September '16 Trip Report - An appropriate redo (9/10 - the end of the story)

[JustCor]

Hello everyone!

I'm currently on day one of a trip that almost didn't happen. I did a little vacation back in April for my birthday and things just didn't go off as I had hoped they would. Granted, it wasn't necessarily a bad trip, but there were things that kind of put me in a bummer mood by the end of the trip.

That April Trip Report can be found here, if you care to take a look.

That trip kind of took the wind out of my sails for Disney. It was more frustrating than fun, and I gave thought to putting a hiatus on future trips. It could have been a fluke though, so after an incredibly hectic May at work that saw a TON of overtime, I ended up with a windfall of cash and an idea: Birthday Trip Redo.

Last year, right around this same time, I called a travel agent to book a trip and came across an excellent deal for the Polynesian Resort (and the Trip Report to go along with it) that was too good of a deal to pass up. It was a really nice surprise to see what it was like to stay at a Monorail resort, and there were definitely some very wonderful perks to being that close to Magic Kingdom.

This year, I called the same travel agent, who happened to have the same kind of deals going on. This time, I chose to stay at the Grand Floridian. It's still not real to me, and it won't be until Monday. I did a little planning, made some minor changes, and here I am, sitting in a nice hotel room, wearing a fancy pants robe, about to write up a little bit on Day 1.

My name is Corey, and this is my latest trip report.

 

[JustCor]

Day 1: Pre-vacation Vacation

My trip starts off here at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club and Lodge. I'm not a golfer. I've never golfed in my life. I've hit a few balls at the driving range, by I've never been on a proper golf course. This probably won't change by the time I leave Bay Hill. How did I end up here? Searching. I realized I had a couple days of buffer on each side of my Disney trip and a desire to fill one end or the other. Originally, the plan was to butt it up in such a way that I would catch one of the Halloween Party nights and go from there. In order to do that, though, I would need the right hotel for it. Preferably, I would stay at a Disney Resort in order to keep the transportation easy and to not have to worry about leaving the madness in my car and get back to a hotel after a long night of walking around. The problem, though, became price. While this is something of a slow time for Disney, the resort costs weren't really adding up in my head. The cheapest options would be the values, naturally, but the idea of staying in a value after some not so pleasant experiences at All Star Sports and All Star Movies soured me on the idea. Moderate it is. Except, they weren't exactly prices I was looking to pay. By the time I added everything up, I'd be in this trip for another $400+, and I just didn't think that was all that great an idea. Instead, I just started looking at places to just relax. Bay Hill kept popping up in my searches with some very high praise from golfers and non-golfers. The price was also nice, avoiding some of the parking and resort fees that would get tacked on to any places even remotely close to Disney or Universal. And, here I am.

Let's look at the room:

Pretty standard looking. The beds are either larger fulls or smaller queens. I haven't figured it out, but probably fulls. They comfortable, slotting into the not-too-soft and not-too-firm zone that I like. There are plenty of nice pillows and the typical nicer sheets of a higher end hotel. The room is larger than the picture seems to show. It feels more spread out. Some of the other places I've been have crammed all the necessities into a tiny room, leaving it feeling like a tight squeeze in every direction. The table by the window is a nice place to relax, with two very comfortable chairs. It's where I'm currently sitting to do this trip report. It's a nice size and lets me spread out my notes and my laptop to collect my thoughts.

The bathroom is quite nice. I've said it before: I like a good bathroom. It's a good size, well laid out, and just looks nice and clean. The towels are some of the softest towels I've felt, anywhere. I believe this may be an accessible bathroom, as there's no tub, just a big open shower, but I actually LOVE that. I'm not going to ever fit in a standard bathtub, so having it be a nice open shower area is a huge plus.

The toiletries smell nice, and as mentioned in my live trip report, the mouthwash is unexpected and just stood out immediately as a nice additional touch. The robe, which I'm wearing now, is super comfortable. I've never been a robe person, but I might have to reconsider now. I feel like a lazy ninja. Everything is just the right amount of extra that makes this place feel a little better than just a standard hotel. It feels very comfortable here, like a place that I could belong on a regular basis.

The hotel has an interesting system where none of the on-site restaurants takes cash or credit. Instead, you're given a card that is tied to your room that you use to identify yourself and that they charge to. It's similar to the MagicBands, I suppose, except there's no other options for payment. It reminds me of a country club I once worked at.

It's only been a day, but I'm impressed with Bay Hill. The staff is very friendly, it's set back in a beautiful area, and it's surrounded by a lot of restaurants. Disney and Universal are both short drives away. I really like it here. I wish I played golf. I think this would be even more amazing if I was a golfer. Maybe next stay I'll take advantage of their golf lessons and I'll play a round.

I'm off to a good start, it would seem.

 

[JustCor]

I have things to do

I purchased tickets to a limited showing of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Blazing Saddles, both being shown back-to-back at the AMC theater in Disney Springs. I've seen both on DVD or VHS, but never in a theater. I was looking forward to the experience.

I had some time to kill before the show, so I walked around the new sections of Disney Springs. It's really been built up into a nice area of shops and restaurants. It's quite impressive. I've been used to the construction walls blocking off large chunks of it, and now it seems so vast. I stopped at a poutine place and got the Classic Poutine. I've heard about this stuff many times and have always wanted to try it, but never had the opportunity. It was kind of a let down. The gravy is overpowering, and it's just not good gravy to begin with. It's cheap and has a funky, generic taste that just washes over everything else. What a bummer. Time for movies.

Willy Wonka was up first. I think my expectations were... different, I suppose. I have very fond memories of the movie and have seen it quite a few times, but I realized that in recent years I've typically stumbled across it on tv somewhere in the middle. I only had a vague recollection of the beginning of the movie. It's a slow burn, that's to be sure. The setup of the movie and introduction of the characters seems to drag out a bit. It's kind of clunky. The kid behind me wasn't enjoying it so much, and I was the victim of his boredom as he constantly kicked the back of my chair. Little jerk.

Everything changes when Gene Wilder shows up. The movie becomes the classic that I know and love. The pacing is much improved and the story is far more enjoyable. There's a nice flow to it, and probably because they're picking up steam to get to the end after a slow beginning. The kids seem far more awful on this viewing. I think it's because they're no longer overblown caricatures of spoiled children, but rather a far more common theme in today's kids. Veruca Salt, especially, had me fuming. I've seen kids like that. They're not supposed to exist.

From Gene Wilder's introduction on, the movie is a true pleasure to watch. He's a fantastic actor with subtle movements, facial expressions, and quick quips that add so many layers to the movie. Everything after that point makes up from the clunky beginning.

After the showing let out, there was a quick clean-up and turn around for the next movie: Blazing Saddles. Blazing Saddles could not be made today. It'd be impossible. The racial slurs and crude humor would cause any studio to pump the breaks and either edit the living crap out of the movie or can it completely. I've seen it two or three times, but this was the first time in a theater. This was the experience that I expected out of Willy Wonka and did not expect out of Blazing Saddles. As soon as the title popped on screen, there were applause. When Gene Wilder's name popped up on screen, there were applause. When Mel Brooks name popped up on screen, there were applause. When Madeline Kahn's name popped up on screen, there were more applause. People were excited to see this movie. That excitement seemed to be lacking in the Willy Wonka showing. When each character showed on screen for the first time, people went crazy. There was so much laughter during the film. It's just a great film from a different time that's still very funny. To contrast that, the previews before Blazing Saddles were for various comedies that leaned towards a raunchy side. They just didn't look funny. Everything looked formulaic. It's easy to tell from the previews that the funny parts are probably in the trailer and the films will be predictable and dumb. And then you're rewarded with an actual funny movie. Laughter, line reciting, applause, and a standing ovation at the end. What an experience.

And now, I sit here in my room at Bay Hill in a fancy pants robe recalling the night and I'm happy with how today went. Tomorrow: probably nothing, but I'll be having a great time doing it. Until tomorrow, friends.

 

[Trixie15]

What a great opportunity to see a couple of Gene Wilder films on screen. Too bad they didn't show Young Frankenstein - one of my favorites! Sounds like your trip is off to a great start!

 

[JustCor]

What a great opportunity to see a couple of Gene Wilder films on screen. Too bad they didn't show Young Frankenstein - one of my favorites! Sounds like your trip is off to a great start!

It was excellent! I'm hoping that this spurs on some other showings of more older movies.

 

[JustCor]

Day 2: the lazy day

I left plans open for today, partially to see how things would go with the weather, and partially to just give myself a day of nothing. Work has been really busy lately, with plenty of late nights, so a day of nothing was definitely in order. With that in mind, I did very little, as my live trip report could attest to. For lunch I went to a sandwich shop called Which Wich, that I really enjoyed. The food was very tasty and the ordering was different but easy. After, I drove around the area just to check it out. I've spent the past few months debating whether or not to move somewhere else. I like where I am, but my job has become less satisfying since new management took over. So, I did the dream thing and drove around the area to get an idea of what it would be like to live up here. It'd be interesting, for sure. It's fun as a tourist, but may be a bit more crowded than I enjoy otherwise.

The neighborhood around the hotel I'm staying at is gorgeous. There are some very nice homes tucked away in a quiet spot. It's an area I would happily call home, were it not for the roughly half million dollar starting price of the area. I do ok at work, but not that ok. Oh well, a pipe dream is still a dream.

After driving around, I spent most of the day lounging in the room and napping, before headed to meet friends at Fogo de Chao. As is customary, we ate considerably too much food, to the point of serious discomfort. Perhaps the high dollar amount makes us feel like we really need to put away the food to get the most value out of our meals. Or maybe we're just pigs. Either way, we ate a metric ton of meat and sides and left very satisfied. The constant barrage of different cuts of meat that swarm the tables can be overwhelming. In about five minutes after sitting down, we already had a huge chunk of filet mignon, three different cuts of sirloin, and lamb skewers stop by our table. Pacing is key, otherwise it becomes overwhelming. We ate plenty though, which is always a good thing. That should cover my meat needs for the next year or so.

The weather is currently rainy, perfect for continuing to do nothing. I'm not sure there's much more I would want to do today anyway. As full as I am, a churro or something donut like sounds really good right now, but I'm just going to pass on that one and digest this brick of meats. There will be plenty of time for sweets and treats tomorrow, when I check out of Bay Hill and check into the Grand Floridian.

My proper Disney vacation begins tomorrow! I can't wait!

Thank you for reading along. Until tomorrow my friends.

 

[JustCor]

Day 3: the move to Disney!

Today started in a similar lazy fashion as yesterday ended: chock full of laziness. I woke up a little late, had to get a little motivated to move, and finally got going around the 10 o'clock mark. Checking out of Bay Hill was a breeze. I had no incidental charges, so I dropped off the key and left. Nice and easy, just the way I like it. I will miss Bay Hill. It was a nice and peaceful place to stay, away from the hectic theme park traffic, but close to restaurants and other niceties. I would definitely consider going back again for a longer stay. I may even try the golf on the next go round.

It was just about 10:30 as I rolled out of the Bay Hill parking lot. I wanted to grab some food and also pick up some room supplies for the Disney half of the trip. The one thing I did miss while at Bay Hill was any kind of mini fridge. I failed to realize how incredibly nice it was until I didn't have it. I had that same problem last trip when I stayed at a Sheraton. I just blanked that experience out of my mind because blah. A quick stop at Publix and I had plenty of water and Gatorade to last the rest of the trip, and probably through the end of the week. Mark that off the list of things to do. Now, it was time to find food. I slowly made my way closer to Disney and wound up in the parking lot of a shopping center that contained Flippers Pizza, Moe's, Fuddruckers, and TGIFridays. Last trip, I ate at Flippers and really enjoyed it. I had a very tasty calzone that came out to well under $10. That was definitely tempting. Moe's is also good for a burrito fill up. I'm a fan of the Fudds. TGIFridays has been pretty consistent for me. I had ten minutes to decide which to go to before they would all open. In the end, I chose TGIFridays based on a series of coinflips.

I was kind of hoping to catch the $10 endless apps, but either it wasn't served at this establishment (not surprising really) or it's not currently around. Oh well. Burger it is. I ordered the Stacked Truffle Burger and started to regret not going to Fuddruckers. I mean, in all honesty, why wouldn't I just go to the burger place to get a burger? Seems to make a good deal of sense, right? The burger came out while I pondered this decision.

I needn't have worried. The burger was incredibly delicious. The cheese was nice and gooey, the bacon crisp and salty, and the truffle flavor added a wonderful earthy tone to the whole meal. I polished off the burger fairly quickly and ate maybe half of the fries. Their fries are meh, but I didn't care. The burger did the job. I lingered a bit to give plenty of time for a room to be ready (hopefully) and then finally made my way to Disney proper.

Home, at least for the next few days. As you can see, it was lightly raining, perhaps a little sprinkle, but it would soon pick up a little. I parked the car and took my luggage to get checked in. I was fortunate that they had my room ready so that I wouldn't have to check my luggage or take it back to the car. Check-in was nice and smooth, and all of it was wrapped up in just a few minutes. I made my way to Sago Kay and took the elevator up to the 4th floor and finally to my room.

I was slightly apprehensive about what I would think about the room. I've stayed at other deluxes (Poly, AKL) and felt slightly let down that I didn't think they were all that much better than my benchmark of the Royal Guest Room at POR. I never felt I was really getting that much more out of the deluxe resorts that would justify the higher costs. Sure, Poly was nice and close to MK and one of the monorail resorts, and AKL has that sweet Savanna, but I would have been just as happy and slightly richer if I just went back to POR. That thought stuck in my head as I made the walk to the room. GF is a big deal to me. The hotel itself is gorgeous. I've walked around quite a few times while staying elsewhere. It would be a real bummer if the room wasn't up to snuff.

No worries. All is well.

Nice! Very nice, actually. Spacious and well appointed. Fears diminished!

King sized bed, just what I had hoped for, though I didn't actually specify that preference. I just figured I would take what I was given. So far, I'm batting a thousand.

The couch is a nice thing to have, right next to the balcony door so it gets a good bit of natural light. I like having somewhere to sit that isn't a bed or a small chair. It's a little worn, but it's comfy. I have no complaints.

Not a bad bathroom. Bay Hill had a nicer one, with a larger size, but this is hardly a problem. It'll work just fine.

Now, I'm not one that makes a stink about the view. When I stayed at Poly, I had a nice view of construction and construction vehicles. No big deal. When I was at AKL, it was a view of the pool. Whatever. Even POR had a solid view of the parking lot. Don't care. There's no real bad view for me. What I wasn't expecting, though, was a great view. I booked a standard room. No preferences, no real requests. Take what comes my way and that'll be more than fine. What I got, however, was magic.

The picture does no justice, naturally, but from my balcony is a view of the Castle! Awesome! Really, I couldn't have asked for better! Score! Homerun! Absolutely incredible!

So, I was more than a little excited with my luck of the draw. I unloaded my stuff, put my drinks in the fridge to cool down and sat on the comfy red couch and soaked it all in. Then it started to rain. You know what? A little rain couldn't bring me down. I took that opportunity to enjoy the room and view. So stoked!

 

[JustCor]

Parks and Dinner

The rain began to let up so I made my way to the park to catch my first fast pass selection: 7DMT. It's a fun ride, for sure, but it's just not worth the 70+ minute standby time. I'm not buying into the hype of the ride. If I can get a fast pass for it, that's all well and good, but it won't break my heart not to ride it on a given trip. I got my ride in, so yay me I suppose. I wandered the park a bit and hopped on Little Mermaid.

The stand-by time always cracks me up. Today it was showing 20 minutes. I'm not sure where they're pulling this number out of. Maybe they consider that they amount of time it takes to walk from the entrance through the long and winding queue to get to the actual ride. That has to be it, because there were few people going on the ride, and was essentially a walk-on.

Fun! Not a thrill a minute, but a cute little ride that's good for a rest and some AC.

Now, I had a decision to make. I had about 50 minutes until my dinner ADR at The Wave. Do I try to squeeze in another ride somewhere or just bit the bullet and go early? I chose to go early. I wasn't sure how long the monorail would take and I didn't want to miss my reservation. So, after a brief trip into the Magic Kingdom, it was off to The Wave for dinner!

I arrived about half an hour early. I'm ok with that. Better early than late. I sat in one of the awkwardly low couches in the lobby area and people watched for a while. With about ten minutes to go, I decided to see if I could be seated early. No problem, as it turns out. The Wave confuses me a little. The food is delicious and the service is good, but I've never been there when it's been any kind of busy. My expectations are always that it'll be packed like every other restaurant, and that I'll be eating my meal while practically rubbing elbows with someone at another table.

Not the case at all. It was me and two other tables for the first 20 minutes or so of my dinner. It did slowly start to fill, but by the time I left it was only hovering at about half full. I guess it's a secret, or something. People are really missing out.

The bread was first, very soft and full of flavor, served with a slab of butter topped with Hawaiian sea salt. Very good, though the butter was too hard to spread, so I just chopped it up into small pieces and made a butter sandwich. Goofy looking, sure, but it was very good.

The food is seasonal. The current menu is the Summer menu. According to my waitress, Meghan, this menu was due for a change in a week or two over to the Fall menu. It's a nice selection of dishes that cover different tastes. I chose to start with the Bacon and Egg appetizer, the the lump crab cake was calling out to me as well. I figured I'd go with the scallops to cover my seafood needs.

I mentioned it in my live trip report: I'm not a grits fan. I haven't ever had any grits that have made me want to be a grits person. To be honest, I'm not even sure why I ordered this dish. It shouldn't appeal to me in any fashion. Too much grits. Not enough other things. I'm glad I took the chance. This is the first time that I can honestly say that the grits were my favorite part of this dish. They were amazing. It's hard to even believe I typed that, but they were truly the star of the show. The egg was really good and mixed in well with the grits, and the pork was ok, but the grits, oh my god they were so good. I should have ordered two more plates and called it a night.

Main course: Scallops and risotto. The scallops were also excellent. They were cooked to perfection. Super tender, juicy, full of fresh flavor and a hint of the sea, and nowhere near overcooked and rubbery. They were amazing. I've never had risotto before. I'm not sure how it's supposed to be, but it was... weird. The texture threw me. I couldn't quite wrap my head around it. The flavor was fine, but the texture just didn't agree with me. It was creamy, but also chunky. My brain kept telling me they were undercooked, but I have no real frame of reference on how they were supposed to be. I ate about a quarter of the risotto and left the rest. Since I didn't finish that, I had plenty of room for dessert.

I started with a Godiva Chocolate Martini because... why the heck not? Then I followed it up with a Chocolate Peanut butter cake and a german chocolate cake. My eyes may have been bigger than my stomach at this point. I finished most of it but couldn't finish it all. Oh well, mission accomplished. I ate, and ate very well. If you haven't been to The Wave, I highly recommend it. The food is delicious and it just never seems to be busy, so it's quiet and peaceful. That's a rare commodity on Disney grounds.

After dinner I took a quick stop to the room to recharge the phone a bit and clean up a little and headed back to Magic Kingdom. I missed my Space Mountain fast pass, but that was probably for the better. I may have ended up leaving my dinner on the tracks. Instead, I went on Haunted Mansion, followed by my fast pass for Peter Pan, then Buzz Lightyear a couple of times. I made my way back to the hotel to watch fireworks from the balcony, but I guess I somehow missed it. Odd.

Overall, it's been a great day. I couldn't be happier with the room, the food, and the fun. Until tomorrow!

 

[buteraa]

Great trip report so far. Thanks for sharing.

 

[SarahSnow]

Great report so far!

 

[JustCor]

Great trip report so far. Thanks for sharing.

Great report so far!

Thank you for following along! I hope you continue to enjoy it!

 

[Trixie15]

Your room looks great! I'm hoping on a future trip to upgrade resorts a little.

 

[JustCor]

Disney Day 2

I suppose now that I'm home, I should get back to this and work on completing it. Oh real world, you're not as fun as vacation world.

Day two was a bit of Epcot mixed in with a bit of Hollywood Studios. The day started with a bit of a jam-up at the entrance to Epcot.

There was very little movement in all of the lines, and I never really did figure out what the hold up was. Some of it appeared to be just from a large amount of new park goers getting slowed up at the fingerprint part because they weren't in the system yet. So many people in my line seemed to be getting the blue lights instead of the green, and a CM with a tablet and a fingerprint reader was bouncing between a handful of scanners getting these people squared away. I haven't seen that kind of mess while trying to enter any of the parks. I wonder if there are times of the year when it's more common. Regardless, I while the entrance was something of a mob scene, the park itself was relatively light on people. Soarin' had a fair wait, but everything else was running around 20 - 30 minutes for standby, if not less. There's not much in the way of rides that I care to do for Epcot. Mostly, it's a food destination for me. I do like the Finding Nemo thing, though. It's kind of peaceful and I really like the aquarium part at the end. It doesn't ever seem to get old. After the ride, I made a line straight to the Refreshment Port.

I really was craving a croissant donut, and it didn't let me down. It's a little crispy on the exterior, with a soft interior. It's just delicious. I could have had multiples, but one is more than enough. It's a little on the super sweet side. With a water to wash it all down, as well as diluting some of that sweetness, I found a seat in the shade and enjoyed the donut. It really hit the spot, too. Little did I realize, it would be the only thing I would eat until dinner. Good thing it was fairly filling. I slowly made my way to the World Showcase and decided to skip it and head straight to Hollywood Studios. I'm not really sure why I skipped it, now that I think about it. There are a lot of snacks and things that I was looking forward to getting, like ice cream and caramels and other sugar drenched things. Instead, I just passed on it, and then never found my way back to Epcot for the rest of the trip. Huh, I just realized that. Anyway, one of the Friendship boats was docked and boarding, so I hopped right on the boat for a relaxing cruise that eventually reached Hollywood Studios. I've found that my favorite form of transportation at WDW is pretty much any of the boats. The boat ride from Epcot to Hollywood Studios (and back) is my favorite. It's a sedate little trip that makes a few stops, but it's a good way to cool off and recover a bit between the parks. On this trip, the Captain pointed out two bald eagles sitting on top of the Swan of the Swan and Dolphin Resorts. It was awesome. My attempts to take a picture were failures. They looked like two black smudges on my camera. Still, it was very cool to see. We eventually docked at Hollywood Studios and I made my way into the park. No random search this time! I had few actual plans for this park. I had some fast passes that would take place much later in the day, but this day was planned, from the start, to be a bit of a split between Epcot and Hollywood Studios to take advantage of a dinner reservation and to be a little more laid back. So, upon arrival, I just kind of walked without any real focus. One of the many Star Wars shows was taking place in front of the Chinese Theater, so I watched that for a bit, then made my way towards the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. The next show time was a bit away and I didn't feel like waiting. Instead, I walked back towards the Pixar area to see what kind of wait time TSMM had. I had a fast pass for much later in the evening, but I had nothing else going on, so I was prepared to blow up to an hour waiting in line if I had to.

I would not have to. Not even close. The stand-by time was showing 25 minutes, which I was more than willing to wait through, but I found out it was a Little Mermaid 25 minutes, not a real one. This was walk-on 25 minutes. How often does this even happen? I don't think I've ever seen the stand-by time for TSMM drop below 70 minutes. It just seemed to be the defacto start time. I just assumed the park opened and TSMM was automatically sitting above an hour. But this wasn't park opening, not at all. It was a little after noon. This should be slammed. So, I got to ride TSMM for the first time ever, and as a walk-on no less. And when it was done, I did it again, though the wait turned into a true 25 minutes at this point. I guess the world had to write itself. It was quite a fun ride. When I saw the 3D glasses, I was a little worried. I no longer have the stomach for most 3D rides. They really mess with my head and my stomach, so I just skip them. The 3D for this ride is perfect though, enhancing the experience, rather than leaning on it as a crutch. I had a lot of fun and can kind of see why there's a wait all the time. I'd ride it again.

The stand-by time was creeping back up and I decided to pass on trying my luck on a third go round. Two times is a good start. I made my way back over to Voyage of the Little Mermaid in time to load into the theater. It seemed a nice time to take a quick break out of the sun and watch a fun show. There was a little problem at the end, as Ariel was turning back into a human thanks to her father, she seemed to be stuck in the fin an unable to free herself, so curtain dropped and the audio continued to play as people in the crowd tried to figure out what was going on. It was a little funny way to end the show, but might have angered a couple of parents and kids who wanted to see the happy ending, not just hear it.

Back into the sun I went, and decided to poke around a little more. I was about three hours off of my dinner reservation and wasn't feeling particularly hungry at all. I headed towards the Star Tours area to see what the wait time was and to see if I could kill a little more time there. I've been on Star Tours once, and it was back in 1993 at Disneyland. I have a very vague recollection of how it went and seemed to kind of remember enjoying it, plus I'm a big Star Wars fan, so it seemed to be something I should probably update myself on. The wait time was showing 25 minutes again, though this was a proper 25 minutes. What little line there was moved a little slowly, and about 20 minutes later, I came to my first hint that this might not be the ride for me: 3D glasses. Yuck. I was slightly more optimistic, though, as TSMM had 3D and it was excellent. Maybe this would be the same. I will say, the best part of that ride is the 3D hologram of BB-8. It really looks like the hologram is right in front of your face and has actual depth to it. That was awesome. I briefly had an instinct to take a picture, but then my common sense kicked in to remind me that my phone does not have the ability to see in 3D, and the picture would be useless. And no photography allowed, or something like that. Buzzkills. The ride was not the good kind of 3D, at least not for me. I started getting cold and clammy about midway through. Closing my eyes helped a tiny bit, but my stomach was not a happy camper. I'm glad I didn't eat anything beyond the donut, because it may not have stayed down. 3D just isn't for me anymore. I left the ride, grabbed a bottle of water, and made my way to a bench in the shade to get back to normal. By the time I was ready to move, I realized I didn't exactly have a plan. I had about two hours until dinner and was still a little iffy on rides. I did a little more walking in the meantime and decided to slowly make my way towards Epcot. The boats would clear my head and ease my stomach, and the full trip kills off about 25 minutes or so.

There are a few boat stops, as mentioned before, between the two parks depending on which direction you're going. From DHS back to Epcot, it's DHS to Swan and Dolphin to Yacht Club to Boardwalk to Epcot. The stop at Boardwalk is actually right in front of Trattoria Al Forno, where I would be eating later on. But at this point in time I was still too early, so I rode the extra few minutes to the Epcot stop and then slowly made my way back to the Boardwalk area. I had a little over an hour or so to burn before my ADR, so I peeked inside of the shops and did a little exploring. I think the only thing I've ever actually done at Boardwalk previously was eating at the ESPN Club for dinner. Aside from that, I've never really looked around. I like the setup. It's a nice little self-contained area that would be a nice place to spend an evening if I didn't have plans. I've been meaning to eat at Big River Grille and Brewery, but honestly forget that it exists. I don't believe they take ADRs either, so that kind of puts it even further out of my head when I'm doing Disney planning. Still, it's bar food, and I love bar food. From the outside it looks like a nice place, so I'll try to keep it in mind for a future trip. I stopped by the little shop and bought two waters because I was feeling super dry at this point. There was a nice bench by the bicycle rental thing that was shaded and overlooked the water that was a nice place to refill and relax. Thirty minutes until dinner. I had reached a level of boredom from just waiting, so I did one more slow stroll of the Boardwalk before deciding to check in for dinner.

 

[JustCor]

Day 2 Dinner

Trattoria Al Forno was on my radar for one reason: a big meatball. While planning out this trip, I really went on a meatball kick. I had a serious craving for a good pasta and meatball dish, and that craving influenced this selection. The Polpetta Gigante immediately stood out on the menu while I was looking at all of the restaurants and seemed to be the perfect solution to the meatball problem. How could I not choose this place? Much like my earlier meal at The Wave, Trattoria al Forno was not very busy when I showed up for my reservation. A couple who walked in before me managed to be seated within five minutes without an ADR. Whether or not that's normal, I can't say, but it was nice to be able to enjoy a meal without the constant droning of lots of people. It was very appreciated.

My waiter, Sergio, an incredibly cheerful and excellent water, brought over a freshly baked ciabatta loaf and some balsamic vinegar to start things off while I checked out the menu. The main course was already a given in my mind. Polpetta Gigante. Easy. But how about anything else, like an appetizer or a dessert? I went a little overboard the day before at The Wave, so I wanted to bring it in just a tiny bit without ruining the "I'm on vacation, I can do anything" feel. The answer would be found at the top of the appetizers list.

I love fried calamari. It's so delicious. Years ago it was a dish I would avoid because of the tentacles. It made me super uneasy to think about eating. I'm so glad I got over that. Calamari is one of those dishes, like scallops, that is so incredibly easy to mess up. It's much easier for a restaurant to err on the side of caution and overcook it so that it comes out rubbery and tough, or put too much batter on it and then use a heavy sauce to mask bland flavors and chewy squid. This calamari was cooked spot on. The squid rings were very tender with a light batter on it. the texture was perfect, staying far away from the chewy rubberbands served in a chain restaurant. The balsamic reduction on the bottom added a nice hint of flavor. I think the green stuff was a fried pepper of some kind, perhaps pepperoncini, but I was not feeling very adventurous at that moment, so I just dug around it and only ate the squid. Besides, I had to save a little room for the main course.

This was what I had made plans for, now hopefully it wouldn't let me down! I started with the cannelloni filled with some kind of ricotta filling. It was so tasty! I would have liked just a little bit more sauce, but that didn't stop me from polishing off half of the pasta before touching the meatball. Ah yes, the meatball. The part I was looking forward to most, but it was a minor letdown. The meatball has spinach mixed into it, which isn't a bad thing, but it kind of killed off the most of the meat flavor of the meatball. I think a little more beef (or maybe a beef/pork mix) and a little less spinach would have really elevated the dish as a whole. Still, this is something of a minor complaint, as I still managed to clean the plate. It was a tough one though, as I was fairly full. Between the calamari and the pasta, I had a brick of food just sitting in my stomach. There would be no room for anything else.

 

[JustCor]

Day 2 in the books

I left Trattoria with a full belly and an upcoming fast pass for TSMM. I stepped up to the dock to catch the boat over to DHS, but after the trip, I decided to catch the bus back to the resort. Something about spinning and getting jostled didn't quite mix with my still full stomach. I think my two times through earlier in the day was enough to get my fill, and the brick in my belly still needed time to break down. So, onto the bus I went, with four other people. I could really get used to this crowd level.

Now, the day before I had waited all night to see fireworks, but never saw them. Turns out they went off at 9, not 10pm. I'm not sure where I got the 10pm time from, but I missed it the day before and was not going to miss it again tonight. I had the perfect view and it would be wasted if I didn't get to enjoy it. I got myself properly prepared for this show. Decked out in a pair of shorts and one of the robes from the room, I plopped down on one of the balcony chairs with a bottle of water and finally got to enjoy the fireworks from my balcony. Popcorn would have really made the whole thing perfect, but it was pretty close without it.

After the show and a little more lounging, I set about making a few alterations to my remaining plans. I had planned on having breakfast at The Grand Floridian Cafe on my departure day, but decided to just have a clean break on that day instead. With that cancelled, I added the wave for the following day to get my breakfast fix. I had an excellent meal already once this trip at The Wave, I figured I'd try my luck for a second meal.

Two days down at Disney. One more full day remained, and then it would be time to go home.

 

[JustCor]

Day 3: Light and Easy

The night before I decided to adjust some breakfast plans to clean up Thursday for a simple checkout and departure. Gone was Thursday's Grand Floridian Cafe, and added was a Wednesday morning breakfast at The Wave. Monday night's dinner was excellent, and I've had previous breakfast meals at The Wave that were also very good. I knew I would be in good hands. I left the room a little early and hopped on the monorail and made my way over to The Contemporary. I'm terrible at judging times at Disney. Everything feels like it should take longer than it does, but I tend to err greatly on the side of caution. I'll keep it that way. It beats being in a hurry to not be late. I arrived just under an hour early for my ADR and took a seat in the oddly low couches in the lobby to people watch and look at random stuff on my phone.

The Contemporary is confusing to me. It has a strange Disney feel to it, like Disney through the lens of a 1980's corporate fever dream. There are definite Disney touches in the hotel, but they're missing a flow. It's chunks of Disney separated by the first class lobby of a Delta terminal. Even the lobby attendants are dressed the part, with oddly fitting suit coats and a stuffy appearance. They're incredibly nice, completely subverting the me-first 80's attitude. Still, it's a strange bubble within the overall Disney bubble. I used to really want to stay at the Contemporary because it was so bizarre and different. Now, I'm not as sure. It almost feels alien.

With all that being said, it's still got a fantastic restaurant that seems to be unnoticed by many, many people. I arrived back at The Wave for breakfast and, much like every other time I've visited, it was nowhere near crowded, just under half full. I was taken to my seat and chose the buffet option. The Wave offers a buffet as well as a nice selection of dishes off the menu. The lure of lots of food was strong, but I think I may have been better off ordering from the menu in the end. Still, I have very few complaints about what I had. So let's dive in.

The buffet is not as expansive as other ones on the property. There's far less to choose from, but there seems to be far less filler. If you were thinking of choosing the buffet as an option, I would almost suggest taking a quick look at it before deciding. It's great unless they don't have anything you'd actually like to eat. I went with the standard stuff really. Eggs, meats, some eggs benedict, biscuits and gravy, and so on. With the exception of the biscuits and gravy and the little mini biscuit benedict, everything was great. The biscuits were just so exceedingly dry that it killed anything that may have resembled flavor. To make matters worse, they were filling. One of my big regrets was not getting Mickey Waffles. They were there, waiting for me, but I put it off until I was too full to try them. In the top picture is a butter and jam selection that would have been perfect on the waffles. Next time, I hope. That was prime space that could have gone to the winners of the breakfast:

On the left is a banana white chocolate caramel parfait. On the right, a honey vanilla oatmeal parfait. I shouldn't have waited to the end for these. I treated them like a dessert, but I would have happily made many of these the whole meal. There was so much delicious flavor in the banana white chocolate caramel parfait. It was sweet, without being cloying. The layers gave a great variety in texture. It was so delicious that I was almost annoyed at wasting so much stomach space with anything else. The honey vanilla oatmeal parfait was just as delicious. The yogurt flavor came out a little more in this one, with the flavored oatmeal and a touch of honey adding a nice sweet balance to the tartness of the yogurt. If the only way I could get these items was to pay for the buffet, I'd do it again in heartbeat. It was that good.

With another full belly under my (expanding) belt, it was time to regroup and make some plans for the rest of the day. I made my way back to the Grand Floridian with no real agenda in mind.

 

[JustCor]

Day 3: Lazy days are fun days

I needed to walk off some of the many calories I ate, so I explored the grounds of the Grand Floridian and popped into all of the shops to take a look. The last stop was at Basin, which is becoming a regular stop on my trips. Basin is similar to Lush, if you're aware of Lush. There are some fancy soaps and bath bombs and other things like that. I pick up a shampoo bar or two and a soap or two on each trip. They last a long time and don't tend to leave any gross films or irritate my skin. Score and score!

Clockwise from top left: Cherry shampoo bar, tea tree bar soap, almond coconut shampoo bar, and two evergreen scented soaps that smell like christmas trees. This should get me through a while, hopefully until my next Disney trip when i can restock. One of the CMs working at Basin showed me a demo of the hand scrub stuff and my hands felt like silk and smelled great. It's not anything that i would do on my own time, but I won't say not to a demo.

With my wallet just a little bit lighter, I made my way back to the room to plan out the rest of my day. I had some fast passes planned for the day at Epcot, but had no real desire to head there, so I gave them up and eventually made my way to MK with no passes. It turns out that I wouldn't really need them. Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and People Mover were all either walk-ons or short waits, making it pretty easy to do things without plans. Unfortunately, it was becoming uncomfortably hot outside. Instead of fighting the heat, I resigned myself back to the room and the comfort of a blasting AC.

A local friend suggested catching Suicide Squad earlier in the week, so we met up at the AMC theater later in the evening and picked the dine-in theater option. I've been there on a previous trip and it was one one of the cheaper and tastier meals. This time was no real exception. I ordered the Gumbo Mac and Cheese, which came with andouille sausage and shrimp packed in with some pretty good quality mac and cheese. No pictures were taken on this meal, due to the film going on and all that fun stuff. The movie was alright, not too awful and not too bad. It was the perfect film to play while eating food and half paying attention.

With the movie over I made my way back to the hotel, missing the fireworks, but not really minding much. Sadly, this was my last day at Disney for this trip. The following day I would unfortunately have to head back home.

 

[JustCor]

Day 4, and the end of a trip

I've stopped trying to squeeze in last minute Disney stuff on my departure day. I'm not ever really in the right mind-frame for it. Instead, I tend to focus on the trip back home and getting everything in order. The drive, while not long at just about two hours on the nose, is incredibly boring. The thought of putting it off until the end of the day and trying to make that drive while worn out never sounds appealing. I just get the thought in my head that I just want to go home.

So, that's it for my trip. It was a trip that I needed after my birthday trip landed with a bit of a thud. At some point after that trip, I considered taking a long break from Disney. Maybe I had Disney burnout from trying to go multiple times. Maybe my expectations had become unreasonable. Or perhaps I just got my fill of Disney. I had made up for all of the trips I had missed all of my life and had caught up with my peers who no longer had the desire to go to Disney. I didn't know what the feeling was, but it wasn't a positive one. It was actually kind of depressing. This trip was a redo, but also a test to see if the last trip was a fluke or it was just the new reality for me. With my annual pass renewal coming next month, this would be the determining factor to see if I'd renew and keep up the Disney fun, or call it good.

This trip, thankfully, was the opposite of the birthday trip. Where as I had spent time trying to cobble together plans that weren't exactly what I had wanted to create some kind of birthday magic, this trip came together without a hiccup. Right off the bat, I was able to get a room at a Disney resort that I honestly never thought I'd be able to afford. My ADRs were decided pretty early in the trip planning and stayed in place, with the exception of a minor switch in breakfast plans, but even that was a simple change. I had been able to make that switch without any issue or stress. In the back of my mind, I kept waiting for things to fall apart. Things went together far too easily. Something would have to pop up to screw things up, right? Would it be a lost room reservation? No, they had my reservation and the room was ready immediately. Maybe a bad room in a bad section of the resort? Nope, a super nice room with an amazing view of the castle framed by my balcony window. Perhaps it would be bad weather? Nope, beautiful, with just a touch of rain and a little bit of heat. With each day that passed, I expected things to compound, but it never did. The worst that happened was an AC unit that wouldn't switch on, but even that was fixed in about five minutes.

The trip was perfect. I'm not sure there would be anything more that I could ask for. Longer may have been nice, but I think I had a good amount of days that didn't end up obliterating my bank account. This seemed less like a redo and more about a redemption. The birthday trip was a bit of a clunker, but this one wiped out that negative taste and replaced it with the desire to go back again, and soon. So, all things said and done, this was a great success, and one I hope to repeat. I may never stay at GF again, but if that's the worst thing I could say about a future trip, I think I'd be ok with that.

So thank you, everyone, for following along on this trip report and my live trip report. It was a lot of fun and surprisingly relaxing. I look forward to doing it again.

 

[SarahSnow]

Thanks for the great report. It seems like you had an enjoyable trip. I'll definitely add The Wave to list of restaurants next time we go.

 

[JustCor]

Thanks for the great report. It seems like you had an enjoyable trip. I'll definitely add The Wave to list of restaurants next time we go.

Thank you for reading along. It was a really great time and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm looking forward to the next time I get to go. And I would definitely recommend The Wave. The food is really good, and the place never seems to be busy. It's almost strange to sit in a Disney restaurant and not be packed in like sardines or be assaulted by noise. It's so peaceful! From what my server said, the food on the menu is seasonal, and they're on the Summer menu. In the next two weeks they're expected to change to the Fall menu, so I would love to see what changes and what's added. It'd almost be worth a weekend trip just to go try the fall menu out.