Of Mice and Margaritas: THE TRIP (thread 2) **Updated 10/10** COMPLETE - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Here we go folks . . . this report will be without pictures until I get back to New Orleans, I forgot the little cable thing, oopps
Day 1 Sunday 8/24/08
The Time: 4am
My alarm clock went off shortly after 4am. I dragged myself out of bed and into the living room. I discovered Brandon asleep on the couch. He had only gotten home from work at about 1am. I went to sleep earlier at about 11, but woke back up when he came home. I took a quick shower and loaded up the car and we left promptly for the airport.
At 4:45 there were zero cars on I10 and we were at the airport Park and Fly just after 5am. The cute little bus arrived at my parking spot just as we popped the trunk to grab the luggage. We checked two bags and proceded to our gate . . . our empty gate. I hit the vending machine for a diet coke and some strawberry pop tarts, yes we're off to a very healthy start!
We talked to a family with a little girl also on their way to Disney and before I knew it we were loading up the plane, which remained fairly empty.
As soon as we were seated the fun began. I don't know how he got up that early in the morning with that much energy, or come to think of it, if he still has a job with Southwest,but our lead flight attendant, Alex, held us hostage for his personal comedy routine throughout the duration of our flight.
Alex introduced himself as Seal, one of our celebrity flight attendants and began his preflight routine. Our preflight included echo sound effects and numerous gags. My personal favorites were . . . "Ladies please put your mask on first, followed by any children needing assistance and then help the man seated next to you because you know we can't do anything for ourselves."
"Flight attendants please check your shoelaces for takeoff."
"Your celebrity flight attendants are allowed to be standing up at this altitude because we're attractive and magnetic."
"The bathroom dance is sponsered by Shake It Inc., you all know what I'm talking about."
Finally as the lights were dimming in the cabin we got "Baum chicka baum baum."
Upon our touchdown at the airport the first words out of Alex's mouth were, "Bienvenidos a Miami." Which has been a running joke ever since . . . more on this later.
Our flight landed about on time and we headed directly to the Magical Express desk and were herded onto a bus which left right after we sat down. Unfortunately we were loaded onto a Mears shuttle bus instead of a DME bus, so we did not get to see the Disney welcome movie. In fact, our driver did put on a movie for the kiddies, but it was Shrek II, which is of course an SKG Dreamworks production. I bet Disney is thrilled with that! (I still believe that the departure of Jeffery Katzenberg was one of Disney's greatest losses of the Eisner period.)
The lobby of All Star Music was a mad house when we arrived. The cast members in the check in area were busy handing out stickers and kazoos to the children waiting in line. My first thought was HEADACHE APPROACHING, then I realized that the noise wasn't bothering me at all, but the parents of the children with said kazoos looked like they were about to pull their hair out. It was fairly hysterical to watch, especially keeping in mind that it was only about 9:45 in the morning.
Almost everyone in line ahead of us was being told that there rooms were not yet ready and that they could store their belongings with bell services and head out to the parks. I feel especially intelligent for NOT making any special room requests for this trip because when I hit the desk, James magically informed me that my room was indeed ready!
We grabbed out carry on luggage and proceeded to room 2646 in building 2 of the Jazz section. This room happens to be on the 3rd floor facing away from the center areas, looking out, instead on a grassy treed area towards All Star Sports. Absolutely perfect because if I HAD put in a room request, that would have been it!!
We dropped our bags and I quickly changed my clothes and we headed out to the buses. It was nearing our 11:30 lunch reservation at Yak and Yeti in the Animal Kingdom. All in all we had a very successful morning!
I'll be back with our meal review shortly, as I'm currently cooped up in South Carolina with NOTHING to do. I'll add the photos from our meal when we get back to town.
BTW I had a call from my FEMA friend on the ground in New Orleans who checked on my apartment last night. The power IS back on and there appears to be no damage to the building--windows and roof intact. Stan is also going to swing by and check on my cats later.
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We arrived at Animal Kingdom after waiting about 15 minutes for a bus, not too bad, but I really do wish they had built some sunshades over the bus lines at the All Star Resorts. (We'll never have to stay there again.)
We walked through the security gates and directly over to Yak and Yeti for lunch. Brandon and I were both starving because the last time we had anything in our stomachs was at 5:30 at the airport. We were seated immediately, I think they had just opened, and began looking at the menu. I have a Tree Nut allergy so I needed to find out if there were any "hidden" nuts on the menu. (Peanuts are fine, its almonds, walnuts etc that are a problem . . . this will be an ongoing dining theme.)
Our Server Jose did not appear to be very happy to be at work.
We ordered drinks and asked about my nut allergy. Jose said he'd be right back with drinks and would send someone out from the kitchen to talk to me.
Kevin the kitchen manager appeared rather quickly, our drinks did not. While Kevin appeared quickly he didn't really seem to know what was in the food his kitchen was putting out. He had a teeny tiny little allergy card that he pulled out of his pocket. Apparently there is something in the Dim Sum for two that might have nuts, but he didn't know which item so they couldn't take it out for me Brandon and I thought this was VERY strange. Brandon cooks for a living and can rattle down the list of ingredients for ANYTHING coming out of the kitchen he works in. That out of the way let me present our lunch!
YAK AND YETI
Drinks:
Heather= Yak Attack! Had to try it and loved every second of it, but it is a little on the sweet side.
Brandon= MARGARITA (rocks no salt) Brandon was a little disappointed that he couldn't have it frozen, according to Jose. We thought this was odd because they serve frozen from the to go counter. Perhaps the machine just wasn't ready yet.
Apps;
We shared: Pork Pot Stickers very yummy! Perhaps the best pot stickers I've had in a long time.
Chicken Lettuce Cups: these were fantastic I really liked this dish, the fresh cilantro garnish made such a difference.
Entree
Heather= Duck with Anandapur Glaze: The wasabi orange glaze on the actual duck was not noticable, but there was a cup of glaze to the side that was extremely overpowering as it was made with the bitter orange rind rather than orange fruit, it made the wasabi hard to pick out. The stir fry veggies were a bit over cooked. The duck itself was cooked well it was tender and moist, but I wish the skin had been crispy.
Brandon=Baby Back Ribs: The ribs were really very good. The meat fell right off the bone and the Hoisen BBQ sauce was sweet, but not overpowering. This was definitely the better of the two entrees and came with fried rice instead of the rather boring jasmine rice. I would order this again.
We skipped dessert because we were absolutely stuffed.
The bill for this meal came to :49.98 for the food and 25 for the Adult beverages. (Brandon drank 2 margaritas)
The biggest problem we had with this meal was service. When we were seated there were only a couple of other tables in the restaurant. It took a fairly long period of time for our drinks to arrive. It took even longer for me to get a glass of water and Brandon his second drink. Jose left dirty glasses sitting on the table when he brought fresh drinks. Our entrees came out before we were finished with our apps. Once we were finished with our meal it took about 20 minutes to find Jose and clear up the bill.
Food B+
Service C-
I think we really just had a cranky waiter.
I think if we do this again we'll only order off of the Apps menu (as we likely won't be doing the DDP again--more on this later.)
I would like to try the take away menu! I will probably try the CS on my December trip. I also noticed that the Yak Attacks coming from the CS window were huge and covered in whipped cream and cherries . . . the one I got inside the restaurant was not. It was, however, still very tasty!!
Coming up: Our AK afternoon, EMH at MK and our only real trip disaster . . .
Glad you had a great meal (I think ) at Y&Y Our server definitely recommended the ribs, so it's good to know they were yummy (we didn't order them)! More please
Great report thus far...see how being stuck with nothing to do has it's advantages! (at least for us report readers!)
I'm very disappointed in Y&Y though. Does not sound very allergy friendly (and Disney is known for it's allergy awareness -- know Y&Y isn't owned by Disney though). I would have had to left because I really need to know how things are prepared.
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Glad you had a great meal (I think ) at Y&Y Our server definitely recommended the ribs, so it's good to know they were yummy (we didn't order them)! More please
Our meal was yummy . . . I'm just a really tough food critic. B and I are both in the food service business. He's in the kitchen and I'm out in front. We eat out a lot and hold everyone to high standards.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bfth
Great report thus far...see how being stuck with nothing to do has it's advantages! (at least for us report readers!)
I'm very disappointed in Y&Y though. Does not sound very allergy friendly (and Disney is known for it's allergy awareness -- know Y&Y isn't owned by Disney though). I would have had to left because I really need to know how things are prepared.
I think I should go down and see what Mom is doing, but I'm up in the office hiding from her crazy half pit half black lab who likes to attack me in an overly friendly manner.
As for the allergy issues, I just avoided everything he wasn't sure about and my allergy is not horrific, just uncomfortable. I didn't have any problems the entire trip.
All caught up! Glad you had stress-free travel; and a nice lunch.
Hope you are able to get home soon so you can add your pics! So good that your apartment is intact!
__________________
Read all about it in my TR, "Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!" Jill Phil. 4: 13
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but our lead flight attendant, Alex, held us hostage for his personal comedy routine throughout the duration of our flight. 
Which has been a running joke ever since . . . more on this later.
(I still believe that the departure of Jeffery Katzenberg was one of Disney's greatest losses of the Eisner period.)
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That sounds like some flight down to MCO!! 
Hurry back with more 
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Our server definitely recommended the ribs, so it's good to know they were yummy (we didn't order them)! More please 
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