Mickey Bars in Bed & Dole Whips for Lunch - Nov 15 Dining Report - Complete!

[suse66]

Loving your reviews! When we stayed at the Poly in 2010 I fell in love with the Polynesian chicken salad and had it at least 4 times in a 10 day trip. It was so easy to grab a quick lunch to enjoy by the pool. I have to ask where you found your "Wishes" tshirt? I am obsessed with Wishes and would love a shirt like that!

 

[Vernie822]

Loving your reviews! When we stayed at the Poly in 2010 I fell in love with the Polynesian chicken salad and had it at least 4 times in a 10 day trip. It was so easy to grab a quick lunch to enjoy by the pool. I have to ask where you found your "Wishes" tshirt? I am obsessed with Wishes and would love a shirt like that!

Thank you! I wish we would have spent more time at the pool, it was amazing the one afternoon I spent there. I found my Wishes shirt on Etsy from a store called HappilyEverTees. I just love it!

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

I'm not a breakfast person, but OMG, KONA

 

[vettegirl]

That dole whip is huge! Looks like it was a little piece of heaven on a spoon

 

[Vernie822]

I just posted my last update and it looks like you and my hubby were on the same sheet of music with the dole whips. How amazing was it to have them within feet of your room? Of course I think Jason had at least 4 for the week, so you controlled yourself much better ; )

Love all the Christmas decorations. We've got to get ourselves down there for the holidays sometime.

Haha, YES! I saw that! It was so fantastic. I could get used to that!

The Christmas decorations were so much fun to see, especially in MK. I'm glad we did it in November too, before all of the crazy started. Even though it still felt too early to be Christmas.

I'm not a breakfast person, but OMG, KONA

You MUST try it!!!

That dole whip is huge! Looks like it was a little piece of heaven on a spoon

It totally was!! It was massive, though a bit hollow inside. Perfect lunch.

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Hello! I'm just jumping in on your DR and enjoying the read. I have to admire your fiance's "meat and potatoes" style

 

[Npbear]

Thanks for the review!

 

[Vernie822]

Hello! I'm just jumping in on your DR and enjoying the read. I have to admire your fiance's "meat and potatoes" style

Haha, why thank you! I am glad you're enjoying it. He likes what he likes and generally that is some type of ballpark food slathered in nacho cheese sauce!

Thanks for the review!

You are welcome, I am glad you enjoyed reading!

 

[Vernie822]

That night was Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. We got to Magic Kingdom shortly after 4 PM, and headed straight towards our favorites, Splash and Big Thunder for the 72nd time in one week I think we had booked a few FP's between 4 and 7 PM.

After that, it was on to Big Top Treats to pick out a couple of Christmas gifts for our family. I got an adorable dinglehopper fork brush for my cousin's daughter! She's obsessed with the Little Mermaid.

We then decided it was time for some dinner, and I told Justin I HAD TO EAT AT COLUMBIA HARBOR HOUSE. I had to. I was at the point in our trip where I just wanted a tuna sandwich from CHH. No more greasy and heavy food. Well at approximately 5:40 PM, CHH was already closed. Completely closed. We were still let in, but the lights were off and there was not a soul in sight, except a momma nursing her little one! I was aware that CHH closed for parties, but I did not realize it was that early. So FYI if you're thinking of grabbing food at one of the spots that closes for the party, grab it earlier than you thought you needed to.

We ended up at Casey's because we wanted to watch Elsa light the castle. Casey's ended up being an absolute mad house, as you probably expected on a party night 1) right before all of the people without tickets had to leave and 2) right before Elsa was due to grace us all with her presence.

We ended up in line behind a group of loud and rambunctious 10-or-11 year old boys on a school trip with their chaperone. Poor Chaperone Dad had no clue and was just trying to keep them in line enough so that they could order their food. I hopped out of line to stake out a table and stood there lurking for what felt like an eternity. About 4 different sets of people were faster than I was to grab a table!

Justin had our backpack which included my phone, and I was wayyyyyy deep in the group of tables. It was getting dark and I thought, crap, there's no way he's going to see me. He eventually came out (it probably took him 30 minutes to wait in line and get food) and said the group of boys in front of us was so bad that it took 2 other patrons to say something to them to quit misbehaving he said!

I ended up with corn dog nuggets, as I'd heard from many how fabulous these were, and as a general rule, I'm not a big fan of hot dogs (unless they're itty bitty and have a crescent roll wrapped around them!) Justin is super wonderful for waiting in line. When he came out he was ready to eat.

The corn dog nuggets came with fries. I'm seeing this on the menu as $5.99 but I'm not sure if that's with the fries or not. The fries are nice and thin and I really like them! The corndog nuggets were just ok. They weren't super hot (which surprised me considering how busy it was) but they were something different.

Chili Cheese Dog - topped with chili and shredded cheddar cheese $10.29

I think Justin ended up with a chili cheese dog and fries as well. We also had a Diet Coke and as you can see two little cups of ice water.

Overall this meal was just fine and neither of us had any complaints! Justin was getting hangry so he was glad we got to eat. We both agreed that Casey's got a 2.5/5 from us. We did have a decent spot, though we were behind some trees and lots and lots of people, to watch Elsa light the castle.

After our dinner, we headed towards the Jingle Cruise (!!) for some good old fashioned puns. It wasn't a long wait at all and it was really cute. I wish more attractions had a holiday overlay.

We did another attraction or two and headed back to the hub to watch Celebrate the Season and all that jazz that was happening that evening. We decided to skip the first parade since it was absolutely mobbed with people, and catch the parade later that night after fireworks.

On our way over to Tomorrowland, we decided to grab dessert at the Plaza ice cream parlor. This was either the 3rd or 4th time there for us this week.. but who's counting!?

I had read about the special party offerings somewhere online. They had these items available for the party, in addition to their regular menu.

Justin had his eye on the holiday ice cream sandwich. I asked him to share and he gave me major side eye. I have had one of those sandwiches before (the chocolate chip kind) and they are HUGE. So I told him there was no way I could finish one on my own and he agreed to share.

And lets just say, HE WAS GLAD HE DID!

This. Thing. Was. Huge.

But it was seriously delicious. We got vanilla ice cream, and its sandwiched between two large and in charge sugar cookies with holiday sprinkles. These sugar cookies were soft and perfectly sweet. The vanilla ice cream was more than plentiful and we honestly didn't need a flavor fancier than that, since the sugar cookies added so much. I think Justin picked it up and took two bites before we realized there was no way we were eating this without forks.

Just for more visual effects... There was like a brick of ice cream inside.

Justin's like "I'm going for it!"

Justin declared this a 5/5, one of the best treats we'd had all week. I agreed, it was definitely worth it! I certainly see another one of these in his future.

After we literally ate 2 pounds worth of dairy (more on that later), we headed toward Ariel to FINALLY meet her. Any time I'd been there earlier that week, her wait was so long! I asked her if I could record her saying hello to Gules (my cousin's daughter) and she did, but the sound didn't record. Boo! We rode Buzz, grabbed some cookies and hot (cold) chocolate, and decided to stake out a spot in the hub grass for the fireworks.

The hub grass was PERFECT. There were plenty of people standing but we just sat in the grass and relaxed for a bit. After quite a few hours of our phones being away other than to take photos, we pulled them out and instantly we were hit with notifications/Facebook posts galore about the terror attacks in Paris.

I gotta say, and this is NOT to sound selfish whatsoever, it really put a damper on our night. Here we were, about to enjoy some magical fireworks at a really fun Christmas party, without a care in the world, and we feel guilty because there are people losing their lives or injured, because of the terror attacks. We both just felt really sad and it definitely brought our spirits down. Our thoughts were just kinda elsewhere after that. We felt like we were so blessed to be able to take our trip, and get to/from safely, but others vacationing or going about their daily lives weren't so fortunate. Really puts things into perspective.

We watched the fireworks from our awesome spot and we definitely agreed, we were glad we sat there. Once those were over, we headed down Main Street to grab a spot for the parade.

Now, as I've mentioned a couple times before, I have a dairy sensitivity in that I'm really not allergic (coffee with milk or creamer doesn't bother me, or normal sized portions of cheese), but when I overdo it with something as a huge bowl of ice cream, or massive amounts of cheese, my stomach hates me and I wonder why I did it.

That happened to me that night. NOOOOO. Say it ain't so! About an hour and a half after eating our ice cream, like a ton of bricks, I just felt like I needed to be laying down in the room right that second. Yes, I'm dramatic, but I hate feeling like crap (who doesn't)!? I rode it out for about 25 minutes then I told Justin, yeah, we gotta go. So back to the hotel room for us, at around 10:45. I had every intention of staying until 12, and so did Justin, so I felt really bad and told him he didn't have to come back with me. But he did! I was so sad I missed the Christmas parade that I watched it on YouTube on my iPad, lol.

Next up, our last day, and we'll visit Captain Cooks yet again!

Bonus Memory Maker pic (matching shirts were obviously my idea and I was not taking no for an answer! What a good sport)

 

[Vernie822]

Saturday morning was our last day.

Although we LOVED the Poly and fully intended on staying there forever, we did have to head back to Pittsburgh. We purposely flew back on a Saturday so that we'd have Sunday to recover (living 2 hours from the airport makes it harder to do it all in one day) and we're glad we did that.

That morning, we headed to Captain Cooks for one final breakfast. I believe I mentioned this before, but originally Justin and I had a reservation for Be Our Guest that morning. Two days before, when we had breakfast at Captain Cooks the first time, Justin said to go ahead and cancel it because $21.99 apiece seemed outrageous to us. We were 6 days into vacation at that point, paying for everything with gift cards, so we were kind of being mindful of our spending.

I wasn't going to pass up the chance at one last Mickey waffle, so I decided to order those that morning. And Justin decided on a breakfast burrito. I grabbed a table while he waited for our food.

Kid's Mickey Waffle - with bacon and grapes and choice of small lowfat milk or small bottled water $4.99

I actually went with the Kids Mickey Waffle, which I do from time to time. It's nice to have the fruit added to it (I don't think I'd had any fruit that week), and the small water to carry with you for later. They also came with some bacon. It is the perfect portion size to keep you full with room for a snack later on. And the price is right too! 5/5 from me, no doubt.

Breakfast Burrito - Eggs, potatoes, bacon and cheddar $6.49

Justin went with a breakfast burrito which included eggs, bacon, cheddar cheese, and potatoes all rolled up in a flour tortilla, with some salsa on the side. Let me tell you, this boy was in heaven! He loves bacon, eggs, and cheese. He declared this one of the best breakfast burritos he has ever had, and he really loved the addition of potatoes. He said there was lots of cheese, which you can kind of tell in the pic. He was really satisfied with this and has mentioned it multiple times since our trip. Not the steak at Flying Fish, the counter service burrito from Captain Cooks. Boy am I glad we saved ourselves 30 bucks and came here instead of Be Our Guest.

He rated this a 5/5 for sure.

Next we snack around the World Showcase for one last time and... you guessed it... we eat more nachos. ​

 

[Vernie822]

After that, we packed up our room and went to the front desk to do airline check in and pay off our room charges we'd accrued from charging our meals to the room. We did not use the dining plan this trip and instead I just bought a bunch of Disney gift cards for 5% off using my Target red card, and we used those. So I had every intention of paying off our balance with these, and not with my credit card on file. It totally slipped my mind the night before and we went to bed without paying off our charges. So overnight, they automatically charge your credit card the night before you check out if these charges are not yet paid off. They had no problem reversing the charges, and then re-paying them with the gift cards, but it did require some number crunching from the girl at the desk and it probably took 7-10 days to get refunded to my credit card. Just FYI for anyone planning to do what we did! We'll be sure to pay that off in advance next time.

That week, Disney was also offering a great promo where they'd ship your souvenirs home FOR FREE so we were able to ship a TON of stuff (all of the Christmas gifts we bought, including 3 ornaments and 3 mugs) home free of charge. It was so nice to get a box from Disney a few weeks later and have peace of mind knowing I wasn't shipping all of that home in my suitcase.

We took our time doing our packing and checking out, then it was off to Epcot we went for one last jaunt around the World Showcase.

After a bit we decided to do some lunch at Justin's new favorite spot. La Cantina de San Angel. As usual, he waited in line while I grabbed a table. Unbeknownst to me, there is a seating area inside as well, so I was able to get a table in there. The seating on the water is very nice but it fills up so quickly so this is a good idea if you're looking to get away from crowds and some heat.

As our nacho habit continued, we saw less and less toppings. No more jalapenos or tomatoes here.

I declared that I was absolutely not leaving Epcot until I'd had the mac and cheese I'd heard so much about, so we stopped at the Farm Fresh booth.

Loaded mac n’ cheese with Nueske’s® pepper bacon, cheddar cheese, peppers and green onions – $4.25, DDP Snack Eligible

This was pretty good! Unfortunately the actual mac and cheese part really didn't wow me too much, but the bacon and peppers were a nice addition. I do love green onion for some flavor and garnish, but the green onion here was a tad bit overpowering. The $4.25 price tag did not seem too steep in my opinion and I gave this a 4/5.

I also went with a taste of the pear cider that was being offered. I really wanted to try the flight but I wasn't in the mood to drink much (gasp!) as it was pretty hot out and Epcot was getting crowded.

Wyder’s® Dry Pear Hard Cider – $3.75

Two thumbs up from me and a solid 4/5.

I had also grabbed a snack at Karamell Kuche that we munched on throughout the day.

This was a chocolate and caramel dipped marshmallow stick. I was really torn between this, the smores and the pineapple, and went with this one. The verdict? It was definitely good, not bad, but it was just OK. I think it was from the day before because it was chewy and seemed almost stale. It was pretty good though I think I'll try something else next time. This was a snack credit on the dining plan.

Off to Magic Kingdom to play for a few more hours before the dreaded Magical Express ride home.

We decided to hang out at the Poly for our last hour or so before our bus came around 5-ish. First, we headed to the Barefoot Pool Bar, which is the pool bar next to the big lava pool at the Poly. There was some college football on that Justin wanted to watch so we thought it would be the perfect spot since it was kinda empty over there. Well, no less than 3 seconds in the chairs when I discovered that there were bees EVERYWHERE. I am terrified of bees. Not allergic, but neither was my dad, until two years ago when he got stung and my mom had to call an ambulance because he swelled up like crazy and couldn't breathe. So yeah, I'm scared of bees. We moved to the other side of the bar. Even worse! Bees everywhere! The bartender said "Yeah, they're a problem" (I'll say) so we headed inside instead.

We ended up at the Tambu Lounge where we decided to imbibe one last time, with a Pina CoLava.

Bacardi Black Razz Rum with Pina Colada Mix and Raspberry Puree

Now 5 years ago I was queen of Arbor Mist. Heck I used to not even touch a wine that was considered dry. Give me all the cranberry and vodka. These days, not so much. I do like my wines sweet, but sometimes a drink can be too sweet. This unfortunately was way too sweet. We shared it and finished it off, but it took quite a while. It was super heavy on the raspberry. Maybe if we had this with a meal it would have gone over better but it was just too sweet for my taste! I gave it a 3.5/5.

Really, I wanted to order a slice of Ohana bread pudding. Just for old times sake. But I didn't. And since our lunch of nachos was kinda light, we decided to head down to Trader Sam's (it was shortly after 4 pm) to see what the hype was all about. It was no later than 4:10 and they were already totally booked with a wait. Since our bus was leaving in a bit, we decided just to head to old faithful, Captain Cooks, for some signature pork nachos I'd seen floating around on trays for the last 3 days. I had been eyeballing them for sure.

Pulled Pork Nachos - topped with onions, cheese, spicy mayo, tomatoes and pineapple salsa $8.29

I really liked these because I like the homemade chips that they have at the Poly. Topped with the spicy mayo and the cheese, what could be better!? The pork wasn't the best pork I've ever had, which is to be expected at a QS place. Overall it was something different and I enjoyed them. Definitely a good poolside snack. Justin rated these a 3 and said they weren't the best nachos we've ever had (which clearly we'd had 3 times earlier that week, haha), and I went with a 3.5 because I thought for the price and the quality that I expected, they delivered.

So there you have it.. that's all of our EATS for our November trip! I'll definitely do a wrap up post with some highlights of our favorites (and not so favorites). I really enjoy writing these and I am so glad that you all like reading them, because I enjoy reading yours as well! ​

 

[Vernie822]

So, one last update! On our way home from the Pgh airport, I grilled Justin on all of our yummy food choices for the week, mainly to keep him occupied while he was driving back. Our plane landed at I think 11:30 ish pm so it was a long 2 hour drive home.

And... based on our experiences that week, here are our favorites and not-so-favorites.

FAVORITE QS:
Captain Cooks
Justin said, "I really liked that breakfast burrito, the breakfast was a good value." I would have to agree that Captain Cooks was some of the best QS we had, though we didn't have too much since we did a lot of TS.

LEAST FAVORITE QS:
Casey's Corner
At that point in our day (and in our trip), we were going for something quick and easy. Casey's fit the bill, but the food was nothing spectacular and it was just basic hot dogs and fries. Pizza Planet came in a close 2nd, but stayed put due to theming and a Caesar salad that made up for some lackluster pizza.

FAVORITE TS:
Flying Fish
We both agreed that Flying Fish was THE BEST table service meal we had all week. Hands down, start to finish, it was such an awesome experience and everything was delicious. We are planning another trip and we are so sad it will be down for refurb.

LEAST FAVORITE TS:
Sanaa
I don't think we had any downright terrible TS meals, but Justin was pretty unhappy with his entree here (I agreed). Our service was a little spotty but not too bad, and in general we were just kind of "over it" when we walked in due to waiting for so long, which was our fault because we checked in super early. The bread service was absolutely fantastic, but coupled with a not so good entree, made this our least favorite TS. We will absolutely be back here, we just did not have that many bad meals this week.

BEST SERVICE:
'Ohana
Specifically, for dinner, our server Jordan was SO attentive, friendly, and overall very fun to be around. We really enjoyed our meal with him and he was outstanding! Breakfast was great too but dinner was stellar service.

BEST APPETIZER:
Bread Service @ Sanaa
Consequently to our "least favorite TS" category, the bread service at Sanaa was phenomenal. Definitely worth getting all 9 of the dips and all 5 of the breads. So yummy!!

BEST ENTREE:​

Char Crusted Angus NY Strip @ Flying Fish
Wow. Everything about this entree was AWESOME.. and we loved it from start to finish. We both agreed that this was hands down the best entree we had all week.

BEST DESSERT:
Plaza Holiday Special Ice Cream Sandwich (J) & Ohana Bread Pudding (A)
Justin could not stop raving about the sugar cookie ice cream sandwich we had at the Plaza! It was such a great dessert item and we loved it. And I, on the other hand, can't imagine a trip to WDW without some Ohana bread pudding, so that will forever be my #1. Although, the Plaza Ice Cream Sundae was definitely a runner up for me this time.

FAVORITE F&W ITEM:
J: Filet in Canada and Potato and Leek Waffle in Belgium
A: Nitro Liquid Almond Truffle and Potato and Leek Waffle in Belgium
We totally ate SO MUCH at Food and Wine this week, but the three items mentioned above were our absolute favorites. The potato and leek waffle was kind of our "surprise" item that was way better than we expected. We were really glad we chose to try that one.

LEAST FAVORITE F&W ITEM:
Spare Ribs from Sustainable Chew
Yeah, this item just kind of fell flat for us. I think, for me, it's just not something I like in general and for Justin, it wasn't his favorite combination of foods or flavors.

MOST DISAPPOINTING DINING EXPERIENCE:
Pizza Planet
I really didn't have any disappointing experiences, but Justin had really been looking forward to trying the pizza at Pizza Planet and he was unfortunately pretty let down.

MOST SURPRISINGLY GOOD DINING EXPERIENCE:
Flying Fish (J), Boma Breakfast (A)
Justin told me that he did not know what to expect going into Flying Fish, because like I've mentioned we don't do signature dining too much, but he was pleasantly surprised after thinking he would be disappointed since it was mostly a seafood menu.. he was so pleasantly surprised and loves it here now. I didn't know what to expect for Boma breakfast. I kinda just booked it because it was at our resort and I love breakfast food, but I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly the staff was and how plentiful and fantastic the food was. I absolutely loved Boma.

BEST ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE:
Tokyo Sunset (J), Schofferhofer Grapefruit or Island Sunset (A)
We had a variety of delicious drinks that week and by far, Justin's favorite is the Tokyo Sunset from the Japan pavilion at Epcot. I can't do Germany without a Schofferhofer, so that's a given, but I also had to add a favorite from the Tambu Lounge at the Poly, the Island Sunset. We had this while waiting for our table at Ohana and it was fantastic.




So lastly, a few thoughts about the way we did things this trip. Renting DVC points totally worked for us and we would recommend it without hesitation. Though we are in the process of becoming members (it has taken since AUGUST) and we couldn't be happier.

We did not do the dining plan this trip. On our week long trip in September 2014 we used it and it was my first trip in a long time and Justin's first trip ever, so I just don't know that we worked it correctly. We didn't use it after that, for a quick 4 day trip in June, or for this trip in November. In June it worked out fine - 4 days, easy to budget. This trip, 8 days, not so easy to budget. We needed more than we thought we would. So maybe if we were on the dining plan it would be a little less difficult to budget. I didn't totally mind going over budget but when you crunch numbers so much, it's a little irritating when you think you've got it all planned out! So the dining plan, we think, for us, would work for longer trips (giving that all-inclusive feel and not worrying about spending so much), and possibly even for shorter trips. Though, for shorter trips, I wouldn't hesitate to just use the gift card method like we usually do.

So.. I think that's a wrap! Thanks everyone!



​

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

Oh my God I'm so sad this review is over!!!!
This has been one of the best reviews I've read on the boards- thank you so much for sharing and for all the effort you put in it!
You guys are sweet and I wish you a lifetime of happiness together- at Disney and everywhere else!

 

[auntfrannie]

I didn't realize you're from Pgh; I'm about 26 miles south. I enjoyed your reviews! Thanks for taking the time to share with us!

 

[Vernie822]

I didn't realize you're from Pgh; I'm about 26 miles south. I enjoyed your reviews! Thanks for taking the time to share with us!

Yes! I grew up in Plum and now we live in Erie. My parents are still there though and I'm there frequently. I'd love to move back someday.

 

[Vernie822]

Oh my God I'm so sad this review is over!!!!
This has been one of the best reviews I've read on the boards- thank you so much for sharing and for all the effort you put in it!
You guys are sweet and I wish you a lifetime of happiness together- at Disney and everywhere else!

Awwwww thank you so much for reading! I am so glad you enjoyed it so much. I'm sure I'll be back in the future w/ lots more reviews.

 

[DisneyJo]

Great reviews, thanks

 

[Klinger13]

I really enjoyed your reviews! Thanks for taking the time to share with us!

 

[suse66]

Terrific reviews! Thanks for taking the time to share, I especially loved your wrap up!

 

[Min Min]

After a morning at Hollywood Studios, we took the boat over to Epcot to try some more of the offerings at Food and Wine! Before we went, I had put together a list in Excel of each of the offerings, that way Justin and I could mark off what we wanted to try. I didn't want to miss some things and I also wanted to get an idea of how much we thought it would cost. F&W definitely isn't cheap, but it was part of the reason we booked in November, so we wanted to make sure we had a chance to try everything we wanted to.

First we stopped in France.

(I love the outfits that the CM's wear here. So cute)

Last year, Justin really enjoyed the boeuf bourguignon (I have to look at the menu every single time to figure out how to spell that) so we decided to try that. I also decided on the ice pop pomme.

Boeuf bourguignon: Braised short ribs in cabernet with mashed potatoes – $5.95, DDP Snack Eligible

Ice Pop Pomme: Apple juice, vodka, and St. Germain liqueur – $6.75

First we'll start with the good: The boeuf (I'm just gonna say beef) was delicious. The mashed potatoes weren't "crusty" and were nice and moist thanks to the cabernet sauce. The short ribs definitely fell apart and the flavors all went well together. We liked this last year but I liked it even more this year. It did not have the "I've been sitting under a heat lamp for 20 minutes" taste, we got lucky and had a fresh one. Justin ate most of this and rated it a 3. I'd agree with that. Not the best thing we ate all week but not bad.

The bad: the ice pop pomme. Cute idea, terrible execution. The popsicle holder was of awful quality and the first "push" I gave it, the entire thing was leaking all over the place. It was extremely messy and just fell right apart. It was all over my hands and my shoes, and was impossible to eat. I gave up about halfway and just threw the rest away. The taste was okay, but I'd get the La Passion Martini Slush instead, that looked great. I'd give this a 1 because of how messy it was.

After France was a favorite booth of ours... Belgium!

It was WAFFLE TIME!

Last year we really enjoyed the berry waffle and the chocolate waffle. Justin chose to get the chocolate waffle again and I chose to try something new to me, the braised beef waffle.

Belgium waffle with warm chocolate ganache and whipped cream – $3.75, Vegetarian, DDP Snack Eligible

Potato and leek waffle with beer-braised beef and smoked gouda cream – $4.25, DDP Snack Eligible

I thought about getting a beer here as well but since I'd just had the ice pop pomme, I decided against it. They definitely have lots of great beer options here.

We took our waffles to a ledge near the water and dug right in. A tip that I read somewhere: we grabbed a bunch of forks/knives/napkins here and just stuck them in a side pocket of my backpack. That way each time we stopped we didn't have to get any silverware and we didn't have to worry about carrying them either.

Onto the waffles. The chocolate ganache waffle was delicious, it's really nothing revolutionary but it is done right with a crispy outside and soft, fluffy inside. The CM's decorated it nicely. Justin and I rated this a 3.

The potato and leek waffle with braised beef was one of the best things we ate all week at the festival. It was unique, something different (for our usual tastes), and absolutely delicious. The waffle was nice and thick and heavy, the gouda cream was really yummy, not too thick, and there were nice chunks of veggies and beef. Definitely worth the money for $4.25. We meant to go back and get another of these but we never did. We rated this a 4. I asked Justin "4? Why not 5?" and he said "It's hard to give something a perfect score." However, when I asked him about it, he said "I loved that!" so definitely a great item, in our opinion.

Next up was the Chase Lounge.

The Chase Visa cardholder lounge is located in the American Adventure pavilion, to the left of the store and right behind the fountain. We don't have a Disney Visa, but we do have a Chase Visa, so we were able to enter the lounge.

There are stairs or an elevator to lead you up to the lounge. We exited the stairwell to the right, where there was a room with different drink options.

You could purchase beer or wine at the station pictured above. I'm not sure what they had but I think they had beer, red wine, white wine, and champagne.

They also had a few Coke Freestyle machines (love these) where you could fill up a glass of Coke for FREE!

The cups were plenty big enough and you could always go back for more. We did see people filling up their water bottles (I'm talking like the 32 oz Nalgene bottles) with Coke products and the CM's didn't say anything.

I'm pretty sure they also had tea and coffee as well but I didn't really take note.

To the left of the stairwell was an area with lots of open seating, some TV's playing episodes of The Chew, and this neat photo booth..

There was also a room with kids stuff like a Wii (might have been a Playstation.. honestly I don't know) and there were some nice bathrooms up there, too.

They also had a few tables with CM's that could answer questions about the Festival. They had another CM giving out wristbands for the Eat to the Beat concerts each night. Those were first come first serve but we were in the lounge a few days later in the late afternoon and they still had some.

Overall we were really pleased with the lounge. It was an unexpected "bonus" to our trip that I found out about a few weeks before. We popped in here multiple times during the week and it was a perfect spot to cool off, relax for a few, and have a Diet Coke or two..

We headed to Italy next.

I decided against anything here because I had other items in mind. I thought the chicken marsala dish sounded good but I wasn't feeling it at the time. And the cannoli.. who doesn't love cannoli!?

Justin decided he wanted to try the ravioli.

Ravioli alla caprese: Cheese ravioli, tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan and basil – $6.00, Vegetarian, DDP Snack Eligible

This was, to put it simply, very pedestrian. Justin's response to my asking how it was, was "Chef Boyardee does it better". There are 4 ravioli in the dish, with a bunch of cheese on top. I had a bite and I agreed. He rated this a 1 and said it should not be on their menu. I agree - F&W has so many "interesting" dishes and I think they could do much better. It's not that this was horrible, but it had virtually no flavor and was NOT worth $6.

After Italy, the smell of caramel lured me in to Karamell Kuche. I'm pretty sure it was subconscious. I don't even know how I ended up in there, but before I knew it, I had a bag of caramel corn in my hand.

I didn't take a picture of my popcorn, but I guess I took a picture of the case to remember what I got!? I snacked on this over the next few days. I love it so much!

The CM's here are really sweet, and reminded me that there is a 10% AP discount - which I didn't even know about - so that was nice, even though I only saved like .40 it was sweet of them to remind us.

Justin decided after that, that he wanted a margarita from Mexico. Yes, the ones at La Cava are delicious (and expensive) but the frozen margaritas are where it's at on a really hot day!

We went with a Lime but they also had Mango and Strawberry.. both of which we also like. (Note that this was from the Margarita stand on the right as you enter Mexico, which is open year round!)

As we approached Mexico, we noticed the super long line (to the left of the booth).. someone who had just come from the booth pointed out that to the right of the booth, there was NO LINE! See below..

So we jumped right in line with no wait.

I thought all of the dishes from Mexico sounded awesome, but since all I had really eaten was the braised beef waffle, I wanted something substantial and not sweet..

Justin decided on the chilaquiles de pollo:

Chilaquiles de pollo: Corn chips layered with seasoned chicken, queso fresco, sour cream and cilantro – $5.00, Gluten-Free, DDP Snack Eligible

and I went with the shrimp taco, which I had heard was delicious thanks to one of my favorite WDW podcasts!

Tacos de camarón: Battered shrimp, pico de gallo, pickled onions, and chipotle mayonnaise – $5.50, DDP Snack Eligible


We found a spot on the promenade after Mexico and sat down. It was honestly not crowded that day (it was a Monday) so it was REALLY nice being able to leisurely stroll the World Showcase without the crowds being too crazy like they were on Saturday.

Justin thought the chilaquiles were fine but he didn't love them. I'm not familiar with chilaquiles but I imagine the Fritos on the bottom were in place of a tortilla? Perhaps not, I've never had chilaquiles so I'm not sure, but the Fritos were soggy (gross!) and Justin just rated this a 2 because he said it was not memorable at all. When I showed him the picture he had no clue what it was.

The shrimp taco was really good! I get shrimp any chance I can get. One of those things I can't make as well myself, these were battered and fried very nicely. The pico and pickled onions went really well with it, though maybe I would've liked a slaw to go along with the spicy mayonnaise instead. This was the perfect size - any bigger and I think it would have been too big. But the spicy chipotle mayo went along really well with the battered shrimp. I enjoyed this very much and gave it a 3.5.

Lastly, I decided to try one more item since I had really only ordered 2 food items. I had long been awaiting the booth in... Scotland!

I wasn't trying the neeps and tatties, sorry I'll try a lot of things but neeps and tatties aren't one of them. I'm sure they're good, but I decided on the always popular seared sea scallop.

Seared sea scallop with spinach-cheddar gratin and crispy bacon – $4.75, Gluten-Free, DDP Snack Eligible

I had marked on my list that I wanted to try this, and then drew 2 big stars next to it. You know, so it was one of those "I MUST TRY THIS" items, not an "I'd like to try this". And I was so glad I did! I don't eat scallops often but this was cooked nicely and it was very tender.

The star of the show, though, was the spinach cheddar gratin with bacon. OMG. I could've eaten a big bowl of this by itself. I'm gonna have to try to make it. It was so good!! So creamy and cheesy, with nice crisp pieces of bacon mixed in. Swoon. Yes, it looks like baby puke, but once I got past that, I was in heaven. Thank you Scots for this delicious dish. I rated this a 4 as it was one of the best items I had at the festival. No wonder it gets such great reviews!

So, that's all for now for the Food and Wine festival! We headed back to our room for a bit after that, then went to Disney Springs and back to AKL for a relaxing evening and dinner at Sanaa.

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Thanks so much for the info on the chase visa lounge. I had no idea. It will be great to go in and get a coke.