~We seldom report of having eaten too little~ w/ PICS! ~ UPDATE: New Thread Started!

[medicgirl911]

OOhhhh live updates! Leaving tommorow!! I am so glad I caught this one just in time!!!!!!!! have a great trip!!!

Hrmm has me wondering if I can figure out how to do live updates from my blackberry!!

 

[MA pigletfan]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have a great trip!!! can't wait to read/see all about it!!

 

[milmore104]

Can't wait. I'm all ready. Have a safe trip.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

I've checked in for my Southwest flight! (A16 & A17 ) Now my work day needs to end...only 2 1/'2 hours left

 

[H20DogsNDisney]

Have a Great Trip!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

I'M HERE!!

Hi guys!

We arrived safe & sound

We were upgraded to a Junior Suite at Coronado! Its in Casitas 3 on the 2nd floor, so not refurbished but TONS of space and exactly where we wanted

The weather is fantastic, sunny and very hot.

Tonight we ate at Kona and everything was delicious. I haven't uploaded my pics yet, but I will tomorrow

 

[oybolshoi]

Hooray, you're there!

Looking forward to the Kona dinner review ... we keep going back and forth as to whether or not we want to have dinner there in October.

Have a great time!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Glad you arrived safe and sound! Cannot wait to hear all about everything!

 

[H20DogsNDisney]

WOW an upgrade how cool!

 

[milmore104]

Yeah. Nothing like starting out w/ a little pixie dust. Can't wait.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Hi everyone!

I'm SO sorry that I haven't updated! Today was our crazy day lol.

We hit the MK for rope drop! Rode Splash, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, saw the Pirate Tutorial, Haunted Mansion, Mickey's Philharmagic and Its a Small World ALL as walk on's.

We had lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Yum!

Dinner was Ohana, which was the best of all my times there (no potatoes though )

We bought several snacks: Dole Whip, Popcorn, Toffee Mickey Pretzels and Cotton Candy

I was trying to upload pics but shutterfly is fighting me! And I'm sooooo tired! I really and truly promise pics ASAP.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Ohana - Sunday May 31st
​

We arrived at Ohana at 6:30, our ADR was for 6:25 and we had to wait longer than expected for a cab. As we walked up the stairs and around the corner I saw the check-in line stretched all the way to the Kona Island Coffee/Sushi Bar!

Thankfully it moved very quickly and we were checked in within 5 minutes. We found two seats at Tambu and glanced over the drink menu. Just then our pager went off. The hostess was very sweet and let us order our drinks from the bar before taking us to our table. As we were guided through the restaurant my eyes caught a wonderful table for 2 that was right against the windows with a PERFECT view. Lo and behold...it was ours!

View from our table

View of the restaurant

Welcome Bread - this was not as good as I remember it being. It was almost...fiberous...like there was too much pineapple and coconut in it

Sauces - Sweet & Sour, Peanut and Spicy Mustard - Neither of us tried the peanut sauce, but the sweet and sour was fantastic with the dumplings and the shrimp. The Spicy Mustard was awesome with the turkey and the steak.

Salad with Honey Lime Dressing - Alice hates salad but actually felt this was quite good. I love this dressing, it is light and the perfect balance of sweet and tangy.

Pork Dumplings - the last time I was underwhelmed by these. This time...YUM! The wrapper was crispy, the filling was flavourful and the sweet and sour sauce was the perfect compliment.

Honey Coriander Wings - these are always to die for! This time they were easily the biggest chicken wings I have ever seen!

Stir Fried Veggies - I didn't touch these but Alice had 2 helpings, so they must have been pretty good

Noodles - While I was disappointed that there were no potatoes, these were SO much better than the noodles I had in August 2008. They were thinner and had a more earthy, soy based sauce. They were accented with juilienne carrots and green onion I believe. Not the potatoes, but definitely improved.

Left to Right: Turkey, Steak, Pork - The turkey is always my favorite. The steak was actually cooked to a lovely medium and unfortunately the pork was like...a hockey puck LOL. The shrimp (not pictured) were nice and tender.

Bread Pudding!! - Mmmmmmmmmm! Best dessert ever! I could easily have polished off the entire bowl.

For those who are interested, the menu board out front of Ohana lists the price as $32.99, that INCLUDES the $4 surcharge.

Our drinks (which i will add pictures of) were:
Glowtini $9.75
Sunken Treasure $8.25
18% Gratuity $3.24
Tax $1.17
TIW Savings -$3.60
TOTAL $18.81

Our meal cost:
2 @ $32.99 = $65.98
18% Gratuity $11.88
Tax $4.29
TIW Savings -$13.20
TOTAL $68.95

We give Ohana:
4/5 for Service
4/5 for Food
5/5 for Ambience

OVERALL = /5

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Hi!

I'm getting all my pics uploaded and ready to post this evening. Today was UNBEARABLY hot! We went to Animal Kingdom and I swear we nearly had heat exhaustion and that was with drinking 3 bottles of water each.

We ate lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. Was fantastic. Going to California Grill for dinner, expect TONS of pics this evening

 

[oybolshoi]

Any chance you can snag a couple of menu pictures and post them here? I'd like to see some updated info on CA Grill since that's probably where we're going to take the nephew and his wife for dinner one night this fall.

Thanks in advance if you can, and if not, no biggie. Just have a great time!

 

[Twinkly-Tink]

I'd like to see menu for CG too! We're there for first time on 16th June - really looking forward to it and hoping it's not all sushi (as DH doesn;t do fish!!)

 

[MickeyNicki]

Hi!

I'm getting all my pics uploaded and ready to post this evening. Today was UNBEARABLY hot! We went to Animal Kingdom and I swear we nearly had heat exhaustion and that was with drinking 3 bottles of water each.

We ate lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. Was fantastic. Going to California Grill for dinner, expect TONS of pics this evening

The one review I am waiting for, take tons of pics for us! Have a wonderful dinner!

Any chance you can snag a couple of menu pictures and post them here? I'd like to see some updated info on CA Grill since that's probably where we're going to take the nephew and his wife for dinner one night this fall.

Thanks in advance if you can, and if not, no biggie. Just have a great time!

That is a great idea Bren! You take pics tonight and I will take them on Thur and lets see if they are the same

 

[oybolshoi]

That is a great idea Bren! You take pics tonight and I will take them on Thur and lets see if they are the same

I wouldn't be surprised to see differences.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Hi Guys!

I'm so sorry I forgot the menus! But I can tell you about the new items I noticed.

First Courses
- Lobster and Corn Beignets with Corn Remolade
- Maine Lobster Risotto with Midnight Moon Goat Cheese
- Crispy Rock Shrimp with Asian Greens

Sushi
- soft shell crab roll

We didn't have entrees so I didn't look at those

Here is a pic update to make up for it!

Kona Cafe - Sat May 30th​

Our dinner at Kona was on our arrival night. As I knew Alice had only purchased a 3 day base pass we were not able to go to a park that evening. Instead, I decided we should take a cab to Wilderness Lodge so that I could show Alice around. Plus, we had to rub Humphrey's nose for a good trip

From WL we took a boat to the Magic Kingdom, activated my annual pass voucher and hopped on the monorail to the Polynesian. Alice was blown away by the waterfall and gardens in the middle of the Great Ceremonial House. We checked in to Kona at 7:55 for our 8pm ADR. We were given a pager, made our way to Tambu, sat and the our pager went

We were seated at the side of Kona closest to Ohana in a lovely booth for 2. We knew we HAD to order Lapu Lapu's, what is a trip to the Poly without a tropical drink??

Inside the restaurant

By the time we were seated we were STARVING! We had been up at 6, on the road at 7, ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel at 9:30 and hadn't had a real "meal" since.

Yummy Bread! - We devoured this! It is the best bread and butter in the world to me

Chopsticks - I think Alice has a better picture, but these have the funniest saying on them! Check them out the next time you are at Kona.

Sushi! Front: Volcano Roll Back: Shrimp Tempura Roll - We debated over the sushi for a while. We knew we wanted some it was just a matter of which rolls. Our waiter explained they had just added a Chef's Choice Sushi Sampler. It consisted of 4 volcano rolls, 2 crab cake rolls, 2 salmon, cream cheese and jalapeno rolls and 2 hamachi and citrus rolls. We passed, but it was definitely interesting. Perhaps the offerings will change frequently?

I LOVE this volcano roll. It is perfectly spicy and the carrot and cucumber provide texture. The spicy shrimp mayo with tempura crunch is "lick the plate" good!

The shrimp tempura roll was wonderful as well, but it just cant beat California Grill's shrimp tempura roll in my mind.

Teriyaki New York Strip - This is one of my favorite steaks and I was actually happy to see they changed the side to sticky rice. You need rice with teriyaki in my book.

Coconut Almond Chicken - I was shocked when Alice ordered this. She literally HATES salad. She thinks lettuce tastes like grass and that is why she ordered a side of rice. But shockingly, she loved it! I think it was the strawberries and pineapple that sold her.

Our meal at Kona Cost:
Lapu Lapu 2 @ $13 (this seems LESS expensive to me, but was just as big as I recall!)
Evian $4.50
Volcano Roll $13.99
Shrimp Tempura Roll $12.99
Coconut Almond Chicken $16.99
Teriyaki NY Strip $27.99
Side of Rice $2.29
18% Gratuity $18.86
Tax $6.81
TIW Savings -$20.95
TOTAL $109.47

We give Kona:
5/5 for Food
4/5 for Service
5/5 for Ambience

OVERALL 1/2 out of 5

Wolfgang Puck Express - Mon June 1st​

June 1st was our Animal Kingdom morning. We decided to take a bus (we mostly took taxis because we were very short on time for this trip) so as we approached bus stop 2, about 25 feet away, we realized the AK bus was there. We sprinted over and hopped on. It was 8:20, we had expected to wait 10 mins or so, but I knew if we missed it chances are we would be waiting 20 to 30. Well as it turns out that would have been the better choice. It was UNBEARABLY hot that day. Like 103 with the humidity and not a single cloud in the sky. We stayed at AK from 8:30 till 2.

At 1:30 we lined up for Flame Tree BBQ. The lines were about 10 people deep, and were no longer under the awning but out in that relentless sun. We waited 15 minutes and didn't move up 1 person before bailing. We opted to take a taxi to DTD and take refuge in:

Wolfgang Puck Express!

Funny story: As we approached the counter I believe we looked a bit worn out from the heat...a bit might be an understatement...we probably looked like this and some of this

The cast member at the register asked where we had beem to which we weakly replied: "Animal Kingdom." He said he used to work there and that it was the hottest park, that it is ALWAYS at least 5 degrees warmer there

We ordered a chinois chicken salad, a bbq chicken quesadilla, a side of mac and cheese and a creme brulee. He laughed and said "going for the good stuff?" when I ordered the creme brulee and I explained I had had it before and it was my favorite dessert.

I whipped out my TIW card and he gave me 10% off (WPEx doesn't participate in TIW but they will give 10%) then he said..."wait...because you like the creme brulee I'll give that too you too!" Awesome! Then he continued and said "Hmm.." and hit the computer screen a few more times and the total popped up at $24.08!

When we got to our table, our sever brought us a side of fries, which we did not order. He winked and said again "YOUR side of fries."

So lets do the math
Chinois Chicken Salad $10.95
BBQ Chicken Quesadilla $10.95
Side of Mac & Cheese $3.95
Creme Brulee $3.95
Fountain Drinks 2 @ $2.65
Fries $3.95

That SHOULD be $37.43! and we got it all for $24.08 Guess we made a friend!

Fries - These are crispy and delicious! And they were unexpected!

Mac & Cheese (side) - Creamy, cheesy and rich. YUM!

Chinois Chicken Salad - BEST SALAD EVER! Napa Cabbage, Red Cabbage, Carrots, Asian Honey Mustard, Roasted Chicken and fried wontons....PERFECT!

BBQ Chicken Quesadilla - This was fantastic! The smokey bbq and creamy ranch were a great combo and inside it was gooey and cheesy.

Creme Brulee - Best CS Creme Brulee, in fact, I think it is better than the one at Chefs de France - a better sugar crust and a creamier custard.

We give WPex
6/5 for Service
5/5 for Food
5/5 for Ambience (more for Air Conditioning at that point )

OVERALL out of 5!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

I'M BACK!

I am uploading all my pics as we speak AND I have a clear pic of the California Grill Menu

I'll update tonight!

 

[milmore104]

Can't wait. I have to talk DH into WPE this trip. It looks so yummy!