Chapter 6: Mini Golf and Giant Appetites - Jan 13

 When morning arrived, Steevin was a big 'ol pain in the patootie to wake up. I guess he had too much fun at Jellyrolls the night before. Well, who can blame him?! We got up and got ready and when I stood out on our balcony to take in the morning, I realized that it was MUCH cooler today so we bundled up and headed out. On our way out we noticed our maid had made us two swans from our towels and placed them in the shape of a heart. Cute!

We decided to get a quickie breakfast and some coffee at the BoardWalk bakery. While there we met an older Australian couple. The woman was like Steevin and was enjoying the cold weather and her husband was like me and dressed in multiple layers and ordering hot coffee. The husband told his wife he was going to leave her here with Steevin and take me home with him because we both knew when it was cold and preferred the warm weather and her and Steevin could enjoy the cold together. But I decided I loved Steev too much and couldn't give him up even for warm Australian summers so we said so long to our new friends and walked to Fantasty Gardens for a round of mini golf.

On our way over to Fantasy Gardens Steev was very excited because he got to cross his first street ever in Florida. I am happy to report we both survived the experience. Mini golf was a lot of fun. I love that place. The activity warmed me up a bit and we ended up tying at the end. We headed back towards the hotel (crossing the street again!!!) and took the Friendship Boat to Epcot. Our first stop was to Canada for Maple candy (Mmmmm... gimme that pure sugar and just put it in my mouth!) and then we watched the "new" (well to both of us at least) "Oh Canada" movie with Martin Short. It was enjoyable. Now that I just typed this out I have the song stuck in my head. I believe this was Steevin's first ever 360 movie.

Mickey welcomes us to...

Fantasy Gardens!

Mini Golf Time!

The Not-Quite-A-Tardis in Canada

We left Canada and headed to Mexico since we hadn't been there yet. We thought about getting quick service there but nothing sounded interesting enough. It was all bean and cheese burritos and chicken enchiladas. I can have that anywhere. So since food in Mexico wasn't an option for us we decided to hit up our favorite place there instead... Cava del Tequila! I ordered my very favorite, the avocado margarita and Steevin got a pineapple one. We also had an order of chips and guacamole to hold us over. We were sitting next to a man who I called "The Salt Guy". I have never seen anyone put so much salt on their food before. Every time I looked over he was shaking salt on his food. I am not exaggerating when I say he started with a salt shaker 1/4 full and used all of it and then reached for another shaker! Dude must have retained water after that meal like crazy!

Cava del Tequila

We rode the Gran Fiesta Tour (Panchito Pistoles!! Pew! Pew!) and then headed to China snack and munched on a chicken curry pastry. And then we headed to Japan for a "light" lunch. A light meal isn't possible on the dinning plan. No matter how hard you try. We ate at the Katsura Grill and Gardens. I had a chicken curry because the pastry just wasn't enough and a green tea cake and Steevin has sushi, noodles and ice cream. We shopped and explored some more and Steevin looked for a raccoon hat. He found one but it wasn't what he wanted so we didn't get it.

Our "light" lunch

No raccoon hat but we did find cool Viking helmets!

I have a styrofoam sward and I'm not afraid to use it.

We finished up our tour of the countries (at least for today) and went to go ride Figment and the ride in The Land with all the cool Hydroponics. I don't know why I find that so interesting but I do. We hopped on Ellen's Energy Adventure and as much as I love that ride I was fighting to stay awake.  So we went to Innoventions with their fun games and whatnot (WHY can't Anaheim's Innoventions have fun stuff too?!) . We played a piggybank game and learned how to save for our future. We got to take our Piggy Bank around to different locations and play money saving games. Good news... We get to retire!!! And we also got to make our own video game that we were the star of. It was pretty dang cute.

Our Piggy!

At this point Steev realized we hadn't seen many Photopass Cast Members on this trip. And our favorite souvenir is the disc of photopass pictures. And it wasn't going to be worth it if we didn't have very many pictures! So we went off on a park-wide hunt for the elusive photopass people. We found one. One single solitary photopass person. we got our picture taken and then decided to head out as we had dinner reservations. On our way out a cute old man asked us to take a survey so we did.

If you can only find one Photopass  person you better make it count!

We took the monorail to the Contemporary and there was a little boy who just arrived there with his family. They were headed to their hotel and every time Cinderella's castle came into view all lit up, he got so excited and shouted for everyone to look at the castle. Adorable! 

Wow. There are a LOT of kids and Southerners at The Contemporary. LOL! I understand the kids. Its the closest to the Magic Kingdom so parents take their kids there... but why all the Southern accents all over the place? Not that that is a bad thing. I just thought it was odd that anyone who lived south of the Mason Dixon line decided that this hotel was the only one worth staying at. 

We were early for our dinner at the California Grill so we got drinks at the Outer Rim Bar (Grey Goose dirty martini for me and a rum and coke for Steev).  It was here that I realized I had miscalculated our Free Dining plan meals and we had three extra table service meals I didn't even realize we had. How in the world?! I didn't realize that we also got full meals on the day we arrived and our departure day. We spent some time here sipping our drinks and booking some other meals for the rest of our stay. How is it possible for people to eat this much food?!

It was finally time for dinner and we headed up the elevator. The California Grill is beautiful. We had an amazing view of the castle from way up. The waiter was great and the food was so delicious. Steevin started off his meal with a Spicy Kazan Roll (which was one of the reasons we chose to eat here. I had heard their sushi was some of the best around and Steev loves sushi). The spicy kazan roll has crab, shrimp, bay scallops, tuna and fireball sauce. I started with Hand-Made Gnocchi with wild mushrooms, edemame, smoked pork and an organic soft poached egg. I don't even like mushrooms but this was so good and the mushrooms didn't overpower everything.

Kazan Roll

Gnocchi with wild mushrooms and a poached egg

For our main course Steevin had Black Grouper with stir-fry vegetables, haricot verts, a huge house-made shrimp dumpling and shiso broth. I really enjoyed my Cast Iron Seared Bison with with truffle mac & cheese, brussel sprouts, cipollini, smoked bacon and glace de viande.

Black Grouper

Cast Iron Seared Bison with truffle mac & cheese

And even though we were SO full you just cannot pass up the amazing desserts at this place. Especially when its already included in your dinning plan. I had a Gianduja Mousse with Cocoa Nib Tuile, hazelnuts, cappuccino Anglaise, and Bailey's ice cream. Coffee, hazelnuts and Bailey's? It was heaven in my mouth! Steevin had S'Mores Valrhona Chocolate Cake which was a chocolate lava cake, Tahitian vanilla marshmallow, graham cracker sable, and peanut butter gelato. Hilariously, Steevin absolutely hates peanut butter with a passion. I didn't realize this had peanut butter in it until I pulled up the menu again for writing this report. I can only assume he didn't read the menu all the way when he ordered it because he never would have if he had known. LOL! And the thing is... he loved it and at the whole thing. So there you go... I ate mushrooms and Steevin ate peanut butter at California Grill. Sometimes even something you hate tasted good if its prepared right.

S'Mores Valrhona Chocolate Cake 

Gianduja Mousse

At the end of our delicious dinner we got to see the Electrical Water Pageant right from our seats. That was a fun way to top off the evening. We took a taxi home and I made a note for myself in my "Trip Report Notebook" that says "Taxi driver = Indian Grandpa Norrie". But I don't remember why the driver reminded me of my grandpa... and that's why you don't wait 7 months to write your trip report even if you write really good notes. However, I'm sure if he reminded me of my Grandpa Norrie he pretty much made my day!

A picture of the reflection of my face as I look at the castle from our table

Electric Water Pageant

Chapter 5: Hooray for Hollywood! - Jan 12th

The day dawned nice and sunny. I got up at 7:30 and brewed coffee and then hopped in the shower. When I got out I made up two cups and gently woke up my dear, sleeping Steevin because he's told me many times the best way to get him to wake up is to greet him with food or beverage. He grumbled at me for disturbing his slumber at 8:15 and not waiting until 8:30 and then put the coffee down and continued to growl at me like a bear under the covers for the next 30 minutes and refused to step one toe out of bed until 8:45. So much for the beverage idea!

When we did finally make it out the door and down to *OUR* wonderful boardwalk we went down the dock and caught the Friendship Boat to Disney Hollywood Studios. No line to get in at all and the streets were littered with Photo Pass people. Hooray! Our CD of Photo Pass pictures is always our favorite souvenir but there had seemed to be a severe shortage of Photo Pass people this trip. But we found some and proceeded to make up for lost time!

Hey Kids, you just left the state of California...

What do you want to do?

"Go to Fake California in Florida!!!!"

We turned to the left and headed towards Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. On our way we met two delightful security guards. They were pretty much the sweetest things ever. One of them took our picture with the other and then he tried his hand at taking our picture in front of the Tower of Terror. I wouldn't suggest he quit his day job. Though he did get ALL of the tower in the picture and our faces made it into the shot as well so it wasn't too bad.

Our security guard friend

With a little practice he could be okay!

We found a "real" Photo Pass person along the way. She was trying to get a Spanish speaking family to act scared for the picture in front of the Tower but they were not understanding each other at all. I asked Steevin what the Spanish word for scared or afraid was so we could help out but I put him on the spot and the answer flew right out of his brain and didn't come back for the rest of the week. I'm not kidding, he literally tried to remember it all week and it drove him crazy. We got our picture taken and we felt we looked appropriately scared with Steevin leaping on my back. And then we got a fastpass for Rockin Roller Coaster.

Eeeeee!

We did our second favorite thing to do on vacation after eating... which is shopping. We checked out the stores and then headed to ride Steevin's favorite ride... The Great Movie Ride! Okay... he barely tolerates it. But I love it. I don't know why. Its cheesy.... yeah sure... but its also awesome! After we ditched Bugsy and got our tour guide back we had worked up an appetite. We scooted our tushes over to the ABC Commissary where Steevin ordered a Shrimp Burger and I got a Chicken Bleu sandwich. The Cast Member taking our order complimented my outfit and said she wished she was 20 years younger so she could wear it. I told her I thought she could wear it anyhow and then felt pretty good about my outfit for the rest of the day. We took our food under the giant sign for Steevin's favorite TV show... The View. Whoopie!

After lunch we decided to watch The Voyage of The Little Mermaid. I told him it was an odd show with singing, puppets, lasers and indoor rain. I did not lie. Steev's review was "Weird." Still confused by what he had just seen, Steevin agreed to ride Tower of Terror with me. Steevin is not a fan of this ride but and I really don't mind skipping it at all when we are at California Adventure. But it had been a LONG time since I rode it here in Florida. I told Steevin he was free to sit it out and I would go ride by myself but he insisted we get FastPasses and we would ride together. He is a trooper! We headed back and got FastPasses for Tower and then took our ride on Rockin Roller Coaster. FUN!

When we exited into a gift shop instead of a rock concert like we had been promised we decided we should get a drink and a snack. We decided to go to the Tune In Lounge since we wouldn't get a chance to soak up the decor as we weren't eating at the 50's Prime Time Cafe this trip. The Tune In Lounge was a lot of fun. The bartenders were friendly and the drinks were good! I had a Gin and Tonic to start and Steevin had a Malibu and Coke. Then we each got a Magical Star cocktail with glowing ice cube and that drink was delicious. We shared a plate of giant onion rings and had a great time just hanging out.

After our little treat we watched One Man's Dream which always manages to make me cry. I'm sorry but, Walt Disney is just too dang inspirational, okay?! I sopped up my tears and we went to the Magic of Disney Animation. We got our pictures taken with Mickey and Mr. and Mrs. Incredible. We JUST missed getting pictures with FroZone and I'm sure you can imagine my sadness. While we were here Steevin learned how to digitally paint on a computer. Thank goodness! 

Super Heros! 

Oh man... I look tired here. LOL!

We took a look around the Streets of America which was a little disappointing for us. We loved the area so much last time and had so much fun taking pictures and using the "sets" but this time it was all blocked off for the Osborne Family Lights. And that would have been cool to see but they weren't actually running them anymore, they just hadn't been taken down for the year so all the sidewalks and buildings were roped off. We decided we needed goofy pictures still so instead we checked out the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area which was (not surprisingly) packed full of little kids. We attempted to play and take pictures. We did a pretty good job with only minimal bumps and bruises which I guess we deserve for trying to cram ourselves in such tiny spaces.

Sad Steev because he can't play on the sidewalks

Excited Beth because she spots a Toy Soldier having a BBQ 

Freeze Frame!

I don't even like mushrooms

But grass is tasty!

Little known fact about Steevin... He loves celery. It was hard to convince him not to eat the "giant celery"...

We headed back over to Tower of Terror to use our FastPasses. I am happy to report that Steevin lived. He said he liked Florida's version of the ride better than California's but expressed "that's not saying much". I doubt he'll feel the need to ride it again in the near future but it was fun to ride with him and see the differences. We found an open planter ledge by the Big Ass Hat just in time for Mulch, Sweat and Shears. We saw an older couple looking around for a place to sit and rest their tootsies so we scooched together and called over to them and told them we had been saving them a spot. They laughed and took a load off to enjoy the show. We watched for a while and then headed over to the Indiana Stunt Spectacular so we could see the whole show. Last time we were here it was cut short due to rain.

After the show we shopped and wandered a bit before it was time for dinner at the Sci-fi Dine In. We had a cute little girl in front of us who kept turning around to talk to us and when her dad would tell her not to bother us, she just looked at him weird and said "Why?". As always, the Sci-fi was a fun experience. We had a wonderful waiter named Ken and some tasty food! I had the Rib Eye Steak and a peanut butter chocolate cake for dessert. Steevin had the All-American Picnic Burger which was a burger topped with a hot dog, sauerkraut and onions! He also managed a dessert but he had the red velvet cheesecake. I'm telling you, the dinning plan is a true test of your gluttony. Its hard work!!

As we left the restaurant, the park was closed so we took pictures with our glowing ice cubes from our drinks and then headed to the boat dock which was apparently closed for the evening but we luckily were picked up by a friendly boat captain and his one man crew. We decided we didn't want the evening to end so we head to Jellyrolls for fun and drinks... though we may have had more drinks than we intended. We ordered their "Special" drink of the evening which was a HUGE Alabama Slammer. And the waitress came by later and asked if we wanted another. It was loud so Steev was using "sign language" and meant to give the international sign for "No more" which is shaking your head and making a "cutting" motion with your hand but instead he gave the international sign for "One more" which is holding up one finger. When she left I leaned over and said "Um... I think you just ordered another one." and he assured me he didn't... until she came back with another one for him. LOL! We split it because it was the only thing to do. I really wanted a Jellyrolls shirt but alas I don't think they sell them. We sang out hearts out for several hours before heading back to the room to crash for the night.

Fun with Glow Cubes

A pretty terrible video I took at Jellyrolls

Chapter 4: We Visit Hogsmead! - Jan 11th

We woke up this morning to much cooler weather and a grey sky. There was no time to dilly-dally this morning because we had to catch the Mears Shuttle to Islands Of Adventure. And we were both excited. I am a huge Harry Potter nerd and Steevin really loves the movies PLUS... hello? Marvel Island! I had been to Islands of Adventure once in 2001 so it would be like a new experience to me as well.

We were both still full from our Fancy-Pants dinner last night so we skipped breakfast, bundled up and headed down to the front of the hotel. We didn't have to wait long before our shuttle arrived. Steevin and I had to sit separate from each other as there wee already people on board but I was right in front of him. We had a nice conversation with the friendly Disney Nerd sitting next to Steevin. We never caught his name so it if was you... HI! We chatted about Harry Potter Vs. Pandora from Avatar and if Disney will be able to make it as charming and engaging as the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter. It made the trip go by quickly and soon we said our "So longs" and we were walking through a crazy wind tunnel of moving side walks, through City Walk and towards the IOA Lighthouse (is that what it is?). Eeeeeee! We were so excited.

Grey skies can't darken our spirit!

It was 9am when we arrived and that was just when the park opened. There were no lines at all to get in. We quickly bypassed everything else and kept on walking until we saw the Hogwarts express. Okay, now I know this place has been open for a little while now and every one has just gushed over it so I was prepared to be a little underwhelmed and not have it live up to the hype. Well, it lived up to every bit of hype. Every. Bit.

We didn't want the line to get too long for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey so we high tailed it over there and were pleased to see the line as just 15 minutes. In fact it was never more than 15 minutes all say. Okay again... no one is exaggerating when they talk about how cool the queue is. It is a masterpiece. And the ride itself is intense. I was SO impressed. I will not lie and tell you I wasn't a little terrified of the Dementors.

Hogwarts!

Of course the paintings moved and talked while you were in line

Dumbledore's Office

Once we finished the ride we got our stuff out of the locker (you have to use one for any thrill ride at Universal) we checked out the shop. I was disappointed because I wanted a Quidditch shirt but one that looked like the boys shirt but made for my womanly curves. There were none that piqued my interest. Even so, all the merchandise was just awesome. We exited the shop and came upon the Butterbeer Cart. Of course we had to get one. Each. I got the regular one and Steev got the blended one. Both were really good, however we decided they needed butterscotch schnapps (that's how I make them at home. Hehe!)

Butterbeer! Regular and frozen.

Enjoying my drink and the atmosphere.

Hermione's dress.

Honeydukes!

SO much detail!

We took our time checking out all the details of Hogsmead and looking at all the shops. We didn't buy anything yet but we were making notes of what we wanted. We just liked being in this whole area. I decided we were going to move there. Not to Orlando... but to Hogsmead. After exploring the area we took a ride on the Dueling Dragons. I tried to get Steevin to put his camera in the locker but he didn't want to miss out on a chance to take a picture of something cool. As we were in line (well really just walking through the queue because there was no line at all) they told him it had to fit in his pocket... which turned into the lens in his pocket and the whole camera in my hoodie pocket. It was a tight fit but we made it work. After we rode I got to tell him "I told you so" so it made up for the uncomfortable bulge in my abdomen. The ride was totally fun. Steevin let out a genuine "Wooooooo!".

We decided to check out the rest of IOA.We walked back the way we came and decided to explore Seuss Landing. we decided to ride the White Knuckle Thrill ride known as "High In The Sky Seuss Trolly Train." Why? No lines, that's why! It took us all around Seuss Landing and then... it was done. We knew it was a kiddie ride but I sure am glad it was a walk on. Then we rode on the Cat in the Hat because Steevin knows my weakness for dark rides. I thought it was really good I don't think its aged as well as it could have. Steevin's thoughts were "Meh, its a dark ride" complete with a shoulder shrug. We explored the rest of Seuss Landing before heading over to Marvel Island.

We made these dumb faces next to this guy.

Steevin says this picture looks like I'm being given birth to

I think Steevin hijacked this police car

A little kid totally got me! After Steevin stopped pulling the "Rain" lever  a girl pulled it right as I was walking out. HA!

The first thing we got to when we arrived at Marvel Island was the Hulk ride. Again NO wait. Awesome! We walked right on and WHOOSH! we were going from 0 to 40 in two seconds. After that we walked right over to Spiderman and rode on that. I can't wait for our Transformers ride! We explored the shops for a bit and then we were finally getting hungry so we decided to eat at the Captain America Cafe. Bleck! I know we have been spoiled by Disney food and especially the food we had the previous evening but this food was just not good. I had a very bland bacon cheeseburger and Steevin had the chewy chicken sandwich. Oh well... it was sustenance (But just barely). It started to rain as we walked out. We just zipped our hoodies up higher and checked out all the cool Marvel Murals that were before making our way to Toon Lagoon.

Wolverine and Nightcrawler are two of my favorites!

I guess Steevin was hungry from lunch so he tried to eat Hulk's toe.

I found him!

We found it hilarious that Namor the Sub-Mariner, ruler of Atlantis, could be found arching his eyebrows over the restrooms.

We checked out Toon Lagoon but to be honest there isn't a whole lot to do there when you're trying not to get any wetter than you already are. We decided to watch all the schmucks who WERE getting wet on the Popeye Raft Ride thingy. We had fun drenching the poor hapless souls that floated by with their parkas pulled tight.  We found several places to do this and then eventually came to a spot that was overlooking an area that had no way for us to squirt people... BUT whenever a raft would come by this tube would erupt with a gush of water all over the rafts and then everyone in the raft would give us a dirty look because they assumed we did it. At one point a raft came by with just two people in it. A boy about 15 and his younger brother. As they saw us they begged us to PLEASE not get them wet. We both put our hands up to show them we weren't going to do anything and then "SPLOOSH!" water all over them. They looked pretty miserable so we hightailed it out of there to laugh where they wouldn't see us.

This is why I have a cat.

We were missing Hogsmead so we walked back via Discovery Island. There was nothing we wanted to do there either as we've both been on the Jurassic Park ride in California.  Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was still just 15 minutes so we hopped in line. It actually broke down while we were waiting but it was cool to have more time to look around. And we were still off the ride less than 30 minutes after we got in line. When we got off we took a look at the Wand Cart that was there that had the Characters Wands you could buy but we each couldn't decide who's we wanted so we decided to go to another store where you could pick your wand based on your birthdate like a Zodiac. We found out that my birthday lined me up for an Elder wand, same kind of wood as Dumbledore's. It was a large, impressive looking wand with a happy, smiling skull at the end. Steevin learned that his was made of Willow wood... and it was a petite, thin, curvy wand. When we saw it, Steev just said, "Huh." The wizard at the shop assured Steevin that his was a stealthy wand perfect for concealing in the sleeve of your robe or your boot. He must have reassured Steevin because we both walked out of the shop with our respective wands.

Mine is the long, dark box and Steevin's is the short, light box.

Steevin's fits just perfectly in the picture. I couldn't fit mine and still get the detail on the handle. Oh well, such is the life of one who carries a giant powerful wand!

 By this time the rain stopped and the sun came out again. We caught the Toad Choir and they were really good. We went to Honeydukes where I got a Chocolate Frog. I haven't eaten it but it is proudly displayed at our apartment. We made our way to The Hog's Head tavern. I had a beer and Steevin had another frozen butterbeer. Its on tap. We drank our drinks slowly and soaked in all the atmosphere like atmosphere sponges. It was just so great in there! We stayed until it was almost time for the Poseidon's Fury show at the Lost Continent. But not before I met the conductor for the Hogwarts Express!

Hog's Head (and yes, the head moved and grunts as though enchanted)

My favorite tavern EVER.

I want to go to Hogwarts!

 We watched the Poseidon's Fury show. It wasn't bad... but it was a LOT more impressive 11 years ago. Steevin giggled. Okay... the video's they showed on the mist screens were pretty cheesy but the actual effects are pretty cool. The room with the spinning water wall tunnel? Awesome!

I think Steevin liked it more than he's letting on.

We were getting a little hungry so, if you can believe it, we went BACK to Hogsmead to share a snack at The Three Broomsticks. We ordered 3 little pasties to split (the pastry.... not the fancy nipple covers.). It came with a salad and the girl taking our order was new, a little nervous and talking really fast. She asked if we wanted "ranch, blue cheese, French, Italian,  or Blue Cheese". And Steev replied with "French Italian" and then they both stared at each other for a few seconds in confusion until she realized she was talking too fast and Steev realized there is no such dressing as "French Italian". We all had a good laugh. The Three Broomsticks is by far the best themed quick/counter service restaurant I have ever seen. And the food was actually really tasty and split between us it was a good snack. I also ordered the Pumpkin Fizz which I guess is the Pumpkin Juice but fizzy. I've heard not great things about the juice but the fizz was quite yummy.

When we had finished we said good-bye to Hogsmead until our next visit to Florida (or it comes to California... which ever is first) and took one last trip to Marvel Island where I found a wallet for Steev to replace his old ratty one that looses credit cards all over the airport. We headed out of the park and went on a hunt to pick some place to eat a City Walk. Interestingly, I thought City Walk in California is better. I think it has a wider variety of food and much better shops. But no worries, mon, because we found Bob Marley: A Tribute To Freedom restaurant. Longest name for a restaurant ever? Possibly. Really great food and strong drinks? Absolutely. I would definitely eat there again.

We took the shuttle back to our hotel around 8pm. I took a little nap because all the Wizard excitement wore me out! We decided to drop our wands off at the room and end the evening with a hot fudge sundae at Beaches & Cream.