Day 11...Lunch time at Epcot!
This is one of those restaurants that I cannot help but chose twice in a trip. It's a great meal with a nice atmosphere. What's not to love!?
Last week we had enjoyed dinner at Le Cellier and this time we were going to be enjoying lunch.
"Aladdin" started off his meal with cheddar cheese soup. Actually, we ordered it for him to use as a dipping sauce for the bread sticks. He said he wasn't hungry enough to want an appetizer. Dh and I both had the beef and barley soup. It was hearty and tasty! The two younger boys also had the cheddar cheese soup. So, it was soup all around for our family's appetizer course.
For the main course dh had the 10 oz. New York Strip Steak. It was topped with balsamic red onions and watercress and sat on top of Yukon potatoes. He finished every bite on his plate. And wiped off what was left with part of a bread stick!
I chose the 5 oz. Filet mignon with cream cheese mashed potatoes and garlic demi-glace. OH SO GOOD. I too finished my entire plate (although I had no room left over to wipe it with a bread stick like dh did).
"Aladdin" tried the stir-fried beef tips. They were served with udon noodles and veggies with a soy sauce based glaze. OH SO GOOD! He loved this meal. After he was done he said he gave that meal two thumbs way up!!
He is a big fan of noodles and meat together...so this meal was a sure fire winner in his book.
Our two youngest did not disappoint us...they stayed consistent and ordered hot dogs again...HOW many hot dogs can you eat before you turn into one yourself?! I am not sure of the exact number, but I am betting my boys came pretty close to going over that line.
For dessert dh and "Aladdin" once again ordered the Moose Mousse and traded their desserts with "Goofy" and "Stitch" (for their kid's sundaes).
I chose the duo of sorbet. It was very tasty. And light enough that the few bites I took didn't overload my already full stomach!
All in all, another GREAT Le Cellier meal. YUM!
As we walked out of Le Cellier we once again ran into Koda (the bear) and stopped to take a picture with him. It was here I discovered that our memory chip had fallen out of our camera!!
All of the pictures I took that morning were gone (but thankfully they were the only ones on that chip). I am guessing that when I caught myself after my graceful penguin slide across the bathroom floor that morning, I must have knocked the sliding door on the camera ajar. As we progressed through the rest of our morning, I was able to take pictures. I must have bumped the camera while putting it away after taking pictures of the boys with their new hats on. We did look around for the memory card (dh even went back into Le Cellier and looked around our just vacated table). We even stopped by lost and found on our way out of the park that day. I had written our name on the memory card so I was hoping it would be turned in...but no such luck. I bet it was so small that it got swept up and nobody even realized it was there.
So...that my friends, is the sad story behind why we don't have any pictures from this day. Thank goodness I had just loaded a fresh memory card that morning. I would have been heart broken to have lost even more precious vacation memories.
Sad interlude aside, we were going to have fun. After all, we were at WDW. I hopped on to my little go cart (as "Stitch" liked to refer to the
ECV) and off we headed back to the Future-World area of the park.
As we passed Test Track dh, "Aladdin" and "Stitch" took a ride while "Goofy" (who is not a huge fan of fast moving rides) and I took a look at all of the cars inside the Test Track exhibit area. He sure did have fun climbing in and out of those vehicles. I really wish I would have been able to snap a few pictures.
After the boys finished their ride, we headed over to the Land and went down to Soarin. The posted wait was 45 minutes!
We are NOT a family that likes to wait in line...so as we stood debating what to do, "Aladdin" remembered our fast pass from earlier in the vacation for being the Family of the Day at the Garden Grill. I dug it out but cautioned the kids we might not be able to use it since this was a different day. I need not have worried, we had no problem using it and it was great to walk (or in my case hobble) past such a long line.
After Soarin' the boys were up for going to see Ellen's Energy Adventure. So, for the next 45 minutes (plus some pre-show time) we laughed and learned with Ellen. Every time my boys see the American Express commercial with Ellen in it working with the animals they shout out "There's the Disney energy and dinosaur lady, Ellen!"
As we left Soarin', it started to pour. So we headed over to Innovations and spent the better part of two hours exploring all of the exhibits that both of the Innovation areas had to offer.
Next up we had one final "must do" ride. We had to go and see our dear old friend, Figment! So we headed back to that area of the park. Lucky for us it was dry on the way over. Once we got there it started to rain again. We seemed to be having very good luck with the scattered showers that day. Every time we needed to be outside going between the areas it seemed to clear up just long enough for us to make it to our next destination. Talk about your lucky days!!
We finally had to drag the boys away from the Kodak What If Labs and over toward The Seas pavilion for our late dinner at the Coral Reef. Our luck once again held and the second we got to the "Mine, mine, mine, mine" birds the skies opened up. We had a mad dash for the few last seconds but avoided getting soaked before dinner.
Dinner at the Coral Reef is always a lot of fun. We enjoy the huge wall of fish/shark/turtle and we think the food is very tasty!
Dh and "Aladdin" both started out with the Sea and Land which is grilled shrimp and cucumber salad with polenta and a beef skewer. I am lucky enough to be married to a shrimp hater so I got to eat that part of his appetizer for him.
All three of us thought this was a very tasty presentation.
For my own appetizer I got the lobster soup. OH SO GOOD. This soup is so delicious. It's one of my favorite foods ever. It's rich and full of flavor. It's just mouth watering goodness in a bowl.
The two youngest chose the lobster soup as well. Both of them agreed with me about how good it was. OH YUM...LOBSTER SOUP!!
For our main courses we had:
Dh-New York Strip Steak (his second of the day). He said it was good but that the one at Le Cellier had been better.
"Aladdin" had the Grilled Chicken Breast (his younger brothers had the kid's sized version of this as well, no hot dogs were on the menu.
). All three boys liked it a lot.
I chose the Shrimp Pasta with Stir Fried Vegetables and was happy with my choice...although I must admit, I would have enjoyed a second bowl of the lobster soup with some more of the crusty bread they serve just as much as my main course.
For dessert the younger boys went with a kid's sundae. "Aladdin" asked for one as well and got the adult sized version. Dh had the Chocolate Wave. And I chose the Citrus Creme Brulee. Fantastic desserts all around!
Upon the close of our meal it was still raining outside so we donned our ponchos and made our way to the front of the park. On our way out the boys did the some shopping with the credit the CM had put on our account the night before for the bedding mix up and then we made our way over to return my EVC.
Once that was done, we made our way CAREFULLY out of the park (wet pavement and
Crocs don't mix as we had learned the week before) and back to the Grand Floridian via the monorail. Once back we headed to our room to find a perfectly wonderful and HUGE towel elephant sitting on one of the beds and chocolates galore from the turn down. Dh and I watched a made for tv movie while the boys watched the Disney channel on the tv in the sitting area of the room. It was an early night for us but all in all, it had been a wonderful day!
Up next...a day spent relaxing at the Grand Floridian and a special surprise for "Goofy" !!
To be continued (with photos)!!
I'll backtrack and catch up with the AKL part of your trip and then PM you with my comments & questions. (I'm sure I'll have more than a few! I love AKL and want any advice and wisdom that you can share!)
I'm so happy you had this magical of a vacation. If anyone deseves it, you do, my friend.
) and with getting stuck with tons of restrictions with the pregnancy after we returned...it was one very needed and very appreciated time away from it all!
It's a sickness, which I am glad you don't have.
So we made our way back up to our room where we would encounter the snag...
AN HOUR AND A HALF!!! 
With a tired boy who needed to get tucked in. 
NO! That was not going to work. The boys were washing up for bed at that point and I knew we needed to get him to bed before he got overtired and made us and the people above/below us miserable. So I headed down to the lounge and told them politely (but firmly) that we really needed an extra set of sheets sooner then an hour and thirty minutes. Like within 15 minutes. That we had a young child to get to sleep and that we would have requested extra bedding earlier in the day had we known it had been needed but we had assumed that we had a room made for five since we were a party of five. Which honestly, it only makes sense. 
At least it did to me. 
So what did the boys buy in the morning???
Thank you for your kind words!! The boys really have grown. "Stitch" especially lost his "baby" look (I think him letting his hair grow out a bit made a big difference). I really wish I had a pause button on the kids getting bigger sometimes! Lucky for me, I get a new little baby boy to fuss over soon. 
It just may help me with the growing pains that I feel over them getting big! 
It was just very strange. But like I said, not a big deal...other then they seem to have had to weave the extra set of sheets before they could bring them up. 
