Antics of the Orange Banded Monkeys: Heartbreaking News June 2017

Fittings and Farings never seems to have any shoppers in it. The CM's must be very bored. But I'm glad you finally checked it out.

The monkey lamp is a classic. I'm glad it survived your visit. ;)

The new YC decor looks like it will be the same style as the BC.
 
Fittings and Farings never seems to have any shoppers in it. The CM's must be very bored. But I'm glad you finally checked it out. The monkey lamp is a classic. I'm glad it survived your visit. The new YC decor looks like it will be the same style as the BC.
Perhaps the powers that be also find the new YC décor a little less than desirable and they went back to the drawing board which is why the refurbishment was delayed? One can only hope....
Katesdad
 
You guys are hilarious. I'll have to scope out that monkey lamp in January. The yacht club decor is kind of meh interested to see the final product.
 
Love the monkey lamp and the antics you humans got up to! Lol Chair races indeed! What I wouldn't give to have witnessed those of an evening :rolleyes1
 


The monkey photo is too funny! Nothing like fun with good friends!

I agree that the new decor looks a little bland. I don't know if it was shadowing in the photo, but that light colored carpet already appears dirty. I would think that would be hard to keep clean. Is the plan to redecorate the entire hotel with that color palatte?
 
When we left off, the monkeys were headed off to dinner. We had reservations for Todd English’s Blue Zoo at Disney’s Dolphin Resort. Apparently, the signature restaurants don’t vet (get it) their prospective customers, so they let us in.

LOL!!

I have never dined there before, in fact, this would be my first signature restaurant.

What! First signature restaurant ever?? I don't believe that!

The reason the text was funny to me and that I thought it was from my son is because several years ago Ben announced to his 2nd grade class and teacher that “My mom has a drinking problem!” This was during a time when my best friend was moving from our city to Florida. Her family is very popular and we had a number of going away parties for her. Ben was concerned with the frequency I was going out to bars and parties in a short period of time.

Although a comment like that is one that is subject to mandatory reporting, fortunately due to the huge amount of time I spent volunteering in the schools, the teachers and administrators all know me and realized that this was not very likely to be true. When I explained the reason behind the comment, they understood. PHEW!

OMG that is both embarrassing and hilarious at the same time! :rotfl:


This was delicious and helped to ease the pain of the removal of the Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese salad from the menu at Sunshine Seasons (more on that in a later installment)

I had the Simply FishView attachment 125110- Daily selection of finest fresh fish selected from coastal waters around the world, simply grilled on our teppanyaki grill, served with choice of sauce: warm crabmeat, dijon mustard, chives sauce; sauce of the day. $35.00

The waiter described 3 local fish and I chose the corvina, which was described as resembling a white sea bass. I believe the sauce I chose was the sauce of the day which was artichoke based.

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Everything looks delicious! You know my first Todd English restaurant was in Boston many years ago I think during my senior year in college. I think it was Olives...it was delicious and I think it was my first time ever having risotto. It blew me away!

Our plans for the evening were to watch (and photograph) the Frozen Fireworks from the Beach Club beach.

Unfortunately, when we were finishing our dinner, the skies opened, thunder boomed and lightning flashed. We were disappointed that our original plans would not work out, but we “Let it Go!”

Oh no, but looks like you guys had enough to keep you entertained!!

I enjoy seeing your recreation of pictures from past trips. It's something I should probably think about doing!
 
LOL!!! All I can say. Good times!

I also love the monkey lamp picture.

NM for president.

Such a fun night!!!

I think that monkey lamp would make a nice addition to someone's room décor along with the missing fish lamp at the BC...

~NM would fit right in with her antics alongside some of our candidates for the White House.

:sad2:


Excellent update. Love the pictures! Looks like a fun night!

We all had a blast that night.

It was too bad that we missed out on the fireworks, but you know what they say of the best laid plans of mice and monkeys.

:goodvibes


Fittings and Farings never seems to have any shoppers in it. The CM's must be very bored. But I'm glad you finally checked it out.

The monkey lamp is a classic. I'm glad it survived your visit. ;)

The new YC decor looks like it will be the same style as the BC.

I was pretty impressed with how much merchandise was there. Some really nice resort wear and lots and lots of drinks and snacks.

Surprisingly, no furniture was broken, or turned up missing, on our watch!

The new Beach Club rooms are gorgeous and the hallway spaces are very chic. I hope a similar transformation will be taking place at the Yacht Club. But please- no light carpeting!!! Who is the genius who thinks that is a good idea???


Perhaps the powers that be also find the new YC décor a little less than desirable and they went back to the drawing board which is why the refurbishment was delayed? One can only hope....
Katesdad

That's what I think and hope, too. I am surprised that we haven't heard any buzz on the renovations.

:confused3
 


You guys are hilarious. I'll have to scope out that monkey lamp in January. The yacht club decor is kind of meh interested to see the final product.

It is right there in YC lobby, close to the Captain's Grille restaurant. In fact, we begged the hostess of the restaurant to take the picture for us. The lamp was still there when we left...

I hope they do better with the decorating than the sample that we saw.

:thumbsup2


Love the monkey lamp and the antics you humans got up to! Lol Chair races indeed! What I wouldn't give to have witnessed those of an evening :rolleyes1

As you can imagine, some of our antics rated a glance or two from other guests.

I'm not sure I can describe that twinge of excitement, and terror, when you see that lightbulb go off over ~NM's head, indicating that she has a new idea!

:idea:


The monkey photo is too funny! Nothing like fun with good friends!

I agree that the new decor looks a little bland. I don't know if it was shadowing in the photo, but that light colored carpet already appears dirty. I would think that would be hard to keep clean. Is the plan to redecorate the entire hotel with that color palatte?

We have all become really close friends, in a very short period of time. They are my people. :love:

The designers went with a light colored carpeting in the Beach Club rooms, which was a really poor decision in my opinion. Let's hope they have better sense to go with a color that won't show dirt and wear and tear in the Yacht Club renovation.

:sad2:
 
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What! First signature restaurant ever?? I don't believe that!

True! We typically travel with the boys and they don't need "signature" food. Just good food and there are plenty of places to choose from at Disney. We have dined at Le Cellier a couple of times, but before it became a signature restaurant.

The signature I would most like to try is California Grill. Love the location and all of the food I have seen from there. Nate is a meat lover and probably would go nuts at Yachtsman, but he seems to be happy enough with the steaks we get at other locations in the World.

Wait until you read about more firsts... like ice cream from Beaches & Cream and a visit to resort I have never been to before.

:thumbsup2


OMG that is both embarrassing and hilarious at the same time! :rotfl:

Being (mistakenly) called out as an alcoholic by an 8 year old is one of those stories that will be funny "someday". Actually it was pretty amusing at the time it happened.

:rotfl:


Everything looks delicious! You know my first Todd English restaurant was in Boston many years ago I think during my senior year in college. I think it was Olives...it was delicious and I think it was my first time ever having risotto. It blew me away!

The food was really good. Olives was quite the hot spot back in the day. I think I was working in Boston at the time, but I never made it over there. Or to Todd's newer place Fig, which I don't think was very successful.

:confused3


Oh no, but looks like you guys had enough to keep you entertained!!

I enjoy seeing your recreation of pictures from past trips. It's something I should probably think about doing!

It was too bad about the fireworks, although we were all pretty tired, so it was probably best that we were able to get the rest of our steam out at the Yacht
Club and then turn in for a rest.

We really had no idea we would be going to Disney so frequently and I wish my family had recreated more pictures through the years- the best we have is castle pictures from 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013.

It was fun taking a picture of NinjaMom as a floor model for the second year in a row.

:bitelip:
 
Too many great things to quote! Bluezoo looks amazing. I love seafood, so I'm hoping to work it in at some point.

Too funny about Ben. Amara did that to me once at the pediatrician's. We were checking out and they asked if I needed a note for school. I asked Amara if she wanted to come home with me and hang out. She said no, just take me to school. "You can go home and drink some wine." Nice. Outed as a wino in front of the nurse.

First off, sounds like a wonderful first meal. So nice of Nanette's daughter to fill it with surprises. And other than that chowder it all looks amazing!

Secondly, WHATTT??!!!! I've got Sunshine Seasons on my planning spreadsheet just so I can try that salad. How can they remove it from the menu now - It's on my spreadsheet!!!

Can't wait to hear what troubles you got up to over at the Yacht Club.

I second your WHATTT??!!! We never got over to Sunshine Seasons this past trip, so I didn't know that. I loved that salad!

And personally, I think every resort at Disney needs a NM accessory.
 
Too many great things to quote! Bluezoo looks amazing. I love seafood, so I'm hoping to work it in at some point.

Too funny about Ben. Amara did that to me once at the pediatrician's. We were checking out and they asked if I needed a note for school. I asked Amara if she wanted to come home with me and hang out. She said no, just take me to school. "You can go home and drink some wine." Nice. Outed as a wino in front of the nurse.

It was a great meal. If I recall, you are a Flying Fish fan.

:fish:


Aren't kids delightful!?!

:rotfl:


I second your WHATTT??!!! We never got over to Sunshine Seasons this past trip, so I didn't know that. I loved that salad!

And personally, I think every resort at Disney needs a NM accessory.

I know! The roasted beet and goat cheese salad was my go-to. I tried to get it once or twice a trip, it was so good! There are similar salads available elsewhere, like the one I had at bluezoo and later in the trip at Captain's Grille, but it is not the same.

:(

Great suggestion! At the very least, ~NM accessories are needed at Boardwalk to counteract the scary clown pool and the hideous chairs (Todd and Paul) in the lobby!

Todd.jpg


:clown:
 
Sunday August 30

Bus Stop Babe


This update stars a single early morning monkey.

I am an early riser. Every single day I wake up between 4:30 and 5 am, without an alarm clock and often against my wishes. Doesn’t matter if it is a regular school/work day, weekend, holiday, vacation, or if I have had a late night. My body wakes up at 0-dark-thirty.

When I am staying at the Beach Club, I do one of two things during those early hours. I either head out onto the balcony with my coffee, phone, camera and a book or I roam around the resort. This day, I chose to wander.

I also had a couple of missions to complete- I had promised on the FAQ thread to time the walk from the Beach Club lobby to the Yacht Club lobby and I also wanted to go out to the bus stop to monitor how early and how often buses to the theme parks (MK and AK) arrived.

First order of business- pictures of the hallways and Beach Club lobby.


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Beach Club lobby:


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I walked over to the Yacht Club. Since I was stopping and taking pictures along the way, this is not when I was timing my walk.


An empty Cape May Café

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An empty Stormalong Bay

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Looking back


An empty Captain’s Grille

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Yacht Club lobby:


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When I was done taking pictures, it was time for some FAQ business. I started at the YC globe and walked at a moderate pace to the Beach Club lobby.

Ready, Set, Go!

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Final Answer: 5 minutes.



Then it was off to the Bus Stop. Although it was still dark, and I wasn’t going anywhere, I wanted to see how frequently the buses arrived pre-park opening.


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On the way out


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While I was out at the bus stop, there was a woman working. I told her what I was doing. I asked her to take my picture.


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She was chatty. About one of her neighbors whose cable bill was overdue, but the notices kept coming to her house. About the people who let their dogs do their business on her lawn. About her cats. (I wonder how many cats?)

When I got back to our room and described the woman and said her name to my roommates, Rebecca said she had met her on a previous trip. And coincidentally, as I was relating the story later, another person at our meet had met her too!

Small World!


So what was the timing of the buses?

On this day, Animal Kingdom opened at 8 am and Magic Kingdom opened at 9 am.

As I walked up, a bus was just pulling away.

6:30, MK

6:52, AK

6:54, MK

7:06, AK

I wasn’t able to stay and be a bus monitor any longer because it was time for me to leave to get ready for breakfast with the gals!


Next up: Don’t Feed the Monkeys (La Tratorria al forno)
 
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Looks like a very peaceful morning walk around the resorts.

That lady seems like she gets around if multiple people have met her haha.

I'm interested to hear what you thought of the new Italian restaurant at the boardwalk.
 
I am shocked! SHOCKED I tell you, to discover that there were no bodies in various poses on the rugs at this resort, at this early hour of the morning. That scary woman who jumps in front of your camera with the least provocation is slipping... big time!

~NM
 
Dee - Wow! Your pictures of the YC lobby are terrific.

Glad you were able to spend some time at the bus stop fulfilling your duty for the bus arrival times. And you met a new friend! Lucky you!
 
It was a great meal. If I recall, you are a Flying Fish fan.

:fish:


Aren't kids delightful!?!

:rotfl:




I know! The roasted beet and goat cheese salad was my go-to. I tried to get it once or twice a trip, it was so good! There are similar salads available elsewhere, like the one I had at bluezoo and later in the trip at Captain's Grille, but it is not the same.

:(

Great suggestion! At the very least, ~NM accessories are needed at Boardwalk to counteract the scary clown pool and the hideous chairs (Todd and Paul) in the lobby!

View attachment 128111


:clown:

If there is a resort with overall creepier theming than the BWI, I'd like to know. Or maybe I wouldn't.

I did love Flying Fish. I admit, I preferred the chef's table at FF to the regular menu. But it was still pretty darn good.
 

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