pattyw
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2008
July 4-9 at All-Star Movies. Bring on the warm weather!
Ruthie- you are absolutely guaranteed warm (HOT!!!) weather for this trip. No hoodies allowed!! How exciting to be there for the 4th!!
July 4-9 at All-Star Movies. Bring on the warm weather!
Ruthie- you are absolutely guaranteed warm (HOT!!!) weather for this trip. No hoodies allowed!! How exciting to be there for the 4th!!
I'm sorry to read about your tears at Magic Kingdom. You've been very candid in your trip report about size challenges. I hope it helps someone else with their trip planning.
I'd thought I'd lost the link to your report, so glad it's going again. What a shame about the Haunted Mansion ride, glad the CM was understanding and tried to make your day a little brighter with the FP.
A trip in July will be hot. I have only been once in July and the heat just hit us every time we walked out the door.
Ruthie- Don't feel bad about the Haunted Mansion ride! Sometimes the lap bars click and sometimes not- so it may work next time! It depends on the cast member, too. If they take an extra moment, it may work out fine!
Surface of the sun! Yep- that's July and August in Orlando!
Hi, Ruthie. I just read your whole trip report (up to this point) in one sitting and have really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing! You and Tony seem like such a sweet, fun couple. It is obvious how much joy the trip brought you and it is making me excited for my own trip in July! I am glad that the weather warmed up at least a little, and that Tony got to ride BTMR. Too bad about TSM, but hopefully on your next trip! Looking forward to your next installment!
Before I start the next installment, I must confess that I am a very bad DISBoards report writer in the following area - I took no food pictures. I know friends, you're probably thinking "what the heck Ruthie - we need comprehensive information!". A million apologies. It just seemed odd to me to take pictures of our meals. I did jot down notes of what we ate, and will do my best to use my internet searching abilities to find pictures of what we ate. Now, back to where we left off . . . finding our dining destination.
When we first made the reservations for this trip, we were well within the timeframes to make dining reservations. And if you read my PTR, the dining changed often. I was very excited though to get a reservation at Art Smith's Homecoming Restaurant. After we left the sunglasses store, we once again found a "you are here" map and was able to find the restaurant. At this point, the sun had gone down and it was COLD. We were a few minutes early, but went on ahead and checked in. The poor hostess was stationed outside. After checking in, she asked us if we wanted to sit inside or outside and that the outside had heaters.
Good heavens woman - my teeth are chattering - I'm going inside!
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The place was packed, but there were seats in the front for people to wait, so that is what we did. I think we probably waited about 20 minutes before our table was ready. We had a four top table close to the bar. It was comfortable and we had more than enough room. Our waiter was named David (I only remember because that's my brother's name - this is not something I wrote down!) and he was very attentive to us without being obnoxious. I hate going to restaurants where the server is either on top of me every two minutes or a ghost. I got a diet coke and Tony an unsweet tea and we began to look at the menu. We had the dining plan which entitled us to one table service, one counter service and two snacks per person per day. I very much liked having the dining plan. Everything was paid for (except the tip) and it was just an easy process. David brought us our drinks and scanned my magic band to confirm we were on the dining plan. Now it was about 7:00 PM and neither Tony or I had eaten since the eggs that morning in Valdosta, so we were starving. Although it was not part of the dining plan, we wanted an appetizer.
Bee Haven Bay Fried Green Tomatoes - Shaved ham, remoulade sauce and dressed local greens.
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They were so good. I do not eat ham, so I pushed that part aside, but the greens and the sauce on the tomatoes were delicious. Definitely worth having to pay extra for these. Our entree's were served just a few minutes after the empty appetizer plates were taken away.
I ordered "Art's Fabulous Fried Chicken - Chef Art Smith's signature dish! Buttermilk-brined for 24 hours then perfectly fried and served with creamy mashed potatoes, cheddar drop biscuit and love." No gravy on the taters and all white meat please.
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The red sauce on the picture above was not on my plate (I'm not sure what that is). Again, delicious. The servings were huge and it was piping hot. I absolutely loved the cast iron skillet that the taters were served in.
Tony ordered "Fried Catfish accompanied by hushpuppies, grits and a side of remoulade."
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Again, no red stuff on his plate (seriously, what is that?) but everything else is accurate. I ate a bite of his fish and it was also so good. The fish was flaky and even though the batter was thick, it was cooked thru.
Neither one of us could finish our dinner. There was just so much food. Had I been paying attention to other tables and the sizes of their meals, we would have passed on the appetizer. But those tomatoes were really good too! David could clearly see that dessert would need to be boxed up to go.
I got "Hamilton County Chocolate Pecan Pie a 100-year-old traditional Smith Family Farm recipe, served with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream." Since it was to-go, I opted to not have the ice cream.
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This was good, but very rich. The ice cream would have been a nice addition, but there was no way in the world I would have been able to eat another bite at that point.
Tony got "Shine Cake Chef Art's signature dessert. An adult-only butter cake soaked with moonshine syrup, served with seasonal fruit gastrique and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream." Again, we passed on the ice cream. Tony really liked this. I did not. I've tasted moonshine before and it is not a flavor that I enjoy. When they say it was soaked, they mean it.
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After we settled the bill, we gathered everything up and waddled out of the restaurant. Still cold and we had to figure out where the busses might be. I'm really not this challenged when it comes to directions, but I was definitely driving the struggle bus on this day. But before we left, I wanted to get up close with one more thing.
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The Characters in Flight balloon was all lit up, but due to the winds, not operating that evening. I know that Tony really wanted to get up in it, but luckily for me, we couldn't do it. I am very, very, very afraid of heights. Remember these words for later in the trip. After checking out the balloon, we managed to find our way to the busses. I was done with the less than helpful maps. At this point, I just asked someone for directions. We waited probably 10 minutes for a bus and thankfully the heat was chugging nicely. Coming out of Disney Springs took a while because the traffic was pretty congested. But I wasn't driving, so I just enjoyed the ride. We got back to the resort and we immediately went back to the room. Our desserts got put into the refrigerator and we were snuggled down in bed shortly after that. It was really a perfect first day (other than the weather of course) and I was just over the top excited to be in Disney with Tony. Tomorrow was our first park day - Magic Kingdom.
Up next - honey why is this map in Japanese?
Beauty and the Beast was fantastic. I sang loud and proud. And yes, I'm feeling much better!
TSM being down was a huge bummer. I have never ridden it and had kind of been carrying on about how I was going to beat Tony and make him cry. Next time!
Cold. Yes, it was cold every day so far. Mother nature hates us.
Another lull in the trip reporting, as I got sick. Again. This time - kidney stones. OMG. I've had them once before and it was so ridiculously awful. Two Friday's ago, I left work like normal, got my nails done and had dinner with Tony, and went to bed with no problem. About 2:00 AM, I woke up with a pain in my back like someone was stabbing me. I took some Aleve and just tried to find a somewhat comfortable spot until Tony woke up. By 7:00 AM, I couldn't take it any more and woke up Sleeping Beauty and we headed over to the ER. Even though the kidney stones were confirmed, thankfully I did not have any infection. So I got some pain medication and other meds to help "pass the stone" and I went home. Where I stayed for the next week. The stone passed, but this round came with some pretty bad nausea and associated yuckiness. I finally returned to work today and am getting caught up on 300+ e-mails and of course, my neglected trip report. I need to sort thru my Animal Kingdom pictures and get the narrative going. An update will be posted today. In the meantime, some replies!
I have never been a zoo person. I'm really not an animal person. We don't even have any pets and when Tony comments about wanting a dog I'm all "NONONONONONO". But I really enjoyed AK.
So sorry to hear about your kidney stones. That sounds miserable
I love AK and the safari, so I'm with your DH Tony on this one. I hope you all had a great time.
Yes, finally. It's been a rough time.
The drinks were so good. And yes, they warmed our tummies! AK was amazing.
Festival of the Lion King is a great show. I'm always bummed when it ends. I could sit through a much longer version if they'd let me! Ha!
Love your Mickey and Minnie photo.