Last Monday was our 9th Anniversary, which meant it was time for the 9th annual picture in picture! Usually we take our picture sometime before dinner. But, the weather didn't look like it was going to cooperate either, so I told Asa maybe we should take it first thing in the morning. We decided the little island area in the middle of the resort would be a good place for the picture, so we went for a little morning walk, found a good spot, and took a couple of pictures. I think this is the one we're going with. It's a little glare-y on the top of our picture, but I think it'll be ok. Also, this was the first year I left my hair in my-all-the-time-summer-ponytail I sport instead of pretending I ever wear my hair down.
On our first anniversary we took the original picture, which is impossible to see now. But here it is. This was our first anniversary in 2011, and the only one where we didn't at least spend the day at Disney. Instead, we went out to the beach where Asa proposed. There's no blog to link back to, because the blog didn't even exist until a week after our first anniversary (when we were headed to Alaska).
In 2012 for our second anniversary we camped at Fort Wilderness (The humidity was not kind to either of our hair). But there we are.
Our third anniversary in 2013 we went to Disney for the evening, but before we left we had Peyton take our picture in front of the house (that we later ended up cropping, but it was still cute). I had way better hair that year.
For fourth anniversary in 2014 we spent the day at Disney again, going to Fort Wilderness and dinner at Ohana. A nice Disney employee at the Polynesian took our picture which I again had to edit to minimize the glare on the picture frame (and truth be told while this was the blog picture this year this isn't exactly the one we ended up printing.)
Year five in 2015 was when we went to swim with dolphins at Discovery Cove. We graduated to staying overnight at Disney that year (at the Beach &Yacht Club no less), a tradition we've continued every since. My mom was nice enough to come stay with the boys that year.
2016 and year six brings me to one of our favorite pictures in the picture-in-picture. We had nobody to stay with the boys, so we all went to the cabins at Fort Wilderness. But, that made for a great picture spot when Peyton took our picture on the back of our golf cart.
For our 7th anniversary in 2017, we went and stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (club level no less!) and took our picture on the exclusive bridge only club-levelers can go on. Allison was here that year to stay with the boys, since she was staying with the dogs a week later while we went to Hawaii.
Last year for our 8th anniversary, we finally left the boys to fend for themselves, and we went to stay at Port Orleans, Riverside for a couple of nights. It was SUPER hot that year, so we ended up taking our picture in a fountain.
Now, last year we didn't need anyone to take our picture because I got this little phone tripod thing with a remote. I try and get the camera in the right spot and Asa is in charge of clicking the remote. However, he just basically spends the whole time clicking. Like, as we move from place to place 9we take a couple to pick the best one), and just as I'm trying to stand there and get adjusted.
He very much likes to stand there and make faces. Then he laughs about it way too much. But, at least he's having a good time, I suppose.
We got the picture out of the way early, which was kind of nice. We didn't have to worry about getting it in somewhere, so it might be a tradition I keep. After we had that done we decided to head to the pool to try and get that in before the rain came back for us.
This time we went to the big pool so we could hit the waterslides. The Caribbean Beach main pool is super fun. It's pirate themed and has not one but TWO waterslides! It's also zero entry in spots, and has cannons shooting water. It's one of the best pools at Disney, certainly the best 'moderate' pool.
After swimming we decided to hop on the bus to head over to Hollywood Studios for lunch. We thought maybe we could beat the rain, but it started the downpour as soon as we got to the bus stop, so out came the rain jackets again.
We had planned to hit the Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge for lunch, but the lounge there is exclusively outside. By the time we got into the park it was only sprinkling. So, I suggested we hit a different lounge for an appetizer and then check back at Hollywood Brown Derby. The lounges are awesome. Basically, they're the same as the restaurants they're attached to. BUT, they don't require reservations, and sometimes they have mini versions of the stuff on their menu so it's even cheaper.
We headed off to the Tune-In Lounge which is attached to the 50s Prime Time Cafe. Their menu doesn't really speak to me, but the Disney Food Blog always lists the Fried Herb and Garlic Cheese as one of their favorites, so we thought we should try it. It's every bit as good as advertised. It's not like mozzarella stringy cheese. Instead it's a boursin cheese, so it's just creamy and melty and a good compliment to the crispy and not at all oily outside. Plus the raspberry sauce that comes with it offers a really good tang. We also got the peanut butter and jelly milkshake, because I had heard good things- but I was unimpressed. I don't know if we got a weird one or not but the peanut butter flavor was there, without really any jelly.
But the good news was, by the time we were done with that the rain had stopped. The skies hadn't necessarily cleared, but they were putting out the umbrellas and wiping off the tables at Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge so we just waited a few minutes.
Asa ordered some drink with a swirl of Absenthe, and he was super excited about. To me, it tasted like cough medicine. But he enjoyed it. A much better choice on his end was the Andouille-crusted Shrimp on top of cheddar grits. So this is a small serving, and kind of expensive. But you will want to lick the plate, people. So worth it. The shrimp were crispy and flavorful, but the grits were creamy and delicious too. I mean, I didn't think I liked grits. But, this trip changed my mind. I don't like gross flavorless chain restaurant grits. But done right, they are pretty amazing.
I went with a Brown Derby Classic-The Famous Hollywood Brown Derby Cobb Salad. It's description: Finely Chopped Greens, Turkey Breast, Bacon, Egg, Tomatoes, Crumbled Blue Cheese, Avocado, Chives and Cobb Dressing. First of all, it's all so finely chopped and I loved that. I hate big chunks of things in my salad. But the dressing was stellar (I only used about half of it though), and the little crisps that come with it offered a really nice contrast. They had like a little sugar dusting, and somehow it worked.
Also worth noting, though I have no picture, while we were sitting there we were greeted by
#17 The Citizens of Hollywood
This live entertainment group that is in character (dressed to the nines and all that) of old school Hollywood characters were coming out for the day and chatted with everyone in the lounge before heading out to Hollywood Blvd.
After lunch we decided to head over to
#18 Voyage of the Little Mermaid
I hadn't been on this one in a long time. And like, it's fine. I am a Little Mermaid fan, I even went to see it in the theaters on a second class field trip (shout out to Mrs. Bechler!) But, anyway, some things I'm like 'man Disney has SO.MUCH.MONEY. They could update everything to be amazing." This is one of those stuck in the 80s situations. Which, makes sense given the fact that the movie was made in the 80s, but still.
Next up we headed back to the Star Wars Launch Bay to knock off the last thing from the list in that area
#19 Star Wars Launch Bay Theater
It's actually a cool video about the making of the star wars franchise.
Star Wars has kind of taken over the Studios, and I wonder if all this stuff will remain once Galaxy's Edge is open or if they'll make it into something else. We shall see by the end of August, I suppose.
Since the rain was still holding off except for some sprinkles here and there we decided to head back over to the Incredibles area to check off the other 'attraction' listed.
#20 The Super Shindig
It's description says "visit Pixar Place for live entertainment, games and photo ops"
So, I think we got that one covered.
For some reason Toy Story Mania, our next Fastpass, had gone down. When that happens during your time you get an 'Anytime Fastpass'. Instead of going on your ride, you can chose another ride from the list, or you can wait until your ride comes back up and use the Fastpass anytime that day. Asa loves Toy Story Mania so we decided to try and wait it out. So we went to
#21 Meet Mickey and Minnie Starring in Red Carpet Dreams
As a bonus, while waiting in line you also get to meet Goofy. I'm not sure if he's here all the time, but he was on his visit.
I thought maybe you got to see Mickey and Minnie together, but they each have their own photo op. Minnie is up first (look we match in our light pink!)
And then we were ushered off to Meet Mickey.
Most characters noticed our anniversary buttons. Usually they'd point and clap. Edna Mode made a heart outline with her hands. But Mickey seemed particularly impressed that we had been married nine whole years. He showed us that by trying to count on his fingers to nine (which he can't! He only has 8!)
Mickey then wrote us a little note that said 'what's your secret?' Asa responded with 'Communication and Hugs'.
Mickey loved it, and then wrote us another note that said 'Here's to communication and hugs. Your pal, Mickey Mouse'. Mickey spent a whole lot of time with us, which I'm sure was to the dismay of the little kids waiting right behind us for their turn. But, it was fun a character interaction. It sure beat Kylo Ren. I'm still salty he was so grumpy.
Luckily, by the time we were done Toy Story Mania was back up and we got to ride it.
But then while waiting in line, I was able to grab another one! Asa was like 'TWO in a ROW?!?' He was in heaven. He even bested his score from the time before.
At the end of Toy Story Mania they did have a little pop up shop dedicated to all things Toy Story 4. The Forky stuffed animal was especially cute.
We thought about waiting for some Toy Story characters, but their lines were LONG. We did see Bo Peep and Woody wandering to and from their station though.
On our way out we also caught
#22 March of the First Order
When we left we noticed THEY WERE TESTING THE GONDOLAS! Ok, now this might not be very exciting to the average person but I've really been looking forward to these. And, up to this point I hadn't seen them in action, I'd just seen the cables up. Most of them have the most adorable art work on them, so I was happy to watch them go while we waited for our bus.
Since the rain was still holding out, we decided to get off at the lobby bus stop and walk back to our room. It wasn't very far and thanks to the clouds it was a cool day, probably one of the coolest anniversaries we've had to date. I wanted to enjoy the nice weather. Plus the lobby area is SO. CUTE. I mean who doesn't love yellow flowy curtains, fountains and lanterns?
Not only were they testing the gondolas at Hollywood Studios, but they were also testing them at our resort.
We decided to head to Disney Springs again for dinner. We really toyed with where to eat on our anniversary, but we decided we just wanted a chill day and not have to worry about dining reservations. So the tentative plan was to go to the Polite Pig, one of our favorites.
Ok, now the Polite Pig is great. We go and share the slider trio all the time. $15 for that, paired with a $10 Poutine a few steps away and you have yourself a lovely meal for two for $25. But, we'd always looked at the Butcher Board for two. This comes in at $39 (though we do get a passholder discount here), so we've never splurged for it. We decided if we weren't going to go to a sit down place this was totally reasonable for our splurge meal.
The Butcher Board for Two comes with two coleslaws, corn bread, pickles, and two sides- we picked bbq cauliflower and sweet potato tots. You also get brisket, pork, chicken and cheddar sausage. We also got some orange blossom honey pie for dessert and burnt ends meatballs over grits off the appetizer menu. Our eyes were way bigger than our stomachs for this meal, but you can always take some home.
It was all delicious. But honestly the sausage with the cheddar baked inside and the cauliflower were probably my favorites, and I wouldn't have thought that going in. Also, those burnt ends meatballs over the grits are probably the best thing on that menu. They might replace the sliders for a quick trip to Polite Pig. Again, I didn't think I liked grits. Turns out I was wrong.
It was such a fun, yummy choice for our anniversary. And, we were in and out of there without having to wait for a stuffy table, since technically it's counter service (someone does come around to check on you pretty often and they do bring the food to you, so while you order at a counter- it doesn't have a real counter service feel).
We were stuffed after dinner so we went over to Amorettes for some coffee to help digest it all. They had a new dessert they didn't have the night before- a new little petite cake in honor of Toy Story 4. We didn't get it for obvious reasons, but it was really cute!
By now, it was raining again with thunder and lightning even, so we went back to the room for a little while to figure out what we wanted to do with the rest of the evening. Eventually, putt putt opened back up, and we decided to head over there but in our rain jackets, just in case. I wasn't convinced it was done for the evening.
I guess the good news about the crappy weather was that there was literally nobody else on the whole golf course. We had nobody in front of us or behind us to hold us up or to make us feel rushed. Sure there were some puddles here and there, but we had a good time.
Of course our golf balls were yellow and blue, our wedding colors.
When we got back to the hotel we decided to head up to Banana Cabana, the pool bar at Caribbean Beach Resort, for some drinks. It's super cozy and fun (they even have swinging couches for some of the chairs).
Asa got the Kraken Punch (Kraken Black Spiced Rum and Blood Orange Sour with Pomegranate and Orange Juices) and he liked it enough. I got the signature Banana Cabana (Cruzan Mango Rum, Coruba Coconut Rum, Bols Crème de Banana, Orange Juice and Pineapple Juice with a float of Grenadine) and was in love. I could've had like four of these. It was SO. GOOD.
We sat at the edge of the bar which gave us a nice view of the Epcot fireworks of in the distance. Watching the fireworks from here was nice, being away from the crowds of the park and all. It's not like watching the Magic Kingdom ones from the beaches over there, but you get a little peek over here.
We toyed with the idea of going to the table service restaurant, Sebastians, at our hotel, but ultimately decided against it. But, I had heard awesome things about their bread service, particularly about the guava butter it is served with. I asked if I could just get a little to try it, since Banana Cabana and Sebastians share a kitchen and I had heard you could do that. Our server was awesome and happily brought us two rolls and some guava butter. It was delicious, and I wasn't even hungry. (We split one roll there and took the other back to the room, we were still so full). She also said that the guava butter is just guava paste you can get from like Publix mixed with butter. She says she puts it on her toast at home. I'm totally going to try it.
On our way back from Banana Cabana we stopped off at the quiet pool to partake in our wedding anniversary tradition, started at the end of our wedding reception at our hotel, the night we were married- and we jumped in the pool with our clothes on.
Actually, it's probably a good thing we got married in June or this would be a very cold tradition. The water was actually really warm though, and we were just steps from our room, so it's more fun and less uncomfortable.
We did decide the pool was so nice that we wanted to come back and swim, so we went up and changed and came back down to enjoy the quiet pool all to ourselves for a late night swim.
That's it for our anniversary day, and what an awesome day it was.
Up Next: Checking out and heading home (but not before some more Disney fun!)
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