Chapter 3: A Fancy-Pants Dinner - Jan 10th

It was another beautiful day out when I woke up. I was extra excited because today we were going to Victoria and Alberts, or as I kept calling it, our "Fancy-Pants Dinner". I have wanted to eat at V&A's for pretty much as long as I have known about it. I love food. And I love good food. And everything about eating there appealed to me. So I saved up and told Steevin we were going there. He was much less excited than I was but he never gets excited in advance and he was happy that I was so excited.

But dinner wouldn't be for hours and we had other stuff to do this morning like see some animals! We got ready and went to our "local" bakery for breakfast. Steevin just got a croissant and I chowed down on a really good blueberry muffin. While we were sitting outside enjoying the morning a little boy came tearing down the boardwalk with a seagull hot on his heels. The boy was screaming in a mix of terror and laughter. He caught up with his family and his dad did some sort of wrestling drop-kick move in the general direction of the bird which seemed to be enough to scare it away.  That boy may be scared for life of seagulls but we had a good laugh.

Today we were going to Animal Kingdom so we couldn't just stroll over to our destination. We had to ride a buss like the regular unwashed masses. Ick. When we got to Animal Kingdom their Christmas tree was still up. I really liked the decorations!

It looks like A Lion King Christmas

Yay!

Animal Kingdom is home to some scary animals

We headed right for the Safari because we wanted to avoid long lines and hopefully get  to see the animals all nice and active. We got our wish for both. We were seated in the 2nd row with a guy and his little girl. She was pretty cute. But the people in front of us... UHG! It was a couple, and the guy kept standing up and crawling over his wife to switch sides to get the "The Best Possible Shot" with his camera. It was driving me bonkers. How hard is it to sit in one seat. I decided that he is the kind of person who will one day have a child that will FALL OUT of a ride because they were standing up to see better (because it's what daddy does) and then probably sue Disney for not having seat belts. I was annoyed.

But then... I forgot to be annoyed because we saw giraffes and they were running and frolicking. I didn't even know giraffes could frolic.  But they can. And one walked RIGHT by the truck. We could have reached out and gave it a pet. Of course we didn't. But it was that close!

"Hello, Come to Toys R Us!"

Heeeeeeops! They don't look too hungry hungry.

This guy.

Roaming Elephant

We decided to inspect the tree of life a little bit closer by accidentally walking up a secret trail OR the exit to Its Tough To Be a Bug. We're not entirely sure but it was cool to check out the detail on the tree. We stopped and saw some more animals. We saw Mearkats and gorillas. Every time I see a gorilla it reminds me of the time I went to the zoo with my Aunt, cousin and grandma. My cousin was pretty little at the time and when she saw the gorillas she excitedly told everyone that "He looks just like Papa Neal!" who was my Grandma's husband at the time. LOL! Well she was right...

I love all the carvings!

See... this is me. Loving them. The carvings.

Steevin is pointing out his favorites.

Woah...

Meerkat scouting for danger

Mrs. Gorilla checking her manicure. Her baby is next to her behind the roots.

We decided we'd go get Fastpasses for Expedition Everest. We somehow got lost and ended up in the exit for Kali River Rapids. Again... I don't know how we did that. Its hard to lose a giant mountain but we did. So we squirted a few rafts with the water cannons and took a photo of group for them and then headed back the way we came. Because we had taken the long way around we were obviously famished so we used some snack points and Steevin got a pork and shrimp egg roll and I had a super fresh and yummy spring roll.

We like snacks!

We found it! Steev has to carry me there, I'm too tired from our long journey.

 We got our fastpass for Everest and decided to go to Dinoland U.S.A. so that I could visit Chester and Hesters and ride Primeval Whirl.  On our way we were distracted by a little path that led us to Tigger, Pooh and Friends. After visiting with them we walked right on to Primeval Whirl. After spinning ourselves dizzy and doing a little shopping at the shops we decided to check out Dinosaur. We walked up, saw it was a 45 minute wait and spun around on our heels and walked right out. 45 minutes for "Indiana Jones Jr."? No thank you.

I took this picture because I like monkeys

Gila Monster

We all have tummies full of hunny

I was pretending to jump. Steev was supposed to as well but I guess he forgot.

Being sad with Eeyore. Steevin was supposed to as well but I guess he forgot.

Here we are in front of a Monkey Habitat. Steevin is doing some sort of "rock-power-fist" thing. He  told me we were going to pose like monkeys but I guess he forgot...

Since Dinosaur was a no-go we decided to get lunch at the Flame Tree. Steevin ordered the Ribs and Chicken and I got the pork sandwich. As always it came with dessert so I got the Key Lime Mouse and Steev had the chocolate. I think the lady that was behind the counter getting us our food had a crush on me because she also gave me cupcake just to give me a magical day. Awe, it was nice. I did feel bad when I couldn't finish it though. I was already feeling full after my meal and I didn't even eat all my dessert and I was trying to save room for Fancy-Pants Dinner. I did have a bit though and dang! That frosting is just pure sugar. If you're kid is going all wack-a-doo at Disney World and you don't know why... think back to if you gave them one of those cupcakes because they're probably on the most intense sugar high of their life.

Mmm.. pork sandwich

Steevin's ribs and chicken

Steevin told me that this is NOT a tiger eating a pig. Its a pig piledriving a tiger. And now you know!

 After lunch we went to go see the tigers. Steev had himself a headache so I asked if he wanted to skip Everest. He said NO he did not want to skip that. So we headed over. The standby line said 10 minutes so we thought we'd do that and then use our fastpass when we were done and ride it again. But the sign lied as we stopped in a long line in the first room. So we hopped out of the sucker... I mean Standby line and fastpassed it up! The ride was super fun as always. We got Erika (Steevin's sister) a souvenir there as her nickname is Yeti and there are plenty of yeti things there. We also got Steevin some pills for his headache.

Steev and I love big cats! (and small ones)

I just KNOW he wants to snuggle!

We decided to head out for the day as it was 4pm and the park closed at 5pm anyway.  Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade was going on so we got re-routed... and lost again! Sheesh. I think we needed a guide on this trip. We eventually found our way out, and back to the busses (ew!) and headed home. Steev decided to take a nap because of his head and I took a little one too.

I got up and started to get ready for Fancy-Pants Dinner. I woke Steev up a little later and all of a sudden he decided to get nervous for dinner because maybe it was TOO fancy for him. Well I didn't want to spend so much money on something if Steev wasn't even going to enjoy it so I said we didn't need to go and he said NO we are going. He started to get ready and realized he brought the wrong pants... the ones that didn't fit. Now... if your girlfriend took the time to book a Fancy-Pants Dinner, and kept reminding you about the need to pack your dinner jacket and your Fancy-Pants and kept on calling it a Fancy-Pants Dinner... wouldn't you make sure your Fancy-Pants were in order for the dinner? I asked Steevin 5 more times if he was sure he wouldn't just be happier if we called it off. And he was determined to go because I had my heart set on it for so long and that is the kind of guy he is. So we made it work with an un-tucked shirt (covered by his dinner jacket), a safety pin and oh yes... his black pinstripe converse because he doesn't own dress shoes. I think he almost hyperventilated before we got there. I kept telling him they weren't going to inspect him, he just had to look nice, which he did. It was an adventure for sure. LOL! But we both got dressed and ready and looked pretty darn nice and then we got a cab to The Grand Floridian for dinner.

At our hotel before dinner

We clean up pretty nice

Especially this guy

Safety pins? What safety pins?

We arrived at the Grand Floridian and asked for directions to Victoria and Alberts. We went and checked in but I knew we were early so they had a hostess WALK us to the bar around the corner. I told Steev he could relax now because they had seen him and hadn't sent him home but he was still nervous. So I ordered him a Rum and Coke at the bar and I got a Gin and Tonic. We actually had a great time chatting with the bartender and another couple there. The bartender told us about a drink she invented called a Poison Apple and then made the couple one and gave us a little taste. It was pretty good. Soon the hostess came back and found us and walked us back to V&A's. No classless buzzers for us, thankyouverymuch.

Even though Steevin is convinced the hostess went backstage and laughed to all her friends because he sat down first instead of letting me sit first, he soon loosened up a little and was able to enjoy himself. We got our personalized menus, picked what we wanted to eat and what followed was the best tasting three hours of our lives.

Our amuse-bouche: cauliflower cream with caviar, ahi tuna, duck, and lobster. It was all amazing!

My appetizer: cold-smoked and seared bison with truffle vinaigrette

Steevin's appetizer: gulf shrimp and heirloom tomatoes with charmoula sauce

My Fish course: Maine scallop with braised fennel and blood orange gastrique. (No photo of Steevin's. His was GONE by the time I was ready to take a photo. I guess it was good!)

My hot appetizer: Marcho Farm veal with and apple red wine kraut

Steev's blurry hot appetizer: roasted quail with Asian pears and Serrano ham jus

My main course: Kurobuta pork tenderloin and belly with verjus-bacon vinaigrette. For those of you who know me, I know you're asking if that is popcorn on top. Yes it is. And it was very good as a topping. I will add Victoria and Albert's popcorn to my small list of popcorn items I will eat. :)

Steev's main course: Australian kobe-style beef tenderloin with smoked garlic potato puree

This is the smoked garlic potato puree

My delicious cheese platter

Steevin's white chocolate gelatto

Coolest coffee pot ever. I really want one. Also, the coffee was really good. (As though anything at this place wasn't amazing!)

My Hawaiian Kona chocolate souffle. This was heaven in my mouth!

Steev's vanilla bean creme brûlée. He said this was the greatest thing ever.

And then this! After dinner treats and a rose. The chocolate on the right was sea salt and some sort of caramel with liqueur. SO AMAZING!

This was an amazing night with amazing company. If you've ever wondered about going to Victoria and Alberts but weren't sure about it, I can't say enough nice things about it. Yes, it was expensive. But I did not feel bad at all for saving up for something like this and I would do it again.

Chapter 2: Epcot Calls Our Name - Jan 9th

I woke up to beautiful sunny skies. It promised to be a warm day to my joy and Steevin's chagrin. But even he has to admit that for the most part it wasn't too warm for him except at the hottest part of the day. We showered and got ready and then headed right downstairs to our own little Boardwalk Bakery. They have these amazingly huge and delicious looking S'mores Cupcakes that I wanted to try but we never were able to. There was just no room in our tummies for them. Since S'mores Cupcakes didn't seem like a hearty breakfast to start off the day we both opted for the ham, egg and cheese croissant.

After breakfast we took a quick 3 minute walk to Epcot. Yes! That's all. Even if I didn't already love the hotel, even if I didn't love the bed and the decor and the awesome restaurants and shops right at my doorstep... a 3 minute walk to Epcot would have made the whole thing worth while.  But, luckily we already loved all those things so this was just the icing on top of an already very tall cake.

We went through the baggage screening where the Cast Member was a little scared when she felt something in Steev's backpack but then was okay when she saw it was just a flash. I'm not sure what she thought it was. We wandered past all the empty country pavilions that we would be visiting later in the day as they were closed at the moment. We decided to head right to Spaceship Earth because I love it so. As we were walking we saw that the Character Connection had barely a line at all so we decided to get our photo's with our favorite gang.

Our favorite place!

I'm kind of excited to be here

Mickey telling Steev how large of a fish he caught

Oh my!

Bros for life

That Minnie, always hitting on my man!

Oh well, I like her anyway.

Donald and I got Steevin back

But Goofy knows we love each other most!

After bonding with our old pals we headed off to Spaceship Earth. It was a delight as always, though I noticed the section with Rome burning didn't smell as strongly like Barbecue this time. We saw our Simans (snicker) future and you can too. Just click here. After the ride we played futuristic shuffleboard and powered an entire city. And you guys thought we were on vacation! We were working!


I asked Steev if he wanted to go to Club Cool for some tasty sodas and then over to Nemo and Friends. He said "YEA!". So we walked to Club Cool and found it locked and that it didn't open for another 30 minutes. So I asked him if he wanted to go over to Nemo and Friends and he said "YEA!". And so we did. We found Nemo. And then we walked around the rest of the area. We got to see some dolphins and it was so cool! They were teaching the dolphins "same" and "different". They said that humans and apes are the only species that understand "same" and "different". So for 5 years they have been teaching this dolphin "same". They put up three images on the wall of the aquarium and he points out the ones that are the same. They just started teaching him "different" the week before. The trainer said the dolphin was getting frustrated because he kept getting the answer wrong so we were all anxious to see how he did. And he got them all right except one! We were pretty impressed.

See, he's so excited he got it right!

We got to see the manatees munch on some lettuce. And Steevin and I were both enthralled with the cuttlefish because not only do they change their color but their texture too! Crazy! It was so cool to see them do it. And of course we saw seahorses which I love.

Cuttlefish AKA Zoidberg

Seahorsies!

After we explored all of the seas we decided we were hungry. We headed back into the World Showcase to the UK Pavilion and grabbed us some Fish and Chips. You know, the irony of that didn't hit me until just now. Sorry fishies! We had the free dining plan and so our meal came with a dessert which in this case was just a cookie but as we would later learn, the desserts would be our downfall as it is so hard to say no to a dessert that it just placed in front of you. LOL! I think this was our only dessert that went uneaten. As we were eating we saw a family with two little girls, one dressed up as Cinderella and one as Sleeping Beauty... and their mom was dressed up as Jasmine. In a full on Jasmine costume. I actually saw several teens and adults in full Disney costumes while I was there. Does Disney World have a different policy that Disneyland in regards to adults in costume at the park? I found it interesting. And also that was a brave woman walking around all of Disney in her little tube top and blue parachute pants. I wish I took a picture but I didn't think about it.

I promise this is not Nemo or Dory

UK Photoshoot!

UK Photoshoot!

We headed over to the France Pavilion and wandered the shops and thought about going to see their movie but then I was distracted with finding a restroom. But then I was again distracted from finding a restroom with food and booze! Steevin and I got desserts at the patisserie (an eclair and a napoleon which was divine!) and a glass of champagne each. They had to open a new bottle so they let us keep the cork as a souvenir. I thought that was a nice touch.

Our champagne

One of the best ways I can think of to spend an afternoon with one you love

I think zee Paris, she agrees with me, no?

This guy likes chairs...

After stuffing ourselves with chocolate, creme and champagne we headed to Morocco. I wanted to get a henna tattoo but there was no one at the little stand to do it. That was okay because I knew I'd seen two last time we were here so I scouted out the other lady and I got a symbol for "Love" on my hand. At the end I got a little sprinkle of pixie dust on it. Steevin decided to get one as well and he got the symbol for "Strong".  He did not get any pixie dust however.

Steev's favorite face to make when I kiss him.

Love Strong

We headed to the Japan Pavilion. We were really interested in their exhibit about ancient Japanese mythological creatures and their crossover into Anime. It was a really interesting exhibit, especially for Steevin because that is certainly his brand of nerdome. And then we spent time in the shop and bought some candy and sodas. But then we put them in the backpack to save for later because we found... Sake Cocktails! These things were SO yummy. I wish we had time/room in our stomachs to come back for more later. I will be putting these on my "Must Do" list for future trips. Steevin got pineapple flavor which tastes almost like drinking straight pineapple juice (which he loved) and I got the green tea which was not overly sweet but so refreshing! We took them over to the stone benches in front of the Torii and people watched for a while. We were sitting right in the middle so our happy faces are probably in at least 50 peoples photos. YAY!

I highly recommend these!

Bookend photos :)

After our sit-down we decided to check out Germany. Their Christmas tree was still up! I was pretty excited. Actually there were a lot of random Christmas decorations up still while we were there. Made me really want to make a trip during Christmas season one time. After Germany we went to China and explored their exhibit about tombs. It was very interesting. I love getting to learn new things about countries. China is where we also saw the most... ornate? gaudy? just... wow... cell phone cases ever!

Tannenbaum!

There were over 1000 of these and they all were different and uniquely carved.

Need a little bling?

We also saw this lady do this in China

 We headed to our dinner reservations in Morocco at Restaurant Marakesh. I have always wanted to try this place and I knew the cusine (and belly dancer) would be right up Steevin's alley. Its really beautiful inside and the food was great! I had the Roast Lamb Meshoui which was a lamb shank with roasted eggplant puree and a zucchini, caper and lemon confit which was so good! I wanted more of the confit! Steevin chose the Cous Cous with Lamb. The lamb shanks were huge! And so tender. And we had some tasty drinks as well with Steev having the Marakesh Express and I had the Casablanca Sunset. Steevin was too shy to take photo's of the belly dancer so he left that up to me. For dessert I had the assorted baklava which was delicious and Steevin tried the bastilla which is like layers of flaky, crunchy pastry with cinnamon,  powdered sugar, almonds and a vanilla sauce. I'm not sure if he ended up liking it or not. It was hard to tell. He said it tasted like cereal. You'll notice there are no pictures of our desserts. I remembered after I'd eaten half my baklava. There was no going back after that.

My tasty meal... the lamb shank looks like its straight out of the Flinstones!

Steev's meal.... his photos are often blurry because he was annoyed with me asking him to take pictures of his food before he ate it. 

Nice abs. I need to take up belly dancing!

  After we rolled ourselves out of Morocco we decided we'd start heading back to the hotel. It was only about 730pm but we were still feeling tired from our travel and lack of sleep the day before. As we were heading out we passed the UK Pavilion and heard music. We went and checked out the cover band. I thought the guy in the middle looked like Leonard from The Big Bang Theory and the guy on the far right looked like Dwight from The Office. They were good fun anyways but this just added to my enjoyment. We watched the rest of their set and then headed out to the International Gateway to make the quick trek back to the hotel. On our way we ran into Pooh and Tigger!

The Leonard and Dwight (and two other dudes) Experience

Check out Pooh's air guitar. He wants to be in the band too!

In the City of Love

We got back to the hotel and Steevin debated on and off if he wanted to go check out Jellyrolls, which is the dueling piano bar that was (again) just steps away from our room. We were tired, but we were on vacation! We should go, but maybe another night. Yes...no... yes... no. I told him to make up his mind because once I got into my PJ's and touched the Worlds Most Comfortable Bed with pillows like the wings of angels, I was not going to change my mind. "No" was his final answer and he went to the restroom and I got into my PJ's. Just as I was pulling back the sheets and about to slip into their silky softness, Steevin bursts out of the bathroom shouting "Wait! I changed my mind!". Real clothes back on, make up touch-up and we were strolling out our door, down the elevator, and down the boardwalk arm in arm.

Jellyrolls is a lot of fun. We got there about 9 and it was still pretty empty. They have drink specials every night and they are $10 for 32oz giant red cups. I mean giant! We got our drinks and sat towards the back but then decided to grab a seat at the front. I'm glad we did because it filled up quickly. We also had a shot called Nuts and Nipples which was tasty, and a gin and tonic for me and a malibu and coke for Steev. We did not even feel the slightest bit tipsy. We stayed for 3 hours and had a grand old time singing along, making requests and chatting with the piano players.  When we did finally make it back to our hotel room, we finally felt tipsy but by then we were more than exhausted and fell right asleep.

Great fun!