Poor Unfortunate Souls: So Wet, So Full ~ Updated 12/22: Day 8 - Complete & New TR!

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

I loved the food pics, now I'm starving!

Also loved that you wanted to leave when the fighting started in England. I on the other hand love watching people at their Disney Best!!!!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Mmmm, yummy F&W memories.

We did not have the Coq au Vin, so I don't have an opinion on it either way. Love the escargot though and the Cosmo Slush was yummy too.

Funny about not being able to "watch" from a benign area. I'm glad that the CM realized that you weren't going to go rogue and jump over the rope.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Your F&W treats look so good! I'd love to go one year to Food and Wine!

Way to go on your "private" Illuminations spot!

 

[jc040404]

Is it nuts that every time I see someone post a pic of that cranberry bog, I want to jump in?? It looks like so much fun! Okay, maybe I am nuts..

I never noticed the Mickey on Duffy's face!

All the food is making me soo hungry! I doubt we ever try F&W so it's great to see what they have to offer. I'd love to sample it all someday.. but I am really hungry right now.

Love that you're headed back to the Poly for breakfast!

 

[KatGarcia]

It's taken me days to catch up on the DIS but i finally did it! Loving the food pics!!!!

 

[Dugette]

I loved the food pics, now I'm starving!

Me too. I just re-read my last entry, but haven't eaten dinner yet...mistake!

Also loved that you wanted to leave when the fighting started in England. I on the other hand love watching people at their Disney Best!!!!

Sometimes I do, too. But, that night, I just didn't want anyone bringing down the "Disney" mood, I guess. Plus, I felt that it was weird that it was just us and them back there.

Mmmm, yummy F&W memories.

We did not have the Coq au Vin, so I don't have an opinion on it either way. Love the escargot though and the Cosmo Slush was yummy too.

Funny about not being able to "watch" from a benign area. I'm glad that the CM realized that you weren't going to go rogue and jump over the rope.

Yummy F&W memories, indeed! That CM must have had to take down some rope-jumpers in the past or something, because she was quite over-zealous about it!

Your F&W treats look so good! I'd love to go one year to Food and Wine!

Way to go on your "private" Illuminations spot!

F&W is so fun...I hope you can go someday for it! The private viewing spot certainly wasn't what we had planned, but it was acceptable for a last-minute viewing.

Is it nuts that every time I see someone post a pic of that cranberry bog, I want to jump in?? It looks like so much fun! Okay, maybe I am nuts..

I wonder what would happen if someone did that? Would Disney security be on them immediately?

I never noticed the Mickey on Duffy's face!

Glad I'm not the only one. I figure that I probably am usually too busy avoiding Duffy to notice his face. For some reason, the little chef one caught my eye, though.

All the food is making me soo hungry! I doubt we ever try F&W so it's great to see what they have to offer. I'd love to sample it all someday.. but I am really hungry right now.

Love that you're headed back to the Poly for breakfast!

Why not hit F&W someday? That could be a fun weekend excursion maybe.

It's taken me days to catch up on the DIS but i finally did it! Loving the food pics!!!!

I totally understand the catching up challenge. I've been trying to do the same, what with the holidays and all. Congrats on your little girl...very pretty name too!

 

[jc040404]

Why not hit F&W someday? That could be a fun weekend excursion maybe.

It's all mommy guilt! The boys have zero interest in the idea of walking around WS to try food. Andrew's seen lots of TR pics of it and I get an "Ick!" to most of them. It would be an awesome thing for just dh and me to do, but I could never see myself going to WDW without them. It's on the "Someday" list! I'm glad I have TRs like yours' to live through for now!

 

[Dugette]

It's all mommy guilt! The boys have zero interest in the idea of walking around WS to try food. Andrew's seen lots of TR pics of it and I get an "Ick!" to most of them. It would be an awesome thing for just dh and me to do, but I could never see myself going to WDW without them. It's on the "Someday" list! I'm glad I have TRs like yours' to live through for now!

Oh, that makes sense. There are pretty limited items that would appeal to little boys. I hope you get there someday!

Hey, everybody who's still around. Sorry it's been nearly a month since an update, but I've got one for you coming right up!

 

[Dugette]

We were up early this morning, since we had breakfast plans at the Poly. However, since we only had Quick Service dining, we’d be passing up good ol’ Kona for Captain Cook’s. After all, they have Tonga Toast too!

I think we left prior to 7am this morning! We took a bus from Pop to the MK, then hopped on the resort monorail to get to the Poly.

It started raining during our journey. Luckily, we were prepared with a backpack containing ponchos and umbrellas.

Once inside the Poly, Dug got a coffee from the little Kona Coffee Island:

At Captain Cook’s, we redeemed two meal credits. We got Tonga Toast and a Bounty Platter to share:

The Bounty Platter was okay, but nothing too special. The Tonga Toast was enjoyable, but not as good as the version they have at Kona. This one didn’t have as much filling and it doesn’t come with that strawberry compote to pour over it (Dug used syrup and strawberry jam as a substitute, though).

Even though the food wasn’t amazing, it wasn’t bad and it was nice to start our day off at the Poly. It’s always nice to be there.

After breakfast, we had an important matter to attend to: we had to go hunt in the sand for camera batteries. We re-traced our steps and searched thoroughly under the hammock Dug had been in, but no sign of the batteries. After some extensive digging through the sand, it was clear they weren’t there. Oh, well.

We made our way over to the boat dock to take a boat to the Magic Kingdom. Dug loves how these trash cans politely ask him to waste :

The boat ride was pleasant and the rain had subsided. It was overcast, but decent. At one point, I wondered if I was seeing a shark fin :

Nope, just a buoy. Just looked funny from a distance, though!

Soon, we were pulling up to our morning destination:

Due to lugging the backpack of rain gear, we had to go through bag check this time. No fun when you’re carrying a backpack with lots and lots of zippers on it. Not to mention the long line to wait in.

Once we entered the MK, we looked around and noticed that there was only a 5 minute wait posted to meet Mickey & Minnie! We hadn’t planned it, but how could we pass that up? We headed in here:

So empty:

We only had to wait for a few families to see this guy:

The family in front of us had fun Mickey ears from the Epcot countries. Unique. Soon, it was our turn:

It was a fun little meeting and neat to see the new meet & greet area.

After that diversion, we made our way to Tomorrowland. But first, a random story that I forgot from the previous morning: while we waited in line for Dumbo, a little girl saw my anniversary button and said, very excitedly, “Happy Birthday!!!!!” I thanked her, as I couldn’t bear to correct her. No point to that story, just throwing it in since I remembered it.

Back to Tomorrowland now! We cut through the confectionary on our way. Such a beautiful store! So fun to ogle all the goodies! We continued past these:

No pic, but I also stopped to admire the poster for the “Tomorrowland Tower Hover Hotel”…love the theming! In case you’re wondering (since I can see this on my video), it’s located, “Three miles directly above Tomorrowland on the Atmosphere Three Skyway Exit.” I wish I could read the rest of the poster, but it’s too small to make out. Oh, wait, I just accidentally found some zoom feature on my camera, so now I can read this:

*Luxurious Gravity and Anti-Gravity Suites
*Easy Access Landing Pads
*Helpful Robot Valets in Every Room
*Jupiter Water Mineral Baths
*Venus Rock Grotto
*Award Winning Automat
*Free On Earth Picture Phone Calls

So, that’s what to expect in the future, folks!

When we arrived in Tomorrowland, Buzz had a long line and Space had a short one. How weird and backwards! So, we went to Space because of the 15 minute posted wait. We also decided to grab some Space Fast Passes, since they would be good so soon: we got 10:15-11:15am. Sure enough, the wait was almost non-existent. We walked all the way through, went left, then just waited in a very short line. We even got our own spaceship—first and second seats without anyone in the third.

After the ride, Dug stopped into the Tomorrowland phone booth to see what it did. The future voice informed him that, “As always, it will be a great big beautiful tomorrow.” Informative.

Next up was the Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor. I think we grabbed some Buzz Fast Passes on the way. As usual, Dug texted in a joke (or two), but it didn’t get used this time. Bummer. Still enjoyed the show!

Here are the jokes he texted, for the record:

1.) What is Sully's favorite cartoon? The Scare Bears.

2.) Monster walks into a bar. Bartender says, "What'll you have?" Monster says, "You! Nom nom nom!"

Then we headed to the Peoplemover. We had to walk up the ramp, though, as the walkway was not moving. As usual, we enjoyed the ride.

Next, we headed into the Carousel of Progress. Since it was nearly empty, we took a front row seat and enjoyed the show.

The time then arrived to use our Space Mountain Fast Passes. As it was, the wait was only up to 20 minutes, I think. But we used them anyway. Ended up on the right side this time. Another good ride. We were split up, though, as Dug was in the last seat of one car and I was in the front of another.

As we came out into the gift shop, we were greeted with the sight of pouring down rain! I think it was around 10:30am at that point. Thank goodness we were prepared! We pulled out the umbrellas and made our way over to Buzz to redeem our Fast Passes.

We did pretty good. I got 338,800 and Dug blew me away with 842,200. As we were checking out our picture on the display, I saw a couple of people wearing tails…interesting. I believe we grabbed another set of Fast Passes on the way out.

It was now lunchtime. We were trying another place for the first time: Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café. We split a chicken and ribs combo platter, since it’s a great deal for one counter service credit. We got a mango gelato for dessert:

We grabbed a table down near Sonny Eclipse:

We enjoyed our food and the silly entertainment. That platter was a ton of food, even for two people! (Just noticed, you can hardly see the green beans in the picture, but there were a lot of them).

After lunch, we went back to Buzz and used our Fast Passes. We didn’t do as well this time. I got only 113,600 and Dug got 613,000.

When we came out, it was downpouring again. Most people were unprepared and hanging out under overhangs. Even with our umbrellas, though, we were getting wet because the rain was so hard and soaking our legs, so we tried to walk under overhangs even with the umbrellas. We finally made our way out of the MK and got on the monorail to Epcot. Dug dealt with a problem at work while we rode the monorail. By the time we arrived in Epcot, the rain had died down significantly.

Up next: Food & Wine, a creative nap break, Downtown Disney, and a yummy dinner.

 

[KatGarcia]

I like that idea of using syrup and strawberry jam as a sub for the sauce! I never did see why they dont have the sauce at Capt Cooks?!

 

[jc040404]

Wow. That is a ton of food. I don't think I've ever had an actual meal in that place before. The food looks so messy. Yummy, but soo messy.

Loving all the random people comments. Tails? How odd.. Cute about the little girl that wished a happy birthday to you.

You lost with this Tomorrowland phone booth though..Huh? I never knew there was such a thing..?

Sounds like a fun time, minus the icky rain & lack of luck in finding the battery!

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi! Didn't notice you'd started this.. all caught up

Looks like a really fun trip so far, and love all of your photos! DH and I are going this October and can't wait for the Food & Wine Festival.


Looking forward to more


Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi! Didn't notice you'd started this.. all caught up

Looks like a really fun trip so far, and love all of your photos! DH and I are going this October and can't wait for the Food & Wine Festival.


Looking forward to more


Emma x

 

[Nermel9]

I think if I'm ever going to try Tonga Toast, I'm going to get it at Captain Cook's, because I don't like the idea of that strawberry stuff being on it, and if it comes without it there, that's great! I'm still not sure I'll even like it though, I don't like bananas! I want to try it, though!!!

Your Mickey and Minnie picture is really cute! I love your random Tomorrowland pictures, they make me really wish that I was in MK right now! I'm so sad that I still don't have a ticker.

This was October 7? That was the last full day of our October trip, and that's when the rain started! We got enough rain that day and the next day to last me a year!

 

[pink5683]

I just found this, and I am so glad I did!

Your last TR was a great primer for me, as I was in the process of planning a Poly CL trip, and THEN I ended up going back a couple months later for MVMCP.

Now it looks like I am following in your footsteps again and planning an October 2013 trip so we can do F&W and MNSSHP!!!

Loving the report so far and can't wait to read more!

 

[Dugette]

Hi, everybody! I'm sorry I'm so pathetically slow with this TR! It's been a very busy time at work (accounting year-end at the end of January) and my boss left and was just finally replaced, so I haven't had much time to do anything on the DIS. But, I'm finally ready to work on an update this morning!

I like that idea of using syrup and strawberry jam as a sub for the sauce! I never did see why they dont have the sauce at Capt Cooks?!

I don't see why they don't have the sauce available at CC's either. How hard can it be to bring a few pitchers down from Kona? They could charge extra for it and I'd buy it. Oh, well.

Wow. That is a ton of food. I don't think I've ever had an actual meal in that place before. The food looks so messy. Yummy, but soo messy.

Yeah, I'm not big on messy food either. Dug got most of the messy stuff and I shoveled in the utensil-fed items, like potatoes and green beans. It was pretty good, though, and definitely a good CS credit value.

Loving all the random people comments. Tails? How odd.. Cute about the little girl that wished a happy birthday to you.

Yep, tails. Reminds me of one time, years ago, at Perkins, we saw a group of people wearing tails walk in. That little girl was so proud of herself for wishing me a "happy birthday!"...very cute!

You lost with this Tomorrowland phone booth though..Huh? I never knew there was such a thing..?

You know, I don't usually notice it either, but Dug happened across it and it's on our video. I think it might be near the Lunching Pad, but can't remember for sure. Just a fun little diversion-type thing.

Sounds like a fun time, minus the icky rain & lack of luck in finding the battery!

Yes, except the icky rain will be getting a lot worse!

Hi! Didn't notice you'd started this.. all caught up

Looks like a really fun trip so far, and love all of your photos! DH and I are going this October and can't wait for the Food & Wine Festival.


Looking forward to more


Emma x

I'm glad you're here! That's great that you guys are doing the F&W festival! I'm sure you'll love it!

I actually came across your PTR the other day and subscribed, but haven't had the time to go back and read yet, but I'll be over there when I can!

I think if I'm ever going to try Tonga Toast, I'm going to get it at Captain Cook's, because I don't like the idea of that strawberry stuff being on it, and if it comes without it there, that's great! I'm still not sure I'll even like it though, I don't like bananas! I want to try it, though!!!

For what it's worth, they just have a little cup of the strawberry stuff on the side (with the syrups) at Kona, so you don't have to have it on your Tonga Toast. I know what you mean, kinda. I actually don't like French Toast (but I do like bananas), but this was still enjoyable. It's kinda like eating a big, sugary donut, really.

Your Mickey and Minnie picture is really cute! I love your random Tomorrowland pictures, they make me really wish that I was in MK right now! I'm so sad that I still don't have a ticker.

I'm so slow at replying that you do have a ticker now!

This was October 7? That was the last full day of our October trip, and that's when the rain started! We got enough rain that day and the next day to last me a year!

Yes, this and the next day were the Orlando monsoon!

I just found this, and I am so glad I did!

Your last TR was a great primer for me, as I was in the process of planning a Poly CL trip, and THEN I ended up going back a couple months later for MVMCP.

Now it looks like I am following in your footsteps again and planning an October 2013 trip so we can do F&W and MNSSHP!!!

Loving the report so far and can't wait to read more!

Glad you're here! I'm so glad our last TR could help with your trip planning! How was your Poly CL trip? I so miss that place...

The fall trip will be a great change of pace from the holidays, but still filled with special events. That's one of the awesome things about WDW...depending on the time of year, it's like a whole different place.

 

[Dugette]

Our monorail arrived at Epcot and we were happy to see that the rain had let up. It was just wet out now (well, for now…)

As it often is, our first stop was Club Cool. As we got all Costa Rican Fanta’d up, we observed what appeared to be a 2-person flash mob in Club Cool! Two girls came in, then suddenly started dancing. Funny!

After we were sufficiently hydrated, we made our way towards World Showcase. We stopped on the way to check out the cranberry bog, with two guys (what would you call them? boggers???) in it, wearing their hip boots, pushing cranberries around.

We made our way over to one and Dug chatted with him for a bit. I don’t remember much of the conversation anymore, but I think he explained how cranberry bogs work. They essentially flood the cranberries off of their bushes, rather than picking them, I think. Something like that, at least.

With that, we moved onto our first food booth of the day: Australia. The items here were primarily for Dug. We got the Shrimp on the Barbie with Pepper Berry Citrus Glaze and the Grilled Lamb Chop with Potato-Goat Cheese Salad and Shiraz Reduction:

Dug described the shrimp as “Moderately spicy. Tasty.” He said the lamb chop and potato-goat cheese salad were 5 stars and the lamb was nice and moist. I had some of the potato-goat cheese salad and found it to be quite tasty.

Oh, also, the team working the Australia booth sang us a song for our anniversary. Something involving “oy oy oy”, according to Dug’s notes on Twitter. Cute!

On the way to our next stop, we passed Duffy-the-ever-present-Disney-bear doing meet and greets. I still don't get him.

Our next stop was the Brazil booth. We got one of everything here. Seared Mahi Mahi with steamed Rice, Hearts of Palm, and Coconut-Lime Sauce:

Brazil’s National Dish — Feijoada (a Black Bean and Pork Stew):

LeBlon Frozen Caipirinha:

Here is Dug’s tweet to describe the fare:

Mahi Mahi nice and complex flavor, delicately balanced. Feijoada on the good side of meh. Calpiriniha a good cocktail drink.

I skipped the Mahi Mahi, but had some of both of the others and I agree with his assessments.

We found a spot somewhere to sit and eat, I think along a wall or something. I watched ducks bobbing in the water in front of us. So funny to watch them going tails-up over and over. Dug talked on the phone to his friend who had stopped in at our house to feed and check on our cat. All was well.

Our next stop was delicious Ireland. There were a couple of favorites from last year that needed to be enjoyed once again. We got a Lobster and Scallop Fisherman’s Pie (for Dug) and a Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Baileys Irish Cream Ganache to share:

We found a bench back near where the British band performs and sat to eat our delightful treats. Dug’s tweet:

It's official, Fisherman's Pie is the best savory dish, lava cake the best dessert. No contest. So rich and flavorful!

We enjoyed every last morsel of these items. We also had entertainment while doing so. There was a teenage girl hanging out on the curb, eating her “chips” (fries) and she had befriended a Disney Squirrel. The squirrel was eating chips our of her hands. She kept trying to get a picture of her new friend. We got one:

Can you imagine eating a fry (chip) as big as your head?! Disney Squirrels do not starve, that’s for sure. (They also don’t win any squirrel health awards, either, but somehow I don’t think squirrels give those out anyway).

I have to mention that we were extremely lucky that it did not rain during our Food & Wine segment of the day. Food & Wine is difficult enough as is, carrying around all those little plates and glasses, balancing them on trash cans to eat, trying to take pictures of said food, etc. Try carrying an umbrella along with that. Again, we were lucky there was a nice break in the weather.

By now, it was break time. We’d had trouble figuring out how this day would work when we planned it out. We had been trying to build naps at Pop into our schedule most days. But there was just no way to make that work and do the other things we wanted to on this day. So, I had come up with the idea of finding another suitable “resting” place. When we stayed at the Beach Club the previous year, we never really had much of a chance to enjoy their peaceful Solarium (except right before we left), so what better opportunity than now?

We strolled on over to the Beach Club, ready for a break. It was a quiet, peaceful walk over there. When we arrived back at the Solarium, we were pleased to see that it was nearly empty mid-day!

We found a couple seats and sat down for a few minutes. Then, someone who had been on a nice, private couch in the corner got up and left. We jumped up and snatched the great nap-den. Kicked off our shoes and got comfy. So classy we are. Here’s the view from our cozy corner:

And, yes, I really did lay down on the couch and take a nap:

This turned out to be a great, refreshing break. Just what we’d needed.

Once we were rested up, we made our way out of the Beach Club. On the way, we saw an unfortunate sight…someone had decided to roast Donald on the fire:

Poor, little Donald!

We made our way out to the bus stop to get a bus to Downtown Disney. It was time to do some of our Christmas shopping. It had gone over pretty well the year before when we brought home Christmas gifts from Disney for family, so we thought we’d do it again. And, luckily, the weather was still decent.

As we were waiting for the bus, I heard someone talking about a turtle. I looked where they were looking and, sure enough, in back of the bus stop there was a turtle (a big one) crawling around next to the water. Again, I have it on video, so whenever I download that, I’ll try to post it. We ended up talking to the other couple there a bit. They were a little older couple (40’s-50’s) and, if I remember correctly, they were celebrating their first anniversary. First marriage for both. Very cool! They were also super nice and were loving WDW.

Our bus soon arrived and we were on our way to Downtown Disney. On the way, I looked out the window at the car next to us and saw a woman driving, smoking, and staring at the screen of her smartphone all at once. Yikes!

Our first stop once we arrived at Downtown Disney was the Christmas store. We picked out ornaments for each of Dug’s parents and siblings, plus we got one for ourselves (a bell with the castle on top of it). Such a fun store to wander around!

We made a quick stop into Ghirardelli to get our free samples. We got Pumpkin Spice chocolates. Pretty good.

We also went to Basin. I had read on a TR that there were bath bombs that had Mickey heads that came out when you used them. Sounded cool, so I had to get one. Strangely enough, still haven’t used it, but I have it! We also found a gift for Dug’s brother’s girlfriend. It was solid soap, but it looked just like a baggie of water with a Nemo fish in it. Pretty cool.

Next stop was for dinner at Earl of Sandwich. Not the best value for a CS credit ($-wise), but it’s such yummy food!! Dug got the Original and I got the Caprese. For our desserts, we’d heard good things on the Disney Food Blog about the brownie sandwiches, so we got a vanilla and a peanut butter one. Although it was crowded, we were lucky enough to snag a booth right by the door as a couple was getting up to leave. Here’s our goodies:

Dug described his as a perfect, simple roast beef sandwich and very tangy. My Caprese was also very good and the balsamic vinaigrette on it was tasty. We both enjoyed our meal. I believe that we split one of the brownie sandwiches while we were there (the vanilla) and saved the peanut butter one for later.

After that yummy meal, it was time to go catch a bus to the Poly. What, but we’re not staying there, you say. But that doesn’t mean we can’t spend our whole evening hanging out there, right?

Up next: Living like a Polynesian!

 

[disneybarbie]

Great update! I love the look of the solarium at the BCV .. poor baby Donald though

I probably shouldn't have looked at all of those photos of F&W food before dinner, soo hungry now!


Emma x

 

[Mom&RN]

Believe it or not the cranberry raisers are just called farmers. Cranberry farmers. Cranberries grow in sandy wet soil called cranberry bogs and when the berries are ripe they flood the bogs and since the berries have a lot of air pockets in them they pull off the plants and float to the surface. Then they use floating planks to "herd" the cranberries towards a moving belt that puts them into the back of a big truck. I grew up near cape cod in Massachusetts where lots of cranberries are grown.

Loving your trip report, glad I found it!

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Yay, an update!

Earl of Sanwich is our FAVORITE! We keep hoping they will open one in Seattle. I did hear they are about to open one in Downtown Disneyland.