Memories of the DREAM come true .. 08/09 All 30 days done!

[stmize]

Your pictures of POR are beautiful. We stayed there last Thanksgiving and I just fell in love with that resort. It's so peaceful!

we were there then too.

 

[dizneeat]

oooh, a lazy day at WDW. I LIKE it! Especially after a nice breakfast on the verandah! I can't wait to see what you did with the rest of your day!

Yes, lazy days are the best ..... and spending a whole month in the area allows for a few lazy days!

sorry mama melrose took so long! but the food looked good!

you know. I have NEVER been in One Man's Dream! I have always wanted to but with the kids its always.. go go go .. I am definitely seeing it next week!

LOVE POR! That's my favorite moderate resort!!

Apart from dessert the food at MM was really good, it was just the service that left to be desired.

We love One Man's Dream, such a cool collection of memorabilia and Disney History. You are going to like it!

We love POR too - and I am so excited. When we return in February we will stay in one of the new Royal Rooms for a night before we head for the Disney Dream again!

Your pictures of POR are beautiful. We stayed there last Thanksgiving and I just fell in love with that resort. It's so peaceful!

It is a beautiful resort! We have stayed there a few times and love it! You are right, so peaceful and it reminds me so much of "gone with the wind".

I love all the POR pics. You took quite the walk. I loved where we stayed last time. It was super close to the main building. We were lucky....it is so spread out, I am sure we could have been pretty far away.

I am glad you like them, Ann!
Yes, we walked around for quite a while, but it is such a beautiful resort and it brought back so many memories. We loved the few times we stayed there!

 

[dizneeat]

Hi Karin! I just read that you are going to Napa. Have you ever been? I was born and raised in Napa (as well as my mother) until I moved to the East Coast in 1994. Most of my relatives still live there and I might possibly be going for a visit home next Fall or the following Spring. Do you know where you are staying?

Yes, we have been to Napa twice. It is so beautiful and I cannot wait to go back. Last time we were there was in 2006 and we stayed at the Embassy Suites.
Any suggestions on another hotel? We still have more than a year and a half to decide!
Lucky you, growing up in such a beautiful place!

we were there then too.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 5, August 17

A lazy day is a good day - Part 2

Finally we crossed over the bridge along the road to the other side of the Sassagoula River and kept on walking towards Port Orleans French Quarter. By that time it had gotten scorching hot and we more or less dragged ourselves to the Main Building to enjoy the air conditioning.

We must have looked at every item in the shop until we felt like we could go outside again. Before that we walked through the Sassagoula Floatworks to have a look at the menu, nothing had changed and it wasn’t really time to have lunch yet, so we wandered outside again and thought about the walk back to Riverside.
And then it dawned on us, there was a boat running between the resorts.

When we got to the docks we could just see a boat going under the bridge, but we decided to just wait anyway. About 15 minutes later the next boat arrived, many of the people waiting wanted to go to Downtown Disney, and only 3 families were waiting for the boat to Riverside, so it was easy to find a seat and enjoy the ride back to Riverside.

Once we had arrived we walked into the Riverside Mill and had a look at their menu, but there was nothing that really peaked our interest, so we decided to head over to the Contemporary Resort to have lunch at the Contempo Café.
We had eaten there before and liked the food and they had a few cupcakes I was ready to try. So we walked over to the car and a few minutes later we were approaching the Contemporary Resort.
We parked our car and walked to the hotel, enjoyed the air conditioning and went up to the restaurant. It was around noon and the restaurant looked quite full, but we got in line anyway. We ordered our food at the kiosks, then walked up to the bakery to order our desserts.
At check-out you are handed a buzzer and with that in hand we picked up our drinks and found a nice table. We started taking photos of the desserts and while we were still doing that the buzzer went off. Tom went to pick up our order and we were ready to dig in.
We had decided to share our dishes and had ordered

the Honey Lime Chicken, served with pepper jack cheese on multigrain roll with salsa-Ranch dressing and

the Spice Crusted Mahi, topped with citrus-apple slaw on a Kaiser roll.
Both were freshly prepared, hot and tasty. Then we were on to dessert. Tom had chosen

the Black Forrest cupcake, a chocolate cupcake topped with swirls of vanilla buttercream frosting and a chocolate covered cherry on top, filled with cherry pie filling. My choice was

the Florida Strawberry cupcake, a vanilla cupcake topped with strawberry frosting, dipped into red and white sprinkles and a piece of fresh strawberry on top. Once you cut into it, it is filled with preserved strawberries – so good. Both were too huge and even though we tried our best, we were not able to finish them both.
Once we had finished our lunch we walked over to the shop and took a good look around.

To be continued ..........

 

[annmarieda]

You food at Contempo looks awesome. I can't wait to eat there. I wonder though, do you think the jelly has high fructose corn syrup in it? I am beginning to wonder about this ingredient generally speaking. Dh is allergic. I don't want him to be sick on the trip...or unable to eat anything.

 

[dreamerjlee]

I had a great time reading your post so far. I love seeing disney from a different point of view. Good idea for a way to use your NSA or guest of the day pass on Toy Story!

 

[cbg1027]

POR and POFQ are so pretty. I stayed at POFQ once and I really enjoyed cruising along the river and exploring the resorts. It is a great 'lazy day' activity!

 

[Tickanee]

Yes, we have been to Napa twice. It is so beautiful and I cannot wait to go back. Last time we were there was in 2006 and we stayed at the Embassy Suites.
Any suggestions on another hotel? We still have more than a year and a half to decide!
Lucky you, growing up in such a beautiful place!

Embassy Suites is nice because of the location and easy access to the highway. There have been soooooo many changes since I lived there that I couldn't begin to suggest another place to stay. But you could look into one of the many bed and breakfast establishments. They are more quaint and homey. There are many to choose from. I will try to remember to ask my cousin the next time I talk to her. You might also try eating at The Rutherford Grille in Rutherford. It is a very small town North of Napa right on the main highway. You can bring your own wine with no corkage fee (most restaurants in Napa Valley have no corkage fees). They have a grilled artichoke appetizer that is to die for. My favorite restaurant in the Valley. If you like sparkling wine, make sure you visit Mumm.

You can also visit The Napa Valley Olive Oil Manufacturing Co. in St. Helena. It is like an Old World Italian Deli. Very rustic, but very good for your meats, cheeses and other yumminess. I remember going there when I was a child.

Okay, now I am getting homesick....

 

[Linda67]

Great updates Karin

I loved your resort day at POR & FQ

Do you mind if I ask where your room was situated at OKW? it looks like a wonderful location

 

[dort]

What a great TR so far. Can't wait for more updates.
Pics are great too!!

 

[Leslieann1024]

Loving your trippie ! You have a flair for travel reporting, almost makes us feel as if we were there with you, lol ! Looking forward to the rest of it !

 

[jenseib]

I got to tour French Qtr. the day after you visited. I was impressed with it!

 

[dizneeat]

You food at Contempo looks awesome. I can't wait to eat there. I wonder though, do you think the jelly has high fructose corn syrup in it? I am beginning to wonder about this ingredient generally speaking. Dh is allergic. I don't want him to be sick on the trip...or unable to eat anything.

We really enjoyed our visit to the Contempo Cafe. You will not regret paying it a visit.
As for the corn syrup - Ann, I am no help here. I have no idea, but I am sure they can tell you at the bakery.

I had a great time reading your post so far. I love seeing disney from a different point of view. Good idea for a way to use your NSA or guest of the day pass on Toy Story!

I am glad you enjoyed reading along so far. I hope you stay with us, as there is lots more fun to come.
And when it came to the Guest of Honour pass we just checked which ride that we liked had the longest line. TSM won, hands down!

POR and POFQ are so pretty. I stayed at POFQ once and I really enjoyed cruising along the river and exploring the resorts. It is a great 'lazy day' activity!

Tom and I love POR, POFQ doesn't draw me in quite as much. While it's nice, for us it doesn't have the southern charm POR has.
But the boatride from both POR and OKW is so relaxing and nice.

Embassy Suites is nice because of the location and easy access to the highway. There have been soooooo many changes since I lived there that I couldn't begin to suggest another place to stay. But you could look into one of the many bed and breakfast establishments. They are more quaint and homey. There are many to choose from. I will try to remember to ask my cousin the next time I talk to her. You might also try eating at The Rutherford Grille in Rutherford. It is a very small town North of Napa right on the main highway. You can bring your own wine with no corkage fee (most restaurants in Napa Valley have no corkage fees). They have a grilled artichoke appetizer that is to die for. My favorite restaurant in the Valley. If you like sparkling wine, make sure you visit Mumm.

You can also visit The Napa Valley Olive Oil Manufacturing Co. in St. Helena. It is like an Old World Italian Deli. Very rustic, but very good for your meats, cheeses and other yumminess. I remember going there when I was a child.

Okay, now I am getting homesick....

We really enjoyed staying at the Embassy Suites in 2006. It was new (or newly renovated) and offered free breakfast, which was really nice.
But we will have a look into the Bed and Breakfast hotels there. Our only problem is that we need two beds in the room and most B&Bs only offer one.
I made a note of the Rutherford Grill - we love to try out restaurants that the locals recommend.
You know, I never thought of bringing my own wine to a restaurant. This is something that is totally unknown here.
Thanks for pointing out Mumm. We visited a few wineries when we were there in 2006, Beringer being one of them. But the one I am most looking forward to visit again is Silverado!
Pure Disney wine that is ........ and it is a really good wine!

I have also made a note of the Deli you mentioned. Nothing like a nice deli to pick up some local grub!

 

[dizneeat]

Great updates Karin

I loved your resort day at POR & FQ

Do you mind if I ask where your room was situated at OKW? it looks like a wonderful location

It was such a nice, laidback and relaxing day and the resorts are just beautiful.

We were in building 31 on the second floor. That's one of the locations on Turtle Pond Road.
To be honest I have yet to encounter a villa I didn't like the view from. My only request is always just the higher floor!

What a great TR so far. Can't wait for more updates.
Pics are great too!!

I am glad you like it! More updates coming up soon - we still have quite a few days to review!

Loving your trippie ! You have a flair for travel reporting, almost makes us feel as if we were there with you, lol ! Looking forward to the rest of it !

Thank you so much for your kind words. They mean a lot to me, especially since English is not my first language.
I'll hurry up with the rest, I promise!

I got to tour French Qtr. the day after you visited. I was impressed with it!

POR will always be MY favourite. I really love the feel of POR. FQ doesn't draw us in as much. Can't put my finger on it, why this is so.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 5, August 17

A lazy day is a good day - Part 3

Once we had finished our lunch we walked over to the shop and took a good look around.

And while doing that we discovered that it had started to rain, well, not rain but a downpour.

We killed some more time exploring the resort and when the rain subsided a little bit we hurried back to the car and drove back to Old Key West.
It was still raining when we arrived so we just decided to rest a little in the villa. Tom put the Jacuzzi to good use, while I tried to catch up on emails. In the afternoon we sat outside on the balcony for a while and then thought about what to do with the rest of the evening.
We had an ADR, but didn’t really feel like it, so we used the dining website to find out what was available.
The Yachtsman Steakhouse had availability and we had too many table service credits left over anyway, so we cancelled our existing reservation and made a new one for the steakhouse.
Once that was done we rested a little more and finally got ready to drive over to the Yacht Club Resort.
We were a bit too early, so we explored the resort a little. We walked into the store, had a good look around, watched people having fun at Stormalong Bay and finally walked over to the restaurant. We signed in, were handed a buzzer and told that we had about a 15 minute wait and we were free to walk around. Well, that’s what we had just done, so we found a seat and waited patiently for our buzzer to go off.
It didn’t take very long and we were called to the podium and taken to our table. On the way the host pointed out the different meat cuts being on show in a huge window and he seemed pretty proud of them.
Shortly after we had been seated our server arrived, introduced herself, offered to explain the menu and took our drinks orders. It didn’t take long for her to return with our Diet Cokes, followed by

a basket of warm onion rolls, and

a small dish with salted butter and

lots of roasted garlic.
Needless to say we tried everything and were very happy with it. We enjoyed the nice ambience of the restaurant and watched one chef happily serving wonderful plates of food.
It didn’t take too long and our entrees were served. Tom had decided to go with the server’s recommendation and had ordered

the 24-oz Center Cut Porterhouse, served with Smoked Paprika Fries and Roasted Garlic Butter, which was huge.

But he did a great job!

I had ordered

the 8-oz Center Cut Filet Mignon, which came with Mashed Potatoes and Cabernet Wine Sauce.
We both enjoyed our main courses very much.

And once we had finished our main courses there was still dessert to conquer. Our server brought us the dessert menus and I chose

the Habanero – infused flourless chocolate cake

with Mango compote and lime sorbet, which was wonderful and I really enjoyed the taste of the chili in it. Tom wanted to try

the Lemon Pudding Cake,

Blueberry Shake,

Fruit Leather and Mt. Tam Cheese.
It did not only look good, it WAS a wonderful dessert.
We had thought about heading over to Epcot for the fireworks after dinner, but we were both far too stuffed to do so.
So instead of going to Epcot we rolled back to our car and drove back to Old Key West. We spent the rest of the evening lounging in front of the TV and trying to digest the wonderful food we had just had. And we actually got to bed early that night – we had an exiting morning planned for the next day.

To be continued ..........

 

[dort]

OMG, that steak was HUGE and those desserts looked so yummy.
DH and I are going to have to try the steakhouse one of these days.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

It's so wonderful that you could enjoy a lazy day and just take in the atmosphere. You go to WDW often enough that you don't feel rushed to do all the rides every day!

MMMM Yachtsman Steakhouse looks so delicious! Was it crowded or pretty quiet? Looking forward to your next morning....

 

[Wicket's Mom]

We cancelled the Yachtsman in favor of Narcossee's. Looks like we may try Yachtsman the next trip. That steak looked terrific!.

 

[dizneeat]

OMG, that steak was HUGE and those desserts looked so yummy.
DH and I are going to have to try the steakhouse one of these days.

I couldn't believe my eyes when they brought out the steak and I was surprised Tom was able to finish it! But then he didn't eat much of his sides.

This was our first visit to the Yachtsman Steakhouse and we truly enjoyed the experience!

It's so wonderful that you could enjoy a lazy day and just take in the atmosphere. You go to WDW often enough that you don't feel rushed to do all the rides every day!

MMMM Yachtsman Steakhouse looks so delicious! Was it crowded or pretty quiet? Looking forward to your next morning....

I am so thankful for all the lazy days we can take. I remember when we first went to WDW it was go, go, go all the time.
That has changed a lot. We have done all the rides and if we can't get on now we will get on another time. And there is always the next vacation.

Actually all the tables were taken, but it did not feel crowded at all. There was a steady rotation of the tables but it all went very smoothly.

We cancelled the Yachtsman in favor of Narcossee's. Looks like we may try Yachtsman the next trip. That steak looked terrific!.

I hope Narcossee's was nice too. We had a pretty bad experience there once and have not been back since.
You should try the Yachtsman, the filet was out of this world good and Tom's was exceptional as well!

 

[dvc4life]

Can't believe I have missed this TR! But I am all caught up on it now.

Looks like it has been a very relaxing vacation so far. Too bad about the Mama Melrose experience. I have heard horror stories about that place before be never that bad. Hopefully they will get their act together.

You have been doing an excellent job so far and I can't wait to read more.