Finally a trip to Disney (May 5-14 2010) TR - Page 14 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I will hopefully will add some more when I arrive home tonight, because I am at a conference but I just booked a 3 night cruise on the dream for December 2011. We are going to do as of now 3 nights at BC,GF or AKL, and do MVMCP, and go to Universal. I am doing this so we can go spend a week in 2012 for the new additions to Disney
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After we sat by the pool for 1.5 hours we went back to the room. We packed our stuff and got ready for our goodbye dinner at Cali Grill. We arrived at 7 for our 7:20 reservation and were taken upstairs by the elevator man and it was so loud in there when we arrived. We probably waited a good 30 min for our pager to go off so that we could be sat.
We were so lucky though we had window seats directly in front of the castle.
Now Wishes was changed till 10 a few months prior to us going and we couldn’t change our reservations to our later time so I thought we were going to go to MK to see them after. However Ron had other plans.
Our server was Ron he was awesome he came over and said that we could stretch out our meal so we can watch the fireworks and I am thinking how are we going to sit here for 2.5 hours I am not the slowest eater at all and usually I am done quite a bit of time prior to everyone else.
He started by just taking our drink orders
I had a twisted Mai Tai and bill had a white Russian.
He came back and took our app order; this is what came first,
The sushi was crab and beef Oscar roll and was so delicious some of the best sushi we ever had. Plus it was different and wasn’t anything we could get at home
He didn’t bring bread until we got our next app the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli - with sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, shiitake mushrooms, and basil this was so good and it really hit the spot. He split it in half for us so the portion size is larger than it appears.
We are now at around 8:35 when our meals arrive.
Seared Bison - with sweet potato, bacon, piquillo pepper hash, sweet onions and mustard-veal demi
Oak-fired Fillet Of Beef - with Tillamook Cheddar Gratin, broccolini, and teriyaki barbecue
These were so good I loved my bison it was cooked to perfection.
Took this photo while we waited for dessert it was pretty cool.
When I finished it was 9pm how are we stretching dessert for an hour. I don’t take that long well we did it he came over and took our tea order they had the nice tea in the pressed pot, then we had our desserts
I had the Florida "Strawberry Shortcake" - Citrus scented sponge cake w/warm balsamic strawberries, basil ice cream, and almond brittle. It was ok definitely not my favorite dessert and I would probably not order it again.
Bill had the Valrhona Chocolate Cake - Warm chocolate cake w/molten center, cappuccino caramel crunch ice cream, sweet whipped cream and coffee caramel sauce.
Now after our meal we don’t’ get our check until after wishes which were pretty cool to be watching from inside, because we had the perfect view.
After the fireworks Ron brought our check over and we paid our tab. When he brought everything back he included the teriyaki bbq sauce recipe and a slip of paper with his information for our next visit so he will make sure to take care of us. He really did a great job he went above and beyond and sacrificed another table by helping us stretch out our meal on our final night now that was Disney magic. Total bill was 169.96
After dinner we walked over to MK to catch a bus. If we ever do this again we will be paying for a cab. It was the only long bus wait that we had the whole trip but it was crazy. We waited about an hour and some High school students tried to be slick and cut in front of us because the line was down the sidewalk I looked at Bill and said it is not happening lol… They looked at me and I looked at them and they waited in the back with the rest of their group.
We struck up a conversation with a couple in front of us and the time passed quickly. Good thing we were all packed and just had few odds and end to pick up for tomorrow, because we didn't get in till midnight.
The weather today: 92
The best thing today: Meeting Remy
The worst thing today: Our last day
Today we tried: The bus after wishes
And the result: will pay for a cab next time
The most magical moment: watching wishes from Cali Grill on our last evening.
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Today is our last day and we have been at Disney for 10 days. In many ways we didn’t want it to end but was ready to get home to our 2 little doggies at home.
We got up at 7am got ready and packed the last of our stuff not leaving anything behind.
We had breakfast ADR at 1900 park fare for 9am so we did automatic check out, stored our luggage and was on our way by 8am. We arrived at 1900 for 8:30 in which mass chaos greeted us there were a lot of people and noise going on in lobby waiting to get in. We waited about 20 min to get sat and the dining room was a little trashed a lot of dirty tables and a lot of activity. They were quick to get it cleaned up but was probably one of the busiest breakfasts.
We saw Tigger first and he was great. We had some interaction with him and it was fun. Then it was time to get some food.
Here they had the omlete station which was delicious but there was no real line at all so it was a little chaotic no one quite knew what to do, or where to start. We enjoyed the food here as well but I would put it with chef Mickey’s as a tad crazy in noise and activity. We then saw Pooh, Mary Poppins, and tigger again.
Now we were done eating at this point so we decided to get up and go. It was not an enjoyable place to sit and drink a coffee so we decided to start heading to our last park AK today. Well as we were getting up Mad Hatter made quite a spectacle of himself in saying where are you going why are you leaving before meeting me.
So we stayed took our picture with him but left before Alice came she was not even in sight so we didn’t want to wait around. I will most likely do this meal again because we didn’t get to do it 100%.
We headed out to the bus stop to catch a ride to AK we figure it was a good park because you don’t feel the crowds as much as you do at some of the other parks because there are not as many lines but more exhibits to look at.
We got there about 10:30 and our lunch reservation was for 1pm at GF café so we didn’t have to long there so our first stop was FP for the safari. Now we had an awesome safari with our backstage tour but didn’t get to experience it the normal way because our tour guide told us tidbits as we rode. We had about 1hr to kill before we were do back for a ride so off we went our first stop was the pagani trail where our friend the Komodo dragon would be waiting for us. He is fun to watch especially when he starts moving around.
We then saw bats, tigers and other animals on our travels. The last time we were here this is when Bill’s blisters were bad so we figured we walk through again to see it more comfortably.
We went through the bird house almost getting nailed with a gift from the bird if I had been an 1/8 of an inch to the right I would of needed a shower.
We stopped to see the monkey’s play and what did we see on the yellow monkey a baby clinging for life as this mama swung though the air.
It was time for our safari so we went and had a chance to see some animals it wasn’t an extremely hot day but it was hot enough although it didn’t stop the animals from coming out.
It was time to start heading out but on our way we stopped at camp Mickey and again I got my photo with Daisey and then all the characters went in at the same time for a break they should scatter them in and out so that only ½ are taking breaks at a time.
Oh well we started towards the exit and we got a picture of the anteater, some parrots and other birds.
We were off to the GF café to enjoy our last meal on the meal plan. Here bill and I enjoyed:
Strawberry Salad - Field Greens with Crumbled Feta, Cashews and Strawberry Vinaigrette
Caesar Salad
Rustic Chicken Sandwich - sun-dried tomato pesto, Dijon mayonnaise and Field Greens served with Marinated Cucumber Salad or Homemade Potato Chips
New York Strip - with Mashed Potatoes and seasonal Vegetables
We also got a smoothie to go. I have no idea where the pictures went so I apologize but the meal was very good.
We took the monorail to MK and caught the bus to CBR. At this point it was still early only around 2pm and DME was picking us up at 5pm so we had to use some snack credits so we got a bag of Doritos, a bottled water, one box of Ritz crackers, and about 11 rice krispy treats. The total of these was $53 that we paid nothing for.
We then head some $ left on our arcade voucher so we used that up and used our 100 point credit we got for our package. I played some pinball and bill played some other games we really had an awesome time.
Around 4:00 we headed on over to customs house to collect our luggage, for me to load my carryon, and get organized. That didn’t take us very long and it was chaos there inside so we waited out side sweltering. A 4:30 DME bus pulls up and were told we could see if we could get on early so we went over and another couple, Bill and I got on. Now we had called to verify that our flight was on time so no big deal in extra half hour at the airport in AC was going to be nice.
We arrive there with no problems and as we check in we are told the flight is an hour delay no biggie we leave at 9 instead of 8 well it all went down hill after that. There were a few flights that were having planes come in from TX where there were heavy storms and were grounded and as our flight kept getting pushed there were flights that were pushed so late they got canceled now at this point we are up to a 10:30 wait so it is a little scary that we may be sleeping in these chairs.
Good thing I had brought my net book and there was free internet so we caught up on all our mail and read and relaxed till our flight left. At around 10pm we were told are flight was in the air and will be departing at 11:30. At least we left even if it was 3.5 hours late.
We flew southwest and a lot of the food shops had closed so at 10:15 they brought out snacks, soda and water in a can for everyone to enjoy while we waited for our flight I was very impressed with them. We had done early bird and had A29/30 so we got some decent seats together.
We got into Hartford around 1:30 and home by 3. I showered and passed out till it was time to get up the next day.
Stay tuned for my afterthoughts….
The weather today: 94
The best thing today: Seeing my dog
The worst thing today: leaving and our flight delayed for 3.5 hours
Today we tried: GF cafe
And the result: was pretty good
The most magical moment: an awesome last day all around.
I will recap my trip next week I am leaving for Montreal to go and watch the formula 1 races this weekend so I have to pack and get ready. We dont' want to forget stuff like we did for WDW (Bill's flip flops, batteries, snacks) nothing substantial but we want to be prepared.
You can still ask questions I will be getting online I just don't want to promise anything lol..
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Glad you got to watch Wishes from CG! 
Congrats on the cruise, too!
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