Lighter Fare at Columbia Harbour House
We were starving at this point, so we headed to one of our favorite places in Disney to eat - Columbia Harbour House! Growing up, my family always ate at Cosmic Ray's, so when I first started reading things on DIS and actually doing research before a trip, I found out about CHH and was intrigued. During a trip with my family in 2008, I mentioned that I wanted to try it out, but my dad also wanted a turkey leg. Little did we know that there was a cart right outside of CHH too! We ended up eating elsewhere so that we didn't have to trek across the park for two different things. Now I got my mom and younger brother loving this place too (my dad never tried it as he doesn't hit the parks anymore), so it's a must do for us and my hubs too, of course!
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We were the first people in the restaurant or the first to order, and the CMs were very cheerful and wished us a happy honeymoon because of our pins. Then someone else came in with a birthday button, and they made a really big deal about that. Haha, I wanted to be like, "Excuse me, don't steal our thunder!" I admit that a small part of me was hoping that we'd get a free dessert or something during any of our meals, but alas, it just wasn't meant to be. I know it's definitely not something to expect, but my hopes were raised when I read other Disneymoon TRs where couples were getting surprises at almost every single stop they made! I guess Howard and I had enough pixie dust between the two of us just celebrating the fact that we were married and in Disney alone!
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We got our tray of food and took it upstairs to our favorite place to eat. There are the two tables next to the windows where you can see Liberty Square, and we nabbed one of them. There are actually three tables there, but the middle one doesn't have a view from what I remember. It was also time to take a million pictures of our food!
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Excited to eat!
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Can I eat yet?
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Howard ordered the Battered Fish Basket, which is served with either steamed fresh broccoli or French fries ($7.99). As you can see, he got the fries. This is our go to meal because we think this is one of the best places for fish and chips! We haven't tried the place in the UK and we didn't try it at Raglan Road, so this is a good place to get a quick bite. In comparison to the hamburgers that I grew up having to eat, this was definitely a change, so I grew really attached to it.
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Huh, I just realized that I do not have pictures of the food from my camera. I wonder what happened there! Oh wait, I already lost battery at Haunted Mansion, so that's why it just kept dying on me afterwards! There we go, haha. That explains the lack of close-up pictures that I normally take.
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Despite my attachment to the fried fish basket, I ended up ordering the Lighthouse Sandwich, which was hummus with tomato and broccoli slaw on toasted multigrain bread with potato chips ($8.99). Because of the heat, I didn't want to risk not feeling well by having fried food. I had my gallbladder removed years ago, and things that are high in fat or oil can still sometimes make me sick if I eat too much of it, so I didn't want to risk it. I had read great reviews about this sandwich and the Anchors Aweigh, but I chose this one as mayo tends to make me sick too.
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In my opinion, this was at first a strange sandwich because of the textures of everything inside and the lack of a big hunk of meat. Plus, I was staring Howard down with his fried fish and wishing I had ordered that. I do believe he gave me a bite to have some, and I definitely had some of his fries as I usually do. But then as I continued taking bites from the sandwich, I grew to love it! Haha, I know it's really strange, but this then became one of my favorite things to eat from this entire vacation! Because it's much lighter than fried food, it was easy to eat, and it was really perfect for the weather. The broccoli slaw was definitely a great addition as it added crunch to what would otherwise be a mushy sandwich. I felt energized and refreshed because I knew I was still getting protein from it (haha, my mom brainwashed me into thinking I always have to have protein in my meals even though I'm typically not a fan, but I still think about it even when she's not around!), and it was definitely an excellent choice. Since then, I still kept thinking about it and actually craving it so much so that I ordered it again in December even though the cold weather was a perfect opportunity for fried fish. I still think about it to this day, and it's the strangest love for a food item that I've ever had since I didn't love it from the start, and it definitely isn't like, one of the best tasting things I've ever eaten (you know, it's not like that shrimp in green curry sauce from Sanaa ... that is no longer there after the new menu change, sad ...). I have no other words to describe WHY I love this sandwich this much except for the fact that it was the right thing for me to have at that time, and so I grew to love it!
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I'm sure the atmosphere attributed to it being a great sandwich too!
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We love people watching, and I've spent time up there writing updates on my trip journal too sitting by one of those windows (though not on this trip ... I was not into taking notes during our honeymoon!).
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We were wondering what that CM was doing down below! The janitor walking by seems to be wondering the same thing!
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You ever think that it might be possible to catch other DISers in random photos like this? How funny would it be to be reading a TR and going, "OMG, that's me!"
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We finished eating our entrees, and I'm pretty sure I put the potato chips away in Howard's backpack for a snack later on. I love Disney's chips because they're more substantial and much heartier than some other brands. But of course, I have a love for kettle chips, so it only makes sense that I really enjoy these. Before we left, Howard actually moved the little curtain thing aside on the other side of the room so that he could take a picture of the construction going on. We didn't know what it was at the time, but those are now the Tangled restrooms if I'm not mistaken!
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With a good meal giving us some more energy, we were ready to see what else Magic Kingdom had in store for us!