More to do (and eat) so we went a third time! Dec. 6-14 (complete)

[ThreeBoyMama]

Those shakes look delicious

 

[mickey916]

Those shakes look delicious

They were really good! We wished we had stomach space to get them again!

 

[mickey916]

12/12/22 - Skyliner Resorts - Breakfast at Primo Piatto
​

This day we woke up and walked to Disney Hollywood Studios to take the skyliner to the Riviera. We love this resort, too! We picked up breakfast at Primo Piatto. We ordered the Cinnamon Crumble French Toast Bread Pudding with bacon.


This was just as delicious as we remembered from our April trip! A great excuse to eat dessert for breakfast.

We also ordered the Blueberry-Lemon pancakes with bacon. This was a new item for us.

These were excellent as well. The pancakes were light and fluffy with just the right hint of lemon. The bacon was well cooked but a little chewy.

After breakfast we went to the lobby to take a picture of the Riviera tree.

​

Kinda small compared to others but very pretty. I also took a picture of the wreaths above the front doors.


After I took my picture, a young CM who must have been a greeter at the front door stopped me and said, "I have been here all week and it wasn't until you took that picture that I noticed those wreaths. Thank you for drawing my attention to them!" Funny how so many small details can go unnoticed.

Next we hopped on the skyliner to the Caribbean Beach Resort so that I could take a picture of their tree.

​

Also a smaller tree, put there were lots of other pretty decorations around the resort.

​

After exploring Caribbean Beach, we got back on the skyliner and headed over to the Art of Animation. I thought the decorations here were really interesting and matched the theming of the resort really well.

​

Up next...lunch at Pop Century.

​

 

[mickey916]

12/12/22 Lunch at Everything POP!
​

After walking around Art of Animation, we walked over to Pop Century and photographed their tree. I thought the ornaments were really fun on this tree.

​

It was lunchtime and my DH was craving french fries. We had seen a vlogger get a big plate of fries at Everything POP! so we headed there.

We ordered Walt's Chili-Cheese All beef footlong hot dog and discovered it came with chips not fries (the horror!). We did ask if it was possible to substitute and the CM said yes and directed us to the station to pick them up.

​

This had such potential. The quality of the hot dog was excellent and the chili cheese topping had nice flavor. The only issue it was not warm at all. The fries were fine but also had been sitting out a while.



All was not lost however because we also grabbed the Oh-Deer cupcake.

​

This was absolutely delicious! It was a moist chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling and a peanut butter buttercream. One of the best desserts we treid all week!

After exploring the resort, we took the skyliner back to the Epcot station and walked back to the Swan. On the way we stopped at the Boardwalk Inn to take a picture of their beautiful tree.

​

We also admired their gingerbread house modeled on the Boardwalk Deli.



Outside in the courtyard was a second beautiful tree.



After walking back to the Swan, we picked up our rental car to venture out to the All Star resorts.

Up next...an afternoon snack at an All Star resort.

 

[mickey916]

12/12/22 An Afternoon at the All Stars
​

We stopped first at the All Star Music resort to take pictures of their decorations. I thought the decorations at all the All Stars were fun and whimsical.

Musical Wreath​

Musical Tree
​

After walking around for a while, it was time for another holiday snack so we picked up the Gingerbread sundae at the Intermission Food Court.



This was really good. The ice cream had a nice subtle gingerbread flavor, the waffle bowl was sweet and crunchy and the M&Ms added a nice chocolatey crunch. The little chocolate gingerbread man was just a standard chocolate decoration.

We wandered around the All Star Movies resort and took a picture of their tree. (Those are metal film containers decorating the tree.)

​

Last stop was the All Star sports resort for a picture of their tree with various sports balls.

​

I also liked the star wreaths at each of the resorts.

​

For those keeping track, on this day we visited 8 resorts, bringing our total so far to 19, almost there!

Up next, an evening at Disney Springs.

 

[disneyAndi14]

I love your resort touring to include so many different resorts!
The decorations are all so unique and different at each one!
I only made it to the monorail resorts, WL, and my resort POFQ.

 

[mickey916]

I love your resort touring to include so many different resorts!
The decorations are all so unique and different at each one!
I only made it to the monorail resorts, WL, and my resort POFQ.

It really was incredible how uniquely themed each resort was, right down to the music being played. We stayed our last night at POFQ and my DH loved the Bayou Christmas music. We definitely were in the Christmas spirit by the time we finished this trip!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing! I love all the differently themed decorations

 

[mickey916]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing! I love all the differently themed decorations

Thank you! It was cool to see.

 

[mickey916]

12/12/22 An Evening at Disney Springs
​

Having had excellent meals at Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' in both April and May, we simply had to schedule an ADR for dinner there again this trip. We were very excited to get some delicious home cookin' once again. So, after our resort tours, we headed to Disney Springs.

We arrived just in time to hear a Christmas music concert by an Air Force band. They were very good!



We put our name in at Gideon's (again) and wandered around Disney Springs. We checked in for our ADR and asked to be seated outside since it was a beautiful night and we had never eaten outside there before.

We were seated at a little tiny two person table right near the door. We were still a little full and feeling like we needed some veggies so we decided to split a salad and the thigh high chicken biscuits.

The excellent Hamilton salad was no longer on the menu so we opted for the new chopped BLT salad.



This salad was fine. It was fresh and the fried green tomato was quite good. Overall though not nearly as good at the pimento cheese fritters on the Hamilton salad.

And the dish we were dreaming of since our April trip...the Thigh High Chicken biscuits...



These were....not good. The biscuits were extremely dry, the thighs were also dried out and way smaller than what we had received in April. Here's a picture of those for comparison purposes...



These even look better to me in the photo.

I've mentioned before too that I think service makes a big difference in how a meal is perceived. The previous two times our servers were excellent and this time our server was mediocre at best. She wasn't LTT bad but not particularly interested in making sure we enjoyed our meal. With some servers I get the sense that as soon as we say we're not ordering alcoholic drinks, they're uninterested....

After our dinner as we awaited our call back for Gideon's, we popped into Jock Lindsey's Holiday bar just to take a couple pictures.







I was kinda wishing we had gone there instead for dinner.

We loved seeing all the decorations lit up at night in Disney Springs.



The trees looked even more spectacular at night. Here's one of my favorites.

​

We finally received our notification to go to Gideon's. This time we only got a piece of the cookies and cream cake.



I loved this! The frosting was exactly what I expected from "grey stuff" but way better. The chocolate cake itself was very light and crumbly. My DH liked the frosting but didn't like the chocolate cake as much as the ones we've had previously. He felt it was too crumbly. We'll give our final ranking on Gideon's cake later...

Foodwise the highlights of this day were the entire breakfast at Primo Piatto, the Jolly Holi-deer cupcake, the gingerbread sundae and cake from Gideon's...sweet definitely won over savory this day.

Up next...checking out of the Swan and into POFQ and adding a few more resorts to the list.

 

[Paulaparm]

I think I need to try Gideon's cakes next trip

 

[mickey916]

I think I need to try Gideon's cakes next trip

For sure!

 

[mickey916]

12/13/22 Breakfast at
Ale & Compass
​

We got up early, packed our things, and walked over to the Yacht Club for our breakfast reservation at Ale & Compass, a "new" restaurant for us. While we waited I took pictures of their beautiful boat-themed decorations.

​

They also displayed a beautiful winter themed model railroad.



At Ale & Compass, we opted for the add-on buffet with entree. Here's my DH's first plate. He told me he'd arrange it properly for the photo:



I think this expresses our overall feelings for this meal. It left us smiling. On his plate two cinnamon rolls, a cheddar biscuit (minus the gravy) and a slice of banana bread. He thought these were all fine but a little on the dry side.

Here's my plate from the buffet:



I too found the cinnamon rolls and cheddar biscuit dry but the fresh fruit was excellent. I even went back for a refill of fruit.

For my entree, I was really torn between the Salted Caramel Apple French toast and the Blueberry-bacon pancakes. I thought for sure my DH would get the Dark Chocolate waffle but I think the espresso-marscapone cream scared him off. He's not a fan of coffee flavoring. So, since he chose the Salted Caramel Apple French toast, I went with the Blueberry-bacon pancakes.



These were just okay. I had been warned on the DisBoards that the bacon could be chewy and it was. There were parts of the pancake that the bacon blended fine but other parts that the chunks were just too chewy which was a weird texture imbalance for me. The flavor was fine but the texture threw me off. Definitely preferred my Primo Piatto pancakes.

My DH’s Salted Caramel Apple French toast.



My DH loved his Salted Caramel Apple French Toast and was kind enough to give me a taste...sooooo good! We couldn’t believe how light and fluffy the toast was. Best French toast we’ve ever had. Worth the reservation just to get that. We will be back and I won't make a mistake next time.

Overall we enjoyed this meal. The buffet is nothing great but for the $7-$8 it costs above the entree alone price and the fact that itincludes beverages, we felt it was a good value.

We left the restaurant to go check out of the Swan and check in for one night at POFQ to complete a bucket list item.

Up next…a few more resorts to explore and an unexpected meal.

 

[disneyAndi14]

I have dinner several times at Ale&Compass and we really enjoyed it.
I have heard mostly good reviews about the breakfast options there. I may need to try it one of these trips!
How did you like the Swan? We may stay here one of our trips since the Disney Epcot resorts have become way to expensive now. Crazy to spend 6-7 hundred a night at YC or BC nowadays!

 

[mickey916]

I have dinner several times at Ale&Compass and we really enjoyed it.
I have heard mostly good reviews about the breakfast options there. I may need to try it one of these trips!
How did you like the Swan? We may stay here one of our trips since the Disney Epcot resorts have become way to expensive now. Crazy to spend 6-7 hundred a night at YC or BC nowadays!

We loved the Swan! It was quiet and comfortable and you just can't beat the location and price. It's been a while since it's last refurb however so it does show its age but we felt it was clean just a little dated furnishings. The beds are very comfortable and we liked the extra sink outside of the bathroom. We will definitely stay at the Swan again.

 

[mickey916]

12/13/22 Checking into a Bucket-List Resort and then a Snack​

Back in 2019 when I first started planning a return trip to Disney, I booked the four of us at POFQ for a May 2020 trip. We all know how that turned out. Since then it's just never fit into our plans. When the Swan didn't have a room available for our last night, I decided it was time to finally stay here. We arrived around 10:00 am. I wanted to put our parking fee on a giftcard before it was charged to a credit card so I went to the front desk to see if I could do that. The CM said, "I see here you did online check-in, your room is already ready for you if you want to drop off your things." That was great news as we had all the chocolate treats we had bought for the boys at Epcot in our car and I was worrying about them in the unusually warm December weather.




So we dropped everything off and decided it was time to check a few more resort visits off our list. We took the boat to Disney Springs and then walked over to Saratoga Springs from the boat dock.



We then decided it was time for a mid-day snack and headed over to the Artist's Palette for the holiday yule log.



This was actually quite good. The cake had a light chocolate flavor and the cherry filling wasn't overpowering. It was a very good holiday treat.

We asked a cast member if it was possible to walk to the Old Key West Resort from Saratoga Springs and he showed us the path. It was a very long walk but we made it there. Because it's a DVC resort I didn't see any large Christmas tree but it was nicely decorated in the Key West style.

​

After exploring the resort we took the boat back to Disney Springs and discussed what to do for dinner. Nothing was really appealing to me at Disney Springs so I took a look in the MDE app to see if any last minute reservations looked good. We decided to snag a 5:00 pm ADR at Boatwright's, another first for us so we took the boat back to POFQ to await dinner time.

Up next...Boatwright's dinner and a favorite dessert!

 

[mickey916]

12/13/22 - Dinner at Boatwrights
​

For the first time on our trip, it actually started raining so we decided to drive over to Boatwrights instead of walking. We were excited to give this restaurant a try. We had already eaten three "all you care to enjoy meals" for dinner this week: 'Ohana, Liberty Tree Tavern, and Garden Grill so we decided not to get the all you care to enjoy platter for this meal and try something new.

We started with the warm corn bread and honey butter.


This was sooo good. Our server, who was excellent, brought a refill and even gave us one at the end of the meal to take home for breakfast.

We ordered two appetizers. First, the boudin balls: A mix of Andouille Sausage, Smoked Sausage, and Dirty Rice Breaded and Fried. Served with Remoulade, Creole Mustard, and Pickled Vegetables.



My DH got the one with the seeds in the pepper and it was very spicy for him, but he liked them. I liked these a lot. They were similar to the Arancini from Via Napoli, which I liked a little more but these were very good.

We also ordered the Mardi Gras Fritters: House-made Pimiento Cheese Fritters



These were fantastic! We absolutely loved them. They were crunchy and cheesy with a sweet spicy pepper jelly on top. So good!

For our entrée, we decided to share the jambalaya.



This also was excellent and since my DH isn't a fan of shrimp, I got all of them. They were very large and well cooked. Definitely tasted fresh and were well seasoned. The sausage and rice were also very flavorful.

This was one of our best meals all week. Our server was extremely friendly and attentive and the food was great. In fact, we're taking a quick stop in Orlando at the beginning of May, as part of a month long Florida roadtrip and this is the reservation my DH asked me to get. (I may try to snag an 'Ohana ADR as well but we'll see.) When we go next time I think we'll try the Taste of the Bayou platter and get the Mardi Gras Fritters again.

We didn't get dessert because we actually had an ADR to get one of our favorites at Beaches & Cream. So we headed there after our meal to take pictures of the Beach Club decorations as we waited.

The Gingerbread Carousel. So cool!



With a 50th Castle on top.

​

We still had time before our ADR so we decided to finish off our Epcot resort visits by walking over to the Swan Reserve to take pictures of their decorations.

​

We then walked to the Dolphin for a picture of their tree.

​

Finally it was time to head back to the Beach Club Resort for dessert.

Up next, a beautiful walk and a delicious dessert.

​

 

[mickey916]

12/13/22 Dessert at Beaches & Cream​

We took the beautiful walk back from the Dolphin to the Beach Club to check in for our dessert ADR at Beaches & Cream.






This area is so beautiful at night. So grateful our brief rain shower from earlier had ended so we could enjoy walking around on our final night.

We knew without a doubt what we were ordering. The No Way Jose Sundae with all chocolate ice cream.

​

This sundae is so delicious! One of the best!

After another fun day, we drove back to POFQ to spend our one night there before flying home. Fortunately, we still had one more full day to explore and eat and add one final resort to our resort tour. We also had a couple cool surprises on our last day!

 

[mickey916]

12/14/22 Breakfast at POFQ & A Few Surprises​

We packed up our things and then headed to breakfast for the whole reason we stayed at POFQ....beignets!




These were delicious as always! Light, fluffy, and warm. While we liked the sundae that we started our vacation with, there's nothing that beats just the original platter of six.

We decided to walk off breakfast by walking around the resort and started to think about our plans for the rest of the day. We were scheduled for an evening flight home so we had until about 4 pm before we had to head to MCO. We had no real ideas for lunch so I decided to finally give Sanaa a try. I had booked ADRs for Sanaa for all three trips but then always changed my mind and canceled...how good could the bread service really be???? There were no ADRs available but I put in a Touringplans reservation request and got one almost instantly for 11:45.

So we headed over to Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and I got one last resort Christmas tree picture.

​

We walked around the savannah a little bit enjoying the animals as we waited for our ADR. A very nice CM gave us a lot of info about the zebras. It was great to see them up close.



Our ADR time arrived and we were seated at a window. The window had fencing and poles in front of it but we still got a decent view of the animals.

​

We were still fairly full from our beignets so we decided just to get the bread service so we could see what all the hub-bub was about, fully expecting to be underwhelmed.



Okay, we stand corrected. This was absolutely delicious! The breads were soft and warm with nice flavor and the dips were sooooo good! I preferred the ones on the right in the picture (the spicier ones) and my DH preferred the ones on the left, the sweeter ones. Ours is a perfectly balanced marriage it appears. His favorite was the mango chutney (second from the top on the left) and my favorites were the spicy jalapeno lime pickle and the red chile sambal (the top two on the right). I can't explain it but this appetizer is definitely worth all the hype!

We left Animal Kingdom and decided to take one more monorail ride and get dessert. We parked at the TTC and rode the monorail to the Contemporary. We decided to try the 50th Anniversary peanut butter banana pie.



This was pretty good. It had a nice peanut butter banana flavor. Nothing that would rock my world, but good.

We decided then to walk over to the Magic Kingdom for one last look and as we were standing there, I said to my DH, "I think it looks like there are train conductors on the platform" (the train had not yet returned to the parks) and then, lo and behold....look what pulled into the station!



It was so great to finally see the steam engine back in the station!

After watching the train for a bit we decided to take the monorail over to Epcot since we had never done that before. It was a fun ride and we loved being able to go through the park without a ticket. By now we were thinking about heading to the airport. But, then my dad texted to say "check your flights, there's lots of delays"....so we did and our flight was delayed for two hours....so, off to Disney Springs we went!

Up next...a quick dinner and a little more Gideons to top off our trip.

 

[disneyAndi14]

I’m glad you tried the bread service at Sanaa, we love it!
Beignets for breakfast, bread service for lunch my kind of day!
I was hoping to get a “preview” ride on the beloved steam train in December but no such luck! I’m so excited to ride the train again in April!
Flight delays, ugh but on the way home not near as bad as on the way to Disney!