Birthday Celerbration Mom & Son:Sept 24~30 *Last Day Le Cellier Complete!*

[mousegear]

We leave tommorow morning~!

I also scored Tusker House breakfast ADR for 8:15 for 4 ( I had exact same time for 2) this morning. It's all set now... no more changing ADRs!!! Yep, even within 11 days before the trip, I managed to get every single ADR that I wanted. I didn't compromise any (except changing dates and times) so I am very satisfied after all the hours on the dining site.

DS is going over things he wants to do at WDW. It's almost entertaining to hear what he says. I don't know how I'm going to get through today (but hopefully it flies). I still need to pack last minute things after dinner tonight and possibly make DS do some missing school work before we leave so that we don't come back to a tone of work.

See ya all in about a week!!!

 

[mousegear]

I'm back~~~~ We had a wonderful time. I think a week was too short for us. We had great time at the park and some great food. We flew into PHL at 10pm last night and got up late this morning. I'll try to unwind and unpack this weekend and start loading our experience starting Monday!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Wecome back! Glad to hear you had a great trip. I never think a week is long enough! Looking forward to the reviews!

 

[pmdeve]

Looking forward to your reviews.

 

[PixieMama]

Welcome back! Looking forward to hearing what you thought of 'Ohana and the Wishes Dessert Party!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Welcome back! Looking forward to the reviews!

 

[Bellefan22]

Looking forward to your reviews!!

 

[mousegear]

Wecome back! Glad to hear you had a great trip. I never think a week is long enough! Looking forward to the reviews!

Thankyou! It's always a week long trip for us and we always leave something behind so that we could go back.

Looking forward to your reviews.

Thank you and I'll post them as soon as I start sorting the pictures.

Welcome back! Looking forward to hearing what you thought of 'Ohana and the Wishes Dessert Party!

Thank you for joining. I'll post them soon!

Welcome back! Looking forward to the reviews!

Thank you and how was your trip?

Looking forward to your reviews!!

Thank you for joining!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Thankyou! It's always a week long trip for us and we always leave something behind so that we could go back.

We had 11 days this year & still didn't do everything I had wanted to do! I am already stressing that next years planned trip is only 8 days!

 

[mousegear]

I got up at insane hour of 4AM to get ready. I showered and packed last minute stuff and woke up DS around 5AM. My parents arrived maybe 5:10~5:15 to drive us to the airport. The drive to the airport was uneventful and we got there around 5:40. I did online check-in the night before and printed our boarding passes so just had to clear the security. After clearing the security, we found our gate and decided to grab something to eat. DS got a cup of yogurt parfait and a bottle of gatorade and I got a cup of coffee and a chocolate chip muffin. No pictures. I was still not in that mode, "quick, take a picture." Everything was just ok, nothing special.

We had to switch plane at Atlanta and had about an hour wait. DS said he was getting hungry so we grabbed a Turkey and Ham sandwich from Starbucks. It was $8.99 plus tax and got a bottle of Sprite from near by vending machine for $1.75. YUCK!!!! The sandwich was uneatable!!! After a bite or two we threw them out. The turkey had the smell and the bread tasted like cardboard. We don't eat white bread at home. We always have multi-grain or wheat but this bread was just bad! We now know that you only get drink at Starbucks.

DS was still hungry but he was afraid to try another sandwich at the airport. So he got Cookies and Cream cone at Ben and Jerry's.

I ordered single scoop and this thing was huge. I paid $4.16 for it. I ended up helping DS out to finish it.

It was a short flight to MCO and we landed at 1:25pm. We were in our rental car by 1:45. We first decided to grab some kind of fast food before we get our grocery. We spotted McDonald's so got a Happy Meal for DS and a chicken sandwich for me. The cost was $9.11. DS got strawberry Fanta which we don't have up here in NJ McDonald's. No pictures since I was driving and devouring at the same time. We were so hungry. After getting some organic milk, organic yogurt, 8 pk Gatorade, a case of water and a case of beer, we arrived at POFQ by 3:00. The grocery bill came to be &36.85. I thought about ordering from Garden Grocer but that means I have to order min $45 and pay another $15 for delivery fee and stopping by Wubb Dixie only took about 15 min. (Also I figure saved money goes for our gas.)

BTW, I rented premium car (which was the cheaper than compact/economy) for 7 days and the cost was $69. I think it was totally worth it and we were so very comfortable. After one trip without a car, we never go to WDW without renting a car.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Oh no on the Starbucks sandwich being yuck!!!

However, I love B&Js and that single scoop cone looks HUGE!! I hope it made up for the sandwich.

P.S. Our trip was AMAZING!!! I hope to see you on the DR/TR

 

[mousegear]

Oh no on the Starbucks sandwich being yuck!!!

However, I love B&Js and that single scoop cone looks HUGE!! I hope it made up for the sandwich.

P.S. Our trip was AMAZING!!! I hope to see you on the DR/TR

I already joined your DR but I'll make sure to join your TR also! Yep, we also had amazing trip and can't wait to get back. We are toying with the idea of squeezing in a long weekend trip in Jan/Feb. Gotta get that use out of Annual Pass!

 

[mousegear]

our check-in at POFQ went very smooth. Our CM friend actually checked us in and gave us the ideal location which was building 4. I wanted to make sure that we are the other side of court yard since they were showing movies nightly (could get loud). We were 3 minute walk to the main building, swimming pool, bus stop and the parking lot.

After checking-in, I went up to Concierge desk to separate our tickets from the KTWC. Well, the CM wasn't very nice about it and kept saying that we are going to loose all our meals and saying that it can't be done. She was saying that she worked there for fifteen years and she knows better, and we won't have any meals after ripping tix off the card. She asked why I wanted to do it and I told her that I wanted to upgrade our tix to APs and she decided to just go ahead and do it herself. I told her that I didn't want to do it right there since I wanted to bridge the gap (old tix price to new tix price) but the CM said that she cannot change it since she went ahead and did it. It was very frustrating and time consuming. If we used our tix (to bridge the gap) and upgrade, our cost should have been $397.75. But she was saying that I had to pay $552.74 which was a huge difference. She got her manager and the manager decided that they comp the difference of $154.99. This whole process took almost an hour!!!! Definitely not how I wanted to start our vacation! SORRY! I had to vent!!!

We had to still drop our luggage off at our room and put grocery in the refridgeator and change to more proper summer clothes. We had to get to Epcot's Club Cool by 5:30 to meet friends (2Tiggies and her daughter) and it was already 4:15pm. It definitely wasn't fun rushing. We got to Epcot by 5:10. The parking situation definitely helped since there were so many empty lots near the park.

After meeting 2Tiggies and her daughter, we all had to taste different sodas.

Our ADR at La Hacienda wasn't 'till 7:30pm so we rode some rides together. We checked-in at 7:20pm and were given the buzzer which instantly went off.

We were seated a table away from the window but could clearly see the lagoon so we decided to stay for Illuminations. The restaurant was very pretty with lovely lights.

At this point, I have to point out that this trip, I only took my Casio point-and-shoot. I usually take my Nikon DSRL but I wanted to travel light since there were no other adult to watch DS and help out with the heavy camera bag. So picture quality isn't as good as I like them to be!

First with totilla chips and salsas. The green one was sweet and the red one had spicy kick to it. The totilla chips were very crisp, warm and sprinkled with salt. It was yummy!

We decided to skip appetizer and start with entrees. When we looked up allears menu before, they had Nachos for children's menu but it wasn't offered so DS decided to get Chicken Tacos ($7.75) from children's menu. 2Tiggies daughter also got Chicken Tacos. DS tried one bite of his taco and said it was bad. I tasted it and chicken was very, very dry. He ate his and my rice with some of my Tilapia. 2Tiggies daughter had one Taco.

2Tiggies decided to get 2 appetizer for her entree. Number 1 is Ensalada de la Hacienda - spinach salad with queso fresco, tomatoes, pomagranate, pine nuts and avacado, with mustard vinaigrette dressing $7.75. Number 2 is Botana - a sampling of Mexican favorites: chicken tostado, Chilorio sope (marinated pork), and cheese empanada $9.95. They both looked very tasty and 2Tiggies said that they were good!

For my entree I got Pescado a la Talla - Grilled tilapia served with esquites (roasted corn), nopales (cactus leaves) and mango Chutney $23.95

This was amazing. I'm drooling right now by thinking about this dish. The tilapia was cooked to perfection and mango chutney added flavor. I'm definitely ordering this dish again. Even DS, who does not like fish much, loved it and said that this was best tasting fish ever!

Both 2Tiggies and I cleaned our plates and were full. However, since our DDP comes with desserts, we decided to have just a taste. DS and 2Tiggies daughter ordered vanilla ice cream with churros. DS's came with the candle since he was celebrating his birthday.

The vanilla ice cream and caramel was very tasty and it was definitely house made ice cream. All of us thought that churros was too sweet and greasy.

I ordered Helado - traditional Mexican ice cream $6.25

It came with strawberry, mango and pineapple. All tasted great and very refreshing and light. It wasn's too sweet and creamy which I liked after a full meal.
By the time we were onto the dessert, the window side table cleared and no one else seated there so we moved to that table and watched Illumination there. It was a great experience but it's not something you should count on happening since very few tables have window seats. We had great food and will definitely return to it in the future.

This is one restaurant that I cannot find my receipt. I know that I paid $20 for our tip and DS's chicken taco (children's menu). I think our bill was close to $40.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Glad you liked Hacienda ... it has gotten some mixed reviews. We enjoyed it. And yes, the tilapia was really, really good!

Sorry about the AP mess to start your trip! How frustrating!

 

[PixieMama]

Mmmmmm, dinner at La Hacienda looks yummy!

I have never dined at either table-service in Mexico... looking at the menus, I think I'd pick La Hacienda over San Angel Inn. Dining inside the pyramid is probably a cool experience, but I think I'd like the food at La Hacienda better!

 

[Tracerr00]

I don't even like fish and your tilapia looks yummy! Great start to your reviews, can't wait to read more!

 

[mousegear]

Glad you liked Hacienda ... it has gotten some mixed reviews. We enjoyed it. And yes, the tilapia was really, really good!

Sorry about the AP mess to start your trip! How frustrating!

We (at least adults) really enjoyed our meal at Hacienda. We will definitely go back and I know I want the tilapia again. I'm pretty sure next time DS will order from the adult menu. Kids meal were pretty disppointing.

Thankfully, the AP mess was taken care of....

Mmmmmm, dinner at La Hacienda looks yummy!

I have never dined at either table-service in Mexico... looking at the menus, I think I'd pick La Hacienda over San Angel Inn. Dining inside the pyramid is probably a cool experience, but I think I'd like the food at La Hacienda better!

You should definitely try La Hacienda. They had lovely atmostphere with overlooking the lagoon and all the food that was coming out looked great.

I don't even like fish and your tilapia looks yummy! Great start to your reviews, can't wait to read more!

DS doesn't like fish much either and he said that it was best tasting fish ever! You know, eight year olds are pretty honest and opinionated.

 

[librarygeek]

Your tilapia and the Mexican ice cream look amazing! I'm hoping to plan a trip with my husband soon but we'd also like to bring along my parents since they haven't been to Disney in a very long time. My dad loves Mexican so this might be a place we'll have to visit!

 

[Linda67]

Your review of the Tilapia has convinced me to try this place next May

 

[mousegear]

Your tilapia and the Mexican ice cream look amazing! I'm hoping to plan a trip with my husband soon but we'd also like to bring along my parents since they haven't been to Disney in a very long time. My dad loves Mexican so this might be a place we'll have to visit!

Tilapia and ice cream is exactly what I'm going to order next time also. I was very full from clearing both plates!!!

Your review of the Tilapia has convinced me to try this place next May

I know that La Hacienda gets mixed reviews but from what I saw coming out of kitchen, everything looked delish!