I am so bored at work today I could just cry…

Which is why I am writing this post. Just so you know, Evan was a sweetheart earlier this week and called to requested a top floor room. He also double checked and you have a crib on your reservation. Only 18 more days until I can complete our online check-in and 28 days until we leave! I can’t believe it is so close!

I hope you are all getting excited as well… and that Hayden has been enjoying his gifts from the characters.

Because I am bored today and only have a small frozen meal for lunch, I am going to dream about Disney Food!

Cinderella’s Royal Table— don’t expect awesome food here. While Evan loved his pork chop and salad, the rest of the food was “meh”. The reason we are dining here is because we are EATING INSIDE THE CASTLE.

I am split between two appetizers here. I had the corn and crab chowder last year, and I remember it being good but not memorable. Evan had the BLT salad and raved about the dressing.

BLT Salad - Applewood Smoked Bacon, Tomato, Egg, Red Onion, and a wedge of Iceberg Lettuce drizzled with Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette

Corn and Crab Soup - with Sour Cream and Chives

As for my entrée, Evan loved the his pork chop last year, so I may get that. The chicken last year was good, but once again, not memorable. The prime rib could be good, but I already plan on getting beef at several restaurants, so I would probably choose the pork or chicken. I would choose the Salmon as well, but I am planning on having Salmon elsewhere.

Pork Chop - with Bacon and Mushroom Ragout and Red Bliss Mashed Potatoes finished with Sweet Chipotle Glaze

Lemon Lavender Chicken - on Mashed Potatoes served with Wilted Spinach and a Chicken Jus

Roast Prime Rib of Beef - with Grilled Asparagus, Roasted Potatoes, and Cabernet Sauce

Pan Seared Salmon - with a grain Pilaf, Grilled Asparagus, and glazed with Rosemary-Lemon Honey

As for dessert, I remember not being impressed with the “buckle” last year. I thought it was rather dry. The sorbet is “no sugar added”, but I would need to find out the flavors first. I think I may have crème brulee the next day at Coral Reef, so I don’t really want to get it here. I guess it depends on the flavor.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle - A single layer of Chocolate Cake stuffed with Cream Cheese topped with Créme Chantily and finished with Créme Anglaise Sauce

Seasonal No Sugar Added Sorbet - with berries

Seasonal Cremé Brulée

My dream would be to order the Cinderella Slipper Dessert (one for each couple). You have to call 48 hours in advance for this beauty, and we would get this on top of a regular dessert? Too much? Probably. But I am still considering it, I don’t know why. Sometimes it is all chocolate and sometimes the shoe is white chocolate.

Touring Plan Tuesday: Downtown Disney

My mom has our book, so I can’t create a Universal touring plan until next week. However, I figured that I could list all the places I wanted to go to at DTD.

Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop – we got a sundae here last year and it was SO WORTH the $8 we spent out of pocket

Basin – “homemade soaps, shampoos, facials, body masks and more premade or made to order. Custom made scents begin at $3.95”. We should totally make a WDW scent and use that soap throughout the trip. We then take a bar home. When we use it, we remember WDW!

Disney's Days of Christmas – we got some ornaments here last year. We don’t have any Disney stuff around the house normally, but don’t mind having ornaments.

Goofy's Candy Company—we totally need to build our own creation, even though it will be an out of pocket expense.

LEGO Imagination Center –   This may be fun to explore with Hayden!

Mickey's Mart - Everything Ten Dollars and Under. This might be a fun stop for a cheap toy for Hayden.

Once Upon A Toy – Build your own lightsaber and/or fill a box with Mr. Potato Head parts for a set price.

TrenD – “a stylish boutique with designer flair and eclectic offerings opens in March 2009. The urban-inspired specialty store is a one-of-a-kind, hip destination for fashion-conscious shoppers seeking trendy apparel and novel accessories.”

World of Disney – “The largest Disney character merchandise store with just about anything Mickey Mouse you can think of! The World of Disney store is HUGE!  It is very easy to get separated and/or lost in the store.  Keep close watch of your children.  When you enter, pick out a landmark so you can more easily find your way out.-- TIP: At the entrances you will often find a Cast Member greeter who will be happy to give you a Disney sticker to wear and direct you towards what you are looking for.”

POFQ: Experience

I found a couple of good articles today about the Port Orleans French Quarter experience! If you have time, check them out and start getting excited!

http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2010/07/port_orleans_french_quarter_pa.html
http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2010/07/port_orleans_french_quarter_pa_2.html

Touring Plan Tuesday: Disney’s Hollywood Studios

I don’t have my Unofficial guidebook (it’s at my parents’ house), so I figured that we would skip Universal and go over DHS today. I can find the DHS plans online, but not the Universal.  Here we go! The plan for the park that Evan doesn’t remember because he was sick that day. We only rode a few rides and then left the park, so many things will be new to us

7:00 a.m. Bus to DHS

Boat’s don’t start running until 8:30 ish, so we will walk the 10 minutes to Kouzzina

7:50 a.m. Kouzzina Breakfast. Boat from Boardwalk Resort to DHS

9:00 a.m. Park Opens

            Get FASTPASSES for Toy Story Mania (for later in the day)

            Ride Toy Story Mania

            Hayden, Paula and Ginny ride Toy Story again

            Laura, Dirk and Evan ride Rockin’ Roller Coaster

Meet at Sunset Boulevard

            Laura, Dirk and Evan ride Tower of Terror

            Laura, Dirk and Paula ride Tower of Terror

            Ride the Great Movie Ride

            Take the BackLot Tour

            Ride Toy Story Mania again

11:50 Sci-Fi Dine in Theatre Lunch

            Naps/Swimming/Rest

Animation Tour (character greetings—Lotso, Sorceror Mickey,  possibly Mr/Mrs Incredible and Frozone)

Explore the Streets of America

            See MuppetVision 3D

            Shows: Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, Jedi Training Academy and/or Lights! Motors! Action! (these we will work into our touring plans for the day once we have showtime information).

           

6:50 p.m. Brown Derby Dinner 

Not on List:
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Closed Attractions: Star Tours, One Man's Dream
Playhouse Disney: Live on Stage

Parades?

So I read about the electrical water parade in the book and how it can be seen from

1 Month, 15 Days~

I can't believe it! When we started the countdown we were exactly four months away!

I can't wait. In order to pass the time, I plan on...

• Creating a Pre-Trip Report on the "disboards" I frequent
• Reading about other people's trip plans, previous trips, and dining reviews on the "DIS" to get excited
• Planning out what outfits to take
• Planning what to eat
• Making pocket sized touring plan cards
• Making a list of items to purchase (aka more shorts/Capris-- I will be taking a pair of jeans for "nice dinners", suction cup toothbrush holder)
• Start going on walks every other day to get used to the heat. (Hopefully my white legs will tan by then).

What are your plans for the next 6.5 weeks? 

Wishes Viewing Locations

I found this great article about WISHES, the fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom. It basically tells you the best viewing locations. We saw WISHES from inside the castle last year, but because our reservations this year are for 6:40, we will probably see WISHES from the park.

I am usually not a huge fireworks fan, but Laura's pictures from the 4th of July and her excitement over fireworks displays are getting me excited! I also posted a link to information about where to view Illuminations (at Epcot).

http://www.waltdisneyworldhacks.com/2008/03/best-places-to.html

http://www.squidoo.com/illuminationsROE

Touring Plan Tuesday: Magic Kingdom Day 2

As stated in my comment, I was able to get a reservation for CA Grill on Friday night (for 5:40 p.m.). I found out today that fireworks are not showing that night because the Magic Kingdom will be closing early. However, I think it actually works out. 


We can go goofy golfing that afternoon at leave 5:00 p.m. for the Contemporary and then eat. We can then go shopping at Downtown Disney that evening when it is cooler. We can take a break after lunch at Wolfgang Puck and then leave around 3:30 p.m. for Goofy Golfing-- we can choose either Winter Summerland or Fantasia Gardens, but I think Fantasia Gardens is more difficult to get to. 


~~~~~~~~~~~~


Here is our second day plans for the Magic Kingdom! I think that Hayden is less than 44 inches, so he will miss Space Mountain. However, he may have fun riding the Buzz Lightyear ride—three times in a row! Let me know what you think…

7:00 a.m. Take bus to Magic Kingdom

8:00 a.m. Crystal Palace Breakfast

9:00 a.m. Park Opening

            Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin

            Space Mountain (Paula, Hayden and Ginny ride Buzz again)

            Space Mountain (Evan, Hayden and Ginny ride Buzz again)

            Astro Orbitors

            Tomorrowland Speedway (Hayden can steer if someone else pushes the gas pedal for him) =)

            Goofy’s Barnstormer

            Mickey’s House         

            Donald’s Boat

            Minnie’s House          

            Pirates of the Caribbean

            Jungle Cruise

           

12:30 p.m. Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern

           

            Rest Break at Hotel

            Magic Carpets of Aladdin

            Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

            Enchanted Tiki Room

            Laugh Floor Comedy Club

7:10 p.m. Ohana (monorail to Polynesian from Magic Kingdom)

9:00 p.m. Wishes fireworks show at Magic Kingdom


I eliminated Stitch's Great Escape and Carousel of Progress. I am willing to do both, but Evan hates both of these attractions.

List of Movies to Watch~

Evan and I compiled this list of movies that are integrated into rides, character greetings, etc. We want to watch some of these before we go, and thought we would share the list! Only 1 month and 26 days!

• Swiss Family Robinson
• Aladdin
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• The Lion King
• Star Wars
• Peter Pan
• A Goofy Movie
• Cinderella
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Snow White
• The Little Mermaid
• Dumbo
• Alice in Wonderland
• Toy Story
• Monster's Inc.
• Lilo and Stitch
• Finding Nemo
• The Three Caballeros
• Mulan
• Sleeping Beauty
• A Bug's Life
• Any Muppet Movie
• Any Indiana Jones Movie.

Plan for Our Last Day~

Since we will have another day at WDW because of the flight situation, we will want to make tentative plans for that day as well. We already have our meals planned for breakfast and lunch, but I must say that I am questioning the choice of Boma. Essentially, I was planning on a day and a half at animal kingdom, but I am thinking that we should really only plan one full day there… and then we can choose, when we are there, which park we want to see our last day.

As such, Boma is really “out of the way” when it comes to the other parks—it is at Animal Kindgom Lodge. AKL is far away from most of the parks, and it would take some travel time.  I am thinking that we may want to choose something in a centralized location—perhaps something at an Epcot or Monorail resort. We can still go to Animal Kingdom that day if we want, but there would be less “hassle” if we didn’t want to go there.  What do you think?

We are eating at a few places already, but there are others we can choose from. Whether or not we do Boma is really up to you. 

Grand Floridian

Grand Floridian Café

1900 Park Fare

Contemporary

Chef Mickey’s

The Wave

Yacht Club

Captain’s Grille

Beach Club

Cape May Cafe

On that day I am thinking that we could go to a park for half a day, go Miniature Golfing at Winter Summerland or Fantasia Gardens, and then do some shopping at Downtown Disney (some shopping can also be done after we go to Harry Potter and eat at Raglan Road on 9/9).

We already have reservations for Wolfgang Puck Café at noon (9/11). I am thinking of pushing that to 1:00 p.m. so we have three and a half hours in the park of our choice. We can then eat and go back to our hotel for a rest. After that, we might want to go mini golfing that evening (we get vouchers for this in our travel packages) At 5:00 p.m. (when Blizzard Beach closes) we can catch the last bus out of Blizzard Beach and shop for a bit at Downtown Disney. After shopping we could go to dinner at around 7:00 or 7:30 p.m.

Evan is thinking that it might be nice to do another 2 credit place. We looked at the menus, and of the three we don’t have scheduled (see below), we think the California Grill might be fun. We would be eating dinner on the 15^th floor, and afterwards we can go to the viewing deck and watch the fireworks from there. Evan said he wouldn’t mind trying Narcoosee’s again—there are things he would order there, he would just order any sauces on the side and avoid the gratin potatoes.

California Grill

Citricos

Narcoosee’s

Let me know what you think! =)