22 posts tagged “disney”

We had a lovely time this past week and I am so sad to see it end.  Unfortunately, back to work tomorrow.  I am consoling myself with the thought that I took the Monday after Thanksgiving and the Monday after Christmas off, so I have two five-day weekends to look forward to.  Also, Tadd and I are taking a long weekend in December to do all the Christmasy stuff at Disney, so we have another mini-vacation in the works.

We all really loved the cabins at Fort Wilderness.  I was worried that it would be too small or that the sleeping arrangements would be awkward, but it actually worked out really well.  Tadd and I got the big bed in the bedroom, Tadd's mom and brother got the bunk bed, and Tadd's uncles shared the murphy bed in the living room.  And it really was adorable.  Like our own cute little cottage in the woods!  We rented a golf cart for our four days, which was great.  I only wish we could have had two golf carts, since we had 6 people.  Instead, Tadd would take two trips from our cabin to either the Outpost bus stop or the Settlement boat launch, shuttling us wherever we needed to go.  Even with the 2 trips, it was much more efficient (and more pleasant) than the Ft. Wilderness internal bus loop.  I'm not huge a fan of Disney busses, although I understand how they have their place in the transportation system.  We also found that we preferred to take the boats whenever we could.  The only time we used our own cars was on the last day after checking out of the cabin.  Tadd and I agreed that it would be so much fun to get a group of our friends together and rent a cabin or two with them.  Even if we didn't make it to the parks, there is so much to do in the campground, it could be REALLY fun!  We would both love to stay in the cabins again, although the price is definitely too high for just the two of us, but would be great to split with a group of friends.

I really think Tadd's family enjoyed themselves.  We tried to inject some special things into each day of the trip.  Sunday morning we checked in and spent the afternoon at the Studios.  We rode all the rides and Tadd's mom got to see Fantasmic for the first time.  Monday morning we went back to the Studios at opening to be able to get on Toy Story Mania before the crowds hit.  Then we went back to the cabin to relax before our late lunch reservations at Whispering Canyon Cafe in the Wilderness Lodge.  We got caught in a rainstorm on the way back from lunch, so we took a little bit to dry off and get ready for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom.  Tadd and I had printed custom shirts for everyone for the party, which was fun.  When we got to MK, Tadd took his brother into the Main Street Barber Shop and they got colored gel combed into their hair.  Between our shirts, the boys' colored hair, and our various other Halloween accessories, we all looked very festive!  Tuesday we went to Epcot for the Food & Wine Festival, but surprised Tadd's mom with tickets for a special behind the scenes tour of The Land Pavilion.  She is an avid gardener back in Tennessee, so she LOVED it.  Bet met up with us for part of the day too.  Tuesday night, back at the cabin, we used the grill in front of our porch to toast some marshmallows, which was a fun treat.  Then Wednesday, after checking out and returning our golf cart, we had a lovely breakfast at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian resort, before heading off to our last day at Animal Kingdom.  The four days were VERY tiring, but so much fun!

Then on Thursday, we introduced Tadd's mom to the wonder that is Ikea.  They don't even have Target in their tiny town in Tennessee, so Ikea was extremely exotic to her.  She LOVED it.  We went shopping a few other places that she doesn't have in her area between Thursday and Friday.  Then they headed home in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

As I am finishing up my vacation, my parents are just starting theirs.  They will be gone for the next three weeks on a European cruise.  They flew to Dublin today and tomorrow they will be in Venice for the start of their cruise.  Sooooo lucky!  I can only hope that someday Tadd and I are able to do something like that.

In the meantime...GO SOX!!!  We are watching game 7 vs. the Tampa Bay Rays right now!

Pictures from our vacation:

Album 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33547&l=f8edc&id=504344522
Album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33556&l=4e260&id=504344522

I promise a more substantial update later, but I just had to share these pics.  I would LOVE to stand on top of Spaceship Earth!

My new position is totally kicking my bum.  It is SO stressful and as a whole, our department is SO behind.  I still have to get over a lot of my insecurities when it comes to handling unhappy people on the phone, and I still have a lot to learn.  I have been coming home every night exhausted and have been working remotely from home after hours to keep up.  I'm trying not to worry so much about it, but the stress does get to me and I have found myself longing for my old position where I knew what I was doing and could do it quickly and efficiently.  Hopefully that day will come again soon...

Luckily, we have a few fun things going on to distract me.  Tadd and I talked to my mother-in-law last night more in-depth about her plans for when she comes to visit in October.  I actually put in for a quote with a travel agent last night and am waiting to hear back.  She wants to do a few nights in a Fort Wilderness cabin, which should be so much fun!  We're planning on getting there about mid-morning Monday of the week they are going to be in town, go to a late lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe in the Wilderness Lodge, then the Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom.  Then Tuesday we'll be at Epcot most of the day for Food & Wine Fest.  Then Wednesday we have breakfast at Kona in the Polynesian, followed by a day exploring Fort Wilderness, maybe mini-golfing, hanging out at Downtown Disney, etc.  We're going to rent a golf cart while we're there to get around the Fort, and I plan on decorating our cabin (and our golf cart) for Halloween/Autumn.

Also, Tadd found out that his boss might be sending us to Las Vegas!  We don't have many details yet, but he wants to take Tadd to an industry convention and said if I pay my own airfare, I was welcome join them.  We'll have to see about work time-off and such, but it would be tough to turn down, especially since I think it is right around our anniversary.

I know I'm a little late, but I wanted to update on my weekend.  Friday night I hung out at my parents house after work because my grandparents had come down for the weekend to watch the Kentucky Derby and place bets at the nearby dog track (they do this every year...my grandmother just LOVES the Derby).  I ate dinner with them and then came home to watch my Friday night shows.  Tadd got home from work shortly after I got back and we just vegged and watched TV for the rest of the night.

Saturday morning I went shopping for the finishing touches for our costumes for Joe's graduation party that night at Betsy & Richard's.  The party was school-themed and guests were encouraged to come in costume, so I decided to go as a librarian and Tadd went as a gym teacher.  I picked up some track pants on clearance and a soccer whistle for Tadd's costume, and some fake glasses and a scarf for mine.  I got home and cleaned a bit, then started getting ready for the party.  My brother came by to tag along to the party.  He decided to come last-minute, so he threw together a "school sports fan" costume by wearing a Boston College t-shirt, visor, and one of those giant "#1" finger things that people wave around at sporting events.  

Despite the fact that I really wasn't in a party mood for most of the day, we ended up having a GREAT time, as we always do at Betsy & Richard's parties.  As a matter of fact, we were among the last to leave at the end of the night and I didn't go to sleep until around 3:30am.

Sunday we got a late start, but we decided to head over to the Magic Kingdom for a few hours.  This is going to sound really strange, but I totally rediscovered the Hall of Presidents.  I know I had seen it before when I was very young, but it's one of those things in the MK that I always forget about completely.  I know it has the reputation of being the biggest snoozefest on property, but knowing that I hadn't experienced it in probably 15 years, plus with how much I love history, I decided to give it another try.  The waiting room is really neat...it's like a portrait gallery of various presidents, with a glass case on one wall containing all sorts of presidential artifacts. 

There's also a small domed rotunda in the center of the room with the presidential seal on the floor.  The show itself starts with a short film about the trials and tribulations of America's history and how it shaped us into the country we are today.  Then the curtains raise and you see all of the presidents in all their audio-animatronic glory, some are seated, some are standing.  All are in the contemporary fashions of their day.  The announcer goes through and introduces each of them, which takes quite awhile, but what I LOVED was that throughout the introductions, the animatronics stayed subtly animated.  They would randomly tap their feet, shift their weights, twiddle their fingers, etc.  When it was their turn to be announced, they would nod their heads slightly at the sound of their name.  And their heads would turn based on where the spotlight was at any given time.  Very subtle stuff, but quite effective and realistic.  We were seated close to the back, so I told Tadd I want to do it again and sit closer so I can take in the details better.  After introductions, Dubya gave a brief speech, followed by Lincoln.  It got me wondering...I wonder how soon after the new president is elected will they have their audio-animatronic added to the show.  I'm actually really excited about that, not just because I'd rather hear someone other than Dubya speak, but just because I want to see what they do next with this attraction to keep it current.  If we renew our passes as we plan to, we will very likely be able to see the new addition.  Anyways, all that to say that I give the Hall of Presidents two thumbs up.  No line, nice and cool, relaxing, great for history buffs, and you just HAVE to appreciate the amazing job the Imagineers have done with the audio-animatronics.  If you only have one day to do everything in the Magic Kingdom, this is easy to skip, but if you've already seen all the major attractions a million times, this is a HIGHLY underrated show.  A true hidden gem!

In the spirit of trying things we usually skip over, we also decided to give the Liberty Belle a try.  That's the giant white steamboat that sails around the Rivers of America.  This ride wasn't quite as big of a hit, but we were able to get some great shots of the Haunted Mansion and Thunder Mountain.  It wasn't bad, but not all that exciting either.  I much prefered Hall of Presidents.  We also did Tomorrowland Transportation Authority, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Carousel of Progress.  Believe it or not, this was Tadd's FIRST time on CoP!  With as many times as he and I have both been to MK (he used to WORK there, for heaven's sake), I couldn't believe it.  He thought it was hilarious how at the end, in the pseudo-futuristic-1989's-version-of-ultra-modern scene, the daughter says that she can't believe that there was ever a time when people lived without car phones.  That part REALLY needs to be updated.  Anyways, we ended our day with the Philharmagic 3-D movie, which I am a total sucker for.  I just think it's too cute!  Especially the part when Donald Duck is trying to fly with Peter Pan & Tinkerbell.  Anyways, it was a really relaxing day.  It was pretty crowded, but pretty much everything we did had no line because we totally avoided the most popular attractions.  I think the longest we waited was 15 minutes for Pirates (but since the line is inside and air-conditioned, we didn't mind a bit...it was HOT outside!).

I'm soooooooo glad it's the weekend.

Flower & Garden Festival tomorrow!  I'm so psyched.  It isn't as cool as the Food & Wine Festival, but it's still going to be fun and wonderful.  Tadd and I are ready with our camera, sunscreen, and new Misty Mate personal misting systems, which will be useful since the high temp tomorrow is 88 degrees.  Yuck!

Look forward to copious amounts of photos of beautiful topiaries and other fun stuff upon my return.

I can't believe we're almost halfway through the week.  It always seems like the first few days of the week fly by, and then the last half of the week just drags.

Well, our marvelous and much-anticipated date night didn't quite go as planned.  Anyone who reads this who lives in Central Florida probably knows why.  It poured buckets most of the drive to WDW Saturday afternoon.  By the time we arrived at the Grand Floridian Resort, the rain had stopped, so we decided to go to our dinner reservations at the Grand Floridian Cafe and see how the weather was afterward to decide what to do.  We really enjoyed our dinner...I started with the mushroom soup, then for my entree had the chicken in a wine sauce with spinach, fingerling potatoes, mushrooms, and roasted onions in a delicious vinaigrette.  Tadd had the french onion soup, then the shrimp & prosciutto penne in an asiago cream sauce with asparagus tips.  Everything was very good and the service was top-notch.

The weather was still holding up when we finished dinner, so we walked down to the boat dock at the back of the resort and caught the next boat launch to the Magic Kingdom.  We had a 20-second shower while we were on our way on the boat, but I had hope that things were clearing up.  We got through the turnstiles and to the end of Main Street when the skies opened up again.  We made it to the covered passageway between Adventureland and Frontierland and had to take cover.  After about 20 minutes of intense wind, a deluge of rain, and crazy lightning and thunder, there was a lull.  So we, unfortunately decided to try to make our way out of the park.  The main reasons we wanted to go to MK that night were to see Wishes and Spectromagic, neither of which can go on in the rain, so there unfortunately wasn't much reason to stay if it was going to storm all night.  What a bummer...  Tadd said he'll make it up to me and I at least have Flower & Garden Festival to look forward to next Saturday.

Various other things going on:

The compressor in my car decided to die last week, so we had to spend $400 for another.  Luckily Tadd was able to replace it himself on Sunday, or it probably would have cost three times as much.  But it's really nice to have air conditioning in my car again.

Fantasy baseball is going great!  I'm in first place in our league.  Go Chase Utley!

I reached the 90-day point at work.  Got my benefits packet, but still no 90-day review.  Hopefully they will schedule one for me soon.  I'm definitely in need of a raise!

Work is still crazy, but at least I don't feel buried at the moment.  There has been more talk of hiring another person to help me out.  I hope they actually go through with it soon.  I'd like to be able to take a minute to just breathe every now and then.  I am counting down the days until our trip to Tennessee...I need a vacation!!!

Our Disney blackout dates for Spring Break are over and we can go back again until sometime in June when they are blocked again for the summer.  We were both surprised how much we missed having the opportunity to just go to any of the parks for most of March while we were blacked out.  We've decided we are definitely going to do our best to renew our passes in September, because we both feel the investment has been well worth it.  Anyways, Saturday night, we are going to do a date night.  Magic Kingdom is open until midnight, so we're going to have an early dinner at the Concourse Steakhouse and then walk over to MK for the rest of the evening, mostly just to wander around and take in the night parade and the fireworks.  Then the following weekend, we're going to go to Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival.  It will be my first time at F&G, so I'm excited about that.

Well, I have to be getting back to work so I don't get too far behind.  More later.

Ok, I've started this a little late, but better late than never, right?

Sunday morning, we woke up fairly early and got ready to check out of the hotel.  We were on our way to Animal Kingdom around 9:45.  From the (extremely crowded) front gate, we walked straight back to Africa and bought some cinnamon buns.  As the masses rushed toward Everest and Kilamenjaro Safari, we sat in the shade of the open-air Dawa Bar and enjoyed the beautiful 70 degree weather while eating our breakfast.  It was really nice!  

From there, we headed back toward the Festival of the Lion King, which neither of us had seen.  Tadd tried to get some pics of the show, but our camera sucks, and the lighting level was quite low.  It was a cute show.  The theme of the day was to do as many things as we could that we either had never done, or hadn't done in a very, very long time (with the exception of Everest, because I absolutely cannot leave AK without riding Everest!). 

So after Lion King, we took the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch.  They have some exhibits about conservation, an animal clinic where you can watch live surgeries (they were repairing a turtle's shell when we were there), and a petting zoo with various domestic goats, sheep, cows, donkeys, etc.  There was this really sweet little goat who followed us around for awhile.  We petted him for awhile, and his little tail wagged like a puppy!  They also had this really funny donkey who kept rolling around in the dirt.

We took the train back from the Planet Watch area and then went on the Maharaja Jungle Trek in Asia.  Not sure why, but this is something we had always passed up every other time we had been to AK.  I'm so glad we finally decided to do it!  They did such an amazing job with this animal trail.  It winds all around and through this beautiful area that is made to look like the ruins of an ancient Buddhist temple.  The architecture, the painted murals on the walls of the temple, and the incredible attention to detail were just breathtaking!  To see tigers and various other exotic animals in those types of surroundings was really wonderful.

After we left the trail, we had lunch at the counter service portion of the new Yak & Yeti restaurant.  The food was pretty good, but I must say I'm not a fan of the setup.  The tables are all behind the restaurant in a crowded open-air courtyard with very little shielding of the elements.  We were there during one of Disney's slow periods, and there were tons of people milling about with trays stacked with food, looking around for tables.  I was lucky that I grabbed a table as a family was leaving while Tadd waited in line to order, but due to the table's positioning, we had to sit to one side of the table to avoid the direct path of the sun.  I just can't imagine eating there when it's 90 degrees out and 10 times more crowded!  And what happens when it rains???  We all know that happens quite a bit in Florida, especially during the summer.  I told Tadd that next time we're going to pay the extra few dollars and eat in the sit-down restaurant, which is all inside.  I've heard nothing but great things about it.

We really only had one more thing on our list...Everest.  We made it all the way over to the foot of the mountain when Tadd realized he didn't have his backpack on him!  So we RAN back to Yak & Yeti to look for it.  Luckily, the nice family in the table next to ours noticed we had left it behind, and had turned it in to the nearby gift stand.  Crisis averted!  So we then walked all the way back to Everest.  With how crowded the park was, we were shocked to see the wait was still only 30 minutes.  Not bad!  But then I saw the sign for the single riders line.  I figured it didn't really matter to me if I didn't ride with Tadd, so we decided to chance it.  There were only maybe 7 people in line ahead of us, and we probably only waited 10 minutes or so.  Better yet, the back row was completely empty, so the guy assigning the single riders to fill in the gaps just let us have the back row.  So we even got to sit together!  Score!  After Everest, we headed out of the park and went back home.  My feet were killing me by the time we got back to the car.  There's something about Animal Kingdom that is very draining.  We always spend way less time in a day at AK than at other parks, but I always leave feeling completely exhausted.  But then I can be at Epcot for 12 hours straight and still feel ok at the end of the day.  I think it must be the layout of the park or something.

Thus ends our wonderful Valentine's weekend!

We had a wonderful weekend, as expected.  I was hoping it wouldn't end, but of course, it did.  We left around 11am Saturday morning, and headed for Downtown Disney.  We wanted to start our day early, but didn't necessarily want to check into our hotel just yet, so we figured that was the best place to go to kill some time.  We wandered around a bit, and decided to have lunch at Portobello Yacht Club.  Neither of us had ever been there before, so we figured why not.  I must say that we will be going back!  We were seated on the back porch, overlooking the Pleasure Island Lagoon, which was great because the weather was spectacular...mid 70s and sunny.  And the food was really good.  They have these mini bread loaves that they bring out with butter and a  whole roasted head of garlic that has been sliced across the top.  The garlic is so soft that you can take your butter knife, scoop out some garlic, and spread it onto your bread like butter.  YUM!  They also give 20% discounts for Disney Passholders, so our lunch cost about what a meal would normally cost for us at a place like Panera.  Not bad at all.

Eventually we drove to our hotel, which is only about 2 minutes off of Disney property, and checked in.  I was happy that our room was ready because the first time we stayed there, our room wasn't ready until 4:30.  They gave us a room in the St. Augustine section of the hotel, which I really liked.  The furnishings had a Spanish-Colonial/gothic/explorer theme, which really appealed to both of us.  There was this big square stone filigreed art piece hanging over the desk that I wanted to take home with me.  Anyways, we had more time to kill, so we walked around the huge atrium of the hotel, explored a bit, took some pictures, and just enjoyed pretending like we were on a vacation.  Eventually, we made our way back to our room and started getting ready for our big night out.

We wanted to get to the Contemporary Resort pretty early because we knew it was important to have a really good table in a restaurant like the California Grill.  It turned out we were the first people to check in that night!  We went up in the elevator to the 15th floor and found that we had the restaurant to ourselves!  And the view was actually more spectacular than I had imagined.  We still had about 30 minutes to wait until we would be seated, so we sat at a window-side table in the lounge to just take in the view for a few minutes.  A waiter talked us into some pre-dinner drinks that were a little pricier than I had imagined, but we really didn't care much because we were having such a great time.  I ordered a glass of riesling and Tadd got some sake.  Pretty soon, other people started filing into the lounge, and then our buzzer went off.  Our table had just as good a view as the table we sat at in the lounge.  The sun was setting and the yellow/orange light flooding into the restaurant gave everything a glowy look.  It was really romantic.  Definitely the most romantic dinner Tadd and I have ever shared.

And the food was amazing!  We started with mushroom flatbread with truffle-infused fingerling chips, which, in my opinion, was the best part of the meal.   Tadd had the grilled pork loin with goat cheese polenta, sage, and a zinfandel reduction.  I had the butternut squash ravioli with oyster mushrooms in a balsamic vinaigrette.  Then we shared the valhrona molten chocolate cake with house-made blood orange ice cream.

After our spectacular dinner, I changed into the more comfy shoes I had brought with me, and we drove over to the Boardwalk Resort, parked, and walked over to the back World Showcase entrance of Epcot.  It was about 7:30 by that time, so we had about 90 minutes to hang around until Illuminations started at 9.  We wandered over to France, where I had to buy one of their Grey Goose Cintron slushes, then we walked back across the bridge to find a place to watch the fireworks near the UK or Canada.  We decided to explore the Canada pavilion a little more than we usually do, since it's one of those pavilions that we usually pass right by.  Tadd really liked the moose hat he found in one of the stores.  We realized that although World Showcase was pretty crowded that night, the upper parts of the Canada pavilion were almost deserted, which was great because that area has some of the best viewing spots for Illuminations.  So we just decided to stay where we were for the show.  Then we took our time walking back to our car, stopped by Publix for a bottle of wine, and headed back to our hotel room, just in time to see Barack Obama's victory speech on MSNBC!

And there I will stop for now, since I have posted a lot of pictures.  More later.

This weekend will be nice.  We are celebrating Valentines Day a little early.  Back in October, Tadd got reservations for the California Grill (at the very top of the Contemporary Resort, overlooking Magic Kingdom) for tomorrow night.  He timed the reservations with the fireworks, and we're going to arrive early to try to get window seats.  To make a weekend out of it, I went on Priceline and got an inexpensive hotel reservation at Gaylord Palms Resort, which is incidentally the same resort where we spent our first anniversary.  I'm not sure what the plan is aside from dinner, but I think we may end up at Animal Kingdom on Sunday.  We're also thinking about going to one of the parks after dinner...possibly Epcot, or maybe Downtown Disney if we get out of the restaurant too late to go to the parks.  Should be fun.

We are not only celebrating Valentine's Day, but also the 5 year anniversary of Tadd proposing to me, and the fact that we both have new jobs.

Gotta get back to work.  More later.