A Savanna, A Wizard, and Oodles of Food - AKL/DxDP/WWoHP (COMPLETE!)

[RachelNinja]

AKL is AMAZING! It'll always be special because it was our honeymoon resort and FIRST time on property EVER! But even besides that, the resort itself just has so much to explore. Like you said, there are so many places to just relax and read a book!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

AKL really is a gorgeous resort! Great idea to wander around the resort for a bit!

It was a lovely afternoon and I loved the opportunity to explore more of the resort.

I need to remember to do this on future vacations!

AKL is AMAZING! It'll always be special because it was our honeymoon resort and FIRST time on property EVER! But even besides that, the resort itself just has so much to explore. Like you said, there are so many places to just relax and read a book!

I agree - I adore the AKL! It certainly lived up to my high expectations. I think if I ever stay there again I am blocking out an afternoon to sit in that lounge (and perhaps one of the savanna overlooks) and read. I think it would be lovely.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Let Them Eat Steak!
Day 3—Part V


Once we were all gussied up we called the front desk for another taxi. I'’m happy to report that this taxi driver was much better than our last one! He was very pleasant and talkative (and knew how to drive!) so it was a lovely journey to the Yacht Club. He got a much bigger tip than the first taxi driver!

We overestimated our travel time so we had a lot of time to explore the Yacht Club before dinner. Here are a few views of the lobby:

The giant globe in the front of the Yacht Club lobby was pretty neat:

I almost thought the Yacht and Beach Club resorts were prettier from the back than they were from the front!

We also wanted to get a peek at the famous Stormalong Bay:

It looked pretty fun!

I really liked the lighthouse on the boat dock. There was also a pretty fantastic view of the Boardwalk Inn across the way! You can even see the Friendship Boat transportation in the second picture:

I love that Disney always pays attention to the details, such as this theme-appropriate item found on the back of the outdoor benches:

As we'd seen the highlights and were getting a bit hungry, we decided to check in to dinner and see if they would seat us early.

Here was our dinner destination:

They had no trouble getting us right in. We were two of the first people in the restaurant! Yachtsman seemed to be a calm and quiet place, although that may be partially explained by the fact that we were in Disney at a low(er) crowd time and it was a Monday night. I would guess that it'’s much busier here on the weekends!

I ordered a glass of wine with dinner. I didn'’t take any pictures of the wine itself (as it looked like a glass of red wine!), but I did get a picture of it when I snapped a picture of Anika at the restaurant:

My wine was a Don Miguel Gascón Malbec and it was a very tasty red wine. I’'m usually more of a white wine or cocktail gal so I don’t tend to like many red wines. However, I'’ve found if I need to drink red wine I usually aim for a Malbec. Malbec it was as I was definitely ordering steak!

Our nice server streak continued with Dave, who was perhaps the most soft-spoken and laid-back server I'’ve ever seen. After delivering our beverages, he brought out the famous onion rolls with butter and garlic cloves. (Yes, there was some regular bread as well, but who cares about the regular bread?!)

These were every bit as good as they are described! They definitely have a strong onion flavor, but as someone who doesn’t particularly like big onion chunks in her food (on a burger, for instance), I still thought they were phenomenal. It was challenging to only allow myself to eat one! (Oh, okay, I may have had just a small part of another one...)

Our appetizers that evening included my Charcuterie Platter:

As well as Anika’s' Caesar Salad:

Anika really loved her salad. She was still a bit full from lunch (!) so she didn’t want a big appetizer. She thought the extra-large crouton crisp was a really fun touch!

My appetizer included smoked duck sausage, venison terrine, black and blue beef tartare, chicken pâté, duck prosciutto, and cheese and accompaniments. I really liked my appetizer but my favorite part was definitely the pâté found in the little eggshell. It was on the salty side but it was the highlight of the plate for me!

The next thing Dave brought were our main dishes. Anika didn’t want to order steak confused3) once she saw they had scallops on the menu!

Here are the Pan-Seared Day Boat Scallops, with apple-glazed pork belly, lentils, and smoked mushrooms:

As indicated by my beverage selection, I ordered steak!

This is my 8 ounce Center Cut Fillet Mignon with mashed potatoes and wine sauce:

This steak was incredible. Just incredible. I like my steak medium rare (erring to rare) and it was cooked perfectly. I often find restaurants overcook my steak so it was great to get it perfectly done! My steak was so tender and flavorful, and the mashed potatoes were excellent as well. If I had more than two thumbs I would give it more than two thumbs up!

If anyone questions if Disney World can expand a child’s palate… - not only did Anika enjoy her scallops (which were VERY good— - she let me try a bit of one!), but she even loved the PORK BELLY! I was surprised she was even willing to try it, let alone exclaim that it was one of her favorite parts of the meal. Disney is amazing!

As you'’ve learned by now, even though we were REALLY full, we would be getting dessert! We decided to get two different desserts and share them.

We ordered their current Crème Brûlée, which came with an apple-pear compote and a toile cookie:

Our second dessert choice was the Peanut Butter and Pretzel Gianduja Cake which came with caramel gelato and chocolate ganache:

The crème brûlée was good, but that peanut butter cake was knock-your-socks-off good. It was rich but not overly so, and the varying textures made for a very unique dessert. Stuffed as we were, we couldn’t bear to leave even one crumb on the plate. We would’'ve ordered another one if only we didn't fear exploding!


Final Thoughts— - Yachtsman Steakhouse
This is a wonderful choice for a quiet and delicious meal. All of our food was excellent, especially the main dishes and the desserts. They also have an expansive wine list. I also really enjoyed that it was light and bright in the restaurant and it had a very laid-back (almost fancy rustic) décor. I thought the service here was excellent— - they took their time, but I had the feeling it was to allow you to enjoy and savor your meal as opposed to being slow. I’'m sure had I mentioned we were in a hurry our food would’'ve come faster! I would be thrilled to return to Yachtsman. Oh, and if you go,… get the peanut butter pretzel cake!


After our glorious meal we headed back to the boat dock to catch the Friendship Boat to Hollywood Studios. We had extra magic hours to enjoy!

Up Next: Late hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

When we stayed at the Yacht Club, I fell in LOVE with this staircase! I have no idea why I became so attached to stairs, but I just love them!

Glad to hear that your YS meal was great! We're thinking of going there on our next trip, everything looks awesome there! (And I just KNOW DF is going to order that charcuterie plate!)

 

[RachelNinja]

Yum, that looks like a great place to eat! I think the hubby would appreciate a meal like that with a perfectly cooked steak.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

When we stayed at the Yacht Club, I fell in LOVE with this staircase! I have no idea why I became so attached to stairs, but I just love them!

Glad to hear that your YS meal was great! We're thinking of going there on our next trip, everything looks awesome there! (And I just KNOW DF is going to order that charcuterie plate!)

I really liked the Yacht Club - I thought it was a very beautiful resort. I should have taken more time to explore it!

We loved our meal at Yachtsman, and I would definitely recommend giving it a try! Tell Wingnut to enjoy the charcuterie platter - especially the pâté!

Yum, that looks like a great place to eat! I think the hubby would appreciate a meal like that with a perfectly cooked steak.

It was excellent! It was a very relaxed restaurant which was nice after two crazy park days. Our waiter was so nice and I LOVED my steak. I also adored that dessert!

 

[WDWaddictt]

Joining along...I am enjoying your TR.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Joining along...I am enjoying your TR.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for joining in!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

A Fantasmic-less Extra Magic Hours
Day 3— - Part VI

After a quick change in a Yacht Club bathroom, Anika and headed out to the Friendship Boat dock. We enjoyed the beautiful sights of the Yacht and Beach Club and the Boardwalk Inn while we waited for our boat. When our boat arrived we had no problem getting a seat.

Considering the distance doesn’'t seem too great, the boat sure takes a long time to get from the resorts to Hollywood Studios. As much as I would love to try one of the Epcot area resorts one day (as I love Epcot and the Studios!) the seemingly slow transportation would drive me batty.

On our way into the studios we dropped our bag of extra clothes in a locker. One tip I read on the DISboards (and one I’'d highly recommend!) is to try the big lockers located just outside the Hollywood Studios entrance. They’'re not a great choice if you need to access the locker during the day (as they’re located outside the entrance and you need to pay again if you open the locker), but for certain circumstances they'’re the best! The lockers are HUGE (suitcase-size) and only cost four quarters. I love a deal, and it worked really well for us!

We finally arrived!

We headed straight to our favorite attraction in the park:

I love that ride! Everything from the story to the detailed theming to the actual drop... it's excellent every time!

This attraction was not a favorite of Anika's until her second trip to the World. She did try the ride during her first trip but had a bit of a run-in with my mom’s purse. My mom didn't have a good grip on her purse during the ride, and every time the ride would drop the purse would fly up and hit Anika in the face! That doesn't go over well with an eight-year-old (or anyone, for that matter). If that was my first experience on the Tower of Terror I wouldn't be excited about riding it again, either!

Thankfully she gave it another shot on our second trip and it was a much better experience. It'’s now one of her favorite rides!

The wait time for Rock ‘'n’ Roller Coaster was still a little long, so we decided to try other attractions and come back to Sunset Boulevard later. We stopped for a Photopass picture along the way:

Our next choice was a journey through the movies:

I agree with many people that this ride could use an update, but we were still looking forward to our ride!

We had a decent tour guide on our tour. We saw the usual favorites, such as Singin' in the Rain:

Mary Poppins (along with the chimney sweepers!):

And Mr. James Cagney in The Public Enemy:

Alas, it was a quiet night in the studios so we had your usual, everyday gangster scene. Le sigh. One of these days I need to go during a busier season to have a shot at the cowboy scene!

I did grab a picture of John Wayne along the way:

I find it impossible to grab decent pictures throughout most of the middle of the ride (Alien, Indiana Jones, and Casablanca, all great films!), but do appreciate all of the bright light in the land of Oz:

It was a very pleasant ride through the movies! I think one of my favorite parts of the Great Movie Ride is the stream of movie clips they play at the end. It makes me realize how many good movies I still need to see!

The next item on our list was to try the brand new Star Tours!

We had liked Star Tours during our last trip and were excited to see the changes. I had my usual fun walking through the queue:

Anika and I really loved the ride! We decided to turn around and ride it again as the line was nonexistent. The only disappointing thing we found is we had almost exactly the same ride the second time— - I was expecting a different experience considering how many “combinations” there are. Perhaps they change the programing only during different time periods? That aside, it was a very fun ride.

(continued in next post)

 

[SimplyGoofy]

(continued from previous post)

We headed back to Sunset Boulevard to ride our beloved tower again. And again, we stopped for Photopass:

After the Tower of Terror, we headed next door:

The Rock ‘'n’ Roller Coaster was under refurbishment during our last trip, so we were pretty excited for the opportunity to ride it again!

We were lucky enough to enter through the "Artist Entrance":

We stopped and said hello to Aerosmith:

Our "super stretch" limo was waiting!

That roller coaster is such an exhilarating ride! I’'m sure along with many others; my favorite part is definitely the takeoff. Even though you know it’'s coming, it'’s quite a moment when they shoot you forward at almost 60 miles per hour!

I really love the courtyard outside this attraction, especially at night!

We enjoyed a final drop on our beloved tower (yes, three rides on the Tower of Terror in one night!). I had to get a few fun pictures of the changing sign. It'’s really neat at night!

The last thing I wanted to do that evening was figure out the walk to Pixar Place for the Toy Story Mania rush the next morning. The Toy Story attraction didn’'t exist the last time we were in Disney World, and I didn't want to be confused during our speed walk!

We stopped for another Photopass picture along the way:

I really loved the details in Pixar Place!

We chose not to ride Toy Story Mania that night (a decision I'’m still kicking myself for! ) and we headed for the exit. We did take a final Photopass picture on the way out:

Seven (mostly major) attractions in just over two hours… - we did very well during extra magic hours!

We collected our bags from the big locker and grabbed our bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Once we arrived home we went right to sleep!


Up Next: Breakfast at ‘Ohana with Lilo and Stitch

 

[Aussiesalad]

Ahhh Tower or Terror is THE BEST!!! Seriously such great theming.
Looks so great at night too!

That story about Anika and the purse is hilarious! Not the best first experience...

That is exactly how I feel about Great Movie ride, every time I ride I leave with a mental list of movies I need to watch!

Love the RnR launch! I think the best part is the few moments before the launch, the anticipation is a killer!

 

[billybob069]

Thanks for all the pics, looks like you had a great time!

 

[jecskc]

I loved your review of Yachtsman. Very nicely done. They would love you over on the Dining thread.

One more question about that lady on the plane that told you to stop talking about Disney .... LOL ... how did you respond?? I am still dumbfounded that she said that to you. I mean, how did YOU know that the world revolved around only her and her son ?? LOL.

Anyhoodle, looking forward to reading more !!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Wow, you guys did a lot that evening!!! Too bad about missing TSM though!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Hi Jenny, I'm joining in now that I'm actually a DIS member. I've enjoyed reading you adventures up to this point, and look forward to following along "officially", lol.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Ahhh Tower or Terror is THE BEST!!! Seriously such great theming.
Looks so great at night too!

That story about Anika and the purse is hilarious! Not the best first experience...

That is exactly how I feel about Great Movie ride, every time I ride I leave with a mental list of movies I need to watch!

Love the RnR launch! I think the best part is the few moments before the launch, the anticipation is a killer!

We both ADORE the Tower of Terror! I'm glad Anika got over her first tramatic experience and was willing to try it again. A trip to Disney World is not complete without (several) rides on my beloved tower.

I absolutely agree about RnR! You know it's coming... then BAM! Off you go!

Thanks for all the pics, looks like you had a great time!

to both my report and the DIS!

I'm honored to be your first post!

I loved your review of Yachtsman. Very nicely done. They would love you over on the Dining thread.

One more question about that lady on the plane that told you to stop talking about Disney .... LOL ... how did you respond?? I am still dumbfounded that she said that to you. I mean, how did YOU know that the world revolved around only her and her son ?? LOL.

Anyhoodle, looking forward to reading more !!

Thank you so much! Other people's dining reports were so helpful for my planning, and I'm having a great time reliving our meals. I debated writing both a dining and a trip report... but I decided a combined report seemed much easier. Considering how much time it takes to put together posts I think I made the right call!

Oh, that crazy woman from the plane...

Would you believe it that I was so dumbfounded that I didn't have a response? That seriously never happens to me - I'm never at a loss for words! I'm pretty sure I just gave her a very surprised and slightly annoyed "Are you kidding me, lady?!" look. I can't believe that's all I did. Of course, now (and probably a few minutes after the incident) I came up with plenty of good things to say!

Oh, well. It's probably best that I was polite considering where we were headed. I'm curious if her fantastic attitude continued all the way through the vacation...

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Wow, you guys did a lot that evening!!! Too bad about missing TSM though!

We sure did! The light crowds certainly helped out a lot.

Had we known how much we would love Toy Story Mania, we would've gotten in line.

Hi Jenny, I'm joining in now that I'm actually a DIS member. I've enjoyed reading you adventures up to this point, and look forward to following along "officially", lol.

I'm thrilled that you came out of lurkdom and officially joined the DIS (and my report!). I remember the days of looking through reports before joining, and I have to say I love to have all my subscriptions tracked and sorted for me!

 

[WDWaddictt]

What a great night! Tower of Terror is my fav ride...the best! I love DHS!!!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

What a great night! Tower of Terror is my fav ride...the best! I love DHS!!!

I was so impressed with how much we got accomplished, especially since we got there about an hour after I was planning!

I LOVE the Tower of Terror! It was no mistake that it was our first and last ride of the evening! It's so tough to choose a "favorite" ride, but it's definitely right up there.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Aloha! Part II
Day 4— - Tuesday, February 7th

Another day, another early morning cab ride! This morning was a little different, however, as our destination was the Disney Car Care Center. The Car Care Center is located just past and to the west of the Magic Kindom entrance.

When we decided to give Universal a try, I was a good DISer and researched all of our transportation options (from taxis, to shuttles, to rental cars). Although other options might have been cheaper, I thought a rental car would involve the least amount of hassle. Plus, then we would have easy transporation for our evening in Downtown Disney (no crazy buses and driver changes!) and our dinner at California Grill. This worked out very well!

I believe you can call a shuttle from the Car Care Center to pick you up and take you there, but I decided a taxi ride would be faster. We were in and out with our rental car in probably five minutes—super easy! I’m sure the fact that it was just after 7:00 had nothing to do with the lack of crowds…

We made our short journey to the Polynesian in our spiffy new rental. We were excited to be at the Great Ceremonial House again:

We enjoyed some tropical atmosphere before we checked in for breakfast:

Hidden Mickey!

There was a very short line at 7:30— - I don’t think most people are willing to wake up that early!

We were seated right away as we skipped the picture (I didn’'t see the point as I didn't intend to pay for it). They started bringing the food immediately after we sat down.

First we received the coconut pineapple bread and the cinnamon bread:

We also received a plate of assorted fruit:

Both were very nice. I especially enjoyed the pineapple and the cinnamon bread!

I also was very excited to try this:

LILIKOI JUICE!!! This passion fruit, orange, and guava juice was very tasty … yum!

As anything outside of “orange” juice is outside of Anika'’s range, she wasn’'t interested in trying it.

We also received our big tray of hot food very quickly. It had a selection of scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, sausage, bacon, and biscuits:

Everything on the tray was good, but nothing stood out as spectacular. It was your average Disney breakfast.

The wait staff also began bringing these:

Mickey Waffles! These were delicious and a wonderful addition to our breakfast!

The characters began making the rounds after we'’d been there about ten minutes.

First up was Lilo:

I’'m pretty sure my camera was still on the “food” setting, so neither of our Lilo pictures turned out very well. Her visit was pretty brief.

Next up was my buddy Stitch:

I was really excited to see Stitch (in fact, the major drawing point of this reservation was breakfast with Stitch!), but this particular Stitch was a bit lackluster. The character was fine, but I was expecting a bit more comedy from him. He basically walked up to the table, took two pictures, and went on his way. No antics whatsoever.

I think I was a little miffed.

My annoyance faded away with the final two characters:

Mickey was very nice! He posed for pictures, of course, but just seemed so much friendlier than Stitch. Go, Mickey!

My favorite character at breakfast, though, was this guy:

I LOVED Pluto! I don’'t remember exactly what he did, but I know I left the restaurant a lot happier than I was in the middle of our meal. Thank goodness Lilo and Stitch had Mickey and Pluto along to improve their breakfast! They definitely didn’'t carry the show on their own.

Here’'s a view of the restaurant I grabbed in between characters (look how empty it was in there!):

We had plenty of time to eat in between characters, so we took care of our bill and were on our way about forty-five minutes after we sat down. We thought that was pretty good for a character meal!


Final Thoughts—‘ - Ohana Breakfast
This one was a mixed bag for me. I thought the food was okay— - the cinnamon bread was tasty and the juice was awesome, but everything else was average and can be found elsewhere. The characters weren'’t my favorite either— - Mickey and Pluto were great, but Lilo and Stitch didn’'t seem very excited to be at their own breakfast. I would be willing to give it another shot as nothing was bad, but I think we’ll try out a few other places first. At the top of the “other places” list is right next door… Kona Café, I think your Tonga Toast and Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes are calling my name! (And you have Lilikoi juice, too!)


We just had to soak up a little more Poly atmosphere before we left. This is the landscaping outside of the GCH front entrance:

Goodbye Polynesian! Until next time...…

I was very excited that our breakfast was so speedy because I wanted to get to Hollywood Studios as early as we could. I wanted to be near the beginning of the pack for the Toy Story Mania rush!

That was the plan.

You know what they say about plans…

Up Next: Hollywood Studios?