Trip Report Movin' In? Two Weeks in the World!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 18, 2016

I got the rib eye with potatoes au gratin. Rib eye is my favorite cut, and this was cooked to perfection and the marbled fat in it was caramelized nicely.

Brad got the Kansas strip cut.

We shared the truffle mac and cheese (OMG, so good and I hate mushrooms. But black truffles are so nutty tasting, it makes my mouth water just thinking about it).

I was given a tasting dessert for my birthday, it was nice and perfect in size because we did order dessert.

For dessert we got a chocolate peanut butter cake thing with salted caramel pretzels. This looked tiny but it was perfect to share at the end of the meal. The crumbly stuff was a powdered peanut butter substance.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 18, 2016

Believe it or not we were able to walk after our wonderful meal. But we only had to walk to the boat and ride on over to Epcot.
Once at Epcot Illuminations was going on and it was extra magic hours. Even though we were able to walk we didn't necessarily feel like doing a lot of it, so our plan was to get into line for Frozen. Once we got there the cast member said it was an hour and a half wait so we wandered the area and then decided to just get in line. The wait ended up being 35 minutes.

Leaving the Yacht Club

In the Norway area.

A few pictures from the Frozen queue

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 18, 2016

After Frozen we decided to head out for the night. I had to do some picture taking of Spaceship Earth on the way out. It is just so purty!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 18, 2016

Day 9: June 29th
Today we started the day at Typhoon Lagoon. Just like with Blizzard Beach we hadn't been here since either 2005 or 2006. I forgot how fun and relaxing it is.
We did the Crush n Gusher (water coaster) to start. In the planning stages, whenever I thought of coming to Typhoon I envisioned myself on the lazy river enjoy the tropical landscape. So after the coaster three times, I told hubby he could do more slides if he wanted but I was off to the lazy river. He tagged along to the lazy river. We made 2 laps, did a little lounging on some loungers, and then Brad did the big waves while I stood in the water up to my knees (that was enough for me). We left a little after noon and headed to Disney Springs for lunch.

Pictures from the Lazy River

At the wave pool

The Crush-n-Gusher

Shark Reef, we thought about doing this but it didn't open until noon. When we walked past on the way out there was a long line of people waiting. No thanks, I'm not good at snorkeling anyway.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 18, 2016

Once at Disney Springs we headed to Frontera Cocina. We have eaten at Rick Bayless' restaurants in Chicago and I used his mixes from the grocery store at home, so we had high hopes for the restaurant. We weren't disappointed, I enjoyed it more than Morimotos, but I like Mexican food more than hubby and he likes Asian food more than me.

..Inside the restaurant

..

I ordered a margarita, I think it was supposed to be orange. It was good, and citrusy. I bet you can't guess what Brad had to drink?

We shared the queso fundido, and the tostadas. I was leery of the tostadas since there were bean on them and I'm not big into beans, but I loved them. The fundido could have had a little more pizzazz but it was solid and I added some of the salsa and it was tasty.

I got the Cocina chicken with the signature mashed potatoes. The chicken was excellent, crispy outside, juicy inside, and a nice spice flavoring. YUM!

He got the carnitas and really enjoyed them. I tasted them too and they had good flavor too. But I really dug the chicken.

After lunch we went to Sprinkles and got cupcakes (chocolate marshmallow and dark chocolate) and ice cream (rocky road and chocolate peanut butter). The ice cream was creamy and tasty and the cupcakes were good, a tad dry but flavorful. The marshmallow one was better than the dark chocolate.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 18, 2016

We then spent a little time at the resort before heading to the Magic Kingdom for the night.
Some pictures of the Caribbean Beach Resort.....

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 18, 2016

It was a nice night at the Magic Kingdom.
A little Hall of Presidents, I appreciate this attraction more and more each time.

Then we had dinner at Pinocchio's Village Haus, it was hubby's choice. He got the flat bread and I got the alfredo. I didn't know it had spinach on it, but it tasted fine. I also didn't know it came with a salad so that was a nice surprise. The alfredo was a little flat tasting, but I added some black and red pepper.

We then rode Big Thunder but we noticed Splash was down and it made a nice photo op.

And then we turned around and saw this, beautiful....

Then a little tiki tiki room

And a jungle cruise, I love the queue (not that I like standing in line) there is something new to discover every time.

And we caught a Celebrate the Magic before heading out for the night.

Thanks Walt!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 18, 2016

I really liked this color scheme on the castle. There were some girls nearby wanting their mom to take their picture in front of the castle but she had to wait until the "ugly" colors were gone and it was a different color. Finally the mom got tired of waiting and said the castle looked fine and took their picture.

Figgy1 · Jul 19, 2016

I'm glad all finally all worked out with the luggage but........................... Beautiful pics!

MinnieM123 · Jul 19, 2016

I'm also glad that the luggage situation finally worked out, but what I can't wrap my head around is bell services hanging up on you (from various phone calls) at least twice? Did I read that correctly??! :jawdrop:

To me, that points to a lack of training, if all someone can do is hang up a phone and not be able to professionally field the complaint. I worked for a hotel company for quite a few years (although I was in a corporate office, off-site from the hotels), but the CEO I worked for would occasionally receive a complaint letter from a customer. He'd always contact the general manager of the hotel in question, and expect a full report of the incident, and what corrective measures were being taken immediately. (The CEO would then send a nice letter to the customer, apologizing on behalf of the hotel, and offering them a few free nights for a future stay.) Let me tell you, hanging up on customers would have been a first step for an employee to getting fired.

Heard great reviews over the years about the Yachtsman Steakhouse, and I'm so happy that your birthday dinner was a special experience.

FlaggNL · Jul 19, 2016

Thanks for this marvelous report! It took me quite some time to catch up, but was all worth it! Thanks for sharing!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 19, 2016

figmentfan423 said:
I'm glad all finally all worked out with the luggage but........................... Beautiful pics!

Thank you!

MinnieM123 said:
I'm also glad that the luggage situation finally worked out, but what I can't wrap my head around is bell services hanging up on you (from various phone calls) at least twice? Did I read that correctly??! To me, that points to a lack of training, if all someone can do is hang up a phone and not be able to professionally field the complaint. I worked for a hotel company for quite a few years (although I was in a corporate office, off-site from the hotels), but the CEO I worked for would occasionally receive a complaint letter from a customer. He'd always contact the general manager of the hotel in question, and expect a full report of the incident, and what corrective measures were being taken immediately. (The CEO would then send a nice letter to the customer, apologizing on behalf of the hotel, and offering them a few free nights for a future stay.) Let me tell you, hanging up on customers would have been a first step for an employee to getting fired.

Heard great reviews over the years about the Yachtsman Steakhouse, and I'm so happy that your birthday dinner was a special experience.

Yeah, the hang up was unexpected but it worked out. I wish I could have a little Yachtsman today, it would be so tasty.

FlaggNL said:
Thanks for this marvelous report! It took me quite some time to catch up, but was all worth it! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! I have some more to share.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 19, 2016

Day 10: June 30

Off to Epcot this morning. We had a fast pass for Soarin later so at rope drop we joined the herd and hoofed it to Frozen. With that we had a wait of about 20 minutes. We found a hidden Mickey in the queue this time with some plates, or at least we thought it kind of looked like it. What do you think?

Then we wandered over to the Land side of Future World and said hi to Figment before Soarin and Turtle Talk at the Seas,
and then heading to our lunch.

Brad thought I might look good in this hat. Sadly I don't really do hats. But it is a cool hat.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 19, 2016

Lunch today was at the Coral Reef. We hadn't eaten here since our honeymoon in 2005. Brad is a fan of seafood. I subscribe to the "fish are friends not food" philosophy. But I enjoy looking at the aquarium and there have been decent landlubber dishes on the menu in the past.

Our table was right next to the window, and this little guy was there to say hello. I had never had a table by the window before and it was nice to be close up to the action.

We shared the tomato basil salad.

I ordered steak and it was a good solid steak but after eating at the Yachtsman it really couldn't compare.

Brad had some sort of fish with risotto. Sorry I can't remember the fish and he isn't textable right now.

And just a look at the restaurant on the way out.

After lunch, it was time to go swimming and nap!

betty rose · Jul 19, 2016

ajrwdwgirl said:
Day 8: My Birthday and moving day (moving to the Caribbean Beach)

We woke a little earlier today because it was moving day, over to the Caribbean Beach. We hadn't stayed there since our honeymoon 11 years ago and before that I had stayed there with my family many times. So it was kind of like going back to my hometown. Once those bags were dropped off, it was off to the Magic Kingdom. Where else would I choose to spend my birthday! We had pre-park open reservations for Be Our Guest, but it was also one of those paid Magic Mornings so there were a few more people there than I expected. But those people rushed to the rides and we just meandered down Main Street enjoying a close to empty park.

View attachment 151261

View attachment 151262

View attachment 151263

View attachment 151259

View attachment 151260

View attachment 151264

View attachment 151265

View attachment 151266

Loving your trip report! Thanks for all the great pictures!

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 19, 2016

After our nap and swimming we explored the resort a little and had dinner at the food court at the Caribbean.
Here are some shots from around the Caribbean.

Figgy1 · Jul 19, 2016

You have great taste in shirts BTW the hat looked really good on you!

betty rose · Jul 19, 2016

I loved all of your wonderful pictures, along with commentary. This made my afternoon. I was having so much fun reading this I forgot to have lunch.

ajrwdwgirl · Jul 19, 2016

betty rose said:
I loved all of your wonderful pictures, along with commentary. This made my afternoon. I was having so much fun reading this I forgot to have lunch.

I hope you finally got something to eat. I don't want you fainting away!

betty rose · Jul 19, 2016

ajrwdwgirl said:
I hope you finally got something to eat. I don't want you fainting away!

I did have lunch. But your trip report was so much better. Thanks for another great "vacation", from my office chair. The best kind, I don't have to do the walking.

Trip Report Movin' In? Two Weeks in the World!

ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

Figgy1

Well-Known Member

MinnieM123

FlaggNL

Well-Known Member

ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

betty rose

Well-Known Member

ajrwdwgirl

Figgy1

Well-Known Member

betty rose

Well-Known Member

ajrwdwgirl

betty rose

Well-Known Member