Jan 2010 Disney Trip Report: Post II

Tuesday 1/26/2010

Boardwalk in the morning

United Kingdom before World Showcase opens

Tangerine Cafe in Morocco

We slept in this morning, man that bed was comfortable! We got ready, and I put the towels in the washing machine to have clean towels for Wednesday. (One of the many perks of a 1-bedroom villa, washing machine and dryer!) We made it to EPCOT about 10:30AM. First decision of the day was what to eat as both of us were kind of hungry. First we thought UK Fish and Chips, but that wasn’t sounding great, so I began to think, and recommended the Moroccan Counter Service, Tangerine Café.

Several years prior we had tried Restaurant Marrekesh (The table service option in Morocco) and to make a long story short, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. So we had been cautious ever since. Well I am glad we tried Tangerine Cafe (the counter service in Morocco), it was excellent! I had the Shawarma Platter with Lamb and Chicken, Jeff had the Chicken Wrap. Both of us gave this two thumbs up. Definitely better then its neighboring Marrekesh. Plus Tangerine Cafe provides excellent quality for a great price, both on the DDP and not.
Mission: Space

A little live entertainment in Future World at EPCOT, the Jaminators.

Yes those are trash cans they are playing! They were great!

After eating we decided to head back to Future World, instead of walking though we took the friendship boat across the lake. We headed straight for Soarin' to grab a fast pass, but by the time we arrived (about Noon) fast passes we out to about 3PM or so, and as we had a Narcoosee’s reservation at 5:30PM we thought about just not worrying about riding Soarin’ that day. However, just as we were deciding what to do we had another sprinkling of pixie dust, a lady ran up and asked us if we wanted her two fast passes for Soarin' for that time, right then as they had a dining reservation to make. Something very similar had happened to us the year before and we couldn’t believe our luck! We went right on, waited about five minutes, and enjoyed Soarin' with a very quick wait (especially since stand by was about an hour at this time). Our next stop after Soarin’ was for a fast pass for Test Track, for about 2PM or so.

After acquiring a fast pass we pretty much lounged around Future World for the next hour or so. Jeff took some photos over by Mission Space while I checked out the landing moon. We are both interested in space flight and are both devastated by what is basically the moth balling of NASA by our president.

Almost as annoying as the real thing! Almost.

Nemo and friends on the Finding Nemo Ride at the Living Seas.

We next headed to the Living Seas, rode the clam mobiles, and spent a few minutes there admiring the various salt water creatures. We didn’t stay as long as we usually do though and left fairly quickly for our fast pass on Test Track.

Test Track, navigating one of the high speed turns.

Yep, that's the real speed.

Test Track by the time we reached it had about a 40-50 minute stand by wait, and the Fast Pass didn’t seem to help out as much as it usually does, it actually was about a 15-20 minute wait, which wasn’t too bad. Test Track was fun like usual, but we are still depressed that Disney hasn’t seen fit to fix some of the broken parts (such as the head on crash car) for the last several years.

Spaceship Earth's focus is on the history of communication. Here we have a Pharoah dictating to a scribe, using the world's first piece of paper. (papyrus)

Moving a little further in history, Guttenheim invents the movable type printing press.

Moving forward even further, a Telegraph operator.

Our last stop in EPCOT before heading out towards the Grand Floridian and Narcoosee's, was Spaceship Earth. What was so unusual is that while this was our second time in EPCOT this trip, it was our first time at the front of the park! As we were staying at an EPCOT resort, instead of entering at the front of the park like usual, we were entering at the International Gateway in World Showcase, which is actually in the back of the park. Spaceship Earth was good as usual (I love the people mover rides at EPCOT), and we sent an e-mail home to us with our cut out faces.

Our chariot (monorail) arrives.

It was about 3:30 or so, so after exiting Spaceship Earth and stopping briefly at the Art of Disney store we headed for the main exit and the monorail. The monorail took a few minutes to arrive, and we soon switched at TTC and headed for the Grand Floridian. We took a bit of time looking around the shops, and while doing so I spotted a pin on a Cast Member’s lanyard of a marching band Mickey. Now I had been in marching band for six years in High School/College so it was a perfect fit. I ran down to the sundries shop, picked out an inexpensive pin to trade, and two bottles of soda for Jeff and I. I ran back up to where the Cast Member was stationed and made the trade.

Remember how I had bought some soda for Jeff and I to drink before our ADR? Well this simple stop became the catalyst for the great Coke incident. After all this WAS our anniversary. So you are wondering what happened? We were relaxing on a sofa in the lobby, listening to the live band when Jeff, spilled, accidentally the remaining portion of his Coke all over his leg! (It wasn’t the whole bottle but still), Yeah, nice. To late to head back to our hotel, not enough time to let it fully dry out. Jeff headed to the bathroom to see what he could do to dry off the leg. Obviously there wasn’t much he could do there, so once he re-entered the world, we decided to head outside and take a walk hoping that would dry off his pant leg.

We headed outside, and it was a bit chilly but not bad yet. So we headed towards the Wedding Pavilion (where we were married eight years prior!) and then to the Polynesian. The beach was deserted, so we found a swing, and relaxed a bit. It was a beautiful, yet chilly evening.

Soon 5:15 rolled around and we figured we should wander back over to the Grand Floridian. I timed the walk as we would be making the same walk on Saturday morning when we would be staying at Polynesian, and walking to our ADR at 1900 Park Fare.

But tonight was our anniversary dinner at Narcoosee’s and when I made the ADR at 90 days I was unsure about the decision as Jeff is not a big seafood fan. However, I had read nothing but good reviews so we decided to give it a try. We arrived at the restaurant at about 5:30, waited a few minutes as the place was just opening. We were seated by a window looking out at the Magic Kingdom, which would have been the best seat in the house if we had been around for fireworks.

To start off, Jeff, being a very atypical Jeff decided to try to find a good wine. This is unusual for us as we are more beer and chips type people. Our waiter (I am guessing also a sommelier) recommended a white, semi-dry Fess Parker, $37 a bottle, I went with a mixed drink, which I don’t recall the name, except for the fact that it had sweet and sour mixture and coconut, which are both things that I enjoy. Both choices were quite good, and I tried a bit of Jeff’s wine, finding it not bitter at all, which is a problem I have with most wines.

Even though we were on the basic DDP we went next with an appetizer, the artisan cheeses (this was actually more for Jeff as he really enjoys cheese), one was a brie-like cheese, one more swiss-like and one a blue cheese. All were very good.

For our main course I still hadn’t decided, our waiter recommended mahi mahi, which I have never cared for (probably the ONLY fish I have never cared for) and then the scallops, which happen to be the only other seafood besides mahi mahi I don’t care for either! I instead went with my first intuition, the Surf and Turf, lobster tail and steak filet, I was a little worried about the reviews I had heard, but it turned out wonderful! I ate every little inch of the lobster tail, it may have been previously frozen but I certainly couldn’t tell. The filet mignon was good, and the Choron Sauce was excellent. I would give the steak four stars, about equal to what I gave Le Cellier last year. The only reason it is not five is because as good as the filet was it is still not as good as Hereford House here in Kansas City. The potatoes were just ok, nothing terribly special, but Jeff did seem to like them quite a bit.

Last was dessert, and this was a surprise upset for me, I was really looking forward to the Valhora Chocolate tart, it wasn’t on the menu. Instead both of us got our chocolate fix with a chocolate mouse, which while good (when is chocolate NOT good?) it wasn’t a warm chocolate cake with melted center. Oh well.

Overall I would have to say our experience at Narcoosee’s was good, our waiter was definitely satisfactory, he checked back with us often. Also once we received the check we noticed he had included our appetizer (the cheese sampler) as part of our dining plan, even though appetizers are no longer included in the basic Dining Plan. I don’t know if this was a mistake, or a little Disney magic, but I won’t question it!

The only negative I have about Narcoosee’s is the cost. As I mentioned earlier I found the quality of the food not that much better the Le Cellier, a 1-credit meal on the DDP. I understand the lobster brought my entrée up in price obviously, but Jeff just had the filet, and his was almost double the cost for the same thing in EPCOT. Overall I think the quality is good, but the price still seems to high for the quality delivered. A good deal on the DDP, otherwise I wouldn’t probably be back.

Illuminations (fireworks) view from our room!

When we left the restaurant it was about 7:30PM, and since we were about as far from our hotel without a car as we had ever been on Disney property we had to make the decision on how to get back to Boardwalk without a car. We had two choices, go back the way we came through EPCOT, or catch a bus from Magic Kingdom. As the chilly evening had turned to straight out cold (for me that is), we decided on the bus. We took the monorail from GF to Magic Kingdom, I really wanted to beat the fireworks crowds and we arrived at the bus stop at about 7:50. This was our longest wait for a bus from MK, about 10-15 minutes, still not bad. The first stop was Boardwalk and we got back to our room right about 8:30 or so. I turned on the TV, and watched for a bit, and then not long after, the fireworks started for Illuminations. We were able to see all the high fireworks, and surprisingly the top of the inferno barge. Overall it was a pretty nice view, seeing fireworks from our couch and all. It was a great end to the evening.

Wednesday 1/27/2010

Before the trip I had made very minimal plans, Wednesday was probably the ONLY day we had any specific plans on what park to visit, and that was based on our dining reservation at SCI-FI Diner (at MGM) for Noon. We got up pretty early that morning around 8:30 or so, and I got up first, got ready and then headed down to Boardwalk Bakery for a morning snack to tie us over. I picked up a chocolate chip muffin and a cinnamon roll for Jeff. Both were excellent. Boardwalk Bakery overall is pretty small and can be very cramped, but the quality is definitely worth it. It was a great use of a snack credit. Before leaving I again made the bed (I make the bed in our DVC unit every morning). We then headed out for MGM, and decided to walk as the boat stops at Swan/Dolphin/Beach Club and EPCOT before getting to MGM. It was a nice walk, and our room location probably helped make the walk quicker then it would usually be. It took about 15 minutes or so to get to MGM, and as we arrived, probably about 10:30, the entrance was backed up a bit. It took a couple of minutes to actually enter the park, I grabbed a schedule, and we headed to Midway Mania for a fast pass. Even though it was about 11AM our fast pass wasn't until 2:30 or so, that was for off season, on a “best day” park from the unofficial guide. The rides popularity still surprises me.

Just monkeying around at Pixar Place at MGM Studios. (Barrel of Monkey's 200X their normal size)

One of the green army guys. These guys were a hoot!

Lexar, the Pixar Lamp. If you don't know who this guy is.... welll.... go watch a Pixar movie.

Work it.

After grabbing our fast pass we lingered a bit near the attraction to see Lexar, the Pixar lamp. Very cute mini-show. I think some people had no idea what was going on though! Next, we headed over the Streets of America to catch one of our favorite park live entertainment shows, Mulch Sweat and Shears. Jeff is a big 80’s rocker and well, I just like the music! It still amazes me that Disney can come up with such simple, but unique live entertainment options, that if you really think about I aren’t that expensive to put on! I mean trash cans? Marching band uniforms? A truck with landscaping materials attached to the back? Really, any park could afford to pull it off, but only Disney seems to realize the final product and pull it off.

Mulch, Sweat and Shears!

Extreme close up!

This guest is REALLY getting into the action!

From Streets of America we headed over to the shops by the exit for the Backlot Tour (which we had tried the previous year and were quite depressed to see the level to which it had dropped to), I went directly the plush for the Pixar films. The previous year I had become enamored with Wall-E and after seeing the Wall-E and Eve plush practically everywhere at Walt Disney World, I still decided not to purchase either. Bad idea, this year, when I actually wanted to buy one, I couldn't find them anywhere! The clerk pointed me to the AFI shop, and we headed there and first checked out the exhibits. Amazing unlike the Backlot Tour the AFI exhibits are kept relatively updated. I also found a selection of Wall-E plush. It was about $9.95 so I figured I would think about it and maybe come back later.

It was now about 11:30 so we had time for about one more attraction, I of course choose one of my favorites, Muppet Vision 3D, I was a child during the tail end of the Muppet’s shows, so Muppet Vision for me is pretty much a can’t miss attraction. It never grows old. However, it could maybe use some updating to modern 3D. We checked out the shop briefly and then headed for Sci-Fi Diner.

The interior of Sci-Fi Diner

Hmmm.... I wonder who these people are.

Sci-Fi seems to be like an every five years restaurant for us. Last time we ate here was only a year or two after our wedding in Jan 2002, and as both of us like old science fiction movies, it sounded like fun. Plus I had been wanting to go back for awhile. Overall, it probably will take another 5-6 years to get back to Sci-Fi again. It is fun, the atmosphere simply can’t be beat, (love the campy sci-fi previews and pop corn & snacks heading to the snack bar!) but the food is average at best.

For our entrée’s I had the Shrimp Pasta, Jeff played it safe with the Angus Chuck burger. Overall as I mentioned the food was pretty average, though the Shrimp Pasta was actually quite good, lots of shrimp and it had good flavor with the olives and spinach. The only flaw that I had with it… was that I couldn’t really see it. Literally, I had to fumble around with the fork and had no idea really what was on the fork until it hit my mouth.

For dessert I had the hot fudge sundae, Jeff had the peanut butter fudge cake. I had thought about the peanut butter cake, but the ice cream really called out to me and I am glad I chose what I did. The peanut butter cake was almost hard as a rock, and I kind of felt bad for Jeff. The hot fudge sundae, which Jeff helped me finish was GREAT. That hot fudge sundae was the best thing there at Sci-Fi, plenty of hot fudge, and for me that is the defining aspect of a good hot fudge sundae.

Service again was fairly average, no long waits between refills, but nothing that made our waitress stand out. It was pretty busy so I imagine that had something to do with it. Last, they were taking walk ins but I am glad I had an ADR as walk ins were being seated at the round picnic tables at back, and they had LONG waits.

After leaving Sci-Fi we headed for the coffee shop/book store that is attached to Sci-Fi, it is one of my favorite shops, and we found an Imagineeers Guide DVD to Magic Kingdom. Of course we had to have THAT. Plus the 20% AP discount that we had discovered earlier that week came in quite handy!

A mock up of Walt Disney's office how it looked back in the day.

A model of the Sleeping Beauty Castle (aka the Putt Putt Castle) at Disneyland in California.

A model of one of the two TWA rockets. One was at Disneyland (and I believe still is) the other is still at the top of the TWA building in Kansas City.

This was new this year, its a model of the gangster scene as part of the Great Movie Ride.

After leaving the store we were left with the decision on what to do? We were walking by One Man’s Dream, and since this is another tradition for us, we headed there. I was thrilled to see some updates, adding designs and models from the design of MGM Studios, as the park was quietly celebrating its 20^th anniversary. (I had no idea until then). The movie was unchanged but definitely good, full of lots of warm and fuzzy moments. I personally will never forget the one man who started it all.

About that time our Fast Pass time was up so we headed to Midway Mania, with our Fast Pass the wait was less the five minutes. Midway Mania was simply fun, but one thing that got me thinking later was that Midway Mania seems relatively simple for Disney standards. We really haven’t seen a new Pirates of Carribbean or Haunted Mansion style ride (super headliner) since the the 90’s, Eisner Era. I guess I should further clarify, a super headliner that continues to operate LIKE a super headliner. Everest doesn’t count, as you will soon read.

The Great Movie Ride!

The Great Movie Ride is a collection of animated scenes (through use of animatronics) of various movies through the years. Here we have a scene from Mary Poppins.

The Wicked Witch of the West.

First we saw the model, now the real thing. The underworld in the Great Movie Ride.

Anyway, off my soap box. So after Midway Mania, we again had the decision, What to do? Jeff was wanting The Great Movie Ride, so that’s were we went, even though I think Great Movie Ride should be the next candidate for a major ride rehab. It’s a great classic ride and always fun. We spent quite a bit of time afterward checking out the handprints after the ride. I have never done that before believe it or not.

Disney's re-creation of the Chinese Mann's Theater. Here is is the entrance to the Great Movie Ride.

Last attraction we decided for the day was The Animation Tour, like the Backlot tour we hadn’t taken this tour for about 4-5 years, so it was about time. I remember when the tour had a real artist talking to you about the tradition and process of Animation. Of course that ended almost 10 years ago, Now we have Mushu, and still a live host. It was pretty cute, and served its purpose I guess. Plus I did find it interesting that they actually added live artists back to the walkway out of the theater. I am not sure if they are just actors, or real animators working on real projects, but I guess it adds a bit of “realism” even though I thought all Florida animation was moved out years ago too?

Usually we would walk past the character meet and greet area, but Mickey was there, and it seems both of us had a boost in “dealing with characters” moral, Before it just seemed wrong I guess for two adults to get their photo with a character. Now I really wanted that picture with Mickey, after all he is my favorite character (that and Mulan) So we got in line, and I got my photo!

We ran into these Streetmosphere actors performing an informal comic skit. The basic premise is a group of street workers on break, and one brings Meow Mix and tries to hawk it off as Trail mix.

By this time it was getting towards late afternoon/evening, maybe about 4:30 or so, so we headed back down Hollywood Blvd. We stopped for a bit to watch one of the street skits (I think that's were they moved the folks from Adventure's Club), they were absolutly hilarious! Plus I got picked on, which almost never happens to me. At that point we decided to head towards the exit, we checked out a few of the shops, and of course stopped at Sid’s at front, that’s home to all the autographs, movie memorabilia etc.



Before we headed out I was surprised Jeff hadn’t wanted to ride Tower of Terror, supposedly one of his favorite rides. That’s the thing though, we would be back, if not this year, next year. Great thing about DVC #235.

So we headed back to Boardwalk, arrived back probably about 5:30 or 6, and watched the Imagineers DVD we had purchased. Since it was Wednesday night and I had only used the tub once, plus I had been inundated this trip with blisters, I decided to take a bath. I used the Mr. Bubble I had brought with me, and let me tell you nothing feels better. That spa tub was worth the thousands of dollars we had spent on DVC all by itself.

About 7PM or so we headed downstairs to check out a few of the shops, I had become obsessed with finding a nice Disney hoodie this trip. My old Disney jacket from 8 years ago was starting to wear out and the zipper wasn’t working the greatest. We started in the Dundy’s Sundries, inside of the Boardwalk lobby, it closed at 9PM and I knew it had the DVC merchandise. I tried on the DVC fleece, and it didn’t look so great. However if you remember the comment about pin trading, this is where the spark turned into a flame. The cast members pulled out their panel of pins available for trading, and there were two that we liked. Usually if we find one or two on an entire trip to trade, that’s normal, we buy a $6 pin and trade. Well after yesterday and now today we figured why not buy a 7 pack of (cheap) pins and trade for them? Wouldn’t that be fun? Yeah it was. I ended up with the Mickey ghost I had been coveting and the DDP hidden mickey pin.

At about 7:30 PM we figure we would head to EPCOT this time for Illuminations, which is my favorite fireworks at Disney. We left close to 8PM, and walked towards the Italy pavilion looking for a spot, as it was about 8:20 or so by the time we arrived. We also had a counter service to blow, even though neither of us were terribly hungry. (I figured we probably would be later on though and didn’t want to be starving in the middle of the night). We thought about the China pavilion, but I thought we didn’t have enough time, so instead we looked around a few of the shops while waiting on fireworks. About 8:45 we went out to scope out a spot. Amazingly that night the Italy isola was not being used that night for a private party, and since we consider that the best view of Illuminations, we considered ourselves lucky and found a spot on the railing there and waited out a few minutes for Illuminations to begin. It was a great show as always, I especially love the raining white fireworks at the very end, never fails to amaze me!

After Illuminations and exiting EPCOT I thought it would be a great idea to head to Beach Club Marketplace. Everyone seemed to mention that it was a good choice for Counter service in the Boardwalk area (actually one of the ONLY CS options). As you will soon read the experience was far from exemplirary. In fact for us the only redeeming quality of the Beach Club Resort seems to have is Beachs and Cream, as otherwise we seem to have really bad luck with the Yacht/Beach Club restaurants.

However, I wanted clam chowder, and as I wasn’t too hungry (plus it was already Wednesday night) I no problem “wasting” a CS credit on a $4 cup of soup, soda and fruit tart. Overall it was pretty good, but I have had much better clam chowder before. So I don’t think it was worth the drama. I thought Jeff might get a sandwich, but next thing I knew he had sat down looking quite upset, and with nothing to show for it. I asked what had happened. Jeff not liking the type of bread on the sandwich asked if it could be changed, now I knew the sandwiches were pre-made, I think he did too, but it really does never hurt to ask right? Wrong. They guy behind the counter from what Jeff told me was quite rude about it. Jeff, had what I like to call a “Six Flags” moment, very unusual for Disney (not so unusual for Beach/Yacht Club though). So he sat there while I finished my soup, we looked around in the shop for a bit, and then headed for the Boardwalk to try to find something for Jeff.

We stopped by Boardwalk Bakery, and Jeff picked out a turkey/swiss sandwich, with a bag of chips. We ended up splitting it back in our room, and it was quite good, especially the bread, which seemed very fresh. (even though it was also pre-made). In the end I think what we should have done was just both stop there instead of even going anywhere near Beach Club, the food, honestly was better overall, and the customer service was what I expected from Disney.

While at the Boardwalk Bakery we had also picked up 2 croissants for breakfast the next morning and headed to the room. I threw some laundry in while we finished off the special features on the Last Samurai DVD we had started at the beginning of the stay. Jeff took a bath afterward, while I read a bit, and we went to bed pretty late that evening.