Thoughts On Bfth's Disney World Vacation
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bfth · 07-26-2016, 03:07 PM

Since I am an early riser, the fact that I got up around 7:30 is saying that I slept in late! (At home I'm usually up by 4:30 on weekdays and by 6 on weekends. Of course "back home" I'm in bed by 9:30 or so and at WDW the night before it was after midnight when I closed my eyes.) Got myself dressed and went down to the lounge for breakfast. Because of the setup of the Poly, allergy/special breakfasts have to be ordered and brought over. In the past (at the Contemporary), I had just gone to the lounge staff and they had provided me with the day's egg-free treat (usually muffins); here I was asked what I wanted and when I wanted it, which was pretty cool. I was provided with egg free pancakes and bacon. Delicious (salivating just remembering it), but way too much food. I found a table (not easy) in the lounge and grabbed a glass of juice (Poly has POG juice, but not in the morning; only afternoons and evenings which I don't understand) and then had a cup of coffee (mocha latte).

By the time I got back, hubby was up and he went down to get something to eat. The kid slept on. Clearly he is getting into that teen/tween sleep mode. (And it is quite obvious that he is NOT a morning person! Getting him out of bed in the morning is NEVER a pleasure.) I woke him after nine and brought him some breakfast in bed (muffins and juice.)

We finally got our act together (remember, I'm the one who wants to get up and go) and took the bus to DHS. Didn't have too much planned as we had covered most of what we wanted to do. (We are NOT Tower of Terror people and while hubby and I would have done Rock N Roller Coaster, our son was now off of the whole roller coaster experience so we passed on that too.) We did Star Tours again and took in One Man's Dream, but other than that, we just wandered and shopped. (There were a couple of melt downs too...the boy was not a happy camper and neither was I with his attitude.) We ended up buying him a new hat and me a watch. I didn't bring one thinking that I could handle a week without seeing how my phone has a clock, but I admit it, I wimped out. I couldn't stand NOT having a watch on my wrist. (Someone told me you could get a watch insert into your magic band, but I never saw it. Think that would be an awesome idea). The purchases took a while as I was trying to use my Visa discount, but the items were in two different stores and...trust me it is too confusing to get into and took 4 separate people to figure out how to do it. (And I'm still not sure it was done properly!)

New hat on my son's head (and his old one on mine) and watch on my wrist, we were ready to head over to the 50s Prime Time for lunch. Like the Sci Fi Dine In, this is not just a meal but an experience. Even with an ADR waits here can be long; thankfully it was not too bad while we were there. We were called to the table within 10-15 minutes and taken care of by Cousin Chris. (He was definitely into the role.) He loaded us up with drinks and presented me with a belated birthday gift. While I had been shopping, so had the boys who secretly bought me a pair of earrings I had admired. Chris delivered it to the table with a glowing Ariel (little mermaid) with flair and style. All melt downs and bad feelings melted away. I had the signature pot roast (which I have made at home, but never tastes quite so good). My husband got yelled out for putting his elbows on the table and my son was forced fed a green bean. (An awesome moment if there ever was one!) It was a great meal and ended with us sharing a special egg free brownie. Great meal and great experience is why we always try to go to the 50s Prime Time despite the fact that the wait to get in can be LONG.

After lunch we headed out of the park and took the boat over to Epcot. This can be a long ride (and it was), but is pleasant if you get out of the sun and the boat is not too crowded. When we finally arrived, we wandered through Great Britain (it was really hot at this point) and Canada before taking solace in the cool (literally) O Canada.

We decided to head back to the hotel when I got a message from my friend Amber who is a chef at Disney. She was hoping she would see us at her "new" (at least to us) location, Trattoria al Forno. We had no plans to eat there, but really wanted to see Amber and try out this new location (since we had loved it back in the day when it was Spoodles. We still mourn the passing of the Blue Spoodle, which I do my best to recreate every once in a while. It's not exactly right, but it is good.) So as we made our way out of the park, I cancelled our lunch reservation for the next day at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. (I really wanted to go back and get some bar-b-que, but my husband was never a big fan of the place.) Then I tried to get an ADR for Trattoria, but the app kept freezing up.

We headed out, stopping only briefly in Gateway Gifts to purchase the toy tram that my son had "conned" us into buying and taking the monorail back to the TTC. From there we walked to the Poly. (Definitely a perk of the resort; both monorail lines are easily accessible.) The boys went up to the room to relax while spoke to someone in concierge about getting a ressie for the next night. She was able to do so with ease, and early in the evening, as I had wanted. (Since I figured we'd be passing up lunch, I wanted an early dinner.)

Headed upstairs, and stopped in the lounge as the evening's offerings were being put out. I got a glass of wine and Chef Gene presented me with a plate of pulled pork and rice to enjoy. We planned dinner at the Kona Cafe, but after eating the plate that Chef Gene had prepared, I knew I wasn't going to want to eat again.

It actually worked out really well. The three of us went to the Kona and were seated. I told our server I wouldn't be eating and hubby wasn't that hungry so he just ordered appetizers. All this meant it would be a quick meal, which was perfect as earlier in the week my cousin who lives in the area contacted me and asked if we would like to get together. (Note: She was very sweet about it too. She said she realized that we were on vacation and she didn't want to take away from "our vacation time.”) Tonight worked for her, her sister, and her two ADORABLE little girls and I had told her to meet us by the Kona Cafe. They all arrived before the food did, so I just excused myself and took them all over to the lounge where we could catch up. (I hadn't met her girls before.) The girls had snacks and watched tv while the adults chatted away. The boys joined us not too long afterwards so it was a great hour or so to spend with family that we rarely get to see. PLUS the electrical water pageant came by while they were there (sans the crocodile float...guess it was too soon!) It was a lovely evening and I was so glad we were all able to get together! (Who knows when we'll see each other again?)

After they left, the kid and I decided to head back over to MK. (Hubby felt like he was coming down with something and wanted to stay back and rest. Spoiler alert: We both got colds while we were there. Meanwhile, the kid kept going strong!) It was an Extra Magic Hour night at MK and it was pretty crowded. (What do you expect at the end of June?) I secured a FP+ for Pooh (the only one I could get for the evening; after that no FP+s were available). The two of us enjoyed the Peoplemover/TTA (because you can never do that too many times), Pooh (while the fireworks were going off), the Haunted Mansion and IaSW. We did want to do more, but the wait time for most of the attractions was long (we were going to try PotC, but we bailed on the 20+ minute wait after hanging around for 10 or so minutes with no real movement).

We arrived back at the room a little after midnight. Exhausted, but glad that we had spent some additional time at the Magic Kingdom.

**Colexis Mom** · 07-26-2016, 04:16 PM

Another great day! Glad you were able to catch up with your cousin!

**Cam22** · 07-26-2016, 08:39 PM

Sounds like another great day!

xwewhisper · 07-26-2016, 08:46 PM

What s great day and everything seemed to work out well for you!

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SharonK0527 · 07-27-2016, 12:17 PM

Sorry about the meltdowns earlier in the day but it sounds like the rest of the day was nice, and how great that you got to catch up with your cousin at Disney!

NanaTink · 07-28-2016, 10:10 PM

sounds like a great day, overall! I miss Spoodles too!

Interested in what you think of Trattoria...

bfth · 08-26-2016, 10:45 AM

(sorry that it has taken so long to do this...my new job is keeping me busy and on my toes!)

I got up tired this morning. I SHOULD have slept more, but I thought that the special breakfasts (due to my allergies) were scheduled to arrive at 7:30. So I got up and got going (letting the boys sleep). Breakfast hadn't arrived, so I just grabbed a coffee (ok, make that a mocha latte). I headed back to the room. Hubby still wasn't feeling 100%, but he went and got some breakfast while the boy continued to sleep. I went back to the lounge 45 minutes later and there still wasn't anything, so they made a call and said they would deliver it to our room. Hmm...seems like things were slipping a bit.

Today, we planned something we RARELY do. We were going to take it slow. While I did get my son up (eventually) and brought him some breakfast in bed (muffins), we had no morning plans. My breakfast did show up and was delicious. (Turned out my request for breakfast Wednesday THROUGH Saturday had been translated into Wednesday AND Saturday. Thank goodness for Suzanne who brought it to our room and cleared everything up.) Instead of getting dressed for the day, we lounged around a bit and eventually put on our bathing suits and headed to the pool

It was a hot day, but we found some shade and just relaxed. It being early, there were not too many people in the area which made it all the better. The kiddie area (which my son had loved so much 4 years ago at the Contemporary) was not yet open, but there were kids going down the pool slide. I decided to be brave and try it. As far as I can recall, I had never done a slide. I was determined to rectify that. Climbed all the way, sat down and swoosh went down, landing butt first in the water (and getting plenty up my nose too). I didn't like it. But I DID it! And I did it two more times too so that I could get photographic proof!

Eventually, we had enough (and it was getting hot). We returned to the room. Hubby went and got some lunch from Capt. Cooks. We showered and changed and eventually made our way over to Epcot. (Walking from the Poly to the TTC and getting on the monorail there.) We had done most of Future World, so it was time to do some more exploration of World Showcase. The only FP+ we had for the day were for the evening: Illuminations (which is a special viewing area) and Turtle Talk with Crush (which we didn't use, but more on that later).

Since we had already visited Canada and the United Kingdom the day before, we headed directly for France. Unfortunately, we just missed the movie (by seconds) so we hung around (in the cool) for 18 minutes waiting for the next show. My son just started French this year and we knew he'd love the movie (he did). He and his father also enjoyed a French pastry after the movie was over. We then continued "around the world" stopping briefly in Morocco (the line to see Jasmine and Aladdin was too long and partially in the blazing son) and Japan (tried to shop here, but it was wall to wall people; it was like they were giving away something!) Then we arrived in USA just as the Voices of Liberty were finishing up. Sorry that we missed them, but glad that we were able to pretty much walk into the American Adventure. It hasn't changed over the years (except for the ending) and I always get teary. I just can't stop myself. Sure it's idealized view of America, but it gives me hope.

Onward to Italy (where it was too hot to even take a photo) and Germany (where we shopped in the toy store and my son pretended to drink beer from a giant stein). We passed through the outpost and into Norway. Again, FP+ wait time was over an hour and stand by time was over 3 hours. (Who would wait that long???) The only thing doable here was having our photo taken outside of Akershus and doing a little shopping. Then it was back to Mexico where they boys rode the attraction again and I had my photo taken with Donald solo.

It was then time to head over to the Boardwalk for dinner. We did stop for a photo over by the bridge that leads from the UK to France before exciting through the International Gateway and catching the boat over to the Boardwalk. Then it was a straight walk into Trattoria al Forno.

I probably shouldn't saw how wonderful the entire experience was. I'll admit that it might be better for ME personally if I just kept my mouth shut, but the truth should be told. Trattoria al Forno was the BEST dining experience we had during our trip and it might be one of the best dining experiences we've ever had. The service was incredible. (Even before my friend, Amber, came over to our table.) We were seated quickly and throughout the meal our server stopped by to make sure everything was ok. It wasn't okay, it was incredible. The fact that the chef who prepared our meal was a friend who is incredibly talented with food might have something to do with it, but I think if we had been told strangers, I still would have had a meal that continues to make me drool when I think about it. Pricey? A bit, but not overly and certainly worth every cent. The bread with olive oil; well I could eat it and my husband and I were fighting over it. I certainly DIDN'T want to eat too much bread because I knew that Amber was going to prepare an incredible meal, but I couldn't stop myself. My son had a small pizza as a starter and pasta for his main course. My husband and I shared a Caprese salad to begin. I have NEVER had tomatoes and mozzarella like that in my life. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. As my husband said, it was something he would never order, but was so glad he did and was just amazing. And then there was the main course. The fish was...well I've probably used the world amazing too much, but there is just no other word to describe it. The restaurant includes an open kitchen so you can see what is going on and being prepared. We were seated pretty close to that area so we can see everything that was going on (which I found fascinating). Then there was desert. Because of my food allergies, Amber had the pastry chef make me a special desert which was something I NEVER would have chosen and included a very refreshing grapefruit sorbet. James had the incredible Meringe Mushroom S'Mores It was so cute he didn't want to eat it. (See photo). He thought one of the "mushrooms" looked like his father! Nevertheless, he did manage to eat it all and declared it delicious. I am so glad that Amber contacted me and that we were able to have dinner here. The whole experience (atmosphere, service, food) was five star.

After that incredible meal (and experience) we headed back to Epcot. My son had so wanted to go to The Living Seas and this was finally his chance. After the ride portion, we spent a good 30-45 minutes wandering around. I did have a FP+ for Turtle Talk, but he wasn't interested. He wanted to spend his time exploring and enjoying. Who was I to deny him?

Then it was on to our FP+ for Illuminations. What a great viewing spot and we only had o be there 30 or so minutes before the show began. We stood beside a (roped off) group of teens who were probably from South or Central America. They were loud. They were excited. And they were fun to watch. The wait for Illuminations is never too bad. Perhaps it's because I know the pre-show music so well. I can tell exactly how many minutes are left until the show begins. I realize this show has not changed much (if at all) since the century began, but it is still incredibly moving. And yes, I cry at the end. (How could I not...just thinking about the music, the fireworks, the torch...I start to well up.) I could see this every night of my life and not get tired of it.

Once the show was over, we slowly made our way out of the park. No need to rush and push. I just love taking in Epcot at night anyway and watching for the monorail as it approaches the park, makes its loop and then heads into the station.

Back at the TTC we walked to Hawaii and arrived in the lounge just in time to see the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. Cookies and wine with Wishes. Not a bad way to end the evening. (Even if my husband was not feeling too good and I knew that I was coming down with something as well. When I'm at Disney I do my best to ignore it!)

(If anyone is interested, photos are available on my blog: http://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/)

NanaTink · 08-26-2016, 12:00 PM

What a great day! I too love Trattoria al Forno! We ate there last November and totally enjoyed it! Too full for dessert, but sure would have tried to choke down the Meringue s'mores if I had only looked!