1 Night Pre Cruise - Of course we're going to eat at WDW!

[PrincessTrisha]

So lately I've been cruising more than going to WDW but leaving from Port Canaveral does have one advantage - a quick stop at WDW for the night before we leave.

We cruised on the Disney Magic April 30th to May 4th and decided to rent DVC points for April 29th to stay at the AKV for the night before the cruise. And since we were staying in WDW, of course we were going to enjoy some Disney meals!

So it was myself (Trisha) and my parents, Connie and Bill.

We enjoyed 3 meals:

Lunch at the Mara in the AKL
Dinner at Ohana at the Polynesian
Breakfast at Olivia's at Old Key West

And I took pictures.........

 

[PrincessTrisha]

So we arrived at AKV (Jambo House) around 1pm. We checked in (studio was ready) but as we'd been driving since about 7:30am and breakfast was the typical hotel continental breakfast so we were starving!

We made our way down to the Mara to find some food. When we got there, my parents decided that I should just order for everyone - and then my dad changed his mind and asked for chicken nuggets. We were given the paper to fill out and I chose the chicken and corn flatbread with zough sauce, the carved turkey sandwich with coleslaw (my mom loves coleslaw so when she heard that was an option, it was the one thing she asked for). I also got two fountain beverages to share.

We handed in our paper, got our beeper, paid for lunch and found a seat. It wasn't busy since it was the middle of the afternoon; There were lots of tables available and the food didn't take too long.

Here is a shot of our tray:

The chicken flatbread was really good and we all enjoyed it, though my mom was only able to have the one piece. She found the sauce and the chicken to be a little spicy for her taste (of course, she doesn't even eat black pepper since she finds it spicy so your milage may vary). My dad who is traditionally a meat and potatoes kind of guy, really liked it and ate about half - I was very surprised.

The carved turkey sandwich and coleslaw was an excellent choice. The turkey was super tender and warm. My mom really enjoyed the coleslaw - it had a decent variety of ingredients and was a good size serving. We didn't eat the bun (I know, we're so wasteful!) so I can't comment on that. I would say though, this is a great choice if you want something non adventurous or non spicy (and not your typical counter service choice).

Last but not least was the chicken nuggets and fries. Typical Disney fare - the fries were hot and crispy with a good dose of salt and the chicken was white meat, super crispy with a thick kind of peppery batter. My dad LOVED the old chicken strips and very much likes the current chicken nuggets. I think that if we were to spend a week at the parks doing counter service, about half of his meals would be these chicken nuggets and fries (sorry, the pictures not the best).

We got one lemonade and one diet coke.

All of this cost $40-something dollars. After this meal, I was thinking I probably should have gotten the dining plan for the one night (which we could have added because of using the DVC points). After dinner at Ohana I KNEW we should have gotten the dining plan.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

I know that Ohana gets mixed reviews and truthfully, it's gotten mixed reviews from us in the past. We've had some great experiences (especially our first time there) and some very lackluster experiences and even one down right crappy experience.

I am pleased to say that this visit was exceptionally wonderful. The food was hot, fresh and served at a good pace. Both of our servers were excellent and our table was one back from the windows with a great view of the castle. Although we were too early for the fireworks, since we weren't able to get into a park (didn't want to spend a day's ticket on a couple of hours), it gave us the "disney feeling".

We started off with the bread. I think this is the first time I've actually tried it - it is really tasty - soft and a little sweet.

Then of course there was salad - we each tried a little but didn't want to fill up on it.

Then the appetizers - noodles and broccoli, chicken wings and pot stickers. Normally I would have eaten more chicken wings and pot stickers but this time the noodles and broccoli were just so perfect! The noodles were again a little sweet and a little peanut-y tasting and the broccoli was still a bit crisp with a nice garlic flavour.

We enjoyed the variety of meats (no pics of those) except for the pork - it was overdone and burnt. Porks not my favourite (or any of ours, really) so it wasn't a big loss. The shrimp, beef and turkey were very good.

And finally - dessert. I really do love this dessert - soft gooey bread pudding with crispy edges (my favourite part) topped with ice cream and smothered with caramel and banana sauce.

We rolled out of there stuffed to the gills. Instead of heading right back to the hotel though, we decided to take a couple of rides on the monorail. We were going to switch from the MK route over to the Epcot route but it was almost 9pm and I didn't want to chance getting caught in the mass exodus of that park.

This was a great meal. Ohana may mean Family but for us, Disney means Ohana.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

I loved the look of the breakfast menu at Olivia's. Normally, we have breakfast at Kona when in WDW but since we'd had Ohana's the night before I didn't really want to eat again at the Polynesian. Boma had been a contender but I wasn't sure we'd want a buffet breakfast after enjoying our all-you-care-to-eat feast the night before.

So we ended up at Olivia's which was a good choice. The restaurant itself is very open with large fans circling above. The walls are decorated with sailing stuff, and things from the Florida Keys.

My dad is very basic at breakfast and ordered plain pancakes with sausage. He said these were very good pancakes - tasty, perfectly cooked and served piping hot.

I got the breakfast cuban. It was okay. The bread was too crispy and inside it wasn't as good as I expected. It was basically a scrambled egg sandwich with ham, cheese and tomato. I know it listed other ingredients but it was very bland. Even the cheese was "meh". It wasn't bad, there were just much better things on the menu. They should either improve this one, or drop it from the menu.

The potatoes however, were excellent - almost like the old potatoes they served at Ohana - cheesy, creamy and yummy.

My mom had the banana bread french toast - this was awesome! It is literally banana bread dipped in egg and made into french toast. Very sweet and rich though. I would recommend going here with a friend or family member - ordering this and a more savory dish and splitting each one in half. (this was my intention but my mom couldn't eat the sandwich because of the too crispy bread and didn't like the taste of the ham).

One of the best breakfast dishes in Disney!







Well, that's it. After this we boarded the ship for 4 days of unlimited food and fun!

 

[scanne]

Yummy!
Are you going to do a food review of your cruise?

 

[Dizneydaz]

Great reviews! Thanks.

I'm craving some bread pudding right now!