Last Day of Annual Passes :(

After a fun breakfast at Hollywood Studios, we headed over to the Animal Kingdom for the morning/afternoon. Mom and Dad haven't really spent a lot of time in the park and we thought this would be fun for them to see. 

We are so proud of Mom who rode on Expedition Everest! Got to love the pictures Disney takes. 

We also rode Dinosaur and I still get scared during the ride! You would like after riding this several times that I would know when the dinosaur pops out! Maybe next time. We also rode the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride and walked though the Pangani Forest Exploration.

For lunch we ate at the Flame Tree Barbecue which was so delicious! Christopher and I split a combo platter and it was plenty of food for two.

After lunch we headed back to the resort and relaxed for a bit at the pool. Later in the afternoon we decided to walk over to Epcot and enjoy the night there. We split a fish and chips in England, then walked over to France for a Croque Monsieur, Bordeaux and a coffee flavored mousse. All was delicious.

We then strolled around the entire World Showcase. We rode the Three Caballeros ride once more and Spaceship Earth. Then we caught Illuminations. We could watch it every night and still be impressed! 

We then walked back to the Boardwalk. Christopher enjoyed a cigar and beer and I got a slice of pizza and a margarita. We relaxed and people watched for the rest of the night. It was very special. 

Mom and Dad decided to have dinner at the new Italian restaurant on the Boardwalk and enjoyed it very much. They then met us out afterwards and we hung out with our drinks. A great way to end our stay at the Boardwalk. 

So What did Mom & Dad Do During Our 4-Park Challenge

We planned to do our 4-park challenge day and offered this option for our parents to join us. They decided to have their own day to do whatever they would like.

We were a little worried they would be bored and not know what to do...oh boy were we wrong!

They had a great day at Magic Kingdom! Got lunch at Casey's Corner and caught the Festival of Fantasy parade from the new courtyard area.

They even danced with Olaf! Not sure why we were worried - they had a great day!

Saturday Breakfast & Epcot

Saturday morning we had breakfast at The Grand Floridian Cafe to catch up with Mom and Dad on their date night and to share with them ours. They had a lovely time at the California Grill. Our breakfast was delicious as usual. Christopher got his fill of steak and eggs and I got the breakfast platter (I like a little bit of everything).

We then made our way to Epcot via the monorail. We went on Imagination with Figment, walked through Innoventions plaza, did Ellen's Energy Adventure and waited in line for Test Track only to have it break down right when we designed our car. Bummer! But we did get a free fast pass to use whenever we would like.

We checked out some of the gardens during the festival. We then walked around World Showcase Lagoon catching the last weekend of the Flower & Garden Festival and all of the fun treats.

We ate a spicy pineapple hot dog, blueberry pomegranate margarita, the lucky combo in China, a beer flight in Germany, Maple Bacon stout from the Smokehouse (while catching the new acappella act perform too - they were AWESOME!) and of course a trip around the world would not be complete without a Grey Goose Grand Marnier martini!

We had a very nice afternoon walking around. We then refreshed ourselves and walked over to the Beach Club for dinner at Beaches & Cream Soda Shop. I had a burger and Christopher had a turkey sandwich. Mom and Dad both had burgers and of course we all indulged in a sundae. It was so cute inside and we had fun selecting tunes from the juke box.

After dinner, Christopher and I walked over to Hollywood Studios to catch Symphony in the Stars. We had some time to kill so we waited and rode Star Tours and had a flight sequence we have not seen before! It was our favorite yet. We then staked our spot on Hollywood Boulevard for the show and fireworks. It did not disappoint. So incredible to have the fireworks go off to the Star Wars score. Christopher videoed it so we can watch it again and again. 

Our Date Night at Victoria & Albert's

Our dinner at Victoria & Albert's was AMAZING! Christopher and I got all gussied up and headed over to the Grand Floridian Resort to have dinner at V&A's. The service was incredible. Our servers were Danny and Garrett. The maitre d was Lana (blue name tag cast member) and the hostess was great too, but I cannot remember her name.

The 7 courses we chose were (not as well described as our menus - but I will try my best!):
1) Amuse Bouche - stone crab with veggies
2) Bison filet salad
3) Alaskan Salmon
4) Pork tenderloin & belly
5) Entree - Duck A l'Orange
6) Cheese accompaniment
7) Dessert - I chose a dark chocolate mousse with a milk chocolate orange gelato (I think it was called the Chocolate Timbale) and Christopher ordered the Hawaiian Kona dessert. During dessert they also served us coffee that was brewed right at our table! Christopher loved this type of coffee press and is determined to buy one for our house (they are like $300!).

We also ordered the wine pairing, which was paired so perfectly with our menu choices. Everything was delicious. In between several courses, we also had three bread courses too. And the bread was paired with its own butter or cream. I had never had bison or salmon but I know that it never taste as good as it did that night.

I almost forgot to tell you that at the beginning of the meal, they offered us their "house" water which is triple filtered. But - if that did not please us, we could choose a water off of their international water menu they have imported from around the world. We chose the "house" water and it was just fine.

The service was amazing. They served in a very formal style. Every time we left the table, they provided us a fresh napkin and would escort you to and from the table. It was awesome and yet so unnecessary, but their attention to detail is what gets them the 5 diamond rating!

At the end of the meal they presented us with a rose and copy of our menu we enjoyed (much more specific than the summary I provided here). I keep saying this, but it was AMAZING. Christopher and I are now spoiled and we will want to dine here every time we visit Walt Disney World.

One funny thing is we had a really annoying British couple sitting behind us. They made comments like they had to "settle" trying American wine. Their conversations made us laugh a little. Good thing these servers are trained to handle every situation.

Best part of the night was enjoying this experience with my wonderful Christopher. I have loved all of the adventures we have found ourselves in.

And to top off the night, we were complimented leaving dinner by a cast member as he thought we were cast members! Maybe some day!

Star Wars Weekend

We were lucky to be on vacation during the first weekend of Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios. Therefore we had to be there for opening day!

We got to the park at 9 am and all of the edge of the street seating was taken for the parade! So we picked a spot behind a nice family and waited. Within 30 minutes all of the shaded sidewalk area was taken and people were starting to get feisty. Mom and Dad made it a little after 10 am.

The parade was awesome. The costumes and characters were incredible. The celebrities for this weekend were James Arnold Taylor (host of Star Wars Weekends), Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine), Ashley Eckstein, Amy Allen and some other star from the cartoon series.

So - I have a story about Amy Allen. She is related to Aunt Marie and Uncle Paul Chodkowski. Uncle Paul is also her Godfather, in addition to Christopher. So Mom and Dad wanted to see her again (they have met her before) and have her sign some of the toy figurines, including a special one to send to Paul and Marie. So first we tried asking the front desk if they could arrange the meeting because Aunt Marie told Amy to expect us, but front desk/concierge couldn't help us. So Mom contacted Aunt Marie again to see if we could set this directly up with Amy. Aunt Marie gave Mom and Dad her number and Dad called. Amy was very nice and set up a meeting.

She was so sweet and remembered Mom and Dad. She signed all of the stuff Mom and Dad brought and took a picture with us (the picture is on Dad's camera). We did feel like VIPs because we got to go through this back entrance to one of the buildings in Hollywood Studios and skipped some of the other fans who waited in line.

For lunch we ate at Mama Melrose's. It was pretty good, but not as good as some other Italian places in Walt Disney World, but it is one of Mom and Dad's favorites, so we made sure to make it.

Since we did a lot of waiting for the parade we did not really get a chance to do other attractions. We did ride Star Tours and Toy Story Midway Mania. Christopher beat me AGAIN, but the ride is so much fun!

We ended up waiting one hour in line to get into the Darth Mall, a special merchandise location only open during Star Wars Weekend. Christopher was so excited to see the merchandise and get the commemorative name tag. It was worth the wait for sure. Plus we got fun Star Wars themed drinks with Death Star and Millennium Falcon light up cubes in the drinks.

We went back to the resort and relaxed by the pool in the afternoon. It felt really good to lay low and relax for a bit. Friday was our special date nights. Mom and Dad headed to California Grill inside the Contemporary and Christopher and I had our special night at Victoria and Albert's inside the Grand Floridian. But I will save that for another blog post!

Our First Day in Walt Disney World!

So we flew to Orlando out of the Buffalo airport at 5:30am! It was an early morning flight, but totally worth it so we could have a full day of fun in the sun. We spent our first day in Epcot, which was walking distance from the first resort we stayed at - the Boardwalk Villas. Our room was ready when we arrived, which we were really impressed with considering it was only 9 o'clock in the morning! So we dropped off our carry-ons to the room and got ready to hit the park!

We got to ride Soarin', caught a sneak preview of Tomorrowland, which they were showing in the Captain EO theater (Captain EO was "down" for the special sneak preview) and one of our favorite attractions, Spaceship Earth. We walked around quite a bit to look at all of the gardens and topiaries, since we were able to catch the last week of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. I even braved going into the Butterfly garden and no - I did not freak out when the butterflies landed on me (like I did last year - people probably thought I was nuts!). We got to see the new Anna & Elsa topiaries, which were quite exquisite. Mom and Dad's favorite topiary was the Lady & the Tramp one located outside of Italy. They said it reminded them of Marv and Jameson.

Speaking of Marv and Jameson, they "vacationed" with my parents, who decided not to join us on this trip. They had a great time and enjoyed chasing Buddy around.

A funny situation did happen while we were walking around World Showcase, Dad was taking a picture of Christopher and I in Japan and a Disney World security officer stopped Dad and gave him a ticket! No worries - it was a citation for him not being in the picture with us. We have never seen this in the parks before. The officer was very nice and funny, he even made Dad a Junior Officer to protect the magic, complete with a badge sticker! Dad was very proud and wore his sticker for the rest of the trip.

As we walked around World Showcase, we also sampled some of the food offerings for the flower & garden festival. We sampled the Crispin' Blackberry Pear cider, a cronut (Christopher's favorite", duck confit with parsley potatoes, smoked debreziner sausage and pineapple sparkling wine. All were yummy!

We had lunch at Via Napoli and split a huge pepperoni and sausage pizza. It was delicious and so fresh. Then we split tiramisu, which was so amazing and authentic. We really liked our experience at this restaurant and hope to return in future trips. For families, this was a very affordable option for dining.

We then took a little break in the afternoon and went back to the resort to unpack and freshen up. Christopher and I then took a little walk around Crescent Lake and he treated me to my pearl for the trip. I ended up picking an oyster with an 8mm pearl! I am one lucky girl!

Dinner was at Le Cellier in the Canadian pavilion. And it was of course fabulous. Our server was pleasant and from Ontario. Christopher and I split the famous beer cheddar soup and we all ordered the filet mignon with wild mushroom risotto (yes, even I ate the risotto - it was worth the headache). Mom and Dad split creamed spinach to pair with their steak and Christopher and I split the mac & cheese. We were too full for dessert (I know - the Maple Creme Brulee - next time!). Since our reservation was late (at 8:50 pm), when we left the restaurant, we were one of the last ones left in the park. Which is an experience in itself since the park is so empty and quiet.

It was such a wonderful first day at Walt Disney World. We all fell right asleep and got to sleep in on Thursday.

My Birthday

I had such as fabulous birthday! It is tough getting older and especially this birthday as this is my last birthday in my 20's. Yikes - where did the time go??? Christopher and the boys spoiled me when I woke up and gave me their presents. I received two gorgeous Pandora Disney charms for my bracelet AND a gold Alex & Ani DVC bangle!

Then I met my mom for pizza at Romeo & Juliets. It was so great to see her on my birthday. I do owe it to her for bringing me into this world. Without her - there would be no birthday.

When I got back to my desk at work, I had this plaque and leather notepad on my desk. I had been recognized for contributing to Praxair's safety program!!! I was totally surprised and added to my wonderful day.

Also related to work, that morning I had to move offices! So I got to spend the morning sorting and organizing my new office. Yep - I have TWO windows! I am loving the natural light very much.

Then Christopher spoiled me some more and make reservations for my favorite restaurant - Left Bank. Dinner was absolutely perfect and delicious. Christopher ordered the steak and lobster (and shared both) and I ordered the Pork Tenderloin in the Grand Mariner sauce. My mouth is watering as I am typing this!

We then celebrated with both of my parents on Friday night. We went to Schnitzel's for dinner (also fabulous and highly recommend) and then went back to the house for some homemade dessert.

We then celebrated with the Musialowski's at Chef's for some spaghetti parmesan. And I finished my WHOLE parm that night. No leftovers for the birthday girl. We had a wonderful time laughing and catching up at dinner.

Also one of my best friends, Christine, took me out to lunch this past week too! I am one lucky lady! It is always so much fun catching up with each other. 

Rockin' my new kick ass heels at work today :) Huge thanks to all of my family and friends for wishing me a happy birthday. You all sure know how to make a girl feel special!

Playing Catch up

This week I am playing catch up on the blog! Let's see....

On Saturday, March 14th Christine and I had our date night! We went to Providence Social for dinner and then saw Megan Hilty perform at the BPO! Dinner was delicious! It was restaurant week in Buffalo and their menu was awesome. We upgraded, so for $30.15 total (not a piece), we got two cocktails and three small plates. We splurged and got dessert too. All of which was scrumptious. I will definitely be taking Christopher back. We did not even bother to look at the regular menu because the restaurant week one looked amazing.

The BPO performance was great too. Megan Hilty was awesome and funny. We were debating on the drive home who we liked better - Idina Menzel, Matthew Morrison or Megan Hilty and we couldn't really decide!

Then on Sunday we got together at Steve and Sheryl's house for breakfast. It was great to meet little Malcolm and see all of our favorite little girls! It has been so fun watching them grow so quickly this first year. They all have such cute little personalities.

It was a busy week for us with board meetings, committee meetings, etc. But we did a great job managing our schedules so our favorite little pups were never in their kennels for more than 5 hours.

One of Christopher's friends from the CHS Alumni Board asked us to join him at his table for GAMBIT. Soooo we ended up going to GAMBIT this year after all! Since Christopher's parents were not going to be in town and none of our friends were going, we decided to just make a donation and skip out on the formal event. But...we made our donation AND we still got to attend.

We also walked away with a lot of fun auction items!!! See all the pictures below. We are definitely a sucker for auctions. Good thing we left before the live auction items were done because we would have spent more money!

Coming up for us, we are starting to get ready for phase II of our renovation, Disney is in less than 50 days - yippie, and April is our big birthday month and Easter. So needless to say, a lot will be going on! More to come!