From the Sea to the World - Completed!

[Flossbolna]

After all this food we felt like we needed to walk a little and the Epcot resorts are the perfect place for a nice evening stroll.

First I had to document a significant change at the Boardwalk: the refurbished bakery. It was really just a tiny shop and it has been extended quite considereably:

It even has a self-service refillable mug station. It used to be that at the Boardwalk you always would just show your mug and then get a paper cup with the drink of your choice. There was no self-service station. The good thing was that with the old system you were able to get a drink from various places (Bakery, pool bar, lounge), not sure how the system works now and whether they have eliminated the other options…

Then we set off towards the Beach Club, where I had fun exploring the beach Club Villas:

I really like the design of the public spaces there, not so sure of the pictures I have seen of the villas themselves. And one thing did put me off: The hallways actually looked rather run down. One had some strange black and white carpet that did not fit at all and it did not look like it was just put down briefly until some replacement has been ordered, it was rather dirty and looked old. I am sure that at some point I will stay there, but maybe I will wait until they get an update…

We walked over to the Yacht Club:

And then I tried to get a good night time shot of the Boardwalk from across the lake:

I think without a tripod and only with a point and shoot camera, this is probably as good as it can get…

And then we headed back home and I was very grateful that we had the car parked at the Boardwalk and did not have to commute through DTD on Disney busses!

So, this was another first for me: A day without stepping into a single park, not even a water park!

Next: Food, Warehouse and Mingle

 

[rndmr2]

Nice dinner at the Flying Fish! I love that whole Epcot resort area, I would love to stay there someday.

 

[Poolrat]

I really like the design of the public spaces there, not so sure of the pictures I have seen of the villas themselves. And one thing did put me off: The hallways actually looked rather run down. One had some strange black and white carpet that did not fit at all and it did not look like it was just put down briefly until some replacement has been ordered, it was rather dirty and looked old. I am sure that at some point I will stay there, but maybe I will wait until they get an update…

It is funny, I have had a room down that very hallway and then up the elevator in Oct. and it was still there in Dec. Not sure what is up with that or if it test fibers or what. I totally agree new carpet is needed.

In fact a hard goods update is due.

I too had a fantastic meal at Flying Fish.

You did a great job with the nighttime picture of the Boardwalk.

 

[eandesmom]

What a lovely no park day from start to finish! I do love building one of those in. there is so much to do without ever setting foot in a park.

Love the tour, I might need to consider that. Even though we've stayed at AKV, it was only for 2 nights and I feel like we didn't even scratch the surface. Then again I feel like that at almost all the resorts I've ever stayed at! Sanaa is one of our favorite places, I think we are going to try to eat there in September.

We parked at the Boardwalk and made our way through the lobby to the restaurant. It was really lovely to walk through my home resort. As much as I love AKL, I also adore the BWV. Totally different, but wonderful in its own right. And while a few of my trips to AKL had some circumstances that were not too perfect (my travel mate deciding to become very obsessed with some religious reading just before our trip and wanting to spend a lot of day time in our room with the blinds closed sitting in her underwear on her bed reading her book and not taking part in a lot of the fun activities we had originally planned or in 2010 the freakish cold weather during Katharina’s first trip), I only have truly wonderful memories from the trip to the BWV in 2011. So, in a way, I am really grateful for this past trip as it helped AKL to be associated with many more happy memories again!!

Oh my, the AKL travel mate story is...um...wow.

I love Flying Fish. I am toying with eating there in the fall. It's hard to decide as it will be F&W and I'm not sure I want a sit down meal but oh, I love it there. I've not had the steak though and no, it doesn't work to share if you've differing temperature preferences. The spinach sounds especially yummy.

Love the after dinner tour too!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

You thought we had taken it easy the last few days? The you have seen nothing. I can already tell you that we did not step into a theme park today!

We had decided that we wanted to take part in the guided tour around Kidani Village that afternoon. This is about the design of those buildings. Since I never had spent a lot of time there, I thought this would be a great opportunity to check it out properly.

Love all the AKL pictures. I really miss that place.

I love that this gift shop still has so much unique African merchandise and not just the same Disney stuff you can get at the Emporium on Main Street or Mousegears at Epcot. And it is not only resort specific Disney stuff either, but truly African crafts and things like that.

Amen. I wish all of the shops were specialized that way.

Totally different, but wonderful in its own right. And while a few of my trips to AKL had some circumstances that were not too perfect (my travel mate deciding to become very obsessed with some religious reading just before our trip and wanting to spend a lot of day time in our room with the blinds closed sitting in her underwear on her bed reading her book and not taking part in a lot of the fun activities we had originally planned or in 2010 the freakish cold weather during Katharina’s first trip)

Um...ok.

I only have truly wonderful memories from the trip to the BWV in 2011. So, in a way, I am really grateful for this past trip as it helped AKL to be associated with many more happy memories again!!

That's more like it!

For our entrees we both wanted the steak. I know, it is a seafood restaurant, but it truly has the best steak at WDW!

Really? I haven't heard that before!

And then I tried to get a good night time shot of the Boardwalk from across the lake:

I think without a tripod and only with a point and shoot camera, this is probably as good as it can get…

I think it turned out just fine!

 

[glennbo123]

Caught up again. Ohh, you're making me homesick with those pictures of Kidani and then you go and make the next chapter Flying Fish, one of our best meals from our last trip. I'd like to try their steaks, but how could I tear myself away from seafood there?

 

[aadaneboy]

Hej Magdalene,
Altid dejligt at læse om dine tur i WDW--og nu på cruise! Det har været længe siden jeg var på disboards.....og selvfølgelig var det nemt at finde dine trip reports. (jeg er faktiskt på arbjede lige nu og har kun læste om din cruise og nu WDW. Glæder mig at læse videre!)

Håber du har det godt. hils din søster.....

hvornar kommer du tilbage til USA?

kærlig hilsen ----todd

 

[Steppesister]

I'm still here! Really, I am!

Let's see...

Your tour looked so amazing! I loved the tour I had (Behind the Seeds) and crave doing another one. One learns so much more, and to me it really rounds out the touring. AKL looks like a really good one! And how cool that your guide was from the same place you went.

The dinner looked over-the-top amazing! WOW! Everything about it seemed magical from the food to the service. I hope to make it there someday! I think the atmosphere of the Boardwalk in general makes all the more delightful.

Great way to laze an entire day away!

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Not sure how I got so far behind. I know I read your lazy day updates, and thought I had replied already, but I guess I didn’t. I’m going with the old standby excuse the DIS ate my paper, uh, reply.

It is always a good thing to have a lazy day built into a long trip. And what a wonderful place to spend it, with your tours of Jambo and Kidani! Such wonderful resorts to explore, and you also get the added bonus of the animals. There is a lot of brown in the color scheme at those resorts, but also enough interesting and vibrant colors added in unique ways to add some wonderful designs to the décor. And I agree that the gift shops have a lot of unique and interesting items. Your guided tour looks like a lot of fun too!

One of my favorite and most enjoyable Disney meals was at Flying Fish! Like someone else already posted, how can you turn down the seafood when you eat there, but your steaks look so delicious! Your Key Lime martini sounds really good, and Flying Fish seems like a really appropriate place to try one. And your dessert looks so delicious too. I can’t remember what I had for dessert when I was there, but I’m thinking that would have definitely been under consideration.

So while you were getting your leftover spinach and potatoes, you didn’t manage to sneak in one of those fish napkins you liked so much did you??? That’s okay, don’t answer that!

The whole Boardwalk and resort area is becoming one of my favorites. I definitely need to spend more time there, hopefully soon. Walking around there at night is always nice, with the sights, activities and all the lights. You got some great pictures of the resorts, and you did a fantastic job on your nighttime Boardwalk shot across the water, especially without a tripod and using a point and shoot camera!

 

[Flossbolna]

Nice dinner at the Flying Fish! I love that whole Epcot resort area, I would love to stay there someday.

It really a nice area to stay at - Katharina and I stayed there in 2011. I find it interesting how the resort I stay at does change the mood of a vacation. I like the isolation at AKL, but I also like being in the middle of everything at BWV!

It is funny, I have had a room down that very hallway and then up the elevator in Oct. and it was still there in Dec. Not sure what is up with that or if it test fibers or what. I totally agree new carpet is needed.

In fact a hard goods update is due.

I too had a fantastic meal at Flying Fish.

You did a great job with the nighttime picture of the Boardwalk.

If I would own at Beach Club, I would be in touch with member services as I would find that unacceptable at my resort. After all, we do pay for maintenance in our annual dues and that carpet is just hideous! If they chosen a plain colour I could maybe live with it, but that black and white pattern is just the opposite of what the Beach Club should look like!!

Great to hear that you liked Flying Fish, too! I am always afraid when DISers I know go to a place which I have loved in the past that their experience might be not as good as mine...

What a lovely no park day from start to finish! I do love building one of those in. there is so much to do without ever setting foot in a park.

Love the tour, I might need to consider that. Even though we've stayed at AKV, it was only for 2 nights and I feel like we didn't even scratch the surface. Then again I feel like that at almost all the resorts I've ever stayed at! Sanaa is one of our favorite places, I think we are going to try to eat there in September.

Oh my, the AKL travel mate story is...um...wow.

I love Flying Fish. I am toying with eating there in the fall. It's hard to decide as it will be F&W and I'm not sure I want a sit down meal but oh, I love it there. I've not had the steak though and no, it doesn't work to share if you've differing temperature preferences. The spinach sounds especially yummy.

Love the after dinner tour too!

AKL has lots of interesting resort activities like this tour. There is also the culinary tour at Jambo and the cultural safari talk with a CM. I love it that they offer such unique experiences! They used to have an arts tour at Jambo as well in the past, but that was discontinued a few years ago.

Sanaa is incredibly pretty and I think it will be part of one of my next trips to WDW, just because I really want to try it!

For me Flying Fish would always beat any Food & Wine snacking, but then I love having proper meals and actually found out that I am not a huge fan of snacking my way through the kiosks. Just like I am not a huge fan of buffets...

 

[Flossbolna]

Love all the AKL pictures. I really miss that place.

Glad you liked them! I think both of the Lodges are the resorts that it is easiest to like so much that you can really miss them. Of course I still have to stay at the WL, but I imagine once I do, I will want to return there again and again!

And yes, I have often read the recommendation that FF has the best steak on property (maybe with the exception of Shula's), but it is not a filet mignot.

Caught up again. Ohh, you're making me homesick with those pictures of Kidani and then you go and make the next chapter Flying Fish, one of our best meals from our last trip. I'd like to try their steaks, but how could I tear myself away from seafood there?

I guess you need to have two meals at FF next trip - one meal with seafood and the other with the steak! Actually, they now offer a plate where they serve the snapper and the steak as a combo.

 

[Flossbolna]

Hej Magdalene,
Altid dejligt at læse om dine tur i WDW--og nu på cruise! Det har været længe siden jeg var på disboards.....og selvfølgelig var det nemt at finde dine trip reports. (jeg er faktiskt på arbjede lige nu og har kun læste om din cruise og nu WDW. Glæder mig at læse videre!)

Håber du har det godt. hils din søster.....

hvornar kommer du tilbage til USA?

kærlig hilsen ----todd

Hej Todd! I am so envious about how good your Danish still is! I can understand it perfectly, I just can't write it nearly as well and speaking is really not good either...

I will be back in the US pretty soon, for another cruise! Do you know that you were the first person I ever met who had been on a cruise ship? I always dreamt about cruising as a kid, so I was so impressed about it when you told me about the cruise (or cruises?) you had been on...

 

[Flossbolna]

I'm still here! Really, I am!

Let's see...

Your tour looked so amazing! I loved the tour I had (Behind the Seeds) and crave doing another one. One learns so much more, and to me it really rounds out the touring. AKL looks like a really good one! And how cool that your guide was from the same place you went.

The dinner looked over-the-top amazing! WOW! Everything about it seemed magical from the food to the service. I hope to make it there someday! I think the atmosphere of the Boardwalk in general makes all the more delightful.

Great way to laze an entire day away!

I really can't say anything about my readers taking a long time to read if I take such a long time to post!!

I think those hotel tours are one of the hidden gems of WDW. They WL might have one as well, I think.

I was so happy that the Flying Fish was still as wonderful as I remembered it!

 

[Flossbolna]

Not sure how I got so far behind. I know I read your lazy day updates, and thought I had replied already, but I guess I didn’t. I’m going with the old standby excuse the DIS ate my paper, uh, reply.

It is always a good thing to have a lazy day built into a long trip. And what a wonderful place to spend it, with your tours of Jambo and Kidani! Such wonderful resorts to explore, and you also get the added bonus of the animals. There is a lot of brown in the color scheme at those resorts, but also enough interesting and vibrant colors added in unique ways to add some wonderful designs to the décor. And I agree that the gift shops have a lot of unique and interesting items. Your guided tour looks like a lot of fun too!

One of my favorite and most enjoyable Disney meals was at Flying Fish! Like someone else already posted, how can you turn down the seafood when you eat there, but your steaks look so delicious! Your Key Lime martini sounds really good, and Flying Fish seems like a really appropriate place to try one. And your dessert looks so delicious too. I can’t remember what I had for dessert when I was there, but I’m thinking that would have definitely been under consideration.

So while you were getting your leftover spinach and potatoes, you didn’t manage to sneak in one of those fish napkins you liked so much did you??? That’s okay, don’t answer that!

The whole Boardwalk and resort area is becoming one of my favorites. I definitely need to spend more time there, hopefully soon. Walking around there at night is always nice, with the sights, activities and all the lights. You got some great pictures of the resorts, and you did a fantastic job on your nighttime Boardwalk shot across the water, especially without a tripod and using a point and shoot camera!

I am so happy that you enjoyed Flying Fish. I have been recommending it for quite some time and am always afraid that people might not like it as much as I do!

And I would never STEAL a napkin!! What do you think of me!!!

I love both the Boardwalk area as well as AKL. While the one has you in the middle of everything, the other one is away from everything and both excel at what they are meant to be. I think it does set the tone of a trip depending on where you are, but I love it both.

 

[Flossbolna]

...

 

[Flossbolna]

Day 15:

By now you should know our routine: a lazy morning with some time at the pool. And then we had lunch plans.

Michael’s friend, who went to Biergarten with us, was going to meet us for lunch at Olivia’s at Old Key West. I really liked my breakfast there my last time and was excited to try out a different meal there. But there was another reason for that choice: it is one of the restaurants where cast members get nice discounts and since Michael’s friend works for Disney, this was an added bonus!

He picked us up at around 1pm and we drove over to OKW. We had an ADR, but it really was not necessary. It was far from empty, but neither was it full, just a normal level of business I would say.

I went for a burger – with cheese and bacon:

it was a delicious burger and that is exactly what I wanted. I think I have mentioned often enough that burgers (good ones, not McDonalds) are not common here, so I love getting restaurant burgers when in the USA.

Michael had a Club sandwich: Smoked Turkey, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, and Mayonnaise on Multigrain Bread

And his friend had a French dip sandwich: Thinly-sliced Roast Beef with Swiss, Horseradish Cream, and Arugula on a Baguette with Au Jus for dipping

I was quite fascinated by this as I had read about it, but never had a sandwich like this. I found the process of dipping the sandwich into the gravy a bit strange. But the sandwich did look very tasty, so I could imagine trying it at some point in the future…

By the time we were done with lunch, the restaurant had emptied out quite a bit:

I really like the décor in here. It looks like what I as a European think of as quintessential American summer vacation.

We walked around OKW for a bit and I took some pictures to commemorate staying there on our first night when I did not get around to take lots of pictures between arriving in the rain and then leaving the next morning.

After lunch we headed to a place for which our friend was kind of the “entry ticket”. It is a place called Property Control. It is a shop where Disney sells all kind of “leftovers” to their CM, or people who come there with a CM. There was a section that is only for CMs, but a large part was open to us as well. They do sell heavily discounted merchandise, t-shirts etc. But they also sell other things that are no longer in use. Parts of CM costumes that are no longer used, they had the dishes from the DVC villas which had recently been replaced by plain white dishes in all DVC villas, there were very old electronics. It was quite an amazing collection. But I did not really find anything that I really wanted to have. Even though some of the stuff was really rather cheap. It kind of felt a bit like a Disney flea market.

Property Control is behind the Magic Kingdom, when you drive to the Contemporary and instead of turning right into the CR parking lot, you just continue straight ahead you get to the area where all kind of services for WDW are located. It is really rather interesting to see the backside of the magic. You start to appreciate what a large operation this whole thing is! We drove around that area a bit and our friend pointed out various places. I really loved that tour as it was something I had never seen before and would have never ventured into on my own!

Our friend then brought us back to AKL by roads that I had never travelled on. It is amazing how many more roads and routes there are at WDW besides the ones that the busses travel on…

Once we were back at the lodge we already had the next event waiting for us: the Sundown Mingle. This is an event held by DVC for DVC members staying at AKL. It takes place twice a week and you had to sign up for it in advance. It started at 5pm and we were running a little late. There was going to be a price draw and we had to fill out cards for that. While we were doing this, the lady leading the event already started with trivia questions. There were some rules which we kind of missed, so despite knowing the answer, we missed out on winning a prize. I think the rule was that the first person who raises their hand AFTER she finished with the question was going to get a shot at it. We both raised our hands to early, so were ignored. Michael was rather disappointed as they had a very nice hat as a prize. The next question someone else was quicker. And then the third question came and it was something rather difficult. I think it was who was the voice of Belle in Beauty and the Beast. No one knew and Michael hesitated at first as well, but then tried an answer and it was right! So he got the very nice hat:

The event was held on the two overlooks towards the main savanna which are off the lobby. We were split into two different groups, so there were actually two parallel events going on. They had put up some food (samosas, vegetables with dips, potstickers, something fishy and crab cakes) and some fruit punches (one with and one without alcohol). It was all really good! After the trivia we played some “mingle games” where you had to talk to someone else about a certain topic.

It was a really nice event, but we did not win the big price which was a Disney gift card. That would have been nice!!

Next: How Rob saved the evening

 

[Flossbolna]

After the mingle we had the next event planned. Something which I had booked as soon as the 6 months ADR window for this trip had opened and which by then was by far the hottest ticket in town: Dinner at Be Our Guest.

When I had booked the ADR this had seemed to be a good day for it. But then in the coming months I found out about the Sundown Mingle and we found out that that would be the day when Michael’s friend would have time to take us on the backside Disney tour. So somehow the day had become less ideal for a dinner reservation. But by then there was no chance of changing it.

We had also looked again and again at the menu and did not find it that appealing. The thing that we liked most was the steak, but we both knew that between Flying Fish and the cruise we would have lots of steaks anyway.

But then we really wanted to check out the new place. We thought about going for lunch, but at that time we read reports about people waiting in line for over 30 minutes to have lunch there and that did not appeal to us either. So we kept our reservation.

That evening I think we both regretted keeping the reservation a bit, but by then it was too late. Thanks to Disney’s policy we would lose the 20 $ deposit that guaranteed our reservation.

So, with that in mind we set out to the MK to spend the evening there.

It was a wonderful evening and I got a little crazy taking pictures in the beautiful evening sunshine:

This is a little stream that they added in the new Tangled area which replaced the old Fantasyland Skyway station:

Those newly added restrooms and the area around it is really beautiful:

I just don’t like how its cartoon-like look clashes with the more realistic look opposite:

We checked out the FP situation for Peter Pan and were lucky that they still were available, so we got one for later in the evening.

Further on into the new part of Fantasyland, this is the queue for Story Time with Belle:

and this is Gaston’s Tavern which is a cute rustic place selling snacks and drinks, just very small.

We walked all the way over to the Little Mermaid ride and I got this picture of Prince Eric’s pretty castle outside the ride:

And then we headed back to Be Our Guest. You check in for your reservation at the little window at the gate and we were told to wait outside the gate. I wonder how they handle this on a rainy day, but luckily we had a beautiful day, so waiting outside was no hardship.

I amused myself with taking pictures of the entrance:

When your table is ready, one of the CMs comes out of the side door holding a candle stick and meets you at the gate. I then got to hold the candle stick and we were lead through the big door into the restaurant. When we were seated the candle stick was placed on our table, but taken away when our server came to the table for the first time.

This is the table setting:

And this is my one try at an interior picture:

I know that my opinion is different from the popular one, but I did not like the restaurant at all. It was far too dark and too loud. I hated the way the ceiling was flat and not domed (or at lest curved) as it tried to make out. And I was immediately drawn out by the strange look of the putti (the little baby angels) which looked far to naturalistic and not idealized as they normally are on ceilings like this. I later found out that they used the pictures of kids of the imagineers. I think this was a huge mistake. For me the surroundings just didn’t work. There were other small things like the fact that there were no table clothes. So while it tried to be that amazing royal ballroom it fell short for me on so many levels. I think the theme they went for just does not fit to a theme park restaurant that is not a signature dining place.

I know plenty of people here in Germany who use the term “Disney” in a derogatory way, meaning that something is a kitschy, plastic copy of the original. I always adored Disney parks for not being this, but instead being an accessible tribute to the original in a classy way. For me Be Our Guest fell short on that and instead is on the border of being “Disney” in that bad sense.

We still did not feel like a big meal, so we decided to just get an appetizer. Michael ordered the French onion soup:

He was not thrilled with it, said it tasted rather bland. We later found out that it is not made with beef stock, so that might have been the reason.

I ordered the charcuterie platter:

Ever since I had read the first reports about this restaurant I had been intrigued by this dish. It is actually an appetizer that serves two and it cost 15 $.

I really like the different meats and sausages, some more than others. But I was disappointed in the bread that came with it as it was very stale, also that I did not get any butter with it either.

And mentioning the staleness of the bread and the missing butter to Michael was the beginning of the meal going downhill… Because this comment made Michael realize that all other tables were getting a basket of rolls and butter, but we had not gotten one. So when Michael saw our server the next time, he asked for a bread basket. This resulted in the server giving us a speech about how it is their policy to not serve bread if guests don’t order an entrée and that this was a strict rule that in no way could be bended. The whole speech was also delivered in a way that was very patronizing as he mentioned that this was because they were a fine dining restaurant and claimed that this was standard in fine dining restaurants. Now, Michael and I both have eaten at our share of fine dining places (even on this trip so far with Palo and the Flying Fish) and we really did not like being told that our sever thinks we are not educated enough to make such a ridiculous request for bread without ordering an entrée… At least our server agreed to bring me some butter…

The whole incident truly annoyed me, but it put Michael in a really bad mood. So the rest of dinner was not the best atmosphere at our table. Obviously we did not linger once we were done eating and headed out quickly. On the way out we found another thing we did not like about the restaurant though. It has tiny bathrooms. I was lucky, but Michael actually had to wait in a line for the bathroom I think. It is a huge restaurant, so who comes up with the idea to put in a tiny bathroom??

So, this was the first time in the trip that we both were grumpy and not really enjoying ourselves. We headed to the hub to see Celebrate the Magic, the light show on the castle, again. That cheered us up a bit and I decided that we ought to try to get a ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while everyone was at the hub waiting for Wishes to start any minute now. So we rushed away through Liberty Square and on towards Frontierland. When walking through Frontierland we saw a CM come out of the churro wagon and stepping in our way. He was holding a churro and asked whether we would like it. And this put the smiles back into our faces. So we said thank you and Michael said that he saved the evening after our bad experience at Be Our Guest. This put our lovely CM friend into activity and he said how sorry he was for us having a bad dinner and that we should wait for a bit. He went back into his cart, got us a second churro and gave us a plastic bag with two Mickey soft pretzels, a pot with cheese for dipping and one with chocolate sauce for dipping and gave it all to us saying that this could be our dinner with compliments from him. I was so stunned, it was such a nice gesture! We started walking away and then I realized that this is one of those incidents where you want to go to Guest Services and leave a positive comment for this CM. So I quickly headed back and asked our lovely CM for his name: Rob.

Obviously they were starting to pack the cart away for the night and the churros and pretzels would not have been sold anymore anyway. But for us on that night it was truly a magical moment as it did turn around the evening – most of our grumpiness was gone afterwards.

Since we now had sauce to dip our churros in, we had to stop somewhere. We ended up with a spot on the bridge towards BTMRR at the railing, looking out over the water and the fireworks and we watched Wishes from there with no crowds munching on our churro. It was wonderful!!

Once the fireworks were over, we headed to BTMRR and walked directly onto a train without any wait!. Then we continued on to Pirates and finally back to Peter Pan to use our FP to fly over London. With that we closed down a park again – but today closing time was 10pm, so it was still rather early for us…

On the way out we made sure to stop at Guest Services to leave that positive comment for Rob. I had always hearded that people talk about “filling out comment/compliment cards”, so I thought that they had cards to fill out. But this ws not the case, the CM working there just made a note on plain paper and said that this would be transferred. I hope it did work out! Michael also mentioned the “bread incident” and asked whether this is truly the policy of the restaurant. They tried to call someone, but obviously by that time, no-one picked up the phone.

Coming back to AKL we had quite a surprise. We headed out to the balcony and saw that the giraffes all had decided to hang out underneath our room as the rest of the savanna was being sprinkled with water at that time. I tried to catch them with my camera:

And I will end the day with a picture of the Mickey pretzel – we brought both of them home with us:

Next: Trekking through Wild Africa Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

 

[kid-at-heart]

Sweet Rob, how wonderful that he turned a negative experience into something positive. Sucky BOG waiter, that just was not nice.

I visited the world this year in Jan with my family and again in early March, just myself. Neither time was I able to get a reservation to BOG. Now I am glad as I have read several bad reviews about the place. I hope Disney becomes aware and changes things.

Looking forward to more of your adventures.

Thanks much for sharing.
Kate

p.s. What does flossbolna stand for?

 

[nodnol]

Oh, I remember your BoG experience very well. I think while it was still fresh you need a lot more words to tell me about it! I'm so sorry he tried so very hard to spoil your evening!

The meal at Olivia's looks very nice though, as does OKW. What a pity it was raining so much when we were there. I remember I felt wet and cold.

Looking forward to th pictures from the Trek!

 

[glennbo123]

Oh wow, I'd love to see Property Control! That sounds awesome, but I'm sure it's kind of pot-luck on what you might find available on any given day.

Ouch, I'm sorry about your experience at Be Our Guest. I'm surprised that they don't use tablecloths, that sounds especially odd if they're trying to be "fine dining"! And to lecture the patrons is ridiculous...he could have told you that it was their policy but been more apologetic about it.

Yay for Rob! Cast members like that make all of the difference!