Boo to Two, Kelley and Missy's Joint TR! Update! 3/28

[Missyrose]

Hahahaha, Ohana means stuffing your face!

Yummy yummy yummy. You're making me so excited for my NYE meal, because that's where we'll be eating!

'Ohana for New Year's? Sounds absolutely perfect! I'm green with envy. I still have 83 days left until my next trip.

GORGEOUS!!!

Love the pictures of and from your new room. Nice views. And love your attitude of finding the postives of the room switch even more! The decor of the room does look very fresh and classy.

How crowded was the lounge during the fireworks viewing? That really is a nice vantage point- the colors are just amazing! Was this Wishes or Hallowishes- do they switch on nights when there is no party? We watched some of the fireworks show last summer from the Contemporary parking lot/bus stop. Definitely NOT the same!

How great that you followed up with a fantastic meal and incredible view at 'Ohana. We have had one meal there. All of the food was delicious, but it wasn't our favorite dining experience, mainly because it was the last night of a very commando trip and we were beyond exhausted.

Thanks Dee! The lounge was never crowded during the fireworks. In fact, we hardly ever had anyone else out on the balcony except for the CMs. I don't know if that was because it was the 14th floor lounge (there are far fewer rooms on 14 than on 12).

These fireworks were regular Wishes, the switched back to normal on non-MNSSHP nights. We also watched Hallowishes from the lounge, you'll see those later in the trip.

You guys should totally give 'Ohana another shot. Especially with your growing boys, the food is awesome (both in quality AND quantity ).

 

[Missyrose]

I know, it's been a long time since the last TR update. Franklin has been really busy at work and hasn't had time to finish editing the photos as quickly as I can write my chapters. I've also been completely bogged down at work. My editing specialty is the NBA and that season (finally) is gearing up to begin on Sunday, so there's been a crush of copy for me to edit recently. But I promise, there will be a new update soon.

But for those few readers we have left, I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!

 

[natebenma]

I know, it's been a long time since the last TR update. Franklin has been really busy at work and hasn't had time to finish editing the photos as quickly as I can write my chapters. I've also been completely bogged down at work. My editing specialty is the NBA and that season (finally) is gearing up to begin on Sunday, so there's been a crush of copy for me to edit recently. But I promise, there will be a new update soon.

But for those few readers we have left, I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Missy and Franklin and Kelley, Mike, Ryan and Jack!

I'll be waiting around when you come back to update about your trip!

 

[Missyrose]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Missy and Franklin and Kelley, Mike, Ryan and Jack!

I'll be waiting around when you come back to update about your trip!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday with your beautiful family Dee!

 

[Missyrose]

Hi friends! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I was waiting for Franklin to edit the next batch of photos. He had gotten a new cellphone, and you know boys and their toys ... he's been distracted by his new bit of technology and the photo editing fell by the wayside.

But it's a new year and we're back up and running with a new update. We've got to get this TR back on track because we leave for Disney World again in 57 days and I want to finish this report before we leave!

We last left off with a delicious and filling dinner at 'Ohana, a perfect end to a perfect second day of our trip.

And now, on with Day 3!

We woke up bright and early to Day 3 of our trip and got to experience one of the best things about a Lake View room at Contemporary: the GORGEOUS sunrise!

We had a very long commute ahead of us for breakfast that morning, alllllllll the way downstairs at The Wave.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the restaurant, it’s a restaurant that focuses on food made with fresh ingredients and healthier fare than your typical Disney restaurants. For breakfast, they have both a buffet and an a la carte menu.

I was going to order off menu, but our waitress suggested I go look at the buffet because everything on the menu was on the buffet. I said I was really craving scrambled eggs but didn’t like runny eggs like there are on buffets. She said if I wanted to buffet, she could get the chef to make me a batch of scrambled eggs just the way I like them, such a nice thing to do!

My first plate included sweet potato pancakes, a whole-grain Mickey waffle, bacon, sausage and a chocolate pastry. I also had my plate of freshly made scrambled eggs.

Franklin had eggs benedict, a Mickey waffle, sausage and the sweet potato pancakes. We also split a plate of fruit.

All in all, we really liked this breakfast. Everything was fresh and incorporated some really different flavors than other Disney breakfasts we had. We’ll definitely be back.

After breakfast we wandered over to Magic Kingdom using that glorious private walkway. We met up with Kelley, Mike, Ryan and Jack just in time for the welcome show!

At one point Franklin looked over and asked, “Are you singing?” Well of course I’m singing, I love the welcome song! Soon we were marching “right down the middle of Main Street,” and through the castle -- we’re on a Dumbo dash! Franklin detoured into Tomorrowland to grab Space Mountain fastpasses for us all, while Mike went to park the stroller. Kelley and I got in line with the boys, figuring the big boys would have time to catch up with us in line. Ha! Two rotations later, we were on deck.

So Mike and Franklin sat this one out. Jack rode with Kelley.

And I rode with Ryan!

The boys had so much fun! Ryan loved being in control of Dumbo going up and down, though he definitely liked being up high the best.

Next, we took a spin on Snow White. Who knows when this will actually close, so we’ll just keep riding it until it does!

Three-year-olds don’t generally understand the concept of touring plans. So instead of heading to Peter Pan, Jack insisted we ride the carousel next. Works for me!

Who’s happy to be on the carousel? These guys!

Continued in next post...

 

[Missyrose]

Tour Guide Jack decided we’d go to It’s a Small World next, so Franklin took off to get Big Thunder Mountain FPs. That’s why there’s no pictures of IASW.

Next, we headed back to our original destination: Peter Pan, where I was given a very important job!

Next was a trip to Hundred Acre Woods, where Ryan and Jack had so much fun in the new interactive queue, it was hard to pull them away to actually ride the ride.

Soon we were in our very own honey pots.

Next up was one of my faves, Haunted Mansion!

Or as Ryan and Jack had been told, “the silly ghosties ride.” I’ll let Kel tell you more about their reactions, they were kind of priceless!

This is me still being amazed at the new hitchhikers sequence.

As we wandered through Frontierland, we happened upon everyone’s favorite duck and with virtually no line!

See? Kelley and I WERE at Disney World together!

Franklin was very excited to show Donald his shirt. It said “I’m on a boat.” Hahahahahaha! Next, we were off to sail the high seas with Capt. Jack and his crew.

Whew! That was a whirlwind morning and it left us with rumblings in our tummies, but where would we eat lunch? You'll have to wait to find out!

 

[Missyrose]

We last left off sailing the high seas with Capt. Jack Sparrow. The boat trip made us hungry and only the yummiest seafood at Magic Kingdom would do. It was Columbia Harbor House time baby!

Franklin had the new lobster roll (and clearly couldn’t wait to dig in before we took the pictures), chips, clam chowder and Coke.

Since I’m more of a land-lover, I had the chicken nuggets, fries and Diet Coke.

After we were done eating, Franklin and I split up from Mike, Kelley and the boys. We had watched the crowds begin to swell outside the CHH windows. We decided to take a trip to Downtown Disney before heading back to the hotel for a swim before dinner.

Before we could leave MK, though, we made a couple of stops on our trip up Main Street. First we wandered through a couple of the shops and since Franklin is such a big Dumbo fan, we had to take a picture of him in one of these hats.

Next, we stopped in the Confectionery because I was really craving a Disney cupcake for my afternoon snack back at the hotel (funny enough, I learned later that the store at Contemporary carried the exact same cupcakes, so I could’ve gotten it there instead of schelping it to DTD and back. Live and learn.). Franklin managed to take pictures of all the fun treats EXCEPT my cupcake.

On our way out of the park, we also snagged FPs for the Mickey/Minnie and the Princess meet and greets. I wasn’t sure we’d use both, but I figured it gave us the option for when came back to the park that night.

Then, Franklin and I did something we have NEVER done in Disney World before...

… We got on a Disney transportation bus. Yes, in three years’ of trips, we’d never set foot on a Disney bus (save for DME). We got to the MK bus stop and decided to get on the first bus that arrived. That happened to be Saratoga Springs. Now, all you grizzled Disney transportation veterans probably know you can take the bus all the way to the back of the SSR complex and walk to DTD. We, however, did not know this at the time (what kind of bad Diser am I?). So we got off at the first SSR bus stop and waited for a DTD bus. We waited and waited and waited and 35 minutes later, one arrived. Yeesh, not a good first impression of the bus system.

Another 15 minutes later, we arrived at DTD.

There were a couple of things on our to-do list: Ridemakerz to make Franklin’s nephew’s Chirstmas present and World of Disney to do a little one-stop shopping for the gifts we needed for people back home.

But what fun is a DTD trip if you can’t get a little sidetracked first? First detour was to Disney Pin Traders, where Franklin made good on his bribe to get me on Rock-n-Rollercoaster: My very first pint trading set!

Next I wandered into TrenD, another place I’ve never been!

I was a little disappointed because they didn’t carry anything in plus sizes.

We finally turned our attention to our to-do list, starting at Ridemakerz. Thanks to a tip I saw of the Dis a couple of months before, Franklin had bought a Groupon for Ridemakerz so we could build Tanner a car. Originally, we went in expecting to build him a Lightning McQueen. But when we got in there, we saw they had Camaros to build. And Tanner’s parents (Franklin’s sister and brother-in-law) are both Camaro fanatics. So we built Tanner his own Camaro instead!

By we, I mean Franklin built it. I helped pick out the body then got bored and went outside to put together my new pins and lanyard.

Franklin found me down by the water and we made a beeline to World of Disney, watch out for the spitting Stitch!

Um, well, remember that shopping “problem” I mentioned before. Yeah, well, this store didn’t exactly help. (All these photos are from the Web, which is why they're not as good as Franklin's).

I bought a baby Tigger for one of my best friends and his wife, who was scheduled to give birth in a few weeks.

A new water bottle because my other one for work had died the previous month.

A really cute Mickey popcorn bowl.

A Mickey spatula.

A Mickey iPad case.

A pot holder in the shape of Mickey’s hand.

And a new coffee mug for my desk at work.

Plus some various Disney food treats for friends and coworkers at home.

My name is Missy and I have a Disney shopping problem. It also doesn’t help that sending things back to the resort is so darn convenient. We left WoD just after 3, our dinner ADR was for 5:30 at Citricos. We decided to forgo another bus journey in favor of a much more direct cab back to the hotel. We both still really wanted to swim, but knew we didn’t have enough time before dinner. So while Franklin headed directly back up to the room, I took a trip to the CL to see if the CM could do anything about pushing back our ADR.

The CM on-duty that day was really sweet and very patient (and I’m a horrible person because I can’t remember her name). She checked their super-secret CL computer program and the only time Citricos could take us was 8, which wouldn’t work because we wanted to head back to MK for Wishes that night. So the CM made a phone call to the GM of the Grand Floridian who put her in touch with the manager at Citricos, who magically sqeezed us into the booked-solid restaurant at 6:40. Yahoo! I’m loving life on the CL.

I made a mad dash back to the room with a beer for Franklin and a soda for me, changed into our bathing suits and were down at the pool in record time. Now for the past couple of days, it had been hot and sunny on this trip. The moment we decided to go to the pool, it clouded up and dropped the temperature about 10 degrees. Sigh. We got in the pool, which felt refreshing at first, then turned quickly into chilly. So, teeth chattering, we moved to the hot tub. Oh my goodness that felt good after several days of the parks.

We stayed in there for quite a while before heading back up to the room to shower and change for dinner. How would our first dinner at a signature restaurant go? And did we make it back in time for Wishes? Find out next time.

 

[natebenma]

Hi Missy- I sent you a PM earlier today.

Yeah, great to see new posts from you!!!

That is one gorgeous sunrise!

Um, I see chocolate croissants, eggs benedict, sausage. Didn't you mention something about "healthy" food. Oh, there's the fruit. I see it now.

Dumbo and Snow White are a couple of rides we have never done. I need to borrow some little guys like Ryan and Jack. My boys won't stand (or sit) for these rides.

OMG- LOVE the picture of Big Ben/London on Peter Pan!!! That is my fav-or-ite scene!!! And also my white whale. Every time I go on that ride I try to take a picture of that, but with my point and shoot and no flash, all of my pictures are cr*appy!

Great call on Columbia Harbor House! My mouth is watering for the lobster roll. I'm hoping I get to go there in June.

Transportation to and from DTD is such as hassle (probably not the best choice for your first Disney bus ride). Resort/Park legs are much better! You could also have taken a boat from Saratoga Springs to DTD.

We did that in reverse when we headed back to the Beach Club. DTD>Boat to SS>EPCOT (ride SSE and Soarin)>Beach Club

That's great that your dinner reservation was able to be switched.

Can't wait to read about it. I hope there is food porn!

 

[Joyciemc]

Woah, CL is so cool! I had no idea they could work magic with ADRs!

Love Franklin's shirt- Ben has the same one!

 

[Missyrose]

Hi Missy- I sent you a PM earlier today.

Yeah, great to see new posts from you!!!

That is one gorgeous sunrise!

Um, I see chocolate croissants, eggs benedict, sausage. Didn't you mention something about "healthy" food. Oh, there's the fruit. I see it now.

Hey, I said it was healthy for Disney. You don't find many places in WDW that have whole-grain Mickey waffles and sweet potato pancakes. But what's a breakfast buffet without the greasy, yummy stand-bys?

Dumbo and Snow White are a couple of rides we have never done. I need to borrow some little guys like Ryan and Jack. My boys won't stand (or sit) for these rides.

Disney should invent a rent-a-kid program for just such situations!

OMG- LOVE the picture of Big Ben/London on Peter Pan!!! That is my fav-or-ite scene!!! And also my white whale. Every time I go on that ride I try to take a picture of that, but with my point and shoot and no flash, all of my pictures are cr*appy!

The funny thing is Franklin edits his photos on this giant computer screen and is soooooo hyper-critical of his own photos that he finds all these flaws in the photos. But once he saw them more normal sized in my TR he said "Wow, maybe the ride photos turned out pretty good this time."

Great call on Columbia Harbor House! My mouth is watering for the lobster roll. I'm hoping I get to go there in June.

Transportation to and from DTD is such as hassle (probably not the best choice for your first Disney bus ride). Resort/Park legs are much better! You could also have taken a boat from Saratoga Springs to DTD.

We did that in reverse when we headed back to the Beach Club. DTD>Boat to SS>EPCOT (ride SSE and Soarin)>Beach Club

CHH is our favorite CS at WDW, we've yet to have a bad meal there! We'll definitely give the busses another shot, I had heard that the busses to and from DTD are notoriously bad. I won't hold it against the system.

That's great that your dinner reservation was able to be switched.

Can't wait to read about it. I hope there is food porn!

Oh, there WILL be food porn!

Woah, CL is so cool! I had no idea they could work magic with ADRs!

Love Franklin's shirt- Ben has the same one!

I was shocked that the CL CM could get the ADR changed like that! They are awesome. I saw Ben had that shirt when I read your TR, I call it Franklin's gateway Disney shirt. It had an adult-enough spin on it that he liked wearing it, so when I bought him other shirts to wear when we're in Disney, he was totally fine with it!

 

[natebenma]

Disney should invent a rent-a-kid program for just such situations!

Great idea!!!

I would gladly rent our my teenager for anyone who wants a buddy on Space Mountain or RockNRollerCoaster, but I suspect I won't have many takers!

 

[Missyrose]

We last left off with us getting ready for dinner after a relaxing time in the pool and hot tub. We hopped on the monorail and rode around to the Grand Floridian for dinner!

We checked in at 6:25 (for our 6:45 ADR) and were given a buzzer. I went to browse at Basin, while Franklin went to take photos of the resort.

Soon, our buzzer went off and it was time for our first signature meal at Disney!

We were given a lovely a table by the window, which overlooked the pool.

And they gave us these adorable personalized menus for our anniversary.

Since we were in this gorgeous restaurant, we ordered pretty drinks. I ordered a Citricopolitan and Franklin ordered something that I forgot to write down the name of. But it was a fruity mixed drink, it was pink and Franklin said it tasted “girlie.”

While we waited to order, Franklin did what he does best: Take a gazillion photos.

The pots are kinda a hidden Mickey, right?

Now for the food porn! For appetizers, Franklin had the Blue Crab Pave (Lump Crab, Capers, Meyer Lemon, Fennel-Celery Salad, Avocado, Olive Tapenade and Piquillo Vinaigrette).

I ordered the Cheese Course Trio (Murcia al Vino from Spain, Fourme d'Ambert from Auvergne France, and P'tit Basque from the French Pyrenees).

Franklin looooooooved his appetizer. He said it was very light and the combination of flavors was just perfect. My cheese plate was really yummy too.

For the main even, I ordered the Braised Veal Shank (with Potato Mash, Roasted Vegetables, and Toasted Citrus Gremoloda).

Franklin had Pan-Seared Red Snapper (with Fregula "Paella", Bay Scallops, Rock Shrimp, Palacio Chorizo, and Sherry-infused Sofritto).

My veal was cooked perfectly, no knife needed! Franklin liked his snapper, but he didn’t love the paella like he thought he would. He actually said his appetizer was better than his main course.

For dessert, Franklin ordered a Tropical Fruit Creme Brulee (with mango, pineapple and passion fruit).

I had the Tasting of Gelato (featuring Italian vanilla bean, raspberry, and double chocolate).

Franklin’s choice won this round. Mine was good, Franklin’s was better. I also ordered a hot tea. I had no idea that Citricos had such an extensive hot tea menu, an entire page-worth of different flavors and infusions. I chose a vanilla and cherry infused tea and it was delicious. We realized it was getting late and we’d have to scoot if we were going to get to MK in time for Wishes!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Wow, you're right, being at CL really does help with getting reservations changed and pushed back. I'm glad that they were able to do that for you. Your meal looks very yummy. That's one restaurant on property that I still have not been to. It will have to go on my list.

 

[Missyrose]

Wow, you're right, being at CL really does help with getting reservations changed and pushed back. I'm glad that they were able to do that for you. Your meal looks very yummy. That's one restaurant on property that I still have not been to. It will have to go on my list.

Thanks! I was pretty shocked they were able to do anything too. The meal was very, very good. It's a beautiful restaurant with great food and awesome service. I highly recommend it.

 

[Joyciemc]

Mmmmm... Citricos looks delicious! I really haven't read much about it. It will have to go on the list of 'someday meals'!

 

[Missyrose]

Mmmmm... Citricos looks delicious! I really haven't read much about it. It will have to go on the list of 'someday meals'!

So yummy! Definitely one to go on your to-do list! Did I tell you that we signed a contract on a BWV DVC contract? It went to Disney for their ROFR on the 13!

 

[teekathepony]

Ooooh, Aaaah! Citricos looks awesome! I'm always too afraid to try signature restaurants because I'm a really picky eater and my DH is even worse! Some day I will try one though.

 

[natebenma]

First off- CONGRATS on your DVC contract!!! Hope everything works out well for you and that it means MORE TRs!!!

We have never been to GF. The lobby looks Gorgeous!

I like your table near the window overlooking the pool. It's cool that you got a personalized menu. I know Coral Reef used to do that. I wonder which restaurants still do that. Probably mostly signature.

All of the food you had looked and sounded AMAZING! I would have gone with Franklin's choices. The description of the Blue Crab Rave is making me drool. And you had me at passionfruit. One of my favorite flavors.

I'm glad you enjoyed your dinner.

I'll stay tuned to see where you watch Wishes.

 

[Missyrose]

Ooooh, Aaaah! Citricos looks awesome! I'm always too afraid to try signature restaurants because I'm a really picky eater and my DH is even worse! Some day I will try one though.

I am a very, very picky eater (though I'm making an effort to branch out from my comfort zone on a more regular basis.). But the secret about the Disney signatures? Their food sounds fancy, but most of the meal options are pretty simple. Lots of meat and potatoes options and almost everything can be ordered with the sauce on the side. You should definitely give the signatures a shot (maybe start with California Grill -- I'll have a review of my meal there later in the TR -- or Yactsman Steakhouse, both have good steak options, very simple meals).

First off- CONGRATS on your DVC contract!!! Hope everything works out well for you and that it means MORE TRs!!!

We have never been to GF. The lobby looks Gorgeous!

I like your table near the window overlooking the pool. It's cool that you got a personalized menu. I know Coral Reef used to do that. I wonder which restaurants still do that. Probably mostly signature.

All of the food you had looked and sounded AMAZING! I would have gone with Franklin's choices. The description of the Blue Crab Rave is making me drool. And you had me at passionfruit. One of my favorite flavors.

I'm glad you enjoyed your dinner.

I'll stay tuned to see where you watch Wishes.

Thanks, we're VERY excited about DVC! Lots more TRs in the pipeline now. This was my first time in GF and it was really beautiful. The weird thing is, even though I found the lobby to be gorgeous, I'm not really dying to stay there. It's a little too froo-froo for what I like on my Disney trips. Maybe once they build the DVC there we'll give it a shot on a weekend trip or something (assuming their point costs aren't ridiculous, which could be assuming waaaaaay too much).

I wish I liked seafood because Franklin's food choices always sound way more fun than mine. His creme brulee was To. Die. For. I'm trying to finish up the fireworks post this afternoon, if not today then tomorrow, for sure!

 

[Missyrose]

We last left off having finished a wonderful meal at Citricos, but we were on a mission to get to Magic Kingdom for Wishes. We took that loooooong monorail ride from the Grand Floridian (one WHOLE stop ) to MK. Once we were through the gates I realized all that hot tea I drank with dessert had caught up with me. So Franklin headed up Main Street to get his tripod set up and I headed for the restroom. When I came out, Main Street was wall-to-wall people. Eek! So I made the snap decision to cut through the emporium as far as I could go, the perfect shortcut.

I found Franklin near where we were for Hallowishes just in time for Magic, Memories and You. I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of the new show, but it was incredible. The photos and videos were adorable. And the effects they used on the castle were amazing.

Mike and Kelley found us just as Wishes started, but there were too many people there so they were going to take the boys toward Frontierland for the fireworks.