Ready, Set, Let the Games Begin! - Link to new PTR/TR!

[dgbg100106]

omg re cameragate. How come everybody walking past who look ordinary folk when handed a camera suddenly turns into one of the following..

1. Acting like you just handed them a ticking acme bomb ( omg i couldn't possibly take a photograph tooooo much responsibility....) and runs off screaming
2. Hands it to someone else to take even though you selected them and your heart sinks as you never would have selected the other person in a million years
3. Turns into photographer of the year suddenly changing elements on your camera you didn't know you had moving the camera around to an 'artistic' angles and standing on a bench saying 'oh yes baby that's great' like you are some kind of model in a bikini ( believe me this would have small children scared for days in my case )


i have taken to asking children. They do what they are told i.e just press the button, enjoy the responsibility and it seems to make their day!

The wl is a wonderful hotel. We feel privileged to have stayed there. I liked the way one moment i was looking out onto a beach and then next a path in a wilderness and finally inside with it's homely lodge style with the highest level of detail i just kept noticing each time i walked past the same place. It transforms and morphs throughout the day with it's lighting, architecture. It's both dark and light at the same time. Walking through the hall to our room reminded me of the tower of terror corridor you see or the haunted mansion. Agreed vbc have the location and i like the shape of the doors. But for theming ak and wl are just hotel porn lol.

lmao!!!!!

 

[TifffanyD]

I just went back and looked at all the pics properly (as in not on my phone. The app kinda stinks and I can't click in to see pics larger... just get a blank page if I do). I love that you guys reproduced the shot from 15 years ago! How sweet!!!

 

[Luvchefmic]

Really enjoyed the " step back in time " photo of you & Fran and re-handing the camera to someone Paula nailed it glad you fixed it

The more you show us of VWL the more I fall in love with it I just finished up the tri tip here too that you graciously gave me DELICIOUS as the day you made it As someone else posted I can definitely see a tag in your future about bi-coastal meat travel

Yes I STILL have not made it over to F & W, its ridiculous really but its like when someone lives in NY and never goes to see the Statue of Liberty assuming it will always be there well F & W will not always be there for 2013 and I better get a move on I have a Sat & Sun off coming up near the end of F & W not ideal, especially the weekend which I swore I wouldn't do but may have no choice

Sorry the TR is over but that only means a new PTR to look forward to and updates on your home

Continue to feel better my friends I miss you !




AND

 

[kmedina]

The photo editor worked nicely. It is a lovely picture even if it was a little bit of a pain to get it that way. I love timeline pictures taken at the same place years later. The Wilderness Lodge truly is beautiful. Thanks for all of the pictures.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Hey, I got a shout-out!

You managed to rope me in here! Nice work!

It's so frustrating trying to get other people to take the picture you have in your mind, isn't it? As soon as you said, "...and then I saw her hand turn the dial", I started to get annoyed on your behalf! Sigh...

Beautiful pictures of the WL. Man, I love that place.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Wow, I never spotted the beautiful carvings when we had a good look at Wilderness Lodge last year nor the non character totem poles. That definitely deserves a second look.

Corinna

 

[Leshaface]

Caught up last night but couldn't reply. DS broke out in hives and got all purple and threw up

Anywhoooo

Breakfast looks so yummy at the GFC!

V&A's. Sigh. That's all I have to say. That and how in the world did you do all this including seminars and F&W. You are my hero!

Now I can place a face to the Theme Park Connection. I didn't know it was a store, I thought it was some type of club like D23 Boy was I wrong.

I love the picture of Ruthie, you and Fran!

I'm so glad she bought the California letters. I really do miss them and glad I have a few pictures of them in my iPhoto.

I can't believe Fran bought all those steins....or wait, maybe I can

Man, that Tri-tip has almost as many RT flights as me

 

[jedijill]

Love WL...Fran got some great pictures.

Love that you took leftovers back to California! I wouldn't let good tri-tip go to waste either!

Jill in CO

 

[scottny]

V&A looked delicious. One day we will get there.
Theme park Connection looks nice. Maybe we will go there and peak.
Nice items you bought.
The steins are nice.
Loved the WL pics. It is a gorgeous resort. The bridge pics were nice.
All caught up again.

 

[rentayenta]

I love the nostalgia too Alison. That's part of the magic for us.


Hope you're feeling better. And got some sleep last night. Darn neighbors.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Looking at your VWL pictures is making me content that my WL for next weekend never came through - although I"m not too sure how much I"m really going to be able to enjoy the hotel with the amount I have planned for a very packed weekend.

 

[eandesmom]

It is such a crap shoot when someone else takes the shot no matter what you do. I swear Jeff can't get it right, ever! And, he probably thinks the same thing about the angles I choose.

I love the villa lobby and can't get too many pictures of those carvings so thank you for that.

I do like the picture, regardless, you both look great!

 

[franandaj]

Omg re cameragate. How come everybody walking past who look ordinary folk when handed a camera suddenly turns into one of the following..

1. Acting like you just handed them a ticking acme bomb ( omg I couldn't possibly take a photograph tooooo much responsibility....) and runs off screaming
2. Hands it to someone else to take even though you selected them and your heart sinks as you never would have selected the other person in a million years
3. Turns into photographer of the year suddenly changing elements on your camera you didn't know you had moving the camera around to an 'artistic' angles and standing on a bench saying 'oh yes baby that's great' like you are some kind of model in a bikini ( believe me this would have small children scared for days in my case )


I have taken to asking children. They do what they are told i.e just press the button, enjoy the responsibility and it seems to make their day!

The WL is a wonderful hotel. We feel privileged to have stayed there. I liked the way one moment I was looking out onto a beach and then next a path in a wilderness and finally inside with it's homely lodge style with the highest level of detail I just kept noticing each time I walked past the same place. It transforms and morphs throughout the day with it's lighting, architecture. It's both dark and light at the same time. Walking through the hall to our room reminded me of the tower of terror corridor you see or the haunted mansion. Agreed VBC have the location and I like the shape of the doors. But for theming AK and WL are just hotel porn lol.

You may have a point re children! I asked a teenager and you KNOW they don't do anything you ask! You gals need to come stay at the VGC. I swear that is totally my favorite hotel, but I am biased. It feels like my second home, I just love it there!

I have never been to WL but the pictures are beautiful, I will have to make it over there for a look see, the next time I am there. We tend to stay at BC, BW and Jambo House...

I guess I need to venture out some.

Sorry about the photo op... With my camera when I hand it to people they are scared to death and dont want to hold it. So DH just gives them his phone, which is just NOT the same.

When we met up I will take y'alls photo and not touch anything I promise.

Awesome! I don't like using my phone. It is totally a last resort. The camera that I handed to the person is a pretty nice one, it's a Canon Rebel, newer model that we got (actually on our last WDW trip Fran ordered it online on some kind of bargain basement special) last winter. It uses an SD card and not the Compact Flash (which is what our other nice DSLR camera uses). We "thought" if we had two DSLRs then we would both be able to have one, but now we just take the SD card camera and we both take our P&Ss. Silly us!

I just went back and looked at all the pics properly (as in not on my phone. The app kinda stinks and I can't click in to see pics larger... just get a blank page if I do). I love that you guys reproduced the shot from 15 years ago! How sweet!!!

I don't use the app, and just go from the "Internet", but I forget you have an iPhone, the one that doesn't have an App for Kakuro....

I wanted to make sure we re did that shot, extra pounds and all!

Really enjoyed the " step back in time " photo of you & Fran and re-handing the camera to someone Paula nailed it glad you fixed it

The more you show us of VWL the more I fall in love with it I just finished up the tri tip here too that you graciously gave me DELICIOUS as the day you made it As someone else posted I can definitely see a tag in your future about bi-coastal meat travel

Yes I STILL have not made it over to F & W, its ridiculous really but its like when someone lives in NY and never goes to see the Statue of Liberty assuming it will always be there well F & W will not always be there for 2013 and I better get a move on I have a Sat & Sun off coming up near the end of F & W not ideal, especially the weekend which I swore I wouldn't do but may have no choice

Sorry the TR is over but that only means a new PTR to look forward to and updates on your home

Continue to feel better my friends I miss you !

I'm glad that you were able to enjoy the leftover meat from the cookout. We never let good beef go to waste! We will make it happen for you to stay at VWL. We have points!

Hey, I got a shout-out!

You managed to rope me in here! Nice work!

It's so frustrating trying to get other people to take the picture you have in your mind, isn't it? As soon as you said, "...and then I saw her hand turn the dial", I started to get annoyed on your behalf! Sigh...

Beautiful pictures of the WL. Man, I love that place.

Hey, you know how us women folk are, we have our ways! I couldn't stop thinking about how both you and Ellen had gone through dilemmas of not getting the photos you wanted after handing your cameras off. I even asked a second person! So frustrating!

Even though we don't have burgers and PB&J, I hope you stick around for the ride, we have lots of other amusing scenarios, although unfortunately, most of this trip is enjoyed through food. I'm not sure how that is different from our other trips, but we do go on a few rides and see some shows and stuff, but I hate to say it, I think we mostly ate and drank this trip. A. LOT.

Wow, I never spotted the beautiful carvings when we had a good look at Wilderness Lodge last year nor the non character totem poles. That definitely deserves a second look.

Corinna

We loved the lobby of the lodge from our stay back 15 years ago. I remember enjoying the strata in the rock formations of the fireplace and several other parts of the lobby. I dated a geologist in college, so I went on quite a few rockhound camping trips. I love the look of rock formations!

Caught up last night but couldn't reply. DS broke out in hives and got all purple and threw up

Anywhoooo

Breakfast looks so yummy at the GFC!

V&A's. Sigh. That's all I have to say. That and how in the world did you do all this including seminars and F&W. You are my hero!

Now I can place a face to the Theme Park Connection. I didn't know it was a store, I thought it was some type of club like D23 Boy was I wrong.

I love the picture of Ruthie, you and Fran!

I'm so glad she bought the California letters. I really do miss them and glad I have a few pictures of them in my iPhoto.

I can't believe Fran bought all those steins....or wait, maybe I can

Man, that Tri-tip has almost as many RT flights as me

I know, at some point a TF is going to read my TRs and give me some kind oaf a meat tag. We took that Prime Rib to the Titanic exhibit before cooking it at AKV and the tri tip went through TSA searches. I wonder what they thought when their hands hit frozen meat!

Love WL...Fran got some great pictures.

Love that you took leftovers back to California! I wouldn't let good tri-tip go to waste either!

Jill in CO

And it didn't kill us when we ate it here. Made some GREAT French Dip sandwiches!

V&A looked delicious. One day we will get there.
Theme park Connection looks nice. Maybe we will go there and peak.
Nice items you bought.
The steins are nice.
Loved the WL pics. It is a gorgeous resort. The bridge pics were nice.
All caught up again.

I love the nostalgia too Alison. That's part of the magic for us.


Hope you're feeling better. And got some sleep last night. Darn neighbors.

Here I was thinking... "How did you know that our neighbors are a PITA and the police come to their house on a regular basis, we can't wait to move"

And then I realized you were talking about YOUR neighbors!

Looking at your VWL pictures is making me content that my WL for next weekend never came through - although I"m not too sure how much I"m really going to be able to enjoy the hotel with the amount I have planned for a very packed weekend.

I definitely need to get back over to your TR and catch up! I'm not finished with the last segment. I think the last thing I read was your picture stalking me! I may have to include that on my TR when I get to that point!

It is such a crap shoot when someone else takes the shot no matter what you do. I swear Jeff can't get it right, ever! And, he probably thinks the same thing about the angles I choose.

I love the villa lobby and can't get too many pictures of those carvings so thank you for that.

I do like the picture, regardless, you both look great!

I know, even when Fran picked out the shot, the CM she gave it to didn't change the focus, but Fran had it too far out of range, I wanted a pretty much close up shot, just like we had before. I guess I should have showed her the picture I was trying to recreate beforehand!

Thanks! We both need to lose weight but otherwise, we were happy and enjoying ourselves, so I guess that qualifies as great!

 

[franandaj]

So last we left off, we were checking out of the VWL and heading over to Epcot to enjoy some of the F&W kiosks before checking int the BCV.

We arrived at Epcot in good time, it was sunny. Quite extraordinarily so. And we snapped these photos of the entrance to Epcot.





They had the Cranberry Bog set up again this year.





And then we went full swing into the F&W kiosks. We started off with Brazil.



We got the Frozen Caipirinha, Crispy Pork Belly and the Seared Scallop. Of course I loved the Caipirinha, I always do, on the rocks or frozen. I didn’t know what to expect from the other two, sorry about the blurry pictures, but both we absolutely astounding! I’m not a fan of black beans, but they were really good with the pork belly, I mean anything tastes better with bacon, and this was a crispy, fatty pork belly. The scallop was excellent! If I ever come to F&W and I get to do anything twice, I would come back to these in a heartbeat!



Pork Belly



Blurry Scallop over rice



Next we plowed on to Argentina. I remembered really liking both of these items four years ago, enough to want to try them again even though there was new stuff to be had.



We got the Grilled Beef Skewer and the suggested pairing of the Malbec. We also got the Beef Empanada and I ordered the Pascual Sparkling Brut since I know Fran has a weak spot for sparkling beverages.







Everything was very good. I probably should have tried something new, but I was into the whole latin vibe so I went with it.


[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]


Next we went to Mexico.



We got the Taco de Rib Eye, the Shrimp Taco and the Tequila Flight. These were the three tequilas that were included in the flight.



This is the Rib Eye taco. It was OK, but you really don’t want to over cook rib-eye, as far as I was concerned it could have been sirloin, or flank steak and it would have tasted just the same maybe even better. It was so over cooked that the fat and flavor were pretty much cooked out of it. Overall it tasted good and we didn’t throw it out. I just didn’t see the point of using Rib-eye.



This tequila flight was so cute. Now don’t let the scope of the picture fool you. These are tiny sips. We barely got three sips total out of each of these, and that was taking little “tasting” sips. They were all very good and normally we aren’t fans of the Anejo (the darkest one), but it had a sweetness to it that both of us really liked. I’m glad that I took pictures of the bottles so I know what the tequilas are, especially when we are in Cozumel next year, we might know what to buy!



Both of us thought the Shrimp Taco was a real winner! This is another one that I would go back for again. The shrimp were battered and fried lightly, not until over done, just tender enough to be juicy and tasty.



We were getting very hot (it was a really hot day out with the sun beating down on us) and were still thirsty, when we came upon the margarita cart. Who can resist the lovely margaritas? Not us! I was sad that they had changed the menu and no longer had the Blue Curacao Patron Margarita, so we went for the traditional flavor. I got a blended one and Fran got hers on the rocks, both with salt. We traded off sipping them in the shade next to a little gift shop over the water in Mexico.









After we finished our Margaritas, we headed on to South Korea. I forgot to take a picture of their menu, but we ended up with a Kim-Chi dog and their pork lettuce wraps.





We stopped into Karamel Kuche because I had done all the buying the previous night. Fran evidently didn’t feel that I had purchased enough so she bought some more salted caramels, some more caramel pinwheels, some caramel corn and another chocolate and caramel covered rice krispie treat. I got a chocolate and caramel covered strawberry which I shared with her.



Then we pushed on to American or perhaps it is known as Hops & Barley.



We got the griddled lobster tail, the lobster roll, the La Crema Chardonnay and the rogue Chocolate Stout.



I really didn’t care for either of these items. The lobster tail was a little overcooked and tough, and the lobster roll wasn’t creamy like I’ve had them in New England. It was just big chunks of lobster and some mayo on the bread. I prefer my lobster chopped up and mixed in with some celery, onions, and mayo in the roll. Oh well, you can’t love everything!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Yum! What great blissful bites!


I haven't had dinner yet so I'm sitting here wiping my screen after I've licked it. I always like the look of the South American food; but somehow, we didn't really make it round to some of those stands this time.

 

[dgbg100106]

oh everything looked good... Which is part of the problem... Everything looks good but does not taste good.

The last time I was there.... ummm 2 years ago. I was very disappointed with the lobster and said i would not go back. Very over cooked.

Sorry to hear the tacos were overcooked, I agree, you want to fat marble in a rib eye.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Hey, you know how us women folk are, we have our ways! I couldn't stop thinking about how both you and Ellen had gone through dilemmas of not getting the photos you wanted after handing your cameras off. I even asked a second person! So frustrating!

I think Ellen and I totally sympathize!

Even though we don't have burgers and PB&J, I hope you stick around for the ride, we have lots of other amusing scenarios, although unfortunately, most of this trip is enjoyed through food. I'm not sure how that is different from our other trips, but we do go on a few rides and see some shows and stuff, but I hate to say it, I think we mostly ate and drank this trip. A. LOT.

Nothing wrong with that! Part of the fun of vacation is not having to cook for yourself.

Contrary to popular belief, I don't just eat burgers and PB&J. The PB&J is less of a culinary choice and more of an economic necessity. I just don't have gourmet/expensive tastes, that's all. I do really want to check out the F&W festival someday though.

I’m not a fan of black beans, but they were really good with the pork belly, I mean anything tastes better with bacon, and this was a crispy, fatty pork belly.

Everything IS better with bacon. Especially when you can sweep the black beans off to the side and just eat the bacon.

We got the griddled lobster tail, the lobster roll, the La Crema Chardonnay and the rogue Chocolate Stout.

Sorry you didn't care for the lobster items. Did you like the chocolate stout? Yards Brewery out of Philly is a local brewer that makes a chocolate stout here, and it's my favorite beer ever.

 

[Luvchefmic]

I had told you I hadn't gone to F & W Well as much as I hate the fact of going on a weekend and the LAST weekend at that, I hate even more missing it so I am going on Sunday Nov 10 My plan is get in and out super early so as not to encounter " Food & Drunk " and then get over to DTD as they are having an Art Festival of some sort, I think its the sidewalk chalk thing and I really want to get over to see

It helps that you put the signs/prices and I am taking notes on your venture

 

[Pinkocto]

Lots of delicious treats! I would definitely try the shrimp taco, that looked scrumptious.

Too cute Fran felt the need to buy more caramel goodies. I loved the rice crispy treat but I'd much rather have it with only caramel, no chocolate.