Delicious Indeed!

[LilAnn]

That mini Mickey bar keychain is so cute! I love getting those for a snack when it's warm out.

Wow, jealous of all of your trips coming up. Definitely looks like you will get use out of the APs.

And it is totally the best when you can just walk in and out of the parks without feeling like you need to be there from start to close. We would usually do a midday break at the pool so that we could go back to the parks for the nighttime parades and shows. Much more relaxing way to tour the parks.

Can't wait to hear about dinner.

 

[wdwgirl03]

YES YES YES, I really want to go to a park every even if we're not staying from morning to night or even if we have more rest time and just people watch with a snack. I'm so excited about that! We're most likely going again in April with my family. Then we'll go in May for our Disneymoon! Then the tentative plan at this point is to go with the same group as this trip in Feburary 2013. Hopefully, that can happen! Then we'll really get use out of our APs. Either that or I'd like to make a quick trip to see Christmas decorations!

Well, if you go in April with your family let me know your dates. Dad and I are going for Easter (4/7-4/14). As for Feb. or Dec., I'd definitely go for a quick Christmas trip! The decorations are AMAZING!!! I'm hoping to go next year after Christmas since I won't be going this December.

 

[RachelNinja]

Well, if you go in April with your family let me know your dates. Dad and I are going for Easter (4/7-4/14). As for Feb. or Dec., I'd definitely go for a quick Christmas trip! The decorations are AMAZING!!! I'm hoping to go next year after Christmas since I won't be going this December.

YAY! If we go, it'd be the Easter week too from the 6th to the 14th!!!

 

[RachelNinja]

Thursday, February 24: Nom-ing, Family Style

After our relaxing day watching movies and going to the pool, we were ready to head out to NOM NOM NOM during our 2nd and only other ADR of this trip - 'Ohana! When we were still in the planning stages, I narrowed down all the restaurants as I mentioned before. In the buffet list, I had Cape May, Trail's End, Boma, and 'Ohana. Dani replied back with this: "Also, can we go to 'Ohana? I've always wanted to visit those restaurants with the meats on the skewers...and the choices sound delicious!" She also said that since Howard and I are slightly allergic to seafood, it wouldn't make sense for us to go to Cape May (I still want to go though! Haha, I'll just bring Benadryl in case!).

Well, 'Ohana it was! We wavered a little because I know there are people who really don't like the food because they think it's too sweet or the experience isn't good. Thankfully, we had a WONDERFUL experience! (Too bad they don't have that scalloped potatoes dish that I remember reading about from a while ago!) Our ADR was at 7:05pm.

We arrived at the gate for the Polynesian at 6:47pm, and we didn't realize that it'd be difficult finding a spot! We circled for a while, but then thankfully one opened up so we knew we wouldn't be late.

It actually took us a while trying to figure out where it was, but we either asked someone or a CM saw how lost we were and directed us, haha. Then we saw the sign that clearly said 'Ohana was upstairs and were like, uh, duh~ haha. I went to the podium to tell them that we were there and that we were a group of 5 instead of 6. They told us it would be a while, so we decided to check out the gift shops since they said the buzzer worked there as well. Smart! I hate it when the buzzers don't work very far at other restaurants when all you want to do is wait outside or wait in the car to sit. This means that we could walk around and explore and SPEND MONEY!

You gotta love the theming of this place. So tropical!

I've seen these guys in pictures many times, so it was cool seeing it myself.

From what I remember, they moved. Am I making that up? So I was a LITTLE bit on the scared side, but I had to take a picture with it because I thought it was so cool how I was standing in a spot where other DISers were! Haha, I really don't know the Disney resorts at all, so it was such a treat!

Um, is that bite supposed to be there? Haha, not the missing piece, the one on the left side.

I really liked this cupcake antenna topper! The frosting looked just so perfect with the bling. Reminded me of crafting. As you can see, I was also starting to get a little chilly too. I really do love being able to have a heavy hoodie on vacation during February!

I love ALL keychains and magnets and sweatshirts that have the logo thingies with the characters making up the letters. I wonder if that sentence made any sense.

Howard took this. Well, he actually took all of these, haha. I didn't take any pictures on Thursday.

There were a lot of cute trinkets to get. I think Nik purchased a bunch of the rubbery things for keys. She was going to give them away as gifts. I had wanted the Nerds lanyard since the night before when I saw it MK, but I decided against it again. What I did purchase was the "Four Parks One World" CD! I was thinking about that for a while, and even though I listen to DIS Radio often, I like having the songs on CD! Even now in the morning, I listen to some of the songs to get me pepped up. The one I listen to in the mornings recently as I get changed is the Splash Mountain song. Love that I have the option of picking which song to listen to (even though it's only about a minute of the actual song before I have to go, haha).

Soon our buzzer went off, and we headed to the podium. The CM asked if it was our first time, and we said yes! Of course, being a DISer, I like that I'm not completely "unprepared" with what to expect. He brought us over to the fire pits and picked up some of the bread. I was excited to give that a try.

We sat next to a tiki column, which I liked because it was somewhat private instead of having tables on both sides of us. We weren't able to see any activities that they had though with the kids, which I guess was also a plus to some degree because I am around kids too often for my job, haha.

We started in on the bread right away, and I have to say that I was NOT a fan. I guess it had coconut or something in it, but it was a flavor I didn't like. The others enjoyed it, but it just wasn't my taste. It wasn't that the bread was bad; I just don't always enjoy those tropical flavors.

Haha, I like that in this picture, you can see that we all Purrell-ed our hands before eating.

The server came by to ask for drink orders, and we all got water except for Nik who ordered a sangria for $8. Wow, expensive. Haha. I don't really ever order drinks because I grew up in a "You drink water and spend money on appetizers instead" house. It was also because my mom knew that if my older brother and I drank juice or soda, we'd be too full to eat our meal. My cousins, however, like other non-water beverages! I think she liked it; I don't really remember otherwise.

Then the food started coming! Let me tell you, I liked EVERYTHING! Okay, maybe I'm lying a little in that I didn't really like the steak, but it wasn't because it was bad. It was just because in general, I'm not a steak-eater. But it all tasted so good! I know others have said that the tastes are a little bit on the sweet side, so that's why there are some who don't like the food there, but we enjoyed it. Maybe we're used to it? Or maybe it's because we were expecting it so it wasn't a surprise?

The salad dressing was delicious! When I saw pictures of it beforehand, I was like, "I love salad, but how good could this salad be?" I mean, you have to admit that it looks pretty boring. But it is not at all boring to the taste buds! We had 3 bowls of this, and if our server came back more often, we probably would have had many more. We'd get the bowl and dish it out since there were 5 of us and need more by the time we placed the empty bowl back on the table! I know the recipe is online somewhere; I should try making it. I don't even remember what it tastes like at this point; I just know it was delectable!

The dumplings were also really good. I think I only ate one of these because I was interested in the other food. The dumpling eaters (like Howard) really enjoyed it though. It was crispier on the outside without being hard, which I was happy about because I had read that there were times that people had really rough and tough dumpling skin. The chicken wings were delicious too! I had more of this instead of the dumplings. The flavor of the chicken was just finger-licking good. I was afraid that it'd be fatty as I had read, but it wasn't at all. It was cooked enough to not really have that "I'm eating chicken skin" kind of feeling that I absolutely hate!

The veggies were refreshing and not overcooked. They were still crunchy but not too crunchy. Of course, I really like any kind of broccoli. Really mushy broccoli is good with lots of garlic, haha. But I like the crunch as well. Strangely, I didn't think the noodles were the greatest thing I had ever eaten, but I just kept eating them anyway! It was good to have a few bites of that in between the meat courses.

Yummy!

It looks like it wouldn't taste sweet, but it is. But like I said, I actually enjoyed all the flavors!

My fingers were covered with that yumminess! I'm usually very NOT into getting my hands dirty, but this was worth it!

Soon the meat began to arrive. It all did come rather quickly, but I liked it that way because I also didn't want to get too full on all the pre-meat things since the meat was the stuff that would make it worth the cost of eating there! I don't know if that makes sense, haha. Well, the only reason I was willing to eat meat was because they had all the sauces! I am a dipping fanatic. I'll eat almost anything as long as I can dip it in something. When we have steak at home, I dip it in salad dressing or even mashed potatoes (we haven't had steak sauce in a while)! Being given 3 different sauces to vary between bites was like, heaven for me! I'm the kind of person who does not want my meat to actually taste like meat, haha.

The strangest thing is that out of the steak, chicken, and pork, my favorite was the PORK! Like I said, I'm not a meat eater, and I don't enjoy steak. But normally I would rather eat steak than pork. I HATE porkchops, and I don't understand why people make things like pork loin. It's usually dry and flavorless. I think the meat is so "compact" (I can't think of any other word!), and it's so unappetizing to me. I get upset when we have porkchops for dinner! I'll eat the bare minimum. Blech. So that's why I was so surprised to actually enjoy the pork SO much! I just slowly cut itty-bitty pieces and dipped dipped dipped!

The steak wasn't worth my time even though everyone else liked it. I gave my piece of steak to Howard, haha. I was just so into that pork!

If I were a meat eater, I would've eaten more, but I think I just had my one and then maybe one more from the server or possibly Howard's? The pieces are pretty small, but it was enough for me.

I STILL to this day compare ALL pork things to 'Ohana.

(continued in next post)

 

[RachelNinja]

(continued from previous post)

I know that if I were to ever go back, it would probably not be the same, and I'll be disappointed! I'll just have to hold on to these memories ... of pork.

What's not pictured is the SHRIMP. That was probably my FAVORITE of the entire meal. I mean, you think I was obsessing about the pork? I was in LOVE with the shrimp! Ray was too. We were the only ones who asked for more, and the guy was going to give us the whole skewer, but we didn't need that many! Haha. That's why my hands were also very dirty, but I was willing to deal with it. Once your fingers got dirty from one shrimp, why not have many more? Yum! The taste from the grill was so delicious! I really need more adjectives to use to describe this food.

We were very content! Well, I surely was. Dani and Nik actually stopped eating before I did and were just picking at things. They got full really quickly, which was surprising because I thought I would've been the first to stop due to not being able to eat much because of health issues. I was worried that I wouldn't get my money's worth, and though I'm sure I didn't eat $36.99 worth of food, I did thoroughly enjoy myself!

I enjoyed myself even more because we had one last bowl of that salad! "Mixed greens with a honey-lime dressing" just doesn't seem to show just how delicious this is.

But then ... oh man, but THEN we moved on to the DESSERT! Of course, this gets rave reviews on DIS, but I was a little apprehensive about it because I don't like bread pudding type desserts, and I am definitely not a fan of bananas in dessert. But one taste definitely showed me why it's so popular.

The combination of the bread pudding with the sauce and a LITTLE bit of ice cream (lactose intolerance and all) went together so perfectly. We also got extra ice cream to go along with it. Dani and Nik were able to eat this dessert despite being full already. There's always room for dessert; I think Nik has a separate stomach made especially for dessert!

I love the little Mickey sprinkles (looking at them, not eating them!).

Beautiful!

Near the end of dinner, Ray said he needed to go to the bathroom. We both have stomach issues, so this wasn't a weird thing as it wasn't new. But he strangely asked Danielle for his wallet (she was carrying it for him in her bag). Well, instead of going to the bathroom, he went back to the shop and bought one more Vinylmation Cutesters for her. Dani had still not yet gotten the s'mores one she was so desperately searching for and asking for in the trade boxes. Well, remember how both of the Rays/Raes were picking out good Vinylmations for their significant others? IT WORKED!

We were so excited that the one he had picked was the last one she needed for the Cutesters that she wanted! We couldn't believe it! What a great surprise!

We also had a great night because we were able to be there during Wishes! Though we didn't have the greatest view, we could see fireworks from where we were sitting as the restaurant lights dimmed and the music was piped in. Ray was really eager to see Wishes again, and that's when he told us that he was definitely a huge fan of Disney BECAUSE of Wishes. Disney just knows how to do things right!

Howard had fun with the sprinkles ... our colors!

I think we finished the bread pudding, but the ice cream wasn't done as it was a lot.

But soon it was time to pay the bill and leave. Howard charged this meal (remember, Dani had charged Cracker Barrel, I had charged Le Cellier, and now Howard charged this one just so that we all wouldn't have crazy high credit card bills).

I was in charge of recording all the money in an email to make sure we paid back the correct amount to the right person, so I still have the records. It was $240.23 total, which was $36.99 per person plus $9.50 in tax and tip (not including Nik's drink). A lot of money for one meal, but it really is about the experience too!

This is when we noticed the tiki column that was right next to Dani. Haha, how interesting!

I wouldn't want to be in this restaurant or this resort by myself at night. Haha, I would've been scared of this tiki statues even before Night at the Museum came out!

So many DISers have taken their picture here, and now I can be counted among them!

Since Kona Cafe was right across the way, I wanted to check that place out too to see what it was all about. I hope to one day go and try the Tuna Oscar with Howard.

I guess it's nice to see that there are places in WDW to get some sort of sushi without having to get a hard-to-get ADR at California Grille or at the Japan pavilion. I wonder just how good it is. Mmm, now I'm thinking about sushi ...

Howard and I love sushi, but we also love California rolls, which don't have any raw fish in them. This is interesting because instead of the imitation crabstick, it's fresh jumbo lump crab! Ooo, that looks interesting. We love the avocado in California rolls.

It's different reading the menu in WDW and reading the menu at home on AllEars, haha. I guess in WDW, you can actually feel as if you have the option of ordering it and eating it!

We ended up doing some more browsing. These shirts remind me of my childhood. My older brother definitely had shirts that had the red on the collar and sleeves!

Don't get into trouble, boys!

Love all the detailing even in shops.

We didn't get to ride the tram this year! Or the previous year, I don't think. I actually kind of miss it a lot! But I guess if we're going to always be hitting it early and/or dropped off by my dad, this isn't going to happen for a while.

Another photo spot for DISers! It really was fun being in the Poly lobby because based on the few pictures that I had seen, I had placed everything in my mind differently.

The Poly was the resort that Howard and I initially wanted to stay in for our honeymoon. We wanted to splurge and enjoy being at a monorail resort and also relax in that atmosphere. We changed our plans when we realized just how much it cost, haha. Plus, they have these whale statue thingies! I don't like whales either! The American Museum of Natural History scares me because of the huge whale hanging from the ceiling (among many other frightening things). Cool thing though is that my grandfather was part of designing how the whale would hang from the ceiling! Even so, they still creep me out.

(continued in next post)

 

[RachelNinja]

(continued from previous post)

This mannequin's eyes are a little wacky ...

Interesting ... haha, Boutiki had really weird decorations.

I finally found a Grumpy shirt for a girl, but it was a sleep shirt! I also didn't want to pay that much for it. Walmart has to totally make a Grumpy t-shirt!

We thought this luggage was cute! I'm not sure if this was before or after we bought Disney luggage online. Yup, we have Disney luggage for our honeymoon!

VERY cute! If I didn't already have a black hoodie (the one I was wearing), I definitely would have wanted one of these! So simple, but I loved them.

This took me by surprise! I was like, huh? Why is that tiki like that? Then I realized there was one on the outside! HAHA.

And here he is on the outside of the building.

Well, we were tired and full and ready to head back to the condo. Once we got in the car, I popped my new CD to listen to on the way home. When we got to the Haunted Mansion song, Nik was like, "Nooo, change it!" Haha, that's just like my mom. We had to skip it. And then the 3 of them gave me a gift for organizing this whole trip ... the Disney nerds pin lanyard! Yay! That was a fun surprise! Even though we didn't hit any of the parks today, it was definitely the perfect day of vacation.

 

[PirateKate]

I love Ohana! The food is so good, but the overall experience is even better. It's such a great place to see Wishes, too.

The Polynesian resort is so beautiful, too. I love spending time there. Staying there would be awesome. Have you all picked a resort for your honeymoon?

 

[RNBelle]

Nice updates!!! Reading about Ohana, I forgot how much I loved it. We only scheduled our trip 5 months out, and by the time I booked EVERY DINNER at Ohana for the whole week was booked!!!! I have been checking last minute for cancellations and there are still none. So jealous-- it looks so yummy!

 

[khertz]

Looks like a great meal at 'Ohana! I would love to eat there for the experience, but I'm such a picky eater, I think all I would eat would be the meat and the dessert. I definitely want to go over to the Polynesian at some point though. It looks like such a pretty resort and we have never been inside! I think for the 2 of us, we'd be better off for breakfast.

 

[Jennifer48]

What a great evening at Poly/Ohana!

You have Disney luggage for your Disneymoon?! How fabulous is that?!

How nice of everyone to get you the nerds lanyard. You have to show us a pic!

 

[RachelNinja]

I love Ohana! The food is so good, but the overall experience is even better. It's such a great place to see Wishes, too.

The Polynesian resort is so beautiful, too. I love spending time there. Staying there would be awesome. Have you all picked a resort for your honeymoon?

It really is a fantastic place! There are way too many places to try though, so I don't know if we'll be heading back there soon.

We're staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge! We're renting points from one of our DIS friends, and we found out that AKL is the cheapest (and it's their home resort too, so we were able to book it earlier). I'm so excited about that! I know it's farther away, but I like that it'll be secluded and have more of a special atmosphere. In reality, AKL is actually very close to the timeshare we stayed. On the map, it's right next to each other (I mean, minus all the trees and land and such, haha).

Nice updates!!! Reading about Ohana, I forgot how much I loved it. We only scheduled our trip 5 months out, and by the time I booked EVERY DINNER at Ohana for the whole week was booked!!!! I have been checking last minute for cancellations and there are still none. So jealous-- it looks so yummy!

Hopefully, you can get a last minute cancellation spot! If not, there are still so many wonderful places to eat, you'll still be having a ton of fun ... AT DISNEY! YAY! I want to finish this TR so that I can start the PTR for the Disneymoon. We need to narrow down all our eating choices! This'll be the one trip that we're eating entirely on property.

Looks like a great meal at 'Ohana! I would love to eat there for the experience, but I'm such a picky eater, I think all I would eat would be the meat and the dessert. I definitely want to go over to the Polynesian at some point though. It looks like such a pretty resort and we have never been inside! I think for the 2 of us, we'd be better off for breakfast.

Mmm, I'd love to have a good breakfast too! I don't know if we'll actually do that though because we can probably just share something and then eat an early lunch. We're not as into breakfast. I do, however, really want to try Boma during breakfast!

What a great evening at Poly/Ohana!

You have Disney luggage for your Disneymoon?! How fabulous is that?!

How nice of everyone to get you the nerds lanyard. You have to show us a pic!

It was a wonderful evening! Lots of fun, and it was nice to have some Disney without actually being in a park.

Yup, we bought luggage when there was a huge sale with free shipping! It's one big rolling suitcase, one smaller one, and then a carry-on bag. It's black, but it has Mickey on it, of course! Neither of us own any luggage (we have duffels), so we might as well buy luggage for our Disneymoon!

I'll post a pic of the lanyard soon! I took a picture of it the following day.

 

[Nermel9]

OMG I love 'Ohana! I could seriously eat the noodles and the bread pudding for the rest of my life!

I love the Poly, it's so beautiful, so much fun to explore! I definitely need to stay there someday, but I wish they would refurb the rooms a little. It also kind of annoys me that there is no hot tub there...I don't use the hot tub very much, but I feel like, if you're a deluxe monorail resort, you should really have a hot tub!

 

[RachelNinja]

OMG I love 'Ohana! I could seriously eat the noodles and the bread pudding for the rest of my life!

I love the Poly, it's so beautiful, so much fun to explore! I definitely need to stay there someday, but I wish they would refurb the rooms a little. It also kind of annoys me that there is no hot tub there...I don't use the hot tub very much, but I feel like, if you're a deluxe monorail resort, you should really have a hot tub!

I'm so hungry now just thinking about all that food!

Yeah, the cost of the Poly is astronomical! I couldn't believe it when we were comparing costs of the resorts. We really thought we'd be able to stay at one of the monorail resorts and say that it's the ONE time in our life that we can "justify" the cost since it's our Disneymoon, but we just couldn't do it!

 

[RachelNinja]

Friday, February 25: Have Fun, Kids!

Friday was the day that we had plans to split up. Dani, Ray, and Nik were going to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and Howard and I were going to Animal Kingdom. Howard and I knew that if we didn't feel like heading to the park, we wouldn't. Since we have tickets with the no expiration on them, we had that option.

Sidenote: I know there are many out there that don't think the no expiration option isn't a good one (ex. The Unofficial Guide). It really works for my family because we don't have our set in stone park days. Plus, my health is always wavering, so buying a certain number of days for the length of our stay would be crazy considering things can change at any moment for me. There was one vacation where I went to Magic Kingdom, fainted, and returned back to the timeshare only to be sick for the rest of the vacation (and on the ride home from Florida to New York!). That's why the no expiration works for us. We spend as much time as we can in a park on a day without hopping, and we feel we get our money's worth without stressing about losing any of our days.

The 3 of them got ready, and Howard and I figured we'd drop them off at Universal and then return to the timeshare to make our decision since they wanted to be there early to avoid crowds. This is how I get ready. HAHA, kidding.

Getting in the car!

Thankfully, we had the GPS for directions because we would've really gotten lost! Haha, it wasn't like Disney being so close and having all those signs! We told the guy at the gate that we were dropping them off, and he asked how many were staying. That was interesting. I guess they wanted an idea of how many people would be there in the park? Well, we pulled around and told the kids to have fun and take care of each other!

Bye! Go say hi to Harry for us!

Another random note ... now that I've watched the first 6 movies (this Saturday, I'm hoping to watch the last 2 with Howard because we now have all of them on blu-ray/DVD because Target had a $10 sale recently) and am in the middle of reading the 5th book (Order of the Phoenix - can I just say I can't say Umbridge?!?), I can't believe I missed the opportunity to visit WWOHP! I'd LOVE to see it now!!! Oh well ... maybe years down the road, another opportunity will come up (if we're willing to spend the money on those one-day tickets!).

We drove off the property and I took random pictures of things I recognized in DISers pictures!

This is NOT my kind of ride!

Of course, driving back to the timeshare, I see a Michaels! Haha, I spotted it immediately, but we didn't stop. I have 2 Michaels near me as well as an AC Moore and a Joann, so thankfully, my craft stores are easily accessible.

During the ride, we discussed whether or not we were going to go to Animal Kingdom. My stomach was bothering me a bit, so I knew I'd have to go back to the timeshare first if we were planning on going. We talked about how WWOHP was actually closing the same time as AK or something like that, so we might not be able to stay for as long as we would've liked. We wanted to make sure we got our money's worth from our ticket. We went back and forth about it because we love being in the parks by ourselves, but I guess we were pretty tired and not prepared to go so we scrapped the AK plans and decided to just hang out at the timeshare. To relax, we wanted to have a good breakfast, so we decided to go back to Cracker Barrel for the second time during that trip! Yay!

 

[wingedjojo]

YAY!!! Harry Potter-land! Are you going to be writing about their time there too?

And Boo about your stomach but at least you got to take it easy.

Waiting for more!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Lately we've been getting the no-expiration tickets too. Since our trips aren't for very long we're able to get the 10 day hoppers and use them for a couple of trips!

OMG, I cannot stand Umbridge! She is one of the most annoying HP characters. I remember reading Order of the Phoenix and hating her. The movie was on TV the other day and I really hate the part where she has Harry writing lines. Ugh! Anyway...now that you've read the books I bet you'd appreciate WWOHP a lot more. Hopefully some day you'll get to visit because it is amazing! And they just announced they are going to expand it!

 

[Jennifer48]

I can't wait to get to WWoHP myself! I just read that they are going to expand it so maybe I'll wait until that is finished.

Sounds like the non-expiration tickets are a good fit for you and your family.

Mmm Cracker Barrel!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I'm back from WDW and loved your last update! We went to Universal two days during our last trip (we bought 3-day passes that can be used until the end of 2013 [or maybe 2014? I can't remember...] from Costco for $139) and I hung out with my parents while my brother and boyfriend went on all the rides . I still really enjoyed myself, I especially liked just walking through the castle. There was only a 5 minute wait on Forbidden Journey (which I didn't ride because I forgot my motion sickness pills ) so we got to really take our time in the castle.

Sometimes I love days that I plan to do a park that end up being relax days! I can't wait to hear about the rest of your day!

 

[PirateKate]

AK would have been fun, but with no expiration tickets, it would be hard to decide to use one. I bet you all had a fun day anyway.

AKL sounds perfect for a honeymoon!

 

[Bridora]

I hope you do get a chance to go see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I think you would love walking around the place! We just went back in May and loved it!

I'm glad you had those no expiration tickets; it's nice to know you're not "wasting" a day if you don't feel like going to a park.