Let the Magic Find You - Our October 2011 F&WF TR - Page 9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I hope to be able to just run down to the Boardwalk Bakery on our next trip. hehe Great time at the studios! I love that they have the cars topiaries there. That cookie looked just wonderful! You went on the 2 rides I will never go on, been on TOT once that was enough and I don't do rollercoasters that go upside down. I remember you sending me the picture to guess which queue line you were in and I could not for the life of me figure it out at all. LOL Glad you had so much fun. We will have to check out the Writer's Shop since I had know idea they had pastries, we still have not gone to Starring Rolls either.
Stop kidding around, you know you want to go on ToT with me next time! Glad I'm giving you lots of ideas for pastries places to try next time, hehe!
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With our bellies full of carrot cake cookie, we headed to another item on our “to do” list – exploring Streets of America. While we’ve walked down this way before, we’ve never really taken the time to linger. As you’ll see in the pictures, they’ve already got the lights strung for OFSoL.
This storefront had a Haunted Mansion vibe to us. I realized when editing the picture that you can see our reflection as in the window.
I really enjoyed our time wandering around Streets of New York – I love all the detail they put into it.
As we made our way out of the area we saw the Phineas and Ferb meet and greet. I’m sure DD will be interested in doing this next time!
We stopped in the gift shop that has the Muppet merchandise but they didn’t have anything new for DD. We also popped into the Christmas shop to see if they had the Haunted Mansion figure that DH had wanted so badly last year (but we didn’t have room to take it home). Sadly it wasn’t there.
We looked around at Mama Melrose – I want to eat here someday, it never seems to fit with our plans but it remains on the list.
At this point we had a little over 30 minutes until our lunch ADR at HBD so we decided to go over to Art of Animation and inquire about the drawing classes. There was a class starting at 11:30 but that was cutting it too close to lunch so we thanked the CM and told her we’d be back later.
I thought we had enough time to go through One Man’s Dream so that’s what we did instead.
When we were about a third of the way through the exhibit they started giving a five minute warning for the film to start. DH hadn’t seen the film yet so I told him we should scoot back there and see it and we could always come back later if there was more he wanted to see in the exhibit. I think the movie so well done – parts of it bring tears to my eyes. DH enjoyed it as well.
When the movie was over we were just on time to check in for our lunch ADR so we headed over to the Hollywood Brown Derby. I’ve wanted to eat here for ages and I was so excited to be inside for the first time! I loved the atmosphere in the waiting area – all the caricatures were really cool.
It wasn’t too long at all before we were seated. I practically didn’t need a menu because I knew exactly what I wanted! But it was fun to look anyway.
Our server came over and it turns out he grew up a couple towns away from where we live. Small world! He took our order and promised to be back momentarily with our drinks and warm rolls.
As we were waiting for our appetizers, the skies opened up outside! All I could see was pouring rain and lots of people running in ponchos. We were thankful to be inside at this point! It was a typical quick passing Florida rain and everything was cleared off by the time we were finished with lunch.
Check out the cool light fixtures:
We enjoyed the warm rolls and butter and then our apps arrived. DH ordered spicy sashimi-grade tuna tartare with cucumber, daikon and pepper salad, avocado wasabi sauce, and crisp lotus root chips. I thought the presentation on this was really cool looking:
I ordered the blue lump crab cake with potato crust, green cabbage slaw, cognac-mustard sauce, and rémoulade. Oh my, this was the BEST crab cake I’ve ever had. It didn’t have a lot of filler, which is great, and it was like it was covered in hash browns. Yummy!
While we were waiting for our entrée, one of the character actors came out and started interacting with some of the tables. It was fun to watch but I’m glad he didn’t come to our table because I get kind of uncomfortable about that kind of thing.
For our entrée, we decided to share the Cobb salad. I asked them to leave the dressing on the side and the waiter offered to mix the salad for us at the table but I told him to leave it in sections.
Wow, this is one great salad! Everything was fresh and tasty and it was very filling. They offer these cute little cards with the recipe for the salad and the dressing on the back.
By the time we were done eating we realized it was almost 1:30 p.m. I think the service was a little slow but we didn’t mind lingering at all as we were really enjoying ourselves! I had really wanted to try the grapefruit cake but I was just way too full for dessert unfortunately. Sorry that we missed it but it’ll remain on the to do list.
We settled up the bill and headed out as we had over ripe FPs to use!
What a great day at DHS so far. We love the Writer's Stop, the carrot cake cookie is my DD's favorite treat (yes she uses it as a breakfast as well). What a great lunch at HBD - it has been a couple of years since we have been there but we have always enjoyed our meals there. You ordered all my DD's favorites...
Sorry that RnRC did not agree with you - it is the only ride I do not do, had a bad ride on a ride at Great Adventure....since then no inversions or corkscrews here. Just can't get myself to try it. I like the longer drops on T0T as well, I think the shorter jerkier drops get to you more.
What a great day at DHS so far. We love the Writer's Stop, the carrot cake cookie is my DD's favorite treat (yes she uses it as a breakfast as well). What a great lunch at HBD - it has been a couple of years since we have been there but we have always enjoyed our meals there. You ordered all my DD's favorites...
Sorry that RnRC did not agree with you - it is the only ride I do not do, had a bad ride on a ride at Great Adventure....since then no inversions or corkscrews here. Just can't get myself to try it. I like the longer drops on T0T as well, I think the shorter jerkier drops get to you more.
Your DD and I must have similar (good!) taste in food!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Love your pictures of the Streets of America. Another thing to add to my to-do list for next trip.
Definitely worth adding to the list - so cute back there! I'm looking forward to seeing it again when it's not roped off because of the lights - I think there are some cute photo ops on the steps and whatnot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by debrabrown
Great food (for the most part) but I gotta tel you the close of the carrot cake cookie is just plain mean
Good day at DHS. You are brave to try the rollercoaster but given your review I know I will NEVER go on it!!
Hehe, sorry about the tempting cookie shot! Oops, looks like I'm turning a few folks off on RNR.
Glad you had time to explore SoA, we did that last October and really enjoyed. They had started stringing the lights then too last year. It must take them months to do that. We went to Mama Melrose last year and it was wonderful, keep it on your list. Happy you had time to go through One Man's Dream, we were so sad it was closed last October as it was one of the things on our to do list. Next trip. We have not been to HBD since our honeymoon in 2000, we really want to give it another try as I am sure a lot has changed. That salad looks so good, I could eat it right now. LOL Glad you missed the down pour. Looking forward to your next update.
Glad you had time to explore SoA, we did that last October and really enjoyed. They had started stringing the lights then too last year. It must take them months to do that. We went to Mama Melrose last year and it was wonderful, keep it on your list. Happy you had time to go through One Man's Dream, we were so sad it was closed last October as it was one of the things on our to do list. Next trip. We have not been to HBD since our honeymoon in 2000, we really want to give it another try as I am sure a lot has changed. That salad looks so good, I could eat it right now. LOL Glad you missed the down pour. Looking forward to your next update.
I remember your picture of the MM cannoli cake - I still want that!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Great pictures from DHS!! Everything at Brown Derby looks really good
Quote:
Originally Posted by lazanya
Great updates and pictures!
Thank you both!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
We both love visiting One Man's Dream for the exhibits and the movie! Lunch at HBD looks so delicious!
It's a really great attraction - he had such a fascinating life!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great lunch at the Brown Derby - I love the presentation of that dish!
Our TSMM FPs were a little bit “overripe” at this point so we quickly made our way back to Pixar Place.
I decided to tuck the camera away and just enjoy the game, so sorry no pictures. After round one I had a higher score than DH so I thought I was finally on my way to a victory! But no such luck, he ended pulling way ahead of me in all the subsequent rounds and beat me by a mile. In another nod to Cam and fam – we’re still using her DH’s tip about not pulling the trigger with our entire arm and it makes it much more comfortable to play!
Next we headed over to Art of Animation to see if there was space for us in the 2 p.m. drawing class.
They had already closed the ropes to the waiting area, which means they were close to capacity. But the CM said we’d be the first two people in the standby line and we would definitely get in the class, even if we had to sit up front with lapboards. We actually ended up to be number two and three in the standby line because a woman came up behind us when we were asking the CM about the class and as soon as she heard her mention the line by the chain she hopped into the first spot and got ahead of us. Luckily once all the folks in the waiting area were seated there were three empty desks leftover. Yay! We ended up one row apart but that was fine by me, I was just glad we made it in!
Here’s my desk:
What a hidden gem this class is! We thoroughly enjoyed it and our instructor, Mary, was really a great teacher and a fun speaker as well. Here she is at the end of class giving away her sketch to the first person in class who guessed who we were drawing:
Our subject was Alien from Toy Story. I have to brag on DH a bit here and say I think his drawing came out awesome, don’t you think?
I’ll spare you a close up of mine because I hadn’t quite gotten the hang of it yet! The class was definitely one of the highlights of the day and I can’t wait to take DD – I think she will love it too!
One the way out we hit the gift shop and much to my delight, I found the retro cup and plate set I’d been looking for! Here’s the cup, which is a replica of the original paper cups used at WDW, done in ceramic:
Even the box is really nice:
And the plate set (we got the one on the left, which is artwork from the MK lands):
They also had lots of Mary Blair collectibles on this display.
I love this gift shop – so many fun things to look at. We lingered for quite a while because we didn’t have anything on the docket until the 4 p.m. American Idol show.
Once we’d paid for our treasures we looked around at a few more gift shops and saw this Barbie set from the TS short from Cars. DH felt we had to get it for DD, so we did:
We still had some time on our hands so we headed over to pop our heads into Tune In Lounge (I didn’t realize it’s just the waiting area for 50s PTC – I thought it was a completely separate bar). I never noticed this apartment complex entrance before:
We also stopped to check out another item from DH’s Hidden Magic list. Check out the shipping addresses on these crates:
(for all you Producers fans out there)
Another thing I’ve never checked out before is the garden with the busts. I’ve seen pictures but could never place where it was – I guess in the past I must’ve gone dashing by this area looking down or something!
By now it was about time to start lining up for American Idol.
We weren’t in the holding area too long at all before they allowed us into the theater.
The crowd was pretty small today so they only allowed us to use the first 5 or 6 rows. We got all the way to the end of the row and our view was somewhat obstructed by the equipment. As we sat and waited the warm up guy came out to….warm us up!
Okay, a bit of an ew factor coming up here so feel free to skip this paragraph...At this point I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. The guy next to us was picking his nose. But not just a casual scratch, like full on aggressive picking, using both hands. He’d stop momentarily, hold his girlfriend’s hand, then start again. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I was practically squirming out of my seat and didn’t know how I was going to sit through half an hour of that. I asked DH if he thought it’d be okay if we scooted back to one of the empty rows. We looked back and there was one woman sitting there alone so DH said he thought it was okay if we moved. I hope I don’t sound terrible for doing that ! Hopefully our row neighbors thought we were moving because of the obstructed view.
We struck up a convo with the lady and it turns out her daughter was going to be in the finale show. She asked me for some help with her camera (turning off the flash) and then we stopped talking because the show was starting.
I thought the judges were very entertaining!
The three contestants were a woman who’s family forced her to try out, a man there on his honeymoon (and his new wife had been a contestant in an earlier show) and a young lady from the U.K. who was there with a big group of family. I got the sense that the producers were gunning for the gal from the U.K. because when we were in the holding area they had us chanting her name, “Jenny, Jenny!!!!” She was fantastic and did end up being the winner.
I wasn’t sure how I’d like this attraction since I’ve never been an AI fan but I have to say I really, really liked it! The judges were funny and I have to give huge props to the contestants because I could never, ever, get up in front of a crowd like that – even with preparation but definitely not spur of the moment.
It was getting close to 5 p.m. now so we decided to walk back to BWI to take a breather before dinner.
Great update! Sorry you didn't win on TSMM. I have yet to ride that ride. The drawing class looks like lots of fun, will have to add that to our list. Yay! You found the retro cup and plate. I remember those too! Oops! I am showing my age. LOL AI is not one of the things we have wanted to see but you never know. I am so looking forward to your pictures from FF, it is on our list for the next trip.
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All I could see was pouring rain and lots of people running in ponchos
. We were thankful to be inside at this point! It was a typical quick passing Florida rain and everything was cleared off by the time we were finished with lunch.
. It didn’t have a lot of filler, which is great, and it was like it was covered in hash browns. Yummy!
Deb
Next trip. We have not been to HBD since our honeymoon in 2000, we really want to give it another try as I am sure a lot has changed. That salad looks so good, I could eat it right now. LOL Glad you missed the down pour. Looking forward to your next update. 
,
PassPorter Guide Author
– we’re still using her DH’s tip about not pulling the trigger with our entire arm and it makes it much more comfortable to play!
. Luckily once all the folks in the waiting area were seated there were three empty desks leftover. Yay
! We ended up one row apart but that was fine by me, I was just glad we made it in!
!
. The guy next to us was picking his nose
. But not just a casual scratch, like full on aggressive picking, using both hands
! Hopefully our row neighbors thought we were moving because of the obstructed view.
The judges were funny and I have to give huge props to the contestants because I could never, ever, get up in front of a crowd like that – even with preparation but definitely not spur of the moment.
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