larry's girl
Dead last finish is better than did not finish, wh
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2003
- Messages
- 675
Cast:
Susan - Trip report writer, lover of all things Disney - 39
Larry - Converted by Susan into extreme Disney fanatic - 46
Tara - Ready to go to Disney any time for any reason (or no reason) - 16
Day 2 - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - "I Thought Honey Wine Would Be Sweeter Than This!"
This morning we went over to Wilderness Lodge to pre-check in. We have recently become DVC members and we are staying at the Villas here, so we can't wait to see our rooms! We again received the card with a phone number to call back later in the day for our room number. We then ate breakfast at Whispering Canyon Café. The servers were in fine form this morning, and we had a great time here. The food was also very good. I had the Kansas City Hash, which I highly recommend for anyone who likes corned beef. Larry had biscuits and gravy and Tara had the fresh fruit plate. The coffee here was also excellent. We spent quite a bit of time talking with the manager, who was very friendly and conversational.
We then caught a bus to Epcot. Tara and I rode Mission Space, and then I waited for her to ride again (I like this ride, but can only do it once). Larry opted out of the trip to Mars, so he went over and got fast passes for Test Track. We never tire of this one, and enjoyed the trip around the track. Then we walked over to Ice Station Cool to sample drinks and enjoy the air conditioning. Now it was time to head over to the World Showcase to enjoy some of the samples from the Food and Wine Festival. First stop, the Florida booth for a shrimp salad roll and coco polada wine. Both were excellent! Next I got a piece of baklava from the Greek booth (very good, but really heavy and rich). Larry sampled a potato cake with sauerkraut from the Eastern Europe booth. Then we walked over to the Canada booth for three small bowls of cheese soup and a glass of ice wine. I wish this wine wasn't so expensive - I would love to buy a bottle, but can't swallow the steep price tag! I think they need to sell pretzel bread to go with the cheese soup, but we still enjoyed our samples. Next up was the Poland booth, where Larry got a cabbage roll and a glass of honey wine. The cabbage roll was too sweet, and the honey wine was not sweet enough. It was actually kind of bitter once you drank it, and after I had a couple of sips, I was done with it. Larry decided to down the rest all at once - kind of like medicine - and that's what his face looked like when he drank it! We decided that was one wine we did not want to drink again, but we're glad we tried it!
Tara decided that she wanted to be adventurous, so when we got to the France booth, she sampled the escargot. She actually said it was very good and ate the whole thing, after offering samples to her dad and I (we were both too freaked out by the idea of eating snails to actually try them, but I did admire her gastronomic fortitude). I tried some vegetable couscous at the Moroccan booth, but was disappointed with it. I thought it was a tiny pasta, but the consistency was more like rice. I like rice, it just wasn't what I was expecting and the flavor was kind of bland. I don't think I will be getting that again, but at least I tried it. By this point in the afternoon, it was so hot and humid that we were beginning to slow down. There were lots more things that we wanted to try, but hot weather tends to put a damper on our appetites, so we had to choose carefully. We were all parched by this time, so we bought a frozen lemonade to share from a booth in Morocco and this was excellent. Tara did a little shopping in the Japan pavilion, and while we waited for her we listened to the Japanese drums and flute being played. We then bought a crab cake, a small bowl of lobster bisque and honey lemonade to share at the American booth. I did not care for the lobster bisque, although Larry loved it. The crab cake was to die for - a plate of these would make a wonderful seafood meal! The honey lemonade was not at all as good as it sounded - we all agreed that the frozen lemonade we had earlier was much better.
We decided to take in the American Adventure show, as none of us had ever seen it. The a cappella singing group performed first, and they were outstanding! I enjoyed listening to them tremendously and told them so after their performance. The show was very enjoyable for Tara and myself, although Larry had a hard time staying awake because he was hot, tired and full! After the show, there were lots more booths we wanted to try, but they would have to wait for another time - we were all too full to even think about anything else. Tara wanted to do some shopping in Norway and Mexico, so we walked around there. While I was waiting for her, I did sneak in one tiny dessert sample - the strawberry rice cream from Norway. I saw someone else get one, and it was so small, I decided to try it since this was one item that really appealed to me when I read the menus for the F&W festival at home. It was very light and just sweet enough without being too rich - I was glad I tried it, but that was it for me for the afternoon!
After Tara made her purchases, we went over to the DVC booth to meet one of the guides. We were going over to Saratoga Springs for a tour - we had never seen it up close, so our guide wanted to show us around. We really liked the look and feel of this resort and the view of Downtown Disney is spectacular. We can't wait to stay here on one of our future trips!
We had a very late dinner PS at Ohana's that night, and we had been looking forward to this. While we waited for our table, I had an Island Sunset. This was a frozen tropical drink that was scrumptious! It had a sweet, citrus-y, peachy thing going on that was divine. I think I have a new favorite drink. Larry had a sloe gin fizz, and we ended up carrying our drinks to the table because our wait was short. The meal was spectacular, as always. They had vegetable spring rolls instead of wontons, and I decided I prefer the spring rolls. The waiter said they would not be a permanent change, they would just make substitutions sometimes depending on what they had in their inventory. I wouldn't mind this being a permanent change, but the highlight here for us is the shrimp and steak anyway, so no big deal. The table next to us was full of adults who were celebrating one young man's birthday. It appeared that they had imbibed quite a bit of alcohol before ever reaching the restaurant, and as a result they were loud and boisterous. We managed to enjoy our meal in spite of that distraction and will go back again. On a humorous note, we watched the coconut race while we were eating. For those of you who have never seen it, it involves the little ones pushing coconuts around the room with brooms. Those who are 11 and older have to turn their brooms upside down. It really is quite challenging, and some kids handle that better than others. I was sitting in a chair next to the walkway where the race took place, and one young man who was about 8 years old lost control of his coconut and it bounced into the leg of my chair. As he came charging after it with his broom, I heard him utter a distinctly un-Disney like word under his breath. I am sure I am the only one who heard him since he was so close to me, but I found that to be really funny! Then as the race was ending, one young lady who was about 5 decided that she had had enough of this and threw her broom down on the floor, declaring to the room at large "I can't do it!!!" Fun times.
We took a taxi back to Wilderness Lodge and went to our 1-bedroom villa. It was beautiful and so spacious! We loved having separate sleeping areas for Tara and us, as well as two TV's. It gave us some much needed space at the end of the day to spread out and relax. We were all footsore by this point, as we are unaccustomed to walking for miles over concrete in the heat at home. Even though we had taken what I thought were adequate precautions with well-broken in shoes, sports socks and Blistershield powder, Tara had developed numerous blisters, which would become a serious problem the next day.
Susan - Trip report writer, lover of all things Disney - 39
Larry - Converted by Susan into extreme Disney fanatic - 46
Tara - Ready to go to Disney any time for any reason (or no reason) - 16
Day 2 - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - "I Thought Honey Wine Would Be Sweeter Than This!"
This morning we went over to Wilderness Lodge to pre-check in. We have recently become DVC members and we are staying at the Villas here, so we can't wait to see our rooms! We again received the card with a phone number to call back later in the day for our room number. We then ate breakfast at Whispering Canyon Café. The servers were in fine form this morning, and we had a great time here. The food was also very good. I had the Kansas City Hash, which I highly recommend for anyone who likes corned beef. Larry had biscuits and gravy and Tara had the fresh fruit plate. The coffee here was also excellent. We spent quite a bit of time talking with the manager, who was very friendly and conversational.
We then caught a bus to Epcot. Tara and I rode Mission Space, and then I waited for her to ride again (I like this ride, but can only do it once). Larry opted out of the trip to Mars, so he went over and got fast passes for Test Track. We never tire of this one, and enjoyed the trip around the track. Then we walked over to Ice Station Cool to sample drinks and enjoy the air conditioning. Now it was time to head over to the World Showcase to enjoy some of the samples from the Food and Wine Festival. First stop, the Florida booth for a shrimp salad roll and coco polada wine. Both were excellent! Next I got a piece of baklava from the Greek booth (very good, but really heavy and rich). Larry sampled a potato cake with sauerkraut from the Eastern Europe booth. Then we walked over to the Canada booth for three small bowls of cheese soup and a glass of ice wine. I wish this wine wasn't so expensive - I would love to buy a bottle, but can't swallow the steep price tag! I think they need to sell pretzel bread to go with the cheese soup, but we still enjoyed our samples. Next up was the Poland booth, where Larry got a cabbage roll and a glass of honey wine. The cabbage roll was too sweet, and the honey wine was not sweet enough. It was actually kind of bitter once you drank it, and after I had a couple of sips, I was done with it. Larry decided to down the rest all at once - kind of like medicine - and that's what his face looked like when he drank it! We decided that was one wine we did not want to drink again, but we're glad we tried it!
Tara decided that she wanted to be adventurous, so when we got to the France booth, she sampled the escargot. She actually said it was very good and ate the whole thing, after offering samples to her dad and I (we were both too freaked out by the idea of eating snails to actually try them, but I did admire her gastronomic fortitude). I tried some vegetable couscous at the Moroccan booth, but was disappointed with it. I thought it was a tiny pasta, but the consistency was more like rice. I like rice, it just wasn't what I was expecting and the flavor was kind of bland. I don't think I will be getting that again, but at least I tried it. By this point in the afternoon, it was so hot and humid that we were beginning to slow down. There were lots more things that we wanted to try, but hot weather tends to put a damper on our appetites, so we had to choose carefully. We were all parched by this time, so we bought a frozen lemonade to share from a booth in Morocco and this was excellent. Tara did a little shopping in the Japan pavilion, and while we waited for her we listened to the Japanese drums and flute being played. We then bought a crab cake, a small bowl of lobster bisque and honey lemonade to share at the American booth. I did not care for the lobster bisque, although Larry loved it. The crab cake was to die for - a plate of these would make a wonderful seafood meal! The honey lemonade was not at all as good as it sounded - we all agreed that the frozen lemonade we had earlier was much better.
We decided to take in the American Adventure show, as none of us had ever seen it. The a cappella singing group performed first, and they were outstanding! I enjoyed listening to them tremendously and told them so after their performance. The show was very enjoyable for Tara and myself, although Larry had a hard time staying awake because he was hot, tired and full! After the show, there were lots more booths we wanted to try, but they would have to wait for another time - we were all too full to even think about anything else. Tara wanted to do some shopping in Norway and Mexico, so we walked around there. While I was waiting for her, I did sneak in one tiny dessert sample - the strawberry rice cream from Norway. I saw someone else get one, and it was so small, I decided to try it since this was one item that really appealed to me when I read the menus for the F&W festival at home. It was very light and just sweet enough without being too rich - I was glad I tried it, but that was it for me for the afternoon!
After Tara made her purchases, we went over to the DVC booth to meet one of the guides. We were going over to Saratoga Springs for a tour - we had never seen it up close, so our guide wanted to show us around. We really liked the look and feel of this resort and the view of Downtown Disney is spectacular. We can't wait to stay here on one of our future trips!
We had a very late dinner PS at Ohana's that night, and we had been looking forward to this. While we waited for our table, I had an Island Sunset. This was a frozen tropical drink that was scrumptious! It had a sweet, citrus-y, peachy thing going on that was divine. I think I have a new favorite drink. Larry had a sloe gin fizz, and we ended up carrying our drinks to the table because our wait was short. The meal was spectacular, as always. They had vegetable spring rolls instead of wontons, and I decided I prefer the spring rolls. The waiter said they would not be a permanent change, they would just make substitutions sometimes depending on what they had in their inventory. I wouldn't mind this being a permanent change, but the highlight here for us is the shrimp and steak anyway, so no big deal. The table next to us was full of adults who were celebrating one young man's birthday. It appeared that they had imbibed quite a bit of alcohol before ever reaching the restaurant, and as a result they were loud and boisterous. We managed to enjoy our meal in spite of that distraction and will go back again. On a humorous note, we watched the coconut race while we were eating. For those of you who have never seen it, it involves the little ones pushing coconuts around the room with brooms. Those who are 11 and older have to turn their brooms upside down. It really is quite challenging, and some kids handle that better than others. I was sitting in a chair next to the walkway where the race took place, and one young man who was about 8 years old lost control of his coconut and it bounced into the leg of my chair. As he came charging after it with his broom, I heard him utter a distinctly un-Disney like word under his breath. I am sure I am the only one who heard him since he was so close to me, but I found that to be really funny! Then as the race was ending, one young lady who was about 5 decided that she had had enough of this and threw her broom down on the floor, declaring to the room at large "I can't do it!!!" Fun times.
We took a taxi back to Wilderness Lodge and went to our 1-bedroom villa. It was beautiful and so spacious! We loved having separate sleeping areas for Tara and us, as well as two TV's. It gave us some much needed space at the end of the day to spread out and relax. We were all footsore by this point, as we are unaccustomed to walking for miles over concrete in the heat at home. Even though we had taken what I thought were adequate precautions with well-broken in shoes, sports socks and Blistershield powder, Tara had developed numerous blisters, which would become a serious problem the next day.
