The "why do we keep trying to cram all this stuff into one trip?" report!

[GeminiAngel]

I could do stuffy things. I like stuffy stuff. Wine tasting, art, etc...
I've taken a few wine tastings and had a few 5 star meals.
Just wish I had more cash!!
Just remember, stuffy things don't always mean stuffy people.

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

I can't wait to hear about you dinner!

We stayed at GF in March! We even got a free upgrade to club level! I was worried about the stuffiness and fanciness at first. With 3 kids and a not at all fancy DH and FIL I had a lot to worry about!

But really, it was wonderful! Elegant but not stuffy. The staff was top notch all the way! It was definitely deluxe! The only stuffiness we found was in a few fellow guests I could have done without. One man was soooo rude and sooo condescending to the poor girl at the desk in the lounge! I really wanted to tell him she was not an idiot and he needed to speak to her they way he wanted to be spoken to, but I held back!

We'll definitely stay at GF again in the future!

Wow you got upgraded?! Awesome! Yeah, i've seen several guest like that and not only at deluxe hotels either

I could do stuffy things. I like stuffy stuff. Wine tasting, art, etc...
I've taken a few wine tastings and had a few 5 star meals.
Just wish I had more cash!!
Just remember, stuffy things don't always mean stuffy people.

I like it once in a while if my wallet can handle it But there's always people who think they're better than you. At V&A's our waiters were suprised because we asked them their opinions on dishes and said thank you when they brought us our meals. There was a table of people from Spain right next to us practically shouting the whole meal and acting like they were the only ones there. They were SO rude to the waiters I was furious. The waiters tried to ask them how things were and they completely ignored them I can't stand how people think they are better than others because they have money. But oh well, we all end up in the same place at the end People can laugh at me cause I stay at my value resort but I have just as much fun!

 

[addictedtothemouse]

But oh well, we all end up in the same place at the end People can laugh at me cause I stay at my value resort but I have just as much fun!

We do all end up at the same place and if you go value you're able to go more often or longer!

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

We do all end up at the same place and if you go value you're able to go more often or longer!

Wahoo! I definately would love to stay Deluxe some day and I probably will with my CP because i get 50% off. With the new deal I could have stayed at the Poly for 7 nights for 2200$ It's a really good deal but I can stay nine nights at the Pop for 1100$! Two more days and half as much We're only going to be sleeping there. But on my birthday i'm going to spend the weekend relaxing at the Poly

 

[Mean Queen]

I think i'm just a little self-conscious or something. The whole time I was like "I do not fit in with these rich people and they totally know it" It just felt like i'd have to be dressed up all the time and i'm a jeans and sweatshirt kind of girl! The Poly just felt more open and layed back. The GF really is something though; I could see myself getting married there. But I would honeymoon at the Poly!

I felt the same way Anna. We stayed at the GF for our 10th vow renewal. It was beautiful, but it was more formal than I'm comfortable with. I think the fact that my youngest chose this place to um, taste test from her diaper, made it a bit more uncomfortable for me.

 

[addictedtothemouse]

My oldest DD wants to stay at the GF and AKL for her gaduation trip. She's a junior this year so I guess I'd better start saving.

 

[GeminiAngel]

I felt the same way Anna. We stayed at the GF for our 10th vow renewal. It was beautiful, but it was more formal than I'm comfortable with. I think the fact that my youngest chose this place to um, taste test from her diaper, made it a bit more uncomfortable for me.

 

[creativeamanda]

I felt the same way Anna. We stayed at the GF for our 10th vow renewal. It was beautiful, but it was more formal than I'm comfortable with. I think the fact that my youngest chose this place to um, taste test from her diaper, made it a bit more uncomfortable for me.

Yeah, I believe that would be a bit uncomfortable.

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

I felt the same way Anna. We stayed at the GF for our 10th vow renewal. It was beautiful, but it was more formal than I'm comfortable with. I think the fact that my youngest chose this place to um, taste test from her diaper, made it a bit more uncomfortable for me.

I'm am positive that that does not help the situation one bit!

My oldest DD wants to stay at the GF and AKL for her gaduation trip. She's a junior this year so I guess I'd better start saving.

AKL is my second favorite I love the atmosphere! It's too bad they're so expensive though...

 

[tiggerwannabe]

That picture was published when Walt died.

I love it, even tho it makes me feel so sad~

I got twin pearls when my DFIL bought me an oyster.

I had mine mounted on a wishbone charm on a necklace~


...gotta go back and catch up from the last chapter...

all caught up again and looknig forward to the food~

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

That picture was published when Walt died.

I love it, even tho it makes me feel so sad~

I got twin pearls when my DFIL bought me an oyster.

I had mine mounted on a wishbone charm on a necklace~


...gotta go back and catch up from the last chapter...

all caught up again and looknig forward to the food~

Mom and I got a little teary looking at it! Your necklace sounds beautiful. It's so much fun to get your own pearl

Thanks for reading. I'm about to update with the good stuff!

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

Alright here comes the food First I have to apologize for the quality of the photos because I took them without a flash and then brightened them in photoshop. I saw another couple taking pictures with flashes but it was such a small restaurant that I didn't want to bother anyone. I just snuck my camera out between courses

Let much just say that I don't think i'm fit to describe how amazing the food was but i'll try! This was by far the most fancy, and tastiest meal of my life. Now that's not really saying much as i'm only 18 but my mom agreed with me! She was super jazzed about the whole thing. I'm glad that she had a special "birthday". It was kind of weird to have two waiters, but AWESOME! They did an incredible job. Any time our drinks were low or anything they were there in a flash. Their recommendations were spot on and they were really friendly. This was definately one of the highlights of the trip. I think it's a restaurant that everyone should try to eat at at least once in their life. But it's not something I would do every trip or even every year. Firstly, it was a great dining experience but we were there for about two and half hours. And rightfully so; while the portions are small there is so much food! That certainly didn't keep us from eating every bite though! We were so stuffed Second, the price. It's well worth the price and actually I would expect to pay more for the service, amount and quality of food you get. But I had to save up for a while to pay for it and I don't think it's necessary to spend that much every trip. It was nice that we got menus with our names and the date. That way I didn't have to remember what everything was called! It would be wonderful for couples though, very romantic setting. There was a harp playing and everything! But it was really, really dark in there and very intimate. Everything was perfect. The only thing that annoyed me was this group of people speaking extremely loudly and acting like they owned the place. They were so rude to their waiters I just wanted to shout at them Oh well, you get those people everywhere I guess. Alright, without further ado, the food!

Here's our little table setting.

We got some sparkling water and looked over the incredible menu.

First, we got a roll from the "master pastry chef".

It was really tasty and fluffy. And then for some reason i'm missing a photo but our waiter brought us a little plate with four little squares of different types of duck. It was called "Amuse Bouche". They were all so good but different. One of them was duck sausage and it was so strong and flavorful.

For the first course I order the Florida stone crab and dungeness crab salad with mustard Aioli. This was the only picture that had a flash - I forgot to turn it off!

This was so good. It was nice and light and very refreshing.
Mom had the tamarind-ancho marinated gulf shrimp with heirloom tomato vinaigrette.

She said it was good, I didn't get a chance to sample this one for some reason. She said that she liked mine better though as hers was a tad "shrimpy". I tried to tell her that shrimp usually taste like shrimp

Next they brought us another kind of bread.

This bread was to die for! The crust was buttery and flakey and melted in your mouth. There was an herb butter with it that was so tasty.

Next came the Minnesota elk over stewed French lentils with baby brussel sprouts

We both had this. The waitress recommended it because it was rare to find Elk on a menu. She was definitely right, this was a good choice. The meat was so tender and flavorful. Mom doesn’t usually like brussel sprouts but she ate these! We were both practically licking the plates I seriously did not care if anyone thought I was pig for clearing my plates because there was no way that I was not going to finish all this delicious food!

For the third course mom got the Alaskan king salmon with salsify and demi-tasse cup of smoked salmon cream.

She said it was really good. I only tried to salmon cream on the right but it was to die for! Salmon is my favorite fish but I always get it if it’s on the menu and I wanted to try something new.

So I went with the corn crusted Florida grouper with Zellwood corn and geoduck clams. I’d never had grouper before

It was good, the taste was not too overpowering. There was something very different about it but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I think the combination of the corn taste with the fish just really surprised me. It was very unique and I would definitely get it again.

In between this course came a wheat grain bread. It was good but the butter was the amazing part. It had crystals of sea salt in it that were so good.

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

For the third course we both went with the waitress' recommendation of the marcho farms veal tenderloin with yellow chanterelles and English peas. There were some other really good choices like pork tenderloin or lamb but she said this one was her favorite.

This was my favorite course of the whole meal. I finally got to try sweetbread. I actually didn’t know exactly what it was before I ate it. I was a little shocked when I finally found out what is was but i’m an adventurous eater and will pretty much try anything once. The veal was delicious and so juicy and yummy. I’m running out of adjectives here but it’s hard to describe how great everything was. The sweetbread literally melted in my mouth. I think this was mom’s favorite too.

For the final course you could choose between a cheese plate or the gelato. We decided that I’d get the cheese plate and she would get the gelato and we could share.

The cheese plate came with colson basset stilton, nettle meadow kunik and brillat savarin. There were also some Champaign grapes that were a nice, sweet, accompaniment. The cheeses were all pretty strong but one of them had a really nice creamy taste. It was great.

The gelato was white chocolate gelato with tableside shavings and mico garden mint.

While the cheeses were delicious mom’s gelato was insanely good. It dissolved as soon as it hit your tongue! It was so creamy and smooth. I would definitely go with this one next time.

Next were the desserts. There were so many good choices but there was a chocolate trio that looked good so I went with that. It had a Tanzanian chocolate pyramid, Hawaiin kona chocolate soufflé and Peruvian chocolate ice cream and puff pastry.

It was a delicious combination of three really different chocolate tastes. The pyramid actually had real gold on the top! The soufflé came with Godiva chocolate sauce on the side which I did not hesitate to drown the soufflé in It was so tasty. I pretty much had licked the plate clean. When the waiter came back I was like “as you can see I thought it was terrible”. He laughed and said “well, at least you gave it a try”.

Mom had the caramelized banana gateau. Sorry about the picture, the sugar webbing got in the way. It was basically a shell with caramelized banana’s and cream inside.

It was very, very good. Not too sweet and the caramelized banana’s had a really nice crunch. Next time I’d like to try the berry gateau with mango yogurt panna cotta or the Grand Marnier soufflé.

After all the food I had a really good Cappuccino.

The table next to us had regular coffee so they had this weird coffee maker on their table. I tried to get a picture of it but it was too dark! At this point we were pretty much stuffed but nooo they had to bring out one last thing.

The little plates (starting from the left) had pomegranate jello, little pecan cookies, and two chocolates. Of course they were scrumptious.

I think mom was crying in this picture because she had just opened her present.

They gave us each a rose as well as some date bread for breakfast (which was great). Here’s a picture of our menus and roses.

By the time we got home it was 12:30 and we had an early day the next day so we went to bed right away.

It was one of the best nights of my life. We both kind of walked out dazed and content. I'd say, if you can splurge at least try this place once. The food was the best i've ever had!


Next up, Magic Kingdom and MNSSHP!

 

[addictedtothemouse]

Yum! Everything looks and sounds great. I took my DM to Jiko's on our trip. Only three courses and we were stuffed I couldn't imagine as many as you had! I think on our next trip together I'll take her to AP and see if she can finish.

 

[creativeamanda]

That meal at V&A's looks to die for! It's too bad dh and I can't go in June. . .I am extremely picky about people who sit for my kids so they would have no sitter because I couldn't take them somewhere on site to someone I do not know. I know, I'm just weird like that.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Yummmmmmmy!!! Great update!

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

Yum! Everything looks and sounds great. I took my DM to Jiko's on our trip. Only three courses and we were stuffed I couldn't imagine as many as you had! I think on our next trip together I'll take her to AP and see if she can finish.

I definately want to go to Jiko's next time. I think that will be a good substitute for V&A's. I don't know if I can eat that much again

That meal at V&A's looks to die for! It's too bad dh and I can't go in June. . .I am extremely picky about people who sit for my kids so they would have no sitter because I couldn't take them somewhere on site to someone I do not know. I know, I'm just weird like that.

I totally understand! You can never be too careful with babysitters. I'm going to be crazy picky when I have kids. Maybe someday you and your dh can have a special anniversary trip or something

Yummmmmmmy!!! Great update!

Thanks for reading!

I've got another update coming up in a few minutes!

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

Okay so this was our last day But it was Kona Cage, Magic Kingdom, MNSSHP day! Since we had gotten to bed so late we ended up sleeping in about an hour later than we had planned. We were so tired by the last day but we were excited for MNSSHP. We parked and headed to the monorail to get to the Poly

I was sooo excited. I'd only ever seen the Poly from the monorail when I was kid and I wanted to go there so bad. I've wanted to go to the Polynesian Islands because I grew up watching South Pacific. Since i'm doing the Disney College program i'm thinking maybe i'll stay there for my birthday I'll get a good discount! This is what I saw as I got off the monorail

We checked in for breakfast and there was a bit of a wait (which was fine by me, I wanted to check out the hotel ) so we wandered around for a bit. It was so much more beautiful in real life.

You can see the castle from the top floor!

Then it was time for a delicious breakfast! It was really busy this morning.

It was small but beautiful cafe.

Mom was wearing her Halloween Disneyland shirt. Everyone kept commenting on it and asking her where she got it. I don't think know if they sell them in Florida or not.

I got some Kona coffee.

It was so good! Nice and strong It definately helped to wake me up. My grandma loves Kona coffee so we got some at the coffee stand after breakfast. It didn't take too long for us to get our breakfast. We were expecting to take longer because it was really busy. Our poor waitress was so stressed! I got the Tonga Toast with Bacon and mom got the Macadamia Pineapple pancakes with sausage - we shared them.

Here's the Tonga Toast cut open.

They were both soooo good. I'm definately going back again! I loved them both but I actually think mom's pancakes were my favorite. I'm glad we shared though so we could have both We were both stuffed!

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

We headed outside to check out the pool.

I can't wait to stay here sometime and to watch the fireworks from the pool.

Then we jumped on the monorail and headed over to Magic Kingdom

Here's the Contemporary from the monorail.

While the DVC rooms at the Contemporary are beautiful I found this hotel really bland. I've never stayed there but it's just kind of plain looking to me We pulled into the GF station

When we finally off the monorail I was so excited just to get into the park! This made me even more excited for that night.

The Halloween decoration were so cool

I want to live here so bad

Pinocchio and Jiminy

There was a little show going on right in front of the castle so we stopped to watch

All the princesses

The show made us a little teary There was hardly anyone there so we headed over to Tomorrowland

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

I love Space Mountain!

Me and agent Plinkley

Right passed the teacups!

I'd heard that the Winnie the Pooh in Florida was different than the one in Disneyland so we wanted to go on it.

It was so cute! We wandered over to the backside of the castle

Then it was time for one of my favorite rides!

I got so excited when I saw they had a Huppah! They don't have this in disneyland

The layout of this one is quite different than the one in California. Then it was off to the Haunted Mansion! This one is also quite different than the one in Disneyland. This one is so much more creepy. It was cool but I much more prefer the one at Disneyland.

Awesome architecture

Cool carvings on the wall