Day 6: All Good Things Must Come to an End

This was our last day of vacation and we truly hated to leave. The weather has been so perfect and other than the night of the transportation nightmare from the Magic Kingdom and my clumsy fall, this has been one of our nicest trips to Walt Disney World. We loved staying at Saratoga Springs and our room location was perfect. The Food and Wine Festival was even more fun than we expected and we really enjoyed Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party – especially the Holiday Wishes fireworks.

We had a 7:30 p.m. flight, so at least we were able to spend our last day in a park. We chose Epcot so that we could see Captain Eo (the 3-D film featuring Michael Jackson that we saw on our very first trip in 1992), sample some more of the Festival offerings, and get Rick’s favorite - Harry Ramsden’s fish and chips - for lunch. We ended up sharing a table at lunch with some chaperones and the director of a high school band from Cincinnati. We had a nice visit with them, talking music, before we made a last circuit of the World Showcase to use up what was left on our Festival gift card. We had beers from Canada and Germany and a Crème Brule from France, took a few more photos and reluctantly left to catch the Magical Express back to MCO.

Since we seem to have established a pattern of visiting Walt Disney World at least once a year, we’re considering buying into the Disney Vacation Club, Disney’s version of a time-share. I’m looking into getting a resale at either the Beach Club or the Boardwalk since we like being within walking distance of Epcot and the Studios, but we’d be happy to stay at Saratoga Springs again anytime too. It’s a really lovely resort. Maybe by our next trip, we’ll be DVC owners. Wait and see!

All the photos from this trip are here on Flickr.

Day 2: Food & Wine and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

This is a great time to be here with the Food & Wine Festival still going on and some of the Christmas season events beginning tonight. Christmas decorations are starting to appear here and there too.

We began our day with a walk from our resort to Downtown Disney and back. It was a beautiful morning – a little cool, but sunny with a cloudless sky. There is a path you can take that loops through the Saratoga Springs property, mostly along the lagoon, and skirts the edge of the Lake Buena Vista golf course. Once through Downtown Disney you can pick up the path again to return to the resort. This gave us a chance to get the lay of the land and to appreciate the beautiful setting we are in. At the beginning of our walk we saw a hawk perched in a tree at the resort that didn't mind sitting still to have his picture taken.

We drove over to the Beach Club and parked there so we could enter Epcot through the International Gateway. We had some time to browse and take photos in France, Morocco and Germany before our lunch reservation at the new restaurant in Italy - Via Napoli. Our waiter-in-training was the shy yet disarming Allesandro. Rick and I shared a salad and a large Neapolitan Pizza Quartro Fromaggi (four-cheese). It was fantastic! I had their Merlot San Giuseppe and Rick had the La Rossa Italian Lager. We loved this meal and the charming and attentive service. We'll definitely be back. We spent the rest of the afternoon grazing at some of the Food & Wine kiosks. I know I remember having a Prosecco in Italy and a Margarita in Mexico and who knows what else! So much for watching my diet on this trip!

When we got back to our villa, Rick took a nap and I tried out the hot tub at the quiet pool near our building. Then we went over to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. The castle was all lit up with beautiful icicles and the park wasn’t at all crowed since this was the very first party of the season. We enjoyed the complimentary hot chocolate and cookies, went on a few rides, saw the perfectly choreographed and beautiful Holiday Wishes fireworks show, the Celebrate the Season castle stage show, and of course Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade. We left an almost empty park at midnight, very glad we decided to go to the party this trip.

It was a really great Disney Day!

All of the photos from this trip are here on Flickr.

Back at The World: Day 1

After a very early start from the Manchester, NH airport, we landed in Orlando before 10 a.m., boarded Disney's Magical Express bus and were all checked in at the Saratoga Springs Resort by 10:45. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we walked over to the Buena Vista Palace to pick up our rental car. While waiting to complete that transaction, I got a text from the resort with our room number, so we went back to see what we got. All our requests were met: Congress Park, top floor, Downtown Disney view. We're in a studio villa - renting points from a Disney Vacation Club member. Thanks Darlene! Our building is actually the one closest to Downtown Disney. It's secluded and quiet and the view of the lagoon and Downtown Disney is beautiful. A perfect location for us!

We made it to Epcot just around noontime, so after riding Spaceship Earth and stopping by the Food & Wine Festival Center in the former Wonders of Life pavilion to pick up a gift card, we had our first samples of Festival food at the Canada and Ireland kiosks. We've never been here for the Festival before and it's really fun. You use your gift card to pay for food at the various kiosks – much more efficient than using your Key to the World or credit card since you don’t have to sign the receipts. Rick had the Canadian cheddar cheese soup and I got maple-glazed salmon with a lentil salad. Delish! I had a St. David's Bench merlot and Rick had Moosehead ale. At the Ireland kiosk, I got the Bunratty Meade Honey Wine and lobster and scallop fisherman's pie. After that we strolled the rest of the way around the World Showcase checking out the offerings at the other kiosks. We stopped at the Germany pavilion and got a soft pretzel that we enjoyed with their Altenmunster Oktoberfest ale. Being the next-to-the-last Sunday of the festival, the park was pretty busy.

Since we'd been up since 2:30 this morning, we were starting to fade, so we went back to our room for a nap before returning to Epcot for our late dinner reservation at the new Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda de San Angel. I had timed this to coincide with the IllumiNations fireworks. The location was nice - we were really close to the globe and could see the images more clearly than ever, but I thought that watching the show at an angle through the windows diminished the impact of the fireworks. I'd much rather watch IllumiNations from outside where you can get the full effect. We shared the queso fundido appetizer (melted cheese with poblano peppers, chorizo and flour tortillas), which was very good. For our entre, we shared the flank steak with spring onions, tamal, and cactus leaves. This came with black beans and Spanish rice. Rick really liked it – I thought it was just okay. We also each had a Tecate, one of the house beers - just awful! I think we were just too tired - and I was still a little too full from the afternoon's samplings - to really appreciate this restaurant fully, but I doubt we’d go there again – certainly not for IllumiNations anyway.

All the photos from this trip are here on Flickr.