The 90s weren’t THAT long ago, right?….Throwback Trip Reports! (Updated 9/2 - 2006 Trip)

[Stacybaeasm]

The Hat!!!! Wow, I forgot about the hat at Studios. I kind of miss it.

 

[VAtink]

We used to walk through Epcot from YC/BC all the time to get to and from MK. Now we only do that occasionally, since it is actually a fairly long walk.

Us too, and the reverse way as well. I actually like coming back from the MK that way, yeah it's longer and involves more walking, but it's fun, and gives us a chance to swing by food booths in Epcot on the way through!

Your mom is really enjoying the ride.

Haha, she usually is.

 

[VAtink]

The Hat!!!! Wow, I forgot about the hat at Studios. I kind of miss it.

I don't miss the hat too much, but I do miss the earffel tower. I wish instead of replacing things so much, they would just expand! No need to lose so much!

 

[VAtink]

June 2013 Part 19: Chefs Table at Victoria and Alberts, Part 1​

We had a nice break at the BC, I took pictures of my ever growing towel animal collection.



I had a towel animal zoo!

After getting ready I went over to my parent’s room to check on my mom and see if she was ready.

This evening we were doing something very special….eating at the chefs table at Victoria and Alberts!!!!!

We had ate at Victoria and Alberts once before for my graduation back in 2000, so it had been some time, and back then we ate in the main dining room, so this was super special for us.

I decided to surprise my mom this trip and hired a town car service ahead of time to pick us up and take us over (this was before Uber). My dad knew about it, but we kept it as a surprise for my mom, and she was shocked to have this fancy car come pick us up!

This evening it was just mom and I dining at Victoria and Alberts. My dad HATED it the previous time we ate there, he complained constantly about how small the portions were each course, and in reality, he’s more a burger and fries kind of guy, so he opted to stay at the BC and just get a burger at the pool, while mom and I dined in style.

Since we both were dressed up for this dinner, I had the car come a bit early since I wanted to get a bunch of pictures around the Grand Floridian with us all glammed up for the night before dinner.

Well, imagine my surprise when we arrive at the porte cochere to find some random woman in a ball gown also doing a photoshoot, and I swear, every single location we went inside to get pictures, she would show up and act all annoyed we were getting pictures when it was clearly her photoshoot time.

We got plenty of pictures though and ignored the very overdressed woman!










I really really miss this band.

Finally, it was time to check in for our dinner! I believe the start time was 5:30, and when we arrived they quickly brought us back to the kitchen/our dining room.

This was just so incredibly cool, there was a large table, but both our chairs were set up so we could face the kitchen and see all the action. Photos were permitted, however videos were not.





We decided to get the wine pairing with dinner, because, well, why not!

Dinner started with the amuse bouche, which for us was the caviar!



This was surprisingly good, and I’m not usually a caviar person.

Now, I do have the menu from this experience somewhere, however I don’t know where. A few years ago I repurposed the drawer this menu was in for wrapping stuff, and I moved the menu somewhere safe, which of course means I have no idea where it is anymore. I’ve been looking for weeks for it and can’t find it, so unfortunately I can’t tell you what each dish was. I do know we had boar and steak for two courses, and I’m pretty sure one course was lobster (because it looks like lobster ). So sorry I can’t describe the meal as well as planned! If the menu does pop up I will update this with the food items.

After the caviar we had this delicious looking course. I want to say this was a fish.



As would be the norm for this dinner, this was also delicious!

Our next course had this cool presentation. It was smoked, so arrived with a cover keeping the smoke in, very cool, and of course, very delicious! I have no idea what this could be…duck maybe?





Up next: Chefs Table at Victoria and Alberts, Part 2!​

 

[Wood Nymph]

This evening it was just mom and I dining at Victoria and Alberts. My dad HATED it the previous time we ate there, he complained constantly about how small the portions were each course, and in reality, he’s more a burger and fries kind of guy, so he opted to stay at the BC and just get a burger at the pool, while mom and I dined in style.

He was happy to stay back and you were probably fine with it.

I really really miss this band.

We miss them, too. We used to stop by the GF just to listen to them. We don't have any reason to go to the GF lobby anymore.

 

[VAtink]

He was happy to stay back and you were probably fine with it.

Oh yeah, I love my dad, but he is definitely not a foodie, and he can be a bit of a grump if he's not getting the food he wants!

We miss them, too. We used to stop by the GF just to listen to them. We don't have any reason to go to the GF lobby anymore.

Yeah, one of the worst things Disney got rid of, we used to love just sitting in the lobby listening to them!

 

[VAtink]

June 2013 Part 20: Chefs Table at Victoria and Alberts, Part 2!​

The next course I’m pretty certain was lobster, or at least it looks a whole lot like lobster!



Next up was this beautiful looking thing. It kind of looks like bone marrow, but I don’t believe it was since I’ve had bone marrow before and was not a fan due to the texture, and I remember loving every dish in this meal.



Now, at some point about half way through the meal, about 1.5 hours into it, they suggested we take a break to digest and go walk around a bit, so we took the opportunity to go stretch our legs, use the facilities and stroll around the hotel for a few minutes. Even though the servings of each course were small, it added up quickly and it was nice to get a break for a bit so we could fit more in!

After a nice break, we made our way back and continued with the meal. We were about to get into my favorite dishes!

Our next dish we moved into the red meats, I think this may have been bison or maybe?



Then we moved onto the next course, perhaps steak?



We were finally getting towards the end and moved into the cheese course.



As far as I’m concerned you can’t go wrong with cheese, so we loved this course!

Next up they started the coffee service and made it with this fancy contraption. My mom almost bought me one since it was so cool, but at that time I hadn’t done my kitchen renovation and I literally had two 12” upper cabinets and a 24” and a 30” lower cabinets and that was it for storage, so I had no room for something quite so large! Half my kitchen stuff was stored in my dining room at that point!





Anyways, once the coffee started to brew, we got our first dessert course.



We ended up getting four, yes FOUR! Desserts. Like woah.







This was nuts, so decadent, and we were soooo full!

Towards the end of the meal, chef Aimee came for a picture! At this point she was the sous chef, but I believe she became the head chef at some point soon after. She was amazing, so nice, and really seemed to love discussing food with us.



Before leaving we were given our roses and our menus to take with us.

Now, prior to the trip, I had this amazing idea that after dinner we’d head over to Magic Kingdom and get pictures on an empty Main Street all dressed up with our roses!

Turns out, I wasn’t quite as good at planning on those days.

I COMPLETELY forgot about the fireworks! HA!!!!!

So we made it to Magic Kingdom for what I imagined would be a fairly empty Main Street to get some cute shots with us all dressed up, only to find a sea of people waiting for the fireworks! Oops!

We debated just hanging out by the train station to watch the fireworks there, but the wine from dinner was hitting us hard, so we decided to just head back to the BC and call it a night.

We did get a picture though, not quite the one I had hoped for!



This was our last night of the trip, so it was probably good to get back relatively early to pack and head to bed early. I don’t remember what time our flight was the next morning, but I imagine it was early enough we would have been a bit more grumpy if we stayed at MK later!

Alright, that’s a wrap on the 2013 throwback trip. Next up….2006! Yup, we had this weird stretch of six whole years where we did zero Disney trips! Weird, I know. We did visit lots of other places during that hiatus, like New Zealand, Rome, Santorini, Barcelona, Rhodes, Positano, Mykonos, and a handle of other places in Europe, so we were still having fun, just a different kind of fun!​

 

[Wood Nymph]

We ended up getting four, yes FOUR! Desserts. Like woah.

Your meal looks amazing. I think I would want a take home box for those desserts.

Alright, that’s a wrap on the 2013 throwback trip. Next up….2006! Yup, we had this weird stretch of six whole years where we did zero Disney trips! Weird, I know. We did visit lots of other places during that hiatus, like New Zealand, Rome, Santorini, Barcelona, Rhodes, Positano, Mykonos, and a handle of other places in Europe, so we were still having fun, just a different kind of fun!

I enjoyed your walk through the past. It sounds like your six-year break from Disney was amazing. We took a long break from Disney, too, but it mostly meant that we went to Hawaii instead.

 

[VAtink]

Your meal looks amazing. I think I would want a take home box for those desserts.

It was so good, one of the best experiences we've had at Disney. I cannot wait to do it again!

I enjoyed your walk through the past. It sounds like your six-year break from Disney was amazing. We took a long break from Disney, too, but it mostly meant that we went to Hawaii instead.

Thank you! Yeah, it was nice to take a break and see other parts of the world. It worked out well, prices weren't too horrible back then (my Barcelona trip was only like $1700 total including airfare!), and the places we visited hadn't even come close to reaching the tourist craziness seen these days, so it was enjoyable exploring them. As much as we love Disney, breaks can be good!

 

[VAtink]

Ok, one last post from 2013. If anyone is curious what the BC rooms looked like back then, here are some pictures!





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[Stacybaeasm]

You had an amazing night at V&A. And dear woman in the ballgown - if you weren't wearing a tiara, you are NOT the center of the universe so please go about your day. (And honestly - I'm with your dad. I would have stayed back for a burger and fries. No fancy food for me. My friends tell me I have the pallet of a 4 year old.)

 

[VAtink]

You had an amazing night at V&A. And dear woman in the ballgown - if you weren't wearing a tiara, you are NOT the center of the universe so please go about your day. (And honestly - I'm with your dad. I would have stayed back for a burger and fries. No fancy food for me. My friends tell me I have the pallet of a 4 year old.)

Oh yeah, that dinner was amazing. I'm so excited to do it again!

Haha, yeah you sound like my dad, but I mean, a good burger and fries is also delicious!

 

[VAtink]

July 2006 Part 1: We’re Going to Disney (or at least are trying to)​

Welcome to the 2006 throwback TR!

This year we went July 7th-16th and stayed at the Yacht Club! I believe this was actually our first stay at the YC. Prior to this the BC was our home resort, and even after this we were still very much a BC family until around 2016. We had stayed in GF and Poly years prior (and even the Disney Institute!), but after experiencing BC for the first time in 1996, we were hooked!

Anyways, this was another trip with both my mom and dad, and I think we kind of made it a birthday trip for me since my birthday is the end of June.

This year we all stayed in the same room, and it was the last time we did that outside of suites!

The room itself was gorgeous, we had a beautiful water view room, but I’m getting ahead of myself here. First, we need to talk about the travel drama. If you’ve read my other TRs you probably remember that I don’t always have the best luck with flying, and this trip was no exception!

So I had booked a direct flight to MCO from DCA, but about a month before the trip the airline changed it to a connecting flight, and changed it so I wouldn’t be landing until like 9 PM. My original flight had me there by 10AM, so BIG difference.

Since I was meeting my parents at the airport, I didn’t want them just hanging around waiting for me all day, so I called the airline to see if I could change to another flight that got me in earlier. They were able to change my flight, still a connecting flight, but it got me into MCO around 11AM, so much better! Well, I thought.

Being young and dumb, I didn’t really think much of the connection time for my new flight, and it wasn’t actually too bad, it was about 1.5 hours, so even now I wouldn’t think too much of it, but yeah, I should have been concerned.

The new flight the airline put me on (think it was United, but I can’t remember for certain) had me connecting at LGA, which I now believe is the worst airport ever. Now, I figured it would be like most connecting flights I’d taken in my life where you just make your way to your new gate once you land at the connecting airport. But no, LGA just HAD to be different. Where the plane into LGA ended up parking (I feel like this is the wrong term ) was at a satellite terminal, ok not ideal, but I still had 1.5 hours to get to the terminal my next flight was at so not big deal, right? Nope!

Turns out, they had no way of transferring checked luggage between terminals, so we had to pick up our checked bags at this satellite terminal, then get on a bus to the main terminal where we had to go recheck our bags and then go through security again. Like WHAT?!!? Seriously LGA, you suck.

At first I didn’t think this was too big of a deal, I did have 1.5 hours so I had time. But I didn’t realize at that point how slow everything moves at LGA. It took about 40 minutes for the checked bags to finally come out, and then another 20 minutes waiting for a bus to the main terminal! I asked if it was walkable, but was told walking was prohibited. Ugh.

By the time I got to the main terminal it was only about 20 minutes until my flight left, so I was starting to panic. That panic really ramped up after I got my bag checked again and made my way to security to see the most ridiculously long line I’ve ever seen. Seriously this line looked to be at least two hours long, and at that point my plane was leaving in about 10 minutes.

Now, I usually hold it together pretty well, I hate getting emotional, but at that point LGA had broke me and I completely lost it. I was bawling my eyes out and just a complete mess, like how could an airport be so bad!?!?

Fortunately for me, a police officer saw me having a breakdown and came over to see if he could help. I explained what was going on, and my goodness, this man was amazing, he basically said “you are absolutely not missing your flight” and took me to the front of the security line, where someone called to the gate agent to let them know I was on my way so not to leave early. I made it through security super fast thanks to him, and then RAN to my gate. I got there about 2 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave, PHEW!

Super stressful, yet somehow not the most stressful one I’ve experienced (the flight home from the Azores is champion for now!)

I finally did make it down to MCO, and as planned, met my parents at the water fountain.

Once we got hugs out of the way, we headed down to DME and were soon on our way to the YC!

As mentioned previously, we had a beautiful room!



After checking out our room, we spent some time exploring the YC before an early dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse!


​

 

[Wood Nymph]

Your experience at La Guardia sounds awful. How could that airport require you to pick up a checked bag, board a bus, and then check in at a different terminal? They should be transferring the checked bags. I hope they changed that by now. That was crazy. I'm glad that you made your flight to MCO. But it must have been a tough day.

 

[VAtink]

Your experience at La Guardia sounds awful. How could that airport require you to pick up a checked bag, board a bus, and then check in at a different terminal? They should be transferring the checked bags. I hope they changed that by now. That was crazy. I'm glad that you made your flight to MCO. But it must have been a tough day.

It really was, I can't believe how horrible that airport was! I also hope that things have changed since then, I do believe they've renovated, so hopefully it's not so bad anymore!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I hate LGA. Actually, I hate NYC. And I'm not shy about saying that. If I HAVE to go and I HAVE to fly - Newark for me. But you really do have the worst travel karma. We might need to get you some kind of charm to put in your pocket when you travel.

 

[VAtink]

I hate LGA. Actually, I hate NYC. And I'm not shy about saying that. If I HAVE to go and I HAVE to fly - Newark for me. But you really do have the worst travel karma. We might need to get you some kind of charm to put in your pocket when you travel.

Haha, seriously, I have had some of the worst luck with flying! Although the past few trips haven't been bad, so maybe my luck is changing? (hopefully, or I just jinxed myself!)

 

[VAtink]

June 2006, Part 2: Early 2000s Stormalong Bay!​

This morning we were up super early, so we decided to go get pictures around the YC/BC until the parks opened.

But first a morning shot of our view!



No, it’s not foggy outside, that’s just the camera lens fogging up in the humidity!

Here's a better shot:


We also got some (very dark) pictures of the YC lobby!







Back then, Stormalong bay pool deck was open 24/7, so we could wander around and get pictures with no one there!











(Have way too many pictures, going to continue in the next post!)​

 

[VAtink]

Continued from previous post:

















Look how many trees there used to be in the pool area, and this is nothing compared to how many trees were there in the 90s. I assume the removed them for safety, one of the biggest complaints I hear about this pool is it’s super hard to keep track of kids, so obviously having all the big trees and bushes makes it that much harder, but it did look so pretty back when there was greenery around the pool!

Anyways, I digress.

After checking out the pool we took some more pictures around the YC.





So I have no idea where my journal is from this year, in theory they should be in my house here since I was living in VA by this point, but I haven’t found it yet, so I’m basing this TR on the pictures. It looks like this morning we decided to head through Epcot to catch the monorail up to the MK. Back in the day we loved doing this, my dad was vehemently opposed to riding buses, so we tried to avoid them at all costs.

Next up: Epcot!​

 

[DVCjj]

Your nostalgic trip was is wonderful. What a clever idea.

You all look amazing. What a photogenic family.