Our Whirlwind Anniversary Trip - POFQ, GF, BWI

[hmp2z]

Cast:
Me (29, Pescatarian, Disney bride 8/5/02)
DH (30, Foodie, Disney groom 8/5/02)

I will also be pulling out just the food portions & putting them on the Dining recaps section.

Entry 1: Poor Possum & Port Orleans

August 4, 2006

We woke up early that morning, so that I could drive Andy to work. He had a half day, and I was going to pick him up around noon, then drive straight to the airport for our 2:05 flight. Our dog Hannah always wants to get in the car with Andy each morning as he heads to work, so she was thrilled to discover that, on this day, she was going to be riding with him.

On our way out of the apartment complex, we passed a dead (as we then thought) possum lying in the driveway. I thought wasn’t it a shame that someone must have been speeding like crazy through our apartment complex, to hit that poor little possum, then I drove on, taking Andy to work.

I dropped him off without incident then headed back home. Upon returning to the apartment, I noticed that the possum had moved to a sitting up position – he was not dead after all – he’d just been injured. I pulled over right there, because I didn’t want someone else to come through and hit him again, finishing him off. Crossing my fingers, I popped my trunk and found what I’d been hoping for – some old towels I’d used to wash my car. I scooped Mr. Possum up, bundled him in the towels, and then realized that I’d have to bring this moaning, hissing bundle into the car with Hannah. The possum was bleeding from his throat, though not very heavily, and I couldn’t tell how he’d been hit – perhaps someone had run over this throat? Or maybe hit him at an odd angle. He was very, very weak and didn’t really struggle as I lay him on my lap in the car and drove back to my apartment. Hannah was very good – she looked at him curiously, but didn’t seem overly interested.

I got back to the apartment, lay the possum on the passenger seat, and ran inside to drop Hannah off and figure out where I should take the poor guy. I remembered Amber at the emergency vet, who’d been so kind and caring when our Molly & Moose were killed, so I called there first. She said that they did indeed have a Good Samaritan program, where they helped injured wildlife, so I ran back out to the car and took off for the emergency vet.

As I was driving, thoughts were speeding through my mind. What would I say if I were pulled over for speeding? “I’m sorry, Officer, but I am temporarily the Injured Possum Ambulance Service.” Luckily, we got there without incident, about 20 minutes later.

Mr. Possum was very well behaved through the ride, being only semi-conscious. He just lay still for most of the ride, occasionally making a cooing type sound. Just as I was about to turn into the driveway, he rolled over, out of the towels, and began hissing and tried to bite his towel. I took it as a sign that he wasn’t immediately about to die on me, but told him to take care not to roll off of the seat.

Once I’d parked, I carefully picked up the possum and carried him inside the vet’s office. They rushed him to Dr. Powers, and I waited out front to see what the verdict was. Amber had told me that if he was severely injured, they would put him to sleep, but that if he could be rehabilitated easily, they would attend to him then transfer him to a wildlife rescue facility. Unfortunately, she came back and said that the doctor had felt the possum’s skull and it was crushed. He probably had brain damage, and they had decided to put him to sleep. So the day began quite sadly.

I returned home and began loading Hannah’s things into the car. This was her first time being left, and I was sad to leave her. I had bought her an edible bone for each day that we would be gone, and Hannah dug into her bag of supplies, brought out a package of bones, and started shaking it in her mouth and dancing. She is a greedy little Gus.

I dropped her off at the kennel, and discussed extensively her care needs with the manager there. This kennel manager is wonderful; they were so great when our dogs were killed, and I cannot even express how strongly I wished we had boarded our dogs with them instead of that other horrible place.

After dropping off Hannah, I returned home again and this time loaded all of our luggage into the car. It was time to get Andy, so I did that, and then we were finally ready to leave.

At the airport, we moved through security easily. We had already checked in online, and had decided to pack carry-on luggage only, so that we could begin our day at WDW as quickly as possible. For once, the travel gods were smiling on us. Our flight departed and arrived on time. When we got to the baggage claim area, we looked around and saw our driver from Tiffany approaching. We got into his car and drove off to Port Orleans French Quarter.

We checked in and went to our room, number 5231, to drop off our luggage, then took a bus to Downtown Disney. It was drizzling, and we had to wait about 20 minutes for the bus to arrive. We didn’t have park tickets for the first partial day, so this was our shopping day.

First we went to the World of Disney, to get me a new antenna topper. My old Minnie Mouse topper had lost an ear and was looking lopsided, so this was a much-needed purchase.

After walking around for a while, it was time for our reservations at Fulton’s Crab House. In the past, Andy would order the two Australian lobster tails, while I would order the Alaskan King Crab Claws platter, then we would share them. This time, however, they had a new offering: a platter that combined one Australian lobster tail and ¾ pound of the King Crab claws. Fortune was again smiling on us!

The lobster tails were delicious as always. That grilled flavor, combined with the sweet meat is one of our favorite tastes. The King Crab claws were tender, juicy, and very flavorful. We each had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, which was acidic enough to pair very well with our entrees.
After dinner, we went to Ghirardelli, because I wanted to try a sundae there. We got the Strike It Rich sundae, which was delicious, and I was glad that we’d done this for dessert instead of ordering a dessert at Fulton’s. I’d been wanting to eat at Ghirardelli for a while, so this was good.
After this, we returned to our resort and walked over to Port Orleans Riverside. The evening was lovely, not too hot, and we enjoyed the meandering, quiet, dark trails around the hotel grounds.
We returned to our room after the walk, recorded our recaps on our video camera, and then went to sleep.

 

[hmp2z]

August 5, 2006

We had called bell services the night before, to arrange for luggage pickup at 6:30 that morning and a taxi to take us directly to the Grand Floridian at 6:45. The bell staff didn’t show up, so we grabbed our own bags, walked out to the waiting taxi, and drove to our favorite hotel. One out of two isn’t bad…

We arrived at the front desk a bit after 7 and told the cast member there that we were staying Royal Palm Club. He called for the concierge to come meet us, but no one answered. He tried several different numbers, without response, and finally a Sugarloaf concierge cast member who was walking by said that she would bring us upstairs.

We checked in, got our room keys/park passes, and went to get some fresh fruit and pastries from the concierge lounge. Our room itself was, of course, not ready, so we weren’t certain yet that our room request would be honored. The cast member who checked us in had told us that we wouldn’t be disappointed, so we crossed our fingers that we’d gotten our requested room.

Each year for our anniversary we return to the Grand Floridian, and we request our favorite honeymoon room. That request has always been honored, except for last year when we were given the wonderful surprise of a free upgrade to the Victorian Suite.

We went out to the bus stop, because today was the early entry for Animal Kingdom. There was a family there who had character breakfast reservations and who had been waiting for 35 minutes for a bus. They weren’t sure whether to wait longer or grab a cab, but a bus finally came for them within 5 minutes of our arrival. We got to Animal Kingdom just as the park was opening and ran straight to Expedition Everest to get a fast pass. When we got there, the line was already 70 minutes long, so the fast pass was a good choice.

We then went to Dinosaur and walked right onto this ride. After that, we walked right onto the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. PJ gave us a front row seat in the safari vehicle. The animals were out and active, so we had a good safari. There was one funny incident; a scimitar-horned oryx was facing off with a white rhino. The oryx backed up, lowered his head, then charged head-on at the rhino, and the rhino backed down!

By then, our fast passes for Expedition Everest were ready, so we went over there. A cast member named Greg put us in the line for the very first row. We enjoyed this ride, though we didn’t think it was anything spectacular. The backward part of the ride was very disorienting to us, and we were dizzy when we disembarked.

From here, we went onto It’s Tough to Be a Bug, because the line here was very short, then we rode Dinosaur again, with another short line. Next, we went onto the Maharajah Jungle Trek, which is always fun. The tigers were all exhausted, not moving about as they normally do when we’re there, but there was a lady stork who kept leaping wildly around, trying to get her man’s attention, so she was pretty funny.

After this, we went to the Tusker House for lunch. Andy had the fried chicken sandwich, his first meat since September 2005! He seemed to enjoy it. I had the grilled salmon, which was flavorful and moist, and I enjoyed the crisp, well-seasoned green beans that paired with the salmon.

We were quite hot after lunch, so we returned to the Grand Floridian, had some bottled water, and checked on our room availability. It was only 12:30, and our room wasn’t ready yet, so we headed out to the Magic Kingdom.

The first thing we did here was get a fast pass to Peter Pan, one of my favorite rides. The reality is never as good as I remember it; I first rode this ride in Disneyland Paris and loved it, so I think that I keep the image of that version of the ride in my mind. It is much smoother, much more like flying, and the one at WDW is rough and has a more jerky motion. But I always enjoy it nonetheless, so we Fast Passed it up.

We then went to the Pirates of the Caribbean, to check out the new, re-vamped ride. There was a 30 minute wait, which was unheard-of, but the waiting area was cool and air conditioned, so we didn’t mind waiting here. When we got on the ride, we were disappointed that it was identical to the original, with the exception of a few random Black Pearl characters thrown in. The Jack Sparrow animatronics were very well done, so much more lifelike than the older ones. One of them actually looked like an actor playing the character; we had to do a double-take when we passed.

We rode the Carousel of Progress, the TTA, and the Haunted Mansion, but the wait lines at the other rides were too long for us. Saturday in the Magic Kingdom!

By then, several hours had passed so we returned to the Grand Floridian to check into our room. We had indeed gotten the room we requested, with a lovely view sweeping from Cinderella’s Castle, to the Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, Spaceship Earth, and the Wedding Pavilion. We loved lying in bed at night, watching the castle change colors, and watching the fireworks from our own room. Many, many thanks to Brenda & Alice, the room assigners at the Grand Floridian!

We took a bath in the soaking tub, then a shower, then got dressed and ready for our dinner at the Chef’s Table at Victoria & Albert’s. Israel greeted us as we entered the restaurant, and he escorted us through the kitchen and to our table.

We began with three amuse bouches. I had told the staff in advance that I would eat seafood but not meat (pescatarian), and the chef did a wonderful job of accommodating my dietary preferences.

Sous Chef Aimee was our chef for the evening, since Chef Scott was on vacation. This was our first time dining with Aimee; in the past, she had always been on vacation when we dined there. She was very friendly and made the experience enjoyable, and she immediately passed along thanks from Chef Scott for a thank you letter that we had written, commending him for a fantastic dining experience the previous meal. We were happy to see that the thank you letters were indeed passed along to the cast members for which they were intended.

Andy and I had two of the same amuse bouches: a shrimp roll with ginger mignonette, which was cool and crisp, and my favorite, the osetra caviar with crème fraiche and chives. The caviar was delicious as always, those lovely, salty bubbles popping in our mouths. Our third piece was different. I had a galia melon salad, which was cool and sweet, and Andy had the veal sweetbreads, which he said were tender and flavorful. They were just a touch overcooked, but they were salty and tasty, and “just good all around.” His wine with this was a Codorniu Cava Pinot Noir Brut, nonvintage. I also had a glass of this, for the toast with the chef, but I had not ordered the wine pairings.

Heather's Amuse Bouche:

Andy's Amuse Bouche:

My next course was Ohio tomatoes with Costa Rican hearts of palm and Nicoise olives. This was served with a very smoky flavored cuttlefish, which was surprisingly tender. Andy enjoyed the cuttlefish more than I did, as there is something about the texture which is slightly off-putting to me.

Andy’s next course was Long Island duck with Galia melon, grains of paradise, and Minus Eight vinegar. The duck was served two ways: as a prosciutto and as a smoked duck. He enjoyed this very much also. His wine with this course was a 2004 King Estate Pinot Gris.

The next dish was my favorite, and we both had this particular item. It was a tempura crab stuffed squash blossom with Violette mustard. The crab was so sweet and delicious, without a single piece of shell. The mustard added a lovely tanginess that paired so well with the sweetness of the crab, and the tempura style squash blossom brought a nice crispiness to the texture, making each bite complex and flavorful. Andy enjoyed the Violette mustard, which was made with red grapes, instead of white wine, to add the violet color. There were chunks of carrots in the crab filling that also added another dimension to the texture of this dish. Andy’s wine with this dish was a 2004 Macon-Lugny “Les Charmes” Chardonnay.

My next course was a Brentwood Corn ream soup with roasted cippoline onion ragout and cherry corn cake. This was so creamy and delicious, though just faintly noticeably salty. I love the Victoria & Albert cream soups, and could drink a gallon of these.

Andy’s next dish was his favorite, the Kurobuta pork tenderloin on a corn cake and a cherry cider reduction. There was also pork belly in this dish, which Andy said was “probably one of the best things I’ve ever had in my life. I couldn’t get enough of it.” He was surprised that something as simple as pork belly could taste so good, and he spoke for a bit with Chef Aimee about this dish. She said that she came from Puerto Rico, where pig pickings were popular, and Andy, being from Virginia, was also familiar with pig pickings but had never tasted anything in his life like this pork belly. He was overwhelmed and talked about this dish for the rest of our trip. His wine with this course was a 2004 Morgan “Twelve Clones” Pinot Noir.

My next dish was potato gnocchi with summer vegetables. The gnocchi were soft and creamy, but very, very rich. I enjoyed them very much but could not eat very much of this dish, especially knowing how many courses were still to come!

Andy had the Colorado lamb with potato gnocchi and summer vegetables. He liked the gnocchi, and said that the lamb was so tender. He also enjoyed this dish very much. We watched the chefs preparing the summer vegetables for the gnocchi dishes, and they took a very small scooper, like a miniature melon baller, and took chunks out of the yellow squash and zucchini. Andy’s wine for this dish was a 2004 Feudi di San Nicola Negro Amaro.

Next I had a trio of muchrooms: mushroom duxelle pasta roulade with a truffled egg and South African porcini mushroom sauce. The mushroom mousse inside the egg shell was the best of the three, very creamy and flavorful. The mushroom cannelloni was good, but not spectacular. The third dish was a combination of various mushrooms, chopped and sautéed. There were so many mushrooms here that it was a mushroom overkill. I enjoy mushrooms, but I was a bit overwhelmed by the quantity here and didn’t finish this dish.

Andy had pan roasted foie gras and Georgia peach tart with mostarda di cremona. He said that the foie gras was excellent, as always, and the rich creaminess of the foie gras paired so well with the tart fruitiness of the peach tart. His wine with this was a 2000 Royal Tokaji Azsu 5 Puttonyos. This dish was the one I was most tempted to try, because foie gras was the most difficult thing for me to give up when I stopped eating meat. I thought about ducks, though, and was able to restrain myself (barely) from taking a bite.

My next dish was King Salmon with bamboo rice blend and coconut curry sauce. I can honestly say that I did not enjoy this dish. The salmon was beautifully cooked, still moist in the center, but it did not have much flavor, and I had to pull two bones (!) out of the piece I ate. This was shocking to me; bones in fish are my pet peeve, and Andy had just finished assuring me that, since this was Victoria & Albert’s, there would be no bones in my salmon. My own standards for the cuisine here are exceeded only by those of the staff, and I was disappointed by this dish.

Andy had a duet of Australian “Kobe” beef tenderloin and short ribs, paired with a 2003 Provenance Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. The potatoes were one of my favorite parts of the meal, so incredibly creamy and flavorful. Andy enjoyed the short ribs more than he enjoyed the tenderloin, but the tenderloin was extremely soft and tender, with a nice reduction around it. He commented that he disliked the use of the inaccurate term “Kobe” to describe this beef; he felt that it was good enough to stand alone, without having to borrow this inaccurate description.

Next was our cheese course, with the Comte Saint Antoine, Shelburne Cheddar, Fourme D’Ambert, and Juliana. The blue cheese was very creamy and nice, though the goat cheese was a bit too crumbly and dry for my liking. Andy liked the last cheese, a very creamy & mild cheese, though it was too mild for me. Andy’s wine with this course was an Adriano Ramos Pinto Tawny Port, nonvintage.

Our second-to-last course was the chocolate course, with a miniature chocolate pyramid, warm almond chocolate timbale, and orange chocolate napoleon. I enjoyed the pyramid very much; the mousse here was light and very flavorful. I do not care for dark chocolate, so I did not enjoy the orange chocolate napoleon greatly. Both of us agreed that the flourless chocolate cake was a bit dry.

Finally the dessert course arrived, when we were both full to bursting. I had the Grand Marnier soufflé, which I am given every year. It is nice, but I believe I am ready for a change. Andy had the caramelized banana gateau. By that point, we were both too full to really appreciate these desserts.

There were two things about this dinner that I really enjoyed, besides the various courses. One was the coffee, which is always fun to watch brew & always great to drink. The second was the butter, which is just amazing. It is creamy and light, and everything that butter should be at its best.

As the dinner progressed, Andy saw Manuel, the maitre d’ from years passed, walking by. He asked our server whether that was indeed Manuel he’d seen, as we’d been told Manuel had moved to Artist Point. The server told us that yes, that was Manuel, and he was now at Citricos. They told Manuel that we were there, and he came out to greet us and stayed for a short conversation.

He’d recently come back from the Disney park in Hong Kong, where he had spent some time showing the servers there how to serve wine appropriately. Apparently, when someone there ordered wine, the servers would disappear, because they didn’t know what to do. Manuel was sent there to show them how to handle a wine order. He asked where we were dining for the rest of our trip, and we told him that, coincidentally enough, we were eating at Citricos the next night. It was good to see Manuel again, since he’d been such a big help to us in making sure our wedding reception went smoothly.

After dinner was over, we went back to the room, planning on watching the fireworks. We were disappointed to see that our bed had not been turned down. Turndown service is one of those extras that we really appreciate at the Grand Floridian, and is one of Andy’s favorite things about staying there. We were excited, though, to see that a plate of chocolate covered strawberries had been left in our room, along with a card from Kent Mitchell, the General Manager, welcoming us back to the Grand Floridian. It was one of those personal touches that make this hotel our favorite on property.

We had planned to watch the fireworks, but ten o’clock passed, and no fireworks were forthcoming. I looked at the schedule and, lo and behold, Wishes occurred at 11 that night. We were far too exhausted to stay up, so we resolved to catch them the next night.

 

[DeterminedOne]

Excellent report,reviews and pics! Can't wait to read more.

 

[hmp2z]

August 6, 2006
We woke up, had a light breakfast (pastries & fresh fruit) at the concierge lounge, then took the monorail to Epcot. We immediately got a fast pass to Soarin’, and we then walked over to see the line for Test Track. It was a 30 minute wait, and we thought maybe Mission Space would have a shorter line. As it turned out, we should have ridden Test Track first, but hindsight is 20/20.

Andy wanted to try the lighter version of Mission Space (green version) just out of curiousity, so when we got to this ride, we saw that the line here was only 5 minutes. We rode this first, and it was actually just like the orange version, only slightly less intense. I don’t care for this ride, because the rides where you stare at a TV screen while your vehicle moves around always make me queasy. For this reason, I don’t ride Star Tours, but Andy really enjoys Mission Space, so I do this with him.

When we got off of Mission Space, the Test Track line was now 50 minutes long, so we decided not to wait for it. We rode Journey Into Imagination, and there was this British family in the row behind us. They were going nuts; they absolutely loved this ride and laughed uproariously the entire time. It was lots of fun, listening to people get such a kick out of a ride that we always enjoy but that seems a bit silly to us. I love to hear people at WDW having a great time.

By then, our fast passes to Soarin’ were ready, so we rode this ride. We’d only ridden it once before, and had been on the top row then. This time, we were on the bottom level, and that line of feet hanging down in front of the screen drove us crazy.

Next time, we decided we would just wait in order to be able to get the top row. I didn’t realize what a difference it made to the experience, to have a line of kicking, waving feet in front of your line of vision, when you’re supposed to feel like you’re soaring. I’m surprised that Disney didn’t do something about this, even if it meant having some sort of solid barrier up there to hide the feet. That would restrict the view of the screen, but would be absolutely less distracting to me.

While we were in line at this ride, a woman in front of us turned around and told us that they were getting into the fast pass line for every ride. It was her daughter’s birthday, and they simply walked up to the fast pass line, told the CM that they wanted fast pass entry as a birthday present for their 9 year old daughter, and were then promptly allowed into these lines. Who knew?

By this time, World Showcase was opening, so we walked over there. Just wandering through the different countries is my favorite thing of all to do in the Disney parks. We spent time in each of the shops, rode the Maelstrom, then went to check in at Tempura Kiku for lunch.

We enjoy the sushi here, so we each ordered the $9.99 sushi sampler. This consisted of 3 pieces of tuna roll, a piece of tuna nigiri, a piece of yellowtail nigiri, and a piece of shrimp nigiri. I ordered a California roll to supplement my platter, and Andy ordered a yellowtail roll. The sushi here was delicious, as always, very fresh tasting & tender.

Andy disliked my California roll, because instead of pure crabmeat, they’d used a crab paste as a filler. I would have preferred pure crabmeat, but I still thought it tasted fine. We were both disappointed in the changes to the menu here. We used to go and each order the deluxe sushi sampler, a large plate of many different kinds of sushi. This new, smaller offering didn’t give the same diversity, and we were sorry to see this change.

After lunch, we walked around the world some more, riding the Mexico boat ride (one of my favorites) and visiting various stores. We met a cast member, Stefan, in the German wine store. He was from Dresden, and we have friends who live in Torgau, so we spoke with him for a bit. He was very nice and friendly, and he obviously loved his country. Stefan took one of the guidebooks there and showed us photos of his homeland.

We had a very funny conversation about the quality of construction in Florida, versus that in Germany. He said that in Germany, houses are built of stone & other materials that will last, but in Florida, everyone builds their houses of paper, because they know the storms will tear them down anyway. He also talked about the fact that the roof tiles in Germany aren’t secured down; they are stone tiles, and they’re just placed on the roof.

By then, our fast passes to the Land were ready. The lines for this ride were absolutely crazy on our trip; every time we were in the pavilion, the wait was at least 50 minutes. Even in the fast pass line, we had to wait 20-25 minutes before riding this ride. They were short staffed, and several boats went by that they couldn’t load, because they didn’t have any CM’s to ride in them (they made this announcement; we didn’t just assume this). We enjoyed the Land ride as much as always, and our driver Autumn, seeing that we were wearing our anniversary ears, got the rest of the boat to clap for us.

While we were in line for the Land, we noticed this family that was eating at the nearby food court. Our attention was drawn, because of the HUGE pile of napkins on their tray. As we watched, they would take a bite, wipe their mouths, crumple the napkin, and toss it onto the tray. Lather, rinse, repeat. We watched them do this time and time again, and I told Andy he had to take a picture of that tray full of napkins. I had never seen anything like it. He acquiesced, and was able to snap a shot just as they were rising to leave.

We then rode the Ellen ride. As we were riding, I was thinking about my 4 year old niece Emma. She loves dinosaurs, so when we go to WDW together this January, we will make sure she gets on this ride.

We also visited the Coke area while we were there, and there were many changes to this pavilion. They only had 3 drinks available: Vegitabeta, Krest, and the German drink (I can’t remember the name). We asked if this was because the attraction was newly re-opened, and they hadn’t yet finished setting up the drink machines, or whether they were simply out of the other drinks. The CM there, Johnny, who was very enthusiastic & friendly, told us that they had just run out of the other drinks. We both wished they had had the China watermelon drink available, because that one was our favorite.

The drink machines now pour out pre-measured drink amounts. This may be why they run out of drinks so quickly, because 1. the cups often overflow due to fizz and 2. we saw several people taking just a few sips and then pouring the rest out. I liked it better when we could control how much we put into the glass, but Andy said that they had had a problem with people bringing large containers into here & filling them up with free drinks. This way, the pre-measured amounts would at least slow these people down.

We were tired after this, so we came back to our room to rest for a bit. We sat out in the concierge lounge, at “our table,” this lovely table for two right outside our room, with a beautiful view of the castle. We had some wine and cheese, and I also had a cookie. I had two glasses of cabernet sauvignon, and Andy had two glasses of a Riesling. It was so lovely and relaxing to just sit down, sip wine, and listen to the orchestra playing below. This is one of our favorite things about being in the main building at the Grand Floridian. Everything just slows down, and it’s a wonderful feeling, as you’re hot and tired in the parks, to know that you can come back “home” and just rest with a cool drink or a little snack.

We took a shower, changed for dinner, called for turndown service (we were taking no chances) and took the elevator downstairs to Citricos.

I like to eat frequently, but I eat smaller amounts at a time, so I ordered two appetizers instead of an app and an entrée. My first appetizer was the gateau of crab, which was a lovely dish. Very creamy, cheesy, and a bit eggy. The gateau was almost like a quiche, except that it was even cheesier and had these gorgeous lumps of crabmeat. I relished every bite.

Andy’s appetizer was the meat and cheese platter. There were 3 different meats: a chorizo and two ham-type things. He had two cheeses, a Maytag blue and sheep’s milk cheese. The platter also included mushrooms, olives, and roasted peppers. The mushrooms were quite good with his wine, a LaFond Syrah.

His entrée was the oak grilled filet of beef with mashed potatoes. Andy ordered his filet rare, of course, and, while it was rare, the meat itself was quite tough. Perhaps it was a poor cut of meat, but he had to really saw at it, in order to cut this meat. Usually a rare filet cuts like butter, but this was not the case. As a result of the filet’s toughness, he thought this was an okay entrée, but nothing spectacular.

His wine with this meal was a Bodegas Valdeaguila Vina Salamanca. This wine was a big surprise, because it was so light, fruity, and drinkable. Our server had recommended this particular wine to pair with his entrée, and, though the wine was so light, Andy said that it did indeed stand up to the filet.

My next appetizer was the warm goat cheese salad. This was very unpleasant, and I couldn’t eat more than a few bites. I love warm goat cheese, but the cheese itself was not very warm, so instead of being soft, it had more of a crumbly texture. The goat cheese had a tanginess, which I love, but when paired with the greens, it was unbearable. The dressing of the greens was so tart and acidic that I couldn’t stand to eat it. This was a very poor choice, and I wish that I had instead tried the onion tart.

While we were eating our main courses, Manuel came out to greet us. He had come a few times before, just to stop by while we were eating, but this time he said that he noticed I hadn’t been drinking wine that evening, and he wondered why. I told him that I had just had two glasses upstairs(!) and so had wanted to take a break. He was asking, because he said that he would like to offer us each a glass of Moscato d’Asti, which we very appreciatively agreed to.

Manuel lingered for a bit, and we had a conversation about various things, such as construction in Florida (we are building a house in Clermont), schools in the area, working for Disney, etc. We really appreciated the fact that he took some time out of his busy evening to speak with us. It is this level of service that keeps us returning to Disney year after year.

Manuel brought out our glasses of wine, and Andy ordered the seasonal berry gratin with champagne & Grand Marnier sabayon. This was delicious and light, and he enjoyed it as much as Andy ever enjoys desserts. He much prefers savoury foods to sweets.

I had a tropical fruit crème brulee, which was also delicious. It was light, fruity, and creamy, and the crispy top wasn’t overdone at all. It had just the faintest tang, almost like a key lime pie, which kept this dish from being insipid. I was a bit too full to enjoy this as much as I would have liked to, but it was very, very good.

After dinner, we came back to our room & watched Wishes from our bedroom window. It was the perfect finish to a lovely day.

 

[hmp2z]

August 7, 2006
We woke up and went to MGM, since it was the early entry park of the day. We immediately got a fast pass for Tower of Terror, then we rode the Rockin’ Rollercoaster twice. Lines were very short, and we were basically able to walk onto the ride each time. We then used our fast pass for the Tower of Terror, then rode it again stand by, because the lines were still incredibly short. This is my favorite ride out of all those in the Disney parks. I love that feeling, when the elevator car drops.

We then got another Tower of Terror fast pass, then went to Muppet Vision 3-D. In the waiting room, there was a small boy, maybe 2 years old, with his father. This child was screaming, wailing, shrieking in the waiting area. Then we entered the theatre, and so did the father and the child. We noticed where they were going, and sat far away from them, but we could still hear him screeching throughout the entire film, except when the noise of the movie drowned him out. I would have been furious if I had been one of the families seated near this child. His father knew he was miserable, and still decided to drag him into the theatre and make everyone listen to his son yelling.

After this, we went to Sounds Dangerous, which is always fun. We did a few of those cartoon voice-over machines out front. Andy is very talented with these!

We then went back to the Tower of Terror, to use our fast passes. By now, the line had gotten a bit longer, and we decided this would be our last ride. There was a family of four lined up to get into the car with us. They were all very nervous to be on the ride, and these two teenage girls, also in the car, told this poor family, “Oh, too bad, you’re sitting in the front row. That’s the worst one.” That really freaked them out. We told them that there was no “worst” row, and that the entire car shared in the drop. Our row offered to trade with their row, if they were still nervous about it, but the family believed us and decided to stay in their row.

After the ride, we saw this family again, in the photo area. The father had to sit down, because he was sweating profusely and didn’t feel well. We felt bad for them; they were a very nice family.

We then went to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and the contestant there got all the way to the 500,000 point level! When he got out, Andy was first on the top 10 list, but the game was over by then, so he didn’t get to play. It was the first time we’ve been to this show that Andy didn’t get to play.

Then it was time for our 11:30 reservations at Brown Derby. We got there just as the restaurant was opening, so we were one of only a few tables seated then. I went to the restroom here, and a very nice & friendly lady saw my anniversary ears and came into the restroom & started asking me questions about Disney weddings. I explained the various packages to her, etc. because her son and his fiancée were looking at Disney as a wedding venue. I highly recommended it, and told her how competitive their pricing was, especially compared to other high end venues.

We both started out with the lobster bisque. This was good, but not as creamy as we’d have preferred. For some reason, I order this dish year after year, mistakenly thinking that it’s in the Flying Fish bisque style, when in actuality it is much thinner & less creamy. It did have nice chunks of seafood in it, though, which was good. We unfortunately forgot to take a picture of this.

I forgot my 2 appetizer policy, and ordered an entrée here, the Thai noodle bowl with coconut crusted tofu. This was truly, deeply disgusting. I did not like the strong sweetness of this entrée, and the spices were not sitting well with me. They began burning, not my mouth, but my stomach, so I only ate a few bites of this dish. I had read good reviews of this particular dish, but it was not my style at all.

Andy had the Cobb salad, which was good, as always, though he said that it wasn’t as good as the Cobb salad that I make at home. He remarked that this wasn’t as good as he remembered it being.

The service here was abysmal. Our server only had two tables, ours and one other, and the wait times were incredible. Poor Andy finished his glass of Coke and had to wait a full 15 minutes for a refill. The server would come by, look at his empty glass, and say, “I’ll bring you out another one.” He’d then leave, come back a few minutes later (without the Coke), look at Andy’s empty glass, and say again, “I’ll bring you out another one.” This happened three times – server coming back empty handed & remarking on Andy’s need for a Coke – before he finally got his act together and brought out the drink. He was friendly & personable, but he wouldn’t do his job.

He did, however, bring us out a complimentary dessert at the end of the meal. It was a chocolate mousse, and was quite good - creamy but light. We were very appreciative to have received this dessert, though honestly we’d have preferred just to have the Coke refilled in a timely fashion!

After lunch, it was starting to rain, so we took a bus back to our hotel. We shared the bus with the Contemporary, and there was this family behind us that was very odd. It was a group of 6 adults, and they would run out of things to say, I guess, and then replay their identical conversation. One of the women said, “Do you know what that ride needs?”

“What?” one of the men asked.

“A t-shirt. It should say, ‘I survived Mission Space.’”

Some time elapsed, and we were almost to the Contemporary. Space Mountain was in view. The woman pointed to it and asked, “Do you know what that ride needs?”

“What?” the man again asked.

“A t-shirt. It should say, ‘I survived Mission Space.’” She evidently thought that Space Mountain was Mission Space.
Andy and I found this hilarious, that they would just re-do the previous conversation. After they left, I asked him, “Do you know what that ride needs?” and we then replayed the conversation several times.

We stopped at our hotel for a bit, got a drink, and took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. The first thing we did was get a fast pass for Space Mountain. By then, it was raining very hard, so we ran to Buzz Lightyear and waited for around 30 minutes to get on this ride. The ride broke for about 10 minutes, and Andy allowed two couples to push their way in front of him in line (not to meet up with others, just cutting), so I was in kind of a bad mood.

When we got off the ride, the rain had stopped, and we headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (I call this ride Hot Mountain) and waited for 48 minutes. The first part of the line was absolutely miserable, because we were outside with no shade, and the heat was intense. Once we got into the shade it was a bit better, but this day and the next two were just incredibly, unbearably hot. It was painful to step outside into a wave of intense heat.

We returned to our hotel after this, for the afternoon wine and cheese. We then showered, changed for dinner, and took the monorail to the Contemporary for our California Grill dinner. We had 8:00 reservations, and we arrived at 7:50. We were actually on the elevator with another couple that was eating there, but we’d been first, so had checked in first. We were told it would be a 25 minute wait, so we went out onto the observation deck and exchanged photo taking with another couple. We were seated at 8:05, at the loveliest table we have ever gotten. We hadn’t requested a window seat, though in the past we had and had never gotten one. This time we hit the jackpot. Quick seating, gorgeous view. We couldn’t stop staring at the Magic Kingdom below. I felt giddy with gladness the entire time we were dining.

The couple that came out after us on the elevator was seated at 9:00, at the table right next to ours. I don’t know if their reservations were for later, or if they said they wanted to wait for a window table, but we were wondering whether, if they’d gotten off first, we’d have had to wait that long to be seated!

A bride & groom were dining there that night, and they had a large party. When they got up to leave, I noticed that the guests were splitting the tab for the dinner reception! It may be a regional thing…

We shared the Yoshie’s deluxe sushi platter as our appetizer, and this more than made up for our disappointment at Tempura Kiku. It had both maki and nigiri on it. There were two pieces of a shrimp tempura roll, with just rice, sesame seeds, and a wrapper around a piece of fried shrimp and slices of strawberry. This was delicious. The crispiness of the shrimp paired so well with the sweet strawberry slices. There was a piece of salmon roll and a piece of tuna roll, and Andy ate both of these. I had the two pieces of California roll, which had lovely, thick chunks of Dungeness crab in it. No crab paste for this restaurant!

For the nigiri sushi, Andy ate the piece of cuttlefish, tuna, and a white fish that we forgot the name of. I had the shrimp, salmon, and yellowtail. The nigiri was amazing. The fish was so fresh, and so soft and tender that it just melted in the mouth. I would come to this restaurant just for the sushi. It is really the best sushi I’ve ever had in my life. Sadly, we again forgot to take a picture. We were slacking off...

For my entrée, I had an appetizer: the Brentwood corn bisque with cornbread croutons and chili crème fraiche. I was a bit disappointed with this soup, especially after the Brentwood corn cream soup at Victoria & Albert’s. This soup was thinner, less creamy, and it had a spiciness to it that I could have done without. I did not enjoy the cornbread croutons, so I did not eat these.

Andy had the Dayboat scallops with fennel pollen, warm escarole, Nueske’s bacon, gnocchi, and grain mustard seed jus. He said this was very good; the gnocchi were like a fine cornbread, with a lemon taste to them, and he said that the escarole tasted more like cabbage. The sauce was good, though the fennel was a little strong, and the scallops were cooked perfectly, just barely opaque in the center. Andy enjoyed this dish very much.

With our dinners, we each ordered a glass of wine. I had the 2004 Conundrum, which I had not had before. We’d enjoyed the 2003 Conundrum, but had not yet had the 2004, and this vintage was also very good. Andy had a glass of Mer Soleil chardonnay, which is the only chardonnay that we enjoy. We are both big Cabernet Sauvignon drinkers, and when our server brought out the Mer Soleil, she said, “I call this the Cabernet Sauvignon of Chardonnays.” That would explain our enjoyment of this wine!

For dessert, I had the Chocolate, Chocolate, and Cherries dessert, which was the Valrhona chocolate cake with the molten center, served with a scoop of cherry ice cream. This was an excellent choice, and, as always, I only wished that I had been less full when dessert time rolled around. I didn’t have room to eat more than half of this, but I enjoyed it very much.

The cake itself was lovely, with the hot, melted chocolate center. The cherry ice cream was my big surprise, because it was almost like a very creamy sorbet. It was much fruitier than regular ice cream, but much creamier than a sorbet, if that makes any sense. The cold, fruity taste of the cherry ice cream paired incredibly well with the rich, hot chocolate cake. We’ve had this dish in its several variations, and we always both enjoy it immensely.

Andy had a cheese platter for his dessert. This consisted of three cheeses: an Abbaye de Beloc (a French sheep’s milk), an O’Banon (a goat’s cheese from Indiana which was mild, but with an odd taste to it), and a Crater Lake Blue. The Crater Lake Blue was very salty, and we’d run to the bottom of our bottled water. The server hadn’t brought out regular water, and so Andy had some trouble swallowing this salty cheese. Each cheese had something that paired with it, like a fig gelee, pears, etc.

After the fireworks, the family from the Tower of Terror was seated at a table near us. They had been out on the observation deck, watching the fireworks, and when they were seated, they called the manager Lee over. We couldn’t hear except in snatches (yes, I confess that I was curious), but something bad had apparently happened to them on the observation deck. They were pointing to and describing another customer, a woman wearing a white dress and a sweater. The woman at the table next to this family got up from her table and told the manager, “It’s true. I saw her do it,” and also pointed to this same woman.
Whatever it was, the manager was profuse in his apologies, and kept saying, “I’m very sorry that this happened to you at our restaurant.”

I know that people out on the observation deck can get very pushy and testy about the fireworks view, so we speculated that this woman did something objectionable to this family, based on the snatches of conversation that we had heard.

After dinner, we came back to our hotel and went for a long, quiet walk on the beach. We came back to our room, opened the curtains so that we could see the castle from bed, and fell right to sleep.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Great trip report! Sounds like you both had a wonderful anniversary trip. I'm loving the food pictures too.