No Longer coming to you Live from Disney World! Take 3 DDW'S TAMBU LOUNGE 8/6

[emmysmommy]

I agree Figment Fan! Everywhere we turned Hunter was paling around with the chefs. I have photos to prove it too!

 

[jabead]

My apologies to the readers and to my fellow reporters who are waiting for me to get our joint dining report started. I fully intended to post the kick off for our report today and had my intro written and all ready to post. Unfortunately though, it was not meant to be. My family is spending the holidays at our farm house...where the internet is somewhat spotty on a good day, which today it definitely was not. The rain and ice that we have had today has wreaked havoc with our internet. It took me all morning to upload to Photobucket and then edit the few photos that I have for my intro post. Then I spent all afternoon writing my intro. Just as I had finally completed it and was about to hit "submit" the internet went out and when it came back I had completely lost my entire post. And no, I stupidly had not saved it anywhere. I now need to venture out into this "lovely" weather to make merry with friends at a Christmas party. But tomorrow is another day, and hopefully this time I will have better luck.

 

[emmysmommy]

Oh boo Barb! I hate when that happens. I hope you enjoyed your Christmas party at least.

I'm still trying to get photos uploaded to Photobucket and organize them.

 

[Linda67]

My apologies to the readers and to my fellow reporters who are waiting for me to get our joint dining report started. I fully intended to post the kick off for our report today and had my intro written and all ready to post. Unfortunately though, it was not meant to be. My family is spending the holidays at our farm house...where the internet is somewhat spotty on a good day, which today it definitely was not. The rain and ice that we have had today has wreaked havoc with our internet. It took me all morning to upload to Photobucket and then edit the few photos that I have for my intro post. Then I spent all afternoon writing my intro. Just as I had finally completed it and was about to hit "submit" the internet went out and when it came back I had completely lost my entire post. And no, I stupidly had not saved it anywhere. I now need to venture out into this "lovely" weather to make merry with friends at a Christmas party. But tomorrow is another day, and hopefully this time I will have better luck.

Argh the joy of patchy internet!!
Hope you enjoyed your family Christmas party Barb

 

[jabead]

Ok, let's give this another try. Keep in mind that this will be a less well-written and much less entertaining version of my lost intro post from yesterday. Trust me, it was brilliant!


First I would like to introduce a couple of additions to the cast of characters who will be taking part in this joint dining report.





Beth (Couchy) was a last minute but great addition to our group. She joined us for many of our dining events that took place from Dec. 5 - 7, so will be adding her opinion and photos from these meals. Then Beth flew home on the 8th but returned to Disney World later in the week, this time bringing her DH along. Hopefully she will share some of her dining experiences from her second weekend trip, which was from Dec. 12 - 15.



Also adding some dining reviews to our report will be...



Me and DeeDee (buzz1121) at the MVMCP


DeeDee and her family arrived at Disney World on Dec. 7th and were there until the 18th (I believe). She will make an appearance at one of our dining events, plus she has offered to report on some of the dining experiences she had with her family during their 10+ day trip.


There will be a few other DISers appearing in our report, but I'll let these be a surprise.


- Continued in next post -

 

[jabead]

Now let's get the party started, shall we?!?!

Most of us arrived at Disney World at various times on Thursday, Dec 5th (with just a few arriving earlier in the week and a few a day or two later). I was one of those who arrived on the 5th and I had a wonderful surprise awaiting me when I reached my first destination. So I would like to begin our dining report by telling you about the big dose of Disney pixie dust that was bestowed upon me, courtesy of the Yacht Club.


But first a little background info. During my many previous Disney resort stays with my family, I can only recall receiving one small complimentary upgrade. Back in 2006 I had booked 2 standard view rooms at the Wilderness Lodge and we were given rooms with a woods view. Woohoo! But with this trip, my first time traveling solo, my luck changed...and in a pretty big way.


Here's how it all went down...


As usual, for this trip I had booked standard view rooms, which for me usually results in a lovely view of the parking lot. Also, in order to get the Annual Passholder discount for all 8 nights of my trip, I ended up with the first three nights at the Yacht Club, then two nights at the Boardwalk Inn, and the final three at the Wilderness Lodge.


I had just gotten off the Magical Express bus at my first resort, the Yacht Club, when a cast member approached me and asked if I was Ms. Jacobs? For just a moment I was impressed by her power of mental telepathy, but then I remembered the Disney tracking device (aka Magic Band) I was wearing around my ankle (ummm...I mean wrist). However her next statement did leave me a little puzzled. She said, "Your room is ready for you and I will escort you."

Now the fact that my room was ready at about 11:30 in the morning was a bit of a surprise, but add to that her offer to escort me to it really threw me for a loop. In this somewhat dazed and confused state, I dutifully followed her into the lobby where I was no doubt greeted by the Captain...






...walked by the beautiful globe





...and glanced at the Yacht Club Christmas tree, wonderfully decorated with a nautical theme!






Of course I recall absolutely none of this, including the ride on the elevator with her up to the very top floor of the hotel...the Concierge Level. Along the way there was probably some small talk, but I have no idea what I said. I was then handed off to one of the CL staff and was seated at her desk. This conversation too is pretty much a blur, although I do recall asking her (and probably more than once) if she was certain that she had the right Barb Jacobs? In addition to her assurances that I was in fact in the right place, I received further confirmation when she escorted me to my room and with a "Mickey to Mickey" touch of my Magic Band the door actually opened.





This appeared to be a standard Yacht Club room with a King plus a daybed and a lovely view of the parking lot.


But more importantly for me, it was very close to the lounge...
















As you can see from the photos, the lounge was deserted during my first visit. Here are pics of the Afternoon snacks that were being offered that day (which was the one and only time that I was there during the Afternoon Snack hours):





Gummy candy (I think maybe they were worms???), Trail mix, and White Chocolate-covered Pretzels (none of which I tried).






Potato chips & Dip (again, didn't try these)



But I couldn't resist having one of these...





Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies!



Then it was off to Epcot for my first DISmeet, but I was back in time to check out the Evening offerings in the lounge that night. The first of my three nights, the food seemed to have an Asian theme. The two hot appetizers were potstickers and wontons (filled with what???...for the life of me I can't remember), both of which were good. I also had some of the veggies and dip that seemed to be standard fare each night.





Sadly I dropped the ball regarding taking photos of all the Evening Offerings, remembering only to take a picture of my own plate each of my three nights at the lounge. However, my saving grace could possibly be my dining companions. On the first evening I asked one of the CL staff if I could invite a guest (or two) to join me in the lounge each night for pre-dinner appetizers since I was staying there by myself. Having gotten the okay, I was able to share my good fortune with three other members of our group...Rachel, Beth, and Vicki.



Moving on now to the Breakfast Offerings, which my first morning consisted of...




Croissants and assorted bagels






Muffins and Danish







Three kinds of Melon






Assorted Cereals



And my choice on this first morning...





Pap and Oatmeal, along with these toppings...





Craisins, Raisins, Brown Sugar, and I thinks slivered Almonds???



Since I was meeting some ladies for breakfast that morning, I had only coffee and a small bowl of the oatmeal topped with raisins and brown sugar...





This was delicious! It had been a few years since I had had oatmeal and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Consequently, when I returned home I picked up some from the grocery store and have had it for breakfast most mornings since then. Although it's not quite as good as the oatmeal I had while relaxing in my room at the Yacht Club that morning, it's still pretty darn tasty.


And while we are talking breakfast, the offerings on the second morning seemed to be pretty much the same as the first so I didn't take any more photos. I again had breakfast plans, but this time we were having a buffet-style breakfast. With this in mind, I limited myself to just a bit of melon that morning.





On my third and final morning, I spent all my spare time in the room packing for my move to the Boardwalk so didn't have the chance to visit the lounge before leaving for another DISmeet breakfast. I have a feeling though that the Breakfast offerings that morning were much like the previous two mornings.


That just leaves my limited report on the food offered in the lounge on the second and third nights of my stay. Night 2 seemed to follow a Greek theme with appetizers of Spanakopita and a Greek salad with olives, artichokes and feta cheese.





Unfortunately I can't recall what the other hot hors d'oeuvre is that is on my plate (the one that looks like an egg roll). There were different cheeses offered each night, along with crackers. On this night it was a very good blue cheese and I believe a cheddar. The second night was definitely my favorite one, as I remember enjoying and therefore finishing every single bite from my full plate.



On the third night I was meeting the group for an early dinner so I only sampled a few things...





Bacon-wrapped scallops and Brie with crackers



Sorry that my photo is slightly blurry and not very visually appealing. It definitely does not do these foods justice, as both were quite good. The second hot hors d'oeurvre offered this night was chicken skewers, which didn't look particularly appetizing to me. Therefore, I didn't try them so can't comment as to whether they tasted better than they looked.


Sadly (perhaps), I was never back to my room in time to sample the Desserts & Cordials that were offered in the evening. I say perhaps, because as you will soon see I was in no way deprived of wonderful desserts on any of these evenings.


And so, that concludes my report of this surprise experience of dining at Disney World Concierge-style. Sorry that it is not up to snuff, but hopefully my three dining companions will be able to add more details and photos. Also on the day that I checked out of the YC, Rachel & Corey checked in for a two night CL stay there. So Rachel, who has a very nice camera, will probably have some much better photos to share with you.

 

[jerseytinkerbell]

Great start Barb! That is so awesome that you got such an incredible upgrade! You deserve it.

 

[emmysmommy]

What a well deserved upgrade Barb!! Not only were you upgraded to CL but you received one of the coveted king rooms with a day bed.

Glad you were able to enjoy some of the CL offerings. I love the evening appetizer choices. Such a nice way to start your evening.

 

[Linda67]

Yay, you've started your DR
If ever anyone deserved an upgrade it's you!

 

[Couchy]

Hello everyone I met so many great people and had so much fun on this trip. How to meet up with all of you in the future
Here we go

Warning.... my pics are taken with an iphone so not that great of pics

Barb was kind enough to secure permission for me to come and sample the lounge offerings with her. I went twice



I had a glass of water and a glass of merlot.
I also had veggies with dip and apple slices. I really enjoyed the veggies
There was also some type of salad with artichoke, feta and olives - I also enjoyed this
The hot apps. were potstickers and crab ragoons. These were ok but but the potsticker was the better option IMHO.

I went up a second time with Barb and this time I had



Veggies again
Crackers and Blue cheese with was excellent. I think they had brie as well
Tonight they had egg rolls. I normally love egg rolls but these seemed to have been sitting there a while so I did not eat more than a small bite

I am very thankful that Barb invited me to the lounge with her and the staff allowed me the chance to partake. It is a nice little lounge for some apps. Not sure I would pay for the experience since I am not sure how much I would be around to actually use the lounge. It was a good experience though so thanks Barb

 

[SilentK]

Yay it's started! Looking forward to all of your reports.

Jabead you must have the same luck as me. Where ever I go you can guarantee I'll get the worst view possible. It's a running joke now. I went away for work once and showed my friend my usual car park view to which she burst out laughing, her view was of a lovely duck pond!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Hello All!

I arrived Saturday morning thankfully on an uneventful flight after a restless night due to an ice storm in my home town on Friday night. I live an hour from the airport so we hastily made a hotel reservation a mile from the airport and happily the storm ended during the night and my flight was on time.

Spent the day with these lovely ladies (more on that later) and then checked into my room that alas, was not nearly as nice as Barb's ...



Yes, Pop Century for me. (There I am in the mirror!) In the 90's section about as far from the buses as you could possibly be! Oh well, I wasn't there much.

That first night Barb invited me to enjoy the lounge with her before our dinner. Since I knew dinner was going to be a food fest for me, I only had a glass of Merlot and a couple of the bacon wrapped scallops ...



Wine was good and the scallops tasty. Sadly, that was the only pic I took. But the Yacht Club was beautiful and the lounge really nice. I would love to be able to stay concierge level some day!

THANK YOU to Barb for letting me be her guest for at least one evening!

 

[jabead]

Thank you ladies for your posts! They helped answer some questions that I had and reminded me of a few things I had totally forgotten. First of all, my theory that they follow any kind of theme each night for their food offerings was debunked. The first night (that I thought might be Asian themed) when they had potstickers and the wontons (that Beth identified as crab rangoon), they also apparently had the Greek salad...which I didn't notice until my second night at the lounge. On the second night, along with the Spanakopita and Greek salad they had egg rolls (thanks Beth for confirming that what I thought looked like an egg roll was in fact just that. ) Also seeing Beth's apple slices reminded me that they had those along with caramel dipping sauce. It seems like they had some kind of peanut butter and jelly thing going on in the same area as the apples were served too. Also both Beth and Vicki's posts reminded me that I forgot to mention that they had several beverages available every night...water, soda, and wine were the ones we had but I'm sure they had other drinks out.

Now we will wait for Rachel's thoughts and hopefully some more photos!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

So excited that you have started your dining report. Would love to stay CL sometime. Glad a deserving person got the pixie dust. Can't wait for more but Merry Christmas to you all if you can't post again :

 

[jabead]

Great start Barb! That is so awesome that you got such an incredible upgrade! You deserve it.

Thanks Jeri! And btw, I'm looking forward to getting caught up on reading your dining report now that I have more spare time on the DIS.

Yay it's started! Looking forward to all of your reports.

Jabead you must have the same luck as me. Where ever I go you can guarantee I'll get the worst view possible. It's a running joke now. I went away for work once and showed my friend my usual car park view to which she burst out laughing, her view was of a lovely duck pond!

Yes, I've had more views of the parking lot and ugly roof top views than I can count. Not sure what happened this time to finally change my luck. Was it purely a random thing that I was chosen? Probably, but then people have suggested other theories to me. I guess I will never know.

Anyway, thanks for reading along!

So excited that you have started your dining report. Would love to stay CL sometime. Glad a deserving person got the pixie dust. Can't wait for more but Merry Christmas to you all if you can't post again :

Thank you and Merry Christmas to you too!

Sorry everyone for the delay in proceeding with our dining report but we are experiencing some technical difficulties due to the holidays. Rachel is home this week for Christmas and left her laptop (with all her trip photos) back in Minnesota. Therefore, her review and photos from the one night that she was my guest in the lounge will need to wait until later...maybe she will just wait and include it with the review from her own 2 night stay at the YC - CL??


I do have one more photo to add to my Regatta Club review that might be of help to someone. Here is a list of the times at which the various foods and beverages are offered in the lounge:

​

 

[jabead]

Picking up where I left off, after my first visit to the Regatta Club Lounge I left for Epcot to meet up with Rachel for lunch. However, with well over an hour to wait before our lunch time, I suddenly realized how hungry I was. The only thing I had had since dinner the night before was the chocolate chip cookie I had from the lounge. Consequently, I didn't get very far into World Showcase before making a food stop in France at...






The food that I had in mind was listed on the Savory menu...






Boulangerie Patisserie offers two different kinds of quiche, but I am partial to the...




Quiche Lorraine with ham and gruyere cheese


This was delicious, but pretty much filled me up...before my actual lunch. Oops!

Anyway, as I was sitting at an outside table enjoying both my quiche and the warm Florida weather, I sent Beth (Couchy) a text to see what she was up to and if she had perhaps changed her mind and wanted to join Rachel and me. Though she was at DHS at the time, Beth said she would head to Epcot and meet up with us for lunch after all.


Any guesses as to where we had lunch?

 

[jmm476]

Merry Christmas! And congratulations on the upgrade to CL. I'm sorry I never ran into the group. I was keeping an eye out for everyone when I wasn't playing with my sisters iPhone trying to update our fast passes or chasing after my DD. Apparently the girl needs a leash because she's a runner.

I will take a stab... Via Napoli?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[marshallsmommy]

Watching the Disney Parade reminded me to pop in and say Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope everyone's holidays are wonderful!

 

[emmysmommy]

Sue I just watched the parade today... it brought back great memories of a couple weeks ago!

I'm so glad that you were able to join us for one of our special dining events!

Barb: I'd guess but that would be cheating!

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in