2011 Disney Daily Blog

Click here to see a sampling of pictures - Week 1

Click here to see a sampling of pictures - Week 2


7/9/11

Today was the first day of our incredible vacation at Disney World! We started our day extremely early, and left the house at 4:15 AM. We had a smooth flight and landed in Orlando! We took Disney's Magical Express bus service to our hotel, Bay Lake Tower. We checked in at the Contemporary Resort, which is right next door. While we waited for our room to be ready, we ate lunch at the Contempo Cafe. We had flatbread pizzas and chicken, both of which were very good. Then we looked around in the gift shops and did some pin trading. We got the text message from the hotel saying that our room was ready, and proceeded to our room on the 5th floor. We walked in our room to find a balcony with some amazing views! To our right is Bay Lake, and to our left, is Cinderella Castle and Space Mountain! It is such a fantastic view! We unpacked and situated our room, and then headed to Typhoon Lagoon water park! There, we spent some time in the giant wave pool, which shoots out gigantic waves. Then, we floated around in the lazy river, and had a lot of fun with the inter tubes! We headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for our evening!

Tonight, we went to Downtown Disney, and ate dinner at the Raglan Road Irish Pub! This is one of Megan's favorite restaurants and we were all looking forward to eating here again. Bonnie, Courtney, and Megan enjoyed the sirloin steaks with mashed potatoes, topped with onion rings. Neil loved the Irish fish and chips. At the restaurant, there was an Irish band and Irish tap dancers. After dinner, we went to Ghirardelli Soda Fountain, where we had warm brownie hot fudge sundaes. They were absolutely delicious! After our dessert, we took a golf cart to the bus stop, and rode back to Bay Lake Tower. We got back just in time to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks show, Wishes, from our balcony! We had an awesome view of them from our room, and we got to watch them in our pajamas! It was also very nice to not have to deal with the crowded park afterwards. We finished unpacking and got settled in for the night. Tomorrow, we are headed to Magic Kingdom in the morning, and we are very excited to get into the parks! Take a look at pictures from today.


7/10/11

Today was our first day in the parks and we went to Magic Kingdom! It was so nice to walk out of the front door of our hotel and straight into the park! We got to the park before it opened so we got to watch the welcome show with all of the characters on top of the train station. We headed to Space Mountain where Neil, Courtney, and Megan had a great ride through space, and Bonnie took pictures before and after. We said hi to astronauts Chip and Dale, as well as Megan’s favorite, Stitch. Next, we rode Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. Afterwards, we ate breakfast at the Main Street Bakery, where we enjoyed cinnamon rolls, a cheese danish, and an ice cream cookie sandwich. (Hey, it’s vacation right?!) Next, we went to see Mickey Mouse and the Princesses in the new Town Square Theater. This was really nice because we had fastpasses, and waited less than five minutes. We shopped in the Main Street Emporium and watched the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It Parade. Then, we went to Frontierland to see the Country Bear Jamboree. We ate one of our favorite lunches, taco salads at Tortuga Tavern. We headed back to the front of the park, where we met Scoop Sanderson, the master of pin trading, and the Main Street firefighter, Chief Smokey. We took the monorail back to Bay Lake Tower, and went swimming in Bay Cove pool. When we came back to the room, we found a card from Mickey and Minnie wishing a Happy (early) 21st Anniversary to Bonnie and Neil!

Tonight, we went to Downtown Disney again for more shopping and dining! We started off in the Art of Disney and Little MissMatched stores. Then we went to Mickey's Pantry, where we found some new Mickey items to add to our Disney kitchen at home. We love this store! Then, we went next door to Wolfgang Puck Cafe for dinner. We got a caesar salad, pennette chicken alfredo, cheese pizza, and pepperoni pizza, and shared them all. Then, we went to shop at Once Upon a Toy, Disney's Pin Traders, and Tren-D. Next, we went to Arribas Brothers glass store, where we watched a glass-blower making Cinderella Castle out of glass. Then, we went to Basin, and saw lots of neat loaf soaps with different designs. We went to the giant World of Disney store and looked around. After that, we went back to our new favorite, Ghirardelli's, for dessert. We got a chocolate chip cookie dough cone, a mint chocolate chip hot fudge brownie sundae, and a chocolate shake. They were all delicious! After dessert, we went to Goofy's Candy Company, where Megan got her favorite "create-your-own" candy apple! We headed back to the hotel and got a great night's rest. Tomorrow we are heading to Blizzard Beach water park. Check out the pictures from today!


7/11/11

Today we went to the Blizzard Beach water park for some fun in the sun! We started out by taking a ride up the ski lift to the Green Slopes, and went down the family raft ride, Teamboat Springs. At the bottom of the ride was a cute Mickey Mouse raft! Then, we went to the Red Slopes and rode the runoff rapid double tube slide. It was a long walk up, but we all loved the ride down. Then, we went to the Purple Slopes, where we went down the Toboggan Racers. After that, we went to the Melt-Away Bay with bobbing waves, and spent some time floating in there. When we were getting out, we stopped to say hi to Swimmer Goofy! After hugs from him, we went to the Cross Country Creek lazy river, and rode it all the way around the park. It was very relaxing and we all enjoyed it. We got out, and went to Lottawatta Lodge, where we had a snack of chicken nuggets and pizza. We needed something to hold us over until our delicious lunch later in the afternoon! We headed back to Bay Lake Tower, where we showered and got ready to go to Epcot.

We did some major park hopping this afternoon/evening! We took the monorail to Epcot, where we had a late lunch at our all-time FAVORITE restaurant, Le Cellier Steakhouse. We started off with our favorite of the three breads, the pretzel bread. Then, we had appetizers of caesar salads, which were great. Our entrees were the Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mingons, which were delicious! We also got a Chocolate Whiskey Cake to share for dessert. We really enjoyed our lunch at Le Cellier, and always look forward to our meal there. We have been every year since 2005! Afterwards, we took a ride on Spaceship Earth. We left the park and took a bus to Hollywood Studios. We went to the Magic of Animation building, where Characterpalooza was going on. We saw the Snow Queen, Jafar, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and Pooh. Then, we went to the finale show of the American Idol Experience, where we saw some of the best singers we have ever seen at the attraction. It was a great show, and Manny Arthur won. Then, we left and headed to the Magic Kingdom. We had Mickey Mouse ice cream cones at the Plaza Ice Cream parlor, and they were awesome. We ate our ice cream and then took the monorail back to Bay Lake Tower. We watched the fireworks from the balcony in our room. We have loved being able to watch them in our pajamas, and be in our room the second the show ends! It is neat, because we turn the TV in our room to a certain channel and the fireworks music is piped in. We had a great, full day today, and we are ready to go to Animal Kingdom tomorrow! Take a look at the pictures from today and check back tomorrow for more updates!


7/12/11

Today we had a wild day at Animal Kingdom! Neil, Courtney and Megan started out by riding Expedition Everest twice in a row. There was practically no line! Bonnie took pictures of them on the ride. Then, we saw some jungle friends, Baloo, King Louie, and Terk. They are in the Jungle Book and Tarzan movies. We also Devine, the lady that is covered in leaves and walks on stilts. She blends in with the greenery of the park and is always fun to see. We went to Pizzafari and had brunch there. Afterwards, we shopped around in Island Mercantile. Then, we decided to see the Festival of the Lion King. It was spectacular! After the show, we had some delicious ice cream and said hello to Pluto in Camp Minnie Mickey. We headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for dinner.

We rode the monorail to Epcot for the evening. Courtney and Megan did the Sum of All Thrills, where they got to create their own roller coaster and virtually ride it. They had fun with that, and even went upside down 5 times! Afterwards, we strolled through the countries. We ate dinner at Via Napoli in Italy. This is a new restaurant that specializes in pizza and pasta. All of the chefs and ingredients are straight from Italy, and everything is cooked in an oak wood oven. We started out with sourdough bread and house salad. We shared a four cheese pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, and veal parmesan. Everything was incredible! We loved our meal and will definitely be back! We continued our walk through the countries around the lagoon. The entire lagoon is 1.3 miles long. We did some shopping in Mouse Gears, and took the monorail back to our hotel. We watched the fireworks from our balcony again. We have enjoyed doing this every night, and it is so nice to be in the comforts of our hotel room and in our pajamas! We are heading to Hollywood Studios tomorrow, so check back tomorrow to read about our day there! Take a look at the pictures from today!


7/13/11

Today was a fantastic day at Hollywood Studios! Courtney and Megan started out by riding Rock 'n' Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. Neil went straight to Toy Story Mania to get fastpasses for later. Afterwards, we had breakfast at one of our favorites, Starring Rolls Cafe. We had bagels, cheese danish, cinnamon roll, and chocolate croissant. Everything was delicious! Then, we were walking to one of the shops, and Courtney and Megan kept walking to Guest Relations! They had a special surprise planned. Guest Relations had 4 fastpasses for Toy Story Mania and VIP seating at American Idol Experience waiting for Neil and Bonnie! Courtney and Megan have some pretty cool connections with Disney to arrange this! This was for their 21st anniversary, which is tomorrow. We left Guest relations, and went to Mickey's of Hollywood to pick up some items for our kitchen at home. Then, we went to ride Toy Story Mania with the fastpasses from the morning. We went to the Sorcerer's Hat, where we saw Minnie Mouse, Stitch, and Daisy & Donald Duck. We ate lunch at the Backlot Express, where we had turkey ciabatta sandwiches and chicken. After lunch, we saw Neil's favorite, Handy Manny! After saying hi to him, we headed over to our VIP seats at American Idol Experience. It was a great show with some good singers! We went to see Sorcerer Mickey in the Animation Building, and then went to see Phineas and Ferb. After a long day at the park, we headed back to our hotel to shower and change clothes.

Tonight we went to dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe, which is located in Disney's Wilderness Lodge. We got there a little bit early so that we could walk around the gorgeous hotel. This hotel is like a giant log cabin out in the wilderness, with waterfalls and even a geyser! Once it was time for our dinner, we all ordered the all-you-can-eat canyon skillet. This comes with salad, cornbread, coleslaw, pulled pork, roasted chicken, beef brisket, pork ribs, mashed potatoes, baked beans, and corn on the cob. They bring out a giant platter, and you can keep getting as many refills as you can eat! Everything was delicious, and we were stuffed! Our waitress brought out cupcakes for Neil and Bonnie's 21st anniversary (which is tomorrow) and Megan's 14th birthday (in two weeks). After our fun, lively dinner, we decided to go explore the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. This is the Disney Vacation Club section of the hotel, and we wanted to check it out and see if we would want to stay here on a future visit. The area was beautiful and we had fun looking around. We went back to the main area and went out to see the geyser erupt. This geyser erupts every hour, on the hour. It was very neat to see! We went back to our hotel, and Courtney and Megan stopped to get some dessert from the Contempo Cafe. We watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from our balcony, and got in bed. Tomorrow is a very special day! It is Neil and Bonnie's 21st Wedding Anniversary, and we are going to the most magical place - Magic Kingdom! Take a look at pictures from today and check back tomorrow!


7/14/11

Happy 21st Anniversary Neil and Bonnie! Today was a day full of magic and surprises! This morning, Courtney and Megan gave Neil and Bonnie a card and personalized M&Ms, with Mickey Mouse and Anniversary messages printed on them. We walked over to the Magic Kingdom, and headed straight for Space Mountain. It was having technical difficulties, but we got fastpasses for later. Then we went and rode the Tomorrowland Speedway. After that, we went to Fantasyland, where there was no line for the Mad Tea Party. We each got our own tea cups! We rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo. We said hi to Pinocchio and Mary Poppins, and then rode Prince Charming Regal Carrousel. We walked through the castle and got on a trolley with the Dapper Dans, who sang for us on the way to the front of the park! It was a nice treat! We ate breakfast at Main Street Bakery, where we had crumb cake, chocolate croissant, and ice cream cookie sandwich! We went back to Tomorrowland, where we saw the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club. Neil, Courtney and Megan rode Space Mountain twice, and we all rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. We checked in for our lunch reservation at the Plaza Restaurant. When we were taken to our table, there was a beautiful Anniversary picture frame waiting for us and the table was covered in Mickey confetti. Courtney and Megan have some awesome connections! For lunch, Neil had a cheesesteak sandwich, Bonnie & Courtney had Plaza club sandwiches, and Megan had a hamburger. We all enjoyed it! Neil and Bonnie were surprised at the end of lunch with a gorgeous heart-shaped brownie cake, covered with chocolate Mickey balls and strawberries. It was delicious! We all had some and boxed the rest up to take back to the hotel with us. We took a few more pictures on Main Street and headed back to the hotel. When we walked in the room, there was a gorgeous Mickey shaped cake waiting for Neil and Bonnie, that Courtney and Megan had arranged to have delivered!

We got ready for Neil and Bonnie's 21st Anniversary dinner at Narcoossee's, which is located at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. We took the monorail over there and walked out to the restaurant, which is located overlooking the Seven Seas Lagoon. We had a breathtaking view of the Magic Kingdom and Contemporary/Bay Lake Tower over the water. We started off with bread and caesar salads. Neil, Courtney and Megan all got the grilled filet mignon. Bonnie got the surf and turf, which is filet mignon and lobster tail. Everything was great! We happened to be seated right across from one of our blog readers, Margie! We met her last year at Hollywood Studios when she recognized us from this website. We knew that they would also be eating at Narcoossee's tonight. Margie and her husband Sy were there with their sons, Ty and Trent, also celebrating their 21st anniversary! They were also there with their friends Deb and Matt, and their daughters Maddison and Mia, who were celebrating their 10th anniversary! They are all from Connecticut. We enjoyed visiting with them and were glad we got to see them again this year! For dessert, our waiter brought out chocolate moose, key lime pie, and creme brulee on the house in celebration of Neil and Bonnie's Anniversary and Megan's Birthday! We enjoyed the desserts, and went out to the deck to watch the fireworks over the lagoon. It was a gorgeous view, and they piped in the music as well. We took the monorail back to Bay Lake Tower, and headed to bed. Neil and Bonnie had an amazing anniversary, and many more to come! Tomorrow, we are heading to Epcot! Check out pictures and come back tomorrow for more!


7/15/11

Today was a great Disney day! We headed to Epcot and went straight to Soarin'. We got fastpasses for later and then rode it. After our flight, we ate breakfast at Sunshine Seasons in the Land pavilion. We had a cinnamon roll, bagels, and a French toast platter. We went over to Pixie Hollow to meet Tinkerbell. After saying hi to our fairy friend, we did some shopping in Mouse Gears. Then, we began our trip around the World Showcase. We started our in Mexico with the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride and shopping in the market. We headed on to Norway where we rode Maelstrom and visited the vikings and trolls. We went to China where we looked around in the different culture shops and met Mulan. In Germany, we looked in the caramel and perfume shops. We went over to Italy where we had lunch at Via Napoli. We loved it so much a few nights ago that we decided to come back! Neil had a pepperoni pizza and Bonnie, Courtney and Megan had a four cheese pizza. Everything was fantastic, and this is by far the best pizza we have ever had! We strolled past the rest of the countries, stopping to say hello to Mary Poppins. We headed back to our hotel to shower and rest.

Originally, we were going to be having dinner in China at Epcot tonight, but a huge storm came through, so we decided to stay closer to our hotel. As we were walking in the lobby of the Contemporary, a family came up to us and recognized us from this website! Linda, David, and Alex from Massachusetts have been reading our site for years, and we really enjoyed meeting them and talking with them. They have looked for us on their past trips and as they were walking away, they said meeting us was cooler than meeting Mickey Mouse! Quite a compliment! We took the monorail from the Contemporary to the Grand Floridian where we had dinner at the Gasparilla Grill. We had a cheeseburger, chicken, and roast beef sandwich. The meals were great, and we could see Cinderella Castle from the window! We had a nice evening walking around the Grand Floridian. We talked with the cast member at the DVC booth, who was from Greece! We also looked around in the different stores at the resort. We took the monorail back to Bay Lake Tower, and watched the fireworks from our balcony. Take a look at pictures from today and come back tomorrow for more updates. Tomorrow we are going to Hollywood Studios!


7/16/11

Today we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios and started out the day during the Extra Magic Hours. Courtney and Megan rode Rock 'n' Roller Coaster twice, and Neil got fastpasses for Toy Story Mania. Afterwards, Courtney and Megan went next door to ride Tower of Terror. We went to Starring Rolls Cafe for breakfast, where we had cinnamon rolls, cheese danish, bagels, and chocolate croissant. We saw Goofy & Pluto and Chip & Dale dressed in their Hollywood outfits. Next, we went on the Great Movie Ride which takes you through scenes from classic movies. Neil, Courtney and Megan rode on the new 3-D Star Tours 2 ride, which had awesome new graphics. We ate a great lunch at the ABC Commissary, where we had hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken sandwich and fried fish. We saw one of the preliminary shows of American Idol, and the performances were great. We rode Toy Story Mania with our fastpasses from earlier. Neil and Courtney went to see the Walt Disney One Man's Dream exhibit and movie, and they watched the Pixar Pals parade. Bonnie and Megan stopped at the Beverly Sunset Bakery, where they picked up some cotton candy, Mickey Mouse cake pops and frozen lemonade. We headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for dinner.

We went to the Beach Club tonight to have dinner and explore the hotel. We walked around the beautiful resort and took some pictures of the different restaurants and stores along the beach. We went over to the Disney Vacation Club villas, and looked at the awesome Stormalong Bay pool. We checked in for dinner at the Cape May Cafe, famous for their all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. We enjoyed crab legs, fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, oysters, clams, mussels, prime rib, flank steak, and much more! We even got to talk to the chef, and give her our compliments! The desserts were awesome, including the oreo bon bons, key lime pies, assorted cookies, cheesecake, brownies, and mini cupcakes. Bonnie and Neil got a special anniversary dessert from the restaurant. After dinner, we went to the gift shop, where we bought cute matching DVC shirts! We walked around the hotel some more and had a nice evening. We headed back to Bay Lake Tower where we watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks show from our balcony. Tomorrow, we are going to Typhoon Lagoon! Check out the pictures and keep reading!


7/17/11

We went to Typhoon Lagoon this morning for some fun in the sun! Neil, Courtney and Megan started off by riding the water coaster, Crush 'n' Gusher. We rode the pineapple plunger (there are three different paths). As we were walking back to the front of the park, we saw Lilo! We said hi to her and then we went to ride Gangplank Falls, which is the family raft ride. We hopped in the lazy river and rode it around to the front of the park, where we went in the Typhoon Lagoon giant wave pool. We had fun in there, catching all the waves! We decided to go to the Polynesian Resort for lunch, and we ate at Captain Cook's. We saw Linda, David, and Alex again, who we had met two days ago! We had a great lunch, and then went out to the pool area. Since we are DVC members, we are allowed to "pool hop" and visit the other resort pools. The Polynesian pool has a giant volcano water slide. It also has a gorgeous beach, which is right across the lagoon from the castle! The view was amazing. Megan loved building a sandcastle on the beach with a view of the real castle! We enjoyed spending the afternoon relaxing in the sun. We took the monorail back to Bay Lake Tower to shower and get ready for dinner.

Tonight, we went to the Yacht Club (the Beach Club's sister resort) where we had dinner and walked around the hotel. We took some pictures around the resort and in front of the lighthouse. We also went in the gift shop where we enjoyed talking to the cast members. We checked in at the Yachtsman's Steakhouse for dinner. Courtney and Megan had arranged for personalized anniversary menus for Neil and Bonnie! We started off with onion pull-apart and sourdough bread, and caesar salads. We all had the filet mignons, which were extremely good! Courtney and Megan had also arranged for a special dessert surprise. The manager brought out a gorgeous platter of all different desserts and fruits, and anniversary wishes written in chocolate. After a fantastic dinner, we headed back to Bay Lake Tower. Tonight we watched the fireworks from the roof of our hotel. There is a special lounge up there for DVC members, called the Top of the World Lounge. Tomorrow morning we are going to Animal Kingdom. Take a look at the pictures from today!


7/18/11

What a busy day! We started off at Animal Kingdom for the Extra Magic Hours. Neil, Courtney and Megan rode Expedition Everest twice in a row. We went to ride Dinosaur and Triceratop Spin, and then saw Goofy and Pluto. We went to Pizzafari, where Neil and Bonnie had breakfast platters, and Courtney and Megan had pizza, pasta, and salad. We went to Camp Minnie Mickey, where we met Thumper and Miss Bunny. We were especially excited to meet Thumper because we have a cat named Thumper! We were listening to Gi-Tar Dan play Disney songs on the guitar, when he announced he was going to make up a song about someone. Megan volunteered us, and after asking us a few questions, Gi-Tar Dan made up a song on the spot about Courtney and Megan! We went to Asia where we rode Kali River Rapids. We all got completely soaked! Luckily we had planned for this to be our last ride, so we headed back to our hotel to shower and change.

While we were waiting for the bus, we saw Don, who we met back in 2009 when he and his family recognized us from this website. We knew they would be here and were hoping we would see them! We went to Hollywood Studios in the afternoon, where Courtney and Megan rode Rock 'n' Roller Coaster three times in a row! Then, we went to the Animation Building for Characterpalooza, where we saw Minnie & Pluto, Rafiki, Goofy & Max, Stitch, Mary Poppins & the penguins, and the Queen of Hearts. We went to the finale show of the American Idol Experience, where we saw some great singers! They were all fantastic, but the winner was Danny Pate. He won the Dream Ticket, and he is going to use it to audition this Friday! After the finale, we went to Magic Kingdom, where we had dinner at Columbia Harbor House. We had shrimp and chicken platters, which were great. After dinner, we watched the Main Street Electrical Parade, and then got our spots for the fireworks. We saw the unbelievably amazing Magic, Memories, and You castle projection show. We watched the Wishes fireworks from the parks for the first time this trip! We have loved watching them from our balcony, but we got to see Tinkerbell fly from the castle tonight! After the fireworks, we went to ride Space Mountain. Neil and Courtney got ice cream from the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor, and Bonnie and Megan got cotton candy from the Main Street Confectionary. After our treats, we walked back to Bay Lake Tower. Tomorrow, we are going to Typhoon Lagoon! Check out the pictures!


7/19/11

This morning, we went to our favorite water park, Typhoon Lagoon! We started off at the intertube rides, Keelhaul Falls and Mayday Falls. After riding down the rivers, we went to the wave pool to catch the huge waves! After we got out of the wave pool, we saw our favorite surfing alien, Stitch! We went around the park in the lazy river, and then got back in the wave pool! We stayed in there for a while, and then headed back to our hotel to get ready for our DVC event. We were scheduled to attend Disney Vacation Club's member meeting, Vacation with Character. We went to the lobby where we were supposed to meet for event pick-up, and ended up being the only ones on the bus! We enjoyed talking with Doug, who shared lots of insider DVC tips. He also asked us trivia questions. We all ended up winning DVC luggage tags. We were also given a DVC bag and portfolio, and ended up winning a second one with trivia answers. When we got to the event, we (along with the other members in attendance) were given a presentation on all of the new things coming to Disney World and the other divisions of the company. At the end of the presentation, Mickey and Goofy came to say hi to everyone! Then, we got to take a tour to see the model DVC rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge's Kidani Village and the new DVC Hawaii resort, Aulani. After the tour, there was a buffet with pasta, fruit & vegetables, drinks, and desserts for us to enjoy. We all had a blast at the event and loved talking to the DVC guides. We are so glad we joined DVC and have loved our membership!

After the DVC event, we went to Downtown Disney. We went to the giant store, World of Disney, where we did some shopping. Then we went to dinner at the new T-Rex Cafe, where we dined with the dinosaurs! The entire restaurant makes you feel like you've been transported back to the pre-historic days and you are surrounded by dinosaurs as you eat! There is even a meteor shower in the restaurant every 20 minutes. Neil had chicken fried steak, Bonnie had the double dip queso/spinach platter, and Courtney and Megan shared the appetizer platter with bruschetta, queso, onion rings, quesadillas, ribs, and pasta. Everything was great and we really enjoyed our pre-historic dinner! We went to Team Mickey, Tren-D, and Art of Disney after dinner. We went to Ghiradelli's for dessert, where we had hot fudge sundaes and ice cream cones. We headed back to Bay Lake Tower, and watched the fireworks from our balcony. We LOVE being able to do this! Take a look at pictures from today and check back for more updates! Tomorrow, we are going to Epcot!


7/20/11

Today was a great, full day at Epcot and we were there before the park opened. Megan was at the front of the crowd and was the first person in the whole park to get fastpasses for Soarin’! We rode Soarin' in the standby line and had a great time flying over California. Afterwards, we went to ride Journey into Imagination with Figment.  After the ride, we went to the Image Works photo lab, where we made some really neat super-imposed posters. We saw the 3-D Michael Jackson show, Captain EO. Then we texted and met up with our friends Don, Bonnie, and DJ from Georgia. We met them in 2009 and saw them twice on our trip last year. We also met their friends Mike, Arnetta, Andrew, and Alex from Indiana. We chatted for a while, and then went to ride Test Track with them. After our ride, we went to Japan and had ginger salads, steamed rice, and shrimp tempura at Yakitori House. We watched the oyster pearl and candy making demonstrations in Japan, and had Kaki Gori snow cones. We headed over to France where we met Belle & Beast, and Aurora. We had baugette sandwiches and pastries in the French bakery, Boulangerie Patisserie. We went over to the United Kingdom where we met Pooh & Tigger and looked around in the shops in the UK and Canada. We headed back to our hotel to shower and get ready for the evening.

We went back to Epcot, and headed to Italy for dinner. We had our third dinner this trip at Via Napoli. We really love it!!! Bonnie, Courtney, and Megan had the four cheese pizza and Neil had the pepperoni pizza. They were both absolutely spectacular! We have really enjoyed this new addition to the fantastic restaurants in Epcot's World Showcase. After dinner, we walked over to the Beach Club Resort, where we went to Beaches n Cream. This is a very popular soda shop and it was our first time here. Neil had a hot fudge sundae, Bonnie and Courtney had mint chocolate chip cones, and Megan had an ice cream cookie sandwich. Everything was amazing! Tomorrow is our last day in the parks, and we are going to Magic Kingdom. We are sad that our vacation is coming to an end, but we know we'll be back! Take a look at the pictures from today!


7/21/11

We had a great day today at Magic Kingdom! Neil, Courtney and Megan started off by riding Space Mountain. We had breakfast at Main Street Bakery, where we had croissants, danishes, cinnamon crumb cake, bagels, and ice cream cookie sandwich. We said hello to Pluto, and then took a ride on the Walt Disney World Railroad. We took a flight on Aladdin's Magic Carpets and then went over to Liberty Square. We rode the Haunted Mansion, complete with 999 happy haunting ghosts! Next, we went over to Fantasyland, where we saw Mickey's Philharmagic. We also made sure to ride Snow White's Scary Adventures, as it is being demolished in the new Fantasyland Expansion. We went to have our favorite lunch, taco salads at Tortuga Tavern in Adventureland. They were delicious, as always! After lunch, we said hello to our favorite mermaid, Ariel, and her prince, Eric. We rode Peter Pan's Flight, and then met Tiana in her Garden Glen. We rode two of Magic Kingdom's mountains, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain. We did some final shopping in the Emporium, and took the monorail back to Bay Lake Tower to shower and change clothes.

We took the monorail to the Polynesian, where we checked in for our dinner at Kona Cafe. This is one of our favorite restaurants, and we were looking forward to our dinner. We started off with the amazing Hawaiian bread and nut butter. We all had the pineapple teryaki NY strip steaks with mashed potatoes and broccolini. They were all fantastic. For dessert, Courtney and Megan had arranged one last anniversary surprise for Neil and Bonnie. Our waitress brought out a huge dessert platter, with a sampler platter of the entire menu of desserts! It was great, and a nice treat! After dinner, we took the monorail around to the Magic Kingdom, where we headed to Tomorrowland. We rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover, and then Neil, Courtney and Megan rode Space Mountain. We watched the Magic, Memories, and You castle projection show and Wishes Fireworks Spectacular. We headed over to Frontierland to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It had no line, so we rode it three times in a row, until the park closed. We watched part of the Main Street Electrical Parade, and took the monorail back to Bay Lake Tower. Tomorrow, we are having a character brunch at the Grand Floridian Resort.


7/22/11

Today was our last day at Disney, and we enjoyed the morning as much as possible! We finished packing, and headed over to the Contemporary to check in our luggage for the airport. Disney has a great system for our luggage, and it makes the process much easier! We took a few last pictures of our room and at Bay Lake Tower. We then took the monorail around to the Grand Floridian, where we had a character brunch at 1900 Park Fare. We enjoyed dining with Mary Poppins, Alice, the Mad Hatter, Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger! 1900 Park Fare had an excellent buffet, filled with pastries, hot and cold selections, a custom omelette station, lox and bagels and of course, Mickey waffles! It was a fun way to spend our last morning - fabulous food and fun characters!

We walked around the Grand Floridian for a bit, before taking the monorail back to the Contemporary. We said goodbye to Bay Lake Tower and WDW until next time. We boarded the Disney's Magical Express bus back to the airport, which concluded another amazing vacation at our favorite place!


 
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