A real life “Frozen” adventure. A very chilly dining report, Dec’17-Jan'18 COMPLETED 6/15

Ellester

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 5, 2003
Holy cow was this trip cold! January weather in central Florida has always been a crap shoot but we got all the crap this time around! But we managed to have fun and eat and drink plenty. So without further ado, welcome to my inaugural dining report!!!


Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Preplanning, because I know exactly what I want to eat six months from today!!!

Chapter 2
The trip begins, wow there are a lot of people here! CHH, Gaston's

Chapter 3 - Part 1
Saying goodbye to 2017, Artists Palette

Chapter 3 - Part 2
More Saying Goodbye to 2017, Paddock Grille, Publix, Mr. Sushi

Chapter 4 - Part 1
Cold and Drizzly, just what we were hoping for!


Chapter 4 - Part 2
Wish Sunshine Seasons wasn't the only Sunshine we saw today.

Chapter 4 - Part 3
Authentic British Food AND Weather

Chapter 5 - Part 1
Everything's Better with Pooh!

Chapter 5 - Part 2

In Which We Meet Some Paramedics

Chapter 6 - Part 1
Better weather! No, not really.......

Chapter 6 - Part 2
A little family disunity to keep it interesting

Chapter 7 - Part 1
Where Did Your iPhone Go?

Chapter 7 - Part 2
Time to Kick Back for a Bit


Chapter 8 - Part 1
Will We Ever Be Warm Again (spoiler alert-NO!)

Chapter 8 - Part 2
Time to Get Our Ooompah On!

Chapter 9 - Part 1
One Last Hurrah in Arendelle

Chapter 9 - Part 2
Dessert not very Adventurous

Chapter 9 - Part 3
We Put the Service to the Test

What: A week long trip to WDW. Staying 8 nights in a 2 bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs, our DVC home resort.

When: Due to college break schedules, we will be there during one of the busiest times of the year. December 30, 2017-January 7, 2018.

Who: Our immediate family of 6 and my mom:

Me!- Ellen, approaching 50 faster than I would have thought possible. Homeschooling mom. Veteran Disney-er, grew up in SoFl and have had many trips of many lengths since that first one in 1973! Love me some Oswald, cuz you know it was really all started with a rabbit!

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John-DH of 25+ years, just past 50. First trip to Disney with me when we were in college. Loves the trips, just not quite as fanatical as his wife. He did take me to Disneyland for our 25th anniversary which shows just how much he loves and knows me!!! He’s up past 10 trips now.

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Anabelle- Our 19yo University of Kentucky attending daughter. Her first trip was when she was 2, this will be her 10th trip I believe. Pescatarian and pretty picky eater, although the life of a college student has expanded her palette some! She is majoring in Mining Engineering so has a great affinity for the Seven Dwarves!

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Rebecca- Our 16yo daughter. Her first trip was at 18 months and this will be her 9th trip. Very adventurous eater, other than hating cilantro and being not super tolerant of spicy foods. Her hair color changes with her moods.

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Andrew- Our 13yo sports crazy son. He is mad for the Mouse and has been an eager participant in the planning for this trip. A mini-gourmet in the making. He loves to cook and experiment in the kitchen, loves spicy. He was 2 on his first trip and this will be his 6th trip.

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Natalie- Our 9yo caboose! Having three teenage siblings has made her be 9 going on 18! Always up to try something new to eat but still loves the kid standbys! This will be her 5th trip, her first was when she was 7 weeks old!!!

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Grammy/Marcia- My 70+ mom, she travels with us often, we share the DVC membership with her. Who knows how many trips this makes for her, plenty, that’s for sure! She is a pretty adventurous eater but has an allergy to capsaicin, which is in all peppers other than black pepper. This makes dining out challenging at times. The litany is “no bell, red, green, chili, jalapeño, pepperoncini peppers, no cayenne, no paprika, no pepper flakes” etc. We dine out often together and I have to say that the “NO PAPRIKA” is a huge issue. So many places will assure her that there is no pepper and they will take care of it and out comes her meal with a garnish of paprika over it all. Very frustrating to say the least. Disney has been great with her in the past, but it is an issue to be sure.

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Chapter 1
Pre-planning!


OK, so, I have done several trip reports in the past. Of course they all suck now since the Photobucket pictures have been removed. But que sera, sera. Anyway, this will be my first dining report. I have really been enjoying reading the dining reports and thought I would give it a shot.



We have several ADR’s for this trip. The family is usually up to try something new, but they all have their favorites and requests. Trying to keep all 7 of us happy can be a trick. We have mostly old favorites this trip as of right now, but things may change. I am the chief planner, which is fine with me. Plus, having 6 adults eating can kill the budget in a hurry. My mom pays the DVC dues, that is her ongoing Christmas/birthday/any occasion gift to our family which is fabulous. She also sprung for the tickets this year as everyone’s additional Christmas gift. We will be paying for all the transportation and food. We are a 7 hour drive away, so really we just have gas and tolls to worry about there. We will be taking 2 cars, Anabelle will be driving her Prius along with our trusty Odyssey. I have already started stockpiling snacks and such for the villa. I plan on buying our TIW card our first evening. Even with the New Years black out, we will break even pretty quickly.


We typically eat breakfast in the villa, just easier on everyone and I can get that first cup of coffee right away! We are ropedroppers so that also gives us the most time to sleep! We are renting an ECV for the entire stay for my mom this go round. She just doesn’t have the stamina to walk too far these days. She rented them in the park before, this will be the first time having one at the villa and using the busses with one. Should be an adventure! I am packing extra patience!

Current ADR’s:


12/30, Arrival day: none, we plan on hitting MK after check in and staying late, late, late. Park is open until 3am!!! Planning on dinner at CHH, everyone’s favorite MK Quick Service. I’m sure there will be plenty of snacks thrown in as well.

12/31: none, planning on no parks today, resting after the late night before and avoiding the biggest crowds at the parks. Maybe dinner at Disney Springs. Or somewhere around Celebration as we plan to go to Mass at 4pm at the Catholic Church there.

1/1: Rose & Crown, 7:50pm. Last trip we had the same ADR here but Andrew and I missed it due to a very unfortunate stomach bug he had. John and the girls enjoyed it and Andrew is still upset he missed it so I had to put it in again. It will be new for me and him. Not sure if my mom has eaten here or not.

1/2: Crystal Palace, 10:20am. I love CP for breakfast. Pooh and crew are my sentimental favorites and my family does love some breakfast foods! I like to get the last breakfast seating so we can get some good park time in. Plus breakfast is significantly less expensive than lunch/dinner.

1/3: Tusker House, 10:10am. Another late breakfast seating. Last time we did this buffet, they were also putting lunch out around 10:30 so it was like a 2 for one! I actually also have a later ADR here with the ROL package but I will probably cancel that.

1/4: Sci-Fi Dine-In, 11:05am. Andrew’s stomach bug last trip started right after our lunch here so I really didn’t think he would want to eat her again but it was one of his top requests. We also have 50’s Prime Time Cafe at 3:00pm. Don’t know if we will keep this one or not, I’m thinking we may be done with the park by this time and head to Disney Spring to eat over there.

1/5: Biergarten, 1:45pm. Not my favorite, but both John and my mom love this place. It’s gotten better reviews as of late and I never leave hungry, so there’s that.


1/6: The Jungle Navigation Co., 11:30am. I’m excited to try this one! I’m hoping it won't cause an issue for my mom with the peppers. At Whispering Canyon, there was literally nothing on the main menu she could eat. They ended up grilling her some chicken and veggies totally separately, which was OK but not the best. This one will be new for all of us.

1/6: Be Our Guest, 6:20pm. Closing out our trip with this. We had a great dinner here last time, my mom was not on that trip so this will be new to her.
 
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Hi Ellen!!!! I'm here and can't wait to see what food adventures you all get into!
 
Sounds like fun! Can’t wait to hear more. It certainly has been cold. Hope that didn’t put too much of a damper on things.
 




Chapter 2
The trip begins, wow there are a lot of people here! CHH, Gaston's


I have readers! I feel SO special! I fess up that I did not do a great job the first day or two of getting food pix. But I did improve as the trip went on so just be patient with me!


Saturday, 12/30/17

We had planned to leave by 8:30am. We hit the road right before 9am. Anabelle drove to my mom's, about 15 minutes away, to pick her up so she didn't have to leave her car in our driveway. She figured that they had enough time to stop at Starbucks so they were back with Frappuccinos in hand. For themselves only. Delaying our departure. I might have been a bit salty about it. :rolleyes: But I got over it and we headed south. Our drive is not too long, about 6 hours with no stops or traffic. We made great time at first. There is usually little to no traffic for the first half. We pass a lot of this:
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Or peach orchards, or cotton fields, or pecan groves. Lots of growing going on in central Georgia, let me tell you! We had chicken salad wraps that I had made from the best chicken salad in the world: Chicken Salad Chick. Yes, in the south we have an entire restaurant chain devoted to nothing but chicken salad. They have 12 kinds on their regular menu and usually a seasonal as well. Natalie had a Lunchable since she doesn't like chicken salad. :crazy2: They are a special travel treat for her since I won't usually buy them. Anabelle made due with hummus and pretzels. We made a few stops, missed the welcome center since we had stopped not long before. We would just have to buy our OJ.

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Traffic in Ocala was a bear! The snowbirds were out in full force. We lost Anabelle for a bit as we have a SunPass for the van but not for her car. We pulled over at a Dunkin' Donuts after we got off of 429 and they met us there. Quick potty break and we picked up a dozen donuts, ate half right then and brought the rest with us. We arrived at Saratoga Springs around 4pm and checked in. Found out they had been trying to text my old phone number that I had changed with them both of our last two trips. I'm confident they finally updated it correctly now! :rotfl:


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Quickest unpacking ever, even being on the third floor and a bit of a trek from the elevator. Made it to Magic Kingdom around 6. Main Street was closed off due to it being wall to wall people for the 6:30 Fireworks, so we took the bypass.

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After using our first FP’s for Space Mountain, I went ahead and tried the online ordering for Columbia Harbour House. It was very convenient to just take everyone’s order right there in Tomorrowland. Usually I stand at the cashier and have everyone come order and then shoo them out of the way. Works, but not the most elegant in execution, especially in a very busy restaurant!



Walked through a crazy busy Fantasyland (almost witnessed and actual throw down fight between two guests! Visit my trip report for all those juicy details!) and made it to CHH. The pick up area for online ordering was a madhouse! Half our party went to look for a table while four of us waited. After about 10 minutes, our order was up. I immediately saw that the dreaded paprika was on top of my mom’s shrimp Mac-n-cheese. There was no way to put a special note in the online ordering so I knew we were taking a chance. Before they even put it on our tray I asked for one to be made without the paprika and they did it right away. Once we got everything to the table we realized we were one soda and one kid sized fry short. A quick visit to the online pickup got us everything we needed.


So, onto the actual food! I failed at my first meal at picture taking. But, the food at CHH is pretty beige so you can just imagine a typical plate from Long John Silvers and get the gist! I had the Tuna Sandwich on multigrain bread. I love this sandwich, I don’t know why. It comes with very tasty kettle potato chips that taste made in house. I did not eat all the bread, but it was delicious! My mom said her shrimp Mac was Ok, very heavy. Basically 8-10 medium sautéed shrimp atop a bowl of orange Stouffers style man-n-cheese. The rest of the group had a mixture of fried chicken strips, fried shrimp, fried fish, French fries, corn on the cob, Cole slaw. Natalie went the healthy girl route and had the kids’ salad with grilled chicken and sides of grapes and fries. She said the salad part was good but the grilled chicken was a little rubbery. It was here we discovered that the Ranch dressing on property is usually Ken’s fat-free. I’m sorry, but fat-free things that are high fat in their normal incarnation are just nasty. But Natalie persevered and ate her whole meal! Total cost: $111.45 It ain’t cheap to travel with 7 and we actually had an extra as one of Rebecca’s internet friends was also at MK and we bought her dinner. She offered to pay me in cash since she couldn’t do the online ordering but I was not going to take money from a teenager!

By shear coincidence, I had seen on Facebook on the drive down that one of my good friends from Middle and High school was in Disney with her oldest son. We actually were able to meet up at CHH, we hadn't seen each other in over 15 years! She lives in Michigan now. It was great catching up, however briefly. My own mini-DIS meet even though I don't think she's a DISer.

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After dinner we used our Peter Pan and SDMT Fast Passes and then Anabelle was insistent that she get some LaFou’s Brew. She had been jonsing for some since our last visit almost 3 years before so it was time! It was too flipping cold for me to have a frozen drink so I settled for a chocolate croissant! It was ice cold, but at least not frozen and had a good amount of dark chocolate filling. (Total: $28.60)


After enjoying the New Year’s practice fireworks at midnight (spectacular, by the way), the oldest kids and my mom totally wimped out and left the park! With three hours of extra magic hours to go! Losers. Natalie was our little trooper and wanted to stay. We hit several more rides, met some Princesses, got some PhotoPass shots and decided we were a bit peckish and in need of a pretzel. Well, too bad for us. We made it over to the Lunching Pad to find they had just closed. The huge downside of Magic Hours is that there is very, very little open in the way of food or drinks. The popcorn/nut cart in Tomorrowland was our fall back. We got a souvenir bucket of popcorn and a pack of cinnamon almonds and a bottle of water. (Total: $18.75) Our little trooper was seriously flagging. She wanted to ride the PeopleMover, but it was closed. She decided that she had had enough so we headed out of the park at 2am. Love that girl!




I promise next installments will have more pictures! I got on the program the next day. The first night/day is always so frantic for me, I forget that I am trying to record things for posterity!
 
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Hi Ellen!!!! I'm here and can't wait to see what food adventures you all get into!

Yay! Welcome aboard! I enjoy your reports so much! I feel like Casey would fit right in with our crew, as my oldest commented one day on the bus to MK "our family is just so EXTRA!". My kids have personality to spare and it seems like Casey does as well!


Sounds like fun! Can’t wait to hear more. It certainly has been cold. Hope that didn’t put too much of a damper on things.

We survived, but I admit I could have used another 20 degrees most days!

Joining in :) sounds like you had some great restaurants on your trip

We did! Lots of old and new favorites.

Looking forward to more!

Working on it!

Joining In!

Welcome!!!

Following, looks awesome so far! Can’t wait to see how rest of trip went ☺️

As all our trips seem to be, it was an adventure!

Following along! We were there 12/27-1/3 and it sure was chilly!!

Dang it was, wasn't it! Luckily I packed just about every cold weather item I own....
 
Chapter 3 - Part 1
Saying goodbye to 2017, Artists Palette

Sunday, 12/31 Happy New Years Eve!



We all slept in a little this morning after our super late night. No parks today, at 11:30am I got this message on MyDisneyExperince app.

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I cannot even imagine how packed it was! This was later on, I can think of plenty of other things to do for 5-1/2 hours than wait for Space Mountain! Crazy!

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Anyway, I woke up around 10am and heard Andrew and Natalie moving around in the living area where they were bunking. I saw that breakfast was being served until 11am at Artist’s Palette and I really wanted some breakfast food so I told them to get dressed if they wanted to come with me. They did and Natalie reported that my mom was stirring in the 2nd bedroom and that she also wanted to come. So we zoomed over and arrived in plenty of time to get our breakfast order in.

Andrew really liked his breakfast flatbread, it was a good amount of food and he took some back to the room. He used his passive-aggressive method of not having to share any with my mom by promptly dousing his plate with hot sauce! (She is notorious for asking people to share with her, annoys my kids to no end since she has no qualm about helping herself to the prime bits of someone else’s meal).


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He routinely makes these faces in pictures. Quite attractive, don't you think?


Breakfast Flatbread - Scrambled Eggs, Sausage Gravy, Crumbled Bacon, and Cheese $7.19


Mom got a ham and cheese “allergy omelet”, when it came out it came with grapes. She put up a bit of a stink about not getting potatoes but they said those could not be made without the paprika seasoning. She convinced them to let her get waffles instead and then brought her out two “allergy waffles” later on.


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Ham and Cheese Omelet - with breakfast potatoes $9.29


They brought Natalie the kids’ egg platter by mistake, she ordered the kids’ waffle platter. They let her keep it since it was already made and just brought her more waffles.


Mickey-shaped Waffles - two mini-Mickey waffles with Bacon and Grapes $4.99




My Bounty Platter was good, I subbed an extra waffle for the biscuit. The eggs were hot and somewhat fluffy, the potatoes and sausage were both nice and flavorful, and the bacon was just how I like it, on the soft side.

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Bounty Breakfast Platter - Scrambled Eggs, Breakfast Potatoes, Bacon, Sausage, Biscuit, and small Mickey-shaped Waffle $11.49



My mom got everyone the refillable mugs so I had a nice cup of coffee with some hot cocoa mixed in. (Total: $39.15, not including the mugs)


We explored the resort a bit before heading back to the room. I'm not sure what exactly they were going for in these pictures but they were getting along so I'll take it! This is the kind of thing that happens when I say "I want a picture!" The rest of the group was beginning to stir so we decided to head to the pool

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Chapter 3 - Part 2
More Saying goodbye to 2017, Paddock Grille, Publix, Mr. Sushi

12/31/17 continued......


Today was our best chance for the kids to swim since it was looking like the second ice age was about to hit Florida. Since the rest of the crew finally woke up, they met us down at the Paddock Pool.

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The food choices at the Paddock Grille there were actually better for Anabelle so it worked out well. Unfortunately, they could not handle volume orders very well. There were several other families ordering lunch at the same time. After ordering it took over 35 minutes for John and the girls to get their fish sandwiches.


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Spice-crusted Fish Sandwich - with Citrus Apple Slaw and Cilantro Mayonnaise, served with French fries or vegetable slaw. $10.49.


They were super hot and fresh though. Anabelle got hers without any slaw and Rebecca got hers without the cilantro mayo since she despises cilantro. John got his as plated. They all gave the sandwich high marks. Anabelle's piece of fish was huge! It looked like Mahi-mahi, I like that Disney uses Mahi most places instead of Tilapia. I am not a Tilapia fan, it has a weird taste I just can't get past. I liked the not so little flags they gave you after ordering to put at your table, I felt like we need to do a halftime routine with them!

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After I headed back to the room to get cleaned up, Andrew also had a fish sandwich and Natalie had the kid’s chicken nuggets and a Mickey bar. Andrew was not super impressed with the sandwich. Natalie ate about one bite of a nugget, so I had one when she brought them back to the room. It was the deliciousness that Disney nuggets are!

After the pool everyone got cleaned up and I ran Natalie to the playground for a few minutes. It has a great view of Disney Springs! We both loved the little car/boats, we've put it on our to do list for later trips!

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We went to Mass at Corpus Christi in Celebration and then ordered sushi take-out to bring back to the resort. I phoned in our order to Mr. Sushi in Old Town and then we made the world’s quickest 7 person trip to Publix ever. We stocked up on frozen breakfast sandwiches, cereal, milk, ½&½, bananas, Champagne for NYE, and the like. (Total: $121.88) Then we headed over to pick up our sushi. Anabelle offered to go in with me while the others looked for a place to park and wait.

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It was a cute little place, mostly takeout. They had like 6-8 guys in a kitchen that couldn't have been more than 8'X12'!

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I got a couple of little bottles of sweet sake. He offered to pour some of the dry sake they had in gallon bottles into some styrofoam Togo cups for me but that seemed a bit too cavalier so I went with the sweet. The sushi was fresh and very good. I made sure they packaged my mom’s separately so no spicy tuna or other peppery goodness contaminated hers. Somehow I neglected to take a picture which is too bad because it was an amazing amount of sushi! Fourteen rolls, four salads, three miso soups, and two bottles of sake. Not bad for the price, which included a 20% tip! They must not get many tips because the guy's face lit up when he saw I hit the 20% button.

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The miso soup was still scalding hot when we opened it up, wrapping the styrofoam cups in plastic wrap held every last bit of heat inside! We finished one of the bottles of sake, it was sweeter that we usually drink but was still very nice. We were all exhausted, but the big girls walked over to Disney Springs to see what NYE fun was going on over there. They were back by 11:30 but the rest of us were all asleep! We didn’t even open the Champagne!
 

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Awesome start to your report! I am looking forward to reading more. :)
 
Chapter 4 - Part 1
Cold and Drizzly, just what we were hoping for!


Happy New Year! They new year dawned cold and wet. Bleh. But, a little frost bite wasn't enough to stop us! We had breakfast and coffee in the room.

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Breakfast of Champions right here! Hoping for a Magically Delicious day!!!! We loaded our to-go cups with coffee for our trek to the bus stop for Epcot! Got to the busstop and there was already a scooter waiting. The bus came but the scooter spots were full so the driver called for another bus. It worked out as my mom realized that she left her cane in the room. Andrew volunteered to run back to get it and took off at a full sprint. Then I asked Natalie if she had her autograph book and of course, she did not. Andrew volunteered to run back again. He made it back with time to spare and decided he needed a nap.

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Eventually the bus came with spots for 2 scooters and we on our way. The drizzle started today and it was chilly, so began the coldest week we have ever had at Disney. Our plan was somewhat altered since I knew the rain would play havoc with Test Track. So once through security, we headed to the Land instead for Soarin’ and Living with the Land.

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The kids were hungry around 10am so we went to the pretzel stand between the Land and Imagination. No pretzels were ready yet. The CM said they had just gotten them and they needed to be put in the oven thing first so it would be a while. Sigh. So, we sucked it up and hung with Figment for a while and then headed back to get pretzels with “cheese” sauce. We took them up to the DVC Member lounge in the Imagination Pavilion where they plied us with drinks from the free Freestyle machines and various snacks of the Cheez-It and Dorito variety. I am a sucker for Cheez-Its so I enjoyed some of them after my half pretzel (I shared with Natalie).


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Snack cart full of tastyish treats.

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We rode Spaceship Earth and then I went ahead and got our Tables in Wonderland card from Guest Services right next to SE. I had to wait a few minutes for the one station equipped to process TiW cards but it was a short wait and it was warm and dry in GS. We then headed to the World Showcase with plans to eventually hit the Tangerine Café in Morocco for lunch. By the time we got there the wind had picked up and it was freezing! Well, in the 50’s but still much too cold for dining al fresco! They had all the windows and doors open in the Tangerine Cafe and it was a flipping freezing wind tunnel in there! No way I was going to eat huddled over my plate for warmth! I looked at the Disney App on my phone and it showed availability in Japan at 2:20 so I tried to reserve an ADR. It would get to the confirmation screen and then show an error so we decided to just head over there instead. Once we got there, they said it was over an hour wait even though the ADR was still showing as available on the App. No one really wanted to wait that long so we decided to just head back to the Land for Sunshine Seasons. The kids were getting frustrated with my mom at this point. She tends to order them around without any kind of please or thank you but then gets super upset if they don’t immediately say thank you to her for every little thing. She had ordered Anabelle to take pictures of the menu and send them to her but then she couldn’t read them because they were so little on her phone so got huffy about that. Meanwhile, Anabelle just wanted to order and eat, we were all getting a bit hangry at this point. Mom eventually had to get a chef to come out and they made her some special “allergy salmon”. She thought it was good, definitely hot and fresh. She really wanted mashed potatoes but it was apparently too difficult to get with the salmon so she got a salad instead. She did have Anabelle go up and get her an order of mashed potatoes later, much to Anabelle’s chagrin. They looked tasty and she ate them all so they must have been ok and pepper free.

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The big girls split the fish tacos and the shrimp and noodles. They were not overly impressed. I ate most of the veggies (minus the celery which is one of my few no-gos) from the shrimp and noodles and thought the sauce was very good. Lots of sesame oil flavor which I really like. Neither was particularly “spicy” despite their descriptions.

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Spicy Shrimp Stir-Fried Shrimp - with celery, peppers, water chestnuts and cashews $11.79


Spicy Fish Tacos - topped with cabbage slaw and poblano pepper aioli with potato salad $11.79

Natalie had the kids’ Mongolian Beef with fried rice and ate everything but the pea pods and ginormous piece of broccoli.

Mongolian Beef - with apple slices $7.29


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I had the Sesame Crusted Tuna with noodle salad. This was a cold dish but was done very nicely. I had really wanted the fish tacos but when I asked, I found the fish was tilapia so I took a pass. But I was happy with the tuna. The tuna had a good flavor and was well marinated. It was seared but nice and raw in the middle. Very tender. The noodles were also good, very light tasting with a sesame oil flavored dressing and cashews on top. Light and filling at the same time.


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Sesame Crusted Tuna - with Asian vegetable noodle salad $11.99

At my picture limit so continued in next post.

 
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Chapter 4 - Part 2
Wish Sunshine Seasons wasn't the only Sunshine we saw today.



Andrew had the Oak-Grilled Salmon. He scarfed it all right down so it must have been OK! He complained that the portion was too small for the price. Welcome to life at Disney, kid! Now you know why we try to fit several buffets in the mix. Feeding 3 teenagers isn't for the weakhearted or weakwalleted.

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Oak-grilled Salmon - with cheese grits and andouille corn succotash $12.99


John went with the interesting choice of the Vegan Korma. He said it was good and had a nice curry flavor. We get the “Chik’n” at home sometimes since Anabelle will eat it and Gardein is a wizard at making fake meat. Strange yet delicious all at the same time….

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Vegan Korma with Gardein® Meatless Chik'n - with Jasmine Rice $8.99



Even though John and Andrew are totally not dessert people, they both had cheesecake here! I tasted John’s and it was fine, typical cheesecake. Not my favorite dessert but this one was tasty. Andrew went for the cute factor and said it was great. Everyone was fullish and happy so we went on with our day.

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Andrew is sporting his new Canadian toque. Apparently since he is almost an Eagle Scout, he doesn't have to listen to me when I tell him to pack for cold weather. :crazy: After watching him shiver, I bought him a hat from the cart in Canada. They were doing a brisk business. I tried to talk him into a raccoon one, but it was a no go. At least it was only $8, a veritable Disney bargain!

Did I mention that it was cold and rainy?

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Those of us who had not partaken of dessert at the land decided that a visit to Halles in France was in order. We had a delicious variety of mousse, eclairs, tarts, cookies, and cafe au lait. The line was long but moved very quickly.

I had the mousse which was perfect, dark chocolaty and creamy. The hot coffee hit the spot as well since the weather had not improved one bit.

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Natalie deconstructed her chocolate tarte.

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Anabelle had the mousse as well. She did not enjoy the crispies on top, she has a thing with mixing textures. But I thought they were yummy!

We explored France a bit, ran into Belle in her winter gear and headed towards the United Kingdom for our dinner ADR’s.


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Chapter 4 - Part 3
Authentic British Food AND Weather



We had a few minutes so we spent them in the shops. I ran Natalie down to Canada so she could get the stamp there for the Duffy she was working on. The CM was all alone down in his wintery lair outside the exit of Oh Canada! He asked Natalie which country was the only one bigger that Canada, I stage whispered the answer to her and since she was right, he gave her a coupon for a free maple popcorn from the booth in Canada! She was SO excited! We got the popcorn and munched on it as we rejoined the rest of the family. It had promise, but was clearly from the bottom of the batch with lots of partially popped kernels. We enjoyed trying it but I’m glad I didn’t pay for it!


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Anabelle found a Guinness jersey in the shop in the UK, she claimed it would be perfect for "jersey parties" at college. No idea what that entails, but she bought it and wore it pretty much the rest of he week.

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It was now time for our dinner at Rose and Crown. It was only getting colder and my mom was complaining that it was too cold to be seated outside even with the plastic sheeting up and heaters going. We checked in and noted my mom's allergy, they gave us the "allergy menu" but as those only cover the most common food allergies/intolerances, it did us no good. So began my week of "no, the allergy menu doesn't have her allergy, we still need to talk to the chef" spiel. I was preparing for a complaint filled dinner but luckily we were seated inside. I really wanted to be outside since the whole idea of the late ADR was to be able to see Illuminations from the restaurant, but I suppose it worked out for the best.


My mom got very testy with our server when she didn’t seem to really understand what my mom was saying about her allergy. The server assured my mom that they didn’t use any peppers in the kitchen at all but quickly backtracked when my mom told her that she had never heard of a curry that didn’t have some kind of cayenne or chili pepper in the curry powder if not in the dish itself. Once the chef came out, mom was somewhat mollified but complained that she would be having salmon AGAIN even though the chef offered several other choices as well. She didn’t want steak, didn’t want anything fried, didn’t want the shepherds pie, etc. Sigh. A pour of Macallan helped her demeanor perk up a bit. John had the single malt Scotch flight and I had a Snake Bite (half Harp/half Cider). All highly recommended!

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My Snake Bite hit the spot!

Once the food came, everyone tucked in and was happy with their choices. My steak was cooked medium rare, as ordered. The fish was a bit greasy in my opinion, but still delicious. Very good tartar sauce as well. The loaded Yorkshire pudding was nice if a little salty. I enjoyed the peppercorn sauce a great deal and the green beans were adequately cooked, not too squeaky but not too mushy either.



Grilled New York Strip Steak and Fried Fish - with loaded Yorkshire pudding, seasonal vegetables, and Jameson Irish whiskey-peppercorn sauce $33.00

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Anabelle had the fish and chips with an additional side of the Yorkshire pudding. She agreed that it was a bit greasy but was good. She was served one huge piece of fish.

Fish & Chips - Beer battered fresh fish served with house-made tartar sauce $21.00

Rebecca enjoyed the Bangers and Mash (also with Yorkshire pudding on the side). I tasted it and the sausage was really good, a nice herby flavor that was different from an Italian or German sausage.


Bangers and Mash - traditional English sausages, with Colacannon potatoes, roasted mushrooms, caramelized onion jam and red wine Demi $19.00

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John had the Shepherd’s Pie and was happy with his choice. Good comfort food for a cold night.



Shepherd's Pie - ground lamb, seasonal vegetables, English peas, mashed potatoes and McCall's Irish cheddar $20.00

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Andrew went with the Pub Burger. He ate very little of it, I think his stomach was bothering him. He said it was good but he was feeing a little ill. He did make an impressive tower with his fries though.

Welsh Pub Burger - Angus beef patty with Welsh Rarebit sauce, Branston mayonnaise, bacon, and beer-battered leeks $19.00


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Nat decided on the kids’ Mac and cheese. This had a nice white sauce instead of the normal Disney orange sauce. I could definitely taste the sharpness of the Irish Cheddar in it. She loved it. She also had a salad for an appetizer with the nefarious Fat Free Ranch. We took her dessert of trifle to go and it sadly never got eaten! You can see that she stayed bundled up with her layers including poncho throughout dinner. It was chilly in the restaurant!


Cheesy Pasta with an Irish Cheddar Cheese Sauce and choice of one (1) Beverage and one (1) Dessert $9.00

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As mentioned above, my mom had the salmon. I'm not sure if the chef had to alter her meal at all or not, she seemed happy with it.

Pan-roasted Scottish Salmon
Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, New Potatoes, Baked Apples, and Port Glaze with a Lime-Saffron Aioli $27


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Our server tried to run our Tables in Wonderland card since she said she didn't think there was a blackout for New Years Day, but there was. Total $268.92.

The big girls asked if they could go ahead and run over to ride Mission Space before the park closed, we told them to go ahead. Illuminations was getting ready to start as we left the restaurant but it was just way to cold and windy to stick around. We made a chilly walk to the bus stop for the journey back to SSR.


Overall a good first park day although the weather did put a damper on our plans. That was to be the theme for the week as it just got colder as the week went on! Still better to be cold at Disney than to be cold at home!!!
 

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