Saturday, April 6, 2013

Spring at the House of Mouse!

For those of you who actually know me, you know I love Walt Disney World. Lucky me - I had the opportunity to visit WDW not once, but twice in the last month.

The first trip was for the Princess 1/2 Marathon with my daughter. She ran the 1/2 and I jog-stepped the 5K. What a blast we had - tutus and all!



We jaunted over for a long weekend and spent it at the Boardwalk Hotel. We always stay on Disney property because it well, it just works. I've long wanted to stay at the Boardwalk and am so glad I tried it. It is easy walking distance to EPCOT, my favorite park and there are restaurants right outside the back door. The only drawback if you are traveling with small children is that there is no casual dining in the hotel. We love the Wilderness Lodge and Port Orleans because they have some quick food to grab on your way to the parks in the morning. Otherwise, the property was lovely.

Highlights for this trip - Besides traveling for the marathon with my girl, we had some delicious food at the Biergarten at EPCOT, and a really nice lunch at the new Gaston's Pub over at the Magic Kingdom. I did love our relaxed pace and the shopping we were able to manage.

Not so good - dinner at Cat Cora's restaurant on the Boardwalk. This place is in serious need of some management intervention. A wait time of over 40 minutes (with a reservation) and 40 minutes after that to get our food is just not acceptable. We did speak with the manager and he made nice by giving us a free breakfast the next day. We happily accepted. To be honest the food is quite good, but those service issues kept me away when I went back a month later.

Trip #2 - My buddy and I headed over during Spring Break and stayed at Port Orleans, French Quarter. This place is another fave of mine because of its central location, smaller size, laid-back pace and vibe, and only ONE bus-stop. If you travel to WDW, you'll know what I mean. Some of those giant resorts have 4 or 5 bus-stops and it can be so time-consuming. Our room looked out over the river behind the resort and we were happy to take the float boat back and forth to Downtown Disney whenever we needed.

We had 5-day Hopper Passes and spent our time enjoying all of the Magic! We hit Animal Kingdom, the Disney Studios, EPCOT, and Magic Kingdom - of course! Only one day of rain, and we had to buy ponchos - but that's part of the fun.





This was my buddy's first trip to WDW and probably won't be her last. She has grandchildren who will need a visit sometime down the road! We had such fun sampling new food and meeting new people. Vacationing folks are so friendly.

Don't miss any of the parks. You'll want to spend at least one entire day at each and every park. We skipped the water parks this time and used our extra day wandering through some of the gorgeous resorts. I'd never had high tea at the Grand Floridian before so we did that. Then we headed over to Senses, the Grand Floridian Day Spa and treated ourselves to citrus facials. I'm pretty sure those facials were the best I've ever received. And my therapist was Jasmine - yes Jasmine, and she was awesome.

As for dining - we sampled quite a bit all over, actually. I really loved The Wave at the Contemporary Resort. I'd never been here (I think it's newer) and the food was superb. Great fresh fish and exemplary service. I also loved the food at the L'Cellier at EPCOT in the Canadian pavilion. The steaks were grilled perfectly and the pretzel bread was to die for. Not kidding. The cheese soup was a bit too salty for me though. The pistachio creme brulee at Tony's just inside the Magic Kingdom was delicious too. I wouldn't go back for dinner though, but the dessert was divine. My very favorite meal was our sundae at Ghirardelli the first evening. This is a trademark must-do for my family so we had to continue the tradition. Mint chocolate chip with dark hot fudge for me, and warm caramel sundae for my buddy. Yum.

Disney has a website full of information regarding resorts, restaurants, shows, and attractions at www.disneyworld.disney.go.com. There are also an abundance of other websites that are helpful out there. Or grab a book from the library if need be. You can always ask me anything - I love this place!

I can't wait to share my next trip with you.
:) Deb