Double October Birthday Palooza-Lots New 5/12 & Now Complete!!!!!

[Disneygrl36]

After our late night at MNSSHP, we slept in until 9:15. We decided we would head over to the Poly & have breakfast at the Kona Cafe, which is something we had always wanted to do.

We didn't have to wait but a minute for a table.

I ordered Tonga Toast, which was huge & very sweet. Glad I tried it but it's too heavy really to eat a whole order of for me.

After breakfast, we browsed around the Poly which really is a great themed place.

Then, we took the monorail to the Contemporary.

We saw more cool pumpkins in their lobby-I loved the one that looked like the Characters in Flight balloon.

We went to the marina there & rented a Sea Racer boat to take out on Bay Lake & the 7 Seas Lagoon.

We could have gone alot faster if we had gotten 2 boats, but wanted to share the experience. It was a beautiful day & we really enjoyed speeding aroung the lakes & looking at all the sights.

This was a great way to have some fun & see the MK from a different point of view.

Before we knew it our time was up & we headed back to the Contemporary passing by the Grand Floridian & the Poly on the way back.

Continued in next post

 

[Disneygrl36]

Then we headed back to SSR to rest a bit & to get ready to head back to Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner. We had such a great meal there at the beginning of the week, that we decided to eat there again, called & got another ADR.

We saw some more creative pumpkins.

We had some time before dinner to explore outside & look at the animals on the savannahs. I really want to stay at AKL sometime in the future.

Then we headed down to JIKO.

We had another wonderful dinner with a lovely glass of pinotage which is a South African red wine. Our view was lovely.

Jiko's delicious breads.

We had an olive flatbread which was sooooo delicious. We split the same salad we had earlier in the week.

And we both had the filet with macaroni & cheese this time. Oh my gosh, really this was the best steak we had all week. AMAZING!

Stuffed, we walked around the lodge a bit & went out to watch the animals.

Then, we took a bus over to the Polynesian & had drinks in the Tambu Lounge.
A mai tai & a lapu lapu.

As you can see the lapu lapu makes me very happy.

We ended our wonderful evening watching the Electrical Water Pageant & Wishes on the Poly beach. It was more crowded out there than it was the last time we had watched from out there, so we had to stand on the sidewalk, but it was still great watching the fireworks from this perspective.

What a great day..........a relaxing & fun day at WDW without stepping foot in the parks.

Next up............My bday at EPCOT.

 

[Disneygrl36]

We slept in again today...the long trip & the heat were catching up to us. We ate a quick breakfast in our room & headed out to EPCOT. Eric made me promise to leave the good camera in the room today & travel light with just my iphone since I had been lugging it around all week & he really wanted me to enjoy the moment of being in EPCOT on my birthday.

Got my birthday card...yippee free money from Disney just for turning a year older.

We determined another future on Spaceship Earth.

Then it was time to head to the Land for our Behind the Seeds tour. Now, I am not a gardener, but this is something I have always wanted to do simply because it involves going backstage. It was really cool to see how they do things & get up close & to get up close & personal with the plants.
Backstage.........yippee

Backstage lab

Inside the greenhouse

Bug packets on plants

About the tomato tree

Earning my ears....various plants that get to be Mickey shaped.

Our guide with lotsa melons-she was very knowledgeable & perky.

Hidden Mickeys

Eric feeding the feesh.....

Heading back on-stage

It was a really cool tour & we enjoyed seeing how the greenhouses look from another angle.

Up next..........more eating around the world.

 

[Disneygrl36]

After our tour, we headed to World Showcase to try some more foods from the Food & Wine Festival.
We had the Rock Shrimp Ceviche from Chile. It was so refreshing & light.

We had the Canadian Cheddar cheese soup.
From New Zealand, we sampled a sea scallop with a vegetable slaw & this was also very good. From Ireland, we had the lobster & scallop pie-which was my favorite thing from the whole festival & the cheese selection which was also yummy. What's not to love about cheese & brown bread?
We browsed the shops in England & saw Mr Twining in the tea shop & I had a chat with Mary Poppins which was very cool to do on my birthday since she is my favorite.

From France, we had the short ribs with mashed potatoes & this was delectable as well. We also had a Grand Marinier slush which melted before we could get any icy goodness because it was so darn hot.

While in France, we saw Marie from the Aristocats & she was so stinkin' cute I had to have my picture made with her.

We browsed the shops here as well.

We also saw Impressions de France which is our favorite film.
From down under, we tried a Lamb Chop with red wine sauce & some kind of cake. Both were tasty.

Eric tried a falafel from Morocco & it was nasty-really the only thing we tried that we did not like. We also tried the Beef Tenderloin from South Africa & it was good.

After all that sampling & being out in the heat, we were ready for some AC & luckily it was almost time for our wine tasting. So, we headed to the Wonders of Life pavillion which was the festival center. It made me sad to go in there & remember all the cool stuff you used to be able to do in there. We browsed a bit in the shopping areas & bought the festival cookbook.
Then we went to our Louis Jadot wine tasting. This was a lot of fun & I would like to do more of these type events when we go back to the Food & Wine Festival. We tasted 2 pinot noirs & 1 rose. It was cool to learn all about the specifics of the vineyards & the growing districts in Burgundy. We really enjoyed it & liked all 3 wines. The rose was a surprise & really tasty.

After, that we Soared & then shopped in Mouse Gears to spend our bday cards.

By now, we had decided to skip our planned reservation at Rose & Crown & head on out of the park. This is surprising for us since we like to end the trip with a great meal & evening entertainment & it was my birthday after all. BUT, it was really hot this day & we were just wilting & not really enjoying things the way we normally do. So one last ride on Spaceship Earth & we left EPCOT to head back to SSR.

We dropped off our bags in our room & then walked over to DTD which was really crowded for the Halloween festivities.

We had a nice pasta dinner at Wolfgang Puck express that just hit the spot for some reason.

We shopped a little to finish spending our bday cards in World of Disney & then went for an ice cream at Ghiradelli's.

We then headed back to SSR stopping off in the lobby to see the pumpkins there.

We packed, rested, chatted about our trip & had a late night snack of wine & popcorn in the room before heading to bed.

It was a great day, but I think we were just getting pooped. It had been a busy trip with lots of fun & it was really hotter than we had expected it to be at the end of October. Eric also had to bring up the fact that we are getting older & maybe can't go as non-stop as we used to! Thanks for that honey. But I think in the future we will do a park day, more restful day, park day etc. to save getting so pooped out. Plus as we discovered this trip, there is alot of fun stuff to do that isn't in the parks.

Day 10........Bye Disney World
We ate breakfast in the room & called for bell services to take us to the front with our bags on the golf cart. Checked out & waited for Magical Express.
Eric sat on a bench & contemplated how much money he had given Mickey over the course of the last 9 days.

Before we knew it, we were back home in good ole Tennessee. Stoped at Subway as we usually do for some lunch & headed home to love on the dog after missing her terribly.

It was a great birthday trip for both of us & as always we are ready to head back to Walt Disney World in the future & have more fun.

Since I have drug my feet so badly finishing this trip report, we leave for 2 days for the beach staying at DVC Hilton Head. I may write up a report for that as well, but not sure where it would go on the boards.

 

[Aburns8]

I LOVE the update! I cannot wait to go in October this year for our anniversary! We went there for our honeymoon and did the MNSSHP and it looks like they decorated a lot more since 2005. We will have to check out the Plaza, since we haven't eaten there either. I am glad that you beat Eric at Buzz Lightyear. It is very rare that I can beat Brian.

Brian and I love the Kona Cafe. Their food is awesome! I never realized that the resorts did anything for Halloween. It kinda reminds me of Christmas time.

I like the Behind the Seeds Tour. We did it once and I think that I would like to do it again since my pictures the first time weren't so good. It looks like you had a ball on your birthday. I can't wait to do the Food & Wine fest again. This time I know to take my time and spread it out over a couple of days.

Thanks for finishing your report!

 

[Disneygrl36]

I LOVE the update! I cannot wait to go in October this year for our anniversary! We went there for our honeymoon and did the MNSSHP and it looks like they decorated a lot more since 2005. We will have to check out the Plaza, since we haven't eaten there either. I am glad that you beat Eric at Buzz Lightyear. It is very rare that I can beat Brian.

Brian and I love the Kona Cafe. Their food is awesome! I never realized that the resorts did anything for Halloween. It kinda reminds me of Christmas time.

I like the Behind the Seeds Tour. We did it once and I think that I would like to do it again since my pictures the first time weren't so good. It looks like you had a ball on your birthday. I can't wait to do the Food & Wine fest again. This time I know to take my time and spread it out over a couple of days.

Thanks for finishing your report!

Glad you enjoyed the rest of the trippie Andrea. You are going to love WDW in October.......I will be hoping the weather isn't so hot for you. Spreading the Food & Wine over a couple of days really worked well for us & we were able to try lots of things.

I started a trip report for our trip starting tomorrow on the DVC board.

 

[Jennifer48]

I love your park free day Melanie! I sounded so relaxing and fun that you resort hopped and those pumpkins are fantastic!

Have a great time at Hilton Head!

 

[Disneygrl36]

I love your park free day Melanie! I sounded so relaxing and fun that you resort hopped and those pumpkins are fantastic!

Have a great time at Hilton Head!

Glad you stuck with me Jennifer. It was a great relaxing day. Some of those pumpkins were phenomenal.

I plan to have fun. Hope you will follow along on the blog or the trippie.

 

[Jennifer48]

Glad you stuck with me Jennifer. It was a great relaxing day. Some of those pumpkins were phenomenal.

I plan to have fun. Hope you will follow along on the blog or the trippie.

I'll definately follow along, I love your TRs I didn't realize you started one. I'm heading over now! Thanks for mentioning it!

P.S. Your link doesn't work. You have one too many http in there

 

[SoonerGirl]

Yay, you came back and finished your report! I have to agree with you that the fireworks and parade at MNSSHP are not to be missed! You've got me pining for a F&W trip now too........

 

[Aburns8]

Of course I am going to follow! Because if you don't finish I will bug you!

 

[Disneygrl36]

Yay, you came back and finished your report! I have to agree with you that the fireworks and parade at MNSSHP are not to be missed! You've got me pining for a F&W trip now too........

Yes Michelle somebody guilted me into finishing. I have to admit it made me really wish we were going back this fall.

Of course I am going to follow! Because if you don't finish I will bug you!

Thanks you!!!! Wish there was a bug smilie but this will have to do

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

wow that was alot of updates, and good info on hte tour.

the food looked and sounded great.

and free giftcards score.

subway is great any time of the day

 

[Disneygrl36]

wow that was alot of updates, and good info on hte tour.

the food looked and sounded great.

and free giftcards score.

subway is great any time of the day

Thanks for coming back to finish reading Dan & thank goodness I saw your link in your siggie & although very late to the party, I will be following your adventure.