WE'RE BACK!
Came back to rain, ice, and 20 degree weather. Good times. So glad I decided to take off today since we didn't get home until around midnight.
Well, let me give you a full review of our trip.
Last Friday night Correl and I both got home around 4:30, did the last of the packing and by about 5:30 were on our way down to the hotel near the airport. We stopped off for some all you could eat sushi before arriving to our final destination at the Wyndham Garden. The check in person said our reservation wasn't put in for parking but added it (since my reservation on my phone said it) and we filled out some info, put a ticket on the car, and set up at 5:05am shuttle. They originally suggested an earlier shuttle but I said I preferred the later since our flight was 7:00.
It was hard going to bed early, a mix of excitement and not being tired at 9pm. But the next morning we woke up at 4am. Ugh. This is where the problems began. I took a shower, my husband continued to sleep and I had to push him to get up. I get ready, start packing everything that was unpacked and now my husband is rushing around, handing me stuff to put away and I see it's 5:00. I say I can't wait for him any longer to be ready, we need to go now and I take one of the suitcases and leave. The shuttle is already there and waiting to go, my husband is still no where in sight. I start to get annoyed and then he comes downstairs and says he can't find his phone. I say we can't wait any longer so he gets on the shuttle and I call the hotel and ask them to look for it in the room. They can't find it, so we get through the security line pretty quickly and Correl is all upset and grumpy. I call up Verizon and tell them to deactivate the phone and we try to eat something for breakfast. Our plane arrives and we are in boarding group B. By the time we boarded though it seemed like everyone in group C had already boarded due to children so we were able to at least sit together but the flight was incredibly full.
Anyway, 2 1/2 hours later we landed and were on our way to Magical Express. It was so nice to not have to worry about our luggage. We got in line and were pretty quickly on our way. They first dropped off people at Port Orleans and then we were the second stop.
Our room was ready when we got there around 10:30, check in was pretty quick and we went to our room to drop off some of our stuff. The view was beautiful, we could see the top of Spaceship Earth and the Eiffel Tower, it was great. Only problem was that there were two beds... but I wasn't willing to lose that view so since we sleep in a Queen at home anyway we kept the room - 5298. I highly recommend this room to anyone staying at Boardwalk, it was wonderful.
So first day was Epcot. We decided to do lunch at the Rose and Crown and it was a great lunch and I believe first of two meals I was able to eat all of... actually here is a breakdown of all of the restaurants and what we did as a summary.
DAY 1:
Epcot - We did about half of the park, went by quickly and the waits were only bad for Test Track and Soarin. We got back to the hotel around 8 and my husband fell asleep since it was such a long day BUT guess what... he found his phone in the luggage! I watched the fireworks from the balcony, it was great. The weather was incredibly nice, just needed a light jacket for the evening.
Rose and Crown: 8 of 10
Excellent outdoor seating
Garden Grill: 9 of 10
My favorite restaurant to start off a vacation with. Our waitress was awesome.
DAY 2:
MGM... er I mean DHS - We got through the park actually pretty quickly. Were in within 10 minutes of the park opening and didn't bother with fast pass, got in line and waited about 40 mins. We didn't get a fast pass for R&R Rollercoaster which was a mistake. The fast pass set up here, sucks. You are screwed if you don't have a FP here. FP gets major priority, it's not like the other rides where you just merge together eventually. ToT was great, got a FP so no wait.
Sci-fi Dine-in: 9 of 10
Atmosphere was incredible, the orange creamsicle shake though wasn't a shake, it was ice cream - thicker than a malt. Dip was pretty good, but warm not hot.
Chef Mickey: 3 of 10
We had a 40 min wait, waitress wasn't good and kind of rude, the food was disappointing, especially the dessert section. Last time I was there, there were 8 topping for the ice cream and now there are 2... it was all around disappointing and I will never go there again
DAY 3:
Epcot Day, we finished up the parks. Tried Mission Space (Green) and it was cool, I am glad I didn't try orange since I can get sick sometimes.
Kouzinna (breakfast): 5 of 10
The interior is nice, but the food was just okay. Waitress was fine, but all already felt "eh', won't go there again
Le Cellier: 9 of 10
A bit of a wait, but they were very nice. We finally got seated about 30 mins later and were very tired. The waitress was great and the food was delicious, the lobster macaroni and cheese was heavenly.
DAY 4:
Magic Kingdom. There was no more than a 10 minute wait for the Little Mermaid ride. The waits weren't too bad except for Spaceship Earth. We had teens cut us, I called them out for it and they pretended to back to the line but just cut people again. There was no point in saying anything since there are no cast members until you get to the front and by then it's too late and just my word against theres since most of the people they cut didn't speak English. Philaharmagic was beautiful as always, one of my favorites. I did horribly on the Buzz Lightyear ride... I don't know why!
Cinderella's Royal Table (breakfast): 6 of 10
The food was pretty good, I got the seafood crepe. The biggest problem I had was the way the princesses all started on the opposite side of us. I was really frustrated because we were alone in our section for most of the meal and I didn't think that we would see the Princesses at all. I didn't want to extend breakfast anymore than I already did and we got the check. Of course that's when ALL of the princesses showed up and we were able to see some of them before we left.
Narcossee's: 10 of 10
The food was exceptional. The lobster was just incredible and cracked already so I didn't have to do as much work. We were seated within about 15 minutes and got a table not far from the window. When it was fireworks time they piped in the music, dimmed the lights and we were able to watch the fireworks. It was a great night, although filling, but soooo good.
DAY 5:
Animal Kingdom day went by so quickly since it closes at 5. We didn't get to see everything I wanted to but enough. The best was the Safari when we got to see he lions. The male lion was making a lot of noises (growl/moan?) and the female lions were up and about, was so cool.
Rainforest Cafe: 7 of 10
I've always loved the atmosphere of this restaurant. We were seated quickly and our waiter was great. Portions are very large, one appetizer is too much.
I liked the appetizers and dessert was awesome, didn't care for the Shrimp Trio. The Shrimp Scampi was orange and I barely ate it, wasn't very good.
Be Our Guest: 8 of 10
This restaurant is BEAUTIFUL. The food was pretty good, I just didn't care for the minimal choices. Beast was around and taking pictures at the Study. I thought when we went in that the hostess said we could look at the other rooms, but we got yelled at when we peaked into one of the other rooms. I was disappointed in that...
DAY 6:
Initially this was going to be a misc day and continue on to Magic Kingdom but we actually finished most of everything. It was a BEAUTIFUL day (as it had been, no rain). So we decided to go to Typhoon Lagoon and I am so glad we did. We cancelled our Cape May Cafe breakfast and headed to TL around 10:30. The morning was wonderful, fairly quiet there. I didn't want to go on all of the slides, just the tube slides and there was no more than a 10 minute wait on those. We did the creek tube floating several times and it was awesome and relaxing. It started to get busy after lunch. We had a quick lunch (only QS meal) and then headed out around 2 since we had a Coral Reef reservation early on.
Coral Reef: 6 of 10
Usually I LOVE this restaurant, we had an early seating around 4:00pm hoping we could get a seat by the aquarium. We got a table close, but not right there. The problem was that they sat us next to a person who worked there. There were people CONSTANTLY coming up to them and talk to them, blocking the aquarium. I complained to Disney, got a "we're sorry" and that's it. The food wasn't great, my lobster pasta had... green in it which I later found was basil oil, but it wasn't mixed into the pasta. All in all, a disappointing experience compared to what I had experienced before.
DAY 7:
This was the day we were suppose to see Correl's grandmother. She had cancelled on us 2 days prior, saying she could do another day if we wanted to. The problem was I had said how important it was that we choose a day and nail it down. So instead we went to Downtown Disney on our own. It was hard to find stuff to do for the entire day. I didn't want to use park tickets this day so we could go to the parks on our last day. So we walked around, went to Splitsville which was very nice, kind of wish we could eat there. We also went on a boat ride which was very nice.
T-Rex Cafe: 7 of 10
Food was good, waitress was pretty good and the atmosphere was pretty cool.
Fulton's Crab House: 6 of 10
Waitress was okay, not that great. I wish we had the waiter who was serving the table next to us. The food was pretty good, the lobster was stuffed with scallops and shrimp. Calamari was salty.
DAY 8:
We spent the morning at Hollywood Studios, went on a few rides again and the evening we went to Epcot
Prime Time Cafe: 8 of 10
Fun atmosphere, food was good and enjoyed it
San Angel Inn: 4 of 10
I gotta say my rating has a lot to do with the very rude family next to us. The food was pretty good, but the place is so crowded and busy and the tables are too close together.
DAY 9: Last day

The last day. We were going to go to Le Chefs de France but I didn't feel like French food so we went to the restaurant in Morocco.
Restaurant Marrakesh: 8 of 10
It was delicious, the 2nd of 2 meals I ate totally. The entertainment was nice too, there was music and dancers.
Our flight was PACKED with teenager girls who where in Orlando for that competition. They actually asked people to volunteer to fly out Tuesday because they oversold the flight. It made the flight long and annoying because they sat behind us... but eventually we got back to Philly. The wait for the shuttle back for the hotel was kind of long but eventually we got back, got the car and drove home.
All in all, it was a nice trip but exhausting. I don't think I will ever go in February again because of all of the tour groups. For now on I am thinking October or early December. Also will never do Deluxe Dining again, it was a good experience but too much food and planning around meals. We couldn't get FPs for stuff because we had lunch reservations and couldn't eat at places we wanted to like Splitsville. I just felt constantly full.
Anyway, I had a lot to say and could write more, maybe I will later but this will be the last trip for a while to WDW at least until we have kids and I can't wait until that happens...