COMPLETED 9/5 - I'm just here for the food...and the lightsaber! - May 2021 Trip Report

[kclark9830]

How fun to do the light saber duel! That's awesome, and I'm sure will be a great memory for...well, forever!

 

[Araminta18]

I love the Disney details.

Right? They're so fun, and part of why we keep coming back.

Great plan. DH has the green one and DD has the Red one.

Ooh fun! did they duel?

Great CM ineraction.

it was! She was great.

How fun to do the light saber duel! That's awesome, and I'm sure will be a great memory for...well, forever!

it was super cool!!

 

[vamassey1]

Ooh fun! did they duel?

Not yet. They got them on separate trips. They both want to each make another one.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

it's basically a mini-safari

Ha! Hilarious

Those Ronto Wraps are delicious, honestly. A+, Disney.

Yum!!! Can I have a Ronto Wrap right now?

Oga's really is a fun spot -- I just wish they had more/better food options. The Oga's Obsession is fun, but honestly, it's fancy jello. Fooooooooood please.

I totally agree. We need a fun food or two.

One of the CMs challenged Trevor to a lightsaber duel. She won though, cause she was making us leave. To be fair, it was 9:45 and the park closed at 8 pm so it really was time to go.

Amazing! I wonder how late they schedule and plan it take to get everyone out of the parks...

 

[Araminta18]

Not yet. They got them on separate trips. They both want to each make another one.

Ooooh that'd be nice (and expensive ).

Amazing! I wonder how late they schedule and plan it take to get everyone out of the parks...

Me too! I'm very curious, cause I felt kind of bad keeping them late but also, Oga's takes reservations until 45 min after park close, so they must schedule at least for another hour past that.

 

[Araminta18]

An Alien Planet (no, not that one!), and wildlife of all sorts!
Wednesday May 26th, 2021 (part 1)​

I know you're all shocked, but on our third day, we decided to head to Animal Kingdom, instead of Galaxy's Edge! We wanted to ride Flight of Passage, so we were ropedropping yet again. And I was anxious about the Swan/Dolphin buses arriving late, so after scoping out the boards here for strategies, we decided (well, let's be honest, I decided and Trevor went along with it) to go over to the Boardwalk to catch their bus. Unfortunately, the time that the first bus started running from Boardwalk to Animal Kingdom was...uncertain. And me being me (and by that I mean not wanting to take even the TINIEST chance of missing the bus), I decided that since the park opened at 8am, and reports were of people being let into the park at 7am, we should leave the room at 6am. BLERGH. Right? so early. Trevor is such a good sport.

You know it's early 'cause I have no pictures of breakfast or anything. I do have some lovely pictures of the sunrise on our way to the Boardwalk though.

We arrived at the Boardwalk bus stop at 6:10am, and while there was one other group there, there were no bus times posted on the board. We plopped ourselves down on the bench and enjoyed the sunrise and waited anxiously for busses to come.

See, isn't Trevor a trooper? You can tell he's sleepy, poor guy.

Finally, at 6:46am (so, 36 minutes after arrival) an Animal Kingdom, a bus for Animal Kingdom popped up on the board!

It showed a bus coming at 6:56. However, the bus came at 6:50am, and they loaded each group individually -- the buses were still splitting up parties at that point. We got a seat near the front and at 6:55am, we were off!

We got to Animal Kingdom and tapped in at 7:10am. There was like no one there, seemingly. No lines, nothing like at Hollywood Studios. So clearly they must have already done rope drop, but even so, there were not many people. Thankfully.

We were heading right over to Flight of Passage, passing one of my favorite places:

Nomad Lounge! Also see what I mean about nobody being there?

We got in the line for Flight of Passage, though there was really no line. It was just walking through the queue. We took LOTS of pictures. Cause Pandora is GORGEOUS. This is what I looked like in that line (well actually, the entire time at Disney, let's be real. )

That queue though, in the early morning light? Just lovely. And fun to go through the regular line since we almost always used fastpasses.

I'd never noticed that sculpture of a banshee before!

The people behind us in line were nice enough to take a picture of us with the animatronic avatar. That thing is so cool.

The only line really was when we were waiting to go into the link chamber. We waited there for about 7/8 minutes, and then we were in the link chamber. They were spreading us out, some in the first link chamber and some in the second and we all watched the same abbreviated pre-show video (which did not include the irritating "and uh...fly!", thankfully). Love that ride!!

We got off the ride at 7:43 -- the park wasn't even open yet! The wait time for Flight of Passage had already started to climb, though I don't remember what it actually was (probably 35/40 minutes at that point). We headed over to Kilimanjaro Safaris, hoping for active animals at that time in the morning. We got in line at 7:50 am, and the line was way outside the queue, though it was posted at 25 minutes or so.

That's the guy with the "end of the line" sign.

This line was definitely a bit longer than what we waited for Flight of Passage! But again, kind of interesting to at least see the standby line, cause we have never ridden this one without a fastpass (as they were always pretty easy to pick up day of).

I liked seeing the buses all stacked up!

I did find some fun spots to sit on the fence while waiting to get on.

At 8:15, we were waiting to get on. Lookit all that plexiglass!

We got lucky, and ended up in row 1, and the only party in row 1! Sweet.

Our driver was really good, and we did see lots of active animals! Got to see the rhino.

And I'd never seen the dogs out before!

We saw one of the cheetahs, and even the male lion, but no really good pictures. At the end, they added a scene with adorable little goats in a hut/truck. Super cute. Notice the one baby goat in the back of the truck.

After the Safari, it was 8:40am. Our only plan for that morning was to be in line for Nomad Lounge around 10:15/10:30. So we were free before then! We headed over to Dinosaur, since it was posting a 5 minute wait.

This photo was all Trevor's idea...I think he was having fun with his new camera.

Dinosaur is fun, but it is SO DARK. Seriously, hard to see anything.

I really like Trevor's wide eyes in this picture.

We were off the ride at 9 am, so we meandered over to Expedition Everest. I got in line at 9:10am, and it was posting a 15 minute wait. My first time through the standby line again!

That theming was awesome. The shredded tent made me laugh.

I got on the ride after only 10 minutes, despite the posted 15, so that was nice.

While I was on the ride, Trevor had meandered over to the monkeys by Kali River Rapids to wait for me. I got off the ride at 9:30 (stopping in the gift shop to buy the adorable light blue Yeti spirit jersey, which would be even cuter if it did NOT have the giant yeti on the butt...oh well!

At this point we were getting a bit hungry, so we stopped at the food truck/snack cart by Expedition Everest and got a couple sausage egg breakfast sandwiches and chocolate milks, and then headed into the Rivers of Light arena to eat them.

They were surprisingly good! And it was really nice to sit in the arena and watch the flotillas go by as we ate and relaxed.

Gorgeous day!

Heyyo picture limit! Tune in next time to see what we do before trying to get in to Nomad Lounge -- did we make it in?! Tune in next time to see!

 

[vamassey1]

Great morning in AK. I really miss FPs but it it nice to see some of the great queues that are missed doing the FP line.

 

[Araminta18]

Great morning in AK. I really miss FPs but it it nice to see some of the great queues that are missed doing the FP line.

agree 100%! Love seeing the queues, but man I miss FPs.

 

[Araminta18]

Best Place for a Nap!
Wednesday May 26th, 2021 (part 2)​

We left off with breakfast in the Rivers of Light arena, watching the floats go by while we ate. It was a gorgeous day, and a lovely little rest. Trevor actually took a video of the floats going by as we ate: Floats from the Rivers of Light arena

After we'd eaten, I noticed that Kali River Rapids was posting a 20 minute wait, so we decided to head over there to ride. We ended up only having to wait 10 minutes. Woot!

We didn't even get very wet! So that was nice as well.

We got off Kali at about 10:10, and then it was decision time. Nomad Lounge opened at 11am, and we (well, I ) wanted to be one of the first people there so we could get a lovely seat out on the balcony overlooking the river. In order to get that seat, per other reports here, we needed to be in line at 10:30ish or so. Everest was posting a 20 minute wait, and Trevor didn't have anything else he wanted to do, so he headed over to Nomad to get in line, and I went to do Everest one more time.

I was off Everest at 10:34, and headed over to meet up with Trevor at Nomad Lounge. I got there around 10:45 am and Trevor was second in line. Apparently he was just kind of looking around and standing in the shade til some guy came up and actually started the line, and then he got in line behind that guy.

I took advantage to look at the posted menu -- the artwork on the menus is always so neat!

We didn't have to wait too long -- they opened up 5 or so minutes early, and it (of course) didn't matter that we were second in line. We got one of the seats I was hoping to get -- outside, overlooking the river...lovely.

They brought us water and we ordered our first round of mocktails, and then almost immediately we got our first flotilla -- Pocahontas and Meeko!

The seats are just short enough and the rail just tall enough that you can't see the flotillas while sitting down, but it was nice to just be able to stand up and see them.

Then our drinks came out! Trevor and I don't drink so we were excited to see all the mocktail options.

I got the Zingiber Fizzie: Passion Fruit Purée, Mint, Simple Syrup, and Lime Juice topped with Ginger Beer. This was good, but spicier than I expected -- that ginger beer lingered and built and kind of snuck up on me!

Trevor (rocking his Pandora hat) got the Hibiscus Henna: Watermelon, Hibiscus, and Lime Juice topped with Soda Water. This was pretty sweet; we both liked it.

As we waited for our food to arrive, another flotilla came by--

Donald and Daisy and Launchpad this time! I love Launchpad so much--so glad that Trevor and I got to meet him and get his signature (pre-Covid, obviously).

About 5 minutes after our drinks arrived, the Tiffin's Bread Service arrived!

This came with a veggie flatbread, as well as a crispy flatbread that I've had in Indian restaurants before though I don't remember the name, as well as the signature Tiffan Pomegranate Focaccia. The dips were red pepper hummus, a coriander yogurt, and a ginger pear chutney. I'd heard raves about this before my first time at Nomad Lounge back in 2019, and I wasn't a huge fan of it -- especially not the pomegranate focaccia. But I figured Trevor at least had to try it, right? He agreed with me though -- the pomegranate focaccia is just not our thing (it's way too florally for me). Next time, we probably won't get it.

About 5 minutes later, we got another flotilla: Mickey and Minnie and Pluto!

Mickey and Minnie's explorer outfits are just so cute! I love them! And Mickey returned the favor -- he indicated that he liked my ears!

15 minutes later was the next flotilla: Timon and Rafiki

Immediately on the heels of Rafiki and Timon was another flotilla: Chip and Dale in their (ADORABLE) dinosaur costumes.

A few minutes after that (about 30 minutes after our bread service arrived), more food came: charcuterie board!

I really enjoy charcuterie boards, and this was an interesting one. Starting at the upper left and going clockwise, there was a hard goat cheese, pickled onions and carrots, midnight biscuits, a soft cow's cheese (similar to a Brie), some candied nuts, a pate I think?, pickled/spicy ham, a sausage with some mustard seeds, and then a fig jam up at the top next to the hard goat cheese. It was different, but good. I liked it a lot, and especially trying all the different combinations.

About 5 minutes later, another flotilla came by: the band! They were all super enthusiastic, especially the drummer.

Somewhere in there Trevor had ordered another drink: the Lilly Gorillie: Strawberry and Sprite. I really liked that one so I ordered one for myself.

At this point, the flotillas repeated - I guess we'd been there a long time! We were still really enjoying just sitting and relaxing, and let's be honest -- napping. In fact, Trevor was asleep when his next drink came -- he re-ordered the Hibiscus Henna that he'd gonna the first time.

Sleeeeeeeeeeeepy Trevor!

He woke up about 5 minutes later when our beef sliders arrived.

These were delicious, especially the yucca fries. I really like yucca fries -- I'd never had them until I lived in Brazil a few years ago and they were fairly common. We should have them more often, as they're delicious!

At this point we were getting pretty full, so we went back to our drinks and just sitting and talking and napping, and then decided to order dessert as our last plate before leaving. We had to, honestly--we couldn't leave Nomad Lounge without trying the churros!

Trevor was sleeping again. These were a little bit overcooked/dark, but they were still really good.

The flotilla with the band came around again right as we were finishing the churros, and as we stood up to watch, the drummer recognized us as having been there for their last go-round! Oops...definitely been there long enough! Trevor was taking a video, and managed to get that. Hee! The drummer recognizes us You can see him pointing at Trevor in the picture.

Eventually we finished our churros and it was time to go. We were reluctant to leave, but we'd had a great time and were well-rested, so we were ready to tackle the park again.

The wreckage of our table!

Had to take a selfie to commemorate the experience, of course.

I definitely managed to thoroughly convince Trevor that Nomad Lounge is amazing. It has jumped right to the top of the list of our favorite spots at DisneyWorld. If you've never been, highly recommend checking it out -- it won't disappoint! Overall, we ended up spending about 2 hours and 15 minutes there. I know it's a long time but we tried to keep ordering food and drinks and we tipped really well to make up for camping out so long.

Oh and Trevor wants me to say that he took videos of all the flotillas here, if anyone is interested: Flotillas from Nomad Lounge

We headed back into Pandora, wandering around and taking lots of pictures. I made us find all the photopass photographers again, of course.

We had fun with the magic shots, as you can see.

At this point we didn't really have anything planned, so we decided that even though Flight of Passage was posting about an hour wait, to hop in line. We figured we'd be able to enjoy the queue again (without speedwalking through it like we did at rope drop) and then we'd get to ride Flight of Passage again! Win/win. Did it work out that way?! Tune in next time!

 

[Araminta18]

Exploring the Valley of Mo'ara
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 (part 3)​

Well, we hopped in the queue, and off we went with taking pictures. Honestly that queue is just amazing - so much detail! We took way too many pictures, but it was fun, and definitely made the time in line go by quickly.

Banshee mural!

These two photos make me laugh -- most of the photos in this trip report are from me ('cause Trevor doesn't take as many as I do ), but in this case, he was the one taking them. And he caught me doing what I do most of the time at Disney: take pictures and make fun faces.

We also went hogwild with the selfies, though since we were officially in line at that point, we had to mask up.

I think the wooden statue behind him is supposed to be a banshee? I probably just got the wrong angle. Or maybe I just can't see it?

Heading into the cave!

My phone camera LOVED the bioluminescence and neon colors in the queue; it looked way cooler in my pictures than in real life, sadly.

I do want to know why the line always seems to move SUPER FAST through the lab, which is by far the most interesting part of the queue and has the most to look at. Not fair! The line stops in several other places, why can't it stop in the lab so I can look around more there?

Instead the line stopped in that large room after the lab. My feet hurt so I gave up and sat down. Trevor thought that was amusing.

I prefer to think of myself as smart.

The line ended up being right about an hour. Not too bad a way to spend an hour though! And of course the ride was fantastic.

Afterwards, we decided to head over to Navi River Journey and finish off the Pandora rides.

It wasn't too crowded in the walkways, but the line for Navi felt long, especially 'cause that queue isn't nearly as interesting as the Flight of Passage queue.

This was about the only interesting thing I saw.

We got on Navi River Journey at 3:24. I tried to take pictures on the ride, but with the low-light, they all turned out blurry so I won't inflict them on you.

At that point, we were flagging, so we decided to head out of the park and back to the hotel for a rest and nap. We had a fancy dinner planned, so we wanted to be rested and all cleaned up for that. But I mean, we didn't rush. We found lots of photo spots on the way out.

I made Trevor take a picture with me in front of this mural. He wasn't super enthusiastic, but he likes to make me happy, so he did.

And of course we had to stop in front of Simba and Timon and Pumbaa crossing the log. Trevor looks really excited for this one! Good shot by the photographer.

And of course we had to take pictures in front of the Tree of Life. I literally never noticed this buffalo off to the right until right now when I was picking pictures for this report.

And look at this magic shot, with the animals in the clouds!

We continued to meander out of the park, and we found a black swan near the entrance/exit! I've never seen a black swan in person before -- it was neat to see.

Then we made it to the front of the park and the "Up" photo op! There was no photographer there, so we took pictures of each other.

We're making the Wilderness Explorer sign, 'cause we're Wilderness Explorers!

At this point we were ready to take the bus back to the Swan -- the first time we were going to be using the actual Swan/Dolphin buses. We had a HECK of a time finding the charter buses stop -- it wasn't very obviously marked so we ended up walking past it two or three times. But finally we found it, and then the bus came after 10 minutes (we left at 4:48 pm). Our dinner reservation was at 7 pm, so plenty of time to rest up!

Where were we going for dinner? Tune in next time to find out! Hint: it wasn't a Disney restaurant!

 

[Araminta18]

Dinner at the Bull & Bear at the Waldorf Astoria
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 (part 4)​

Back at the hotel we fell into bed and took naps for an hour or so. The mid-day/late afternoon nap at Disney, in the heat, is absolutely non-negotiable. So nice! Then we were up and showering and getting all cleaned up for our fancy dinner. Where were we going? The Bull & Bear at the Waldorf Astoria! It's still on Disney property, kind of, but it's not a Disney hotel. Several of the vloggers we watch have been there and liked it, so we decided we wanted to try it, so we were really excited.

We took an uber and arrived there about 10 minutes before our reservation. We'd never been to the Waldorf Astoria before -- it's super nice! We may have to look into staying there some time.

Anyways, we headed over to the restaurant and found this fun easel for the menu made out of kitchen utensils and tools!

We got seated immediately, and we knew it was a fancy place when they seated us side by side, on what was essentially a loveseat. So nice!

We started with a bread service -- I got the brioche dipped in butter (the flower looking bread) and Trevor got the italian focaccia. They were both DELICIOUS.

Then they brought out an amuse-bouche from the chef:

This was really interesting: it was an olive oil cake, with tomato cream/sauce, parmesan shavings, and microgreens. You could taste the sweetness of the cake initially but then it was that whole savory taste, reminiscent of Italian food. Very interesting!

Then they brought out our mocktails. We'd just asked for whatever the bartender wanted to make, though I expressed a preference for something with berries. I got a mixed berry drink with cranberries, and Trevor got a pomegranate drink with cherries.

These were both delicious, though I liked Trevor's a bit better - it was sweeter and mine was a bit more tart. Still really good.

We then ordered our appetizers. We were only going to get the Wagyu Carpaccio (Thin Cut Wagyu, Seasonal Fresh Shaved Truffles, Mugolio 18 Month Shaved Parmesan, Reggiano Cheese, Pushed Egg Yolk, Served with Fuile De Bric) and the Ceasar salad prepared tableside, but the waiter recommended the Bull & Bear Frites with the Wagyu, so we got those too. They brought out the Frites and the Wagyu first.

These were both DELICIOUS. They recommended that we wrap the wagyu around the frites, and they were right - that was a really good way to eat it, if a little bit messy! The frites are fried in beef tallow, so they were rich and crispy and just lovely. Add that to the wagyu carpaccio and it was perfect.

Then they brought out the ingredients to make the Ceasar salad. One of the Bull & Bear's things is that they make a lot of things tableside, so we were excited to see them make the salad dressing and everything right there. It was cool to see! I've never had such a fresh salad. The only downside was that our chairs/couch were so low we couldn't really see what he was doing beyond seeing him dump things into the big mixing bowl.

Then it was time for our main courses. We'd both ended up getting steaks: I got the 15 oz New York sirloin cooked rare.

This was HUGE. You would have thought the 15 oz would have tipped me off, but fun fact: I can never remember how many ounces are in a pound, or how big ounces are. So that big "15 oz" in front of "NY Sirloin" didn't resonate in my head as being HUGE as much as it should have. Oops! It was definitely delicious though. Cooked perfectly.

Trevor splurged on the 12 oz Wagyu, and this was the main misstep of the evening.

Trevor doesn't like his steaks rare, generally. But he knows that Wagyu is supposed to be super marbled and tender, so he asked the waiter what he (the waiter would recommend) -- medium, or more on the rare side. As Trevor had said he generally likes his steaks more medium, the waiter was like "yea, medium would be a perfect way to cook the Wagyu!" So Trevor said ok and went with medium. That was a mistake. Medium wagyu is overcooked. The couple of bites he had that were more medium rare were absolutely DIVINE - just melt in your mouth. The rest of the steak was fine, but not as good as those more rare bites. So that was a bit disappointing.

We've decided that when we go back, we'll split a Wagyu and get it cooked rare. That will be DELICIOUS.

We also got more mocktails. I got a ginger mule type drink -- this one was super pungent. Not my favorite, but fun to try.

Trevor got another pomegranate drink with lime/lemon mixed in. This one I really liked...I definitely drank more than just a sip of this one!

They also brought us more bread, which was super nice.

Then it was time for dessert, and despite being very full, we definitely wanted to try some of their desserts. We really wanted to get their signature dessert, the lemon: they take a lemon peel and candy it to make it edible, and then fill it with lemon curd and lemon sorbet and cream and so on. But they only do that on the weekends now (#thanksCovid), so we decided to get "La Fraise": Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Sauce and Liquid Nitrogen Strawberry Ice Cream Prepared Tableside. This seemed like a lighter, fresher dessert, and considering the giant steaks we'd eaten, it sounded good. And also liquid nitrogen ice cream? I'm a fan.

This one was slightly easier to see the preparation, and of course I'm a fan of anything with liquid nitrogen. When they were done, it didn't look super pretty, but it tasted DELICIOUS as well.

We ate it all, of course.

So overall, we had a fantastic meal. We were so full! There were a couple missteps, mainly the overcooking of the Wagyu, but that was our fault, not the restaurant's fault. The service was fantastic -- they were very attentive and nice. They even took a picture of us!

We will DEFINITELY be going back, even though it is pricey. We very much enjoyed our meal. I'm obviously not a food critic, so I don't have great descriptions -- but this page from the Waldorf Astoria's website that describes the restaurant and the food is a pretty accurate representation of our experience! https://www.waldorfastoriaorlando.com/bull-bear-yields-dining-delights/

We left at about 9:30 pm and took an uber back to the hotel. We fell into bed at about 10:30pm, the very definition of a food coma!

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 16,193 steps (7.3 miles)
Ride count: 6 for Trevor, 8 for Tiffany (Flight of Passage x2, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Dinosaur, Kali River Rapids, Navi River Journey; Tiffany also rode Everest twice)

Up Next: We finally make it to the Magic Kingdom!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Man! I got behind!!!

, I decided that since the park opened at 8am, and reports were of people being let into the park at 7am, we should leave the room at 6am. BLERGH. Right? so early. Trevor is such a good sport.

That is early, you guys are dedicated!!!

We got to Animal Kingdom and tapped in at 7:10am. There was like no one there, seemingly. No lines, nothing like at Hollywood Studios. So clearly they must have already done rope drop, but even so, there were not many people. Thankfully.

But I will say, I think we need to adopt this method if there is still no fast passes when we go!

The people behind us in line were nice enough to take a picture of us with the animatronic avatar. That thing is so cool.

That is nice. This is the one thing that will be nice with no fast pass, is seeing the ques!

We got in line at 7:50 am, and the line was way outside the queue, though it was posted at 25 minutes or so.

NICE!

Super cute. Notice the one baby goat in the back of the truck.

Cute!

pparently he was just kind of looking around and standing in the shade til some guy came up and actually started the line, and then he got in line behind that guy.

Ha. Still that is pretty good.

I got the Zingiber Fizzie: Passion Fruit Purée, Mint, Simple Syrup, and Lime Juice topped with Ginger Beer. This was good, but spicier than I expected -- that ginger beer lingered and built and kind of snuck up on me!

Ginger Beer is SUPER strong! A little goes a long way!

my first time at Nomad Lounge back in 2019, and I wasn't a huge fan of it -- especially not the pomegranate focaccia. But I figured Trevor at least had to try it, right? He agreed with me though -- the pomegranate focaccia is just not our thing (it's way too florally for me). Next time, we probably won't get it.

It's no bread service from Sanaa. Not terrible but I don't dream about it.

the Lilly Gorillie: Strawberry and Sprite. I really liked that one so I ordered one for myself.

That sounds really refreshing.

He woke up about 5 minutes later when our beef sliders arrived.

Yum! Next time I need to try these.

I lived in Brazil a few years ago and they were fairly common. We should have them more often, as they're delicious!

They used to have yuka fries at Skipper Canteen but I think they go rid of them. ;(

Oh and Trevor wants me to say that he took videos of all the flotillas here, if anyone is interested: Flotillas from Nomad Lounge

I love when we get the boys involved in the trip reports!

 

[vamassey1]

We didn't even get very wet! So that was nice as well.

We rode Kali in October and really enjoyed the extended queue but didn't get very wet either. I wonder is they turned something down.

Everest was posting a 20 minute wait, and Trevor didn't have anything else he wanted to do, so he headed over to Nomad to get in line, and I went to do Everest one more time.

That's a really great husband.

Trevor (rocking his Pandora hat) got the Hibiscus Henna: Watermelon, Hibiscus, and Lime Juice topped with Soda Water. This was pretty sweet; we both liked it.

All the drinks sounded good.

This came with a veggie flatbread, as well as a crispy flatbread that I've had in Indian restaurants before though I don't remember the name, as well as the signature Tiffan Pomegranate Focaccia. The dips were red pepper hummus, a coriander yogurt, and a ginger pear chutney. I'd heard raves about this before my first time at Nomad Lounge back in 2019, and I wasn't a huge fan of it -- especially not the pomegranate focaccia. But I figured Trevor at least had to try it, right? He agreed with me though -- the pomegranate focaccia is just not our thing (it's way too florally for me). Next time, we probably won't get it.

Bread sounds good, not as good as Sanaa.

A few minutes after that (about 30 minutes after our bread service arrived), more food came: charcuterie board!

This looks good.

These were delicious, especially the yucca fries. I really like yucca fries -- I'd never had them until I lived in Brazil a few years ago and they were fairly common. We should have them more often, as they're delicious!

Now this sounds really good. I've never been here but really want to try it. My youngest DD is doing the DCP right now. She spent some time in Nomad's alone at the bar but had the best time visiting with the other guests. She loved the churros.

We had to, honestly--we couldn't leave Nomad Lounge without trying the churros!

No you can't. I keep hearing great things about them.

We headed back into Pandora, wandering around and taking lots of pictures. I made us find all the photopass photographers again, of course.

Great use of the photopass.

Well, we hopped in the queue, and off we went with taking pictures. Honestly that queue is just amazing - so much detail! We took way too many pictures, but it was fun, and definitely made the time in line go by quickly.

This really is a great queue with so much to see.

It wasn't too crowded in the walkways, but the line for Navi felt long, especially 'cause that queue isn't nearly as interesting as the Flight of Passage queue.

I agree with you here, just not as interesting.

We will DEFINITELY be going back, even though it is pricey. We very much enjoyed our meal. I'm obviously not a food critic, so I don't have great descriptions -- but this page from the Waldorf Astoria's website that describes the restaurant and the food is a pretty accurate representation of our experience! https://www.waldorfastoriaorlando.com/bull-bear-yields-dining-delights/

Thanks for sharing you fabulous diner. You had my mouth watering several times.

 

[c3h3a3r]

Wow absolutely loving your trip report
Thank you for sharing

 

[Araminta18]

Ginger Beer is SUPER strong! A little goes a long way!

It really really is! I don't think I've had it before, or not recently, so I didn't realize how strong it would be.

They used to have yuka fries at Skipper Canteen but I think they go rid of them. ;(

What?! sadness. Though they currently have Brazilian cheese bread at Skipper Canteen and those are DELICIOUS.

I love when we get the boys involved in the trip reports!

right?

We rode Kali in October and really enjoyed the extended queue but didn't get very wet either. I wonder is they turned something down.

Oh I didn't even think of that! I didn't know they could turn down some of the effects. Interesting. Wonder why? It was super hot, since it was practically summer. Maybe a covid thing?!

Now this sounds really good. I've never been here but really want to try it. My youngest DD is doing the DCP right now. She spent some time in Nomad's alone at the bar but had the best time visiting with the other guests. She loved the churros.

Oh how fun for your daughter! Hope she's having a good experience doing the DCP. And hope you get a chance to try Nomad Lounge

Wow absolutely loving your trip report
Thank you for sharing

Glad you're enjoying!!

 

[Araminta18]

Any Magic Kingdom Plans?
Thursday, May 27, 2021 (part 1)​

Our vacation is more than half over! So sad. But it's ok, 'cause today was our Magic Kingdom day! We were doing the bus from the Boardwalk again, so that we could get there as early as possible and not have to get dropped off at the Transportation and Ticket Center (which is where the Swan/Dolphin buses drop off at the Magic Kingdom). However, having ridden the Boardwalk buses yesterday, we knew we didn't need to get there at 6 am!

I actually didn't take any pictures in the room or write down when we left the room...the first picture I have is of us at the Boardwalk bus stop at 6:41 am. So we probably left the room at 6:30am -- it's not a very long walk, and in the morning it's a lovely walk over to Boardwalk. We definitely did the timing better this time -- a Magic Kingdom bus showed up on the board at 6:48 am, saying a MK bus was coming at 6:50 am.

It didn't show up until about 6:55am, and I'd never seen this "Refilling my Pixie Dust" out of service message before, so that was cool.

But we were on the bus and on our way at 7:01am. Not too bad! We had to take a selfie to commemorate the occasion, and then I noticed that I could take a pic catching the light with my stained glass ears!

Love the stained glass light effect!

We got to the Magic Kingdom at 7:12, and you could tell that the new security processes are working, cause the lines weren't crazy long or anything like they were before. The pic below is the security line -- look at that! Not too shabby. 100% a fan of the new security procedures!

Once we got into the park (at 7:15am), it didn't feel super crowded, and since we didn't have any huge rope drop plans, we were just enjoying hanging around and taking pics with the castle. We of course got some photopass pictures in the uncrowded hub.

Love this pic 'cause it looks like no one else is there!

The cell phone pic was the idea of the photopass photographer. Kind of fun!

After the pictures, we decided that we'd rope drop Space Mountain, cause that one is a good one to ropedrop that doesn't actually require you to be way way way in the front of the rope drop pack. Heading over to Tomorrowland there was just one other couple walking that way, so that boded well, right? (also I love these empty park pics)

However, once at Space Mountain there was a line. Tragedy!

Turns out Space Mountain hadn't opened yet (this was at 7:28 am), so some people were waiting, banking that it would open soon, and some people were just leaving and heading elsewhere, not willing to wait. Since we didn't have any particular plans, and I figured it would likely open pretty soon, we decided to wait. We made friends with the couple in front of us, so that was fun talking. And I was right -- it opened up 4 minutes later at 7:32 am. WOOT. We were on the ride 7 minutes later (that queue guys, seriously, LONGEST queue ever).

We got our own rocket. I have no idea what face I'm making -- clearly I forgot the picture was coming. Trevor enjoyed riding the coaster, now that he's a fancy adult who likes riding coasters (well, all the coasters in Magic Kingdom at least. )

We were off the ride at like 7:48ish, and so we decided to keep up our coaster streak, heading for Big Thunder Mountain! 5 minute wait before the park opens for the win! I mean it was only just barely before the park opens -- we got in line at 7:57 am.

This is another one that we almost never go through the regular line, so I (clearly) took a LOT of pictures in the queue. I love that map of the Big Thunder Mountain "mine". The line was only about 5 minutes, cause at 8:01am we were on the train.

Best roller coaster in the wilderness!!

When we got off the ride, we were heading over to Splash Mountain, in hopes that the line would still be pretty short this early in the morning. Checking wait times for the past few weeks, we'd noticed that Splash Mountain was getting pretty long waits, so we wanted to do it early. As we were walking over there, I noticed for the first time these lights:

They're little mason jar lights! How cute! Theming for the win.

So it was like 8:10am, and Splash Mountain was CLOSED. They had several cast members out there saying it was closed and they had no idea when it would open, and so there was no line per se, but lots of us were just kind of waiting there across the path from the CMs. Empty logs were running on the ride, so I was hopeful that it would open soon-ish. Trevor and I decided that we were ok just waiting and hanging out and enjoying the morning waiting for it to open, so we were hanging out. A duck joined us.

Even the ducks were waiting to ride Splash!

Trevor made me go over and he took a picture -- remove me and this is kind of how it was, just the CMs standing around there to tell everyone it is closed.

It felt like we were waiting a while, but it was only about 10 minutes when the CMs there very very quietly just left and headed towards the entrance, and Splash was open! It was funny how quiet it was - no announcement or anything, and so Trevor and I were like "wait, wait, it's open!" and quickly headed down to the entrance. The way it worked out, we turned out to be the first people in line, walking through the queue right behind the CMs. Woot! I think this is the first time we've ever been first in line for a ride, actually. I did feel a little bad for some of the people who'd been waiting around with us who weren't paying attention and didn't realize that the ride had opened and were a bit further behind.

Trevor actually took a video of our walk on: First on Splash Mountain!

Empty loading area!

We got first row! (I know you're surprised ) Trevor was excited, so he took a couple selfies. They were still separating out parties at that point, so the row behind us was empty.

Woot! Great first ride on Splash. It took literally 5 minutes to walk the queue, but worth it.

Off the ride at 8:43, it wasn't too bad of a way to spend those first 40 minutes of the park being opened! As you may have noticed the theme of "we have no particular plans", we kind of wandered and decided to hit up Pirates of the Caribbean, which was posting a 5 minute wait.

The 5 minute wait was a lie though. As you can see, the queue was halfway through that outer building bit in this picture, so no way it was only 5 minutes.

Getting to this point in the line was 13 minutes.

This is Trevor's revenge picture for me making him take a pic with the crates and stuff.

For whatever reason I love this shot of the Pirates loading area -- it's usually so dark I can't see anything!

We were on the ride at 9:04am, so 16 minutes total. Not bad at all, just not 5 minutes.

It's the rum they want!

We were 100% prepared for the picture this time! Still social distancing at this point, which we appreciated.

After Pirates, we wandered back to Haunted Mansion, cause it's one of our favorites. The pathways were still not crowded at all (9:15 am), and while the socially-distanced line for Haunted Mansion seemed pretty long, they were routing people through the fastpass line so it was a pretty straight shot. We got in line at 9:18am and at 9:21 am we were walking through the stretching room. It would have been 9:20 am but we had to take a pic with our favorite medium's gravestone.

They weren't running the stretching room pre-show at that point, so we just walked on in. We were on the ride at 9:22am, so a 4 minute wait. Not too bad!

I had fun using my fancy new phone to take pictures and videos. Got a fun (if fuzzy) photo of the ballroom dancers (they are my favorite part, them plus Constance, of course)

The videos turned out better: I got a video of the Bride. I also made sure to capture what the hitchhiking ghosts did to our heads at the end of the ride!

Afterwards we had to take a picture in front of the mansion, to commemorate our awesome ride!

At this point, it was 9:30am exactly. We'd taken empty park pictures with the castle, and ridden Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion in a little less than 2 hours. Not too shabby! What to do next?

 

[Araminta18]

Conquering the Final Mountain (and eating a lot)
Thursday, May 27th, 2021 (part 2)​

We were right near Fantasyland, so we decided to hop in the line for Peter Pan. With the social distance, the end of the line was back by the pond/Memento Mori.

Our view from the end of the line.

I vaguely remember it being posted at 25 minutes? Something like that -- mostly I remember it 'cause I have a picture showing Small World at 25 minutes and I remembered thinking that Peter Pan and Small World having the same wait was amusing. I did really enjoy going through the regular queue, but it was moving a little bit slowly, in fits and starts. At one point I sat down.

That nursery though -- adorable, even with the shadow games turned off. I never noticed the milk bowl there for Nana before!

And the blocks are built up exactly like they are in the movie!

Overall, it ended up being exactly a 26 minute wait. Not too bad! That was my experience more often than not -- once the middle of the day started to hit, the posted wait times were pretty much spot on. Which is kind of nice, actually. I think I'd rather have correct wait times so I know how to plan my day, rather than have overblown wait times so I feel like I "win" when the lines are shorter.

When we got off at 10:03, we were getting a bit peckish, so since we were in Fantasyland, we decided to head over to Gaston's Tavern for a cinnamon roll as big as your head! We were really bummed that mobile order wasn't a thing, and then even more bummed when we saw the line. It was back beyond the Gaston fountain by the bridge, which didn't seem too long, but it was moving SUPER slowly.

Trevor waited in line while I went to the bathroom and tried to stake out a table -- that line in the sun moving so slowly was rough. He's such a good guy.

It ended up being about 20 minutes in line and then ordering and getting the food. But we managed to grab a table outside in the shade to enjoy our cinnamon roll and Grey Stuff cupcake (and a bottle of milk cause you need milk with that much sugary pastry).

Pro tip, always remember to ask for extra icing for the cinnamon roll!

As you may notice, there is a LOT of icing on that cupcake. So we decided to try the cupcake "lifehack" I've seen online, where you cut off the bottom of the cupcake and put it on top of the icing, so you have a kind of cupcake sandwich. It worked okish -- not a bad way eat it, though it wasn't really any less messy than eating it the normal way.

Such a flattering shot, right? The lengths I'll go to for this trip report.

After we were done eating, Mine Train was posting a wait of less than an hour (can't remember if it was 45 minutes or 55 -- it was probably 45 'cause we ended up often joining lines that were posting short-ish waits but had already gotten longer 'cause everyone was joining), and the line was wrapping around by the teacups, instead of up by Ariel, so we figured the wait wouldn't be too bad.

The end of the line! I would like to know why the line doesn't move when you're in the sun, but when it's your turn under one of the umbrellas or otherwise in the shade it moves quickly? Boooo. We did take advantage of some of the semi-seating in the line to rest our feet.

We actually ended up waiting 50 minutes, which for Mine Train at 10:30/11 am -ish, wasn't too bad. What else were we gonna do with the time, really? Everything was starting to post waits, so might as well wait for Mine train!

We got off Mine Train at 11:35ish, and wandering around Fantasyland, we ran into Cinderella's stepsisters out by the Fairytale Hall line. They are HILARIOUS. We hung around for 5 minutes or so til they went back in line. Trevor even took a video of one of them telling us her idea for a new hotdog.

If I were ever to be a face character at Disneyworld (hahahaha I won't ever, but IF!) I would want to be one of the stepsisters. They seem to be having a ball, and they can be as brusque/sarcastic/snarky as they want, and it's all in character. Love it.

We had a lunch reservation at Jungle Cruise Skipper Canteen at 12:20, so we had about 30/40 minutes before we needed to check in. So we decided to wander down and do some shopping at Memento Mori! But we went by the little bypass path that goes by Sleepy Hollow, and we ran into a photopass photographer, so of course, picture time!

I do have to say I was a little disappointed no one noticed my "for the first time in forever" button, with Anna/Elsa being all excited to be back in a park. Oh well, I was excited and I knew, so it worked!

At Memento Mori, there was a little bit of a wait, so we chilled on the stone border outside.

We only had to wait a minute or so. And of course we found lots of fun stuff in Memento Mori, but since they didn't do either resort delivery or send to the front of the park delivery due to the pandemic, we refrained from buying anything we'd have to carry around all day.

After about 10 minutes or so, we were meandering over to Skipper Canteen when we saw one of the Mickey cavalcades! It was crossing over into the hub and we were down by the gazebo (where Jack and Sally used to meet in the Halloween parties), but we got a selfie with the cavalcade!

As we walked into Adventureland we noticed that the cheeseburger springroll cart was open! Made a note to circle back later in the day for sure. We checked in to Skipper Canteen at 12:10, 10 minutes early, so we asked if we could sit in one of the side rooms instead of one of the main rooms, since on our previous trips we were always sat in the main room. They said sure, but that it would be a bit of a wait, which we were ok with cause Skipper Canteen has those nice chairs to wait in near the check in desk.

I made myself comfortable, but they called us in after only 3 or 4 minutes -- we were seated even before our original reservation time! And we got seated in the Jungle Room!

It was really neat -- I liked it a lot. Especially those chandeliers that look like parakeets or something --

I really do just love the theming and the whole shtick of this restaurant. And I know you're thinking that we couldn't possibly be hungry, having eaten a cinnamon roll and cupcake only 2 hours or so before. But you underestimate the heat and how much energy you expend walking around Disney! But we did decide to just get several appetizers instead of entrees, including a couple from their "not-so-secret" menu.

First up, the pork satay skewers. Apologies for the bad picture!

These were pretty good, but nothing exceptionable. I don't have any notes on it, so they probably weren't super good, but not super bad either.

Next, the Brazilian cheese bread, or pão de queijo. So, we'd heard these were delicious, but I was wary. I lived in Brazil for a year and a half, and had real homemade pão de queijo that was absolutely delicious. I loved it. But I had Brazilian cheese bread at one of the Epcot festivals a few years ago and it was gross, not at all what I remembered and liked. So I was worried this pão de queijo would be like the one from the festival. But it wasn't! It was much more like the cheese bread I had in Brazil. It was DELICIOUS. We should have ordered two of these -- the sauce is chimmicurri cream cheese, and it was delicious too. Highly recommend, even to the point of making a specific reservation just for the cheese bread!

For drinks, I got a root beer, but Trevor got the Schweitzer Slush (Frozen Apple Juice and Passion Fruit topped with Bursting Green Apple Boba Ball) 'cause he wanted something cool. He liked it, and it did hit the spot, being frozen.

Then we got the Cachapas (House-made Corn Pancakes, Beer-braised Pork, Roasted Corn, Fresno Pepper Salsa, and Avocado Cream) and the falafel (Chickpeas, Garlic, Onions, Lemon Juice, and Herbs served with House-made Edamame Hummus and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds).

The cachapas were good, but we didn't really love the falafel. It just didn't work for us, for whatever reason, and normally we like falafel. But overall not too bad.

We were going to head out, but then Trevor decided he wanted dessert so we got the Kungaloosh to split. It's an "African-inspired Chocolate Cake with Caramelized Bananas served with Cashew-Caramel Ice Cream topped with Coffee Dust". We don't drink coffee and so we don't like the taste, so we got it without the coffee dust. It was super interesting! None of the components sounded all that good to me, but it really worked. It was good.

So yea, overall another successful meal at Skipper Canteen! Our waitress was new, but enthusiastic. It was nice, and of course the air conditioning is always a welcome respite. We left at around 1:20ish, and I'll be honest -- I'd started to crash a bit while we were at lunch. So we decided it was time for our midday nap. But since we were at the Magic Kingdom, rather than heading back to the hotel, we decided to go to our tried and true rest spot in the Magic Kingdom.

Tom Sawyer Island and the rocking chairs!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woot.

Tom Sawyer island is one of our favorite places to relax. They have rocking chairs out by that Aunt Polly's quick service, and in our last trips, it's always been quiet and fairly deserted, so we would go there and just nap for an hour or so. Lovely. We were definitely looking forward to it. Just see my anticipation on the raft over!

However, once we got there, tragedy! They'd taken away the rocking chairs (I assume for COVID and social distancing or something). We were bummed. There were still tables and chairs there, but they were the regular wire chairs without the high backs to rest your head against. We decided to try and take naps anyways. I eventually ended up laying down on the floor there (which was essentially boards over the water), and managed to get a pretty decent nap. Trevor slept in the chair for a bit, but then the cavalcades started going by so he ended up taking some pictures.

It's not actually a bad spot to watch the parade from, if you've already seen it and don't want to be up with the crowds. Check it out next time!

We ended up staying there until a little after 3:30, so a little less than two hours. Not our favorite Tom Sawyer Island respite (#bringbacktherockingchairs), but we both did manage to get a nap in, so not too bad. In hindsight we probably should have gone back to the hotel and we would have been more comfortable, but we didn't end up crashing later, so it served it's purpose.

Tune in next time to see where we headed after our rest time! (Blame the picture limit!)

 

[vamassey1]

What a great morning in the MK. It really did look like you had the park to yourselves. All 4 mountains before 12 is great. Skipper Canteen is our go to lunch now too. Love the bread. We'll be eating there next month. I've never taken a nap on TSI but we're been none to do back to back COP to catch some zzzzzs.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Once we got into the park (at 7:15am), it didn't feel super crowded, and since we didn't have any huge rope drop plans, we were just enjoying hanging around and taking pics with the castle. We of course got some photopass pictures in the uncrowded hub.

I love that you still got there at the crack of dawn with no real plans...

Best roller coaster in the wilderness!!

That it is!!!

The way it worked out, we turned out to be the first people in line, walking through the queue right behind the CMs. Woot! I think this is the first time we've ever been first in line for a ride, actually. I did feel a little bad for some of the people who'd been waiting around with us who weren't paying attention and didn't realize that the ride had opened and were a bit further behind.

So weird that they didn't say something to the folks nicely waiting.

Empty loading area!

Amazin!!! One day...

We were 100% prepared for the picture this time! Still social distancing at this point, which we appreciated.

Best Pirate photo!

At this point, it was 9:30am exactly. We'd taken empty park pictures with the castle, and ridden Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion in a little less than 2 hours. Not too shabby! What to do next?

That is a pretty efficient morning!

off Mine Train at 11:35ish, and wandering around Fantasyland, we ran into Cinderella's stepsisters out by the Fairytale Hall line. They are HILARIOUS. We hung around for 5 minutes or so til they went back in line. Trevor even took a video of one of them telling us her idea for a new hotdog.

That video is hilarious. They are the best. I like them more than most of the princesses. They are just more fun.

I made myself comfortable, but they called us in after only 3 or 4 minutes -- we were seated even before our original reservation time! And we got seated in the Jungle Room!

Why do they always do this. It's going to be awhile and then seat you almost immediatly? So strange.

We should have ordered two of these -- the sauce is chimmicurri cream cheese, and it was delicious too. Highly recommend, even to the point of making a specific reservation just for the cheese bread!

I think the chimichuri sauce is what makes them! And they are my new favorite things here!

Tom Sawyer Island and the rocking chairs!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woot.

You guys crack me up with this! I don't think I could nap in public like that. But I am not a good napper in general. But I love it all the same!

 

[kclark9830]

Love those stained glass ears! And it sounds like a great MK morning .