Anniversary Hoop-la 5-10 To 5-15
- Thread starter LYNSUE
- Start date
DH and I have taken many trips to WDW and I have to say that this one is right up there as one of the best. We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary! (please note we were married very young). 30 years sounds...and is...a long time. I can only hope for 30 more wonderful years.
We are DVC members and we stayed at the Beach Club Villas for the first time. I absolutely love that resort! It is all about location, location, location. We could walk to Epcot (very short walk) and to Disney Studios (a little longer walk) and to the Boardwalk (with ESPN Club). We did need a bus to MK, AK and DTD. All of the buses were great and efficent. We never waited for more than 10 minutes for a bus. I know we were lucky. DH requested that I not rave too much about Beach Club because everyone will want to stay there, leaving less vacancies for us. I told him that the people I am writing for already know, so no harm will be done. We already have the BCV booked for our September trip. In January 2008 I am taking my niece to WDW to celebrate her HS graduation, birthday and Christmas. I am hoping to book BCV for that trip also. However, I have to wait until the end of June to try. That will be my 7 month window for booking outside my home resort which is SSR.
Besides the location of BCV they have the wonderful swimming area Strom Along Bay. DH and I are not big on swimming but we walked through the SAB area. It was very nice and I know my niece will love it when we go in January. We did swim once on this vacation, but we used the quiet pool near our villa.
Our accommodation was a studio. We were assigned room 431. It was a fabulous location with a court yard view. At check in we were asked if we wanted a pool view or a court yard view. We chose court yard because our last stay at Boardwalk, we faced the pool and it was very noisy. The BCV location was so very quiet and peaceful. We could see Epcot fireworks at night from our balcony. Our room was on the edge of the building before the structure slants back. This provided us with a huge (and I mean huge) balcony. Right in front of the patio doors it was about 5x7 feet. But then there was an extension of the balcony which was another 20 x 10 feet. You could have a small party out there! I am going to request this same studio for our Sept. visit.
Originally for this trip, we were booked at Old Key West. However, I did get on a wait list for BCV and it came through. I am so glad it did. On a previous trip, we were also scheduled for Old Key West but got on a wait list for Boardwalk. That wait list also came through. So although we have been booked twice for OKW, we have only spent one night there. Sometime I would like to give OKW a better chance. That resort does have the lowest points per night for DVC.
So if you are interested in the details of this trip, they will be coming up in the next post. We did a lot and we ate a lot and just had a grand ole' time.
Hope to see you in the next post.
We are DVC members and we stayed at the Beach Club Villas for the first time. I absolutely love that resort! It is all about location, location, location. We could walk to Epcot (very short walk) and to Disney Studios (a little longer walk) and to the Boardwalk (with ESPN Club). We did need a bus to MK, AK and DTD. All of the buses were great and efficent. We never waited for more than 10 minutes for a bus. I know we were lucky. DH requested that I not rave too much about Beach Club because everyone will want to stay there, leaving less vacancies for us. I told him that the people I am writing for already know, so no harm will be done. We already have the BCV booked for our September trip. In January 2008 I am taking my niece to WDW to celebrate her HS graduation, birthday and Christmas. I am hoping to book BCV for that trip also. However, I have to wait until the end of June to try. That will be my 7 month window for booking outside my home resort which is SSR.
Besides the location of BCV they have the wonderful swimming area Strom Along Bay. DH and I are not big on swimming but we walked through the SAB area. It was very nice and I know my niece will love it when we go in January. We did swim once on this vacation, but we used the quiet pool near our villa.
Our accommodation was a studio. We were assigned room 431. It was a fabulous location with a court yard view. At check in we were asked if we wanted a pool view or a court yard view. We chose court yard because our last stay at Boardwalk, we faced the pool and it was very noisy. The BCV location was so very quiet and peaceful. We could see Epcot fireworks at night from our balcony. Our room was on the edge of the building before the structure slants back. This provided us with a huge (and I mean huge) balcony. Right in front of the patio doors it was about 5x7 feet. But then there was an extension of the balcony which was another 20 x 10 feet. You could have a small party out there! I am going to request this same studio for our Sept. visit.
Originally for this trip, we were booked at Old Key West. However, I did get on a wait list for BCV and it came through. I am so glad it did. On a previous trip, we were also scheduled for Old Key West but got on a wait list for Boardwalk. That wait list also came through. So although we have been booked twice for OKW, we have only spent one night there. Sometime I would like to give OKW a better chance. That resort does have the lowest points per night for DVC.
So if you are interested in the details of this trip, they will be coming up in the next post. We did a lot and we ate a lot and just had a grand ole' time.
Hope to see you in the next post.
Although we were not officially flying out until 7:30am the next day (Thursday), we decided to start this vacation a little early. When we have an early morning flight (which we always do) we like to get to the airport in Milwaukee the night before and stay at a hotel near the airport. Since Milwaukee is about 1.5 to 2 hours away, we usually leave work late afternoon. Well it just so happened that the Brewers had a day game (noon) on Wednesday 5-9 and we would never pass up an opportunity to see the Brewers. By the way, the Brewers are doing great. They had a little hic-up this last series with the Phillies, but I think they are back on track now. In March, DH and I had a chance to go to Phoenix for spring training. That was another great experience. I hope we can go back next year.
Anyway DH and I went into work for a few hours and then headed to Milwaukee about 10:00 am. We got to our seats about the time the National Anthem was playing. It was sunny, the roof was open and we saw a great game. The Brewers won 3-1. After that we had a little time to kill so we visited the Domes. (OhMari, you know what I am talking about). They are three large green-house dome structures which house three different eco systems. There is a rain forest, a desert and a neutral climate like our own here in Wisconsin. I had not been there in years so it was fun.
We then checked into our Hotel. We always stay at the Super 8 which is 5 minutes from the airport. They have a great park and fly package for just $88.00. After check in, we were meeting our oldest son for dinner. His occupation is a governmental auditor and he happened to be doing an audit at a business in Milwaukee. Now this adult child still lives with us, so we see him often enough. But he had been on the road the previous week, so we did not want to pass up the opportunity to have dinner together. We met at the Texas Road House. Of course he put his own meal on his expense account. DH and I spent about $38.00. We figured this would be an inexpensive meal compared to those coming up in the next 6 days. We got back to the hotel about 8:30 and attempted to get a movie. (Night at the Museum). However the sound quality was awful and we ended up cancelling it and just watching some play-off basketball.
I will get to the real vacation stuff in the next post. Hope you will stick with me.
Anyway DH and I went into work for a few hours and then headed to Milwaukee about 10:00 am. We got to our seats about the time the National Anthem was playing. It was sunny, the roof was open and we saw a great game. The Brewers won 3-1. After that we had a little time to kill so we visited the Domes. (OhMari, you know what I am talking about). They are three large green-house dome structures which house three different eco systems. There is a rain forest, a desert and a neutral climate like our own here in Wisconsin. I had not been there in years so it was fun.
We then checked into our Hotel. We always stay at the Super 8 which is 5 minutes from the airport. They have a great park and fly package for just $88.00. After check in, we were meeting our oldest son for dinner. His occupation is a governmental auditor and he happened to be doing an audit at a business in Milwaukee. Now this adult child still lives with us, so we see him often enough. But he had been on the road the previous week, so we did not want to pass up the opportunity to have dinner together. We met at the Texas Road House. Of course he put his own meal on his expense account. DH and I spent about $38.00. We figured this would be an inexpensive meal compared to those coming up in the next 6 days. We got back to the hotel about 8:30 and attempted to get a movie. (Night at the Museum). However the sound quality was awful and we ended up cancelling it and just watching some play-off basketball.
I will get to the real vacation stuff in the next post. Hope you will stick with me.
The alarm was set for 4:40am. Since I never sleep the night before we leave on vacation, it is not necessary to set the alarm. But we did anyway just to be sure. We caught the 5:30am shuttle. We were at the airport and through security by 6:00am. Very smooth!
We stopped at a cafe' in the airport and each had a breakfast panini sandwich. $20 for an airport breakfast. It was not too bad compared to other breakfast items I have had at the airport. This was at least edible. We were joined in the restaurant by two other couples who ordered just bloody marys. Alcohol at 6:00am
Apparently they were starting their vacation with a bang!
We then worked our way down to gate D-39. Our flight left on time at 7:30am and we arrived at 11:00am just as the airline promised. The flight was uneventful. There were not any strange or annoying people to write about. Everything was just great.
Now we are very spoiled Magical Express users. But this time we had to collect the luggage our self. Remember how I told you about the original reservation at OKW and then getting the wait list for BCV..... Well our luggage tags for OKW arrived, but we never received the new ones for BCV after the change. So we were left to handle our own luggage. Baggage claim is on the A side of the airport and ME is on the B side. The whole process slowed us down by at least a half hour to 45 minutes. But we were not really in any hurry.
We arrived at the ME counter which was pretty much a walk up with no wait. However the actual lines for the buses were really backed up and there were no buses out side? Some buses did start arriving shortly. Our line was for BCV, BW and YC. We waited about 15 minutes in line and then another 20 minutes on the bus. They did have a new up-dated movie on the ME bus. It was nice to see that the movie was not talking about things that no longer were happening.
Beach Club was the 2nd stop on our route. Check in was very smooth and easy. We sat in the front of the ME bus so I could be the first off. DH waited for the luggage and I ran inside. There was no one at the check in counter and of course no one in line. I was pretty much done with check in by the time DH joined me. By then a line had formed with the rest of our fellow bus riders. Of course our room was not ready. They asked a few questions about room preferences and that was that. Little did I know we would get a really fantastic studio with a nice balcony (see opening notes).
We checked our bags with bell service and we were off to catch a bus to DTD. Lunch was to be at Fultons. I know this restaurant gets some bad reviews, but it is one of our favorites. It did not disappoint this time either. We did wait about 15 min for the DTD bus. The love bugs were noticeable but not terrible. The temp was about 78* slightly overcast and a little breezy. It felt great to me.
Next post will tell all about our wonderful lunch at Fultons.......stay tuned.
We stopped at a cafe' in the airport and each had a breakfast panini sandwich. $20 for an airport breakfast. It was not too bad compared to other breakfast items I have had at the airport. This was at least edible. We were joined in the restaurant by two other couples who ordered just bloody marys. Alcohol at 6:00am
Apparently they were starting their vacation with a bang!We then worked our way down to gate D-39. Our flight left on time at 7:30am and we arrived at 11:00am just as the airline promised. The flight was uneventful. There were not any strange or annoying people to write about. Everything was just great.
Now we are very spoiled Magical Express users. But this time we had to collect the luggage our self. Remember how I told you about the original reservation at OKW and then getting the wait list for BCV..... Well our luggage tags for OKW arrived, but we never received the new ones for BCV after the change. So we were left to handle our own luggage. Baggage claim is on the A side of the airport and ME is on the B side. The whole process slowed us down by at least a half hour to 45 minutes. But we were not really in any hurry.
We arrived at the ME counter which was pretty much a walk up with no wait. However the actual lines for the buses were really backed up and there were no buses out side? Some buses did start arriving shortly. Our line was for BCV, BW and YC. We waited about 15 minutes in line and then another 20 minutes on the bus. They did have a new up-dated movie on the ME bus. It was nice to see that the movie was not talking about things that no longer were happening.
Beach Club was the 2nd stop on our route. Check in was very smooth and easy. We sat in the front of the ME bus so I could be the first off. DH waited for the luggage and I ran inside. There was no one at the check in counter and of course no one in line. I was pretty much done with check in by the time DH joined me. By then a line had formed with the rest of our fellow bus riders. Of course our room was not ready. They asked a few questions about room preferences and that was that. Little did I know we would get a really fantastic studio with a nice balcony (see opening notes).
We checked our bags with bell service and we were off to catch a bus to DTD. Lunch was to be at Fultons. I know this restaurant gets some bad reviews, but it is one of our favorites. It did not disappoint this time either. We did wait about 15 min for the DTD bus. The love bugs were noticeable but not terrible. The temp was about 78* slightly overcast and a little breezy. It felt great to me.
Next post will tell all about our wonderful lunch at Fultons.......stay tuned.
We arrived at DTD about 1:15 and went directly to Fultons. The lunch crowd was winding down and we were able to get a table right away. It was a nice table looking out over the lagoon.
The past two trips we have used the Dining Plan. It was ok and it did save us some $$, I think. However, I was somewhat dissatisfied for the following reasons: 1. I am not a big fan of counter service meals. Some CS places have nice alternatives now but still not a favorite. So we were limited to one table service a day and forced to have counter service once a day. 2. I did not feel we were eating at the restaurants we really wanted to be at. The choices were being made based on the menu and the value of the items included in the plan. Not the best reasons to visit a particular restaurant. 3. Sometimes I like to experience a table service restaurant but maybe only have a soup or appetizer. That type of ordering just does not make sense with the dining plan.
So anyway, we decided this time to not use the dining plan. However I did purchase the Disney Dining Experience. This discount card is only available to Florida residents and annual pass holders. It provides a 20% discount on all food and beverages including alcohol. The cost of the card was $60.00 and is good for one year. I figured we would make up the cost of the card in just three fancy table service restaurants and then the rest was a real discount. The discount card will be available for our September trip and the January 2008 trip. It did work out very well for us.
We did not use the Disney Dining Experience card at Fultons. Why you ask?? Well Fultons offers a 30% on lunch for DVC members. 30% was the better deal, so we used DVC card instead. Fultons lunch menu is nice, but it is somewhat limited as most lunch menus are. However, there are certain dinner selections available at lunch. So I confirmed with our waiter that the 30% discount was still available even if I ordered a dinner item. He said yes, so we were ready to get to some serious good eats.
I started with the lobster bisque and followed that up with a combination plate of crab claws and lobster tail. The lobster tail was good but I could not believe how sweet the crab claws were, they just melted in your mouth. The seafood was served with my favorite boiled red potatos. Everything was wonderfully fantastic. DH started with clam chowder. I'm sure it was good, but could not compare with the bisque (in my mind anyway). His entree was a shrimp cocktail and a seafood salad. Flavor and presentation were outstanding. We gave the meal an A+ all around. Our waiter was Randy, he did an excellent job. We did stop at the front desk on our way out to leave our comments about Randy and the great job he did. If you like good quality seafood, be sure to visit Fultons. It is a little pricey, but I feel we got our money's worth. Our total bill was $86.00 so with the 30% discount it was brought down to $66.00. Not bad for what we ate.
We were at the DTD bus stop by 3:15 and heading to the Magic Kingdom. You know, it can be a lot of fun being creative with disney transportation. DH gets a big kick out of trying to figure out the best route to take to get from point A to point B. Sometimes there are no options, but at DTD, to get to a park there are many options. We decided on any of three buses for the resorts on the MK monorail loop. We watched for the Poly, the Contemporary or the Grand Floridian. The Contemporary bus came first with about a two minute wait. We were going to ride the mono-rail once we got to the Contemporary, but the walking path was right there by the bus stop, so we walked to the MK instead. That was a lot easier than going upstairs to get on the monorail. Not to mention we would have had to walk down the ramp once we got to the MK. The walking path was definately the fastest from the Contemporary bus stop.
We arrived at the MK at 3:45..... Please stay with me, this will continue in the next post
The past two trips we have used the Dining Plan. It was ok and it did save us some $$, I think. However, I was somewhat dissatisfied for the following reasons: 1. I am not a big fan of counter service meals. Some CS places have nice alternatives now but still not a favorite. So we were limited to one table service a day and forced to have counter service once a day. 2. I did not feel we were eating at the restaurants we really wanted to be at. The choices were being made based on the menu and the value of the items included in the plan. Not the best reasons to visit a particular restaurant. 3. Sometimes I like to experience a table service restaurant but maybe only have a soup or appetizer. That type of ordering just does not make sense with the dining plan.
So anyway, we decided this time to not use the dining plan. However I did purchase the Disney Dining Experience. This discount card is only available to Florida residents and annual pass holders. It provides a 20% discount on all food and beverages including alcohol. The cost of the card was $60.00 and is good for one year. I figured we would make up the cost of the card in just three fancy table service restaurants and then the rest was a real discount. The discount card will be available for our September trip and the January 2008 trip. It did work out very well for us.
We did not use the Disney Dining Experience card at Fultons. Why you ask?? Well Fultons offers a 30% on lunch for DVC members. 30% was the better deal, so we used DVC card instead. Fultons lunch menu is nice, but it is somewhat limited as most lunch menus are. However, there are certain dinner selections available at lunch. So I confirmed with our waiter that the 30% discount was still available even if I ordered a dinner item. He said yes, so we were ready to get to some serious good eats.
I started with the lobster bisque and followed that up with a combination plate of crab claws and lobster tail. The lobster tail was good but I could not believe how sweet the crab claws were, they just melted in your mouth. The seafood was served with my favorite boiled red potatos. Everything was wonderfully fantastic. DH started with clam chowder. I'm sure it was good, but could not compare with the bisque (in my mind anyway). His entree was a shrimp cocktail and a seafood salad. Flavor and presentation were outstanding. We gave the meal an A+ all around. Our waiter was Randy, he did an excellent job. We did stop at the front desk on our way out to leave our comments about Randy and the great job he did. If you like good quality seafood, be sure to visit Fultons. It is a little pricey, but I feel we got our money's worth. Our total bill was $86.00 so with the 30% discount it was brought down to $66.00. Not bad for what we ate.
We were at the DTD bus stop by 3:15 and heading to the Magic Kingdom. You know, it can be a lot of fun being creative with disney transportation. DH gets a big kick out of trying to figure out the best route to take to get from point A to point B. Sometimes there are no options, but at DTD, to get to a park there are many options. We decided on any of three buses for the resorts on the MK monorail loop. We watched for the Poly, the Contemporary or the Grand Floridian. The Contemporary bus came first with about a two minute wait. We were going to ride the mono-rail once we got to the Contemporary, but the walking path was right there by the bus stop, so we walked to the MK instead. That was a lot easier than going upstairs to get on the monorail. Not to mention we would have had to walk down the ramp once we got to the MK. The walking path was definately the fastest from the Contemporary bus stop.
We arrived at the MK at 3:45..... Please stay with me, this will continue in the next post
Our first stop was outside the MK at Guest Relations. I needed to renew my annual pass. The renewal must be done in person so I wanted to take care of this right away before I forgot. There were two windows open with no one waiting. The CM was very good and everything went quick and smooth. The renewal would take effect on the same date as the current one expired so I did not pay for any overlap. The cost of the annual pass renewal with my DVC discount was $323.00. That cost is actually less than a 10 day park hopper with no expiration. So if you are planning more than one trip in a 12 month period, the annual pass may be worth checking into. DH did not renew his annual pass. He will be attending our trip in September but will not be able to join me for the January 2008 trip due to his work schedule. Also we have some old park hopper tickets that each have a couple of days on them. These were issued before bio-scan, so he can use either of them in September. I am reluctant to admit that we may sneak over to Universal for one day in September. Please don’t think bad of me….my heart is still with WDW.
After entering the gate at MK, we stopped to get our wrist bands as it was EMH, We finally entered the MK and our next stop was City Hall. We got anniversary buttons. They are very cute with Mickey and Minnie on them. We received many congratulations from the CMs and other guests. I did enjoy wearing them very much. There were three locations that DH refused to wear the anniversary buttons. Two of the places were upscale restaurants, Citricois in the GF and Shula’s in the Dolphin. I agreed with him on both of those. But the biggest no no was at the ESPN Club… it must have been a macho thing?
While at City Hall we also asked about the Pirate Tutorial. The CM told us the next show was at 4:25. Since we had enough time we stopped at the rest room and then directly to POC. We got there at 4:15 and the show had already started so we did miss the beginning. The actor playing Jack Sparrow was very good. I had seen pictures of him on these boards, but he was even better in person. It was a very good show. We did have a small problem with some pushy parents wanting to get them self and their child into the front row no matter who they shoved or stepped on. Parents please remember, other adults enjoy these shows too even if they do not have children in tow.
After the show we road POC. Always enjoyable.
I will continue this shortly. Please keep reading.
After entering the gate at MK, we stopped to get our wrist bands as it was EMH, We finally entered the MK and our next stop was City Hall. We got anniversary buttons. They are very cute with Mickey and Minnie on them. We received many congratulations from the CMs and other guests. I did enjoy wearing them very much. There were three locations that DH refused to wear the anniversary buttons. Two of the places were upscale restaurants, Citricois in the GF and Shula’s in the Dolphin. I agreed with him on both of those. But the biggest no no was at the ESPN Club… it must have been a macho thing?
While at City Hall we also asked about the Pirate Tutorial. The CM told us the next show was at 4:25. Since we had enough time we stopped at the rest room and then directly to POC. We got there at 4:15 and the show had already started so we did miss the beginning. The actor playing Jack Sparrow was very good. I had seen pictures of him on these boards, but he was even better in person. It was a very good show. We did have a small problem with some pushy parents wanting to get them self and their child into the front row no matter who they shoved or stepped on. Parents please remember, other adults enjoy these shows too even if they do not have children in tow.
After the show we road POC. Always enjoyable.
I will continue this shortly. Please keep reading.
OhMari
WDW PreTrip and Trip Moderator
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2000
- Messages
- 15,183
Don't it feel good to be on vacation.
I loved staying at the Boardwalk area. Are you going to post any pictures?
I would of walked to MGM, but it was raining. I wanted to go back and see Fantasmic and the rain stopped at 10:00 p.m. I couldn't get my dh to move, since we were in the rain all day at MGM and he had enough. You know how in Wisconsin it is cold after a rain storm, in Florida, the temperature climbed after a cool rainy day.
The next stop was SM to get a fast pass. Then we did BTM twice. That ride never gets old, I always enjoy it. Then back to SM to use the FP. We managed to stay relatively dry.
On this trip I set up a small treasure hunt for us with the help of a book called Passporters Treasure Hunts at Walt Disney World. I ordered it from Amazon.Com. This was a lot of fun. The book contains hunts for all four parks, the resorts, the cruise lines and water parks. The one I set up for us was for MK only. I chose 5 questions from each land. Even with only 30 questions it took us quite a while to complete this. On the last day of this trip, DH and I are signed up for a tour called MouseQuest. This is a treasure hunt type tour. MouseQuest is only available to DVC members. I figured our treasure hunt would be a good practice for the scheduled one later on. Also I have a co-worker who will be visiting WDW in October. As a gift to her, I will be setting up a treasure hunt for her group. I will be getting a lot of use out of my book purchase.
After SM we stopped by the Frontierland Shootin Arcade. We only stopped there to look for the answer to our treasure hunt question. As long as we were there, we sat down and played a game of checkers. The checker boards are set up on barrels with a chair on each side. DH kicked my butt at checkers!
Next stop was the Hall of Presidents. We probably would have skipped it this trip but we had a treasure hunt question to answer. How many globes are on the stage with the Presidents? We found out the answer is two. After we got our answer, we may have taken a little nap??
Next we did the HM. There were two questions for this ride. However, it was too dark inside the ride to find the answers, so we decided to skip those questions. Next was the Jungle Cruise. The item we were looking for here was Who is the employee of the month on the Jungle Cruise? We could not find the answer on our own, we had to ask a CM. There is a rather small sign above the loading area. It looks like a chalk board. On the board it says Employee of the month is E. L. OFever. (Yellow Fever). Very clever!!!
After the JC we stopped and DH had a Dole Whip. I did have a few bites of his. Those things are sooooo good. While we were waiting to order the dole whip, we noticed that the ground in front of the order window was very sticky. Both of us noticed our shoes were stuck to the blacktop. Must have been a few spills there during the day.
By this time it was about 9:30. We were rather tired since we had been up since 4:30am. We wanted to stay for wishes at 10:00, but the thought of putting up with the big crowd just did not appeal to us. I know we were wasting the EMH, but we have reached an age where we know our limitations. So we gave up and got a bus back to BC. We had about a 10 min wait for the bus. The bus stopped at the YC first. There was a problem with the arm on the entry gate. It would not go up. We were delayed about 15 minutes until maintenance arrived to fix it. The bus proceeded to the bus stop at YC and guess what????? NO ONE GOT OFF THE BUS AT THE YC!
We arrived at the BC and stopped at the front desk to get our room number. Then to the Beach Club Market Place to get some dinner. It had been a while since lunch at Fultons and I was getting hungry. At 10:00pm there were not a lot of options left. I ordered a turkey sandwich and DH a ham sandwich. We also got a chicken Caesar salad to share. As long as we were there, we got milk and oatmeal for breakfast. The bill came to about $25.00. This purchase was put on our Disney Visa Point Card. In the past year we had managed to accumulate $313.00 on our payback card. This came in very handy when paying for our meals. It really is like free money since we would have used the credit card anyway. This way we got a 1% return.
It took us a little while to find our way around BC and find the DVC villas. We checked out the room and the big balcony. We called bell service for our luggage, warmed up our sandwiches in the microwave and sat down to have dinner. Only at WDW would we eat dinner after 10:00pm. The food was not too bad. In fact it was pretty good and also I was very hungry.
At this point . I was loving everything about the BC. The beds were really comfy too.
LONG DAY BUT A GREAT DAY. Can't wait to tell you more.
On this trip I set up a small treasure hunt for us with the help of a book called Passporters Treasure Hunts at Walt Disney World. I ordered it from Amazon.Com. This was a lot of fun. The book contains hunts for all four parks, the resorts, the cruise lines and water parks. The one I set up for us was for MK only. I chose 5 questions from each land. Even with only 30 questions it took us quite a while to complete this. On the last day of this trip, DH and I are signed up for a tour called MouseQuest. This is a treasure hunt type tour. MouseQuest is only available to DVC members. I figured our treasure hunt would be a good practice for the scheduled one later on. Also I have a co-worker who will be visiting WDW in October. As a gift to her, I will be setting up a treasure hunt for her group. I will be getting a lot of use out of my book purchase.
After SM we stopped by the Frontierland Shootin Arcade. We only stopped there to look for the answer to our treasure hunt question. As long as we were there, we sat down and played a game of checkers. The checker boards are set up on barrels with a chair on each side. DH kicked my butt at checkers!
Next stop was the Hall of Presidents. We probably would have skipped it this trip but we had a treasure hunt question to answer. How many globes are on the stage with the Presidents? We found out the answer is two. After we got our answer, we may have taken a little nap??
Next we did the HM. There were two questions for this ride. However, it was too dark inside the ride to find the answers, so we decided to skip those questions. Next was the Jungle Cruise. The item we were looking for here was Who is the employee of the month on the Jungle Cruise? We could not find the answer on our own, we had to ask a CM. There is a rather small sign above the loading area. It looks like a chalk board. On the board it says Employee of the month is E. L. OFever. (Yellow Fever). Very clever!!!
After the JC we stopped and DH had a Dole Whip. I did have a few bites of his. Those things are sooooo good. While we were waiting to order the dole whip, we noticed that the ground in front of the order window was very sticky. Both of us noticed our shoes were stuck to the blacktop. Must have been a few spills there during the day.
By this time it was about 9:30. We were rather tired since we had been up since 4:30am. We wanted to stay for wishes at 10:00, but the thought of putting up with the big crowd just did not appeal to us. I know we were wasting the EMH, but we have reached an age where we know our limitations. So we gave up and got a bus back to BC. We had about a 10 min wait for the bus. The bus stopped at the YC first. There was a problem with the arm on the entry gate. It would not go up. We were delayed about 15 minutes until maintenance arrived to fix it. The bus proceeded to the bus stop at YC and guess what????? NO ONE GOT OFF THE BUS AT THE YC!
We arrived at the BC and stopped at the front desk to get our room number. Then to the Beach Club Market Place to get some dinner. It had been a while since lunch at Fultons and I was getting hungry. At 10:00pm there were not a lot of options left. I ordered a turkey sandwich and DH a ham sandwich. We also got a chicken Caesar salad to share. As long as we were there, we got milk and oatmeal for breakfast. The bill came to about $25.00. This purchase was put on our Disney Visa Point Card. In the past year we had managed to accumulate $313.00 on our payback card. This came in very handy when paying for our meals. It really is like free money since we would have used the credit card anyway. This way we got a 1% return.
It took us a little while to find our way around BC and find the DVC villas. We checked out the room and the big balcony. We called bell service for our luggage, warmed up our sandwiches in the microwave and sat down to have dinner. Only at WDW would we eat dinner after 10:00pm. The food was not too bad. In fact it was pretty good and also I was very hungry.
At this point . I was loving everything about the BC. The beds were really comfy too.
LONG DAY BUT A GREAT DAY. Can't wait to tell you more.
We were up about 7:30am and had breakfast in the room. We were ready to leave by 8:30. We were walking to Epcot. On our way out we stopped by to check out SAB pool area. It looked impressive. We arrived at Epcot right at 9:00 for opening. Since we entered at the International Gateway there is no opening ceremony. We just walk toward Future World. Both mornings we did this, the crowds entering from the front of the park beat us to Soarin. So I am assuming the International Gateway entry is a little delayed compared to the front of the park.
First we got a fast pass for Soarin and then rode Soarin. There was about a 15 minute stand by wait time. Next was the Living Seas with Nemo. We started with the Clam Shell ride, did turtle talk and then looked at the manatees and some of the fish tanks. We stopped to watch a dolphin presentation that was very good. Next we did the Figment ride and then back to Soarin with the FP. Surprisingly it was not that crowded.
Lunch was scheduled for Garden Grill in the land. Our ADR was for 11:40am and we were seated at 11:50am. We have always avoided the restaurant because we were not that interested in the characters. But I really wanted to try this place, so we did. The food and service was very good. The restaurant rotates very slowly while you dine so you can see scenes from the Living with the Land boat ride. We started in the rain forest, passed the desert and were just entering the farm scene when we were finished. So the scenery was nice. I would definitely return to this restaurant. The potatoes served with this meal were absolutely great. They were very generous about bring 2nds and I am ashamed to say even 3rds on the potatoes and fish. The platter contained beef, turkey w/cranberries, fried cat fish, green beans and carrots, the wonderful potato casserole, bread and a drink. The meal also included a dessert, which we past on because we were way to full. I did see a dessert on one of the tables as we were leaving and it looked like a mixed berry cobbler. I’m sure it was good.
The characters that stopped by were Chip, Mickey, Dale & Pluto. It was nice and we were not really bothered by the interaction. They all recognized and asked (in mime of course) about our anniversary buttons. We sat next to a family of 5. A small girl, parents and grandparents. The grandmother had worked at WDW for 8 years with 3 of those years at the Garden Grill. They did get some extra special treatment because of this. She actually got a visit from one of the chefs. Also because there was a child at the table next to us, the characters spent more time there, which was ok with us. The grandparent couple was very kind and took a photo of DH and I. We gave her our e-mail address so she could send it to us. We are watching for it now. It was great to meet such nice people.
After lunch we went to Canada to see the movie there. It has been 10 years since the last time we saw this. You still have to stand through it, but how else could you really enjoy a 360* movie?
Next stop was Japan. In honor of our anniversary and as a gift to myself, I was going to pick a pearl. We watched for a while to see how it was done. The customer would choose their oyster and the CM would open the shell and dig out the cultured pearl. There is a variety of colors and occasionally the shell will have two pearls. I really liked the pink shaded pearls. There was one that was iridescent that was very pretty also. Once the pearl was removed, the CM would wash it and then roll it around in a bowl of what looked like course salt. It really brought out the shine in the pearl. Then she would measure the pearl and announce the size. After that, the pearl was put back in the salt bowl and passed in front of everyone standing around. All the customers would ooh and ahh.
So before I picked my oyster, I wanted to check out the settings available. There were some very nice ones. I was leaning toward the gold settings since I was hoping for a pink pearl. I did also look at a silver setting just in case I got some other color. All of the settings I looked at were for a necklace. So DH and I went to the tank. There was one oyster with some red markings on its shell. He thought that perhaps the red marks might indicate a pink pearl, so we took that one. Boy was I surprised when the shell was opened.
The pearl was SILVER! And it was gorgeous. The size was 7 ¼ mm. The CM told me that silver was very very rare and she seldom seen that color. I was very pleased. The only thing that would have been better was if there had been two pearls instead of one.
So of course I went back to the silver color setting to have the pearl set. The setting is an inch long silver squared off bar with the pearl dangling on the end of the bar. There is a small stone set at the end of the bar. I absolutely love it. It is the perfect anniversary memento. The cost to pick the pearl was $13.95. The setting I chose was $59.00 which included the chain. So total cost is about $75.00. Well worth it for a quality piece of jewelry that has so much sentiment attached to it. It is possible to just pick the pearl and not get it set. They are totally ok with that also. We waited about a half hour for the pearl to be put in the setting.
About 2:45 we went back to the BC. We wanted to rest since we were going to DTD tonight. We knew we would be out late.
First we got a fast pass for Soarin and then rode Soarin. There was about a 15 minute stand by wait time. Next was the Living Seas with Nemo. We started with the Clam Shell ride, did turtle talk and then looked at the manatees and some of the fish tanks. We stopped to watch a dolphin presentation that was very good. Next we did the Figment ride and then back to Soarin with the FP. Surprisingly it was not that crowded.
Lunch was scheduled for Garden Grill in the land. Our ADR was for 11:40am and we were seated at 11:50am. We have always avoided the restaurant because we were not that interested in the characters. But I really wanted to try this place, so we did. The food and service was very good. The restaurant rotates very slowly while you dine so you can see scenes from the Living with the Land boat ride. We started in the rain forest, passed the desert and were just entering the farm scene when we were finished. So the scenery was nice. I would definitely return to this restaurant. The potatoes served with this meal were absolutely great. They were very generous about bring 2nds and I am ashamed to say even 3rds on the potatoes and fish. The platter contained beef, turkey w/cranberries, fried cat fish, green beans and carrots, the wonderful potato casserole, bread and a drink. The meal also included a dessert, which we past on because we were way to full. I did see a dessert on one of the tables as we were leaving and it looked like a mixed berry cobbler. I’m sure it was good.
The characters that stopped by were Chip, Mickey, Dale & Pluto. It was nice and we were not really bothered by the interaction. They all recognized and asked (in mime of course) about our anniversary buttons. We sat next to a family of 5. A small girl, parents and grandparents. The grandmother had worked at WDW for 8 years with 3 of those years at the Garden Grill. They did get some extra special treatment because of this. She actually got a visit from one of the chefs. Also because there was a child at the table next to us, the characters spent more time there, which was ok with us. The grandparent couple was very kind and took a photo of DH and I. We gave her our e-mail address so she could send it to us. We are watching for it now. It was great to meet such nice people.
After lunch we went to Canada to see the movie there. It has been 10 years since the last time we saw this. You still have to stand through it, but how else could you really enjoy a 360* movie?
Next stop was Japan. In honor of our anniversary and as a gift to myself, I was going to pick a pearl. We watched for a while to see how it was done. The customer would choose their oyster and the CM would open the shell and dig out the cultured pearl. There is a variety of colors and occasionally the shell will have two pearls. I really liked the pink shaded pearls. There was one that was iridescent that was very pretty also. Once the pearl was removed, the CM would wash it and then roll it around in a bowl of what looked like course salt. It really brought out the shine in the pearl. Then she would measure the pearl and announce the size. After that, the pearl was put back in the salt bowl and passed in front of everyone standing around. All the customers would ooh and ahh.
So before I picked my oyster, I wanted to check out the settings available. There were some very nice ones. I was leaning toward the gold settings since I was hoping for a pink pearl. I did also look at a silver setting just in case I got some other color. All of the settings I looked at were for a necklace. So DH and I went to the tank. There was one oyster with some red markings on its shell. He thought that perhaps the red marks might indicate a pink pearl, so we took that one. Boy was I surprised when the shell was opened.
The pearl was SILVER! And it was gorgeous. The size was 7 ¼ mm. The CM told me that silver was very very rare and she seldom seen that color. I was very pleased. The only thing that would have been better was if there had been two pearls instead of one.
So of course I went back to the silver color setting to have the pearl set. The setting is an inch long silver squared off bar with the pearl dangling on the end of the bar. There is a small stone set at the end of the bar. I absolutely love it. It is the perfect anniversary memento. The cost to pick the pearl was $13.95. The setting I chose was $59.00 which included the chain. So total cost is about $75.00. Well worth it for a quality piece of jewelry that has so much sentiment attached to it. It is possible to just pick the pearl and not get it set. They are totally ok with that also. We waited about a half hour for the pearl to be put in the setting.
About 2:45 we went back to the BC. We wanted to rest since we were going to DTD tonight. We knew we would be out late.
We rested until about 5:30 and got a bus to DTD. We only waited about 5 minutes for the bus. When we arrived at DTD we started to walk to SSR. Here is a little back story
Last year in May of 2006 we stayed at SSR for our anniversary. On our last day we were sitting in the lounge area of SSR waiting for ME to pick us up. Well I must have been a little board waiting because I took a penny from my purse and put it way in the back of a drawer in the coffee table that was in front of the sofa we were sitting on. I had every intention of coming back to see if the penny was still there on our next visit. We went back to WDW October of 2006 but I never got over to SSR to check on my penny. So I wanted to be sure to check on it this time.
As I said, we started to walk from DTD to SSR. We were able to catch an internal bus that took us to the Springs bus stop, then the next stop was the Carriage House which is where the SSR lounge area is. We went into the sitting area off of the lobby, opened the drawer .. and the penny was not there! How is that for an anticlimactic story?
I was a little disappointed, but apparently Disney cleans in every corner of everything. Or someone else found the penny and took it. I will never know.
So now we had to get back to DTD for our 6:45 ADR at Raglan Road. DHs radar for getting from point A to point B kicked in and he was going over our options. First we went to the boat dock. We waited quite a while and did not see one boat. So we started walking again. We got to one of the bus stops at SSR and what do you know . A DTD bus was there. We hopped on. By the time we walked from DTD bus stop to Raglan Road we were about 10 minutes lake for our ADR. The penny adventure was not worth being late for an ADR. Oh well!!
RR was rather crowded. But there is a lot of seating inside and some outside. We waited in the bar and looked over the menu. The menu was much larger than what appeared on Allears.net. I was surprised at all of the choices. We waited about 15 minutes before our beeper went off. We were seated at a table near the back of the restaurant near the stage where the musicians perform. I was rather glad we were too early for the live music. It would have been very loud being that close. The restaurant in general was somewhat loud but than again it was very crowded. For starters, DH and I shared an appetizer of drunkin chicken. For his entrée, DH had bangers and mash with the chicken sausage. I had the pork loin with mash which also had some cabbage and leeks. For dessert DH had a banana pudding parfait. The food was good and the service was fine. Nothing exceptional, but still good. The total bill was $52.00 and with our DDE discount it was down to $44.00. I would probably return to this restaurant, but not as soon as our next trip.
After dinner we got in line at the Comedy Warehouse for the 8:50 show. We had a fun night at DTD.
We did three shows at the Comedy Club and two shows at the Adventurers Club. We got on a bus at 1:05am to head back to the BC. We arrived back at the room by 1:30am. We were in need of some ZZZZZZs
Last year in May of 2006 we stayed at SSR for our anniversary. On our last day we were sitting in the lounge area of SSR waiting for ME to pick us up. Well I must have been a little board waiting because I took a penny from my purse and put it way in the back of a drawer in the coffee table that was in front of the sofa we were sitting on. I had every intention of coming back to see if the penny was still there on our next visit. We went back to WDW October of 2006 but I never got over to SSR to check on my penny. So I wanted to be sure to check on it this time.
As I said, we started to walk from DTD to SSR. We were able to catch an internal bus that took us to the Springs bus stop, then the next stop was the Carriage House which is where the SSR lounge area is. We went into the sitting area off of the lobby, opened the drawer .. and the penny was not there! How is that for an anticlimactic story?
I was a little disappointed, but apparently Disney cleans in every corner of everything. Or someone else found the penny and took it. I will never know.
So now we had to get back to DTD for our 6:45 ADR at Raglan Road. DHs radar for getting from point A to point B kicked in and he was going over our options. First we went to the boat dock. We waited quite a while and did not see one boat. So we started walking again. We got to one of the bus stops at SSR and what do you know . A DTD bus was there. We hopped on. By the time we walked from DTD bus stop to Raglan Road we were about 10 minutes lake for our ADR. The penny adventure was not worth being late for an ADR. Oh well!!
RR was rather crowded. But there is a lot of seating inside and some outside. We waited in the bar and looked over the menu. The menu was much larger than what appeared on Allears.net. I was surprised at all of the choices. We waited about 15 minutes before our beeper went off. We were seated at a table near the back of the restaurant near the stage where the musicians perform. I was rather glad we were too early for the live music. It would have been very loud being that close. The restaurant in general was somewhat loud but than again it was very crowded. For starters, DH and I shared an appetizer of drunkin chicken. For his entrée, DH had bangers and mash with the chicken sausage. I had the pork loin with mash which also had some cabbage and leeks. For dessert DH had a banana pudding parfait. The food was good and the service was fine. Nothing exceptional, but still good. The total bill was $52.00 and with our DDE discount it was down to $44.00. I would probably return to this restaurant, but not as soon as our next trip.
After dinner we got in line at the Comedy Warehouse for the 8:50 show. We had a fun night at DTD.
We did three shows at the Comedy Club and two shows at the Adventurers Club. We got on a bus at 1:05am to head back to the BC. We arrived back at the room by 1:30am. We were in need of some ZZZZZZsI am ashamed to say it , but I did not take one picture on this vacation. DH and I do not even own a digital camera. Sometimes we borrow our son's digital if we want some photos. I tend not to take photos because I am always disappointed with them later on. Just so two dimentional. They really don't capture the moment for me. Strange I know.
By the way, I did really enjoy seeing your photos that were included with your trip report. I am hoping the lady from the Garden Grill comes through with that photo and I will attach it to my trip report. I know it is really nice to see the people in the story.
So for now I will have to remain mysterious. For the record we are just two average looking people.
By the way, I did really enjoy seeing your photos that were included with your trip report. I am hoping the lady from the Garden Grill comes through with that photo and I will attach it to my trip report. I know it is really nice to see the people in the story.
So for now I will have to remain mysterious. For the record we are just two average looking people.
Anniversary Hoop-La Saturday 5-12-07
Even after our late night on Friday, we were still up by 7:30 Saturday morning. Again we had breakfast in the room. It was fresh fruit and milk we had purchased at the Beach Club Market Place. After breakfast we walked to Disney Studios. It is a little longer walk than Epcot but still very pleasant. We arrived at DS at about 8:50. There was only 10 minutes remaining is the morning extra magic hour. Oh well, we needed to sleep a little.
First we got a FP for R&R then did TOT two times. We had about a 10 minute wait each time for TOT. Next we did R&R with the fast pass. DH and I limit ourselves to just one ride on the coaster per trip. Like I said before, we are at an age where we know our limitations. Next we watched a street performance which involved a pampered director and two of his film crew. It was very cute and we both enjoyed it. Next we did the GMR. We were the second vehicle in our group and had the gangster scene. However after the gangster took over our vehicle, he could not get the doors to open to proceed to the cowboy scene. We were delayed for a while until maintenance got there to fix it. When we got to the end of the ride where you come into Munchkinland, the front vehicle was there waiting for us. The CM on that car seemed relieved to see us. She was trying very hard to entertain her group with trivia and song while they were waiting for us.
We had dinner plans that evening for Morocco. I booked this mainly because I thought DH would enjoy the belly dancer. When we were in Epcot the day before, we looked at the menu and DH did not see anything that really appealed to him. So, we went to guest services and cancelled the Morocco ADR and changed it to Germany Biergarten. We have dined in Germany many times and we know it is a great buffet. We are not beer drinkers but we really enjoy the food and show.
Speaking of dining….. we had a lunch ADR for SiFi. It has been about 5 years since I had eaten there and even longer for DH. It usually does not get very good reviews, but the atmosphere is interesting. DH and I shared a chili for starters and then each had a burger and fries. The chili was very good. The rest was just mediocre. Service was good. Our waiter’s name was Mickey, but he acted more like Biff from the “Back to the Future” movies. DH and I were the hitchhikers in the third seat of the vehicle. There was a boy about 8 or 9 in the drivers seat of the vehicle and Mickey was giving him a hard time. The family seemed to be enjoying it though. The total bill was $37.00 and we saved $7.00 with the Dining Experience discount card. Look at your bill the next time you dine at SiFi. It is stamped in red showing it as a speeding ticket. I thought that was cute.
After lunch we caught a boat back to the BC. We stopped at YC because we wanted to check out where the Yacht Club Galley restaurant was located. We may want to have breakfast there some morning. We found the YCG. It is a very large restaurant.
We walked back over to the BC via Storm Along Bay. Being afternoon it was much more crowded this time than when we looked at it early in the morning. We got back to BC about 1:30 and just chilled out for an hour. At about 3:00 we walked over to ESPN Club to see if we could find the Brewer game on one of the many TVs there. Apparently the game was not being televised because we could not find it. So we walked back to BC and went for a swim. Since we knew SAB was rather busy, we went to the quiet pool by our villa. We relaxed in the hot tub and then enjoyed the regular pool.
At 4:55 we walked to Epcot. Our ADR in Germany was for 5:20 and then we were going to watch the Flower Power concert at the American Garden Theater. The 70’s singer was Davy Jones of the Monkees. As a young pre-teen I was a huge fan of the Monkees. I was really looking forward to the concert. Now days all of the young people think Davy Jones is a character from the Pirates movies, but us older folks know different.
The dinner buffet at Germany was as wonderful as ever. They had all of our favorites. Our table mates were a mom and son from Florida. Son was buying mom dinner as a mother’s day treat. At the end of the table was a couple with a 3 year old girl. They kept their distance and did not attempt to join in any conversation with us. I was rather surprised when they returned from the buffet and the three year old’s plate was loaded up with a ton of food. It was more food than my DH could even finish. Of course the child barely touched any of the food and it all went to waste. We had some very lively conversation with the mom and son couple and enjoyed the German toasting that is done during the show. Tickey Tackey Tickey Tackey Hoy Hoy Hoy! (or something like that). If that is way off, someone please correct me. With the DDE card we saved about $11.00 on the buffet and drinks.
We then got in line for the concert. Although the line was backed up from the American Adventure past Italy and almost to Germany, I was not worried. We would still get a good seat in the huge theater. While in line we did see a rather shocking display. In fact I had read about something similar to what I saw on that old thread “Most Shocking Experience at WDW”. The person writing about it said it happened in the MK and this was happening in Epcot. There was a very young couple. He was dressed normally and had a very large digital camera. It actually looked almost like a professional camera. Very expensive I am sure. The young woman he was with was a very slender blond and was wearing next to nothing. She had very high spiked heel shoes which she could barely walk in. Her outfit was a two piece negligee looking thing. The bottoms were very scant like a bikini. The top of the outfit was a rather low cut bra with a sheer pink fabric attached to the bottom of the bra giving it a jacket like look. This young woman was posing rather seductively for her photographer. There is no way that woman was allowed to enter the park wearing just that. I assumed she must have changed once inside. I do hope someone reported this to security. It was not appropriate for us adults, let alone any children present. I can only assume this was some kind of thrill thing for the couple????. If you were going to do this kind of thing, wouldn’t you at least go to a more secluded area of Epcot. This was right in front of a line of a 1000 people. But than again, maybe that’s part of the thrill. Call me a prude, but that was just wrong!! So now I have my own shocking experience to write about.
So now onto our next show of the evening, the Davy Jones concert. He did a very good job and sang some familiar songs and some new songs he wrote himself. He threw in some geriatric jokes and we all had a good time. During one song, Davy came down into the audience and was strolling a bit. At one point he was only about five feet from me. I could have jumped up for a hug, but I decided to behave myself instead.
After the concert we went to Mexico to do the newly refurbished boat ride. The updates to the ride are good and very much needed. They did leave some things the same, so the familiarity is still there. When entering the ride the CM noticed our anniversary buttons. She allowed us to have a whole boat for just the two of us. However, the boat was one that was set up for wheel chair entry so there were single seats in the boat separated by a three foot wide ramp. We had to stretch out our arms across the ramp just to hold hands on our romantic boat ride. We still appreciated their thoughtful gesture.
After the boat ride we stopped in Italy at one of the shops. On our last visit, I had purchased some divine European chocolate here. I did some looking around and finally decided on a milk chocolate bar with almonds. A small bar was over $6.00. I nibbled at that chocolate the rest of the vacation. I only allowed myself a few bites a day. It was soooo good.
After shopping we continued to walk toward the International Gateway to head back to BC. Our walk took us right past the American Garden Theater and Davy Jones was doing his third concert of the night. It has already started so we snuck in and sat in the back. He actually did a few different songs this set but some were the same. He did comment about coming down into the audience, but he tried that the last show and he said he had a hard time getting back up on the stage. I found that really funny.
We decided not to stay for Illuminations. We made it back to BC in time to watch the fireworks from our balcony. We watched some of Sports Center on ESPN to catch up on our Brewers and then went to sleep about 11:30.
Another fantastic day at WDW.
Even after our late night on Friday, we were still up by 7:30 Saturday morning. Again we had breakfast in the room. It was fresh fruit and milk we had purchased at the Beach Club Market Place. After breakfast we walked to Disney Studios. It is a little longer walk than Epcot but still very pleasant. We arrived at DS at about 8:50. There was only 10 minutes remaining is the morning extra magic hour. Oh well, we needed to sleep a little.
First we got a FP for R&R then did TOT two times. We had about a 10 minute wait each time for TOT. Next we did R&R with the fast pass. DH and I limit ourselves to just one ride on the coaster per trip. Like I said before, we are at an age where we know our limitations. Next we watched a street performance which involved a pampered director and two of his film crew. It was very cute and we both enjoyed it. Next we did the GMR. We were the second vehicle in our group and had the gangster scene. However after the gangster took over our vehicle, he could not get the doors to open to proceed to the cowboy scene. We were delayed for a while until maintenance got there to fix it. When we got to the end of the ride where you come into Munchkinland, the front vehicle was there waiting for us. The CM on that car seemed relieved to see us. She was trying very hard to entertain her group with trivia and song while they were waiting for us.
We had dinner plans that evening for Morocco. I booked this mainly because I thought DH would enjoy the belly dancer. When we were in Epcot the day before, we looked at the menu and DH did not see anything that really appealed to him. So, we went to guest services and cancelled the Morocco ADR and changed it to Germany Biergarten. We have dined in Germany many times and we know it is a great buffet. We are not beer drinkers but we really enjoy the food and show.
Speaking of dining….. we had a lunch ADR for SiFi. It has been about 5 years since I had eaten there and even longer for DH. It usually does not get very good reviews, but the atmosphere is interesting. DH and I shared a chili for starters and then each had a burger and fries. The chili was very good. The rest was just mediocre. Service was good. Our waiter’s name was Mickey, but he acted more like Biff from the “Back to the Future” movies. DH and I were the hitchhikers in the third seat of the vehicle. There was a boy about 8 or 9 in the drivers seat of the vehicle and Mickey was giving him a hard time. The family seemed to be enjoying it though. The total bill was $37.00 and we saved $7.00 with the Dining Experience discount card. Look at your bill the next time you dine at SiFi. It is stamped in red showing it as a speeding ticket. I thought that was cute.
After lunch we caught a boat back to the BC. We stopped at YC because we wanted to check out where the Yacht Club Galley restaurant was located. We may want to have breakfast there some morning. We found the YCG. It is a very large restaurant.
We walked back over to the BC via Storm Along Bay. Being afternoon it was much more crowded this time than when we looked at it early in the morning. We got back to BC about 1:30 and just chilled out for an hour. At about 3:00 we walked over to ESPN Club to see if we could find the Brewer game on one of the many TVs there. Apparently the game was not being televised because we could not find it. So we walked back to BC and went for a swim. Since we knew SAB was rather busy, we went to the quiet pool by our villa. We relaxed in the hot tub and then enjoyed the regular pool.
At 4:55 we walked to Epcot. Our ADR in Germany was for 5:20 and then we were going to watch the Flower Power concert at the American Garden Theater. The 70’s singer was Davy Jones of the Monkees. As a young pre-teen I was a huge fan of the Monkees. I was really looking forward to the concert. Now days all of the young people think Davy Jones is a character from the Pirates movies, but us older folks know different.
The dinner buffet at Germany was as wonderful as ever. They had all of our favorites. Our table mates were a mom and son from Florida. Son was buying mom dinner as a mother’s day treat. At the end of the table was a couple with a 3 year old girl. They kept their distance and did not attempt to join in any conversation with us. I was rather surprised when they returned from the buffet and the three year old’s plate was loaded up with a ton of food. It was more food than my DH could even finish. Of course the child barely touched any of the food and it all went to waste. We had some very lively conversation with the mom and son couple and enjoyed the German toasting that is done during the show. Tickey Tackey Tickey Tackey Hoy Hoy Hoy! (or something like that). If that is way off, someone please correct me. With the DDE card we saved about $11.00 on the buffet and drinks.
We then got in line for the concert. Although the line was backed up from the American Adventure past Italy and almost to Germany, I was not worried. We would still get a good seat in the huge theater. While in line we did see a rather shocking display. In fact I had read about something similar to what I saw on that old thread “Most Shocking Experience at WDW”. The person writing about it said it happened in the MK and this was happening in Epcot. There was a very young couple. He was dressed normally and had a very large digital camera. It actually looked almost like a professional camera. Very expensive I am sure. The young woman he was with was a very slender blond and was wearing next to nothing. She had very high spiked heel shoes which she could barely walk in. Her outfit was a two piece negligee looking thing. The bottoms were very scant like a bikini. The top of the outfit was a rather low cut bra with a sheer pink fabric attached to the bottom of the bra giving it a jacket like look. This young woman was posing rather seductively for her photographer. There is no way that woman was allowed to enter the park wearing just that. I assumed she must have changed once inside. I do hope someone reported this to security. It was not appropriate for us adults, let alone any children present. I can only assume this was some kind of thrill thing for the couple????. If you were going to do this kind of thing, wouldn’t you at least go to a more secluded area of Epcot. This was right in front of a line of a 1000 people.
But than again, maybe that’s part of the thrill. Call me a prude, but that was just wrong!! So now I have my own shocking experience to write about. So now onto our next show of the evening, the Davy Jones concert. He did a very good job and sang some familiar songs and some new songs he wrote himself. He threw in some geriatric jokes and we all had a good time. During one song, Davy came down into the audience and was strolling a bit. At one point he was only about five feet from me. I could have jumped up for a hug, but I decided to behave myself instead.
After the concert we went to Mexico to do the newly refurbished boat ride. The updates to the ride are good and very much needed. They did leave some things the same, so the familiarity is still there. When entering the ride the CM noticed our anniversary buttons. She allowed us to have a whole boat for just the two of us. However, the boat was one that was set up for wheel chair entry so there were single seats in the boat separated by a three foot wide ramp. We had to stretch out our arms across the ramp just to hold hands on our romantic boat ride. We still appreciated their thoughtful gesture.
After the boat ride we stopped in Italy at one of the shops. On our last visit, I had purchased some divine European chocolate here. I did some looking around and finally decided on a milk chocolate bar with almonds. A small bar was over $6.00. I nibbled at that chocolate the rest of the vacation. I only allowed myself a few bites a day. It was soooo good.
After shopping we continued to walk toward the International Gateway to head back to BC. Our walk took us right past the American Garden Theater and Davy Jones was doing his third concert of the night. It has already started so we snuck in and sat in the back. He actually did a few different songs this set but some were the same. He did comment about coming down into the audience, but he tried that the last show and he said he had a hard time getting back up on the stage. I found that really funny.
We decided not to stay for Illuminations. We made it back to BC in time to watch the fireworks from our balcony. We watched some of Sports Center on ESPN to catch up on our Brewers and then went to sleep about 11:30.
Another fantastic day at WDW.
Sunday 5-13-07 Happy Mothers Day
Once again we had a light breakfast in our room. It must have been rather boring, since I have no idea what it was. We got on a bus to the AK at 8:45. We arrived right after opening so the initial crowd was already through the gates. All of the women entering received a carnation. Our first stop was EE to get a fast pass. The return time was for 10:00-11:00. We rode EE twice stand by with very little wait each time. Next we went to the Safari to get a FP, then back to EE to use our 10:00 FP. So within an hour we rode EE three times. Both DH and I were feeling a little woozy after the 3rd ride. Time to move on. We went back to the Safari to use our FP. Even with the FP we had to wait about 20 minutes.
Lunch was at Tusker House. I had the rotisserie chicken which came with mash potatoes and green beans. Everything was very good considering this is a counter service restaurant. DH had the breaded chicken sandwich with steak fries. I also gave him the dark meat of my chicken since I only really like the white meat. DH said his food was just ok. I think he was still feeling the effects of three EE rides in a row. The total bill was $17.00 and we forgot to use our DDE card. So, no discount for us this time ..bummer!
After lunch we did the rapids ride two times. I always wear a rain poncho. After the 2nd ride, I removed the poncho and offered it to someone waiting to ride. Someone takes it every time! Next on our list was ITTBAB. We entered the waiting area when the theater was about to open. So we had no wait. I did notice a lot of unhappy/crying children at this performance. Even more than usual. The little guy next to me really lost it when the large grasshopper came out. I felt bad for him, he was so frightened.
Our next stop was the new Nemo musical show. I was anxious to see this. I had heard some good things about this Broadway quality show. When we got to Dinoland, the line to get in the theater was massive and we wondered if we would get into the theater for this show, but WDW does a good job of seating a large group. We actually ended up in the middle of the theater about half way up. Plenty of people came in after us, so this theater must seat a lot. I think it is really better to be up a little higher to get a good view of the entire stage.
We were about 10 minutes into the show. It was at the part where Dory first appears. Dory ran onto the stage and then immediately ran off. The stage went dark and then there was an announcement that the show was delayed. Two minutes later another announcement said the show was cancelled. We were all asked to exit the theater. On our way out we heard a rumor that there was a collision between two actors back stage. The shark puppeteer ran into the CM doing Marlin. It sounded like the actor was slightly hurt and the Marlin Puppet was destroyed. Seeing the size of the shark puppet, I could see how that might happen. We were disappointed, but what can you do?
We decided to leave AK. We waited about 15 minutes for a bus back to BC. Upon arriving at BC, we walked over to the Boardwalk ESPN Club to watch the remainder of the Brewer game. We did share a snack of nachos during the game. After the game, we went back to BC to rest a while and then get ready for our dinner at Citricos in the Grand Floridian. This was our first time dining here. We brought some slightly nicer clothes for this restaurant. I had a pair of white capris with a black silky blouse and some matching costume jewelry. I would have worn my new pearl necklace, but the CM said to wait a few days to allow the pearl and the setting to completely dry. I also broke out my new dress crocs. I actually own five pair of crocs and I love them all. They are the most comfortable shoes I own. Anyway the dress up crocs are my latest addition to my croc collection. Mine are the black Mary Jane style with the strap across the top of the foot. They are less bulky than the regular crocs and are actually a little flattering. My DH just laughs when I call them my dress crocs. He really is not fond of any of them and my kids like them even less. I tried to explain to them that once you get past the ugly you will like them just fine. They do not agree! DH was encouraging me to purchase a pair of the new Disney crocs this trip. I just could not justify a sixth pair.
Anyway, we cleaned up real nice and caught a bus to MK. We then transferred to the resort monorail and got off at the GF. We had a little time so we browsed the shops on the 2nd floor. When it was closer to our ADR time we went to the waiting lounge for Citricos. We waited about 15 minutes for our table. The lounge had a nice view of one of the court yards of the GF. There are no beepers issued at this restaurant. When your table is ready, a butler type person comes to the lounge to get you and shows you to your table. Your chair is pulled out for you and your napkin is placed in your lap. The butler then announces who your wait person will be. The dining room was very full. I had forgotten it was Mothers Day. I must be a terrible mother and child for leaving my kids and mother and going on vacation over Mothers Day!! What was I thinking?? By the way they all did just fine without me there.
Our waiters name was Chafic. I dont remember where he was from. He did a very good job. He was just attentive enough while allowing the proper amount of time between courses. DH started with a fruity drink called a mango mahito. Next we each had an appetizer. DH had the antipasti which included an olive spread, lentil spread and a procuitto ham with buffalo mozzarella. This was served with toasted bread points. My appetizer was called gateau of crab. It had the consistency of a flan with creamy cheese and lots of crab inside. It was very delicious but very rich. I had picked this appetizer out about two months before our trip. I am glad I stuck with that choice. My entrée was pork two ways with polenta and cilantro drizzle. I am a big fan of cilantro (my favorite herb) so I knew this would be good. Some of the pork was shredded and rolled in a crepe. The rest of the pork was cut in small medallions and grilled. Both were very good. The polenta was creamy and rich. DH had the tile fish with risotto. He liked his entrée also. For dessert we shared a chocolate banana tort. Like with all of the dishes at Citricos, the dessert presentation was so fantastic. The tort plate had a chocolate crown that surrounded it and then the plate was decorated with sauce swirls. There was a lot of attention to detail. Our total bill was $108.00. We were ok with that because we knew we had the 20% DDE discount. Well our waiter returned to our table and was so very apologetic. It turns out that the DDE card is not acceptable on holidays. I did not think about Mothers Day being a blackout date. Oh well, live and learn. No discount for us on Mothers Day!!. Now I wonder if we would have been able to use the card at the Tusker House earlier in the day. We may have found the discount was not available there either. On our way out of the restaurant (for the 2nd time today) I was given a carnation.
Our table at Citricos was near enough to the open air kitchen that you could hear some of what was happening. Boy, that head chef is really in charge. He barks out orders to the assistant chefs and everything is working like a well oiled machine. It was rather interesting to see this. We will definitely return to Citricos for another special dinner. The food and service was well worth the price.
After dinner we took the monorail back to the MK. We hung out on Main Street and waited for wishes at 9:00pm. The area around the castle was very crowded. We were standing next to a group of Spanish speaking people. One of the adult men in the group kept making this hooting high pitched squawking noise. It sounded like a loud chicken. He was very near to my ear and very annoying. I did give him a look on two occasions, but he continued to make the sound. I finally turned around and said thats enough in a not very nice tone. Apparently the woman he was with got the message and told him to stop. He ended up moving away from me, but he kept making the hooting noise. Strange .
Maybe it was a cultural thing?
Of course we enjoyed wishes. After wishes we did some rides in Fantasyland. Then we checked out another of our treasure hunt questions. We needed to name the seven rooms in the Pinocchio Village Haus restaurant. We found: Figaro, Geppetos Work Shop, Monstrous, and Jiminy Cricket. I cannot remember the other three right now. The names were found in the murals on the walls in the restaurant. A second question was about Snow White's Adventure. " Besides the poison apple spell, what other spell is visable in the evil queen's spell book?" We found the answer is "beggar's disguise". At this point, DH was experiencing a head ache, so we left MK at 10:30 and were back to the BC by 11:00.
Monday is an interesting day. It is the actual anniversary day. We managed to visit three parks that day and also have a nice dinner at Shulas in the Dolphin. Stay tuned
Once again we had a light breakfast in our room. It must have been rather boring, since I have no idea what it was. We got on a bus to the AK at 8:45. We arrived right after opening so the initial crowd was already through the gates. All of the women entering received a carnation. Our first stop was EE to get a fast pass. The return time was for 10:00-11:00. We rode EE twice stand by with very little wait each time. Next we went to the Safari to get a FP, then back to EE to use our 10:00 FP. So within an hour we rode EE three times. Both DH and I were feeling a little woozy after the 3rd ride. Time to move on. We went back to the Safari to use our FP. Even with the FP we had to wait about 20 minutes.
Lunch was at Tusker House. I had the rotisserie chicken which came with mash potatoes and green beans. Everything was very good considering this is a counter service restaurant. DH had the breaded chicken sandwich with steak fries. I also gave him the dark meat of my chicken since I only really like the white meat. DH said his food was just ok. I think he was still feeling the effects of three EE rides in a row. The total bill was $17.00 and we forgot to use our DDE card. So, no discount for us this time ..bummer!
After lunch we did the rapids ride two times. I always wear a rain poncho. After the 2nd ride, I removed the poncho and offered it to someone waiting to ride. Someone takes it every time! Next on our list was ITTBAB. We entered the waiting area when the theater was about to open. So we had no wait. I did notice a lot of unhappy/crying children at this performance. Even more than usual. The little guy next to me really lost it when the large grasshopper came out. I felt bad for him, he was so frightened.
Our next stop was the new Nemo musical show. I was anxious to see this. I had heard some good things about this Broadway quality show. When we got to Dinoland, the line to get in the theater was massive and we wondered if we would get into the theater for this show, but WDW does a good job of seating a large group. We actually ended up in the middle of the theater about half way up. Plenty of people came in after us, so this theater must seat a lot. I think it is really better to be up a little higher to get a good view of the entire stage.
We were about 10 minutes into the show. It was at the part where Dory first appears. Dory ran onto the stage and then immediately ran off. The stage went dark and then there was an announcement that the show was delayed. Two minutes later another announcement said the show was cancelled. We were all asked to exit the theater. On our way out we heard a rumor that there was a collision between two actors back stage. The shark puppeteer ran into the CM doing Marlin. It sounded like the actor was slightly hurt and the Marlin Puppet was destroyed. Seeing the size of the shark puppet, I could see how that might happen. We were disappointed, but what can you do?
We decided to leave AK. We waited about 15 minutes for a bus back to BC. Upon arriving at BC, we walked over to the Boardwalk ESPN Club to watch the remainder of the Brewer game. We did share a snack of nachos during the game. After the game, we went back to BC to rest a while and then get ready for our dinner at Citricos in the Grand Floridian. This was our first time dining here. We brought some slightly nicer clothes for this restaurant. I had a pair of white capris with a black silky blouse and some matching costume jewelry. I would have worn my new pearl necklace, but the CM said to wait a few days to allow the pearl and the setting to completely dry. I also broke out my new dress crocs. I actually own five pair of crocs and I love them all. They are the most comfortable shoes I own. Anyway the dress up crocs are my latest addition to my croc collection. Mine are the black Mary Jane style with the strap across the top of the foot. They are less bulky than the regular crocs and are actually a little flattering. My DH just laughs when I call them my dress crocs. He really is not fond of any of them and my kids like them even less. I tried to explain to them that once you get past the ugly you will like them just fine. They do not agree! DH was encouraging me to purchase a pair of the new Disney crocs this trip. I just could not justify a sixth pair.
Anyway, we cleaned up real nice and caught a bus to MK. We then transferred to the resort monorail and got off at the GF. We had a little time so we browsed the shops on the 2nd floor. When it was closer to our ADR time we went to the waiting lounge for Citricos. We waited about 15 minutes for our table. The lounge had a nice view of one of the court yards of the GF. There are no beepers issued at this restaurant. When your table is ready, a butler type person comes to the lounge to get you and shows you to your table. Your chair is pulled out for you and your napkin is placed in your lap. The butler then announces who your wait person will be. The dining room was very full. I had forgotten it was Mothers Day. I must be a terrible mother and child for leaving my kids and mother and going on vacation over Mothers Day!! What was I thinking?? By the way they all did just fine without me there.
Our waiters name was Chafic. I dont remember where he was from. He did a very good job. He was just attentive enough while allowing the proper amount of time between courses. DH started with a fruity drink called a mango mahito. Next we each had an appetizer. DH had the antipasti which included an olive spread, lentil spread and a procuitto ham with buffalo mozzarella. This was served with toasted bread points. My appetizer was called gateau of crab. It had the consistency of a flan with creamy cheese and lots of crab inside. It was very delicious but very rich. I had picked this appetizer out about two months before our trip. I am glad I stuck with that choice. My entrée was pork two ways with polenta and cilantro drizzle. I am a big fan of cilantro (my favorite herb) so I knew this would be good. Some of the pork was shredded and rolled in a crepe. The rest of the pork was cut in small medallions and grilled. Both were very good. The polenta was creamy and rich. DH had the tile fish with risotto. He liked his entrée also. For dessert we shared a chocolate banana tort. Like with all of the dishes at Citricos, the dessert presentation was so fantastic. The tort plate had a chocolate crown that surrounded it and then the plate was decorated with sauce swirls. There was a lot of attention to detail. Our total bill was $108.00. We were ok with that because we knew we had the 20% DDE discount. Well our waiter returned to our table and was so very apologetic. It turns out that the DDE card is not acceptable on holidays. I did not think about Mothers Day being a blackout date. Oh well, live and learn. No discount for us on Mothers Day!!. Now I wonder if we would have been able to use the card at the Tusker House earlier in the day. We may have found the discount was not available there either. On our way out of the restaurant (for the 2nd time today) I was given a carnation.
Our table at Citricos was near enough to the open air kitchen that you could hear some of what was happening. Boy, that head chef is really in charge. He barks out orders to the assistant chefs and everything is working like a well oiled machine. It was rather interesting to see this. We will definitely return to Citricos for another special dinner. The food and service was well worth the price.
After dinner we took the monorail back to the MK. We hung out on Main Street and waited for wishes at 9:00pm. The area around the castle was very crowded. We were standing next to a group of Spanish speaking people. One of the adult men in the group kept making this hooting high pitched squawking noise. It sounded like a loud chicken. He was very near to my ear and very annoying. I did give him a look on two occasions, but he continued to make the sound. I finally turned around and said thats enough in a not very nice tone. Apparently the woman he was with got the message and told him to stop. He ended up moving away from me, but he kept making the hooting noise. Strange .
Maybe it was a cultural thing?Of course we enjoyed wishes. After wishes we did some rides in Fantasyland. Then we checked out another of our treasure hunt questions. We needed to name the seven rooms in the Pinocchio Village Haus restaurant. We found: Figaro, Geppetos Work Shop, Monstrous, and Jiminy Cricket. I cannot remember the other three right now. The names were found in the murals on the walls in the restaurant. A second question was about Snow White's Adventure. " Besides the poison apple spell, what other spell is visable in the evil queen's spell book?" We found the answer is "beggar's disguise". At this point, DH was experiencing a head ache, so we left MK at 10:30 and were back to the BC by 11:00.
Monday is an interesting day. It is the actual anniversary day. We managed to visit three parks that day and also have a nice dinner at Shulas in the Dolphin. Stay tuned
Monday 5-14-07. Happy Anniversary
This turned out to be a rather busy day as we ended up visiting three parks. First Epcot, then AK and after that MK. We were in all three parks before our 6:00pm ADR at Shulas. Now that I think about it, it was a bit of a whirlwind.
For the first time on this vacation, we were having breakfast out. We got to the Yacht Club Galley about 8:00. On our way to YC we passed by Cape May Character Buffet at BC. It was very loud and crowded. What a quiet and serene place the Galley was compared to Cape May at the BC. I was glad to be there.
I had a breakfast platter with two eggs, sausage, wonderful potatoes, white toast and a glass of skim milk to wash it all down. DH had an omelette with meat and veggies in it. Everything was very good and our server Todd did a great job. We had a nice secluded table in the back corner of the restaurant. I was really ready for a nice breakfast out and this one hit the spot. Our original price was $24.47. With the DDE discount we paid $19.43.
After breakfast we walked over to Epcot. We got there right at opening. We did Soarin in the standby line first with about a 10 min wait. On our way out we stopped for a Soarin FP with a return time of 10:24. Next was Test Tracks and then the mild side of Mission Space. We then returned to Soarin for our FP.
Next we caught a bus to AK. We did not intend to get to AK today, but we really wanted to try to see the entire performance of Nemo the Musical. Upon arriving at AK, we noted that the 11:00 performance of Nemo did not take place. But the 1:00 show was posted so we got in line. We were much closer to the front of the line today than we were yesterday. Because we were closer to the front of the line we were seated early and had a chance to do some people watching before the show. Some peoples behavior is amazing. I dont understand why so many people think they have to be seated directly in the center of the theater to enjoy the show. There were groups of people who stopped right in the middle and refused to move all the way done even though they were asked many times. There is some seating roped off as a handicap area which is left open until right before the show starts. If the area is not needed for wheel chairs, it is then opened up for regular seating. One lady took it upon herself to actually remove the rope from the handicap seating area and she and her family sat right down. None of the family members were in need of the handicap area. Attached to the rope was a large blue wheel chair sign. It did not make one bit of difference to this woman . After they sat down, a CM did come over to them and chased them out of the area.
But anyway, we did get to see the entire show this time and we enjoyed it very much. It is worth the time in line to see it. On our way out of AK we stopped at the Flametree BBQ place and shared a rib plate for a snack. While we were in the outdoor seating area a bird swooped down and bumped my head. It really scared me. After we were done eating, DH notice the bird had done more than just swoop me. He also left his calling card on the back of my shirt. We spent a little time near the rest room getting that cleaned up.
Be back with you soon
This turned out to be a rather busy day as we ended up visiting three parks. First Epcot, then AK and after that MK. We were in all three parks before our 6:00pm ADR at Shulas. Now that I think about it, it was a bit of a whirlwind.
For the first time on this vacation, we were having breakfast out. We got to the Yacht Club Galley about 8:00. On our way to YC we passed by Cape May Character Buffet at BC. It was very loud and crowded. What a quiet and serene place the Galley was compared to Cape May at the BC. I was glad to be there.
I had a breakfast platter with two eggs, sausage, wonderful potatoes, white toast and a glass of skim milk to wash it all down. DH had an omelette with meat and veggies in it. Everything was very good and our server Todd did a great job. We had a nice secluded table in the back corner of the restaurant. I was really ready for a nice breakfast out and this one hit the spot. Our original price was $24.47. With the DDE discount we paid $19.43.
After breakfast we walked over to Epcot. We got there right at opening. We did Soarin in the standby line first with about a 10 min wait. On our way out we stopped for a Soarin FP with a return time of 10:24. Next was Test Tracks and then the mild side of Mission Space. We then returned to Soarin for our FP.
Next we caught a bus to AK. We did not intend to get to AK today, but we really wanted to try to see the entire performance of Nemo the Musical. Upon arriving at AK, we noted that the 11:00 performance of Nemo did not take place. But the 1:00 show was posted so we got in line. We were much closer to the front of the line today than we were yesterday. Because we were closer to the front of the line we were seated early and had a chance to do some people watching before the show. Some peoples behavior is amazing. I dont understand why so many people think they have to be seated directly in the center of the theater to enjoy the show. There were groups of people who stopped right in the middle and refused to move all the way done even though they were asked many times. There is some seating roped off as a handicap area which is left open until right before the show starts. If the area is not needed for wheel chairs, it is then opened up for regular seating. One lady took it upon herself to actually remove the rope from the handicap seating area and she and her family sat right down. None of the family members were in need of the handicap area. Attached to the rope was a large blue wheel chair sign. It did not make one bit of difference to this woman . After they sat down, a CM did come over to them and chased them out of the area.
But anyway, we did get to see the entire show this time and we enjoyed it very much. It is worth the time in line to see it. On our way out of AK we stopped at the Flametree BBQ place and shared a rib plate for a snack. While we were in the outdoor seating area a bird swooped down and bumped my head. It really scared me. After we were done eating, DH notice the bird had done more than just swoop me. He also left his calling card on the back of my shirt. We spent a little time near the rest room getting that cleaned up.
Be back with you soon
Monday 5-14-07 continued
.
We left AK about 2:00. Our goal was to get to the MK. The Epcot bus arrived first, so we got on that bus. At Epcot we got on the mono-rail to the TTC and transferred to the MK monorail. Probably not the most efficient route, but it got us there. We arrived at the MK at 2:45.
One of the things on my list this trip was the new Monsters, Inc. show in Tomorrowland. We did that twice. It is really a cute show. Next was Buzz and I actually got the higher score on this ride. It was over 100,000 points That does not happen very often. We had a treasure hunt question for Buzz which asked What does the magic 8-ball predict in the Buzz Lightyear queue . I know I have seen the 8-ball while waiting in line, but I never bothered to read it. Well, in our search, we found that the 8-ball is no longer in the queue, it has been removed. Bummer! We then decided to do COP to answer one more treasure hunt question. In the 1920s scene of COP, what Chinese restaurant can be seen out the window? The answer is Kohns Chinese Restaurant.
We left MK at 4:45 and were back to the hotel at 5:15. We needed to get prettied up for our anniversary dinner at Shulas in the Dolphin.
We left AK about 2:00. Our goal was to get to the MK. The Epcot bus arrived first, so we got on that bus. At Epcot we got on the mono-rail to the TTC and transferred to the MK monorail. Probably not the most efficient route, but it got us there. We arrived at the MK at 2:45.
One of the things on my list this trip was the new Monsters, Inc. show in Tomorrowland. We did that twice. It is really a cute show. Next was Buzz and I actually got the higher score on this ride. It was over 100,000 points That does not happen very often. We had a treasure hunt question for Buzz which asked What does the magic 8-ball predict in the Buzz Lightyear queue . I know I have seen the 8-ball while waiting in line, but I never bothered to read it. Well, in our search, we found that the 8-ball is no longer in the queue, it has been removed. Bummer! We then decided to do COP to answer one more treasure hunt question. In the 1920s scene of COP, what Chinese restaurant can be seen out the window? The answer is Kohns Chinese Restaurant.
We left MK at 4:45 and were back to the hotel at 5:15. We needed to get prettied up for our anniversary dinner at Shulas in the Dolphin.
We walked from BC to the Dolphin and arrived at 6:00pm. We were seated right away. Shulas Steakhouse is a very masculine darkly decorated restaurant. Very dark wood grain with several dining rooms making up the restaurant. The lighting is somewhat low but not real bad. We were seated near the back of one of the dining areas. I have to say this was a fabulous dinner and service was superb. Presentation was very big here. Our menu was printed on a football. (that was kind of lame IMO). We have dined at the Dolphin before in the down-stairs restaurant called Fresh. This is a very nice hotel, but it just does not have the same Disney feel as other resorts/restaurants. I have never been to the Swan, so I wonder if that feeling is missing at the Swan also?
After we reviewed the menu on the football, our waiter came to our table with the steak cart. Every cut of meat was explained to us and we were shown an example of what that steak looked like. They also had samples of the side dishes available to look at. The 48oz bone-in porterhouse steak was rather impressive (and ridiculous as a single serving).
DH started with a chocolate martini. I did have a sip of it, it was very strong but very flavorful. Next was the appetizer. I had the lobster bisque and DH had the colossal shrimp cocktail. Both were very good. And the shrimp were colossal. Regarding the lobster bisque I have to say that the bisque at Fultons was just slightly better, IMO.
My entrée was the 10oz steak MaryAnn. It was tenderloin cut across leaving two 5oz pieces. My steak was cooked medium and then covered with a peppercorn sauce. (The peppercorn sauce is the MaryAnn part?) The plate was also garnished with julienne red and green bell peppers and purple onions. Very beautiful presentation and it all tasted really good too. I did order a side dish of twice baked potato. The waiter assured us it was large enough to share. It was a rather large potato half, but after just a few bites of the potato, I know we needed a second one. It was the best twice baked potato ever. The waiter was very kind to bring the second one and add the $8.00 charge to our bill. DHs entrée was the 24oz porterhouse steak. Again it was a beautiful cut of meat cooked to perfection. His plate was garnished with the same bell pepper and onion mixture. Being from Wisconsin we are fortunate to have many great steak house restaurants in our area. The steak at Shulas was every bit as good as we get at home and maybe even a little better. We were very pleased with everything and would definitely return here. It was a wonderful anniversary dinner. Since we finished the second potato, there was no room for dessert. The total bill was $150.00. There was no discount available since Shulas in the Dolphin is not a Disney restaurant. I did want to mention about an appetizer special that was not listed in the menu. It was two king crab claws and the price was $26.00. The couple at the table next to us ordered this. The crab claws were gigantic and you could see the large amount of meat in them even from our table. Even still, I just could not justify $26.00 for an appetizer though, (anniversary or not). On our way out, we thanked our waiter for making our anniversary dinner very special. He was rather disappointed that we had not mentioned we were celebrating when we were seated. Thats ok, I liked it just the way it was with no fuss.
After dinner, we walked to the Boardwalk ESPN Club to watch the rest of the Brewers game. Near the end of the game, DH and I ordered an ESPN sundae to share for dessert. In some peoples opinion, this may have not been the most romantic way to end our anniversary day, but we really enjoyed it. After the game we walked back to the BC. Gotta love the BC .. location location location.
After we reviewed the menu on the football, our waiter came to our table with the steak cart. Every cut of meat was explained to us and we were shown an example of what that steak looked like. They also had samples of the side dishes available to look at. The 48oz bone-in porterhouse steak was rather impressive (and ridiculous as a single serving).
DH started with a chocolate martini. I did have a sip of it, it was very strong but very flavorful. Next was the appetizer. I had the lobster bisque and DH had the colossal shrimp cocktail. Both were very good. And the shrimp were colossal. Regarding the lobster bisque I have to say that the bisque at Fultons was just slightly better, IMO.
My entrée was the 10oz steak MaryAnn. It was tenderloin cut across leaving two 5oz pieces. My steak was cooked medium and then covered with a peppercorn sauce. (The peppercorn sauce is the MaryAnn part?) The plate was also garnished with julienne red and green bell peppers and purple onions. Very beautiful presentation and it all tasted really good too. I did order a side dish of twice baked potato. The waiter assured us it was large enough to share. It was a rather large potato half, but after just a few bites of the potato, I know we needed a second one. It was the best twice baked potato ever. The waiter was very kind to bring the second one and add the $8.00 charge to our bill. DHs entrée was the 24oz porterhouse steak. Again it was a beautiful cut of meat cooked to perfection. His plate was garnished with the same bell pepper and onion mixture. Being from Wisconsin we are fortunate to have many great steak house restaurants in our area. The steak at Shulas was every bit as good as we get at home and maybe even a little better. We were very pleased with everything and would definitely return here. It was a wonderful anniversary dinner. Since we finished the second potato, there was no room for dessert. The total bill was $150.00. There was no discount available since Shulas in the Dolphin is not a Disney restaurant. I did want to mention about an appetizer special that was not listed in the menu. It was two king crab claws and the price was $26.00. The couple at the table next to us ordered this. The crab claws were gigantic and you could see the large amount of meat in them even from our table. Even still, I just could not justify $26.00 for an appetizer though, (anniversary or not). On our way out, we thanked our waiter for making our anniversary dinner very special. He was rather disappointed that we had not mentioned we were celebrating when we were seated. Thats ok, I liked it just the way it was with no fuss.
After dinner, we walked to the Boardwalk ESPN Club to watch the rest of the Brewers game. Near the end of the game, DH and I ordered an ESPN sundae to share for dessert. In some peoples opinion, this may have not been the most romantic way to end our anniversary day, but we really enjoyed it. After the game we walked back to the BC. Gotta love the BC .. location location location.
Hollywoodhaha
Cat lady in training
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2006
- Messages
- 3,997
Yay for Location 
Tuesday 5-15-07 Last Day
Because it was our last day at WDW we splurged and got room service breakfast. I had eggs Benedict and DH had an omelet. It was delivered exactly when we requested it to be and everything was hot and good. Room service is a little pricey, but it sure is convenient.
After breakfast we checked out, held our luggage with bell services, and we were off to the MK for our “Mousequest Game” This quest is set up for DVC members. We met outside the gates of MK. The duration was from 9 to noon. We had a rather large group. There were forty some people making up 14 groups. We watched the opening at the MK and then were let into the park armed with our envelope of clues. The next three hours were just crazy. We found ourselves almost running from attraction to attraction. A few rides we had to complete to get the answers to our questions. Others, like the Country Bear Jamboree, we only stayed long enough to get the info we needed and then politely snuck out of the show. The CM’s working the attractions were very helpful with getting us some of the answers we needed. Because this quest is property of Disney, I am not suppose to post any of their questions. And I will respect that. But if you are at all interested in trying something like this on your own, get the book I mentioned “PassPorter’s Treasure Hunts at WDW”. That information can be shared with others as I did in my earlier posts. When our three hours were up, we met in Tomorrowland at the theater area. The CM’s tallied our correct answers and found the winners. DH and I had 60 tokens. The winners had 80 tokens. They received a grand prize of a gift basket with an assortment of Disney stuff from mugs to beach towels to posters. The rest of us each received either a pin or a plush mickey. Not to sound like a sore loser, but I do have to mention that the winners had a team of four adults. They did split up with each doing half of the questions. So they were able to cover more ground than the groups that stayed together. I’m just sayin!! DH and I had a great time. We moved rather quickly through the park and found that we were pretty tired at the end of the three hours.
After the quest, we got on the monorail to Epcot. We stopped at Guest Services to see what restaurants had availability. There were several listed. We ended up at Nine Dragons in China as a walk-in at 1:00. The place was only about ¾ full. I had the spicy noodle dish and DH had the Kung Bo Pork. We threw in a few appetizers and some soup and had a bill of about $46.00, And that was after the DDP discount.
We realized that we had not rode Spaceship Earth yet, so we walked over there. DH and I were both tired, so we ended up dozing a little during the ride. On our walk back to World Showcase, I stopped at a stand and bought a Disney print. This stand was there as part of the Flower & Garden Festival, so it is not always available. It is a picture of the castle with Walt and Mickey standing in the arch. They are shown in silhouette. I really like the picture. It was already in a cardboard frame which was ok, so I will not have to refram it.. Another little memento of our Anniversary Hoop-La.
We walked back to the BC and collected our luggage. We waited in the Solarium for our ME bus. This room provides a great view of the front of the hotel, so we could easily see the buses arriving. The solarium is a very beautiful room. I did not mind sitting there to wait. There are very comfy sofas and chairs. I did place another penny in a cabinet near the solarium which I will check on in September. (I know I'm a little crazy, but I do enjoy this!)
ME was right on time at 4:10pm. We did stop at YC and CBR to pick up more passengers. We got to the airport at 5:00 for our 7:00 flight. We found out when we arrived that our flight was delayed until 7:30 due to storms in Milwaukee. We did take the extra time to have a snack at the food court at the airport. Totally unmemorable.
The flight home was fine. I was able to sleep a little on the flight. After arriving in Milwaukee, we had a two hour drive home. We got in about 11:30pm and we were both going to work the next day.
Another great trip. We are so very lucky to be able to have this precious time together. And although “travel is only glamorous in retrospect” (that phrase is credited to another Disboard member), I am still enjoying the after glow of this one.
SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER!!!!!
Because it was our last day at WDW we splurged and got room service breakfast. I had eggs Benedict and DH had an omelet. It was delivered exactly when we requested it to be and everything was hot and good. Room service is a little pricey, but it sure is convenient.
After breakfast we checked out, held our luggage with bell services, and we were off to the MK for our “Mousequest Game” This quest is set up for DVC members. We met outside the gates of MK. The duration was from 9 to noon. We had a rather large group. There were forty some people making up 14 groups. We watched the opening at the MK and then were let into the park armed with our envelope of clues. The next three hours were just crazy. We found ourselves almost running from attraction to attraction. A few rides we had to complete to get the answers to our questions. Others, like the Country Bear Jamboree, we only stayed long enough to get the info we needed and then politely snuck out of the show. The CM’s working the attractions were very helpful with getting us some of the answers we needed. Because this quest is property of Disney, I am not suppose to post any of their questions. And I will respect that. But if you are at all interested in trying something like this on your own, get the book I mentioned “PassPorter’s Treasure Hunts at WDW”. That information can be shared with others as I did in my earlier posts. When our three hours were up, we met in Tomorrowland at the theater area. The CM’s tallied our correct answers and found the winners. DH and I had 60 tokens. The winners had 80 tokens. They received a grand prize of a gift basket with an assortment of Disney stuff from mugs to beach towels to posters. The rest of us each received either a pin or a plush mickey. Not to sound like a sore loser, but I do have to mention that the winners had a team of four adults. They did split up with each doing half of the questions. So they were able to cover more ground than the groups that stayed together. I’m just sayin!! DH and I had a great time. We moved rather quickly through the park and found that we were pretty tired at the end of the three hours.
After the quest, we got on the monorail to Epcot. We stopped at Guest Services to see what restaurants had availability. There were several listed. We ended up at Nine Dragons in China as a walk-in at 1:00. The place was only about ¾ full. I had the spicy noodle dish and DH had the Kung Bo Pork. We threw in a few appetizers and some soup and had a bill of about $46.00, And that was after the DDP discount.
We realized that we had not rode Spaceship Earth yet, so we walked over there. DH and I were both tired, so we ended up dozing a little during the ride. On our walk back to World Showcase, I stopped at a stand and bought a Disney print. This stand was there as part of the Flower & Garden Festival, so it is not always available. It is a picture of the castle with Walt and Mickey standing in the arch. They are shown in silhouette. I really like the picture. It was already in a cardboard frame which was ok, so I will not have to refram it.. Another little memento of our Anniversary Hoop-La.
We walked back to the BC and collected our luggage. We waited in the Solarium for our ME bus. This room provides a great view of the front of the hotel, so we could easily see the buses arriving. The solarium is a very beautiful room. I did not mind sitting there to wait. There are very comfy sofas and chairs. I did place another penny in a cabinet near the solarium which I will check on in September. (I know I'm a little crazy, but I do enjoy this!)
ME was right on time at 4:10pm. We did stop at YC and CBR to pick up more passengers. We got to the airport at 5:00 for our 7:00 flight. We found out when we arrived that our flight was delayed until 7:30 due to storms in Milwaukee. We did take the extra time to have a snack at the food court at the airport. Totally unmemorable.
The flight home was fine. I was able to sleep a little on the flight. After arriving in Milwaukee, we had a two hour drive home. We got in about 11:30pm and we were both going to work the next day.
Another great trip. We are so very lucky to be able to have this precious time together. And although “travel is only glamorous in retrospect” (that phrase is credited to another Disboard member), I am still enjoying the after glow of this one.
SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER!!!!!
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