Bucket List NYE at WDW with Platinum Plan - new 2/28 bonus post, wrap up, and COMPLETE

[pepperandchips]

It's so much nicer to get home and not have to do loads and loads!

Yes it is! Especially because we do that thing where we milk every minute of time off work and arrive home the night before we have to report back for work duty in the morning... Well, I actually didn't do that to R because he had another day or two before the semester started but I had to go to work the next day and I certainly didn't want to worry about clean underpants! LOL

I love a good salad and this sounds wonderful.

Yeah, we tried to order salads at most meals to ensure we had some semblance of veggies, and this one was a really good one. So was the one at Territory Lounge and the one at Le Cellier.

Oh my...looks delicious.

So glad this one was the final signature as opposed to the missteps from earlier!

Jiko really was one of the best meals we had. It was a true signature experience and the ultimate in pampering!

Your filet at Jiko looks divine and the dessert was looking like something I needed to try until you mentioned sugar-free.....if I'm going to bother with dessert I'm NOT going sugar-free lol. We still have a few signatures we haven't tried and Jiko is one of them, definitely looks more appetizing than FF!

Yeah I am fairly certain this did NOT say sugar free on the menu or I would have shied away as well. Jiko is so worth traveling to AKL for - the ambiance and service is amazing and I don't think you need to hear any more gushing about the tasty food...

Thanks! Now I'm even more excited about our brunch at Cali Grill! Everything looks delicious. Good tip on being able to order prosecco instead of mimosas. I love a good mimosa but the sugar gets to me after a few.

I hope you have a wonderful time! It's one of the things I am most looking forward to on my next trip too.

That steak looked amazing! It's odd to see a charcruterie (sp) without cheese. Maybe I just haven't paid enough attention to what's on them tho lol

Yeah there's usually at least one piece of cheese - I'm spoiled by Disney kind of doing a cheese/meat combo charcuterie, but we didn't miss the cheese. It was a lovely app!

I'm really late joining, and don't post a lot, but I'm at ATL girl too, and I LOVE this report! Thanks for sharing!

So glad you found it! It is so fun to relive the vacation by sharing our experiences. And I feel the need to "pay it forward" since others' trip reports and dining reviews have really helped me plan, and keep me in the magic between visits!

 

[pepperandchips]

MATH POST

Warning: skip this post if exorbitant vacation expenses scare you! haha

The promised "MATH POST"

As this trip draws to a close, I wanted to reflect for a moment on my last couple of reviews as I think a couple of them have a bit of a "negative" vibe, and while I don't really feel the need to explain myself, I do want to offer a bit of a retrospective on the "dud" meals of the trip. This was a really really expensive trip - one that I scrimped and saved for, knowing it would be an all out hedonistic dining extravaganza, and based on what I paid for the plan, the dining credits were really expensive! I will post a true math breakdown here as well, but each of our meal credits was probably worth about $86.70 as the other components of the package were just gravy - we never would have taken all of the tours, eaten the number of included snacks, or gotten refillable mugs without the dining plan, and we certainly would not have paid rack rate to stay in the Wilderness Lodge at $570+ per night.

That said, I expect a lot from a meal that costs me $86.70 per person before gratuity - we definitely had meals at Walt Disney World on this trip that exceeded those expectations, but from an objective perspective, I just don't think that what we had at Flying Fish or Narcoossee's was worth the $165.07 or $146.97 covered by our plan, let alone the $86.70 per person "value" of the credits we used on those meals. I have high expectations for signature dining experiences and Disney is very capable of delivering quality meals that exceed my high expectations - so that's why it's such a bummer when a signature meal bombs. Even worse for me is when the meal bombs because of service - that's a training issue and a quick fix.

Anyway, the math, as promised. Some of these numbers are fuzzy with tax, but it gets you in the general vicinity:

Our 3 night package Wilderness Lodge stay with platinum plan: $3,890.66
Portion of the stay that was simply the cost of the platinum plan ($260.10 per person per night): $1,560.60
Value of 3 day base tickets included in the package price: $617.70
Value of room ($3,890.66 less $1560.60 less $617.70): $1,712.36, which is a whopping $570.78 per night

Total value tours/Cirque/massages: $1,075.15
Total value dining (TS) credits: $1,600.34 ($88.90 average value)
Total value snack credits: $54.81 ($4.56 average value)
Mugs: $35.98
Total value platinum inclusions: $2,766.28

Overall we "beat" the plan by $1,205.68. Unfortunately this plan is no longer offered, so there's not a lot of useful information to glean here. Even were this still offered, I would probably never do this again. It was absolutely perfect to experiece this plan over New Year's Eve, when the parks are crazy crowded - the tours were the perfect tool to keep us out of the parks. Likewise, Tables in Wonderland was blacked out for 2/3 of the package length, so we would not have been able to use it to receive discounts on our dining.

If I ever do the dining plan again, I will do as many others here on the board have done in the past - use one credit between two people or two credits between three people, etc. and use the "saved" meals to continue to eat at signature restaurants. We had an added benefit on the platinum plan in that each restaurant only took one credit, regardless of whether it was signature and requires two credits from other Disney dining plans, and the signature restaurants tend to be some of our favorites.

But my ultimate takeaway was that the dining plan simply isn't for us. Most meals were a mixed bag - either the appetizers were amazing or the entrees were amazing but not both and rarely do we ever feel the need to order one of each course for every person in our party. We also strongly benefitted from having pre and post-package stays on either end of the visit. It helped us stretch those 3 nights of credits out over 4 full days, and we did bring home some snacks (the krispie treats from the Yuletide Fantasy tour, some of the spiced almonds from the WL, our chocolate pudding cake from California Grill) and we ate the other leftovers and one cupcake on our departure day.

I am also ashamed to admit that our additional out of pocket (and this doesn't even include all the meals we had at Universal that R picked up and I don't have receipts for) was $1,147.16. (three of those guys since there's no "dead" emoji) Now mind you, that included pool drinks and lunch, a very nice meal at the Territory Lounge, our lunch at Sanaa, and all the tips and alcoholic drinks we had over the course of our stay. We do enjoy drinking on vacation so that was a significant contributing factor, but so were the tips on all those crazy expensive meals!

Let me know if you have any questions, I am happy to answer any! I hope this helps someone plan.

 

[pepperandchips]

The Last Day - 1/2/17

We slept in on the morning of January 2nd and grudgingly packed our suitcases for the last time of the trip. We made a bag with toiletries and a change of clothes for after the pool and put the rest of our things in the car. Man does that car feel weird when it represents an omen of the real world to come!

It was a lovely day out and we absolutely love the Uzima Springs pool at Jambo House, so we made it down to the pool around 11:00 and found chairs fairly easily. We made sure to get as far away from the activity loud speaker as possible!

I had to grab a photo with my magic band too...

These were the last of the Magic Band 1.0 we will get since we ordered our AP magic bands while we were on this trip and we got the 2.0 version. I liked this tribal vinyl design since it works for AKL, WL, and will work for my upcoming Poly stay!

We had saved our Zebra Cupcake from the Mara and enjoyed that by the pool - it was good but nothing I would go out of my way to find again. It had a chocolate mousse filling and was a standardish chocolate cupcake. (Hairy man legs not included with purchase)

We refilled our mugs one last time from the Mara and stayed at the pool, reading and lounging and relaxing until the children's pool party activities started. I am so glad they do these but I wish they would just turn the speaker down for the CM who facilitates the fun.

Normally we do a pool day mid-trip so this was our first occasion using the shower/changing facilities near the pool. Color me impressed! I could not believe how huge the bathrooms near the pool are. It was nearly vacant so I used one of the showers there to clean up before donning my travel attire.

We drove our car over to Kidani and parked in the garage near the lobby before we headed downstairs to the lowest level. I can't come here and not go out on the overlook so we spent some time watching the giraffes.

Something I learned on the backstage tales tour (after asking, they did not volunteer this): the wire pokey things you can see in the foreground of this photo are called "hot blossoms" and are electrified to encourage the animals to stay in their intended habitats... Anyway, moving back on topic. After we got our fill of the animal life, we went into Sanaa and sat ourselves at our "usual table" in the lounge.

I had the African Starr Mojito - Starr African Rum, Van der Hum Tangerine Liqueur from South Africa, fresh Mint, and Lime. This is one of my favorite cocktails and is very refreshing and light, and while it is sweet it's not overly so. It's really not that minty, if you aren't into that kind of thing you might still enjoy this. It was a great farewell drink!

R had the Kona Longboard Island Lager, which he usually gets at WDW restaurants if they have it on the menu. We are visiting Hawaii this summer and looking forward to visiting the Kona brewery there!

Of course, to eat we ordered two of our absolute favorite appetizers at all of Walt Disney World:

The salad sampler, which comes with three small portions of very tasty salads: Chickpeas with Cucumber and Tomato; Watermelon, Cucumber and Fennel; and Nigerian Root Vegetable and Citrus. ($8) Normally I am not a fan of beets but all three of these salads are really tasty and refreshing. We love to make the chickpea salad at home but we don't usually have every single spice listed in the recipe online so it's always good to have "the original" and we loved this like usual.

For some reason I took a photo of the bread service dips but not of the bread... d'oh! You can see our bread in the background of the photo of the salad and here is a nice one yoinked from the web

Thanks WDW Magic! Anyway, this was the Indian-style Bread Service with all five breads - Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kucha, and Paneer Paratha. We also ordered all of the dips - Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chuntey, Garlic Pickle, Red Chile Sambal, and Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle. In my opinion this is the best $14 you can spend at Disney World. So so good! Our presentation was a little different this time with the bamboo spoons. Maybe they were just busy that day and out of the normal serving stuff!

We are rarely at Sanaa for lunch, so I wanted to enjoy something I'd had before and only appears on the lunch menu:

Tandoori Chicken served Open-faced on Naan Bread with Minted Greens, Tomato, Onion, and Cucumber Riata ($17). I didn't love this as much as last time and this isn't my picture... ours seemed to be missing something but it was certainly still edible and tasty, but not the stuff my dreams had been made of before.

This was a fantastic meal and really inexpensive compared to the signature meals we'd feasted on the rest of the week! This meal was $60.89 including the tip and our TIW discount.

After we ate we did the saddest thing you do on a Walt Disney World vacation... say goodbye. But this time it was after a very satisfying trip and we knew we'd be back soon!

Up next... my final thoughts and SOME BONUS REVIEWS! Because yours truly's crazy behind could not stay away from WDW when there was a new festival afoot. And actually I already wrote the reviews of the Epcot International Festival of the Foods and Arts here: Melinda's Festival of the Arts Reviews

 

[ArielSRL]

Warning: skip this post if exorbitant vacation expenses scare you! haha

Actually it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be!

we certainly would not have paid rack rate to stay in the Wilderness Lodge at $570+ per night.

Oh yeh, that is hefty! Crazily enough, bc I'm renting points, we are staying for less than $200 a night.

That said, I expect a lot from a meal that costs me $86.70 per person before gratuity

Totally reasonable expectation.

Overall we "beat" the plan by $1,205.68.

It is always good to come out ahead and that is by quite a bit!

But my ultimate takeaway was that the dining plan simply isn't for us.

Yeh, not really for us either. I am a grazer so I don't like really big meals with lots of courses. I'm usually too full for dessert right after dinner but love something sweet a couple hours later. Appetizers can be my meal very often. My boys eat practically nothing. I like alcohol with my meals, and as snacks...lol. And you are right about the tips. All these DDP users try to get the most bang for their buck by ordering the really expensive items but then, guess what, you have a higher tip!

I am also ashamed to admit that our additional out of pocket (and this doesn't even include all the meals we had at Universal that R picked up and I don't have receipts for) was $1,147.16.

We do enjoy drinking on vacation so that was a significant contributing factor, but so were the tips on all those crazy expensive meals!

I'm a little worried about what my drink costs will be in June...lol.

 

[ArielSRL]

We made a bag with toiletries and a change of clothes for after the pool

Good idea!

It was a lovely day out and we absolutely love the Uzima Springs pool at Jambo House, so we made it down to the pool around 11:00 and found chairs fairly easily.

It looks very relaxing!

I liked this tribal vinyl design since it works for AKL, WL, and will work for my upcoming Poly stay!

Can I ask where you got it from? I am definitely going to decorate our bands for our trip.

We had saved our Zebra Cupcake from the Mara and enjoyed that by the pool - it was good but nothing I would go out of my way to find again. It had a chocolate mousse filling and was a standardish chocolate cupcake.

I am a sucker for a good looking cupcake and that looks good. Glad to know it isn't amazing and I won't be missing anything if I don't manage to get one.

this was our first occasion using the shower/changing facilities near the pool. Color me impressed!

Good to know!

I had the African Starr Mojito - Starr African Rum, Van der Hum Tangerine Liqueur from South Africa, fresh Mint, and Lime. This is one of my favorite cocktails and is very refreshing and light, and while it is sweet it's not overly so. It's really not that minty, if you aren't into that kind of thing you might still enjoy this. It was a great farewell drink!

Making a note now! We will, most likely, be eating at Sanaa in June. I was fairly certain until they released ROL packages and I booked Tusker House. I'm truly hoping for a FP so I can cancel TH and stick with Sanaa.

Anyway, this was the Indian-style Bread Service with all five breads - Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kucha, and Paneer Paratha. We also ordered all of the dips - Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chuntey, Garlic Pickle, Red Chile Sambal, and Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle. In my opinion this is the best $14 you can spend at Disney World.

This is what I plan to grab as my meal, along with a drink and a dessert!

This was a fantastic meal and really inexpensive compared to the signature meals we'd feasted on the rest of the week!

So glad to read this, though I don't think I have ever read a bad review of Sanaa.

After we ate we did the saddest thing you do on a Walt Disney World vacation... say goodbye.

Boo Hoo!

But this time it was after a very satisfying trip and we knew we'd be back soon!

Well, at least there is this!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Dang lady, you guys went big! But hey, that's what a bucket list/NYE trip is for, right? I know you had misses on a couple of meals but it really did look like an amazing time overall

I am secretly glad that you didn't absolutely love your lunch at Sanaa because I ended up switching our plans and we're now having dinner there instead of lunch, so I was bummed that I wasn't going to be able to have that tandoori chicken sandwich again. Hearing that it wasn't as incredible as you'd remembered makes me feel better, LOL. Still sounds like it was a great lunch and a nice way to end your trip!

 

[Raeven]

Yikes so expensive! (Especially for the meals you didn't really like). But sometimes it's nice to treat yourself every once in awhile and it sounds like it worked out well for NYE.

 

[pepperandchips]

@ArielSRL I can't get the quote function to work on my iPad but the vinyls for the magic band came from my fantasy bands. Erin the shop owner is amazing and I love everything I've ever gotten from her!

 

[nco91590]

I really loved your report! It was spendy, but I mean, you DID THE THING. Go big or go home is what I say

I came to a lot of the same conclusions you did at the end of our last trip. I think i expect more from Signatures (rightfully so) so I'm more likely to be disappointed. The last time I received a true elevated dining experience at WDW was in 2005 on our Honeymoon. We did the French restaurant upstairs and it was amazing. One waiter (not a million runners), amazing food, service, etc. I've been to nearly all the signatures since and whereas I've had good sometimes GREAT meals, I'm always a bit let down.
When I look back at my top 5 dining experiences in WDW, there's only one Signature that makes the list.

Next month we're going OOP and I'm really curious to know how we end up. DH and I have high drink bills too so I'm thinking if we just go to a restaurant and order the way we want to (couple apps, split an entree and dessert) I think we'll end up better off. I like the idea of eating at lounges too. I'm certain I could live off Crews Cup truffle fries. Maybe I'll do another dining report or something to see.

 

[ArielSRL]

@ArielSRL I can't get the quote function to work on my iPad but the vinyls for the magic band came from my fantasy bands. Erin the shop owner is amazing and I love everything I've ever gotten from her!

Thank you!!

 

[ariane37]

I got scared at the beginning of your math post, felt like I was back in high school and math was my worst subject But as @ArielSRL said it wasn't that bad!
I don't think you should apologize for coming off negatively in some of your reviews (which I don't think you did; you were being honest). First, nobody reads reviews to read lies lol. The majority if not all of us honestly want to know when we read these dining reports how people felt about where and what they ate, you know that! I also agree that more should be expected of signature meals, Disney or not. If something is a service issue it IS more annoying because that IS easily fixed and is just our bad luck to get that server I enjoyed this report as much as your past ones! But damn you guys spent a lot of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ this time

It was absolutely perfect to experiece this plan over New Year's Eve, when the parks are crazy crowded - the tours were the perfect tool to keep us out of the parks

Absolutely perfect is right! A great way to be there for NYE and not get pissed off dealing with the ridiculous crowds. In fact if I ever talk Steve into going down for New Year's, doing a few tours might be a good idea

I liked this tribal vinyl design since it works for AKL, WL, and will work for my upcoming Poly stay!

I love that!

Tandoori Chicken served Open-faced on Naan Bread with Minted Greens, Tomato, Onion, and Cucumber Riata ($17). I didn't love this as much as last time and this isn't my picture... ours seemed to be missing something but it was certainly still edible and tasty, but not the stuff my dreams had been made of before.

Mmmm, was going to say the picture makes it look delicious and then I read 1. it's not your picture and 2. wasn't as good this time around. We LOVE Sanaa but have done dinner more than lunch. I always get the butter chicken but figure at some point when we go I need to step out of my comfort zone and try something different!

 

[pepperandchips]

Bonus tracks: Disney Springs

So, as I mentioned, we took another long weekend trip almost back to back with the New Year's Eve trip we took - those annual passes tend to burn a hole in my pocket and how could I miss the Festival of the Arts in its inaugural year? Plus pretty much any time work gives me a holiday that I can turn into a long weekend, I'm going to Orlando. I convinced R to come with me over MLK weekend and we ended up staying offsite in a private home with a pool. We didn't end up really using the pool but we were able to bring our dog so that was the selling feature on the private home versus just an offsite hotel.

Anyway, one evening we decided that we were missing some of our new favorites and wanting to continue to explore, so dinner would be accomplished progressive style by drinking and dining around Disney Springs.

We started at Frontera Cocina - I knew they had a takeaway window and that you could get margaritas to go, so why not start there?

The ambiance of the Frontera Cocina takeaway area leaves a little to be desired. I sort of felt like we were hanging out by the back dumpster, waiting on a friend to sneak us out some tacos on his cigarette break. The bar was standalone and you could also order margaritas at the actual window, but for some reason (which wasn't well explained to me ), the person at the window convinced R that the margaritas would be better from the bar cart thingamabob.

R ordered us something to eat while I hit the bar line. (ha, there was no line)

The current menu does not coordinate with online menus, but I zoomed in on my photo to corroborate my story... we had the "Frontera Margarita - Casa Noble blanco tequila, Torres orange liqueur, fresh lime juice, agave nectar, salt rim" ($8.95). The margaritas were fresh out of the jug and weren't all that great to be honest. I hate when bars premix drinks and these were the quality you can expect from the finest plastic jugs in Walt Disney World. Fake tasting lime flavor from a margarita mix and too sweet. Yuck. Somewhere in the distance I can hear @Lisa F weeping. Two margaritas were $23.07 with tax and tip. I basically chugged mine to force myself to finish it, and some of R's ended up in the trash.

They did offer a salted rim.

We also went with the guacamole and chips. ($7.25) Sorry about the quality of the photo as far as the hidden well of guac goes. There's a fancy description online somewhere but not worth the hassle. It tasted like great delicious fresh guac with plenty of ripe avocado and a little onion and cilantro to really pack a flavor wallop. The chips were fresh, warm, and really thick and corn flavored. This was an awesome snack and I would recommend it (and have it again myself) but I would take it elsewhere for liquid refreshment...

Such as the Daily Poutine, where I picked up this darling of a beer. Unibroue Blanche de Chambly, $11.00 for a nice large beer. This is an easy drinking belgian white ale. Sometimes you just need a good wheat beer, knowhatimean? This hit the spot. R on the other hand wanted to try something equally carbalicious but a little more substantial.

Disney was genius in installing an "all poutine all the time" food kiosk. The fries are constantly frying up fresh and the cast members were busy worker bees assembling all this goodness. Speaking of which, we had the Classic Poutine - "French Fries, Beef Poutine Gravy and Cheddar Cheese Curds" ($8.49). This is a substantial snack! But really tasty. I have never had real Canadian poutine but this was a great guilty indulgence. How can you go wrong with salty gravy and rich cheese curds atop fresh cooked, crisp but fluffy steak fries?

Forgot to mention that we got the poutine as an additional snack when we were quoted a pretty lengthy wait at Homecoming. After the margarita (which apparently did have some alcohol in it despite being otherwise disappointing) and the beer I was feeling good. Which explains the overordering I'm about to recount from one of my favorite ever Disney restaurants....

We were seated at Homecoming out on the screen porch which was perfect. We had an adorable server (can't remember his name - Dustin? - see drinks above) who was there when we needed him and gone when we didn't.

We started with the Thigh High Chicken Biscuits - "Three biscuits topped with Chef Art's famous fried chicken thighs and bread and butter pickles. Drizzled with hot honey." ($13) I mean, how can you come to homecoming and not have fried chicken? Legitimate question. I, for one, can't. So despite having an entree on our mind to share, we had to get at least a little bit of the yummy fried chicken and these biscuits are a great way to enjoy just a few bites of heaven. The honey and the biscuits couple to make the succulent fried chicken even richer and more savory. Absolutely delicious.

The entree we had eyeballed to share was the much-lauded burger. "The Hamilton - Lunch counter-style with two burger patties on thick-sliced bread, topped with white cheddar, grilled onions, chow-chow relish, bread and butter pickles and tomato." ($17) This normally comes with homemade chips but I am in love with the Homecoming mashed potatoes (I know it is insulting to religion to call them this but they truly are a religious experience) so we subbed out one potato for another and of course asked for gravy on the mashed potatoes. The burger was definitely very good - is it my favorite on property? Probably not. The burger at Yak & Yeti is pretty incredible and the Brown Derby's wagyu burger is insanely tasty, and the Crew's Cup offers a really decent diner style burger. I am somewhat of a recovering burger addict, but this one was definitely a solid 8. I am looking forward to trying D-Luxe someday but for now this is my burger recommendation at Disney Springs. I loved the griddled bread and yummy grilled onions. Very tasty. And huge!

(The gravy is behind the 'taters in a ramekin, lest you worry about the veracity of this here dining report)

When everything is your favorite, how do you decide what to have? One of the standouts from our previous experience at Homecoming was another appetizer... The Bee Haven Bay Fried Green Tomatoes - "Shaved ham, remoulade sauce, and dressed local greens" ($13) These are so light and crunchy and tart and scrumptious. I really love fried green tomatoes and these are done very well with the delicious accompaniments that make them even more rich and tasty. Highly recommend!

Of course, we couldn't possibly come to Homecoming without R getting a dessert. The shine cake has proven itself the winner despite some tough competition. This moonshine laden masterpiece is $8 per (very large) slice and comes with ice cream - the cake is delicious when it soaks up the yummy vanilla ice cream so we just went ahead and let the ice cream melt in the box. It was again a perfect dessert, but we mainly enjoyed it on other days of our trip. We had a few other leftovers which were definitely demolished before we left Florida. But, this night, we had a smidgen of room in our tummies by saving things to take home, which was a good thing

BECAUSE

on the way out we passed Sprinkles. And many of you may be thinking "so what?" but those of you thinking that have clearly not read my ODE to the Sprinkles ice cream sandwich (see previous dining reviews... where have y'all been all my life anyway?). I couldn't just walk by and know my beloved was so close at hand...

I threw my cares to the wind (nevermind you that I was stuffed five minutes ago) and ordered one of my favorite ever desserts - the salted oatmeal cornflake ice cream sandwich with Captain Crunch ice cream. ($8.95) As usual, this was totally divine. I managed to actually save some of this for later and it was even better the next day with melted ice cream sunken into the oatmeal cookies. Oh my gosh I am so hungry now! I am a huge sucker for oatmeal cookies anyway and these are crunchy and yet still chewy and that saltiness just puts me over the edge. Now couple all of the cookie yumminess with rich, sinful, nostalgic, cereal flavored ice cream! The salt and the cream just marry so well.

Disney Springs is the new place for us to do drinking/snacking/enjoying entertainment around. I think it rivals the monorail loop for quality food choices and entertainment. We really enjoyed a few of the live musicians and our tasty evening. We'll definitely do this again!

 

[ariane37]

who was there when we needed him and gone when we didn't.

I love this quote, wish all servers were like this!

The Bee Haven Bay Fried Green Tomatoes - "Shaved ham, remoulade sauce, and dressed local greens" ($13) These are so light and crunchy and tart and scrumptious. I really love fried green tomatoes and these are done very well with the delicious accompaniments that make them even more rich and tasty. Highly recommend!

This is what I'm dying to get at Homecoming I was feeling ok with cancelling our lunch ADR there next month but now you made me sad. Have to seriously consider making one for our May trip........

 

[Raeven]

DLuxe Burger is so good you should definitely try it when you can!

Mhm I can't wait to go back to Homecoming

 

[KacieD]

Oh math! To be fair, I think that some folks forget how much you have to tip with all those TS meals! Sounds like an awesome splurge to be honest. I guess it evens out, since you "saved" a similar amount with the dining plan, right?! Disney Math!!!

Sanaa is my happy place. I went for lunch when I was down there for work two weeks ago, and it was just so wonderful. It never lets me down. The wine is always good and the food is just so good and such a value and I love the animals. Can you tell I like that place?!

Sorry your frontera margarita wasn't great! I had a delicious meal there in December, but I don't remember having a drink. I can't wait to try Homecoming!

I'm going to head over and read your Festival of the Arts! I tried a handful of places too!

6 days! I'm 8 days away from a Grand Floridian stay! I'll be the woman with identical twin blonde boys drinking champagne and eating lobster sliders by the pool (I might have been visualizing this moment--it better be awesome). We are trying the Narcoseees brunch, which you said wasn't great. I'm a little nervous, but I'm hoping that an opening time reservation and twin boys will encourage our waiters to be a little quicker, and I will be armed with lots of sticker books in case it's slow!

 

[KacieD]

Oh, and that ice cream sandwich is on my immediate must do list!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Thanks for the great reviews and breaking down the costs. A nice perspective on the ultimate dining plan Disney use to have. I so want to eat at Homecoming, I wish we were able to try it this past trip but we could not fit it in. It is on the must do list for next trip. I didn't even know Sprinkles served the ice cream sandwich, looks so delicious!

 

[kastoney]

Wow, that is a lot of math and some very high numbers but as you said it was a once in a lifetime experience and great you got to try it before it went away. Considering all you got to do and eat you most definitely came out ahead

Love the last lunch at Sanaa. Its always one of our favorites too. Though I've never tried the salads, will have to add that to the list.

Totally enamored with your progressive Disney Springs experience. We finally got to do something similar on our last trip and it didn't not disappoint. And like you Homecoming was the clear favorite

 

[pepperandchips]

More Bonus Reviews:

The next day we spent the morning in Animal Kingdom. Mid-morning snack hunger rolled in around 11:00 and we were near Discovery Island, so we stopped at Flame Tree to grab some of their delicious onion rings.

The cast member on the register we visited was training a new CM and noticed my annual pass in my lanyard and pointed it out to her, and gave us the AP discount, which was great since I wouldn't have remembered to ask for the discount. The normal price is $3.99 and we got 20% off so these were a fabulous snack and a huge portion for an amazing value even before the discount. We took the onion rings "on the road" with us toward Thirsty River bar for a beer and folks (even CMs!) kept stopping us to ask where the delicious onion rings had come from.

After we did a few more attractions, we decided to do lunch at the Nomad Lounge. We'd been to Tiffins obviously but we were looking forward to trying some of the small plates at Nomad Lounge and enjoying the nice weather on their great patio. We had an absolutely amazing server - Alexandra was so friendly and fun to talk to and we enjoyed having low crowds at Nomad so that we could enjoy her company. She helped us with recommendations and she made sure we had what we needed.

I started with the Lamu Libation - $10.75 - "Starr African Rum, Cruzan Banana Rum, Guava Purée, with Orange, Lime, and Pineapple Juices topped with Gosling's 151 Rum" this was delicious and a perfect fruity drink to enjoy on vacation. I would have loved to enjoy one of these by our pool on this trip! It reminds me in a great way of the delicious libations available at the Tambu Lounge at the Polynesian.

R had the Kungaloosh ale ($8.75), and if the photo looks familiar to you, it's because I lifted it for my report when I forgot to grab a picture at our Tiffins lunch. He obviously liked it since it was a repeat order!

Now onto the noshes...

These were the African-spiced Wagyu Beef Sliders with Vinegared Potatoes ($15). They were pretty good and I liked the potatoes but I don't think R did. I can't exactly remember because we had other food that was more of a home run.

A much better value at $9.00 was the Sustainable Fish Tacos with Charred Pineapple and Jalapeño - these were fresh and light. Perfect for a patio lunch! The fish was mild and everything on this plate was tasty.

And finally the piece de resistance:

I wish I had gotten a better photo of the clear winner... Honey-glazed, Coriander-spiced Pork Ribs. I had been eyeballing these anyway, but Alexandra recommended them and she was definitely not wrong! These were $10, incredibly delicious, and a decent portion size. One of our ribs was like a big end-rib twofer, so we had a lot of meat on these for the price. You can see the charred lime that comes served with these, and you squeeze the lime juice over the ribs which provides a nice acid and smoke flavor which complements the sweetness of the honey glaze. The flavor of the rub on these is absolutely delicious and complex and the ribs themselves are perfectly cooked and tender. I will definitely return to have these again!

R had another Kungaloosh and I had:

The world-famous (okay, @kastoney famous) $8.50 Annapurna Zing - "Bombay Sapphire East Gin, Passion Fruit Purée, Mint, Simple Syrup, and Lime Juice topped with Ginger Beer" and as Kari promised, this was SO tasty - light and refreshing. I love gin drinks in warm weather and this one was right up my alley - I love the ginger flavor coupled with citrus and the light sweetness. Easy drinking and a great price!

We love the atmosphere at Animal Kingdom and Nomad Lounge is another great imagineering feat - the comfy furniture out on the patio is inviting and proves a great relaxing place to take a little break.

With our TIW discount (with tax, no gratuity) this meal was $60.28, a great theme park value in my book! Two thumbs up for Nomad Lounge.

Later that night we were back at Epcot snacking around the Festival of the Arts but my patience ran out before my tummy got full and I found myself still wishing for Mexican food after a mixed experience at the Frontera quick serve window, so we ended up at La Cantina de San Angel.

We had the Empanadas con Queso - "Fried Flour Tortillas filled with Cheese and served with Mexican Slaw" ($10.95) and the Nachos - "Tortilla Chips topped with Ground Beef, Nacho Cheese, Tomatoes, Jalapeños, Beans, and Sour Cream" (Also $10.95) and a side of guacamole ($3.50). This was the perfect theme park nachos with plastic-type cheese and tangy pickled jalapenos topping a mound of ground beef on crispy chips. In a similar manner, the empanadas were likewise basic but good - how can you really go wrong with fried comfort food - and filling. The guacamole was a condiment for our two main dishes and I don't really remember anything special about it. We kept our table for Illuminations but left before the end to beat the crowd simply due to sheer exhaustion.

 

[Raeven]

Those sliders and empanadas look so good! I think I had similar empanadas at CSR and I liked them a lot. I loved the nachos at La Catina when I had them too.