The (Foodie)Force is Strong with Us...a Feb/Mar 2016 trip! THE END - NEW 9/13 Disneyland TR link!

[Dugette]

Very cool to hear about the Behind the Seeds tour - sounds like fun!

Also nice to see the Skipper's Canteen meal. We might have lunch there in December and I haven't seen much about it yet. Fun drinks!

 

[AussieMumma]

All caught up.
The behind the seeds tour looks like fun, I didn't even know they offered that!
The Skipper Canteen looks like fun, shame the food wasn't as expected, hopefully they improve it in the future

 

[chunkymonkey]

Very cool to hear about the Behind the Seeds tour - sounds like fun!

Also nice to see the Skipper's Canteen meal. We might have lunch there in December and I haven't seen much about it yet. Fun drinks!

Yeah the tour was surprising fun even for me, the one without the green thumb. LOL. Makes me realize I should do more tours in the future, it's just that most of them are so long and I don't want it to interfere with my ride time!
I hope you enjoy Skipper's Canteen! There were some hit or miss items for me but there are a lot of different selections so you will probably find something you like. The drinks are definitely fun even though there is no alcohol in them. Think the only alcohol at MK is in BoG?

All caught up.
The behind the seeds tour looks like fun, I didn't even know they offered that!
The Skipper Canteen looks like fun, shame the food wasn't as expected, hopefully they improve it in the future

There are a few tours which I did not even know of either, like the Gardens of the World tour. But I only know of Behind the Seeds because after riding LWTL so many times and seeing the tour groups...I think we just had to try it and it's a short tour, a little less than an hour maybe.

Skipper Canteen was a fun restaurant that delivered on theme and service but fell a little short on food. It just seems to be all over the place, some things were great, some things were over spiced, some things were bland, but overall it was an ok experience. I wouldn't mind returning but it wouldn't be first on my list. Maybe I just have to find the right entree and dessert.

 

[KathyM2]

That sure looked like an interesting meal - especially the dessert! I think the dim sum-ish appetizer looked like the best part!! Sorry some of it was a bit disappointing. What can you do. The atmosphere looked really cool though. And how awesome that you got in a quick Dis-meet!! So cool! It's always fun to actually meet the people you have been chatting online with for ages. My DH always thinks it's really strange to make a point of meeting people that I have met online only before..but I think it's an awesome way to meet like minded people!

 

[nenglim]

S.E.A. Shu Mai
A legendary blend of Pork, Shrimp, Mung Beans, and Spices wrapped in Gyoza Skin then steamed.

This was really good! The shu mai tasted hand-made and not the stuff you find in frozen packages. It's slightly different than what you'd find in traditional dim sum restaurants but we enjoyed this.

Sustainable Fish Collar
Broiled Collar served with a Green Papaya Salad and Yuzu-Soy Sauce

The fish collar was a yellowtail and it tasted great, we often order fish collar at Japanese restaurants (hamachi-kama) so we knew we'd like it. The collar has the most tender and flavoful parts of the fish and it's really hard to overcook it. The papaya salad was ok. The sauce that it was served with, however, was NOT yuzu soy sauce. I know yuzu very well and this sauce was just nasty. Yuzu is just a type of citrus and mixed with soy sauce is called Ponzu and is a thin light seasoning. This sauce was thick and sour and just plain yucky. BUT I found that the fish didn't really need sauce because it's so flavorful, and if I needed sauce, the shu mai sauce worked much better with it. So, I'm warning you, the sauce on this fish is gross but the fish collar itself is quite lovely.

As entrees DH ordered Trader Sam's Head-on Shrimp: Sustainable Local Farm-raised Shrimp tossed in a Chili-Garlic Sauce and served with Chinese Broccoli and Five-grain rice.

This was pretty decent. I do like head-on shrimp. I like sucking the juices out of them, although these weren't that juicy and were more for show than anything. Still, overall a pretty good dish and DH seemed to like it.
​

That is Great looking food! My kids love Shu Mai but the traditional ones from Dim Sum restaurants. I dont know about the Mung beans and spices in it. I am afraid it will ruin their Shu Mai experience forever! My family Loves Fish collar!!!! even my 5 year old fights over the fish collar meat! and I love head on shrimp. That is the only kind of shrimp I buy and cook with! We should have done this when we went in April but i admit i was afraid about waiting too long for a seat for 5 people. I am glad they now take reservations. I want to definitely give it a try next time!
​

 

[dmlovullo]

The behind the seeds tour looks super neat! We definitely want to take the tour at some point. We are always fascinated with the different methods used to grow fruits/veggies when we are on LWTL. Skipper Canteen looks like a great restaurant in terms of atmosphere. Hope they find their niche so that they are a unique restaurant with offerings for all tastes! Looked like a great day at Epcot and MK!

 

[ArielSRL]

All caught up after my two trips the last two weeks and not getting alerts about your updates! Interesting tour. My family would love it as they all have green thumbs. I, however, have a black one. I can make plastic plants die...haha. Well, not really, but I have killed plants that people give me and tell me they won't die! Oops...

Skipper Canteen seems too out there for me. I do like Boma and would love to try Sanaa but no one in my family is very adventurous in the food dept. Oh well.

Love the castle photos! Hope you got some sleep that night!

 

[chunkymonkey]

That sure looked like an interesting meal - especially the dessert! I think the dim sum-ish appetizer looked like the best part!! Sorry some of it was a bit disappointing. What can you do. The atmosphere looked really cool though. And how awesome that you got in a quick Dis-meet!! So cool! It's always fun to actually meet the people you have been chatting online with for ages. My DH always thinks it's really strange to make a point of meeting people that I have met online only before..but I think it's an awesome way to meet like minded people!

I had high hopes for Skipper Canteen. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't something memorable. I'd go again though, but I think if I HAD to eat at MK I'd definitely pick LTT...probably my favorite table service at MK!

The Dismeet was so great and it was really cool that I had various Dismeets throughout the years without even planning the Disnmeet. We didn't even know we'd be there at the same time but just by seeing each other's facebook posts it was like, Hey Cool! We're there at the same time! Let's meet up!

That is Great looking food! My kids love Shu Mai but the traditional ones from Dim Sum restaurants. I dont know about the Mung beans and spices in it. I am afraid it will ruin their Shu Mai experience forever! My family Loves Fish collar!!!! even my 5 year old fights over the fish collar meat! and I love head on shrimp. That is the only kind of shrimp I buy and cook with! We should have done this when we went in April but i admit i was afraid about waiting too long for a seat for 5 people. I am glad they now take reservations. I want to definitely give it a try next time!
​

The Shu Mai was the best part of the meal. You couldn't really taste the mung beans. It just tasted like dumplings. I'm sure your kids won't notice it at all! And the collar was great too! Very tender and juicy.

The behind the seeds tour looks super neat! We definitely want to take the tour at some point. We are always fascinated with the different methods used to grow fruits/veggies when we are on LWTL. Skipper Canteen looks like a great restaurant in terms of atmosphere. Hope they find their niche so that they are a unique restaurant with offerings for all tastes! Looked like a great day at Epcot and MK!

I totally forgot about this tour but remembered when we walked by LWTL! So I was happy they had availability. There are a bunch of tours a day. We did a lot that day and we were tired but it was a good tired, as in "I have accomplished everything I wanted to today at WDW!"

All caught up after my two trips the last two weeks and not getting alerts about your updates! Interesting tour. My family would love it as they all have green thumbs. I, however, have a black one. I can make plastic plants die...haha. Well, not really, but I have killed plants that people give me and tell me they won't die! Oops...

You and me both. I have literally killed all plants anyone has given me. Granted we lived in an apartment for a looong time. Now DH does all the gardening and he manages to not kill anything. Me I don't really step into the garden much. I like my air conditioning and I don't like bugs! But the tour was fun for me too!

Skipper Canteen seems too out there for me. I do like Boma and would love to try Sanaa but no one in my family is very adventurous in the food dept. Oh well.

I would hands-down pick Sanaa over Skipper in a heartbeat. We ended up going there on our last day...you'll see what I mean.

Love the castle photos! Hope you got some sleep that night!

Thanks! We sure slept well that night!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Day 6 Part 1: The most magical "magic" shot and breakfast at Be Our Guest!

After a much needed good night's sleep we awoke early to catch our pre-park opening breakfast. The park opened at 9am that day, and we had ressies at BoG at 8:15. I was hoping that our strategy of pre-ordering our meal paired with the quick service at BoG would allow us to get on standby at 7DMT with little wait! It has become a little mini challenge for us to see if we could ride all the big ticket rides multiple times in a day, one with an FP+ and the other with standby. So far, we have not been successful with 7DMT just because it's just been so crowded even early in the morning. We had FP+ that day at Peter Pan, PFH (Anna and Elsa), and of course, 7DMT. Then, we decided to head to Epcot just because we love it so much, and finish off the day watching the Star Wars fireworks at DHS! I couldn't wait to see it again!

It was really nice to be on a monorail resort because it makes getting to MK so easy. We were at the gates at 8am and we were let into the park! We definitely weren't the only ones though as plenty of others had pre-park breakfasts and were strolling down Main Street, but it was much less crowded than it usually is and we took the opportunity to take some pictures with the castle with fewer people around!

The darn crane was really beginning to annoy me. We would have some great pictures if it weren't for the crane, so I decided to PAINSTAKINGLY manually remove the crane in Adobe Lightroom using the clone funcion. I would have used photoshop but my license expired a long time ago when I used to be an actual photographer, and have not used it in years. So Lightroom would have to do for now. It's not the easiest application for this but I think I did a decent job. If you look really closely though you may see where I tried to cover the crane. Just too lazy to do more work on these pictures. I really love how these came out because now I can frame some pictures without the darn crane!

Ta da! No crane! I also decided I really liked this outfit! It was comfy and flattering. Don't be surprised if you see me in this exact outfit at Disneyland this September! (I'll definitely be doing a TR for that!)

The PP photographer told us to pose with our hands on top of one another so I knew a magic shot was coming. Imagine my surprised when there was no "magic" in the shot! LOL! Absolutely the most magical shot of all!

We just love posing like this!

We arrived at Beast's castle and checked in for breakfast. When we entered, we realized we didn't know where to go since we had pre-ordered and didn't need to get on line. We approached the CM standing by the queue, and we said we had pre-ordered so can we sit down? He seemed a bit confused at first but then he found us on his ipad thingy and said we could sit anywhere. So we sat in the West Wing!

Couldn't resist a picture of the ballroom on the way to the West Wing!

We got our self-service drinks, coffees for both of us, and we honestly didn't have to wait that long for our food which is amazing. Our pastries and entrees were brought at the same time.

They were your pretty standard supermarket-quality pastries, but I like to have something a little bit sweet and carby at breakfast in addition to a savory entree.

So what did we pre-order?

I had the same thing I got last year, which I loved. Open-Faced Bacon and Egg Sandwich - Poached Eggs, Applewood Bacon, Brie Cheese, and Arugula on a toasted Baguette served with Fresh Fruit.

It was just as good as I remembered it! I love all the components of this dish... the toasted baguette, melted brie, crisp bacon, eggs, and arugula. They all complemented each other perfectly and the eggs were perfectly cooked with oozy yolks which acted as a sauce for the whole thing. Yum yum yum! I sent a picture of this to my sister and she was super jealous, this was one of her favorite things she had last year.

DH got the Croque Madame - Open-faced Ham Sandwich topped with a Fried Egg, Gruyere Cheese, and Béchamel served with Fresh Fruit. He thought this was good, although it is not the best Croque Madame he has had before. He prefers it when they broil it with the cheese and sauce a bit so that it's golden and bubbly.

Though it's a bit pricey for quick-service, I feel like BoG was worth it. It borders on table-service since they bring you the food and it's a wonderful atmosphere. Definitely less crowded than lunch or dinner, and the food is great. I like how it comes with some sweet pastries to satisfy my sweet craving in the morning. It was awesome to pre-order because when we left the restaurant it was only 8:50, and we zipped right over to 7DMT and got right on a very short line, so we definitely got to ride it twice that day!

Yay!

After 7DMT, we decided to go on Dumbo, since there was barely anyone there.

Then I told DH I wanted to do Ariel's Under the Sea adventure, but we got on line for Ariel's Grotto by accident, which is even better! Although I can't stand pictures here as I think sitting down is not the most flattering pose for me. Ariel just looks perfect as usual.

Then right after that we went to the actual Under the Sea ride! There was no line but the walk to the ride is very long as it snakes around a lot.

Then we went over to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain, also no wait.

Sorry no ride picture here. I can't stand the ride pictures from SM!

DH went to go play some of his SoTMK game and I went to take some character pictures! I went back to the big top, and there was not much of a line at all for the characters so I had a great time with them.

Minnie of course, LOVED my shirt!

I got a text from DH who said he was on a short line for Tigger, Rabbit and Pooh so I hurried on over! It was exciting to see all three of them at the same time.

Then we got on the actual ride through 100 Acre Woods!

What a great morning so far! I decided I needed to celebrate our productive morning by getting a sweet treat. Coming up, I present the most amazing feat a dole whip has ever done!

We're headed to Adventureland!
​

 

[soniam]

That reminded me that our BOG PPO breakfast pre-order opened up today. Your breakfast looked great as usual. Man, that was a lot done. I don't know if I can quite hope for that, since it will just be next month, during the busy summer time. I see you have your bday pin on too

 

[bcwife76]

Holy smokes you got a lot of rides done that morning! Love the ride pic from 7DMT, that couple in the front is especially hilarious!

Looks like another yummy breakfast at BOG. I was hoping to do a meal there, but then realized you need park admission to MK and we probably won't do that this time.

 

[Saphire5742]

Love your Minnie shirt! And your character pics.
When I was at BoG, the West Wing was pretty dark but I see your pics look more brightly lit/

The darn crane was really beginning to annoy me. We would have some great pictures if it weren't for the crane, so I decided to PAINSTAKINGLY manually remove the crane in Adobe Lightroom using the clone funcion. I would have used photoshop but my license expired a long time ago when I used to be an actual photographer, and have not used it in years. So Lightroom would have to do for now. It's not the easiest application for this but I think I did a decent job. If you look really closely though you may see where I tried to cover the crane. Just too lazy to do more work on these pictures. I really love how these came out because now I can frame some pictures without the darn crane!

Great job removing the crane. I am so glad it wasn't there during my stay.

There was no line but the walk to the ride is very long as it snakes around a lot.

If you think that's long you should see the ones over at Universal!

Coming up, I present the most amazing feat a dole whip has ever done!

I am intrigued. Can't wait to read all about it

 

[ArielSRL]

I am so scheduling a ppo ADR at bog. I am very envious of all you got done. Next trip, I will not have my drag-butt guest with me so I plan on many rope drops or ppo ADRs.

Love the breakfast and live the photos without the crane!

 

[cajunfan]

So, I am still not sure I would want to do breakfast, although DH's food looked like something I would like (yours looked good, I just hate brie though!) And I also don't care for cantaloupe or honeydew, so the fresh fruit is lost on me! LOL! But I have yet to even step foot in the West Wing...it looks beautiful!

So, I have to admit, I rode 7DMT this year, and I swear I will never go on it again. Now I will preface this with I have major knee issues. I do not have a full range of motion on bending my knees. This was the MOST uncomfortable ride in my life. I even had them undo the bar so I could try to find a good position for my knees before we took off...no such luck! I t was the most uncomfortable 60 seconds of my life. So no more time wasted there. But I totally know everyone loves it, and so glad you guys attained your goal of riding it twice!

 

[KathyM2]

Way to go ...early BOG breakfast...wait free 7DMT...what could be better!! You got a lot done in a short time..that is the best thing about being early...if only the park was like that all the time...sigh...

 

[kastoney]

Glad to hear you all enjoyed the Skippers atmosphere. I hadn't really thought of it before, but maybe they are trying too hard which is why its a bit off. Looks like you had 2 good apps though, which is what we enjoyed most here. Our plan next time is to just get a bunch of apps and share them as that appears to be where their proverbial sweet spot is. May also have to sneak a flask in to put some rum in that yummy mango drink ; )

And wow, what a productive MK morning (and love the outfit by the way too). Your eggs at BoG look so good, I just don't think I could stomach the bill - though of course an extra mine train ride may make it worth it ; )

 

[AnnaGiselle]

I love your Minnie shirt! Was it from Disney Store? You've also now convinced me to do a pre-park breakfast at BOG. I love how far in the park you are to get to all the good rides before everyone else!

 

[chunkymonkey]

That reminded me that our BOG PPO breakfast pre-order opened up today. Your breakfast looked great as usual. Man, that was a lot done. I don't know if I can quite hope for that, since it will just be next month, during the busy summer time. I see you have your bday pin on too

That's cool! What did you order?
I really like that baguette entree! It's just all my favorite things on one plate and I didn't feel sickeningly full after eating it, which is the case with most Disney breakfasts.
We did quite a lot of WDW that morning! It certainly made up for stuff we missed on our first day at MK. My DH really liked the pre park opening breakfasts now, so he insists we do it again on our next trip.
I actually had my bday pin on the entire trip! It was A LOT of "Happy Birthdays!" but I'm making up for lost time considering I've been to WDW so many times and none of them were on my birthday.

Holy smokes you got a lot of rides done that morning! Love the ride pic from 7DMT, that couple in the front is especially hilarious!

Haha, we certainly tried to keep it from being another boring ride pic! Looks like the couple in front had the same idea! Definitely need to borrow that idea.

Looks like another yummy breakfast at BOG. I was hoping to do a meal there, but then realized you need park admission to MK and we probably won't do that this time.

Yea unfortunately you do need park admission. But if you're going to Epcot instead, you might as well go to the Garden Grill for breakfast...it was awesome, plus there are characters! We went there on our last day...you will see how yummy it is!

Love your Minnie shirt! And your character pics.
When I was at BoG, the West Wing was pretty dark but I see your pics look more brightly lit/

Thank you! The West Wing is very dark, but fortunately my point and shoot takes good low-light pictures. The key is to turn off your flash and hold your hand VERY steady. I try and lean my hand against a table or wall so that the shot won't come out blurry.

Great job removing the crane. I am so glad it wasn't there during my stay.

Yeah, it was quite annoying, you were so lucky you didn't have to deal with that monstrosity!

If you think that's long you should see the ones over at Universal!

I remember some ride queues at universal being quite long too!

I am intrigued. Can't wait to read all about it

HAHA, it is an impressive feat...that Dole whip can do anything!

I am so scheduling a ppo ADR at bog. I am very envious of all you got done. Next trip, I will not have my drag-butt guest with me so I plan on many rope drops or ppo ADRs.

Love the breakfast and live the photos without the crane!

LOL, who is your drag-butt guest? That is the funniest term. I'll have to use it on someone! the PPO breakfast is awesome! We never really knew how much we were able to get done. I think the low crowds also helped. Not sure how effective it will be during peak season but I'm sure it's better than if you didn't have one.

Thank you!

So, I am still not sure I would want to do breakfast, although DH's food looked like something I would like (yours looked good, I just hate brie though!) And I also don't care for cantaloupe or honeydew, so the fresh fruit is lost on me! LOL! But I have yet to even step foot in the West Wing...it looks beautiful!

I think brie has a very distinct flavor. My mom hates most cheese but she loves brie. Go figure!
I agree the cantaloupe and melon weren't my favorite but I was glad to be getting some fruit at least during the trip.
The West Wing is such a unique room of Beast's Castle, it's definitely a must-visit in the restaurant!

So, I have to admit, I rode 7DMT this year, and I swear I will never go on it again. Now I will preface this with I have major knee issues. I do not have a full range of motion on bending my knees. This was the MOST uncomfortable ride in my life. I even had them undo the bar so I could try to find a good position for my knees before we took off...no such luck! I t was the most uncomfortable 60 seconds of my life. So no more time wasted there. But I totally know everyone loves it, and so glad you guys attained your goal of riding it twice!

I can totally see that I do agree the ride cars are very very small and my knees were hitting the front too. Good thing the ride is so short!

Way to go ...early BOG breakfast...wait free 7DMT...what could be better!! You got a lot done in a short time..that is the best thing about being early...if only the park was like that all the time...sigh...

I know! It was so great to do everything in such a short amount of time! I wish all park days were like this! It was definitely one of the lowest crowds I have experienced in WDW, and it was fantastic. Makes me want to go back during that week every year!

Glad to hear you all enjoyed the Skippers atmosphere. I hadn't really thought of it before, but maybe they are trying too hard which is why its a bit off. Looks like you had 2 good apps though, which is what we enjoyed most here. Our plan next time is to just get a bunch of apps and share them as that appears to be where their proverbial sweet spot is. May also have to sneak a flask in to put some rum in that yummy mango drink ; )

That's a good idea to order a bunch of apps. If we eat here again we'll do that too! Oh and the drinks. Definitely a good place to sneak that flask in.

And wow, what a productive MK morning (and love the outfit by the way too). Your eggs at BoG look so good, I just don't think I could stomach the bill - though of course an extra mine train ride may make it worth it ; )

Thanks! Yeah, a pricey breakfast, but we thought it was worth it since we got so much done and so many character pics too. It was our "early morning magic" hehehe.

I love your Minnie shirt! Was it from Disney Store? You've also now convinced me to do a pre-park breakfast at BOG. I love how far in the park you are to get to all the good rides before everyone else!

Thanks! I got it at WDW on our trip last year I think. I believe I got it from Tren-D but I did see it elsewhere at World of Disney and Mousegears to name a few. I didn't see it on this trip but I wasn't looking that hard so I could have missed it. Pre-park breakfast was great especially if you pre-order so you're in and out really quickly.

 

[ArielSRL]

@chunkymonkey I wanted to use another word but I'm not sure what's acceptable on the Dis so I left it at "butt". Lol. It's my Dad. If you get a chance to check out my TR, you'll get to read ALL about it! I had planned rope drop for 5 out of 7 park days and we never, not once, made it! My DH is going next trip and the 'rents are staying home, so I should be in good shape. My DH isn't the fondest of early rising but anything that lets us tour with less people is high on his list!

 

[soniam]

That's cool! What did you order?
I really like that baguette entree! It's just all my favorite things on one plate and I didn't feel sickeningly full after eating it, which is the case with most Disney breakfasts.
We did quite a lot of WDW that morning! It certainly made up for stuff we missed on our first day at MK. My DH really liked the pre park opening breakfasts now, so he insists we do it again on our next trip.
I actually had my bday pin on the entire trip! It was A LOT of "Happy Birthdays!" but I'm making up for lost time considering I've been to WDW so many times and none of them were on my birthday.

I haven't ordered yet. DH was thinking about the baguette, but he doesn't really like poached eggs. Me either usually. I normally get fried or poached eggs done hard, but I don't want to bother or waste time for this meal. Otherwise, that baguette did look really good, because I love arugula, cheese, and tomatoes. I think DH will get the Croque Madame. I don't like ham I sound like a really picky eater Anyway, I was thinking of the Feast a la Gaston, because the bacon and sausage sound good. I have had the quiche at lunch, and I wanted something different. The scrambled egg whites sounded too healthyThe Croissant Doughnut just sounded like a bridge too far for breakfast Plus, DH doesn't like bananas and would not help me eat it. Our traveling companions are thinking the meat & cheese platter.

This will be our first PPO breakfast. Our traveling companions have done it, but it was before the paid Early Magic Mornings. Unfortunately, Disney scheduled one of these on our morning, so we may not get to leave BOG immediately. I know we will at least get a jump for one ride, and I might be able to get some good empty park pics.

We went to WDW for the first time as a family the week after DH 40th birthday. He wore his pin most of the trip