Tuesday, May 19: The biggest water ride ever at DHS
Miles walked today: 7.94 miles
Best thing today: Great meals
Worst thing today: Transportation glitches
Waking up, stretchhiiinnnggg.... walking over to the curtain to see the animals and the bright, sunny Florida weather? Yeah. No. Very threatening clouds and a drizzle were the appetizer to the weather buffet we would take part in today. But we'd make the very best of it – after all, we were very lucky to be together on vacation, in a wonderful resort. Who can complain?
We dodged the raindrops over to a 10:45 breakfast reservation at Boma. Now, as previously mentioned, we love the place for dinner – but had never been there for breakfast. Boy, was that a mistake. It might have literally been the best breakfast buffet we've ever been to. Everything was super fresh, and had been made in small batches. Their “signature” juice, called West African Frunch, was a blend of lemonade, pineapple juice, guava juice and papaya juice. Refreshing and delicious. I highly recommend the Brioche (sort of like french toast with a cinnamon raisin bread?). Other not-to-be missed items? Chocolate chip muffins. Those, my friends, are the zebra domes of breakfast. MMMmmm.
Full from breakfast, we headed back over to the resort, took a tiny nap (yes, we took a nap after breakfast. It's vacation!). Then we got ready - and there's tons of room to get ready in the bathroom, and lots of nice details - even in the studio.
Though it's only a single sink in the studio, there's lots of counter space and plenty of storage space.
The shower curtain is colorful and the water pressure was pretty good, too.
Fun animal print details in the tile, too:
Then we got it in to gear to head to Disney's Hollywood Studios. (As a side note, I will only call it DHS because that's the official name now. In my heart, it will always be MGM Studios, trademarks be darned!)
On the way in, we met a familiar face – a former cast members at the Adventurer's Club, who was transferred when the club closed. Many are working in other shows, but some are working “streetmosphere” at DHS. It's obvious that we had been there too much, as when he recognized us, he shouted “Kungaloosh” and gave the official club salute.
(For those of you who never had the pleasure, you put your hand above your belly button, shake it like a fish, act like you're taking a swig and then raise your hand to the heavens and say, “Kungaloosh”).
We talked briefly about his new gig, (that was now outside, during the day, in the rain or heat, and without many of the folks he'd worked with for years.) But he really was having a good time interacting with the guests.
The rain was coming down pretty steadily now, making us wonder if we were on a real film set with a rain machine. We checked out the tip board and saw, with great sadness, that all of the fast passes for Toy Story Mania had already been given out!
We decided to go get fast passes for Rock N' Roller Coaster and check out the line for standby at Toy Story. We passed by, and it was more than an hour, and much of the queue was outside. In the pouring rain, by this time. We decided to head on to our next destination – MuppetVision 3D. Very fun as always. Kermit was inspirational, because by then, were were starting to feel like amphibians. We backtracked, saw the line had gotten even longer for Toy Story Mania, and then it was time to rock and roll with Aerosmith. We grabbed fast passes for Tower of Terror on the way and then blasted off into a great coaster. Amazing as always!
There were three things left we wanted to do - Tower, The American Idol Experience and Toy Story Mania. And still, then rain poured down, more than any water dump at Kali River Rapids or Catastrophe Canyon. Figuring that sitting in the hotel room would be a waste of our time, we decided to motor on. It was time to enter the Twilight Zone. Wheee!!!!
To kill time before the next Idol show, we caught the Indiana Jones show – at least it would be a dry place to wait. We always expect this show to be more exciting than it is – and are almost always disappointed. But like I said, it was dry, and vaguely entertaining. Next, I begrudgingly went with Jay to the American Idol Experience. We had watched the show years ago, but not lately (Though I will say that Chris Daughtry IS from Greensboro!). But I was kind of over the show, and feared the attraction would be hokey. I've got to say – Disney did it right. The casting of the judges, the Ryan Seacrest character, the lighting, the music, the interview segments, were all just right. And the three singers we saw weren't half bad.
We didn't stay to see if the guy who won our show made it through the final at the end of the day, but it is a neat concept. Whoever wins the day's competition gets a “dream ticket” to bypass the big audition lines for next season's shows, and goes straight in to audition for the judges.
By then it was about 5 p.m., and we hoped the rain had driven people away -- and it had – so the line for Toy Story Mania was only posted at about 50 minutes. It only took us about 35 or 40, and in the meantime, we had a lovely chat with a family from Iowa. After a fun ride, we headed back to the resort to get ready for our reservation at Flying Fish.
Before we had left DHS, we checked at the dining services kiosk to get our time pushed back from 8:00 to 8:50, as I feared we wouldn't make the earlier one with all of the bus switching. It's a good thing- as it took an hour and 45 minutes to get from AKLV to Boardwalk! Our bus had to stop at Jambo House, then both stops at Downtown Disney. Luckily, there was a Boardwalk bus there waiting, but first it had to stop at Yacht Club, Beach Club, Swan AND Dolphin. Yikes! We got there at about 9:15, but they were very gracious about seating us anyway, as the restaurant wasn't busy.
Once we got settled in, dried off, and de-stressed from our harried travels, we had a lovely meal, with a wonderful server.
Jay and I split the “Flying Fish Cafe Crisp Peekytoe Crab Cake with savory vegetable slaw, roasted red pepper coulis and ancho chile remoulade.” I also got one of their yummy “adult” beverages. Something pineapply and girly. Yum!
For his entree, he had “Our Chefs' Fish Thunder Special: Grilled Florida Orange Swordfish with rock shrimp and lemongrass basmati fried rice, a stir fry of seasonal vegetables in a brown butter-yuzu emulsion and sweet soy drizzle.” (When I went to write this trip report several days later, we couldn't remember what Jay's dish was called, so he called Disney. What the heck. After going through main dining, they transferred him to the restaurant, and the greeter at the Flying Fish podium transferred him to the kitchen to talk to one of the chefs! Turns out, the chef he talked to was the same one who was working the night we visited. Mike described the dish to Jay, asked how he liked it, and said he hoped we'd be back! How funny is that? Where else in the world would that happen? -- P.S. I have since found that menu, so I've included the full menu description.)
I had the Oak-grilled hand-harvested Maine scallops with English pea, pecorino, basil and mascarpone-laced risotto di carnarolli, with proscuitto di parma cracklins. Oh. My. Gosh. MAG-I-CAL.
We were full, but were also thinking about our favorite ice cream shop next door, so we got the check, made the mortgage payment on it, and thanked them for a great meal. Once next door at Seashore Sweets, we began planning our “salads.”
The first time we were there, the cast member told us that building a sundae there was just like being at the salad bar, and we could take as many toppings as we wanted. Salad=ice cream base, dressing=hot fudge, croutons=sprinkles, etc. But they have LOTS of toppings to choose from and use Edy's ice cream.
We usually love to sit out on the boardwalk with our “salads” and relax and people-watch, but with the pouring rain, we made our way upstairs to a lounge with empty tables, and the barkeep said he'd be happy to have us use a table – to make ourselves at home. Nice. We meandered around Boardwalk, making a mental note of how much we liked this place, and that next time we made a DVC ressie, it should be there.
Then we had to take the long trip home. Luckily, a Downtown Disney bus came pretty quickly, and an AKLV bus was nearly waiting for us at the hub. The rain had also slowed to a sprinkle at the times we were transferring. Finally warm and dry in our room, we tuned into the news channels, and got hooked on the local stations that were covering the weather like a hurricane.
Turns out, an actual tornado had touched down in the town of Casselberry, the sewers were WAY overflowing in much of the area, and they were predicting many more inches of rain over the next few days. The weather anchors were using their super double magic doppler technology like kids playing with Legos. Luckily, no one had been seriously injured in the storms. Finally, after being reassured by two weather teams that Lake Buena Vista would be spared that night, we drifted off to sleep around 2:30 a.m.
Coming next: Why we'll always rent a car from now on.
Miles walked today: 7.94 miles
Best thing today: Great meals
Worst thing today: Transportation glitches
Waking up, stretchhiiinnnggg.... walking over to the curtain to see the animals and the bright, sunny Florida weather? Yeah. No. Very threatening clouds and a drizzle were the appetizer to the weather buffet we would take part in today. But we'd make the very best of it – after all, we were very lucky to be together on vacation, in a wonderful resort. Who can complain?
We dodged the raindrops over to a 10:45 breakfast reservation at Boma. Now, as previously mentioned, we love the place for dinner – but had never been there for breakfast. Boy, was that a mistake. It might have literally been the best breakfast buffet we've ever been to. Everything was super fresh, and had been made in small batches. Their “signature” juice, called West African Frunch, was a blend of lemonade, pineapple juice, guava juice and papaya juice. Refreshing and delicious. I highly recommend the Brioche (sort of like french toast with a cinnamon raisin bread?). Other not-to-be missed items? Chocolate chip muffins. Those, my friends, are the zebra domes of breakfast. MMMmmm.
Full from breakfast, we headed back over to the resort, took a tiny nap (yes, we took a nap after breakfast. It's vacation!). Then we got ready - and there's tons of room to get ready in the bathroom, and lots of nice details - even in the studio.
Though it's only a single sink in the studio, there's lots of counter space and plenty of storage space.
The shower curtain is colorful and the water pressure was pretty good, too.
Fun animal print details in the tile, too:
Then we got it in to gear to head to Disney's Hollywood Studios. (As a side note, I will only call it DHS because that's the official name now. In my heart, it will always be MGM Studios, trademarks be darned!)
On the way in, we met a familiar face – a former cast members at the Adventurer's Club, who was transferred when the club closed. Many are working in other shows, but some are working “streetmosphere” at DHS. It's obvious that we had been there too much, as when he recognized us, he shouted “Kungaloosh” and gave the official club salute.
(For those of you who never had the pleasure, you put your hand above your belly button, shake it like a fish, act like you're taking a swig and then raise your hand to the heavens and say, “Kungaloosh”).
We talked briefly about his new gig, (that was now outside, during the day, in the rain or heat, and without many of the folks he'd worked with for years.) But he really was having a good time interacting with the guests.
The rain was coming down pretty steadily now, making us wonder if we were on a real film set with a rain machine. We checked out the tip board and saw, with great sadness, that all of the fast passes for Toy Story Mania had already been given out!
We decided to go get fast passes for Rock N' Roller Coaster and check out the line for standby at Toy Story. We passed by, and it was more than an hour, and much of the queue was outside. In the pouring rain, by this time. We decided to head on to our next destination – MuppetVision 3D. Very fun as always. Kermit was inspirational, because by then, were were starting to feel like amphibians. We backtracked, saw the line had gotten even longer for Toy Story Mania, and then it was time to rock and roll with Aerosmith. We grabbed fast passes for Tower of Terror on the way and then blasted off into a great coaster. Amazing as always!
There were three things left we wanted to do - Tower, The American Idol Experience and Toy Story Mania. And still, then rain poured down, more than any water dump at Kali River Rapids or Catastrophe Canyon. Figuring that sitting in the hotel room would be a waste of our time, we decided to motor on. It was time to enter the Twilight Zone. Wheee!!!!
To kill time before the next Idol show, we caught the Indiana Jones show – at least it would be a dry place to wait. We always expect this show to be more exciting than it is – and are almost always disappointed. But like I said, it was dry, and vaguely entertaining. Next, I begrudgingly went with Jay to the American Idol Experience. We had watched the show years ago, but not lately (Though I will say that Chris Daughtry IS from Greensboro!). But I was kind of over the show, and feared the attraction would be hokey. I've got to say – Disney did it right. The casting of the judges, the Ryan Seacrest character, the lighting, the music, the interview segments, were all just right. And the three singers we saw weren't half bad.
We didn't stay to see if the guy who won our show made it through the final at the end of the day, but it is a neat concept. Whoever wins the day's competition gets a “dream ticket” to bypass the big audition lines for next season's shows, and goes straight in to audition for the judges.
By then it was about 5 p.m., and we hoped the rain had driven people away -- and it had – so the line for Toy Story Mania was only posted at about 50 minutes. It only took us about 35 or 40, and in the meantime, we had a lovely chat with a family from Iowa. After a fun ride, we headed back to the resort to get ready for our reservation at Flying Fish.
Before we had left DHS, we checked at the dining services kiosk to get our time pushed back from 8:00 to 8:50, as I feared we wouldn't make the earlier one with all of the bus switching. It's a good thing- as it took an hour and 45 minutes to get from AKLV to Boardwalk! Our bus had to stop at Jambo House, then both stops at Downtown Disney. Luckily, there was a Boardwalk bus there waiting, but first it had to stop at Yacht Club, Beach Club, Swan AND Dolphin. Yikes! We got there at about 9:15, but they were very gracious about seating us anyway, as the restaurant wasn't busy.
Once we got settled in, dried off, and de-stressed from our harried travels, we had a lovely meal, with a wonderful server.
Jay and I split the “Flying Fish Cafe Crisp Peekytoe Crab Cake with savory vegetable slaw, roasted red pepper coulis and ancho chile remoulade.” I also got one of their yummy “adult” beverages. Something pineapply and girly. Yum!For his entree, he had “Our Chefs' Fish Thunder Special: Grilled Florida Orange Swordfish with rock shrimp and lemongrass basmati fried rice, a stir fry of seasonal vegetables in a brown butter-yuzu emulsion and sweet soy drizzle.” (When I went to write this trip report several days later, we couldn't remember what Jay's dish was called, so he called Disney. What the heck. After going through main dining, they transferred him to the restaurant, and the greeter at the Flying Fish podium transferred him to the kitchen to talk to one of the chefs! Turns out, the chef he talked to was the same one who was working the night we visited. Mike described the dish to Jay, asked how he liked it, and said he hoped we'd be back! How funny is that? Where else in the world would that happen? -- P.S. I have since found that menu, so I've included the full menu description.)
I had the Oak-grilled hand-harvested Maine scallops with English pea, pecorino, basil and mascarpone-laced risotto di carnarolli, with proscuitto di parma cracklins. Oh. My. Gosh. MAG-I-CAL.
We were full, but were also thinking about our favorite ice cream shop next door, so we got the check, made the mortgage payment on it, and thanked them for a great meal. Once next door at Seashore Sweets, we began planning our “salads.”
The first time we were there, the cast member told us that building a sundae there was just like being at the salad bar, and we could take as many toppings as we wanted. Salad=ice cream base, dressing=hot fudge, croutons=sprinkles, etc. But they have LOTS of toppings to choose from and use Edy's ice cream.
We usually love to sit out on the boardwalk with our “salads” and relax and people-watch, but with the pouring rain, we made our way upstairs to a lounge with empty tables, and the barkeep said he'd be happy to have us use a table – to make ourselves at home. Nice. We meandered around Boardwalk, making a mental note of how much we liked this place, and that next time we made a DVC ressie, it should be there.
Then we had to take the long trip home. Luckily, a Downtown Disney bus came pretty quickly, and an AKLV bus was nearly waiting for us at the hub. The rain had also slowed to a sprinkle at the times we were transferring. Finally warm and dry in our room, we tuned into the news channels, and got hooked on the local stations that were covering the weather like a hurricane.
Turns out, an actual tornado had touched down in the town of Casselberry, the sewers were WAY overflowing in much of the area, and they were predicting many more inches of rain over the next few days. The weather anchors were using their super double magic doppler technology like kids playing with Legos. Luckily, no one had been seriously injured in the storms. Finally, after being reassured by two weather teams that Lake Buena Vista would be spared that night, we drifted off to sleep around 2:30 a.m.
Coming next: Why we'll always rent a car from now on.
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