Tipsy is as Tipsy Does - A February '17 Dining Adventure - Complete 8/15

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I am following along! I enjoyed your last dining report.

So we took our pretzel to ride Buzz instead, where after the pretzel was gone, the receipt continued to provide hours of entertainment.

I love it!

Since we hadn't eaten in a few hours, we quickly stopped for one of our favorite Disney Snacks, the Cream Cheese Pretzel, at The Lunching Pad.

I am not sure I will like this. But I think my DD's will love it...

Hand freaking sanitizer!!!! I couldn't believe of all the toys, this is what she wanted. This should give you a little insight into her personality

Ha! It will take her forever to spend at $100 if that is the price range she goes with!

 

[TeresaNJ]

Aww, cute pic of Casey sleeping! So adorable with Mickey under her head! We had a room somewhat in the vicinity of yours, on our May 2016 trip. We were right over the lobby, 5th floor, 5104 to be exact, with a bunk bed room, which we didn't ask for, as it was just my husband & I, and a view of the sky and a few thatched roofs. What made me laugh reading your description of looking for your room is that the elderly castmember checking us in sent us on a wild goose chase, all the way around the resort. I swear it took us 15 minutes at least to walk to our room. She sent us past the end of the check in counter, to make a left near where the DVC stand is, and we walked all the way around, meanwhile thinking, where the hell are we? Now I had checked all room locations on Touring Plans before we left, as I knew we were getting a standard room, and I wanted to be near the elevator, near the lobby, so I thought I had an idea of where our room would be, & I couldn't for the life of me understand where she was sending us. I should have trusted my gut. The elevator we needed was to the left of the front doors that would take us right up to our room, lol. Oh well, we took a nice tour of all the savannahs!

View from room 5104

Overlooking the lobby

Elevators to the right of our room, which was above the lobby entrance doors.

 

[Disneyhayes]

Glad to have found your next report! Looking forward to another fun ride!

 

[mousegear]

I am joining! Your daughter, Casey is so cute!!! Love that you like the places we like. I've went to find your other dining reports and started to read them as well.

 

[Terra Nova guy]

We arrived in no time at our residence for the next 9 days: Animal Kingdom Lodge. This was Casey's birthday request and not because of the animals (she could have cared less), that kid wanted a bunk bed!!!

Awesome! That sounds like my youngest. She's obsessed with bunk beds. AKL looks great. For some reason I can't get DW to even consider staying there. She doesn't like the idea of animals around. I keep telling they don't let the lions roam around the rooms, but no joy so far.

Of course Jason would not allow me to go back for directions,

Gee, how odd. Us guys almost always go back to get directions. I surely can't remember any time spent wandering around the boardwalk because I insisted Beaches 'n Cream was at the Boardwalk Inn and not the Beach Club...

As some of you know I despise shopping, but Casey is the exact opposite. Despite my best attempts she is all girl and never met a mall she didn't love.

You wouldn't get along with DW and DD17 then (the jury's still out on DD9, she has some interest but not too bad yet). At least two days of our trips are set aside to hit the outlet malls. I just try to cope on those days. The worst thing is that I'm always the driver so I can't even drown my sorrow in a bar.

In what is likely one of the worst food pictures ever this looks horrible, but was strangely good. The mac and cheese was super cheesy and while probably not far removed from Kraft or Cafeteria Style it hit the carb spot perfectly. The pot roast was super moist and while there wasn't a ton of it, it was definitely high quality.

I enjoy Disney mac and cheese. I never did get the pot roast version. I thought I read somewhere very recently that it's being taken off the menu soon.

 

[nco91590]

Hooray! Pumped for another one of your amazing dining and drinking reports

 

[chunkymonkey]

Mmmm cream cheese pretzel! I haven't had one of those in a while. Think I may have gotten into the jalapeno cheese pretzel more at some point, but may have to return to the CC pretzel.
I have not been on a broken down Peoplemover but I have been through it when Space Mountain's lights were on, and it's a whole different experience. Kinda makes me scared to ride that thing again!
We tried the Pot Roast mac n cheese for the first time in Feb and we enjoyed it! Definitely rich and cheesy and yes I would probably not want to eat one in the summer heat...but then again the heat makes us do strange things sometimes...so I may very well find myself ordering it when it's 90 degrees.
I'm surprised you do not have a drink in hand by now, LOL, but I guess drinking in MK is not as accessible as other parks.

 

[FigmentForEver1976]

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[karsen11]

I'm so excited to follow along!!! I think we may actually need to arrange a little Dis meet up in the future as I think our ideas of vacation are cut from the same cloth! Marylanders, one little foodie that travels right along side of us, a love of food, drink, and all things Disney!!! Our next trip is in May for our daughters birthday and we are also staying at AKL!!! Super excited to read any tips and tricks you may have along the way!

 

[MissPrice]

Following along

 

[ravenanne]

You guys seem like my kind of people!

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Joining a bit late, but excited for another Kari report. Let the liquor begin!!

 

[kastoney]

The picture accompanying this.... ah-mazing! Pretzel bandit rides again!

She's quite the character!

Okay, inquiring minds must know... how did Casey earn $100?! I'm imagining her behind a bar somewhere shaking cocktails but I feel like the truth must be somewhere between circus performing and chores money...

I guess I should have clarified that When we went to Key West she split the time between the grandparents. Last time we'd left her she struggled a bit so in good bribery parenting form we offered her $10 a day for every day we got a good report from the grandparents. And if she did good all 8 days, Jason through in another $20. Of course she did great and would have without the money, I just liked having the leverage.

OMG! Casey is seems to be getting so tall..of course it may just be the new camera. LOL! DH also grabbed that dish at Friar's Nook last time and rated it fairly decent, especially he is definitely not a Kraft kind of guy.

She is crazy tall. We had her 6 year old check up last week and she's in the 85th percentile for height so she's up there. Of course with a 5'4 mother and 5'6 father, genetics are bound to set in.

No kidding, so sweet! And OMG that picture of Jason with the ice cream, LOL! That rivals the one of him running last year

Close, but nothing will ever beat that running photo. That right there is blackmail for years to come

Also, your room location looks like it was awesome! Sort of making we wish we were staying more than one night at AKL in September but I think my husband will literally kill me if I add anything more to this trip

It truly was awesome, though a little birdie me you may have found some other accommodations Is your hubby going on this trip with you?? Thought it was just you and one of the boys for some reason

Even though I'm not allowed in, I'm going to follow along anyway

Alright, I guess that is ok

I really want to know how you get Body Wash on a camera. The different scenarios are going through my head and the least worst is that you didn't pack it well in your suitcase and body wash got over everything else in your suitcase as well.

I'll just let you stew on that.

At least your shopping addicted daughter wants to be clean! Not the worst first purchase!

Yes, she is very utilitarian that way. She has it on her backpack, so at least she's getting use out of it

LOL!!! Hahahahaha.. money well earned on some hand sanitizer! Can't blame her, I don't even wanna think of all the germs there are in WDW, haha.

When it comes to germs I say if you can't beat em, join 'em. Casey does not subscribe to that philosophy.

Awesome view!! And yay for birthday bunk beds!!

We totally lucked out that she wanted the bunk beds cause my brother didn't decide until later to come with us, so we were set with the beds without having to rearrange anything.

Yeh! Another trip report. I have loved reading your previous ones so following along

Awesome, thanks so much. Hope you enjoy this one too.

You KNOW next time we meet and have a couple drinks, I'm definitely asking about this.........................

You know, drinks may be the only way to get it out of me

Why didn't you let me know??? I could have called and yelled at them for you.....

It all worked out in the end, though I would have loved to see you go all New York on them

You've discussed this in a few of your reports now and I've yet to try it, as much as I love the big soft pretzels. Must remember to have one next week or at least in May.

Hopefully you are devouring one right about now. No forget that, hopefully you are imbibing right about now

Hmm, we don't have any family traditions we do on the pooper yet. Wait, the boys are continuously on their phones on the pooper.
Oops, wrong pooper

Love reading your reports! I can't wait to see everything you eat!

Loving your name Hope you enjoy

Joining in!

Now that you said that everyone's going to ask

Yup!

I always wanted to sleep in bunk beds as a kid! I thought they were so cool.

I think we all did. Casey was totally lobbying to get some in her room, but so far we've been able to keep her at bay.

The mighty Casey continues to be completely adorable

Ah thanks, I'm totally smitten but I may be a bit biased

I ordinarily love pre-check also, bit when we left DEN and MCO this last tripmthenpre-check line was longer than the regular line what gives TSA?

Wow, that sucks. Our lines are no where near each other so we have no clue if we're getting a good deal or a rotten on

OMG, Casey and Kiya would get along so well. Christmas money, and the girls gotta go shopping, we walk around for hours and what does she purchase? Hand sanitizer. Birds of a feather I tell ya

Sounds like they would love each other. How about we put them in WS together and they can do some international shopping while we do some international drinking

Love the excitement Casey shows doing her Disney dance. What a great start and between shopping monster, ice-cream fiend and receipt bandit how can this not be the most fun trip report ever!!!

Funny that was take two of the dance. She did it completely on her own and then I of course made her redo it so I could take a video. She totally loves me some days

Now down to the question we all want the answer to- body wash+camera=???? If you were really evil you'd never tell us and just let our imaginations run wild!!

What do you know, I am really evil

Love the cream cheese pretzel, we saw an evacuation of the pooper when we were there also yikes! Ah your AKL pictures make me miss that great resort! I am a RN so I love hand sanitizer, good pick Casey!

Yeah the pooper evacuation looked mostly like fun, but I wonder that they do for the people in the dark in space mountain????

It looks like you are off to a great start! Hand sanitizer! Ha! What is it with 6yo? Lol! We love AKL. I once got a bunk bed room, but gladly declined because I was with my BFF so I'm hoping a lucky family enjoyed! I must try a cream cheese pretzels!

I have no idea what it is with that kid and the hand sanitizer.

We got the bunk bed room by accident the first time and Casey was enamored, hence her request. Though I totally think you and your BFF should have taken the bunk bed room and just pretended it was an old school sleepover

 

[kastoney]

Ha! It will take her forever to spend at $100 if that is the price range she goes with!

You got that right, she literally bought at least one thing each day and still had enough to buy a fan in Japan on the last day. A friend at work suggested I give her cold hard cash so its harder for her to part with and it worked great. Great except for her incessant need to shop.

We were right over the lobby, 5th floor, 5104 to be exact, with a bunk bed room, which we didn't ask for, as it was just my husband & I, and a view of the sky and a few thatched roofs. What made me laugh reading your description of looking for your room is that the elderly castmember checking us in sent us on a wild goose chase, all the way around the resort. I swear it took us 15 minutes at least to walk to our room.

Sounds like we had the same grand tour of the lodge For some reason our castmember pointed us toward the elevators you have pictures of and I asked if we could just go down the stairs and she said yes. Well turns out neither the stairs or the elevator went to the 2nd floor

She sent us past the end of the check in counter, to make a left near where the DVC stand is, and we walked all the way around, meanwhile thinking, where the hell are we? Now I had checked all room locations on Touring Plans before we left, as I knew we were getting a standard room, and I wanted to be near the elevator, near the lobby, so I thought I had an idea of where our room would be, & I couldn't for the life of me understand where she was sending us. I should have trusted my gut. The elevator we needed was to the left of the front doors that would take us right up to our room, lol. Oh well, we took a nice tour of all the savannahs!

Ended up no elevator to us. Just a hard right when you walked in and then there was a single elevator a little bit further down

Glad to have found your next report! Looking forward to another fun ride!

Welcome, but buckle up. Its gonna be bumpy.

I am joining! Your daughter, Casey is so cute!!! Love that you like the places we like. I've went to find your other dining reports and started to read them as well.

Welcome, thanks for joining in. If you like to eat and drink like us then you have found the right place

Awesome! That sounds like my youngest. She's obsessed with bunk beds. AKL looks great. For some reason I can't get DW to even consider staying there. She doesn't like the idea of animals around. I keep telling they don't let the lions roam around the rooms, but no joy so far.

You'll have to tell your wife that if she had our room she wouldn't have even known animals were there unless she walked out to the savannah

Gee, how odd. Us guys almost always go back to get directions. I surely can't remember any time spent wandering around the boardwalk because I insisted Beaches 'n Cream was at the Boardwalk Inn and not the Beach Club...

What do you know, Jason says its at the boardwalk too You both must of course be right

You wouldn't get along with DW and DD17 then (the jury's still out on DD9, she has some interest but not too bad yet). At least two days of our trips are set aside to hit the outlet malls. I just try to cope on those days. The worst thing is that I'm always the driver so I can't even drown my sorrow in a bar.

Casey would certainly get along with them. I'd be at the bar

Hooray! Pumped for another one of your amazing dining and drinking reports

Awesome, welcome!

Mmmm cream cheese pretzel! I haven't had one of those in a while. Think I may have gotten into the jalapeno cheese pretzel more at some point, but may have to return to the CC pretzel.

Strangely I've never had the jalapeno one. I'm such a cream cheese purist I've never ventured to the spicy side

I have not been on a broken down Peoplemover but I have been through it when Space Mountain's lights were on, and it's a whole different experience. Kinda makes me scared to ride that thing again!

I'm totally with you. We hit it once with the lights on and I'm not gonna lie I was nervous getting on space after that.

We tried the Pot Roast mac n cheese for the first time in Feb and we enjoyed it! Definitely rich and cheesy and yes I would probably not want to eat one in the summer heat...but then again the heat makes us do strange things sometimes...so I may very well find myself ordering it when it's 90 degrees.

You'll be all by yourself

I'm surprised you do not have a drink in hand by now, LOL, but I guess drinking in MK is not as accessible as other parks.

I know, very strange for me right. I almost had a bloody mary at the airport, but figured it would put me to sleep. No worries there are plenty of drinks coming up soon.

Can't wait to hear more!

More should be coming soon....

I'm so excited to follow along!!! I think we may actually need to arrange a little Dis meet up in the future as I think our ideas of vacation are cut from the same cloth! Marylanders, one little foodie that travels right along side of us, a love of food, drink, and all things Disney!!! Our next trip is in May for our daughters birthday and we are also staying at AKL!!! Super excited to read any tips and tricks you may have along the way!

Sounds like we are most definitely cut from the same cloth, just we're on the right side of the river

Following along

You guys seem like my kind of people!

Then you must be this kind of people

Joining a bit late, but excited for another Kari report. Let the liquor begin!!

Hi Niki!!! Glad you could join in

 

[toomuchtv]

Joining in! I've read several of your reports, but always seem to catch them after the fact, so I'm excited to be here while you're actually writing it!

I've never had a cream cheese pretzel, because I don't care for pretzels as a rule, but I do love cream cheese. I may have to add this to my list of things to try.

 

[kastoney]

Joining in! I've read several of your reports, but always seem to catch them after the fact, so I'm excited to be here while you're actually writing it!

I've never had a cream cheese pretzel, because I don't care for pretzels as a rule, but I do love cream cheese. I may have to add this to my list of things to try.

Welcome!!!! Glad you could catch me at the onset this time. You don't care for pretzels???? Blasphomy! Bread, salt, pillowy goodness whats not to love

 

[OasterP]

I'm joining in! I always try to stay away from delicious food reports because they make me want to eat for no reason . But I can't stay away long!

Casey is just growing up so fast. Though I've been following your reports since we first took Owen and it's been a while!!

I love that she bought hand sanitizer. My kind of girl.

 

[toomuchtv]

Welcome!!!! Glad you could catch me at the onset this time. You don't care for pretzels???? Blasphomy! Bread, salt, pillowy goodness whats not to love

That is a very good question, as I like all those things! But I also don't drink a whole lot, so there would be more for you of both!

 

[kastoney]

An African Adventure

After Casey's nap and some unpacking it was soon time for dinner. And we had a long way to go. Like 50 miles, um I mean steps. We were returning to one of our all time favorites, Jiko, and all the better our travel time was in the neighborhood of 30 seconds

We were seated in the back of the restaurant and were soon met by our awesome server, Stephanie. She was from Key Largo and as we'd just driven through there on our way to and fro Key West last month we spent lots of time discussing Keys seafood and got some awesome tips for our next trip!

But enough about the keys, we were dining in Africa tonight. To start with Jason was feeling the African hops and went with the Tusker beer.


I on the other hand was feelin' the African grapes and went with this beauty.

Yep a whole bottle of wine for little 'ole me Or at least a bottle to share with my betrothed when he was done with the hoppy stuff. Thankfully he lingered on the beer for a while so I could enjoy a lot of this myself. I love the Jiko wine list as it is all South African and while largely familiar grapes, they have subtle differences that are fun to try. And this one didn't disappoint. Full bodied, spicy, and intense. Everything I love from a good Shiraz.

Soon some of the Jiko bread and butter arrived.

I'm still protesting the removal of their tandori butter from several years ago (what can I say, I'm slow to move on) so I didn't have any in soladarity to my tandori brotherhood, but my little bread and butter fiend was in heaven.

What I did however have was the Manti Dumplings, which were new to the menu.

These are dumplings filled with boar, bison and elk (thanks to Disney Parks Blog for the assist) and served with Spicy Tomato Sauce, Saffron Yogurt, and Mint Chutney. I'm a sucker for all things dumplings and these bad boys were delicious. Jason and I weren't sure at the time what type of meat was inside (our money was on some sort of sausage), but whatever it was it paired nicely with the spicy tomato sauce. The mint pesto and yogurt sauce offset the spiciness and the dumplings themselves were thicker and denser than traditional
variety. Definite winner!

For entrees Jason went with the Buffalo Ribeye which was served with Swiss Chard with Sweet Peppers and Smoked Bacon, Jiko Slap Chips, and Port Wine Emulsion.

First and foremost Jason loved the sides. The chard was vinegary and paired nicely with the smoky bacon and the jiko slap chips, which thanks to an assist from Stephanie are boiled potatoes smashed then rolled in goat and blue cheese before being fried. were seriously potato amazingness. We both could have just eaten a bowl of those. Sadly though, what should have been the star of his plate - the Ribeye - left a little to be desired. The flavor was great, but it was a little undercooked (more rare vice medium rare) which make it chewy. Of course this didn't stop him from devouring it all

Casey and I went with the Botswana-style Seswaa Beef Short Rib.

This is served with Cassava-Potato Purée, Sambal, and Mushrooms and from presentation to taste it was awe-inspiring. I asked for the mushrooms on the side so Casey devoured those (yes my child is a less picky eater than I) and I was also the caring mother who shared the fattier pieces of short rib with her The cassava puree was denser than regular mashed potatoes so it stood up nicely to spicy red sambal and the fall off the bones ribs. From my shiraz inspired notes apparently I could have eaten s**t piles of it I'm such a classy girl.

And because that wasn't enough, why not get dessert.

This little beauty is the Kilamanjaro: Tanzanian Chocolate Mousse, Pistachio Financier, Pink Peppercorn Meringue, Cacao Nib Crunch, and Ras el Hanout Pineapples. First let me say the mousse and the fianancier were simultaneously dense and pillowy chocolatey goodness. But even though they were the centerpieces, they were not the stars of the plate. The cacao nib crunch was crunchy and addictively good and the ras el hanout pineapples were probably the best fruit I've ever eaten. A spicy, curry-like, pineapple may sound weird but this by itself and with everything else was perfection. Its early in the trip yet, but I'm gonna go ahead and declare this the best dessert we've ever had on property!

Jason's ribeye was a little bit of a disappointment, but overall Jiko remains one of the best signatures on property. Their inventive menu, paired with assertive spices, puts it consistently at the top of our list. Casey even got a light-up Tinkerbell from Stephanie so she was sold.

With our tables in wonderland card we saved $40.40.

My brother wasn't due to fly in until after midnight, so we picked up some wine at Mara and indulged in some wine and The Office in bed while we waited for him.

To no ones surprise, Jason and I were both out when he made it to the room but I at least got up to say hello before crashing back in bed. #NiceSister

Up next, we dine with the aliens
​

 

[pepperandchips]

Yep a whole bottle of wine for little 'ole me

Uh huh. And someone was calling me out for drinking like a 20something but seriously how can you not get some of their amazing wine when in African wine mecca?!

These are dumplings filled with boar, bison and elk (thanks to Disney Parks Blog for the assist) and served with Spicy Tomato Sauce, Saffron Yogurt, and Mint Chutney. I'm a sucker for all things dumplings and these bad boys were delicious.

Sounds absolutely divine!!!

Its early in the trip yet, but I'm gonna go ahead and declare this the best dessert we've ever had on property!

So very jealous. Our dessert here last time was a bust, as you might recall. We accidentally ordered the no-sugar-added dessert. This sounds much more like what we were hoping to receive!!!

Up next, we dine with the aliens

Wow, what a great cliffhanger. I am racking my brain... Pandora isn't open yet... I can't see you dining with Sonny Eclipse... guess I will be back soon for the next installment!!