chechas
09-14-2008, 09:10 PM
Cast:
Nikki (41)
Me (37)
Dates:
Labor Day weekend 8/30-9/2/2008
Resort:
Coronado springs - water view
Weather:
90s and sunny
We got up around 8am showered and realized it was our last full day and we still had 3 snack credits, 2 counter credits and a table credit - Yikes!
So we went to Pepper Market for breakfast. Note if you get a waffle then you have to pay extra for bacon/sausage....we found out the hard way. LOL. But we both got waffles, Nikki got hers with the banana pecan topping which we think she had allergic reaction to... oh yeah I had allergic reaction night before and we think it was to the truffles in one of the dishes at V&A. And we both had hives and itching on the buses several times..weird.
We caught a bus to MGM. The wait for Toy Story Mania was 90 minutes. No thanks and fast pass time was already at 6:30pm...it was only 10:30am. So we did the Backlot trour but Catastrophe canyon was closed due to filming that day. UGH! Then walked around for a bit and went into Voyage of Little Mermaid. Ok have to say - how hard is it to move all the way over and sit your behind down? It was a hot mess. Worse than usual with people changing seats and sitting down right at entrance to rows and not wanting to stand up so people could get by since most of the row past them was open etc. It took forever for cast members to get everyone in and settled. We were in a great mood so were cracking up and how something so simple was made so hard.
Anyways. Love that show. HollyWood Studios has a new BackLot Express High Octane Refreshment Counter that has "adult" beverages - margaritas, pina colada, sangria, beer etc plus some non alcoholic frozen drinks. It is right past BackLot Tour. before the food court area. it is a nice spot has a bar area with stools and then tables with chairs and fans. A nice spot to catch a breather and relax. I tried the 180 degree spin (1800 Margarita with Grand Marnier blended on the rocks) for $9 and Nikki had the Red Hero (a mix of Myers Dark Rum, Blackberry brandy, banana liqueur and juices) for $8. Hers was great!!! And the servings were the size of like the 22 oz plastic drink cups you buy at store. so not bad.
We took our drinks and went to see Beauty and the Beast and the warm up group - Four for a Dollar are retiring. We both are saps and always get misty for Beauty and the Beast. though we got there later than planned, we still got great seats.
After that we just walked around and joked back and forth with a roaming cast member/actor who was dressed like a movie director from the 50s or something and was casting for his new movie. He pretended to be shocked to see me and Nikki as he thought we were in Europe. So of course I told him "Europe in September? How provencial!" he laughed and said "you are quit right my dear. glad to see you!" we had fun quippinbgback and forth for a bit then waved good bye.
We then used a snack credit to get some ice cream and have a sit down while we decided what to do next. EPCOT won....I don't know why we stayed clear of MK and AK this trip - we usually at least hit MK. I think it was the vast quantities of alcohol this trip that we don't usually drink. LOL
anyways the boat had a long line and after waiting almost 10 minutes, we decided to catch the bus to EPCOT. At EPCOT we caught the boat across the lagoon - note here, both days we did EPCOT they only had 1 boat running that hit all the docks though the dock closest to Canada was closed all weekend. So the boat took longer than usual. We kept forgetting to ask what was up.
After hitting a few countries and window shopping. We went to America and got funnel cakes and Sam Adams..I know...what a combo!!! We went inside Liberty Inn to get some AC and eat. We ended up discussing politics for some reason LOL. I guess being in America pavilion does that to you. LOL
We walked back around the world showcase and caught a bus back to hotel around 6:30pm.
We rested for a bit as our O'hana ressie was not until 9:40 in time for 10 pm Wishes fireworks. We caught bus back to MGM to them catch bus to Poly but turned out they had one bus for Poly, Contemporary and Grand Floridian. So the line was crazy long but they packed people on the bus standing room only. We needed to make our ressie and not wait 15-20 minutes for another bus so we hopped on.
It has been a long time since I have done O'hanas for dinner. and they were great. Lots of food and they were good about keeping the shrimp skewers separate fromt he other meat so my allergy would not be triggered. The chef even came to our table to discuss it with me before food came out. The salad was great as were the potstickers but I just loved the chicken!!! The steak was melt in your mouth. We went on a good night. As I know there have been mixed reviews on O'hanas dinner. We had a decent view of the fireworks and as our ressie was so late and actually fell during expanded dining hours, it was pretty quiet and they did not do coconut races etc with the kids as there was only a handful of kids.
We took some pics in lobby (can't wait til DD and I stay here for our annual XMas Disney Divas trip in December). Then caught bus to DTD and back to our resort. Then stopped in Rix Lounge to say goodbye to our friendly bartender. He made us another of our favorite martinis and we had a deep dicussion with him and the bar manager about the lack of business and PI closing. They were saying how Disney pays off0duty deputies $36/hour for security at DTD and the insurance woes with all the kids hanging out there etc for the decision to close it. They are hoping that Rix picks up some then. My concern is people staying at other resorts will have a hard time getting to/from Rix unless they have a car once PI closes. Rix has a great vibe and was our home away from home and the DJ played good music. Drinks were pricey though as the martinis were $11 but they were the biggest martinis I have ever seen and I am a martini person. So we will see. But definiteley if you are staying at CSR or can get there, check out Rix, They have the capacity for like 300+ people. Great decor. Only problem is there is no bathroom inside, you have to go outside to use rest room.
We said good night around midnight and went to our room.
Tomorrow: Cooks of Dublin, DTD, check out
Nikki (41)
Me (37)
Dates:
Labor Day weekend 8/30-9/2/2008
Resort:
Coronado springs - water view
Weather:
90s and sunny
We got up around 8am showered and realized it was our last full day and we still had 3 snack credits, 2 counter credits and a table credit - Yikes!
So we went to Pepper Market for breakfast. Note if you get a waffle then you have to pay extra for bacon/sausage....we found out the hard way. LOL. But we both got waffles, Nikki got hers with the banana pecan topping which we think she had allergic reaction to... oh yeah I had allergic reaction night before and we think it was to the truffles in one of the dishes at V&A. And we both had hives and itching on the buses several times..weird.
We caught a bus to MGM. The wait for Toy Story Mania was 90 minutes. No thanks and fast pass time was already at 6:30pm...it was only 10:30am. So we did the Backlot trour but Catastrophe canyon was closed due to filming that day. UGH! Then walked around for a bit and went into Voyage of Little Mermaid. Ok have to say - how hard is it to move all the way over and sit your behind down? It was a hot mess. Worse than usual with people changing seats and sitting down right at entrance to rows and not wanting to stand up so people could get by since most of the row past them was open etc. It took forever for cast members to get everyone in and settled. We were in a great mood so were cracking up and how something so simple was made so hard.
Anyways. Love that show. HollyWood Studios has a new BackLot Express High Octane Refreshment Counter that has "adult" beverages - margaritas, pina colada, sangria, beer etc plus some non alcoholic frozen drinks. It is right past BackLot Tour. before the food court area. it is a nice spot has a bar area with stools and then tables with chairs and fans. A nice spot to catch a breather and relax. I tried the 180 degree spin (1800 Margarita with Grand Marnier blended on the rocks) for $9 and Nikki had the Red Hero (a mix of Myers Dark Rum, Blackberry brandy, banana liqueur and juices) for $8. Hers was great!!! And the servings were the size of like the 22 oz plastic drink cups you buy at store. so not bad.
We took our drinks and went to see Beauty and the Beast and the warm up group - Four for a Dollar are retiring. We both are saps and always get misty for Beauty and the Beast. though we got there later than planned, we still got great seats.
After that we just walked around and joked back and forth with a roaming cast member/actor who was dressed like a movie director from the 50s or something and was casting for his new movie. He pretended to be shocked to see me and Nikki as he thought we were in Europe. So of course I told him "Europe in September? How provencial!" he laughed and said "you are quit right my dear. glad to see you!" we had fun quippinbgback and forth for a bit then waved good bye.
We then used a snack credit to get some ice cream and have a sit down while we decided what to do next. EPCOT won....I don't know why we stayed clear of MK and AK this trip - we usually at least hit MK. I think it was the vast quantities of alcohol this trip that we don't usually drink. LOL
anyways the boat had a long line and after waiting almost 10 minutes, we decided to catch the bus to EPCOT. At EPCOT we caught the boat across the lagoon - note here, both days we did EPCOT they only had 1 boat running that hit all the docks though the dock closest to Canada was closed all weekend. So the boat took longer than usual. We kept forgetting to ask what was up.
After hitting a few countries and window shopping. We went to America and got funnel cakes and Sam Adams..I know...what a combo!!! We went inside Liberty Inn to get some AC and eat. We ended up discussing politics for some reason LOL. I guess being in America pavilion does that to you. LOL
We walked back around the world showcase and caught a bus back to hotel around 6:30pm.
We rested for a bit as our O'hana ressie was not until 9:40 in time for 10 pm Wishes fireworks. We caught bus back to MGM to them catch bus to Poly but turned out they had one bus for Poly, Contemporary and Grand Floridian. So the line was crazy long but they packed people on the bus standing room only. We needed to make our ressie and not wait 15-20 minutes for another bus so we hopped on.
It has been a long time since I have done O'hanas for dinner. and they were great. Lots of food and they were good about keeping the shrimp skewers separate fromt he other meat so my allergy would not be triggered. The chef even came to our table to discuss it with me before food came out. The salad was great as were the potstickers but I just loved the chicken!!! The steak was melt in your mouth. We went on a good night. As I know there have been mixed reviews on O'hanas dinner. We had a decent view of the fireworks and as our ressie was so late and actually fell during expanded dining hours, it was pretty quiet and they did not do coconut races etc with the kids as there was only a handful of kids.
We took some pics in lobby (can't wait til DD and I stay here for our annual XMas Disney Divas trip in December). Then caught bus to DTD and back to our resort. Then stopped in Rix Lounge to say goodbye to our friendly bartender. He made us another of our favorite martinis and we had a deep dicussion with him and the bar manager about the lack of business and PI closing. They were saying how Disney pays off0duty deputies $36/hour for security at DTD and the insurance woes with all the kids hanging out there etc for the decision to close it. They are hoping that Rix picks up some then. My concern is people staying at other resorts will have a hard time getting to/from Rix unless they have a car once PI closes. Rix has a great vibe and was our home away from home and the DJ played good music. Drinks were pricey though as the martinis were $11 but they were the biggest martinis I have ever seen and I am a martini person. So we will see. But definiteley if you are staying at CSR or can get there, check out Rix, They have the capacity for like 300+ people. Great decor. Only problem is there is no bathroom inside, you have to go outside to use rest room.
We said good night around midnight and went to our room.
Tomorrow: Cooks of Dublin, DTD, check out