TinkTatoo
Has a Tink tattoo on her shoulder
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2004
- Messages
- 2,936
24th September 2008
Seeing as all we did today was spend the day in DQ before heading over to Epcot for Illuminations, it could be a very short report but I guess as youve made the effort to get this far I should at least pad it our a bit.
So... Niamh and I were woken at about 7am by one of the three delightful children next door having a screaming tantrum (the only reason I know there were three kids next door is that when we went down to get some breakfast, they were all out in the hall unsupervised running up and down and trashing everyones newspapers
) I opened the curtains and started to make some noise at about half 7 as Niamh was starving and wanted something to eat. Once Aodhan was up and dressed we went down to Roaring Forks where the kids had pancakes and bacon and I had a pan au chocolate and a coffee. Roaring forks was busy but we were still able to get somewhere to sit.
The plan today, as you already know, is to head to Disney Quest and then into Epcot for our ADR at Rose & Crown in time to see Illuminations. We pottered about in the room until about 10:45am then went down to catch the DTD bus. There were a few people waiting and as usual every bus came and went before ours, but we were on our way by 11am. The bus called at the GF first, then TL, DTD Market Place and finally our stop which was outside Planet Hollywood. This was probably one of the longest journeys wed done and we got off the bus at half 11.
I went into the coffee shop in Virgin for a decent cup of coffee as most of the Disney stuff is like creosote (not that I know what creosote tastes like, but you get the idea.)
With coffee in hand we set off for DQ. We all had radios so I didnt mind if the kids split up. We did all the usual DQ stuff and I managed to get the high score on Galaxian & one of the pinball games (product of a misspent youth.) It was really quiet in here today.
Aodhan was delighted when he beat me at air hockey, and he actually did beat me this time, instead of me letting him win. We used our last two CS credits on some burgers and fries and these ones were actually quite good as they were freshly cooked. I dont know how but we didnt end up leaving DQ until sometime after 5pm.
We decided to get a Beach Club bus and walk in to Epcot through the International Gateway. We didnt have to wait too long and were soon on our way. The bus stopped at the Swan, The Dolphin, The Yacht Club and then the Beach Club before finally going on to the Boardwalk. When we got off we walked up past the quiet pool, along the path and into Epcot. It was a breeze getting into the park and as Aodhan wanted to get some more Yu-Gi-Oh cards we set off for Japan.
As it was 5pm somewhere I stopped in France for one of these.
Sorry about the bad photo but it was very windy and I didnt want to risk it blowing over
Aodhan got his cards in Japan and while he was spending ages choosing them, Niamh and I watched the candy demonstration. When Aodhan was finished we took a walk through the Japanese gardens then listened to the drummers. We walked back towards the UK and the line for ADR check in was huge.
They were taking walk ups with a 45 - 60 minute wait. We were given a pager and while we were waiting I popped back to France for another one of these
On the way back I stopped to take this photo, as I though the late evening sunlight reflecting off test Track looked lovely.
Our pager went off and we were taken to our table, which was probably the worse one in the house. It was out on the terrace but right at the back tucked in a corner against the wall of the restaurant.
We asked our server about seeing Illuminations and she said that wed have to sit at our table as only the people inside the restaurant got taken to the viewing area. I explained that with a great big metal awning over the table, we wouldnt be able to see them but she said not to worry as there werent many high ones and it all happened out on the lake :erm:.
Our server said that she was off back to the UK tomorrow, which probably explains why our service was so crap. We waited ages for everything and had to ask the person who brought our dinner to get us drinks refills. We were in the restaurant for about an hour and a half and we only saw her 4 times and that was to take our order, bring the first drinks, get our desert order and bring the check. We were talking to an American family who were on the two tables in front of us, (and the tables were so close that we actually felt like part of their party.) They were also moaning about the service, there were 8 of them so an 18% gratuity was added automatically to their check and they werent happy.
Even though the service was crap the food was better than I expected. Aodhan and I ordered steak and fish while Niamh ordered lamb and they were all well cooked and very tasty. For desert the kids had chocolate cake and I had sticky toffee pudding.
As wed been here so long, Aodhan was getting agitated so we left before Illuminations. We found a spot outside and watched it there. After that it was a mad dash for the bus and we were home in the resort by 10pm where the party people were waiting for us.
Tomorrow - Swimming and Toy Story Mania
