WDW Pros Do Spooktacular Free Dining!!!

[fltink]

Check out my pre-trip report by the same title for the lead into this trip!

Day One- Thursday, September 11th

The day had finally arrived!!!! It was 4am on our wedding anniversary and we were already headed to the Manchester Airport in New Hampshire for our 6:20 flight to Orlando. My sister in-law dropped us, (me, my husband Jay, and our friends, Heather and Nicole), off and we got all checked in. We had a great flight and landed in Orlando ten minutes early, at 9:15am. And let me tell you, it was HOT! It wasn't even 10am yet and the temperature was nearing 90 degrees!
With the whole day ahead of us, we took the shuttle to Thrifty and picked up our Dodge Advenger. For 4 adults it was perfect.... for four adults and 6 suitcases, not so much! It was a tight squeeze but we got everyone wedged in.
We started getting so excited as we passed the billboards for Toy Story Mania and Wishes, and then eventually pulled into those familiar gates of Walt Disney World!!! We pulled into Pop Century and Heather and I went in to check in. After finding out that our rooms were not ready, we dropped off our luggage with Bell Services and FINALLY stetched out in the car!
We headed to one of our FAVORITE non-Disney restaurants, Bahama Breeze on 535 to meet a friend of ours, Holly, and to introduce Heather and Nicole to the best onion rings on Earth!
After a fantastic lunch, we took a drive around Disney property, while waiting for our friends, Michelle and Sean to get settled into their room over at the BoardWalk (they are DVC members and were staying on points). We met up with them just as they were finishing lunch at the ESPN Club. It was so awesome to be on vacation with friends who we don't get to spend much time with!!!
Sean decided to hang back at the hotel, while the rest of us went to Wal-Mart to buy some snacks and soda. Then it was back to Pop to get into our rooms and get dressed for dinner.
That night, to celebrate our three year anniversary, the six of us were dining at California Grille at the Contemporary. We got all dressed up and drove over. Nic, Heather and I checked out the new set up of the 4th floor of the hotel, while Jay ran back to the BoardWalk to pick up Michelle and Sean. (I love that the arcade is now up on the main level and I really like the new Fantasia store!)
We checked into the restaurant when everyone got there and headed up to get a drink. The California Grille was packed! (Thanks to the free Dining promotion, I am sure!) We waited about 30 minutes for our table. We had a lovely booth, which had been "pixie dusted" with Mickey confetti for our anniversary. The bread was a delightful basket of warm sourdough and we devoured it! Nicole and Heather decided to share the cheese plate before our entrees came out. It was an assortment of small sample sizes of cheeses with some nuts and dried fruit. They really liked it. Before the entrees came out, it was time for Wishes so we all went outside onto the observation deck for a fantastic view, complete with the Wishes music pumped right in. Needless to say, I started crying as soon as it started and straight on through. That show is true Disney magic! ) As soon as the show was over, we went back to our table and dinner was served. Most of us got the Filet Mignon and a couple got the salmon. The Filet was delicious but the mashed potatoes that it came on were phenominal!!! I was smitten! For dessert I got the chocolate truffle thingy (I forget the name) but it was a pyramid of chocolate mousse, a mini-scoop of chocolate gelato and a bar of chocolate with hazelnuts in it. Yum, yum! Jay got the chocolate souffle with a scoop of vanilla gelato, which was also great. To top both of them off, we got little chocolate banners on our desserts that said, "Happy Anniversary from the California Grille". How sweet (literally)!
After we were stuffed silly, we decided to just go back to the hotel and hit the hay, since we wanted to be at Animal Kingdom for opening the next morning. We dropped Michelle and Sean off at The BoardWalk and we went back to Pop and right to bed. It had been a Loooooong day!!!!!

Day Two....coming soon!

 

[fltink]

We were up and at 'em early this morning, in order to get to Animal Kingdom by 8:30am. We met Michelle and Sean outside of the park, then walked through the Oasis and up to the Tree of Life, where Minnie, Goofy and Pluto were just pulling up in their Jungle van to open the park. I was soooo excited to see Mickey popping up right in front of the Tree!

Then the race was on! Jay, Sean, Nicole and Heather ran over to get on Everest while there was no line, while Michelle and I lagged behind. We got to Everest just in time to see the rest of our group plunging out of the mountain! When they all got off the ride, they got FastPasses to come back and ride again later, and we headed over to Kilimanjaro. Our safari was decent, but we didn't really see all that many animals. We also did the Pengani Forest Exploration Trail to visit with the Gorillas, Hippos and Meerkats. Next it was off to see a much larger Meerkat... Timon at the Festival of the Lion King! The show was spectacular, as usual! Next was Tough to Be a Bug and back to Everest to use the FastPasses, before we made a decision on lunch.

By now we were hungry, but we had different ideas of what we wanted for lunch. Michelle and I wanted Yak and Yeti and everyone else wanted Flame Tree so we decided to spilt up. Michelle and I decided to share the Shrimp Lo Mein and the Sweet and Sour Pork, plus we each got our drink and a mini chocolate cake on the dining plan. The food was surprisingly wonderful and soooo plentiful! The entrees came in Chinese food containers that were almost entirely full. The chocolate cake was also great, with a creamy chocolate ganache frosting. Neither one of us could finish our meals, so we brought the containers with us over to meet the rest of the crew at Flame Tree. They were enjoying ribs, chicken, corn on the cob, cornbread and baked beans. We were all sitting around chatting, eating and discussing plans. There were several ducks surrounding our table and begging for food, as though they were dogs. I was telling everyone at our table how Disney ducks (and animals in general) tend to be overly friendly and not affraid of anyone. No sooner did the words come out of my mouth, than I heard a squabble and quacking behind me. Next thing I knew, a duck had flown into the back of my head!!! Seriously!!!! It was insane! It's ok....you can laugh. We are still laughing about it today!

After that bizarre episode, Heather and Nicole went off to ride Dinosaur while Sean, Jay, Michelle and I did some shopping. At that point, we decided that we were ready to head out of the park. It was over 100 degrees and we were melting! Michelle and Sean took the bus back to The BoardWalk and the rest of us went to Pop, grabbed our bathing suits and went over to the BoardWalk to have a drink and swim. We spent a couple of hours hanging by the pool and even saw Bobby Brown from "Dog the Bounty Hunter"!

It started to get late, so we got dressed and headed into Epcot for our reservation at Tutto Italia. We were in for a real treat! What an improvement over Alfredo's! We started with an amazing array of breads and pickled veggies and olives. The spread that was provided for the bread was to die for! It was a pesto ricotta cheese and mmmmmmmm was it good!!! Jay had the Italian Margarita, which is made with Limoncello and Grappa and it was so tasty! For dinner, Jay got the Gratinati and I got the pasta with crabmeat. Both entrees were delicious, as was the cannelloni, which I tasted off of Heather's plate. For dessert I had the chocolate hazelnut torte and Jay got the signature anise-sambuca tortillas. Mine was great, Jay's we were not a fan of. The crispy tortillas were bland. But, overall, the meal was WONDERFUL! We will be returning!

After dinner we got to enjoy Extra Magic Hours. We skipped Test Track, which had a 40 minute wait and rode the new Spaceship Earth, which was great!!!! The technology used at the end is very cool! After that, we did the Seas and Turtle Talk and then Soarin. By the time we got off Soarin' EMH was over, so we headed back to International Gateway and caught our boat back to the BoardWalk. Jay, Nicole, Heather and I went back to Pop and went for a late night swim. Then we crashed )

Day Three....coming soon...

 

[fltink]

This morning we opted for The Magic Kingdom. Again, it was insanely hot and we were melting, but I was so excited to see the castle!

We grabbed some breakfast at the Main Street Bakery. Jay got the giant cinnamon roll and a blueberry muffin and I got the french toast loaf, which I loved.

After eating, we collected FastPasses for Space Mountain and then went to check out the re-done Haunted Mansion. (It was awesome!!!! GREAT improvements! The attic scene is now so cool!) Then caught Country Bears, Splash Mountain and Pirates. Again, at this point we were dying from the heat, so Jay, Sean, Nicole and Heather went to use their FastPasses at Space Mountain while Michelle and I did some poking through the shops on Main Street.

Next was back to the hotel for lunch in the food court. I got the chicken penne alfredo, which came with a breadstick, plus a mini-carrot cake for dessert. Jay got a burger and fries with a mini chocolate cake. Plus, I love the fact that in the refillable hotel mugs, you can now get blue raspberry or frozen coke slushees. Yum! Oh, and the fact that the refillable mugs are universal is nice. We were able to get free refills while we were visiting Michelle and Sean at the BoardWalk, as well as at our own hotel.

Soon we got a call from our friends, Christine and Christina saying that they had arrived from Tampa and were checked into their room at Pop. We met them at the pool for a quick dip, before getting ready to go back to the BoardWalk and meet Michelle and Sean to go to World Showcase.

We took the boat over to Epcot and had a great time walking around, shopping and having a few cocktails....and in some of our cases...a lot of cocktails! (I'm not naming names, though!) We watched Illuminations from in front of Japan and then went back to the BoardWalk.

We hung out in Michelle and Sean's room for a little while, and I enjoyed a cheesecake brownie from the BoardWalk Bakery. (SOOOOO yummy!) The the gang decided to go to Pleasure Island to bid it a fond farewell. I was tired and not feeling great, so I went back to Pop. I was so tired that I didn;t even hear Jay come in at 2am!

Coming soon......Day Four!

 

[fltink]

We got up that morningg and headed over to Aquatica at Sea World. It was yet another hot day and we NEEDED a water park day!

We entered the park and bought their equivalent of a dining package. (You buy a wrist band for $20, which gets you unlimited entrance through out the day to the buffett.) Some of us got lockers and the rest fo us went and got lounge chairs.

Since Michelle and I aren't big on waterslides, we decided to hit the fast moving lazy river, while everyone else did the slides. Let me tell you, that fast river is AWESOME!!!! You put on a life jacket, (which is optional, but you go way faster with one on), and get into the river, which has high powered jets that push you all through the grand circle trip. It is SOOOOO fun!!!

We also tried out the slow lazy river, which you use tubes for. That one stunk. It was really short and too crowded. We also tried the wave pools, which we did nto enjoy either. One side has big waves and one side has small. The "big" waves are smaller than the small waves at Typhoon Lagoon. The small waves were practically non-existant. And both sides of the pool were way too small and felt totally squooshed.

And the rest of the group wasn't doing much better on the slides. No one was particularlly impressed with any of them. Plus, no where on the map did it point out that many of the slides have weight restrictions. Being 6'5" and NOT a small guy, my husband couldn't go them. The Dolphin Plunge one was a big disappointment. You are only in the clear part of the tube, in the dolphin pool, for about 2 seconds and you are lucky if you see anything at all. to be continuted...