I had gotten pretty proficient with the
Genie+ system and purchased a few LLSPs but had not yet utilized the LLMP system. My original thought was to practice with it on this Magic Kingdom day before using it when our sons came to visit at the end of our trip. Being an off-site guest with an Annual Pass though I found the selections to be very limited so we decided to forego purchasing it again. The good news though is that once the boys arrived we would be onsite guests and have better selections booking 7 days in advance for the length of our stay. The new LLMP system does really benefit onsite guests in my observation and with the length of our stay we really didn't need it when it was just the two of us.
We parked at the TTC, took the ferry, and arrived at the tapstiles 15 minutes after opening. We headed to Haunted Mansion which showed a 13 minute wait, this means it was a walk on. While we were in the “elevator” we noticed at the end that the hanging corpse wasn’t visible. We had heard rumors they were removing that part but were surprised to see it might be true. We decided to investigate further on subsequent days to confirm it. I will report our findings later.
The attraction stopped for a bit in the graveyard scene. It was great to be able to really take a look around and see all the details.
We rode Tiana next. The wait was posted at 40 minutes and it took us 34, not too bad. We haven’t ridden this enough to know all the scenes but it seemed like Mama Odie was not working properly or missing in a scene.
As we made our way to ride Pirates, we were lucky enough to catch the Adventure Calvacade…but we don’t talk about it..
Very fun! We finally were able to ride Pirates after it was closed the whole day on our prior visit. It was posted as a 20 minute wait and took us 25. Pirates is one of our favorites!
We headed next for an early lunch at Columbia Harbor House, another new to us restaurant. We both ordered the Maple-Mustard Glazed Salmon with green beans and rice.
This was surprisingly good for a quick service restaurant. Everything tasted fresh and the maple mustard glaze was delicious. It didn’t end up being the best salmon meal of the trip but definitely respectable. It’s funny, last week I ordered this exact meal at a fancy restaurant in Lincoln, NH (with Thai Chili sauce instead of Maple Mustard Glaze) and as I was eating it I remarked to DH that the meal I had at Columbia Harbor House was better! Columbia Harbor House’s salmon was fresher and better cooked and the sides were better prepared too.
With our meal we each ordered a soda and asked our server about refills. He said we could get one free refill if we came back up to any counter. At the cost of $4.79 per soda, it’s nice to know we can at least get a refill (which we did without issue).
For dessert we shared the Boston Cream Pie: Vanilla Cake layered with Vanilla Cream, Chocolate Popping Candies, and Crisp Pearls topped with Fudge Icing and a Cherry
We were very surprised at how good this was! There were a lot of textures and great flavor from the chocolate ganache and vanilla cream with the crispy pearls and cake. We gave this a B+.
Overall we were very satisfied by our meal at Columbia Harbor House. We had a great table upstairs overlooking Liberty Square and the food was very good. We counted Columbia Harbor House as a dinner, since this was more of a dinner type meal and gave it a B. For us a B means we had a good meal and would definitely eat there again but it isn’t on the “must-do” list.
As we walked along, we stopped by the Tangled restrooms and tried to search for Pascal. We remembered a few years ago that there were hidden Pascals in the area near the restrooms and had found quite a few. This time though we didn’t see any of them. Does anyone know if they still hide him in that area? It’s so congested there we thought maybe he had been removed.
We made our way to Tomorrowland and experienced the People Mover and Carousel of Progress. We decided this time to sit in a different spot in the theater and we saw so many different details! We even found a hidden Mickey in a flower display in one of the scenes.
We caught a showing of Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. It is always so fun to see the audience interaction. People usually are such good sports and play along.
After the show, we headed down Main St. and stopped by Crystal Arts to watch the glassblower.
This was really quite impressive! Another hidden gem we had no idea was located right in the Magic Kingdom!
We made our way to Adventureland and picked up a treat at Aloha Isle: The Pineapple Upside Down Cake. We ordered it with Coconut Dole Whip.
We both really enjoyed this! DH had never tried Coconut Dole Whip and he loved it! I’ve had it a couple times but I guess I was keeping it all to myself! So good! We gave it a B+.
We finished our afternoon seeing the Country Bears, riding the train from Frontierland to Fantasyland, riding Under the Sea and then It’s a Small World.
Having accomplished all we wanted to do without Lightning Lanes, we decided to walk to the Polynesian for dinner. Our walk took us 1.43 miles to Capt. Cooks.
We wanted to try something new but we also wanted our favorite salad on property, the Superfoods Salad. After looking at the menu, nothing really stood out. I decided to take a peek at the menu for Trader’s Sam’s Tiki Terrace and asked the bartender if it was okay to bring a salad from Capt. Cooks and also order something from their menu. She said it was perfectly fine. So, we brought over our Superfoods Salad: Kale and Cabbage tossed with Quinoa and Edamame, Walnuts, Grapes, Blueberries, and Mandarin Oranges served with a side of Apple Cider Vinaigrette
This salad is just phenomenal! Everything is so fresh and there’s just so many interesting elements. One of our favorite things to eat!
From the Tiki Terrace, we ordered the Thai Chicken Flatbread with Bacon and Peanut Sauce.
This was excellent as well! It had a perfectly cooked crust, plenty of cheese and great flavor from the bacon and peanut sauce. It was a perfect meal sitting out on the terrace, enjoying the view! As I mentioned in my review of Wailulu, while it was very good, this meal beat it out! Capt. Cooks and Tiki Terrace get an A from us! We will eat here any opportunity we can get.
From the Poly, we walked back to our car at the TTC and drove to a new dessert place. Since we were spending nearly three weeks at Flamingo Crossings, we thought it was only right that we check out at least one of the meal locations there. I was intrigued by the White Rabbit Dessert Experience so we headed there. This is a chain restaurant that has a variety of sundaes made with homemade ice cream that you can order with made-to-order waffles, crepes, brownies or cakes. There are also a bunch of baked goods, milkshakes, and an espresso bar. It is a dessert only restaurant (as some poor patrons discovered when they came in looking for dinner). We decided to share the Dark Side Crepe: Proper Chocolate Ice Cream, Brownies, Belgian Milk Chocolate Buttons, Belgian Milk Chocolate Sauce.
Phenomenal! Everything was obviously homemade and fresh. This was by far the best sundae dessert we had the entire trip! We gave it an A+. If you have a car and love dessert, you need to check this place out! The place was empty when we dined there so I hope it sticks around. We wanted to go a second time but never had room in the schedule (or our stomachs) but we will definitely make time for this again!
After the day before’s mediocre food day, this one hit the mark. It was one delicious day and interestingly enough we didn’t have one restaurant that required a reservation.
Total Steps: 20934
Up next…does our foodie streak continue with breakfast at Trattoria Al Forno?
That burger looks yummy. I do love good fries!! We have yet to eat there. I didn’t even know you could walk to OKW resort.
