Seven Days at Sea with a Princess - Part One.

The Caribbean Princess in, where else, the Caribbean.

Cruise T minus 7 days.

As I start this next post, I'm quite excited about the possibility truly getting away from all the stresses that have been plaguing me over the past couple of weeks.  My wife and I are going on a cruise.  We are not taking a Disney Cruise as you might suspect from previous posts of mine but with the cruise lines that we with which we have always had wonderful luck.  Since we spend much of our time cruising with my parents, and since their favorite cruise line is Princess we will be taking the Caribbean Princess for a 7 night cruise of the western Caribbean.  We booked our December cruise in March and have been counting the days till we leave from Houston to explore the waters off of Central America.  I am certain that what ever happens it won't be boring and there will be plenty of stuff to talk about, even when we are at sea and there are no shore excursions to discuss.  This cruise came about after talking with my folks about a cruise to the UK from which they had just recently returned.  The UK cruise had included my sister and her husband. We, at the time, were unable to go for various reasons. We have, however, taken cruises with them to the Caribbean and Hawaii.  My sister and her Hubby had been on both those cruises as well.  This will be the first cruise for us with out my sister and brother in law, but my parents who really love cruises couldn't resist the urge to come with us.

Cruise T minus 6 days.

On previous cruises, We have always had a balcony.  I love sitting on the balcony with coffee in the morning and watch the ocean go by.  There is something satisfying, for want of a better word, about being so far from land you can't see it.  I think the gentle rolling motion of the ship is very relaxing and the peacefulness of watching the sea roll by is hard to match. We again booked a balcony stateroom that was pretty high up on the ship.  Just a week or so ago we found out that we had been upgraded to a much better cabin lower in the ship.  The cabin has at least twice the balcony that our previous cabin had.  I can imagine hours of reading and watching the sea roll by sipping on coffee. With each passing mile away from the coast I will feel more relaxed.  In the past, we have quickly snapped up opportunities to eat at the Chef's table.  The resulting meal is lots of fun.  Canopies and appetizers were served in the ships galleys. I am always amazed how much wonderful food the chefs and cooks on the ship can provide from these clean and modern facilities.  I kinda feel the Chefs like to try to out do each other with this meal.  The last Chef's Table the kitchen team served veal, beef and pork tenderloins hanging from what looked like ancient instruments of battle.  Of course, there was lobster and wine and all kinds of good things to eat.  The only real issue was,  There was way way too much food.  It was impossible to focus and savor a single menu item when it would be followed to something a more spectacular.  The evening was wonderful, and sometime we will enjoy the Chefs table again, but maybe not this time.   If you want the Chef's table, reservations are on a first come, first serve basis and you should make those reservations as soon as you find you cabin on the ship.

Cruise T minus 1 Day.

I just got back from a business trip that took me to Voorhees New Jersey to move a network up to another office.  The work went well and I returned without delay having finished our laundry list of tasks to get the site ready for their move next week.  I got back to my house and discovered that Snow is predicted for the Day we leave to Houston to board the Cruise ship.  Of course, that makes me worry about the flight and if it would be canceled.  Hopefully the Snow will not be the 4 to 6 inches that the weather men are predicting.  The Bags are packed. At least my bag is packed. My wife will have hers packed by the time we are scheduled to leave to Indy to catch our plane.  My wife has procured lodging for us tonight at the Residence Inn near the airport.  This makes me happy because we will be in Indy early tomorrow and won't have to fight the weather to get to the airport no matter how much snow we get.  Since my parents are going on the cruise with us so we booked a two bedroom suite at the hotel.  We will leave our car parked at the hotel while we are on the cruise. Parking fees are expensive at the airport and saving the hour and a half travel time to the airport will make our wake up time a little less nasty.  My parents will come to our house which is on the way to Indy for them and park in our garage.  We will drive to Indy this evening when they get to the house.  I am very excited about getting to ship.

 Embarkation Day:

United Regional Jet, I'm glad it was only a couple of hours flight

Who would have thought that the very first day of our cruise would have been so problematic.  We got out of bed at 4:00 am.  You have read it correctly, we got up at 4:00 am to catch our  flight from Indianapolis to Houston. Snow had fallen from the sky most of the night but the roads were not too bad yet and we got to the airport in plenty of time to check in and catch our plane.  Our flight was full of passengers, all eager to get to Houston, but in spite of that, we boarded normally and were settled into our seats and we were pushed off from the gate pretty close to on time.  Of course, while we were not at the gate anymore, that didn't mean our fight left on time.  We spent an hour on the tarmac getting the plane deiced before departure.  We didn't wait long for the trunk to show up but even so, you would be surprised how long it takes to coat even a little plane like our commuter jet with deicer. All in all, we were about an hour late leaving the airport but, since i was already worried about the snow keeping us from flying I was grateful to leave when we did.  The snow was starting to pile up on the Runways and Taxi ways of the airport.

Our flight arrived in Houston without incident. But of course, things didn't go perfectly at the Houston Airport either.  We waited for our luggage at the baggage claim and three of the four bags that our little group had checked arrived right a way.  We continued to wait and wait and wait for our last piece and it still didn't arrive.  By this time,  My father, who needed a wheel chair to get through the airports was being taken care of by a fellow from Disney Cruise lines of all things.  The Princess representatives were off getting other people registered for the bus trip to the Cruise terminal.  Upon investigation, we were told that the reason why our bag wasn't on the carousel  was the distance from the gate to the Baggage claim and that we should be patient and our bag would arrive soon.  After another 20 minutes of waiting, and 40 minutes of no new bags appearing on the belt, We ask the United representative again about it.  We gave her our claim check and soon discovered that our bag was at an entirely different gate entirely. One of our suitcases had taken an earlier flight to Houston and was at the baggage claim office at gate C.  Hmmmmmm.  By this time, the representatives from Princess had returned so we packed up our little group. My wife pushed the baggage cart, I pulled the carry on that my mother had taken and Tom, the Disney Cruise representative pushed my dad and we followed the Princess representative to the United Baggage claim office in concourse C.  We were a merry little troupe that took up two of the cars of the little tram that went form concourse to concourse below the airport in Houston.  When we arrived, the Clerk at the baggage claim office found our bag in seconds and we worked our way up to the ground transportation area of the concourse C, where we would board the bus for the cruise terminal. Tom, our trusty Disney Representative stuck with us the whole time.  The two Princess folks got us registered for the bus ride to the terminal and we loaded our luggage onto the trunk that would take our stuff to the ship for us.  As an aside,  I have always thought Disney among ,if not, the best service people on earth.  I will be sure to write Disney Cruise lines a note commending the wonder help their guy gave us when, quite frankly, he didn't have to.  It really made the whole day for me.

Cruise Terminal At Houston.  New and Clean.

The bus ride to the Port of Houston Cruise terminal was, pretty much, uneventful if not a little long. We were surprised to see people streaming out of the Cruise terminal instead of into it.  For those of you that have not done a cruise, the check-in procedure is not all that different that when you check-in with an airline before you go on a flight.  Because my parents have done many cruises, we were able to bypass some of the lines and check in quickly, However, there was a bit of bad news waiting for us at the Terminal.  The Port of Houston had been closed most of the night due to fog and the ship had just got into the terminal about just an hour before we had arrived at the Terminal.  Princess had send us an email informing us of the delayed arrival for the ship but, of course, we were in an aircraft and couldn't get emails on our phones.  The staff said that we wouldn't be able to board the ship anytime soon so they had arranged to have a bus take people to the near by Kemah Board walk.  My wife and I were pretty hungry and my parents were kind of tired so while we chose to take the bus to Kemah to get a bite to eat, my parents decided to camp out at the cruise terminal.  We promised we would bring them some food upon our return.
The bus ride to Kemah was only about 10 to 15 minutes, and, the place looked pretty cool.  There were carnival rides and a roller coaster that we could have ridden.  We were hungry, however, because the restaurant we where we were going to eat breakfast was understaffed and couldn't get our order to us in time for us to make our flight. So my wife and I proceeded with great alacrity to the restaurant we had chosen for lunch.  Upon recommendations of the staff at the terminal, we chose the Saltgrass Steak house for our luncheon.  Whether it was the quality of the food or the fact we were pretty hungry i'm not sure, but the food was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed the Pork Tacos and the Brisket Sandwich we ordered.  The Crab and avocado stack appetizer amazed us as well.  We ordered a burger for my father and a chicken sandwich for my mom.  The restaurant was kind enough to wrap the sandwiches in foil.  They also put the cold stuff in a different container than the sandwiches so the hot chicken and burger would stay hot and the cold lettuce and tomatoes would stay cold.  I was really impressed by the service and the food.  We boarded the bus and took my parents their food which was still pretty hot and they ate with great relish.  Then, a surprising thing happened.  Hours before we expected to board the ship, The cruise line announced that they were ready for boarding.

The Atrium Aboard ship were gorgeous.

At last, We were aboard the Cruise ship.  In what seemed to be no time at all our luggage joined us outside our state room.  This is a very nice service that Princess and most cruise lines offer to take your luggage from the airport directly to your state room.  Of course, you have to remember that if there are things you can't do with out, like certain medicines and maybe even a change of clothes, you might want to pack a carry on bag.  Our upgraded balcony was very nice and spacious and the state room was very much like to which we were accustom.  The rooms are not big but the bed is nice and there is room to sit in a chair.   I'm a big guy and, well the shower is pretty cramped for me. But I managed to use it fine and was able to keep clean. The toilets on a Princess cruise ship, or the head to use the nautical term, are kinda strange.  They make a great whooshing sucking sound when you flush them.  I would never want to be sitting on one when it was flushed.   The bathroom as a whole looked like it was a installed as a single section that had been plumbed into the ship.  There was plenty of storage for our clothes and a safe in the room for our passports and valuables.  My wife and I had been in one of these cabins for 15 days before when we cruised to Hawai'i so I was never really uncomfortable in the cabin.  The bed was a queen size bed that consisted of two twin beds pushed together with a sort of patch between them. I never really could feel the patch but mom and dad said they could. I did however see where the two beds had been joined and connected together.  The bed was hard, but it was comfortable and along with the motion of the ship, it was easy to drift off to sleep.  In fact, since we had an early morning getting to the plane, one of the first things we did was take a nap.

Finally on the Balcony on Embarkation day.

After our nap It was time to get up and explore the ship a little. We got out and found our dining room where we were scheduled for the early seating for our meal and looked at the shops in the atrium.  The shops were closed because of Princess' policy that keeps the shops on the ship closed while in port.  Once underway they would open and offer up lots of different merchandise that we could buy.  All of the stuff on the ship was duty free which is an advantage if you are looking for a bargain.  My mom has purchased a great deal of jewelry from the shops aboard ship and Princess has targeted her.  She receives discounts in the jewelry store above and beyond the 10 percent that she gets from her Platinum rewards status.  On embarkation day she got an additional 10 percent and low and behold, a new set of ear rings appeared on her ears the very next day.  We spend some time in the atrium that afternoon having a drink.  My wife and I had a New Orleans Hurricane. I need to stop and take a moment to describe this drink.  It was sort of the same color as a Hurricane and it had rum in it, but that is about all it had in common with the Hurricanes I have had on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.  This drink was a frozen concoction with lots of crushed ice... the glass was two thirds full of crushed ice.  Regular hurricanes are fruit punch (or something like that) and run with ice cubes.  Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the drink, but technically speaking, it wasn't a hurricane.

Cruise Veterans will know that before the ship can get too much under way,  the passengers are required to
do what princess charmingly calls, a muster drill.  This drill requires that all passengers proceed to their predetermined muster station with their life vests to receive some training on how to use the vests and receive other safety information.  The drill only lasts about 20 minutes from beginning to end, so it doesn't take a lot of time out of your day.  However, because the ship was late getting into port so princess was late getting all the passengers on board and therefore the crew was late casting off the ship thus making us late doing the muster drill.  Technicality, the drill is suppose to be done before or just as the ship is leaving port.  Anyway, because everything was late, our dinner seating was changed to anytime seating between 5:00 and 10:00 with the dining room closed during the drill which they scheduled to be over by 6:45.  We decided to wait till after the muster drill to eat. We went to the muster drill and learned how to use the life preservers. I didn't know it at the time but I would be spending quite a bit of time in our muster station which was the Wheel House bar in the aft portion of deck 7 on our ship.  One thing that I have noticed about the names of the Restaurants and Facilities on the ship is they tend to have the same names from ship to ship.  The Wheel House bar, which was our muster station, existed on the Crown Princess along with the Coral Dining room where we took our meals.  These ships were the same class with a few modifications to the structure.  The Caribbean Princess had a Lounge that was suspended above the family pool near the stern of the ship.  Skywalker Nightclub was the place we first met for the Princess Pop choir that I participated in.  More on that later.

The Coral Dining room.  Where we took our Dinner meal.

After the Muster Drill we settled into our table for Dinner.  Because of our late departure, the staff decided to have dinner as open seating for the first night rather than our standard chosen time of 5:30 so we didn't eat at our normal table that first night.  We settled into a delicious meal.  I chose the Bacardi Snapper Ceviche.  This was a delicious appetizer of red snapper that had been acid cooked in lime juice with essentially a mojito poured over it.  Delicious and refreshing the bit of avocado added to the creaminess of the dish.  I think I'm going to try to make this on my own since I have know of a fish market that usually has good snapper.  For the soup course I ordered a mushroom soup that had tarragon.  This was probably my least favorite dish of the cruise.  Somewhere along the lines I missed out on noticing the part where tarragon was in the soup.  Tarragon is not my favorite herb and this had lots of tarragon. For the entree I had a piece of Filet of beef.  It was good and tender and the sauce was tasty.  At the end of the day, it needed a bit of salt and pepper to make it taste right.  The theme of food being a little under seasoned continued through out the cruise.  Of course, I'm sure that my palette was not the target palette of the chef as he had to shoot for a happy medium that would be good for everyone. For desert they offered a passion fruit souffle.  I really like souffle and this one didn't disappoint me.  While we where eating we noticed the that ship was, at last, underway and we were cruising for Cozumel, the first port of call for our cruise.  While we have had what I have come to call "Tippy Shippy" on every cruise, the rocking of the ship is much more relaxing that it is alarming.  That night, due to the gently rocking of the ship and the early morning of our flight, we slept long and well on our first night at sea.

Disney's Food Glorious Food part 3.

I've spent some time in this blog talking about the Signature restaurants at Disney.  By all means these are some of the best restaurants around.  But they all are pretty costly with regards to both Disney dining plan credits and real cash money.  Fear not! there are places that don't charge quite so much for their food.  Of course, the food at Disney is expensive everywhere but there are lower cost options than the Signature Dining Restaurants that we have so far spent most of our time discussing.  In this post I hope to spend some time talking about some of the wonderful buffets that are offered for a single dining credit.  You have to eat well, no matter what kind of budget you are on, because Disney takes a lot of strength to explore.

Hollywood and Vine.  A great place to eat before Fantasmic!

As you can see by my profile photo, I'm a pretty big guy.  You know that I'm going to know were to get great food and where the best stuff is hiding.  One of the best buffets at Disney world can be found at the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Disney's Hollywood Studios. Our first trip to Hollywood and Vine was in the year 2000.  Disney was celebrating the new millennium and my parents were gracious enough to take my wife, kids and me to Disney World. A long time had passed since my wife and I had visited in 1985.  Two parks had opened and the dining choices had exploded. Hollywood studios was among the new parks to open during our absence from the parks. Fantasmic opened in Hollywood studios in Disney World on October 15, 1998. The show was only open for a couple years when we went in 2000.  Disney offers a dining package with Fantasmic and to my mind, booking a dinner package is a great way to go.  Not only do you get great seats to the show, but you get to eat at a great Disney restaurant.  For the 2000 trip we made our reservations at Hollywood and Vine.  Our trip was in October so the crowds were not at their maximum but there were plenty of people there and so when we got hungry early and arrived a little early for our reservations, we still had a wait to get into the restaurant.  This didn't bother me because we were, after all, early.  We still got to our table earlier than our reservations and sat down to a wide and varied buffet of meats and seafood.  veggies and casseroles were all over the buffet with a carving station of prime rib and Turkey i think it was.  The food was constantly replenished and was hot and delicious.  One of the features of this and every Disney Buffet is a special section just for kids.

Clams, Crab and Shrimp.. Oh My!

My family, being from the Midwest, was intrigued by the possibility of a clam bake.  Disney offers its own version of a clam bake at the Beach and Yacht resort in the Epcot area of Disney World.  Cape May has a buffet restaurant that serves a couple of purposes.  In the morning the restaurant one of the many places that young and old alike can interface with some of Disney's beloved characters.  Specifically, Beach Goofy makes his appearance along with many of his friends while kids and adults munch on scrambled eggs,  Mickey waffles and other assorted breakfast offerings.     I must admit that I haven't been to Cape May Cafe for breakfast but our family did go there for dinner.  The dinner buffet at Cape may was billed as a clam bake and true enough there were clams on the buffet, along with crab legs,  Peal and Eat shrimp and other seafood delights.  Cape May also offers a carving station and a desert bar that is full of cakes and pies. We ate at Cape Mays in 2000 and haven't returned since.  The food there was good and plentiful but the size of the clams left me a little underwhelmed.  We just haven't seen the need to eat there since though I'm sure the place has changed over the 13 years that we haven't been there.

The food is good.. the Characters are better.

A better place, in my opinion for a Character Dinner is located in the Contemporary Resort near the Magic
Kingdom.  Chef Mickey's is THE place for breakfast in all the Disney parks.  Located in the atrium in the Contemporary resort near the Monorail,  Chef Mickeys serves hundreds of guests every day.  Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy are all dressed in the Chef's coats and are out among the diners constantly. The food is typical Disney breakfast buffet fair.  Menu items include scrambled eggs, pancakes, Mickey Waffles, along with assorted breakfast meats.  Hash brown potatoes with gravy on them are one of my favorite things to eat at the breakfast buffet. Included on the buffet are various fresh fruits and a number of breakfast casseroles. Most of the food is designed to taste good along with staying well for a period of time on a buffet.  I think there was a chef there making the Mickey waffles to order.  Waffles tend to get cold fast and are not nearly as good when they loose their crisp texture.  But while the food is good, it really isn't the best I have ever tasted and, of course, the infamous Disney bacon is included as part of the buffet.  What makes Chef Mickey the place for breakfast for young and old alike is the character interaction.  Almost every one of the classic Disney characters make an appearance.  Goofy, one of my favorite Disney characters, is there.  Minnie and Mickey are both there of course. Donald, Chip and Dale wander through the dining room and Pluto makes his appearance as well.  Each character goes around the dining room and spend as much time as needed at each table.  Squeals of delight come from kids as their favorite comes to the table.  The characters don't talk.  I mean how could they, but they still communicate with every one there.  Then, periodically through out the day, the characters parade through the restaurant to music.  Diners are encouraged to take their napkins and spin them over their heads as the characters march through greeting everyone they see.  The staff is always willing to take a moment to get your picture with your favorite characters.  The amazing training for the Disney staff shines through again.  Everyone is thoughtful and caring I really believe that the people that work there care about the visitor's comfort and enjoyment.

Before Finding Nemo, lets have a bite here.

As you may have already figured out,  My family is awfully fond of a dinner and a show.  Now i'm not sure that they do this anymore, but it wasn't so long ago when you could book a meal and get preferred seating to the Finding Nemo, the Musical in the Animal Kingdom.  Since we are always looking for ways to tweak our Disney experience we snapped up the opportunity and made reservations at the Tusker House in Harambe Village near the Kilimanjaro Safari attraction. The Tusker House is a large African Themed buffet with tons of dishes with their flavor origins in Asia and Africa.  Pork and Chicken were featured here with salmon available for seafood lovers.  Curries and Tofu dishes were on the buffet as well.  The flavors are unexpected and definitely different from what I am use to.  The port loin was roasted with a coffee rub/glaze that was not unpleasant and the curries were spicy and, to this untrained pallet, authentic in flavor.  The deserts feature many different tropical fruits included a passion fruit tart that was lovely.  More familiar fare was available as well.  What could be more american than chocolate chunk Cookies or Turtle Brownies.  I think my favorite dish on the buffet may have been the breads.  Tusker House serves a cracker bread with sesame seeds that i loved to dip into the wonderful chutneys and jellies that were offered.  After the meal we saw one of my favorite shows at Disney.  I really love Pixar movies and one of my favorites is Finding Nemo.  The movie included some music which Disney has taken and expanded into a 30 minute musical telling the story.  The condensed story is quite complete I might add, of Nemo and his dads search for him.  But, I think I'll save that for another post.

Boma's is Famous throughout Disney as one of the best buffets.

The last of the buffets that i want to talk about is the Famous Boma, Flavors of Africa.  I had heard a lot about this restaurant and really wanted to try it.  I liked the flavors of the dishes served at the Tusker house and was anxious to try what Boma had to offer.  All in all the food was good, but maybe not as great as I expected it to be.  The Highlights of the meal were the Crab soup which was unexpected it texture and flavor,  The Ribs, which I though were rich and tasty and the Zebra Domes for desert.  My mother in law was fond of the watermelon rind salad  and I enjoyed the couscous as well.  At one of the carving station was a whole pork shoulder.  Unfortunately, I thought it a little dry and while I'm all about the pig most of the time, this one wasn't as good as I hoped.  One of the big desert sensations that many people raved over is served at Boma's.  The Zebra Dome is almost a truffle that includes Espresso, Kahlua and heavy cream covered in white chocolate with milk chocolate stripes.  Don't get me wrong, the desert is good.  I just found it wanting when compared to the hype that we have seen in many of the food blogs and restaurant reviews.   Had I not read the reviews I would have probably said it was very good and worth getting a second piece but it wasn't the best desert I had eaten in Disney world.  At the end of the day, I would give Boma an B+ to an A-, and while I enjoyed my meal there, I've done it now and it will be a while before I need to go back.

Generally, Disney does a great job with buffets.  The weaknesses are probably all attributable to the inherent weaknesses in all buffets.  Because the Disney folks keep the fresh food coming out to the buffets and don't let any one dish sit unattended for long, most of the pitfalls of buffet eating are avoided.  The best part of any buffet is the amount of choice diners get and the speed at which they can get their food.  All in all, the Disney buffets are a good value at a single dining credit per person and fill a niche.  There is so much to do at Disney that, Unless that is what you are setting out to do, dining can take a significant hunk out of your day.  I like to eat,  so the dining is as much of the experience as riding the Rock and Roller Coaster but a good buffet is nice when you are in a bit of a hurry.

The Left Coast of Florida.

From time to time our family takes a Vacation that doesn't involved Disney World.  Recently We returned from just such a trip to the Gulf side of Florida.  In the Tampa Area, just south of Clearwater is a stretch of very nice beach that goes form the Tip of the St. Petersburg Peninsula all the way to Clearwater.  Our family had gone to this area several times when we took my wife's mother to see her sister. Our original plans were to spend another week on the beautiful gulf coast of Alabama with my parents as well as my wife's mom, but my parents couldn't come. Since we hadn't been down to Madeira beach for couple of years, and we hadn't made reservations yet, we rearranged our plans to fly down and visit the Left Coast of Florida. My wife managed a wonderful deal on a two bedroom Condo that was directly on the beach and we procured airfare from Southwest airlines. and we were ready to go.

Obtaining a place to stay at a reasonable rate is sometimes a challenge. But sometimes waiting to the last minute does pay off.  On this occasion we were lucky to find a place on the beach for about half of what we would have paid for a condo in Gulf Shores for this time of year.  Now the only trick was finding airfare.  We had found airfare that would take all three of us down to the beach for a little more than $1000.00. We thought that this wasn't bad.  The times for travel were not the best as we would have had to leave pretty early and there was a stop both going down and coming back.  Ever since we got stuck in Dulles airport over night one time, I've been a little nervous about flying back from the Tampa area with any stops along the way. Personally, while others in our group accepted the overnight in a strange airport as part of the adventure, I thought the whole thing a nightmare and perhaps the worst traveling experience I had ever had. We found a non stop flight from south west for a few hundred dollars more.  At the end of the day, our desire to avoid a stop on the way home overcame the amount of money extra the flight cost.  Also the flight times were much more reasonable.   We purchased early check in as well.  To be honest however, the flights were so empty that we really didn't need to buy the early check in feature,  but had the flight been full, it would have been worth the extra money.  Since we booked our rental car with the flight we got a better deal on that as well.

The morning of our trip arrived and Saturday came with all the anticipation that comes with a new vacation. We finished the last minute packing and drove off to pick up my wife's mom. Then we jumped onto I 70 and made our way to the airport, arriving about two hours ahead of when our flight would leave.  As a side note to flying,  I try to make it a point to be at the airport early for several reasons.  I never know what the security line is going to be like when I go to the gate area of the airport.  I 70 traffic can be really bad, especially during road construction season. And finally, I want to leave plenty of time for any unanticipated issues that could come up.   Airports are not too bad and the new terminal at the Indy airport is especially nice.  The old terminal was easy to access and arrivals and departures were simple.  Fortunately the new terminal is just as easy to access and is nicer for more extended layovers if necessary.  Our arrival at the airport went off with out an hitch and we were soon through security and at the southwest gate. We did a quick reconnoiter of the area to find where we could have a little lunch/breakfast. By this time it was almost to late for breakfast but a little too early for lunch.  We settled on the Champs sports bar that was close to the airport gate.  The food there was typical for the food you get at an Airport sports bar and not really worth mentioning that much.  After lunch, we had a couple of hours to kill before we boarded the plane.  I spent my time reading a great new fantasy series my wife had ferreted out for me at the public library, so the time went quickly. In what seemed like no time at all to me we were lining up to get aboard the Southwest 737 that was destined to take us to Tampa We boarding the plane and being pushed off from the gate.  We were on our way to the left coast of Florida.

The flight was not full at all.  Everyone might have been able to have a row to them selves.  Of course many people wanted to sit close to family and my wife and her mother took advantage of the flight to sit in the same row and chat.  I took a row to my self and spread out for the relaxing 2 and 1/2 hour flight to Tampa.  When was the last time you could describe a flight as relaxing?  With all the room I needed to stretch out and the wonderful book I had to read I could feel my vacation had already begun right there on the aircraft.  Except for the fact that we were uncrowded, the flight was completely uneventful and we flew in to the Tampa airport a little a head of schedule. After recovering our luggage, our first order of business was to get our rental car.  Dollar Rental Car ended up having the cheapest price for the time we wanted to stay when we booked vacation and after a little confusion we found our way to the correct rental car counter.   We added my wife to the agreement which allowed us to upgrade to a nicer vehicle, ending up with a Jeep Liberty.  I was kind of grateful that we did upgrade because the Liberty was similar to our Kia Sorento that we drive at home.  The Jeep had a similar driver position and handling was very close to the Sorento.  It was, of course, a bit smaller but we were comfortable in the car.  We spent a good portion of our vacation in the car going to restaurants and other locations in the St. Petersburg area so a comfortable and familiar ride was very important to us.

We climbed into our Jeep, loaded up our luggage and made for the Gulf coast of Florida.  Our family has stayed up and down the St. Pete/Clearwater area.  My wife once stayed in Clearwater beach with her mom and my daughter.  We have stayed in Indian Rocks Beach and Readington beach.  Many years ago I stayed at Treasure Island in the Thunderbird hotel with my high school graduating class.  The area is not unfamiliar to us.  This trip were were staying in Madeira Beach about  2/3's of a mile north of John's Pass.  In the past we have stayed in the last condo right next to the pass which we thoroughly enjoyed.  This time we stayed a bit further north in a condo for which my wife was able to obtain a fantastic price. After a quick visit to the rental agency we checked into our beautiful condo.  The layout of our condo was a little unusual.  Most of the time the master bedroom is off the living room and has a view of the beach, at least along the Alabama gulf coast that was how most of the condos were arranged.  This two bedroom condo had both bedrooms at the back of the unit.  I really didn't mind because we only use the view when we were awake anyway.  I didn't need to see the gulf to sleep.  I did however want to see it all the time I was awake.  Another unexpected and maybe just a little more unwelcome surprise was that the unit didn't have a washer and dryer.  I like to pack light when I go on vacation.  Throwing a few things in a washer and drying them while we were asleep at night was not an issue for us and we had packed thinking that we would do some washing while we were down there.  We overcame this minor obstacle by purchasing a few more things to tide us over.  T-shirt are cheap in the area and made a good souvenir.  Otherwise the little condo was charming and comfortable. We were treated to a great view of the Gulf and getting in and out of the place was easy.  We were on the first floor so we used the stairs that were just a few paces away from the door to the condo.  Quick escapes were easy.

Johns Pass

Best grouper around.. Boardwalk Grill.

One thing i can confidently say is that we ate well.  Wonderful restaurants are all over the coastal area of St. Peter/Clearwater.  Really good seafood can be found everywhere and we went searching for it. Our first stop was at an old Reliable location where we go each time we visit the Madeira Beach area.  North of Madeira Beach is a restaurant named The Conch Republic.  The stand out dishes for me were the Conch Chowder and the fish spread.  Both of these items are on the appetizer menu.  My wife had Mussels Diablo which are a spicy version of the Mussel dish we have come to love.  All of these dishes were tasty.  The Chowder is a spicy concoction that has potatoes, conch and other delightful ingredients.  The fish spread was probably the most unusual of the dishes.  The fish was lightly smoked and very tasty. think of a crab spread using fish.  For my entree I had a paella  that was good but I had better things to eat while I was down there.  We found our favorite place the next day.  At Johns Pass on the board walk adjacent to the dock there is a small out of the way grill that we found.  Bonnie used an online review tool to find this little gem.  The name of the place is the Boardwalk Grill.  The west coast of  Florida prides itself is the quality of the Grouper and the Boardwalk grill serves the best Grouper Sandwich I have ever had.  they served  me a huge hunk of perfectly cooked fish that is spiced just the way I liked it. The portion size was so big that the parts the fell off the sandwich were bigger than some whole sandwiches I have eaten.  I had my fish Cajun style.  The fish isn't blackened like you would think when you hear Cajun but the fish was grilled with Cayenne pepper and other spices that gave the grouper a little heat without hiding the delicious flavor of the fresh fish filet. We returned to the restaurant thee times on our trip.  My wife had a delicious lobster roll.  The lobster roll was the dish that originally attracted my wife to this place and was billed as one of the best around, bar none, including those on the east coast.  I don't want to get into a war over who has the best Lobster roll.  I've not had one from New England to compare the roll I had at the Boardwalk grill against.  All I can say is the lobster roll we had at the Boardwalk grill was wonderful.  The lobster was fresh and perfectly dressed with just the right amount of dressing to enhance and not cover the lobster.  The roll itself was stuffed with a bit pile of lobster.  My total tally for the trip was Two Grouper Sandwiches and One Lobster Roll at the Boardwalk grill.  Wonderful wonderful stuff. The other restaurants we visited while down there were almost all excellent. My favorite dishes were the Grilled Octopus and Keagans and the Grouper Tamales that were served by Frenchy's in Clearwater.  We ate the grouper Tamales which surprised us how good they were as an appetizer and I had a delicious ceviche at Frenchy's as my Entree.  Frenchy's has several locations throughout the Clearwater area.

Grouper Tamales... Who Knew?

There is more than great food on the Left Coast of Florida.   The beach there is beautiful and full of wild life.  Each morning my wife and I would take a long walks along the beach.  We were always treated with a large variety of seabirds.  Seagulls were always around.  Sand pipers ran in the surf just in front of us looking for little crabs or clams they could eat.  The birds were fun to watch as they poked their long thin bills in the sand in search of a meal.  Squadrons of pelicans would cruise over head.  Sometimes the pelicans would dive into the water trying to catch a meal. My wife and I are very fond of these beautiful birds and they always add to the richness of our beach excursions.  Almost every day in the morning, men trying to catch fish with rods and reels either in the gulf itself or on beach very close to the surf.  I don't know if they had much luck but sometimes fishing isn't completely about catching fish.  I find there is something relaxing when you have a pole in the water weather you catch fish or not.  Inevitably a large blue heron accompanied the fishermen. The bird would wait on shore to see if he could steal either the fisherman's catch or his bait.  Sometimes I think the fishermen would give the fish he didn't want to keep to the herons.  These big wading birds could be seen  stalking through the surf looking for fish without the fishermen as well.  One morning, while we were enjoying our beach stroll we looked out over the surf and saw a pod of dolphins not 100 yards off the beach.  These beautiful animals were looking for breakfast.  I saw fish jump from the gulf ahead of them making me think they were building a bait ball as they sometimes do.  I really enjoyed being so close to such smart and beautiful animals.

Some afternoons after the sun had gone past peak, my wife and I would go for a dip in the gulf.  The surf was not high so our usual bout of body surfing was impossible. However the fact we couldn't fling ourselves in front of crashing waves didn't lessen our enjoyment of the water.  The warm Gulf waters were just the ticket to draw the stresses of everyday life from us.  The first day we arrived, we jumped into our suits and splashed our way into the gulf. Immediately I could feel the warm waters relax me and make the cares of work flow away.  Watching the turns dive into the gulf looking for fish became one of our favorite pass times while we let the gentle waves do their work on our bodies.  Sometimes they dove and caught themselves one of the little fish that seemed to be teaming by the thousands in the sallow waters near the beach.  More often they would come up empty.  that didn't deter them from trying again and many times we saw the turns fly over with fish in their beaks.   The bombardment of the turns was constant and relentless but the little fish were evasive and most of the time escaped the attack of the turns.  The waters of the Gulf were very clear and you could see to the bottom almost the whole time we were in the water.  Sometimes when there were storms at sea sand and stuff would get churned up in the waters but most of the time we could see all the way to the bottom.  Once, while we were walking just beyond the break of the surf, we saw a young sting ray swim away.  He couldn't have been more that 3 feet from us.  He would swim a bit away then try to bury himself in the sand.  We saw other stingrays swimming away from us sometimes which we really loved. One ray actually jumped form the water into the air splashing down about 5 to 10 yard away from us.   Form the most part, Rays that live near the coast are pretty docile and will only sting you if you actually step down on them. If they hear or feel you coming the will just swim out of your way. Off the cost of the Grand Caymens you can take expeditions out to Stingray city where these creatures swim up to people looking for a hand out.  While I have been on one of those excursions, I really don't approve of giving food to wild animals in order to create a tourist attraction.  The rays that I have encountered at the Clearwater Aquarium and Discovery Cove in Orlando have always been friendly,  even the bigger rays that curse outside the stingray encounter areas of Discovery Cove. Our policy was to shuffle our feet on the ocean bottom letting all the creatures that live there know we were on our way.  My encounters with sting rays have always been rewarding and amazing.

Sea turtle nests were all over the Beach.

Besides all the fish and rays and birds in or near the water, a large number of sea turtle nests were scattered across the beach.  According to the people at the Clearwater Aquarium over 280 sea turtles have made their nest on the beaches between Clearwater and the tip of St. Pete.  The number of turtle nests is close to a record. The staff at the aquarium are not saying that the program that has been in place for over a decade has been showing results, however they are hopeful that turtles are returning to the beaches in the area because a greater number of baby turtles are making it to gulf and some of these turtles are returning to nest on the beach.  Every night the aquarium patrols the beach looking for the telltale signs of a mama turtle that has created a nest during the night.  The marks that a sea turtle make on the beach are pretty distinctive and the aquarium staff members mark the site with policeman's tape, for want of a better description, along with a tag that identifies the nest and when it was discovered.   If the nest is high on the beach near the condominiums that line the shore, 45 days after the nest was laid, workers will put wire cages over the nest to prevent the baby turtles from going toward the lights of the condos.  They will even dig a trench that will guide the turtles to the gulf.  New born sea turtles will go toward bright light rather than the gulf if they have a choice, so the condos along the beach are required to reduce the amount of light coming form beach front common areas.  The condo we were staying reduced its lights significantly at night.  The reduction of illumination prevented people staying at our condo from using the pool at night.  Florida law requires and certain amount of light in the pool area and during nesting season, the management of the condo cannot provide that much light at night.  I think more sea turtles in the world is much more important than any night time dip I might want to take.

Winter and her new tail

In addition to their work with sea turtles, many of my readers might remember that the Clearwater Aquarium was featured in the movie Dolphin Tale. This movie tells the story, most of it true, of a Dolphin named Winter that was caught in a crab trap line. Eventually the lack of blood flowcaused her flukes to die and fall off leaving her with out a tail.  Winter received a prosthetic tail that allows her to swim in a more normal fashion.  The engineering behind the prosthetic was fascinating but the real break through for winter and for people was Winters Gell, a prosthetic sleeve that allowed Winter to tolerate the tail and has allowed people to use their prosthesis longer with less pain.  Winter has touched the lives of many people with artificial limbs and given hope and encouragement to a large number of folks that had none before. Now Winter has a young companion named Hope.  Hope was rescued  very near where Winter was rescued.  Hope's mother had died and she was an orphan.  The chances for survival of a orphaned dolphin, just a couple months old, were very low, so Hope was taken to the Clearwater Aquarium to be raised.  Hope is too used to people now and has missed out on the training her parents would have given her to survive in the wild, so Hope will have to remain at the aquarium for her whole life.  Both Dolphins are beautiful animals and the inspirational work of the Clearwater Aquarium, whether its with their rescue work with dolphins,  or recueing injured sea turtles nests, or caring for an otter who has lost the usage of its back limbs, or with the work they do to preserver the population of Sea turtles on the shores of gulf make it one of my favorite places to visit. The Clearwater Aquarium is a great place and deserves all the good attention it gets.

Amazingly beautiful

Boats and Globes

Forests of Glass

Having seen programs about Dale Chihuly on PBS, my wife and I jumped on the opportunity to see some of his work in person.  For the most part, Dale works collabritivly with his staff.  He leads them to his vision and works with them to create the amazing displays of aritistic glass that are his hallmark.  Fortunately for us,  across St. Petersburg from Madeira beach, close to Tampa bay, Dale has a display of his work at the Chihuly Collection gallery in downtown St. Petersburg.  The displays were beautiful.  Chihuly is a master of luminescence.  The only way for his art to work is to have a deep understanding of the interplay between light and glass.  Dale clearly has mastered this.  His work seems to grow from the environment that is is placed.  Trees of  glass and light,  chandeliers of delicate color and structure and beautiful plates and globes adorn all the rooms with such amazing beauty that it can take the breath away.  We took a few pictures but they don't really do the art justice.  The Vibrant colors and wonderful shapes should be experienced in person.  We purchased the option to go to a glass blowing demonstration, located close to eh Chihuly Gallery.  After traveling a few blocks from the gallery, we arrived at the glass studio.  Two Artists began the process of producing one of the plates that were very reminiscent of what Dale Chihuly create.  With Skill and a few extra shards of glass they produced a beautiful work of art from melted sand.  The steps involved were complex and would be fun to learn if I ever had the chance.  though i know i couldn't produce such wonderful pieces of art that these people did.  There is a demonstration class offered where visitors can make a paperweight that might be fun to do. Perhaps next time we go we will participate.

Islands of Adventure Theme park Map.

Besides the art, the food and the fun in the Gulf, we spent one day at Universal Studio's Island of Adventure. You already know that I like Theme parks form my blogs about Disney.  And inevitably a big Disney fan like myself is going to draw comparisons between Universal Studios and Disney.  The difference, in mind is, is the experience each company is trying to present to the public.   Disney is a much more Comprehensive experience.  Several Consistencies run through out all the theme parks. The people are universally terrific where every you go.  Disney people go out of their way not to break the immersive experience that creates the separate world that you find in all the Disney parks.  Also, No matter where you are in Walt Disney world you know that you are in Disney by the thematic environment.    At universal, The experience is much more disjointed.  Each "land" with a different theme that seemed much more unconnected with the other.  I enjoy the experience of Disney over the experience of Islands of adventure.   Also,  since all can see i'm not a small person,  Disney is much friendlier to bigger people.  The one single thing I was most interested in doing was the Harry Potter attraction.  I went all the way through the line only to be thwarted at the end by a seat that wouldn't close.  The ride was unsafe for me to ride.  I wasn't happy and there wasn't anything that would really pacify my wrath. Of course, I got over my anger soon enough, but I was still very disappointed at the time.  At the risk of Aesop's sour grapes comparison, I will say that when my wife came off the ride she said that she couldn't wait to be off of it.  She is much less prone to vertigo and the ride almost made her sick. Perhaps it was a good thing I didn't fit in the seat. We didn't ride the other coasters at the park even though I think they had seats just for people of my size on the rides. Now, That being said, I have to admit that Island of Adventures has probably the best two rides of their kind any where and the best thrill ride of any kind.

I Love This Attraction!

Island of Adventure has the best Water Raft ride that I have ever been been fortunate enough to ride.  Popeye and Bultos Bildge-Rat Barges is a blast.  The story of the ride is pretty much every Popeye cartoon ever made.  Popeye must rescue Olive from Bluto.  Riders follow his adventures through the town of Sweet Haven,  where Popeye and all the Oyls live.  To be honest, because of all the water jets, falls and fountains we were way to involved in getting soaked to pay attention to much of the story. At every turn riders face the chance of water overflowing into the raft or shot at the riders form jets located all along the sides of the river.  Signs warn you before you enter the ride that you will get wet and may get soaked.  More appropriately the signs should say you will probably get soaked and definitely get wet.  We emerged form the ride laughing and soaked to the bone.  In the hot Florida sun, Clothes dry pretty quickly and we had planned the day so that the water rides would be at the end when we would be going home.  No chaffing for us!

From the North West Territory to Orlando Florida

The second of the "best of their kind" rides in Island of adventure is Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls.   Many people my age will remember Dudley Do-right of the Mounted Canadian Police.  Jay Ward created many iconic 60's and 70's cartoons that were more than just children's entertainment.   Jay put a ton of political commentary in his cartoons.  Who can Forget Boris and Natasha who were spies from Pottsylvania.  Amazingly their Fearless Leader looked like a gestapo agent and all of Rocky and Bullwinkle's enemies  had Russian accents.   Dudley Do-right was another of those almost Archetypical characters.  Dudley was bold and brave and faithful to a fault. Unfortunately his horse was smarter than he was. His commander was clueless and the Arch Villain of the cartoon, Syndley Whiplash, wasn't much smarter than Dudley.  Anyway, Snydley was always capturing Nell Fenwick,  Dudleys love interest and daughter of Dudley's commander, and putting her in danger.  By shear luck Snydley would be foiled and Dudley would save the day.  Now you know the story behind the ride and the story behind nearly all the Dudley Do-right Cartoons.  What makes this ride special is how well the Characters are brought to life along with the thrill of the log flume itself. While not quite as intensely soaking as the Bildge-Rat ride, there were plenty of opportunities to get wet and the scenes that riders pass along the way are charming and well animated. Once again the rider should beware and know that they will get wet and probably soaked by the obligatory plunge at the end of the ride.  

The Best thrill Ride of 'em all.

The best thrill ride of any kind found anywhere as far as i can tell is the Spiderman ride at Islands of Adventure.  This Adventure is part 3D movie,  part roller coaster, part animatronic experience and always full of surprises that immerse visitors completely in the experience of a night out with Spidey.  Most of the codex villains are on hand to give you and your arachnid companion thrills and close calls.  Real fire and water are used to heighten the excitement as you go through the ride.  To be honest, the excitement of this ride is so intense that I would be hard pressed to tell you the back story.  All along the ride uses the Illusion of danger while keeping you perfectly safe.  Your head knows that everything is fine and that you are in a ride, but your eyes and your heart tell you that you are flying through the air or about to be burned to a crisp.  The effects are amazing.  The animation is also very realistic.  The use of 3D is great and puts the rider right in the middle of the action.  I love this ride.  Sure,  you don't get the loops and negative g's of a coaster.  But you do get the amazing effects, wonderful graphics and a near perfect thrill ride experience.  To me, This ride alone is worth the cost of the park and greatly makes up for the unintentional unfriendliness to people of larger size.

Islands of Adventures had a number of attractions that are worthy of mention.  The last time we went to Islands of Adventure, the Jurassic park ride was closed for refurb or repair.  This time however, We were able to go on the attraction.  It was fun but not of the same caliber as other rides in the park.   Jurassic Park is another ride that ends with a plunge into water at the end.  The plunge was kind of thrilling but after we had already done Dudley Do-right's Ripsaw Falls, we found the plunge a bit tame.  There were some parts that were exciting.  A huge box appears to be about to fall on the riders as they go past.  That got our attention.  and the Dinosaur Animatronics were fun but, to be honest,  Disney has the art of Animatronics down.  If you are a Dr. Seuss fan, like my wife and myself, Seuss landing is always worth a stop.  Those that don't care for Seuss will find the rides there a bit lame. However, we quite enjoyed the Cat in the Hat ride on the sofa and the Trolley ride above Seuss landing.   We also rode the Flight of the Hippogriff coaster in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  We didn't do the re-purposed double dragons coaster however.  The Flight of the Hippogriff was short and good for pre-teen riders. As for me, I thought it a bit lame.   All in all we enjoyed our day at Islands of Adventure and will go back there again sometime in the future.

We ate and watched and played and rode our way through our vacation on the West coast of Florida.  The seafood is so fresh and the beach and water are warm and inviting. We had a great time downtown at the Chihuly exhibition and watching the glass blowing.  My wife and I had a fantastic day in Orlando and at the Islands of Adventure.  We topped that day in Orlando off with a meal at Emril's restaurant in Citywalk.  the food there was amazing and might have been one of the best we had.  I loved the banana cream pie I split with my wife.  Defiantly i can see more trips to this area in the future, especially at the end of august when the crowds are non-existent. Think I'll start packing my bags now.

Disney's Food, Glorious Food - Part 2

Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!

I have just discovered something about the food in Florida.  Those of you that have followed my blog know how much I berate the bacon at Disney World.  Well I might owe the people of Disney an apology in singling them out.  Currently, as I write this portion of the blog post, I am sitting in the Miami-Dade County airport on a long layover to go to Manaus Brazil on a business trip.  The journey started early this morning when I left Indy at 6:30 in the morning.  My first priority upon arrival in Miami was to find a restroom of course, then find the gate area for my 5:00 pm flight for Manaus. Then it was time to find a bit of breakfast.  I found it in a fairly large cafeteria area in the center of D concourse called La Carretta.  The food was hot, tasty and fast.  The Standout dish for me was the creamy grits they served as a side dish to the eggs.  But low and behold what did I discover when I was eating my breakfast.  The same weak floppy bacon that Disney serves.  I am surprised that Bacon like this even exists.  Anyway, It seems that bad bacon may be found across Florida.  I'm sure somebody in this beautiful state makes bacon that is crispy and thick and flavorful, but I don't think I have found it yet.  As these recent posts have been about food in Disney World I though it was probably appropriate to talk about Bacon.

I think this would be a great value even if i paid for it.

Recently, I received some advice that i should keep these posts shorter, making them quicker to read. This is really Something that i'm am afraid at which I will fail miserably,  However, my post on food would have been a lot longer had I not broken it up into two posts. This time around I want to talk about some of the other Signiture restaurants that serve up some of the best food at Disney.  Some of these restaurants were not visited on our most recent trip to Disney World.  Some I have tasted the food as recently as last December.    A few of the restaurants I am going to write about have been refurbished since I have eaten there and warrant another visit.  Once again, I'll include the cost for the dinner in Disney Dining credits where it applies.

I wanted to eat here, but now it is gone (I think)

By no means do I claim any sort of record for the number of visits to Disney World.  There are hundreds and probably thousands of people who have been there more often. Many of those thousands have enjoyed food at Disney World where I haven't eaten.  For instance, I have never eaten at Citricos or Narcoosee's in the Grand Floridian, We did however have reservations for Narcoosee's once but canceled them to book a dinner package for the Candle Light Processional in 2010.  I guess my point here is that you can be a 15 or 20 year veteran of Disney Trips and still not eat all of the wonderful eateries Walt Disney World has to offer. A few, like the Noodle Terrace in Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom have come and gone without a visit from me, leaving a little bit of regret behind that I didn't get a chance to go there. The Noodle Terrance was a quick service credit on the Disney plan and I'm awfully fond of noodles both Asian and Italian. So i think it would be best to spend the rest of This post talking about restaurants where I have actually eaten and that still exist.

Poutine and Steaks.. MMmmmmm!

First, I would like to write about one of the smaller but more popular restaurants in Epcot. We already know that Epcot is full of varied and interesting places to eat.  We have talked about the Italian restaurant and touched upon some of the other restaurants that encircle World Showcase Lagoon.  But if you are in the mood for a steak dinner, one of, if not the best places in all of Disney World for steak is Le Cellier in the Canadian section of  the world showcase.  The first visit my wife and I made to Le Cellier we were introduced to Prince Edward Island Mussels.   Up to this point I'm pretty sure I hadn't had a good fresh mussel before.  I had had them in pasta dishes at Olive Garden before but while they were ok, they were nothing like the delightful steamed  treasures that were served to us at Le Cellier.  The mussels were garlicy and delicious.  Traditionally, PEI mussels are served with toast points to soak up all that delicious juice that exude from the Mussels when they cook. Le Cellier was no exception.  The only suggestion I would make is to include more toast.  We ran out of bread long before we ran out of sauce.   With this meal, I enjoyed a piece of beef tenderloin.  Wow, it was tender and delicious.  My wife would call it buttah because the beef cut so nicely and was so tender.  We both had the same thing at that meal, However, I like my beef a little more on the rare side than my wife.  Our next visit, last Christmas, opened the world of poutine to us.  Poutine is french fries covered in a gravy with cheese curds melted over the top.  Sounds like a nice simple dish doesn't it.  Well, while Le Cellier was traditional in its service of the dish, the dish itself was a lot more than the sum of its parts.  The balance of cheese curds to fires to wine reduction gravy was amazing.  The taste of the fries were wonderful and still had a bit of crispness.  The wine reduction gravy added just the right amount of tartness. and the fresh cheese made the dish rich and delicious.   We have had poutine in other locations.  A delicious version is served at a restaurant not 70 miles from us in Illinois.  But this was the first and the poutine against all others will be measured and it take a great dish to measure up to Le Cellier's Poutine.   For my Entree for this meal I had the Kurobuta pork.  While it was special and tasty. I kind of wish I had gotten the filet again.  Le Cellier is a Signature restaurant and will cost you 2 dining credits for both dinner and lunch.  Once again, this restaurant is well worth the cost in credits.

What a view.  Wonder what it looks like now!

During the summer of 2009 we made a trip to Disney with my daughter, son, her then boy friend (now husband) and my wifes mother.   On the top of the Contemporary resort is a wonderful restaurant called the California Grill.  Reservations at the California grill can be hard to come by so for prime seating times, like durring the fireworks you should probably try to book as soon as possible.  On that trip we didn't have the dining plan so we paid for the food we ate there.  The California grill is one of the priciest restaurants in Disney World save for the Restaurants at the Grand Floridian were everything is style and everything costs a lot.  this is where I discovered the Cheese plate that many Disney restaurants serve. It had a delightful mix of soft light cheese to hard full flavored sharp cheeses each with an accompanying item.   The soft cheeses came with crustinni on which to spread the cheese.  some of the semi soft cheese had fruit or jellies to accompany them.  the sharp cheeses had dried grapes, dare I say raisins that were still on the stems.  I loved it and have been ordering the cheese samplers ever since.  for my entree i had a flat bread with duck and onion marmalade that was amazing.  My son in law had a chicken dish that he swears to this day was the best chicken he ever had and i believe him. Maybe the best part of the meal was when the lights went down and the music for the Wishes fireworks swelled over speakers in the restaurant.  The top of the contemporary resort is a wonderful place to view the fireworks show at the Magic kingdom.  the fireworks were amazing and beautiful, especially over a decadent chocolate desert or a delicious Creme Brulee.  This made for an amazing evening.  The California Grill is going through a complete renovation, and will reopen in the last quarter of 2013.  It was a 2 dining credit restaurant and probably will be again when it reopens.

Surprisingly good.  Loved it each time I've been there.

Near the Animal Kingdom in Jambo House of the Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of the best and most surprising restaurants at Disney World.  My wife and I have found Jiko - The Cooking Place one of our favorite places to eat in all of Disney. Jiko - The Cooking Place offers a fusion of American and African cuisine.  The chefs there are very talented at taking familiar  items and adding an African twist using different spices and additional ingredients to make what they offer different.  Often, when we are at one of the Signature Restaurants, we choose to buy a number of appetizers for our meal.  Our choices at Jiko were along the lines of appetizers even though i'm not sure a flat bread would be considered an appetizer. Our meal almost always starts with a Taste of Africa.  the Taste of Africa is a bread service with a variety of spreads and dipping sauces for the bread.  The variety of bread served is amazing as well from a delicious cracker bread to Indian Naan bread to yeast rolls with which we, as Americans, are more familiar.  The dipping sauces are concocted from many different spices and peppers and ingredients giving all the bread flavors that i'm not sure you can get anywhere else.  We also ordered the Cheese plate again.  This was very similar to the cheese plate we had at the California Grill, Of course the cheeses were different but each was delicious.  I think we discovered Triple Cream Brie Cheese on this plate of which i have been a fan ever since.  At the signature restaurants, if you aren't using the dining plan, the flat breads offer a less expensive way of enjoying wonderful food with out busting your wallet to badly.  My wife and I enjoyed the flat breads whose toppings included things like lamb, chicken and blue cheese and pear chutney. The flavors were amazing.  The mixture of the sweetness of fruit and the savory meats and cheeses make for a wonderful meal. Jiko - the cooking place is a two dining credit dinner. We often choose to pay for it and not use the credits.

I realize that most of these past two blogs have concentrated on the Signature Restaurants in Disney world.  The reader might get the feeling that except for O'hana and Mamma Melrose's every restaurant is a two credit restaurant.  Actually there are many good single credit restaurants in Disney World.  I spent a lot of time with the signature restaurants because the are so darn good. However, there is good food all over Disney that doesn't cost as much.  Some of our favorite places to eat only cost a counter service credit.  We will explore the less expensive but just as tasty places in the future posts.