Biscuit's Grand Adventure | An epic tale three decades in the making!

[shebaxric]

 

[All7OfUs]

We all have to make time for "real life" to happen, otherwise, what would be the point of going to the World afterall?

Enjoy all those real life moments- especially those with family!

Glad there is enough work to keep who's left busy! A future with layoffs as a possibity cannot be fun!

And by the way, we like you too!

 

[eandesmom]

Hey everyone. Sorry for the long delay. We are "restructuring" at work which basically means they realized that after the layoffs, there was more work than people so everything is being reorganzied. Which I actually like as I hate sitting around waiting for somethign to break. Any special projects I can get to pass the time are nifty in my eyes.

ANYHOW. I hope to have an update typed up today, and the photos either uploaded to Photobucket either late tonight or in the morning. SO, look for a post sometime between midnight tonight and noon tomorrow.

And we love interacting with you! Congrats on your milestone. Hopefully the restructuring will keep you nice and busy, which I agree, is a good thing!

No worries on the updates, life gets in the way of DIS and is really, the reason DIS even exists! We will be here

 

[whogirl'smom]

Hey, I can't say anything--I haven't updated my trip report this week, either! I did get my ADRs made this morning and we'll be at 'Ohana on Dec. 19th!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

No worries, GB, life has been crazy here too, work life that is. NOT a good thing, like working again yesterday from 9am till 12:20am

I won the "who hates their jobs the most" contest at work today. W00t???

I'm refusing to check emails from home tonight and looking forward to when you can finally post again.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Thanks everyone! We’re just one big happy family!

I need an emoticon of a vase!

Enjoy all those real life moments- especially those with family!

There’s nothing more enjoyable than time spent with family.

Hopefully the restructuring will keep you nice and busy, which I agree, is a good thing!

I MUCH prefer being busy and having too much to do as opposed to sitting and staring at a computer screen waiting on an outage alert.

I did get my ADRs made this morning and we'll be at 'Ohana on Dec. 19th!

YES! I can’t wait to read the TR!

No worries, GB, life has been crazy here too, work life that is. NOT a good thing, like working again yesterday from 9am till 12:20am

I won the "who hates their jobs the most" contest at work today. W00t???

I'm refusing to check emails from home tonight and looking forward to when you can finally post again.

Holy Office Space BSG! That Stinketh!

Lesson 214 – Don’t post timetables for updates when life is in hectic mode. Still working on the next episode.

 

[jordanyosh]

PrincessV, Glennbo, you and I have all been delinquent is writing and thank goodness or I don't think I'd ever be able to keep up!

Take your time!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Just checking in to see if you were back yet. Hope life is getting less hectic around your place. We are in that mode too - layoffs at hubby's job - luckily he has been spared, but that means more work for those that are left. Just thankful to still have a job, like you!

 

[TaraLee4]

Oh GB, we miss you here!!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

 

[joleen76]

(Sony Cybershot DSC-S700, Auto Mode)

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I love this! Every TR has to have at least one picture of the ducks. Mind you mine has a montague. (Thanks DS) You are a man after my DS's heart. He loves him some ducks for some reason.

I am working my way through all the updates I've missed!

Man your gone for a minute and you just miss a ton! Ok....maybe more than a minute....well ok....a move to a new town and travel for a new job....and ok maybe 2 months. But anyway...I'm catching up and even starting to post to my own TR again! I promise I will finish it before it's aniversary.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

PrincessV, Glennbo, you and I have all been delinquent is writing and thank goodness or I don't think I'd ever be able to keep up!

Take your time!

Hey Jordan! I didn’t intend to have this severe of a gap in posting. YIKES!

Just checking in to see if you were back yet. Hope life is getting less hectic around your place. We are in that mode too - layoffs at hubby's job - luckily he has been spared, but that means more work for those that are left. Just thankful to still have a job, like you!

Hey SB! I know how it goes with the crazy job stuff. Glad DH was able to remain employed!

Oh GB, we miss you here!!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Thanks and BTW.

I love this! Every TR has to have at least one picture of the ducks. Mind you mine has a montague. (Thanks DS) You are a man after my DS's heart. He loves him some ducks for some reason.

I knew you’d get a kick out of it!

I am working my way through all the updates I've missed!

Man your gone for a minute and you just miss a ton! Ok....maybe more than a minute....well ok....a move to a new town and travel for a new job....and ok maybe 2 months. But anyway...I'm catching up and even starting to post to my own TR again! I promise I will finish it before it's aniversary.

I’m just glad you made it back this way. Hopefully the gap between posts won’t be quite this long in future installments.

 

[burly]

Just had a little time to do some catching up on TR"s.
Hi GB!
I hope all is going well with you and yours. Life keeps getting in the way of my dising here. By the grace of god i keep pushing on.........
Can't wait for the next installment!
here's a bump boost!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Just had a little time to do some catching up on TR"s.
Hi GB!
I hope all is going well with you and yours. Life keeps getting in the way of my dising here. By the grace of god i keep pushing on.........
Can't wait for the next installment!
here's a bump boost!

Hey Burly! How goes it? Thanks for the bump! Update is coming.....NOW

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Episode 65 - Paradise Lost...and Found

Greetings friends! I apologize for the severe delay in posting. It has been a wild and wacky month thus far. Quick life update - I am in the same department, but have a completely different job now. Basically I work with other reps now instead of customers. (If you are familiar with call center jargon, it’s an SME/IHD role.) Tracy is finally getting her room like she wants it at school. Hailee is loving Kindergarten, and Tahli is having a stellar year in 2nd grade.

I’m hoping things will settle down a bit now. Every time I have attempted to sit down to work on an update, something would invariably come up to pull me away. Yet I knew that eventually, I could pick up where we left off. It’s a good thing too. Because the best part about writing this all out is remembering the joy and blessing that the trip was for us.

Thanks for hanging in there during the gap! And now, on with the show! First a disclaimer. Le Cellier is dark. Very dark. Point and shoot digital cameras don’t play well in there. Thus, there are fewer photos this time around. Now on with show…again.

When last we left our heroes, they had triumphantly conquered EMH and were returning to the quiet comfort of the Pop Century. Amazingly, there were people sitting around the pool at 3:30 in the morning. Wow. Maybe it was jet lag, I don’t know. We stumbled our way up to the room, each carrying a sleeping bundle of joy. I convened a brief summit to coordinate our plan of attack for the following day. Having virtually memorized every facet of the trip prior to our departure, I recalled that our dining reservation was for lunch at Le Cellier at 1:30 PM. I made arrangements to meet up with the kin folk and we all crashed. HARD. The kind of sleep where you don’t even dream. You just fold into a mound of exhausted flesh and rattle the roof with raucous snoring. This was the only morning I didn’t wake up at least once to the sounds of “pool play” outside the window.

Minor digression. I loved the convenience of our location, and I was able to fall back to sleep pretty easy. BUT if you are a light sleeper and plan to sleep past about 8ish, I’d double think getting a room that faces the Hippy Dippy. It’s a loud place. But it’s a fun place too. End of digression

The next morning, we slept as late as we dared and fought to shake the EMH from our eyes. Had we been headed any place other than Le Cellier, I would have said Fuh-get-about-it and rolled over with a snort back into a state of blissful slumber. But this was a day long looked forward to. I had been reading about this restaurant in TR’s for years. When I first began to read reviews of the quiet, quaint little eatery in Canada that no one ever went to, I thought they sounding interesting. Then as time went by, the reviews got better and I knew it was a must do. Then reviews got worse, then better, then worse, then mediocre. At that point, I didn’t care. I loved the sound of the menu and had to see it for myself. The fact that I had enjoyed Mama Melrose (another poorly reviewed eatery) was helping to stoke that stomach driven fire.

It didn’t take long until the ole park juices were flowing and we were ready to hit the road. With our 1:30 res time, 1:15 check in, I figured we needed to be at the gates of Epcot by 1:00 PM. Yet due to sunscreen delays and an uncooperative shoe, we arrived at the bus stop at 12:50 which began to make me nervous. I was even more nervous when I discovered the Epcot queue was empty. That could only mean one thing. The bus pulling out of the drive must have been an Epcot bus.

We waited, and waited and waited some more. I was really getting antsy by this point. At 1:10 a bus finally pulled in. I figured, okay, Epcot was close, we may be able to load quick, book it through the park, and still MAYBE get seated. Then the bus started lowering. This of course meant an ECV had to be unloaded. Then another had to be loaded and then the herd of guests in the queue had to be loaded. By the time the bus left it was 1:23. NOT a good sign.

I decided to try to see what our options were so I pulled out “The Plan” notebook so I could call Disney Dining with our reservation number and discovered something SHOCKING. HORRIFYING. Downright gut wrenching. Our Dining reservation was NOT at 1:30 as my EMH fried brain cells had recalled. It was at 1:00 PM. My poor fat little heart almost burst at that point. This was a restaurant I had wanted to try for YEARS. And now, thanks to a rusty memory and lousy bus timing, we were going to be arriving nearly an hour past due at one of the most difficult tables to score in all of Disneydom. GREAT BISCUITS A BURNIN!

Reminding myself that panicking was not a productive endeavor, I went ahead and called Disney Dining for direction. The lady who answered was fairly certain that Le Cellier would give us the boot and suggested Le Chefs De France as an alternative. They had several openings left so I advised her I would call back later, but for now, DON’T CANCEL MY RESSIE.

We finally arrived at Epcot, made the incredibly long walk to the baggage check desk, and then did the DIS-Boards Hustle through Future World towards the Canada pavilion. You know the step…the one that is not quite a run, yet not exactly a leisurely stroll either.

It was hot. I was sweating. I was tired. I was carrying Tahli and my backpack. It was really hot. I was anxious. I was irritated at myself. I was sweating. It was infernally hot. I was in pain. Prospects of death flashed before my eyes. I was sweating. I had spotted the sign for the place a couple of days before on way to the Friendships so I was good to go on navigation. I can’t tell you the relief I felt when finally we saw this:



Yet the relief was mixed with agitation and uncertainty. I was discouraged to see them turn away three different walk up groups ahead of us.

The CM who checked us in asked how he could help us. I gave him my info, told our sad story (which may have been embellished with tales of rescuing orphans and stopping a wayward meteor) and then threw myself upon the mercy of the court. He did some official looking computer clacking, stared at the screen, clacked some more, scowled, said “I’ll have to talk to the manager,” grabbed a radio, said “hold on” and then left.

Now my question is, if you have a radio, why do you need to go anywhere to talk to somebody? But I digress. A few minutes later he came back and said “We can seat you, if you don’t mind waiting 45 minutes.” Mind? DUDE! It would take me that long to schlep my exhausted super-sized derriere over to France and get a table there. I had the urge to give him a bear hug and yell “I LOVE YOU MAN!” but I wasn’t sure how they take that sort of thing in Canada.

I figured with time to kill and bad park planning to atone for, the best way to make it up would be to grab everyone’s park tickets and hike over to the Land to score some Soarin Fastpasses. I immediately set out on my quest and when I arrived at the Land, I discovered the return time was 6:30. Which at 2:00 PM seemed both odd and exhilarating. That is until I heard the cast member bellowing out that the machines were down. That was when the phone rang. Tracy told me they were being seated. NOW. Less than 10 minutes after being told it would be 45. Without me. In direct violation of the known laws of Disney Dining “all parties must be present” protocol. For the second time this trip. Hold on Ethel, I’m heading back to ya!

And so for the second time in a short time, I found myself doing the DIS-Boards Hustle through Future World towards the Canada pavilion. It was still infernally hot. I was still trying to wake up. I had gone beyond sweating to leaving a slime trail like some giant Cowboys jersey-wearing mutated snail. (Yeah…that was TMI…I know…but it’s too late now.) It was all good though because I was heading to Le Cellier where there was a chair with my name on it. (Sorry about that….you know kids and crayons.) Soon I would be in Air Conditioned bliss and there would be drink in my cup and meat on my table. After dodging various clumps of fellow park guests and sidestepping a menagerie of strollers, I managed to hurl myself into the restaurant in record time. (For me anyway.) My crew had given me their general lcoation and I quickly found them.



I was thrilled to find an iced tea waiting on me and quickly downed the lot of it in about a gulp and a half. I didn’t have a camera ready, but I’m pretty sure I saw clouds of steam hissing out as the ice cold tea went in. Once I had regained my breath and composure, it was time to get down to business. I looked at the menu more for something to do than to decide upon my order. I already knew what I wanted. I had know for months, nay even years.

When our server arrived, I requested a bowl of Cheddar Cheese Soup and Filet Mignon.

I mentioned earlier in this narrative that I am big fan of Beer-Cheese soup. (At least I think I did. I’m getting old and these sorts of things are difficult to recall at times.) I first tried it when Tracy and I ate at Café Odyssey at the Mall of America in Minneapolis for our third anniversary. (It went out of business shortly afterwards so I’m not really sure how to take that.) Anyway, since that first bite, I was hooked. Even though I’m not a beer drinker, the stuff makes fantastic soup. Not to mention crab boil, grilled chicken and deep-fry batter. I’m digressing again aren’t I?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, (which was definitely NOT the Biggest Loser ranch) the hot bread had just arrived. The Pretzel bread was OH-so tasty good, as was the rest. Eventually our soup made its way to the table. I was almost afraid to try it. So many people had bemoaned the degradation in food quality at this place. It was hard to know whether the place would live up to my lofty expectations. Would it be a victory or a bitter defeat? It was truly a frightening proposal. Yet the best way to overcome our fears is to face them head on. So, for the sake of stabilizing my mental health, I loaded up a spoonful, took a bite, and smiled quietly to myself.




Maybe it was because I had never been to Le Cellier and thus had no prior comparison, maybe it was because it’s been a while since I had a good bowl of cheese soup, I can’t really say. All I know is, I liked it. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say I REALLY liked it. In fact I’ll just lay all the cards on the table and tell you I loved the stuff. Which only goes to prove one thing. When it comes to food, taste is subjective. As is fashion….to a point.

Before too terribly long the entrees arrived. The kids all went with pizza, sad I know. Nana and I each chose the Filet Mignon while Tracy and Papa each went for the New York Strip. The Filet was paired with a wild mushroom risotto and I must say both were fantastic. It did require a little salt, but I’m perfectly fine with that. I’d rather have to add a bit more than have it arrive over salted.








Oddly enough, no one at our table liked the potatoes. Don’t know if they were having an off day or what, but they had a really odd seasoning. The steak itself was good though and Tracy and Papa both enjoyed theirs. (I may have helped with some plate cleaning on Tracy’s….purely as a gesture of good husbandry you understand.) If I had to choose between the two cuts, I would go with the Filet as the hands down winner. That bad boy was ROCKIN baby. And I wasn’t the only one who thought so. For some odd reason, Tahli decided that my Filet Mignon was much better than her pizza (the crazy kid) and took to hawking bites. Throw in the risotto and it’s a slam dunk.

Happily polishing off the main course, it was time to contemplate a most serious undertaking. Namely, dessert.

When I made the reservation, I included the girls birthday’s. When dessert arrived, they each received a special birthday ice cream plate.



Preston received a similar platter, but without the writing and Tracy ordered the Campfire Smores.


Which Tahli quickly claimed.

I went with the sorbet, I think. Nana had the crème brule, while Pappa elected to sample the chocolate moose.


All in all I have to say it was a great meal. I know not everyone is feeling the joy for Le Cellier, but for us, it was an all around hit. I would definitely eat here again, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. It was on my top 3 of the trip.

The restaurant is definitely small, as is the restroom. Oh and if you were waiting on the stall, sorry about that. There was a certain Disboard tradition involving the Canada pavilion that just had to be honored.

Coming up on Episode 66 Turtles, Skunks and Stockings

 

[jcc0621]

Doh on messing up the ressie time! Glad you were still able to get in. WE really like LeCEllier the only time we were there, but I am dying to go back. I take all the reviews I read with a greain of salt. I like to try things for myself, then decide if I like them or not

Another great update GB!

 

[Beka]

Glad you're back GB! Another great installment!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Doh on messing up the ressie time! Glad you were still able to get in.

Me too!

WE really like LeCEllier the only time we were there, but I am dying to go back. I take all the reviews I read with a greain of salt. I like to try things for myself, then decide if I like them or not

Good call. Seems like a lot of reviews (both good and bad) are bandwagon postings. You either get lots of good or lots of bad. But that's just my 2 cents. Which will buy you...well....nothing really unless you have 4 quarters. Then I suppose you could get a coupla of pressed pennies out of the deal.

Glad you're back GB! Another great installment!

Hey Beka! Good to be back. I hope have a much shorter interim on my next update.

 

[All7OfUs]

Don't ya just hate when stuff like that happens!? I guess you chalk that up to one of those "duh" moments. Ah well, all's well that ends well.

Those steaks look mighty fine, my friend. Mighty fine. I'd say though for a lot of extraneous hoopla, it was really just a scoop of ice cream. Bummer on the taters.

Glad you're back with us and that's all's well in Biscuitdom.

 

[jordanyosh]

Okay. Le Cellier....your journey to get there alone is worth reading this last installment! I can't believe you were off by 1/2 hour...how did that happen oh great one.

I'm just gonna say restaurant restrooms are a little bit o heaven for me. I guess you dropped a duece....

I'm glad you had a great meal and hope that continues throughout your trip!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Yay! A Biscuit update!

You know, I've never had a problem being seated when showing up late for an ADR. I think they are pretty understanding of all the effort it takes just to get to the parks ( meteors, emergency medical assistance, etc). Glad they let you in - I LOVED Le Cellier the one time we ate there as well. Has their rep gone down lately? I didn't know that, I guess I don't spend much time on the dining board. Anyway, you liked it, so that's two of us at least!