Quick January Trip for frequent visitors - new-to-us places for review

[kittylady1972]

We just had a quick 3 night trip to Walt Disney World last week, which had a heavy food focus. I have some photos to share with my reviews so I'll list the places we tried and then give some individual reviews with photos.

LUNCH: Polite Pig at Disney Springs - this was a new-to-us place that we definitely enjoyed and would like to return...but with more people to help us with the food!
LUNCH: Landscape of Flavors (Art of Animation) - we were pleasantly surprised at some of the unique options at the Food Court here
HAPPY HOUR: Jaleo (Disney Springs) - We did the Sangria Happy Hour here before seeing Drawn to Life
DINNER: Sebastians Bistro (Caribbean Beach) - We had been wanting to try this one for a while...it did not disappoint
BREAKFAST: Landscape of Flavors (Art of Animation) - some different breakfast options here, nothing terribly special to go out of your way
LUNCH: Mama Melrose (Hollywood Studios) - We have been here a few times so nothing terribly new for us
DINNER/SNACKS: Baseline Taphouse (Hollywood Studios) - We are return visitors here too
LUNCH/SNACK: Sunshine Tree Terrace - we had plans of real food after dessert...nope!
DINNER: La Hacienda (EPCOT) - Another return visit here, another favorite for us, always good

I think that's it. I'll follow up with some quick reviews and maybe a few photos.

 

[kittylady1972]

Let's start with:

LUNCH: Polite Pig at Disney Springs - this was a new-to-us place that we definitely enjoyed and would like to return...but with more people to help us with the food

We were waiting for our room at Saratoga Springs to be ready, so we parked at one of the SSR buildings closest to the walking bridge to Disney Springs and walked over. This is such a nice perk for SSR people...too bad our room wasn't in that building!

Ended up wandering into here:

The woman working there was so lovely, we got a free peppermint bark sample then we each picked out 3 chocolates to try later:



We told her we were saving these for dessert after lunch, and she asked where we were going and we told her we wanted to try Polite Pig. She raved about the smoked turkey...and many other things. So we were sold. We walked over but it didn't open until 11am so we waited. When it opened, we walked into and ordered the meat platter...but the turkey was an add on that we did also add. I think it was about $49 maybe extra for the add on turkey?

We got this:



While seated and waiting for our order, the nice server came around to ask if we wanted sauces...and brought us back the samples you see to the left. They also said anything else we wanted we wouldn't have to go back up and order...they would bring it. Okay. The tea was also freshly brewed (love me some tea) which was nice.

This was more than enough for the two of us. We put a hurting on it, but did take some of it back to the room...where we would for the most part throw it out the next morning because we were only staying one night.

Turkey was good, think I preferred the pork and DH maybe the beef? Sweet potato fries were okay. I don't do slaw so can't answer that one. Oh and the brussel sprouts were also good...not great but still good.

We would definitely return.

 

[kittylady1972]

For our first evening we decided to book tickets to Drawn to Life. We had seats in the back row, but it isn't as high as it seems and there are no bad seats that I can tell. No photos allowed either. This was such a fun show, kept me nervous and on edge but fun.

Since we had returned to our room after lunch at Polite Pig, and rested and had our chocolates, we weren't starving but wanted some food before the show. We decided on Jaleo, which is a chain that we actually have closer to home in Washington, DC, and we've been there once. They had a Sangria Happy Hour so we selected that. We walked in and sat at the bar, ordered a pitcher of Sangria (red) which was good, and a few small plates. Let's see if I can recall them.


Above is the Sangria....it was good, didn't seem that strong but still refreshing.




Ok at the top we have:

Cono de queso de cabra con membrillo y nueces​

Quince marmalade, goat cheese and walnut dust cone | 5 each

These are charged at $5 EACH, they are very small but a nice little bite meant to be eaten all at once.

Below that is:

Pan con tomate​

Toasted slices of crispy bread brushed with fresh tomato

These were a delight! They are crispy cracker like with a light tomato on the top of them. I could have had more of these for sure.



Last up was this

Croquetas de pollo​

Traditional chicken fritters

These were a nice finish for us, and came out quite later than the rest. So we had time for the other food to settle and fill us and it worked out well.

This didn't seem like a lot, but it was good enough for us and with the sangria we were fine. We would return.

 

[kittylady1972]

DAY TWO FOOD: We had some of our leftover meat from Polite Pig for breakfast, but we didn't need anything else. We spent the morning at Epcot. I was hoping to try some good food at the Festival of the Arts booths but we only stopped at one, I think it was an empanada, and I wasn't fond of it. We then made a stop at our usual Cava del Tequila and got margaritas. I almost always get the NPH Black Magic and this day was no different. It was then getting warm and our room at Art of Animation was ready, so we thought we'd head over there and maybe do some quick pool time.

We were a bit hungry, so checked out the Landscape of Flavors. They had a grill area where they did some made to order items, and I chose the garlic shrimp with two sides...they were green beans and beans and rice. They made the shrimp to order as we waited, but the rice and beans I think were available for them to add to the bowl once they cooked the shrimp. I'm not usually a fan of green beans like this but they were VERY good as was the rice and shrimp. We weren't starving so we shared this. It was a nice meal that we'd do again.

After this we headed to the pool for a while. We had to pick up our youngest son at MCO that evening as he was flying in to join us for one night.

 

[kittylady1972]

We picked up our son at the airport and returned to AofA so he could get settled. He had no park tickets but would be joining us for the DVC Moonlight Magic event that night for free. We could get in as early as 7pm, so we were looking for an easy place to have dinner in the area. He said he wanted seafood so we were thinking of ideas...he may have also said or steak? I can't remember. I do know that I recalled I had been wanting to try Sebastian's Bistro at Caribbean Beach and that was just a short ride on the Skyliner for us. We made a reservation and headed there, took a bit to find it from the Skyliner exit, and we were seated when we arrived.

First up was the salad and bread service:





Now I love a good salad that's not too heavy on dressing and this one was perfect. It had a nice balance of flavors. I didn't want to fill up on bread (rookie mistake...this is an all you can eat served at the table) but I tried the Mickey shaped parmesan thing there which was good. I didn't try the bread or the spreads though but others did and liked them.

Up next was the other sides and all the meats. You know how much your people hate you making them pause to take photos before they eat? Does this show that?

..

So there are the foods. Top left is the rice...it doesn't look appetizing but WOW is it good. On the plate you had beef, chicken, pork and fish (cod). Below the meats on the same plate are different things to try with the meats...he mentioned the carrots went well with the pork which I tried and agree...but I didn't try the other stuff. My favorite was the pork, the fish was okay. Chicken really wasn't all that, maybe on the dry side a little and not a lot of flavor besides the skin. The beef was good, my people preferred that I think. The stew thing on the bottom left...nobody tried it. The broccolini was very good...we nearly finished that off also.

After all this of course they bring out dessert:


You think you won't have room but you find it for that warm cake and the caramel sauce and the ice cream. I'm a chocolate lover at heart, but I still enjoyed this one as caramel is a close second for me. We finished this off no problem.

This place is a great value and we would love to return.
I'm so glad we finally got to try it.

 

[kittylady1972]

DAY THREE:

BREAKFAST: Landscape of Flavors (Art of Animation) - some different breakfast options here, nothing terribly special to go out of your way

Sadly no photos from here, and yes this food court can get a little crazy but it wasn't too bad considering we had a late night the night before (closed down park at 1am) and so late start for breakfast, after 8:30am at least.

I ordered the

Loaded Totcho Bowl​

Potato Barrels topped with Scrambled Eggs, Cheddar, Sausage Gravy, and Bacon


I didn't finish this but I did enjoy it. The sausage gravy wasn't great but okay. It is a lot of food.


19yo son ordered:

Vanilla Pancakes​

Served with Bacon and Sausage

He's normally a pancake lover and normally cleans his plate, but surprisingly left about half of the pancakes at least behind. He said they tasted like regular pancakes, I agree...not sure why they have to specify "vanilla" but okay.


Husband ordered:

Ham & Cheese Omelet​

Served with Potato Barrels

Again didn't finish this either, but he enjoyed it enough.

**************************
LUNCH: Mama Melrose (Hollywood Studios) - We have been here a few times so nothing terribly new for us

Again no photos here. We had a somewhat late lunch before having to take my son back to the airport.

We started with the calamari. It was okay, nothing super special, not a ton of flavor in the breading, served with a sauce that helped it. We also had bread and olive oil...just standard there too.

For my meal I got the appetizer:

Margherita Flatbread​

Mozzarella, House-made Marinara Sauce, Fresh Basil, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil drizzle

I did enjoy this. The crust had a nice crispy brick oven flavor, the cheese didn't cover the entire pizza as I would have liked but that was okay. The light sauce on it was nice and overall just good.

DH had:

Spaghetti and Meatballs​

House-made Marinara garnished with Pecorino-Romano and Parsley

He's Italian, and this suited him though he didn't finish the meatballs. He said something about them just being okay, and unsure what kind of "meat" they really were if that says anything.
[
Son had:

Oven-baked Chicken alla Parmigiana​

Breaded Chicken Breast with Marinara Sauce topped with Melted Mozzarella over Spaghetti

Again my big eater didn't finish but this was a LOT of food. Maybe we should have skipped the appetizer and bread? He commented that the chicken pieces were "welded" together...in other words he had two chicken breasts of good size but they were formed into one on his plate. He still enjoyed it and ate quite a bit.

 

[dardis]

Thanks for your report! Sebastian’s is on my list so I appreciated the details and photos

 

[kittylady1972]

Thanks for your report! Sebastian’s is on my list so I appreciated the details and photos

Of course. It had been on my list for a while, and staying at AoA (or any resort on the Skyliner line) made it just that more convenient for us, even though we always have a rental car too.

 

[kittylady1972]

We returned from dropping our son off at the airport and were actually pretty tired. We were going to head back to the room and chill, but we knew there would be no returning out if we did that. We had purchased Genie+ for the day, since our son had limited one day park time and we got late starts, so I had booked a ride on ToT (we rode it at the park earlier in standby).

We had to walk through the AofA lobby as I had a gift card to apply to our account. We then walked past the arcade...and stopped in and decided to play for a bit. This giant Pac-Man game was calling our 80s loving names:



This actually seemed to help us wake up, so feeling a little more energized we determined we could make Hollywood Studios but just for a short time. We chose Baseline Taphouse, which was open until 8pm, and chose some drinks and the charcuterie board:



I'm not a beer fan and the Blood Orange Cider they carry is okay. I chose this margarita instead (it's the only one they have) and it was enjoyable. We do love the charcuterie as well. This hit the spot for us, and was light enough that we could then wander to Tower of Terror afterwards to ride our last ride of the day. Then it was a quick ride back to our room on the Skyliner.

 

[kittylady1972]

Ok let's finish this up quickly!

Final day of our trip. We decided to have a split MK and EPCOT day.

We arrived at MK in the morning and decided on Main Street Bakery, which is Starbucks of course. Our go-tos here are the breakfast sandwiches so we got two bacon, egg and Gouda sandwiches and I had a Matcha Iced Tea while DH got regular tea. Basic stuff but we had a nice day to sit and watch the castle while we enjoyed our food.




I think we skipped lunch because we were going to head to EPCOT and hit some booths. We made the decision before we left to get a dole whip and eggrolls. Well of course the frozen treats were more than enough. I had the orange/vanilla swirl at Sunshine Tree Terrace and DH had a float.

LUNCH/SNACK: Sunshine Tree Terrace - we had plans of real food after dessert...nope!



We headed over to EPCOT and wandered, didn't find any Festival booths that appealed to us. DH decided to at least try the cider flight at Figment's Inspiration Station and the Blueberry filled pasty tart with purple icing. Ciders were good as always, the pastry was ok. The park was crowded so no place to even sit and people were just hanging out there without food or drinks. We chose the cleanest trash can table.


After some wandering and some rest, and stalking all the sit down restaurants many times, we finally found a decent return time for a walkup list at La Hacienda de San Angel, a favorite of ours. I love their guac and shrimp tacos, so we got that and shared:





So that's the end of our very short food tour here. Any questions, let me know.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Thank you for the yummy report!