No kids this time -it's like date-night X 7! - UPDATED 8/22 - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I didn’t tell you about our room at Pop. We were in the 70’s building facing towards the little play structure and parking lot and we had an accessible room. They had not been updated yet but were quite nice still. It was kind of cool having the walk-in shower and we really enjoyed it the first two nights (cue ominous music!!)
So, anyway, our first full day in the parks was set for Epcot. On the agenda was lunch at CS and dinner at Marakesh. We had tried Marakesh in 2008 on our first trip on the dining plan and it was sort of forgettable so I wanted to have a second kick at the can and see what we thought of it this time. Big on our list of “to-do’s” was to take an afternoon break each day and swim. Contrary to most families who say that they must take a break in the afternoons, we have found that with our kids it’s go go go! And the last thing they want to do is take a break. Without them to keep us going, though, and maybe because we are getting older, we really were ready for a pause in the action. Also, this is the breakin’ all the rules part that I hinted at last post .....I swear I didn’t know...honest! ! (more on that later)
I found that we were waking up around 7:30, just like at home, and we grabbed a granola bar and our refillable mugs and headed for the bus stop. In case you hadn’t heard – Pop no longer has the frozen cokes for the mugs, but we love the iced tea dispensers and we are coffee hounds, so we always found something to fill up with. I don’t remember anything remarkable about the morning except DH got caught again going through the turnstile! I only had my camera so most days I scooted through the no bag line-up and then waited for him and then we’d go through the turnstiles. He picked another line than mine and got caught waiting while there were technical difficulties in front of him. I may have made a few faces because I whipped right through in my line – nothing immature, of course, just a very grown up “na na na boo boo” sort of thing .
We picked up a Soarin” FP and then hopped in a time machine to see what our future would hold. We sent the video to the kids and various relatives who wonder what we find so amusing in many of things we do (but I know YOU all understand) Then Soarin’ and another FP. We walked up through the gateway and in towards Mexico. I picked up a couple of postcards to send to the kids (soooo guilty) and a nice young cast member at the store asked if we were celebrating. I said yes – it’s our first time here without the kids. She laughed and said “Now that needs a button!” and promptly made us each one. We got more comments over the week with those (usually from other parents). I noticed that the CM had a button on her shirt – she had added a “not” as in “I’m not celebrating....today is my last day”. She said the college program had been a great experience but hers was over – how sad!
We wanted to try the Cantina because we never have, but of course it’s closed for renos. They had a little outlet that sold a few items so we opted for that instead. I can’t remember the names – one plate was nachos and the other had a rolled tortilla with a salsa verde, a lovely black bean with feta and rice. It was excellent and we got churros with a dulce de leche dip as our dessert (another first for us). The only caution is that there is no seating – we stood around tables on the outside of the Mexican pavilion to eat. It was fine that early in the day, but if my feet had been aching I might have chosen to eat somewhere else just to get the seat. I'll come back in a bit with some photos of our lunch and the second half of the day.
Alright, here are some lunch photos at the unnamed CS kiosk in Mexico....
#1 - the amazing, whatever-you-call-'ems with the best beans and rice!
#2 - the nachos
#3- I don't mean to brag, but DH has a very big churro!
#4 - preview of next post..
We wandered a bit and stopped in Norway – first time on Maelstrom for me also first time we could stop in the little church and read the displays inside. We commented how nice it was to go at such a relaxed pace which got us thinking it was time for a swim break. We hopped a friendship and exited the park to the monorail around to Poly.
Here is my official disclaimer again: “We didn’t realize that pool hopping was not an option. We’ve spoken to guests before on the bus who were heading to a resort to swim and thought – what a good idea! Let’s do that some day.” We are not endorsing or encouraging other people to do this because if you look closely at the signs they clearly state that pools are for the exclusive use of guests of the resort. Unfortunately, the first time I really did that was our last day in our last hour at the pool at Pop - I wanted to take a picture with DH's birthdate on it and there it was ! I ease my guilt and shame by at least knowing that it was not a busy time and we were not preventing resort guests from enjoying their pool – there was lots of room to spare at the tables and in the water.
There; having said that, I will tell you about the lovely visit we had at Poly. It’s now on our short list of places to stay next March because we loved the atmosphere. We took lots of pictures, then changed under the waterfall and bought a couple of Yeunglings and grabbed two chairs. There wasn’t much going on but it was great to cool off and float around. I had to take a picture of my husband’s shirt when we got out of the pool. It was hanging decoratively over the back of his chair and equally decorative was the big plop of bird poop on it’s shoulder! One of the magical memories the kids have is of a lunch at Flame Tree BBQ when a bird in the tree above us christened DH’s shoulder...we didn’t notice anything until the women sitting behind him cracked up. You can just imagine how hilarious it was to the boys (especially the 5 year old) to have his dad pooped on! So, again, we kinda had the kids with us on this trip.
We hadn’t been able to get ADRs for a dinner at O’Hana but a CM there told us that we would probably get lucky if we went to the podium around 4:45 and were willing to wait a bit for a table. We decided we would save that “first” for a trip with the kids and so we set back off for Epcot for our dinner in Morocco. We split up at the gates and I walked around the lagoon and DH detoured to TT for FP – they were all gone. Actually the crowds felt pretty heavy that evening. We arrived together in Morocco just in time and were sat immediately. It was 6:30 or 7 but the restaurant was half empty – it actually filled up as we ate, so there were a lot of late diners, or maybe walk-ins who were getting nowhere at other TS? We enjoyed our meal, but I think we’ll place Marakesh on our list of “been there, done that” as again, the entree was tasty but not exceptional. DH had the fish of the day and I had lamb tagine. Dessert was actually awful. DH had the bastilla and I had the Marakesh Delight. I’ve had real bastilla before and this was nothing like it – it was a sad layer of dry phyllo with vanilla ice cream and almonds scattered on it. There wasn’t even any flavouring between the phyllo sheets. The “delight” was commercial mint chocolate chip ice cream (not mint ice cream as it said on the menu) on top of fruit salad that had clearly come out of a bucket from a supplier. It really ruined the meal. As I said, I have made a savoury bastilla in a cooking class and it was a real missed opportunity for them to showcase their unique dish. Because their mint tea is so yummy, I really was expecting a homemade mint ice cream or I would have passed. To top it off, their meals come with a hefty price tag so I would have really resented the cost had we been paying OOP for this one. Too bad, because the staff were wonderful and the belly dancer was exquisite even if she wasn't subtle about her obvious crush on DH (that's his version of the story, anyway ) Then again, maybe word had spread through Epcot of his remarkably large churro?
We tottered off into FW, snuggled into a clam mobile for a spin, which is surprisingly romantic, and then grabbed a bit of bench just outside of the gateway. We decided we’d like to catch the fireworks, but weren’t up for the long wait at the bus stop, so this was our solution. The view was decent and as they ended we scooted out ahead of the worst of the crowd and were probably tucked into our bed before everyone had even gotten out to the bus stop. It was perfect! We had big plans for getting to Animal Kingdom to see the park opening, so we needed our beauty rest.
photo #1- a quick snap of the topiary entering WS. Even though technically, the flower and garden show was over by a day or two, there were still lots of gorgeous topiaries around.
photo #2- playing around with my night settings as we wait for the fireworks show. I had it all set up waiting for a monorail to go through, so of, course, none came!
Up next - Day 3 – Animal Kingdom and DTD – am I the only sucker for the “spend $45 and get this wonderful gift for only $15 more”? Apparently not....WDW was crawling with little red suitcases!
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Well, I guess I need to start today by confessing that we did not get the early start we thought of and instead made it to AK shortly after park opening. I think we are destined to miss the opening ceremonies….fortunately neither of us are type A personalities and generally are ok with failure! I think it was around this point in the trip when we began to notice DH’s weird luck with getting stuck behind someone having difficulty with the ticket turnstile. I remember standing inside laughing at him that it was happening AGAIN and wondering if he’d ever make it through without challenges. We had a great day and took a lot of pictures. We quickly started our “must do” list: get a jalapeno stuffed pretzel, ride EE, but the FP machine was down for Kali. The wait time wasn’t long, but it was a bit early to get wet, so decided to head over to see the dinosaurs and take our chances later when we came back to Asia for lunch. I’d never done Primevil Whirl but the wait time was over an hour (!) so that can wait for a future trip. We got in line at the Dino Institute behind a mom and 2 boys on their first trip and were explaining the ride for them. (Mom was a bit nervous about them on it) I compared it to the Star Wars ride but they hadn’t been to DHS yet so I suggested that they hang on, cause it’s very bumpy and that they let Mom sit between them in case they got scared of the loud noises. The little guy (about 8) says “I never get scared!!” and looked a wee bit insulted that I would even suggest such a thing! As luck would have it, we got sat behind them in a time machine. I think he lasted until the first dino appeared and his head went down into his mom’s side and never came up again. He missed the whole ride! His mom and big brother got a good chuckle and I’m sure he won’t be living that one down for a while! I reassured him that our oldest still gets a shiver on that ride and he’s 15.
When we arrived back in Asia the ride for Kali was really long so we passed on that for this trip and did lunch instead. It was ridiculously hot by this time, but we got the last table in the shade at Yak and Yeti and had a great lunch. We walked up into Africa and around, sat through the Bug’s Life movie and left for the day around 2. Our final destination was DTD so we bussed over to POFQ to say hello to one of our fav resorts (I must refer back to my prior disclaimer here about pool hopping because that’s what we were doing). We got a resort postcard for the next day’s mail home, bought some FAB at the pool bar and then fell asleep in the lounge chairs. Right there is a BIG difference between going with the kids and going sans kids. I have never fallen asleep by the pool when my kids are with me – it was great! We had a nice swim to cool off which was fortunate because the life guards blew their whistle and got everyone out for an “unscheduled cleaning” It was fun to watch people’s faces as they arrived and saw the empty pool…what’s going on??… why would they clean now??? And then finally …Oh!! I had images of Caddy Shack floating in my head, but apparently there was a protein spill over by the slide. I didn’t check….
We took some photos around the resort including our old room and hopped on to the boat to DTD. DS15 has a “piece of history” pin of Indiana Jones. You know the ones with the little bubbles that have an actual piece of the attraction in them? Well, he stepped on his and broke his bubble, so to speak. I really wanted to replace it, if I could, as a surprise for him and he had asked for a Pluto lunchbox pin that he had seen in October for his souvenir. Struck out on both accounts – the lunchboxes were limited editions and sold out and the only place to get either pin at this point would be Ebay. We got to the humungous Disney Store and started to gather up our items. We knew DS15 would want nothing more than boxers since we couldn’t get his Pluto pin. Around the parks, the promotions “du jour” were for either vinyl rain jackets or a red Mickey luggage set. DS8 has outgrown his Cars carry-on, so we were hoping that the luggage set would be the promotion for the Disney Store and it was! We started gathering up our purchases and realized we were going to have to split or be late for our ADR, so we tucked our little pile of magnets etc on a shelf and left for Raglan Road. Just love it there! One thing had changed…the oatmeal rolls from our time before were replaced with oatmeal bread, but still the excellent Guinness reduction to dip it in. Fortunately, DH’s back was to the stage so the lovely Irish dancer couldn’t be distracted by him like the belly dancer was. We had a great dinner and then went back for our shopping. We found our stash, finished the job and headed for home with our red suitcase in tow. I looked around and a serious percentage of the people at DTD were doing the same thing! I even saw people at the airport using them as their carry-ons for the trip home. Disney sure knows how to up-sell! (would you like fries with that?)
Even in the evenings it was hot that week (it always made it up into the low 90s) so we often had a swim before bed. Our sleep was very rudely interrupted that night – you won’t believe what happened!
And you’ll have to wait until the next post to find out!
photo #1 -my dinner "It's not bleedin' chowder!"
photo #2 - my dessert - the bread pudding is delish. See my button - 1st time without the kids
photo #3 - well, by process of elimination this would be DH's dinner except dessert is first..Dunbrody Kiss, I think it's called
photo #4 - DH had the mixed Grill. My shot isn't the best, but the presentation on this was great - everything on a skewer and on a bed of the best whipped potatoes. Even the black pudding was good...really!
It makes me smile, looking at this because DH and I are caterers and anyone who has eaten at Raglan Road will see a strange resemblance to a Valentine's dinner for 150 people that we did last year. We made Guinness reduction for the bread and one of our desserts was bread pudding with 2 sauces! Customers were raving about both!
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at your impression of that lady! Too funny! Looking forward to more....
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Pixie Dust
I'll be using that one!
.....I swear I didn’t know...honest! ! 
Guess where we were headed??
endorsing or encouraging other people to do this because if you look closely at the signs they clearly state that pools are for the exclusive use of guests of the resort. Unfortunately, the first time I really did that was our last day in our last hour at the pool at Pop - I wanted to take a picture with DH's birthdate on it and there it was 
! I ease my guilt and shame by at least knowing that it was not a busy time and we were not preventing resort guests from enjoying their pool – there was lots of room to spare at the tables and in the water. 
Great pictures! 
Susan
PassPorter Guide Author
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
and wondering if he’d ever make it through without challenges. We had a great day and took a lot of pictures. We quickly started our “must do” list: get a jalapeno stuffed pretzel, ride EE, but the FP machine was down for Kali. The wait time wasn’t long, but it was a bit early to get wet, so decided to head over to see the dinosaurs and take our chances later when we came back to Asia for lunch. I’d never done Primevil Whirl but the wait time was over an hour (!) so that can wait for a future trip. We got in line at the Dino Institute behind a mom and 2 boys on their first trip and were explaining the ride for them. (Mom was a bit nervous about them on it) I compared it to the Star Wars ride but they hadn’t been to DHS yet so I suggested that they hang on, cause it’s very bumpy and that they let Mom sit between them in case they got scared of the loud noises. The little guy (about 8) says “I never get scared!!” and looked a wee bit insulted that I would even suggest such a thing! As luck would have it, we got sat behind them in a time machine. I think he lasted until the first dino appeared and his head went down into his mom’s side and never came up again. 
He missed the whole ride! His mom and big brother got a good chuckle and I’m sure he won’t be living that one down for a while! I reassured him that our oldest still gets a shiver on that ride and he’s 15.
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