Fleeing Wedding Showers for Epcot Flowers: My Final Morning, Finally! NEW 4/12

[norybell]

Great Russian Doll report! Glad to hear it was productive. We went once in January and experienced several veryyyy chilly days. Wheeling Henry around in his winter coat, hat and mittens and ALL the flowers dying? Ya.... but there were a few beautiful days mixed in. January is so hit and miss.

The true problem with this trip has become clear to me: It was too short! If it had been a little longer, then there would've been some nice days mixed in!

I am very much looking forward to the future TR with bits of the book wrapped into it.

Me, too!

You might be able to still get into the BCV, it's worth a shot to contact a reseller and have them at least look into it. A 2 bedroom is AWESOME because you get the fridge (handy for milk and other kid favorites), plus the washer and dryer....VERY nice. Otherwise, the resort will be wonderful I'm sure - excellent location of course!

I looked into it, and no luck...that's OK, though. The kitchen would've been nice, but selfishly I'm kind of glad it didn't work out, because now, after this trip, I'll have stayed at every Deluxe resort! My mom and I are going down one day early and staying at AKL, and that and the BC are the only ones I haven't stayed at yet! This makes the completist in me very happy. I'll finally be able to compile a very definitive list of my deluxe resort rankings! (What a dork, right?)

Oh no!!! They've corrupted YOUR Impressions de Liesa as well!!! (You all know who I mean.)

Don't worry, Liesa, I promise to take all hairy feet reports with a large grain of salt!

 

[All7OfUs]

The true problem with this trip has become clear to me: It was too short! If it had been a little longer, then there would've been some nice days mixed in!

But realistically speaking, isn't EVERY trip too short?

 

[brookelizabeth]

I looked into it, and no luck...that's OK, though. The kitchen would've been nice, but selfishly I'm kind of glad it didn't work out, because now, after this trip, I'll have stayed at every Deluxe resort! My mom and I are going down one day early and staying at AKL, and that and the BC are the only ones I haven't stayed at yet! This makes the completist in me very happy. I'll finally be able to compile a very definitive list of my deluxe resort rankings! (What a dork, right?)

You haven't seen my Disney Bucket List, huh? "Stay at every resort" and "Stay at every DVC resort" are both on the list.

We may be dorks, but at least we get each other, right?

 

[3prettyprincesses]

:I'm so jealous of your weather! And I totally agree with your DH...October is the best month to go. I'm hoping to make it back in October, too...gotta get the most out of my AP before it expires on 10/19!

Thanks so much for the advice! I'm trying my best not to plan too much...my thinking right now is that we'll do mornings in the parks, then back to the BC in the early afternoons for swimming, quiet time, etc. I've made early dinner ADRs, which we can keep or cancel, depending on how things are going. There'll be four adults total, so we'll probably take turns babysitting while the others go do the grownup rides and stuff. I'm a bit worried that, apparantly, Clara HATES being in her stroller...my sister was actually considering not bringing it, but luckily she let me talk her out of that!

Thanks, 3pp! Once the book is out (fingers crossed that it actually gets that far), I'll send you a copy!

Ya, DH really loves Oct. but the end of January wasn't so bad. Actually we're probably going to do another trip then with his parents. They don't handle heat and humidity well so January will be a better fit for them.

Your plans sound good, heading back to the resort for downtime sounds right with a 3 year old. Early dinner ADR's sound like the way to go too. And even if she forgets her stroller, the Disney ones are amazing! They are sooo easy to push, even when fully loaded. DH was fascinated by that fact! Your philosophy of not over planning is good too, with a young child you never know how much you will be able to actually accomplish in the parks. Just be open minded!

I've got my fingers crossed for you too! From I recall, your book sounds exciting already. Good luck with it!

 

[eandesmom]

Seriously...they've gotten really behind on their refurb schedule over there...wonder what the mattresses are like in that place?


(groan)


Yeah, the bedding at the WL was really unacceptable. Especially when you consider that some people (not us savvy DIS-ers, of course, with our pin codes and bouncebacks and off-season travel and whatnot, but, you know, more normal people ) can be spending well over $400 a night to stay there! In general I think their refurb schedule should be sped up by a year or two, considering the amount of traffic those rooms see!

our mattress was ok but the bedding itself, BLEH. I can't imagine how I would have felt had we been....well...normal. Thank heavens for PIN codes! Heck at over $200 I'd have been crabby, and I was enough as it was as when it's 2 rooms, even with a 40% PIN it's still a lot of moola.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I'm SO enjoying reading your TR (and your TR within a TR lol)!! You took such beautiful pictures!! CBR wasn't really my favorite either, although I didn't have the same CM experiences you did! How annoying! Can't wait to read more

 

[All7OfUs]

Everything ok? Just thought you needed a bump

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Everything ok? Just thought you needed a bump

Liesa, you should know that Nory takes extended breaks from her own TR's! I seem to recall a time when she was gone for um well, months! But we, her ever loyal followers persevered! We waited and bumped her thread and waited some more then lo and behold, she appeared! Granted she was planning a wedding at the time so we cut her some slack.

Hi Nory! I'm J/K of course!

 

[norybell]

I'm SO enjoying reading your TR (and your TR within a TR lol)!! You took such beautiful pictures!! CBR wasn't really my favorite either, although I didn't have the same CM experiences you did! How annoying! Can't wait to read more

Thanks, Stringbean&Wingnut! And I promise I'll post an update sometime soon!

I don't know what it was about CBR...even if the CMs had been great, I'm still not sure I would've loved it.

Everything ok? Just thought you needed a bump

Thanks for checking in, Liesa! I hope to get another update up this weekend. Work's been so crazy lately that I've been spending Sundays through Wednesdays so wiped out that even just reading anything on the web has seemed exhausting. Then I have to spend Thursday-Saturday (my weekend) catching up!

I have goals for this weekend, though:
1. organize file cabinet
2. update this TR
3. write another book chapter
4. write another October TR chapter
5. I won't bore you with the long list of errands and stuff

Now that I've written all that down, it has to happen, right?

Liesa, you should know that Nory takes extended breaks from her own TR's! I seem to recall a time when she was gone for um well, months! But we, her ever loyal followers persevered! We waited and bumped her thread and waited some more then lo and behold, she appeared! Granted she was planning a wedding at the time so we cut her some slack.

Hi Nory! I'm J/K of course!

Ahem.

Speaking of TRs, I've noticed you have one! I've subscribed to it, just haven't had the chance to, you know, read any of it yet (see work-week issues, above). But I will this weekend!

Also, does it help if I say one of the reasons I've been lagging on this TR is because I've been writing the new one? So it's all complete and ready to go before I even start posting it, thus avoiding all my oh-so-lovable TR-updating delays?

 

[norybell]

So…where were we?

Oh yes. After being hugged (or was it harassed?) by Tigger and Pooh, my mom and I headed back to our gigantimongous (if it isn’t a word, it certainly should be) room at the Boardwalk to get ready for dinner. Our final dinner of the trip. I couldn’t believe it was our last night already.

We were very, very hot, and the air was heavy, so it was no surprise that it started pouring the second we got back to our room. No sitting outside on our balcony for now!

I have to admit—I was flagging a bit at this point. We stopped in the lounge for some wine (syrupy white zin; I’m far from a wine snob, but I do think they should step up the CL wine offerings, at least by one step, considering how much they charge for CL!), and I could just feel myself getting cranky. I think my impending return to reality—and all of the wedding-planning stress it entailed at that point—was really looming over me. It had been so nice to be distracted from it for a little while!

Luckily, my mom got a phone call while we were sitting there, and by the time she was off the phone, I felt better. Thank goodness for wine!

The rain had been one of those intense-but-brief Florida things, so it was already starting to dry outside by the time we left for dinner. And after getting so turned around the night before, we’d learned a thing or two, and managed to depart the grounds of the Boardwalk without getting too directionally confused.

Our destination?

Bluezoo, more specifically. I’d read really good reviews of it here on the DIS, and was excited to give it a try.

As soon as we walked in, we were like: WOW! Bluezoo is a truly beautiful restaurant, all indigo and shimmering, whimsical yet classy at the same time. Sadly, we were having too much fun for me to remember to take many pictures, so this is the best I can do:

And just like the night before at Il Mulino, the place was nearly empty. And blessedly quiet. And, compared to Flying Fish or other Disney restaurants, free of children. (Actually, that’s not quite true: There was an extremely well-behaved girl, maybe 7 or 8, sitting nearby. But that was it, kid-wise.) Not that I don’t like kids, of course. I love them! But after a few full days at the World, a child-free environment can feel amazingly peaceful!

Our server’s name was Matt, and he was great—the kind of perfect waiter who’s there the second you need him, but never hovers for a moment too long. He was also adorable. Not that I noticed, of course, considering my wedding was right around the corner…

Since it was our last night at Disney, we decided to start things off with a bang, and ordered cocktails. We’re not usually big cocktail people—we’re wine folk, all the way. But they were offering some sort of special drink that sounded so delicious, we couldn’t resist.

I think this involved pomegranate.

It didn’t disappoint. I could’ve had three of them (it’s probably for the best that I didn’t, however).

The food lived up to the cocktail. Every bite was incredible, especially the appetizers. I would return to Bluezoo in a heartbeat. It was far better than Flying Fish, in my mind.

Yellowfin Tuna Tartare - Miso caviar, cucumber, scallion cream, nitro siracha aioli $18 – This was amazing. I didn’t get my camera out quickly enough, but when they brought it to the table, it was actually smoking, from that white crumbly stuff on top -- a very impressive trick of molecular gastronomy!

Daily Harvest Oysters - per piece $2.75

Two-pound Maine "Cantonese Lobster" - fried and tossed in sticky soy glaze $60 – We couldn’t resist. So we split it.

We really took our time eating, talking our heads off about a bunch of things. But mostly about the various men in our lives, my dad and my (by now) DH and the various husbands and boyfriends of my sisters. We like talking about that stuff. And as the wine flowed (oh yes, we followed our cocktails with a bottle), our speculations about the psychology of our menfolk probably became more and more…um…speculative.

So imagine our surprise when we learned, later that night, that my mom had accidentally dialed my dad on her cell phone (butt-dialed, as we call it, though the phone was in her purse and not her pocket, so we still aren’t sure how it happened)? And that the phone had been on for over ten minutes, during our conversation? And that my dad answered and listened to us talking for a while?

To this day, he won’t tell us what he heard! Though whatever it was, he hasn’t seemed to hold it against us. Whew!

After dinner, we stepped out into a beautiful Florida dusk.

We returned to our room, though I can’t remember why.

And then it was back to Epcot.

We stopped for some Grey Goose slushies in France (cuz once you’ve started with the drinking, it’s a bad idea to stop and get tired, right?), and arrived at my favorite viewing spot around 8:40. The entire vicinity was pretty empty, so we staked our claim and continued our conversation for a while (without any unintentional eavesdroppers this time). A little before nine, a very nice man from Canada and his son stood next to us, so we chatted with them. Mostly about cold weather. Because with us being from Wisconsin, and him being from Canada, we had that in common.

Then it was time for my favorite fireworks ever. I still can’t believe that I didn’t make it to Illuminations at all on my last trip. Thank goodness I’ll be able to rectify that situation come April!

After the show, we strolled back to the Boardwalk (gotta love that International Gateway).

We poured ourselves some tiny (tiny, I swear! I hope no one’s counting the drinks here!) after-dinner cocktails in the lounge and took them out to our balcony. I knew I was going to have an awfully hard time giving up that balcony the next day.

But no matter how hard we tried to drag out the evening by drinking, we were tired. It was time for our last night at Disney to officially be over.

 

[glennbo123]

Nory, nice update. The colors in your pictures really pop and they're so sharply focused. I think my pictures are getting worse as I go through the trip; yours are staying great.

We poured ourselves some tiny (tiny, I swear! I hope no one’s counting the drinks here!) after-dinner cocktails in the lounge and took them out to our balcony.

I was going to say 4, but by the end of the chapter I had forgotten a couple. Upon more careful examination, I think it's at least 6:

1) concierge lounge wine
2) pomegranate thingee
3 & 4) bottle of wine -- probably 2 glasses each
5) grey goose slushie
6) tiny after-dinner cocktail

Oh and, glad I could help with the counting.

 

[dismagiclover]

I just love all of your shots of the Boardwalk. It makes me homesick!

 

[norybell]

Nory, nice update. The colors in your pictures really pop and they're so sharply focused. I think my pictures are getting worse as I go through the trip; yours are staying great.

Thanks, glennbo!

I was going to say 4, but by the end of the chapter I had forgotten a couple. Upon more careful examination, I think it's at least 6:

1) concierge lounge wine
2) pomegranate thingee
3 & 4) bottle of wine -- probably 2 glasses each
5) grey goose slushie
6) tiny after-dinner cocktail

Oh and, glad I could help with the counting.

Six! Oh, dear! Hm. Well. The impending pain of leaving Disney is a perfectly good justification for six drinks, right?

I just love all of your shots of the Boardwalk. It makes me homesick!

Thanks, Jenny! Though I'm sorry they've made you homesick! January already feels like it was a long time ago, doesn't it? Do you guys have another trip in the works for this year?

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

LOVE your pictures of the Boardwalk. I seriously cannot get over your room location...did it smell like cookies and cake up there? How awesome. Your pictures make me want to go back right now (well I always want to go back at any given instant, but now much much more!)

 

[eandesmom]

what a great update! I am SOOOO excited to try bluezoo in May and I may just have to get that tuna tartare app!

ok sure, it was 6 drinks but...6 drinks over 6 hours so....



It does explain the pocket dial. That is hysterical!

Beautiful nighttime boardwalk pics Nory.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Ahem.

Speaking of TRs, I've noticed you have one! I've subscribed to it, just haven't had the chance to, you know, read any of it yet (see work-week issues, above). But I will this weekend!

Also, does it help if I say one of the reasons I've been lagging on this TR is because I've been writing the new one? So it's all complete and ready to go before I even start posting it, thus avoiding all my oh-so-lovable TR-updating delays?

Ok, you're excused!

This update was fabulous!

Oh a good glass wine always lifts the spirits! And I'm guessing your spirits were rather loooooow considering all the wine that was required!

Blue Zoo looks amazing! And this food pic is gorgeous!

DH and I ate his Olives restaurant in Las Vegas at the Bellagio hotel. It was incredible!

It sounds like you had a wonderful time chatting with your mom too. How special! And isn't it even more special that your dad was in on your conversation...

Love all the boardwalk pics Nory, it's especially beautiful at night with those lights!

 

[giftcard]

Wonderful review!!!!

 

[norybell]

LOVE your pictures of the Boardwalk. I seriously cannot get over your room location...did it smell like cookies and cake up there? How awesome. Your pictures make me want to go back right now (well I always want to go back at any given instant, but now much much more!)

You know, I'm not sure if it actually smelled like cookies and cake...but it did in our imaginations!

what a great update! I am SOOOO excited to try bluezoo in May and I may just have to get that tuna tartare app!

ok sure, it was 6 drinks but...6 drinks over 6 hours so....



It does explain the pocket dial. That is hysterical!

Beautiful nighttime boardwalk pics Nory.

I highly recommend the tuna tartare. Not only was it delicious, it was also huge for an appetizer!

And that's right! 6 drinks in 6 hours! I guess that explains why I wasn't, you know, falling over by the end of it!

DH and I ate his Olives restaurant in Las Vegas at the Bellagio hotel. It was incredible!

I've eaten at his Olives restaurant here in NY, too...so yummy

It sounds like you had a wonderful time chatting with your mom too. How special! And isn't it even more special that your dad was in on your conversation...

I know, right?

Wonderful review!!!!

Thanks, giftcard! And

 

[dismagiclover]

Thanks, Jenny! Though I'm sorry they've made you homesick! January already feels like it was a long time ago, doesn't it? Do you guys have another trip in the works for this year?

No not to Florida I really want to buy more DVC points, but DH only agrees if we pay cash so I'm doing my darndest to save a bit of money! We're going out west to see family this summer and are going to spend a few days in Disneyland which will hopefully tide me over. Then I'll go down next January to run the half. I'm sure I'll survive and luckily I have the DIS

 

[All7OfUs]

What a fabulous night- from (a few) drinks (but, who's counting?) to butt-dialing your dad! Certainly that scenrio had to be inter-related somehow.

That story reminded me of the time I was pushing my 3rd out in deliver, and the phone rang by my bedside in the L& D room. My DH was coaching me- the baby was crowning- and got frustrated with it, and kicked up. but the receiver flopped off and our friends listened to the whole thing!!!! Guess they were the first to know we'd had a girl.

Seriously though, I'd love a LONG dinner with just my mom over raw fish and anything but raw oysters. Sorry, gotta take a pass on those.