A Tipsy Tenth Dining Adventure - Completed 9/28

[NJlauren]

I have this problem, I read updates and don’t reply then I can’t remember what reports I have comment on yet. Bad habit!

So anyway, if I already posted how delicious Casey's burger looks and how that is the best Miller light picture I have ever seen feel free to just skip this reply and carry on.

Also I have heard the room size is so nice at shades of green!

Looking forward to some more great food porn (can we say that here?). But i do think it will be hard to top that amazing burger picture and I’m sorry but that Miller light picture is going to be hard to beat too!

 

[princess aleya]

Happy Birthday Casey!! Following along, love your reports

 

[Ejb123]

When are you all going in August? We'll be there the 10th through 18th. No brunch booked but I may try and pick it up last minute if we can.

Hi, we will be there between the 5th - 20th August, we will be staying at the Caribbean beach until the 13/8 then we are moving to the AKL, so we may bump into you guys again!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

He had to get down to pick up Princess 5K and Half Marathon race packets so while I got Casey to school and quite literally was shoveling snow before we left he met up with D and D2 and was doing this

That is good parenting.. toughing them up!

Not jealous at all

Not at all! Of course his reward was waking up up at 3am to run!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my Dad picked up Casey and I...

She looks so excitied!

Eventually Casey and I made it to our resort – Shades of Green (pics in next post for anyone interested) – and I unpacked a little while she played on the playground that was right out our back door.

Nice!

Best burger pic ever!!!

While I went for the ever classy nachos in a styrofoam container.

Minus the styraphome... it looks better than the burger.. at least

I’m sure we’ll stay at Shades again, but for now we’re gonna stick to Disney resorts. In fact we’ll be back at Caribbean Beach again in August. Queue the Casey music…

I wish we were at Caribbean Beach too. We will see how Coronado is.

 

[debjk4]

Love reading your trip reports! I'll be paying special attention to your delicious food and drink choices to try on our July trip!

 

[momma2ethan]

We are Washingtonians

I'm a Washingtonian too! How did I not know we had this in common??

While I went for the ever classy nachos in a styrofoam container.

Those look delicious. Now I want nachos

the Princess 5K.

Go Casey! That's incredible. I can barely ran downstairs to the mailbox and back, let alone a 5K HAHA

When are you all going in August? We'll be there the 10th through 18th.

Dang, we'll be missing each other by a week. That is if I am able to work major magic and keep the trip we have booked. We are going to Disneyland in Jan/Feb with my sisters family to celebrate my nephew turning 5 so I'm not sure if we'll be able to afford both. Fingers crossed that I can pull it off. DS11 was literally in tears when I told him we may have to skip our annual WDW trip this year.

 

[kastoney]

Happy Easter Kari!

Hope you had a great Easter Jenny!

Getting my glass of wine and ready to join in!!!

And what do you know I have mine at the ready too

Haha I’ll take that penalty when we’re in our cruise in July! I have 3 tastings on my own! I’m sure that will cover the three and some. Lol!! I don’t drink on a regular basis too so this will really be interesting

3 tasting???? I wanna come, If nothing else just to see you after all of that

Can’t wait to read more and I sure hope my will be 5 year old behaves as well for our land and sea in July! Also can’t wait to see how much I will change my plans again after reading your report!!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!!! Casey just got really tired on two occasions and sadly for her we think pouting Casey is funny so her mood never stood a chance.

It's fun seeing the Shades of Green hotel, probably the closest I'll ever get to it since I don't have anyone military to go with. I've heard the security there is really tight so I could see that be annoying for someone used to just going around Disney with limited effort. I think that dole whip looked delicious. The birthday dinner take out looked all right for take out and since Disney birthdays last all trip I think it's okay to start out with this, especially when most of the day was a travel day.

Shades was definitely nice, but they sure do take their security seriously. Heck even our uber drivers had to show id and their taxi license. I'm still not sure why as with 3 Disney resorts literally closer to Magic Kingdom I can't understand why anyone would try and "sneak" into there.

The food at least hit the spot, but thankfully we see much improvement the next night.

Joining in! I lurked through some of your previous dining reports & got some great ideas from them. We're definitely checking out Nomad's Lounge in June because of them! Can't wait to read about this trip.

Hi there! So happy to have you along. Awesome choice with Nomads as it is unquestionably our favorite place in the world. We ended up there twice this trip which is still never enough.

Joining in! Looking forward to hearing about all of your adventures.

Always good to have you along for the drinking, I mean ride

Yay! Just got back from vacation and excited you started a new report while I was gone!

Glad I could offer some excitement in what I am sure was some post vacay blues!!!

You missed out on the best thing Evergreens makes, which is the pizza!

Is it really good???? I was in such a daze I looked at the apps and ordered something and I'm not sure I even knew what else was on the menu.

Hi Kari. I love the expression on Casey's face as she crossed the finish line. Did she train for this race?

Shades of Green looks like a great resort for the price. But I would miss all those extra Disney services that help make a trip to WDW so much fun.

Hi Sue!!!! Glad to see you here.

I wouldn't say Casey "trained." She is a naturally good runner and has done 5K's before. Jason just has to help pace her and she does pretty good.

You said it perfectly on Shades. Definitely while we'll be back on "real" property next time

Jumping in! I love reading your trip reports.

Your DH did what my DH would do...send me pics of his beer while I'm missing out lol

Sounds like our husbands got the same memo. I gave him grief but then he reminded me I'll be in Disney without them in May for a weekend so I didn't hold too many grudges. But the snow didn't help!

and Jason didn't bring you good food from Epcot? Does he not love you and Casey?

They did bring us some macaroons, which I don't even like, but nothing else. Clearly no love there

Joining in! Can't wait to see where your adventures take you this trip!

Thanks so much for eating along with me!

 

[kastoney]

Why are we not calling the first D, R2?" Then you could say, "we met up with R2 and D2?" Or just shorten it and say, "we met up with R2D2?"
You're welcome

Thank you Maui!!! This is perfect. From now on their will be known as R2D2 even though neither of them has an R anywhere in their names

Jeez, she almost looks excited. Like maybe it's her birthday and she's off from school and going to Walt Disney World

Almost, but not quite

I didn't even see the beer in the pic until you pointed it out

It's one of those fancy artistic photos. Seriously can you believe I had one beer and that is still what I took!

I didn't realize it was a mile away from The Poly. People say, "it's right across the street." I guess in WDW terms it may be but that doesn't sound appealing at all for transportation options.

It is technically across the street but they forget to tell you the Shades resort sits about half a mile from the road and then from Poly you have to walk from the further long house to the Great Ceremonial House. So yes, across the street

I have this problem, I read updates and don’t reply then I can’t remember what reports I have comment on yet. Bad habit!

I think we all got that habit

So anyway, if I already posted how delicious cashes burger looks and how that is the best Miller light picture I have ever seen feel free to just skip this reply and carry on.

Even if you already said it I have a bad habit of reading peoples replies and then forgetting if I read them so we'll call ourselves even

Looking forward to some more great food porn (can we say that here?). But i do think it will be hard to top that amazing burger picture and I’m sorry but that Miller light picture is going to be hard to beat too!

If we can't say porn they'll be coming after both of now as you'll be shocked to know am a frequent offender.

These are definitely the two best pictures of the entire report so you can just depart now.

Happy Birthday Casey!! Following along, love your reports

Thanks so much for joining in with us!

Hi, we will be there between the 5th - 20th August, we will be staying at the Caribbean beach until the 13/8 then we are moving to the AKL, so we may bump into you guys again!!

That would be awesome. We arrive on the 10th or 10/8 in cool Essex time

That is good parenting.. toughing them up!

It was good parenting, but not sure it was good spousing

Not at all! Of course his reward was waking up up at 3am to run!

Yes but my "reward" was also getting up at 3 so I could do Casey's hair and make-up which of course had very specific requirements.

Best burger pic ever!!!

Doesn't it just make you hungry?

I wish we were at Caribbean Beach too. We will see how Coronado is.

I was actually interested in trying Coronado (especially the new rooms) but oddly they didn't have any availability.

Love reading your trip reports! I'll be paying special attention to your delicious food and drink choices to try on our July trip!

Hope you spy a few items you wanna try!

I'm a Washingtonian too! How did I not know we had this in common??

Well technically I'm not sure we have it in "common." As I should have clarified that we live in Washington DC only about a 3000 mile difference though

Go Casey! That's incredible. I can barely ran downstairs to the mailbox and back, let alone a 5K HAHA

You and me both. My running joke is that while she does the 5K I'm doing the .5K

Dang, we'll be missing each other by a week. That is if I am able to work major magic and keep the trip we have booked. We are going to Disneyland in Jan/Feb with my sisters family to celebrate my nephew turning 5 so I'm not sure if we'll be able to afford both. Fingers crossed that I can pull it off. DS11 was literally in tears when I told him we may have to skip our annual WDW trip this year.

How awesome you are headed to the world and land within the same year. I'll keep my fingers crossed that all works out. We may do Disney Land ourselves next year too but no plans yet. We're thinking about skipping WDW and going to Hawaii with a stop in Cali on the way there or back.

 

[ariane37]

I'm not sure what to say about a dry burger and styrofoam nachos I mean I'll pretty much always say yes to nachos so I probably would have tried'em. But hey, dried out bad for the environment container food is better anyway when it's consumed in Disney, so I'm ok with your first night choices

 

[kastoney]

I'm not sure what to say about a dry burger and styrofoam nachos I mean I'll pretty much always say yes to nachos so I probably would have tried'em. But hey, dried out bad for the environment container food is better anyway when it's consumed in Disney, so I'm ok with your first night choices

Well as long as I have YOUR permission.....

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I was actually interested in trying Coronado (especially the new rooms) but oddly they didn't have any availability.

We are in the standard old rooms. It was cheap, and cheaper still than the "discounts" they are offering right now. Andy's sister is staying in the Tower, I think. So, hopefully we can at least check the rooms out.

It was good parenting, but not sure it was good spousing

Well, next weekend is kind of pay back, then? No?

 

[kastoney]

Those Poor Unfortunate Souls

Before you proceed this is an overindulgent Casey race post. Food is in the following one for those who wanna skip ahead.

Casey and Jason were up at 3:00 the next morning night to get ready for the race and apparently the “amazing” hair and make-up skills that yours truly has were necessary to help.

Casey very much wanted to be Ariel, for no reason other than she’d coaxed me into making her hair red, and what does any good mermaid need? Her Dad and Nemesis of course.


I thankfully was able to go back to sleep while the three of them were up to this….







Casey did great and ran most of the race

And for reasons I just cannot comprehend King Triton was apparently quite the spectacle.


I ended up waking up around 6 because this guy was gobbling outside our room.

There ended up being a gaggle of 3 of them that we saw (or heard) almost every morning. Shades is apparently Wilderness Lodge West as we also saw deer, an owl, and the ever elusive squirrel.

Eventually the gang returned and after some amazing hair styling efforts

We were ready for some Disney time


We hit up some teacups and space

Where R2D2 (their new name, thank you Kelly) did their best impersonation of our family



From there it was mine train and some thunder


Continued in next post...
​

 

[kastoney]

Those "Pour" Unfortunate Souls (Sitting Next to Us)

Before it was time to get some much needed sustenance in our bellies (not that the Styrofoam from the night prior wasn’t tremendously filling).

Lunch was at The Plaza, which is one of our favorite places in Magic Kingdom. It is clearly nothing fancy but the food is always good, beer flowing (or technically canning), and better yet the price is just what my wallet ordered.

To start Casey got a chocolate milkshake


While the adults all got our own version of one.


We started with the Plaza Loaded Fries, which are French Fries topped with Melted Cheese, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomatoes, and Ranch Dressing.

As I understand something similar was once sold in MK and had a bit of a cult following, but we were not drinking the kool-aid on this one. I know there are yellow cheese lovers out there but this was so yellow and tasteless we actually weren’t sure if it was cheese or mustard. And unfortunately the mustard cheese dominated the other ingredients which were way off balance. The fires were good though, and hot, but for $9 I think we’ll hold off on getting this one again.

For entrees Jason oddly went with the grilled chicken sandwich topped with Bacon, Rémoulade, Bruschetta, Provolone, and Arugula and served on a Brioche Bun.

This sounded no semblance of exciting to me so I passed, but he said it was good other than it having too much garlic.

D2 was much more my style and went with the Angus Chuck Cheeseburger and fries.

I elected not to ask her what she thought of it as I was already the weirdo photographing her food, but she ate it all so we’ll say its good.

R2 (formerly known as D) ordered what I wanted the Fried Green Tomato Sandwich with Deep-fried Green Tomato served with Bacon, Arugula, Tomato, and Pepper Jack Cheese topped with Alabama White Barbecue Sauce on a toasted Brioche Bun

She let me have a bite and this was SO GOOD!!! The tomato was fried to perfection, whatever the heck white bbq sauce is had a great tang to it, and the bacon added tremendous flavor. It was so good I was willing to forgive that green stuff she'd subbed chips for.

While that was what I wanted, I was outvoted (if that is even possible with 2 of us) and Casey got her @buzzrelly on and suckered me into ordering Chicken Strawberry Salad with Fresh Garden Greens, Grilled Chicken Breast, Cucumbers, fresh Strawberries, and Gorgonzola tossed in a White Zinfandel Vinaigrette Dressing

While this was no fried green tomato sandwich and is as close as white zinfandel will ever get to gracing these lips it was a nice salad and the strawberry and gorgonzola combo was surprisingly good.

As we were finishing our meal up, Casey managed to knock her entire milkshake over which is a travesty in and of itself but she also got it all over the legs of the lady sitting next to us. I was mortified but the lady was great about it and understood. Casey also somehow rationalized that it was my fault that she ordered a milkshake in the first place therefore I'd caused the spill.

While I wished I’d ordered the Fried Green tomato sandwich, we did enjoy our meal at the Plaza. I mean what can be better than being right in the middle of Magic Kingdom and enjoying table service but essentially paying quick service prices. And beer. Don’t forget the beer. With our tables in wonderland card we saved $25.

After lunch we got our small world, philharmagic, country bears, jungle cruise, and Phillipe on...

... before Casey’s birthday “present” was burning a hole in her pocket.

Being the amazing Mom I am to bribe her out of a birthday party and buying her presents we told her she could buy one thing per day in Disney.

Day 1 saw the very utilitarian Minnie gloves. I can just see her wearing these out to play in the snow now

But they did at least come into use for Jason.


Before heading out we mobile ordered some dole whip given these lines


And enjoyed our very own lady and the tramp

And tiki god moments.


On the way out, defenses weekend by dole whip, Casey also convinced me to get her this.

I think we’re gonna need a bigger suitcase.

Up next lets get our hoop on ​

 

[kastoney]

We are in the standard old rooms. It was cheap, and cheaper still than the "discounts" they are offering right now. Andy's sister is staying in the Tower, I think. So, hopefully we can at least check the rooms out.

Ditto for us at Caribbean Beach. I thought the AP rate would help, but it was the exact same we were already "saving"

Well, next weekend is kind of pay back, then? No?

YUP

 

[WL2000]

How awesome you are headed to the world and land within the same year. I'll keep my fingers crossed that all works out. We may do Disney Land ourselves next year too but no plans yet. We're thinking about skipping WDW and going to Hawaii with a stop in Cali on the way there or back.[/QUOTE]

Def on the way back! Nothing eases the pain of leaving Hawaii like knowing a little Disney Magic is waiting for you. Not to mention a nice break from the travel on the way back. I was fine on the way to Hawaii, but it took every once of restraint I had not to slap someone on the way home. lol

 

[kastoney]

Def on the way back! Nothing eases the pain of leaving Hawaii like knowing a little Disney Magic is waiting for you. Not to mention a nice break from the travel on the way back. I was fine on the way to Hawaii, but it took every once of restraint I had not to slap someone on the way home. lol

THANK YOU!!!! I've been wondering which would be better and you just answered that question for me!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I love the race outfits, so cute and Jason how funny is that picture, he was really hamming it up!

We tried the loaded fries twice at The Plaza, the first time so good and the second were just meh!

I’m with you I really want to try the fried green tomato sandwich, maybe this August!

Andi loves that stuffed dole whip and it smells so good, she wants one and she is 19 so I can see why Casey wanted it haha!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Casey very much wanted to be Ariel, for no reason other than she’d coaxed me into making her hair red, and what does any good mermaid need? Her Dad and Nemesis of course.

This is just all kinds of amazing! Casey is lucky to have people who love her this much!

Casey did great and ran most of the race

Way to go Casey!!!!

And for reasons I just cannot comprehend King Triton was apparently quite the spectacle.

Can't imagine why....

Shades is apparently Wilderness Lodge West as we also saw deer, an owl, and the ever elusive squirrel

Ha! I love this name!

See, THIS is how you do a Space Mountain Photo!

We started with the Plaza Loaded Fries, which are French Fries topped with Melted Cheese, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomatoes, and Ranch Dressing.

I love this, but I do love plastic cheese.

Day 1 saw the very utilitarian Minnie gloves. I can just see her wearing these out to play in the snow now

I find it funny that she picked these. Love it.

 

[lauraleh]

I love the rationalization that it was your fault she knocked over the milkshake. I have an 8 year old too so I totally feel you on that one.

Also, we have Mickey Mouse gloves. My (then) 4 year old son saw them and HAD to have them. He has played with them a decent amount so I can't complain.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Kari, I did see some CSR rooms in August with AP, I was just checking prices to compare for my August trip, I’m not sure of your dates but this was 8/17-8/26. There was a preferred room at CSR, just thought I would let you know.