BrerGnat
06-03-2011, 01:15 PM
Thursday, May 26 (part 2)
Cast:
Me
My sister, C
The CR is one of "my" resorts. I've stayed there several times and I have always loved it. Perhaps because during my very first trip to WDW when I was only 9 months old, that is where we stayed. Growing up, I always saw pictures of that stay, and it's always been a special resort to me. I wanted to visit. I got off the monorail and headed down to the concourse. I headed to BVG and almost bought a polo shirt for DH until I saw at the register that it had a sort of obnoxious screen printed design on the back. Ew. DH is quite conservative, and he would NOT wear that. I texted him a picture just to be sure, and I was right. I found another polo, picked it up, turned it around, and this one had an embroidered design on the back. Seriously? What the heck? Who wears polo shirts with designs on the back? DH likes polos, but hates those plain Mickey ones (the golf ones). These were the special 40th anniversary polos, with the old WDW logo on it, and they were really cool, except for the stupid designs on the backs. Too bad.
I left BVG and headed to the marketplace. I wanted to see if they had any cough drops for C. She had been having a sore throat. I found some Vicks in the giftshop and got them for her (only $1.50, what a deal).
Back at the MK bus stop, I waited what felt like a long time for a bus back to Boardwalk. I think it was somewhere around 20 minutes or so, coupled with the 10 min walk from CR, and I was just ready to get back to the Boardwalk so I could sit down and rest in the a/c for awhile. Did I mention it was hot today???
When I arrived back at my room, C was awake but lying down watching t.v. She said she had realized her headache was the result of not drinking any caffeine for the past two days, and had grabbed a diet coke in the lounge upon her return, which made her headache magically disappear. She had also picked up a salad at the Boardwalk Bakery for lunch, which she said had been pretty good. However, she had not enjoyed waiting approximately 10 minutes to purchase said salad, as the people in front of her in line could not make up their minds and asked about a zillion questions about everything in the place.
People, if you don't know what you want, get out of the way so people who DO know what they want, can get what they want. PSA over.
It was about 4:45 at this point. We had a 5:45 ADR at Via Napoli, which I was going to go to with or without C. I was determined. I wanted pizza. I wanted GOOD pizza. And nothing was going to make me miss this ADR! :D C was up for it, so I quickly showered and changed which felt great, since I had been sweating profusely all day up to this point. We headed out a bit later than I wanted, leaving the resort right around 5:30. We had 15 min to walk to Italy, but I didn't feel like rushing. I figured if we were a tad late, it would probably be fine at this early hour. We walked without stopping, and made it to Italy only 5 min late. We were given a buzzer and waited a few minutes before we were seated. The hostess led us to this separate room off the main dining room, which felt like a garage to me. It was a bit warmer than the main dining room, but not unomfortably so. We were seated by a window and our drink order was taken within seconds by Marco, a VERY friendly CM from Venice. We decided to order two individual sized pizzas to share. We settled on the Margherita and a Pepperoni. In addition, we ordered the "family style" salad, which cost $5 per person (minimum of 2 people, and only served with a pizza order). Our salad was brought out almost immediately and we dug in. This was a great salad to accompany pizza. It had mixed greens (REAL salad, as I say...none of that iceberg nonsense), roasted peppers, olives, pepperoncini, onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms, with a light vinaigrette. It was very light and tasty! I loved it and we ate it all. It is "all you can eat" and we were asked if we wanted more, but declined.
Our pizzas arrived about 3 minutes after we finished our salad. They looked so pretty, C took a picture! They smelled heavenly and we dug right in. Oh. My. Gosh. This was such good pizza. Now, for full disclosure, I grew up in New Jersey. I have eaten at many of NYC's "original" pizzerias. I frequent Naples at Downtown Disneyland, which is supposed to be "authentic" Neapolitan style pizza (and is really good...my favorite pizza in Southern California, and owned by the Patina group, which owns Tutto Italia and Via Napoli). Via Napoli BLEW them all away. It was, in my opinion, what pizza is supposed to taste like. The crust was crispy on the outside, but perfectly chewy on the inside (and easily FOLDABLE without breaking, which is key). It had the perfect amount of char-flavor. The cheese was just rich and creamy and perfectly salty. The tomato sauce was fresh and sweet. Oh my. The Pepperoni pizza was also excellent. GREAT small sized pepperoni with a rich, salty flavor and just the right amount of spice. We ate our pizza mostly in silence, save for the "mmmmm", and "this is SO good" mutterings. We took those pizzas down in less than 10 minutes. C and I can eat some SERIOUS amounts of pizza, but towards the end, we hit the wall. We each left a piece of crust on our plate, that we REALLY wanted to be able to eat, but just couldn't. We settled the bill, which was around $70 with tip. And, worth every penny!
We rolled out of Italy stuffed and satisfied, and still talking about the pizza. We shopped around a bit in Italy and then Germany. C was looking for some shot glasses, along with a beer mug, but nothing really caught her eye. We headed towards FW, with the plan to exit the park and head to MK. On the way out, we saw that Spaceship Earth was a walk on, so we rode that. C had not yet ridden this trip. We enjoyed our ride as always, and our video at the end was rather amusing. Upon exiting our time machine, we tried to send a postcard to T and DH and the boys back home, but they never ended up getting them. :confused: We left Epcot and boarded the monorail to MK, arriving there in short order.
We headed to Tomorrowland immediately. Space Mountain was posting a 90 min line (guess the crowds haven't died down at all), so instead, we rode the Carousel of Progress. We joked in the last scene about the inconsistency of it. Those ski boots and peg leg pants have GOT to go, and ovens still aren't talking to us in 2011. Time to reimagine the "future", we think.
After CoP, we hit up the TTA/Peoplemover and had a very enjoyable night time ride. I love seeing all the lights around Tomorrowland, and the castle at night. So magical. We noticed that the speedway had NO line, so we planned to ride that next (just because we could). We did exactly that. And, I'm going to say here, I like this ride. I always have, and I don't really understand all the criticism of it. I loved it when I was a kid not old enough to have a license, I enjoy riding it with my sons, one of whom L-O-V-E-S it, and I enjoyed riding alone, and being able to actually steer it myself. ;) This ride is, if nothing else, fun. I hope it doesn't go away anytime soon. Although, I would not be opposed to a re-theme. Pixar Cars? Yes, please! :thumbsup:
After the speedway, where I took many pictures of the "super cool racecars" (as my DS says), we headed towards the Mad Tea Party. The wait was a quick 5 minutes, and in no time, we were "that" teacup that is spinning so fast, all you can see is blur. Awesome! We love spinning this fast, but when we go with our friend, she gets a little :sick: if we spin TOO fast. All bets off, though, she's not here and we are flyin'!
Once we regained our balance, it was nearing 9:45, which would be the time of the Magic, Memories, and You show on the castle, which I was itching to see. I have tried to see this show at Disneyland a few times, and every time, it's been canceled due to "technical difficulties." So, now is my chance! We found a spot right near the hub that was rather uncrowded, and made plans to hightail it out of there right after the show, as neither of us wanted to see Wishes (just seen it one too many times, and we don't particularly love it). Once the show started, we "ooohhh-ed" and "aahhhhh-ed" along with the crowd. While I couldn't really make out the pictures of the people, the visual effects on the castle were stunning and I was highly impressed. We both could have done with a different theme song, but what can you do? C commented that "Disney really likes ballads, don't they?" They do, indeed. Cheesy, party of one! :ack:
After the show, we were funneled towards the backstage exit route, which was great, since Main Street looked like a sea of people. We had been back here before, during the KTTK tour we took a few years ago. Still, though, it feels weird to know that there is a parking lot behind all those Main St. facades.
We made our way to the bus, and boarded immediately. Luckily, there were seats still available, and our bus pulled away not even 100% full. We saw some fireworks from the bus, and that was good enough for us! We were back at the BWI shortly, and hit up the lounge for some yummy desserts. Cheesecake, magic bars (SO GOOD), and cupcakes were on the menu tonight, along with cookies! Just what we needed. We had been so full after pizza that we never had dessert, but we dug in now! :cloud9:
We hit that sack around 11:30, sad that tomorrow would be our last full day. :( We didn't make any firm plans, and just figured we'd see where we felt like going the next day.
Cast:
Me
My sister, C
The CR is one of "my" resorts. I've stayed there several times and I have always loved it. Perhaps because during my very first trip to WDW when I was only 9 months old, that is where we stayed. Growing up, I always saw pictures of that stay, and it's always been a special resort to me. I wanted to visit. I got off the monorail and headed down to the concourse. I headed to BVG and almost bought a polo shirt for DH until I saw at the register that it had a sort of obnoxious screen printed design on the back. Ew. DH is quite conservative, and he would NOT wear that. I texted him a picture just to be sure, and I was right. I found another polo, picked it up, turned it around, and this one had an embroidered design on the back. Seriously? What the heck? Who wears polo shirts with designs on the back? DH likes polos, but hates those plain Mickey ones (the golf ones). These were the special 40th anniversary polos, with the old WDW logo on it, and they were really cool, except for the stupid designs on the backs. Too bad.
I left BVG and headed to the marketplace. I wanted to see if they had any cough drops for C. She had been having a sore throat. I found some Vicks in the giftshop and got them for her (only $1.50, what a deal).
Back at the MK bus stop, I waited what felt like a long time for a bus back to Boardwalk. I think it was somewhere around 20 minutes or so, coupled with the 10 min walk from CR, and I was just ready to get back to the Boardwalk so I could sit down and rest in the a/c for awhile. Did I mention it was hot today???
When I arrived back at my room, C was awake but lying down watching t.v. She said she had realized her headache was the result of not drinking any caffeine for the past two days, and had grabbed a diet coke in the lounge upon her return, which made her headache magically disappear. She had also picked up a salad at the Boardwalk Bakery for lunch, which she said had been pretty good. However, she had not enjoyed waiting approximately 10 minutes to purchase said salad, as the people in front of her in line could not make up their minds and asked about a zillion questions about everything in the place.
People, if you don't know what you want, get out of the way so people who DO know what they want, can get what they want. PSA over.
It was about 4:45 at this point. We had a 5:45 ADR at Via Napoli, which I was going to go to with or without C. I was determined. I wanted pizza. I wanted GOOD pizza. And nothing was going to make me miss this ADR! :D C was up for it, so I quickly showered and changed which felt great, since I had been sweating profusely all day up to this point. We headed out a bit later than I wanted, leaving the resort right around 5:30. We had 15 min to walk to Italy, but I didn't feel like rushing. I figured if we were a tad late, it would probably be fine at this early hour. We walked without stopping, and made it to Italy only 5 min late. We were given a buzzer and waited a few minutes before we were seated. The hostess led us to this separate room off the main dining room, which felt like a garage to me. It was a bit warmer than the main dining room, but not unomfortably so. We were seated by a window and our drink order was taken within seconds by Marco, a VERY friendly CM from Venice. We decided to order two individual sized pizzas to share. We settled on the Margherita and a Pepperoni. In addition, we ordered the "family style" salad, which cost $5 per person (minimum of 2 people, and only served with a pizza order). Our salad was brought out almost immediately and we dug in. This was a great salad to accompany pizza. It had mixed greens (REAL salad, as I say...none of that iceberg nonsense), roasted peppers, olives, pepperoncini, onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms, with a light vinaigrette. It was very light and tasty! I loved it and we ate it all. It is "all you can eat" and we were asked if we wanted more, but declined.
Our pizzas arrived about 3 minutes after we finished our salad. They looked so pretty, C took a picture! They smelled heavenly and we dug right in. Oh. My. Gosh. This was such good pizza. Now, for full disclosure, I grew up in New Jersey. I have eaten at many of NYC's "original" pizzerias. I frequent Naples at Downtown Disneyland, which is supposed to be "authentic" Neapolitan style pizza (and is really good...my favorite pizza in Southern California, and owned by the Patina group, which owns Tutto Italia and Via Napoli). Via Napoli BLEW them all away. It was, in my opinion, what pizza is supposed to taste like. The crust was crispy on the outside, but perfectly chewy on the inside (and easily FOLDABLE without breaking, which is key). It had the perfect amount of char-flavor. The cheese was just rich and creamy and perfectly salty. The tomato sauce was fresh and sweet. Oh my. The Pepperoni pizza was also excellent. GREAT small sized pepperoni with a rich, salty flavor and just the right amount of spice. We ate our pizza mostly in silence, save for the "mmmmm", and "this is SO good" mutterings. We took those pizzas down in less than 10 minutes. C and I can eat some SERIOUS amounts of pizza, but towards the end, we hit the wall. We each left a piece of crust on our plate, that we REALLY wanted to be able to eat, but just couldn't. We settled the bill, which was around $70 with tip. And, worth every penny!
We rolled out of Italy stuffed and satisfied, and still talking about the pizza. We shopped around a bit in Italy and then Germany. C was looking for some shot glasses, along with a beer mug, but nothing really caught her eye. We headed towards FW, with the plan to exit the park and head to MK. On the way out, we saw that Spaceship Earth was a walk on, so we rode that. C had not yet ridden this trip. We enjoyed our ride as always, and our video at the end was rather amusing. Upon exiting our time machine, we tried to send a postcard to T and DH and the boys back home, but they never ended up getting them. :confused: We left Epcot and boarded the monorail to MK, arriving there in short order.
We headed to Tomorrowland immediately. Space Mountain was posting a 90 min line (guess the crowds haven't died down at all), so instead, we rode the Carousel of Progress. We joked in the last scene about the inconsistency of it. Those ski boots and peg leg pants have GOT to go, and ovens still aren't talking to us in 2011. Time to reimagine the "future", we think.
After CoP, we hit up the TTA/Peoplemover and had a very enjoyable night time ride. I love seeing all the lights around Tomorrowland, and the castle at night. So magical. We noticed that the speedway had NO line, so we planned to ride that next (just because we could). We did exactly that. And, I'm going to say here, I like this ride. I always have, and I don't really understand all the criticism of it. I loved it when I was a kid not old enough to have a license, I enjoy riding it with my sons, one of whom L-O-V-E-S it, and I enjoyed riding alone, and being able to actually steer it myself. ;) This ride is, if nothing else, fun. I hope it doesn't go away anytime soon. Although, I would not be opposed to a re-theme. Pixar Cars? Yes, please! :thumbsup:
After the speedway, where I took many pictures of the "super cool racecars" (as my DS says), we headed towards the Mad Tea Party. The wait was a quick 5 minutes, and in no time, we were "that" teacup that is spinning so fast, all you can see is blur. Awesome! We love spinning this fast, but when we go with our friend, she gets a little :sick: if we spin TOO fast. All bets off, though, she's not here and we are flyin'!
Once we regained our balance, it was nearing 9:45, which would be the time of the Magic, Memories, and You show on the castle, which I was itching to see. I have tried to see this show at Disneyland a few times, and every time, it's been canceled due to "technical difficulties." So, now is my chance! We found a spot right near the hub that was rather uncrowded, and made plans to hightail it out of there right after the show, as neither of us wanted to see Wishes (just seen it one too many times, and we don't particularly love it). Once the show started, we "ooohhh-ed" and "aahhhhh-ed" along with the crowd. While I couldn't really make out the pictures of the people, the visual effects on the castle were stunning and I was highly impressed. We both could have done with a different theme song, but what can you do? C commented that "Disney really likes ballads, don't they?" They do, indeed. Cheesy, party of one! :ack:
After the show, we were funneled towards the backstage exit route, which was great, since Main Street looked like a sea of people. We had been back here before, during the KTTK tour we took a few years ago. Still, though, it feels weird to know that there is a parking lot behind all those Main St. facades.
We made our way to the bus, and boarded immediately. Luckily, there were seats still available, and our bus pulled away not even 100% full. We saw some fireworks from the bus, and that was good enough for us! We were back at the BWI shortly, and hit up the lounge for some yummy desserts. Cheesecake, magic bars (SO GOOD), and cupcakes were on the menu tonight, along with cookies! Just what we needed. We had been so full after pizza that we never had dessert, but we dug in now! :cloud9:
We hit that sack around 11:30, sad that tomorrow would be our last full day. :( We didn't make any firm plans, and just figured we'd see where we felt like going the next day.