Specularius

Must have been a Disney Cart....only 11 MPH.

Running joke in our house is if we ever see Jim Cantore drive up, we are grabbing our Bail Out Bags an getting out of town as fast as possible.

Running joke in our house is if we ever see Jim Cantore drive up, we are grabbing our Bail Out Bags an getting out of town as fast as possible.

For footprint, without taking LMA out there is 10.8 acres to use as shown in this picture.

with Bob.

 
Ran across this picture and couldn't remember if I had posted it before. Feel very sure that I have but just in case, here it is again.

with Bob.

 
Ran across this picture and couldn't remember if I had posted it before. Feel very sure that I have but just in case, here it is again.

Mickey was ahead of his time.... a Toy Hauler for an RV. And I want one of those levers that pulls in the mat, the chairs, and all the other stuff when you're ready to pull out.

Could this survey been created by one of the pink slipped employees that was training their foreign visa replacement?

After I said that I may be nuts, I remembered that I am a member here and that just proves that I am......Nuts.

I broke out TCD's purple crayon the illustrate the tight turn.
 

Congrats on the 20. If I live till November 4th, Shardi and I will mark 20 (running joke she tells is that she does not believe in Divorce....Murder YES, Divorce...no). 

I'm late to catching up on this report. Glad you got to see some of the world. A few short thoughts....Great call on NOT DRIVING IN DUBLIN!!!! I did, getting straight off the plane...not a good idea. Black pudding....it is made with pigs blood, that is why it is black. Molly Malone....was the "Madame" of Dublin, a lady of the night. It is a running joke in Dublin that the tourist get excited over her statue. I wish you would have had the time to see inside the church you took pictures of and "Dublinia" was worth the price of admission. 

It doesn't matter truly means "It doesn't matter"! When asked where we would like to eat......It doesn't matter! We eat anything with four legs but a table...Women are the picky eaters!

Possum on the half shell!!!
Wash with lemon juice, season well, put on the grill shell down, cook for 2.5 hours at 375 degrees. Louisiana has a recipe for everything.

When I left off, I was headed back to get ready for supper. This is the menu for the night.
 

 
Here is my lovely date. This is a combination 39th birthday and Valentines dinner.
 

 
We started off with this dish. A little back story about this dish. When V&A called to confirm our reservation a week prior to the date, Shardi asked if a particular dish would be on the menu, a lobster jar something, and the person calling stated that they were no longer serving that dish, but they would make note of it and the chef may serve it to us as a special request. Well here it is:
 

 
That was a fantastic start. From there we both chose the Colorado Bison:
 

 
Then Shardi had the Striped Bass:
 

 
I had the Maine scallop but cannot find the picture. 
 
The next course, Shardi had the Quail:
 

 
And I had the Berkshire Pork:
 

 
Next up was the main course. Shardi chose the Veal:
 

 
And I had the Australian Kobe-style Tenderloin. If the real Kobe is any better, then it must be like kissing an angel.
 

 
Then it was dessert time. We both chose the Caramelized Banana Gâteau and cofee:
 

 

 
And a last little bit of candies before leaving.
 

 
It was a fantastic meal. You will also notice that the waiter gave Shardi a Rose to remember the night. This was the second time we have had the pleasure of eating at Victoria and Albert's. The first time was for our 15th anniversary. That was 4 and a half years ago and the food is still absolutely wonderful! 
 
From that we drove back over to the Fort and went to bed. A great finish to a wonderful day.
 
Next up is Friday and a day at EPCOT.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Possum on the half shell!!!
Wash with lemon juice, season well, put on the grill shell down, cook for 2.5 hours at 375 degrees. Louisiana has a recipe for everything.

I have two tow vehicles that I use, one is a 2015 Ford F-350 Super Duty with the high capacity trailer towing package. Not sure what makes it so different than a standard F-350 other than the wide track front axle and 4.30 gears. The other tow vehicle is a 378 Peterbilt with a Schwalbe Cowboy conversion. 
 

 

 
Personally I think you will be just fine with your Ram.

So, Shardi and dear daughter decide it is too chilly to ride Splash Mountain and would rather go back to the campground. This excited our son because then the two of us could ride twice. Oh Joy!!??.. So we took Shardi and DD's magic bands and headed for Splash Mountain while they left. When we got there, the standby wait showed 20 minutes and we had 30 minutes until our FP time, so in the line we go. This was going to be a three ride day on Splash Mountain. Did I mention that the sun was beginning to set and the temps were beginning to drop? Well we make it the loading area and dear son tells the CM..."I want to ride in the front row so DAD can get wet"....well G thanks knot head. So away we go. 
 

 
And a quick selfie at the bottom.
 

 
Not to bad at this time. A little splash to the face. So around we go and into the FP line. Back to the front and the same CM. Ride Two.
 

 

 
A little wetter. So back around to ride Number 3. At this point the CM gives us an eyeball and he is hamming it up with dear son. I make the comment that I am happy this is our last ride because we are officially out of FastPasses.....to which the CM smiles and states...."No you're Not" and politely hands me two passes. G thanks Mister!!
 

 

 

 
Now we are soaked and so we get off the ride and I start checking my watch because Shardi had reservations at a very special place for supper and I needed to get back to get dried out and change. I asked DS did he want to ride again or be generous and give the passes away. He looked me in the eye, gave a shiver, and said "Generous". So on our way out we tried to give the passes away but no one took us up on the gift. 
 
Next up.. Supper.

Day two... Back to the Magic Kingdom.
 
With all those dining plan credits, Shardi booked breakfast with the hunerd acre woods crew at the Crystal Palace. This has become a tradition on almost every trip. I am going to show the pictures of our little man from this trip followed by some from a trip in 2010. He is growing up so fast.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
And finally The Golden Bear himself. In the past, Shardi had bought our daughter a book of all the animated characters of Disney and had the characters sign their page in the book. It is better than just an autograph book. So she bought a new one for our son. Well this Pooh knew his page in the book and there is a line that states something about his "small brain" and he pointed this out and was sad. Well I asked for the book back and quickly x'd out the word "small" and replaced it with "BIG". Pooh was so Happy. 
 

 

 
From there we had FastPasses for the Mine Train and that is where we headed. This was our first time to ever ride it. It is a great kids ride and I will leave it at that. 
 

 

 
From there we went to Haunted Mansion and to Big Thunder Mountain. Then it was time to eat AGAIN...this time at Toni's Town Square Cafe. No pictures of the food here. It was ok but nothing to coo over. The decorations are nice and everything is themed around Lady and the Tramp. At some point in time, Our Son started in that he wanted to ride Splash Mountain. So Shardi went to a kiosk and was able to add FastPasses for later in the afternoon. Splash Mountain is a great ride in the summer....not so great when it is jacket weather. With that, things get a little damp in the next update.

Congrats.
 
Sorry, but that Red and Black Fan beat you to the punch.
 
Glad to see some interest. We talked about you while in the park one day while a foreign family was jabbering away in front of us and we thought about your incident with the Germans.
 
 
 
Yes there is some pood forn to come. Shardi had the bright idea that she wanted the deluxe dining plan this trip. Needless to say, it is a chore to get in three sit down credits a day for six days. There was so much food that we only used a few of the 48 snack credits. But non to worry, we used them all and I have a camper freezer full of Mickey Bars and a box full of sea salt caramels.

Last year we made a trip to the Fort and Disney during Mardi Gras week. That was the second time we had gone during Mardi Gras. The first time was when Mardi Gras coincided with President's day, and what a mistake that was. This year, Mardi Gras again coincided with President's day but my loving wife came up with a plan. School is out in Louisiana for the Monday before and for Fat Tuesday. We pulled the children out of school the remaining three days to go to the Fort. My wife's plan was that this year, lets pull the children out the last three days of the week before, and head home on Fat Tuesday, thereby beating the crowds. Well, mark it down little tag fairies, My wife is a Genius!(but she will never work at an Apple store!!!!) Her plan worked great. 
 
We left home on Tuesday, the 10th, with a planned departure of 3:30PM. For the first time ever, we pulled out on time. Then it was a simple 418 mile drive to our normal overnight spot in a rest area on I-10 in Florida. Pulled into the rest area at 10:45PM and then completely made a family's, that appeared to be moving across country, night by finding their cell phone in the parking lot and saving it from being run over and flagging them down to return it. They were very grateful. We then piled into the toy hauler and went to sleep. 
 
It was an early start the next morning as I told the family they could sleep while I drive. This was the sunrise that morning.
 

 
We made great time and I started a GoPro camera on the dash as we were exiting onto Western Way. I cut the video down, edited out our commentary on Mission Space, The Menu for The California Grill, and other non-sense. It is 18 and a 1/4 minutes of your life you will never get back, but some of you Fiends may find it enjoyable. It starts before getting to the toll booth for the Magic Kingdom and ends with me backing up the 41 foot 3 1/2 inches long Toy Hauler into sight 531. This is my first time posting any video so I hope you enjoy it......or not. If not....keep it to yourself!
 
http://youtu.be/AHr70CFSmpQ
 
Once everything was set, the Fort Fiend signs were out and the dogs were walked, we headed to the Magic Kingdom to get in a few rides, and eat lunch. It is now 2:28 PM eastern time and I took a very unusual selfie on the boat:
 

 
We headed straight to Harbor House and had Lobster rolls for lunch. We then made a round of rides.
 
We made Space Mountain
 

 
Then it was on to Supper at California Grill. I had the Swordfish and Shardi had the Tuna. Pood Forn ahead:
 

 

 
We watched the fireworks and could see both the Illuminations and Wishes at the same time. While watching, I looked toward Orlando and could just make out the Eye. Here is a very bad picture trying to capture that. It is the little triangle close to the center of the picture. In person you could just make out the ring with the cars lit up.
 

 
That ended day one.

Nope, the metal structure inside the rim sticking up is gone.

Afternoon of Valentines day.

Wow, 25K.....Someone types too much.....But never stop....Congrats!

This place is without a doubt the best place I have ever had a meal. Shardi and I celebrated our 15th anniversary there. The first time that I was greeted at the door by name before introducing myself and the wait staff was always asking us by name what we needed. We will be dining there again Thursday of next week for Shardi's 39th Birthday, although it will be a few days late.
 
Kelly, you and Jason have to get there someday. Anyone that loves a BGE, will love the food at V&A.