Trip Report - Sept/Oct 2021

[Noreen411]

Friday 10/1/21:
Scott went to the gym about 5, and I went just before 6. We’ve been the only ones in the gym when we go.

After our normal routine of jacuzzi, shower, laundry and breakfast we headed to Hollywood Studios and arrived just as they were opening.



By the time we walked to Rise of the Resistance there was already a 90 minute wait so we skipped it for now.



Instead we walked right onto Smugglers Run, we were pilots. This was a lot of fun and my first time on this attraction. I’m not a Star Wars person so a lot of the intricacies are lost on me but I still enjoyed it. Scott is a Star Wars fan so he appreciated all the details even more.

We took some pictures around the Star Wars section. We are enjoying the pictures the photopass photographers take especially those with interesting effects/magic shots.






We headed towards the Toy Story section and walked right onto the Alien Saucers. This is a cute little ride; Scott was more interested in watching the mechanics of the cars and how they changed tracks, but he enjoyed it too.

We waited for Slinky Dog Dash which was listed as a 45 minute wait, but it was really more like 30.





We skipped Toy Story Mania with a 60 minute wait listed.

We were excited to get in line to ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Train. It’s extra fun when we have new attractions to try. The wait was listed as 30 minutes. When we were inside the queue the attraction went down. Us, and many of the others waiting, sat on the floor (we were inside already) to wait and most played on their phones (including us). About 10 minutes later, everyone clapped when we started moving and the ride was up and running. This was adorable. We both liked it and were glad we waited.

Tower of Terror was a walk on. We both enjoyed this and the sequence of drops was fun. We thought we were done and we shot back up to drop again.


I found the Mickey Pumpkin Spice cookie near Tower of Terror. We had a ziploc baggie with us just for this purpose so wrapped the cookie up for later. These cookies are big. We shared an ear of it before wrapping it up. It’s very good, with nice fall flavors.



Scott went on Rock N Roller Coaster and I waited for him. He enjoyed his ride and was back quickly.

We went to the Frozen Singalong at 12:30 which is always a lot of fun.

We walked right onto Star Tours but ended up having to change vehicles when a guy in our vehicle puked before the ride even started. Guess it was good it happened then, or we would have been trapped. Once in our new ride vehicle we enjoyed our ride.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 10/1/21 - Continued:
We had a reservation for Oga’s Cantina so headed over there to check in. We were at a shared standing table. What a cute place. Scott was very impressed. I had the Carbon Freeze (non alcoholic with popping balls) and Scott had the Dagobu Slug Slinger (with Tequila). We also shared the Batuu bites. This was a super cute place and a nice way to spend some time and have a snack. We chatted with the couple sharing the table with us. They’ve been here several times and were ordering drinks that came with souvenir glasses that they were collecting.






We walked through some of the shops on the way out of the park. We left around 3:30.



We headed back to Vistana Villages. I think we went swimming this afternoon.

Later we showered and changed for dinner. We drove to the Riviera Resort for dinner at Topolino’s Terrace. We were a little early so we wandered around the resort a bit.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 10/1/21 - Continued:
A little before our reservation time we headed to Topolino’s Terrace and sat at a little table at the bar planning to have a cocktail before dinner. The server said we could eat here if we wanted instead of moving to a table in the dining room so we stayed at the bar to eat.

I had the French rose drink and Scott had a Martini


The bread, while adorably shaped, was a little hard. It didn’t stop us from eating it.


For appetizers we shared the duck gnocchi and the ricotta. These were both very good.



For our entree we shared the filet with a shrimp add on. This was good, not my favorite filet but a solid steak. The shrimp were just OK.




For dessert we shared the pumpkin mousse. This was very good. And very artistic.


We took the skyliner to Epcot after dinner, probably close to 9pm. We walked around a bit and waited to see Harmonious (the new fireworks show) at 9:45. The show was pretty good.


We took the Skyliner back to the Riviera then drove back to Vistana Villages.

 

[DVC92]

Great report. If you ever can't book Fairfield in Santee, try Hampton Inn next door. We've been staying there for years, and it has always worked out well.

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 10/2/21:
Scott was ready to go to the gym about 5:30. He opened the door and came right back in. There was a huge dragonfly right outside our door. He managed to get by it and on his way. I was ready to go to the gym around 6 so carefully looked before opening the door and luckily the dragonfly was gone.

After our workout, our normal routine of jacuzzi, shower, laundry, and breakfast.

We drove to Disney Springs and arrived when they opened.

We put our name/number into Gideon’s Virtual queue.

World of Disney was a zoo, it was so crowded. We found a few things we wanted. The line to pay was super long but we ended up doing the virtual checkout which was easy and very fast.

At the Days of Christmas store, we bought a few ornaments.


At 12 I headed over to D-Luxe Burger to meet some of the ladies from our Tampa office. What a great time. We were hanging out and laughing for a few hours. Some of us have never met in person before. Scott was going to amuse himself cleaning out the truck and maybe walking around Disney Springs a bit. After cleaning his car, he had lunch at the Boathouse. He was invited to join us, but decided to meet back up with us after lunch. I forgot to take pictures of the food but it was good.



After lunch we headed to Amorette’s pastry shop and had some treats. Scott met us at Amorette’s. The anniversary cake was delicious but huge (good thing it came in a box). It’s meant to serve 1 but that’s crazy.



Everyone went their separate ways after that. I had such a nice time. While we were at lunch, I received a text from Gideon’s that we could come back to the virtual queue.

We went to Gideon’s, waited on the return line, and chatted with some people there. It’s a cute little store and smelled great.


We got 6 cookies - Coffee Cake, Cookies & Cream, Pistachio, and 3 chocolate chip. We also got a piece of red velvet cake and the peanut butter cold brew (iced coffee). Everything was boxed up, except the coffee. Interesting flavor, peanut butter cold brew, but it was surprisingly good. Even Scott who prefers hot coffee, liked it.

We drove back to Vistana Villages and put our treats away.



We did some more laundry, walked around the resort a bit, went swimming, and just hung out enjoying being on vacation.

Before we knew it, it was time to shower and change for dinner.

 

[Noreen411]

Saturday 10/2/21 - Continued:
We drove to the Grand Floridian for dinner at Citricos. We had the same waitstaff team as our last dinner here. They were great and we ended up filling out an “applause-agram” for them. When we asked the best way to recognize great Cast members we were told about this; It can be done either online or hard copy. We did it the old fashioned way; hard copy.

Scott had a martini. I forgot what I had but I’m guessing one of their specialty cocktails.




For appetizers we shared the duck and the pork belly. Both were really good.



For our entree I ordered the Cobia again and Scott had the short ribs. The Cobia was delicious; Scott’s short ribs were good.



We skipped dessert.

We took the monorail to the Polynesian planning to go to Trader Sam’s Grotto. We browsed through the shops. We went to Trader Sam’s Grotto but they were already full for the night.




We took the monorail back to the Grand Floridian, then drove back to Vistana Villages.

We shared one of the chocolate chip cookies from Gideon’s. Wow this is really good.

 

[Noreen411]

Great report. If you ever can't book Fairfield in Santee, try Hampton Inn next door. We've been staying there for years, and it has always worked out well.

Hi. Thank you for the positive feedback on the report and the hotel suggestion. I’ll hang onto that note for the next trip.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 10/3/21:
Scott went to the gym at 6; I went at 6:30

After our workouts, we did our normal routine of jacuzzi, shower, laundry, and breakfast. I know the routine is probably a bit boring, but it works for us.

We headed to Animal Kingdom and somehow missed the turn and it took ages to get back. Once we arrived we took some pictures.






Scott grabbed a park map and handed it to me waiting for my reaction since he gave me a map that was in German. I didn’t notice since the attraction names were in English. He got a chuckle out of that.

We watched the Feathered Friends show. This is a cute show.


Scott did the single rider line at Expedition Everest. He was back very quickly.

Dinosaur was a walk on. This is always fun.

We played some of the carnival games and I won a little blue dinosaur. It’s really cute; and exciting for me since I never win anything.


We went into Tough to be a Bug. We like this show, but I can see how little kids could be scared.

We decided to hop over to Hollywood Studios. We drove over and entered the park maybe a minute before 2pm (the official time you can park hop).

The wait time for Rise of the Resistance was 60 minutes so we got in line. In about 45 minutes we were in the room with the Storm Troopers and the ride went down. We took a few pictures in the room then we had to exit. They gave us a recovery pass to come back later.



We headed over to the Muppets show next. Always a cute little show.

We headed back over to Rise of the Resistance to see if it was up and running and it was. We went through the Lightening Lane with our recovery pass and got to ride quickly. While Lightening Lane/Genie+ hasn’t launched yet, they had the lanes set up. This won’t be a popular opinion, but it was a bit of a let down. We both looked at each other and said “Is that it?”. Maybe we need to give it another try since we didn’t get to ride it straight through with the breakdown and coming back later. Some of the visuals were very impressive, but I think we need to give it another try.

We left the park around 5ish and drove back to Vistana Villages. We showered and changed for dinner.

We drove to the Dolphin and valet parked. We were a little early for our reservation at Shula’s so walked around a bit.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 10/3/21 - Continued:
We checked in at Shula’s and planned to have a drink at the bar before dinner. I had a white sangria and Scott had a Martini.


We decided to eat dinner at the bar instead of moving to a table.


For our appetizer we had the tuna tartare. This was really good. The little wonton chips went so well with it. And the bread, we couldn’t just eat 1 piece.



For our entree we shared the Prime Rib. This was huge but wasn’t cooked enough for us initially so we asked if they could cook it a bit more. Once cooked a little more we enjoyed it. I really liked the Popover (I think they call it Yorkshire pudding, but it’s the puffy bread like item next to the meat). We had sides of asparagus and Mac & Cheese. Scott continues his quest to have Mac & Cheese everywhere he can. He said this was one of the best Mac & Cheese of the trip. Even sharing the entree, we couldn’t finish it and had it packed to go. We wanted to save room for dessert.




For dessert we had the chocolate soufflé. OMG this was so delicious.



We had a great time at Shula’s. We enjoyed sitting at the bar and interacting with the cast members there.

After dinner we walked around a bit, then drove back to Vistana Villages and watched some of the movie Transylvania before going to bed.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 10/4/21:
Scott went to the gym at 5:30 and I went around 6:15.

We did our normal routine of jacuzzi, shower, laundry, and breakfast before heading out.

We arrived at Magic Kingdom just at opening. There was a line to get through the parking booths as well as a line for the monorail.

When we got into the park it was crazy packed. We have been enjoying pretty empty parks up until now, but I guess with the 50th anniversary and Columbus Day weekend coming up, the crowds have arrived.

The lines for the attractions were really long. We walked around a bit and took a few pictures.

Not sure if you can tell but this is one of the photopass pictures and Scott and I are near the bottom right side. I like this shot, it looks kind of like it‘s a postcard with random people in it, but if you look closely you see us.



We browsed some of the shops and bought a few items then left the park. We didn’t go on any attractions.

We drove to Disney Springs and went to Splitsville (the bowling alley) around noon. At home I have been saying to Scott that I wanted to go bowling. I haven’t bowled in ages. We had so much fun and it was nice to do something a little different.





There is lane side service so we ordered soda and shared a kids pizza.


The place was empty with just a few other people bowling. We would definitely do this again. We had low scores both games we played, but we had so much fun playing and laughing.



We shopped a bit at Disney Springs. We went to World of Disney and a few other stores.

We headed back to the resort and went swimming.

Later we showered and changed for dinner.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 10/4/21 - Continued:
We drove to the Contemporary and valet parked.

We had dinner at California Grill. It’s the first night of the special 50th anniversary pre-fixe menu. We were seated along the window.



Looking out the window, while it was sunny where we were, you could see rain in the distance. I thought this picture was so interesting.



I had a Mai Tai and Scott had a martini.



We were given bread with a dipping sauce made with roasted tomato and chive.


For appetizers, I had the sushi trio and Scott had the duck pizza (with no blue cheese). Both were very good but if I were to choose, the pizza was the better choice.



For our entrees, I had the filet and Scott had the Cioppino. My filet was good. Scott’s Cioppino was so much better than the one he had at Yachtsman Steakhouse.



For dessert I ordered the soufflé and Scott had the 5 magical bites.

A manager delivered our desserts and my soufflé was deflated. I mentioned it to the manager and his response was that “it’s delicate”. Even worse was that it wasn’t cooked. The waitress stopped by to check on us and I told her about the soufflé; she immediately wanted to fix it. I didn’t want another one so had the 5 bites instead.




Everything was great except the soufflé and the manager’s handling of it. I know soufflés are delicate but if you have them on your menu and it’s the first night of this special 50th anniversary dinner - they should be perfect. It should not have left the kitchen like that.

I’m glad we tried this special 50th anniversary dinner, but will probably wait until the regular menu comes back before going back to California Grill. The pre-fixe meal was too much food.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 10/4/21 - Continued:
After dinner we took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. It’s still very crowded.


We waited about 25 minutes for Buzz Lightyear. This is always fun.


The castle looks great lit up.


We found a spot on Main Street to watch the fireworks “Enchantment”. We both enjoyed it.




Rather than the monorail we walked back to the Contemporary. We started to talk about DVC a bit. Having my timeshare is great, but we’ve been cruising a lot before the pandemic. Now we may not be comfortable cruising for a while. If we don’t cruise as much we’ll probably spend more time at Disney so maybe we should look into DVC.

We drove back to the resort and watched some more of the Transylvania movie before going to bed.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 10/5/21:
Scott went to the gym at 5 and I went at 6.

We stuck with our usual routine of jacuzzi, shower, laundry and breakfast.

We weren’t planning to go to a park today. We are headed to Cocoa Beach to meet my sister Jennifer, brother in law Kevin, Dana and her family.

We packed our beach stuff. We watched the rest of the Transylvania movie since we were ready too early to leave.

We drove to Port Canaveral (a little over an hour away) to meet them at Ron Jon Surf Shop. Jen and Kevin (sister and brother in law) were on a cruise on Oasis of the Seas and they had a port stop here. Dana lives in Florida; she ended up leaving the family home so she wouldn’t stress over watching the kids at the beach, so it was just adults. It was really nice to get together like this.

We went to Westgate Pier at Cocoa Beach. We rented chairs and umbrellas and went swimming. There were tons of waves and we had a great time.

Scott and I picked up a big cookie at Publix that said Happy Birthday for Dana so we brought that out and sang to her. We didn’t think cupcakes or cake would do as well at the beach.



They came around to take the rentals back around 5ish. Jen and Kevin had to head back to their ship. We all said our goodbyes.

Scott and I got stuck in tons of traffic driving back to Disney.

We drove straight to Saltgrass Steakhouse for dinner. We changed back to our shorts/tops at the beach so while we were a bit sandy and beachy, we were still presentable. Saltgrass isn’t fancy, it’s kind of like Outback Steakhouse. That’s meant as a compliment, we like Outback. This is on 535 across from Vistana Resort (where we own but aren’t staying this trip). We found this place on one of our prior trips and really like it. The menu changed a bit from our last visit.





I had a tropical sangria and Scott had a martini.


They brought us bread which was good and hard to stop at one piece.


We shared a bacon cheeseburger and onion straws. Scott also got Mac & cheese.

We finished our dinner, but ordered carrot cake and cheesecake to go.

I didn’t do a good job taking pictures today.

Back at the resort, we showered, got in our PJ’s, started watching Transylvania 2, and ate some of our desserts.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 10/6/21:
We both went to the gym around 6:30.

At just before 7, while at the gym, we were both on our Disney app on our respective phones to try to get into the virtual queue for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. I was able to get right in and we are boarding group 77.

After our workout, we did our normal routine of jacuzzi, shower, laundry, and breakfast. Scott made a quick run to Starbucks to have with our breakfast.

We drove over to Epcot.


Soarin had a 15 minute wait listed but we walked right on. We also watched the Awesome Planet show in the Land Pavilion.

We kept an eye on the virtual queue for Remy in the app so we would know when we should head over there.

The Nemo ride was also a walk on.

Some of the photopass photos are so cute.


This next one with the balloons the photographer had most people posing where the husband would be holding onto the wife so she wouldn’t fly away; Scott decided to wave “goodbye”.





We headed towards World Showcase.

At one of the Food & Wine booths Scott ordered a lobster tail. He said it was good, better than he expected it to be.


In France we went to the Beauty & the Beast Sing Along.







It was time for us to ride Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. This was very cute; similar technology to Minnie & Mickey’s runaway train. We enjoyed it.


At the crepe stand we got a berry crepe. This was a good treat that we both enjoyed.


We went into the Epcot Experience, but this seemed kind of silly.

We scheduled a DVC presentation at the Riviera so headed over there. I like that they don’t pressure you to buy on the spot like most timeshares. While Riviera is very nice and the villas are nice, it doesn’t have a very “Disney” feel to us; it could be a nice hotel anywhere. There are also a lot of restrictions on how you use the points and how far in advance you need to book things. We don’t always plan that far in advance. The guide advised us to tour the villas at some of the other resorts to see where we are most comfortable since we should buy points at the resort we would want to stay at most. It would be our home resort where you can make reservations 11 months in advance (non home resort I think is 7 months in advance). While it’s not a high pressure sale, he was definitely pushing Riviera over the other resorts. We left with a lot to think about regarding DVC.

We headed back to the resort, went swimming, then showered and changed for dinner.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 10/6/21 - Continued:
We drove to the Grand Floridian a little early so we could look at their DVC villas. We actually liked the villa layout more here than the Riviera (we were looking at the one bedroom villas). We also get that real Disney feeling here.

We headed to Narcoose’s



We sat at the bar and had a drink before dinner. Scott had a martini. I had a mango mojito; only at Disney would the limes on the glass look like Mickey Mouse. Even Scott’s olives in his martini look like Mickey Mouse.



We were seated right at our reservation time.


We were brought bread with butter and sea salt; we each had our own butter/salt dish.


For our appetizer we shared the shrimp and crab cake; this was very good.


We watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the table. They asked if we wanted to go outside on the porch to watch, but we had a good view right from the table. The lights were dimmed in the restaurant and music played. It was a nice way to see the fireworks; not quite the same experience as standing on Main Street in Magic Kingdom but very nice (and a lot less crowded).

For our entrees, Scott ordered the scallops and I ordered the sweet potato gnocchi. We also ordered brussel sprouts to share. We ended up switching entrees, both were good, but surprisingly I preferred the scallops (and I don’t normally like scallops).




We were stuffed and ordered dessert to go - Almond crusted cheesecake and Carrot Cake.



We really enjoyed Narcoose’s and will come back again.

Back at the resort, we watched some more of Transylvania 2 and ate some of our desserts. The desserts were very good.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 10/7/21:
Scott went to the gym at 4:30; I went about 5:30

After our normal morning routine, we headed to Hollywood Studios.

Toy Story Mania had a 50 minute wait listed, but it was really about 30 minutes. I never score too well, but it’s fun.

I wanted to try one of the Pop Tarts from Woody’s lunch box and tried to use mobile order but the first available time was a few hours away. We walked over and I just ordered a raspberry pop tart the old fashioned way and had it within a few minutes. It’s pretty good. After a bite or two we wrapped it up, put it in a ziploc and into Scott’s bag for later.







The park was crowded today and it’s hotter than it has been.

Minnie & Mickey’s Runaway railway had a 65 minute wait listed; we didn’t want to wait that long.

We went into the Lightening McQueen racing academy. This was a cute little show. We never saw this before.


We also bought a Mickey Pumpkin spice cookie that we wrapped up and put in Scott’s bag for later.


Tower of Terror surprisingly didn’t have that long a wait so we went on. This is always one of my favorites.



We browsed through some shops but didn’t find anything to buy.

We decided to leave the park and planned to go swimming.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 10/7/21 - Continued:
As we were driving, we had a spontaneous change of plans and went to Disney Springs to have lunch at the Boathouse. Scott enjoyed it the other day when I had lunch with the ladies from Tampa.


We sat at the bar and shared the tuna poke appetizer, some sea of Cortez shrimp, and a lobster roll. Our lunch was very good; we don’t normally eat a big lunch.




After lunch we walked around Disney Springs a little.


We headed back to the resort and spent the afternoon at the pool, swimming, and just hanging out.

Later we showered and changed for the evening. Before heading out we drove around the resort to some of the other sections. Scott tried a hammock which had us laughing since he was practically on the floor.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 10/7/21 - Continued:
We picked up Jen (Scott’s ex-wife) and headed to the Contemporary for dinner at Steakhouse 71.

We went a little early since I wanted to see the DVC villas at Bay Lake. We were able to see them but I didn’t like them as much as some of the others that we’ve seen.

We checked in at Steakhouse 71 early and wanted to have drinks at the bar first. They didn’t have what we ordered. Both Jen and I ordered the EARidescent Sip-a-bration (glow ball special drink). They were out of the glasses they come in so brought us the drinks in a regular glass instead. Scott had a martini.



We gave Jen the birthday gifts we picked up for her during the trip. A lot of “Stitch” merchandise since that’s her favorite character. We also got a birthday button for her.

When we were ready to be seated, they were a bit confused and lost our reservation. They got it sorted and we were seated for dinner.

For appetizers we shared the brioche, onion rings, and the bacon & eggs. The bread was good and I liked how they wrote 71 on the butter (little things amuse me). The onion rings were OK but the batter fell off. They both liked the bacon & eggs; I tried the bacon part since I won’t eat runny eggs.




For an entree, Jen had the Vegetable Wellington and an order of mashed potatoes. She said everything was very good.




Scott ordered Prime Rib but they were out of it, so he asked for a burger which wasn’t on the dinner menu but was on the lunch menu. It came with fries and he ordered Mac & cheese. He said the burger was just OK and that the one from Saltgrass was better. He also said the burgers at boot camp (when he was in the Marines) were better too. He wasn’t a fan of the burger.


I had the filet and charred asparagus with chimichurri sauce on the side. This was pretty good, not my favorite filet, but a solid steak. I didn’t finish it and had the rest packed to go.


For dessert, Jen wanted crème brûlée but they were out of it. We ordered the chocolate layer cake that we all shared. It was OK. It looks very impressive; look at all those layers.



Overall, we were not fans of Steakhouse 71. I know it was their first week open so will cut them some slack and will give them another try in the future.

Aside from the food, the decor is very cafeteria like; you don’t feel like you are in a steakhouse. The prices are also much cheaper than most steakhouses so that may be the intentional vibe, much more casual.

This part is beyond the restaurant’s fault; I know we’re in Disney and people are very casual. What people wear doesn’t bother me as long as you are clean and don’t smell. A few tables away from us was a loud group, including a large man wearing what I can best describe as a dirty wife beater tank top. We don’t need the fashion police, but some common courtesy on what you wear would be nice. At least put a Tshirt on. Seeing that was enough to make you lose your appetite.

We had a nice time at dinner even though it sounds like I’m complaining a lot.

When we left there was a problem at the exit so we were directed out a back way. We got a little lost but eventually found our way back, dropped Jen off, then headed back to the resort.

We watched some of Transylvania 3 before bed. We are really enjoying these movies.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 10/8/21:
Scott and I both went to the gym around 6:30.

After our normal morning routine, we headed to the Magic Kingdom.


The park is crowded today.



We waited about 20 minutes to go on the carousel. It may be childish but it’s so much fun to choose your horse and ride around.


We waited maybe 15 minutes for Philharmagic. This is always fun.

Since we’ve done most of the big attractions we wanted to do already this trip, we just enjoyed wandering around. We were texting with Jen who was also in Magic Kingdom with her friend Dawn, so we wanted to meet up with them.

We went on the People Mover and were stuck for a bit.

Next was the Country Bear Jamboree. I know it’s corny but it’s really cute.

We met up with Jen and Dawn and walked around the park with them for a little while.



Scott and I headed out of the park and went back to the villa. We did some packing, then went to the pool.



Later we showered and changed for dinner.

 

[Noreen411]

Friday 10/8/21 - Continued:
We picked up Jen (Scott’s ex-wife) and drove to the Grand Floridian where we had dinner reservations at Citricos.



I had a blue drink (forgot what it was), Scott had Bourbon and a coke, and Jen had Pomegranate beer.


For our appetizers Scott and I shared the duck and the pork belly. Jen had a strawberry salad.




For our entrees I had the Cobia, Scott had the tilefish, and Jen had the vegetable rigatoni.




For dessert Scott had the blackberry tartelette. Both Jen and I had the chocolate dessert. On her plate in chocolate it said “Happy Birthday”. I’m just including the picture with the bday writing since mine looked the same (without the writing).




We all enjoyed our meal at Citricos. This is definitely a hidden gem since I don’t hear that much about it, but we really liked it.

We took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and got there just in time for the fireworks. We watched from Main Street and enjoyed the show, but it was very crowded.

We took the monorail back to the Grand Floridian to get the truck, dropped Jen back at her hotel, then headed back to the resort.

We did some more packing. We decided we’re going to leave tomorrow instead of Sunday to start the drive home. Hopefully we can avoid some of the Columbus Day traffic this way. The parks have been more crowded recently and we’ve seen just about everything we wanted to.