Nothing A Little Sangria Can't Fix! A Thanksgiving 2016 Dining Report update 3/21 MK eats

[Vernie822]

Thanksgiving sounds like a hit to me!! I always wanted to go for a holiday, if I didn't have family that would disown me, I totally would! Sounds like you guys had a great day.

I'm still here guys! So sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Things have been a little busy here, not to mention my side trip to Orlando for a Universal TA training last week It was mostly fun with LOTS of really bad food-I can't believe how crappy it was! But to be fair most of the time we didn't eat at Universal or Citywalk restaurants. I also got "stuck" in Florida an extra day/night due to a big snowstorm in NY which gave me time to visit Disney Springs. I was so happy to fit some Disney in! But now I'm ready to get things back on track here! So without further ado I bring you:

OMG, that bad huh!? LOL! Hope you had fun!

I apologize for the terrible picture that totally does no justice to this beauty, but this is the famous carrot cake cookie that used to be sold at the Writer's Stop and has since been moved rather than gotten rid of

Ugh I just LOVE these things!!

They very nicely told us yes, smiled and told us to enjoy our meal-and left all their garbage on the table for us *** people??

Omg hahahah.. how rude!

Such a nice photo of you guys!!

Found it again! I was so happy to see the Schofferhofer on the menu!

YAAA! How American for Thanksgiving! Seriously though I imagine it was great. TE looks fabulous.. Justin loves that kind of food so I know he'd get a kick out of the restaurant. Can't wait to hear about Jingle Bell Jingle BAM!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Such a nice photo of you guys!!

See @ariane37! I told you! It's a good picture!

 

[Imagineer5]

Well I have a stomach bug or something so I should probably re-read the Trails End update, as I had to skip past the photos lol! But it looks like the perfect Thanksgiving dinner spot. It's a place I hardly ever consider eating at, so glad it was great!

 

[Mousemommy1]

Well I have a stomach bug or something so I should probably re-read the Trails End update, as I had to skip past the photos lol! But it looks like the perfect Thanksgiving dinner spot. It's a place I hardly ever consider eating at, so glad it was great!

Feel better soon! Trails End for dinner is one of our favorite spots - absolutely delicious - you should try it!

 

[ariane37]

I had fallen so far behind on everyone's reports - silly wedding planning and car shopping and other life things getting in the way of my time on the disboards...

You're allowed, as long as you keep us up to date on the wedding plans

Narcoossee's looks so good! I want to try that almond-crusted cheesecake so bad!

I swear it's the best TS dessert on property! Maybe a nice dinner when your whole family is there for the wedding?

I'm so intrigued by the avocado margarita that everyone raves about... I hate avocado/guac, but I know you said it doesn't really taste like that...hmm, I might have to add it to my list for our next trip...

You really should. I do like guacamole and avocado but it really doesn't taste like either IMO. It's definitely sweeter than I thought it would be.

At Blaze Pizza, Chris ordered a pizza with just onions? I can't say I've ever heard of that...

Lol it's what he likes! At home we'll often get a pie with onions and peppers; he just left off the peppers.

I like your wine choices! Moscato is pretty much the only wine I'll drink - the sweeter the better!

Yup, for now it's all I like too because it's sweet A friend told me to try Reisling which I guess can also be sweet so I've tried a couple, but haven't found one yet that is sweet enough!

That salad from Pizzafari is strange to me...why isn't the lettuce chopped up?

IDK? Well, have you ever heard of a wedge salad? Those don't have the lettuce cut or chopped up, but rather a "wedge" or chunk of lettuce. This wasn't described as such but maybe that's what they were going for.... It's really just another way to serve a salad. Not my favorite as I prefer my lettuce delivered to me ready to go into my mouth!

Wow your Thanksgiving dinner looked so good
I do like how they offered more traditional choices including homemade pies.

It couldn't have been better and I'm very happy with my choice (patting myself on the back lol). I know there are quite a few places that do traditional with their regular menu; the problem is that they don't announce which restaurants are doing what for Thanksgiving until like, late Sept. so you basically have to go by the previous year and hope whatever you pick remains the same.

It will for sure be on the list if we stay at WL since it would be an easy boat over...if they still send the boat over

They do still have a boat from WL to FW! There's also a really nice playground at FW right outside Trails End the girls would play on before or after.
Are we still leaning toward WL?

I def NEED to find this on our next trip! I showed the picture to Morgan and she was practically drooling.

Yes, put it on the list before it goes away! Like everything else good at HS

Trails End looks great. We might need to try it one year, when we are staying at WL. (makes for an easy commute) But it looked like a perfect Thanksgiving meal!

It is extremely easy to get there from WL, but it would also be easy to go right from MK since you can take the boat. You could then always take the boat back to MK and then to your resort.....just sayin' We love it!

Thanksgiving sounds like a hit to me!! I always wanted to go for a holiday, if I didn't have family that would disown me, I totally would!

At your age I never would have considered going away for a holiday! However at MY age I don't care so much anymore what anyone thinks lol. It works out ok for me anyway; 2 years ago my sister moved to Georgia so my mom has gone down there both years which alleviates my guilt. Half of Steve's family is right here but he feels no guilt, so I don't either!

OMG, that bad huh!? LOL! Hope you had fun!

For the most part I did; hope to start a TR on that soon! But the food SUCKED I was very surprised b/c I would think they'd want to impress TA's, show them the good places to eat so we'd push those to clients

Such a nice photo of you guys!!

Aw, thank you
r

TE looks fabulous.. Justin loves that kind of food so I know he'd get a kick out of the restaurant.

You should try it! There can't be that many places left you guys haven't eaten, so add it to one of your 167 trips this year

See @ariane37! I told you! It's a good picture!

Well I have a stomach bug or something so I should probably re-read the Trails End update, as I had to skip past the photos lol! But it looks like the perfect Thanksgiving dinner spot. It's a place I hardly ever consider eating at, so glad it was great!

I hope you're feeling better! It's definitely quite a favorite of ours.

 

[happy2012]

Hey there I'm really enjoying ur DR! Looks like u made some really great choices. Trails End seems like the perfect place to have Thanksgiving! I love sangria too so I have to recommend a secret sangria, if you haven't been....Bongo's @ DS has a walk up window that serves it in a simple cup, but it's really good & is pretty reasonable priced too!

 

[ariane37]

Jingle Bell,Jingle BAM! dessert party !

After going out of our way to get where we were going, we finally arrived at HS in plenty of time for the dessert party AND our last TOT FP. When the JBJB dessert party was announced I booked it the minute booking opened, much like I did when Club Villain was announced. I love(d) HS and I love Christmas and there's absolutely no doubt I LOVE dessert, so when they combined all 3 it was a no-brainer! Steve was fine with it although he wasn't exactly looking forward to it. We'd done the Wishes dessert party back in 2012 and neither of us were impressed with the desserts nor did we think it was a good value. I didn't really care though, I was excited for a new nighttime show and also happy to have something new for the kids to do!
Our party started at 7:45 with the show beginning at 9:00. This was also in the early days of the show, pre-chairs-at-each-table. I knew about that lack of chairs so didn't think we needed to check in so early, since our other choice was to get in line WAY early which I knew none of us would want to do. However we ended up walking by the party around 7:35 and noticed quite a long line already formed - and this is when everyone else noticed the lack of seating Let the moaning and groaning commence! Actually it wasn't that bad, and even though it was obvious we wouldn't be getting seats the boys wanted to get in line.
Right at 7:45 they began letting people in and soon we had our wristbands:

and soon after that we had a high top table. There weren't even enough tables for all the parties so at least we were lucky in that respect. Steve and Ricky did some more grumbling but Chris and I went right up to survey all the edibles:
*note: my pictures are all dark and somewhat blurry. The lighting at the party was almost non-existent and my phone sucks. Sorry *

Chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting, soft gingerbread cookies, rice krispie treats.
I do have pictures of all these on our plates and I posted one in my TR, but they're really really dark. Nobody was fond of the gingerbread cookie but none of us are big g'bread fans. The rice krispie treats were Disney goodness as usual and the white chocolate(?) on top made them even better; myself and both boys ate a couple of those. I was also the only one who tried the cupcake and I loved it, the frosting wasn't too peppermint-y and those flakes on top are peppermint bark, not candy cane. I did end up only eating half the cupcake because there were so many other things I needed to try! Oh, and while Chris and I were up getting these Steve snagged a table with chairs so everyone was happy again.
OK here's the way too dark picture of Chris's plate from this table just for ha ha's:

The table next to this one had my absolute favorite dessert of the night:

Warm chocolate torte with cream cheese glaze and candy cane dust.
They were serving it with or without vanilla ice cream so I did what any good researcher would do: tried it with AND without ice cream. I'm happy to report it was delicious without and twice as delicious with! The cake was indeed warm, and chocolat-y, the cream cheese sweet and again the peppermint taste light. I can see where if you aren't a fan of peppermint you might feel your choices were limited but they really had enough non-mint options. Oh, and nobody else felt like trying this so their loss!
This table also had my least favorite of the night:
Salted caramel cottage pudding. Nope. It sounded kind of interesting and "salted caramel" is usually a big YES for me, but this tasted like.......a tasteless bread pudding? But I felt it was mushier. Sorry it's almost gone in the picture but that's what was out when I tried it so that's the picture I got!
I'm trying to remember going clockwise so next we came to the bar:

They had 2 alcoholic specialty drinks in addition to some wine, beer, soda and water. I failed to write down what was in the drinks and I can't read the writing on the menus above, but this is the Gingerbread Martini:

Didn't like. Steve had a few sips and I drank about half because, well, it was free (except for the price of the party of course) and it was alcohol. We also tried the other drink which was an Apple Cinnamon Cocktail. It was stronger and Steve liked it more than I did:
Neither of us were blown over by these drinks but when they're unlimited I guess they don't try as hard? Although the drinks at Club Villain were scrumptious.......anyway we both ended up with a beer and that was that. The kids had soda.
Now we move on to the savory treats! I wasn't really feeling anything but the sweets since to me, "savory" isn't dessert, but Steve and the boys were excited about this table:

You'll see the description of these in the next picture: Pineapple sweet and sour mixed grill meatballs.
Like I said, I didn't try these since I was all about the sugar so Steve and Chris did. Steve thought they were ok but Chris loved them and ate about 5. I don't think I've read any review of the dessert party where someone liked these, so that cements my belief that Chris is weird.

These are pita chips and there was some type of dip with them but I can't remember it - @xlsm do you have that in your notes still? I think you guys liked it Steve though did not like it and neither did Ricky so they nixed the dip and ate some of the pita chips. But they weren't really chips because they were still soft, so just pieces of pita bread. In that respect they did enjoy them along with a kale salad that was on the table but I don't have a picture of. Oh! And going back to the table with my favorite and least favorite desserts, it also held a trail mix with some craisins I think and nuts, and some other things that were healthy and sounded kind of good but none of us tried. It was a cute presentation in a cardboard cone.
On to the next and final table!
At the Star Wars dessert parties they were serving liquid nitro Nutella, and I'd told Ricky about it since he eats Nutella by the gallon. Unfortunately they switched it up for JBJB and offered liquid nitro mousse:

Liquid Nitro Frost Bites: White chocolate and wintergreen mousse, dark chocolate syrup, and Mickey confetti.
You could pick whether you wanted both kinds of mousse or just one and then they'd drop it in the liquid nitro. I chose to try both. You could also choose whether you wanted the chocolate sauce and/or sprinkles and I said, "yes please!" to both.
This table was kind of the farthest from us and we'd all forgotten they had this, so I accidentally happened upon it when I wandered away from the savory table. I brought it back to our table and the boys immediately ran over to get their own. Chris hated it-again, weird-but Ricky loved it. It tasted like ice cream but way creamier.
With that we'd made our way all around so I went back to the warm chocolate torte again while the boys grabbed more rice krispie treats and Steve got us two more beers. We had more time to wait so the boys played around with the neat light changing glasses they handed out to all party goers:

They made most of the lights around the park, such as those strung in trees and around poles, turn into holiday themed items or characters such as snowmen, gingerbread men, candy canes, etc.
As we were eating Santa Goofy was making his rounds to all the tables. Since the table we'd snagged with chairs was all the way at the far end, we'd be the last table he visited. It was about 8:40 and the kids were antsy to move to our viewing location. I was also the only one who cared at all to meet Santa Goofy, so we passed this up and headed out when he was about 2 tables away.
CM's were lining the "path" from the exit of the dessert party area over to the party viewing area, guiding guests with the colored light sticks that I call small lightsabers The viewing area was roped off and Ricky and I went in, and were pretty much the 2nd row behind the rope Other than a tall guy who was swaying back and forth during the show we had a really good view. This is one of the screens before the show started, off to our left:

The Chinese Theater is to the right and directly in front of us. The viewing area wasn't crowded at all, we had plenty of room to move around and dance if we wanted to but Steve chose to stand outside the viewing area along the pathway leading in and Chris stayed with him. They ended up having a great view, even better than us I think as nobody was in front of them.
Soon the show started and I must say, after reading some lackluster reviews I was very pleasantly surprised! I thought the projections were clear (although not in my pics) and loved the lasers. I do wish there were more fireworks but when they increased towards the end, they were gorgeous:









I know my projection pictures are blurry but don't worry, in person they weren't! I was pleasantly surprised after the show that all 3 of my boys loved it. I pretty much thought Chris would but was shocked that not only did Ricky have a big smile on his face, Steve did, too.
My overall thoughts? I got the most out of the desserts followed by Chris. Part of this was due to having dinner not long beforehand which I knew would be an issue, but I really wanted to do this on Thanksgiving and when I booked it, I knew there was a strong possibility Ricky and Steve would only be down for half the trip which limited possible nights. But I think the majority of desserts were very good. The show itself we were impressed with and the boys liked that much better than the dessert portion. As for having better viewing if you did the party? I suppose, unless you found a spot REAL early. However nights that didn't fall during a holiday week may not have gotten so crowded so fast. I'm glad we did it, but I don't think we'll rush to do another dessert party anytime soon.
Oh, one more thing! And then I'll end this super long post As we exited the dessert party to head to the viewing area, the CM's were handing out Mickey gingerbread cookies. Only Ricky and I grabbed them and I gave mine to Ricky. He ate one while we waited for the show and the 2nd one as soon as we got back to the room:


So cute! Plus my non-gingerbread fan son thought this was the best cookie he'd ever had!

UP NEXT: CRYBABY DROPS HIS STARBUCKS PLUS SOME EPCOT HOLIDAY FOOD BOOTHS!​

 

[ariane37]

Hey there I'm really enjoying ur DR! Looks like u made some really great choices. Trails End seems like the perfect place to have Thanksgiving! I

Hi and welcome! Thanks for reading Yes we were very happy with our meals this trip. It's not often we get a "bad" meal in Disney, we've been lucky! Occasionally a QS we've decided we won't return to lol, but that's it so far.

love sangria too so I have to recommend a secret sangria, if you haven't been....Bongo's @ DS has a walk up window that serves it in a simple cup, but it's really good & is pretty reasonable priced too!

This is going on my list, I'm giving you a big Funny we've never gone to Bongo's although Steve is interested in eating there. I don't even think I knew they had a walk up window!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Looks like a fun event. We did the Star Wars Dessert party and we were kind of mixed on whether it was worth the cost. But man those are awesome firework show! It will be interesting to see if they keep the show the way it is. Or maybe add some more fireworks back in. That sounds like what people are missing.

Neither of us were blown over by these drinks but when they're unlimited I guess they don't try as hard? Although the drinks at Club Villain were scrumptious.......anyway we both ended up with a beer and that was that. The kids had soda.

Glad that at least you made the best of the desserts!

 

[xlsm]

I do remember the dip! It was a cheesy spinach dip (i can't remember if it was just spinach dip or if it was spinach artichoke, though), and I liked it. It was kind of runny, but I thought it tasted ok. Mostly I liked the soft pita

The cupcake was by far my favorite treat of the party, it had just the perfect amount of peppermint flavor without being overwhelming. I felt the same way about the cottage pudding caramel thing Mine wasn't flavorless, but it tasted like plastic. I think I'd have preferred flavorless, LOL!!

I liked reading about your JBJB party again, because I was in serious need of some Disney fireworks and you delivered

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

What a fun night!!! Great way to continue the festive holiday mood

 

[happy2012]

Hi and welcome! Thanks for reading Yes we were very happy with our meals this trip. It's not often we get a "bad" meal in Disney, we've been lucky! Occasionally a QS we've decided we won't return to lol, but that's it so far.


This is going on my list, I'm giving you a big Funny we've never gone to Bongo's although Steve is interested in eating there. I don't even think I knew they had a walk up window!

You are so welcome! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

I'm happy to read they are offering savory foods @ the dessert parties. Might have to reconsider dessert partyin'!!!

 

[Imagineer5]

I really enjoyed reading about the dessert party!! We saw the show in December and I really enjoyed it, too (honestly love anything Christmas themed!!). But cool to read about the party in detail, too. I am not a huge fan of peppermint, so it was sort of disappointing to read about all the minty items, plus the non-minty items weren't so good (I thought that the caramel bread pudding looked great until you said it was blah!). The white chocolate mousse thing would be fun to try, I've had their nitro dessert before (Nutella one I think? Star Wars dessert party? IDK) and it was good and fun and different. Also the drinks sound just okay, but really nice they offered wine (and beer etc) too, as I don't think they had that when I last did a party. You skipped Santa Goofy?! Silly!

Oh the savory items don't really look good either! hmm

 

[kastoney]

There weren't even enough tables for all the parties so at least we were lucky in that respect. Steve and Ricky did some more grumbling but Chris and I went right up to survey all the edibles:

Why on earth do they not have enough tables???? It can't be that hard to actually know who is signed up to attend

Warm chocolate torte with cream cheese glaze and candy cane dust.
They were serving it with or without vanilla ice cream so I did what any good researcher would do: tried it with AND without ice cream. I'm happy to report it was delicious without and twice as delicious with! The cake was indeed warm, and chocolat-y, the cream cheese sweet and again the peppermint taste light. I can see where if you aren't a fan of peppermint you might feel your choices were limited but they really had enough non-mint options. Oh, and nobody else felt like trying this so their loss!

Yum, this sounds delicious but I'm a total peppermint fan. And way to be a good researcher and try it both ways.

Neither of us were blown over by these drinks but when they're unlimited I guess they don't try as hard? Although the drinks at Club Villain were scrumptious.......anyway we both ended up with a beer and that was that. The kids had soda.

Sorry the drinks were a bust, I think that is the only thing that would get me there is the unlimited booze (shocking I know) Bad or not I'm sure I would have overinvibed

You'll see the description of these in the next picture: Pineapple sweet and sour mixed grill meatballs.
Like I said, I didn't try these since I was all about the sugar so Steve and Chris did. Steve thought they were ok but Chris loved them and ate about 5. I don't think I've read any review of the dessert party where someone liked these, so that cements my belief that Chris is weird.

This looks and sounds horrible. Chris is most definitely weird

 

[ArielSRL]

Looks like a good amount of food. I love dessert so I'd definitely be happy! And the savory seems good too. That warm chocolate torte sounds amazing! Drinks sound just ok. Did they have wine?

I truly can't wait for the Star Wars ones....if they release dates for our trip.

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the show!

 

[wdwnut61]

Really enjoyed your JBJB review and I agree that chocolate torte looks so good.

 

[ariane37]

It will be interesting to see if they keep the show the way it is. Or maybe add some more fireworks back in. That sounds like what people are missing.

Yes, even though we won't be going this November, much to Steve's dismay surprisingly, I'm interested to see what changes they make if any. Other than there not being enough seating for the first few parties the amount of actual fireworks was the biggest complaint.

I do remember the dip! It was a cheesy spinach dip (i can't remember if it was just spinach dip or if it was spinach artichoke, though)

I knew you'd come through!

The cupcake was by far my favorite treat of the party, it had just the perfect amount of peppermint flavor without being overwhelming.

Yes! Not too strong at all. If you hate peppermint you most likely still wouldn't have liked it but it was perfect for me.

I felt the same way about the cottage pudding caramel thing Mine wasn't flavorless, but it tasted like plastic. I think I'd have preferred flavorless, LOL!!

I had higher hopes and felt let down lol

I liked reading about your JBJB party again, because I was in serious need of some Disney fireworks and you delivered

Aw, glad I could give you what you needed! But you don't have much longer to wait before you'll be seeing those beautiful fireworks yourself again

What a fun night!!! Great way to continue the festive holiday mood

Exactly! That's why I wanted it for Thanksgiving even though we had Trails End dinner. And since I got my fill of the desserts - I'm happy!

I'm happy to read they are offering savory foods @ the dessert parties. Might have to reconsider dessert partyin'!!!

I know they do/did offer savory items at the SW dessert party, too, and they sounded better than what we had. Not sure about the Wishes dessert party and Illuminations though, but I'm sure lots of people are happy they can have stuff that isn't sweet

We saw the show in December and I really enjoyed it, too (honestly love anything Christmas themed!!). But cool to read about the party in detail, too.

That's how I am, give me something Christmas themed and I'm in! It certainly wasn't a replacement for Osborne Lights but I'm so happy they did something.

The white chocolate mousse thing would be fun to try, I've had their nitro dessert before (Nutella one I think? Star Wars dessert party? IDK) and it was good and fun and different.

I was hoping they'd have the nitro Nutella for Ricky!

You skipped Santa Goofy?! Silly!

I know, I know! But I would've had to force the boys and things were going so swimmingly...........

Oh the savory items don't really look good either! hmm

Like I said above, I feel like the ones they offer or at least were offering at the SW dessert parties were better, but at least there's non sweet options for those who want them

Why on earth do they not have enough tables???? It can't be that hard to actually know who is signed up to attend

I can't even think of a sarcastic comment here lol. But from the first party people were complaining that there wasn't room for everyone to sit; eventually they got it right and added enough chairs but we were some of the guinea pigs

Yum, this sounds delicious but I'm a total peppermint fan. And way to be a good researcher and try it both ways.

Always happy to research food for my peeps!

Sorry the drinks were a bust, I think that is the only thing that would get me there is the unlimited booze (shocking I know) Bad or not I'm sure I would have overinvibed

lol, well as I said above I'm always happy to research food - and drink

. Chris is most definitely weird

That warm chocolate torte sounds amazing! Drinks sound just ok. Did they have wine?

It was and they did!

I truly can't wait for the Star Wars ones....if they release dates for our trip.

They should....I'm actually waiting for July dates to be released for a client

Really enjoyed your JBJB review and I agree that chocolate torte looks so good.

It was and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

 

[ariane37]

Black Friday!
Epcot Holiday Food Booths

I'm back! I'm trying to finish this puppy up before Steve and I leave for the first of our 2 F&G trips three weeks from today After our fun fill turkey day and dessert filled evening (for me at least), some wanted to sleep in but we had things to do on our 2nd to last park day. It may have been the end of our trip but it was the first day of lots of things at Epcot: CP, Holiday Storytellers, and something I was totally excited about, the FOOD BOOTHS!

Before they opened though, the boys needed some breakfast while we were spending time in FW so we went to Starbucks of course, because Ricky needed his breakfast sandwich there and wouldn't settle for anything else I did not take pictures, I'm sorry, nor did I take pictures of the 2nd sandwich we had to get him after he dropped the first one, after taking just one bite. I wasn't with them at that point but I got the text from Steve that Ricky had dropped the sandwich and was pouting like a little girl insisting Steve get him another one which is why I chose to grab Chris and do some shopping! Eventually we headed to WS, stopping to take a couple PP pictures when we got there:



We then practically ran to the first booth we planned to try, only to find out for this event the booths weren't opening until noon and it was only about 11:35. Ugh! We killed time wandering back and forth and.......doing nothing. We did pick up the Holidays Around the World passport they were giving out, which not only listed the locations and offerings of all the food booths, but the CP narrators by date and the storytellers. There were also stickers you could use to mark what you'd eaten or done:



This is a page that showed some of the offerings:




FINALLY it was 12 so while the boys went to La Cantina to get a snack, Steve and I got on line at the Festival of the Three Kings booth which was in Showcase Plaza:



There's a hut in the back where they were serving the food from. There were probably 10 people on line ahead of us and since the booth had just opened and it was the first day, there were of course some kinks to work out. Like the registers not working, the booth not having ice for the drinks, the CM's not knowing how to take a snack credit if guests were on the dining plan?? When we realized it would take awhile I left Steve to go over to the Seasonal Southern Delights booth, also in Showcase Plaza, to get some beer:



I got one Central 28 Up River American Pale Ale and one Central 28 Dancing Pierre Belgian-style Pale Ale, but I have no idea here which is which. I do know we weren't big fans of either but I preferred the Dancing Pierre and Steve preferred the Up River, which I thought tasted too much like a dark beer and I don't like dark beer. I'm also not good at describing beers so you'll have to be satisfied with that!
Eventually we got our food and it looked tasty!



Starting at the bottom and going clockwise: Shredded Beef Tamale with Avocado Creme and Cilantro Rice (mine), Roasted Pork with Mashed Yuca and Pickled Green Bananas (Steve's), Three Kings Bread.
You can probably tell from the pictures that the food was much bigger than the servings at F&G and F&W, and the price tags were bigger, too. Regardless my tamale was delicious, even the cilantro rice and I'm not a fan of cilantro at all but it wasn't overpowering. The tamale itself was nice and soft and the meat had so much flavor. I couldn't get enough of the avocado creme either, there was a decent amount but I could have used more.

Steve also loved his pork which I tasted. Again, very flavorful and tender. The bananas look like plain bananas but they had this strange sour taste to them which he didn't care for, otherwise he was happy.
My tamale came close to filling me up but that Three Kings Bread looked so pretty I had to try it! The frosting was solid, like what's drizzled on an Entenmann's coffee cake? Best way I can think to describe it. Very sweet. The "bread", which was more cake-like, was bland to me. The outside was hard and while the inside was fairly softer it didn't have much taste, so I didn't waste calories on it. Everyone took a small bite and agree with me.
I posted this in my TR but someone else was looking to share Steve's pork:



While we were eating the boys finished their snack in Mexico and came to find us. Ricky was still hungry which was nothing new, so he got a hot dog from the stand right next to us but I didn't take a picture because it's a hot dog. I also asked him to take pictures of the empanadas they got in La Cantina but did he? Nope. He enjoyed them as much as Chris and I had earlier in the week.
Since Steve and I weren't big fans of the beer, we went over to France after finishing our food so we could grab some old favorites:


I know some of you can recite this with me: grey goose slush=sunshine in a glass We made our way to Morocco for the holiday storyteller and then made our way back for another slush, because while that particular storyteller was really enjoyable the benches provided to sit on are in the sun and it was a VERY hot day!
We were ready to hit another food booth and had to choose carefully. There were a few we wanted to visit but that tamale had done a good job filling me up and I knew I wouldn't get to try as much as I'd thought. So, after checking my little booklet I decided I wanted to go to the Alpine Haus next, which was over between France and Morocco. There were two things we wanted to try there:

s
Cheese Fondue in a Bread Bowl wit Fresh Steamed Baby Vegetables and Marbled Potatoes
This was delicious! I'm so glad we chose this booth. The kids each had a couple spoonfuls and I let them rip off a piece or two of the bread, but the rest was all Steve and I with the exception of the marbled potatoes-the boys loved them and we let them split them. I have to say I think for every ounce of cheese they put in the fondue, they put like 6 ounces of beer because nobody was going to argue whether or not this was BEER cheese fondue! Ricky recognized the beer taste, but Chris just said something didn't taste like cheese but he liked it.
This next tasty item I pretty much only know was tasty because Ricky let me lick the fork. Who was paying for all this, anyway???

l
Sachertorte: Chocolate Cake with Apricot Jam and Dark Chocolate Glaze, or as Ricky called it the best chocolate cake he's ever had. He didn't even complain about the apricot filling and he does not eat cake with fruit filling. I almost got another piece but I was full as was everyone else. I was sad.
Although Chris didn't want cake he was eyeing one other thing on the menu and against our better judgement we let him get it:


Chocolate Apple Shake featuring Twinings Winter Spice Tea (non-alcoholic)
He took one sip and I could tell he hated it. It was basically a chocolate shake with a hint of spearmint from the tea which is what I believe he didn't like. I did not sense any hint of apple. Everyone else was too full and uninterested to drink it so unfortunately it went in the trash.
The rest of our time in WS was spent listening to the holiday storytellers, introducing the boys to the VoL, and meeting new friends when we caught up with Tammy,@wdwnut61 here on the Dis and her daughter Kathy:



And at one point we went in to Mitsukasi to look for a specific candy we'd brought Ricky in August. We couldn't find it so they both picked out a few other treats. Here's one Chris got:



Tip: if you have the desire to see what it would be like swallow fire, go ahead an try these! Ricky hates spicy, Steve sometimes likes spicy, I love spicy, and Chris REALLY LOVES spicy, so he ate the whole bag. I tried one and could have used like, 5 grey goose slushes to cool my mouth off!

By late afternoon we did as much as we wanted in WS and went back to the room. I needed to pack up a little since we were leaving tomorrow and the boys wanted to......do nothing for a bit. We also had to freshen up for our dinner: we were taking the boys to Il Mulino, a restaurant Steve and I had fallen in love with a few months earlier! I wish we'd tried more food booths and I also wish the portions had been smaller. Luckily that won't be a problem when Steve and I hit Flower and Garden this year ​

UP NEXT: IL MULINO AND IL ICE CREAM!​

 

[wdwnut61]

Yes altogether now "Grey Goose slushie = Sunshine in a glass" and so does the orange one
I can't believe the size of the food offerings and agree with you about the ones for F&G.
We didn't make as many ADR's so we can sample all the booths next week
The cheese fondue in a bread bowl looks so good.
Love all your pictures especially the one of us
Looking forward to your IL Mulino review.

 

[ariane37]

Great picture of Kathy! I need to make a point to try the Grand Marnier slush

We didn't make as many ADR's so we can sample all the booths next week

Same with us for this month, I only have the 3 ADR's and one I'm not even sure we'll keep. I figure we may end up making more but not at anyplace real difficult to get in, and we're flexible so we'll take whatever is available.