Disney 2012

I’d say I did a pretty good job planning this trip. The longest line we waited on was for Harry Potter at Universal, our meals were all pretty good and we didn’t really feel rushed or bored. Couldn’t ask for much better weather in January either. Hit 80 one day. So nice.

We ate at Raglan Road Saturday night. It’s an Irish restaurant in Downtown Disney. After my mom went back and forth with the waitress about 300 times over what items on the menu didn’t have alcohol, we finally got some pretty tastey food. After, Bryan and I went to our favorite store there where our favorite artist likes to hang out. He was there. He didn’t remember Bryan but he remembered me, ha!

Sunday was marathon day. I heard the buses would be running behind because they have to reroute traffic, but we made it to the Animal Kingdom fairly quickly. Actually, we didn’t have to wait for a bus all day. Nor for any rides. The park was pretty empty. We finished so early, we didn’t know what to do. No characters we didn’t get pictures with already either. We had lunch at Yak and Yeti. Dinner at Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Our bus driver missed the exit and had to turn around. Then, at the first stop, we didn’t know what the stop was. We asked him if this is where the restaurant was and he didn’t know. He said yes, we got off, then he honed and waved us back. No, it’s the other stop.

We went to the Magic Kingdom after dinner and did a bunch of the classics. Usually Jungle Cruise has a long wait, so I haven’t been on it in years. No wait and the guide was hilarious. The Tiki Room is back to it’s classic self and no longer “under new management.” The Haunted Mansion also has a new interactive queue.

Monday, we transferred over to the boardwalk which was a little bit more of a headache than I expected it to be, mostly because Bryan’s suitcase broke. They transferred mine for me, but Bryan didn’t want them to lose his. That and I made my parents stay in their room so we could leave our stuff in there, but they actually had our room ready. We made it, our luggage and all. I got my lunch from Morocco CS and Bryan got sushi from Japan. We mostly hung around world showcase ’cause the future world rides are gettin’ a little old. We did see Captain EO again :)

We had dinner at the restaurant formerly known as Spoodles, AKA: Kouzina. We had reservations but waited over half an hour for a table. The manager gave us free appetizers, but then they wouldn’t give us our vacation club discount because we didn’t have our membership card with us. Every other restaurant accepted our Key to the World card no problem. The food was pretty good, but not amazing. We’ll probably skip it next trip.

Tueday we went to Hollywood Studios. No Fantasmic this week, so don’t have to worry about crowded Fantasmic days. We were able to get fastpasses for Toy Story really easy and pretty much everything else was walk-on. The new Star Tours is awesome! I was watching the Disney “Must Do” channel while I was working out and learned that there are like 50 combinations of scenes you can get, so we went back there on Thursday morning and rode it two more times :D The second time we had almost the exact same ride as the first time, the second was our best tour though :D

We ate lunch at Sci-Fi Tuesday afternoon and had mediocre veggie burgers. The ones we had at Liberty Tree Wednesday were much better. Delicious in fact. One of my favorite meals of the trip. The desserts and ambiance at Sci-Fi are always worth the trip though. Oh, and a little tip, alcohol makes Toy Story Midway Mania extra fun.

Dinner was on the Boardwalk again, this time at the Flying Fish. My mom and I shared the Mahi Mahi and Scallops. Both were super yummy. That plus the appetizers filled us up too much for dessert. We brought back treats from the bakery instead.

Wednesday it was back to the Magic Kingdom for those yummy veggie burgers (+sweet potato fries). I think Space Mountain and Splash Mountain get better every year. We should have done Thunder Mountain on Sunday ’cause it was closed. We got our picture with Prince Eric and Ariel, barely. They spent over ten minutes with the same two kids. The girl was like bringing them flowers and stuff. Still love the Laugh Floor. Got to see some of the new Fantasy Land construction. Piglet is still MIA.

We had dinner at the California Grill. As last time, amazing, expensive food. Got to see the fireworks from their observation deck. They didn’t have my smores dessert I saw on the online menu though, so that was disappointing. Dessert Friday made up for that, but I’ll get to that later. Getting back from the Cali Grill was an experience. When I made the reservation, I thought the Magic Kingdom closed at 9. It had closed early all week at 8. So, we couldn’t take a bus back to our hotel from there. We had to go all the way to Downtown Disney and that bus took a whopping 40 minutes to show up.

Thursday we went to Hollywood Studios in the morning and then back to EPCOT. We ate lunch at France on a whim and it turns out my parents had a similar whim as we ran into them there. My dad’s cousin also met up with us there. Again, we mostly did the countries. We finally caught up with Brer Fox in America. Bryan and I did Spaceship Earth right before dinner to make funny faces and send ourselves the postcard. We had dinner at the new restaurant in the Mexican Pavilion, La Hacienda de San Angel. It was pretty good, but forgettable. The Margaritas were interesting though.

Friday, we did something we’ve never done before and left Disney property. OK, we’ve been to Universal before, but not together. I’ve only been to Islands of Adventure once, Bryan’s never been, and neither one of us has seen the new Harry Potter area, which is awesome btw. The Forbidden Journey ride is not what I expected it to be. After going on the Mummy and MIB, I was a little disappointed and pretty queasy too. Even Bryan felt a little sick after. It was like the goal of the ride was to make you nauseous. We would have loved to spend more time in the gift shops, but they were so incredibly small and crowded. The entire population of the park was in that section. It was pretty crazy.

We decided to have a nice sit-down meal to recover after Forbidden Journey. We went to Mythos which has been named the best theme park restaurant 6 years running. It was pretty damn good. Especially the dessert. Oh golly. Ooey, gooey, chocolate banana cake with caramel and peanut butter ice cream. OMG.

We spent a lot of time in the Dr Sues area. Super cute. Especially the baby on the Cat in the Hat ride wearing the Cat in the Hat hat. That was just about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. We bought the hat for Natalie (Bryan’s friend Brian’s daughter). We also really liked the Hulk coaster which I rode several times last time I was there and now remember why. A bit chilly today, so we skipped Jurassic Park :(

We had some small snacks before we left, but mostly we ate ice cream for dinner. We met up with Katie and Rachael again at Beaches :D

Saturday, we had breakfast at Kouzina. I had the French Toast Baklava, which was really more of a dessert than a breakfast, but so good. After breakfast, Bryan wanted to look for Piglet at the Magic Kingdom. The place was packed. Space Mountain had a 110 minute wait and the first time I’ve seen the People Mover with a line in like 15 years. Splash Mountain didn’t have a line though. It was a little chilly. We went on that, didn’t get wet. We got fastpasses for Space Mountain and did the laugh floor again. Never did get our picture with Piglet and he’s been haunting my dreams.

Dinner was at Ohana where I stuffed myself silly. We went over there early because it was cold and lines were long. At least we figured Bryan could watch football at the bar. I got a sangria which had an awful lot of alcohol for a Disney sangria. I got lost looking for my parents. Dinner was very good though. I really liked the steak and I’m not a big steak person. The dessert was a little too good as well. I told Bryan we had to go to EPCOT and walk back to our hotel so I could use up some of the calories I consumed. It was nice to walk through EPCOT one last time.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at Kouzina again before departing for the airport. I ordered the same thing :P It was so good! Flight back was just as pleasant as the flight there. Wish I could always fly Jetblue. Cheaper flight, free checked bags, we actually left Newark early, more legroom, they give you the whole can/bottle of your drink, your choice of snacks, free TV <-- why are they so awesome??? I watched some lifetime movie on the way back. Better than doing nothing. Speaking of awesome, Bryan's parents picked us up from the airport and we went out for some Mexican for dinner. Good times. Now vacation is over and I didn't miss work at all and it's really, really cold and I want to go back to Disney where it's warm and happy.