We Came, We Saw, We ATE The World! 11 Nights Dlx DP *9/2 Yak & Yeti*

[JessicaKnits]

For lunch we didn't have an ADR (don't worry Yak & Yeti, we'll be back for you later!) but we did decide to stop by and get two of my favorite snacks!

First up were the fantastic...

Cinnamon glazed pecans. We did not feel very friendly, so decided not to share these. We each got our own.

Next up was...

The glorious, fantastic, amazing, jalapeno cream cheese pretzel. Again, we weren't feeling very friendly so we each decided to have our own.

 

[JessicaKnits]

Since we had a car this trip, we decided to try out Sanaa at the Villas @ Animal Kingdom Lodge. I really love Indian food, and thought this would be a nice change of pace.

We arrived a little early, which was ok as it gave us plenty of time to explore the grounds before checking in for dinner.

For months before our trip, I had been dreaming of the Naan bread service at Sanaa. I could seriously eat naan dipped in various sauces for my entire meal every day, all day.

So what happened when we got to Sanaa? I forgot alllllllll about the Naan bread. Until of course I saw waiters walking by with massive platters of Naan and dipping sauce. ::facepalm::

Our meal was still very delicious!

I started with an appetizer very similar to what I had at La Hacienda the night before...

Peri Peri Shrimp - Cucumber, Apples, and Cilantro $11.99

This was delicious and had a little kick of spice, but wasn't overwhelming. The shrimp were also cooked perfectly, and a nice improvement over La Hacienda's dish was that the tails had been removed. It was about the time that I was halfway through my appetizer that the Naan began coming out, and I shed a tiny tear (on the inside of course.)

Megan started with these...

Potato and Pea Samosas - choice of Tamarind or Mango Chutney $7.99

I can't stand peas, so did not try the samosas, but the little slaw in the middle there was amazing! It was super crisp and very vinegar-y (which is how I like my slaw!)

For entrees we pretty much went with the same thing. We both went with the

Sanaa Vegetarian Sampler - Choice of two served with Basmati Rice or Five-grain pilaf: Seasonal Greens and Tomatoes; Lentil Dhal; Paneer Tikka; Seasonal Vegetable Wat; Chana Masala $16.99

I ordered the Paneer Tikka aand the Chana Masala. I thought chana was chickpeas (which it is) but did not realize that it had this little addition...

Whoops! Those are peas. Our waiter was awesome and was able to switch this out for another dish of the Paneer Tikka. In hindsight, I wish I would have ordered the spicy Durban shrimp, but the Paneer Tikka was delicious and is one of my favorites!

Here is the Paneer Tikka over rice...

Megan also ordered the Paneer Tikka, and went with the seasonal vegetable wat.

We really enjoyed our entrees and it was great to see so many vegetarian options on the menu!

For dessert, I went with...

Dessert Trio - Tannzanian Chocolate Mousse, Coconut Cheesecake, Chai Cream $6.99

(I subbed an extra coconut cheesecake instead of the Tanzanian chocolate mousse.)

I thought everything was delicious, as well as the Chai Cream. I was glad I went with two of the cheesecakes because those were the clear winner!

And Megan went with...

Coconut Cheesecake - spiced berry compote $5.49

It was interesting to see the two different presentations of the same dessert. She was pleased to find that the mango sauce was real mango, and not artificial tasting.

Overall, we had a fantastic meal here and our service was wonderful! We can't wait to go back!

 

[ashleighbass06]

I'm so glad you enjoyed Sanaa! That's one of my favorites! I forgot to try the bread service as well. Oh well, that just means we have to go back, right?

 

[Kimmers127]

Oh your food at Sanaa looks so good! What is in the dish you got, tofu? This is my first trip as a vegetarian so even though we've been a million times all the menus are kind of different for me! Love, love, love the bread service at Sanaa!

Jungle juice mimosa... OMG I must have this. I'm obsessed with mimosas, I've been quietly mourning the fact that the mimosas seem to be off the menu for Flower & Garden this year. morocco's booth had them last May and I got them so often the guys at the booth started to recognize me! YUM.

Love the chevron accent on your nails! I'm tempted to show that pic at my nail salon and ask for it for our trip (in 4 days!!) but I'm always afraid it'll come out "meh" and I'm so picky, I'd probably ask them to remove it if it was lousy lol.

 

[familyabgar]

Love your reviews! Any chance you might get to your CRT review by May 20 or be able to give me a preview? We'll be having breakfast there on that date and I've been trying to find recent reviews! haha

 

[JessicaKnits]

I'm so glad you enjoyed Sanaa! That's one of my favorites! I forgot to try the bread service as well. Oh well, that just means we have to go back, right?

Agreed! Of all the places we tried, Sanaa is definitely one that is firmly on my "keep" list!

Oh your food at Sanaa looks so good! What is in the dish you got, tofu? This is my first trip as a vegetarian so even though we've been a million times all the menus are kind of different for me! Love, love, love the bread service at Sanaa!

Jungle juice mimosa... OMG I must have this. I'm obsessed with mimosas, I've been quietly mourning the fact that the mimosas seem to be off the menu for Flower & Garden this year. morocco's booth had them last May and I got them so often the guys at the booth started to recognize me! YUM.

Love the chevron accent on your nails! I'm tempted to show that pic at my nail salon and ask for it for our trip (in 4 days!!) but I'm always afraid it'll come out "meh" and I'm so picky, I'd probably ask them to remove it if it was lousy lol.

The dish at Sanaa is Paneer cheese, but I did feel like it had a texture almost identical to extra firm tofu.

I hope you have a wonderful trip! I found something similar on Pinterest, but I got a gel manicure, and they didn't have any of the white that was "gel" so they used just normal polish, and within a day one hand was completely ruined and the white pain chipped right off and took the gel manicure with it!

Love your reviews! Any chance you might get to your CRT review by May 20 or be able to give me a preview? We'll be having breakfast there on that date and I've been trying to find recent reviews! haha

I'm definitely not going to get to it before hand, because I'm sadly headed off to vacation this Friday. I would be happy to PM you the pictures and a bit about how our meal went though. I just don't have them uploaded on photobucket so I will need to wait till I get home!

 

[familyabgar]

I'm definitely not going to get to it before hand, because I'm sadly headed off to vacation this Friday. I would be happy to PM you the pictures and a bit about how our meal went though. I just don't have them uploaded on photobucket so I will need to wait till I get home!

Oh, thanks! Pictures will be unnecessary (I can't wait for those), but would love to hear how your meal went. Thank you!!

 

[archdandy]

I've been meaning to try Sanaa for three trips now. I always waffle about going because while I know I would enjoy it, my DH isn't always the most adventurous eater. Everything looked good there though so maybe next trip will be the trip we try it

 

[rachel09985]

Yum Sanaa! That is weird that the two coconut cheesecakes were different. I really liked the coconut cheesecake as well.

 

[englishrose47]

I enjoyed Sanaa in December . The winner for me was the bread service !!!

 

[JessicaKnits]

I've been meaning to try Sanaa for three trips now. I always waffle about going because while I know I would enjoy it, my DH isn't always the most adventurous eater. Everything looked good there though so maybe next trip will be the trip we try it

It was really a great meal! This was probably one of my favorite dinners of our entire trip!

Oh, thanks! Pictures will be unnecessary (I can't wait for those), but would love to hear how your meal went. Thank you!!

I hope you enjoyed your meal there!

Yum Sanaa! That is weird that the two coconut cheesecakes were different. I really liked the coconut cheesecake as well.

Definitely a great dessert! I wasn't sure about the spiced berry compote at first, but it was delicious.

I enjoyed Sanaa in December . The winner for me was the bread service !!!

I'm so sad that I forgot about it! But I do think I will be back for my next trip.

 

[sydneysmom]

count me in! everything looks so good!!!

 

[jesswindsor]

Just caught up!!! Great Reviews so far, Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[mickeymouse108]

all caught up its great seeing all the different places to eat to help plan where we will eat at our next trip.

 

[JessicaKnits]

count me in! everything looks so good!!!

Thanks for joining!

Just caught up!!! Great Reviews so far, Can't wait to read more!!!

Welcome! I'm glad you stopped by!

all caught up its great seeing all the different places to eat to help plan where we will eat at our next trip.

Glad I could help!

 

[JessicaKnits]

I had never been to Captain's Grille before, but I was excited to try them out for breakfast.

Our server her was wonderful and explained our options. They offered either a buffet or an a la carte menu. Megan ended up going with the buffet, and I decided to order off the menu.

In my never ending quest to order anything that has hollandaise sauce on it, I went with this...

Poached Eggs - Lump crab salad, prosciutto, potato rosti, and herb hollandaise $13.99

This could have used some more crab salad, and a bit more hollandaise for my liking, but was pretty tasty.

I also ordered a vanilla latte...

And here are Megan's items from the buffet...

French toast, Mickey waffles, and some potato casserole. This potato casserole was much better than the one at Crystal Palace, and was closer to what we are used to having from home!

Fresh Fruit

Mini frittata and a pastry.

Overall, we had a nice and tasty breakfast and it was SUPER QUIET in here. There are several other items on their menu I would like to try, so I wouldn't hesitate to go back!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Next up, we had lunch at Mama Melrose. This definitely seems to be one of those restaurants that people either love or hate, with very few in the middle. I've always landed in the middle. Its certainly not my favorite restaurant on property, but I enjoy it enough to keep coming back. We had booked the Fantasmic! package here.

Our server was Joann, and unfortunately she lacked any sense of warmth and was very cold and icy. While it is a relatively small gripe, when she came to take our order, she set another table's dirty plates down on our table.

Thankfully, our food here was wonderful and the ambiance does make me feel like I'm sitting in a restaurant on Mulberry Street in New York.

We started our meal off with rolls with a choice of butter or olive oil and spices.

I wish they would start serving slices of Italian bread instead of these rolls. The outsides are crusty and the insides light and fluffy. For me the outsides are just too crusty, and I end up just pulling out the center of the roll.

We also both ordered the Bellini

These are always the perfect mix of the sweet peach with the dry Prosecco and on this particular day, it was really refreshing.

For appetizers, Megan started with this...

Vegetarian Minestrone - with ditalini pasta $ 5.99

This was delicious and LOADED with different varieties of beans, so it is a great source of protein.

I went with...

Crispy Calamari - topped with grilled peppers and onions, served with dipping sauces $10.99

The calamari was thinly sliced and very tender. The batter was crispy, not greasy. I really enjoyed the dipping sauces. One was a basil pesto-y type sauce and the other was a citrus butter. Both paired nicely with the calamari. I didn't care for the spicy marinara.

For entrees, Megan had wanted a simple Alfredo, which they didn't have on the menu. But they did have the option for Penne pasta with a four cheese sauce. On the menu it came with a choice of meatballs or chicken. Megan asked if there was any way she could substitute in shrimp in place of the meat options, since she didn't eat land animals. Joann snapped back a "no." pretty harshly. Given that at the time there were several other dishes on the menu that had shrimp in them, including a flatbread, I didn't think her question was unreasonable. She decided to just go with the noodles and sauce. But then...out came this.

It must have been good, because she ate the whole darn thing!

I ordered my tried and true favorite,

Wild Mushroom Flatbread - roasted cremini and button mushrooms with a garlic-shallot spread and finished with balsamic reduction $12.99

This was so wonderful! It was any mushroom lovers dream! The mushrooms were perfectly brown and tender, but not mushy. The garlic spread was mild, and not overwhelming. I do wish there was a bit more of the balsamic though.
I too polished my plate.

Then out came dessert. I was quite perplexed as we did not order our dessert yet. Joann told us that if you had the Fantasmic! package, you just got a pre-plated dessert and that was it. I explained that while that was true for the standard dining plan, it wasn't for the Deluxe plan (at least not in the several times I have been there, all with the deluxe plan.)

I was incredibly disappointed because I had my heart set on the pistachio gelato. She gave us the "take it or leave it" approach. So we decided to leave it, which was a shame. Unfortunately we didn't care for any of these desserts and if she had explained that to us earlier we just would have gone without dessert altogether. I hate wasting food, so this was quite disappointing. The presentation was beautiful though...

On our way out, the whole dessert thing was really nagging me. I decided to stop at the podium and asked if they had changed the policy with desserts on the Deluxe Dining Plan and the Fantasmic package. The gentleman there, who just happened to be the manager on duty filling in, explained that they had not.

He offered to comp our entire meal, which I felt was a bit of overkill. I didn't even get into the bad attitude and dirty plates incident with him. I simply explained that we had already compensated for our experience in the tip we left for her and I just wanted to know the process for future reservations. Since we wouldn't have been able to use the extra dining credit I told him it was fine, really. In the end we compromised and he comp'd our drinks, which I felt was still overly generous, but we were very appreciative of the service he provided us.

In the end, Fantasmic was rained out that evening, so the whole thing was all for nothing.

 

[JessicaKnits]

We were absolutely starving after our day at Hollywood Studios and since Fantasmic! had been cancelled on the account of thunderstorms in the area, we arrived at Flying Fish twenty five minutes early and completely soaking wet. We had hoped to at least check in and get out of the rain, but we were actually turned away. So, we ended up grabbing a snack at the Boardwalk in the mean time. This ended up being a huge mistake.

Here is a quick picture of the dessert case...

And what we ended up getting...

We went with the key lime and lemon meringue tarts. Both were FANTASTIC. The key lime had a graham cracker crust and the lemon meringue was a shortbread cookie shell. The shell was very difficult to manage with a knife and fork so I ended up just eating the lemon filling, which was heavenly!

These were excellent little treats and I'm glad we stopped at the bakery because I had actually never been there.

Sadly for us, the service we got inside the little bakery was far superior to that we received at Flying Fish.

 

[englishrose47]

I am reading along !!! Our last experience at Mamma Roasa's was soooo bad I doubt I will ever return, long wait to be seated , slowest service ever , cold food and inattentive service . Why do servers NOT real;ise that bad food can be overlooked if their service is superb.

 

[JessicaKnits]

I am reading along !!! Our last experience at Mamma Roasa's was soooo bad I doubt I will ever return, long wait to be seated , slowest service ever , cold food and inattentive service . Why do servers NOT real;ise that bad food can be overlooked if their service is superb.

I totally agree! I can probably ignore mediocre food if I feel like I've been really taken care of.