| 2011 Disney
Daily Blog
Click here to
see a sampling of pictures - Week 1
Click
here to see a sampling of pictures - Week 2
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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
Email us with questions or
comments.
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