Our warm (not really), sunny (definitely) Disney President's Week Fun and Food Trip

[DVCRon]

Some background first. Although we have been Disney veterans since 1989 this is my first trip report (okay 2nd if you count the Disney Cruise one from last February). We have been Disney Vacation Club owners since '98.
On this trip are myself, my DW, and my 2 DD.

Although I will cover the hotels, parks, rides etc. I am going to try to gear this report to the dining aspect so I hope you will sit back, grab your favorite beverage and come along for the ride!

Day 1 February 13th.

After a week of worrying if bad weather was going to delay our trip due to all the snow, we made it out of NY on a sunny day and arrived 30 minutes early into OIA. We flew Southwest and they got us there on time. They even decorated the gate entrance with hearts for Valentine's Day which was the next day. We arranged for a pickup by JC from Florida Town cars who met us at the luggage carousel and after a brief stop at Publix dropped us off at the Boardwalk Villas.
BWV is our home resort and we just love it fro the convenience of being a walk away from EPCOT and a short boat ride to DHS.

There was a small line at both the online check in and the main check in. We had done OLCI and all our room cards and info was ready to go. We checked into our room, 4121 a standard 1 bedroom villas and it looks like we will have a nice view of Illuminations if we are ever in our room at that hour, lol.

The hotel look greats, everything recently refurbished, everything look fresh.

We were expecting warmer temps, it was only 15 degrees warmer here then the icy weather we left in NY when we arrived, but I'd rather have a cold day at Disney then not be here at all

We put our stuff away and headed for the boardwalk to take a walk around.

My girls, they are what makes Disney so fun for me!

Looking at the Yacht Club and Dolphin hotels from the beach at the Yacht & Beach Club as the sun sets.

We had an enjoyable and very cold walk around and then headed to Il Mulino's at the Swan for dinner.

Upon entering you pass the large bar area, very nice with dark woods, lots of glass and definitely the upscale NY trattoria look they were going for. After a few minutes making our way to the check in podium, we were seated immediately for our 730 ADR and were escorted to a little room off the main thoroughfare which was very nice, private, and most of all warm

Our waiter Tony was great, we never felt rushed and had a leisurely 2 hour meal.
First they brought out a nice bread basket filled with delicious bread and a spicy crostini type of bread which was very good if a bit too oily.

Next up were our appetizers. I should digress for a minute and mention that my older daughter and I are vegetarians and I can only comment about the non meat dishes, the opinions on the meat dishes are solely from my wife the carnivore and my youngest. My older daughter and I split a caprese salad. The caprese salad was very tasty, flavorful mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, roast red pepper and basil but very small for the price. Just 2 slices of cheese and two of tomatoes but maybe I'm spoiled from the big portions when we were in Italy last summer.

The calamari looked great and was nice battered and crispy and it came with a side of marinara sauce and was more then enough for two to share.

After we polished these off we had our main course. My daughters both elected to have gnocchi but with marinara sauce instead of the bolognese sauce it came with. It was a large portion and the gnocchi was done right, not overcooked. They both enjoyed it.

My pasta with mushrooms with truffle oil was delicious. A good sized portion with lots of mushrooms and flavor. The rigatoni was a little overcooked, not al dente but was fine.

My wife liked her bison which was a short rib, marinated for 5 hours and then removed from the bone, shredded and reassembled then the juices were made into a dark syrupy reduction that my wife enjoyed. It was served with pureed parsnips and brusell sprouts cooked with pancetta.

Somehow we managed to find room for desert. My daughter and I had the chocolate gelato which was good and my other daughter had the tartufo which was delish ( I had to finish it for her, (the things a father must do right? ) and my wife's berries and zambagione had good reviews.

Our waiter Tony came over and then poured the adults a glass of limoncello as an apertif (on the house).

Here is the price breakdown:

Peroni $6.00
New Castle $6.00
Shirley Temple $2.50
Diet Coke $2.50
Calamari $13.00
Caprese Salad $13.00
Bison Special $32.00
Gnocchi Bolognese $23.00
Rigatoni con Funghi $24.00
Tartufo $9.00
Gelato $6.00
Fresh Berries with Zabligione $6.00

Excellent first meal at a new restaurant for us. We will be back!

We then took a cold walk back to the BoardWalk which was almost empty. except one brave couple at the tables in front of the Big River Grill & Brewing Works. I think it was 38 degrees, brrrr.

Hope you'll stick around for the next installment

 

[ShannonMB]

Seriously, me first??? Woot! I'm anxious to see how pres week was this year since we were there last year. Now I'm going back to read, just wanted to be first aboard!!!

*EDIT* Okay, now that I've read...first, your girls are beautiful. ;o) The food at Il Mulino looks to die for!! I've read nothing but great reviews of it. mmm! I love your pic at sunset! And sorry it was so chilly on your first night, but I hope it warmed up a little for you guys. Looking forward to more!

 

[DVCRon]

Thanks Shannon. It seems not only are you first but the only person onboard so far. Oh well here we go with day 2.


Sunday February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day.

Woke up to a blustery 36 degrees, Brrr. The forecast promises a high of 59 so I'm looking forward to it. At least it's sunny.

We have been to Disney many times so we don't feel the need to rush to the entrance at opening or be there for the rope drop. We strolled into EPCOT at about 10, grabbed a fast pass for Soarin and then got on the standby line at Test Track which was about 30 minutes. Although the lines weren't short, for a holiday week they weren't bad. We were able to ride Soarin, Test Track twice, Maelstrom, Journey into Imagination( love Figment), Ellen's energy adventure, Spaceship Earth, Living with the land, visit a few countries.

Really love the upside down waterfall outside Journey to Imagination.

I really miss the old narrator at Spaceship Earth. We were here last February right after they reopened the ride. I really liked Jeremy Irons much better and my favorite was when Walter Cronkite narrated; guess I'm showing my age huh? lol. The ride itself is still great although it stopped 3 times.

We had a nice relaxing lunch at Seasons in the Land pavilion while waiting to use our fast passes for Soarin.

Some lunch Details:

The setting for Seasons is nice right in the middle of the Land pavilion. It is usually easy to find a seat, even at prime lunch time if you just walk around a little. The also have plenty of cashiers when you check out. Many different options are available from sandwiches, burgers, asian, salads, a great bakery and soft drinks and beer and wine.

Our selections:

My wife and I had the beet and goat cheese salad. Very tasty, I love the golden beets better then the red ones and I would have liked some more dressing but it was a good meal, especially if you want something light.
The girls both had some mac and cheese, pretty small portions but looking at the bill now I see they were side orders. Anyway it was plenty for them with a soda and some Doritos.

Beet Salad $7.89
Side of Macaroni and Cheese $3.99
Regular soda $2.89
Vitamin Water $2.99
Doritos $2.69
Bottled Water 2.50


After lunch it was time for Soarin which is without a doubt my favorite ride in all of DisneyWorld. I could ride it all day. I especially like the front row so you don't see all those feet hanging down in front of you.

Good thing we had a fast pass as this was the wait time for the standby line by the time we were done.

We headed out of the Land and of course what makes a better dessert then a Mickey Ice Cream bar?

While waiting for our dinner ressie at Le Cellier in Canada we listened to Off Kilter, the celtic rock band perform and they were really good.

We also enjoyed the beautiful sunset over the World Showcase Lagoon. I guess the sun was putting on a show and making up for not sharing much heat.

We were really looking forward to Le Cellier. This was one of our favorite restaurants and when we were here last year we were unable to get an ADR because I waited too long. Unfortunately, as much as last night was a great experience at dinner, tonight was the opposite.

It started well enough, with an ADR for 655 and we were seated by 7PM. Our table overlooked the kitchen door but hey, someone's has to. Our waitress was Amy and let me warn you, if you have her, run don't walk away, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. I know there is a high demand for seating here but if it was up to her we would have been in and out within 45 minutes. I'd like to say it was the policy of the place but everyone else was enjoying a relaxed pace except for us. The people next to us were almost eating desert when we walked in and we almost finished before them! It wasn't just the speed of the meal, but to give you some idea how rushed it was they tried to serve our main course before our appetizer.
I tried not to let it ruin my dinner but it was a struggle. I even had to tell her to slow down at one point but she just gave me that deer in the headlights look and said okay. So I apologize that there aren't more photos of dinner, I was distracted.
On to the food

The bread basket here is pretty good, especially the pretzel bread.

My wife had the old reliable cheddar cheese soup and liked it. I had the stacked tomato appetizer which was tomatoes, cucumbers with some balsamic reduction and it was just ok.
My main course was the sauteed gnocchi with eggplant, cherry tomatoes and pesto sauce. I thought it was just okay but my older daughter liked it. I asked the waitress if my younger daughter could have just gnocchi with just marinara sauce, no eggplant or tomatoes and all they did was replace the pesto sauce with marinara sauce. It still had the tomatoes and eggplant. The gnocchi was overcooked to my taste. My wife had the prime rib which she ordered medium but was served rare. A good third of it was fat.

Amy our waitress never smiled throughout the meal, never asked to refill our drinks, never asked if we wanted more coffee. As I said before I had asked Amy to slow it down, that we were feeling rushed, but as soon as the last bite of my entree was in my mouth she took the plate away and slapped the desert menu on the table in front of me. In fact my daughter finished first and she gave her the desert menu while I was still eating.

My older daughter had the chocolate moose which she thought was great.

and my wife and I each had the warm apple tart ala mode.

The tart was very good and so was the coffee which I would have wanted a second cup of if it was offered.



Prices:
Molson Canadian $5.75
Moosehead Ale $4.75

Gnocchi $19.99
Prime Rib $25.99
Cheese Soup $5.49
Tomato Stack $8.99
Apple Tart $6.99
Chocolate Moose $5.99

I thought about not tipping but I did anyway because I think they pool tips and didn't want to stiff the rest of the waitstaff. I can tell you Amy didn't deserve any of it.

After dinner we walked around the shops and at 840PM still found a spot at the railing to watch Illuminations.

Great show as always.

After Illuminations we took a short walk back to the BoardWalk as it was getting very cold.

 

[DVCRon]

Monday February 15th

I guess I'm writing this trip report just for Shannon? No one else seems to be reading. Oh well here goes with day 3.

Day 3 Magic Kingdom

It was much warmer today. I think it got to 70 degrees and was sunny most of the day. We took the bus from BW over to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived at about 10AM and grabbed a FP for Space Mountain and then went over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and got on the standby line with only a 10 minute wait. We all loved it so much we hopped on for a second trip which this time was a 20 minute wait. I'm not a big coaster lover but this one I do like because there are not many drops and the few are short ones. This coaster is more side to side motion and it my favorite.

Splash mountain was closed for refurbishment so we headed over to POTC but it was closed and they couldnt tell us when it would open. We headed back over to Tommorowland and waited on the 30 minute standby line for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. By then it was time to ride Space Mountain with our fast pass. As usual my younger one passed on SM so while my other DD and DW rode we went over to Winnie The Pooh and got fast passes and also received a suprise FP for Mickey's Philharmagic. I think a lot of people didn't know what the extra FP was all about, a lot of confused looking people at the FP machines. When my daughter and wife got off SM we went to Mickeys Philharmagic and used the FP but there was only a 10 minute wait. We walked right in and saw the show minutes later.

We then went back to TL and had lunch in Cosmic Rays. This is our usual “lunch place” when we are in MK and though I wanted to try Columbia Harbor House which has great reviews here at disboards my daughter who is a creature of habit insisted we eat at Cosmic Ray's. Two cheeseburgers, 2 veggie burgers all with fries and 4 large sodas set up back about $40. (sorry no photos). They are trying to do some kind of crowd control there as they would only let you enter through one door and they had custodians guarding the others (more on this later in the week)

After lunch it was time to use our FP on WTP and we had a short wait, less then 10 minutes and enjoyed the ride. Next we all rode Cinderella's Golden Carousel with just a few minute wait.

Next up we rode It's a Small World although the lines were starting to get a little long, maybe 30 minutes.

Our plan was to check back to see if POTC was open but we timed it badly and we on the wrong side of the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade. We made it as close as we could to Pirates and watched the parade which was good as always..

About 25 minute wait and we enjoyed Pirates athough I liked it much better before it became PC and was redone ala Captain Jack Sparrow years ago.

Some shopping and a few lollipops (hey only 60 calories for 1/19th of one, lol) and some pins for the lanyard later we headed on the monorail for our dinner reservations for O'Hanas. We got there early and we just vegged (sorry, bad vegetarian humor) out on the comfy chairs on the 2nd floor of the Poly.

We checked in 15 minutes early and they were so busy they didnt have any pagers so they said to check back in a little while which we did. When I checked back with the CM at the podium (Bill) he went to enter our pager number and he saw our table was ready. He took it out of a large stack of other reservations and called over a hostess to seat us. (Thanks Bill).

Today's table made up for yesterday as we had a table with a great view of Cinderella's castle for Wishes. When we were being escorted to our table I mentioned to the hostess that my oldest and I are both vegetarians. She said no problem, she'd make sure to mention it to our server. When Donna our server came over to our table she said she understood we were vegetarians and after I inquired if Chef TJ was working she said she'd ask him to come over to discuss our dinner.
For those of you who don't know Chef TJ has a huge following among vegetarians and vegans who visit Disney. Formerly at Boma's in Animal Kingdom Lodge he now is the Head Chef at O'Hanas where upon request he has been known to create some vegetarian masterpieces.

First we started with a green salad with a honey lime dressing that was great and some welcome bread which was made with coconut and pineapple. Both were very good. Chef TJ soon came over to the table and asked if we were vegetarian or vegan, what type of vegetarians we were and said the noodle and brocolli dish and salad was fine for us to eat and he'd make us “some tofu”. Having read all about the great meals he has prepared many dis board followers I knew a culinary feast was about to occur.

What was left of the welcome bread by the time I got to take a photo of it.

I was slow taking a photo of the salad too.

While my wife and daughter enjoyed chicken wings in honey bbq sauce and pork dumplings we were presented with two types of pita chips with three dips. On was a tomato pesto one was a red pepper hummus and I think the third may have been a yogurt type dip.

Wings and Dumplings

Pita chips with 3 dips.

All were delish.

Our next course was a potato dish with fried green tomatoes, a spicy mayo and all of things, Cheetos! Man was that good.

Stir fried noodles and brocoli.


Then came what has been called here the tower of vegetarian goodness. Fried tofu, breaded and fried asparagus spears, cellophane noodles and stir fried veggies with hoisin sauce with rice. This was even better then the appetizers.

Despite 4 helpings for me and 2 for my daughter we still couldn't finish it.

The omnivores had some grilled shrimp, turkey, pork and beef which was brought to the table on spears and slid off on the plate. My wife said she felt like she was going to explode..

Desert was a pineapple bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce that was a perfect way to finish what has to be one of the best meals I have ever had at Disney. Thanks Chef TJ!!!

On top of this amazing meal we got to watch Wishes from our table during desert. This is what Disney magic is all about. Thanks to all here at disboards for letting me know about Chef TJ and special thanks to the Chef. We will definitely be back.

Backtracking... during the meal there is a MC who has the kids come to the center and does a small parade with them thru the place with maracas. Very cute.

After dinner we rode the monorail back to MK and we split up with my youngest wanting to go back to the BW and my wife and oldest returning to MK for Spectromagic and a ride on the Tomorrowland Raceway. They managed to walk up 20 minutes before the parade and get a spot right behind the people sitting on the curb in main street. Probably due to the cold.

Another great day!

 

[yankeegirl]

Really enjoying your report! Great pictures!!!

I am so with you on Spaceship Earth - Cronkite was totally the best and the current rendition is my least favorite! Also, thanks for the tip on being veggie at Ohana! Your meal looked awesome!!

 

[cmp1111]

Great job so far! Love the descriptions and the pictures! Thanks for sharing.