Home from BLT.

[PghLybrt]

We just got back after a much needed trip! Before I left my Grandmother became very ill. It was sudden. My Mom still wanted me to take my nephews because she did not want to disappoint them. It turned out that my Grandmother passed away the Monday before the trip. Viewing was Wednesday and the funeral was Thursday. My Mom actually made the trip too, as we flew out on Friday. I think she really needed some time with her grandchildren that she never gets to see.

So that was the worst of the week before, however there is more. I guess I had indulged a bit on Halloween candy and a tooth was bothering me. It has bothered me off and on for a while and I have pointed it out to a few dentists. All of them said it was fine. Well I was sent to the team dentist and she took a look. She saw nothing wrong but wanted an xray. She then told me I needed a filling. Now she had squeezed me into her schedule, so she worked on it for a while and then got to a point where she realized it was much more serious then she had time for. So she temporarily filled it and made an appointment for me at one of her friends. I needed a root cancel. Fun! So off I went to the next and by 4pm I was done! (only about 8 shots of Novocain all day!) What a day. I forgot to start with Saturday! An employee took my GF's 350 Diesel to get it filled. They had a call to make and they needed fuel. He has done this a million times before. Well a few hours later, they walk in. They should have been 1.5 hrs away so I knew there was no way they had the call done. Turns out the truck died, right up the street. They towed it to the dealer. New truck, 10 months old. Wanna know what he did? The employee put gas in the diesel!!!! I turned to my manager and asked him how much that was going to cost me, he said 6-10. Ok no big deal I can handle a grand. He said no , not hundred! You mean to tell me just by putting the wrong fuel in a vehicle it can cause over 10,000 $$$ worth of damage!!!!

So it was really a great start to vacation!


As I said we left Friday and headed to BLT for the F&W. Check in was great, we got a really cute guy who upgraded us to the 9th floor with a view of the magic kingdom! I have to say I really did not think that I would care, however I was wrong. That was really cool. We did get to see Whishes from our room. They say you can hear it on the tv, well that night they did not play it. I do not care how many people told me that it was playing ( we called, many times). The station it should have been on had elevator music on, disney music, but still elevator music!

I have a bunch of pics I have to upload and my GF has the map as well as her personal comments to all the stands. I will have to get that from her.

I do know we tried all the food at the german stand. I enjoyed it. : )

We did eat dinner at cosmic rays. Wow, bad choice. It is the only choice for counter at the contemporary.

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

Oh my gosh! You've had a time of things. I hope that your WDW visit helped you to get some much needed stress relief!!!

 

[PghLybrt]

Oh my gosh! You've had a time of things. I hope that your WDW visit helped you to get some much needed stress relief!!!

Oh but wait, it gets better!

 

[PghLybrt]

Main bedroom Can you see the hidden Mickey's on the bedspread?

Living area

Artwork you see whan you 1st walk in.

2nd bedroom

SO as you can see we stayed in BLT. It was nice. The 1st unit we had was only a one bedroom. We then moved into a 2 bedroom. More on that one later!
I did post the 2 bedroom as the pics because they all pretty much look the same. Although we did get a unit with a roll in shower for the 1st part. The only complaint I had with that unit is that you can flood the entire bathroom because the water does not stay in the shower.

 

[Tony-NJ]

Geez - you had a lot going on! Looking forward to more report (I think LOL) and more pics!

 

[soulmates]

I'm SO sorry things started off crummy...the trip I'm SURE was a stress relief! Love the pics!

 

[PghLybrt]

So the deal with my girl is that she loves to eat, alot. She trains 5 days a week and plays semi pro football (semi becasue they do not get paid). Therfore the goal, as it is everytime we go, is to eat at EVERY food stand. My Mom and I just watched, and drank. I should also add that she can't eat beef. So there were a few stands we skipped.

So I start. China (descriptions are from the festival guide)

Pork Pot Sticker

Grilled chicken with cumin and traditional china spices

This one I liked but very similar to someting I make at home.

New Delhi, India

Rice and Lentil Crepe with potato and onion filling
Purple Haze beer - GF" Light and fruity"

We were told that this recipe came from a cast member that won a contest.

My Gf said, " It needs meat" I said...ummm gross.

 

[PghLybrt]

Geez - you had a lot going on! Looking forward to more report (I think LOL) and more pics!

I did have so much going on! And there is more! I do have more pics! It just takes so long to get them all together!

I'm SO sorry things started off crummy...the trip I'm SURE was a stress relief! Love the pics!

It was a good step away from reality, I even left my phone off and in the hotel!

 

[OrlandoMike]

It was a good step away from reality, I even left my phone off and in the hotel!

 

[PghLybrt]

South Africa

Goats do Roam ---- It was ok.

Vienna

Mushroom soup with Chive dumplings

I was looking forward to this one. I liked it so much i got this

to wash it down

It was not a favorite of mine.

 

[PghLybrt]

Germany

Spaetzle gratin with ham and cheese ( i would eat this for breakfast) Nuernberger sausage on a pretzel roll (tastes like my Oma's house)
Apple Strudel with Vanilla sause......so yummy
beer...... it has to be becks, but I didn't write it down

 

[PghLybrt]

Ok the rest of day 1
We went back to our room because we were all so tired. We ended up eating at Cosmic Rays. What a mistake. I had the roast beef sandwich ( it was to processed, made me sick) mom played it safe with the flatbread pizza and Val my Gf had some pasta. I knew that was a bad choice for her, she can't eat garlic unless it is fresh. No canned, powdered processed garlic for her. So we all ended up with bellyaches. I am sure the amount of wine and beer we consumed did not help either!

So we wanted to watch wishes from our room, I am a bad bad bad DISer and did not venture up to the lounge to say Hi. My Mom was not up for people other than family and to be honest we were just all really enjoying each others company!
Back to wishes. It started (great view!)

(View from room)
I turned the channel on the tv to what i heard was wishes. It was not there! We called te front desk, they assured me it was playing. I went though again.Nope no wishes!! However there was some nice disney elevator music playing. They told me that was wishes.

Wow wishes music really changed since that last time I was here!

 

[PghLybrt]

Day 2

Back to Epcot! I really think we could spend every day of our vacation there and be happy!

So today was more of the same, Food and Wine festival! We did however actually manage to do a few other things as well. We did goto the festival center to see if we could do any of seminars. They were all well sold out bty 9am we were told. Oh well. I guess it was just food stands for us today!

So this is trhe day that I found out one of the most beautifiul things in the world..... They now sell Yuengling in EPCOT!

I know, I travel all that way and still just drink a beer from PA!!!

Well I like what I like, what can I say?

SO to start off the day (after the festival center) we decided to gocounter clockwise around. That is whan I found it, yuengling. So we seriously sat on a bvench and people watched for a good hour maybe hour and a half. It was really relaxing and much needed. Then came the food.

Puerto Rico

Ham croquetas
chicken with rice

The 1st.....ummm gross : )
the 2nd... not really spiced, at all
We also had the frozen Bacardi Mojito Thast was quite good, not what I would normally pick out but all 3 of us shared.

I have to interupt---I am extremly grateful and lucky that my Mom and girlfriend get along so well. I often kid that my mom tolerates my brothers WIFE but LOVES my girlfriend!

The next was Chile- My GF decided that the day ws to hot for ceviche....don't ask , she is weird. LOL

Greece

Spanakopita - I loved it
Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki- my GF loved it she wrote "Damn Good"

Canada

I don't think i took a picture!
She had the spicy chicken sausage with sweet corn polenta
( She circled the spicy and wrote Damn Right)

New Zealand

Seared Sea scallop with vegetable slaw and Lemon Oil _ She said the scallop was not done enough but that the veggies gave a good balance
Lamb Slider with tomato Chutney
I thik she would have spent all day with these if we had let her.

 

[PghLybrt]

Ireland

Chocolate Lava Cake with Bailey's Ganache
Lobster and Scallop Fisherman's pie

Hmmmm no notes written, all I can take this as is that she thought it was ok.

Wethen skipped all the way to America, why? Becasue my Mom and I were hungry. My Mom and I are not adventurous eaters. So it was time for hot dogs. Besides I never get those at home!

We also took in a show! The American Adventure! One of my favorites! Val slept....the entire time!


Then we shopped! All through Italy and Germany.
We finished the evening by eating at the Beirgarten. My mom was surprised that it was a buffet. I can't honestly say I remember a time it wasn't. However we have been going since the day it opened. Any one remember? Food was good, still not as good as what I remember from my Oma's. We sat with a nice family from Illinois. I felt bad for them, I feel bad for anyone that has to sit with us (unless it is a cleveland browns fan).

Then we decided to call it a night. On the was out we did do spaceship earth. I rode with Mom and did not tell her that anything had changed. She laughed her bum off at the end. It was nice to see her laughing so hard. Then it was off to our room to wind down.

 

[Tony-NJ]

I LOVE that view! I think I had a hot dog ONCE at WDW - it's something that I would never think of eating and it was pretty dam good!

 

[Saxton]

Wow, I can't believe everything that happened. Well, Disney is a great way to relax and spend time with the family so hopefully things are starting to settle now. So did you step away from the Yuengling long enough to do the Sam Adams seminar?

 

[PghLybrt]

I LOVE that view! I think I had a hot dog ONCE at WDW - it's something that I would never think of eating and it was pretty dam good!

I really thought that i could care less about my view, afterall I was in DIsney! However after getting a view of the castle.....I am not sure I ever want to give that up!

Wow, I can't believe everything that happened. Well, Disney is a great way to relax and spend time with the family so hopefully things are starting to settle now. So did you step away from the Yuengling long enough to do the Sam Adams seminar?

Ummm Sam....there were other beers there? Huh?
Kidding, no we actually did want to do that but by the time we were near it we were late and it was the last one! My Mom also hates beer, she was sampling all of the wine, so I really didn't want to do something she didnt like. My GF was bummed but I promised her that we could do an actual tour of Sam someday.....I just hope they do that! LOL

 

[hematite153]

Thanks for sharing. I'm sorry you had such a rough week, but, I'm glad you got to follow it up with a trip.

 

[PghLybrt]

Thanks for sharing. I'm sorry you had such a rough week, but, I'm glad you got to follow it up with a trip.

Thanks!

 

[PghLybrt]

so Day 3

No Big Surprise! EPCOT!!

We started in the countries, none of them were open yet. We just sat and talked and waited.
Mexico

She did 2 rounds of this.
Corn tottilla filled with shreded pork and purple onions
Corn totrilla with chipotle chicken
Dos Equis

I really liked the pork.

Spain
We had the red snapper, and when I say we I really mean she! LOL She said it was really good. I do not think I have a pic of it.

Poland

Kielbasa and Potato Pierogie with carmalized onions and sour cream
Good....but not as good as mine. : )

Hops and Barley

They had the crab cake and the lobster roll.
VAl said that the lobster roll was the besyt dish of the show.
I tried none of these, instead elected on a pretzel!

We then went to lunch. In Norway. W e have NEVER had a bite to eat there. Honestly, I think I was always afraid of how gross it might be. However, after reading on here about it we went to the bakery there for sandwiches.

We ended up with a hot ham apple and cheese. It was so good. The apples were sliced so thin. Even my Mom (who likes less than I do) liked it! We also had the school bread. It tasted just like a toasted coconut marshmallow and some chocolate cake thing. As we sat there, we watched a 5-6 year old girl trying to stomp on the birds heads that were around. Of course her parents thought it cute. My GF had to say something to the effect that that is neither cute nor good parenting. We escorted her out!