Bury Me On Space Mountain! - A 6 night Mommy and Me TR

[katie26]

Hey everyone! Just back from a six night, seven day Disney extravaganza - and I'm almost as excited to start my trip report as I was to start the vacation!

A little bit of background: my parents decided, last year, that it was high time for a family vacation. After our St. Croix plans fell through, the parentals decided we'd all be shipping off to Disney World for nine nights at Saratoga Springs - much to my dismay. But - of course - my pouting was no match for the pixie dust, and my love affair with WDW began.

For my birthday this year, my parents decided to give me some funds to travel with... and after some careful consideration, I decided that instead of jetting off solo to Bali or Laos, what I really wanted to do was spend some quality time with the Mouse... and my mama. And thus, our trip was born!

The circumstances: six nights at the Grand Floridian, concierge level (fancy pants!) with the DxDDP (at a discount, obvs, thanks to Free Dining) and park hoppers.

The cast:

Me! 27, a generally cynical and grumpasaurus rex NYC lawyer. I'm not much of a Disney girl in my everyday life - not so hot for the movies (with notable exceptions - ahem, Fantasia, Ratatouille!) or the fashion (except for a well-timed pair of sequined Minnie ears) but a deep adoration for the philosophy and experience of the WDW.

Mom: an awesome and lovable lady who I'm very lucky to have in my life. And not just cause she takes me on vacation - she's the kind of mom whose opinions my friends all respect, who I always love to spend time with... the kind of mom I hope I can be someday.

Anyway - welcome to my trip report! There's gonna be plenty of fireworks and fun... and food porn! (Though I do begin slacking off on my food-picture-taking duties at the end... sorry!) I hope y'all enjoy it... and here we go!

 

[katie26]

Flying... ugh. I woke up to the blaring alarm, set for the time I usually wake up for work. 6:10 a.m. - doesn't feel much like a vacation yet! I'd stayed up late packing - last minute, that's how I roll - but luckily had finished all of the icky, boring stuff before I fell asleep. So a big cup of coffee and a taxi ride were the first items on the agenda.

The taxi ride to the airport is always my favorite part of travel. It's quiet, and I get to watch the sun come up over the rowhouses of Brooklyn and then over the marshes on the Belt Parkway, and I get excited and really calm all at the same time. I know that in a few hours, I'll be strapped into a jetplane and sipping Sprite to combat the inevitable airplane nausea and jumping out of my skin, so ready to get there, get there, get there! But first, a few moments of quiet, of solitude... and of anticipation.

The flight took off on time and landed forty-five minutes early - whoo hoo! Mom's flight was even earlier - she was scheduled to land a few minutes after me, but as soon as we were given the all clear to switch our cells back on - ring, ring! It's Mom! And she's at the Magical Express counter already! I hauled my gigantor carry-on over to side B, through the monorail and down the half-hidden escalator, as quickly as possible for our huggy, giggly reunion. And then, so quickly, we're walking in the front door of the Grand Floridian, so excited that this gorgeous space would be our home for the next week.

We're greeted at check in with pale green carnations and our own personal check-in CM, who whisks us upstairs for the in-room check in and some excited Disney chatter.

"As you know, there's so much to do here," he says as he opens the door to our room, "like watching Wishes every night... from your balcony!"

"Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod!" I squeal, running to the balcony doors. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect view - fourth floor (room 4404 for those who are interested) looking out directly at Cinderella's castle. Our check-in CM laughed at my uncontrollable delight and then tried to finish running through the list of things we needed to know for our stay - but I wasn't listening. I was jumping up and down, pointing out the window and saying, "Can you believe it? DO YOU SEE IT?!"

Eventually, of course, I simmered down enough to get through the rest of the process - reviewing our itinerary and reservations, getting the lowdown on the free-food-and-booze extravaganza happening in the concierge lounge a few steps from our door. We discovered the first minor bit of trouble - our Wildlife Discovery Expedition had never actually been booked, and the day we'd planned it for ended up being full - but no worries, they booked us on another day and we decided we'd just switch our ADRs around correspondingly. After all - who could complain in a room like this?!

But we had to leave eventually, of course. There were rides to be ridden and dining to be done! So we made our way down to the monorail and headed over to the Magic Kingdom for our first lunch of the trip.

We arrived, scanned our fingers, picked up a map - and then, there we were. In the middle of this magical place with a whole glorious week stretching ahead of us - and where to begin?

The Plaza restaurant, natch, where we ordered burgers and fries and milkshakes. (Strawberry for me, chocolate for my mama.) And they were... um... so-so. Prefab beef patties, but on a perfect brioche roll. We mostly skipped the lukewarm fries, but licked our milkshake glasses clean. Om nom nom!

(Burger is cut in half and arranged "artistically" to hide the huge bite I'd taken out of it. Sorry, guys.)

Coming up next: a photo safari through the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, and... which of the three Mountains does my mom finally agree to go on?!

 

[Nancy for Disney]

Great start. I love mother/daughter trips. I hope to take my mom someday but we will see.

 

[luckylady]

I'm in and waiting for more.

 

[katie26]

Hey! Hi, readers!

During lunch, Mom and I spread out the map and try to figure out where to start. (What an awesome feeling - the World is our oyster!) We decide to head towards Splash Mountain - it's a hot day, and a little splashin' sounds like a good idea.

We pass the Swiss Family Treehouse and decide to explore. It's fun, but wow, what a workout! We snap some pictures and make our way down.

We head towards Pirates of the Caribbean which is - gasp! - not running! But you know what's second best?

Yeaaaah. Captain Jack Sparrow. Rrraowr!

Up next: Jungle Cruise! I don't know how we managed to skip it last time, but it was high on my agenda for this trip. I haven't been on it since I was nine or so, but it was just as fun - and awesomely cheesy - as I'd remembered.

Then finally - dun dun DUUUUN! - Splash Mountain! We skipped through the line super-quick. Ol' Splashy, like almost everything this week, had a five-minute wait posted. The inside part of the line was deliciously cool, and we couldn't have stood in line for more than thirty seconds before hopping into our log and heading off for some quality time with Brer Fox, Brer Bear and some high-volume air conditioning.

Pretty soon, though, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Citricos. (Which was our favorite restaurant last time, so we knew that we had to book it for our first fantastic DxDDP dinner.) But hey, look - it's parade time! And I was too happy about being here to even grumble when Mom wanted to stop and watch.

Lucky for me, though, it was short - just the Year of a Million Dreams winners heading through with quite a bit of fanfare. We watched the band and the dancers, cheered for the lucky ducks who would be spending that evening with Cinderella... and then hopped back on the monorail, super psyched to head off to our dreamy hotel for our dreamy dinner.

 

[katie26]

Dinner was... fantastic. Absolutely breathtakingly delicious and wonderful. Back in our room, we freshened up with the help of a few glasses of bubbly from the lounge and changed into our pretty dresses. First fancy dinner of the trip - yaaay!

We arrived a few minutes early and were led to a table near the window overlooking the pool - a perfect way to watch the Florida sun setting over the palm trees. The sky changed from blue to pink and yellow as we perused the menu and ordered our wine.

Our waiter's name was Jon (pay attention - this will become important later on in the trip! ) and totally charming and funny. We loved his suggestions and his service was impeccable. (At one point, when Mom spilled her cosmo into her plate of veal shank, Jon whisked it away and - after she insisted that she didn't want a whole new entree because she was halfway done with the veal anyway - he re-plated it with new carrot-potato puree and brought it back, good as new.)

Onto the food porn! (And apologies for the picture quality - my point and shoot doesn't do so well in dim lighting, and my new DSLR is still in the mail...)

I started with the Gateau of Crab - dreamy jumbo lump crabmeat packed into a short cylinder and topped with a seriously luscious orange-fennel cream and topped with a bit of tomato-fennel slaw. So delish - and I love how the creamy sauce and rich, soft crab contrasts with the little bit of crunch that the slaw provides. A perfect beginning, perfectly executed. (Yet poorly photographed.)

Mom started with Jon's suggestion: sauteed shrimp with lemon, white wine, tomato, some kind of pasta and feta cheese. She said it was tasty, but not knock-your-socks-off fantastic. I had a bite but don't really remember any strong impressions - which maybe tells you how memorable it was.

Dinner arrived, with a glass of pinot noir for me and a Cosmo for my mama. I had the short ribs with polenta and a blood-orange demi-glace. And yummmm - these are short ribs the way short ribs should be. Braised achingly slow, until all of the fat renders away and the connective tissue becomes nothing more than a fond memory. I was also psyched to see polenta - my most beloved of starches! And the little pop of unidentified braised greens provided a necessary diversion from all of the soft, tender richness on the plate.

Mom had the braised veal shank, which came with a carrot and potato puree and some roasted veggies - and a marrow fork! (Which she promptly handed to me. Man, how can you not adore a lady who not only takes you to Disney World but also lets you eat the marrow out of her veal shank?) It was fantastic, as always - Citricos really knows their way around braised meat.

After dinner, Mom was stuffed... but I have the eager stomach of a twenty-seven year old gastronome (read: glutton) so I soldiered on with the dessert menu while Mom sensibly ordered some lemon cheesecake to take back to the room and eat later, after she surfaced from our mutual braised-meat-induced food coma. I had the mixed berry gratin:

...which was not especially photogenic but was quite delicious. The super-fresh berries were served drenched in a champagne sabayon atop a thin, crisp cookie and then dusted with sugar and blasted with a blowtorch for a crisp, brulee'd top. And I couldn't help but order my favorite dessert wine in the world, the Royal Tokaji 5 Something Something, as an accompaniment. The wine tastes like thin, liquid honey that's been steeped with flowers. I would bathe in it if I could.

After dinner, we headed back to the room with a pit stop at the lounge for snifters of Bailey's on the rocks. I was feeling pretty stuffed, so I took a quick walk around the grounds to help out with digestion. (Though I ended up lying in a hammock on the near-deserted beach, watching the stars - or were they planes landing at MCO? ) I made sure to make it back in time for Wishes, though. We watched from our balcony, natch, sipping on our Bailey's and talking quietly about how lucky we felt to be there, in this beautiful room in this beautiful place, and how excited we were for the next day - our first full day at Disney - to begin!

 

[teruterubouzu]

Nice start! I too love the cheese factor of the Jungle Cruise. It was one of the highlights of my recent trip with my sister. We didn't get to dine at any of the fine restaurants on this trip, so I'm going to enjoy vicariously enjoying them through yours!

 

[katie26]

Nice start! I too love the cheese factor of the Jungle Cruise. It was one of the highlights of my recent trip with my sister. We didn't get to dine at any of the fine restaurants on this trip, so I'm going to enjoy vicariously enjoying them through yours!

Thanks! I start slacking off with the photo-taking towards the end, but stay tuned for plenty of flowery descriptions.

The next morning starts out with breakfast in the concierge lounge. The spread was awesome: fresh fruit, yogurt, cereal, bagels and bread for toast with all of the attendant fixins and a bunch of different pastries (croissants, muffins, cinnamon rolls) and plates of cheeses and cold cuts. The coffee was the usual Nescafe swill, but there was also a push-button espresso machine that dispensed fantastic shots of espresso, lattes and cappuccinos. My savior! We took a sunny window seat and dug in:

Thus sated, it was time for the monorail again - this time, to Epcot! Epcot was empty. Like seriously creepy near-deserted. We arrived around nine a.m. and immediately walked onto Spaceship Earth, which was a lot of fun. It was closed during our last trip, so I was happy to be able to get inside of the gigantic golf ball this time around. I don't remember what the old ride was like, but I definitely loved the strings of little blue star-lights on the way back down, and the interactive choose-your-future thing was lots of fun!

After that, I was like - come on, Mom! We've got to get to Soarin' to pick up some Fastpasses! They're gonna be gone and it's gonna be a ninety minute wait! Mom, quite rationally, replied: But the park is so empty! I'm sure there's no one there. And I was like, no way, I bet all ten thousand people who are here right now are in line at Soarin'. Let's go!!

We arrive, of course, to a five-minute wait. (And I thank my mama for not rubbing it in.) Our first ride was so much fun, we just had to do another! And I've got to say, I enjoyed it much more without the experience being prefaced by a ninety minute wait. The first time I went Soarin' I thought it was kind of lame - all that wait to watch a glorified movie?! But this time, it was awesome. The smell of the oranges, the swooping down through the city all lit-up and glowing... yeah, pretty awesome.

Then it was time for Test Track!

My favorite ride in Epcot. Maybe it was the five minute wait, or maybe it was the desire for a little bit of a/c on a muggy Florida morning, but I somehow managed to convince Mom to ride with me. And she had fun! Enough fun to ride two times in a row, at least.

(A bit of the post-ride faux factory.)

Then we went over to the Living Seas for the Nemo ride and a little schmoozing with the manatees. I waved hello to the sea turtles I got to swim with on the last trip... and wished we had time for me to do the Aqua Seas Tour again. Not this trip, though... we barely had enough time to do all of the essentials, and I didn't want to sacrifice an entire afternoon, despite how much I'd loved it. Anyway... here are the little guys!

Our showing of Turtle Talk was rather packed - which makes sense, I guess, since the majority of families in Disney at that time probably had preschool-age kids. It was super-cute, but when it was over, we had to jet to make our lunch reservations in bella Italia.

(Not sure how many pictures I can fit in one entry so... Tutto Italia coming up next!)

 

[katie26]

We arrived right on time at Tutto Italia, which I'd been anticipating with great delight!

The reviews on the Dis were all so spectacular, and I was so excited to see trofie on the allears menu! A little bit of backstory: a few summers ago, I spent a few weeks backpacking across Europe and met up with a friend of mine in the Cinque Terre, five very small towns on the Ligurian coast. We were broke, but since even the broke eat well in Italy, we spent most of our euros on focaccia, olives and cherry gelato. One night, though, we decided we'd get dressed up (or as dressed up as we could manage from our backpacks) and go out to a restaurant. There, we ate trofie: little twisted pieces of pasta served with chunks of potato and thin little green beans and all tossed in the delicious, basil-packed, garlic-spiked Ligurian pesto. One of the best meals of my life, but it's hard to find on menus even in the Italian parts of NYC. And yeah, I guess I could make it myself at home but... it's so much nicer when it's made for me.

The dining room at Tutto is gorgeous and grand. We ordered some cold iced tea and were greeted by our waitress with a bread basket and a small bowl of olives. Our waitress was from Ravenna, Italy - a town I thought I'd been to, so I said, "Oh, I've been to Ravenna!" "Oh, you've been to Ravenna!" she said. "Yeah, it's on the Amalfi coast, right?" I asked. "Um... no. It's in the Northeast," she replied. (It wasn't until later that I realized I had, in fact, been to Ravello, not Ravenna. Ooops!)

We started with appetizers - Mom had the prosciutto and melon and I had the eggplant caponata. (We forgot to take pictures, though. Sorry!) The prosciutto was good - excellent quality, sliced paper-thin with ripe cantaloupe. My appie clearly won, though - big chunks of soft eggplant in a tangy tomato sauce with crunchy pignoli nuts, salty bites of olive and sweet little bursts of softened raisins. Om nom nom!

Then came the entrees. Mom went for the lasagna:

I had a few bites - delish! I really dug the bechamel instead of ricotta, and the meat ragu was totally right on. But I had to devote most of my tummy space to my real, true love... the trofie.

(Not photogenic... but very very yummy.)

Oh man. What to say? It was every bit as good as the trofie I'd eaten in that tiny coastal town, years ago.

Dessert, for me, was cassata - a super-sweet Sicilian cake that really ought to come with a side order of insulin.

So sugary, it makes your pancreas cry... but hey, my pancreas knows who's the boss. And the boss wanted cassata. Theirs was a classic execution - two layers of almond-syrup soaked cake, layered with a sweetened ricotta cream full of candied fruits, topped with a layer of marzipan and then - the literal frosting on the cake - a layer of almond frosting. And so photogenic!

Mom had the profiteroles, which came with a big, lovely pitcher of warm chocolate to pour over the top. They were fantastic.

Clutching our tummies, we stumbled back out into the heat and started to make our way around the World Showcase...

 

[kafitty]

omg...italian food...why isn't there a drooling smiley.

i'll be back for more!

 

[ILuvCrush]

Great TR!!! When you say "Food Porn" you aren't kidding!!! You make me blush like I do reading a romance novel!!!

Paula

 

[katie26]

omg...italian food...why isn't there a drooling smiley.

i'll be back for more!

Thanks! There definitely should be one, especially considering Dis'ers tendency towards pretty pictures of extra-yummy eats.

Great TR!!! When you say "Food Porn" you aren't kidding!!! You make me blush like I do reading a romance novel!!!

Paula

Thanks! I think we're all just lucky no pictures were taken of me eating anything. Oh... except for this one:

LOLKat

 

[katie26]

Our first stop was Japan - oh, what I wouldn't give to have that department store in my neighborhood! We stopped first to watch the candy-makin' lady make some candy and pass out a candy flamingo, panda bear and dolphin to three lucky kids. (Although it was kind of depressing to see other kids get disappointed.)

First stop inside Mitsukoshi? Pick a pearl! Mom and I had stopped here on our last trip and made a gorgeous pair of pearl earrings (which I still wear non-stop) and I was sort of hoping for one of the lucky black pearls this time around. No dice, though - just a beautiful, shiny, 7 1/2 mm white pearl which was promptly set with one of the simpler pendant settings. While we waited for the setting to be done, we shopped! I picked up a ton of Japanese candy for my co-workers. Instead of bringing back individual tchotchkes for everyone, I brought back a collection of Candies of the World - hard candies from Japan, gummy letters from Germany, red bean caramels from China. My colleagues loved it and it was definitely a lot less stressful than trying to find the perfect three-dollar gift for twenty different people.

There were two women in Japan who were doing women's hair with the hair accessories they sold there. I almost picked up some of the gorgeous silk flower clips but ended up passing on them - don't want to blow all of my souvenir money so soon!

Back behind the store, we discovered the tin toys exhibit - very cool! Mom took my picture with the giant robot:

And I finally learned how to turn off the flash on my camera:

Afterwards, we meandered through Morocco, playing with the belly dancing scarves and trying on fezzes. I love the architecture and tilework in Morocco - especially the fountain in front:

By the time we made it to France, my appetite had returned a bit. Enough, at least, to insist that we sidle through the bakery and see if any of our snack credits could be tempted out of our pockets. Survey says?

Of course! We forgot to take pictures, but had a lovely little snacktime interlude at one of the indoor tables behind the bakery. We ended up splitting the creme brulee (tasty but the brulee was not quite as brulee'd as it should have been) and the almond croissant (sickeningly sweet but I loved the crispy, almondy points of the croissant) and the apple tart (best of the three - the apples were tart yet sweet, the pastry flaky, the combination of the two spectacular). Bottles of icy water were also consumed. Mmm, water!

After our pastry break, we headed over to England, which seemed to be under a bit of construction. We found butterflies in the butterfly garden:

...and Mom was happy to hang out on a bench while I ran through the hedge maze like a hyperactive kid on crack. "Hedge maaaaaze!" I yelled, dashing through the greenery and trying not to step on the tiny lizards darting all across the path. Once the maze was conquered, I simmered down and we went shopping again. I fell in love with one of the Miller Harris perfumes, but couldn't justify the $140 price tag - though believe you me, I tried. ("But I'm in Disney World so I'm not spending money on groceries this week... right? Right? Hmm.")

After England, mama was getting tuckered out, so she headed back to the resort while I stuck around to take some photography-nerd pictures of Epcot with my Holga. (Holgas, for those not in the know, are super-cheap plastic cameras that take really interesting artsy-fartsy pictures with sort of random and unexpected effects, like light-leaks and vingetting and slightly distorted colors. Unfortunately, since it was my first time with my new Holga, I shot the film incorrectly and haven't bothered to get it developed yet, so I still have no idea how my pictures came out.)

Dinner at Narcoossee's, coming up next!

 

[katie26]

Another night, another fancy dinner. (Thank you, DxDDP!) We put on our dresses and walked downstairs to Narcoossee's as the sun was setting. I took this picture of the palm trees at sunset:

We checked in on time, but decided to wait for a window table, so we went out onto the porch to watch the Magic Kingdom light up as nature's lights went down. Lucky us, we barely waited five minutes before our pager went off, and we were led to a table with a perfect castle view.

Mom started with the Narcoossee's chowder - though I'm told it was delicious, it was not especially photogenic so no pictures. My fried buttermilk shrimp with green apple and celery root slaw was both tasty and pretty, so here's the picture of that:

Mmm, horseradish-y!

Mom's entree was the sea scallops with some kind of risotto. (I should have taken better notes.) She liked it, though I think I was probably too focused on my lobster to even steal a bite of hers, so... here's a picture to make up for the description that has been lost to time:

I had the lobster. Helloooo, lov-ah!

The lobster itself was excellent - tender and fresh and especially tasty dipped in the huge pot of clarified butter. I didn't dig the broccolini or the potatoes au gratin quite as much - the broccolini was undressed and unseasoned, and I wound up dipping it in the side dish of butter and adding my own salt and pepper to give it a bit of flavor. The potatoes were okay, but au gratin is not really my thing and it was a bit on the bland side anyway, so I found myself wishing I'd asked for mashed potatoes instead. But whatever, the lobster was so freakin' amazing, they could have served it with a side of cardboard and shaved shoe leather and I would have been happy.

Mom's dessert was prettier than mine - the strawberry shortcake. Dig those chocolate curls!

This one, I definitely stole a bite of. Mmm, whipped cream and super-fresh strawberry goodness. (Where on earth does Disney find such tasty berries?!)
I went for the classic almond-crusted cheesecake, which yeah, definitely tastes like a grownup version of the classic Good Humor ice cream bar.

Love the Lambert cherry sauce, too!

After dinner, I went off to the Magic Kingdom to watch Wishes live and up close while Mom went back to the room to watch Wishes from the balcony with a cocktail. (Still not sure which way is more amazing...) We had to get a good night's sleep, of course - tomorrow was starting with breakfast at Kona and finishing with Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

 

[teruterubouzu]

After England, mama was getting tuckered out, so she headed back to the resort while I stuck around to take some photography-nerd pictures of Epcot with my Holga. (Holgas, for those not in the know, are super-cheap plastic cameras that take really interesting artsy-fartsy pictures with sort of random and unexpected effects, like light-leaks and vingetting and slightly distorted colors. Unfortunately, since it was my first time with my new Holga, I shot the film incorrectly and haven't bothered to get it developed yet, so I still have no idea how my pictures came out.)

Nice update! I didn't even know there was a hedge maze there. I meant to bring my Holga along on my trip, but I forgot. It will be fun to see your photos! I'm definitely bringing my along next time. My sister bought it for me as a birthday gift and I haven't even had a chance to try it out yet.

 

[katie26]

Nice update! I didn't even know there was a hedge maze there. I meant to bring my Holga along on my trip, but I forgot. It will be fun to see your photos! I'm definitely bringing my along next time. My sister bought it for me as a birthday gift and I haven't even had a chance to try it out yet.

Thanks! And cool... you have a Holga, too! My problem was that when I switched from the rectangular picture taking frame to the square one, I forgot to switch the indicator from 16 pictures to twelve... so all of my photographs are going to be weird double exposures at the edges. Could be unintentionally cool, but it remains to be seen.

And hey, you're from Minnesota! I'm thinking about moving to Minneapolis in the next year or two... we should talk!

 

[teruterubouzu]

Thanks! And cool... you have a Holga, too! My problem was that when I switched from the rectangular picture taking frame to the square one, I forgot to switch the indicator from 16 pictures to twelve... so all of my photographs are going to be weird double exposures at the edges. Could be unintentionally cool, but it remains to be seen.

And hey, you're from Minnesota! I'm thinking about moving to Minneapolis in the next year or two... we should talk!

It sounds like your photos might turn out really cool.

PM me if you have any questions about Minneapolis!

 

[katie26]

The next morning, we were up bright and early for our much-anticipated breakfast at Kona. Since this trip was my birthday present, Mom and I decided that we'd celebrate my birthday while we were there - and today was the day I picked as my un-birthday birthday. So - birthday button pinned to my purple shirt, we were off!

You can't beat a breakfast that starts like this.

A big yummy press pot of hot Kona coffee and a glass of Lilikoi juice. With our thirst (and my caffeine addiction) taken care of, we had to make the first difficult decision of the day - what to order?!

Lucky for me, Mom had her eye on the Tonga Toast and I knew I'd be able to steal a bite or two from her plate...

...so I was free to go for the Big Kahuna.

The Tonga Toast was pure yum. Crispy, cinnamon-sugar coated edges giving way to the meltingly soft banana-stuffed innards... it didn't even need the strawberry puree as an accompaniment. But my own French toast needed some jazzing up... so strawberry puree to the rescue!

My breakfast was tasty, but the pineapple pancakes were the clear winner on the plate. (And oy, get a load of that huge scoop of butter melting into the pineapple-y goodness. I love you, vacation...) I was psyched for eggs and they were cooked well, but the bacon was a little too skinny and floppy for me, and sausage is just not my jam. Trust me, though, I'm not complaining. Between the pancakes, the French toast, the eggs and the bites of Tonga Toast I managed to steal away from my mama ("Oh hey look over there, it's Mickey Mouse... YOINK!") I ate like a Polynesian king.

First birthday treat of the day:

I was sadly stuffed by the time these arrived with a birthday song and some clapping, but hey, if you can't be a glutton on your (un)birthday, when can you be?! They were delish - little chocolate mousse-filled cream puffs with a dollop of vanilla custard on the top and the cutest Mickey head sprinkles. Happy birthday to me, indeed!

After breakfast, it was sprinkling outside so we walked around the lobby for a little bit. What better place to be during a rainstorm than a rainforest?

And I found the monorail shirt I'd been wanting since I saw it on the Dis - the "Por favor mantegna ce ala hadres deles puerta" monorail shirt. And in my size! Nice! (A little bit of un-birthday luck, perhaps?) But eventually, we figured we might as well just brave the rain and went out to the monorail - where my birthday button earned us two front-row seats!

We rode to the TTC and transferred to a bus to the Park Formerly Known As MGM. Since the day we'd planned for Animal Kingdom had to be switched to the day we'd planned for DHS due to the safari screw-up, I called ahead to make lunch reservations for the 50's Prime Time Cafe. We knew it must have been a light week, attendance-wise, when the reservationist offered us "12:55, 1:05 or 1:15."

Once at DHS, we split up - I rode the Tower of Terror (wheeee!) and the Rock N Roller Coaster (double whee!) while Mom went to check out some shows.

Creeeepy! I love this sort of vintage-y, Goth-lite style. Would love this phone in my livingroom (though a bit less dusty, please.)

And dig the statue out front!

 

[katie26]

After the morning of five-minute waits and terrifying rides, I made my way over the the 50's PTC to meet Mom for our un-birthday lunch. The clouds were gathering ominously in the sky while I walked down Sunset Boulevard towards the cafe...

I got there just as the skies opened up. It went from zero to monsoon in about thirty seconds. I was hoping that Mom would have already arrived, but there was no sight of her in the lobby...

... so I waited. And waited. And finally, there she was - my poor, soaked mama, drenched from head to toe without a poncho or umbrella in sight. Aww! So as soon as we were checked in and brought to our table, she headed for the ladies' to dry off as much as possible - and I've got to say, she was in much better spirits than I would be if I had been caught in the rain.

Mom started with the crab cake, which was served on some sort of succotash concoction. I wasn't entirely sure that I even had room for an appie, but I figured that the shrimp cocktail sounded both somewhat light and totally tempting. And... it fit the bill.

To drink, Mom had a chocolate shake, which she said was fantastic, and I had a vanilla Coke. Her entree? The chicken pot pie:

(Not the prettiest of pictures, but tastier than it looks.)

I went for the meatloaf - probably a bit heartier than I could have used, but it was so so yummy the last time I was here, I figured, why not?

Our waitress was not the most fun Auntie in the room - she didn't say a word about my unfinished green beans! But the Cousin who was at the table next to us was entertaining enough to make up for it - especially as he tried to explain the menu to the non-English-speaking family while keeping up a steady stream of jokes.

Dessert for me was the S'mores - forgot to take a picture, but really, what picture could do justice to the warm, gooey chocolate, crispy graham cracker and melty marshmallow heaven that is that dish? But I did remember to snap a shot of my birthday cupcake!

And our Auntie finally got a little more fun when she sang "Happy Birthday" at about one zillion off-key decibels. We were all giggling as we left. The rain had mostly cleared up by then, and we went back to the hotel room for a little bit of resting up before MNSSHP that night...

 

[katie26]

The rain had stopped while we were eating, but it was starting to drizzle again as we made our way back to the Grand Floridian. Still wearing my birthday button, I was surprised to hear an automated announcement on the bus saying, "Someone on this bus is celebrating a birthday! Let's all wish them a very happy day..." or something along those lines. The couple sitting next to Mom and I glanced up - and said, "Oh, happy birthday!" to the guy sitting across from me, who was also rocking the b-day button. So we wished him a happy birthday, too - and then he noticed my button and said, "Happy birthday to you, too!" We all laughed. I'd never heard the buses do that before - it was pretty cool!

We stopped back at the hotel for a little bit of mellowing out and a bit of swimming before heading on towards Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party - yaaay! In the room, I wrote some of my office friends a letter on the gorgeous GF stationery: "Hey guys! I'm on my way to a Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom. There's free candy! Wish you were here... to help me carry more candy!"

First order of business? Our "costumes" - I'd bought a pair of the princess-veil and sequins Minnie ears, but accidentally bought the youth size. (And just thought my head was abnormally gigantic until I checked the tag...) So as soon as we got to the MK, we stopped off at the hat store for some matching mother/daughter Minnie ears.

(Awwwww!)

Suitably outfitted, we made our way to the Crystal Palace for my un-birthday dinner with Eeyore. (Oh yeah, and Pooh and the rest of the folks. But mostly Eeyore.)

We arrived to a confetti-sprinkled table and the sweetest, nicest waiter ever, who wished me a happy birthday and took our drink orders. Then, before we could even hit the buffet, Eeyore arrived! "Eeeeeyore, you're my favorite!" I screeched, as he blushed, kissed my cheek and attempted to propose marriage. I gleefully accepted - though the picture of the happy couple didn't turn out very well so... y'all will just have to imagine. But soon, we were seperated - my depressive donkey buddy had to move on to charm some other ladies, and I had a buffet to hit.

First plate: Awesome broccoli, awesome corn-based concoction, so-so quinoa and shrimp salad, tasty mozzarella and tomato salad and a big scoop of my most-favorite-of-vegetables vegetable, beets! (Love beets. I'm having beets for dinner tonight, as a matter of fact! Cannot resist them at the farmer's market.)

Second plate: Surprisingly yummy chicken nugget, bland and mushy mac and cheese, boring mashed potato, decent salmon, more awesome corn goodness!

Then dessert: chocolate-whiskey trifle (I thought the MK was dry?), chocolate peanut butter cake and key lime pie. The only thing worth finishing was the key lime pie, and even that was a bit disappointing. So imagine my delight when out came...

...a cupcake!!! And a birthday card signed by Pooh and pals. (Also: dig our waiter and his adorable 'stache!)

Overall, we thought the food was decent, not fantastic, but the celebratory atmosphere was nice enough to warrant a return visit. We'd eaten at the CP for breakfast last visit, and I thought that was fantastic. Dinner was a bit of a disappointment after that, but hey... plenty of free candy awaited!

We killed a bit of time before the parade hitting up the trick-or-treat spots and taking pictures of Futureland:

We took a spin on the Wedway People Mover and then hit up Buzz Lightyear, where Mom completely obliterated me with a score in the hundreds of thousands. (Later, she admitted that she'd been on her high school archery team. Oh, nooooow she tells me!) And it was so fun that of course we did it again. (And even the second time, I couldn't beat her amazing score.)

After that? Spaaaace Mountain! Three times! And then a spin on the Astro-Orbiter, which I'd never been on before. Was anyone else surprised by how fast it felt? I can go on any of the Mountains like, twenty-five times in a row, on a full stomach, with no problem - but the Astro-Orbiter actually made me a little bit queasy. Huh.