The tale of 2 Happy Anniversary Pins "thank you" An Oct '11 TR NEW 2/25 final thought

[teekathepony]

Wow, you guys did great with the F&WF already! I love the pictures of all the food... Mmmm

 

[mousescrapper]

we were there for the beginning of food and Wine but had the kids with us so there is no way they would wait in all those lines. Maybe one day I will get there without them and do F&W

yes it really has that "no kid" atmsophere about it...I could see it's doable, but w/ a well laid out plan

Wow all of your food and wine snacks look great! I can see how the festival would be a lot of fun, but would add up quickly! I've always wanted to go though...one year we will, I'm sure!

yes you guys would love it we really did

The two Photopass pictures with you and Matt kissing are adorable!

awww thanks

Looks like you had a chance to try lots of yummy things at the F&W Festival -- of course, you know my favorite thing you tried was Matt's Dragonberry Colada -- -- sorry he found it a bit too sweet.

we did and still had one more day to go he drank it quick as i barely got a taste he's a bit picky about his drinks

Like you, life has kept me busy lately and I've missed a few updates. But, I'm caught up now and I just have to say I LOVE your anniversary/vacation feet picture!

I knew you would, it has to be one of those must pictures now

What an incredible view from your room! And who needs to look down when you have that to look at?

I know it was awesome, I still love thinking about

That voice message from Minnie and Mickey is adorable!

I know how sweet, was a great little surprise

Food and Wine Festival looks awesome! I'm sure our budget would be shot with all that great food available. (Not to mention with 2 teenage boys!) LOL...definitely a good idea to do it without the kids in tow!


OMG yes it would be very pricey for you

Your trip so far seems so relaxing and romantic! Can't wait to hear more!

more to come very soon

Wow, you guys did great with the F&WF already! I love the pictures of all the food... Mmmm

thanks, the first day was def the food day and the next time was more about the

 

[mousescrapper]

Cont. Day 2) Mon Oct 17th…

We last left off, with Matt and I leaving Epcot for a small break back at our room, at BLT before getting ready to go out for dinner for our anniversary. I can’t quite remember what we did, but I think we rested, checked the weather channel, and I know Matt took a nap.

We got ready for our Anniversary Dinner at Narccoossee’s at the Grand Floridian. We had never been there and were really looking forward to it. We had a 7 pm ADR and arrived w/ time to spare.

We checked in at the podium, and received a pager and knew we’d have a wait. So we walked around a bit. I really wanted to just sit down, but there weren’t many places to sit in or outside. I felt pretty odd walking on the veranda in front of people eating (but I guess you can as many did throughout the evening)

We did walk down toward the boat dock and asked a guest to take out picture, it turned out wonderfully:

Look at that sky…beautiful!

And Matt took this pic of me:

And we took in a few nighttime shots, here’s one:

We wandered back over to the front, and sat inside for a while and noted how many more people were coming in and those w/ little kids. I was really surprised, this place is pricey, and not what I’d call a kid place either. I was getting anxious and hoping for a great table considering it was our anniversary. Other guests coming in after us were getting seated before us, I was getting annoyed. Finally our buzzer went off and we were plopped at the first table

Matt caught this dim shot of our castle view

Oh well, we can’t have everything…we received our menus which were customized for us, now that was a sweet touch!

And we placed our order. We received the comp bread basket and shared a salad:

Matt ordered the grilled filet mignon for his main dish

And I ordered the crab crusted fish

We had a lovely meal, I didn’t finish all of mine, but Matt loved his dish. I was getting excitingly anxious to see the cake and couldn’t wait. I don’t know what I was expecting but I was expecting something awesome…like the Sultan’s castle in the clouds or a flying carpet…something really special. I guess my expectations didn’t match what was discussed. I’m not saying it was horrible, but sadly it was a letdown for me.

The waitress brought us out the cake and some plates and a comp champagne toast w/ strawberries. I cut into the cake and we enjoyed it.

But sadly for me, it was not over the top good, it tasted like it had been made at least a day in advance and sitting in the fridge

I know I sound like a party pooper, but it just wasn’t what I had hoped for. We each had another piece and then the comedy hour began as I attempted cutting this thing into chunks to put in carry-out containers so we could get it in our little fridge back in the room.

Matt said it was like being out w/ Lucy ​

 

[mousescrapper]

After a serious wash-up of my hands in the restroom, we headed down toward the boat dock again to watch Wishes. We had a decent view and a nice perspective. There were a lot of people down there (probably from the resort and restaurants). As well as a ton of Florida mosquitoes. Matt took some nice distance pictures:

After the fireworks, I had to use the ladies room something fierce, and walking back up to the main building was a trek for me…

We sat down in the lobby for a bit to take a little rest and enjoy the music being played up above.

I had originally wanted to go to MK to get a few pictures in front of the castle dressed up, but Matt didn’t think it was a good idea w/ the cake in tow. On the way back to our resort, I asked him if he’d like to change and go back to MK for EMH and a few rides. But he was tired and sore so we opted to stay in the room and get an early night’s sleep. I had slept awful the night before and I guess I too needed some sleep before our long day on Tues.

So overall the Anniversary dinner was lovely, but not as big of a highlight for me as I had hoped.

The Magical Moments of day 2)

* our first food and wine tasting in Australia YUM!

* the sweet custom menu at Narcoossee’s

* watching Wishes together on the boat dock at the GF​

Stay tuned for Day 3) our DHS morning and lunch ADR at HBD ​

 

[teekathepony]

Aww, I'm sorry your cake wasn't quite what you had hoped Other than that it looks like you had a lovely evening! Love that picture of you both in front of the sunset, it's a framer!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I'm sorry to hear that the cake wasn't everything that you had hoped it would be! I always have lofty expectations of desserts, so I know how it stinks when you're disappointed!

But you guys did get gorgeous photos that night! I love that one of you guys on the dock!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Wow mega updates! I got a whole day at once!

I'm so jealous of your anniversary message! We didn't get one of those! Wait... was that your wake up call? Maybe the kids listened to it & we never heard it? Or did one of you have to request that?

Looks like it was a great day exploring F&W at Epcot! I love that you got to slow things down & take in a couple movies. I still haven't seen the Canada movie!

Narcoossee's looks yummy! Sorry the cake didn't live up to what you wanted. I'm not a huge fan of those pictures sprayed on a chunk of chocolate... is that what it was?

Can't wait to see what's next!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Sorry to hear you didn't get a great seat and the cake was just so-so. Was that just a plastic picture plopped on the top? I do like all the Mickey heads on it, though. Very cute as were the personalized menus.

 

[mousescrapper]

Aww, I'm sorry your cake wasn't quite what you had hoped Other than that it looks like you had a lovely evening! Love that picture of you both in front of the sunset, it's a framer!

yeah it was one of just a few let downs of the trip...yes we did have a nice evening

I'm sorry to hear that the cake wasn't everything that you had hoped it would be! I always have lofty expectations of desserts, so I know how it stinks when you're disappointed!

But you guys did get gorgeous photos that night! I love that one of you guys on the dock!

I had lofty ideas too...I requested some parts and hoped the magic of Disney would do the rest oh well, still was fun to have a cake

I love that pix too!

Wow mega updates! I got a whole day at once!

I'm so jealous of your anniversary message! We didn't get one of those! Wait... was that your wake up call? Maybe the kids listened to it & we never heard it? Or did one of you have to request that?

no it was a total surprise, we didn't request it or anything, came into the room and saw message blinking we figured it was something about our GG order and it was Mic & Min saying hello

Looks like it was a great day exploring F&W at Epcot! I love that you got to slow things down & take in a couple movies. I still haven't seen the Canada movie!

maybe in April or another time it was nice to take it slow, I really enjoyed F&W, fir real well into our couple's trip

Narcoossee's looks yummy! Sorry the cake didn't live up to what you wanted. I'm not a huge fan of those pictures sprayed on a chunk of chocolate... is that what it was?

yep the chocolate chunk

Can't wait to see what's next!!

Sorry to hear you didn't get a great seat and the cake was just so-so. Was that just a plastic picture plopped on the top? I do like all the Mickey heads on it, though. Very cute as were the personalized menus.

it was a bit of a bummer, but it's ok...no not plastic but a "screen printed" piece of chocolate. I swear i had said i didn't want the chocolate flowers and something special Aladdin inspired on the top for decoaration...guess you win some and lose some

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Sorry about your cake. But it looks like the rest of your day was great. I can't believe you guys were hungry enough for dinner after all those yummy snacks at F&W.

I thought it was cool you got to chat with a retired couple and then a honeymooning couple. Very cool

It just sounds like a great time together. Can't wait to see what the next day brought.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Your dinner looks delicious! I tend to have HUGE expectations too, so i know how it is to build something up in your head and to be disappointed. The cake was pretty though...sorry it wasn't all you hoped for.

Love the Wishes shots from the dock. So pretty!

 

[mousescrapper]

Sorry about your cake. But it looks like the rest of your day was great. I can't believe you guys were hungry enough for dinner after all those yummy snacks at F&W.

I know it was a bit crazy...I didn't finish all of mine, but boy my belly was full after that.

I thought it was cool you got to chat with a retired couple and then a honeymooning couple. Very cool

I really enjoy talking to other guests it is fun to hear different perpectives of travleing to WDW

It just sounds like a great time together. Can't wait to see what the next day brought.

coming up now

Your dinner looks delicious! I tend to have HUGE expectations too, so i know how it is to build something up in your head and to be disappointed. The cake was pretty though...sorry it wasn't all you hoped for.

Love the Wishes shots from the dock. So pretty!

I know I shouldn't have done it to myself...yes Wishes was nice, I love that show that was one area I have yet to watch it from so now i have seen it from all 3 deluxe resorts

 

[mousescrapper]

Day 3) Tues 10-18 Star Quality at DHS…

We started out our day w/ running a way behind schedule (why does this seem to always happen on Studio days? We got out of the room basically at the time I had wanted to BE at DHS…oh well. We walked as quickly as we could upon arrival to TSM and were watching the FP return time continue to go further into the afternoon as the minutes ticked past 9 am…we got in a line that started almost at the entry to One man’s dream and slowly made out way closer to the FP machines…It must have been about 15 past 9 am and our return was for 11:40 am UGH…well so much for going on twice.

We next wandered the back way toward Star Tours and first stopped along the NY backdrop and asked a guest to take our picture:

We also noticed the inside of this interesting shop window, too bad the keeper was out to lunch:

We basically walked on ST and got ready for our Galactic Tour, matt requested the front row. I hadn’t been on this ride in a long time, so it was kind of fun. Matt was feeling stiff afterwards, but enjoyed himself. We look around in the gift shop then wandered over by the speedracer in hopes to find a guest who would take our picture.

We asked a family who was taking pictures of their kids and I was clearly not thinking when I chose this skirt today because A) I needed to sit side saddle and B) it was quite the challenge to get on it like that and hold on w/out slipping off LOL

We then entered the nonexistent queue for ST and I snapped a few shots along the way:

Matt requested the front row (someone here on the DIS gave us that suggestion) for less bumps and jerks…who wants to sit by a jerk anyways (sorry couldn’t resist)

We had a good tour until we ended in the middle of saw Inner Galactic shootout, but we survived and brought the “only hope” message from Princess Lei to the Federation or is it the Republic? safely.​

 

[mousescrapper]

Up next we decided to hang out w/ our Muppet friends…we haven’t seen this show in a long time and no I didn’t look under the mat to see if the key was there. There was a small line to go in, but I think that was just to let the group ahead of us to move into the actual theatre. We snapped some pictures outside first:

I also snapped some shots inside too:

The infamous “a net full of jello”

I tried to get a picture of the grumpy men, but didn’t have much luck before the show began and I think got the attendant’s unwanted attention w/ the “no flash photography” repeated whoops…

After we had some good 3D laughs, we headed back to One Man’s Dream and wandered around in here for a bit and then watched the wonderful little movie at the end (why do I always get a little teary during this?)

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

I love this display; I actually have some of these things!

The last thing I took a picture of was the renderings for the new Cars Land for DL…we hope to make it out there sometime in the next 5 years.

​

 

[mousescrapper]

We then decided to head back to the front of the park to get some photopass pictures in front of the HAT:

And we also saw these characters:

I have never seen them before and they were kind of fun, too bad we couldn’t get a group shot…

It was now time for our lunch ADR at the Hollywood Brown Derby…we have only eaten here once before back in ’98 w/ friends and were both looking forward to it. The place was still basically empty it probably just opened and we didn’t have a wait.

We placed our orders and it came out beyond FAST…Matt got a chicken meal

And I had the Cobb Salad, I should have taken the before pix better, but it was tasty I asked for the blue cheese on the side and tried a bit in there and then was “ick icking away”

I wonder how many times this picture gets taken?

We shared a champagne toast on the house w/ our dessert, a berry cobbler…

When Matt and I were first dating we used to go to Baker’s Square the restaurant and share a berry cobbler there, so this was extra sweet. It was a great lunch and really was a relaxing meal. We enjoyed our waiter and looking around at the pictures and spotting the duplicates.

We now returned back to TSM for our ride…

See how I luckily go the lime green blaster…
Though it didn’t help w/ my score

I took a picture of the Muppets billboard for Nathan:

Next we walked in the Animation building to see what characters were out…I snapped a pix of this cool statue:

I wanted to do a goofy pose w/ Mr. and Mrs. Incredible but we opted to see Winnie the Pooh instead…I loved the queue area here:

The last thing we did was stop and say hello to Jackie’s friend:

Up NEXT…a spooky night at MNSSHP ​

 

[DisMomAmy]

Even with the late start, it looks like you had a great day at DHS. I really need to make a point to drag Tim & the boys into OMD. The only time I've ever been in there was on the Spectrum Mom's trip in January.

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at the BD. We have yet to try that one. Tim is the adventurous eater but every time I suggest new restaurants, he steers me back to the old favorites.

 

[Tinkermom76]

I'm sorry you didn't like your cake... we thought about ordering one last trip and now I'm kinda glad we didn't.

Did you like the Cobb Salad? I will be eating there next trip and I usually like the Cobb salad so I'm debating getting it

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Sounds like an awesome DHS day! I so need to put One Man's Dream on my list of must-do's.

Can't wait for the party!!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Looks like you guys had a great day at DHS!!! That berry cobbler looks awesome! I'm VERY determined to get on TSM this trip, we've always been deterred by the long line, but it looks so fun!

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Wow major update. Your DHS day looks like a lot of fun. And yummo for your meal at Brown Derby. Can't wait to read about MNSSHP