Note: Min's trip report is in Coral and Bill's comments are in Blue. In the Gallery links, pictures without a border link to the specific picture and those with a border link to a gallery of related pictures.

Min and Bill's Fifth Anniversary Trip

Click to Read:  Prelude  - Part One

Friday - June 10, 2005

Today is our fifth anniversary.

Yay!!!  :)

We got a later start this morning as we decided to make our breakfast PS for later in the morning.

Yay!!!  :)

We caught the bus to Animal Kingdom then made our way towards Donald's Breakfastosaurus. Kathy our server was very good. We asked her about Robin and she told us that Robin was serving on the other side of the restaurant.

When I got up to get some food, I went and found Robin... we talked a little bit... she seems to be doing very well...

I think the food here is awesome.

I like it, too...

After Bill told me that he had talked to Robin, I went and said hi to her, too. The characters are great and since it is our anniversary, we ask Kathy to take our pictures so they we could be together in them.

Yep... we usually don't get too many pictures of us together on a trip...

After breakfast, we made our way towards the Theatre in the Wild. I got us some seats for Tarzan Rocks. Bill got some pictures of the Everest construction before joining me. We like this show and are going to miss it when it leaves.

The show was missing some parts... mostly in-line skating tricks and stunts... I am hoping it was just an issue with that performance as it really left some holes in the show...  :(

After the show, we headed for Asia down the trail in front of Everest.

Taking many pictures along the way...  :)

When we got to Asia, we saw that the siamangs were out and stopped to watch them for a while. It started to sprinkle so we continued on. I wanted to see if the tigers were out and about so we headed over to the Maharajah Jungle Trek. There were not really any animals out, they must have been hiding out from the rain.

Yep... I can confirm that... I didn't take a single picture on the Jungle Trek...  :)

I was a little disappointed in not getting to see the tigers but as we were walking back through Asia, we saw that the gibbons were out. We watched them for about 30 minutes.  The mom and the newest baby were out as were the dad and the older baby.

Yep... It was mesmerizing watching the little baby swinging around... got some pictures of it, too...  :)

We headed for Africa with Bill stopping at the bridge to Asia to get some more Everest pictures. Once in Africa we got fastpasses for the Safari then took a walk through the Pangani Forest Expedition Trail. There were more animals out here than on the Jungle Trek.

Helped some folks take some pics of the fish in the aviary... just put your camera up against the glass and click... oh... remember to turn off the flash...  :)

When we got to the gorilla area none of the family troop were out, so we went to the other side of the hill. No gorillas in the family area but a couple of the bachelors were out. We sat and watched for a while.

Then a handler went through the family area putting out food... and as if by magic... the family troop appeared...  :)

It was within our fastpass window, so we headed for the Safari. It was okay, lots of animals were out but I didn't get to see my favorites, the giraffes. We did get to see the baby elephants, Tufani and Kianga. Also got to see some baby flamingoes, they were gray and fuzzy instead of pink.

They changed the route a little bit... near the lion's rock we went up a hill instead of down in the rift... it provided a better view of the lions... don't know if it is permanent or temporary as they were work walls up in a couple of other places along the safari route... oh... and we didn't have to listen to the driver talking to the warden spiel... the driver seemed to improvise the narration as we went along... since we were sitting right behind him we asked at the end of the trip when they had stopped the radio chatter... he said they hadn't... our vehicle just happened to have a broken "radio"... I told him that I liked his improvisation better than the canned spiel...  :)

When we got out of the safari, we took a look in the back of the bachelor gorillas compound. There were three of them out. Well not really out, they were sleeping in little clefts at the bottom of the compound right next to the stream.

Yep... just laying around... in the shade... next to the cool water... out of the heat... I think they had the right idea...  :)

We started out for the front of the park, but first Bill had to take some more pictures of the Everest construction.

Yep... from the Africa bridge... then we took a stroll up under the Tree of Life and over to the Flame Tree Barbecue seating area... one more round of Everest pictures and the construction pics were done for this trip...  :)

We strolled through Disney Outfitters and Island Mercantile on the way out. Then caught the bus back to the resort. We wanted to get some rest before our anniversary dinner at the California Grill.

Yep... plus it was getting a little hot... and after the sprinkling this morning, very humid...  :)

When we headed out to catch the bus for dinner, it had turned dark and gloomy. It looked like the bottom was going to drop out at any time. It was clearer over by the Magic Kingdom. We had left a little early to avoid the downpour, so we took a couple of trips around the lagoon on the monorail before getting off at the Contemporary.

Yep... we met this trio who boarded at the Polynesian and were celebrating their friend's birthday... we told them in was our anniversary... we also told them about getting a birthday button... the lady knew about the birthday button from the internet... she said that she frequented the Mouse For Less website... we told her about our website and scribbled down the URL for her... we bid them farewell as the monorail arrived at the Magic Kingdom...

After arriving at the resort, we went to the second floor to check in for dinner and were taken right up to the restaurant. We sat and had some soft drinks in the lounge area until our table was ready. It was next to the windows on the Magic Kingdom side of the restaurant, one table from the end nearest the Magic Kingdom.

Very nice table with a great view of the park... they gave us a four top which was great... our last couple of trips here we had sat at a two top and it was a little cramped... just as we were seated it started to rain... and it really came down... it was raining so hard that we could not see the Magic Kingdom... it continued to rain on and off while we ate...

Our dinner at California Grill was awesome. Randall was our server and he took very good care of us.

We freaked him out a bit when we started ordering.... we ordered a cheese sampler, flatbread and salads... then we ordered a lot of sushi... he cautioned us they we were getting a lot of food... when we explained we were just having the sushi and wouldn't be ordering an entree, he calmed down a bit...  :)

We started with a cheese sampler. We picked the sampler with all five types of cheeses. They were all very good except for this one that was just strange tasting. I couldn't put my finger on it but I just did not like it.

Yep... my friends... this is really saying something... because Min has never met a cheese that she didn't like...  :)

After the cheese sampler, 

We had more cheese...  :)

We had a four cheese flatbread with sun-dried tomatoes and basil pesto. It was very good. Bill got a hearts of romaine salad and I got a seafood salad with crab, lobster and blood oranges. Both were excellent.

Agreed... but if I had known that Min's would be that good I would have skipped the rabbit food and gone for the seafood salad...  :)

Next came our sushi. I thought we had ordered too much when I saw how big of a plate we got.

Then they brought out the second plate of sushi...  :)

We had ordered a lot of food. But it was wonderful. I loved the "Peeky Toe" Crab California Roll and the "Snake in the Grass" roll as well as the Shrimp Tempura roll pieces from Yoshie's Deluxe Sushi Platter. I wasn't that fond of the Medusa Roll but Bill loved it.

That I did... soft shelled crab, which was in the Medusa Roll, is one of those things that you either love or hate... I happen to love it... and I really enjoyed the other selections we had, too... next time I think we will check to see if they have any off the menu sushi specials... there were some things on the platter that I did not see on the menu and would have loved to have had more of...  :)

For dessert, 

yes, folks... we still had room for dessert...  :)

We had the Valrhona Chocolate Cake with a peppermint sauce and vanilla ice cream. Randall also brought out the complementary piece of chocolate cake for our anniversary. We had Randall take our picture before we started dessert. Both of the desserts were delicious.

Overall, it was an excellent meal... and also the most expensive meal we have ever had... but hey it was our anniversary... so we can live a little...  :)

After dinner, it was raining so we spent some time on the Concourse just walking around. There was a pin trading event going on so we walked around and looked at all the pins that were on display. We finally decided to skip Wishes and head back to the room. We caught the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.

I remembered that whimmel, an RADP chat buddy, worked on Friday nights at the Magic Kingdom monorail station... we found that he was working and said hi to him before heading for the bus...

We caught the bus back to the resort and got off at the front. We picked up some drinks, stuck our head in the lounge and listened to the piano player for a few minutes then we headed back to the room.

and this my friends... is where today's story ends...  :)

Saturday - June 11, 2005

We slept in this morning. No need to rush as we are headed home today.

Yep... our passes went into the blackout period today...  :(

We got everything packed and ready to take out to the car. I was feeling a little out of it this morning so after talking about it we decided to have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe instead of Fulton's.

Yep... I am sure you are all sitting there as you read this going... what???  Rainforest Cafe over Fulton's... why???  well Min wasn't feeling well and we could get into Rainforest at 11:00 AM while our PS for lunch at Fulton's wasn't until 3:00 PM... so I conceded to my good wife's wishes...

We got everything into the car and drove over to Downtown Disney. It was a little before 11:00, so we stopped at Disney's Pin Traders on the way to Rainforest. We picked up a few pins. We got a Happy Anniversary pin with Mickey and Minnie on it, a Kali River Rapids pin and a pin with Minnie wearing Belle's yellow ball gown.

See... I told you that Min was turning into a closet princess fan...  :)

Then we headed over to Rainforest Cafe for lunch. Our food was good. Bill tried the paella which was a new dish on their menu.

It was pretty good... but nothing compared to the paella at the Columbia... which is a Spanish restaurant in St. Augustine... they also have a restaurant in Ybor City down in Tampa... well... it looks like they have expanded since I was there last... their website shows restaurants in Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Clearwater Beach and West Palm Beach as well as Celebration... wow...

After lunch, we visited some of the shops. We went to Goofy's Candy Company and Pooh's Corner. Where I picked up a couple of things. Then we went to Once Upon a Toy and World of Disney. Bill got a Mickey Explorer watch at World of Disney. He also got me a sterling silver charm bracelet with an "M" charm and a Minnie charm. Next it was over to Ghiradelli's for some samples and a real cherry coke for me, Bill just got a water. We walked through Arribas Brothers and Team Mickey heading towards the car. Then I sat to take a rest and Bill ran off. He came back with a Festival of the Lion King CD and a Bambi DVD.

Min had been talking about getting them but never did anything about it... so I did... I ran into Once Upon a Toy and got them...  :)

We headed back to the car, got some gas at the Hess across the way from Downtown Disney then headed home.

Alas... our trip was at an end...  :)

Summary

Overall the trip was a great getaway for our anniversary. Even with the rain and the heat we enjoyed ourselves. The dinner at California Grill was the ideal way to cap it all off.

Agreed...  :)

Click to Read:  Prelude  - Part One