Nickylv
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2021
- Messages
- 646
On our short trip to Disney World we learned a few things.
We are staying at Saratoga Springs Resort. We requested a water view room.
My wife and I arrived at the Harry Reid international Airport, formally Mccarran Airport in Las Vegas Nevada at 3:40pm for a 5:35 Flight. Got to our gate at 4:03. We spent all day checking our flight status since there have been many late and canceled flights lately. Well here we go, at the gate the departure time is now 1/2 hour late. We decided to have a car service pick us up at the airport so they also have our flight information and know when our flight is delayed and to what time to come and pick us up. Well we finally hear the pilot make an anouncement that we are pulling away from the gate. Well……only to sit on the tarmac for another 1/2 hour. We’ll we now start to move and are now in the air and at 1 am we arrive at the Orlando International Airport. This time we hired a car service to pick us up at the airport since when we rent a car it only sits in the parking lot the whole time we are there. This saved us $100’s of dollars.
We decided to try something else new, no check in luggage just a carryon and a back pack. (Usually we each have two checkins and a carryon each with enough clothes, shoes etc…for a year but we are only there for a week or less, only using 1/3 of what we brought with us…omg) Also, we are going to take a different approach to our park goings, we will try the no need to be anywhere at anytime, and take our time doing what ever when ever. If we decide after walking in a park we want to head back to our room then that is what we will do. Just no rushing around to get in as much as we can. Why do we need to be so stressed out when we go all the time, if we miss seeing something this time we will see it the next time, especially since we come so often. I understand there are some things you need to make reservations for, such as dinners, shows, special events but we will limit the have to do’s so we can have a peaceful time this visit.
We arrived at our room and when we open the door, the view out our balcony was amazing. You can see all of Disney Springs, the view is right in the middle of everything. You could not have a better view of the entire water way, boats, restaurants, shops, Rain Forest volcano, live bands, the hot air balloon and all the excitement that is going on at Disney Springs. After we checked out the best view ever, we called for our Owners locker and all our groceries we had ordered ahead of time. Both of which saves much of our vacation time grocery shopping and luggage packing. Putting our groceries away and opening a bottle of wine that we kept in our owners locker, we sat out on the balcony enjoying our great view and soon it was 4am. Time for bed. We are from the West coast so 4 am is really 1am to us, I admit even 1am is a late night for us but its our 1st night and we will have to adjust to the time difference.
We woke at 12 noon. Had some coffee, showered and headed out to Hollywood Studios. While walking around I realized I had not eaten since I got up so I tried to find a vegetarian or pescatarian lunch since I do not eat beef, pork or chicken. Checking the menus on all their quick service eateries I came upon Sunset Ranch Market, quickly looking at the menu I saw they had a lobster roll sandwich with house made potato chips. BINGO. My wife said she will have the specialty salad. When I stepped up to the cashier and made my order the cashier asked me if I knew the Lobster Roll was a plant based entree made with hearts of palm and not Lobster. WHAT? I told her while I did not eat meat or fake ingredients but I do eat fish and she said that there was nothing fake in this sandwich, well a little disapointed I said I would try it. After getting my order and sitting down to eat. I have to be honest this sandwich had no hint of anything close to a lobster roll. Maybe a pickle sandwich but not a lobster roll. Look, it was not awful but not great either and I really feel they should change the name of that since it was very disapointing, maybe call it lobsterless roll. On the plus side the roll was crispy which was the best thing about this sandwich, even the house made chips were extreemly salty and cold. Well I ate enough of the bread to tide me over until dinner. We had a reservation for 6pm at Todd English’s Bluezoo.
Since it was only 3pm we had one hour before our wait time of 4pm for the Rise of the Resistance. So to fill the hour we decided to head over to the Muppet 3D show. We got in line and soon after the doors opened. I have to say that no matter how many times you see this show it was still enjoyable. We headed over to Star Wars and it was now 4pm and got in the lightening line and walked right on. This is the second time we got on this adventure and it was different from the first time but equally as great.
While it was not even 5pm yet we decided to head over to Bluezoo and try to get in early since we were both hungry. We took the boat over to the Swan and got to the restaurant and they said we could go in now but we had to eat in the bar area. That was okay with us so we got a booth right across from the bar and ordered our drinks. My wife has been there before and was excited to order the crab nachos again. Delicious. Then we ordered our dinner, I got the Lobster Bucatini which was really good and my wife got the steamed pumpkin nudi, she almost licked the plate.
Leaving there we took a boat over to the Yacht Club since last trip we made the mistake of getting a bus to the Magic Kingdom from the Swan and Dolphin and ended up at the Ticket and Transportation center which took almost two hours to get to the Boo Bash from the S&D since they Have Mear busses and can not drop off at the park. We did not want to make that mistake again, not knowing where they would drop us off so we took the bus to Disney Springs from the Yacht Club. Since this was a pretty much minimal reservation trip, but we did have and wanted to keep the “Drawn to Life” Cirque Du Soleil’s performance at 8pm. We arrived at the show with not even one minute to spare. We were seated in the second row from the stage and could see everything. This show had many elements to it, silly, funny, acrobatic and a heart warming story. This show was performed by a bunch of very talented actors and athletes, a definate must see.
Got back to the room after the show and in bed and asleep by 11;30pm. Till tomorrow.
NEXT DAY
Woke up at 7:30 and after a nice sit on the porch with some breakfast we got ready and left the room and on our way to The Animal Kingdom. We walked around for a while but before heading off to lunch we went to see “Its Tough to be a Bug” which is always a cute show and it really makes you smile to see how much fun the little kids have during that show.
We decided to have lunch at Yak and Yetti’s restaurant. Again we did not have a reservation however with our Landrys club card, we showed the card we were seated in 10 minutes.
After being seated and got our drinks and an appetizer Firecracker Shrimp, very good. Then we both ordered our lunch. I ordered the Malaysian Seafood Curry and it was great and my wife ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala and she loved it too. Our server was Tyler who was excellent. When eating at the parks I never get a to go box for my leftovers but this time I did since we may just hang out on the porch tomorrow afternoon and heat up leftovers for lunch. Another not having to run out to a restaurant for a lunch adventure.
After we ate we headed off to the Safari which is always a great adventure. Still early in the afternoon we decided to head back to our amazing view room, slip into our bathing suits and head to the pool and spa. Now that was a very relaxing way to spend a few hours before dinner.
We had a reservation at Terralina Crafted Italian restaurant in Disney Springs. This restaurant is right next to the Boat House which is my favorite restaurant in all of Disney but since this is a try a new adventure I decided to try something new for a change.
We ordered our drinks and two appetizers, Mozzarella Stuffed Rice Balls and the Bruschetta, both were good. For entrees I ordered Eggplant Parmesan and my wife ordered Spaghetti Bolognese both were good but I have to say they must have sat under the warmer for a while since they were not hot but the plates were very hot. I kept looking over at the sign of the Boat House and said next time I will not pass that restaurant up. Food was good but not great.
Disney Springs was so crouded, it was wall to wall people, the stores were equally as crouded so we just wanted to get out of there and head back to our room.
We got back to the room and sat out on the balcony for a few hours before bedtime.
Woke up at 7:30am and sat out on the balcony enjoying our breakfast. Today we are head back to home with a 5:37pm flight out. We booked the room for tonight too so we do not have to be out until our driver comes to pick us up at 3:30pm. With the many delays and cancellation of flights we thought it best to book an extra night incase we have to come back and spend another night here, we also tossed around the idea of changing our flights and leaving tomorrow but we will be back in a few months so its time to go.
This trip has been a very relaxing trip without having to be anywhere at anytime. Our room at Saratoga Springs was just the best. We had taken leftovers from our dinners, something we normally do not do but it was nice to just spend the time before we leave in the room and just heat up our leftovers for lunch. After we ate we headed down to the resort store the Artist Pallet just to see if there was anything there we couldn’t live without and then head back to the room.
Our driver showed up 20 minutes early, good thing we were all packed and ready. We took a quick look around to be sure we had packed everything and walked out the room and closed the door for the last time this trip.
We learned alot this trip, we did not need to pack as much as we have in the past. It worked out perfectly. Not having an itinary that keeps you stressed and running around was very relaxing, while I get you have to make some reservations for dinners and shows but if we didn’t feel like being there at that time we didn’t. No need to stress over missing a ride, attraction or something we can do the next time we come. We did not stress about anything this trip and also we did not gain any weight ether. How great is that.
This is our last trip this year with just the two of us. Our future trips this year will be filled with our family.
We will be going to Disney Land in May, Disney World in September and again in December, so we have much time to fine tune our packing skills, our reservations, and anything we need to do or just want to do. Till next time…………
Thanks for reading.
We are staying at Saratoga Springs Resort. We requested a water view room.
My wife and I arrived at the Harry Reid international Airport, formally Mccarran Airport in Las Vegas Nevada at 3:40pm for a 5:35 Flight. Got to our gate at 4:03. We spent all day checking our flight status since there have been many late and canceled flights lately. Well here we go, at the gate the departure time is now 1/2 hour late. We decided to have a car service pick us up at the airport so they also have our flight information and know when our flight is delayed and to what time to come and pick us up. Well we finally hear the pilot make an anouncement that we are pulling away from the gate. Well……only to sit on the tarmac for another 1/2 hour. We’ll we now start to move and are now in the air and at 1 am we arrive at the Orlando International Airport. This time we hired a car service to pick us up at the airport since when we rent a car it only sits in the parking lot the whole time we are there. This saved us $100’s of dollars.
We decided to try something else new, no check in luggage just a carryon and a back pack. (Usually we each have two checkins and a carryon each with enough clothes, shoes etc…for a year but we are only there for a week or less, only using 1/3 of what we brought with us…omg) Also, we are going to take a different approach to our park goings, we will try the no need to be anywhere at anytime, and take our time doing what ever when ever. If we decide after walking in a park we want to head back to our room then that is what we will do. Just no rushing around to get in as much as we can. Why do we need to be so stressed out when we go all the time, if we miss seeing something this time we will see it the next time, especially since we come so often. I understand there are some things you need to make reservations for, such as dinners, shows, special events but we will limit the have to do’s so we can have a peaceful time this visit.
We arrived at our room and when we open the door, the view out our balcony was amazing. You can see all of Disney Springs, the view is right in the middle of everything. You could not have a better view of the entire water way, boats, restaurants, shops, Rain Forest volcano, live bands, the hot air balloon and all the excitement that is going on at Disney Springs. After we checked out the best view ever, we called for our Owners locker and all our groceries we had ordered ahead of time. Both of which saves much of our vacation time grocery shopping and luggage packing. Putting our groceries away and opening a bottle of wine that we kept in our owners locker, we sat out on the balcony enjoying our great view and soon it was 4am. Time for bed. We are from the West coast so 4 am is really 1am to us, I admit even 1am is a late night for us but its our 1st night and we will have to adjust to the time difference.
We woke at 12 noon. Had some coffee, showered and headed out to Hollywood Studios. While walking around I realized I had not eaten since I got up so I tried to find a vegetarian or pescatarian lunch since I do not eat beef, pork or chicken. Checking the menus on all their quick service eateries I came upon Sunset Ranch Market, quickly looking at the menu I saw they had a lobster roll sandwich with house made potato chips. BINGO. My wife said she will have the specialty salad. When I stepped up to the cashier and made my order the cashier asked me if I knew the Lobster Roll was a plant based entree made with hearts of palm and not Lobster. WHAT? I told her while I did not eat meat or fake ingredients but I do eat fish and she said that there was nothing fake in this sandwich, well a little disapointed I said I would try it. After getting my order and sitting down to eat. I have to be honest this sandwich had no hint of anything close to a lobster roll. Maybe a pickle sandwich but not a lobster roll. Look, it was not awful but not great either and I really feel they should change the name of that since it was very disapointing, maybe call it lobsterless roll. On the plus side the roll was crispy which was the best thing about this sandwich, even the house made chips were extreemly salty and cold. Well I ate enough of the bread to tide me over until dinner. We had a reservation for 6pm at Todd English’s Bluezoo.
Since it was only 3pm we had one hour before our wait time of 4pm for the Rise of the Resistance. So to fill the hour we decided to head over to the Muppet 3D show. We got in line and soon after the doors opened. I have to say that no matter how many times you see this show it was still enjoyable. We headed over to Star Wars and it was now 4pm and got in the lightening line and walked right on. This is the second time we got on this adventure and it was different from the first time but equally as great.
While it was not even 5pm yet we decided to head over to Bluezoo and try to get in early since we were both hungry. We took the boat over to the Swan and got to the restaurant and they said we could go in now but we had to eat in the bar area. That was okay with us so we got a booth right across from the bar and ordered our drinks. My wife has been there before and was excited to order the crab nachos again. Delicious. Then we ordered our dinner, I got the Lobster Bucatini which was really good and my wife got the steamed pumpkin nudi, she almost licked the plate.
Leaving there we took a boat over to the Yacht Club since last trip we made the mistake of getting a bus to the Magic Kingdom from the Swan and Dolphin and ended up at the Ticket and Transportation center which took almost two hours to get to the Boo Bash from the S&D since they Have Mear busses and can not drop off at the park. We did not want to make that mistake again, not knowing where they would drop us off so we took the bus to Disney Springs from the Yacht Club. Since this was a pretty much minimal reservation trip, but we did have and wanted to keep the “Drawn to Life” Cirque Du Soleil’s performance at 8pm. We arrived at the show with not even one minute to spare. We were seated in the second row from the stage and could see everything. This show had many elements to it, silly, funny, acrobatic and a heart warming story. This show was performed by a bunch of very talented actors and athletes, a definate must see.
Got back to the room after the show and in bed and asleep by 11;30pm. Till tomorrow.
NEXT DAY
Woke up at 7:30 and after a nice sit on the porch with some breakfast we got ready and left the room and on our way to The Animal Kingdom. We walked around for a while but before heading off to lunch we went to see “Its Tough to be a Bug” which is always a cute show and it really makes you smile to see how much fun the little kids have during that show.
We decided to have lunch at Yak and Yetti’s restaurant. Again we did not have a reservation however with our Landrys club card, we showed the card we were seated in 10 minutes.
After being seated and got our drinks and an appetizer Firecracker Shrimp, very good. Then we both ordered our lunch. I ordered the Malaysian Seafood Curry and it was great and my wife ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala and she loved it too. Our server was Tyler who was excellent. When eating at the parks I never get a to go box for my leftovers but this time I did since we may just hang out on the porch tomorrow afternoon and heat up leftovers for lunch. Another not having to run out to a restaurant for a lunch adventure.
After we ate we headed off to the Safari which is always a great adventure. Still early in the afternoon we decided to head back to our amazing view room, slip into our bathing suits and head to the pool and spa. Now that was a very relaxing way to spend a few hours before dinner.
We had a reservation at Terralina Crafted Italian restaurant in Disney Springs. This restaurant is right next to the Boat House which is my favorite restaurant in all of Disney but since this is a try a new adventure I decided to try something new for a change.
We ordered our drinks and two appetizers, Mozzarella Stuffed Rice Balls and the Bruschetta, both were good. For entrees I ordered Eggplant Parmesan and my wife ordered Spaghetti Bolognese both were good but I have to say they must have sat under the warmer for a while since they were not hot but the plates were very hot. I kept looking over at the sign of the Boat House and said next time I will not pass that restaurant up. Food was good but not great.
Disney Springs was so crouded, it was wall to wall people, the stores were equally as crouded so we just wanted to get out of there and head back to our room.
We got back to the room and sat out on the balcony for a few hours before bedtime.
Woke up at 7:30am and sat out on the balcony enjoying our breakfast. Today we are head back to home with a 5:37pm flight out. We booked the room for tonight too so we do not have to be out until our driver comes to pick us up at 3:30pm. With the many delays and cancellation of flights we thought it best to book an extra night incase we have to come back and spend another night here, we also tossed around the idea of changing our flights and leaving tomorrow but we will be back in a few months so its time to go.
This trip has been a very relaxing trip without having to be anywhere at anytime. Our room at Saratoga Springs was just the best. We had taken leftovers from our dinners, something we normally do not do but it was nice to just spend the time before we leave in the room and just heat up our leftovers for lunch. After we ate we headed down to the resort store the Artist Pallet just to see if there was anything there we couldn’t live without and then head back to the room.
Our driver showed up 20 minutes early, good thing we were all packed and ready. We took a quick look around to be sure we had packed everything and walked out the room and closed the door for the last time this trip.
We learned alot this trip, we did not need to pack as much as we have in the past. It worked out perfectly. Not having an itinary that keeps you stressed and running around was very relaxing, while I get you have to make some reservations for dinners and shows but if we didn’t feel like being there at that time we didn’t. No need to stress over missing a ride, attraction or something we can do the next time we come. We did not stress about anything this trip and also we did not gain any weight ether. How great is that.
This is our last trip this year with just the two of us. Our future trips this year will be filled with our family.
We will be going to Disney Land in May, Disney World in September and again in December, so we have much time to fine tune our packing skills, our reservations, and anything we need to do or just want to do. Till next time…………
Thanks for reading.
