Mollydolly334
Honorary Floridian
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2015
- Messages
- 836
Day 4: Part 4- “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It!”
Hola amigos! Where I last left off, the family was just finishing up our pre-dinner drinks at the Rainforest Cafe in Disney Springs. We had an ADR for Homecoming at 7:30, but we figured that we’d use our extra 30 minutes to stock up on Irma provisions
We had been hearing lots of “be safe” warnings from CMs, and it was finally starting to feel real that we’d be riding out a hurricane in the next few days!!
We hopped over to Goofy’s Candy Company to pick up some snacks and drinks. We bought a few bottles of water and some snacks like trail mix, chips, pretzels, candy, etc. I also bought a chocolate-covered Mickey rice krispie treat with M&Ms, because I have no self control
As we were checking out, my mom gets a phone call from a random number in Orlando, Florida. Assuming its from Disney, she answers it. Turns out, it’s the manager at Homecoming asking where we were...
It was only about 7:05 at this point, and she told them that our reservation was for 7:30 (it had originally been 9:00, but had been pushed back because of Irma’s arrival). The manager said, “Well, we need you here by 7:15, or else your reservation will be cancelled.”
WHHHAAT?? Insert: Freakout Mode!! Mom basically shouted this information to my family, and we all started SPRINTING towards Homecoming!
Then, as we arrived, panting like crazy, the hostess made it a point to comment that “You guys were late and you’re lucky we’re still going to seat you.”
Honestly, it left a really bad taste in all of our mouths. We understood that people were freaking out because of the storm, but our ADR wasn’t until 7:30 (they even changed it in MDE)! It was just very confusing and, well, kind of rude
Trying not to let this ruin our time, we took our seats and took a big breath. We had a big round table towards the back of the restaurant, and it was really cute in there!
We had an adorable waitress who was very friendly! She took our drink orders right away. I ordered an Apple Pie A La Mode- Ole Smokey Apple Pie Moonshine, vanilla vodka, apple juice, cinnamon, homemade simple syrup, and a dash of lemon
This was so delicious! Although the mention of moonshine scared me, it was not strong tasting at all and tasted exactly like apple pie!!
We were all starving at this point, so we ordered the Jasper Board as an appetizer.
This was yummy and really hit the spot! It was basically a plate of cold cuts, cheese, spreads, and bread/crackers. The best part of this was the Pimento Cheese- it’s a staple in South Carolina and I always eat way too much of it when we’re in HHI
When our waitress came with the appetizer, we ordered our main dishes! And… this is where the TR title comes in!!
We had all ordered our food, and Tom was the last one. He wanted a steak, and Homecoming’s signature steak is called the “Hanger Steak.” But, Tom totally read it wrong, and when it was his turn to order, he said, “Ummm, can I get a Hangover Steak please?”
Our waitress let out a giggle and said sassily, “Um, I don’t know if I can get you that kind of steak here, but I can get you a Hanger Steak!” We were all laughing soooo hard, Tom felt so silly! A Freudian slip after our afternoon of margaritas, perhaps?
Needless to say, it was the joke of the night!
After we ordered our main dishes, we sort of came up with a game plan of what to do while at the hotel for two days. Boy- we were never so grateful for choosing a Deluxe resort and one with everything located in one building There was a Green Bay Packers game the next day, so we decided to get together and have a Packer party in my parent’s room 
We also planned on doing some walking around the resort, participating in AKL’s activities, and eating at Boma at least once!
Our food arrived relatively quickly, which was good because the restaurant was starting to clear out! I ordered the Chopped Pork Barbecue Plate- BBQ pork dressed with HFK sweet and spicy barbeque sauce served with Momma’s mac and cheese and a cheddar drop biscuit.
Meat, cheese, and carbs- what more could a girl ask for?
This was delicious and just what I was craving for. Honestly, this is pretty much all of my favorite foods in one dish, so they really couldn’t go wrong! Tom liked his Hangover Steak ok ( ) but was disappointed because his dish came with greens instead of asparagus 
We tried to eat somewhat quickly, because we were basically the only people left in the restaurant at this point! The CMs were eating delivered pizza and starting to clean up and put chairs away. But, our server did not make us feel rushed and her bubbly personality really made it fun
For dessert (it was included in the DDP), half of us ordered a bottle of Coca-Cola to go and the other half ordered slices of Hummingbird Cake- yummmmm. These were boxed up of course, we were so stuffed from our rich Southern meals!
So overall, our opinion about Homecoming was mostly good! I would definitely return- the food was great and the atmosphere was really quaint. But, the snafu about “being late” kind of put a damper on the beginning of the meal
Plus, Tom is still sad about his asparagus That being said, I consider it my favorite Disney Springs restaurant that I have visited so far! I’m a Wisconsin girl through and through, but perhaps in another life I was a Southern Belle 
We left the restaurant at about 8:40 PM and headed straight for the buses. Believe it or not, I was exhausted from the last few commando touring days and was actually looking forward to having 2 days of forced relaxation!
Disney Springs is so pretty all lit up at night
Mom, Dad, and I outside of Planet Hollywood at (then) Downtown Disney in 2002!
Surprisingly, everyone at Disney Springs and in line seemed very mellow. You’d think it would be a little chaotic with everyone rushing to get food and prepare for Irma, but everyone was so relaxed and chill! A bus came in no time and were were back at AKL at 9:00.
Now, I’m not sure what we were expecting when we got back to the resort, but we arrived to blaring music and games galore!!
They had all sorts of games like bags, Connect 4, giant Jenga, and ladder ball! They also had stations with coloring pages, dancing, and face painting. It was so cool and made us feel very reassured that we were going to be well taken care of in the next couple days
Since we were fairly confident that the pool was going to be closed the next few days, Mom, Haley and I decided to head down and take a swim! My dad chose to lay low and watch TV while Tom and Ryan called their families back in the room.
As we got down there, the pool was just starting to close for the night
Boo, I wanted to try the slide at least once! But, the hot tub was open so we joined a few families in there. There was one family from New York and one from England, as well as a lady traveling solo! The family from England was celebrating their daughter’s 16th birthday- they had just spent 14 nights at OKW and moved over to AKL for 3 nights for her birthday surprise THEN, before they came to WDW, they spent a week over at Clearwater Beach!!
Mom, Haley and I got to chatting with the solo traveler and asked where she was from- turns out she is from Evansville, Indiana (Ryan’s hometown)! Then, I complimented her on her ears and asked if she was a DISer (I could just sense it
) and turns out she was! (but hasn’t been on here in awhile). However, of course, we didn’t get her name So, hi DISer at the AKL hot tub from Evansville with the cute Mickey ears!
We spent about 45 minutes just chilling in the hot tub until we decided to head back to the room. But, we had to get a girl’s pic!
As we were taking this picture, another AKL guest walked by and said “Wow, I can’t tell you guys are related at all!”
We stopped at the Mara first to get some snacks- Haley got apples and caramel dip while mom and I both got hot chocolates. We got back up to the room and turned on the TV to see this:
Booooo and yikes!!!
We enjoyed our snacks while watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie! It was super cool- because of Irma, they added a channel to the resort TVs that played all Disney movies 24/7! It was so fun at first, but it became a curse later in the trip… you’ll see why
With visions of Captain Jack Sparrow dancing in our heads, we bid goodnight at about 11:45!
Coming Soon- Day 5: Part 1- “Sunday Morning, Rain Is Falling!”
Hola amigos! Where I last left off, the family was just finishing up our pre-dinner drinks at the Rainforest Cafe in Disney Springs. We had an ADR for Homecoming at 7:30, but we figured that we’d use our extra 30 minutes to stock up on Irma provisions
We had been hearing lots of “be safe” warnings from CMs, and it was finally starting to feel real that we’d be riding out a hurricane in the next few days!!We hopped over to Goofy’s Candy Company to pick up some snacks and drinks. We bought a few bottles of water and some snacks like trail mix, chips, pretzels, candy, etc. I also bought a chocolate-covered Mickey rice krispie treat with M&Ms, because I have no self control
As we were checking out, my mom gets a phone call from a random number in Orlando, Florida. Assuming its from Disney, she answers it. Turns out, it’s the manager at Homecoming asking where we were...
It was only about 7:05 at this point, and she told them that our reservation was for 7:30 (it had originally been 9:00, but had been pushed back because of Irma’s arrival). The manager said, “Well, we need you here by 7:15, or else your reservation will be cancelled.”
WHHHAAT?? Insert: Freakout Mode!! Mom basically shouted this information to my family, and we all started SPRINTING towards Homecoming!
Then, as we arrived, panting like crazy, the hostess made it a point to comment that “You guys were late and you’re lucky we’re still going to seat you.”
Honestly, it left a really bad taste in all of our mouths. We understood that people were freaking out because of the storm, but our ADR wasn’t until 7:30 (they even changed it in MDE)! It was just very confusing and, well, kind of rude
Trying not to let this ruin our time, we took our seats and took a big breath. We had a big round table towards the back of the restaurant, and it was really cute in there!
We had an adorable waitress who was very friendly! She took our drink orders right away. I ordered an Apple Pie A La Mode- Ole Smokey Apple Pie Moonshine, vanilla vodka, apple juice, cinnamon, homemade simple syrup, and a dash of lemon
This was so delicious! Although the mention of moonshine scared me, it was not strong tasting at all and tasted exactly like apple pie!!We were all starving at this point, so we ordered the Jasper Board as an appetizer.
This was yummy and really hit the spot! It was basically a plate of cold cuts, cheese, spreads, and bread/crackers. The best part of this was the Pimento Cheese- it’s a staple in South Carolina and I always eat way too much of it when we’re in HHI
When our waitress came with the appetizer, we ordered our main dishes! And… this is where the TR title comes in!!
We had all ordered our food, and Tom was the last one. He wanted a steak, and Homecoming’s signature steak is called the “Hanger Steak.” But, Tom totally read it wrong, and when it was his turn to order, he said, “Ummm, can I get a Hangover Steak please?”
Our waitress let out a giggle and said sassily, “Um, I don’t know if I can get you that kind of steak here, but I can get you a Hanger Steak!” We were all laughing soooo hard, Tom felt so silly! A Freudian slip after our afternoon of margaritas, perhaps?
Needless to say, it was the joke of the night!After we ordered our main dishes, we sort of came up with a game plan of what to do while at the hotel for two days. Boy- we were never so grateful for choosing a Deluxe resort and one with everything located in one building
There was a Green Bay Packers game the next day, so we decided to get together and have a Packer party in my parent’s room We also planned on doing some walking around the resort, participating in AKL’s activities, and eating at Boma at least once!Our food arrived relatively quickly, which was good because the restaurant was starting to clear out! I ordered the Chopped Pork Barbecue Plate- BBQ pork dressed with HFK sweet and spicy barbeque sauce served with Momma’s mac and cheese and a cheddar drop biscuit.
Meat, cheese, and carbs- what more could a girl ask for?
This was delicious and just what I was craving for. Honestly, this is pretty much all of my favorite foods in one dish, so they really couldn’t go wrong! Tom liked his Hangover Steak ok (
) but was disappointed because his dish came with greens instead of asparagus We tried to eat somewhat quickly, because we were basically the only people left in the restaurant at this point! The CMs were eating delivered pizza and starting to clean up and put chairs away. But, our server did not make us feel rushed and her bubbly personality really made it fun
For dessert (it was included in the DDP), half of us ordered a bottle of Coca-Cola to go and the other half ordered slices of Hummingbird Cake- yummmmm. These were boxed up of course, we were so stuffed from our rich Southern meals!So overall, our opinion about Homecoming was mostly good! I would definitely return- the food was great and the atmosphere was really quaint. But, the snafu about “being late” kind of put a damper on the beginning of the meal
Plus, Tom is still sad about his asparagus That being said, I consider it my favorite Disney Springs restaurant that I have visited so far! I’m a Wisconsin girl through and through, but perhaps in another life I was a Southern Belle We left the restaurant at about 8:40 PM and headed straight for the buses. Believe it or not, I was exhausted from the last few commando touring days and was actually looking forward to having 2 days of forced relaxation!
Disney Springs is so pretty all lit up at night
Mom, Dad, and I outside of Planet Hollywood at (then) Downtown Disney in 2002!
Surprisingly, everyone at Disney Springs and in line seemed very mellow. You’d think it would be a little chaotic with everyone rushing to get food and prepare for Irma, but everyone was so relaxed and chill! A bus came in no time and were were back at AKL at 9:00.
Now, I’m not sure what we were expecting when we got back to the resort, but we arrived to blaring music and games galore!!
They had all sorts of games like bags, Connect 4, giant Jenga, and ladder ball! They also had stations with coloring pages, dancing, and face painting. It was so cool and made us feel very reassured that we were going to be well taken care of in the next couple days
Since we were fairly confident that the pool was going to be closed the next few days, Mom, Haley and I decided to head down and take a swim! My dad chose to lay low and watch TV while Tom and Ryan called their families back in the room.
As we got down there, the pool was just starting to close for the night
Boo, I wanted to try the slide at least once! But, the hot tub was open so we joined a few families in there. There was one family from New York and one from England, as well as a lady traveling solo! The family from England was celebrating their daughter’s 16th birthday- they had just spent 14 nights at OKW and moved over to AKL for 3 nights for her birthday surprise THEN, before they came to WDW, they spent a week over at Clearwater Beach!! Mom, Haley and I got to chatting with the solo traveler and asked where she was from- turns out she is from Evansville, Indiana (Ryan’s hometown)! Then, I complimented her on her ears and asked if she was a DISer (I could just sense it
) and turns out she was! (but hasn’t been on here in awhile). However, of course, we didn’t get her name So, hi DISer at the AKL hot tub from Evansville with the cute Mickey ears! We spent about 45 minutes just chilling in the hot tub until we decided to head back to the room. But, we had to get a girl’s pic!
As we were taking this picture, another AKL guest walked by and said “Wow, I can’t tell you guys are related at all!”
We stopped at the Mara first to get some snacks- Haley got apples and caramel dip while mom and I both got hot chocolates. We got back up to the room and turned on the TV to see this:
Booooo and yikes!!!We enjoyed our snacks while watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie! It was super cool- because of Irma, they added a channel to the resort TVs that played all Disney movies 24/7! It was so fun at first, but it became a curse later in the trip… you’ll see why
With visions of Captain Jack Sparrow dancing in our heads, we bid goodnight at about 11:45!
Coming Soon- Day 5: Part 1- “Sunday Morning, Rain Is Falling!”
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wondering if your going to finish this TR anxious to hear how it ends. 
