*We're back, Territory + Artist Point!* Chef Remy + Mary Poppins celebrate!! Jan PTR

[wdwloverz]

I am soooo excited to see this countdown finally getting somewhere!
It is almost time for our January annual anniversary trip to the House of Mouse, and I am beyond looking forward to it!!
We are Chris (46, Exec Chef) and Debbie (44, prof nanny) from Barnegat NJ. We are huge WDW fans and fall in love all over again each year, sharing food, snuggling on rides, strolling hand in hand at the parks, and just enjoying each others company. January is my favorite month of the year

Please feel free to join in with ideas or thoughts on our dining plans and I will fill in with the reviews and pics upon our return.
If there is anything you would like covered in a review or photographed, let me know and I will love to help you if I can!

Most years I set the budget and build the ADR's and plans around it, but this year I started off with ALL that we wanted to do, trimmed it to a more resonable undertaking and here is what made the cut..

Sat Jan 12 - leaving for Orlando, will drive as far as we can until tired.

Sun Jan 13 - arrive at Orlando Courtyard Suites for a 4 night stay in a 1br (price was soooo reasonable and reviews are ok, pics look good so we are giving it a go for the first 4 nights..)
4:50 GF Tea: isnt it sweet that Chris said he will take me?? We will probably share one of the full teas and just fill in with another tea pot and maybe extra scones and tarts..
8 or 9pm: head to DTD, share a Giardelli sundae, walk around a bit and take Earl of sandwich back to the condo for a midnight snack, YUM

Monday Jan 14th - First MK day (always so exciting!!)
8:10 - Crystal palace - looooove the early entry
12-2pm - share some goodies from BOG and Gastons
PM - Share a meal in the park (CHH or Peco's) maybe grab a snack somewhere on the monorail when we leave (Contempo or Captain Cooks)

Tuesday Jan 15th - Epcot day
11am - brunch at Boulangerie (usually share a ham/cheese croissant, napoleon and 2 cappuccinos) I want to branch out here, but I know what I love and I WANT it! LOL
2:50 - Biergarten (Hoping this is late enough to ask for a "less crowded" table here, but I'm not gonna hold my breath)
8:50 - Les Chefs de France We are thinking of sharing the Prix Fix here, and just adding in an extra soup or salad so that we both have an app, and then share the entree and dessert.. Hoping for a window table with a partial view of Illuminations.

Wed Jan 16th - DHS day
early a.m., snack and cappuccino at Starring Rolls (after grabbing a FP and riding TSM)
11:05 - Sci Fi lunch - sharing a chocolate shake, a coke, spinach dip and the turkey sandwich, all snuggled up as hitch hikers hopefully!
Mid afernoon - looking for the famous carrot cake cookie at writers stop!
PM - dinner at AOA, want to try the surf & surf burger and see the resort!

Thursday Jan 17th - we move to AKV Jambo house this day!!! and our park is MK.
AM snacks from Gastons or MSB(remains to be seen if it will still be open, I doubt it)
11:30 Liberty Tree Tavern to share pot roast and OGTC!
2:50 Sanna to share a salad sampler and a turkey club. Just want to get a feel for the place and see the animals/view in the daylight before we decide on doing dinner or not.
6:50 - Grand Floridian Cafe - 2 salads/apps and one GORGEOUS dessert sampler PLEASE Watch Wishes from the beach..
LATE NIGHT snacks at The Mara, if need be!! lol

Friday Jan 18th - AK day
8:05 Tusker House for early entry, YAY this will be a first for us!
Early afternoon - share snacks at Flame Tree
Early evening - Drinks and apps at the AKL Lounge - Victoria Falls
Late evening - Mara snacks, if needed

Sat Jan 19th- breakfast Kona kafe @ 10:00am, then leave from PC for a 5 night cruise

Thurs Jan 24th - return from cruise and check in at VWL!!! this day is DHS
AM snack at Roaring Fork or Starring rolls
11:35 Sci Fi to share our usual
Early evening - drink and app at Tune-in Lounge
7 or 8 - drink and app at Territory Lounge
8:50 - Artist Point to share two apps and dessert, coffee

Friday Jan 25th - Epcot day
Early a.m. snacks from Sunshine Seasons (after getting a FP and riding Soarin')
11am- brunch at Boulangerie
2:30-3:00 late lunch at La Cantina (nachos and churros, Yumm)
8:30 - La Hacienda to share apps, margarita & maybe dessert! Hoping to have at least a partial view of Illuminations here..

Sat Jan 26th - we move back to the Orlando Courtyard Suites, AK day today
EARLY breakfast at Roaring Fork before leaving WL
MID morning capps and a snack at Kusafari
1-2pm lunch at Flame Tree BBQ
6:45 Dinner at Yak & Yeti

Sunday Jan 27th - Last Park day, MK
We plan on hitting the places we have missed so far Peco's, Caseys, CHH, etc..
7:45 The Plazza for dinner(if we have any appetite left lol)

Monday Jan 28th- last day in florida, no parks today.
9:30am - Grand Floridian Cafe (LOOOVE the eggs Bennedict here, so yummy)
2:00 Emerils Tchoup Chop at Royal Pacific, for a nice lunch
Evening at DTD, Wolfgang Pucks, Giardellis, maybe try something from Cookes of Dublin, etc..

Tues Jan 29th - head to Earls for breakfast sandwiches and 2 regular sandwiches for the road. Time to drive home

I love our plans so far, I want to try lots of things and I dont want to waddle around stuffed all day, I think the sharing will work out great for us! I think most Disney portions are pretty generous to begin with..

 

[wdwloverz]

Well, here we are just 29 days away from leaving, I almost can't stand the waiting, LOL
No park or dining plans have changed, which is pretty unusual for me. I guess I must be thoroughly happy with them!!
Happy holidays everyone!

 

[tallen429]

Some of our dates overlap!
I will be returning with my middle DS Jan 25-Feb 1
We go at different times of the year but like you, I LOVE going in January!!

I'll enjoy your report!

 

[wdwloverz]

Oh cool! Yes, we LOVE Jan for the cooler weather and low crowds.
I wonder if we will be in the same park any of those days?
We are also going in Nov of 2013, for our first time experiencing F&W Festival! In all of our trips we have never been for F&W!
We have been in December before, and LOVE all the Holiday decorations and the Osborne Lights, so we are hoping to catch the first few days of those things as well
Enjoy your Mommy/Son trip!!!

 

[tallen429]

Oooooh! You'll LOVE F&W! DH and I went by ourselves Nov 11 (fun/strange/different without the kids!)
We had a BLAST. We will likely go again Fall 2013
I like December too, but when we were there in 2010 there were record cold temps in Florida and even though we were well prepared, it did put a damper on things...especially outside at night.

We changed our plans ast week to add another day at the front so I think right now our park plans are a bit up in the air for the 25th and 26th because we've never done DisQuest and I want to take DS one of those days.
I know we are going to MK the night of the 26th to see the MSEP (my FAV!)
Right now the 27th is AK and the 28th is Epcot.

Here is the link to my PTR
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3029846

 

[wdwloverz]

Awesome thanks, gonna pop over & read your PTR now!!

 

[marshallsmommy]

we will be in animal kingdom on the same day! (Jan 26th) and also plan to eat at flametree bbq only earlier since we have a 20 month old with us! Your plans look good

 

[wdwloverz]

Oh that's so cool that you will be there too! It's very likely we will eat earlier too, since knowing that's what we are having for lunch will probably make me hungry!! Lol
Thanks for looking at our plans

 

[CaliBear]

I'm going to be there during part of your trip- wish we could stay as long as you are! Your ADRs sound delish, looking forward to the reviews. The BF and I always do a lot of sharing too. That way we can enjoy more variety.

 

[wdwloverz]

I'm going to be there during part of your trip- wish we could stay as long as you are! Your ADRs sound delish, looking forward to the reviews. The BF and I always do a lot of sharing too. That way we can enjoy more variety.

Thanks Calibear, I see you are going to stay at AKL, that's awesome!!

 

[wdwloverz]

25 days until we leave, I can't stand it!!

 

[wdwloverz]

Merry Christmas Everybody!!
!7 more days until we leave, how will I stand the waiting?

A few changes, we forgot that we want to try Kimonos one night for sushi, so Yak & Yeit is getting bumped from dinner to lunch on the 26th.
We also want to try Olivia's for breakfast one morning, so will have to squeeze it in somewhere..
Also may try to squeeze in a snack at Splitsville, the menu looks cool and we definately want to check this place out!!

 

[tallen429]

Merry Christmas Everybody!!
!7 more days until we leave, how will I stand the waiting?

A few changes, we forgot that we want to try Kimonos one night for sushi, so Yak & Yeit is getting bumped from dinner to lunch on the 26th.
We also want to try Olivia's for breakfast one morning, so will have to squeeze it in somewhere..
Also may try to squeeze in a snack at Splitsville, the menu looks cool and we definately want to check this place out!!

Merry Christmas!
We're down to 30 days!

 

[wdwloverz]

We're back!!
We both had some issues with sickness this trip, Chris more than me, he was sick to some degree the entire trip, I wasn't sick until the end. It definately put a hitch in our touring plans, but we made the best of it, had an amazing trip and have lots of food pics to share!!
Stay tuned!

 

[wdwloverz]

Here we go!
I will try to post pics in chronological order, but it doesn't really matter, right?

We arrived at our hotel the first day around 4 and just made it to our 4:50 GF tea reservation.
Needless to say I was a little frazzled (in a good way) and STARVING, and ate most of the food before I remembered to take pics!! So this is a good idea of the table setting more than the tea sandwiches! These were pretty good. The pastires were also good but I don't think the tea is worth the price "food wise", but it is quite a nice experience. I wore my tiara here and also to Mk some days, a lot of fun and compliments! (Idea taken from nanienamou's wonderful and inspiring review, thanks again!!)

Had a late bite to eat that night at Wolfgang Puck Express (Marketplace). the food here is always excellent and this time was no exception. We shared a Ceasar salad and the Chicken Pasta. Yummy
Poor Chris also has chicken noodle soup as his cold was blooming quite nicely by the time we arrived

 

[wdwloverz]

An amazing Crystal Palace Breakfast on our first MK day. EVERYTHING was wonderful and they had our table decorated

I like this exterior shot of CP

Liberty square after we left our CP breakfast, still no one really!

 

[MrsB1228]

You're off to a great start and you look lovely in your tiara!

Looking forward to more.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Love your tiara. That's what I love about Disney, you can be a kid again.

Crystal Palace looks so yummy. Is that stuffed French toast I see?

 

[wdwloverz]

You're off to a great start and you look lovely in your tiara!

Looking forward to more.

Thank you!!


Quote from Rachel
[Love your tiara. That's what I love about Disney, you can be a kid again.

Crystal Palace looks so yummy. Is that stuffed French toast I see? ]
__________________

Thanks! Exactly! where else in the world could we wear a tiara and not get weird looks, it was such great fun!!

CP was so very good, that was Poohs Puffed French Toast with strawberry sauce ontop, wow

 

[wdwloverz]

So my new favorite place/restaurant at WDW is Be Our Guest!! We ate there 3 times and I will just post all the photos in no particular order. Everything we had was excellent, with my favorite things being the soups, the cupcakes and the roast pork.
The entrance to the castle

The Masters West wing was my favorite of the 3 dining rooms. The enchanted rose is in here and every 20 minutes the last petal falls off of the rose, it thunders and you will get a surprise if you are watching the Masters portrait over the mantle!!

Croque Monsieur

Strawberry cupcake. Sponge cake filled with strawberry mousse and iced iwth cream cheese frosting. My favorite of the 3 by a hair.

Childs portion of roast pork with mashed sweet potatoes and green beans, sooo good and quite a large portion for lunch when you add a soup and a cupcake!

Childs turkey sandwich(sorry, we took a bite!!) with pomme frittes and sweet potato wedges (other choices are peach applesauce, carrots and grapes)

Lemon cupcake, very light with merangue frosting

Potato Leek soup, luscious!!

French Onion soup, the photo says it all really!