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

[smile4stamps]

Great start to the reviews ladies. I so wish I could have been there with you all

That would have been wonderful Joh! I'm sorry our upcoming trips don't match up either!

 

[wilma-bride]

That would have been wonderful Joh! I'm sorry our upcoming trips don't match up either!

That is a shame Paula. One day we will meet, I'm sure

 

[smile4stamps]

That is a shame Paula. One day we will meet, I'm sure

Unfortunately my AP expires when Brenda's does and there is no option for me in renewing it this time. The next planned trip to WDW after this fall is Fall 2017!

 

[wilma-bride]

Unfortunately my AP expires when Brenda's does and there is no option for me in renewing it this time. The next planned trip to WDW after this fall is Fall 2017!

 

[smile4stamps]

On to Flying Fish

This was my third time dining here and Hunter’s second. Our first time there we honestly have very little memory of. We were supposed to eat here in October and changed our minds. I am very thankful we decided to stick with this one as it ended up being a great evening!

Hunter started with the Truffle Martini ( I think!)

I had some sort of fruity concoction lol

I started with the Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

I had this salad in May and loved it.. and I loved it again!

Hunter had the Caesar Salad.. made special for him sans anchovies

I had the Signature duo.

The beef was FABULOUS! The fish on the other hand I felt was a little overcooked. It was good but I truly loved the beef side far better!

Hunter went with the same dish Rachel described above

Along with a side of Risotto

Hunter LOVED his meal. It was really delicious! I think Flying Fish has some FABULOUS options even for those not going the seafood route.

You’ve seen the pictures of our desserts already.. Here is one with my taking a pic of Rachel taking a pic though..

And as was mentioned the FABULOUS Adult PB shake! LOVED THIS! Thankfully for me Hunter can not have that much of sweet items so I got most of his portion too!

After dinner Rachel, Hunter and I needed to catch a cab (separate since we were heading a different direction from Rachel) but stopped to check out the Boardwalk Gingerbread display

This wasn’t the end of our night though… One of the reasons I wanted to stay at POR with Hunter was because of the awesome things I had heard about Yee-Haw Bob! It was pretty late when we got there but we were able to catch a bit of his performance and we loved it!

Definitely recommend Yee-Haw Bob if you are in the area for some fun Piano One-Man show entertainment!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Unfortunately my AP expires when Brenda's does and there is no option for me in renewing it this time. The next planned trip to WDW after this fall is Fall 2017!

Why the planned three year gap?!

 

[jabead]

That just leaves my review of...





First of all, I will mention that prior to this trip Flying Fish Café was #4 of my top 5 Signature restaurants at Disney World. Our group dined at four Signature restaurants on this trip. So does Flying Fish still maintain the #4 spot on my favorite list? You will have to continue reading our dining report to find out the answer to this question.


Now for my review (or actually reviews, as I'm going to throw in some photos from my last visit to Flying Fish in March 2013, since I never got around to finishing that dining report )...

I thought our meal got off to a bit of a rocky start when we were seated in the Circus Tent room in the back left side of the restaurant. This was the first time that I had sat in this area (I've dined at Flying Fish three or four times previously) and to me it seemed louder than the main dining room. I remember reading a Disney Food Blog review that referred to the circus tent area as "where you get to eat if you’re really, really lucky!" So with that in mind, perhaps my expectations were unrealistically high. However, we had a later ADR (at 8:45), so the area gradually emptied out and by dessert we had the place to ourselves...which was very nice!

As for my food choices, I stuck to my previous favorites for both my appetizer and entrée. I started with the...



Signature Flying Fish Cafe Appetizer Duo:
Crispy Maine Coast Jonah Crab Cake and Caesar Salad

And another photo where you can better see the salad that was hiding underneath the delicious parmesan crisp...




These photos were actually taken during my March 2013 visit, which was the first time that I had deviated ever so slightly from my previous favorite Flying Fish appetizer, the...



Crispy Maine Coast Jonah Crab Cake - Savory Vegetable Slaw, Roasted Red Pepper Coulis, and Ancho Chile Rémoulade

During the March visit with my family, my DD and DH shared the (full-size) crab cake appetizer and very much enjoyed it. I instead tried the combo since I love Caesar salad but couldn't pass up having the crab cake again. Both in March and December, this combination appetizer was perfect for me...a definite win/win!!!


In keeping with the Signature Duo theme for my entrée, during my March visit I ordered the Signature Entrée Duo and split it with my DS. He had the steak part...




"Char-crusted Angus New York Strip Steak" served with Fingerling Potatoes, Hericot Vert, young carrots, and Classic Sauce Foyot


While I had the red snapper part...



“Potato-wrapped Red Snapper” served with Leek Fondue with a Veal Glace, Red Wine, and Cassis Butter Reduction

As you can see from the photos, the two entrees were brought to the table on separate plates. This was much to my son's relief, as he wanted no part of my entrée to come in contact with (and ruin) his steak. We were both quite happy with our parts of the shared entrée duo and the smaller portions allowed us to save room for dessert...which I'll discuss later.


But first, switching back to my December trip...you've probably already guessed what I ordered for my entrée.





Yep, what can I say, I'm a creature of habit. Once I find something I really enjoy, I stick to it. That's just how I roll.


Moving on now to dessert, which for me has always been the "weakest link" of my meals at Flying Fish. In March, my family shared three desserts...




Signature Flying Fish Café Caramelized Banana Napoleon with crisp phyllo, banana mousse, creme caramel, exotic fruit coulis and bitter chocolate

Which is my DD's all-time favorite Disney dessert, but I thought was just "meh".



In March, we also tried different versions of crème brulee and bread pudding than were on the dessert menu in December.



"PB&J" Creme Brulee with Raspberry Confiture, Double Chocolate Biscotti, and Chocolate Ganache Pipette

I was very much looking forward to trying this, as I love crème brulee and this one sounded great from the live thread reviews I'd received. Unfortunately, I didn't love it...it was just "meh".


Our third shared dessert in March was the...




Caramel-Chocolate-Brioche Bread Pudding with Vanilla-Praline Gelato, Spicy Pecan Brittle, and a Cinnamon Anglaise Sauce

Again, from the menu description, I thought I would love it but once again, my description of this dessert could be summed up in one word..."meh".


So when it came time for dessert during our December meal, to be honest I was not enthused about the offerings on the current menu as they were pretty much the same as they were in March (with only slight variations). Therefore, I wasn't going to order dessert but Hunter took matters into his own "masterful" hands and requested that we be brought a sampler platter of their desserts for us all to share.





I skipped the Banana Napoleon (since I already knew I wasn't crazy about it), thought this version of the bread pudding (Warm Caramel Apple) was better than the one from March, didn't like the pumpkin semifreddo, and my favorite dessert on the platter was the chocolate mousse.


I specified my favorite "on the platter" because actually my favorite dessert of the evening was by far the one served to each of us in a glass...



Peanut Butter Freeze with Kahlúa, Baileys Irish Cream, Crème de Banana, Dark Crème de Cacao, and Peanut Butter.

I have borrowed Rachel's great photo of this little glass of "heaven on earth" because I was apparently so enthralled with it that I wouldn't set it down long enough to take a picture.


So anyway, I'm happy to announce that I have finally found a dessert that completes the Flying Fish "trifecta" of having a great (for me) appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Now I just hope that the Peanut Butter Freeze is still on the menu whenever I return to Flying Fish...which I most definitely will!


And there you have it...my "Buy One, Get One Free" Flying Fish reviews.

 

[smile4stamps]

Why the planned three year gap?!

We spend ALOT of money at Disney World and since I would like to move to CO the trips have to stop for awhile.

2017 is the year I turn 40 so I want to celebrate it at WDW but not on my Birthday.. Will postpone the celebration till the fall when the weather is better.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

We spend ALOT of money at Disney World and since I would like to move to CO the trips have to stop for awhile.

2017 is the year I turn 40 so I want to celebrate it at WDW but not on my Birthday.. Will postpone the celebration till the fall when the weather is better.

Makes sense. And you are a better woman than I! I know that I shouldn't be trying to force a trip this year with Andrew starting college, but I just can't imagine not going! I am telling myself that if Jay and I take our empty nest trip this Fall that I will then take a year off. We'll see ....

 

[jerseytinkerbell]

The food at Biergarten we love! Unfortunately we had an issue with alcohol! When we first sat down we ordered 3 shots and a 1/2L Beer. After our first plate we wanted to get some more Alcohol and we were told by our server that we couldnt. That there was a 2 drink limit per person. We had never had this issue before at any other Disney Restaurant (or any restaurant!) and we were stunned that they would cut people off when they make good money on alcohol. WE discussed it with the manager and he said it is up to the Servers Discretion. She refused to serve us any more. Now. This was our first stop of the day and we were completely sober! I did send an email to Disney about this and received a call back this week. I was informed that the rule is 2 drinks at a time. When we finish that we can order more as long as we are not showing signs of intoxication. Unfortunately this server did put a sour taste in our mouth about Biergarten. However! We love the food there and if not for this incident it would be on our next dining line-up.

Wow, Paula I can't believe the server treated you that way. That is a shame. I would be put off that restaurant too. Good for you for sending Disney an email. It's too bad that the damage was already done. Sorry you had such a poor service experience.

 

[rachel09985]

Barb great review! I echo your thoughts exactly! Appetizer and entree were great- dessert was meh!

 

[smile4stamps]

Barb great review! I echo your thoughts exactly! Appetizer and entree were great- dessert was meh!

Unfortunately this is the case with most Disney restaurants! They should hire my husband lol

 

[emmysmommy]

Brenda's Boardwalk Bakery late dinner - Thurs. 12/5​

After a day of travel and meet and greets Em and I bailed on the fabulous dinner that Barb, Beth, Paula and Hunter enjoyed and headed to Boardwalk Bakery for a late dinner. Now that I've seen all of their dinner selections, including that fabulous dessert sampler, they were clearly the happier diners this evening.

The first thing that draws my attention is all the lovely choices for a sweets craving!

Here's the selection of sandwiches and salads. The sandwiches are pre-made and wrapped.

Bakery and pastry items

This caught our attention!

They were ready to close down for the night which meant that the roast beef sandwich that Em wanted without horseradish wasn’t going to happen (and maybe they don't make them to order anyway. ) She sucked it up and decided to split it with me just the way that it was already pre-made with the horseradish. Apparently, the sandwich comes with a side green salad. Nice. I didn’t pay attention and note that they didn’t ask about a salad dressing choice… We also chose a sprinkled sugar cookie to share.

We headed up to the room with our boxed up dinner and split everything. The salad was a nice mix of spring greens and grape tomatoes and NO salad dressing. Perhaps unless you ask for salad dressing it is served nekkid?? We were fine to eat it dry since it had arugula which is one of my favorite greens. I was very forgiving once I saw that.

Roast Beef Sandwich with provolone, tomato, and lettuce with mustard horseradish on a Kaiser roll ($9.19)

So what about the sandwich? I scraped the horseradish off Em’s half but honestly, it was so mild I wouldn’t have known it was horseradish. The roll was a bit on the dry side but being late in the day maybe that’s what you get. The provolone was a bit gooey. Not sure that's the way provolone is supposed to be but ok....(and no, that wasn't the horseradish that I mistook for the cheese! )

The rest of the sandwich (the I guess that only leaves the meat, lettuce and tomato) was fine. Nothing special here folks.

1/2 Roast Beef sandwich sandwich with the salad:

Close up of sandwich

The best part of the meal… yep. That sprinkled sugar cookie. Of course.

I’m not sure I’m a fan of Boardwalk Bakery as a meal destination. I suppose the fact that they are a bakery and not a deli tells me that I should stick with the delicious selection of cupcakes and treats and not the sandwiches. However, it was a nice option for a quick pick up and go meal that late in the evening.


​

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Ewww, gooey provolone cheese? That just doesn't sound right. At least the salad was fine (but I hope your dinner experiences improved after that!).

 

[MinnieM21]

Mmmm sugar cookie! I love sugar cookies with sprinkles. Just to let you know, there are packets of salad dressing to the right of the register at the Boardwalk Bakery.

 

[vettegirl]

Wow that is one of the best looking sugar cookies I have ever seen. I am making a mental note for next time to try one!!

 

[dvc4life]

Hi Barb! Sorry I have been MIA but we were on a two week Beach/Christmas/New Year vacation and I am just now trying to get caught up. We spent Christmas at WDW and then New Year's on DCL. What a holiday it was.

But now I'm back and ready to read all about your trip! The only thing is, around page 87-88 none of your photos are showing for me. Something about photobucket. Do you know is there something I need to do to show the photos? Other photos are showing. I really want to see your Christmas Party photos too!

Thanks! And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[jabead]

Hi Barb! Sorry I have been MIA but we were on a two week Beach/Christmas/New Year vacation and I am just now trying to get caught up. We spent Christmas at WDW and then New Year's on DCL. What a holiday it was.

But now I'm back and ready to read all about your trip! The only thing is, around page 87-88 none of your photos are showing for me. Something about photobucket. Do you know is there something I need to do to show the photos? Other photos are showing. I really want to see your Christmas Party photos too!

Thanks! And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hi Chris!

Sounds like you had a great two week holiday!

Regarding my missing photos... My paid Photobucket account that I was using for the live thread photos was almost out of storage space but I had an old free Photobucket account with plenty of storage space left. So I started using this old account again when we began our December trip dining report. Unfortunately, I forgot that the free accounts have only a limited amount of bandwidth per month (number of views) before they shut down and you can't see the photos again until it resets each month. I checked and found that this would not happen until Jan. 31st (since I started the account on the 31st). With that in mind, I decided to bite the bullet and convert the old account to a paid one also.

So long story short, it's all taken care of and you should be able to see all my photos again. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Couchy]

Barb- great BOGO review. That was a fun night

Paula- I agree, Disney need a good pastry chef that makes awesome truffles

Brenda- I was not impressed with the Boardwalk Bakery the last time I ate there. The first time I loved the salad I had but the second time I had a sandwich and it was not good. That cookie looks good though

 

[jabead]

I'm happy to say that we have now completed our first day of dining reviews.


So I'll now kick off our reviews for Friday, Dec. 6th. On this day we "divided and conquered", with almost all of our meals having only 2 - 4 of us in attendance. Consequently, we have six different meals to tell you about...two breakfasts, two lunches, and two dinners. And all of them at different locations.


For my first meal on Friday, I headed over to the Wilderness Lodge to have breakfast with Brenda, Em, and Linda (who was staying at the lodge). I had forgotten just how beautiful Wilderness Lodge is when it is decorated for the holidays, since it had been 13 years since I had been to WDW in December. While the lobby is beautiful year-round, the magnificent Christmas tree and other holiday décor take it to a whole other level...one that is a step above all the other Disney resorts, IMHO.

I was happy to discover that I was the first to arrive at Whispering Canyon Café because I then had the time to take some photos...






Decorations above the front door...






There was a Christmas tree...





...and then there was THE CHRISTMAS TREE!!!





So beautifully decorated...





With tomtoms...






and many different beautiful teepees...













My iPhone photos really don't do this tree justice. If you have never had the chance to see it for yourself, I highly recommend doing so if you ever have the opportunity.




Now moving on to our breakfast at...









I had had lunch at Whispering Canyon, most recently in March 2013...



My family had a great lunch here! If you would like to read my review from that meal, here is the LINK.




I've also had dinner at Whispering Canyon, most recently in March 2006...

(It seems the only change in 7 years has been the switch from glass bottles of ketchup to plastic...maybe as a result of the guests trying to balance them on their heads. )


But having breakfast at Whispering Canyon was a first for me, and something I was greatly looking forward to. Once my dining companions had arrived, we were seated and presented with this menu...







And just in case you have never dined at Whispering Canyon, here's what it looks like in the middle of the afternoon...




But this is what it looked like at breakfast time that morning...



As you can see, it's a very popular place to have breakfast.



Now on to the food, or at least my food...



House-made Banana Bread French Toast with Bananas Foster Sauce and choice of Bacon or Sausage (I chose bacon)



And a bonus photo with the delicious bananas foster sauce generously applied...




The sauce made the difference between a good dish and a great one.


I thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast at Whispering Canyon Café. The food was great, the service was great (which Brenda will tell you more about), and my dining companions were great. Yet this was only my third favorite breakfast of this trip...which included a record-breaking (for me) 6 sit-down breakfasts. There are some definite advantages to traveling to Disney World without my family, who generally dislikes getting up in the morning to have a sit-down breakfast while on vacation. Having 6 great breakfasts with Brenda & Em and various other members of our group was one of the highlights of my trip.


Ok, in the words of Forrest Gump, "that's all I have to say about that"...so take it away Brenda and Linda!