Kimosabe
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2012
- Messages
- 1,557
Our 10-year old daughter shares the dream of many kids (and adults) of one day working at Animal Kingdom as a vet. So for Christmas this past year, we got her and our other daughter an animal-focused Disney World trip. To be fair, my wife and I both wanted to try out a couple of things, too, but it seemed like a good "gift" to the girls anyway! In addition to staying at AKL in a Savannah-view room (which we had done before and loved), we told them we were going to do the Wild Africa Trek as well as the "Dine with an Animal Specialist" at Sanaa. Both were incredible, and I'll focus here on the lunch.
I opted against photographing every last thing that was brought to us, as there are already plenty of photos available out on the web (and maybe on this site) for Sanaa, and the food is generally the same that you would get if you just made a separate ADR for lunch.
The lunch can include up to 12 people. We had six of the 12 in our own group, so we were well-represented at the table, which was indeed filled to the max, as we discovered in the weeks leading to the lunch, as we tried to add one more person to the group, but were told we could not. Tip No. 1 - do not wait to the last minute to book this. There might be something available, but do not count on it if you really want to do this. We booked our group a couple of months in advance, but I wouldn't wait much longer than that.
I have drawn a blank on our animal specialist's name, but she was pretty great. She gave us her own history of her experience, which included roughly 25 years of zookeeping. When our 10-year old pointed out that she wanted to be a vet there, our specialist pointed out that she was actually not a vet, but a "keeper." Big difference, apparently, and she said that not a lot of people have the heart to actually be a vet. The keepers have the day-to-day interaction with the animals, but the vets' time tends to be needed more when something has gone wrong, which she said can be pretty sad for the vets. That's an overgeneralization, but it was an interesting point nonetheless. Our 10-year old had spent some quality time over the day or two before our lunch writing down questions, so she kept peppering our specialist, which both of them seemed to enjoy.
Tip No. 2 - make sure that if you are taking kids to this lunch, they are actually interested in the subject matter. Ours were very much interested, but there were some other kids at the table who seemed pretty bored for the whole time we were there. Frankly, you're eating at Sanaa, which has a unique flavor profile already that might not appeal to kids. So between that and the subject matter, it could be a very long couple of hours for younger kids. Tip No. 3 - do not plan anything immediately after your lunch -- you don't want to have to rush out. We had originally planned a 2:30 Wild Africa Trek right after the 12:00 lunch, but thankfully realized that this would be an incredible rush out of lunch and back to DAK, so we switched the Trek to a different day. It was a pretty solid two hours for lunch, ending with a visit outside to help "train" the big turtles, so you don't want to have to miss that just so you can make it back to a FastPass.
Back to the lunch...our specialist was extremely friendly and welcomed any and all questions, but was very much equipped with her own story to avoid too many awkward silences. Our table was off to the side by a window, so we were not planted right in the middle of a noisy restaurant, although I happened to be seated near the end of the table closest to the rest of the restaurant, so it was actually a little loud for me. Tip No. 4 - get there a few minutes early, figure out where the table will be, and sit at the other end, away from the rest of the restaurant - ha!
We were assigned one primary server for the table. He did have assistance from others as drinks and food were delivered/presented, so it wasn't just one guy for up to 13 people (specialist and guests), but more like he was the head server for a little team. He hung around throughout most of the lunch so that if anybody needed something, he was ready and able to get it. He also chimed in occasionally on stories. As various courses were delivered, the chef (with a blue name tag...which, as I recall, means that she had to do something really important or was otherwise highly respected by the company) would come out and describe the food.
We started out with the Sanaa bread service, which was na'an bread (two or three versions, already cut into easy-to-pick-up pieces so that you're not having to tear a full piece and then share with people outside of your own family/group). They also provided us with all nine of the sauces, schmears, toppings, etc., ranging from a very mild cucumber sauce to some rather spicy pickled jalapenos...and lots of good options in between. If and when we go back to Sanaa on our own, we'll be getting this again, without a doubt.
We then got the salad sampler, including a chick pea salad, a watermelon salad and another one that was the best of the three to me, as it had a little spice to it. I have looked back on the Sanaa menu, and it looks like this is the same sampler that is always available. I enjoyed all three and finished them, although (back to the kids' enjoyment tip above) my girls were not particularly excited about any of them.
The entrée was the standard Sanaa "pick two with rice" option...although they had already picked the two for us, and served them with the basmati rice. On this particular day (which seems standard, based on other reviews I have seen), we had the butter chicken and a seafood curry, and both were outstanding. I love chicken, but tend to be more adventurous when dining out, so I'm not sure I would have ever chosen the butter chicken from a menu. However, I would most certainly eat it again. The sauce was very similar to a vodka sauce in an Italian restaurant, but much deeper and richer. (Most of it found its way into my belly, while just a bit found its way to the front of my white shirt, of course.) The seafood was also quite nice, but my wife and daughters are not big fans of seafood, so much of theirs went uneaten (and at this point, I was so full of bread and the other items already served that I couldn't do my usual "clean up" of their remains!). I have read that if you have allergies or other food concerns, you can tell them in advance and they will plan accordingly for you, but in this case, it wasn't so much an allergy as just not being particularly fond of seafood. I suspect they would have accommodated a change requested in advance, but we didn't make the request and life moved on just fine.
Dessert was another sampler, again found on the usual Sanaa menu. A banana cheesecake, a chocolate pyramid and what was effectively the "ice cream of the day" (although it was many steps above just "ice cream"...really, really good).
In short (too late), the meal is not unique to this event -- i.e., they aren't making anything "special" that you can't otherwise get on the usual Sanaa menu -- but it was a very nice variety of tastes and all really good. It was definitely enough for us to send Sanaa to the top of our short list for our next trip to WDW.
As noted above, when everyone had eaten to their heart's content and had asked all the questions they could dream up, we went outside to meet a couple of turtles. The specialist said we would be helping train them. Well, the turtles were not in the mood to be trained, so that was sort of a bust, but it was still a chance for the kids in the group to offer to help and get involved.
All in all, it was well worth the $50-ish per person that we paid, as it was a solid two hours of "edutainment" with more food than a normal human should reasonably consume in a two hour period (but I did my part and ate it all!). The meal price includes nonalcoholic drinks, bread service, appetizers, entrée and desserts, a $5 donation to the conservation fund, and gratuity (i.e., no need to add gratuity at the end -- you have paid in advance for this, so there is never a bill presented to you, unless you wanted to order beer, wine, etc., in addition). As I understand it, there are different keepers who do these lunches from week to week, so I suppose you could do it again and again and have a different experience, assuming you didn't stumble across the same specialist. But whether we do this lunch again or not, we'll definitely be back to Sanaa.
I opted against photographing every last thing that was brought to us, as there are already plenty of photos available out on the web (and maybe on this site) for Sanaa, and the food is generally the same that you would get if you just made a separate ADR for lunch.
The lunch can include up to 12 people. We had six of the 12 in our own group, so we were well-represented at the table, which was indeed filled to the max, as we discovered in the weeks leading to the lunch, as we tried to add one more person to the group, but were told we could not. Tip No. 1 - do not wait to the last minute to book this. There might be something available, but do not count on it if you really want to do this. We booked our group a couple of months in advance, but I wouldn't wait much longer than that.
I have drawn a blank on our animal specialist's name, but she was pretty great. She gave us her own history of her experience, which included roughly 25 years of zookeeping. When our 10-year old pointed out that she wanted to be a vet there, our specialist pointed out that she was actually not a vet, but a "keeper." Big difference, apparently, and she said that not a lot of people have the heart to actually be a vet. The keepers have the day-to-day interaction with the animals, but the vets' time tends to be needed more when something has gone wrong, which she said can be pretty sad for the vets. That's an overgeneralization, but it was an interesting point nonetheless. Our 10-year old had spent some quality time over the day or two before our lunch writing down questions, so she kept peppering our specialist, which both of them seemed to enjoy.
Tip No. 2 - make sure that if you are taking kids to this lunch, they are actually interested in the subject matter. Ours were very much interested, but there were some other kids at the table who seemed pretty bored for the whole time we were there. Frankly, you're eating at Sanaa, which has a unique flavor profile already that might not appeal to kids. So between that and the subject matter, it could be a very long couple of hours for younger kids. Tip No. 3 - do not plan anything immediately after your lunch -- you don't want to have to rush out. We had originally planned a 2:30 Wild Africa Trek right after the 12:00 lunch, but thankfully realized that this would be an incredible rush out of lunch and back to DAK, so we switched the Trek to a different day. It was a pretty solid two hours for lunch, ending with a visit outside to help "train" the big turtles, so you don't want to have to miss that just so you can make it back to a FastPass.
Back to the lunch...our specialist was extremely friendly and welcomed any and all questions, but was very much equipped with her own story to avoid too many awkward silences. Our table was off to the side by a window, so we were not planted right in the middle of a noisy restaurant, although I happened to be seated near the end of the table closest to the rest of the restaurant, so it was actually a little loud for me. Tip No. 4 - get there a few minutes early, figure out where the table will be, and sit at the other end, away from the rest of the restaurant - ha!
We were assigned one primary server for the table. He did have assistance from others as drinks and food were delivered/presented, so it wasn't just one guy for up to 13 people (specialist and guests), but more like he was the head server for a little team. He hung around throughout most of the lunch so that if anybody needed something, he was ready and able to get it. He also chimed in occasionally on stories. As various courses were delivered, the chef (with a blue name tag...which, as I recall, means that she had to do something really important or was otherwise highly respected by the company) would come out and describe the food.
We started out with the Sanaa bread service, which was na'an bread (two or three versions, already cut into easy-to-pick-up pieces so that you're not having to tear a full piece and then share with people outside of your own family/group). They also provided us with all nine of the sauces, schmears, toppings, etc., ranging from a very mild cucumber sauce to some rather spicy pickled jalapenos...and lots of good options in between. If and when we go back to Sanaa on our own, we'll be getting this again, without a doubt.
We then got the salad sampler, including a chick pea salad, a watermelon salad and another one that was the best of the three to me, as it had a little spice to it. I have looked back on the Sanaa menu, and it looks like this is the same sampler that is always available. I enjoyed all three and finished them, although (back to the kids' enjoyment tip above) my girls were not particularly excited about any of them.
The entrée was the standard Sanaa "pick two with rice" option...although they had already picked the two for us, and served them with the basmati rice. On this particular day (which seems standard, based on other reviews I have seen), we had the butter chicken and a seafood curry, and both were outstanding. I love chicken, but tend to be more adventurous when dining out, so I'm not sure I would have ever chosen the butter chicken from a menu. However, I would most certainly eat it again. The sauce was very similar to a vodka sauce in an Italian restaurant, but much deeper and richer. (Most of it found its way into my belly, while just a bit found its way to the front of my white shirt, of course.) The seafood was also quite nice, but my wife and daughters are not big fans of seafood, so much of theirs went uneaten (and at this point, I was so full of bread and the other items already served that I couldn't do my usual "clean up" of their remains!). I have read that if you have allergies or other food concerns, you can tell them in advance and they will plan accordingly for you, but in this case, it wasn't so much an allergy as just not being particularly fond of seafood. I suspect they would have accommodated a change requested in advance, but we didn't make the request and life moved on just fine.
Dessert was another sampler, again found on the usual Sanaa menu. A banana cheesecake, a chocolate pyramid and what was effectively the "ice cream of the day" (although it was many steps above just "ice cream"...really, really good).
In short (too late), the meal is not unique to this event -- i.e., they aren't making anything "special" that you can't otherwise get on the usual Sanaa menu -- but it was a very nice variety of tastes and all really good. It was definitely enough for us to send Sanaa to the top of our short list for our next trip to WDW.
As noted above, when everyone had eaten to their heart's content and had asked all the questions they could dream up, we went outside to meet a couple of turtles. The specialist said we would be helping train them. Well, the turtles were not in the mood to be trained, so that was sort of a bust, but it was still a chance for the kids in the group to offer to help and get involved.
All in all, it was well worth the $50-ish per person that we paid, as it was a solid two hours of "edutainment" with more food than a normal human should reasonably consume in a two hour period (but I did my part and ate it all!). The meal price includes nonalcoholic drinks, bread service, appetizers, entrée and desserts, a $5 donation to the conservation fund, and gratuity (i.e., no need to add gratuity at the end -- you have paid in advance for this, so there is never a bill presented to you, unless you wanted to order beer, wine, etc., in addition). As I understand it, there are different keepers who do these lunches from week to week, so I suppose you could do it again and again and have a different experience, assuming you didn't stumble across the same specialist. But whether we do this lunch again or not, we'll definitely be back to Sanaa.
