Dine with an Imagineer and Epcot
aka, this update fits in one post?
Today was our Dine with an Imagineer day! Originally this was an Epcot day. We had this really ambitious plan to get up and hit Epcot for rope drop, then head over to Hollywood Studios for the lunch.
That didn’t happen.
The late nights and early mornings finally caught up with us, and we just did not want to get up. So we had a lazy morning. Eventually we got up and had breakfast at Contempo Cafe. I don’t remember what Zack had, but there is a good chance we both had:
Mickey was fluffy and delicious, as per usual.
Contempo Cafe: $23 including tax, after saving $4 with APs
Then we headed over to DHS, and must have arrived around 11am or so. We decided we had time to visit the Muppets before lunch.
We checked in at Hollywood Brown Derby. There were a few people waiting in the lobby, which made me suspect they were also there for the lunch. After waiting maybe 10 minutes, we were escorted back to a private room in HBD, where little personalized menus awaited us. I don’t have a photo of that, of course.
Our Imagineer arrived and introduced himself, and I can’t remember his name now! I’ll have to look. He was really nice though. He talked a lot about Kringla Bakery, because he was one of the head people on the expansion they’re working on now. He also talked about his time in the College Program, and that he and his wife’s favorite celebration meal used to be Yachtsman but now it’s Jiko :
At some point, I think when he had us introduce ourselves, he asked about our buttons and we mentioned that we’d been married, you know, 6 days ago… or last Tuesday. So the waiter brought us out champagne and someone offered to take a picture.
The other guests seemed nice. There were two other older couples, if I remember right. Then there was a family with a daughter just slightly younger than Zack and I. They seemed mostly concerned with mentioning they’d been on lots of Disney Cruises, been DVC members for a long time and had lots of points, knowing all of the secrets, and magically loving everything the imagineer did. So… why are you guys here? :
I didn’t take any food photos, but I can tell you this is probably the meal we were most anxious for, food-wise. Even more so than Tiffin’s! Brown Derby got the axe in general looking at the menu. It was a bit too out-there for us.
And then this was one with a pre-set menu. It did have a filet on it, so I figured we’d live. I couldn’t really find any recent ones however to see the starters, desserts, and entree sides...
The first course was a soup. Ours was a cold corn soup with crab meat. It was not our thing. Don’t get me wrong, I love corn. Hot corn. With butter and salt. Or mixed in a meal, or in salsa. Not a cold puree. We couldn’t do it. I felt a little bad when the waiter cleared our bowls because we were the only ones who didn’t finish it
Next up was the famous Cobb Salad. I could have done without the bleu cheese, personally, but I was surprised that I actually liked it. I’m really not much of a salad eater, and always go for ranch dressing. I was even more surprised that Zack reallly disliked the cobb salad :
I believe our entree choices were pretty similar to this:
Charred Filet of Beef - forest mushroom and white truffle oil mashed potatoes, sauteed rainbow carrots, haricot verts, red wine reduction
Vegetarian Pho - ginger-lemon grass broth, mushroom and tofu spring rolls, ginger-soy dipping sauce
Pan-seared Black Grouper - with a half a herb-crusted lobster tail, heirloom tomato, baby spinach, orzo salad, cognac-mushroom beurre blanc
We both went with the filet, which was very good. I’d say this one beat out the one at California Grill.
And for dessert, we got a sampler with a small piece of the famed grapefruit cake and some other s’mores themed dessert that I can’t quite recall. The grapefruit cake was not as bad as I expected but not something I would order again, personally. The s’mores dessert was pretty good I felt. Zack was not a fan of either.
So we had a meal where I enjoyed more things than Zack! That is pretty unusual since I’m the picky eater; typically he likes more or we’re pretty even. Don’t worry, we had another meal on this trip where we completely flipped this experience.
Dine with an Imagineer: $209 including tax and tip
After our lunch, we took the boat over from Epcot. This time we got off at Beach Club and walked :
We picked up a drink to split on our way in, so we could wash away the taste of the cold corn soup!
La Passion Martini Slush - Vodka, Grey Goose Le Citron, Cranberry and Passion Fruit Juice $10.75
It seems we did some exploring in World Showcase.
Look at these adorable owls! They remind me of a cat I picked up in London at the British History Museum.
Rode Test Track, still no photos…
And Spaceship Earth!
I have recently learned this is Space Jesus.
Then we went to Mars.
We had dinner reservations this night, per Zack’s request. I would have been happy with more food booths It was a place you may recognize...
San Angel Inn!
We started with:
Queso Fundido - melted cheese with chorizo, poblano peppers and onions, served with flour tortillas $14
This was good, but not extraordinarily special or anything. A solid start, you can’t go wrong with cheese!
I felt like something a little lighter and some of the entrees weren’t appealing to me as much, so I chose another app as my entree
Tostadas de Pollo - Crispy Corn Tortilla, Smothered with Black Beans, Topped with Chipotle Chicken, Garnished with Crema Mexicana, Queso Fresco, Avocado, and Tomatillo Sauce $12
These were really good, but grab a fork because those tostadas are not holding up
I can’t remember what Zack got, and don’t have a photo either. However, I do have this photo
Does that make up for it?
And after reading so much on here, I couldn’t not get
La Cava Avocado Margarita - tequila casa noble blanco, melon liqueur, fresh avocado, agave nectar, and fresh lime juice, served frozen with hibiscus Himalayan salt rim $14.50
Yum! I usually skip guac and all forms of avocado, but after reading about this thing so many times on the boards I went for it and it was creamy and delicious! Even if the salt made it look like I bled someone out on the tablecloth.
We skipped dessert because we were pretty stuffed, especially for a 6pm dinner after a 3 hour lunch.
San Angel Inn: $65 including tax and tip, after saving $13 with TIW
I think we wandered over to visit Figment after dinner, and then I made Zack wait for some monorails to come by for some photo opportunities.
After we visited the Land pavilion to ride Soarin’, and finally worked up some stomach room for dessert.
But not any old dessert would do, I had something specific in mind which involved traveling most of the way around world showcase.
Croque Glace - Any Flavor Ice Cream, With Choice of Sauce in a Brioche, Pressed Warm $7.04
At this point is was about 15minutes until Illuminations, so we nabbed a table near the rail to enjoy our dessert as we waited for the show.
Show lights!
And it was an excellent position, let me tell you.
I won't torture you with a million photos of our fantastic view...
Good thing we’d already had several good views of the show
And then it was time to join the crowds on the way out. We grabbed a monorail back to the Contemporary because we were fancy monorail resort-ers now!
Food Budget
Budgeted $312
Actual $310
TIW Savings: $13
AP Savings: $4