Dancind
Tinkerbell's Mom
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2001
- Messages
- 7,730
Trip Dates: May 4-13, 2002.
Participants: Me (Diana), major planner of WDW vacations ; DH (Kevin) slowly becoming more Disneyfied; and Tinkerbell (Alicia, just turned 11).
WARNING: LONG REPORT!
No, not a trip to Celebration, FL, but our third trip in the past year and this time during the week of my birthday, our anniversary, and Mothers Day! Our Sept. 2001 trip was chronicled in the Cindy, Al & Tink report, and our Dec./Jan. trip in the Dancerina Dilletente report. Three trips in one year was very unusual for us, our first and only prior trip was in 1999. But Southwest had those great fares, and we wound up buying a DVC membership with banked points, and annual passes.
Our arrival date was my birthday, getting into Orlando at 3:30 pm. We were trying BWV for the first time, and had made our plans around being at this location. We stopped at Goodings and did some kamikaze shopping, arriving at BWV at about 5. The room they gave us was smoking, and there were no other non-smoking 1 BRs available. So we wound up going to dinner, putting our $150 worth of groceries into storage overnight, and checking into a non-smoking studio. The next morning we checked out and back into a 1 BR later in the day. This arrangement took over an hour (not including dinner) and was NOT FUN, but was really the only bad part of the trip. Well, besides a couple of meals. But I digress.
Dinner that night was at Flying Fish, and it was quite wonderful. We selected a bottle of Fess Parker Chardonnay, made especially for Disney. Seemed appropriate, and it was very good. We had appetizers (calamari) and I ordered the potato encrusted bass with leeks, DH ordered a special fish dish, I believe it was Wahoo? Both were delicious. The waiter asked if the chef would make an Alfredo sauce for Tinks pasta, and he did, so she was very happy. For dessert, I ordered the lava cake, cant remember what DH ordered, Tink had ice cream. When the desserts came out, the waiter brought a crème caramel with berries for my birthday. We had a hard time finishing three desserts, but we managed. Now, I am a chocoholic, but that crème caramel was the best of the three. Wonder if we can go back just for that, since our bill was $170? Not something we do every day!
Back to put our luggage in our room, and then caught the bus to MK, since this night was the only night of our trip to see Spectromagic and the fireworks. We had not seen Spectromagic since our first trip in 1999, so I was determined. The bus was right there, and upon arriving at MK I stopped to get a birthday button. I was a little disappointed that noone asked for proof! The CMs are great about noticing the button and wishing you a Happy Birthday. Spectro was just ending, but we had planned on the 10 pm parade anyway, so we got busy looking for pin trades and pins to buy, then found a spot to watch the real Tinkerbell fly over our heads. We watched the fireworks from the back of the castle, since we were actually on the bridge when she flew. Soon after, we got a spot for the parade, which was as beautiful as remembered.
Sunday, May 5 and Epcot. Test Track had been too crowded in Jan., so that was first. We had a very long wait in the Fast Pass line because of technical difficulties. I think we were in there almost an hour. DH was swearing never again by the time we finally got on the ride. Im sure well do it again, its too much fun. Journey through Imagination was still not working (from Jan?), so we headed to World Showcase by way of Innoventions. We were searching for lanyard pins this week, and by now had found about three. The nice CMs in Innoventions were telling us places to try and find the pins, and gave some good suggestions. We had the best luck in some of the stores, especially the store in the Land pavilion and the tent store in Toontown at MK. Of course, when we went back to these stores we had no luck, so its all timing I guess. We spent a little time in some of the nation pavilions, even rode the boat in Mexico (hey, it was Cinco de Mayo!), and had lunch at Yakitori in Japan. Deciding it was time for checking in and cooling off, we headed back to BWV, where DH and Tink headed to Luna pool. Our afternoon break lasted until 7:30 pm! We did get to MGM in time to ride TOT and RnR coaster once each before getting seats for Fantasmic just 15 minutes prior to the show. This put us in the next to last section to the left, about 7th row up. Great seats actually, right in front of a water spray. Our late entry would probably not work out most of the year, but in early May no problem! Since our room at BWV was at the very back end, we walked to MGM and back. It was a little scarier on the way back, after seeing a large black snake when we exited Fantasmic!
On Monday we decided it was time to try the new coaster at AK. We hit it twice with a walk on, giggling all the way. Very lame ride for the first half, but you cant stop laughing when you start spinning! Six thumbs up! We played some carnival games, snagged some lanyard pins from the CM working the Triceratops Spin, and bought some PinoRama pins at the cart. When the CM reminds you of the price per pin, I guess youre going overboard. I like to get two of each for trading! We caught the bird show, and did two trips on Kali Rapids. Actually, I sat out the second trip and managed to get the water gun on the bridge in time to shoot water at my family! By this time we were steaming, so I got dropped off at Downtown Disney, and Tink and DH headed to Typhoon Lagoon. This was the first visit we have made to a water park in all our trips, but I just wasnt up to it that day. Shopping sounded better. And with my AP discount, I had some real fun at World of Disney and sent everything back to the room. First I stopped at Wolfgang Puck Express and had a very yummy grilled chicken Caesar sandwich, too big to finish. I noted the reasonable prices and large portions at this restaurant for future reference! I had taken my pin backpack to WOD, but no traders were around. Decided to head back to Epcot and see if any trading was going on there. After the bus stopped at Typhoon Lagoon, the Swan, the Dolphin, the Yacht Club, I finally got off at the Beach Club and walked to Pin Central in Epcot. No traders there either, so I rewarded myself for all the walking with a frozen mocha from the new coffee shop and walked back to the room to do laundry and fix dinner. Family returned close to 7, having shut down the water park, and the reports were good. The wave pool was reported to be awesome, and Tink even went down the biggest slide once. Glad I wasnt there. She had a panic attack when trying to snorkel, which was strange since she did great at Discovery Cove last fall. The lifeguard actually went in and carried her out of the shark pool. Glad I wasnt there for that, either! That night we vegged, we were all very tired.
Tuesday the 7th was our 14th anniversary, and I had big doins planned! Light breakfast, then to Epcot. Saw some attractions around Future world until time for our PS at Garden Grille at 11:20. Nice meal, the characters came around several times, but Tink was being shy. The teenagers near our table were having a great time though, dancing with the characters. Time for dessert, and the waiter brought a cake to our table. A couple of other CMs came along, stood Tink up and loudly announced and this young lady is celebrating ?. She looked at me, and I said uh, her parents anniversary? Pretty funny. They whisked away the Birthday cake, brought back the same cake with an anniversary topping, and our rehitching began. My daughter was so amazed when we attempted to kiss for 100 counts, she forgot to take pictures! Luckily, one of the CMs took the camera from her and took some. It was fun, and a surprise for DH. So, were official now!
We decided to get in line for the Land tour, since we hadnt seen it since 1999. Big mistake. We thought how bad could it be, but apparently everyone gets Fast Pass for this one. 45 minutes later, we finally got on a tram. Nice tour, but get Fast Pass if you want to go.
We had to go to Japan, since we promised Tink she could buy an oyster this trip, and she wanted one from there. She picked the biggest one she saw, and wound up with a 7 ½ mm pearl (average is 6 mm). They banged the gong and did a little ceremony for her, what a kick! So of course we had to buy a setting. Expensive stop, but we had one thrilled kid. I have a feeling this is going to be a new tradition. I told her to get 6 mm ones on our next two trips, so she can have earrings!
Ok, we were hot now. Did I mention that the temp for most of the week was in the 90s, with 40-80% humidity? No rain until the day we left, Florida was in drought conditions. Some of the vegetation was looking a little brown around the edges, started to remind us of home. We were planning dinner at Palio that evening, and Tink was going to spend a couple of hours at the Harbor Club, since BWs child care center was closed on Tuesdays. So we thought a pool hop to Stormalong Bay was in order. I took her over, and we swam for a while. I even did the slide, forgetting to hold my nose at the end as advised. DH showed up at 6:15 so I could go clean up and meet him at Palios at 7. This almost worked, he was about 15 minutes late. Getting the kid out of the pool, changed, and over to the Harbor Club wasnt accounted for. We had a super dinner at Palios, and our 20% DVC discount made it a good deal. We had hoped to try the Taste of Palio, but alas, it is no more. We had bruschetta and calamaretti for appetizers, a bottle of Savignon Blanc from California, and seafood entrees, the risotto for me. We even had dessert, and our bill was around $130 with tip. I call that a bargain! It was lovely, romantic, and delicious. Well go back for sure. And Tink enjoyed her evening, especially the part where she beat some boys at video games.
So it was already Wednesday, the 4th full day of our trip! Tink wanted to really do MK, so off we went. This was the day we really scored on the Cast Lanyard pins, they seemed to be everywhere. By the end of the day, we had all of the pins but one. We Fast Passed Splash Mountain and Jungle Cruise, among others. We saw some of the minor attractions, things we dont get to see when weve done E-night. Tink was not enthused about swimming that day, so the nice cool movie theatre was our top choice for an afternoon break. We saw Spiderman at Downtown Disney, great flick, and a must see before our visit to Universal/IOA the coming weekend. We made our 6:30 Boma reservation in good time, didnt even make it out to the Savannah viewing area before we got buzzed. Although very noisy, the food was as good as ever. The seafood stew alone would have made a great meal, but we managed not to stuff ourselves as much this time. I did finish off a Zebra Dome though. Back to BWV in time to walk over to the BC bridge and watch Illuminations. We decided that being there was better, and watched the cruise boats longingly. Next time!
Thursday started early at MGM, the park where we always let Tink plan the agenda. Since we had already done RnR (which gave us all headaches from banging around this time) and TOT, we decided to do shows and Millionaire, and Star Tours. I noticed a very annoying trend at the shows, first the Little Mermaid, then Beauty & the Beast. The adults around us chatted away during the entire show, most of them were there without kids. At B&B a woman and her teenaged daughter were actually mocking the show, with the Mom being the most vocal. I gave her several dirty looks and she finally shut up. I felt like asking her, why are you here? We did a show of WWTBAM in the morning, and a 9 yo girl got in the hot seat on the Fastest Finger question, and got to have her Dad help. So when my barely 11 yo made it by being #1 on the board that afternoon, she asked if her Mom or Dad could help! Of course, we couldnt. But she did great. Lots of dramatic faces, but clear, sure answers. She used two lifelines to get to 1000 points, and then missed a Sesame Street question at the 2000 mark. She hasnt watched Sesame Street in a while! But she was very proud (and so were we) of her cap, lanyard, and pins. In fact, she wore the cap the rest of the week!
Well, we couldnt top that, so we headed back for a bite at Beaces & Cream. Our celebrity loves their shakes, that root beer float was pretty good too! DH took a nap while Tink and I played games in the BWV Community Hall. This was fun, they have air hockey, foosball, table tennis, and a couple of others. Nice place, will have to check OKW and see if they have something like this. We had tickets for Cirque du Soleils 6 pm show. The show was as wonderful as we remembered from 1999, and our seats were better this time. Not as close, but we didnt strain our necks looking up. Tink loved seeing some of the same acts, and loved the clowns. After, we went into Wolfgang Puck Express for pizzas, and took them back to our room to watch Survivor and CSI. I guess we should skip our shows while at WDW, but that was the only TV we watched all week.
Friday May 10
Last day at BWV. Up fairly early to pack the car. We decided to hit MK this morning to try and get the last lanyard pin we needed. We arrived at about 10 am and the places we had luck in earlier in the week yielded no pins. So we wondered around, did some attractions, had snacks at Tomorrowland. Fast Pass for Buzz, I had no luck hitting the back of the Robot. In January, I had scored 999,999 points, guess that was a fluke. We watched the afternoon parade as we were exiting the park. We felt very sorry for the Lost Boys in those fur costumes, they were wiping their faces with their ears! One last stop into the photo shop by the entrance to get a picture pin of Tink with Tinkerbell! Very cute pin, Im trying to get her to let me have it. We also got our last lanyard pin from a CM in the big store on Main Street on the way out. Mission accomplished!
By this time, we really wanted to jump in a pool, so we headed over to Portofino Bay to see if our room was ready. Last September, we stayed 2 nights at HRH at the end of our trip. We checked in at 9 am to get our keys for FOTL, and our room was ready! Not only that, they upgraded us to Club Level and a deluxe room! This time was very different. There were several conventions at PBH, and no rooms were ready nor upgrades available. There wasnt even room to check our luggage, we had to leave it in the car. We decided to eat then try again. After a nice late lunch at the Trattoria, (excellent turkey pastrami Ruebens, and the fresh berries with Tinks PB sandwich were to die for) the room was ready, overlooking the main plaza which was being set up for a private party. Noticing that the speakers were directly under our third floor window, I called the front desk to ask when the party would be over. Oh, by 9 pm, OK. Off to the pool. Tink loved this pool, stayed in it for a good three hours. The area around the slide is deep, and she was able to do some of her synchronized swimming stuff. Although she missed the underwater music at the HRH pool. We went in periodically, too, it was slightly cooler than the Disney pools and refreshing. Would be a terrific pool for little kids, too, they have a nice sand beach on one end with zero entry, and its a very large pool. Very nice, with a bar and pizzaria close by. Crowded, though, with so many people at the hotel. After cleaning up, we caught the boat to City Walk. We were lucky all weekend that we never had to wait for a second boat, many people did. The boats were only running every 20 minutes even with the full hotel, and we caught the bus a couple of times though it wasnt a lot faster. By the end of the day, we were just too tired to try the walk.
We had always wanted to try Margaritaville, so decided on it for a late dinner. The wait was 1 ½ hours, but with our room key, we got called after 45 minutes. The restaurant seemed delightful with a lot going on, and there were guys on stilts making elaborate balloon hats for tables in our room. Tink was instantly fascinated, and watched them non-stop. We were there a total of 1 ½ hours. The guys with the balloons moved out of our room after the first 15 minutes, and never came back. She could still see them, though, making hats on the two levels above us. We had the calamari appetizer (yes, we do like Calamari), and it was pretty bad. Very small serving, they filled the plate up with chips! We both ordered the jambalaya. Not a good choice, tasting of canned tomato sauce with chili powder added and small frozen shrimp. Can you tell we were not impressed with the food? We decided to pass on dessert. We were ready to leave, but had promised our very worried daughter that she would get a balloon hat. Noticed several parties around us in the same boat. She finally went upstairs to ask, and was told they were out of balloons! There were large parties of adults sitting there with hats made of 4-6 balloons, and no balloons for the kids. Is there something wrong with this picture? At this point, a manager wondered by, and asked how we were doing. I didnt say anything about the food, deciding to mention our most urgent problem, our unhappy kid. He came back with a balloon made to look like a parrot that would sit on Tinks arm. Dont know how he did it, but it saved our evening. Not sure what they did about the other kids, though. Moral of the story? If you have a kid, dont go to Margaritaville late in the day. Or maybe, dont go at all.
Taking the boat back was a treat. When you enter the PBH Harbor, the entire hotel is strung with lights. Its gorgeous, as is the whole hotel. Im sure I dont need to tell you that the music at the party didnt stop at 9 pm. Though no more people were at the party, the music was still going at 11 pm. After a couple of irate calls to the front desk, it was finally turned off.
Saturday morning we got a semi-early start. We had FOTL, so werent worried that we would miss anything, and Tink just moves slowly in the mornings. We got pastries and coffee at the Deli, and I have to tell you; I would stay at PBH again just for the berry croissant from the deli. Oh my, it was good. DH and Tink liked their choices, too, the chocolate muffins got the most comment. Seemed like a long wait for the boat, but finally off to IOA. When you are at the PBH dock, look for the very large soft-shell turtle. We want to know how its doing.
Our plan for IOA was to do all the favorites again, and hit some things we missed last time, including the Sinbad show and a ride for me on Hulk. Also very important was lunch at Mythos, our first stop being for reservations. Next stop, Fire and Ice. Fun, but I got the black out reaction after the first loop on Ice. I know its from the G forces, and will have to try tightening my leg muscles next time. It happened again on Hulk later in the day, I wont mind not going on that one again. Only 2 ½ minutes? It seemed a lot longer. My DH let me take Tink on it this time, he did the honors last trip. FOTL worked really well, we only waited a little for shows. We still havent done Dr. Doom, Tink simply refuses to go on that one. I guess it looks worse that TOT because you can see the whole thing, but she barely tolerates TOT anyway. We had to bribe her to go on the Jurassic adventure again, she hates jump rides too. She really enjoyed Sinbad. It has a great female character for a change! A tip for the Poseidon show, if the crowds arent bad, dont use FOTL. It puts you at the front in the first room, but you wind up in the back for the next two rooms where the action really takes place. Our kid saw nothing in the last room, neither did I. We were really looking forward to Spiderman since wed seen the movie two days earlier, and it did enhance the ride. The projector didnt work in the last scene, where Spidey talks to you upside down. So we had to do it again later, and it was perfect. My favorite ride by far.
Lunch at Mythos was earlier than planned, we got hungry! No problem being seated, and we ordered the Taste of Mythos, I think its called. We were both craving the cedar plank salmon, banana gooey cake, and a glass of wine, so this was a deal at $30 each. Again, the chef made an Alfredo sauce for Tink, just like September. She knew they would. I had lobster bisque, and DH had salad, both marvelous. It was as good as we remembered, and we were quite full when we finished. We actually thought about going back the next day, but we were at Universal so we didnt. We were pretty much done with everything (and pretty wet) at IOA by 7. We decided to try the Hard Rock Café for a light dinner. Well, we shared nachos and drank beer. We got right in on Saturday night! Noisy, flashy place, loved watching the old music videos, couldnt see much of the memorabilia though. Good nachos too. Tink didnt care for their shakes, though. Caught the bus back to PBH and slept very soundly that night!
The next day was Mothers Day, and we decided on the buffet at Trattoria. It was delicious, but I did miss that berry croissant. I wonder if they ship? It seemed like the hotel was thinning out, the boat line wasnt as long. There were many things we hadnt done at Universal last September, and we hit them all this day. First item was twice through Men in Black, a repeat enhanced by having watched the movie right before our trip. Im lousy at this ride, but I keep trying. I did get the bonus points for the red button the first time through though! We worked our way around the park, backtracking for shows. Again, Tink really enjoyed the Wild West stunt show, especially the cute guy. She mentioned that he looked like Brad Pitt before he said it himself. Tink had been begging to have a caricature done, and we watched the guy across from the Earthquake attraction drawing. He seemed pretty good, so we decided to get a color drawing done. He noticed her big blue eyes right away, and we got the cutest portrait that looks like her at about age 4. Its hanging in our hallway now, DH loves it. Wish I could read the name of the artist, Id share it! I didnt like most of the caricatures we saw, they seemed to emphasize peoples bad features. This guy was young, with dark hair and glasses.
We caught some street shows, though it was really too hot to stand around, and most of the rides. We didnt really lunch, just snacked, and had a couple of the coldest drinks we could find. Had to do the Nickelodeon tour, we missed it last time. Tink sat on the first row and tried really hard to get picked, but no luck. They pick kids from the middle of the seats, none from the first row. Theres a tip for you. After a good hour at Curious Georges playground, which Tink absolutely loved, we headed back at 6pm. Our plan was to have dinner at Mama Dellas. Bad plan. Must have reservations on Mothers Day. Duh. We had a $20 off coupon for the Palm, and we could get in there. So we headed over to HRH on the bus and went right in. The Palm is apparently a famous East Coast steak place, but we had no knowledge of it. We ordered the Mothers Day Surf and Turf special for $50 each and a $35 bottle of wine (one of the cheapest bottles on the menu). Tink chose pasta with cheese, they wouldnt do Alfredo for her. She did enjoy half of my Caesar salad, though, something new for her. Believe it or not, shes very slim, dances all the time. Anyway, the lobster was delicious, I hadnt had it in years. The steak was a little grisly and charred, but edible. The side dishes were pretty awful, but we were full from the meat anyway. After sitting for a long time (I think the waitress must have had us pegged us as poor tippers or something), we got the cheesecake (included in the meal, but no topping) to go, and found out our coupon was no good since we had the Special. So our bill was $200 with tip. Sure wish Id made reservations at Mama Dellas!
We were up on early on Monday to catch an 8:30 am flight back to Albuquerque. The deli wasnt open yet, so no croissant. It was a lovely trip with some great new memories. PBH was lovely and plush, with wonderful restaurants and pool, wed love to stay there again. Were thinking about a quick WDW trip before school starts in August. Still have annual passes, and lots of points from our new BCV add-on, and two free flights on Southwest. Its going to be really really hot (could it get any hotter than this trip?), but theres always Stormalong Bay. This time Ill hold my nose on that slide.
Participants: Me (Diana), major planner of WDW vacations ; DH (Kevin) slowly becoming more Disneyfied; and Tinkerbell (Alicia, just turned 11).
WARNING: LONG REPORT!
No, not a trip to Celebration, FL, but our third trip in the past year and this time during the week of my birthday, our anniversary, and Mothers Day! Our Sept. 2001 trip was chronicled in the Cindy, Al & Tink report, and our Dec./Jan. trip in the Dancerina Dilletente report. Three trips in one year was very unusual for us, our first and only prior trip was in 1999. But Southwest had those great fares, and we wound up buying a DVC membership with banked points, and annual passes.
Our arrival date was my birthday, getting into Orlando at 3:30 pm. We were trying BWV for the first time, and had made our plans around being at this location. We stopped at Goodings and did some kamikaze shopping, arriving at BWV at about 5. The room they gave us was smoking, and there were no other non-smoking 1 BRs available. So we wound up going to dinner, putting our $150 worth of groceries into storage overnight, and checking into a non-smoking studio. The next morning we checked out and back into a 1 BR later in the day. This arrangement took over an hour (not including dinner) and was NOT FUN, but was really the only bad part of the trip. Well, besides a couple of meals. But I digress.
Dinner that night was at Flying Fish, and it was quite wonderful. We selected a bottle of Fess Parker Chardonnay, made especially for Disney. Seemed appropriate, and it was very good. We had appetizers (calamari) and I ordered the potato encrusted bass with leeks, DH ordered a special fish dish, I believe it was Wahoo? Both were delicious. The waiter asked if the chef would make an Alfredo sauce for Tinks pasta, and he did, so she was very happy. For dessert, I ordered the lava cake, cant remember what DH ordered, Tink had ice cream. When the desserts came out, the waiter brought a crème caramel with berries for my birthday. We had a hard time finishing three desserts, but we managed. Now, I am a chocoholic, but that crème caramel was the best of the three. Wonder if we can go back just for that, since our bill was $170? Not something we do every day!
Back to put our luggage in our room, and then caught the bus to MK, since this night was the only night of our trip to see Spectromagic and the fireworks. We had not seen Spectromagic since our first trip in 1999, so I was determined. The bus was right there, and upon arriving at MK I stopped to get a birthday button. I was a little disappointed that noone asked for proof! The CMs are great about noticing the button and wishing you a Happy Birthday. Spectro was just ending, but we had planned on the 10 pm parade anyway, so we got busy looking for pin trades and pins to buy, then found a spot to watch the real Tinkerbell fly over our heads. We watched the fireworks from the back of the castle, since we were actually on the bridge when she flew. Soon after, we got a spot for the parade, which was as beautiful as remembered.
Sunday, May 5 and Epcot. Test Track had been too crowded in Jan., so that was first. We had a very long wait in the Fast Pass line because of technical difficulties. I think we were in there almost an hour. DH was swearing never again by the time we finally got on the ride. Im sure well do it again, its too much fun. Journey through Imagination was still not working (from Jan?), so we headed to World Showcase by way of Innoventions. We were searching for lanyard pins this week, and by now had found about three. The nice CMs in Innoventions were telling us places to try and find the pins, and gave some good suggestions. We had the best luck in some of the stores, especially the store in the Land pavilion and the tent store in Toontown at MK. Of course, when we went back to these stores we had no luck, so its all timing I guess. We spent a little time in some of the nation pavilions, even rode the boat in Mexico (hey, it was Cinco de Mayo!), and had lunch at Yakitori in Japan. Deciding it was time for checking in and cooling off, we headed back to BWV, where DH and Tink headed to Luna pool. Our afternoon break lasted until 7:30 pm! We did get to MGM in time to ride TOT and RnR coaster once each before getting seats for Fantasmic just 15 minutes prior to the show. This put us in the next to last section to the left, about 7th row up. Great seats actually, right in front of a water spray. Our late entry would probably not work out most of the year, but in early May no problem! Since our room at BWV was at the very back end, we walked to MGM and back. It was a little scarier on the way back, after seeing a large black snake when we exited Fantasmic!
On Monday we decided it was time to try the new coaster at AK. We hit it twice with a walk on, giggling all the way. Very lame ride for the first half, but you cant stop laughing when you start spinning! Six thumbs up! We played some carnival games, snagged some lanyard pins from the CM working the Triceratops Spin, and bought some PinoRama pins at the cart. When the CM reminds you of the price per pin, I guess youre going overboard. I like to get two of each for trading! We caught the bird show, and did two trips on Kali Rapids. Actually, I sat out the second trip and managed to get the water gun on the bridge in time to shoot water at my family! By this time we were steaming, so I got dropped off at Downtown Disney, and Tink and DH headed to Typhoon Lagoon. This was the first visit we have made to a water park in all our trips, but I just wasnt up to it that day. Shopping sounded better. And with my AP discount, I had some real fun at World of Disney and sent everything back to the room. First I stopped at Wolfgang Puck Express and had a very yummy grilled chicken Caesar sandwich, too big to finish. I noted the reasonable prices and large portions at this restaurant for future reference! I had taken my pin backpack to WOD, but no traders were around. Decided to head back to Epcot and see if any trading was going on there. After the bus stopped at Typhoon Lagoon, the Swan, the Dolphin, the Yacht Club, I finally got off at the Beach Club and walked to Pin Central in Epcot. No traders there either, so I rewarded myself for all the walking with a frozen mocha from the new coffee shop and walked back to the room to do laundry and fix dinner. Family returned close to 7, having shut down the water park, and the reports were good. The wave pool was reported to be awesome, and Tink even went down the biggest slide once. Glad I wasnt there. She had a panic attack when trying to snorkel, which was strange since she did great at Discovery Cove last fall. The lifeguard actually went in and carried her out of the shark pool. Glad I wasnt there for that, either! That night we vegged, we were all very tired.
Tuesday the 7th was our 14th anniversary, and I had big doins planned! Light breakfast, then to Epcot. Saw some attractions around Future world until time for our PS at Garden Grille at 11:20. Nice meal, the characters came around several times, but Tink was being shy. The teenagers near our table were having a great time though, dancing with the characters. Time for dessert, and the waiter brought a cake to our table. A couple of other CMs came along, stood Tink up and loudly announced and this young lady is celebrating ?. She looked at me, and I said uh, her parents anniversary? Pretty funny. They whisked away the Birthday cake, brought back the same cake with an anniversary topping, and our rehitching began. My daughter was so amazed when we attempted to kiss for 100 counts, she forgot to take pictures! Luckily, one of the CMs took the camera from her and took some. It was fun, and a surprise for DH. So, were official now!
We decided to get in line for the Land tour, since we hadnt seen it since 1999. Big mistake. We thought how bad could it be, but apparently everyone gets Fast Pass for this one. 45 minutes later, we finally got on a tram. Nice tour, but get Fast Pass if you want to go.
We had to go to Japan, since we promised Tink she could buy an oyster this trip, and she wanted one from there. She picked the biggest one she saw, and wound up with a 7 ½ mm pearl (average is 6 mm). They banged the gong and did a little ceremony for her, what a kick! So of course we had to buy a setting. Expensive stop, but we had one thrilled kid. I have a feeling this is going to be a new tradition. I told her to get 6 mm ones on our next two trips, so she can have earrings!
Ok, we were hot now. Did I mention that the temp for most of the week was in the 90s, with 40-80% humidity? No rain until the day we left, Florida was in drought conditions. Some of the vegetation was looking a little brown around the edges, started to remind us of home. We were planning dinner at Palio that evening, and Tink was going to spend a couple of hours at the Harbor Club, since BWs child care center was closed on Tuesdays. So we thought a pool hop to Stormalong Bay was in order. I took her over, and we swam for a while. I even did the slide, forgetting to hold my nose at the end as advised. DH showed up at 6:15 so I could go clean up and meet him at Palios at 7. This almost worked, he was about 15 minutes late. Getting the kid out of the pool, changed, and over to the Harbor Club wasnt accounted for. We had a super dinner at Palios, and our 20% DVC discount made it a good deal. We had hoped to try the Taste of Palio, but alas, it is no more. We had bruschetta and calamaretti for appetizers, a bottle of Savignon Blanc from California, and seafood entrees, the risotto for me. We even had dessert, and our bill was around $130 with tip. I call that a bargain! It was lovely, romantic, and delicious. Well go back for sure. And Tink enjoyed her evening, especially the part where she beat some boys at video games.
So it was already Wednesday, the 4th full day of our trip! Tink wanted to really do MK, so off we went. This was the day we really scored on the Cast Lanyard pins, they seemed to be everywhere. By the end of the day, we had all of the pins but one. We Fast Passed Splash Mountain and Jungle Cruise, among others. We saw some of the minor attractions, things we dont get to see when weve done E-night. Tink was not enthused about swimming that day, so the nice cool movie theatre was our top choice for an afternoon break. We saw Spiderman at Downtown Disney, great flick, and a must see before our visit to Universal/IOA the coming weekend. We made our 6:30 Boma reservation in good time, didnt even make it out to the Savannah viewing area before we got buzzed. Although very noisy, the food was as good as ever. The seafood stew alone would have made a great meal, but we managed not to stuff ourselves as much this time. I did finish off a Zebra Dome though. Back to BWV in time to walk over to the BC bridge and watch Illuminations. We decided that being there was better, and watched the cruise boats longingly. Next time!
Thursday started early at MGM, the park where we always let Tink plan the agenda. Since we had already done RnR (which gave us all headaches from banging around this time) and TOT, we decided to do shows and Millionaire, and Star Tours. I noticed a very annoying trend at the shows, first the Little Mermaid, then Beauty & the Beast. The adults around us chatted away during the entire show, most of them were there without kids. At B&B a woman and her teenaged daughter were actually mocking the show, with the Mom being the most vocal. I gave her several dirty looks and she finally shut up. I felt like asking her, why are you here? We did a show of WWTBAM in the morning, and a 9 yo girl got in the hot seat on the Fastest Finger question, and got to have her Dad help. So when my barely 11 yo made it by being #1 on the board that afternoon, she asked if her Mom or Dad could help! Of course, we couldnt. But she did great. Lots of dramatic faces, but clear, sure answers. She used two lifelines to get to 1000 points, and then missed a Sesame Street question at the 2000 mark. She hasnt watched Sesame Street in a while! But she was very proud (and so were we) of her cap, lanyard, and pins. In fact, she wore the cap the rest of the week!
Well, we couldnt top that, so we headed back for a bite at Beaces & Cream. Our celebrity loves their shakes, that root beer float was pretty good too! DH took a nap while Tink and I played games in the BWV Community Hall. This was fun, they have air hockey, foosball, table tennis, and a couple of others. Nice place, will have to check OKW and see if they have something like this. We had tickets for Cirque du Soleils 6 pm show. The show was as wonderful as we remembered from 1999, and our seats were better this time. Not as close, but we didnt strain our necks looking up. Tink loved seeing some of the same acts, and loved the clowns. After, we went into Wolfgang Puck Express for pizzas, and took them back to our room to watch Survivor and CSI. I guess we should skip our shows while at WDW, but that was the only TV we watched all week.
Friday May 10
Last day at BWV. Up fairly early to pack the car. We decided to hit MK this morning to try and get the last lanyard pin we needed. We arrived at about 10 am and the places we had luck in earlier in the week yielded no pins. So we wondered around, did some attractions, had snacks at Tomorrowland. Fast Pass for Buzz, I had no luck hitting the back of the Robot. In January, I had scored 999,999 points, guess that was a fluke. We watched the afternoon parade as we were exiting the park. We felt very sorry for the Lost Boys in those fur costumes, they were wiping their faces with their ears! One last stop into the photo shop by the entrance to get a picture pin of Tink with Tinkerbell! Very cute pin, Im trying to get her to let me have it. We also got our last lanyard pin from a CM in the big store on Main Street on the way out. Mission accomplished!
By this time, we really wanted to jump in a pool, so we headed over to Portofino Bay to see if our room was ready. Last September, we stayed 2 nights at HRH at the end of our trip. We checked in at 9 am to get our keys for FOTL, and our room was ready! Not only that, they upgraded us to Club Level and a deluxe room! This time was very different. There were several conventions at PBH, and no rooms were ready nor upgrades available. There wasnt even room to check our luggage, we had to leave it in the car. We decided to eat then try again. After a nice late lunch at the Trattoria, (excellent turkey pastrami Ruebens, and the fresh berries with Tinks PB sandwich were to die for) the room was ready, overlooking the main plaza which was being set up for a private party. Noticing that the speakers were directly under our third floor window, I called the front desk to ask when the party would be over. Oh, by 9 pm, OK. Off to the pool. Tink loved this pool, stayed in it for a good three hours. The area around the slide is deep, and she was able to do some of her synchronized swimming stuff. Although she missed the underwater music at the HRH pool. We went in periodically, too, it was slightly cooler than the Disney pools and refreshing. Would be a terrific pool for little kids, too, they have a nice sand beach on one end with zero entry, and its a very large pool. Very nice, with a bar and pizzaria close by. Crowded, though, with so many people at the hotel. After cleaning up, we caught the boat to City Walk. We were lucky all weekend that we never had to wait for a second boat, many people did. The boats were only running every 20 minutes even with the full hotel, and we caught the bus a couple of times though it wasnt a lot faster. By the end of the day, we were just too tired to try the walk.
We had always wanted to try Margaritaville, so decided on it for a late dinner. The wait was 1 ½ hours, but with our room key, we got called after 45 minutes. The restaurant seemed delightful with a lot going on, and there were guys on stilts making elaborate balloon hats for tables in our room. Tink was instantly fascinated, and watched them non-stop. We were there a total of 1 ½ hours. The guys with the balloons moved out of our room after the first 15 minutes, and never came back. She could still see them, though, making hats on the two levels above us. We had the calamari appetizer (yes, we do like Calamari), and it was pretty bad. Very small serving, they filled the plate up with chips! We both ordered the jambalaya. Not a good choice, tasting of canned tomato sauce with chili powder added and small frozen shrimp. Can you tell we were not impressed with the food? We decided to pass on dessert. We were ready to leave, but had promised our very worried daughter that she would get a balloon hat. Noticed several parties around us in the same boat. She finally went upstairs to ask, and was told they were out of balloons! There were large parties of adults sitting there with hats made of 4-6 balloons, and no balloons for the kids. Is there something wrong with this picture? At this point, a manager wondered by, and asked how we were doing. I didnt say anything about the food, deciding to mention our most urgent problem, our unhappy kid. He came back with a balloon made to look like a parrot that would sit on Tinks arm. Dont know how he did it, but it saved our evening. Not sure what they did about the other kids, though. Moral of the story? If you have a kid, dont go to Margaritaville late in the day. Or maybe, dont go at all.
Taking the boat back was a treat. When you enter the PBH Harbor, the entire hotel is strung with lights. Its gorgeous, as is the whole hotel. Im sure I dont need to tell you that the music at the party didnt stop at 9 pm. Though no more people were at the party, the music was still going at 11 pm. After a couple of irate calls to the front desk, it was finally turned off.
Saturday morning we got a semi-early start. We had FOTL, so werent worried that we would miss anything, and Tink just moves slowly in the mornings. We got pastries and coffee at the Deli, and I have to tell you; I would stay at PBH again just for the berry croissant from the deli. Oh my, it was good. DH and Tink liked their choices, too, the chocolate muffins got the most comment. Seemed like a long wait for the boat, but finally off to IOA. When you are at the PBH dock, look for the very large soft-shell turtle. We want to know how its doing.
Our plan for IOA was to do all the favorites again, and hit some things we missed last time, including the Sinbad show and a ride for me on Hulk. Also very important was lunch at Mythos, our first stop being for reservations. Next stop, Fire and Ice. Fun, but I got the black out reaction after the first loop on Ice. I know its from the G forces, and will have to try tightening my leg muscles next time. It happened again on Hulk later in the day, I wont mind not going on that one again. Only 2 ½ minutes? It seemed a lot longer. My DH let me take Tink on it this time, he did the honors last trip. FOTL worked really well, we only waited a little for shows. We still havent done Dr. Doom, Tink simply refuses to go on that one. I guess it looks worse that TOT because you can see the whole thing, but she barely tolerates TOT anyway. We had to bribe her to go on the Jurassic adventure again, she hates jump rides too. She really enjoyed Sinbad. It has a great female character for a change! A tip for the Poseidon show, if the crowds arent bad, dont use FOTL. It puts you at the front in the first room, but you wind up in the back for the next two rooms where the action really takes place. Our kid saw nothing in the last room, neither did I. We were really looking forward to Spiderman since wed seen the movie two days earlier, and it did enhance the ride. The projector didnt work in the last scene, where Spidey talks to you upside down. So we had to do it again later, and it was perfect. My favorite ride by far.
Lunch at Mythos was earlier than planned, we got hungry! No problem being seated, and we ordered the Taste of Mythos, I think its called. We were both craving the cedar plank salmon, banana gooey cake, and a glass of wine, so this was a deal at $30 each. Again, the chef made an Alfredo sauce for Tink, just like September. She knew they would. I had lobster bisque, and DH had salad, both marvelous. It was as good as we remembered, and we were quite full when we finished. We actually thought about going back the next day, but we were at Universal so we didnt. We were pretty much done with everything (and pretty wet) at IOA by 7. We decided to try the Hard Rock Café for a light dinner. Well, we shared nachos and drank beer. We got right in on Saturday night! Noisy, flashy place, loved watching the old music videos, couldnt see much of the memorabilia though. Good nachos too. Tink didnt care for their shakes, though. Caught the bus back to PBH and slept very soundly that night!
The next day was Mothers Day, and we decided on the buffet at Trattoria. It was delicious, but I did miss that berry croissant. I wonder if they ship? It seemed like the hotel was thinning out, the boat line wasnt as long. There were many things we hadnt done at Universal last September, and we hit them all this day. First item was twice through Men in Black, a repeat enhanced by having watched the movie right before our trip. Im lousy at this ride, but I keep trying. I did get the bonus points for the red button the first time through though! We worked our way around the park, backtracking for shows. Again, Tink really enjoyed the Wild West stunt show, especially the cute guy. She mentioned that he looked like Brad Pitt before he said it himself. Tink had been begging to have a caricature done, and we watched the guy across from the Earthquake attraction drawing. He seemed pretty good, so we decided to get a color drawing done. He noticed her big blue eyes right away, and we got the cutest portrait that looks like her at about age 4. Its hanging in our hallway now, DH loves it. Wish I could read the name of the artist, Id share it! I didnt like most of the caricatures we saw, they seemed to emphasize peoples bad features. This guy was young, with dark hair and glasses.
We caught some street shows, though it was really too hot to stand around, and most of the rides. We didnt really lunch, just snacked, and had a couple of the coldest drinks we could find. Had to do the Nickelodeon tour, we missed it last time. Tink sat on the first row and tried really hard to get picked, but no luck. They pick kids from the middle of the seats, none from the first row. Theres a tip for you. After a good hour at Curious Georges playground, which Tink absolutely loved, we headed back at 6pm. Our plan was to have dinner at Mama Dellas. Bad plan. Must have reservations on Mothers Day. Duh. We had a $20 off coupon for the Palm, and we could get in there. So we headed over to HRH on the bus and went right in. The Palm is apparently a famous East Coast steak place, but we had no knowledge of it. We ordered the Mothers Day Surf and Turf special for $50 each and a $35 bottle of wine (one of the cheapest bottles on the menu). Tink chose pasta with cheese, they wouldnt do Alfredo for her. She did enjoy half of my Caesar salad, though, something new for her. Believe it or not, shes very slim, dances all the time. Anyway, the lobster was delicious, I hadnt had it in years. The steak was a little grisly and charred, but edible. The side dishes were pretty awful, but we were full from the meat anyway. After sitting for a long time (I think the waitress must have had us pegged us as poor tippers or something), we got the cheesecake (included in the meal, but no topping) to go, and found out our coupon was no good since we had the Special. So our bill was $200 with tip. Sure wish Id made reservations at Mama Dellas!
We were up on early on Monday to catch an 8:30 am flight back to Albuquerque. The deli wasnt open yet, so no croissant. It was a lovely trip with some great new memories. PBH was lovely and plush, with wonderful restaurants and pool, wed love to stay there again. Were thinking about a quick WDW trip before school starts in August. Still have annual passes, and lots of points from our new BCV add-on, and two free flights on Southwest. Its going to be really really hot (could it get any hotter than this trip?), but theres always Stormalong Bay. This time Ill hold my nose on that slide.
Krissy
