Trip Report - March/April 2022

[Noreen411]

Sunday 3/27/22 - Continued:
We browsed a few of the shops at the Grand Floridian and looked at the Easter display in the lobby.

We headed to the Enchanted Rose Lounge for some drinks before dinner. I had the B&B (an iced tea/blueberry non alcoholic drink), Donna had the Garden Spritzer (non alcoholic), Mike had a Margarita, and Scott had a Martini. I didn’t get any pictures of us / our drinks at the lounge but it was nice to relax and recap our day so far and discuss the rest of the evening’s plans.

We headed to Citricos for dinner.



I had the Paradise Punch (non alcoholic), Donna had the Juniper Seltzer (non alcoholic), Scott and Mike both had martinis.



For appetizers each couple shared an order of the duck (just one picture since they looked the same). Everyone enjoyed this.



We also shared the pork belly appetizer which was very good as well.



For entrees both Donna and I ordered the Mahi Mahi. Just one picture since they looked the same. We both enjoyed this a lot.



Scott had the short rib. This was OK but not as good as the fish.



Mike had the tilefish which he liked.



For dessert Scott and I shared the Apple Rose. It was good but not the best dessert we’ve had here.



Mike and Donna shared the tartelette. They had the better dessert.



They brought us a plate of truffles.



Everyone enjoyed dinner at Citricos. While at dinner I was able to make a Genie selection for the 4 of us for Soarin.

 

[Noreen411]

Sunday 3/27/22 - Continued:
We took the monorail back to Epcot.

We went to Soarin and enjoyed that.

We walked to World Showcase and to France to go on Remy. Since it was down earlier, we had an anytime pass to come back to it. This was adorable.

We waited to take the cute magic shots with Remy after we rode. There was a decent sized line for these pictures. Everyone tried to convince me to skip it, but I got them to wait. They came out cute; everyone was glad we waited.





We found a spot to watch the fireworks from and enjoyed those.

We made our way back to our respective cars, confirmed our plans for tomorrow, and headed out.

 

[BellaBaby]

Sounds like a fun day!

 

[Noreen411]

Sounds like a fun day!

Hi. Definitely a fun day
Thank you for the comment

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 3/28/22:
Scott went to the gym at 4:30; I didn’t go until 5:30

Now that we knew I could book the attractions for all of us, I booked the safari for our first attraction.

Back in the villa our normal morning routine of bath, shower, laundry and breakfast.

At 7:30 I got an ILL for Avatar Flight of Passage for the 3 of them (not me) for 2-3. I can’t go on that ride, it makes me dizzy.

We met Mike & Donna at Animal Kingdom a little after they opened. I’m not sure why we didn’t stop for pictures in front of the tree of life. They probably convinced me we would do them later…we didn’t.

I convinced everyone to pose for some of the other pictures.





I’m glad we had the genie for the safari as the wait was already 2 hours for standby. We enjoyed the attraction.

I was able to book the Navi Boat ride for around the same time as they are going to Flight of Passage so when they finish that we can all go on the boat ride.

We saw the Bird Show at 11:30.



We went to Tough to Be a Bug.

I was excited to be able to book Dinosaur for a little later this afternoon too.

It was great that everyone was fine with me doing the planning/booking attractions. They were laughing since when I booked Dinosaur, Donna made a comment along the lines of “I don’t know what we’re doing but Noreen is excited that she was able to book it.”

We walked through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I haven’t been through here in a while.

We browsed through some shops then made our way towards Pandora



We found a rock that I waited on while the 3 of them went to Flight of Passage. They all loved it.

When they returned it was time for our Navi Boat ride. It’s a nice peaceful ride.

We made our way to Dinosaur next. This is always a lot of fun.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 3/28/22 - Continued:
We headed out of Animal Kingdom and drove to the Grand Floridian.

We have dinner reservations at Narcoose’s but went over a little early.

I was happy to see a photographer outside and got everyone to take some pictures.











After the photos we went to the bar at Narcoose’s for some drinks and to hang out a bit before dinner. Donna and I both had non alcoholic mango mojitos. I love how the limes look like Mickey ears. Scott and Mike both had martinis.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 3/28/22 - Continued:
We checked in and were seated. Mike and Donna are humoring me taking all the pictures. Scott is used to it so has been posing automatically.



The bread is very good - crispy outside and soft inside. But it makes a huge mess with lots of crumbs.



Each couple shared an order of calamari for an appetizer. Just one picture since they look the same.



Donna ordered lobster bisque soup and a Caesar salad for her entree. She said that’s what she was in the mood for and she enjoyed it.





Both Scott and Mike each ordered the scallops. Just one picture since they look the same. They both enjoyed this.



I was thinking of trying the Mahi Mahi, but the waiter recommended everything else on the menu except that. So I went with the sweet potato gnocchi. This was very good.



For dessert Mike & Donna shared the lemon bar. They liked it and said it was nice and light.



Scott and I shared the almond cheesecake which we already know is really good. We enjoyed this a lot.

 

[Noreen411]

Monday 3/28/22 - Continued:
After dinner we took the boat to the Magic Kingdom.





I’ve been stacking genie attractions for us for Magic Kingdom so we were able to walk from one attraction to the next pretty quickly. I forgot to write them all down but everyone was impressed with how we were able to go so quickly without waiting.

We went on Small World just going through the standby line as there was no wait.

Donna and I went on Haunted Mansion, while Mike & Scott went on Big Thunder Mountain. I set up the genie for separate attractions around the same time since neither Donna or I wanted to go on a roller coaster so soon after eating. This was a great way to do this.

We met back up and watched the fireworks.

We all headed to Buzz Lightyear.



Scott and Mike went on Space Mountain while Donna and I browsed through the shops on Main Street.

We met back up and wandered around some more.





We took the ferry back to the Grand Floridian and watched the Electric Light Parade as we were waiting.



Back at the Grand Floridian we got in our cars and headed back to our resorts.

It was a lot of fun spending the last few days with Mike & Donna.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 3/29/22:
Scott went to the gym at 5:30; I went at 6

After our workout, our normal morning routine of bath, shower, laundry and breakfast. Scott had the coffee cake cookie from Gideon’s for his breakfast; he loved it.

We drove to Magic Kingdom. Even though the parking lot trams are running at MK, we walked instead.

The park is crowded today.


We headed towards Adventureland first.





We went into the Tiki Birds. This is always cute and normally doesn’t have a long wait. I‘m pretty sure we went on a few other attractions. Big Thunder Mountain had a 65 minute wait listed, but we got in line and it turned out to be 35 instead. We’re noticing that sometimes the wait times are inflated, and not just by 5-10 minutes.

We browsed through the Christmas store then headed towards FantasyLand

We used our ILL for Mine Train - this was a great ride today. So much better than when we went on in the rain.


We went through some of the shops on Main Street and I bought a few more shirts. I’m so excited that I’m finding shirts for me since I normally never do. I’m going to have a whole new Disney wardrobe.

With the crowds we decided to leave the park. We walked back to the car from the TTC instead of using the tram.

Scott was hungry and wanted to stop for lunch. We went to Saltgrass Steakhouse on 535 (across from Vistana, the timeshare we own at but aren’t staying at this trip; we’re at the sister resort Vistana Villages this trip).

We found this place a few trips ago and like it. The menu has changed a bit from our first visit, but it’s still good. It reminds me a bit of Outback (meant as a compliment as I like Outback).



We shared our food. We both had soda. The bread and salad is good. Notice the similarities to Outback?





We shared the filet with grilled shrimp with a side of smoked Mac & cheese.


Everything we had was very good. It was nice to take this midday break.

We stopped at Publix for a few items then headed back to Vistana Villages.

We went swimming and hung out by the pool for a while.

Later we went back to the villa to shower and change.

 

[Noreen411]

Tuesday 3/29/22 - Continued:
We drove to Disney Springs. Last night we decided to cancel our dinner reservations for tonight and just wing it. We wanted to be spontaneous and knew there was a chance we may not be able to eat where we want without reservations.

We did some shopping and wandering around.

We stopped at Morimoto for a drink at the bar. I had the Morimoto Mai Tai. Scott had a martini.



We were hanging out and chatting with other customers and the bartenders. They asked if we wanted to stay and eat at the bar so we did.

We started with the California roll. It was listed as being made with blue crab so Scott was excited to try it. It was really good.



We also ordered the toro (tuna) tartare. What a great presentation. I liked how you can put it together how you like.



We ordered the Peking duck for two. I’m a big fan of assembling my own food since I often take things apart and put them back together the way I want them. We both really enjoyed this.



We didn’t finish our food so had some wrapped up to take back with us.

We walked around Disney Springs some more and when we were ready for dessert, headed to the Polynesian to go to the Tambu Lounge.

I had the Keike lemonade, Scott had a Grand Marnier. The star of the visit of course is the bread pudding (we shared).







Our unplanned, spontaneous evening without reservations ended up working out really well.

 

[BellaBaby]

You took a lot of nice photos.

We can take FOP or leave it and we frequently leave it. It makes DH and I queasy. The kids like it, but they didn't care to wait in line or have me buy an ILL for it, so we totally skipped it last time.

 

[Noreen411]

You took a lot of nice photos.

We can take FOP or leave it and we frequently leave it. It makes DH and I queasy. The kids like it, but they didn't care to wait in line or have me buy an ILL for it, so we totally skipped it last time.

Thank you.

Disney definitely is stepping up with more intense rides lately.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 3/30/22:
We both went to the gym at 6.

With GeniePlus we made our first selection at 7.

Back in the villa our normal routine of bath, shower, laundry, and breakfast.

We drove over to Hollywood Studios.



In one of the shops I bought another Disney shirt. I’m so excited that I’m finding all these shirts.

Our first attraction was Tower of Terror. This is always one of our favorites.





We watched the Beauty and the Beast show. We haven’t seen this in ages since it’s often too hot to sit outside, but the weather was very nice. Unfortunately the sun was shining in our eyes making it a bit difficult to see.

We walked around a bit, then went to watch the Frozen Sing Along. It’s really impressive how they took a great movie, summarize it, and squeeze in some jokes that probably go over most of the kids heads but the adults can appreciate.

Star Tours showed a 45 minute wait, but it was more like 20 minutes. We enjoyed this.

We headed over to Toy Story Land.





Toy Story Mania was next. So cute. My scores are always horrible but it’s fun.

Scott has been craving a hot dog. We passed a place that had hot dogs, not a quick service place, more like a kiosk. I saw num num cookies which I read about so got one of them too. Scott enjoyed his hot dog. The cookie was OK, didn’t compare to Gideon’s, but it was a warm gooey cookie.



We walked around the park some more. We browsed through some of the shops.



I don’t have notes on the rest of the afternoon so I’m assuming we went on more attractions and just enjoyed being at the park.

When it was almost time for our dinner reservation we headed out.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 3/30/22 - Continued:
We drove to the Contemporary.

Before dinner we went to the bar at Steakhouse 71.

I ordered the 5 legged llama. This was horrible. After 1 sip, I knew I wasn’t going to drink it. Even Scott thought it was bad. The bartender said a lot of people don’t like it.

Scott had a martini.



I ordered a Magical Beacon drink instead. Scott had a muddled cucumber drink but I forgot exactly what it was. I enjoyed this drink.



We were seated on time. We tried Steakhouse 71 in the fall the first week they were open and weren’t that thrilled. We wanted to give it another try having read so many great reviews and assuming they were still working the kinks out after opening.



We shared our food.

To start we ordered the crab cakes. These were pretty good, not the best crab cakes I’ve had but decent.



We also ordered the brioche buns. Being amused by silly things, I liked how they wrote 71 in the butter. These were very good.



For our entree we shared the prime rib which came with horseradish sauce and Yorkshire pudding (or as I call them Popovers). Scott also ordered Mac & cheese. When the prime rib first arrived, it was too rare so they took it back to cook some more. It was much better then. The Mac and cheese was good. The Yorkshire pudding/popover was my favorite part of the meal.



We skipped dessert here. As we were finishing dinner, Scott said let’s get my favorite dessert…

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 9/30/22 - Continued:
We took the monorail to the Polynesian

We posed for a few pictures




The photographer took a decent amount of pictures. Your would think when they chose one to put with the Poly border they could have picked one where Scott’s eyes were open. It’s still a cute shot, but would have been much better if his eyes were open.


We headed to the Tambu Lounge. Scott had coffee and a Grand Marnier. I had the watermelon lemonade.
And we shared the bread pudding. This is so good.

 

[Noreen411]

Wednesday 9/30/22 - Continued:
We took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.







We went into Carousel of Progress. Of course I’m singing along during the chorus.

The People Mover / TTA was next and we walked right on

We posed for another balloon picture using the other hand



Haunted Mansion was a lot of fun. We never seem to look at the camera when we’re in the Haunted Mansion.



We headed towards the Ariel ride and watched the fireworks from over there. It’s not the best view but it was empty.
After posing for a few pictures, we walked right onto the Ariel ride when the fireworks ended.




I know this picture is out of order, but it’s a great way to sum up the visit to Magic Kingdom.



We headed out and walked back to the Contemporary then drove back to Vistana Villages

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 3/31/22:
We went to the gym about 6:30.

We didn’t buy GeniePlus today.

We did our normal routine of bath, shower, laundry, and breakfast.

We drove to Disney Springs right when they opened. We pulled into the Lime garage and as we were pulling in saw the sign that the garage was still technically closed. Others followed us in. Everything was due to open within 5 minutes so it’s not like we were there way before they would have opened.

Our first stop was Gideon’s. They weren’t doing a virtual queue and the standby line was only 20 minutes. We spent the time chatting with others on line. We bought 6 more cookies.

We went to World of Disney and bought a few more shirts.

We walked around a bit then headed back to Vistana Villages to drop off our purchases and freeze our cookies.

We drove over to Epcot.

This picture looks like a postcard but Scott and I are right under Spaceship Earth (he’s wearing a pink shirt). In the MDE app it’s an interactive photo where it pans in and out, and you see us, but I can’t get that attached here.



I love some of the pictures we’ve been taking. For years Scott hated taking pictures but now he’ll even look for the photographers so we can take pictures.







We went on Test Track using the single rider line. This is so convenient and we were able to ride quickly and were just a car away from each other. If it was my first time riding it, I wouldn’t do that and would want to experience it together, but since we’ve been on before this is a great way to ride with minimal wait.

We saw the booth that had Avocado Toast so we got an order of that to share. We were both very impressed with how good it was. It was a decent sized portion.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 3/31/22 - Continued:
We walked into World Showcase.



We did the loop around the countries, stopping for pictures and/or shows as we went.













It’s hot out today so we appreciated the air conditioned shows in the various countries.

When we saw the Frushi by Japan we got an order. It looked so cute. It was actually pretty good.





After our loop around the countries we stopped in the Creations shop and bought a few more things.

We headed back to Vistana Villages. We did the bulk of our packing. We took a quick dip in the pool.

Soon it was time to shower and change for dinner.

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 3/31/22 - Continued:
We drove to the Grand Floridian.

We went to the Enchanted Rose Lounge to have a drink before dinner. Scott had a Martini and I had the Garden Spritzer (non alcoholic).



We saw someone order Mac & cheese at the bar so we checked to see what it was. Crab Mac & Cheese. We ordered one. Scott liked it. I thought it was OK, but I’m not a huge Mac & cheese fan.



After our drinks and the Mac & Cheese we headed to Citricos for our dinner reservation.

I had the London Dry Juniper Seltzer (non alcoholic) and Scott had a martini.



The bread was good.



We shared the duck appetizer and this is really good.



After our appetizer came out, our waiter sort of disappeared. Everyone around us was getting their food and we waited.

Finally our entrees came out. I had the Mahi Mahi which was delicious. Scott ordered the filet which he wasn’t as thrilled with. He double checked with the waiter that it was, in fact, filet as it didn’t look like most filets we’ve had in the past. It was on the thin side rather than thick. We also ordered the cauliflower which was pretty good.







We skipped dessert at Citricos. We wanted to get our favorite dessert…

 

[Noreen411]

Thursday 3/31/22 - Continued:
We got on the monorail to head to the Polynesian. The fireworks started as we were on the monorail and we realized our mistake. During dinner we were saying since it was close to time for fireworks we should watch them from the beach.

We headed to the Tambu Lounge for dessert.

Scott had a Bourbon and a Coke. I ordered the Sip A Bration. I’ve been enjoying many of the specialty drinks (both alcoholic and non alcoholic) in general. This one was terrible. It was a cute idea and looked cute, but it didn’t taste good. It wasn’t as bad as the 5 legged llama drink, but a close second. I am including several pictures of the drink showing how cute it is.









Of course the star of dessert…the bread pudding. We were laughing at how often we’ve been back for this bread pudding.



We took the monorail back to the Grand Floridian, got the car, then drove back to Vistana Villages.