Our 10 Day Holiday Adventures!.... COMPLETED!!!

[KatGarcia]

We were finally in the swing of things and were up early today! Well I was and DH was woken up by a ready me to throw on his clothes and get a move on! I’m an over organized person so every night I got out our clothes for the next day to make the mornings easier so all he had to do was blindly reach for them and put them on!

Off to MK we went! I know I’m nuts for wanting to stop at the Main Street Bakery BUT they have tasty stuff and it’s be come somewhat of a tradition on each trip… so we headed there first. The line was minimal and moving pretty fast. I just wanted something I could carry with me and they even made a separate line for just the pastry type items. So I got a chocolate croissant which went well with my “ghetto latte” I was still sipping, from Pop.

We tried to make the most of the first few hours since the first few days were less than productive. We walked right onto Space Mountain. I love this ride!!!!! I’m def NOT a roller coaster person but mostly because I don’t like to do the upside don stuff…but a Disney coaster I can deal with!!! There was this lady sitting in the front seat of the car we were in screaming “OH MY GOD” the whole time so DH and I laughed the entire ride ‘cause she was so amusing! We headed to Buzz Lightyear next. DH is a shooter fanatic when it comes to gaming so this is a must for us! I on the other hand am a puzzle game player. You can tell this from my score: 2800. DH’s score: 77900. Nuff Said! We relaxed on the TTA and took advantage of the cool views and recorded the ride. We strolled to Toon Town, proud that we already accomplished more this morning than the other 3 days f the trip, and walked onto The Barn Stormer. It’s quick and a little silly but its fun! It was getting to be around noon-ish so we took the train over to Frontier Land and walked to Columbia Harbour House.

I’m not too excited about CS at MK but I had heard good things from CHH so it was my top pick and luckily DH went with it too! It didn’t disappoint! We each got a different sandwich and split them. We had: Starboard Deck Sandwich (ham with tomatoes, broccoli slaw and cheese) & Anchors Aweigh Sandwich (white tuna with lettuce and tomato). Both with chips and an apple crisp and chocolate cake for dessert. Both these sandwiches were really tasty! They were the perfect lunch! I had heard about the tuna from other DISers and I should have known I wouldn’t have been steered wrong! In fact that was the case with pretty much every recommendation we got for the trip!

We couldn’t finish desert so we took it with us for later. We were about to head back to Pop to relax and maybe swim when we realized the haunted Mansion wait said 20 min! In reality the wait ended up being just the time it took to walk to the door! We went right in! This is a must for us every time! I esp. loved the look of the guy letting us into the ride cars. He looked really creepy and didn’t say a word! After pointing out on of our favorite hidden Mickey’s on the table in the banquet hall part were on our way for an afternoon break which was much needed!

DH wasn’t feeling too well since the morning and was fighting it. I was starting to feel it too. We opted for a nap which ended up being 3 hours! We needed it tho! I was feeling the burn of being on my feet all day and being out all day and that nap really helped! Luckily our ADR wasn’t until 8pm so we showered up and changed and headed to Wolfgang Puck’s Café!

This was our first “normal” meal this trip. Remember we had eaten only buffets up till now! We were grateful for the regular ordering. We arrived around 7:30 or so and were seated right away. We were off in the back corner with a nice view of the water. It was a neat looking place inside. I was really hyped about this meal too. I do have to say that once the server found out we were on the DDP he seemed less interested in us. I’m not expecting perfect service anywhere but to at least check with us and see if we needed a drink refill would have been nice. Both of us were sick so we didn’t go for anything beyond the plan.

I had the Crab Cakes which were AWESOME! I love me some crab cakes and these did not disappoint! DH had the BBQ Chicken Quesadilla which we both loved as well. These were very filing for appetizers! Along side the plates is the EVOO (I’m a Rachel Ray Fan!) that we dipped the awesome rosemary foccacia bread in! DH could have eaten a loaf by himself!

Sorry it’s a bit blurry… The back one is the meat loaf with garlic mashed potatoes and the front is the macadamia nut crusted chicken also with garlic mashed. Both were really good. The chicken was HUGE! It was 2 very large pieces of meat. I ate one and took the other with us since I knew there was still desert to come!

This is the current Desert menu. Go me for thinking to photograph it!

I had the crème brulee and DH had the flourless chocolate cake. Holy yummyness!!! Oh the first crack of a crème brulee! This starts the tour de crème brulee around Disney. I had it everywhere I could get it!

We walked around the West Side and checked things out for a few before heading to the busses. It was so tempting to stay out late every night because so many of the parks were open so late but trying to go from 8am to midnight everyday was a bit much. We tried to remember we had 10 days to take everything in and not to rush it! We made it back to Pop around midnight and shortly there after passed out on our lovely king bed!

Next… Ohana Breakfast, Character Connection & New Years Eve @ Epcot!

 

[daisy_77]

So far it sounds like you guys had a great trip!

I look forward to reading more!

 

[KatGarcia]

Day 5

This was an early day because we had a 10am ADR @ Ohana. DH was all spiffed up in his Stitch shirt I had made for him and we arrived at the Poly at about 930am. We had our pics taken and relaxed in the lounge area before we were seated, at around 10am. They gave us Lei’s and a card signed by the characters for our anniv! So cute! We mainly did this breakfast because DH loves Stitch and we never found him last time! I had seen the movie but wasn’t as big a fan as DH, until this breakfast! The character interaction was awesome! They were playful with everyone, including each other, which made it really fun to be around. The food was average breakfast stuff but the potatoes were very tasty and the POG juice was beyond good! DH plans to concoct this at home since he loved it so much! I also loved the fresh pineapple they brought (not pictured because I ate it all!)As you can see from the pic we cleared off the skillet they brought us. We did get a second plate but it was much smaller than the first.

On the way out I seized the opportunity to get some REAL COFFEE at the Kona counter! Oh was it good…so good in fact I made DH take my pic with it! LOL! I love my coffee!

We got on the monorail and went to Epcot. We had planned to spend the whole day there since it was New Year’s Eve and I was paranoid we wouldn’t get in if we went for an afternoon break. Little did I know… The security was def beefed up; it took a few extra minutes to be checked thru. Here’s a hint to all who have bags to be checked at WDW, no matter the day.- Once they check your bag MOVE OFF THE LINE to put your stuff back in! It seemed like common sense to me but the people in front of us didn’t think so. They began repacking their whole bag on the table! And there is another way for people without bags to get in and its not far from the bag check line so you wont loose any teenagers in this process! The lines would have been halved if people realized this! Rant over! Thank you for letting me get that out!

I forgot to mention a good tip I learned while at the Ohana breakfast. When the woman came around with the pictures I tried again (first time was at Chef Mickey’s) to get the photo pass number on them to add to our photo pass. We had little luck most of the trip with finding people to take pics of us together so we utilized the photo pass as often as we saw the photographers. The cast member from CM flat out told us we couldn’t have the number unless we bought the package. This cast member, however, told us a little know awesome fact- you can go to any photo pass store and get them to look up your social event pics and add them to your photo pass!!! All you need is the date and time of the event! Obviously when you have an ADR the time and date are easy to come by. So we tested this out at the Epcot photo pass place as we walked in. It took about 3 cast members to get them but it is possible! They have all the pics on file and once found they were a breeze to add to our photo pas card! We got our Chef Mickey’s and our Ohana pics! Love that pixie dust!!!

FP were all gone already by this time so we headed to the Character Connection. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Chip & Dale there.

Here’s one of my favs.

Here’s my fav Epcot pic of the whole trip! I felt dorky doing it but I love how it came out!

KC walked thru Inoventions while I relaxed outside by the fountain. It’s so up his tekkie-geeky alley! They even had Game cube’s set up to his amusement (he works for Nintendo). Figuring we could kill the most time exploring the countries we headed for the WS via the right side. One of the goals of the trip was to collect as many pressed pennies as we could. We were armed with rolls of quarters and pennies for this reason and went on the mission to find one in each country. First stop Canada. I don’t think we ever really explored Canada before. It was really pretty.

Here’s KC being a “tourist”.

And my Ode to Harry Potter (props for anyone who gets this reference) in the UK.

We skip over France because we are hungry and head to The Tangerine Café. We shared a CS of The Shawarma Platter with Lamb and Chicken. This was a BIG CS! Great value and yummy too! Sorry no pics, we had a heck of a time finding a seat so we ended up holding the tray between us sitting by the fountain. I enjoyed it all and DH esp. enjoyed the chicken. All the sides were good too and the baklava was yummy! KC experienced what he calls “Disney Hacks” (remember he’s a tekkie) here when he went to the counter to get a refill of water in our sprite cup. The guy asked what he had and gave him a refill of sprite! He was so proud! As we started walking again we realized we weren’t going to make it the whole day, I was exhausted already so we decided to create a plan B and wing it for New Year’s Eve. If we couldn’t get back into Epcot for our 8:30pm Marrakesh ADR then we’d figure something else out. We took the boat from Germany to Mexico and started our exit to the busses. At some point my body said “STOP!” and I had to sit down. I couldn’t walk anymore. My back had had enough. KC was apparently scared for me and ran off to find me a wheelchair. He got a CM to save me one at the exit so he could wheel me to the busses but we found one a few feet from where I had sat down, thankfully. I felt kinda stupid being wheeled but I needed to let the pride go because I wasn’t able to walk without pain. We boarded the busses and the rest in transport helped.

When we got back to Pop KC ran to the room for our mugs and I went to find out from guest services if we had a chance at getting into Epcot again later. I was esp. worried when I heard them saying that MK closed at 5pm because they were at capacity. The Cm assured me we should have no problems but printed me an extra confirm slip for our ADR, just in case. We stayed in the room and relaxed until 6:45pm all the while trying to figure out the path of least walking. We decided to hop a bus to MGM and take the boat to Epcot since the International Gateway is much closer than the regular entrance is to Morocco. Sure the boat takes 25 minutes but I needed the rest. We got into Epcot with no issues so my paranoia subsided. Although the crowds were staggering!

We went straight to Marrakesh and checked in at 8pm. I feel so bad for those girls working there! They had no pager system and when they were looking for a party of people they were wandering around calling their names! The system stunk! We got seated at 8:30pm. It was a cool place. DH was fascinated by the hand carved walls and ceiling. Our server once he heard we were on the plan suggested the Royal Feast. The menu is slightly different than the one I saw online, BTW. We both went for it as it made choices that much easier. We planned on getting some drinks around the countries later so we had sodas with our meal.

First was a tomato type soup, I forget the name. it had a lemon wedge next to it and once u put the lemon juice in it was really tasty! It came with a small beef bastilla (half pictured on the side of the plate) that was tasty with the powdered sugar on it.

(From left to right) Lemon Chicken, Veggie Cous Cous and Lamb Shank. They were all tasty and I’m def not much of a lamb person. Both meats fell off the bone and were very juicy. I was rapidly learning NOT to feel bad not finishing everything on my plate and left some room for dessert. DH cleaned his plate!

The different kinds of baklava were delish! I really enjoyed them and stuffed myself too much by finishing them all. So much for leaving food…

We enjoyed the music they played and the belly dancer was fun. DH was dancing in his seat and almost went up there to dance, it was hilarious!

We wandered back to France so I could get some wine. I had a tasty Chardonnay from one of the booths. We walked to the UK so KC could get a Guinness. It was all he could do to not get the yard ‘o’ beer! He lived with the pint. We caught the end of Off Kilter’s performance in the UK stage. We loved them! That guy on the bagpipes was no joke! DH was antsy and didn’t wanna just plop somewhere and wait for Illuminations. So we walked over to the land to see if we could get on something while everyone else scouted spots for the fireworks. We walked right onto Nemo. It was cute; I esp. liked the whole part in the tunnel where you feel you are going backwards. It seemed too short tho. We were going to try for Soarin’ and the wait was only 25 min but that would have meant we’d miss midnight being on the ride and I wasn’t into that! So we went to Showcase Plaza and camped behind that gift shop. I knew our view wouldn’t be perfect but it proved to be too lousy to videotape so we have a bit of the skyward stuff and then we gave up. The way they celebrated with each country was cool, a nice touch. When it hit midnight the sky was full of light and I was full of tears. We had such a bad year I was so thrilled to have it be gone and to be there at that moment where we were, with my wonderful husband, I got all kinds of emotional. We hugged and had our first awesome smooch of 2007. We also got hit in the head with pieces of fireworks! No joke! Ash fell on us then all the sudden KC goes “OUCH!” and realized a piece of a firework case or whatever hit him in the head. He of course saved it and photographed it later.

The comparison against the pen was for effect.

We let most of the crowd head out while sitting on a bench for about ½ hour. We tried to call family and just relaxed together. We made it fairly easily to the exit and got on the 2nd bus that came so waiting was a good idea. When we got back to Pop we started packing our stuff up since tomorrow we were moving resorts!

Next: Coronado Springs and The Pepper Market and Extra Snack Credits!

 

[KatGarcia]

Great trip report......I hate reading them in progress b/c the wait for the next excerpt seems to take forever!!!

Tell me about it! I get so addicted! I am trying to stay focused on mine for the time being or it'll never get done! LOL!

Aw man! I want to read more! Drats.
Great start!

Thanks for reading! I worked my fingers off today to get thru a few more days...Happy reading!

Aww- you're a cute couple! Congrats on your anniversary.

Thank you very much!! Our actual anniv date is in a few weeks but nothing can compare to the anniversary celebrating we did in Disney!

i had no idea apple juice was so available!! Thanx!
Great pix too!

It was def a plus to the side of Pop for us!

I know what you mean about getting up early at WDW. It really does take a few days to get used to 'DisneyTime'. By day 3, I'm good! Chef Mickey's sounds great! We were supposed to go there for breakfast in October, but we never made it. Love the pictures! Can't wait to hear about Boma and DTD!

-Michelle

Try Chef Mickey's for sure! True uts just breakfast stuff but it had a little more flare than the average breakfast buffet!

So far it sounds like you guys had a great trip!

I look forward to reading more!

We had the best time! And thanks for reading!


I hope everyone enjoys the updates...i'll work on more this weekend as we have show tickets tomorrow night! Yay!

PS-How cool is this multi quote option!!!??? Awesome!

 

[TKDizneyluver]

Great trip report! I'm really enjoying the pics of food too! Yum-O, I'm also a total Rachael Ray fan!

And I can relate on the bad back thing too, hope it didn't bother you too much more as your trip went on!

Can't wait til your next installment!

 

[MA pigletfan]

Great report!! i love " This starts the tour de crème brulee around Disney. I had it everywhere I could get it! "...i def. plan on doing that when i go! love me some brulee'!

 

[KatGarcia]

It occured to me looking back that I leftout all the Ohana pics! So here ya go...Hope you enjoy!

 

[KatGarcia]

Day 6

After the fairly late New Year’s Eve we decided to “sleep in” until a whoopin’ 9am! We got ready and stuffed all our crap into our suitcase, repacked the fridge and headed to luggage services. Apparently it was a popular check in/out day cause the joint was jumpin’ when we got there! We left the fridge with luggage services with hopes that they actually got it to the next person without the issues we had! We decided to take a cab to Coranado with our luggage. I just wasn’t trusting enough with the only suitcase we had to give it over to anyone to deliver later. Besides I’m way too OCD and need my things ready as soon as I get to the new room. Before we checked out we did try calling Disney Travel to book the free dining offer. BTW this was DH’s request, not that I was above it AT ALL! He was hyped about it and we were ready to put a deposit on a package! So when he called they told us we couldn’t do it! Now normally I would call back and complain to someone and try and work this out but at the time I was stressing the resort switch and feeling the burn with my back and all the walking and somehow I never called back. I def think we should have been able to book, it was Jan 1st but we checked out that day and when we called it was 9am, but whatever. I’m not gonna stress it because we have another trip in the works already…Anywho! On with the report!

We took a bunch of pictures that we kept saying we would take all week. It was much fun!

Let’s talk about the cabs in Disney. Boy do they take you for more than just a literal ride! Anyone share my feelings here? We paid $14 bucks to go from Pop to the Poly the first night of the trip. Pop to CSR wasn’t as bad, at I think $8. I come from NY where cabs are expensive but jeez!

As soon as we pulled into the resort I was in love! It was beautiful and bright. It truly was like we stepped into another world. Things like that are why I love Disney so much. It was fairly quiet in the main building; we waited about 10 minutes before getting up to the desk. A very nice CM checked us in and pointed out my request to NOT be in the Ranchos section. No I have never stayed here before but I knew Ranchos was furthest from the main building and we would def be there for, at least, drink refills, plus my back wasn’t gonna let me have a long walk in the morning for a coffee! So I was very happy to hear we’d be in Building 1 on the 4th floor! That sounded good to me, a high up room would make for good views, or so I hoped. We got to the room ready to relax and it was 2 doubles! No Go! I tried calling the front desk and was told I’d get a call back. Yeah like I was gonna sit there and wait while there was fun to be had! We left the stuff there and went back to the Cm who explained to me that a water view and a king room are the same price so it was an easy mistake. We got a bottom floor room in Building 3 this time. It was pretty much around a corner from the other rooms it was fine with me. I’d have preferred an upper floor but we got our cushy bed so I wasn’t gonna complain again! We had Room 3133 Building 3.

By the time we got the new room we were both mighty hungry and I was very eager to check out The Pepper Market. We bought our new refillable mugs from the little shop outside PM and went to be seated. This place was somewhat intimidating at first but after our first meal we were HOOKED! We both went for the Mexican counter. I can always eat Mexican food for some reason, I just love it. This did not disappoint, at all! We left the camera in the room so there aren’t any pics- sorry! The one thing I can say about the food is this: the portions are colossal! I mean really friggin gigantic! I had the lunch special of Salmon with guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce and onions AND rice and beans. I had a cherry coke in my mug and got an apple juice for later and a HUGE Danish for dessert. DH got the steak fajita platter which came with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and grilled steak AND rice and beans. He also got a juice to go along with a huge pecan cinnamon roll. It was crazy that this was one CS meal! It is, by far, the best value for a CS in ALL OF WDW! Plus the food was great! Fresh and tasty and really, really yummy.

We went back to the room to get ready for our afternoon at DTD. We decided on the way out to take a stroll around the lake on our way out, to check things out. This resort is downright gorgeous! A getaway in the middle of Disney. The walk was lovely.

The Dig Site was really cool. DH esp. liked the arcade there...go figure! We walked the length around the lake and went to Bus Stop #1 and got the bus to DTD. We got off at the Marketplace side so we could see about using up our snack credits. Thanks to The DIS I knew just where to go, Goofy’s Candy Co.! We had 6 credits left so we decided to get some souvenir mickey rice crispy treats for our house/pet sitters. DH & I each got one for ourselves and made one for each of our friends. They were HUGE! They ended up coming home with us and I think DH has a small piece of his still in the fridge! We still had 2 more credits so we got a piece of cookies and crème fudge and a white chocolate raspberry cookie. We lugged the whole lot over to the Earl of Sandwich, a place DH was really wanting to try (he’ll slap anything between 2 slices of bread!). I thought we’d get a CS to go and save it in the fridge for a late night snack but DH had other ideas.

As you can see it’s not the biggest sandwich ever. We got “The Full Montagu”. We ate it. I really have no idea how but we did. At least we shared it! LOL! We saved the brownie with the rest of our sugary treats. Since it is Day 6 of the trip and it was seriously taking a toll on my back, we got back on the busses and took them over to the Pleasure Island side. This was DH’s favorite day because we got to go to Disney Quest! He was in his video game geek glory!

I have to admit it was a pretty neat place, esp. for gamers. They had some cool “old school” games that even I played when I was younger. But to be honest my favorite part about Disney Quest was the fact that there was ample seating and I could rest my weary body while DH ran around like a little kid playing games! I did enjoy it I just needed to sit more than I needed to play a round of Q-Bert. DH did the super hero virtual game thingy and didn’t like it at all. He spent most of his time feeling bad that I wasn’t totally into it and we only managed to stay there for maybe 2 hours. I really didn’t mind being left out, I thought he would have so much fun there, it’s the whole reason I added the “and more” option to our tickets. I assured him we’d head back there again and I promised to be more fun next time. We ended up being indecisive for CS for dinner (our last 2 of the first part of the trip that expired by midnight that day) so we went back to the good ole’ Pepper Market!

I really can’t express how much we loved this place! This is NOT our last meal here either. I am all about staying at new resorts to get to check them out but I dunno since none of them have a PM! LOL!

I had the pasta with wild mushroom gravy and chicken. I know it looks a little funky but I forgot the pic until after I mixed it all together. It was yummy! I actually took some of it back to the room with me in hopes of eating it later in the week but it ended up in the trash.

DH had the lunch special burrito with steak and chicken and everything else thrown in there. He got in good with the guy behind the counter, all talking in Spanish to him, and got a bigger meal than I saw anyone carrying and that’s saying something! We both got cookies to take to the room and some little milks to go with them.

We went back to the room, got of jammies on and had our cookies and milk before bed. We watched yet another episode of “Who’s Line is it Anyway?” and were off to dreamland in our new bed.

 

[KatGarcia]

Day 7

Waking up in a moderate has just proved to me that I am spoiled and in need of real morning coffee! I had brought some of my own coffee with me (some flavored brand I got a sample size of) and I was ecstatic to make it! It really is nice to wake up and have the coffee in the room instead of blindly going to the food court for some. I def made a decision that if we stay in a value again that I will be bringing my own coffee and coffee maker for sure. We had our leftover Danishes for our nice leisurely breakfast.

DH was getting really good about taking pics of the food! I was so proud! I forgot a few times and he’d exclaim “Food Porn!” Funny stuff.

We had a problem swiping my card the night before at Disney Quest so we went to guest services to make sure we were good to go, as we planned to go there again that night. We were helped by the sweetest girl, Laura from Queens, NY. She rocked! My DH kept telling her I should get a job as a Disney planner with all my knowledge (thanks DIS) and she found it amusing. She took care of the card and sent us on our way. Off to Animal Kingdom we were!

Last time we didn’t really enjoy AK. I made it a point to look into more things to do there and was determined we would have more fun this time! We got into the park and were spotted by a fellow DISer! I was stupid and didn’t write her name down but it was awesome to meet someone finally! We had LGMHs on all our bags in plain sight all week. I only saw one lime green bagalini one day walking to the entrance of the MK and she was too far away to speak to! So if you are out there...HOLLA! After our hello we headed straight to the safari. We got right on. I love the safari and DH video-ed the whole thing. I wanted to get some decent coffee but the line was too long so we went to wait for the first showing of Nemo the Musical. Well admittedly DH waited and when he got up to the spot I was sitting I went to stand with him. The wait wasn’t too bad at all tho, they got us in pretty quick.

*Warning Rant coming* I can understand how families want to sit together but if you aren’t on the line together to get into somewhere, esp. a show like this, let them find their own seats. There were families behind and in front of us holding seats for people who didn’t show up. TONS of people walked past asking if they were taken and they could have sat there. I’m glad to be only a 2 sometimes since finding a decent spot is easy for us. I generally try for an aisle seat anywhere since I’m but 5 feet tall and don’t want anyone tall sitting in front of me. Anyway- the moral of this story is please don’t hold seats that others might sit in! *Rant Over* Back to the TR!

I loved this show! It was adorable and fun and Broadway quality, IMO. I consider myself well versed in Broadway and have been going to shows since I was young. I really enjoyed it. I have also read for some other trip reports that people get groggy during the show- it happened to me too! I really think it was the cool relaxing air about the place. I was totally enjoying the show but it made me VERY sleepy!

So to wake up we decided on some lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. I have been dying to try this place!! (I say that about every place don’t I? But I really was…). We split 2 CS: One Rib and One Chicken both with corn and beans. We got key lime pie and chocolate cake for dessert and sprites to drink.

I found us a good seat under some cover at one of the tables and it really started to rain while we ate. So much so that we broke out the ponchos for the first time this trip. Boy am I glad I got those things! We had navy blue ones so we were easier to find should we get separated. We made our wet way to Dinosaur which I heard great things about and was interested to try out. The wait was pretty nutso because half of the queue is outside and it seemed to take forever since we were waiting and wet. None the less once we got into the building it was more pleasant. We sat in the front of the ride car! That thing shakes you up! I heard it was loud but JEEZ! DH still complains about how loud it was. It was kinda scary too but it was very cool and I really liked it!

It had mostly stopped raining so we decided to see how long the wait for Everest was. I had never seen this ride before because when we were there on our honeymoon they were still building it! As soon as I saw it I chickened out! Yes folks, I’m a wuss! I’m not big on roller coasters but Disney ones I can handle, usually. One look at the steep assent just to get the ride started and I was way over riding that ride! Maybe next time with more coaxing and some Mickey rice crispy treats promised to me….MAYBE. DH was about ready to get back to CSR and relax but I convinced him to wait for It’s Tough to be a Bug! He was glad he did! It was so cute. We never saw this show before and were giggling all the way out after the ending part (I won’t spoil it). On the way out it stopped raining and we got a few photo pass shots.

We were a tad hungry (believe it or not) so we shared a Shrimp and Tuna Salad platter from Pepper Market. For some reason the girl only gave me a scoop of each with nothing else so I had to ask for extra bread since we planned to share, and we were planning on paying OOP for the bread. When we got to the counter the CM told us she wouldn’t charge us for the bread since we didn’t get the whole platter! Yay! I love a deal!

We brought the food to the room so we could change into not wet clothes for our ADR @ Raglan Road later that night.

I love the Boardwalk! Granted there is a limited amount of things to do there but I really like the romantic atmosphere it has when you stroll along hand in hand (I’m a sap I know). I didn’t think we’d end up making it there since we didn’t end up going the one night I had set aside for it. So with beers in mind I convinced DH to head there first before DTD by way of the boat from MGM over there. DH loves the boat rides! I have to admit I like them a lot too, esp. that one since this was our first time discovering it. Seeing the Swan and Dolphin like that is awesome! So we went straight for Big River Brewing Co. for a beer together. We realized that we had never had beers together before (DH has only been 21 since April and not a big drinker in general) so we took pics to commemorate!

For some reason when I asked the bartender what their sweetest beer was he directed me to the Sweet Magnolia Brown Ale, which was good but not as sweet as I would have liked. DH has a Red Ale and enjoyed it. After we left I saw a sign for the winter ale which sounded better to me than mine and I was sad that I wasn’t offered it! We also used some snack credits at The Boardwalk Bakery. We got a banana split cake and a cheesecake brownie to take back to the room with us.

Armed with my newfound DIS knowledge I tell DH we can stroll over to The Beach Club and hop a bus to DTD from there. Smart Huh? Except I have never been to the Beach Club before. LOL. We found our way after dazing around at the wonder that is that resort! I thought it was homey and cool and DH thought it stuffy. Oh well! We did see the chocolate carousel!

There’s my girl Tink sittin on top of it all!

We found the bus stop and waited for our DTD bus. Well wouldn’t ya know we were almost late because busses were so scarce! I found it amusing that when we were at a value resort a bus came every 5 min but at this DVC resort we waited close to a half hour for one! Finally one came and took us to DTD West Side. We cut across the parking lot and came in right near Ragan Road. We rushed a little and made it exactly at the time of our ADR @ 8pm. The CM asked if we minded waiting a few minutes and of course we said no. We walked around the shop for a while…

I love makin him do dorky things!

At 8:15 we were called for our table. The girl says to us “These seats are awesome”. So we are following the server past the music (we both thought awesome seats meant somewhere in the front) and into a back room and to a spot with 2 cushy chairs by a decorated fireplace!!!

I can’t tell you how great this seat was and how I needed a comphy seat so bad! It was the best! So we decided we deserved some cocktails. I had a chardonnay and DH had a Guinness.

We shared the scallop forest for our appetizer. Is it me or did it lack the forest part? I thought it came on forks?? I was saddened about it a bit. But it was yummy!

And the Guinness and honey dipping sauce for the soda bread was INCREDIBLE! We swear we will recreate this at home, it was that yummy!

I had “Paddy’s Pork” w/ greens and mashed potatoes.

DH had “Heavenly Ham” also w/ greens and mashed potatoes.

I def liked mine but the ham was so tender it was silly! The food def exceeded my expectations and we would def go back again. I’d never hear the end of it if I denied him Guinness on tap! LOL!

Dessert was Bailey’s Crème Brulee and Banoffi Beauty (bananas and cream and caramel).

We def over tipped here and we didn’t really find much excellent service other places to add an extra tip, but this was too great not to! The drinks only cost us about $12 bucks and we tipped the server and extra $5. Great experience and has now got us hooked on Irish Pub places all over!

Even tho I would have called it a night, we waddled on over to Disney Quest because I did promise DH I’d go it again! I’m such a trooper! We played a few games together and then he played a few games while I relaxed and jotted down the days happenings in my trust TR notebook. Suddenly it was 11pm and they were closing up so off we went to find the bus to CSR. When we got there a bus was leaving already and it was packed so I opted to wait because the way my back was feeling I needed to sit on the way home.
Well because the busses stop on the market place side first they were always crowded and there was no bench near our stop either! At some point while waiting for the next bus I end up in tears and poor DH is stunned that I’m in that much pain to be crying. Luckily an awesome bus driver got out and asked us where we were going and I told him CSR but I needed to sit because of my bad back he got on and found a seat in the back for me! Thank god for a little pixie dust ixiedust: now and again! We got home and put a hot towel on my back and made a decision to make tomorrow a relaxing day!

Up Next: Relaxation, Swimming and LeCellier!!!

 

[KatGarcia]

Day 8

After 7 day of Go-Go-Go we slapped that Do Not Disturb sign on the door and slept till 10am! I felt so much better waking up and not rushing around! I made some of the Disney coffee. It’s not half bad if you make it 2 times as strong! LOL! I like my coffee with some kick so I made half the pot with one of their pods and it was pretty good! DH went and got us some breakfast to share. We had a breakfast skillet from the Mexican Station.

Thank god we shared this thing it was huge. It had potatoes and bacon and sausage and eggs and cheese all mixed together. It hit the spot!

After lounging around for a while we took a slow walk over to the Dig Site for a swim. I would love to have had some shots of us swimming but there was no one else to take them so we left the camera in the room! We went down the water slide a bunch of times. What fun! It s a really nice pool and since it was so big there weren’t any crowding issues at all. I even got a back and feet rub from DH. I felt really good after the swim it really loosened my muscles up. So we showered up and headed back to our new favorite food place in all of WDW, Pepper Market. We had carefully planned our CS meals so we decided to each get something of our own here and if we didn’t finish it, oh well, at least we tried! I opted for something lighter which turned out to be a huge portion I couldn’t finish anyway!

My Chef’s Salad with ham, cheese, olives, salami and turkey.

DHs double bacon cheeseburger with fried from the grill station.
http://imageigloo.com/images/1845peppermarket.JPG

It was just what we needed after a week of vowing to eat things we couldn’t get at home. I had a rice crispy treat and DH had a Danish. We snacked while we waited for the bus to MGM.

I also had some sneaker trauma on this trip. I bought a new pair and when I first wore them they were fine then they started to rub on my heels a bit. I had another pair with me but they weren’t as good support wise but I wore them none the less. Until we got to MGM. I wanted to wander the shops for a while since we really weren’t looking to do much more than that for an hour or so before heading to LeCellier for our ADR. When DH saw all the Jack Skellington stuff in the Villain’s store we started to check it all out and I came across my best Disney find ever- Jack Flip Flops! No they may not be a hidden gem to you but my feet fell in love at first try! They were on sale for 8 bucks too! Like I said, I love me a deal! So my happy feet could stroll for much longer than in those pesky sneakers! I really never thought of bringing flip flops with me because when we went on our honeymoon it wasn’t cold but we wore sneakers and jeans the whole time and that was February, how was I supposed to know December would be hotter!

We got on our beloved boat to Epcot, sat in the back and felt the misty drizzle on our faces. It was lovely. Did I mention I was sitting down so that alone made me happy!

We checked into LeCellier at 6:15 for our 6:45 ADR. We were seated by 6:25! I watched several people get turned away while I waited too. I was thankful for the DIS and my ADRs at that moment esp. because it was raining out! I really was looking fwd to this meal. It is the one meal DH wasn’t too into when shown the menus. I assured him the DIS wouldn’t steer me wrong and the most talked about restaurant would be worth it (so I hoped). OF COURSE I wasn’t in the least disappointed! The meal was phenomenal!

We got smoothies for drinks. I had the chocolate raspberry and DH had the mango. He couldn’t stop saying how yummy the mango was!

I had the cheese soup…note the pretzel bread on the side! I love this!!!!!

DH had the crab & salmon timbale

I had the mushroom filet and DH had the Maple filet.

I had the crème brulee sampler (continuing my theme) DH had S’mores

I really enjoyed the food; it was def worth all the hype! The meats were juicy and well cooked and I liked the dark woods in the place, it made it homey. The creme brulee was my favorite the whole trip! I think we would def return here next time! We tried to catch the end of Off Kilter playing on the Canadian stage but we only heard the end of the last song! Oh well! We planned to download some of their stuff when we got home anyway. We strolled towards the exits and saw that no one was waiting for Space Ship Earth. We hopped on! I like this ride, it’s mellow. Everything was fine until all the sudden it stops and we were on one of the hills facing backwards! I freak and dug my nails into DHs arm! It scared me more than any ride so far… but after a minute it started again much to my happiness. After my near death experience, LOL, we headed home. We stopped at El Centro for some drinks and headed to the room. When I checked my phone I had a voicemail. It turned out to be from the next person on the fridge swap! She apparently had trouble finding the fridge too. Um Hello Pop! I left it there yesterday morning how do you loose it so fast?!?! Once I got thru to her she told me that she had gotten it delivered and we exchanged silly fridge stories and that was that! I’m glad she did get the fridge and it was cool to talk to her!
We called it a night after that. Tomorrow is our last full day at Disney! Boo-Hiss!

Next up: Wheelchairs, World Showcase & Coral Reef

 

[Eventer98]

Thanks for the yummy food pics!!! I don't know how I am going to get thru the next 5 months until our trip!!!

 

[KatGarcia]

We had internet issues and I haven't been online much...I will prob finish the report by this weekend... I can't believe it'll be over..boo hoo... time to plan another trip!!!!

 

[KimAshton]

You are getting me very excited for my trip in March.

 

[KatGarcia]

We headed to Epcot early knowing it was our last day. DH kept telling me to stop saying that it was our last full day LOL. It had been a really grueling painful vacation in terms of my back and all the walking. I knew there was virtually no way I’d be able to get thru the world showcase if we walked and that was our plan for the morning. So I swallowed some pride and we decided to look into the wheelchair rental. Turns out it was only $10 bucks for the day so we decided to go for it. As stupid as I felt, I really wanted to make it through the day. My wonderful DH pushed me in the heat and roughed up his hands on the handles of the chair but we made it through! Our first stop was to see about a fast pass for Soarin’. Turned out we were so early we didn’t need one! We waited all of 25 minutes to get on and with me in the wheelchair the whole line queue it was a breeze (no pun intended). I admit I was kinda nervous and thought the ride might freak me out because I am afraid of heights. It was the coolest ride we did the whole trip!!! I can’t even say enough good things about it….it was just awesome! Afterwards DH ran over to Test Track for fast passes for later and we wheeled out for the world showcase.

We were getting a little hungry and hoped Yorkshire was open but it was too early. So we kept trekking through the countries. We explored the France Pavilion and took tons of pics along the way. We called it “views from a wheelchair” LOL! I went into the France bakery in hopes of getting something small to eat for a snack credit and they told me the only thing I could get was a drink! I was surprised nothing else, not even something small, was a credit. We still had credits to burn so we were on our way. We stopped in Italy and saw one of the street performers for a while. We spent a lot of time in China in the gift store looking at all the cool stuff. We took tons of videos there too, DH is a big martial arts and most things Asian fan! We decided on some lunch at Yakatori House. We had 2 CS meals and shared them, even tho DH was reluctant to share his!

The Tokyo Roll and Combo of teriyaki beef, chicken, rice and shrimp tempura. We had Sprites and a Choc Chip cookie and a piece of ginger cake for dessert.

It hit the spot! Def a good CS. The portions were kinda small but it was yummy none the less.

We continued our pressed penny search! A lot of the machines are either hard to find or broken which was a bummer. We tried not to buy too many souvenirs this time and did the pressed pennies for our souvenirs. We stopped to rest a lot, as DH was tired from pushing me in the chair in the heat. We stopped off in Norway and decided we needed a second school bread! LOL. It really is that good!

DH got us a school bread and a cinnamon roll. They were HUGE! And delicious!

I talked DH into going on Maelstrom. I guess he didn’t remember it from last time, I know its short but I knew I liked it! It was fun like I remembered! The only other thing, in my mind anyways, left to do was ride El Rio De Temple. We didn’t do it last time as I didn’t even know it existed. When we got there it was under refurb but the Mexico Pavilion was really cool inside. I liked the atmosphere! We rested one more time at the refreshment port and then headed to our fast passes for Test Track.

Here are my fav pics from the tour de world showcase…

So after waiting a few minutes because apparently it wasn’t running well and reading the warning signs, we opted to give away our FPs to a father and daughter who looked thrilled. I just wasn’t willing to risk my back at this point. I will def check it out next time, early on in the trip! I bet it’s fun tho, oh well!

It was about 4:30 and we decided to bring back the wheelchair so we could go to our ressie at Coral Reef and then hop the boat to MGM. Staying off my feet for that long during the day really helped make the night a lot easier. We did a lot of stop and rests but it was def easier on me than if I’d tried to walk all day. We were early for the 5:15 ADR but checked in anyways at about 5pm. We were seated maybe 20 minutes later.

This was the one meal I was leery about since it got so many mixed reviews. I had always wanted to try and eat here so we went for it! I liked the food and have no real complaints but I prob won’t go back, just because Epcot has so much food to try. The tank was awesome and we had a great time just fish and diver watching!

I had the crab claws and Dh had the Seafood Soufflé

I had the Blackened Cat Fish (kinda spicy but still good)

DH had the Mahi Mahi

For dessert we had a Chocolate Wave and The Butterscotch Brulee

We walked to the International Gateway and got on our last trip on the Friendship boat and headed to MGM to spend the rest of the night. We hadn’t really spent too much time there at all and we hadn’t done anything at night there so this was our last chance to do it. I really wanted to see Osborne and DH is HUGE into computers and lights and all that so I KNEW he would love it! We got there not too long after dark so the timing was good. We walked through in awe. It was so neat! When we got to the end of the street the show started, the timing could not have been better! We video taped it and had our mouths open the whole time. It is a MUST SEE! So amazing to be there and hear people cheering when the show was done! So so so awesome! We hauled our butts over to see if we could get into Fantasmic. We are walking down the street near the turkey leg place and I stop and go “oh my god” and DH is all “WHAT???!!!” I just reply with “This is the line for Fantasmic.” It was looooooong but we hopped on. Couldn’t hurt to try, right?! We only had to wait about 15 minutes in the line before they started shuffling us into the huge arena. I guess because we are just 2 people finding a seat wasn’t so bad. I had read on the DIS that all the seats were good so not to worry about being in the center. We were semi off center and there was a poll in the way but I assure DH that the DIS is always right and we would take the seats! He got out the video camera and had a great time! The poll was not in the way at all. The video was a little fuzzy at times because it’s too hard to focus on the water that they project onto, but it was great none the less! It was a great show! I def think I would not have done a Fantasmic Dinner Package, but that’s just me. I’m happy to have a crappy seat and just enjoy myself. I do wish that there were some more actual characters in the show, like villains, it would have been a nice touch. But I’m just making a comment not complaining.

We made our way out of MGM and back to CSR to finish packing up and getting ready for departure day. We ate what we had left in our fridge (our boardwalk bakery goodies) and hit the bed, for the last time.

Next Up: Our Last Day-Snacks, Front of Monorail and Lots of Rides!

 

[KatGarcia]

We were up by 7am. I had trouble sleeping as it was, knowing today we had to leave our little life oasis and go back to cold and real NY. But we were going to make the best of it. I made our plane ressies for 8pm so we had a pretty decent amount of time to spend out before we had to catch the ME. So we showered and packed up all our stuff and carry on bags and headed to ME Luggage Services. We checked our big bag and had luggage services hold our carry-ons. We took a bus to the Magic Kingdom to take the monorail to the Grand Floridian for our last TS meal at 1900 Park Fare. When we got there the platform was fairly empty so I made DH ask if we could get into the front of the monorail. There was a couple ahead of us but we had about 45 minutes until our ADR so we waited! We got on the next monorail that rolled in! I was so excited! We video taped the trip from MK to CR. It was fun and we got Monorail wing stickers. I was happy I accomplished another of my goals for our trip, it took almost the whole trip but we did it!

We were early at 1900 but we were seated fairly quickly. Not before we got some pressed pennies in the lobby tho! The food was yummy! The only thing I thought to take a pic of was the table and the strawberry soup…

We had so much fun with the characters! Alice and The Mad Hatter were fighting when they walked by each other and The Mad Hatter was teasing Pooh! Tigger was so funny, he was making messes of people tables and throwing things and he even poured me some coffee!

The food was great tho, def a step up from regular breakfast stuff. DH had an omelet made at the omelet station and was thrilled with it. I had a mix of stuff, all of it good. The Characters were just awesome and the pics came out great…

We said our goodbye to resort hopping for the trip and went to finish out our day at the MK. Because of the crowds we really didn’t get onto too many rides but since about Jan 3rd or so the crowds noticeably thinned out. Today we were on a mission to get to all the things we wanted to.

We went straight to BTMR. A 40 minute wait, we got on the line. It took about an hour really but this is my favorite coaster and well worth the waiting! So fun! Then we went to the Jungle Cruise and waited about 40 minutes to get on. I love the corny jokes, I have to admit. Our CM made a great joke at the end something along the lines of: “Please collect your belongings and small children. If you leave small children here after 24 hours we send them over to Small World and glue their shoes down and make them sing that song in 37 different languages”. I’m still laughing about it! We waited about 15 minutes for Stitch’s Great Escape, which I love, as I’m a big Stitch fan. We headed to The Launching Pad and Auntie Gravities to use up our last 4 snack credits (*tear*) on a sweet and a spicy pretzel, a Cappuccino Float and a Root Beer Float.

We waited about 45 minutes for The Tomorrow Land Indy Speedway. I let DH drive and we got in car #1. For a guy without a driver’s license he’s not so bad! We took a repeat of last trips fav pic….

Look Ma No Hands!

We were pretty much done for the day, esp. knowing we still had a flight that evening. So we headed to The Emporium for one last look at things we swore we wouldn’t buy.

I tried on some Tink Ears.

And we bought a new friend to take home with us… he ended up helping me write my TR actually…

We went back to CSR for the last time and sat down in the bar area to relax before catching our ME bus. We had some sodas and DH went to the arcade. I did break down a buy a tee shirt at Panchitos. So much for not spending on souvenirs.

We caught the 5:15 ME bus and no sooner had we left CSR did DH pass out! AWW!

We were very early and found our way easily. I really like Orlando International, it’s a really nice airport. DH sat at a table while I searched out something for dinner…

Can ya tell we had a long day?

I had some McDonalds, which was so weird after all the good Disney food. We couldn’t resist taking one last food porn pic…

When we went to the board to check the status of our plane it was late! By late I mean not possibly leaving until 9:30pm and it WAS an 8:10pm flight! SO we got some magazines and books and waited it out.

We ended up waiting on the plane for over an hour too! Apparently there was a nasty fog over NY and they weren’t landing any planes at JFK. We didn’t leave Orlando until about 11:15pm, getting us into JFK at about 1:45am! We also had to wait for luggage and get a cab home, making our arrival in the apartment in Brooklyn at around 3am!

What a day and what a trip….

Last up; My Final Thoughts

 

[KatGarcia]

Well I can’t believe the trip I planned for for so long ended so fast and that it only took me about a month to finish this report. I swear part of it was mental because I don’t want it to be over. Before I start getting sappy let me get on with my final thoughts…

I learned a lot about planning a good Disney trip. Since we did the split stay I thought it helped me figure out how I wanted to use my credits for the DDP. We ended up paying for 2 breakfasts OOP in the first half of the trip and cancelled the other OOP meal we had planned for during the second half of the trip. As we are def people who like to have sit down meals, having one planned every night wasn’t always so good. It was relaxing to not have to figure out where to go by way of your ADRs a few days at least. Yes the DDP is a ton of food, but well worth the price of the plan to us. I will be a DDP fan for life now, it made things so much easier for us to order and eat. I do want to try more 2TS credit places next time.

Split stays are pretty good, if you work it out well. We literally split our stay in half and that helped, you don’t feel like you just got settled and then you are moving again. It was easy and I would recommend it to anyone. It’s a really cool way to explore more resorts.

What else??? Holidays are pretty crazy to be there! I probably will never go back again for the holidays, maybe in the beginning of December but not after that. I wanted to see the decorations and we did and now we can find another time to go!

All in all the DIS has been invaluable to my planning and I want to thank everyone for their help in making our anniversary trip awesome! We are planning another trip in February 2008 for the dates of our 3rd anniversary and we are hoping to bring some friends with us!! We are Disney people for life and will be back ASAP!

Here are some pics of the scrapbooky type pages I made in the photo album I put together from our trip… I am by no means a great scrap booker but I wanted some of our things in with the photos. Take care everyone!!! Thanks for reading!!

Our Pressed Penny Collection

 

[PoohFan97]

Thanks for sharing your trip report! I enjoyed reading about your vacation and seeing photos!

 

[mlill]

This has been one of the best TRs I have ever read! Thank you so much for sharing your WDW adventure with us! I'm sorry you had trouble with your back at the end, but you did the right thing by renting a wheelchair in Epcot! I loved all of your wonderful pictures! (especially the FOOD - I'm starving now!) You two are a really great couple!

Have fun planning your next WDW vacation!


Take care,
-Michelle

 

[PKWallaby]

OK, I'm only up to New Year's Eve but I wanted to post before reading the rest and forgetting what I wanted to say(happens a lot as one ages):

I love your writing style and feel like I am right along with you. FYI, when I got to the part in Epcot on New Year's Eve, I had tears in my eyes...then you brought me right back after your DH got hit on the head...too funny!

Thanks so much for sharing your story! Hope 2007 brings only good things

Now off to bring myself up to date...

 

[PKWallaby]

Now I'm done...what a great trip!! You make such a cute couple. Here's hoping every year will be "Disney filled"

Oh, loved the World Showcase from a wheelchair view . Glad you were not too proud to put your own health ahead of vanity. What a honey you have for motoring you around!!

Thanks again for sharing...file a report next year too now!!