Before I finish the story of Day 5, I have to mention that DH pointed out I have been remiss in chronicling the envelopes I got from him each day of our anniversary trip. Every morning as I was getting ready, I would discover a new one somewhere in the room – in my shoe or under my hat or propped up on the counter. Each one contained a coupon for something fun like a dress-up dinner or a back rub, and DH wrote progressively longer love notes on the envelopes. It was such a sweet idea, and I was impressed that he thought to do it! I even got one on Day 5 when he was ill.
And now back to today’s thrilling installment of.... “Return to the Scene of the Crime: The Lurkyloos’ Anniversary at WDW”!
When we went back to the DVC preview center after the model tour, we didn’t get to go back to any of the pretty conversational groupings in the main area. Instead we were taken through a warren of passageways lined with doors to tiny, windowless rooms. Our cell had just enough room for a loveseat, a table and a console with a TV on it. We didn’t have to watch the video presentation because we’d already been on the tour at
Disneyland.
Our guide laid out the DVC financing plan and incentives and gave us a preview of the
points charts for Bay Lake Tower, since that’s the one we were most interested in (well, the one we’re MOST interested in is Beach Club Villas, but they don’t like it when you ask for properties that they consider “sold out”).
It always sounds sooooooo reasonable: Just a couple hundred dollars a month and you too can own a piece of Disney! But the things that were hard for me to remember in the haze of my excitement were: 1) We’d be paying a couple hundred dollars a month for TEN YEARS for something that we would only get to take advantage of for a week or so in each of those ten years; 2) Membership only covers the cost of your room, not meals and tickets or (in our case) rental car and airfare from the West Coast; 3) In order to stay where you really want to, you have to make your plans 11 months in advance. And if you decide to go at the last minute, you’ll end up at Saratoga Springs cuz there’s never any availability anywhere else; 4) The low-ball figures they give you are for the minimum number of points required to buy in, which only works if you want to go once a year or once every couple of years and can get into the cheapest category of studio – which everybody and their brother is also trying to do in order to maximize their minimum number of points.
However, I willingly admit that I would love to own DVC just from an emotional standpoint, knowing that I can (theoretically) go back to WDW any time I want! Plus, I am dying to just once in my life sit in the Jacuzzi tub of a one-bedroom villa at Bay Lake Tower with the interior window open so I can see through the exterior window to the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom!
But, to me, ownership only makes sense if you can afford it outright. And as long as we can continue to rent DVC points for less than the cost of staying at a Moderate resort, we’d be fools to buy!
Anyway, at the time, in that tiny room, DH was the only one with his logic chip on. He was thinking “Well, we definitely can’t afford this!” while I was sitting there planning which Lush bubble bath to use during Wishes in October....
Our Guide left the room so we could stew over things.
Ay yi yiiiiiii!
When she came back, we had to break the news that we wouldn’t be buying, even though, by rights, she was owed at least a 100-point Saratoga Springs contract just for having to see DH toss his cookies.
I felt bad enough about that as it was, but then she got kinda snippy with us and was like, “Well, just so you know, you’ve already done two tours to get gift card incentives, so you can never get an incentive again.”
I was thinking, “So, um, does that mean we can’t do it again for free ice cream either?” but didn’t want to say it and make her even angrier!
So we were unceremoniously dumped out into the hallway with vague directions to the exit and warm wishes that the door not hit us on the way out... just kidding! The wishes weren’t warm....
I think we found somebody to point us in the direction of the van waiting area/ice cream parlor, where I insisted on getting a sundae just because I could.
It was pretty much just Edy’s ice cream with Hershey’s syrup on top, but it was free!
I was under the impression that we were waiting for our ride back to the resort, but when we decided to get DH out of the too-sweet-smelling ice cream parlor, we discovered a row of vans at the ready. We got a ride straight back to the Beach Club, where DH decided to call it a day and crawl into bed. Of course, he told me to keep our ADR at Brown Derby and have some fun, but for the first time in my whole entire life (that’s right, my whole ENTIRE life), I felt trepidation about going out by myself.
This was very weird. When I was single, I did tons of stuff solo – including eating in restaurants and spending the weekend at Disneyland – and really enjoyed it. In fact, I prefer doing stuff by myself to doing things in groups. But for some reason that night I was really reluctant to go out at safe and fun-filled WDW by myself. It felt so daunting and unknown and scary.
In my mind, I started cycling through all the people in the area I knew and thinking about who I could impose upon. I seriously considered going crying to the Roots like a little sissy-baby, and Lacey & Eric were just lucky that I didn’t have their phone number!
Heidi & Tom, however, were not so lucky. I suddenly remembered the Roots mentioning that the couple (who’d had a
gorgeous vow renewal at the Wedding Pavilion almost two weeks earlier) were still in town and interested in meeting up. So I had their room number at Saratoga Springs! Poor suckers...
I left a message and headed off to DHS for a few rides before my Brown Derby ADR.
The first thing I discovered about being at WDW by yourself is that it’s really hard to take a novelty shot with one hand, on an iPhone.
Do you like my chapeau?
The second thing I discovered (well, remembered) is.... SINGLE RIDER LINE!!!!
I still had time to kill after my thrilling backstage experience at an Aerosmith show, so I hit Tower of Terror. As I waited in line, I used the Magic of the Internets and my iPhone to arrange to meet Heidi & Tom at Ghirardelli after their dinner at Narcoossee’s.
On the way out, I got a good look at the gift shop’s display windows for the first time ever. They have some really cool stuff in them!
I headed over to the Brown Derby for their last seating. The waiter seemed kind of disconcerted to be serving a solo diner – he was really chummy with the huge group across from me but always seemed uncomfortable when he came over to my table. Come to think of it, he was pretty chummy with the guy dining alone behind me.... maybe I had something in my teeth?
I got a nice table for two up above the main floor.
Real Camera
iPhone Camera
When we ate here on our honeymoon, I had been surprised by the quality of the ingredients and interesting menu items, which were closer to those of a resort Signature Restaurant than a theme park place. This time, however, not so much...
You can’t go wrong with a huge ol’ slab of butter!
Cremini Mushroom Chevre Raviolo - with spinach, veal stock reduction, and shaved parmigiano
This was nowhere near as good as the raviolo I had at California Grill. The pasta was tough and the filling bland, and the veal stock reduction was separating into greasy globules.
Sterling Silver Pork Tenderloin with white cheddar mustard spaetzle, Swiss chard, onion-pomegranate reilish and cider jus
This was pretty dang good. It was the white cheddar mustard spaetzle and onion-pomegranate relish that sold it. The pork tenderloin was just OK – but at least it was actually cooked medium rare.
At one point my waiter must’ve warmed up to me, because he offered to bring me the restaurant copy of a book about the original Brown Derby and its caricatures. However, it turned out the guy behind me was reading it, so the waiter ended up bringing me a 300-page book to read with the bill! I skimmed.
After dinner I lingered a little in the empty park. I’d booked our ADR for park closing time so we could enjoy the strolling the empty streets together, but now it was just me and my cameras...
The good thing was, it was super-easy to get out of the parking lot, so I hopped in Clementine and whizzed down Buena Vista Drive toward Downtown Disney. I had two hours to kill before Heidi & Tom got there, so I poked around in the shops, bought a ginormous Oreo cookie at Goofy’s Candy Co. (for later, of course), and sat at the new Marketplace amphitheatre and replied to comments on my live blog.
First they pick up an Oreo [vanilla for me!] the size of a saucer....
Then they dunk it in white, milk, or dark chocolate [milk] and bury it in your choice of topping [Oreo crumbs]....
Where’d it go?
There it is!
And then they drizzle it with the chocolate of your choice [milk].
It may not win any beauty contests, but it certainly passed the taste test with flying colors!
I think youve coined a new term! And I agree Disney needs in-park apartments! 
Boo! 
Yay!
