Day 5 - Hollywood Studios

Ok, so I'll admit. I think I left the writing of this too long. Things are starting to get blurry. But, I do know we went to Hollywood Studios today. As we arrived, we saw the confetti falling from Rope Drop. Darn, we missed it.

After getting into the park, we went straight for Toy Story Mania, just like everyone else. The FastPass line took about 10 minutes to get to the front, where there were actually CMs manning the FP machines. It was the first time I'd ever seen that. So, we got our FPs, for around 2:00ish. Not too shabby.

After this, we wandered. A lot. I think we did Tower of Terror a couple of times, as well as Rock'n'Roller Coaster. ToT was awesome, as always (although one of the Bellhops we had was a bit lacking), and RnR was better than we remembered. We stopped and watched one of the street shows, and we did a lot of checking out shops (Villains in Vogue being one of my favourite shops at Disney), including the right hand side of shops (facing ToT) that we'd never wandered through. We saw Muppet Vision 3D, still one of my favourite shows at Disney, and checked out the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area that Rin had never seen.

Once it was time for our FastPass for TSM, we went over, and still waited for about 15 minutes. We enjoyed TSM, more than we enjoyed Buzz Lightyear the next day, but it wouldn't have been worth the huge wait in Standby, in our opinions. I destroyed Rin during the first couple of rounds, but she started to come back in the middle and near the end. I still won, although we were nowhere close to the high scores of the day. I'm glad we finally got to TSM, but I don't think I'd do the 'running of the bulls' just to get a FastPass for it, nor would I ever wait in Standby, if the lines remain as long as they are.

Eventually we had lunch at Mama Melrose's. The wait was surprisingly long, but once we were in, we had seats in an area we'd never been in before, which was nice. I think this is the only restaurant we've now eaten at every time we've been to Disney. Oh, except Tusker House.

Rin and I split the Crispy Calamari for Two as an appetizer. This calamari was delicious, and it came with marinara for dipping. I love marinara with calamari. It was nicely crisped, not too fishy tasting, and it was all rings, which is a huge plus in my book. Sorry Narcoossee's, but you just had your ass handed to you by a 1 Credit theme park restaurant. One thing I should mention is that last time we were here, they let us have 2 "For Two" appetizers on the Deluxe Plan, and this time we were limited to one. Which was fine, since last time it was too much food.

For our mains, I had the Carne D'Italia Flatbread. It was good, not Via Napoli good, but still wood fired with a thin crust. I'm not a fan of Italian Sausage, so I should have asked for it without it, but I didn't think of that. It threw things off a bit, but I just wound up taking most of it off.

Rin had the Oven-Baked Chicken alla Parmigiana. She feels that it wasn't as good as the first time she had it, but still good. It was served over spaghetti, which was decent, but nothing spectacular. She had been looking forward to the mushroom ravioli she had last trip, but they no longer serve it. I think that may have marred her visit a bit.

For dessert, I had the Chocolate Cannoli Cake and Rin had the Spumoni Gelato. The Cannoli Cake was ridiculously good. I went in not knowing what to expect, and I was pleasantly surprised. I can't remember it well enough to say any more than that though. The Spumoni Gelato was actually a scoop of Pistachio, a scoop of Chocolate and a scoop of Vanilla. Rin said it was good, but really, just ice cream.

Final Thoughts

Am I Glad I Ate Here? -Yes. It's nothing great, but we know what we're getting, and we've yet to be disappointed.

Would I Go Back? - Yes. Unless they open something new at Hollywood Studios, then we might try it instead.

Rating:   Me - 7/10

               Rin - 7.5/10

Cost - $64.36

Once we finished at Mama Melrose, we wandered some more, did Star Tours (which we still enjoyed, but I think the first 'tour' we had was better), and we hit up Great Movie Ride. As we were in line, I started telling Rin about the two different sides of the ride, the Gangster side and the Cowboy side. Up until this point, neither of us had seen the Cowboy scene, and we figured since it was fairly dead that day, we still wouldn't. Well, we were wrong. I have to say, I probably enjoyed the Cowboy side more than the Gangster side. I feel that there were more explosions and pyrotechnics, which was nice. I feel like they've updated the little film at the end too, it seemed like there were more recent movies than past trips.

And then, more wandering. I'm not sure exactly how this happened, but as we were going to different stands to get a glass of water, we started counting our steps between garbage cans. For about 10 minutes, the only way we went anywhere was by walking from garbage can to garbage can. Why, you may ask? We had heard some trivia that, while Walt was a greeter at Disneyland, he observed that people would only walk a certain number of steps before dropping garbage (something like 25 paces). I don't think we ever got above 18 paces. It was kind of neat to see that it was really true.

Following the garbage cans eventually brought us to Starring Rolls, and I had seen one of their Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes earlier in the day. Or trip, one of the two. So we went in, I grabbed a cupcake, and the CM behind the counter gave Rin a chocolate dipped Mickey sugar cookie for her birthday. Score. The cupcake was really good, and counted as a snack on our plan. The cupcake itself was chocolate, and it was the icing that had the peanut butter mixed in. Since it wasn't pure peanut butter (it was mixed with chocolate), it wasn't too thick. My only qualm was the chocolate 'shavings' on top. They were a bit large, and made the cupcake hard to eat. Oh, and a glass of milk would have been nice.

Then, on to get Rin a snack. Since I'd shown her the Cake Pops on the Disney Food Blog, she wanted one (Cake, Marshmallows for Mickey Ears, all dipped in White or Milk Chocolate). We headed to the candy store connected to Villains in Vogue (I'm not actually sure of the name) and took a look at what they had. Unfortunately, Rin wanted a Red Velvet Pop dipped in Chocolate with White Chocolate Drizzle, which they had earlier in the day. When we went back, they didn't have any. Since she had her heart set on Red Velvet, we went with one dipped in White Chocolate, coated with Orange 'Sugar Sprinkles.' It was good, but I'm not a Red Velvet fan, and the White Chocolate was a bit overpowering. Rin said it was very rich as well, and that the cake was very dense. I think Red Velvet cake is just naturally dense. Personally, I think we should have gone with Marble Cake, without White Chocolate.

At this point, we decided to head back to ToT. We rode once, and there was no line, so we went back on. We were now at 4 rides for the day. We decided to beat our max, which was 6. So we did. Then we had done 4 in a row, and our max in a row was 5, so we beat that too. So, when we had ridden 6 times in a row, we were at 8 total for the day. So we did two more rides to make it an even 10. The CMs were quite amused, and the guy in front seemed sad when we finally passed without hopping back in line. Oh! I almost forgot. Around the 3rd or 4th ride, we decided to do a picture of some kind. So, we figured we'd grab a map, and go down looking at the map, planning the rest of our day. The picture turned out quite nicely, and if I ever get around to adding pictures, I'll try to remember to scan it and put it up too.

Now, it was time to head to our ADR at Artist Point. As we were leaving, we were stopped for our first ever park survey (we'd done a transportation survey, but never an actual park survey). He thought it was hilarious that we did Tower of Terror 10 times. I think I know how they choose their participants now. They zoom in on the people smiling as they leave, to keep their numbers up. Because we were grinning like fools after our 8 rides on ToT. I think we also did three in a row on RnR, but it might have been once and then twice in a row later.

So we got to Artist Point, and I had really been looking forward to this meal, really only due to the Char-grilled Buffalo Striploin Steak. I honestly wasn't overly thrilled with the rest of the menu, but the buffalo was enough to convince me to try the restaurant.

To start, I had the Smokey Portabello Soup. I was pleasantly surprised with this. It was really good, not too mushroom-y, with enough smoke to add almost a bacon flavour. I almost want to say I would go back just for this soup.

Rin had Crab Cakes. She felt that they were "a little spicy, but good." Seriously, that's all she gave me.

We both decided to have the Buffalo for our mains. I was... well... underwhelmed to say the least. Honestly, it tasted like beef. Like any old cut of steak I could have had anywhere else. It wasn't bad, but it really wasn't that good. Definitely not $43.00 good. Rin felt exactly the same.

When dessert came, I felt like the Chocolate Indulgence would be a good choice. For those of you that haven't noticed, I'm a big chocolate fan. And the most I can say about this, is that I don't remember it. I looked at the description on AllEars, and nothing sprang to mind. I'll have to find the pictures, but right now, I've got nothing (Kind of sad, considering it cost $11.00). Rin, on the other hand, loved her dessert. She had the Cobbler with Seasonal Berries, and the waiter brought her a cupcake too. She never ate the cupcake, only had some icing off of it, but said the icing was good. The Cobbler came out nice and hot, and came out with ice cream (she thinks it was berry flavoured as well), and the cold of the ice cream and heat of the cobbler offset each other nicely.

Final Thoughts

Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes and no. Rin enjoyed it, and so did I to some extent, but there was just something lacking. It seemed almost as if we were being overlooked for the table next to us, who were all ordering expensive Ports and Wines.

Would I Go Back? - No, probably not. Looking at the menu, there's nothing else that really appeals to me, and the Buffalo just wasn't good enough to warrant a second visit.

Rating:   Me - 6/10

               Rin - 8/10

Cost - $146.95

Well, that's it for this report. We finished at Artist Point around 9:00, according to my receipt, but I can't remember anything else we did that night. We may have gone to Downtown Disney, or just back to the Resort, I can't remember. Either way, tomorrow is the day many of you have been waiting for. Rin's birthday. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Trip Report Day 4 - Crystal Palace, Blizzard Beach & MNSSHP

We had an early breakfast this morning at Crystal Palace, and I think we got in before the park opened. It was kind of nice wandering down Main St with so few people, and we got a couple of nice pictures out of the whole thing.

The breakfast was good, as we remembered, but like Tusker House, it’s a basic buffet, so nothing much to say about it. Oh, apart from the fact that I tried the Puffed French Toast for the first time. It was good, but Mickey Waffles are still the king for me.

Final Thoughts

Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes. Rin loves the Winnie the Pooh characters, and aside from Peter Pan, they’re her favourites in the park. Plus, we know what we’re getting, which is nice.

Would I Go Back? - Yes, if we continue to do Character Breakfasts.

Rating:   Me - 8/10

               Rin - 7.5/10

Cost - $45.98

After breakfast, we decided that since we’d been here a good chunk yesterday, and since we’d be back on the 4th, we’d go to Blizzard Beach. I’d been hoping to get to a water park since our first trip, and I finally made it to one.

First off, we should have just left everything in the car (shirts, shoes, etc)and not bothered with lockers. But then, I’m not sure how I would have felt walking through the parking lot with no shoes.

First thing on the list (for me) was Summit Plummet. We walked all the way up the stairs, we got up there, then decided to do Teamboat Springs instead, since Rin wouldn’t go down any of the others. Teamboat Springs was quite enjoyable, although I would have been ok with it being a touch faster.

Next up, we did Runoff Rapids. I thought that this would be fine, since Rin would be in a raft with me. I knew it emptied into a pool at the end, but for some reason, Rin didn’t realize that. So, we went down, and it was faster than Teamboat Springs, which we both really enjoyed. Then we hit the pool at the bottom, and Rin freaked out. She kicked, and wound up scraping her toes on the bottom of the pool. That was basically the end of the day for her.

I still hadn’t done Summit Plummet, so I went on that while Rin waited at the bottom. I forgot how much fun these slides are, but since Rin was stuck waiting, I didn’t want to take the time to do it again. We then did the Cross Country Creek (lazy river) for a while. It was enjoyable, but not as fun (imo) as Roa Rapids at Aquatica. It was a nice touch that the ‘melted snow’ coming off of the one mountain was actually ridiculously cold. We heard a lot of screams as people went under it.

After we did a full round of the river, we hit Meltaway Bay (the wave pool) for a few minutes. I liked that there were tubes available, and we both jumped on one of them. It was nice to just bob around on the waves. Rin got stuck in her tube when I grabbed her as the surf was pushing us ashore. The tube got stuck on the bottom of the pool, and Rin was in it in such a way that she couldn’t get out. Guys, don’t do what I did; she wasn’t happy with me for a while after that.

At this point, it was almost time to head out. We had a late lunch ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe. But I really wanted to do one more slide, so I went in search of one. Really, I just didn’t want to leave. I love water, and this is the first water park I’d been to since 2008, so I was trying to make the most of it. 

After wandering, I finally found the slide I wanted to do. I can't remember the name of it, but it was a tube slide where you 'race' someone on the slide next to you. The line didn't seem long, but it took forever, close to an hour to do it. The slide was good, but not worth the amount of time I waited for it.

So now, it was time to head out. After all, we had to make our ADR. So off we went to WCC. When we got there, we were told the kitchen was closed. Well crap. They suggested the Quick Service place, but we figured we'd just head back to AKL, snag a couple of snacks from the Lounge, and get ready for tonight. Because tonight was Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Yay!

When it came down to it, it was probably good that we missed our ADR. We wound up heading to a nearby Target to grab some temporary hair dye for my beard before going back to AKL. When we were finally ready (I should say 'I was finally ready' since it took me longer than Rin), it was around 6:00pm. So we did one final stop at the Lounge to get more water (and were told by the staff that we should have been filling our bottle with rum) and a couple of snacks, then we were off to Magic Kingdom, as Captain Jack Sparrow, and Pirate King Elizabeth Turner.

We wound up getting there just before the Party officially started, and we made our way immediately toward Splash Mountain to get our pictures taken with the Seven Dwarfs. The line was massive, but didn't take too long, maybe an hour or so. During this time, Rin grabbed some popcorn, I did Brer Rabbit's Laughing Place Candy Trail, and we talked to some people around us. I got a few comments on my costume, which was nice, and finally, pictures with the Dwarfs.

After that, we did Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I decided to try to sit in front of Rin since the line was so short and get a couple of pictures of her. Unfortunately, it was so dark the pictures didn't turn out well, and I think I pissed off a woman a few seats back. Sorry if that was any of you. We didn't realize this until later in the evening, but Rin left the full bag of candy we had on the ride. Hopefully a kid found it, and it made his or her day.

Otherwise, we mostly wandered and did a few rides. We hit Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain (the ride picture was of my arm in front of my face, since I was holding on to my hat - Jack can't loose his hat), Mickey's PhilharMagic, etc, etc. Oh, and Haunted Mansion.

If you're ever at MNSSHP and you only have time to do one ride (for some strange reason), make sure you do Haunted Mansion. Or at least go over to see it. They had 'ghosts' on the lawn conversing with each other, and with guests in line, as well as a few other things I'd never experienced before. It was kind of awesome.

At some point, we decided that I'd lost my ship, and the entire night was a search for it. We asked everyone we came across if they'd seen my ship. The Cast Members all played along, and Prince Phillip, who I talked to while Aurora and Rin talked, before getting our picture, was very concerned about my lost ship, and told me that if he heard anything, he would find me straight away. I never did hear form him...

So, in our search for my ship, we decided to head to Pirates of the Caribbean. And why not stop to get a picture with myself. Wow, this was a line to almost rival the Seven Dwarfs. So I told everyone that I had arrived, and that pictures could be taken with me. I couldn't understand why everyone was lined up to get pictures with an impostor. By the time we finally got to the front, the people behind us mentioned that they should have just taken a picture with me. Apparently they thought I had the better costume. We had a nice conversation with 'other Jack,' although he didn't know who Rin was (we think maybe he hasn't been watching his own movies), he complimented me on my choice of wardrobe and hairstylist, and we were on our way.

We literally walked onto Pirates of the Caribbean, and when we got to the front, I demanded my ship. The Cast Member asked how many, I said that one ship would suffice. Rin hit me and said there were two of us. Oh, yeah, how many in the party. Oops.

As we were coming off of Pirates, we got a quick picture in front of the sign, then we heard the parade in the distance. So, we ran to Main St in order to get in front of it. Surprisingly, we still got a pretty good spot, but we never did see the Headless Horseman, if he even still leads the parade. I think I enjoyed this parade more than the usual one, especially the Haunted Mansion part with the grave diggers.

Somewhere in here we saw HalloWishes as well. I think it was actually before the parade, and maybe even before seeing that imposter Sparrow fellow, but it's getting put in here. I really enjoyed this version of Wishes, but somehow it just didn't seem as good as regular Wishes. That said, I basically just sat there with my finger on the camera's shutter button. I think by the end of the show, the camera may have been smoking.

As we were walking away to do some more stuff, a lady speaking Spanish was trying to get my attention. I thought I was in her way of a picture, so I moved back, but she motioned for me to go back where I was. Turned out she wanted a picture of me in costume. That made Rin ecstatic, since she made the costume and all.

By this point, we were starving, so we headed to the only place that still seemed to be open, Cosmic Ray's. The guy behind the counter loved our costumes, and we talked to him for a few minutes while we waited for our food. We both had a Coke, burger & fries, and bottles of water for 'dessert.' The fries were acceptable, but the burgers were just lousy. They were very dry, and really not very flavourful. I think the thing I liked most about eating here was the chance to take of my coat and hat and cool off a bit.

Final Thoughts

Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Nope. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to eat, I just think I could have made a better meal of random things from the Bakery or Confectionery.

Would I Go Back? - No. But then, I said that the first time we ever ate here too.

Rating:   Me - 4/10

               Rin -5/10

Cost -I'm not sure, I can't find our receipt...

As the park was closing, we managed to jump on a couple more rides, and wound up way back in Frontierland at closing time. We meandered toward the front of the park, getting some pictures, then hang out outside of Casey's and waited for the park to drain. I actually had a plan here, to wait for the Kiss Goodnight. I even asked a Cast Member if they still did it on Party Nights, and was assured that they did. So we waited. We got a couple PhotoPass pictures in front of the Castle, and after the park cleared, I got a few ground level pictures up and down Main St while it still had the cool MNSSHP lighting.

Eventually, I decided to ask another CM about the Kiss Goodnight. Turns out the first CM was incorrect, so we headed to the front of the park, and got a couple of pictures with the pumpkin 'frame' around the Castle. As we were doing this, a CM came by and started talking to us about different things, showed us the statue of Roy and Minnie (which had been moved, she seemed very startled by this), and very expertly led us to the exit without us even really noticing. Well trained, those CMs.

As we were leaving, I thought we had lost our lens cap for the camera. I knew where it would be, so a CM escorted me in, pointed me toward the people to talk to, then wandered away. I was no more than 5 feet out from the tunnel when a manager was there asking if I needed anything. The park was completely cleared at this point, so I wasn't supposed to be there. I told him what happened, he radioed his people in that area, and they had found nothing. No big deal, lens caps are only about $10 (and it turned out we found it later). I'm glad I had the experience of wandering back in after the park had been cleared though. It was kind of neat, seeing all of the management type CMs making a barrier around the Main St Hub.

So off to the ferry we went. It was about 1:30am at this point, and the park had closed at midnight. The place was dead. As we were let onto the ferry, we heard the captain over the loudspeaker saying "You just let two pirates on?! Great, we're all gonna die." We were literally the only two non-CMs on the boat, so things were done a little differently for this ride. No safety announcements, no formality, just a nice, leisurely ride. I wandered up onto the top deck, and the Captain said hello - again, over the loudspeaker - and when I wandered back down, the CM that was actually working (the other two were just passengers getting off shift) gave us some ferry cards and stickers, and congratulated us for being the last people in Magic Kingdom that night. I have to say, times like tonight are probably one of my favourite times at Disney, when you get to see all of the unexpected stuff that you don't really realize happens.

I think by the time we got back to AKL, it was around 2:00am, and I was still covered in makeup. This was easily the latest night of our trip. But, no rest for the wicked. The next day was Hollywood Studios, and we wanted to be there early enough to get Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania.

Trip Report Day 3 - Magic Kingdom & Epcot

Today was October 1st. For those of you who don’t know, Magic Kingdom opened on October 1st, 1971. That meant that today, Magic Kingdom turned 40. So, where did we go? Hollywood Studios, to avoid the crowds. Well, if we were sensible we would have.

Off to Magic Kingdom, after first emptying another bottle of water from the Lounge, and getting some pastries too. We were in fairly early (minutes after Rope Drop) and there were people handing out 40th Anniversary Pins. Score. We wandered up Main St, and there were already people lining the street for the procession that would be happening, in about 1 hour.

We didn’t care so much about the procession, so we wandered toward the Castle where we would be able to watch the announcement. It was packed, so we wound up on the bridge between the Hub and Liberty Square. The announcement was fun, with the Disney Ambassadors giving speeches, the Main St Philharmonic and the Dapper Dans both performing, and Phil Holmes, the Vice-President of Magic Kingdom and original Haunted Mansion ticket taker giving a speech. There were also streamers and daytime fireworks, as well as a special edition of Wishes that night, which we didn’t get to see. Finally, there were artist signings throughout MK the whole day. Rumour had it that MK almost closed due to capacity.

We then wandered around for a bit and stopped in a shop to see the 40th Anniversary Merchandise. We found some 40th Anniversary shot glasses (or ‘Toothpick Holders’ as Disney classifies them) for Rin with the original posters for the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Splash Mountain, as well as Cinderella’s Castle made up of various Disney images.

Despite the talks of closing due to capacity and whatnot, the park seemed fairly quiet, and we quickly got onto Peter Pan, tried to pull out the Sword in the Stone (neither of us succeeded), met the Fairy Godmother, got some pictures of Cinderella’s Fountain, saw a group performing on Main St (I’m not actually sure what group it was), got pictures of Roy and Minnie’s statue/bench, and got some more miscellaneous pictures before hopping on the monorail to Epcot. All before our ADR at Via Napoli.

Once we got to Epcot, we immediately got Fast Passes for Soarin’, since we’d never yet been on the ride. Then off to Via Napoli. Our waiter was Ivan, a little hard to understand, but a nice guy. We both got a Coke and water, and we split an order of Arancini, and an order of Salami e Provolone.

For those of you unfamiliar with Arancini, they’re little balls of risotto, usually with cheese and some type of meat, then fried. These were filled with saffron risotto, mozarella and (as stated on the menu) a meat ragu (which is redundant, since ragu refers to a meat-based sauce). They were served with marinara, for dipping, and were delicious.

The Salami e Provolone was just that, a small plate of salami and provolone cheese. The salami was among the best I’ve ever tasted, but I don’t generally like cheese (unless it’s melted), so I left that for Rin. She found it a bit strong, but I suppose that’s to be expected with provolone.

Next up, we each had pizza. I had a basic Pepperoni pizza, and Rin had Prosciutto e Melone. The waiter thought at first that there was an issue with the melon, so he went to check, and quickly came back to let us know that all was well.

Oh my, this pizza was some of the best I’ve ever had. It had a nice amount of blackening, the mozzarella was fresh, the pepperoni was crisp and delicious, and there was a nice amount of sauce. Rin’s pizza was a white pizza, that is, it had no sauce. She fell in love. She’d had pizzas with prosciutto before, but usually done with apple, which doesn’t quite cut the saltiness of prosciutto. She said that it was perfect with the melon, but unfortunately, couldn’t finish it, there was just too much of it. You can’t believe how sad she was.

Oh, and for the record, we asked Ivan about the pizza from the take-out window. He confirmed that it’s not even close to the same pizza. Different dough, different cheese, different ovens. If you want the real thing, head into the restaurant.

Oh, and dessert. I had a type of sundae. I don’t have the full name of it, but it translated loosely to ‘Cup of Ugly but Good.’ I didn’t find it that ugly, but it was indeed tasty. Rin had tiramisu, and figured she wouldn’t eat much since she was so full. It was so light, she finished the whole thing. And it was quite large. (I keep thinking of inappropriate jokes. Bad Zife.)


Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - God yes, so tasty. And a lot of fun talking to the Cast Members about their homes.
Would I Go Back? - Yes. In fact, just writing this, I want to go to Piatta, a similar place (although not quite as good) here in town.
Rating:  Me - 9/10
                Rin - 9/10
Cost - $77.75

After our lovely lunch at Via Napoli, we noticed a street performance going on, so we stopped to watch. This was a bad idea. I quickly became part of the performance as one of the ladies' husbands, while a wedding was going on. I was a bit confused, since we didn't see the start, but apparently I was supposed to cry. I was laughing uncontrollably at this point, so there wasn't much crying. It was fun though, and one of the other ladies thought I was cute. Bonus.

After my spectacular performance, we headed to the front to see if we could ‘package check’ Rin’s leftover pizza. Turns out that they will only check things purchased from stores, restaurants don’t count. We (well, I) didn’t want to carry it around for the rest of the day, so I tossed it into the garbage while Rin looked the other way and sobbed.

It was around this time that our FastPass for Soarin’ came due, so we headed to it. There was still a bit of a wait, but not much. This was our first time on Soarin’, and we were in the back ‘row’ of seats. I’m not sure if the effect is better in other rows, but I have to say, I was thoroughly unimpressed. It just didn’t feel as immersive as people say it does, and the fact that it just cut from scene to scene instead of somehow transitioning didn’t help. Oh, and the giant streaks down the left side (maybe from dirty or old film?) didn’t help much either. Oh well, at least we had the chance to try it.

We wandered around a bit more, checked out some shops (not once did I make it into Karamelle Kuche!) and then wandered to Test Track. I was really hoping this was better than I remembered. So was Rin. We both came off underwhelmed, again.

Honestly, I can’t remember what we did the rest of the day, but eventually we came to our ADR for Le Cellier. I’d been wanting to try this place since our first trip, and the chance finally came. Our ‘Authentic Canadian Waitress’ was Katrina, and she didn’t give us nearly the history of the restaurant that some of the other wait staff gave their diners, but she was knowledgeable, and mostly attentive.

Rin and I both had shakes to drink, mine was a basic Chocolate, and hers was a more daring Chocolate Raspberry. These were good, more like the shakes that we had expected at Narcoossee’s, and bigger than they looked too. They both lasted through the entire meal, and I most definitely was not sipping mine. However, I should mention that Rin said she got tired of hers about halfway through.

To start, I decided to try something I’d never had before - Steak Tartar. It was actually quite good, but I couldn’t get past the fact that I was eating cold meat. see, I can’t even eat cold pizza. Foods that should be hot should be hot, foods that should be cold should be cold. But, like I said, it was good, and I ate probably half of it. It had a ‘Hot Spring Egg’ (essentially a poached egg) cracked over the top which was good too. Surprising, since I don’t eat eggs.

Rin had the famous Cheese Soup, and we both really enjoyed it. I didn’t want to order it, since again, I’m not a huge cheese fan, but I kind of wish I had ordered this instead of the steak tartar (although I am glad I can say I’ve tried steak tartar now). We had saved a bit of bread for dipping, which was nice, but not the be all, end all that some people make it out to be. In fact, we found the bread selection to be good, but nothing special.

For our mains, since we were in a steak house, we both had steak. Rin had the Mushroom Filet Mignon (Le Cellier's Signature) and I had the Grilled Bone-In Ribeye. We were both underwhelmed, given all of the hype, but that’s not to say we weren’t happy. The steaks were both done properly, they were tasty, and they filled us up. I just think we’ve had better.

Finally, dessert. I had really been looking forward to the 'Chocolate Moose' they had, or the 'S'mores' type dessert. Unfortunately, neither were on the menu anymore, so I went with a Sorbet Trio. It was ok, a lot like the one Rin had at Yak & Yeti. By the end, I had mixed it all together, and it was a mess of colours. I'm sure that when the waitress came by, she assumed that the 5-year old behind us had somehow gotten into my dessert.

Rin had the Maple Crème Brûlée. Now, ever since our last trip to Disney, Rin has fallen in love with crème brûlée. So, she likes to try it any time she can. We've had really good crème brûlée, and really bad crème brûlée (sidenote: I think the best we ever had was at a tiny restaurant here in St. John's called Get Stuffed). This crème brûlée was just good, nothing spectacular. The maple flavour was nice, and not overpowering, but the sugar 'shell' on top wasn't as crisp as it should have been. In fact, there was no shell on about half of the crème brûlée. As a plus, there were some fresh raspberries on top, which were quite tasty.


Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes. I've been hearing about Le Cellier for years, and I'm glad I finally got a chance to try it.
Would I Go Back? - Probably not. We enjoyed it, but for the cost (well, for the 2 Credits), we feel that we enjoyed Yachtsman, as a steakhouse, much better, and that there are even better overall restaurants at Disney.
Rating:  Me - 7/10
                Rin - 7/10
Cost - $142.05

This basically concluded our day at Epcot. By the time we left the restaurant, IllumiNations was going full swing, and we didn't want to fight the crowds while trying to leave, so we watched a bit as we walked toward the entrance. As we walked, we could hear the 40th Anniversary Wishes off in the distance. We so wanted to be there for these, but unfortunately, we hadn't considered the timing when making our ADRs. Oh well, we'll just have to go back for the 50th Anniversary.

Once we left Epcot, I think we basically just headed back to the Resort and called it a night.

Trip Report Day 2 - Animal Kingdom & DisneyQuest

Today was Animal Kingdom. We got up early, headed to the Lounge, and almost emptied one of the bottles of water, since we filled our travel bottle with it. Then it was off to Tusker House for Breakfast.
 
As many of you know, this is my favourite of the Character Meals. Today didn`t disappoint, we got pictures with all of the characters, the food was good, we didn`t feel rushed, and we finished just as the last character (Daisy, I think) came around. Plus, Rin got a birthday cupcake. Yay!
 
Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes. Simply, yes.
Would I Go Back? - Again, yes. Although it has gone slightly downhill from last visit.
Rating:    Me -  8/10
                 Rin - 8.5/10
Cost - $55.45
 
We did several things at AK, but I can’t remember the exact order. We hit up Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Dinosaur, Kali River Rapids, Rafiki’s Planet Watch and Panganii Forest Exploration Trail.
 
On Kilimanjaro, we were right in front, and the driver immediately noticed Rin’s birthday pin. She had the whole truck wish her a happy birthday. Also, the shaking bridge effect wasn’t working. I’m not sure if it was down, or if we were running too ahead/behind to experience it.
 
On Dinosaur, Rin kept her eyes closed basically the entire time. We both got a kick out of Bill Nye narrating the beginning, then Hodgins from CSI being the scientist.
 
Rafiki’s Planet Watch was interesting, and we really enjoyed Affection Section, the petting zoo area. The donkey was quite vocal for a few minutes while we were there. We also got to meet Jiminy Cricket in the building near Affection Section. And a rather small corn snake that Rin wouldn`t go near. In fact, as we passed it, she almost broke my hand from gripping it so hard. She later told me that even though she was apparently terrified, she had the urge to touch it. There's something wrong with that woman.
 
Today, we ate lunch at Yak & Yeti. This restaurant is most definitely not Disney owned. They even have pamphlets in the lobby area about their other restaurants and their loyalty card. Rin got a Mango Iced Tea to drink, and I had a Berry Cherry Limeade. Turns out the Berry Cherry wasn’t included with the Dining Plan, but our waiter was sure to tell me that when I ordered. I went ahead with it anyway. I wish I hadn’t. It really wasn’t good, at all. Rin also wished she hadn’t gotten the tea (she works in a tea store now, so she can't stand bad tea), so she switched to Coke.
 
The one appetizer we both really wanted was the Dim Sum Basket for Two. This wasn’t included either. So I got the Thai Chicken Chili Wings. They were messy, but I wish I could have just made these into a meal. They were covered in sauce, but they were still crispy, and the flavour had pervaded not only the sauce, but also the breading and chicken itself. So good.
 
Rin had the Pot Stickers. The menu said they could be pan seared or steamed, but our waiter never asked which she wanted. We’re not really sure how they were prepared. They seemed to have sear marks, but looked and tasted steamed, as though they weren’t fully cooked. She wasn’t as happy with her choice as I was with mine.
 
When we ordered our mains, I was torn between the Crispy Honey Chicken and the Bourbon Chicken, so I asked our waiter about them. My answer was along the lines of “They’re the same chicken and both sauces are sweet.” I went with the Honey Chicken, but I think I made the wrong choice. It wasn’t actually crispy, and the sauce was just too overpowering.
 
Rin loves Beef and Broccoli, so that’s what she got here. She too was disappointed. The sauce didn’t quite seem right, and the beef was thicker than she’s used to. It had an odd texture to it as well, as though they were using low quality beef, or possibly stewing beef.
 
Then, dessert. I had the Chocolate Pudding Cake. I expected something like a lava cake, with a sauce in the middle. This was so much better. It was just regular layer cake, but it was all made with pudding ingredients mixed in. So rich, I actually wasn’t able to finish it. But it was so good. Rin had the Sorbet Trio of lemon, raspberry and mango. She really liked it, and thought that the lemon was the best. It tasted just like frozen lemonade.
 
Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes and no. Those wings were seriously amazing, and the dessert was good. But everything else, including the service was mediocre.
Would I Go Back? - Um. I think I would. I wasn’t too happy with my main, nor was Rin, but there are several other items that we’d both like to try. Plus the apps and desserts made up for the mains. Rating:  Me - 6/10               Rin - 5/10
Cost - $79.28
 
After we were done at AK later that day, we headed over to Downtown Disney. We basically went straight to Raglan Road, no time to look around beforehand. Unfortunately I lost my receipt on this one, but I remember what we got, just might not have the cost right.
 
Our waiter was great. I think his name was Joe, from somewhere in New York. Sadly, not Irish. But amazing, easily one of the most hospitable servers we had on the trip. He explained everything to us, and again, the appetizer platter we wanted wasn’t included in the Dining Plan. So I got the Drunk Chicken (after being assured by Joe that it didn’t taste like whisky) and Rin had the Scallop Tart.
 
My chicken was very good, and not only did it not taste like whisky, I could barely taste the Dalkey Honey Mustard sauce, which was nice, since I’m not a mustard fan. Rin had a foodgasm (yes, a foodgasm, look it up) when she tried her Scallop Tart. I tried it myself, and even I have to admit, it wasn’t bad. And I don’t like seafood. It was huge too, and she liked it so much, she finished the whole thing.
 
When our mains were brought out, they were brought by Jonathan, an authentic Irishman. When he spoke, Rin... well... this is a family place, so I’ll leave that one to your imagination.
 
I had the Burger’R’Way, which was quite tasty. And I just realized I forgot to include this one in my ‘Burger Report’ post. Sorry Chinners. Interestingly enough, it was topped with Canadian bacon as opposed to regular bacon. Nothing wrong with that, I was just surprised.
 
Rin had the Fish and Chips. They came out in an interesting dish, reminiscent of how you’d get it all wrapped in newspaper in England. She enjoyed it, the chips were a bit of a letdown though. The fish was good, but nothing to write home about.
 
On to dessert. This is probably the reason we ate here. Rin really wanted Ger’s Bread & Butter Pudding. She almost died, it was so big. And delicious. The people at the table next to us actually commented, and waited for her to try it just to see her reaction. It didn’t disappoint. It was possibly better than the Scallop Tart, but so big she couldn’t finish it. So we took it back to the room, but again, I don’t think she ever ate anymore because of all of the other food. I think there's a trend beginning here...
 
I had the Dunbrody Kiss. Like the description said, it was chocolaty. And good. Maybe a bit too dark. But I can’t remember much more than that.
 
Final Thoughts  
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes. I failed to mention the entertainment, but there was a band and dancers as well. The dancers were blocked by a pole, but the band was good. The food, service and entertainment all combined to create a venue that will likely be a regular spot for us in the future.
Would I Go Back? - Yes. In a heartbeat.
Rating:    Me - 8/10                 Rin - 8.5/10 Cost - $74.55
 
After dinner, we headed over to DisneyQuest for a bit. We played air hockey (which Rin destroyed me at both games) and Guitar Hero (where I gained back some of my manliness). We did the (new?) Comix VR game, where I placed first and Rin placed second (in a group of 5). We tried the Aliens game, which we both sucked at. And finally, we did two rounds out the Buzz Lightyear thing. Rin drove first, and we got some good shots in, although I’m not sure we actually hit anyone. Then when I drove, we spent the whole time spinning, since we could never get away from anyone. In think we yelled far too much those two rounds, we both came off a bit hoarse. At this point, DQ was shutting down, so we went back to the room for some sleep.

Trip Report Day 1 - Arrival & Hollywood Studios

First off, I should note that we woke up at the ridiculous time of 3:00am NDT (that’s 1:30am Florida time). Why do I mention this? I think it may have coloured my impressions for late in the day, particularly the supper at Narcoossee’s.

Oh, I should also mention that my Trip Reports are likely going to be ridiculously long, detailed, and possibly boring. I’ll try to through in some humour though. You’ve been warned.

Our flight was on Air Canada, departing at 5:50am, connecting through Montreal (and some Burger King breakfast), and on to arrive at MCO at 12:10pm. The flight was uneventful, I slept a bit, Rin slept a lot, and I watched Super 8 (which I enjoyed) as well as part of Green Lantern.

Some of you may know that we had planned on doing the Archery Experience shortly after we arrived, but we felt the expense was unneeded, and we didn’t want to have to rush out of the airport. So once we arrived, it was a leisurely stroll to baggage, on to the Alamo Electronic Kiosks (which were amazingly fast, point to Alamo) and on to the garage. Here, I left Rin with all of the luggage at the front of the garage, and went skipping (yes, I skipped, real men skip) through the row of cars to find the one I wanted. After jumping in and out of every car there, I finally found two I liked, at the very end of the row. I was going between a Mazda 3 and a Hyundai Elantra. While I think the Mazda would have been more fun to drive, I went with the Elantra, since it had XM Satellite Radio, and I love AltNation.

So I waved Rin to come down, and she just stood there. I waved again, she waved back. Oh yeah, the luggage. So I sprinted back to her, and told her to hurry since I didn’t want anyone to take our car. She asked why I didn’t just grab the keys. I didn’t have an answer to that. Still don’t. So I grabbed the two biggest suitcases and proceeded to sprint back to the car. Sprinting with big suitcases is actually more like jogging...

We left the garage, and it was nice to be back in Florida. Sun, palm trees, warmth. Then we hit the toll roads. I've never understood toll roads. If you don't have money to build a road, don't build it. Simple. The main toll booths are still manned, but we did run across a couple on secondary exits that require exact coins, so be aware of that if you’ll be doing a lot of driving. I even saw a sign for a single exit that was SunPass only, but that was later in the trip, on the way to Tampa. Also, if you’re using a GPS, and it tells you to ‘Keep Left’ at the tolls, like mine did, don’t. The left lanes are all SunPass only.

Now, I’m going to sound a bit stuck up here, but only because I’ve stayed Club Level twice before, and I was expecting the same service. When we arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge, the Security Guard took my ID, gave me my parking pass, and Welcomed me Home. That felt nice, it was the first I’d heard it in almost 3 years. He even radioed ahead to let the attendants know that a Club Level guest was arriving.

We pulled under the porte-cochere, hopped out of the car, and everyone just stood around looking at us. We started getting all of our luggage out, still, everyone stood looking at us. As we started hauling everything in, someone finally approached us, asked if we were the Brandeaus, and offered to escort us to the Lounge for check-in. Not once were we offered Bell Service, nor any help with our luggage.

Once at the Lounge, check-in was a bit of an ordeal. The girl couldn’t figure out how to assign us a room since none were ready (which was understandable, since we were there almost 3 hours before check-in), and once they did figure it all out, they told us we’d have to take our luggage back downstairs to check it with Bell Service. Internally, I almost exploded. I didn’t pay over $400/night to continuously cart my luggage around. Luckily, before the last few things were finalized (and after I’d wandered over to grab some lemonade and a cookie from the food area, yum yum, free food), she corrected herself and offered to have Bell Service come pick up our luggage. We were told we’d get a text when our room was ready.

So, after all was said and done, we decided to explore the resort. Even though we’d stayed here for around 11 nights over the course of 2 trips, we’d never really explored properly. We wandered the lobby, checked out the gift shop a bit (we’d been here many times before for Rin), and wandered out onto the Savannah. My, it was hot. Not just “Oh, we’re in Florida” hot, but “I think we’ve somehow wound up in hell” hot.

But, we had water, sunscreen, and our room wasn’t yet ready, so we sat on a couple of rocking chairs watching the animals, then wandered to other parts of the Savannah. We came across a (relatively new?) female Cast Member by the name of She-Earl (Seriously. We think it might be pronounced like Cheryl.) from South Africa. We talked for a long time, about the animals, about how hot it was (she found the weather to be ridiculous, so it wasn’t just us), about the various parks and the rides in them, and about snacks throughout the World. We probably talked to her for around 2 hours, until I got a text saying our room was ready.

So off to our room. Two Queens instead of the King I had requested, but we were expecting that. AKL really needs more Club Level King Rooms. The one thing I was not expecting was the lack of Welcome/Birthday Package for Rin that has always been given to us for a special occasion (it has a small gift, note and, in this case, Birthday Pin). Strike... um... 3, I think. We got our luggage, unpacked, and I went back up to the Lounge to get scissors and ask about the package for Rin. It turns out they were behind on delivering them, and by the time I got back to the room, she had received it. Yay! They now give a replica Baobob Tree and AKL Pen. I should mention too that Carmen (the woman that I was dealing with at this point, I think I referred to her as Carmella on a 'live' post) was amazing, and made up for any previous issues. She even gave me three roses out of their flower arrangement to give to Rin as a birthday gift. The only problem with Carmen is that she wasn't there the whole time.

After some more messing about the room and the Lodge, including grabbing some of the free appetizers and pop, we headed to Hollywood Studios. Don’t ask me why we went there, we always do Magic Kingdom first. It just kinda happened. (EDIT: I figured it out. MNSSHP was on that night, so if we'd gone to MK, we would've been kicked out shortly) We mostly just wandered, but I think we hit Tower of Terror (a constant favorite), Star Tours (we were both happy with the update) and Rock’n’Roller Coaster (which seemed better than we remembered).

I also had my first true “I’m Home” moment as we walked toward the Sorcerer Mickey Hat from near Toy Story Mania. It was night, so everything was lit up, and something about it just felt right. Rin can attest that I actually held out my arms, and spun around a few times, like you see in cheesey movies.

Oh! I almost forgot. There was a wicked electrical storm going on, and we could see it perfectly from Streets of America. There was some awesome lightning, and I think I got a few good shots on my camera, but I haven’t looked yet to be sure. I forgot how much I missed lightning storms, we never get them here.

Alright, so, onto Narcoossee’s for supper. It was about 9:30pm at this point, so we’d been up for around 20 hours. Our waiter was Amer, from Germany, and Rin and I both really liked him. I’ve been looking forward to this meal since we ate here in 2009. We both ordered Chocolate Milkshakes to drink, but it turned out they’d been changed to Chocolate Smoothies. They were nothing like the fabulous milkshake I had had in 2009, but they were acceptable.

We placed the rest of our orders, and were brought some Sourdough Bread. It was ok, but a little crustier that I’d prefer, and I’m a huge fan of crusty bread. I’m also not a big fan of sourdough.

Then came the appetizers. Rin had the Lump Crab Cakes, and thought they were good, but that she’d had better elsewhere. I had the Rhode Island Calamari, and this is where I think exhaustion caught up to me. Nothing seemed right. First off, I had asked for it with Garlic Toast, which they didn’t do. Second, the calamari had rings and tentacles, and I don’t like the tentacles. Third, it just didn’t taste good. But again, I may have just been over tired.

Next came our mains. I had really wanted the Tanglewood Farms Chicken Breast with Bacon Vinaigrette that was recently taken off the menu. I asked the Club Level concierge to call ahead to request it, but she said it would be best just to ask our server. They didn’t have any Bacon Vinaigrette, so no chicken for me. I had the Grilled Filet Mignon instead, cooked Medium. The menu online says that it comes with Potato Gratin, but mine came with Roasted Potatoes and Vegetables. I can’t remember if I requested that, or if that’s how it comes now. It was ok, but nothing spectacular. I feel that I had much better steak later in the trip.

Rin had the Surf and Turf which she enjoyed. She felt the lobster was quite good, but that she too had better steak later in the trip.

Finally, dessert. We were both full at this point, so got the desserts to go. We never ate them since we were always full from everything else we ate.

Final Thoughts

Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Despite the fact that I was disappointed with the meal, I am glad I ate here. Basically, it gave me closure, and the knowledge that I won’t be going back any time soon. I’ll always treasure my first meal here, but I feel that it’s just not worth it to go back.

Would I Go Back? - Well, again, no. At least, not any time soon.

Rating: Me -  6/10

              Rin - 7.5/10

Cost - $170.81 (Note that we were on the Deluxe Dining Plan, so these costs are just for reference, we didn’t actually pay that much)

After the meal, we were done. Hell, I had had enough of this day in the middle of the meal (I think I may have almost fallen asleep at the table), so we went back to the room, looked at the animals for a few minutes, and slept. Glorious sleep.