"Are you done with that?!" A photo heavy, gluttonous, Jan 2012 Trip Report! NEW PG32

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Park Day 3! Animal Kingdom- Tuesday, January 31st

Tuesday we woke up and the boys decided to take a rest day and not go with us to Animal Kingdom. It was their least favorite park last time and the only reason I was bummed was because I wanted to ride EE with Dallas. I had stayed onsite for just this occasion, so we let them rest and headed off with just the girls to rope drop.

We didn't have big plans for AK this day and were pretty tired, so we decided to just take it slow. Good idea! I wore my running shoes and my feet thanked me (DUH!!).

Ooooh! I just remembered a little mishap when parking! They were showing us where to park and I pulled in and started to open my door and someone was pulling in at the same time! Luckily they just barely hit the door and there was no damage!

The girls look worn out already, but I think these are just their morning faces.

We really took our time. I didn't know actually what time it was or if RD had happened yet (they do that up near the tree of life) but it didn't matter. I was super relaxed. I love the focus on conservation at AK. We stopped to see a tarantula and learn a little about them. That lady next to Savannah looks shocked!

We walked the paths heading towards the Tree of Life and stopped to see some barking deer and other animals. I did once think about taking off running for my precious EE fastpasses, but reminded myself that we didn't have a huge list to do this day and there was NO.HURRY.

Finally we came up over the bridge and to my surprise rope drop hadn't happened yet. I was actually a little disappointed, it would have given the illusion of less people if it had. But, I know how to tilt the camera and make it look like there were no people!

You would think (well, anyone that knows much about me) that AK would be my favorite b/c of the TREE, the greenery, the conservation, the focus on animals...but it's not. I don't dislike it, it's just there's not enough rides for this ride-junkie! My favorite ride resides here, so I will never skip it!

It was time! We headed to EE. As we were walking, a LARGE tour group came up behind us and Rey didn't even object to me booking it to the FP machine! He sped up too and was egging me on "you're not going to make it!"

I grabbed FP's so quick that they had just caught up with me and we got in the standby line RIGHT as those girls were all getting ready to jump on! Rey mentioned that the tour groups seemed to be following my best-park-days! It wasn't that they were rude at all, they were just massive and everywhere! I had read to just "go the other way" when you see them, but this wasn't just one or two groups, they filled the parks and were everywhere you looked, but I digress...

So we walked right on, maybe 5 minute standby and it was time for Leslee's first ride on EE! See the fear in her eyes?

I was poised to take a million shots, I love trying to get unique shots while on rides. So, we're heading up, and I'm shooting...

We get to the top, I take this shot, and the memory card tells me it's full! WHAT?!?!? So, here I am at the top of EE, desperately trying to delete shots in a period of about 2 seconds before we start our backward descent! I think I ended up getting one or two more shots out of it.

more reason to ride it later then!

Ah, I love EE! (I'm sure you can't tell since I spent almost a whole update on it!) Leslee wasn't sure, but she went on it again later, so I figured she didn't hate it. Savannah told me just yesterday that she didn't like EE...but Leslee never let on...

We headed towards the safari and I think I spent most of my time walking and deleting. I shoot in RAW, so I just hadn't realized that I was going to fill an 8G memory card that fast, it was only day 3! I had two more, but they were back at the room, so I wanted to at least delete any duplicates or shots that might be blurry so I could get a few more shots of our day at AK. Girls posed for me with the ToL behind them.

Safari was nearly walk on, didn't take long at all! I got a couple shots, even trying to conserve my memory card!

Rhinobutts!

When we came off of the Safari, we headed to Flights of Wonder. I had seen it in 2008 and really enjoyed it but Rey and Leslee had never watched it. On the way, we ran into my soul sister! I think some days I feel like DeVine, I seen sunshine like a plant!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

AK Day (continued)

It was time for Flights of Wonder!

The girls were getting a little hungry, so we told them we would get a snack as soon as the show was over. We got a great seat up front, 2nd row. I love this show b/c although they have thrown in HUMAN comedy in the form of the "tour guide" who is afraid of birds, they are serious about the birds and there's no treating the birds like a circus act. It's focused on conservation and information about birds and things they naturally do in the wild, no riding bikes (they even talk about this).

It was a great show, we all enjoyed it. When we came out, we got the girls ice cream (can you believe I didn't get a single shot of a mickeybar or mickeysandwich?!?!? I must have been out of my mind!)

The stand was right there outside of FoW, and WOW it was getting busy. A Tuesday in January at Animal Kingdom?!?!? This area is usually not busy at all, but I took a shot (this is standing by FoW, looking towards Africa/Safari area:

The girls were happily eating their ice cream and Rey & I decided we should grab a CS. I had done my research and the only place for me to get a veggie option was at Restaurantsaurus, but I knew Rey would prefer Flame Tree bbque, so I left the girls with him, getting his food and headed over into Dinoland to see if I could get mine to go. As I walked up, there was another HUGE group of girls (tour group) standing outside, getting ready to go. They were being given directions, so I JUST barely made it in before they came in behind me! I got a grilled veggie wrap/sandwich and headed back over to find Rey and the girls.

How was my lunch? I would say pretty good since I had already devoured my sandwich before even taking a picture! Here are my sweet potato fries and my cheesecake cup dessert though!

Rey had some sort of bbque sandwich, which I also forgot to take a picture of! Then he gave his key lime dessert to the girls, they also ate some of my sweet potato fries!

We had already decided that we were going to make it a short day and head back to do some laundry and swim, but we had a few more things on the list! Savannah really wanted to do Dinosaur, it was totally walk on! I believe this was at 11:45 or so. This was the great thing, even though the crowds were large, the lines were not!

After Dinosaur, the girls wanted to ride Triceratop! It was really nice to just go with the flow and do whatever at this point. I guess that's the good thing about a park that doesn't have THAT much that we feel like we HAVE to do.

When they came off, we realized that Pluto & Goofy were right across the way and the line wasn't too long!
This is Pluto making a big deal out of Savannah's black finger nails. This happened a few times with the characters noticing her pink hair as well!

It was gettting really busy at this point and we decided to take the normally quiet path back by Nemo, over to EE to use our FPs. Wow. I was really shocked at how many people there were! We were glad to have the FPs, but I don't think the standby was more than 30, so still the crowds didn't seem to have too much affect on the wait times!

Rey ended up not going! It turned out that I LOST one of the FPs! He didn't seem to mind at all, I think once is enough for him, so the girls and I headed in line. They sat together and I sat behind them with a boy from the single-rider line.

A few more shots this time since I had made room on the memory card! Sigh...just love EE!

When we came out, Rey was waiting, and he looked ready to go. The crowds seem to just be building and he seemed aggravated by them. So, we headed out, but I took some photos and we stopped for a couple photopass shots on the way out.

We left around 1pm, or we got back around 1pm...not sure which, but it didn't take long once we found the Durango in the AK parking lot! We even know the area, but an empty parking lot looks a little different full!

We went straight to the food court when we got back to Pop (1pm my notes say) and got the girls some lunch. I LOVED the CM's at Pop! I told one of the women about my issues with the CS meals for Savannah and she piled a huge adult size of mac-n-cheese onto a plate with a breadstick and told me which CM to go to so they could just charge like a regular adult CS meal! She couldn't even finish all of it, they gave her so much!

Leslee got a massive burrito that she also could not finish!

With full bellies, back we went to the room to get our suits on and grab the laundry! It's super convenient that the laundry area is next to the pool! I got to lay in the sun and relax, it was perfect! Ah...vacation! Well, except for the fact that my dd was crabby and homesick...again!


Up next...after a relaxing afternoon at the pool, we head to Kouzinna for dinner on the Boardwalk!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Valentine's Day update

I just wanted to share something Disney related this morning for Valentines Day! Rey and I rarely EVER do anything for Valentines day. It's just not our thing, I'm not big into cut flowers and let's face it, we don't like doing what everyone else does, so we always say that we don't want to just celebrate our love one day a year.

BUT, this morning, I look on my facebook and this is what I find: (remember, he's on the road, not home)

So, he bought a dozen cupcakes JUST for the little plastic mickey/minnie rings on them so that he could take these pictures for me. The first one, if you cannot tell, is his wedding band with one of the plastic rings sitting in it. The other is all 12 rings (he said one for each day of our vacation/time he was home) in a heart on the ground.

Am I not the luckiest girl around?!? He just gets me and the gesture is just perfect, means more to me than a pile of diamonds or flowers!

 

[-Hope-]

Your AK day sounds great! I love the shot of the rhinos walking away and the one of the girls faces framed by the seat on EE. (Well, I love them all but especially those two!)

 

[Victoriasmom98]

aaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeee.........how sweet is Rey???!!!!!

oh, and your Animal Kingdom day looks like fun, too!!!

 

[giantstoindy]

Great update! I"m like you-Animal Kingdom is basically my least favorite park. I figure if I'm spending thousands of dollars for a vacation, I want some attractions and good food!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Your AK day sounds great! I love the shot of the rhinos walking away and the one of the girls faces framed by the seat on EE. (Well, I love them all but especially those two!)

I really enjoyed it, especially going at a slower pace...although this required giving up the idea that we had to do everything in the park (FOTFK, character meets, etc). I think going just to take some pics and ride EE a few times is going to be perfect for our trip!

aaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeee.........how sweet is Rey???!!!!!

oh, and your Animal Kingdom day looks like fun, too!!!

Thanks! He is too sweet and we had a lot of fun on our AK day. My feet hurt less that night as well b/c we took it slower.

Great update! I"m like you-Animal Kingdom is basically my least favorite park. I figure if I'm spending thousands of dollars for a vacation, I want some attractions and good food!

The funniest thing to me is the food at AK! You would think that this would be the park for vegetarians and vegans, right? Nope! Hardest place for us to find food...I guess they give all the green stuffs to the animals!

 

[katt789]

Another awesome update! I adore the pics of EE, I always wish that I had my camera out when I get to the top, the view where you can see Epcot, the Ep resorts, and ToT, gah! Beautiful! One of my favorite rides in all of WDW!! Also, I'm pretty sure we encountered some of the same tour groups, I was there the 29-1st, and there always seemed to be a sea of purple no matter where I was (although I park hopped a lot). I'm glad that you were a jump ahead of most of them!

 

[JDailey]

AWWWW that was soooo sweet of Rey!!! You are a very lucky girl!

The A.K. day looked good too!

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Great update! AK sounded like a great day. It's my least favorite park, too, though :-/ I move towards the thrill rides as well. I love EE!! Such a great ride

 

[exwdwcm]

Oh how sweet of him to do that on V-Day! It is the thoughtful gestures like that, that mean more than all the roses or chocolate in the world.

another great update. Sorry it was so crowded. Sounds like the ride lines weren't long, but i HATE when the pathways are so packed like that. it drives me nuts. DH too. And the tour groups......they get so annoying, i feel your pain there. Once again, you got some amazing shots- love some of those EE shots!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Awww how sweet of Rey!!

Looks like you guys had a great time at AK! Too bad about all the crowds though! How annoying!

 

[Tink-erin-belle]

Oh my goodness! Your Valentines Day post just made me tear up! I completely forgot about what I was going to comment about your other posts! Rey is such a sweet guy to do something not only thoughtful but also Disney related! Well, I do remember that I was going to say that I love the food pics and I'm hungry now even though I already had dinner. Thanks for nothing! Just kidding! The kids and I will have to try Via Napoli on a future trip. They both love pizza. My sisters and I, not so much - but I think I could go for that four cheese pizza. Your other pics are gorgeous, as usual. I'm looking forward to reading more!

 

[KatMark]

I have not forgotten you. My DH and I worked a wrestling tournament at the high school on Friday night and Saturday all day and evening and I'm still recovering. You've done quite a few updates, so I'll catch up tomorrow (with the long weekend I only made one minor update to my own TR).

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Another awesome update! I adore the pics of EE, I always wish that I had my camera out when I get to the top, the view where you can see Epcot, the Ep resorts, and ToT, gah! Beautiful! One of my favorite rides in all of WDW!! Also, I'm pretty sure we encountered some of the same tour groups, I was there the 29-1st, and there always seemed to be a sea of purple no matter where I was (although I park hopped a lot). I'm glad that you were a jump ahead of most of them!

I underestimated the tour groups, for sure! I thought there would be maybe one or two in a park, but there were way more than that! Luckily, they all seemed to be normal teenage girls, I saw some running, but nothing rude, no pushing or doing any of the things I have read about on the DIS.

AWWWW that was soooo sweet of Rey!!! You are a very lucky girl!

The A.K. day looked good too!

Thanks! He did good, we usually don't celebrate Valentines day much, so it really surprised me.

Great update! AK sounded like a great day. It's my least favorite park, too, though :-/ I move towards the thrill rides as well. I love EE!! Such a great ride

It's funny that I'm a ride junkie b/c I didn't used to be when I was younger! I love them and they terrify me, I was so scared to do RnRc again this year...but you'll read about that coming up!

Oh how sweet of him to do that on V-Day! It is the thoughtful gestures like that, that mean more than all the roses or chocolate in the world.

another great update. Sorry it was so crowded. Sounds like the ride lines weren't long, but i HATE when the pathways are so packed like that. it drives me nuts. DH too. And the tour groups......they get so annoying, i feel your pain there. Once again, you got some amazing shots- love some of those EE shots!

Oh yes, I'm really happy that the lines didn't reflect the crowds! We really didn't wait much for anything the whole trip using FPs and hitting RD, and we did almost everything we wanted to do!

Awww how sweet of Rey!!

Looks like you guys had a great time at AK! Too bad about all the crowds though! How annoying!

Thanks! It was a nicer, more relaxing day, and that helped. I think if I had a list of must-do's for AK, I might have been frustrated, but since we didn't, it ended up being a really nice day! I actually think my favorite part was laying by the pool!

Oh my goodness! Your Valentines Day post just made me tear up! I completely forgot about what I was going to comment about your other posts! Rey is such a sweet guy to do something not only thoughtful but also Disney related! Well, I do remember that I was going to say that I love the food pics and I'm hungry now even though I already had dinner. Thanks for nothing! Just kidding! The kids and I will have to try Via Napoli on a future trip. They both love pizza. My sisters and I, not so much - but I think I could go for that four cheese pizza. Your other pics are gorgeous, as usual. I'm looking forward to reading more!

Erin, I have no idea if your kids will like it, but Savannah & Leslee didn't, so I wouldn't go just for them if the rest of you don't like pizza...although, they do have pasta and other items, I just remembered that!

I have not forgotten you. My DH and I worked a wrestling tournament at the high school on Friday night and Saturday all day and evening and I'm still recovering. You've done quite a few updates, so I'll catch up tomorrow (with the long weekend I only made one minor update to my own TR).

I was hoping I wasn't going too fast for anyone! There will only be one update today, I think, so that should help!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Tuesday, Jan. 31st- Dinner at Kouzzina

I'm only doing this one update this morning, for a few reasons. The main reason is that as I get closer to the end of the trip, the slower I am getting b/c I don't want the TR to end! The other reason is that I'm feeling a bit down, I don't think it's really "Disney blues" but I cannot really get totally back to normal here b/c this Plantar Fasciitis I have. My feet are hurting and I can't get back to my running, which is frustrating me and I can't really do anything other than sit around and wait for my feet to feel better. Well, I don't do well with sitting around.

On to Kouzzina! After coming up from the pool and getting showered and ready, we headed to the Boardwalk! I have in my notes that Savannah was complaining she was sick and acting crabby and that I had to practically drag her out of the room. I don't remember this, but I think that's b/c she was fine when we got to the Boardwalk. I don't want anyone thinking I was dragging a sick child around, she has some allergy issues with food, we think, so she'll complain about headache and earache stuff often...and especially when she's crabby or in a bad mood.

I LOVE the Boardwalk area!

We checked into Kouzzina and they gave us a buzzer. I was happy to go back out and try to take some pictures but only took maybe two before the buzzer went off!

We headed in and were led to yet another great round table in a corner with a view of the kitchen. We had some serious tablemojo this trip!

The chef came out and talked to me about vegan options, which sounded GREAT! He said they even had vegan pita's for me with the appetizer we were wanting to order, so the rest of the family got the normal kind and I had a bunch just for me!

They brought out bread, which I didn't try, but Rey said the olives were really good that came with the dipping oil.

We ordered an appetizer off of the dining plan just b/c we wanted the Kouzzina Spreads with the pita's I mentioned. These were out of this world!

I'm not going to be able to remember them all, but there was a good hummus, olive tempanade, some sort of feta cheese kind that the guys liked, I didn't try that one, and my favorite was on the far left, it was a cold potato/garlic spread. OHMYGOSH. So good! We all had fun sampling these and picking our favorites.

I'll go around the table with what we got:

We talked to the chef about Savannah's food as well, he offered to make her a pasta with red sauce and we ordered her some sweet potato fries on the side, but she ended up not liking the red sauce...so they made her mac-n-cheese! (which she really liked) I think she almost turned into mac-n-cheese.

Leslee got the steak! This thing was HUGE and she didn't finish it, but she liked it and also proclaimed that she could tell her mom she had "green stuff" when she got home since there was broccoli on top!

Dylan had the same steak...of course he called it the 35$ steak. I wonder if he picked it b/c it was one of the most expensive things on the menu? He finished off that whole plate and probably would have licked it clean if he had been at home!

Dallas & Rey had the sampler. It had chicken/orzo of some kind (I think Parmesan?) a Greek lasagna, and lamb burger.

I was surprised that the chicken was both of their favorites! They said it was just so good. They both liked the lasagna and the lamb burger as well but said the onion overpowered the burger. When I asked why they didn't just take it off, they said b/c the chef intended it that way and that wouldn't make sense?

Ah...the best for last! I had the oven roasted vegetables. It normally has the Orzo (pasta) with it, so the chef said he would put some little baby potatoes instead. It was SO good! I ate every last bite of it and wanted more. The flavors were just perfect, loved the veggies, and those little gold potatoes were great! It was one of my favorite dishes of the trip!

After dinner, it was time to order dessert. Rey and Dallas wanted the waitress to choose for them and give them something that would be considered authentic Greek. She took that all in stride, she was really great! So, we ended up with the girls & Dylan getting the Loukoumades, which are little greek doughnuts. They liked them, and of course I asked for a taste! I have no clue where the pic went, but they just look like little glazed doughnut holes. I can't fit another image in this post, so you'll have to take my word for it!

I got the no-sugar cheesecake. It was good, but nothing spectacular.

Rey ended up with the Baklava and pistachio gelato and Dallas had the Galaktoboureko (yes, I'm copying this from allears, do you think I would know how to spell this stuff?!?!) They both really enjoyed their desserts (I thought they tasted good too!)

We really enjoyed this meal, I think it was a favorite for a few of us! I had heard things about Kouzzina being overly salty or bad reviews, but I kept this to myself and no one in the family had any complaints and I certainly didn't either! Thank goodness for the dining plan b/c this meal was over $300, and we did still have to pay quite a bit for the appetizer, side of fries, my sangria, and the tip! Totally worth it though!

When we came out, the sun had gone down and we sort of moseyed out off the Boardwalk and back to the car.

We headed back to Pop and I noted in my journal that my feet didn't hurt as much this evening! Guess it's running shoes for me from here on out! I took a shot of Illuminations sitting on the bed...just b/c I could!

I wrote in my journal that we were halfway through our 6 park day trip and I never wanted it to end!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Your meal at Kouzzina looks great! The chefs sound like they were so accomodating, that's wonderful!

That's seriously the coolest thing ever that you could see Illuminations from your bed!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Your meal at Kouzzina looks great! The chefs sound like they were so accomodating, that's wonderful!

That's seriously the coolest thing ever that you could see Illuminations from your bed!!!

It really was a great meal and I felt like the chef really went out of his way to make sure I had something I could eat. I had to convince the waitress it was ok for me to have the cheesecake for dinner...I said my ears would getting itchy and I would get a headache, but I wouldn't die or anything! I think she didn't want me dying on her watch!

 

[giantstoindy]

Kouzzina looks great! That appetizer (with hummus !) looks very good. For our trip, our Boardwalk day was the toughest to plan but I decided on Flying Fish with us just having salads and soups because there is no way we are paying $40 for a steak or chicken for my mom. The atmosphere looks really neat, though, so we picked it over Kouzzina but it's definitely on the list for next time. Did the servers do traditional Greek restaurant performances, etc?

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Kouzzina looks great! That appetizer (with hummus !) looks very good. For our trip, our Boardwalk day was the toughest to plan but I decided on Flying Fish with us just having salads and soups because there is no way we are paying $40 for a steak or chicken for my mom. The atmosphere looks really neat, though, so we picked it over Kouzzina but it's definitely on the list for next time. Did the servers do traditional Greek restaurant performances, etc?

Not really any performances, but now that you mention it, I think I remember every once and a while hearing "Opa!" from the chef's & waiters. I had forgotten about that! Thanks for reminding me!