Has anyWine seen my Poutine? A friendly January 2020 dining report * The Plaza Part 2 4/24**

[Raeven]

Ugh so sorry, I hope you can take advantage of the new unemployment deal that's out now. My oldest stepson is also laid off for now; I hope you go back soon! Is Josh working?

I’ll have to see, they gave us the option to use some of our vacation time so I haven’t had to apply for unemployment yet. We’re supposed to hear something by the end of this week, but I’m not sure what that means. He works for the town so he’s on call, but they’ve been keeping them home (aside from the day it snowed). Because he works for the town & their pay is part of the town’s budget we don’t really have to worry about his job.

Yes it is!! When will you be using it?

Well I was going to use it for the trip we were planning to take in April, but we cancelled that so it’ll have to wait till we go in September. We’re going mostly for HHN, but there’ll be a few Disney days too.

 

[Tracy161]

LMAO! Well I do feel better if the kids eat dough that is "certified" edible

I suppose if I was responsible for other humans I'd probably do the same!

Then we watched "11-22-63" which is an 8 part series based on a book by Stephen King and it's the day Kennedy was shot. The book was amazing and the show was SO good

Oooh, I forgot about the Kennedy show - thank you!

I think we need to watch Tiger King...............

I just started this one myself. It's surprisingly good... or maybe that's just the quarantine talking...

It's only an hour and 26 minutes away so I can handle it!

YAY!!! Even better! I went to a college about that far away from home and it was PERFECT! You have a chance to have some independence, but can go home for the weekend whenever you feel like it

Work is not fun and down right scary!

Thank you, Caroline, for all that you do. I can imagine it's a very scary place right now. I just signed up to start volunteering to cut fabric for mask production for my local hospital. You (and some other wonderful Disers) are among the people I had in mind when I signed up

 

[DLo]

I have Sept 13-19 at your fave WL. So we won’t be there at the same time but hopefully we will both get out trips in

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Yeah but I just realized now that we're shut down through the 30th my April 18th hair appt. isn't happening! And that's when I get my eyebrows done too so I will not be looking too swift in another few weeks

I get you sister. My third hair app was just canceled as well and rescheduled for May 8th. I am going to be scary!!!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

I do watch Cuomo every other day though and I agree I have been quite impressed with him - even though the other day he referred to everything north of Westchester as upstate I will forgive him! I think he'd doing a great job and even when he's presenting the stark and realistic facts he somehow makes me feel there's is a light to be seen at the end of this tunnel.

I have been impressed with Cuomo, too. The situation in NYC is very scary and he has an extremely hard job. I hope he stays healthy.

I've been very pleased with the Mayor of Chicago and the governor for how they are handling things in Illinois. We are taking social distancing seriously in our house.

 

[LeeLee'sMom]

Looks wonderful, especially w/o the boys in the way

 

[ariane37]

Let's jump right back into Topolino's shall we?

We met Daisy early on and then got with ordering! No alcohol this morning, I knew there would be plenty that night and just wanted a simple soda today




My soda and water (cappucino not pictured) between the juice they give you which I can only guess is POG? Honestly I'm not sure because I myself don't like POG juice so I really didn't pay attention! They also have the restaurant name on napkins which remind me of some signatures like Narcoossees (used to) and CG




As we were ordering/hanging out the characters started coming in and did little "dances" intros. Hi Donald!



Yup I see you Mickey!



About this time we got our pastry pail! It's so cute; as you see Mickey is an artist/painter so this is his paint bucket with paint dripping over the side. Other tables' pails had different colors like yellow and orange:



In here we had choc chip muffins, croissants, that powder covered thing with the lines, and Epi Bread:



The 3 dipping sauces were honey butter, chocolate hazelnut spread and a house made jam. The bread was like a baguette; the powdered sugar pastry was really good and the muffins were decent but looked really cute:



Steve tried a croissant and enjoyed it with some honey butter. We didn't wait too long for our entrees to come, I went pretty breakfast traditional with this:

Sour Cream Waffle
Roasted Apple, Chantilly, Orange-Maple Syrup, and served with choice of Smoked Bacon, Ham, Sausage, or Plant-based Sausage




I was VERY happy with this! Not sure why I decided on sausage since I'm a big bacon girl but I do like a sausage now and then and while I only had a few bites they were good. The waffles though, and that cream?? OMG delicious!
Unfortunately after only about 2 or 3 bites my phone went a bit nuts and I ended up having to leave the table for longer than I would have liked. I had a client stranded at the Ft. Lauderdale airport which I did take care of as well as Chris texting from school that he felt horrible and needed to go home He was fine, really bad allergy day, but it took a few phone calls to get him picked up so I missed 20-30 minutes of our meal and when I got back mine was cold. I still enjoyed it though!

Steve went less breakfast traditional and more Steve-like:

Wood-fired Butchers Steak
Polenta, Pomodoraccio Tomatoes, Roasted Onions, Wild Mushroom Conserva, Watercress




He thought the steak was incredible, likened it to the steak we had at CG brunch and thought the polenta was perfection.
We were very happy with our food here and so far the character interaction had been fantastic! Luckily other than Daisy stopping by again I did see all the characters.



Mickey and I chatted a bit about his current projects................continued in next post

 

[ariane37]

Finishing up Topolino's- so happy I didn't miss Minnie because her outfit is absolutely the best!



I wish I had a shot of the bottom of her dress and shoes too because it's just all so adorable. Next up Donald came by, he'd been there while I was on the phone so Steve passed on meeting him. This time though he chatted with Donald and showed him how he was paying homage to the #1 Duck with his nifty new fleece:



And with that, our Topolino breakfast was done. Another character parade was starting as we were leaving, I think this happened 3x while we were there? It was really neat!




Sadly this is where we said good-bye to our wonderful friends Jenny and Joe @Jenny Sanders . As always we had a wonderful time with them and really did get to spend tons of time together this trip! As of now I don't think any of our 2020 trips overlap but that can always change

As they headed out to the airport we went to the buses. We had fastpasses for AK! Remember it was the day after MLK Day - here's the standby line for the noon FOTLK show:




Just a little busy! We did our safari, EE and FOTLK FP's and that was pretty much it. I will share another non food picture since everyone needs a little safari in their lives all the time, and now is no different:



I always like the rhinos for some reason and after doing the Rhino tour in May, I have an even bigger soft spot for them.

This was our last FP so when we finished I made up for not getting any alcohol with breakfast:



No spiced nuts but ooh that candied bacon in this perfect Bloody Mary! Yes this is at the Dawa Bar in Africa and when not in Epcot near the Refreshment Port (which apparently doesn't have BM's anymore? The horror!) this is just as good if not better. With that, we moved on to park #2!

Small sidenote, a few days ago I finally got rid of my April cruise ticker and replaced it with a May countdown as right now we are planning/hoping for a Memorial Weekend trip. No idea yet if the boys will be back in school as right now we're out through April; no idea if Disney will be open. None of us know, whether we feel it absolutely WILL or absolutely WON'T. So for now I am keeping that ticker, and if the time comes that I need to update it to our July dates, so bit it Stay well all!​

 

[ariane37]

Work is not fun and down right scary! I am thankful I live in a smaller city and I don’t work in the ICU anymore! I pray everyday for all the nurses out there especially the ones in the high risk areas of the hospitals!

I feel for you Caroline, please stay safe! I hope your town/county is nowhere as bad as ours here in NY, thank goodness we aren't in NYC but we're close enough that we feel the ripple effect pretty strongly.

This is my new work normal now. I do have a Disney shirt on under my other shirt, haha

We all have to do what we can to feel "normal" ❤

I’ll have to see, they gave us the option to use some of our vacation time so I haven’t had to apply for unemployment yet. We’re supposed to hear something by the end of this week, but I’m not sure what that means.

Good luck to you!

their pay is part of the town’s budget we don’t really have to worry about his job.

That's what I thought! Very good, it's nice that at least one of you doesn't need to worry.

it’ll have to wait till we go in September. We’re going mostly for HHN, but there’ll be a few Disney days too.

Oooh what are your Sept dates? We're there the 22-28th, all Disney though as we're taking our granddaughter for her first trip

Oooh, I forgot about the Kennedy show - thank you!

Welcome! It was super good.

I just started this one myself. It's surprisingly good... or maybe that's just the quarantine talking...

LOL I think we'll be starting it this weekend. There's another series I came across called The House I think? It's about a haunted house duh and I like haunted houses so we may try that too.

AY!!! Even better! I went to a college about that far away from home and it was PERFECT! You have a chance to have some independence, but can go home for the weekend whenever you feel like it

Yup the college I went to was an hour and 45 from home and it worked out well for that very reason!

I have Sept 13-19 at your fave WL. So we won’t be there at the same time but hopefully we will both get out trips in

Well that's too bad but yes, the important thing is that we both WILL get to take our trips And yay for the WL! We were going to stay there in Sept but now my stepson is laid off so to take away some stress I moved them to AoA which I know my granddaughter and DIL will love. I think Steve and I will probably stay in a suite though which will be new to us.

My third hair app was just canceled as well and rescheduled for May 8th. I am going to be scary!!!!

LOL I don't go until the 14th!! Not sure what I'll do about my eyebrows either but may have to get Steve to help there

I have been impressed with Cuomo, too. The situation in NYC is very scary and he has an extremely hard job. I hope he stays healthy.

His brother Chris Cuomo tested positive, otherwise he's healthy so hopefully he beats it. I think Cuomo is endearing himself to a lot of New Yorkers who were not his biggest fans two months ago!

Looks wonderful, especially w/o the boys in the way

adult only trips are absolutely different from trips with the boys, even though ours are older! And I know Steve and I are in for a huge surprise when we take our granddaughter since we haven't been with a 2 year old since 2007 lol! Scary!

 

[disneyAndi14]

He thought the steak was incredible, likened it to the steak we had at CG brunch and thought the polenta was perfection.
We were very happy with our food here and so far the character interaction had been fantastic! Luckily other than Daisy stopping by again I did see all the characters.

I had this same entree and it was delicious I really liked the polenta and thought it was done very well.
The characters are so cute here!! We might have to go back in August.

 

[Wood Nymph]

About this time we got our pastry pail!

The pastry pail is really cute but that is a lot of pastry! Did everyone get their own pail?

Steve went less breakfast traditional and more Steve-like:

Wood-fired Butchers Steak

This looks really good.

Another character parade was starting as we were leaving, I think this happened 3x while we were there? It was really neat!

The characters have the cutest costumes. They have a large number of characters compared to other resort restaurants. I doubt they will continue this in the future, though.

right now we are planning/hoping for a Memorial Weekend trip.

Our daughter is still planning to take her high school kids to WDW Memorial weekend. So much is unknown right now but I really hope things will be better by then.

I hope your town/county is nowhere as bad as ours here in NY, thank goodness we aren't in NYC but we're close enough that we feel the ripple effect pretty strongly.

It must be very scary for people in your area.

 

[prisjoyce]

Yes this is at the Dawa Bar in Africa and when not in Epcot near the Refreshment Port (which apparently doesn't have BM's anymore? The horror!) this is just as good if not better.

Wait...what?! No more BM at the Epcot place? Is this permanent?
That is one of DH’s favorites- he was just talking about that being one of our first stops when we get back in Nov.

 

[Raeven]

Oooh what are your Sept dates? We're there the 22-28th, all Disney though as we're taking our granddaughter for her first trip

We'll just miss you! Ours is the 10th-19th.

 

[kastoney]

An update with BM's, sausage, and nuts.....What else does a girl cooped up in the house really need (look what is back again by the way).

In all seriousness nice to see Disney doing more character meals with actual good food instead of just a parade of buffet crap. We obviously just aren't big character people to begin with but I of course do appreciate the food. Not sure I'd pay that much for breakfast compared to some of the other options on property but it really does look good.

 

[ariane37]

I had this same entree and it was delicious I really liked the polenta and thought it was done very well.
The characters are so cute here!! We might have to go back in August.

I thought it would be a good choice when we go with our DGD but her mom only wanted 1 breakfast and she's really excited about Bon Voyage since she loves Ariel But of all the character meals this is one I'd do again!

he pastry pail is really cute but that is a lot of pastry! Did everyone get their own pail?

lol no we just got one for the table. I didn't look around to see if larger parties got two but I would guess at some number - 6 or 8 guests maybe? they do give 2 or at least put a few more pastries in. It was definitely enough for 4 as I think between us we only at 5 or 6?

Our daughter is still planning to take her high school kids to WDW Memorial weekend. So much is unknown right now but I really hope things will be better by then.

Crossing my fingers for them as well, is it a band or chorus group or a class trip?

(look what is back again by the way).

I just searched the emojis for lilke 10 minutes and can't find the little cutie Maybe if you've gotten a certain amount of demerits you aren't allowed to use the fun ones..........................

n all seriousness nice to see Disney doing more character meals with actual good food instead of just a parade of buffet crap. We obviously just aren't big character people to begin with but I of course do appreciate the food. Not sure I'd pay that much for breakfast compared to some of the other options on property but it really does look good.

We aren't huge character meal people either unless Chris asks for one like last July at Cape May, and I don't think I would have booked Topolino but when Jenny asked us to join of course we wanted to I'm glad we did because it really was cute and yes, a huge plus to enjoy the food!

 

[ariane37]

Wait...what?! No more BM at the Epcot place? Is this permanent?
That is one of DH’s favorites- he was just talking about that being one of our first stops when we get back in Nov.

Uh oh! I hope it's there for him!
So for EVER there was some type of Bloody Mary there, whether it was festival time or not. However when we stopped there on this trip in January there was NO Bloody Mary on the menu at all Jenny and I even asked when we went up to get the festival snacks there and they just shook their heads no.
Fat forward to the F&G menus being released and still none on those menus, so not sure if it's gone forever or what but definitely disappointing!

Have DH try the one at Dawa bar; SO good!

 

[MyGoofy26]

Topolino’s looks so cute! We just rebooked our early May trip for September and I somehow managed to snag the ONE breakfast opening all week even though the ADRs have been open for weeks. It’s the only one on our must do list that I was unsuccessful on for May and tried to convince myself it couldn’t be *that* great to ease the guilt.

My daughter will be 20 months for the September trip and these four characters are her favorites (she just learned how to say Daisy last week) so as excited as I was to score the ADR I’m even more excited seeing your review and how much time you guys got with the characters.

 

[missjackiemcg]

So for now I am keeping that ticker

I updated my ticker, too!! My fingers are crossed for your trip, which WILL happen, so that mine can happen, too

 

[lvcourtneyy]

My sister and I both had the steak at Topolino's in December and loved it. We loved everything about the meal! I had a reservation for me and Mike for our May trip that now may or may not happen . We've booked July as a backup but I can't get a reservation for Topolino's!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Crossing my fingers for them as well, is it a band or chorus group or a class trip?

It was a combination of half band members and half class trip students. She first moved the trip to the first week of June and then ended up postponing until next spring. Southwest Airlines kept cancelling their flights and that was it. She is just hoping that she can get the money back from Southwest Airlines.

She had 11 seniors who won't be able to go on the trip next year. I feel so bad for all the students who are losing out on so many activities that they usually get to do.