Stitchfan626
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2004
- Messages
- 18
Friday July 30th
Cast: Me, 32 year old Disney fanatic
DW, 29 year old Disney convert
Well, today started the first of two non-park days. After seeing a bunch of Cirque du Soliel specials on TV and finally seeing their performance of Allegria when it was in the area earlier this year we decided we had to go see La Nouba while we were on our honeymoon. Since we had been to each of the parks at least once earlier in the week we decided to take a break and see La Nouba's first showing on Friday and also check out Downtown Disney and Disney Quest.
We figured we'd spend the first part of the day visiting the various deluxe resorts in the morning and then go and spend the afternoon at DTD before seeing La Nouba. That being the plan we though this would be a good day to do Chef Mickey's for a mid-morning breakfast and then pick something light up either before or after La Nouba to carry us through the day. We headed out from CBR and got to MK then took the monorail over to the Contemporary. As we were pulling in the "celebration" song (don't know it's title) was playing. Now, I know everybody in the restaurant is suppose to wave their napkins over their heads for this, but evidently some guests had taken it to the extreme! All along the walkways on the opposite side of the Contemporary from the monorail people (mostly teens I'm guessing) were leaning over and swinging towels around with the song! I don't know if this is a common thing, but it was interesting to see all these towels being swung around from about 4 different floors! Anyway, we took the escalator down to the concourse level and checked in at Chef Mikey's. A bunch of the characters were up and about, and Goofy was really hamming it up in the waiting area, keeping the kids entertained. We got our picture taken and were seated fairly quickly despite the fact that the place was packed. I wasn't overly impressed with the breakfast fare here (though I would consider coming back and doing dinner) as nothing "special" jumped out at me like it did at the buffet at Boma. The character interaction was nice, and I really like the new Chef Mickey outfit. He now looks sort of like Iron France from Iron Chef. I dub thee . Iron Disney! Allez cuisine! (sorry, sorry too much of a tangent I think.)
Anyway, we had a nice breakfast and then went back upstairs to take the monorail over to the Poly. These plans changed however when we lucked out and got to sit in the front of the monorail! We both got our monorail licenses and decided that instead of getting off at the Poly we would take a lap around the monorail and enjoy the view from the front. After a complete lap around the monorail we finally got off at the Poly so some other family could ride. We wandered around the resort a bit and decided that despite being a bit musty this was a resort we wanted to try staying at sometime in the future. We walked around the second floor gift shop for a bit, and scouted out the Kona Café and Ohanas since we would be eating there later in the week and then headed downstairs. We did a bit more window shopping downstairs, picking up some more pins for the collection, before I convinced the DW that I had to take a look in the Wyland Gallery. Now, I LOVE the ocean. I'm a marine-life nut and everything to do with ocean going mammals interests me. The Wyland Gallery definitely held my interest because of this. In case you don't know, 90% of the art there is seascapes. I saw about $50k worth of art that I would have loved to have bought, and despite finding out about their financing program (sorry, I will finance a car, but not a piece or art) I passed on buying anything. My DW, however, found some earrings she liked that weren't too expensive and decided to purchase them. Having had our fill of Polynesian we wandered out to the docks to catch the boat to MK so we could switch over to the other boat and hit the Wilderness Lodge.
When we hit the Wilderness Lodge my DW informed me that we had to go to the gift shop because her heels were being rubbed raw by her sandals and she needed to get some Band-Aids. We were both really impressed with the Wilderness lodge. This was where we had originally planned to stay but we changed to CBR in order to have more days. I would really have liked to have explored the lodge in more detail, but DW's heel was hurting so instead we sat in the lobby for awhile and absorbed the ambiance, as well as the hoopla from the Whispering Canyon Café. Having decided we had had enough rest, we wandered down to the bus stop and hoped to have better luck catching a bus to DTD. We did have a bit of a wait this time, but nothing compared to the ones we had experienced at AKL or CR. Anyway, we jumped aboard, and a short while later we were wandering around the shops of DTD.
We mostly did some window shopping, looking at all the Disney art we'd love to have, but just couldn't afford, along with all the Disney stuff for the home. We also stopped in at the pin station in the hopes of procuring one of the Stitch Olympic judo pins, but had no luck. We found out from a CM working there that they had sold out in about an hour and a half. We also found out that there was another Stitch Olympic pin coming (the javelin toss) but it wouldn't be released until the following Friday, and we were leaving on Wednesday. Oh well, the disappointment of not finding my Stitch pin didn't put us off getting a few more pins for our collection.
Since we still had a few hours until La Nouba, and since breakfast seemed like such a long time ago, we decided to stop and try The Earl of Sandwich for a late lunch/early dinner. The prices there were quite reasonable, and I thought my sandwich was excellent. DW wasn't thrilled with hers, but thinks her mistake was switching her order at the last minute. We then walked over to Ghirardelli to get some ice cream. I was still stuffed having eaten more of my sandwich than my DW, so I passed while she got a yummy looking mint chocolate chip cone. It being hot as heck outside I should have thought ahead and stayed inside while she ate it, but unfortunately we didn't, which turned out to be a BAD idea. 90 degree temperatures played havoc on the cone, and no matter how quickly she tried to eat it (I even helped) it was melting faster than we could keep up with. We ended up throwing a good portion of it away after it dripped on DW's blouse, which did NOT make her happy. We cleaned it up as best we could, and headed over to the West side and DisneyQuest in the hopes of improving our mood.
Disneyquest was actually a bit of a disappointment, though our opinions were probably colored by the fact that the big "rides" here had huge lines, and we didn't feel like waiting on them. We really did like the introduction in the elevator (I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't been there before) but the two "rides" we did (The Alien Encounter one and the comic book one) were just so-so. I have a feeling that if I was a teenager I would probably have liked it more.
Since it was pretty close to the time they would open the theater for seating we decided to head down to La Nouba. We looked around the Cirque du Soliel shop and saw a number of things we'd like to own, but again just couldn't afford. We also decided we'd come back after the show, and if we liked the soundtrack we'd see about picking it up. We had just sat down on a bench to wait for them to let us in when a CM came down and lowered the chain blocking the stairs up to the theater. We headed up and got some popcorn and soda for me, and a raspberry daiquiri for DW. When she ordered it they asked her if she wanted a single or a double. She got a single and was sure glad she did because it was pretty strong. I have a feeling the rum didn't get mixed in well as the drink starts off virgin and the rum gets added in at the end. We went in and enjoyed the clowns that do the pre-show. As for the show itself, only one word sufficed: WOW! We knew next nothing about this show but had gotten a few hints from the program I bought while waiting for the show to start. Needless to say we are definitely going to come back and see this show again the next time we are at WDW if at all possible. We had a chance to see it when we visited in 2000 but skipped it because we didn't know anything about Cirque at the time. Now I wish we had.
After the show we went down to the shop and bought the soundtrack along with a La Nouba magnet to add to our Cirque magnet collection (a whole 2 magnets make up this vast collection). As we walked towards PI we noticed that they were about to start dipping strawberries in chocolate at the Candy Cauldron, so we stopped to watch. Of course, after watching we HAD to get something, so I made the DW wait outside while I went in and got us each a milk and white chocolate strawberry, as well as one chocolate covered marshmallow stick. With our goodies in hand we decided to skip PI (we had a big day at SeaWorld scheduled for the next day, and figured we should get to bed at a decent hour) so we walked to the bus stop and went back to the resort.
After dropping our bags and such back at the room DW let it slip that she was a bit hungry and wanted something a bit more satisfying than the candy I had bought at the Candy Cauldron. So we grabbed our refillable mugs and went over to OPR where we had our first real experience with the food court's food (I had only gotten breakfast stuff before). We got the roasted chicken from the broiler section and split it among the two of us. I have to say it was really quite good. After our very late dinner/snack we went back to the room and changed into bathing suits to sample the quiet pool at night. Unfortunately it wasn't really all that quiet as a group of teenage boys were swimming around. We swam/bobbed around for awhile and watched a bit of Illuminations flash in the sky over towards Epcot. After about a half hour it started to drizzle, so we decided to head back to the room, shower, and get to bed.
Next: Our Disney Honeymoon: Day 7: Seaworld is NOT the happiest place on Earth.
Cast: Me, 32 year old Disney fanatic
DW, 29 year old Disney convert
Well, today started the first of two non-park days. After seeing a bunch of Cirque du Soliel specials on TV and finally seeing their performance of Allegria when it was in the area earlier this year we decided we had to go see La Nouba while we were on our honeymoon. Since we had been to each of the parks at least once earlier in the week we decided to take a break and see La Nouba's first showing on Friday and also check out Downtown Disney and Disney Quest.
We figured we'd spend the first part of the day visiting the various deluxe resorts in the morning and then go and spend the afternoon at DTD before seeing La Nouba. That being the plan we though this would be a good day to do Chef Mickey's for a mid-morning breakfast and then pick something light up either before or after La Nouba to carry us through the day. We headed out from CBR and got to MK then took the monorail over to the Contemporary. As we were pulling in the "celebration" song (don't know it's title) was playing. Now, I know everybody in the restaurant is suppose to wave their napkins over their heads for this, but evidently some guests had taken it to the extreme! All along the walkways on the opposite side of the Contemporary from the monorail people (mostly teens I'm guessing) were leaning over and swinging towels around with the song! I don't know if this is a common thing, but it was interesting to see all these towels being swung around from about 4 different floors! Anyway, we took the escalator down to the concourse level and checked in at Chef Mikey's. A bunch of the characters were up and about, and Goofy was really hamming it up in the waiting area, keeping the kids entertained. We got our picture taken and were seated fairly quickly despite the fact that the place was packed. I wasn't overly impressed with the breakfast fare here (though I would consider coming back and doing dinner) as nothing "special" jumped out at me like it did at the buffet at Boma. The character interaction was nice, and I really like the new Chef Mickey outfit. He now looks sort of like Iron France from Iron Chef. I dub thee . Iron Disney! Allez cuisine! (sorry, sorry too much of a tangent I think.)
Anyway, we had a nice breakfast and then went back upstairs to take the monorail over to the Poly. These plans changed however when we lucked out and got to sit in the front of the monorail! We both got our monorail licenses and decided that instead of getting off at the Poly we would take a lap around the monorail and enjoy the view from the front. After a complete lap around the monorail we finally got off at the Poly so some other family could ride. We wandered around the resort a bit and decided that despite being a bit musty this was a resort we wanted to try staying at sometime in the future. We walked around the second floor gift shop for a bit, and scouted out the Kona Café and Ohanas since we would be eating there later in the week and then headed downstairs. We did a bit more window shopping downstairs, picking up some more pins for the collection, before I convinced the DW that I had to take a look in the Wyland Gallery. Now, I LOVE the ocean. I'm a marine-life nut and everything to do with ocean going mammals interests me. The Wyland Gallery definitely held my interest because of this. In case you don't know, 90% of the art there is seascapes. I saw about $50k worth of art that I would have loved to have bought, and despite finding out about their financing program (sorry, I will finance a car, but not a piece or art) I passed on buying anything. My DW, however, found some earrings she liked that weren't too expensive and decided to purchase them. Having had our fill of Polynesian we wandered out to the docks to catch the boat to MK so we could switch over to the other boat and hit the Wilderness Lodge.
When we hit the Wilderness Lodge my DW informed me that we had to go to the gift shop because her heels were being rubbed raw by her sandals and she needed to get some Band-Aids. We were both really impressed with the Wilderness lodge. This was where we had originally planned to stay but we changed to CBR in order to have more days. I would really have liked to have explored the lodge in more detail, but DW's heel was hurting so instead we sat in the lobby for awhile and absorbed the ambiance, as well as the hoopla from the Whispering Canyon Café. Having decided we had had enough rest, we wandered down to the bus stop and hoped to have better luck catching a bus to DTD. We did have a bit of a wait this time, but nothing compared to the ones we had experienced at AKL or CR. Anyway, we jumped aboard, and a short while later we were wandering around the shops of DTD.
We mostly did some window shopping, looking at all the Disney art we'd love to have, but just couldn't afford, along with all the Disney stuff for the home. We also stopped in at the pin station in the hopes of procuring one of the Stitch Olympic judo pins, but had no luck. We found out from a CM working there that they had sold out in about an hour and a half. We also found out that there was another Stitch Olympic pin coming (the javelin toss) but it wouldn't be released until the following Friday, and we were leaving on Wednesday. Oh well, the disappointment of not finding my Stitch pin didn't put us off getting a few more pins for our collection.
Since we still had a few hours until La Nouba, and since breakfast seemed like such a long time ago, we decided to stop and try The Earl of Sandwich for a late lunch/early dinner. The prices there were quite reasonable, and I thought my sandwich was excellent. DW wasn't thrilled with hers, but thinks her mistake was switching her order at the last minute. We then walked over to Ghirardelli to get some ice cream. I was still stuffed having eaten more of my sandwich than my DW, so I passed while she got a yummy looking mint chocolate chip cone. It being hot as heck outside I should have thought ahead and stayed inside while she ate it, but unfortunately we didn't, which turned out to be a BAD idea. 90 degree temperatures played havoc on the cone, and no matter how quickly she tried to eat it (I even helped) it was melting faster than we could keep up with. We ended up throwing a good portion of it away after it dripped on DW's blouse, which did NOT make her happy. We cleaned it up as best we could, and headed over to the West side and DisneyQuest in the hopes of improving our mood.
Disneyquest was actually a bit of a disappointment, though our opinions were probably colored by the fact that the big "rides" here had huge lines, and we didn't feel like waiting on them. We really did like the introduction in the elevator (I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't been there before) but the two "rides" we did (The Alien Encounter one and the comic book one) were just so-so. I have a feeling that if I was a teenager I would probably have liked it more.
Since it was pretty close to the time they would open the theater for seating we decided to head down to La Nouba. We looked around the Cirque du Soliel shop and saw a number of things we'd like to own, but again just couldn't afford. We also decided we'd come back after the show, and if we liked the soundtrack we'd see about picking it up. We had just sat down on a bench to wait for them to let us in when a CM came down and lowered the chain blocking the stairs up to the theater. We headed up and got some popcorn and soda for me, and a raspberry daiquiri for DW. When she ordered it they asked her if she wanted a single or a double. She got a single and was sure glad she did because it was pretty strong. I have a feeling the rum didn't get mixed in well as the drink starts off virgin and the rum gets added in at the end. We went in and enjoyed the clowns that do the pre-show. As for the show itself, only one word sufficed: WOW! We knew next nothing about this show but had gotten a few hints from the program I bought while waiting for the show to start. Needless to say we are definitely going to come back and see this show again the next time we are at WDW if at all possible. We had a chance to see it when we visited in 2000 but skipped it because we didn't know anything about Cirque at the time. Now I wish we had.
After the show we went down to the shop and bought the soundtrack along with a La Nouba magnet to add to our Cirque magnet collection (a whole 2 magnets make up this vast collection). As we walked towards PI we noticed that they were about to start dipping strawberries in chocolate at the Candy Cauldron, so we stopped to watch. Of course, after watching we HAD to get something, so I made the DW wait outside while I went in and got us each a milk and white chocolate strawberry, as well as one chocolate covered marshmallow stick. With our goodies in hand we decided to skip PI (we had a big day at SeaWorld scheduled for the next day, and figured we should get to bed at a decent hour) so we walked to the bus stop and went back to the resort.
After dropping our bags and such back at the room DW let it slip that she was a bit hungry and wanted something a bit more satisfying than the candy I had bought at the Candy Cauldron. So we grabbed our refillable mugs and went over to OPR where we had our first real experience with the food court's food (I had only gotten breakfast stuff before). We got the roasted chicken from the broiler section and split it among the two of us. I have to say it was really quite good. After our very late dinner/snack we went back to the room and changed into bathing suits to sample the quiet pool at night. Unfortunately it wasn't really all that quiet as a group of teenage boys were swimming around. We swam/bobbed around for awhile and watched a bit of Illuminations flash in the sky over towards Epcot. After about a half hour it started to drizzle, so we decided to head back to the room, shower, and get to bed.
Next: Our Disney Honeymoon: Day 7: Seaworld is NOT the happiest place on Earth.
