UPDATED 2/17!! The final chapter w/ PICS - Mom, Dad, & the Bionic Baby do Disney!

[staceylynnga]

My family just returned from 6 wonderful nights in the most magical place on earth – one of them anyway. We had lucked out with the 4 + 3 special, including the $200 Disney gift card; the only reason we left a day early is that the weather for Friday 1/30 was supposed to be icky. Plus we had used up all of our table service credits LOL – we were on the basic dining plan and I have to say I would not go back to Disney and stay at an onsite resort without the plan. It was just a terrific value for my family – I don’t know what we saved and honestly am not concerned about it. My main goal was prepaying for our meals and avoiding the hassle of carrying a wallet with me throughout the trip. Although I definitely think we did better than just break even.

We are:
Me – darling, charming wife (LOL) – age 33, originally from NJ, in GA since mid 2003… I love planning vacations, shopping for restaurants, and sharing all of my experiences with people like you (and learning from yours!!)
DH – Dave - wonderful and overworked (yes, he carried & used the “crack” berry all week) – age 33, born and raised around Atlanta metro; he tolerates my type-A personality and love of vacation planning.
DS – Nathan - natural born charmer, the bionic baby – just under 19 months old…. He is the reason I cried when watching the Disney Vacation Planning CD – just the idea of his first visit to Disney World brings tears to my eyes, as did the gate attendant at Pop Century who said “Welcome Home” after clearing us through on our arrival night after an exceptionally long drive with stops from north GA.

Without stops, it’s probably 7.5 hours - we took almost 10, including dropping off Bailey (our min. schnauzer) at the vet for boarding, lunch at Cracker Barrel somewhere in south GA, and an hour walking around the Oaks mall in Gainesville – my husband needed a haircut LOL).

Okay, since this is a dining board, I’m going to try to limit it all to food! One of my favorite subjects! I tend to go on tangents, but will do my best LOL. Good thing it’s been a week since we returned and my memory is going.

WHERE WE ATE – I will see if I can figure out how to post links;
I hope I’m not missing any.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Snacks

Pop Century Food Court – POP – evening snack / breakfast
Wolfgang Puck Express – lunch / breakfast
Yak and Yeti – AK - brunch/snack for my DH
Tamu Tamu – AK - lunch for me
Crystal Palace – MK - breakfast
Cosmic Rays – MK - lunch for DH
Main Street Bake Shop – MK - snack for DS
Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory – snack and lunch for DS
Sunshine Seasons – EPCOT – breakfast for DH and DS
Yorkshire County Fish Shop – UK - lunch for DH
Liberty Inn – US – lunch for me

Dinner

Hoop Dee Doo Revue – FW – 7:15 p.m. show
Boma – AKL
Le Cellier – CANADA
Kona Café – POLY
1900 Park Fare – GF

I will try to include everything in my next post... hope you enjoy!

 

[Joie29]

Can't wait to read your reviews!

(I grew up with miniature schnauzers! )

 

[leeann32]

I'm ready! Bring on the reviews

 

[Stephanie VanMeter]

Can't wait to hear the reviews!

 

[DisneycrazedX6]

Looking forward to your reviews!!!!

 

[MickeyNicki]

This is going to a great! I commiserate about DH and the crackberry....my DH is the same way....but hey I dont mind it as long as we are in WDW!

 

[danalee]

sounds yummy!

 

[TigerKat]

Signing on!

 

[staceylynnga]

So excited that you all are looking forward to seeing these... the encouragement will hopefully get me through the next couple of hours as I try to put this together LOL. To make it easier with the pictures I have, I am going to order my reviews chronologically....hope you enjoy!

Here are a few teaser pics to get us started


We just checked in - Nathan is either overwhelmed by the excitement of Disney or just really hungry


No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

POP CENTURY - FOOD COURT
Dinner Saturday evening on check in, followed by breakfast Sunday a.m. prior to our day at Hollywood Studios

We checked into the resort about 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening, so were just wanting to grab a bite to eat before turning in early for a busy day on Sunday. Before I say anything else, I have to say that my family loved the Pop Century; for the money, and for the amount of time we didn't spend in the room, it's the best value out there. What we didn't love was the food court. The food is okay; Saturday evening, Dave and I shared a chicken caesar salad and Nathan had a kid burger and fries - the chicken was sort of rubbery (can't think how else to describe it) and the salad very garlic-y. It stayed with me so much I had trouble sleeping. Keeping in mind that I am one of those weird people who has to brush their teeth everytime I get up in the middle of the night.

Sunday - Breakfast at Pop, Wolfgang Puck Express, Hoop dee doo

POP CENTURY FOOD COURT BREAKFAST
Sunday a.m., Dave got a breakfast platter and Nathan had Mickey waffles, which he enjoyed. The breakfast platter, again, just okay. The eggs were good but needed salt, the bacon had no flavor. Thankfully the dining plan makes everything you eat much more palatable - you don't think about the dollars & cents. 1 quick service, done, ta da!!! Here's my Disney gift card, ta da! Love it!


Nathan figuring how his Mickey waffles!


Hmmm, sausage aint too bad either.

So to finish my previous comment - before I forget - the problem with the Pop food court, and food courts in general, is the chaos that you walk into anytime you wish to snack during mealtimes. The Saturday evening snack was busy but bearable. Sunday breakfast was a horror - it's not just getting the food, picking out the juice, and filling up your soda. These are all tedious, but no big deal. It's the scavenger hunt for a table. There are folks who will sit at a table for 30 minutes reading a book waiting for their family to get through the food service lines. In the meantime, I could have eaten and run. That's not even the biggest issue. I don't know how the other half lives, I suppose I don't want to. But, and I will say that I only noticed this 1 or 2 times, but a family gets up and leaves all of their leftovers on the table... cups, plates, napkins. Did their mommies not teach them to clean up after themselves??? Just a lack of class. And sad that their children are learning the same. Moving on...

Due to previous comments that the food at DHS is subpar (and from past experience, I agree) and a shortened day because I wanted to get to the local Publix for Nathan snacks before we had to head to Fort Wilderness for Hoop Dee Doo, we didn't eat here. Instead, we drove to the Disney Marketplace and had lunch at

WOLFGANG PUCK EXPRESS
Wow! This is without a doubt one of the best values for a quick service option. We ate here twice on our trip, the lunch on Sunday the 25th and breakfast on the Friday (30th) that we left. For lunch, Dave and I each had chicken caesar salads and Nathan had a quesadilla. I'm sorry I have no pix here, but what a great meal. For our quick service, being on the meal plan, we each got the chicken caesar, a small frozen yogurt, and a drink - the cost of just these 2 meals - $40!!! That's just bananas and at that point, I was forever sold on the dining plan LOL. Although we generally would not have done the dessert, it was included. The salads were huge and delicious - wish those at Pop were 1/2 as good. My son's quesadilla was also rather yummy. The service was terrific, from the reps at the counter to the older gentleman who took care of us. For this and every other meal (including buffets and all table service, with the exception of HDDR b/c it's already included in the price), we tipped 20%. We had excellent service throughout the entire week and it's just the way we operate.

HOOP DEE DOO REVUE
We drove to Fort Wilderness and don't even get me started on how many times we got lost in Disney World. Please tell me I'm not the only one!!! Even the silly map got us lost... issues with Bonnet Creek & Epcot Drive and I tell you, I was ready to put my hair out LOL. Even the crackberry was confusing us (it takes the long way -- even on a toll road to Publix which should have been 5 minutes from Pop, but took us 20)... again, I digress.

I generally have an excellent sense of direction. Thankfully, with the exception of dinners at the resorts and the first day at DHS, we took the Disney busses everywhere.

Okay, HDDR!!! So worth the 2 TS credits - as we had an extra one from arriving Saturday evening. Would I pay $55 or $60 for show? Maybe one time just to see it. My son loved it! For a nearly 19 month old to be so engrossed in this performance, especially as it was closing in on his typical bedtime, such a great evening. Plus my husband is into the silly / corny / slapstick, take your pick, it's his thing. Some of his favorite films to torture me include Kung Pao (what!?!), This is Spinal Tap, & anything Jack Black/Tenacious D (Nacho Libre - awful!). Although he is also a big Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, and Mythbusters fan... so I guess that redeems him.

We sat in the 3rd section, which actually amazes me that people pay for Category 1. Being on the plan, unless we did the 930 show, we couldn't have Cat. 1; no worries - the last thing my Dave wants is to be picked on by one of the castmembers. As you can see by our pix below, our seats were prime. We were right on the railing just to the right of the stage (or stage left) - can't remember which is proper.

The food was pretty good - I actually called up 48 hours prior and asked for the vegetarian plate; it was a bunch of roasted vegetables - eggplant, squash, portabellas - they threw the garden at me; it wasn't just a slice here & there, it was 5 inches piled up of veg. I was a bit overhwhelmed, but did the best I can. I initially was hoping for the fish, but it was salmon. Alas, not a fan. Would prefer flounder, mahi, even catfish. Cornbread was fantastic - I think I could have been happy with the salad and cornbread alone. And the strawberry shortcake - really yummy. My Dave got into the chicken but was too full to even touch the bbq ribs. Here are some pics!



Me and my kissy-boo!!


On with the show!


Nathan's position for the entire evening


Full house!

Going to post this and start anew with day #2 - I rhyme!!!! Yes, I'm a dork, but it's a fun existence.

ANIMAL KINGDOM COMING UP - including Tamu Tamu, Yak & Yet, & Boma!

 

[Joie29]

Nathan is one adorable child!

What a great review--I have not read many of Hoop Dee Doo, so this was fun!

Wolfgang Puck sounds great. We did not eat there on our recent trip (but did have a fantastic meal downtown at Raglan Road) but I do want to try it sometime!

I had to laugh about your "crack-berry" comment too...my DH (for whom a week long trip took some serious planning at work) used his a lot as well. He crossed the line when he actually had a full conversation with his secretary while we were ON the Astro-Orbiter. It was ridiculous. and pretty hilarious too... But, hey, as you said, we were in Disneyworld!

Great job, I am looking forward to reading more.

 

[staceylynnga]

Including Yak & Yeti, Tamu Tamu, Sassagoula, Boma,

Monday, January 26th - Animal Kingdom

We were supposed to have an 8:05 a.m. bkfast at Crystal Palace this day, but due to our complete exhaustion from the drive on Saturday and a busy day on Sunday, we contacted Disney dining and were lucky to get the 8:10 a.m. for Tuesday. As a result, Monday became Animal Kingdom day, followed by dinner that evening at Boma.

I know this is the dining board and not trip reports... BUT, you can see how enthralled Nathan is with Kilimanjaro Safaris:


There's no food here... next!


At least someone's eating!


Any food here???


What does it take to get some food?!?


Ha ha - just kidding!


My parents starved me ... I think I'll take a nap.

Before I get anymore self-serving... on to my reviews!!

YAK & YETI
My Dave is one of those people who does the "if I don't eat right now, I'm going to be sick". Do you know people like this??? It can get rather draining. Kidding!! I was only that way while pregnant. So it's barely 10 a.m. and he's eating Yak & Yet Counter Service for breakfast. He ordered the Shrimp Lo Mein and a coke. He ate most of it, so it was either pretty good or he was just really hungry. I tasted it and wasn't a fan (thought it was a little greasy), but I'm not a Lo Mein girl, so I'm probably not the best judge.

TAMU TAMU
By early afternoon, it was my turn to be hungry so I stood on this line that seemed pretty long, but as with all things Disney, they really know how to move the people along. Ordered a cheeseburger basket with chips and a soda. They forgot to give me the chips, but the chocolate cake that came with it was pretty good. I'm not a chocolate girl, but I nearly finished this cake. Too sweet for my Dave, but he's not a dessert person. I almost ordered the turkey, but am glad that I chose not to. When I saw a lady by the fixins area who had one, it just didn't look that appetizing. Definitely processed, pre-sliced... ick. And I like processed turkey, I do, but this didn't say "I'm yummy!". The cheeseburger was pretty good though... I am a sweet wife, so I shared it with my DH. It's a cheeseburger, how do you mess it up?

Coming soon... BOATRIDE!

Because Nathan slept for a good 90 minutes of the latter half of the afternoon at AK, when he woke up, we knew he needed to eat. By this time, we had seen and done all we wanted to at the park and didn't really want to go back to Pop. We decided to randomly pick a resort bus that didn't belong to us and wound up heading to Port Orleans!

PORT ORLEANS FRENCH QUARTER - SASSAGOULA FLOATWORKS / FOOD FACTORY

Nathan enjoyed his chicken nuggets - what's not to enjoy! We loved the quiet of the place... a huge difference from Pop. I think we were one of 3 or 4 tables sat. Although I admit it was probably 3 in the afternoon and dinner wasn't until 7. Because people on the boards talk so much about them, I placed an order for 3 Beignets. I must be missing something... they just weren't that exciting, and what I mess I made of the table... powdered sugar everywhere!!! It was comical... too bad my Dave was less amused. hehe. And yes, I wiped the table down as we were getting ready to leave. I guess I expected them to be more doughnut or funnel cake in consistency and they weren't. It was more a crispy exterior with nothing but air inside. Shame.

From there we enjoyed a boat trip down the Sassagoula river to Downtown Disney, where we picked up our bus back to Pop. What a wonderful ride, so glad we stopped at the POFQ. Highly recommend it. And a bonus! My husband had purchased a cup of beer at the bar just outside the food court near the pool, and they allowed him to bring it on the boat! Here was the response.... "Of course! But please don't spill the beer, that would be alcohol abuse!" Too much fun!.


Happiness is a cold beer and a boat ride... or something to that effect


Does anyone know what these huts are for?


I know it's off-topic, but how awesome is this!

BOMA!!!
We drove to Animal Kingdom Lodge - and got lost. Will someone explain to me why, if you miss your turn, you have to drive another 3 miles before you can turn around??? Thankfully, we were still 10 minutes early (I despise being late), and checked in at the podium. We waited a few minutes to sit down... had a friendly server from somewhere in Africa (I'm sorry I don't remember her name). I ordered a glass of wine, Dave had a coke, Nathan had his juice. The food was simply delicious!!! If I could go back, I would in a heartbeat. We are not buffet people; unless it's Disney or an ethnic restaurant (so you can sample a bunch of things), I'd rather avoid buffets. But this one was fantastic. For those who are not adventurous eaters, there is plenty for you to like here. For the rest of you, go nuts!!! We loved the curry pasta salad (I asked for the recipe - hopefully I get it one day; I left my email address with them) and the fufu (it's like mashed squash or sweet potatoes or something). The cous cous was very good. I tried 2 of the soups (the mushroom and something else) - both okay, but I wasn't in the mood for soup. I am not a vegetarian, but didn't eat any meat this night - must have been the curry pasta salad. Double helpings! Dave had the roast beef and enjoyed it. For dessert, and this goes throughout WDW, they have the most amazing fruit. The freshest strawberries, I could have devoured them all!, yummy pineapple. I didn't try the Zebra Domes - they didn't call my name. But the apple cobbler was pretty good as was the bread pudding. Highly recommended!!!

 

[staceylynnga]

Next up... Crystal Palace - are we ready to meet the characters???

Let's back up a few days.


Here's Nathan with his first experience meeting Leo & Annie at DHS on Sunday; doesn't look too bad.

And here's Nathan meeting Mickey at Camp Mickey at AK on Monday


And maybe mommy was wrong.

Tuesday, January 24th - Magic Kingdom

CRYSTAL PALACE

The best way to start the day! Breakfast with Winnie the Pooh & friends.


Morning pic! Loving the ponytail.


Gratuitous shot before breakfast

We were seated at a nice corner table near a window at the far end of the dining room. Perfect location - we like corners. Keeps us out of the way of others, especially with a little one, plus we get a nice view of the dining room and aren't too close to the food or restrooms.

We actually used a table service credit here... initially we were not going to, but decided, what the heck (and as we left Friday rather than Saturday, it served us well). Our server was very nice and made sure plates were cleared, coffee filled, etc. What more can we ask. The food was pretty good - I enjoyed the scrambled eggs, sausage, fruit (those strawberries!); coffee was fine (I generally drink Folgers Instant so I'm not picky LOL), again bacon - no flavor. Dave had eggs, biscuits & gravy, etc... it was fine. Nathan ate pretty well, once the characters went away (see below)

The characters were delightful, especially Tigger. He even gave me a hug - I think he felt sorry for me as my poor Nathan was not having any of it.


Come on Nathan! He's wearing pink and he's smiling, what's not to love?


Even daddy is getting into the spirit


I can't bear to look!


Gotta love Tigger!


By this point, it was, let's take a pic and get going - Nathan's had it.


My poor baby


Just got my appetite back!!


Not again, mommy!

And then, we tortured him with 2 back-to-backs in the Haunted Mansion


It looks charming from the outside


Naptime!!!


What's the calorie content of this juice?


And this is when I started getting teary-eyed again! I wish we had more pics of the parade, but my DH video-taped it with the camcorder, so very few stills.


Our host & hostess

We also enjoyed the following at MK:

COSMIC RAYS
We stopped here for lunch before the parade while Nathan was sleeping - Dave had a cheeseburger and fries. Standard - it was food, it was good, he ate it all. I was holding out for dinner. The seating area in here is pretty spacious... you don't feel like you are on top of your neighbor. We got into a few rounds of Happy Birthday for fellow visitors to the theme park. It was sweet - I cannot sing for the life of me, but how can you not enjoy the moment.

MAIN STREET BAKE SHOP
The parade had just ended and I knew we needed to feed Nathan something (I did carry a soft cooler with snacks for him - extra juice, cottage cheese, yogurt, applesauce, etc... this definitely helped throughout the day). Stopped in at the Main Street Bakery and picked up a croissant. I felt like it was the easiest to eat with the least amount of sugar. It was really delicious - I think I ate half of it; I have a generous son. I don't eat croissants often - it's been years, actually, if you don't count the once a year oven-happy Pillsbury croissants. But this one was perfect, flaky, fresh, with just a touch of butter. Dry on the outside (as it should be), not dry at all on the inside (as it should not be). All in all, a great snack.

POP CENTURY FOOD COURT
I think we also stopped at Pop for a late snack this day for Nathan as our Le Cellier res was not until 7:35. This was actually the nicest visit to the dreaded food court. It was empty. We had our pick of tables, what a concept! We bought some chicken nuggets and our son generously shared with mom and dad LOL.

LE CELLIER - CANADA - EPCOT


We've arrived!

I was so looking forward to this meal b/c of the reviews I had read in the past. I knew it was a small restaurant, so I was disappointed but not surprised when the hostess told me that they were 15 - 20 behind. Too bad we were also 20 minutes early. So we walked around & checked out the Beatles at the UK...



Finally, dinner!!!!


I am Batman!!!


Daddy, I promise I'll behave

My son grew a fondness for playing with napkins... and other things


And this is the trip when I learned how to use a straw!


I know I only have 8 teeth, but can I floss with this?


Maybe this will do it.


I don't want to work, I just want to bang on my drums all day!

As you can see, any reservation past 7 p.m. is a bad idea. We were glad the remaining reservations were 7 and earlier.

But back to the restaurant... our server was so sweet; a really nice girl (probably barely 20) from Saskatoon I think. She had been in Disney maybe 7 months and shared with us some of her experiences in how the cast members live, etc. The food was excellent, and I was definitely primed for my mushroom filet (over mashed potatoes - thanks everyone!!!). I order mine medium-rare; my husband had the NY strip served mooing (rare) - both came out perfectly. Great cuts of meat executed to our taste. Delicious. Because Nathan gets a 3 course meal as a child, I had the opportunity to taste the cheese soup; it too was delicious. Regarding the bread, while I enjoyed the pretzel bread, I far preferred the wheat bread. The sourdough was too hard - and I'm not one for sourdough anyway. For dessert, I became a family of 1 and ate for 3; or something like that. Dave had taken Nathan out because he was just exhausted and needed a break. Since I had to wait on the check, I ordered a dessert for each of us. Why not? It's included. The make your own ice cream for the kiddies was ok, I only took 1 or 2 spoonfuls - would have been better if the chocolate sauce was heated. I enjoyed the maple creme brulee - finished about 75% of it. I want to say I ordered s'mores for Dave - I think I had some of the ice cream and that was all.

And we jetted out of there as fast as we can... unfortunately, Illuminations had just ended so the crush was pretty crazy. And as sharp as we were that time of night, we first went to the wrong bus stop and when we finally found our stop, the bus pulled away just as we were getting to the curb. The cruelty of this evening, I will not soon forget. kidding. Take it all in stride, I'm on vacation, I'm with my family, life is good. Put down the crackberry!!! hehe

COMING UP!!! Epcot (including Sunshine Seasons, World Showcase) and dinner at Kona Cafe (our favorite!!!!)

 

[CookingMama]

Your son is a doll

 

[Katy Belle]

Oh my...we have much in common!! I'm just much older than you! I have a DS named Nathan, he's 11. I despise being late. My husband has a "crack-berry" problem but I don't mind so much because it enables him to join us on vacation. I LOVE researching and planning vacations!

Your kiddo is a cutie-pie!

Looking forward to the rest!
Katy

 

[MickeyNicki]

My Dave is one of those people who does the "if I don't eat right now, I'm going to be sick". Do you know people like this???

DH is one of the people that if they do not eat right now they are super duper cranky and take it out on the sweet wife

 

[Joie29]

DH is one of the people that if they do not eat right now they are super duper cranky and take it out on the sweet wife

Funny, funny, ladies! This is my lot in life too...and my sweet little daughter was blessed with the same tendency. If you read my dining review of Le Cellier, this makes an appearance! She also likes to eat like a bird most of the time, so it is almost impossible to figure out when this will hit!

What fantastic reviews so far! I am really enjoying them, and loving all the pictures.

I think you must be in good company here, because I too DESPISE being late.

Keep these coming

 

[staceylynnga]

Thank you all for your fun & sweet comments thus far. The pics really make a difference, don't they! It's going to take me a while to put together my photo album (I'm not a scrapbooker, but I do add clippings here & there to my photo albums - which, being the type-A person that I am, are separated by category: ie. family, vacations, wedding/honeymoon, etc). I am heading out to enjoy the beautiful sunshine (finally getting warmer weather here in north GA), but hope to finish my reviews this evening.

Joie29, MickeyNicki, and Katy Belle - here'es a pic I have of Dave and his crackberry; he thinks I'm making fun of him. I'm really not; it's an endearing quality. .


Waiting for da bus!


Katy Belle - Nathan is a wonderful name! It gives him options for when he grows up (he is a Nathaniel, but we never call him that - later on he can use one of the 3, including Nate, whatever makes him happy). Plus it's a traditional name and, especially for a boy, I wanted something more traditional.

Should have the rest of my reviews by Monday a.m.!

 

[staceylynnga]

On Wednesday we enjoyed a day at Epcot, including breakfast at Sunshine Seasons, lunches at the Yorkshire County Fish Shop and Liberty Inn.

SUNSHINE SEASONS - THE LAND - EPCOT

While I was on Soarin', my Dave and Nathan enjoyed breakfast at Sunshine Seasons in the Land. Dave had the bacon, egg, and cheese croissant - he said it was 'all right'. Which to me translates as, I'm hungry, it's food, a nice marriage. I cannot remember what we ordered for Nathan, but he wasn't so hungry that a.m. and so didn't eat much of it.

He had much more fun at the Kiddie play area in the Living Seas - I know this is a dining board, but just in case anyone is wondering, there is something for everyone (including toddlers!) at Epcot, as you can see below:


Swimming with the sharks


Piloting my own sub, or whatever vessel this is supposed to be

Unfortunately, I literally took him from there kicking and screaming (after about 30 minutes) - he could have played there for hours.


Followed by a nap

By this time, we had made it through most of Future World (w/ the except of the Journey to Imagination) and were hungry so headed to the World Showcase.

YORKSHIRE COUNTY FISH SHOP - UK

We had the fish & chips here back in September 2004, so I know Dave had set his sights and stomach on another go-round today. He enjoyed them just as much as he did 4+ years ago. And I appreciated him picking up the Walkers shortbread for me - just looking at them adds pounds, but they are soooo good. Because I was also super hungry and didn't feel like fish & chips, I left Dave with Nathan and headed around the lagoon in search of my own lunch...

I initially considered heading to the Tangerine Cafe b/c so many of you talk about it; but if I have a wrap, I prefer a tortilla style bread and the shwarma platters are like gyros. Wasn't in the mood for the dense bread. I wound up at the ...

LIBERTY INN - U.S.A.

I know, shameful... but I really was in the mood for a salad or a burger & fries. It was a close call, though I ordered the salad. In retrospect, I should have had the cheeseburger b/c the salad was the same as the one at Pop. Just okay. Although I have to say the apple cobbler was pretty good.


Bellies full, baby still napping... what a great day!


These little mascots adorned our window ledge courtesy of Mousekeeping.

DINNER - KONA CAFE - POLYNESIAN

I was looking forward to dinner that evening, b/c Dave and I had been hunting for sushi all week. Several days prior, we had called Kimonos at the Swan b/c we were thinking of heading there for an afternoon snack. Unfortunately, they don't open untill 5 p.m. So I promised Dave that he'd be able to get some at Kona.

This is why we used our TS credit at Crystal Palace - I wasn't sure if Dave was going to order an entree at Kona or just order a few different items from the sushi bar. So we didn't make the decision to use our 6th credit at Kona until we sat down to order that evening.

This was by far my favorite meal at Disney - between the food, the service, and the fact that Nathan was on his best behavior from start to finish, an all around great evening. Our reservation was for 7:05 p.m. and we arrived maybe 15 minutes ahead of time - once again, we got lost on the drive to Polynesian. It's becoming a bad movie replaying over and over. We made it through the Magic Kingdom gateway but missed that first turnoff for the resorts. The signage alerts you ahead of time, about 1/2 mile ahead, but when you get to the turn, there is nothing.... so frustrating. Or maybe it's just us LOL.

We checked in, waited a few, they sat us in a nice corner table at the far left side of the restaurant (almost behind the sushi bar, next to that hallway and the windows). We couldn't have been happier!


Notice the railing behind Nathan - so nice not to be in the middle of the dining room!


It's really not that difficult to entertain a 19 month old

Dave ordered the Volcano Roll for an appetizer (I'm sorry I just couldn't take pictures of our plates - plus I'm sure it's somewhere on this board)... he let me have 2 pieces of it and it was delicious. So artfully presented, fresh, just excellent and worth the $14.00 that it cost out of pocket. We still had our friendly $200 gift card which was about to be used up this evening.

For dinner, Dave ordered the prime rib, served rare as he wished it to be. I ordered the tuna oscar - oh my, for anyone who enjoys tuna, if this wasn't sushi grade, it was pretty close. A really nice piece of fish, had to be at least 6 oz though it seemed huge. Strangely enough, they brought it to me deconstructed; is this normal??? I'm thinking it was b/c I asked our server at the beginning of the meal about nuts in the food. I'm only allergic to tree nuts (walnuts, macadamias, almonds, etc...), but at Disney they take this very seriously, even if the allergy is not so serious (as mine is not - I wouldn't need a hospital, I just know when there is something "wrong" in the dish and I get a weird feeling). The chef came to the table before we ordered to let me know what I should stay clear of, although I only had eyes for the Tuna Oscar LOL. It was just perfect and I finished every bite. Living in GA, the fried green tomatoes were ok, but not what I'd call fried green tomatoes. They were too thick and not battered the way I've seen it done and/or done it myself. For Nathan, we ordered the mac & cheese but with no cheese; instead, we asked for just macaroni & butter (less of a mess for one who isn't yet using utenils).


Mommy, can you let me eat in peace?

Notice how he moves the food from the plate to the table... this is my fault and I'm trying to correct a problem I've created since Nathan has been on table food. Generally, when I make something for him to eat, I cut it in pieces on the plate and then just put on the tray on his high chair. Thus, no plate. Oh, if I could turn back the clock 8 months.... Because of this, he doesn't like to eat off of a plate and moves his food to the table in front of him. Although he really took a liking to the honeydew, so much so that he grabbed a huge piece of it and put it in his mouth; scared out of my head that he was going to choke on it, I sat watching him like a hawk for over a minute waiting for him to grind that thing down (he only has 8 teeth and the bottom 2 on the sides were just coming up during the trip). He did great, thank goodness.

For dessert, Dave ordered a cappucino (what a great option that you can do this!) and I had the apple stack (loved it!!). It was much better than I thought it would be... finished the whole thing and then could barely walk out of dinner as I had one big bellyache. When do we learn???

Coming up - our final full day in Disney! Including 1900 Park Fare, another meal at Wolfgang Puck Express, and what to do with the 6 remaining snack credits...

 

[photobob]

The huts are the new Tree House Villas which are a part of the DVC's Saratoga Springs Resort.

 

[Mich123]

I keep laughing about your tales of getting lost. When we were at Disney in 2007, we got lost on a daily basis. My DD12 made up a word--Mozeep (Moe-zeep, for those of you ready to send it in to Webster's)--which means that you're lost, but you know where you are (because we pretty much knew that we only needed to go back three turns to get where we had started from). Every afternoon she'd say, "Looks like we're mozeep again!", because inevitably we'd miss an exit or a turnoff. One time, we even ended up on a toll road that ended in Celebration with a throw the change in the basket for a toll as the only option and...of course we had no change. Oh the trauma! The crazy part was that we were never got lost on the way in, only the way out.