Did we come for the rides or the food?!?! - 14 Days of Dining COMPLETE!

[lynn46356]

I'll be reviewing LTT in my trip report soon and honestly we loved our meal although we ate during lunch so we didn't have a fixed menu. My mouth waters just thinking about our meal. It's about time for supper here now too.

 

[mullysisters]

Thanks for your Dining Report. Very well done and enjoyable.

My sister and I ducked into LTT at lunchtime one day when it was very hot and they were able to seat us! We had a la carte menu. Our meal was one of our favourite ever, in fact, we asked the server for a copy of the recipes and we still make them at home.
I wonder if we shouldn't send back inedible food, however?
Isn't this the only way that restaurants improve?
Looking forward to see how you like BOMA- our fav!!

 

[princess aleya]

The shrimp po-boy looks so good. I know that's what I'm getting when we go..

 

[The_Aviator]

At about 5:00pm on our day at the Animal Kingdom we decided to pick up some snacks at the Kusafiri Bakery. We still had credits to burn!

The bakery has a huge selection of bakery items available, as well as drinks.

Of course we had come to try some of the items we had heard about on the net.

The queue was quite long, but eventually we made it to the front and ordered two Brownie Paws (for DM, DS and DD), one Elephant Cupcake for me (both items were $3.99ea) and one cappuccino ($3.39)

They don't have too much seating at this place, but we were luckily able to get one of those high tables and we ate there.

So, without further ado, I present pictures!

The Elephant Cupcake (cappuccino in the background)

And the Brownie Paw

In regards to the elephant cupcake, it is a chocolate muffin with vanilla cream frosting. The frosting is covered in toasted coconut, and there was also some frosting in the middle but I don't remember what flavour it was. I liked it myself, it was large and quite good. As for the elephant on top, it is actually a white chocolate lollipop! (As I had read about at AJ's Disney Food Blog prior to going). However, DM didn't know this and she saw it lying on my plate and for some reason put it on the table, and there was no way I could eat it then! . So some advice here, make sure people know it's a lollipop otherwise stick it in your pocket or bag or something as soon as you get it!

The Paw Print Brownie was HUGE! It has a layer of brownie on the bottom, some chocolate ganache in the middle and then the frosting on top. This could easily be shared. DM, DS and DD couldn't finish the two brownies so they gave me some. It was really good! The only thing was that because we had a ressie at Boma just a few hours later we didn't want to finish the whole thing and be full for Boma so we left a bit at the end!

I didn't have a problem with the snacks, but the others thought that they were too well refrigerated. They said the brownies were rock-hard! I didn't find it a problem, but they would have preferred if they hadn't been as cold.

As for the cappuccino, it was prepared fresh by the staff and DM and DD enjoyed it.

So all in all, Kusafiri is probably a pretty good place to burn some credits at the AK.

Cost:

4 snack credits used - 8 remaining
Bill Total - $16.36 (avg. $4.09ea)
Running Total - $2189.14

NEXT UP: Dinner at Boma!

 

[sjs314]

I can not imagine AK being cold, everytime I have visited that park it was crowded and sweltering hot. I think we are planning on doing Tuskers this trip to get the tix for the reserved seating at the finding nemo show.
All I ever read about is yak and yeti and flame tree bbq, was nice to see a review of someplace different at AK.

That po'boy sandwich looked good to me too but of course being diabetic more than likely I would have at the shrimp and left the bread, something I tend to do here at home. Just yesterday went out for lunch and ordered an open turkey sandwich, only took one bite of the bread and the waitress wanted to know if there was something wrong with the bread.

I need to start telling the servers when I order to hold the bread since I know I am not going to eat it.

That elephant muffin/cupcake looked and sounded great. We plan on using our snack credits at the F & W Festival , I wish I could use them for sweets.

on the reviews

 

[The_Aviator]

I'll be reviewing LTT in my trip report soon and honestly we loved our meal although we ate during lunch so we didn't have a fixed menu. My mouth waters just thinking about our meal. It's about time for supper here now too.

It's great that you enjoyed your meal there!

Like I said, the reviews for this place were very positive and that was why we chose it. It definitely wasn't a terrible meal, just didn't compare to any of our other meals

Thanks for your Dining Report. Very well done and enjoyable.

My sister and I ducked into LTT at lunchtime one day when it was very hot and they were able to seat us! We had a la carte menu. Our meal was one of our favourite ever, in fact, we asked the server for a copy of the recipes and we still make them at home.
I wonder if we shouldn't send back inedible food, however?
Isn't this the only way that restaurants improve?
Looking forward to see how you like BOMA- our fav!!

Hope you enjoy the Boma review! I should be posting it tomorrow if all goes well.

The shrimp po-boy looks so good. I know that's what I'm getting when we go..

That's what I thought too! But according to DM and DS it doesn't taste as good as it looks?

I can not imagine AK being cold, everytime I have visited that park it was crowded and sweltering hot. I think we are planning on doing Tuskers this trip to get the tix for the reserved seating at the finding nemo show.
All I ever read about is yak and yeti and flame tree bbq, was nice to see a review of someplace different at AK.

That po'boy sandwich looked good to me too but of course being diabetic more than likely I would have at the shrimp and left the bread, something I tend to do here at home. Just yesterday went out for lunch and ordered an open turkey sandwich, only took one bite of the bread and the waitress wanted to know if there was something wrong with the bread.

I need to start telling the servers when I order to hold the bread since I know I am not going to eat it.

That elephant muffin/cupcake looked and sounded great. We plan on using our snack credits at the F & W Festival , I wish I could use them for sweets.

on the reviews

Your idea of the AK is the same as mine! On our last trip (June '06) it was always hot and for some reason, even on this trip even though the days at AK were cold, it didn't feel cold. I suppose just thinking about Africa and Asia just makes it feel warmer

Your idea about getting the reserved seats for Nemo sounds good, however I just thought I'd let you know that we were able to get in without a problem, and people were still entering the theatre like 10-15mins before the show.

And thanks for reading!

 

[shera]

I love your reviews,thanks so much for sharing!

 

[Tinker12]

It's amazing that everytime my family and I go to DW, we never get treats like your recent post. I do not understand why.... I'm a little sad that we have passed up theses amazing treats. It could be that the temp is in the lower to upper 90's and a drink sounds so much better than chocolate. I hoping that the temp will be better in March!

I do so LOVE your reviews!! They are full of information!!


Thanks!!

 

[The_Aviator]

I love your reviews,thanks so much for sharing!

I'm glad you're enjoying them!

It's amazing that everytime my family and I go to DW, we never get treats like your recent post. I do not understand why.... I'm a little sad that we have passed up theses amazing treats. It could be that the temp is in the lower to upper 90's and a drink sounds so much better than chocolate. I hoping that the temp will be better in March!

I do so LOVE your reviews!! They are full of information!!


Thanks!!

Thanks for reading!

 

[The_Aviator]

I'm sorry I haven't been able to write any reviews lately, been a bit busy! Anyways I'm back with a review of our dinner at Boma.

Boma is the buffet restaurant located at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and from what I had read about it, it definitely seemed like a favourite amongst Disney visitors! So when we had to cancel our reservation for 12/22 we just had to make a reservation for later in the trip, and we ended up getting a 7:50pm reservation for today!

To get to AKL we hopped on a bus from the AK theme park. We weren't the only people with this idea, in fact perhaps half the bus were holding the little reservation confirmation slips in their hands! . Our first stop was at Kidani Village and Jambo House, where Boma is located was the second stop. I assume that this is the regular schedule so just keep in mind that if you're going to Boma, you want the second stop once you reach the resort

We arrived probably around 10-20mins early at the resort. The way the hotel is set up is that you enter on the second floor where the lobby is, and then Boma is on the ground floor. However you don't need to go searching for it, just look directly to the left as soon as you enter and you will see a Boma check-in desk! I suppose the popularity of Boma has led to the creation of this special desk. Here, a CM will check-you in for your ressie and give you a buzzer, which works all over the lobby, both on the main floor and on the Boma floor. IMO a much better system, as you have a little more room to explore!

Anyways we were called down for our ressie pretty much right on time and we took the stairs (pretty sure there is an elevator too) down to the restaurant, where we were taken to our table.

I think I should start with these pics, which were of informational signs I found right outside the restaurant. These signs weren't 100% accurate in terms of the menu listings, but at least it gives you a bit of an idea!

A bit of info on the restaurant itself

The menu (once again, not 100% accurate but fairly close! )

I zoomed in on the dinner part for better readability!

And last but not least, the drinks list! As you can see, they have quite a few South African drinks

I'll start by saying that the restaurant was really quite big! It was crowded with people even at this late-ish time, but even though it was busy the buffet lines were moving reasonably well and the food was being replenished quickly.

Our server was Martin. He was alright and kept the drinks filled most of the time, but there were extended periods when he disappeared and the plates started to stack up a bit. Overall, a pretty good server, but not as great as Margaret as 1900PF for example. As with all the Disney buffets, a wide variety of non-alcoholic drinks are included. I think we all had sodas, except for Dad who ordered a half-bottle of the Black Pearl Oro Shiraz-Cabernet ($21). This was something that Dad really liked about Boma, the half bottle. Usually one glass is just not enough, while a full bottle is too much. A half bottle is a good mid-point, and would probably be an ideal amount for a couple just looking for a bit of wine with their meal etc. For comparison, a glass was $9 and a bottle was $39.

I think I've kept y'all waiting enough now, it's time that I talked about the food! They had a huge variety of dishes to choose from all laid out over multiple stations which stretched for quite a distance! Behind the stations we could see the massive kitchen, staffed by dozens of chefs. Below are a few pictures. Sorry, I wasn't able to photograph every station but I can tell you a bit about what was available!

Salad Bar

Lavosh, Pita Bread and Dips

The Soups (I'm sorry, the pic quality wasn't great so it's a bit hard to read the signs! The first one is a Mulligatawny and the second is a Black Eyed Peas soup. Apart from that I remember that there was a Seafood Gumbo soup, but not sure what the other one was)

Various other dishes (Once again, sorry about the pic quality! From left to right once again, I believe it is the Bobotie (African Quiche), Fufu, Geetry's Rice and last but not least, a Tofu and Green Bean Curry.

Apart from this they had another salad area with a lot of specialty salads (including a seafood salad I believe!) and then they also had a station to the far right of the dining room with lots of meats, potatoes etc. At this station there was a chef always there, who was responsible for carving the beef. At this station they had sausages, pork, chicken, beef, fish, potatoes, rice, falafel and much more! The chef carving the beef was very nice, speaking with all the guests and also asking how we wanted our meat cooked, depending on whether he had a few different ones available. He was also very generous with his servings!

So I think I'll start with the soups, since that's where we started. By far the best soups were the Mulligatawny and the Seafood Gumbo. Both were very different, but both were very tasty. I recommend that if you have the Gumbo, make sure you get the ladle all the way to the bottom of the pot because that's where you find the seafood! . DM and DD really liked the gumbo and they went back for more of that a couple of times, while I really liked the Mulligatawny and had a few bowls of that. As for the salads, we didn't really have any but they all looked very good, they had a bunch of different salads and a bunch of different vinaigrettes and I'm sure there must be something there that can please everyone.

The hot dishes at the station on the right were all very good. Personally I enjoyed the carved meat and the sausages the best from that station, although nothing tasted bad! The only complaint I would have is that with the Roasted Chicken, the pieces are a bit too large! It wouldn't hurt if they cut the pieces a bit smaller

As for the other hot dishes, all were very interesting in terms of their taste and it was a real culinary exploration. The fufu wasn't exactly authentic from what I have seen before. From what I understand, fufu is a very popular food in many parts of Africa because, similar to rice, it is a staple of the diet and fills the stomach. However, this was more of a mashed sweet potato. It still tasted really great, although I probably wouldn't want to fill myself up on it! The Bobotie was also very interesting. It's kind of like a minced-meat base with an egg layer on top. I could swear I tasted some raisins in it as well, so there may well be a bit of fruit inside.

In addition to all of this is the kids section, however it's pretty easy to overlook the kid's section when there is soooo much great stuff to eat! They had the usual stuff, like pasta, chicken tenders, french fries etc. I think we all had a few french fries... lol

They also had a large selection of breads, both African breads and European/American breads. I decided to leave all the familiar looking breads and try the one that looked the most interesting. It looked kind of like a small muffin and perhaps the closest thing I could relate it to is corn bread? It was really nice, but I found it was better dipped into the Mulligatawny. Perhaps this is why the bread and the soup were right next to one another!

There are probably countless dishes that I have missed but I think it is safe to say that anyone that visits this place would find something that they would enjoy. Even if you're not too adventurous with food, it really won't hurt to take just a small spoon of everything and give it a go, it won't take long before you find something you really like. I think this is also a great place for vegetarians, since there are so many non-meat dishes and a lot of them are prepared in really interesting ways, for example the Tofu and Green Bean curry! The food itself is not just African, but represents all the different cuisines that can be found in Africa. For example, there is a lot of Indian influence in many of the dishes, as well as Middle-Eastern. Another good thing about the dishes is that they strike a perfect balance in terms of spice. They are definitely not too spicy, but they are nowhere near being considered bland!

After making our way through a multitude of plates and bowls of soup the time for dessert finally arrived! Thankfully my dessert pics turned out a lot better

This is only half of the dessert section, there is another dessert section on the left that I forgot to photograph!

And a plate of pretty much every dessert on offer

I can honestly say without reservation that every single dessert on this plate was amazing. The brownie, the little tarts, the cookie, the pudding and of course the Zebra dome were all just little pieces of heaven on earth! While a lot of people that go to Boma rave about the Zebra domes afterwards, I think you would have every right to rave about any of the desserts! Make sure that you leave room for dessert if you come here, you will regret it if you don't!

Since we had listed DS's birthday as a celebration on the ressie, Martin brought out this lovely cake for her. I love the way they've put their logo on the plate

So all in all, this place would receive a high recommendation from us, not just for the food, but for the reasonable service, the ambience and the decor of the place. Some of us were a bit hesistant to go, but I think by the end of the meal we could all agree that it was a success. If you come to Disney looking for adventure, looking for fun and above all, looking for good food (and lots of it!) then this is the right place for you. Would we return? I would see no reason why not, although there are still so many places left to visit!

The buffet is priced at $36.99. This is pretty good value for a credit on the Dining Plan, and I think that for those on the dining plan, the sheer variety on offer (which is not always so common with buffets) makes it good value even OOP. This is one of those meals that creates memories that will last a lifetime.

I hope I have answered everyone's questions on Boma. If people have any queries, comments or anything about this restaurant please feel free to let me know in the comments below and I will do my best to answer them!

Cost:

4 TS credits used - 4 remaining
Bill Total (exc. the wine) - $157.58 (avg. $39.39ea)
Running Total - $2346.72

So with our confidence restored in Disney TS Dining (after our 'not so great' experience at LTT) we left the AKL and returned home. Of course we had to change at the AK theme park, but luckily we got a really nice driver who when he found out we wanted to go to CSR radioed and asked for the AK-CSR route on his arrival at AK, making our journey a lot easier!

NEXT UP: It's nearly over! (Or is it??? ) Snacks in the morning then off to Downtown Disney for a lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Boma is our joint favourite place to eat at WDW (with Le Cellier) and I could eat there for a week and never get bored.

shocked by the price when you visited though - it is much cheaper in October when we go.

 

[sjs314]

Very nice review of dinner at Boma's
I have only eaten Breakfast there and plan on doing so again on our AK day this coming trip, but I know I want to try dinner there for sure

 

[jmm476]

Great review of Boma! I'll have to add it to our list of places to try.

 

[BEIZAWDW]

Great review and pictures! Boma is day 1 on our agenda in April, so this got me excited!

 

[tlynk]

Your reviews are outstanding! Thank you for sharing!

 

[Kathy Z]

I haven't read the rest of your Dining Review but I just read your Boma review. You did such an excellent report complete with very helpful information and photos for anyone who has never been to Boma before.

Technically, you enter Jambo House on the third floor, although I always thought it was the second floor until we stayed there the week prior to your trip. You are correct, there are also elevators down to the first level where both Boma and Jiko are located.

The three times we have eaten dinner at Boma the fish has been salmon and it has always been great. And I love those sweet little muffins which I also refer to as corn muffins. I've always had either the butternut squash or ginger carrot soup depending on which one is available and now make the ginger carrot soup at home. The plentiful assortment of salads are a true salad lover's delight. I'm hungry thinking about it all. Please pass me a few caramel cheesecakes now.

Yes, Boma is one of the buffets that imposes a holiday surcharge. I believe it began on December 18th and ran until the end of the year.

 

[mullysisters]

I was hoping you would love BOMA, I miss it when I'm at home! Great dining report, I really enjoyed it.

 

[The_Aviator]

Boma is our joint favourite place to eat at WDW (with Le Cellier) and I could eat there for a week and never get bored.

shocked by the price when you visited though - it is much cheaper in October when we go.

Yes this was the holiday peak season pricing. Although it wasn't such a big deal for us since we were on the DDP, it definitely would make a difference for those paying OOP.

However, I think there may have also been just a regular price increase, on which a holiday surcharge was added. So perhaps if you visit Boma again this October the price may be a little higher than it was last time

Very nice review of dinner at Boma's
I have only eaten Breakfast there and plan on doing so again on our AK day this coming trip, but I know I want to try dinner there for sure

Thanks for reading! I hope you get to try the Boma dinner sometime soon

Great review of Boma! I'll have to add it to our list of places to try.

I think you definitely should, it's a great restaurant!

Great review and pictures! Boma is day 1 on our agenda in April, so this got me excited!

Lol good idea, you might like it so much you might want to make it Day 2, 3 and 4 as well!

Your reviews are outstanding! Thank you for sharing!

Oh thank-you so much!

I haven't read the rest of your Dining Review but I just read your Boma review. You did such an excellent report complete with very helpful information and photos for anyone who has never been to Boma before.

Technically, you enter Jambo House on the third floor, although I always thought it was the second floor until we stayed there the week prior to your trip. You are correct, there are also elevators down to the first level where both Boma and Jiko are located.

The three times we have eaten dinner at Boma the fish has been salmon and it has always been great. And I love those sweet little muffins which I also refer to as corn muffins. I've always had either the butternut squash or ginger carrot soup depending on which one is available and now make the ginger carrot soup at home. The plentiful assortment of salads are a true salad lover's delight. I'm hungry thinking about it all. Please pass me a few caramel cheesecakes now.

Yes, Boma is one of the buffets that imposes a holiday surcharge. I believe it began on December 18th and ran until the end of the year.

Thanks for the extra information, and I'm glad you liked the review!

I was hoping you would love BOMA, I miss it when I'm at home! Great dining report, I really enjoyed it.

I'm missing it too!

And thank-you so much for reading

 

[The_Aviator]

Really sorry folks, but I've been really busy today and it's getting a bit late here in Aus so no time for the WPE review! However, I'm sure I'll be able to write it up tomorrow

As for now, just a quick snack credit use to report. In the morning we went to Panchito's and picked up another chocolate milk. I've got a picture from an earlier visit here if anyone is interested. Just a regular Nesquik one...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=39764563#post39764563

Cost:

1 snack credit used - 7 remaining
Bill Total - $2.33
Running Total - $2349.05

NEXT UP: Lunch at WPE, some snacks later in the day then dinner at the Kona Cafe!

 

[phabric]

I enjoyed your reviews with pictures. It makes the planning alot easier to see the food with pictures.

For your DS celebration, did they place the cake in front of your DS or did they sing. I would like to do that for our anniversary, but if they sang DH would be embrassed.