PTR Oct 2010 - An Aussie returns: Back home and TR started (11/02)

[shushh]

Sorry for not being around for a while but I've been laid up in bed this last week....sick again. Today's been the first time in about 4 days where I haven't felt like coughing my lungs out or blowing....well, it's too gross to share on the DisBoard.

I'm sorry to hear that you've been unwell. I hate coughing.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Your health is more important than a message board

And yay for changing the PTR title!

Thanks Firefly. I also changed my ticker tag as well, which I had NOT done so before posting the PTR title change!

Oh no, I'm sorry you have been sick . Glad you are feeling a little better, I hope you have a speedy recovery. Take care of yourself

Thanks aussietravellers. Feeling much better now; and going back to work tomorrow. NOT looking forward to it!

I'm sorry to hear that you've been unwell. I hate coughing.

I usually end up with a lingering cough; which is just the worst! Know anything on the Aussie market that works?? Everything I've tried does NOT work for me.

 

[manntra]

Hope you are feeling better

Tracy

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hope you are feeling better

Tracy

Thanks. I still have a cough; but I'm getting better.

 

[PrincessInOz]

DH is safely home from his work trip to SF.

But there is still no movement on his flight to the conference. I don't have the heart to prod him as he's come home with the cold I had and isn't feeling great. He actually looks sick and this is the first time I've actually seen him come back where he just wants to lie in bed and do nothing!!

So, the waiting continues....

But I wanted to share a meal I had two weeks ago. I did NOT know how I was going to fit it into the theme of this NOT PTR; and then it hit me...

This would be a dinner that you would NOT have very often.

We had dinner at Vue de Monde, one of those restaurants that specialises in Molecular Gastronomy. I have already shared the meal with the Poster Gals of the Lasting Kind; and they thought the combinations looked a little 'off'. I will leave this for you to determine....but I certainly enjoyed the dinner; even if it is a meal I would NOT eat every day!

This is what we ate at Vue de Monde.

These were the nibblies available on the table, whilst we were deciding what we were going to do for dinner. Olives, yoghurt dip and sweet potato crisps.

We decided on a 5 course degustation, with one of the courses being dessert.

The night kicked off with an Amuse Bouche. The waiter called this their house muesli. The plastic packet below the muesli was a cool pack. I think I tasted liver, nuts and cheese in the muesli.

First course was one of the two highlights of the night for me. This is a plate of salad, vegies all grown at the restaurant's own vegie patch. The white cream cheese looking clumps is actually olive oil foam.

Second course was also delicious. This was a perfectly cooked and runny duck yolk, bedded on hollandaise, served with cheese crisps and a tarragon sauce.

We had a palate cleanser next. This one is cucumber icecream and frozen cucumber juice, shaved. I will say that the palate cleansers stole the show for me and this one was amazingly refreshing.

This was the third course, and one of the two highlight courses of the night.
Western Australian Marron (a type of crayfish) with duck tongue. Accompanying dip was of an apple variety - it was delicious!

Fourth course was my least favourite. This was beef cheek, with nettles and a potato cake. There was no flavour to the beef cheek and the potato cake was overly salty. I know you were meant to eat the two together - but even then it was still overly salty. If I could work out which country the beef cheek fits into, this would make my NOT Blissful Bites list! The beef cheek was very tender and it certainly tasted like beef; but the thought that it was a cheek made it difficult to chew and swallow - particularly when it was in my own cheek....

DH, being vegetarian, got served a different fourth course. He got barramundi with champagne foam!

Another palate cleanser followed - house lemonade. The popsicle was a banana icecream topped with pop-rock candy. This was a FUN palate cleanser.

And to get us in the mood for dessert, we were served another palate cleanser....celery sorbert with cream cheese flakes. I couldn't believe how delicious the celery sorbert was.

Our fifth course was a marshmallow souffle, with chocolate icecream. This was really delicious as well.

And for afters, they brought out this plate of tasters. Lemon jubes, orange/chocolate sticks, lemon curd to eat with crepe crisps and....

Chocolate mousse lamingtons!

And whilst we were thinking about the bill (and a tip), we got marshmallows.

Enjoy!

 

[franandaj]

We had dinner at Vue de Monde, one of those restaurants that specialises in Molecular Gastronomy. I have already shared the meal with the Poster Gals of the Lasting Kind; and they thought the combinations looked a little 'off'. I will leave this for you to determine....but I certainly enjoyed the dinner; even if it is a meal I would NOT eat every day!

Understanding now that they specialize in Molecular Gastronomy makes a lot more sense! I would have certainly tried it!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Understanding now that they specialize in Molecular Gastronomy makes a lot more sense! I would have certainly tried it!

When you come down to Melbourne, I'll book and we can go together

 

[PrincessInOz]

Well...it has NOT come down to the wire; as we still have 45 days left to go. DH had booked his flights! And it is:

• United all the way from Melbourne to Orlando, via Sydney;
• American Airlines back to San Francisco; and then
• United from San Francisco back to Melbourne, via Sydney.

I've also booked my flight today, same flights as DH; even if United is NOT my airline of choice.

This PTR is now officially a "Definitely NOT NOT going back to WDW for F&W and MNSSHP!.

Let the planning begin in earnest ! (Not! )

 

[DisneyFirefly]

YAY!

I still haven't bought my airfare I'm buying it next payday (not this one on Friday, but the next one).

 

[PrincessInOz]

Work is going to pay me a bonus ; MOST UNEXPECTED, which I hope to see middle of this month. So I'm going to be able to buy my ticket

 

[DisneyFirefly]

More yay! I'm supposed to get a raise sometime next month, but I don't know when or if I'll get it in time for the trip. My 1-year anniversary is in November (I can't believe I've almost been here a year).

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm now officially booked on a flight to Orlando and DH is sorting out the accommodation arrangements for Coronado Springs Resort. Once he gets a confirmation number for the resort booking, I can call Disney and see if I can purchase my ticket and dining plan....until then, I have other priorities that I need to work on.

The first thing I need to sort out is my wireless communication. I am, afterall, going to need a cell phone so that I can contact DH and vice versa; and my DisBoard friends so that I can catch up with them at the World.

Fortunately, for this Aussie, this is a bit more straightforward as I already have an AT&T Go Phone service that I picked up in May 2010.

I've been sitting here in front of my calendar trying to work out if my prepaid service has past the expiry recharge date or whether I still have an active service.
1. Turning the phone on does NOT help. The AT&T network does NOT extend beyond the Pacific Ocean on the West Coast and there is no network for the service to associate itself to. I am NOT roaming on to an Australian network.
2. Going on-line to recharge my account is NOT possible as I have forgotten my 4 digit pin number.
3. Using the "forgot password" functionality on the web page is NOT possible as the 4 digit code is then sent via SMS to my service. As there is no active network in Australia (see above point 1), this is NOT a solution to my problem.
4. Call the AT&T HelpDesk! is my only possible viable option. This assumes that my service has NOT been deactivated and the number put back in quarantine to be used again by AT&T in the future.

So, I called AT&T! Thankfully the website does show an International number that I can call and it only took me about 4 minutes to work my way through the IVR and finally get to speak to a real person.....who then asks for an American zip code that my credit card bill gets sent to !!! This was NOT a good start to my call!

Anyway, it only takes me another 5 minutes of quicktalk on my part before she takes my credit card details down and recharges my service. So, my service is now active until Dec 2010.......

Hmmm....I wonder if I remember what my service number is???

 

[shushh]

Ok, I am so behind....

Firstly, double Hurray for you!!!! Those photos and descriptions just made me drool. The only one which I wouldn't have gone near is the olives but that's just me and my dislike of them.

Oh...and well done on getting your phone service reactivated If you can sweet talk once you can do it again come December!

 

[franandaj]

When you come down to Melbourne, I'll book and we can go together

I will look forward to it!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Today I paid for my airline ticket. So, I am locked into going and will NOT want to make any changes to my flights as I will have to pay the change fees to the airlines.

The bad news? I do NOT have any money left!

And DH has confirmed that we are booked into the Coronado Springs Resort for 4 nights. He's just sent me the confirmation number, and it shows that I'm also booked in as a guest.

I now have to work out how to add a Dining Plan and tix for me only.....this should NOT be hard, right????

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Yay for finally having airfare! I'm going to book mine at the end of the month, as that's the only time I'll be able to. I'd call the reservation office to see what they say about adding just you for tickets and dining. I'm not sure how they work that

 

[franandaj]

Congrats on NOT not going!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Yay for finally getting your airfare booked & paid for!

I now have to work out how to add a Dining Plan and tix for me only.....this should NOT be hard, right????

I'm afraid you might just have a bit of trouble pulling this off. To be on the dining plan everyone in your room has to be on the same package, meaning DH would have to be on the DDP too. You would both also have to have park tickets as the DDP is only available as part of the Magic Your Way package unless you are a DVC owner or AP holder. You can try though, wouldn't hurt to call and ask!

Buying park tickets just for you will be easy, you can buy them from the concierge desk when you arrive.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Yay for finally getting your airfare booked & paid for!



I'm afraid you might just have a bit of trouble pulling this off. To be on the dining plan everyone in your room has to be on the same package, meaning DH would have to be on the DDP too. You would both also have to have park tickets as the DDP is only available as part of the Magic Your Way package unless you are a DVC owner or AP holder. You can try though, wouldn't hurt to call and ask!

Buying park tickets just for you will be easy, you can buy them from the concierge desk when you arrive.

I suspect that you're right about this being NOT easy . I've been reading up the T&Cs on the packages and I don't think I'll be allowed to go on the DDP without DH being on the same plan. I checked with the TA I used in May and she basically said the same thing.

Oh well, I can always pay for food OOP.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Step 11 of any good planning for WDW is putting together an Illustrated Itinerary on a day by day basis of what one would be doing at the parks. This involves compiling photographs of various locations, rides and food porn, traditionally either using:

• stock photos previously taken by self, or the more expedient route of
• swiping photos from fellow Disers.

And with about 4 weeks left to go to October, a number of my fellow October Foodie and Vino Dis-ers have been very busy preparing their Illustrated Itineraries on what they will be doing when at the Parks. I have been enjoying following their pictorial representation of what attractions and what dining experiences they will be hitting.

So, without further ado, here's my NOT Illustrated Itinerary. I acknowledge that all photographs used have been taken by myself - feel free to swipe .

On any given day at the World, I will NOT be waking up to look at this ceiling from my bed.

I will most certainly NOT be thinking about making breakfast; although I do hope to get some of this for my breakfast when I'm at the World.

And after breakfast, I will definitely NOT be feeding my two cats either.

I hope that I will NOT miss them too much....but I suspect that this is probably going to be NOT the case.

I will certainly NOT care that the girl cat will be sleeping on my bed!

There will definitely NOT be any thoughts of doing this activity!

Nor will there be any need for hanging about...

Therefore, we will NOT have a pile like this waiting...

for someone to NOT complete this task!

During the day, I will NOT be having to cook for lunch or dinner.

I will NOT be thinking about my favourite household appliance either.

And this chore will NOT be top of mind either!

The one regret I am likely to have is NOT being able to enjoy my favourite Java for a few days.....

But I'm prepared to make the sacrifice to spend a few days at the WORLD!



ps. For anyone wanting to know what my days may look like, please go to DisneyFirefly's PTR and check out her II's.