Trip Report COMPLETED:The “who told him about the panoramic setting on his phone?” Surf n’ Turf Anniversary trip

/******************************************************************************************
Trip Report Table of contents (this will grow as I add to the TR)
Our Room
MK day one
Flag retreat
Jiko
HS part one
HS part two
Watto's Grotto
HS part three
Brown Derby Lounge
AKL 1-bedroom, room 5135
A rainy Boardwalk
Shula's Steak House
AK part one
AK part two
Trails End lunch
MK again part one with Casey's
A Pirate's Adventure
Kona Cafe and The Dream at first sight
Disney Dream Boarding
Disney Dream room 7528
Setting Sail and room service
Dream Shopping and Mirror Mirror
Animator's Palate
Evolution Match Your Mate and Cabanas breakfast
Senses/Rainforest
Nassau from Senses
District Lounge Tequila Class
More DVC swag and meeting friends on the way to Palo
Palo
Pirates Night Fireworks
Castaway Cay 5K
Serenity Bay & BBQ
More of Castaway
Shopping and spouts
Midship Detective Agency
Royal Palace Dinner
Royal Palace Breakfast and Disembarking
Bay Lake Tower Room 7514
Citricos and Wishes from BLT
/******************************************************************************************
All the covert pains in futility leading up to this ball of awesomeness can be had here:
Those banked points aren’t going to use themselves Part II: Code Name DMCA
You may or may not be happy to know that I’ve finally gotten past the pains of Operation DMCA failing at the hands of DCL. DCL’s inability to keep a secret allowed the DW to plan and draw out a long sense of anticipation and excitement, but I digress we’re here to move forward…right?

Flashback to September 15th, it’s time to blow this pop stand! I made every effort to load the car up as much the night before to reduce the scrambling we would have to do this morning. We had but two or three small bags to deal with still. While we were finishing up with the small bags the DD walks in and notices I’m packing the Magic Bands and TiW card. Mind you, she knew we were going on this cruise AND that we were staying at AKL before the boat. It wasn’t until this moment, though, that it hit her we would be visiting the parks too! She let out a “you’re going to the parks too!” which we delicately told her “yes we are”. I mean, hello! APs + three nights in AKL = “We going to the parks girl”. Obviously, I didn’t put it that way to her I was just surprised she hadn’t put it together that we would be visiting the parks. She would later call me that day to tell me that it “took her all morning to get over the devastation of us going to the parks without her”. Wow, punch in the gut right there! But moving on, the car is packed, we load up the DD, and head to the bus stop at 06:45 and wouldn’t you know the bus driver is early, almost as if that crotchety old guy knew we had places to be! So a quick hug and kiss goodbye and the DD is on the bus and the DW and I are Disney bound by 06:50, ten minutes ahead of schedule! The ATL, however, would soon squash my excitement. So after a QuickTrip visit in Dawsonville we got smashed in the face by probably the worst traffic east of California. What normally take 18 minutes, at 6AM, to get from North perimeter to south perimeter takes us an hour and twenty minutes! I was not happy to say the least but also not surprised, just foolishly optimistic. Once we hit 75 on the south side it was smooooth sailings all the way to the bubble! A few hours later and we were crossing the line:

Seeing this sign always triggers that “Final Countdown” feeling in my head while the band Europe starts jamming out subconsciously. I’ve noted this in previous TRs but it’s worth point out again; SunPass is awesome! I fully regret not adopting the SunPass a lot sooner. It can be hard to express the feeling of joy while one just cruises through all those toll stops, ahhhhh. While I was enjoying the ease of SunPass I got “The Text”! You know, the room is ready! So the final countdown was short and despite the high levels of excitement we had arrived at the bubble and it was soon that our gaze fell upon the sign:

I promise I was a good Disney citizen and did not stop to snap this picture. A few minutes later and we were arriving home!

I always love seeing this sign and hearing the CM’s welcoming us home when we arrive! Another thing I love, specifically about Jambo, is as soon as you pass through those sliding doors you’re hit with one of the most beautiful scents ever. The wood burning fragrance is all around you in the lobby and it works! Speaking of the lobby, I’ve been to all the deluxe lobbies and I still don’t think there is one that rivals AKL, I am biased of course

Coming up: $88 gets you what?

 

[lostpro9het]

Congrats on the 5K! A Disney marathon is on my bucket list.

Same here. My issue has always been it conflicting with the wrestling season. Additionally, I always get sticker shock when I see teh marathon pricing.

I'm a distance runner, and really don't like 5k's because I am on the slower end (and it balances out over a half or full marathon! LOL) but I think this race would be pretty cool! Flat is good, but humidity will kill you no matter what the terrain!
Castaway Cay seems to awesome. I want to go!

Even with the humidity it wasn't a bad route and it was over before you knew it. I would like to have one go at it wide open. Running on such a flat surface for that distance is a treat compared to our area.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Same here. My issue has always been it conflicting with the wrestling season. Additionally, I always get sticker shock when I see teh marathon pricing.


Even with the humidity it wasn't a bad route and it was over before you knew it. I would like to have one go at it wide open. Running on such a flat surface for that distance is a treat compared to our area.

I'm lucky enough to have the C&O canal about 10 minutes away and I do about 98% of my running there. It's cool in the summer, and pretty flat. You do have to watch out for some tree roots, and horse poop, but otherwise, it's my favorite spot to run. It does get pretty desolate though. I ran a 20 mile run out there once and saw nothing but some deer. It scares my husband, but it's never really worried me. LOL

 

[lostpro9het]

So after the tram dropped us of me made for some of the shops to get the DD a Castaway gift before heading towards the boat. Can’t come this far without visiting Mount Rustmore right?

You sure will! Disney Dream #3 is coming up in just 155 days!!

Selfie time.

I felt real bad for Chip and Dale today, it was pretty warm!

So, while we were making our way back we were always looking down because those little lizards were everywhere and we took to counting them. Well, while on the watch we came across our “piece of eight”. It was tucked away under a shrub along the walkway. The only thing is it was missing the pin back. I folded up a piece of paper I had to keep it covered until we could find an alternative. More on this story to come later…

So we made our way back on board and were plenty tuckered out. We opted to take a shower and relax before our dinner rotation. Called up room service and ordered some mickey bar and cookie action to tide us over!

Still to come: Some Muppet fun, shopping, and wearing shoes to dinner is so last year!

 

[MinnieM123]

One thing that catches my eye is the beautiful, aquamarine color of the ocean. I've been to Bermuda and also a few islands in the Dutch Netherlands Antilles, and the color of the water is so pretty. Your photos remind me of those places as well.

Also, I love all your food pictures!

 

[lostpro9het]

OK, so after some rest and recoup time we decided to do some shopping and explore the ship even more. We made our way to the main lobby when we noticed these guys forming a few miles away. Waterspouts maybe? Thankfully they never came any closer but were neat to see.

So we made our way to the shops and looked around for a while. It seems we were not the only ones looking to spend on the last night. All the shops were hopping. We settled on just two Disney pins. Had to get the CC5K pin for the DW’s achievement and of course a dated pin saying “we were there!”

Next we moved on to the jewelry shop to add to the DW’s Disney only Pandora bracelet. They had two cruise exclusive charms but we both liked this one. The other one was in the shape of a boat but didn’t really appeal to us, besides; the DW will probably collect that one in April.

Also, while we were there we decided to add to our Disney worldwide conservation fund pin collection.

We still had plenty of time before our dining rotation and the DW had read about a Muppet game they had on the boat so we made our way to the check-in area to see what it was all about. On our way, though,

And if you look closely you’ll see the base of a rainbow, a lot easier to see in person but my phone..well, you know

Still to come: We put on our Mulder and Scully hats, some “milk” before dinner, and a not so Royal experience.

 

[lostpro9het]

So we arrived at the check-in area and no one was there! Seems this is a self-service game. When you arrive you are prompted to select a “badge”. Only one badge is required per party and it makes for a fun keepsake when you are done with the game.

In addition to the badge you need to pick up a map, this holds the locations of all the clue points on the ship, which is also another keepsake. The game has you going to virtually every deck and bouncing forward and aft on the boat, lots of walking! This game is similar to the Pirates League game at MK but is spread out over a greater distance with more interaction points and you scan your badge rather than a band.

So, armed with a badge and map you scan you badge and the adventure begins! It seems some items got stolen from a few of the Muppets during rehearsals and they are needed for tonight show! OhNoes! Pepe is our point of contact for most of the experience with cameos by most all of the other Muppets along the way. So we begin!

The cast of suspects!

We are directed to go to our first clue point, which of course, is on the opposite end of the boat!

We quickly realized that we were being asked to revisit a few places for clues so we cleverly decided to take pictures of those places to refrain from having to go back and forth so much. Hey, we just ran a 5k that morning don’t judge! One of the primary clue spots was the Muppets call board, there were many hints laid out on here that you didn’t know about until certain points of the game.

Conveniently located at the other end of the boat from the call board was Pepe’s room which had many clues on the door. So, again, to save walking we snapped some pics. This was a real cool feature of the experience. The door was well created and looked and felt like a regular stateroom door, just half the size!

After many clues and traversing most all the decks we had our man, er… bear! Bobo did it! Don’t worry, though, it’s a different adventure each time so I didn’t ruin the end for you!

Pepe confirmed our skill as Midship Agents, congratulated us, and said we could help him any time before we said our goodbyes.

Believe it or not after all that fun we still had time to change clothes and relax before dinner! So we made for the stateroom where were had some “milk” before dinner while watching Pirates on demand and enjoying the veranda!

Still to come: A royalish table, piece of eight conclusion, and you better not take pictures while getting your customs on!

 

[lostpro9het]

So it was finally time for our final dinner of the cruise. This would also be our first time to experience Royal Palace. We opted to skip it last time for a Palo night so we were excited for something new. We were punctual with arriving but it seemed many folks were arriving late. Themeing is nice and we were quickly shown to our table. Our table was actually in a small room off the main dining area. It felt very intimate.

We were quickly greeted by our service crew who were very excited to hear how we enjoyed Palo the night before and Castaway today. We were quickly presented with then bread service.

It was around the time the apps were arriving when this ragtag bunch of non-Americans arrived and decided to make the dining area all theirs… Apparently they chose to live out their last night like it was home because the dining area became the kid’s play area and heck, who doesn’t eat dinner barefooted at home! Keeping it classy!

Anyway, we made the best of it and looked forward to dinner.
DW went with the French onion soup; I went with the leek soup and duck confit

For mains the DW went with the duck and I went with the beef. Hers was good mine was ok.

We decide to take our desserts to-go just in case our dining neighbors decided to break out some cricket bats and futbols. Before we could go, however, Vicky and his crew wanted to celebrate our anniversary so we obliged.

The DW went with the sweet temptation and I went with the soufflé, wanted to compare it to Palo’s, no contest IMO.

With that, we had our fill of Royal Palace and were ready to head back to our room. On our way back we met up with Suzana again and had to take this opportunity to say our goodbyes and get some pictures.

When we arrived back at our room we finished up watching Pirates while filling out our customs forms and getting our baggage in order.

Still to come: Royal breakfast, disembarking, and probably the best standard view room you can get at BLT!

 

[MinnieM123]

Wow. What a wonderful trip you had! All the pictures you've shared from the cruise ship are very interesting.

Aside of the group that "made themselves at home . . ." that was a beautiful restaurant and a special dining experience for the both of you. I couldn't help but notice the attractive metal bread basket--it was a coach!!

 

[lostpro9het]

So morning came fast and before you know it we were backing into the port. It was still pretty early but I was up and honestly excited to get going, we still had a great day planned at BLT and MK.

We got ready pretty quickly and made our way down stairs to see the fun of disembarking.

It turns out that we got up so early that Royal Palace wasn’t ready to serve breakfast. We waited in the chairs by the bar for RP to open, only had to wait about 5-10 minutes. Well, while waiting, I look down and see a small set of black Mickey ears blending in with the carpet but not a part of it. I bend down and pick up a Disney pin back! I know just the place for this guy!

An like that, it was time for breakfast! We opted for some coffee, pastries, and waffles. Amazingly enough they were not Mickey waffles! BOOOOO!

With breakfast over it was time to leave. We made for the gate and made our goodbyes to the crew as we left and transitioned into the customs area. Our luggage was waiting for us in the Daisy section and we made quick work of finding our bags and headed towards the monstrous queue.

Almost immediately after taking this picture a custom agent most directly let me know its unlawful to take pictures in this area and I needed to stop. Of course I obliged. The line moved very quickly and we were in the car driving away in about 15 minutes! A little over an hour later and we saw the best greeting you can see!

We made our way to BLT to see if by chance our room was ready; it wasn’t so we made our way to MK for a bit. We had a dinner ADR at Citricos so we planned on half a day at MK, dinner, then watch Wishes from the Top of the World lounge. MK was hopping today and the weather was beautiful.

We made for Jungle Cruise and had a great trip with a great guide.

In case you’re wondering how awesome FP+ is working, here is the FP+ queue for BTM and Buzz

UGHHHH….

Well, we decided we couldn’t take any more convenience that FP+ was providing us and we were fortunate to see that room 7514 was waiting on us so we made for BLT!



Still to come: Who needs the top of BLT when you’re in room 7514, great food from unusual places, and Citricos is acting like Via Napoli.

 

[fractal]

Royal Palace looks great; I'm still in shock that somebody would find it appropriate to come barefoot! I'm also shocked that he was allowed in. Great report - looking forward to some Wdw adventures.

 

[flynnibus]

I still don't think I'd like anything longer than five days though.

once you buy into the 'lounge' factor of just letting go and relaxing.. you'll never look back. I actually like the sea days more than the port days now. Do the rainforrest pass for the week.. and zone out.

 

[lostpro9het]

once you buy into the 'lounge' factor of just letting go and relaxing.. you'll never look back. I actually like the sea days more than the port days now. Do the rainforrest pass for the week.. and zone out.

I'm still learning how to let go. Going three days w/o email and internet was a huge step for me.

 

[flynnibus]

I'm still learning how to let go. Going three days w/o email and internet was a huge step for me.

Caught up with your TR now.. glad you tried the spa this time. I love it for the escape factor more than anything.. quiet, no crowds, some pampering, and the seclusion. Tho I guy who liked to SNORE while on the loungers was a bit of drag on our last cruise. Jealous of your bookend stays.. wish we were commited enough to have the DVC/APs that can make that stuff viable.

 

[lostpro9het]

Caught up with your TR now.. glad you tried the spa this time. I love it for the escape factor more than anything.. quiet, no crowds, some pampering, and the seclusion. Tho I guy who liked to SNORE while on the loungers was a bit of drag on our last cruise. Jealous of your bookend stays.. wish we were commited enough to have the DVC/APs that can make that stuff viable.

Senses/Rainforest were really wonderful! Like Palo, the piece and quiet is worth a little extra fee.

As for the DVC/AP, we've just been very fortunate to be able to teach some extra classes last year and this year that has made it possible. We enjoy Disney so much it was no-brainer how we were going to utilize the extra income.

 

[lostpro9het]

So we make the short walk from MK to BLT. We check in with the front desk to make sure we are headed towards the correct elevators, boy this place smells amazing! So we’re headed off to the left from the lobby and find our elevator bank. We make our way up and exit to look out at an amazing site. We thought to ourselves that we really need to try and get a theme park view one day instead of a standard view!

So we start making our way towards the room from the elevator when we quickly realize that our room isn’t facing inward but outward AND its only 2 rooms from the elevator! We start getting excited that we may have a standard view that is actually a theme park view! As soon as we enter I make straight for the balcony like a kid on Christmas morning and see this!

We couldn’t believe it! We had a great view and our first thought was “Wishes from our balcony!” After I got over that initial excitement I remembered to take some other pictures of the room too!

Overall the room was nice but had noticeable wear on the carpets and some of the furnishing plus the room just seemed small. Probably the biggest “What were they thinking?!?!” items we noted was a cheap sliding door for the bathroom that didn’t lock! This wasn’t a big deal but just seemed kind of cheap. Anyway, we were starting to get hungry when we realized our second issue with BLT; If you want food be prepared to walk! Fortunately for us the level our room was on was the same level that the catwalk to the Contemporary was on. We went by the Wave lounge and Contempo Café before settling on the Sand bar of all places. The DW went with the three cheese quesadilla and I went with the blackened chicken flatbread. Our order was ready fairly quickly but we still had a LOOONG walk back to our room. The food was actually very good and we were pleasantly surprised.

After lunch we rested for a while before our ADR at Citricos.

Still to come: At least the food is still good at Citricos and things that go boom from your balcony!

 

[lostpro9het]

After a nice lunch, shower and relaxing nap it was getting close to Citricos time. We got ready and made our way towards the monorail. A short wait and we were ready to make our way to the grand Floridian, thankfully without incident. We arrived and things were bright and clean looking. The themeing here is certainly unique and can make you forget that you are at Disney World.

We made our way to the Citricos and waited to be seated. We had a very good experience a year ago and figured it was safe to return again. The restaurant was far from busy tonight and we did not wait long to be seated.

We had a pleasant view of the grounds and enjoyed some people watching with our conversation and dinner. For drinks, we unintentionally created a “Theme of Three”, Three Philosophers for the DW and Trois Pistoles for me, this would be a sister brew of the La Fin Du Monde I had earlier at the BDL. I love both of these brews!

Soon after our drinks arrived we received our bread service. The butter here was excellent as was the bread

For our mains, the DW opted for the pan-seared grouper with rice and clams. I went with the charcuterie and the cheese board. The DW really seemed to enjoy her dinner and mine was excellent as well. The fresh honey that came with my cheeses was unbelievable. I’ve never had honey that tasted so good.

While we were enjoying dinner we did notice an annoying trend with the folks eating at Citricos. It’s hard to say this without coming off as an arrogant snob but why have a dress code and not enforce it! According to the Disney’s own site:
Not permitted are tank tops, swimsuits, swimsuit cover-ups, hats for gentlemen, cut-offs, torn clothing and t-shirts with offensive language and/or graphics.

If we were playing dress code violation bingo we would have easily covered two cards! Sorry to go off on that but dang, how hard is it to go to a restaurant NOT in a bathing suit?! I guess I should be happy they were at least wearing flip flops unlike our foreign friends from Royal Palace. The food at Cirticos was very good; I don’t remember much about the service which means it was not exceptional and probably not poor either. Not sure we’d go back after this go but I’d leave it up to the DW to decide. With full bellies we explored GF some more taking in Basin which the DW loved and Summer Lace, also loved by the DW. I was lucky enough to come out of Summer lace with my shirt on! The DW pretty much wanted one of everything in that store! Once we exhausted the stores at GF we made our way to MK for a few more rides before Wishes. I don’t recall what we rode but I know we had FPs for the rides and that the park was still pretty busy. We rode right up to about 30 minutes before wishes and then made for BLT to enjoy the fireworks and some Dragon’s Milk from our room.

At the end of wishes I decided to run some luggage down to the car to make our morning transition back to reality a little easier. When I returned it was time for bed as we had an 05:00 wakeup call and I was pretty wore out from the week.

Still to come: Some final thoughts and Christmas week is still to come!

 

[imahistorygeek]

The Grand Floridian is such a beautiful resort. I really do feel I’ve stepped back in time. I like the subtle Disney touches. They are just enough to remind you that you are still at Disney. The GF is on my “want to stay at least once” list.

I echo Sean’s sentiments regarding Citricos. It’s a nice place. I’d like to see the dress code enforced. I understand wanting to have the experience of Citricos, but for Pete’s Sake, bring a change of clothes if you are not going back to the hotel.

The food was very good. I tried a new dish (I can’t remember the name). The clams were chewy. This wasn’t too big a deal, but one of them was crunchy. I’m assuming the crunchiness was sand. I didn’t eat anymore clams after that. Unfortunately, this was probably our last trip to Citricos. As Sean mentioned, nothing here stood out as outstanding. Plus, we’ve found other restaurants we prefer.

As for the stores in the GF…Summer Lace (I didn’t even know that was its name) was amazing. It is 100% style and I wanted pretty much every piece of clothing. I’d have to get another job for that.

 

[catmom46]

The lobby smell at BLT is my favorite! So relaxing and pleasant, not overpowering. I don't mind the walk to get food, though. I figure it doesn't hurt to burn a few more calories, right?

I'm debating whether or not to try Citricos on my trip in January and the grouper sounds and looks pretty good. I actually don't mind the crunchiness in clams or scallops - I guess I'm weird that way.

 

[MinnieM123]

Never been in Bay Lake Tower, but I wasn't exactly thrilled with the interior decoration of the room you had. My impression was that it seemed a bit stark. I'm sure it had all the amenities you wanted and all, but I wasn't a fan of the design.

Citricos, on the other hand, was very nicely designed. The food looked wonderful as well. About 7-8 years ago, I stayed for a few nights at the GF. I figured I had to stay there at least once in my life. I got a bit of a discount on my room, and then was thrilled when they upgraded me to Royal Palm (their club level in the main building, if you're not familiar). That was a magical experience. I loved sitting up there in the club lounge, while looking down below and listening to the live orchestra, playing down in the main lobby. It's a beautiful hotel.

 

[MinnieM123]

I actually don't mind the crunchiness in clams or scallops

Proceed with caution if you ever detect crunchiness (sand) in fish. It may mean it was not properly cleaned and you don't want to get sick. (A friend of mine in food service told me that once.)