April Showers Bring May Flowers & A Much Anticipated Disney Trip.NEW-BEST STEAK EVER!

[Disneychix]

Home already?!
Welcome Back and bring on the trip report!

Can't wait to hear about the magic!

 

[LISAMWDW]

Welcome home!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I will be starting the trip report once all of the pictures are uploaded!

Upload faster!!

Glad you had a great time. Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[chcmama]

Welcome back, I can't wait to read your trip report!

 

[misscmac]

Welcome Home!

Thanks!

Welcome back.

Thank you!

Home already?!
Welcome Back and bring on the trip report!

Can't wait to hear about the magic!

Yes, we are home already . The trip report is on its way!

Welcome home!

Thanks!

Upload faster!!

Glad you had a great time. Can't wait to hear all about it!

Normally I would have all of my picutres uploaded by now but we used Justin's camera and its at his house ... Justin are the pictures uploaded yet dear?

Welcome back, I can't wait to read your trip report!

Thanks I'll be starting soon!

 

[misscmac]

MONDAY MAY 19 / TUESDAY MAY 20

My vacation began at 5:00 PM on Monday, May 19 – the second I got out of work! I had a couple of errands to run, then I finished up my packing, said goodbye to the puppy , and headed over to Justin’s house. He was sitting at the outdoor fire pit with his brother and cousin and it was waaaayy too chilly out there for me so I stayed in and watched a few episodes of The Office and 30 Rock. I figured after 3 or so episodes I would be sleepy but no such luck. I was too excited to sleep! I dozed off around 11. I woke up, convinced that it was time to get up, but when I looked at the clock it was only 12:30! I eventually managed to fall back asleep …

…until my 3:30 AM wake up call. Everyone was already up and dressed so I got ready as well. We were out the door by about 4:15 AM and after a quick ride to the airport we were there – after a short wait (we were there before the Southwest check-in counter even opened!) we were sitting at the gate.

Southwest Airlines is in the process of implementing a new boarding program. Instead of being assigned only a letter (A, B, or C) you are assigned a letter and number (A 1 – 60, etc). They board A 1-15, then A 16-30 and so on. This caused a little confusion (along with their new rules about pre-boarding eligibility) so the plane took off a bit late. It was scheduled to take off at 6:35 AM and was about 10-15 minutes late – no biggie.



The flight was pretty uneventful – a little bumpy at times but nothing too bad. Shortly after taking off we had a gorgeous view of the sun shining over the water – this picture doesn’t even do a justice:



We landed and got lost going to the Magical Express counter. After a little help from airport staff we were in line and checked in. We didn’t have to wait very long for our bus – only about 5-10 minutes or so – and POP Century was going to be the first stop. We knew we were getting close when we saw this:




Check-in at POP was a breeze since it was only around 11:00 AM. Our rooms were even ready! Unfortunately we forgot a suitcase on the ME bus (we lost the ME tag and had to pick it up at baggage claim ourselves). Justin’s parents had to speak with the cast members at the ME desk at POP and make a few phone calls to track it down. I decided to hula hoop to pass the time:



Once the suitcase was returned we dropped off some stuff at the room and we had lunch at Everything POP – the first of many chicken finger baskets!

I won’t bore you with the details of our trip to Wal-Mart and getting lost in Celebration – once Justin finally uploads the pictures (HINT HINT) I will write up the next section .

 

[stagemomx3]

Hurray you've started! Love the hula hooping shot.

 

[Bloodhound]

Great Start...we have our flights an car booked for our Oct DL/CA US SW SDZoo Trip and Surfin(if I can talk them into it)

 

[2xcited2sleep]

You're off to a great start (other than forgetting the bag on the bus). Can't wait for more.

 

[MAJ RN]

Congratulations on your graduation!! Can't wait to read more about your report. We are staying at POP for the first time in October so it will be great to get your take on the resort.

Melissa

 

[misscmac]

Hurray you've started! Love the hula hooping shot.

Haha thanks - I was pretty bad at hula-hooping though!

Great Start...we have our flights an car booked for our Oct DL/CA US SW SDZoo Trip and Surfin(if I can talk them into it)

That's awesome! I will have to catch up on your report - I would love to plan a trip to California one day!

You're off to a great start (other than forgetting the bag on the bus). Can't wait for more.

Thanks! Hopefully Justin will get me the rest of the pictures tonight and we will post a bit more!

 

[iHEARTflorida]

welcome back, sorry your trips' over, but i cant wait to read the about the rest of your trip. i just caught on the the pre, and departure day!

 

[Disneychix]

nice start! You made it there!

I can't believe you were at the airport before SW baggage people were ready. I would've been like "come on, I got a plane to catch!"

 

[misscmac]

welcome back, so your trips over ove,r but i cant wait to read the about the rest of your trip. i just caught on the the pre, and departure day!

Thanks for reading!

nice start! You made it there!

I can't believe you were at the airport before SW baggage people were ready. I would've been like "come on, I got a plane to catch!"

Hah - that's pretty much what we were actually saying to eachother! Quite a line had formed by 5:00 AM - they should consider opening a bit earlier, especially since we then had to watch them scan our bags and wait in another long security line.

 

[misscmac]

TUESDAY MAY 20

After we browsed the aisles of Wal-Mart, got lost just outside Celebration ( and got a glimpse of the gorgeous houses in the area ), and hung out by the pool it was just about time to get ready for our dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe.

Justin’s parents still did not know where we were going for dinner – we wanted to surprise them and treat them for a change. At first we weren’t even going to tell them we had dinner plans (we wanted it to be a complete surprise), but then they began talking about eating at The Rainforest Café (again!!) so we had to let them in on some of our plans. We told them that we would be eating dinner at around 6:00 PM. Then accidently/on purpose we took the long way (or as I like to call it, the “scenic route”) to the restaurant.

Once we were all ready, we walked down to the bus stop. We hopped on a bus heading to Epcot. We kind of forgot how longgggg a walk it was to the monorail station from the POP Century bus stop at Epcot. We got on the monorail and it made its way to the Transportation & Ticket Center, were we switched over to the resort line (also forgot about this switching part - we are not frequent monorail riders!).



After a few more stops we were finally at the Grand Floridian. What a beautiful hotel! We were all very excited to finally be here; we toasted to our vacation and waited for our food:





I ordered the Oven Roasted Chicken Breast – it was very good, except I wasn’t crazy about the sides very much (mushrooms, onions, potatoes, arugula). I’m not a fan of any of those veggies, except of course the potatoes. If I hadn’t woken up at 3:30 AM and was thinking clearly, I probably would’ve gotten the mashed potatoes instead.

Justin had picked out his entrée weeks (if not months) in advance – the Shrimp and Prosciutto Penne Pasta with asiago cheese sauce and asparagus tips. I’m sure he will jump in with his opinions, but I tried a bite of his and thought it was delicious!! I probably would’ve ordered this entrée if he hadn’t.

(No pictures of this meal – sorry, we’re new to this and kept forgetting!)

We were stuffed so dessert was out of the question. We got a group picture and explored the lobby a bit:






Though the meal was delicious, I am not sure if we would return here. Though we paid "Out Of Pocket" (our Dining Plan didn't start until the next day) we used rewards dollars from Justin's Disney Visa Card so it didn't feel like we were truly paying OOP - it was our "free" spending money. I doubt we would ever return here if we actually had to pay OOP.

We amused ourselves with the camera while waiting for a bus to Downtown Disney:



We walked around Downtown Disney for an hour or so and then the early morning finally started to catch up with us. We made our way back to bus stop, caught a bus to POP, and rested up for our first full day in Florida!

Up next: Seaworld!!

 

[megveg]

This picture is adorable!

 

[stagemomx3]

Nice pictures, though I do miss the food porn. I love the tongue shout out to Jordan!

 

[CinderellyCinderelly]

OMG you guys are so cute together!!! No guys my age that I know like Disney, you are sooo lucky! Awesome TR so far, can't wait to hear more!

 

[LISAMWDW]

Off to a great start! You two are so cute!

BTW, what restaurant did you eat at the Grand Floridian?

Can't wait for more!

 

[misscmac]

This picture is adorable!

Thanks!

Nice pictures, though I do miss the food porn. I love the tongue shout out to Jordan!

Haha - don't worry, we occasionally remember to photograph our food throughout the trip so there is a bit of food porn!

OMG you guys are so cute together!!! No guys my age that I know like Disney, you are sooo lucky! Awesome TR so far, can't wait to hear more!

Haha I know. I take a bit of credit for making him such a Disney fanatic though

Off to a great start! You two are so cute!

BTW, what restaurant did you eat at the Grand Floridian?

Can't wait for more!

Thanks! We ate at the Grand Floridian Cafe. You can tell I am new to this - I FORGOT TO PUT THE NAME OF THE RESTAURANT!