Trip Report *COMPLETED* Flowers, Family, and ??Fireworks?? (and lots of FOOD): A Memorial Week Trip Report

We are back! I am departing from my usual trip report procedure in that I haven't written the entire thing yet, but am instead posting a bit at a time as I go along. Tonight I am starting with introductions of the cast, since there are some additions who haven't previously appeared in my TRs.

The Cast

The cast of this trip of course includes my wife M and me, Bee. There are three new players, however: M’s mom, dad, and brother, all of whom I consider to be my own family as well! For simplicity I will refer to them as MIL (mother-in-law), FIL (father-in-law), and BIL (brother-in-law because his name starts with M as well! Oh and we all have M last names. Even MIL's maiden name starts with M). A little about each of us:

Bee (me)
Age: 27
Occupation: opera singer/voice and piano teacher
Vegetarian, obsessed with Disney, loves seeing Broadway musicals
Married to M for going on two years, honeymooned at WDW
The planner and organizer of the bunch

M (my wife)
Age: 27
Occupation: writer/academic advisor
Vegetarian, smart and funny, not exactly OBSESSED with Disney like I am but still loves going
Married to me for going on two years, honeymooned at WDW

MIL
Occupation: church musician/voice and piano teacher
Obsessed with Disney and giraffes, loves children
Married to FIL for (almost) 32 years, honeymooned at...you guessed it, WDW!

FIL
Occupation: HS guidance counselor
Quiet but secretly hilarious, reads all the time, half Italian
Married to MIL for (almost) 32 years, can you tell where we get our Disney obsession??

BIL
Age: 23
Occupation: HS math teacher
Did not get bitten by the Disney bug like the rest of us! Guessing if he gets married he will NOT honeymoon at WDW!

As you can see education is important to this family! It goes back to the previous generation as well because both of M’s grandfathers were university professors; one has a doctorate and the other was ABD when family circumstances prevented him from finishing. In addition, BIL, M, and I all graduated from the HS where FIL is now a guidance counselor (though he worked at a different school while we were are going there) and BIL now teaches there too.

The Plans

Dates
Saturday, May 28-Thursday, June 2 (Me and M)
Saturday, May 28-Monday, May 30 (MIL, FIL, BIL)

Hotel
Pop Century one night, WDW Swan four nights (Me and M)
Two nights offsite in LBV (MIL, FIL, BIL)

Tickets
Annual Passes (Me, M, MIL, FIL)
FL Resident Park Hopper (BIL)

Flights
Southwest Airlines nonstop (Me and M. The others drove as they live 2.5 hours away)

Transportation
DME and Uber (Me and M)
Rental car (MIL, FIL, BIL)

The week before our trip was busy and we didn’t have much time to pack and prepare for the trip. A few days before I finally dragged out the suitcase and started putting things inside, but it wasn’t until the night before we left that we finally got serious about packing. I had rehearsal in Westchester that evening and got home to NJ around 9:30. M had done a lot of work toward packing and we managed to get in bed before midnight for a brief sleep.

We debated whether to bring a large suitcase or a small one and decided on a small one so it wouldn’t be too much trouble to transfer from Pop to the Swan on Sunday. Since the suitcase was small enough we had the option to check it or carry it on. We decided to put the DME tag on it in case we wanted to check it, but to make the final decision in the morning after we saw the line for Southwest bag check. I had been reading TSA horror stories about crazy long wait times and missed flights and I didn’t want to add any unnecessary time to our pre-security time.

Next up: Day 1

 

[Tuvalu]

I see mold too!

 

[LisaBelle]

Lol ! Florida water damage and mold. I see it too! Not my idea of fine art.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Day 3, cont.

Somehow, M was hungry for spring rolls again. This time I didn’t order any for myself because I was still so full from Boma. I literally took one bite of hers and it was enough.

Spring rolls

We saw this little bird hanging out by China.

Probably waiting for us to drop some crumbs. Don't feed the wildlife!

But I wasn’t too full for another adult beverage! We stopped at Urban Farm Eats for a pinot noir and a Sierra Nevada Otra Vez. They were both fine.

Did I enjoy the beverage? (wine)
Yes

Would I drink it again?
Sure

Did I enjoy the beverage? (beer)
Yes

Would I drink it again?
Sure

We also needed to see the butterflies at least once so we entered the tent and saw...one single butterfly on the right side near the entrance. The chrysalises/cocoons (not sure which) were all gone too. Not sure if it’s because it was the last day of the festival and the CMs were putting them...away...somewhere...or if (M’s theory) they all got too hot and died.

The lonely butterfly

Some Dr. Seuss-esque flowers near the butterflies

We had another ride on Soarin’ and then headed back to the Swan. A Friendship Boat to Morocco was just arriving so we rode it to cut back a little on the walking. Then we had a pleasant walk back to our resort.

On our way to Morocco

Next up: Moldy paintings and pool time

I was so excited for the butterfly garden and was terribly let down. There were a few but nothing like I expected. We were there early May and walked through it twice. Maybe I just hyped it up too much but I was disappointed.

 

[TheMouseFan]

I definitely see the mold too!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Nice trip report, it brings back good memories of my time at F&G and of when I stayed at the Swan. Thanks!

 

[MinnieM123]

We enjoyed the rooms themselves (even the Dolphin one in October that wasn't updated yet, and that's coming), the amenities of the resort, the level of service especially as SPG members, and of course the number one selling point for any Epcot lover, the location and the price compared to similarly-located resorts.

Just a word about Starwood--you may or may not know that Marriott International bought Starwood for $12.4 billion in April, 2016. I'm not sure what this will mean for the future of those hotels, regarding any loyalty plans under SPG, and/or room rates moving forward. I've been a Swan fan for a number of years and I'm hoping that when the big changeover happens (not sure of the exact date, tbd), that not much will change.

We saw this little bird hanging out by China.

Ha ha ha!! I think it's hilarious that you guys "stalked" the bird who liked to chill around the China pavilion!

It was around this time that we noticed a large painting in the hallway of the Swan by the elevators. I hate to say it, but it reminded me of Floridian water damage and black mold. Surely that’s not what they were going for, right?

I'll add my two cents here. All art (particularly modern or contemporary) is subjective to the view of the beholder. In this case, viewing it from your photo makes it look ghastly. However, when I was there in mid-May I saw the exact picture on the wall and it didn't affect me negatively at all. For me, seeing it there amidst open space around it gave some balance. I think seeing it in a tight photo like what you posted, throws off the perspective and makes it look moldy!

 

[bee]

I see mold too!

Lol ! Florida water damage and mold. I see it too! Not my idea of fine art.

I definitely see the mold too!

I am glad I'm not the only one...though I will be responding to @MinnieM123's post in the next post so stay tuned.

I was so excited for the butterfly garden and was terribly let down. There were a few but nothing like I expected. We were there early May and walked through it twice. Maybe I just hyped it up too much but I was disappointed.

I remember seeing a lot more in 2014. I do wonder if it was extra hot this year and too hot for them?

Nice trip report, it brings back good memories of my time at F&G and of when I stayed at the Swan. Thanks!

Thanks for reading! Glad to bring back good memories.

 

[bee]

Just a word about Starwood--you may or may not know that Marriott International bought Starwood for $12.4 billion in April, 2016. I'm not sure what this will mean for the future of those hotels, regarding any loyalty plans under SPG, and/or room rates moving forward. I've been a Swan fan for a number of years and I'm hoping that when the big changeover happens (not sure of the exact date, tbd), that not much will change.

I did know, and have been trying not to worry too much about the acquisition and any changes it may bring. I remember when American Airlines bought US Airways there was a way to merge both accounts and get credit for all miles earned on either airline, so I'm hoping there will be something similar.

Ha ha ha!! I think it's hilarious that you guys "stalked" the bird who liked to chill around the China pavilion!

We didn't STALK the bird...okay we kind of did...

I'll add my two cents here. All art (particularly modern or contemporary) is subjective to the view of the beholder. In this case, viewing it from your photo makes it look ghastly. However, when I was there in mid-May I saw the exact picture on the wall and it didn't affect me negatively at all. For me, seeing it there amidst open space around it gave some balance. I think seeing it in a tight photo like what you posted, throws off the perspective and makes it look moldy!

Thank you for this and I totally agree about the subjective nature of art. In fact it took two days of being there to even notice the painting, much less make the judgement that it reminds me of mold. Part of that is the cynical ex-Floridian in me always looking for mold!

 

[Tiggerish]

That painting absolutely looks moldy. Disclaimer: I have ZERO artistic sensibility. Things that are recognized as fine art do nothing for me. My decor is mostly Epcot Flower & Garden Festival posters.

Oh, and did I mention, I live in Westchester? Next time you're passing thru...

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Enjoying so far! All the drinks look so good, and I don't even drink!

 

[bee]

I've had a slightly crazy weekend but I'm back and ready to post more! Stay tuned...

 

[bee]

Day 3, cont.

We originally scheduled our California Grill dinner for 9:30 to coincide with Wishes at 10:00. I did some research later, though, and decided it would be better to move it up a bit in case they were running behind with seating to ensure we would be seated well before the fireworks. So we ended up with an 8:45 reservation.

We left plenty early and waited outside for the bus to Magic Kingdom. We figured if we got there super early we would have a pre-dinner drink at one of the monorail resorts. This was the one time we waited more than twenty minutes for a bus, 23 to be exact. We weren’t upset because we had allowed plenty of travel time, plus no one else was waiting for the bus for most of the time and it had finally cooled to a reasonable temperature so we just enjoyed being together and watching the boats to DHS go by. I can certainly understand why others would be upset by waiting so long and would have probably been (at best) antsy myself if I had been in a rush.

We had a pleasant ride to the MK on a nearly empty bus. We had purposely avoided the park on our first three days in hopes of avoiding holiday weekend crowds so the front entrance was a welcome sight!

<3

I couldn’t stop for too many pictures, because we knew we’d be back tomorrow! By the time we got to the MK bus stop it was 8:00, which didn’t quite give us enough time to resort hop and safely be at CG in time to check in. So we took a leisurely stroll on the path to the Contemporary and watched the monorails above our heads.

We arrived at the CR entrance at 8:15 we we slowly made our way up to the check in desk in case they could seat us early. Once again I was asked for my phone number so we could be paged when our table was ready, and a CM brought us up to the restaurant in the elevator.

A crew of smiling CMs greeted us and we took in the views. It was clearly going to rain again so we saw some unusual clouds and colors in the sky. Within minutes I got the text and we were seated over twenty minutes early. Woohoo!

That was quick!

Next up: THE FOOD!

 

[bee]

Day 3, cont.

I can’t remember our server’s name at the moment but he was from Morocco and was really excellent. We started with drinks, of course. I went with the Classic Side Car while M selected the Cucumber Fizz.

Side car

Cucumber fizz

Our server offered us bread and took our appetizer orders.

Bread and butter

I selected the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli and M picked the Baby Beets Salad. They were both SO. GOOD. Even though the ravioli was only one piece (so should have technically been called “raviolo” as “ravioli” is plural) it was rich and satisfying. The broth was so delicious I was tempted to drink it from the bowl. But I didn’t. M really enjoyed her salad as well. It was very similar to the one I had the first time we visited CG.

RaviolO...RaviYOLO?

Salad

Our entrees arrived soon. M ordered the Coconut-Vegetable Curry while I selected the Truffle-Scented Tofu Roll. Wow. The sushi was the perfect combination of creamy and crunchy textures and was incredibly filling. I almost couldn’t finish. M actually couldn’t finish her dish so I helped her with a few bites (which might be the reason I had a hard time finishing mine…).

Sushi

Curry

The rain had moved to us at this point and we were worried we would miss Wishes. We figured it might be delayed like Illuminations had been the previous night so we wanted to stick around for it.


We each wanted a second drink so I had the Left Hand Milk Stout and M had the Rekordelig Strawberry-Lime Cider. My beer was great. M said the cider was “cloyingly sweet” (some of the Chopped judges say this ALL THE TIME).

Drinks

Our waiter offered dessert but we were pretty darn full so I had the Cointreau Noir instead of a solid dessert.

This wasn't a really bad pour, it's just I took a sip before taking the photo so that's why you see splashy dots of liqueur

BUT THEN…

Our waiter realized we were celebrating M’s birthday and brought our a complimentary crème brûlée! Somehow we managed to eat it all. Somehow.

MMMM!

He also told us the fireworks had been delayed and he didn’t know when they would begin. We overheard another server telling his table that sometimes they were pushed back to as late as 11:30! Around 10:30 the rain was just getting stronger and we were too tired to keep waiting. We have seen Wishes from inside and outside the park from various places (ETA: including Cali Grill), and it doesn’t have the same emotional impact/sentimental value that Illuminations does, so we decided to take an Uber back to the Swan and turn in for the night.

The only outside photo of the night

Did I enjoy the meal?
Yes!

Would I eat there again?
Definitely! It should be at least an every-other-year destination.

There was a slight Uber surge of 1.2 but since the trip wouldn’t be long we decided it was worth it to avoid the rain. Our driver was a cool guy who was also a sound engineer and was hoping to move to Austin to get more work. He told us he had been sitting in front of the Magic Kingdom for twenty minutes waiting for his previous passengers, who said they were at the front of the park but couldn’t find him. It turns out they were at Animal Kingdom but had selected Magic Kingdom accidentally. He told them to cancel the trip as he was not going to drive all the way to AK for their mistake. If you use Uber at Disney (especially if you’re not used to using Uber) make sure you pick the right pickup spot so you don’t waste your and your driver’s time! Sometimes the app’s location services are a little off and put the pick up pin in the wrong place, so always double check before you request!

(Side note: Uber recently introduced a policy that the trip "begins" two minutes after the driver arrives at the designated pickup location. I'm glad as this will help both drivers [to not waste time] and passengers [to increase driver availability so they're not sitting around waiting for other passengers].)

Despite surge pricing the trip was under $10 and worth every bit of that $10 to get us back to the Swan quickly and still dry.

Swan hallways...Swallways?

We took showers and went to bed, ready for a full day of resort hopping and park hopping the next day.

Next up: Day 4

 

[ScarletBegonias]

That dinner looked amazing!

 

[Tuvalu]

That peach Creme Brûlée is TO DIE FOR!

You made the right call skipping Wishes. Even when the rain stopped there would have likely been leftover fog from the humidity, which makes the show harder to see from a distance (like the top of CR or Poly beach.) And Tink usually doesn't fly if Wishes has been delayed. Lastly, the angle watching from the CR is a bit "off" anyway.

 

[bee]

That dinner looked amazing!

EVERYTHING was so good. It was totally worth it, even without Wishes. Just looking at the photos again I am dying for some of that sushi.

That peach Creme Brûlée is TO DIE FOR!

You made the right call skipping Wishes. Even when the rain stopped there would have likely been leftover fog from the humidity, which makes the show harder to see from a distance (like the top of CR or Poly beach.) And Tink usually doesn't fly if Wishes has been delayed. Lastly, the angle watching from the CR is a bit "off" anyway.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention (and just added) that I've seen Wishes from CR and agree that-while the show is still beautiful-the angle is "off."

I realized on the trip that I've never had crème brûlée outside of WDW! At home we stick to a very limited dining out budget each month (so we can save for dining at Disney and whatnot!) so we rarely order dessert of any kind, much less crème brûlée! We've also had the maple crème brûlée at Le Cellier and loved them both!

 

[Figgy1]

There goes my diet

 

[MinnieM123]

Note: There's ALWAYS room for crème brûlée !!!! It's one of my favorite desserts and rarely see it on menus. (I'm not just referring to WDW, but restaurants in general.).

Those were great photos of your Cali dinner!! Any time someone posts their photos of Cali dinners, I'm drooling. That is such an excellent restaurant and always has been. (Only went there once ages ago, and it was an experience.)

Sorry that you missed the fireworks, though. Bummer.

 

[MinnieM123]

That peach Creme Brûlée is TO DIE FOR!

Peach?? Wow. I've never had any flavors (other than the original recipe) added in before. Interesting idea! Leave it to you to find this delectable phenomenon!!

 

[bee]

Day 4: Tuesday, May 31

We slept in and took our time getting ready this morning as we knew we had a late night ahead of us. We awoke to see that it had rained the night before but was now sunny and clear. The plan was to have breakfast at Les Halles, walk through Epcot, and take the monorail to Magic Kingdom for FastPasses.

Good morning, resort!

This morning we got lucky with the boat timing and rode to Epcot. We entered a bit before 11:00 and once again M got “””””randomly””””” selected for the metal detector. I had a theory from previous trips and this trip seemed to support my theory so we tested it again later. And it doesn’t involve cargo shorts. You’ll have to keep reading to find out what it was!

Boat time!

One of the security guards pointed out that we had a visitor just past the band scanners. We looked up and saw none other than Cinderella herself with a very short line of guests waiting to meet her. We’re not big character people so we didn’t stop but I’m sure it was a great opportunity for those who like characters and lucked into seeing her there!

Cindy

By the time we got to France World Showcase was technically open, but the crowds were still basically nonexistent. Many of the topiaries throughout Epcot were still up despite the previous day being the end of F&G.

Glad these topiaries were still up!

Then it was time for delightful quiches florentines!

Yeah, I'm that weirdo that takes photos of bathrooms

On the way to the front gates we stopped for a frozen chai with Baileys at the coffee kiosk near Canada. However, the CM told me they only had frozen chai during the festival (even though we had definitely had it before during non-festival times) so we settled for iced instead. It was still delicious, of course!

Mmm...

Hot air balloon!

We finished the drink and arrived at the monorail station. By the time it arrived we had about forty minutes to make our Seven Dwarfs FP...including the 15 minute grace period at the end. We figured it would be tight but we could make it.

Monorail!

When we arrived at the TTC, both the express and resort lines were down! A ferry had just arrived but we all know it can take a long time for passengers to exit and the next group to board. I was beyond antsy and nervous as this was our only chance to side 7DMT during the trip. I tried to make the best of it by enjoying the views from the ferry.

How many MBs can you spot?

Views from the ferry. Sorry, some came out quite blurry!

Next up: Will we make it to Seven Dwarfs???