A happy reunion!
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Today was another exciting day, the day Mary Ellen and Joe were to
arrive and we would all spend the rest of our vacation together.
Since we were only to meet after lunch we slept in quite a bit, had
some snackish breakfast out of our well stuffed fridge, washed a
load of laundry and by 11am finally left the villa to drive to the
Polynesian resort for our lunch reservation. We signed in at the
Kona Café right on time, were handed the infamous buzzer and off we
went on a little walk over to the gift shop. After a little browsing
we headed back to the restaurant and right when we got to the
entrance our buzzer went off. We were led to a table near the front
of the restaurant, got our menus and a few minutes later our server
was at our table to introduce herself. |
We both ordered Diet Cokes and were discussing what to order as we
both weren’t really hungry and knew that we would meet Mary Ellen
and Joe at Beaches and Cream for ice-cream in the afternoon. Tom
ordered the Kona Salad -
Mixed Greens, Blue Cheese, fresh Fruit, Red Onions, and Smoked
Almonds with Citrus Vinaigrette as his starter.We were stunned as it
was quite a huge helping but at least it was a light starter. I
ordered the Lump Crab Cakes
- with Asian Tartar Sauce and Pineapple Relish. These were really
very good, we both liked the tartar sauce and the relish was very
refreshing. Our main courses were the
Beef Teriyaki Salad -
mixed greens, vegetables tossed with Asian vinaigrette and grilled
beef in a taco shell for me, which I ordered I ate and ate and ate
and barely made a dent in it! My only complaint - the vinaigrette
could have been a bit more spicy! It was very light and there could
have been a bit more of it. Tom went for the
Kona Club Sandwich -
served with Asian Vegetable Slaw. This was huge!! There was loads of
lunch meat in the sandwich and they were really tasty - just too
much to finish. We were both stuffed, but since dessert was included
we wanted to at least try some. I chose the
Chocolate Fondue, which
came with fruit and cookies and was very good. What's not to like
about fruit and chocolate? Tom had a hard time deciding and ended
up ordering the Kona Kone,
which was such a nice treat. A fresh waffle cone, Vanilla and
Chocolate ice-cream, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, M&Ms and some
cotton candy. Unfortunately he was really full and I ended up having
most of it. Once we were finished with our meal we paid with our
Dining Credits and left the restaurant. |
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There was just a little time left until we were to meet Mary Ellen
and Joe, so we walked back to the car and before we wanted to go and
meet them at the Beach Club, we went to Hess, to fill up the car and
have our car washed. There was quite a row of cars before it was our
turn, but once we had gone through we had just very little time
until our meeting. So we drove over to the Beach Club, parked the
car quite close to the entrance and off we went. |
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We walked around Cape May Café, and usually we are able to “creep”
up on them and take fun photos of them, but this time they surprised
us. They were already waiting and once we had made our way over to
them and were done hugging and kissing we headed towards Beaches and
Cream. This has been a tradition for us ever since the first time we
met. |
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They told us that it would be a 30 minute wait and so we went off to
explore the resort grounds. About 20 minutes after we had received
our buzzer it went off and we were seated in a booth. Usually we go
for a Kitchen Sink but Tom and I were stuffed from lunch and Mary
Ellen and Joe had just had a snack. So we settled for something
different. Joe had his favourite - a
Hot Fudge Sundae! He
really loves them and kind of "inhales" them. I think he finished
first even though we all got our treats at the same time. Mary Ellen
and I had sweet little treats -
Mickey Mouse Sundaes!!
Mary Ellen had Vanilla and I had my favourite - Mint Chocolate Chip.
They were nearly too cute to eat! Well, we DID eat them in the end.
Tom just had a Diet Coke! He could not take any more sweets right
there and then! When we had finished our sweet treats Mary Ellen and
Joe decided to walk to the parking lot with us to take a look at our
rental car. |
Now we were pretty happy that we had driven it through the car wash.
They were both pretty impressed with our Camaro and we jokingly said
that if they could squeeze into the back we would drive them over to
the Wilderness Lodge to find out if their room was ready. Low and
behold they WERE able to squeeze into the back of the car. So we all
got in and off we went to the Wilderness Lodge. When we arrived
their room was ready and we all went in search of it and finally got
lucky. They had wanted a room in the bearface and had been granted
their wish. They called down for their luggage and we all checked
out the room. After a while they noticed the gift bag that had been
put into their room and they were eager to see who had sent them a
few treats. Well, they were surprised to find out that it was us!
Joe emptied the bag and had a look at the goodies, before he tried
the first one right away. And while we were having fun their luggage
arrived. |
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After they had unpacked what they immediately needed they decided to
take a shower and change and Tom and I went downstairs to check out
the lobby and gift shop. 20 minutes later, they both came downstairs
and we headed back to the car and drove over to our villa at Old Key
West. The boys had some coffee and Mary Ellen and I had some drinks
too and we all caught up on old times. |
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Mary Ellen and Joe got the presents we had brought for her birthday
and we just had a good time. Time just flew by and we had to leave
again to drive to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at Jiko. Once
we had arrived we walked through the lobby, took in all the
decorations and finally headed downstairs. We signed in and were
handed a buzzer. They told us, it would be a few minutes, but we had
barely sat down when our buzzer went off and we were led to our
table at the back of the restaurant. Our server was quick at hand to
introduce herself, give a few recommendations and take our drinks
orders. |
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She quickly returned with our drinks and in the meantime we had
decided that since Tom and I were on the Deluxe Dining Plan we were
entitled to a starter and we were all going to share those. So we
ordered two flatbreads. One of them was the
Grilled Flank Steak Flatbread
- with Manchego cheese, caramelized onions, arugula and berbere sour
cream, which was very tasty. The other one we ordered was the
Barbecue Chicken Flatbread
- with Apple-Jicama slaw, African barbecue sauce, and four cheeses. |
We all enjoyed them very much and once we were done our server
brought us a basket full of
African Style Bread and some
Spiced Butter. All of us
kept on nibbling until our main courses arrived. I had ordered the
Oak-Grilled Filet Mignon
- with mac and cheese and red wine sauce, which was very different
from what we are used to, but very good. Tom had decided on ordering
the Seared Barbarie Duck
Breast, with Polenta and red wine and plum sauce. I didn't even
notice it, but lateron Tom told me that the server had come to him
and told him that they were out of duck and would he mind pork loin.
No, he didn’t mind and it was really wonderful. Once we had finished
our main course, our server was at hand to recommend desserts and
drinks. Tom wanted some coffee and the server brought him a
Press Pot of coffee,
because we would have been entitled to some bottled water and since
we had not ordered it, she gave him the coffee as a Disney Dining
Plan item. My tea was included as well! |
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I love a good cup of Earl Grey after dinner and this flowery Earl
Grey with corn flowers was really really good. For dessert I decided
on Chocolate overload!
Tanzanian Chocolate, Cherry and chocolate - Chocolate cremeux
with chocolate crunch, chocolate-cherry mascarpone and cocoa nibs.
Mary Ellen ordered the
Cheesecake and Blueberries - creamy cheesecake with lemon curd,
blueberry coulis, blueberry compote and sesame "bee sting", which
she enjoyed very much. And Tom had the
South African Spice Cake,
layered Spice Cake with Pistachio Frangipan, Amarule White
Chocolate-Mousse and Caramel. Joe traded his dessert for a cup of
coffee. Once we had settled the bill we all rolled back to our car,
squeezed in and then we dropped Mary Ellen and Joe off at the
Wilderness Lodge before we headed back to our Old Key West retreat.
We sat down and watched TV for a while, discussing the days events
and sipping an adult beverage before it was time for us to go to
bed. |
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