Dear Son’s Birthday

We celebrated Dear Son’s Birthday at Animal Kingdom.

We couldn’t believe how crowded it was. We have never seen it that crowded… ever! Especially since it was late, and pretty chilly.

We hung out for a little while, played some games, and bought Dear Son some Birthday and 2011 Disney pins.

We never put Disney hats on anymore… We learned the hard way. (Oh, and Dear Son scratched his eye playing with Liesl )

We had dinner at the Rainforest Café.

Yes! That’s what Dear Son ordered for dinner. We brought home a nice doggie bag.

Hubby spoiled Dear Son and got him the cell phone he wanted. I think he’s out of his mind, but I didn’t have much say in the matter… Dear Son was so excited that he wanted to pass on cake and just go home to “play” with it. So we did. He was thrilled!

Karen

The Day after Christmas

The day after Christmas we headed over to Epcot for dinner. It was sooo cold and windy! I was enjoying the “seasonal weather,” but the guys just complained the whole time. I think they’ve been living in Florida too long.

We had a little time to kill before dinner, so we decided to catch a viewing of Captain EO. Hubby and Dear Son had never seen it.  After all these years, the 3D effects are still impressive, but everything else… Well… I laughed my way throughout the entire movie. I can honestly say that it is a 10 plus on the corny scale. The entire thing screamed… no…  it regurgitated the 1980’s. On the plus side, Michael Jackson was very charming and still looked like a human being. The best part was the cute puppet characters. I had forgotten about Angelica Houston. So, despite the great 3D effects, Hubby and Dear Son didn’t like it. Dear Son kept asking why Michael Jackson sounded like a girl. Sigh…

After Captain EO, we headed over to Italy where we had reservations for Via Napoli, which just opened in August.

The atmosphere was pleasant enough, but nothing really fancy.

I really think we had the best seats in the house, right in front of the fancy pizza ovens. It was definitely the warmest seat in the house.

We ordered two appetizers, Calamari Fritti, and Salami e Provolone.

The Calamari was quite good, and the sauce was tasty, but Hubby was disappointed that it didn’t come with a lemon wedge. I forgot to take a picture of the Salami and Cheese plate, but it was pretty skimpy and probably not enough to share. My son would have eaten both appetizers by himself if we had let him. 

Dear Son ordered this pasta dish which I think was a “Special.” He didn’t like it, as it wasn’t your typical Alfredo sauce. He was so disappointed. It had a very strong flavor that I want to say was Béchamel, but I’m not sure…  I thought it tasted ok, but I wouldn’t recommend it for picky eaters.

Dear Husband ordered Candele. I think it looked better than it tasted. The flavor was alright but it had a very funny consistency/texture.

I ordered the Veal Parmigiana which was served with what they are calling a Spaghetti Torta. I had to laugh. The veal tasted nice, but it was seriously lacking in the cheese department. It was a bit dry. And the Spaghetti Torta was barely edible. It tasted like Spaghetti with butter or oil, cooked in a frying pan until dried out, or over-microwaved until hard.  For real… it was pretty...  Gross. I can’t believe anyone would like this.

None of the entrees came with soup, salad or bread. The Candele entrée was $18.00, Dear Son’s entrée was $18.00 dollars, and the Veal was $26.00. We agreed that the entrees were blah and way overpriced.

For dessert we ordered the Tiramisu and the Zeppole di Catarina.

The Tiramisu was out of this world. I think it was the best Tiramisu that we’ve ever had. The Zeppole’s came with chocolate sauce and whipped cream, but we thought that they were just ok. Nothing special.

Except for the Calamari and the Tiramisu, everything else was so-so to bad. Next time we come, we’ll try the pizza. Hopefully it will be better than their entrees.

After dinner, I wanted to stay and hang out till closing, but since it was so cold, I was only allowed to stop and shop my way to the exit.

Of course we had fun… despite the cold.

That’s the temperature when we arrived home. When we left Epcot, it was 37 and very windy. It felt like 20. It was even a tad bit too cold for me. Brrrrr.

Karen

The Muppets: Ringing of the Bells

I love the Muppets!

Karen

Thanksgiving at Disney

We didn’t have a traditional Thanksgiving with family, turkey and all the trimmings, but it was fun. We started off with a leisurely morning at Hollywood Studios.

We had breakfast at Starring Rolls Bakery and then stopped by to say “Happy Thanksgiving” to our friends!

 

We love the new costumes! You can find the characters with their new costumes in the morning only at “The Hat!”  We missed Chip and Dale but we’ll get them next time.

Next, we headed over to the Polynesian where we were having lunch (which turned out to be our dinner) at Ohana. The Christmas decorations at the Polynesian were beautiful.

 

Even the Tiki Men were dressed in their holiday finest!

I love the tropical flowers incorporated into the greenery.

Lunch was wonderful!

Ohana serves their meals family style. They bring all the food to the table and you can ask for seconds and thirds of anything you want. It’s all you can eat. We love the atmosphere there.

They actually bring those huge skewers to your table, and give you as many pieces of meat as you want. You get a lot of food for your money.

We actually DID have turkey as they had turkey skewers! Along with pork, steak and shrimp. The appetizers were fantastic too!

Dessert was banana bread pudding in a caramel sauce with ice cream.

 

We were all so full by the time we left, we just rolled away.

After lunch, we went by to visit Liesl at the new Best Friends Disney Kennel.

Just like everything else at Disney, it was well themed. You should see the VIP suites, complete with televisions. Only the best for your canine children. This kennel will even house your cats, hamsters, mice, fish, etc.. As a matter of fact… They’ll accept most small pets, except for primates and venemous snakes and the like.

They even have a “gift shop.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t sell Disney themed items. Weird, huh? You’ll have to get your pet a Disney souvenir from the parks and hotels.

They were decorated for Christmas with an adoption tree!

Because it was Thanksgiving, we had some special treats for Liesl.

We took her for a walk and spent about an hour and 1/2 with her at the kennel’s dog park.

   

Before we left, we gave her a special dessert. A doggie cannoli.

  

We spent the rest of the day at Epcot, where we all thought the Christmas decorations were pretty skimpy this year.

 

Spaceship Earth had no line, so we jumped on that.

  

  And then we waited on line for about an hour at Test Track.

 

When that was over, we headed over to World Showcase and Germany where we had dinner reservations at Biergarten. We stopped along the way to admire what little there was of the Christmas decorations.

    

After a brief stop in Norway to douse myself with Laila, we headed over to the Christmas shoppe in Germany.

 

I just love this store! I could go crazy here.

  

I had to have at least one ornament, so I got this one with the little birdies and some incense.

It was a unanimous decision to skip dinner entirely, as lunch really left us stuffed. Instead, we all shared a pretzel and hubby got a beer. Not much of a Thanksgiving dinner, but none of us complained.

Even though we didn’t have any extended family to share the day with, we were thankful to have each other. And I was thankful for not having to cook and do dishes.

Karen