The interior of the Flying Fish restaurant
Carrie's Yellowfin Tuna Appetizer
Porkchop's Shrimp Cocktail Appetizer (with Fennel Slaw and Sauce)
Carrie's Alaskan King Salmon
Porkchop's New York Strip Steak
Carrie's Chocolate Valrhona Galette
Porkchop's Sorbets
(Sorry for the bad lighting. The lights were down low and the tables were close together. I didn't want to annoy everyone around me with a flash.)
Here's our lunch at the Tomrrowland Terrace Noodle Station:
Tofu Noodle Bowl with Iced Green Tea
Chicken Teriyaki Bowl
And we both had Nestle Crunch Ice Cream bars for dessert! Yum Yum!
Once we got into the Magic Kingdom, our first stop was Space Mountain, which is one of my favorites. I just like that it’s mostly in the dark and you never know what’s coming next. We spent a good a part of our day in Tomorrowland. There are so many good things to do there, especially now that they’ve added the Laugh Floor Comedy Club. Carrie surprised me by not hating Stitches Great Escape… and we both enjoyed Walt’s favorite- The Carousel of Progress. We rounded out our visit to Tomorrow land with a relaxing ride on The Tomorrowland Transit Authority.
Can I just mention here how much I love love love Fastpasses? I can see not using them first thing in the morning, as there’s no need. But after the first hour or two of the day, when rides are 30-50 minute waits, why would you not use a fastpass? Seriously, there’s nothing better than hopping in a fastpass line and passing up people who have been waiting for 45 minutes or so for a 2 minute ride. It almost doesn’t seem fair. But anyway…
Following the UG Two Day Magic Kingdom itinerary, we were able to get quite a bit done. We skipped Country Bear Jamboree, the Riverboat, and Tom Sawyer’s Island and added an extra trip on Space Mountain, the Carousel of Progress, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We sprinted out of Main Street USA, just as the parade was getting close, and we were back at the hotel by 4:15pm.
Here's a great picture of us on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Carrie was afraid I was going to lose the camera.
After a rest, we cleaned up and headed to the Flying Fish. I had never been to the Boardwalk area and enjoyed seeing the different performers and musicians. 
We arrived at FF about 15 minutes before our 7:30 ADR and had about a 5 minute wait. Our server was friendly and attentive and the food came very fast. I am not a big fish person and was hoping for some sort of shrimp entrée, but settled for a shrimp appetizer and the strip steak for dinner. I really really wanted to the love the Flying Fish, but I must say I wasn’t 100% dazzled by it. The atmosphere was nice and I think if you like fish it is a top notch place to go. But if I hadn’t been on the dining plan, I think I would’ve been a little disappointed with my dinner for the price I (would’ve) paid. The highlight for me was dessert. I was full from my drink (Red Snapper alcoholic beverage) and from the steak and potatoes, so I settled for an assortment of three sorbets. They were pretty tasty and a great way to finish off the meal.
Here's me and my Red Snapper.
As Carrie mentioned, I totally rocked the Fantasia Gardens golf course. 
We were near MGM and were able to clearly hear Fantasmic as we played the tail end of our 18 holes. We even got to see the ending fireworks as we finished up. 
We had taken the bus from POP to MGM and then a friendship boat over to the Boardwalk for dinner, and planned to return the same way we came. But we got stuck behind a group of six people on the golf course and our round lasted longer than expected. I figured we could just walk along the boardwalk path back to MGM and requested directions from a knowledgeable looking gentleman who worked at the golf course. He gave us crazy directions and luckily we were intercepted by the MGM security guard who drove us back to POP in his sweet convertible.
Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom and I am excited to try Expedition Everest and to see the new Nemo musical. Also I am excited for Carrie because she’s never been to AK. Our Boma reservations are at 6:30 and depending on how exhausted we are, we may go over to the Magic Kingdom to see the Spectromagic Parade and Wishes before we turn in for the night.
The family from Pennsylvania WAS the best family ever. My favorite part was when the spitting snotty girl from the UK was crawling around on the sidewalk picking up Mickey pixie dust and Andrew said, “That’s right, you have to get all the magic you can here.”
They were so perfect and nice.
But enough about that….
We did SO MUCH today at the Magic Kingdom, and all before 4:00! The only thing we didn’t do that we wanted to do was ride Splash Mountain (technically, Porkchop doesn’t want to ride it but will). We totally covered Tomorrowland (with two rides on Space Mountain), Fantasyland, Liberty Square, and Frontierland. We will catch Adventureland and Splash Mountain after our Keys to the Kingdom tour on Tuesday.
Since we had a few things lined up for tonight, we left MK around 4:00 and napped a bit at the hotel. For dinner, we headed to the Boardwalk for our reservation at the Flying Fish. 
For a starter, I had the Tuna Tasting, which was yellowfin prepared a couple of ways accompanied by sesame crackers. My main course was an oak-grilled Alaskan King salmon with potato-chive gnocchi, spinach, ramps, and a garlic-butter sauce. Dessert was my favorite – a warm Valrhona galette with raspberries and gelato. Throughout dinner I sipped on Eroica Riesling, which really hit me right before dessert.
After the Flying Fish, we walked over to play miniature golf. Porkchop beat me of course, but I had a few good holes. After finishing golf around 10:30, Porkchop asked the counter guy how we should walk back to MGM to catch the bus to POP. He gave us totally whacked out directions that began with us cutting through the golf course. Right…
Our trip was cut short the entrance to the MGM security entrance. A security guy leaving the park stopped us and ended up giving us a lift back to POP. This was muck quicker than the bus, but it made us feel quite sheepish.
Stupid miniature golf counter guy!
I’m looking forward to tomorrow since I’ve never been to the Animal Kingdom. I think the Finding Nemo musical will be neat, and I can’t wait to eat at Boma. Yum!
This morning we once again arrived at the parks nearly an hour before opening and were first in line to the turnstile. 
Unfortunately, instead of being surrounded by attentive cast members and witty characters, we got stuck next to the most horrible family ever.
The family was British and consisted of two snotty girls (roughly 5 and 7) and one snotty little boy (8 or 9). I was first put off by the way they were complaining about everything. They didn’t understand why some other guests got to go in the parks early (for character breakfasts) or why they had to wait until the rope dropped to get in. To make matters worse, while the parents were busy complaining about their wait, the children were knocking into each other with their stroller and kicking and hitting each other and crying. A cast member tried to pacify the youngest girl with “pixie dust” and stickers but she found fault with both and continued with a rampage that culminated in spitting on her older sister. The parents ignored this activity for the most part, only occasionally threatening to “beat the bloody hell out of” them if they didn’t straighten up.
Thankfully, the horror of this family was soon buffered by the best family ever. This family was from Pennsylvania. The parents were wearing coordinated canary colored polo shirts tucked into their neatly pressed khaki shorts. The kids, a boy around 12 years old and a girl around 5 years old, were wearing matching Disney t-shirts. It was their first trip to the Magic Kingdom and their excitement was contagious. The boy quizzed a nearby cast member about operating times and suggested educated amendments to their five page printed out itinerary. It was refreshing to listen to the family chatter about their upcoming day and my biggest excitement came when I overheard the mother praise her son:
Andrew, I am SO glad that you and Tiffany wore your matching t-shirts today. You look so fantastic. This is just wonderful.
Here's what we got at the Sunshine Seasons Food Fair:
Two Entrees and Two Sides (Sweet & Sour Pork with Rice and Broccoli)
Seared Ahi Tuna Salad and Fruit Tulip
Note to self:
Never go to Disney Quest again. Especially the very first night that you arrive at Disney World. The “rides” will make you so sick that you break out into a drenching sweat and throw up in your mouth. You will be dizzy and sensitive to light and noise, both of which are in abundance at DQ.
And now back to our regularly scheduled program.
I woke up this morning to a slight disappointment. The phone rang at 6:45am and I grabbed it, anxious to hear my pal Mickey wake me up. Instead of Mickey, I was greeted by the sound of silence. Murrrrr…
This morning we looked fresh and ready to go, all bright-eyed and clean out of the shower with our matching trip shirts on. Inside, I felt more hung over than I have in a long time. Much like German beer and French wine, Amanda and Disney Quest just do not mix well together. I was definitely still feeling the effects this morning.
We were early to the bus stop and within 15 minutes we’d arrived at Epcot. While first in line at the turnstile we made conversation with a CM named Robert and my DQ hangover was temporarily eased with the delight of watching Carrie voluntarily whip out her pins and start trading with the CM. Here's a picture of me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the turnstile.
After getting fast passes for Soarin’, our first ride was on Test Track and it was a lot faster than I remembered. Our next stop was Mission: Space and I was hesitant about whether or not I should go on it after last night’s virtual reality fiasco. Thankfully, they’ve developed a less intense version of the ride so I was able to go on it without too much trouble. I did close my eyes in a few parts, just because the motion was starting to get to me.
Little did I know that I would spend a good portion of the rest of the afternoon closing my eyes and putting my head between my legs. Since when did Epcot become an acronym for Every-Place-Causes-Offensive-ThrowUp!?!?!?! Maybe I was just a little extra sensitive today because of last night, but it seemed like so many of the rides involved some sort of gigantic screen with loud noises and lights and larger than life images.
In no specific order, here are the rides that I went on and had trouble with: Nemo, Ellen’s Energy Adventure, Mission: Space, and Soarin’. Spaceship Earth, Maelstrom, and Journey into the Imagination were also a little troublesome but more because of jolty motions than anything else.
The only ride that I was able sit back and fully enjoy was “Living with the Land.” Yay for hydroponic plants and for fish farms.
Also enjoyable today were the flowers all around Epcot. Very very pretty. Here are a few more pictures for you.
We ate lunch at the Sunshine Seasons Food Fair and had snacks in the World Showcase. I attempted to use some dining plan snack credits at the Boulangerie Pattiserie in France but after I already had my croissant in hand and was at the cash register, the French girl told me that only their drinks counted as snacks. Pptpththhh! That’s what I think about that.
We loosely followed the Unofficial Guide’s one day itinerary today but kind of lost track of it a couple of hours into the visit. I was surprised though by how quickly we knocked out the main attractions. By 7:00, we were both exhausted and ready to get out of there.
It’s 9:00 now and Carrie is fast asleep. We might go down to the pool for a little bit… but judging by the way Carrie is snoring, we might not. Probably better to rest up for our big day at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow. Another early arrival is planned and we’ve got a lot to do before our Flying Fish reservations at 7:30pm.
Good night!
It’s 8:00 Friday night, and we are back at our hotel room. We just picked up a turkey sandwich and grapes to share from the POP food court. In a little bit, I think we’re going to hit the swimming pool.
Today was an excellent Epcot day, even if we’re missing Illuminations. We decided it’s more important to maintain our energy and sanity than to see a fireworks/laser show that we’ve both seen before.
Anyway, the morning started with us rising at 6:45 to get to Epcot a little after 8:00. We were first in line at one of the turnstiles. Awesome! During the 45 minute wait before entering the park, we chatted up a Dream Team member and traded pins with him. At 8:45, we were allowed into the park, where we waited at a rope near Innoventions West. Again, we got to chat up some cast members and Porkchop was hugged and high-fived by many cast members.
Our first stop after the rope drop was picking up Soarin’ fast passes. After that, we rode Test Track and Mission Space (green team). After Soarin’, we ate lunch at the Seasons Grill (seared ahi tuna salad and a fruit tart for me) and then rode Living with the Land.
Living with the Land is definitely my favorite ride at Epcot. I love the crazy horticulture projects! Tomato trees, giant hanging pumpkins, and squash grown in the shape of Mickey ears!
Before heading to the World Showcase, we also did the following:
Here's what we ate at the Wolfgang Puck Express:
Tomato Basil Garlic Linguini
Cobb Salad with Salmon (and Creme Brulee for dessert)
Today has been the longest day EVER, but oddly enough, I don’t feel that tired. This makes me think that I must only receive four and a half hours of quality sleep regularly. Heck, I guess we could have gone to the Magic Kingdom’s extra magic hours! Except for a few things….
First, I really am tired and will be extra tired tomorrow if I don’t get at least seven hours of sleep tonight.
Second, we needed to get back to POP to pick up our fridge from the most recent person in the refrigerator swap that Porkchop signed us up for. We also had to buy breakfast items in the food court for the week (soymilk and bananas for me, powdered donuts for Porkchop).
Third, we cut our Disney Quest time short after Porkhop became sick during the virtual reality game. She has very sensitive equilibrium, and the stupid game made her break out into a sweat and feel generally yucky.
Before the VR game, I managed to beat a handful of 8-year-olds on the Daytona USA racing game. Yes, victory is mine!
Here are other highlights from our day:
The past few months, I’ve had this game I like to play called “Pretend-we’re-at-Disney-World”. The game mostly consists of me and Carrie lying on the bed pretending to be asleep. I make a noise like a phone ringing and then reenact the typical Mickey Mouse wake-up call. Rubbing my eyes sleepily, I roll over and give Carrie a few quick shoves.
“Wake up,” I say. “It’s 4:30 in the morning and time to get ready to go to the Magic Kingdom.”
It’s at this point that Carrie breaks out of the role-playing and snaps at me…
I am NOT getting up at 4:30 in the morning while we’re at Disney World.
Finally, all those hours of preparatory role-playing paid off. When the alarm really did go off at 4:30 this morning, we jumped out of bed and were on our way.
In my pre-trip fantasy about this morning, I imagined a long lonely walk to the bus stop, where we would wait alone in the cold darkness for an empty bus to pull up and whisk us away to the MetroLink train.
In reality, the walk was loud with the sounds of rolling baggage on pavement. The bus stop was shared with a couple of other people and the bus was crammed so full of people that I wondered if we’d even be able to squeeze on with our luggage. The train ride was spent in separate seats. And when we arrived at the airport, I sprinted ahead of Carrie, my eyes set ahead on the ticket counter.
During my brisk walk through the terminal, I turned and caught sight of Carrie lagging behind and had to stop and laugh at myself. I’ve waited so long for this trip to get here that I figure I’d better slow down and actually take the time to enjoy it.
The bags are packed, the yellow Magical Express tags are on, we're pre-checked in for our flight and we're ready to roll!
Hopefully we'll be successfully reunited with our bags at our hotel tomorrow evening. In the meantime, we made sure to pack a carry-on bag with necessary toiletries and a change of clothes just in case.
While scrambling to finish our last-minute preparations, we took the time to watch American Idol and LOST. This is not Disney related, but I must say I am incredibly grateful that Sanjaya is no longer on the program. Despite the fact that I got teary-eyed during his final performance, I think it's finally time to get down to business on American Idol.
Now we're off to grab a few hours of sleep before our early early flight and even earlier bus and train ride to the airport. We're going to attempt to get out of bed at 4:30am to catch a 5:30 bus to a 5:45 train to a 7:25 flight to Disney World. Carrie is worried about not getting enough sleep but I don't think I'll sleep too well tonight, even if I tried.
We're going to write about our adventures nightly but may not be able to update the blog quite that often. While we'll be taking the computer with us to WDW, internet access is costly and, after all, we're on vacation! You can expect several updates over the next week, so stay tuned...
And have a Magical Day!
Here is a look at the countdown calendar which I have been diligently marking off daily since November 2006.
I can hardly believe it!
In just forty short hours, we'll be preparing for landing in Orlando, Florida, and within spitting distance of the Happiest Place on Earth.
I've been packed for at least a week now, but Carrie resisted until this weekend. Although originally reluctant to pack, she was glad that she didn't wait until the night before. When laying out potential outfits, it was discovered that Carrie was in need of a few essentials. Tonight after work, we did a little last minute shopping in preparation for the trip.
Other than that, I think I'm pretty much all ready to go. The only thing I really had left to do tonight was finish up my many trip-related craft projects.
First of all, a disclaimer: I have two masters degrees in art and also work at a UPS Store where I have access to lots of fun things like colored papers and color copiers and laminating machines and binding equipment. My job also offers a lot of down time, so I've been able to make a lot of ridiculous things for this trip. Here are a just a few of them:
My favorite project was a little pocket sized organizer to carry with me in my bag. In addition to important numbers, airline information, and reservation numbers, the book has a page for each day of our itinerary and maps of POP Century and Walt Disney World. As an afterthought, I also added lots of plain note pages throughout to jot down my reminders and observations. Carrie makes fun when I write things like: Sit at the front of the Magical Express Bus! But we'll see who's laughing when I'm the first one off the ME bus to make it to the check-in counter at POP.
For my trip two years ago, I made matching shirts for myself, my brother, and his family. I kind of did it as a joke... but had so much fun with it that I decided to make me and Carrie shirts for our trip. I drew a picture of us. (Guess which one is Carrie.) For this image I pasted it on to the Year of a Million Dreams castle background. Yes, I know... the background is stolen... but I'm not selling these, so hopefully the Dream Squad won't pull me behind the castle and dump my bludgeoned body in the Seven Seas Lagoon.
For our shirts, it's just the two of us on plain backgrounds. Mine is the reddish shirt and Carrie's is the black.
Since the discovery of quality ink-jet, iron-on transfers, I pretty much make most of the t-shirts (designs) that I wear. In addition to the Amanda/Carrie shirt, I'll also be sporting a Carousel of Progress image that my brother "re-drew" in Illustrator for his recent trip.
I will also be taking a Kidney Donor t-shirt that I made in celebration of my October donation to my father. Don't mean to toot my own horn... but kidney donors are awesome. Might as well make a shirt for the occasion.
I also salvaged a toddler's Mickey Hockey t-shirt and used it as a sewn patch on a shirt for me. So much fun!
If only I had more time for more crafty-fun... but I'm leaving in forty hours!
