People are predictable - September 2022 - Victoria & Albert's 11/16 Cosmic Ray/Tokyo Dining - Complete

[Dis_Yoda]

Who: Dis_Yoda & Mr. Dis_Yoda
When: September 7th to September 18th
Where: Disney’s Boardwalk Villas

*cobwebs* Anyone still remember me?

I’ve been away from here as life went a bit haywire in 2021 with some major changes. We also enjoyed some Disney trips without worrying about photos as we needed disconnection time.

So those changes? Well, we no longer live in Florida. My husband’s job relocated him to Louisiana in July 2021. I stayed behind long enough to manage selling our home, finding a new job, and wrapping up our lives in Florida. He was in charge of finding our new home. I’m happy to say he did a great job. Of course, Hurricane Ida added some chaos with the timing of my move but in the end, everything worked out. We live on the other side of the lake from New Orleans and have settled into Louisianan life.

Dis_Yoda - a 36-year-old Aerospace Engineer. With the move, I left the public sector life and went back into my degree field. Luckily this time around, my work-life balance is still maintained as I rarely have to go over 40 hours a week.

Mr. Dis_Yoda – a 38-year-old Retail Manager.

We’re still travel, food loving DINKs. We’ve turned into the crazy dog people. We currently own 4 dogs – a senior cocker spaniel, two Rhodesian Ridgebacks and our newest member, a Saluki. My male RR competes in agility. My female RR is enjoying dabbling in other sports after earning her Grand Championship in conformation. The saluki will enjoy the conformation ring and whatever sports make him happy.






Initial Plans

Wednesday, September 7th, 2022
Driving to Walt Disney World after work

Thursday, September 8th, 2022
EPCOT

Dinner: Flying Fish
Membership Extra @ Typhoon Lagoon

Friday, September 9th, 2022
Hollywood Studios

Dinner: Boathouse

Saturday, September 10th, 2022
Animal Kingdom

Lunch: Sanaa
Dinner: Magic Kingdom Fireworks Pre-Party

Sunday, September 11th, 2022
Magic Kingdom

Dinner: Enzos

Monday, September 12th, 2022
EPCOT

Dinner: Steakhouse 71

Tuesday, September 13th, 2022
EPCOT

Dinner: California Grill

Wednesday, September 14th, 2022
Hollywood Studios

Lunch: Hollywood Brown Derby
Dinner: Homecomin’

Thursday, September 15th, 2022
EPCOT

Dinner: Ale & Compass

Friday, September 16th, 2022
Hollywood Studios

Dinner: Victoria & Albert’s Queen Victoria Room

Saturday, September 17th, 2022
Magic Kingdom

Dinner: Space 220

Sunday, September 18th, 2022

Drive Home​

 

[KenyaSierra]

So glad you back- I love and have missed your reports! Are you and/or Mr. DY running in any of the upcoming RD races?

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Ooh yay you’re back! Wow those are some big life changes. Sounds like all the pieces came together though! Your dogs are such beauties. Cannot WAIT for your reviews!

 

[followthatmouse]

Welcome back! My goodness, what upheavals! At least your magnificent canines look very happy.

You have some of our all time favourites on that list. Looking forward to see what you make of these WDW restaurants after such a break.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

So glad you back- I love and have missed your reports! Are you and/or Mr. DY running in any of the upcoming RD races?

Thank you!

We are not planning on any in the upcoming season. My husband is annoyed that they got rid of Star Wars on this coast as that was his legacy race and this past year he wasn't so sure about Marathon Weekend when he was getting through his first holiday season in this area. Wine & Dine 2022 - his other manager has something major going on during that time so we shifted our F&W trip up to September this year. We're on a break until Wine & Dine 2023. We do have a race in October though - for me its biking but my husband will be running - the Endurance Trial at the Rhodesian Ridgeback Nationals in Ohio.

Ooh yay you’re back! Wow those are some big life changes. Sounds like all the pieces came together though! Your dogs are such beauties. Cannot WAIT for your reviews!

Yeah - they were some big changes. Everything felt like it happened so quickly once the go happened. It took a bit but things are finally feeling settled and normal. I'm making new friends, joined new groups and becoming regulars at restaurants here so its starting to feel like home.

Welcome back! My goodness, what upheavals! At least your magnificent canines look very happy.

You have some of our all time favourites on that list. Looking forward to see what you make of these WDW restaurants after such a break.

The canines are very happy and keeping me busy. They definitely helped make sure we were grounded through all of it.

Which ones are your all time favorites? There is only 1 new restaurant to us that honestly, I'm not even sure we will end up keeping or not (Space 220) but I am very excited to see the new updates to Victoria & Albert's after having been closed for over 2 years. We're trying to keep a mix of the signatures and normal restaurants as well. We've done Topolino's on most of our recent trips and we're staying at the Rivera in February so we figured we would be ok to skip. This may change after we get there.

I wish the Food & Wine festival had brought back special events again but it is what it is.

 

[tigerlilly]

*cobwebs* Anyone still remember me?

I was excited to see your name in the threads of Disney Dining Reviews! I have been a DIS lurker for years (member since 1999 so that is a few years lol). Anywho I have always loved reading your reviews. Glad you are returning and living your best life in Louisiana! Your dogs are darling!

 

[gosalyn_mallard]

Looking forward to your reviews! Have a great trip!

 

[Marrila]

Can't wait to read your reviews!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Oh my goodness! What a delight to find a new report from you! Sounds like quite a busy year for you two! Happy to hear that you're happy, having fun with the dogs, and still loving Disney. What a fantastic set of plans. The only one I haven't been to is Enzo's ... need to try that one day! With you on missing the F&W special events ... those were the days.

 

[ncc1701]

Have a great trip. Will be looking forward to your report.

 

[erinch]

We had a meh meal at Enzo’s and a great one at Boathouse if you are still modifying. Hope it is magical!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I was excited to see your name in the threads of Disney Dining Reviews! I have been a DIS lurker for years (member since 1999 so that is a few years lol). Anywho I have always loved reading your reviews. Glad you are returning and living your best life in Louisiana! Your dogs are darling!

Thank! I'm glad to see people will still be reading along!

Looking forward to your reviews! Have a great trip!

Thank you! Can't wait until tomorrow.

Can't wait to read your reviews!

Welcome!

Oh my goodness! What a delight to find a new report from you! Sounds like quite a busy year for you two! Happy to hear that you're happy, having fun with the dogs, and still loving Disney. What a fantastic set of plans. The only one I haven't been to is Enzo's ... need to try that one day! With you on missing the F&W special events ... those were the days.

Hi! It has been a crazy insane year but I'm glad its all working out. Enzo's is nice and quiet which makes me happy. I hope the days of special events return although at least more of the signatures are finally opening up again.

Have a great trip. Will be looking forward to your report.

Thank you! Less than 24 hours now until we are on the road

We had a meh meal at Enzo’s and a great one at Boathouse if you are still modifying. Hope it is magical!

We've enjoyed Enzo's and Boathouse many times and some meh meals too. It seems to just depend on the day sadly. We do tend to modify the day before based off how we feel. I'm so ready for the magical vacation! We haven't had a long disconnect from the world in a while.

 

[TigerKat]

Hi!! Welcome to Louisiana! So far so good this hurricane season, thankfully. Looking forward to following along.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Hi!! Welcome to Louisiana! So far so good this hurricane season, thankfully. Looking forward to following along.

Yeah - we still got a while to go though! My Florida blood knows better than to stop being prepared for the crazy. Hurricanes are one of the reasons we decided to go Northshore though versus Jefferson Parish with our house purchase despite working in New Orleans East and Metairie.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Trattoria Al Forno

My husband and I started discussing dinner once we hit the Florida Turnpike. We debated between heading to eat at either Kimonos or BlueZoo but my husband looked at me and said after 9 hours of driving, I just want to relax. One of the few good changes to come out of Covid is that some of the restaurants now do Mobile Ordering so we decided to be really easy and get Trattoria Al Forno since it would be at our hotel. We also gave us some time to get into the room and settled before needing to run downstairs to pick it up.

We were very lucky and didn’t hit any traffic along the Turnpike or going the Western Way despite hitting it in rush hour. We did hit many many love bugs as you can see with my wonderful welcome photo. Oh well, tis the season!

My husband dropped me off at the front so I could head to the room with our stuff. We are in a 1 Bedroom for 1 night only and then switch to a studio for the next 10 nights as this was a later addition in our plans. As I have to work tomorrow, it will be nice to have all this space until 11AM as we know our room won’t be ready until 4PM or so based on our previous luck here.

I headed downstairs and got a drink from AbracadaBar as I checked that I was here in the app. My Manhattan wasn’t as well made as I’m used to nowadays but I have gotten really spoiled at my local place so that’s a me problem, not a Disney problem.

Black Manhattan

Eventually my food was ready and I headed back upstairs for us to enjoy dinner. My husband wasn’t that hungry but he may have gotten one of the best deals that exist in Disney. That $4.50 meatball was huge! Between that and the bread, he was very happy with his choices.

Meatballs & Garlic Bread

I went with the lasagna. I’ve had this before at the restaurant and I knew it was a solid choice. The placing of the sauces on the side did take away from the dish a bit but I get why they package it that way. They have definitely improved on their to-go containers from the paper box days. I was happy and it filled me up. Is it better in the restaurant? Yes but tonight was more about relaxation than having a nice meal. Those shall start tomorrow!

Lasagna

I hope that Disney keeps up with having some of the sit down restaurants with Mobile Ordering as things return more to normal operations as it is a great option to have.​

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Glad you arrived safely. That meatball was only $4.50!? What a deal. The food all looked good. Can’t wait for the rest!

 

[PcolaGolfer]

Great pics! Looking forward to more.

 

[gosalyn_mallard]

Even a cloudy, rainy picture of the Boardwalk puts a smile on my face!

he may have gotten one of the best deals that exist in Disney.

Shh... Chapek may be listening.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Totally agree that the ability to get food to-go and mobile ordering are terrific. Making a mental note on that meatball... that looks delicious! We're having a rainy few days here -- hope you're having fun and keeping mostly dry!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Glad you arrived safely. That meatball was only $4.50!? What a deal. The food all looked good. Can’t wait for the rest!

It is such a deal! It was a great first night option for getting settled in.

Great pics! Looking forward to more.

More coming! While I'm not going to be fully live - I'm going to try to get a few updates done during our downtimes so we don't drag out the report for a long time.

Even a cloudy, rainy picture of the Boardwalk puts a smile on my face!

It does! The boardwalk is truly our happy place and our favorite DVC option.

Shh... Chapek may be listening.

Gotta squeeze all the money out of the people!

Totally agree that the ability to get food to-go and mobile ordering are terrific. Making a mental note on that meatball... that looks delicious! We're having a rainy few days here -- hope you're having fun and keeping mostly dry!

Yeah, it is rainy off and on but well, that's the same as home anyway. We know what we are risking going to Disney in September. Hot, humid with a chance of thunder!