YC, Poly, HRH - The Good, Bad, and In-Between Day 2

[YCFAN]

Up the next morning with breakfast in the concierge lounge. Off to Disney Studios. The teenagers immediately went off on their own to do TOT and RRC. DH and I took Andrew to Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Playhouse Disney. We went down Mickey Avenue and had our picture taken with Mickey Mouse. We had previously arranged to meet with Evan and Kate at the Sci-Fi at 12:00 for lunch. We had a good lunch and Kate really liked the atmosphere. This is a favorite of ours and have been many times. After lunch we saw Mike and Sulley and got a picture or two, then some shopping and off to the Great Movie Ride. The kids went back to swim at SAB after another trip on TOT. DH, Andrew and I stayed for the afternoon parade. Andrew loved this parade with all the colorful characters. After more shopping (Andrew has an entire new collection of Disney plushies now) we headed back on the boat to YC. As we were riding down the river over to our right on the walkway between MGM and the Boardwalk was a family with the mother and older daughter walking behind the father who was carrying a backpack on his back, a two or three year old son on his shoulders and a five or six year old daughter wrapped around his waist. The boat captain exclaimed, "now that's a father!" The whole boat broke out in laughter. We returned to YC and took Andrew down for a swim. He really likes the small play area with slide by the kiddie pool and loves digging in the sand bar at Stormalong Bay. I bought some pool toys from the gift shop there and Andrew and Steve spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the pool. We met back up in the room and started getting ready for dinner. We stopped by the lounge and they had clams and mussels that evening. We got a quick appetizer of the clams and mussels. We were eating at Le Cellier and were very much looking forward to this since I had heard so many good things about this restaurant, even from Amy. The gardens around the restaurant are beautiful and we were seated right away. Either this was an off night or we just don't care for this restaurant very much. No one was particularly pleased with their meals, even Andrew. The chicken was nuggets not fingers and they were hard. Oh well, we're in Epcot for July 4th fireworks and that's OK. We walked around World Showcase for a while and Evan and Kate went to ride Mission Space. They liked it but said it made them feel a little woozy. About an hour or so before Illuminations we picked out a spot between France and Great Britain and sat down beside the railing. It was really starting to get crowded and we were glad we had picked out our spot early. Andrew was entertained with the light swords being sold and the twirl around Buzz he had bought earlier. There were some very nice people sitting next to us from England and I enjoyed listening to their accents. They have such a better command of the English language than we Americans do. Just as Illuminations began these kids went running to the rail that we were sitting in front of and stood with their feet between the rails hanging on right in front of us. I couldn't believe this!!! I told them if they wanted to sit and hold on that was fine but that they were in front of Andrew who had been sitting there for almost an hour and a half and they weren't going to run up there at the last minute and push in front of him where he couldn't see. They left. The show was magnificent and with the salute to the troops that came after the ending of Illuminations it was almost too good to be true. Everyone was talking about it, even the next day. I've seen a lot of spectacular fireworks displays at Disney but I don't think anything has ever come close to topping that. Beware of the wind though, we had ashes blowing in our eyes at times. We made our way back through the crowds to exit at the International Gateway and were back to the YC in no time. I felt bad when we were passing the BC and I heard a gentleman stop and ask the people in front of us where the cars were. He had meant to go out the front Epcot exit and just walked with the crowds out the back gate. Now that meant he had to turn around and walk all the way through Epcot again with the remaining crowds. I felt sorry for him and was glad I just had a few steps to go. When I returned to the 5th floor I was greeted with thank yous from the concierge staff for leaving a box of Godiva chocolates on my way out that afternoon. It would be another good late evening on the balcony with Andrew watching bedtime stories again. The teenagers were taking a quick trip over to the Studios again and we didn't see them again until after midnight. Another good day.

 

[meeko_33785]

Nice trip report. Sounds like a fun day.

 

[Minniespal]

Great trip report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[chamonix]

When you leave the chocolates for the concierge staff, do you just hand them to them, do you leave them on their desk, or in the room, do you put a note on them, or address them to someone specific (like, "amy" or "concierge staff" or something)?

I have wanted to do something for the staff in the past but never figured out a way to do it that felt "right" IYKWIM.

 

[YCFAN]

I just hand them to whoever is sitting at the desk and tell them it's for the whole staff. If I have something specific for a certain person (which sometimes I do) I seek them out and speak directly with them. You can also leave it at the desk with their name on it also. I think they're pretty use to this.

 

[kathymc]

thats too bad about your meal at Le Cellier - we had a fantastic meal their last trip and will definately return

we saw a practice run of the New Years Eve fireworks that was spectacular - I can imagine how wonderful the 4th would have been

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I really enjoyed reading your trip reports so far. I am so glad that I'm not the only one that was disappointed with Le Cellier. Maybe I had an off night too or my expectations were too high but I wasn't impressed at all, especially for the money! I look forward to reading more soon.

 

[marybet]

Great reports. My DH and I were at Le Cellier in April and were also disappointed. I had read so much about the cheese soup and it was just so-so, the best thing about the meal was the pretzel bread. Our favorite in Epcot is Teppanyaki.

 

[wilderness01]

Sorry your meal at LeCellier was just ok. I just returned and our meal was probably the best of the week. I ordered the Filet with the BBQ maple sauce. The mashed potatoes were just to die for and the steak sooooooo good. Maybe we were just lucky. We dined the next night at the Brown Derby. We had just dined there in the winter and it was wonderful. This time the steak was just ok and the potatoes just ok as well. Really I was kind of disappointed, esp. for the price of the fantasmic package. Oh well hopefully this was just an off night and we will try again this winter.

 

[YCFAN]

wilderness01: That's how I feel about Le Cellier too. I've heard so many good things about it. I even asked to substitute the cream cheese mashed potatoes for the roasted potatoes with my meal and when I got them they were dry and cold. I'll probably give it another shot before I make a final decision about the place. Every place has good and bad nights. I'm hoping that's what it was. After all, it was July 4th and they were very busy.