Mouse Madness: Back to Food and Wine (Part One)featured

The view outside my apartment when I left for work. Perfect day for a trip to Florida!

I had to work, so I took my luggage to work and took the El to meet Mom at O’Hare after work.

We had, quite possibly, the best flight I’ve ever been on. Smooth ride the entire way from Chicago to Orlando. Not a single bump. We enjoyed some ridiculously overpriced airline snacks in celebration.

Our flight got in pretty late, so we booked a stay at the Doubletree not far from the airport for the night.

They hand you cookies they keep in a warmer at check-in. Those of us spending the day working and traveling call this dinner.

We were up early the next morning to check out and head to Downtown Disney.

We grabbed a quick breakfast at Wolfgang Puck Express. We *love* WPE. The food is as top notch as you can get in a counter service meal.

Spinach, Mushroom and Cheese Omelette

Chocolate Chip Waffles

We couldn’t check into our hotel for tonight for a few more hours, so we headed to the Orlando Premium Outlets. These are infinitely more high-end than the outlets we have in Illinois. A must-stop for us.

They have a store with official Disney merchandise that is heavily, heavily discounted at the Orlando Premium Outlets. We found these ponchos and had to have them.

We tried to check in to our hotel (the Hilton in Downtown Orlando) only to be told they wouldn’t have a room for us until the late afternoon. We were supposed to have a room by 1:00 pm. The hotel wasn’t at capacity — they were just being difficult because we booked through Priceline. There were many others checking in (and out) while we sat there in the lobby. I shot an email to an address I found on the Hilton web site detailing how incredibly rude their front desk staff were (we’d have had no problem waiting — their demeanor, attitudes and crass messaging soured our experience) and within 15 minutes, they suddenly had a room available for us.

Nothing says sweet dreams like a new purse and wallet from Tory Burch. Treat yo’self 2012.

It’s really a shame that the staff at the Hilton Orlando have such poor customer service skills because the hotel is gorgeous and well-maintained, and it’s a property we’d have considered for future, lengthier stays otherwise.

Especially since they have a lazy river.

Mom and I got changed and headed back to Downtown Disney for lunch at Earl of Sandwich.

Caprese (aka Mom’s favorite sandwich ever)

The Original 1762

Brownie

After our late lunch, we hopped on the first resort bus that came and resort hopped for a few hours, checking out the grounds, riding the monorail and just…being in Disney.

I’d read on the Disney Food Blog a few weeks earlier that they had a new snack on the Boardwalk…fried corn nuggets. Here in Chicago, we have a Chicago institution called Superdawg, which has the absolute BEST hotdogs in Chicago hands down. I’ve been going there as long as I can remember. My entire life basically. And aside from hotdogs, they also offer these amazing morsels of deliciousness called Superveggies, which is an assortment of deep fried broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms and…corn. And the corn ones are the best. Obviously. I always save them for last. On the outside, the corn nuggets from the snack stand on the Boardwalk looked the same. Taste wise? They’re good…but Superdawg’s are still better 😛

Yummy snack down, we went back to resort hopping.

We ended up back at our old stomping grounds, Port Orleans French Quarter, and took the ferry back to Downtown Disney.

We hit up Pollo Campero for dinner.

Certified Angus Ground Beef Burger

All Beef Hot Dog “Chicago-Style”

Salsa and Sauce bar

…and then capped off dinner by splitting a sundae at Ghiradelli. This was huge. We didn’t even come close to finishing.

Sated and tired, we headed back to the hotel, ready for our first day in Disney and for Stephanie to come join us!