After we were settled into our room and changed into nicer clothing for our evening in Downtown Disney, we decided it was time to leave. We strolled out to the bus stop and waited for a bus to Downtown....
and waited....
and waited....
seriously Disney, what's up with the bus system these days?! Since we were in no rush, the bus delay wasn't an issue and the ride over was actually quite nice. We got a seat, didn't have to make any additional stops and the ride over was
much faster than our ride from Coronado Springs.
When we arrived, we decided that the best thing to do would be grab lunch. Where you may ask? Earl of Sandwich, of course.
In October, when we ate at Earl of Sandwich it was around 12:00 p.m. and the place was PACKED. We waited a long time in line and had to wait for a table to open up. This time around, we showed up around 2:00 p.m. and it was still PACKED. I would be surprised if EOS at any point during the day didn't have a line out the door.
So we waited....
and waited....
and waited....
until finally it was our turn to order! I decided to order my favorite sandwich from October, the Carribbean Jerk Chicken Sandwich.
For those of you who may be thinking that this picture looks similar to a photo from my October TR, that's because it is.
I didn't do any food pictures our first day because like I said, I just wasn't feeling the whole photography thing.
Now back to the food. The sandwich was AWESOME, exactly what I was hoping for. The peppers were sweet, the sauce was a little spicy and tangy, the roll was fresh tasting, it was just really fantastic.
Erik ordered the Holiday Sandwich again. According to him, it's the best sandwich he's ever had, so of course he ordered it again.
His assessment was, the sandwich was faaaaaantastic! Just as good as last time and he was quite disappointed that he won't be having another one for who knows how long since there is no Earl of Sandwich in New Jersey.
My Mom, having never been to an Earl of Sandwich, ordered the Caprese which I didn't take a picture of. It was mozzarella cheese, tomato or something---who really knows, but she said it was great and loved the bread it was served on.
With our tummies nice and full, it was time for some shopping. The first stop was Disney's Days of Christmas store. A tradition that we have is to get a Christmas ornament for every trip we take. This year, I wanted to get a personalized ornament and knew that if I was going to get one, I needed to order it today to have it back by the end of our trip. Unfortunately, DH found a reasonably expensive Pluto ornament that he really wanted to get, so no personalized ornament this year. Instead, I hope that a photo of the woman who does the personalizations will suffice.
After we purchased our first souveniers, we went to the
Lego store to see if we could find anything good. Naturally, we didn't and it was a complete waste of a walk down there but hey, the weather was nice and at least we got to see some of the sights along the way.
With our shopping done and our showtime for Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba rapidly approaching, we decided it was time to take a walk back to the boat for a nice ride over to the West Side.
While we passed by Rainforest Cafe, I decided to stop and take some pictures of the "wildlife" that was outside.
After a short wait, the boat finally arrived. One of the things I love most about Disney are the boat rides. The busses can be hot, crowded and full of smelly people. The boats are usually relaxing, nice and breezy and only a certain number of people can sit on a boat so you are pretty much guaranteed a seat and a nice rest for your tired tootsies.
The boat ride over to the West Side was uneventful but very nice. We took in the sights we don't usually see since the West Side isn't a place we ever visit and enjoyed looking at Saratoga Springs from across the "river."
When we arrived at the West Side, some
real wildlife was waiting to greet us.
After a little photo session, we started our walk over to the theater to get our La Nouba tickets from will-call and see the show.
Unfortunately, no photography at all is allowed during La Nouba (although I understand why)---so I have no photos from this part of the trip. All I can say was that it was our first time seeing a Cirque show and it was AMAZING. My Mom said it was the highlight of the trip for her and it ended up being $90 per person very well spent. Erik even stayed awake for the entire show! That is a huge endorsement for the producers of the show, because if Erik is interested enough to stay awake it's got to be something special.
The show ended and we grabbed a taxi to the Dolphin Hotel for our dinner reservation at Todd English's bluezoo. We had a great dinner there in October and it was on my "must-do" list for this trip. Since this would be the only night we weren't on the dining plan, it was the only night that would fit in our schedule---so off we went!
When we arrived, we were about 10 minutes early for our reservation and got seated immediately. Just like last time, there were a total of maybe two handfuls of diners in the whole restaurant, which was nice but sad at the same time since it's such a great spot to grab some dinner.
In October, Erik and I ordered a variety of appetizers rather than an entree and knew that this time, one appetizer would be eaten rather than a few. That special appetizer is the scallops with short ribs and cauliflower puree.
We actually decided to split Olive's classico flatbread for the table as an appetizer since we were all pretty hungry by now.
The flatbread was crisp, fresh and delicious. I'm very happy we ordered this again, everyone loved it.
For our entree, we all had two appetizers of the scallops---so instead of 2 scallops, we each had 4.
Again, they were awesome and 100% as good as I remembered them being. I was very happy with our selection. The scallops were perfectly seared, the short ribs were tender and flavorful and the cauliflower puree was awesome although I wish there was more on the plate.
At the end of the trip, my Mom settled the check because apparently this was her thank you to us for inviting her on the trip. It was a nice surprise to not have to worry about paying for dinner but more importantly, I was glad to see that my Mom was already having a genuinely good time on the trip and couldn't wait to see what else Walt Disney World had in store for us.
After dinner we took a walk back to our hotel, which is right across the bridge over Crescent Lake. We were all exhausted from being up at 3:30 a.m. and the plan for tomorrow morning was rope drop at Disney's Hollywood Studios, so lots of sleep was a must.
Our first day in Disney was a success and I was feeling better about the trip by the minute. We went to sleep in our separate upgraded bedroom and fell asleep instantly.
Coming Up: Can we keep our current room? Will we make Rope Drop?
It's a hard decision to make whether you should continue with your plans when something like this happens but I'm sure his grandfather would have wanted him to go anyway. Erik, you and all the family are in our thoughts and prayers 
Thank you for sharing!
I'm glad you were still able to have fun, though.
The room was fantastic. We were only down one hallway from the elevators, which was nice. The room was in great condition and the view we had of the driveway up to the Boardwalk Villas wasn't anything special in the day, but at night we could just see Illuminations going off over the hotel. 
