The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, The Dancing, The Dark Side, And A Cruise!!!

tyandskyesmom

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
As I sit here in the arcade at Port Orleans French Quarter waiting for our Tragical Express to be here watching the others play, I figured I'd get this going.

I posted some minor observations on a Facebook group shortly after our trip began and you'd have thought I cursed the day Walt was born!!! Like I said my whole trip was a crash and burn. Like I just said I wished everyone's dog death! Geese people, it was just some observations I made.

But, this report will not be all rose colored glasses. I have to say, this was one of the biggest vacation let downs, if not the biggest, we have had with Disney. That is not to say it wasn't a great vacation but things were not as Disney colored as we are used to...and I will talk about the bad along with the good. I get my travel info from knowing what people see, good and bad, and then I make my plans with an eye towards an educated guess. I'm sorry if the real world, or my view of the real world of my last 15 days, offends anyone but I'm gonna tell it as we saw it.

Not everything that was not up to our usual par was anything Disney did or could have control of, but some was. And I will tell about it.

We did have a great trip. A different trip. A HOT, HUMID trip. A busy trip. A fun trip. We ate a ton of great food. Ride a ton of great rides. Experienced two new types of vacations.

So, if the real world is what you want to read about, Welcome. If not, this may not be a report for you...and that's ok because after all, this trip report is just my opinion about what happened on our trip.
 


I'm super curious now about all the good, bad and ugly part of your trip! Hope overall you had a great time nonetheless!
 


So, let me go over the details briefly.

This trip was me (46 year old mom), Cary (43 year old significant other), Tyler (18 year old son), and Skyler (13 year old daughter).

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Not that we needed an excuse to go to Disney World but Skyler's dance team was dancing at Universal and on a cruise so how could we not???

We were booked at All-Star Movies from June 21 - June 26 in a preferred room with an 8 day hopper and deluxe dining.

Then we had a reservation at Portofino Bay at Universal from June 26 - June 29 with Skye's team.

After that we were cruising on the Carnival Liberty from June 29 - July 2 in an outside window room with a 6pm dining time.

And then we were back at Disney at Port Orleans French Quarter from July 2 - July 5 in a standard room.

We were using Magical Express on both ends of our trip, a cab to get from Disney to Universal, a team bus to get from Universal to the Port, and a rental car through Skye's coach's Emerald Isle.

We had ADRs for both parts of Disney and no clue about much of Universal.

Our Magic Bands all arrived in time for us to be comfortable.

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We ended up getting a set of luggage because all our old stuff was bad. I have discovered that I need to get us all more luggage for the future. It was hard squeezing everything into six bags for four people for four different parts of a trip. We tried to kinda keep each section's stuff in a single case and it pretty much started out that way but as the trip went on, not so much.

Skye and I had us all packed up and ready to go by 9pm the night before.

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Cary was working until about 2am. We all headed to bed around 9pm. I don't think Tyler slept because he had to get every last bit of gaming in before we left. When Cary got home (a little early!) he showered while me and the kids loaded the truck and then we took off.

We had never driven ourselves to the airport and not had someone to pick up our car but since I have written off my parents since our last trip, we had to leave it. So we had booked a spot at Midway Park, Ride, and Fly. There were a lot of new things for us on this trip so needless to say, there were things that were stressing me out. We pulled into the lot at about 3am. The girl in the booth was very nice and helpful. The tram followed us to the spot we chose, wrote down out spot on a yellow ticket that had return info on it, loaded up our luggage, then another family, and we were on our way. We arrived at Midway at about 3:10am. To add to my stress, Southwest had a new procedure where you check yourself in and tag your own bags then go to the person who checked IDs and boarding passes and weighs your luggage. It went smoothly and there were people around to guide us. We zipped right through there and headed to security. There was very little line. TSA agents were polite and dare I say FRIENDLY!!! Foreshadowing the usual experience at Orlando 15 days later! Tyler got pulled for a full body x-ray scan, Cary got pulled through the side where he wasn't even searched nor had to go through detectors or anything, I had to be patted down because I had on a maxi dress, and Skye just walked through the metal detector.

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We were at gate A9 and we arrived to a pretty empty area.

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We donned our Magic Bands at home so we wouldn't forget them. And we waited about an hour to board.
 
Well darn darn just as I got setttled and ready to read, you stoped! Oh well ow I have time to pop some corn while I wait for more.
 
We found seats and deposited out carry on crap...which seemed like a lot of stuff! But, we don't usually bring a small suit case as a carry on. In fact, I usually dislike when people do that...I understand why they do it, but it holds me up! LOL. Anyway, we needed to this time because we had 6 costumes and 4 pairs of dance shoes that there was no way we checking...just in case!

I made the mistake of letting Cary and the kids go in search of drinks and snacky/breakfasy food. The ended up at Hudson News (granted there is not a lot open this 4:26am) and came back with this...

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Ginger ale for me and Skye, Coke for Tyler, bottles Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee for Cary, a bad of mini Airheads, Cheddar Crackers, and Yogurt Nut Mix. Skye ate most of the crackers and she and Tyler dug into the Airheads. The mix didn't get opened until later in the trip and when it was opened, no one liked it.

This set us back $27.05!!!!! Ya, won't make that mistake again!

We began boarding at 4:50am. We had pulled the last three spots in A group and the first in B group for Tyler. They were boarding families with kids under 6 between A and B. We had Tyler line up with us and when we got to the front, the attendant said it was fine for him to board with us. It wouldn't have been a big deal if he had to wait, but it also wouldn't have made much difference if he didn't. We were able to get the row behind the exit row (13d, e, and f) and Tyler took the window seat behind up (14f).

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We were moving back at 5:18am. Drinks were served at 6:10am...2 apple juices and a sprite (Tyler was asleep).

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Skyler loves to watch the wings move!

At 6:12am the captain came on the overhead and said we were running into turbulence from a Tropical Storm in Alabama. They had tried different altitudes but they were still hitting it. He informed us we should be out of it in 6-7 more minutes. I actually didn't think it was that bad, I've sat through worse. We started down at 7:04am. Before we landed time changed. As we were on the ground and able to turn our phones back on I got a text that our room wasn't ready yet. Boo! Since they have started on-line check in every time we have gone (even at Christmas time!) our room had been ready when we landed. We were walking off the plane at 8:44am. We were in the terminal opposite of where we usually landed...it was weird. We hit the bathrooms and headed to the Magical Express.

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We were on a bus with no wait at 9:10am.

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It was mostly full but we waited maybe another 10 minutes before we took off.

Our bus was just All-Stars...Sports then Music then Movies.

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We were pulling into Movies at 10:01am.

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We had to go to the desk to activate our tickets and Dining plan before we could head out. It was a quick procedure. Our room still wasn't ready. We looked around the lobby quickly (Cary hadn't been here yet).

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We checked our carry on junk with Bell Services at 10:13am and headed to the line for our first park of the trip!

 
Se we headed into the line for the Magic Kingdom! There wasn't much line aswe approached it but it filled up fast. We were on our first bus of the trip!

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At 10:36am we were off the bus and heading to bag check. Tyler was the only one with a bag so he went there and we went through the no bag line. Everyone went through metal detectors here. They searched through each and every pouch in Tyler's backpack. I had spent the effort to make the bag be packed nicely so we could find things and so it would be comfortable for Tyler to carry. Well, it no longer was! I guess on one hand it is good they were being thorough but on the other hand, if they are not searching EVERYONE this way it's not much good. And they were not searching everyone this way. I don't know if it is because they give up or what but they were yelling out directions for people with bags over her, without bags over there, yes a stroller counts as a bag and needs to be searched, etc...and yet, when people didn't listen or understand or care, they just let them pass. Rules are only for the people who follow them I guess. But either way, we follow them and we were all through pretty quickly.

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We picked up an "I'm Celebrating" button on Main Street but the CM didn't have a marker to write on it what he was celebrating so it was blank. Usually they will write what it is you're celebrating. Main Street was crowded but we figured because it was still kinda early and it was just people getting in. And it was HOT! So we headed around to Tomorrowland.

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The enterance to Tomorrowland was crazy mobbed. There was a line for Monsters, a HUGE line for Stitch (REALLY??? There is NEVER a line for Stitch!!!), Buzz was crazy long! We ended up waiting in line (yes, I said LINE!) for the People Mover! It wasn't a horrible line but it was a line...there is never a lone here! The ramp up was not moving so you had to walk your way up the ramp. We were on at 11:01am. SO it wasn't a line like a line but usually, getting on this is just like walking. There was a stop at the top for a few minutes...I do not remember the last time I had to do that!

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From there we headed to Carousel of Progress...at 11:14am.

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On the way out this guy was hanging out...

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We headed out of Tomorrowland (we had Fast Passes for Space Mountain for after lunch and right now it was down!

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When we got near the castle, the forcourt stage show was going on and Olaf is Skyler's favorite so we kinda hung and watched a little.

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It was really ht standing over there and we were all getting hungry and thirsty. So even though our ADR for lunch was not until 12:30pm (which I had moved about a week before the trip from earlier because I was nervous about making sure we were able to get there on time) we headed there hoping they could sit us early.
 
So we headed towards Adventureland.

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And we headed to Skipper Canteen to see if we could be seated early. "Sure, no problem!".

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We sat in the chairs waiting for a few minutes and we called in at 11:30pm.

We walked through the huge main dining room...

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...and a bookcase to the Butterfly Room and were seated at one of the middle tables in there. Next to this table...

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This place was really cool! Tons of stuff to look at! May was our server and she was funny. Not over the top stupid funny but just enough good funny. She took this picture of us...

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Then turned around real quick and called his name and snapped this one...

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She said he gets jealous if no one takes his picture! She explained the menu and gave her recommendations.

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I just ordered a Sprite to drink byt Tyler ordered the Punch Line Punch ... Tropical Fruit Juices and Mango Puree (on the left) and Cary and Skyler ordered the Schweitzer Slush ... Frozen apple juice and passion fruit with bursting green apple boba balls (on the right)...

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And thus began the love of Boba balls! Everyone thought the balls were very cool! Like popping an eatable balloon filled with juice in your mouth. Skye liked Tyler's better and he liked hers better.

May brought the bread services and we placed our orders. We all enjoyed the bread. I was to only one who would use the honey dip, everyone else just buttered it.

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For appetizers I ordered the S.E.A. Shu Mai ... blend of pork, shrimp, edamame beans and spices wrapped in gyoza skin then steamed

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This was really good! It was like a full pot sticker that was steamed. There is a ton of meat mixture in each one. The dipping sauce was really good too!

There was not a whole lot Tyler or Skyler saw that they wanted so they ordered appeTRYers. Skyler got the Shiriki Noodle Salad ... noodles, edamame beans, mushrooms, green mango and cucumber tossed with a sweet chili sauce. Famously served at Hotel Hightower on December 31, 1899...

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Ya, no. She did try the noodles and some of the other stuff but no. It is served cold. The sauce is kinda spicy. I ate some of it and it was ok. I would not order it again but it was ok. Cary tried it and did not like it at all. Tyler was not even gonna try it.

Tyler ordered the Falls Family Falafel ... A secret recipe of chickpeas, garlic, onions, lemon juice and herbs with white bean dip and tomato-cucumber salad.

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I knew he wasn't going to try these either but I wanted to and I figured Skye and Cary would try them. I have tried to like falafel other places and just never seem to appreciate the texture or something. These though, were really good. I would actually order them again. They were light and not too heavily spiced. And the white bean dip and tomato-cucumber salad was really good with them. Cary tried them but no. And I was wrong, Skye wouldn't try them.

Cary got the Orinoco Ida's Cachapas ... house made corn pancakes, mojo-braised pork, black bean salad, and avocado cream...

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He loved it! I have to say, his was probably the winner here. Even though I really liked mine, they were kinda common...this was not! The kids wouldn't try it because it just liked like a pile of stuff but that was ok because he had no problem cleaning his plate. I know people say the item this replaced was better but if it were, I am sorry we missed it!

For entrees, I had the Char Siu Pork...Marinated grilled pork served with Chinese broccoli and jasmine rice.

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Now all the pictures I had seen made this look like the BBQ pork dish you'd get from the corner Chinese place...not so much! This was sort of thick cuts of pork in a tasty sauce. Iwas very pleasantly surprised! It was super tender and the sauce was perfect for the pork and the rice. Cary liked it too but the kids wouldn't try it.

Skyler got the "A Lot At Steak" Salad ... Grilled Steak, Romaine lettuce, red peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, coriander-mint vinaigrette and garlic chips but she had it with the dressing on the side.

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She pulled the steak off and put it on a separate plate that May brought her. She tasted the dressing and was not fond of it so May hunted her down some ranch dressing. Skyler loved this salad and the steak. She ate all the steak and most of the salad. I did taste the steak and it was very good cooked as a medium rare and I liked the steak with the original dressing.


Cary got the Dr Falls Signature Grilled Steak ... churrasco-marinated New York strip steak, mashed potatoes, toasted Brazil nut-pesto topped with farofa. With the sauce on the side and he ordered it medium he's usually a medium well guy).

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He loved it and ate it all. He did like the sauce to dip his steak in but he was glad he got it on the side so he could control how much. I had a piece of his steak and Skye and I agree, hers from the salad was better! But it was still a good steak.

Tyler got the same thing as Cary but he doesn't do mashed potatoes. So he asked if they had fries. Which apparently they don't but she assured him she could rustle some up.

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He loved it too and did not even attempt the sauce.

For dessert there are only four on the menu so we ordered one of each.

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Kungaloosh ... An African-inspired Chocolate Cake with caramelized bananas served with cashew-caramel ice cream topped with coffee dust


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Coconut bar with Pineapple-Basil Compote and Vanilla Cream ... Vanilla chiffon cake with coconut and lime-white chocolate ganache


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Bertha's Banh Bong Lan Cake with Mango-Lime Sorbet ... Vanilla chiffon cake soaked with lemon grass-ginger syrup

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Quick Sand! ... Jasmine Rice Pudding, Mango Sauce, Lemon Curd, Hibiscus Meringue, and Pineapple

I liked the Quick Sand the best...really good rice pudding. The kids don't like rice pudding so I did not have to share with them and Cary was enjoying the Coconut Bar so he was good.

The kids liked the Kungaloosh the best. But the Banh Bong Lan Cake was good too. All the desserts were good and we had no complaints. And look how pretty the rise pudding is! And the little dollop looking things were flavored meringues. Thos eseemed to be a big thing this time around. All over the place desserts had them.


The place started getting a little more busy as we were dining. The waiter in the picture above that May took was very crazy and all over the place. I forget his name but I was glad he wasn't ours. He was great to watch with other people but I don't want that kind of pressure! May was the perfect amount of silly for us. At one point they were bringing in 6 high chairs for a table because somewhere in the conversation of needed one high chair they were being silly and interpreted it as six. Then at one point when cleaning a table, the picture guy dropped a giant tray of dishes and it shattered all over the place. Well, they made it all part of the act and he started yelling at may to come over there and clean up her mess...and it went on from there.

We really enjoyed our first Disney meal here. I think we have decided it is NOT a dining plan kind of a place for us though. That's because while we loved a lot of what we had, the kids didn't need appetizers here. There really was not anything they like for that. And Cary and I might even order our appetizers as a meal (they certainly could have been big enough) or maybe we'd even share an entrée. So in the future, I don't think we will dine her if we are on a plan but just because I think this is one of the places we could do with less food. We were all very glad we did it on the plan the first time though because we did get to try a lot of the
menu offerings and we didn't have to worry about paying for things we didn't like or finish. But I do think we will be back.

This venue is beautiful and there is so much to look at. I am glad we got to eat in the room we did because it seemed much more personal and cozy. The big dining hall is very large and noisy. In our room it was quiet, except for the crazy waiter and giggling going on!

The ONLY thing we did not like was that when May brought out the bill, she told us that their new policy was that the guest had to put the tip amount on the line even if paying cash. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I believe it is for tax purposes but really? That is not my problem. I mean, I don't think a wait staff should even mention their tip. It's rude. It is boarderline rude to put the suggested tips at the bottom of the receipt...but that gets a bye because I do use it because it makes it easier for me to know what 18% is and then to be able to gage better or worse from there. But I was very put off at "having" to inform her of what kind of tip she was getting before she was done waiting on me. She did seem embarrassed by "having" to tell me that so that let her off the hook a bit but I still didn't like it.

We were out of there by 12:45pm.

Our total here was $217.79 or 4 DDDP credits.



 
After lunch we headed further info Adventureland. As we were heading out of Skipper Canteen I got the text that our room was ready. It was about 1:40pm.

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We thought we'd head to Pirates because the line would be inside and it was H-O-T outside.

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But it was down.

I had gotten a new pair of croc sandals a couple weeks prior to leaving and had worn them a couple of times but apparently nit enough. I had an old pair of the Cleos and loved them and wore them out years ago. Well, the new version is not the same and I was in pain at this point. My baby toes were torn up. I am thinking it was the combination of new and sweating that did me in. So we decided to head back to check out our room. On the way we stopped at the Tiki Room.

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We left the Tiki Birds and ran into these birds...

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They had absolutely no problem walking amount the humans.

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This little guy fell behind when they all hopped into the grass by Casey's and Mama quacked for him a couple of times and he ran to catch up.

On the way again, we stopped at First Aid for some Band-Aids. We had to let them know and record what we needed them for. That gave me some relief...at least until the sweat made them slide off!

We headed out after that through Casey's all the way up through The Emporium. We got to the bus stop and there was a decent amount of people in front of us. We did have to wait about 15 minutes and it filled up behind us. When it arrived they had to do a driver switch so we had to wait until they both went over the bus and signed off on it's condition. We got in and got a seat in the back for me and Skye. As we were waiting to leave we noticed it was really warm on the bus...like REALLY WARM! Normally when it's that hot outside the buses are freezing...not this time. By the time we got off we had sweat on sweat on sweat. I mean we all looked like we just got out of the shower! It was so gross. We found it hard to believe the driver didn't notice but I guess she she wasn't packed in like sardines on top of the person next to you and hadn't been out walking in a sweltering park all morning and she has a fan pointing right on her maybe she didn't???? So when we got off Cary went up to talk to her and she told him her air wasn't working!!! WHAT??? You knew that? You just inspected that bus with the previous driver and knew that? And yet, you loaded up hot sweaty people and did not warn them and did not take your bus out of commission? Seriously? At the temperatures it was, she's lucky no one passed out! I would have rather her told us she had to take her bus out of commission because the air wasn't working but another one would be around soon than have to sit on that bus with no air. So needless to say, we needed air conditioning badly by the time we got off the bus.

We arrived back at Movies at 3:00pm. We headed to the food court and grabbed our mugs. Ty and Skye got pink (I think he just wanted to annoy Skye), I got Purple and Cary got red. We filled up and downed a cup just standing there!! Total was $77.36.We then headed to our room. We were booked into a preferred room. I understand "Preferred" means a lot of things...different things to different people and to Disney. For us, even when we have not paid for a preferred room, we have always been in Fantasia on the pool side. We like Fantasia. I like to be by the pool and close-ish to the main building. Our requests our Travel Agent made for us were ground floor in Fantasia near pool. So when we found out what room, I was concerned. But figures maybe it wouldn't be bad and still be near where we wanted to be. Nope. No such luck. Now before we get into it, yes, I could have gone up to the desk and requested them to move us. I know that. But obviously they were more booked that usual because usually we have a room by 10am...a room we want. And we were hot and tired and we needed to rest before dinner. So we didn't. We were in Dalmatians. Which at first was fun because Skyler has always wanted to stay in Dalmatians. And it is right next to Fantasia so if in the right room, I am sure it is just as good. However we were in room 1715. Which is ground floor on the back side of the building about half way back of that section of building looking at trees. The only thing we got that I requested was a ground floor but in the location we were in, that didn't much matter! To me, this is NOT a preferred room. We were actually about mid way between Movies and Music. In fact one day we took a Music bus home. I was sooo not happy with our room...I know such problems to have right? It was for us.

We took some room pictures and notice what's missing?

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It's been almost two hours by now since we got the text and no luggage or Garden Grocer order (we had gotten that text and call while we were in line for the People Mover). I know, it's only almost two hours. But in the past, when our room was ready earlier, we have gotten there and within that same timeframe it was delivered. So we called to Luggage Services (the button on the phone) at 3:08pm and told them we were in the room and would like our checked luggage, order, and carry on stuff. They said ok, they'd be right out. At 3:39pm our carry-ons arrive. We ask where the rest is and he has no clue. We told them of the conversation we had on the phone and he said they must have misunderstood and to call back at the same button and tell them to bring the rest. So we did that and they told it was there just waiting on a runner. We asked if we could pick it up but no, they don't allow that. He all of a sudden had a runner, checked with him and said he'd be right over. At 3:50pm he arrived. Skyler threw the cold stuff from our order into the fridge and the three of us changed for the pool. Tyler was asleep. We were only able to swim for about an hour but it was enough to be refreshed from our hot morning. So at about 5pm we headed back to shower and get ready for the evening.
 
So we sent Tyler to fill up the spray fans (that we finally remembered to pack!) with ice so it would melt and we'd have cold mist while we finished up getting ready to go. As we started to walk out the door, it began to rain...and turn into a downpour. And of course we hadn't bought our ponchos yet. So we quickly walked under trees to the lobby and into the gift shop and bought 4 adult ponchos for $40.38! A bus to Magic Kingdom was pull in at 6:19pm and pulled away at 6:21pm. And it had stopped raining. I had heard about all the new security check points but wasn't sure where they would be on our way this evening. So we arrived as Magic Kingdom and headed to the walk way to The Contemporary. The check point is at the beginning of the walk way. The three of us went ahead through the no bag line and Tyler had the bag searched.

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We kept on towards dinner and Tyler was following.

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The three of us arrived at The Contemporary at 6:59pm. Tyler had gone in the wrong door so it was 7:06pm by the time we got to the check in desk but all was well since both the CMs were doing something with two other parties that took a while. We were brought right upstairs and seated right away...at one of the most perfect tables there is!

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Our waiter was Javier B. He was an older gentleman with a thick accent and a quiet voice. From what we gathered, he's been around a while. He poured us some water and explained the menu and what was what on the dining plan and left us to it. We all got soft drinks and Javier brought the bread.

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Surprisingly enough the kids loved the lavender focaccia and ate it all.

Shortly after bread was brought it started raining again.

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For appetizers I ordered the BLT Flatbread ... heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, cherrywood bacon jam, tomato mayonnaise, arugula

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This was really good! Cary and I were sharing. The kids wanted no part of this. I don't know if I would say it tasted like a BLT but it did have all the components and I loved it!

Cary ordered the Lobster Roll ... Maine lobster, avoacado, crispy noodles, fireball and yuzu truffle sauce

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This was really good and fresh tasting! The kids also won't touch Sushi so Cary and I were all good!

Tyler ordered a Cheese Flatbread ... just cheese...it's not on the menu but they make it for him every time with no problems...and charge $16.00 for it.

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He and Skyler shared this. Out of pocket, not gonna pay $16.00 for a cheese pizza but on the dining plan, go for it! They always love it.

For entrees Cary ordered the Oak-Fired Filet of Beef ... Gruyere, black truffle, and caramelized red onion risotto, roasted baby carrots, herb salsa verde ... medium well.

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And it was perfect! He ate it all...and would have licked the plate if I had let him!


Tyler had the same as Cary but medium rare. He even eats this steak with the sauce on it...that's how good it is!







I had the Alaskan Halibut ... carrot-ginger puree, roasted carrot, marble potato, olive oil powder, verjus, cilantro.

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And wow! It was awesome...Skyler stole about half of it! THe top half of course because she did not want any carrot-ginger puree. Bit it was all perfectly done!

Skyler had the kid's Homemade Macaroni and Cheese - Served with choice of small lowfat milk, small bottled water, or small apple juice, Choice of Dessert fruit salad, ice cream sundae, or yogurt parfait ... however, she only got the mac & cheese for that price??? I just noticed that.

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And we had a bit of a tussle here. See she ordered this as this is her favorite mac & cheese in the World. But when she did Javier asked if he could get her an adult portion and just charge the add on. She, of course, is all for more the better, I however was not needing to pay for an adult portion, however much that would be, when I knew she didn't need it. He did not seem to like that but she did get served a kid's sized mac & cheese and that's what I was charged for. And she loved it, as usual. And guess what? Mommy is always right because we took about half that mac & cheese back with us (she ate it cold in the next few days).

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For dessert Tyler ordered the Blueberry Cheesecake ... passion fruit, graham cracker-almond crumb

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The kids both liked this one...and it was gone quickly.

Cary got the Butterscotch Crème Brulee ... peanut butter-butter scotch blondes, caramelized turbiando sugar

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And the kids took his blondies...he loved the crème brulee though. It has a pretty thick caramelized sugar layer so it was really good!

I ordered the Warm Housemade Fritters ... apple-stuffed, Cinnamon-dusted Fritters complemented with a Trio of Dipping Sauces

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These are always good. I like the white dipping sauce, Skye liked the raspberry, and Cary liked the chocolate...Ty isn't a huge fan.

When we were just about done with dessert it was time for the new show at Magic Kingdom. We went out to the deck.

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We went back in and sat to settle our bill and finish up. The large circle table next to us had a family at it and Grandpa was a bit toasted and loud...the little kids were well behaved but maybe someone should have kept a watch on Grandpa...

Javier also told us about the tip needing to be filled in before he could run our bill. Again, it felt odd.

California Grill is always a great meal for us. We all love it here so I think it would be on the list even if the dining plan out-grows us someday. Service is usually great. I have to say Javier was a bit formal, maybe a little short but not in a rude way, just maybe a way that he knew we were not going to be his biggest grossing table.

Our total here was $272.08 on the Dining plan and $9.59 out of pocket.


 
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Joining in! I love the theme of your trip. I mean, it can't always be unicorns and rainbows, right? Things happen and I feel like not a lot of people talk about them. I know I would have been put off by the tipping situation at Skipper Canteen. I hate when they see how much I am tipping before I am ready to leave. My DH and I are both fans of Skipper Canteen, so I hope this doesn't happen next time we are there. I don't want it to put a sour taste in my mouth! We also really love Cali Grill. We went there the first night of our honeymoon. Our server was super nice and let me try the risotto, but still brought me potatoes in case I didn't like it. Awesome service! And of course, the viewing for the fireworks was amazing!

Can't wait to read more!
 
So in real life I have been so busy I haven't gotten back here...

Both the kids start school on Monday...Tyler freshman in college at a local community college and Skye in 8th grade.

Tyler is proving to me everyday why he couldn't go away to school! He is registered, has most of his books (one has not been in yet and it is his first class on Monday), and has even done a training course for helping during the Eclipse on Monday for extra credit. But through all of these things, he'd be lost without me! He has Physical Science (because he couldn't get into other science classes because he registered so late but sounds like stuff he's mostly interested in), Accelerated Pre-Calc/Trig, English 101, History of Philosophy, and Intro to Film. Philosophy and Film are online classes so he is only in class on Monday and Wednesdays...Science in the afternoon, Math in the evening, and English between them only on Mondays. His Science class (his very first college class ever!) is half on the lawn for the eclipse (where he is helping because it is open to the public)...so starting out fun. But I think he's going to be in for a very rude awakening!

Last weekend was auditions for The Nutcracker for Skyler. She has been in it for the past five years...she has been a flowerette, a toy soldier, a jester, understudy angel, the ninth party girl (they usually have only 8 but she was in between sizes that year so they made a part for her...never happened before not since!), a party girl the next year (still the littlest but of only 8), a snow crystal, a designated jester in the grand arrival scene, a mother ginger kid, and last year she was CLARA!!! Call backs started Wednesday and she hasn't gotten a call yet...but she's not worried because none of her buds have yet either. She is thinking she will be Clara again (she is still in the size range and they loved her last year!) but she would not be disappointed for any/all other rolls in her size range. They also had a much smaller turn out for auditions this year too...last year she was around #100 and in the group smaller. This year she was #57 (I think) so quite a bit less...bad for the production but good for the dancers! Her actual classes don't start till mid-September. She is doing two solo's this year for competition...the theme for this year is Movies so she is doing a lyrical to Turning Page form Breaking Dawn 1 and a jazz to I'm a Lady from Smurfs 2. She's excited!

Anyway, my mind is mush and I keep meaning to get back here and update, even if it's just a little one, and then time gets away from me!

The new fireworks show (I don't even remember the name) was ok...but I like Wishes better...I mean, the fireworks and lasers and stuff were good but the music and story of Wishes was better I thought. Although it could be that that is what we are used to and this one will grow on us but right now, I like Wishes better. The deck at California Grill is a unique vantage point that you don't get very often and is really fun...but the rain water doesn't drain very well at some points so there were some pretty big puddles in the dark for a surprise. LOL. It was a cool spot to watch the Electric Water Parade also...not as cool as being in a boat as it passes you but very cool still!

After dinner Skye was wiped! So we headed to the monorail...bag check is before you go up the escalators now. It wasn't crowded at all and the security guys were playful. We got off at the Magic Kingdom and split up. Skye and I went to the bus for Movies and the boys went into Magic Kindgom.

Our line for the bus was pretty long and we ended up standing after waiting through one bus. Two busses pulled up at the same time but we still ended up standing. We were on a bus by 10:08pm. We did not get back to Movies until 10:48pm! That was a long bus ride, standing! I could not believe the people cutting in front of the bus like it was nothing. Traffic was crazy! That is why I have no need to drive throughout my vacation!

From what we heard, although no one took notes or pictures, the boys did Astro Orbiters, Cary did Space Mountain while Tyler did Buzz, they both did Buzz, they did Pirates, and they did Big Thunder Mountain. Then headed back. Their bus was not as long or crowded as ours. They were back around 1am.

Skye and I were out of it by the time they returned but they went right to sleep knowing I'd be waking them up soon!
 

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