Friday, December 3.
Well, we'd made it to the last full day of the week. Usually, we plan on using that last day to be a catch-up day. It's the opportunity to do any attractions we had missed during the week or to catch our favorites one last time.
I sent Bryan and the kids off to Animal Kingdom - they wanted to hit Kilimanjaro Safaris.
I was on my own this morning and this was a good thing. I finally had worked out a time to meet with Lou Mongello of WDW Radio.
If you haven't caught Lou's show, you need to boogie on over to WDW Radio and listen. He does a weekly show and it's pretty darn good. You'll see...lots of awards, lots of followers and lots of fun.
Lou had a meet at Epcot at 9am so we decided to connect for coffee afterward.
He texted, "Let's meet on the Epcot side of the fountain."
I texted back, "Can do. For reference, I've got a periwinkle jacket on."
I got a little grief from him..."Periwinkle? Guys don't know what color periwinkle is."
We found a bench, in the sun (as it was cool that morning), under the monorail and had a nice business chat.
The bonus: Lou only had two fans stop by during our chat. Seriously, I'm surprised it was only two times. Hence, my brush with fame.
I'm bummed that I missed out on attending the 200th show shindig that's happening today, December 5. It sounds like a lot of fun and it's a live show at Ariel's at the Beach Club to boot! Attending (or hosting) an event there is on my bucket list.
Why was I meeting with Lou? Well, send me an email. I'm not ready to put this out in open forum.
Stefan had texted me and asked where I was...there was on their way back from AK. It was almost lunch time so we decided to head to Pollo Campero and Fresh A-Peel at Downtown Disney for lunch. I met them at the front of the Beach Club and we headed out.
Pollo Campero and Fresh A-Peel are in the building that formerly was McDonald's at DTD. Pollo Campero has some pretty famous chicken and different side dishes. Fresh A-Peel makes fresh salads, wraps, burgers and hot dogs.
Caitlin and Stefan each got the 2 piece meal from Pollo Campero. Cate got the white meat and Stefan got the dark meat. It came with your choice of side. Stefan ordered french fries and Cate ordered black beans and rice. Bryan chose the 1/4 Citrus Grilled Chicken and got the Sweet Baked Plantains as his side dish.
I went over to Fresh A-Peel originally thinking burger, but I changed my mind and ordered the Citrus Grilled Chicken Chopped Salad as a wrap. It came with chopped lettuce, roasted corn, black beans and a pineapple vinaigrette. I passed on the red peppers. It was also freakin' huge. Think 6" Subway-sized.
My grade: Yumatrocious! Fabulous flavor. Definitely a must-do again for me.
While I didn't get specific reviews from the rest of the family, the "ums" , "yums" and quickly emptied plates are indications that their Pollo Campero food was more than passable.
Stefan wanted to hit the Lego store so we went through there on the way to World of Disney.
I have to say I was a little surprised at how busy it was on a Friday at noon. Maybe because it was a Friday is why it was so busy. But it sure felt like a Saturday or something with all the people there.
After we browsed through World of Disney, we went over to Basin so Cate could get her annual tube of bath bombs. As she was looking around, I tried out the salt scrub samples. Big mistake. That stuff made my hands so smooth...now I really want some. But even though it was a huge jar, I was not ready to pay $30 for it. We'll have to leave that one on the wish list.
After Basin, we decided to head home for one last swim. The kids and Bryan headed down to the pool while I foolishly allowed myself to get distracted with all the Disney Social Media Moms Conference chatter. The short summary is they didn't accept me as an attendee. If you want the long story, email me.
I headed down to the pool and swam a few laps in the "doughnut" - the lazy river part of Stormalong Bay. Against the current. Which was hard, by the way. But I was trying to work some of my frustrations out.
You know how sometimes you just know that chocolate will make you feel a little better? I was hoping swimming my butt off, against the current, would get rid of some of that lingering adrenaline that was coursing through my veins.
Since I didn't have chocolate, and I was so not in the mood to make spaghetti, I asked Bryan to see if he could find out if there was any prayer of getting into Cape May for dinner.
This was at 4:30pm and Cape May opens at 5pm.
Bryan came back and there were no ressies available, but he was going to stand in the check-in line and see if he could get us a walk-up ressie. I ushered the kids out of the pool and back to the room to get changed, just in case.
Stefan changed first and headed to the lobby with Bryan's clothes so he could change. Cate and I arrived shortly thereafter to find that Bryan had gotten us in and we already had a beeper-thingie.
A few minutes after 5pm, our beeper-thingie went off and we were seated.
Seriously, folks, if you've never been to Cape May Cafe for dinner, give it a try. Not only do they have all you can eat crab legs, but the rest of their buffet offerings are just yummy.
Here's just a few of the things I had myself:
Baby Red Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Steamed Cabbage
Beef Tips in a spicy sauce
Multi-Grain Rolls and butter
Roast Beef
Pork Tenderloin
Tomato and Mozzarella Salad - I had to visit this one twice
Citrus Chicken Orzo Salad - I had to visit this one twice AND I'm searching out the recipe. Freakin' good!
Fresh fruit
The kids, my teenagers, love the fact that you get crayons and can draw on the paper that's on your table. Hey, whatever makes you happy, kiddo.
There happens to be a lot of choices for dessert here. I had an Oreo BonBon and a Key Lime Tart. But there were also mini cheesecakes, caramel flan, brownies, cookies, mini cupcakes and more.
For someone staying at the Beach Club, this is uber-convenient. It's also a pretty popular place. I don't like it. I shouldn't be telling you how good it is because then it will be even harder for us to get into!
We were thinking of heading to MGM to take in the Osbourne Family Lights, but alas, the full-tummy-sleepies were kicking in and I hadn't even started packing yet.
So we headed back to the room and watched The Polar Express.
After the kids went to bed, Bryan and I started packing up.
Bad news: We did too much shopping. So much so that we couldn't fit everything in the bags we had brought with us.
After researching the options, it was most cost-effective to hit the UPS Store on the way to the airport and ship the rest of the stuff home.
We had one really large Disney bag full of stuff and a medium sized bag of stuff to ship home. I didn't ask Bryan how much it weighed at the end, but I'm guessing we shipped home 20lbs or so of stuff.
Good gravy train.
Well, that's all for the text version of this report for now. I'll do a series of photo posts so you can put pictures with the stories you've already read.
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