Let's celebrate 15 years together by eating around the World! 05/24 F&W

I love the maple bacon flavor! I had some cake bites that were maple bacon and they were amazing! Can't wait for your reviews
 

ANNNND.... we are back!

Wow, I have so much to share, we tried some great restaurants, had some excellent meals, some ordinary meals and a couple of duds, but a great overall trip. ;)

The Wi-Fi was really spotty at AOA. Then, at the Dolphin, they had this big convention going on (Gartner something) and it might had have an impact on wi-fi as well, because we couldn't get decent connection. We thought it was the laptop, but it seems to be working fine here.

We were really commando touring, too, going back to the room to crash only. The weather was fantastic, except the last two days, windy and cold, but really, we can't complain compared to our nordik climate! lol! :laughing:

AND- Biggest news of this trip - we bought DVC @ AKL! We were discussing it for a year and finally made the jump! Yay! This is going to be awesome. :)

So I'm transferring my pics to my Mac and getting my notes in order to get this show on the road. I have so much to review! I'll update my plans post with what really happened - a couple of meals were changed, cancelled or added and how did I do with that bucket list????... :rolleyes1
 
Congratulations on DVC! That's such exciting news, since it'll ensure several years of wonderful Disney trips. :goodvibes

I really hope the food was less spotty than the wifi. :laughing:
 
I'm in !!! (claps hands) Can't wait to read !!! And congrats on DVC !!
 
Oh my goodness!! CONGRATS on the DVC, and at the very best resort, too! That's huge news, and WELCOME BACK! I can't wait for your reviews! :goodvibes
 
We checked-in and got our room at about 3:00 p.m. @ Art of Animation. We were assigned a second storey room, building 7, Little Mermaid section. It was a little hike from the main building, but all in all, a nice resort although really hectic. This is not the place to stay if you want to relax, lol! :laughing:

That morning, we had left home at about 4:00. We had some coffee at the airport, juice and a couple of Cliff bars. DH had a really bad time with his motion sickness in the second flight (Toronto-Orlando) but he was ready for some food at 3:00 p.m. :hyper:

I already knew what we were going to order, which was a good thing, since the food court was packed even on off-hours. The cms seemed to be new or recently trained. They seemed a little unsure when guests ordered, and maybe not as efficient as they could have been, but still very friendly.

We got the surf and surf burger with coleslaw as our main with ice water.

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Once split in half.

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This is a seared crab cake with a couple of fried shrimp on top. It is served with some lettuce, tomato, and a nice tartar sauce on a not-too-dense bun. It was actually quite good. The shrimp were nice and fresh, not greasy, the crab cake had a nice consistency, the tomato and lettuce was fresh, and we love the little tartar sauce that added a nice flavor. The bun was fresh and not soggy. This was made to order.

On the other hand, the slaw was really too vinegary, we could barely eat it, so DH added a little mayo on it from the condiment bar to make it more palatable. It was much more good with the mayo and we tend to prefer our coleslaw creamier anyhow.

For desert, we got a Mickey ganache cake because it's just too cute. ;)

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There was also this cute little guy, but we didn't get to try him out.

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DH was the one who ate the bulk of the cake, it's a nice portion size. Of course, the ganache was very chocolatey but had a nice texture and taste, and had a type of chocolate cookie crumb crust. The face was edible white chocolate. It's a fun desert to try out once, but I don't think we would get another one.

And, going back to our rooms, I had to snap a pic with Ariel's prince, since my prince is also called Eric. :love:

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Great start to your reviews, Stephanie! I'm looking forward to reading more. popcorn::
 
That burger looks awesome! We had very spotty WIFI too..not in the room but on the resort grounds or in the parks. Believe it or not I had better WIFI on the boats and buses!

Congrats on the DVC! That is so awesome
 
So after the late lunch at the food court, we got settled, relaxed a bit, and refreshed for dinner which was at Downtown Disney.

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This place was packed but we only waited about 5 minutes for our table. There was live entertainment and we were placed on a high-top by the side of the bar, left of the stage, so we had a decent view. Of course it was loud, but that is to be expected. ;)

First off, a little sangria...
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Sorry for the picture, I had to explain to DH that I wanted a close-up of the glass, not an unfocused pic of me! :lmao:

So this is a Jay'Gail Sangria, a blend of Magners Cider, Peach Schnapps and Fruit Liqueurs & squeezes. It was very refreshing and I actually had two. It has a different taste than traditional sangria and was not too sweet.

We received the soda bread, a fresh really dense black bread that was delicious with the Guiness reduction. We actually bought a bottle of reduction from the gift shop because we loved it that much - and we are not beer fans.

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We shared the Appetizer D'Lirrah for two as our main, DH was not very hungry.

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It has Dalkey Duo sausages, Scallop Forest, Heaven on Earth, and Nom Nom chicken wings.

Everything on this was delicious. The sausages were spiced and tasted a bit like good breakfast sausage. They were not too greasy and went well with the sauces. The scallops were cooked nicely too, again not too greasy. I preferred the ribs to the wings while DH preferred the wings. Both were good, but the Guinness glaze really won me. The ribs were very tender and had nice bites of meat on them. The wings had a spicy glaze and since DH likes his wings hot, he was happy. All in all, a great sampler of pub food, served fresh and hot. :thumbsup2

We walked around Downtown Disney afterwards just enjoying the atmosphere and DH decided to buy me a tiara at Arribas Bros. I wore it almost everyday and got tons of compliments from it. Everybody called me "princess"... Only at Disney... :love:

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Lastly, we made a stop at Goofy's for a couple of sugary treats. I got the chocolate covered pineapple skewer that we ate right away since I was concerned it would leek juice everywhere.

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It was delicious. Fresh and tart pineapple, nice coating of sweet milk chocolate. I love the pineapple-chocolate combo so this was a no brainer for me. :thumbsup2

DH chose a chocolate chip Mickey cookie with chocolate-covered ears. He ate it the next day, while I was napping, so I didn't get to taste it, but I know that he really like these and gets them when he can. :thumbsup2

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After hearing that Fantasyland had a soft opening for the public that week, I decided to swap our AK day for a MK day to try the new Ariel ride and explore the expansion. We arrived right at rope drop and rode several rides in Fantasyland while watching if the expansion would be opened.

Even though I brewed some Starbucks coffee every morning and afternoon in our room, I'm a big coffee drinker and I need it to keep going since I can't eat much, so we stopped at Cheshire Café so I could get a little caffeine juice. No, it was not good, but like I said, I need it, so I got some at several locations throughout the trip. I actually think the taste of the water affects the coffee in a bad way. I also got an iced mocha for DH. Again, it was really weak coffee-wise, and sugary, and frankly, not a good value at 4 dollars and change.

Nasty caffeine juice - but it did its work...
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Iced mocha
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After our coffee break, they were letting people in the new expansion so off we went. We rode Little Mermaid twice with no wait, it was awesome! Beautifully themed ride and queue! Then I got to meet Gaston, since there was no wait (we don't really do characters, unless there is no wait).

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Then, off to Gaston's Tavern...

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Limited menu - I wonder if items will be added?

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Antlers galore! We were really impressed by the decor.

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LeFou's Brew

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This is an apple slushie with a toasted marshmallow hint, covered in foam. The first taste is very sweet, but it gets kind off addicting. DH guzzled it down, after saying it was too sweet. :lmao: He is not even a slushie fan like I am! We would get it again, but it was not as good as the frozen butterbeer, for comparison's sake.

Pork shank

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This completely blew me away. It was gorgeous! :lovestruc The meat fell off the bone, tender, braised to perfection, not too fatty and peppery. We battled over the last few meat chunks. This is going to be a must for us next trip, its 10 times better than the turkey leg in my opinion, and a little cheaper too! We were impressed to find this in a quick service place.

A couple of hours later, just before leaving for our afternoon rest, we stopped by Sleepy Hollow and shared a sweet and spicy chicken waffle sandwich.

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This was made to order, so we had to wait a good 5 minutes, which was fine by me, since the waffle and chicken were hot and fresh. The glaze on the chicken was quite spicy and the waffle is sweet, but we found that the slaw was lacking in acidity, to balance the sweetness and spiciness. There just wasn't enough, about 1 tablespoon. I would ask for extra slaw next time. It was still an interesting choice, but the Nutella waffle caught DH's eye for next time... :rolleyes1

Next up - our first signature: Jiko!
 
I also really liked that chocolate-covered pineapple on my last trip - glad you enjoyed it. And it's so exciting that you got to explore New Fantasyland during previews! I have to try those unique items at Gaston's eventually. :thumbsup2
 
I'm so excited to see a review of Gaston's!! I'd be willing to bet that my DD would like the pork shank as she is a turkey leg lover! And I love the picture of you with Gaston - cute!

And great review of Raglan Road - I think I had one or two of those Jay Gail Sangrias as well. ;) Your appetizers there looked very yummy and I also loved the bread and that Guinness reduction. :thumbsup2

Looking forward to Jiko! I'm going to WDW in Feb and I just made an ADR there!
 
Oooh, I'm so jealous of that LFB! :laughing: Glad you enjoyed it! My DH thinks that pork shank looks fantastic, too!
 
Great reviews so far!! I really hope I get to try the Lefou's Brew this next week! I am super excited to eat at Landscapes of Flavors. Your choice was one that I was thinking of getting so it is good to see that on here!:thumbsup2
 
Thank you for your kind words everyone! :love:

For our dinner that night, I had scheduled our first signature ever, Jiko. We had a sprinkling of pixie dust with transportation, since when the last bus for Animal kingdom pulled up at AOA, we were the only ones in line and the driver asked us where we were heading and actually dropped us off directly at the Lodge. :thumbsup2

We arrived a good hour before our ADR but we wanted to explore the resort a bit. It is gorgeous. We visited many resorts on this trip and this was hands-down our favorite.

Jiko's current menu.

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We checked in and the place was rally busy, so they told us they could not promise us to be seated early, but we didn't mind waiting at the bar. I had a nice little cocktail.

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This is the Harmattan Cooler - Van-Der-Hum tangerine liqueur, cherry brandy and Nobo whole fruit tisane. It had a nice fruity and light taste, not too sweet but a little kick.

We were then seated and started to peruse the menu. At that point, for some reason, I was really cold, so I order the pressed pot of coffee.

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What can I say? This was by far the best coffee of the trip. Good, smooth dark and lovely. It hit the spot. By the way, I don't really talk about DH's beverages, because he usually guzzles iced water but samples my cocktails and drinks. He rarely orders anything special to drink. ;)

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This was the best bread and butter of the trip. Honestly, nothing measured up to it, not even Kona's. The curry and cinnamon butter was so unique, and paired so well with the breads. The breads were light, fluffy and spiced. I was so sad that I couldn't eat more. :( However, DH polished off the basket.

We settled on three appetizers to share.

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This is one of the newer flatbreads, I think, the Realan's Duck Confit with goat cheese, berbere-spiced oranges and balsamic reduction. This was delicious. The flavors went so well together, the crust was thin and crisp (I'm thinking they use corn meal for it to be crisp like that, but I might be mistaken?). There were actually plenty of nice orange supremes under the greens and a nice quantity of duck. It was not overloaded with goat cheese, which was a good thing, since it could have overpowered the other flavors.

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This is the grilled wild boar with mealie pap, chakalaka, white truffle oil and micro cilantro. Again, this was awesome. I've never had chakalaka before, but it was so flavorful and paired really well with the pap. The boar was a perfect rare, and we literally fought for it! lol! :cloud9:

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Finally, the crispy beef "bobotie" roll with cucumber raita, green mango atjar and roasted groundnuts. We were happy to eat this last, because it was much more spicy than the two other dishes so we had time to enjoy the delicate flavors of the previous dishes before waking up our taste buds with some hotness. We loved the mix of spices in this one, and the contrast with the raita, the mango and the subtle cilantro taste. It was an explosion in our mouth - in a really good way, if that makes sense. Also, the rolls are fried but were not greasy at all, which I appreciated greatly.

We decided to share a dessert and a nice glass of dessert wine to go with it.

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The dessert wine from South Africa: Fairview La Beryl Rouge. I appreciated this wine so much that I asked the server for the name (I had forgotten to snap a pic of the desert menu) and she brought me the label.

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The wine paired nicely with the dessert.

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This is the Chocolate and Tea Safari - Vanilla rooibos tanzanian chocolate cake with free form kit kat and green tea ice cream. I loved the tea and chocolate combo in this dessert. The mousse on top of the cake was light and airy while the cake was fudgey without being to sweet or heavy. The green tea was tart and refreshing and paired really well with the kit kat that was crunchy.

In conclusion, this was, without a doubt, the best meal of our trip. The spices, the ambiance, the pace of the meal, everything was perfect. We left the place in bliss. We will certainly be back. :woohoo:

After Jiko, we headed to MK for EMH and before leaving, we had a little snack... our favorite in MK (wow, lots of favorites in this post! :rotfl:)

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Our first of many Dole Whip pineapple floats! Because it's not made with cream, it's one of the rare frozen concoctions that I can actually eat more than a tablespoon of without upsetting my little tummy, which is awesome. :cool1: It was as delicious as we remembered! :lovestruc
 












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