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

[Skip3key]

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

We will absolutely do a trip report when we return! We also were apprehensive because of the cost, but after reading all the raving reviews, we decided we needed to splurge and see what all the fuss is about!

I really wanted to get to our chef's dinner at the Flying Fish as it was the highlight of the trip, but it will need to wait until we return from California... just no time! We leave in about 10 hours and have yet to eat dinner tonight!

 

[DLo]

We will absolutely do a trip report when we return! We also were apprehensive because of the cost, but after reading all the raving reviews, we decided we needed to splurge and see what all the fuss is about !

Thank you and hope you have an amazing and magical trip

 

[mgentry210]

Who: Angie and Eva, 45 and 54 from Texas

More Disney fans from SA! I think we need to start a club!

Congrats on the wedding. You guys are adorable!

 

[auntfrannie]

Great reviews! Can't to read the rest.

 

[Mom2m&k]

Really enjoying your reviews so far...I can't wait to read about the chef's table! Enjoy your trip to Disneyland!

 

[Skip3key]

Whoo Hoo! Merry Christmas Disers! We are back from our ABD Disneyland adventure and through the family part of Christmas! As long as Im just hanging out at home... I thought I would finish out some trip report!

I am going to do an ABD report as soon as I finish this one, but I will say, OMG...that was an amazing trip! We did the Dis-Unplugged Exclusive ABD Southern California trip and met some amazing people and saw amazing things. Well worth every dollar- we are already trying to plan ABD trip #2! Can't recommend highly enough... Just do it!

Now, onto the trip!

Wednesday Nov 11, Evening at Osborn Lights and Flying Fish Chef's Table​

When we last left off, we had spent the morning and early afternoon in EPCOT and then headed back to the Poly for a quick rest and freshen up for the evening...

So sundown was about 5:30pm (yes, I looked it up before we left), Hollywood studios was open until 8pm and our reservations at Flying Fish were for 8:15pm, so the plan was to bus to DHS, check out the Osborn lights for about an hour until 7:30, and then boat to the Boardwalk. We left Poly around 5:30pm (took a good 35 minutes to get to DHS from time we arrived at the Poly bus stop). We went and picked up our free DVC 3-D glasses just inside the entrance to see the lights with and walked on back. The Osborne lights are just a spectacular sight to see, especially when it is all choreographed to the music- sad to see it go...

We found some random people on the street and gave them our glasses before we headed out...

At 7:30 the line for the boat from DHS to the Boardwalk was crazy long... so we decided to just walk it. It was a pleasant night temperature wise, and we really enjoy the walk along the river. We watched and walked there faster then we would have made it by boat (walk was about 20 minutes, would have had to take the second boat due to the long line). We checked in and had to wait about 7 minutes for everyone doing the chefs table to arrive before we were seated.

Each party was greeted by a separate server and escorted over to our seats at the bar overlooking the open kitchen- there were 5 of us on one end of the bar and the rest on the other (maybe 5 more? Im not sure).
Eva and I were seated in the middle and had a young couple next to me on our left who were also there on their Anniversary, and an older woman who was there alone on our right next to Eva. It only took a few minutes before we were all chatting together and having a great time- it was a bit difficult for us to have conversations with everyone since we were all in a line on one side of the table (bar) and truth be told I would have rather we were at a table since there wasn't much of a show in the kitchen to see.


Beautiful place setting- see all the wine glasses just waiting to be filled?! Each place setting also had an individual menu, and since I do not eat fish, mine was slightly different from everyone elses, but every bit as fantastic!

We were met by the Chef de cuisine Tim Keating and he gave us an overview of the menu and the evening as well as double checked on any allergies/food preferences and was simply delightful. He came out with every course to tell us all about the wonderful delights we were about to indulge in as well as extra insider Disney info/insights. Then with each course, the sommelier would provide us with a new wine he had paired with the course, tell us why he chose it, and all the background about the wine. All the pairings were absolutely spot on and very well thought out. What a talent! And, each sampling of wine was a generous pour- I would really call it a small glass and not a sampling at all- never wanted for more- Always plenty.


Started with the Bread Service- just delicious and I didn't write anything down about it!



The Amuse- it is a "Citrus-laced wild oceans royal red shrimp, land pavilion cucumber pickles, radishes, huckle berry tomatoes, citrus vinaigrette, phytoplankton- mirin Aioli." This was served with a Paul Cheneau Cava Lady Blanc de Blanc from Spain.

The wine was bubbly and citrusy, dry and fruity- acidic to start the meal and cleanse the palate. The amuse was exceptional . The huckleberry had just the right amount of sweetness, the pickled cucumber relish, and the radish was spicy! Eva described the shrimp as battered and came accross more like a crawfish, and super tender- fall apart in your mouth, but yet still crunchy- amazing! The aioli was sweet with a hint of salt, not really fishy.



This is mine and is the one without any seafood and had a balsamic reduction instead of the aioli and beets instead of shrimp- delicious!



First Course: (same for both of us) on the left, Chocolate Stout, applewood smoked bacon & candied pecan pops. On the right, petite salade, duck proscuttio, "Blue Heaven" potato gaufrettes.

Wine: Abazia di Novacella Kerner, alto-Adige from Italy

One the left, the "pop" was like a cheese ball that was coated in the pecan-bacon mixture. It was smooth and creamy with an obvious bacon flavor and then hits you with spice....and the balsamic just cuts it perfectly. Delicious and everyone devoured it quickly.

On the right the gaufreete is like a fancy potato chip from Heaven... literally since it had "Blue Heaven" cheese on it in dust form- delicious dressing and the duck proscuttio just made the bite!

with Salmon With Chicken

Second Course: Iron-Seared British Columbia "creative" King Salmon. "Rouge Mary" laced white polenta cake, dungeness crab roasted beets, rosemary-pinot-noir- Cassis reduction. (my non seafood version substituted chicken)

Wine: Domaine Chandon Pinot Meunier, Carnerus

One course is just as good if not better then the last- delicious, awesome, juicy....every word to describe perfection. The polenta was creamy but still toothsome and was like "shrimp and grits on steroids"..my notes are getting spotty now- I guess too much wine! I do remember that they told us the Cassis reduction took like 6 hours to prepare!

Intermezzo: I for some reason did not get a picture- but it was a limoncello and lemon sorbet- light and delish!



Main (3rd!) Course: Porcini-crusted Snake River Farms Pork tenderloin, EPCOT greens, Spicy Buffalo Sausage-spiked Nebrodini Bianco Mushrooms, Nouvelle-Butternut Squash- Black Trumpet Mushroom- Potato Gratin

Wine: Chateau Tanunda Grand Barossa Shiraz Barossa

OMG- so, if you remember I had the pork tenderloin at the California Grill earlier this week and thought it was imply amazing.....uh, this one beat it hands down. If that was amazing, this was stupendous! Perfectly cooked, flavorful, juicy, tender, melt in your mouth goodness!! It was a shame that this came so late as we were quite full by this point, but we did take all leftovers with us! The Gratin tasted like sex on a plate.... 'nuff said.



Dessert: Sinful dark chocolate & Cassis Delice Fantasie. Chocolate-hazelnut-feuillantine-cassis, hibiscus coolie, chocolate accoutrements

Wine: Domaine La Tour Vieille Banyuls Réserva, France

Im not a big dessert person, but the small size and the extreme chocolate richest paired with the port like wine, was a perfect end to a wonderful meal.

Hands Down we both give this a 5/5 rating- absolutely wonderful and we will do it again for sure!

We finished at 11pm, and since EPCOT was closed (as well as DHS) we were faced with how to get back to the Poly. Either walk to the Boardwalk busstop and take a bus to the Magic Kingdom (open until 1am), and then get to the Poly from there, or take a taxi. We opted for the taxi option, and were in our room and in bed by 11:40pm at a cost of $12.60! Well worth the saving of over an hours worth of sleep time!

Next up, Keys to the Kingdom Tour (lunch at Columbia house with the tour), and eating around the world at EPCOT!

 

[kastoney]

Happy Anniversary!!! Love your wedding photo with chip and dale, it's absolute perfection. Just checking out your reviews and it sounds like the signature restaurants have been quite good to you so far. Especially that flying fish meal. So have to get there one of these days.

 

[Vernie822]

OK I am dying at this Flying Fish meal.. HOLY COW. We absolutely loved our meal there and I imagine yours was even more amazing. So glad to see they accommodated you so well since you don't like fish.. and I'd be grabbing a taste of both mine and the non-seafood one in that case, haha.

Welcome back from your ADB trip! And Merry Christmas, I cannot wait to read about the ADB trip. Traveling as a couple is always fun but I am sure meeting tons of people with the same interests and spending the trip with them is a blast too.

Question - have you ever done the Chefs Table (or even eaten at) Napa Rose? We are thinking about doing it for our honeymoon and having seen your success w/ Flying Fish, I think it's a must.

 

[Skip3key]

OK I am dying at this Flying Fish meal.. HOLY COW. We absolutely loved our meal there and I imagine yours was even more amazing. So glad to see they accommodated you so well since you don't like fish.. and I'd be grabbing a taste of both mine and the non-seafood one in that case, haha.

Welcome back from your ADB trip! And Merry Christmas, I cannot wait to read about the ADB trip. Traveling as a couple is always fun but I am sure meeting tons of people with the same interests and spending the trip with them is a blast too.

Question - have you ever done the Chefs Table (or even eaten at) Napa Rose? We are thinking about doing it for our honeymoon and having seen your success w/ Flying Fish, I think it's a must.

We almost ate at the Napa Rose when we had dinner on our own, but the only time available was 8pm and we would have missed Fantasmic... but it looks beautiful and will be a must do when we go back to the West Coast- it was absolutely fantastic to do the trip with 32 other Disney-nuts... everyone got along and everyone just traded off people to hang out or eat with all the time... always fun! Not sure if this is typical of ABD or better because it was a special Dreams Unlimited/Dis trip!

 

[Skip3key]

Thursday Nov 12, 2015 Keys to the Kingdom Tour, Columbia Harbor House, Food and Wine!
​

Up early at 0730- as the tour was to start at 0830 at Town Hall. MK opening time was 9am, so we got to slip in the park with the early ressie people, but as we were on the verge of being late (hit the gate at 0829) we had to rush to catch our tour group! I won't go into too many details since this is supposed to be more of a dining review, but I will say that the tour took exactly 5 hours and ended at 1:30pm and we walked right at 4 miles for the tour. If you do the tour, make sure to pick up a water at the start (since we were late we missed it), but there are many bathroom breaks along the way and you get to do a couple rides as a group (we did Jungle cruise and haunted mansion, but I don't think its always guaranteed). We learned lots of great behind the scenes/Disney info and details and felt it was well worth the $$.

Columbia House Lunch:
At the beginning of the tour you had to pick out what you wanted for lunch so that when you arrived at the Columbia House, they already had it laid out with your name tag ready to eat... waste no time! I think yu could pick from most of the items on the normal menu. I picked the grilled chicken salad- it was over dressed and pretty much what I expected from a quick service- the beans were a nice addition, edible, but I ate maybe half as it was just MEH...2 stars. Eva had the tuna sandwich on wheat berry bread and chips. She thought it was actually really good and ate it all. I stole some of her chips and they were good.


We were done with the tour after doing a small section of the utilidors under main street by 1:30 and as I was still a little hungry, we stopped for one of our must-do snack on main street, the fresh chocolate chip cookie sandwich - this time with cookies and cream ice cream! Delicious! 5 stars!

Its huge and something that has become a tradition for us to share each trip- even sharing we didn't finish all of it....mmmmm!

We were back at the Poly for a quick nap by 2pm. Eva, however, decided she needed to do a load of laundry as it was definitely warmer then we anticipated and need to recycle some shorts. We found out that there was not a laundry room in our building (Tokelau), but it was just next door on the first floor of Moorea. What was kinda neat about the laundry is that there is a web site called http://www.laundryview.com/disneyworld/ where you can see if there are machines currently in use, and if your load is done or not! The washers and dryers were also free!

After some relaxing we made it to EPCOT just in time for our Soarin' FP's at 6:15pm. From there we made our first F&W stop of the day at...

The Chew Lab! First dish, the $6.25 NY Strip with parsnip silk, balsamic glaze, and arugula foam...
Steak was a nice pink medium and the arugula gave a little bite on the back of the throat- 4 stars..


We also had the $4 Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle with warm whisky caramel from here- it was a good size, creamy and mouse like but really cold, just the right amount of chocolate... 4 stars


Just next door was the Sustainable Chew, and from there we tried the Pork Spareribs with red wine, fennel and chest mascarpone- fall off the bone tender, great flavor... 4 stars
With this we also got the Chewtini featuring organic Meyer lemon vodka- sweet and tart, really nice- 4 stars
(apple on top)


We then walked up to the Cheese Studio where I was longing to try the :
Trio of Artisan Cheese (Karst cave aged cheese with honey, A La Bonne Vie Goat cheese with craisen bread, and an Oregon Blue Cheese with Berry-Port Compote). The blue was very strong, even with the compote, goat cheese was pretty much just goat cheese, and the cave aged was the favorite- sharp and creamy and sweet. 3 stars

We also tried the Cheese Fondue with Sourdough bread- no overwhelming, nice cheese flavor, but bread cold and would have been so much better with warm bread- 3 stars

Eva had a glass of the the Cabernet - it was pretty standard Cab.


At this point we got full and decided to walk to Mexico to see if we could get our tradition tequila shots at La Cava, but holy cow- the line was crazy long, and I am sad to say we never did end up having them this trip- it was just busy all the time! We made the best of it and rode the boat ride- it reminds us of the Riverwalk here in San Antonio so much!

We continued on to Germany, where I just had to get another Bratwurst and Auslese and eva got her Grapefruit beer. This was better then the bratwurst from the first night and a solid 3.5 stars. We watched Illuminations from a bench and just relaxed.... oh and I forget, we split a shot of Jager!



Since it was EMH until 11pm, we continued to walk until we got to France as I had never been to Les Halles and I wanted to see it.

Eva grabbed a napoleon and a glass of Pinot Noir ( I know, she is doing both beer and wine...but she made it through!) She really liked the napoleon and said it was rich and creamy.




I opted to go for the L'artisan Des Glaces next door and get the often discussed delicacy, the "Croque Glace'" .. A brioche that is cut in half and I had mint chocolate chip ice cream placed inside with chocolate syrup, and then the whole thing goes in a Sandwich press.... OMG!! Warm bread + cold creamy delicious ice cream= amazingness!!! 5 stars!! Awesome!!



And after a bite...



GET THIS NOW!!! Put it on your list and make sure you get this!!

We leisurely sauntered through the shops in England and wandered back to the monorail, full and happy. In bed sleeping by 11:30 pm....

Todays milage: 10.07 miles walked or 21,252 steps​

 

[kastoney]

Question - have you ever done the Chefs Table (or even eaten at) Napa Rose? We are thinking about doing it for our honeymoon and having seen your success w/ Flying Fish, I think it's a must.

Hey Ashley. We did Napa Rose on our honeymoon and absolutely loved it. So much so it may actually be our favorite Disney meal ever. We didn't do the chefs table, but ended up just sitting at the bar and sharing several items so we could try more. We also had an awesome (and bored) bartender who charged us $20 for a wine tasting and must have served us at least $150 in wine. I'm sure this isn't the norm but made for a great experience.

 

[kastoney]

Sorry to hijack your thread on the last post ; )

The keys to the kingdom tour sounds so awesome. Can't wait until my daughter is older so we can do it and she can actually appreciate it.

That tuna sandwich at CHH looks great. Never done that one before, but I'm a huge fan of the lighthouse sandwich.

So upset we missed F&W this y ear. The chew lab especially looks divine. Glad your brioche was so good. I made the mistake of ordering salted caramel ice cream in mine, which in France apparently translates to burnt caramel. It was most definitely not good, so I'll have to go the chocolate chip route next time.

 

[Vernie822]

Hey Ashley. We did Napa Rose on our honeymoon and absolutely loved it. So much so it may actually be our favorite Disney meal ever. We didn't do the chefs table, but ended up just sitting at the bar and sharing several items so we could try more. We also had an awesome (and bored) bartender who charged us $20 for a wine tasting and must have served us at least $150 in wine. I'm sure this isn't the norm but made for a great experience.

YES! Thank you Kari. That is the one 'fancy' meal I am planning for the honeymoon, I'm glad you guys enjoyed it!

 

[momof3princes]

Following along, congrats on your anniversary and what a great place to celebrate it! You made a lot of good dining choices so far, can't wait to heat about the rest of it

 

[Vernie822]

Columbia House Lunch:
At the beginning of the tour you had to pick out what you wanted for lunch so that when you arrived at the Columbia House, they already had it laid out with your name tag ready to eat... waste no time! I think yu could pick from most of the items on the normal menu. I picked the grilled chicken salad- it was over dressed and pretty much what I expected from a quick service- the beans were a nice addition, edible, but I ate maybe half as it was just MEH...2 stars. Eva had the tuna sandwich on wheat berry bread and chips. She thought it was actually really good and ate it all. I stole some of her chips and they were good.

Oh how I love Columbia Harbor House! Sorry your salad wasn't all that great (no offense it doesn't look it either!) but Eva's lunch definitely looks like the winner.

Swoon.... I LOVE these.. We shared a sugar cookie one at the Christmas party and OMG, best thing in the world!!

I seriously loved this too! Obviously can't remake this at home but wish I could.

With this we also got the Chewtini featuring organic Meyer lemon vodka- sweet and tart, really nice- 4 stars
(apple on top)

Oooooh why didn't I see this!? Looks good!!

We then walked up to the Cheese Studio where I was longing to try the :
Trio of Artisan Cheese (Karst cave aged cheese with honey, A La Bonne Vie Goat cheese with craisen bread, and an Oregon Blue Cheese with Berry-Port Compote). The blue was very strong, even with the compote, goat cheese was pretty much just goat cheese, and the cave aged was the favorite- sharp and creamy and sweet. 3 stars

We also tried the Cheese Fondue with Sourdough bread- no overwhelming, nice cheese flavor, but bread cold and would have been so much better with warm bread- 3 stars

I soo wish I would've tried that cheese plate... looks delicious. I love all of those kinds.

That French ice cream sandwich thing looks awesome!

Love all of your World Showcase choices.

 

[vettegirl]

Great reviews!!!!

 

[Skip3key]

Thanks to everyone who is following along! Makes it so much more fun and spurs me on to keep writing quickly and not let the grass grow under me! Its a chilly day here in South Texas, and I just got home from work and all these responses really make me smile! As I sit down to write this next days post, Eva has started on her next art project next to me... We have decided that we really want to decorate our outside deck with lots of Disney signs and such, but some of them can get so expensive, so Eva is currently working on doing her own mosaics of the most popular Disney posters, and the first one will be the Tiki Room!

Friday November 13, 2015.... A Chefy F& W special event with a bit of Disney let down...and then Disney Springs, The Boathouse Hanger Bar and some wandering around!

One of our main reasons for choosing this week to come was that there was Mickey's Christmas Party, Food and Wine and Alex Guarnaschelli from the Food Network! We love, love, love Alex, she is our favorite Food Network personality! When the schedule came out in the summer, we circled the date of Nov 13, and got up bright and early on the day the events opened up for reservations and called and called until we secured our tickets to this event. It was a bit pricey... I believe it was $129.00 plus tax each to be at her "What's Cooking with...(famous chef name inserted here)" event, but to see her live and in person AND eat her food... OMG, awesome! The event started at 10 am at the Food and Wine Festival Welcome Center (in the old Wonders of Life Pavillion... gosh I miss Body Wars... what a great attraction that was!). We arrived on time and waited in line to enter. As we entered, we were handed a glass of Prosecco and sat down at our table with 4 others (they were actually all locals at our table and all very nice). Here is the table setting...


On the table was a paper with a picture of the chef and the Menu and a recipe.... only problem was....it WASN'T ALEX GUARNASCHELLI!!! It states the guest chef was Sarah Fioroni... an Italian chef and apparently a favorite from the Adventures by Disney Italy trip as ABD goes to her families farm as part of the adventure. Apparently something happened and Disney ended up switching their days (Sarah was supposed to do Sunday Nov 15). Now, Sarah was very nice and her food tasted pretty good...but before this event we had never actually heard of her, and certainly would not have paid about $250 for this event if we had known! I know things happen, but Disney should have really let us know and offered something to amend for this! They never mentioned anything and just acted like this was the event... we complained to the staff there, but obviously they had no control... so we waited and called Disney and complained that way after the event, and in addition wrote a lengthy email and to this day...NOTHING. Not one word of apology. (I doubt we will attend any F&W special events like this in the future as this is our second big let down with these. Last year we did a "cheaper" special event - was still $35 plus tax each and ended up having 1/3 of a glass of wine, and 1/2 of a chopped beef sandwich prepared by a former Disney chef that tasted so bad, it wasn't worth the calories and we ate only 2 bites each. )

Ok...rant over... I will now tell about the event.
As you can see from above, we had a fruit cup at the table waiting for us, coffee, OJ and water (we weren't going to be dehydrated, thats for sure). Also on the table was a basket of standard Disney breakfast breads- croissants, pastry...

As Sarah discussed her family farm and their philosophies about organic farming, and how they did organic farming before it was popular, they passed out a plate of food to each of us...

Starting upper right is the Bourbon Maple glazed Pork Belly with wilted greens- I thought this was pretty good, but fatty, and not nearly as good as the pork I already had on the trip, I guess my standards may be high after the Flying Fish dinner last night, but this demonstration cost the same as that fabulous dinner last night and I should expect to be wowed!
Lower right is a Artisan Cheese and Duck Egg Tatin with roasted onion jam and Balsamic reduction. It was also a nice flavor, but not too memorable, but extremely rich. I am not an onion fan, so I didn't have too much of this.
Upper left is Roasted Marble potatoes and baby fennel- pretty standard potatoes we make at home.

Overall, 3 stars... as I might be jaded by Flying Fish...

While we ate she did the Chef's demo and made a Lasagna with Beef Sauce and Saffron Besciamelle which we were then served a piece of along with a glass of a Chianti from her families vineyard.





I must preface this by stating that I am Italian and I have eaten more then my share of Lasagna in my life, and this lasagna was unlike any Lasagna I have ever had. It was very, very good, but very, very different. I am used to having a very tomato based lasagna, and this one I could not really even taste the tomato as had such a creaminess and richness from the besciamelle that was between every layer. It was excellent and I did really enjoy it. 4 stars.

The entire presentation took just over an hour. If you didn't want to taste the food, you could actually just stand next to the presentation area and hear the entire presentation for free, and maybe we will think about that next year as we felt it was way overpriced for what you got (only got a 1/2 glass of the Chianti and were actually told "no" when we asked for some more). Save the $$ and go to the Flying Fish Chef's table!

After we left the presentation, we wandered around the shop inside the festival area, saw the ghiradelli chocolate model area (amazing stuff), and felt sad about the old empty pavilion (why? Why Disney? Why can't you bring this pavilion back to life? It makes me feel sad inside... so run down... please... some paint...) We had a fast pass for Test track next (we won!), then Mission Space Orange (another successful Mars landing! Had first timers with us... love that!), then back to the Poly about 2pm. (Only way I can keep Eva out late is to make sure she gets that mid-afternoon break!)

The Boathouse at Disney Springs reservations at 4:30pm

It took us about 45 minutes to get to Disney Springs from the Poly via Disney bus... just as bad as getting to DHS. We arrived promptly at 4:30 and were seated immediately outside (it was a gorgeous day! how could we not sit on the deck?)


Thats the Saratoga Springs resort across the way!

They forgot our bread, but the food and drinks came out within about 7 minutes of ordering. Here is mine:

Steak Sandwich and fries, my favorite! Was really delicious, a perfect medium and flavorful high end beef. No grizzle or fat at all... I loved every bite. A solid 4 stars. I also had a blueberry lemonade you can kind of see near the top of the picture (pink)...not so good and I thought it was too tart and no fruity taste at all. 1.5 stars.



Evas meal: Swordfish with hash of country fried potatoes/onion/red pepper/andouille sausage. Here are Eva's notes, "MUCH citrus flavor, right up to the edge of too much, but pulled back... perfect. Tender and not fishy at all, very nice texture, little chew/toothsome quality. Sausage added a spicy bite, but all ingredients in the hash ware diced so small, you got a little of everything in every bite". To drink she had a Moscow Mule which paired well with the fish and was refreshing and cool. Solid 4.5 Stars.

Overall a very nice meal.. . there was live music coming out from inside the restaurant with the patio doors open, but wasn't too loud, just right and relaxing. As we walked out of the restaurant, one of the amphibicars was coming back to land and was cool to see it come out of the water!

It appears I have run out of picture space, so will continue Friday night on the next post!

 

[Skip3key]

Friday Nov 13...continued! After Dinner shenanigans at POFQ, Hanger Bar and Trader Sams!

After we left The Boathouse, we walked all the way down Disney Springs to the west side by Cirque du Solei... At about 6:30 pm every restaurant was setting up outside music and it was neat to see the entire area start coming to life for Friday night... we walked in a few stores, but nothing grabbed us. We then decided we wanted to just hop on one of the boats and check out some of the resorts we had never seen and decided to that we wanted to see the Port Orleans French Quarter and see if the beignets were any good since we read about them on the boards. Holy cow the boat to POFQ is all the way back on the other side by the bus stop for the resort! Such a long walk! (Boat next to Hanger Bar is to Saratoga Springs and Old Key West, there is a boat from Cirque du solei to the Marketplace, but by the time we figured it out, we had walked too far!)

We hopped on the boat for a very nice and leisurely ride up the fake Mississippi ... took about 15-20 minutes...



The POFQ was very cool! We stayed at POR when it was called Dixie Landings back in the 90's, and I really wanted to go there and see the Yeehaw Bob show, but we were way too early for that, so we decided to check out "Scat Cats" Bar at POFQ instead.... it was a bit of a letdown. I guess we were just too early and fooled by the winter darkness that came so early.. it was like 7-730 pm and people were actually eating dinner in the fully lit and very small bar. We decided to get the Beignets in the food court along with some capacchino (those masks are really freaking creepy in there)... and then spike it with some Kahlua from the bar ... Well I guess no one asks much for Kahlua, because they gave us a HUGE glass with about 6 ounces in it and it way overpowered the one cappuccino we were sharing! Overall the it was a 2.5 for the beignets... I have been to New Orleans and Cafe de Monde and its an unfair comparison... and we had a tipsy boat ride back to the Marketplace.



When we got back to Disney Springs it was like the flood gates had opened up at it was 8pm and just PACKED! People and music everywhere! We made our way back to the Hanger Bar as we really wanted to see it and its hard to get in with the limited seating, but we actually managed to snag a table on the patio! We each ordered a drink, Eva had a Knob Creek Bourbon and Diet Coke and I ordered the "Reggie's Revenge" admittedly just to get the awesome swizzle stick. We also had the Everything Pretzels which came on a super cute plane like wire contraption!


My drink was fruity and smooth... the pretzels were pretty good, though by now my notes are lacking... One of the sauces is a cheese based, the other is a mustard.. Not great, but descent bar food. The atmosphere was nice, the view was great, and there was just a touch of a chill off the water...

We had intend ended to do some shopping tonight, but it was beyond packed to the point of being unpleasant (lines were 20 deep at the registers to pay in World of Disney!), so we decided to pack it in and head back to the resort and see if we could get into Trader Sam's!

We arrived back at the Poly by about 10:30pm and ran into the people getting out of the Luau... they all looked very happy and were curious if we should try to go there tomorrow on our last day as we read very mixed reviews... Trader Sams is on the first floor of the Big House and is quite small, only about a 45 person capacity, so we were given a pager and told it would be a 15-20 minute wait and that was about right. There is a patio you can wait on, but it is very plain, and undecorated and completely separated from the bar and felt sad. We walked around a bit instead until the pager went off.

When we went in we were seated at a surfboard table across from 3 college age guys with another group of 5 at the other end of the board. It is about 800 square foot room, dark and loud and many black lights. The best way to describe it, is like being the brain of someone with extreme ADHD! Overtime someone orders particular drink (all of the specialty drinks on the menus) a 2-3 minute show would erupt with the walls coming to life and the staff as well as the patrons chanting and yelling and joining in as your drink is brought to you... one time they put on goggles and floats on their arms! Apparently this is done at the original Trader Sams in Disneyland, but much more selectively and not every 5-7 minutes. It was fun at first, but after about 20-30 minutes, we pretty much were ready to get out of there!


It was hard to get pictures because it is so small, so dark and so tight... I ended up getting the Pearl and got a "black pearl" glass, Eva got the "Shipwreck on the rocks" and it was Super Strong and she got super goofy on it.... after 2 drinks and like $50 we ended up leaving by 11:30 and I was super glad it was a 5 minute walk to our room !! (Spoiler alert for our ABD Disneyland trip report... we went to Trader Sams in Disney Land and it was SO MUCH BETTER!)

End of day... walking total: 10.18 miles or 21,123 steps

 

[suse66]

Such great reviews......I am in love with that Flying Fish dinner. Everything looked so good! Have you been to Victoria and Albert's? We ate there almost six years ago and it still ranks as one of the best meals of my life. Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Vernie822]

I know things happen, but Disney should have really let us know and offered something to amend for this! They never mentioned anything and just acted like this was the event... we complained to the staff there, but obviously they had no control... so we waited and called Disney and complained that way after the event, and in addition wrote a lengthy email and to this day...NOTHING. Not one word of apology. (I doubt we will attend any F&W special events like this in the future as this is our second big let down with these. Last year we did a "cheaper" special event - was still $35 plus tax each and ended up having 1/3 of a glass of wine, and 1/2 of a chopped beef sandwich prepared by a former Disney chef that tasted so bad, it wasn't worth the calories and we ate only 2 bites each. )

That is SUCH a bummer. Boo. I totally understand where you are coming from, they could have at the very least called or emailed you letting you know of the change, and offering you a refund if you wanted to cancel. I understand things happen but personally I'd probably only book one of those seminars if I wanted to see the chef. And to have heard nothing back from Disney.. for shame. That stinks.

We have been dying to try the Boathouse (well, I have been, because I love seafood) - your sandwich looks so good! Good to know that they have some non-seafood options that aren't just a steak and potatoes (though I do love steak).

Those pretzels from the Hangar Bar look pretty good - that's one of the things on their menu I'd like to try if we make it there sometime.

I don't know if I would be able to handle Trader Sam's since it's so tiny and crazy in there. We tried to go there on a Saturday (our last day) before catching ME - walked down 15 mins before open and not a soul in sight so we walked down like an hour later and she told us it was a 45 min wait.. crazy!!