Well, in a mere two weeks we take off to Disneyland for our first time. We are surprising our seven year old with the trip and I know it is going to be a wonderful trip full of amazing memories. That being said, I am somehow a little dreadful of the trip to come. I know that probably sounds totally ridiculous considering my passion for all things Disney, but I am totally overwhelmed. Now, I can plan a book to Disney World with absolutely no problems. We have been several times and I pretty much know all the planning secrets and know what we want to do each trip. That is totally not the case with this trip. I feel like a fish out of water. We have been planning it for months, but yet I feel like I don't really know what to expect. I can't find the extensive planning websites for Disneyland like the ones I frequent for my daily Disney World fix. There is no wonderful Moms panel to seek planning advise from. I haven't found a lot of websites that have dining reviews on them either so I don't really know for sure where we want to eat while on property. Plus, I don't really know a lot of people who have been there to bounce information and ideas off of. I feel like a Disney first timer again!!!!
Another thing that is putting a damper on my excitement is the fact that I have heard from multiple people how "disappointed" I am going to be by the parks. Now granted, these people all seem to have the same commonality in that they haven't been since before California Adventure came along, however, it is still hard not to let those comments get to me. Maybe that will be a good thing though and my expectations will be lower and therefore the trip will be even more exciting since the experience will be better than my expectations. That is my hope anyway.
Another issue for me is that I am not a good flier. I have done alright the last three flights to Orlando, but the first one was with medication, and those flights are only two hours long. This one is going to be four hours and 45 minutes there, and four hours to get home. That is a long time. I did go this week and get a prescription for some "happy pills" for the long flight, but I am still very anxious about the flight. I get very claustrophobic on the plane, and start freaking out over the thought that I can't get off. Hopefully the medicine my doctor gave me will help with that. Otherwise my dear husband will have his hands full trying to take care of me and our seven year old. It is going to take a lot to keep us busy!
My final issue is that we are keeping this a surprise from our daughter. She will not know until her Grandma gets here to take us to the airport and we load the car. She is going to be beyond excited. Ironically about a month ago we were just talking about someone who was taking a surprise trip and she mentioned that she wanted us to surprise her one day with a trip. Little did she know that we were already planning to do just that. So, she will be excited, she will love it, and the surprise will be worth the months of of self-imposed silence to give this surprise to her. However, one of the best things about our yearly trips is the fact that our family plans it together. We talk about what we want to do, where we want to stay, and where we want to eat. We love it! That is making this one a little harder to get excited about. On the plus side, I guess we can have these conversations on the LOOOONNNGGGG plane ride and should have it all planned by the time we touch down.
I haven't even made a packing list for the trip. Guess I had better sign off and get started on that!!!! I hope to have some fun posts in a few weeks to let you know how this trip turns out. With me being the ultimate planner, I am very stressed about all the lack of planning going into this trip. Will let you know how all of that turns out for me. Maybe it will change my approach to all future Disney trips in the future :)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Via Napoli Review
Well, it has been four months in the making, but I am finally posting my review of Via Napoli. Let me start by saying I was very excited about the opening of this restaurant. Our family loves all things Italian, with pizza being our absolute favorite meal. So that being said, you can imagine how thrilled I was that this restaurant was going to be opening mere weeks before our trip. So, I spent months in the spring and summer checking for updates on this restaurant and counting down the days until I could make our reservations. When the big day came, I woke up early and called to make our reservation. Luckily I was able to get the time and day I wanted so I was thrilled. The only thing left to do was wait for the big day to come.
That day finally came and I was very excited and very much looking forward to our dinner that night. Ironically, that day my brother and sister-in-law ate there for lunch as a walk in without knowing that we were eating there that night for dinner. When we ran into them they went on and on about how good their lunch was and how stuffed they were. To say the least, they were very impressed with Via Napoli. That just added to my excitement. I was looking forward to it even more now that I had actually talked to someone who had eaten there. This was going to be a good meal.
So we checked into the restaurant at our scheduled time and had to wait about 10 minutes for our table. This was fine though as it gave us time to soak in the beautiful details of the new restaurant. It was a very bright, friendly, and welcoming atmosphere. The decor was very nice, and had a lot of touches that I can imagine were good representations Italy. If you haven't seen pictures of the brick ovens they use, I have to say that they are pretty cool. So far, I was impressed.
So we were seated and given a menu by our friendly server. I decided pretty quickly on the chicken parmigiana. I was disappointed that it didn't come with a salad, but decided to go with it nonetheless. My husband wanted a pizza with pepperoni and sausage, but there wasn't one on the menu (I can't remember which one he settled on now). My seven year old decided on a pepperoni pizza as well. So, we placed our orders and proceeded to soak up the fun atmosphere. After a few minutes the server brought the pizzas. When we asked about mine, we were told that they bring the food as it is ready, and not all at once (apparently this is the way they do it in Italy). So, I sat there and watched the two of them start their meals. My husband thought the pizza was pretty good (though we both admitted that the pizza we had eaten that day for lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express was actually better). The pizzas are cooked in the brick ovens which makes the crust pretty tasty....though our daughter would disagree. She did not like it at all. She had not had this type of pizza before and thought it tasted burnt. Once she saw the brown spots on the bottom of the crust, there was no convincing her otherwise. She only had a few bites.
Luckily my dinner finally showed up and she was able to share it with me. I liked the chicken portion pretty well. It was very moist and the sauce was very good. However, the noodles came as a fried lump. It was not at all what I was expecting and I did not like the texture of it. My daughter thought they were pretty cool and ate most of them for me. I think this was the first meal that I was actually looking forward to seeing the dessert menu since I actually had a little room left to eat it!
So, the dessert menu is delivered. I anxiously look at it hoping for something extra yummy and chocolaty...
No such luck. I didn't see anything that I just had to have. However, I finally settled on the Tiramisu and my husband went with the Zeppole di Catarina ( fried ricotta cheese with whipping cream and chocolate sauce). I think my daughter had a cookie, but don't hold me to that :) When the desserts came I was very intrigued with the presentation of my husbands dessert, and it actually looked quite tasty despite how disgusting I thought it sounded! So, was dessert better than the entrees? Yes, and no. My daughter did not like her dessert, and mine was very mushy. I am a texture person and couldn't get past the sliminess to enjoy the taste. Surprisingly, my husband's meal was the big hit. Those fritters were actually really good, and a lot of fun to dip in the chocolate and whipping cream. So, we all shared his!
In summary, the meal was good. It wasn't Disney great and if I was paying out of pocket, I definitely would not go back. However, if we were on the dining plan and couldn't get into one of our favorite restaurants I would give it another shot.
That day finally came and I was very excited and very much looking forward to our dinner that night. Ironically, that day my brother and sister-in-law ate there for lunch as a walk in without knowing that we were eating there that night for dinner. When we ran into them they went on and on about how good their lunch was and how stuffed they were. To say the least, they were very impressed with Via Napoli. That just added to my excitement. I was looking forward to it even more now that I had actually talked to someone who had eaten there. This was going to be a good meal.
So we checked into the restaurant at our scheduled time and had to wait about 10 minutes for our table. This was fine though as it gave us time to soak in the beautiful details of the new restaurant. It was a very bright, friendly, and welcoming atmosphere. The decor was very nice, and had a lot of touches that I can imagine were good representations Italy. If you haven't seen pictures of the brick ovens they use, I have to say that they are pretty cool. So far, I was impressed.
So we were seated and given a menu by our friendly server. I decided pretty quickly on the chicken parmigiana. I was disappointed that it didn't come with a salad, but decided to go with it nonetheless. My husband wanted a pizza with pepperoni and sausage, but there wasn't one on the menu (I can't remember which one he settled on now). My seven year old decided on a pepperoni pizza as well. So, we placed our orders and proceeded to soak up the fun atmosphere. After a few minutes the server brought the pizzas. When we asked about mine, we were told that they bring the food as it is ready, and not all at once (apparently this is the way they do it in Italy). So, I sat there and watched the two of them start their meals. My husband thought the pizza was pretty good (though we both admitted that the pizza we had eaten that day for lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express was actually better). The pizzas are cooked in the brick ovens which makes the crust pretty tasty....though our daughter would disagree. She did not like it at all. She had not had this type of pizza before and thought it tasted burnt. Once she saw the brown spots on the bottom of the crust, there was no convincing her otherwise. She only had a few bites.
Luckily my dinner finally showed up and she was able to share it with me. I liked the chicken portion pretty well. It was very moist and the sauce was very good. However, the noodles came as a fried lump. It was not at all what I was expecting and I did not like the texture of it. My daughter thought they were pretty cool and ate most of them for me. I think this was the first meal that I was actually looking forward to seeing the dessert menu since I actually had a little room left to eat it!
So, the dessert menu is delivered. I anxiously look at it hoping for something extra yummy and chocolaty...
No such luck. I didn't see anything that I just had to have. However, I finally settled on the Tiramisu and my husband went with the Zeppole di Catarina ( fried ricotta cheese with whipping cream and chocolate sauce). I think my daughter had a cookie, but don't hold me to that :) When the desserts came I was very intrigued with the presentation of my husbands dessert, and it actually looked quite tasty despite how disgusting I thought it sounded! So, was dessert better than the entrees? Yes, and no. My daughter did not like her dessert, and mine was very mushy. I am a texture person and couldn't get past the sliminess to enjoy the taste. Surprisingly, my husband's meal was the big hit. Those fritters were actually really good, and a lot of fun to dip in the chocolate and whipping cream. So, we all shared his!
In summary, the meal was good. It wasn't Disney great and if I was paying out of pocket, I definitely would not go back. However, if we were on the dining plan and couldn't get into one of our favorite restaurants I would give it another shot.
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