Tink0812
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 3, 2011
Welcome back everyone! I left off with us having a fantastic time at Spirit of Aloha and crashing at the end of day 4. So how does day 5 start? With my alarm going off bright and early although I did sleep an extra 15 minutes today (6:30am). I did my usual morning routine than woke up the sleeping DH. Around 7:15 we went to the lobby and had the curbside transportation people call us a cab. On this particular morning there were none waiting in the parking lot but it only took about 10 minutes for one to show up. Why did we need a cab? We had an 8:05am breakfast ADR at Cape Mae Café in the beach club. We arrived at BC around 7:40 so we walked around the lobby and outside around the resort. DH has decided that he wants to stay there someday (at least he plans on going back
). We checked in about 10 minutes before our ADR and were immediately seated. A little side note: I have actually had breakfast at Cape Mae before (back in 2006 for my 16th birthday) and I remembered the food being really good and really enjoying the atmosphere. This time around, I was not impressed. We were seated right next to the buffet which some may see as convenient; however, people were always brushing by our table and it was hard to get out when we wanted to make return trips. Obviously, we don't have any children so we weren't too interested in the characters; however, during our entire hour there, not a single one stopped by our table or even went in our area. Kind of disappointing 
The food was okay but not as good as I remember. So with our bellies full, we walked on over to Epcot and they had just dropped the rope. Talk about perfect timing!
Where do we head to first? Soarin' of course! We waited about 10 minutes and didn't even attempt to get fastpasses for fear of the line getting longer in the process. Talk about mass chaos in the Land! By the time we got off the ride, there were no more fastpasses left for the day. Then we went on over to take a ride with Nemo and friends. DH wasn't too thrilled about that one but I kind of enjoy it. After that we figured if we ever wanted to get on test track we had better get our butts over there. The standby line was already 65 minutes and there was actually line to get fastpasses. Forget that! Oh wait, there is only a five minute wait in the single riders line. Who says we have to ride together? So off we went to design our cars and look at the new queue. It is vastly different! No more loud noises and things banging all over the place. We ended up about 3 cars apart from each other. At the end you reach this area where you can see all of your final scores. It is really kind of cool; however, I do miss some of the "tests" from the previous ride (temp tests, rode texture, etc.).
DH of course had to look around the showroom and I got to hear all of the reasons that those cars are nothing like Fords. I practically had to drag him out of there. Where to next? Mission Space of course. I have done it only once before when I was able to talk a friend into doing it. None of my family would ride it with me. DH loves a good challenge so he took me up on it. I told him the only way I would ride would be if we did the Orange (more intense) training. We waited about 15 minutes then blasted out of this world. Another young couple was aboard our spaceship with us and all of us completed our assigned tasks. After that DH felt like he wanted to walk around a little bit before trying anything else (not feeling so great ehh??) So I decided that he might enjoy Innovations. After walking around a little bit, he started to feel a little better and I told him about Sum of all Thrills. Now, the dis was the only place I had ever heard of it and the disers on here made me think I was missing something so of course, I had to try it out for myself. We did the jet because the CM said it was the most intense one and we added a bunch of loops, corkscrews, and dips. It was so much fun! After that DH got interested in the Stormstruck exhibit and of course, he wanted to participate in the little show they had. It's actually really cool, the put you in a room and simulate a real storm. Then they ask the audience to choose the materials to rebuild with and the re-simulate the storm. I thought DH would be good at this because he works in a lumberyard/home materials store; however, I scored higher
After surviving the storm, DH swore he was dying of thirst. Me to DH "well, have you ever been to Club Cool?" DH: "No, what's that?" Me: "It's this place where you get try different Coke-like drinks from around the world. It's very good." DH " let's go". Me: "You have to try the Beverly, it's the best one". DH: "Okay, just show me which one that is." So we get there and I immediately point out which one it was. If he would have been listening to all of the people around him gagging on it, he may not have tried it but he's pretty gullible anyways. I didn't want to grab my camera because then he would have got suspicious but his face was pretty darn good. The Costa Rica one is our favorite (maybe because we have had something similar while in Costa Rica
). After he quenched his thirst, he decided that even though he had a large breakfast, he was kind of hungry. So we took out our little booklet with the Food and Wine festival booths and decided to hike on over to Italy. Literally, it's halfway around the World! Some people were disappointed in the small portion sizes served at the booths, but it was perfect for us because it held us over in between two large meals and we could use snack credits. DH got the sausage dish and I had the cheese Ravioli. We both loved our dishes and would definitely have them again! Probably the best Ravioli that I have ever had. Then since it was so hot, we decided on getting something cool for dessert. DH got some kind of Italian slushie and I got Mickey-shaped ice cream of course! Speaking of hot, it was 90 degrees and, even though it was early, we decided we were ready for a break from the parks. So we agreed to walk back to the front of the park, stopping by Spaceship Earth along the way. The line for Spaceship Earth was 45 minutes long (way to long for that ride) so we decided to skip it and come back later. So at 1:30 we hopped on the bus back to CSR.
DH, being very fond of gelato ever since his trip to Italy a few years back, decided he needed some more gelato so we stopped by Café Rix before heading back to the room. The heat had gotten the best of us so we took a quick dip in the quiet pool then took a nice little nap. At the conclusion of naptime, we showered, changed, and were back out at the bus stop for Epcot at 5:15pm because we had a 6:20 ADR at Le Cellier that we were pretty excited about. Once we arrived at Epcot, early as usual, I noticed the line for Spaceship Earth was non-existent. So since we had a little time, we hopped right on. Here is our future:
Then we went over to Le Cellier and checked in about 15 minutes prior to our reservation. We were given a pager and told it would be about 20 minutes but it only ended up being 5. They had a Disney trivia game going in the waiting area so participated in that while we waited. After we were seated DH ordered some type of beer and I got this drink you see below. Why might you ask? It came with a light-up ice cube duh! We also enjoyed the different types of bread and were blown away by the pretzel bread (yummy!)
For appetizers, DH got the Canadian cheddar cheese soup which he had down in like 2 minutes and I got the Waterkist Heirloom Tomato which was fantastic. For main dishes, DH had the bone-in ribeye. It has huge but he was quite satisfied with it. He really loves steak! I also had steak but I'm not the biggest fan of ribeye so I got the Angus New York Strip. It was quite tasty! Even though we were stuffed, we had the DxDP so of course we had to partake in dessert. DH had the blueberry-ginger sorbet. That surprised me since it seemed to be an odd combination but he really enjoyed it. I had the Neapolitan cappuccino cake which was out of this world. Here it is:
Our overall impression of Le Cellier was that our waiter was very attentive. We did feel a bit crowded but that was really our only negative comment. The pretzel bread was fantastic and we were impressed by not only the quality of our food but by the quantity of the servings. We loved our drinks too and, of course, my light-up ice cube was cool! There will definitely be another ADR at Le Cellier on future trips. We left Le Cellier at 8:00 and everyone was starting to gather around the Lagoon for Illuminations. I had pointed out earlier in the day my favorite spot to watch Illuminations so we headed in that direction. It's this little terrace area across the bridge that is right next to the pathway to the International Gateway. My family pretty much always watched it from there or from the Mexico area. When we got there we found that a private party had been set up there. It turned out to be a wedding reception but here is what it looked like:
So sadly, we found another spot, right on the bridge which was very convenient for my post-Illuminations plan. DH held our spots while I went in search of some adult beverages to enjoy while passing the time. Now, if anyone knows me, they know that my favorite part in all of Disney is Illuminations but they would also know that my absolute least favorite part of Disney is fighting the post-Illuminations and/or Wishes crowds trying to leave the park. My plan on this particular night was to park ourselves somewhere near the International Gateway so that we could leave that way and walk over to BC where we could the hop on a bus to DTD and transfer to a CSR bus. It sounds like the round about way of doing things but it beats fighting the crowd that would be moving towards the front of the Epcot and the line that would be waiting for the bus. It actually ended up taking only 30 minutes to get back to our room. Anyways, Illuminations was awesome as usual. I took very little pictures because I love just watching Illuminations. DH had never watched Illuminations before (that must be some type of Disney crime) but he was just as blown away by it as I always am! This particular night was EMH at Epcot until 11; however, DH and I were tired even despite our nap earlier in the day and felt we had accomplished everything we wanted to do on that day. Besides we did have more Epcot time planned for later in the week. So after we made it back to CSR I did a little organize around the room and laid my head on my pillow sad that yet another Disney day was over and that the end of our week was coming up far too quickly!
). We checked in about 10 minutes before our ADR and were immediately seated. A little side note: I have actually had breakfast at Cape Mae before (back in 2006 for my 16th birthday) and I remembered the food being really good and really enjoying the atmosphere. This time around, I was not impressed. We were seated right next to the buffet which some may see as convenient; however, people were always brushing by our table and it was hard to get out when we wanted to make return trips. Obviously, we don't have any children so we weren't too interested in the characters; however, during our entire hour there, not a single one stopped by our table or even went in our area. Kind of disappointing The food was okay but not as good as I remember. So with our bellies full, we walked on over to Epcot and they had just dropped the rope. Talk about perfect timing!
Where do we head to first? Soarin' of course! We waited about 10 minutes and didn't even attempt to get fastpasses for fear of the line getting longer in the process. Talk about mass chaos in the Land! By the time we got off the ride, there were no more fastpasses left for the day. Then we went on over to take a ride with Nemo and friends. DH wasn't too thrilled about that one but I kind of enjoy it. After that we figured if we ever wanted to get on test track we had better get our butts over there. The standby line was already 65 minutes and there was actually line to get fastpasses. Forget that! Oh wait, there is only a five minute wait in the single riders line. Who says we have to ride together? So off we went to design our cars and look at the new queue. It is vastly different! No more loud noises and things banging all over the place. We ended up about 3 cars apart from each other. At the end you reach this area where you can see all of your final scores. It is really kind of cool; however, I do miss some of the "tests" from the previous ride (temp tests, rode texture, etc.).
DH of course had to look around the showroom and I got to hear all of the reasons that those cars are nothing like Fords. I practically had to drag him out of there. Where to next? Mission Space of course. I have done it only once before when I was able to talk a friend into doing it. None of my family would ride it with me. DH loves a good challenge so he took me up on it. I told him the only way I would ride would be if we did the Orange (more intense) training. We waited about 15 minutes then blasted out of this world. Another young couple was aboard our spaceship with us and all of us completed our assigned tasks. After that DH felt like he wanted to walk around a little bit before trying anything else (not feeling so great ehh??) So I decided that he might enjoy Innovations. After walking around a little bit, he started to feel a little better and I told him about Sum of all Thrills. Now, the dis was the only place I had ever heard of it and the disers on here made me think I was missing something so of course, I had to try it out for myself. We did the jet because the CM said it was the most intense one and we added a bunch of loops, corkscrews, and dips. It was so much fun! After that DH got interested in the Stormstruck exhibit and of course, he wanted to participate in the little show they had. It's actually really cool, the put you in a room and simulate a real storm. Then they ask the audience to choose the materials to rebuild with and the re-simulate the storm. I thought DH would be good at this because he works in a lumberyard/home materials store; however, I scored higher
After surviving the storm, DH swore he was dying of thirst. Me to DH "well, have you ever been to Club Cool?" DH: "No, what's that?" Me: "It's this place where you get try different Coke-like drinks from around the world. It's very good." DH " let's go". Me: "You have to try the Beverly, it's the best one". DH: "Okay, just show me which one that is." So we get there and I immediately point out which one it was. If he would have been listening to all of the people around him gagging on it, he may not have tried it but he's pretty gullible anyways. I didn't want to grab my camera because then he would have got suspicious but his face was pretty darn good. The Costa Rica one is our favorite (maybe because we have had something similar while in Costa Rica
). After he quenched his thirst, he decided that even though he had a large breakfast, he was kind of hungry. So we took out our little booklet with the Food and Wine festival booths and decided to hike on over to Italy. Literally, it's halfway around the World! Some people were disappointed in the small portion sizes served at the booths, but it was perfect for us because it held us over in between two large meals and we could use snack credits. DH got the sausage dish and I had the cheese Ravioli. We both loved our dishes and would definitely have them again! Probably the best Ravioli that I have ever had. Then since it was so hot, we decided on getting something cool for dessert. DH got some kind of Italian slushie and I got Mickey-shaped ice cream of course! Speaking of hot, it was 90 degrees and, even though it was early, we decided we were ready for a break from the parks. So we agreed to walk back to the front of the park, stopping by Spaceship Earth along the way. The line for Spaceship Earth was 45 minutes long (way to long for that ride) so we decided to skip it and come back later. So at 1:30 we hopped on the bus back to CSR.DH, being very fond of gelato ever since his trip to Italy a few years back, decided he needed some more gelato so we stopped by Café Rix before heading back to the room. The heat had gotten the best of us so we took a quick dip in the quiet pool then took a nice little nap. At the conclusion of naptime, we showered, changed, and were back out at the bus stop for Epcot at 5:15pm because we had a 6:20 ADR at Le Cellier that we were pretty excited about. Once we arrived at Epcot, early as usual, I noticed the line for Spaceship Earth was non-existent. So since we had a little time, we hopped right on. Here is our future:
Then we went over to Le Cellier and checked in about 15 minutes prior to our reservation. We were given a pager and told it would be about 20 minutes but it only ended up being 5. They had a Disney trivia game going in the waiting area so participated in that while we waited. After we were seated DH ordered some type of beer and I got this drink you see below. Why might you ask? It came with a light-up ice cube duh! We also enjoyed the different types of bread and were blown away by the pretzel bread (yummy!)
For appetizers, DH got the Canadian cheddar cheese soup which he had down in like 2 minutes and I got the Waterkist Heirloom Tomato which was fantastic. For main dishes, DH had the bone-in ribeye. It has huge but he was quite satisfied with it. He really loves steak! I also had steak but I'm not the biggest fan of ribeye so I got the Angus New York Strip. It was quite tasty! Even though we were stuffed, we had the DxDP so of course we had to partake in dessert. DH had the blueberry-ginger sorbet. That surprised me since it seemed to be an odd combination but he really enjoyed it. I had the Neapolitan cappuccino cake which was out of this world. Here it is:
Our overall impression of Le Cellier was that our waiter was very attentive. We did feel a bit crowded but that was really our only negative comment. The pretzel bread was fantastic and we were impressed by not only the quality of our food but by the quantity of the servings. We loved our drinks too and, of course, my light-up ice cube was cool! There will definitely be another ADR at Le Cellier on future trips. We left Le Cellier at 8:00 and everyone was starting to gather around the Lagoon for Illuminations. I had pointed out earlier in the day my favorite spot to watch Illuminations so we headed in that direction. It's this little terrace area across the bridge that is right next to the pathway to the International Gateway. My family pretty much always watched it from there or from the Mexico area. When we got there we found that a private party had been set up there. It turned out to be a wedding reception but here is what it looked like:
So sadly, we found another spot, right on the bridge which was very convenient for my post-Illuminations plan. DH held our spots while I went in search of some adult beverages to enjoy while passing the time. Now, if anyone knows me, they know that my favorite part in all of Disney is Illuminations but they would also know that my absolute least favorite part of Disney is fighting the post-Illuminations and/or Wishes crowds trying to leave the park. My plan on this particular night was to park ourselves somewhere near the International Gateway so that we could leave that way and walk over to BC where we could the hop on a bus to DTD and transfer to a CSR bus. It sounds like the round about way of doing things but it beats fighting the crowd that would be moving towards the front of the Epcot and the line that would be waiting for the bus. It actually ended up taking only 30 minutes to get back to our room. Anyways, Illuminations was awesome as usual. I took very little pictures because I love just watching Illuminations. DH had never watched Illuminations before (that must be some type of Disney crime) but he was just as blown away by it as I always am! This particular night was EMH at Epcot until 11; however, DH and I were tired even despite our nap earlier in the day and felt we had accomplished everything we wanted to do on that day. Besides we did have more Epcot time planned for later in the week. So after we made it back to CSR I did a little organize around the room and laid my head on my pillow sad that yet another Disney day was over and that the end of our week was coming up far too quickly!
EE is the perfect ride to help dry off after Kali though. Then I talked DH into taking a little spin on Primeval Whirl. I remember enjoying this one when I was younger; however, I do not remember it tossing us around like it did. DH and I both ended up with bruises on our hips from sliding all over our little dinokart. Needless to say, that was a one time ordeal even though the line was nonexistent. Next stop, Dinosaur. For some reason, I am not sure I have ever done that one before. If I have, it was either a very long time ago or they have completely changed it since. We both enjoyed that one even though there were a couple scarier parts that I was not fond of (I can be such a wuss sometimes). At that particular point in time it was about 10:30 and I had planned on hitting the 11:00 showing of FOTLK. I for sure have not seen that one since I was very little and, boy, have I been missing out. Even DH enjoyed the show! 
). 
. I ended up staying up a little later updating my trip journal, looking through pictures, and overall being sad that we only had one Disney day left. 
. So we stepped to the side of the masses exiting the monorail because we had a big decision to make. Were we happy enough with what we had experienced at MK already so that we could just skip the crowds? Or, was it worth fighting the crowd just for one last glimpse of the MK? We sadly went with the first choice and headed straight for the bus stop. I was kind of bummed with it but the crowds were just unbearable. Once we got back to CSR, we decided to head to Panchitos and use up the rest of our snack credits. El Centro was just insane. You could tell a lot of people were just arriving for the beginning of their magical vacation. Snacks in hand, we stopped by the Laguna bar to grab a couple of drinks and just relax. Then the weather was so nice (maybe because we were dreading returning to that cold Illinois weather), that we decided to take a walk around the resort. After we reached our room we began that dreaded task of packing up.......after our packing was complete it was time to shower and change because we had the most anticipated ADR of the trip coming up!
