Category Archives: Year of Disney

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Two4Disney on YouTube

Because it’s a lot more fun to watch videos on YouTube than on an iPhone, we decided to create a YouTube channel. I’m in the process of uploading our most recent videos as well as some older videos to catch up and then post new content as it’s created.

Obviously, we are not eligible for a custom url (less than 30 days old, fewer than 100 subscribers, as in 0 subscribers), so here’s a link to help you find it. Short and simple videos captured from an iPhone. Nothing fancy. Moments. Memories. A whole lot of fun!

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Farewell Thanksgiving at Wine Bar George and the Chicken Guy

When we got the email about Thanksgiving at Wine Bar George, we knew we had to do it for our good-bye to Florida. This would be our third time at Wine Bar George and one of the places we will miss when we’re back West.

It was a beautiful day – we arrived at Disney Springs at around 10:30 a.m. for our 11:30 reservation. The lime garage was already full but we’ve grown to appreciate the orange garage so that was no problem. We strolled around the springs, enjoying the atmosphere and Christmas decorations and our first stop was the Ganachery – another place we will totally miss. We got some chocolate toffee bark to take home and a milk chocolate Mickey and a vanilla with dark chocolate, shared them, while we strolled the Springs and made our way to World of Disney to get our first peek at the remodel.

We browsed and ended up getting Minnie Mickey coffee mugs. By this time it was getting close to 11:30 so we headed back to Wine Bar George and were seated on the balcony across from another couple, who were just being served a huge plate of Thanksgiving turkey. We exchanged appreciative glances and comments and ordered the same. The dinner was a traditional turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and haricot vert. We paired it with Argyle Pinot Noir. It was quite tasty, but I asked for a box to take half of it home for my evening meal.

We skipped dessert but made a point of stopping at the Chicken Guy. I’m not a fan of chicken tenders, but this was our last chance to try them. We were especially interested in the Nashville hot honey sauce – we were wowed by Nashville’s hot chicken when we evacuated there last year. I’m not usually a fan of hot chicken as in Buffalo Chicken Wings but Nashville chicken is amazing!

Anyway, we picked up an order of 3 tenders and the Nashville sauce for Rich’s evening snack since he managed to finish his turkey dinner. And then we headed home. It may seem to silly to complain about an hour and fifteen minute drive but it does get old. But that’s probably because we’re so ready to move back west. Our Florida vacation this time around is so over.

The toffee was incredible, my leftovers were even tastier heated up later, and the bite of chicken tender I had was the best chicken tenders I’ve ever had, although Rich remembers Cane’s in Las Vegas as being just as good if not better. We’ll have to make that one of our first stops when we get back so we can double check that memory. 🙂

‘

 

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Fort Wilderness

A quick trip to Fort Wilderness this morning for brunch at Trails End and a walk through of the camp sites, checking out Fifth Wheels. We’d been hoping to get back to our old stomping grounds but now, of course, you cannot enter unless you’re a guest or have ressies at Trails End or the Hoop-de-Doo Review.

We’re not a fan of buffets but lunch is no longer served there. On weekends, it’s brunch. So we bit the bullet and enjoyed a few selections like Mickey Waffles with Bananas Foster sauce – yum!!

Our total mileage was 3.5 miles so maybe that’ll offset those rich calories.

I also played a bit of tetherball – cannot resist (I used to have my own when I was a kid in SoCal).

Stopped for a selfie in front of the stables

All saddled up

The queen of tetherball

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Christmas at Disney’s Yacht Club

We knew we wanted to spend Christmas Day at Disney World (outside the parks for crowd and AP blockout reasons) and have Christmas dinner at one of the restaurants. We couldn’t decide which, though, so we changed our ressies several times. But when we read about the new Ale and Compass at the Yacht Club, we settled on that the day before. And we were so glad we did.

Of course we love the Yacht Club – it is our home resort at WDW ever since our first stay there back in 1999 (the Contemporary was Kathy’s first back in 1982). We were very impressed with Ale and Compass – the decor, the food, and the service.

Christmas Lunch
by Rich

Starter (Shared)
Oven-roasted Oysters
with Spinach and Creamed Kale, White Cheddar, and Cornbread Crumbs

Entree – Kathy
Maine Lobster Roll
with choice House-made Vinegar Chips

Entree – Rich
Open-faced Skirt Steak Sandwich
with Caramelized Onions, Poached Egg, Fennel, Watercress, and Tomato Salad with Truffle Vinaigrette

Wine – Kathy
Domaine Savary Chablis, Burgundy

Wine – Rich
Columbia Crest Grand Estates Syrah, Columbia Valley

The oven-roasted oysters were fabulous, just the right start to the meal. The breading and accompaniments to the oysters were in perfect proportion to the oysters.

Kathy’s lobster roll was wonderful – not over-dressed, just delicious chunks of lobster on a nicely-sized roll. Kathy enjoyed an ideal pairing of hard-to-find Chablis.

Rich’s medium-rare skirt steak was incredible – tender, juicy, and full of flavor. The caramelized onions and truffle vinaigrette were especially nice touches. The Syrah was a splendid pairing, achieving a lovely balance between blackberry fruit and sweet smokiness.

After our meal we walked the Boardwalk, stopping at our usual kissing spot, and popped into the Boardwalk where we were each offered a complimentary peppermint sugar cookie. We continued our walk full circle to the Yacht Club – Rich even skipped his usual Boardwalk skip – and two stools at the Hurricane Hanna pool bar called our names and we each had a Margarita.

We chatted with other guests from St. Augustine, noting that this is the real replacement for the Trout Pass Bar at Wilderness Lodge. It has the same vibe that Geyser Point sadly does not quite have with so many families gathering there.

After our cocktails and conversation (love this about Disney World), we were in search of coffee before we hit the road and ended up at Beaches and Cream where Rich got us two coffees and two ice cream sandwiches (huge but yummy – lol) while Kathy grabbed us a table overlooking Stormalong Bay.

We stopped in at the gift shop where Yacht Club coffee cups captured our attention, made our purchases and then we drive back to the beach.

It was a gorgeous day out – low 70s compared to mid 50s at the beach. What an awesomely perfect Christmas! Disney for the day was even better being able to return to our new home at the beach.

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A Disney Christmas: 2 Parks, 3 Resorts, 1 Festival Kicks Off Moving Week

We took today off to have some Christmas fun at Disney before moving week begins.

We noticed that Christmas magnets for AP holders were available at Disney Studios and we wanted to tour Epcot’s Holiday Festival so the plan was to park at Disney Studios and then boat over to Epcot. Genius, right? Surely, this was better than parking in the Epcot lot and walking through Future World just to get to World Showcase. Surely, this approach would be a breeze, saving our poor feet significant steps.

Normally, when we do the Epcot thing we clock about 4 miles. With this new shorter plan we clocked 6 miles. Lol! Maybe because instead of staying on the boat, we got off at the Yacht and Beach Club and the Boardwalk to check out the Christmas decorations and then walked to/fro Epcot.

The highlights were: Disney Studios Christmas decorations, tacos and Margaritas at the Cantina in Mexico, the Kir at the Festival Marketplace in France, the awesome Canadian Holiday band, and the Butter Brickle Ice Cream at Ample Hills Creamery.

 

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Thanksgiving at Sanaa

We tossed around many ideas for Thanksgiving, made and canceled a few ressies  and settled in Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was a very good choice!

Some of you may recall our first Sanaa Thanksgiving meal back in 2011. The African flavors offer a tasty twist to what could be a boring traditional turkey dinner. We asked our server for a wine recommendation and we went with the Black Pearl Mischief Maker, which paired very well with the turkey dinner.

Btw, she gave us a very generous poor but the photo was taken well into the meal. 🙂

For dessert we shared the African Spice Cake,

(This year Sanaa also offered a couple of alternatives to turkey,)

And the atmosphere at Animal Kingdom Lodge in general! Dark, cozy, inviting, peaceful all decorated for Christmas with traditional Christmas music sung by beautiful African voices.

And tne there’s the service – so very warm and friendly. Simply superb!

We were seated at a table for two next to a large window overlooking the Savanna. It was feeding time for the animals and we spotted quite a few. Afterwards, we stopped by Jambo House for shopping and atmosphere soaking.

We just may make Sanaa our annual tradition.