A LONG Birthday, Dining, and Pictures Trip Report 9/25-10/2

This is my first attempt at a trip report. Suggestions and constructive criticism are welcome. I really loved reading the details about what people did and ate while I was preparing for my trip, so I've tried to give lots of detail where applicable.



Anyway. Some background:



The Dates: September 25th through October 2nd.

The Players: Myself, 24, DH 25, and Dear Mother (DM) age unspecified

The Where: DH and I stayed at All Star Movies, and DM stayed at All Star Music

The Why: DM and I went this same week last year, and left the day before my birthday to come home. What a bummer that was, so to make it up to myself for leaving and forcing myself to come back to work ON my birthday last year, I booked this trip for the same week in 2005. I was really looking forward to spending my birthday week in the parks!

Plus, this was the first trip that DH and I had taken to WDW together. We’ve both been many times before, but never together. (We would have honeymooned here if it wasn’t for the ungodly heat and crowds the second week of July.)


So… here we go!



“Unbirthday” Day 1:



Woke up at some ridiculous hour. (4:00 AM!) Well, “woke up” is saying it nicely. I was too excited to sleep much that night. Were a little late getting to the airport but we did make it in time for our 6:30 AM flight. We were a little hesitant about using the Magical Express service, and we didn’t actually make up our minds until we were checking in our luggage. Be we decided to give it a chance, and sent our bags along with their little yellow tags on them.



The only issue we had with ME before we left was that for some odd reason they just refused to keep track of our returning flight info. It took several calls to straighten it all out.



Landed on time and headed right past the greeter with the gloves for the ME check-in. We were the first in line, showed our docs and headed onto a bus. The bus was only partially filled when we left the airport. I was a bit nervous that they would make us wait till it filled entirely... those busses can fit a lot of people!

Made a few stops before reaching the All Stars. DM got off at Music and her room was ready. Our preferred room wasn’t ready in time, so we headed over to DM’s room to drop off our carry-ons, and then it was off to EPCOT!



After picking up my Epcot birthday button, we headed straight for Soarin, the wait was about 30 min, and since I hadn’t eaten anything at that point all day, we grabbed FPs and ate lunch at Seasons. Before the trip I was sad that they had messed around with one of my favorite counter service places… now? What a great change! I’m not so fond of the sterile airport feeling of the place, but the food selection was wonderful!



Here’s where we got to try out the FREE Dining Plan for the first time. After a little confusion about what was a “combo meal” and what was just an entrée, we all selected our choices. DH and DM both got the Black Forest Ham and Salami Grinders. DH got a bag of chips, DM got a little container of Jicama Slaw. Both of them got a slice of Butterfinger Cheesecake.

I was more adventurous and got the Rotisserie Flatbread, and Key Lime Pie.



Both DH and DM raved about that sandwich for the rest of the trip. They both loved it, and after trying a bite of DH’s I had to admit that they had made the better choice. My beef was OK. The greens were a little wilted, and they had some dressing on them that was at first pleasant tasting, but soon developed a sharp aftertaste. The flatbread itself was wonderful, and I ended up leaving most of the greens on my plate and just eating that by itself. Both loved their cheesecake, but I, again, picked the wrong dessert. My key lime pie was just not mixed properly before baking. There were big swirls of mix left in the custard part, so upon biting into it I would get a really uneven taste, with one bite being too overpowering, and the next would taste like nothing.



By the time we finished eating, it was off to Soarin. I may be in the minority here, but I just wasn’t impressed. Maybe it was that I was all hyped up from the great reviews, I had really unrealistic expectations, but it was really disappointing. We even got really good seats, row B2, but I just wasn’t impressed. It was a nice ride, with lots of beautiful scenery, and the orange and pine smells were a nice touch, but I expected our seats to move more. I dunno. We all left a little disappointed.

 

[lawyergirl77]

These reports and pictures of the food are making me really REALLY excited for my upcoming trip.

About the San Angel Inn (from the first page): DH and I used to LOVE that restaurant, but we kind of had mixed experiences with it on the last trip. Your descriptions of Nine Dragons are making me reconsider my Candlelight Processional ressie this December... Maybe I'll opt for Nine Dragons instead... hmmm....

 

[DisneyBunny]

I’ve been hesitant to write this last installment. It’s almost like if I don’t write it, it mean that the trip really truly isn’t over yet. But seeing as how we’ve been back for more than 2 weeks now, I’ve got to finish it.



My Birthday!! Day 7:

Woke up to hear the melodious voice of Stitch telling me “No more sleeping!” What a great way to start off your birthday.

When we planned out which days we would visit which parks, I had to ask myself the question – which park would I want to visit on my birthday? The answer – the Magic Kingdom! What better place to celebrate!

We got there a little on the late side, and missed the opening ceremony. We headed over to Splash and big thunder first, but luckily there wasn’t too much of a line yet. From there we made a beeline for Fantasyland so I could drag DH onto Dumbo. As far as he knows, he’s never been on Dumbo before, and I wanted him to experience it. He was less than thrilled at the prospect of waiting 15 min for a ride that goes round and round in a circle, but he did it anyway, just to make me happy.

From Dumbo, we headed over to Tomorrowland for Buzz Lightyear, and Space Mountain, but at this time some serious crowds had started to build. We hit both, and got extra fastpasses for Space Mtn. for after lunch.

We headed back to the Noodle Station for lunch, since both DH and DM preferred it to another burger. I was surprised to see that there were actual people at the station! The last time we ate there it was completely empty. This time there must have been 40 people eating there. We sat on one of the lower terraces, and once again, I heard the last few sounds of the trolley show. I had missed it again. I was kinda bummed about that, since I had never seen the trolley show before, but that’s just one more reason to go back!

The next showing of Cinderellabration started, and DM and I got into a lively discussion about who’s really “royal” among the princesses. Ariel and Sleeping Beauty, for example, were both Princesses from the start, and they both married Princes, so their social standing is secure. Poor Jasmine married down in life, and Cindy and Belle moved up the social ladder a few pegs.

We also commented on how poor Aurora got ripped off in terms of costuming. From a distance, we could see Cindy’s dress sparkle, and Belle’s dress out-shimmered the sun. But poor Sleeping Beauty got stuck in her drab little purple number. It was a rather funny conversation – you just had to be there.

For lunch I got the Shrimp noodle bowl, same as last time, but DM and DH both tried the Beef with Broccoli. Both liked it, but I think DM preferred the noodle bowl. I asked her why she didn’t get it, and her response was that she was “sick of shrimp.” I never thought anyone could get sick of shrimp, but we had eaten a lot of it that week. Who would have thought the dining plan would make her sick of shrimp. Not me! DH didn’t like his crème brulee, though. He said it was different from the one he had gotten earlier in the week. I think it was that there wasn’t much brulee to it. He said it was mostly just grains of sugar on top, which made for an interesting consistency.

 

[DisneyBunny]

When we finished eating we headed back to Tomorrowland to use our fastpasses for Space Mountain. On our way over we passed SGE, and there was such a line! I couldn’t believe people actually waited close to an hour for that horrible attraction! It really wasn’t worth the wait to just to get through the pre-shows, I couldn't imagine adding 40 more minutes to it.

It turned out that Space Mountain was down. We took this as a sign – and headed straight for the Peoplemover. We ran into the nice CM who dragged me out into Main Street on our first day. He remembered me!

While on the Peoplemover ( I will never get around to calling it the TTA. Never.) We got to see Space Mtn. with all the lights on. I was really bummed that I didn’t have my camera ready. I should have known, but I just wasn’t thinking ahead that if it was down, there was a good chance the lights could be on. But alas, I couldn’t get the camera out in time, so no pics. As we rode we saw that the line for Stitch was still hovering around 50 min. Eek!

It started to rain pretty hard while we rode. We had stopped to let someone slow-moving get on/off the peoplemover, and as we sat there we commented how funny it was to see all the people scramble for cover.

When we got back to the station, we wondered if we could just ride again, to stay out of the rain. No dice. This was what we saw when we got off.

I could barely believe my eyes! A line! An honest line for the Peoplemover! It was nuts.

I guess they all had the same idea we had – to ride out the rain in comfort. We didn’t want to wait in line again, so we headed for the CoP. So did a bunch of other people. I’ve never been in such a crowd for that show! DM and I sang the song the whole time, and towards the end a few other people did too.

As we were heading from the 20s into the 40s, a voice came booming out and told people to remain seated while the theater was in motion. Unfortunately because of this, we didn’t start to rotate until the 20’s had started up again. That was a first for us.

When we exited CoP, it was still raining. We checked to see if Space Mountain was up yet, and it was. DH and I rode while DM got some popcorn, and use up some of her remaining snack credits.

DH and I slipped and slided all the way through the queue for Space Mountain. That thing can get slippery! Some pre-teens ahead of us took full advantage of this, and we had to follow them the entire way while they made squiiiiiiky, squeeeeeeeeky noises with their shoes.

 

[DisneyBunny]

The rain let up soon, and we made our way back to hit the last two rides on my “must-ride-on-my-birthday” list. As we walked towards the HM, my cell phone rang. It was my best friend calling to wish me a happy birthday. I was so happy to hear from her, and was on the phone not 60 seconds when we approached the HM. The CM at the gate saw my birthday button, wished me a happy birthday, took the phone out of my hand, and hung up on my friend! I wasn’t planning on talking during the ride…goodness! It was funny, but I did have to call my friend right back to apologize for the hang-up.

From there we headed back to PotC. Afterwards, DM and I stopped and got our first-ever Mickey Premium Bars. I wasn’t even hungry, but I wanted one for my birthday. I wasn’t allowed to get ice cream bars often as a kid, due to budget constraints, and even when I was allowed to get one as a treat, I always picked the Dole Strawberry bars instead. But the Premium bar was really good! Having never had one before, I was always baffled how even grown adults could get so messy from eating them. I understood kids getting chocolate all around their faces, but adults should manage them better, right? I was wrong, wrong, wrong! We went through so many napkins eating that one ice cream! And dark chocolate… mmmmm….

After the snack break, we strolled back through Main Street, and hit some shops. I blew the remaining Reward Dollars that I still had. Unfortunately, it was too late to utilize the perk that lets you send your packages to your room. Ours would have arrived at the room at the same time we would be getting home!

This left us with a dilemma. I wanted to ride the monorail to Epcot again. But we had to go back to the room to drop off our packages, since nobody wanted to carry them around all day. So, even though DH protested it was “illogical”, we rode the monorail to Epcot, then hopped a bus back to the room, dropped the packages off, and hopped another bus back to Epcot.

DH and I went on M:S again, followed by TT, and fought the crowds as we wandered around the World Showcase.

 

[DisneyBunny]

Dinner this night was at Le Cellier. We had all been eagerly anticipating this dinner the whole trip long.

We checked in early, but were still seated at our reserved time. We were taken to a relatively private booth in the back corner. It was a really great table!

She gave us the breadsticks, with the exception of the pretzel bread, which was still in the oven. When it arrived it was still warm. Ooooohh goodness. I’ve heard about the pretzel bread. I thought to myself, “It’s just bread? How good can it be?” THAT good. Maybe it was even better that it was still warm, but it was just every bit as good as a soft pretzel. Mmmm… it took a lot of willpower to not fill myself entirely with bread.

For the appetizers, I was torn. I wanted to try the famed cheddar cheese soup, but the $12 cheese plate was calling to me. So DM got the soup. She raved about it, and when I tried it, I too was impressed. I had expected it to come in a bigger bowl, but it was still excellent.

My cheese plate was also just wonderful. I didn’t expect to get a huge chunk of blue cheese! It was divine. I’m a big blue cheese lover, and it was a treat to eat so much of it. the other two selections were excellent as well. The middle one was cheddar cheese, but I can’t remember what the first one was.

DH got the Asian Shrimp Cocktail. I think the “sick of shrimp” got to him as well, and he proclaimed that it looked better than it tasted. It tasted OK, but it just wasn’t anything special.

 

[DisneyBunny]

For our entrées, DM and I both got the Mushroom Filet Mingon. When our entrees arrived, I started to eat, and thought to myself…. “Hmmm… this tastes a lot like barbeque sauce.” It turns out that both DM and I had been given the wrong entrée. So I did get to try the barbeque filet mingon. It was wonderful, but I don’t think I’d order it again. The BBQ sauce kinda detracts from the flavor of the meat. Our server quickly whisked our plates away, and soon replaced them with the correct entrée. Oh, again, this dish lived up to its reputation. I really do prefer other cuts of meat to filet mingon, but I tried this because of its reputation. It was worth it. I’ve never had more tender meat anywhere. Not even on the high end restaurants on cruise ships. Sooooo yummy.

For the life of me, I cannot remember whether DH got the rib eye, or the prime rib. And I didn’t get a picture of it unfortunately. He tried a piece of my meat and was really frustrated that he hadn’t ordered the same thing. He said his was on the stringy side.

For dessert, DM and DH got the apple cobbler. It came piping hot in little skillets. They both said it was excellent. I didn’t get to try any, though, because i couldn’t fit any more heavy desserts in my stomach. It still smelled wonderful.

I had a sneaky suspicion that I would get some kind of recognition for my birthday, since I told them about it when I made my ressies. I wasn’t disappointed. A big plate arrived with a quite tasty mousse in it. I was entitled to order another dessert, but I couldn’t have fit another one in if I had tried.

We took our time heading out from dinner. Stopping to say goodbye to the Fountain of Nations, and, on a whim, we decided to ride SSE one last time. After our very last ride of the trip, *sniff* we headed back to the busses, only to have the sky rip open and pour buckets on us. I’ve never been so wet! We ran, and only just missed the bus to the All Stars because I could only run so much on an full stomach. While we waited, we were joined by nearly 100 other people who wanted to go back to the All Stars. We waited the longest for that bus than any other the whole trip – nearly a half hour! In the rain. With the wind. There were a lot of disgruntled people in line that night. :brick:

Finally we got back to the resort, and we had to pack. How depressing. But still, it was one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had.

Still to come:

Magical Express to the airport, Miscellaneous thoughts, and my photo editorial: “Why I take all the pictures in our family”

 

[Raven66]

I really enjoyed reading your report and can't wait to read the end. I loved all the pictures. Thanks for taking the time to write it out. :wave:

 

[DisneyFanJen]

I've been reading throught the reports getting a few ideas of what to do when I go next and I loved your report and the way you laid it out!

You've inspired me to do my own report when I go, hopefully a blow by blow each evening as I intend to take the Laptop with me.

Absolutely loved your report, thanks.

 

[DisneyBunny]

Thank you! Reading all of the reports on here inspired me to write one too.

I had intended on using DH's laptop to do a day-by-day report, but by the time we got back to the room, we were asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.:snore:

Day 7 is Coming soon!

 

[DisneyFanJen]

I'm not sure that I'll focus on food so much as being a Veggie and not on the food plan, it's not going to be such a big thing, but I really liked the way you did it.

Posting daily won't be a problem either as I go into what I call "chipmunk" mode when my WDW trips come round (Imagine Tigger on speed with just a dash of 4 year old. :lol: ). So posting in the evening will give me a way to wind down!

only 42 days, 18 hours, 48 minutes and 32 seconds to go... :sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[DisneyMissy]

I loved your trip report but you made me VERY hungry.:slurp:

 

[DisneyBunny]

Day 7:

We got up extra early, and I did my customary thorough search of the room to double check that everything was packed. Our clothes still weren’t dry from the deluge the night before. But off they went into the suitcase anyways! DH and I headed off to the food court for him to use up his last counter service credit on breakfast, since he didn’t have lunch the day before. He got a small container of orange juice, a pancake and sausage plate, and a Danish for “dessert.” Even with it being the first “real” breakfast of the week, he still wasn’t that thrilled with it. He told me that I still make the best pancakes. (Isn’t he sweet?) It ended up being his least expensive counter service meal, so I don’t think we’ll be using it for breakfast again. It’s not a good use of your money.

I headed off to the buy up some snacks for the ride home. We had 5 snack credits left. That got us 2 Powerades, and 3 rice krispie treats. It was odd that Powerade didn’t count as a snack in the park, but it did back at the hotel. But when I wanted to get a bottle of Minute Maid lemonade at the food court, it wasn’t included, while it was at the parks. Go figure. :brick:

I was surprised to see that we had so many snacks left. Most of the time we weren’t hungry enough to warrant using them. Most of our snacks ended up being drinks on really hot days. DH did use some at the F&WF, and I think I got an ice cream or two. I think our plan to “conserve” our snacks, and save them for when we really needed them, backfired. But it was nice to have something to take on the plane with us.

We waited out front for the ME bus to arrive, and when it did, it took at least 20 min ( I timed it) to get this one older, wheelchair-bound woman situated. I’m not sure if he knew what he was doing, or if he just felt like shooting the breeze, but we all stood there while he was on the bus for quite some time. I called DM, to tell her why the bus would be late. After we left our resort, we swung by DM’s resort, and then to Coronado Springs. We were worried about making it to the airport in time to catch our flight, since it took so long to get going.

We did make it to the airport in time, but of course we were the second group to get off the bus. We checked in, and waited to board. After a rather rough ride, we touched down safely. As we left the airport to pick up our car, we noticed how cold it was back home. We had just left 90+ degree temps behind, and now it looked like fall had finally decided to arrive.

So, that was it. Now that we’re home, I keep seeing the new 50th anniversary TV spots, and I shout out to DH that I wanna go! Maybe next year.

 

[DisneyBunny]

So here are the numbers and the break-downs, for those of you still reading:


Out-of-pocket dollars spent: 1
Souvenirs brought back: 4
What we “would” have spent on the dining plan: 735
Dollar amount actually “spent” on food: 1372.06
Would we buy the dining plan the next time?: Absolutely yes.
Pounds Gained by DH: 4
Pounds Gained by DM: 5
Pounds LOST by me: 3
(DM is kinda jealous that I actually lost weight. Who would have guessed with all that food we ate? Woohoo for a high metabolism!)

 

[DisneyBunny]

Memories, Odds, and Ends:

I really loved seeing old cartoons on our resort TV. Especially my childhood favorite, “Lambert, the Sheepish Lion.” I’m surprised that I still remembered the words to the song!

Song that got stuck in my head the most during our trip: “Mamma, don’t WHUP, littl’ Buford…I think you should shoot him instead”

One of our favorite animal interactions was at the AK… with a squirrel! As we ate, my corn on the cob rolled off the side of the table, and onto the ground. As I was cleaning off my hands so I could go and pick it up, a squirrel shot out of nowhere, picked up the whole cob like a dog with a stick, and ran off to the side to eat it. It was quite funny, especially since it was a young squirrel, and the cob was just as big as he was! Then a few days later I noticed that they started to have the “no feeding the animals!” on the napkins. Poor little squirrel! I guess I shouldn’t have let you have that snack.

And I totally forgot to add this to day 2’s report. (I knew there was another reason it was the most magical day ever…)

When we were shopping in Main Street, DH stopped in the Bakery to see if they would let him get an iced coffee as a snack. DM and I got a coke and sat at a little table behind the glass blower artist to wait for him. As we sat there drinking the cool, refreshing soft drink (I swear they do things to the cokes down there… maybe it’s the original “secret” Coke ingredient… ), the Dapper Dans emerged from a door next to us and strolled out. One of them noticed my button, and the whole group broke into song! They wished me a happy birthday and everyone in the store clapped. When they finished Happy Birthday, they started singing again, this time “How old are you now?” when one of them comments that it’s rude to ask a lady their age. So they start singing again, with the words changed to “How much do you weigh?” So freaking hilarious. It had the whole place laughing. And DH missed it all. (It turned out that they wouldn’t let him get an iced coffee, but they would give him a regular coffee, and a big cup of ice, so he made his own with the help of a dozen or so little creamers)

 

[DisneyBunny]

And now I’ll leave you with my photo editorial:
Why I take all the pictures in my family.


Exhibit A: "These Shoes are made for walkin'"

Exhibit B: "And here you'll see elusive and timid CM in her native environment..."

Exhibit C: "Yep, my real ears are still there..."

And Finally, Exhibit D: "And I've packed your angry eyes, just in case"

So, that’s it. I’m hoping someone got something out of this. I just like writing down thoughts and experiences from our trips, and thought I’d share it with you all. DH and DM did think I was a little crazy for taking pictures of all of our food, but I really liked it, and it came in handy for later in the trip. Before we went, I would read trip reports, and re-read the menus on allearsnet, and drool over the few pictures of food I could find. So I resolved that if I could help another person like myself with my pictures, than I would snap away. Hope I’ve been helpful! :wave:

 

[FanofDinsey1981]

Memories, Odds, and Ends:

As we sat there drinking the cool, refreshing soft drink (I swear they do things to the cokes down there… maybe it’s the original “secret” Coke ingredient… )

you are the first person out side of my family to say what we always say! The coke really DOES taste different in florida! it is the reason why I can only have fountain coke in illinois. oh my, a disney coke sounds so good right now.....

that was an excellent report! :sohappy:

 

[GoofBall06]

nice report!! i am amazed by all that food! It all looked soo good! :wave:

 

[Wideout70]

Most excellent trip report. Great job tieing in the pics too.

Thanks!

 

[mills]

Great trip report. We were there about the same time and also had the free dining plan. We also thought that the restaurant in Mexico was one of our worst meals. Also have to agree with you on the stunt show. I was really looking forward to that and was disappointed with the long breaks. Our guy did manage to catch fire though:animwink:

 

[DisneyBunny]

Most excellent trip report. Great job tieing in the pics too.

Thanks!

Wow, I feel honored that your first post ever was on my trip report! Welcome to the boards!:wave:


Thank you all for your wonderful feedback!