Just Back! - added report!

[SecretPoohLove]

I will post a longer report later, but we got back Saturday night after being at the Poly from the 17-26. HOT HOT HOT. Great time, MNSSHP was GREAT!
The crowds were non-existant until mid week then BOOM! Not sure what happened, but they got much worse and a ton of families with school age kids...were schools closed somewhere? Lots of folks from Georgia and Ohio it seemed.

Watch this space for a further report by the end of today...

 

[SecretPoohLove]

I will just tell you what we did each day in terms of activities and meals, not too much filler sorry!

Thursday, Sep 17th: checked in at the Poly around 10:30 and the room was ready - exactly what we requested, 3rd floor Tahiti MK View. It was 3038 the last room next to the TTC. I thought I would get irritated by the horn noise, but it was actually soothing in a way and not too loud! Room was lovely, plenty of room. The fan (if there is one) never worked in the bathroom, but that would be the only complaint.

Headed over to Epcot and went to San Angel for lunch as a walk-up - no problem we were seated immediately. margaritas were excellent as were both meals , Mahi-Mahi and the pulled pork which was spicier than the waitress thought it would be, but yummy!. Went back to the hotel and over to DTD for La Nouba. Took a taxi and glad we did as we found out later was a bomb scare on one of the busses and they shut them all down for inspection.!

La Nouba was UNBELIEVABLE!!!! If you have not seen it, it is a must do. Top 3 event for us for the week - and we packed it all in!

We ate at WPE after the show. DH had the chicken salad sandwich - he enjoyed it but he rated 3.5/5 star, and I had the 4 cheese pizza, again yummy, but probably 3.5/5.

on to Friday.....

 

[SecretPoohLove]

We ate at Kona early Friday, Tonga Toast was 5/5 and Pineapple Macadamia nut pancakes were 3.5/5 - but only because there were more nuts than pancake! If you love nuts, you would probably rate it 5/5

We went to the MK friday - practically emtpy - walked on everything!

Friday night we went to the HDDR 7:15 show Tier 1 - actually we were dead center against the stage (first row). The show was really fun and we would do it again on our next trip. The food was the following:
sangria 4.5/5
Salad 4/5
Chicken 4.5/5
ribs, beans (not thick enough sauce), potatoes 3/5
Strawberry shortcake 4/5


another great day....

 

[SecretPoohLove]

If you can call playing golf relaxing! We played Magnolia early, but it was so hot we were still overheated by 9 am. Love that course, especially the Mickey sandtrap (which I landed in!)

The highlight of the day was JIKO!!! Can I say Yummy? Filet and mac&cheese, I almost thought I was in heaven.... 10/5 for sure.

DH had the short ribs, 4.5/5, but his starter of the duck rolls were incredible 5/5

Pistashio creme brulee was good - and my martini (can't remember the name of it, but it tasted like choc milk and packed the punch of a lapu lapu!)

 

[SecretPoohLove]

We slept in a bit and headed to Epcot. The night before we were able to get a reservation at Chefs for lunch so the free dining was not booking everything - maybe it was the online system leaving some tables open?

Soarin' was the only real line, everything else was 10 min or less.

Lunch at Chef's was very good, but even though the waiter said Remy was there, he sure didn't show up for us

We had the prix fix lunch, I had the French onion soup, ham/cheese sammy, and profiteroles (3.5/5 overall)
DH had the lobster bisque, quiche, and creme brulee (3/5 overall)

For dinner we went to the Biergarten...very enjoyable, but the show was too short! The food was good, but I honestly expected better from reading reviews...(3/5) However the beer was excellent! (5/5)

 

[SecretPoohLove]

Monday was a "relaxation" day for us! DH insisted!

We did a late breakfast at Boma - pretty good food. Of particular note was the Curried breakfast sausage slkillet, eggs with goat cheese and chives, carved ham, french toast and the african fruit with coconut milk, and the juice - all of those items would be 4.5/5 - the rest was about 3/5

we got picked up from there for our DVC tour. Now, I must admit that only did this tour to score the fast passes, but since we purchased BLT site unseen back in June, I figured we were owed the tour at least! The FP came in handy the next day for Toy Story...

After a bit of pool time, we went to the California Grill for dinner...I was a bit PO'd that were did not get a window seat, but we were so close to the kitchen it was fun to watch - no Gordon Ramsay types though! Very calm back there.

We had the snake in the grass and rainbow crunch roll (?) sushi - very good (5/5) DH had the grouper (4/5) and I had the lobster risotto - very small but tasty (4/5) because I had my eye on the chesse plate (8/5) from the moment we walked in the door and it didn't dissapoint! Once I got a loaf of sourdough and a dish of butter instead of that figgy stuff to go with the cheese - OMGosh I LOVE CHEESE!!!!!

We headed back to watch wishes from our room balcony...

 

[SecretPoohLove]

Hollywood studios..here we come! This was the only rope drop we went to, and it was so worth it. I was second to the FP machines for TSMM and scored 2 sets of FPs thanks to my DVC guide! So we did 2 times in a row and we did another ride later as well...What fun!!

We had an early lunch near RnR (pizza - not bad 4/5), rode all of the customary rides, and then went abck to change for narcoosees for dinner.

I will say that I am usually the commando type for the parks...go go go, run run run, do it all! But since we bought DVC and know we will be going back year after year, it was all much more relaxed...strange really, but very pleasant!

We went to Narcoosees, and I have to say this is the only place that we did not experience excellent service. The rest of the time, every server was impeccable. Was it because we were not on free dining? Who knows...but I have no real complaints.

As for the food at Narcoosees, after Jiko and Cal Grill it was 3rd (until tomorrow! )
We started with the cheese plate and cripsy duck rolls both 5/5
DH had the crab crusted halibut (3/5) and I had the surf and turf (4/5) - the lobster tail was no where as sweet as Maine lobster and the steak not as good as Jiko, but overall very good.

 

[SecretPoohLove]

What a day I had planned and what a day it turned out to be!

Our third anniversary began with breakfast at CRT - the princesses were very gracious and the food yummy! My DH expected more somehow in terms of the overall experience - but he is a guy (nuf said!) The only dissapointing thing was they did not do anything to recognize our anniversary and we only did the celebration notes for this and dinner. Oh well.
4/5

Then it was over to Epcot for the Seas Aqua tour..if you have never done this it is a must do. Wow. and very inexpensive for what you get. We got breakfast and a picture for CRT, but for $50 more, we got a picture, a t-shirt, and ......swimming with the fishes., sharks, rays, turtles! So cool and so easy. The only hard part was getting the wet-suit on. The guy that estimated me was a bit optimistic!

Then, you would think that would be enough excitement, but no....off to Victoria and Alberts for dinner. I can't possibly say enough about that dinner. The best food I have ever eaten in my life, paired with the most fabulous wines. I am happy to answer any questions about this or anything else about the trip....

Back to the room after being pleasantly full, and lo and behold, some Disney magic happened while we were out! Rose petals in the shape of a heart on the bed, candles, a picture personally signed wishing us a great anniversary by the big cheese and his lady, tinkerbelle in the room, personalized towels, a bath spa set, a dozen roses...and more. The DH did really well and was rewarded appopriately!

What a day!!!

 

[TLinden16]

I'm going to move this trip report over to our trip report board.