SouthernBelle & Grumpy 1st Annual Food & Wine Festival Birthday Bash - UPDATED 11/14 - COMPLETED!! About This Page:

[SouthernBelle]

If you're going to have a cold, you might as well be at Disney. Glad that you're not letting it stop you! A wonderful meal at Le Cellier was the perfect medicine!

and the wonderful beef & barley soup

Oh and I made it thru dinner at Le Cellier without sneezing once

[GoofyMom]

I knew you'd like the Beef and Barley soup better! I like the grain breadsticks the best too, but I might be biased since they represent Canada's "breadbasket", the Prairie Provinces, which happens to be where I grew up!

Sorry to hear you had a cold, but it doesn't seem to have slowed you down much.

[EeyoreNeedsLoveToo]

sounds like you had a wonderful time! My Mickey's always look a little lopsided too

I the pictures of Grumpy on the bus and with his Mickey! he looks as excited as a kiddo!

[poohmaine]

I'm just catching up with your report! Such wonderful birthday surprises!

[SouthernBelle]

I knew you'd like the Beef and Barley soup better! I like the grain breadsticks the best too, but I might be biased since they represent Canada's "breadbasket", the Prairie Provinces, which happens to be where I grew up!

Donna, I thought about you and Dan when she was explaining the bread. But we loved all three bread sticks, we ate them so fast that I forgot to take a picture of them I did get a picture of them when we had lunch on Sunday but they were half gone by the time I remembered to take the picture

But wait the best and biggest surprise of the trip is still waiting in the wings..........

[palamiller]

So glad you had so many special 21st -ahem- birthday moments !! Can't wait to find out the surprise!!

[EeyoreNeedsLoveToo]

don't drop surprise hints with no update Melissa! please - MORE!

[mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince]

Well, I am so glad you had a happy happy Le Cellier birthday! I have to say that my birthday button did not do all the special things yours did! And my travelmate Stacy celebrated her birthday at Le Cellier and got nothin'! Bread sticks were good, though! Oh, and the apple pumpkin thingie. I made Stace order it even though she was full (hey, it was free dining, baby!) and I ate more of that than my creme brulee!

Looking forward to more!

[Jookiba]

Thanks for a great update and for the pics of LeCellier. I was practically drooling looking at the delectable desserts! I surely hope they're still offered as they have not added any desserts to the menu's on Deb's site.

[wheatenwalker]

OK, waitng for the surprise!!!!!!!!!!!

[DyanKJ130]

Great updates!! Can't wait to hear more!

[jjj6689]

I want to see what your thank you cards were - I love that idea. Jacob is having his real birthday while we are their and each twin chose a restaurant (yeah different ones - this may be hard to explain SINCE THEY ARE TWINs -but they wanted different places)for their Disney birthday. Maybe we will just say we are celebrating their 1/2 birthday.

[SouthernBelle]

Well know I really have a full blown cold, so with my spare tissues and extra drugs in my bag we are off to Animal Kingdom.

We were talking to a family that was also staying at Shades of Green on the bus to Animal Kingdom and the father asked us if the USAF Weather School at Keesler had been damaged from Katrina, Grumpy said yes we had had some damage but that it was all repaired and that he worked there. Well the father was also USAF Weather and him and Grumpy knew each other but had only spoke on the phone. It truly is a Small World, especially USAF Weather.

I asked Grumpy what he wanted to do first, He said Safari, so we headed off to the Safari. We sat in the very front row, right behind the driver. We had a very good Safari Guide, he was funny. We had to wait about 10 minutes for some animals to clear the road on the savannah portion, there were 4 safari trucks being held up by the Sable Antelope. One of the Antelope was directly in front of our truck on the hill. I would say each time we saw an animal how beautiful and when we got to the warthogs the guide said to me “Now Ma’am you have been saying all these animals are beautiful, you look at that warthog and tell me he is beautiful” “ I said he is beautiful” he then said to me “Okay you go look at the Naked Mole rat and tell me he is beautiful”. I told him “No way, Naked Mole Rats are where I draw the line, I do not like rats at all” Just Mice named Mickey!

After our Safari Adventure we headed to Asia, but did not see Devine anywhere along the trail. We headed straight for Expedition Everest, and my very first ride. The wait was only 20 minutes and the queue was just amazing, very interesting and moved along at a quick pace. I certainly commend Joe Rohde and the other Disney Imagineers on Everest. The ride is the smoothest rollercoaster I have ever been on. Boy what a rush, I can hardly wait to ride again. I didn’t even mind the backwards part.
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I tossed in a couple of pennies to apease the Yeti before my ride.

But after all that screaming on the ride I needed a nice icy cold drink, Ahh the Royal Anandapur Tea Company for a nice icy cold Raspberry Iced Tea. AHHH and it so helped the sore throat

We wandered in and around Discovery Island snapping Pictures of the animals and great pictures of Everest. We checked the times guide for Festival of the Lion King Show it was on in 30 minutes, so we headed that way and we got there just in time. WAHOO :woot; We were in the Lion Section another first for Grumpy and I. We have been Giraffes and Warthogs before. This show still amazes me to this day, the singers voices just blow me away and the tumble monkeys are just hilarious. This is one show I never miss when we go to AK.

We headed towards Dinoland to ride Dinosaur, another 20 minute wait. This is another must do for Grumpy and I, but this time it rattled me just a little more than usual, but I will blame that on my cold

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We found the Hidden Mickey, near Chester & Hester’s ( NanaTink for pointing this one out)

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See the Hidden Mickey

Well we were both starving so we headed off to Flame Tree Barbecue. At first we could not decide on what to get, everything that was coming out of there looked absolutely delish. But we decided on the Mixed Green Salad with Barbecue Chicken -- crisp greens and tomato with balsamic vinaigrette dressing $6.99; 2 lemonades, and order of fries for Grumpy and a corn muffin for me. This salad was huge and delish. We sat out behind the Flame Tree Barbecue along the lake facing Everest, it was very nice out there, nice breeze blowing.

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After lunch we headed back to the hotel, so that I could have a nap, this cold was trying to kick me, but I was not about to let it do that.

[SouthernBelle]

After our nap and showers, we headed back to Epcot for more of the Food & Wine Festival. First we went to Nemo and Friends so we could catch some shell and ride the EAC Dude. We then headed to Test Track but the wait was 50 minutes, so we stopped at the Festival Center, the Wonders of Life Pavilion. Grumpy got himself a little glass of Merlot and I shopped around.

We then were getting hungry and I wanted to try the Lamb Sliders in the New Zealand Booth. But first we stopped at Greece for a little salad and wine.

Then we each got a Lamb Slider a glass of Villa Maria Private Bin Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot. We also tried the Kiwi and Custard Roll. This was all very delish, the lamb was tender and the kiwi and custard roll was nice and light and not to tart. I forgot to take a picture I will blame it on my cold

We wandered around WS we stopped to watch the Native American Dancers in the Oklahoma exhibit.

We then wandered towards Germany, where I bought 2 Christmas ornaments. The smell of sausage was calling our names, so we had the Spaetzle with Creamy Mushroom Ragout $3.00; Debriziner Sausage and Sauerkraut in a Pretzel Roll $3.25 and for my birthday they gave me the Apple Strudel with Vanilla Sauce. Oh the power of the birthday button. Once again I forgot to take photos

We headed towards Norway, to ride on Maelstrom. The wait was about 30 minutes. But we didn’t mind the wait. We even stayed and watched the film on Norway since it had been years since we had seen it.
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After that we decided to call it a night, so we headed towards the monorail to beat the crowds.

Today’s Weather: Warm Sunny and Wonderful
The best thing today was: Everest
The worst thing today was: my cold
The funniest thing today was: The Tumble Monkeys
Today we tried: Flame Tree Barbecue

Up Next - Day 4 Epcot and David Cassidy

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Melissa And pictures too! Sorry you still have a cold That salad looks delicious (and similarly like one they used to have at Tusker House) I'll be checking that out for our next trip Glad you had fun at the F&WF too

More please