Of Mice and Margaritas: THE TRIP (thread 2) **Updated 10/10** COMPLETE - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Alrighty! I would just like to let everyone know that I was the 144th person to register for Mousefest 2008! Now on with the trip report!
Tuesday, Day 3 8/26/08 Part 1
We managed to get up and out of bed on time this morning and headed out for Epcot extra magic hours. I'm not sure how we managed this, but we did . . . boy was I thirsty . . . should NOT have had those Orange Dreams at the pool bar after dinner. We got out on time and arrived at Epcot about 8:05.
We immediately grabbed FPs for Soaring and then road Mission Space followed immediately by Living with the Land, which is one of my Epcot favorites. I WANT A MICKEY PUMPKIN!!!!!!!
After riding Soarin, we hopped on the monorail and swapped trains at the TTC. We got off at the Grand Floridian, where I promptly got lost trying to find 1900 Park Fare. I had to ask for directions! I'm not kidding . . . lost in a hotel lobby, how sad.
I loved the character interaction at this meal . . . Alice and Mary Poppins were both great, but the big surprise was Pooh. I'm normally not a big Pooh fan, but interestingly enough Brandon is! Pooh came by and we took photos and then he came back again and hugged an unsuspecting Brandon from behind. Brandon responded when the bear moved away . . . "I think I just got molested by a stuffed animal. Weird."
I had a great conversation with Alice about where the rabbit was or wasn't?
Does the Mad Hatter make this face all the time?
Overall my impression of this restaurant was pretty good. The service was efficient and the food was pretty good. I liked the strawberry soup and the variety of food choices. I liked seeing things like lobster eggs benedict on the the buffet. I would like to try dinner here in the future. Bonus for bringing us a whole POT of coffee!!
Breakfast at 1900 PF:
Food= B
Service = A-
After breakfast we got back on the monorail . . . after checking with concierge service . . . I thought there was something funny with my meal count when I signed my breakfast check. I was right . . . there was . . . I pulled out my reciept from Jiko . . . we were only charged for 1 Person . . . so 2 credits instead of 4 . . .we didn't realize it when it happened . . . we had had a bit to drink! Awesome! An extra meal--sorry Disney, but I am all for freebies!
I got on the phone on the monorail to set up lunch on Wednesday, which I had left open and got a 12 noon reservation at Chefs de France. I don't know why this sounded like a good idea, because my last meal there was less than perfect, but it did . . . so I went with it.
Next up . . . disaster at the Tambu Lounge and my big surprise--it really was a surprise for me!
See you later!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Great updates! I don't know how so many slipped by me but I'm all caught up now. Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare sounds like alot of fun. I've heard really good things about the strawberry soup. Can't wait to find out what the disaster at Tambu lounge is about, no margarita mix by any chance?
Sounds like a couple of good meals. I tried Jiko for the first time on my last trip and loved it. 1900 Park Fare is always fun (the Mad Hatter is a riot ). Can't wait to find out what's next!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
After our breakfast we decided to continue on the monorail to the Poly for Brandon's much beloved Lapu Lapu . . . we actually called the front desk to see what time the bar opened . . . they told us noon. We arrived at the Poly at about 12:30 and found the Tambu Lounge CLOSED!
So we asked again, this time at the check in desk for Ohana. The lovely CM there told us 1pm . . . so we wandered out to the pool and grabbed some frozen yummies from that bar as they DO NOT serve Lapu Lapus at the pool bar . . . thats right there is only one place to get the big pineapple from in all of WDW!
Mango Margarita
And Sour Apple Freeze Plus (I say plus because I had the bartender turn it into an adult frozen beverage!)
Yummy we sat in the shade at Captain Cooks and watched the pigeons try to steal other people's lunches!
At a little after 1 . . .we wandered back over to the Tambu Lounge and found a bartender, who was just beginning to set up his bar ie no ice yet. He looked at Brandon and told him the bar didn't open until 2pm . . . remember this folks . . . 2pm.
We decided not to wait around for another hour. We used the free ride home method of transportation that actually took about 3 hours and cost slightly more than $16,000.
I dragged Brandon on the DVC tour. Yes I did, but thats not the surprise. I knew I was going to do it eventually. I was kind of planning on waiting until December, but then the surprise happened.
My roommate, who likes Disney, but really likes Disney because I pay for most of the trip decided he wanted in WITH me.
So now WE have a mortgage and an Animal Kingdom Villas DVC membership. Weird. I'm stoked! I'm using my Saratoga Springs Developer Points to go to Mousefest solo in December and WE are going to try and to the International Flower and Garden festival in May . . . only have a year to use all of those points . . . can't bank 'em. We're going to try and stay the first time at AKV for the Food and Wine Festival in October.
I did have to make one promise. I am no longer allowed to drag Brandon out of bed really early in the morning, as we now have 49 years to do everything Disney has to offer. (and if I book it right about 15-20 days of use a year! Thats 3-4 vacations a year for us! Sometimes its good to be a 2 person family)
I've been showing everybody pictures of my new "house."
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Alright moving forward. After signing my name 200 times and passing on the ice cream offered we hopped back in the little van which took us back to the All Star Music . . . for the remainder of my VERY LAST stay in a hotel that doesn't have Villas in the name!
We pretty much turned right around . . . I think I may have changed my shirt, but I'm not even sure about that and got on a bus to Epcot. We walked directly and quickly through Epcot and out the International Gateway and over to the Boardwalk! We wandered through the candy shop and checked in at Spoodles! We were given a beeper and went out to find the ashtray.
We waited about ten minutes before being seated at a two top right next to the open kitchen. We counted 11 cooks, a chef or two in the kitchen . . . boy was Brandon jealous. Our line runs with a Chef or a Sous and three guys.
Our Servers were Rick and Kristin and Rick was the best waiter of the entire trip. Props to Rick! We went through the nut allergy thing with the chef again and to my delight the only thing I couldn't eat was the Moussaka . . . on with the meal
Appetizers:
We had the Mediterranean Dips, which we wouldn't have ordered if we knew they were bringing us bread with olive tapenade! They still tasted good, but once again we ended up with too much food!(Yuumy!!)
And the Four Cheese Flatbread . . . this was really good!
Entree:
I ordered the special that evening which was lobster ravioli in a light cream sauce tossed with shrimp! Very good . . . I'm gonna go with fantastic! I ate almost all of it.
Brandon of course ordered the White bean Moussaka. I don't have any personal opinion because that was on the do not eat list, but he really enjoyed it and even took the leftovers in a bag!
Dessert:
I had Panna Cotta with a honey orange glaze. Ehh . . . would have been better without the honey . . . I poured most of that off the top and added some of the pile of berries that came with Brandon's Gelato.
Food= A
Service = A
We really enjoyed this meal. I know that others have complained about menu changes here, but they seem to be doing a fantastic job with what they have. Heads up . . . Rick told us that the menu is about to change again!
After dinner we rolled ourselves back to Epcot and went SHOPPING! We grabbed some sushi candy for Dad (Chef Lou) who is obsessed with all things Japanese. Then Brandon found a shirt in the China pavilion with Mao on it . . . i'm not sure he's taken it off yet. He found Disney selling Communist propaganda to be absolutely hysterical. We wandered through Norway, where I had to tear B away from the Olga horns . . . (notice who is actually doing the shopping . . . thats right . . . NOT me)
Then we hit the Margarita stand in Mexico and I wandered through the pavillion. Brandon waited outside so as to avoid more temptation. We found a great spot to view Illuminations, right between Mexico and Norway right by the Margarita cart and a bathroom!!! I hadn't seen Illumination in years-so I was really excited and the show did not disappoint! I was surprised to see that there was no globe -- someone later told me that they are doing some work on it! Ahh well I'll catch it again in December! (and May and October)
Of course as we were exiting the park there were huge crowds of people headed towards the All Star buses. Rather than repeat the waiting in line we did at the MK the other night we hopped on the monorail . . . and where did we get off?
At the Poly of course! Because you know what is open at 9:30 at night? The Tambu Lounge! I watched the fireworks from the MK from the window while Brandon waited in line. When the fireworks ended we took our giant pineapples down to the beach and sat on the little swing and looked out at the other resorts. This was a VERY happy day!
In fact it might be happiest day ever! By this time we had forgotten all about the Tambu lounge disaster earlier in the day. We had a great morning at Epcot and breakfast with Mary Poppins. We bought DVC at AKV and had a fantastic dinner at Spoodles! Then we got frozen margaritas and watched Illuminations, got to see the fireworks and I got to sit on the beach in WDW with my best friend and his favorite cocktail!
BTW I would like to share 2 little secrets.
#1 The Tambu lounge is supposed to open at 1pm. The bartender was late for work earlier in the day
#2 Dole ships the pineapples already hollowed out, isn't that nifty . . . I wonder if they could ship two to my house every week.
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Always good to be able to report a perfect day! Congratulations on your purchase. Now you can plan to your hearts content!
I love your ratings system. (and that you call out both the good and bad CM's you encounter .
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Read all about it in my TR, "Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!" Jill Phil. 4: 13
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We've never tried it, but I may have to fix that...everyone seems to 
it!
Great update!! More please 
). Can't wait to find out what's next!
)
I hope Brandon gets his Lapu Lapu soon!! 
and I'm glad to hear Brandon finally got his favorite drink 
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