Day 7

Friday - Feb 5^th

The morning started with another trip down to Hell's Dining Room. It was worse today, than it's been in the past. Maybe because we woke later? It seems that if you head down there at 9am rather than 8am, it is a different crowd.

After scoring some coffee (no food this morning), we took off for Hollywood Studios. Hungry when we arrived, which was noonish, we were able to obtain a walk-up reservation for Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. I had eaten here during my first trip with my mom. I remember the atmosphere being worth it, but the food not. Online reviews say the exact same thing. Well, we were pleasantly (somewhat) surprised.

E got the salad and I got onion rings for the appetizer course. Neither of us liked the salad and didn't touch it beyond the first bite. Both of us dug into the onion rings. They are good … not great, but really good.

For entrée, we both ordered the Angus Chuck burger with cheddar cheese. Again, really good but not great.

Desserts were the winners. E got the sugar-free brownie and ice cream. E says for sugar-free it was good. I got the Oreo cookie milk shake. Yum! I am not a big shake drinker, but I swallowed the entire thing. If I forgot to say it … YUM!

We next tried to get on Toy Story, but the line was 40+ minutes of wait time. My rule is that if the line is any more than 20 minutes, I'll pass. The fast passes weren't even an option. Upon every visit to HS, we found this to be the same scenario time after time. Luckily we rode it last year, and also on our trips to Disneyland.

We were able to ride at lease one thing while at HS (as the options are limited there). The backlot tour. I'm sure the only reason they have this is because Universal has it. Well, they don't need it, in my opinion. It could be A LOT better.

It was time for a nap, so we headed back to POP for a rest.

Back up at 6pm and with 840pm dinner reservations looming, we took off for Epcot. I remembered asking E before we left the room if he had his Key to the World card with him (this is not only the room key, but also his park ticket); he says yes. I ask again when we're in line waiting for our bus to the park, as we had to wait for a long time for 2 handicap scooters to be loaded; he says yes. We get onto the bus, with it starting to roll out of the parking lot; he says yes warily which makes me nervous. He searches and searches and searches … no key. I hold my tongue as I know nothing good would come from me yelling. So, upon reaching Epcot we turn around and get back on another bus to POP. Luckily this is only a 5 minute ride back to the hotel. He runs up to the room and he's back within a few minutes with his key in hand. Whew!

We arrive at Epcot and make a bee-line to France. You've guess it … we're going back to Chefs de France for a dinner, this time.

I order the exact same items … French onion soup, macaroni & cheese, and crème brulee. Again … delicious and wow!

E goes with the lobster bisque, beef tenderloin with black pepper sauce with sides of garlic green beans and gratin potatoes, with dessert of chocolate cake and ice cream. He was in the same food euphoric state I was in.

Les Chefs de France is hands-down the best place to eat in Epcot (according to us).

The total bill was almost $100. And, again, it was only 1 dining credit each.

After dinner, we decided to grab an espresso and café latte at the French patisserie. While there, we decide to grab a few pastries for tomorrows' breakfast. A croissant, napolon, and one other item that I can't remember the name but it looks like a cannoli but it most definitely is not. We were able to use a total of 5 snack credits for these items. There was no problem at all redeeming snack credits for items at this place. All items we had last year and they were fabulous, I SO look forward to digging into them tomorrow morning.

It was around 11pm when we decided to call it a night and headed back to POP. Plan on doing an early morning thing at Magic Kingdom. We'll have to see how that goes!

Day 6

Thursday - Feb 4^th

This morning began with me going downstairs to what I'm now referring to as Hell's Dining Room, which is really the Dining Hall at POP. In the morning it is absolute chaos - no one cares about anyone but themselves. It's truly survival of the fittest down there in the mornings. Wonder how the mornings are at the Polynesian?

I picked up a POP waffle with strawberries and whipped cream for E, while I had an everything bagel with cream cheese. Yum, quick, and cheap (again, only if you're on the dining plan). The cashier only charged us 1 dining credit for all of this.

After eating and being leisurely for a few hours at POP, we headed over to Epcot. Upon entering the park, E was approached by a cast member asking him to take a booklet. It was a survey of the park and they wanted our notes and opinions of events, rides, character greetings, etc that we experience while there. They even promised a gift card upon returning the booklet at the end of the day.

The hunger murmurs were awaking, around 1130am. With the world at our feet, we decided a Chinese lunch would be in order. Nine Dragons had available seating for us at noon. The reviews of this place were not favorable online so I had put a mental pass on this place from the beginning, but since we weren't paying (the dining plan was) we thought we'd give it a try. For appetizers we ordered cold chicken tenderloins with a lime-cilantro sauce and cold thinly-sliced spicy beef. The chicken was good, the beef was delicious! The appetizers were shared.

The entrée we tried to share but we had our obvious favorites. I ordered the orange-ginger chicken with white rice, while E had the sweet & sour pork on a bed of garlic infused spinach fettuccini noodles - a combination you wouldn't think would work but it totally did!

For dessert, I ordered the ginger spice cake. It wasn't that special. E had banana cheesecake egg rolls. He said this was possibly the best dessert he had during our entire stay. I tried it and I disagree with his statement; I thought they were ok.

The bill came to around $75, total. It was a redemption of 1 dining credit per person.

After food, we proceeded to more rides including the Maelstrom in Norway and the Three Cabarellos in Mexico. Maelstrom I still state is dumb other than the riding backwards in a boat and I'm still unsure of their statement on off-shore oil drilling they try to make at the end of the ride. The Mexico ride I thoroughly enjoyed. Again another boat ride but I found it to be cute and entertaining.

From the World Showcase at Epcot, we moved onto Future World (also at Epcot). We were able to get on Test Track (via our Fast Passes we obtained upon entering the park, before lunch), Ellen's Energy Adventure, and The Seas with Nemo & Friends. Test Track is just awesome and is a must do for anyone. Ellen's ride is ok. Won't be doing it again, as we've now done it. Nemo was a blast! It's just like the Nemo submarine ride at Disneyland but with this one you board a clam and go into an aquarium. The aquarium is so awesome!! It's huge. Can't believe I hadn't done this ride before, as I know it's been here for awhile. Oh, well … lesson learned … it is now a must do upon every trip.

It was about 3, and we had 430pm dinner reservations, so we headed out of Epcot. First we had to drop off the opinion questionnaire. No problem. They ended up giving us a $20 gift card! Awesome!!

Yes, I know you can't believe that we already had dinner reservations again. Well, there's a reason for this. Thursday happened to be the only other day of the week that Fantasmic is running and if you book a dinner/show package, then you get reserved seating for the show. With hearing that you should be in line 1 ½ - 2 hours before show time without a reservation, we opted for throwing 1 dining credit toward a "dinner" to guarantee reserved seating.

On a side note, I had been trying to book this dinner/show package ever since we booked our vacation. I would call Disney dining about once a week to check on reservations, and it was never a go. I call the morning of the show and was able to claim a reservation at Hollywood & Vine at Hollywood Studios at 430pm, with tickets for Fantasmic at 7pm.

Hollywood & Vine is a buffet style restaurant. I didn't venture anywhere in the food line past the salads and rolls. Both were delicious. I believe the rolls are made on site, as they were hot and fresh. I attempted a few desserts, but they were average so I pushed them aside. E also indulged in the salad and rolls option. He tried the mac n' cheese from the kids section out of sheer curiosity, but found it absolutely revolting. He enjoyed a few of the desserts, but found them pretty average too. We both really couldn't stuff much into our maws as we were both still full from lunch.

Not sure what the bill would've been but I believe I saw the dinner buffet was around $30 per person.

We didn't wait long after eating to head on over to Fantasmic for seating. We didn't want to miss out. This is a show I've seen in Disneyland but have missed it at Disneyworld the past 2 times. I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. E had never seen it, even in CA. Anyway, this is a great show. It is very dark, loud, wet, explosive, and just plain awesome. I'm glad it was a little different than the CA version.

We left a couple of minutes early, before the show ended to try to beat the people traffic to the hotel buses. Well, other people had the same idea we did. The line for POP was outrageous! We instead opted to jump a bus to Saratoga Springs hotel, another bus to Downtown Disney, and a third bus to POP. This all took about an hour, but my bet is that it was most likely a 1 ½-2 hour wait to get on a single bus from HS to POP.

It was almost 10pm by the time we got to our room. Can you believe it? We were hungry. Hell's Dining Room was packed yet again with the same people, but now grubbing for dinner. We didn't feel like fighting that crowd so we opted for the room service pizza idea.

This was a total of 2 dining credits. They never gave us a total $ bill, so no idea how much it costs to the average Joe without a dining plan. We were given 2 salads, a large pepperoni pizza, 2 desserts, and the best part which was a 2 liter bottle of diet Coke. The Diet Coke from the soda fountain in Hell's Kitchen had been broken all day. Online reviews said the pizza was cold and yuk. We disagree. It's good pizza. And, with only a 30 minute wait time, we received our pizza steamy and hot. Maybe it was the location of our room? Who knows. Anyway, we threw out the salads and desserts but gobbled up a good portion of the pizza. No, not all of it.

After pizza, we both passed out from extreme carb coma.

Day 5

Wednesday - Feb 3^rd

Started out the day with a 7am wake up call, as we had breakfast reservations to attend to at 950am. Yes, it does sound as if we had to wake up earlier than needed but these reservations were for the Supercalifraglistic Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare located at the Grand Floridian Resort. We had to take a bus from POP to the Magic Kingdom, then a Monorail over to the resort. So I guess you could say that we got a couple rides in this morning.

The breakfast was 1 dining credit, per person. Without the meal plan, it ran about $21 per person. Totally worth it! Full hot buffet breakfast complete with Mickey shaped plates! There were hot Mickey waffles, crispy bacon, fresh pastries and croissants, delicious coffee and OJ. They even had a made-to-order omelet station, but this was a bust for us as we are not the omelet types. Yes, of course we over-stuffed ourselves. I was ill for hours afterward L It wasn't a good morning for me. E did just fine.

It was a character breakfast, but luckily we weren't disturbed by the charters for too lengthy of a time. Pooh and Tigger did stop by for a high-five. E says Mary Poppins dropped in while I was in the washroom. He said she was so made up that she looked animatronic.

Just before getting ready to leave, I was pouring the rest of the coffee from our table carafe into my travel mug and somehow it slipped from my hand. Luckily it didn't get much on the table. It did, however, spill all along the side of the table, down the wall, and onto the floor. No one saw but E, who I could see was working hard to stifle laughter. Immediately after all this chaos, the Mad Hatter decides to stop by for a jab. It was a bit uncomfortable but luckily quick.. Wonder if he saw? Hmmm.

After breakfast, we walked around the lobby area of the GF. It is a beautiful resort but really not my style. Honestly, it gave me the creeps; I don't know how to explain it.

Next, it was back on the monorail and back over to MK. I still wasn't feeling very well. Ate a couple of Pepto pills, hoping that would sedate my stomach. We took it easy for most of the day. Rode Peter Pan, Small World, and even took in Philharmagic; which if you haven't done, you MUST do! It is an amazing show!! Walt would be proud.

Around 3, I started feeling better and a little hungry. We decided long ago that no eating would be done at MK again as it really is a waste. So, we headed out to Epcot as we knew there were many, many winning dining choices there.

Upon entering Epcot, we grabbed a map and narrowed down our choices based on countries. We decided upon Italy - Trattoria Italia. Neither of us had eaten there before, and I recalled there being several favorable reviews online. Looking at the menu, there were several dishes that looked appealing. We were able to obtain a 430pm dinner reservation.

We were promptly seated at 430. We were brought a basket with a variety of breads, along with a tray of olives, basil butter, and olive oil. It was a great start! When handed the menu, it became a difficult decision as everything sounded wonderful. Not items you find on your average American Italian restaurant menu. True Italian food. For appetizers, I got a tray of mozzarella and tomatoes drizzled with olive oil. E got the calamari with marinara sauce. We both loved our dishes! Entrees were next. I had a pasta dish (E thinks it was a potato type pasta like gnocchi) which were 1" cylindrical but not hollow, with a sausage sauce, and topped with shaved cheese. The waiter said I couldn't have any parmesan cheese on it per the chef's orders. Yes sir!

[E's perspective: I had the ravioli stuffed with lobster, with a red sauce and topped with parmesan cheese. It was amazingly good, managing to use lobster without tasting "fishy." Obviously you only get that from using fresh ingredients. The calamari I had before that, by the way, was great too. The portion was really meant for two people I think, so when you are looking at appetizers and the person you're with likes fried calamari, definitely split it.]

If you've ever seen "Defending Your Life" then you might understand what we are going through with this dining plan. Everything is delicious and you can eat as much as you want. The only difference is that you WILL gain weight and feel miserable, (like I did earlier today,) if you believe the all-you-can-eat statement. It is really not true.

Right after dinner, as we were waiting for our plates to be cleared, I reached for my full water glass for a drink. Can you guess what happened next? You only get one guess! Yes, it slid out of my hand and all onto the floor between our table and the next one to us. Luckily no one was sitting there. It most definitely would've drenched anyone sitting next to us. This time I did let the waiter know what I had done. He laughed and swept up the ice.

Desserts were packaged for us, to go. I ordered the mocha tiramisu and E ordered the cannoli. These are both now in our fridge at the POP room, waiting to be eaten later this evening.

The meal was only 1 credit redemption per person. The bill, without the plan … ready? … $110.00. Yes, that's right! It really was a great meal, and in a classy place (for WDW), but $110.00?!?! Again, glad to be on the dining plan.

On a side note, if you've never been to Epcot: It's really neat that the wait staff in the restaurants and snack kiosks of that particular country speak that language as their native tongue. They all also speak English of course, but it's definitely their second language. Also, they're all young. Curious to know if they're on some sort of work-study program abroad. What an excellent experience for them. Not the experience of serving us fat obnoxious Americans, but the experience to be young and traveling to America. Wonder how they're recruited… wonder how they're compensated… etc, etc.

Their English is limited to really what they're trained to do within the restaurant (or kiosk). There was an obnoxious couple near us at the restaurant who laid down their dietary restriction list. The waiter had to bring over the manager for translation. I'm really not sure what they were doing eating out at the Trattoria Italia if they're on such a restrictive diet. ("No nut oils?"). I mean .. the chef forbade the waiter to put parmesan cheese on my entrée, after all!!!

[Eric's perspective: "No nut oils?" Just stay home. Lock yourself into your pillow-walled room in your rubber underpants. The world is too unsafe for you.]

Now, we're back at POP getting ready to do laundry. No way can you pack for a 9 day vacation without doing laundry at least once. It'll be nice to have the break, really.

　

　

　

Day 4

The following is a post written up by E (yes, he does get to be in charge sometimes):

 

Tuesday - February 2^nd

We got up at a time we thought would be "early enough" - 7am - to take advantage of the 8am Magic Morning Hour. (This is something only offered to those guests staying on Walt Disney World resort properties.) Well, everyone else did too. The main dining hall was packed and so were the buses. Not a great way to start the day. So, onto HS we went.

Today it finally rained. I had thought it already rained until I saw what happened today. We had just left the Writer's Coffee Shop at HS when it started. Every 30 seconds it fell harder then the 30 seconds before for the next five minutes. We managed to duck under some umbrellas by the ABC Commissary, which was, thank God, also a smoking area.

There's something very nice about having a smoking area with large, dry umbrellas in the middle of a hurricane like that. Sure there's the obvious part about not getting wet, or having cigarettes go out. Having hundreds of soaked people not be able to join you because you're fouling the air with your tobacco - that's something special. You could read all of their faces so clearly:

"How dare you have a nice dry place, you filthy smokers! We have children! We need dry umbrellas!"

See what I mean? Special. Minutes later I almost felt bad as I watched a family of six from Louisiana get swept away by a flash flood outside of Star Tours. I sighed and lit up another cigarette.

We eventually went back to Pop to get dryer clothes. But the mix of our breakfast (a quick latte and muffin from the aforementioned Writer's Café,) the rain, and the ensuing comedy left us both pretty tired.

[T's opinion: The Writer's Café is the best little known spot at HS. It's located next door to the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, hidden amongst the false facades of New York. I think most people think it's just another fake store when in fact they offer some of the best coffee in WDW … and it's NOT NESCAFE!!! Besides the coffee they also offer espresso & other specialty coffee drinks. The café lattes are my favorite. Also, their muffins & cookies are yummy! It's never crowded and the cast members are always great!]

We had lunch at Pop - I had the Chicken Parmesan, T had the veggie calzone. As always, these standards of the Pop commissary were delicious. Normally we'd just get one or the other and share it, but of course we have the quick service credits, so we each got our own. This cost us 1 credit each; $36 without "the plan".

Unfortunately this also put us both into a mean carb coma, and we had to nap. By the time I woke up, the rain had stopped, and the clouds were starting to part. Time to get ready for the Luau!

The Luau was at Polynesian Resort, so we left early to tool around Magic Kingdom for a while. We went on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, which broke while we were on it.

Being on a Disney ride that goes haywire is really a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I highly recommend it. Our car stopped in the middle of the ride. Actually it did so twice before that, so there were obviously already a lot of problems. On that third stop, though, I noticed that the car about fifty yards behind us hadn't stopped. Not even a little bit.

In fact, it was cruising right along without any problems at all. And we were in it's path.

I thought, "hey, is that car supposed to ram into us? Because this has been a pretty tame ride so far, so it seems a little out of character, but if that's the way they're trying to sell us the 'future' - that automated cars ram into each other - okay then, I'm game."

Instead, all I had time for was a quick, "uh," and the other car slammed right into us. T gave a yelp, so I knew I didn't bother having to say all that other stuff .

[T's perspective: I didn't see it coming. I didn't yelp but actually screamed - loudly too! Then I let out a loud burst of laughter, as I couldn't believe what just happened really did! It's one of those things you do think about when you're on a ride, especially with the recent events of the monorail over the summer and the recent bus crashes. Thankfully it wasn't that bad - though I am still checking my neck once in a while to make sure there's nothing to report to Disney before I leave.]

That was a boner on Disney's part. We then continued on, for maybe another minute or so, before the ride stopped again for good. A cast member came to walk us off the ride along the elevated tracks. Talk about getting a unique experience! Who ever gets to walk the Transit Authority tracks over Future World!?!

We got some Fast Passes for our troubles, good at any of the rides in the park. But we were pressed for time to get to the Luau, so we handed them off to the first couple we could find that looked hip and was childless. (Because why do favors for anyone else?) T spotted a Chinese couple that I don't think knew any English, and they took the passes and smiled. For all they know, we could have handed them miniature Jehovah's Witness prayers.

From there we went on to the Luau. We got a lei, our picture was taken, (they wanted $30 for it - as if!) and we were seated in a large hall.

Let me attack the meal in two parts: The show and the food.

The food was good, but once again, hardly worth what they were charging everyone else. There was a mango salad dressing on a mixed bed of greens, fresh pineapple, and coconut bread for starters. [T is going to look up this recipe for salad dressing as it is delicious!!] Next was a tray of steamed veggies (meh), rice, chicken, & bbq short ribs. We could've gotten by with just the ribs. The meat was so tender, you just sucked it off the bone!

　

The show was… Disney. You find yourself saying, "well, it's Disney" a lot at these shows. I would have preferred an actual luau show, with dancers doing their traditional dances and everything else you see in commercials for Hawaii tourism. Instead we got, essentially, "Disney's Polynesian Show," staring a cast of dancers, some singers, and one guy we swear looked like JC Slater from "Saved by the Bell." No. Really.

We left early, as T didn't care for the mousse desert. This meant we could walk around the Polynesian property alone. Everyone else was still inside the luau, where people were asked not to leave during the final 10 minutes. (Likely because they were doing the thing where they dance with flaming sticks. I'm not sure.)

The Polynesian is beautiful. We both decided we not only want to stay there when we come back to Disneyworld, we want to retire there. We want the afterlife to be like the Polynesian. (Sans children, if God can work that out.) It is quiet, as there aren't gaggles of people running around and talking loudly like there are here at Pop Century.

A lot of online reviews said the place is in dire need of room renovations, but the ones we could see into from the walkway, (yes, we're lookie-loos. But it's all for you, so leave us alone!) the rooms had HDTVs, which means they had to have been refurbished in the last 10 years. Either the negative reviews are very old, or people have a strange sense of how "new" a room needs to be.

There is a massive zero-entry pool with a water slide. A lot of the rooms are situated so the noise cannot be heard. It's also worth mentioning that the quick service area is 24 hour, and has only one soda fountain. What's the big deal about one soda fountain? It means it doesn't get rushed with people at all hours. The people at the Polynesian are just going to be a lot better behaved than us yokels here at Pop.

Finally, the property is connected to the monorail, so you can get to MK, Epcot or the transportation center very easily and very quickly. When you spend all your time waiting for buses, you get tired of them quickly. Monorails trump buses every time. (Until they ram into each other of course, but other than that…!)

By the time we got home, I was ready to draw a knife along my belly just to relieve the pressure. I was very, very full. But I was full of good food, and got to see a great property. When I get home I'll get back to sensible meals and workouts.

I'll also start saving my nickels and dimes to stay at Polynesian.

Day 3

Monday - February 1^st

Well, we made it! Woke at 630am, with fresh coffee already brewed in our handy-dandy coffee maker we brought with us to POP. We were out the door at 730am, and headed straight to the hotel front desk to inquire about changing rooms. Our room was perfect except that it had 2 double beds and we found ourselves keeping to separate sides of the room. That's just not for us.

The cast member took a couple of minutes and got us new keys to our new room. Now, we're in the 60s building, 3^rd floor, king bed … and it's a handicap room. What does that mean? Well … a complimentary fridge, a large bathroom with a handheld shower and more than enough places to hang items such as wet clothing and towels (you know, with all those bars around for assistance.)

E found the new toilet particularly entertaining - it sits several inches higher than a normal one, so his legs swing around when he's on it, like when he was 6.

We scored!! Now, this is truly a preferred room!! Oh, and the best part is that it's really really close to the shuttle buses and the main dining hall. We're directly overlooking the Hippy Dippy pool. Love love love it!!!

So, after the big room switchover (really it only took us about 30 minutes to do it) we headed out to Animal Kingdom. The morning weather was perfect! First, we headed right over to the Kilimanjaro Safari. This was the first time that I did the ride in the morning. We saw a lot of animals and they seemed to be lively, not the usual laying around and sleeping or hiding. It was great! Afterwards, it stared sprinkling and we were starved. We went to the Flame BBQ on Discovery Island. Delicious! Nothing beats eating barbequed meat in an animal park! I got the pork sandwich, while E got the ½ slab of ribs. We both had the key lime mousse for a dessert item. 1 credit each. I think the bill was around $35. Ouch!

Again, this is where the dining plan comes in handy. Without the dining plan we would've only split one lunch item and no dessert. There again, even with the dining plan, having a desert included with every meal is a bit excessive. You're already being given more food in a day than any reasonable person should have - tossing a cake or mousse on top if it should only be done if you absolutely want to be fat. Why not send a letter to Richard Simmons calling him an asshole while you're at it? (We really should all do that anyway, come to think of it.)

After eating the sky unleashed the rain. We hit up a couple more rides then decided a nap was in order. Back to POP we went.

Up again around 4pm, we headed out to Hollywood Studios. Rode Tower of Terror first. It was empty.

I don't mean the line was really short - I mean it was empty. Vacuous. The middle of Ted Nuggent's head. Just nothing to be found empty. We walked up to the line, and never found it - we just kept walking until we reached the reading room where they show you the Twilight Zone video made for the ride. Then more unobstructed walking until we were inside an elevator with just two other people. (Two girls, who asked us if it was okay that they were going to "high five" each other when we got to the part where the ride takes everyone's picture.)

I didn't mind - neither did E. He had other things to worry about. He doesn't handle these rides very well, and I know he goes on this one for me. Still, each time before we go, I can see little veins popping out on his forehead as he imagines our horrible, impending death. He's so cute.

Next we were onto Star Tours. We are both sad that these are the last days of this so we do it every chance we get. They are shutting it down soon for a "re-imagining" renovation, with a new 3D version of the ride. I look forward to the newness, but will miss the original.

We had a quick snack of splitting a pizza and salad from over by the Aerosmith coaster (No, we didn't ride that one. I can't tell if E's more terrified of a rollercoaster or Aerosmith.) Yum for a quick snack. The park doesn't have much to offer in terms of actual rides. Toy Story had a 45 minute wait, so we decided to pass on it for tonight. Instead we went into "The Voyage of the Little Mermaid." Cute (for kids) but a bit dull. Didn't enjoy the rain shower they give you during the show either. We had plenty of that outside all day.

For dinner, we had reservations at Cap'n Jack's Restaurant in Downtown Disney at 955pm. It was something out of my comfort zone so thought I'd give it a go. For starters, I had the vegetable soup and E had the New England clam chowder. Both yum! I had the Cajun shrimp and chicken etoufee. This was something completely different for me. I enjoyed the chicken part of it but didn't really care for the dish overall.

E had the big lump crab cakes. What a most appetizing name, no? I believe Gordon Ramsey was the first to describe dishes the way others describe their tumors. When I tasted them I nearly gagged, but Seaman E the seafood fan thought they were okay. They were crab cakes. Nothing outstanding. But the side potatoes and asparagus were great and the desserts were (again) the highlight of the meal. I had the double chocolate cake drizzled with caramel sauce (it also had a raspberry sauce but I asked them not to put it on - I'm not so much a raspberry fan), with vanilla ice cream. Do I need to say more?! E had the white chocolate cheesecake with raspberry sauce. He even licked his plate. It was hot. (Well, no it wasn't.)

The meal cost us 1 meal credit each, but without that would have run about $77.00 not including the tip. That was much more than I would have paid for that meal. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't $77.00 worth of good either.

And did I mention this was our 5^th anniversary? It wasn't, but that's what we told them! Why? We'd heard that sometimes people get freebies at their meals when they're celebrating something. So we spun up a tale about it being our 5^th anniversary - because that would be easier to remember. (Five years ago, met Feburary 5, 2005, five years ago, fifth anniversary… we went heavy on the 5s. It's a lot easier to remember crap like this when you load it with the same number over and over.)

For our trouble we got a little clip light of Tinkerbell for me and Lightning McQueen for E, clipped to a card that says, "Happy Anniversary Mr. and Mrs. [my last name]." Not E's last name, you know - the boy. But mine. I'd set the meals up under my last name, then his last name. So from that they assumed E was the chick.

After a long day, we decided to head back home. The weather finally cleared up and we got to enjoy sitting out by the pool area to enjoy a drink and a smoke. It was a nice way to end an evening.

Day 2

Sunday - January 31^st

Today was the day the dining plan FINALLY made sense!

We started out the day late, as we both wanted to catch up on sleep. Got ready and made it out of the room around 11am. The day was cold and windy. Headed out to the shuttle pick up area and waited … and waited … and waited for the Epcot bus. After seeing 3-4 shuttles for other parks go by, we finally jumped ship out of the Epcot line and got on the MK bus. I think it was a smart choice. From MK, we took the monorail to the transportation center then took a second monorail to Epcot. It was about an hour in total from POP to Epcot but worth it to not stand in the cold.

Upon entering Epcot, we decided to head straight over to the France section. Even though we had reservations for Les Chefs de France for lunch on Monday, the idea of French food fulfilled our thoughts of getting warm. Neither of us had been to this restaurant before. I had wanted to go the past few years, but without a dining plan I thought it may be too expensive to enjoy it.

We had no problem getting a table without a reservation. We were promptly seated at the window, with a view of Epcot. Our waiter was wonderful and every other staff person we spoke with were also extremely nice. (I've read online where people had issues with the staff here. I don't know how other than if they went in with chips on their American shoulders to begin with!).

The smells were immediately intoxicating. I knew exactly what I wanted to order, just from reading reviews. My appetizer was the onion soup, E got the lobster bisque. We were both in heaven! My soup was exactly how I remembered the soup tasting in Paris. There's just something about how the French make it that I or anyone else in America just can't replicate.

Oh … and the cheese! Fabulous!! E was having the same euphoric experience I was having. He said that he hadn't had lobster bisque for years so it was great to have eaten it and remembered how great it was.

For entrees, we both ordered the macaroni and cheese. This is the dish I've read so many favorable reviews about. It lives up to the raves! It really is nothing like anything you've had before. The noodles are rigatoni. The sauce is cheesy creamy with a hint of nutmeg … yes, nutmeg! The waiter even asked the chef about this as he wasn't sure. It is the best macaroni and cheese I've ever experienced. Definitely not your American mac n cheese.

Then came the desserts. We both ordered coffee. Delicious. NOT NESCAFE!! (Any of you that are coffee drinkers and have been to WDW know what I'm talking about here.) I had the Crème Brule. It was an almost orgasmic experience. With each bite, you had to roll it around your tongue to pick up each and every sensation of not only the taste but also the texture. Last year we had the Crème Brule from the French patisserie at Epcot which we thought sensational. The one today was about 3 times the size of it and somehow blew that one away!

E ordered the crepe with apples and ice cream with caramel sauce, which had one raspberry and one strawberry as garnish. I believe he was having the same experience I was having at that moment.

The end bill came to $65 (again, without tip), and 1 dining credit each. We would've paid that without the dining plan. It really is worth every single penny and honestly completely worth 2 dining credits.

On a side note, they offer a fixed price menu at $20 per person which gives you a choice of appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Everything we got was on that menu. We both look forward to revisiting Les Chefs de France again during this trip. We plan on keeping our reservation for lunch tomorrow to try other items they offer.

As we were leaving the restaurant today, I couldn't help but notice the other diners and their food. It all looked wonderful and even though my belly was full as we left, my mouth was watering. After eating here and our experience at MK yesterday, we both decided that spending any dining credits other than quick service or snack credits at MK is just a total complete waste. Don't do it!!

We ventured by boat to Hollywood Studios, after lunch. It's about a 20 minute boat ride as it does make stops at the Boardwalk Resort, the Yacht and Beach Club, and the Dolphin and Swan hotels before arriving at HS. Luckily they have inside seating, as it was still freezing outside. HS was very busy. Nothing like Epcot. Then again, with more buildings around there's more of a wind break. Epcot is mostly wide-open space, which is why I'm sure there were less people there.

We walked around a bit. Did the Muppets 3D, Star Tours, and the Indiana Jones Epic Spectacular Stunt Show. Epic? Spectacular? Um, not really. We got through about ½ the show before ditching out. It really was lame, even by my standards … which at times I don't think are that high. I expected more from Disney and the Indiana Jones franchise. ("Not an ounce of Stephen Spielberg magic could have helped with this collection of dumb ass." - Eric)

With the sun going down, (not like we saw any of it all day,) the weather was just turning worse - colder and windier. We decided to call it an early night and headed back to POP. On the way back to the room, we picked up a couple of individual pizzas and salads. We've had these before. (Last year.) The pizzas are average, nothing to really write about. Just a good quick eat that you can take back to your room. The dining plan covered this with 1 credit each.

Did I mention I'm really loving this plan? You don't have to think twice about what you're spending on food, and no need to carry any cash with you … other than if you want to pay your tips in cash, which is what we've been doing.

Tomorrow, we plan on rising early to head over to Animal Kingdom for a morning safari. We'll see how that 630am wake up call goes.