Scrappy & MrHub's Sept 2010 Trip report!

Okay to finish up on Tuesday:
We got done dinner, still raining, and headed to the MK for MNSSHP. By the time we got in it had pretty much stopped raining. We got hats and it stopped totaly, go figure.

Well we headed right over to the Haunted Masion figuring the rides are pretty empty during the first parade, and we were right. The Haunted Mansion was actually closed due to technical difficulties, which sucked, & I commented this to the zombie standing at the entrance, not that it was thier fault, but just expressing my feelings. Well I started taking some pictures and the CM Zombies come up to me and says " we"re open now and you can be the first ones in if you hurray, so I grabbed Scrappy and off we went.

They make this place look amazing!

Well we went right in and where the first ones on the HM with no one in front of us. That place had a whole different feel to it , and it was actually starting to creep us both out. You figure, you can usually see someone in the car infront and in back of you, but there was no one. Gave a whole new feeling to that ride!.

Next we headed to Thunder Mountain , dont think I've done that ride at night in years,

this is how many people we had on with us! I dont know what happened to the people in back of us in the que, but they didnt make it onto our train.

Okay 3rd time I try this, post wont save for some reason:

After Thunder Mountain we headed over to Pirates



This ride was also pretty creepy considering there was absolutely no one else on any boats including ours.




Then we headed over to watch the fireworks and get ready for the parade.








And then my most favorite part of the night

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Sorry but I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of the parade that were any good. Had a real problem with my camera that night. After the parade we did a few more rides, shopped our way out of the park and headed back to the resort for the night. By the time we got back there it was past midnight so we called it a night.

Okay , Wednesday we started out by going to the Animal Kingdom.
First stop was the Rain Forest Cafe'. Lucky we stopped there because I was able to catch a glimpse and a photo of the mysterious "Cleaner Fish". Never saw this one in there aquarium before.

We then did a little window shopping & got some pic's of the "Tree of Life".

Next was "Its Tough to Be a Bug" and then we went over so I could get my "Everest" fix.

After my fix, we strolled over to ride "Dinosaur"



and then went to catch "Nemo, the musical" which was pretty impressive.






We headed toward the exit and Scrappy hit all the stores

Once we were done in the stores, we headed out of the park and back to our room to get cleaned up and changed for our dinner at The Yachtsman Steakhouse.




I was really looking forward to this meal expecting something really incredible. It was a very good dinner, and the service was very friendly, but there was no "Wow" that I was expecting.

Scrappy's dinner started with a Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella with Heirloom Tomatoes, Basil, Garlic, Warm Focaccia, and Aged Balsamic

Next she had the New York Strip Steak which is supposed to be their "signature steak".

It came with a white cheddar potato gratin.

For dessert she had the Trio of Valrhona Chocolate, Peanut, Espresso, and Salted Caramel.

Continuing:

I started with the Lobster Bisque - Maine Lobster and Creme Fraiche finished with Brandy.

This was very good, very very good! My entree was the Porterhouse steak - 24-oz Center-cut Porterhouse, Smoked Paprika Fries, and Roasted Garlic Butter. The steak was not bad by any means, just didn't have much flavor. The garlic butter on top of it was very good.

The smoked paprika fries were sort of addicting, pretty salty but I just couldn't stop eating them.

Last my dessert was Creme Brulee with fresh fruit and rolled chocolate.

I would definitely rate the Turf Club better over the Yachtsman any day of the week,( for the meals we had), plus if you're using the dinning plan, the Turf Club is one TS where as the Yachtsman is two TS.

Our night ended by going into Epcot and walking the back side of WS and watching the fireworks.

and the boat ride back to the Boardwalk.

Thursday:

We woke up to a cloudy morning, but not rain like everyone had forcast, so we were very happy. Had some coffee in our room and then headed to the boat for HS. First thing was to go get and other coffee something to eat since we didn't have anything set up for breakfast. Stopped at Starring Rolls Cafe and grabbed a coffee and a danish. We always forget this place is there because its tucked right in that little corner between the Brown Derby and Sunset Sweet Spells.

We then went to get our fast passes for Toy Story. It was about 9:45 and the FP return time was already 5:30-6:30, WoW! The park didn't even seem that crowded either.





How often do you get a picture like that with 1 person in it?





We just strolled around taking pictures and checking all the detail out. Its nice when you can do that and not have to worry about being in someones way.

We stopped at the "Writers Stop" and looked around






then decided to check in at the Sci-Fi Theatre to see if we could get in for an early lunch. A few CM's had told us if we don't have ADR's some where, always go up and ask when the restaurant first opens because they have a better idea if they have availability rather then going to guest relations. We had checked at guest relations when we first came in the park and they said everything was booked in the park for meals, no openings. I checked with the desk at the Sci-Fi and they had plenty of opening as soon as they opened at 11:00am, so we put our name in and told them we would be back at 11:00. No problem.

We walked around some more, I went for a short ride..................



and then headed back to the Sci-Fi for lunch.

Talk about empty!

I had told the hostess we would take a Saucer table in the back and she loved us for that. You can people watch back there better too! They are always easier to get also just FYI.

Love these old flick's, just my kind of movies. I could sit here all day and watch them, ask Scrappy!

Ooops! We got caught in the back seat!

After lunch it was off to "The Great Movie Ride"

Every time we were in a park, I kept thinking, I wonder how many times we many have walked right past Brad and his DW, since we had not meet up yet, we didn't know what they looked like, and they !!!!!!!

See this guy in the bottom of the photo, his name was Brad!

and I thought, Brad is that you?

but as I thought about it, anyone could be Brad! and since he knows what we look like, anyone that looked at me for more then a second or two I thought, Brad, is that you?

Is that you Brad?

and no, none of them were our Brad! Oh well. Its off to the Animation Academy to draw some pictures.

The Animation Academy was pretty cool, and I got so caught up in it, I only got 1 picture inside while doing the drawing.

We had to sit right up front and use the white board on our laps, but thats not bad at all.

Here are our drawings on the Animations Academy thread.

Next off to Tower of Terror!

Here is a not so good picture of us. I got scrappy to come on with me. We are in the front, far left. See the face of fear on her!

Video of Scrappy's Tower Of Terror Ride!

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Thanks everyone for the complements on the trip report. It's my mission to finish this one!

After ToT we did some shopped our way back to the Great Movie Ride again and then went to our ADR at the Brown Derby.

We got seated in the Bamboo Room, which is rather secluded, only has 5 tables for 4 and all window seats. Never been in there before. I think they knew we were coming.

We started with the Cobb Salad which is excellent. It used to an appetizer for two, but they told us we could get it and another appetizer so I got the
Seared Day Boat Sea Scallop with Black Bean Corn Pudding and a Mango Papaya Salsa also.

Scrappy got the Char-grilled Filet of Beef over a Creamy Black Diamond Cheddar and Sweet Corn Polenta,with Sun-dried Tomato Chimichurri, and Green Tomato Salsa


Sorry about the pictures, we were really hungry and started eating before I remembered to take a picture, plus we had a few of these,

so we were feeling pretty good by now!

I had the Salmon glazed with Scotch Whisky over arugula, watercrest, local peaches, Bleu affine, walnuts, and a fig and orange blossom honey dressing.

It was about this time that I noticed my camera wasn't quite working right and I was really having a hard time taking pictures.

so we had another drink,
Hummm..... think there is a

connection there? Naaaaaaaaah!



For dessert we had :
Banana White Chocolate Toffee Tower on Cocoa-Almond Cookie and Bananas Foster & Warm Seasonal Fruit Cobbler with Creme Fraiche and Orange Blossom Honey. Oh my god I was in heaven. I love fruit desserts and this was good!


We somehow got out of the restaurant and back to the boat dock and headed back to our room to call it a night. The end to another wonderful day in Disney!.

and look:

my camera really was broken, see the black marks on the top and bottom of the picture, the lens cover would not open all the way. I fixed it the next day.

Okay, this brings us to Friday, our last day Blaaaaaaaaa!
Althought this is also shopping day, so that makes Scrappy happy! or makes a happy Scrappy. Either way it was down to Downtown Disney for the morning. I have to say this is a very beautiful place. I think you can get some of the best pictures here.

We started out by going to the Earl Of Sandwich for breakfast. Got some ice tea and some bacon, egg & chesse sandwiches which were pretty good, but thier regular sandwiches are better.Plus nothing else was open for breakfast. We thought the Rain Forest would be open for breakfast like the one in Animal Kingdom but its not.

Then it was off to do some shopping.

We got pretty much all the stuff we wanted to get & I got Scrappy a little something special because it was our 31st anniversary and her Big 50 B-day this month.

I think she was happy! . We packed everything in the car and headed over to the Balloon ride because I had wanted to get on this all week and everytime we tried it was closed due to the wind.

It was a picture perfect day!

This is Joey, he's the pilot. A really nice guy. And check out the guy to the left sitting in the basket, he didn't like the ride to much!

After DTD we were off to Epcot to check out the F&W Festival and try to meet up with Brad & Mrs. Brad.



We found them waiting in line at the Greece pavillion right across from Canada. They are two incredible people & if you ever get a chance to meet up with them, don't miss it. I was just sorry it couldn't have been for longer. Of course we talked about Disney & WDWFG & all you wonderful people here on the forum! The thing is, we got so caught up in talking, we forgot to get a picture! Have to make that a reason to meet up again sometime! Thanks again Brad & DW!

Well we went our separate ways and we worked our way eating around the WS. The food was pretty incredible and so were the drinks.


We tried the Pastel de Choclo ( Beef & Corn pie) at Chile which was deliciuos.

random picture


Here's the new Mexican Cantina


I aslo had a Taco de Chilorio from Mexico which was marinated Pork with avacodo sauce and red onion in a soft shell. Fabulous!. On to China


Ooops got to get ready for work. more later.

I'm really glad we were able to be there on the first day because it was not very busy IMO. I've heard it gets mobbed at times, anybody that's been there before know or had any experiences were it was really really busy?

Here are the dishes we had from the South Africa booth again. My South Africa Review .

Got some pictures of the mini train set up they have, always like watching that and I'm not really into trains.

The last thing I tried was the Red Stag Lemonade from the American booth. That was a kicker! Couple more of them and Scrappy would have been carrying me out the back gate!

Well that ended our or F&W adventure for this trip and we left Epcot to go to the MK to finish our last day there. We usually always end our trip in the MK, sort of a tradition.

Scrappy wanted to go to the gift shop in the Poly because she was looking for a handbag she had liked so yes, we parked in the Poly lot! We have never been there and the parking lot was anywhere near full or even close to it, so I have no problem with parking there and the guard at the gate has never even ask, just says "Welcome" and parking to the left.

We shopped and looked around for a while and then hopped on the Monorail to the park. Once there we realized the MNSSHP was that night so we went right to the rides we wanted to do again before it got to late and and they started checking for wrist bands, but we had several hours yet.

It looked like tonight would be a pretty busy night!

Dole Whip line was pretty long

and it just got longer through the day

We started on the Jungle Cruise, hadn't done that yet this trip.

decided not to eat there!

Waved to the locals!

and then headed to Pirates for one last ride. Aaaargh!

We finished up the rides and then figured we would see if we could get into Tony's for dinner. Didn't have any ADR's and just went right to the restaurant. Checked and they got us in within 10 minutes, no problem.

***Note to self *** - always check with the restaurant direct! Do not go by what the computer says if you don't have an ADR!***



We both had the Chicken Parm which was very good and I love the fresh rolls and oil dip.

For dessert we had to have the Bomb!

After dinner it was time to hit Main Street and the shops!

Buy this time it was really starting to get busy because it was close to party time so we finished up shopping, waved to the Castle and headed to the launch to the Poly!

one last goodbye to the MK & Mickey and the gang!

Bye Monorail!

Goodbye Poly!

Goodbye Boardwalk!

Goodbye hidden Mickey's!

We did a little more shopping at the general store on the Boardwalk and then went back to our room to pack everything up for our trip home in the morning, thus ending another wonderful vacation in the Happiest Place on Earth!......................But we'll be back soon!