Five Dwarfs Do Disney - September 22 – October 2, 2009

[Canadian Girl 77]

On Monday we totally went off plan. We slept in and had breakfast at the hotel – chocolate-chip pancakes with sausage. We like it!

We went to Hollywood Studios in the morning. We did the Backlot tour, checked out One Man’s Dream, saw the Muppets and went to Indiana Jones. I got to be in the show! Yeah me! Totally a break from all the other members of my party.

After cancelling so many reservations we had dining points to spare so we went to Hollywood and Vine for lunch (I made the reservation while cancelling a bunch of others). Lunch was delicious. Not sure if it was really worth 2 credits but at that point I couldn’t care less!

Appetizers

Warm bread with butter. Tasty!

Our Famous Cobb Salad for Two with Finely Chopped Greens, Turkey Breast, Bacon, Egg, Tomatoes,
Crumbled Blue Cheese, Avocado, Chives, and Cobb Dressing 15.00
Dopey and I split this. LOVED IT! The chopping made it better! Picture is of half the order.

Cremini Mushroom Chèvre Raviolo with Tomato-Fennel Sauce and Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano 9.00 Grumpy ate it all up happily.

Sweet Corn Bisque topped with Lump Blue Crab and a Thyme Emulsion 8.00. I think this is what Doc got. It doesn't look like scallops - does it? He enjoyed it.

Mains

Kidlet got grilled cheese.

Char-grilled 12-oz Rib-Eye Steak with Herb-roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Cremini Mushrooms, Cippolini Onions, and Cabernet Syrup 34.00. Doc's food of choice. But he got fries. I got the same thing as described above. Tasty! But neither of us came close to finishing it.

Herb Marinated Spit-roasted Half Chicken with Saffron Jasmine Rice, Preserved Meyer Lemon, and Heirloom Tomato 24.00. Grumpy liked it.

Pan-roasted Duck Breast and Venison Sausage with Crimson Lentils, Natural Reduction, and Fresno Chili Jam 28.00. You may have noticed that if duck is on the menu that is what Dopey ordered. she wanted to share it with Happy after Happy devoured the duck tacos on our first day. The 60-year-old liked this dish a lot more than the almost 5-year-old. Shocking, right?

Dessert

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Red Wine Sauce and Sel Gris Caramel Ice Cream 8.00 Mine. All mine. Too good to share.

Grapefruit Cake—Brown Derby Original! Light Layers of Yellow Cake with fresh Grapefruit Cream
Cheese Icing 7.00. Grumpy loved this at his lunch with the imagineer last year and loved it this time too.

Happy's hidden treasure sundae. The secret was gummy worms!

Strawberry Cheesecake with Shortcake Crust and Strawberry Grand Marnier Caramel Sauce 9.00. A+ from dopey

Double Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée with Dark Chocolate Dipped Biscotti 7.00. Doc was pretty stuffed but he enjoyed this.

 

[Canadian Girl 77]

After lunch we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest. I think we were starting to find “Family Fun Time” to be a bit much. Good thing Doc and Dopey were going home the next day.

Back at the hotel, Happy became the Evil Devil Spawn and had a crazy temper tantrum. She was ridiculous. But at least their weren’t any witnesses. Explain to me how it took 5 trips to Disney before the devil child made an appearance? So, she lost a lot of privileges like swimming and the arcade before finally passing out.

Of course, Dopey was quite upset about Happy losing the arcade. She had a mini tantrum when I told her. Apparently I am a sucky mom. Whatever! Happy accepted it. Did I mention that the Fire Ice game my mom was playing at any opportunity was 70 points when we arrived and on the day they left. The next day the cost to play had risen to 100 points. Coincidence? Nope, I confirmed it with the prize guy when he asked where my mom was.
We went to Epcot that evening for dinner at Rose and Crown and to see Illuminations. It’s a good thing I don’t carry cyanide tablets around because I so would have taken one. Dopey had a meltdown when we were told we’d have to wait for our table. DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA! She had already looked around England and wanted to do to another country to shop while we waited which we couldn’t do with the pager. DRAMA! I once again explained the difference between preferred seating and reservations and she yelled at me that it was just semantics. Afraid I lost my cool at this point and said that “No, it isn’t the same thing and I don’t want a repeat of you yelling at the hostess.” Grumpy was off sitting alone quietly thank goodness. Happy and I walked into the store for a minute and when I came back, Dopey was gone. WTH? Doc went searching for her, our buzzer went and finally after 15 minutes I made Doc come to the table. A few minutes later Dopey came in. All sunshine and roses. KILL ME!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I couldn’t have a drink because I was driving. But Doc could.
After our tasty dinner we went to the VIP area to watch the fireworks. Yeah, the VIP area sucks. It is really hard to see anything around all the million other people crowded in that small space. Many of which chose to push in front of the little kid so that she couldn’t see. Someone else was nice and gave her a chair to stand on. What we saw was awesome.

I caved and we all went to the arcade after going back to the hotel. Didn’t want to piss off Dopey again. I won't negotiate with terrorists that are younger than me but the one that gave birth to I have to give in to.

Appetizers

Rose and Crown Meat and Cheese Selection For Two English-style Cheese and Sausages with individual accompaniments 12.99.
So good! And it was an appetizer for one.

Butter-poached Shrimp with a Barley Risotto 9.99. Not so good.

Scotch Egg. Golden-fried Hard-boiled Egg wrapped in Sausage Meat with Mustard Sauce 8.99 Doc and Dopey liked it. Sausage was tasty.

Mains

Kid got pizza and chips. She didn't really care for it.

Cottage Pie
Ground Beef with Onions, Carrots,
and Green Peas topped with
Duchess Potatoes 18.99. doc liked.

Chicken and Mushroom Pie
Creamy Wild Mushrooms and Chicken Ragoût
topped with Puff Pastry 16.99. All I really wanted was chips.

Bangers and Mash
Traditional English Sausages with Braised Cabbage and Bacon served with Mashed Potatoes
and Shallot Gravy 15.99

Sunday Roast
with Yorkshire Pudding, Roasted Potatoes,
seasonal Vegetable, and Shallot Gravy 17.99. Dopey liked.

Dessert

Lemon Pie 5.49 GOOD!

Princess Sundae. GOOD!

Sticky Toffee Pudding 4.99 Good.

Chocolate Scotch Cake
with Chocolate Filling and Scotch Ganache
served with Crème Anglaise

Dinner would have been better without the dramatics.

 

[Canadian Girl 77]

Tuesday was the day that Dopey and Doc went home! We started the day a little early with an 8:30 am reservation at Chef Mickey’s. The food was not as good as I remembered. The bacon was kind of yuck. The pancakes and waffles were unimpressive and the cheesy potatoes were gross. However, the pastries were tasty. Of course we had some more drama. Dopey, bearing mind she was surround by little kids, started loudly talking about how the characters were going so that different people could put on the costumes. This is the third time she had been reminded that the characters are kind of like a big jolly fat man. And Happy told us a couple of trips ago that she wants to believe that the characters are real and not people dressed in costume. But no, she can’t remember stuff. So, Grumpy got ticked and interrupted her to point out it was inappropriate. He was actually pretty cool about it. She blew up at him. He left the table to use the facilities (where Doc was during all this). Then Dopey started griping about Grumpy being disrespectful to her. “He never treats me with the respect I deserve.” We had words since I do stand up for my husband when he is right (and sometimes when he is wrong but he was right in this case).

We then went to the Magic Kingdom (I sent Doc, Grumpy and Happy in the monorail while Dopey and I drove). We did a couple of things: Winnie-the-Pooh, Peter Pan, Tomorrowland Transit Authority and Stitch. We went on Stitch because I wanted my dad to try a “bad” ride. We then headed back to the hotel to make sure Doc and Dopey would be able to make their flight!

They left after lunch at about 1:15 pm.

After they left, the remaining Dwarfs (Happy, Grumpy and Sneezy) had a rest and went swimming.

We decided to pay full price and go to another Halloween party. Yes, we are suckers but whatever!

We got a walk-in at Tony’s for dinner. We had to wait a bit but that was okay. It would have been better if we could have sat inside but we got one of the six tables outside. It was cool to see all the costumed guests come through.

The food wasn’t bad. Not super great but okay.

We did a bit of trick or treating and met quite a few characters: Mad Hatter, Alice, Snow White and the 7 Dwarves, and costumed Tigger and Piglet. We saw the first parade – awesome! We had great seats for the fireworks show – we sat down by the garden and had lots of space. Happy danced around a lot both before, during and after the show. We went on a couple of rides – Tomorrowland Indy Speedway (twice!), Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, Cinderella’s Carousel, teacups, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Snow white’s Scary Adventure. All in all it was a good night. We closed down the park.

Breakfast Pics

Cool cupcake

Lunch pics

Kid didn't like the pizza.

Dinner

Appetizers

Zucchini Fries
Breaded seasoned Zucchini with Creamy
Sun-dried Tomato Dressing for dipping 7.99
Grumpy loved these!

Caesar Salad
Romaine Lettuce tossed in Caesar Dressing topped with Romano Cheese and Croutons 5.49
Mine. It was nothing special.

Mains

Mickey shaped ravioli for the kid. She didn't like them much but they looked awesome!

Spaghetti
with choice of Meatballs with Marinara Sauce 16.99
Grumpy liked. So did Happy.

I forgot to take a picture of mine. It was nothing special.
Chicken Parmigiana
Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast with
Marinara Sauce topped with Melted
Mozzarella over Spaghetti 16.99

Dessert

Ice Cream Bomb
Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream
covered in a rich Chocolate Coating 5.99
We both got this. Grumpy liked it more than me.

Happy's ice-cream. She preferred the Bomb.

 

[Canadian Girl 77]

We totally slept in on Wednesday. We needed to after staying up until the wee hours of the morning. We ended up having breakfast at the Kona café. We had a really late breakfast. 10:30 late.

Food was so good!

Tonga Toast
Banana-stuffed Sourdough French Toast rolled in Cinnamon Sugar and served with a Strawberry Compote and your choice ofHam, Bacon, or Sausage 10.99
This is what I got. Well, minus the banana stuffing. It was quite tasty! I loved it!

Big Kahuna
French Toast, Pancakes topped with Pineapple Sauce and Macadamia Nut Butter, Eggs, Home-fried Potatoes, Ham, Bacon, and Sausage 11.99
Grumpy got this and ate every bite. He totally loved it all!

Mickey Shaped Pancakes
Yup, that is how they were described. Remember when they actually made Mickey-shaped pancakes – even at the buffets? The kid liked it.

 

[Daisy14]

We are in! Great TR so far!!! Love your nicknames

 

[Canadian Girl 77]

After our late breakfast we decided to head over to Downtown Disney for some shopping (and a trip to the Candy store). We bought a bunch of stuff and traded pins. We then had a late lunch at Planet Hollywood. Amusingly, we actually turned down dessert because we were so full! After that, we went to Goofy’s Candy Store so Happy could make herself a cookie. Then, we went back to the hotel for a swim.

We went to Hollywood Studios for Extra Magic Hours that evening. We didn’t actually do all that much – we mainly attended the party with Playhouse Disney characters. Happy had a blast! We also went on the great movie ride, star tours and walked around the streets of America. We left fairly early since we had a reservation the next day for breakfast that we really didn’t want to miss!

Appetizers

Potato Skins - Crispy skins filled with bacon, mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheeses. Served with sour cream $9.99

Yummers! So tasty.

Parmesan Spinach Dip - Creamy Parmesan cheese dip with spinach and mushrooms served with crisp tortilla chips $8.99

Also super good!

Mains

L.A. Lasagna - A California twist to a classic lasagna! Fresh pasta tubes filled with ricotta cheese and bolognese meat sauce fried to a golden brown with garlic cream and tomato basil sauces $17.99

Happy's food. She didn't eat too much of it.
We both got this. It was tasty. but too much food!

 

[Canadian Girl 77]

We had breakfast at Akershus with the princesses quite early on Thursday morning. The food wasn’t that great but Happy loved seeing Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Arial and Aurora. She even wore her princess dress! I wasn’t having a repeat of our dinner here.

After breakfast, we went on Malestrom – but we got stuck in it twice. Yikes! That wasn’t great. We were going to ride Mexico again but it was closed. So, we went on Soarin’ to Hailey’s delight! We also went on the Seas and checked out the aquarium. We also went on Figment again and played with the water fountains. By this time it was time for lunch. Lunch at The Seas.

 

[Canadian Girl 77]

We had lunch at Coral Reef. The food was okay but the service was pretty poor. Everything took FOREVER!

After lunch we wandered through the World showcase. We did some shopping! We also tested the drinks in the Coke area. Happy liked them all - including Beverly. Freak!

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We then went back to the hotel for some swimming. The main pool had ANOTHER unscheduled cleaning so we went to the computer pool. Some weird kid who was about 12 interrupted us and asked if we were from Germany. No. England? No, we’re from Canada. Strange.

After our quick dip we headed to DHS just to see characters! We hit the jackpot in the Animation area and saw Pochachontas, the Up characters, Evil Queen from snow White, Stitch, Sherrif of Nottingham and Prince John.
We then headed to Epcot for our dinner in Canada.

Happy's drink!

Appetizers
Oops - forgot the picture!

Grilled Shrimp with Cucumber Salad and
Barbecued Beef Tenderloin Skewer
with Creamy Polenta 11.99
I liked the beef much more than the shrimp but overall it was good.

Can't remember what Grumpy got.

Mains

Lobster Ravioli
with Tomatoes, Olives, Capers, and Shaved
Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese 24.99

Grumpy liked it!

Seared Chicken Breast
served over Spaetzle finished with Applewood
Smoked Bacon-Chicken Broth\ 20.99
Not too impressive. A little like wedding rubber chicken.

Happy got pasta. She wasn't too impressed with it.

Dessert

Happy's make-your-own sundae. Always a hit!

Baileys and Jack Daniel’s Mousse*
topped with a Ganache and Chocolate Cigar
Grumpy loved.

The Chocolate Wave*
served with Raspberries 7.99
Yummers!

 

[Canadian Girl 77]

Before dinner at Le Cellier, we went on Spaceship Earth – and it stopped twice during the ride! Very annoying. We did make it to dinner on time and finished as Illuminatitons began. Rather than watching the show we headed back to the hotel. Dinner was awesome! Super awesome! OMG!

As we headed back to the hotel, Happy began complaining about an ear ache. But her ear wasn’t hurting enough to stop her from desiring a trip to the arcade to spend the rest of her tickets and play some games with Grumpy. So, they played a few games and used up the rest of the tickets that Dopey had won.

Appetizers

Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup
made with Moosehead Beer and Bacon
My soup! Good as always!

Steakhouse Caesar
with Romaine Lettuce, Parmesan,
Sourdough Croutons, and creamy
Caesar Dressing 6.99
According to Grumpy it was a caesar salad. But he ate every bite.

Entrees

New York Strip Steak
topped with Bercy Butter served with
Gruyere Yukon Gold Potato Gratin 34.99
Grumpy wanted to try something different. He asked the waiter to recommend something and was quite pleased with the results.

“Le Cellier” Mushroom
Filet Mignon
served with Wild Mushroom Risotto and
finished with White Truffle-Herb
Butter Sauce 34.99
I got potatoes instead of the risotto. I loved it!

Happy got a hot dog. She devoured it!

Dessert

Happy's sundae!

Chocolate-on-Chocolate Whiskey Cake
Chocolate Cake brushed with Canadian Whiskey,
layered with Chocolate Mousse, finished
with Honey-Thyme Anglaise and a
Chocolate Walnut Sauce 7.99

Tasty!

Maple Crème Brûlée 6.99
Grumpy inhaled it!

 

[Canadian Girl 77]

Our last day was a bust.

Happy woke up sick. She was throwing up and a general mess. Luckily Disney was nice about letting us delay our checkout by an extra hour and a half.

I ran around getting everything sorted out while Happy and Grumpy rested in our room. Rather than going to Magic Kingdom and breakfast at Chef Mickey's, we headed to the airport early and luckily Happy was feeling much better.

She actually was okay by the time we boarded the plane at 4. I was a little nervous though so we headed straight home instead of spending the night at Doc and Dopey's house.

Actually, one bad thing happened! The hotel shuttle bus didn't have any working seatbelts. Seriously, WTH!!!!!

And the next morning I woke up sick. a few days later I was diagnosed with the flu - not h1n1 but the flu either way.