Sue Holland
10-05-2007, 05:01 PM
Who/When/Where:
Who: Sue (48), DVC member
SB (49), Sexy Boyfriend
Dates: Sep 28-30, 2007
Travel Method: Personal car
Resort: Lake Buena Vista Resort Hotel (Downtown Disney)
Experience: Extremely experienced
INTRODUCTION:
On a lazy Sunday afternoon September 23, 2007 SB was busy watching some sports game on tv and I was busying myself playing solitaire on the laptop. We’re truly an exciting couple, lol. I casually mentioned next weekend the Food & Wine Festival was starting, which to me means that our trip is coming up soon (Oct 12). He responded with “let’s go”. I kept myself from laughing out loud, knowing it would be impossible to get a room – or would it?
DVC resorts fill up extremely early for F&W Festival, but I figured since we only wanted Friday & Saturday nights there was a possibility I would find something – since those nights are almost 3 times the cost of the other nights. But, I wasn’t crazy about spending 40-46 points for a studio for only 2 nights since I didn’t have any “excess” points. I checked the non-DVC Disney resorts online and was surprised to find All Star Sports available for Saturday night at $64 (FL resident rate) but nothing available for Friday. Even after calling CRO to check for a room at regular rate for Friday – there was nothing. My final stop was at the mousesavers website, where I saw a link to special rates at some of the Downtown Disney hotels.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t consider staying there, but for 2 nights it could work for us. They have their own bus transportation, which is convenient in all parks except the MK but we weren’t going to be going to the MK this trip. We’ll have our car but I refuse to pay the $10 or $11 they charge now to park at the theme parks, so the bus will meet our needs. I saw a link for the Lake Buena Vista Resort Hotel – fancy name for the Best Western <g>. Many years ago before Chris was even in school (he’s 21 now) we stayed there when it was the Travelodge and were happy with it then. It’s an 18-story tower, with all interior rooms. Parking is free (unlike the Swan & Dolphin), and although they have one of those obnoxious “resort fees”, at $6.95/night it is less than the resort fees at some of the other hotels. Plus, the special room rate was only $69 (normally around $114), so even with that fee it’s still a bargain. The rate was available both nights, so we booked it!
Next came discussion of where to eat. I knew better than to try any of the popular Disney restaurants, since I think free dining is still going on. SB mentioned “the hamburger place” (Beaches & Cream), but it makes sense to save that for our next trip when we’ll be staying at Beach Club Villas. He mentioned “the chicken place” (50’s Prime Time Café) but we’re booked there October 13th. Somehow I know what he’s talking about even though he can’t get the name of the restaurant out, lol! Since we’re at Downtown Disney this trip we’ll focus on restaurants there, plus the Food & Wine kiosks at Epcot. We decided on a dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Café for Saturday and lunch Sunday at Fulton’s. When I called Disney Dining I was on hold for a long time, then hung up and just called each of those restaurants directly. Within seconds I had reservations for exactly the times we wanted. We’ve enjoyed eating at Puck’s several times, but this will be our first visit to Fulton’s.
SB will take me to work Friday, and I’ll arrange to leave early so we can get up to WDW by 5pm. Friday night we’ll wander around Food & Wine Festival at Epcot, even though I expect it will be mobbed. Hopefully we can try a few of the booths, without too long of a wait. It might be extra magic hours that night, which will make it even busier! Perhaps after Epcot we’ll stop at Goofy’s Candy Co at the Marketplace to get a chocolate covered Mickey Mouse rice krispie treat! I saw photos on DIS recently and they look really good!
Saturday we’ll head back to Epcot so we’re sure to ride Soarin’ at least once. We’ll be at World Showcase when they open, to sample more Food & Wine stuff. The afternoon we’ll play by ear, and then at 6 we’ll have our dinner at Puck’s and then meet Leesa at Comedy Warehouse. Sunday we’ll sleep in – checkout is 11am and we have lunch at Fulton’s booked for 11:30. After lunch we may head to a park to walk off our lunch a bit, and then head home.
The plans so far are:
Friday 8/31: Work, Drive to WDW, Food & Wine Festival
Saturday 9/1: Epcot, Dinner Wolfgang Puck Café, Comedy Warehouse
Sunday 9/2: Lunch Fulton’s, Possible Park, Drive Home
DAY 1 – Friday 9/28/07
Who: Sue (48), DVC member
SB (49), Sexy Boyfriend
Plan: Work, Drive to WDW, Food & Wine Festival
Actual: SB drove me to work this morning and then came back to pick me up later, even though it’s a good 40 minutes from home. He had lunch in my office and we were on the road by 1:30 as planned. There was very little traffic and we were at the Best Western before 4:30. Walking into the lobby we were both impressed how nice this place looks – especially for a Best Western. That chain is pretty low on my list of places I’d consider staying at generally. They had 2 employees working at the front desk, and both were busy. I had to stand in a slow-moving line, which was not a good start to the trip. Once it was finally my turn the employee had the personality of a brick. She asked if I wanted to upgrade the room for $20/night extra, and I politely declined. So, my request for an upper floor was not met and we were given a room on the 2nd floor of the 18-story building. The room is in a good location in the sense that it’s close to the elevator and the ice machine, but the view is the roof below and not much else! Oh well, we’re not here for the view.
The room itself is ok. I think the pictures of the room I saw online were actually nicer. There are 2 queen beds, but they look pretty old and are much lower to the ground than our bed at home. There’s a small coffee maker, and plenty of space for the 2 of us. It wasn’t impressive enough to make me want to return, however – not by a long shot! We freshened up and headed downstairs to catch the bus to Epcot.
They have a bus stop right outside the front door, and it was pleasant sitting out there in the shade. Well, pleasant until a family of smokers arrived. The buses are Mears buses – the big yellow ones I used to see bringing guests in from the airport. We had quite a wait, and although the sign says buses come every 30 minutes, I think we waited a big longer than that. When it finally arrived I saw it goes to both Epcot & MGM. The other bus goes to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom!! That is a horrible route, and it must take an hour to get to those parks! Little did I realize it would take us that time to get back from Epcot later, but that’s a story for later.
Besides us and the smoking family the only other guests were a very large elderly man in a scooter and his wife. These buses do not have lifts, so if you cannot get out of your scooter or wheelchair you’re simply out of luck. This poor man had to get out of his scooter so the driver could put it in the bin under the bus, then walk half the length of the big bus and then get his butt pushed by his wife up the 4 steps or so to get onto the bus! It was a real struggle for him – what a horrible hotel choice this is for them! Finally we were on our way, and stopped next at the Regal Sun (formerly Grosvenor). Leaving there we were stuck for a while behind a semi-truck length trailer with a big pickup truck on the back. It was trying to turn left, and was blocking the way for our bus driver. In the meantime, she’s getting calls on the radio asking why she’s not where she’s supposed to be, and she’s explaining she “had to load a scooter” and is now stuck behind a trailer. Finally the trailer moves – and is going the wrong way down the friggin’ road! The road is 2 lanes on each side of the divided road – we couldn’t believe our eyes! Luckily there wasn’t an accident before the trailer found an opening to the other side and got over there! Next stop was the Buena Vista Palace, where of course we had to have a bus driver change. That didn’t take too long, and the new guy (Rick) was lots of fun. He talked a lot about Epcot. Unfortunately, a lot of what he said was not correct, lol. He mentioned “Honey I Blew Up the Kids” being a great movie there, had no idea “the ball” was closed, and described Body Wars as a don’t miss attraction <g>. Epcot was the next stop, and we were let off in the middle of the parking lot past the furthest bus stop. It probably took an hour or more to get here, including the waiting time. Unreal!
We got into Epcot quickly and decided to start on the Mexico side. We were both hungry by now, and decided to share everything between us. We didn’t bother with any rides or attractions, either. In Mexico we got the quesadilla with chicken and chorizo, along with a small dos equis beer. Both were good, although I could use some salsa with the quesadilla to make it even better. It’s a pretty healthy portion, and I was glad to not have to eat it myself because I wouldn’t have been able to eat much more. We skipped the next few countries, but may try some of them tomorrow or next trip. In China we got the chicken cha cha, potstickers and a small tsingtao beer. I didn’t really care for this food, but SB liked it well enough – he said they were good but nothing special. In Germany we got 1 of the debriziner sausage on a pretzel roll. We’d tried this last year and liked it a lot. It comes with sauerkraut but at the booth I asked them to give us one without the kraut and they did. I also got the S.A. Prum Essence Riesling, which went well with it. We both loved the sausage, declaring it the best thing yet.
We sat for a while, then continued on to Italy. The pizza looked really good, but SB was getting a bit full and I just wanted the caprese. We were both surprised when we saw it – a small bowl with 6-7 grape tomatoes and 3 small balls of mozzarella . It tasted much better than it looked, and was very light & refreshing. By now it was getting close to 7pm, which was the next concert time. The theater was not full, so we continued past it to the USA booth and were in a very long line there. SB decided he really wanted popcorn (actually he wanted a turkey leg but wasn’t sure he should get one) and a beer, so he went back to the cart outside of the America Gardens Theater. I stayed in the USA line until I got fed up with it not moving, and continued through Japan and into Morocco where Australia could be found. That line wasn’t too bad, so I got their rosemount traminer Riesling and the chocolate & macadamia bar. The wine was excellent, but they poured barely half of the small cup (it wasn’t just me – the person before me got the same portion). The chocolate bar was not what I expected, but it was ok. I won’t get it again, though. It was not very chocolaty, and I’m not a big fan of macadamia nuts so I picked those off.
I met SB back at the concert, and he had his beer and a turkey leg, lol! He ate about half of it and threw the rest away. It was fine, he just didn’t want the whole thing and there’s no way I’d eat any of that thing! Al Stewart was in concert tonight, and it was a nice show. His music was very relaxing and easy to listen to – the “big” song was “Year of the Cat”. When the concert ended we continued our trek through the countries. We saw they have the Oklahoma stuff located in France, which amused me. The kiosk there was quite busy, but we’ll try it tomorrow.
In France SB got an ice cream cone while I got one of the gran marnier slush drinks from the other stand. We sat on a bench and enjoyed the nice breeze. Earlier it was disgustingly hot in Epcot, so this was a welcome treat! He tried my slush and liked it so much we got another (mostly for him) once we got up and continued walking. It was gone by the time we got to the exit and headed to our bus.
I was pleased to see our bus sitting in the parking lot, and we were in our seats by 8pm. Our driver (Mary) was outside talking to another driver, just talking and talking and talking forever. Finally she got on the bus and is on the phone complaining about a co-worker who has pissed her off. Then she starts telling the other couple riding the bus about this situation. Helloooooo – do these guests really need to hear about her work problems?? We stop at MGM and she gets off the bus again to go talk to 2 other drivers. We sat there a long time again – it was really aggravating. When she finally gets on, she gives the route – Best Western, Regal Sun, then Palace. That’s also the route as listed on the sign hanging on the bus – where she has placed the “gratuities accepted” sign. We FINALLY get going again and after a while she announces we’re going to do Palace first, Regal Sun 2nd, and then Best Western because she “can’t stand the route the other way”!! So, we get to do all the stops both coming and going because she decides she likes doing the route backwards – I was not thrilled. SB mentions he’s going to give her $2 and I couldn’t believe it, lol! He said the sign was up, so we should do something – I wouldn’t have, but he can if he wants to. Of course, Mary gets off the bus first at each stop so she can receive any gratuity offered – although I don’t think she sees many. This wonderful adventure took over an hour – and we are finished using the bus transportation here. Tomorrow we’ll be using the car!
We were in the rest of the night. At one point I tried to get online, using the “free” high speed wireless in all the rooms that we pay for with the $6.95/night resort fee. I was not able to get online with either connection the laptop detected. Finally I called the front desk – but the phone didn’t work because I only got the very rapid busy signal that means the call is not going through. I dialed “O” and asked the operator to get me someone who could help me. She offered to send a maintenance man up to the room but said he could not do anything because the wireless was a private company. Ok, then why on earth would I want someone sent up?? She also said the wireless works “off and on”. I told her I wasn’t happy with “off and on” as long as I’m paying $6.95 for this “free” service. Unbelievable! She said she’d put in a call to the company, and they might send out a technician. In the meantime, I got online with a dialup connection. I am NOT pleased or satisfied with this hotel, to say the least. Thank goodness when we’re back in 2 weeks we’ll be doing it right – staying at Beach Club Villas. We can make do with this place for tonight and tomorrow night, but that’s the end of non-Disney hotels for us.
Overall it really was a very nice day, although it may sound like this report has a lot of complaining. Granted, the inconveniences shouldn’t happen, but we knew the risk when booking here and we’ll consider it a lesson learned. It was great being at Food & Wine and wandering around Epcot as the sun set. We’re going to be taking the rest of the weekend at a relaxed pace, not really worrying about what we don’t see or do, since we’ll be back soon. Whatever we get to do this trip is just “gravy”, so it’s all good!
DAY 2 – Saturday 9/29/07
Who: Sue (48), DVC member
SB (49), Sexy Boyfriend
Plan: Epcot, Dinner Wolfgang Puck Café, Comedy Warehouse
Actual: We both slept well, and since the air conditioning makes a steady hum we heard no noise from outside the room. I’d set the alarm for 7am because SB wanted to get more of his reports finished. He has to evaluate each player in the 12 teams in his league – he did 2 last night, and planned to do 2 more before we headed out. Good thing he woke up at 6:30, as I discovered although I’d set the alarm right the time on the clock radio was set as pm!
The wireless still wasn’t working this morning, which really irritates me. I took my shower – they have very nice bath towels here but that’s about the only positive aspect. The water doesn’t stop running in the tub even when you’re showering, and the water drains so slowly you’re standing in water up to your ankles. The air vent in the shower was coated with dust, too. I’m a fairly small person, but the shower area seemed really narrow. It should be interesting when SB gets in there, lol!
After I got ready I busied myself online while SB finished his reports and got ready himself. He mentioned eating breakfast at the hotel, but I ate my biscotti with my cappuccino in the room. We ended up leaving the hotel at 8:30 to drive over to Beach Club Villas. I realize I’m breaking the rules, but I am not doing these buses again. Going to Epcot isn’t that bad (2 stops), but coming back I do not want to stop at MGM Studios! Many of the guests at BCV with a car will be out of the parking lot during the day, so I’m not taking a space that would prevent someone else from being able to park – and I’ll be long gone before those guests start returning. The BCV parking lot had a lot of empty spaces when we arrived, and it was barely half full when we left 3 hours later.
There was no wait at International Gateway and we had just 5 minutes to wait for the 9am opening. They said they dropped the rope 1 minute early in honor of some kid’s birthday, but my watch said 9am or a minute past. We went to the Land, and I was surprised by how few people were in the park. I went ahead of SB and got us fastpasses for Soarin’ with a return time of 9:48. We went into the standby line and were off the ride by 9:30. It was great, as always – this is our favorite attraction at WDW.
We stopped at Sunshine Seasons and I had a few bites of SB’s adult breakfast platter. It had eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes and a biscuit – everything was very good, especially for fast food! After breakfast we walked right onto the Living with the Land boat ride, and enjoyed that as well. By now we were inside the Soarin’ fastpass window so we did our second ride of the day – this time in the top row.
By now it was 10 til 11, so we made a restroom stop in Imagination and walked out to World Showcase. We’d looked over the list of foods and had a general plan to follow. Our first stop was Australia for a couple shrimp on the Barbie and a beer for him and a glass of the same Riesling as last night for me. It was all excellent, and we sat on a shady bench facing the lake and had a really nice time. It’s so peaceful here!
Next stop was America, where we got the lobster roll and the pork rib with cole slaw. He said the lobster was good, although he only ate half the roll it came with. I thought the portion looked pretty small for $6.75. The rib was outstanding – very tasty, tender, and a lot of meat on the rib. We both enjoyed this!
We got him the pizza and me a glass of pinot grigio in Italy, and the love bugs were swarming something fierce! It was totally obnoxious, and really uncomfortable (and we’re used to love bugs since we live in Florida). He enjoyed the pizza, but I don’t think he’ll get it again. My pinot grigio was ok, but not something worth repeating for me either.
Germany was next, and we got 2 of the debriziner sausage in pretzel rolls – without the sauerkraut. Today the pretzel rolls were a bit overcooked, but the sausage was still excellent. The love bugs were all over us here, too – there was no escaping them. I was stuffed by the time I finished forcing my sausage down, and he wasn’t very hungry anymore either. We discussed what to do next, and decided since he was in the mood for popcorn we’d head back towards America. There was no popcorn made yet, and the cast member said they were waiting for butter to arrive, so it would be about 20 minutes or so. He decided to skip it, and as we approached the funnel cake stand he decided to get one of those. It was huge, and very good! We didn’t finish it, but enjoyed the half or so we did manage to eat. You really need about 3 people or so to eat one of these – I cannot imagine anyone eating the whole thing!
By now we were both full, as well as hot! It was another really warm day, although when the breeze would blow it was nice in the shade. We decided to see the movie in France, but when we got there the next one wasn’t starting for 25 minutes. We sat outside in the shade where the air conditioning was blowing on us for a few minutes, then decided to head back to the hotel.
We got the car and drove back – much faster than those buses would have been! Most of the cars were gone from our lot too, so we got a great parking spot. We cooled off in the room for a while – he had more reports to do and I updated the trip report. Once I had that done I drove over to Premium Outlets to check out Character Premiere (rather than hang out in the room with a football game on tv <g>). The wireless is still not working – I was going to complain at the front desk, but SB said I’d have better luck getting a beefsteak from a shark, lol. Oh, the satellite also went out when it started raining, so we had no tv either. Have I mentioned we won’t be back here? lol
It was raining heavily when I left the hotel, but it was just a passing shower. The sun was out by the time I got to the outlets just a few minutes later. This hotel IS convenient to the outlets. Parking was a nightmare, and took forever to find an empty spot. I ended up having to go all the way around to the back side to find a spot. This place must be impossible during the Christmas shopping season!
Character Premiere was fairly busy, and I found something for each of us. I got a thick sweatshirt-type zip-up jacket (without the hood) and got a nice ESPN Zone New York polo shirt for him. After making the purchase I headed back to the hotel – just in time to beat the next heavy downpour. The rain was coming down sideways, and it got really dark. SB commented we made the right decision in coming back when we did! For me, trudging around a theme park in the rain is not any fun at all.
We relaxed in the room the rest of the afternoon, and around 5:30 or so we drove over to Downtown Disney. Earlier SB had suggested we eat at Whispering Canyon Café instead tonight, so I kept from laughing & called Disney Dining and found nothing available at all. That was just fine with me, as I like Puck’s better!
On the way in from the parking lot we ran into half of the Ft Pierce family and chatted with them briefly before heading over to Puck’s. We checked in and were seated right away – we opted for outside but inside was also available. We were given a table by the railing across from Bongo’s, and immediately a bunch of ducks started coming over. As we looked over the menu it started getting darker and windier. We placed our order – sauvignon blanc and the barbeque chicken quesadilla for me; coke, Caesar salad and whole roasted chicken for him. Before we came we looked at the menu online, and he was astonished at the $27.95 pork chop. He said in the hood $27 of pork chops would feed 10 families, lol! But, he was going to order it and have me take a picture of him with the $27 piece of pork <g>. At the last minute he decided to stick with the chicken.
We no sooner got our drinks when it began to rain, and it blew in on me at times. We figured it would pass, so we stayed where we were. It got worse, so we moved to the table against the building, where it was more sheltered. We moved just in time, as right after we moved our original chairs and table were very wet! Pretty soon it got too bad even at the new table – the wind blew some glasses or dishes off a nearby table, and the broke on the floor. Our server told us to go inside and he’d bring our drinks & bread in to us. We ended up taking a couple of seats at the pizza bar near the entrance. Outside it was thundering, but the rain passed fairly quickly and had ended before we finished dinner.
The pizza bar was a nice location for us. Even though it was near the entrance, it wasn’t noisy. We watched the pizza guy make a LOT of pizzas while we were there. When the food came, I was stunned to see SB’s whole chicken was truly a WHOLE chicken! There were some mashed potatoes on the plate, then this WHOLE chicken was sitting on top. It looked like a meal for a family, not a person! I ate one of the wings, and it was very good – but nobody needs to eat 2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs and 2 breasts for 1 meal, lol! He ate all he could, but we ended up taking half of my quesadilla and most of the 2 breasts to Leesa as leftovers. We did order dessert – everything on the menu looked great so we had our server decide for us. We got the mud pie, and between us we ate the whole thing! We got 10% off the check for being a dvc member, so it ended up being $63 with that discount after the tip (based on the original total).
As soon as we left Puck’s it started to rain again, but lightly this time. We were ahead of schedule, but there really wasn’t time to go back to the hotel, he’s not a shopper, and it’s no fun walking around in the rain. It was 6:45 so we walked over to Adventurer’s Club and stood under cover at the bar outside, waiting for them to open at 7. Leesa arrived before 7 and spotted us there, and we all went inside once the club opened. We sat upstairs talking until it was time for the first Comedy Warehouse show.
John Dehas (not sure about the spelling) was on the keys tonight. The 7:45 cast was John, Brian, Matt, Lisa & Christine. Matt & Christine created a scene where they were working on fixing the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. He accidentally burned her with the welding thing and later cut off her arm, then cauterized the bleeding with a blowtorch. The scene was interrupted 3 times so they could create a song using the last line of dialogue spoken. They did “It’s Still Beautiful” in acid rock, “I’m so Uncomfortable” as a blues song, and “I don’t feel my arm” as a reggae song.
Next was Schmeopardy, hosted by Matt as Alex (mumbled something like trebek but not really). John was on his knees as Willie Shoemaker, the former jockey. Brian was Deke, a very nervous cowboy who is afraid of cows. Lisa was Tamara, a Miss Fiber 2007 who is a “brick layer”. It was very funny – rather crude, but funny.
The 8:50 cast was John, Brian, David, Lisa & Matt. They started with a poem called “Sushi Tastes Good”. Next Brian & Lisa went outside while they set up Blind Line. The others solicited short sayings from movies, songs, bumper stickers, etc – and wrote them each on a piece of paper. They folded up the papers and threw them on the stage. Brian & Lisa came back inside and created a scene working in a coffee shop, and from time to time had to pick up a piece of paper and make that be their next line of dialogue. It was a crazy scene, and everyone did a great job.
David sang a love ballad called “Let me hold your water”, with Matt & John coming in as back up dancers. They also did Slap Happy, where 2 actors start a scene and others stop the scene and replace one of them but not as the same character. This time John & Matt started by fixing toilets (thanks to the usual brilliant audience suggestion – nothing is more humorous than a toilet I guess).
The 9:55 cast was Matt, Christine, Lisa, Brian & tall Mark. Most of the show was Conducted Story, which was led by Lisa tonight. The story was “She’s a Killer Queen”, about a princess with a bunch of cats who got pregnant possibly by a cat, and either the princess or her mom the queen wanted the cats killed. It got pretty weird, lol. Brian died first, and was killed by a dime made of plutonium in a soap opera death. Christine died in Canada, with some strange animal stuff going on. Mark was killed by a rainbow, with Brian coming in as the fairy of the woods. That left Matt to wrap up the story in the style of a soul song.
All 3 shows were very good tonight – very creative and lots of laughs! We all left after the 3rd show. SB & I drove back to the hotel and were in for the night. We had talked about heading to Animal Kingdom in the morning, but decided instead to just sleep in and check out at 11 before heading to Fulton’s for lunch. Perhaps he can get more of his reports done.
Today didn’t feel like a Saturday for some reason. It felt more like we’re on vacation, but unfortunately we’re just here for the weekend and the weekend is almost over! Epcot was great this morning, as was Comedy Warehouse tonight. We really didn’t do much the rest of the day, but since it was raining quite a bit and still really hot I guess that’s no big loss.
DAY 3 – Sunday 9/30/07
Who: Sue (48), DVC member
SB (49), Sexy Boyfriend
Plan: Lunch Fulton’s, Possible Park, Drive Home
Actual: We never turned off the alarm, so the radio came on at 7am this morning. It was on SB’s side of the bed, and when he tried to turn it off he hit the button that advanced the time to 8am. We got up then anyway, and relaxed in the room. He was going to do another report, but wasn’t in the mood. I ate a piece of biscotti with my cappuccino, then we later decided to skip Fulton’s and get on the road earlier. Since we’re coming back so soon I didn’t mind – plus I really don’t like coming home at night then having to go to work the next morning. We showered & got packed up, and planned to drive over to the Marketplace around 9:15. We had to check out first, as this lovely hotel doesn’t seem to know how to do express checkout. They also haven’t fixed the ice machine that broke during the night Friday, but we skipped riding the elevator to another floor to find ice today! The wireless internet still isn’t working, either. I don’t think the air conditioning works right either, as I have it set at 60 degrees yet it’s too warm to sleep with more than a sheet. Normally if the air is set below 70 I’m wearing heavy socks and staying under the covers all of the time – but not here! I did ask at the front desk and learned I could have checked out via the television in the room, but since the person checking me in gave me NO information about the hotel except 1-word answers to specific question I had no idea. Oh well, I won’t be back to try it some day <g>.
We parked at the end of the Marketplace, down near Earl of Sandwich. Everything was open by now, but it wasn’t very crowded. It’s nice in the morning, being able to walk around without being shoulder-to-shoulder with lots of other guests! We went to Basin first, for the fragrance free body butter for SB. He doesn’t want to smell like a girl <g>. He actually liked the store, and we wandered around looking at and smelling the different soaps and other products. After we bought the body butter I smelled the mickey soap at the counter and really liked it. It was the best smelling one we found all day. I showed it to him and he loved it too, so we bought a bar of it to take home.
Next stop was Ghiradelli, where we each got a chocolate/caramel square sample and bought some foil wrapped chocolate (Halloween) balls for my office. From there we walked over to Goofy’s Candy Company for our final stop. There were only a couple other guests in the store, so this is the perfect time to visit. A very nice cast member took our order and prepared everything for us. SB got a regular caramel apple coated in peanuts – he wanted a red candy apple but they were all out and we didn’t want to walk to Candy Cauldron on the West Side. I ordered a mickey mouse rice krispie treat dipped in milk chocolate, coated in crushed reese’s peanut butter cups and drizzled with caramel – yummy!!! While she was making that we decided to get Chris a custom caramel apple, so I ordered one dipped in milk chocolate, coated with pecans and butterfinger pieces, drizzled in white chocolate. It’s massive! A young girl was standing patiently behind us, so I asked if she wanted to fill out an order form and moved aside to make room for her. Turns out it was her 7th birthday today, so the cast member got on the microphone and had everyone sing happy birthday to her (and gave her one of those magical moments certificates).
After we got our treats we headed out to the car and drove home.
It was a very short trip, but a very nice getaway. We didn’t worry about what we saw and what we missed, since the real (scheduled) trips are yet to come. It was great having an extra 2 visits to Food & Wine, as we both enjoy it. It wasn’t nearly as busy as I thought it would be, which was a nice surprise.
We were not impressed with the hotel, and won’t be staying there again. However, we have no regrets at having tried it. I don’t want to sound masochistic, but every once in a while it doesn’t hurt to receive affirmation of what a great decision it was to become a dvc member years ago!
Our next trip will begin Oct 12th, when we’ll be spending 6 nights at Beach Club Villas. Until then, thanks for reading!
Who: Sue (48), DVC member
SB (49), Sexy Boyfriend
Dates: Sep 28-30, 2007
Travel Method: Personal car
Resort: Lake Buena Vista Resort Hotel (Downtown Disney)
Experience: Extremely experienced
INTRODUCTION:
On a lazy Sunday afternoon September 23, 2007 SB was busy watching some sports game on tv and I was busying myself playing solitaire on the laptop. We’re truly an exciting couple, lol. I casually mentioned next weekend the Food & Wine Festival was starting, which to me means that our trip is coming up soon (Oct 12). He responded with “let’s go”. I kept myself from laughing out loud, knowing it would be impossible to get a room – or would it?
DVC resorts fill up extremely early for F&W Festival, but I figured since we only wanted Friday & Saturday nights there was a possibility I would find something – since those nights are almost 3 times the cost of the other nights. But, I wasn’t crazy about spending 40-46 points for a studio for only 2 nights since I didn’t have any “excess” points. I checked the non-DVC Disney resorts online and was surprised to find All Star Sports available for Saturday night at $64 (FL resident rate) but nothing available for Friday. Even after calling CRO to check for a room at regular rate for Friday – there was nothing. My final stop was at the mousesavers website, where I saw a link to special rates at some of the Downtown Disney hotels.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t consider staying there, but for 2 nights it could work for us. They have their own bus transportation, which is convenient in all parks except the MK but we weren’t going to be going to the MK this trip. We’ll have our car but I refuse to pay the $10 or $11 they charge now to park at the theme parks, so the bus will meet our needs. I saw a link for the Lake Buena Vista Resort Hotel – fancy name for the Best Western <g>. Many years ago before Chris was even in school (he’s 21 now) we stayed there when it was the Travelodge and were happy with it then. It’s an 18-story tower, with all interior rooms. Parking is free (unlike the Swan & Dolphin), and although they have one of those obnoxious “resort fees”, at $6.95/night it is less than the resort fees at some of the other hotels. Plus, the special room rate was only $69 (normally around $114), so even with that fee it’s still a bargain. The rate was available both nights, so we booked it!
Next came discussion of where to eat. I knew better than to try any of the popular Disney restaurants, since I think free dining is still going on. SB mentioned “the hamburger place” (Beaches & Cream), but it makes sense to save that for our next trip when we’ll be staying at Beach Club Villas. He mentioned “the chicken place” (50’s Prime Time Café) but we’re booked there October 13th. Somehow I know what he’s talking about even though he can’t get the name of the restaurant out, lol! Since we’re at Downtown Disney this trip we’ll focus on restaurants there, plus the Food & Wine kiosks at Epcot. We decided on a dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Café for Saturday and lunch Sunday at Fulton’s. When I called Disney Dining I was on hold for a long time, then hung up and just called each of those restaurants directly. Within seconds I had reservations for exactly the times we wanted. We’ve enjoyed eating at Puck’s several times, but this will be our first visit to Fulton’s.
SB will take me to work Friday, and I’ll arrange to leave early so we can get up to WDW by 5pm. Friday night we’ll wander around Food & Wine Festival at Epcot, even though I expect it will be mobbed. Hopefully we can try a few of the booths, without too long of a wait. It might be extra magic hours that night, which will make it even busier! Perhaps after Epcot we’ll stop at Goofy’s Candy Co at the Marketplace to get a chocolate covered Mickey Mouse rice krispie treat! I saw photos on DIS recently and they look really good!
Saturday we’ll head back to Epcot so we’re sure to ride Soarin’ at least once. We’ll be at World Showcase when they open, to sample more Food & Wine stuff. The afternoon we’ll play by ear, and then at 6 we’ll have our dinner at Puck’s and then meet Leesa at Comedy Warehouse. Sunday we’ll sleep in – checkout is 11am and we have lunch at Fulton’s booked for 11:30. After lunch we may head to a park to walk off our lunch a bit, and then head home.
The plans so far are:
Friday 8/31: Work, Drive to WDW, Food & Wine Festival
Saturday 9/1: Epcot, Dinner Wolfgang Puck Café, Comedy Warehouse
Sunday 9/2: Lunch Fulton’s, Possible Park, Drive Home
DAY 1 – Friday 9/28/07
Who: Sue (48), DVC member
SB (49), Sexy Boyfriend
Plan: Work, Drive to WDW, Food & Wine Festival
Actual: SB drove me to work this morning and then came back to pick me up later, even though it’s a good 40 minutes from home. He had lunch in my office and we were on the road by 1:30 as planned. There was very little traffic and we were at the Best Western before 4:30. Walking into the lobby we were both impressed how nice this place looks – especially for a Best Western. That chain is pretty low on my list of places I’d consider staying at generally. They had 2 employees working at the front desk, and both were busy. I had to stand in a slow-moving line, which was not a good start to the trip. Once it was finally my turn the employee had the personality of a brick. She asked if I wanted to upgrade the room for $20/night extra, and I politely declined. So, my request for an upper floor was not met and we were given a room on the 2nd floor of the 18-story building. The room is in a good location in the sense that it’s close to the elevator and the ice machine, but the view is the roof below and not much else! Oh well, we’re not here for the view.
The room itself is ok. I think the pictures of the room I saw online were actually nicer. There are 2 queen beds, but they look pretty old and are much lower to the ground than our bed at home. There’s a small coffee maker, and plenty of space for the 2 of us. It wasn’t impressive enough to make me want to return, however – not by a long shot! We freshened up and headed downstairs to catch the bus to Epcot.
They have a bus stop right outside the front door, and it was pleasant sitting out there in the shade. Well, pleasant until a family of smokers arrived. The buses are Mears buses – the big yellow ones I used to see bringing guests in from the airport. We had quite a wait, and although the sign says buses come every 30 minutes, I think we waited a big longer than that. When it finally arrived I saw it goes to both Epcot & MGM. The other bus goes to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom!! That is a horrible route, and it must take an hour to get to those parks! Little did I realize it would take us that time to get back from Epcot later, but that’s a story for later.
Besides us and the smoking family the only other guests were a very large elderly man in a scooter and his wife. These buses do not have lifts, so if you cannot get out of your scooter or wheelchair you’re simply out of luck. This poor man had to get out of his scooter so the driver could put it in the bin under the bus, then walk half the length of the big bus and then get his butt pushed by his wife up the 4 steps or so to get onto the bus! It was a real struggle for him – what a horrible hotel choice this is for them! Finally we were on our way, and stopped next at the Regal Sun (formerly Grosvenor). Leaving there we were stuck for a while behind a semi-truck length trailer with a big pickup truck on the back. It was trying to turn left, and was blocking the way for our bus driver. In the meantime, she’s getting calls on the radio asking why she’s not where she’s supposed to be, and she’s explaining she “had to load a scooter” and is now stuck behind a trailer. Finally the trailer moves – and is going the wrong way down the friggin’ road! The road is 2 lanes on each side of the divided road – we couldn’t believe our eyes! Luckily there wasn’t an accident before the trailer found an opening to the other side and got over there! Next stop was the Buena Vista Palace, where of course we had to have a bus driver change. That didn’t take too long, and the new guy (Rick) was lots of fun. He talked a lot about Epcot. Unfortunately, a lot of what he said was not correct, lol. He mentioned “Honey I Blew Up the Kids” being a great movie there, had no idea “the ball” was closed, and described Body Wars as a don’t miss attraction <g>. Epcot was the next stop, and we were let off in the middle of the parking lot past the furthest bus stop. It probably took an hour or more to get here, including the waiting time. Unreal!
We got into Epcot quickly and decided to start on the Mexico side. We were both hungry by now, and decided to share everything between us. We didn’t bother with any rides or attractions, either. In Mexico we got the quesadilla with chicken and chorizo, along with a small dos equis beer. Both were good, although I could use some salsa with the quesadilla to make it even better. It’s a pretty healthy portion, and I was glad to not have to eat it myself because I wouldn’t have been able to eat much more. We skipped the next few countries, but may try some of them tomorrow or next trip. In China we got the chicken cha cha, potstickers and a small tsingtao beer. I didn’t really care for this food, but SB liked it well enough – he said they were good but nothing special. In Germany we got 1 of the debriziner sausage on a pretzel roll. We’d tried this last year and liked it a lot. It comes with sauerkraut but at the booth I asked them to give us one without the kraut and they did. I also got the S.A. Prum Essence Riesling, which went well with it. We both loved the sausage, declaring it the best thing yet.
We sat for a while, then continued on to Italy. The pizza looked really good, but SB was getting a bit full and I just wanted the caprese. We were both surprised when we saw it – a small bowl with 6-7 grape tomatoes and 3 small balls of mozzarella . It tasted much better than it looked, and was very light & refreshing. By now it was getting close to 7pm, which was the next concert time. The theater was not full, so we continued past it to the USA booth and were in a very long line there. SB decided he really wanted popcorn (actually he wanted a turkey leg but wasn’t sure he should get one) and a beer, so he went back to the cart outside of the America Gardens Theater. I stayed in the USA line until I got fed up with it not moving, and continued through Japan and into Morocco where Australia could be found. That line wasn’t too bad, so I got their rosemount traminer Riesling and the chocolate & macadamia bar. The wine was excellent, but they poured barely half of the small cup (it wasn’t just me – the person before me got the same portion). The chocolate bar was not what I expected, but it was ok. I won’t get it again, though. It was not very chocolaty, and I’m not a big fan of macadamia nuts so I picked those off.
I met SB back at the concert, and he had his beer and a turkey leg, lol! He ate about half of it and threw the rest away. It was fine, he just didn’t want the whole thing and there’s no way I’d eat any of that thing! Al Stewart was in concert tonight, and it was a nice show. His music was very relaxing and easy to listen to – the “big” song was “Year of the Cat”. When the concert ended we continued our trek through the countries. We saw they have the Oklahoma stuff located in France, which amused me. The kiosk there was quite busy, but we’ll try it tomorrow.
In France SB got an ice cream cone while I got one of the gran marnier slush drinks from the other stand. We sat on a bench and enjoyed the nice breeze. Earlier it was disgustingly hot in Epcot, so this was a welcome treat! He tried my slush and liked it so much we got another (mostly for him) once we got up and continued walking. It was gone by the time we got to the exit and headed to our bus.
I was pleased to see our bus sitting in the parking lot, and we were in our seats by 8pm. Our driver (Mary) was outside talking to another driver, just talking and talking and talking forever. Finally she got on the bus and is on the phone complaining about a co-worker who has pissed her off. Then she starts telling the other couple riding the bus about this situation. Helloooooo – do these guests really need to hear about her work problems?? We stop at MGM and she gets off the bus again to go talk to 2 other drivers. We sat there a long time again – it was really aggravating. When she finally gets on, she gives the route – Best Western, Regal Sun, then Palace. That’s also the route as listed on the sign hanging on the bus – where she has placed the “gratuities accepted” sign. We FINALLY get going again and after a while she announces we’re going to do Palace first, Regal Sun 2nd, and then Best Western because she “can’t stand the route the other way”!! So, we get to do all the stops both coming and going because she decides she likes doing the route backwards – I was not thrilled. SB mentions he’s going to give her $2 and I couldn’t believe it, lol! He said the sign was up, so we should do something – I wouldn’t have, but he can if he wants to. Of course, Mary gets off the bus first at each stop so she can receive any gratuity offered – although I don’t think she sees many. This wonderful adventure took over an hour – and we are finished using the bus transportation here. Tomorrow we’ll be using the car!
We were in the rest of the night. At one point I tried to get online, using the “free” high speed wireless in all the rooms that we pay for with the $6.95/night resort fee. I was not able to get online with either connection the laptop detected. Finally I called the front desk – but the phone didn’t work because I only got the very rapid busy signal that means the call is not going through. I dialed “O” and asked the operator to get me someone who could help me. She offered to send a maintenance man up to the room but said he could not do anything because the wireless was a private company. Ok, then why on earth would I want someone sent up?? She also said the wireless works “off and on”. I told her I wasn’t happy with “off and on” as long as I’m paying $6.95 for this “free” service. Unbelievable! She said she’d put in a call to the company, and they might send out a technician. In the meantime, I got online with a dialup connection. I am NOT pleased or satisfied with this hotel, to say the least. Thank goodness when we’re back in 2 weeks we’ll be doing it right – staying at Beach Club Villas. We can make do with this place for tonight and tomorrow night, but that’s the end of non-Disney hotels for us.
Overall it really was a very nice day, although it may sound like this report has a lot of complaining. Granted, the inconveniences shouldn’t happen, but we knew the risk when booking here and we’ll consider it a lesson learned. It was great being at Food & Wine and wandering around Epcot as the sun set. We’re going to be taking the rest of the weekend at a relaxed pace, not really worrying about what we don’t see or do, since we’ll be back soon. Whatever we get to do this trip is just “gravy”, so it’s all good!
DAY 2 – Saturday 9/29/07
Who: Sue (48), DVC member
SB (49), Sexy Boyfriend
Plan: Epcot, Dinner Wolfgang Puck Café, Comedy Warehouse
Actual: We both slept well, and since the air conditioning makes a steady hum we heard no noise from outside the room. I’d set the alarm for 7am because SB wanted to get more of his reports finished. He has to evaluate each player in the 12 teams in his league – he did 2 last night, and planned to do 2 more before we headed out. Good thing he woke up at 6:30, as I discovered although I’d set the alarm right the time on the clock radio was set as pm!
The wireless still wasn’t working this morning, which really irritates me. I took my shower – they have very nice bath towels here but that’s about the only positive aspect. The water doesn’t stop running in the tub even when you’re showering, and the water drains so slowly you’re standing in water up to your ankles. The air vent in the shower was coated with dust, too. I’m a fairly small person, but the shower area seemed really narrow. It should be interesting when SB gets in there, lol!
After I got ready I busied myself online while SB finished his reports and got ready himself. He mentioned eating breakfast at the hotel, but I ate my biscotti with my cappuccino in the room. We ended up leaving the hotel at 8:30 to drive over to Beach Club Villas. I realize I’m breaking the rules, but I am not doing these buses again. Going to Epcot isn’t that bad (2 stops), but coming back I do not want to stop at MGM Studios! Many of the guests at BCV with a car will be out of the parking lot during the day, so I’m not taking a space that would prevent someone else from being able to park – and I’ll be long gone before those guests start returning. The BCV parking lot had a lot of empty spaces when we arrived, and it was barely half full when we left 3 hours later.
There was no wait at International Gateway and we had just 5 minutes to wait for the 9am opening. They said they dropped the rope 1 minute early in honor of some kid’s birthday, but my watch said 9am or a minute past. We went to the Land, and I was surprised by how few people were in the park. I went ahead of SB and got us fastpasses for Soarin’ with a return time of 9:48. We went into the standby line and were off the ride by 9:30. It was great, as always – this is our favorite attraction at WDW.
We stopped at Sunshine Seasons and I had a few bites of SB’s adult breakfast platter. It had eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes and a biscuit – everything was very good, especially for fast food! After breakfast we walked right onto the Living with the Land boat ride, and enjoyed that as well. By now we were inside the Soarin’ fastpass window so we did our second ride of the day – this time in the top row.
By now it was 10 til 11, so we made a restroom stop in Imagination and walked out to World Showcase. We’d looked over the list of foods and had a general plan to follow. Our first stop was Australia for a couple shrimp on the Barbie and a beer for him and a glass of the same Riesling as last night for me. It was all excellent, and we sat on a shady bench facing the lake and had a really nice time. It’s so peaceful here!
Next stop was America, where we got the lobster roll and the pork rib with cole slaw. He said the lobster was good, although he only ate half the roll it came with. I thought the portion looked pretty small for $6.75. The rib was outstanding – very tasty, tender, and a lot of meat on the rib. We both enjoyed this!
We got him the pizza and me a glass of pinot grigio in Italy, and the love bugs were swarming something fierce! It was totally obnoxious, and really uncomfortable (and we’re used to love bugs since we live in Florida). He enjoyed the pizza, but I don’t think he’ll get it again. My pinot grigio was ok, but not something worth repeating for me either.
Germany was next, and we got 2 of the debriziner sausage in pretzel rolls – without the sauerkraut. Today the pretzel rolls were a bit overcooked, but the sausage was still excellent. The love bugs were all over us here, too – there was no escaping them. I was stuffed by the time I finished forcing my sausage down, and he wasn’t very hungry anymore either. We discussed what to do next, and decided since he was in the mood for popcorn we’d head back towards America. There was no popcorn made yet, and the cast member said they were waiting for butter to arrive, so it would be about 20 minutes or so. He decided to skip it, and as we approached the funnel cake stand he decided to get one of those. It was huge, and very good! We didn’t finish it, but enjoyed the half or so we did manage to eat. You really need about 3 people or so to eat one of these – I cannot imagine anyone eating the whole thing!
By now we were both full, as well as hot! It was another really warm day, although when the breeze would blow it was nice in the shade. We decided to see the movie in France, but when we got there the next one wasn’t starting for 25 minutes. We sat outside in the shade where the air conditioning was blowing on us for a few minutes, then decided to head back to the hotel.
We got the car and drove back – much faster than those buses would have been! Most of the cars were gone from our lot too, so we got a great parking spot. We cooled off in the room for a while – he had more reports to do and I updated the trip report. Once I had that done I drove over to Premium Outlets to check out Character Premiere (rather than hang out in the room with a football game on tv <g>). The wireless is still not working – I was going to complain at the front desk, but SB said I’d have better luck getting a beefsteak from a shark, lol. Oh, the satellite also went out when it started raining, so we had no tv either. Have I mentioned we won’t be back here? lol
It was raining heavily when I left the hotel, but it was just a passing shower. The sun was out by the time I got to the outlets just a few minutes later. This hotel IS convenient to the outlets. Parking was a nightmare, and took forever to find an empty spot. I ended up having to go all the way around to the back side to find a spot. This place must be impossible during the Christmas shopping season!
Character Premiere was fairly busy, and I found something for each of us. I got a thick sweatshirt-type zip-up jacket (without the hood) and got a nice ESPN Zone New York polo shirt for him. After making the purchase I headed back to the hotel – just in time to beat the next heavy downpour. The rain was coming down sideways, and it got really dark. SB commented we made the right decision in coming back when we did! For me, trudging around a theme park in the rain is not any fun at all.
We relaxed in the room the rest of the afternoon, and around 5:30 or so we drove over to Downtown Disney. Earlier SB had suggested we eat at Whispering Canyon Café instead tonight, so I kept from laughing & called Disney Dining and found nothing available at all. That was just fine with me, as I like Puck’s better!
On the way in from the parking lot we ran into half of the Ft Pierce family and chatted with them briefly before heading over to Puck’s. We checked in and were seated right away – we opted for outside but inside was also available. We were given a table by the railing across from Bongo’s, and immediately a bunch of ducks started coming over. As we looked over the menu it started getting darker and windier. We placed our order – sauvignon blanc and the barbeque chicken quesadilla for me; coke, Caesar salad and whole roasted chicken for him. Before we came we looked at the menu online, and he was astonished at the $27.95 pork chop. He said in the hood $27 of pork chops would feed 10 families, lol! But, he was going to order it and have me take a picture of him with the $27 piece of pork <g>. At the last minute he decided to stick with the chicken.
We no sooner got our drinks when it began to rain, and it blew in on me at times. We figured it would pass, so we stayed where we were. It got worse, so we moved to the table against the building, where it was more sheltered. We moved just in time, as right after we moved our original chairs and table were very wet! Pretty soon it got too bad even at the new table – the wind blew some glasses or dishes off a nearby table, and the broke on the floor. Our server told us to go inside and he’d bring our drinks & bread in to us. We ended up taking a couple of seats at the pizza bar near the entrance. Outside it was thundering, but the rain passed fairly quickly and had ended before we finished dinner.
The pizza bar was a nice location for us. Even though it was near the entrance, it wasn’t noisy. We watched the pizza guy make a LOT of pizzas while we were there. When the food came, I was stunned to see SB’s whole chicken was truly a WHOLE chicken! There were some mashed potatoes on the plate, then this WHOLE chicken was sitting on top. It looked like a meal for a family, not a person! I ate one of the wings, and it was very good – but nobody needs to eat 2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs and 2 breasts for 1 meal, lol! He ate all he could, but we ended up taking half of my quesadilla and most of the 2 breasts to Leesa as leftovers. We did order dessert – everything on the menu looked great so we had our server decide for us. We got the mud pie, and between us we ate the whole thing! We got 10% off the check for being a dvc member, so it ended up being $63 with that discount after the tip (based on the original total).
As soon as we left Puck’s it started to rain again, but lightly this time. We were ahead of schedule, but there really wasn’t time to go back to the hotel, he’s not a shopper, and it’s no fun walking around in the rain. It was 6:45 so we walked over to Adventurer’s Club and stood under cover at the bar outside, waiting for them to open at 7. Leesa arrived before 7 and spotted us there, and we all went inside once the club opened. We sat upstairs talking until it was time for the first Comedy Warehouse show.
John Dehas (not sure about the spelling) was on the keys tonight. The 7:45 cast was John, Brian, Matt, Lisa & Christine. Matt & Christine created a scene where they were working on fixing the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. He accidentally burned her with the welding thing and later cut off her arm, then cauterized the bleeding with a blowtorch. The scene was interrupted 3 times so they could create a song using the last line of dialogue spoken. They did “It’s Still Beautiful” in acid rock, “I’m so Uncomfortable” as a blues song, and “I don’t feel my arm” as a reggae song.
Next was Schmeopardy, hosted by Matt as Alex (mumbled something like trebek but not really). John was on his knees as Willie Shoemaker, the former jockey. Brian was Deke, a very nervous cowboy who is afraid of cows. Lisa was Tamara, a Miss Fiber 2007 who is a “brick layer”. It was very funny – rather crude, but funny.
The 8:50 cast was John, Brian, David, Lisa & Matt. They started with a poem called “Sushi Tastes Good”. Next Brian & Lisa went outside while they set up Blind Line. The others solicited short sayings from movies, songs, bumper stickers, etc – and wrote them each on a piece of paper. They folded up the papers and threw them on the stage. Brian & Lisa came back inside and created a scene working in a coffee shop, and from time to time had to pick up a piece of paper and make that be their next line of dialogue. It was a crazy scene, and everyone did a great job.
David sang a love ballad called “Let me hold your water”, with Matt & John coming in as back up dancers. They also did Slap Happy, where 2 actors start a scene and others stop the scene and replace one of them but not as the same character. This time John & Matt started by fixing toilets (thanks to the usual brilliant audience suggestion – nothing is more humorous than a toilet I guess).
The 9:55 cast was Matt, Christine, Lisa, Brian & tall Mark. Most of the show was Conducted Story, which was led by Lisa tonight. The story was “She’s a Killer Queen”, about a princess with a bunch of cats who got pregnant possibly by a cat, and either the princess or her mom the queen wanted the cats killed. It got pretty weird, lol. Brian died first, and was killed by a dime made of plutonium in a soap opera death. Christine died in Canada, with some strange animal stuff going on. Mark was killed by a rainbow, with Brian coming in as the fairy of the woods. That left Matt to wrap up the story in the style of a soul song.
All 3 shows were very good tonight – very creative and lots of laughs! We all left after the 3rd show. SB & I drove back to the hotel and were in for the night. We had talked about heading to Animal Kingdom in the morning, but decided instead to just sleep in and check out at 11 before heading to Fulton’s for lunch. Perhaps he can get more of his reports done.
Today didn’t feel like a Saturday for some reason. It felt more like we’re on vacation, but unfortunately we’re just here for the weekend and the weekend is almost over! Epcot was great this morning, as was Comedy Warehouse tonight. We really didn’t do much the rest of the day, but since it was raining quite a bit and still really hot I guess that’s no big loss.
DAY 3 – Sunday 9/30/07
Who: Sue (48), DVC member
SB (49), Sexy Boyfriend
Plan: Lunch Fulton’s, Possible Park, Drive Home
Actual: We never turned off the alarm, so the radio came on at 7am this morning. It was on SB’s side of the bed, and when he tried to turn it off he hit the button that advanced the time to 8am. We got up then anyway, and relaxed in the room. He was going to do another report, but wasn’t in the mood. I ate a piece of biscotti with my cappuccino, then we later decided to skip Fulton’s and get on the road earlier. Since we’re coming back so soon I didn’t mind – plus I really don’t like coming home at night then having to go to work the next morning. We showered & got packed up, and planned to drive over to the Marketplace around 9:15. We had to check out first, as this lovely hotel doesn’t seem to know how to do express checkout. They also haven’t fixed the ice machine that broke during the night Friday, but we skipped riding the elevator to another floor to find ice today! The wireless internet still isn’t working, either. I don’t think the air conditioning works right either, as I have it set at 60 degrees yet it’s too warm to sleep with more than a sheet. Normally if the air is set below 70 I’m wearing heavy socks and staying under the covers all of the time – but not here! I did ask at the front desk and learned I could have checked out via the television in the room, but since the person checking me in gave me NO information about the hotel except 1-word answers to specific question I had no idea. Oh well, I won’t be back to try it some day <g>.
We parked at the end of the Marketplace, down near Earl of Sandwich. Everything was open by now, but it wasn’t very crowded. It’s nice in the morning, being able to walk around without being shoulder-to-shoulder with lots of other guests! We went to Basin first, for the fragrance free body butter for SB. He doesn’t want to smell like a girl <g>. He actually liked the store, and we wandered around looking at and smelling the different soaps and other products. After we bought the body butter I smelled the mickey soap at the counter and really liked it. It was the best smelling one we found all day. I showed it to him and he loved it too, so we bought a bar of it to take home.
Next stop was Ghiradelli, where we each got a chocolate/caramel square sample and bought some foil wrapped chocolate (Halloween) balls for my office. From there we walked over to Goofy’s Candy Company for our final stop. There were only a couple other guests in the store, so this is the perfect time to visit. A very nice cast member took our order and prepared everything for us. SB got a regular caramel apple coated in peanuts – he wanted a red candy apple but they were all out and we didn’t want to walk to Candy Cauldron on the West Side. I ordered a mickey mouse rice krispie treat dipped in milk chocolate, coated in crushed reese’s peanut butter cups and drizzled with caramel – yummy!!! While she was making that we decided to get Chris a custom caramel apple, so I ordered one dipped in milk chocolate, coated with pecans and butterfinger pieces, drizzled in white chocolate. It’s massive! A young girl was standing patiently behind us, so I asked if she wanted to fill out an order form and moved aside to make room for her. Turns out it was her 7th birthday today, so the cast member got on the microphone and had everyone sing happy birthday to her (and gave her one of those magical moments certificates).
After we got our treats we headed out to the car and drove home.
It was a very short trip, but a very nice getaway. We didn’t worry about what we saw and what we missed, since the real (scheduled) trips are yet to come. It was great having an extra 2 visits to Food & Wine, as we both enjoy it. It wasn’t nearly as busy as I thought it would be, which was a nice surprise.
We were not impressed with the hotel, and won’t be staying there again. However, we have no regrets at having tried it. I don’t want to sound masochistic, but every once in a while it doesn’t hurt to receive affirmation of what a great decision it was to become a dvc member years ago!
Our next trip will begin Oct 12th, when we’ll be spending 6 nights at Beach Club Villas. Until then, thanks for reading!