A Haunting, A Run, & Some Food & Wine: 3 Fall 2013 Trips - Complete

[TheMaxRebo]

Thanks for posting about the Grand Marnier event ... my wife and her mother are doing that next Saturday and I think they will very much enjoy it!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Mmmm, Bacon​

On Friday, our room had a note about area transportation letting us know the main road into Animal Kingdom Lodge would be closed down due to the Tower of Terror 10 Miler starting at 8:00PM. As we had dinner reservations at 7:45pm at Jiko, that was no good for us. We decided to switch our reservations with what we had on Wednesday. It also meant being able to be lazy & not drive anywhere as we could take the boat from the Contemporary over.

We headed to the dock with about 45 minutes to spare prior to our reservation.

We had to wait about 20 minutes for a boat to come & when they did show up, we had 2 of them come running in opposite rotations around Bay Lake. We headed onto the one that went straight into Wilderness Lodge.

We checked in and were immediately directed to our table. Like Tokyo Dining, it was about 75% empty in the place.

Upon review of the menu, none of the entrees really stood out to me & I went with multiple appetizers.

Mixed Field Greens Salad

It was refreshing. The ice wine vinaigrette provided a flavor profile that was different than I would have thought it would have tasted like. It lacked the 'season' fruit as the only fruit was the 2 sections of figs.

Whiskey Glaze Confit Natural Bacon

How can you go wrong with Bacon? The puree also worked well with the dish. The blitz was eh but no one is really ordering this dish for the blitz.

Crispy Chicken Breast

He liked his chicken.

We decided to share a dessert.

Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake w/ Candied Bacon Brittle

I ate the brittle. It tasted like salted smoky caramel. The cake was kinda bland.

After dinner, we headed back to the resort. Relaxed in the room & I think we were asleep by 9:15!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Trekking​

When the alarm went off at 7AM, we were slow moving. My shins were a bit tight from the day prior. Neither of us had any desire for a full breakfast so we skipped opting for an energy drink in the room. My husband had one of the trial clif bars from the goody box from Saturday's race.

We headed to the bus stop around 8:15 and didn't have to wait long for the bus to arrive. A quick stop at the Polynesian & we were on our way to the park! This would be our first visit to Animal Kingdom since October 2011 as we've skipped it on all the trips since then. My husband also decided to use his pedometer app on his phone to see how much we walk in this park.

Even though we arrived prior to 9AM, they were letting people into the park without any stopping points inside the park for crowd control.

As we had fastpass+ selections for the three major attractions, we went first to Its Tough To Be A Bug as we weren't in a hurry.

We were sitting towards the front so I wasn't able to play my mental game of guess how many children leave the theater during the attack scene.

Afterwards, we walked towards Asia for a visit to the Yeti.

After surviving our trek to Everest, we headed towards our next land we've horribly ignored outside of 1 attraction our last few visits to Animal Kingdom.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Thanks for posting about the Grand Marnier event ... my wife and her mother are doing that next Saturday and I think they will very much enjoy it!

They should love it! Its a lot of alcohol and a good time. The energy in the room is more about having fun than learning unlike how some demos can be. Plus after a mimosa & a couple shots, that would be enough to break the ice with any crowds.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I Got A Big Head & Little Arms​

Outside of Dinosaur, we've skipped most of Dinoland during our trips to Animal Kingdom.

This would fit in with our Florida Tourist Trap trip we're planning

I found the family for the lost penguins from Saturday while we explored the tourist trap.

The next attraction we did was the Triceratop Spin. I don't think we've ever done that ride together before this trip.

The next attraction was something we hadn't been on since a trip with another couple in 2007. Well, I went on the ride then. He got to skip it as one of them wouldn't do roller coasters.

As we had time until our next fastpass+ reservation, we decided to look in the shop.

This is a rare Dis_Yoda

It passed 10am & we checked into the Dino Institute.

Yes, you welcome me to get you a dino while you try to kill me

We didn't die at the brink of the meteor strike & survived to head back to Asia for another adventure & lunch!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I'm Hiding​

Next on our to-do list was the Jungle Trek.

We had one main goal to look at in here.

But first we had to see some Bats.

The tigers were hiding in the shade. When he noticed people taking pictures of himself, he hide is face more.

I wish I could sleep for 16 to 18 hours a day sometimes!

We visited some birds & the monkeys until it was time for our lunch reservation at Yak & Yeti.

We checked in about 5 minutes prior to our ADR but had to wait 15 minutes to be seated as they only had 1 person sitting people. As it wasn't long after opening, there was a backlog of people trying to be sat!

I started with a chilled apple sake.

It tasted more like flat cider than sake to me but still enjoyable!

My husband had his diet coke.

My husband jokingly filled out the comment card.

Don't worry, this was thrown out & not turned in. The 3rd face drawn was my disapproval

My husband went with:

Crispy Honey Chicken

I continued my meal made of appetizers I've been doing this trip.

Wonton Soup

I seriously crave their Wonton Soup.

Potstickers

I used to like these a lot more. Even for being 'pan seared' they were really soggy. If I had ordered them steamed that is one thing, but I didn't.

I also got

Side of Chicken Fried Rice

This was a case of my eyes being larger than my stomach. I ate some so it wouldn't be wasted but I didn't need it.

Overall our meal was excellent. It will continue to be our choice for lunch at Animal Kingdom!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Down In Africa​

After our quick lunch at Yak & Yeti, we headed over to Africa.

The drummers were performing.

We then caught the train to Rafiki's Conservation Station.

Its that silly fox again!

Inside there was a speaker with a bird.

We passed on playing this thrilling game:

We listened to the sounds of the rainforest.

& we were done.

Travelled back into Harambe to explore the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail before it was time for our Safari Fastpass+

The hippos & the meerkats were hiding so we didn't get to see them.

We still had about 15 minutes until it was time for our fastpass+ to be used. Luckily there is a place called the Dawa Bar.

Lost in Africa

It was a refreshing fruity cocktail with lots of rum!

When went to go use our fastpass+ but it was a huge line to even get to where you place your mickey head to get into the fastpass line. My husband looked at me & said, "nope, not waiting for this" and we trekked back out of Africa & out of the park to head back to the resort.

We didn't have to wait very long for our bus & we were quickly back at Bay Lake Towers. We stopped by the Cove Bar before heading up to the room for some more alcoholic beverages.

Moscato Colada

My husband's choice.

Island Moonshine

My choice.

Once we acquired them, we headed back upstairs to our room. We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. A little after 2:30, my husband headed to the gym at the Contemporary for an hour. I went to the pool around then for about 45 minutes.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Hello Old Friend, You Have Changed​

We cleaned up & got ready for our dinner next door at California Grill. We checked in about 15 minutes early to our ADR & were shown to the elevator to get up to the top.

Love how they are trying to enforce the dress code!

That said, there were a fair amount of people dressed up for MNSSHP that evening.

Our server greeted us quickly & handed us their updated menu. If you've seen copies of their new menu online - its exactly the same.

I had a glass of Chenin Blanc from South Africa as I figured it would work with the shrimp dishes I was having.

I started with an old favorite of mine -

Rock Shrimp Salad

I love the wasabi cream & soy reduction with those vegetables and small fried shrimp.

Jumbo Prawns w/ Lemon from Wood Fired Oven

I went with this appetizer as my main meal. It was two huge prawns. Lacked a bit on seasoning until I squeezed some of the lemon on top.

Filet w/ Tomato Risotto
My husband's choice for the evening. His steak was cooked to his liking along with a risotto that was perfectly cooked.

I will note that our server disappeared after picking up my cleaned off appetizer plate. I saw a poor runner holding our two entrees dishes either looking for our server or trying to figure out what table to go to. I raised my hand as I figured not many other two tops would order what we did for our main meals. He dropped it off and disappeared. It wasn't until we were finished with our entrees that our server appeared again.

We already knew what desserts we were getting prior to arriving upon reviews of the menu.

Sundae Sampler

The caramel one to the left was my husband's favorite. Followed by a distant coke float (the coke seemed flat) and a far distant strawberry basil. He said that one tasted like deodorant. (When he's tried deodorant before - I haven't a clue)

Warm Banana Fritters w/ 3 Dipping Sauces

These were great, especially with the caramel sauce.

We paid our bill and headed back downstairs. While it was a great meal food wise, they still have some work to do with the service. I had a 2nd meal planned there for Friday but we are adjusting our plans again & will be going to Jiko instead that evening.

My husband, unsatisfied with his dessert, wanted something else.

We headed to Contempo Cafe to look at the desserts they had.

Halloween Celebration Cake

Cake with a whole lot of sprinkle & vanilla frosting.

He thought it was kinda bland & wished he saved the calories.

The rest of our evening was really boring. I did laundry (yay free laundry for DVC!) We watched Once Upon A Time, Halloween Wars & Cutthroat Kitchen. At 10:15PM, my husband enjoyed Electrical Water Parade from the balcony.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Good Morning, Good Morning!​

Our alarm went off at 7:00AM. We were slow moving as we got dressed. Neither of us were that hungry or felt like walking to the main building, so I enjoyed an energy drink & a snack pack of peanuts while my husband had his energy drink with the Pita Chips from the runDisney box from Saturday. I guess being lazy saves money at least.

When getting my stuff ready for my pockets, I realized my C3PO vinylmation keychain was missing half its body.

Not sure when that happened.

As it was a nice day out so far this morning, we decided to walk over to the Magic Kingdom prior to opening.

We only had to wait in the area between the gates & the train station about 10 minutes until it was time for the morning welcome show.

As the train is under rehab at the moment, they just walked over to the railing for their show.

We headed towards Tomorrowland for another spin at Buzz Lightyear. My husband & I got in different cars as we tend to fight over who gets to do the spinner & as there was 0 wait, we didn't feel like we would be harming anyway with taking an extra vehicle.

My Score - My husband's was 371,000 but he didn't take a picture

We went across the way to one of the most despised rides in Magic Kingdom:

Stitch is one of my favorite characters but his ride is a sad reminder of how great Alien Encounters used to be. I got the chair that didn't work sound wise too

We headed over to Space Mountain to use the fastpass+ we had scheduled.

I got a quick picture of the White Rabbit as he hopped away for a quick break.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was next on our to do list.

 

[wiigirl]

Great update! Cute pics!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Under the Sea!​

From Pooh, we headed towards Ariel's Ride.

I don't seem to be able to get on this ride without having someone in the shell next to me with a flash that keeps going off. Pshh - even on iPhones you don't need flash on the rides!

We headed towards the Circus for our next fastpass+ for Dumbo. I had originally had this one for Thunder Mountain but as we went there on Friday afternoon, we tried to find something that would work for us that we wouldn't have done in a while.

The side we were supposed to go originally go on had technical difficulties and they sent us to the other side. What was supposed to be a quick ride turned into a much longer ordeal with this. Oh well, stuff happens!

It was almost time for our fast pass for Be Our Guest & I tried to pass the time by shopping but my husband stated he wasn't really hungry or had desire to eat there today. We headed to Philharmagic instead.

When we left the show, I was hungry & it was pass our Be Our Guest time. We tried to find some of the Pascals in the new Tangled restroom area. We found 3!

We headed to Pecos Bill's where I had a taco salad while my husband had a side of french fries.

When we finished, it was time for our fastpass+ for Enchanted Tales w/ Belle.

Now this was a great attraction for fastpass+ as there was almost no wait for using it this way. I thought the attraction was cute but in no way cute enough for a 60 minute + wait that I always see the line at. We don't have children so our opinion might be different if we did as seeing the little children all excited for Belle or being in the story was cute.

When done, my husband wanted his daily allotment of Disney Ice Cream.

Those clouds don't look good

We went to the Plaza Ice Cream shoppe for him to get his Hot Fudge Sundae w/ Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. No where as good as France's ice cream though.

Once my husband finished his ice cream, we wandered through the shops on Main Street. Nothing caught our eyes. It then started to pour. Lucky for us the monorail for the resorts was running - only to the Contemporary. So happy we didn't have to walk back to the hotel in the rain!

I mean look at this rain:

We shopped at the Atrium store for some vinylmations & here is what we got:

We hung out in the room while the rain went away. At 2PM, my husband headed to the gym while I headed to the pool. I only lasted about 45 minutes between the pool & hot tub as the rain had lowered the temperature of the water to a point where it was cold!

Got back to the room, called for some more lawn service people to give us quotes for our home in Naples as the first quote we got was um $525 for 'initial clean up' & a $250 monthly maintenance. Heck no! I'll fix our broken lawn mower before I spend that much. I also purchased us tickets for Fork & Dine on Wednesday with the plans we've adjusted.

We've hung out in the room until it becomes time to head to our dinner.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Rain, Rain, Go Away​

Shortly after I posted my last update, we headed to the car to drive over to the Yacht Club. We had to stop to get gas & while my husband was filling the tank, it began to pour like it had earlier when we left Magic Kingdom.

I hate driving his car in the rain! It was a fun drive to the Yacht Club with little visibility. Upon check in to the Yacht Club, I was forced to give the guard my magic band so he could confirm my reservation I had that evening. I guess they are finally cracking down on people parking there when they shouldn't. I understand the need but when its pouring buckets, I don't want to get more wet than needed.

Luckily we have Tables in Wonderland & could take full advantage of the free valet parking.

We checked in 20 minutes early for our ADR & had no problem being seated within 5 minutes.

Mmmm, raw aging steaks

We were placed at a two top towards the middle of the restaurant & quickly greeted by our server. She was super friendly & took our drink orders. My husband got a cider while I had a Smoked Turkey.

Wild Turkey Bourbon & other tasty ingredients

We debated on what we were going to have for dinner. My husband wanted both the filet and the chicken. I was debating between the filet or the hanger steak. I ended up going towards the filet with an add-on promising him I would give him some of the steak.

Caesar Salad

My husband started with the salad. Normally he isn't a fan when they add 'strange' things to a caesar but he had no problem with the prosciutto or egg that was added. They worked really well together & he cleaned his plate outside of the croutons. (Why waste stomach space on dried bread when you have sourdough or onion rolls?)

Crispy Chicken w/ Tater Tots

Another hit with my husband.

8 Oz Filet w/ Add On Shrimp Skewer, Cabernet Wine Reduction, Creole Butter, White Cheddar Twice Baked Potato

My selection. That creole butter was fantastic with the right amount of spice that it worked well with both the filet and the shrimp. The shrimp were cooked just right. The steak was cooked exactly the way I like it & could be cut with a fork it was so tender. I was nice enough to share part of my steak with my husband like I promised. The only chicken he gave me though was a piece of his chicken skin.

I thought the tiny sword they used for the shrimp was adorable as well, except when my husband then skewered my potato as a joke.

We decided on getting dessert as well. We didn't share our selections with each other.

Yachtsman Gelato Sundae

My husband loves strawberry ice cream that doesn't have chunks of strawberry on it. This made him a very happy person. He said calling it a sundae was a stretch - it was more just Neapolitan ice cream with a little whipped cream. Either way, it didn't matter to him.

Chocolate Peanut Cake w/ Salted Caramel Gelato

The salted caramel gelato was perfection. The spongy peanut butter under the ice cream tasted exactly like a reese's peanut butter cup. The cake was great as well. The chocolate covered pretzels inside really worked well to help the balance between too much peanut flavor and too much chocolate flavor.

Our server was on point this entire service as well. This was easily our best meal of the trip so far! Yachtsman had been off our 'must do' list based on the last time we went there in 2010 but this meal has turned it back onto the must do. (We do have 3 signature wine events still so I hope those are better though)

We headed back to the valet. Tipped the gentleman that brought it out to us & headed back to Bay Lake Towers. We had to visit the front desk to deal with canceling some of our dining reservations for Wednesday & Friday as I was getting errors trying to cancel them online myself. Luckily, she had no problems!

We're in the room for the rest of the evening. We have our Monday night comedy block to watch along with my husband catching some of the Red Sox game.

Tomorrow we have 2 of our Wine Events and spending the morning in EPCOT as well.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Oops​

We woke up at 7AM. Well actually I woke up at 7am and spent the next 40 minutes by myself on the balcony until I forced my husband to wake up. It was a boring breakfast in the room again. Yay for Energy drinks!

Shortly after 8am, we headed towards EPCOT for our morning before our Signature Lunch.

I haven't a clue whats on top of the ball but it wasn't birds

When we arrived at EPCOT, apparently it was Extra Magic Hours this morning & we missed 40 minutes of prime touring time. Oops. I was going for not over planning this trip can you tell?

As we had fastpass+ for the major attractions, we picked the super exciting Spaceship Earth for our first ride of the day.

I was saddened when I realized our picture didn't take & had to watch silly animated creatures have our home based life in the country with the robots that cleaned for me!

We next headed to our first fastpass+ selection, Soarin!

Absolutely no wait for us as we walked onto our 2nd section 3rd row seats.

We headed to Living With The Land to see if they changed many of their plants out.

Its a shrimp minnie!

No fish fertilizing the plants today!

Afterwards, we walked to The Seas w/ Nemo & Friends

Photo Spot!

Always an Alpha Gam

Then it was time for our fastpass+ at Test Track.

I guess my husband & I look trust worthy as we got our 6th one of these of the trip:

What I did like is that now with fast passes, you get to design your own car. Mine was super sexy (by sexy, I mean powerful)

My husband and I split up during the design section as I wanted us to compete against each other. This didn't work out as planned sadly as we didn't ride together.

Our next stop was to the Festival Center where I decided I would be buying a new shirt later in the day & we decided to try some drinking chocolate.

Next it was a quick stop for my favorite watermelon soda in the world.

And a quick visit to the Ireland Booth for some cheese.

I like cheese.

Coming up: Le Cellier Signature Lunch!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Beer!​

Shortly before 11:30AM, we headed to Le Cellier to check in for our 2nd F&W Special Event - Adventures in Signature Dining.

There was a large crowd in the lobby but we shortly made our way to the desk, gave our names & handed a champagne flute of a beer along with a passed appetizer.

While we enjoyed our beer, I was sadden to see one party checking in with a baby. This is one of the higher tier events of the festival & am shocked someone would have the audacity to do that. The baby did scream for a bit but luckily once everyone was seated (and making sure we were sat far away from said kid) I didn't hear it.

Once lead to the main dining room, there weren't assigned seats. My husband and I went towards an 8 top towards the kitchen.

Place Setting

Menu

This is when we discovered this was actually a beer event instead of the wine the Signature Adventures in Dining usually are. My husband was thrilled as he had wanted to do something with Beer again but the beer events didn't fit in our schedules. I'll try anything once. There were 3 ladies at my table that wouldn't drink beer but the manager was more than happy to give them wine pairings for their meals if they passed on drinking the beer.

They had the beer sommelier begin talking about the brand and the history of beer and how beer pairings are way older than wine pairings since beer has been around for a long time and used to be people's drink of choice with their bread. It was also discussed how his beers & belgium beers in general aren't filtered which gives them more depth to their flavor.

They brought out the initial beer & first course.

The beer had a hint of cherry in it. If you remember back in my Wave review, I'm really picky about scallops. Lucky for me, this scallop was perfectly cooked with spices that worked with the beer on the outside. Even my husband enjoyed his & he is more picky than me when it comes to scallops.

Our next course was pork belly with grits paired with the beer. These weren't your every day grits but ones with tons of flavor and texture. The pork belly was rich and cooked just enough to be fork tender.

Our main course was with the devil's brew and wagyu beef short ribs.

The beef was slow cooked with the beer and fell apart in your mouth as they should. In the back was more of the meat that was braised for a long time that melted like butter in your mouth. Lucky for me, one of the ladies that didn't drink beer was accidentally served a glass of the beer for this course & I was able to take her glass once I finished mine.

They brought out some of the bottles of the beers we had that weren't from a keg including the beer was were given in the flute at check in.

Beginning Beer

Entree Beer

Dessert Beer

Talking about beer some more & the pictures they use

Dessert was a play on adult Milk & Cookies

That macaron was one of the best I've had. The beer float was um a little flat. In fact the pretzel ice cream was the only thing in this entire meal I didn't love. It had been frozen in nitrogen and took a while to be edible but it also was extremely salty. When melted into the beer, it tasted fine.

We were given the beer glass that our last beer was in along with the maple leaf napkin ring our menu was placed in & shown those helping with the event.

Main Chef

His Staff

Lovely servers

The event was a great success & well worth the $90. I also loved how the restaurant was 100% focused on this meal as the other half of the restaurant wasn't open to the public so this event was the only thing going on. I also now have found 5 more beers I would easily pick to drink when given the option.

We headed to the front where I picked up my pink Drink Around the World shirt & my husband some vinylmations & we got to deal with the fun nightmare the resort line monorail being down is causing.

They don't have a direct bus from EPCOT to the MK resorts. You are forced to take the regular EPCOT monorail to the TTC.

Then wait on a bus at the TTC to take you around to the resorts. It took almost an hour and 45 minutes to get back. On Thursday & Friday, we may just drive to the parks to not have to deal with that as we also had trouble later on Tuesday as well.

The rest of the afternoon before our next event was spent being lazy in the room. I had wanted to cut my hair off that I've been growing out for 2 years as its getting too long now but the salon at the Contemporary is no more. I think I'll make an appointment for when I get home.

 

[cdtommie]

Just found your great trip report! The rock shrimp salad at CG looks smaller than it used to be? Too bad they didn't provide full pours and refills at Cellier. Three ladies won't drink beer? Kinda sad.

The parking crackdown at YC is probably just for F&W. We'll be at BWV end of next week and it's still hard to park during F&W even staying at the resort.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Just found your great trip report! The rock shrimp salad at CG looks smaller than it used to be? Too bad they didn't provide full pours and refills at Cellier. Three ladies won't drink beer? Kinda sad.

The parking crackdown at YC is probably just for F&W. We'll be at BWV end of next week and it's still hard to park during F&W even staying at the resort.

Glad you found my report

I think it is smaller than it used to be

October 2009

March 2012

October 2013

There is totally less shrimp upon reviewing those pictures.

When we stayed at Boardwalk back in 2009 - I went with Valet for the week rather than deal with the parking issues there but that gets to be expensive to keep up with. It truly is awful during this time of year.

The amount of beer was enough though that you felt drinking it but didn't get intoxicated so I get what they were trying to do. I don't get why people won't try what the chef puts out for you. I mean I know I don't always like everything given but at least try.

Have a great trip & enjoy your events you have set up. You are doing some I wish I was able to go to but can't do it all sadly.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Educated Guess Wine Dinner​

Around 5:00PM, we headed to the bus stop as there was supposed to be a bus running among the MK resorts due to the resort monorail being down. It didn't show up until almost 5:40pm - pretty much when I was about to pay for a taxi as our meal started in 20 minutes.

We headed upstairs to check in at Citricos

Band was playing

We were sat in the small private room with 7 other guests plus 2 gentlemen from the company that sells the wines.

Menu!

Having such a small group allows for the conversation to flow a lot better. Tons of jokes were being made from the wine salesmen as he was a great story teller. Educated Guess is a winery made by a person that put everything he owned to start this winery & took leftover acres as some of the main vineyards where he could get them before he was able to produce his wine. This gives him lower than average overhead costs.

Our amuse bouche:

Fried Squash Blossom filled with squash, homemade ricotta, mozzarella

I haven't had square blossoms before & I was pleasantly surprised how good they were. The filling was great as well.

Escargot w/ Sparkling Butter Drizzle & Roasted Garlic

I'm still not personally a fan of escargot but I at least tried it again. (First time was at a French Regional Lunch) The butter was sparkling due to the champagne in it. From what I ate with the sauce from the puff pastry was really bright.

Duck Rillette, Cranberry Gastrique

This was like duck meat butter. You spread it on the toast point and uh so good. The only complaint across the table is we didn't have enough bread for all that lovely meat. Luckily we still had the bread in the baskets on the table so we just placed it on the 9 Grain Bread or Olive Bread instead.

Gorgonzola Creme Brûlée w/ Gathered Mushrooms

This was my first time having a savory creme brûlée. It also had mushrooms with the dish and as part of the brûlée. It was a rich dish that held up to the Cabernet really well.

We then were served a sorbet to clear our palettes for the main course.

Colorado Lamb Chop, Sunchoke & Root Vegetable Gratin

The lamb was cooked exactly how I enjoy it. The gratin was nothing special but then again, what gratins are?

Lemon Panna Cotta

It was sweet but not too sweet. A great way to end the meal.

This meal was totally worth it. Anytime your glass ran empty, they refilled it, unlike our Le Cellier lunch earlier in the day. The service was on point and the dishes matched the wines really well. Our speakers knew their wines along with lots of stories from the vineyards (including some interesting cover crops and bad 90s jokes - go look at the dehydrated duck fat again )

Luckily the resort monorail was now running & we were able to hop on back to Bay Lake Towers.

Once back in the room, it was bed time. We had a less intensive food day planned for Wednesday, which is probably what we needed after all the rich foods of Tuesday.

 

[cdtommie]

Glad you found my report

There is totally less shrimp upon reviewing those pictures.

When we stayed at Boardwalk back in 2009 - I went with Valet for the week rather than deal with the parking issues there but that gets to be expensive to keep up with. It truly is awful during this time of year.

The amount of beer was enough though that you felt drinking it but didn't get intoxicated so I get what they were trying to do. I don't get why people won't try what the chef puts out for you. I mean I know I don't always like everything given but at least try.

Have a great trip & enjoy your events you have set up. You are doing some I wish I was able to go to but can't do it all sadly.

F&W is such a crapshoot isn't it? You're always at the mercy of what's available during your days. We had no info to go on for the Beer dinner or the Burns supper but we're open to anything (and scotch is about the only thing I do not drink so this intrigued me). The lunches we've done before (we're skipping the tequila this year as we did this the past two years)...nice to see the French return. Did the Taste/Indulge a couple of times already too...a great time but another skip for us this year.

We are going to CG on Oct 20 but we usually just order app's and suishi and a couple of drinks...we know a lot of the old servers so I'm curious if the service is as bad as some of the reports.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

F&W is such a crapshoot isn't it? You're always at the mercy of what's available during your days. We had no info to go on for the Beer dinner or the Burns supper but we're open to anything (and scotch is about the only thing I do not drink so this intrigued me). The lunches we've done before (we're skipping the tequila this year as we did this the past two years)...nice to see the French return. Did the Taste/Indulge a couple of times already too...a great time but another skip for us this year.

We are going to CG on Oct 20 but we usually just order app's and suishi and a couple of drinks...we know a lot of the old servers so I'm curious if the service is as bad as some of the reports.

It really is. I was lucky to be able to add a solo weekend due to extra DVC points after the events came out but I know not everyone can get away with that. At least I know now that most Signature Dinners seem to happen in the Thursday to Sunday range now (save a few Tuesday Dinners) so next year I'm going to plan doing 2 5 Day Long Weekends that work with my Alternative Work Schedule as I have to be creative with that vacation time (plus we have a cruise over Labor Day) Hopefully the weekends I pick will work out as planned. I love scotch so the Burns Supper would have been interesting. Hope you enjoy it!

I skipped on the Tequila Lunch as I know I'm spoiled with Agave's dinners and I can't see spending $75 when I get great food/drinks for $50. We skipped on the Taste, Shake, & Indulge since 2010 so we felt that was enough of a gap between.

I hope your service is better than ours. We did enjoy our food (outside of the deodorant sundae) The only people I recognized from my visits were the bartenders & one waiter but he wasn't ours - everyone else I didn't recognize.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Hooray for Hollywood!​

Our alarm went off at 7AM. My husband wasn't getting out of bed yet so I enjoyed some quiet time on the balcony watching the ferry drive around bay lake and hanging out on my laptop until he was moving. We passed on getting breakfast at Contempo Cafe. I think we were still full from the day before as we didn't even eat anything as we got ready. Around 8:20am, we headed to the bus stop to get to Hollywood Studios. The bus finally showed at 8:40AM. Some families were really annoyed at this as they wanted to get there for opening. I don't think I've ever seen that much chaos to get onto a Disney bus before but we made it on and stood in the inlet the ramp for ECVs hangs out on so we weren't in the middle of those cranky people. People also freaked out that it drove by the Polynesian even though it was full. Don't you know that the bus has to drive by the Polynesian in order to drive to Hollywood Studios?

I wasn't actually worried about being late to rope drop as we already had our fastpass+ scheduled for the two biggest rides - TSM and RnRC & wasn't worried about getting additional passes or riding multiple times.

I think it was 9:15 by the time we got into the park and headed towards Toy Story Mania. The wait was already at 65 minutes and the normal fastpasses were already at 7:00PM!

My husband totally won but at least I was more accurate

We headed towards the Great Movie Ride where there was pretty much no wait.

The vehicle we were in was having difficulties with its sound system. The guide wasn't good at improving in difficult situations or projecting her voice so a lot of our ride was silent when the original guide was on the vehicle. Our mobster dealt with it well at least.