12.19.11 Disney Tables in Wonderland Holiday Party

Saturday morning we hit the road for Disney. We pulled into the Coronado Springs and I was very impressed. It really looks like Mexico! I loved the pools and the lakes.

Our room was very nice.

We had a quick snack and then headed out to Epcot. This trip to Epcot I wanted to try out the Kim Possible Adventure. You sign up to receive a cell phone that gives you clues you have to find in one of the countries. Once you find one clue, you get the next one. Each adventure takes about 30 minutes and is filled with fun surprises. We headed off to Japan for our mission. It was so much fun! I am looking forward to doing more of them as we visit in the future. We only had time for one because we needed to get to our Tables in Wonderland Dinner.

Tables in Wonderland is a program at Disney where you pay an annual fee and get a 20% discount at the sit down restaurants plus they offer special dinners and events throughout the year. The Holiday Party was the first dinner we had been able to attend. It was a five course dinner with wine in the Lounge at Norway. The group met outside Norway and was escorted through a secret door up to the Lounge. We had champagne and appetizers. The appetizers included Seared tuna app that was very good.

The First course was a salad inspired by New Zealand.

 I am not usually impressed by salads, but I thought this one was very very good.

Second course was a California inspired zucchini roll up.

 Third course was braised short ribs from Argentina with yucca and corn on the cob.

All the food was very good .The only thing that missed the mark was the dessert.

 It was meant to be a grapefruit crème brulee but the burnt sugar on the top didn’t really come together. I did really like how the dessert serving dish matched the appetizer dish. After our great meal, we were escorted to our seats at the Candlelight Processional. The Candlelight Processional is my favorite show that Disney does. It is amazing. Guest narrators read the Christmas story while a full orchestra and choir sing traditional holiday songs.

After the Processional, we were escorted to a special roped off area to watch the Epcot night show. I have never been able to see it from a good spot before and it was awesome. Because it was the holidays, the end included an extra special fireworks show that knocked our socks off.

  We headed back to Coronado Springs. This hotel is one of the few on Disney property that have a “nightclub” - Rix Lounge.

We wanted to have a nightcap. The club was pretty much empty, but the bartender was a jerk so we were one and done. It was a great night and we had a nice walk back to the room.

In the morning, we tried to go the buffet at the hotel for breakfast, but it was slammed so we just headed out and had our usual breakfast at Crackle Barrel. Overall – a fantastic experience . We are looking forward to future Tables in Wonderland Events.

December 2011: Saint Augstine, Florida

After a four night cruise out of St. Augustine, Glenn and I headed up to Saint Augustine, Florida. We had heard a lot of great things about the oldest settlement in the country. We were not disappointed. We pulled into our bed and breakfast: Bayfront Marion House.

 It is awesome! It opened in 2010 so everything is new,b but tastefully done with antiques. I loved our room.

Glenn did a great job picked it out.  The location is perfect too. We parked the car and didn’t use it again until it was time to leave. We decided that the first stop had to be the Fountain of Youth. 

Ponce De Leon may have made a stop here on his quest. What is true is that this parcel of land was the location of the first Spanish settlement. While the fountain was Florida-kitsch chic, the overall plantation was great. We say a live cannon demonstration.

Those things are seriously loud. After getting more youthful, we hit up a bakery for a cupcake hit and then wandered through the town square. We had a drink at the Tavern of the Rooster in the Old Colonial Spanish Quarter.

 Next stop was A1A Brewery for dinner. I liked the Brown Ale and loved the view.

The next day we had our breakfast in the gazebo. Two wonderful women met us out there with our pre-ordered breakfast – French Toast, yogurt, croissants and coffee.

 It was so much fun. After breakfast, we walked over Dow’s Historic Homes to check out a city block that was over 200 years old. The best part was one of the groundskeeper told us a couple stories about the people who lived in these houses. Then we walked down to the San Sebastian Winery.

 We skipped out on the tour, but tried the wine. We were surprised that we liked the sparking wine and Port offerings. Then we walked back into downtown and visited several of the local shops. We find a cute wine shop with a great wine tasting. We also went to the Pirate and Treasure Museum. We didn't have high expections but it ended up being fantastic. Lots of authentic treasures, well laid out and it also had a fun scavenger hunt. Then it was time for our Food Tour. City Walks Saveur Fair Tour was fantastic. It was a walking tours of several restaurants. One of the more surprising stops was Meehan's Irish Pub. The Reuban Egg Roll and garlic parmesan oyster were fantastic!

 After the Food Tour, we headed back to the bed and breakfast to relax on the second floor deck and enjoy the happy hour – delicious homemade sangria and snacks. 

Once the sun set, we headed to talk our Holly Jolly Tour - A trolly around town to see all the decorations and lights.The funny part was it included glasses that made the brake lights of cars look like snowflakes. 

 It even included a stop to see Santa. Downtown was beautiful with all the lights. 

 Then we head to the Tasting Room for delicious wine tastings and Spanish cuisine. 

After a wonderful breakfast of Eggs Benedict, we hit the road Saturday morning - headed back to Oralndo for our Tables in Wonderland Holiday Party.

Overall, we had a wonderful time in St. Augustine.  The Town Square is so cute. We were impressed with how much there is to do and all the great restaurants. We will definitely be going back there.

December 2011: A night at Bay Lake Tower & Four Nights on the Disney Dream

This December we had the amazing and generous opportunity to spend a night in the Disney Vacation Club rooms at Bay Lake Tower and go on a cruise on the Disney Dream with Glenn’s sister and her roommate. Bay Lake Tower is the newest DVC offering next to the Contemporary Resort in Walt Disney World. The location is fantastic – you can walk to the Magic Kingdom. We checked in and went up the room. It’s a two bedroom suite with three full bathrooms. One room is a master suite and the other has two full beds with a bathroom. The kitchen/living room area is well planned and the view of Bay Lake is spectacular. I really felt like I was somewhere in Wisconsin or Michigan – especially  since the trees were changing color a bit. We headed over to Magic Kingdom to hit our favorites: Buzz Lightyear, Splash Mountain (for Glenn),  

and the Celebration Parade (for me).  

We walked back to the rooms to get ready for dinner at the California Grill located at the top of the Contemporary Resort.  The California Grill is fantastic. Glenn had one of the best meals of his life there: Venison with truffle macaroni and cheese.

 I have never seen a truffle mac come out with real slices of truffle on the top. Delicious.  I had some very good sushi.  After dinner, we headed back over to the Bay Lake Tower to go the exclusive DVC members’ club on the top floor. It is a gorgeous room with a large outdoor deck with great views of the Magic Kingdom.  We saw the magic light parade on the water. Then, the most exciting part  was the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom.  They pipe in the music from the fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom so we got to see the show and hear it all. It was really fun – a great way to end a great day.

 On Sunday, we got up and headed over to Port Canaveral. It took about an hour and a half. Parking and checking in were relatively painless. We walked through the magic doorway and onto the Dream. The ship is gorgeous. The main atrium was decorated beautifully for the holidays. I just couldn’t get over the gorgeous chandelier!

We headed to our rooms to drop off our bags. We were in a Veranda room with a balcony. The room was slightly narrower than other balcony cabins we have been in, but we really liked having two bathrooms – one with a toilet and a sink and one with a shower/bathtub and a sink.  We headed up to the Lido to grab lunch. The buffet was terrific – very hot, very fresh and very tasty. Then it was off to explore.  We headed down to the “District” to check out all the bars. We grabbed a stool at the 687 – the Sports Bar and watched the Patriots game until it was time for the muster drill.

After the drill, it was the Sail Away Party.  The Sail Away Party was fantastic. The ship has a large stage where the characters danced and put on a great show. Staff handed out pom-poms. Everyone danced and waved goodbye to Florida.

 Glenn and I headed to the Rainforest Room in the Spa. It was a “travel brochure” moment. We sat in a Jacuzzi built for two behind floor to ceiling windows and watched the sunset and the coastline of Florida fade away. It was terrific. Up next was dinner at Remy’s – the specialty French restaurant onboard.  It’s a $75 per person surcharge. We also got the wine pairings for an additional $100/person. The food was outstanding.  It was really hard to pick a favorite, but mine was the ratatouille bite: a huge burst of flavor in one single bite.

The desserts were over the top. We got a fantastic cheese plate. Then came what Glenn described as the fireworks of dessert. We each received the dessert we had ordered but then out came more candies, more truffles, more! More! More! It was overwhelming and amazing. And it didn’t stop at the restaurant – we arrived back to our room and found 6 more handmade truffles. Incredible!

Monday was our port day in the Bahamas. My feeling on the Bahamas is that if you are not booking an excursion then it’s really not worth getting off the boat – so we didn’t. We woke up room service breakfast – prompt with hot coffee and nice pastries. We hit up second breakfast in the main dining room. Good selection and breakfast was good. Note: Meals in the main dining room for breakfast or lunch take at least an hour so plan accordingly. After breakfast, we headed to the pool. Glenn and his sister tried out the Aqua Duck water coaster.

 It’s a great feature. I love that it is a clear tube circling the main pool so you can watch people go through. We spent the afternoon at a very informative sparkling wine tasting and enjoying the aromatherapy showers in the Rainforest Room in the spa. They were great showers. You pressed a preset setting – “Caribbean mist” – and a mix of hot and cold water rain down and the shower changes colors. We hopped from shower to steam room to shower. Very relaxing. We hit the Villians show before dinner. I was so impressed with the show – high quality, great singing and good special effects. 

On Disney, the guests rotate from dining room to dining room each night. Monday night was Animator’s Palace. The décor was super cute.

The main attraction was interactive screens with the characters from Finding Nemo. I found a little too much. It was very loud and there was always a lot going on. The highlight was truffle pasta purses as an appetizer. The other food was slightly disappointing – especially after the great meal at Remy’s the night before. Glenn had arranged for a cake for my birthday. It was delicious! So much fun!

Tuesday was our day at Castaway Cay – Disney’s private island. We started the day with room service again. We headed out to the island. It is beautiful and well organized. There were rows and rows of chairs and umbrellas. We walked through the family area and took a short tram to the adult area. We were lucky enough to enjoy a cabana.

It was fantastic. It really looked and felt like a beach house. I loved it!! We walked down the beach for a drink at the bar and to enjoy the lunch buffet. The highlight was the ribeye steak right off the grill. We stayed on the beach until they practically had to force us back onto the ship.  Another afternoon at the spa and then off we went to dinner at the Enchanted Garden. The restaurant is beautiful. It really simulates a garden with the light changing from day to night during the course of the meal.  The tables were very close together. I felt bad for our servers. Tuesday night was the big pirate party! I was so impressed that our room steward left bandanas for us to wear.

We headed up on deck for the show. It was great! After a short scene with Captain Jack Sparrow fighting off some evil pirates, they set off one of the most spectacular displays of fireworks I have ever seen. It was so incredible to watch them shoot them right off the ship. After the Pirate Party, we decided to check out the District. We had a couple drinks in the Skyline Bar – the skyline changes to one of six cities every 15 minutes and they have cocktails inspired by each of the cities.

The waitstaff was not very friendly and the drinks need  a little more practice, but you can’t beat the ambiance.  I also liked that Disney had late night snacks available in the District bar area.

Wednesday was the official Sea Day. We really started the day off with a bang with lunch at the specialty restaurant Palo ($25 surcharge). It was incredible. They had a beautiful buffet of every type of seafood (Alaskan Crab Legs, Stone Crab, Caviar, Shrimp, Calamari) plus antipasto, beautiful breads and salads. Then we ordered off the menu. I had the chicken parmesan. It was the best I have ever had. Our waiter was great. Overall,  it was a wonderful experience.  After a mandatory rest period, we headed to a wine tasting. Again, we were impressed with how informative the tasting was and the great mix of wines. We spent the afternoon packing, napping and enjoying our balcony. Before dinner, I had to head to Pink the Champagne bar, for some bubbles. I just loved that bar – it felt so luxurious and girly! Dinner was at the Enchanted Garden again. After dinner, we headed up to Meridian bar – next to the specialty restaurants – for one last crème brulee martini. We headed to the disco to play some movie trivia, watch the going away show and listen to the DJ spin some tunes. The DJs on board were fantastic – really knew how to get the party started.

Thursday – The debarkation process was super easy. Guests go to their seated breakfast and then leave from the Dining Room. This is a great way to do it. It leads to a lot less standing in line and waiting. We found the car and headed out for St. Augustine.

Overall, the ship was beautiful. The shows were fantastic. We had a fantastic time and were so lucky to have the opportunity.  If the Dream team is able to improve the main dining room experience and some of the bar staff's attitudes -  then I would whole heartedly recommend a Disney cruise.  Until then, I think I’ll try a few more cruise lines.

9.30.11 Great American Beer Festival - Denver CO

One of our bucket list items was to go to the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). This festival brings together breweries from all over the country. We had two tickets to two sessions: Friday night and Saturday afternoon. The sessions are 4 hours of drinking… I mean sampling different beers from across the country.

We arrived in Denver in the morning and headed over to a local French restaurant for lunch. After getting our fill of carbs, we headed to our hotel where Oskar Blues had taken over the taps.

We have our first mile high beers. I headed up to the room to make our pretzel necklaces – a must for any beer tasting.

Our other friends were hesitant to wear the necklaces, but were singing its praises by the end of the first session. We headed out for four hours of drinking. I made it about two hours before I needed a pizza break. I just couldn’t keep up. The amount of beer was overwhelming. Some key highlights were the Oskar Blues Silent Disco where everyone in the roped off area wears headphones and the DJ spins some tunes.

The other unique offering was the 30^th anniversary booth featuring the beers that were at the very first GABF. Some brewers even dug out the old recipes.

Saturday morning, we headed to Sam’s #3 for breakfast. Sam’s was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It was worth the hour wait. The pork green chile was fantastic!!!

 I was ready for Day Two – pretzel necklace in place. We hit the booths. This time we decided to brave the cheese line. The wait was 45 precious beer drinking minutes. Thankfully, we had a plan. I stood in line and Glenn went to the nearby booths and brought beer back to me. The cheese booth was very impressive once we got to the front. Plus they were pouring some of the beers that had the longest wait so it evened out. After the session, we headed across the street to sample more beer! We worked out way down the street to our dinner reservation at Rioja. Everyone had a great meal – except for me. I drew the short straw with a terrible pasta dish. The dish had no sauce – none – not even a little dribble of butter. It was a mess. After dinner, we headed to Wynkoop Brewing to try some of their brews, then to Hayters’ Club and then I was done. We hit up Jimmy John’s and headed back to the hotel.

Sunday, we headed to see a good friend from college for brunch and then headed out to Boulder for some more beer. We visited Avery Brewing and Twisted Pine. Avery was fantastic.

 We tried their tap room exclusives and Glenn loved the barrel aged sour. We were not a big fan of the beers at Twisted Pine so our visit there was short. We swung by another friend’s house and then hit the airport after a fantastic weekend in Denver.

For those interested, our favorite beers were:

Pizza Port Bacon and Eggs Stout

Duck Rabbit Milk Stout

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale

Russian River Imperial Stout

Breckinridge Barrel Aged Vanilla Porter

21^st Amendment Watermelon Wheat

Crabtree Chunkin Pumpkin

Airdale Dark and Stormy

Ska Fresh Hops

Mad River Chile Beer

Avery Out of sight house blend stout

Avery Eremita

Avery’s Ellie’s Brown Ale

Hollister Tiny Bubbles

9.23.11 Weekend in New York City

In September, I had another work trip to New York City so we decided to make another weekend of it. This time, we flew together so no worries about Glenn missing half the fun. Friday, we both worked from our respective city offices and then headed out to Brooklyn for an amazing dinner with one of Glenn’s co-workers. We ate until we had to be rolled out of there!

Saturday morning, we headed to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. I was able to secure free tickets through Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day. I had never before toured an aircraft carrier. It was incredible.

One of the highlights was meeting one of the men who served on the aircraft carrier during World War II. He was a mechanic and told us stories about how they moved the aircraft around the plane. My favorite moment was when Glenn asked, “Does it look like it did when you lived on it?”. He was trying to figure out what types of renovations occur on these types of aircraft carriers. The veteran answered, “Well no, it’s a museum now.”

Just outside the museum, Yankee Fan Fest was going on. Glenn is a die-hard Red Sox fan, but I was happy to get some free ice cream, hummus, chips and pens. I even got to snag a self-heating thermal shirt Uniqlo before the store even opened. Yippee! From the pier, we headed over to Blue Smoke. An episode of Best Thing I Ever Ate on Food Network featured their potato chips so we had to check them out. We ordered several appetizers. I had my first ever deviled egg. It was pretty darn good. My favorite was the shrimp corn dogs.

We still had a few hours until the Yankee Game so we headed to Brooklyn Brewery. I loved the vibe at Brooklyn Brewery. It felt like a neighborhood hang out.

Softball teams were enjoying pitchers and pizza. We sampled the Oktoberfest, Weisse, Companion and Blast. This weekend was the last weekend of the NYC Craft Beer Week so we stopped at Mugs on the way back to the Subway to sample the BluePoint White IPA and Harbor Brewing Black Duck Stout. The White IPA was really good. Then it was time to head to Yankee Stadium.

We got there early and walked around. We had great seats. Unfortunately, the Red Sox were not able to pull out a win, but we really enjoyed the afternoon at the ballpark.

Post game, we headed back to Chelsea to find a local bar for dinner and drinks. After a disastrous stop at Flying Puck (cranky bartender and mediocre beer), we consulted the Craft Beer app and ended up at Guilty Goose. The restaurant was only six months. We had a fantastic time sampling beers, chatting with the owner and eating their fantastic food.

We liked it so much we went back the next day for brunch.

Poached duck eggs over ham on a biscuit with jalapeno hollandaise

Goose confit goat cheese omelet

After brunch, we hit the submway to head to Governors’ Island Art Fair. 

Marachi on the Subway

It was a contemporary art show so we had our usual reactions of confusion and occasionally liking something.

We had a few hours before our flight so we headed to Mustang Sally’s to watch the Patriots game. I love that we have been to NYC enough times that we now just act like we live there – hitting local bars for football rather than feeling pressured to see more.

2011 Labor Day Weekend: Indianapolis

Over Labor Day weekend, we headed to Indianapolis to snuggle our new niece, celebrate our cousin's first birthday,  and fit in some fun adventures. For lunch on Saturday we headed to Rib Fest to sample some award winning barbeque. My mom, dad, husband and I fanned out to sample different ribs from across the country. Glenn even found a gluten free option so my mom could join in the fun. We had a great job heading from booth to booth.

One of the highlights for me was the corn on the cob. There is nothing like Indiana corn on the cob. Yum!  The festival overall was very fun.  We were impressed that admission was free early in the day. The live music stage was rocking with local talent. As the day went on more named acts were on the line up. The downside was that it was very expensive.  As for the barbeque, we all had a different favorite booths and I was super excited to get an elephant ear!

Symphony on the Prairie

Connor Prairie in Fischer, Indiana offers a Symphony on the Prairie musical program during the summer. My parents are regulars and we were excited to get to join them. The big act was Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.  We arrived early and set up camp and our dinner buffet.My parents laid out an awesome spread. It was a beautiful night – just cold enough for pants and sweatshirts. Sunset was amazing and then the music started.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was fantastic! We had a terrific time and fireworks capped off the night. When we got home, I immediately started researching if Tampa has anything like this.