Day One, Mardi Gras: We arrived sat Cabana Bay around 11:30 AM Sunday. We had stayed overnight in Brunswick, Georgia after driving from Pittsburgh. Perfect sunny weather the entire drive. That's a rarity.
We had checked in online, which is always a good idea when staying at Cabana. Reservation lines are generally pretty long most of the day, but they have a separate desk for online reservation guests, which doesn't have much of a line. Our room wasn't ready, so we went to USF while waiting. Great to see the park decked out for Mardi Gras. The food booths are really spread out through the park now. Just two food booths in the French Quarter area, which is a great idea. No choking crowds and plenty areas to sit and eat/drink/relax. Just about every food booth area in the park had lots of nearby seating, which is a huge improvement on the Epcot Festivals. Since it was highly recommended, we walked back to the Brazil food booth. The small plate was excellent. The beef was tender and very tasty. We had purchased the AP Mardi Gras food card ($150 worth for $120), a really good deal.
Since we were in the area, we went to ET, one of our fav attractions. Sign said 25 ,minutes, it was actually 10 at the most. Unfortunately, Botannicus was not operating, and the names at the end seem to rarely work. But rest of the ride was in fine shape. We also spent time in Diagon, our fav Potter land, rode Gringotts and caught a puppet show. Then we rode Simpsons, Minions and Transformers....all fairly short lines. Call came in from Cabana, said our room was ready, so we hopped on a Sapphire boat and went back to the no line, online reservation desk to get our room card updated.
Loews always treats us so well. I had booked a single garden faced room. This was a spur of the moment trip, so it was originally conceived on a budget level. The receptionist pointed out the room in the Thunderbird wing. I said, I never knew they had any single rooms in that part of Cabana. He smiled and said, no they don't, but they're giving us a complimentary upgrade to a 'pool facing family suite' for our two weeks vacation. Now that's four straight times they've given us a complimentary upgrade at either Cabana or Portofino. I guess it pays to be a frequent Loews guest. ...I love those people !!!
Rest of the daylight at the pool with a 79 degree sunny day. Then back to City Walk. The bars area was closed with the dreaded 'private party' barriers, so we ate at Vivo with only a ten minute wait. Vivo has really excellent Italian food, and we're from Pittsburgh, that has loads of good Italian restaurants.
Next post: Why we ate at so many table service restaurants this trip.