Day 159

First day back from my Disney trip a la 2010.  I have loads of little things that I need to get done. But that is besides the point.

I left on Wednesday last week (the 9th).  That was a fun filled day - dropped off Silvio at the pet resort.  Quick back to the house to make sure everything was taken care of there, then drove 2 hours to KCI.  I got to Dallas no problem and actually took the first class upgrade (45 dollars - I wasn't giving that up).  I had an enjoyable flight and even spent a portion of the time talking with my neighbor.  Dallas is a fantastic airport.  I am convinced of it.  Yes it has some draw backs - but really, they made it easy to get from one terminal to another.  Plus, I got to sit down and eat lunch at TGI Friday's as opposed to running around getting take out. The flight from Dallas to Orlando - ended up being about 45 minutes late.  Boo.  Plus, we can not forget the hour time zone change.  I didn't actually get to the hotel to meet up with the parents until nearly 9  at night.  I think I spent over 12 hours traveling in some form or another.

Saratoga Springs is a humongous resort.  Really - Disney could put another theme park on that plot of land - it's that big.  Talk about getting exercise - nearly a half mile walk from our room to the Front Desk, or food, or the big pool.  Thank goodness we had a quiet pool nearby.  I felt really disconnected as opposed to the other resorts we have stayed at.  At the Boardwalk or Yacht and Beach Club, you get a really feeling of hustle and bustle and people moving around.  It's really quite dead at Saratoga Springs.  I guess that just isn't my speed.

I purchased my ticket on Thursday.  I really would like to thank Disney for the Military Salute promotion.  What normally is a nearly 300 ticket - 4 day park hopper pass (with tax), I only paid half that price.  Sometimes the military is good for something (if only my hubby was with me).

We snuck through Epcot - growing to be one of my favorite parks.  We tried out Sum of All Thrills in Innoventions and created our own roller coaster.  Raytheon, which runs the exhibit, tells you it is all about the math and science that we can create these great rides.  It got me to thinking.  I think I would like to create a on-going roller coaster project for my algebra 2 students - build different roller - coasters by piecing together different types of functions (we explore a lot of them in algebra 2).  But it would be something that I would really need to work on like...right now.  We also played the The Great Piggy Bank Adventure.  It was really fun - more geared to smaller kids to learn about saving through 3 video game like activities.   But we had a blast playing the games.  I think we made more noise then the kids playing the games (you played in teams).  We went on the Nemo ride in the Living Seas - not particularly spectacular - except for the part were it was the actual huge fish tank and they projected the characters on that.  We roamed around the countries and got some sushi in Japan.  Then we headed to Hollywood Studions (MGM - it will always be MGM - stupid name changing).  We went on the Toy Story ride, which I think is more fun than the buzz lightyear ride.  It might be because I can score more than 6000 points on it.  After that it was time for dinner at Hollywood and Vine.  Yummy buffet - good after a day of park hopping.

Friday we took it easy.  Did some shopping at Downtown Disney and a nearby outlet mall.  Kinda out of character.  Then we went to eat at Kouzzina by Cat Cora.  Greek food.  Totally yummy.  Fantastic meal - it is housed in the same place that Spoodles used to be on the Boardwalk.  I am really a Greek food newbie.  Never really branched into that food culture.  Okay it was my first foray into Greek food.  I had Avgolemono, Traditional Egg-lemon Soup with Chicken and Rice.  So lemony and soooo delicious.  Then for dinner I could not decided what I wanted.  So I went with the Kouzzina Trio which was tasting size portions of Pastitsio (Greek lasagna - cinnamon infused), Char-grilled Lamb Burger (spicy burger), and Cinnamon-stewed Chicken with Orzo.  For dessert, loukoumades - freshly Made Greek Doughnuts drizzled with warm Honey.  Reminded me of tiny zeppoles covered in honey and not powdered sugar.  I am making my mouth water just thinking about that meal.  I hope that I can find a good recipe for the Avgolemono.  I would love to try it on my own.  Clearly we needed to walk off our fantastic dinner.  So we set off around the lake.  We caught Illuminations and then finished our walk around the lake.

Saturday, mom and I set off for the early morning park opening at Animal Kingdom.  8 am park opening and we got there at about 8:10.  It was very light foot traffic wise.  We were surprised.  We headed straight to the safari and got picked off the line (hurray for being a small party of 2) to go on one of the handicapped trucks.  So lucky!  It was barely 8:30 and there was still breakfast food out for all of the animals.  So they were out and about munching on breakfast.  Fantastic.  We got super close to the giraffes and the white rhinos.  Craziness.  Probably some of the best pictures I have ever taken of the animals.  We went on the gorilla trail and the tiger trail.  The we headed back because it was hot as...well you can fill in the blank.  Spent part of the afternoon at the pool.  Then got ready for a nice meal at Narcoossee's at the Grand Floridian.  That meal was depressing after dinner in Kouzzina.  We were all ready for some seafood and just totally disappointed.  I will leave it at that.  But afterward we headed to the Magic Kingdom for the comeback of the Main Street Electrical Parade.  I think we nearly sat in the same spot from our very first videotaped trip to Disney in 1987.  Am I dating myself?  The music is slightly a bit more techno-ified but I love it.  They added some new floats which look great.  But the lights - compared to the old bulbs - these LED lights are so bright and fantastic.  I tried to capture it with my camera.

We got up a little later on Sunday to head back to Epcot.  We had lunch reservations at Le Cellier in Canada.  Before that we Test Track, got fast passes for Soarin', and rode the Journey into Imagination (i could probably spend an entire post on how Disney messed that one up).  Lunch at Le Cellier was totally yummy.  I had the cheddar cheese soup - and was able to snag the recipe from the kitchen.  Score!  Then we had the Filet Mignon with wild mushroom risotto.  Needless to say there were 3 very clean plates.  For dessert we ordered this chocolate whiskey cake - oh to die for.   If we weren't walking around and sweating our behinds off in the 100 + degree heat, I would probably have gained about 5 pounds.  We could not resist a stop at the Maelstrom or a chance to walk around the shops.  Disney is bringing back some of the original t-shirt designs and I love it.   Nothing major for dinner since lunch was so yummy.

Monday was the last day in the parks - so we headed to Magic Kingdom.  Can we say crowded?  There was a Pampered Chef convention in town too.  I could use some more pampered chef.  (Gosh it all comes back to food doesn't it?)  We went on Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, the Laugh Room (I really enjoy that one - plus you spend a lot of time in the air conditioning and you see people do things they normally wouldn't do.), and Pirates of the Caribbean.  Had a little lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern and high tailed it out of there because it was another bloody hot day.

Yesterday - was a long day.  Up at the crack of dawn to get on the Magical Express back to the airport.  A sad day.  I wish Matt and Andy had been able to come.  Or that it had been longer.  Oh well.  A few more steps closer to the end of this year.  :o)