A Salute To All Things Disney, But Mostly Food - A Feb 15 Dining Report - That's a Wrap 7/18

[kastoney]

Yea, glad you're heading back sooner than you thought. We stayed at PoFq when my youngest was about the same age as Casey. It's pretty small so that was it nice and my little girl enjoyed the pool. We liked the boat to Downtown Disney. Maybe you can try more places to eat there. And I'm hopeful you'll head over to Boatwrights. We are booked at POR for October and would like to try it.

Thanks for the info. Had a choice of a few places and ultimately decided on POFQ because as you said it was small. Good to hear the pool was fun for your daughter, I'm sure Casey will love it. We typically don't do DTD but with boat I'm sure we'll make the excursion. Contemplating doing Raglan since I hear so many good things about it but have never done it myself. If we get in early enough (flight is due to arrive around 5:30) plan to do Boatwrights on the first night as it looks like an easy walk and good food. Definitely excited to try some new places.

How the heck did I miss that you have this going on? BAD BILLIE!!!! I'm off to eat vicariously through your thread, but before I do...

Bad, Bad Billie. But I think I can forgive you

I love this! Quick and dirty weekend last-minute weekend trips are AWESOME! And yes, I say that because I had one in April and it was great!

Definitely taking a page out of your book. I have so many quick and dirty comments I'm just dying to make but I will exhibit some restraint ; )

You lucky duck!! I have to wait until end of Sept!

Definitely feeling lucky, but of course you were just there ; )

AP math is funny. I figure that with all the discounts we have gotten for resort rooms, meals and purchases, the price of the AP is almost free. Of course, you have to go to Disney multiple times in order to make the AP almost free - see - AP math.

I love the way you do math. Gonna have to start to use that one.

Just tonight DH said that he is ready to go back to Disney. I reminded him that we were there exactly one month ago. I think it would be fun to take a long weekend and stay at POFQ. I would be taking the boat to DTD for some meals, since I don't like to shop but I do like their restaurants over there.

Sounds like our hubbys could really fuel each other on ; ) Definitely plan to make at least one trek to DTD. Like you I'm not a shopper, but a chance to try some new places to eat.

I love your reviews! Flying Fish looks really good. As a big seafood fan, that is a place I need to go try. And hooray for another Disney trip coming up soon!

Thanks so much. If you love seafood, definitely give flying fish a whirl. Jason's meal aside, we usually have amazing meals here.

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[kastoney]

joining in

Welcome to the food party

 

[kastoney]

So what to do on our last full day of vacation while staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, why go to Animal Kingdom of course ; ) We'd saved this for later in the trip since we'd be so close which was way too long in my opinion. I've fallen in love with AK and its subtle charm, so much so that it has eclipsed Ep-A-Cot and is now firmly my second favorite park.

Before you read further a bit of caution as I ramble and rant a bit for the next few paragraphs. But if you name your own adventure and move down to the beer, you can skip ahead to the food happy spot.

Knowing we had a short trip ahead of us we meandered to the bus stop about 30 minutes before park opening and saw lots of people waiting. It took about ten minutes for an AK bus to pull up, but unfortunately it was half full from Kidani and we didn't make it on. No worries though, we were fairly close to the front of the line so we'd make the next one. About 20 minute later (and 20 more minutes of people joining the "line") another half full bus pulled up. We were close enough to the front door of the bus that we should have made it on, but of course all decorum went aside and folks I'd seen join the line not 5 minutes before were pushing their way on. We literally were the next to get on when the bus was declared full. #AKLProblems. This was the first time we'd had an issue not getting a bus at a deluxe resort, so I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'm still not sure why they don't use a traditional line like everyone else. Ok, rant over it took another 15 minutes or so but finally an empty bus arrived.

We eventually got to AK and it was almost an hour from when we'd walked out our room door. So much for proximity. Of course it had to go better from here, and then we encountered this....

Now as I'm sure everyone knows we are not usually the first arrivers at the park, but this was 30 minutes after opening on a Friday, in February, that was a "3" on the crowd calendar so I was a bit surprised. 20 minutes later we were finally in the park.

Once inside things were sure to get better since we had a fast pass for mickey and minnie (which we almost missed due to all the delays by the way). We were quickly inside the fast pass queue where we stood for about 15 minutes with no movement. I finally asked what the problem was and it was explained to me that fast pass doesn't get you direct access it just lets you join the line further down the row. I politely explained I understood how fast pass worked, I was just wondering why we stood in place for 15 minutes and were being told we'd still have a 15 minute wait whenever we were let through and the posted wait time was 25 minutes outside. Seemed we'd encountered slow pass. After another 5 minutes we bailed and headed over to Casey's beloved "rascal park"

For those unfamiliar AK has a huge play area called the boneyard. Casey loves it, especially this fake door that has a man that yells "Get away from that door you rascal" when you try to open it. For some reason she thinks this is the funniest thing on earth, so despite all the issues of the day thus far she found her happy place.


We let her play for for almost an hour before it was time for my happy place aka some adult beverages. I'd planned on just getting some Flame Tree BBQ from the kiosks since it was shut down, since it is a favorite of ours, but that morning Jason asked if we could get into Yak and Yeti. To the good old disney app I went and happily secured a reservation.

This was our first time at Yak n Yeti, not sure why as I'd ready pretty good reviews about it. We checked in and were quickly seated with a great view of the park.

And after our day thus far, Jason and I quickly ordered two of these beauties.

Kirin Ichiban!!!! Not the worlds greatest beer but it hit the proverbial spot.

While we waited for our food, Casey was in a bit of a mood since we'd pulled her from her beloved rascal park, but eventually the request for some princess poses turned her around

Not one to be outdone, I decided to get into the mix

We both clearly have careers as Disney princesses ahead of us

It wasn't too long before the main event was presented to us. My usually good eater insisted on a hamburger, so this is what Casey got

She declared this good (gotta work on her inner food critic a bit) and even let her Mama steal a fry or two. They were thin and crispy, and hot unlike some of the prior versions we'd had earlier in the week.

For entree's Jason and I were having trouble decided so we ultimately decided to share a few things. First up was the Pork Pot Stickers served with a soy lime dipping sauce.

We got these pan fried per Jason's request (I'm usually a steamed kinda girl). The potstickers themselves were pretty standard issue and didn't have a ton of flavor, but the sauce they were with kicked them up a notch. It was called soy and lime, but it had a great umami taste to it that I think came from some fish sauce. Whatever it was added a bit of a bitter taste (in a good way) that worked really well with the potstickers.

After reading lots of good reviews on the DIS, our other selection was the Pork Egg Rolls which come with a chili and plum dipping sauce

The egg rolls were the act opposite of the potstickers in that the sauce was nothing special and tasted like something straight from kikoman, but the actual egg rolls were amazing. They were the perfect texture and their crunch stayed throughout the meal. The pork filling had a lot of good flavor as it was heavy on the pork and light on the veggies, which is good by me ; ) They may have been the best egg roll I've ever had and I'm sure you know by now I've had more than my fair share ; ) We found they were really good dipped in the pot sticker sauce as well.

We also shared the Crispy Honey Chicken entree which is Tempura chicken, broccoli, carrots, honey sauce and choice of jasmine or brown rice

The chicken itself was moist and crispy, but really didn't have much flavor honey or otherwise. Jason and I took to adding some sriracha which made it much better. They let us sub in fried rice vice the jasmine or tempura. It was nothing spectacular, but not bad either.

After a couple of beers and our food, I was pretty stuffed but Jason wisely reminded me we shouldn't forget desert because of these little beauties...

Meet the Fried Wontons, skewers of fresh pineapple and cream cheese wontons, vanilla ice cream, honey-vanilla drizzle. I'd read about these for years and they were love at first bite. The cream cheese wontons are fried to a crispy perfection and paired wonderfully with the fresh pineapple and honey "drizzle" which is really more like a cinnamon roll icing. We let Casey eat the ice cream so nothing to report there, but I'm not sure it was even needed as the wontons by themselves were perfection.

Yak and Yeti doesn't take Tables in Wonderland, so no discount there, but they do give 10% annual pass discounts. Unfortunately as we were not given actual hard copy annual passes and apparently it is a bridge to far for the magic bands to tell people we have an annual pass, no discount for us. Discount or not, yak and yeti was worth it. The egg rolls and wontons were worth the price of admission alone and it was a nice diversion from the park. I'm sure we'll be back.

Up next we take on one of AKL's other restaurants...

​

 

[KathyM2]

Those potstickers look yummy...do you know if they are the same as the ones at Kona Cafe? I could have lived on those. The egg rolls look good too! Oh and how come such crazy crowds at the entrance that day? Was there a reason?

 

[suse66]

Just wanted to share with everyone that we are going to disney NEXT MONTH!!!!! Jason commented a few weeks ago that September is too far away and a long weekend in disney should be in order. Of course that is all the fuel I needed to put the wheels in motion. Plan is to surprise Jason for Father's day and pick him up at work for a whirlwind few days in the world. Since we have annual passes, we don't need to worry about tickets and I was able to score a pretty good AP rate at POFQ (our first time there if anyone has any hints or suggestions as beignets is all that is on my list). Hopefully I can keep the surprise on the down low for a few more weeks.

From a food perspective, I'm doing a very un me thing and making a few ADRs. We typically go during the low season so I'm not sure what to expect with the summer crowds. Either way my plan is to enjoy what time lets us do, chill with some drinks in my hand, and eat some of that amazing disney food we love so much.

First of all, I have to say I am jealous!!!!! Hope you have a wonderful time on your Disney weekend getaway!

So what to do on our last full day of vacation while staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, why go to Animal Kingdom of course ; ) We'd saved this for later in the trip since we'd be so close which was way too long in my opinion. I've fallen in love with AK and its subtle charm, so much so that it has eclipsed Ep-A-Cot and is now firmly my second favorite park.

Before you read further a bit of caution as I ramble and rant a bit for the next few paragraphs. But if you name your own adventure and move down to the beer, you can skip ahead to the food happy spot.

Knowing we had a short trip ahead of us we meandered to the bus stop about 30 minutes before park opening and saw lots of people waiting. It took about ten minutes for an AK bus to pull up, but unfortunately it was half full from Kidani and we didn't make it on. No worries though, we were fairly close to the front of the line so we'd make the next one. About 20 minute later (and 20 more minutes of people joining the "line") another half full bus pulled up. We were close enough to the front door of the bus that we should have made it on, but of course all decorum went aside and folks I'd seen join the line not 5 minutes before were pushing their way on. We literally were the next to get on when the bus was declared full. #AKLProblems. This was the first time we'd had an issue not getting a bus at a deluxe resort, so I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'm still not sure why they don't use a traditional line like everyone else. Ok, rant over it took another 15 minutes or so but finally an empty bus arrived.

We eventually got to AK and it was almost an hour from when we'd walked out our room door. So much for proximity. Of course it had to go better from here, and then we encountered this....

Now as I'm sure everyone knows we are not usually the first arrivers at the park, but this was 30 minutes after opening on a Friday, in February, that was a "3" on the crowd calendar so I was a bit surprised. 20 minutes later we were finally in the park.

Once inside things were sure to get better since we had a fast pass for mickey and minnie (which we almost missed due to all the delays by the way). We were quickly inside the fast pass queue where we stood for about 15 minutes with no movement. I finally asked what the problem was and it was explained to me that fast pass doesn't get you direct access it just lets you join the line further down the row. I politely explained I understood how fast pass worked, I was just wondering why we stood in place for 15 minutes and were being told we'd still have a 15 minute wait whenever we were let through and the posted wait time was 25 minutes outside. Seemed we'd encountered slow pass. After another 5 minutes we bailed and headed over to Casey's beloved "rascal park"

For those unfamiliar AK has a huge play area called the boneyard. Casey loves it, especially this fake door that has a man that yells "Get away from that door you rascal" when you try to open it. For some reason she thinks this is the funniest thing on earth, so despite all the issues of the day thus far she found her happy place.


We let her play for for almost an hour before it was time for my happy place aka some adult beverages. I'd planned on just getting some Flame Tree BBQ from the kiosks since it was shut down, since it is a favorite of ours, but that morning Jason asked if we could get into Yak and Yeti. To the good old disney app I went and happily secured a reservation.

This was our first time at Yak n Yeti, not sure why as I'd ready pretty good reviews about it. We checked in and were quickly seated with a great view of the park.

And after our day thus far, Jason and I quickly ordered two of these beauties.

Kirin Ichiban!!!! Not the worlds greatest beer but it hit the proverbial spot.

While we waited for our food, Casey was in a bit of a mood since we'd pulled her from her beloved rascal park, but eventually the request for some princess poses turned her around

Not one to be outdone, I decided to get into the mix

We both clearly have careers as Disney princesses ahead of us

It wasn't too long before the main event was presented to us. My usually good eater insisted on a hamburger, so this is what Casey got

She declared this good (gotta work on her inner food critic a bit) and even let her Mama steal a fry or two. They were thin and crispy, and hot unlike some of the prior versions we'd had earlier in the week.

For entree's Jason and I were having trouble decided so we ultimately decided to share a few things. First up was the Pork Pot Stickers served with a soy lime dipping sauce.

We got these pan fried per Jason's request (I'm usually a steamed kinda girl). The potstickers themselves were pretty standard issue and didn't have a ton of flavor, but the sauce they were with kicked them up a notch. It was called soy and lime, but it had a great umami taste to it that I think came from some fish sauce. Whatever it was added a bit of a bitter taste (in a good way) that worked really well with the potstickers.

After reading lots of good reviews on the DIS, our other selection was the Pork Egg Rolls which come with a chili and plum dipping sauce

The egg rolls were the act opposite of the potstickers in that the sauce was nothing special and tasted like something straight from kikoman, but the actual egg rolls were amazing. They were the perfect texture and their crunch stayed throughout the meal. The pork filling had a lot of good flavor as it was heavy on the pork and light on the veggies, which is good by me ; ) They may have been the best egg roll I've ever had and I'm sure you know by now I've had more than my fair share ; ) We found they were really good dipped in the pot sticker sauce as well.

We also shared the Crispy Honey Chicken entree which is Tempura chicken, broccoli, carrots, honey sauce and choice of jasmine or brown rice

The chicken itself was moist and crispy, but really didn't have much flavor honey or otherwise. Jason and I took to adding some sriracha which made it much better. They let us sub in fried rice vice the jasmine or tempura. It was nothing spectacular, but not bad either.

After a couple of beers and our food, I was pretty stuffed but Jason wisely reminded me we shouldn't forget desert because of these little beauties...

Meet the Fried Wontons, skewers of fresh pineapple and cream cheese wontons, vanilla ice cream, honey-vanilla drizzle. I'd read about these for years and they were love at first bite. The cream cheese wontons are fried to a crispy perfection and paired wonderfully with the fresh pineapple and honey "drizzle" which is really more like a cinnamon roll icing. We let Casey eat the ice cream so nothing to report there, but I'm not sure it was even needed as the wontons by themselves were perfection.

Yak and Yeti doesn't take Tables in Wonderland, so no discount there, but they do give 10% annual pass discounts. Unfortunately as we were not given actual hard copy annual passes and apparently it is a bridge to far for the magic bands to tell people we have an annual pass, no discount for us. Discount or not, yak and yeti was worth it. The egg rolls and wontons were worth the price of admission alone and it was a nice diversion from the park. I'm sure we'll be back.

Up next we take on one of AKL's other restaurants...

​

Yak and Yeti looks great! It almost made the list for last year's trip, after reading your review I think it's a must do for next March. Those wontons........yum, yum, yum!

 

[ursalita]

Great review of Yak & Yeti. I too had heard a lot about those menu items and I'm glad you enjoyed them. I have to add another one to my must-try list.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Glad you enjoyed Yak & Yeti so much! Its such a nice break while enjoying Animal Kingdom.

 

[librarygeek]

I do love Yak and Yeti! Their portions are large so we usually split some things there. Last time we just ordered a bunch of the appetizers and some drinks to share! Those wontons always look so delicious, but I don't like cream cheese I might have to make DH order them sometime so I can sneak a bite to make 100% sure that I don't like them

 

[AllyinWonderland]

Yak and Yeti looks amazing! I really want to try it sometime but we haven't gotten around to it yet. AK has become my second favorite park (behind MK) as of last trip.

 

[MrsB1228]

Loving your reviews and writing style, you've had me LOL a number of times! Have a wonderful trip next month!

 

[Adgie128]

So excited you're going back to WDW! I love POFQ and think you will, too. I can't comment on the beignets. Somehow, I've managed a stay at POFQ and POR and haven't tried them. They look incredible, though!

I've only been to Yak and Yeti once. I had the honey chicken and it was just okay, like you said. It seems the apps are where it's at, while the entrees seems to be pretty meh. I definitely agree that the break from the park is welcome, and think I'd probably try it again and order differently. Thanks for your input here!

 

[Leshaface]

I think we have kids not too far off in age, but if I'm gauging your pictures right I"m thinking I'm several years north of you. There's a 4 in my age and it doesn't start with a 3 ; )

For reals?!? You look great! I surely thought you were in your early 30's.

So what to do on our last full day of vacation while staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, why go to Animal Kingdom of course ; ) We'd saved this for later in the trip since we'd be so close which was way too long in my opinion. I've fallen in love with AK and its subtle charm, so much so that it has eclipsed Ep-A-Cot and is now firmly my second favorite park.

AGREED! Epcot is my favorite park duck but AK is almost passing up MK for me duck

About 20 minute later (and 20 more minutes of people joining the "line") another half full bus pulled up. We were close enough to the front door of the bus that we should have made it on, but of course all decorum went aside and folks I'd seen join the line not 5 minutes before were pushing their way on. We literally were the next to get on when the bus was declared full. #AKLProblems. This was the first time we'd had an issue not getting a bus at a deluxe resort, so I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'm still not sure why they don't use a traditional line like everyone else. Ok, rant over it took another 15 minutes or so but finally an empty bus arrived.

Didn't you know all manners go out the door when standing in line for a Disney bus So sad.

Now as I'm sure everyone knows we are not usually the first arrivers at the park, but this was 30 minutes after opening on a Friday, in February, that was a "3" on the crowd calendar so I was a bit surprised. 20 minutes later we were finally in the park.

Wow i've never seen it like this either!

Once inside things were sure to get better since we had a fast pass for mickey and minnie (which we almost missed due to all the delays by the way). We were quickly inside the fast pass queue where we stood for about 15 minutes with no movement. I finally asked what the problem was and it was explained to me that fast pass doesn't get you direct access it just lets you join the line further down the row. I politely explained I understood how fast pass worked, I was just wondering why we stood in place for 15 minutes and were being told we'd still have a 15 minute wait whenever we were let through and the posted wait time was 25 minutes outside. Seemed we'd encountered slow pass. After another 5 minutes we bailed and headed over to Casey's beloved "rascal park"

Blegh, what a waste of time, that sucks.

We let her play for for almost an hour before it was time for my happy place aka some adult beverages.

Kirin Ichiban!!!! Not the worlds greatest beer but it hit the proverbial spot.

I enjoy Kirin!

We got these pan fried per Jason's request (I'm usually a steamed kinda girl).

I am too.

The egg rolls were the act opposite of the potstickers in that the sauce was nothing special and tasted like something straight from kikoman, but the actual egg rolls were amazing. They were the perfect texture and their crunch stayed throughout the meal. The pork filling had a lot of good flavor as it was heavy on the pork and light on the veggies, which is good by me ; ) They may have been the best egg roll I've ever had and I'm sure you know by now I've had more than my fair share ; ) We found they were really good dipped in the pot sticker sauce as well.

I was going to say, you should dip these in the potsticker sauce, but you beat me to it.

Jason and I took to adding some sriracha which made it much better.

I truly, truly believe that Sriracha makes EVERYTHING better. We go through one bottle a month. That's how gnarly we are about Sriracha

Meet the Fried Wontons, skewers of fresh pineapple and cream cheese wontons, vanilla ice cream, honey-vanilla drizzle. I'd read about these for years and they were love at first bite. The cream cheese wontons are fried to a crispy perfection and paired wonderfully with the fresh pineapple and honey "drizzle" which is really more like a cinnamon roll icing. We let Casey eat the ice cream so nothing to report there, but I'm not sure it was even needed as the wontons by themselves were perfection.

This is the dish I always hear about when you hear of Y&Y. Sounds sooooo delicious!

Yak and Yeti doesn't take Tables in Wonderland, so no discount there, but they do give 10% annual pass discounts. Unfortunately as we were not given actual hard copy annual passes and apparently it is a bridge to far for the magic bands to tell people we have an annual pass, no discount for us.

No way, I would have tried talking to a manager or something. But glad that your meal ended up being a hit. I would love to try this place someday!

 

[lauraleh]

You are making me want to go to Y&Y. Those wontons are on my list.

 

[Elevationist]

This was the first time we'd had an issue not getting a bus at a deluxe resort, so I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'm still not sure why they don't use a traditional line like everyone else.

I've often said that one of the things that I prefer at the Value resorts is that their bus stops have queues. I don't like how the bus stops are a free-for-all at the Moderates and Deluxes.

Now as I'm sure everyone knows we are not usually the first arrivers at the park, but this was 30 minutes after opening on a Friday, in February, that was a "3" on the crowd calendar so I was a bit surprised. 20 minutes later we were finally in the park.

Holy CRAP!

We were quickly inside the fast pass queue where we stood for about 15 minutes with no movement. I finally asked what the problem was and it was explained to me that fast pass doesn't get you direct access it just lets you join the line further down the row. I politely explained I understood how fast pass worked, I was just wondering why we stood in place for 15 minutes and were being told we'd still have a 15 minute wait whenever we were let through and the posted wait time was 25 minutes outside. Seemed we'd encountered slow pass.

Ugh, I might have had to bail on that too. Finding myself standing in the FP line for longer that the posted Stand-By time would set me off!

We checked in and were quickly seated with a great view of the park.

What a great view!

We both clearly have careers as Disney princesses ahead of us

Totally!

The pork filling had a lot of good flavor as it was heavy on the pork and light on the veggies, which is good by me ; )

You totally just sold me on these! YUM!

Meet the Fried Wontons, skewers of fresh pineapple and cream cheese wontons, vanilla ice cream, honey-vanilla drizzle. I'd read about these for years and they were love at first bite. The cream cheese wontons are fried to a crispy perfection and paired wonderfully with the fresh pineapple and honey "drizzle" which is really more like a cinnamon roll icing. We let Casey eat the ice cream so nothing to report there, but I'm not sure it was even needed as the wontons by themselves were perfection.

Oh man. I've often come so close to booking at ADR here JUST for this dessert. I really gotta try this someday!

 

[Wood Nymph]

We made a last minute reservation for Yak & Yeti, too, about 4 hours ahead of time. I had been wanting tor try the famous won ton dessert that everyone raves about, but we were just too full to eat another bite. We got the pot stickers and they were really good that night. The sauce is the best part, but the pot stickers were good, too. I devoured my Teriyaki Mahi Mahi. It was really good. My husband had the Crispy honey chicken and declared it just all right.

We have a five night trip booked for October so I'm not sure we have time to slip another last minute Yak & Yeti ADR there again, but you never know. I only have one dinner booked now. It turns out we kind of like it that way.

 

[vettegirl]

I second those wontons, such heaven on a plate!!! I love Y&Y

 

[Misha72683]

Yay for a surprise trip! Since you'll be going at least twice this year are you going to get another TiW card?

I love pork egg rolls and those ones sound especially good. I need to stop reading dining reports because then I want to eat all the foods. Your Jiko review is amazing. It's the signature that appeals to me the most.

 

[RyuKokoro]

Sorry to hear about your bus trouble. And that was a ridiculous crowd of people at AK. I wonder if they had some problems and opened a little a later. We weren't considering Yak & Yeti until we were waiting outside to place orders in the counter service and others were walking into the nice air conditioning. It might be a must-do in the future for that reason alone. The food looks fantastic also and it's a lot of things that I would eat especially those pot stickers.

 

[bama belle]

We ate at Y &Y for the first time last trip- the fried green bean app was good, honey chicken entree was just 'alright', but the wonton dessert was worth the price of the entire meal

According to your ticker, it looks like we have very similar plans at the beginning of September!