Nov 2015-2 Adults, no DP, F&W, Flying Fish Chef, and so much food and fun I will pop!

[Skip3key]

Whoo Hoo!! We are back! Angie and Eva, after 13 months not in the World! It was fantastic and we had a lot of firsts for us... not easy to do since we have actually been to DisneyWorld 5 times in the last 4 years! We have now determined that over a year is far too long...the withdrawal was terrible....must get our fix earlier next year! This was actually our Honeymoon trip after getting married in EPCOT in October of last year. (One year and still going strong! LOL... actually we have been together 24 years now, but finally took the plunge since it is now legal!) Since we had been 2 years in a row in October, we really wanted to see Christmas at Disney again, so we delayed until November. We actually would have waited until the first week in December as we had done that before back in 2012 (and it was great despite it being Pop Warner week), but this year we already had made December plans..... and we are going on the Dis Exclusive Adventures By Disney Southern California/Disneyland trip December 13-18! But that will be another trip report... and we need to get this one done before they run together!

[GALLERY=] [/GALLERY]

This is our first food oriented trip report, and we are excited to do it as food is definitely a wonderful part of our Disney trips! I scoured the boards trying to make sure we hit anything and everything we had missed on previous trips, getting tips and tricks from everywhere... and though we didn't get it all in, we made a good dent! This was our 3rd year in a row of being there during Food and Wine...and while fun, I'm kind of ready to see what the parks are normally! I will try to add any tips of our own about weather, crowds, ect as we go as well.

Here is the low down:
Who: Angie and Eva, 45 and 54 from Texas
When: Mon Nov 9-Sun Nov 15, 2015
Where (resort): Staying DVC at the Polynesian Studios (first time there)
Dining Funds: Tables in Wonderland and DVC/passholder discounts where we can!

Weather: Was really more warm then we anticipated- wore shorts the entire time except to our 2 fancy meals where we thought we should be more dressy and wore thin pants . First day was downright hot and sticky humid! Only brief rain on day 1...not a drop the rest of the time. Never touched our rainwear or jackets.

Crowds: Seemed busier then it had been on either of our October trips the previous 2 years (2nd and 3rd weeks of October) and busier then predicted on The Unofficial Guide website. Luckily we know how to use fastpass plus and know the value of being there at rope drop and then getting the heck out early afternoon!

And without further Adieu .... The food itinerary!​

Day 1- Arrival Day, Food and Wine Booths, Top of the World Lounge and California Grill

Day 2- Kona Cafe, Artist Point

Day 3 - Garden Grill, Flying Fish Chef's Table

Day 4 - Columbia House (on the Keys to the Kingdom Tour), Food and Wine Booths

Day 5- "Cooking With...(Famous Chef) at EPCOT", Boathouse, Apps at Port Orleans FQ, and Trader Sams

Day 6- F&W Parisian Breakfast, Morimoto's Asia

 

[pumba]

sounds like a good set up for food....thanks and looking forward to them

 

[Skip3key]

Day 1- Part 1, Arrival Day! Monday Nov 9

.... I know Eva hates that I make us get up at 0315 am so we can be on the first flight out....but she seems pretty happy when we land in Orlando by 1030 and and still have the whole day! This time we changed planes in Houston and I had no idea that they had a mini monorail just like Orlando! Was too much fun... we had a short connection of about 55 minutes and had to change terminals, but luckily had a small food court near our gate....it wasn't Disney quality, but for Wendy's, it wasn't a bad breakfast! A breakfast sandwich with egg, bacon, cheese and hollandaise sauce! ( I know...I was living on the edge eating airport hollandaise). ...Sorry for the bite...I was hungry...sandwich was a solid 2 1/2 out of 5 stars, home fries were yech (1/2 out of 5).


We arrived at MCO and made our way down to the Magical express...there was a HUGE mob of people at 11am on on Monday trying to process with their Mickeys bands and get through to the bus lines... but we just used the old standby Disney rule that usually works.... when faced with a direction choice, ALWAYS GO LEFT! And sure enough... cast member on the left with only 1 person in line! We were though and on a bus in 20 minutes, and the first Resort stop was the Poly! Score! While riding on the bus, got a text message that our room was already ready! Score again!

When we arrived, we were met by a cast member who escorted us in and presented us with first the normal artificial lei's, and then our own hand made fresh flower lei's in honor of this being our honeymoon trip... we felt very special. And we really like the new lobby in the Poly (though I had only seen the old lobby once a few years ago)...it felt open and spacious !

I really do want to get to the food... but just have to show our view from our room- this is a standard view room which will overlook the quiet pool which is currently under construction... this is the view directly out the balcony and is nice...

But if you look to the right (the direction of the lake) you can see the castle!!

Pixie Dust!! On the unofficial guide web site they have pictures of what the view looks like from many of the rooms onsite and you can actually make an exact room request from the site- we did it the night before and "viola!" we got what we wanted! It was in the Tokelau longhouse, 3rd floor. Our room was less then a 5 minute walk from the Great Ceremonial House, the boat dock and the bus stop and like a 7 minute walk to the TTC monorail- just perfect.

We changed clothes, and waited for our Garden Grocer to be brought up by bell services (it also arrived 3 hours early and had just got there) and then headed out to EPCOT by way of the monorail from TTC. We made a stop at the TTC to activate out DVC annual passes we had bought in August before the price hike and changes to the structure. We told the girl we wanted to upgrade one of the passes from the old structure (no black out days), to the new structure called "Gold" (Christmas and Easter blackout, but free photo pass) as we had been told it was about an $18 difference to do so... and Pixie Dust! She upgraded both of us to the new "Platinum" Cards (no blackouts AND free photo pass) for No charge!! Awesomeness!!

After about a 20 minute monorail ride we arrived at EPCOT, but still had one last stop to make before we could finally get some food... we had discussed and processed and done math problems to try to figure out if the Tables in Wonderland card would work for us now that the price was $150 a year... and if this was our only trip, the answer would be no. But we bought annual passes already assuming that we would get at least 2 trips in this year, and as long as we do that, the Tables card will payoff. We were in the park by 2pm (not bad!)

It was super hot and super crowded... felt like an 8/10 day. We zipped straight up through future World and Directly to the World Showcase- right up the middle. We decided to go right, (as left and Mexico was just a sea of people)... and dinked and dunked thought the crowd to the first booth that wasn't swarmed....

The Dominican Republic!
This is The Souffle De Yuca- and we gave it a 3 1/2 Star rating (out of 5). It was good size to share, very cheesy and buttery, and somehow was both light and fluffy and yet somehow dense at the same time. The flavors were mild and subtle and was overall pleasant. It was $4.75.


We walked around the showcase in the direction of Canada and through the UK- boy it was just packed with people! I knew my next tasty treat would not be from a typical F&W booth, but is one of my favorite treats in all of EPCOT, and you will find it side by side in...

France!
There is nothing to compare with the Sugar Crepes and the Gray Goose Lemon and Orange Grand Mariner Slushies!! Super delicious and divine and a must do on every trip!! Available year round! Love, Love, Love!! 5 stars every time!


After France we continued around the Showcase and stopped on the Isola in Italy to remember our dinner on it last year (fabulous!), and then headed to my next F&W favorite...

GERMANY!!

Here we hit up the F&W booth and the all the time booth for:
Bratwurst on pretzel roll- is usually really good, this time the roll was raw and hard, meat just warm...just 2 stars
Apple Strudel with Vanilla Sauce: A new one for us- crisp, fresh and just really good... not overly sweet and clean taste. 4 stars
Grapefruit Beer: Evas must do... she loves it and you can't get it anywhere else! 5 stars
Riesling Auslese wine: a German sweet wine that I just love... 4 1/2 stars



At this point, the skies started turning black, the crowds were crazy, I was super hot and now kinda tipsy and overtired... so we decided to cut out and head back to the Poly via the monorail for a quick nap as we had nighttime plans and I wasn't about to quit now. Believe it or not we were back at the Poly by 4pm (after arriving at EPCOT at 2!) We took a quick nap until about 6:30 and then were Magic Kingdom bound with fast passes at the ready... continued in next post with... Top of the World Lounge and California Grill for Wishes!

 

[Vernie822]

Hey Angie! Congratulations on your honeymoon! We were at WDW the same week and stayed @ the Poly studios from the 11-14th. We were on the 3rd floor of Tokelau as well so we must have been right across the hall from you guys, because when we looked to our left, we saw the castle. How funny! Anyways, I'm excited to read more about your trip. Looks like you guys got to some great restaurants.

And the Dis Exclusive ABD sounds like a total blast!!! Ahhh. I can't wait to hear about that one.

 

[Skip3key]

Day 1 Part 2... Top Of the World Lounge and California Grill

After our brief nap, which was actually longer then I wanted, and caused us to miss our Jungle Cruise FP, we walked through the resort to see the main pool area and quick service restaurants (which we don't frequent usually), and up to the monorail at the Great Ceremonial House. We hopped the monorail full of wonderful smelling people to the Magic Kingdom (in their defense it had been hot and humid and then rained a bit while we napped). MK was definitely busy, but not nearly as bust as EPCOT- like a 5-6/10. We had Haunted Mansion FP's and headed straight there as it was close to time... as soon as we came off it was time for our Peter Pan FP's and we headed there. We haven't done Peter Pan in years as the standby is crazy long and the FP's go so fast- I just don't get it! Its cute... but really? It was now about 830 and they were setting up for the parade, as we had 930 resizes at California grill, I didn't want to get caught in a big mess in the MK, so we walked out and since we had time, we walked over to Bay Lake Towers, the DVC resort next to the Contemporary.

For those who don't know, at the top of Bay Lake Towers is what is called the "Top of the World Lounge" and any DVC member can go up there even if staying a a different resort. We had never been before and thought it would be fun to see it and get a drink. It took about 7-8 minutes to walk from front gate of MK to door of BLT. We showed our DVC membership card and were placed in the elevator that had to be unlocked by a cast member to send you to the top.

Once at the top, the lounge is in the center of the building and has tall glass windows with a balcony all around the outside. We were actually surprised how small it really was...it looks big in the online pictures. There were about 20 tables total, some tall, some short, some with couches, and it was quite bright and not real comfortable feeling. There was one smallish TV (you can see in the picture) with Monday Night Football on it. We only stayed about 20 minutes and really have no urge to return. The view is good, but its the same view as from the California grill which has about a million times better ambiance and food.

I had the Agave Margarita which was average as far as margaritas go... (we are form Texas afterall and have high Margarita standards), and Eva had a Kentucky Mule- a take on the Moscow Mule but with Bourbon- she thought it was weird at first, but in the end she really enjoyed it. Here are the drinks, the TV and a pic from the top...


And on to the Main Event.... A quick Elevator ride down to the 5th Floor of the BLT will take you to the Sky Bridge which arrives on the 4th Floor of the Contemporary... and if you have never been to the California Grill before, it gets even more fun as you must then make your way to the 2nd floor to check in and get in the Express Elevator that will take you up to the top and 15th floor of the Resort!

The California Grill
​

To be fair, we must state that we really love this restaurant. We have been here 5 times and it has never disappointed. In fact, we had our brunch wedding reception at the California grill last year and had the whole restaurant to ourselves and our 60 friends and family. We always have great food and a wonderful time. The wait staff are usually the only variable, but they have never been bad, just varying degrees of good to great. The best trick is to make sure you plan to be here during Wishes- it is fabulous to stand out on the roof top catwalk and watch the fireworks as they pipe in the music... if its on a less crowded night, it can be downright magical...

We arrived promptly at 930 and were seated at once. We actually were seated in the back dining room and not in the main room for the first time. I didn't mind it, but much prefer the main dining room, as it almost feels like you are at the kids table and not a part of what is going on out in the main restaurant. We had let them know it was our anniversary and expected a little something since we had celebrating our wedding with them the year before, but alas, no pixie dust came here... I guess we used it all up earlier...

I was salivating waiting for the bread service, and it took so long to get there I was afraid they would forget... it came right before our appetizer (like a minute before)... Sourdough rolls and salted butter- was fresh and hot and wonderful and I would love to have eaten more then a half, but our appetizer then came...


Our hands down favorite appetizer is the Pork Belly Nigri Sushi ... it was melt in your mouth, sex on a plate good when we had it last year, and I was super eager to have that amazing bite again. It is house cured pork, bacon and yuzu rice with a spicy teriyaki and topped with a small drop of wasabi and little lemon pearls that burst in your mouth. Although this years version was not the 5/5 amazing mouthgasm version we had last year, it was a solid 4.25/5- sweet, spicy, soulful goodness....it is a sin to leave any on the plate. It is that good.


For our main dishes, I had the pork 2 ways, (I ended up having a lot of pork this week...maybe there was a sale?). First version was grilled pork tenderloin and the second was a lacquered pork belly. It was accompanied by a goat cheese polenta, mushrooms and applesauce. Hands down the pork belly was was better then the tenderloin- super sweet and meaty with an edge of spice, so tender i cut it with a fork. (The tenderloin was good as well, just couldn't stand up to the pork belly- I actually ate it on top of my morning bagels the rest of the week!). The polenta was creamy and just the right aldente. If I hadn't eaten at the Flying Fish chef's table later in the week (OMG), I would have given my meal an overall 4.5, but now I have to drop it to a 4.25/5 overall.


Eva had the Seafood Ramen... It sounds pedestrian, but I have to tell you, she said it was the best thing she ever ate (I don't do seafood so I can't comment). It was a broth with ramen noodles, lobster, shrimp and scampi and she states it was "intense umami" and just delicious and says she has no words for how good it really was. She wishes it was the last thing we would have eaten so she could have taken the taste home on her lips.


We were stuffed after our dinner and took much of it to go and ate it late night over the week. We left the restaurant at 1115pm and were in bed by 1130 (benefit of being at the Poly).

I wore my Apple Watch all week and our day 1 came in at 21,255 steps or 10.35 miles.

 

[Skip3key]

Hey Angie! Congratulations on your honeymoon! We were at WDW the same week and stayed @ the Poly studios from the 11-14th. We were on the 3rd floor of Tokelau as well so we must have been right across the hall from you guys, because when we looked to our left, we saw the castle. How funny! Anyways, I'm excited to read more about your trip. Looks like you guys got to some great restaurants.

And the Dis Exclusive ABD sounds like a total blast!!! Ahhh. I can't wait to hear about that one.

OMG thats so funny! Too bad we didn't meet there, it would have been fun to have some friends to hang with! Did you guys make it to Trader Sams? That place was wild... I will get there later in the post!

 

[anniebean]

I'm so glad you gave the times for your CG reservation! We are having our 1 year anniversary dinner there in a week, and MK is open until 1am. We were curious how much time we'd get in the park after our reservation!

Oh, and happy belated anniversary!

 

[Vernie822]

OMG thats so funny! Too bad we didn't meet there, it would have been fun to have some friends to hang with! Did you guys make it to Trader Sams? That place was wild... I will get there later in the post!

Right - that would've been fun!! We sadly did not have any drinks at Trader Sam's - we tried to get in on our last day before our Magical Express pickup, but it was totally full at 4:05 so we just hung around Tambu Lounge instead. Can't wait to hear about that, we will definitely have to get back there sometime. I wanted to live at the Poly forever - such a beautiful resort.

 

[Skip3key]

I'm so glad you gave the times for your CG reservation! We are having our 1 year anniversary dinner there in a week, and MK is open until 1am. We were curious how much time we'd get in the park after our reservation!

Oh, and happy belated anniversary!

Thanks so much! I always like to see the times in the reviews too- and I just wanted to let you know that we did arrive at 930, and Wishes was at 10 that night. We had drinks and apps, and right before 10, the entire restaurant emptied out onto the 2 rooftop cat walks until Wishes was over. We were out there from about 10-1020 and were worried about our missing our main course (or having it sitting on the table getting cold), but the staff knows this happens... so we didn't miss anything. We got back to the table and it was about 10-15 minutes later that our main courses came perfectly cooked and hot!

 

[anniebean]

O

Thanks so much! I always like to see the times in the reviews too- and I just wanted to let you know that we did arrive at 930, and Wishes was at 10 that night. We had drinks and apps, and right before 10, the entire restaurant emptied out onto the 2 rooftop cat walks until Wishes was over. We were out there from about 10-1020 and were worried about our missing our main course (or having it sitting on the table getting cold), but the staff knows this happens... so we didn't miss anything. We got back to the table and it was about 10-15 minutes later that our main courses came perfectly cooked and hot!

Thank you! Our reservation is at 9:05, and Wishes is at 10 that night. Since we only have a short trip planned, we're trying to fit as much park in as possible.

Looking forward to rest of your reviews!

 

[Skip3key]

Day 2, Hollywood Studios and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
​

We had Garden Grocer deliver food mostly because we really don't like to take precious park time away to eat breakfast- when we stay DVC in a 1 bedroom, it is great to have the full kitchen to make egg sandwiches and such, but the Polynesian only has studios which means a small kitchenette- just a mini fridge, a toaster, a microwave, and a coffee maker. My go to is always bagels and cream cheese and now I topped it with left over pork tenderloin from the night before...yum! I also get Diet Dr. Pepper delivered since I'm an addict and Disney doesn't have any Dr. Pepper anywhere and this makes me sad....

So this morning is DHS which opens at 9am (we try to avoid early magic hours parks as they tend to be more busy).. We are at the bus stop at 7:45am and the bus just took forever! I found the new TV screens at the stops were highly inaccurate and the times changed for the later about every minute or so....the bus didn't arrive until 840a! We missed rope drop and got to the park at 910a...so mad ... next time we will taxi or uber when so far away (If we stay at Animal Kingdom which is our home resort, we almost always rent a car because I hate waiting for the busses).

We ran straight to Rockin' Rollar Coaster as we didn't have a fast pass for it and rode standby with an 11 minute wait- we then ran to Tower of Terror (our favorite ride in the World) and it had only a 9 minute standby, so we rode standby first and when we walked around it had jumped to a 40 minute wait! Luckily it was our first fast pass of the day and just rode it again by walking right on....

We walked back to the main street and tried to go to Starring Roles, but it was simply packed- not even room to get in! We decided to head to Star Tours as it was our next FP and I am glad we had the FP because the SB wait was already 40 minutes at 10:30am! We ended up waiting forever for them to load a wheel chair lady, but we remembered the tip to be facing forward and smiling the whole time and it worked out! Eva got to be the Rebel Spy!! Awesome! It was the Wookie scene...awesome again.

We were now getting hungry and we decided to find a place we had never been to before, the Writers Stop! And it was awesome! A little hidden Oasis! Cool AC, and hardly anyone in there... quiet... books to look at, just relaxing! We got a coffee, a cappuccino, the famous Carrot Cake cookie and a Mickey chocolate dipped sugar cookie...


The Carrot Cake cookie is just that...its like eating carrot cake in a cookie size with cream cheese frosting in the middle! Super delicious...super sweet... but very filling- we could only finish about half (but nibbled on it for the rest of the day). The Mickey sugar cookie was crisp and crunchy and not overly sweet. The coffee was also really good! I highly recommend stopping here... you can actually see the crowds just walking by outside and I just feel like I need to be quiet so no one finds out about this little secret spot! The only thing that would make it better is if there were chairs...but then again, people would probably make it crowded then and ruin it.

We then went down to Pixar and Toy Story Mania- I love this ride but there is no way I would do stand by with those ridiculous wait times- FP only ... and by now it is about 1215 and the park is super crowded and hot and that means it is time to go! Back to the busses and back to the Poly for our 115p ressie at Kona Cafe!

We arrived a little early, so we went to the gift shop and then up to the restaurant and they had no trouble seating us about 15 minutes early. The restaurant is on the second floor of the Great Ceremonial House right by the monorail area, and is completely open. I think its just a cute and easy place to grab a bite. Usually no ressie even needed! My absolute favorite here are the Sticky Wings (4.5 out of 5 stars)... they are sweet and savory and sticky goodness- we ate one order here and to a second to go to put in the fridge in the room for late night snacking (after a little imbibing). I wait all year for these wings and they are probably the best wings I have ever had... just ask for them extra crispy (I hate blubbery wings)... thats a mustard drizzles over the top...


We also always have to get a pot of the French Press Kona coffee 4.5 out of 5 stars for coffee.... we each get almost 2 full cups out of the pot and this coffee is really, really good... and I don't even usually drink coffee at home!


And for the Main Lunch Course, we split the 2 taco plate- we asked if they could give us one fish taco and one pulled pork as I don't do seafood AT ALL. They had no problem doing that! We had it last trip and liked it, but they changed it this year.....Here it is...


Kona Cafe 2 Taco Plate - 1 out of 5 stars
hmmm... where to begin.... The fish taco was MahiMahi, the other the pulled pork. Both had some frissee, but the fish was overcooked as well as the pork, both were kinda dry and just mehhh... The shells were just weird... thick and crumbly. The macaroni salad was pedestrian and had no place being there. The only bright spot was the little slaw?salad? on the right... it was so interesting! It was light and fresh and good. I wish I made better notes about it, but I did not! Another bright spot was our waitress Maria from Puerto Rico, she was awesome!


Back to the room to rest by 2pm as it was going to be a late night with the Christmas Party. Next up... Dinner at Artist Point !
(FYI construction bites... there was must have been a truck backing up for 2 hours with a constant beeping right outside our window while we tried to nap...argh).

(I would keep writing but Eva is ready for dinner....we are having "snacky dinner" tonight and sitting outside... love it! )

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

Can't wait to read more! Congrats on your wedding and honeymoon!

 

[Vernie822]

Those wings at Kona look SOOO good. We have never done lunch there, just did breakfast for the first time and we were not disappointed. Love that carrot cake cookie at Writers Stop!

 

[nco91590]

Congrats and the wedding and honeymoon! DH and I go for a solo trip in Feb so I'm taking notes on how to do WDW sans little ones. Sounds super fun! Your food lineup looks awesome!

I've been waivering about our CG ressie on our trip because of all the bad reviews. You've restored my hope! LOL

 

[chocolateMinnie]

great report so far - always love the look of Kona Café pictures but never feel the same when I check out the menu - one of these days

 

[tluvstink]

I love your writing style and I'm looking forward to your next installment.

Terri

 

[VeronicaBride]

Congratulations on your honeymoon! Following along as hubby and I just purchased DVC at the POLY and are doing our first adults only trip next September. Loving your reviews!

 

[Skip3key]

Alright! We are back! Sorry for the delay, but work and Christmas are getting in the way of the all important trip review! Also we are leaving for Disneyland in less then 48 hours now for the ABD trip and I have to get this done! Lets hop to it!

When we left off last, we had just completed our day 2 lunch at Kona Cafe..... and now, the continuation of a very special episode of our Disney trip....

Dinner at Artist Point
​

So once we finished lunch at Kona...It was around 2pm...so we walked back to our room for a little nap and to change clothes and relax a bit. Our Artist Point reservation was at 5:45pm...and we needed to decide how we were going to get from the Poly to the Wilderness Lodge. We decided to use the boats as the busses are not nearly as fun and tend to take longer. So we walked out to the Poly dock about 4:20 (need to give about an hour to get most anywhere using Disney transportation it seems). We only had to wait about 10 minutes to get the boat to take us to the Magic Kingdom and then we had to change boats to get on the boat to the Wilderness Lodge. Unfortunately I guess we had just missed the boat as the dock was empty, so we sat down to wait. It wasn't long before the dock started filling up, but we still ended up waiting about 25 minutes for the next boat! We passed the time by talking to everyone one else waiting and actually 2 women (sisters) on the dock ended up sitting next to us at the restaurant (you can see them below)! We actually ended up arriving to the podium to check in at the restaurant exactly on time and we were seated in a near empty restaurant immediately, right by the window.


Since it was our Anniversary they gave us complimentary glasses of Champagne with a fresh raspberry in it... now it wasn't a very good champagne, but still a very nice gesture! Since we were heading to Mickey's Christmas party and had a list of snacks I wanted to try when we were there, we decided to share a meal at Artist Point, and they had no issue doing this for us and actually split the meal in the kitchen and brought us 2 separate plates with half on each. (Since restaurant portions always seem to be pretty large and we always bring home half the meals, this actually resulted in just a perfect amount of food with none left over!) Its too bad we can't agree on what we want to eat so we can do this more often! (i.e. "Nothing from the Sea, goes into me!")


First came the bread service, and I am sorry, but I was starving and dug right in. It was a warm and delicious sourdough, that had just the right amount of crunch to the crust with that ooey- gooey soft middle. The butter was a patty with coarse salt on top- standard butter. Very nice.

Since we researched on the boards before going here, we knew that we needed to try the Mushroom Bisque Soup- so here it is! This is the half portion in the picture (you can see Eva has the other half in her own bowl at the top of the picture). They put a small amount of greens and what I think was some crispy foraged oyster mushrooms on top. This soup delivered on all the promises we had read about. It was delicious! Had a real earthy depth of flavor, smooth and creamy, and a perfect portion amount. This soup was a 5/5.

The entree we decided on was the Buffalo Strip Loin cooked medium rare as suggested, Macaroni and cheese, and romanesco. This is the half potion in the picture. This was delightfully delicious! The meat had a wonderful salty char on the outside of the steak, and a flavorful, juicy inside. I was worried about the meat having a gamey flavor as Im not a fan, but it really just tasted like really high quality and flavorful beef. A winner! 5/5 for the meat! The macaroni and cheese was very nice, creamy and a fancy version of the standard dish. My problem is that I have had the Mac and cheese at Jiko, and this mac and cheese is definitely not in the same class as Jiko's...but I'm not sure anyones could be! 3/5. And the romanesco- nothing special, had a crunch which I like, not mushy at all. But most of it didn't get eaten in favor of the rest and a tummy approaching full.

All in all we give Artist Point a 4.25/5 and will definitely return! Also, the bathroom was nice and private and had cloth towels to dry your hands instead of paper. Back to the dock about 6:50pm to head to the Christmas party.

Christmas Party​

We got into the MK easily around 7:15p-ish, but were met with a surging sea of people heading down Main Street to the exit and felt a bit like Salmon going upstream. People were also crowding around the castle waiting for a show to begin (maybe turning Castle Frozen?). Since we aren't much for shows (especially the early ones- much prefer the late ones), we just dinked and dunked and hustled away into Adventureland. With everyone at the show, we rode the Jingle Cruise with a 2 minute wait, Pirates with a 5 minute wait, and then hustled to Frontierland passing people already staking out seats for the 8:15p parade. Onto Big Thunder Mountain- rode it as a walk on x 2 (ride in the back- is WAY better and faster), and then Splash Mtn as a walk on (3rd row for least wet). By now the parade had started, so we walked the path along the River of America and watched some as we walked... and walked directly to 7 dwarves Mine Train as I had not been able to secure a fast pass for it this trip and this would be our best chance with everyone at the parade. It had a 25 minute wait (the limit of my waiting ability), and as soon as we got off, the parade broke and Fantasyland was overrun in a stampeded of strollers... so we stayed ahead of the herd and ran to Tomorrowland. We rode Space Mountain as a walk on x 2 (right side first, then left. The left side seemed faster but more jerky to the back) and as we came out of the second ride, the fireworks began and we stood outside and watched- its neat to see the fireworks from a different vantage point- sometimes they seem so close!
It was my hope to get as many rides done during the party as possible so we would have all our options for picking and choosing the rest of the week. We tried to go into Stitches Great Escape since I hear it will be gone soon (not nearly as good as the original Alien Encounter, but still wanted to see it one last time), but it was closed for the party. We then decided to wander into the Monsters Laugh Factory nearby and waited for about 20 minutes before they declared the show "broken" and dumped everyone back outside to scurry to whatever rides we could find. We managed to run to Buzz and ride (I won!), we then grabbed a Mickey popcorn event bucket and a water and just rode the people mover to wait out the suddenly swarmingly busy Tomorrowland. (Its just a fun and relaxing way to pass some time).



We then went back around towards frontier land to hit the Haunted mansion since we passed it up earlier, and rode it as a walk on as well. By now it is very late, and I didn't eat nearly enough treats as I had wanted to, so we went by Sleepy Hollow for the cinnamon and powdered sugar waffle. It was good, but not very moist and I began to kick myself for not getting the nutella and fruit waffle immediately, but I would fix that mistake later in the week! Out of the park about 11:50pm and on the boat to the Poly (absolutely love having the boat option to get back to the resort when seeing the masses slowly inching up the ramp to the monorail or swarming to the busses). We had late night drinks in the room (we brought travel flasks from home in our luggage with vodka and bourbon for just this purpose- don't judge!) with left over wings from Kona and leftover pork from Cali Grill. Mmmmm.

Busy day....walked 24,068 steps or 10.07 miles today by the pedometer.

 

[Skip3key]

Wednesday Nov 11- EPCOT Garden Grill, Osborn Lights, Flying Fish
Part 1- Epcot
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Up and walked to the TTC to get on the EPCOT Monorail by 815am (have I mentioned how much I like all the transportation options available from the Poly? Far and away the most options of any resort). At the gate by 830am. Park opens at 9am today, but they had everyone able to get through the turnstiles and into the center of the park starting about 830, you just can't get to any pavilions or rides except SpaceShip Earth. We had our eyes on Test Track that morning, so essentially to get there at rope drop if you don't have a fast pass...so we headed straight there, but the closest you can get is the Mouse Gears gift shop- all walkways are roped off. We waited and browsed int he gift shop until exactly 9am, the cast members lead people from every possible entry point (3 directions by my count) walking at a normal pace...all of us can see the entry point and all of us trying to jockey into a position. Must have been about 300-400 people at least all mashing into one giant blob trying to funnel in! Very stressful! We luckily reached the entry point about 1 nanosecond before the larger group to our left and we were in quick enough to be in the 2nd design group of the day! So a good tip is to wait by the back doors inside the Mouse Gears gift shop if you are doing Test Track rope drop!

We hadn't done Ellen's Energy in years (its sooooooo long), but decided to do it again as it is in dire need of an overhaul and it has to be coming soon... right? So , in Ellen;s Energy for first show at 9:35, out at 10:15a (told you it was long- but she looks so young!) Waled to Mission Space- 10 minute wait for the Orange (I don't understand why people do green....zzzzzz....boring!)- we made it to Mars in 1 piece due to my stellar command of our craft.

Walked to Starbucks (one of our longer waits of the day at 20 minutes- wish it had a fastpass) and then to Inventions to get our book stamped with the stamp 1 of 3 pass holder stamps for our free food and wine glass on day 3. Then to the Land to go on Soarin' before lunch at the Garden grill. Even with the FP our wait was 25 minutes for Soarin' (I actually didn't make a fuss and settled for the middle row- but the top row is far and away the best- you don't see the feet!), but standby time was already 105 minutes! Who would wait that long?

Garden Grill Lunch​

So if you don't know, the Garden grill is a restaurant on the second floor of the land pavilion. It is a rotating restaurant, but it rotates super slow...I didn't even really notice it much during the meal except that suddenly I would see a different scene from the "Living with he Land" ride from time to time from our booth. It is a character meal where characters come to your table during the meal for meet and greet and pictures- we met Chip and Dale (separately), Farmer Mickey and Pluto. It is also all you can eat and family style. There are no choices to make for food, it is a prix fix menu that is brought to everyone. A bonus is that much of the food is actually grown right there in the land pavilion. The cost was $35 each for adults.

One of the main reasons we came to this lunch was to see Chip and Dale as I love Chip and Dale...so much so that they came to our reception on top of the California Grill last year and I don't like trying to figure out character meets int he park or use up a fast pass for them.



Here we met Chip and Dale, and they got all excited when I reminded them they were at our wedding and said they remembered it (we get so idiotically childish at Disney, but its so much fun!)

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And onto the Food!


First up is the "Living with the Land" Farmers Salad. Pretty standard salads- lettuce, cucumber, radish, 2 cherry tomatoes, egg. A bit overdressed, but a tasty start... 2.5/5 as it was nothing special.


Next were the family style platters wth the main entrees and sides- all here in one nifty picture. They will refill any and all as much as you want. The 2 of us barely made a dent in the one offering. Starting on the large platter from left to right we start with a bit of Thanksgiving... Turkey, bacon and leek stuffing and cranberry sauce. The turkey was very dry, even with the gravy. Eva had the stuffing and thought it was good, but nothing special. She stated that the cranberries were really good, but maybe were canned? altogether in one bite was a nice flavor, but nothing special. 2.5/5 for Thanksgiving stuff.
The middle has Italian Sausage with sautéed papers and Onions- something Eva was looking forward to as she usually loves this stuff, but it was a huge disappointment and Eva actually thought it was "gross" and "inedible. 0/5.
The right side is Buttermilk Mashed potatoes and sliced filet of beef (not tenderloin). The meat was really good when hot, but not so good once it cooled down. It needed the sauce for moisture and flavor and didn't stand well without it. The mashed potatoes had the consistency of instant potatoes and were quite salty. While Eva had concentrated on the left side, I ate the right, but the result is the same, about a 2.5/5.

The sides on the plate above are broccoli, sweet potato fries and mac and cheese with goldfish crackers on top. The broccoli, was... well... broccoli- crispy and fresh, no mushy, but just broccoli. Standard nonsocial but passable mac and cheese made a little more fun with the crunch off the goldfish. The star of this course were the sweet potato fries... delicious. I'm not even a fan of those but they were nice and crispy, not greasy and flavorful. 2/5 for broccoli and Mac and cheese and 3.5/5 for Sweet potato fries.


Dessert... Short Cake topped with Berries and Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream.
This saved this mediocre meal. It was a very nice and moist dessert with great flavor. We could tell that the blueberries were fresh, but that the strawberries were likely frozen. This was better then the strawberry shortcake at the Hoop-Dee-Doo. 3.5/5.

I wrote down in my notes that we overall gave this meal a 3/5 stars, but looking back, its probably really a 2.5/5 at best. I can't see us going back due to the price and food quality, but the character interaction was great.

After lunch we headed to Nemo, Spaceship Earth and browsed the Art of Disney shop, then back to the monorail and in our room by 2:25 at the poly. Was a busy day so far!

Tonight we are going to start at Hollywood studios to see the Osborn lights in their last year, and then boat to the Boardwalk for our Chef's Tasting Dinner at the Flying Fish... and it was hands down fantastic and the best meal we have had at Disney to date.... to be continued....

 

[DLo]

Will you do a report of some kind about your abd trip ? I am thinking of doing that one next year for my birthday. It seems expensive but hear it is worth the cost