a Bar/Food Crawl Day Trip Report - 3/27/25 Part 1

[cchevela1023]

Hey all,

Been a DisBoards member for a while now. My wife and I went to Florida this past week for some vacation. We stayed in Ocala and enjoyed visiting a few different spots around Florida this time. But we had to have a Disney day and I suggested a bar/food crawl as that's something we've never done. My wife was all for it, something different then what we've done before. We changed plans on the spot as we progressed, but it was so much fun and I highly recommend trying it. I didn't take nearly enough pictures of the food, but I will provide a quick breakdown and our thoughts.

So Originally, we were going to start at WL, do the monorail loop resorts then go over to Coronado springs and end the evening. We made some changes along the way because when researching I learned most of the lounges don't open until 3-4PM! The other thing we really wanted to try was Trader Sam's Grog Grotto, which we hadn't been able to do yet. After factoring these things in, our trip ended up being:
1. Started at Jock Lindsey's hanger bar
2. Saratoga springs
3. Polynesian Tambu lounge
4. Polynesian trader Sam's grog grotto
5. Grand Floridian enchanted rose lounge
6. Wilderness lodge territory lounge
7. Ended at Wilderness lodge geyser point bar and grille

Very short summary - we hadn't had so much fun in such a short amount of time at WDW, and the food options in the lounges were excellent. Let's dig in!

First, here we are -- me and my DW.


One thing we had to think about was how to get around. We decided to park at the springs Lime Garage, which made it a short walk to Jock's. I do have a funny story about picking up our car which I'll mention at the end.

1. Jock Lindsey's hanger bar - 11:45 AM

Ok -- take time to look at all the expedition artifacts in the main dining room area. We did this after we were done, but we wanted to sit outside. We thought this was such a great place to start. It's right on the water, there were plenty of tables open and we could feel that nice breeze while we enjoyed our first drinks and snacks.











DW had the mojito, I had the old fashioned and we ordered the loaded pretzel. Think of this as a charcutier board on top of a big pretzel. It was fantastic. The meats and cheeses were great. The mustard dip and the beer cheese dipping sauces were really good. The drinks were good -- nothing spectacular, but not horrible. The views on the outdoor patio were so cool. We showed up at a great time. As we were leaving, there were a lot more people sitting outside.

2. Saratoga Springs

Since we were right here, we decided to come over and visit Saratoga Springs a little bit. We are celebrating my wife's retirement in September and will be here then, but we wanted to get a preview. Wow, what a beautiful resort! We explored just a bit, where DW got her Saratoga Springs ears and jacket. We grabbed a quick drink at the high Rocks pool bar - she got a red sangria and I got a lavacool slushie (non-alcoholic). Both were refreshing and good. The buildings here blocked any breeze, so it was fairly warm when we are at the resort.



3. Polynesian - Tambu Lounge - 2:40 PM

From SSR, we took the bus to Magic Kingdom, then the friendship boats to get to Poly. The boat first stopped at GF, then at Poly. Once we got off, we headed over to Trader Sams to get our name in. The time from when we got on the bus to get to MK and take the boat to Poly was around 45 minutes. We put our names in, and was told it was a 2 hour wait, so we decided to look around at the resort and spend some time at Tambu Lounge. Tambu is open all day, but they don't serve food until 4:00 PM. I finally got to enjoy the famous Lapu Lapu! It was VERY good. and don't be afraid to ask for a knife and fork to eat the pineapple, LOL. I also got a Mai Tai and the non-alcoholic raspberry Mojito. DW got a white wine, and red sangria. She did not like the sangria. I thought the Mai Tai was just....off. Something didn't taste right. the Lapu Lapu was amazing though.

When it got close to 4:00 our server took our order -- we ordered the shrimp and noodles (of course, right?). I didn't take any pictures of food, but they were just both amazing. The shrimp -- wow, I need to figure out the seasoning they use.

One thing we were a little nervous about was the timing -- as we ordered food and waited, we were hoping they wouldn't buzz us to come to Trader Sams. Luckily, we literally started walking out of Tambu Lounge when they texted us for Trader Sams, so it worked out. But keep the timing in mind when you plan your lounges here.







I'll be back to wrap up the other lounges and our thoughts.

 

[leebee]

We LOVE to do a food and wine tour of Disney, so much so that DH and I travel to WDW once a year WITHOUT park tickets, just to roam around, trying out new food and visiting new lounges. Last time we were there (Jan 2025) we went to Outer Rim and the Contemporary. The bartender had gone to college at the small school in Bangor, Maine where DH was on faculty for 15 years... because it's a small world, after all!

Our plan of attack on Trader Sam's: Order lunch at Captain Cooks, get in line at TS's around 1, and get your name in as soon as they start taking names... around 1:30, IIRC. Then go up to Tambu to wait. There won't be food at Tambu then, which is why we recommend CC's first, but I saw people bringing their CC's takeout up to Tambu, so that's an option, too, I think- get your food as soon as you get your name in at Sam's and eat it at Tambu.

 

[Micca]

This is my kind of Disney day! Looking forward to the rest of your report

 

[DogCat]

Looks like a great day! I'd be afraid the total for all the food and drinks would be the same as park tickets LOL.

 

[summerlvr]

Sounds like a fun day, looking forward to reading more!

 

[cchevela1023]

Looks like a great day! I'd be afraid the total for all the food and drinks would be the same as park tickets LOL.

I'll give totals at the end. It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be but it was expensive lol. We did plan and budget ahead of time for it though.

 

[cchevela1023]

Part 2

Trader Sams Grog Grotto

When we checked in, we were given a 2 hour wait. We waited around 2 hours 15 min, so their estimate was almost spot on. Ok, so if you've never been here, it's a very small place. It has roughly 7-9 tables along with a bar area. Now I get why there are such long waits. I didn't take any pictures of the drinks. My wife ended up getting a margherita which she did not like. I ended up getting a non-alcoholic drink. It was ok. We didn't get anything to eat here. I really, really wanted to like this place. But, It just wasn't for us. It was very corny with all the drink-based jokes and sketches. It reminded me of the jungle cruise -- that dry humor. Just didn't like it. The show scenes when they announced some drinks was pretty fun.





It WAS cool to see some references to the 20,000 leagues under the sea ride, including a picture of the ship boats as well as pictures of a couple of the underwater scenes.

Enchancted Rose Lounge

We hopped on the monorail for the short ride over to GF and asked to be seated. We were seated almost immediately. Wow, this place was a lot of fun. The lounge is themed after the ballroom and the chandelier above the bar area is themed after Belle's dress. The food and drinks were SOOOO good here. We ended up getting the cheese board, the meat board and the truffle fries. The aioli dip with the truffle fries -- why do they not bottle this? It was INCREDIBLE. We loved it so much we ordered another truffle fry and an extra dipping sauce. The fries were double cooked and so crispy. The cheese board was pretty good. The meat board was fantastic. They had a jellied duck confit which was amazing.











Territory Lounge
After leaving GF, we took the monorail back to magic kingdom, then the friendship boat over to WL. My wife had never stepped foot inside and she was pretty amazed. We finished the night off at TL, and then at Geyser Point. Territory lounge was nice. I ended up getting a double pour of Old Forrester and we got the hanging bacon and deviled eggs. This was a great snack. The back was very thick and well cooked and the deviled eggs were really well done. We also got the popcorn sampler. This surprised me and I thought it was very well done. And the spicy popcorn -- it is really spicy!! They said they put a japanese hot pepper dust on it. I believe them!

Geyser Point
We finished up the night at Geyser Point. the food service was down to just some sampler bites so we skipped food and I ended up having a hot tea since I had to drive back to our home we were staying at in Ocala -- 90 minutes away. My wife had a couple of lemon drop martinis, which she said were excellent. We sat right next to the lake and watched the electrical water pageant, talking with our friend, checking out the views and looking across the water to where the new resort is being built. I loved sitting over here. Bay lake for the most part is still underdeveloped -- and I loved seeing it that way. I'm hoping they keep that part of the park history like that.

Going Home
So, getting home was a little bit of an adventure. We originally figured we'd take a bus back to springs hop in our cars and head home. Well....come to find out the last bus from the resort to springs leaves 1 hours AFTER park closing. In this case, MK closed at 10 and the last bus to springs was 11:00. It was now 11:20PM for us, so we had to call an Uber. They did get us over to springs, but at the ride share drop off point....way out in front. So we had to walk quite a ways to the orange garage first for our friend who was parked there....just to see the main gate closed. But...security told us the other entrances were still open so finally made it to her car where she drove us over to lime garage and dropped us off and we made our way home. Whew!!! saved!!!

In all, we had a blast -- it was so fun trying different bars and lounges and especially seeing the resorts. I still laugh - walking right past the entrance of MK but never going inside. I've never done that before. My favorite lounges were probably Jock Lindsey's and Tambu Lounge. My least favorite was Trader Sam's. My wife's favorite was Geyser Point and Enchanted Rose and least favorite was Trader Sam's.

Is Trader Sam's worth seeing? Yes - is it worth a 2 hour wait? Depends on if you like this type of kitschy humor old-school Disney bar type environment. Which, I'm surprised, because I'm a huge Disney World history buff, love carousel of progress and the Tiki Birds attractions. So, to not like this was a little frustrating for me.

We also loved roaming around at SSR. Especially since we are staying there. The light equestrian theming is right up our alley since my wife teaches equestrian and has been involved in Eventing for many years.

I hope you all enjoyed this post and got some decent information. Oh, so...for the costs. Our cost was around $550, with our friend spending $50 for some food. Yes, expensive, but we had budgeted for it. On our trip in September, we have a couple down days so, we plan to do a lounge evening crawl. I'm always interested in knowing which places to try. I'd love to go over to Coronado -- there's several lounges/bars there alone!

 

[cchevela1023]

We LOVE to do a food and wine tour of Disney, so much so that DH and I travel to WDW once a year WITHOUT park tickets, just to roam around, trying out new food and visiting new lounges. Last time we were there (Jan 2025) we went to Outer Rim and the Contemporary. The bartender had gone to college at the small school in Bangor, Maine where DH was on faculty for 15 years... because it's a small world, after all!

Our plan of attack on Trader Sam's: Order lunch at Captain Cooks, get in line at TS's around 1, and get your name in as soon as they start taking names... around 1:30, IIRC. Then go up to Tambu to wait. There won't be food at Tambu then, which is why we recommend CC's first, but I saw people bringing their CC's takeout up to Tambu, so that's an option, too, I think- get your food as soon as you get your name in at Sam's and eat it at Tambu.

That's a great idea! We didn't think to do that. We were so focused on the shrimp and O'hana noodles I didn't even think of getting food somewhere else!