If It Sinks, We Drinks: Spring 2018 Dining Report *Complete 7/29 Les Halles & Via Napoli

[Hettie]

If It Sinks, We Drinks
Spring 2018 Dining Report​

Hello! I’m back from a lovely Spring trip to WDW and ready to start my second dining report. Guess what y’all? I remembered to take food photos this time!!! Asher was easier in restaurants this trip (he’s always been a pretty good restaurant diner though), so you can thank him for making the photos possible.

Updates on us: ​

(Check out my previous report link in my sig for more of our life story if you’re interested…I mean, I know we’re super fascinating and all.)

Me ​

I’m Heather and am always ready for a WDW trip. I started planning this one as soon as we ended our trip in September 2017 because we wanted to squeeze in one more trip while the boy was still 2 and wanted a spring trip because we hadn’t been to F&G in ages. We just got home yesterday after the miserable drive back from Florida and I should be finishing unpacking and doing laundry, but instead I am starting my report to ease my post-Disney depression.

Chad​

This one has been super stressed with work recently and needed a vacation badly. Did it work? We shall see…

Asher ​

His third birthday was during this trip and this was also the third trip to WDW for him. He is completely obsessed with all things pirate related right now and his current favorite Disney movies are Big Hero 6, Mary Poppins, and Moana.

The Trip​

We spent 8 nights (April 24-May 2) at Beach Club Villas in a studio, our first stay at the Beach Club. I only booked a few ADRs for breakfasts and brunch (my absolute most important ADR) because Asher still takes a big afternoon nap and it is a gamble to book a dinner ADR ahead of time without knowing what time he will wake up and what his demeanor will be.

This trip was very EPCOT focused due to our optimal location for that park at BCV. We got in a few buffets this time too, not my favorite type of dining experience, but it was the last time for Asher to have "free” meals in the AYCTE venues so it was a good time to fit some of those in. We had a TIW card that we purchased and just broke even on during our September trip, glad we had the opportunity to use it again to get some real savings. Of course, there will be plenty of fun drinks along the way as well!

 

[Hettie]

Table of Contents

Day 1 – April 24
F&G booths
Choza de Margarita
Cantina de San Angel

Day 2 – April 25
Garden Grill breakfast
F&G booths
Cape May Café dinner

Day 3 – April 26
Liberty Tree Tavern
Tokyo Dining

Day 4 – April 27
Cape May Café breakfast
Hurricane Hannah’s
Crew’s Cup Lounge

Day 5 – April 28
Sunshine Season
F&G booth drinks
Nine Dragons
Drinks from African Outpost
Baseline Tap House
Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner

Day 6 – April 29
Joffrey’s Revive
Brunch at the Top
Dawa Bar
Mr. Kamal’s

Day 7 – April 30
The Market at Ale & Compass
Yorkshire County Fish Shop
F&G booths

Day 8 – May 1
Dawa Bar (again)
Yak & Yeti
Epcot snacks and F&G booths
Biergarten

Day 9 – May 2
Les Halles
Via Napoli

 

[dnllmz]

Following!

 

[MiracleCream]

Hiiii!!! Following along! Y’all seem so cute. My first trip, my youngest was one and the next trip he will be 2 so I understand about the difficulties of naps and ADRs!

 

[Kim J Mobley]

Following!!

 

[Romib]

Following

 

[SweetSerenity]

Hopping on board!

 

[Nohal]

I'm in.

 

[Hettie]

Travel Day​

We drive 12 hours from Kentucky and must split it into two days of driving because none of us can tolerate more than 7 hours in the car in a day. The first long day is always grueling and it started out poorly when Asher, who said “bye” to diapers quite easily back in February, had a complete and total meltdown at our first restroom stop. It. Was. Awful. I might have turned around and gone back home if it weren’t for the fact that we would lose a large number of DVC points. I think he was a combination of excited and anxious and feeling out of control, thus a power struggle ensued. Fortunately, this was the worst episode of the trip, although not the end of our struggles. I thought about titling this report “I’m sorry we’re fighting in the bathroom” because that’s what Asher always says and it was one theme of the trip, but I don’t think anyone wants to read a dining report with the word bathroom in the title, am I right? Luckily, I had the foresight to purchase a portable, fold-up potty seat from Amazon the week before our trip and that thing was a lifesaver. It was only $15, I should have bought two to have a back-up, but we did fine with just one.

Road food isn’t fun to eat or look at, so I won’t torment you with any photos. We always have lunch at Cracker Barrel the first day because it’s a good place for a break and the food is consistent, even if the service is not. I like to try to eat protein and vegetables on the way down so that I don’t show up already bloated and puffy from road food (I’ll save it for the bread and pastries at WDW), so I got a veggie plate.

Aww, but this happened though...


We stay at a Hilton Garden Inn in Georgia each time and rather than get back in the car to go to a restaurant, we decided to try the dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. It ended up being just fine, some of it was quite good, definitely good enough to avoid getting back out. It was on the expensive side for what it was, but still worth it. I had a seared trout with vegetables and risotto, Chad had some ribs, we shared with Asher. Not bad at all, especially since their bartender was generous with the pours.

(Day 1 at WDW coming soon, as soon as I can get Chad to upload his photos)

 

[dolewhipandpixiedust]

I can’t wait to hear about the F&G booths! We will be there next year!

 

[disneynanacat]

We're from Kentucky too (Lexington) and that drive is awful! Georgia goes on forever!LOL We always split it up when we drive too. Thankfully found some decent airfares for our upcoming trip June 2nd!

Following!

 

[suse66]

Joining in to read about all your adventures!

 

[bluejasmine]

Cant wait to read more

 

[JerseyJanice]

Looking forward to reading your reviews.

 

[Hettie]

Following!

Welcome!

Hiiii!!! Following along! Y’all seem so cute. My first trip, my youngest was one and the next trip he will be 2 so I understand about the difficulties of naps and ADRs!

Hi! If we could ever get back to the room early enough, the naps wouldn't interfere so much, but when we are at WDW, naptime and bedtime just creep later and later everyday. I won't complain though, he can keep napping as long as he wants to!

Following!!

Hello!

Following

Hi!

Hopping on board!

Great!

I'm in.

Alright!

I can’t wait to hear about the F&G booths! We will be there next year!

We visited several booths, I'll have some reviews of both food and drink.

We're from Kentucky too (Lexington) and that drive is awful! Georgia goes on forever!LOL We always split it up when we drive too. Thankfully found some decent airfares for our upcoming trip June 2nd!

Following!

Hi!
Yeah, the drive kills us but sometimes the airfare is outrageous. Allegiant has good prices but their flight times are so limited and flying into Sanford is a bit inconvenient.

Joining in to read about all your adventures!

Hello!

Cant wait to read more

More coming soon!

Looking forward to reading your reviews.

First WDW day reviews coming up shortly!

 

[TinkTank01]

Joining in.

 

[Hettie]

Day 1 – April 24
“Bottom a’ lake”​

The remainder of the drive from GA is just 5 hours, which feels like a breeze when the excitement is building. Hilton Garden Inn has a decent breakfast that we always eat in order to get on the road quickly. For lunch, rather than sit in a fast-food restaurant for 30 minutes, we decided to get some Arby’s roast beef and shovel it into our faces as we drove down the road. No buns though, still avoiding the puffy, I’m sure we looked incredibly attractive stuffing beef into our pieholes with our grubby fingers (but we did wash hands first).

We were making awesome time and the GPS said we would be at BCV around 2:30, which is earlier than I had hoped and I was pumped! Ten minutes out, Asher looks up from his movie and frantically announces that he needs a bathroom and there is nowhere to stop. We pulled off at the very next exit and tried to make it to a parking lot, but he had an accident, which we weren’t really prepared for because it has never happened. I had extra clothes though, so we got him changed and got back on the road feeling deflated. The excitement picked back up a bit once we got on Epcot Resorts Blvd and our room was ready when we arrived at BCV.

I think we lucked out with our view:



There is a road there over the canal, but it didn’t bother us and was worth a view of Spaceship Earth. Asher loved it and immediately started pretending the balcony was the bow of his pirate ship. He was chattering on about how the “ship is sunken at bottom a’ lake” when I noticed a puddle on the balcony and realized that there had been yet another accident in the span of 45 minutes. At that moment, I was pretty sure our ship really was sinking. We cleaned up the kid and the balcony, made him go use the toilet to be sure he was finished this time, then put a bottle of wine on ice in the cooler to chill QUICKLY while Chad made himself a rum drink. We “enjoyed” our drinks while unpacking and settling in before heading over to Epcot. The good news is that it was the last accident of the trip, maybe or maybe not due to our extreme hypervigilance over toilet reminders the remainder of the trip. I think the boy was just fatigued from the drive, had skipped his nap for two days, and was super excited to be there.

Okay, so we finally get ourselves out the door and on the way to Epcot, which was just a 5-7 minute walk from our room, depending on our pace, and it was AWESOME to get to the IG that quickly. Enjoy that entrance if you get a chance, who knows what will happen once the Skyliner starts operating.


Our first stop once we got there was the Northern Bloom booth in Canada so I could pick up a beer flight.


Unibroue Flight with Maudite Amber Ale, À Tout Le Monde Saison, and Éphémère White Ale – $11

This was an excellent beer flight, I particularly enjoyed both the Saison and White Ale and Chad preferred the Amber Ale. The white ale had some light fruity flavors that were nice for summer weather. They were all very drinkable and I wish I had gotten one of these beers again, I hope I can find them at my local stores.

Chad got a photo of me looking all happy.


That's a typical social media representation of the moment. Here's the reality of how I was feeling:


No worries though, the beer flight and gorgeous gardens in Canada eased the tension.

After our interlude in the Canada gardens, I thought it would be good for Asher to run around and blow off some steam after two days in the car and we headed for the Imagination Play Garden. He had a blast running around doing all the things.



While Chad supervised him for a bit, I went over to Pineapple Promenade to pick up the beer flight.


Pineapple Beer Flight with Coastal Empire Beer Co. Coco Piña Gose, Maui Brewing Co. Pineapple Mana Wheat, and SweetWater Brewing Company Goin’ Coastal IPA with Pineapple – $9.50

This wasn’t as much of a hit because the gose tasted like suntan lotion to both of us. The other two were okay, I think I preferred the IPA and Chad preferred the wheat. None of them were something I was interested in getting again though.

After we finished the beer flight it was dinner time and we needed some real food. We don’t seem to ever be in the mood for a table service restaurant on our arrival day, so we headed over to Mexico for some QS which has become our first evening tradition.

Choza de Margarita had opened since our last visit and I wanted to try the margaritas and some snacks.


Empanadas de Barbacoa
Empanadas filled with Barbacoa Beef, topped with Chipotle Sauce, Crema Mexicana and Queso Fresco and served with a side of Corn Esquites – $9.75
Guacamole
topped with Mango and Pumpkin Seeds and served with Fried Flour Chicharrón, Salsa Valentina and Lime – $7.95

Both of these dishes were quite good, the empanadas were nicely full of beef and the side of corn esquites was a fun, light side dish. The guacamole was stellar (very similar to Frontera Cocina) and there was a ton of it. The fried flour chicharrón was nice and crispy, I really liked the Valentina sauce with it as it’s something we enjoy at home with it’s nice, mild chipotle flavor. Keep in mind though that my taste buds have been destroyed by habanero and scotch bonnets for years, mild to me is spicy to many others.

And perhaps most important, the margaritas…


Acan Grapefruit
Tequila Casa Noble Blanco, Grapefruit Liqueur, Elderflower Cordial, Lemon Juice, Cardamom Bitters and Ginger Ale – $14.50

Guava Pink Peppercorn
Mezcal Zignum Reposado, Guava Nectar, Grapefruit Liqueur, Lime Juice, Peychaud's Bitters and Pink Peppercorns – $14.00

These are some nice margaritas for a counter service joint. The grapefruit was our favorite, the guava being a tad too sweet for us, but the flavors of both were very nice and they’re strong enough.

Asher loves guacamole, but maybe not the other things so much, so I headed over to La Cantina to pick up some rice, beans, and chips to round out the meal for him.



These were good, Chad and I helped him out as he was more interested in playing than eating. The only negative was the cantina was super crowded and lines were long. It was not a relaxing experience but we weren’t expecting it to be.

After filling our bellies with chips and margaritas, it was the perfect time for Don Duck’s boat ride and then a trip through Norway(ish) with Anna and Elsa because I had a FP+. Chad had to pick up two lefse from the temporary kiosk to take back to the room, he ended up eating one on the way. He said the lefse are just as good as ever, I only had a small bite. By that time it was around 8:30 and we needed to get to bed early so we could be ready for our first full day and PPO Garden Grill ADR. Good night Epcot, see you in the morning.

 

[lhuggi1]

Great Start! Can't wait to read more

 

[MiracleCream]

on the way to Epcot, which was just a 5-7 minute walk from our room, depending on our pace, and it was AWESOME to get to the IG that quickly. Enjoy that entrance if you get a chance, who knows what will happen once the Skyliner starts operating.

Ahhh 5-6 minutes to Epcot from your room? That’s amaaazing. We stay at the CR for ten min walk to MK but I’m hoping in a couple of years to try Epcot resort!

 

[pinkxray]

Looking for to the rest of your report!
We will be traveling with a 3year old and 18m old in Nov so I booked mostly breakfast and a few lunches too. I just don’t want to deal with post nap meltdowns to try to get to adrs.