Welcome back everyone to the dining review that never ends! I'd just like to thank you all again for your many kind comments. I hope you're enjoying reading as much as I am writing.
And now, back to Day 5, already in progress and threatening to stall.
After Sweet Sundays my mom wanted to go back to the room - I don't really know why, but that's what she wanted so I went along like a good little girl. I was fought-out for the day after our odyssey at the Odyssey. We decided to go our separate ways until dinner (woo hoo - freedom!) and many delightful things happened to Jason and I that afternoon without Negative Nelly to bring us down. Some day, if you are so inclined, you can read about our adventures at MGM in my newest, as yet unwritten but sure to be fabulous, trip report: I Ate a Theme Park
Thiiiiiis Big.
It's a working title...J. K. Rowling isn't the only person who can change her mind.
Jason and I decided to stop at Hurricane Hannah's Sunday afternoon around 3PM on our way back from MGM. My interest here was the bar menu - I wanted to try the original Stormalong...a colada made with Baileys, Amaretto, and Kahlua. I'll make this brief...
What?
You don't think I can be brief?
How's this:
Jason and I shared a counter service meal here and ordered chicken tenders, a bag of chips, an apple, and a bottle of water. We also each ordered a frosty alcoholic beverage that was not the Stormalong. It wasn't on the menu and there was much sadness but I didn't think I could get away with bawling at the bar so I went boring and ordered a mango colada while Jason went all Mr. Coffee by ordering an espresso chiller.
A picture of our afternoon snack with the chiller:
And a picture of the mango colada:
Of the two drinks the espresso chiller wins hands down - you couldn't even taste the alcohol in it, making it that most dangerous and delightful of drinks ranking right up there with the Castaway Punch served on
DCL. If I were at Hannah's right now I'd be drinking an espresso chiller...or two...or six.
BTW - for those of you unfamiliar with Hurricane Hannah's it is the snack bar option at Stormalong Bay at the Yacht and Beach Club. We had a good time just hanging out there watching all the pool-related activity while we imbibed our drinkie-poos. Then we left, and did some stuff that I have no reason to discuss here, and then it was time to leave for dinner.
Here is where I stop being brief...I can only do that in short bursts, sorry.
Dinner...oh dinner. Oh, wherefore art thou dinner?
This was a question I struggled with during the six-month dining reservation change-and-guess-and-cancel-mixathon. It really sucks trying to make dining plans for other people, especially when those people say things like, "Oh, we don't care where we eat. We'll be happy with whatever you choose."
I like to think that I'm pretty smart, but I fell right into the trap of trying to make everyone happy instead of simply telling them that if they didn't eat their meat they wouldn't get any pudding. And when I tell you good people here at the DIS what I did...well, I fear that any respect you may have for my vacation dining / ADR-making skills will be forever tarnished.
Brace yourselves...
Originally I had made a dinner reservation for the four of us at - here it comes - Le Cellier. Jason and I were keen to try it and I had read so many good reviews of it here at the DIS that the flexibility of the Dining Plan seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to give it a go. And my parents like steak but there's also other choices for them like salmon and...stuff.
But here's what happened: sometime in September while I was recovering from surgery and dreaming of WDW, my mom said to me, "Brenda, we can have steak any time. I want to have dinner at the Magic Kingdom. Is there someplace I can get a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich?"
At the time I was doped up on some pretty good stuff and this seemed like a reasonable request. I would like to share with you all some advice: Don't change your ADRs when you're taking narcotic pain killers...it will only lead to heartache.
As I think back on this fuzzy conversation with my mom, I'm struck by the fact that her idea of dinner at the MK is a cheesesteak sandwich. We've got the freaking dining plan, woman, get some bang for your buck!
The result of all this was that I cancelled the Le Cellier ADR and got us in to the Plaza - specifically so that she could have her sandwich. I'm just that nice.
Sunday was EMH at the MK - it was crowded...our ADR was for 6:50PM. Although I got us to the podium with about 10 minutes to spare we waited nearly 30 minutes before being seated in the dining room. I can't stress how important ADRs are if you really want to eat somewhere - I lost count of the number of people who walked up to the podium to ask for a table only to be told that the restaurant was booked solid.
My mom, by the way, doesn't really like to wait. I am my mother's daughter because I'm not known for being patient, either. But I do understand that at a teeeny little place like the Plaza on a busy night at the MK you will have to wait for your table. People need to chew their food and we shouldn't rush them.
Jason and I amused ourselves during the wait by watching my mom's lips grow thinner and thinner while she heaved her shoulders with dramatic, long-suffering sighs punctuated with occassional eye-rolling. We don't have children but I think my mother became the oldest living teenager ever that night.
Eventually we were seated. None of us had ever been to the Plaza before and it's a charming little place. We found out that with the dining plan at the Plaza the appetizer choice is salad or soup - then you get to pick an entree and be sure to leave room for dessert because they are big and tasty!
I passed on an appetizer for the evening but my mom ordered tomato soup.
Jon and Jason ordered this soup...I think it may be a vegetable beef but I'm not exactly sure. Let's just call it primordial soup, shall we?
If you ask me those soups look kinda greasy...I don't think I would have liked either one of them for just that reason.
On to the main course. I finally found a place that serves tuna fish!! I would have danced a jig on the table to express my joy but that sort of thing is frowned upon at the MK. The tuna was served on a croissant with some really gross German potato salad. I don't like potato salad so I just ignored it but the tuna croissandwich was pretty good.
Jon ordered the chicken strawberry salad - this is a pretty big salad, don't you think? He said it was really very tasty.
Jason ordered the grilled chicken sandwich, presented now for your viewing pleasure:
And my mom ordered...oh, do we really have to talk about it? You all know why we ended up eating here. Yeah, that's right...the cheesesteak sandwich.
Only we had a little problem...she didn't order the cheesesteak - she ordered the grilled reuben. You can see from this picture how little resemblance it bears to the long-desired sandwich that led to the canceling of Le Cellier ADRs.
Her explanation for choosing this entree is that the only thing better than a cheesesteak sandwich is a reuben sandwich.
I have no rebuttal so I'm just moving right into dessert.
Jason and Jon both ordered the banana split.
I dug into the brownie sundae.
And my mom was very full from the reuben that tasted so much better than anything on the menu at Le Cellier (I'm not bitter, really..
) so she asked if she could have a mickeylodeon with caramel ice cream.
All joking aside for a moment, depsite the crowds we received vey prompt and very good service at the Plaza. And we did not feel that we were treated differently from other patrons because of the dining plan. And those portions were huge. Dessert was very good, indeed!
Was it Le Cellier? Obvioulsy not. Did we enjoy it? Yes we did. Will we go back? Probably not. What is my mom getting for Christmas from Jason and me? A Philly Cheesesteak sandwich.
Tune in tomorrow for a new day (finally) that will involve some serious F&W sampling and dinner at Victoria and Albert's!!!