Gas up the car & point it towards Florida! Road Trip, July 2012!...UPDATE 8/5/12

[Leshaface]

Wow! Those chocolate chip pancakes are HUGE and are LOADED! That's also a big side of bacon. This sounds like my kind of place.

Glad to have you back for a bit! And can't wait to read about the ADR's!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Wow! Those chocolate chip pancakes are HUGE and are LOADED! That's also a big side of bacon. This sounds like my kind of place.

Glad to have you back for a bit! And can't wait to read about the ADR's!

Oh yes, that place gives huge portions of everything! They have really good burgers too, but there is another diner we go to for those that is a bit better for dinner (about 15 minutes from home, but still in Brooklyn). But sometimes we feel like staying home on the weekend and ordering dinner, and the Oasis delivers to our house! The kids love ordering from there too!

Don't know how much I will be posting in the next week or so...I go into work from 12-7 this week and next Monday...then next Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday I am working my normal day again (classes resume) PLUS rehearsals for SING until at least 8pm...I might be there until 10 or 11pm doing administrative things. And opening night is in.....just 10 days! Can't believe it's almost here already!

 

[franandaj]

Hey Bonnie, haven't you passed the 180 day mark for your ADRs? Did you make them yet?

 

[bangzoom6877]

Hey Bonnie, haven't you passed the 180 day mark for your ADRs? Did you make them yet?

Hi!! Tomorrow is our 180-day mark and I will be making my ADRs early in the morning! We leave 4 days earlier, because of the drive down (stopping overnight), plus the 3 nights in Tampa before we arrive at WDW. So, tomorrow is the day for ADRs!!!

 

[franandaj]

Hi!! Tomorrow is our 180-day mark and I will be making my ADRs early in the morning! We leave 4 days earlier, because of the drive down (stopping overnight), plus the 3 nights in Tampa before we arrive at WDW. So, tomorrow is the day for ADRs!!!

Yay for 180 days! Tell us what you get!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Well, SING ended last weekend and I finally feel like myself again! It was a terrific experience, and I really miss it already! The kids from both shows (Senior/Fresh and Junior/Soph) worked very hard, and both shows were phenomenal. On Friday night, audience members were leaving and commenting on how they couldn't tell who was going to win this year because both shows were that good. It's true...you really couldn't tell who would win, that's how great a job they all did. I would not have wanted to be a judge...even though they had a specific scoring sheet to judge with, it had to have been a difficult job. Saturday night was also incredible...and Senior/Fresh ended up winning the competition. They created a musical with a Dr. Seuss theme, and Junior/Soph created one with a 1980s theme. Overall it was a lot of fun to work with the kids, and really great to see everything come together from the very beginning!

Now for an update on my WDW trip planning...I made our ADRs on January 25th but I had been so busy with SING that I didn't get a chance to post them. Here they are!!

7/23/12 (arrival day): Kona Cafe 1:05pm; Kouzzina 6:25pm

7/24/12 (SeaWorld): Boma 7:30am; Grand Floridian Cafe 5:35pm

7/25/12 (no theme park): Ohana 5:20pm

7/26/12 (MK): Plaza 12pm; California Grill 5:50pm

7/27/12 (Epcot): Chefs de France 12pm; Rose & Crown 5:55pm

7/28/12 (DHS): Yachtsman Steakhouse 5:50pm

7/29/12 (evening only at Epcot): Kona 8:30am (going to change this to a later time...you will read why below); Garden Grill 5:30pm

7/30/12 (Epcot): San Angel Inn 12pm; Biergarten 6pm

7/31/12 (DHS): Sci-Fi 12:40pm; 50s Prime Time 5:40pm

8/1/12 (MK): Crystal Palace 8:05am; Boma 6pm

8/2/12 (check-out): Chef Mickey's 8:05am

I also booked the Pirates & Pals Fireworks Voyage on the night of 7/28/12, which is why I am going to change the Kona breakfast the following morning to a later time. Pirates & Pals leaves from the Contemporary Resort...we can arrive 90 minutes before fireworks start at MK...so that would be 8:30pm (driving over from the resort) since the fireworks begin at 10pm in July. They have snacks for everyone before we set sail, and the boat holds about 50 people. There is a photo opportunity with Captain Hook & Mr. Smee, and then the person driving the boat is dressed as a pirate, sings songs with the kids, and plays games and has trivia. We watch the fireworks from MK, with a great view and no crowds! When we return, there is a surprise character to greet the kids (the CM said it is usually Peter Pan)! So by the time we leave to go back to BWV, it will be around 11pm...hence, trying to change to a later breakfast time the following day. DH and I are not telling the boys about this!! We are surprising them and they will find out that night when we actually go! I'm a big baby and can't hide a WDW trip from them , but I can surprise them with something like this!

So, the planning stages will continue since I am not nearly as busy at work...although, on March 1st, I co-host a Benefit Concert with a colleague of mine, and I am also singing in it with some of the students and a colleague. All proceeds this year go to Breast Cancer Research. But, I have a week off from work beginning on Feb. 18th so I will definitely do more trip planning then!!

 

[Leshaface]

Glad to hear that SING was a success! Now you can relax for a bit, I hope.

Your ADR's sound great! Lots of good food on this trip for sure. Gotta say, I'm quite jealous of your 19 adr's!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Glad to hear that SING was a success! Now you can relax for a bit, I hope.

Your ADR's sound great! Lots of good food on this trip for sure. Gotta say, I'm quite jealous of your 19 adr's!

Hi! I'm trying to relax...but on March 1st I am co-hosting a Benefit Concert with one of my colleagues. It's the third year I'm doing this...this year the charity is Breast Cancer Research. Not nearly as much preparation or work as when I was doing SING, but I am also singing a song with a few students, so plenty of rehearsal time this past week, squeezed into my day! A lot of fun though, I enjoy doing it. It's a variety of different acts done by faculty, students and alumni and all proceeds go to charity. This year the theme is a tribute to Broadway and Hollywood. It's gonna be a great show!

But after tomorrow, I will be off for a week! I really need this break...with all the long hours I put in at work last month, even with going home on time now I am still very tired and feel like the week off is coming at a perfect time! Looking forward to spending time with the boys, not waking up at 5:00, and just relaxing! Next Friday, the 24th, will be 12 years since DH and I first started dating. The boys are sleeping at my sister's house that night and we are going out...not sure where yet but it will be nice to have a date night! The following night, my nieces are sleeping over our house...love it when they stay over here!

 

[bangzoom6877]

A while back, I promised a review of our 2-night getaway to Foxwoods...which was in November! Sorry it has taken so long to get this underway, but here goes...

We arrived at Foxwoods at around noon. DH was sick from a couple of days before (sore throat, and fever was 101 ), and he was really hoping that the room would be ready even though the guaranteed time is 4pm. We pulled up at the entrance to the MGM Grand, and gave the car to the valet...we were happy not to have to get into the car for a couple of days since everything is right there at Foxwoods, and you never even have to go outside to go to the various casinos, restaurants, theatres, etc. We walked into the lobby and it was gorgeous! When we got to the desk, we were informed that a room was ready for us, and we would be on the 28th floor, in a nice corner room with a great view! DH was so happy that he would be able to relax in the room for a while!

We got into the room, and it was beautiful, though small. But the perfect size for the 2 of us, with a king size bed. We started looking around and couldn't find the TV. And then...I noticed that the footboard of the bed looked kind of odd, like there was something inside it. Lo and behold, you use the remote to make the TV rise right out of the footboard! This was the coolest thing I ever saw in a hotel room since we had the suite with the champagne glass jacuzzi tub on our honeymoon in the Poconos!

I told DH that he should rest and take a nap for a few hours while I go exploring and get to know the place. We didn't have a dinner reservation that night so we could do whatever we wanted. We had tickets to a comedy show at 8pm, but that was all that was planned.

My first stop was the spa downstairs. I figured I would go for a mani-pedi or even just a mani. They only had room for a mani, an hour later, so I took the appointment. I went up to the main lobby where the casino was, and also some shops. I was a little hungry, and Junior's (famous restaurant in NYC known for its cheesecake...but also at the MGM Grand!) had a kiosk right by the casino. I stopped there and grabbed a small chicken salad and a diet soda. It was delicious! Then I stopped into the casino and blew $20 on the penny slots within minutes! Penny slots? Really? Well, in order to bet the maximum you have to put in $9 per pull!

So, I decided to go exploring the other side of the resort. Therewas a huge escalator and then a walkway to get to the other hotels (Grand Pequot Tower and Great Cedar Hotel) and their casinos and shops. I found the theatre where the comedy show was going to be that night. I also looked at some of the restaurants. There was a nice casual cafe that looked like it would be good for a quick but really good dinner that evening, if DH wanted to go there too. I roamed around the shops a little, and then it was time for my manicure so I headed back to the MGM Grand and right to the spa. It was a wonderful manicure, and I felt relaxed! I went back to the room to check on DH. He was resting, and feeling pretty much the same...I felt so bad for him.

After a little while, I went exploring again. I went into Crabtree & Evelyn and bought some holiday gifts, and I also picked up a gift for my sister since she was watching the boys for the weekend, and she loves stuff from Crabtree & Evelyn! Afterwards, I spotted a Chinese bakery that I remembered reading about online. I figured that DH would need to eat something at this point (he hadn't eaten since breakfast in Brooklyn that morning), so I got us 2 huge pastries to share. One was filled with sweet potato, and the other was a savory gouda cheese pastry. I got them, along with a couple of cups of green tea, and brought them back to our room. The pastries were delicious!! DH was happy to have them, even though he said he wasn't overly hungry. The green tea was also very good. But then DH started to feel a little sick about 15 minutes later...he said it was probably from the Zithromax he was taking, but I thought maybe the pastries were also too heavy for him. He rested a while longer (and so did I), and then he felt a little better. He said he definitely had some of his energy back, although not 100%. He was grateful to have had the afternoon to rest in the room and sleep for a couple of hours. He did say that he didn't want to eat anything too heavy for dinner. I mentioned the casual cafe I had seen, and he said that was fine, something casual and light. So, we headed to the Veranda Cafe for dinner at around 5:30pm.

We looked at the menu and it was huge! They had everything from burgers, sanwdiches and salads, to seafood entrees and steaks! DH decided to get the caesar salad with grilled steak, as this didn' seem like it would be too heavy for him. Here's a pic:

I decided that since I am always very good and eat really healthy at home, I would go for fish & chips!!! I asked the waiter about their fish & chips and he said it was an excellent entree choice. So, I took the plunge and ordered it:

Holy cow, this was so delicious!!! The fish was perfectly battered and crispy but not greasy at all...just the way I like it! The chips were also delicious, nice and crunchy and not greasy. The only downside was that it was so huge I was only able to eat about half the entree!

I felt a little guilty to have all this fried stuff and no vegetable, so I asked the waiter if I could order a veggie side. He suggested steamed carrots and that sounded perfect...this made me feel less guilty and like there was actually something I was eating that was good for me!

This was an excellent meal. I told DH that they also serve breakfast and we both agreed it was a definite possibility to return there the following morning!

After the Veranda Cafe we walked around a little bit and checked out the casino. We decided we would gamble after the comedy show which was going to start at 8pm.

I had bought tickets to the comedy show a couple of months in advance. The comedian was Jim Breuer from Saturday Night Live. Another comedian opened up for him and he was very funny. Jim Breuer was hilarious!!! We laughed our sides off and we were very happy we decided to go to that show!

After the show, we played some blackjack and I played some of the 25 cent slots. We were ahead that night by a little so we were happy! We turned in at around midnight, and decided to just relax for a while, and to sleep in the next morning. Even though DH was not 100%, he was feeling better and he felt like the following day he would be able to do even more.

 

[bangzoom6877]

I did a little tweaking to our ADRs:

7/28/12: added lunch at Sci-Fi at 11:30am...we decided to go to Sci-Fi for 2 lunches on this trip...we needed a lunch at DHS and the CS options are not appealing. We're already going to 50s PT for dinner one night and I feel like their menu is more for dinner than lunch now. We had no desire to try Mama Melrose, and the kids are not into the characters at H&V except for Jake. The only other TS left was Brown Derby, but it's too expensive for lunch. We were contemplating taking the boat back to the Boardwalk and having lunch at ESPN Club, but I know we wouldn't end up going back to DHS afterwards so it was just easier to book Sci-Fi again. The boys love it there and so do we, and there is enough variety on their menu of lunch-type foods, that we won't have to eat the same thing twice. Although, I wouldn't mind having one of those burgers twice!

7/29/12: I changed Kona breakfast to 10am (it was 8:30am before). This was because of the Pirates & Pals Fireworks Voyage we are doing the night before. Since it will be a late night, we will sleep in and have breakfast later, rather than have to set the alarm for 7am and wake the boys up early. This way we can sleep until 9am and have plenty of time to get there.

The plan is to go to the Poly pool for a little while after breakfast at Kona. As DVC members, we are allowed to pool hop with a few exceptions...but Poly is one of the resorts whose pool we are allowed to use. 7/29/12 is the day the rest of the family arrives to join us at WDW, so after a couple of hours at the Poly pool, we will head back to BWV, shower and get changed and then meet up with the family. We are going to Epcot that evening for dinner at Garden Grill and to walk around the countries.

 

[Leshaface]

I absolutely love Crabtree & Evelyn products. They are so luxurious and great smelling! Haven't had something of theirs in a long time.

Those fish and chips look phenomenal! Fish and chips are probably one of my fav dishes to eat (when i'm feeling good).

Haha I remember Jim Breuer as Goat Boy on SNL! He's funny! That's great that your husband was feeling well enough to make it to the show.

Oh man, you're so right about the CS options at DHS. Nothing good there, so great choice with going to Sci-Fi twice! I'm sure your boys love the atmosphere that this restaurant brings.

Can you believe, it's already March?! And your trip is getting closer and closer!

 

[bangzoom6877]

I absolutely love Crabtree & Evelyn products. They are so luxurious and great smelling! Haven't had something of theirs in a long time.

Those fish and chips look phenomenal! Fish and chips are probably one of my fav dishes to eat (when i'm feeling good).

Haha I remember Jim Breuer as Goat Boy on SNL! He's funny! That's great that your husband was feeling well enough to make it to the show.

Oh man, you're so right about the CS options at DHS. Nothing good there, so great choice with going to Sci-Fi twice! I'm sure your boys love the atmosphere that this restaurant brings.

Can you believe, it's already March?! And your trip is getting closer and closer!

Jim Breuer was very funny, and he did "Goat Boy" at the show!

The boys loved Sci-Fi the last time we were at WDW, especially when a clip from "Tom & Jerry" came on! Looking forward to going there twice!

I can't believe it's March already...and 10 days into March! We leave in a little over 4 months!! Everyone is getting very excited, especially the boys and my nieces. Unfortunately, my nieces have been getting sick lately. We were off the week of Feb. 20th, and at the end of the break, my younger niece developed a fever and sore throat. It was viral but it lasted a while and she missed the first week back at school because she had a fever the whole time (as high as 103 at times). My sister took her to the doctor twice but since it was only a virus there was nothing they could do, just let it run its course. She went back to school last Monday, but her sister had the same virus this past week and missed 4 days of school. If that wasn't enough, this morning, the little one was sick again...she woke up throwing up and has been sick all day with a stomach virus. My poor sister can't catch a break, and I feel so bad for my niece. Hopefully this doesn't go around their house.

OK, let's get back to some positive talk now...on to breakfast, our first morning at Foxwoods!

 

[bangzoom6877]

On the first night at Foxwoods, Eric and I decided to go to Junior's for some dessert...this was about 11pm, once we left the casino. We ordered devil's food cheesecake and red velvet layer cake and split them. They were HUGE!!!! I wish I had a pic of these, but I didn't take one. We couldn't finish them but we were still stuffed...totally worth it, as these desserts were like homemade! I think everyone should come to Brooklyn, NY at least once and have some dessert from Junior's...even if you don't lke cheesecake they have other wonderful desserts and everything tastes like homemade. And there's nothing like getting it at the original Junior's, here in Brooklyn!

We woke up at around 9am the next morning. DH was feeling soooooo much better this morning, finally! We decided to go back to the Verada Cafe for breakfast, where there was no wait for a table! They had a choice of an a la carte menu or a buffet...the buffet looked perfect so we both went with that! And we were both glad we did, since we could just grab whatever we wanted. The food was delicious, hot, and replenished often. The buffet was kept clean, with workers tending to it constantly. Service was also very good once again. I ended up going to the buffet twice. Picture of my first plate:

Small plate on the left is pineapple...which was sweet and delicious. On the large plate, clockwise from top: breakfast potatoes, french toast with brown sugar on top (the butter packet is for the french toast), bacon (of course!), a croissant, and eggs benedict. The french toast was good, but not the best I've eaten. Bacon was delicious, not too salty. Eggs benedict were wonderful and the croissant was good. Potatoes were tasty.

Then it was time to check out the baked goods...or as my kids would say, "breakfast desserts!" Here's a pic of what I had:

A chocolate pastry, an almond pastry, a cinnamon roll, and a banana on the side. First I ate half the banana (so I would have room for the pastries of course!)...it was very good. The chocllate pastry was delicious, as was the almond one. I liked the cinnamon roll, except it had raisins in it, and I don't like raisins that much. I only like raisins in bagels or in cereal (like Raisin Bran). So I ate around them a little, but the other pastries more than made up for it!

Eric ate pretty much the same things as I did. They also had an omelette station but we had the eggs benedict instead since that is something we don't usually eat, but I make omelettes at home all the time. The coffee was also very good. We enjoyed our breakfast and it was time to hit the casino. I did well on the slots, and Eric did well on blackjack. I won't say how much, but we did very well and we came out ahead. We ended up deciding to walk away when we were up, which was in the afternoon...and even though we were there until the following afternoon, we did not gamble again the whole time! It took willpower but we were so happy that we walked away ahead!

 

[Leshaface]

I hope your niece is feeling better now, now that's it's been a few days since your update. That's a joy i'm sure i'll get to experience over and over when my kids come.

Mmm, breakfast looks great! Love how the fruit is making an appearance amongst the other foods That almond pastry looks delicious. I'm a sucker for bear claws and 'breakfast desserts'.

 

[franandaj]

Wow! I missed a bunch here!

Glad you guys were able to walk away with some money in your pockets!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Hi, I know I've been MIA for a couple of weeks...just haven't had the time to go onto the DIS. I will finish my Foxwoods food porn really soon, promise!

Some WDW trip updates...DH and I are considering going to Hollywood & Vine for the character lunch on our DHS day when it is just the 4 of us, instead of a second lunch at Sci-Fi. We're tossing the idea around right now, since I just found out that DS4 (soon to be 5) is into Little Einsteins and handy Manny again.

Hey, look at my ticker...3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days until we leave home for our road trip! Pretty cool, not logging on for 2 weeks and seeing triple 3's!

 

[franandaj]

Take your time! I'm not going anywhere, at least for a month and six days!!!!!

I've found with the new deposit requirements ADRs are much easier to come by, so you should be able to change it up without any problem.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Take your time! I'm not going anywhere, at least for a month and six days!!!!!

I've found with the new deposit requirements ADRs are much easier to come by, so you should be able to change it up without any problem.

Oh wow, your trip is soooo close!! I have to get back onto your thread and catch up!

I forgot that it is easier now because of the new requirement to reserve a character meal. It looks like we're gonna try for an 11am ADR, which is the time they start serving lunch. It's an EMH morning so by the time we're at the park for 3 hours, the boys will be ready for lunch. Plus we go to Yachtsman Steakhouse that evening for dinner, and it will give us plenty of hours to become hungry again for a nice big thick steak!

 

[bangzoom6877]

OK, I'm back again, with more Foxwoods updates...seems like this is the neverending review of just a 2-night trip we took 5 months ago! I will tell you what I remember about the food, but this is a review of the dinner we had at Paragon, a very beautiful restaurant!

We started with some drinks...of course! I had a bellini, and Eric had a 7 & 7 (his favorite mixed drink). Thank goodness Eric was feeling so much better! The drinks were awesome and we toasted 10 years of wedded bliss together!

The waiter brought us some delicious bread while we looked at the menu:

This was an amouse bouche that the waiter brought to us...I can't even remember what is was right now, but I do remember being very impressed, and so was Eric:

Eric and I decided to share an escargots appetizer. The snails themselves were of great quality, but we found the sauce drizzled on them a little on the salty side. Still, not bad:

For our entrees, we both decided to splurge. We're both meat lovers and so we both went with fantastic cuts of beef! Eric got the Imperial Wagyu Eye of the Ribeye with foie gras truffle mousse. He said it was the most delicious, decadent meat he has ever had! Here it is:

I went with the Kobe Beef Short Ribs, which came with baby bok choy. Melted in my mouth, delicious, perfect!!

Here is a pic of the dessert menu:

Eric got his usual vacation after dinner drink, Bailey's on the rocks. I got some herbal tea to go with dessert:

We were already pretty stuffed, so we decided to go ahead and share a dessert. Eric left the dessert choice up to me, and I picked the Pumpkin Latte. Usually I go for something VERY chocolatey, but this had the chocolate mousse included in it, so that worked. Plus it was a seasonal dessert, and I love pumpkin! Eric is not all that into pumpkin but it's more of a texture thing...he won't eat pumpkin pie but loves pumpkin bread, for example. Here it is, a tiny bit deconstructed before I took the pic:

And that was our terrific anniversary dinner! The restaurant was beautiful, service was top-notch, and made for a memorable, romantic 10th anniversary dinner!

Only one more review to go...the brunch on the morning we headed home. Who knows when I will even get to it...hopefully before I go back to work on Monday!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Now that I have updated the Foxwoods review some more, it's time to update the upcoming WDW trip planning!!!!! I can't believe the trip is just over 3 months away now!

Well, yet again I have changed around a couple of our ADRs. I cancelled Rose & Crown dinner on 7/27/12 and changed it to Via Napoli dinner. I usually do not book Italian restaurants on vacation for 2 reasons. One, we live in Brooklyn, NY and have some really wonderful Italian restaurants (and I have high standards), and two, I cook Italian food at home all the time! But...a colleague of mine went to WDW Thanksgiving weekend 2011. She is Italian, she has lived in Italy, her dad is from Italy (he went to WDW with her), and she has excellent taste in food. She also knows my taste in food. They ate at both Tutto Italia and Via Napoli. She said that both were excellent, but she recommended Via Napoli over Tutto. She said the food at Via Napoli was slightly better, and the pizza was outstanding (both of us are pizza snobs). She said the boys would definitely enjoy it too, since they can have either pizza or their favorite spaghetti & meatballs...and to top it off, I will be speaking Italian to the server! On our 2010 trip when we ate lunch in Mexico, I spoke to the waiter in Spanish and the kids loved it. I try to speak Italian to them at home since it is part of their heritage, but they don't speak with me all the time. They just know a few words here and there and they like to listen to me speak it. So anyway, Via Napoli it is for dinner one night! I already have my eye on the Quattro Stagioni pizza (divided in quarters with one topping on each quarter...artichoke, eggplant, mushroom and prosciutto). The best of ALL worlds!

On 7/28/12 when we are at DHS, I cancelled the extra Sci-Fi lunch (we're going there later in the trip with the rest of the family). We love Sci-Fi...but recently, my boys started watching the Disney Junior channel a lot. They both LOVE Handy Manny again, they love Jake & the Neverland Pirates, and they watch Oso on occasion. My little one loves the Little Einsteins. So, instead of Sci-Fi for lunch we are going to Hollywood & Vine for the character lunch, at 11am. I would rather go for breakfast (better food), but it is an EMH morning and I am not sitting in a restaurant during that precious hour! So, after 3 hours of touring I know that the kids (and we!) will need a lunch break. An early lunch is also nice because we go to Yachtsman Steakhouse that evening at 5:50 for dinner, so plenty of hours in between to make us nice and hungry for some good steak!

I have also been working on our attraction itineraries! Test Track will be closed this summer because of a refurb, but the only one really looking forward to that was my son Philip (and Jonathan, to a much lesser degree since he was too little last time so doesn't know what he is missing), but I already told him and he is fine with it. He was sad at first but then we started talking about all the other rides and he was fine! It definitely makes planning easier, since everything else we do early in the morning is on the other side of Future World. On past trips, one of us would get fastpasses for Test Track while the other rode Soarin'. Now I can get all of us fastpasses for Soarin and meet everyone else at the next ride, and we can ride Soarin later in the morning.

At MK, the rest of the family wants to do the attractions we missed last time, plus Fantasyland again (of course!). That means a lot of Adventureland and Frontierland, and we will also explore Tom Sawyer Island and see the Hall of Presidents. I'm definitely up for all of that!

AND, last but definitely NOT least...a few days ago was the 1-year mark since I had spinal surgery on my neck for a badly herniated disc. I went to the surgeon today for a checkup, and everything is completely fused!!! I only have to go back to him for one more follow-up, but not for another year! I am very happy!!!