Here and Now: Daily reports from Dolphin

[lucysdad]

We arrived at WDW Friday night after a brutally long trip from Boise. We had to get up at 5 a.m. to meet our way too perky cab driver at 5:45 (he even arrived early, he was so perky). A two-hour layover in Denver, and then on to Orlando. Of course, ours were the last bags off the plane (although this is a request I don't recall making), and we arrived at the Dolphin with little time to spare to make our 7:30 ADR at Spoodle's. Check-in was not fun. More than half an hour in line, only to find that the ressies we had made, oh, about a YEAR ago did not include the refrigerator (more about this later ), but we did wrangle a $25 credit towards ice cream thanks to dd Lucy's fabulous straight-A report card (yes, she's MY daughter ). Anyway, we were put in room 4029 for the first night and were to move to 4015 for the remaining 8 nights the next morning. 4029 has a fabulous view of Epcot and overlooks the water right near where the Friendship boats whisk people to Epcot. Very nice room, things are starting to look good. Next post, the death march to Spoodle's.

 

[lucysdad]

Friday night, May 11th, 7:30 p.m. adr:

Please allow me to introduce our selves, we're a family of wealth and taste:
Well, not exactly wealth, and the taste part is iffy, but we are a family, which includes (on this particular trip) me, John, (lucysdad) the dubious 30-something-something leader of the pack, my wife, Michaline (lucysmom) (the I'm going to wear my birthday badge all week birthday girl), and our 8yo dd, Lucy (lucy), the pin-trading addict who will hit rehab after the trip.

We had been looking forward to gorging on flatbread appetizers since we began planning my wife's 50th birthday trip last year about this time. Spoodle's did not disappoint in the quality and quantity of delicious food. After perusing the menu for all of 10 seconds (we already knew what we wanted), we decided to dine on appetizers alone. We ordered the margherita flatbread, the mussels and the hummus to start us on our way toward overeaters anonymous. The margherita flatbread was great, totally delicious. The hummus with pita bread was also very good, though not in the same league with the flatbread. The mussels varied from nice, firm and delicious, to runny, I'm not so sure I should be eating these, gross. Let me add that I am not a mussel afficianado, I don't read "Mussel Magazine" or anything, but I do love clams, so I thought these would make a nice substitute . . . NOT! But, at the time they seemed like a good idea. Next up, we added some calimari, another deliciouschoice. Oh, and btw, dd in the meantime has been chowing down on the delicous steak-kabobs and sweet-potato fries, of which a second order was soon place. Soon, we were quite full and satisfied, with no inkling of what would happen later in the evening. Dessert took about a week to arrive, but that was because it took the waitress that long to prepare the candle that had been meticulously place in the center of my wife's chocolate orange cake (at least the waitress was sticking to that story), the whole restaurant sang happy birthday and we took the delightful stroll back to the Dolphin via the Boardwalk. At this point, I would have rated Spoodle's a solid B. Delicious flatbreads and hummus, very good calimari, and attentive, albeit slow, service. However . . .

Flash forward to 2 a.m., I'm fast asleep, yet I'm becoming more and more aware of some unwanted visitors. Those pesky mussels were beginning to party in my belly. This was not on the menu! I spent several very uncomfortable hours parked near porcelain trying to will the unwanted visitors out of my life (and intestines). Finally, exhausted, I managed to squeeze in a couple hours of sleep. So, I downgraded Spoodle's to a C, just out of spite, but by the end of the trip, I will probably revisit my decision and blame myself for eating too much. I guess I'm not the Mussel-Man I thought I was

Next installment: Saturday: Epcot, pin-trading, Garden Grill, Davy Jones and Illuminations. In real time, it is Monday morning and we're off to brunch at Akershus! Fully recovered and looking forward to the smorgasbord! We'll be trying out Soarin' for the first time as well.

 

[OhMari]

I love to read Here and Now TR's. Glad you are feeling better. You forgot to tell us about your "death march" from the Dolphin to Spoodles. I laugh about it, cause it happened to me and dh. We were at Richard Petty Driving School at 12:15 p.m. and had a ADR for the Rose and Crown at 12:30. We drove ourselves back to the BWI. Parked our own car, way out in the parking lot, and did the "death march" all the way through the Boardwalk Inn, Boardwalk and into Epcot. We arrived at 12:38 and the honored our ADR-.

I hope you can keep finding time to report in.

 

[lucysdad]

Ah, yes, the death march.

After the long and frustrating check-in process at the Dolphin, we had less than 15-minutes to get our luggage up to the room and get to Spoodle's on time. We began a long debate about the best way to get there that started in the elevator and ended in the lobby when we decided it would be faster to walk than to take the boat. Of course we didn't know which direction to walk, or where to go once we hit the boardwalk. It was kinda funny, walking fast and trying to ask for directions from people walking in the other direction without stopping. Fortunately, every decision we made panned out, and we arrived, breathless, at Spoodle's right on time (more or less)!

If I could have seen the future, we would have walked more slowly (at least I would have)! Well, it's into the shower and then off to Akershus. Feeling perfectly fine now. Must ... show ... more ... restraint ... at ... restaurant.

 

[sharonW]

Its fun hearing TR's from folks are are right in
all that magic!! Hope ya feel better and enjoy
every single second from here on!! Why the move
from 4029 to 4015?? Better views?? I like to make
note of rooms that people are happy with for future
reference. Have stayed at Swan and really loved
the convenience to epcot and the studios! Hope ya
get a dream!!!

 

[Keyana]

Enjoying your TR so far....Nice to have a live TR....even one from someone else in Idaho. Hope that you are feeling better and had a fab day in Epcot!
Keyana