She said it wouldn't be boring!-WONDER WB Caribbean cruise - Bonus Posts Wrap up

[Leshaface]

Fun recap! You did great on getting the DotD's! I think we tried on this last cruise, but were unsuccessful. But you're right, too sweet. Hopefully Lucifer will have better cruises this year poor guy!

 

[eandesmom]

I also think that Basmati has a better taste too. Or maybe I've fooled myself to believe it?

I prefer it too but it also agrees with me better. My issue isn't the glycemic index, it's soluble fiber and basmati is much better in that regard. Brown rice is very hard on me for that exact reason.

 

[franandaj]

Oh wow... you've got a lot of cruises in the pipeline! I have to say, I think the Panama Canal cruise would really be a cool one to do. Either way, I know you'll find an acceptable itinerary and have fun with it.

While I haven't gone on a cruise myself, I enjoyed reading about yours. I wouldn't mind doing a Disney cruise sometime, but I don't know when/if it will happen.

We had some very lean vacation years (like none at all) while her parents were still alive. They were both in really poor health and the two of us ended up waiting on them hand a foot. It was a crazy time, and for about three years, it was just a sheer nightmare. Now that Fran is relatively healthy again, we're making up for lost time!

I like the new Dis. There is definitely a give and take and a pretty strong learning curve to it, but I really think it is an upgrade overall.

I'm definitely liking it more, especially since I learned last night that there is no more "twilight zone". For you East Coast time folks it doesn't matter much since it used to hit at 4AM, but for us it would kick in at 1AM, and there has been more than a few occasions when I'm up at 1AM on the DIS.

Thanks so much for sharing this latest adventure. I'm so glad Fran was able to enjoy it as much as she did

If they don't have our cruise as a Halloween one I'll be quite disappointed. Of course I haven't given a single thought to what I'll dress up as.

I'm glad she had fun too! I just started thinking about Halloween costumes, this will be the third year now that I have had to find a costume after many years of ignoring it!

What numbers are the problem? One post sounded like diabetes but then I thought you said something bout avoiding bypass surgery but the pork comments don't exactly give with that lol. I am so sorry you are having to deal with it.

You know I really don't have much of an idea exactly what she was talking about. On previous blood tests, she went through them line by line explaining what everything meant. This time she just kind of glossed over it and started in with the scare tactics. The only thing she stressed was the diabetes thing. She didn't actually tell me what particularly would cause me to require bypass surgery in 10 years, just that if I didn't do the changes she was advocating that I would be there.

She's also Jewish, so she probably didn't realize that when she said I could eat meat, that bacon, ham, prosciutto, etc would be one of the things I would go to. I was planning n having steak for dinner that night and she said that I could have the steak, just not the baked potato.

Well yes, if it were baked chicken but fried is typically dredged in...flour.

Actually, the "fried" chicken at the Plaza Inn is actually baked. We did a kitchen tour back when it reopened with the current menu. They had installed these "state of the art" ovens that were able to get the same texture as frying without the fat. As far as being dredged in flour...have you heard of "funny Disney math?", try "funny Disney nutrition". Especially since I don't actually have a condition where gluten is dangerous to me.

I think there is a happy medium somewhere but a 6 week cleanse is a good thing!

Yeah, but it's killing me. I went to TJ's yesterday and I was surprised at all the crazy things I was willing to try. I opened every package when I got home and took a taste. I found a perfect place to store the Kale Chips, the trash can.

NO fruit then? Is that the no wine or is it that wine has gluten? My gluten free friends advocate vodka.

The wine has sugar, that's the problem with any alcohol, it converts to sugar once it's in your body.

Basmati rice is a lower glycemic index than jasmine or plain white rice.

I can't have that either. Brown rice is pretty much it. Put it this way. On the glycemic load chart that I've been looking at, I should stick with foods that are around 15 and under. White rice has a glycemic load of 43, Basmati rice is 28, Brown Rice is 16.

Nice recap! It was cool to see some of the different ports of call (for me, anyway).

They were definitely fun ports, but more so on the previous cruise, especially Grand Cayman.

Really? I hadn't heard that. What's wrong with the Magic?

Well for one thing, this was the chandelier that she was built with



This is what they replaced it with



There are other things, I'm reading a TR of two folks on a Mediterranean Cruise, I think more of the frustration is with supplies not being on board, but there have been a number of mechanical failures for them. Plus others have said, that the dry dock was very hasty instead of taking their time and completely fixing things properly.

Sounds good to me! I will eagerly await the future installments.

Hopefully, I will have one coming up later today!

Alison, I thoroughly enjoyed your trip report. I can't wait for the next one.
Thanks so much!!

Thanks for coming along Ellen! I have a mini report, and in a couple months will have a new full blown TR!

I also think that Basmati has a better taste too. Or maybe I've fooled myself to believe it?

Hmmm...I can't really tell the difference much.

I prefer Jasmine but we eat more Basmati.

OK.....

Fun recap! You did great on getting the DotD's! I think we tried on this last cruise, but were unsuccessful. But you're right, too sweet. Hopefully Lucifer will have better cruises this year poor guy!

You really do have to make an effort. It's easy to forget, especially on days with excursions or other activities. We're not sure if he's coming on the next one. With the flight to WDW and all, but he's definitely coming on the B2B since that leaves out of San Diego.

 

[franandaj]

A Twilight Tour of the lands...

So here we are again for our first week in February trip to Disneyland. We do this every year, or we have since 2012. You see we need to do something to justify owning points at the VGC. Way back when, they were selling points and DCA had a Food & Wine Festival. It was great fun, or so many of the locals thought. It was nothing like the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, but since most of the locals had never been there, we were all happy with what we had. I was so happy I bought a ton of DVC points so I could stay every weekend during the festival. Then in late 2010 they cancelled the 2011 festival and it hasn't been back since.


So in early 2011 I decided that if nothing else we would come out for a couple days during the low season and play tourist like other people do when they come to visit. It allows us a luxury that we don't normally get as locals. It's hard to make rope drop when you have to drive in rush hour traffic. Plus when you have many little mouths to feed before you can leave home, that slows you down. By staying overnight we can enjoy ourselves and not worry about the trials of daily life.


Normally it's like pulling teeth to get Fran out of the house at a reasonable hour. She feels guilty for leaving town when there is work to be done. What I can't get her to realize is that there will always be work to be done and sometimes you just need to take a break. I think she felt sorry for me, since I've been slightly pouting about the diet. We were ready to leave the house by 2:00. As we were leaving the house my fit bit let me know that I only had 2380 steps left until I reached my daily goal. It had been a while since I'd hit that! After a stop for gas and a quick lunch we were on our way to Disney.


It took a little longer than normal. They're building a Great Wolf Lodge down the street from the parks and we keep forgetting about the construction traffic. We would be better off taking the secondary route to the parks, but we eventually made it right around 4PM. We checked in and the room was ready and everything. We scored with room #6502. There are only three rooms on the sixth floor. One of each type and they have one of the best views of Paradise Pier.











And here is our room:

















The bedroom














And one of the best features about the VGC one bedrooms, the second bathroom!





After the bellman brought our bags we headed out into the parks. DCA closed at 6PM that night and DL closed at 8PM, so we had to hustle.

[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]


Fran wasn't interested in rides so I went on everything solo. First RSR.











I’ve rarely seen the queue this short that the line doesn’t extend to here.























Here we go!














We got new tires before we won the race.








Sunset in Radiator Springs














Then it was over to the Tower of Terror.











After that, the park was getting ready to close for a private party. We looked in Off the Page and Elias and Company before heading across the esplanade.


I'll tell you they are really getting on gear for the 60th Anniversary celebration. I was amazed at everything that was closed. When we came out of the hotel guest entrance, there was a barrier immediately to the left of the GCH entrance to DCA closing off Condor Flats. Grizzly River Run was down and so was World of Color. This was at the end of Buena Vista Street, I suppose in honor of the Frozen Fun Fest taking place in the Hollywood Backlot area.





Fran went to the Disneyana store while I high tailed it back to Star Tours. I was not the rebel spy but we did elude the stormtroopers before getting caught up in a pod race. Then a bounty hunter tried to blow us up, but we safely delivered the spy and thus completing our mission.


Then I went on to Space Mountain which is always a blast! As I walked up the first hill of the queue, my fitbit let me know that I had hit 10,000 steps for the day. It had been a long long time since that had happened!





Upon exiting the ride I found Fran patiently waiting for me at the exit. By this time I was famished and ready for some fried chicken. We headed over to the Plaza Inn just in time for me to hear, "Sorry folks, we're closed for the night!"


I let out an audible scream. This ruined all my plans! With less than an hour until closing, any other place in Disneyland would be packing it up as well, so we decided to head over to DTD, before everyone else got there.


[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]


We checked the menu at the Uva Bar and Catal, but neither seemed to do it for Fran. She suggested that we check out Tortilla Jo's, and while she didn't say that this was where she wanted to eat, I could tell this was where she wanted to go. Besides it was highly recommended by Captain_Oblivious and eandesmom. They said there was a 20 minute wait, so we decided to head to the bar. I got a glass of Pinot Grigio, and she had one of the specialty margaritas. We had barely received our drinks when we got the text that our table was ready.


Another reason that this place won out was they little icons on the menu indicating a number of gluten-free choices. Now technically we know I'm not supposed to be eating any foods that are quickly converted into sugar in the bloodstream, but for the purpose of this trip I was taking the doctor at her literal word. Corn chips and tortillas were going to be OK for tonight.


We started off with the tableside prepared guacamole. Fran was kind enough to ask her to prepare it without cilantro as I despise the stuff.

















The guacamole was really good! I had to be careful not to fill up on it, especially since I was so famished! For our entrée we split an order of the steak fajitas cooked medium rare. These were really tasty and we each got two or three of them out of the meat and vegetables.











After our meal we headed up to the lounge. They were serving desserts and cordials. I couldn't have any of the macaroons, chocolate tarts or the cookies. Fran had enough of those for me.

















Berries are OK for me to eat. Now I'm not quite sure what the brown stuff on them was but I figured it couldn't hurt anything if I ate them like that. We both had a Grand Mariner to wash down our desserts.





With that we went back to the room to find this view.

 

[kaoden39]

Wow! It really was empty! The food at Tortilla Jo's is really good. We ate there in 2011, and we really enjoyed it. Their guacamole is so good. The treats in the lounge look too good! I love the strawberries! I was really craving them last night! Your room was beautiful!

 

[mvf-m11c]

I loved your view from your VGC room. It is great to see DCA from your room and seeing it at night is amazing as well. Unfortunately WoC is down for refurbishment. But when we get to May, we will be looking forward to WoC - Celebrate! The Wonderful World of Walt Disney.

Very nice pictures from your days at the parks. With all the refurbishments going on at the DLR, it will great when we get to May.

Nice to see that you had Tortilla Jo's for dinner. I ate there in 2013 and it is a nice Mexican restaurant. The guacamole was good as well as the salsa.

The dessert looks good.

 

[eandesmom]

You know I really don't have much of an idea exactly what she was talking about. On previous blood tests, she went through them line by line explaining what everything meant. This time she just kind of glossed over it and started in with the scare tactics. The only thing she stressed was the diabetes thing. She didn't actually tell me what particularly would cause me to require bypass surgery in 10 years, just that if I didn't do the changes she was advocating that I would be there.

Scare tactics are all well and good but I do prefer data behind them

She's also Jewish, so she probably didn't realize that when she said I could eat meat, that bacon, ham, prosciutto, etc would be one of the things I would go to. I was planning n having steak for dinner that night and she said that I could have the steak, just not the baked potato.

LOL! That's pretty funny

Actually, the "fried" chicken at the Plaza Inn is actually baked. We did a kitchen tour back when it reopened with the current menu. They had installed these "state of the art" ovens that were able to get the same texture as frying without the fat. As far as being dredged in flour...have you heard of "funny Disney math?", try "funny Disney nutrition". Especially since I don't actually have a condition where gluten is dangerous to me.

"Baked" chicken that way can be outstanding, sometimes a lot better.

Fuzzy Disney Nutrition. I LOVE that!

Yeah, but it's killing me. I went to TJ's yesterday and I was surprised at all the crazy things I was willing to try. I opened every package when I got home and took a taste. I found a perfect place to store the Kale Chips, the trash can.

Oh my. Kale chips. You are desperate!

The wine has sugar, that's the problem with any alcohol, it converts to sugar once it's in your body.

Yeah, it does that. So it's sugar, not gluten on the booze.

I can't have that either. Brown rice is pretty much it. Put it this way. On the glycemic load chart that I've been looking at, I should stick with foods that are around 15 and under. White rice has a glycemic load of 43, Basmati rice is 28, Brown Rice is 16.

They make brown basmati, not sure where that falls but it's pretty tasty. I have to stick to white Basmati as I have fiber issues which is a conflict with Jeff who would have brown rice with everything. Brown rice also takes so much longer to cook it's a pain

Normally it's like pulling teeth to get Fran out of the house at a reasonable hour. She feels guilty for leaving town when there is work to be done. What I can't get her to realize is that there will always be work to be done and sometimes you just need to take a break. I think she felt sorry for me, since I've been slightly pouting about the diet. We were ready to leave the house by 2:00. As we were leaving the house my fit bit let me know that I only had 2380 steps left until I reached my daily goal. It had been a while since I'd hit that! After a stop for gas and a quick lunch we were on our way to Disney.

It took a little longer than normal. They're building a Great Wolf Lodge down the street from the parks and we keep forgetting about the construction traffic. We would be better off taking the secondary route to the parks, but we eventually made it right around 4PM. We checked in and the room was ready and everything. We scored with room #6502. There are only three rooms on the sixth floor. One of each type and they have one of the best views of Paradise Pier.

SCORE!

I'll tell you they are really getting on gear for the 60th Anniversary celebration. I was amazed at everything that was closed. When we came out of the hotel guest entrance, there was a barrier immediately to the left of the GCH entrance to DCA closing off Condor Flats. Grizzly River Run was down and so was World of Color. This was at the end of Buena Vista Street, I suppose in honor of the Frozen Fun Fest taking place in the Hollywood Backlot area.

UGH

Then I went on to Space Mountain which is always a blast! As I walked up the first hill of the queue, my fitbit let me know that I had hit 10,000 steps for the day. It had been a long long time since that had happened!

Upon exiting the ride I found Fran patiently waiting for me at the exit. By this time I was famished and ready for some fried chicken. We headed over to the Plaza Inn just in time for me to hear, "Sorry folks, we're closed for the night!"

I let out an audible scream. This ruined all my plans! With less than an hour until closing, any other place in Disneyland would be packing it up as well, so we decided to head over to DTD, before everyone else got there.

OMG. You deserved to scream!

I seem to recall you hitting that number before

We checked the menu at the Uva Bar and Catal, but neither seemed to do it for Fran. She suggested that we check out Tortilla Jo's, and while she didn't say that this was where she wanted to eat, I could tell this was where she wanted to go. Besides it was highly recommended by Captain_Oblivious and eandesmom. They said there was a 20 minute wait, so we decided to head to the bar. I got a glass of Pinot Grigio, and she had one of the specialty margaritas. We had barely received our drinks when we got the text that our table was ready.

Another reason that this place won out was they little icons on the menu indicating a number of gluten-free choices. Now technically we know I'm not supposed to be eating any foods that are quickly converted into sugar in the bloodstream, but for the purpose of this trip I was taking the doctor at her literal word. Corn chips and tortillas were going to be OK for tonight.

We started off with the tableside prepared guacamole. Fran was kind enough to ask her to prepare it without cilantro as I despise the stuff.

The guacamole was really good! I had to be careful not to fill up on it, especially since I was so famished! For our entrée we split an order of the steak fajitas cooked medium rare. These were really tasty and we each got two or three of them out of the meat and vegetables.

I am SO glad you liked it! I LOVED the tableside guac, definitely a highlight for me.

Berries are OK for me to eat. Now I'm not quite sure what the brown stuff on them was but I figured it couldn't hurt anything if I ate them like that. We both had a Grand Mariner to wash down our desserts.

Brown stuff is definitely ok and sugar free. Actually I'd bet the GM has more sugar lol.

 

[Flossbolna]

Looks like you had a lovely first day despite the chicken disappointment! I love the look of the guacamole! Such a nice portion!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love the view from the room. I don't think I would sleep at night if I had that to look at!
Great score with the park so empty!!! Good for you.
Shame about no chicken! But the alternative looks delicious so I hope you didn't mind too much.
And I don't know what that brown stuff is either...but as it comes with the fruit and fruit is good for you, I'm pretty sure that you made the right assumption that it was good.

 

[dolphingirl47]

That is amazing that the park was so empty. You managed to get quite a lot done. What shame that you did not get your chicken dinner, but what you ended up with looked delicious. I love the view from your room.

Corinna

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Well for one thing, this was the chandelier that she was built with



This is what they replaced it with

Wow, say no more! That really is a tragedy.

What I can't get her to realize is that there will always be work to be done and sometimes you just need to take a break.

The work will still be there when you get back.

There are only three rooms on the sixth floor. One of each type and they have one of the best views of Paradise Pier.

Wow! You hit a grand slam with that view!

I’ve rarely seen the queue this short that the line doesn’t extend to here.

Yeah, I'm just going from memory, but that does seem much less crowded than usual.

Then I went on to Space Mountain which is always a blast!

And you still know exactly where the camera is!

We headed over to the Plaza Inn just in time for me to hear, "Sorry folks, we're closed for the night!"

Besides it was highly recommended by Captain_Oblivious and eandesmom.

Uh oh. Putting our reputations on the line here.

For our entrée we split an order of the steak fajitas cooked medium rare.

That looks really good! I might have to convince Julie to split that with me next time.

With that we went back to the room to find this view.

Still gorgeous at night!

 

[afwdwfan]

I was so happy I bought a ton of DVC points so I could stay every weekend during the festival. Then in late 2010 they cancelled the 2011 festival and it hasn't been back since.

Well... that stinks. But at least now you have points to use and motivate you towards taking a trip.

What I can't get her to realize is that there will always be work to be done and sometimes you just need to take a break.

Well said!

One of each type and they have one of the best views of Paradise Pier.

That is an incredible view.

And here is our room:

Ok, GCV rooms look incredible. Much better than the normal GCH room. I have to say I wasn't all that impressed by ours.

I’ve rarely seen the queue this short that the line doesn’t extend to here.

You clearly picked a good week to go!

We got new tires before we won the race.

That's cool! I've seen pictures of that before, but I was bummed that this effect didn't work when we were there. The curtain never opened.

As I walked up the first hill of the queue, my fitbit let me know that I had hit 10,000 steps for the day. It had been a long long time since that had happened!

Disney parks are a great place to get plenty of steps in!

We headed over to the Plaza Inn just in time for me to hear, "Sorry folks, we're closed for the night!"

I couldn't have any of the macaroons, chocolate tarts or the cookies. Fran had enough of those for me.

Nice of Fran to take one for the team!

Berries are OK for me to eat. Now I'm not quite sure what the brown stuff on them was but I figured it couldn't hurt anything if I ate them like that.

I didn't see any brown stuff. Just berries.

With that we went back to the room to find this view.

Yeah... fantastic view.

 

[rentayenta]

Wow, what a view! I love the second bathroom and third in the two bedrooms. It's second favorite DVC resort next to AKV of the ones we've stayed at. Looks like you had a fabulous time. Love the Space pic.

Tortilla Joe's guacamole is so good. But with the cilantro I used to hate it to and then sometime over the last ten years I developed a taste for it and now I love it. But it is very strong.

So fun to have a staycation like that!

 

[franandaj]

Wow! It really was empty! The food at Tortilla Jo's is really good. We ate there in 2011, and we really enjoyed it. Their guacamole is so good. The treats in the lounge look too good! I love the strawberries! I was really craving them last night! Your room was beautiful!

We were able to get a lot done (relatively) due to the lack of crowds. I had eaten there before, but I didn't really remember it, we will be back, it was that good! We got some more of those strawberries at Costco yesterday, they were hand dipping them in the store.

I loved your view from your VGC room. It is great to see DCA from your room and seeing it at night is amazing as well. Unfortunately WoC is down for refurbishment. But when we get to May, we will be looking forward to WoC - Celebrate! The Wonderful World of Walt Disney.

I can't wait to watch it from the Grand Villa on my birthday weekend!

Very nice pictures from your days at the parks. With all the refurbishments going on at the DLR, it will great when we get to May.

I'm going to have to plan some days out there once the festivities get going as my birthday weekend will be all resort time and no parks.

Nice to see that you had Tortilla Jo's for dinner. I ate there in 2013 and it is a nice Mexican restaurant. The guacamole was good as well as the salsa.

The salsa was a little spicy for me, but the guac was excellent!

Scare tactics are all well and good but I do prefer data behind them

Unfortunately the blood test did have some pretty bad data. But I still never understood the need to cut out so many food groups.

LOL! That's pretty funny

"Baked" chicken that way can be outstanding, sometimes a lot better.

Fuzzy Disney Nutrition. I LOVE that!

The only way I can have satisfying trips to Disney these days!

Oh my. Kale chips. You are desperate!

Yeah, it does that. So it's sugar, not gluten on the booze.

Unfortunately, yes.

They make brown basmati, not sure where that falls but it's pretty tasty. I have to stick to white Basmati as I have fiber issues which is a conflict with Jeff who would have brown rice with everything. Brown rice also takes so much longer to cook it's a pain

I had brown rice at Shabu Shabu the other night, it wasn't great, but then I eat so little of the rice, it's not a big deal. And with ordering all rice noodles and no udon noodles, it made the entire meal within program. Probably one of the few places I can eat without having to totally change and substitute.

SCORE!

UGH

But it will be better in May!

OMG. You deserved to scream!

I seem to recall you hitting that number before

Yeah, that was the first time with you. It totally freaked me out! Now at least I know what's going on!

I am SO glad you liked it! I LOVED the tableside guac, definitely a highlight for me.

We will be back, even if it's just for that and drinks. They have a skinny margarita there, which I ordered, it was pretty good and had no sugar!

Brown stuff is definitely ok and sugar free. Actually I'd bet the GM has more sugar lol.

I'm pretty sure of that!

 

[kaoden39]

I got some of those strawberries at Costco yesterday. They are wonderful!

 

[Flossbolna]

The VGC one bedroom looks wonderful! But this picture must be an old one? The bed still has the old bedspread while in the bedroom pictures, it has the double sheeting and the bed scarf? The bedspread was the only thing I did not like about our studio because it was so dark... I love the color of the bed scarf!

I’ve rarely seen the queue this short that the line doesn’t extend to here.

Wow!!! You were really lucky that day with the short lines! I need to do a trip in the off season, just for the lack of lines!

As I walked up the first hill of the queue, my fitbit let me know that I had hit 10,000 steps for the day. It had been a long long time since that had happened!

Congratulations!! It is amazing how much the walking in the park adds up. When we were at WDW after the Fantasy cruise I had over 20.000 steps every day and that was with much less backtracking than I had done on previous visits!

I love this picture! You just look totally crazy, happy and excited!!!

We started off with the tableside prepared guacamole. Fran was kind enough to ask her to prepare it without cilantro as I despise the stuff.

The guacamole looks fantastic! And I hate cilantro as well - I used to be extremely sensitive to it, the tiniest bit would ruin a dish for me. But I have realized that I have started to tolerate it more and more. And small amounts no longer bother me. I still would not go out and order a dish made with it as a main ingredient though...

 

[kid-at-heart]

[Continued from Previous Post]

... Tortilla Jo's ... highly recommended by Captain_Oblivious and eandesmom.

We started off with the tableside prepared guacamole. Fran was kind enough to ask her to prepare it without cilantro as I despise the stuff.

.......


With that we went back to the room to find this view.

Yummm, now I know where I want to eat the next time we are in CA. Does cilantro taste like soap to you? It is one of my favorite herbs and yet I have friends who say it tastes like soap.

Love your view. One of the best I have seen in trip reports. Did you request the 6th floor or just pixie dusted?

Kate

 

[kimkwoods]

Joining late, but I have to say I looooove your trip reports! So much detail. We're taking our first Disney cruise in October, so reading your trip report really helped give me an idea of what to expect!