Is That A Crab Leg In Your Pocket? 10 Days of Dining with Pics!

Loving your reviews!
Wonderful photos of AKL and all the animals. The lounge food looks delicious :thumbsup2
Oh and is it just me or does the inside of your cupcake look like Kermit The Frog with a sun tan ;)

LOL those globs of frosting do look like Kermit eyes! I had to pull up a pic in google to compare, because I couldn't picture Kermit at first, but you are correct. :rotfl: Funny. The eyes were the best part, then. ;)
 
I was doing all this debating between Poly and AKL for our next trip. Then people were saying I should look into WL (because we have small kids). So I start researching WL and think maybe it would be nice to be closer to MK...

And then you go and post the animal pictures. :lmao: We have stayed savanna view room at AKL twice, and it is just amazing.

At least I have two years to decide. (And save money :rotfl:)

It's a major dilemma! We've only stayed 3 places in all of WDW: Beach Club, AKL, and POR. We love all 3 places. We are in some stage of planning for our October trip and have now had reservations at 4 different resorts...not sure which we'll end up choosing, although we cancelled our Poly reservation and sure we can't get that back; it's totally booked.

Good thing you have ample time to decide. AKL is amazing. I'd love to do a long trip and only stay at AKL, rather than doing a split stay. Maybe someday...
 
Cheese and hummus- two of my favorite things!

Thanks for the animal shots, especially the red river hogs! We searched and searched for them when we were there in January, but we never found them. This is my first time seeing them.

Since you missed out, here is another great shot of one of the cutest of the Arusha savannah's animals:


Take a look at this:

This is a photo we took in 2012 at AK in the petting zoo area. I was thrilled because I'd never seen a pig with strawberry blond hair. Now that I've seen the red river hogs, I will always be convinced that this pig is a rare hybrid of red river hog and common pig. I bet somebody left a gate open somewhere...:scratchin

Did you look for the hogs on the Arusha savannah? We saw them only one day, and it was midday...I'd say maybe about 1 or 2? The guide that we spoke to did mention that they keep them elsewhere a good portion of the time, so perhaps that is why you didn't spy any.
 

I also am not a fan of meat so I'm excited to see what else you ate on your trip. That lighthouse sandwich looks devine!
 
Thanks so much for including the animal photos! I need to start saving now for Izzy's sweet 16 mother-daughter trip in 9 years. :rotfl:
 
I also am not a fan of meat so I'm excited to see what else you ate on your trip. That lighthouse sandwich looks devine!

The lighthouse sandwich is really good! Do you like to eat seafood? It seems like we ended up eating an awful lot of seafood this trip...but highly recommend the lighthouse sandwich, Via Napoli for vegetarians, Sunshine Seasons (although we didn't make it there this trip), Tangeriene Café and Kona...more to come!

Thanks so much for including the animal photos! I need to start saving now for Izzy's sweet 16 mother-daughter trip in 9 years. :rotfl:

I told you I'd eventually get all those animals posted! ;) Glad you enjoyed them. It's never too early to start saving! :goodvibes
 
/
The next morning, we planned to be up early so we could enjoy the breakfast from the lounge, as well as a little resort time, before leaving the AKL.


Ahhh sunrise on the savannah

The day started out with this:

They had Cuisinart coffee pods in our room at AKL (one day there was one Joffrey's and the rest Cuisinart), and we'd really grown to like the taste of the Cuisinart. When we moved to BC, we were disappointed we had to have Joffrey's every day. We just didn't really like it.

We didn't take pictures of the entire spread in the lounge this morning. It was basically the same as it had been two mornings ago.

Here is my healthy selection:

A yummy little bran muffin, a selection of fruit, and then an exotic fruit that I'm convinced came from the land. I had made a note of the name of this little fruit, and now I don't remember what it was called. I didn't really like it (the unusually cut red fruit on the right), but all the other fruit was good. The bran muffin was yummy!

I also had this:

A bowl of quinoa with brown sugar and berries

I had only ever had quinoa once prior to this, and I swear it was on a WDW buffet. My second time was the best. I loved this bowl of nutritional goodness. It was delicious with the brown sugar and the berries in there! :woohoo:

DP's first selections looked like this:

A cappuccino, a bowl of oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar, and a 100-year old bagel with cream cheese.

This bagel was not good! It tasted so old!

Here it is up close. You can kind of tell how old it is. The outer layer was just peeling off. Weird. The rest of her breakfast was good, though.

Then she decided to try one of these:

This was a mini-cinnamon roll pastry. This tasted old, too! It was hard and stale. It was like they got last week's leftovers from the Boma breakfast buffet.

Oh well. She was full from her oatmeal and cappuccino anyway.

Finally, a picture from the lounge towards the lobby, which is below:


It was time to say goodbye to AKL and hello to Epcot, so off we went! Until next time, Jambo House!

It wasn't long before we spied this:


Whoopee! Finally, our favorite park!!!

Coming up next, lunch at Cantina de San Angel.
 
Thank you for posting more red river hogs and pigs (and maybe hybrids :goodvibes )

We looked for the red river hogs quite a bit and were also told by guides that they don't leave them out for long because they'd root up the whole savannah if they did. Maybe another trip we will find them. :)
 
Thank you for posting more red river hogs and pigs (and maybe hybrids :goodvibes )

We looked for the red river hogs quite a bit and were also told by guides that they don't leave them out for long because they'd root up the whole savannah if they did. Maybe another trip we will find them. :)

Those darned hogs! :)
 
Is quinoa like oatmeal? Is it the consistency of oatmeal? Its too bad about the cinnamon roll it looks good.. I noticed that the little pastries at about all the CL at breakfast seem a bit stale and Im wondering if it might be from always sitting out? They should put them in containers..
 
Is quinoa like oatmeal? Is it the consistency of oatmeal? Its too bad about the cinnamon roll it looks good.. I noticed that the little pastries at about all the CL at breakfast seem a bit stale and Im wondering if it might be from always sitting out? They should put them in containers..

The little muffins were good, at least! It's too bad about the other bread/baked goods. Quinoa is funny-it's almost more like grits or cream of wheat with a little grainier consistency than that. Oats are bulkier and get softer. The quinoa was firmer and tinier little bits than oats. Hope that helps. I liked the taste a lot-it was a richer taste, almost a buttery type of taste. It's not thrilling plain, but it was so yummy with the berries and little bit of brown sugar. Quinoa is a super healthy grain, I've heard. I can't remember exactly what is so great about it besides that it is a whole grain. I think it has omega 3s? Anybody who actually knows feel free to correct me.
 
We took in a few attractions before winding up at the Cantina de San Angel for lunch. We'd eaten here a couple of times during our first trip to Epcot in 2011, but then we'd missed this place on our last trip.

We decided to split the nachos, and we requested these without the meat:


In the past, when we'd ordered these without meat, they were served with black beans on the nachos. This time, the CM presented me with nachos with cheese, sour cream and tomato, and no beans. When I asked her about it, she said the beans and meat are mixed together. "All the beans are mixed with meat?" I asked. "Yes," she replied. At that point, I was feeling really frustrated that we'd eaten the beans in the past, and that no one had told us they were "mixed" with meat. As I walked away with my $10 basket of cheese nachos, I realized I didn't want to pay $10 for nachos with basically just cheese. So I marched back up to the counter and told her I felt like I should have some portion of the price refunded since I wasn't getting any meat or any beans. To that, she suggested I needed to go wait in the ordering line, because then a cashier could call a manager. I asked if she could call a manager and she said no. :rolleyes: So I headed back to the line...

I waited in line, with my $10 cheese nachos (which were getting cold and soggy), and when I got to the front of the line, I explained what was going on. The girl there said, "Why didn't they just give you black beans? You don't want black beans?" At that point I was just getting more aggravated, but I really either wanted a couple of dollars refunded, or I wanted some beans! I explained that all of the beans are mixed with meat. She told me that is totally incorrect, and that the black beans are vegetarian. Only the refried beans are mixed with the meat...So...she pointed me back to the window where you pick up the food and told me to tell the girl back there to give me black beans...

I went back to the window and explained to the same girl from before that I would like the black beans. "Are the black beans vegetarian?" I asked. "Yes," she replied. At this point, though, things got even more frustrating. She said that because the CM at the cashier had not typed in "black beans" on my order, I couldn't have black beans. She said she would get in trouble if she just gave me some black beans. So she said...you guessed it...go wait in the line again, and order a side of black beans. At this point, it's just a good thing I was having one of my more patient moments, or those cheesy nachos might have been chucked right over the counter. I was so frustrated! It had been so long. The nacho cheese was congealing, my $10 plate of cheese nachos...and I was being instructed to wait in the line for the THIRD time! I explained to her how ridiculous this all was...I asked could I please just see a manager at the food window. She told me no, the only way to see a manager was to wait in the cashier's line...so with my tail between my legs, I headed back to the line. A nice man in the line had witnessed this whole thing and said, "Here, go in front of me..." so at least I wouldn't have to wait in the entire line...

I was standing back there, when the original girl from the food window started gesturing and waving to me. I was afraid to leave the line, since she would probably eventually send me back there anyway, but she finally got so enthusiastic in her waving that I did leave the line. Then she just did what she should have done the very first time: she handed me a small bowl of black beans. :dance3:

Confused, frustrated, hot and with my cold, congealed nachos, I headed to find DP where she'd missed the entire thing, in the nice cold indoor seating of La Hacienda where she had a nice booth waiting. When I got there, she asked, "Long line?" and I just said, "Yes." I guess this day I was just having a good mood day. Normally I would have sulked a little, but I didn't even let it affect me. The nachos were delicious, although soggy. Incidentally, I prefer my nachos that way! :lmao:

I'd also picked up these condiments to accompany our nachos:

They were both very mild. The red one had a strong smoky taste, which I don't like with my Mexican food. The green one ended up being my favorite, even though it's a bit bitter. Good salsa would just push this place over the top...

Finally, here is a copy of my receipt:

See, $10 cheese nachos!

The moral of this horribly long story is this: if you are a vegetarian and you choose to eat at the Cantina, you will most certainly confuse them. If you want the nachos without meat, please say, "No meat. Can I have black beans instead?" at the register, so the CM can type it in that way. Or you can just order the cheese empanadas, which are vegetarian from the start. They are good anyway, but they're not nachos!

In spite of all the confusion and wasted time, we'd still go back. We love their nacho cheese. It is so good!!!

Coming up next, Beaches and Cream dinner and dessert! Find out which sundae we ended up ordering after dreaming about the ice cream here for 2 years!
 
Love the report!!

I can't believe that they couldn't get it together and give you the beans you needed!! Sometimes people aren't good problem solvers-I guess that CM was one of those people!
 
Great report! Thanks for sharing the pictures from your balcony, one if these days I will stay there. Can't wait to hear more :thumbsup2
 
First of all, totally trying breakfast quinoa at home after this. I like the texture of quinoa so much more than that of oatmeal so thank you for that.

Second, that situation at Cantina with the back and forth was just ridiculous. So sorry you had to go through that!
 
OK your experience with the Nachos would have driven me crazy :eek:

The CMs really should all be aware of what is and isn't a vegetarian option and someone should have just taken the initiative and fixed the situation without you ever having to get back in line
 
By the time you had waited in line 3 times, I would have expected new nachos with beans and cheese!
 
What a nice breakfast selection at the AKL CL. I am staying CL at the BC next monthf for the first time and hope the breakfast is as good as the pics your just shared with us :)
 
Love the report!!

I can't believe that they couldn't get it together and give you the beans you needed!! Sometimes people aren't good problem solvers-I guess that CM was one of those people!

Yes, I NEEDED those beans! :laughing: Seriously though, I sorta did. And they are sooo good, so when I thought I'd never have them again, I was very disappointed.

Glad you're enjoying the report. Thanks for reading! Another update will be up soon!
 

PixFuture Display Ad Tag












Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE














DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter

Back
Top