Well...Trip 3 of 3 in the books

I used Garden Grocer for the third time. The stuff was there when we checked in. One item was missing. I called and they brought it the next day. I ordered some good beer and frozen slushies with the alcohol already in them. They were great. I ordered a bunch of different flavors and we sat around the pool checking them out. The black cherry was the best.

Anyone familiar with the Boardwalk area knows the lighthouse in front of the Yacht Club. The light in the lighthouse was out the entire 10 days I was there. This annoyed me. It's a minor thing but indicative to me of how things have changed. A lighthouse with no light at night. It looked silly. Will they ever fix it?

I was in the hub one night for Wishes, with my camera at the ready, and waiting, and waiting and...No Tinkerbell. Maybe she was off that night?

Jelly Rolls is great and all but $12 to get in is a little steep. I would advise some pre-game drinking then nursing a beer or drink or two while you're in there. Otherwise it gets expensive pretty fast.

I like what they did with Boardwalk Bakery, a definite improvement. Les Halle's is ok too. But a real winner is Tutto Gusto wine bar. That's a delightful place to pass an hour. It was there last year, but I didn't get a chance to do anything but take a look at it. Interesting food and drinks and a fine looking wait staff.

We spent some time a GF because of the intimate dining reservation. I won't go into tremendous detail about that, but I will just say that I expected much more. The food was OK- nothing spectacular. The service was pretty good. What really probably killed it was that it was raining, so instead of eating under the stars with wishes and the water pageant as the backdrop, we ate inside the hotel near a window. I know I can't blame Disney for that. The whole thing was pretty anti-climactic. It was pretty expensive. I don't think we got any kind of value for the money. Oh well...lesson learned.

My D23 is getting married next year, so Mrs. The Colonel wanted to poke around the wedding Pavillion. We saw the end of a wedding. The bride was lovely and let me take a picture. Why I wanted a picture, I do not know.

No not at V&A - the food may have come from that kitchen-not sure about that. It was just us with butler service.

Is it me or does this Beast Castle look ridiculous? The forced perspective really doesn't work for some reason. It looks like its about three feet tall. The whole fantasyland expansion is pretty underwhelming IMO. And could they take any longer to finish it.

I had never been to Blizzard Beach before so on one hot day, we did a couple of hours at TL, then checked out BB. Then put on clean shirts and headed over to AKL. I had never been there either. We checked out Kidani first, then went over to Jambo (much nicer IMO) and we had a dinner reservation at Sanaa. Sanaa was one of the better meals I've ever had at WDW. A unique menu and well prepared food. We had a window table to gaze at the animals. The service was good as well. And if that wasnt enough we headed for DTD for a little shopping before heading home to BCV. I slept well that night.

Here I am in all my glory

I liked AKL. I'm going to try to score a couple of nights in a savanah view room next year.

I was pretty disappointed about the Intimate Dining thing. But I wasn't surprised. And I had a fear going all the way back to when I booked it six months earlier, that it would either be too hot or would rain. Anyway, it wasn't a total loss. It was a good meal in romantic settings. My wife appreciated the gesture and I'm sure it would have been nicer outside. But I wouldn't do it again.

I took out one of those little Raycer boats from the Poly. That was fun. I did it from the Yacht Club last year. It was remarkably inexpensive by Disney standards; only twenty something dollars for an hour.

Here's a rare sight; Pinocchio wandering around Epcot. Just like a real boy. Enchanting.

Here is my favorite band in Epcot. I was happy to see Jamie back with the band. I missed him the last couple of trips. These guys are really tight. I guess you get that way playing five shows a day for 15 years or so. The fiddle is a nice addition also.

This is my favorite band in AK. These guys are hypnotic.

This guy strolls around AK. You give him a topic and he'll make up a song about it. He did one for me about my grandkids and I video'd it and played it for them when I got home. They were rolling on the floor laughing.

Random pics

A lighthouse with no light is just a skinny building with no reason to live.

Brain-Eating Amoeba Lake

Light still out on the lighthouse. It's a month now.

Chapter two of my trilogy summarized:

Thursday -arrived and went direct to F&W and ate and drank too much, then went to DHS and ate light; a hot dog with mac and cheese and truffle oil
Friday- Went to F&W ate and drank too much then went to MNSSHP
Saturday - went to F&W and ate and drank too much. In the evening for a change of pace went to Cali Grill and ate and drank too much
Sunday- went to F&W and ate and drank way too much
Monday- DTD and home

Great Trip!