Beth E. (NJ)
<font color=red>Disney obsessed<br><font color=blu
- Joined
- Sep 27, 1999
Trip Report Day 6, Sunday, December 10th 2000
We came, we saw, we ate some more!
The vital statistics:
Cast:
Beth E. the mom, Disney fanatic, trip planner
EE the dad, just following moms obsessively planned out footsteps
Sophie DD 5 1/2, first trip to WDW, very outgoing child, loves the princesses, has no idea that anything that happens this trip is out of the ordinary
Accommodations: All Star Sports Hotel
Dates of trip: Tuesday December 5th to Friday December 15th
Preamble: Since our trip was lasting 11 days, but we only had park passes for 7; we decided to spend the weekend out of the parks figuring we could avoid some of the crowds this way. So today was going to be a park free day. But that doesnt mean that I couldnt still plan it to the hilt.
Big treat this morning we slept late. Dont worry; it was part of the plan! Starting the morning with a breakfast in the room supplemented with coffee and hot chocolate from the food court, we leave the ASSH and head out on a shopping trip. Bargain hunting was in the forecast and we drove to the Belz Outlets. Once there we visited the two Disney outlets but didnt buy too much stuff. We got a couple of t-shirts, plus a toy or two for the littler child who had stayed at home this trip. We wandered the mall, laughing at the high prices of beanie babies being sold by vendors with kiosks in the mall. At the center of the mall was a carousel. It wasnt nearly as fancy of beautiful as the one in the Magic Kingdom, but there is was none-the-less calling Sophies name. Since she hadnt ridden the Carousel in the Magic Kingdom, Eric bought her a ticket and she rode this one. The malls Santa took a ride on it too!
After hitting the outlets we pile back into the car and begin driving back to WDW. On the way we stop at Wendys for lunch. Reenergized with food we decide to visit the shops of Downtown Disney. Unfortunately the weekend shopping crowds seem to have had the same idea and the parking lot is ridiculously full. We ditch that idea and move onto plan B mini golf. My parents visited WDW in September and at the time they were given free passes to Winter/Summerland Golf. They never had a chance to use them, so they gave them to me. Thanks mom and dad! Big thank you also to the CM working at the ticket booth. We had two free tickets, but there were three of us in our group. The CM gave me another ticket so we all played for free! Golf for three of us would normally have cost almost $30. We decided to play the Winterland side and it was a lot of fun. The other people playing near us were great too. I have to commend the couple playing ahead of us. They were very nice putting up with our eager child especially since they were grown-ups and there without children. After playing the course we headed back to the ASSH and took another swim.
After swimming came showering then dressing you get the point. This was mom and dads big night out and Sophie was looking forward to having a good time too. I had made ressies for her in the Neverland Club at the Polynesian. I have to say that I wouldnt mind staying there myself. The CMs there seemed really nice. When we arrived they were getting ready to give the kids dinner. There was a buffet set up with all the usual kid choices. Confident that Sophie would have a good time, we left and headed out for our 1st fancy dinner Emerils at City Walk. We made it to Universal City Walk easily enough, but had a hard time just making it out of their parking structure. The signage is very confusing. We parked on level 3 but then ended up going all the way upstairs and then all the way down again before finding our way across the street to the City Walk itself. We had some time to kill before our reservations so we decided to walk around a bit. Here is the dichotomy Emerils is a very nice restaurant placed in a wild neighborhood. It was like placing a fancy restaurant in Pleasure Island. There were people wandering around obviously looking for a party and then there were other people having dinner at some of the nice restaurants in the area. It just struck me a little odd. We checked in at Emerils and were taken to a table upstairs for dinner. I was surprised at how uncrowded the restaurant was. This is a hard ticket to get and you have to call back and confirm the day before or they cancel your ressie so I was surprised to see a few empty tables. I commented on this to the waiter and he told me that usually they fill any cancelled reservations; but that tonight they had some waiters out sick, so they were purposely not filling up the house, so service would still be good. We ordered out dinner. I had a glass of white wine (which cost $12! OUCH) To start Eric had the Cornmeal Crusted Louisiana Oysters with melted blue cheese. They were served on a bed of wilted spinach, crispy bacon, with a pernod-arugula coulis ($12). I had the special salad with cornmeal crusted rock shrimp and baby greens, red onions and grilled asparagus. Both starters were yummy. For a main course Eric had the Citrus Glazed Half Duck. It was served with roasted walnut-pear chutney, Foie Gras Dirty Rice, root vegetables and a cassis sauce ($28). I had the Smothered Veal Chop in a wild mushroom sauce. It was served with melted Boursin cheese; garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus ($32). Depressingly I dont remember offhand what we had for dessert. I think we had the soufflé special. All in all dinner cost $124 and was great but not something we would (or could) do every week. We drove back to the Polynesian and picked up Sophie at 10:30PM then went back to the hotel and to sleep.
Coming soon: Day 7 Finally were back at the parks.
Click here to jump back to day 5.
Here's a link to Day 7.
We came, we saw, we ate some more!
The vital statistics:
Cast:
Beth E. the mom, Disney fanatic, trip planner
EE the dad, just following moms obsessively planned out footsteps
Sophie DD 5 1/2, first trip to WDW, very outgoing child, loves the princesses, has no idea that anything that happens this trip is out of the ordinary
Accommodations: All Star Sports Hotel
Dates of trip: Tuesday December 5th to Friday December 15th
Preamble: Since our trip was lasting 11 days, but we only had park passes for 7; we decided to spend the weekend out of the parks figuring we could avoid some of the crowds this way. So today was going to be a park free day. But that doesnt mean that I couldnt still plan it to the hilt.
Big treat this morning we slept late. Dont worry; it was part of the plan! Starting the morning with a breakfast in the room supplemented with coffee and hot chocolate from the food court, we leave the ASSH and head out on a shopping trip. Bargain hunting was in the forecast and we drove to the Belz Outlets. Once there we visited the two Disney outlets but didnt buy too much stuff. We got a couple of t-shirts, plus a toy or two for the littler child who had stayed at home this trip. We wandered the mall, laughing at the high prices of beanie babies being sold by vendors with kiosks in the mall. At the center of the mall was a carousel. It wasnt nearly as fancy of beautiful as the one in the Magic Kingdom, but there is was none-the-less calling Sophies name. Since she hadnt ridden the Carousel in the Magic Kingdom, Eric bought her a ticket and she rode this one. The malls Santa took a ride on it too!
After hitting the outlets we pile back into the car and begin driving back to WDW. On the way we stop at Wendys for lunch. Reenergized with food we decide to visit the shops of Downtown Disney. Unfortunately the weekend shopping crowds seem to have had the same idea and the parking lot is ridiculously full. We ditch that idea and move onto plan B mini golf. My parents visited WDW in September and at the time they were given free passes to Winter/Summerland Golf. They never had a chance to use them, so they gave them to me. Thanks mom and dad! Big thank you also to the CM working at the ticket booth. We had two free tickets, but there were three of us in our group. The CM gave me another ticket so we all played for free! Golf for three of us would normally have cost almost $30. We decided to play the Winterland side and it was a lot of fun. The other people playing near us were great too. I have to commend the couple playing ahead of us. They were very nice putting up with our eager child especially since they were grown-ups and there without children. After playing the course we headed back to the ASSH and took another swim.
After swimming came showering then dressing you get the point. This was mom and dads big night out and Sophie was looking forward to having a good time too. I had made ressies for her in the Neverland Club at the Polynesian. I have to say that I wouldnt mind staying there myself. The CMs there seemed really nice. When we arrived they were getting ready to give the kids dinner. There was a buffet set up with all the usual kid choices. Confident that Sophie would have a good time, we left and headed out for our 1st fancy dinner Emerils at City Walk. We made it to Universal City Walk easily enough, but had a hard time just making it out of their parking structure. The signage is very confusing. We parked on level 3 but then ended up going all the way upstairs and then all the way down again before finding our way across the street to the City Walk itself. We had some time to kill before our reservations so we decided to walk around a bit. Here is the dichotomy Emerils is a very nice restaurant placed in a wild neighborhood. It was like placing a fancy restaurant in Pleasure Island. There were people wandering around obviously looking for a party and then there were other people having dinner at some of the nice restaurants in the area. It just struck me a little odd. We checked in at Emerils and were taken to a table upstairs for dinner. I was surprised at how uncrowded the restaurant was. This is a hard ticket to get and you have to call back and confirm the day before or they cancel your ressie so I was surprised to see a few empty tables. I commented on this to the waiter and he told me that usually they fill any cancelled reservations; but that tonight they had some waiters out sick, so they were purposely not filling up the house, so service would still be good. We ordered out dinner. I had a glass of white wine (which cost $12! OUCH) To start Eric had the Cornmeal Crusted Louisiana Oysters with melted blue cheese. They were served on a bed of wilted spinach, crispy bacon, with a pernod-arugula coulis ($12). I had the special salad with cornmeal crusted rock shrimp and baby greens, red onions and grilled asparagus. Both starters were yummy. For a main course Eric had the Citrus Glazed Half Duck. It was served with roasted walnut-pear chutney, Foie Gras Dirty Rice, root vegetables and a cassis sauce ($28). I had the Smothered Veal Chop in a wild mushroom sauce. It was served with melted Boursin cheese; garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus ($32). Depressingly I dont remember offhand what we had for dessert. I think we had the soufflé special. All in all dinner cost $124 and was great but not something we would (or could) do every week. We drove back to the Polynesian and picked up Sophie at 10:30PM then went back to the hotel and to sleep.
Coming soon: Day 7 Finally were back at the parks.
Click here to jump back to day 5.
Here's a link to Day 7.
