3 trips in 40 days: Supercalifragilistic Breakfast @ 1900 Park Fare! [4/21/13]

updated 4/10/13



FLOWER & GARDEN: Part 1



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after our breakfast at akershus, my family & i walked around epcot. the topiaries were absolutely magnificent! the weather also absolutely perfect for a day at epcot.


my parents were getting a bit tired & wanted to head back to the condo. but not before some pictures with the beautiful flowers.


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we were late for our breakfast ADR so we didn't get to really stop & see the topiaries at the entrance.


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my parents....aren't they cute??

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we headed back to the condo so emme could take a quick nap. unfortunately, she did not nap & then we hopped back onto the bus for epcot. emme then decided it was time to take a nap. ha ha. this worked out great as it would give me quiet time to stuff my face at the festival! i was meeting my friend who also has a 3 year old...so together, we would be eatings lots of food, drink yummy beer & push our strollers. SCORE!


as i made my way to the world showcase, i took a few more pictures.


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i love love loved the reflection in the water. the flowers were also so brightly colored...absolutely beautiful. on the next day when i took the monorail to epcot from mk, the view from the monorail looking down at these flowers was so stunning.



AND NOW TO THE FOOD!!


i was meeting my friend at the beer stand next to rose & crown at 6pm. i was early so i decided to get a bite to eat as i was starving. breakfast was at 11am & i hadn't eaten anything since.


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i decided on this:

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Baked Goat's Brie with Kumquat Chutney - $4.50

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Baked Goat's Brie with Kumquat Chutney - $4.50


this was absolutely heavenly. i am a huge fan of brie. the brie was baked in a flakey & buttery puff pastry. the brie was ooey & gooey & very savory. the kumquat chutney was both tart & sweet. combined together, it was absolutely scrumptious. the portion was enough to share with another person & since i had no one to share it with, i ate most of it by myself. can't waste food, right? i loved this dish. it was a great start to the festival.

i was meeting two friends & my friend matt brought me an ice cold stella. i love the pours at epcot. they pour the stella right to the brim. it's a very nice pour especially for a $9.00 beer. you really get your money's worth.


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ice cold stella & our friend captain hook.


....speaking of captain hook:

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and captain hook is afraid of this guy:

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this is my friend matt. i've known him for 8 years. he's all grow'd up now.

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onwards to good ole america.

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i'm not a huge bbq fan but the pulled pork sandwich was calling my name.

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Pulled Pig Slider with Cole Slaw - $5.50

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Pulled Pig Slider with Cole Slaw - $5.50 + Liberty Ale from Anchor Brewing Company, San Francisco, CA (India Pale Ale) - $3.50


the pulled pork slider was HUGE! i gave half of my sandwich to matt as i wanted to make room for some more food. i got the 3oz pour of the IPA & it was a perfect match with the pulled pork slider. the crunch of the cole slaw was a great contrast to the pork. one small gripe: i wish the bun was toasted. the bun & the meat had about the same texture when chewing so the crust of a grilled bun would have made this an almost perfect sandwich.

my friend mike got the Smoked Beef Brisket with Collard Greens and Jalapeno Corn Bread - $6.75 & Rocky Road Brownie Mousse - $3.00 & said that everything was very tasty.


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we made a stop to play some drums. max & emme had a super fun time together!



next, i made a stop in morocco.

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Harissa and Lemon Confit Chicken Drumettes with Chermoula and Cucumber Salad - $5.00

when i saw harissa, i got pretty excited. finally, something spicy! but to my disappointment, this was pretty bland. the chermoula & cucumber salad was also flavorless but had a nice crunch to it. the chicken needed much more harissa. i would have been happy if they had a bottle of harissa as a condiment to add on top of the drumstick. this was a drumstick and not a drumette. it was a nice size...just unfortunate that it was flavorless.


after the delicious pork slider, i made my way to italy.

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Asparagi con Aragosta all'Ortolana (Green asparagus, lobster, garden cocktail sauce) - $7.75

on paper, this dish looked like a total winner. but in actuality, this was the worst thing i tried at the festival. the asparagus was tiny & soggy. there was 2 small pieces of lobster. to make things worse, there was so much cocktail sauce that you could not taste anything else. the dish was also served cold. this was the most expensive thing i ate & i was the most disappointed.

i had linda's lobster roll during food & wine and i was really hoping that this would be on the level of the lobster roll. i guess it's my fault for having such high expectations but look at the plate of food. it tasted as unappetizing as it looked. two thumbs way down from me.

i paired this with Birra Del Borgo - Rubus Lamponi (Specialty Wild Fruit Ale) - $10.00. i thought the ale was just ok. it reminded me of very carbonated lambic with rasberry syrup. again, this was a disappointing stop in italy. i really wished i would have chosen the lasagna.



after my disappointing trip to italy, we moved to the florida fresh booth.


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the three of us picked this delectable dish.

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Shrimp and Stone Ground Grits with Andouille Sausage, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes and Cilantro - $5.50

this was my favorite bite of the entire night. there was 3 jumbo shrimp on top of creamy grits which had bits of corn & tomato mixed with some sausage. the sausage was not overpowering and the corn brought delicious sweetness to the spice of the shrimp. it was divine! the shrimp was equally large on all of our plates. the shrimp wasn't over cooked but it was slightly undercooked (if that makes sense). i loved this dish so much! it was very filling and for $5.50 i thought it was a total steal. DELICIOUS!!


i also ordered this:

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Watermelon Salad with pickled Red Onions, BW Farm Baby Arugula, Feta Cheese and Balsamic Reduction - $3.50

another winner from my home state of florida. who knew balsamic vinegar would taste so great with watermelon?! not this girl. i love balsamic with strawberries but the combination of the pickled red onions with a bite of the watermelon & feta was an explosion of flavor. this really hit the spot! the dish was refreshing & very fresh. i could eat an entire bowl of this as a meal. very very very tasty.



i have so many more pictures to post from the festival!

...TO BE CONTINUED...




ps: i leave for the third & last trip of this trip report tomorrow after working 1/2 day. hooray!!!
 
updated 4/16/13



COSMIC RAY'S


before i post my flower & garden part 2, here are some photos from our lunch @ cosmic rays.


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emme & my dad spider-man posing!



we began our second day together @ magic kingdom. i cancelled our pre-park ADR @ crystal place as emme & my mom were sick & my dad was pretty wiped out from epcot the day before. my dad forgot his insulin back home so we were taking it easy.

it was pretty nice not to have any ADR's planned. no where to rush & i was not worried about losing the credit card guarantee if we did not show up. total freedom to eat anywhere in the park!


we made a pit stop here:


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emme loves her vanilla ice cream.


i ordered the ice cream & asked if i could have it inside of a soda cup. the ice cream melts quickly & gets all over emme. however, another CM saw the order & served the ice cream in the short cup while the original CM put the ice cream in the soda cup. so they gave us both ice creams...we got 2 for 1...disney magic!



after spending quite a bit of time in the new fantasyland, we decided to eat. we had a fast pass to "buzz lightyear" at 2pm so this was the perfect time to eat. unfortunately, it as probably the worst time to eat as cosmic ray's was slammed.


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i had to stand in 2 lines to get lunch for my family. it took about 25 minutes total. my daughter (if i'm lucky) will eat chicken. my mom wanted a burger & i got my dad a grilled chicken sandwich.


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Chicken Breast Nuggets (8 pieces) - served with apple slice or french fries or cucumber salad $8.69


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i chose the chicken breast nuggets in hoping they were better than the nuggets in the kids meals. the nuggets in the kids meal are gross. they look like mcdonald's hash browns but not nearly as good. the texture is weird & i never again wanted to see another one of those kids meal nuggets.

these chicken breast nuggets were very heavily breaded. we had more than 8 pieces but some of the pieces were very small & mostly breading. some of them were tough to eat even though i tried to get as much of the breading off as possible. i wish they just served chicken tenders instead.

the cucumber salad was cold & refreshing. the dressing tasted like it had some vinegar in it. i liked the tartness of the vinegar. i wished i could have had a larger portion though.



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Angus Bacon Cheeseburger - served with apple slice or french fries or cucumber salad $9.99

the cheeseburger had a thick piece of bacon on it but it was cooked pretty well done. i added mayo, ketchup, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, lettuce & tomato to my burger. after all the toppings, it almost made me forget that the burger itself was well done & semi-dry. plus, i was pretty hungry so it filled me up. my mom & i split the burger.


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well done burger.



speaking of toppings, we had a tray full of toppings. i guess it would have been easier for me to take my actual food & put the toppings on top of the burgers but after taking the trays to my parents who had found a seat outside, i forgot to take the food with me to the condiment bar. so, i had to get creative. but our table was outside...it was such a nice day to eat outside.


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a hot mess of condiments on top of lots of napkins.



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Grilled Chicken Sandwich - served with apple slices or fries or cucumber salad $9.59

i ordered this for my dad & got the apple slices for emme. he didn't complain about the sandwich but my dad never complains about food. i think that stems from the korean war & being hungry for many years. he happily eats anything. i wished i would have gotten him the 1/4 rotisserre chicken meal instead of the chicken sandwich.


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this is my mom wishing she was back at the condo eating korean food & my dad's happy to be eating. :)



one cool thing about cosmic ray's is that you can purchase mickey straws for 59 cents! it was a very cute straw (that i saw in rachel's dining review) but what a totally cheap souvenier! emme still uses the mickey straw at home with her minnie cup.


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emme's happy with her mickey straw!


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this is what $35.00 will get you at cosmic ray's [minus my camera]

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overall, the meal served it's purpose to fill us up so that we could keep continuing our adventures at magic kingdom. it wasn't the best meal but it was enough. it was a total pain to wait in 2 different lines. i can't imagine having a larger family who wanted something from each bay.

next time, i want to try columbia harbour house. that was my original choice but my parents didn't want to walk all the way over there. :crazy2:


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happy family after lunch.


side note: all these pictures were taken with my iphone. :flower3:



up next, FLOWER & GARDEN PART 2!!
 


updated 4/16/13


FOOD & GARDEN PART 2


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after lunch @ cosmic ray's, we spent more time with my parents at magic kingdom. after a few more hours, my parents were ready to return to the condo so emme & i said good bye & headed back to epcot for some more yummy snacks.

emme was still sick so she ended up falling asleep which allowed me some time to eat in silence & enjoy my food. silence is such a treat with a 3 year old.


i was meeting my friend jackie @ the mexico pavillion in the world showcase. she was inside with her boyfriend exploring delicious margaritas. i decided to check out the crab tostada & partake myself in a delicious margarita.


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Tostada de Jaiba (Crab tostada served with Chipotle mayonnaise and Valentina salsa) - $5.50


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Tostada de Jaiba (Crab tostada served with Chipotle mayonnaise and Valentina salsa) - $5.50


has anyone noticed the amount of crab on top of this tostada?! it was unbelievable! after my disappointing lobster snack @ italy (which was $2 more, btw), i was extremely pleased with the tostada. it was almost too pretty to eat....almost.

this tostada was absolutely mouth watering delicious. i squeezed the lime on top of the tostada which added a perfect amount of acid & brightness to the dish. the chipotle mayo had a tiny bit of heat as did the salsa. the crunch of the tostada was great texture to the creaminess of the crab. together, all the ingredients were magical.

i still could not believe this snack (which was a generous serving) was only $5.50. it was well worth it. i was very sad when i ate my last bite. this tostada was so yummy.


i also ordered this:


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Rosita Margarita on the rocks (Tequila, triple sec and rose infusions - $8.50)

i was pretty intrigued with this combination & giggled when i saw that the margarita was actually pink. i was hoping that this wasn't made with rose water (ick). the rose infusion brought a little bit of sweetness to cut into the triple sec & was actually quite good. they were generous with the amount of tequila in the drink because i definitely felt the drink. it was a bit pricey but was very refreshing and good.

two big thumbs up mexico!



onwards, we moved onto germany.


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i read about the savory bread pudding & i really wanted to try this. my last trip to germany was during food & wine fest where i was severely disappointed in the roasted bratwurst in the pretzel roll. but the beer was very good. here's hoping for some happier results.


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Savory Bread Pudding with Spring Peas and Wild Mushroom Ragout - $3.75


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Savory Bread Pudding with Spring Peas and Wild Mushroom Ragout - $3.75 & Krombacher Hefeweizen - $3.50


i really wanted to like this bread pudding. i'm a huge fan of mushrooms & this bread pudding had a ton of mushrooms in it. however, i could not get over how salty this thing was. it tasted like cream of mushrooms on steroids. the bread pudding itself was indead savory but i just could not get over the saltiness of the dish. i was disappointed in germany...again.

the beer however, was delicious.

speaking of beer...


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Krombacher Hefeweizen - $3.50



emme was awake from her nap so we went sight seeing for a little bit.


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i loved LOVED these gnomes. i'm going to buy these gnomes in april when i return to disney. absolutely adorable!


my mom loves orchids and has some of the orchids with the roots showing at her house. these reminded me of her.


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beautiful.


we made our way to france next.


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i ordered this:

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La Vie en Rose Frozen Slush (Grey Goose vodka orange, St. Germain liquor with white and red Cranberry Juice) - $9.75

this was refreshing but it wasn't as slushy as my other slush drinks in france. it was on the watery side but was still good.


for my snack, i ordered:


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Terrine campagnarde, baguette et compote de cerises (Country style pate served with baguette and cherry compote) - $4.75

i love pate & this pate was scrumptious! i loved the cherry compote which really went well with the briney-ness of the pate. the baguette was sliced thin and very crunchy. this was a winner in my book.


while emme & i sat on a bench in france, we were relaxing with some friends.


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after devouring my pate & finishing my slushie, we continued our walk & ran into some more friends:


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it kind of creeps me out that the humans have no eyes on their faces but characters like pooh & lotso have eyes. so weird & creepy!


i had room for one more dish so i made my way to florida fresh to get another helping of the shrip & grits. i had it the day before but it was definitely worth another taste.


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Shrimp and Stone Ground Grits with Andouille Sausage, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes and Cilantro - $5.50

once again, this dish was cooked perfectly. i was so surprised the night before at the high quality of this dish that i was even more surprised it was just as good the second day. this dish is amazing!! i love everything about it. the grits are sooooo good.


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look how large this shrimp is!! there are 3 in this dish & it only costs $5.50. it's a total bargain in my opinion and well worth the $5.50.



my tummy was so happy with my choices, minus the overly salty bread pudding. but the bread pudding only cost $3.75 so i wasn't as bitter as i still am about the lobster atrocity in italy (refer to my first f&g post for more).


emme took home a new friend from epcot:


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baby duffy! anyone know why duffy is so dang expensive? he was $31.95 (minus my 10% discount for AP) but seriously, why?!?! i couldn't say no as she's always asked for duffy but i always managed to distract her but she was pretty much sick the entire trip so i gave in. he is pretty cute tho....cute but expensive.



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we made our way out of epcot to head back to our condo. i had a great few hours at epcot & was sad that our day had come to an end.


and despite it being 70 & windy, this girl managed to get sunburned.

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lovely, isn't it?!
 


updated 4/16/13


i wanted to complete this post with some favorite pics with the trip to disney with my parents & daughter. i returned from my 3rd trip to disney last night and am eager to start that trip report.


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my mom had never seen an aquarium before & it completely fascinated her. she sat on the floor with emme & just sat there for almost 30 minutes watching all the fish. she got really excited to see the turtle as turtles are good luck in our culture. she loved it!


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BRUCE!!!


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i loved this cluster of yellow flowers on the tree with just branches. so pretty.



on our second day, we headed to magic kingdom.


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emme loves her papa!


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papa braved the tea cups!


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after the tea cups, we headed over to the little mermaid (emme's favorite):


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and some fun shots of the ride:


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and then we spent a few more hours at magic kingdom before my parents headed back to the condo. emme & i headed back to epcot for some more food.

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we had a really great time together at disney! i felt really blessed to be able to take my parents on this trip. despite the fact that all three weren't 100%, we all had an absolute blast & made some lifetime memories.


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this concludes the mini trip report for trip #2. i'm so eager to begin trip report #3!



up next, HELLO PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE!!!!
 
Love to see all the happy memories you have created. Nice to see a family that clearly loves to be together
 
I love the pictures seeing Emme interact with Papa. After hearing about him for the past 5 days its cute to see pictures of them together:)
 
Love looking at the pictures! And I have no clue as of why Duffy is so expensive. My daughter has been wanting one for so long but honestly I just can't justify paying that much for one. I normally get her a build a bear and buy Duffy's clothes. Works better for me that way. :)
 
Thanks for the reading along!

I love spending time with my family. Emme wanted to take papa & grandma with us to Disney again. :)

I saw the story of Duffy at our hotel this weekend. Cute story but dang he's expensive! The build a bear idea is a good one.

I will be starting my trip report for the last leg of this trip tonight. It will be much more in depth and have lots and lots of pictures!

Thanks again for reading along!
 
updated 4/17/13



HELLO PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE!!



finally, after what seemed like forever planning with rachel, we were off to disney. i worked until 2:45 pm, picked up emme & off we went!

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the drive is about 2.5 hours & we had some rough patches of traffic. the night before, rachel was worried about her flight being delayed as it was snowing in april. yikes! but, after some smart moves by rachel (she changed flights & flew into chicago first), she actually beat us by 30 minutes.


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someone was a wee bit tired from all the excitement of the drive. ha ha.


at about 5:30, we finally made it!


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up until this point, i had stayed off property or at values (AOA LM, ASMO, POP) so to be able to stay at a moderate was a bit of a luxury for me. emme & i don't spend much time in our rooms so i never took the plunge for anything but a value. but with the florida resident discount, it was a great deal to split the room with rachel. needless to say, i was really excited to be staying at port orleans.

we booked the royal guest room. i knew emme would enjoy it but deep down inside, the little girl in me was ecstatic to be in this room. i'm not gonna lie...the pictures i've seen online of port orleans was not very flattering for the resort. from what i saw online, the resort looked a bit outdated. i didn't have high hopes for the resort but was exuberant to be in the royal guest room.

we met rachel in the parking lot & it was a happy reunion. emme was so excited to see her. we were in room 9922 on the third floor.


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the royal guest room was absolutely beautiful! we had a decent view of the main courtyard despite paying for the standard view.


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tiana left a special note for princess emme. she carried this scroll around for the entire day.


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this is what the scroll said.



here are some more pictures of the headboard/bed:


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the headboard was really fun. if you press a button, fireworks illuminate! it's really pretty and such a nice touch. emme absolutely loved this feature. after being exhausted from the parks, we would get ready to sleep & she would press the buttons & we'd watch the fireworks. it was awesome!

the bed was a queen size bed & leaps and bounds better than the terrible beds at pop century. the pillows were also better than the awful pillows at pop. i wished i had brought my own pillow but after being in the parks all day, i can honestly say that i slept pretty well on these beds.



these are the pictures that were on the wall:


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and this was really interesting too:


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it was pictures of the princes. that was a nice touch!



i didn't take much more pictures of the room as we had to get ready for our dinner at hollywood brown derby, but i was trying to find the items that the princesses gave tiana for the room.


this was from jasmine:

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there was also a magic carpet on the ground as well (i forgot to get a pic).



this was from cinderella:

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the shower curtain was from ariel as it had dinglehoppers on it. speaking of showers, i do have one complaint about this room. the bathroom was TINY. it was smaller than the bathrooms in the value hotels. that was the only down side of the room.



here was a pretty chandelier type light fixture. can you spot the hidden mickey?

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overall, i was very happy with the room. i love being on the third floor as we got a nice quiet sleep. also, another cool feature is that the flat screen tv pulls out a few inches and the screen could move to the left or right. the room also had a mini fridge that we used to store water, milk, wine, yogurt etc. the perfect setting is 5 as 4 would not be cold enough and 6 froze everything in the fridge. :rotfl:

my tour of the room only lasted for about 30 minutes as we had an ADR at hollywood brown derby.


up next, dinner @ HOLLYWOOD BROWN DERBY!
 
The room is beautiful! We too have always stayed in Value resorts. But since our Honeymoon last August we are staying at a Moderate at Coronado Springs Resort. :)
 
The room is beautiful! We too have always stayed in Value resorts. But since our Honeymoon last August we are staying at a Moderate at Coronado Springs Resort. :)


I agree...it was a gorgeous room!

I want to check out the pool at csr...it looks amazing!!
 
updated 4/18/13



MEET ME AT THE DERBY [or not]??
DINNER @ HOLLYWOOD BROWN DERBY




onwards to our meal @ hollywood brown derby.


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we took the resort bus to hollywood studios. the sky was overcast & it was a tad bit humid. my tummy was grumbling and i was pretty excited to eat & have a cold beer. HBD was never on my radar to try but we were going to see fantasmic (or at least planned too) & decided to try out HBD.


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we arrived to HBD & checked in. we waited about 10 minutes before we were seated. emme had her first tiny meltdown as she wanted the minnie princess hat. she's been wanting this hat for the last 3 trips but i had a hard time giving up $29.95 for it. she was in her tinkerbell outfit so she decided to change her mind about the hat & wanted this really "not so pretty" tinkerbell doll. after i told her "no", the meltdown ensued.

luckily for emme, she had some pixie dust sprinkled her way as a CM at HBD gave her a light up tinkerbell toy that attaches to a straw. meltdown over & happy emme reappeared.



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our server daniel arrived to our table about 10 minutes after we were sat. i don't know if it was just his personality but he was very uninviting, disinterested & very matter of fact. maybe the hospitality industry is not the right choice for him but we were going to make the most of our dinner.

my first impression of HBD is that it had a very cool but hip "old timey" vibe to it. it wasn't very busy this night & i was very hungry so we ordered fairly quickly.


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SAM ADAMS SEASONAL BEER

it was a bit humid this night & i really wanted an ice cold beer. as you can see from the glass, the beer wasn't very cold. i was disappointed. the beer wasn't warm by any means but it definitely wasn't cold.



and then, bread service.


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the bread is the same rolls they serve at BOG. the rolls were very warm. emme at the insides of at least 6 of these rolls.


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i love soft butter like this. it's so easy to spread & you don't have to fight putting on cold butter on a warm roll. just spread & eat. i enjoyed the butter & bread very much.



rachel ordered the cobb salad as her appetizer. she was kind of enough to share it with me.


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Our Famous Cobb Salad - with finely chopped greens, turkey breast, egg, bacon, tomatoes, crumbled bleu cheese, avocado, chives and Cobb dressing - appetizer $8.00

rachel asked for no bleu cheese in her cobb salad. i've read a multitude of reviews about this particular cobb salad. perhaps i had too many expectations for this salad but i thought it was just "ok". it definitely wasn't terrible but it was not life changing as i've read. maybe the bleu cheese would have brought another depth of flavor. who knows. also, the avocados tasted a bit off. maybe my mind was playing tricks on me but i thought it kind of tasted like taboulleh at times. i'm glad i decided against ordering this as an entree.



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for emme's entree, she wanted a grill cheese sandwich & got this:


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Grilled Cheese on Whole Wheat Bread - with sliced apples $6.00


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see that face? that's the face of someone wasting $6.00 & not eating dinner. the sandwich was a triple decker and just very well toasted. it was too large & too hard for emme to eat. i took off the first layer of toasted bread but she lost all interest in the sandwich. lucky for her, there were thin slices of apples to eat.



for my entree, i ordered:


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Sterling Silver Pork Chop - with smoked gouda and heirloom apple slaw served over potato hash with bacon, Napa cabbage, sweet peppers and a cider jus $33.00


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the pork chop was ginormous especially compared to rachel's entree. the pork chop itself was beautiful but the hash underneath the pork chop was complete hot mess. it was pretty messy to look at. the plate needed another color but brown on.

the smoked gouda wasn't ooey or gooey but had melted hard on top of the pork chop. i'm not sure if that was intentional or if my entree was sitting in the window & the cheese cooled down.

the green apples were tart & it was a great combination with the pork chop. the pork chop was cooked "well done" & i wasn't given the option of it being cooked any other way. it wasn't as juicy or as tender as the pork chop i've had at california grill but it was tasty.

it was a bit difficult to cut through the hardened cheese to get to the pork. the pork chop slid all over the potato hash making the plate look super sloppy. what can i say? i like pretty food & this entree was definitely not pretty. however, my disney standards, i thought for $33.00, it was a pretty large portion.



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emme & rachel playing with their dinglehoppers.



after our entrees, we decided to share a dessert and ordered this:


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Grapefruit Cake - Light Layers of Yellow Cake with fresh Grapefruit-Cream Cheese Icing $8.00


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suprisingly, the dessert was not as sweet as i had anticipated. it was very light & fluffy. i loved the grapefruit cream cheese icing. it was a very pretty dessert. i'm a huge proponent of all things being edible on my plate so even though i'm not quite sure the garnish was suppose to be eaten, i did take a bite. and yep, it tasted like candied grapefruit.



emme ordered:


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Vanilla ice cream

emme loves her ice cream.



we used my TIW card for this meal:


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i wasn't very excited about HBD after the meal. i don't think i want to return in the near or distant future. i wish our CM was slightly enthusiastic. he was very efficient & our drinks were never empty but he just was not personable. it's not how i wanted to start our trip but hey, we're at disney & life is good.

rachel called HBD a place to just knock off the list. it wasn't exceptional, the food was decent, the ambiance was calming but i think our server really did impact our overall experience.



after dinner, emme refused to watch fantasmic, even though we've seen it before. so we headed to TSM which had a 5 minute wait. SCORE!


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and then we had a less than 5 minute to meet our friends:


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up next, hollywood studios at night!
 
updated 4/20/13



DHS @ NIGHT!

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after our meal at HBD, we made a stop to a merchandise store. emme wanted the "not so cute" tinkerbell doll. i just couldn't fork over the money for the doll she didn't really want...and wanted for the sake of wanting the doll because she had a tinkerbell dress on. does that make any kind of sense??

the disney "babies" line is so adorable. she has a baby simba & a baby ariel. every trip, emme gets to pick 1 stuffed doll. on our last trip, she picked the outrageously expensive duffy doll. at this particular store, i didn't see baby tinkerbell. so with the "not so cute" tinkerbell doll, i begrudgingly went to the counter with the doll to check out.

the CM was super perky & nice so i asked if maybe they had a baby tinkerbell stashed away somewhere. she said she would check in the back. to my delight (and emme's), she had a baby tinkerbell in the back. YES!


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baby tink!



we originally came to dhs to watch fantasmic. emme & i have seen this before & she really enjoyed it last time. we got a spot in line while rachel checked out this ride:


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while we were standing in line, emme was very adamant about not wanting to watch the show because she was scared. that's her new word these days..."mommy, i'm scared." i stood & listened to her & she was pretty concerned about NOT watching the show. i text rachel & let her know we'll be sitting at the table to wait for her.

rachel finishes her ride & meets up with us. we decide to check out TOY STORY MANIA & was hoping there would be a minimal line. the only other time i've been able to ride this was april of last year. that was my first trip to disney with emme & we waited for over an hour.


as we walked over, we stopped in front of the sorcerers hat.


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all the lights were so pretty.



we made our way over to pixar place & much to my delight, there was almost no wait for TSM. i was so excited because emme could really enjoy the ride this time. she was older, a wee bit more coordinated & she's seen all three movies.


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and then we ran into a friend:


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the line was moving really quickly. we waited less than 5 minutes. i couldn't believe our luck. given, the park was closing in 15 minutes but i still anticipated a line. this thing is always packed.

emme & i got our glasses on & we were ready!


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here are some pics from the platform:


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and i really loved these lights.

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emme & i had so much fun during this game.


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i was trying to help her aim towards the middle. her gun was pointed up for the most part. but she still managed to score some points. GO EMME!


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i guess i should hang my head in shame with my 44% accuracy. i think that would equate to a 5% if i were 3 years old like emme.



we exited the ride at about 2 minutes left until park closing. i looked across & there was no wait for the buzz & woody meet and greet. i thought they were closed but they allowed us in to take pictures. in december, we waited an hour for some crappy pictures as the photopass photographer didn't care at all. again...i was excited with the no wait & a chance at redemption for a decent picture.

unfortunately, my camera battery died.

*side note* emme accidentally kicked my camera with lens off the bed. my lens is severely messed up & i didn't realize this issue until we got to disney. *le sigh* i've bought a new lens since the trip but i missed out on so many photo opportunities. BOO!

the photopass guy was awesome! he took my phone and continuously shot photos while i was up there with emme. i was so grateful!


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blowing kisses to woody.



i really wanted to yell, "here comes andy!" while i was up there. do the characters really have to drop and be still?? inquiring minds want to know.

after the ride, we were exiting the park to take the bus back to the resort. we stopped by guest relations so that rachel could upgrade to the annual pass. i also just renewed my pass & still had the paper pass. i wanted to get the new RFID pass.

there was no one in guest relations so we were helped pretty quickly.


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this is my seasonal pass. you were allowed to pick from different characters. we both chose minnie mouse. she's so cute! my parents had these passes on our last trip as i purchased the 3 day florida resident pass for them.

the RFID cards are pretty cool. you scan your card on a round mickey and then put your index finger to get biometrically scanned. if everything goes well, the machine lights up green. i'm not quite sure if this will be any more quicker than the machines that sucked up the tickets as guests were having issues using the machine. who knows. but i liked it alot. the card is much easier to keep up with over the paper ticket.


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happiness!



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she wanted a picture too with the card.



even though we did not see fantasmic, for the 3.5 hours we were in the park, we got a lot done. dinner @ hollywood brown derby, toy story mania & pixar meet & greet. i really wanted to see sorcerer mickey. he is someone i have not had the pleasure to meet. next time, it's a priority.

we hopped onto our bus & had a relaxing ride back to our hotel. this was one of the few times we were actually sitting in a seat. god bless those buses. it sure beat walking to my car & driving.

our trip was off to a fantastic start!



up next, grand floridian random pictures!
 
I think 44% accuracy is good!! I don't think I got that!!

I totally forgot that Emme was blowing kisses to Woody. That was adorable!!
 
Your daughter is super cute!

Awesome that there was no wait for Toy Story! I love that ride but the waits can be horrendous. 44% accuracy is actually amazing and probably the highest I have seen in TR's!
 

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