Eating and Drinking Around The World!

Got back last night... and I'm so sad to be home!! It was SO HARD leaving yesterday morning. It's one thing to come home from vacation, but it's another thing to leave DISNEY. I can't wait to go back, and I will definitely be going to the Food and Wine Festival again!

OK - trip report time... here we go!

Thursday - Day 1
We left on a 6:05 am flight from Boston, connecting in Cincinnati, which is actually in KENTUCKY! Yes, the Cinci airport is in northern Kentucky. Confusing, but why not? Flights were on time and uneventful. When landing in Orlando we actually flew over Epcot and the Swan and Dolphin, Boardwalk, etc. That was fun!

Took a taxi to the Swan, it cost about $60 with the tip but the driver was great and we started talking about Pleasure Island. He told us that the reason it closed was because there was a major gang problem there. Interesting, I had no idea.

We love love LOVED the Swan. The lobby wafts this amazing rose/floral scent that was so soothing, you could smell it everytime you walked in. I have to Google if I can buy a candle with that smell! Check in was a breeze. There was a woman next to me that was doing her best to get an upgrade to an Epcot fireworks view room and I think she got it, after slipping the clerk some cash. I thought about it and figured we would be fine without it, we were hardly in the room. We had a king room on the 9th floor with a beautiful view. Tower Of Terror was to the right, France and Mexico to the left, and Downtown Disney was straight ahead. It looked so beautiful at night.

After settling in we peeled our jeans and fleeces off for shorts and tank tops! The sun was shining and we were ready to go! We walked over to the Boardwalk and debated where to go to lunch. Originally we thought about Beaches and Cream but the Big River Grille and Brewery had outside seating and people were chowing down on delicious looking burgers. So we did too - the beer was tasty and the burgers were huge! My only complaint is that they wouldn't cook mine less than medium, some kind of rule. Oh well, it was still good. We popped into a few shops and walked through the Yacht and Beach Club - took a few moments to relax on a swing on the beach. Ahhh we are on vacation! We decided to play golf at Fantasia Gardens which was right across the street. I got a hole in one and kicked BFs butt
From the golf course we stopped at the pool bar and met our new friend, Angel. He talked me into a margarita, made with agave, no sour mix here! BF had a gin and tonic... fast forward 2 hours and lots of conversation (and more drinks!)... Angel was an awesome bartender. He only charged us for a few of our drinks and let us know that he would be at the Cabana Pool Bar the following night.

Well obviously a nap was next. Woke up a couple hours later and got ready for dinner at Il Mulino. It was fantastic. The waiter, Carlo, was from the same region in Sicily as my grandparents and he sent us over a glass of champagne before our wine came! What a nice surprise! We had an appetizer of polpette, small meatballs in marinara sauce. YUM. BF had the homemade pasta special, a gnocci with a lamb ragu. He loved it. I had the spaghetti carbonara (which I had last year) and it was just as good as I remembered. We were FULL! But Carlo talked us into a "light" dessert of berries and zabaglione and cream. And then he came over with a bucket of limoncello and ladled us a few small glasses. We were ready to pop at this point so we took a walk over to the Dolphin to compress before turning in for the night. We slept like babies in that Heavenly Bed!!

I will say here that the Swan and Dolphin is an amazing resort for grownups! There are not a ton of kids running around, it has an upscale vibe, a bunch of nice lounges and restaurants that stay open late.. all in a PERFECT location with Epcot and MGM a walk or boat ride away, and all of the Boardwalk action a stone's throw away. I think it has so much more to offer than some of the Disney Deluxe resorts (more on that later).

Stay tuned for Day 2 to come - Islands of Adventure and the Yachtsmen Steakhouse!

Friday, Day 2

Woke up bright and early to get to IOA for rope drop. All reports indicated that WWOHP fills up fast, so we wanted to get there as early as possible. We took a cab (ugh, $40) over to the Universal complex. WOW has it changed since the last time I was there as a kid. It's massive. We walked through the City Walk area that was filled with lots of fun shops and restaurants to get to the IOA entrance. They let us walk up the "main street" area and wait in front of a rope that lead to the WWOHP section. Rope down and people RAN! Adults and kids alike. We walked, thank you!

By the time we got to Forbidden Journey it had a posted 45 minute wait! Just minutes after the park opened! We got on the line, and it was very cool. We wandered around the outside of the castle (they had a cart selling drinks, including beer! just for the wait!), through the Hogwart's greenhouse, which included mandrakes!, and finally inside the castle. We were lead through Dumbledore's office, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and other famous places, with some friendly faces popping out to say hello. Finally we get on, and I knew I was in for a ride. There were signs peppering the queue that warned against dizziness and motion sickness, but I didn't care... this was HARRY! I have to say that I am VERY sensitive to motion, I get nauseous if someone makes a wide turn in a parking lot.
Well... the ride was intense, and hard to describe since I had my eyes closed for most of it. I don't remember much. It part simulator, part anamatronics. You whiz through it, nearly go upside down, turn from side to side, like you are flying through scenes of the movie and made for the ride. 5 seconds in and I knew I had made a mistake. Luckily I made it out dry (ha!), but totally shaken up. I could barely walk.

Once I got some air and a salty soft pretzel, I was back in business. We also tried Pumpkin Juice at this point. GROSS! Sickly, syrupy sweet, although it did come in a cute bottle. We had to wait on line to get inside Honeydukes and Zonkos, which were small and didn't have much to offer, but were so cute. At this point BF went on the Dueling Dragons which I of course sat out on! I took a ton of pictures of the adorable Hogsmeade replica, it looked just like the book. We popped into The Hogs Head for butterbeer - YUM! We tried both the frozen and the regular, and it tasted like melted vanilla ice cream. It was impossible to finish a whole glass, but I did get one in a souvenir glass to take home. We also split an order of fish and chips at the Three Broomsticks. Pretty good as well. By this time (before noon) WWOHP was packed, you could barely walk down the "street." We headed back into the rest of IOA.

This park isn't really up my Ally - I just wanted to go to see Harry. And now I can say I have, and I doubt I'll go back for a long time. We did some of the water rides, BF rode some coasters, the rest of the park was DEAD. We walked onto everything. I will say I loved the Jurassic Park ride. But by 2p we were ready to leave. I was kind of bummed I missed MGM for this. My mood quickly lightened as we decided to have lunch at Emeril's at city walk. I had the most amazing mushroom and asiago cheese, truffle oil flat bread. OMFG! To die for. BF had the gumbo. So good.

We headed back to the Swan, sat by the pool for a while, took another nap. We had a late dinner ressie at the Yachtsmen Steakhouse. I loved the Yacht and Beach Club... maybe because they are New England themed, but I just adored them. The meal was... just OK. We loved the apps actually. We split a Caesar salad and the cheese plate. There was this triple cream Camembert that was off the charts. For dinner I ordered the rib eye and BF the rack of lamb. The steak had good flavor but the texture was off. It felt like it had been frozen. I know it probably wasn't but it was just off. BFs lamb was overcooked in spots. We were just disappointed - for the reputation and the price we expected more.

After dinner we hit Jelly Rolls. $10 cover each. We had one drink, sang a long a bit and then headed to Blue Zoo at the Dolphin for a drink. All in all it was a great day, but I was practically salivating at the thought of MK and Epcot coming up!

Stay tuned for Day 3- MK, Downtown Disney and Fulton's Crab House.

Ally