Day Ten - Morning
Once again I woke up early, at 6:00 AM, but once again, I also didn't feel like getting up. I watched another made for TV movie. I wasted so much time this trip watching stupid things I would usually never watch, it's really pathetic.
I went to Epcot around 10:00, I had a lunch ADR at Garden Grill at 11:00, and even though I wasn't that hungry, I decided I wanted to keep it, at least too see the characters.
I went to the Land right away, and got a Fast Pass for Soarin, then waited near Garden Grill until it opened, since my ADR time was only fifteen minutes away.
Day Ten - Lunch - Garden Grill
I had wanted to eat here for two reasons, 1) the characters, and 2) the idea of a moving-revolving restaurant amused me. As far as the moving goes it was actually a little faster then I thought it would be, but I could only tell when I stared at the floor and watched it moving. If I just looked at my table, or even the scenes that we were revolving around, I couldn't really tell I was moving at all. Other then the fact that the scenes changed, it really wasn't noticeable that the room was moving. Unless, like I said, you stare at the floor.
My server was Kimberly, and she was good. She brought out my food quickly, and, unlike other family-style meals I've eaten at solo, this is the only one that seemed to have some kind of portion control. I was brought out a plate with the meats, vegetables, and stuffing all together, as well as a bowl of mashed potatoes, and some bread.
I thought the food quality varied here, some of it was very good, some of it was okay, some of it was almost inedible. Going item by item, from worst to best;
Without a doubt, the only thing I did not like, and like I said, was almost inedible, was the bread. There was a biscuit, and a regular roll. You'd think with two kinds of bread, one of them would've been decent, but that was not the case. Both of them were hard, and tasted kind of stale. The butter however, was good, and it's a shame the bread was so bad, becuase I really would of liked more of the butter. Which was sweet by the way.
My next least to favorite thing was the turkey, but it was way better then the bread. The only reason I'm listing the turkey next is beacause it was pretty dry, and I really like my meats moist, and this turkey, was a little over-cooked. It came with a cranberry sauce, which I had on the side. I ate that by itself, it was good, but not as good as the one my grandmother makes, but what beats home-cooking, when it comes to Thanksgiving type foods, and that's what this meal was.
Next up, the mashed potatoes. They were okay, a little lumpy, and tasted a lot like instant. Which I don't hate, but like I said about the turkey, not nearly as good as my grandma's. (This review may be biased on me being spoiled by my grandmother's cooking. )
Next up, the vegetables, they were good, but I'm not a big veggie eater, as I've said in my other reviews. I did eat most of the sweet potato on my plate, but I just picked at the rest of them.
Then, the stuffing, which was good, but tasted like instant again. Though I did have seconds of the stuffing. But I am a big fan of stuffing, that's always my favorite part of turkey dinners.
I also liked the catfish, even though I ate a lot more stuffing then catfish. I'm not a big fan of catfish, but this was good.
The only thing I absolutly loved, was the steak. I don't know what it had been marinated in, but it had a great flavor. It was cooked well-done, but I still ate a lot of it, and had seconds of it along with the stuffing. This came with a sauce as well, a mushroom a jus, which I had on the side, but didn't use, since I don't really like mushrooms.
The dessert, which was no longer the sampler, which I had been looking foward too, was a bread pudding with a hard cream sauce.
It was good, but I would have preferred a sampler. Though by that point I really wasn't hungry anymore anyway, since I had eaten a lot of steak.
As far as the characters go, I was visited by Dale, Mickey, and Pluto twice, and by Chip three times. All of them, especially Chip and Dale were very interactive. Chip, (or was it Dale?) spent a few minutes by me, pointing at my plate, and rubbing his belly. Those two crack me up.
I probably would eat here again, but it's not a must-do for me. The food, with the exception of the steak, was just average. The character interaction here was very good though.
Day Ten - Afternoon
After lunch I was able to get a second Fast Pass for Soarin, even though the return time of my first Fast Pass hadn't come around yet. After that I left the Land, and walked to Future World East. I rode Ellen's Energy Adventure, which I hadn't ridden since the 90's, and it was the same as I remembered it, though it didn't seem as long as it says it is.
I then went to the Wonders of Life Pavillion and saw a first-time attraction for me, The Making of Me. It's a cute little movie, and is worth seeing once, though I didn't really learn anything since I'm well aware of where babies come from.
I then rode Test Track, with an unusually long wait in the singles line, and then went to Club Cool. Then I went back to the Land, and got a third Fast Pass for Soarin, and used the first one I had gotten before lunch.
After that I walked around World Showcase, just going through shops and wandering around with no real purpose until my dinner ADR time at Rose and Crown. By that time, I was feeling worse though.
Day Ten - Dinner - Rose and Crown
My ADR was for 4:50, but when I checked in it was about 4:30. After checking in I was looking at the menu they have posted outside. Now, usually, I don't get aggravated, but there were these two women trying to push there way in front of me, and I was going to say something to them - I do get aggravated and moody when I don't feel well, when my pager / beeper thing went off. Luckily for those ladies, and the ears of all the little children around, my table was ready.
After being seated it seemed like an unusually long wait before my server, Michael came over. But I was really tired, and time just seemed to be going really slowly at this point, and I was desperate for something to drink.
Usually I'm not a big water drinker, with me, it's usually diet coke, but for the last few days all I had wanted was water. Which is even stranger still, is that usually I won't drink the tap water at Disney, I don't like the way it tastes, but I had been drinking it down since I had gotten sick.
By this point I had also given up hope that I would be better before my vacation was over, I only had one day left, and it seemed like nothing would help. I at least thought I probably couldn't feel any worse.
Okay, so I finally got my water, and some bread. The bread had cheese on it, but I couldn't really taste it. I managed to eat almost two whole rolls. So they were good, even though I couldn't taste the cheese. I also liked the basket the bread came in, with the paper from London.
For my entee I had the beef stew. It came with mashed potatoes, and a cheddar cheese crisp. I did not like the cheese crisp. Though the ones I usually get at home are parmesan and come on ceasar salads. This one tasted kind of funny, like it was a little burnt.
I didn't eat much of the stew. I did eat most of the mashed potatoes on it, but not that much of the stew itself. It was good, I just did not have an appetite at this point, or for the remainder of my trip.
I would of probably, no, definatly, been able to enjoy my dinner better had I not been sick. Why did I force myself to go to dinner when I felt like crap? Because I had wanted to try the restaurant, and I had sworn I wasn't going to miss any more ADRs.
Day Ten - Night
After dinner, I went back to the Land, and used the second Fast Pass I had for Soarin, which at that point, was just past its time, but I had no problem using it anyway.
I then went to the Living Seas, and saw Turtle Talk with Crush. After that I had about an hour until I could use my third Soarin Fast Pass, but I didn't feel like waiting, so just went back to Pop, and was in bed by 8:00.
Day Eleven - Morning
For the third day in a row I woke up at 6:00, but didn't get to a park until 10:30. I was at MGM again today, and the first thing I did was go see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and then I rode the Great Movie ride. Then it was time for lunch.
Day Eleven - Lunch - Mama Melrose's
My throat was back to being sore again, actually, it was worse then it had been before. First, I had just not been hungry, then I was eating again, but not feeling so great. Now, I still felt bad, but I also did not want to eat. Seriously, who does this to themselves? I think going to lunch this day was probably one of the worse decisions I could of made, I felt that bad.
I checked in early, and pin traded with one of the hostesses before the restaurant opened. See, getting there early pays off, since I ended up getting an Ariel pin I had wanted. Maybe keeping my ADR wasn't a total waste after all.
At noon, when the restaurant opened, I was the first one seated. My waiter, A.J., came right over, took my drink order - once again, all I wanted was water, and brought me some bread.
I'd had the same kind of bread last year, but there had been no butter served with it last year, and I remember the dipping oil being slightly different. This one was a mix of sun-dried tomatoes and pesto, and it was very good, and very garlicy.
I was really in a toss-up about what to order. I was thinking about the chicken bruschetta, but ended up ordering the chicken flatbread, which I'd also had last year.
Maybe it was because I was sick, or maybe it was just the flatbread, (I hope it's because I didn't feel well,) but this one wasn't nearly as good as the one I had last year. Even more depressing is the fact that I only ate about a quater of it, and last year I ate more then half of one, as well as a salad, steak dinner, and dessert. So I really wasn't feeling well.
Day Eleven - Afternoon
After lunch I was hot, really hot, and all I wanted was to be someplace cool, so I decided to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid again, since that is literally, probably the coolest place in all of the World, and besides, I could never get sick of that show.
After that, I was delighted to see that Beauty and the Beast was showing today, since it had been cancelled the previous days, and I had never gone a whole trip without seeing it before.
After the show I felt horrible. There was nothing I wanted to do, and I felt like I was going to pass out if I stayed in the park. I had an arguement with myself, the reasonable part of my brain saying to just go back to Pop and sleep, and my Disney-obsessed side of the brain telling me to stay at MGM for the rest of the afternoon, since I did not want to miss my ADR at Flying Fish, which was, along with California Grill, the most highly anticipated restaurant of my trip.
I went back to Pop, and was in my room by 3:00, and fell asleep.
Day Eleven - Night
I woke up at 5:00, and thought about trying to make it to the Boardwalk for my 5:30 ADR, but I just couldn't get up, and ended up falling back asleep. I woke up again two hours later, but this time with an alarm. Since I was apparently going to be in my room all night, I was at least not going to miss the season finale of Survivor. So I watched Survivor, and then went back to sleep.
Day Twelve
I woke up knowing I was going home. Usually, I feel like there are a thousand things I want to do, but I was just glad that I was going to be able to sleep in my own bed that night, and see my cats and DF again.
The whole day is a blur to me, I know I made it to my DME pick-up on time, and had no trouble at the airport. I slept for most of the flight home, then my dad picked me up at the airport.
Post Trip
I have no idea what I was sick with. My mom kept on saying I must have picked up some kind of germ, but I was really careful, I always washed my hands and used Purell a thousand times a day.
I spent the whole day after I got home in bed. My throat went back to normal within a week, probably because I wasn't forcing myself to eat things, but I had a cough for at least a month after getting home. The fact that I had to get through the holidays, (usually something I really enjoy,) didn't help.
My parents just wonder why after seeing the Disney Christmas parade live at
MVMCP, I had to make a point of watching it again on TV on Christmas Day. Hey, it's tradition.
The End.
And I needed a pick-me-up, since the heat and crowds were starting to bother me.
outside the train station, though by then I was so out of it, I remember thinking to myself, "Oh, that's cute, Goofy's in a Santa outfit," only though me, with my constant DISing, already knew he wore one.
