Oct 2005 Trip Report

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 2 - Continued Again - Again

After riding the backlot tour I found myself on Mickey Avenue, so I got a FP for Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and went to see One Man's Dream. It is a good movie that I think everyone should see at least once. I don't think all visitors of the parks have enough respect for Walt Disney, and this movie is the only tribute to him that is really in the parks. Plus there are some neat displays in that building with the whole timeline thing, and the concept and designs for the parks, that Disney lovers could definatly spend some time looking at. I doubt it's ever crowded, and this would be a great way to get away from the crowds and heat.

By then it was my return time on my FP, but even using FP I still had a 15 minute wait, so I guess I got there right after a show had started. I've always enjoyed Voyage of the Little Mermaid, especially the songs, (I may enjoy the music more then the actual movies themselves,) and the Ariel for the show could actually sing. Plus the theater is always cool, and I really love all of the water effects.

Brown Derby

After seeing Voyage of the Little Mermaid it was about 3:30 and starting to rain, (for the first few days I was at Disney there were showers off and on,) I didn't feel like getting wet right before eating, and I was already pretty close to Brown Derby, so I headed there, and was able to be seated a little early.

The waitress was very nice, she explained that I could get an appetizer, entree, and dessert. I would usually never order a three course meal, and I only did it twice during the trip, here, because of the package, and at Le Cellier. Luckily the only thing I had eaten that day had been that pretzel, so I was really hungry. My choices were easy since I had already memorized the menus at All Ears before going. I had exactly what I had planned on. (I always look at the menus, though I don't look too foward to something in case it's removed from the menu by the time I get there, but it usually takes me forever to decide what I want, so looking at the menus ahead of time really saves me time.)

I started with the sake laced crab cake with nori crust, miso aioli, and cucumber-watermelon slaw. It was excellant, a very good crab cake, with an asian taste to eat, (I really like all kinds of asian food - Japanese, Chinese, Thai, etc.) and the cucumber-watermelon slaw was very good, and a great accompianment.

My entree was pistachio and mint crusted rack of lamb with spaghetti squash, seasonal vegetables, and a zinfandel nage which the waitress asked how I wanted cooked, I said medium rare, and it was perfect. Also, I usually hate squash, especially spaghetti, but I ate most of the squash on my plate, it was so good, especially with the nage.

My dessert was the Happiest Celebration on Earth featuring orange chocolate impression with pinot noir reduction. The menu description didn't give a lot of information, but I decided to order it anyway, (it was between this, the creme brulee, and the grapefruit cake. Dessert is always the hardest decision for me.) I'm so glad I did. It's like a chocolate-orange mousse, with a chocolate cake center. And the plate presentation is beautiful, (I'm going to be adding pictures after I'm all done with this.)

The only thing I was dissapointed with here was the bread, and I really enjoy different kinds of bread at the various restaurants, but I swear these tasted like the Pilsbury frozen ones.

The Fantasmic package meant I paid a pre-set price, but I actually came out ahead. Not something I really cared about either way, and if I hadn't been on the Fantasmic package I probably wouldn't of gotten an entree, since usually I can't eat that much. I'm suprised that I ate as much as I did, but that was probably because my lunch had been a pretzel. But, I'm glad I did get a whole meal since the food was so good. Brown Derby is now my favorite Disney restaurant for food, or one of them at least.

Day 2 - After Dinner

After eating it was almost 5:00, (it had taken me a little over an hour to eat,) and I was able to see the tail end of the Stars and Motor Cars Parade, I only saw about four floats, but thought they looked cool, so made a promise to myself to see the whole parade by the end of the trip.

There was a Beauty and the Beast show at 5:30, so I decided to go to that. (I like the live stage shows better then the rides for the most part.) The show is really well done, though there's a twist ending with Belle that isn't in the movie, but it would of been really hard for them to pull off that whole roof fight sequence on the stage for a twenty minute show.

After B&B I went on the Great Movie Ride again, but didn't like the CM as much, she wasn't bad, I just thought the first one was better.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 2 - Continued

Almost done with day two. After I had ridden the Great Movie Ride, I was near where I had seen Minnie earlier, I decided to take a breather for a minute, and had just called my mom and had been talking to her for a few minutes when Mickey and Pluto came out of nowhere! My mom pretty much got hung up on, she was saying something, and apparently I made a giggly noise, and she asked me what, and I said "Mickey and Pluto, I have to go get there autograph," I will get over excited when I see a character. So I saw Mickey and Pluto, this was the only time I saw Mickey all week that he wasn't mobbed.

Fantasmic

Fantasmic was showing at 8:00 that night, but since I had the Fantasmic package I didn't go to the ampitheater until after 7:00. It had started to rain again, and I was happy I had this water-proof jacket with me, which kept me pretty dry. (I only ended up needing the jacket twice, but was very glad I had it both times.) There were several annoucements saying that Fantasmic may be canceled due to weather, but I kept my hopes up.

At 8:00 Fantasmic started, and I loved what I saw, which was the opening with the water screens, the Pocahontas sequence, and the princess floats, but then suddenly it stopped, and another annoucement came over the PA that Fantasmic is stopped and may or may not continue. So I look at my watch to see what time it is, 8:30, and realize that if I leave right then, get a bus right away, and walk really fast, I may get back to my room in time for Lost.

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to pull it off. Going back to watch Lost made a lot more sense to me at that point then sitting in the rain hoping that Fantasmic would continue. I'm not sure if it ever did or not.

After Lost I was getting hungry again, (dinner had been six hours ago,) so I decided to get something from the food court. I had the cheesesteak, which was good, but a little salty, and a refill of diet coke.

Day 2 - Autograph Count - 5 Total - 8
Costs - $60 (approx for food)

Day 3 - Crystal Palace

This was the day I was probably most concerned about since it started with an 8:05 AM ADR at Crystal Palace, and ended with MNSSHP until midnight, and I wasn't planning on taking any breaks.

I was up at 6:00, and at the buses by 7:00. There was no problem getting to MK, and I was there by 7:30, so the buses do run plenty early for those of you with early ADR's.

No one was let into the parks until exactly 8:00, and even though technically I only had five minutes to get to the other end of Main Street I couldn't help but take my time, not that I went that slowly, I was at CP by like 8:10, but this was the first time I had seen the castle in almost seven years, and like I said, I don't like to rush, and Cinderella Castle may be my favorite monument and building of all time. And I thought the 50th anniversary decorations were beautiful.

I was seated almost right away, and I must say that Crystal Palace may be the prettiest restaurant in WDW. I really do think it's gorgeous. I had just sat down, and the nice waitress brought me orange juice, and happily asked me if I would prefer anything else to drink, when I ordered a diet coke, (which I always need,) though I know a lot of people won't drink soda in the morning.

Eeyore came over right away, and the waitress happily took my picture with him. (Eeyore is my favorite Pooh character, and the picture with him is one of my favorites.)

I then went up to get a plate of food. I normally never eat breakfast, and don't like eggs that much, but there was plenty for me to choose from. I had a small bowl of honey yogurt, good, but a little too sweet, possibly the best strawberry I've ever had, a few cubes of cheddar cheese, regular sausage, good, turkey and apple sausage, okay, but kind of a wierd taste, potatoes with cheese, yummy, and breakfast pizza, yummy.

When I was eating all of this Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet came around. They were very friendly, and a nice couple sitting by me took my pictures for me. I think people are much friendlier in WDW then the real world for the most part.

After I had finished that plate of food I went back up to the buffet so I could try the breakfast lasagna, and took a pretty small serving, remembering how rich I'd heard it was. It was so yummy, it was pancakes, pastry cream, french toast, and blueberries, (one of my favorite fruits,) and bananas. Everyone should try this, though I think some people non-DISers who don't know better don't because it looks to wierd. I also had a piece of raspberry coffee cake that was yummy as well.

For some reason I missed the puffed french toast here. Oh well, guess that just gives me a reason to go back!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom

After breakfast the park was still not open, it's wierd seeing Main Street with only a few people walking around. I stayed in the hub area for a few minutes, taking advantage of the empty park to get some pictures of the castle, and of empty Main Street.

At opening, I headed straight for Fantasyland, the Adventures of Pooh, and Mickey's Phillarmagic were both new since my last visit, and they were at the top of my to-do list.

First, I went to Adventures of Pooh, which was a walk-on. This is an adorable ride, and is now one of my MK favorites. This is some, in my opinion, of Disney Imagineers best work.

Then, I headed to Mickey's Phillarmagic. I've always enjoyed the paks 3-D shows, and this is no exception. Honey I Shrunk the Audience had been my favorite, but has been knocked down to second. Like I said, music is one of my favorite things about Disney, and two of my favorite songs of all time are Part of Your World and A Whole New World, so I was thrilled that they were both included. I Shrunk the Audience is more thrilling, but Phillarmagic is more Disneyish, (is that a word?)

After those two rides I had about a one minute wait to go on Snow White's Scary Adventures, which I had never been on before either. Considering that this, Adventures of Pooh, and Peter Pan's Flight are all made in the same style, this is my least favorite of those three, (Pooh is my favorite,) and it ending up stopping for a few minutes, (five at the most,) right near the end where the witch dies.

I then decided to head over to Toontown for opening, (Toontown opens at 10:00, unlike the rest of the park,) and while walking over in that direction hopped on Mad Tea Party, another first. It was later that night, while I was checking off attractions in my Pass Porter that I realized that I have ridden, in all of my trips, every Fantasyland attraction. I'm the only one in my family who can say that, (though most of them don't think that's anything special.)

I'd been to Toontown on both previous trips, so I didn't feel the need to revisit Mickey's and Minnie's houses, so I headed straight for the Toontown Hall of Fame to get some autographs. I had a choice between the three lines, Pooh and friends, Mickey and friends, or the princesses. Since I had just had breakfast at CP, and had seen Mickey and Minnie the previous day, the princess room was the obvious choice. Even though I had made it to Toontown right at 10:00 there was still a twenty minute wait to see the princesses. A dad in front of me, when his kid asked why the princess line was going so slowly, said it was because the princesses took longer to get ready. (There's someone who gets an A-Ok in my book.) So when I finally got in the princess room I saw Aurora, Snow White, and Cinderella, and was able to get pictures and autographs.

After leaving the princess room, I left Toontown altogether, and headed to the castle for the 10:40 showing of Cinderellabration, (another to-do on my list.) I really enjoyed the show, it was beautifully choreographed and had all the princesses together in really gorgeous dresses then usual. Not that the princesses are not always beautiful, but the costumes for the show are a notch above the usual meet and greet costumes. Especially Belle's, her meet and greet dress is usually her blue village dress, but she sometimes has on her yellow gown, it's a bright yellow, while her Cinderellabration gown is more a shimmery gold, with more detail.

After the show I headed over to Adventureland to ride a favorite of mine, Pirates of the Caribbean, (which is now one of my favorite movies, Johnny Depp + Orlando Bloom = ,) so I'm actually looking foward to the refurb for the Johnny Depp addition. I was able to get on Pirates with an about two minute wait.

I had an ADR for Tony's at noon, and it was about 11:20 then, so I headed back over towards Main Street trying to decide what to do for the next half an hour, and since there was another showing of Cinderellabration in a few minutes decided to watch that again even though I had just seen it. (This would never have happened if I had been with my family, as the believe in seeing as much as possible so repeating things is pretty much a no-no. But then they don't want to go back to Disney, (I'm realted to wierdos,) even though there is so much new stuff they haven't experinced yet.)

Tony's Town Square

I headed towards Tony's right at the finale of Cinderellabration, and made it in the restaurant right at noon. This was a place I had been see-sawing about eating at after reading several bad reviews, but decided to anyway for my love of Lady and the Tramp.

I wasn't that hungry, (breakfast had just been three hours ago, and dinner was at 5:00 at Ohana,) so I knew I didn't want to get a lot. So I just ordered the calamari tossed with olive relish and drizzled with caper aioli appetizer, and didn't have a problem with just ordering an appetizer. I thought the calamari itself was very good with the caper aioli, but the olive relish was a little overpowering.

Even though I wasn't that hungry I still ordered dessert, which was a sampler for a pre-set price per person, and the only available dessert option at lunch. (Perhaps because of the DP?) It had two mini cannolis, a piece of ameretto cheesecake, and tiramisu. I thought that the cannolis tasted like cardboard, and the cheesecake was dry, but the triamisu was good, and had a chocolate sauce on it, and I love just about anything with chocolate.

Although I had read a lot of negative reviews of the food and service I thought both were very good, though the desserts lacked.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 3 - Afternoon

After lunch I realized that my memory card was running out of space, and with MNSSHP that night I knew I would need another one. It was around 12:45 then, and I wanted to be able to see the Share A Dream Come True parade at 3:00, so figured I had enough time to go back to my room for another card.

I went back to AS Music, and hung out there for about an hour, calling my parents, and fixing my hair, etc. So I took a break even though I had no intention of taking any.

I was back at MK around 2:00, so my break wasn't that long, and was going to get an FP for Space Mt, but the return time on that didn't start until 4:30, and I had my Ohana ADR at 5:00, so I got a FP for Space Ranger Spin instead, which was for 3:20, so I'd be able to ride it right after the parade.

I then went to get a good spot for the parade, and I did, on the right hand side of Main Street, with Cinderella Castle in the background, so the pictures came out nicely.

While waiting for the parade I realized it had gotten very sunny very quickly, it had been quite cloudy earlier, and then realized I had no sunscreen on. I put some on, put ended up burning my shoulders and arms pretty badly.

The parade itself, I thought, was excellant. I've always liked snowglobes, and thought the whole concept for the floats was so cute. Personally my favorite floats were the villians, how many times do you get to see Ursula, and the Cinderella one. I also really liked the Fantasy theme that they kept on playing, so much so that I ended up buying the Magic in the Streets cd which is of all the parade themes, (I had also really liked the AK parade theme,) plus the MK parade theme mixes a lot of Disney themes in with the Fantasy theme.

After the parade I used my FP for Space Ranger Spin. I like this ride too, though I'm horrible at shooting the targets, and my score rarely goes above 10,000.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 3 - Afternoon Continued

After riding Space Ranger Spin I decided I had time for one more ride before heading over to the Polynesian for dinner since I still had about an hour before my ADR. So I walked over to Liberty Square and rode the Haunted Mansion since that never seems to have that long of a wait. I've always enjoyed the Haunted Mansion, and this time was no exception.

Ohana

I headed over to the Polynesian around 4:30 even though my ADR wasn't until 5:00. The Polynesian is one of my favorite resorts, (my other favorite being AK Lodge.) I spent the next half an hour at Tambu Lounge where I tried the lapu lapu, which is often discussed on the restaurant boards. It's a tropical fruit drink served in a pineapple, very cool looking, and very strong so I switched back to diet coke after that. The bartender at Tambu, can't think of his name, was very sweet to these two little kids who kept coming up for change for the pressed penny machines.

It was a little upsetting checking in for my ADR since I had originally made it for two people, DBF was supposed to have been there that night, but, at that time was in the hospital.

The hostess was very nice, and said she ate there alone all the time because the food is so good. I guess she assumed that I was used to eating with people, and she was just being sweet about making me feel comfortable about eating solo, since she was at the podium when I said it was now just one person.

I had two servers for dinner, a main one and an assistant one. The assistant one was much more attentive, he was the one who asked me if I wanted seconds, and brought out most of the food, and suggested using the peanut sauce with the turkey.

I pretty much ate my meal in four courses.

Course one - the wonton chips and salad. I thought that the chips weren't very crisp, not stale, but like the weren't cooked all the way through, though they didn't have a doughy taste to them the way most undercooked wonton skins get if not cooked properly. The salad on the other hand, was great. I loved the honey-lime dressing, though I only had a small plate of it since I was well aware of how much food was to come.

Course two - spicy-sweet and sour shrimp and honey-coriander chicken wings. I thought the shrimp were good, though I didn't think the sauce / marinade on them had a whole lot of flavor. I usually don't like chicken wings, and I was only going to try one for review purposes. . . I ate every single one of them, they were so good. I'm going to have to try and make these some time, (I really like to cook, but so far the only Disney recipe I've tried is Le Cellier's cheddar cheese soup,) the sauce on them was so delicious, with a sweet-tangy flavor, and the wings were so crisp.

Course three - marinated sirloin steak, asian barbecue pork loin, mesquite grilled turkey, Hawaiian pork-sausage with pineapple terriyaki glaze, maui scalloped potatoes, and stir-fried vegetables. The steak was good, it was cooked medium, (usually I order medium rare, but as long as it's not well done I'm happt,) and had a good, slightly salty, flavor to it. The pork was also very good, the bbq sauce was very tasty. The turkey was really good too, I took the assistant server's suggestion and dipped it in the peanut sauce. The sausage was the only meat I didn't care for, and usually I really like sausage. The potatoes were wonderful, they were not greasy, but were very cheesy and buttery. Good thing there's no calories or fat in Disney. The vegetables were fresh and crisp, but bland.

Course four - 'Ohana bread pudding a la mode with bananas foster sauce. I've always loved bread pudding and bananas foster, but rarely get either one of them, so this was a real treat. Plus, most bread puddings are very hit or miss, (some are wonderful, where as others are soggy.) It's a shame I didn't eat much of it after stuffing myself full of meats and potatoes.

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party #1

That night was the first of two parties I attended. I arrived back at the MK shortly after 6:00, and they were trying to empty MK of the day guests. It was pouring at this point, and I wished I had lingered more over dinner in order to stay out of the rain. Oh well. I managed to stay pretty dry by going from under each roof top on Main Street and then finding a covered table in Tommorrowland until the rain let up.

By 7:00, the official party start time the rain had slowed down to a drizzle. I first headed over to Fantasyland, and rode Adventures of Pooh again, I really loved this ride. For some reason I spent three other days at MK and never made it back to Fantasyland.

After Pooh I walked over to Adventureland, collecting candy along the way. I never got candy if there was a line, and I still ended up having almost a whole bag by the end of night. They really do just get rid of much as possible, and they had a lot of my favorites. This was also when I had my first Take 5 bar, those are really good.

In Adventureland the first thing I saw was Jane from Tarzan doing a meet and greet, so I got her autograph with no wait, never could find Tarzan though.

I then walked through the Adventureland-Jungle Treak or Treat Trail, and had my picture taken with, and got autographs from Terk and Baloo, getting candy along the way. Candy makes the meet and greets even better.

I then decided to go watch the 7:30 showing of Cinderellabration, but it was cancelled due to the weather, but I was able to get my picture taken with Cinderella, (who was very sweet,) and Prince Charming, (who was gourgeous,) and Belle, and her prince. So I wasn't that upset about the show being cancelled since I had already seen it twice that day, and those are two of my favorite pictures.

I then went to Toontown to walk through Alice's Trick or Treat Trail, more for the autographs and pictures then the candy, and ended up seeing, the Mad Hatter, Alice, the White Rabbit, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and the Queen of Hearts.

By then it was almost time for the parade, so I went to the same spot I had been for the Share a Dream Come True parade, only to learn that the parade had been cancelled as well. But Disney did have all of the Main Street vehicles drive around with the characters in, so I was able to get some pictures.

I then went over to Tomorrowland and walked right onto Space Mountain, which I like, but Splash Mountain is my favorite mountain.

I saw Mrs. Incredible in the Timekeeper area, and was able to get her autograph and picture. My autograph book was really starting to fill up at this point, and I was really glad I had gone back to my room for that memory card ealier.

Then it was time for the fireworks show, Hallo-Wishes. This may be my favorite fireworks show I've ever seen. It was awesome, and all set to villian -spooky - Halloween type music like Grim Grinning Ghosts, This Is Halloween, and Poor Unfortunate Souls. The effects on the castle are really cool to.

I then saw the Villians Mix and Mingle show, and was then able to meet Jafar, (one of my favorite villians,) before I got a spot for the parade.

This time I was in front of the castle, but my back was towards it. I had gotten to my spot around ten minutes before the show, and some family thought that they could push their stroller right in front of me. I wouldn't have minded if their kids had gotten out of the stroller and stood in front of me, (they were like five or six years old,) but apparently they felt that they needed there stroller for that fifteen minute parade.

The parade itself was great, with my favorite part being the grave diggers from the Haunted Mansion. I also really loved the music during the whole Halloween party, and am suprised they don't have a cd of it, (I mean, they do of everything else,) I ended up buying a dvd of the parade, fireworks, and villians mix and mingle from the Laughing Place after I got home, but you'd think Disney would release something, especially since they have a MVMCP cd.

After the parade I headed back to AS Music since I had been up since 6:00 that morning, and my sunburn was starting to bother me.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 4 - Epcot

I slept in until rather late, by my Disney standards, the next morning, which wasn't until about 8:00. I have very light skin, so when I get sunburned I actually feel sick, and I was tired from the night before. F.Y.I. - Going from 6:00 in the morning until almost midnight is not a good idea in Disney. I made a promise to myself I'd let my body decide things from now on. Also, by this point I had a few blisters on my feet, not from not having worn-in shoes, but just by the fact that I was walking so much each day.

I arrived at Epcot around 9:30, and noticed that Mission Space's stand-by wait was listed as five minutes so decided to try that, but, it was temporarily shut down, so I used the singles line for Test Track and walked right on.

I had never been on Test Track before, and actually found it kind of dull, except for the last part when the car races around.

After Test Track I headed for the Imagination pavillion to see an old favorite, (and before Soarin, my favorite Epcot attraction,) Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Luckily for me, I've never been scared of mice or snakes, which is a good thing for this show.

Since I had the Food and Wine Festival schedules printed up before I even left home, had decided to go to the 11:00 Concha Y Toro wine tasting. I have a wine journal, much like my restaurant journal, but am not sure where it is right now, so you'll have to excuse my lack of information on the wine.

After the tasting I made my way over to the Land to get a FP for Soarin, which had a return time of 12:50 to 1:50, so I had some time to kill. I debated going on the Living with the Land boat ride, or going to the next scheduled Characters on Holiday Bus, which was about five minutes away, and close by.

The bus won. I ended up seeing Donald, with a short wait, and Chip and Dale with no wait. I decided then that the bus was my favorite meet and greet option, and a month or so later, after returning home was devistated to learn of its demise.

I still had a little time before my FP time came around, so I walked around Innoventions for awhile until it was time for Soarin.

So of course I go to Soarin at almost exactly at 12:50, and the ride breaks down. I remember I kept staring at my watch, thinking of my ADR at Akershus for 1:25. I kept on telling myself I'd leave the line if it wasn't running in five minutes, and then it was ten minutes. . . Well, anyway, Soarin did get up and running again at about 1:10, but I didn't get on the ride for another five minutes after that, but somehow, I made it to Norway at 1:30, so I didn't feel too bad, since I was only five minutes late for my ADR. This was also the only time I was ever late for an ADR.

Soarin itself is awesome. It's amazing the way Disney does its effects, and I didn't even notice the smells, i.e. the oranges, until the next time I rode it.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall Princess Lunch

It didn't matter that I was five minutes late, I wasn't seated until ten-of-two anyway, (this is also the only time I had to wait more then five minutes to be seated.)

When I was called to be seated the hostess made a comment of "calling the royal family, party of one. . . party of one? Is that right?" She was so certian the guy at the podium had made a mistake. I just laughed it off.

As soon as I got inside the restaurant I got to have my picture taken with Ariel. I was so happy she was there, I was on the fence about eating at Akershus, but as soon as I heard there was a chance to see Ariel as a human, that made the decision for me.

I had been interested to try Akershus for the unique foods offered, and found to really like some things, while others, not so much.

I started with a plate of different kinds of salads, the pasta salad, good, shrimp salad, okay, chicken salad, surprisignly, very good, regular greens with ranch dressing, for some reason I really loved this dressing, a piece of some kind of wheat bread, also very good, and a slice each of smoked ham and roast beef, the beef was okay, but I thought the ham had a wierd taste to it, and was very salty.

When I was eating the salads Aurora and Belle both came around, so I got a picture with both of them, and also Belle's autograph.

For my entree I had the braised lamb with thyme oil infused cabbage and potatoes. I thought that the lamb was very fatty, the cabbage undercooked, and the potatoes rather tasteless, all in a very thick gravy, that was the best part of the dish.

While eating this I saw Snow White, and Jasmine, my favorite princess, so I got there pictures and Jasmine's autograph. So I now had every princesses's autograph and picture since I had gotten Cinderella's the day before.

The desserts here were better then I had expected. The traditional rice cream
topped with fresh strawberries and sauce was good, kind of like a very fluffy rice pudding. The chocolate mousse with a chocolate waffle and chocolate shavings was good as well, though there were little pieces of undissolved gelatin in the mousse, but not enough to bother me. The lingonberry tart
with oatmeal streusel, was actually the one I thought I'd like the least, but it was actually my favorite one of the three.

The service here was friendly, except for that first comment of me being solo, but I think that was more of suprise that someone would go to a princess meal by herself, then out of meanness. I really don't think she meant anything by it, that's why I was able to laugh it off. And the waitress was friendly too, but would be MIA for awhile at a time.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 4 - Afternoon - Epcot

After lunch I walked back to Future World for a 3:00 wine tasting from Evans and Tate, which makes Australlian wines. I don't remember much, but I do remember that I preferred these wines over the ones I had earlier in the morning.

I rarely try new wines since I'm picky when it comes to wine, so I don't like to order a glass in a restaurant, since I'm too afraid I won't like it, and it would go to waste, (DBF doesn't drink, and he's the only person I ever go out with at home.) So the food and wine festival was perfect for me to try some wines, (and champagne,) that I really liked.

After the wine tasting I walked around World Showcase for awhile, starting in Mexico, then Norway, then China, where I had my first sampling from the food booths, a spring roll from Singapore, which I thought was very good.

I then continued my way around World Showcase until I got to Morocco, when I saw the Genie, and the nice CM there said that Aladdin and Jasmine would be joining him in a few minutes, so I waited for them since I still needed Aladdin's autograph. Well worth the wait since I now have a great picture of me with Aladdin, Jasmine, who really looks like Jasmine, and the Genie as a group. The nice CM there also tipped me off that Abu was making apperances at MNSSHP that year, and even though I hadn't seen him the night before, was able to get his location, and decided to hunt him out at the next MNSSHP I was attending later in the week.

My next stop was France, and I was able to get the Beast's autograph, (Belle signed for him,) and a picture with him and Belle.

I was going to go to a cooking demonstration for chocolate, but it was postponed until the next morning, (so I didn't get to see it, more important ADR at CRT,) and ended up back in Future World.

 

[fizz13]

Wow, just caught up and boy have you been working hard on these, great job Its amazing how much you can acomplish when you only have yourself to think about on a trip, even more jealous now I've read more. Keep up the great writing,

Claire xx

 

[Disney owl]

Great report thanks for sharing

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 4 - Afternoon Continued

By then it was late in the afternoon, but my dinner ADR at Le Cellier wasn't until 7:50.

The singles line at Test Track makes that ride a walk on, so I was able to ride that again with no wait. If you don't mind splitting up, you should really take full advantage of this, the CM's let you immediatly into the pre-show room, so your wait depends on how much of the pre-show is still left.

After mutiple applications of aloe my sunburn had finally stopped bothering me badly, but my feet were now aching. (Epcot is a lot more walking then other parks,) so I rode Spaceship Earth since I knew I'd be able to take my shoes off and rub my feet for a few minutes. That was the first time I ever rode something to get off my feet, but it made them feel much better.

For the next half an hour or so I walked around the Innovetion buildings, which I used to really enjoy when I was younger, but now they seemed kind of dull, or maybe it was because the place was mobbed with kids who took over everything. Actually it was more teenagers then kids, and they weren't being rude or anything, except for one who came right up to something I had been using, (and started moving it around,) and that was a kid, but it was probably the most packed place I had been in all week. It did seem that some of the kids in there needed supervision though.

It was a little before 7:00 then, and my ADR was still about an hour away, so I started browsing the shops in UK and Canada. While in Canada I stopped to try the ice wine at the Canada booth, since I didn't want to spend $15 on a glass in Le Cellier. It was so good, (I really enjoy sweet - dessert wines,) and knew it was a real treat since bottles are $50+, and I'd never spend that much on a bottle for myself. At 7:30, and then headed to Le Cellier to check in for dinner.

Le Cellier

When I arrived at Le Cellier I was till twenty minutes away from my ADR, and they were turning away walk-ins, so I figured I would have awhile to wait to be seated, but I was seated at 7:40, so I actually was seated ten minutes before my ADR time. One of the best things about being solo is the minimal waits.

Between the hostess and waitress I was recommended the Canadian king salmon with caramelized onions, roasted sweet corn, baby spinach, sweet corn puree, and maple butter and the filet mignon glazed with maple barbeque sauce and accompanied by cream cheese mashed potatoes. I choose the filet, which is what I had already been thinking about, so the recommendation put me over the edge. (If you can't choose between a few things, ask the servers, since every recommandation made to me was a good one.)

Before my filet, I had the Canadian cheddar cheese soup with smoked bacon and Moosehead beer, along with the bread sticks. Out of the bread sticks I really enjoyed the pretzel, which I did end up dipping im my soup, and the multi-grain one was very good too I thought, but I didn't really care for the sourdough one. The soup itself was excellant, and is also now my favorite thing to cook at home. I could have just eaten soup and pretzel bread and been happy, but somehow I managed to eat a whole three course meal, and I'm usually such a light eater.

After the soup came my filet, which was cooked a perfect medium rare. The maple barbecue glaze/sauce is a little on the sweet side, but I like sweet, so this didn't bother me at all. The cream cheese mashed potatoes are also excellant. This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime meals, (or maybe for me, once-every-Disney-vacation,) it was that good. I'm torn between which place has my favorite food, Le Cellier or Brown Derby.

By the time I had finished my dinner I was highly debating weather or not to get dessert. If I decided against dessert, I knew I would regret not trying it, but if I did get it, I knew I may make myself sick. But, I'd been wanting to try the maple creme brulee for months at this point, and I figured I wouldn't have to eat all of it. Yeah right, I polished the thing off. It was so good. Disney really does know how to make good creme brulee, and this was no exception.

I was seated in the back of the restaurant where there's a long booth with chairs on the other side, and the booth is seperated in to three tables. Well, anyway, there were two ladies, with thier two daughters, about five years old, and I talked to them for most of the meal. They were very nice, and offered my tastes of their meals, and wanted to share their desserts, they had a sampler, and a cobbler, plus the kid's smore's. They were on the free dining plan, so they had tons of food.

Day 4 - Night

When I left Le Cellier Illuminations was just starting, so I decided to leave and go back to my room then get stuck in the mob that I knew was going to form in a few minutes, and by then, (I had been in the park all day,) I really wanted to just go to bed, especially since I knew I'd be at Epcot the next night for Party for the Senses, and I could just see Illuminations again then, and I had seen it three nights before.

 

[fizz13]

I know that feeling: choosing between bellyache and one more taste, I think you made the right choice though

Claire xx

 

[dismom9761]

Great trip report!Iloved the pretzel bread also-it is so hard to stop eating when everything tastes so good.

 

[porterbl1]

I am really enjoying this report. I am going in Oct/2007 with my DH, DD8, and DS4. I am also a foodlover. I cannot wait to try out these restarants.
Becca

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Okay, I've been busy the last couple days, and haven't had a chance to update anything. Sorry about that. So here's the continuation.

Day 5 - Morning - Magic Kingdom

I arrived at MK at park opening, 9:00 that morning, and I think there had also been EMH that morning, though I can't remember for sure. I usually try to avoid the parks on the day they have EMH, but my CRT ADR made that impossible, though the fact that I had managed to get an ADR for CRT made me not really care if there had been EMH or not.

When I first got to MK I headed straight to Tomorrowland so I could try Stitch's Great Escape. On my way to ride Stich I saw the actual Stitch, so I had to stop and get his autograph and picture.

I know that Stich, (the ride,) has been getting a lot of negative reviews, but I actually enjoyed it, though it's not one of my absolute favorites, and definatly preferred it over Alien Encounter, which used to terrify me, and I was a teenager when I rode it, so it's not like I was little.

After riding Stich, I stopped in the Timekeeper area to see if there were any characters out, and Mr. and Mrs. Incredible were there. I was able to get Mr. Incredibles autograph, (since I already had Mrs.'s,) and get a picture with the two of them together.

After that I had finished everything I had wanted to do in Tomorrowland, and I actually don't think I ever went in to Tomorrowland again for the remainder of the trip. I'd always enjoyed some of the rides in Tomorrowland, (Space Mt, and Space Ranger Spin,) but other then that I don't really care for it that much. (Though when I'm not solo that's always the first place we, (and by we I mean my family,) head.) I much prefer Fantasyland, though I'm the only one in my family who does. The joys of being solo, I don't have to go on the rides I don't like, (ahem, Tomorrowland Speedway,) and can go do things no one except me likes, (like meeting the characters.) My youngest cousins are all now teenagers, and could care less about the characters anymore.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic again, but it's my trip report, so I guess if I want to rant about how horrible it is that my family doesn't just get it, and by "it", I mean the magic of Disney, I can.

So I headed to Fantasyland, and did something I get made fun of every trip, went to meet Ariel. I had seen Ariel the day before at Akershus, so I didn't need her autograph, but I did want a picture with her as a mermaid, so went ahead and got in line. (The three longest lines I waited in all week, were, 20 minutes for Soarin, (not that bad, especially for that ride,) 30 minutes for the princess room at Toontown, and 40 minutes to once again meet Ariel as a mermaid.) But I'd rather wait that long to see certain characters then to go on some of the rides. So, after my 40 minute wait, which wasn't that bad, because I was talking to a family behind me who had had breakfast at CRT, so I found out what characters were there that day, and were fun to talk to. The dad, this family had eaten at Akershus a few days ago to, so had also already seen Ariel, was saying why are we waiting in this line to see someone we've already seen, and the mom and daughter, (12 years old maybe,) were like me, because she's a mermaid here. The dad actually reminded me of my dad, who will always be the one to make fun of me for my character obsession.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 5 - Morning - Magic Kingdom Continued

After seeing Ariel at her grotto, I was in a character-searching mood, so I headed over to Town Square to try my luck there. Looking for characters is a huge game for me, and the more I find, the happier I get. My favorite Disney character is Meeko, the racoon from Pocahontas, and at this point I was constantly asking any character-handler CM if there was any place I could find him, or Daisy Duck, who I had also never seen, and was also at the top of my to-find list.

But, no Meeko or Daisy at Town Square, I was able, however to find Cruella, and the mice from Cinderella, Suzy and Perla, so even though I hadn't found my precious Meeko, I was able to get a few more autographs and pictures that I needed. The cutest thing happened with Cruella though. There was a little boy ahead of me, (like two or three years old,) with his parents. Well I guess his parents had been telling him that he was going to see the castle where Cinderella lived, but for whatever reason, the boy thought Cruella was Cinderella. LOL. It was so adorable. Cruella said, "You think I'm Cinderella? Bless your heart." It was the cutest thing I saw the whole trip.

After this I walked over to Frontierland for no reason in particular, and was able to walk-on Aladdin's Flying Carpets, which I actually prefer to Dumbo, since Dumbo can just go up and down, but you can tilt the carpets. Still, this wouldn't be worth a wait for me, since most amusement parks have rides the same style, that just aren't Disney-themed. (The Disney theme does make it more fun for me though.)

When I was still in Frontierland I also ran into Woody and Jessie, who I hadn't seen yet either, and I had about a five minute wait for autographs and a picture, but it was worth it to add them to my collection.

At this point it was around 11:00, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do exactly, I didn't really feel like walking very far, and somehow I had ended up near Main Street again, so I figured what the heck, I'll go check Town Square for characters again.

I was glad I did, I was able to get my picture taken with King Louie, and pictures and autographs from Friar Tuck, Prince John, Little John, (whom I didn't even know did meet and greets,) Max, and Goofy. I was a little upset that Robin Hood hadn't been out with the other characters from the movie, since he's another one I would've liked to have, but I was thinking at this point, I still have five more days, and I need room in my book for autographs at lunch.

At 11:35, I had a little more then twenty minutes until my ADR at noon for CRT, so I didn't want to walk very far, and since I was already on Main Street decided to just walk up and see the 11:40 showing of Cinderellabration.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

It seems that's there's always someone wanting to use the computer at my house, and therefore disturbing my writing. Why do we only have one computer?

Cinderella's Royal Table - Lunch

I left Cinderellabration shortly before it was over to walk to the back of the castle to check-in for CRT. I'd eaten in the castle before, for breakfast, seven years ago, and had been anticapating the lunch. When I had been there for breakfast, I remember being to excited about the characters to eat, and that had also been the first day of that trip, so who would expect me to eat then anyway? I figured I'd probably, actually, be able to eat at this one. Anyway, I had enjoyed the breakfast, and had considered doing the castle for breakfast again, but opted for the lunch since I had read a lot about the Domo's pie, and wanted to try that.

I waited in the lobby for about five minutes before the hostess called about half a dozen groups, myself included, so I was one of the first ones seated. I got the best seat ever, right by the middle window, with an awesome view of Fantasyland. This really is a beautiful restaurant, and I think everyone should eat here at least once just to get inside the castle. This is just pure Disney magic, and if you don't want the princesses, just go at dinner.

My server, I can't remember his name, (makes me really wish I had saved all my reciepts since the names are on there,) was awesome. He was fast, but I didn't feel rushed, and took my pictures with all of the princesses.

The appetizer plate was brought out first, and I'm glad that I didn't have to share it with anyone. I know that probably sounds shelfish, but there's only small tasting portions of four different things, plenty for two people considering they get a whole meal, but I liked being able to eat the whole portion of the things I liked. There was a salad, with a walnut vinaigrette, and grilled chicken with raspberries. The best part of that were the two berries, the chicken was bland, and I just didn't like the dressing, but that was the only thing on the plate I didn't enjoy. The crab fritters, which were like mini crab cakes, were good, they came with a tomato-basil sauce, but I think it would of been better with some kind of mayonnaise based sauce. There was also seafood wontons with wasabi mayonnaise, that were wonderful, and I actually ended up using that sauce for the crab fritters as well. There were also fresh mozerella slices which also had a tomato sauce, and that was good as well.

Obviously for my entree I had the Major Domo's pie that I'd been hearing so much about, and it did not dissapoint. It was so yummy. There were lots of strips of fresh vegetables of top, with very tender juicy pieces of beef in a very rich flavorful sauce, all in puff pastry with fluffy garlic mashed potatoes. The whole thing was so good together, and somehow I managed to eat it all. I'd read reviews that some have been dried out or whatever, and maybe beacuase I was one of the first ones seated, and I'm pretty sure the first one served an entree, mine was so fresh tasting, and hot.

While I was eating my entree, the princesses came around. They came one right after the other. Luckily my waiter was there when they were, and he took my picture with each princess, and kept track of who I had and hadn't seen. The princesses that day were Belle, Aurora, Mary Poppins, Wendy, and of course, Cinderella, though technically Mary Poppins and Wendy aren't princesses, though I hadn't seen them yet at this point, and had already seen all the "actual" princesses, so it didn't matter to me, I was just psyched to get two new autographs for my collection. The interaction here was good, when Cinderella came to my table she asked me if I wanted her to sign my book, and I told her she already had, and she said something like, "how silly of me, I forgot." But, my favorite princess, who really made the meal special for me, was Belle. When she came over said, "Didn't I see you the other day at Norway?" And, sure enough, it was the same one. I felt so special to be recognized. So the character interaction here was very good, and they each spent a few minutes with me, and a good amount of time with the tables around me. (Maybe because it was the begining of lunch, and the room wasn't full yet? This was like 12:15 when the princesses came out.)

After I had seen all of the princesses, it was time for dessert. I knew it was already a pre-set dessert of blueberry cobbler with lemon ice cream, and while I love blueberries, am not a huge fan of lemons. The blueberry "cobbler" is more like a muffin, and while it was very good, and came with tons of fresh strawberries and blueberries that I just ate up, my favorite part of the dessert was the lemon ice cream, which I hadn't been anticipating that much. It was very good, with a not-so-strong lemon flavor, and very refreshing.

My waiter then brought over my check, which was only like $15, since I had put that $10 down so long ago, and it made me feel like I was paying less for my meal, and my server had been so awesome, that I ended up leaving him a $10 tip.

All that being said, I may or may not be returning to CRT after the price increase. It isn't on my list for my Dec trip, but am considering it for dinner for my Oct 07 trip, though I highly doubt I'll be doing breakfast for $30. I'll probably wait until I have kids to return to CRT for a character meal. Though that photo package and lithograph are definatly incentives for me to go for dinner.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 5 - Afternoon Break

After lunch I realized I only had two pages left in my autograph book, which actually made me really giddy since that meant I had 48 autographs. So I decided to head back to my room since I would need to change before going over to Epcot that night anyway, for Party for the Senses.

On my way out of the park I saw Gepetto, so there went another page in my book. I had figured out before going to Disney, that with all the autographs I'd planned on getting to get two books off of E-bay before my trip, so I had to go back to my room for the second one.

 

[crazyformickey]

Great trip reports! Keep them coming! Thanks for all the great info!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 5 - Afternoon Break

After getting back to my room I took a short power nap, and then got changed into my "nice" outfit, and made a big mistake. I had planned on wearing these new white sandals with my outfit, that I hadn't worn before, but they were cute. Well, my feet were fine for awhile, but after that night, they were cut up, and there's still a scar mark on the top of my left foot, where you could tell where the sandal strap was, and this is more then five months later.

Day 5 - Afternoon - Epcot

When I got to Epcot it was around 3:00 in the afternoon, so the first place I headed, with by brand-new princess autograph book, was the International Gateway, where the characters on holiday bus was making a stop.

And there she was, Daisy Duck. Yeah! I finally had completed one of my personal goals of the trip, which was finding Daisy. So I got her autograph, which is on the first page of my new book, and got a picture with her and Donald.

I then went to a cooking demonstration by the head chef, (I want to say his name is Powers,) from Akershus. I know a lot about cooking, so it wasn't very informational, to me anyway, I'm sure some novice cooks learned a lot. But, I did learn how to pronounce Akershus, (Acre-shoes,) which is not how I had been saying it. But, I do like being cooked for, and I had a tasty sample of poached cod with horseradish mashed potatoes, (if I do go to Akershus again, I'd probably order this, especially over the lamb,) and I did get to be in an air-conditioned room.

After that, I had about an hour before Party for the Senses, and I managed to see the characters on holiday bus again before heading over to World Showplace, adding Timon, from The Lion King, to my collection.

Party for the Senses

Party for the Sense was probably what I was most looking foward to out of my whole trip, so I was very excited to get over there, especially to see the menu, and get a look at my options for the night.

I was able to get my wine glass, which has a lovely little etch on it that says Epcot's 10th Anniversary Food and Wine Festival, let's just hope it doesn't get broken, which is the fate of a lot of wine glasses at my house. I was also able to get my menu, so as soon as I entered the World Showplace building, but there was still a curtain between everyone and the food I was able to grab a seat, and make a plan for what items I wanted to try, knowing I wouldn't be able to try them all.

This is what I tried, and what I thought of the individual items.

Molasses brined pork tenderloin and green apple bread pudding with cane vinegar beurre blanc, I liked the pork, but thought that the bread pudding part was tasteless, and the beurre blanc was too tart.

Seared flank steak with Panang coconut curry on a sweet rice cake, I liked the steak with the coconut-curry, and the rice cake had a good flavor, but it seemed like the rice was under-cooked.

Kobe beef "stroganoff" on three mushroom croquettes, I wasn't actually going to try this at first, but someone suggested it to me, saying that the mushrooms tasted more like mashed potatoes and didn't have a mushroom taste to them. (I hate mushrooms, they're the one of the only things I'll almost never eat.) I'm so glad I tried this though, the mushrooms were more like mashed potatoes, and the whole dish on the whole was excellant, this was my favorite non-dessert item of the night.

Asian lobster served over white somen noodles, this was something I had been anxious to try, but is what turned out to be a dissapointment. The broth it was in, was extremely spicy, too spicy for me, and I like things a little on the spicy side. The noodles were ramen noodles, which I can get at home for 10 cents a pack. I did however pick out the pieces of lobster, but didn't bother with the broth and noodles.

Prawns in a mango and chipotle chile barbecue sauce over a Cuban black bean pancake, this was another favorite of mine. I think the mango-chipotle-bbq sauce is what made this as good as it was.

Apple bourbon braised beef with mashed potatoes and apple crisp, I also really enjoyed this, it had a good taste to it, and the items all complimented each other very well.

Slow-cooked Maple Leaf Farms duck leg served with a coconut milk and ginger-infused celery root puree, I thought this had a very good taste as well, though the puree had pieces of ginger in it, that when bit through left a strong ginger taste in my mouth, that wasn't all together bad, just kind of over powering.

Grouper on a saffron mussel ragout with eggplant rolls. I hadn't planned on trying this either, (I really like having things planned out, but will make impromptu decisions when I feel like it,) but grabbed a portion of this near the end of the night when I was looking for something else to try. It was all right, I don't like mussels that much, but have always liked eggplant, though they were in big pieces, and kind of difficult to eat when standing up.

Bacalaito and Latin crab salad, I had tried this early on in the night, and hadn't been impressed. I couldn't taste the crab, and thought it had an over-powering horseradish flavor, though I'm not sure if that's what it was or not.

Seared duck breast in tamarind mole sauce with grilled pineapple, another item I really enjoyed, but I've always loved duck and pineapple, so no surprise there. (I think the useage of fruit in cooking always adds something to dishes, and enjoy experimenting wit fruit in foods other then desserts, but I like those too.)

Ginger-scented pork tenderloin with port macerated cranberries and clementine oranges. I had been looking foward to this all night, but there had always been a steadily long line, so always had ended up with something else, but when I finally did manage to grab a portion of this, was not dissapointed, this is #2 out of the savory items for the night, next to the Kobe beef.

One small gripe, there was supposed to be a chef there from Artist Point with some sort of rabbit dish, but for whatever reason he was unable to attend. I like rabbit, and rarely get a chance to have it, so that was a small dissapointment, but there was plenty for me to eat.

Now, on to desserts.

Caramel cider-infused apples served with a rich vanilla cream and a flaky butter cookie. This was good, but didn't really wow me the way some of the other items had. Still it was tasty, and worth a try.

Dulce de leche dumplings, poached Arkansas black apples and vanilla bean ice cream, was another tasty dessert, but still lacked the wow factor I was expecting.

Coconut panna cotta with tropical fruit salsa accompanied by mango sorbet and banana lumpia. The panna cotta iteself was tasteless, with a un-baked meringue texture, but the fruit salsa and sorbet were excellant, and very refreshing, the lumpia was good, but not nearly as good as the sorbet.

Lavish chocolate fountain with sweet accompaniments, I'm not sure if you all know what a chocolate fountain is, but the best way to describe it is, well, imagine a fountain, and instead of it flowing with water, it's flowing with chocolate. I've worked with one of these before, so it wasn't a huge attraction for me, but the average person has probably not seen this, and they are really cool. So anyway, it was a small plate with a chocolate-covered strawberry, chocolate-covered cake, and chocolate-covered chocolate rice krispie treat. Everything on the plate tasted so good, though I was suprised to see a rice krispie treat at an event such as this. LOL.

And, my personal favorite item of the evening, warm pumpkin cream cheese cake with Fireweed honey apple spice syrup and ginger ice cream. I love all things pumpkin, with the spice mixtures of cloves, ginger, and cinnamon, and the whole dish together was awesome. This was the only thing that I managed to eat more then one of, and I can't rave about this enough.

Then there were the wines, which I normally don't drink a lot of, but I did take advantage of being able to taste several different ones, though I was concentrating mostly on the food.

Chateau des Charmes had an excellant sauvignon blanc that I really enjoyed, and also a vidal ice wine. Another one I really liked, was Pommery Pink POP. Other ones I tried were Cape Classic's sauvignon blanc, Casa Lapostolle's sauvignon blanc. (Can you tell what my favorite kind of wine is?)

My favorite wine of my trip was actually not part of Party for the Senses, but I'll get to that, when I get to it.

Besides all of this food, there were acts from La Nouba, which somehow I didn't pay much attention to, and there were two nice girls, (a few years older then me, but younger then thirty,) that I spent a lot of time with, and comparing samples with.

Day 5 - Night

After Party for the Senses was over Illuminations was doing it's show, but my feet were killing me, and at this point bleeding, so I was ready to go back to my room. But on my way out of the park I picked up another item I had been wanting, the cookbook, Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs. (That was the end of my reasonable spending - watch what happens when I get to Downtown Disney the next day, and then start pin trading.)

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Day 6

Although this was only the half way point of my vacation, I already felt that I had done all of my must-do's, so the second half of my trip was even more relaxed and slow-paced then the first half.

Morning - Animal Kingdom

After Party for the Senses the night before, I was anything but hungry the next morning, so I skipped breakfast, and headed straight for AK. My plan was to spend all day at AK, and then not return again this trip. Half that plan worked out.

I arrived at AK shortly after opening, around 9:15, and headed straight for Dino Land. Even though Dinosuar had terrified me the first time I rode it, I decided to give it another try. It's still not one of my favorites, but, like most other rides that scare me, are better each time.

After riding Dinosuar I spent some time browsing through shops, where I bought the Festival of the Lion King, and the Magic in the Streets CD's, (this is when my reckless spending begins.)

I ended up in Asia then, and walked through the Maharahja Jungle Trek, I ended up spending a while in there, most of the time near the tigers, birds, and little deer animals, (can't think of what there called,) and very little time near the bats, though I did go in the bat room.

I then headed over to Camp Minnie-Mickey, and saw, once again, Festival of the Lion King. Really an awesome show.

Leaving AK I ran into Flik, the main character from A Bug's Life, so I got his picture and autograph. The CM out with him said that Meeko could possibly be at Rafiki's Planet Watch, but he didn't think he was there today.

I decided to go up there anyway, so it was off to Africa to catch the Wildlife Express. So I get to the Conservation Station and. . . no Meeko. Oh well, I still have four whole more days.

By then it was lunch time, so I headed back to Africa knowing exactly where I wanted lunch from, Tusker House, since I had read so many good reviews for it here on the DIS Boards.

I had the fried chicken sandwich, which was very good for CS, and I enjoyed having the fries, which were the first I had all trip, and I love fries, though most of the time, as I'm sure all of you can tell by now, I'm more of a gourmet, but there are times when I want nothing more then pizza, tacos, hot dogs, or a nice big cheeseburger.

After my lunch I decided that even though I had meant to stay all day at AK, (my plans were based around my ADR's, and I had one for dinner that night at Jiko,) I would rather do something else that afternoon, so I decided to make my first-ever trip to Downtown Disney. And I mean first-ever, not my first time this trip, first-time-ever in my life.