Trip Report: Food & Wine and First Anniversary (Oct. 2011) - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Trip Report: Food & Wine and First Anniversary (Oct. 2011) COMPLETE
This is the tale of our trip of FIRSTS: First Anniversary, First Food and Wine and First DVC Trip! The travelers on this adventure were me (Melissa) and my husband (Rob). We spent four days and three nights in the vacation kingdom, with Boardwalk Villas as our home base. (You can read more in the Pre-Trip Report.)
Something kind of cool here: I'm writing in GREEN. My husband added his comments in PURPLE. So keep a look out for his asides.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DAY ONE, PART ONE: Arrival Morning (scroll down in this post)
Arrival Morning
We arrived at the Boardwalk Villas around 11:30, a little later than we expected, but we got check-in squared away, stowed our bags with the bellmen and were off to Animal Kingdom.
First things first: food. We wandered through Discovery Island, heading to Flame Tree. But Rob decided BBQ wasn’t good enough for him. He was in the mood for something else. So we headed toward Asia, where he ordered the chicken sandwich from Anandapur Local Food Cafes.
First, I smelled burgers. Like any other red-blooded American I decided this was the food for me. It was not to be at Flame Tree, so I insisted we press on. I smelled a wonderful marinated beefy smell in Asia and thought it was coming from Anandapur. Again I was led astray by my nose! I’m not sure where it originated but I bet it was Yak and Yeti. Still, the sesame flavored mayo on the chicken sandwich was pretty good.
While he waited on his food, I wandered down to the new “boneless” chicken wings shack to give them a try. The boneless wings are actually just regular chicken nuggets covered in sauce. But they weren’t bad. And they came with a side of apples, so I was happy enough.
We met back up with our food and ate in the outdoor seating area behind Anandapur Local Foods. The themeing here is so awesome, but the ducks are extremely lame. Extremely lame.
After lunch, we hopped on Kali River Rapids. The wait was about 20 minutes, which isn’t too bad. We love the queue for this ride. The details are so awesome. Some photos:
Wheee! I feel bad for the couple on Kali River Rapids with us though. They were in the splash seats for each major water event!
Then we headed over to Everest, which posted a 25 minute wait, but it was really more like 10. Some more photos:
After looking at the merchandise in the Yeti store for a bit, it was off to the 2pm Finding Nemo show. We enjoyed it a lot! I liked that the puppeteers were also actors, and the imagery is just beautiful. Rob thought the plot, in this distilled version, was a little over-the-top, but I saw a lot of moms in the audience tearing up, so it’s working for someone!
I really enjoyed the actors, costumes and puppets. The singing was well done but the songs not up to Disney feature-length standard. I give the whole thing a B+.
We headed back toward EE, but the line was well over 30 minutes, so we kept walking, all the way to the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail to visit my boyfriends (the bachelor gorillas). Not too much going on today … they were mostly lounging around. I didn’t even get any great photos. Here’s one from last trip:
We walked through Harambe and through Island Mercantile before heading out of the park. A really lovely couple of hours in Animal Kingdom. We didn’t feel rushed at all.
The bus ride back to the Boardwalk was insanely long (ugh), though. Honestly, five hotels sharing a bus means TOO MANY stops! I actually e-mailed Disney about it because it’s sort of ridiculous.
We’d received a text that our room was ready during the Nemo show, so that's where we were headed ...
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So there was the insane bus ride ... but it all kind of melted away when we got to our beautiful, beautiful room.
We were in a studio. As you enter, there was a small foyer, where our luggage was already waiting for us.
Walking through the entryway, the kitchen was on our right, the vanity, closet and water closet on the left. The kitchen was full appointed with a larger mini-fridge, coffee machine, toaster, microwave and a full set of disposable service wear. There were plenty of towels in different sizes for a four day stay as well as toiletries.
In the closet, there were extra sheets (for the sleeper couch and fold out bed), the ethernet cord, a suitcase stand, stuff for a pack and play-style baby bed, ironing board, vacuum, and probably other stuff. Lots of hangers, that's for sure.
Continuing into the main living area, a daybed was across the walkway from the bed. The day bed was super cute, and made me think of my childhood (my childhood BFF had one in her room). I wanted to sit there with the computer, but there were no outlets there. Sad.
Next to the sleeper couch was the dresser and flat-screen television, which was on a swivel plate. This was awesome, because we could easily position the television to point where we wanted it without a struggle.
In the far side of the room, adjacent to the sliding doors to the balcony, was a sleeper sofa (which was comfy, although looking worse for wear) and a table with chairs. The ethernet port was located next to the table, but there was no outlet near the table. We ended up having to run the power cord across the room, behind the sleeper sofa.
There WAS wireless internet available in the villa and in all common areas in the Boardwalk. For me, it was annoying to access. Every time the computer went into sleep mode or hiccuped, I'd have to wait while the computer located the network and then agree to the terms and conditions again. The whole process probably only took about 90 seconds, but we only had to authenticate ourselves once/day with the wired access. And the wired access was faster.
If anyone ever offers you a room numbered X029-X066 in Boardwalk Villas, TAKE IT! This room is fabulous. The balcony looks out onto the square behind the Inn. We can see Crescent Lake, Spaceship Earth, parts of the Boardwalk AND Stormalong Bay. Seriously, this villa is epic. You can hear kids playing football below and the boats crossing the lake. It’s like being at a real seaside resort! I took lots of photos, of course:
The room and themeing were lovely. My only nit was that the balcony was a little dirty and very spidery (or maybe the wildlife gets in on the Halloween fun at WDW).
After we got settled, we both took a quick nap (I watched Phineas and Ferb). Then it was showers and getting ready for Party for the Senses!! It was our anniversary gift to ourselves, so we got a little dressed up. Here’s a shot of us on the balcony (taken by our lovely villa neighbors):
I’ve reviewed the Party for Disney Food Blog, so I won’t post too much about it here. But it is wonderful. IF you have the chance to go and can afford it, do it!!
We sat with two very nice men from the Florida area, who were PftS veterans and very kind with their advice. We tried a lot of GREAT foods. Definitely something we’ll do again … maybe not right away, but eventually!
Melissa contemplated leaving me for Michelle, the singer for the La Nouba players, but my food carrying skills wooed her back to me. I ate so much I got a little sick… but worth it. Especially the beef nigiri…. ::drools::
We left the park just as the Illuminations began and pretty much fell straight into bed. I managed not to over indulge too much, so overall it was a really lovely evening. (Rob, as he notes, ate a little too much.)
I’ll post here when the Food Blog review goes up so you can read about it and see some photos!! EDITED TO ADD: Here's the post! I am so happy with how it turned out!! AJ is fabulous to work with, and I hope you all enjoy it!
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yay! loving this trip report (as i knew i would) i super-love the husband asides! he's too cute. and speaking of love--what a GREAT photo of the two of you on the balcony! that's frame worthy!
We got up nice and early. For breakfast, I picked up some hot grub from Boardwalk Bakery, then Rob and I met in the lobby and headed off to the buses.
We started at Magic Kingdom, where we saw the WHOLE rope drop show ::squee:: for the very first time that either of us can remember! You have to get up pretty early for that show … but it’s totally worth it!!
We headed straight into Fantasyland, where we waited in an obscene line for Dumbo. We waited 30-45 minutes, easily. Ordinarily, we’d never wait that long, but I knew this was our last chance to ride Dumbo before his move to New Fantasyland and his subsequent update, so this was a must-do. While we waited, I snapped some neat photos:
Alas, our Dumbo was a tad unresponsive… he only went down, not up! I think his feather was losing potency…
It’s true!! He got stuck and wouldn’t go up or down!! I considered complaining and getting a second ride out of it, but the line was so long, I didn’t feel good about it, so I let it go. Actually, I totally forgot about it until Rob just mentioned it!
After that, we hit Peter Pan (the line here was only 15 minutes).
A first for me. There is a lot of great detail that I’d like to get a better look at.
Then we spent some time hanging out in one of my favorite places in Magic Kingdom: the area were Fantasyland becomes Liberty Square. (Code for: Rob went to the bathroom forever.)
We rode the Haunted Mansion. This was the first time we interacted with the new queue and the new ghosts. What a hoot! Here are some photos:
This ride will always be our favorite… well as long as we BOTH shall live.
Isn’t he a sweetie??Actually, he selected a glow-in-the-dark Minnie pin for Halloween. She's dressed in a wedding dress and holding an axe. Love it!
In Frontierland, we rode the two of Disney’s three mountains without even using FastPass! Though it was pretty hot, Splash Mountain was a total walk-on. I think this was the first time I’ve ever been on Splash when it didn’t break down at least once! Big Thunder had a 10-15 minute wait. (By the time we got off, the line had almost doubled!)
Then visited our OLD friends in the Tiki Room. The show is cute but it’s still just the Tiki Room.
That song is ear poison! But fun.
From there, we did some shopping and caught the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate it Street Party before heading out. I got a couple of neat shots from this non-parade, which I really love after seeing it for the first time with Tracy:
We caught the 12:30 Street Party, then headed out of the park …
She forgot my favorite part: a little grandma just behind Melissa was doing the choreography along with the MiSiCiSP. So cute.
yay! loving this trip report (as i knew i would) i super-love the husband asides! he's too cute. and speaking of love--what a GREAT photo of the two of you on the balcony! that's frame worthy! ok--sorry for all of the !!!!
Hi!! We love that photo, too! We also got one in those outfits in front of the Fountain of Nations at night ... gonna see how that one comes out before we frame anything. (Because if I want to afford cruises with you, I have to save money somewhere!)
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Also--I think I have a photo of that exact same guy on the stilts. He doesn't look familiar because of the outfit--I recognize his face. And...I think that means I have a serious WDW problem!
Did you love the Haunted Mansion line details? That's my favorite MK ride...I think. That and BTMRR and Splash Mountain and PoTC (I know you don't love that one, but I do!) And what--no Country Bear Jamboree???
Where are the photos from your restroom wait? If I taught you anything it is how to entertain yourself whilst someone powders their nose!
How strange that there was a wait for Dumbo right at opening but nothing for the mountains--or Peter Pan. I've only been on Peter Pan once without a fastpass. There's ALWAYS a crazy line for that.
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