5/18 One Final Fantastic Day with Our Sons
We started our morning off by introducing our sons to one of our favorite breakfast buffets, Boma! Between the four of us I think we sampled everything on the buffet! Here’s our first four plates.
We all very much enjoyed our selections, especially the ham with Boma sauce, bread pudding, and pecan sticky buns. DH was initially disappointed they didn’t have the tater tots they usually serve, which he says are the best tots anywhere. However, they had sweet plantains instead and he thought those were excellent too. DS-28 really liked the deviled eggs.
After our meal we enjoyed watching the animals on the savannah at both the Jambo House and Kidani Village. We then drove to the TTC and walked over to the Polynesian. It was super hot so we stopped for a drink at Captain Cooks and then showed our sons the new Tower. We had a great chat with a CM at the DVC kiosk. She challenged us to find a hidden Minnie in the mural. I found it!
After exploring the Tower, we walked over to the Grand Floridian. We were very pleased to discover that the sodas we bought at Captain Cooks were able to be refilled at Gasparilla, since we had refills left and were within our two hour limit (pro-tip!)
We continued walking over to the Magic Kingdom. I gave our sons a choice of heading over to the Contemporary or taking a boat to Fort Wilderness. They opted for the boat ride. Little did I know, DS-26 had an ulterior motive, he wanted to try the Buckaroo Bread he heard us raving about. So, we headed to Trail’s End and purchased this tray of deliciousness!
This is such a tasty treat and it was much better to share it with four people. DS-26 loved it! DS-28 doesn't care for cinnamon but he enjoyed this too. We have this on our must do list for our next trip. However I noticed last week it is no longer listed on the online menu for Trail’s End. We’re really hoping it hasn’t disappeared like our favorite cinnamon pretzel from El Mercado.
We stopped by Tri-Circle-D Ranch to say hello to the horses.
Eventually we took the boat back to Magic Kingdom and the monorail to the TTC. We drove back to the Swan and our sons wanted to stop by the Blue Ribbon Corn Dog stand to get the Giant Mozzarella Stick: Giant Mozzarella Stick, coated in Garlic and Italian seasoned Panko Bread Crumbs. Served with Marinara sauce and a bag of chips.
They both really enjoyed these! They are fans of the Blue Ribbon Corn Dog stand. DH and I didn't get anything as we were still full from Boma and Buckaroo Bread.
We still had some time before our sons had to leave and we were very hot after all the walking. So, we changed into our suits and headed to the Grotto pool at the Swan/Dolphin. Even though we have stayed at the Swan a couple times, we’ve never had time to enjoy the pool. It was awesome! It was a great way to cool off and relax before bringing them to the airport.
Eventually we dropped them off at the airport and headed back for our last night at the Swan. DH wanted to watch the NASCAR race that night so we initially decided to pick up something for dinner that we could eat back at the room. I had seen that Trattoria Al Forno had “to-go” options in the app so as we got closer, I attempted to place an order, only to discover that it wasn’t available after all. We wanted to eat somewhere quick and close so we headed over to the Fountain at the Dolphin. We’ve eaten here previously and found the food to be quite good and the service excellent.
We were seated promptly and our server took our order. We decided to share the Little Gem Caesar Salad and I added grilled chicken.
Little Gem Lettuce, Herbed Brioche Croutons, Parmesan Cheese, Creamy Caesar Dressing | Add Grilled or Fried Chicken $10
What you may notice from this picture is there is no chicken. More on that later. This salad was very basic, like something you would get in a cafeteria. There wasn’t much dressing and the lettuce had brown edges.
We also shared the Fountain Smash Burger: Certified Angus Beef, Griddled Onions, Crispy Lettuce, Farmers Tomatoes, American Cheese, Locally Baked Bun
As you may also notice, this is not a smash burger. It is an overcooked, dried out tasteless standard burger on a stale bun. It was awful. They have updated their menu and this burger is not nearly as good as the Fountain Signature Burger we had in 2023.
Shortly after we received our food, the host came over and sat down next to me. (We were at a banquette style table. I was seated on the bench and DH was across from me in a chair.) The host said he wanted to ask if we were okay if a couple with a service dog was seated at the table next to us (basically one person would be seated on the same bench as me at the adjacent table.) We told him that was perfectly fine but that we appreciated that he asked. Then, since we hadn’t seen our server since he took our order, we pointed out that our salad didn’t come with the added chicken. We told him it was no big deal but we wanted to make sure we weren’t going to be billed the additional $10 for the missing chicken. He assured us that he would make sure it wasn’t on the bill.
A few minutes later a manager came by and said he was told we didn’t get the chicken on our salad and we were to be assured we wouldn’t be charged for it. We thanked him and again reiterated it wasn’t a big deal, we just didn’t want the additional charge for something we didn’t get.
Now, back to the “service dog”. The couple was seated next to us with their dog but unfortunately this was not actually a trained service dog. The dog was jumping around, banging his head under the table and hitting my legs as he wagged his tail. He was completely out of control. To top it all off, he was also flatulent. It was not a pleasant dining experience to say the least.
As we hurried to finish our lousy burger and salad, our original server finally stopped by the table. He said to us, “I just wanted to let you know that the reason you didn’t get chicken on your salad is that you never ordered it.” I was stunned that a server would speak like that to a guest. I calmly responded, “I did say I would like to add grilled chicken. You may not have heard me, but I most definitely said it.” He didn’t say anything further and simply walked away.
So, we paid our bill, leaving only a 10% tip since our service was clearly not stellar and headed back to our room to watch the race.
I don’t know what has happened to the Fountain but it has clearly gone downhill. The food and the service were not good at all. After we returned home, someone posted a link to an article in the “Swan and Dolphin Resort Thread” that said that the Fountain had gone downhill. Our experience proved that to be the case, sadly.
Despite our lousy dinner, we had a nice relaxing evening watching the NASCAR race before heading to bed for our last night in Florida.
Total Steps: 25116
Up next…in search of burger redemption before we began our drive back home.
