for a section of seats and then delivers them on a tray. DH and I had a small competition by guessing how many peanuts would be in our pouch. I felt the bag and guessed 11 nuts. DH said his had 15. We each counted ours and there were exactly 12.5 in each. I was closest with 11. This helped get our competitive juices flowing for our upcoming rounds on Toy Story Mania and Buzz Light Year.

As we were making our final decent into the Orlando airport all of a sudden something just popped into my mind. Something ALARMING. I gripped my DH’s arm. I suddenly remembered that we did not put our yellow luggage tags on our suitcases for delivery to SSR!!! How could we have forgotten something so important?? I was very upset. All DH said was “Darn good thing you thought of it NOW and not when we were already on the ME bus” Time is of the essence when arriving at the airport to officially start your WDW vacation. But now we will be wasting at least 30 minutes collecting our bags. Plus we have to haul them ourselves out to the ME bus and into the lobby of the hotel. Damn…those little yellow tags are valuable. I still can’t believe I blew it. (actually I blame it on the hectic night we spend at the Super 8 putting up with that mob. I was very distracted) So we hauled our butts over to the A side of the airport to get the bags. (they were actually pretty quick) and then back over to the B side to get on ME.

We boarded the ME bus right away and then waited only about 15 minutes to depart. SSR was the second stop. DH waited to collect our bags from under the bus and I went inside to check in.

This welcomed us at the resort entrance

We had done the on-line check in so it went very fast. In fact I was the only person at the counter checking in. I had requested a room in the Springs section and we got it. Room #3147.

We also collected our box of food that I had sent UPS. SSR is our home resort with DVC. It has been at least 2 years since we stayed here last. I do like other resorts better but I learned to once again appreciate SSR and what it has to offer on this trip. Since we were in the Springs section (closest to the main building) we decided to get us and all of our stuff (carry on bags, checked luggage, food box) to the room ourselves. We did not bother with the golf cart delivery service. STUPID MISTAKE!!! Those things were heavier than we thought and it was a bit of a struggle getting to the room even though it was not that far. That trip from the lobby to our room really made us appreciate ME luggage delivery. But, we made it and it was nice that we had our checked bags already there. It made us feel settled in so we could be off to the parks. Well almost settled…. We went back to the store/food court at SSR and purchased a few supplies. Milk, bread, water, bananas and some turkey lunch meat. Those items…along with the items shipped UPS will provide four breakfasts, some snacks and one lunch. We got our groceries back to the room and in the fridge and THEN we were off to the bus stop (about a two minute walk) to get a bus to Epcot.

Our Room

View out of the patio

Our patio from outside

Not once did we use the patio. In fact, we did not even open the patio door. We are ok with a ground floor room but the ground floor patio is not very usuable. Especially when it is surrounded closely by landscaping. We much prefer a upper floor balcony. We would actually use that.



Coming up…..Let’s get this vacation started.

 

[LYNSUE]

Thursday 10-14-10 continued…..

The walk from our room to the bus stop was only about two minutes. Very convenient. We were waiting for a bus to Epcot. Our usual routine is starting out at the MK, but the MK was closing at 7:00pm tonight because of a Halloween party. So Epcot would give us the maximum park time with our late start today. We waited about 20 minutes for the Epcot bus. Not a great start….but not the worst. The 20 minute wait for our first bus was our longest one. We had fantastic fantastic luck with all of our bus service this trip. We were so very happy.

We arrived at Epcot at about 3:30pm and we were starving. Breakfast had been some crappy airport food about 7:00am and we were now ready for some good Food & Wine stuff. But as hungry as we were….we did stop at Soarin for a FP. Our return time was 7:18 to 8:18. Then it was off to World Showcase to get our nosh on!!

We entered World Showcase in the center and went to our left toward Mexico. I had a list of food stands I wanted to stop at and what items I wanted at each. The first one we came to was New Zealand. This was definitely on my list….

First thing I did was get the reloadable gift card. This was a neat plastic card with a cord attached to wear around your wrist. So convenient for just swiping with each food purchase. No need to dig out cash each time or getting change back on your purchase. I loaded $50 on the card….. then proceeded to order the Seared Sea Scallop with Vegetable Slaw and Lemon Oil.

This was fantastic!!! Maybe it was really that good or maybe it was because I was just so hungry. Either way….I really enjoyed it. DH was not interested in anything at the New Zeeland stand

Next was Chile. DH had the shrimp stew. I had the pork skewer. This was just ok. I am not sure what the pork pieces were dusted with. I only ate one and DH finished the other two. I wasn’t wasting any stomach space on
things that were just ok.

Next was Argentina. (sorry no picture) I had the Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato (tasted like potato) Puree. I had this other years and it was equally as good this year.

Next was China. We each had a pepper shrimp and shared some pot stickers.

Then South Korea where I had a lettuce wrap.

Next was Germany (sorry no picture) where DH had Apple Strudel and Riesling Wine

Riesling Wine is one of DH’s favorite. This past May we visited a German restaurant in Cincinnati (went there to see the Brewers play baseball). Anyway, at that German restaurant he had a Riesling wine he absolutely loved. He was very happy to find out the F & W stand in Germany was offering this same Riesling. Bonus!!

At this point we were both really full so we had to call it quits for our first round at the Food & Wine Festival. Grazing this way is very time consuming. You wait in line to order, you pay for your order, you get served and then you need to find a place to sit or stand and then take the time to eat it. And, although the portions look small they can be very filling. So please be sure to pace yourself if you try the Food and Wine.

It was now time to get in line at the American Adventure Theatre for the “Eat to the Beat” concert. This was for the first show at 5:15. We were seeing Sister Hazel perform. This is an 80’s band. Neither of us recall listening to any of their music. *As an aside*…. When ever my co-workers talk about 80’s music I have to admit I don’t know any of it very well. I tell them I was to busy raising babies in the 80's to pay attention. LOL. But anyway…we sat through the 30 minute show and enjoyed the music. Oh, and by the way….Sister Hazel is four guys. But I am sure a lot of you already knew that. (I didn’t)

After the concert we walked back to Germany. We went into the shop and purchased a bottle of the Riesling wine that DH liked so much. We continued around world showcase and checked out what was being offered at the remaining F&W booths (not for today, but for our next visit).

At the charcuterie & Cheese booth we had to stop and take a picture. This booth was hosted by Nueske's which is based in Wittenberg, WI. Wittenberg, WI is only about 25 miles from where we live in Wisconsin. If you look closely at the print on the sign you can see it mentions WI.

It was now time for our FP on Soarin. We had about a 15 minute wait in the FP line. After that we did the Spaceship Earth ride. Then we were ready to call it a night. We made our way to bus stop and only had a 10 minute wait for the SSR bus.

We arrived at SSR and decided we were a little hungry. It was already 8:45 and we knew the Turf Club restaurant served until 9:00. So we went there taking our chances we could get in without a reservation. By the time we arrived in was 8:50. The hostess was a little reluctant to seat us so late but decided ok. We waited about 15 minutes to be seated. DH and I both ordered the sustainable fish. It was grouper. DH got his with the rice pilaf. I subbed red skin mashed potato for mine. The grouper was very good. Sorry, no pictures. We were pretty tired at this point and apparently forgetful as well.

I did want to mention that we use the “Tables in Wonderland” dining card. This card allows a 20% discount on all food and alcohol. This discount card works way better for us than any of the Disney dining plans. I also wanted to mention that the Turf Club restaurant was extremely loud that night. We had dined here one other time (for lunch) but I did not remember it being so loud. Of course, by the time we were done the place was pretty empty and it was quieter then.

We had no definiate dining plans for today. We knew we wanted to do F&W for either lunch or dinner, but the rest was left up in the air. We were ok with how the day's dining worked out.

We made it back to our room by about 10:15. We unpacked our stuff (DH did) I like to live out of the suit case. I watched some TV, DH used the lap top computer. (We get free internet access at the DVC resorts) and then to bed by 11:30.

Coming up……Magic Kingdom Day

 

[LYNSUE]

Friday 10-15-10 Magic Kingdom Day

We were up bright and early at 6:20am. We had to be….it was MK day!!!! We had a breakfast reservation at Kona’s in the Poly for 8:15. This would be the third trip in a row that we had a reservation at Kona’s for breakfast. The past two trips we never made it to the breakfasts for one reason or another. So this trip we were determined to make it there. DH was wanting to have the Tonga toast again and it had been a while.

We arrived at the bus stop at 7:20 and waited about 5 minutes for a MK bus. We were the only two on that bus. The bus dropped us off at MK and then we took the mono-rail to the Poly.

As mentioned, DH had the Tonga toast. After the picture, he did spread on the strawberry sauce. I had a bite of the toast….but it is way way way to sweet for me to enjoy.

The picture is a little deceiving on size. It don't look like it...but that thing is huge.

I had the Samoan. This was an interesting dish. It was a variation of eggs Benedict. Instead of Canadian bacon, there was roasted pulled pork hash which included some potatoes and some bread cubes. The hollandaise sauce was very light (not too thick and heavy). There were two poached eggs and then topped with some small greens. I really loved this dish. It was very unique. I would definitely order this again.

I ate everything including all of the greens.

After breakfast we arrived (by mono-rail) back at the MK about 8:45am. Perfect timing to see the park opening. Up until now, I did not think the bag check really served any purpose. But today we were behind a woman in line who actually had a knife in her bag. This knife had about a four inch blade!!!!! It seemed that even the security guy that found it was surprised. The security guy called over two other guys who look even more official, and they questioned the woman. They offered to hold the knife for her and she could collect it at the end of the day. Her response to them was “I don’t care what you do with it” and she proceeded to walk away. (without her knife of course). INTERESTING!!

We enjoyed the opening and proceeded into the park with the masses. It actually didn’t seem that crowded today.

Here are some fall park decorations. You can see me all Mickeyed up for the park.

Our 1st ride was the Jungle Cruise. I don’t think this has ever been our first ride when entering the park….but it was today. It was definitely a walk on. Next was Pirates two times. Again, no waiting. Next stop was Splash which we did two times walk on. On the second time around, I noticed a hidden Mickey on the end of one of the branches as you round the briar patch. Then we did Thunder Mountain two times (twice in a row seems to be the norm this morning). We had about a 10 minute wait each time. After that we did Country Bears. Now there is only one reason we sit through this show. We love the bear that sings “Blood on the Saddle”. In fact we have been known to sit on the exit side of the theatre and leave the show as soon as that song is finished. But today we stayed for the whole show.

It’s a little dark….but here is our favorite bear.

Did you ever look at the floor in the entry area of this show. It is a hardwood (looking) floor and it is covered in bear claw scratches. Very cute.

Next we took one round on the haunted mansion. Then we decided to venture into Stroller City…..I mean Fantasyland. It was very crowded there. Stroller parking has always been congested there, but now with all of the construction, it is even worse. We first came across Peter Pan. There was a 50 minute wait, so we got a FP with a 4:15 return time.

Our first stop was to watch the carousel go around. I needed to see if they still had the one horse on there with the gold ribbon in his tail. (that is supposedly Cinderella’s favorite) . Yes the horse is still there. And the reason I needed to know this???? Well a co-worker asked me to send post cards (while at the world) to some children she knows who will be visiting WDW in January and the post card for the four year old girl is going to be from Cinderella. The note in the card would mention the horse. Ok, got that covered.

We made our way to Mickey’s Phil. We also notice that the stroller parking that used to be by Peter Pan…is now moved to in front of Mickey’s Phil. So more congestion. Fantasyland is a bit of a mess right now. But that only means good things are to come, so it is worth the hassle right now. We only had a 10 minute wait for Phil and then we were off to see the Presidents. I really do enjoy this show.

While we were waiting for the show to start, DH and I were discussing how many previous presidents are still living. Since we didn’t have our computer with us to check the website “Dead or Not Dead.com”, we were left to wonder. Now there is a guy named James who has worked at the Hall of Presidents for many years. We have chatted with him on several occasions. He is very knowledgeable about all things Presidential. Now James was working today but he was the greeter at the entrance. We just didn’t feel it would be right to bother him with our question when he was very busy doing his job. So we never did get our answer. (but we think it’s four)

Next we made our way back around the castle and took a picture by Cinderella’s wishing well.

We were on our way to Tommorowland. The Laugh Floor Comedy was down so we moved onto Buzz. That was a 40 minute wait, so we skipped it. Then we did a little shopping on Main Street. I needed to get some post cards for the family mentioned above. I really wanted a post card with pirates on it for the 8 year old boy. His post card was coming from the Pirate League. Main Street did not have any. We made our way back to Adventureland and checked there…No Luck! In general, post cards are very difficult to find. There is such a limited selection. With all of the electronic mail…post cards are just another thing that is going bye bye.

It is amazing how time flies when visiting the parks. It was already time for us to check in for our 2:00 ADR at the Plaza. Where was the day going???? It was going right where it was suppose to….and we were enjoying it immensely

 

[LYNSUE]

Friday 10-15-10 continued

It was time for our 2:00 ADR at the Plaza Restaurant in MK. The main reason for stopping here was to get the Butter Pecan Milk Shake (it’s no sugar added which is a bonus). I love that flavor of milk shake and I don’t know any where else on property you can get it. The thing is large and very easily shared between two people. And when you order it, it comes out first (before your food) so you get to have dessert first. Now after all of that raving…..I don’t have a picture of it!!!! Sorry. But I do have a picture of the other food we ordered.

Tuna Croissant with homemade potato chips for me

Strawberry Chicken Salad for DH

After lunch we decided to make our way out of the park. We stopped on Main Street and bought some shortbread cookies to bring back to my co-workers. It was about 2:45 so it was a bit crowded on the street with people lining up for the 3:00 parade. Since we are not parade people, we were happy to just find our way to the bus stop. And lo and behold….a SSR bus was waiting for us as we approached the bus stop (told you we had good luck with buses and it even gets better). We arrived back at the resort by 3:15 and rested a little until about 5:15. After freshening up a bit we headed to the bus stop to get to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Our dinner reservation at Saana was for 6:30. If the bus service was as good as it had been, we knew we would be a bit early, which is ok. There is plenty to see and do around the AK resort. When we got to the bus stop there were three buses waiting. A Tree House Villa bus, an Epcot bus and an Animal Kingdom bus. So we got right on the AK bus and had it all to ourselves. As we got off the bus at AK there was an Animal Kingdom Lodge bus waiting for us. (It Was Unbelievable!!) We were to the AKL Kidani by 5:50. We had lots of time to look around.

Here is a picture of an ostrich

This one is of a giraffe. He is a little hidden there in the trees.

Me enjoying one of the rocking chairs on the observation deck. I am catching up on my trip notes.

Some art work in the area

After our relaxing wait we checked into Saana about 6:15 and waited about 5 minutes for our table. This is our second time dining at Saana. Our first time was fall of 2009. We knew then, we would be back.

The entrance to Saana. You can see a hidden Mickey on the far left of the basket display.

DH started with a margarita

Then we got the bread service to share: We had bread of Naan, Onion Kulcha, Paneer Paratha. (I really could not tell one from the other…but they were all good)

Toppings were: Red Chili Sambal (very spicy and DH’s favorite) I avoided this one Coriander Chutney (my favorite)
Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummas (we both like this one)

Here is a picture our waitress took of us while we were enjoying the bread service. We were seated right under a large (fake) tree in the middle of the dining room. Our waitress said it is the most photographed tree in all of the restaurant. LOL (it’s the only one)

Next were our entrees’ We both ordered from the slow cooked selections.

DH had the chicken with red curry sauce and shrimp with green curry sauce along with rice pilaf. He had already mixed his rice with the meat which is why the middle bowl is empty.

I had the beef short rib and the chicken with green curry sauce. Instead of the rice I asked if I could substitute a different side. It was a warm potato salad that appeared on the menu with another dish. It was fantastic.

During our dinner, there was a waiter clearing the table behind me. He accidently dropped a large tray of glasses and dishes. Glass and liquid scattered everywhere. The noise of it all was frightening,. After that happened, at least five different people from the wait staff stopped by our table to make sure we were all right. Of course we were.

Here is a picture of a Hidden Mickey that was in the center of our dining table. I discovered this on my own. (the waitress did not tell us)

On our way out of the restaurant I stopped at a table of four with Mom, Dad and two kids. I pointed out the hidden Mickey on their table. Mom seemed very happy about that.

Once again we were very please with our food and service at Saana. If you are looking for a different dining experience and are a little adventurous, be sure to give this place a try. And if you are at a four top table….look for your hidden Mickey.

Up next….back to MK to complete our MK day

 

[LYNSUE]

Friday 10-15-10 concluded

After leaving Saana we found our way to the Kidani bus stop to wait for a MK bus. We needed to complete our MK day (now night). The bus stop was very crowded. This was only the second time we had any kind of wait for a bus and then it was only 20 minutes (not bad). I took advantage of the waiting time and called my sister to catch up on things at home. We arrived back at the MK at about 8:15.

First thing we did was use our FP for Peter Pan that we had acquired that morning. Then we did Snow White and next Pooh. The entrance to Pooh is a little hidden with all of the construction going on. They actually had a CM out side directing people in. After that we made our way over to Toon Town Square. This is not a place we visit very often. But since I hear it is going away with the referb of Fanasyland, I though we better enjoy it one last time. We actually road the barn stormer. LOL. It is really difficult for two adults to fit in one seat so we each got our own. Next we visited Mickey’s house and garden.

Mickey's bedroom and closet

Mickey's pumpkin garden

Then off to the judge’s tent to meet M & M. Of all the years this has been available, we never took the time for the meet and greet. It was a nice wait where they show old cartoon clips and also on display are items entered in the county fair for judging. Finally it was our turn. DH is not comfortable meeting characters. He just don’t know what to say. It was nice he agreed to do this one.

While meeting Mickey, I pointed to the image of him on my shirt and made the comment that he was much much younger in my shirt picture than he is now. I got the fists on the hip response to that. LOL

After that we toured Minnie’s house. Although we never visited this part of the park very much, it will still be sad to see it go.

We moved onto Tomorrowland and did Buzz. Both of us scored poorly but DH still won. After that it was off to Main Street to get a spot for Wishes. Wishes was scheduled for 10:00. We got a good spot in front of the castle to enjoy the show but it was very crowded. There was an elderly lady in a wheel chair with her son. As soon as the fireworks started two teens that had been sitting on the ground jumped up and completely blocked this lady’s view. Although the son hinted to them, neither would move just a little out of the way. Upon seeing this, I stepped behind DH and asked the lady if she wanted my spot. She was very grateful for this. My view was very obstructed now but that was ok. At that moment I was just so thankful to be able to stand on my own two feet and be at WDW. And maybe this was her one and only time seeing Wishes. It was important (to me) that she not miss this opportunity.

After Wishes we shuffled up Main Street with the rest of the crowd. At the bus stop we waited for two buses before there was room for us. There was a case of some line jumpers and things got a little ugly. There was a guy behind us that could not let it go and he harped on the line jumpers until they actually got on the bus. (ahead of us, of course). Luckily he kept his comments relatively clean. From where we were waiting, we could see the line for the All Star resorts. That thing stretched on forever. Things were getting a little heated in that line as well. The chaos going on over there made our line look great. It’s all in the perspective!!

We arrived back at our resort at about 11:15.

Long day….. but a wonderful day. Nothing beats spending a day at the MK.

Tomorrow we are up early for early entry at the Studios. And while MK is my favorite park, the Studios is DH’s favorite. We can’t get enough of Toy Story Mania

 

[LYNSUE]

Saturday 10-16-10

Up at 6:00 am

Now isn’t that ridiculous time to be getting out of bed while on vacation!!

But it is early entry at the Studios and we wanted to be the first at one of the gates. We have a strategy for getting the TSM fast pass then joining the standby line. Since DH is the faster runner (I mean walker) he gets the FP. By the time he has the FP I will have caught up with him and we can enter the standby line together. Works like a charm every time.

Anyway, first things first….I jump in the shower. WE HAVE NO HOT WATER!!!!
This was a little shocking but I managed to clean up best I could without freezing anything essential. DH was still in bed when I got out of the shower…..I let him know the good news. Then I called maintenance to let them know about the problem. We were told that we were not the first to report this. Apparently others in our building were up even earlier than us.

We had breakfast in the room and made it to the bus stop by 7:00am. We only had a five minute wait for the bus and made it to the Studios by 7:20. There were no security people doing bag check yet, so we breezed through there and stood at one of the entry gates off to the right. We were first in line…..and we had a about a 25 minute wait until they start to let us in and down to the first rope. While we were waiting in line, the security people did show up and checked everyone who had a bag. Then they went out to their usual spot. Eventually people started joining us and the lines grew. There was a dad and about 10 year old son behind us in line. Dad was on his cell phone talking with someone about the best strategy for doing the big rides at this park. They only had a limited time to spend this morning. It sounded like it may have been their first time at the Studios because Dad was not that familiar with the rides. I could hear him repeating things the person on the other end of the phone was saying. It made sense to me, but Dad was not quite getting the FP strategy and then riding. After he finished his phone conversation I asked Dad how long they had in the park. He said they had until 11:00. DH and I suggested that he get a FP for TSM and then get in line to ride. We told him that they would definitely want to do this ride twice if possible. Then they could do RNR and TOT after that with probably little wait. He said that sounded like the same thing his friend was telling him on the phone.

At exactly quarter to 8 they let us in the gate and down to the rope. Then at exactly 8:00 the run/walk began to TSM. After about 30 seconds, I lost track of DH but I knew he was in the front of the crowd and would be in the FP line real quick. Another lady next to me also fell behind her kids while getting to TSM. I said to her..”This is where they weed out the weak ones” We both had a laugh over that. Sure enough, by the time I reached the FP machines, DH was exiting that line and we jumped in the standby line. Our return time for the FP was 9:10. There was no waiting in the stand by line as it just kept moving. There were some upset people in the line who stopped to take a picture with Mr. Potato Head. They expected that while they took their picture everyone behind them would wait. But that didn’t happen. The line kept moving and past them by. How selfish and arrogant to think that people are just going to stop a moving line so you can get a photo!!!!. People are strange.

We had a wonderful ride on TSM. DH beat me….but just by a little. Here are our scores
155,000 to 158,000.

They have changed the balloon game slightly. There are some different targets to shoot at and when you hit them it causes even more new and exciting targets to appear. It was fun to have some new things.

As we were exiting the TSM ride we saw Dad and Son from the entry gate. We got a big thumbs up from son when we asked how he liked it.

Next we did TOT two times in a row with no wait. The second time there was a couple behind us in line and the lady was very very nervous about the drop. They did end up in our elevator. She did a lot of screaming, but made it through. We considered doing TOT a third time but decided we would rather get turned upside down in a limo instead of getting dropped again. So we were off to RNR in the single rider line. Standby said 40 minutes so we thought it would be best to do single rider. But just to make sure we were making the right decision…we noted the last group to enter the standby line as we were entering the single rider line. (it was real easy to remember them because two of the girls were wearing tutu’s over their shorts. If this group passes by us while we are still waiting in the single rider line…then we know it would have been faster in stand by. We will see.

Well lo and behold the tutu girls passed us up in line. We waited another 10 minutes to get on the ride after they went by. We made the wrong choice today!!! But while we were waiting in that single rider line the nervous lady/couple from TOT was right behind us. We did have a nice chat with them which made the wait go faster. She had no problem with going up side down…but dropping was a whole nother thing.

So after that…we did RNR again in the standby line. The posted time said 20 minutes…it was only about 10 minutes.

Then back to TOT for a third ride. The standby time said 20 minutes. We could see the line was pretty long as it snaked around the hotel gardens but we got in anyway. The wait was more like 35 minutes.

Then back to TSM to use our FP. The fast pass line was about a 10 minute wait. DH and I had another close game….133,000 to 138,000. But damn….I lost again.

When we got out of TSM it was 10:40am and THE FAST PASSES WERE GONE FOR THE DAY. The park didn’t seem that crowded…but yet the passes were gone.

After TSM we got out of that hectic area and headed for the big hat. We took in the Great Movie Ride. There was about a 15 minute wait for that.

Next we wandered around the area by the hat where the Pooh characters were out. DH and I don't usually wait in line to meet characters, but we will snap a photo in between visitors. .

Perhaps you can see from some of the pictures posted just how great the weather was. We were so lucky this trip. There was not a drop of rain, no humidity and temps were in the low 80's every day. I feel really blessed to get such perfect weather for our trip


Coming up next….Our lunch at The Brown Derby. This is a first time restaurant for us.

 

[LYNSUE]

Saturday 10-16-10 continued

When I last left you we were on our way to lunch at the Brown Derby. This is our first time trying this restaurant. It is our goal to try them all…and our list does keep getting shorter with each trip. So it was finally time to cross Brown Derby off the list. I think the main thing that kept us from trying it for so long is the price. The lunch and dinner menu is the same so there was no advantage (pricewise) going at lunch time. But curiosity finally took over. I really wanted to try the famous cobb salad and the grapefruit cake I had read about over and over on these boards. Regarding the cobb salad….I am not a fan of bleu cheese, so I was a little reluctant to order it. But to leave it out of this famous creation would be wrong. So I decided if I was going to order it…I would have it as its creator intended it to be.

The famous canopy outside the restaurant. We must have walked by this thing 100’s of times in all of our visits. Today we actually got to enter.

Here is me posing with the menu. This place was rather posh and did give you the Hollywood feeling. I felt like I was in an episode of the old “I Love Lucy Show”, when they visited California (of course)

We started with an appetizer.

I had the mushroom bisque. It was very tasty. However, I judge all mushroom soup based on the best one I ever had. And that was by far, the mushroom soup at Artist’s Point in the Wilderness Lodge. As I said this one was good…but not as good as AP. That is a piece of crispy bread floating in the middle of the soup along with some chives.

DH started with the potato crusted crab cake. This was served over a cole slaw. As you can see there was some other sauce things going on on that plate. Please check AllEars.com menus for a better description. DH said it was very good.

For my entrée, I had the famous cobb salad. This was presented at the table and the waiter finished mixing/tossing all of the components together, including the cobb dressing. I knew from pictures and other description that the ingredients would be chopped fine but it was much finer than I expected. The flavor was good and I liked it….but next time I would leave out the bleu cheese.

DH had the duck two ways

And although we are not usually dessert people we did share a piece of grapefruit cake. It was very interesting. It was tart (like a grapefruit) but very light and refreshing. I am glad we tried it.

I will admit that this was a very expensive lunch. We did enjoy the atmosphere, the food and the service. But based on price… this may have to be a “special occasion” restaurant if we try it again.

Oh and here is a “oops the flash went off” picture I accidently took. DH has such a lovely watch, don’t you think. LOL

After lunch we did Sounds Dangerous. Don’t know why???? We had not done this in years….Now I remember why.

Then we decided to leave the park. As we were approaching the bus stop, a SSR bus pulled away. But the next one was only a 15 minute wait. The bus we boarded was very air conditioned, so we froze on our way back. (felt like I was back in the shower from this morning) We arrived at SSR about 2:00.

We rested until 4:00. As you can tell…we are in favor of the midday rest. It just makes the evening hours so much more enjoyable

However, this rest was not that restful. During our rest time….SOMETHING moved in next door. Lots of banging and bumping. Yelling and loud conversation. There were definitely children in the group. Lots of commotion on the patio. At one point someone very loudly rattled the adjoining door in our studio. I was really worried that this was going to be an on going problem. And up until then…it had been extremely quite in our building. But just to let you know…we never heard anymore noise from them again. It must have been just an over night stay. Also during our rest time I got a call from one of my sisters. They were on their way to the airport in Milwaukee to pick up their son and our son. The boys were returning from Las Vegas. Well on their way to pick them up, they got involved in a little fender bender. Since I am her insurance agent she gave me a call. She totally forgot I was in Florida. So I chatted with her a while and gave her the info for my co-worker to call on Monday.

We decided to forget rest time today!!!

And from here…the rest of the day just got weirder and hectic. Things just did not go as planned.

About 4:00 we went to the bus stop. We were on our way to Epcot. It was one of those waits where every other bus comes by and some twice…but the bus you want doesn’t. We actually had our longest wait of the trip…it was about 25 minutes.

Here are two photos we took while waiting for the bus.

This is the fountain in the lake in the center of the SSR buildings

Well we finally arrived at Epcot at the front of the park. Our goal was to get to the 5:15 “Eat to the Beat” concert which is at the American Adventure Theatre. The American Adventure Theatre is at the furthest point in Epcot from the front of the park. So we worked our way through a very crowded Epcot. Prior to the trip I had made a promise not to go near World Showcase on the weekend. We knew the weekend would be extremely crowded with the F&W Festival. But we really wanted to see Howard Jones and Saturday was the only day we could. So we found ourselves in this very crowded situation. Well eventually we arrived at the theatre and even though the concert would not start for 20 minutes, the theatre was almost full. We sat near the back. While we were waiting I got a call from my future daughter in law. (our oldest son is getting married next September) Anyway she was having some drama with her bridesmaids and the dresses that were chosen. I was a good (soon to be) mother-in-law and listened and sympathized the best I could. Not much you can help with when you are 1200 miles away. And not to sound selfish, but I don’t like when real life makes an appearance during my WDW vacation. But sometimes it can’t be helped (like my sister with the fender bender).

There is only one Howard Jones song that I knew. “No One Ever is to Blame” It’s a good song and I like it….so we decided to stay and hear it. Well he did that song about in the middle of the show. Many people actually got up and left after he sang the song. We were polite and stayed until the end. He also had some equipment problems during the performance so the usual 30 minute show turned into a 40 minute show getting done about 5:55. I was wishing we had left (like many others) after his hit song. Because now I was worried we would be late getting to our dinner and haunted carriage ride at Fort Wilderness.

Things get even more hectic from here…..Stay tuned.

 

[LYNSUE]

Saturday 10-15-10 concluded

When I last left you we were fighting our way out of Epcot to get to Fort Wilderness. We left the American Adventure Theatre along with many others, so the crowd was very thick. On our way out, we actually ran into the mom and daughter we had originally met in the Milwaukee airport when we were flying out. I still can believe DH spotted them. The daughter did talk excitedly about the MNSSHP they had attended.

Months earlier I had scheduled a Haunted Carriage Ride at Ford Wilderness as a special treat for our fall trip. (it was way cheaper than a Halloween party at MK). Our scheduled tour time was set for 8:30 and they expected us to be there by 8:15. My goal was to be to Fort Wilderness plenty early because we did not want to be late for a tour we had already paid for. And I hate to be rushing around. So I figured the best option would be to have dinner at Fort Wilderness. And there are not many options at FW except Trail’s End Buffet. DH and I are not big fans of buffets and were not really looking forward to it. But for convenience sake, I got a 6:45 ADR.

Since the Eat to the Beat concert ran long, we are already late leaving Epcot. We waited about 20 minutes for a Wilderness Lodge Bus. Once we got to Fort Wilderness then we needed to take an internal bus to get us to the restaurant area. At this point we are not sure exactly where the carriage tour leaves from, but we figured we could find that out at dinner. At FW there are three bus lines. A yellow, an orange and a purple. Any of them will get you to the main area but the purple is a direct route. The orange and the yellow go through the camp sites. Well we were lucky enough to get a purple bus and we hopped on. At this point we should make our ADR on time. Just as we sat down on the bus, my cell phone rang. It was Stephanie from the carriage ride tours. She had someone call her that had a 7:30 reservation and they wanted to change to a later time. She asked me if we would be willing to take the 7:30 time slot. I felt really pressured to give her an answer. My first thought was that I wasn’t that crazy about our dinner reservation and we were already on our way, so why not. I told her yes. However, since we did not know where the tour left from (and there were stable looking buildings near the bus stop) we got off the bus. BIG MISTAKE!!! We looked around the buildings near the bus stop and there was nobody there. I called Stephanie back and said where are you? She said we should have stayed on the bus, we needed to get over to the actual fort area. Finally another bus came along. It was a yellow one. We get on. This bus stops every 50 yards to pick up people in the campgrounds. It was a very long trip to the main building. By this time we don’t think we will make the 7:15 expected arrival time and to top it off…both of us needed to use the restroom since we left Epcot. Thing were pretty miserable by this point. Well…we finally get dropped off. There is a line a mile long waiting to get into Hoop De Doo. We can’t even get near a window or person to direct us. We are basically wandering around in the dark. So we call Stephanie again. She stays on the phone with us until she can see us crossing the grassy area coming toward her. We barely made it on time. And we had no time to stop at the rest room. We are both hoping for a smooth non-bumpy ride. It was a nice ride. Our driver was Dave and our horse was George. George was an old veteran and could walk that path in Fort Wilderness in the dark with no problem.

Our carriage

There was a recording played of the legend of sleepy hollow and told the entire story of Ickabod Crane. We passed by some scary sites and a cemetery. The recording was done by the same voice that speaks to you when riding the haunted mansion. So of course it was eerie.

The pictures are very dark….but I will post some anyway.

Some sites along the way

And at the end there was an appearance by the headless horseman. Look at the upper right of the picture, you can just see his white shirt collar with nothing above it.

It was a very entertaining tour and we did enjoy it. I must say we would have enjoyed it more with out the hustle and hurry and mixed up bus service. Oh….and also our screaming bladders. If we had stuck to my original plan and just had dinner at the buffet and then took our time finding the stables….it could have been so much better. Live and learn. I sure hope that other couple appreciated getting our later time slot.

OK, so we are done with the tour. It is now after 8:00 on a Saturday night and we have NO dinner reservation. And although we said we didn’t want the Trail’s End Buffet, it seemed like a convenient option now. We checked at the restaurant and found it would be a 45 minute wait. We did not really want to do that. DH suggested we get a boat over to the Contemporary and see if the Wave could get us in. It would be nearly 9:00 by then. Surely….they would have room for us????? It took us about twenty minutes to get to the Contemporary once we got on the boat. We went to the check in counter and were told they were full for the night but we could eat in the lounge area or in the bar. We were pretty desperate by then so we took the bar seats. Eating at a bar is not the most comfortable but we did ok. As a bonus…..we got to watch the second half of the Badger Football game. (that would not have been available in the dining room)

I ordered from the appetizer menu. Some scallops and some chili.

DH had…..pork tenderloin with mashed sweet potatoes.

DH just could not resist the bread pudding from the dessert menu. I had a few bites and it was very good.

I guess everything worked out the way it was suppose to. We had a very entertaining time in the bar. Everyone was so laid back and casual. We had a great bartender who took very good care of us. We stayed until the Badger game was over so it was well after 10:00 when we left.

We walked to the MK and caught a bus to SSR. In fact a SSR bus was waiting for us when we walked up. Back to the resort by 10:45.

WHAT A DAY……And that’s all I have to say about that.

 

[LYNSUE]

Sunday 10-17-10

Whenever we visit WDW during football season, Sunday is our “No Park” day, our “Rest & Relax” day, our “Just Watch Football All Day” day. Usually it also means we have to make a trip to the ESPN club at the Boardwalk if we want to see the Packer game. But we lucked out this year because the Sunday we were there….The Packers played Miami. The Miami game was pickup up by the local affiliates so we got to watch the Packer game in our hotel room. BIG BIG BONUS!!!!

Originally we planned to go to AK for early entry this morning. However, after our hectic evening at Fort Wilderness….we decided NO WAY. We actually slept until 8:15. Got up and had a little breakfast in the room. DH went to the gym for a work out. I took my walk outside. It is a nice walk to DTD from SSR. I circled DTD two times and then I stopped at the House of Blues restaurant to see if we could get a ressie for dinner tonight. It was about 9:30 but the place was not open. I assumed it would be because I have heard about their famous Gospel Brunch on Sunday. Apparently that don’t start until later. So I circled around back and found Scott cleaning up on the patio seating. I asked him about a reservation and he said sure. He said he would write us in the book when we went back inside. I said thanks. Then I headed back to SSR. It was an absolute gorgeous morning for a power walk.

I arrived back at the resort, took a shower and then picked up the room a little. It was our Trash and Towel day. When staying at a DVC villa you don’t get maid service everyday. I know this sounds appalling to some people, but we love it. I don’t need someone entering my room everyday. I can certainly flip the blankets up on the bed and hang up my towel to be used a second time. After four days you get your Trash and Towel day and they bring all fresh stuff. It’s a good plan and it works well. Anyway today is that day. So I gathered up all of our used towels and bagged the trash together and left it in the entry way for when the maid arrives.

After that I sat down to write the post cards I promised to send. If you remember back on day two, I was shopping for post cards to send to some children that will be visiting WDW in January. It was fun taking on the character’s personality and writing a note. I was Cinderella for the 4 year old girl, then a pirate from the Pirate League for the 8 year old boy and then The Fairy Godmother for their mom. It took a while to compose the three cards.

Such a relaxing and non-hectic morning. We were both enjoying it very much.

At about 12:30 I prepared us a tuna salad lunch (from the box of food that was shipped) and we enjoyed some more leisure time. Our food budget was sure getting a boost today!!!


At 1:00 it was time for football to start.

For the next six hours we watched football. (and maybe napped a little ) DH kept track of his Fantasy Football stats on the computer. There were several phone calls home to check with our two boys about how they were doing in their Fantasy matchup that day. At half time of the Packer game I called my mom to catch up on things at home.

At 7:15pm we left the room. Honestly, it was time to get out for a while. We stopped at the main building and I mailed the post cards out and then we walked to DTD for our dinner reservation at the House of Blues. They had no problem getting us in on a Sunday night. I started with some tomato soup and then had the catfish nuggets with mash potatoes. DH started with a cup of Gumbo and then had some Jambalaya (almost redundant don’t you think?) There are many of the same ingredients in both of those dishes.

After dinner we did a little shopping. We stopped at Sosa’s and purchased cigars for our youngest son. (Please don’t judge us on this) He is not a smoker, but will very occasionally enjoy a premium cigar.

We walked back to SSR arriving about 9:30. We watched some more football and some play-off baseball.

I can’t tell you how much we enjoyed our day. To many…. it may sound like we wasted our day or didn’t take advantage of our WDW time. But that is simply not true for us. A down day in the middle of the vacation is just what we need. So that is just what we did.

We did not take one picture today. We did not worry about being at any particular place and any particular time. It was a go with the flow day. Try it sometime, you might like it.

 

[LYNSUE]

Monday 10-18-10

Only 2 ½ days left of vacation. It’s time to get serious. No more of that lazy laying around stuff…..

Since we did not get to AK for early entry yesterday…we decided that’s what we would do today.

Up at 7:00am had breakfast in the room and made it to AK by 8:30. In the past we have used the entrance in the Rain Forest Café restaurant. Well not today. We tried, but there was a CM standing there to let us know the doors from the restaurant will not be opening until 9:00. They no longer let you line up outside. We said, Oh Well and went back around and got in the regular line.

The opening ceremony

We made a bee line right to EE. We timed it and we were actually ON the ride at 9:02. We did EE four times in a row. Twice in the regular line and twice in the single rider line. And since we were a little woozy after that we decided that was enough EE this morning. But just in case it wasn’t, we stopped to get a FP with a return time of 10:30.

Next to the Safari. We had a twenty minute wait. We have one picture. Those cattle sure have some big horns!!!

That was all we did at AK. We left at 10:45am after giving away our FP.

We were heading back to SSR. You see, I forgot to bring along our Restaurant.Com certificate for our dinner tonight. We were trying The Garden Grove restaurant in the Swan. Many of the restaurants in the Swan and Dolphin do not take Tables in Wonderland card, but the $25 gift certificate is just as good of a savings. And although
Garden Grove is a buffet (remember we try to avoid buffets) this buffet seemed upscale. And Monday nights is their seafood buffet with crab legs, so I thought it would be worth trying. (and it was, but more on that later)

So as we approached the bus stop, there was a SSR bus waiting for us. We were back to the room in a jiffy, grabbed the certificate and were back at the SSR bus stop. We were going to get a bus to the Studios but the Epcot bus came first so we went there instead.
Spontaneous….I know!!!

First thing at Epcot was getting a FP for Soarin.

And since it was no longer the weekend…we thought we would try munching our way around World Showcase for lunch. And what a very pleasant/uncrowded time it was!!

Our first stop was New Zealand again. I wanted another one of those scallops. I know you saw the picture before….but here it is again. But before getting the scallop, I loaded our gift card up with some cash so it would be easy to make our purchases.

Next was Caricature & Cheese (sorry no picture). I was really looking forward to trying the fondue with croutons and potatoes. DH and I shared one. And it was so disappointing. The cheese was very sharp and the potatoes were cold.

Next DH had the chicken sausage with chipotle in Canada. (sorry no picture). It was reported as good.

Next was Ireland for the Fisherman’s Pie. This was excellent and kind of filling.

You can see the gift card bracelet around my wrist.

Next was France where I ordered a sparkling Pomegranate champagne for DH and I had the Short Rib with potato puree. I was a little surprised when the item was served to me upside down on the plate. Once I had a chance to sit down, I turned the thing over to find the rib meat on top was charred black. The meat was incredibly dry and burnt tasting. Blah. No wonder they served it upside down. After a few bites of the less charred part, this got tossed. And although we did not enjoy the food sample, we did enjoy the stacking chair guy.

Along the way we encountered these "bad shoes" (for touring the parks..that is)

Next DH had a waffle with fruit in Belgium

Next I had the Barramundi fish with Arugula salad in Australia. Excellent!

Next DH had the crab cake at the America booth.

As we were making our way around we decided to stop in Norway for the boat ride. It was about a 15 minute wait. I did see a sight while waiting in line. There was a lady a few groups in front of us and she was wearing a very very low cut tank top. At one point she reached into her shirt and lifted up her breast and proceeded to scratch in itch under there. Come on…..how can anyone be that unaware of their surroundings and do THAT in public. PS: We did stay for the movie in Norway hoping it would erase that image from my mind.

After that I needed a drink (and I don’t drink) so we stopped in the Margarita Bar, El Cava in Mexico. There was actually tables available in this tiny restaurant. DH had a pomegranate margarita and we shared an order of beef flautus.

We were done with World Showcase for a while and made our way over to Future World. The first thing we did was Captain EO. After seeing it, I could recall a very vague memory of it from the past. And although Michael Jackson was a fabulous entertainer…I still felt very “MEH” about the movie. Glad I did it but no need to see it again.

Next was Test Tracks in the single rider line. We ended up riding together anyway. Then the mild side of Mission Space. Then off to Soarin to us our FP. After the ride we did stop to get a FP for Soarin with a return time of 8:15.

We headed back to the American Adventure Theatre for the 5:15 concert of Expose’ We knew nothing about this band. Turns out, it is three woman….Who Knew??? Since we did not know any of their music the concert was just ok. After that we headed out to the International Gateway toward the BW. (gave away our Soarin FP’s on the way out)

We enjoyed our dinner at Garden Grove. It was a well maintained buffet. There was never any dishes left unattended or left to looked mangled. The dishes on the buffet were set up higher so little hands could not help themselves. (they needed an adult to serve them). Also there was a very nicely stocked children’s buffet which was set to a child’s level. All of those factors made this worth our while to try….(along with the seafood being offered, of course).

Some pictures.

Fresh seafood pasta made to order

Our buffet plates

The dessert buffet

We were surprised by some characters. (thought they only made appearances in the morning??)

Timon from the Lion King . Raffaki was also there but we did not get a picture.

After dinner it was our intention to go the extra magic hours at the Studios. We passed it up. It had been a long day already. So we walked back to the Boardwalk and stopped at Cat Cora’s restaurant Kouzzina. We made an ADR for dinner the next night. We caught a bus to DTD and then walked back to SSR.

We watched some TV. Since the Monday Night Football game was awful, I was able to catch some of the Monday night Sit Coms which I enjoy very much.

Tuesday is our last full day at WDW. We try to make the most of it.

 

[LYNSUE]

Tuesday 10-19-10 Our Last Full Day

Up at 6:45am and had breakfast in the room. We wanted to be first at a gate at DHS this morning. We only waited about 10 minutes for our bus and arrived at DHS at 8:00 for the 9:00 entry. They let us into the park at exactly 9:00 and we headed right for TSM. We did our usual routine and DH got a FP and by the time he was done I had caught up with him and we get in line to ride.

We did TSM 4 times this morning. Three times stand by and once with our FP. We sure got our fix.

Mr. Potato Head

A nice lady offered to take our picture and then asked DH to take her family’s picture. Of course he returned the favor.

Our first trip through was a non-stop walk on. 2nd trip showed a standby wait of 50 minutes and it took 30 minutes. Third time around the standby wait said 30 minutes and it took 50. The fourth time we used the FP with a 7 minute wait. Of these four trips, DH won the first two and I won the second two.

Here is a picture of one of my victories. Damn….my arm was tired and sore. Maybe four times is too many?

By this time in was 11:00. I was sad that we had our last ride (for this trip) on TSM but I was very happy that I had two winning scores under my belt. TSM will just have to wait until next March now…..

Here is DH wearing his sexy 3D glasses.

Next stop was TOT. There was a 20 minute wait posted but it turned out to be 35 minutes.

The fountain in the waiting line.

Then we did a little shopping. I found a cute purse for my “soon to be” daughter in law for a birthday gift.

After that we left DHS and intended to catch a DTD bus. We were having lunch at Portobellos. This was another first time restaurant for us.

However, the SSR bus was waiting as we approached the bus stop, so we took that instead. Got off the bus at the Congress Park stop with the intention of walking to DTD. However, there was a DTD bus just waiting for us…so we jumped on that.

First off the restaurant is beautiful inside.

As all good Italian restaurants do….they start you off with some wonderful bread and olive oil.

I started with Sambuca Shrimp. Great stuff

DH started with stuffed mozzarella (He said it was good, but a little heavy) What do you expect? It’s Italian!!!!

My entrée was gnocchi. I only managed to eat about half of this. DH helped me out with the rest.

DH’s entrée was rigatoni with Italian Sausage. I had a sample of this and it was very good.

We enjoyed our meal here very much. We will certainly make it back to this restaurant. Too bad we waited so long to try it.

After our lunch we stopped at Goofy’s Candy Kitchen. One of my co-workers requested three dipped pretzels. These use to be $3 with unlimited candy toppings. Now they are $8.95 with a limit of one topping and a drizzle. Even at that price, they are still worth it. Well since my co-worker was picking up the slack while I was gone…I decided to get two sets of pretzels (the one she ordered and one from me). So I gave the lady the order on what I wanted on the first three pretzels and then said make a second set the same. Well she messed up and put oreo crumbs on two of the pretzels when it should have been mini M&M’s. I pointed out the mistake and they kindly remade them. But they also through in the mistakes (the two oreo ones) bring the total number of pretzel sticks up to 8. So for my coworker’s investment of $8.95, she got 8 pretzels. She thought it was a very good deal. LOL. (We were back to the original price of about $1 each with the deal she got) By the way…these things are rather fragile, so getting them home does require hand carrying them the entire way. Good thing I really like my co-worker. LOL We did a little more shopping and then walked back to SSR. We dropped off our stuff in the room and headed right back to the bus stop.

We were on our way to MK. Can’t believe we haven’t been there since Friday. It was time to get another MK fix.

Our MK bus showed up in about 30 seconds

We arrived there about 3:30. We only had until about 7:00 since there was a Halloween Party tonight.

First stop was the Pirate Tutorial. This guy does such a fantastic job of playing Captain Jack Sparrow.

Next we did pirates 2 times, Thunder Mountain 2 times, We walked past Splash but decided to skip it since the water cannons were really blasting this afternoon. We wanted to look respectable when we went to dinner tonight. And wet hair and clothes just don’t cut it.

On our walk from Thunder Mountain we saw this disgusting sight. Someone had tossed the remains of their turkey leg in the shrubbry and other birds were eating it. Such cannibalism !! LOL

Then we did Haunted Mansion 2 times. And next Mickey’s Phil 1 time. And Snow White one time.

Next we did Winnie the Pooh. There was a bit of a line and we were behind a family with three little kids. The youngest was a baby of about 6 to 7 months old. All three kids were wearing very cute costumes, so I assumed they were staying for the party tonight. Well during our wait in line the mom but the baby down on the filthy concrete floor to crawl around. This baby was getting dirty, picking up small pieces of garbage and putting them in her mouth and getting under foot of other adults in the line. One guy actually stumbled trying to avoid stepping on the child. The baby untied a man tennis shoe!! (the man was not amused) Mom thought it was so very cute and continued to let this go on until we reach the ride vehicles. Another “unbelievable” moment!!!!

We experience another moment later at the bus stop where a mom absolutely refuses to fold her stroller up to board the bus. She demanded the wheel chair lift be lowered. HER BABY IS SLEEPING YOU KNOW!! It caused quite an argument between two bus drivers. But more on that later.

 

[LYNSUE]

Tuesday 10-19-10 continued

We last left you as we were completing our late afternoon and early evening in the MK.

Our next stop after Winnie the Pooh was Laugh Floor Comedy. DH and I enjoy this show. I did text in a joke….but it did not get used this time. (although a few years ago, I did have them use one of my jokes).

However, DH got to be part of this show. (No, he was not THAT GUY!!).

The two headed character, Mac and Geeves (or Cheese), Not sure….anyway, they were telling the condensed version of the Monster’s Inc. movie. DH was the one they showed each time Mike Wazowski’s name was mentioned. Since Mike only has one eye, each time DH was on camera he had to cover one eye. They tell the story really fast so you had to be alert for when your character came up on the screen. It was fun.

Next we did Buzz. Usually DH wins this game big. However, this time I got very lucky and hit some large target (don’t know what) and got a score of 959,000 points.

After Buzz it was time to leave the park. It was almost 7:00 and the crowd was growing for the Halloween party tonight. As we got closer to the exit we could see the mass of people waiting to enter.

Since we were having dinner at Kouzzina we got in line for the Boardwalk bus.

There was a bit of a line when we arrived but the Boardwalk bus was there. But the line was not moving. We did see a second bus driver moving around the bus, so we figured it was shift change. Ok, no problem. The first bus driver was in a conversation with a young couple with a very large loaded down stroller. Mom was demanding that the baby (and all of their stuff) be loaded on the bus via the wheel chair lift. The baby was sleeping and she was not going to move him. The bus driver told them no, but the mom would not give up. (dad kind of walked away at this point) The conversation continued. In the meantime, the line of people was getting restless and wanted to get going. Finally after much arguing the bus driver went in the bus and started to bring down the lift. When the second bus driver saw this, she came around and said no way. This was not going to happen….it was against the rules and it is a safety issue. So now the two drivers are in full argument.

Bus driver #1 won that round. Mom and the open stroller (with baby in it) were lifted on the ramp and the stroller was latched inside the bus with the wheel chair restraints. Bus driver #2 (the one taking over the route) was very upset. She said she was worried that she would be reprimanded if some one in charge witnessed this when she dropped them off. She just kept shaking her head and saying no.

So this very “entitled” couple and their demands, put both of these Disney employees’ in a bad situation plus they made about 50 people wait a longer time in line until their unreasonable demands were met. Talk about arrogance!!!! Sure didn’t seem to bother the couple one little bit even though they did get some dirty looks from people boarding. We finally got going and the first stop was the Boardwalk. We got off the bus there, so we did not see how the bus driver reacted to this couple when they arrived at the next stop (which was the Swan) and she had to get them unloaded (via the wheel chair lift again…I assume). Personally, I hope she gave them a little lecture. The couple deserved it. I know this statement is probably showing my age…..but I just don’t understand some of these young mothers. Please be aware…..”Giving Birth” does not entitle you to adjust the rules to suit you and your situation.


We arrived at the BW at about 7:40 for our 8:00 dinner reservation. We checked into Kouzzina and were given a pager. We sat outside on a bench and waited to be called. The restaurant was very busy.

This is another first time restaurant for us. In reading the menu on line I was always a little reluctant about the choices offered which is what took us so long to try the place. In fact this restaurant was not on our original plans this trip. We had just made the ADR the day before on a whim.

The BW was very busy tonight and there were several performers out and about.

We were called in a little after 8:00. The dining room was booming and was very noisy. The open kitchen style has a lot to do with that. We were taken to a nice cozy booth in the very back of the restaurant to the far right. It was a very nice spot and it seemed a little quieter there.

I started with a Greek salad. (sorry some was eaten already) This was very good.

DH started with a Margarita and then had some chick pea soup. (again sorry…some was eaten already) He said the soup was good, but a little to tomatoey for him. He really liked the chick pea part though.

My entrée was a pork chop and I subbed roasted potatoes for the mixed greens. The onion chutney on top was very good.

DH had a dish called Pastitsio. He said he mother use to make this when he was a kid. He was quite sure hers did not contain authentic Greek ingredients like this did. But DH said it was similar to what he remembered. He enjoyed it and I think nostalgia had something to do with that. I tried a bite of the Pastitsio and like many Mediterranean dishes it has that slightly sweet/cinnamon flavor. (not a fan of that) But it doesn't matter since it was not my entree' .

We enjoyed our dinner here and we will come back again sometime. Just don’t know if it will be anytime soon. But we did get to check another restaurant off of our list. This restaurant does accept the Tables In Wonderland card for that nice 20% discount.

After dinner we walked to the bus stop to catch a DTD bus. The bus was waiting for us when we got there. We were back to SSR by 9:45pm.

We watched some TV and did some packing for our departure tomorrow.

 

[LYNSUE]

Wednesday 10-20-10 Departure Day

Our original schedule showed us having breakfast at Crystal Palace in the MK at 8:00am. Since our flight was not leaving until this afternoon we thought it would be nice to enjoy the MK before opening and catching a few last rides.

Well the reality turned out to be…..we were sick of eating out, we had our fill of the parks, and we were tired of getting up so early. So we skipped our ADR at Crystal Palace. (besides we had a few breakfast things in the room that needed to be finished up).

So we finished our breakfast items, finished packing and then cleaned up the room a bit since we were checking out today. Just like we do on “Trash and Towel” day….we get our garbage bagged up and put all dirty towels in a pile. Also we do any dishes that have collected in the sink. We feel that those are the duties of a good DVC member!!!

Here is an oops picture DH took of our garbage/recycling as we were cleaning up.

Next we took our checked bags down to Bell Services to get tagged and sent on their way to the airport. Since we were flying Southwest, the airport service people also checked us in. Thank you. We got boarding group A positions 52 and 53.

We got back to the room and hung around for a while and did some reading until about 10:30am.

Although spending a few hours this morning at MK would have been nice…..I have to think what we did was way more relaxing and less hectic than worrying about getting to and from a park and trying to time the buses. No way do we want to be late for our Magical Express pick up. We have played that game in the past….and believe me it is no fun when you are worried about getting back to your resort at a specific time.

At 10:30 we officially left the room and checked out. We took our carry on bags to Bell Services to hold for us and then waited for a bus to DTD. We had one more restaurant on our list that we wanted to try for the first time. Wolfgang Puck Express. While we were waiting for the bus we had a nice chat with the CM keeping the bus schedule that morning. It was Chris from Milwaukee, so we had some common ground we could discuss. The bus arrived in about 10 minutes.

Wolfgang Puck Express is a great counter service restaurant. It is a good value for the food you get. It is nice that the food is delivered to your table. It gives it more of a table service restaurant feel.

We got a salad to share. That is a piece of bruchetta on top of the salad.

DH had a pasta dish. (That man loves Italian food)

And I had chicken strips and fries. (this type of order is so untypical of me). I guess that just proves how sick of eating out I was. I just didn’t care anymore what I ate.

After this early lunch we walked back to SSR. We got about half way back just at the entrance to the SSR complex when a bus entering the resort pulled over and asked us where we were going. He said jump on the bus and he would give us a ride the rest of the way. Not necessary….but very nice of him.

We collected our carry on luggage and waited for the ME bus. Our pick up time was 12:30.

I won’t bore you with the details of the trip home. Just know everything went well. I do have one funny incident I want to share. We were the only two people on the shuttle from the Milwaukee airport back to the Super 8 hotel where our car was parked. The driver asked us about our trip and then we told him about our bad experience of the drunken mob at the hotel the night before we left. He laughed and said he had done a shuttle pickup two days earlier which included some people from that group……and he said they were STILL drunk!!! LOL

When I think about this vacation to WDW, the first thing that comes to mind is the perfect weather we had. The temps were in the low 80’s. There was absolutely no rain and no humidity . How did we get so lucky?? The other thing is the great bus service throughout the trip. Again we were very lucky.

Well enough for now…..See you all next March.

 

[OhMari]

Going to go back and finish, but thanks for letting me know about Southwest. Me and my sisters are flying home with Southwest in A pril.

What are your dates in March.

 

[LYNSUE]

We will be visiting the world 3-3-11 to 3-10-11