Monthly Archives: February 2012

Sailing on a Dream – Part Deux

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We slept in a bit this morning since the previous night was such a late one. Once we were up we refilled our resort drink mugs and were off to Downtown Disney!  We decided to take a detour to Saratoga Springs beforehand.  I have not personally stayed at Saratoga Springs yet, but after touring the grounds I may need to make a reservation there soon!  I love how close the resort is to Downtown Disney, and the resort grounds are gorgeous. Everything was perfectly manicured and the atmosphere was very calm and quite.  I was tempted to just pull up a lounge chair and spend the day relaxing poolside.  But I knew we had some serious business to take care off back at Downtown Disney.

We did a bit of shopping and then headed to Rainforest Café for some lunch. I always love the atmosphere here (especially the thunderstorms) and the food was good too.  We decided to split an order of Chicken and Steak Fajitas; they were cooked perfectly and offered just the right amount of toppings sides. We also ordered some drinks, the lightening lemonade (delicious) a Sangria, and a Corona. The Sangria was more like Hi-C punch and was generally disappointing but I was very happy when I got my Corona with more than one extra lime, success! Our server was great and we were both happy with the meal.

After lunch we made our way towards DisneyQuest and stopped at T-Rex Resturant.  We contemplated having a drink at the octopus bar, but decided three drinks plus motion simulator rides is probably not the best idea.

After checking out the Splitsville construction (opening fall 2012) we finally made it to DisneyQuest. I was pretty excited to try it out for the first time and we had some ancient no expiration tickets to use up. We began to tour DisneyQuest, and let me tell you, this place is really massive! With five levels and more arcade games then you could ever try to count you could easily spend a whole day there.  It was fairly quite while we were there which was a nice perk. Levels 4&5 have food, games, and also a “lounge” area.  I was really surprised by how quiet the lounge/dining area was, you would never really know you were in the middle of a huge indoor park.  I could imagine a lot of parents sneaking away up there with a Kindle and some snacks while the kids go crazy for a few hours.

The first ride we tried out was Buzz Lightyears Astro Blaster.  You get in a bumper car with an “asteroid-firing cannon”, one person is the driver, the other is a gunner.  Naturally I was a gunner.  The point is to hit the targets on the other driver’s car, if your car gets hit you spin out of control. We had way too much fun with this ride, there’s something really satisfying about shooting big rubber balls at people. :)

Next on the list was the Animation Academy.  I am a big fan of this attraction at Hollywood Studios and always enjoy learning how the animators work their magic.  For our session we learned to draw Pluto. It was a lot of fun trying to draw him, but I don’t think either of us ended up with a Pluto.  For an extra charge you can get your drawing printed off and also receive at Certification of Completion.

Next we decided to take a ride on “Pirates of the Caribbean, Battle for Buccaneer Gold”.  The technology of this ride was really cool, it is a 4D attraction so we donned our 3D glasses and stepped foot onto our pirate ship. There was a 3D screen all around us and we had to fire the cannons on our ship at other pirates while our ship swayed back and forth.  We got really caught up in the moment and I am glad each ship is in its own little room because by the end of the ride we were hollering and screaming like crazy.  Although our ship eventually sunk we both agreed this was our favorite attraction in DisneyQuest.

We then decided to try our hand on the virtual Jungle Cruise.  For this ride you step foot inside a raft and then the “water” inflates around you, as you try and navigate the river on the screen in front of you. This ride was fun, but we couldn’t quite figure out how to navigate our raft, and, sadly by the end of the ride my arms were tired of paddling nonstop. Shame on me for being such a wimp and it’s good thing we didn’t stop at the octopus bar beforehand.

After the Virtual Jungle Cruise we decided to call it a day at DisneyQuest.  We did not even try half of the rides or experiences let alone the hundreds of arcade games.  You could easily spend the entire day here, especially during bad weather.  There seemed to be more than enough games and ride areas for everyone and the entire area was laid out well.

The only real complaint I had about DisneyQuest was the additional cost items/experiences.  I felt that I should be able to get a print-off of my Animation Academy drawing as part of my ticket admission, as well as a few other items in the building.  All of the arcade games are included with your admission, but they do have “the claw” that you can play for an additional fee. I personally would just rather see the claw and other extra cost services removed.  I suppose these options are a perk for some guests, and I’m just someone who prefers the more “all-inclusive” type mentality. However, that is my only complaint with DisneyQuest, so that being said I look forward to returning in the future.  It’s a fun way to spend some time out of the parks, and also out of the weather!

Since my arms were still tired from paddling I figured we had better rest up at the House of Blues.  Now it is in my opinion that the House of Blues has the best happy hour in all of Walt Disney World property.  Half price appetizers and $2-$3 cocktails  can’t be beat.  Plus, the House of Blues has awesome appetizers, and you can easily make a dinner out of it. We decided to sit out on the patio with our cocktails and do a little people watching.

Afterwards we tried to head to Bongo’s and sit out on the balcony.  Unfortunately  they didn’t have the balcony open yet so instead we headed over Raglan Road for… you guessed it, more happy hour! We really lucked out with the warm weather so we continued to sit outside and ordered a drink and some fish and chips from Cookes of Dublin.  The fish and chips were amazing, and when we ordered I had been eyeing the deep fried candy bar for dessert.  I love anything deep fried, and I love candy bars, this has to be delicious right!?  Well, the bar was okay, I guess I don’t know what I imagined a deep fried candy bar to taste like but it was a little too rich (weird huh)?  However I gladly ate the entire thing and can now cross eating a deep-fried candy bar off my bucket list.

While sitting at Raglan Road we heard some live music playing off in the distance, so we paid our bill and went to check it out.  We were both very happy to see that it was one of our favorite bands, Nova Era.  They used to play in the Italy Pavilion at EPCOT, and I’m pretty sure there hasn’t been a trip when I haven’t accidently run into this band preforming. We stayed and listened to them play for a while and then went to do some more shopping! I could easily spend five hours and way too much money in the World of Disney. We were both getting pretty tired by 10:30 so we decided to call it a night and head back to the Pop where we had a nice little surprise waiting for us back in our room…

Stay tuned for more and a trip to Blizzard Beach!

About

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Hello World! My name is Anna and I’m a travel planner for Dream Come True Vacations, we specialize in helping plan trips to all of Disney’s Destinations.  I first fell in love with Disney as a child and have been very blessed to return multiple times throughout my life.  Years ago while returning from a trip I had the epiphany that I should use all my years of knowledge and “expertise” to help others, and I haven’t looked back since! In addition to Disney, I love all things travel and pretty much every destination is exciting to me and I hope to take many more international trips in the coming years. I decided to create this blog as a way to share my travels with others and also share any tips or info I can!

Planning travel for others and exploring new places are some of the things that help me survive winter in rural Michigan.  Having truly wonderful family and friends doesn’t hurt either!  The hubs and I are proud parents of a German Shorthaired Pointer, a Beagle, and a number of various cats. Other loves of my life include sleeping, eating, and watching cat videos on the internet.

Sailing on a Dream – Part One

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If you like being bored by other people’s vacation pictures and paragraph after paragraph of mindless details then boy is this trip report for you!

The main purpose of this trip was really to check out Disney’s new ship the Dream.  I had suggested that we fly out a day early in order to avoid any weather or flight issues, one day naturally turned into three days.  I justified the elongated length of the trip by stating that I could use the time to visit some area resorts and experience certain things that I had yet to try.  So, as you can see this was purely a “research” trip.

Accompanying me on this research trip was my mom, also referred to as my office assistant.  The hubs has a harder time getting work off, and my mom was more than happy to assist me with my research findings.  In order to make the trip more fun (because it would obviously be no fun otherwise) we also decided to also use this trip as a way to celebrate my mom’s upcoming milestone birthday.  So let us begin!

Day 1

Started off the day by doing a lot of last minute packing, my dad was so kind to volunteer to drop us off at the airport so we didn’t need to leave a car there.  Our flight left around 2pm so by 11 we were on our way to Gerald R. Ford airport!  I generally am incredibly nervous about flying out anywhere in Michigan during the middle of winter but luckily for us there was no snow or ice issues for our flight in or out.  We got to the airport with plenty of time and everything was on time and running smoothly, now it was just time for the wait.

Our flight was extremely smooth with no issues, and was really one of the best flights I have taken in a long time.  It’s no secret I am a lover of Airtran and nothing makes me happier than a nonstop flight!  2.45 hours later we landed at MCO, I love seeing palm trees outside the window of a plane.

We bypassed luggage (thank you Magical Express) and went to board our bus to the Pop Century!  Our wait time was very minimal and within 30 minutes we were at the Pop. We had completed the online check-in prior to our visit so check-in was painless and speedy.  I had noted on the room reservation that my mom’s birthday was coming up and she was also greeted with a Happy Birthday and a fun b-day pin as well.

We quickly got settled in our room, the rooms at the Pop were remodeled just a year or so ago and they were very fresh and clean.  The carpeting was plush and nice and the beds had been updated as well.  We both commented that it was one of the most comfortable mattresses’ that we had slept on in quite a while.

We did not have much time to get comfortable because we had reservations for 7pm at the California Grill!  We quickly got changed into something a little nicer and went to catch a bus for the Contemporary Resort.  Now I am going to preface here that even the best planned vacations are going to run into a snag or two.  This evening is a good example of this.  The best you can do is try and roll with the punches and make the best of it!

We had just missed the bus to the Magic Kingdom which would have easily got us to the Contemporary, and since we took a little too long getting around I was a bit worried about time.  We hoped on the next bus to Epcot, knowing we could hop on the monorail from there to get to the Contemporary. This did get us to our destination but by that time we were 20 minutes late for dinner.  Stopping for pictures probably didn’t help…

I had never dined at Cali Grill before and was very excited for the chance. I knew it was a hot spot and was looking forward to watching fireworks from the balcony!  We checked into our reservation and took the private elevator up to the restaurant.  Now we knew ahead of time that there is a slight dress code for Cali Grill, basically no shorts, sandals, etc.  I was also under the impression that you are supposed to be dining or at least having a cocktail at the restaurant in order to be able to view the fireworks from the balcony area.  I don’t know if we arrived on an off night or what but the place was a madhouse.  There were people everywhere who were not dressed properly and obviously not there to dine or drink.  Generally something like this wouldn’t bother me however, the main reason I wanted to dine here was because of the ambiance.  This was diminished by the crowds and craziness of everyone who was there to watch the fireworks.

I left my mom at the table to order our appetizers and I got on the balcony a little early in order to get a good spot for the fireworks.  Wishes began and it was fabulous as always, it really was a treat to be so close to the fireworks, and what a fantastic way to start your first night of vacation with such an amazing show.

 After wishes we went back to our table and about half of the restaurant had cleared out making it much more pleasant.  We were greeted with a wonderful surprise, our waiter had brought over 2 complimentary glasses of champagne in celebration of my mom’s birthday (he saw her pin).  The champagne (and chocolate paper) was delicious, and we really appreciated the thoughtful and special touch.  We started off with the flatbread appetizers.  The Braised Pork (with Adobo, Black Beans, Red Onion, Queso Fresco, and Pico de Gallo);

And the Herb Rotisserie Chicken (with Tillamook Cheddar, Mission Figs, Caramelized Onion, and Poached Pears).

Both flatbreads were $13 and were very large.  We both enjoyed the Braised Pork flatbread but both agreed the chicken flatbread was devoid of any flavor whatsoever.  Our server throughout our entire meal was wonderful and very attentive.  During dinner we made friends with a fellow traveler at the table across from us, I am kicking myself now for not getting our picture taken together.  We had a great time chatting and wanted to invite her to join us for the rest of the trip!  At this point it was getting quite late and we were tired from a long day of traveling.  Plus, the flatbreads were very filling so we decided to call it a night then and there.  Before we left we went back out to the balcony to catch the electric water pageant which was a perfect way to cap off the night.

My overall impression of the California Grill was so/so. I thought our food was “fine”, our service was wonderful, but I was disappointed at the lack of crowd control which in turn really ruins the ambiance and romance of such a gorgeous restaurant.  Watching the fireworks from the balcony was a great highlight but it was very crowded.  I know many people love the California Grill so I am just going to chalk it up to a bad night and I think I need to give it another chance.

Now, things turn quite ugly… We knew we had to take a bus to downtown Disney and then catch a bus to Pop.  This shouldn’t have been a problem, however things were not in our favor this evening.  We ended up being stuck on a bus for two straight hours!  This has never happened to me before and in reality was no one’s fault.  There was an accident that had traffic backed up like crazy.  It just ended up being a long day and an even longer night that I wasn’t anticipating.  After lots of crazed and delirious giggling we finally got back to our room at the Pop around midnight and crashed.

Stay tuned for more!

Was that a dream?

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And we’re back! What seemed like a whirlwhind trip was everything I hoped it would be. I’m currently downloading and sorting through all 800+ photos, videos, and trying to throw in some laundry in between!

I can’t wait to share all the craziness with you and hope to have Part 1 of this Epic trip installment up this weekend. It’s good to be back, now that means I can start planning the next trip! ;)

Bon Voyage!

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Ahh… I can feel that cool Caribbean breeze already.  It’s hard to believe, but it’s finally time for my WDW-Resort-Hoping/ Disney Dream Vacation!

I won’t be posting on here for about a week or so, but when I return prepare to be loaded up with tons of pictures and videos of everything from the inane to the interesting!

The main highlight of this trip will of course consist of 4-nights in Bahamas on the Disney Dream, but will also include frequent stops to Downtown Disney, Disney Quest, and (weather-permitting) a stop at Blizzard Beach!

Feel free to follow my trip on facebook, and I’ll see ya real soon!