We Ate, We Drank, We Conquered - An Aug/Sep '16 Dining Report - Complete 3/11

[ariane37]

Loved it the other day and love it now Please tell me in the second picture she was swinging from yours or Jason's hand, because all I see is poor Casey going down face first into the grass after one of you got the shot!

 

[Candycane83]

Hi everyone. Hopefully I'll get to post an update this weekend, but wanted to share some of Casey's Halloween pictures. She was "Captain America But a Girl" and as usual was quite enamored by herself. But being this cute, who wouldn't be?

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Sooo adorable!!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

She was "Captain America But a Girl" and as usual was quite enamored by herself. But being this cute, who wouldn't be?

I love the action shot. It makes her look like she can fly.

I think my granddaughter might have Casey beat when it comes to being enamored by herself.

 

[piccolopat]

I read they are letting adults get the pot roast, but sort can't help with the chicken. Though with no other chicken on the menu that may be hard.

There is grilled chicken listed with one of the pasta dishes. Because they already have it in the kitchen, I am hoping they can replace the salmon with the chicken in the colony salad.

 

[Xclusive2WDW]

Hi everyone. Hopefully I'll get to post an update this weekend, but wanted to share some of Casey's Halloween pictures. She was "Captain America But a Girl" and as usual was quite enamored by herself. But being this cute, who wouldn't be?

View attachment 205005 View attachment 205006

That is Hunny's FAVORITE superhero, OMG she is TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO adorable. I hope you all had a nice Halloween in DC, it finally did not rain on Oct 31 here in the mitt so woohoo!

 

[keahgirl8]

I love the action shot. It makes her look like she can fly.

I think my granddaughter might have Casey beat when it comes to being enamored by herself.

I wish I was still enamored with myself. When does this go away?

 

[kastoney]

Well isn't she adorable! I would want to wear that every day if I was her.

And of course she pretty much has since Halloween. I had to hide it from her for a few weeks so she didn't ruin it before the big day.

Loved it the other day and love it now Please tell me in the second picture she was swinging from yours or Jason's hand, because all I see is poor Casey going down face first into the grass after one of you got the shot!

Thanks! Nope that is all her. I wasn't even home yet when they took these. I didn't hear any horror stories of injuries, so I think all went well.

Sooo adorable!!!

Thanks!!!

I love the action shot. It makes her look like she can fly.

I think my granddaughter might have Casey beat when it comes to being enamored by herself.

Of course she can fly, she's Captain America. If of course Captain America can fly which I of course don't actually know ; ) Sounds like we need to get Casey and your granddaughter together. I can only fathom!!!

There is grilled chicken listed with one of the pasta dishes. Because they already have it in the kitchen, I am hoping they can replace the salmon with the chicken in the colony salad.

Ahh, missed that one

That is Hunny's FAVORITE superhero, OMG she is TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO adorable. I hope you all had a nice Halloween in DC, it finally did not rain on Oct 31 here in the mitt so woohoo!

Glad you all avoided the rain! It was a little chilly here, but a nice night. We warmed up with some wine while Casey trick or treated ; )

I wish I was still enamored with myself. When does this go away?

I don't think it goes away, I just think we become more enamored with wine

 

[kastoney]

Don't Call It A Comeback

Tonight was the dinner I was most excited about on the whole trip. Flying Fish has long been our favorite signature restaurant and after a long, long wait it was finally ready to host us again.


After a quick monorail ride to MK and a bus to the Boardwalk, we were soon being shepherded into the beauty that is the reimagined Flying Fish.

I thought the new decor was gorgeous and may even be the nicest inside of a Disney restaurant I've seen. It was very modern with clean lines and more refined than the old restaurant. They even had really cool tiny details, like our fish scale silverware.


While the restaurant was gorgeous our table left a bit to be desired. In what would be a theme of our trip, we were put in the very back corner of the restaurant.

This is obviously an after shot, but gives you a good feel for what Jason thought was clearly a fire hazard. Oh well, it made for interesting photos.


Ok, onto the main event. To start with Jason got a Funky Buddha beer.

I was thrilled to see they had one of my favorite white wines still on the menu and went with the Laurenz V. Gruner Veltliner.

I'm sure I've heralded this on the boards before because it is divine. If you've never had it, Gruner Veltliner is an Austrian wine that is similar to Sauvignon Blancs in that it is acidic, but usually has some citrus notes. This one in particular has grapefruit undertones and is so crisp it almost tastes like its carbonated. You must try it!

To eat we started with their revamped bread, which is baked with Nori in it.


This was pretty good, but the nori added a bit of a weird flavor. I definitely preferred the sourdough of the past. No worries though, copies amount of butter could cut through that seaweed either way.

There were lots of good sounding appetizer options, but I ultimately acquiesced my seafood lover card in favor of my pork loving husband for the Korobuta Pork Belly.

This is Pork Belly with a Shank Croquette, Royal Gala Apple Slaw, Bing Cherry Gastique, and Shirred Quail Egg. I have no idea what shirred means, but apparently it is code for delicious. The pork belly was essentially the best, most tender piece of bacon that was offset nicely by the crispy croquet filled with pork and sweet apple slaw. The egg, croquet, and gastrique were great accompaniments, but as you can see in the picture the ratio of pork belly to them was a little off. Regardless this was a great start to our meal.

As far as entree's Jason went with the Wood Fired Octopus, Chilean Sea Bass, and Rock Shrimp.

This was served with Bomba Arroz, Peruvian Sweet Peppers, and House-made Chorizo. I cannot overstate how exceptional this was. The octopus was perfectly charred and tender, as were the sea bass and shrimp. The rice was delicious as it had bits of peppers and chorizo mixed in. Jason declared this the the best meal he'd had in a long time (guess I better work on my quesadilla recipe some more). Plus it was great to see a new protein on a disney menu, though it appears online that they've replace the octopus with a prawn. Hopefully this is just temporary.

I went back and forth on the entree for Casey and me as everything sounded so good, but ultimately decided on the Maine Lobster Nero Pasta with Golden Tomato Sauce, Young Artichokes, Micro Lemon Grass.

First, as you can see this is absolutely gorgeous. Like almost too good to eat gorgeous. But with a hefty $64 price tag you can best believe I was gonna dig in. The lobster and squid ink pasta were cooked to perfection and they were swimming (pun intended) in the delicious tomato butter sauce that had artichokes and hints of fennel. This was the 3rd or 4th time I've had squid ink pasta and while its good, I really think its more of a novelty for the color because the flavor really isn't different. That said we both enjoyed this very much, but for $64 I don't think it was worth it. That doesn't discount the amazing flavor at all, but at $20 less Jason unquestionably had the better meal.

We skipped dessert because we had something special planned for the evening and just paid our check. Thanks to Tables in Wonderland we saved $36.00 (still have $102 to go until we break even). Thankfully the revamped Flying Fish may have looked different, but it continued to deliver the consistently delicious food we've come to love over the years. Bad table aside, we had a wonderful server (Brian from New Jersey), great drinks, and a quality family meal.

Up next, there aren't no party like an Ep-A-Cot party​

​

 

[kastoney]

Partyin' It Up Illuminations Style

After dinner we walked around the Boardwalk for a while and checked out a magic show before posing for some pics.

Soon our full bellies were able to make the walk over to Ep-A-Cot for a special Illuminations Dessert Party our Travel Agency was hosting. The dessert parties have never intrigued me much due to the large price tags (especially for kids), but they had a special for $25 that we couldn't pass up (plus of course I checked and there would be booze!)

The party was held in one of the areas on the water right outside the Italy Pavillion. The location was amazing and while I forgot to take a pic, here is one I lifted off the internet.


As far as the food, I didn't get a great picture but they had lots of cookies, cupcakes, tarts, and brownies as well as Mickey Ice Cream Bars.

And my plate

This was a red velvet "frozen" cupcake (hence the blue), key lime tart, and some kind of brownie that I no longer recollect. I was still pretty full from dinner so I just grazed a bit, but they were all delicious and fresh.

But of course I wasn't here for dessert, bring on the booze!

They had complementary champagne and apple cider, so of course I indulged to my little hearts content.

We enjoyed our desserts as we readied ourselves for Illuminations: Reflections of Earth (always cracks me up when they insist on saying that whole long name). Even better we were able to share a table with Caroline (aka @disneyAndi14) and her daughter and chat about their trip which was getting ready to come to an end. Unfortunately I forgot to grab a pick, but Caroline can vogue for me that it really did happen.

Our seats were great for illuminations and we really enjoyed the show. Even better they gave us these cool mickey glasses that made the fireworks turn to little mickeys.





I tried take a few through my camera to give you an idea of what they looked like.

After the show was over we got a double treat and were led to Soarin' for a private ride after park close. This was our first time on the revamped version and dare I say I loved it more than the original.

Overall the dessert party was a nice way to end the evening. The desserts themselves weren't anything special, but for $25 the seating and champagne made it worth it.

Up next, we indulge our inner ice cream addicts ​

 

[Xclusive2WDW]

That app looks APPsolutely wonderful. I would really like to try that. I'm glad to hear the quality and attention to detail is still in tact and we'll have to fit Flying Fish in on another trip. I've heard you rave about that wine before, it sounds very refreshing. Casey as always is just too cute!

 

[Wood Nymph]

To eat we started with their revamped bread, which is baked with Nori in it.

I have to agree with you about the nori. It doesn't seem like the right addition to a sour dough bread. It actually sounds like an experiment gone wrong.

As far as entree's Jason went with the Wood Fired Octopus, Chilean Sea Bass, and Rock Shrimp.

Jason's entree looks delicious. I would have ordered this, too.

How do you think Flying Fish stacks up against Narcoossee? We ate at Narcoossee for the first time last month we were not super impressed. First of all we like our signature dining to be a little quieter and more relaxing. This restaurant either had bad acoustics or noisy people or both. We had the Artisan Romaine salad, which was delicious, but the entrees were just okay. DH had the filet which wasn't amazing. But we are pretty spoiled with good beef here in the Midwest. So are standards are high. The almond encrusted cheesecake was amazing and the highlight of the meal along with the pressed pot of coffee. We might be hitting up the bar area for dessert on night when we are there in December.

 

[Wood Nymph]

After the show was over we got a double treat and were led to Soarin' for a private ride after park close. This was our first time on the revamped version and dare I say I loved it more than the original.

Overall the dessert party was a nice way to end the evening. The desserts themselves weren't anything special, but for $25 the seating and champagne made it worth it.

I would have gone to a dessert party for $25 if it included the booze, too. That sounds wonderful.

Did you know that you would be going to Soarin' ahead of time? That was a nice addition to the evening's event. I like the new Soarin' more than the original, too.

 

[Neverland_Girl]

Chilean sea bass is one of my all time favorite foods! I think I could even soldier through the octopus just for that dish. I find Illuminations a little boring, but those glasses look so cool. You should have just ordered a pizza from Via Napoli and eaten that as your desert I've never done Soarin' because I'm too impatient to wait in any line over 30 minutes, but everyone raves about the new version so I'll have to put it on my list for our upcoming trip!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Your meal at Flying Fish looks very delicious, maybe someday I will be able to enjoy a fancy dinner at Disney lol! Sorry you all had an odd back table! I thought the dessert party was good for the money as well. I am with you, I have never had an interest in them because of the cost, so this was very nice for the price. The magical moment of riding Soarin after the park closed was great. Andi loved the Mickey bars, of course! Again, so nice meeting you and your family, it is always fun to meet Disney loving people, and oh yeah people who love eating!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Looks like you had a great meal at Flying Fish as well! The pork belly is delicious! Your entrees look good as well but yeah - I feel you on your opinions on squid ink pasta!

Cute dessert party you were able to go to for a reasonable price. I'm sure you got your $25 worth of champagne + some

 

[princessemsmom]

$25 for unlimited champagne?!?! Sign me up! The dessert would be a bonus.

 

[Elevationist]

Side note when I looked online at the lunch menu just now it looks like they have really cut down the ala carte menu in favor of the all you can east feast they do at dinner time. Anyone heard of this????

Ohhh, I know all about this. Sadly, I didn't know until I opened the menu. What a mess!

Ya'll are hilarious!

While the restaurant was gorgeous our table left a bit to be desired. In what would be a theme of our trip, we were put in the very back corner of the restaurant.

Oh, on my recent trip, I got the bad table to end all bad tables... But it was towards the end of my trip, so it will be a while yet before that story surfaces in my trip report!

This is Pork Belly with a Shank Croquette, Royal Gala Apple Slaw, Bing Cherry Gastique, and Shirred Quail Egg. I have no idea what shirred means, but apparently it is code for delicious. The pork belly was essentially the best, most tender piece of bacon that was offset nicely by the crispy croquet filled with pork and sweet apple slaw. The egg, croquet, and gastrique were great accompaniments, but as you can see in the picture the ratio of pork belly to them was a little off. Regardless this was a great start to our meal.

Drooling over here for real, though.

After the show was over we got a double treat and were led to Soarin' for a private ride after park close. This was our first time on the revamped version and dare I say I loved it more than the original.

I agree! It was awesome before, but it's SUPER awesome now!

 

[bama belle]

Hi Stranger!!!! How have you been? Haven't seen you on here for a while!

Awesome we'll be there at the same time. What days are you going to be there? We'll be there 3-11 staying at AKL until I change my mind again (apologies in advance to the awesome travel agent that is @ariane37)

Hi!! I've been on here more recently since I started planning this trip but between my 12 hour work shifts and my kids' after school activities, I don't last too long before I'm ready to pass out and go to bed!

We fly in early on the 3rd and will be staying at AS Sports for the first few days during competition time. I'm hoping to maybe sneak in some park time that first day while the kids are off practicing and before my husband and son come in on a later flight that afternoon. Otherwise, we won't go to a park until Monday, after the competition ends on Sunday

Then, we will move to the family suite on the 7th and flying out on the 11th. Just realized we have the exact same dates! I hear you on resort changes- this started out as a mother/daughter trip but has turned into a family vacation so I changed us from POFQ to the family suite, but I am mourning not staying at a deluxe and have been thisclose to switching us to a WL BB room or the Poly, but I just can't give up that extra bedroom and bathroom with a teen and tween!

And the kicker to this whole trip is since we are getting our tickets through the dance package deal, we won't be able to make any fast passes until we actually arrive at the resort and check in!!

 

[Terra Nova guy]

This is obviously an after shot, but gives you a good feel for what Jason thought was clearly a fire hazard. Oh well, it made for interesting photos.

How bizarre. It really looks like a corner that was never intended for a table, but someone said, oh, just stick a table there, it'll be fine.

There were lots of good sounding appetizer options, but I ultimately acquiesced my seafood lover card in favor of my pork loving husband for the Korobuta Pork Belly.

I would have to go with the pork too. Despite being from the northeast coast, I am not much of a seafood lover, outside of the occasional fish & chips. The pork app looks fantastic.

As far as the food, I didn't get a great picture but they had lots of cookies, cupcakes, tarts, and brownies as well as Mickey Ice Cream Bars.

I've never been sure about these dessert parties (especially at full price), but I admit to having a sweet tooth. I could probably get my moneys worth if I ate lightly that day.

Even better they gave us these cool mickey glasses that made the fireworks turn to little mickeys.

Very cool. I read about these somewhere, but couldn't picture what they did. Good to see you had pictures of the Mickeys.

 

[pepperandchips]

Ugh! Can't believe I'm over two weeks and six pages late to this party! Oh well, better late than never amirite?!

Our trip was from August 24th through September 3rd and was for a whopping 11 days at the Polynesian!!!!

SO JEALOUS! I am staying at the Poly for the first time (woo hoo!) in a DVC studio in March for a long weekend with a friend so I will be taking notes on how to maximize the fun (and bevs)

as usual made very few ADR's and just let our tastebuds and restaurants with last minute availability lead the way.

Is there any other way for you?

So excited in fact that Jason and I even jumped into the character mix.

Adorable family photo! I see that everyone behaved when meeting the Big Cheese...

These hit the proverbial its 10pm and I'm freakin' hungry spot

This is Pulled Pork on a Pineapple-Coconut Bun with Cheddar, Asian Slaw, Cucumbers, and Tomatoes.

This looks SO GOOD! Definitely on my "to do" list. You had me at pineapple-coconut bun.

After all those people she finally let us adults get a few rides in, including my beloved Pooper. For those just joining us, on our first trip Casey for some reason thought the People Mover was called the Pooper. We never corrected her and to this day, so has no clue it isn't called that. Not sure what were gonna tell her when she can finally read

Still my favorite story about my favorite attraction, and yes, I call it the Pooper at least in my head now too!

OOEY GOOEY TOFFEE CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!! Words would pale in comparison to how good this is, so I'll just let your eyes and taste buds insert your own adjectives here.

NOMMMM. Gotta try this eventually. They do need beer so you could just stop in for dessert and drinks

Hi everyone. Hopefully I'll get to post an update this weekend, but wanted to share some of Casey's Halloween pictures. She was "Captain America But a Girl" and as usual was quite enamored by herself. But being this cute, who wouldn't be?

So stinkin cute. Did Jason take these? The photos look great and very professional.

I'm sure I've heralded this on the boards before because it is divine. If you've never had it, Gruner Veltliner is an Austrian wine that is similar to Sauvignon Blancs in that it is acidic, but usually has some citrus notes. This one in particular has grapefruit undertones and is so crisp it almost tastes like its carbonated. You must try it!

I love Kari's sommelier school. Definitely learning a lot about wine from your TRs!

Jason declared this the the best meal he'd had in a long time (guess I better work on my quesadilla recipe some more).

HAHA! Well, his dinner does look fabulous and I'm sure your quesadillas are quite suitable for non-Disney dining.

it continued to deliver the consistently delicious food we've come to love over the years.

Thank goodness! I had read a few negative reviews but I am so looking forward to trying the renewed version of Flying Fish. It's actually our New Year's Eve destination.