Why have we never tried this before?
After I booked our cruise, I wasn’t sure how I would work a visit to Downtown Disney into our schedule. Then, my Sweetie Pie Honey Bunch John decided to add a day to our trip. I’ve already told ya’ll about the added day and how we spent it. Because of that extra day, we were now able to spend this day doing whatever the heck we wanted. And, what we wanted to do was spend some time at Downtown Disney. We aren’t big shoppers but we do like to visit Downtown Disney at least, if not twice, during our trips. After sleeping in a while, we got dressed and headed to Downtown Disney for some strolling, some shopping and some eatin’.
I guess we have LUCKY stamped on our foreheads because our experiences with the resort and park buses were extraordinary the entire trip. (Both pre and after cruise) The bus stop was empty and before our behinds even hit the benches, a DTD and Typhoon Lagoon bus pulled up. That’s what I’m talking about.
In no time at all, we were out of the resort and on our way to DTD. We passed by Old Key West and the Treehouse Villas where we got a small glimpse of both. We also rode by Saratoga Springs and the super cute firehouse with the extra large and spouting fire hose. In less than 15 minutes, we were at the Downtown Disney Marketplace bus stop.
Lacey called just as we pulled in and I told her that we’d call her back as soon as we were off the bus. John and I had been talking and had discussed the possibility of renting a car for she and Jesse to drive to Orlando in. Both of their vehicles are older models and don’t get great gas mileage. They had intended on coming down in Lacey’s Jeep Cherokee which is in pretty decent shape and is pretty reliable but our worry wart parent selves were worried that something would happen and we wouldn’t be off the cruise ship to go help them. Anyway, when I called Lacey back, I mentioned the possibility of a rental car to her. She really didn’t want us to pay for it but we wanted to so I put John on the phone with her.
He told her to go online and start checking out prices and call us back. She said okay and we continued on the path into the Marketplace:
By this time, our stomachs were starting to rumble so our first search would be for food. There were two places on our radar....Earl of Sandwich and Wolfgang Puck Express. In all of our trips to Walt Disney World and Downtown Disney, we had never been to either one. First, we looked at the Wolfgang Puck menu and then walked over to Earl of Sandwich to see what they had. Hunter has never ever been a sandwich eater so we were pretty sure that we’d cross Earl of Sandwich off the list but we still wanted to see what they had to offer. One look into the restaurant and we decided to go back to Wolfgang Puck. EOS was super busy!
There was just one family in front of us at the counter but we did have a little bit more time to decide what we wanted. We were called to the counter and we placed our order. We were given a number and told to be seated anywhere we wanted. We chose to sit on the backside of the restaurant in the glassed in area. There were, maybe, half a dozen people out there. Not 15 minutes later, our meals were delivered.
John ordered the rotisserie turkey sandwich. Here’s the description from Allearsnet: Rotisserie Turkey Club - Avocado, bacon, red onion, plum tomatoes, romaine, remoulade and chips
Their menu says it has chips as a side but John’s came with fries:
Hunter ordered a cheese pizza which, as you can see from the picture, is as large as the dinner plate that it’s served on:
I ordered the hearts of romaine salad. Description courtesy of Allearsnet: Hearts of Romaine - parmesan, tomato, bruscetta, caesar dressing with chicken
Everything was really really good and that’s when either John or I, or possibly both of us, uttered the words: Why have we never tried this before?
We all gave Wolfgang Puck a solid 10 on a scare of 1 to 10 and we’ll be going back in the future.
Once our tummies were full, we set off to find Mickey Traders (Or whatever it’s called.....you know, the store that has everything cheap. Not as cheap as it used to be when it was nestled in between Goofy’s Candy Company and Pooh’s something or other though.) Us, being us, we passed it right up without even knowing it. Oh well, we’ll find it later. Our next stop was at World of Disney. I love shopping there. I also usually love taking pictures there but I can only find one:
John is a fan of the men’s socks they sell at Disney. He’s super picky about how his socks fit and he never complains about the Disney ones. So, we knew that we had to find the socks and find them we did. To the tune of $16.95 for two pair. Holy jeeze louise! Oh well, it’s worth it not to hear him complain about “the stupid knots on the toes of these *** socks”. We were also looking for a pair of sunglasses for Hunter since we left his at home. There were two pairs of men’s glasses in the SCAR but they weren’t Hunter’s so we knew we had to find a pair for him. Once we bought those, John talked me into buying a straw sunhat. You know, the one with the black bow on it. He’s always wanted me to get one and I finally broke down and bought it.
It was getting pretty hot so we decided to just stroll back to the bus stop. If we happened to see Mickey Traders (or whatever it’s called), then we’d stop. I had told my cousin that I’d buy her daughter some earrings and send her a postcard. Can you believe that World of Disney didn’t have much of a selection of little girl earrings? We spotted Mickey Traders (again...or whatever it’s called) and popped in. They didn’t have anything different than what was at World of Disney. I decided to just wait until we got back to the resort to see if they had the earrings.
Sometime between eating at Wolfgang Puck’s, strolling and shopping, Lacey called. She had gotten a few car rental quotes. She was going to keep on looking and call us back later that evening after she talked with Jesse and he helped her call around some more.
Even though we were fully satisfied with our lunch, John and Hunter’s sweet tooths were itching so we decided to stop at Old Port Royale when we got back to the resort and then walk back to our room for a little rest. Once again, the bus voodoo was working in our favor and a bus came fairly quickly despite the fact that the DTD buses suck. Yep, I said it, they suck. We’ve taken the bus to DTD from several resorts and each time, the service sucked. Sucky! Sucky! Sucky! We made the stop at Pleasure Island and the bus drivers changed so it took a little longer than normal. The new bus driver made a very thorough check of the bus before he took charge. He walked around the bus twice. He turned on the lights, the windshield wiper, opened and closed the door and even tooted the horn. We declared him Mr. Safe Bus Driver of the Month! We left Pleasure Island and looped through Typhoon Lagoon and then were on our way back to the resort.
We got off at Old Port Royale and Hunter and John went in search for something sweet. Hunter ended up with a chocolate cupcake with white icing:
John ended up getting a pineapple and coconut pastry which he warmed in one of the food court microwaves:
While he was warming his pastry, I took a picture of the condiment bar:
I had a little taste of each of their sweets and, even though I’m not a fan of cooked fruit, I have to say that John’s pastry was quite tasty. Just the right combination of sweet and crunchy.
**Up next: Would it be shorter this way or that way?
Muster Drill, I just see"in my head" people smushed together, hoping the person stuck to them don't smell!
I hope to find time to do my own update tomorrow but tonight is for catching up on other TR`s first. 
I guess I`d deal with it to enjoy a lovely cruise tho. haha
for new furniture! I sure could use some but I'm afraid to buy new stuff with my cats
