Coming to you live July 2016 - 5 days of food, drinks, fun and sun! Updated - Via Napoli

[basketlacey]

Hi everyone! I thought I'd try something new this trip and post my review live instead of waiting until I'm home (because let's face it, it never happens!). We'll see if I can keep it up. I love reading reviews and seeing pics so I want to share with others!

Let me start by telling you just a bit about us and our trip. We are a family of 5 (me, dh, dd17, ds14, dd11) and we are Disney veterans! We are actually at the tail end of our second time having APs even though we live 12+ hours from here. This is our 4th trip with these APs so I'd say we got our money out of them!

On this trip, there will only be four of us :-( My oldest dd is at a summer program and while we tried to get in a trip before she left, she opted out as she had a lot to do in her short time at home. She made me promise I'd take her back during fall break though (oh the sacrafice!!!)

So the 4 of us are here. We had FP+ for AK tonight to do Everest and the Safari in the dark for the first time and to see Jungle book. Alas, our flight was just late enough to throw a monkey wrench in all of those plans (I knew I was chancing it when I made them) so we're hanging out at the Resort.


We're staying at the Poly in a studio Villa. We had our first stay here for one night in April prior to a Spring Break cruise and fell in love. So, we're back and ready for 5 days and nights of Disney Magic, hot Florida sun, and lots of great food and drinks!

Up next - my first review - Captain Cooks!

 

[basketlacey]

Once our plane landed, I knew our plans were going to have to change for the night. While on the Magical Express, I did a quick scan to see what restaurants were available. There were several good choices and we were starving!

Then we realized by the time we got checked in and settled it would be almost time for Wishes! We decided Captain Cooks by the pool and watching the fireworks would be perfect!

We've been to Captain Cooks several times. In fact we've traveled here from other resorts just to grab a bite there. We think it's one of the better QS on property. There are some changes from our last trip. The "checkout" is now off to the side instead of in the middle and the menu has changed some. Here are pics of the menu:

Dh chose the Grilled Chicken Sandwich with cheddar, bacon, teriyaki sauce and pineapple salsa. This was the star of the meal - juicy and flavorful and dripping with sauce -really good

 

[basketlacey]

View attachment 181842 Once our plane landed, I knew our plans were going to have to change for the night. While on the Magical Express, I did a quick scan to see what restaurants were available. There were several good choices and we were starving!

Then we realized by the time we got checked in and settled it would be almost time for Wishes! We decided Captain Cooks by the pool and watching the fireworks would be perfect!

We've been to Captain Cooks several times. In fact we've traveled here from other resorts just to grab a bite there. We think it's one of the better QS on property. There are some changes from our last trip. The "checkout" is now off to the side instead of in the middle and the menu has changed some. Here are pics of the menu:

View attachment 181840 View attachment 181841 Dh chose the Grilled Chicken Sandwich with cheddar, bacon, teriyaki sauce and pineapple salsa. This was the star of the meal - juicy and flavorful and dripping with sauce -really good

View attachment 181842

I'd. Even wanting a burger for a few days now so I went with the 1/3 lb Angus Bacon Cheeseburger. This was good. It's the standard Disney QS burger and not anything special but it's what I wanted and it hit the spot! The bun was toastednicely and the bacon was good and not underdone. The fries were great - hot and crispy!


DS ordered the Pork Fried Rice. I think this is a new item. I don't remember seeing it before.

It was really good. The fried rice was loaded with egg and veggies and it had shredded pork on top. It needed a bit of soy sauce but this was a nice surprise. The serving was substantial and both have and I had several bites.


Dd ordered the Caesar salad with chicken. This dish got fourth place for the night and I think half of it went in the trash. Dd ate part of my burger and fries. I think this just wasn't what she really wanted. She loves Caesar salad but I think she had food envy with the other dishes around the table. We had plenty of food, so it wasn't a big deal to share.



We also purchased two refillable mugs and dh got a beer from the pool bar. We have a garden grocer order in our room with lots of drinks but they aren't quite cold yet.




We were too full for dessert. I can't believe I was so close to a Dole Whip and didn't have one!!! Maybe tomorrow!

Speaking of tomorrow - we have ADRs at Trails End and Via Napoli - two of our favorites! To be continued.....

 

[phabric]

Enjoyed your review and will be looking for more.

I will be at Disney August 1.

 

[Nohal]

I'm in looking forward to the rest of your review

 

[KnK]

What fun....thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the coming days.

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

Enjoying your reviews. We are going to Trails End for the first time next month, so can't wait to hear all about it. Thanks for sharing

 

[SmallWorld71]

Joining in.

 

[Klinger13]

We have our first Poly stay coming at the end of August & the Capt Cooks offerings look good. Looking forward to more of your reviews!

 

[mercydisney]

Thank You so much for your review and pictures of Captain Cooks. Can not wait to read more.
Hope you are enjoying your trip.

 

[basketlacey]

Day 2!

Today we had an 8:30 ADR at Trails End. We checked in at 9:30

We stayed up too late last night and we it also took us much longer than I thought to get there. I had remembered that we could take a boat over to FW from the Poly (No you can't ). Oops! So we boated to MK and then to FW. Thankfully Trails End is easy o get an ADR and it was no problem that we were late.

I mentioned yesterday that this is one of our favorites. It is a really good breakfast buffet and one of the best TS breakfast values on property. Here are some buffet pics (these aren't the best because the buffet was crowded and I was trying to stay out of everyone's way).
Continued in next post...

 

[basketlacey]

Here are our plates and some comments on individual dishes.

My first plate

Mickey waffle with bourbon pecan praline sauce (omg - yes it was as good as it sounds!). The sauce is actually meant for the bread pudding but I love it on the Mickey waffles. Speaking of the waffles, they were cooked perfectly today - crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside! Moving clockwise is breakfast pizza - eggs, peppers, onions, cheese on a pizza crust it was delicious. The veggies were perfect with the eggs and cheese and the crust is good for what I am sure is a pre add crust. Biscuits and gravy - the gravy here is good, nicely seasoned with lots of flavor on a perfectly cooked biscuit. Strawberries - ripe but tasted like they had preservative on them. Cheddar cheese and salami - not fancy but a nice change from the carbs - lol!



Dd's plate:
Salami and cheese, chocolate chip Mickey waffle, donut holes, bacon. She went back for syrup and ate every bite.



DS's plate:

Scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, sausage links, bread pudding (mostly eaten, sorry!), biscuit and scrambled eggs with ham and cheese. Oh, and a cinnamon roll which he said tasted like sawdust! The rest he cleared!


Dh' plate:

Bacon, country eggs Benedict - my dh's favorite dish here - poached eggs topped with bbq pork (it's not pretty but he loves it!). I don't like poached eggs so I can't comment. Cantaloupe and strawberries, French toast bread pudding with bourbon pecan praline sauce - this is delicious, soft and warm and full of cinnamon and nutmeg flavor. On the side is a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar. The only thing left on this plate was strawberry stems!



We went back for just a few more things
That juice above is called moonshine. I don't remember it from before. It tasted like watered down tang! Not so good! Thankfully I had coffee which was perfectly acceptable!

All in all, this was a great meal as always. We rolled ourselves out and headed to EPCOT for our Soarin FP+ (it's phenomenal if you haven't seen it yet!)

I'll add more tomorrow - next up Via Napoli!

 

[basketlacey]

Enjoyed your review and will be looking for more.

I will be at Disney August 1.

Thank you for reading! I'll have more tomorrow!

I'm in looking forward to the rest of your review

Thank you!

What fun....thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the coming days.

I'm looking forward to the coming days too

Enjoying your reviews. We are going to Trails End for the first time next month, so can't wait to hear all about it. Thanks for sharing

Don't miss it - it's great!

Joining in.

Thank you!

We have our first Poly stay coming at the end of August & the Capt Cooks offerings look good. Looking forward to more of your reviews!

Poly is awesome! You'll like Captain Cooks!

Thank You so much for your review and pictures of Captain Cooks. Can not wait to read more.
Hope you are enjoying your trip.

We're having a blast - thank you!

 

[KnK]

My favorite breakfast. Trails End is such a great deal and the mornings a wonderful time to wonder about Fort Wilderness.

 

[ChrissyBeth29]

Great reviews! We were just at the Poly Villas last month! I am in and can't wait to see what other culinary adventures you go on!

 

[DisneyJo]

Sounds like you've had a great start to your trip

 

[basketlacey]

Sounds like you've had a great start to your trip

Thank you! We're having a blast!

 

[basketlacey]

When we left Trails End, I wasn't sure I ever wanted to eat again, much less for a late lunch at EPCOT. Oops - perhaps one Mickey waffle was enough!

We headed to EPCOT (via bus from FW) and hit up Soarin followed by some character meet and greets and a single rider ride on Test Track for the boys, Spaceship Earth for all of us. It was time to eat again so we made our way into the World Showcase to head around to Italy. Once we arrived, I knew I could eat. Dh and I had stopped on the way to get beers in Germany - they have Schoferhoffer (I'm sure this is spelled wrong) on tap now!!! Yum! Anyway, we brought our beers with us. I'm not sure if we were supposed to but no one said anything.

Once seated, they gave us menus but we didn't need them. The only choice we needed to make was what size to get. Introducing the most perfect pizza ever - the mezzo metro pepperoni



Oh just look at that thing of beauty. The crust is perfectly charred, the mozzarella is fresh, melted and chewy, the sauce is tomatoey and bright and the pepperoni so are theses little round discs of deliciousness (seriously, how is the pepperoni so much better here?). I'm telling you, as much as I love a nice fancy dinner; this meal right here would be my last if I was choosing it. So so good.

Do you think we liked it?


We also love dessert here so when asked, we said sure! We did decide to share two:

Coppa Brutti Ma Buoni - "Ugly but good" sundae. I love this - bing cherries with vanilla gelato and crispy almond cookies topped with chocolate shavings.



The kids wanted Zeppole di Caterina - which are like little Italian doughnuts served with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. These are also great.



We left pleasantly full and actually decided to come on "home" to the Poly. What was supposed to be a trip to the pool turned in to a much too long but much needed nap. Actually, it was splendid!

We headed out to AK about 8 to see the safari at night, grab a bite, and watch the jungle book. One of these three things was fantastic - which one do you think?

 

[basketlacey]

My favorite breakfast. Trails End is such a great deal and the mornings a wonderful time to wonder about Fort Wilderness.

It is the best deal - and consistently good!

Great reviews! We were just at the Poly Villas last month! I am in and can't wait to see what other culinary adventures you go on!

Thank you - we're loving the villas here! Do you think they would just let me stay?? Lol

 

[dixonsontour]

Great start