Here I go again...eating my way around the world! Oct 2010 F&W -COMPLETED 11/10

[franandaj]

So I know you said that you didn't EAT everything (some because they sat too long on the table etc...), but was that report pics of everything that they had to offer at the party? I'm trying to figure out if it is bigger than the CA version Taste. It looks to me like there was about the same amount of plates except, in CA one chef handles ALL of the desserts and he goes overboard.

There was a GREAT balance of meat & seafood in there, not a lot of veggies, but it all looked really good! I'm definitely in for next year!

 

[KatMark]

Oh, it all looked so good. I am going to have to keep this in mind for next year's trip.

 

[onelilspark]

I am loving your photos and descriptions. Can't wait to read more!

Thanks!!

What is the Party for the Senses? I am assuming that you need tickets for this.

Thanks,

Lisa

It's a special event held every Saturday during Party for the Senses, we went to the very first one for this year. They had 25 different culinary stations and 23 beverage stations (wine, beer, 1 liquor, tea, & coffee.) It's from 6:30-9PM and the tickets are $135/per person with the option of adding the Wine View Lounge for $90/per person.

It's basically all you can eat and drink. You have reserved seating to the Eat to the Beat Concert. And there's live entertainment from a band and periodically there's Cirque performers as well.

So I know you said that you didn't EAT everything (some because they sat too long on the table etc...), but was that report pics of everything that they had to offer at the party? I'm trying to figure out if it is bigger than the CA version Taste. It looks to me like there was about the same amount of plates except, in CA one chef handles ALL of the desserts and he goes overboard.

There was a GREAT balance of meat & seafood in there, not a lot of veggies, but it all looked really good! I'm definitely in for next year!

Well, the only thing I didn't take a picture of was the veggie offering from the ESPN Zone. Everything else I at least took a bite and shared it!

Oh, it all looked so good. I am going to have to keep this in mind for next year's trip.

It was so much fun! I would definitely recommend it!

 

[Steve on LI]

What an excellent review, now I can't wait until I do PFTS on 10/23.

Thanks!!!

 

[onelilspark]

What an excellent review, now I can't wait until I do PFTS on 10/23.

Thanks!!!

You'll love it!

 

[onelilspark]

Sunday morning we hit Animal Kingdom right after rope drop. Even though we had breakfast before leaving, Geoff & I were both starving around 10am. And oh look! There's a bakery

So we got an apple danish

It was good, very large, so the perfect size to split.

Overall: 7/10 It hit the spot and I'd get it again, but it wasn't exactly exciting.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

LOVE the updates and the pictures...drolling and wanting those desserts...

 

[onelilspark]

Since it was going to be a full day for us, I thought heading out of the park for a sit down lunch would be nice. I had heard a lot of good things about Sanaa. Geoff and my Mom are both big fans of Indian food. I've never really liked it all that much and my Dad could take it or leave it.

We just decided to hop over to Animal Kingdom Lodge via bus from the park. Seemed kind of silly to move the car when we were that close. There was no trouble with the bus transportation and the driver was very clear which was Kidani and which was Jambo. We've been over to Jambo House a number of times for dinner, but had never been over to Kidani. The lobby was smaller, but just as nice. We took a quick picture overlooking the savanna and headed downstairs to check in for lunch. (By the way, the restrooms right by check-in are very nice.)

I purposefully didn't tell anyone that there were floor to ceiling windows overlooking the savanna, so when we were lead to a table right by the window, everyone was pleasantly surprised and happy!

Menu:

For an appetizer, we had the Indian-Style Bread service. We picked Naan, Paneer Paratha, and Papadum (which is like a cracker) for the bread. I didn't particularly care for the Paneer Paratha. It was heavy and a little greasy, but the Naan and the Papadum was great. We had the Cucumber Raita, Mango Chutney, & Red Bell Humus for our spreads. I liked the Cucumber Raita the best, but I generally like things that aren't spicy. Mixing the Cucumber Raita & the Mango Chutney was really good too!

Geoff and my Mom had the pick 2 dish and chose the red curry chicken & green curry shrimp. And Basmati Rice.

I had the same thing, but I picked the short ribs instead of the chicken.

Not surprisingly, I preferred the short ribs over everything. The green curry shrimp was okay, but a little spicy for me (Geoff & my Mom thought I was crazy, they loved everything.) We also put the Cucumber Raita on top of the shrimp. YUM!

My Dad had the tandoori shrimp

He really enjoyed it and thought it was perfect for lunch.

Finally, my favorite part of the meal! Dessert!
Menu:

Geoff & I split the Chai Cream. It might just be my top contender for best dessert in WDW. I loved it.

Overall: 10/10. We absolutely loved this meal and it was one of the best of the trip. I would certainly return (even if it is out of my comfort zone!) It was so relaxing for lunch. Highly recommended!




Flipper's Pizza
Since I don't have any pictures from dinner, I thought I'd just tack it on the end of this one. The Eagles were playing the late game, so after we were done at the Animal Kingdom, we wanted to head back to the condo, have a bit of a lazy night and catch the second half of the game. I had heard decent things about Flippers Pizza, so we decided to grab a couple pies for the game. We had 1 pepperoni with their regular crust, and 1 cheese thin crust. The thin crust was better (keep in mind that I grew up in Philly where we have NY Style Pizza...but better, obviously) and the flavor was decent on the pizza, but nothing to write home about. Geoff had the pepperoni leftovers for breakfast one morning and didn't like it cold.

Overall: 6/10. Decent for what it was, but not something I'll go out of my way for.

 

[KatMark]

Your lunch looks very interesting at Sanaa. I know Mark would probably love it; unfortunately, I'm not the adventurous type and don't like a lot of ethnic foods from different countries. But your dad's meal might please me okay. You are doing an awesome job.

I have yet to find a pizza in Florida that is any good. I don't know if it is the water or the ovens they use. Although I've never had New York pizza (I understand it is out of this world), Chicago has some darn good pizza and nothing has ever compared.

 

[JenKatt]

Your lunch looks very interesting at Sanaa. I know Mark would probably love it; unfortunately, I'm not the adventurous type and don't like a lot of ethnic foods from different countries. But your dad's meal might please me okay. You are doing an awesome job.

I have yet to find a pizza in Florida that is any good. I don't know if it is the water or the ovens they use. Although I've never had New York pizza (I understand it is out of this world), Chicago has some darn good pizza and nothing has ever compared.

It's the water, we have very hard water in Florida. It makes the dough tough, which isn't what pizza dough should be like. Places that filter their water or use distilled water do much better. You can get good pizza down here, but it's harder to find.

 

[onelilspark]

Your lunch looks very interesting at Sanaa. I know Mark would probably love it; unfortunately, I'm not the adventurous type and don't like a lot of ethnic foods from different countries. But your dad's meal might please me okay. You are doing an awesome job.

I have yet to find a pizza in Florida that is any good. I don't know if it is the water or the ovens they use. Although I've never had New York pizza (I understand it is out of this world), Chicago has some darn good pizza and nothing has ever compared.

You might be surprised with Sanaa. And they do have a few plainer options...pork chops, burger, turkey sandwich

Ugh, I do not like Chicago pizza. But then again, I didn't grow up with it!

It's the water, we have very hard water in Florida. It makes the dough tough, which isn't what pizza dough should be like. Places that filter their water or use distilled water do much better. You can get good pizza down here, but it's harder to find.

I know when Via Napoli opened they made a big deal about the fact they were purifying their water so it matched the qualities of Naples, Italy. I'll have to put that on the list to try

 

[onelilspark]

Our Wave ADR was the last one we made before the trip, about a month in advance. We had our pick of times, not a problem getting the ADR.

We got to the restaurant that morning and were immediately seated for our 8:30am ADR. Service was a little slow, but we weren't in a rush so it didn't bother us too much. Our waitress finally came over and my parents ordered coffee while Geoff & I ordered tea (note: I asked about one of the teas and what was actually in it...our waitress had no idea, so I went with something safe.)

I ordered the Sweet Potato Pancakes:

These came with a honey pecan butter. To die for. The menu isn't updated on All Ears. Apparently these are a new item. I'm sure they'll stay on, absolutely delicious! Very heavy though, I could barely make my way through 1 and a half!

Geoff had the regular Eggs Benedict.

The Hollandaise was a Key Lime version. Geoff thought it added just enough of a different taste without being too much. His eggs were overcooked for an Eggs Benedict, but we noticed the table next to us ordered it as well and the eggs were cooked the same way. We hypothesized that it might have been because of the recent egg recall, that they weren't taken any chances.

My Dad is kind of boring and got the Ham & Cheese omelet:

He ate it all, so I guess it was good

My Mom had the Multi-Grain French Toast:

She enjoyed this as well. She really wanted ham as her meat, but was told they didn't have ham (I don't know what goes into the Ham & Cheese Omelet then!) But then the waitress came back and offered Canadian Bacon, which my Mom gladly accepted.

Overall: 9/10. The food was excellent, but the service was just lacking. We found it all over at the restaurants, I think Disney has been making some cuts which are affecting the restaurants. We noticed at a lot of places that the waiters/waitresses were clearing tables instead of having bussers. It slowed down service everywhere we encountered that...enough that I'm writing Disney about it. I'll definitely return to the Wave though, as service wasn't terrible, just a little off. The food was wonderful, hopefully next time we'll go for lunch or dinner!

 

[vettegirl]

Thank you so much for the Sanaa review. Everything looks really good,especially the shrimp

 

[MickeyNicki]

Never been to the Wave for breakfast but have wanted to try it....everything looks overcooked or burnt, was it or is that just the pics?

 

[onelilspark]

Thank you so much for the Sanaa review. Everything looks really good,especially the shrimp

It was really good, one of our favorites from the trip!

Never been to the Wave for breakfast but have wanted to try it....everything looks overcooked or burnt, was it or is that just the pics?

I think it was just the pictures. I don't use flash in restaurants, which means unless there's good light, my pictures don't turn out that great The only thing that was overcooked was the eggs in the Eggs Benedict, but I gave my theory on that already

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

catching up on your updates and great reviews...

 

[GoodFairies]

So that's where the sweet potato pancakes ended up! I guess a lot of people complained when Boatwright's stopped serving breakfast. I know where to go on the next trip now.

 

[MEM]

So that's where the sweet potato pancakes ended up! I guess a lot of people complained when Boatwright's stopped serving breakfast. I know where to go on the next trip now.

I was going to post EXACTLY the same sentiment!

 

[glennbo123]

I'm so glad you liked Sanaa! It's neat to try some different flavors.

I found it interesting that they're serving the chai cream in a mug now instead of the tall glass like they used to. Unless it's a difference between lunch and dinner?

 

[AshClan]

I'm in! Your photos are fabulous, and I loved getting the inside scoop from the Party for the Senses! We just got back from a quick 3 night trip, and although we got lots of food booth stuff, we did not have time to do any special events. Of course, neither of us drinks wine, so that kind of limits our choices

The more I hear about Sanaa, the more I think I need to check it out. I am not a curry fan AT ALL, but some of the other choices looked really good to me!

And I'm with your mother.....I will do just about anything for a Cosmo slushie from the France booth. They were soooooo good!!!