honeybee30
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2006
- Messages
- 998
Having slept roughly 18 hours the day before, we woke up feeling better, not way better or even much better, but a little better. Better enough to haul our collective booties to the Poly for breakfast at Kona Cafe at the very least.
DGF wanted Tonga Toast, and who can blame her? So we called Disney Dining a few days earlier and made an ADR for around 8am. Theoretically, you could experience WDW this way, i.e. fly by the seat of your pants ADR-wise and wait to see what’s available while you’re there. That way you wouldn’t have to plan your meals so far in advance. I, on the other hand, could not do it that way because I am a control freak.
One time per trip, ok. More than that and we’re getting into nervous twitch territory. 
A quick spin in the Doom Buggy later and we were there! (The Poly, not insanity…not yet, anyway.) Ahh, the Poly. So tropical. So relaxing. So Brady circa 1972. I can’t wait to stay there in August!
And I love me some Kona, especially the coffee!
Dude! Some guy messed up my signage!
This place is actually pretty quiet early on. I bet itzazu between 9 & 10am, though.
Here we have the ever-tasty, though hard to pronounce, Lilikoi juice, featuring a blend of passion fruit, orange and guava. But most importantly, behold the French press pot of 100% Kona coffee. Finally! Coffee that somewhat resembles the high-test that gets us going every morning at home.
We both ordered Tonga Toast for breakfast, which is described as banana stuffed sourdough bread, rolled in cinnamon sugar and served with strawberry compote and a pork product of your choosing. We both got bacon.
This probably goes without saying, but really, really, really good! Fried and bread are the key words here. Banana, strawberry, and cinnamon sugar give the fried bread a breakfasty vibe, which works out pretty well.
Blood sugar elevated and arteries sufficiently clogged, we monorailed it on over to Epcot. Soarin’ was the first thing on the agenda for the morning, but by the time we got to the Land pavilion (at like 9:15, I might add), there was a line 10 deep at every FP machine and an hour long stand by wait. This is the slow season, folks. Didn’t anybody get the memo? Grumpy, but undeterred, I sent my brave little toaster into the fray to procure FPs, while I waited off to the side. Fortuitously, I positioned myself in the general vicinity of a CM who was looking for a Soarin’ family of the day. And she chose us to bestow this privilege upon!
We didn’t even have kids or matching T-shirts or anything!
Look, we got a certificate!
Plus we didn’t have to wait in line, we walked backstage and went in through the classified entrance, we got to wait in the Johnny Depp holding area (at least that is who I imagined waiting in there - it's how they discretely slip VIPs onto the ride), and we were seated front row, center! Thank you, Disney gods! Thank you!
It was a really cool experience!
Still basking in the glow of our Soarin’ victory, we rode some more stuff and then headed over to the France pavilion when lunchtime rolled around for our noon ADR at Chefs.
An attempted artsy-fartsy fountain pic:
DGF’s “I’m annoyed with you” face:
Shum shuper shinage:
Our table with a side view of Morocco:
To drink, we both ordered Kir Royales. This is one of my favorite champagne cocktails, of which there are many!
It is mixed with Crème de Cassis, which is a currant liqueur, and it is just fabulous! It really sweetens up dry champagnes.
For lunch, we both ordered the French Menu, which is prix fixe and begins with Soupe a l' oignon gratinee, ou en Anglais, onion soup topped with Gruyere cheese.
We both love this soup. It’s a lovely, rich consommé with lots of stringy cheese. Yum!
The soup is followed by a toasted ham and cheese sandwich with a green salad, or in French, Croque monsieur et sa salade verte.
It might underwhelm some, but I’m the queen of grilled cheese, so I found it to be pretty satisfying. Commensurately crispy and gooey where appropriate.
For dessert, vanilla crème brulee and a Madeleine. Delicious in any language.
And coffee, but of course…
As we were exiting Chefs de France who should we see but Samantha Brown filming a special for the Travel Channel:
It’s a semi-celebrity sighting!
She enjoys the alcoholic slushies, too!
Take after take after take…. Does that make her a slushaholic, like us?!
After our brush with fame at Epcot, we were sleepy and still not feeling up to par health-wise, so we went back to the room for a nap. Dinner was at California Grill much later that night. All we could get was a 9:10pm ADR, but that was ok because we got a redo of our favorite restaurant at Disney and a nice long rest!
Saturday must’ve been our lucky day because not only did we get a certificate and see a sort-of-celebrity but we also got an amazing table at Cali Grill! A completely unsolicited window seat with a perfect view of MK! No request, no special occasion brouhaha, just dumb luck! Once again, we received stellar service from both host and server. And the food was wonderful as always. We’ve never had a bad experience here (I hope I don’t jinx myself!), and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
This time I went with a flatbread for my appetizer:
I can’t remember what all was on it and it’s not on the menu anymore, but I do remember it was insane! I think I recall thinly sliced steak, creamed spinach, and mushrooms….
DGF revisited her sushi appetizer from the other night and ordered a Shrimp Tempura roll:
Always a treat!
For our entree, we both got the Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta, Cremini Mushrooms, Zinfandel Glaze, and Sage:
This is my favorite dish at Cali Grill and perhaps in all of WDW. The pork was juicy and flavorful (no mean feat) and the polenta was rich and goat cheesy and heavenly!
I’m certain we refrained from dessert that night (too full, I guess), but we did get yet another wonderful view of the fireworks, and we didn’t even have to leave the table!
DGF wanted Tonga Toast, and who can blame her? So we called Disney Dining a few days earlier and made an ADR for around 8am. Theoretically, you could experience WDW this way, i.e. fly by the seat of your pants ADR-wise and wait to see what’s available while you’re there. That way you wouldn’t have to plan your meals so far in advance. I, on the other hand, could not do it that way because I am a control freak.
One time per trip, ok. More than that and we’re getting into nervous twitch territory. A quick spin in the Doom Buggy later and we were there! (The Poly, not insanity…not yet, anyway.) Ahh, the Poly. So tropical. So relaxing. So Brady circa 1972. I can’t wait to stay there in August!
And I love me some Kona, especially the coffee!Dude! Some guy messed up my signage!
This place is actually pretty quiet early on. I bet itzazu between 9 & 10am, though.
Here we have the ever-tasty, though hard to pronounce, Lilikoi juice, featuring a blend of passion fruit, orange and guava. But most importantly, behold the French press pot of 100% Kona coffee. Finally! Coffee that somewhat resembles the high-test that gets us going every morning at home.
We both ordered Tonga Toast for breakfast, which is described as banana stuffed sourdough bread, rolled in cinnamon sugar and served with strawberry compote and a pork product of your choosing. We both got bacon.
This probably goes without saying, but really, really, really good! Fried and bread are the key words here. Banana, strawberry, and cinnamon sugar give the fried bread a breakfasty vibe, which works out pretty well.
Blood sugar elevated and arteries sufficiently clogged, we monorailed it on over to Epcot. Soarin’ was the first thing on the agenda for the morning, but by the time we got to the Land pavilion (at like 9:15, I might add), there was a line 10 deep at every FP machine and an hour long stand by wait. This is the slow season, folks. Didn’t anybody get the memo? Grumpy, but undeterred, I sent my brave little toaster into the fray to procure FPs, while I waited off to the side. Fortuitously, I positioned myself in the general vicinity of a CM who was looking for a Soarin’ family of the day. And she chose us to bestow this privilege upon!
We didn’t even have kids or matching T-shirts or anything!Look, we got a certificate!
Plus we didn’t have to wait in line, we walked backstage and went in through the classified entrance, we got to wait in the Johnny Depp holding area (at least that is who I imagined waiting in there - it's how they discretely slip VIPs onto the ride), and we were seated front row, center! Thank you, Disney gods! Thank you!
It was a really cool experience!Still basking in the glow of our Soarin’ victory, we rode some more stuff and then headed over to the France pavilion when lunchtime rolled around for our noon ADR at Chefs.
An attempted artsy-fartsy fountain pic:
DGF’s “I’m annoyed with you” face:
Shum shuper shinage:
Our table with a side view of Morocco:
To drink, we both ordered Kir Royales. This is one of my favorite champagne cocktails, of which there are many!
It is mixed with Crème de Cassis, which is a currant liqueur, and it is just fabulous! It really sweetens up dry champagnes.
For lunch, we both ordered the French Menu, which is prix fixe and begins with Soupe a l' oignon gratinee, ou en Anglais, onion soup topped with Gruyere cheese.
We both love this soup. It’s a lovely, rich consommé with lots of stringy cheese. Yum!
The soup is followed by a toasted ham and cheese sandwich with a green salad, or in French, Croque monsieur et sa salade verte.
It might underwhelm some, but I’m the queen of grilled cheese, so I found it to be pretty satisfying. Commensurately crispy and gooey where appropriate.
For dessert, vanilla crème brulee and a Madeleine. Delicious in any language.
And coffee, but of course…
As we were exiting Chefs de France who should we see but Samantha Brown filming a special for the Travel Channel:
It’s a semi-celebrity sighting!
She enjoys the alcoholic slushies, too!
Take after take after take…. Does that make her a slushaholic, like us?!
After our brush with fame at Epcot, we were sleepy and still not feeling up to par health-wise, so we went back to the room for a nap. Dinner was at California Grill much later that night. All we could get was a 9:10pm ADR, but that was ok because we got a redo of our favorite restaurant at Disney and a nice long rest!
Saturday must’ve been our lucky day because not only did we get a certificate and see a sort-of-celebrity but we also got an amazing table at Cali Grill! A completely unsolicited window seat with a perfect view of MK! No request, no special occasion brouhaha, just dumb luck! Once again, we received stellar service from both host and server. And the food was wonderful as always. We’ve never had a bad experience here (I hope I don’t jinx myself!), and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
This time I went with a flatbread for my appetizer:
I can’t remember what all was on it and it’s not on the menu anymore, but I do remember it was insane! I think I recall thinly sliced steak, creamed spinach, and mushrooms….
DGF revisited her sushi appetizer from the other night and ordered a Shrimp Tempura roll:
Always a treat!
For our entree, we both got the Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta, Cremini Mushrooms, Zinfandel Glaze, and Sage:
This is my favorite dish at Cali Grill and perhaps in all of WDW. The pork was juicy and flavorful (no mean feat) and the polenta was rich and goat cheesy and heavenly!
I’m certain we refrained from dessert that night (too full, I guess), but we did get yet another wonderful view of the fireworks, and we didn’t even have to leave the table!
Great report and I am totally subsrcibing. 
It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who didn't go away for the holiday weekend. 
and YES Samantha is a slushaholic like us, obviously!!!!
I can really relate to being sick at WDW. My DD & I both had the flu when we went in December.
Great foodie report. You have inspired me to drink a little more around the world
I want pics....
Otherwise definitely! I'd match ya mai-tai for mai-tai! 
When, when?
This is our first baby and we're so excited 
Glad to hear you were a little better the next day - and family of the day on Soarin', very cool.
