Our Anniversary Day ~ Part 2.

WDW trip report. October 2011, first ever visit and 5th wedding anniversary.

Thursday October 28th, 2011

Our time at Downtown Disney was continued with checking out the Lego store, I really liked the Lego sculptures that were on the outside of the building. So much fun!

All made out of Legos!

The whole area was so pretty

One of the things I was really looking forward to for our Downtown day was a ride on Characters in Flight. Unfortunately for me (not so much for Andy because he hates heights) the balloon was not flying at that time. When I asked the gentleman at the ticket window if it would be up anytime soon he let me know that the weather was a big factor. It was sprinkling slightly while we were there but news was saying there was lightening in the area and so the balloon could not fly. Hopefully next time!

Characters in Flight

We continued on our adventure and checked out more sights, including some small Halloween decorations that were out. The whole Downtown area is really pretty and I loved the water views.

Planet Hollywood! We didn't check it out though.

Pumpkin Mickey

At this point we decided to start walking back because we were about done anyway. Just past one of the restaurants we say an area for the water taxi and one was just pulling up so we ran over. On the ride back to the Marketplace area we were talking to the driver. Turns out he was training, so when we let him know we were on just for the ride back and in no hurry he asked if we wanted to go on an extended trip. So we took a boat ride out of Downtown, over to the Port Orleans Resort and back again. It was so nice and relaxing and a great way to see some of the resorts along the way. The driver was awesome as well, he told some really neat trivia as we rode along. 

Ready for our ride!

Part of the Downtown area viewed from the boat. 

I kind of want to eat here next visit

One of the buildings at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort.

After our fun boat trip we headed back to our resort to get ready for our anniversary dinner. After getting cleaned up and dressed we hopped on the bus to the Magic Kingdom and rode the Monorail to the Contemporary Resort for our dinner at California Grill!

Ready to go!

All dressed up

Shnazzy!

The Monorail at the Magic Kingdom rides right into the Contemporary Resort so it was really neat. Once we found the check in desk to the restaurant it was just a few short minutes before we took the elevator up to the top floor where the California Grill is. Now, I really liked this place, it was so pretty inside, there is a neat open kitchen so you can sit at the bar and watch the chefs work and there are floor to ceiling windows along the whole place that overlook the lagoon and the Magic Kingdom. We got one of the awesome tables right along the wall of windows!

We are here!

Our table was decorated with Mickey confetti!

We each decided to get an appetizer along with our meal here and I am so glad we did because everything was so good! I think we will definitely be going back there again. I didn't get a picture of the menu and because they always use fresh, in season ingredients it changes so unfortunately I don't have the details of each dish. My apologies. 

Bread with salted butter

My amazing cheese platter!

Andy's sashimi 

Andy's duck two ways

My fish with sweet corn risotto 

  Right when we were getting our desserts the announcement was made that the lights would soon dim in order to enjoy the fireworks show from the Magic Kingdom. This was such an awesome addition to the experience, we were able to sit right at our table with incredibly tasty desserts and watch the Halloween Screams fireworks show complete with the music being played in the restaurant. The only downside for us was a slight glare on the windows from the open kitchen. There is also an outdoor observation deck which I think we will take advantage of next time. 

My "S'more" dessert. So sorry for the blurriness 

Loved this addition to the plate!

After the fireworks we were also able to view a bit of the Electric Light Pageant, a light show on barges out in the lake.

Yum!

View of the Electric Light Pageant from our table.

Once we were done with our dinner we took a few moments out on the observation deck to enjoy the view of the Magic Kingdom. It is really awesome to see everything from up on the roof, I loved it.

The Magic Kingdom!! Cinderella Castle and Space Mountain.

Happy 5th Anniversary!

Decor at the California Grill elevators.

We took a small ride on the Monorail and got to see a little of the Polynesian and Grand Floridian Resorts before getting off back the the Magic Kingdom for a bus back to Pop.

Mary Blair mural inside the Contemporary. I found the five legged goat!

MK decorated for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

Spooky train station!

Overall it was a super fun and amazing day, we got to see so much! It's one anniversary I will never forget!

Up next: Animal Kingdom part 1. Coming soon!

Our Anniversary Day ~ Part 1.

WDW trip report. October 2011, first ever visit and 5th wedding anniversary.

Thursday October 28th, 2011

*On a side note, I want to say in advance that this post will be mostly images with very little text, haha. 

Our 5 year anniversary!! Today was officially our anniversary date and it was a day we decided to not visit any parks. For a break today we thought it would be fun to explore our resort, seeing and taking photos with all the icons at POP could be really neat, and checking out Downtown Disney before getting ready for our nice dinner that night.

The view right outside our door. (If you look close you can see the buildings that are now the Art of Animation resort) 

We had a giant laptop at the elevators. 90's building!

So because we are at WDW there was no way I was going to sleep in at all, haha, so we were up and getting ready to go for a walk fairly early. The theme and icons at POP were part of the reason I wanted to stay there, so we walked the whole resort and took lots of pictures! 

Yay for Roger Rabbit.

Andy hanging with Mr. Potato Head

Posing like a potato!

8 Track hide the stair well at the 70's building

Wanna play Twister?!

There was a bit of rain that morning and it was still cloudy so there was not many people walking around the resort, which was okay to us because we were being pretty silly taking our pictures and checking things out.

Giant foosball table

Andy fits right in, haha.

I got this.

REACH!!! I really wanted to ride the Big Wheel

Run Andy, run! 

When we got around to the 50's area of the resort I loved seeing the Lady and the Tramp icons. Andy asked why they were in that particular area so I told him it was because the movie was released in the 50's. He was  pretty surprised that the movie was that old. I really liked the pool area here, the bowling theme is really cute.

Lady!

Tramp

If I try really hard I might be able to pick a song

I laughed a lot when I saw this song title.

After walking around the resort we started talking about getting some breakfast, we decided on going over to Everything Pop because we really liked the food we got there our first night in. 

Icons outside the Everything POP building.

So I will fully admit, I am a sucker for a good waffle! I was really excited to have the Mickey waffles at Crystal Palace and was very happy to try the POP waffle as well, haha. Andy and I both got the POP waffle with a sausage patty and bacon and an extra treat too.

My strawberries with whip cream. (Also has chocolate sauce.)

Andy's chocolate chip pastry. 

Now that we were pleasantly full it was time to catch the bus to the Downtown Disney District. I was excited to check out this are and see all the differences from Downtown Disney here in Anaheim. I wasn't really planning on doing any shopping, mostly just walking around sightseeing and enjoying the area. 

Made it to Downtown!

Love all the added details in the area

Andy wanted me to pretend the broom was tossing water on me, haha.

The Marketplace area of Downtown was pretty crowded, mostly we just check out the outside areas unless there was a store either of us really wanted to go into.

Chillin with Pooh and friends!

Buzz Lightyear got fresh with Andy, haha!

Loved the tables the the Ghirardelli shop

I knew for sure that I wanted to go inside the World of Disney store but once we got in there it was super busy and kind of hard to get around, so we didn't actually stay that long.

Super cute Halloween decor outside

Arrrghhh!

The guys moved around, shook the bars and made spooky noises!

They were scary, haha.

Loved this display inside the shop.

Continuing on along the Marketplace portion of Downtown we had more fun sightseeing, people watching and taking random pictures!

Made of Legos!! So cute.

I love that it looks like we got photo bombed! 

I think this is where I will end part 1. In part 2 I will share the rest of our time at the Downtown Disney District and our amazing anniversary dinner at California Grill!!

Coming soon!