Sunday, June 28, 2009

Disney, play by play


Disney was a blast and a headache all at once! On a scale of 1-10 we would rate it a 6 or 7. It was SO HOT and HUMID. Apparently they were having record heat and humidity for this time of year. Of course... that was when home was having 80 degree beautiful temps. Whenever we walked outside our sunglasses fogged up, my camera lens fogged every morning, and even though I did my hair each morning, the minute I would step outside it would frizz like crazy and basically be pointless that I had even done my hair at all!

Notice the hair... blech. Very frizzy! My curls had started to come back.


I made him try this hat on. :)


The resort was beautiful! We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside in the Alligator Bayou. I recommend this highly!This is the dining room building.

On our way to our room we walked over a bridge with this river. So pretty!

Our lodge! There were a bunch of these spread out over a large area. In between them were smaller pools and also ponds. There was one pain pool towards the front. SOMEONE (ahem... me) forgot their swimsuit so we never did go swimming.


Our room was fantastic! It was big, and air conditioned, haha. It was nicely decorated. It was decorated like a cottage. So nice!

*The beareau above had the TV inside. The panels were copper with punchout designs. It was so pretty!*


We were on the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan and if you have plans to go to Disney, I really REALLY recommend doing the Disney Deluxe Plan, or at least the Basic plan. With our plan we got 3 meals a day and 2 snacks a day. Alcohol was not included (but I couldn't drink on Clomid anyway). The meals could be sit down or quick grab. Quick grab meals are meals like at our lodge, where you walk up to the counter, order what you want, check out and eat. No one is waiting on you. What was nice was that if we ate at our lodge, we had a refillable cup that came with our plan, and we could refill soda, water, lemonade, or coffee whenever, so for the drinks that came with our meal (2 at breakfast, 1 and lunch and 1 at dinner) we would get water and then take that water into the parks with us because Disney lets you take your own drinks into the park. That was very nice. A quick grab breakfast consisted of: 2 drinks, and either 2 things from the bakery, or a combo meal (like french toast, eggs, bacon and sausage) or a make your own parfait. The quick grab lunch and dinner was 1 drink, and then a combo lunch (at the lodge we could have hamburgers and fries, sandwich and fruit or chips, create your own pasta dish, creat your own salad) and then a desert. The sit down meals were any meals that we were waited on and had to leave a tip (pretty much anywhere you have to make reservations). At a sit down meal we got a refillable drink, an appetizer, an entree, and a desert. We also got 2 snacks a day. Snacks were anything with a sncak symbol next to it. We frequently got frozen drinks because they weren't filling (we usually weren't hungry) but they were refreshing and we stayed hydrated (very important). Towards the end we realized we weren't using all of our snacks (it was hard to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day!!!) so we got a bunch of candy for one night when we were hanging around the lodge instead of going out (it was stormy) and then also for our flight home.

Best restaurant for Service: Le Cellier Steakhouse at Epcot (in Canada at the World Showcase) or Tony's Town Square at Magic Kingdom(This is Le Cellier Steakhouse)

Runner up: Teppan Edo in Japan at the Epcot World Showcase
Best meal: Filet Mignon on top of cream cheese mashed potatoes with a mushroom topping at Le Cellier Steakhouse (HOLY COW was this good!!!!!!) (To get reservations at the steakhouse you have to call and schedule them as soon as you are able to. They book up right away! We could only get a lunch reservation).

Runner Up: Steak and Chicken cooked on the Hibachi grill at Teppan Edo in Japan at the Epcot World Showcase
Best desert: Chocolate ginger cake at Teppan Edo in Japan at the Epcot World Showcase
Runner up: Fried cream cheese won ton at Yak and Yeti in Animal Kingom

Best snack: frozen raspberry lemonade

Worst restaurant for service: 'Ohana... service was HORRIBLE! The waitress took a half hour to fill our drinks every time we needed a refill, the turkey wasn't cooked (like a slimy pink center), and we always felt like we were forgotten. It took us 45 minutes to actually get our check and then get our card back so that we could leave. It was just awful. Apparently this was supposed to be a great place and came highly recommended to us. We feel if we had a different waitress we would have had a much better experience.
Runner Up: Yak and Yeti at Animal Kingdom. The waitress was very frustrating here. I consider it very tacky to mention how a guest should pay their tip, and the very first thing our waitress said to us was that we had to pay our tip (it wasn't covered by the dining plan), which we already knew. She then seemed very pushy and we felt as if we were being rushed the whole time and as if she didn't really want to be at our table. The food wasn't the greatest, except the desert. My meal was terrible (but I don't like brown rice). Jeff's meal was good, but after a few bites it was overload and very easy to get tired of. The appetizers were OK. Jeff got egg rolls and said that the egg rolls were better at our local Chinese restaurant. I got fried green beans, and TGI Friday's fried green beans were SO MUCH better!
Worst meal: Maple Tamarind Chicken at Yak and Yeti in Animal Kingdom. The chicken wasn't boneless, and came with a brown rice that I did not like at all. I did eat the chicken, but it wasn't the greatest. But it was followed by the second best desert. :)
Runner Up: The meal at 'Ohana, which I explained why it was so bad earlier.
Worst Snack: doesn't exist, haha Every snack I had was fantastic.

The parks were VERY crowded but they were fun! I had been to Disney before, but it was 10 years since, so a lot of things have changed, but it was nice seeing almost everything that hadn't changed and all of the updates they have done.

My favorite park was Animal Kingdom. I *LOVED* the Finding Nemo musical! I also loved the Dinosaur ride, and Finding Everst. The Lion King show was great too! I also thought it was neat that there were walking trails where you could see animals.


No! There aren't snowcapped mountains in FL, at least not real ones! That is Expedition Everest!

Jeff's favorite park was Hollywood Studios, which was the home of our favorite ride, Toy Story Midway Mania!!! BEST RIDE EVER! This was one of my runner up favorite parks (tied with Epcot). I loved the Aerosmith roller coaster, and the Back Stage ride and the stunt show were both REALLY cool! I liked the American Idol experience as well, although the judges were so cheesy and it was obvious they were told to act like Randy, Paula and Simon so that was annoying. Jeff didn't like it.
Jeff waiting in Toy Story Midway Mania. Yes, that is a giant viewfinder film in the background! The whole waiting area was designed to look like you were in Andy's bedroom.


Did I mention that Toy Story Midway Mania was 3D???




Epcot had my 2nd favorite ride, which was Soarin'. SO FREAKING COOL!!! It is a simulator that simulates parasailing over California scenery. It was so neat! It really felt real! Epcot also had Mission Space, which simulates lifting off into space and then a space flight. We had to go on the easy version (there were two versions, one was intense and bad for people with motion sickness... like me). There was also Test Track at Epcot, which was so cool! It was like you were riding a car that was being tested in the factory. I just wish it was longer or more intense, but it was still fun!


Epcot had our least favorite rides too... the Mexico boatride (really needs updating!) and the Norway boatride (creepy!!!). Really, I think all of the World Showcase needs updating. It was just kind of blah. I felt that each country needed a really big attraction to make it popular.

The fireworks at Epcot were the only fireworks we saw. They were awesome! I just wish we could have seen the show that was on the lake in the middle of the fireworks, but they were still really cool!


Our least favorite park was Magic Kingdom. Definitely a park geared for kids. I think we will love it when we have kids.
Rides to Fast Pass: Toy Story Midway Mania, Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster, Soarin', Test Track, Mission Space

We just wish that there were more adult rides. I understand that Disney is for kids, but adults can be big kids too! And adults are the ones paying to come back, so wouldn't you want the adults to want to come back? We do want to go back, but not until we have kids. We were also sad that they didn't have any adult merchandise for Finding Nemo (my favorite Disney movie) or for Toy Story (Jeff's favorite). But we did get other stuff, haha. I got a tshirt that says "I'm Grumpy because you're Dopey"! And we got a bunch of other fun things.

I do have to say that while it was hot and humid, there were plenty of opportunities to get out of the heat and cool down. All of the bathrooms were air conditioned, most of the restuarants were as well, and many of the stores. The shows were usually indoors, and many of the rides were indoors so the line was indoors as well.

Overall it was a great trip. We really enjoyed being with each other and away from home for a while. I am sad it is over. :( But now I have my birthday to look forward to in less than 2 weeks! If you made it this far, you must either really love me or love Disney, or are planning a trip soon!

2 comments:

kari said...

I'm glad you had a great time. We love Disney. We used to go once a year to Disney World and when we lived in CA, we had passes to Disneyland. We haven't been since our honeymoon three years ago though. Hmmmm... Maybe I need to plan a vacation ;).

Ashley said...

I found your blog through The Pifers. I'm new to your blog, but I love it...LOVE all your pictures too!!!

Prayers,
Ashley