Trip Report the "I can't eat anymore steak!!!, Wishes vs HEA, snake incident" Trip report. May 2017

Disney Dreaming

So we're back.... and I cannot even express the sadness I'm feeling already. There may have been silent tears.. who am I kidding!! There were definitely tears!! I could put it down to jet lag but I feel its the PDD kicking in a little earlier than usual.
BUT
I thought what better way to try and pull myself through this emotional state (other than booking another trip...watch this space ) but to start my trip report for you lovely lot! But mostly so that I can re-live our fabulous and sometimes a little less fabulous holiday moments!

This trip has been so up and down for us with some things surpassing our expectations but with others failing miserably to meet our personal ones at all. That said, I'm not here to complain at all but just to express our personal experiences whilst we were there! They may be waaaaay different to others opinions.
We also didn't know what to expect with travelling another family and there being so many of us which we just aren't used to. We realised about half way through the holiday that the plans that we all made together re: dining, park selections & pool time were very different to what we had all discussed before leaving, therefore myself, sister and mum decided it would be every man for themselves and they could fit in with us as and when they liked which seemed to work out really well for us..as you will find out!

I warn you now...the first few days I COMPLETELY forgot (in my state of excitement and jetlag) to write any notes so I will be working purely from memory and hopefully photo prompts facepalm: MY BAD) which leads me nicely to photos.. I will now inform you that my photography skills are certainly not to the standard of some of the reports I have seen here..BUT.. I did give it my best go and I hope any photographers reading don't cringe too much!!

So, without further ado, please sit back and (hopefully) enjoy the ride along our Disney Vacation!! A trip full of firsts, lasts, excitement, lots of sunshine, (a few) tears but oh so much magic!!

If you do fancy a read of my PTR just so you're filled in with who, what, where, when and why here it is http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/my-first-pre-trip-report-may-2017.924079/

Heeerreee weeeee goooooooo!!!

 

[*Flynnderella*]

I think you said you split the skillet? Did they only charge you one TS credit, or did you both have to use a credit for dinner?

The skillet can be made for as many people as you like so we had the skillet for 2 so both used a TS credit. There was a lot of food and you can ask for it to be replenished with whatever you like. We I think got one more order of ribs but that was all.

 

[Dave B]

Does anyone know if I let me kids pick at my platter will that be a problem, not full on share, but just try some of the meats?

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Okay guys...next. Sorry again for the delay- life just seems to get in the way!!

We woke up the next morning and decided as a three, we wanted to change the way we were doing this holiday. We were all exhausted as we have never done Disney in this heat before & also we had eaten so much rich and yummy food, we felt like we were just wasting time and having to do our days around dinner reservations that, by the time we got to, we weren't hungry for or the food was the same as we had been eating at every other place. This is where my "I can't eat anymore steak" came into play. We're all quite light eaters back home so this was overwhelming for us to dine in every night to a full dinner. (I know, I know, first world problems ) So. We changed our strategy. We wanted to use our credits in a way that would suit us better, therefore, less restaurants and more 2 credit dinners. The days where we had no table service credits, we would between us use our QS credits. This worked fine anyway since mostly we would use snacks for breakfast anyway, and lunch we only had on a couple of occasions since we would sometimes only want snacks anyway. So bottom line is, we changed our plans and we had credits left over and no one went hungry! PERFECT.

As for today...I am having an absolute brain fart as to what we did...I think the rest of the gang stuck to the plan and went to Animal Kingdom for the day? and I believe this was another one of our relax until 3ish days and then headed out to AK later on and had the evening there. I do remember we had planned to watch ROL but by the time we got to the queue, it was SO LONG! we changed our mind and thought we would do a fast pass for it another night..which we did..

WAIT......... I remember!!!
We had made dining reservations for Boma at AKL. SO. Han, Dave and Niambh had been at AK and the rest had been at DS. So we got the bus to AK as we had to go that way anyway to get to AKL and we picked Niambh up as Dave and Han weren't dining with us tonight and then we 4 headed to AKL. Thank goodness I remembered. I apologise for the lack of photos.

Then we met everyone there and had dinner at Boma. Great dinner- rice pudding was amazing, sorry no pictures we were in and out quite quickly and off back to AK. We went on the twilight safari which was quite good but didn't see many animals and they moved through quite quickly and then this was when we decided not to do ROL.

That my friends, was me thinking out-loud. That's what goes on in my head at a million miles an hour!!!

Sorry for the boring post but I know I can remember the rest !!!

Next up..A perfect day..Meeting The Mouse himself, scoring a Cali Grill reservation & first night of HEA!!!!!

 

[*Flynnderella*]

As I said...this was a pretty perfect day for us.

It was me, mum and sis & we went over the plans again. Where did we want to be tonight & where shall we eat. By this point, we had cancelled Chef Artsmiths (regret this now but nevermind) San Angel, Coral Reef & Sci-fi. We had a fair few credits to play with so we went with strategy. *Googled 2 credit restaurants Disney World* ooo California Grill whats that...*looks at menu* YUM *books 3 x persons 9.40pm tonight* BOOM!

That settled it- we had a FP to meet Mickey this afternoon so we moved it to later in the day so we could have ANOTHER lazy pool day (we don't get sun in England) and made ourselves look pretty to meet The Mouse himself & to watched HEA from the top of the Contemporary. Could this be any better plan?! New restaurant, new fireworks & no crowds!!

So heres how it went..



I got myself a chocolate coated pineapple stick from the Main Street Bakery (which I thought I had pictures of but as it seems to be a pattern emerging here, I cannot find them ) It was delicious though, even though it melted as we walked!!

We then tricked mum into the Carousel of Progress (which backfired on us when it stopped working and we had to watch the first scene twice .) Mums exact words were, "I would bang your heads together but this seems good enough punishment!!"

We had a little ride on the people mover and then decided we were a little peckish. We wouldn't be eating for another 5 or so hours so went to Cosmic rays and shared 2 portions of chips (fries)

Since we were dressed up, we decided to make the effort and have some photos taken as we weren't all sweaty from a full park day (keep this late afternoon park touring strategy in mind people. Its much more pleasant )
Sisters in our happy place

I wanted to meet Gaston so we headed over to Fantasyland but he had gone for the day He looks like he is a fun M & G so I'll make sure to plan it in next time! We took a couple pictures outside the Tavern and wandered around the shops. Too many nice things!
We then popped in to see Ariel (ride not M & G) and had some pictures outside her castle! I LOVE Eric. He's my guy The Little Mermaid ride is cute and I love all the details in the queue.

(Just a quick interruption, is anyone else struggling to upload photo pass picture to here?! I believe it was fine to begin with but now they just wont work!?)

It was getting a little later and we had a very important meeting to keep!! The mouse, the myth, the legend.....MICKEY!!!!


Next up..heading out of MK and how were the fireworks!!

 

[Songbird76]

As I said...this was a pretty perfect day for us.

It was me, mum and sis & we went over the plans again. Where did we want to be tonight & where shall we eat. By this point, we had cancelled Chef Artsmiths (regret this now but nevermind) San Angel, Coral Reef & Sci-fi. We had a fair few credits to play with so we went with strategy. *Googled 2 credit restaurants Disney World* ooo California Grill whats that...*looks at menu* YUM *books 3 x persons 9.40pm tonight* BOOM!

That settled it- we had a FP to meet Mickey this afternoon so we moved it to later in the day so we could have ANOTHER lazy pool day (we don't get sun in England) and made ourselves look pretty to meet The Mouse himself & to watched HEA from the top of the Contemporary. Could this be any better plan?! New restaurant, new fireworks & no crowds!!

So heres how it went..

View attachment 226246

I got myself a chocolate coated pineapple stick from the Main Street Bakery (which I thought I had pictures of but as it seems to be a pattern emerging here, I cannot find them ) It was delicious though, even though it melted as we walked!!

View attachment 226248 We then tricked mum into the Carousel of Progress (which backfired on us when it stopped working and we had to watch the first scene twice .) Mums exact words were, "I would bang your heads together but this seems good enough punishment!!"

We had a little ride on the people mover and then decided we were a little peckish. We wouldn't be eating for another 5 or so hours so went to Cosmic rays and shared 2 portions of chips (fries)

Since we were dressed up, we decided to make the effort and have some photos taken as we weren't all sweaty from a full park day (keep this late afternoon park touring strategy in mind people. Its much more pleasant )
View attachment 226257 Sisters in our happy place

I wanted to meet Gaston so we headed over to Fantasyland but he had gone for the day He looks like he is a fun M & G so I'll make sure to plan it in next time! We took a couple pictures outside the Tavern and wandered around the shops. Too many nice things!
We then popped in to see Ariel (ride not M & G) and had some pictures outside her castle! I LOVE Eric. He's my guy The Little Mermaid ride is cute and I love all the details in the queue.

(Just a quick interruption, is anyone else struggling to upload photo pass picture to here?! I believe it was fine to begin with but now they just wont work!?)

It was getting a little later and we had a very important meeting to keep!! The mouse, the myth, the legend.....MICKEY!!!!
View attachment 226259

Next up..heading out of MK and how were the fireworks!!

Do you not like Carousel of Progress? My daughter loved it last summer and we ended up doing it a few times. I was surprised, since she was only 10, but then, she loves anything educational, so maybe that's why.

Love your dresses in the pic with you and your sister! So cute!!

 

[*Flynnderella*]

"Guess who's back...back again!!"

California Grill & Happily Ever After

So after meeting our idol...here have another picture:


...we made our way slowly out of MK. We had a look through the shops and around the entrance area. I forgot to mention that we actually went on the train for the first time since we were little. We did this as soon as we got there earlier and got off at Fantasyland?! (is there even a station there?) I don't remember much of it because I thought I was going to die from heat exhaustion. Although it was a cute way to get round the park, it was SO HOT and every time we stopped we seemed to be in direct sunlight . I would definitely do it again though just maybe not in the heat! Seems like me and @Doc Disney have a lot in common when it comes to the sun!!

We decided to walk over to the Contemporary Resort for our reservation (yes walking in the heat....) but we hadn't done this before so left enough time to get there so we didn't miss the fireworks. We weren't sure if they were going to let us up there before our reservation time so we had a plan B of finding a random balcony somewhere to watch. Luckily we made it right on time. What an AMAZING view you get from up there. We checked in at about 8:45 and asked about the fireworks and they said that was fine and someone would escort us up right now. We were really shocked that it wasn't busier and not many others had had the same idea as us to not be in the park on the first night of new fireworks. I can't imagine the bedlam but we know we made the right choice doing this.




I apologise about these photos not being great but they were ultimately done on my IPhone and I couldn't see for the tears!!!

Now, I really did like Wishes! but this is just something else. The musical score they've put together is phenomenal. My all time favourite Disney soundtrack is Tarzan & I was just weeping when it was used twice. And Pirates of the Caribbean music just gives me goosebumps all over. I couldn't fault it. Can I just say also.....HOW DO THEY MAKE A FIREWORK IN THE SHAPE OF MAUIS HOOK!?!?! I literally stood there screaming at my sister going "MAUIS HOOK OH MY GOD THEY'RE SO CLEVER I LOVE IT!!" <my face
I just couldn't wait to see it down in the park to get the full effect of the castle projections.
To make it so much sweeter, a guy proposed to his girlfriend right behind us during the fireworks...me shouting about Maui and crying at Tarzan and shouting YES YES YESSSSSS at Pirates, probably ruined the mood a little but who cares!!

Okay moving on. More on HEA later!!

We took a few moments as the three of us to really appreciate how lucky we were feeling right at that moment. We'd had a lovely relaxing day, done a couple of things we wouldn't usually do and basically enjoyed some mother and daughters time. Although the dining plan may not be for everyone, we are glad we managed; albeit halfway through the holiday, to work it better to our little bellies (larger now) could take, so utilising the credits better we managed to eat at places like California Grill, which may not have been on our top list to dine (we're not tight or poor, it just costs a lot to come from the UK and the dining plan for us works so much better, as with us staying for 2 weeks at a time, we can forget about having to bring extra money for food & just enjoy our time, and feed our fat faces I do however wish, that we were closer and could be frequent visitors. )

Let's get down to business...the food. *Drum roll please*

Loved it!!
Our Server, Walt He was brilliant. So attentive & knowledgeable about everything there was to offer. He explained to us that he and his wife had been there at the opening of the restaurant and been there ever since! As I've said before, my sister is quite a fussy eater so there wasn't much on the entree list she could see that she liked but she loves Sushi. She asked Walt if it would be possible to have it for a main and it was no problem. I believe she had the California Combination Roll but slightly tweaked. She said this was the best sushi she has ever had in her life. It was a really good sized portion and she could barely eat it all. (picture below)


My entree was the Seafood Chowder. I just looked at the menu online and it doesn't seem to be on there anymore. It was, Maine Lobster tail, PEI Mussels, Clams, Shrimp & possibly some other fishy delights, in a tomatoey, artichoke and herb broth. It had a lovely crusty bit of bread on top to mop up the broth... YUM-MY!!!
Sissys Sushi

Mum had the Filet (which I don't have a picture of however this must be the millionth steak of the holiday so far!)

We were seated to the right as you come in to the restaurant in a middle section table. We really liked the ambience in there. Quiet but not silent & just a really nice warm and welcoming feel, with a perfect view. Although we were all stuffed to the top, we of course HAD to have dessert so we ordered a selection and shared.



Neither of these seem to be on the menu anymore either...however i'm sure what is there is a variation of the same thing. This was a warm chocolate lava cake, a S'more Creme brulee (which he brought out FOC) and then mum ordered the cheese and sis had the strawberry filled beignets. I think I had one mouthful of the chocolate and nearly went into a sugar induced coma. It was amazing! I don't think I actually got to try sissy's beignets.....she must have snaffled them fairly quickly

It was nearing 12am by this point and we thought eek we need to get to the busses asap. We knew the last busses from the MK are an hour and a half after park close and the park closed at 11pm tonight so we needed to get a wiggle on. We also didn't know if we'd turn into pumpkins if we were out too late We rolled ourselves out and over to MK where there was a bus waiting to whisk us back to POR to reflect on our most wonderful day!!

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Guess who’s back.....back AGAIN! (I know I know that’s getting old since I use it every time I come crawling back to write some more )

Please forgive me.. I just get wrapped up in everyone else’s amazing reports that my own is sidelined! I will persevere & get it finished since I’m still on week 1 of 2

Back real soon x

 

[12in12]

I'll be here when you come back... again.
Unless it is finally my turn to go to the World then I will be too busy living the dream.

 

[*Flynnderella*]

I'll be here when you come back... again.
Unless it is finally my turn to go to the World then I will be too busy living the dream.

Ahh thank you!!
Goooooooo...live the dreeeaaammmm! Go on without me....save yourself

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Good Evening everyone!! Lets do this!
Day 10...I think? Saturday 13th May

We woke up lateish this morning as we had been at MK/Cali Grill quite late the night before & decided to have a swim (can you see a pattern emerging here?) We didn't have any FP booked until later this afternoon at HS so chilled out for a little while. The rest of the gang I think headed to Disney Springs again or took Niambh to the main pool area for a while. Now judging from my photos we all met up and hired the bikes/Surrey Bikes. Well that was an absolute ball!!!! Literally the funniest thing ever. We had 2 Surrey bikes and sis went on a single bike. I am trying to gather pictures from the rest of the group to see if we have any from that but so far I only took one of the bike. It was a blazing hot day and I can't believe we thought it would be a good idea. 2 laps round POR and we were so done but laughing all the way round!! Niambh sat on the front and kept shouting "FASSTTERRRR FAASSTTER" I don't think she realised how we were all sweaty blobs in the back


We decided to have some lunch at the hotel before we headed out to HS. It was only me and sis that went ahead first as we had our FP. We arrived around 3pm and had a wander up Hollywood Boulevard and to see the Toy Story wait time. But first...some photos!!!




Toy Story had a 55 wait time but we had a FP at 4pm so just waited for that. It started to rain (only rain of the holiday) but we didn't have ponchos so we sneaked over to get a pretzel from the little food truck and then somewhere for cover. We got the cheese sauce with our pretzel which was absolutely DISGUSTING we halved the pretzel and headed into One Mans Dream. I just love walking through here and looking at everything. I recently watched a film on Netflix called "Walt Before Mickey" and it made me realise even more what an amazing guy he was I really hope they don't get rid of this ...I personally think it could go into the Chinese theatre in some way but what do I know

We saw the queue for Guardians of the Galaxy meet and greet and I genuinely thought it was Chris Pratt..at a closer look..it definitely wasn't We didn't queue!
As we left OMD, it was absolutely THROWING IT DOWN, and I mean BUCKETS We had been spoiled with the weather up until now. We waited it out under the canopy near the loos but we had a FP for R n R'coaster at 4:25pm which we did NOT want to miss. The rest of the gang had missed the bus and were not going to make it in time for the FP so we decided to make a run for it! Good grief they don't have get puddles in those parks!! I swear I fell in one through the back entrance of Narnia and out the other side it was that deep!!! We of course made it for our trip in the limo and loved every second! Unfortunately this was the only time we managed to ride this on the whole trip If we had known the rest of the group weren't fussed about riding things together, we would have made more fp for the two of us but never mind!! There's always next time!
Clearly loving life!!

As we came out of RnR coaster the rain had let up a bit but it was still a little chilly. Beauty and the Beast was about to start and our TOT FP wasn't for a while yet so we got hot chocolates (in the middle of May in Florida ) and headed in for BatB.
Please see below awful attempt at photos:


We decided we weren't keen on Gaston this time. He could sing but he hit several bum notes...I think we only notice as we're from a musical background but it was a little bit painful at times. Other than that I loved it as always.. could maybe do with a bit of an update though... (don't throw things at me )

After the show we met Shan, Han, David & Niamh in front of TOT for our FP. I really hate the FP tier system in HS. I want more than 1 FP for this.. its just epic!! The main queue was 90 mins and RnR was 125
Matt and Kay arrived and me, sis and Niambh went with them to queue for Buzz again. It was 45 mins but we enjoyed the queue so it didn't seem as long. I lost again

At this point me and sis were done with HS and still a little damp from the down pour so we headed out to the resort to meet mum. We had a really chilled night at the resort, walking around had some dinner at the food court. The salad bar was a nightmare tonight.. lovely salad in the end though so can't complain!

We headed back to the room and watched half of "Secret life of Bees". Very good film! The rest of the group had reservations for Rainforest Cafe at Disney Springs. Their verdict was it was "bad service and cold food".

All in all it was a chilled day for everyone and a little different from our usual park park PARK days!!

Next up..spending some pennies!!

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Day 11-Sunday 14th May

We had to be up pretty early this morning as we had our first Character Dining!! We had chosen breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe as we had never been before and we wanted to visit the GF anyway!! Plus we thought the characters were quite unique (although we didn't get any pictures with them except for one..stay tuned )

So we headed out and got the bus to Epcot..Wow did we pick a "jobs worth" security guy he literally searched every nook and cranny of all of our bags, everything emptied onto the table and looked through. It must be our suspicious British accents that he wasn't keen on We ran up the ramp to the monorail to get to the TTC and then on to the GF. I love the monorail We checked in for breakfast and had a wander around.


We popped into Basin which smells beautiful btw and sampled some of the scrubs and soaps! Now smelling suitably delicious we headed down to the main lobby. I do love this resort and would always have said that I would love to stay there however, I think I would feel a little out of place. Although we are by no means roughiens (please refrain from commenting otherwise ) I would feel like I had to be on my best behaviour at ALL TIMES if I were here. It is absolutely beautiful though!
We went into breakfast at 10:30. Our server wasn't very attentive unfortunately. I know its a buffet but we had to ask for water and juice 5 times before she brought it over. That said, I did enjoy the food. I of course tried the strawberry soup just because! The eggs benedict were delicious and in general the food quality was much better than we expected.
Niambh had her photo taken with all the characters, Alice, Mary Poppins, Pooh, Tigger & Mad Hatter.
Me and sis decided we just wanted to meet the Mad Hatter. What.A.Laugh!!!!!
He said to pretend to be in a Disney film so I chose Beauty and the Beast...can you tell who is who (don't answer that)
I think this was when he asked Sis on a date
and now for a little dance!!
Really great M & G!!

On our way out we spotted these beauty's


We headed out about 11:40 and me mum and sis headed to the buses to go to Disney Springs. The rest took the Monorail to Epcot. I'm not sure if everyone will know the band McFly but they are/were quite big over in the UK and there was a member of the band in Disney World at the same time as us...he just so happened to be on the same monorail the rest of the guys took after breakfast!! WHY OH WHY DIDN'T I GET ON THE MONORAIL Tom Fletcher, if you read this......I'm sorry for taking the bus
We each had a $100 gift card as part of our booking so we decided to go and do some guilt free spending....plus a bit more too

I really love how DS has been done. It looks so fresh and lovely- I wish it was my "shopping destination" for every day shopping needs Our first stop was Uniqlo...and then spent most of the morning in there! Their Disney merch is SO much cheaper than anywhere else.. we definitely stocked up. After spending FAR too much money in there we popped to get a Starbucks. One cannot be expected to shop without a Starbucks in hand
Still Iced Lemonade

Next up was the Wonderful World of Disney and Ye Olde Christmas Shop. Both of which my bank card was saying NO NO NO STOP STOP STOP! I bought a gorgeous blue Mickey Bauble with the iconic things from each park round it in Silver Glitter. Really nice. When I sent a picture back to the bf in the UK he asked for what occasion would I wear a hat like that brilliant!
I came out of WWOD with a black Mickey baseball type t-shirt and Grey Minnie jogger bottoms with bows down the side. Really cute and SO COMFY. In fact I am writing this whilst wearing them! (Wild Friday night I know). I also got a few bits like pen for work, car topper & a couple of gifts. I wanted to replace the mug that broke from my last trip but it was no longer there

A couple of pictures from round DS

The rest of the gang had reservations for Raglan Road but sis wanted to go back to the resort and me and mum were quite happy to just go and watch the Dancing and see the band so we went for dinner at the QS Wolfgang Puck which was gorgeous (we ate there quite a few times in 2014 when we were on the QS dining plan and loved it.) It did not disappoint this time either.
I had the Chicken Alfredo which was delicious. Mum had the Meat loaf and a glass of Red. She said both were lovely.

We headed over to Raglan Road after we had finished and stayed until the band finished. My mum was an Irish dance teacher for 10 years so we all really enjoyed it and getting up to dance just topped it off! a great night had by all!

Next up ...Blizzard Beach & Finally ROL

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Heeeeyyyyy everyoneee!!

Sorry for abandoning this for so long. I feel like no-one is proberbly bothered now but I will continue on anyway haha!!

So we left off at Blizzard Beach.

Of the two water parks, this used to be our favourite as kiddos. Mainly mine because I liked the kids/tweens bit better and also the wave pool wasn't quite as severe and life threatening however this trip I did much prefer our day at Typhoon Lagoon. But I think because we didnt get to Blizzard Beach quite as early as we wanted to, we got absolutely rubbish seats under all the trees so had no where to sunbathe really. That said, we did manage to get quite a few slides done and a little trip around the lazy river. Later on in the afternoon we snagged a couple of seats pool side to sunbath and dip our toes.

I wasn't too hungry as I had waffles for breakfast...
YUM
and we had plans later at Tiffins so since sis got pizza in the room last night, we brought the left overs and had that for a snack.

Double YUM

Funny story...not that funny for me...BUT. We went on what could have been The Snow Stormers..? It was one where you go down on your front anyway....and as you may know I am not really a water slide gal at the best of times so this was probably the first and last time I will go on these because... I didn't pull the mat up quick enough when I got to the bottom and tumbled head first, face plant into the water at the end henceforth, moving losing my bikini top into the pool. GREAT. Not my best moment by far. Note to self: wear swimsuit with straps next time.

Ahh to be sat there now

Anyway.. after a lovely relaxing day, it was time to get showered and changed ready for a night at Animal Kingdom. With it being my favourite park, I was super excited that it was now opening on a night. It is a totally different experience than during the day as it's obviously not as hot and everything seems so much more real & quiet..if that makes sense? It comes to life in a completely different way.
Mum had decided to have a hotel pool day and do a bit of laundry I think so we had arranged to meet her at the Rainforest cafe entrance to AK. She was a little delayed so we just enjoyed looking round the shop and sitting by the little waterfall that was round the back of there.
Just sis making friends

After we met up with mum we headed on in. We had the ROL package for Tiffins so we were glad when we didn't have to sit in the queue that was already SOOOO long. I don't think we had too long until our booking so we slowly headed that way and ended up in the Nomad lounge to wait. I think mum had a drink but I was saving myself for dinner.


Well I would like to start this by saying..... THIS WAS THE BEST MEAL EVER AND I HOPE THEY NEVER CLOSE THIS RESTAURANT EVER EVER EVER!!!! Our server was great and very attentive. The was us and maybe two other tables in the room we were in (which I can't recall its name but it had all the electrical wires and things on the wall. If anyone knows what I'm talking about then please correct me) and he had been there since restaurant opening. The reason I say I hope it never closes is he mentioned that even with it being right next to Pandora opening (which was only on Passholder previews at this point) the foot traffic just wasn't heading their way. Such a shame because its a beautiful place. So if you haven't been and hadn't thought about going, you should!

That said... It was amazing. I tried to get photos but lets just see ...
Iced Tea to start. Mum had a glass of red wine and sis had hot tea. They brought out a menu of the different loose teas which she really liked as she is really into her teas. I think she opted for the jasmine.

I started with the Lobster, Popcorn red curry soup (which I now know is not actually on the menu anymore ) It was just the right amount of spicy for me and I could have eaten a whole vat of it. I think mum got the salad with Walnuts, cheese, grapefruit and a mustardy dressing which she said was fine but not the best.


This was my main and it was DIVINE! It was duck breast (cooked to perfection) in I think an orange sauce with parsnip puree and shiitake mushrooms and I think macadamia nuts?! Or some sort of nut that you can see in the picture. Whatever it was it was gorgeous, I never wanted it to end. I haven't looked at the menus recently but if this is still on there and you like duck...GET IT.

Both mum and sis had the steak with Peruvian Purple Potatoes and rainbow carrots with a *herby garlic sauce(*? I think). They both said it was cooked perfectly.

Although I am not much of a dessert fan, because we were on the ROL package, the dinner was 3 courses so it would have been rude not to right?! And also, they looked really exotic so I was desperate to try something different.

To be continued on the next post as I ran out of photo room........

 

[amjt660]

Still following but the breaks are making read back abit to remember where you left off!!

Max

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Okay so neither of these seems to be on the menu anymore but I know sis had the chocolatey one, possibly like a ganache?! ( i'm so rubbish at this guys!!) and mine was the whipped lemon/mango mousse with basil sea salt and mango compote. Oh Em Gee... incredible!! I 100% am not going to deny the fact that even after two courses I devoured the whole thing. Not even sorry. I hope and pray they bring something atleast similar back to the menu before my next visit because YUM!
Mum went for the cheese board which I think is pretty similar in most of the restaurants except for maybe one different variant depending on the style/location of the place?! She enjoyed it anyway and me being the darling daughter that I am, I helped by eating the honeycomb...NOM.

So much food talk in these last two posts but honestly it was so good I cannot recommend it enough.

PLUS..... what we didn't know was.. with the ROL dining package, you got one of these incredibley tacky but amazing POPCORN LOTUS FLOWERS!
I mean...why wouldn't you want one of these?! $1.50 to fill up...YES PLEASE!

The lid is also great as a hat when you're hyper after eating too much sugary popcorn..there is a photo but thankfully it's too big to load onto here

After we waddled out of Tiffins we saw the queue for Pandroa previews and were planning doing a Mission Impossible stunt to get in but we were just too full. We came across a street dance party on our way to the next thing and stopped to watch for a little while. It's so lovely seeing the park at dusk and everything still coming to life in a different light. I was thoroughly enjoying myself
Oh Everest, how I love thee.
Sistaaaaaaaa Sisstaaaaaa

We had a FP booked for Everest but the queue was only 10 minutes..which it wasn't just the amount of time to walk through. One day I kind of want there to be a queue so I can look at everything properly.
Both times we rode at the back because...the back is best.

Loving life.

As we wandered we saw a lonely photopass photographer. I can see why no-one wanted to see her.. she took this one photo and we were like....oh ...that it?! Do you have any magic shots? "No". Oh. KTHANKSBYE. awks.


We had a little time before we had to be seated for ROL so we went to visit the monkeys and watched the river rapids coming down for a little while. It felt so peaceful and I was so relaxed.

I won't bore you all with my rubbish pictures of the ROL but we had really great seats- we chose the top row of the FP section so we could stand if we wanted to and it was a good choice because it filled up really quickly infront of us just before the show started.

It was a really cute show. Not my favourite but I loved the music and the water projections in front of the TOL. The projections of animals jumping from float to float was really clever too! I wouldn't say it was a once and done for me but I wouldn't have it on my must do list every time. Don't hate me!!! *runs and hides*

We followed the mass exodus of people heading out after the show but stopped by the TOL to watch the show on there for a little bit. I think most people will have run for the exit because by the time we wandered to the front of the park there was barely anyone visible and it was pretty quiet. My fave.

Next up.. Eating around the world!!

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Still following but the breaks are making read back abit to remember where you left off!!

Max

Thanks for sticking with me Max!! I promise i'll finish it!!

 

[*Flynnderella*]

By the way. I was sent this of us on the Surrey Bikes

 

[*Flynnderella*]

So guys ... have I told the story of the snake encounter yet?!

 

[Songbird76]

I'm still following!! I don't remember a snake encounter...

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

So glad the food at Tiffins was yummy!!!! ROL is pretty cool, but I'm not sure I have to do it every time, either. It's a nice break to sit down, though. Eagerly wondering what happens with this snake...

 

[*Flynnderella*]

Right lets get this wrapped up!!

I will first tell of the snake incident! I cant actually remember what night it was... I think possibly while we were at Blizzard Beach. Anyhow, mum had decided to stay at the resort for the day and mooch around and swim.

WE LEFT HER FOR A FEW HOURS GUYS!!! Seriously.

We received a very muddled text message something along the lines of "Snake, hotel. In bathroom. HELP"

Oh for godsake... really?!

It turns out that actually there wasn't a snake in the bathroom..Mum had been stood chatting with a couple of the ladies from Mousekeeping outside our room when she felt something brush past her leg and disappear into the undergrowth. The two ladies apparently ran for the hills screaming SNAKE SNAKE SNAKE!! At this point mum barricaded herself into the bathroom..and when I say barricade, I mean it. There was my suitcase, her suitcase, towels, the bins and if the TV cabinet would have come away from the wall, I imagine that would have been blocking the door too!!!! It was like coaxing a child out of the bathroom!!

None of you know my mum but snakes are her biggest fear! She can't even watch Harry Potter without the fear the massive snake will appear at some point! We have never actually seen a snake before in Florida so this was the first encounter we've had. Well not me personally, thank the loorrrrd!

Anyway... for the last few days mum would scout outside the room before she left and then would run into the nearest open space so she "wouldn't get attacked"

Anyway...moving on.

After ANOTHER lazy morning by the pool we headed over to EPCOT to do everything properly. And most importantly spend up lots of our snack credits at the lovely food booths. We had managed to snag a ADR for Monsieur Pauls a little later on but we still wanted to try some different treats from around the world.

I believe we started with a trip on SSE (obviously) and then headed on in.

Just a couple of Flower and Garden appreciation photos! Hey Donald!!


We always seem to start in Canada which is fine by me since they had these tasty delights for sale.

Seared Scallops with Green beans, potatoes and bacon crisp!!
I think there's a picture of these from last time we were in EPCOT but you can have another look! We got two of these to share between three but mum didn't want any...BONUS!
We had a good old walk around Canada, into the shop and such and then kept going.

We hopped over the UK as we had mainly done that the other day and....we live here! I should probably go and eat in the Rose and Crown one time to see if its legit.

Next up was France.

Love this!
We checked out where Monsieur Pauls was for later and then had a walk through the shops. A cheeky spritz of Dior & a glass of bubbly later, we kept going. Not before getting this beasty dessert.

I can't say I cared for it. It was very sickly sweet but mum seemed to enjoy it so that's good! I couldn't even take a guess at what it was (sorry . This is what happens when you leave your trip report nearly a year!!!!)

We came across the Farm Fresh??Florida stall? Good grief I'm useless! Anyway, mum decided she was still peckish (yes we turned into pigs on holiday......) so she opted for the cheese board.

She really enjoyed it and I think on the right is pate. We took a seat at the tables in front of the stalls and relaxed in the mid afternoon sun! ahhhhhh to be there right now

Next up, my favourite. Morocco.

I did have a photo taken at the fountain however, I look a little drunk!? so I won't scare you all and post it! Champagne in the Florida heat? Maybe not a great idea.

I will however show you the delicious food we devoured!! In the next post though....!!