Celebrating 20 years at WDW - Bonus features, A few posts from May, Updated 9/11

[dizneeat]

Welcome back, Alison and Fran! I really hope you had a great adventure - I cannot wait to read all about it!

 

[Flossbolna]

Welcome home! Hope you had a great trip!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Well folks, I'm back home on the ground, another adventure under the bridge, so to speak.

It'll take me a while to get settled and back in the swing of things. Once I do, I'll post a link here and then I'll try to get bat signals out as well.

And don't forget, now we REALLY need to clean out that apartment!

Welcome back.

Corinna

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Welcome home! Hope you had a great time!

 

[Pinkocto]

Welcome home!

 

[Steppesister]

YAY!!!! You're home safe and sound! Now, time to cook up some interesting for a little under 3 weeks from now. Can't believe we're so close to hanging out again!

 

[dhorner233]

Fran got a couple donuts to have in the room.

I got one of these to take back to my room based on Fran's recommendation and it was delicious!!!

Well folks, I'm back home on the ground, another adventure under the bridge, so to speak.

It'll take me a while to get settled and back in the swing of things. Once I do, I'll post a link here and then I'll try to get bat signals out as well.

And don't forget, now we REALLY need to clean out that apartment!

It was so much fun meeting up with you and Fran! Glad I was finally able to meet Fran! Glad you guys got home safely. Daphne and I are back to reality too.....

 

[pkondz]

So I have good news on the apartment front. Tuesday I rented the vacant place!

Oh good!!
Once I got to the end of this TR, if you hadn't mentioned it, that was the first thing I was going to ask.

The tenants let their kids have free range with their crayons.

Who does that?!?!?

Renters, apparently.

The only time I've seen walls in worse shape was when we had an older woman who lived there at least a dozen years and she was a chain smoker. After her daughter removed the pictures from the walls you could still see their outlines in the tobacco filth.

Yuck. Reminds me of the first place we bought. Yup. TSP.

Pretty much our only solution (that makes sense) is to install a tankless on the exterior of the house. Cha-ching! there goes another couple grand.

Ouch.

The biggest worry is statues of the three hitchhiking ghosts. The are rather bulky and we just don't have a space for them.

What? How big are they?

They need to be photographed and put up on eBay, but we keep forgetting to bring the camera over.

Hmmm.... How much you want for them?
Or are they already gone?

I showered first since my hair takes longer to dry and I refuse to use a blow dryer

Why not?

I don't know where we lost all the time. We were supposed to be leaving the room at 5:15 but somehow we didn't get on our way until closer to 6PM.

Uh, huh. Parcheesi.

I did get this shot of the sunset on our way there.

Very pretty!

I had a drawer where I put all the fancy menus, but I don’t have one of those in the new house, so they’re floating around somewhere, and no I don’t mean like Madame Leota’s head!

First the hitchhiking ghosts and now this.

Jill went with the 10 course menu.

She didn't find it too much food?

The only thing picky about my eating is that I don’t like different flavors of food to touch.

Oh? Why? Just a personal preference?
Or don't want the flavours to mix?

Other than that, I will eat just about anything that someone puts in front of me (with a few exceptions).

Like what?

The bread is always my downfall. Because I am usually starving by the time I arrive, it takes all my restraint not to dig into the bread. If I do, then I use up too much space on bread and can’t finish the dessert!

I do that too!

mmmmmmm bread...... "Dessert, sir?"
"burp... nope."

We all oohed and aahed as the smoke came out from the dome on her plate.

so cool

They made a serious presentation for the butter for our last bit of bread. They brought out this Toque shaped butter and shaved off pieces for us.

Why? Was it a special butter or something?

Fran went the extra mile and paid the upcharge not only to have the Australian Kobe Beef with Bordelaise Sauce, she also got the Miyazaki Japanese Beef.

I gotta know. Did you taste the difference?

Fran and I had a choice of a Selection of Cheeses or Dragon Fruit Lychee Sorbet. That was a no brainer, Cheese of course!

I love cheese!

But I love sorbet (especially well made sorbet) more.

After dinner, Fran said that I didn't want to see the check.

I bet!

I fell asleep at the bus stop at MK waiting for the next bus. Once they got us tied down, I laid my head back down on the tiller and fell back asleep.

Awwwwwwww.... poor li'l Alison!

When we arrived at our room about an hour or more later (it was after 1AM) there was a message on the voicemail asking us to call our server's cell phone so that they could settle our check. Ooops! Fran handled everything while I continued to bed.

You are the only people I know who ate at Victoria and Albert and dined and dashed.

 

[pkondz]

when I went out into the Living Room/Kitchen, I saw this sad sight.

Ugh. Just... no.

We had a ton of leftovers and the night before we decided that the best option would be to put them in baggies and freeze them. Then we would pick up one of the insulated Disney totes that they were offering for a “deal” with a purchase of $X. Since we were actually leaving the room the night before we had to check out, we had the room all the way up until we would leave. That way we could toss everything in the tote as we went to catch the Tragic Express and it might stay cold for the trip home.

Huh! Brilliant!

The dryer finished up and I checked it, most everything was dry so I took out everything that was done and started the last couple items back up again. About half an hour later I realized that I had started them washing again as opposed to drying.

Whoops! Well, that sucks.

In hindsight it was good we weren't early as we had to stand the entire time until we were seated for the lunch. You can see how pleased Fran is with that.

She looks a tad...... ticked.

The wines were pre poured and they were placed on a menu so that we could see each course and the wine that would accompany it.

I like that. Smart.

mmmm... looks so good!
I can never get enough shrimp.

For dessert we were served a Moscatel Wine and Chocolate Baklava. I’m sure that it’s not at all traditional, but it was great!

Looks ( and sounds) good!

That sucker's huge!

They were able to get us in at 8:35, but couldn't stop the no show charge on my credit card. However they assured me that if I called back the next day they would be happy to put a reversal on it because of transportation difficulties.

You'd think they could stop the charge though. Or do it the next day without you having to call back.

We.had wanted to check out the Abracadabar and since we still had some time before our reservation this would be perfect.

One place I wanted to check out.
Ah well. Some other time.

Fran and I each got the Conjurita. When the waitress brought the drink it was purple.

Pretty, but....

Then she poured it into the shaker cup and poured it back in the glass. It was pink.

... that's so cool!
I want one now.

Fran and I ordered the wild mushroom pizza with bechamel.

How was that?

Once we paid the check, we headed next door to the Ample Hills Creamery which gave us much more bag for our bucks.

Why have I not heard of this place until just now?!?!?

Fran got two scoops in the cup Sally Sells Seashells which is Fresh and Fluffy Orange Marshmallow Ice Cream with house made Salty Chocolate Sea Shells and ooey gooey buttercake ice cream.

 

[disney1474]

Always enjoyed reading your trip reports! Keep them coming

 

[franandaj]

Well done renting out your apartment I was pleased to read that. That previous tenant how rude. I don't understand how people can cope leaving places like that. I couldn't leave a hotel room untidy even.

I'm not sure they even realized that they left it a mess.

Oh my more money to pay out. That tankless solution.

Yeah, the money pit never ends.

Good progress on old apartment.

I'm not sure I would call it that. We still have a long way to go.

How neat re your cruise. Hope you get to do timings with Oscars. Nice dining rotation. AP our least favourite also.

Well you'll see how that unfolds when I start the TR!

Another non fan of hair dryers. I like it to dry au natural thank you. No poodle parlour look for me.

I don't mind if someone else (like my hairdresser) does it, but I can't be bothered to stand there with my hands over my head.

Transport not playing well tonight but nice sunset shot! Glad you made it to GF in time. Phew. You all look very nice. That is one smart looking bottle of h2o.

Thank you. Transportation was not very kind to us this previous trip. Last one was somewhat better.

Wow the food! What can you say. I suppose it's too much to ask at V & A for those of us not liking to mix food types for a separator plate lol.

Since they only serve you one morsel at a time, no worries on the touching.

Love the duck and scallop. I adore the pretty butter.

Great idea to have the kobe beef. Oh my goodness those desserts!

Everything was just wonderful!

That is so funny about the checks. Stop thief!

I still can't believe we did that! It was probably the largest dinner bill we've ever had too!

Shame you reached your last day. But nice to get some time at EPCOT and F & W. Looks like you grabbed some good drink and food options.

It wasn’t hard, there were great options all over!

How nice to see Jill and roomate in the lounge and grab some snacks.

Always good to see a friendly face.

That is a shame you were playing sardines in the ME. How annoying they broke the mirror on the scooter.

Yeah she really misses her rear view mirror.

That is good short flight. Finding Dory nice movie. Shame about tech problems.

I still have not seen the ending.

Glad you got home safe. Nice to see kitties. Even with their noses in the air...

We did miss our kitties.

 

[franandaj]

How ever long our vacation is, I very rarely get to that stage.

I think it's our pets and our close bond with them. Every morning I have two cutie boys fighting over my attentions in the bed. They come and sleep on my lap when I sit up in bed in the morning. After a certain point in the trip, I start to miss their cuddles.

That sounds like perfect timing.

It was really nice having the room that extra night even though we didn't sleep there.

I am with you there and this does look very good.

I love a good chicken parm, but Palo on the Wonder wins!

That is nice that you got to spend some more time with Jill.

Even though it was only for a few minutes, it was nice.

I wonder what he was thinking.

He wasn't.

That is disgraceful. They were clearly in the wrong there.

I don't think that they care.

They may well come from the same supplier.

No. I don't want to believe that.

I didn't know your last day had time for Epcot, how fun!!! Lots of yummy eats and to see Jill again even better!!

Since the non-stop flights to LA are either at 9AM or 7PM, we've been taking the later one since a 6AM DME is out of the question for us.

What is this DME broke the scooter and still hasn't fixed it??? Will you contact them again?

Probably not. It's a $30 part and probably not worth our time and her stress level.

Glad it was smooth travels home

At least once we were on the plane.

I don't ever hit that point.

You're the second one to say that. I say that it's our pets, but also we don't have day jobs that we have to go back to. If I had to come home from vacation and go back to the job I left 15 years ago, I would rather stay on vacation, but even if our house is a pig stye, it is home and we do miss it and our kitties.

Great! You can slide her the bill for V&A's.

Except we picked up her tab since it was her birthday. It was the least we could do!

Wonderful.

Double wonderful.

Yeah, not sure how great their follow up is when they mess up.

That thought really ruins the magic!

I know doesn't it? I want to believe that Disney creates all their magic on their ships and doesn't buy it on the open market! Just wait until you hear my "tortellini" story on the next trip. You're going to have to wait a long time though.

Well I had a LOT to catch up on! Will reply again from laptop but sad to see the end, but look forward to the next!!

Well, as soon as I get through replies, the next one will be starting. I finished the first chapter today. Well ahead of when I thought I would. Concert tomorrow so nothing will happen then, and we'll see what happens next week.

We're off to F&W again this Friday!

 

[franandaj]

I can see that. I mean, I look forward to checking it out. And while I like the movie inspired dark rides, most of them are just ok. I mean I'm going to ride them, but I'm usually not just blown away by them.

I love rides like Pirates or HM where you are immersed in the story. But this was just going from one vignette to the next. Boring.

Awesome!

Thank goodness because we had another one go vacant at the beginning of last month.

Hmm... yep, I'm behind.

That's OK, I am too. I still owe your TR a visit and about five other people as well.

They should be used to monorail induced transportation issues at this point.

I'm pretty sure they are.

Holy crap... they must bring a total of about 5 pounds of butter to your table with all those "presentations" of butter.

I bet the Toque of butter weighed more than that.

Nicely done, Fran!!!

I don't know where she had the room!

Yikes! I'm glad it was an easy thing to correct. But I'm sure the server was even more relieved to get that call!!!!

They had already charged it to our room, but we had to call back to leave her a tip.

Did they send someone over to Universal that morning to stock up?

I know. This last trip I noticed that all the donuts in the Joffrey's carts looked like they came from Lard Lad.

I'm glad that they were able to work with you. They definitely should when transportation can't reliably get you there.

I was amazed that each boat could only take two ECVs. Four would have fit easily, and it's not like they tie them down or anything.

Sorry to hear that. So frustrating.

Thanks for sharing the trip. And holy crap... all the food in those last few updates is just incredible. I'm amazed you were able to get home without falling into a food coma.

I definitely had a food withdrawal when I got home. For those 10 days, I was never hungry. I had to relearn the behavior that hunger is my friend.

Even more yummy F&W treats, but I think of all you posed on this day, I'd have liked to have tried the lemoncello marg.

That was really good! It was one of the few things I repeated.

Any resolution yet?

Nope they just totally dropped the ball.

IKR?! What is with the ginormous bags they can hardly lift?!

IKR?

I don't know how some if them fit in the overhead bins!

Oddly, it was corrupted for us too! My kids have still to this day not seen the ending.

Huh? You didn't even fly American did you?

Definitely looking forward to that!

We had a great time! I just need to get caught up on a few more TRs before I start it. I did finish the first installment yesterday, but that's the boring part. Travel day.

 

[DnA2010]

Just went through the V&A write up on my laptop so I could see the pictures better! I love when these come up on the Dis, especially with lots of detail like yours!
The courses are beautiful- I love seeing the detailing in the preparation and plating! Those desserts- yum! and always love seeing the coffee set ups. The cheese looked especially nice (other than the blue- still haven't got on to enjoying it)
One of my simple loves is bread and butter so I know I would love to experience all of those!

 

[franandaj]

Welcome back, Alison and Fran! I really hope you had a great adventure - I cannot wait to read all about it!

Welcome home! Hope you had a great trip!

Welcome back.

Corinna

Welcome home! Hope you had a great time!

Welcome home!

YAY!!!! You're home safe and sound! Now, time to cook up some interesting for a little under 3 weeks from now. Can't believe we're so close to hanging out again!

Thanks folks, tonight it will have been a week I've been back. Been busy, busy, busy. I'm still trying to catch up on all your TRs! Once I've done that, I can start my next one!

 

[pkondz]

Here it was, that final day. We had to go home.

Boooo!!!! Don't do it!

Fran got out of bed sometime around 10:30 and I told her that she needed to pack up all her little obsessive items she had gathered over the course of the week.

You have reasonable and well thought out purchases, but Fran has "little obsessive items".

I really wanted the Chicken parmigiana with pennete pasta. The sauce was a little bland, but it was still good. I'd prefer a little band to overly spicy.

Dang! I didn't know about that one! No idea why not.

I also got a limoncello margarita.

Or that too! That looks really good! That would've been very high on my list, too.

When we came to South Korea I decided to go for the BBQ Korean Beef with white rice and cucumber Kim chi.

Really pondered hard about this one... but never made it there I guess. At least I don't remember seeing it.

I wanted the Tuna Poke, which was excellent! I could smell the flavors coming up from the bowl as we found a place to eat. The rice was spicy, but everything was so flavorful.

I passed on that. I tried Tuna Poke in Hawaii and wasn't impressed. Then again it was at this huge impersonal luau where none of what I had was all that great, so.... take that with a grain of salt.

I also got the Kahlua pork slider. It was really tasty, but I was sad that I put the top bun on the sandwich because that was too much bread. I liked the ratio of sauce, pork and bottom bun as it was. The pineapple salsa on top was great too!

I loved the slider. Probably my favourite thing at FW that I did eat.

Who should we run into when we were checking in, but Jill and her “roommate”. We all got drinks, sat down to charge our devices and chatted for a bit in the AC.

Nice! An impromptu DISmeet.

I thought we were going to have a comfortable trip back to the airport as I had taken the seat behind Fran who was in the front row. We picked up some passengers at the Boardwalk and then went on to CBR. There were so many people boarding there that there was not an empty seat available on the bus, so we squished into a seat together.

Well, that sucks. I suppose it was that or have strangers sit with you both.

When we got off the bus, I found that the bus driver had crammed her scooter underneath the bus without lowering the tiller and her rear view mirror was broken.

We reported it to the powers that be and then headed up to security.

Nothing has happened with this problem. Stupid Magical Express.

Okay, now that's just not right. I can understand them not finding my charger, but that's really not right.

The flight was packed and it always amazes me what people bring as carry ons,

No kidding. They always have those measuring things at the gates too. They should use them once in a while.

I tried to watch Finding Dory but the video was corrupted. Once I paused the film, it wouldn't properly restart. I could see the subtitles, and hear the audio, but the screen was black.

Oh, no. That's what it is. The rest of the movie is at great depths where light can't penetrate.

I would hate to think that DCL and American Airlines used the same supplier.

ew. no.

After dinner they gave us ice cream. We both took the Butterscotch sauce.

Because... butterscotch. Hello!

We waited forever for our scooters and our luggage was waiting for us in the abandoned section.

Where they were sobbing uncontrollably.

No one was overjoyed to see us, in fact they were kind of hiding when we came in the door.

Ingrates!

But welcome home anyway!

 

[Steppesister]

That was really good! It was one of the few things I repeated.

Sounds like one of my items. And surprisingly, it wasn't a drink!

I don't know how some if them fit in the overhead bins!

I don't know how they even lift them up there to check if they will!

Huh? You didn't even fly American did you?

Nope. United.

We had a great time! I just need to get caught up on a few more TRs before I start it. I did finish the first installment yesterday, but that's the boring part. Travel day.

Travel day isn't always boring. Wait til I get to Mike traveling to the Keys....

 

[Steppesister]

And guess what?!!?!?!

2 weeks from tomorrow we get to hang out again!!!!!!!

ETA:

Pretty sure this needs a few dancing bananas!

 

[tiggrbaby]

Somehow I lost contact with your TR again!

Mmmm, cava! The meal looked nice as well!

Sorry that the boat didn't work out for you, but the meal over at the Boardwalk looked really nice! I didn't realize that the new ice cream place was so specialized; maybe I need to try it sometime.

Glad you were able to get the rest of your tastes in! How crummy that the driver was so lazy to not properly put away the scooter. Do you think that it is Mears who is ignoring the claim?

I know what you mean about missing your kitties; we only have one, but I feel bad when she's on her own for an extended period. She only likes me and her boys; she doesn't even like my son's girlfriend of five years!

Looking forward to reading your next report.

 

[dhorner233]

Do you have another trip report going?