KylesMom
07-12-2007, 11:54 AM
Cast of Characters:
Me, 41 (Favorite Character Mickey)
DH, 41 (Favorite Character Grumpy)
DS, 9 (Loves Both Mickey & Stitch)
Day 7 – Friday, June 15, 2007
As today was a scheduled “Morning Off”, I didn’t set the alarm last night, knowing we’ll be up in plenty of time for our 9 am ADR at Whispering Canyon for breakfast. We’re all up by 7 am, although moving a bit slowly, and decide to have a pow-wow on what we’re going to do today.
For the past two years, I’ve wanted to take the boats out on Bay Lake – it looks like so much fun! This is the “plan” which is penciled in our trip planner. However, I get a lukewarm reception to my plan, and so we change it. Downtown Disney to order our annual X-mas ornament and spend some of our hard-earned Disney Visa Rewards Dollars after breakfast! We plan on heading out to Epcot in the afternoon, and have a scheduled dinner at LeCellier – one of the few times we have ever scheduled two TS meals in one day.
As you’ve gathered from previous trip reports, I’m not a breakfast eater, and the guys eat the breakfast & granola bars we’ve sent down, along with yogurt & cheese purchased at Goodings and PowerAde from our refillable mugs. Well, we love Whispering Canyon so much that we wanted to try their version of breakfast, and this was the morning to head down to see if it’s as good of a value as everyone has said. I can handle a good breakfast as long as it’s late enough in the morning.
First off, the food is good. We all order the skillet, which is very sensibly priced. We are usually up & out of the hotel early, and don’t hear much hullaboo from WC. We’ve never really heard it loud & obnoxious for breakfast. For dinner, that suits us fine. We just didn’t realize it’s a carbon-copy of dinner. It was just a tad too much for DH and I for breakfast. :blush: DS doing pony races at 9:15 am, with everyone screaming for ketchup and in general, was enough for us before the 10:00 mark hit. Don’t get me wrong, it really is a good value with good food, but we’re just a bit more conservative in the morning! DDE discount is $6.99 and service was great, provided by Tootsie Pop. I must note that we’re almost half way through our vacation, and haven’t had anything but the best experiences with TS servers. :number1:
We’re out to DTD almost immediately after breakfast, with our first stop being the Christmas Shop. Man, I could truly spend more than I make in a week at this store in 30 minutes or less! We choose our annual ornament, a stand and the Mickey football ornament in tribute to our Bears. After speaking with an artist and deciding the exact colors and wording, we are all set. They’ll deliver everything to our hotel later in the week when it’s complete.
We mill around a variety of other stores, seeing if there’s anything that catches our eye. We stop in the pin store to purchase a Father’s Day pin and our A/P pin. See, we don’t trade pins, but we create pin collages each year and hang them in our Disney room. Funny how they’re SELLING this idea in the stores now as a promotion! Anyway, THE STORE awaits us. We spend waaay too much time in World of Disney, shopping our hearts out. Collage frame, shirts, earrings, pins, the charger promo plate, 4th of July ear lights, afghan, PotC backpack, PotC Megablock set, etcetera. 2/3 of the items we have shipped home, and the other items come with us. They have to ring up the two purchases separately, and we receive our A/P discount for all. All of our reward dollars for the year are used on fun things for us and for our home – and are gone! I will mention that for $275 worth of purchases sent home, they charged us $35 to ship it all to Illinois. Actually not bad, and it saves me the hassle of trying to get it done at the resort. :mickey:
OK, we’re shopped out. Is that possible at Disney World? By this time it’s about 1:00, and we’re ready to chill. But first, pictures outside of the WL gates! We’re in no hurry, so we take turns taking pictures of each other near the “Bear Crossing” sign and the big arch. We hang out in the room for awhile, with DS playing with his collective pirate sets purchased (on Disney Dollars he earned and brought), while DH and I once again relax on the balcony for awhile. We motivate to Epcot around 3:00, and as expected, the only FPs left for the day of any interest are Mission:Space. We take a gander at TestTrack, and sadly bypass for the day, since we’re not waiting 110 minutes. Instead, we FP Mission: Space, hop in the Green Team line, and then backtrack over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. This is one attraction, at least, that has no line! We spend a bit of time taking DS’ picture with some of the shark figures, and decide to hit Figment while we are over here. Next to World Showcase to hang out, listen to Slippery When Wet again, and visit a few of the countries for photo ops.
Our ADR at LeCellier is scheduled for 6:50, and as we check in early at 6:30 there are slews of people being turned away for lack of ADRs. A quick wait, and we’re seated. Excellent! Sarah is our server, and although she explains the menu, we already know what we want. Shrimp Cocktail with Wasabi Slaw for DH and I, followed by the NY Strip with a side of grilled asparagus. I have the Triggs Cabernet, while DH chooses a Labatt’s Blue. DS wants a sirloin burger (not on the menu), but they tell us they do not have anything in the kitchen to make it with. Sarah convinces DS to order the steak, and all is well. DS also LOVES the pretzel bread, so we ask for more before our meal is ready.
What another wonderful dining experience! :thumbsup: My very pink steak is cooked to perfection, while DH’s well-done steak is also just right. DS had a “problem” with the steak last year and wouldn’t eat it (we ordered him a sirloin burger the second time around), but this year he quite literally cleaned his plate, exclaiming that the cut of meat was awesome. We laugh at Sarah’s suggestion of dessert, and decide it’s time to vacate our dining space to make room for another fortunate family lucky enough to get ADRs here. Besides, we’ll be back next Thursday! DDE Discount is $24.88.
We saunter out, making our way around World Showcase, finally settling in Mexico to watch Illuminations again. No less magical this time than when we saw it on Tuesday, we slowly file out of Epcot with the rest of the crowd, another magical day complete. :cloud9:
Up Next: So many activities to choose from – and “The Villains WILL win this time!”
Me, 41 (Favorite Character Mickey)
DH, 41 (Favorite Character Grumpy)
DS, 9 (Loves Both Mickey & Stitch)
Day 7 – Friday, June 15, 2007
As today was a scheduled “Morning Off”, I didn’t set the alarm last night, knowing we’ll be up in plenty of time for our 9 am ADR at Whispering Canyon for breakfast. We’re all up by 7 am, although moving a bit slowly, and decide to have a pow-wow on what we’re going to do today.
For the past two years, I’ve wanted to take the boats out on Bay Lake – it looks like so much fun! This is the “plan” which is penciled in our trip planner. However, I get a lukewarm reception to my plan, and so we change it. Downtown Disney to order our annual X-mas ornament and spend some of our hard-earned Disney Visa Rewards Dollars after breakfast! We plan on heading out to Epcot in the afternoon, and have a scheduled dinner at LeCellier – one of the few times we have ever scheduled two TS meals in one day.
As you’ve gathered from previous trip reports, I’m not a breakfast eater, and the guys eat the breakfast & granola bars we’ve sent down, along with yogurt & cheese purchased at Goodings and PowerAde from our refillable mugs. Well, we love Whispering Canyon so much that we wanted to try their version of breakfast, and this was the morning to head down to see if it’s as good of a value as everyone has said. I can handle a good breakfast as long as it’s late enough in the morning.
First off, the food is good. We all order the skillet, which is very sensibly priced. We are usually up & out of the hotel early, and don’t hear much hullaboo from WC. We’ve never really heard it loud & obnoxious for breakfast. For dinner, that suits us fine. We just didn’t realize it’s a carbon-copy of dinner. It was just a tad too much for DH and I for breakfast. :blush: DS doing pony races at 9:15 am, with everyone screaming for ketchup and in general, was enough for us before the 10:00 mark hit. Don’t get me wrong, it really is a good value with good food, but we’re just a bit more conservative in the morning! DDE discount is $6.99 and service was great, provided by Tootsie Pop. I must note that we’re almost half way through our vacation, and haven’t had anything but the best experiences with TS servers. :number1:
We’re out to DTD almost immediately after breakfast, with our first stop being the Christmas Shop. Man, I could truly spend more than I make in a week at this store in 30 minutes or less! We choose our annual ornament, a stand and the Mickey football ornament in tribute to our Bears. After speaking with an artist and deciding the exact colors and wording, we are all set. They’ll deliver everything to our hotel later in the week when it’s complete.
We mill around a variety of other stores, seeing if there’s anything that catches our eye. We stop in the pin store to purchase a Father’s Day pin and our A/P pin. See, we don’t trade pins, but we create pin collages each year and hang them in our Disney room. Funny how they’re SELLING this idea in the stores now as a promotion! Anyway, THE STORE awaits us. We spend waaay too much time in World of Disney, shopping our hearts out. Collage frame, shirts, earrings, pins, the charger promo plate, 4th of July ear lights, afghan, PotC backpack, PotC Megablock set, etcetera. 2/3 of the items we have shipped home, and the other items come with us. They have to ring up the two purchases separately, and we receive our A/P discount for all. All of our reward dollars for the year are used on fun things for us and for our home – and are gone! I will mention that for $275 worth of purchases sent home, they charged us $35 to ship it all to Illinois. Actually not bad, and it saves me the hassle of trying to get it done at the resort. :mickey:
OK, we’re shopped out. Is that possible at Disney World? By this time it’s about 1:00, and we’re ready to chill. But first, pictures outside of the WL gates! We’re in no hurry, so we take turns taking pictures of each other near the “Bear Crossing” sign and the big arch. We hang out in the room for awhile, with DS playing with his collective pirate sets purchased (on Disney Dollars he earned and brought), while DH and I once again relax on the balcony for awhile. We motivate to Epcot around 3:00, and as expected, the only FPs left for the day of any interest are Mission:Space. We take a gander at TestTrack, and sadly bypass for the day, since we’re not waiting 110 minutes. Instead, we FP Mission: Space, hop in the Green Team line, and then backtrack over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. This is one attraction, at least, that has no line! We spend a bit of time taking DS’ picture with some of the shark figures, and decide to hit Figment while we are over here. Next to World Showcase to hang out, listen to Slippery When Wet again, and visit a few of the countries for photo ops.
Our ADR at LeCellier is scheduled for 6:50, and as we check in early at 6:30 there are slews of people being turned away for lack of ADRs. A quick wait, and we’re seated. Excellent! Sarah is our server, and although she explains the menu, we already know what we want. Shrimp Cocktail with Wasabi Slaw for DH and I, followed by the NY Strip with a side of grilled asparagus. I have the Triggs Cabernet, while DH chooses a Labatt’s Blue. DS wants a sirloin burger (not on the menu), but they tell us they do not have anything in the kitchen to make it with. Sarah convinces DS to order the steak, and all is well. DS also LOVES the pretzel bread, so we ask for more before our meal is ready.
What another wonderful dining experience! :thumbsup: My very pink steak is cooked to perfection, while DH’s well-done steak is also just right. DS had a “problem” with the steak last year and wouldn’t eat it (we ordered him a sirloin burger the second time around), but this year he quite literally cleaned his plate, exclaiming that the cut of meat was awesome. We laugh at Sarah’s suggestion of dessert, and decide it’s time to vacate our dining space to make room for another fortunate family lucky enough to get ADRs here. Besides, we’ll be back next Thursday! DDE Discount is $24.88.
We saunter out, making our way around World Showcase, finally settling in Mexico to watch Illuminations again. No less magical this time than when we saw it on Tuesday, we slowly file out of Epcot with the rest of the crowd, another magical day complete. :cloud9:
Up Next: So many activities to choose from – and “The Villains WILL win this time!”