Our Disney Vacation (Again!)

We had so much fun at Disney World last year that we decided to go again for our anniversary this year. For those who didn’t know, we got married on my birthday (02/02), so it’s a two-for-one.

Sunday

The alarm went off at 5am. A very groggy me got up and got ready, then woke John up at 5:15am. I finished packing the things we had used that morning, poured John’s coffee and then out the door we went at 5:30. We left the car at April’s house (John’s sister), and she dropped us off at the airport. Unfortunately we flew right through security, so we had a long wait at the gate. But eventually we were on our way. After arriving at the airport in Orlando, we hopped the Disney Magical Express bus to our resort — no baggage claim to deal with, because Disney collected and delivered it all straight to our room! With “Keys to the Kingdom” cards in hand, and sporting our Anniversary and Birthday buttons (the check-in clerk gave them to us!) we headed to Downtown Disney. (KttK cards are given to resort guests — it’s a combined room key, park ticket and meal plan card.)

Our first stop was the Earl of Sandwich for lunch. John had the Beef ‘n Bleu, just like last year, and I tried out The Ultimate Grilled Cheese for a change. It was wonderful — three kinds of cheeses, Applewood-smoked bacon and Roma tomatoes on a nice crusty roll. We absolutely love this place! After lunch, we walked around and window-shopped towards the West Side, and paused for some photos with Donald & Daisy, and the Lego Dragon.

John tried out some Guinness Gear at the Ragland Roads gift shop. After that we headed to DisneyQuest for a few hours of fun. It was awesome!!! We started with Buzz Lightyear’s Astroblast — you ride around in a covered bumpercar; one person steers to pick up balls, and the other person shoots them at other cars. Cars that get hit spin around in circles for 60 seconds. It was a hoot! We played some classic arcade games (Daytona USA, Centipede, Astroids, etc), tried to fly a plane, and raced Pod Racers. Three rounds of air hockey got me coughing again, so we headed downstairs for Alladin’s Magic Carpet Ride which is a virtual reality jewel collecting game. It was pretty cool, but I think the lack of reference points made John a little queasy. And then it was time for dinner.

We had dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Cafe again this year. John had the Chef’s Sushi Sampler, and I had the Grandma Puck’s Bolognese. Both were excellent as usual, but the service was very slow. We ordered dessert, and after seeing our buttons, they brought them both out with candles and sang Happy Birthday. We had had a long day and were both very tired, so we headed back to the resort for an early bedtime. When we arrived, the special surprise that I had ordered was there waiting for us: a basket with wine, cheese, chocolates, crackers and engraved wineglasses. We got back to our room just in time to catch the last 5 minutes of the Super Bowl.

Monday

We tried to get up early, but it just didn’t happen. Since our only plans were a lunch reservation at Yak & Yeti at 11:30, we slept in a tiny bit. As we walked through the gates at Animal Kingdom, a castmember grabbed us and gave us each two special edition Tinkerbell Dreams pins — looks like we’re winners in the “Year of a Million Dreams” park contest. We walked around the Oasis area for a while and checked out all of the animals, then hopped in line for the “It’s Tough to Be A Bug” show. (It was pretty cool, btw!)

After lunch, we decided to strike while the iron was hot, so-to-speak and get in line for Expedition Everest before I lost my nerve. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a complete chicken and can’t deal with the thought of riding a coaster, muchless actually doing it. The wait in line was excruciating. It took about 30 minutes, but we finally made it to the front. The castmember strapped us into the 4th row of the train and sent us on our way.

John says that he could see the whole park during the very long (and high) uphill climb, but I couldn’t look anywhere but forward. In a couple of seconds, we were off — we whizzed around in the dark mountain for a couple of minutes and came to a stop outside in the right sunlight. I heard a click-clack noise, and in an instant we were headed back through the mountain — backwards and in the dark. As we came to a stop again, I realized that we were now facing the very large drop at the front of the mountain, but I don’t think anyone else did. “Click-clack”… and with that we were speeding away down the hill and around some curves. When we arrived back at the station, I couldn’t believe that I had done it. I rode Expedition Everest and lived — and loved every minute of it. It’s incredible that you can ride a coaster like that and enjoy it.

After Everest, we got some water (it was VERY hot and sunny) and then did Dinosaur. It wasn’t anything like we were expecting — very violent. Neither one of us liked it. We walked over to Africa, but there was a 90 minute wait for the Kilimanjaro Safari, so we skipped it. We also skipped Rafiki’s PlanetWatch and the petting zoo because they had sucked last year. The only thing left was Primeval Whirl, which John hadn’t been looking forward to, but felt dumb backing out of since I did Everest. It’s a crazy coaster — it’s got some small drops, and the car you’re in spins like crazy in the curves. Crazy and fun, but hold on to your lunch!

With nothing really left to do, we went back to the resort for a nap. Disney’s Hollywood Studios was having Extra Magic Hours (they stayed open 3 hours later just for resort guests) so we headed over there. We started with Muppet Vision 3D and then spent over an hour in line for the Rock ‘n Roller Coaster Staring Aerosmith. What a wild ride!!! It was awesome — we started with a super-magnet launch and had done 3 complete inversions before it was all over. If not for the fact that the lines are so long, I’d do that one again! Then we headed back to the resort.

Tuesday

With nothing but an 11:30 lunch scheduled, we slept in a bit and didn’t leave the room until 9am, lol. That gave us enough time for Pirates of the Carribean and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad before our lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern. The food there is always great (and there is way too much of it). We ordered the Tavern Fried Cheese as an appetizer (not included on the dining plan, btw). For entrees, I had the New England Pot Roast (a huge pile of tender beef chunks, mashed potatoes, carrots and fried onions) and John had the Tri-Corner Sandwich (roast beef, swiss cheese and horseradish sauce). For dessert we shared a Caramel Apple Tart… the height of yummy!! Of course, the server brought our dessert out with two candles and had a group sing Happy Birthday to me.

After lunch we rode the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again (we grabbed Fast Passes before getting in line before) and then the Haunted Mansion. The updates to HM were excellent and include some great new special effects that make the storyline make more sense. We rode the Walt Disney World Railroad all the way around the park, and then grabbed Fast Passes for Peter Pan’s Flight, and rode It’s A Small World. While looking for restrooms, we were walking behind Cinderella’s Castle and saw Mickey and Minnie exiting from the “Dream Along With Mickey” stage show. For some reason we waved at them — they actually saw us and waved back! One of the quick service counters saw our buttons and gave us free bottles of water. And then we rode The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh.

Not very impressed with the quick-service meals at Magic Kingdom, we decided to head over to Epcot for dinner. We ate at The Land Pavilion then strolled through World Showcase. I enjoyed some wine from France and Germany, and John had his favorite German beer. We watched Illuminations: Reflections of Earth from the Outpost and then made a swift retreat towards the exit.

In order to try to beat the crowds, we decided to take the monorail to Magic Kingdom and get a bus from there. The monorail driver let us sit up front on the leg from the Ticket Center to MK. There was pretty much no one on the train, and he asked us if we were in a hurry. We weren’t, so we said “nope.” Just then, the fireworks for the Princess and Pirate Party started, and the driver basically stopped the monorail right there so that we could watch the whole show. Talk about magical!!!

Wednesday

Wednesday was our first whole day at Epcot. We started the morning off by finding April and Shane’s “Leave a Legacy” engraving at the park entrance. We killed some time before the Behind the Seeds tour, by riding Spaceship Earth and The Seas with Nemo and Friends; then we had lunch at The Electric Umbrella Cafe. The Behind the Seeds tour was pretty cool. We got to go into the Integrated Pest Management center and we walked around the rear of the greenhouses that the “The Land” ride goes through.

Test Track re-opened just as we got there, so we did get to ride it. After that we headed to Mexico to ride “The River of Time”. The castmember running the ride saw our buttons and made a big deal of giving us our own private boat. It was pretty cool. Very neat little ride with beautiful scenery — the ride starts by floating you past the San Angel Inn restaurant. We then rode Maelstrom in Norway and then window-shopped in Mexico before dinner.

Our dinner was at the San Angel Inn. It’s absolutely beautiful, and the food was excellent. It was our favorite up to that point. I had the Pollo a las Rajas and John had Plato Mexicano. For dessert, John had the Capirotada de Chocolate Blanco and I had the Flan de Vanilla. I wasn’t fond of the Flan, but then, I’m not a custard fan. The server brought our desserts out to us with candles, and a group sang Happy Birthday.

Thursday

Nothing planed but dinner at 6:30, so we slept in. We went back to Downtown Disney for another lunch at Earl of Sandwich. John got The Original 1792, and I got The Ultimate Grilled Cheese again. We took a bus to the Boardwalk Villas and checked out the Boardwalk for a little while, and then a boat to Epcot in the afternoon. We had our pictures taken with Princes Aurora and Belle in France, along with a photo in Morocco at the fountain. We happened to be standing near the boat launch in Morocco looking across the water when the boat captain told us that we needed to get in line for the ride because he had something for us. We were curious, so we did — and everyone that was in line won Mickey Dream Ears for the “Year of a Million Dreams.” John put his nifty new ears on, and we rode the boat all the way around the lagoon back to Morocco.

We window-shopped in Japan, and I tried some unfiltered saki. Then we watched The Candy Lady make animals out of candy. We caught the early evening “American Adventure” show. One of the castmembers saw our buttons and called us up to the podium. He handed me a telephone and told me that there was a phone call for us — it was Mickey and Minnie singing “Happy Anniversary”, then he handed it to me again to hear Goofy sing “Happy Birthday.” Just before the show started, he called for us to stand up so that everyone could see us and then announced that we were there for our 6th anniversary.

Dinner was at Biergarten in Germany. It’s a German buffet with great entertainment. I’m not big on it, but John loves it. We had German food, sang, danced and learned German toasts. After dinner, we took a boat back to the Boardwalk Villas so that I could get dessert at the Boardwalk Bakery to take back to our resort — tiramisu. We stopped at the resort bar for drinks on the way, but missed seeing Bob Jackson (the bar entertainment — he’s hilarious!!) because it was still a bit early.

Friday

We had been craving pastries all week, so we slept in (seeing a pattern?) and then headed to Magic Kingdom for breakfast. After breakfast, we rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad one more time, and then headed to ToonTown to ride Goofy’s Barnstormer. It’s a cute little kiddie coaster, but adults can enjoy it too. Very simple and very smooth. We waited in line to get pictures with Ariel and then picked up Fast Passes for one more run at the Peter Pan ride. We headed over to Epcot for lunch and wandered aimlessly around the worlds. Dinner was at Tutu Italia in Italy. It was without a doubt, the best dinner we had all week. I don’t have adequate words to describe how wonderful it was.

John had the Tortellini alla Panna Tartufata, which is a veal tortellini in a white truffle cream sauce. I had the Bucatini Gratinatini, which is bucatini pasta with proscuito and peas in a wine cream sauce. Neither of us know anything about Italian wines, so we asked our server for a recommendation. I wish I remembered what he had brought us, because it worked with our meals perfectly! For dessert, I had the chocolate hazelnut torte (Gianduja - Chocolate Torta) and John had the Cannoli. The servers sang Happy Birthday to me, and then a special song for our Anniversary.

Since Magic Kingdom was open until 11pm, we decided to head back over there for Peter Pan and one last shot at Space Mountain. But first things first — the SpectroMagic Parade! A castmember at the Winnie the Pooh ride saw our buttons and gave us our own honeypot. We also had some pictures taken in front of Cinderella’s Castle and then walked over to The Contemporary Resort to catch a bus for some late-night fun at Downtown Disney. We strolled around a bit but decided that we weren’t into hanging out in hot clubs with sweaty drunk people. John grabbed a cigar and a glass of bourbon, and I picked up a strawberry margarita, and we people-watched for about an hour before retiring back to our resort.

Saturday

We slept in on Saturday morning (o rly? ya rly!) and then spent the morning at Epcot touring the worlds one more time and then had lunch in China. After lunch, we took a boat to the Swan and Dolphin resorts and walked across the street to Fantasia Gardens for a round of mini-golf. We discovered the course last year — it’s great! Every hole is themed like a scene from the movie, and many of them are animated. Animated how? Well, some will play music, turn on fountains or do other nifty things depending on where the ball goes. It’s a beautiful course and lots of fun to play. When we returned our clubs, the castmembers gave us each a Donald Duck golf ball.

We hung around in the lobby of the Swan for a bit and then hopped a boat back to Epcot where we wandered around Canada and Great Britan until it was time for our early dinner at Le Cellier in Canada. We both had the Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon for dinner and enjoyed a bit too much of their breads (the pretzel bread is awesome!). For dessert, I had the Chocolate-on-Chocolate Whiskey cake and John had the Creme Brulee. Everything was fantastic.

After dinner, we headed back to Magic Kingdom to pick up pastries for breakfast the next morning on the way to the airport. While we were there, John bought my birthday present in the watch store on Main Street — a beautiful Tinkerbell watch. I love it!

Sunday

The alarm went off at 4:30am which gave us 30 minutes to finish packing and get to the airline check-in counter in the resort lobby. We got there on time, but the TSA agents who staff it didn’t. Well, we found later that they did — but they were hiding in the luggage storage area because their manager, who is the only person who can unlock the boarding pass computers, hadn’t shown up yet and they didn’t want to face tired and annoyed guests. Figures.

The manager finally showed up and got us all checked in about 2 minutes before the Magical Express bus arrived to take us to the airport. When we finally got home, we were exhausted.

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