VILLAINS, ALIENS AND ALCOHOL, A JAN. 2016 TR W/ CLUB VILLAIN REVIEW *Final Update 3/27 *

[ariane37]

Thanks for the screen grab! The doll does look a lot like the face character Queen of Hearts.

You seem to be doing pretty well hitting up rides with minimal wait and then getting FP that are coming due soon. Definitely not what I would have expected over MLK weekend.

I know, right? Steve was a little put off by the Thanksgiving crowds back in Nov., and I told him the crowd calendars weren't any better for most of our days in Jan. But except for one early afternoon at MK the crowds were surprisingly light. Well not light, but not what I would call heavy or uncomfortable. During our Thanksgiving trip getting a 4th FP for anything other than Figment, Muppets or Small World was quite a feat most days

People still don't get the concept of a FP line? and they kept cutting in thinking maybe that would be the time they can get by without having a FP? I don't get people like that who think the rules don't apply to them. Glad you guys were getting on some of your favorites especially given this was sort of a bonus MK trip

Ha! I will say the line skipping/jumping/repeating people didn't speak English very well. I'm pretty sure they understood they were cutting a line though, because every time they did it the dad looked around all shifty to see if anyone was watching. Well buddy, since there were about 100 of us in the FP line, pretty sure someone saw each time! They were the only cutters we encountered but sadly not the only people we saw who didn't understand the FP line. And boy, lots of them were NOT happy when the whole thing was explained to them

Totally but I think we might be getting our first actual snow this week! My boys had their first snow day Friday. We had about half an inch at 11, and it had disappeared by 12 Forecast now is snow on and off tomorrow night through Wed. night, maybe we'll get some that sticks??! I know you already had some but I'm not used to Feb. and no snow!

 

[Elevationist]

I just found this and am so far behind!

Welcome everyone, as I begin my 2nd TR before my 1st is even 50% complete!

I know! I can't even keep up with you, lady!

Plus, we attended the very first night of Club Villain over at Hollywood Studios and - spoiler alert - it was frightfully fabulous!

I AM SO EXCITED TO HEAR ABOUT THIS!!!

Look at you with your pretty mermaid facepaint! I love it!

His Disney way being staying at the BWV, but our Nov. experience wasn't stellar and I really want to try (just about) all the resorts.

"Wasn't stellar" is putting it mildly!

Jan. 15-18th, standard studio AKV Jambo House
Jan. 18-20th, standard studio Poly villas

This sounds PERFECT!

I was thrilled! I spent 7 months telling Steve he wouldn't be disappointed and promising we'd go back to the BW if these resorts really stunk. Hey, sometimes ya gotta tell them what they want to hear........

After the disaster at BWV in November, I surprised he wasn't in a hurry to try something else!

So we went right to the restaurant and were seated within 5 minutes, which was great because we were starving!

Now THAT is service!

Next we ordered their Naan bread service for an appetizer. You can either get all the dips (9 or 11, I forgot already!) or pick 3 which is what we did. We got all of them the last time and a few weren't to our taste, so we went with the cucumber raita, coriander chutney, and garlic pickle. You get 5 breads and they are all different also but all I remember is a plain one, a garlicky one and a really freakin' spicy one lol.

This is pretty much the only thing on the Sanaa menu I've ever been interested in. It looks amazing!

I know this isn't technically a dining report but Steve and I love our food and we ate some really good stuff on this trip, so I'm going to share my food pics even though some may be half-eaten stuff.

Bring on the food porn!

Steve went with the Braaivleis: South African Braai sampler plate with Boerewor, lambchop, and pork tenderloin. Boerewor BTW is an African pork and beef sausage-we asked

I know there was some broccoli rabe on here (blechh! Steve loves it though) and on the one end were big pearl onions in a cream sauce. Then there was a potato of some type but Steve said it wasn't your basic mashed potato. He almost licked his plate clean, that's how much he enjoyed this thing!

Oh, WOW. Okay, why have I never seen THIS before? It looks AMAZING! THIS would make me want to eat at Sanaa!

At this point I realized I'd left my phone in the room so no pics, sorry!

Rookie mistake!

also realized he could take pictures with his phone:

Smart!

We also caught the new act in Canada who had just started the day before, "TradNation". I knew they wouldn't be another Off-Kilter but I was hoping for something better than the lumberjacks. Hmm.......will you think less of me if I say I feel badly for them? They didn't draw a big crowd and in fact had more than half the folks who did start out watching them leave less than half way through their set. It's traditional folk music from the area of Toronto they're from, and one of the members does a folk dance which was a cross between, at least to me, tap dancing and Irish dancing. He did come into the "crowd" and attempt to teach some of them to dance......I made Steve stay for the whole performance because I felt guilty leaving. I didn't even take any pictures

I wonder how much longer before Disney admits they screwed up and just go beg Off Kilter to please come back...

Since I'd had my favorite drink from WS it was only fitting to follow up with my favorite snack from Kringla Bakeri in Norway-

Mmmmmmmmm. I haven't had this since 2009. I think I need to add it to the Must Eat list for October!

Yes, all alcoholic/non-alcoholic drinks, dinner (which I'll get to in my next update ), dessert, the champagne before we were let in and the meet & greets were included in the price.

WOW!!!!! That is an AWESOME deal!!!! How much did all this awesomeness cost, if I may?

I didn't say we were able to snap GOOD pictures, as you can tell here in this shot of me with my strange wide eyes and weird grin. You may think I was trying to look this way because we were hanging with off-color characters, but no. That's my typical meeting-with-character look unfortunately, and I usually don't end up showing people pictures of me with characters! But for this special event I'll take one for the team..........

Oh, stop it. Do you want to know what I honestly thought when I saw this photo, before I read all that nonsense you typed under it? "Wow, she looks HELLA CUTE in this picture!" Really. I did. So knock it off, pretty lady.

A FACE CHARACTER!! If you've seen her before you know she usually has a big head on. I've met/seen her a few times at MNSSHP and in pictures and other TR's online and have never seen her as a face character. You could hear lots of "Oh wow"s and other positive comments from the crowd when she came out.

I like this incarnation of her MUCH BETTER!!!

Shortly before the night was over, the Queen had finished her M&G's and was bellowing that she was bored.

Okay, THAT is hilarious.

Pretty much a perfect day at the parks!

HOORAY! That is AWESOME!

I'm ready to eat as soon as I wake up.

You and me both, girl!

We checked in, gave them our cell # and went to wait. Not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but this was our first trip where they were talking cell #'s and texting us rather than giving pagers. We got pagers anywhere we had to wait in Nov. They always asked for a U.S. # so I guess if you have an international # you'd still get a pager.

...What? This is weird, when did this start!

Steve went right up and ordered a ham and cheese omelet and ended up having 2 of those.

Steve is a wise man. Mmm. Omelets.

The eggs w/goat cheese and chives were also delicious.

THEY HAD MY FAVORITE EGGSSSSSS! I spent 14 long months craving these eggs, then got there in December and instead they ham & cheddar scrambled eggs instead. If I wanted ham and cheddar, I'd get an omelet (which I did). GIMME MY GOAT CHEESE AND CHIVES!!!!

I found the lobby so peaceful and welcoming! Loved the smell, too.

YAAAASSS! I love all of this about the AKL lobby!

Steve got the lobster roll. He's had this before and always enjoys it

YUM!!! This is my Go-To when eating at CHH, too!

because the Big Thunder FP line was AT THE BRIDGE. What??? Uh-huh. As we got closer we realized there were quite a few families that didn't quite understand the whole FP thing or that they were in the FP line. There was also one family who kept being told they didn't have fastpasses, and then would cut the FP line again

That frustrates and irritates me just reading about it.

This was the best luck we'd ever had getting additional FP's after our 3!

That's IMPRESSIVE! I've never even TRIED to get additional FPs after my three... Maybe I should next time!

 

[ariane37]

Hi there Billie, glad you found me over here!

I know! I can't even keep up with you, lady!

LOL I learned from the best I figured, "If Billie can do a TR and a dining report at the same time, how hard can it be to do 2 TR's at once?" Probably not hard, if one doesn't keep forgetting the details of the earlier trip!! Rookie mistake #2, don't wait too long to start your TR

After the disaster at BWV in November, I surprised he wasn't in a hurry to try something else!

Welp, we had booked this split stay before our not so great Nov. BWV stay, so at that point he was still all gung-ho on the BW. Not so much now.....it does stink that less than "magical" CM's can effect your view of a resort you really love, though

I wonder how much longer before Disney admits they screwed up and just go beg Off Kilter to please come back...

OMG, I hate saying negative things about the performers but Seriously. I haven't heard anything about them, bad or good, since we've been back. I wonder if they're even still there? Off Kilter returning would be awesome.......

WOW!!!!! That is an AWESOME deal!!!! How much did all this awesomeness cost, if I may?

Club Villain was $99/pp, not bad at all when you consider it included dinner, tons of desserts, unlimited alcohol, plus the meets AND the champagne before we entered. Add to that not oversold and not being rushed with the characters. BUT, I heard a rumor that should it continue after this month, the price might jump to $130?? IDK. I'd still pay it if they didn't take anything away. And apparently the March dates showed up online for a few days last week but weren't bookable and had no price, and then disappeared, so

Oh, stop it. Do you want to know what I honestly thought when I saw this photo, before I read all that nonsense you typed under it? "Wow, she looks HELLA CUTE in this picture!" Really. I did. So knock it off, pretty lady.

Thank you

Oh, WOW. Okay, why have I never seen THIS before? It looks AMAZING! THIS would make me want to eat at Sanaa!

Mmmmmmmmm. I haven't had this since 2009. I think I need to add it to the Must Eat list for October!

That Sanaa dinner was a meat lovers dream! Steve was drooling when he saw the people at the table next to us eating it. I was trying to talk to him but he was just staring at them. Then he'd look at me and go "huh"?
The desserts there are delicious, too! If his dinner is still on the menu in Oct. you should give it a try! And get yourself some school bread ASAP!

...What? This is weird, when did this start!

Right? In Nov. they were still giving out pagers and then last month, this. But at Tokyo Dining we got a pager so I guess it's only some places?

 

[ariane37]

We arrived in Epcot and were lucky enough to get selected to go through the metal detectors. I guess we looked shady? Anyway, it was quick and painless, the non-Disney security staff were friendly, and we were on our way. We considered doing TT single rider but that was at 40 minutes so we headed right over to WS. I wanted to do some shopping and we were in need of some drinks!
France was our first stop for our beloved Grey Goose Slushes. After that we headed towards Japan where I picked up some more chocolate/candy for the kids and my nephews. Then it was on to Canada and the UK for these



That would be a La Fin du Monde for me, and maybe a Guinness for Steve? Anyway, we did a little more shopping and caught a set by British Revolution, whom we both love. Ricky doesn't mind listening but Chris starts whining after about 6 seconds of listening to them, so it was nice to sit and enjoy a full set with nobody complaining that they wanted to leave!



We still had over an hour before our 7:50 ADR and the beer was making me hungry (?) so we traipsed back to Germany so I could grab something from Karamell Kuche. It had been years since I'd gotten something here even though I say I'm going to every time. I got on the short line and came out with this



I got a dark chocolate sea salt caramel. It was chewy and creamy, I ate the whole thing and I'll do it again on future trips

We kept walking by Morocco looking for the band we saw back in Nov. They were kind of "new" then and were really good; the singer reminded us of Jimmy Hendrix. The stage of course was there but no sign with a band name or times. Eventually we found a mgr. from Morocco and we asked. He said they were "currently in discussion" with the band to come back, they had gotten many compliments on them and were hoping they'd return soon. I hope so too, because while there are a couple good acts in WS we enjoy, I'd really like a few more and that band was COOL!

At some point before dinner I snapped a couple night shots of WS







I took this blurry one in Japan when we headed back for our ADR at Tokyo Dining. This was not our original plan; we had dinner at Mama Melrose scheduled but ended up switching around park plans the night before. We wanted someplace either new to us or someplace we hadn't been in awhile. I was looking for Le Cellier where we haven't been since 2010 or 2011, but they only had 8:45 and I wanted to catch Illuminations. Steve actually wanted to eat somewhere we could watch Illuminations from. Rose & Crown had nothing; we have Japanese/Hibachi/sushi (gross anyway, sorry!) every 2 feet by us so this really didn't interest me but I knew you could watch Illuminations from their balcony and Steve was all for it, so we booked it. And we ended up being SO glad we did because it was like one of our 2 best meals of the trip!

We checked in 5 minutes early so 7:45 and were told they were running 20 minutes behind. Here we were given a pager rather than them taking our cell # like Sanaa and Boma did. We joined about 76 other people in the waiting area. Teppan Edo shares the waiting area which made it more congested; they seemed to also be running behind.
We were sat about 8:20 so about 30 minutes after our ADR, but at least we knew it would be later. Our waitress who may have been named Mei came right over. Steve got a regular old beer; I tried my first, and then my second, Tokyo Sunset



I know I read about this on somebody's dining report but I can't remember who it was, but I'll be back for more Sunsets!

We started with the Assorted Tempura (no picture, sorry). Shrimp, chicken, and some veggies. Steve ate the shrimp since I don't do fish and he liked it. The chicken was nice and tender and the tempura was light. There was a very good dipping sauce but I can't remember what it was exactly! The veggies included carrots and zucchini. I don't normally do most veggies but I'll eat pretty much anything fried!
For my entrée I got the Panko chicken - a boneless breast covered in Panko bread crumbs served with Miso soup, a noodle salad, Sukiyaki beef rice and Sunomono.



Why can't I remember anything about the dipping sauces?? Anyway I loved everything about this. The chicken was tender and tasty and whatever the sauce was, it was delish. The noodle salad tasted like macaroni salad which I love; the soup was better than your average Miso soup and the rice had a light beef flavoring to it. I did add a little soy sauce. Now see that little plate with a pile of green on it? I'm assuming that's the Sunomono since I didn't actually look it up. What it was, was pickle-chip like. Kind of a cross between cucumbers and pickles, very refreshing.

Steve got the Grilled chicken with Teriyaki sauce, served with seasonal vegetables, Sukiyaki beef rice and a croquette



He loved everything about it; tender chicken with good flavor, veggies had flavor, he cleaned his plate.

Shortly before 9:00 we asked Mei where to go out for Illuminations. She showed us the door (in a good way) and we joined about 20 other people on the balcony. It was a really nice night out; a tad chilly but we were fine with sweatshirts on and the view looking down as people walked by was neat. The view got even better when the lights dimmed and Illuminations began








Sorry for all the pictures but I thought the view was very good. We've never had a problem finding a good spot to watch Illuminations from, but knowing we didn't have to even look was a big plus. And we enjoyed our dinner much more than we expected to; Tokyo Dining was a nice surprise!

(continued in the next post)

 

[ariane37]

We were a bit too full for dessert so we paid our check and did a slow walk back towards FW to catch our bus to AKL. By the way, I don't think I've mentioned this but we were able to use our TiW card everywhere we ate except of course Club Villain, so 20% off all bills including apps and alcohol

Surprisingly the bus was not crowded! Besides Steve and I and about 8 other people, there was a family of 6; 2 parents and 4 "kids" between the ages of maybe 16-25, most definitely not from the Northeast. They wanted to order some pizzas when they got back to their room at AKL, or so we thought. The mom called no less than 6 pizza places they all looked up on their phones and would ask if they delivered and had buffalo chicken pizza. Either they didn't have that pizza, they were 30-40 minutes away or didn't deliver. Then they found "NY Pizza" and the dad said he was sure they'd deliver and would have buffalo chicken because everyone walks in NY City and that flavor is popular there???? I don't get the connection......

Yes, I was totally eavesdropping. Finally we pulled up to Kidani. The dad goes, "Where are we?" Mom goes, "someplace called Key-danyi. Wilderness Lodge must be next." All I know is, those of us who didn't get off at Key-danyi got off at Jambo and they were still sitting on the bus, looking confused. I felt a little bad for them at the time. But now I think it's funny.

Since it was our last night at AKL I snapped a couple more pictures of the lobby





I seriously love this place so much. Ever since we've been home I've been dying to go back. I felt it was the most comfortable, most welcoming, most homey feeling resort of all the ones we've stayed at. I loved the gift shop too and the fact that they had a good selection of resort-specific merchandise. I wanted to get back there to buy some but sadly never made it.

We headed upstairs and I started to quickly pack up since we were transferring to the Poly in the morning and we wanted to make the opening show at MK. By this point Steve was ready for dessert so he ran down to the Mara and got himself a Mickey Bar. Being the good husband, he brought something back for me and was very excited, thinking he did a good job showing up with zebra domes



Unfortunately I wasn't a fan of these when I tried them a few years ago, and I wasn't a fan when I was a good wife and tried one again after Steve so happily presented them to me. I know how popular they are but.......just not my thang.

I finished packing and we called it a night. I was sad to be leaving the lodge but looking forward to our first stay at the Poly!

UP NEXT: MK MORNING AND ARRIVING AT THE POLY

 

[xlsm]

So, I used to have my picture of the Golden Girls' house framed and on display.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I even know where it is anymore...I might need to go on a hunt.

I think I'm going to have to go on a Bread Pudding Crawl at WDW. I love the 'Ohana bp, and the one from Tusker House breakfast was amazing...so now it looks like Boma is on The List now!!

Tokyo Dining is one of those places I always forget exists, but that's an awfully nice view for Illuminations, I might have to pay more attention to it!

AKL is so pretty

And I"m curious about the zebra domes. I really feel like I need some...what kind of flavor does it have? Is it chocolatey or like tiramisu-ish? As long as they aren't zebra flavored...

 

[ariane37]

So, I used to have my picture of the Golden Girls' house framed and on display.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I even know where it is anymore...I might need to go on a hunt.

I think I'm going to have to go on a Bread Pudding Crawl at WDW. I love the 'Ohana bp, and the one from Tusker House breakfast was amazing...so now it looks like Boma is on The List now!!

Tokyo Dining is one of those places I always forget exists, but that's an awfully nice view for Illuminations, I might have to pay more attention to it!

AKL is so pretty

And I"m curious about the zebra domes. I really feel like I need some...what kind of flavor does it have? Is it chocolatey or like tiramisu-ish? As long as they aren't zebra flavored...

Lol, I don't think zebra domes taste like Tiramisu (which I love) but they're not quite as bad as I assume zebra would taste! Less gamey I expected it to be somewhat cake-like but the center is liquidy and the outside is soft, kind of squishy. The inside has the consistency of mousse but the flavor is, not sure, not vanilla, kind of like there's a liquer in there? That's the best I can do!

I highly recommend Tokyo Dining. Was never on our radar but so glad we went.

 

[ariane37]

So Real-Life-Update- break: Steve has decided we need to go to back "home" again this year As of this moment we don't have a trip planned; when our January trip ended it was the first time since 2011 that we left w/o knowing when we'd be returning. We need to do some things to the house: new roof, new siding, and we did go 3x in 2015 and twice in 2014 so we were tentatively planning on Spring Break 2017, WAY too long to wait IMO. But, Steve likes his vacations so last week he started throwing around some other destinations. I was willing to go wherever he wanted since he and the boys are so good about my small Disney obsession, but nothing he thought of was exciting him.

Until he brought up Disney again So, August or another Thanksgiving trip like we did last year? Ricky starts HS in Sept. and he isn't thrilled about missing any days, and last year we went the Friday before Thanksgiving until the Sat. after so the kids missed 2 days of school. However we all prefer Nov. weather to August and so I think we're leaning towards returning for the holiday again. It would be a shorter trip, the Tues. before (flying down at night since the kids only have off beginning Wed.) until the Sun. after, hopefully catching a late flight back. JetBlue flights are only out through Oct. so we don't know the times yet but I had to post, because hopefully I'll have a ticker again soon!

 

[ALEXandFAB]

Steve has decided we need to go to back "home" again this year

Yeah!!

 

[Teetah]

Joining in! Great TR so far - I love your writing style! "7-uh-uh" and the POUGHKEEPSIE! story! I can only think of Charlotte in SITC when I hear that name!

I have so many comments to make and will hopefully not forget anything! I don't know how to multi-quote over this many messages, so here goes!

Club Villain looks so awesome! I wanted to go so badly, but I wore out The Hubs on travel last year. Boo! I am so glad to hear it was better organized...seems like I have heard lots of complaints about the special events the past year or two. We enjoy the alcoholic beverages as well (we typically go down for the Food & Wine Festival) and those cocktails looked so fun! And WS just has the best drinks - love those France slushies! The F&W ones have been awesome!


We have never eaten at Sanaa, Boma or even been to visit AKL but every time I see it on someone's TR, I want to go so badly. That one and the Poly.

Those brats in Germany...and Karamell-Kuche....kill me now! Those sea salt caramels are so amazing!!! Dying over here!!!

I must say - I love that you guys take kid-less trips! We don't have kids, so I always like to see what other adults do when they go to Disney without the kiddos!

 

[Teetah]

One more thing - don't feel bad about the pics - mine are huge, too. I resize them thru Photobucket, but it doesn't seem to matter! I will say - find the large pics better than the super tiny ones I see sometimes!

 

[ariane37]

Joining in! Great TR so far - I love your writing style! "7-uh-uh" and the POUGHKEEPSIE! story! I can only think of Charlotte in SITC when I hear that name!

I have so many comments to make and will hopefully not forget anything! I don't know how to multi-quote over this many messages, so here goes!

Club Villain looks so awesome! I wanted to go so badly, but I wore out The Hubs on travel last year. Boo! I am so glad to hear it was better organized...seems like I have heard lots of complaints about the special events the past year or two. We enjoy the alcoholic beverages as well (we typically go down for the Food & Wine Festival) and those cocktails looked so fun! And WS just has the best drinks - love those France slushies! The F&W ones have been awesome!


We have never eaten at Sanaa, Boma or even been to visit AKL but every time I see it on someone's TR, I want to go so badly. That one and the Poly.

Those brats in Germany...and Karamell-Kuche....kill me now! Those sea salt caramels are so amazing!!! Dying over here!!!

I must say - I love that you guys take kid-less trips! We don't have kids, so I always like to see what other adults do when they go to Disney without the kiddos!

Hello and welcome! Club Villain was, without a doubt, totally and completely fantastic and SO worth the $99/pp price Not sure if you've heard, but they recently extended CV to March (yay!) but upped the price to $129. Still worth it IMO and if they continue to have it we'd definitely do it again! Maybe in that case, you can "somehow" talk DH into a quick trip I've read numerous reviews but not one single complaint.

Whenever you do take another trip, make visiting AKL a MUST It's gorgeous. There's a great bar upstairs from Boma in Jambo house too, so even if you don't eat in any of the restaurants (which you should) you can enjoy some adult beverages.......

As much as we love our boys, we look forward to our kid-free trips immensely. The difference is amazing, just the level of freedom we get w/o them. And you can't put a price on no whining lol! Steve and I enjoy walking around WS so much and the boys just aren't into that. Last March we did the Keys to the Kingdom tour in MK when we went by ourselves and we'll most likely do a tour again next time

Thanks again for following along. Poly pictures coming up real soon!

One more thing - don't feel bad about the pics - mine are huge, too. I resize them thru Photobucket, but it doesn't seem to matter! I will say - find the large pics better than the super tiny ones I see sometimes!

LOL thanks for this, too. Photobucket doesn't seem to want to resize mine,either!

 

[ariane37]

We were up bright and early the next morning to check our luggage downstairs and catch the morning show at MK. Leaving our luggage to be transferred was easy and they let us know it should arrive at the Poly after 3pm. I know I said this before but I was really sad about leaving AKL! Today (as in today-today, 2/13) Steve and I spent some time figuring out our next trip and I'm seeing AKL in my head, but renting points the week of Thanksgiving is really expensive and right now Nov. is winning over Aug. We have to take the boys for that one lol, so we'd prefer a one bedroom which like doubles the points. OK back to Jan.!

Once again we had a good experience with the bus, got to the stop at 8:05 and were on a bus at 8:12. We arrived to quite the crowd. It was MLK day and MK was the least recommended park, 10/10, but it's where we chose to be. The opening show began at 8:40. Sorry I didn't take any pictures, I love watching that show so much that I didn't want to have to concentrate on anything else! It always brings me to tears, doesn't matter that I've seen it many, many times.
As soon as the fireworks went off we moved with the masses to the right and headed to our destination-and almost everyone else's- 7DMT. Shockingly I was unable to get a FP for this for any day of our trip, possibly because I made no fast passes until about 8 days before we left! Only once have I made them right at midnight, for our Thanksgiving trip, but never had I waited that close to leaving. No big deal really since it was just Steve and I. He isn't a huge of it but I enjoy it.

By the time we got there the posted wait was already 30 minutes but it was a flat-out Disney lie! Even though the line was just past the end of the queue, we never stopped moving and were on our way into the mine about 8 minutes after getting on the line.


Love looking in the window!


But I love seeing her at the end even more!

For those of you that aren't aware, the old hag animatronic was from the former Snow White's Scary Adventures ride that was in Fantasyland prior to "New Fantasyland" opening

When we exited the mine the line was about 4x as long as it was at park opening so we opted not to ride again. Instead, Steve asked if we could ride Winnie-the-Pooh since we hadn't ridden it back in Nov. with the kids. Yesterday he's yearning for the castle, today he's asking for a big yellow bear. Who says I left my kids at home??
So we turned around and walked onto Winnie-the-Pooh. Besides seeing Mr. Toad hand Owl the deed to his house, I love the part where you ride through all the Heffalumps and Woozles. Besides being trippy, that part used to scare me as a child when I'd watch it on TV. And when you're getting old, almost anything that reminds you of being a child is welcome!

We'd skipped breakfast in order to get to the park early and now we were both hungry. Another thing we hadn't done in Nov. was eaten a cinnamon roll, so we headed over to Gaston's. This was only the 2nd time we'd been inside and I hadn't noticed these cool barrels on the wall over the counter last time



I also hadn't noticed the Belle souvenir mug you can get the Lefou's brew in, only the one with Gaston on it. Learn something new there every day!
We debated whether to share a cinnamon roll or each get our own - for about 15 seconds - before ordering 2. I don't even know why we discussed the possibility, I think hunger had gotten the best of us and made us light-headed. I NEVER share my desserts and dammit, a cinnamon roll is a dessert!
Hello ginormous deliciousness


You see, the reason this is so good is because even in the spots where there's no white frosting, there's GLAZED frosting. So basically every inch of the top and sides of this baby is covered in sugary frosting. If you don't like sweet in the morning it's not a good breakfast choice for you. If you can do sweet 24/7 like me, I'll meet you at Gaston's!
It was quite cold this morning so Steve got his coffee and I got hot tea. It didn't warm up much past the high 50's today. The day before at least hit mid-60's, but the remainder of our trip we'd pretty much be in our winter coats.

We left Gaston's about 10:15 and I'd made our first FP for 10:30, planning on leaving early afternoon to go hang at the Poly. We headed over and rode one of our favorites twice, once standby and then with our FP



Another thing I never noticed up on a shelf during my million walks through this queue:



Can I tell you how cold it was? Remind me not to get stuck on any runaway trains when the temp is below 65! We had some time until our next FP so we decided to try a ride Steve has never been on and headed over to Tomorrowland. I've ridden Astro Orbiter once, 2 years ago when I did an EMH MK morning by myself since nobody else felt like coming. Glorious morning, let me tell you! It was approaching 11:00 and crowds were building; the wait was 30 minutes and Steve decided he didn't want to do it. On to some old favorites, CoP (which actually had a line!) and the Peoplemover, followed by our Space Mountain FP. I was still searching for some Stitch stuff for Chris so we looked around a bit, found nothing, and believe it or not realized we were hungry. Steve wanted to check out the menu here



There was a CM standing outside letting people know they could be seated right away. I was surprised being that it was after 12, so prime lunchtime. Unfortunately the menu just wasn't appealing to either of us. I'm not a super adventurous eater but I do ok; Steve can find something on any menu basically. But this one wasn't cutting it. Steve wasn't in the mood for QS and wanted to see if we could be seated at Liberty Tree Tavern so we figured we'd try. I didn't think we'd have good luck being that it was a holiday, but Steve's a little more optimistic in general and also prefers not to listen to me so we gave it a shot.

Unfortunately the wait time for walk-ups was 90 minutes so QS it would be. Here's what we walked in the span of about 15 minutes:
1. Tomorrowland to Adventureland (after being in Adventureland previously)
2. Adventureland to Liberty Square
3. Liberty Square to Fantasyland to eat at Pinocchio's Village Haus
If the kids had been with us they would've sat outside Skipper Canteen and told us to text them when we decided where to eat lol! We didn't mind the walking, though.

We hadn't eaten at Pinocchio's in years, although back in Nov. Ricky got pasta alfredo there one night. That's what I planned on getting but it wasn't on the lunch menu, so I went with the caprese flatbread and a side of garlic knots. Steve wanted to eat light and got the Caesar salad with chicken



This was all really good! Much better than we expected and we'll definitely go back here. I don't hear a lot of bad reviews of Pinocchio's but don't hear tons of good either so we weren't expecting much and were pleasantly surprised. The flatbread was a nice alternative to the QS pizza served everywhere.

We finished up and had our 3rd FP to use for HM soon. We were also still waiting for our text that our Poly room was ready. It was only about 1:30 and check-in wasn't until 4, but we'd always had good luck with early check-in and were hoping for it today. In the meantime we went BACK to Adventureland to ride POTC and say hello to my boyfriend



and then finished up by hanging out with 999 happy haunts. By this time we'd received our room ready text and we'd gotten the building we'd requested, Moorea! We headed out to the monorail to check out our 2nd resort.

Poly pictures coming up in next post!

 

[ariane37]

We arrived at the Poly and went straight to the front desk in the Grand Ceremonial House to check in. After we got lies we went to find our room on the 3rd floor in Moorea.
Some pictures of our walk over:



The view of the castle from the beach with a bonus, the crane!


First time we'd seen the bungalows except in pictures. They look very serene but unless I win a contest that includes a stay in one as part of the prize, don't think I'll be seeing the inside at the current price!


Finally we made it to our room. It wasn't terribly far from the GCH but not really close either; however it was extremely close to the TTC. In fact, we pretty much always got the monorail from the TTC rather than going all the way to the GCH.
We were pleasantly surprised with our room! Again we'd seen pictures but it's always better in person:



Crazy bathroom space in the deluxe studios. One bathroom has this cool shower and a sink


and then the other bathroom had the tub, toilet and sink. I suppose if you have 4 staying there the setup is good, but for just Steve and I it was more than we needed. All nice though!


Cute lamp modeled after the Tiki guy in the lobby


Our view was ok. We had a standard view so weren't expecting anything out of the ordinary


We were very happy to be staying at the Poly; I'd wanted to stay there forever! The room was clean and......roomy. We found out we could see the fireworks from the stairway that was at the end of our hallway, and our room was right at the end of the hallway so it was very convenient. But I gotta say I didn't quite fall in love the way I did with AKL!

We called to have our luggage sent over and it came about 15 minutes later. It was only about 3:45 and we were wide open until our Cali Grill dinner at 8:50, so we went to check out Trader Sam's. I don't have any pictures, once again sorry! It had just opened but all tables inside were filled. We found seats at the bar and ordered drinks. It was pretty cool in there but VERY tight. Since it was only 4:00 children were allowed in and most of the tables had kids at them. Not a big deal, though. I ordered the Hippopoto-Mai-Tai and I can't remember what Steve got; they were ok. After we finished those we wanted more but in a different atmosphere so we went upstairs to the Tambu Lounge next to 'Ohana.

I went with the Lapu Lapu. I've had this before, it's basically a big pineapple filled with delicious alcohol

And baby it's strong! I had 2 of these and Steve had a few of his go-to's, Grey Goose on the rocks. Our bartender Francesco was good, attentive and funny. We ended up being at the bar until about 6:30.

Since Steve only had the salad for lunch he started getting hungry as the smells from 'Ohana began drifting out. We looked at the bar menu and he ordered the Beef Satay, mini skewers of grilled beef served with a chimichurri sauce


I wasn't going to eat any because I wanted to be really hungry for CG, but Steve insisted I try a bite because he said it was awesome. So I tried a bite. And another. And another. And we ended up ordering 2 more of these babies because this was just about the BEST thing I ate on this trip! The little salad has the same dressing as the 'Ohana salad and I loved the peppers. The meat was like butter-smooth and that sauce was to die for. It had a nice kick to it but wasn't overwhelmingly spicy. We could've eaten like 3-4 more of those if we didn't have dinner plans! In fact, we've decided next trip we'll go to the Lounge for drinks and like 10 orders of Beef Satay!

We were sitting there when 'Ohana opened at 5:00 and saw the waiters/waitresses do a little opening ceremony. They all stood in a line right by the entrance to where the Lounge is, sang a little song and then clapped and announced 'Ohana was open.




I know this isn't much but I do love finding out these little details! The opening time has since changed - I think 3 or 3:30? I assume they still do it but just earlier....

When we finally rolled off our bar stools we stopped in the gift shop upstairs to look for wine. I wanted to bring home a bottle for my mom for watching the boys (my mommy loves her wine) and also some friends who were helping her out. I'd seen the "Once Upon a Vine" line in Epcot but figured if they had it at the resort we wouldn't have to carry it back from a park. And, they did! We picked up 3 bottles and while Steve was paying I recognized a girl from my January 2016 Disney FB group and followed her out of the gift shop, downstairs, and into the restroom. I was 99% sure it was her but only about 70% sure I was ok enough to hold a conversation with a stranger after my Lapu Lapu's but in the end I figured, what the hell, it's not often you get to meet someone from the Dis or your FB Disney groups! I must have done fine because we talked for about 15 minutes and then she thanked me on FB for going up and introducing myself.

We got back to our room about 7:30 and got ready for our dinner at California Grill. This was one we were looking forward to as we'd never been there and when we showed Ricky the menu before our Nov. trip he had no interest in going .

UP NEXT: DINNER AT CALI GRILL

 

[ALEXandFAB]

don't think I'll be seeing the inside at the current price!

You and me both!

We were pleasantly surprised with our room! Again we'd seen pictures but it's always better in person:

Absolutely love the color scheme

 

[TheMaxRebo]

First off, that beer cart in Canada might be my favorite dining location in Disney .. great choice with the La Fin du Monde!

Seem like a bit different from your standard Japanese food or at least very solid version of it - and great view for Illuminations!

That's great you got on the Mine Train - I love the cottage scene - I believe all the animatronics inside the cottage are from the old ride as well.

We are looking forward to trying the Skipper Canteen but can understand that the menu doesn't appeal to everyone. we were surprised as well about how much we liked the caprese at Pinocchio's

I love the look of the re-done rooms at the Poly ... a very classy way of doing that style

Those beef skewers do look good!

excited to hear about your Cali Grill dinner - that is one of our favoirte places!

 

[ariane37]

Seem like a bit different from your standard Japanese food or at least very solid version of it - and great view for Illuminations!

They did have more traditional Japanese food on the menu but we were just in the mood for chicken They also have sushi. We're going back with the kids in Nov. and I'm looking forward to Illuminations from their deck again!

That's great you got on the Mine Train - I love the cottage scene - I believe all the animatronics inside the cottage are from the old ride as well.

Thank you for mentioning this! I should have known

excited to hear about your Cali Grill dinner - that is one of our favoirte places

Watching Wishes from way up there was beautiful and my entrée was great, but (spoiler alert) sadly it didn't move to the top of our favorite signature list. Stay tuned!

 

[cajunfan]

Enjoying your report! So glad to have read the review of Club Villain! I hope they continue this party.

Also loving all the pictures...especially the food pictures!

 

[ariane37]

Enjoying your report! So glad to have read the review of Club Villain! I hope they continue this party.

Also loving all the pictures...especially the food pictures!

Thank you and welcome Club Villain was so awesome, it would be a big shame if they cancelled it. I'm hoping the fact that they extended through March is a good sign.......I've read recently about the possibility of it continuing with some character changes; posters on here have spoken with "those in the know" who say they may start rotating other villains. Not sure how I feel about that. It was so perfect I'd like them to keep it all the same, but if they continue to put thought into it and keep the guests' best experience in mind when making changes than maybe it won't be so bad.

Have no fear, more food pics to come

 

[ariane37]

We left off as we were getting read for dinner at California Grill. I know you don't have to dress up for signatures but I like to, just for a change of pace. I'm a stay at home mom so other than a night out with the girls or our anniversary, Valentines Day, or of course funerals, I'm not out of jeans too often! I was hoping for a somewhat warm-ish evening since I had a dress to wear but it was pretty darn cold. Anyhoo-

We were right on time once we arrived at the Contemporary. I like to think of myself as being pretty well-rounded as far as my knowledge of WDW, so I knew CG was on the top floor. What I did NOT know is that you need to check in on the......2nd floor? 5th? One of those floors that's not the top. So we got right in the elevator and tried pushing the button for the top floor. A family that was staying at the resort was in there with us and thought maybe you needed your MB to get up there so their son tried scanning his but that didn't work. So, after they got off Steve and I decided to try something crazy and read the little plaque below the elevator buttons, which very clearly explained that you need to check in on the whatever floor if you have reservations at Cali Grill. Steve made his cute comment about how I should have known since I'm on these boards 12 hours a day and we went back down to check in.

Once we did that we only had to wait like 2 minutes for our name to be called and we were on our way back UP. I should have taken more pictures of the décor but I slacked there. We didn't get a window seat; the hostess told us in the whole restaurant there are only a few 2-tops and none are by the windows (?) I looked quickly as best I could and truly I didn't see any by the window; they all appeared to be 4 or 6-tops, but it was fine anyway.

So, on to ordering! Steve didn't feel like drinking alcohol so he got soda; I ordered a Malibu Baybreeze which I drink often at home and was in the mood for. I'd decided before we got there that I wanted to try the cheese selection appetizer. I'd gotten Narcoossee's back in Nov. and loved 4 out of the 5 cheeses on it. Steve wanted to try the meatball appetizer; it doesn't appear to currently be on the menu but I believe it was a 3-meat meatball or 3-cheese meatball? *must take better notes and pictures next time*!! While we were waiting our waiter brought us a basket of bread



It was all nice and warm. There was garlic bread and whole grain rolls which were flaky outside and soft inside. Right after our bread came a couple was seated beside us who were about my age. They were from Long Island, on their honeymoon, just back from a week on a Disney cruise and were now staying 7 nights in WDW. He was a corrections officer at a prison and she was a prison doctor. We ended up talking with them throughout our whole dinner which made for a really good time. Had the kids been with us and this been our only "date night" we may have been less than thrilled, but since the whole trip was basically a "date night" it was nice to have another couple to kind of hang with. The guy was a MAJOR talker. They were doing a really weird split though: they'd rented points and were staying 1 night at SSR, 3 at the Poly, 1 at AKL and then 2 at OKW. Too much packing up and moving over 7 days for me!

My cheese selection came fairly quickly and I dug in. I failed to take a picture - sorry! none of the meatball app, either - but the 5 cheeses were a Cremont, MT TAM, Smokey Blue, MiticaSardo and Landaff. I'm not the biggest fan of blue cheese although some of it's ok; this one was way too blue-cheesy. Three of the cheese selections were very good but one was absolutely NOT. I'm pretty sure it was the Cremont, a blend of goat's milk/cows milk/Vermont cream, because it was the consistency that bothered me. Very runny like a poached egg. I did love the accompaniments that came with the cheese. Each one had something to enhance the taste such as dates, a jam, or a crostini.

Steve thought the meatballs were OK, nothing more than your regular decent meatball. I think he was expecting to be a little more "wowed" since he'd heard so much hype (mainly from me) about the restaurant.

Wishes that night was at 10:00 and our reservation had been for 8:50. We'd been seated about 9. At approx. 9:55 our waiter came and told us our entrees were just about ready, would we prefer them now or after the fireworks? I had every intention of going outside to watch Wishes so we said we'd wait. Our new friends hadn't ordered apps so they were almost done with their entrees and we headed towards the doors. A CM stopped us and told us we were welcome to sit at an empty table against the windows if we wanted to, which was great since it was about 45 degrees outside and that was down on the ground!

For those of you who haven't been to California Grill, they pipe in the music for Wishes. The lights dimmed and the fireworks started


I didn't realize the fireworks were shot off so far to the side of the castle! Between the correct way to check in to CG and this, I'm learning so much tonight........



These pictures don't do the view justice. Watching Wishes from here was truly, and I'm not being snarky or anything here, magical We've watched from a number of places around the park, other resorts, and outside resorts and parks and this is one of, if not, the best.

But then it was over and we got to eat more!! For my entree I ordered the Oak-fired Filet of Beef served with Heirloom Tomato Risotto. I did remember to take a picture of this; behold the half-eaten filet with what appear to be teeth marks but are really only uneven knife cuts, I assure you:



This was SO tender! And the risotto was absolutely amazing. I cleaned this plate. The sauce on top of the filet was tomato butter and I was wishing there was a bit more.

Steve ordered the Wagyu Beef Strip Loin, which is also what both our newlywed neighbors had gotten



Excuse his blurry fork in there. Sadly, Steve was not a fan. Mr. and Mrs. next door hadn't liked it, said the texture was weird but we had ordered before they started eating. Steve said the meat was kind of tough and not cooked quite to his liking. He wasn't sure if the texture was strange or if it was just a funny taste, but he wasn't impressed. He did like all the vegetables and the cauliflower puree that came with it.

I felt bad that he was 0-2 and I was like, 1.5-2. I was hoping dessert would be the winner for him but he was too full. I'd been dreaming about the Warm Homemade Fritters and had no intention of leaving without trying them! But, our signature friends beat us to dessert and he ordered the fritters while she was eating the chocolate pudding cake, which also looked good. Our/their waiter had put a chocolate "congratulations" sign on her cake which was adorable. We were discussing dessert with them and I said I was going with the fritters; he said they were ok but the cake (he'd tried a bite) was out of this world. He had a couple fritters left and offered me one, and in the spirit of forging new friendships (and mainly because I hate seeing perfectly good junk food go to waste ) I tried it. YES, I took food from a stranger and ate it! I did! But it saved me from possibly making a huge mistake and ordering a dessert I didn't like. The WORST thing ever is making a mistake when you order dessert. Even though vacation calories don't count, it sucks to waste those calories on a high-fat dish that is NOT up to your standards! Keep in mind dessert is the most important part of the meal.......for most people.........for me. OK. So anyway the fritter was definitely good but not good enough that I wanted a basket full of them, so I changed my mind and went with the chocolate pudding cake. And thank goodness I did, because that is a bar of complete heaven!

Our waiter stuck a congratulations bar on ours also, since we're such good friends with the honeymooners

Yeah, I had a few bites of this before remembering to take a picture. At least I remembered at some point!

By now it was close to 11:30. We were chatting on and on with our friends, mostly Steve and the guy. I used to be really good at remembering names but now that I'm, ahem, no longer in my 30's, they don't stick with me as well. Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention-
Whatever, they were in the middle of talking and his wife and I were talking about something, when all of a sudden he goes, "OK it's late, we gotta go". And they said it was nice meeting us, enjoy the rest of our trip, we said the same, and bye.

This guy didn't stop talking the whole time, he talked like 8x more than any of the 3 of us, and then he exits like he's going to have an accident if he doesn't leave that second?! It was weird and funny at the same time. Actually all we could think of was that 1. he really did need the bathroom after his funny textured wagyu beef, or 2. they have some strange bedtime curfew that was approaching and they needed to hightail it back to the Poly or one of them would turn into a pumpkin. Or maybe since it was their honeymoon they were trying to......set a record every night or something? And so it had to be before midnight? Idk, it's a toss-up. But seriously, the most talkative one of the 4 of us, mid-conversation, and he's out of there. We shed a few tears after they left and paid our bill.

No we didn't cry you sillies, we were totally ready to go and happily headed out. It was freezing, we were very glad all we had to do was hop on the monorail to the TTC and then make the short walk over to our room. Overall we weren't as impressed with Cali Grill as we'd been with the other 2 signatures we'd eaten at, Yachtsman and Narcoossee's. The view of Wishes and just overall is impressive and my entrée/dessert were great, but the other food didn't really stand out and the décor for us was just ok. It's definitely nice, it's romantic when they dim the lights and start playing the Wishes music. And having the later reservation meant (at least on this night) few to no children. I know kids do go there and quite often since you can see the fireworks and of course having children myself I have no problem with them! Just pointing it out because I did see it as a plus on this occasion. I'm sure there are nights when even at 10-11:00 kids are out there in full force. I'd go back if Steve wanted to or the boys requested it, but right now it's not on the list for our Nov. trip.

UP NEXT: ALL 4 PARKS IN 1 DAY, PART ONE