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© Lisa Cubbon, 2003
Who: Andy and Lisa Cubbon (over 50, retired and no kids at home!)
When: August 5-11
Where: Boardwalk Inn
Why would be go to WDW in August? Well, I had been offered a chance to teach a one-day class in Orlando and I am a sucker for WDW, which is just outside of Orlando, so of course I said yes and immediately booked a room at the Boardwalk Inn. Wohoo. I am going to Disneyworld! Just before my birthday too. I am a lucky girl. The class got canceled and my lower lip jutted out and Andy said well, you were looking forward to this trip so we will go even though we both knew what to expect: heat, humidity, rain and crowds. But we were going to Disney World and that was all that mattered. I even booked dinner reservations a couple weeks before and I had never done that before. I was concerned that availability would be gone with the summer crowds. So I got priority seating requests for Tuesday at The Rose and Crown, Thursday at The California Grill and Saturday at Jiko’s. We were all set.
Tuesday August 5th. We left home in Marietta GA at 8:45a and had a mostly pleasant drive down. Just the usual potty stops and the required stop at the Disney Information Center in Ocala for a quick look see at the Disney stuff and to gas up the car. We got off the toll road onto US 27 when we saw the rain on the horizon. Well, it was close to 4pm and every one knows about the daily 4pm showers. Not to worry but these looked like mighty big sun showers. It thundered and lightened and pours buckets. We got to the entrance to The Boardwalk Inn (BI) at 4:45p. I went in to register and Andy went to park the car. The rains hit our area then and Andy thought he was going to get washed away! We were dickering for a room, when the most wonderful Bellman, Jim, helped us find a very nice room. Seems the hotel was full. Normally I don’t believe that but the guest parking lot was pretty full so it was possible. The cast member who was checking us in was not so helpful. We finally got assigned to rm. 1326. It’s on the first floor of the little building that juts out into the courtyard and faced the quite pool. It was a very nice room. The two rooms I had requested were not available and I did believe that after I watched to be sure lights went on in the rooms at night. We were quite comfortable in the room. It had two queen beds and a very nice little patio facing the pool. We were quite comfortable in our little home away from home. We quickly unpacked while the thunderstorm roiled around us. We left the room and walked across the courtyard and up the grand stairway (that become our primary travel path rather that walking all the way around to the elevators). This is the only part of the design of the resort I really don’t like. To get to the sleeping rooms, you are always going up and down stairs. I do wish they could cut through a path to the outside.
We headed over to The Rose and Crown for our traditional first evenings dinner. M The rain had mostly stopped but we were seldom without our umbrella for the entire stay. We got to the International Gate and into Epcot and over to the RnC in time for our 6:30 PS. The place was not very busy. That was surprising to us. We had a very nice dinner. Andy had fish and chips and I had the veggie plate, which was excellent. We each had a salad and a half pint of Guinness. This was a great start to our vacation. Sure it was hot and humid and rainy but we were at Disney World. We finished dinner and headed out to see what was up. It was 7:30 so Future World was closed but we headed for a quit walk through of Mouse Gears (retail therapy for me) and then we walked over to see Mission: Space (it was open) and Test Track. The single rider line at TT was 30 minutes so I passed on that and M: S is out of the question for this visit. I had shoulder surgery July 2nd and I was not about to try this until it’s healed. Andy’s back surgery was in December so he was passing on this too. I don’t think he’s too keen on centrifugal force attractions anyway. We then headed over to World show Case to share a rice cream from Norway and find a spot to watch Reflections Of Earth (RoE). The rice cream was fabulous as always. We share one so neither of us can be too big a pig. The crowds were not bad. Even at 8:30p there were very good spots available for viewing RoE. We walked toward American Adventure and did find a great place to view the display with almost a 180 view. Now, if only we could remember where it was. We went back our last night and we think it’s to the east of the pier in Italy. I really need to write this stuff down in more detail. We called it a night and went back to the BWI for a nights sleep.
Wednesday, August 6th. Today we had our first full day at WDW! We did our usual breakfast routine. I get up, get ready and go get milk, coffee and a sweetie at the bakery while Andy gets up. He’s not a morning person so he needs more time. This vacation, I did not set the alarm until our going home day. We were out of the room by 10:30a and on our way to… whichever bus comes first. Yep, that’s how we make our selection the first day. The first bus was Magic Kingdom. We also started our photo album. This time we decided that I would take Andy’s photo in front of every photo spot in all four parks! Yes, indeed. It was pretty interesting finding the signs in some places too. There were a couple of signposts missing but then Andy just pointed when it should have been. Using a digital camera lets you really fool around doing this. We had lunch at Pinocchio’s Village Haus. We each had the excellent salad with peaches, feta cheese, walnuts and chicken and we shared an order of Figaro fries. They were really yummy. We may have to add that to our standard order. We opted to eat inside and had no problem finding a table. The crowds were pretty light. After Peter Pan was still at a 40-minute stand by but we snagged FP for right after our lunch. Peter Pan we headed back to the BWI for a cool down period and before the rain came. We took our car out of guest parking and drove to Downtown Disney around 5pm. Oh, this was the afternoon that I was the audience to the argument in the next room. Seems grandma had paid for the room and daughter and granddaughter were vacationing with her and the closeness got to them. The daughter was trying to get the child down for a nap and grandma and mother were yelling at each other about why they disliked each other. I won’t go into the details but the reasons were not anything new. I was sitting on the patio, when the daughter walked out, picked up a wet bathing suit, saw me and went back in and proceeded with the argument! Finally, she said she was leaving and not staying in the room, which her mother had paid for. Door slamming and it got quieter. I have no idea if the little girl got her nap that day but it did get quieter next door and I do think they left. Our next neighbors were much quieter except they got two wakeup calls each morning, on at 6 and one at 6:30a. We could hear the phone thru the wall. They did answer promptly so it was only mildly disturbing.
We had dinner at Portobello Yacht Club. I think we may have ordered the wrong meals this night. Usually the food here is very very good and this time it was only good. Maybe we just weren’t very hungry. We each had a class of wine and shared a Caesar salad. I had an appetizer portion of tortellini for my entrée and Andy got bowtie pasta with chicken. Both meals were bland. We will try something different next time. Usually, Andy will get a steak and that has always been very good. We did a little shopping, just looking to see what was available but we were tired and drove back to the BWI, got coffee and watched the Epcot Fireworks from the boardwalk and went to bed.
Thursday, August 7th. We headed over to MGM/DS. We took the boat rather than walk. The rule we use is if we are in no hurry, we wait for the boat. We did WWTBAM, PI! Andy made it to the top 10 on the final board. We took our photo spot pictures and headed back to BWI. We took the boat back due to the heat and picked up sandwiches at the Boardwalk Bakery. I had the chicken salad sandwich and Andy had the Ham and Cheese sub. Both were delicious but the chicken salad one is huge on a large hunk of chibiata bread. We ate while it rained, again. We stayed in the room this afternoon and left BWI around 5:15p for our 6:30p PS at California Grille. We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and walked over to the Contemporary. It’s so easy to do this and since the MK was opened until 11p on Thursday, we knew we could catch the bus back without a problem or a trip to Downtown Disney. Plus I knew that we would like to walk a bit to digest our meal and the Spectromagic Parade was at 9:00p so we would make a night of it. We took the umbrella too. The sky continued to threaten to open again. We were a few minutes early but they had a very nice table waiting for us right next to the window over looking Seven Seas Lagoon and the Magic Kingdom. WOW. We had a great dinner. We shared a flatbread pizza with three cheeses and garlic and a salad with Camembert cheese and apple. For our entrees, Andy had the filet and I had the pork tenderloin with polenta. Both were very good but I thought the polenta was a little salty this time. For dessert we shared a chocolate banana bread pudding. We each had a glass of wine with dinner and left very satisfied. While we were eating the rains came, slowly at first and then pretty heavy. We left the restaurant around 8:00pm and took the monorail over to the MK. It was still drizzling when we got there and the park was pretty crowded. We headed into the shops to avoid the crowds on Main St and pretty soon we heard the announcement, no parade for safety reasons. So back to the bus stop we go and home for another early evening.
Friday, August 8th. We did our usually thing in the morning and headed over to MGM. We love this park and for some reason just don’t spend enough time there. Maybe it’s too many choices. Since we were both avoiding the high impact rides, we did Muppets, looked in the shops and had lunch at Sunset Market. I had a veggie burger and Andy had a regular burger. It was pretty hot and we just sat in the shade. We then did the Great Movie Ride and I confess I could not tell any difference in the spiel or the sets. I still like it so it doesn’t matter. It was time for an early supper then so we headed into the Commissary and shared beans and rice stew. We decided to try our own version of tapas at WDW tonight and snack over at Epcot. We left the park and took the bus to Epcot. We don’t often take the bus to Epcot so it was an adventure. The bus driver went a completely different way than we expected it was a mini-tour of the property. I like walking into the park from the front too so it’s a nice diversion from coming in via the international gateway. We rode Space Ship Earth and then went into Mouse Gear where I found my birthday present! I got a Castle Pencil holder (with Tinkerbell) and a Peter Pan tape dispenser! Yeah for me. They had a Splash Mountain sticky note holder and a Dumbo stapler but I did have some restraint and maybe I will get that next time. We had them delivered to the BWI. We headed over to Test Track but the single rider line was at 30 minutes and we were getting peckish by then. We headed to the Cantina in Mexico and we each got a margarita and shared a chicken taco salad. The show in line was the best part. There were several families getting their evening grub and people had huge trays of food to deliver to the saved tables. We were lucky and found a nice table after we bussed it. It was about 8pm and there were still tables available around the waterfront. That was amazing to us. We headed towards Norway and tried to find that great spot for watching RoE that we found a couple nights ago. Neither of us remembered where it was. Oh well. We really enjoy this show. It feels so different from the fireworks in the parks. I think because the music was specifically created for this display and people stand in a circle around the lagoon to watch it rather than sit or stop in the middle of Main St. Off to bed!
Saturday, August 9th. Today we did some more of pretty much nothing. The skies were really threatening rain so we headed to Epcot for our Picture Spot photo session. It gives you a different perspective on the parks to do this. All we wanted to find were the Photo Spot makers and keep moving. We did not stop for any attractions; just keep trudging around from post to post. We had a problem with the one next to Journey into Imagination. It was missing! Just like the one by the Carousel in the Magic Kingdom. We knew better than to ask so we took a photo of Andy pointing to where the sign should be. You gotta do what you gotta do! We got all finished just before the rains came. And boy did they come. Thunder, lightening, the whole show. We ducked into Morocco and waited it out. We had a small lunch in the café. We shared the combo veggie plate and a Moroccan pizza. I really like this little place. We headed back for our afternoon rest and to dry out again. We were having dinner at Jiko’s over at The Animal Kingdom Lodge at 6:30p. We decided to go out and drive around before we headed over there. We needed a couple things from the store and I wanted to see how Celebration had changed since we saw it a couple years ago. Well, we managed to exploring (lost with a purpose) and found the Gaylord Palms. We finally found the Publix and Celebration. I satisfied my curiosity about Celebration; it’s grown a lot! I love driving through it and enjoy the structured look of the whole town. Not sure I could live there but I like to visit. Dinner at Jiko’s is quickly becoming a must do for us. While the California Grille is the premier restaurant at WDW, we think that Jiko’s is unbeatable for us. We got to the Lodge early so we watched the animals for awhile and tried to avoid the raindrops again. The restaurant was not too crowded and we had Nasser as our server. He has served us before and does a great job. We got a glass of pinotage wine, shared a kalamata olive flatbread that was fabulous and had a salad each. For our entrée, Andy had the golden bass in parchment with veggies and pap (African Polenta) and I had the berbere braised lamb shank with couscous and baby spinach. Andy’s a real fan of the fish and I love this lamb dish. We then shared the Tanzanian chocolate candies, chunks of dark chocolate wrapped in a wontons and deep fried and served with a while chocolate and orange flavored dipping sauce. We were stuffed. We will be back!
Sunday, August 10th. Today was our “eat-out” breakfast day so we decided on Spoodles. They have rearranged the menu and the semolina pancakes were gone. I loved those. The breakfast was fine but I think we may try someplace else next time. I really liked it when they first opened but stuff changes. We headed over to Animal Kingdom and got fast passes for the safari and then just chilled for awhile. We got off our safari; just in time to see the end of the parade. We headed back to BWI and decided on Beaches and Cream for dinner. We sat at the counter and had a great meal. Andy had a cheeseburger and fries and a chocolate shake and I had a chilidog and onion rings and water. After our tummies were full we headed to Epcot for our final night this trip. We just walked around the lagoon and enjoyed the heat and lack of rain that day.
Monday, August 11th. Last day. Heading home. We decided to spend out last morning at the Magic Kingdom. We loaded up the car and took the bus over and went and saw George W at the Hall of Presidents. The park was really not crowded at all. Very nice but spooky without all the strollers and kids about. School was getting ready to start. We had a picnic for an early lunch. This is a regular practice for us. Andy got a turkey leg, I got a Caesar salad without chicken and a diet coke and we found a table next to the MK autobahn. It’s a great meal and fun to watch all the little kids think that they can really drive! One mother was screaming as they went by and they had just gotten on. After our picnic we shared a strawberry swirl and said goodbye for this trip. We went back to BWI via the bus and cranked up Blanche and headed home. We were home at 8:00pm and tired. It rained on the way home too.
Mission:Space. I can’t remember which day we walked through this. We did not do the space launch. With my recent shoulder surgery and Andy’s back surgery we decided to not try it this time. But the pre-show area and the post-show areas are amazing. The entry way is beautiful. I have been taking photos of the outside since they had that part open. There is a huge model of the moon and Mars with a space shuttle on a trajectory path. The cue area is beautifully themed with a revolving space station and an actual LEM on loan from NASA. There is so much to look at as you wait. The day we went, the attraction had just opened and there was not a line but waiting would not be a chore. The post-show area includes an interactive save the space station game. It’s like a giant game of pacman. Lots of fun!
Closing comments. I never say never, but I don’t expect to head back to WDW in the summer for a long time. Maybe a day or so if we are in Tampa but not for this long a time. The crowds were not bad but the rain and humidity really got to me. Maybe if I had not had been confined by a healing shoulder it would have been different. Our next trip will be in November around Veteran’s Day. The annual Food and Wine festival will be underway at Epcot and I like that. Andy says it’s expensive small bites but you can try lots of different things and the different beers and wines are pretty neat.
Till then.....Lisa