Chunkymonkey and Chubbyhubby Stuff Themselves Silly! THE END..on to the next TR!

[dr&momto2boys]

Love the updates! Looks like a great trip!

 

[therussells08]

Yay! I love DHS so much!

Yummy...SciFi is so great! I can't wait to eat there in December. And I'm so excited to see that your ordered the beef and blue salad and enjoyed it! I'm not sure if you remember, but we had a conversation about that on your PTR and I recommended it, so I'm pretty proud!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Whew, what a week, it was crazy at work, but I am hoping to finish Day 2 of the TR sometime tonight or tomorrow. Thank goodness for Friday! After work DH and I went to see The Town which was directed by Ben Affleck. It was pretty good. I think he's aiming to be the next Clint Eastwood-style filmmaker, kind of gritty, and more emotional. Definitely a departure from Daredevil

We then had a yummy sushi dinner. I love sushi!
Hope everyone is having a good start to their weekend!

Yep, plus you get to enter WWOHP an hour before the general public!!! we will be there in 2 days!!!! whoop, whoop!

Woohoo! Have a fantastic time!!

Im enjoying your TR.. and your pics are awesome!! PORFQ looks beutiful and quiet.. I think I will look into staying there when DH and I plan to go alone. If ever! Your TR made me want a snack.. with all your snacks!! I can't wait to get a Dole Whip!!

Yum, I love dole whip, and the fact that is is virtually non existent anywhere else aside from Disney and Hawaii makes me just want it more. Thanks for the compliments! I think you and your DH will love the POFQ!

your Sci-Fi pictures are wonderful, as well as your GMR pics (love the Alien and Wizard of Oz ones!)! That's the best pic I've seen of their milkshake yet! I had a chocolate milkshake today and it wasn't very good, watery and tasted more like vanilla than anything. I kept thinking of Sci-Fi's and how I longed to have one of theirs, lol!

oohh I think I know what dresses you're talking about. I saw them on another person's TR. They're really cute. I bet you got one!

Thank you!! Yes that milkshake looks pretty darn good right? And if possible, it tasted better than it looked
Ugh, I hate watery milkshakes! If i'm gonna have that many calories, I want it to be goooood!!

You'll have to wait and see if I got the dresses!

My last name is that of a VERY popular (and quite large) city...it's not something people haven't heard before...but when I tell them what it is, they always look at me funny and NO ONE can ever pronounce it! Maybe they think it can't be that easy

Good idea about the print out...I'll have to remember that in October!

That's how I get on TSM too! I try so hard to win and I never do...I just end up with a really tired arm!

Frozen Chocolate Covered Banana =
And I agree...you should get at least 3 snack credits per day!

We feel the same way about POFQ! I love how quiet it is! SO different from the Values or even CBR, for that matter. It's just gorgeous! We went in March 2008 and none of the trees or flowers were in bloom so it looks kinda drab in the pics I took...but even then, it was just beautiful. And yes, the beignets help!

Hmmm funny, I'm gonna have to start guessing your last name now. LOL.

I totally needed more snack credits. They should allow you to trade in QS meals for snacks because I really wanted snacks more so than I wanted complete meals!

Sigh...miss POFQ already!

I love some of the more subtle Disney things; the type of things that don't scream "Disney!!!" I bought a great pair of earrings in the gift shop at CSR last year. From a distance, they looked liked sort of chandelier type earrings in bronze, silver, and gold. It wasn't until you got up really close that you realized the dangling parts were little Mickey heads. Too bad that I lost one of them on my trip to the beach this year.

And...um...where is the entrance to the Backlot Tour, because we somehow missed that completely when we were there....good thing we're going back!

Me too! I really love all the very subtle hints of Disney in all their stuff lately. It's so cute whichout being so loud. I appreciate small subtleties like that. Your earrings sound cute! I think I may have seen them before! I'm sure you'll be able to find something just as nice!

Hmm if I can remember, I think it's somewhere in the back of the park? Yeah I know that helps, LOL, Oh wait DH says that it's past TSM, if you keep walking though Pixar you will eventually get there.

i don't post too often but i have to say this is one of the best TR's I've ever read! i love your pictures, they are amazing.....i would frame half of them! sounds like you had a blast, i can't wait for my trip even though it's still so far away! keep it comming!

Awww, I am so flattered, thank you! And thanks for posting!!

Great trip report it looks like you had a fun time

I love your photos, you have inspired DBF and me. We have a really good camera but for the past year or so it has been gathering dust. After reading your trip report we got it out and went to the beach to practice taking photos, We want to have great photos just like yours. DBF is even thinking of buying some more lenses for the trip. Hopefully we will be there in a years time. So lots of time to practice

Can't wait to read the next part.

Wow, I am so happy I have inspired fellow photography fans to continue to take pictures! I'm sure you guys will have fantastic pics! At least you have DBF taking pictures too. My DH is not really into photography as much as me. That's why I take pictures of myself. LOL

Love the updates! Looks like a great trip!

Thank you! We sure did! Maybe too much fun...I keep waking up in the morning disappointed I won't be having beignets for breakfast...

Yay! I love DHS so much!

Yummy...SciFi is so great! I can't wait to eat there in December. And I'm so excited to see that your ordered the beef and blue salad and enjoyed it! I'm not sure if you remember, but we had a conversation about that on your PTR and I recommended it, so I'm pretty proud!

Joni! I totally credited you for the inspiration to order the beef and blue salad! You must have missed it in my post, LOL. That's ok, but I definitely was thinking of you when I ordered it!
It was yummy!!!


So my next post will be coming up soon! I'm working on finishing touches right now!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 2 Part 4: Dinner at ‘Ohana

We left our room at 7:45pm for our 8:40pm ressies at ‘Ohana. I know I was supposed to give at least an hour and a half, but I didn’t really believe this. I thought an hour was plenty of time. We stopped by the concierge to ask what was the best way to get to the Poly from POFQ, and his response was what I expected, bus to MK then monorail to Poly.

We waited at the bus stop, and there were a fair number of people there, probably all going to catch Wishes at MK. We took a few pictures at the bus stop and on the bus. It also looked a bit hazy out, but it has not yet rained on us since we have been in Orlando so we thought we were pretty lucky. I did suspect that we were going to get rain real soon though. We didn’t purchase ponchos or had any rain gear. Luckily the night held up and it didn’t rain that night.

Waiting at the bus stop

We got out of the bus at MK and headed towards the monorail. I hadn’t taken the monorail in ages! It was pretty darn cool to be riding it again. I thought of it as another attraction, I mean, you DO get in line and stuff. LOL. We were fairly lucky in that we didn’t have to wait too long. You know what is funny? I always thought the monorail was lit inside when it was dark out, but I guess not. So riding in the dark was kind of interesting. I guess I think of it like a subway. Haha. In no time were at the Poly! We got out and we made it by 8:38. Whew. We checked in at ‘Ohana with a CM who was coincidently from Singapore, which was where I was born. I chatted with her for a bit, and it turns out that she is like me, born in Singapore but raised in the USA. She gave us a pager, and we were free to browse around.

I really enjoyed the stores at the Poly, they were a lot of fun. It was in the store on the bottom floor where I saw the same 2 dresses which I saw earlier in the day at DHS, and I said, oooh maybe I should purchase them now, BUT they were not 50% off!! I guess the discounts are NOT the same in every store, and each store has it own authority to discount certain merchandise? Sooo odd. I was kind of annoyed, as I thought I would be able to purchase the same merchandise almost everywhere at the same price, and for the most case it is, but certain things like this just annoyed me. So now it just really made me want to go back to DHS to purchase the dresses even more! Our next day at DHS was not until Monday which was 2 days away, but I didn’t dwell on it too much. On to enjoy dinner!

We waited another 15 minutes before our buzzer went off, which was a lot longer than I thought we had to wait, but when we went back to the check-in table, they said that they were waiting for a table to clear which had a view of the castle, which meant we could watch Wishes during dinner! Yay!

The CM who took us to our table asked if it was our first time visiting ‘Ohana, and we said yes, so she proceeded to tell us about the what ‘Ohana means, and the style of the food service for the evening. Nothing new to me since I was already very well versed on ‘Ohana thanks to Disboards! She passed by the kitchen and picked up some bread and led us to our table, which although it wasn’t right up next to the window, it was definitely situated with a prime view for the fireworks.

We dug into the bread. Interestingly, it tasted more like a scone to me rather than bread. It had a slightly sweet flavor but was more crumbly than I thought it would be. We both thought it was ok.

Our server was a super friendly guy, and I totally forgot his name, but he was really nice. I looked through the drink menu, and saw the glowtini drinks, the ones with the souvinir light up ice cube. I originally heard about this from Trickiwoo, so thanks for the rec! I don’t normally drink a lot of mixed drinks, I am more of a red wine person, but I really wanted a souvenir ice cube, so I ordered the pink one. DH got a diet coke and a coffee (he was kinda sleepy still).

Here’s my drink! I thought it was yummy, very fruity, and not very strong at all, which some people may not like, but it was totally fine with me.

Here’s the open kitchen where they prepare the meats

Here are our appetizers which arrived shortly after our drinks

The salad with the ginger-lime dressing (I think?) – whatever it was, it was sooo good! We loved the dressing! It was slightly tart, almost vinaigrette-like with just a touch of sweetness. Do they sell this in bottles *** I’d be eating waaaay more salad than I do now if I had this dressing!

Our potstickers and wings

The potstickers were good – to me they tasted like the frozen kind which you just heat up, which was fine because we both like them and eat them regularly. However we couldn’t tell if they were fried or baked. Because there seemed to be a lack of any oil or greasy residue on the dumpling skin but it still had a crisp skin, it led me to believe that they were baked or grilled. Usually, we eat then pan-fried, which although really good, are kind of greasy. So we didn’t feel so guilty after consuming a large bowl of them.

The wings we thought were really yummy. I know some people don’t like the texture of the skin – but I don’t eat chicken skin, so it didn’t bother me. I have a weird way of eating wings. I kind of lick the sauce on the outside a bit, then peel the skin off and then eat the meat inside. To me, the sauce was quite good. It is definitely sweet though – like a teriyaki glaze.

So they started playing games with the kids, like this one where they had to do a race with broomsticks and coconut shells. So cute. It looked like everyone had a lot of fun. They were also taught the hula!

After our apps, then came the sides, noodles and broccoli

We both thought they were tasty. The noodles tasted like it had the same sauce as the wings. I think the noodles tasted like the noodles that they use in Hawaii when they make “saimin”. Saimin is like noodles in broth, kind of like Japanese ramen with Chinese influences made entirely Hawaiian. The saimin noodles have a nice chewy, springy texture which these noodles reminded me of. So it wasn’t exactly like lo mein noodles, nor was it like the thin Chinese noodles. They did taste authentically Hawaiian!

Sorry, I am a bit of a noodle connoisseur, so I just had to give a bit of background.

Broccoli was, well, broccoli. But good broccoli!


I was actually already full at this point. I can’t imagine how we still had more food coming. It was insane. I think me and DH ate enough for a family of 6. Just keeping up with our Chunkymonkey and Chubbyhubby monikers…

Our “main course” of beef, chicken, pork and shrimp. We were getting soo fulll…

The shrimp was my favorite. I actually enjoy peel n eat shrimp. I feel like food tastes better when you have to work a bit to get it. It’s also why I am a fan of lobster and crab too, LOL. I can see how the sauces on each of the meats was very similar though, so it may have been too much of the same flavor, which is probably the only criticism I can give to the meats, oh and the chicken was a bit dry…but we were thoroughly surprised by how tender the beef was as we were expecting that to be dry too.

And then, Wishes started!!! Whooopee! I was sooo thrilled we were able to watch from our table! They dimmed the lights and piped in the Wishes music.

Yay!! What a nice way to watch Wishes! And we totally didn’t even request it.

So when we finally thought we couldn’t eat any more, they took our plates away and brought hot towels. I make little towel rabbits. They are pretty easy and I make them all the time. I used the umbrella from my drink to give my rabbit some Aloha spirit

And then came the dessert of all desserts, THE BREAD PUDDING.

WITH THE BIGGEST SCOOP OF ICE CREAM I’VE EVER SEEN

Omg I dream about this dessert it was THAT GOOD!! And, even though we kept saying how we couldn’t eat anymore, we darn nearly finished the entire plate! Well, we did leave some ice cream…it WAS the size of Spaceship Earth after all.

And, if that wasn’t already the end to our meal, the waiter brought out a cupcake because we were celebrating our 2nd Anniversary!! Awww, how sweet. They were the only restaurant to recognize the celebration I put on my ADRs! Well, I think Le Cellier mentioned a congratulations to us, but that’s the only other one.

So needless to say, we couldn’t eat the cupcake, so we got a take home container to put it in to save for later. And also, my glow cube light for some reason wouldn’t turn off, so our waiter brought me another one! He didn’t really have to, I was fine with the cube stuck on pink light. Although I had to put it in my suitcase so we wouldn’t have a glowing cube in our rooms when we were trying to sleep. LOL.

Overall, a fantastic experience overall at ‘Ohana. Although it wasn’t the best food of our trip, it was definitely the best “experience”. From the moment we sat down, to watching Wishes, and the darn bread pudding which has since turned me into a bread pudding snob, we LOVED ‘Ohana!! We will definitely be back! Mahalo ‘Ohana!

And so stuffed beyond belief, we rolled out of ‘Ohana rubbing our bellies. We took the monorail back to MK, and then took the bus back to POFQ.

Back at POFQ we called it a night, as we wanted to get up early and make it BACK to the Poly for some....Tonga Toast!!! Do we make it in time for our 8:40am ressies? Stay tuned....

End of Day 2

 

[annmarieda]

I love your review of Ohana! You made me remember things I totally forgot. (such as the towels) I think we had a couple different things though... my bread seemed a bit more raised and fluffy and your pudding looked a bit more raised and fluffy. Plus, your ice cream was nice and solid when you got it...ours was all melted. It still tasted wonderful though and was gone before we could even have cared. How cool that you got to watch wishes. From your pictures, it looks like it was an amazing treat! When we were there, I knew wishes was going on but I don't think they dimmed the lights.

Oh, and the prices on things/things being on sale... in the store near Kona and Ohana...there were rings on sale. My mom got a sterling silver mickey head one. A ton of them were clearanced. Yet, every other place in the parks they were not. I was a fair bit disappointed since I want to find one in my size. Funny how things can be clearanced or on sale in one store and then regular price in another. I did see the dresses on sale in MK though...on mainstreet. I thought they were very cute. If it was not for the fact we were almost done with our trip when I found them...I may have bought one to wear. (seems like they would have been super comfy in the heat)

 

[natebenma]

Awesome time at Ohana! So great about getting a table with a view of Wishes!!! Your pictures, once again, are making me drool. But I have to admit that it really doesn't take much inspiration to make me crave Disney food!

I appreciate the noodle lesson and love reading your description of the potstickers with an attempt to identify the cooking method. Really adds a different and more detailed approach to the dining review.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

Mmmmm! I love 'Ohana! How great that you got to see Wishes from there!

 

[Tracy161]

What an amazing experience at 'Ohana and what a nice treat to get to see the fireworks!!! I was just telling my mom last night food isn't just about the actual taste, but about the "experience" and I value that just about as much as the food itself, so I totally get your description of 'Ohana as your best dining experience!

I haven't been to that restaurant yet myself but I've developed somewhat of an obsession for trying it out on our next trip... so much so that I've actually made their bread pudding recipe myself!!! (allearsnet.com) The recipe was met with rave reviews, so I'd highly suggest it! Can't wait to hear about the tonga toast... I haven't tried that recipe yet but have been thinking about it!

 

[tinacaplan]

Well, you made Ohana look and sound fantastic. We're going in February and I can't wait. And you made me want some noodles.

 

[tankgirl427]

Okay a couple of random comments:

The Town is set in Boston.... not really a stretch for them since they are from Boston.

Cool you're from Singapore originally? My cousin lived there for a couple years when her dad was sent there and I got to visit her there for a couple months during the summer.

And I'm the same way with chicken skin. I mean I don't lick the sauce off, I start with just peeling the skin off and figure the sauce will get all over my hands so it'll get back on the chicken.

Sorry more people didn't know it was your anniversary trip. I had put it down as being BF's first trip, he was never given a button and only the hostess at 50's PTC said anything about it.

 

[chunkymonkey]

I love your review of Ohana! You made me remember things I totally forgot. (such as the towels) I think we had a couple different things though... my bread seemed a bit more raised and fluffy and your pudding looked a bit more raised and fluffy. Plus, your ice cream was nice and solid when you got it...ours was all melted. It still tasted wonderful though and was gone before we could even have cared. How cool that you got to watch wishes. From your pictures, it looks like it was an amazing treat! When we were there, I knew wishes was going on but I don't think they dimmed the lights.

Oh, and the prices on things/things being on sale... in the store near Kona and Ohana...there were rings on sale. My mom got a sterling silver mickey head one. A ton of them were clearanced. Yet, every other place in the parks they were not. I was a fair bit disappointed since I want to find one in my size. Funny how things can be clearanced or on sale in one store and then regular price in another. I did see the dresses on sale in MK though...on mainstreet. I thought they were very cute. If it was not for the fact we were almost done with our trip when I found them...I may have bought one to wear. (seems like they would have been super comfy in the heat)

Me too, I really enjoyed your review of 'Ohana as it totally brought me back to our night there! That's funny how your bread and bread puddings were kind of different than ours. I guess as long as it tastes just as good, that's what counts.

Yes totally, different things were discounted at different stores, and they don't sell the same thing at each store, so sometimes, even when I wanted to spend the $50 required to get the Disney visa discount, I couldn't!

Awesome time at Ohana! So great about getting a table with a view of Wishes!!! Your pictures, once again, are making me drool. But I have to admit that it really doesn't take much inspiration to make me crave Disney food!

I appreciate the noodle lesson and love reading your description of the potstickers with an attempt to identify the cooking method. Really adds a different and more detailed approach to the dining review.

LOL, me too, I just have to visit the dis boards to get hungry again!

Haha, yes I like to eat a lot so I love to talk about food. I'm glad you don't think I am rambling on about a silly topic!

Mmmmm! I love 'Ohana! How great that you got to see Wishes from there!

Thanks! Yes it was awesome! I thought we'd have to go outside or something to view it so this was just a nice treat!

What an amazing experience at 'Ohana and what a nice treat to get to see the fireworks!!! I was just telling my mom last night food isn't just about the actual taste, but about the "experience" and I value that just about as much as the food itself, so I totally get your description of 'Ohana as your best dining experience!

I haven't been to that restaurant yet myself but I've developed somewhat of an obsession for trying it out on our next trip... so much so that I've actually made their bread pudding recipe myself!!! (allearsnet.com) The recipe was met with rave reviews, so I'd highly suggest it! Can't wait to hear about the tonga toast... I haven't tried that recipe yet but have been thinking about it!

Yum, I think you will totally enjoy it. I know it was one of the most hyped about restaurants in WDW, so I was a little wary, but the experience was so much fun that I totally thought it met my expectations and then some.

Ooh, I will have to look that recipe up. I rarely bake anymore but I think this is one thing worth trying

Well, you made Ohana look and sound fantastic. We're going in February and I can't wait. And you made me want some noodles.

Mmmmm, send me some bread pudding when you go! LOL. I think you guys will enjoy it.

Okay a couple of random comments:

The Town is set in Boston.... not really a stretch for them since they are from Boston.

Cool you're from Singapore originally? My cousin lived there for a couple years when her dad was sent there and I got to visit her there for a couple months during the summer.

And I'm the same way with chicken skin. I mean I don't lick the sauce off, I start with just peeling the skin off and figure the sauce will get all over my hands so it'll get back on the chicken.

Sorry more people didn't know it was your anniversary trip. I had put it down as being BF's first trip, he was never given a button and only the hostess at 50's PTC said anything about it.

Yup Beantown. I actually lived there for 4 years, so I could definitely recognize some places in the movie.

Yup I was born in Singapore. I go back occassionally for visits. I love the food there. I miss the food so much!

I do that too. I don't want to be all messy and slobbery so I usually just peal the skin off chicken. But I think 'Ohana's sauce deserved a lick. Or 2.

That's ok, I put the celebration in only has an afterthought. It wasn't a big deal to us. We didn't get buttons or anything and I didn't really care anyways. So the fact that 'Ohana actually read the detail on the ressie was just really nice on their part.

 

[Nermel9]

LOVE the review of Ohana! I'm going there for the first time this November and I keep going back and forth on whether or not I should switch back to Kona, since I'm familiar with it, but you made Ohana look sooooo good! And what a great surprise, getting to see Wishes from your table!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 3 Part 1: The I’m not really there FP, and my new obsession, Tonga Toast


So the next day, somehow, even though I set the alarm for 7am in order to make our 8:40am ADRs at Kona, I have no idea how we woke up at 8am. Scrambling to get ready, I yell at DH through the shower curtain to see if we could change our ressies. So while I was showering, DH calls the Disney ADR hotline and manages to get the only other available time, which was 10am. Sigh…I really did try to wake up. Note to self: maybe we should PASS on the early morning ADRs next time!

Today after our scheduled breakfast at Kona, we were planning to be at Epcot for the whole day, with dinner at Biergarten that evening. So considering we had a bit of time until breakfast, we had the nutty idea of taking the bus to Epcot, only DH will go in and run to get FPs for Soarin’ and then coming back out so we can take the monorail to the Poly. Seemed like a fabulous idea right? We can stroll into Epcot right after our breakfast, and then “soar“” past all the lines at the ride. (yes bad pun). But of course execution of the plan has to be good too, and we did fall short of that. First off, when the bus from POFQ hits epcot, DH takes my park ticket and RUNS for the front. Since he has no bags, he skips bag check and can run in quicker. Our goal was to just meet back at the Monorail station. So I leisurely stroll over to Epcot from the bus, and wandered around looking for the monorail station. I see the monorail line, but I can’t seem to find the stairs up to the monorail. So I’m wandering around like a newbie, not realizing that I myself had to go through bag check in order to get to the monorail. I just thought bag check was for the park. So needless to say, I wandered around aimlessly for a while

Here are some pics I took though, while I wandered around

Finally DH calls me and says he’s right about to come back outside. I told him I still couldn’t find the entrance to the monorail. He told me it was AFTER bag check. Argh, I was wandering around for nothing. I didn’t think I had to go through bag check to get to the monorail. I could have spent all this time waiting on line! Ugh. Luckily I didn’t have too long to go through bag check, and this is because I had wandered far enough to realize that there was a separate bag check on the other side of the pillar from the first bag check, which is closest to the busses. If you walk a but further there is barely anyone on line at the other bag check.

So I meet up with DH at the monorail, and I was already hot and sweaty and annoyed at this point, and we have not even had breakfast yet. So DH told me that he had some trouble at the FP station at Soarin. Apparently you cannot get an FP with a card that has not been swiped at the park entrance. (DH took my card if you can remember, and went in himself). So although he wasn’t supposed to do so, they didn’t give him a hard time about it and just gave him an FP for me anyways. I guess since the parks were not super crowded, it was ok. Not sure if this would fly during peak season, FYI.

So we finally get on a monorail and end up at the Poly again, less than 10 hours after our last meal here, lol. So we check in at Kona, and we were told to wait a few minutes.
So I snapped these pictures

DH’s expression is soooo funny here

DH was also wearing this t-shirt which I had gotten for him at Pixar Studios in DHS last year. It is my favorite t-shirt!!

Finally the buzzer went off and we were seated. At this point it was about 10:10am. Time for some COFFEE. STAT.

Since I already knew what I wanted, I let DH peruse the menu. We ordered the French press Kona coffee to start. I order the tonga toast with fruit, and DH orders the Big Kahuna breakfast.

The Kona coffee is ok, I dunno, I think the coffee was ground a bit too large, so it made for thin coffee. We both love Kona coffee and we use a French press at home too. I think I can make better coffee. So we didn’t think it was that worth it. And honestly, to me the regular coffee at WDW is not that bad. It’s not great, but not the worse cup I’ve had.

Here is our breakfast!!! I was sooo super excited to eat my first bite of Tonga Toast!! It was soooo good. It was everything I thought it would be. Delicious moist thick sourdough bread stuffed with bananas, fried and topped with more sugar….yum. In the words of Rachel Zoe: I die!!

With fresh strawberry puree

You can’t really see the bananas inside but they were really good!

Here’s DH’s breakfast. It was a pretty standard large breakfast platter but DH enjoyed it. He liked my Tonga toast too.

Aaahh, what a fantastic breakfast…definitely worth the hassle of the trip to the Poly. I think this would be the only place I would actually wake up early and have breakfast at.

Since this was one of the cheapeast meals of our trip, we did not use a TS credit for this so we just paid for it OOP. After breakfast we went back to the monorail to wait for our ride back to Epcot. Apparently there were some monorail issues because we waited a half hour for the next monorail! They told us they were having some technical difficulty. Oh well, so much for the convenience to Epcot. Finally one arrives and we ride back to Epcot.

I took this picture of our feet because I was so bored.

Lot’s of monorails passed in the OTHER direction.

Back at Epcot we walk over to use our Fps for Soarin’. Before that we grab 2 more for later.

We then head over to the Finding Nemo ride at The Living Seas. This ride is so nice and relaxing and there is never a wait!

We spent a lot of time wandering around the aquarium. We also did Turtle Talk with Crush. It was the first time for both of us. It was really cute, although our audience was not very interactive. I think Crush was definitely “reaching” for some material after a point. Think people were just tired…or shy.

The manatee

The ray

The turtle. We LOVE turtles! We swam with giant green turtles in Maui last year. It was amazing. They weren’t afraid of us and would swim right next to people.

I love the puffer fish outside!!

At this point, the skies looked dangerously grey and ominous. We decide to get prepared and get some ponchos over by Spaceship Earth. I used the leftover money I had on my GC to buy the ponchos so it came in handy! We then headed over one of my favorite areas of Epcot…Innoventions.

Coming up…we make our own souvenir…for free!

 

[natebenma]

Great update! I LOVE breakfast at Kona. The Pineapple Macadamia Pancakes are my favorite, though! Too bad about the trouble getting back to EPCOT, but it sounds like once you got there, you were able to do some very fun things. I love the two photos of the Land building.

 

[redlight]

I'm loving your reports and the pictures. You make everything come alive. The green sea turtles are magnificent!

Your tonga toast looks delicious, but that pales in comparison to the bread pudding and ice cream delight from your last update. My mouth is watering.

 

[annmarieda]

I think we have already established this, but I have to ask...where we in Epcot on the same day (9/3)? If so, and you were strolling through to Soarin at around noon... you might have caught a glimpse of us. I know I see the picture of the dinning area at Sunshine Seasons and I can see exactly where we sat. we were not there...but if it was 9/3 we were either on our way there or had just left as our table is empty.

As for Turtle Talk...I know we were not there at the same time since you were at Kona, but my dd froze up when talking to Crush..so I imagine being shy happens to a lot of people.

 

[annmarieda]

Hmmm I am not thinking this was 9/3. I am thinking 9/6? That would explain the rain. We went to Kona on 9/6 and the down pour that happened while we were there was scary!!!

 

[Cat0727]

I am dying to go to Kona for breakfast. Even more so after your pics, the Tonga Toast looks so good!

Aww the puffer fish is cute! I've never noticed him outside the Living Seas before.

 

[Tracy161]

Ahh, the Tonga Toast looked absolutely AMAZING!!! I can't wait to try it someday myself! Also, your DH's shirt is absolutely hysterical, I love it!!! Glad that he was able to get you a FP for Soarin too!

 

[mom2kazkids]

Hey an FYI for next time, instead of waiting for the resort monorail to take you to the TTC, you could have walked thru the Poly's ground to the TTC and then caught the monorail to Epcot. That is one of our favorite things about staying at the Poly.