Mardi Gras Mambo: Trip Report

[Tooneric]

Saturday, February 5th:our convoy of three vehicles assaulted Beach Club Villas. "Name?" Says the guard. "Eric", I reply. "We're on a mission to conquer the world." "Welcome home", the guard retorts. Enter lobby with army of 9: me, DW, DS 13, DD 11, D-inlaws, D-friends with DD 11. Rooms not ready, but we begin our mission anyway. First stop: Beaches and Cream. Wonderful meal, DDE discount to boot. Saved a fortune this trip with DDE. Next, see about this Crush guy at Living Seas. Cool show! Smiles and wows all around, we catch a few rides and check in to our room. M-in-law’s key says John instead of Joan, a name she is repeatedly called for the rest of the trip. Rooms close to each other on ground floor, 2BR with pool view. Rooms in great condition, and I loved the quiet pool view, and no elevators to deal with. Next, Rose n Crown for dinner. Will we finally get a table outside? Yes! Right by the water! Boy, that Guiness went down smoothly! And right as dinner was served, Illuminations begins. By far the best time I’ve had watching Illuminations! To top it off, waitress gives private lessons to group on how to do the Queen’s wave, which is then featured throughout my video of the trip.
Sunday: Conquer MK, dine at Liberty Tree Tavern, watch Wishes, return to BCV for halftime (I too am a huge Beatles fan, Shan). A flawless day! After catching Paul McCartney and some of the 2nd half of the Super Bowl, I go on a solo mission: Find Rash. I knew my fellow Diser would be lurking at the BW, but it was not to be. Maybe next time, Rash. Still, I enjoyed the solo stroll along the Boardwalk, and even stopped in ESPN after the game for a few minutes.
Monday: Animal Kingdom: Beautiful weather, great time in the park. Dinner at Spoodles. My group’s overall opinion, just okay. I rent a Surrey bike at the request of the kids and volunteer DW to drive so I can enjoy my once a month cigar along the Boardwalk. DW is none too happy with me, but makes it safely around the lake with 5 other passengers, exhausted. My cigar companion’s DW takes over the driver’s seat and reaks havoc on the Boardwalk on a Mr. Toad like adventure. Sorry to anyone who might have been walking the BW that night! DW becomes Safety Mom, the other Fun Mom for the rest of the trip. DD and I make a late visit to Beaches and Cream. Yummy!
Tuesday: Mardi Gras! Breakfast with Minnie (OOLAHLAH!) at Cape May. Terrific meal and I get my picture with Minnie ;-). Hop on a boat (too bad the boat horn didn’t work for DW…). A great day at MGM, then Mama Melrose and Fantasmic! Another terrific day.
Wednesday: MK and Epcot for our friends’ last day. Kids get to ride in front of monorail. We leave them after lunch at Mexico. Off to AK for our Safari Celebration Dinner with two other families from New Orleans. What a nice event. The safari could have lasted a little longer, but still a unique experience. Preferred viewing of the parade, a fabulous dinner at Tusker House, entertainment, a snake and a spider, then back to BCV. Almost! It’s EMH at MK, so the two other families and I take kids while DW and inlaws retire. More crowded than eride, but we had a blast! Did a lot of rides in 3 hours. 3 parks in one day, and MK twice!
Thursday: DS and I do the guy thing and hit our favorite rides while the rest of the group sleeps in and eventually makes it to DD for a shopping quest. Glad I missed that one! DS and I walk (gotta love BCV) to Epcot, do SE, MS, TT... monorail to MK, do the mountains, Stitch, a lot of train time and more. Great day and great time with just DS. California Grille that night. First night of cold weather. It’s windy and the music didn’t play during Wishes (problem with new sound system), but still nice and a wonderful meal!
Friday: Already? Walk to Epcot, do the front and then countries later. Lunch at Morocco. DS and I get one last MS and TT in, and my first Churro. Two last beers at Rose n Crown with Father-in-Law, catch British Invasion (terrific as usual), Great Dinner at Chefs de France.
Saturday: Time for one last burger and shake at Beaches and Cream. Then the long trip home. I’m not sure if we conquered the world or if it conquered us, but once again I had a terrific time, several magical moments, great service, and can’t wait to go back!

 

[auntsue]

Thanks for the great trip report. I loved it. Fun and informative at the same time. You made me wish I was there right now! (We're digging out of a small snowstorm.) How was the weather? What was the temperature?

 

[Rash]

Nice report, Eric. Sounds like you guys had a great time! Had I known you were totin' cigars, I would have wandered the Boardwalk yelling your name! Too bad we didn't meet up - if you peeked your head in Big River Grille and yelled Rash, you would've found me.

Your "Friday: Already?" coment made me laugh, 'cause we always felt the same way. We solved the problem by adding 3 days at Universal to our vacations. Try it sometime. This year you would've caught their Mardi Gras parade and celebration, which was absolutely freakin' awesome! They actually had my 4 YO DD dancing and screaming for more beads -and she got them. I thought she'd develop back problems from the weight of them by the time we were done.

Judging from your report, I bet we were in the same place at the same time a couple times. I like to scream words for no apparent reason, so if you heard someone scream 'DISHWASHER" on TOT, that was me.

Gald you had such a good time. Thanks for posting your report - it was fun to read.

 

[lllovell]

I get so excited reading reports like this because it reminds me of all the things I have yet to experience at WDW!

Thanks for sharing. Glad you had a great time.

 

[tinkgrl]

Hi,

Thanks for the trip report!!! Glad you had a good time!

Allison

 

[lenshanem]

Finally got the trip report done, uh?

Nice report!

Too bad we didn't meet at MGM that Tuesday - We were there that day, too!

Did ya'll swim in SAB any or was it too cold?

 

[Tooneric]

Glad you all enjoyed it! Now to work on my pictures.

if you heard someone scream 'DISHWASHER" on TOT, that was me.QUOTE]

I think I would remember if I heard someone shouting "DISHWATER"! Too funny! One day we'll get to Universal. It looks fun, but we still can't get enough WDW. BTW, did you post a trip report? I'll bet your's will be verrrry interesting... Dishwater??? LOL

Shan,

Your report inspired me to finish mine. I wish we had met you two as well at MGM! I guess Rash was there the same day too!

I took my kids and the other kid to SAB on Monday. Just the lazy river and shallow pool were open. It was pretty warm that day. I noticed them painting the slide tube over the walkway one day.

 

[lenshanem]

Ya, there were lots of kids swimming at WL. I wondered about SAB, though...

Did you happen to have on Mardi Gars colors with beads that Tuesday? We felt really out of place, should have brought some beads.

 

[Tooneric]

Shan,

We had the beads, but no Mardi Gras shirts. We hooked up with some other friends for Mama Melrose and Fantasmic. We had a total of 17 that night. It was a blast!

You know the bronze busts of the movie stars near the Great Movie Ride? I took a picture of Walt wearing Mardi Gras beads. I don't think he would have minded. Some day I'll figure out how you post pics to your post, but right now I have to get the kids back to their homework. I come check the Dis and next thing you know the tv is on! Give 'em an inch...