Posh Noshing: The One where Elsbit turns 40, falls apart, and but still eats Awesome -Concluded 12.15

[elsbit]

Welcome to my 2nd Dining Report! The all about me intro is in my 1st trip report (link in signature), if you want a more detailed background. Otherwise, I am Elsbit, a now 40-year old freckled face redhead mother, who works hard as a public servant and is a mother of three. Things were smooth riding with our two girls (now 10 & 8), until we added our adorable and mischievous son to the mix (now 2), who is our little chaos machine and the main reason for my permanent exhaustion. He is firmly entrenched in his terrible twos, so motherhood is even more oh-so-much-fun now.

Joining me on this trip, was my husband, Jeff. We met in college in art class, so we have been together since 1999. Our best creative collaboration was our three kids, ha ha. Jeff is kind enough to put up with my obsessive Disney trip planning (yes, I am one of THOSE people who enjoys doing a spreadsheet for each trip). I do all the work, occasionally chattering away to him to get his opinion (in which he really doesn’t care, but pretends he does). His interest became more piqued when Star Wars started to have its own land, as he is a big fan. He enjoys quality steaks, sushi, and pizza. He is a hardcore chocolate fan, to the point, that it is not unusual for him to send me a text to buy chocolate or to ask if I have any in the house. Which being the fabulous wife that I am, I will sometimes joke and ask if it is his time of the month.

My 40th birthday was 09.12. I decided that in honor of this momentous occasion, I wanted to do something for ME, which was take a trip with just my husband. Our oldest is 10 years old and we have not taken a real vacation without kids since before she was born. Sad, I know, but our family help is limited due to location and the health of other family members. My brave mother-in-law (MIL) agreed to watch our three kids, our elderly health declining dog, and two cats, one of which is evil. Bless my MIL’s heart, is all I have to say!

The original plan was to do a 3-day weekend cruise (non-Disney) to see if we were cruise people. But then, I realized Disney After Hours was on my actual birthday, so I added a day with Disney. Then, I realized that a Halloween party was 2 days before that, so I convinced my Star Wars loving husband to sandwich a trip to Galaxy’s Edge on this trip before our weekend cruise. So we found ourselves with 3 days at Disney before our cruise. Yay! This trip was planned in June, so I was already "behind" on reservations and was planning a trip for shortly after Galaxy's Edge opened. At first, I was going to do the Deluxe Dining Plan, as we had done in the past. However, as I was wiggling plans around, I realized it just wasn’t going to work for us with things I wanted to do, so I decided to go without it. I am a total Table Service kind of gal at Disney, hence the “Posh Noshing.” However, we did eat at some Quick Service places on this trip. I won’t lie, I did my research before hand and knew which Quick Service Places I wanted to eat at. I will say, I still felt a little like I was winging it, all wild without a reservation number on the Disney plans ap.

During this trip, we ate at the following:

• Polynesian Resort: Oasis Bar
• Sleepy Hollow
• Casey’s Corner
• Plaza Ice Cream Parlor
• Oga’s Cantina
• Ronto Roasters
• Food & Wine Booths
• Captain Cook’s
• Circle of Flavors Harambe Nights
• La Hacienda Tequila Lunch
• Kona Cafe
• Victoria and Albert’s

We also had snacks along the way, that I will mention. My top eats may end up surprising you, because I was surprised! There were also a number of other things that happened in those 3 short days that had never happened before, some of which were good, bad and ugly. So snuggle up with a favorite snack and drink and join in! Thanks for reading!

 

[elsbit]

Because we used points to fly, we had a ridiculously early flight paired with a layover. So our day started at 4:00 AM. We typically drive to Disney, because it is too expensive to fly with a family of 5. While it was nice to fly, I won't fly again if it is not straight trip. The return trip ended up being longer and just not worth the time spent in airports. We took the Magical Express to our resort, the Polynesian. This was my first time riding it and found the seats to be comfortable and the process very easy.

I had planned to eat out by the pool at the Oasis Bar, as I wanted to take in being at the Poly, the palm trees, and the vacation vibe at the pool, as well as the fact that we would arriving at our resort around 1ish.

Lava Flow
Bacardi Superior Rum blended with Cream of Coconut, Pineapple Juice, and Strawberry Purée

Frosty Pineapple
Pineapple DOLE Whip® blended with Captain Morgan Private Stock Rum

Lava Flow is always my favorite on property drink, however, I mixed some with Jeff’s Frosty Pineapple and it was SO good! Yummy yum yum yum! I was also thrilled that they used a very sturdy paper straw. Jeff laughed at me for taking pictures to show you all just how sturdy this paper straw was! Behold! The best paper straw!

Grilled Sustainable Fish Tacos
Cumin-spiced with crunchy Cabbage served with Cilantro-Lime Crema and choice of French Fries or Green Cabbage Slaw

This was Jeff’s entree. It was good, but it needed some spice. He wished he had brought some Cholula. I made a note to myself, that I forgot until now when I saw the picture, that I need to research if they sell little bottles of Cholula that he can travel with, and give it to him at Christmas in his stocking.

Grilled Chicken Avocado Wrap
served with Lettuce, Tomato and Garlic Ranch Dressing with choice of French Fries or Green Cabbage Slaw
This was my entree. It was delicious, but could have used a little something extra, like bacon or some spiciness. The avocado needed to be spread out better. It ended up coming with coleslaw inside rather than lettuce and tomato. Regardless, I would order it again.

I cannot find this on the Disney website. Jeff got a 2nd drink, which was an alcoholic Salted Coffee. I don’t drink coffee, so I did not try it. I forgot to take a picture of a drink he had before this, which was a banana tropical drink, which is not on the website. I don't think I tried that drink either because I was still enjoying my first drink. My husband drinks liquid very quickly and I am very slow. So I was still on my first drink and my first cup of water for the whole meal.

Overall, it was a good lunch. I cannot find my receipt for it, but I do know that each entree was less than the cost of one alcoholic drink, which is kind of crazy.

 

[elsbit]

Halloween Party:

After our meal, our room was ready. I was disappointed to get two queen beds for a couple, but such is life. We were able to check into our room before 4 PM, which made me happy as I wanted to change and head to the Halloween Party to be let in at 3:45 PM. I had someone on Etsy make me a Stitch “No Candy Gets Left Behind” t-shirt, which I wore to the party. There were some Halloween Party snacks that I had planned to try, but did not, do to the heat. It just didn’t sound appealing to eat the wedding cake.

I wanted a Halloween popcorn bucket so I picked one up along the way, as well as a Diet Coke for me and a Frozen Strawberry Lemonade for Jeff. Those three things totaled $20 even. It was HOT outside, so next we enjoyed a Frozen Apple Cider Slushie. The Slushie was a bit too sweet. I still liked it though, but Jeff did not. Which was a bummer, considering they gave us a FREE one because he had to wait on them to finish making us the Caramel Stuffed Pretzel. So I sucked up most of the cider while on the way to Pirates, and gave him the iced part. That worked out for both of us.

Now, this Caramel Pretzel had rave reviews at various websites. I had high hopes as I love soft pretzels, as well as caramel. Those hopes were sadly dashed, crushed, smooshed to smithereens. This was GROSS. The caramel tasted like that maple icing you get on some donuts and was oddly textured, kind of a dry gritty creamy texture (which I know sounds contradictory, but it is the best way to describe it). I tried to scrape the caramel out, to eat the pretzel part, but it was tainted. Jeff ended up eating some more of it and then we threw it away. At least the free drink took made me feel better about a bad buy. I don’t have the receipt for this one.

My attempts to scrape it out. It looks a poopy as it tasted. ha ha.

Later during the party, Jeff got the chicken waffle from Sleepy Hollow. I had a couple of bites, but always find the chicken too spicy for me. He has had this before and always likes it. I ate a few chips, which are not picture. The chips were nice and crispy and perfectly salted. I think this meal is a good buy, as it is 10.49. I forgot to take a picture when he brought it to the table, as I was on the phone with our kids. This picture shows only half the sandwich.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Waffle Sandwich
Waffle Sandwich with House-made Chips

As an aside, I am not a character person, but I totally had to get a picture with Elvis Stitch. He was SO cute. These photos was from when I was standing in line. At the end of this wait, there was a person handing candy out of a barrel. This cast member was rather stingy as I got one piece of candy, which made me laugh as we walked away, as I remembered someone posting on the boards how she got one piece of candy one year while trick-or-treating at the party and it was on her birthday and it made her livid.

I decided to eat my dinner during the 2nd parade. I went to Casey’s and got myself the Fried Pickle Hot dog. This was the hot dog of the month and cost $12.77. I got the regular size, not the foot long. I LOVE pickles, so was excited to try this. It was an all-beef hot dog topped with roasted green and red peppers, shredded cheddar, fried pickles, chipotle ranch, and green onions. It came with your choice of a side of chips or apple slices. I actually ended up enjoying it and would get again. I don’t think it really needed the cheese, and could have used more green onions. I picked the pickles off it and ate them by themselves. They were crispy and salty. I opted to get free ice water and the apple slices a side, which I ate one day as a snack. They also gave me a free Donald Duck brownie for my birthday! I ended up saving that and we ate it on the hotel patio the next day. The Donald Duck was a white chocolate piece, on top of some frosting, with a brownie underneath.The brownie was good, but not something I would have typically bought at the parks, so I was happy to try it.

Hard to take a picture in the dark while sitting on the Main Street Curb.

While I ate my hot dog, Jeff got a Waffle Bowl Ice Cream Sundae, since we were seated right in front of the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor. He kept smelling the waffle cones while waiting for the parade and could not resist. He got Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream and Chocolate Ice Cream with fudge. This cost $7.45. I had a couple of bites of ice cream and one bite of the waffle bowl. It was good, but too fudgey for me. I think I would just want a waffle cone with the mint ice cream. Jeff was happy with it.

The Ice Cream had started to melt because of the heat, even though it was after 10 PM.

After the parade, we made our way back to our hotel. The monorail was down, so we had to take a bus. I think we got in around 1 AM and had to get up early for the Hollywood Studio park opening of 6 AM. At that point, I had been up for over 20 hours and gladly hit the hay. We had plans the next morning to eat at Rontu Roasters and Oga's Cantina.

Edited to add the photo of the brownie the next day: You can tell better that it is a chocolate medallion shape.



My view while I ate:


Occasionally, a runner would go by on the path. I always wonder about those people who go running while at WDW. Considering I walked more than 20 miles the next day at the parks, I could imagine wanting to run for fun too. ha ha.

 

[sullyfam]

Glad you are doing another report! Love all the reviews so far and looking forward to more.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Sounds like a great start to your trip! Can't wait to hear about the rest

 

[DaisyNY]

Following along...sounds like a great birthday trip!

 

[OasterP]

Halloween Party:

After our meal, our room was ready. I was disappointed to get two queen beds for a couple, but such is life. We were able to check into our room before 4 PM, which made me happy as I wanted to change and head to the Halloween Party to be let in at 3:45 PM. I had someone on Etsy make me a Stitch “No Candy Gets Left Behind” t-shirt, which I wore to the party. There were some Halloween Party snacks that I had planned to try, but did not, do to the heat. It just didn’t sound appealing to eat the wedding cake.

I wanted a Halloween popcorn bucket so I picked one up along the way, as well as a Diet Coke for me and a Frozen Strawberry Lemonade for Jeff. Those three things totaled $20 even. It was HOT outside, so next we enjoyed a Frozen Apple Cider Slushie. The Slushie was a bit too sweet. I still liked it though, but Jeff did not. Which was a bummer, considering they gave us a FREE one because he had to wait on them to finish making us the Caramel Stuffed Pretzel. So I sucked up most of the cider while on the way to Pirates, and gave him the iced part. That worked out for both of us.

Now, this Caramel Pretzel had rave reviews at various websites. I had high hopes as I love soft pretzels, as well as caramel. Those hopes were sadly dashed, crushed, smooshed to smithereens. This was GROSS. The caramel tasted like that maple icing you get on some donuts and was oddly textured, kind of a dry gritty creamy texture (which I know sounds contradictory, but it is the best way to describe it). I tried to scrape the caramel out, to eat the pretzel part, but it was tainted. Jeff ended up eating some more of it and then we threw it away. At least the free drink took made me feel better about a bad buy. I don’t have the receipt for this one.

My attempts to scrape it out. It looks a poopy as it tasted. ha ha.

Later during the party, Jeff got the chicken waffle from Sleepy Hollow. I had a couple of bites, but always find the chicken too spicy for me. He has had this before and always likes it. I ate a few chips, which are not picture. The chips were nice and crispy and perfectly salted. I think this meal is a good buy, as it is 10.49. I forgot to take a picture when he brought it to the table, as I was on the phone with our kids. This picture shows only half the sandwich.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Waffle Sandwich
Waffle Sandwich with House-made Chips

As an aside, I am not a character person, but I totally had to get a picture with Elvis Stitch. He was SO cute. These photos was from when I was standing in line. At the end of this wait, there was a person handing candy out of a barrel. This cast member was rather stingy as I got one piece of candy, which made me laugh as we walked away, as I remembered someone posting on the boards how she got one piece of candy one year while trick-or-treating at the party and it was on her birthday and it made her livid.

View attachment 441955

I decided to eat my dinner during the 2nd parade. I went to Casey’s and got myself the Fried Pickle Hot dog. This was the hot dog of the month and cost $12.77. I got the regular size, not the foot long. I LOVE pickles, so was excited to try this. It was an all-beef hot dog topped with roasted green and red peppers, shredded cheddar, fried pickles, chipotle ranch, and green onions. It came with your choice of a side of chips or apple slices. I actually ended up enjoying it and would get again. I don’t think it really needed the cheese, and could have used more green onions. I picked the pickles off it and ate them by themselves. They were crispy and salty. I opted to get free ice water and the apple slices a side, which I ate one day as a snack. They also gave me a free Donald Duck brownie for my birthday! I ended up saving that and we ate it on the hotel patio the next day. The Donald Duck was a white chocolate piece, on top of some frosting, with a brownie underneath.The brownie was good, but not something I would have typically bought at the parks, so I was happy to try it.

Hard to take a picture in the dark while sitting on the Main Street Curb.

While I ate my hot dog, Jeff got a Waffle Bowl Ice Cream Sundae, since we were seated right in front of the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor. He kept smelling the waffle cones while waiting for the parade and could not resist. He got Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream and Chocolate Ice Cream with fudge. This cost $7.45. I had a couple of bites of ice cream and one bite of the waffle bowl. It was good, but too fudgey for me. I think I would just want a waffle cone with the mint ice cream. Jeff was happy with it.

The Ice Cream had started to melt because of the heat, even though it was after 10 PM.

After the parade, we made our way back to our hotel. The monorail was down, so we had to take a bus. I think we got in around 1 AM and had to get up early for the Hollywood Studio park opening of 6 AM. At that point, I had been up for over 20 hours and gladly hit the hay. We had plans the next morning to eat at Rontu Roasters and Oga's Cantina.

Edited to add the photo of the brownie the next day: You can tell better that it is a chocolate medallion shape.

View attachment 441956

My view while I ate:
View attachment 441957

Occasionally, a runner would go by on the path. I always wonder about those people who go running while at WDW. Considering I walked more than 20 miles the next day at the parks, I could imagine wanting to run for fun too. ha ha.

I'm following and Happy belated Birthday!! I'm one of those crazies who did run at the park, but didn't walk anywhere near as far as you did! It's my time away from the crazies in the room lol.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[ariane37]

Following! We were there Sept. 14-18th so I think just after you

I tried to scrape the caramel out, to eat the pretzel part, but it was tainted.

This sentence made me lol! And um, those pictures of the caramel scraped out?? and at the same time! I've thought about trying it as it DID sound good and all I've ever had is the regular Mickey pretzel. But after your review I think I'll stick with the original!

We did our first adults only trip after kids when our oldest was 12 and youngest 9, and wondered why we waited so long I did and do miss them when we go away without them, and we're lucky we have my mom, stepsons and some friends who help out as I think the hardest part is getting people to watch them. I'm glad you were able to do it and looking forward to reading more!

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[TeresaNJ]

Loving your report, and the humor you inject! My husband is one of those people who run at Disney, and eats salads at Disney. Don't ask me why, lol. He's been running the WDW half marathons the last few years, so I guess that's his excuse. I just tell him not to wake me up as he heads out the door at 5am!

 

[kastoney]

Happy Belated Birthday from one public servant to another! I did my 40th in Disney too and it really is the best place to celebrate. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[amytech]

Reading along Sounds like a great trip so far!

 

[elsbit]

Next up, Galaxy’s Edge! We got up at the crack of down to make the Extra Early Magic Hours. We went to the bus stop at Poly and waited. And waited. And when we saw another family give up, who had been there before us, we decided to order an Uber (or it may have been a Lyft, my husband did it). I think it is kind of annoying that you pay extra to be a Deluxe Resort and they cannot get the bus there.

While in Galaxy's Edge, we got a Rontu Roasters Wrap. I would get this again. The sausage had a nice snap to it and had a bit of a spicy kick to it. I don’t think my younger kids would enjoy it due to the spice. The pita bread was soft and fresh. The extra meat did not add anything for me, but extra protein is always good. The sauce, despite having peppercorn in its name, was not very peppery. It could have used more sauce than what was provided. The slaw was not overwhelming. This was 12.99, probably because all the meat. It did not come with a side, which I think is stingy. I would pad another dollar or so for a side to make it feel like a meal.

My husband picked out a drink for us to share, which meant he drank it faster than me and had most of it. Sometimes, I hate sharing with my husband because he eats/drinks faster than me and takes bigger bites. He doesn't pay attention to how much I have had. So I went for one last sip after my last bite, and it was all gone. Harumph. I cannot find my receipts right now, so I am assuming this was the Tatooine Sunset, which is Gold Peak Unsweetened Tea, Odwalla Lemonade with Melon and Blueberry. If it was this, I don’t recall it tasting very much like lemonade or even tea, but more like a light gatorade. It was 5.49. It was fine, but overpriced like most Disney drinks. It got the job done, but I would not seek it out.

Not a food, but my husband built a droid. When we brought it home, our 2 year old was scared to death of it and would jump up on the furniture to avoid it. Ha ha.

We wrapped up things in the land before our scheduled reservation for Oga’s, so we walked up and asked if they could take us well over an hour early. No problem! The atmosphere is fun to look at, but internally, I felt rushed, having to stand the entire time at the bar, knowing we had a timeframe. Now, no one told us we had a timeframe, I just knew from everything I read on the internet, plus people come and kind of crowd your space.

Fuzzy Tauntaun-16.00
Cîroc Peach Vodka, Bols Peach Schnapps, Simply® Orange with Tangerine, Pure Cane Sugar, and "Buzz Button Tingling" Foam

The foam was interesting and not long lasting. I did ask for a straw so I did not ingest it all at once.

Yub Nub-15.00
Malibu Pineapple Rum, Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, Citrus Juices, and Passion Fruit

This was very sour, which was unexpected. We did not enjoy it, but drank it anyway. I liked the seeds in it, they were sour too. My drink was too sour. I think it was grapefruit.

Blue Bantha-13.00
Blue Milk served chilled with Bantha-inspired Vanilla-Butter Sugar Cookie (contains tree nuts: coconut)

This is what my husband wanted, as he was not in the mood to drink at 9 AM. The blue milk had a taste to it that I could not put my finger on… something from my childhood. I loved the cookie! But they don’t give you napkins and the cookie is large and crumbles when you try to break it.

Verdict: I know this is going to be appalling to some, but this was a once and done for us. It was SO overpriced that it was ridiculous to pay that much for 3 drinks and have to stand feeling rushed. We did not enjoy the flavor of our drinks enough to want to pay those prices. I would rather return to Trader Sams. I had made reservations for our Christmas trip, but will be canceling it. We both agreed that it would not be enjoyable with our little ones (making them stand the whole time and trying to wrangle a 2 year old in those surroundings is completely unappealing). Glad we tried it though!

 

[kastoney]

Not appalled by your Oga's impression at all. Cause it was exactly the same as ours. Definitely cool to see inside there, but the prices are just insane for the pre-mixed crap that you get.

 

[elsbit]

Not appalled by your Oga's impression at all. Cause it was exactly the same as ours. Definitely cool to see inside there, but the prices are just insane for the pre-mixed crap that you get.

If all I am going to do is imbibe alcoholic beverages, I want to savor it and be able to sit and do it! I am glad that I am not the only one that felt this way about Oga's.

Once I can find my bag of receipts I plan to do another post, as our day at Food and Wine booths is next!

 

[elsbit]

Epcot Food and Wine Festival

This was our first time at Epcot food and Wine Festival. We knew going into to it, having been to the Arts and Garden festivals, that we tend not to enjoy the food booths as most people seem too. I think we have really high expectations and then get disappointed when the dishes are not as great as they appear or have been represented by others and the costs really add up. We did not hit this event up hard, because we knew we had evening food plans.

First up, Mexico!

My husband loves Mexican food and pork belly, so this stop was all about him getting a Taco De Puerco. This dish had shredded pork belly and salsa verde on a corn tortilla. I don’t like corn tortillas and have had an aversion to bbq pork since I was last pregnant, so I left this dish pretty much to my husband to eat. I think I tried a little nibble of this. If I recall correctly, we felt that it was missing a little something. My husband wished he had brought his Cholula and I said it needed cilantro. Despite that, my husband still enjoyed it.

Taco de Puerco- $6.10

I got a Frozen Mango Margarita. It was a really hot day and I wanted something cold to drink. This was so cold that at times, my throat would hurt if I drank too much at once. Anyone ever have that happen? I don’t get brain freeze, but I sure do get throat freeze sometimes! Compared to the $11 drink I later got in France, this was more bang for the buck. However, they made it would some sort of tequila that I don’t like that tastes faintly like cigarettes to me. I have no idea what tequila does this, but this sometimes happens to me outside of Disney too.

Mango Margarita-$10.75.

The Alps:

This dish is a prime example of me reading a bunch of reviews of people raving of its awesomeness. Cheese, potatoes, pickles, and bread are some of my top favorite foods, so I thought this would be totally delish. This was the Raclette dish, where they shave swiss cheese and serve it with potatoes, cornichons, and french bread. Unfortunately, we were handed a dish that had been under the heat lamp, so the cheese had already started to congeal. This meant, you really could not dip your bread and potatoes into it, because the cheese was a glob. There was no salt or spices on the potatoes, so when you could not really effective dip the potato into the cheese, you were left eating a plain old potato. Seriously, I sat there nibble on a whole baby potato on my fork asking myself why the hell was I gnawing on a whole plain potato. Because the bread was already sliced and sitting under the warmer, it had already started to dry out from the heat and air a little. There were a few small pickles underneath it all that I did not photograph because I was trying to quickly eat my glob of cheese. I would not get this again.

Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Baby Potatoes, Cornichons and Baguette- $5.00

China:

What can I say about this one….nothing, because when I turned to ask for a bite, my husband had already eaten the whole thing! To be fair, he knows that I don’t like Asian buns, but geesh! He slammed that thing down before I had a chance to blink. This is why I hate sharing with him and my kids, they eat so fast that I get one bite, or nothing in this case, to their multiple bites. I think he said it was just okay.

Mala Chicken and Shrimp Bao Bun-$6.75

Africa:

I think my husband got this dish while I was off lusting after apple strudel. This was the Kenyan Coffee Barbecue Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potato and Corn Mealie Pap and Kachumbari Slaw. I thought this was a cheap price for what you got, comparatively to other Food and Wine dishes. My husband was disappointed in the quality of the meat, I think it may have been a little tough. We may have just gotten a bad piece. The mealie pap was crispy and the slaw brought some lightness to the dish.

Kenyan Coffee BBQ Beef-$5.75

Germany Booth:

Oh be still my heart. I am such a sucker for baked apple dishes. It comes from being a child and my mom making apple pie. Now, being all grown up, I make apple pie for my family. I am secretly pleased when my oldest child, who is a total foodie, requests my apple pie instead of birthday cake for her birthday and when she tells people I make the best apple pie. *heart sings* So of course, I had to get the Apple Strudel! It was warm and it came with a delicious vanilla sauce. I loved it and was tempted to get another, but knew I was going to run out of room, so this litlte piggy didn’t. My husband was kind, and not being as big an apple fan, let me have the last couple of bites.

Apple Strudel- $4.00

So, I am a ******* and when I saw the photo at the Germany booth of this next dish, I totally thought it was some sort of scalloped cheesy layered potatoes. I LOVE me some potatoes. So imagine my surprise when I went to cut into it and discovered that it was actually cheesy pasta. I very rarely buy pasta dishes out, as I grew up with a grandmother who made homemade ravioli and sauces. This was very dense and hearty. I just would not buy it again because I only have so much room at the food booths and I don’t want to “waste it” on such simple dishes. This was a pasta dish that had ham, onion, and cheese. There was barely any ham in it, but it was creamy and filling for its size.


Schinken Nudel- $4.25

Japan Booth:

My husband loves Asian buns. Me, not so much. I don’t like wads of squishy dough, so I don’t like gnocchi or chicken and dumplings. I knew he would want this, so I led him to Japan for this Teriyaki Bun. I had one tiny nibble, focusing on the filling, to say I tried it. I thought the filling was salty, but I suppose, if I had to eat a wad of bland dough to get to it, it would not seem that way. He said it was okay. He is hard to impress as he has had buns in the country of Japan and now longs for the good ones he has had that he cannot get where we live.

Teriyaki bun- $5.75

France:

I went to France in hopes that the drink La Passion Martini Slush would be as fabulous as the slush drink I had at the Arts Festival. I think that one was called Frose or La Vie en Rose (something like that). While the La Passion was good, and greatly overpriced, my taste buds are still with the drink from the Arts festival. La Passion had Vodka, Grey Goose Le Citron, Cranberry and Passion Fruit Juice.

Boeuf Braisé à la Bordelaise, Pomme Dauphine was beef braised in Cabernet Sauvignon with red onions and puffed potatoes. Now you know the only thing that attracted me to this dish was the puffed potatoes! This is not an attractive dish. I felt like this had a lot of beef in it and the beef was tender It was a bit salty, and you could definitely taste the wine in the sauce. I expected puffed potatoes to be airy, but these were kind of dense, almost like a hushpuppy. It was SO hot the day we were at Epcot that this was not super appetizing to eat and we did not finish it.

Bouef Braise- $6.50
La Passion- $11.00

Brazil:

You say pork belly, my husband says Yes please. Once again, he found another pork belly to enjoy. He liked this one. I didn’t partake, so I don’t have much to say on this one.. This was crispy pork belly with black beans and tomatoes.

Pork Belly-$6.00

Canada-

Canada was my Food and Wine mission. I had always wanted to try the beer cheese soup, but we have never managed to make it to Le Cellier. Once we even had reservations, but I ended up canceling them. So I was determined to try the soup on this day, despite the fact that it was blazing hot. It had to be done. I think my husband went to get free ice water while I sat on the bench eating soup. An older gentleman sat with me and I gave him tips on how to get free water and which place gave a large cup of free water versus the little cups normally given out. It was kind of a pain in the *** to try to eat soup and other food without a table. The soup was good, but I will be honest and say it sucked eating it when it was so darn hot out. I used the pretzel roll to sop up the creamy goodness.

Jeff did not care about getting the steak, as the heat was getting to him too, but I had wanted to try it. This was a fillet with wild mushrooms in truffle butter sauce. I enjoyed the sauce and mushrooms, I mean, hello, you had me at truffle butter! However, the meat tasted “aged”to me. It was not rancid meat or anything. The best way to describe it is that it tasted aged and I did not like that flavor profile because it was a strong and I don’t like strong meat flavors. My husband thought it tasted fine and did not know what I was talking about. It was tender.

Cheddar Soup- $5.25
Beef Fillet- $8.25

Food and Wine Studio:

I just realized, after searching through all my photos, that I did not take a picture of my favorite dish! And it was one that I got for free! The cashier told me happy birthday and I used my card to pay, and then she took a really long time processing the transaction. I later realized, after looking at my receipt, and saw that she had written “Magical Moment” and voided out my cost.That was why she took so long. I didn’t even realize it until after I had gotten my food. I got the Seared Scallops, Truffled Celery Root Purée, Brussels Sprouts and Wild Mushroom. It was supposed to cost $6.25 and it was amazing. It was our last stop, which was good because it was the best dish I had all day. The scallops were perfectly cooked, and the sprouts were crispy on the outside like I like them. I am totally bummed not to have a picture for you, but it was probably because I was walking and eating them. I would get this dish every time I go.

After this booth, we headed back to our hotel. Since we were staying at the Poly, I decided to take advantage of having Dole Whip at our resort. We stopped for some ice cream and just beat the crowd that followed after us. While we were there, they had a special Yoda ice cream, which was lime Dole Whip. The woman in front of me had a genius idea and asked for sample, which I didn’t know was possible. So I also got a sample of the lime to go with our Pineapple. The lime was very puckery. So glad I got a sample because I would not have enjoyed an entire cone of it. I think it would be good cut with vanilla swirls. You can see it was a sizable sample too. We got the Pineapple Dole Whip swirled with vanilla. Yummy yum yum yum. I had to laugh because it always appears huge, but down the middle is a big old hole. I remember my best friend in high school worked at an ice cream shop and she was trained to roll the icecream in such a way that it left a hole in the middle to save money. As always, the Dole Whip hit the spot.

Behold the cavernous dole whip hole!

 

[elsbit]

Circle of Flavors Harambe Nights

Hands down, this was AWESOME and is one of my most favorite things I have ever done at Disney. We had such an amazing time, when I saw it opened up for our Christmas trip, I went ahead and booked it for the entire family, price tag be damned. Even my husband loved it, and he is hard to please. I honestly expect Disney to cut back on this event, but there was SO MUCH food and options, that made the price a great deal in my opinion. I didn't even try everything because there simply was not enough room, even with taking just a bite or two of each dish. We ended up befriending a woman and her mother and frequently sat together at the different stations, even exchanging FB information.

I am just going to touch on some of the highlights and let the photos mostly speak for themselves. I will say that there were so many photos that I did not take, because I was in the element and enjoying myself. More drink and food carts, icies, virtual reality, character meets, etc. When the event ended, we were on such a happy high.

I could have drank these POG mimosas alllll night long. I had several and then they ran out and they were not at any of the next stops. They even let us take our drinks on the train to the next stop.

There was live music that made it so much fun. At the first station, the musician saw my birthday pin and serenaded me. Being an introvert who pushes herself to be extroverted, I felt awkward, but having some alcohol made it feel less awkward as the night wore on and as he continued to bring me up. LOL

Lots of unique dishes and plenty of different kinds of alcohol. I don’t like beer, but I had an African Beer Shandy that I thought was nice and refreshing.

This is the only picture I have ever posted of me here. Shhhhh. This marks that I became part of the tribe.

I have videos of the live music, but I am not sure if I can get them posted here. This part was my favorite part. The music was so fun and as it turned dark, the lights came on and amongst the food and drinks the ambiance was so fun.

I am a weird kind of introvert, who will totally chat up strangers. I chatted up a woman in the dessert line who rave about these mango Popsicles, so of course I had to get one too!

 

[elsbit]

Looking back at all of these pictures makes me really excited to do this event again! We have plans to go on Christmas Day!!

 

[quietly]

I am so excited about your harambe nights experience as we’ve just booked this for our trip in February. I hope they don’t cut back on it as the variety is really what sold us on it! Did you have a favourite dish you tried? Really enjoying your report thanks for sharing!

 

[DaisyNY]

Looking for a special experience for our April trip...Harambe Nights might just work! Thanks for sharing!