Team Renfroe's 2nd Trip Report - 1,500 pictures, dining reviews, and DISmeets!

[MagicShell]

That certainly looks like a lot of food. I am glad you had a good meal to end what sounds like a very busy day. I will be waiting to hear more.

 

[Shazzie B]

I'd forgotten that fantastic pudding at Ohana's

Perhaps you guys could help me out-what is Banana Fosters sauce (think that's what it's called)-does it come in a bottle-could I buy some in Walmart-looked last year but didn't really know what I was looking for.

One last question-if I can buy it in Walmart how many could I fit in my suitcase

My DH has a list of rides he can nap in-Ellens Universe of Energy is the Epcot one!

The picture of Wil in bed is so cute-bless him-he must have been exhausted.

Really enjoying the report Alan-Thanks again

 

[disneyfan61]

Another great update Alan!! Thanks for these updates. You must be so busy with your new business. I have the "I wine a lot" t shirt. I got it in May when we were there. My family also loves Ohana's. I love it when they bring out the hot towels & the food is great!! We have been twice & it was great both times.
You did look pretty beat in that pic of you waiting for your ADR. When it is that hot out it does not take long to get tired!! Looking forward to your next update

 

[englishrose47]

Hi Doreen !!!

 

[KatMark]

Alan, I know you are busy with the hot dogs and all and not Dising as much. But I had to let you know that Mark and I are going "home"--yep, we'll be at CSR for three nights/four days (September 19-22). As you know, we cancelled our trip because of finances and were, instead, going to Marco Island for 10 days because it was costing us nothing but the rental car and food (and I plan to cook a lot--no biggie). Well, I still had deposit down for our 10 days Disney trip and thought well what if we did a couple nights on the way to Marco or on the way home...especially with the special $96 rate they were offering for moderates. So I gave it a try and was able to get the first three nights at that rate before our trip to Marco Island. I'm so excited! Nope, it's not 10 days, but to me a few days is better than no days at Disney. So.....CSR here we come!

 

[disneyfan61]

Hi Doreen !!!

Hi Rosie!

 

[inkedupmomma]

Alan, I know you are busy with the hot dogs and all and not Dising as much. But I had to let you know that Mark and I are going "home"--yep, we'll be at CSR for three nights/four days (September 19-22). As you know, we cancelled our trip because of finances and were, instead, going to Marco Island for 10 days because it was costing us nothing but the rental car and food (and I plan to cook a lot--no biggie). Well, I still had deposit down for our 10 days Disney trip and thought well what if we did a couple nights on the way to Marco or on the way home...especially with the special $96 rate they were offering for moderates. So I gave it a try and was able to get the first three nights at that rate before our trip to Marco Island. I'm so excited! Nope, it's not 10 days, but to me a few days is better than no days at Disney. So.....CSR here we come!

Kat, I would love to meet you! We will be at CSR Sept 12-21! Your info on CSR has been so awesome, i'd love to met and thank you in person!

 

[alan_renfroe]

I haven't tried O'Hana's yet but I am adding it to my TO DO list after your review !!!!!Those shrimp look delish !!! Even the veggies looked great!!! Now as for bread pudding ...okay I admit it next to Tiamusu that is a fav.of mine !!!!

Everything was great! The steak, the pork, those pot stickers...it was all good.

We've never done Ohanas, but after reading your review and seeing those pictures, it is on our list for our next visit for sure.

You certainly will not leave there hungry! Save room for that dessert also. Yum!

Love the Ohana photos! Were big Ohana fans! Last year we had to wait 45 mins past our ADR time and our waitress - gave us a special table - perfect for Wishes viewing

The only problem is they give us as much food for a family of four as two people!

I haven't even thought about watching Wishes from 'Ohana. What a cool idea! We've watched from Narcoossee's and California Grill, but I didn't realize you could see it from 'Ohana.

On the food portions, it was our understanding that it is "all you care to eat," so I'm sure they would bring more if you'd like.

The pic of Wil with the towel brought back so many memories, I have the same pic of my boy when he was 9.....he's leaving for college in two weeks.....Cherish those kiddos Alan!

Gosh, that's sad. I feel like I've lost my son and have inherited a pre-teen with attitude. Thank God for those Disney World memories!

I love the salad and hot towels there too!
You guys def. deserved a good night of sleep

Oh, we got a good night's sleep for sure! We were soooo tired! I don't think we actually hit our stride until the following day. The rest of the trip went quite smoothly and exhaustion free.

So glad to see your Ohana review - I think that's next on our list to try in December!

I can't believe you all haven't been to 'Ohana! I love the Polynesian anyway....and this place is exactly what you would think the Poly would be like. I can't remember if you all do the dining plan or not, but it is really a good dining plan value for 1 table service credit, (as is Kona.)

Ain't that the truth! My baby turned 21 in May and they are both in college (oldest, age 23, is going back for his Masters). It goes way too fast.

Okay, seriously, you guys are making me sad. I love my kids so much....I just hate to see this precious time get away from us.

Loving the trip report so far- you sold me on Ohana for our December trip!! The food looks awesome.

Cool! 'Ohana is awesome!

Oh how I love thee Ohana! We had about the same experience, a bit slow, entertainment (we had the woman) was.....different....but the food! Oh the food!!!!!!!! I ate WAY too much that night though, ended up ruining me for the week!

Yeah, we were not really impressed by the entertainment. In fact, I did my best to ignore it completely. That being said, many others were loving the entertainment. We were loving the FOOD!

Thank you so much for the update! We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Ohana! I cannot wait to go back there in September, esp. now that your photos made my mouth water,

I was just thinking about those skewers last night. Have you ever eaten at a Brazilian Steak House? Where they bring out the food on skewers? 'Ohana reminds me of a Brazilian Steak House...only with a Hawaiian flair. We will definitely go back again.

Looks like O'Hana will have to go on my "must try" list! I've heard so much about the "entertainment" that I have a morbid curiosity now!

Hahaha...the entertainment on the evening we were there was a large Hawaiian man who played ukelele and sang. Every single song...uh....sounded the same. He sang "Happy Birthday" to several people, and it sounded exactly like the previous three songs he had performed! He told his "story" about where he lived in Hawaii about four times during the hour and a half we were there. It was charming at first, but got monotenous after a while.

 

[alan_renfroe]

Thanks for the Ohana review. We are going in September and now I am looking forward to it even more.

All I can say is lucky you for having the reservations! We tried to get dinner at 'Ohana on our first trip last year, but couldn't get ressies. No wonder the place is packed!

'Ohana looks great, I can't wait to try it in Sept., especially the dessert - YUM! Hope the hot dog business is going well!

The hot dog biz is going great! Thanks!

Allan Ohanas looked so yummy makes me sad they were booked through our whole trip I forgot how yummy every thing was! Well i guess we will just have to go back!
Nettii

Oh, definitely Nettii. I will definitely be looking forward to going back to 'Ohana.

Glad you are back Alan. The MMM looks like it would have been a blast.

Love Ohana's! So yummy. Can't wait to eat there again someday.

Can't wait to read about AK!

New chapter is coming up! A great day at the Animal Kingdom!

Wow! I was two updates behind. Um...let's see....what did I want to comment on?

First of all, love the reference to Cousin Eddie. I know you were thankful that nobody like him showed up.

Oh my goodness, what a sweet surprise that you guys had a princess show up for the Photopass picture. Bonus! Too funny that there were people taking pictures of ya'll getting your picture made. I think I see Dana (racefanof88) and her son, Dallas, in your mammoth meet picture. Is that them? If not, they have twins.

My boss in a total wine lover and likes to cook and after seeing your pictures, I think I've gotta make a stop in World Showcase and pick up the apron your wife is holding.

I have Ohana's booked as a backup (at the suggestion of the Dining reservation castmember) just in case the Spirit of Aloha show gets rained out. The food looks really delicious.

Okay, I think I'm done.

Wait, no I am not.....congrats, again, on the success of your family's new restaurant.

Now, I'm done.

Yep, that's Dana and Dallas! We were glad to get to meet someone from our own home state!

Those wine aprons were really cool. One thing I love about the World Showcase is finding items that you can't find anywhere else. Sometimes it is just fun to window shop, then make plans to go back again and pick up something you found on the last trip! That's exactly what Elizabeth did with the French rolling pin. Ever since our last trip, she kept saying, "I should've bought that rolling pin!" So she was excited to go back this year and get it!

Definitely keep the 'Ohana reservation. I hear that the Spirit of Aloha show is really neat....but my guess is that the food is better at 'Ohana.

Oh, and thanks for the good wishes on the business! So far, so good!

First night of our upcoming trip will be 'Ohana. Looking forward to it!

That friendship bread......mmm....definitely needs to become my friend!

oh yeah.....with all the food, it might be easy to overlook the friendship bread...but don't! It is really good!

WOWWWWWWWW! That food looks amazing! The towels were probably somewhat refreshing, too. Glad you were able to finally get to bed and relax a bit!

Yeah, we were happy about the wet towels. Personally, I used my to take a mini-shower after a hot, sweaty day!

I spy DIS moms at the slushie kiosk!


Sorry Alan, I have been shamelessly MIA on the DIS. July has been one giant blur of birthdays, concerts, and plays. Am trying to catch up all-around! Love the pix from the meet!

NICE SPOT!!! I see those crazy DIS moms back there as well!

Hey, I know what you mean about being MIA on the DIS. I am embarrassed that my trip report is taking so long, but the restaurant and my regular day job are keeping me extremely busy. I am, however, committed to this thing.

THIS picture still CRACKS ME UP!!!!!!!!

LOL! The ITSK picture with me and my beer in the background. Uh....yeah.

Alan - Back at ya! We LOVE your TRs and it was such a treat meeting your wonderful family. Juliana and Wil are terrific and I really do hope we can all be down there at the same time one day! Lauren and Amanda would LOVE it!

Also so happy to hear about the success of the restaurant! Now when are you starting that mail order side of it?

Yeah, now that we are business owners, maybe we can grow our business to the point where we can be more flexible about travel times. We would love to go sometime when our kids could meet. Juliana and Wil both enjoyed meeting you!

Oh, that's funny about the mail order hot dog biz! What is so ironic is that we get our "citified" dogs from Jersey! You being a Jersey girl and all....how funny would that be for us to have dogs shipped to us from Jersey, only to ship them back TO Jersey! Sabrett's rock.

Can you get ADRs for all of us at the MM? I can hear the phone drop at the CM's end now: "you want an ADR for how many? 35? 45?" "Where do you want to eat? "

Hey, if anyone can make it happen, it's Disney, right?

 

[alan_renfroe]

You going in Dec too? us too! When will you be there? We are definitely going to try 'Ohana. We have never done that one and i think it sounds too good to pass up!
Alan: Sold me on 'Ohana. Really not a fan of this type of food but i am going to go for it based on your review!

Reading about the meet really makes me wish 2012 was not so far away. We will be celebrating our anniversary (40 years!). It will be in the November before that but we are going to wait and celebrate it that May/June (whenever the meet is planned). Hope we have better weather this trip than the May one!
Keep up the reviews. Congrats on the dawgs.

Thanks! More reviews on the way, including lunch at Yak & Yeti, and dinner at Narcoossee's.

I'm thinking the same thing!

I've never eaten there - although I did manage to stop by real quick once to try a Lapu Lapu. Your pix, Alan, make me want to put it on my "Must-try" list!

It is totally a Disney experience to eat at 'Ohana. We had really wanted to eat there on our last trip, but could not get a reservation. This year, it was one of the first reservations we made.

Lapu lapu
One for me, one for you!

If I had not been so hot and tired, I definitely would have ordered a Lapu Lapu. Maybe next time.

It's on my list for next year !!!Judy isn't a fan of any Family style meals and we did a couple in 2007 !!But I have been toying with trying it!!!Now once again Mr Renfroe convinces me !!

Hey, that's what I do! In school, I was the kid that got other kids to try things! hahaha

I see DIS moms back there too! And I look like I"m passed out on the counter. Either that or trying to crawl over the counter to get my drink faster!

Go Kara, Go Kara, it's your birthday, Go Kara...

Your 'Ohana food looks delicious, glad you had a nice evening and how awesome that Aurora joined your group photo

Wasn't that cool? Juliana loved meeting Aurora!

Dang, I'm not sure how it happened, but for our September trip I got Le Cellier and couldn't get O'hana! I called at 90 days out also. Oh well, maybe in February!!

Looking forward to more!

We were the same way on our last trip! We got reservations for Le Cellier, but couldn't get them for 'Ohana. Keep calling them!

Alan another great update.

We have never been to Ohana either and it's on my list for November. I'm amazed at the number of us that haven't been to Ohana! For me it's because my mom is usually with us and the menu is not her cup of tea.

I'll have to show my Mom that pick of Dismoms in the back because it has my mom in the front with those 2 glasses of wine again.

Oh, that's too funny!

That certainly looks like a lot of food. I am glad you had a good meal to end what sounds like a very busy day. I will be waiting to hear more.

It was a very satisfying meal....and a great way to end Day #3!

I'd forgotten that fantastic pudding at Ohana's

Perhaps you guys could help me out-what is Banana Fosters sauce (think that's what it's called)-does it come in a bottle-could I buy some in Walmart-looked last year but didn't really know what I was looking for.

One last question-if I can buy it in Walmart how many could I fit in my suitcase

My DH has a list of rides he can nap in-Ellens Universe of Energy is the Epcot one!

The picture of Wil in bed is so cute-bless him-he must have been exhausted.

Really enjoying the report Alan-Thanks again

I'm not sure where you can get that sauce....but it certainly is delish!

Wil doesn't know that I posted that picture of him asleep. If he knew, he'd be mad at me for doing so! But I thought it was cute...and it definitely shows just how tired we were.

 

[alan_renfroe]

Another great update Alan!! Thanks for these updates. You must be so busy with your new business. I have the "I wine a lot" t shirt. I got it in May when we were there. My family also loves Ohana's. I love it when they bring out the hot towels & the food is great!! We have been twice & it was great both times.
You did look pretty beat in that pic of you waiting for your ADR. When it is that hot out it does not take long to get tired!! Looking forward to your next update

I LOVED that t-shirt! If we had not already spent $70 on that soccer jersey for Wil, we would have bought it.

Heat used to not bother me so much....but as I have gotten older, (and, ahem, larger,) I cannot stand to get TOO hot.

Next update is coming up!

Alan, I know you are busy with the hot dogs and all and not Dising as much. But I had to let you know that Mark and I are going "home"--yep, we'll be at CSR for three nights/four days (September 19-22). As you know, we cancelled our trip because of finances and were, instead, going to Marco Island for 10 days because it was costing us nothing but the rental car and food (and I plan to cook a lot--no biggie). Well, I still had deposit down for our 10 days Disney trip and thought well what if we did a couple nights on the way to Marco or on the way home...especially with the special $96 rate they were offering for moderates. So I gave it a try and was able to get the first three nights at that rate before our trip to Marco Island. I'm so excited! Nope, it's not 10 days, but to me a few days is better than no days at Disney. So.....CSR here we come!

YAY!!! That's wonderful! Take lots of pictures...us CSR junkies are counting on you! You are going to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the newly renovated rooms!

Kat, I would love to meet you! We will be at CSR Sept 12-21! Your info on CSR has been so awesome, i'd love to met and thank you in person!

Oh, that would be cool. DISmeets rock!

 

[KatMark]

Kat, I would love to meet you! We will be at CSR Sept 12-21! Your info on CSR has been so awesome, i'd love to met and thank you in person!

Thanks! We have a few others who are interested in a "morning coffee" or "afternoon drink" at Siesta's. Working on the schedule...so watch the CSR FAQ Thread as I'll be posting a proposed date there in the next few days.

 

[alan_renfroe]

After a well-deserved great night's sleep, we were up and ready for a nice day at Animal Kingdom! (Those new queen-size beds at CSR are TOTALLY worth the upgrade to a moderate!) This was an Extra Magic Hours morning at Animal Kingdom, so we wanted to get there by 8am.

We decided to drive to Animal Kingdom instead of taking the bus. (We were thinking we might ride Kali River Rapids last, and we would probably all be wet...so we didn't want to ride the bus all soak and wet.) Since we were driving, we decided to stop by El Centro and get a quick 'to-go' breakfast at the Pepper Market.

Then we were on our way to Animal Kingdom!

(I always take a picture of where we park, so I can find our vehicle at the end of the day!)

The skies were a little cloudy, but to this point we had not experienced any rain on the trip.

Since we had ordered the PhotoPass disc, we had to get the obligatory family photos in front of the tree of life!

I swear, I LOVE those early morning extra magic hours! You feel like you have the whole park to yourself for those first two hours.

We headed straight for Expedition Everest. We found out last year that the best way to get their is to walk through DinoLand USA.

There it is...in the distance....Expedition Everest! This is my second favorite ride in all of Disney World (2nd only to Rock 'N Roller Coaster.)

Coming up next - Expedition Everest & Kilimanjaro Safari - and later, lunch at Yak & Yeti.

 

[Mysteria]

Yay!! A Team Renfroe update. I still don't know how you are fitting this in with everything else you've got going on but I'm happy you are!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Hooray, just logged on and saw you had a fresh new post! Love the photopass pics. I laughed when I saw how Wil was not as hip to the growl face pic as the rest of u guys are. The posture in his hands just don't say "I am so excited to be taking this picture."

 

[Queenofallthings]

Oh dear, I am late to starting this one, but I'm subbing. My Dd16 told me "sub" to this one mom, it's great, so here I am.

Now I'm going to actually go and read your report

 

[inkedupmomma]

Thanks! We have a few others who are interested in a "morning coffee" or "afternoon drink" at Siesta's. Working on the schedule...so watch the CSR FAQ Thread as I'll be posting a proposed date there in the next few days.

Will do Kat!

Alan, great update! i want one of those pics of me holding baby simba LOL

 

[englishrose47]

Hi Alan! Great Update !! The PP pix were great I love Juliannna holding Simba and Elizabeth does a FIERCE ROAR!!!!!!

 

[SunnieRN]

Alan, I know you are busy with the hot dogs and all and not Dising as much. But I had to let you know that Mark and I are going "home"--yep, we'll be at CSR for three nights/four days (September 19-22). As you know, we cancelled our trip because of finances and were, instead, going to Marco Island for 10 days because it was costing us nothing but the rental car and food (and I plan to cook a lot--no biggie). Well, I still had deposit down for our 10 days Disney trip and thought well what if we did a couple nights on the way to Marco or on the way home...especially with the special $96 rate they were offering for moderates. So I gave it a try and was able to get the first three nights at that rate before our trip to Marco Island. I'm so excited! Nope, it's not 10 days, but to me a few days is better than no days at Disney. So.....CSR here we come!

Congratulations!!! I'm happy for you!!

Another great update Alan!! Can't wait for your Y&Y review. I made Sept. reservations based on your reviews from last year!!

Great photopass pics, and the one of the kids in front of the AK sign is great!!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Starting reading your report last evening and I am hooked, FABULOUS!! I love TR with tons of pics and yours is delivering in a big way. Can't wait for more

SUBBING