Life at Walking Speed: WDW: Part Deux

10/10/2009

Well, it had been nearly a week since we spent the day at Disney World so we figured 'what the heck' and planned for another day up there. You know, some times there is indeed too much of a good thing, but we've not reached that point at Disney World yet.

There was a good incentive for making the trip again (about 4 hours each way) and the story goes thusly:

A week prior we had cruised with Mom on the Carnival Glory and spent a day at Disney World (WDW) after we returned from the ship. On the very day that we left Orlando to drive back home, our relatives from Spokane arrived for a week long stay at the park but our schedules were so out of whack that we didn't get to see them at all, just like (grin) ships passing in the night. Robin and I weren't sure if we could arrange another trip up, but we sure wanted to spend some time with the rest of the family (you know, aunts and cousins and nephews, oh my) so we spent most of the work week whining that we'd like to get just ever-so-slightly more time off and were ultimately successful in arranging an overnighter back at WDW with some short notice.

Now, as luck would have it (and I won't go into the long story part of it) we eventually ended up getting to stay at the same on-property hotel with the rest of the family. A very cool turn of a phone conversation worked in our favor and we booked at a pretty nice room in one of the Disney economy lodges (The All Star Movies Resort to be exact).

Since we'd only be allowed one day in the park, we chose a single-park admission (a bit less expensive than a "park Hopper" pass) and whined that we'd like to go to Epcot for our choice. We met up with the family and what a great evening of reunion it turned out to be! The next day we spent time in Epcot and rode rides around a

test track at 65 mph and all the way to Mars, actually. There was fun and laughter and hot sunshine and snacks. We then hopped a boat and went to the Swan and Dolphin hotel for one of the finest meals I could've imagined inside a theme park. The restaurant was called "Il Mulino" and was modeled after a classy Trattorio in New York City.

The food was first rate, the service outstanding and when the asked for our wine selection I half-jokingly asked for a 5 year old vintage of our favorite chardonnay (having not seen it available since it became a 1 year old vintage) and amazingly they had it! We ordered it before we had a second thought that we should've maybe inquired about the price, but at the end we discovered that it was very reasonable after all (well, I guess that's a matter of perspective).

Were I a critic of note (a la Ratatouille) I would happily give the establishment 4 1/2 stars out of 5, the only downside being that the overall ambiance was a bit too cool to be called 'intimate'. The place was pretty sparcely populated, but I can imagine that it is a noisy place when it is hopping.

Our visit with our family afforded some much needed catching-up time coupled with a good

dose of silly fun.

I am so glad we managed to pull it off, and as we drove home we talked about the treasures that are our families and the gold that our memory of those we now miss.