COMPLETED - WDW's 50th, my 50th, and our 20th! October 2021 - Pictures & Dining Reviews - A Pre- and Post-Genie+ Trip Report

[gregf71]

Day 1 – San Diego to the Polynesian Village Resort and a Special Dinner

First, allow me to introduce our travel party in this adventure: me (now 50; more on that later), my wife Lisa (46), and our daughter Hailey (15). SoCal natives with many, many visits to Disneyland, a handful of Disney Cruise Line cruises, and no strangers to Disney World over the years. Ok, that all set…let’s go!

Our flight out of San Diego was on a Monday morning, scheduled for a 10:30am departure. We arrived at the airport early enough, checked our bags and paid the associated luggage fees curbside. Through security fairly quickly, we had enough time to grab a little food and drink before it was time to board our flight. For this trip, we booked Alaska Airlines and had chosen to upgrade to their Premium Class seats with 4 inches of more legroom than standard Main Cabin seats, early-ish boarding, and free beer, wine, and cocktails apparently (I say “apparently” because we were leaving in the late morning and during the two drink services during the flight, they never made a big deal about all that was offered with our seats). The other dandy thing about our Premium seats was the power outlets built into the seats in front of us (though they could have been positioned better methinks). Not listed as a perk for these seats on their website that I recall, so maybe all of the seats had them on this flight; I don’t know. Still, nice to be able to keep my phone fully charged for our direct flight to Orlando!

The Gods of Air Travel must have been with us because the flight was very smooth the entire way and we ended up landing in Orlando 30 minutes or so early, around 4pm. Off the plane, immediate restroom needs accomplished for all of us, we jumped on the famed Orlando airport monorail and steamed towards the main terminal. After a seemingly endless trek to baggage claim, we waited for our luggage to finally spit out, and we were off to Alamo car rental.

While we were staying on property the entire length of our WDW trip, not venturing out for anything, we decided early on to rent a car for the more efficient use of our time traveling around the property. Staying at the Polynesian, we would obviously take the watercrafts or Monorail to the Magic Kingdom, but it gave us serious flexibility for our days at the other three theme parks and Disney Springs, not to mention another little adventure that we will get to later on in this report. Having completed all of the Alamo online setup and paperwork ahead of time, we bypassed their desk and kiosks altogether, walking straight for their section of the rental car garage across the proverbial street. A staff member met us in front of the parking garage, I presented our paperwork, and he escorted us to the row of cars that we could select from. Easy peasy!

Honestly, I forget now what model of car we selected. It was darkish grey! That help? It was a 4-door sedan, big enough for our needs (though we had to stick one of our bags in the back seat with our daughter), clean (though my wife and daughter said later that they detected a bit of a smoky smell inside), with a driver’s seat that squeaked a bit when we hit bumps or dips in the road. Still, a very decent car for our needs and overall it did fine for us during this trip. We drove it multiple times to three theme parks, Disney Springs, and a few other resorts over the span of a twelve-night trip and only used about a quarter tank.

The drive from the airport to the Polynesian, while I guess theoretically occurring during rush hour on a Monday, was not bad at all. The roads were busy I guess, but nothing like we’ve experienced at home during our rush hours. Maybe we got lucky? The only negative during our drive to the Poly was the driver in front of us who felt it was necessary to stop in the middle of the road in front of the famed Walt Disney World sign on World Drive. I can only assume that they were snapping a picture through their front windshield. Thankfully, we were far enough behind that I was able to notice, break, and slide into the left lane to avoid them. Sheesh!

Pulling into the Polynesian parking area, we were greeted by a security officer, who verified our name on an arrival list she had. Beckoned to continue forward, we easily found a spot in the parking lot, grabbed all of our luggage and carry-ons and headed into this beauty:



Now, having completed all of the pre-check stuff on My Disney Experience ahead of time, I already received both email and text confirmation that our room was ready once we landed in Orlando. Usually, it is tradition that when trip planning for WDW, we purchase the latest “official” Birnbaum’s guide, but they didn’t print one for 2021 and the 2022 edition literally arrived at our home about a week or so before we left for Orlando. So, I ended up purchasing the book published by the Touring Plans team several months earlier. I mention this solely because as a result of that book purchase, we were able to get a discounted membership for Touring Plans, which included their room request service. A few months prior, I created an account on their site, entered in our trip information, checked out some of their room view images, and filled out their form for the room request; at the designated time, we received email confirmation from them that they had submitted our request. Now it was time to see if indeed it had paid off!

Even though we knew the building and room number from the text and email notifications, I wanted the full check-in regalia, so we walked over to the front desk, where there was no wait. Greeted warmly, we ceremoniously checked in, received a property map with our room location highlighted, as well as our official greeting leis, a birthday button for me, and two anniversary buttons for my wife and me! Off to Tuvalu, 2nd floor, room 2412!!!

For our previous stay at the Polynesian Village Resort, we enjoyed a Garden View room (I think that was the category) in the Fiji building. It was on the third floor, which included a balcony, and the view was decent for the room type; one of the better garden-type views I should think with the Grand Floridian visible in the distance. This time, however, we booked a Lagoon View room.

Exiting the Great Ceremonial house, passing by Trader Sam’s, we meandered by the marina and then made a sharp right. Walking down beyond the building to our left (which I think was Fiji), Tuvalu sat majestically in front of us. Taking the pathway to the left, we entered the first floor of the building in the center where we could then grab the elevator up to the second floor.

Out of the elevator, which barely fit the three of us and our three pieces of luggage, we turned to the right and our room sat off to the left. Two of our three Magic Bands ended up having some difficulty unlocking our door, but luckily at least one of them worked. And we were in…and this was our view…





Wow! Just wow! We couldn’t believe how great this view was! Right on the water, with the Grand off to the left, the Contemporary off in the distance to the right, and the Magic Kingdom more or less straight ahead. We could see Space Mountain clear as day, with TRON rising up to its immediate left. Over the trees off to the left, we could make out the spires of Cinderella’s Castle. From what I recall on Touring Plans, this and a couple rooms nearby are considered Lagoon View rooms, but I really have to wonder what better view you can get from the Poly with a Theme Park view room. 2nd floor room meant no balcony, but for this view, we didn’t mind. Theoretically, at least one of the windows could be slid open for some fresh air, which we did once initially, but honestly never again during our stay. Also nice was the fact that the exterior space just below was not a pedestrian walking path; it was landscaped with plants and rocks, helping to ensure some level of quiet…though we regularly heard the horns from the boats ferrying guests to and from the Magic Kingdom. Could we see the Magic Kingdom fireworks and the Electrical Water Pageant from our room? Yes, but I only know this from seeing posted images and videos from others in nearby rooms. For the entire length of our stay, our schedule never actually had us in our room when either of those shows were going on.

The first requirement was to unpack, which we summarily did, calling down to the Front Desk for some extra hangers, which were delivered very promptly. Finished first, I then popped down to Capt. Cook’s to purchase a set of three refillable mugs, all of which were emblazoned with 50th celebration decorations.

One negative was our discovery of a 9-inch diameter pool of water on the floor in front of the mini-fridge. Yeah, it was leaking for some reason, dripping from the base of its door onto the floor. Thankfully, none of us stepped in nor slipped on the water. I called the Front Desk about it and they were going to try to get someone up to fix it as soon as possible, but couldn’t promise an arrival time. Upon further investigation, my wife realized that the fridge was either turned off or unplugged (I honestly cannot recall which it was), but either way, it was not powered on and it was defrosting, resulting in the water leak. So, grabbing a hand towel from the bathroom, we cleaned up the water and turned the fridge back on. That’s all that was really necessary, so I called the Front Desk again and canceled the room visit. The only thing, which I reported to them when I called, was that the water seemingly warped the wood floor a bit, but not so bad that we wanted it addressed during our stay.

Dinner this evening was at the California Grill. I managed to score our ADR just days earlier. The rumors are true, my friends, NEVER give up on an ADR! Keep checking back because you just never know when someone will cancel a prized reservation location and time that fits your plans. For us, we had originally made an ADR for dinner at Kona Café. All good and all; a place that we have enjoyed for dinner in the past, but honestly their current, somewhat reduced dinner menu wasn’t quite doing it for me. Leading up to our departure date, I would regularly check MDE for alternative ADRs for tonight’s dinner and lo and behold California Grill fell into our laps!

Knowing that CG is a “nicer” establishment, and wanting to kick off our vacation with a bang, we dressed up a bit (dresses for the ladies and a nice button-down shirt and jeans for me), jumping into our rental car and heading over to the Contemporary for our 8:55pm ADR. As we neared the Contemporary, that night’s Enchantment fireworks started shooting off at the Magic Kingdom. It was surreal driving under the vivid blasts above. Showing the security staff evidence of our dinner reservation on my phone, we were allowed in to hunt for a parking spot; and a hunt it was indeed, but we finally found one.

Entering the Contemporary, masks on, we made our way upstairs to check-in, admittedly a tad early. We gave them my wife’s cell number, fully expecting to walk around the space to kill some time. Heading up one level from the CG check-in desk, we barely stepped away from the escalator when her phone dinged with a text message. Our table was ready!

Returning to the desk, we were shown to the nearby elevator that whisked us up to the top of the Contemporary! We stepped out and were immediately met by a smiling pair of Cast Members with a wall of wine bottles behind them. One of them spoke our last name, we nodded, and then we were on our way inside! Again, we had incredible luck with our views this day…as we were seated on the right-side along the window, with an amazing view of the illuminated Magic Kingdom! Wow! Just wow! I mean, the fireworks were over already, but still…wow! During our meal, we each took a moment to step out the nearby door to the exterior deck to soak in the view.



For the 50th Celebration, the California Grill was offering a special prix-fixe three-course meal, which included an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert; drinks were not included in the price and had to be purchased separately. Our server arrived promptly, asking about our preferred water option (normal ice water was great for us) and then discussed the menu. We also used this opportunity to order drinks; our daughter simply had to have the lemonade served in a white plastic 50th Disney World/California Grill sphere with a glow cube inside, which quickly drew the eyes of other kids that were seated near us as the evening progressed. The bread service took a while to arrive, but with that view that was fine. Eventually, we placed our meal orders:

• Me: Duck a l’Orange Pizza, Oak-fired Filet of Beef, and the EARidescent Grand Marnier Soufflé
• My wife: Cascade Roll, Florida Coast Black Grouper, and the EARidescent Grand Marnier Soufflé
• Our daughter: Braised Beef Short Rib Wontons, Oak-fired Filet of Beef, and the Valrhona Chocolate Torte

For the appetizers, the absolute winner was the duck pizza. AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!!!



The wontons were a close second, but man, that pizza! My wife liked her Cascade Roll, commenting that the fish was obviously very good quality, but overall, she said that it was just ok. The steak entrees that I and our daughter received were fantastic! Perfectly cooked the way we asked (medium rare) and very flavorful. My wife very much enjoyed her grouper, especially with all that accompanied it. Dessert was very good. Having never actually had a soufflé before, I was very much looking forward to this dish. It came out hot, with a scoop of Creamsicle ice cream on the side, which (taking a queue from my genius wife), upon making a slit on the top of the soufflé, I dropped inside of it, allowing it to melt. This added a new creamy level to this experience that was so delicious! The chocolate torte? Our daughter liked it very much, but it was very rich and she only finished a little more than half of it giving mom and dad a few bites of the goodness…and yes, it was very rich indeed!

Thoroughly satisfied, we meandered our way out of the Contemporary, making note of the location of Steakhouse 71 for our future breakfast ADR. Back in the car, we enjoyed a very short drive back to the Polynesian, where after a long day of cross-country travelling and a nice meal, we were spent.

Up next...Day 2 – My 50th Birthday at Epcot!

 

[gregf71]

Day 2 – My 50th Birthday at Epcot!

Yes, I was born days after the opening of Walt Disney World. So, where else would I want to be on my 50th birthday?! Granted, one could argue that Epcot wasn’t there 50 years ago (totally true), but it is my favorite theme park of the four at Disney World, so my family gave me that allowance. But before we made our way to Epcot for the day, we needed to enjoy a fine breakfast! So, up early, dressed (including my birthday button and newly obtained 50th anniversary lanyard) and sun-screened, we jumped in the rental car and made our way to the Boardwalk resort, where we had an ADR at Trattoria al Forno!

Arriving in the Boardwalk parking lot early, it just so happened that we found ourselves sitting in our car just before the 7am virtual queue activation time for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. With our daughter watching the official time on her phone, I got onto MDE and was ready! As the top of the hour arrived, I tapped away and we got one! I cannot recall our exact boarding group number, but we ended up enjoying the attraction in the late morning, but more on that later.

First things first…breakfast! I heard great things about the Iced Coffee here. I made a point of mentioning that to our daughter, who is a big fan of iced coffee, so of course she ordered one…and LOVED it! My wife and I decided to share the Trattoria al Forno Press Pot Coffee that serves two. It was excellent. For our meals, we chose the Tiramisu-style French Toast (daughter) with sausage, the Caprese Omelet (wife) with bacon, and the Al Forno Eggs (me). Everything, and I mean everything, was delectable! A word about the Al Forno Eggs…they are described in the menu as “brick oven-roasted cage-free eggs, spiced tomato sauce, and crispy country bread.” Something like this is not normally in my wheelhouse, but I was very much drawn to it for some reason. Any uncertainty was waylaid by our server, when I asked about how thoroughly the eggs were cooked (I am not a fan of runny yolks) and she said that they could do it “well done” and cook the yolks hard. The end result was indeed magical. Three “perfectly” cooked eggs (at least in my opinion), surrounded by a pool of hot, flavorful, possibly extra sweet tomato sauce (since it cooked longer maybe?), with four perfectly proportioned pieces of bread for dipping, dragging through, and soaking up the sumptuous sauce. Simply a fabulous meal! Not to disrespect my family’s selections; they enjoyed their meals very much as well. Looking for an excellent breakfast location for a table service meal, then go to Trattoria al Forno!



OK! Back to the car for the short drive around to the Epcot parking lot. Since we were paying for overnight parking at the Poly already, theme park parking was included; so, we just needed to notify the CM at the entrance booth of this fact, scan one of our Magic Bands to prove it, and we were in! Have to say that it was nice that we were not doubly charged for resort and theme park parking. Anyway, arriving at the park entrance for the 9:30am early entry, we followed the signage to the designated lines. Bands eventually scanned, we were into the park before early entry actually began. Given the current state of “Wall-cot” (as in, there is a ton of construction going on there right now in Future World, so there are a bunch of walls up in this area), you could choose to go left, towards Test Track and Mission Space, or right, heading to the Land and the Living Seas. We chose the latter and ended up standing there waiting with a crowd of others for the clock to officially hit 9:30am. Did I mention that it was already hot?!

The time finally came and we were off! Some folks ran (and were summarily hollered at by nearby CMs to slow down), several speed-walked (always fun watching these people get into their walking groove), while most everyone else, including us, meandered to our chosen destination. I mean, we had a whopping 30-minute head start on everyone else…30 whole minutes!!! Yes, I am being sarcastic.

Our destination of choice was the Land Pavilion with the first ride of our vacation to be Soarin’, immediately followed by Living with the Land given its obvious next-door location, zero line when we came out of Soarin’, and of course our love for it! Once we exited the pavilion, the park had officially opened and we could see more people streaming in. We popped over into the Living Seas with Nemo and Friends and spent a little time in the aquarium space…manatees!!! And completed the area circuit by then enjoying Journey Into Imagination with Figment. Boy, do my wife and I miss the earlier versions of this attraction with Dreamfinder and Figment.

Making our way into the World Showcase, we walked down the main thoroughfare passed Canada, the UK, and eventually into France, not stepping into any shops or anything until we arrived in France. After checking out a couple of the shops here, I suddenly got the push notification on my phone that our boarding group was now open for Remy! Woo hoo! We were so excited to experience this attraction for the first time!



Have to say, the queue for Remy’s is very cool. We especially loved the “rooftops” room with the animated Gusteau’s sign. The attraction itself? Very cool. A great hybrid experience of a traditional dark ride, 3D screens, and a modern trackless ride system. Though, which repeated itself on other 3D glasses wearing attractions during our trip, I found that wearing my mask during the ride resulted in my 3D specs occasionally fogging up during the experience, which was kind of a drag. C’est la vie!

Out of the ride building, we immediately queued up for the nearby PhotoPass Magic Shot. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s you (and your party) shockingly pointing down as Remy is running away while carrying a mushroom over his head (or perhaps it is a cork from bottle of wine or Champagne). Very cute.

Exiting the France Pavilion, we turned right and headed towards Morocco, with our ultimate destination being Japan. My family very much had been looking forward to returning to the Mitsukoshi Department Store. Unfortunately, upon our arrival to the store, we discovered that it was opening later in the day. Sort of bummed (but not drastically because I mean it’s not like it wasn’t opening in an hour or so), we decided that it was time to begin our Food & Wine Festival adventures…and we just so happened to be next to the Greece booth with their amazing Griddled Cheese with Pistachios and Honey! And guess what?! It was our first delectable item on Emile’s Fromage Montage! For those of you not in the know, you can get a free F&W “passport” that provides information, menus, and a map for the festival. At the back of it was a list of 5 items from different booths, which if all purchased, entitled you to a free treat at the Shimmering Sips booth. When you purchased one of the 5 items and presented the passport, the CM would stamp it accordingly.

So, how was the Greek cheese? As yummy as we remembered, but honestly not as visually pleasing (at least the one that we were served) as I recalled in the past…which is why I didn’t take a picture of it. At this point, I was thirsty and for my birthday I really wanted to treat myself to an adult beverage at the Rose & Crown Pub. Since my family were not interested in a drink at that moment, we parted temporarily, with me heading back to the UK Pavilion and them continuing onto Italy.

Arriving at the Rose & Crown Pub, I walked right up to the front door (as in no line), where a CM greeted me, making sure that I understood the protocol. You enter when a bartender is available, order and buy your drink (which is served in a plastic cup), and then you take it out the back door and enjoy it outside. I nodded and was immediately pointed to an awaiting bartender. Warmly greeted and called “Luv” (so British!), I explained to her that it was my 50th birthday and that I was here because this was where I wanted to enjoy a special drink. Instead of shoving the menu at me, she asked what I liked; to wit I replied that I enjoy ciders and Guinness, but really tend to prefer drinks on the sweeter side. She asked if I ever had a Black Velvet before, half cider and half Guinness. Nope, never had and it was something that caught my eye on the menu when I viewed it online pre-trip. Let’s do it! But then she threw me a curve and asked if I’d like a bit of pomegranate mixed in. I said sure, asking what that concoction is called; she replied, “a Red Velvet.” FYI, Red Velvet cakes are one of my absolute favorite desserts. Here was the product:



How did it taste? A-Mazing! My first sip, swear to God, tasted like a bite of red velvet cake. There was the sweetness of the cider and pomegranate, almost replicating the taste of the frosting in my mind, and a strangely deep chocolate type flavor brought on by the Guinness. Sublime. Needless to say, I sipped very happily as I walked back around to Italy to meetup with my family. But upon checking my phone, there was a text informing me that they had returned to Japan and were in the now opened Mitsukoshi Department Store!

Take this purely as an observation for reporting purposes…we were surprised at the smaller amount of merchandise in Mitsukoshi (and other shops as well). I think we all know the most likely reasons for that (supply chains right now), which is totally understandable. Not complaining, just noticing. In fact, I mention this solely because throughout the World Showcase, we were struck by the number of shops that were actually closed, specifically two that we very much enjoyed in the past in the UK and Germany pavilions.

Making our way by the Germany Pavilion, we happened upon the Germany Food & Wine booth, with its Schinkennudeln, our next contestant in Emile’s Fromage Montage! It was…ok. Not the most flavorful thing in the world; warm and savory to be sure, but nothing special honestly…and boy did the bottom of the paper serving container soak up a ton of oil from it (had to wipe off the nearby table we grabbed and set it down upon as we ate it). I will tell you though that the Schöfferhofer Wild Cherry Hefeweizen that I got to accompany it was spectacular!

Continuing on, we approached the China festival booth, where my wife and daughter both wanted a Mango Bubble Milk Tea. They both liked it, finding it refreshing, but a tad small and overpriced in their opinions; keep in mind that they frequently enjoy similar products in the “real world” that are better, larger, and less expensive.

Passing Norway, we looked at the queue for Frozen, and said nah. It wasn’t horribly long (maybe 45 minutes to an hour per the sign), but it was our first day in the parks and we were coming back to Epcot two more times, so we figured we’d skip it for now. Heh, truth is that we walked by it a few more times during our trip and never decided to ride it. Oh well. Onto the Mexico Pavilion, where we loved us some Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros! Plus, my wife loves the glass shop in here. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above with Mitsukoshi, she found the offerings limited this visit and didn’t really find anything she liked.

Beyond Mexico, we found ourselves finishing our first grand circle tour of the World Showcase and into a conglomeration of various festival booths. Here, we found the Swanky Saucy Swine and Hawaii, our next two locations for the Montage! At the Swine, we grabbed the Crispy Barbecue Pork Rinds with Pimento Cheese (Montage #3), while from Hawaii we got the Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour Dole Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise and the Passion Fruit Cheesecake with Toasted Macadamia Nuts (Montage #4). Without a doubt, the two items from Hawaii were winners; the pork rinds and pimento cheese were good. The cheese was flavorful and plentiful actually, but I will be honest, a couple of those pork rinds made we fear for my teeth!

Content with our makeshift Food & Wine lunch, we returned to Future World (or whatever it was recently renamed) to ride my favorite, Spaceship Earth. Granted, our daughter finds it massively boring and often takes a nap through it, but since it was my birthday, she agreed to ride it and ride it with me. Happy dad! How was it? A classic. With rumors swirling of it being revamped again, and going offline for a while in the future, I am very glad that we got to experience it this trip.

Next? After a nice easy passage through time on Spaceship Earth, we had a little need for speed, so Test Track here we come! I will take this opportunity to comment on something that we experienced time and again during the first three-quarters of our trip, in all 4 theme parks. The actual wait times versus the posted wait times were significantly less in the Standby lines…before Genie+ went live during our second week. 45 minutes posted waits were often around half of that. 60 minutes posted wait times were often 40 minutes or so, including the ride time. We were not complaining whatsoever; it was great! But once Genie+ arrived the following Tuesday, things very much changed.

Test Track enjoyed, we made our way over to Club Cool. There was a little line outside, but not long; though we were not aware at that time that this was only the first part of the line, as there was a part two awaiting us inside the building. Truth be told, I was a bit disappointed. In the new space, the number of drink stations were reduced and the number of selections were a fraction of what they used to be. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the free cold beverages, but compared to what was offered before in the previous location, this was disappointing.

Next, we hit the new Creations shop next door, where several purchases were made. The remainder of the afternoon and into the evening hours consisted of mostly meandering around the World Showcase again, sampling a festival beverage here and there (the Frozen Apple Pie at the Appleseed Orchard was pretty tasty), hitting an attraction here and there if the line was short. The time spent also included a quick visit by me up to the PhotoPass desk near Spaceship Earth because I was puzzled why our Remy Magic Shot from earlier in the day hadn’t yet appeared in MDE. The CMs were very knowledgeable and explained that it could actually take several hours, up to a day for them to appear. They also provided information about “activating” our PhotoPass images and the related time requirement for ultimately downloading them before they disappear.

While by Spaceship Earth, I decided to take the opportunity to see about a specific PhotoPass picture that I hoped to get. Finding two available photographers chatting with each other out in front of the big ball, I explained that today was my 50th birthday and I had this image in my mind of creating the number 50 with my left hand as the 5 and Spaceship Earth as the 0. They got the idea and worked with me to figure out the right angle and scaling…and here is the result:



Originally, for my birthday dinner I nabbed an ADR for the Rose & Crown, but if I am honest, that wasn’t where I really wanted to have dinner that night. We dined at Le Cellier twice before during previous trips and absolutely loved it. The food, the service, and the ambiance were all amazing in our opinions. Now, over the past couple of years, I’d heard and read that while their prices went up, their overall quality went down, so I was concerned when we started discussing ADRs for this trip; but we all know how subjective dining reviews can be and how there are many factors that can make or break a dining experience. Both of our prior meals at Le Cellier were wonderful, so I needed to keep checking for availability, and my efforts eventually paid off! The ADR was later than we hoped (at 9:25pm, with the park set to close at 10pm), but what are you going to do? And yes, I kept re-checking as we neared our travel date, but no earlier times ever popped up.

As we normally do for ADRs, we arrived to check-in a bit early, probably around 9pm or so. Unfortunately, there was no CM at the front desk, so we sat on the nearby interior bench and awaited their arrival. Another party entered, rather loudly I should add, which may have perked the ear of the CM, as she finally appeared. Turned out that they left one of their phones in the restaurant during their meal and returned to retrieve it. Now checked in, we were seated fairly quickly, along one of the walls, between a lively table of two on my left and a nice family that was finishing up their dinner on my right.

The couple to my left, while officially seated at a table for two, were seated next to one another tightly, on the bench-side of table, leaving the chair directly across from me empty. They were having a magical time it seemed, enjoying their meals and each other’s company to the fullest. The very friendly woman, noticing my birthday button, wished me a happy birthday and added that they were there celebrating her birthday as well. Her birthday was actually a few days prior, she admitted, but it was the main reason for their trip. We chatted with her off and on for a bit, as she very vividly enjoyed the remainder of her steak, occasionally feeding bites to her husband.

While my wife ordered a glass of wine, since I was driving, I deferred to a soda. Our daughter, however, ordered one of the famed 50th “EARidescent Sip-a-bration” drinks; basically, lemonade and fruity strawberry punch, served in a small-ish plastic “50th Celebration Cup” (clear with some blue 50th imagery printed upon it…kind of cheap really). The kicker was the accompanying “surprise character and a little bit of magic!” So, yeah, that ended up being a tad disturbing (in a funny, twisted sort of way). Allow me to explain…her drink arrives in two parts: the aforementioned cup with the lemonade mixture in it and placed next to it in a black condiment cup (think those small half-cups that you get ketchup in) is the severed head of Minnie Mouse (cue the lightning and thunder…or the Harmonious fireworks outside). OK, maybe not really severed, but still, our daughter was presented, lying face-up in this small container, Minnie’s head, looking and smiling at her. A wee bit creepy, no? Having watched videos ahead of time, we were fully aware of this special beverage and the next required step…dissolving Minnie’s head in the lemonade (aka hiding the evidence)!!! Grabbing Minnie’s head by an ear, our daughter raised it up and slowly lowered it into the lemonade (nope, nothing sinister about this at all, folks!). I sat there watching this process closely, wondering who came up with this concept and thought it was a good idea to market it. Taking a spoon, she stirred the liquid as Minnie’s head repeatedly circled the inside of the cup, gradually disintegrating, and turning the lemonade into a shimmering shade of blue. She took her first sip and smiled. It was good. RIP Minnie’s head.



For our meal, we started by sharing the Le Cellier Signature Poutine, with fresh-cut French fries, Canadian cheddar, truffle, and red wine reduction. This was so incredibly good!



As our entrees, our daughter ordered the New York Strip Steak with smoked cheddar potato au gratin, au poivre (pepper) sauce and crispy onions. My wife ordered that evening’s special halibut dish. And me? Well, I simply had to order the ribeye steak, served with lemon-scented fingerling potatoes with caramelized onions and roasted shallot-whiskey butter.



So how was it?! While this was not the #1, absolute best meal of our entire trip, it was certainly in the top 3…and we ate some wonderful meals this time out. Our respective meats were all prepared perfectly, seasoned flawlessly, and their associated sauces and accompaniments were simply divine. Our server was attentive, very friendly, and stopped to chat us up towards the end of our meal, giving us some valuable pointers about a future dinner at the Boathouse (more on that later!). Given the timing of our meal, so close to park closing, we wondered if we would be hurried somewhat, but there was zero pressure whatsoever. In fact, once our entrees were finished, we were kindly offered the dessert menu, from which I had to order my favorite…their maple Crème Brulee.

While we sat, ever so contently, awaiting the arrival of the Crème Brulee, which we intended to share among the three of us, we noticed that we were the last occupied table in the entire restaurant. It was both eerie and cool at the same time.



As the Brulee arrived to our table, our server placed a second unexpected plate in front of me…and upon it sat their wonderful “Chocolate Moose”; a brilliantly put together “moose head” comprised of a scoop of chocolate ice cream for the rather rotund snout and nose, chocolate mousse for the rest of the head (with candy eyes), two small maple leaf cookies for the antlers, and a thin white chocolate “Happy Birthday” rectangle in the back, plus a glow cube in the rear, illuminating the treat. It (and the Crème Brulee) was a delight!



Very, very happy with our Le Cellier dining experience, we paid our bill, sincerely thanked our server, and made our way out of the restaurant and into the silent Epcot. There was literally no other soul within eye or earshot of us in the World Showcase thoroughfare at that moment. Taking our own sweet time, we soaked in the sites and eventually some atmospheric music as we walked towards Future World and the main entrance. As we approached Spaceship Earth, we found a few dozen or so guests there, taking pictures of the amazingly lit-up big ball, as well as posing for pictures with the Disney PhotoPass photographers.



Now, where’d we park?

Up next...Day 3 – Magic Kingdom Day 1

 

[gregf71]

Day 3 – Magic Kingdom Day 1

Before I begin logging our experiences for Day 3, I briefly need to turn the time machine back one click to the evening before, after we returned to the Poly from Epcot. While relaxing in the room, I was surfing social media when I came upon an intriguing series of posts about a Jungle Cruise tiki mug release happening the next day at Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto at the Polynesian! So, about me…I love tiki bars, I love tiki drinks, I love Disney, and I collect tiki mugs for tiki bars and restaurants I visited. While this particular mug had already been released at Disneyland’s Trader Sam’s (in a different color), I never made it up there from San Diego to procure one. But, here, now, fate dropped me into the Polynesian Village Resort for a mug release day that fell ever so conveniently on our planned Magic Kingdom day! Showing my wife the posts, she looked at me and said, “You have to do this.”

Now, let’s click back to the morning of Day 3. Up, dressed, and ready before my family, around 7am-ish, the scuttlebutt was that there was going to be wristband distribution in the morning sometime and then after Trader Sam’s Tiki Terrace opened later in the day, you could return to purchase your mug (two maximum) and the associated beverage, the “Missing Cargo”. The plan was that I would do the wristband thing, meetup with my family in the Magic Kingdom later for some fun, and then pop back over to the Poly in the afternoon sometime to get my mug and drink.

First things first, breakfast for me. Departing our room, I headed over by Trader Sam’s to see if a line had already formed for the wristbands. It had, but there was only about 4 or 5 people at this point. Not fretting availability, I made my way up into the Great Ceremonial House and over to Kona Island. I ordered a guava Danish, a cup of Kona blend coffee, and was excited to see a sign indicating that they had POG juice! Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with the POG juice. Instead of using the nearby juice machine, which appeared to have the beautifully golden nectar churning away within it, the CM instead turned to a cooler resting upon a small table behind the counter. She opened it up and pulled out a plastic 70s or 80s era juice pitcher, pouring my POG juice into a small cup that had subsequently been half-way filled with ice. Oh, and did I mention that this was $6.50?! Not wanting to be “that guy”, I accepted my items, personalized my coffee a bit, and then headed back over to the Tiki Terrace to grab a table and enjoy my nosh. Yeah, the POG juice with all of that ice quickly became watered down and was not very satisfying. The coffee was good and the danish was excellent.

By this point, the wristband line had doubled in length, so about 10 to 12 people waiting. Done with my breakfast, I decided to join them. Thankfully, I stood by some friendly folks who I chatted with about various things and the time breezed by. My wife and daughter eventually came by while on their way to grab some breakfast themselves before heading over to the Magic Kingdom. A little before 9:30am, CMs appeared and began the wristband distribution. All set, I quickly popped back up to our room to drop off my resort refillable mug and I was off to the watercraft launch for my cruise over to the Magic Kingdom!

While en route, I text messaged with my family to discern their location in the park and once inside made my way to Frontierland and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, one of their personal favorites. I won’t bore you with the details of the attractions that we enjoyed the rest of that morning and early afternoon. We hit several and as I mentioned in my earlier Epcot report, the actual wait times were yet again actually significantly shorter than what was being communicated in the app and on the physical signage. Also, similar to our first Epcot day, the crowds, while were by no means horrible, were greater than we anticipated. Still, we managed very happily. I will add this…we very much miss the Peoplemover in Disneyland and were very thankful to ride it multiple times this trip, even with the bulk of its queue out in the direct sun.

Lunch time! And it was time to see if the legends were true! Now, I think that it goes without saying here, but historically, the quality of the food in the Magic Kingdom has not always been the best. Yes, I know, food is subjective. Everyone has their personal tastes, their likes and dislikes, but in our experience over the years, the meals (not snacks and treats by any means) in the Magic Kingdom have mostly been lacking. So, for lunch today, we decided to try a location that I saw, heard, and read a lot of positive things about recently…Sleepy Hollow. Though officially classified as a Snack menu after the morning breakfast service ends, their afternoon and evening menu offers items that make a wonderful lunch.

Our daughter and I both ordered the Sweet and Spicy Chicken-Waffle Sandwich (with broccoli slaw and a honey-siracha glaze), served with house-made potato chips; my wife ordered a Hand-dipped Corn Dog, also served with house-made chips. My friends, the chicken-waffle sandwich was spectacular! Neither of us are necessarily fans of slaw, but it worked so well within the sandwich, helping to make each and every bite delectable. The corn dog? My wife liked it; nothing remarkable she said, but good. The house-made chips? Good, but honestly, I think that we all would have preferred French fries instead. But, oh, that chicken-waffle sandwich! We also each ordered a Doom Berry to drink; blackberry ginger beer with EARidescent sugar served with a Haunted Mansion-themed straw. It was quite good. A nice mixture of sweet and a little mild bitterness from the ginger beer. The straw was awesome, but we wished that it wasn’t paper because like all other paper straws it got soggy. Still, a fun and enjoyable beverage.





After lunch, more attractions, walking through some shops, and of course a stop in Fantasyland for our absolute favorite La Fou’s Brews! Again, where the Magic Kingdom lacks in the overall food quality for meals, they more than make up for with their refreshing and imaginative treats and snacks!



Later in the afternoon, while passing through Adventureland, we felt the need to stop at the Sunshine Tree Terrace, where I got the I Lava You Float (Fanta Strawberry and Passion Fruit flavor served with Dole Whip Orange and topped with Popping Candy), my wife a cup of Dole Whip Orange and Vanilla swirl, and our daughter a root beer float with vanilla soft-serve. Finding a “hidden” alcove of seats across from the Magic Carpets attraction, we sat and tried each other’s treats. Man, the I Lava You Float was fantastic; so refreshing and flavorful. The orange and vanilla swirl also hit the spot perfectly for my wife; and the root beer float was creamy and just what our daughter wanted.



OK! So, mid-to-late afternoon and it was time for me to hop back over to the Polynesian to claim my tiki mug and adult beverage. Returning to Trader Sam’s, the Tiki Terrace was already open, guests were enjoying drinks and what not at their umbrella-covered tables, and a decent sized line had formed, stretching from the Terrace’s service counter all the way down beyond the doors going into the Great Ceremonial House near the Grog Grotto. Initially looking at the line, I estimated about 30 to 40 people in front of me, so not that bad. Unfortunately, the line crawled, really, really slowly. From my original angle, the reason for this was a mystery, but once I realized the process, it became clear. Those of us with a wristband were queued to the Terrace’s service counter, where the valiant CMs took your mug and drink order, generated the bill, completed payment for said bill, and created and handed you your drinks (maximum of 2 per person), each served in a plastic cup. Now, I am not 100% sure, but it seemed as though you had to get a drink with your mug purchase. You could choose to get either an alcoholic or non-alcoholic version of it; either way, the price was the same…and again, I am not certain if you could bypass the drink and buy the mug(s) solely, but maybe you could. After your purchase, you then took your receipt to a nearby set of tables, where CMs stood ready to verify the receipt, mark it for your claimed mug(s), and then hand you a bag with your order inside.

While in line, several folks walked by with their mug bag(s) in hand, holding up their included beverage(s). Watching their expressions, many were not pleased with the alcoholic “Missing Cargo”. In fact, one woman, holding two virtually full cups of it, walked right up to the trash can near me, tossed them, and commented that the drink was terrible. Again, opinions on food and drink are subjective to one’s personal taste. In my opinion, I found my “Missing Cargo” to be pretty darn good; powerful, yes, spicy, yes, not as sweet as I usually care for, but still pretty darn good. Rumor had it on social media that the bartenders tweaked the recipe either later that day or the next day based on customer feedback.

Mug safely placed in our room, I once again grabbed a boat to the Magic Kingdom. While awaiting my conveyance, it started to heavily drizzle for a few minutes. I only mention this because for the entirety of our WDW vacation, this was the only rain we experienced! I saw footage online of freak rainstorms that blew through the parks just before and after our trip, dumping buckets on the poor guests. We got really lucky when it came to rain. Yes, it was really hot (for us) most of the trip, but that was manageable.



Back in the Magic Kingdom, I met up with the family and we continued to enjoy attractions and shops until it was time for dinner at the Skipper Canteen. Now, this would be our second meal ever at the Canteen. Our first meal, a lunch during our last trip in 2017, was basically a disaster. While the food we enjoyed, mostly a variety of different appetizers, it was our server that proved to be an issue. His comedic schtick was painfully bad, to the point of being uncomfortable. His service too was poor; bringing us (and charging us for) bottled water that we never ordered, plus he failed to return our credit card with our final bill (which we didn’t realize until after we had left the restaurant). Honestly, I never complain unless things are really bad and in this case in 2017 it was. While exiting (before I realized that we didn’t get our credit card back), I asked to speak to the manager, solely intent on communicating our irregular experience for the purpose of retraining. I asked for nothing (never intended to), but in the end the manager refunded us the cost of our meal (not the gratuity, which was interesting) and gave us a virtually unlimited FastPass for one attraction (not Frozen Ever After; the big-ticket attraction at the time).

Now to the present. We were seated after a short wait and quickly greeted very warmly by our server. He asked if it was our first time at the Canteen, to wit we laughingly said No. I admitted to him that our last visit was “problematic” and he promised that this experience would be much better…and indeed it was!

Trip planning had informed us of the secret menu at Skipper Canteen, particularly an appetizer…the Pao de Queijo, a Brazilian dish of cheesy bread balls served with a poblano cream cheese and chimichurri sauce:



For our entrees, our daughter ordered the "Tastes like Chicken" Because it is! (crispy-fried chicken with sweet chili glaze, stir-fried vegetables, and seasoned rice), my wife the Senegal Sal's Short Rib (Berber-spiced short rib, sweet potato silk, cucumber, and root vegetable slaw), and me the "Hardy Har Char" Siu Pork (Char Siu-marinated pork served with seasonal vegetables and Jasmine rice).







So, what did we think? Well, we all LOVED the Pao de Queijo appetizer. Very flavorful and great textures. My entrée was good, not great, just good. When I think of Char Siu-marinated pork, I imagine very thin slices of meat that fold up into a nice bite. Here, the pork was presented like and tasted sort of like small ham steaks, which wasn’t really what I wanted with this dish. The veggies and rice were fine accompaniments, especially with some of the sauce on them, but overall my meal was just ok. My wife found her short rib to be good too, but again, not great. Our daughter liked her chicken, but felt that it could have used more of the sweet chili glaze on top (which I assume we could have easily asked for, but she didn’t mention it until later).

Our server this time out was awesome! Very nice, very attentive, funny with the Jungle Cruise puns throughout the meal. He was exactly what we had hoped for when we heard about the schtick the servers performed years ago. He was even kind enough to bring us a special little dessert, saying that he hoped this experience was better than our first…and it was!

Darkness had now fallen over the Magic Kingdom and fireworks were erupting in the sky as we left the Canteen. Even though the tops of the Adventureland buildings slightly obscured our view from this position, it was still nice to see them.

As it turned out, tonight was an Extended Hours night for guests at the Deluxe resorts, so in theory we could stay until 11pm. Believe me, we tried, hitting some more attractions as the evening progressed. I will say this, the lines sure diminished after 9pm, except for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. Having had our fill and having hit the exhausted line, we finished up in Tomorrowland and made our way out to the Hub to bask in the beauty that was Cinderella’s Castle, adorned and lit up with its 50th regalia.



Glancing over to our left, we smiled as we saw two couples posing for a PhotoPass photographer. This photographer was AMAZING! Not only did she have them do all of these fun and creative poses, but the way she bent over backwards to get the right angle for a great picture was impressive. We had no choice but to line up for a turn!

Up next…Day 4: Animal Kingdom Day 1 & Our First Visit to the World of Pandora! Stay tuned!

 

[footballmouse]

great report so far!

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

Nice pixie dust getting your tiki mug during your Birthday trip! Loving your report.

 

[ZeeWP]

That breakfast pic at Trattoria Al Forno... I must be hungry or that food is really that good!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary! Sounds like the trip was off to an amazing start. Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[gregf71]

That breakfast pic at Trattoria Al Forno... I must be hungry or that food is really that good!

That dish was FANTASTIC!!!

 

[gregf71]

Day 4: Animal Kingdom Day 1 & Our First Visit to the World of Pandora!

With Animal Kingdom opening officially at 8:00am, and our early entry allowing us in at 7:30am, we got up early, got ready, and drove over, planning to grab a bite for breakfast in the park. The plan was to pick a quick service location within Animal Kingdom that was open early. I made a list in our personal trip-planning guide, but for the life of me I cannot recall where we ultimately chose to go. It must not have been overly memorable because I cannot remember it, but it did the job nonetheless.

Now, the last time that we were in Animal Kingdom, Pandora – The World of Avatar was still being built. I recall seeing the massive exterior “floating” rock sculptures in the distance and they were already impressive. Seeing them now, up close and personal, was even more astounding! Doesn’t this one remind you of an enlarged Groot (on the right) pushing or holding up the rock on the left?



Having never been in this space before, plus it still being early-ish, we took our time wandering around and just soaking it all in. We were blown away. Evaluating the posted wait times for the two attractions, we chose to hit Na’vi River Journey first. The line moved pretty well thankfully. Our wait began out under the morning sun (yes, it was already hot if not in the shade), but eventually moved under cover (though not actually indoors) for the majority of the queue.

The attraction is easily explained in its name. It is a cruise in a boat, down a fictional Na’vi river. Not exciting at all, but very enjoyable and visually stunning (especially if you cannot experience the land’s luminescent exterior after sunset (which fate dictated we never did). The soundtrack is also pleasing, especially the song of the shaman animatronic.

Off the ride, we then made our way into the line for Flight of Passage. Still being morning, with the initial guest rush one sees to the E-Ticket attractions, the queue for FoP was outside of the building, but we liked that because it allowed us to admire all of the awesome scenery and landscaping that surrounded us.



Similar to Na’vi River Journey, the stand-by line moved pretty good (remember, no Genie + nor official Lightning Lane yet), but wow was there a lot to go through once inside the show building! Lots of different caves and rooms with multiple line switchbacks.



Eventually, we made it to the two pre-ride experiences, where your group is provided with story appropriate briefings, instructions, scanning, and cleansing. Shown into the final room, we placed our belongings in the requisite bins and climbed onto our virtual steeds! Fastened in and 3D glasses on, it was time to fly!

If I am honest, I was a bit concerned about how I would do on this attraction. Previously, I had read and heard about issues for various reasons with some people not being able to safely or comfortably position and secure themselves upon the mounts. Thankfully, I was able to fit just fine, though it was a bit tight and I could see how folks could feel trapped and somewhat claustrophobic. Also, as I have gotten older, I find that I succumb more easily to motion sickness, which has proven to be more of issue for me on motion simulator rides than traditional rollercoasters (but, maybe not…).

My friends, most of you reading this I am sure have already experienced this attraction; but, I must say that this was AMAZING! The visuals were striking, the audio enveloped you, and the 4D effects (specifically the wind in my face and the occasional splashes of water) were actually a blessing. Did I feel any ill effects afterwards? Actually, yes, a little, but honestly not bad at all. I will say this though, I believe that wearing a mask on attractions (at least for me), increased my susceptibility to motion sickness. Mostly, I was ok, perhaps a tad “wobbly” after some rides, but there were a couple that ended up unexpectantly really hitting me hard (more on that later); thankfully and strangely, Flight of Passage was not one of them.

Out of the attraction building, we visited the nearby gift shop, where we picked up a couple things, including a great, blue Pandora baseball-style trucker cap for me. Creeping up to lunch time, we decided to grab a meal at Satu’li Canteen. At the time, the CMs at the patio entrance to the eatery were stopping people from entering the space unless they showed proof of already having submitted a mobile order, so we stepped back, reviewed the menu on our phones, and placed our order. Flashing my phone to one of the CMs, proving our order was in, we were summarily allowed to pass, finding an umbrella-covered table in the exterior patio space off to the right. One quick aside…those metal chairs here were not very comfortable; enough said.

The push notification came to my phone pretty quickly, so my wife and I jumped up and made our way inside. But first, I had to flash my phone to the CM manning the doors to the interior portion of the building to show evidence that we got the message to claim our food. Making our way through the maze of tables, chairs, and stations, we procured our out-of-this-world delights, filled up our drink cups at a dispensary, and returned to our daughter on the patio.







Our daughter ordered the Chili-Garlic Shrimp Bowl with noodles as her base and (I think) the Creamy Herb Sauce. My wife got the Cheeseburger Steamed Pods, while I ordered the Grilled Beef and Chicken Combination Bowl with the Red and Sweet Potato Hash as the base and Charred Green Onion Vinaigrette Sauce. All of our selections were outstanding and I highly recommend the potato hash as a base! I heard that Satu’li was a go-to quick service in Animal Kingdom and that is absolutely right! While it may be a bit “exotic” for some palettes, it was perfect for ours!

The remainder of our first Animal Kingdom day took us throughout the park, admiring the animal enclosures, hitting more attractions, and of course grabbing free cups of ice water when necessary. You all know about that, right? With most of our park days being very hot for our liking (there were a few exceptions), we occasionally took advantage of this free service to guests. If you go to virtually any quick service or cart that has soda dispensers (not bottled), you can ask for cups of ice water “on the Mouse”. Admittedly, they are small cups, but they sure do the trick in a pinch!



Eventually, our adventures brought us back into Pandora, where we simply had to give these beauties a try…the famous Night Blossom at Pongu Pongu:



Made of layers of Apple and Desert Pear Limeade topped with Passion Fruit Boba Balls, this non-alcoholic treat was an absolute hit with us!

Suddenly, our daughter announced that she decided upon a souvenir that she very much hoped to obtain (having seen others carrying one this day). Short backstory, during our flight to Orlando, she mentioned that she’d like to get a “stuffy” on this trip, but nothing jumped out at her at Epcot nor the Magic Kingdom the previous two days. So, what was it? Well, a little blue triceratops of course, so off to DinoLand U.S.A we went! The problem was, which we quickly discovered, was that this particular dino was not something that could simply be purchased…instead, it had to be won!

Arriving in the Fossil Fun Games area, we noticed immediately that it was fairly empty. Literally, I think that there were more CMs there than actual guests, by a wide margin! Walking around, we saw which games offered the little triceratops as a prize and decided upon which one we would try. First though, as the CM manning our selected game told us, we had to purchase vouchers to play. Immediately acquired, we returned to the game, noting that the three of us were the only ones seated, thus seriously increasing the odds that one of us would win. However, the CM refused to begin the game, stating that he was required to wait a certain amount of time between games; though it had already been several minutes from our perspective. Sure enough, two women approached and sat down, handing over their vouchers to play against us. No worries, I said to my family, we got this!

The game was the old “horse racing” sprint game, except instead of horses it was cartoonish dinosaurs “running” the race. Once the action began, a slot opened and balls rolled down towards each of us, which we grabbed and rolled up a slight incline and hopefully into holes that granted greater points the higher they went up. Whatever points you got from the holes, your dino would move that many spaces along the track. It was neck and neck the entire way!! Actually, I have no idea if that is true, but saying so is much more dramatic, don’t you think? I just focused on grabbing the next ball and rolling it up towards the holes. Finally, the raucous bells rang! The race was over and we had a winner! The CM called out Dino #12…and that was me! Our daughter came in a close second and my wife was right after her. I didn’t look up to see how far back our competitors were. I was just pleased that I could win the toy for our daughter. Dad did good.

As the evening crept closer and closer, we came to the realization that our scheduled dinner ADR at Sanaa tonight would require us to leave the park before sunset, meaning that we would miss the illuminated Tree of Life for the 50th celebration. The main reason for this was that when we originally made that ADR, Animal Kingdom was scheduled to close earlier than it now was, so we scheduled dinner 1 hour after park closing. Ah well, at least we got to see its beauty in the crystal blue daylight:



Trekking back out to our car (remember, no parking lot trams were running), we all started to mention the state of our aching feet. This, as it turned out, became a frequent topic for the remainder of this trip. We did A LOT of walking and standing throughout our vacation; more than any other previous WDW trip. One reason was obvious…no FastPasses. Not complaining mind you, but the fact is that in the past we very much took full advantage of the shorter FastPass lines and now “enjoyed” all of the stand-by lines, which moved, but were still all combined much longer distances. Add to this that this was the longest WDW vacation that we had ever taken, so more fun meant more time on our feet. Thankfully, even though our feet ached at times and required some rubbing each night, none of us ever ended up with any blisters.

Arriving early at Kadani Village for our ADR, we found an empty balcony near the main lobby with five or six rocking chairs. Resting and rocking our tired bones (and feet), we enjoyed the view of their wildlife retreat for a good 15 minutes or so. Eventually, we made our way downstairs to check-in at Sanaa. They were apparently running a bit behind, so we grabbed a seat along the window, where our daughter quickly fell asleep on her mom’s shoulder. Having fun can be exhausting, right?!

Finally summoned, we were seated at a square table for four. We each chose a chair and sat down. I only mention this because when we then went to set our bags upon the empty fourth chair, we noticed a small pool of water on it. Pulling back our bags quickly, we requested a napkin from a passing CM and wiped it up. Moral of the story, always look before you sit!

Our very friendly server arrived, asking if this was our first time at Sanaa. No way, we said happily! Sanaa is one of our personal favorites and a must for any of our WDW trips. Ordering our drinks, we also ordered their amazingly awesome Indian-style Bread Service. Friends, if you have never tried this, then you are missing out on something special:



You get five types of breads (traditional naan, garlic-ginger naan, spiced naan, onion kulcha, and paneer paratha) with nine accompaniments (cucumber raita, roasted red pepper hummus, mango chutney, tomato-date jam, tamarind chutney, coriander chutney, garlic pickle, red chile sambal, and spicy jalapeño-lime pickle). As usual, it was perfect. The breads were fresh and warm, tearing very easily for dipping; and the sauces were so incredibly flavorful and offered varying degrees of sweet and spice. Without a doubt, my absolute favorite is the tamarind chutney…no contest!

For our entrees, my wife and I both ordered the Potjie Inspired dish, both with the butter chicken; we varied on our selection of the aloo masala (potatoes; me) and the cilantro-coconut vegetables (my wife). Our daughter ordered the African-inspired Biryani with Chicken. All of our dishes were plentiful and incredibly flavorful…and with the bread service beforehand…very filling. That said, my wife and daughter were very interested in the African Tripe Chocolate Mousse, a masterpiece of Nyangbo Dark Chocolate from Ghana, Tanariva Milk Chocolate from Madagascar, Orelys Blond Chocolate, chocolate almond biscuit, and strawberries. Thankfully, we were able to get an order to go and very much enjoyed sharing bites of it back in our room later that evening.

Up next…Day 5: Hollywood Studios Day 1 & Our First Time on Rise of the Resistance!

 

[Hubie]

Nice pics and nice write-up of a very smooth trip so far.

 

[gregf71]

Nice pics and nice write-up of a very smooth trip so far.

Thanks! Yeah, so far so good...but there is a little bump in the road (with a silver lining) coming later in the trip.

 

[MaleficentMe]

Following!

(And the severed Minnie-Head story had me cracking up!!)

 

[gregf71]

Day 5: Hollywood Studios Day 1 & Our First Time on Rise of the Resistance!

Yes, we live in Southern California. Yes, we are only a 90 minute or so drive up to Disneyland (depends on how heavy my right foot is on the gas pedal). Yes, we’ve visited Galaxy’s Edge up there. No, Rise of the Resistance hadn’t opened yet the last time that we visited (which was summer 2019). YES, we were super excited about coming to Hollywood Studios today and finally (hopefully) getting to experience this attraction!

9am opening time for Studios, so we needed to arrive for early entry before 8:30am. A quick breakfast of pastries, coffee, and juice from Kona Island was good, but I didn’t fall for their POG juice rip-off this time! The only thing that I will call out in this instance was that my wife’s banana-macadamia nut loaf was apparently not great. It was either undercooked or overcooked; I cannot recall which exactly. Needless to say, she wasn’t particularly pleased with it.

In the car, we high-tailed it (observing all posted speed limits of course) over to Hollywood Studios to get in and queue up for Rise first thing. When we traversed the pathways towards the CM hoisting the End of Line sign, we could already tell that this line was going to be lengthy. Walking a tad faster than my family (with their permission), I arrived at the end first, asking the CM if the 2-hour posted wait time might go down as the day progressed. Methinks that they gave the standard response…there is really no way of knowing. Basically, they can neither confirm nor deny if this line gets better or worse from any given hour to the next; it is truly unpredictable because you just never know what that day’s guests will choose to do. Completely fair point and spot on.

Thankfully, we found ourselves next to some nice and chatty people who made the legit 2-hour wait more manageable. I mean, this line seemingly went everywhere with all of it’s wrapping in and around buildings and walkways, and it didn’t really feel like it was moving particularly quickly like we experienced with all other stand-by lines. Hopefully, it would be worth it.

Oh…it was!







The experience was flawless. No hiccups, no technical difficulties, and all of the CM “actors” played their roles perfectly, especially the First Order officer who lined our group up and briefly interrogated our daughter about her presence on Batuu. She simply could not stop giggling, and when she told him that she was headed for Hoth, he quickly questioned her honesty given her choice of clothing that day (shorts and a tee shirt…not really viable for the snowy tundra of Hoth, huh?).

I mean, seriously, the transitions from one aspect of the experience to the next were astounding. I still don’t totally get how you enter the rebel shuttle from literally outside and then exit into the First Order Star Destroyer through the same door! It has to be an elevator of some kind, but it worked so seamlessly that it just felt real. Without a doubt, the greatest theme park attraction that we have ever enjoyed!

Given the length of our wait for Rise and the time it took to experience it, it was now late morning. We wandered around the various shops of Batuu, soaking in all of the wonderful theming of this land. Hoping to obtain a kyber crystal souvenir, we made our way over to Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities, where I picked up a purple crystal. I was hoping to find a blue one, but this one worked just fine. Heck, maybe the next time we pop up to Disneyland, I can get a blue one.

With our less than filling breakfast that morning, plus the fact that we were already in Galaxy’s Edge, we decided to go ahead and eat lunch a little early at our planned destination, Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo. Similar to our experience at Animal Kingdom the previous day, a CM stood in front of the entrance, granting access to only those that showed that their mobile order was ready for pickup. Shuffling off to the side, we brought up My Disney Experience and accessed the Mobile Order section. Selections made and ordered, we only waited a short time before we got the push notification that it was ready. Getting beyond the guard and inside, we immediately noticed that the restaurant was full, but we totally lucked out as a family started to vacate a table while we slowly walked by. With our daughter claiming the table for us, my wife and I made our way up to the counter to get our interstellar delights!



Our daughter ordered the Fried Endorian Chicken Tip Yip (crispy chicken served with house-made macaroni & cheese and roasted vegetables), while both my wife and I tried the Smoked Kaadu Pork Ribs (ribs brushed with a “tangy BBQ sauce”), but where she got the blueberry corn muffin and red cabbage slaw accompaniment with hers, I switched it up and got mac and cheese and vegetables with mine. Can I just ask?! Did Disney buy a broccoli farm somewhere?! Because in many of our meals this trip, the accompanying vegetable, roasted or not, was very often either broccoli or broccolini. You can see in the image above what veggie came with our daughter’s and my meals.

OK, so how was it? Honestly, meh. Not great by any means. Good I guess. Not bad per se, but I was really hoping for more. First of all, they called them “ribs” (plural), but my wife and I both received one meaty-type item. Yeah, I guess it could be argued that these singular slabs could be pulled apart to make two or more riblets respectively (thus pluralizing “ribs”), but honestly the way the bones were positioned internally, that wasn’t the easiest thing to do. Simply put, you needed to hold onto it and bite down a bit gingerly in the hopes that you got meat instead of bone. If you hit bone in your gentle bite, you needed to ease back a bit and scrape with your teeth. Flavor-wise, the ribs were definitely smoked, perhaps too much for our taste, and honestly, I don’t know where the “tangy BBQ sauce” was; we are very much wet-sauce BBQ rib fans, which these definitely were not.

Our daughter kept cracking up at her meal, mainly because she had never seen chicken shaped this way…as in three-dimensional rectangles. For some reason, she found it hilarious. She must have liked them because they didn’t stay on her plate very long. She also liked the mac and cheese (as did I for that matter); that said, it reminded us both of the blue box brand.

Lunch over, we had an impending ADR for drinks at Oga’s Cantina in a few hours, so we decided to head back to Earth and check out Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway…another new attraction we had yet to experience. Disneyland’s version is still being built behind Toon Town and not expected to open until 2023. I cannot recall the posted wait time for the stand-by line, probably 45 to 60 minutes or so, but dang it, the exterior part of that queue, under the high and hot mid-day sun was not fun! They had a few standing umbrellas offering a short respite here and there, but this line was tough. So much so that my wife ended up popping out and over to a nearby refreshments cart to buy some bottled water.

I will say that we very much miss the Great Movie Ride, but MMRR is a serious step up! Shown into that initial theater room, where the cartoon begins, we ended up standing in the back of the space with our backs against the wall. I really think that being back here made the magic of this part of the experience even more magical because I couldn’t see the physical reality of the special effects’ “explosion” up front. From our vantage point, we were like wow, what just happened?!

Passing through the gaping hole left by said “explosion”, we entered the final section of the queue and finally climbed into our train car. I won’t go into the details of the ride portion of the attraction (there are tons of videos online that can do that), but I will say this…incredibly vivid colors, great music and sound, we felt completely imbedded within this cartoon world. And the technology, the projections (and their seamless changes within the same scene), the physical animatronics, the trackless ride system and the movements of the cars (especially in Daisy’s dance school) were all amazing! This attraction was awesome!

Happily exiting MMRR, we killed a little time in some shops before eventually making our way back into a galaxy far, far away. Checking in through My Disney Experience (which the CMs here required for some reason; no where else where we had an ADR did this during our entire trip), we ended up waiting for several minutes beyond our scheduled time. It happens. What are you going to do?

During a previous Disneyland visit, we had the pleasure of experiencing Oga’s and while we very much enjoyed our drinks and the overall ambiance of the place, the fact that it was overly crowded then and we were forced to share a standing table with another group was not ideal. I was very much hoping that we would not experience something similar here…and for the most part we didn’t, but what we did experience was rather unexpected.

Escorted into the Cantina, we suddenly found ourselves seated at the actual bar. I don’t know about you, but I always thought that minors were not allowed to sit at actual bars. They could sit at a nearby table in the lounge or bar area, but the bar itself was off limits. Oh well, I thought, just go with the flow; but let me tell you…it was super weird turning to my right to see our teenage daughter sipping her fancy concoctions (yes, they were non-alcoholic to be sure) next to me, sitting at a bar, and staring glassy-eyed into the distance. SUPER…WEIRD!!!







We each ordered two drinks and while all of them were good and visually enthralling, we did have some thoughts. First of all, the adult beverages that my wife and I had were very, very weak. Not that we were looking to get buzzed or any level of intoxicated, but for the price point on Oga’s adult drinks, we expected a bit more. Also, and this is just an observation, they served their drinks in their actual barware. This was distinctly different from my previous experience at Rose & Crown (in and out with a plastic cup) and the one I had two days earlier at Trader Sam’s Tiki Terrace (plastic cup to go) when I claimed my tiki mug; not to mention our future experience at Tiki Terrace when we actually sat down at a table to enjoy a drink at the end of the day (again, plastic cups, no service in mugs or glassware of any kind). Not complaining; just an interesting observation of how it was different in Oga’s.

Hey! Let’s go check out Toy Story Land since we’d never seen it before! And so we did! We spent some good time here during the late afternoon and into the evening, enjoying Toy Story Mania (twice), Alien Swirling Saucers, and the scenery.

Unfortunately, we didn’t like the queue for Slinky Dog Dash, for two reasons: first, it was long, and second it was mostly all out in the direct sunlight (not a place we wanted to be slowly melting in this late afternoon). I mean, while the sun was slowly lowering in the western sky, diminishing the heat levels, I now totally understand the complaints that I have read and heard about with respect to lack of coverage here.

Dinner this evening was set for the Hollywood Brown Derby! The last time that we dined here was during our honeymoon, nearly 20 years earlier. The sun having now set by this time, we arrived about 30 minutes early to check in. They were running on time with seating their ADRs, so we were told to expect to be called at our scheduled time. Not a problem; I gave them my cell number and we grabbed a bench together outside, enjoying the now very comfortable evening.

Summoned almost exactly when our 7:30pm ADR was set, this ended up being the only timely part of this meal. We were seated at a nice booth, off to the side of the main dining room. Our server greeted us warmly, mentioned something about bread, and then said he’d return to take our drink orders. We used this opportunity to scan the QR code with our phones to scope out the menu and within 10 or 15 minutes our drinks arrived…but no bread yet. The server mumbled something about the bread and then was off. 15 to 20 minutes later (with all of our drink glasses now empty, including water) we had bread and salted butter!!! And they were wonderful! Did the fact that it was now a little after 8pm and we’d been sitting here for 30 or so minutes help this bread and butter taste so good? I don’t know…but I will tell you this…4 days later, social media posted an article about the “beloved” Brown Derby bread being replaced by pretzel rolls, so maybe they were just that good! Oh, and he finally took our entrée order!

So, bread enjoyed, drinks all refreshed (and subsequently emptied again), entrée orders placed, we sat…and we sat…and for the life of me I couldn’t see our server anywhere. Checking my watch, I mentioned to my wife that we’d actually been there for over an hour by this point and the park was closing in less than a half hour. Truth is, we were happy to be sitting in comfort and in air-conditioning, with pleasant music in the air. Still, this was getting ridiculous. Just before I was about to go talk to a manager, our server reappeared, apologizing profusely that our food hadn’t come out yet. He said that there was a problem in the kitchen. Noticing our drinks were empty, he immediately refreshed them and within a few minutes our entrees arrived!

By this time, we were all so hungry that we devoured our food and I never got a chance to take pictures of them. Both my wife and daughter ordered the “Famous Cobb Salad” with spit-roasted turkey, bacon, egg, tomatoes, blue cheese, avocado, and classic dressing. They very much enjoyed their salads. I, on the other hand, chose the Brown Derby Signature Burger (bacon jam, cheddar, fried egg, and Russian dressing) served with hand-cut fries. Now, surfing the DIS-boards during trip planning, I asked about this burger and several people lamented the departure of the former Derby signature burger and the arrival of this version. Well, I cannot compare the two because I never tried the former, but I can tell you this without hesitation, this burger was excellent! I mean seriously…bacon jam AND Russian dressing!!! And the fries were snappy too!

Dessert also needed to happen. Thankfully, as it was inching closer and closer to park closing, the restaurant started thinning out and the kitchen must have resolved their slowness issue. We wanted to try two things: their also famous Grapefruit Cake and the special 50th Celebration Baked Alaska.





Both arrived quickly (hmmm, go figure), and as you can see in the image above, the Baked Alaska looked like nothing we had ever seen before! I am not really sure what to compare its look to…a dog’s chew toy maybe? A massively enlarged microorganism?! I mean, we’ve had Baked Alaska before, on a Disney Cruise Line Alaska cruise for example, and they’ve always been plated as a slice; nothing like this. Unafraid, we dug in and it was very good as a matter of fact, quite savory, and the accompanying caramelized brownie bites were nice and crispy-ish on the outside while soft and chewy on the inside. The Grapefruit Cake stood in stark contrast; not savory, but tart with a strong grapefruit flavor, especially if you dragged your bite through some of the extra grapefruit syrup drawn on the plate. The vanilla sponge cake itself was soft and fluffy, but I don’t recall the cream cheese frosting offering up much flavor as it was dominated by the grapefruit syrup. Overall, I am glad that we tried it, but I am not sure that we’d get it again based purely on personal taste.

Finally exiting the Derby, now after the official park closing time, there were still quite a few guests walking around. We took this opportunity to head down Sunset Boulevard so that we could get a good view of the Tower of Terror, all lit up for the 50th Celebration:



It didn’t disappoint. The day done, we headed out, found the car and returned to the Polynesian.

Up next…Day 6: Saturday Brunch at Disney Springs & Day 2 at Epcot

 

[gregf71]

Day 6: Saturday Brunch at Disney Springs & Day 2 at Epcot

Today was originally supposed to be a no theme park day; a break day if you will. However, when we were pricing our trip many months back, and realized that the cost of adding one more day of park tickets to our package was insignificant (as in, the more days you add, the “cheaper” they get) it seemed silly not to.

The day would begin with a little extra sack time, getting to sleep in a bit versus real park days, and then moseying over to Disney Springs for brunch at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’, where we had a 10am ADR. Parking in the Orange garage, of course we arrived early, so we took an indirect walking route to the restaurant. Doing so, allowed us to stride by the famed Gideon’s Bakehouse, which already had a line stretching all they way back around the side of the building, all the way across from the entrance to Homecomin’. More to come on Gideon’s!

Seated at an inside table along the window, we had a view of the patio seating and of course the Gideon’s line across the way. Our server was very nice and eager to take care of us. For our drinks, I cannot for the life of me recall what I or our daughter ordered, and that may be because of what my wife chose: Sweet Tea Shine (moonshine that is!):



To say that she liked her “Shine” is an understatement. She loved it, but stated flat out that it was mighty powerful and she was so glad that she ordered the smaller size of the two options. She said laughingly that had she ordered the larger one that we’d most likely need to carry her out!

For our dining pleasure, I was dying to try the Church Lady Deviled Eggs. These were delectable:



As our entrees, my wife and daughter decided to split the Fried Chicken & Doughnuts, two pieces of Chef Art Smith’s famous fried chicken served with house-made sugar doughnuts and choice of a side (they decided to try the cheesy grits per the server’s recommendation); I had to have the Hallelujah Biscuit, an open-faced biscuit topped with his famous fried chicken, two over-easy eggs (I forgot to ask them to cook the yolks for me), pimento cheese, pecan-smoked bacon, all smothered in sawmill gravy. I also chose to add the cheesy grits as my included side.





I don’t believe that mere words can properly describe how amazing this food was! The chicken! Oh, that fried chicken!! My family LOVED their dish, happily sharing the two pieces of chicken and the two doughnuts between them; my wife especially appreciated the grits, but it wasn’t really something that our daughter adored (not for the flavor, but just grits in general). Me? Oh my gosh! The stacked magnificence that lay before me on that plate was phenomenal! Every bite, even with the somewhat runny egg yolk flowing down a bit, was sheer perfection! And even with each mouthful including each and every layer, I could still distinctly taste each one separately. Amazing! And my grits…full of great flavor and a nice texture. Remember how I listed our dinner at Le Cellier Steakhouse as the #3 best meal of our vacation? This one was #2!

Desperately needing to walk off our brunch, we stayed in Disney Springs for the next few hours, reintroducing ourselves to the layout, finding some old favorite locations, and mapping out some new ones that we were eager to visit. Being a Saturday, and now entering early afternoon, the Springs started to become fairly crowded. The World of Disney was a madhouse. We got in there and made the best of it, trying to make our way through all of the people, but in the end, we decided to get the heck out of there, hoping that when we returned to Disney Springs later, on a week night, that the numbers would diminish at least somewhat. We then popped across the way to our absolute favorite location in Disney Springs, the Marketplace Co-Op. Finding a sweet sweatshirt for me, an Orange Bird print for my wife, and a tiara for our daughter (over at Arribas Brothers), we happily made our purchases and then decided that it was time to head over to Epcot for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Arriving at Epcot just before the 2pm window opened up for park hoppers, we watched as many of the morning guests began leaving the park while a contingent of new “hoppers” stood ready to replace them inside. The remainder of our afternoon consisted of attractions (had to do Soarin’ again), shops (including our traditional picture of our daughter with the giant troll statue in Norway), and a Food & Wine item or two to tide us over until our dinner ADR; oh, and I may have gotten another Red Velvet from Rose & Crown (so good!). While in the Living Seas, we happened upon this little one and their Mickey ears:



Dinner tonight was at Chefs de France. Checking in, we ended up having a little bit of a wait, but not bad really. Thankfully, after the sun had set and having a later-ish 8pm ADR, kicking it outside was very comfortable. Finally notified, we found ourselves escorted to a nice table in the very back of the restaurant. Honestly, I was very pleased with this location; during our only other meal here years ago, we were shoe-horned into a table near the entrance and it wasn’t pleasant.

My wife and I both chose the three-course prix-fixe dinner, not really realizing how much food this really was. I mean, seriously, they did not skimp on the portions here! Our daughter, perhaps knowing something that we did not, chose to order an entrée only and later shared a bite or two of mom’s dessert (she is not a fan of my dessert selection).

Appetizers for my wife and I were the Baked Goat Cheese Salad, baked goat cheese with walnuts, grape tomatoes, endives, and mixed greens, and the French Onion Soup topped with gruyere cheese. Both were delicious and abundantly sized. My soup was not particularly photogenic, but my wife’s salad sure was:



As our entrees, I selected the Beef Bourguignon, braised beef in Cabernet with baby onions and carrots and pasta, my wife the Salmon Filet, marinated in white wine and lemon, broiled and served with rice and a Champagne sauce, and our daughter the Beef Filet, served with a green peppercorn sauce, mashed potatoes, and green beans:







All of this was absolutely delicious, but again, so much food! We all did our very best, but I’d be lying if I said that any of us cleaned our respective plates…plus, we had dessert coming! And as I always say, there is always room for Crème Brulee (which I would have happily shared, but the ladies let me enjoy it all by myself, while they finished off most of their Valrhona Chocolate Tarte):



As we rolled ourselves out of Chefs de France, we slowly made our way back around the World Showcase, eventually finding ourselves up front by Spaceship Earth. With little to no line, I asked if we could ride it again and my request was approved. Unfortunately, our travel through time had a few extended stops along the way; nothing requiring an evacuation, but longer than the usual stops allowing for access accommodations. So, we got to enjoy the 70s era computer room for a little while!

Up next…Day 7: Magic Kingdom Day 2 and a Halloween Party!

 

[ZeeWP]

The meals at chef de France... yummm... I wish that was in my plans lol

 

[Paulaparm]

I really want to try Homecomin' this trip! The chicken and donuts looks yummy.

 

[gregf71]

I really want to try Homecomin' this trip! The chicken and donuts looks yummy.

Their chicken was unbelievably great! I hope you get the chance to dine there.

 

[gregf71]

Day 7: Magic Kingdom Day 2 and a Halloween Party! Part 1

Today had the potential to be a very long day…and it was…but we ended up switching things up from our original plans somewhat. Since we were planning a full Magic Kingdom day, we wanted to find breakfast at the resort or nearby. A few weeks beforehand, I managed to score us a breakfast ADR at Steakhouse 71, a nice Monorail ride from the Polynesian. Up and out of our room by 7am, we scurried up to the Monorail station and found ourselves waiting by ourselves for the next train. It was so cool, even with a few others boarding into others sections at the Grand Floridian, to have our own private car!

Arriving at the Contemporary Resort for our 7:30am ADR, we were seated pretty quickly at a table across from some booths. The dining room was only about halfway filled at this time, so they spread everyone out pretty well. A round of hot coffee for the three of us this morning, we ordered as follows: Walt’s Prime Rib Hash (me), Steakhouse 71 Seasonal Pancakes (my wife), and the Avocado Toast (our daughter).







My hash, seared prime rib, fried potatoes, caramelized onions and peppers topped with a fried egg (over-hard at my request of course) was fabulous! I had heard and read very positive reports about this dish ahead of time and they were spot on! Being fall, my wife’s seasonal pancakes were of course pumpkin spice with a side of bacon. She enjoyed them very much. Our daughter’s avocado toast was enjoyed as well, though she plucked some of the micro-greens and the radish slices off the top of them; and wow, those potatoes that accompanied her toast were fantastic (she let me try a couple)!

Overall, this was a splendid meal, but the vibe that the restaurant gave off, at least to me, was more diner than steakhouse. Having enjoyed a few breakfasts and dinners at Steakhouse 55 (RIP) in Disneyland, this space just didn’t reflect the ambiance of a steakhouse. It just wasn’t fancy enough and too bright, if that makes sense.

Since we were at the Contemporary, we simply walked to the Magic Kingdom to begin our theme park day. Being a Sunday morning, we tried to take advantage of the lesser crowds in the morning hours. We hit Tomorrowland immediately, riding Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and the Peoplemover yet again. As the park started to slowly fill up, we made our way across the park, hitting Pirates, Big Thunder, and the Haunted Mansion. Interestingly, while riding Mansion, we experienced a bit of a stoppage while in the cemetery scene, allowing me to take these pictures:





No Jungle Cruise yet on this trip…for some reason the line for it was super long our previous day and already this morning. Alas, we figured that we’d get on it eventually, still having the rest of today, including the Halloween party, and one more Magic Kingdom day at the end of our vacation. And since we were in Adventureland, I simply had to stop by Aloha Isle to get us a Tropical Serenade to share:



Coconut soft-serve and pineapple-orange-guava (POG) juice and an upside-down pineapple cake pop! It was very tasty and very refreshing, but personally I liked the I Lava You Float from the Sunshine Tree Terrace much better. The cake pop was delicious!

Originally, lunch was supposed to be at Sleepy Hollow again or maybe the famous Spring Roll Cart in Adventureland, but the previous night we talked about it and decided to make a little change to the itinerary given our attendance at the Halloween party this evening. Having enjoyed the morning in the park, we headed back to the Polynesian for lunch at Capt. Cook’s. First, we popped up to our room to grab our refillable resort mugs and then I ordered something that I had been dreaming about since our last WDW vacation: their wonderful Pulled Pork Nachos!!! Topped with cheese, spicy mayonnaise, pico de gallo, and pineapple salsa, this thing is one of my absolute favorites!



My wife and daughter, not being very hungry, decided to share the also popular (I hear) Thai Coconut Meatballs (house-made all-beef chili-garlic meatballs cooked in a coconut cream and served over white rice). They enjoyed it very much!



Finishing our scrumptious meal, I then poked my head over to the Pineapple Lanai, where they had lime Dole whip on tap! We simply had to try this…and it was spectacular!!!



Back up to the room, we took a nice, much needed short nap. At the appointed time, we got up and my wife and daughter put on their respective Halloween party outfits (I just had a festive Jack Skellington beer t-shirt) and then we were off to the Magic Kingdom yet again!

Up next…Day 7: Magic Kingdom Day 2 and a Halloween Party! Part 2

 

[purpliequeen]

Great trip report so far. Loving your photos & restaurant reviews. You're making me excited for my trip in a few months!

 

[gregf71]

Great trip report so far. Loving your photos & restaurant reviews. You're making me excited for my trip in a few months!

Thanks! Glad you are enjoying it and finding some useful information. We are about half way done!