Everyone’s off to Neverland? Tink’s annual family trip

[tinkaparis]

Travel dates: August 16- August 24
Travel method: Southwest: Bradley International, Windsor Locks CT to MCO and rental car

*Disclaimer 1. My sister insists on having a rental car. If it were up to me, we would skip it.

Resort: Yacht Club standard room, requested top floor
Cast of characters and Ages in Group: Me (Tink) 35 (UGHH), Sister (B) 52, Nephew (C) 8, niece #1 (T) 23


Comments: Sometimes life gets in the way of even the best laid plans. Originally, this trip was to be me and my 2 sisters, my 2 nieces and my nephew. Unfortunately jobs, schedule conflicts and various responsibilities have turned it into just 1 of my sisters and my nephew with whom I will be visiting my niece who lives and works in the Disney area. I am truly hoping that somehow this trip evolves into actually getting my 2 sisters and me together in WDW at the same time along with my nieces and nephew. This hasn’t happened in over 3 years now. There is also a glimmer of hope on the horizon that my longtime boyfriend is willing to do an April trip…we’ll see if it actually happens.


Planning
My sister and I booked the Yacht Club for the 10 night stay after deciding to splurge. Darn you Grand Floridian. If you don’t remember how we lucked out and “had” to stay at the Grand Floridian last year, I suggest catching up with “Tinkinparis’ Returns to Neverland Again…” from August 2011. http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/show...Tink+Neverland


In any case, we thought that we should give the Epcot resorts a try since we were really spoiled with our previous deluxe room experience most of all, all of our favorite restaurants seem to be in Epcot.


ADR’s:
Breakfast: Boma
Lunch: Le Cellier, Chefs de France
Dinner: Akershus, Rose and Crown, California Grill, Boma and possibly Teppan Edo.

*Disclaimer 2. We are non-adventurous with our ADR’s and have been creatures of habit for many years now and eating at several of these establishments every year since the 80’s eek!

I have purposely purchased a 7 day hopper so that my first and last days, I will not be tempted to leave Stormalong Bay! The beach, the pool, the bar and even the restaurants around the Yacht and Beach club really seem like they have a lot to offer and I am planning on planting myself on a chair and just enjoying. I have read that since there is no food court, it seems you can come across light food offerings in a few different places. Hurricane Hannah’s, which is the pool bar, has a nice variety of drinks and food and of course for dessert…I’ve never eaten at Beaches and Cream! For about a month now I have been faithfully training at the gym. I haven’t lost a ton of weight because I made up for the exercise with more wine and ice cream, but I don’t want to lose the momentum I have created. I am actually planning on using the gym every other day for weights and some yoga. I can’t wait to bring all of you along with us on trip and share our daily adventures. I have a feeling it is going to be a special trip and I am most looking forward to establishing my morning routine and enjoying my coffee somewhere looking over the water at EPCOT! That time in the morning before everyone wakes up and the sun is about to rise, is just magical for me and I feel really connected with my surroundings. I highly suggest to everyone to enjoy a cup of coffee to the Florida sunrise while sitting outside your resort. It is just magical.


I am including some pictures of some preparations I have started. I found a great use for those stickers that Disney movies send you all the time.

Mouse keeping envelopes,




my travel bag (courtesy of Coach for last April’s trip) and 2 new Disney tee shirts for the trip.







The Mini Mouse Flyaway shirt is actually 19.95 at Forever 21 versus the 34.95 at the Disney Store.

[betsyrina]

Tink,
Can I be one of your sisters??? Everything sounds fun! I love your mousekeeping envelopes! I'll look forward to reading your trip report.
- Betsy

[tinkaparis]

Tink,
Can I be one of your sisters??? Everything sounds fun! I love your mousekeeping envelopes! I'll look forward to reading your trip report.
- Betsy

LOL Betsy, of course!!! It's a little early but I couldn't help but start my pre trip report

Of course if anyone has any Beach/Yacht club advice I would love to hear it! So excited about the pool.

[scoobydooby]

LOL Betsy, of course!!! It's a little early but I couldn't help but start my pre trip report

Of course if anyone has any Beach/Yacht club advice I would love to hear it! So excited about the pool.

Me too. Perhaps I'll see you in there We sound English (!), I am ahem, large, (not US enormous but def large...), Mr Chill had a shaved head and Freckles has, well lots of face freckles, aged 10. The Fish, 13, is tall and will no doubt be under water

[tinkaparis]

Me too. Perhaps I'll see you in there We sound English (!), I am ahem, large, (not US enormous but def large...), Mr Chill had a shaved head and Freckles has, well lots of face freckles, aged 10. The Fish, 13, is tall and will no doubt be under water

I hope so! We have a reservation in England for dinner Friday night the 17th. We are mostly in EPCOT every evening. Are you on twitter?

[wonderfulshana]

Great pretrip reporting, I can't wait to read the actual TR! Good for you to continue your gym routine on vacation. I was just thinking today that I am going to have to do that as well (since I just got into the habit of going it's probably a good idea to continue!). Thanks for sharing the pics, love the bag!

[scoobydooby]

I hope so! We have a reservation in England for dinner Friday night the 17th. We are mostly in EPCOT every evening. Are you on twitter?

No I don't 'get' twitter sorry! 17th we are at O'hana. We are at Epcot on 18th for Teppan Edo, 19th for Garden Grill, 20th for Le Cellier, 21st for Coral Reef and 26th for Les Chef de France. 23rd and 24th we will probably be at the pool in the evening. I am getting giddy now!

[Silvercat]

this is my unhappy little face. We don't go for another 3 months!

[tinkaparis]

Great pretrip reporting, I can't wait to read the actual TR! Good for you to continue your gym routine on vacation. I was just thinking today that I am going to have to do that as well (since I just got into the habit of going it's probably a good idea to continue!). Thanks for sharing the pics, love the bag!

Thanks Shana I am going to try my hardest to keep it going! It is hard to fight through all the sore muscles, beach days, etc. Summer is very tempting to stray.

[tinkaparis]

No I don't 'get' twitter sorry! 17th we are at O'hana. We are at Epcot on 18th for Teppan Edo, 19th for Garden Grill, 20th for Le Cellier, 21st for Coral Reef and 26th for Les Chef de France. 23rd and 24th we will probably be at the pool in the evening. I am getting giddy now!

If you decided to do a get together for us padders than let me know I'm in Epcot or could be on a daily basis because we are staying so close CAN'T WAIT!!!!

[tinkaparis]

It will go so fast Silvercat you will see! I can't believe my trip is around the corner! I've been so busy with some medical stuff and didn't even notice the time flying by! This trip will certainly be a great getaway for me

[scoobydooby]

If you decided to do a get together for us padders than let me know I'm in Epcot or could be on a daily basis because we are staying so close CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Well I put a 'meet' thread up and no one responded

[scoobydooby]

Well I put a 'meet' thread up and no one responded

Sorry that's not true. Chris responded.

[tinkaparis]

Sorry that's not true. Chris responded.

Well then, as soon as we get a little closer I will try to plan out a time as well and respond

[tinkaparis]

This morning I received a phone call from my doctor confirming what I had feared. I have Celiac disease which is an allergy to gluten, wheat, barley etc.

Although it hasn't sunk in yet...I understand that I should be grateful that is not something that I could treat with a simple diet change.

I have to admit that I am still in shock and a little sad that I won't be able to enjoy some favorites on my trip, bread pudding, crepes, bread at the California Grill, cheddar cheese soup, my yorkshire pudding with my Sunday roast...

I am trying to remind myself of all that I can still have and I will still have a GREAT time. It seems that this trip report has now become a bit of my learning how to navigate a gluten free diet on vacation. I'm sure I'll make some mistakes and maybe have a little slip but it is all new to me and it is a lot to take in.

I just got off the phone with a wonderful dining reservation specialist who was able to add the allergy to our ADR's. I'm bummed. On the bright side though, I can still enjoy my wine flights

[Barberella]

Some quick hints (that you might not think of) for gluten-free dining at WDW:

• Don't forget that BabyCakes in DownTown Disney carries a wide variety of gluten free goodies.
• Sweet Tomatoes http://www.souplantation.com/locatio...ke_Buena_Vista - which is near DownTown Disney in the Crossroads shopping center - is very good about listing their Gluten Free (GF) Options on the menu. Since you'll have a car, I recommend it for lunch - they have a nice GF chili.
• Although you could order a counter-service burger & fries - and have them hold the bun - generally it's not a good idea to eat at some counter services, because you should aim for having no cross-contamination (why I recommend Sweet Tomatoes). For example, I can usually find something to eat at Sunshine Seasons in Epcot, but I steer clear of the Electric Umbrella.
• Be hyper vigilant about sauces, gravies and coatings on food. Ask what is in them and if you don't get a satisfactory answer, pass.

ETA: There are several resources for eating GF at WDW - it's easy to google many of them. Here's a resource for finding the counter service items (this is likely to be your biggest hurdle) that you can have at WDW. http://www.glutenista.com/walt-disne...uten-free.html

PS: You will have an enjoyable time at WDW, despite the challenges that eating GF at WDW entails.

[tinkaparis]

THANK YOU Barbarella! You made my morning. What a great website! I have already saved all the PDF's which have a ton of great information and I am eager to read the blogs that they have linked as well. Thank you so much again and I totally forgot about Babycakes!

[tinkaparis]

Quick Update:

Thank you Barbarella again for those great resources!

I have switched out our Norway Dinner to Germany Lunch. We haven't eaten at Germany in about 15 years and the list of GF veggies, meats and potatoes was quite impressive.

I do have to call back Disney again because I just found out during my dinner out yesterday that soy sauce and some wasabi can have gluten. Who knew? I was planning on eating sushi at California Grill so I didn't bother to add my gluten allergy. I'm just going to call and ask what type of soy sauce they use. Maybe I can request a gluten free.

I also picked up a Tink shirt which was on sale at the Disney Store for the trip. I can smell the humidity right around the corner...

[Barberella]

There is at least one soy sauce that you can buy in a store that is gluten free (in case you want to get some for cooking at home). For salads, you should plan on getting used to vinaigrette-type dressing on all of them.

Eating at Disney table service restaurants is never a problem - if you want to check something, there is always someone to ask and the chefs are very aware of cross contamination issues. It's counter-service at Disney that you have to be diligent about (although almost all of them are pretty good) because it can sometimes take some effort and time to get an answer.

The car that your sister wants to have available may turn out to be a godsend. As you will have a fridge, you might consider stopping and getting a few GF snacks for you (and regular snacks for the others) for in the room and the parks. Remember that Disney doesn't care if you pull out some GF sandwich cookies to snack on while you have a coffee in the parks and GF crackers and cheese are nice to have in the room. It's actually a good rule of thumb to have some GF food available at all times, then you won't be tempted to eat questionable food.

Glad to see that you are getting organized around the food issues before you get there - it will be well worth it. You will have to let go of some old Disney favorite foods on this trip, but you will find new ones that you are quite excited about.

ETA: Hope you are planning to make your GF food experiences a part of your trip report.

[tinkaparis]

There is at least one soy sauce that you can buy in a store that is gluten free (in case you want to get some for cooking at home). For salads, you should plan on getting used to vinaigrette-type dressing on all of them.

Eating at Disney table service restaurants is never a problem - if you want to check something, there is always someone to ask and the chefs are very aware of cross contamination issues. It's counter-service at Disney that you have to be diligent about (although almost all of them are pretty good) because it can sometimes take some effort and time to get an answer.

The car that your sister wants to have available may turn out to be a godsend. As you will have a fridge, you might consider stopping and getting a few GF snacks for you (and regular snacks for the others) for in the room and the parks. Remember that Disney doesn't care if you pull out some GF sandwich cookies to snack on while you have a coffee in the parks and GF crackers and cheese are nice to have in the room. It's actually a good rule of thumb to have some GF food available at all times, then you won't be tempted to eat questionable food.

Glad to see that you are getting organized around the food issues before you get there - it will be well worth it. You will have to let go of some old Disney favorite foods on this trip, but you will find new ones that you are quite excited about.

ETA: Hope you are planning to make your GF food experiences a part of your trip report.

I am absolutely going to include my GF journey into the trip report! I've already bought the GF soy sauce too!

[betsyrina]

You're getting close... And if I were your sister, I would be too...

[tinkaparis]

You're getting close... And if I were your sister, I would be too...

LOL, don't worry Betsy...through the trip report you will be able to relive it

[betsyrina]

LOL, don't worry Betsy...through the trip report you will be able to relive it

Yes! Can't wait!

[TinaMouse]

Happy to see this one

[tinkaparis]

Happy to see this one

Happy To go Tina especially after the week I had! I can't wait to tell you all about it