A June Joyride...*****COMPLETED!!! 7/9***** About This Page:

[DyanKJ130]

What a great morning!! It's always nice to hit a light day! In all the times we've been on the GMR, we've yet to experience the western version. TSMM sounds neat and how that you saw Matt & Bethany! Seeing all the Star Wars characters sounds like fun. Can't wait to hear more

[JoanW]

Tears I tell ya! Tears! I think you have a wonderful family, and they react the same way I would if I were surprised with a trip. And the Passporter Love, there is no other like it!

We'll have to meet for lunch sometime!

[piratefreak]

How awesome that the crowds were so light. Hope Izzy's cough passes quickly. Can't wait to hear more.

[RobDVC]

Very cool morning in DHS:
-Great parking spot
-TWO spins on TSMM!
-Show "B" of The Great Movie Ride.
-Noticing Matt&Bethany
-Light Crowds

[MattUGA]

It was the first time I've ever seen "Show B" of the GMR too!

[Jillybean]

All of the crowds must have been there on Friday because I have never seen it more crowded on that day! Glad that you guys didn't have that same problem! Sounds like a great morning! Hope that Izzy isn't getting sick!

Jill

[bfth]

Just catching up (hard to do when you're out of the loop for a couple of weeks -- darned hospital didn't have internet access!).

Glad you're having such a good time. Spoodles...uummmmmmmmmmm....Well I'm glad somebody (somebodies?) had a good dinner on my birthday. I so love Spoodles and know they are good when it comes to allergies.

[emtpej]

fun fun fun!

[Disney_Scarlett]

Great night at Epcot and great morning at DHS! What more could you ask for? Looking forward to hearing about your afternoon at the resort!

[disneydani]

Originally Posted by MickeyMAC

Sounds like you had a great morning, with a very light crowd. Hope Izzy is not ready for an asthma attack.........my daughter has severe asthma and we travel with enough equipment to take care of most emergencys.

Oh yes....we travel with a portable pharmacy!

Originally Posted by Nala

How nice for you guys that the lines were somewhat short. One would not think the FP return for a new attraction would be just a few hours after the park opened.

I swear, this trip was all about timing....we were very lucky! When I was waiting for the fam to exit TSMM, I ws chatting with the CM. She said the day before was crazy and they ran out of FP by 1pm!

Originally Posted by JoanW

We'll have to meet for lunch sometime!

You name the time and place...I will be there! Love it!

Originally Posted by Jillybean

All of the crowds must have been there on Friday because I have never seen it more crowded on that day! Glad that you guys didn't have that same problem!
Jill

We certainly lucked out and I did not follow any sort of touring plan or park day recommendation. Also, though, we really stayed away from all the other big attractions....I imagine there were some significant waits elsewhere.

danielle

[Lemap760]

Looks like you're enjoying really low crowds during your trip.

[MattUGA]

Yeah Fridays of the SWW are always bad... so are Saturdays. if you can, go to SWW on Sunday. That's pretty much the rule for all the weekend things... F&W Festival, etc.

[disneydani]

It felt great to be back in the comforting coolness of the AKL. I really enjoyed the fact that the rooms and the lobby are self-contained…once you are inside, you can stay inside! Izzy and I headed up to the room while Paul and Andrew stopped by the lounge first for a cold drink. I am sure they probably had a little snack too but they keep those activities on the Q-T. I was surprised by how pooped I was and it felt great to lie on the comfy bed for a few moments. So good, in fact, that I believe I took a little snooze. The kids were very cooperative and played quietly…or so I was told!

Afterwards, a swim was in order so we all changed into our suits and headed back to the pool. The water definitely felt a tad cooler than yesterday but still very refreshing. Izzy was addicted to the slide and I lost count of how many trips she took this afternoon. The pool area was busy but since the pool is so expansive, I felt like we all had plenty of room. At some point, Izzy and I took a break for the daily arts and crafts activity on the pool deck. That is another thing I really appreciated about the AKL…there are so many wonderful (and free) activities for the kids to participate in, all day long. Today, we were making a gecko. Please take note of our wonderful and artistic talent!



Afterwards, it was getting a bit late so I gave the kids another 30 minutes of pool time before heading back up for showers.

Andrew and I were the first two to claim the bathroom and as we were all washed up…we went to check out the evening lounge offerings. As we turned the corner into the lounge, I saw a few familiar faces. Sitting around a large table was the CLT plus Jill. The mood seemed a bit somber, as Jill and Sharon were awaiting DME pick-up. It was lovely to spend a few moments with them all….Jill has a fabulous southern drawl and looks way too young to be Mommy to her two cuties. Maddie was snoozin’ in her stroller and Mary Devall was playing around the other side of the lounge but I was able to spy her fabulous face painting….I believe she was done up as a lioness. Jill told me the highlight of her trip was the time with the CLT and from reading her TR, I can certainly understand why! Sharon and I chatted about our future WDW trips…she has way more planned than me, no surprise there! I would have loved to pull up a seat and chatted for a bit longer but my probation officer ~er~ husband was waiting for me and I didn’t want to impose on the foursome’s last moments together.

Back up in the room, I finished getting Izzy ready….following some meds, her coughing had subsided a bit but she had a few weird ‘rashy’ spots sprinkled around her body. She said they weren’t bothersome and so I decided to wait it out because if I gave this kid anymore antihistamine, she would become a bit of a zombie! We headed out for the evening; we had an ADR at Citricos. When we arrived at the restaurant, we were happy to be greeted by Melissa who was very helpful when we were planning out Andrew’s Bar Mitzvah. She seated us at a beautiful table and handed us our menus…with a bit of a neat surprise across the top!



Chef Eddie came out to catch up with us a bit and then go over Izzy’s allergy needs. One bonus to getting to know the chefs and having the opportunity to speak to them is hearing all about what is new in the kitchen. Chef was telling us about the new shipment of a stellar batch of fresh apricots and white peaches as well as a few of the seasonal changes since our last visit there. He then left us to mull over the menu and make our choices which were not an easy task as there were so very many yummy choices! We finally settled on our dishes and happily awaited their arrival.

Strangely enough, I saw Chef Eddie come back towards our table carrying a wonderful treat.



Okay, words cannot do this justice….well my words, anyway. A few succulent slices of fresh apricots, dressed in 8 year old balsamic vinegar with a dollop of sweet ricotta and chervil. OMG, it was fresh, slightly tart, slightly sweet, majorly awesome!

Next up… the apps.

Gateau of Crab



Fruit Plate….note the scrumptious white peach!



Tomato-Mozzarella Salad



Sweet Onion Soup



Followed by the mains.

Swordfish



Kids Filet



Chicken



Halibut



Don’t forget dessert….

Tiramisu with three forks!



Chocolate Soy



I cannot say enough about our dinner here, the food and the service were top-notch. DDE savings…. $33.80



Izzy snapped this one....



Our evening plans called for a brief visit to the MK. We hopped on to the monorail for the quick trip to the MK. I know, we technically should have moved our car to the TTC but I was busy rationalizing that we could leave our car at the GF for the allotted three hours and hopefully be back in time.

In any case, the kids had one priority…Splash Mountain. A few weeks ago, Izzy, who is fairly tentative about certain rides, nonchalantly announced that she would like to try out Splash. So, this evening, it would be our first stop. We were lucky to grab a seat on the train and take an express route to Frontierland! Once again, the lines were definitely reasonable…perhaps it was our timing that families were still eating dinner? Whatever the case may be, Paul and the kids were soon on their way! I tried to snap a few pics but pretty much failed. We checked out the Photopass pic but could barely see Izzy’s face, so we passed.

That is Paul in the yellow shirt, waving.


Dusk was settling in and we decided to try out the Jungle Cruise. We hadn’t done it in awhile and thought the evening would a fun time. We really lucked out with a fabulous CM who had some new material and excellent timing and delivery. Seriously, this was one of the best cruises we have ever experienced. Lucky for us, there was a bit of a backup at the end so we had a few extra moments of our skipper’s comedic genius!

The kids took a quick whirl around Agrabah before we started to exit.



The streets were lined with guests getting ready to enjoy Spectromagic. Similar to last night, we noticed a few openings here and there. As we passed my favorite viewing ‘secret spot’, it was only half-full. We briefly discussed staying for the parade but the kids opted to head back to the AKL. We enjoyed our monorail ride back and then headed to pick up the car….we were about 20 minutes over the three hour limit…

We made the quick 15 minute trip back to the Lodge, grabbed a couple of refreshments from the lounge, relaxed a bit before conking out!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great afternoon/night! How great to run into Jill and the CLT one more time And my goodness.....what a great dinner

Congrats to Izzy for riding Splash

More please

[DawnDenise]

What a wonderful afternon and evening. The more you post pictures of Citricos, the more I am so lookng forward to it in November!! Congrats to Izzy for taking on Splash!