englanddg's Magical Mystery Tour!

englanddg · Sep 26, 2012

Day 8 (Part 1 of ?)
Rumbly in the Tumbly

Magic Moments - 1 (Hotel Room Service)
Pics Taken - 13
Vid for Projects Taken - 4
Discomforts (bug bites/etc) - 1 (Heat and Humidity)
Unexpected Surprises - 1 (Sick kid)
Peeves - 0

Breakfast - Bounty Platter, Coffee (me), Milk, leftover OJ, Mickey Waffles (kid) (Pop)
Lunch - Haven't had it yet
Dinner - Haven't had it yet
Snacks - None

Dinner Credits left - 38
Snack Credits left - 30
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Today's report will probably be short content wise, as my kid isn't feeling very well at the moment. Right now I'm burning time, as the kid sleeps in the bed. I will be adding to the post later. So, lets get started...

After an early night last night (relative to previous nights), she quite literally bounced out of bed this morning and after breakfast at Pop we made it to EPCOT just after rope drop! Outside of the waffles, I am not fond of the hotel breakfasts generally, and today was no exception. The eggs were dry, the sausage was bland, and the bacon tasted like strips of rubber. But, the potatoes were good!

We had missed Sourin' last night, and it was the kids top priority. We headed over and snagged some fast passes, and then waited for the first ride. 40 minutes later or so we were on the ride. After another stop by the cool spot we did Energy Adventure and Mission: Space Green, and then Orange.

Today was hot. Temps are only in the mid-90s (which is bad enough), but to compound the matter the humidity makes it feel more like 105. EPCOT basically finished outside of Nemo (we have Living Seas ADRs later this week, so I figured we could put this off), we had planned to do some more Agent P, snag some fish and chips for lunch, and then head out the International Gateway and over to Hollywood Studios.

But, this heat was killing us, so I suggested that we head back to the hotel, get changed, and go hit up Typhoon Lagoon, with a brief stop by DD to get something from one of the Quick Service places there (I was thinking Earl of Sandwich, as it's over near the bus stop). She has fallen in love with water parks (as you probably can tell from the past few days reports), and she jumped at the idea.

I handed our unused Sourin' fast passes to what I assume was a grandmother and her grandson on the way out of the park, and they were very happy to take them. On the bus, munchkin fell asleep on my lap. The air conditioning on the bus felt fantastic, and I sipped water and let her doze away. Stepping off the bus I felt like I was stepping into Arrakis.

I could tell from the look in her eyes that she needed a longer nap then the 20 minute bus ride. I carried her to the room, and she was complaining she didn't feel well. When we got settled, I checked her forehead, and she was flushed and a bit hot. I assumed a bit of heat exhaustion, but she'd been drinking all day. Still, these things can happen. So, I toweled her off, removing any morning stickiness, and after a few minutes of this her face had returned to normal. I tucked her into bed, and she was quickly asleep.

Now, my kid has a peculiar habit that her mother says she gets from me (though I deny that!). She talks in her sleep. Normally, it's just random statements, but sometimes you can actually piece them together and I assume figure out what she is dreaming about.

Today was hilarious. She was having a scattered conversation with Goofy about how she thought he was really funny but she liked Mickey better. I was sitting across the room catching up on work emails and trying not to laugh hard. I snuck a video of her doing it that will remain in my private collection, as her sleep talking embarrasses her, but I couldn't help myself.

I felt her head again, and her temperature was normal, and her face still looked fine, so I chalked it up to heat exhaustion, and I settled into the distraction that is the internet and decided to work on organizing pictures and videos. I did post some pictures from Jiko on this thread for that post, and have other pictures to add to the other posts as well, so if you want to check back scroll through the older posts and you'll see them if you are interested.

Around 1:30p, I saw movement from the bed, and thought to myself, "Neat! She's now rested and ready to go!" Then I noticed that the movement...was not a happy wake up movement. It was going to lead to something else entirely.

I won't go into more detail about this, outside of saying that I didn't quite make it there with the ice bucket fast enough. Needless to say, she was deeply embarrassed. Nearly to the point of tears. She kept apologizing for messing up her bed, which of course I didn't mind.

Room Service showed up during all of this, but this wasn't a great time. The situation was under control now, but she was too embarrassed to let him in. When I tried to explain we needed to get the soiled items out of the room, I got "the look". I hate this look. It's where I can tell her self-control is about to break, and she's struggling to be "a young lady" instead of a "little baby" (her terms, not mine).

So, I didn't press my luck. I refused room service. In full on Daddy mode now, I helped her get cleaned up and sanitized, changed her into some clean pajamas, and tucked her into my bed, tied her hair back into a bun and positioned the now clean ice bucket on the night stand in case there was another incident, and called her mother so that she could let her know she wasn't feeling well.

I stripped her bed and made a bundle with the towels I used to clean up, and as she finished talking with her mother, and I walked the bundle down the way to a service cart, and I didn't see the attendant, so I put it in the dirty linen bag that room service lugs around with them. I felt bad about this, but I needed to get it out of the room.

Apparently, the Room Service gentleman had figured out what was going on, and about 30 minutes later there was a soft knock on the door. There he was with clean linens, extra towels, and asked if I wanted him to remake the bed. He didn't exactly say that he knew my daughter wasn't feeling well, but the look in his eyes indicated that he'd figured it out. I explained about the ice bucket, and he told me that it wasn't a problem. If I didn't mind washing it out and leaving him a note, he would be servicing my room tomorrow and would take care of it.

Not a traditional magic moment, but it really helped to have clean sheets and that he took time to come back and offer them, as well as help with my plight.

I did bring cold medicine with me, but it doesn't help with nausea (it's cough and cold). So I ran down to the gift shop and they had Childrens Immodium AD and a child's forehead thermometer (I will be adding a digital one to my packing list for future trips). When I got back to the room, the kid was awake and had turned on the TV. As Phineus and Ferb built some crazy contraption, I checked her temp, and she is spot on at 98 degrees.

Diagnoses, minor food poisoning or heat exhaustion. Before the show was over she had dozed off again.

We were planning Bongos for dinner and La Nouba at 9pm. I have no idea if this is going to happen. I suspect the thunderstorm that's on the horizon right now will cool things down so it doesn't feel like Tatooine anymore.

She was asking for soup while I was cleaning her up, and I know they serve soup over at AoA, so I think I'll let her rest for another few hours. Then we'll walk over there with her and test her stomach out. I want to be close to the room in case things go wrong. At this point I will make up my mind, and if I need to call Cirque Will Call so they can release my seats, and find out if I can move my tickets to another date (I hope I can, but my hopes are not high. Still, doesn't hurt to ask).

So, there is the day so far. I'll know more once she wakes back up.

englanddg · Sep 26, 2012

Day 8 (Part 2 of ?)
Rumbly in the Tumbly

Magic Moments - 3 (Hotel Room Service, AoA Food Court Staff and Chef)
Pics Taken - 13
Vid for Projects Taken - 4
Discomforts (bug bites/etc) - 1 (Heat and Humidity)
Unexpected Surprises - 1 (Sick kid)
Peeves - 0

Breakfast - Bounty Platter, Coffee (me), Milk, leftover OJ, Mickey Waffles (kid) (Pop)
Lunch / Dinner - Tandoori Portuguese Sausage with Basmati rice, Paneer with Spinich and roasted cauliflower and fresh Naan bread, Veggie Burger with Fries (me) (AoA)
Snacks - Potato Leek Soup, Minestrone Soup, Special Chicken Noodle Soup (AoA)

Dinner Credits left - 36
Snack Credits left - 27
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Ok, I had to call everything off. She's still not feeling well. I actually decided our plans were going to have to be scrapped earlier tonight, and I called 407.WDW.SEAT and explained the situation. The person on the other line was very polite, and put me on hold for a few minutes while she called Cirque to see what could be done.

Cirque informed her that after 4pm on the same day as the performance, nothing could be done over the phone. It must be done at the Box Office. I explained that there was no way I would be able to take my child to the Box Office tonight, as I don't want to risk an incident on the bus, and that's not fair to my child or to other guests. I understand the no refund policy, and was merely calling for options, and to let Cirque know they could issue those seats as we would not be making it.

I think she thought I honestly expected a different answer, but this was what I had feared, so I was prepared for it. So, after helping the child get resettled after a bout, she dozed off again. When she woke up a bit later, she asked if I had crackers and soup, and I told her no. She said she wanted to try some, and I told her I'd need to walk over to the "cool hotel" to go get it. She said that was fine, she just plans to sit here and be sick, and that she knows the rules (Don't open the door for anyone, don't answer the phone, don't leave the room). I got her settled with the TV and some pillows to prop upon, checked with her to make sure she was set up, and headed off to AoA.

20 minutes later I was back in my room thoroughly blown away by what I experienced.

I was rushing to beat an oncoming Thunderstorm, and today's storm was a big one. I'm sure the people at the parks got thoroughly drenched. The food court was lively, but not crowded at all, and I took a moment to take a closer look at what they had to offer (pictures attached). Everything looks very tasty. They run a mostly open kitchen with most of the preparation areas fully visible.

They were obviously training new cast members, and I saw a lot of "I'm still earning my ears" tags. Behind the counter was very busy, but also well organized and clean. I went over to the sandwich shop, which is where the soups are, and unfortunantly they only had minestrone and potato leek. They do have chicken noodle, but not today.

I picked up a bowl of each and asked for extra crackers, planning to offer my kid a choice when I got back. Then I stopped at the Indian restaurant and got a Tandoori Sausage plate. I had some questions about some of the sides, and the cast member was extremely knowledgeable about what each dish consisted of, and very enthusiastic to answer my questions. Then I headed over to the burger spot and decided to try the Veggie Burger (though, turning down the Surf and Surf or the Pastrami Cheeseburger was a tough call for me). I wanted to report on something that most people probably *won't* try if they eat there, just to give you all some interesting reading. So, Veggie it is! I'm glad I did, because it was delicious. But, I'll get into that more later.

While I was waiting for my burger to be cooked (yes, they cook them fresh per order), I struck up conversation with a nice gentleman who, as it turns out, is also a Disney regular (he has kids ranging from age 6 to 27, so he's been coming for quite some time!). He was staying with his family at AoA, and he raved about the suites, saying it's basically like getting 3 rooms in terms of beds, and the extra space was certainly worth the cost for a larger family (he was there with his wife and 2 youngest children).

The topic of my sick kid and La Nouba came up, and a cast member overheard me. Now, I don't know if I'd already set off "reviewer" alarms or something because I'd circled the food court snapping pictures of the menus, setup and foods before ordering, or if they were just trying to create magic (perhaps a touch of both?), but at this point my visit changed from ordinary to extraordinary.

The cast member slipped out to the floor and spoke with someone who was obviously a floor manager, and a few moments later the manager came up and asked me if everything was ok (he had seen me checking the windows to make sure I was going to beat the storm...I had brought my poncho just in case). I told him I was waiting on a burger.

A few minutes later, he came back and said "Sir, have you been having trouble with Cirque de Soleis?" Now I knew the Cast Member had tipped him off, and it was a nice touch. He listened while I explained the story.

His response was "Obviously you can't make it to the Box Office tonight. Here's what I would do. The Box Office opens tomorrow at Noon, so don't go before Noon. But, if you can take a few moments and stop by there tomorrow, if they are doing things they way they are supposed to, they should be able to assist you in arranging something."

I don't know if he'd already gotten something in the works, or what "if they are doing what they should be doing" means, exactly, but I thanked him for his advice. I had already planned to go by the Box Office tomorrow anyhow to see if there was anything I could do (still not expecting anything).

For the cast member to take that initiative was very nice. After this, to my further suprise, the chef came out and apologized for not having any chicken noodle soup available, and offered to make some for my kid! He did prepare me that it wasn't going to be classic chicken noodle, but he'd see what he could throw together. He gave me a pager so I could wait in the seating area and nibble at my food while he worked his magic.

What he created was pretty good, considering what he had to work with. I was slightly surprised at a kitchen that doesn't have chicken stock handy, but one of the other chefs explained it was because all the soup stocks come in bagged form, and are only kept while the soup is being served. They add fresh veg and meat when the stock arrives. This makes sense.

The soup he made ended up being a tomato base that he had watered down slightly, added cabbage, peas, chopped carrots, fresh chicken, mushrooms and red pepper, and then seasoned (obvious salt, probably trying to emulate chicken broth as best as he could).

The soup was very good, and the kid ate about half of it before her stomach disagreed. Even though the soup went mostly unfinished, the gesture from the chef is greatly appreciated.

I took my food over to the seating area and took pictures of the original plating before I boxed them up for the walk home. At this time I was approached by a Disney Researcher, and we chatted for a bit. She said she would love to get my feedback if I would be by later. I informed her I probably wouldn't today, but I would love to answer any questions she had while I waited.

We continued to talk about my impressions of the AoA food court, the chef delivered his soup, and I trucked it back to the hotel room.

The kid was still watching TV, and decided to try some crackers and soup. It wasn't long before that turned out to be a poor decision, but I am encouraged her appetite is there). I checked her temperature, and still no fever, so I gave her some medicine, tucked her in and found a movie on Netflix to watch (Labyrinth).

A note here about the Pop TVs (or at least the one in my room). They do have HDMI, VGA, Component and Composite inputs, and Disney didn't lock down the TV to prevent you from using them. I have an HDMI dongle for my iPad, and use the screen mirroring feature to watch Netflix on the TV. Anyhow, if you have a similar setup, be aware it will work here.

Ok, so on to the food. The Tandoori sausages were well seasoned, and spicy without being hot. The naan bread was extremely good, and I enjoyed wrapping the spinach paneer in it, which was also excellent. I enjoyed the sauce immensely. The cauliflower was well charred and fork tender, and had absorbed spices from the sauce, which was a tomato base and very tasty. I'm not a huge fan of Indian food, and though this was obviously very generalized, I'd eat it again.

The potato leek soup was edible at best. I'd never get it again. It desperately needed seasoning / salt. The texture wasn't creamy either, rather it was mealy. In my opinion, it should have been pureed longer. I also couldn't taste the leeks. A nice touch for this soup would have been dashing some green onions on the top, or some crumbled bacon. Otherwise it's just like eating a liquid potato (and not in a very good way).

On the other hand, the Minestrone was delightful. There are two things that I see very often with Minestrone soups that generally keep me from ordering them. One, they are overcooked to the point where the vegetables are soggy and there is no bite to them and the tomato stock has reduced to the point that the tomato overpowers the rest of the soup. Two, they go light on the vegetables and seasoning. This soup did neither, and I quickly finished the whole bowl. I didn't even feel the need to add the crackers to give it more substance. It was fantastic.

The winner of the evening was certainly the Veggie Burger. I'm not a fan of Veggie Burgers, but this was absolutely fantastic. For those of you who are Vegan, you should note that the burger by default comes on Brioche and has Provolone Cheese. This means it is not technically "vegetarian", in the strictest sense. But, if you are looking for something different and trying to stay away from meats for whatever reason, I'd give it a shot!

The patty has diced carrot, diced onion, corn, and what appears to be pulverized broccoli. All of this is blended with a breadcrumb mixture. For added texture there are whole white beans and lima beans as well. It is well seasoned, and I am very sure that it was sauteed in garlic butter. The patty is served on a pickled green tomato, which offers crunch and brings some tartness to the party. The provolone doesn't add much to the sandwich, but doesn't hurt it either, and I suspect it is probably being used to help hold the patty together.

The mayonnaise they serve with it has a heat to it that I can't put my finger on exactly. Possibly chili powder?

The choice of brioche was excellent, as it is a very light and sweet bread, and it complements all the flavours extremely well. This gives you a great sensation when you take a bite of sweetness, then the pickled tomato tart, followed by a flavour explosion as the rest of the players mingle.

I will be getting this again.

Wow, this turned out a lot longer then I expected. I hope you all enjoyed, and I will be posting another one tomorrow night. For now, the kid is knocked out (I gave her medicine), and I think I'm done for the night as well.

T T F N!

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englanddg · Sep 26, 2012

Day 8 (Part 3 of 3)
Rumbly in the Tumbly

(Nothing has changed, so no summary)
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The kid is still passed out, and I'm afraid to go to sleep yet because I want to make sure she sleeps comfortably. So, I thought this would be a good time to post some details that I have left out of or didn't elaborate well in previous posts.

1) The Cost of Convenience

I paid for the Preferred Room at the Pop. So far, I am enjoying this hotel. When booking, I thought, sure, why not pay a bit more and be close to the busses and food court? I figured I would appreciate this benefit, especially on nights where she was tired coming home.

I was wrong.

The hotel is extremely loud and busy. It doesn't really start quieting down until nearly 3a. People on different arrival schedules are always arriving, and letting their kids play in the pool (I assume people who live in different time zones). I don't begrudge this at all, but at CBR, the pool closes. At Pop, it goes on all night. Disney does occasionally send out Security to try and get them to calm down, but in my experience it rarely has much effect.

Also, during the day the main pool is basically a huge dance party. They blast music, play games. This is fantastic, unless you are trying to catch some rest in your room. Then they are like the noisy neighbors who constantly throw parties and blare music.

The room is not insulated well enough to keep these noises out, and the sounds of children shreiking in pleasure makes it quite difficult for me to get the kid settled at night, as her 7 year old brain keeps waking up and thinking...why can't I be out there having fun too?

I've walked the other parts of the hotel at night, and they are fine (though there is foot traffic). But, if I ever stay here again, I will NOT be paying extra money for the convenience. In fact, now that I know the property, I would request a room in the 50s building that faces the 60s building and overlooks the garden. It's not much further from the front then I am now, and it's vastly quieter. I want the hotel room to retreat to at the end of the day and recharge...not situated next to a night club!

Mind you, I'm thoroughly enjoying my stay, and I can see why Pop has raving fans. I would just rather be in a quieter (and coincidentally, cheaper) part of the property.

2) Pop Traditions

As I walk the hotel, I can tell that a lot of families must do this hotel regularly. How do I know? They decorate their windows. This is not an uncommon sight here, from what I can tell, and I've never seen these type of displays before. The type of display is varied. I've seen mouse ear collections, stuffed animal collections, disney cup collections, window vinyls, deflated balloons taped to windows...

3 of the windows are very striking, and pictures are attached. One family went so far as to theme the window, make decorated door placards with their names in glitter "Queen Jessica, Princess Lacey, etc" (not their real names, just an example). They used 3m removable hooks to hang them on the door with a ribbon. They also lined the window with lights, and custom made window clings. One window is done up with a princess motif, and the other is a fairies. Obviously a lot of thought went into the design of these, and walking by them always makes me grin.

3) Using Extra Magic hours (specifically to catch up on Big Rides)

In 2010, I had read about Extra Magic hours, but really didn't understand how they worked. We sortof "happened" into them by chance, and back then I found that I wasn't alone. The parks were normally fairly empty, especially the closer to midnight that you got (for 1a at MK). This year, people seem to have caught on.

I've noticed that this year, Disney seems to keep a lot more open for Extra Magic then they have in the past. However, a LOT more people know the system now, and they all seem to have the same idea. Hit the big rides!

So, my analysis is, I wouldn't plan your trip around them, and what it does to your night schedule will destroy your morning schedule. For every EM late hour you spend, in my experience you will lose 1 - 2 hours of morning hours, unless you and the family stress to get out of the door in the morning (and who wants to do that?). If they do happen, and you run across them, neat. But, I wouldn't plan your days around them.

In addition, I've read the observation elsewhere that so many people DO plan their trips around them now that they actually are indicators of days when the park will be busier, as many people don't have park hoppers. I concur with this observation.

4) ADRs for Lunch

This year I was instistant on using all (or nearly all) of my Dining Credits, as I buy the Deluxe Plan, and each year I've left the parks with leftovers. I'm saving my receipts from each meal (which I do by taking a picture of them when the bill is delivered or when I purchase) so I can do a true Cost Benefit Analysis as a Post Trip report. Anyhow, as a result, I've found that lunch ADRs are just a bad idea. Dinner works out fine for me, as does Breakfast.

But, Lunch really sticks you with pressures to get someplace right in the middle of the day. It really stinks when you want to ride a ride or see a show, but can't because it would make you late for your ADR. For those of you who don't know...if you MISS an ADR, there is a $10 charge per person to the credit card used to reserve it.

Additionally, many of the restaurants have a limited menu for lunch, and some of their more exotic and interesting offerings are on the dinner menu only.

Perhaps if I was going with another adult or older child of reasoning age, I'd feel differently. But, with a 7 year old, I wish I'd booked less lunches, more breakfasts, and more signature dining (still time to change that if I want).

5) AoA to Pop and AoA vs Pop

The resorts are so close together that I assume that Disney has planned for cross pollination (hence the locks on the main pool at AoA). AoA is much quieter, but I don't know how much longer it will stay like that. The resorts are so close that it's an easy paced 5 minute walk from my room (which is right next to the main pool) to the AoA food court (maybe 10 if you are coming from a remote part of each respective property).

If you are going with a group of 4 or more, AoA is the way to go. In fact, I chatted tonight with a Cast Member who happened to also be from Atlanta when I bought the kids tummy meds, and she has family at the Wilderness Cabins right now. She said after seeing the rooms at AoA, they should have gone there. The size is comparable, and the cost would have been less (though, I wonder if she used some Cast perk for their trip, not at all sure how that works).

The AoA rooms will sleep 6 comfortably, according to the gentleman I spoke with today, with two daybed options in the living space. I don't know if that is true, but I have no reason to doubt him.

One thing I have enjoyed this trip is the fact that I can take the AoA bus or the Pop bus home. The stops also tend to be next to each other, so the kid and I just get into whichever line is shorter, or grab whichever bus comes first on the way home.

This has dramatically decreased bus wait times, which has been a plus as we've done a lot of park hopping.

AoA also has a vastly superior food court, and many items even, from bottled drink offerings, prepped snacks, etc, have far more variety when compared to Pop. For example, they sell 1 liters of Coke at AoA, and their prepped food plates have a much larger variety. So, if you want to pick up snacks on your way back to the room for late night (or early morning), it's a great place to visit on your trek back to the room.

In the reverse, Pop has better Rice Crispy treats. At AoA they did a standard square and put a themed edible decal on it. At Pop they still have (for the time being) the custom shaped ones dipped in chocolate with sprinkles. So, if you are like me and collect them throughout your trip as gifts for people back home, go to Pop or get them at the parks.

6) Agent P (used to be Kim Possible) at EPCOT

This is a must do if you have kids (and even if you don't, though I don't know if they'll let you sign up without a child as the handsets do have a limited supply). If the main recruiting station for O.W.C.A. (Organization Without Cool Acronym) is very busy, there is another sign up location in Norway and another in the UK.

Though I haven't done it this year, one of our best days last year was when we took the water taxi from a morning at MGM *cough* Hollywood Studios *cough* and signed up for Kim Possible right inside the International Gateway (it's off to the left as you enter from the back of the park, or if you are walking from France).

7) Pin Trading, Pennies and Character Autographs

The past two trips, my kid was into all these things. So, this year I was overzealous, and over prepared. As it turns out, this year, none of them interest her very much at all. She still loved the Princess dinner, and the breakfast at Tusker House, but the wonder about those activities is waning, and I can see it. Now, I have an autograph book that has almost no signatures, a pin collection that she's barely traded with (and now I mostly leave it at the hotel, carrying just a few of our "trading" pins just in case she changes her mind), and I have completely stopped carrying the penny bag.

On previous trips, she would eagerly wait for a character meet and greet or for the Character Spot, now she analyzes the line and generally declines ("I already have his autograph already"). She still does wave hi and yell a greeting...but she really isn't into it like she was in the past. The wonderful thing about Disney is, this waning interest has been replaced with different ones (probably why adults love it so much too).

So, my advice. Before you sink a ton of money or time into it, even if the kid has loved it on previous trips, wait and make sure they are still interested in it, as you may find that they've grown beyond it (or just aren't interested at all).

I really don't have much more for this post, and I'm sure I've rambled on long enough. I am mostly burning time to make sure she didn't wake up or have a relapse, but so far it's been smooth sailing, so I'm going to wrap it up for the evening.

Thanks again to all of you who read my posts and sent your well wishes. I appreciate it. I would share them with her, but I'm sure if I said Curious Alice, kid@heart, Trnrmarkad, joanna71985, inumom2, and Rachelln wished her well, she'd probably think I'd lost my mind!

Still, thanks to you all. I will be back tomorrow.

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englanddg · Sep 27, 2012

Day 9
Lunch with a Magic Maker, Whoop Dee Doo, AoA wins again!

Magic Moments - 1 (Dine with an Imagineer)
Pics Taken - 83
Vid for Projects Taken - 12
Discomforts (bug bites/etc) - 1 (Physical Exhaustion)
Unexpected Surprises - 0
Peeves - 1 (Smelly People)

Breakfast - Coffee (me), OJ (kid) (Pop)
Lunch - Cobb Salad, Potato Leek Soup, Beef Filet with Mushroom Risotto, Creme Brulee (both) (Brown Derby)
Dinner - Fried Chicken, BBQ Pork Ribs, Sweet Butter Corn, Mashed Potatoes, Baked Beans (both) (Hoop de Hoo Musical Revue)
Late Dinner - Surf and Surf Burger (AoA)
Snacks - None

Dinner Credits left - 30
Snack Credits left - 27
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After a long and worried night, but also without relapse, I was in no mood to get moving this morning. Like a zombie risen from the grave, I wandered to the hotel food court and picked up a milk and oj for the kid to test her stomach with and two mugs of coffee for me.

She was chipper after nearly 20 hours of off and on sleep, and was ready for the day within 30 minutes. I, on the other hand was not, and it was a very long and hot shower before I felt human again.

We headed off to Dine with an Imagineer with 40 minutes to spare. It took forever for the Hollywood bus to come this morning, for whatever reason, and we ended up walking into the event just as they were getting started. Not quite perfect timing, but good enough.

It was an amazing experience. I certainly will add this to the short list when planning future trips. But, not for next year. Then, she will be old enough for some of the tours, so we'll probably do those.

I wrote a Mission: Disney assignment for it, and you can read it here: Mission: Dine with and Imagineer

I am still amazed at how relaxing and laid back the entire experience was. We dined with 2 other families, one with 2 children around age 10, and the other with 3 teenagers, including a young man who was obviously in awe of the Imagineer, and was very curious as to how to become one.

The food was top notch.

The Potato Leek soup was everything that the soup I ate yesterday should have been. It was smooth and satisfying. The Cobb Salad proved that size does matter. The Cobb they serve is much smaller then the one they serve when you order it in the restaurant. I didn't enjoy the appetizer Cobb much when I ate at Brown Derby a few days ago, but this version I found the ratio of goodies to lettuce perfect.

The Beef Filet with Mushroom Risotto could have come straight out of the Le Cellier kitchen, and if I had known this, I would have skipped Le Celllier (gasp) and tried some other signature dine instead with those credits.

The Creme Brulee was ok (I haven't been overly impressed with any Creme Brulee I've had on this trip so far, even Le Cellier's). Outside of the Creme Brulee, the kid and I finished pretty much everything.

The service was fantastic today, and I would have left a tip, but I noted that there is an automatic 18% gratuity included on the tab, so I didn't. The only gripe I had with the meal was that they didn't offer coffee with the dessert. I didn't ask either, but it would have been a nice touch after such a rich lunch.

I really enjoyed some of the questions that popped up, and was pleasantly surprised when it turned into a table discussion, rather then a straight up interview style Q&A. The Imagineer was very good keeping the discussion moving, and acted more like a moderator as opposed to a subject of an interview. I asked several questions of the other adults at the table even, as they had experiences that they loved to share (I was especially interested in the Dream).

The kid had to answer a call from nature, and while I waited on her to finish, I struck up conversation with another family that was waiting outside. It turns out the father is a monorail driver. Their child is severely autistic. They took him to Disney World on a vacation several years ago, and he opened up...so they moved to Florida and got a job with Disney. What a cool story!

When we got back, the discussion had turned to the work our Imagineer had done on the Dream and the Fantasy. Some questions I didn't put in the Mission: Disney report that came up were:

1) Is the Dwarves Mine Coaster going to be a thrill/dark ride mix, similar to the mixed profile of the Cars ride at Carsland?

He said definitely a mixed ride. His exact statement was something along the lines of "Disney is not in the roller coaster business, we are here to tell a story." He couldn't go into much more detail, but this is good to know. I'm even more excited for 2014 now.

2) Did WED change it's name to WDI because they kept getting calls for Wedding services?

He had never heard this one, but the person sitting next to my daughter had as well. I forget where I heard it (some documentary I think), but she had heard it from a Cast Member when she did the Keys to the Kingdom tour (which she raved about, so I can't wait to try that sometime).

3) Are there any plans to bring Glow with the Show style ears to DisneyWorld?

Again, he said he had never heard of them and wasn't sure. In fact, I was a bit surprised that no one at the table had heard of them.

Through the whole meal, he was very engaging and polite, and everyone got questions in, including my kid who clammed up when the spotlight is on her, and then asked about the bamboo roof of the room and why does it look so old.

He answered this beautifully and turned it into a into a discussion about how much time and effort is placed by WDI to age things, and spoke of the team that does it with paint and sandblasters. He was there before the "aging" team did work on Everest, and he said everything in the queue was fresh and new. They were there for a few days day, and when he returned it looks like it does now.

The whole meal isn't really timed, and the meal courses are served once everyone is finished with that course. At no point did any of us feel rushed.

Everyone at the table was obviously as enthusiastic about Disney as I am. We all left feeling very special, and having small chats with each other.

During the meal, I had missed a few calls from work, and had to rush back to the hotel to handle some loose ends that had frayed up there. Then I wrote my Mission: Disney report while it was still fresh on my mind. During this I got a call from a 407 area code, and thought...who from Disney would be calling me?

It turns out it was the Dining Reservation Center. I had planned the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue for Monday night at 9:30p, but Disney decided to cancel that showtime starting Sunday night. So, they were calling to let me know they could squeeze me in tonight if I wanted. I had planned to do the Luau tonight at 9p, but they helped me rebook it tomorrow night for 5:15p and cancelled my Germany ADR for me. No biggie. I love the show there, but hate the food. If you want good food from that pavilion, go to the QS option. It's far superior.

I was offered the 5p or 9p showtime, and I chose 5p. A week and half of hitting the parks, sick kiddo, lost cameras, near sunburns and short sleeps had finally caught up with me, and I needed a slow day of my own.

On the bus ride over to Ft. Wilderness, I ran through the evening options with the kid, and she decided on going to EPCOT after the show. I was very cool with that, as EPCOT closes the earliest of all the parks tonight (except AK).

I accidentally got off at Wilderness Lodge. Wow, what a resort. I can see why DVC members like it so much. I love the relaxed feel of it. It has boat and bike rentals which I will file away for future trips. The whole time we were there I saw people riding on the well kept bike trails that seem to criss cross the property, and as an avid biker, I wanted to join them!

We wandered around taking pictures and shooting a few dancing videos, and had made it as far back as Artist's Point when I finally decided to double back and ask someone where the Hoop de Hoo is. They informed me that I was at the wrong resort, and it immedietly hit me. It's at Ft. Wilderness NOT Wilderness Lodge. I knew that! What was I thinking?

The Wilderness resorts have an on property bus that connects them, so we ran down to catch it. Ft. Wilderness is interesting. It's very spread out, and has it's own busses that run as shuttles throughout the resorts. My kid loved seeing the deer and horses as we arrived.

We were a few minutes late for the Hoop de Hoo because of my mental malfunction, but as it turns out the show really doesn't get rolling until 10 - 15 minutes after "showtime" anyhow. I assume this is to give the diners time to get seated and settled. So, we didn't miss anything.

Considering the size of the Venue, the place was about half full. I did notice they do an interesting thing with the tables. The tables in the back have longer legs on the table and chairs then towards the front. Each "row" of tables is gradually shorter then the tables behind it. It's not something you would notice easily wish a casual glance, but what a neat trick for Disney to throw in!

We were taken to a two-top table that was literally by the piano, and about 10 feet from the stage. This was fun, except that it's up against a wall. One seat had a fantastic view, the other had almost no view at all. So, I gave the kid the good seat. Still, poor planning on their part, and it frustrated me when I saw how many empty tables they had around the restaurant where we could both have a great view.

When I pulled out my daughter's chair for her and pretended she was a "grand lady" (a common game we play), she refused to sit. It was covered in some liquid (soda I think)! The seater hadn't noticed, and was staring off into space with our menus under his arm. I grabbed one of the napkins (which doesn't absorb water worth squat), and dried off her chair. He eventually came around, and rushed off to get a towel to clean the chair, but by the time he got back I'd already done the job.

The table looked like someone had set off a shredded parmeasan cheese bomb on it. It was on the plates, the tablecloth, the napkins, my chair. It was everywhere. I cleaned most of it off, but if you look at the picture of the Cornbread, you can still see it on the tablecloth.

We had to make a restroom break at this point. The restrooms are "outside and to the left". They are public restrooms, like you find all over the parks. And, they were thoroughly disgusting. My daughter wouldn't even use them, even though she was the reason we stepped out. "It stinks and the floor is wet".

The men's room wasn't much better. Things were going downhill fast. I worked a long time in restaurants, and I have a very long fuse as I know what rough nights are like, but I was very close to calling off the whole thing.

While we were outside, the performers came around the corner, and they were a hoot! I watched them do a few quick photo op requests from guests who were outside of the show, and then they went to the front porch to get ready for their entrance. They alone kept my interest long enough to keep going.

We got back to the table and our waiter introduced himself and got us our drinks. Drinks are served in Mason jars, which is a fun touch.

The restaurant is "all you care to enjoy" (Disney's magical way of saying "Eat until you burst, fatty!") <grin>

They serve it in and on pewtarex (stainless steel that looks like pewter) buckets, bowls and plates. It's a fun motif.

Determined to give the place a fair shot, I started to dig into the food. The salad was delicious, and I found myself eating several servings. It wasn't overly special, just a house salad, but everything was very fresh and the ratio of veg to dressing was spot on. The cornbread was decent. I'm from the south, and I know cornbread. This was not authentic at all, and I've had much better. But, that aside, it was good.

The honey butter, on the other hand, was not. For those of you who are interested, for the best honey butter you should try and find a sweet cream unsalted butter for the best flavor. The saltiness of good cornbread doesn't need anything added to the party. Let the butter get to room temperature. Try to find a good wildflower or orange blossom honey, and blend it 1 part honey to 3 parts butter using a small fork. Whip until it's fluffy. But, I'm off track. Enough Southern Snobbery from me (don't ever get me started on how to properly make Iced Sweet Tea, I'll write a whole dissertation on it!)

Here, they not only used a salted butter, but it was VERY salty. I don't mind salted butter at all, but this tasted like it had a salt shaker dumped into it. The honey was runny. Without good honey butter, I didn't have much interest in my cornbread loaf, though I did have 2 slices with butter just to make sure I was correct in my initial impression. I was.

The show starts about 20 minutes after seating, which I think is way too long. My kid had already lost interest, and was chattering about how this was boring and she really wanted to go out and look at the ponies. The entrance was lackluster, but I hand it to the performers, they really gave it their best shot.

They all hop up to the stage and introduce themselves (too quickly, I think, both the kid and I had trouble understanding what they were saying as they were speaking at the speed of the Micro Machines man), and then sing a song about your upcoming food.

This lasts about 10 minutes, and the lights come back up while the Banjo player (who was fantastic) plays a few songs as your food is delivered. This is a family style restaurant, so everyone eats out of central serving dishes (or buckets in this case). You get fried chicken, BBQ pork ribs, mashed potatoes, sweet butter corn kernels and baked beans.

I'm pleased to say, all were fantastic! I could run through all the dishes in detail, but there really is no need. It was awesome.

About 20 minutes later, they start the actual "show". By now the audience had warmed up to the performers, and they really started to shine. 6-cent (?) is the male comic relief, and he really stole the show, but they all did a good job.

Then the dessert comes out, Strawberry Shortcake, which was also amazingly good. The performers take the stage for the finale, and it was very amusing (some genuinely funny skits).

The winner of the night was my waiter, as he had several quips throughout the meal that were hilarious, including one that was completely ad-lib. When he was clearing the table, my kid decided she wanted to sprinkle extra salt the leftover fried chicken. He let her and then said "Well, I guess you just as-salt-ed the chicken." I burst out laughing, and with a straight face, he looked at me and said "I had to let her do it. I didn't want to in-salt her."

Absolutely brilliant! So, after a rough start, the place turned out to be pretty fun. The food was excellently produced, and while the show was mediocre, it was still fun. I wouldn't classify it as a must do, but if you are looking for something new to try, I would check it out.

While, overall I enjoyed it, the kid thought it was ok, though on the bus ride to EPCOT I asked her what she thought of the Hoop Dee Doo. She responded "Hoop Dee Doo? It's Whoop Dee Do." while twirling her finger in the air and rolling her eyes. It seems she is learning puns. How fun!

Once at EPCOT, we rode Mission Space Green and Orange (I was still sortof testing her stomach, but I was pretty sure she was going to be fine) and Sourin' twice.

Note, if you do Sourin' right at 9p, you'll find it's a pretty short wait, and we were able to loop back around and we had an even shorter wait on the second run.

Nothing really special to report here, except that EPCOT at night is still my favorite place to be at Disney, and that we got to ride Mission Space with a very nice, but incredibly smelly person. I couldn't put my finger on the smell when we were in the secondary queue (where you suit up), and after checking myself, I even asked my kid quietly if she had an accident.

It wasn't until we got off the ride and I had to walk behind her the whole way to Mission Control that I knew where it was coming from. It wasn't body odor, and it wasn't pleasurable at all.

The bus ride home was on a Mears bus as opposed to a Disney Transit bus, which meant reclining seats and TVs! The driver had taken it upon himself to put in a DVD of classic Disney cartoons. It was wonderful to see some of these cartoons again, and I found myself remembering gags from them that I probably haven't seen in 25 - 30 years. Amazing how classic Disney works like that.

When we got to the room, the kid crawled up under the covers and promptly fell asleep (not what I expected). I decided not to bug her about a bath tonight, as we hadn't had a sweaty day at all, and I'll have her shower in the morning.

I had a few hours of work to take care of after the phone calls this afternoon, and it was around 10p. I decided I wanted something to snack on while I worked, so I ran over to AoA to snag one of the Surf and Surf burgers that had caught my eye the day before.

Once again I was not disappointed. The burger is a crab and fish patty that is well seasoned. They serve this with a spicy aioli, lettuce, tomato and fried shrimp on a sweet white roll. It was fantastic, and pictures are attached.

So, there you have my day today. Tomorrow we are off to Magic Kingdom!

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englanddg · Sep 28, 2012

Day 10
Belly Dancin' Baby, Sponge-dad Squarepants, Battle of the Burgers

Magic Moments - 0
Pics Taken - 94
Vid for Projects Taken - 9
Discomforts (bug bites/etc) - 0
Unexpected Surprises - 0
Peeves - 0

Breakfast - Coffee (me), Chocolate Milk (not Nesquick) (kid) (Pop)
Lunch - Harira Soup, Couscous with Lamb Shank, Bastilla (me), Chicken Tenders, Ice Cream (kid) (Marrakesh, Morocco)
Dinner - Sweet Bread, Pineapple, Tropical Salad, Pork Ribs, Chicken, Rice, Mixed Veg, Chocolate pudding with raspberry sauce (both) (Spirit of Aloha, Polynesian Resort)
Late Dinner - Pastrami Burger (AoA), BBQ Angus Bacon Burger (Pop), Mexican Hotdog (Pop)
Snacks - None

Dinner Credits left - 22
Snack Credits left - 27
____________________________________

After an early and restful night, we were both up easily this morning. She took a quick shower (faster then usual), and was dressed and ready before I was finished with mine. So, instead of bringing our morning drinks back to the room, we went down to the food court. The place was packed to the gills, but I snagged a to go coffee and she wanted chocolate milk.

I paid for these out of pocket rather then use up credits, and we went out to catch a bus. We had planned on Magic Kingdom today, but I also had reservations for lunch at Marrakesh in EPCOT, so there was nothing really holding us back. So, we decided to play bus roulette.

Animal Kingdom! I was fine with this, as it was supposed to be overcast and cool all day with scattered showers. A *perfect* day for Animal Kingdom, in my book. I find that park on a hot day is unbearable.

We headed off to Everest to snag a fast pass for a ride later in the day. The wait was short, but I wanted to see Lion King, and there was no way we could have made both. So, we didn't ride. In 2 years of 2 week trips, we've probably never spent more then 4 days total in this park combined (including this past Sunday), and we always end up doing the same things...Africa, Asia and Dino-Land. So, fast passes in hand, we walked through Asia and headed towards Camp Minnie Mickey.

The park wasn't very crowded yet, and we happened upon Devine in our way out of Asia (right before the drums). I love Devine. We didn't see her last year, but in 2010 we happened upon her, and I think she's one of the most unique features of the park. We watched her for a few minutes and took a dancing video and tons of pictures. Then we pounded on the drums until our hands were red, and continued our journey.

As I've stated before, I normally don't enjoy this park very much, but today, be it the weather or our general mood, I was having a wonderful time wandering along the pathways.

We arrived at Camp M&M (as my kid has started calling it), and headed over to the Lion King theater. The first show was scheduled to start soon, so we settled in our seats and nibbled on some california trail mix I had brought with me and drank water from the Brita water bottle. This has become something my kid enjoys doing every time she sees a water fountain. She loves filling it up. I'm not sure how she feels about how it works for the water, but I can certainly taste the difference.

The theater is enclosed, which I didn't expect. I had always thought it was an outdoor amphitheater like Fantasmic. Once the show started, I understood why. I have read people who say this is a close second to La Nouba. I agree. The show was fantastic! Every song from Lion King you can think of was in it, and the acrobatics and other performances were amazing. The finale actually made me sniffle a bit, as it's quite heart moving.

I can't believe in 3 visits I'd never taken time out for this before. If you do AK, don't be like me. Go see it. It's a new must do, and I will not miss it again.

Our Fast Pass window was coming up, so we walked back to Asia through Africa again. I was puporsfully taking this route to avoid Dino-Land USA, which is my kid's favorite part of the park outside of Everest and the Safari. Why? The Bone Yard.

This attraction is a huge playground and sandbox. She has a blast, and I enjoy it...in 15 minutes spurts, and getting her to leave is hit or miss. But, she could literally stay there for hours if I let her. So, I strategized...out of sight, out of mind!

After riding Everest, I was really enjoying trying out new things, and wanted to go check out the petting zoo and try and catch Nemo and the Parade, but I had a lunch ADR to attend to. Again, I noted to myself that I won't do so many lunch ADRs on future trips. This is exactly why I have not enjoyed them.

By far, today was my best trip to AK ever. So, sadly, we said goodbye. We probably will not come back on this visit (though, I might try to sqeeze in a few hours in the coming days if it's a cool day like today).

We hopped a bus to All Star Music (just happened to be the first bus we came upon), and then grabbed a bus to MGM from there. We rode the Water Taxi from MGM to EPCOT, and it was fun. We got a seat on the back of the boat. It drizzled a little bit on our commute, but no lightning and certainly not a major storm.

I love using the International Gateway to enter EPCOT. It's never crowded, the boat ride is fun, and with a 7 year old, it's similar in terms of commute time as coming in the front and walking to the back of the park.

We arrived for our reservation a few minutes late, but they had no issues with this. The restaurant wasn't very busy at all. We were given a nice table near where the band and belly dancer performs. I was a bit disappointed they were not out, but they did show up about halfway through our meal, to my kid's delight. The belly dancer even took an interest in her and taught her how to belly dance. This was hilarious. My kid has is rather uncoordinated (not uncommon for a 7 year old), and she looked more like she was using an invisible hula hoop then doing a belly dance.

I decided to go all lamb, and didn't regret it. The soup was well seasoned and wonderful. The couscous and lamp is one of my favorite things to eat, and was equally good. The only disappointment I had was that they still use a limited american kids menu. My kid didn't mind (what kid says no to Chicken Nuggets?), but I wish they had a bit more for the kids at the international pavilion. Food is a great way to share cultures.

The decor is amazing, and I love to take in all the lush fabrics and details on the walls as I eat. Morocco is the only pavilion that is actually sponsored and operated by the country it represents, and I personally think this shows. The restaurant is ornate, the street bazaar is loads of fun, and overall it's one of my favorite pavilions. There are so many nooks and crannies to explore.

Though it had been a cool day, it was humid, and I was feeling sticky. We had the Luau coming up tonight, and I wanted to feel fresh for it. So, we caught the water taxi back to MGM and headed back to the hotel and I let the kid swim for a bit while I did some work (and messed around on TD). I've had my gripes about the WiFi, and those haven't changed, but it was nice to sit on the side of the pool while she played around and practiced her "straight legs" (which is what she calls the flutter kick) while holding onto the edge of the pool.

We cleaned up, and left for the luau with about 45 minutes to spare. This is cutting it close, because we needed to catch a bus to Magic Kingdom, walk over to the monorail station or the boat launches and either catch a water taxi or the resort line monorail. The actual transit time would be will within this window, but you can never really predict how long the wait for each mode of transportation will be. Then, once you get to Polynesian, you are looking at a 10 - 15 minute walk unless you rush to get to Luau Cove, and that assumes you know where you are going.

I, actually, was ok with this, and I'll explain why. First, from what I remember of last years Luau, the show doesn't get started immediately, so you really don't miss anything if you are a few minutes late. Second, I really didn't want to go. I did the Luau last year because my kid's mother had joined us on the trip, and she really wanted to do it. My kid loved it too, so I am only doing it this year because she's excited to do it. Of course, I'd never let on that I don't like it to her, but...I was walking into this with very low expectations.

As it turned out, the gods of luck were on our side and we literally walked onto the Magic Kingdom bus, and 25 minutes later were boarding the Water Taxi for Polynesian. This excited my kid. We've never done these (well, I have, but it was decades ago), and she's been asking about them all trip.

A smooth ride over Seven Seas Lagoon, and we were making our way back to the Luau.

We arrived a few minutes early, and there was still a line at check-in, but it wasn't long. We made our way up the path and collected our Leis and had our picture taken. I was doing my best to get into this, but I just had terrible memories of it, and was silently expecting the worst. My kid, however, was in seventh heaven, and was chattering and running around.

Let me take a moment to explain why I have such a bad feeling about the Luau. As I stated before, we went in 2011, and we did the late show (7p as I recall). The Luau is outdoors, and it...was...hot. We were seated on the top level, house left, near the bathrooms. The tables and seats are of a very heavy construction, and don't shift well. The tables were shoved very close together, and are very small. With a party of four, we were constantly running out of table space, and due to the proximity to the tables around us, I felt very enclosed and trapped. The guy in the table behind me was consistantly hitting the back of my chair throughout the show, and I had to crane my neck to see anything because I couldn't angle my chair as there was no room.

Due to the low ceiling, the venue is very noisy. The wait staff seemed comprised of retirees, which there is nothing wrong with that, but the last person you want leaning over you in a noisy venue is a 60 something waiter who looks obviously uncomfortable and looks like they just finished a session of Sweatin' to the Oldies, no matter how polite they are.

The food was ok, with two shining stars, the ribs and the pineapple that came with the salad. The rest was merely passable. And the show was mediocre. I had a hard time understanding what they were saying as they spoke too fast. I've seen several Luaus in my life, and this was a far cry from what you can find in Hawaii.

So, that was 2011. Now you know why I was secretly dreading this meal. But, seeing my kid's excitement and obvious enthusiasm to be back kept my negative mood in check.

We were seated literally in the front, and off to the right. There was a pole in front of our table, but unlike at Hoop De Hoo, both of us had a comfortable view. I have my kid the seat closer to stage center. This venue also uses pewtarax serving dishes, and is family style, and our salad, pineapple and bread was already on the table.

I'm going to break for a moment and explain why I know the rather obscure name of this material, since I've now referenced it twice. I used to open restaurants, and we used it for our Salad Bar crocks. When opening a store in Superior, CO, we were doing the walkthrough with the health inspector to get our initial permit. This walkthrough is completely different then a regular inspection, and in most jurisdictions is done by a different inspector who is specifically assigned to do these sorts of inspections.

They are extremely detailed, and everything is checked. Though I'm used to this, the guy in Superior was by far the strictest inspector I've ever had to deal with. He was asking us how we maintain temp at the salad bar (below 40 degrees), and the General Manager of the soon to be opened restaurant chimed in that we use "pewter crocks and ice". BIG mistake. Pewter contains lead.

His little inspector ears perked up, and, while we passed everything else, and the pewtarex name was stamped on the bottom of all the crocks, he refused to issue our permit until we had provided him proof that the crocks were not made out of pewter. 6 hours on the phone later, I finally got someone at DuPont who could help me out and faxed me what I needed. I never forgot what that material was.

I wasn't very hungry, but I dug into the pineapple with a ferociousness. I was not disappointed. I don't know where Disney gets it's pineapple from, but it is the sweetest best pineapple I have ever had. The kid and I both had some sweet bread and salad. Both are good, but nothing to rave about.

Our waitress stopped by (still using retirees I see), and she was a blast. She engaged the kid, and it was a lot of fun to see my kid spout off how much she's been looking forward to the show and asking if the "fire man" was going to come back out. I had already consumed half of the pineapple, and asked if we could have some more as she went to get our drinks.

While she was out Act I had started. It was pretty much as I remembered it, but with better seats I enjoyed it much more. I felt my mood starting to warm.

She came back with our drinks and a small plate of pineapple, which I consumed all of as well. My kid asked me why I was eating so much pineapple, and between bites, I said "Because I live in a pineapple under the sea." She said, "Oh, so you are Spongebob...no...Sponge-dad Squarepants!" Heh, I am raising a comedian.

During the break between the acts the appitizers were cleared and the entrees delivered. You get ribs (that are more of a dry rub with a sweet sauce then a BBQ), chicken, rice and a vegetable mix. The same as last year, all of it was good, and the ribs were fantastic. The second Act started, and I found myself really starting to enjoy the show. Perhaps it was the fact we went a bit earlier, perhaps it was the weather (though it was still muggy, it was very cool compared to last year).

I still didn't find the story very engaging. Appearantly there is a young woman who went off to the "mainland" to get a college education, and had forgotten her heritage. So, the primary plot of the show is to re-educate her about her roots, and as a happy ending, she discovers what "home" and "family" are all about.

It's ok, and I can see why my kid loves it. However, it's on par with Hoop de Hoo in terms of depth. That being said, I really enjoyed the dancers this time, now that we had a closer view. The fire twirler came out, and for this I must say I preferred the later show last year, where it was dark already. The kid loved it though, and commented randomly halfway through "Don't you think he's handsome daddy?". I didn't know she was 7 going on 17.

All the kids are invited to join the dancers on the stage and do the hula, which was the highlight of the night for the munchkin outside of the "Fire Man". The chocolate volcano dessert was ok, but neither one of us were very interested in it. In all, I enjoyed it this year, unlike last year. But, for 2 dinner credits each and 2 hours of time, I can think of far better things to do on property.

I wouldn't put this on a must do list, but it certainly is a try it once sort of thing. That being said, the kid disagrees with me, and so I will probably end up doing this again.

After the meal, I offered the kid two options. We could head over to Magic Kingdom and catch some rides and watch the evening show, or we could tour the resorts for a bit and watch the water electrical parade (if you've never seen this, check it out one time) and catch the fireworks from the beach at Polynesian.

She chose options C...go back to the hotel. She said she was tired, and wanted to go back to the hotel and relax (say what?).

Not questioning, we rode over to Magic Kingdom, and after offering her one more time, hopped the bus back to the hotel. She took a long bath and crawled in bed where I cleaned and painted her toenails (her request). We watched TV while they dried, and she crawled under the duvet and promptly fell asleep. I don't know what this mood she is in lately is, but it's certainly interesting, though abnormal.

After she was asleep, I was reviewing my dining credits, and I found I had a few spare, so I decided to do something for the Trip Report that I thought would be fun. I've talked a lot of about the AoA food court, so why not do a head on competition between the AoA food court and the Pop food court! What better way then to do a Battle of the Burgers!

So, I donned my "wannabe food reviewer" hat, and was off! Both food courts have "signature" BBQ burgers. At AoA it's a Pastrami Burger, and at Pop it's a BBQ Bacon Angus Burger. I hiked over to AoA first, and the same cast member who had tipped off management on Thursday was working. He asked about how my kid was doing, and I informed him and thanked him for all his efforts. He said he was going back to the Pop food court starting tomorrow, and he'd love to meet the kid if I didn't mind stopping by. I shook his hand and thanked him again, and said we would certainly try to do so. What a great guy. I love CMs like this.

One Pastrami burger later, I was walking back across the bridge munching on the fresh fries. I dropped the burger off at the room and took a big bite while it was still fresh, so I could do a fair review. It was pretty good, but I'll get into that in a moment.

I then hiked over to Pop, and obtained a BBQ Bacon Angus. I noticed they had a "Mexican Hot Dog" special dish too, so I grabbed one of those as well, as I was curious.

Back in the room, the tasting began. I will break this down into several categories. Bun, toppings, sauce, patty, fries, first bite, third bite (when you get to the middle of the sandwich and all the flavors really start to merge), and overall score.

Bun

The Pop burger uses a standard sesame white roll. It's good, but pretty much a bagged bun you'd find at grocer. The AoA burger is served on whole-wheat multigrain toast. While this sounds wonderful, I didn't like it. I'm fond of multigrain breads, but for something like a burger, I think it needs to have a pop, and I like breads that highlight the burger/toppings, not overpower them. This bread is very dense and not very flavorful. If they sauteed it in butter rather then toasting it, it would have been completely different. Frankly, I think the whole sandwich would have been better with a Rye Swirl then a heavy multigrain. So, while cafeteria, point to Pop!

Toppings

The Pop burger is very simple. It has two strips of leather bacon (same type they serve at breakfast) and fried onions. AoA has pepperjack cheese, pastrami (thick cut), butter lettuce and tomato. Surprisingly, sometimes doing something simply, but well, is the way to go. I vastly preferred the toppings on the Pop burger. The bacon was terrible, but the fried onions are very well seasoned, and have a wonderful flavour.

In comparison, the garden on the AoA burger didn't add much at all. The pepperjack cheese was mostly jack and very little pepper. It had no bite at all, and frankly if it were left off the sandwich I probably wouldn't have noticed it's absence. The pastrami was ok, but very fatty. This was a huge negative, because the last thing you want to do when eating a burger is fight with the sandwich to separate your bite from the sandwich itself. One more point to Pop!

Sauce

Pop uses a standard industrial BBQ sauce (which I assume is Heinz), and it's ok. AoA makes a Chipotle BBQ sauce, and it is very good. However, on my sandwiches, Pop over sauced my burger and AoA severely under-sauced it. With a BBQ burger, I like to taste the creamy sauce mingling with the ingredients as I chew. The AoA burger was just...dry. However, I did lift the bun and taste the sauce itself for the AoA burger, and it is delicious. If you order it, ask them to well sauce it. Even though there wasn't enough of it on my sandwich, point to AoA.

Patty

Now on to the meat of matter (pun intended). Both restaurants use frozen preformed patties. There is nothing wrong with this, in fact, I freeze my patties at home before cooking (helps keep the burger from breaking apart on the griddle/grill). However, the key to making patties work is how you cook and season them. In both cases, they failed. A bland patty is ok if you want the star of the show to be the toppings, but otherwise is a bad idea. Point goes to neither.

Fries

Both Pop and AoA use the same cut of fry (probably also frozen), and I got fresh orders from each. While both were good (especially when fresh), AoA put a seasoned salt on their that made them flat out addictive. In fact, I'd eaten most of them on the walk back to the room. Point to AoA.

First Bite

Pop uses a traditional bun, AoA uses sandwich bread. There is a reason why most popular burger restaurants don't use sandwich bread for burgers. The crust. If you use a toasted sandwich bread, you have to pick it carefully, as you don't want a crust that gets very tough when it toasts. Multigrain bread does get tough, even hard. There are cooking methods that can prevent this, but with a traditional toast, you are looking at a bad time, and maybe even cut up gums from it. A soft sourdough or a rye would have been much better. Either that, or instead of toasting if they had sauteed it in a of butter.

Also, since the profile of the toppings/beef is round, but the bread is not, the AoA burger meant you had to hit it at just the right angle to get a good first bite. With the AoA burger, I had to nibble away at it before I got a really good bite, just to get through the bread. With Pop, I was able to dig right in. I, personally, hate this, so point to Pop.

Third Bite (or fourth, or fifth)

To me, the real test of a good burger (or any sandwich really) isn't the first bite, as that's just the teaser to get you interested, but it's when you get towards the middle of the sandwich and the flavors and textures really start to mingle. Each bite should be slightly different, as you get different proportions of sauce, patty and toppings each bite as you venture in. A good sandwich will make you want to take another bite. A bad one will leave you with a frustrating or bland experience.

I would say that AoA took the point here, as the flavours are fantastic (once you get past the dry crunchy crust), but I have one gripe. The pastrami. It was very bland pastrami (not much saltiness at all, and I'm sure the chef who wrote this up on the menu planned to use it as a cheap but "exotic" bacon substitute). It was fatty. As I ventured into the sandwich, I found I had to fight with the fat every few bites. The few times I didn't, it tasted incredible, but 1/4 way into the sandwich, I was tired of fighting this darned meat just to get some burger goodness in my mouth!

That being said, Pop also fails, as there isn't much variation in texture or variety of taste. If the bacon actually had some flavor, instead of being precooked slices that are reheated for serving, perhaps I would have felt differently. So, while I really did enjoy both sandwiches, this is a competition, and point goes to neither.

Overall Score

Lets see. Pop won for the Bun, the Toppings, and the First Bite. AoA won for the Sauce and the Fries. So, Pop wins!

Still, both burgers were very good, and I enjoyed putting this together. While I don't think the Pop BBQ Burger is the best I've ever had, it's superior to the Pastrami Burger at AoA. I don't want to turn anyone off to that burger, so try it out for yourself. But, in my opinion, the burger shop over at the AoA food court has so many other options that are far superior (you can even build your own burger).

Pop, however, has very few options. You can get the BBQ burger or the bacon cheeseburger. I've also tried the cheesesteak wrap...stay away from this. If you get the Pop BBQ burger, you won't be amazed, but you won't be disappointed either. And trust me on the fried onions. Yummers!

So, onto the final dish I got for tonight to review. The mexican hot dog. It was ok. That's all I have to say about that. Hot dogs are probably not the best thing to get at Disney, nomatter how they dress them up, and this was no exception. I got it with Pasta Salad as the side, and that was very good.

So, I'm off for the night, and I'll see you all tomorrow!

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englanddg · Sep 29, 2012

Day 10 + 11 (Part 1 of ?)
1900 Park Fare(ly bad), Dualing Dumbos, My Turn

Magic Moments - 0
Pics Taken - 42
Vid for Projects Taken - 6
Discomforts (bug bites/etc) - 1 (My turn to be ill)
Unexpected Surprises - 0
Peeves - 0

Breakfast - Character Breakfast (1900 Park Fare, Grand Floridian)
Lunch - Cheeseburger and Fries (her) (Pop)
Dinner - Chicken Nuggets and Fries (her) (Pop)
Snacks - 2 Sodas

Dinner Credits left - 19
Snack Credits left - 25
____________________________________

Well, I missed posting yesterday for a very simple reason. On Thursday, my kid was ill. Yesterday, it was my turn.

We started the day by going to 1900 Park Fare and having breakfast with the characters. It's a buffet style restaurant, but I wasn't impressed. The food was ok, but nothing to rave about. They do have an omelet chef there who made me some very nice over medium eggs, which was nice as they are my favorite to eat and I haven't had them in a few weeks.

Likewise, the characters, outside of the Mad Hatter, were nothing to rave about. They seemed to wander around with no rhyme or reason, and unlike many of the other character meals I've done where the wait staff seems to help guide the characters to tables, here I observed the wait staff joking and playing off to the side. Pooh and Tigger were both lacking any energy at all, and Alice looked like she had eaten quite a few cakes at the last Mad Tea Party, and had a "character voice" that sounded more like a mouse going through puberty then a young lady.

My waiter here also pulled a fast one and "pre-authorized" my room for a penny charge "to be sure that his tip could be charged to my room for my convenience". Considering the only time I'd seen him the whole meal was 10 minutes after we were sat, and all he did was bring us drinks, I was already not impressed. After this little stunt, as you can imagine, he got no tip.

I also didn't like the fact that they charge extra for the picture, and there is no character in the picture. ~$30. What a rip off. Still, I got them. But, I wish I hadn't.

After this we headed off to Magic Kingdom, and I learned what "Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom" is. Think of Kim Possible (Agent P) over at Epcot being mixed with Magic the Gathering (a card based strategy game), and you have Sorcerers. It was a ton of fun, and I really love how they utilize a whole range of villains to tell the story.

We did the Fantasyland adventure, and after stopping by to get some fast passes for Pooh (which gave us "surprise" fast passes for Dumbo as well), we stopped by Philharmagic. This is one of my kids favorite things, and I enjoy it too. This time, we sat in the second row in the middle. It's a completely different experience (normally we sit towards the middle or the back). When you are up front, the 3-D looks a lot more engaging, and the wrap around aspects of the screen really work well, as you feel enveloped since they truly encompass all of your peripheral vision. I will be angling for seats towards the front from now on.

Off to Storybook Circus! I was excited to see this, as the kid had always wanted to go left instead of right, and we kept missing it. We stopped off at the teacups, and headed back to Dumbo. Then...she saw...Casey, Jr. My kid loves play places like this, and we can easily burn hours in them. Luckily after 45 minutes or so, she was tired (and soaked), and we decided to go do Dumbo (with about 20 minutes left in our fast pass window).

I love the new Double Dumbo, and the queue is a million times better then the old one. One note, if you do Fast Passes, you won't be taken through the part of the line that has the new interactive "wait" queue. If you haven't heard about this, it's a great concept. Basically, it's a playground (grander scale then what they did at Pooh), and you "check in". They issue you a pager, and the kids can go play to their hearts content. When it's "your turn" to ride the ride, they page you. What a fun idea!

So fun, that after riding Dumbo the first time, we went pack through the regular queue (about a 20 minute wait) just so the chiddler could try it out.

We went and rode Goofini. Goofy's Barnstormer was my daughters first Roller Coaster in 2010, and in 2011 I saw they had taken the track down and was bummed. When I heard they were just "moving" it for Storybook Circus, I was excited. Outside of the sentimental value, I really enjoyed the ride.

However, they didn't just "move it"...they changed it. The track, the cars, everything, and made it Goofini. It was ok, but not as intense as Barnstormer, and neither my kid or I cared to ride it again.

After doing Speedway, we headed out back towards the hotel. The kid said she was hot and tired, and since we had a 9:30p reservation for California Grille to watch Wishes from the Contemporary, and there were Extra Magic Hours last night, so I figured "why not". We ran into Push on our way out of the park, and played with him for about 20 minutes until it was time for his break. Push is a talking trash can, and he is by far one of my favorite walk around characters. He's just hilarious. If you run into him, try throwing something away in his "mouth".

We got back to the hotel, and I did laundry while she napped. I hadn't been feeling the best all day, but thought nothing of it. After folding laundry, I was putzing around on the computer, and room service showed up. I decided it was time for some lunch for us, so I woke her up and washed off her face, and let them do their thing while we went down to the food court and snacked a bit. The kid was in a good mood, but I wasn't feeling very hungry at all, so I just had some tea and nibbled on a few of her fries.

We went back to a clean room, and I started to feel worse. Guessing that long days and rich food was catching up with me, I decided to nap it off. When I woke, I was feeling worse, but again thought it would pass. I raised the kid (who had apparently decided to take another nap after I fell asleep), and we started to get ready for dinner. I was feeling terrible by this point, but figured that I could make it through the meal, and we'd come back to the hotel. However, my body flat out said no to this as we were leaving the room, so scratch that idea. It felt like my insides had decided to play Twister without asking my permission.

Now it was my daughter's turn to play nurse maid. We went down to the food court to get her dinner. This was fun in it's own way, as she refused to let me near her food lest I "get her sick again". She went through the line herself, ordered herself, carried her own tray, and basically I was just present to answer the occasional "Sweety, where is your mom or dad?" question, where she would point to me in "exile" 10 feet or so away.

We picked up some gatorade, OJ, milk and hot tea for me. Once back in the room, I drank a bit of the milk, which helped calm my insides down a little, and we made honey/lemon tea (me doing most of the "making", but she did help me steep it, and she squeezed the lemons and added the honey for me.

After drinking about half the tea, the dance party in my gut wasn't really going anywhere, so she banished me to the bed, and after tucking me in, I was quickly asleep. It wasn't a very comfortable night, and I didn't wake up until nearly 18 hours later.

I feel much better, but not perfect, so after grabbing her lunch (same drill as yesterday, she wouldn't let me near her food), we've been hanging around the room. I offered her several times to go to a park. I think I'll be ok, as long as I don't eat much. But, she refused, stating quite clearly that I am still sick and I need my rest. So, I've taken this down time to organize and start packing, so that way we don't really have much to do tomorrow night outside of last minute items.

We may try and go out a bit later tonight, but I doubt it. I am going to cancel all of our final ADRs for the rest of the trip as a proactive measure. Nothing big here, as from what I've seen the past week we can probably get in anywhere we want tomorrow and Weds if we choose. The parks just haven't been all that busy.

I'll probably have an update later.

HouCuseChickie · Sep 29, 2012

Great trip report so far! Love the burger reviewing

I also feel like I got ripped off... your maple creme brulee is soooo pretty- mine...not so much. Can't wait to read more.

flynnibus · Sep 29, 2012

englanddg said:
So, in summery, I have many things I really liked about our few days at Universal, and a few things I didn't like. I think if they streamlined the following, it would make it a better experience:

1) Unify the dining plan / room keys / express pass system
2) Go into more detail about how the Water Taxi / Shuttle System works. I had to discover all of this on my own
3) Get rid of cash only vending options on the parks (there are only a few left, but it's annoying, even if I don't plan on using them)
4) Make the refillable drink bottle water tight (or at least not an easy leak), and extend it over the whole trip
5) Offer more and better Quick Service options. All of the QS restaurants basically serve one of a few different dishes, and all are presented exactly the same. You basically get a grilled half chicken, spaghetti and meatballs, fried chicken, or a hamburger / cheeseburger. All of which are mediocre at best. (granted, I only tried the cheeseburger and the fried chicken, but I wasn't inclined to go out of my way to try the others based on their appearance)

I'm late to this party.. but enjoyed your UNI part of the trip so so far. Some things about UNI you've now probably drawn your own conclusion on...

Meal Plan - marginal. It's hindered by the limited locations (basically all the same burger/fries/hotdog type menu) and no drinks included. I'd recommend a SKIP for most people. As you found, you ended up eating outside those locations more than you ate in.
Refill drinks - It works well when you share a cup. I have three kids, they all don't need a huge refill cup.. but if we get 2 or 3 for the whole family, it works well. They use different color cups for drink plan vs paid. There is no enforcement on using the same cup on different days. As for leaking.. we'd finish it or dump it before putting it in lockers to avoid that. Refills were so cheap it wasn't an issue. Paid refills work at more locations too than dining plan.. more reason to avoid dining plan.

On the cards.. I think this might be a recent change as they've moved to the photo included express cards which can be made via kiosk. The older system was more a single card. Your hotel key was your express card, and was your typical hotel plastic card with mag strip, but also had a barcode on front. They would scan the barcode. But to combat abuse, they switched up express pass cards within the last year. Any Citywalk perk I think is only for the clubs, and you saw how much you needed that

Tickets we bought offsite, so I don't know if they ever integrated tickets or not.

Dining - it's a weak point of Uni in the parks, but has been improving. Mythos in Lost Continent is good for a table service with reasonable menu and prices.. and then most would tell you to head to City Walk for any other non-QS meal. Citywalk isn't cheap, but at least has real food and options. We ate at Mels which was a good offering for burger/fry joint.

Loewes Pacific - It's a convention hotel..and the pricing reflects it. It's pretty, it's offering with express pass and a family is what makes it worth it. It has a lot to offer, but not so much aimed at a Uni-guest-that-needs-a-bed visitor. For us, we were able to get 5 in a room for the $250/night so it was totally worth it for 2 days of express pass and parking for 1 night of hotel. The rooms were good size, but the pricing of the food in the resturants and coffee bar is a put off. The express bundling is what makes it all worth it.

On the water taxi - we didn't have nearly the problem you did.. and we rode it in the rain too (tho light rains).

I didn't see you mention Olivanders? Did you make it into that? Your daughter looks prime age to get picked for that one.

IMO - 3 days would be my max. We did just two this past trip, and while there would have been a handful of things I would do more of.. I don't think more than 1 days worth. The hardest part about UNI is the shorter park hours compared to Disney. So if you have unlimited energy teens (prime age group), you still get cut off at the knees by early park closing.

flynnibus · Sep 29, 2012

On EMH - the rule of thumb is morning EMH are always good... evening EMH depends on the park and time.

The kicker on EMH is the limited attraction and services. For mornings, the limited services (food) really aren't a factor... but for evenings, the limited food offerings are a real drag. Being hungry at midnight is not fun.

The attraction menu is limited.. so the crowds are concentrated. In the morning, it's generally not crowded, so the limited attractions and crowds combined still give a good experience. But in the evenings, the crowds are higher.. simply because while not everyone wants to get up early, most can tolerate staying out a little later. So EMH evenings are almost always more crowded than normal park hours. You have more people 'seeking a benefit', combined with less attractions = more crowded. This effect is exaggerated the earlier the time, and the less # of attractions. There is also the effect people stay closer to close time, instead of funneling out sooner.

Sounds like EMH evenings are a bust right? Not always.. When the EMH are very late (11-2, etc), people teeter out. So normally past 1am, the parks are very very managable. And overall, in a 3hr EMH, once you got into the second half, things were better. But now Disney has changed EMH to just 2hrs, so that will work less.

Some people avoid parks with morning EMH because if you weren't there for EMH, you lost all advantage of being there 'first' with no one in front of you.

The park touring people will tell you to avoid EMH parks.. I think it's a hybrid. If you are going to get up early, EMH mornings are a 100% win. For evening EMH, generally I ignore them except for MK late nights.

In our last June trip.. it was so god aweful hot.. that we found ourselves out at night every night, and just taking late starts everyday. So it would be 10+ before we got fully moving, but we'd be out till 12-2am every night. So it really is about your family's 'bio-clock' and how much energy you have.

englanddg · Sep 29, 2012

Day 11 (Part 2 of 2)
Go Speed Rayzer Go, Triceritops make for Poor Neighbors, Tinkerbell isn't the only Fairy at Disneyworld!

Magic Moments - 1 (One for me, and one for her...I hope)
Pics Taken - 63
Vid for Projects Taken - 18
Discomforts (bug bites/etc) - 0
Unexpected Surprises - 0
Peeves - 1 (Stroller Parades)

Breakfast - n/a
Lunch - n/a
Dinner - "Asteroid" French Onion Soup, Age of Salmon, Cosmic Key Lime Pie (me) Jurrasic Chicken Tidbits, Saber-Tooth Sundae (her) (T-Rex, Downtown Disney)
Snacks - 1 Soda

Dinner Credits left - 17
Snack Credits left - 24
____________________________________

I woke up this afternoon after a nap, and my stomach still hurt. But after a few moments, I realized...this was a good thing. I was famished! But, after a day without a nagging parent, my caring nursemaid child had left a few things un-done. So, after plopping her in a bath, I puttered on the internet, and started thinking, where did I want to go tonight?

I really wasn't in the mood for a park, and since my daughter had been sick on our planned DTD night, I thought, perfect! Downtown Disney it is! I nibbled on some grapes and crackers and drank one of our milks to knock the edge off my hunger. While she was dressing, I took a quick shower to feel human again, and after a mutual brush/floss of our teeth, we were off!

It had rained fairly heavily while the kid was in the bath, and was still a light drizzle now, but in a refreshing way. The temps were low, and our moods were up. The bus was pulling up just as we hit the stop, and a few minutes later the kid was racing through the dancing fountains at the first bus stop entrance trying not to get hit by them. I asked her if she wanted to make a t-shirt or some custom ears, but she declined. We've never really been into that shop or the Christmas shop. We headed off towards Rainforest Cafe (because it snagged her eye), and while hungry, I really didn't want to eat here. Then again, they accept the dining plan now, so it wouldn't bother me as much as when it was an out of pocket meal.

Thankfully, she didn't want to eat there, she just wanted to check out the aquariums. I suggested we go rent the "little speedboat" and cruise the lake again, and she jumped at the idea. However, the walkway was closed heading back that way (there is some major construction going on back there...not sure what), so we ventured into dangerous territory...Goofy's Candy Company.

My kid was quite reserved (I guess after 2 weeks of seeing lots of candy stores both here and at Universal, the excitement isn't as intense), but she did ask if she could get something, and decided on a Daisy Pez Dispenser. I thought this was an excellent choice, and a few minutes later we headed off towards the boats.

We happened to trek through LittleMissMatched. If you've never been in here, it's a fun little trip (for girls). It is mostly devoted to socks, though it sells some shirts and apparel.

Normally I set aside a nice little kitty for shopping at Disney, but this year we hadn't so much as made even a small dent in it. When I keep her for the summer, her mother and I have an agreement (more an offer from me that she didn't refuse) that I would get the kid several outfits that are fall oriented for school, since I keep her pretty much right up until the start of school. Most of these we buy before Disney, but every year I make sure we pick up some Disney stuff as well.

So, a new school backpack and two sweaters later, we were off to the boats! We got there with 30 minutes left, which was perfect for me. After handing over my drivers license and I'm sure signing away every right to litigation possible in case of an accident, we headed over to the gate to wait for our boat. While I signed in, she had taken the initiative to go and grab our life jackets (mine was too large, but I have also lost 75 lbs since our last trip, so I don't know if she guessed wrong, or just remembered what I had to wear last time).

A short safety lecture later and we were off! I love toodling around in these little boats, and we headed straight for the Sassalouga River, being sure to do a few figure eights in the empty area near Fultons where you are outside of the no-wake zone, but far enough outside of the path of the water taxis, and chasing a few water taxis (within a very safe distance) so we could jump the boat over their wake.

This late in the day there wasn't much in the way of wildlife about, but it was still a very relaxing trip. We made it as far as the Treehouse Docks, and had to turn back around. It was halfway through our trip, and we had to have the boat back soon.

After a few more wake jumps and a figure eight, we puttered back along Fulton's, and did a near pass of the Lego Water Serpent as our approach to the dock.

After obtaining my legal identification and paying the ~$35 tab, we headed off. We stopped by the Pearl Company. This is another tradition of ours, so we stopped and shucked an 7.5 mm pearl out of an oyster who really didn't want to give it up. It was beautiful, and she chose a very nice Dolphin setting with a wonderful chain for it. She has one of these from every year she's done one of these trips.

Then we went off to get her face painted. While that was going on, I hike the short distance to buy some tokens, and, after paying for the face (inside ESPN, if you want to use a credit card), she rode the carousel and the train. Then we went off to D-Street so she could pick out some more school clothes.

3 outfits later, my stomach was starting to cry out for something, so I bought a soda to calm it down, and steered her towards Lego. I was hoping to get to Bongos, but we never made it.

The Lego store has made some more changes, and overall I like the new internal layout. They moved the "brick store" out of the back, and put the "play area" back there, where it's out of the way. Outside, they have added a huge and wonderful Maleficent as a dragon fighting a lego "Prince". I've always liked their external displays, but this one is the best I've ever seen here.

She trundled off to do her favorite thing, making minifigs, while I wandered the store looking for myself, her uncle, and for her. I didn't find much for her, but I picked up a Technics racecar for her Uncle that I'm sure he'll enjoy, and an R2D2 for myself. I seriously considered the Exeter Super Star Destroyer, but at $400...I just couldn't do it. R2D2 is an impressive set and will look great opposite my Space Shuttle in my office, and for 80 bucks, a much better deal I think.

Then I collected her from the minifig stations. This is a fun little activity they have, but I would rather they do it like the Mr. Potatohead or My Little Pony "make your own" package at Once Upon a Toy, instead of limiting to 1 accessory. My kid would rather make less minifigs, and pick more accessories, then make 3 minifigs with 1 accessory each. For example, this year she decided to make 2 police offices (one male, one female) and 2 robbers. Of course, police officers need to have handcuffs, and bullhorns, and walkie talkies, right? And robbers need to have shovels, and guns (yes, they actually had guns this year, to my suprise, and not "pirate" guns, rather they had Tommy Guns...wierd) and of course...loot (gold cups).

When I explained that she couldn't get all that without making more figurines, she initially was upset, but when I suggested that every good crime needs witnesses and innocent bystanders for the police to save, she caught on. Several random figurines later (from an astronaut to a witch) we were ready for checkout. All of this to get all the accessories she wanted for her first 4 figs.

Oh well...After this we were off to Dinner.

I tried to avoid it. I tried to shield her young eyes from this establishment. I tried to direct her attention to the riverboat off to the right and it's wonderful detail and charm. But no...she saw it. She saw the giant Dinosaurs and the busy environment that is T-Rex, and she WANTED it!

So, I plopped her in the sandbox (which somehow she remembered from last year, but I didn't), and signed us in. The place was busy, but even without reservations with a party of two we were able to be seated within 15 minutes. Their sandbox is a much smaller version of the one found at the Boneyard at Animal Kingdom, and has a washing station near the entrance, so it's easy to get the kids scrubbed up before a meal (though, I added some purell, since they don't offer any soap there that I could see).

My stomach was very grateful we'd decided to stop, even though I personally am not fond of the venue. We were seated right next to a mother Triceritops and her baby. The seats were nicer then last year, and I felt more "immersed". However, they do have localized speakers on the animitronics, so every 3 - 5 minutes, the Triceritops would lovingly growl quite literally in my ear.

None of this put a damper on my kids spirits. She got her "bone slushy" (another thing she remembered from last year that I did not), and was on cloud 9. We ordered and then walked the restaurant together. For all my belly-aching, I can see why a lot of people really enjoy this place. It is *very* family friendly, and if you have kids, they are gonna have a blast.

However, when it's busy, it's very noisy and crowded, and that is part of the reason why it's not a venue of choice for me. If you ever make a reservation, try and request seating in the "Ice Age" area, I think that is the coolest (pun intended) part of the restaurant.

Still wanting to give my stomach some crutches, I decided not to assault it with a heavy dinner, even though after nearly 24 hours having only nibbled on a few things, and having drunk a lot of water, my stomach was crying out for one of the T-Rex burgers (which, for all my gripes, the place has some great burgers!).

I veto'd, and got a nice French Onion soup (which was very good). They even serve it with a side crouton, and my only criticism would be that I wish they had served it with two of them. It was wonderful to soap up the brothy goodness after I had consumed the primary crouton and cheese on the top of the soup. The Dining Plan here doesn't offer an appetizer for the kid, so she fiddled around with her kids menu and we played I-Spy for a bit. The entree's hadn't arrived by about 20 minutes, and we left for a quick visit to the She-Rex's (er...the restroom).

When we came back...our table had been bussed! Luckily our waiter was nearby, and he quickly corrected the matter. I'm glad I hadn't left anything of value at the table!

Reset with new drinks and a new "bone slushy" (this time she chose the blue raspberry, so she was in hog heaven having gotten to now have both flavours in one night), our entrees came shortly afterwards. My miso salmon was decent. It could have used skin and a good pan sear before dressing, and the sauce was very thick and sugary. The rice was good, but slightly undercooked. The veg needed seasoning (as I had expected), and was way too heavy on carrots (is broccoli too much to ask for?). That being said, my empty stomach appreciated it and I tucked in and quickly had consumed every bite.

My kid had Chicken Nuggets and Waffle Fries, which after a liberal coating in ketchup, was quickly consumed. For dessert I had the Key Lime Pie, which was not authentic, but was very good. Especially with my coffee. My kid got a vanilla sundae. Nothing special here, though she insisted that I try her dessert and she try mine.

The look on her face when I spooned the key lime pie in her mouth was priceless. She puckered up, and then ran for the leftover slush in her "bone". I wish I had it on tape. What makes her reaction even more amusing to me is that...this is a kid who will literally eats lemons and thinks they are delicious.

Bellies full, we left just as the apocalypse was coming for what seemed like the 5th time in our visit, and wandered down towards the second DTD bus stops to head back home. Along the way we took in the myriad of street performers that were out. I'm glad to see them back this year. We went several times last year and I didn't see them much at all.

There was a violin/piano duo who was performing outside of Portobello, and the kid took great joy in dancing around the empty square pretending she was playing the violin. I got this on tape, until she realized I was taping her and then promptly stopped, embarrassed. Phooey!

Raglan Road was next, and I was pleased to see they had moved the band to an outdoor venue, so we listened to a few numbers and moved on. My kid was disappointed that Harley Davidson wasn't there because she wanted to take a picture on a motorcycle.

Further down the road we ran into a punk/rock band (for lack of a better term) that was doing very interesting covers of club songs. They had the largest street audience of all, and both the kid and I enjoyed their music thoroughly.

We kept on and found the new Harley store (noting that Characters in Flight is gone for the moment, but they haven't removed the ticket booth or the signage, so that's a good sign), and took our obligatory pictures on the choppers. Then wandered towards La Nouba.

The Kid had wanted to get her soon to be 12 year old uncle some magic stuff from the store, but was disappointed when we discovered it is no longer here. We walked by DisneyQuest, and she says she wants to come back and do that tomorrow. Maybe we will, maybe we won't.

At La Nouba, I picked up a DVD for her mom and a DVD for my dad, both requests of theirs, and we puttered through their other merch. While checking out, I had some small talk with the cashier, and the topic of missing the show last Thursday came up. He said if I come back tomorrow at 12p and the box office can confirm that my original tickets were not used, they should be able to do something for me as long as I'm not picky about show times or seats.

Now, this might suprise some of you, but I may not do this. We've seen the show twice already from front row center, and we already saw another Cirque this summer (the Micheal Jackson Immortal Tour). I'd love to see Cirque again, and even if they did work something out for us, I'm not sure a late show is something that I really want on our last night here at Disney with all of the other things I need to put together tomorrow night to make sure we are ready for Weds.

Then again, she does want to go to DisneyQuest tomorrow morning, and over the last 2 days I've mostly got us packed and ready. So, maybe we will. Especially if they can squeeze us into the earlier show.

I had forgotten that the bus stops were really in the "middle" of downtown, not at the end with La Nouba, and by now it had started to drizzle. We walk-ran through the rain, and luckily there was a bus waiting on us when we got there.

Shortly we were back at the hotel and the heavens opened up just as my kid had gotten out of her bath and was brushing her teeth.

I stepped down the hall to buy my nightly coke (I was out of my stash in the fridge), and when I came back, she was sitting on the bed with a tissue pressed on her mouth. When I got closer, I saw the telltale red of blood, and freaked out!

She started laughing at my panic, and pointed at the tissue on the bed next to her, and there was a tooth. For some backstory, all summer she's had a tooth (2 really) that are working their way out. There wasn't much blood, I just overreacted, as I didn't expect to walk back into this scene, rather I expected her to be playing with her toys or tucked into bed watching TV.

This is doubly special for me, because I have a running deal with her mother since we separated that any teeth she loses while visiting me, are mine to keep...and this is my first one!

After going through the pillow ritual with her, which included that the fairy would be perfectly fine with the tooth going under the other pillow, and us agreeing that her Minnie Mouse doll should lay on that pillow to keep it safe from Maloofisent (as my daughter calls Maleficent), I waited until she had started to doze off, and rushed over to the about to close gift shop in pouring rain and grabbed the small black and white Minnie doll she's been oogling since we arrived, and then stopped by the front desk and picked up some Disney Dollars.

It seems Tinkerbell isn't the only Fairy that visits Disney!

A note about the picture, I had to take it outside since the kid is asleep and I don't want to disturb her, and $10 isn't really the going rate for a tooth, but like everything at Disney, I suppose even the Tooth Fairy has inflated rates

6292d1345527073-englanddgs-magical-mystery-tour-trip-report-tooth-fairy.jpg

6293d1345527073-englanddgs-magical-mystery-tour-trip-report-t-rex-french-onion.jpg

6294d1345527073-englanddgs-magical-mystery-tour-trip-report-t-rex-miso-salmon.jpg

6295d1345527073-englanddgs-magical-mystery-tour-trip-report-t-rex-key-lime.jpg

6296d1345527850-englanddgs-magical-mystery-tour-trip-report-lego-dragon.jpg

englanddg · Sep 29, 2012

HouCuseChickie said:
Great trip report so far! Love the burger reviewing I also feel like I got ripped off... your maple creme brulee is soooo pretty- mine...not so much. Can't wait to read more.

Thanks! I had fun doing the burger review! I still think the best burger at AoA is the veggie burger. That one was fantastic!

englanddg · Sep 29, 2012

flynnibus said:
I'm late to this party.. but enjoyed your UNI part of the trip so so far. Some things about UNI you've now probably drawn your own conclusion on...

Welcome! I'm almost to the end of my trip...only a few posts left to go. I hope you enjoy getting caught up!

flynnibus said:
Meal Plan - marginal

Agreed. I wouldn't do it again. The only reason why I got it was that I had a credit to my account that was most of the cost due to changing my Blue Man Group tickets...so adding it was only $20. I would never do it again, or recommend it any time soon, at least until UNI upps their on park food offerings / participating restaurants.

flynnibus said:
Refill drinks - It works well when you share a cup. I have three kids, they all don't need a huge refill cup.. but if we get 2 or 3 for the whole family, it works well.

Yeah, I saw the different color cups, and I'm very sure there was no enforcement on them...but, I don't like to cheat the parks, so I just skipped it. I couldn't even tell you where that mug I bought the first day is now...someone at the Royal Pacific Housekeeping staff probably has it.

flynnibus said:
On the cards.. I think this might be a recent change as they've moved to the photo included express cards which can be made via kiosk.

My tickets were part of the package I booked through Uni, not offsite. And they were not attached. And yeah, I had to get the photo Express Pass back at the hotel lobby. I have been spoiled by KTTW!

flynnibus said:
it was totally worth it for 2 days of express pass and parking for 1 night of hotel.

Agreed! The Express Pass was certainly worth it. An Unlimited Express Pass (which would emulate the benefit associated with staying on property) is $99 a day per ticket, so that value can be found immediately when tied to the room if you get a good rate. The rest of your description of the hotel completely matches my take as well.

flynnibus said:
On the water taxi - we didn't have nearly the problem you did.. and we rode it in the rain too (tho light rains).

Odd, our first few days the darned thing was always closed, at least when we wanted to use it.

flynnibus said:
I didn't see you mention Olivanders? Did you make it into that? Your daughter looks prime age to get picked for that one.

No, we actually...skipped it. The first night we went to Harry Potter, it was closing, and the next day the shop was packed and the third time we went by there it was raining and the kid was in no mood (again, shops packed).

I wish we had done it, but there's always next year. The kid actually isn't into Harry Potter that much, that's her mother. She enjoys the movies, but she wasn't in "awe" the way I suspected she would be, frankly...she was more interested in Seuss Landing (we spent a LOT of time in Seuss Landing), Ripsaw and the Jurrasic Park playground.

flynnibus said:
IMO - 3 days would be my max. We did just two this past trip, and while there would have been a handful of things I would do more of.. I don't think more than 1 days worth. The hardest part about UNI is the shorter park hours compared to Disney.

I noticed the same. I had 3 days scheduled, with my 4th being transit to Disney and MK that day. On my next trip I'm thinking about scaling back my Disney Tickets and popping back over to Uni for a day or two just to do some cleanup things that we missed.

myhappyplace · Sep 29, 2012

Just caught up on this wonderful trip report!! Very detailed report, have thoroughly enjoyed reading it this morning/early afternoon.

I'm glad you went to see Festival of the Lion King, it is my #1 must-do on property, I would refuse to leave WDW if I didn't get to see it at least once each trip.

Your little girl is adorable, and it seems like the two of you have such a special relationship!! Unfortunate that you both caught a bug but glad you had a 2-week stay so that you had plenty of time otherwise

maryszhi · Sep 29, 2012

i think that is so sweet what you did for her lost tooth. she will def. remember it the rest of her life. i know i did when i lost a tooth at disney

flynnibus · Sep 29, 2012

A question I forgot.. why when leaving UNI did you go back to the airport to catch DME? Why not take your shuttle directly to Disney?

englanddg · Sep 29, 2012

flynnibus said:
A question I forgot.. why when leaving UNI did you go back to the airport to catch DME? Why not take your shuttle directly to Disney?

I've been asked that before. I dunno, I just sortof planned it that way. I was in no hurry to get to MK, and after 3 days at Uni, I figured a "break day" of riding on the bus, getting checked in, etc, would be fun.

The airport shuttle I had with Uni was prepaid as part of the Uni Package, and only went to the airport. The kid and I don't mind ME (every other trip started that way), so I thought it would be a good way to kick off the next leg of our trip.

In retrospect, I should have just gotten a taxi!

flynnibus · Sep 29, 2012

I think overall what you see is packages are often too much 'on rails' and not really optimized for your plan. While somepeople prefer the 'turn key' aspect.. heading out to the airport (wrong direction) to head back to Disney (on a bus no less) would have drove me bonkers

On our last trip.. we bought the Uni tickets at the local military base for the discounts.. we hit uni after getting off the Dream, and were in the hotel by like 9:30.. parked and stayed in the Pacific for one night (booked on the website).. had two days at Uni.. and stayed in a Radisson (AAA rate off the website) after the second day at Uni.. so we had two full days. But we also drove that trip so we had flexibility in where to stay.

englanddg · Sep 29, 2012

flynnibus said:
I think overall what you see is packages are often too much 'on rails' and not really optimized for your plan. While somepeople prefer the 'turn key' aspect.. heading out to the airport (wrong direction) to head back to Disney (on a bus no less) would have drove me bonkers

I don't have access to MWR anymore, so no discounts for me (unless I'm taking my retired father, uncle or grandfather along).

On our last trip.. we bought the Uni tickets at the local military base for the discounts.. we hit uni after getting off the Dream, and were in the hotel by like 9:30.. parked and stayed in the Pacific for one night (booked on the website).. had two days at Uni.. and stayed in a Radisson (AAA rate off the website) after the second day at Uni.. so we had two full days. But we also drove that trip so we had flexibility in where to stay.

Yeah, I don't drive or rent while there (one of the reasons I like ME and Disney Busses). I don't mind the extra travel time. The kid and I chat and play and I think it helps build the excitement.

On the other hand, I can see why it's not everyone's cup of tea. It was just how I planned it out...and we enjoyed it. Next year I've got us all on Disney Transit...though, I'm still debating if we snag a taxi and head off property for a bit...or even *gasp* rent a car!

She really wants to go to Legoland, and I wouldn't mind doing a day at Sea World either...so, I dunno. I have a long time (10 months or so) to nail down the final plans.

flynnibus · Sep 29, 2012

Ok, just looked at why this thread is loading so funky... crazy oversized picture attachments

Resize man.. resize

englanddg · Sep 30, 2012

Day 11
Here Piggy Piggy, Work Intrudes, Last Night Blues

Magic Moments - 0
Pics Taken - 42
Vid for Projects Taken - 7
Discomforts (bug bites/etc) - 0
Unexpected Surprises - 0
Peeves - 0

Breakfast - Coffee (me), Milk (her) (Pop / Room Fridge)
Lunch - Land and Sea, Lobster Ravioli, Cheesecake Napoleon (me), Fruit Salad, Grilled Fish with French Fries, Ice Cream (her) (Coral Reef, EPCOT)
Dinner - Meatball Sub (me), Chicken Nuggets and Fries (her) (Pop)
Snacks - 16 Rice Crispy Treats

Dinner Credits left - 13
Snack Credits left - 8
____________________________________

Well, it looks like I'm not going to hit my goal of using all my Dining Credits, though I am considering a Dine and Dash at EPCOT tomorrow morning. If we hadn't had all the complications this trip, I would have come really close.

By Dine and Dash, I mean, I go into the restaurant, get seated as quickly as possible (skipping places that can't seat quickly), order my app/entree/dessert all at once and request the bill be brought with the meal. Then I take a few bites of each dish, sign my bill, and leave.

I did this in 2010, and while I got a lot of odd looks form servers when I ordered up front and asked for all of it at once with the bill, it burned up a lot of credits before we ran out of time. If I do, first place is going to be Rose and Crown...I want Scotch Eggs before I go!

I did leave our ADR for Royal Table for tomorrow, and while this whole trip has been atypical, I am hoping to close it out a bit more traditionally with Royal Table for lunch and popcorn on Main Street as we watch the 3p parade.

So, that aside, I woke with a start this morning to a grey and white Minnie being thrust in my face by an excited kid who was nudging me and prattling about "look what the Tooth Fairy left me, how did she know I wanted this, isn't this cool" and things along those lines. I still didn't have all my mental facilities collected at this point, but after a minute to get the cobwebs cleared, I glanced at the clock (6 am, how the heck do kids do this?), and asked her if she got anything else.

She said YES!, and ran over to the safe. She had put her Disney Dollars in the room safe! Smiling internally, she asked me what they were, and I said I didn't know. It looks like mickey mouse money. She said that's what she thought too, so she locked it up to keep it safe (I keep my emergency cash there too).

We watched TV for an hour or so while I woke up, and after coffee and milk, and a nice warm shower, I asked her what she wanted to do, and she said "the Piggy Bank game". So, on the way to EPCOT we stopped by the gift shop so she could find out what "disney dollars" are, and had a fairly short wait for a bus.

It was very cool today. Very comfortable. But, it was supposed to rain off and all again all day, so I wasn't sure what we would do or get done. We'll have to see!

We headed straight for Innoventions West, and did the Piggy Game mostly by ourselves. Then, after making another video game and emailing it to myself, we headed over to Innoventions East, and did the whole Pavilion in an hour and a half, outside of Sum of All Thrills, which is a simulator exhibit that allows you to design your own thrill ride. The kid was still too short for this (oh well, another excuse to come back). We did enjoy beating things up in the Shatter Lab though!

After this we did Nemo and met with Crush. My kid didn't get singled out this year, but that's ok. We still enjoyed it (and last year, when Crush did pick her out, she got shy). Then off to Coral Seas (which is hands down my kids favorite fine dine on the property).

I have a lot of memories about this restaurant, and remember eating here not much older then my daughter is now with my grandfather back when Disney used to serve it's bread and butter with the butter molded as Mickey Mouse.

I had the Land and Sea for an appitizer, and if they've had this before (we didn't eat here last year, only 2010), I'd forgotten about it. It was fantastic. It's a skewer that has beef tenderloin on it, with a BBQ glaze (not really BBQ...more just a tangy sauce), and grilled shrimp over a cucumber salad. The cucumber salad was fantastic, with a great dressing. If you go here, I highly recommend it. My kid even stole most of my beef.

For an entree, I had the Lobster Ravioli, which was fantastic as always. I am not a huge fan of scallops, but they put baby scallops in this dish that are rich and buttery, and I love the seasoning on this dish. It's not the best Lobster Ravioli I've ever had (that title goes to the Monterey Bay Pasta Company on Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey California), but it's really good.

For dessert, I had the Cheesecake Napoleon, which has a fruit compote. Supposedly there's no sugar added in this dish, but I couldn't tell (or have cared). I loved it (and so did the kid, she stole half of it, leaving her ice cream melting in the bowl).

It had been drizzling on and off all morning, and now the skies looked threatening, so rather then do my planned dine and dash (explained earlier) through EPCOT, I figured we could go hit up DisneyQuest. On the bus, I got a call. Work emergency.

I won't go into details, because if the other executives had been paying attention to my weekly reports, or if I had been there to calm them down, they wouldn't have freaked out the way they did...but...instead, they freaked out. And I walked right into the middle of it.

So, reverse course, we had to catch a bus back to the hotel so I could get to a computer to pull metrics and answer questions they had that I couldn't answer off the top of my head (it's 8200 lines of code, and while I have them largely memorized as blocks, my memory isn't that perfect).

This interruption, understandably, put my kid in a rather bad mood. And when we got to the room, she tucked off into bed for a nap.

Feeling guilty, I finished my work, and woke her up for an early Dinner.

I had the meatball sub (which, by the way, is fantastic...well above my expectations...the salad that comes with it is merely ok though...it needed some tang. Maybe some black or green olives, with a touch more dressing...or some fresh onions...or both?) She had her signature chicken nuggets and fries.

We went off to DisneyQuest for a few hours, and this is a great place to visit when it rains. We played air hockey (her favorite), and a ton of other games. The place, however, is showing it's age. A lot of games are run down, the place was rather dirty (which is well hidden with the toned down lighting inside), and while for the most part all the games are free, a lot of them were broken.

Having worked a long time with arcade games (most of which they also feature here) this drove me bonkers, and many times I felt the familiar reflex to reach for my gem lock keys (a key used to get inside the games) to fix them.

Overall though, we both had a good time, even though the place was fairly crowded.

After this, I again asked her where she would like to go, Magic Kingdom or EPCOT (I still wanted to do a dine and dash). She said the hotel. And it was a good choice. It rained on and off all night. So, while she played with her new toys (a princess set we picked up last week) and chatted with her mom on the phone, I finished up some more work, and started preparing myself that this is the last night.

I try to isolate myself as much as I can from the outside world on these trips (or at least my regular life)...and we have a thread on Talk Disney that is your "saddest moment" thread...

I have a new one that I will add to that. When I see the Magical Express envelope on my door.

It's like waking up from a dream, and realizing you have to go back.

That being said, it's been a wonderful two weeks, and we have a full day ahead for us tomorrow as I booked a very late flight, so still some more fodder for one last daily trip report. After that one, I have to get things settled at work, and over the weekend I want to brain dump a retrospective of things I liked, didn't like, took from this trip, and learned from this trip, before it fades into the past too far.

Thanks to everyone who has followed me on this adventure. It's been a blast, and while I'm not quite done, I hope you all have been enjoying it!

englanddg's Magical Mystery Tour!

englanddg

One Little Spark...

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One Little Spark...

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One Little Spark...

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One Little Spark...

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One Little Spark...

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One Little Spark...

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member

flynnibus

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myhappyplace

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One Little Spark...

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One Little Spark...

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One Little Spark...