FYI - I'm singing the title of this trip report to RHCP's version of "Rollercoaster of Love" in my head. Rollahcoastah of foooood! Rollahcoastah! Whoo hoohoo!
Can't believe how quickly our visit to The World has passed. It seems like just yesterday I was doing the in-the-teens and single-digit countdown dances and now, it's all over It was a great time, however, and we are happy to be home. Personally, since I work from home, I'm super happy to be back to my not-doing-my-hair and wearing stretchy clothes with drawstrings again! haha!
So here we go!
Day minus 1 - Saturday 12/1 (Think of this as waiting in line for the 'coaster)
I finished up packing in the morning and we had hair appts. Came back from getting our do's did and did the last minute things around the house (feed the cats, make sure everything is unplugged, review the checklists [yes, that is plural, I'm just a wee bit freakish about our Disney vacations], leave the notes for the pet-sitter, etc.) and then we were off to Syracuse. Because we're about an hour from the Syracuse airport and we had an earlier flight (7:30am) we decided to stay near the airport the night before to reduce some of the stress. We also were able to do a "park and fly" and left our vehicle at the hotel rather than in airport parking. The hotel had a free shuttle to and from the airport. We checked into the hotel around 4ish and settled into our room. We had planned on going out for dinner, but after reading the hotel restaurant menu, decided to stay at the hotel. It was a good decision! We had a very nice, relaxing meal. Nothing on par with what we would experience in WDW, but still nice.
Day 1 - Sunday 12/2 (Load the ride vehicles, pull down on your safety restraint and away we go!)
I didn't need to be up until 5, but I was up at 4. Who can sleep the night before going to Disney? (besides Jess's mom, haha!) We got ready, brought our overnight stuff out to the car, rechecked the duplicate checklists (freakazoid planner rears her ugly head again!) and took advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel. It was very nice and quite tasty! We requested the shuttle at the front desk and were told that the driver "Would be right there, he's just putting more sausage out on the buffet" <- struck me as funny, talk about multitasking! haha!
It took about 2 minutes to drive to the airport and after a bit of confusion at the airline desk about our checked luggage (this was our first time flying Jetblue, we usually fly Southwest), we sailed through security and sat to wait for the flight. The flight was on time, very smooth and uneventful.
We landed, took the tram into the main terminal and proceeded to level 1 to catch the Magical Express. We walked to the left...nothing. Hmmmm? Must have come in from a different direction than last time? So, we walked to the other side. Still no ME?! Looked at the booklet and aha! Wrong side. We went toward Baggage Claim A, not B. Back up the escalator, through the terminal and back down to level 1 and Baggage Claim B and what-do-ya-know? There's Magical Express! And about 50 million Pop Warner players and cheerleaders Luckily, they were going to different resorts, so we waited for about 1/2 an hour and we were on our way. Let the magic begin!
Wilderness Lodge was the third stop so we go to see GF and the Poly (every time we passed there I thought of mrhub and Scrappy!) and then we were 'home'! We had requested a room on the ground floor past Roaring Forks because that's just a hop down the hallway to the boat launch, and a king-size bed. No luck on the king-size, but we did get a room just past Roaring Forks, it was perfect (and ready when we got there)! We dumped our carry-ons and winter jackets (gladly) and skipped down the hallway, out the door and down the dock to the boat launch to catch the boat to the MK.
We were starving so we changed it up a bit. The plan was to go straight for the Dole Whip Float, but we stopped at the Main St. Bakery and shared a cinnamon bun first. It was warm and ooey and gooey and delicious! Then we bee-lined over to Aloha Isle and got our Dole Whips. We stopped at the Enchanted Tiki Room first, then Jungle Cruise and POTC. Then headed over to BTMRR and Hall of Presidents. Stopped by Mickey's Philharmagic and then toured through the New Fantasy land and rode the Barnstormer (mrhub was not lying about having to squiiiiish two adults into those cars! but it was cute) on our way to Tomorrowland. Rode Space Mountain and then my favorite, Carousel of Progress (There's a great big beautiful tomorrow! Shining at the end of every day!). Because I wanted to check and make sure our luggage had arrived, we made our way back to WL, browsing in the shops along the way. Our luggage was there, so I unpacked before we headed back to the boat launch to catch a boat to the Contemporary.
Dinner was scheduled for 6:55 at The Wave....of American Flavors. We checked in at 6:50 and were seated almost immediately. Our server was Jesus (DH got a chuckle out of my text message to myself to remember his name) and he was wonderful throughout the meal. I spaced when we were in the hotel room and didn't think to bring the camera with us, so no pictures because I totally forgot about the camera in my phone too. I got the Autumn Salad (Wave Autumn Salad - with Alligator pear, cranberry Vinaigrette, and Point Reyes Blue Cheese) and Sean got the Cobb Salad (The Wave Cobb - with locally-sourced greens and tomatoes, Naturally Raised Eggs, Bacon, Florida Avocados, lime-chili vinaigrette and Midnight Moon cheese). The Cobb was very good, but that Autumn Salad? I seriously think it was the BEST salad I've ever had. It was amazing! We both got the Filet (Grilled Beef Tenderloin - with Goji berry-red wine reduction, three potato hash, locally-sourced butternut squash risotto), med-rare for me, medium for Sean. We both give it two thumbs up! The Goji berry-red wine reduction was perfect and the potato hash and squash risotto were delish. Dessert for me was the Creamy Indulgence (Creamy Indulgence - Butterscotch creme brulee with espresso macaroon, New York cheesecake with apple-cranberry compote, olive oil-infused chocolate truffle mousse with salted caramel sauce) and Sean had the Fall Ice Cream Trio (Fall Ice Cream Trio - Pumpkin pie with maple glazed pecans, double chocolate chip, salted caramel swirl). Loved the three different flavors to try, it's a really great idea. Overall, a fantastic way to start our gastronomic tour of WDW! lol!
We ran (or rather, floated) back to WL and got our complimentary mugs at RF and picked up the camera because we were on our way to DHWS to check out The Osbourne Spectacle of Dancing Lights!
I took a few pictures of the Christmas Tree and then we headed straight toward the glow. We were speechless for a while! It's incredible! Amazing! Fantastic! Indescribable! Insert any other good descriptive adjectives here! We wandered around for quite a while, it was fairly quiet since it was during extra magic hours so we didn't have to fight the crowds. And, I found the black cat! Didn't find the pumpkin though. After staying for 5 songs or so, we headed over to Star Tours. WOW! I think our first 'tour' was the perfect combination - Darth Vader, Hoth, Yoda and Naboo. Since the wait was only 5 minutes we took two more tours and then called it a night.
Next up, day 2 at Epcot.....