Our Magical WDW Adventure -24 Days of Food and Fun-Updated 3/8 -Come Join Us

[ariel2007]

I enjoyed the last update, you guys have some great pics too. The segway tour looks like fun. If dh and I go without kids sometime I may have to look into it.

Thank you

You and your DH should do the segway tour, it is really good and completely different to anything else we have done. I'm sure you would both have a great time

i'm really enjoying your TR! i'll admit, i'm reading it in my head with an English accent...i think it makes me like it even more, hahah. (my stepmother's entire family is English, so i got the accent down pretty good at this point, lol.)

oh, and i love Piggles! He is approximately the same shade as my Pink Bunny...and yes that's her proper name; apparently i wasn't very creative at age 3, hahah.

Ah Pink Bunny, thats a cute name. I don't think Piggles is much more creative really and I got him when I was 18. My little sister brought him back for me from her first Brownie camp so I had something to take with me when Nick and I went to Thailand. She wanted me to have something to cuddle at night and something to remind me of her, it was so sweet of her, she spent nearly all her spending money on it

And thats so funny about you reading it with an English accent, I wonder if it sounds anything like mine . Where is your stepmothers family from?

Excellent updates! Coronado Springs looks really nice. Oh yes, and I love all your pins you bought.

Thanks.

Yes Coronado Springs was really nice, so pretty and nicely themed.

There is a lot more pins to come too

 

[OC_stacylace]

Thank you and your welcome.

The Flower and Garden Festival displays were so pretty didn't you think. Disney are just so creative and clever.
Definitely, definitely go to the Hoop-dee-doo, us as grown-ups had so much fun, I cant imagine any kids that wouldn't love it. If you go try and get seats near the front, they gave us such a good view of the show, and the hall does go back a bit.

I hope you have a lovely time with your children, is this their first time

My older son is 9. He did the Hoop De Doo in utero, does that count? We also took him when he was 4, but I don't think he would remember it very well.

The thing that blew me away in Epcot was all those nautical flags. I know they spelled out a message, but I never did figure out what it was. Did you?

 

[ariel2007]

Day 11 ~ The One Thats Set In Paradise

Another early morning but we didn’t mind as we had been especially looking forward to this day. We were up at 6.45am and out the door just after 7.15am, it was really nice walking through the resort, it was so quiet and peaceful.

We went to bell services and they got us a cab to Discovery Cove. It didn’t take that long and we arrived about 7.40am. Reception was already open so we went and checked in. We had our photo’s taken and were given our passes. For those who haven’t been before you get a pass that you wear around your neck and it has your name and a photo on, your dolphin swim time and where you meet and whether you are 21 and over. They also attach a mini map so you know where everything is. Once we had our passes we walked outside and were instantly met by beauty. Everything about the park is so beautiful, it just all feels so tropical, like paradise.

Nick looking rather excited:

We walked towards the lockers and along the way had a photo taken which you get for free when you leave. On the way we were met by a girl who told a few of us about the park, where everything was, about breakfast, our dolphin swim time etc. We went and got a locker and some wet suit vests, last time we both had proper wetsuits but they get so hot in the sun and are so annoying when you need to take them off so we just got the vests instead. We put our things in the locker, got some towels from the bathrooms and then went and had breakfast at Laguna Grill. They had a good selection, quite a few different pastries, a few kinds of cereal, some fruit and yogurt as well as juice and coffee.

Nick's breakfast:

My breakfast:

We got a table in the sun with a slight view of the dolphins and had our breakfast. It was so exciting sitting there, we could see the dolphins and knew soon we would be swimming with them again. And then there were all the other wonderful things we were going to do today, I couldn’t wait.

After breakfast we went and got some sun loungers in between the Coral Reef and main pool, we like having them here because then we are close to the places we will be spending most of our time and it is also right near one of the snack bars and the toilets.

The main pool:

We then made our way over to the Starfish Cabana at 8.45am for our dolphin orientation. Here we were given forms to sign, assigned to our letter groups for the swims and then shown a short video about dolphins. Once that was over we went down to the beach by the dolphin pool and split into our groups, there was 8 people in each group with 3 groups in one sections of the lagoon. We met our 2 trainers Mariah who just stood behind and made sure we were all ok and Rachel who was with us and trained the dolphin. We followed them into the water where we met our dolphin, Hutch, he was 12 years old and was born in SeaWorld. Firstly we got to stroke Hutch on his front and his belly, we got to give him fish when he did something good and then gave him a kiss, some which he liked, some which he didn’t. It is really cool how the trainers make the dolphins react to things, it is so clever and funny. We got to learn some things about Hutch and dolphins in general, we saw his scars from other dolphins which is one of the ways they recognise him, about the how dolphins are mammals, they have a moustache when there born which drops out, its thought to stimulate their Mum’s for feeding and their warm blooded but can’t cool down like other mammals, i.e. by sweating, so all the heat goes to their tails, fins and flippers and then cools in the water. We got to hear him sing, wave, and dance and then it was time for the main event, our dolphin swims. Mariah would take 2 people out to the deep bit at a time for their swim whilst Rachel got photo’s taken of everyone with Hutch. Eventually it was Nick and my turn so we followed Mariah and swam out to the deep bit. I went first, I had to hold on to his dorsal fin and one of his flippers and then he pulled me through the water. As usual it was amazing doing the dolphin swim, so fun and cool and Hutch was so lovely. They do also give you the option to do a shallow swim if you are not a confident swimmer and the trainers make sure you feel confident the whole time. Sadly our dolphin swim finally came to an end, but not before all the dolphins in the section did a little show by all jumping together for us, it was really cool.

After our swim we went and looked at our photos and choose the ones we wanted to buy, we choose a package of 3 photos and a keyring and then an extra photo as there were so many cool ones.
We were really thirsty by now so we went and got a soda each and then went in the Coral Reef. It is so colorful and beautiful in the reef, and its incredible to be swimming with all the beautiful fish and rays. The reef is pretty big in a kind of figure of eight with shallow beach bits around the edge and a ship wreck in the middle. The bit in the middle seems to be where loads of the fish congregate, there was always a big swarm of them there, bright and colorful ones. And the rays, the grey ones are so big, when they swim under you they are twice your size, its quite intimidating. I managed to get some good photos and film too which was good.

After spending some time snorkeling round the reef we grabbed a quick drink and some crisps from the snack bar. They had a good selection with about 6 different Anheuser beers, Pepsi products, bottles of water, crisps, pretzels, ice-cream and strawberry lollies, frozen lemonade and cherry slushes, coffee with different flavored syrups, hot chocolate, tea and Oreo’s which is all included free.

Continued below ....

 

[ariel2007]

... Continued from above.

We went into the tropical river which was both relaxing and fun. It runs off of the main pool and varies in depth all the way round but is mostly quite deep. There are waterfalls and sunken treasure and it also runs through the aviary which is really cool as you get to see all the birds.

We spent a bit of time in there until we were hungry and then we headed out and over to Laguna Grill for lunch. All the options looked so good, there was lots of choice including Salmon with pesto, beach burger, chicken tenders, chargrilled chicken, lobster salad, club sandwiches and more. There were lots of different salads as well as different sides including fries, mash, roast potatoes, vegetables and corn. Then there were Caesar salads to start and lots of different cakes and dessert options including key lime pie, carrot cake, strawberries, muffins, chocolate cake and more. There was soda, bottled water, coffee and tea and then beer which you could help yourself too. We both got Caesar salad, the beach burger with bbq sauce, fries and roast potatoes to share and then Nick had key lime pie and bud with lime and I had carrot cake and Michelob with raspberry and pomegranate. All of the food was really good, the food is a really good standard here. The bud lime was really good too, although the Michelob was a bit strange tasting.

Caesar salad:

Beach burger:

My carrot cake:

Nick's key lime pie:

The steel band:

With our bellys really full we sat down on our loungers and chilled for a while, it was really nice as it was so hot out today. When we had had a little rest we went over to the aviary. Nick didn’t really want to go in there but once in he loved it. We got some bird food and he instantly had a few little birds land on him, again he looked like a kid in a sweet shop. There was one little bird he particularly took a shine too, Bluey, named for obvious reasons. He spent a while feeding Bluey but then he flew off, Nick wasn't happy and he kept trying to find it as he really liked it, his face was so funny he looked really sad that it had gone. The aviary has got different sections with different birds in and bridges over the lazy river. We wondered to the one with the little birds and got lots of them land on us. I kept having two of them land on me and then fight with each other whilst still on me but kept getting me too. And they loved chewing my hair too, I couldn’t get one off of it.

And this is Bluey:

We went to the Ray pool for a little bit, at first they didn’t come near us at all but then they seemed to surround us. The rays feel so strange, all slimy, but there also really cool, they just seem to glide in the water.

We went back to the Coral Reef again for a while, again it was brilliant. This time we went over and saw the sharks and barracuda’s, they look so angry and evil and just show their horrible big teeth.

The sharks:

And the barracuda's:

After the reef we went and got a beer and an ice-cream to share. Then it was back into the tropical river where we got some floats and floated round on them. This was fun, so lovely and relaxing with the tropical music, palm trees, bright flowers and shining sun, it was like being in paradise.

We had a relax on our sun chairs with a frozen lemonade and then had a final swim round the Coral Reef, I could stay in here forever it is so amazing. At one point you kind of swim round a corner into the deep open bit and there are just lots of fish all just swimming round, crossing each other, it looks like a scene from Shark Tale or Finding Nemo, it is so cool and not something you can see very often.

Continued below...

 

[ariel2007]

... Continued from above.

By now it was gone 5pm so we begrudgingly went and got changed. Now Discovery Cove literally supply everything, an unlimited supply of fresh towels, shampoo, conditioner and body wash (all Crabtree and Evelyn),body lotion, mouth wash, female products, they have hairdryers, bags for your wet clothes, they provide sun cream, snorkels and masks (you get to keep the snorkel). Then there is the snack bars, the breakfast and the lunch, its all just a part of the most amazing experience ever, its just such a shame we had to leave.

Once ready we went to the shop and brought some souvenirs. It was then regrettably time to leave. It had been such an amazing day again and hopefully we will be back again soon, although it wont be soon enough thats for sure. We went to the reception where a very nice lady called us a taxi, all the staff are so friendly and helpful, nothing is too much trouble. Whilst we waited she asked us if we had had a nice day and asked where we were staying. Then the taxi came and she told the driver where we needed to go, wished us a lovely holiday and we were off.

The reception:

We were back at Coronado Springs just after 6pm. We went in the shop straight away and brought some souvenirs. Then we went back to the room where we unpacked everything from today and got ready for tea. We decided to go to the Pepper Market food court for tea as we weren’t very hungry and were both tired. We found the Pepper Market a very weird system and slightly over priced and inconvenient for a food court – you are seated and given cards, you go and choose your food and they stamp your card to say what you have had then when you have finished you pay (and 10% service is automatically added). There was a good choice however, it was quite hard to choose. Nick got a sampler platter from the oriental counter, he had pork in peanut sauce, bourbon chicken, fried rice and an egg roll, and I had the steak fajita platter. Both were good and they had plenty of toppings for the fajitas which was good.

The Pepper Market:

Nicks Oriental sampler:

My fajita platter:

Both very tired after a long day we went back to the room and chilled, watching some TV, writing my diary and putting my pictures onto the computer. Then it was time for a well needed sleep.


Here's the picture of our view I have been looking for - you can see Expedition Everest in the distance:

 

[retiredkid]

what an incredible experience that all must have been. WOW!! How cool

thanks for sharing. If its not too cheeky, can I ask how much Discover Cove costs? Are there different packages?

 

[TrueEeyore]

What an amazing view! I never knew you could see Expedition Everest from CSR!! How cool is that.
Looks like a great day. Y'all got SO much done on this vacation. I need to go with you next time! You're a great planner.

 

[lmillercrew]

So happy you had a good time. Your fajitas look fantastic! I hope to be enjoying some authentic fajitas in 2 weeks!

 

[ariel2007]

what an incredible experience that all must have been. WOW!! How cool

thanks for sharing. If its not too cheeky, can I ask how much Discover Cove costs? Are there different packages?

They do have different packages and the price varies according to which package you choose but also which company you book through. The basic package booked through Discovery Cove is around $289 for the dolphin swim or $189 without (although the price varies slightly depending on the time of year). This package includes your admission to DC for the day, all drinks, snacks, meals etc and then either 7 days admission to SeaWorld or Busch Gardens. We chose the Ultimate Package though which included 14 days admission to both SeaWorld and Busch Gardens and also Aquatica. This was slightly more but not sure how much... I think we paid around £180 each for it. It sounds quite expensive but its definitely worth it and something we plan to do at least once on every visit

 

[ariel2007]

What an amazing view! I never knew you could see Expedition Everest from CSR!! How cool is that.
Looks like a great day. Y'all got SO much done on this vacation. I need to go with you next time! You're a great planner.

No neither did I. It was really cool.

Yes it was an amazing day, we love DC so much. Its always a must-do on every visit. It was really nice as well cause last time Nick didn't do the dolphin swim, he stayed and took pictures whilst Mum, Dad, Soph and I did it. So it was great cause it was his first time doing it at DC, and he secretly loved it

So happy you had a good time. Your fajitas look fantastic! I hope to be enjoying some authentic fajitas in 2 weeks!

Thanks. And I'm so jealous, I love Mexican food so much . I think we have decided to go to Mexico next year and I can't wait

 

[manntra]

Discovery Cove is now a must do! I never realized how much there is to do there! Looks so beautiful. I did a dolphin swim last year with my niece in the Bahamas when we were on the Disney Cruise. It was so amazing. I had 2 dolphins that came up behind me and with their noses on my feet pushed me through the water. An experience I will never forget. Hmmmmm..... you now have me thinking if this is something I could do on this trip I only have 65 days left so I don't know if that is enough time for me to plan!

 

[TrueEeyore]

I know you're probably busy. Just letting you know I'm here waiting!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Sounds like you had an amazing day at Discovery Cove...thanks for sharing!

 

[BellaSwan]

Discovery Cove looks wonderful. We won't be able to do it on this trip but I am hopping to do it on our next trip. Your report just made me want to try it more. I am loving your trip report.

 

[ariel2007]

Day 12 ~ The One Where Dream's Come True

Today was another day we had been really looking forward too and was definitely going to be a great day for 2 reasons. Firstly it was our first day at Magic Kingdom, the heart of all the magic and the heart of everything Disney. And secondly because we would be spending the night at the beautiful Polynesian Resort, somewhere we both fell in love on our last visit and had ever since longed to stay at.
We were up at 6.45am, I thought I might be bouncing out of bed but I could barely keep my eyes open in the shower. I had packed all my stuff the night before so it was just a case of getting ready and grabbing a coffee and we were out the door by 7.45am. On the drive to the Polynesian we were so excited. I had dreamed about visiting the resort and staying there from the moment I first set eyes on it during my very first visit 10 years ago. I managed to live part of my dream on our last visit when we visited the Polynesian twice for dinner. These visits just further enhanced my desire to stay there, the resort was even more amazing than I had imagined, it was just so tropical and beautiful. And these visits had also given my family and Nick the same dream I had to stay there, which of course helped me to realize my dream (after all it always helps when the rest of your party is on side, especially at the Polynesian’s prices). From the moment we pulled into the car park we could see how beautiful it all was again.

We parked the car and I literally jumped out and ran into the beautiful lobby. The entrance leading up to the resort and the lobby are all so tropical, there are beautiful flowers and waterfalls everywhere, we both loved it straight away. We checked in where we were greeted with lays, I know it sounds stupid but it made me feel really special. Our room wasn’t ready yet as it was only 8am so we left our bags with bell services and got on the monorail to Magic Kingdom.

Some pictures in the Polynesian's lobby:

We were at Magic Kingdom about 8.35am, we had a look in the little shop outside to try and pass some time and then it was just a case of waiting. It was soon announced that people would be arriving at Main Street station and about 5 minutes later some dancers turned up and did a little show. Then the train pulled into Main Street Station with all the characters on. We didn’t have a good view but it looked really cute and it really put us in the magical mood.
We were let through under the station and up Main Street and then everyone stampeded off to different rides.

Heading up Main Street with the crowds:

We headed towards Space Mountain and stopped by the ropes at the entrance to Tomorrowland. The cast members kept the crowds entertained whilst we waited for 5 minutes or so and then counted everyone down till the official opening at 9am.

Waiting to be let through Tomorrowland:

We went straight to Space Mountain and were on within 5 minutes. The theming in the queue area is so cool, its great seeing all the cars whizzing by, the transit authority and the glistening stars. Soon it was our turn for our adventure to space, and it was great. It was a little bumpy but I love how it circles round and how you can just about see some of the tracks which makes you feel like you need to duck. After we were back on earth we went over to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger spin and were straight on. We both love this ride and did it 3 times in a row in DLP trying to get better scores and cheesy photo’s. Unfortunately my aim isn’t great and whilst Nick scored something like 200670 I got about 16,000, well I was in the second group of rangers anyway, shameful. We then went over to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor which was new since we were last there. Although I had read about it we didn’t really know what to expect. The theming in the waiting area is really good, so is the pre-show which is set on a big TV. The actual show itself is so cool, its a really good concept and really funny too. The whole room set up is really good too, its quite different to any other attraction in the parks.

By now it was about 10am so we wondered over to Adventureland to ride the Jungle Cruise as I thought I read it was in rehab from tomorrow. The posted wait was about 20 minutes so we got in the queue. We didn’t want to waste a fastpass on only a 20 minute wait as we wanted to ride Thunder Mountain and thought there may be a longer queue for that. The wait was really about 10 minutes and then we boarded our boat and were off on our cruise. This ride is so cheesy, the jokes are so corny yet you have to laugh. Our skipper kept us all entertained along the journey and although the animal aren’t real its still an interesting ride.

After Jungle Cruise we had planned to go to Thunder Mountain but the wait for Pirates of the Caribbean was only 10 minutes as we walked past so we decided to do that. Again we walked straight on, literally, there was not one person in the queue in front of us. The ride itself is one of our favorites and a real ‘must-do’ ride and its great seeing Jack Sparrow in it now, he looks so realistic.

We were now really hungry as we hadn’t had any breakfast so we went and grabbed some fastpasses for Thunder Mountain and went to Peco Bills for some brunch. At Peco Bill’s I was only planning on getting something small but after I saw the toppings bar I caved and got a bacon double cheese burger with fries and Nick got a pulled pork sandwich with fries. Both were really good, especially with additions from the toppings bar, its such a great idea.

Nick's pulled pork sandwich:

My double bacon cheeseburger:

After our food we had a look around the pin store in Frontierland and ended up buying 4 more pins. It was then time for our fastpass return for Thunder Mountain. We were really surprised to see the wait was still only 20 minutes, we thought it would have been more as it was about 11.30am on a Saturday, and luckily this was a typical wait time for most rides during the holiday. We rode Thunder Mountain which was great as usual but by the time we got off the headache I had been getting was getting really bad. I tried to just ignore it and hope it would pass, after all I didn’t want anything to spoil my time at Magic Kingdom or the Polynesian.

Some pictures in Frontierland:

Woody's Round-up, proclaimed as a 'Rootin Tootin' time:

 

[ariel2007]

We had planned to do Small World and Philharmagic before we left but as we passed the Haunted Mansion, a ride which we love we saw it had no queue. We were soon in the clever moving lift and then into our doom buggies for our ghostly ride. It was as great as usual, this ride is so clever and is one of the rides I remember most from my first visit to Disney way back in 1994.

We then went to Small World, I love coming into Fantasyland, its so beautiful and perfect. Its also one of the lands that differs the most from Disneyland Paris so its nice to see all the differences again after 2 recent visits there. The queue for Small World was 20 minutes so we decided to skip it for today and went straight to Philharmagic instead. We had to wait about 10 minutes for the show but at least it was inside and quite cool, it was so hot out today. It was great seeing the show for the first time of the holiday and it was of course brilliant again. Nick had been raring to get on it all morning so was happy to have done it, as was I.
After that we looked in the shop and got our first Philharmagic souvenir to commemorate our first of hopefully many visits during our Philharmagic challenge. We chose a shot glass, it was an obvious choice considering I collect them too. We also hunted round for some advil and a drink as typically the day I needed paracetamol I had forgotten it.

We headed out the park getting a few photopass pictures on the way, we had had a really good first morning at Magic Kingdom and managed to do most of our favorite rides already.

We hopped on the resort monorail and headed to the Grand Floridian Resort. Meanwhile my headache had just been getting worse and worse and I was feeling really sick too by the time we got to the Grand Floridian. We sat down on the sofas for 20 minutes before our ADR and I just hoped I would feel better soon as we had a lot more to look forward to today.

At 2pm we checked in to the Garden View Lounge for our afternoon tea and were seated in a nice place at the back by the window straight away. Our server introduced herself, gave us and menus and time to look at the tea.

We ordered, we both decided to get the Buckingham Palace Tea, I had been planning on getting the one with a glass of sparkling wine too but really didn’t feel like drinking. We were brought a pot of tea first, we chose the English Breakfast Blend. Our server poured the first cup for us, we weren’t given milk but it was actually really good without it. Then we were brought a plate of sandwiches, there was cucumber and cress, gorgonzola and pear, shrimp salad, chicken salad and egg salad all on different breads. The cucumber and cress one was really good strangely, the others were ok but I was still feeling a bit sick and didn’t want to push it, especially since I’m fussy at the best of times. Nick enjoyed all his, and helped eat mine but neither of us liked the Gorgonzola and pear one at all, it was really weird tasting. After this we were brought a jam tart and a raisin scone with jam and Devonshire cream. Both were really good, however the cream wasn’t very authentic. Being from Devon I know Devon cream very well and the taste and consistency was quite different. The girl said they actually have it shipped all the way from Devon but I guess the long journey has its effect on it because it isn’t what we have at home. Next we had the choice of strawberries and cream or pastries which had all been beautifully laid out on a central table. I had the strawberries and cream which was really good, the strawberries were really sweet and the cream was really delicious (I guess feeling sick didn’t prohibit me too much hey). Nick chose to have the pastries which were brought over on a tray. There was tiramisu, chocolate éclairs, cream swans, chocolate covered strawberries and two different raspberry ones to choose from. Nick chose the chocolate éclair and the white chocolate filled swan. Both were really good, especially the swan which was delicious.

The sandwiches and tea:

Nick enjoying his tea:

Scones and jam:

My strawberries and cream:

Nicks pastries:

The setting of the whole place was really nice too. We were on a really comfy sofa table in the corner overlooking the pool and it was all laid out with pretty china and flowers. It was a really nice experience and quite different to all the other restaurants here, its definitely one I would do again, especially for the strawberries and the swan pastries.

After we had finished I was glad to find a felt a little better, it was probably due to getting out of the sun and having a rest. We went down to the boat dock, the grounds of the Grand Floridian are so beautiful and really nice to walk through.

We caught the resort boat over to the Polynesian which was really cool. As we were coming in to the Polynesian dock there were loads of people on the white sand beach swimming, playing in the sand, sunbathing on the loungers and hammocks and in the volcano pool, it looked great fun.

We walked up to the lobby and went back to check in to get our room number. We were in Tahita, room 3017. We walked through the grounds which are so beautiful and tropical, I love this resort so much, I definitely plan to spend a whole holiday here soon.

The Volcano pool:

We met these little fella's on the way to our room:

The room was right on the end nearest to the Transportation and Ticket centre. We went up to our room which was on the top floor of the building and as soon as we went in we absolutely loved it.

The room was really big with 2 double beds facing a big dresser unit and tv unit with flat screen tv, a sofa and then a table and comfy chairs near the window, an entrance area, a big bathroom with 2 sinks all of which was all really nicely themed and decorated.

 

[ariel2007]

And there on the bed was another gift basket waiting for Nick, again nicely tied up with curly ribbon. This basket had a Lady and Tramp small teddy in (with labels on, Lady addressed to me and Tramp to Nick), a really nice Polynesian frame, a Polynesian keychain, Polynesian pin, another pin and a Donald head shaped pen. He loved it again and again I was very happy with how it turned out

Once Nick had checked out his basket we went outside to see what our view was like, we had been so looking forward to this view, we just hoped it didn’t disappoint. Well we stepped out on to the balcony, firstly we could see the beautiful Grand Floridian to the left and to the right the Transportation and Ticket Center. Directly in front was a small beach with loungers and a hammock on and unlike the other beach there was no-one on it. Then behind that was the Contemporary. But then we saw it, straight ahead in front of us was the beautiful Cinderella castle gleaming perfectly in the gorgeous sunshine. This was just the view I had been dreaming of, it was perfect, being able to see the castle from our room and the balcony, what more could we ask.

After checking out our room and the view I decided to have a nap for an hour to try and shift my headache. I really didn’t want to sleep after all we were at the Poly and I wanted to explore but knew I had probably had enough sun after being out in it all day yesterday and then this morning too and also needed a good rest. I had a really nice sleep, the bed was so comfortable and luckily when I woke up I felt so much better, it was obviously just what I needed.

After my little rest we got ready and headed over to the Ceremonial House for our 6.30pm ADR at Ohana. We had really been looking forward to this as its one of our favorite restaurants overall, and definitely our favorite Disney restaurant.

Ready for Ohana:

We were given a beeper, they seemed to be really busy and running quite behind on ADR times. There were a lot of people all standing around waiting for tables, it seemed to be a bit chaotic with people standing everywhere blocking the walkways. We went and checked out the shop where I brought another pin, by this time our beeper still hadn’t gone off so we waited overlooking the lobby for a bit which was quite nice. We then went and got a seat at the bar and got a cocktail, it was great as Nick didn’t have to worry about driving so he could drink as many cocktails as he wanted. Nick got a Mai Tai which was nice and I got a Pomegranate Margarita which was so good, really sweet and tasty.

After 35 minutes we were finally beeped and seated in what the man called the best seat in the house, right at the front overlooking Magic Kingdom and the castle, it was a fantastic view but quite typical as we weren’t planning on watching the fireworks from here this time.

Our server came and introduced herself and got us some water and pineapple bread. She then brought the salad which is in a really delicious dressing and a plate with 3 dips on, 1 sweet and sour, one olive oil and something and our favorite, peanut satay. We tucked into the bread and salad and then we were brought sticky chicken wings and pork dumplings. The chicken wings weren’t quite as good as last time and last time we got shrimp instead of the dumplings but they were really good too, although I missed the shrimp. I did the cardinal sin in Ohana though and filled up before our mains even came, I should really learn I can’t eat that much. After a bit we were brought noodles and broccoli and then our server came round with the skewers of turkey, pork, shrimp and steak. It was all really good, although we missed the sausage they used to have, and the shrimp was slightly strange tasting. I also had to try the Lapu lapu cocktails I had been hearing about and have to say it was really good too and I love how it comes in a pineapple. I left a tiny room for dessert as I remember it being really good and wasn’t disappointed. It was bread and butter pudding with ice-cream and banana foster sauce, it was so good together.

 

[ariel2007]

During the meal they had a woman entertaining the children with the limbo, coconut races and the hula. It such a lovely atmosphere in Ohana and topped off with the amazing view we had it was a really lovely place to spend our evening.

Once we had finished we paid the check and went back to our room stuffed to the brim. We put on our swim stuff and went down to the little beach in front of our building to watch the Electrical water pageant. We didn’t have a great view but it was nice sitting there as there was only about 4 other people on the whole beach, it was really peaceful and relaxing and it was lovely watching the boats all lit up sailing across the lagoon.

When we walked past the big beach on the way to the pool it was packed, I’m glad we stayed on our little beach. We had a short swim in the volcano pool, it was lovely in the dark with the volcano lit up above and the Grand Floridian lit up in the distance. The water was still really warm, it was so refreshing and a lovely way to spend half an hour. Refreshed we walked back to our room, opened the bottle of Iron Horse Fairytale Sparkling Wine and sat on the balcony to watch Wishes. The view was great, even though the castle is quite far away you get to see all the fireworks perfectly. I managed to get some great pictures by just perching the camera on the balcony and Nick recorded it all which came out really good to. It was so lovely watching Wishes this way, no pushing and shoving, no being stepped on or squashed, no giant man standing in front of me just before it started, just Nick, me, a glass of bubbly and a great view over the water.

Wishes from our balcony:

After that we sat on the balcony for a bit longer taking in the lovely view across the lagoon. Everything seemed to be sparkling in the moonlight and the boats sailing across the lagoon seemed to be filled with people still cheering for the fireworks, it was so nice sitting there just taking everything in.

Eventually we left the balcony and went inside where watched some TV. It was then time for bed for another well needed sleep.

 

[stagemomx3]

OH I'm so in love with this update. The tea looks wonderful, as does dinner. Actually everything looks wonderful. Sorry about the headache, but I'm glad the nap helped.

 

[ariel2007]

Thanks, I think it was just a bit too much sun and not enough sleep but the nap worked wonders. Everything was wonderful, it was a really magical day.