Mike & Missy's Grand Adventure! 9/5/09 DCL Western & WDW TR w/ pics! Updated 04/19

[UGAFan0829]

A Total Day In Paradise!!​

The day began somewhat early as I was up at 6. Today was our 10th anniversary, so we started out with an exchange of cards. Because we'd spent so much money on this vacation, we decided not to get one another anything, which was just fine with me. Spending a week aboard the Disney Magic with my wonderful husband was about the best thing I could have ever asked for, for an anniversary! We had dreamed of taking this cruise for so long, and we were just so happy that it was finally a reality!

My spa appointment was at 8, so I was showered and ready to go by 7:30. Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about fixing my hair or putting on makeup, so it was a pretty easy morning. I wasn't nearly as nervous or scared about the appointment as I had been the night before. I guess sleeping on it was a good thing. Believe it or not, I was actually excited about it!

I headed off to the spa around 7:50, and Mike was getting ready to go have breakfast with Gayle and Brandi at Topsider's. Since I wasn't sure just how long I would be in the spa, we made a little game plan for the day. After Mike had breakfast, he was going to wait for me before getting off the ship. But Gayle and Brandi were getting off as soon as possible and were heading over to Serenity Bay to find chairs for all of us.

I arrived at the Salon and checked in. I was asked to fill out a little questionaire, and thanks to the good advice from some awesome DIS'ers, I wrote "No sales pitch, please" at the bottom of my form. I had read that if you do this, they won't give you the push to try and sell the products that they use on you during the treatment. It wasn't long after I'd finished the form that I was greeted by my therapist for the day. She gave me a robe and showed me to the ladies locker room/changing area. She told me to take off only what I was comfortable with, then put on the robe. There was another lady in the locker room with me, and I was a little shy about changing in front of her, so I crossed the hall to the restrooms where I'd have a little more privacy. I left my undies on underneath my robe, just because that's what I felt most comfy in. As I was storing my things in a locker, the therapist came back to get me. We made our way to the treatment room, and I was relaxed already. Something about the room was just so calming. She then presented me with a list of treatments that I could chose from, and then asked a couple of questions to try and get a feel of which might be best for me. The choices that were are available were: Scalp massage, Neck and shoulder massage, European facial, Conditioning hair treatment, Eye collagen treatment, Hand treatment, Foot and ankle massage, and Sunglow Makeover. The price for three of these was only $69, or you could choose five for $89. Since I wasn't sure how much I'd like it, I decided to just try three this time. I seem to carry most of my stress in my neck and shoulders, so the Neck and Shoulder massage was a no-brainer. I'd also never had a facial and really wanted to try it, so that was my second choice. Lastly, I decided to go with the Foot and ankle massage. After I made my selection of treatments, she told me that she was going to step out of the room, and she asked that I remove my robe and get under the sheet. I was still feeling comfortable at this point since it wasn't just one sheet, it was actually more like getting in to bed since there was a sheet and a blanket, so I was well covered. She gave me a few minutes to get situated, then came back in. First she started on my feet and ankles, and oh my gosh...that was pure heaven. I knew that for the price of all three treatments, that more than likely they were going to be short and sweet. It sure didn't seem that way though. Next, she started working on my neck and back. Now, I will tell you, I'm not normally a person who can fall asleep in publin places, but there were a couple of times that I cuaght myself dozing. Laying there in the warm blankets with the sounds that were playing the room was absolute bliss. At this point I was so glad that Mike had talked me into this. Next, was the facial, which I had to turn over for. She came to the side of the table, lifted the sheets way up and asked me to turn over. I felt very comfortable during this process. Lastly, the facial began-again-pure bliss!! Honestly, I don't think I have ever felt more relaxed in my life! After what seemed like a good while, she was finally finished and my treatments were over. Again, she stepped out of the room and gave me time to put my robe back on while she went to get my bill. She came back and asked me if I had any questions about anything that she'd used. She then gave me my bill, asked me to sign, and that was it. Needless to say, I left her a generous tip as she was awesome. I really wish that I could remember her name, but I guess my brain was to relaxed to remember anything during that time! As I walked back to the changing area, I felt like a new person. I changed back into my clothes, then headed down to the stateroom to get ready for our day in Castaway!!

It was a little after 9 by the time I had made it back, and Gayle and Brandi were already heading off the ship. Mike wasn't in the room, but he soon returned with a huge tray from Topsider's just for me. I really didn't expect him to bring me anything, but he'd made a special trip back up just to bring me something to eat before we got off the ship. This really made my morning! And it worked out to almost perfect timing, as he got back to the room just a few minutes after I did. Of course I thanked him for being so thoughtful and briing me breakfast, but also for talking me into the spa appointment!

While Mike had been waiting on me, he went up top and took a few pics of the island.

After I'd finished my yummy breakfast, and got changed, we were ready to disembark for our day in Disney Paradise! As we were making our way, we noticed that Jack Sparrow was out for pictures, and since the line wasn't long, we decided to jump in.

Jack is definitely an interesting guy, to say the least. After a few minutes of walking and waiting on the tram, we finally arrived at Serenity Bay! I was surprised that it wasn't any more crowded than it was. Gayle and Brandi had managed to find 4 chairs together, right near the entrance of the beach. After getting ourselves and all our belongings settled, we decided to rent some floats and just have some fun lounging in the water. It was amazing how we could lay on the float and look down into the water and see everything. The water was crystal clear, and being able to see all the sea life was just incredible!
After we'd spent quite a while floating around, we decided to lounge under the umbrellas for a bit before trying to find some lunch. I snapped quite a few shots of the beautiful view that we had from our chairs:

With our tummies growling, we finally decided to pack up and head out for some lunch. We'd planned to eat at Serenity Bay, but it was really crowded, and there was nowhere for us to sit, so we headed over to Cookie's. I think we all ended up with hambugers, which were just okay. As we were in line to get our food, a storm came up that seemed to have cleared out a lot of people.

After our just so-so lunch at Cookie's, we headed over to browse at the island merchandise. I had really hoped to find a shirt or something, but nothing really jumped out at me. So, with our shopping over, we finally decided to call it a day and head back to the ship. Of course, I had to snap a couple photos along our way...

It had been a great day, probably one of the best of the whole cruise...but it was bittersweet knowing that we were getting back on the ship for the last time.

 

[UGAFan0829]

It was around 2:00 once we made it back onboard. I think the week had started to take a toll on us, as we all decided to head back to the room for a short nap before dinner. Brandi had also started to get a little sick as well. Her sinuses had really started bothering her, and she didn't feel well which is another reason that we didn't stay on the island as long as we had thought we would. I hated to see her getting sick, but was glad that it was happening now, at the end of the cruise instead of the beginning.

After our short naps, Mike and I started getting ready around 4, for our last dinner of the cruise. It was hard to believe that this was our last night onboard the Magic, so I wasn't as excited about rushing things along as I had been earlier in the week.

We were nearly late for dinner as I was having a terrible hair night!Mike took this picture of the girls as we were heading up, and you can see for yourself how bad it was...

I just wasn't feeling the magic tonight. We finally made it to dinner with not a minute to spare. We were back in Animator's Palate, and with it being our final night, the theme for the evening was "Till We Meet Again." I LOVED the menus, and wish I could have brought one home.

The mood tonight felt really somber. I think everyone was feeling the sadness of the last night.

Just like every other night, Abrahim brought our drinks and bread, and then Dennis came and asked how our day was before taking our orders.
I started off with the Artichoke, Spinach and Jalepeno Cheese Dip:

I don't normally do well with hot stuff, so I was a little worried about how strong the Jalepenos would be. There was no need to worry though, as it was just right. The peppers added just enough kick!
Mike had the Grilled Chicken Satays:

He enjoyed these as well.
Next came the Potato Leek Soup for me:

I surprised myself when I ordered this, as the menu told that the soup came with Caviar in it, which totally grosses me out. Thankfully I couldn't see or taste it (not that I would know what it tastes like anyway), and the soup was actually very good.
Mike decided to go with the Crawfish and Lobster Bisque:

For our main course, I chose the Grilled Beef Tenderloin:

This turned out to be my favorite piece of beef of the whole cruise. It was wonderful...cooked just right, and the sauce topped it off just right.
Mike decided on the Garloc and Rosemary-Marinated Lamb Sirloin:

He really enjoyed this as well and said the meat was nice and tender.
Lastly, came dessert, of course, and I was finally able to try something that I had always wondered about-the Baked Alaska...

I had read so much about the Baked Alaska and how good it was, but until this cruise, I never knew what it was. So I decided to give it a try, and I'm glad I did. It was VERY yummy!!
Mike chose the Chocolate Decadence, which he also liked a lot:

He said the part in the little glass (I don't remember exactly what it was) was the best part!

As we were having dessert, the Flaming of the Baked Alaska was done. We'd never seen this before, and thought that it was very cool. It sure did smell good, too!

Lastly, was the Parade of Nations. We definitely made some noise during this, as we thought that our serving team was surely the BEST!

Our head server:

By this time, the mood had definitely lifted, and smiles had returned to everyone's faces. Dennis was really in a good mood, as our cruise was his last, and he was returning home for his vacation the next day. Abrahim had only 4 weeks left before he returned home as well. We asked Dennis if he knew which ship he would be on when he returned, but he didn't. We made sure to let him know that we'd definitely be requesting him when we cruise again. Both he and Abrahim were wonderful!

With our last dinner being behind us, we decided to head to the shops to make any last minute purchases that we'd forgotten or missed earlier in the week. Turns out, Treasure Ketch had a new shirt for sale that we all loved and bought. The front has a picture of the Magic, and the back has a cool map showing all the ports of call for the Magic. Lots of people were buying them, and all 4 of us ended up with one as well. I didn't think to take pictures of it, but I ended up wearing it later in the week in Disney.

After the shops, we headed down to Guest Services to settle up our bill. We'd set up a cash account and went down from time to time throughout the week to make sure of what we'd spent. After we'd made several purchases, we always took some cash down and paid so that we could keep up with our spending. It's very easy to get out of control when you don't keep a watch on it.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Our next stop after GS was back to the room to try and do a little more packing. I had meant to try and pack a little at a time throughout the week, but with all the clothes that we wore, it didn't work out that way. Once we made it back to the room, we saw our very last towel animal of the cruise:

They had also dropped off the pillow cases that I had left with GS earlier in the week. I thought they turned out great:

We worked on packing until just a few minutes before the "Remember the Magic" show that started at 8:30 in the Buena Vista. This was yet another show that we'd missed on both our other cruises, so we were excited to finally be seeing it this time.

We made it at about 10 minutes before the show started, and it was already getting pretty packed. Finally the show started, and it was great. Some of it tied in to the "All Aboard" show from the first night. I think there were definitely a few teary-eyed moments for me.

This guy was pretty cool.

He asked for a couple of guys from the audience to join him on stage for some help, and one of the guys from our DIS group (idrivealumina) went up. They were a lot of fun to watch:

Then the show switched "themes" again...

My favorite princess made an appearance as well:

 

[UGAFan0829]

With the final show being over, and our amount of time left on board withering away, we decided to head back to the one place that we'd visited a good bit during the week. So we headed up to deck 9 for one more cup of that yummy soft-service ice cream. Mike decided to say his goodbye to the ice cream in a unique manner:

Gayle and Brandi said their goodbyes as well:

After savoring our last cup of the yummy stuff, we headed back to our rooms and managed to get our luggage tagged and out in the hall before 8:30. I was sad that we missed the "Till We Meet Again" with all the characters in the atrium, but that was okay. We'd seen it before, and there was always next time. With our luggage out, the only thing left to do was to hit the hay for our last night in our DCL bed.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Saying Goodbye to the Magic...But the Party Ain't Over Yet!!!​

Mike and I both were awake by 5:30. Imagine that-the last day of the cruise and we decide to wake up so early. Needless to say, as we started our day we were faced with the harsh, cruel reality that this was our last morning onboard the Magic. It was so hard to believe that this trip was finally coming to an end. But--there was definitely a silver lining to those dark clouds...WE WERE HEADING TO DISNEY WORLD TODAY!! I'm so glad that we chose to do Disney after the cruise because it sure did make our last few hours just a tad bit easier to get through.

Since it was still a bit early, we hadn't docked yet, so when we stepped onto the verandah, we were able to watch ourselves pull into port. It was so serene standing there watching us pull back in.

I admit, I definitely got a little teary eyed as I stood there and thought about the wonderful week we'd just experienced. I was so thankful that we were blessed enough to have been able to even take this trip. I know there are so many people in the world that may never step foot on a cruise ship, and here we were at the end of our 3rd one. I was also so thankful that I had a husband with whom I'd been married to for 10 wonderful years. I still haven't figured out what I did to deserve him, but the Lord sure blessed me when he brought Mike into my life! I realized just how much I had to be thankful for!

After we showered and readied for the day, we packed up the last of our belongings and said goodbye to stateroom 8550, and made our way to breakfast. Just as we'd gotten out in the hall, our wonderful stateroom host, Margaret was coming by. I know I've not commented on her very much during this report, but to sum her up as wonderful was an understatement! We just loved her! So of course, us girls got a pic with her before we said our final goodbyes. This is actually the only picture that we got of her during the whole trip, and I'm so glad that we got this one...

I definitely had to wipe away a few tears as we walked away...

With all our bags in tow, we finally made it to breakfast in AP, right at 7:00. Mike and I had actually debated skipping breakfast all together so that we could be off the ship earlier and headed to WDW, but I'm so glad that we decided not to. It was our very last meal of the trip with Brandi and Gayle, but we also got to see Dennis and Abrahim one last time.

I apologize, but I didn't even bother taking pictures of this meal. We had everything packed up, including the camera and ready to carry off the ship, so I didn't mess with digging the camera back out. Breakfast was good though, or as good as it can possibly be knowing that it was our last meal. We ate slowly and enjoyed our time together. But soon enough, it was our time to go. We were one of the very last tables out of the dining room, as we took gave Dennis and Abrahim our farewell hugs and told them we hoped to cruise with them again someday. We also made sure to tell them just how special they made our cruise and how thankful we were to have them as our servers. As we headed out, we managed to all get together for a couple group shots. These were definitely some of my favorite pics from the whole cruise...

We slowly made our way through the ship and back to the atrium, where we saw yet another tear jerker...

And by the time that we passed this, it was all I could do not to just bawl...

We made our way to the luggage area and collected all our belongings. We made it safely through customs then out to the curb to wait for our shuttle. When Dwayne had dropped us off at the port he'd given us instructions to call him on his cell when we were ready to be picked up. So Mike called, and it turns out that we'd just missed him. He told us he'd be back in about 10-15 minutes. So we dragged our luggage down to an open spot on the side of the curb and waited. As we were waiting, aussieinvasion and her family came up and were waiting for their car back to the airport, so I was able to chat with her for a few minutes before she left. It wasn't long until their car had arrived, and they were on their way. Yet another tearful moment for me!
Then just a couple minutes later Dwayne had arrived! He sure was quick! He loaded all our luggage into the trailer, and then we were ready to go. It was just us, so we had the shuttle all to ourselves. It was some what of a quiet ride back.

Within minutes we were back at the hotel. Dwayne was nice and pulled to where we were parked. He unloaded our luggage for us, and of course we tipped him again and thanked him so much. He was great! And I made sure to let the hotel know that when they sent me a follow-up survey a few days later. I admit that I was a little worried as to how the whole shuttle thing would work after we decided to park at the hotel instead of the port. And it turned out great. Not only did it save us $105, but it was nice having help with all our luggage. Everything definitely was better than I expected, and I'm almost positive that we'll be staying at the Country Inn when we cruise again!

Mike helped Brandi and Galye stuff all their luggage back into their car and we then said our goodbyes to them. They were driving straight home, so they had strict instructions to call us every few hours to let us know their status. They then set on their way home, and we were left with loading all our things back in our car. So what do you do when you've got the post-cruise blues...YOU GO TO DISNEY WORLD, of course!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

The Adventure Continues…Checking-in at the BoardWalk, and touring the World!​

The drive to Disney from Port Canaveral was wet, but uneventful, which was a good thing. About 30 minutes or so after we left the hotel, it had started raining on us. From the looks of the skies, it was going to be somewhat of a gloomy day. But those dark skies didn’t dampen our moods…We were headed to Disney World! And what was even more exciting is that we were about to make our first stay as DVC members! Woohoo!

We arrived in Disney around 10 a.m. and headed straight for the BoardWalk. It was still raining, but I managed to get a couple quick shots to document our arrival!

Even though I had printed directions from MapQuest, and we had our GPS, we somehow ended up getting turned around. Since we’d never been through the entrance of the BoardWalk before, we didn’t know where to turn. So, we ended up passing the entrance and going under the water bridge around to the Beach Club. We eventually figured out where we were going and made it to the BoardWalk parking lot. As Mike always says, we weren’t lost, just sightseeing!!! Because we were so early, I knew that our room wasn’t ready, but I just couldn’t wait to get inside the resort and see things for myself. So we parked the car, and headed inside. As soon as we entered the lobby, my excitement level was kicked up a bit. It was so beautiful! I was so excited to check-in that I left the camera in the car, so I didn’t get any pics then, but I did make up for it later in the week. Thankfully, there was no line for check-in, so we were called right up. A sweet gentleman from Japan helped us, and though his English was a little broken, he was as nice as could be. Since our room wasn’t ready, he gave us all our other info, and then told me that we would receive a text message as soon as the room was ready.

It was still somewhat early, and since my plans for the day were just to tour World Showcase, we decided to head back out to try and find a grocery store for later when we needed to pick up some things to eat for the rest of the week. We used the GPS and easily found a Publix. We decided that since we didn’t actually need anything right then, that we would come back later in the week. So, we headed back to the resort, this time actually knowing where we were going! We parked the car, and then got out everything that we’d need for our afternoon in the park. We didn’t have anything planned for the day until dinner in the evening, so we had plenty of time to enjoy our afternoon.

Within just a couple minutes we were on the path from the resort to the International Gateway at Epcot. It was a nice walk even though it was still raining on and off. Before we knew it, we were headed into our first park!

Since breakfast had come pretty early that morning, we were starting to get a little hungry and we already knew just what we wanted to eat. On our trip in 2007, we’d discovered the Cantina de San Angel, and loved it. The churros there were so good that we knew we eat there again when we returned. So guess where we were headed-to Mexico for another yummy lunch!!

The only downside to this restaurant is that all the seating is outside. And since it had been raining all of the seats were wet. No big deal though…we just grabbed a bunch of napkins and wiped our table and seats down. Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time our food was ready. I’m not 100%sure, but I think Mike had theBurrito while I went with what we had the last time-the Cantina Nachos. And of course we both had a churro for dessert.

As we sat, I snapped a couple shots of some lizards who were playing on the rocks right at the water’s edge.

The food was just as good as we remembered, and we were happy with our choice!

Since we were already at the Mexican pavilion, we decided that we would start our trek around WS here.

So, with our bellies full, we decided a nice little boat ride on the Gran Fiesta tour would be a great way to start it off. There was no line, so we literally walked right on! Gotta love that-first ride of the trip is a walk on!!!

After Mexico, we wandered on our way over to another favorite ride of ours-Maelstrom! Check out the stand-by line time!!

Once again, there was hardly any wait! This is one of our favorite rides, and once again it didn’t disappoint! Once we were off the ride, we wandered just a bit, and I discovered the “exciting” part of Maelstrom. I don’t know why we’d never noticed this before! It doesn’t take much to amaze me!!

After visting Norway, we were making our way on around the world when we came upon Snow White! She was standing there all alone, so I thought I’d stop for a quick pic! She was a cute Snow White, but she didn’t have a lot to say.

With our visit with Snow White done, we were once again on our way. One of the things that I had planned to try and do while in the WS was to see as many characters as possible. As I checked my times guide, I realized that Belle was making an appearance in France, so we headed there next. I snapped a couple shots along the way…

When we arrived to see Belle, I was excited to see the Beast out with her as well. I’d never seen him before, so this was a first!

And right across from Belle and the Beast was Aurora! Aurora was really sweet. She asked me if Mike was my Prince, and of course I told her yes. She was really in character, and talking to her was a lot of fun!

After leaving France, we headed towards England to see my favorite pals-Pooh and his gang!! They are my all time favorite, so I HAD to see them! As we went inside we were again surprised when we met Alice and Mary Poppins! We’d never seen Mary before, so once again, another first!!

They were both very cute…telling me to stand straight and asking me about the Mickey on my shirt. They were a lot of fun as well, and I LOVED hearing Mary’s accent. She was wonderful!! I was so glad that we had gotten there when we did, as we were one of the last to see them-they were actually on their way out! So next of course, we hopped in line for Pooh! We ended up waiting for a few minutes as they had to take a quick break, but it wasn’t very long. And I didn’t mind since I was so excited about seeing them again. I so wish that Pooh and the gang were on the cruise, but there not! Once they came back from break, we were second in line and I was so excited! Something about seeing them really brings out the kid in me!! They were so much fun even though Tigger stepped on my toe and broke a nail!!

We said our goodbyes to our favorite friends and then wandered for a bit. And while we were in England, we decided to make use of the phones and call home! LOL!

Next up was the beautiful country on Canada! I really want to visit the real thing one day! First thing we did was head to the O’ Canada show. I love, love, love this show. Seeing it in Circle Vision is so neat. There are such beautiful scenes in this movie, and the song at the end (I believe that it’s their national anthem, but I could be wrong) is absolutely beautiful! And to boot, Martin Short is pretty funny himself!! Every time we see the movie, it only makes me want to visit Canada more and more! With our tour of Canada coming to an end, we had pretty much made our way around WS. We’d burned several hours, and since we had a 6:45 ADR for the Wave, we decided that it was time to head back to the resort in hopes that our room would soon be ready!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Because I had forgotten to upload my PhotoPass pics, I didn't get to post any in my last installment, so I figured I would post a couple of them here.

Aurora and I during our conversation about Mike being my Prince:

Tigger and I...

Pooh and I:

And lastly, Eeyore and I:

This last one is one of my favorite from the whole trip. There's just something so sweet about this picture:

 

[UGAFan0829]

When I last left off, we had just finished our tour around World Showcase, and were headed back to the resort. It was now 3:15, and I still hadn't received the text that our room was ready. To say that I was getting anxious was definitely an understatement!

The walk from Epcot back to the BoardWalk was so nice! I loved being able to take our time and take in the scenery. I snapped these shots as we made our way...
The Beach Club across the way:

I think this was either on the end of a bench or a trashcan, but I had to take a pic of it:

As we were walking along, my phone went off...FINALLY! Woo-hoo...We received the message that our room was ready, and that we'd be in # 3076!

Since our car was parked in the main lot with all our luggage still packed in it, we decided to pull it around the to front to make unloading the luggage a little easier. We were just going to use one of the luggage carts and haul it up ourselves, but we were told that Bell Services would have to do that for us. It's definitely not something that we are used to, especially since this was our 1st stay in a "Deluxe", so we let them take care of us. And while we had the car there, we went ahead and let valet take care of parking it for us. This was especially nice since the parking lot was a little further away.

With our car and luggage being taken care of, we finally headed up to check out our room for the next 5 nights! We took the elevator up to the 3rd floor, then took a right down the long hall. Our room was about midways down the hall, which wasn't bad at all. Here's what we found as we entered our room and checked it out...(Warning...lots of pictures ahead)...

 

[UGAFan0829]

Continuting to the outside-
This was our view looking straight. I'd say we definitely got a pool view:

Looking left:

And right:

And the balcony itself:

Just a few minutes after we'd arrived and finished taking pics, Bell Services called to say they were brining our luggage up. They were there right away, and unloaded everything for us right at the front door. This was a big help, especially since we had so much stuff! The gentleman was very nice, we tipped him, and he was on his way.

By this time we had a little while before our 6:45 ADR at the Wave, so we rested up a little and got settled in. I had brought my laptop along, so I logged on and checked out a couple things. Before long, we freshened up, and decided that it was time to leave for the Contemporary.

We figured that it would be easiest for us to take a bus to the MK, and then walk to the Contemporary, which ended up working out just fine for us. We arrived at 6:30, and checked-in right away. They gave us a pager so we waited outside on the cool looking furniture near the elevators. I snapped this shot of the outside while we waited:

It was a really cool looking restaurant, and I was really excited about eating there!
We'd only been waiting for about 5 minutes when our buzzer went off. AS we walked in, we were lead down a hall that was really cool:

At the end of the hall was this wall that was also really pretty...

We were lead to our table, and I was immediately impressed with the decor of the restaurant. Though it looked a bit more upscale, it was really pretty.
Our server came within a few minutes and we let her know that we were on the dining plan. She gave us the menus, but it ended up taking us a little while to decide on our meals. To be honest, there wasn't much on the menu that really appealed to me. I guess this was partly my fault for not researching the menu before I made the reservation, but I had instead based our decision to eat here off the great reviews that I read. Our server ended up coming back to the table a couple of times to see if we were ready before we were able to make up our minds, and she seemed a little annoyed by this. Eventually, we made up our minds and ordered. Once we'd told her what we wanted, she finally brought us some pretty yummy bread:

As we waited for our food, I snapped a couple more shots...

The atmosphere here reminded me a lot of the California Grill.
After what seemed like an eternity, our food finally arrived. I think I went with the Grilled Beef Tenderloin:

While Mike had the Cinnamon-Rubbed Grill Pork Tenderloin:

For dessert, there wasn't a thing on the menu that I wanted, so I chose the Make Your Own SUndae off the kids menu:

And Mike had the Creamy Indulgence:

As soon as dessert was over, we were ready to go. I have to admit that this was definitely a disappointing meal. While the decor of the restaurant was beautiful, the food just didn't measure up. I'm glad that we went, but both Mike and I agreed that it's definitely not somewhere that we want to try again anytime soon!

With the two thumbs down meal over, we decided to take the monorail to the T&TC to catch and bus back to the resort. Little did we know, and I swear that this has changed since the last time we were there in '07, but there are no buses at the T&TC. Once we figured this out, we walked back to the MK and caught a bus from there.

As we pulled back into the resort, I managed to get a pic of the entrance all lit up:

I love that the bus stop is so close to the front of the resort! After we exited the bus, I wanted to get a couple more night shots before we headed up for the night.
I'm betting that this is one of the most photographed spots at the BoardWalk:

And of course, I had to get a pic of the beautiful light inside the lobby:

As we made our way back to the room, I noticed the Mickey's in the carpet...

Before long, we had made it back to our room. We had planned to try and make it to the pool before the slide closed, but it was already 8:30, and the slide closes at 8. I was a little disppointed since the pool was one of the main reasons we wanted to stay here, but I knew we still had 4 more nights to try it out!!

We lounged around the room and unpacked most of our things before we finally hit the hay for our first night in the World! The next day was our Animal Kingdom day, and I really wanted to make it to park opening, so it was no time before we were Disney dreaming in that huge king bed!

 

[UGAFan0829]

From Animal Kingdom to 'Ohana...A Day of Firsts​

Today was our Animal Kingdom day, and since we wanted to make it to park opening, we were up bright and early at 6 a.m. We showered and readied for the day, then headed to the bus stop right at 8. We didn't wait very long for a bus, but by the time we made stops at the other resorts, it was about 8:30 when we finally made it to the park, which was just about perfect!!

Since I always use TGM's crowd calendars to chose our parks for each day, I definitely wasn't expecting the crowd that was already there.

I was so excited that we were finally going to be at a park for the opening...this was the first time in 3 trips that we'd actually been successful at doing so! Within just a few minutes, the opening "show" had begun...

With the show being over, and the park finally opened, we headed straight here...

Before, we'd always waited until a little later in the morning or early afternoon to ride the Safari, so we decided to try it first thing off to see if it would be any different. Here's a little sampling what we saw:

I don't know that the animals were any more active than before, but I do think that we saw more different animals.

After the Safari, we decided to trek through the Pangani Forest Trail since we were already right there...
We were very entertained by this gorilla who'd found a morning snack:

 

[UGAFan0829]

After our trip throught the forest, we decided to head somewhere that we'd never been before-Rafiki's Planet Watch. I wasn't really sure what it was all about, but we decided to check it out anyway.

We boarded the Wildlife Express Train and made our way to check out what this area was all about.
First we headed inside to get out of the heat for a few minutes. We immediately realized that there were a couple character greetings going on, so we decided to jump in line for those. First up was Rafiki, which is one of Mike's favorites:

And then there was Jiminy Cricket:

We'd never seen Jiminy out and about before, so it was really cool seeing him there.
Next, we checked out some of things that were going on inside before we headed out to Affection Section where I saw a real live Eeyore...

I've been wanting a miniature donkey as a pet for quite some time, so I was really excited to see one. Of course, everyone I see I always call Eeyore!!
After trying to lure Eeyore over to us and being unsuccessful, we decided to head back to the train station to make our departure.
If you ever take the Wildlife Express, please make sure to note that no cooking is allowed aboard the train!!

After saying goodbye to Rafiki and his planet, we were starting to get a little hungry, so we decided to try and find a quick snack. We made a quick stop at the Kusafiri Coffee Shop and Bakery.

I really wanted a cinnamon roll, but they were all out. So instead, we went with a muffin and a turnover.

They were both pretty good. We sat there for a few minutes and took our time eating. It wan't even noon yet, and it was already a really hot and muggy day. As we sat there, we watched some of the dancers perform.

 

[UGAFan0829]

With our late breakfast snacks finished, we decided to head over to another part of the park that we'd never visited before-Camp Minnie Mickey.

I really wanted to get some character pics in their safari gear, so we headed to the Character Trails.
First up were Chip and Dale:

Then good ol' Goofy:

Next was Donald, who wasn't too happy with my shirt selection for the day. As soon as he spotted my Mickey shirt, he gave me a hard time, telling me that HE was #1!

So this is how he made us pose...

He was so cute!!!
After Donald, the only 2 left were Mickey and Minnie. As were were getting ready to head to their lines, I realized that the 12:00 showing of Festival of the Lion King was just a few minutes away. And since we'd never seen it before, we decided to head over to try and catch it since we knew we could always head back over to meet Mickey and Minnie later. So, we made the short walk over to the theater in the round. We had pefect timing too, as they were already letting people in and we were able to find a seat right away. Thankfully it wasn't crowded, so we were able to find a spot right away.

It was such a good show, and I was really glad that we took the time to see it. Mike and I loved seeing Timon and Pumba, as they are a couple of his favorites as well!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

As we exited the theater, it had been raining, and continuted to do so. We still wanted to catch up with Mickey and Minnie over at the Character Trails, so we headed back over there. As we were standing in line, it started to storm, so they closed the trails for a few minutes. We decided that instead of waiting it out, that we would head over to one of our favorite attractions in the park-It's Tough to Be a Bug! We love this show and couldn't wait to see it again!

Once again it did not disppoint, though I did notice that there were a lot of scared kids there this time. Bless their hearts...there was one little boy behind us that went hysterical after the spider scene. I felt so sorry for him.

After we'd gotten our 3-D on, we decided that it was definitely time for some rides. So where did we head next...Everest, of course! Unfortunately, the wait was up to 40 minutes, so we decided to grab a fast pass. Everest is by far, my favorite ride in the park, but I just didn't want to wait in line for 40 minutes when there were other things that we could be spending our time doing. So, we decided to make the trek back across the park to check out the wait time for Dinosaur. And once again, we were disappointed-another 40 minutes. And since we'd just gotten Fastpasses for Everest, it would be awhile before we could Fastpass Dinosaur.

By this point we were pretty hot and were getting tired from all the walking, so we figured that maybe lunch would be a good choice. It was well past lunch, so we were hoping that the lunch crowds would have died down a little by now. We already knew exactly what we wanted, so we headed straight there.
But, as we were walking, I noticed a sign off the side for a character greeting with Pooh and the gang. Of course, I couldn't pass that up, so we made a quick stop to visit with my favorite friend and his pals!

We liked Flame Tree so much after out last trip, that we already knew way ahead of time that this is where we would be eating lunch on this day. Thankfully our theory about the lunch crowds being down were right, so we quickly ordered then made our way to a table with a great view!

I had the BBQ sandwich and beans, while Mike decided to try something different and went with the SmokedTurkey sandwich with slaw.

Mine was as good as I'd remembered, and Mike liked his pretty good as well. For dessert, Mike had the Key Lime Pie, and I had the Chocolate Cake.

With our bellies full, we still had some time to kill before our Fastpass return time for Everest, so we decided to check out Dinosaur one more time. We were in luck...the wait time was only 10 minutes now! I love this ride, and end up getting scared even though I know what to expect. Here's our redneck ride photo:

With Dinosaur off the list, it was finally time to head back over to Everest for our much awaited ride!! I was brave and decided to try and take a few pics during our ride:

I LOVE this ride...Not only is it my favorite one in AK, but also one of my favorites from all the parks! And once more, our redneck ride photo:

 

[UGAFan0829]

With the day slowly winding down, we decided to head back towards the entrance to try and find a spot for Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade, which was yet another thing that we had yet to see. We were able to find a spot in front of one of the shops right on the parade route. We found a bench and waited for the parade to start, which seemed to take forever. I don't think it really took as long as it seemed, but it was really hot outside, and it had been a long day already! Soon enough the parade started!!

The parade was really cute, and we ended up with an awesome viewing spot. It was like most of the characters were right there in our face. After it was over, we let the masss die down before we headed for the exit. As we made our way out, I grabbed a couple shots of the Tree of Life...

Within a few minutes we were out of the park and waiting for a bus to take us back to the BoardWalk...We had one more thing to do tonight to add to our list of firsts...Dinner at 'Ohaha. We were so looking forward to this meal more than just about anything else on this trip. I'd read and heard so many good thing about the place, and we just couldn't wait to try it for ourselves. I was a little worried though...as picky as I am, I was just hoping that it would live up to all the hype. There's only one way to find out if it did or not...

 

[UGAFan0829]

When I last left off, we were headed back to the BW to get ready for our 8:05 ADR for 'Ohana. I think this was probably the meal that we looked forward to the most!

Once we made it back to the resort, we showered and and readied for what we hoped to be a great dinner. To make it a little easier, we decided to drive over to the Poly since we planned to make a trip to Wal-Mart after dinner to finally pick up some breakfast items and snacks for the rest of the week.

Other than stopping there on the monorail, this was the first time that we had ever stepped foot on the the grounds of the Poly. Immediately, both of us were impressed. From the waterfall outside the front door...

To the beautiful decor inside, we were just in awe!!

Once we finally figured out where 'Ohana was actually located, we made our way upstairs and checked in.

I really wasn't surprised by the crowded-ness of the restaurant, and the fact that there were several people waiting to be seated. I checked us in at about 7:45, and only 3 or 4 minutes later we were being led to our table!!

I'm sorry, but I don't even remember our cousins name. We were so excited to finally be eating here that we were just taking everything in. First, we were brought the bread....talk about heaven in a loaf!

I don't know what it was about that stuff, but I could have easily eaten the whole thing by myself! We were definitely already off to a tasty start!!
Next, came the salad, which I totally forgot about until now.

I don't even remember if this was good or not, but I'm sure it was.
As we waited for the next course, I snapped a few pics of our surroundings...

While we were waiting, Wishes began! We had a pretty good view of the show, so I decided to take a few pics of what we saw...

These aren't the greatest shots, but you get the idea. It didn't even cross my mind that we might get to see these, so this definitely added to the excitement!!

Once the fireworks were over, more food arrived:

Oh my gosh...between the pot stickers and the noodles, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Those things were the best food I had ever put in my mouth...period. I didn't even care if the meat ever came or not...I was happy with just those two things!

The meat finally did arrive, which made Mike happy...

And though I tried a few pieces of each, you can see here what I was really after:

I could have eaten my weight's worth of that stuff-and that's sayin' something!!

Next came dessert, which to be honest, I wasn't too sure about. But I tried it anyway, and boy was I glad I did! It was fantastic as well!

This was, by far, the best meal we had ever eaten on Disney property!! Before the meal was even over, we knew that this place would definitely be a must-do for us on each trip from now on. This place was incredible-from the food, to the service, to the decor and atmosphere! It is now our favorite Disney restaurant, hands down!!

Sadly, our meal was over, but we knew that we were coming back in the morning for breakfast, so that made leaving just a little easier. As we headed out, we took a few more pics along the way:

Afterwards, we decided to try and walk off some of the ginormous amount of food that we'd eaten by exploring the Poly a little. As I said, we'd never been there before, so this was definitely a treat for us. We checked out the pool area, then headed over to Sunset Pointe to check out the view. We decided that even though it's not a DVC resort, it's definitely a place that we wanted to stay someday in the future.

By this point, it was getting pretty late, so we headed back to the car to make a quick trip to the nearest Wal-Mart. Our quick trip ended up turning into almost midnight before we made it back to the resort, but at least we finally had breakfast and snack food!! We unloaded our stuff then tucked in to get some sleep before our next day in Epcot Future World.

 

[OhMari]

Bump to update.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Breakfast with Lilo and a Little Shoppin'​

After an early wake-up call from Mickey at 5:30, we were up and getting ready for another fun day in Epcot, but not before we had breakfast with a few friends!

By 7:30, we had made our way back to the Poly for breakfast with Lilo & Stitch! I have to admit, when I made this reservation, it was more about the characters than anything else, so I really had no expectations about the food! When we arrived, there were very few people there, so we were seated right away. It was kind of weird seeing the restaurant so empty after we'd just eaten there last night with it being so crowded!

The first thing we were brought was a basket of breads and pastries, and that yummy juice that I don't know the name of and a plate of fresh fruit.

Next, came the platter of YUMMY food that included eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and Mickey Waffles.

Then came the characters...

Seeing Lilo & Stitch and their friends was a great way to start the morning!

By the time the characters were finished making their rounds, we were full and ready for the day! It turned out that we made a great decision when we picked this meal. The service was just as good as the night before, the food was delish, and the characters were a lot of fun! The fact that you don't have to order and wait for your meal to come really makes this restaurant a good choice for breakfast!

Since breakfast was so early, we decided to drive our own car over to the Poly. And with breakfast being done, we headed back over to the BoardWalk to drop off the car and hop a bus to Epcot.

With us having already visited World Showcase, we decided to dedicate the day, or at least part of it, to FutureWorld. We stopped for a couple PhotoPass pics as we headed inside the park.

Next, was our first stop--Spaceship Earth.

This was our 1st time riding, so I was really excited to see what it was all about. Of course, I had to take a couple pics of our future...

I was glad that we finally took the time to ride, as it was a pretty cool experience!

After our visit to the future, we decided to walk into MouseGear.

We'd passed this store on every trip before, and I always wanted to take a look around, but we never did. I was impressed with the selection of stuff in there. There was a million things that I saw and wanted, but we came out empty handed.

After our "window' shopping, we decided to take our first ride of the day, so we headed over to Mission: Space. I LOVE this ride!

On our way over, I discovered some Hidden Mickeys in the concrete:

Next, we decided to head over to one of Mike's favorite rides, Test Track. Unfortunately, the wait was 40 minutes, so we grabbed a Fastpass and decided to head over to the Land and see how the wait looked for Soarin'. As luck would have it, the wait was 40 minutes there as well. With us already being so close, we decided to head over to the Seas and check out Nemo followed by Turtle Talk with Crush.

We still had time to kill before we could head back to Test Track to use our Fastpass, so we decided to do something that we'd never taken the time to do before and check out the aquariums.

There really is a lot to see there, so we enjoyed strolling around and discovering all the sea life.

Finally, it was time for us to head back to Test Track for a fast ride, but before we did, we decided to grab a Fastpass for Soarin' so that we could come back and ride it later.

With Soarin' FP's in hand, we made our way back across to TT. I was glad that we decided to FP it, especially since the wait was still 40 minutes!! After just a few minutes, we were buckled in and ready to ride!

I love this ride, but I hate the outside part cause I can never manage to keep my eyes open. I guess my eyes are really sensitive to the wind, so they always end up closing on me no matter how hard I try to see where we're going.

With our vehicle testing being successfully over, we headed back to Soarin' to take our scenic ride over Cali. We were able to zoom right through and were ready to glide in no time. It was a bit of a funny ride, as we ended up beside a couple who had their granddaughter with them. Now, even being scared of heights, I've never been scared of this ride, mainly because in the back of my mind I know that we're not really that high up. But because it is so realistic, I can understand how some people get freaked out. This poor lady beside us was definitely freaked out. Her granddaughter kept leaning forward (she was old enough to know that it was freaking her g'mother out, which was why she was doing it, but yet still small enough that the thought of her falling out still scared you), and everytime she did it, the grandmother just freaked. It was funny but scary at the same time. I was laughing at the grandmothers reaction, but yet, getting a little nervous with the g'daughter leaning forward. Between all that and trying to take in the scenery, it was definitely and interesting, but fun ride!

Since we'd accomplished pretty much everything on our list for the day, we decided to head over to Club Cool on our way out. Of course we had to try all the flavors from around the world, with the exception of the Beverly of course. Mike had learned his lesson from last time, so I wasn't able to pull one over on him again!! We did decide to use one of our snack credits and get us a frozen coke to enjoy on our way out. It was very yummy and refreshing! Just what we needed after a warm day in the park!

Next up, we head to Downtown Disney for some dinner and shopping!

 

[UGAFan0829]

After leaving Epcot, we decided to take the monorial over to the GF and check out their shops. The last time we were there, they had some really cute jewelry in the store that's near the lobby. So, we thought we'd stop in and see what they had to offer this time around. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything that caught my eye, so we decided to try the other store upstairs. Still not finding anything that we really wanted, we decided to catch a bus over to Downtown Disney. I was sure that I would find lots of stuff there!!!

Not having a meal since breakfast had made us pretty hungry by this point, so we decided to grab a quiCk bite before we did any more shopping. Since we'd been to Earl of Sandwich before and liked it, we decided that we'd be having it for lunch again today, so we headed over. I got the same thing as last time, the Ham 'n' Swiss...

And I honestly, cannot remember what Mike had, but here's a picture...note the placement of the EOS seal...

For dessert, I went with the brownie thing and Mike had the chocolate mousse/pudding.

I ended up not eating my brownie and took it with us to snack on later.

Once done savoring our sammiches, it was time for the shopping to begin. The first place we headed to was the "ear" store. I can't remember the name of it, but it's the place that has all the mouse ears and does the embroidery on them. Since our very first trip, Mike and I had been wanting to get our own set of ears with our names on them, but never had, so now was the time. I also wanted to get my great-niece her first pair of ears, so we got them all done at the same time. Here's a few pics of hers being done...

I was really happy with the way they turned out. I had purchased some a couple years ago in the MK for my niece and nephew, and I think the names on them were done by hand, as they weren't nearly as neat!

After leaving the ear store, we headed over to Pin Traders. I picked up a couple 2009 pins along with a few others. I could spend a fortune in that place, but I try and limit myself as much as possible!! After the pin store, we checked out the new Tren-D boutique, which was really nice. They had a lot of cute things in there, but nothing I would wear.

Next, we went to my all time favorite DTD store, World of Disney. I'm sure I'm not the only one who LOVES this store, and it was pretty obvious by all the others who were there as well! I loved the castle that they had on display, and thought it would look really nice in my living room...LOL!

We ended up buying a ton of stuff there, which is typical for me!!!

Shopping done, we were ready to sit down for a few, but not before we picked up something to soothe the sweet tooth that we had going on....so what better place to head than Ghirardelli!!! Mmmmm...that place is heaven! I have no clue what it was that we ordered, but here they are...
Mikes:

And mine:

Mike's even had a hidden Mickey on top...

They were SO yummy! We'd found a little table on the water right across from Ghirardelli and took in the view as we enjoyed our yummy treats. As we were sitting there, a yellow jacket decided to pay us a visit. So, Mike decided to shoo it, and as he did he shooed it right into my shake! I was so sad as I was only about half done with it! He tried to get me to dig him out and drink the rest, but there was no way. It would have been my luck that the stinger would have come off and then I would have ended up drinking it...so there went my yummy shake right into the trash! I have to admit I was a little irritated by the whole thing, but I know he didn't mean for it to happen that way. I sure haven't let him live it down though. Everytime we talk about the trip, I remind him that he owes me another shake when we go down again. Bless his heart, I know he felt really bad about it!

We sat a little longer and then decided it was time to head back to the resort. If we were lucky, we could make it back in time to head to the pool...but by the time our bus finally came and we made the stops at the Beach Club and Swan and Dolphin, it had gotten to late. Yet another night of unsuccessfully trying to go down the awesome slide that I so badly wanted to try! So we decided to chill in the room for the rest of the evening. I did a little surfing on the net then called everyone back home to check-in. It had been a long and fun day, so we hit the hay early, excited about tomorrow and going to Hollywood Studios and riding Toy Story Mania for the first time.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Hollywood Studios and the "Elusive" BoardWalk Slide!​

Making it to park opening at Hollywood Studios wasn't really a priority for us, so we were able to take our time and actually slept a little later than normal this morning.

Being able to take the water taxi over to the park was wonderful, and we made it to the park around 10, which was just about an hour after park opening.

As we walked in, we decided to stop and get a couple Photopass pics taken before we headed on our mission...

Our first stop was Toy Story Mania. Since I'd heard so much about it since it's opening, I was really excited to try it for the first time. But before we made it, we were stopped by a CM and were given these babies:

Whoo-hoo! That was the first time we'd gotten anything like that. Actually, after the Year of a Million Dreams had ended, I didn't even think that they did things like this anymore. Either way, we were really excited!

So, with magical Fastpasses in our hands, we were finally on our way over to Pixar Place to check out TSM.

Since the wait wasn't that long, we decided to grab Fastpasses and then head into the stand-by line.
I LOVE the themeing and details of the ride...I think they really make it a lot of fun. Here's what we saw as we waited...

After just a few minutes, we were ready to get our ride on. I loved this ride. It was so much fun, even if I did get my butt whipped...

After a fun, fun ride on TSM, we decided to head over to Animation Academy to see if we could make it into a drawing class.

This was one of the things that we couldn't wait to do again as we had so much fun drawing on our last trip. Unfortunately, the wait was a little longer that what we had in mind, so instead we headed over to see the characters from "Up", which I love!

As we were heading out, we noticed that the Incredibles didn't have much of a line, so we decided to pay them a visit as well:

It took me a while to figure out that the black thing on my head was actually Mr. Incredible's hand!

On our way out from Animation, we realized that Mater and Lightnin' were out for pictures as well, so we had to head over there since Mater is one of Mike's favorites. I really like the way that they have changed this since the last time that we saw them in 2007. Before, they brought them out into the Streets of America, and it was pretty much a free-for-all as far as getting pictures. But with the new set up, they keep them in one area and organize a line just like with all the other characters. This was much, much nicer!

After our visits with the characters, it was getting time for our lunch ressie, so we headed over to Sci-Fi where we would be eating for the first time. I'd heard lots of good things about the place, so my expectations were pretty high...

Stay tuned to see if Sci-Fi lived up to the hype...

 

[UGAFan0829]

As we made our way over to lunch, we passed this, which I thought was a really cool way to do some advertising...

After a short walk, we had arrived at Sci-Fi and were ready to see what the place was all about.

We were a few minutes early, but went ahead and checked in since they always request that you be early anyway. There were a good amount of people waiting to be seated, and a ton that were turned away who didn't have an ADR. After a few minutes, we were finally taken to our car. There was a family already seated in the front part of the car, so we got the back. We ordered, and as we waited, I took a couple pics of our surroundings.

Soon after, our food finally arrived. Both of us ended up choosing the Cheeseburger and fries, which were just okay in our opinions. Definitely nothing to write home about.

For dessert, Mike went with the Apple Crumble, and I chose the Hot Fudge Sundae. Both were pretty good.

Before we left, we asked our waitress if she would take a pic of us in the car, which turned out pretty good.

All in all, I have to say that we were a little disappointed with the whole experience. Sci-Fi really isn't mine or Mike's thing, so that didn't do anything to help. Our waitress was okay, but was less than pleasant and a little slow. And to top it off the food was just okay. Again, I think I had set a certain standard after reading all the positve reviews, and for us it just didn't live up. It certainly wasn't a terrible experience by any means, but it's not somewhere that we'll be trying again anytime soon. We'd pick 50's Prime Time over it any day.

With lunch over, we decided to head back over to TSM and use our Fastpass before we went back to Animation Academy to wait for a drawing class, but not before we made a quick stop at Rock N Roller Coaster to pick up a Fastpass. We then zoomed back over to TSM, and I snapped a couple more pics that I missed before as we breezed through the line...

And once again, I got skunked...

I really need to go buy the Wii game so I can get some practice in!!

After leaving TSM, we headed over to Animation Academy to find that we were just in time for the next class.

I've never been able to draw at all-but I love doing this class. Today, we were drawing Dale, which was a bit harder than I'd thought. I snapped this quick pic of Mike hard at work...

Here is what the instructor's work looked like as it was progressing:

Here's how Mike's turned out:

And finally, mine--

I thought Mike's turned out much better than mine, with the exception of the dark teeth. We got quite a laugh out of that!!