We have a PS at Chef Mickeys for 9.30am this morning. So we take our time getting up and ready. As we are walking down to the dock we watch the ferry for the Contemporary pull away. Just our luck. Oh well, it has at least stopped raining so we sit and watch the world go by, actually 3 ferries for the Magic Kingdom. We decide we are getting on the next ferry that comes along; if its for the Magic Kingdom we will get the monorail from there.
The ferry must have heard our rumbling bellies, because the blue flag finally arrives, so we wont have to go to the Contemporary via the Magic Kingdome. I think this driver got his license from a box of breakfast cereal, he rams the dock at the Wilderness Lodge, nearly knocking us all into the lake, he forgets to slow down and riding the wake of another boat is like riding a roller coaster. We do manage to arrive at the Contemporary in one piece. Enjoying the cool air, we check out the Mickey Pool and take some photos before following the signs to Chef Mickeys. Neither of us thinks much of the Contemporary décor. Too bland for us, but we do like the monorail going through the middle of the hotel.
We are seated very quickly and the waitress brings coffee and orange juice. We both hit the buffet for round one. How do we choose what to have? I know, lets just have one of everything peanut butter and jam pizza, croissants, Danish pastries, French toast, Bacon, Sausage, Eggs, Potatoes, fruit, Mickey Waffles, brownies, donuts and dirt. We stop gorging ourselves long enough to have photos taken with Pluto, Minnie and Mickey Mouse.
One of everything and two of some things later with bloated bellies we cannot move. We cannot even make it up to the monorail; we sink into chairs in the Outer Rim and wait. I am not entirely sure what we are waiting for, but Dave seems to think that he cannot move, although he can still moan and groan that he ate too much.
I recover quicker than Dave, so I take a quick run through the shop, but nothing jumps out at me, so my visa is safe again today. Dave is ready to move again, that or hes really bored.
We ride the monorail to the Magic Kingdom, where did all these people come from. There is more people in the Magic Kingdom today that there has been all week. Last night I had found the tips I had copied off the Disboards and there was one tip about how to score 999,999 points on Buzz Lightyear. Dave wants to see if the tips work.
The wait for the standby line is over 40 minutes; my rule is no waiting for more than 20 minutes, so we grab fast passes. Well we try to, I get a fast pass, but the machine cannot read Daves annual pass. I try to find a Cast Member while Dave guards the fast pass machine. I think all the cast members are on coffee break, I cant find one; there isnt even one at the fast pass entrance to the ride. Finally I find someone and they just scribble a 2 on my fast pass, hey I could have done that.
We want to do Stitchs Escape again, but the standby line is over an hour, and the fast pass return time is 4.00pm thats over 4 hours away. No thanks.
Our Buzz fast pass is not good for another ½ hour, what are we going to do? I had forgotten that this is a holiday weekend; Monday is Martin Luther King Day. This explains the crowds. Dave suggests we ride the thing that does round ..hmmm, let me see Ferris wheel? Merry Go Round? AstroOrbiter? (No that ones closed for refurbishment), The People Mover? Ah I get it, the Carousel of Progress. Its right over there, and they are letting people in right now. The only bag thing is, now that song is going to be in my head all day.
Its time for our fast passes. Dave manages to hit the secret target twice and hes up to 200,000 points but isnt able to capitalize on it much. He finishes up just under 300,000.
By now the crowds are insane, you cant walk without banging into someone else, so we decide to call it a day. The ferry gods are with us this time, and we are back at the Wilderness Lodge in no time. Dave tries a little bit of rock climbing on the walls, but notices that some little kids are watching him, and he doesnt want to be responsible for breaking their necks so he comes back down. (He was really only about 4 inches off the ground).
What are we going to do for the rest of the day? I know, the balance on the visa is not high enough yet, lets go shopping.
We think about lunch but we are still digesting breakfast so we grab the car and head up to the Mall at Millennia. I drop over $100.00 on lingerie at Victorias Secret $100 in less than 10 minutes. Almost. It only takes me 10 minutes to walk in, find what I want and some things I didnt know I wanted and join the line up for the cashier. But it takes me 40 minutes to get to the cashier and pay. How come the rule about not waiting more than 20 minutes doesnt apply here?
The mall is just as crowded as the Magic Kingdom if not more so. Both of us are ready for a few less people, in fact I am getting down right crabby but I am not quite ready to go home yet. I have no idea what I want to do. We drive down International Drive just for fun! Driving aimlessly is not really my idea of fun, but Dave suggested it, and I couldnt come up with anything better.
At some point previously we have both read about In-N-Out Burgers, but we cant remember where. I see one on our right so we drive on in, I am about to go through the drive thru lane but see the carhop area. This cheers me up immediately; I have never had drive-in burgers before. Drive thru yes, but not drive-in where a carhop brings your meal to your car. The carhop who brought our food out is even on roller skates, this makes Dave laugh. And the meal comes with potato gems instead of fries, I love potato gems.
After we are fueled again we continue on. Second stop is a liquidation world type thing. I buy Mickey Mouse stickers for some friends at home.
Stop #3 is Bad *** Coffee Shop. There is one of these just down the road from our apartment and we love it. We just have to stop. Dave has coffee and I have a chocolate chip, raspberry and macadamia nut cookie. Its heaven. And I didnt think I would need to eat again today. I take some photos of the surfer, erupting volcano and surfboard menu to take back to our local Bad ***.
Stop #4 is not an elected stop, its a forced stop. Apparently there is a huge convention in town the Home Builders Convention, and they all appear to be leaving the convention centre as we are trying to drive by. Traffic is not moving, but we are no hurry, so its not the least bit annoying.
We are now both a little peckish, despite the fact that we have eaten a huge breakfast/brunch, a burger & fries and a cookie. We decide to spend our last night at Epcot and as I have one Q&C voucher left well have dinner there as well.
It takes us some time to decide where to eat. Our quest for a light dinner, but that still gets good value from our voucher goes something like this:
Fish and Chips in the UK fish and chips $6.49, (chips are the side dish), shortbread $1.00, coke $1.99 = $9.48. Not good value on an $11.50 voucher = No.
Boulangerie Patisserie in France we are not in the mood for a sandwich = No.
Yakitori in Japan we werent impressed when we ate here last year, and nothing else tempts us = No. But I do run into Mitsukoshi to buy a foot massager
Sommerfest in Germany this is looking better. We split our meal:
Bratwurst with Sauerkraut $5.99
Black Forest Cake $3.69
Coke $1.99
The Cast Member asks what we want for a side dish, (we thought the Sauerkraut was the dish) so we also get a pretzel as well $2.89
Tax .95c
= Total $15.51
Savings of $4.01
I show Dave the pickle tree in Germany, it makes him laugh. We wander slowly out, stopping to listen to the band in Canada, its not Off Kilter, they are not very good, they dont look happy to be here, so we dont stay long, we continue, enjoying the people watching and the lights on the pavilions of the countries.
We are glad to be home at the lodge, we stop at the Mercantile to buy a magnet for our fridge and a bandana for Noki, a friends dog.
We mix up a drink and sit on the balcony to watch the Electric Water Pageant. The board in the lobby says it will be at 9.35pm, and we are on the balcony just after 9.00pm but it never comes by. Maybe it was earlier? We stay on the balcony soaking up the atmosphere of our last night, watching kids in the pool, the ferries on the lake, listening to the stream & the geyser and Wishes. We cant see Wishes from our room, but we can certainly here it.
Good night. Sweet Dreams.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
The ferry must have heard our rumbling bellies, because the blue flag finally arrives, so we wont have to go to the Contemporary via the Magic Kingdome. I think this driver got his license from a box of breakfast cereal, he rams the dock at the Wilderness Lodge, nearly knocking us all into the lake, he forgets to slow down and riding the wake of another boat is like riding a roller coaster. We do manage to arrive at the Contemporary in one piece. Enjoying the cool air, we check out the Mickey Pool and take some photos before following the signs to Chef Mickeys. Neither of us thinks much of the Contemporary décor. Too bland for us, but we do like the monorail going through the middle of the hotel.
We are seated very quickly and the waitress brings coffee and orange juice. We both hit the buffet for round one. How do we choose what to have? I know, lets just have one of everything peanut butter and jam pizza, croissants, Danish pastries, French toast, Bacon, Sausage, Eggs, Potatoes, fruit, Mickey Waffles, brownies, donuts and dirt. We stop gorging ourselves long enough to have photos taken with Pluto, Minnie and Mickey Mouse.
One of everything and two of some things later with bloated bellies we cannot move. We cannot even make it up to the monorail; we sink into chairs in the Outer Rim and wait. I am not entirely sure what we are waiting for, but Dave seems to think that he cannot move, although he can still moan and groan that he ate too much.
I recover quicker than Dave, so I take a quick run through the shop, but nothing jumps out at me, so my visa is safe again today. Dave is ready to move again, that or hes really bored.
We ride the monorail to the Magic Kingdom, where did all these people come from. There is more people in the Magic Kingdom today that there has been all week. Last night I had found the tips I had copied off the Disboards and there was one tip about how to score 999,999 points on Buzz Lightyear. Dave wants to see if the tips work.
The wait for the standby line is over 40 minutes; my rule is no waiting for more than 20 minutes, so we grab fast passes. Well we try to, I get a fast pass, but the machine cannot read Daves annual pass. I try to find a Cast Member while Dave guards the fast pass machine. I think all the cast members are on coffee break, I cant find one; there isnt even one at the fast pass entrance to the ride. Finally I find someone and they just scribble a 2 on my fast pass, hey I could have done that.
We want to do Stitchs Escape again, but the standby line is over an hour, and the fast pass return time is 4.00pm thats over 4 hours away. No thanks.
Our Buzz fast pass is not good for another ½ hour, what are we going to do? I had forgotten that this is a holiday weekend; Monday is Martin Luther King Day. This explains the crowds. Dave suggests we ride the thing that does round ..hmmm, let me see Ferris wheel? Merry Go Round? AstroOrbiter? (No that ones closed for refurbishment), The People Mover? Ah I get it, the Carousel of Progress. Its right over there, and they are letting people in right now. The only bag thing is, now that song is going to be in my head all day.
Its time for our fast passes. Dave manages to hit the secret target twice and hes up to 200,000 points but isnt able to capitalize on it much. He finishes up just under 300,000.
By now the crowds are insane, you cant walk without banging into someone else, so we decide to call it a day. The ferry gods are with us this time, and we are back at the Wilderness Lodge in no time. Dave tries a little bit of rock climbing on the walls, but notices that some little kids are watching him, and he doesnt want to be responsible for breaking their necks so he comes back down. (He was really only about 4 inches off the ground).
What are we going to do for the rest of the day? I know, the balance on the visa is not high enough yet, lets go shopping.
We think about lunch but we are still digesting breakfast so we grab the car and head up to the Mall at Millennia. I drop over $100.00 on lingerie at Victorias Secret $100 in less than 10 minutes. Almost. It only takes me 10 minutes to walk in, find what I want and some things I didnt know I wanted and join the line up for the cashier. But it takes me 40 minutes to get to the cashier and pay. How come the rule about not waiting more than 20 minutes doesnt apply here?
The mall is just as crowded as the Magic Kingdom if not more so. Both of us are ready for a few less people, in fact I am getting down right crabby but I am not quite ready to go home yet. I have no idea what I want to do. We drive down International Drive just for fun! Driving aimlessly is not really my idea of fun, but Dave suggested it, and I couldnt come up with anything better.
At some point previously we have both read about In-N-Out Burgers, but we cant remember where. I see one on our right so we drive on in, I am about to go through the drive thru lane but see the carhop area. This cheers me up immediately; I have never had drive-in burgers before. Drive thru yes, but not drive-in where a carhop brings your meal to your car. The carhop who brought our food out is even on roller skates, this makes Dave laugh. And the meal comes with potato gems instead of fries, I love potato gems.
After we are fueled again we continue on. Second stop is a liquidation world type thing. I buy Mickey Mouse stickers for some friends at home.
Stop #3 is Bad *** Coffee Shop. There is one of these just down the road from our apartment and we love it. We just have to stop. Dave has coffee and I have a chocolate chip, raspberry and macadamia nut cookie. Its heaven. And I didnt think I would need to eat again today. I take some photos of the surfer, erupting volcano and surfboard menu to take back to our local Bad ***.
Stop #4 is not an elected stop, its a forced stop. Apparently there is a huge convention in town the Home Builders Convention, and they all appear to be leaving the convention centre as we are trying to drive by. Traffic is not moving, but we are no hurry, so its not the least bit annoying.
We are now both a little peckish, despite the fact that we have eaten a huge breakfast/brunch, a burger & fries and a cookie. We decide to spend our last night at Epcot and as I have one Q&C voucher left well have dinner there as well.
It takes us some time to decide where to eat. Our quest for a light dinner, but that still gets good value from our voucher goes something like this:
Fish and Chips in the UK fish and chips $6.49, (chips are the side dish), shortbread $1.00, coke $1.99 = $9.48. Not good value on an $11.50 voucher = No.
Boulangerie Patisserie in France we are not in the mood for a sandwich = No.
Yakitori in Japan we werent impressed when we ate here last year, and nothing else tempts us = No. But I do run into Mitsukoshi to buy a foot massager
Sommerfest in Germany this is looking better. We split our meal:
Bratwurst with Sauerkraut $5.99
Black Forest Cake $3.69
Coke $1.99
The Cast Member asks what we want for a side dish, (we thought the Sauerkraut was the dish) so we also get a pretzel as well $2.89
Tax .95c
= Total $15.51
Savings of $4.01
I show Dave the pickle tree in Germany, it makes him laugh. We wander slowly out, stopping to listen to the band in Canada, its not Off Kilter, they are not very good, they dont look happy to be here, so we dont stay long, we continue, enjoying the people watching and the lights on the pavilions of the countries.
We are glad to be home at the lodge, we stop at the Mercantile to buy a magnet for our fridge and a bandana for Noki, a friends dog.
We mix up a drink and sit on the balcony to watch the Electric Water Pageant. The board in the lobby says it will be at 9.35pm, and we are on the balcony just after 9.00pm but it never comes by. Maybe it was earlier? We stay on the balcony soaking up the atmosphere of our last night, watching kids in the pool, the ferries on the lake, listening to the stream & the geyser and Wishes. We cant see Wishes from our room, but we can certainly here it.
Good night. Sweet Dreams.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
