MizMissy
06-01-2010, 05:12 PM
Who:
Me - Planner - 40
DH - 43
DD -9
DS - 7
Staying at The Contemporary – check-in Sunday, May 23rd, check-out Friday, May 28th.
Monday, May 24th
We quickly head out of DHS and wait 20 minutes in the very hot sun for the EPCOT bus. This was our last bus ride of the trip. I’m not a fan of crowded buses, that’s why I like to avoid the buses. DH is not a fan of waiting around. Since we had our car, he decided we could drive instead of take the bus. (At this point, he still liked the monorail idea to EPCOT, that changed this afternoon). We arrived at EPCOT at 11:50 … do not slow down, do not stop for pictures, straight shot to LeCellier, keeping fingers crossed … but I did notice that SE wait time was posted at 30 minutes and a long line outside. Our joke in the family is that the Disney motto is “Slow and Steady” – none of the transportation, CMs working behind the registers, etc. seem to be in any big hurry. DH reminds me that Disney is “slow and steady,” do not worry about being 10-15 minutes late for our reservation, no need to run across the park. Okay. We arrive a little after 1, no one mentions a thing. Surprisingly, the restaurant was not absolutely packed. We had an excellent server, very funny guy, great with the kids, a nice cool restaurant, seated in a bench seat with the kitchen behind us. Very nice, so glad to be there. DD and DS both ordered the soup, steak and fries for their meal. DH and I both ordered the Filet. I am not a big steak eater, but I had to have the mushroom risotto. Everyone ordered medium, it was cooked perfectly. DD is my picky eater, so she gave her soup to her daddy. Just enough to enjoy dipping the pretzel bread in. :number1: DS loves to eat and eats pretty much anything and enjoys all food. He was a happy camper. Both kids had a sour apple slushie drink with their meal (way too sweet for my taste, but they were happy with the choice). DH also ordered the creamed spinach and I ordered the onion rings for everyone to share. The spinach was very good, but way too rich. This was entirely too much food for lunch on a hot day, but Hey! We are on vacation, live a little. :party: After a non-rushed, quiet and enjoyable lunch topped with maple crème brulees for DH and myself, sundaes for the kids, we decided to test our re-charged batteries in EPCOT.
Crowds, crowds and more crowds. FP for Soarin and Test Track gone, even Living with the Land posted a 40 minute wait. We started slowly, pretty much walked on Figment (everyone sing “One spark of light, can light your fancy …your mind sees more than what your eyes see …) , headed to Nemo, also walk on even though the posted wait time was 20 minutes. Spent some time exploring the aquarium. Also, we stumbled upon Innoventions. My kids loved it. We played the Great Piggy Bank Adventure and DH stood in line to ride a Segway. After we finished, the kids played several of the video games along the wall. We were all dragging at this point, so we waited about 5 minutes for SE, then straight to the monorail. That steep incline up the ramp after walking around all day??? They have to be kidding. Okay, monorail arrives, we load, then we wait, and wait, and wait. There were some problems. It ended up taking us an hour to return to the Contemporary from EPCOT. Arrived at the hotel about 5:00. DH has now crossed off taking the monorail to EPCOT – he didn’t realize there was the change of trains at TTC. We wanted to take a dip in the pool, but a little afternoon thunder cloud cleared the pool. We hung out in our room and on the patio area, then were able to go to the pool for a while. We had no ADRs this evening because we enjoyed a very big, late lunch. DH is not pleased with my suggestion that we would simply grab something from the CS in the Contemporary for dinner or even head to MK or other monorail hotels for CS. While the kids and I are at the pool, DH returns to the room to rest and make business calls. A little later, he returns to tell me that “we are all lined up,” we have reservations for Artist Point in WL that evening at 8:30. Yep, I love him, but he’s high maintenance. This is also where I’m a little stressed about the dining plan and having enough credits etc. No problem, we’ll just pay out of pocket for this meal. If we go to Disney again with DH, we will probably have to spring for the Deluxe Dining Plan. Shower, change into non-park clothes (good thing I overpacked myself and the kids) and drive to WL.
I’ve never been in WL, it was really beautiful. My favorite thing about Disney is all the details they put into everything they build. Wow is all I can say. We had drinks at the bar … my kids love Shirley Temples and the bartender was sharing her “secret” recipe for Shirley Temples, the kids were so happy. My little troopers. They were so good on this trip, we kept at a steady (not exactly slow though) pace the entire trip and they really were wonderful, I was so proud of them. I love how we can enjoy nice meals with our kids and they are so well behaved. Artist Point was practically empty. Only a few other tables seated around us in the restaurant. I was not hungry after the big lunch, so I ordered the Portabella mushroom soup (very tasty) and spinach salad (also good). DD had a hamburger and DS ordered penne and cheese. DH had the copper river salmon. Very, very good. The waiter was going on and on about the history of the fish and it only being available three weeks out of the year, so even though neither of us are big salmon lovers (I prefer white fish, not oily fish), DH ordered it. $48 entrée. Yikes. But, it was a nice piece of fish. Returned to the hotel in time for 10:00 Wishes which we viewed from the 4th floor balcony. Not the best view because the monorail is in the way, but it was better than walking our tired little legs over to MK. A quick walk through the gift shop and in bed because we had 8:00 a.m. reservations for Donald’s Safari Breakfast the next day. Another long day, did not go exactly as planned, I had hope to ride more at EPCOT, but the crowds were too much to handle, especially after enjoying such a nice lunch. Still, a great day on vacation with my family in DisneyWorld … a person cannot ask for more.
Me - Planner - 40
DH - 43
DD -9
DS - 7
Staying at The Contemporary – check-in Sunday, May 23rd, check-out Friday, May 28th.
Monday, May 24th
We quickly head out of DHS and wait 20 minutes in the very hot sun for the EPCOT bus. This was our last bus ride of the trip. I’m not a fan of crowded buses, that’s why I like to avoid the buses. DH is not a fan of waiting around. Since we had our car, he decided we could drive instead of take the bus. (At this point, he still liked the monorail idea to EPCOT, that changed this afternoon). We arrived at EPCOT at 11:50 … do not slow down, do not stop for pictures, straight shot to LeCellier, keeping fingers crossed … but I did notice that SE wait time was posted at 30 minutes and a long line outside. Our joke in the family is that the Disney motto is “Slow and Steady” – none of the transportation, CMs working behind the registers, etc. seem to be in any big hurry. DH reminds me that Disney is “slow and steady,” do not worry about being 10-15 minutes late for our reservation, no need to run across the park. Okay. We arrive a little after 1, no one mentions a thing. Surprisingly, the restaurant was not absolutely packed. We had an excellent server, very funny guy, great with the kids, a nice cool restaurant, seated in a bench seat with the kitchen behind us. Very nice, so glad to be there. DD and DS both ordered the soup, steak and fries for their meal. DH and I both ordered the Filet. I am not a big steak eater, but I had to have the mushroom risotto. Everyone ordered medium, it was cooked perfectly. DD is my picky eater, so she gave her soup to her daddy. Just enough to enjoy dipping the pretzel bread in. :number1: DS loves to eat and eats pretty much anything and enjoys all food. He was a happy camper. Both kids had a sour apple slushie drink with their meal (way too sweet for my taste, but they were happy with the choice). DH also ordered the creamed spinach and I ordered the onion rings for everyone to share. The spinach was very good, but way too rich. This was entirely too much food for lunch on a hot day, but Hey! We are on vacation, live a little. :party: After a non-rushed, quiet and enjoyable lunch topped with maple crème brulees for DH and myself, sundaes for the kids, we decided to test our re-charged batteries in EPCOT.
Crowds, crowds and more crowds. FP for Soarin and Test Track gone, even Living with the Land posted a 40 minute wait. We started slowly, pretty much walked on Figment (everyone sing “One spark of light, can light your fancy …your mind sees more than what your eyes see …) , headed to Nemo, also walk on even though the posted wait time was 20 minutes. Spent some time exploring the aquarium. Also, we stumbled upon Innoventions. My kids loved it. We played the Great Piggy Bank Adventure and DH stood in line to ride a Segway. After we finished, the kids played several of the video games along the wall. We were all dragging at this point, so we waited about 5 minutes for SE, then straight to the monorail. That steep incline up the ramp after walking around all day??? They have to be kidding. Okay, monorail arrives, we load, then we wait, and wait, and wait. There were some problems. It ended up taking us an hour to return to the Contemporary from EPCOT. Arrived at the hotel about 5:00. DH has now crossed off taking the monorail to EPCOT – he didn’t realize there was the change of trains at TTC. We wanted to take a dip in the pool, but a little afternoon thunder cloud cleared the pool. We hung out in our room and on the patio area, then were able to go to the pool for a while. We had no ADRs this evening because we enjoyed a very big, late lunch. DH is not pleased with my suggestion that we would simply grab something from the CS in the Contemporary for dinner or even head to MK or other monorail hotels for CS. While the kids and I are at the pool, DH returns to the room to rest and make business calls. A little later, he returns to tell me that “we are all lined up,” we have reservations for Artist Point in WL that evening at 8:30. Yep, I love him, but he’s high maintenance. This is also where I’m a little stressed about the dining plan and having enough credits etc. No problem, we’ll just pay out of pocket for this meal. If we go to Disney again with DH, we will probably have to spring for the Deluxe Dining Plan. Shower, change into non-park clothes (good thing I overpacked myself and the kids) and drive to WL.
I’ve never been in WL, it was really beautiful. My favorite thing about Disney is all the details they put into everything they build. Wow is all I can say. We had drinks at the bar … my kids love Shirley Temples and the bartender was sharing her “secret” recipe for Shirley Temples, the kids were so happy. My little troopers. They were so good on this trip, we kept at a steady (not exactly slow though) pace the entire trip and they really were wonderful, I was so proud of them. I love how we can enjoy nice meals with our kids and they are so well behaved. Artist Point was practically empty. Only a few other tables seated around us in the restaurant. I was not hungry after the big lunch, so I ordered the Portabella mushroom soup (very tasty) and spinach salad (also good). DD had a hamburger and DS ordered penne and cheese. DH had the copper river salmon. Very, very good. The waiter was going on and on about the history of the fish and it only being available three weeks out of the year, so even though neither of us are big salmon lovers (I prefer white fish, not oily fish), DH ordered it. $48 entrée. Yikes. But, it was a nice piece of fish. Returned to the hotel in time for 10:00 Wishes which we viewed from the 4th floor balcony. Not the best view because the monorail is in the way, but it was better than walking our tired little legs over to MK. A quick walk through the gift shop and in bed because we had 8:00 a.m. reservations for Donald’s Safari Breakfast the next day. Another long day, did not go exactly as planned, I had hope to ride more at EPCOT, but the crowds were too much to handle, especially after enjoying such a nice lunch. Still, a great day on vacation with my family in DisneyWorld … a person cannot ask for more.