WHAT A DIFFERENCE 6 MOS. MAKES (or how I learned to love MK) COMPLETE-WRAP-UP 12/29

[tinacaplan]

Hello, faithful readers! Apologies for how long its taking me to crank this thing out. If only posting pictures were easier. Sigh.

However, I have some promising news... I am THIS close to convincing Mark that we should go back in February. I'm pretty insistent that a trip to warmer climes is a necessity for us during our February break. We both have the week of Pres. Day off every year. Standard here in CT. Not sure why when this doesn't seem to be the case anywhere else in the country...

And FD is calling my name. I know I didn't do the dining plan this time, but I've run numbers and I sort of feel like Disney is giving us free money in a sense. I think I want to stay at POFQ, but we could just as easily end up back at CSR, too.

Fingers crossed it all works out!

 

[MEK]

I really hope it works out for you. It's a perfect plan!!!!!

 

[PirateKate]

I hope your February trip works out. It sounds like a great idea to me.

 

[amandaw]

Hope your plans work out for a February trip! In Louisiana, we have time off that week as well....but not because of President's Day....it's for Mardi Gras. I couldn't pass up the FD offer either & talked DH into a very short December get-away around our anniversary!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Joining in! Great TR so far! I love reading about your experience at Beach Club and Stormalong Bay since I've always wanted to stay at one of the EPCOT resorts. Can't wait to read more!

 

[annmarieda]

Fingers crossed for February!

 

[tinacaplan]

I really hope it works out for you. It's a perfect plan!!!!!

Hope your plans work out for a February trip! In Louisiana, we have time off that week as well....but not because of President's Day....it's for Mardi Gras. I couldn't pass up the FD offer either & talked DH into a very short December get-away around our anniversary!

Joining in! Great TR so far! I love reading about your experience at Beach Club and Stormalong Bay since I've always wanted to stay at one of the EPCOT resorts. Can't wait to read more!

Fingers crossed for February!

Thanks everyone. We survived Hurricane Irene and sustained no damage to our house, which has convinced Mark that, yes...we DO deserve a trip in February! I really would like to purchase the plane tickets I found today, but we'll see... I've also changed my mind about our resort, I think, but more on that when I actually commit to something.

I hope that everyone else fared as well with the hurricane. Oh, and I hope to have an update up this evening, too!

 

[tinacaplan]

We walked out of our room into a Florida evening that was so steamy it clouded up the lens of my camera:

By the way, our room was to the right of the lobby. And, no, I don’t think I took a single picture of the view from the balcony. I know, I know... I’m hanging my head in shame even as I type this.

Our way toward the International Gateway, looking back at the beautiful, beautiful Beach Club:

Yes, it was THAT steamy:

There...I wiped off my lens...

The approach...

Oh, hello, France:

In front of the sign:

And I assure you that Max was far happier than he appears in this picture.

Making our way to Italy for dinner...

And we’re here!

And we’ll be by-passing all these silly folks without ADRs...

For anyone who paid close attention to my February TR, you might recall that Via Napolil was not our best meal. You might be wondering why I could be so eager to return that I would make it our first night’s meal. Well... here’s the thing. I love Italian food and pizza and I just wondered if, perhaps, I didn’t have the best experience chiefly because we’d eaten there on our last night...our last night of the deluxe dining plan. I suspected that our opinion was more than bit colored by our utter lack of enthusiasm for any and all restaurant food at that point. Plus, I had read far too many positive things about the place not to give it another shot.

So, we did. Were we dissapointed?

We were sat pretty quickly almost right in front of the ovens. I zeroed in on the pitchers of Sangria, so Mark and I ordered one.

Max, I’m sure, ordered apple juice.

A pretty picture of one of the giant lights. I really do think Via Napoli is a very pretty, inviting restaraunt and perfectly casual for a family with small children.

We ordered one of the signature pies, but I can’t find the exact name of it on All Ears. It was a white pizza with more than one type of delicious Italian cheese and artichoke hearts (carciofi, which might have been the name of the pizza) with a drizzle of truffle oil to finish it. It was unbelievably delicious. The pizza was buttery with a hint of earthiness from the truffle oil; an outstanding, yet understated, meal. We also ordered the house salad that you can only get with the pizzas. Why? I don’t know. It could have used more dressing, but we loved the marinated mushrooms, peppers, and pepperonicini.

Sorry...we started eating before I remembered to take a few shots!

We were seated near the kitchen and I noticed one of the managers watching Max devour his spaghetti. He came over to our table and we chatted a bit and he just loved Max! He was from New York and we talked about that little. It was fantastic. Definitely one of the best meals of the trip.

And when we were done, I remember thinking how much I loved not being on the dining plan. We ordered exactly what we wanted, .nothing more or less. Perfection!

It was still early and there was an Illuminations show I wanted to see...will we make it? Will a trip to Karamel Kuche be in our future?

p.s....anyone else having trouble with Photobucket? Everytime I post pictures that I've resized or rotated (and I promise I did both with the pix in this post) they take a while to show up that way!

 

[KatMark]

Great pics on the way to Epcot of the Beach Club; and then the pics once inside of World Showcase are spectacular--you did girl (no, I've not had any trouble with photobucket lately).

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Via Napoli. It was on our list for next month, but I cancelled it. Pizza and red sauces just aren't agreeing with me lately so I figured it best that we bypass it.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Glad to see you enjoyed Via Napoli this time around. That's the thing with Disney restaurants, they always deserve second chances, because it could be just your mood that you didn't like anything, who knows? And the food looks delicious there, I might have to try it out

Great pictures of the Beach Club and Yacht Club, even though it was all fogged up, still looked nice I also like your pictures of Morocco on your way to Via Napoli, very nice

Can't wait to read more!

 

[annmarieda]

looks like your dinner was a yummy success. Love the shots of BC! Funny how fogged up the lens got.

 

[natebenma]

What a great first night of your trip! It was a great idea to have your first meal at a World Showcase restaurant- a nice walk from the Beach Club with so much to see (and photograph) along the way.

Looks like a fantastic meal at Via Napoli! The food is very tempting, but that is weird that you can't just order the salad! I'm glad that you enjoyed the meal after giving the restaurant a second chance. You are probably right, the last dinner at Disney is always bittersweet, usually everyone is overtired and overstuffed by that point and depression about leaving has started to set in...

I hope everyone has fueled up enough to keep you in the World Showcase for a bit.

 

[MickeyNicki]

How weird is it that be both had disappointing meals at VN this past Feb but had great meals this summer?

I love love love not being tied down to a dining plan....my poor husband could never be that structured LOL! Plus he would blow through the snack credits on day 1

 

[tinacaplan]

Glad to see you enjoyed Via Napoli this time around. That's the thing with Disney restaurants, they always deserve second chances, because it could be just your mood that you didn't like anything, who knows? And the food looks delicious there, I might have to try it out

Great pictures of the Beach Club and Yacht Club, even though it was all fogged up, still looked nice I also like your pictures of Morocco on your way to Via Napoli, very nice

Can't wait to read more!

Its true about the restaurants, to some extent. There are places where you just know you'll never come back, your meal was that bad. But with Via Napoli, I definitely thought it was our bad mood and the fact that I ordered wrong the last time.

Great pics on the way to Epcot of the Beach Club; and then the pics once inside of World Showcase are spectacular--you did girl (no, I've not had any trouble with photobucket lately).

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Via Napoli. It was on our list for next month, but I cancelled it. Pizza and red sauces just aren't agreeing with me lately so I figured it best that we bypass it.

Thanks, Kathy. Its so easy to take good pics in WS....its so beautiful and there's so much to look at everywhere.

That's too bad about Via Napoli because its so good, but there are so many great places to eat at Disney.

looks like your dinner was a yummy success. Love the shots of BC! Funny how fogged up the lens got.

Thanks, Ann. The lens fogged up the second we stepped outside. It was really funny. And Via Napoli was great. So much fun and the food was great, too.

What a great first night of your trip! It was a great idea to have your first meal at a World Showcase restaurant- a nice walk from the Beach Club with so much to see (and photograph) along the way.

Looks like a fantastic meal at Via Napoli! The food is very tempting, but that is weird that you can't just order the salad! I'm glad that you enjoyed the meal after giving the restaurant a second chance. You are probably right, the last dinner at Disney is always bittersweet, usually everyone is overtired and overstuffed by that point and depression about leaving has started to set in...

I hope everyone has fueled up enough to keep you in the World Showcase for
a bit.

It was wonderful to be able to walk to EPCOT from the BC, especially that first night. And we'll see about the rest of our evening. Let's just say those weren't my last pictures from that day.

How weird is it that be both had disappointing meals at VN this past Feb but had great meals this summer?

I love love love not being tied down to a dining plan....my poor husband could never be that structured LOL! Plus he would blow through the snack credits on day 1

Nicki, I think it really had to do with our own mood in February. I also ordered a pizza then that I didn't care for and the truffle oil on this one put it over the top.

Too funny about the dining plan. Personally, we loved not having it and I can't see us going back to it for a long time. I was changing so many things that last week. Disney has a new mobile site that makes changing your ADRs on your smartphone really easy (and tempting) while you're there. Let's just say that I used it more than once!

 

[tinacaplan]

I can't believe it...BUT WE'RE GOING BACK!!!! We'll be there February 21-February 25. My husband promised that if we made it through Hurricane Irene unscathed (which we did, thank God), we could make a reservation. I got a good (OK, decent...but it is President's Week) deal on a direct flight through Delta at the time I like (first flight out in the morning, gets us to MCO by ten) and I am booking a Bay Lake view in the tower at the CONTEMPORARY!!!! I was going to save my mod vs. deluxe debrief for later on my trip report, and I still have quite a few things to say about it, but let's just leave it that, yes, I did get spoiled by my first deluxe experience. And, as you can tell from my TR title, we love MK now and know we'll spend most of our time there. So, yes, I can honestly say that the Contemporary makes the most sense for us. We loved the Beach Club and don't have a single bad thing to say about the place, but when given the option, I decided to go for the Contemporary and follow my dream! I can't wait! Now I just have to try and not tell Max for awhile...I actually want to keep it a secret until Christmas.

 

[KatMark]

Congrats on booking, Tina. I know how much you've wanted to try the Contemporary and am glad you are finally going to do it.

 

[natebenma]

HOO-RAY!!! How nice to have that to look forward to!

 

[annmarieda]

I can't believe it...BUT WE'RE GOING BACK!!!! We'll be there February 21-February 25. My husband promised that if we made it through Hurricane Irene unscathed (which we did, thank God), we could make a reservation. I got a good (OK, decent...but it is President's Week) deal on a direct flight through Delta at the time I like (first flight out in the morning, gets us to MCO by ten) and I am booking a Bay Lake view in the tower at the CONTEMPORARY!!!! I was going to save my mod vs. deluxe debrief for later on my trip report, and I still have quite a few things to say about it, but let's just leave it that, yes, I did get spoiled by my first deluxe experience. And, as you can tell from my TR title, we love MK now and know we'll spend most of our time there. So, yes, I can honestly say that the Contemporary makes the most sense for us. We loved the Beach Club and don't have a single bad thing to say about the place, but when given the option, I decided to go for the Contemporary and follow my dream! I can't wait! Now I just have to try and not tell Max for awhile...I actually want to keep it a secret until Christmas.

How exciting!!!!

 

[tinacaplan]

Congrats on booking, Tina. I know how much you've wanted to try the Contemporary and am glad you are finally going to do it.

Thanks, Kathy! And I'm not backing out this time, either. Its really happening. I can swing it this time because our trip is going to be shorter, which I'm completely OK with. A week is tough with a small child.

And how knows? We might hate it compared to the BC, which is where Mark wants us to stay... and he might persuade me yet...but I doubt it. I'd be more inclined to agree with him if we were going in the summer, but February is so hit or miss with weather so it seems silly to base our decision largely on a pool that we might not get to use at all.

HOO-RAY!!! How nice to have that to look forward to!

I know! They've done studies proving that having a vacation planned can impact your overall sense of well being for months in advance. Something I think all of us know a little too well.

How exciting!!!!

Yep...kind of can't believe I did it. Or, more to the point, I can't believe that Mark agreed to it. I was just watching airfare get higher and higher, so when I saw the Delta price, I figured I should jump on it. Still about three hundred dollars higher than a similar itinerary on Southwest was a week ago. Oh well. I can't wait!

Overall, I just feel incredibly blessed to have another trip in the works.

I'm going to try and not tell Max 'till Christmas...we'll see if I make it!

 

[annmarieda]

Thanks, Kathy! And I'm not backing out this time, either. Its really happening. I can swing it this time because our trip is going to be shorter, which I'm completely OK with. A week is tough with a small child.

Ok, I read it no backing out.

And how knows? We might hate it compared to the BC, which is where Mark wants us to stay... and he might persuade me yet...but I doubt it. I'd be more inclined to agree with him if we were going in the summer, but February is so hit or miss with weather so it seems silly to base our decision largely on a pool that we might not get to use at all.

Ya know this is the thing that swayed me against it too...not just the cost. If December was to be warmer I would want to spurge for the pool. Since I don't even know if we will be able to use it...then why splurge?

And btw.. "he might persuade me yet" see my above comment.

I'm going to try and not tell Max 'till Christmas...we'll see if I make it!

I would not be able to wait. I wish I could do surprises, but I get too excited. I hope you can wait.