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

[Candycane83]

Oh wow! You make me regret not making a reservation at Yatchmans! Great mouth watering review!!

 

[ariane37]

I wonder, did the fact that they kept seating you in the far back maybe tell you something
Oh, and no such thing as too much frosting on anything, ever!
Casey looks adorable doing her Jedi training, something my boys have never done since SW is a foreign subject to them. However we did stop and watch the Stormtroopers March yesterday and Ricky actually seemed interested in it and I thought it was cool, although until that point I had no idea they worked for Darth Vader. Or followed him. Or whatevs.
We also walked by Yachtsman tonight and I commented to Steve that we need to get back there! Those rolls with the garlic cloves were heaven, not to mention the steak Other than Kona you guys are doing pretty good!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Thanks for all the updates - I had fun catching up! Casey continues to be the cutest from her Jedi battle, to snooze on the bus, to bartending skills, to cupcake glory. I expect the Jedi academy will get a new spot in "Star Wars land" whenever that opens.

I've only dined at Kona once (dinner) and similarly didn't have a great experience. Such a shame.

Glad you got to return to 50's and got some redeeming service. But what's up with the table assignments?? I haven't eaten in the restaurant proper in quite some time but enjoy the Tune In Lounge - when you can get a seat. Wish they'd separate the waiting area and the lounge!

All hail the glorious onion roll!!! Those babies are so good. I agree Yachtsman is one of my favorites - consistently so good. Will make a note on the wine- you haven't steered me wrong yet! I said in my last comment but you really should check out Crews Cup too - there's also a window into the "butcher room" and food so good. They have a separate menu but in slower times I've heard some have been able to order off Yachtsman menu. I've never tried but think I may try to order onion rolls next time!

 

[Lisa F]

Oh wow! You make me regret not making a reservation at Yatchmans! Great mouth watering review!!

lol I was about to say the same thing... she is making me sad we are not doing yachtsman. There is an ADR available on our first night but we'd give up Sanaa and it would add another stop since we are staying at AKL. hmmmmm

 

[Vernie822]

Love Yachtsman, always!! Trying to get back there, but we definitely want to try the new Flying Fish. That filet looks spectacular!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Your description of those steaks is making me drool! We're going to have to make it there one of these days for sure

 

[Ritchielace]

Entertaining and mouthwatering TR as always. Those wings look delicious but from what i have been reading not worth the wait Are they in the Tambu lounge too?Very late to the party but can't wait to get all caught up

 

[anniebean]

Just now getting caught up, but OH MY GOSH!! We had Marnie at 50's Prime Time a couple of weeks ago!! She is fabulous! She made my daughter stick her nose to the wall for using a "walkie talkie." I think she realized by the end of the meal that my daughter is the reason I drink (she's a teenager).

 

[pepperandchips]

Freshly back at the Dis after my amazing Cali trip. Loved your recommendations and will have to do a little write up over on the California & The West boards in case anyone else wonders where to go in the future. I saw on another thread we both follow that you are planning another possible wine trip in September so I would love to hear all about that one! The best way to recover from vacation withdrawals is to read about someone else's... Well, okay no the best thing would be to go on another one. But I digress....

Yachtsman looks divine! I totally agree on the bone marrow. Meat butter heaven. It's weird though, the biggest reason we haven't made it to Yachtsman yet is because their steaks are served sort of a la carte... and I am one of those people who loves tasting all the different side items so it would cost a fortune for me to order everything I want to try there! Maybe I will convince R to go there someday and split one steak and all the sides The mashed potato review certainly doesn't help with my accompaniment envy!!!

 

[momof3princes]

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Yachtsman looked so good, with my meat lover boys that is going to have to be on the list for the next trip

 

[cinderkelly]

Yachtsman steakhouse. Meat =awesome!! I need steak like now!

 

[kristie73]

Great review of Yachtsman. I love a good filet, but I think I would have preferred it with the potatoes. Sounds delicious though.

 

[lizzyshakuntala]

Following along! I just finished reading your entire report up until Yachtsman... made for a very good bed time read, but then I got hungry and had to walk to the kitchen for some snacks

Yachtsman is one of our favorites on the property and DH adores their steaks.
Can't wait to have another dinner there! Well well I guess we just have to be veeeerrrryyy patient about that!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Love the review of the Yachtsman! I agree that those potatoes are some of the best and the pull apart rolls need no explanation! I haven't been in several years but it may be time to head back soon!

 

[luv2tvl]

I am loving your review(s)!!! It's been a slow week at work so I'm binging on a few of your reviews and you are awesome!
I think we were separated at birth! LOL
I also have an only child (she's 10) and she has always said some of the same funny things like "drunk on a plane" and "mommy juice". She also is one of the few kids I know that LOVES sushi!
Keep up the great work - loving the report!!

 

[kastoney]

Yum, yum on that meal. One day, we'll get there. Maybe on an adults only trip or after my boys are older bc they would never be proper enough for Yachtsman in their current state...lol.

Casey would never be proper either were it not for her magical iPad

Oh my goodness, I'm so far behind! Loving the food, the pics and the fun!
There is yachtsman again! I'm searching my app now for my Feb trip!
I was laughing out loud to your meal planning! My mother still yells at me because as I'm finishing my last bite from one meal I'm planning the next! And snacks of course!!! Lol! She doesn't get it!

If you can get to Yachtsman it most definitely will not disappoint!!!!!! I'm not sure if we're going on our next trip or not because my brother will be with us and he is only a chicken and seafood kinda guy.

Yeah, our lives totally revolve around food, food, and more food. Haven't even had breakfast yet and I'm already wondering what we are doing for dinner

Good wine, good steak, good bone marrow! Why would he go with potato gratin over that? Crazy Crazy Man! Glad you had a great meal! Looks super yummy! Your bone marrow does seem like heaven on a bone!

Good life!!!! I know Jason is crazy on the bone marrow. No chance I could ever pass it up. So glad they let us play side item roulette.

You are having the worst luck with the table assignments on this trip. I hope the service was okay.

By the way, you can watch the butcher carving the steaks from Crews Cup lounge. That carving room has a window in the lounge and a table that sits right up to the window. A lot of people avoid that seat but we don't mind looking at slabs of meat.

Yes, I didn't mention it but the service was very good. I forget our waiters name, but he had been at Yachtsman for almost 20 years.

Oh that is good to know on Crews Cup. Between the meat slab views and their burger, not sure how we can not go.

I'm having trouble figuring out what kind of plate this is served on, but otherwise it looks good. I could see where ricotta would make a better choice, as a filling, though.

I don't remember what the plate was like, but looking at it it appears to be a flattened pice of coal

Yes, 7th Sister is only in the Star Wars Rebels cartoon show. At least so far. With all these new movies they keep adding characters from comics and books, so who knows where she might turn up. The timeline would fit in well with Rogue One (yes, I realize my geek is showing).

Yeah, I totally can't keep up anymore. Of course I also barely remember the names of the original characters let alone the new ones. Jason mentioned the new movie coming out and I commented I didn't think it was until next year. I had no idea they are now fractioning it to fast forwards and flash sideways and backwards craziness. Too much!!!!

I've never tried it, but I've seen it more than once in different reports. I'll have to give it a go someday, somewhere. Maybe if I ever get to Yachtsman. I don't believe any local restaurants where I live have it on their menu.

If you ever see it its a must try. It's not on a ton of menus but we encounter it every once in a while around here. In fact I had some just a few weeks ago when our favorite restaurant had a venison osso bucco and you could eat the bone barrow out of it. So good.

Oh wow! You make me regret not making a reservation at Yatchmans! Great mouth watering review!!

Mouth watering is an understatement

I wonder, did the fact that they kept seating you in the far back maybe tell you something

It probably should. I think they can all read here come too boozers and a tired kid, we must keep them away from everyone

Casey looks adorable doing her Jedi training, something my boys have never done since SW is a foreign subject to them. However we did stop and watch the Stormtroopers March yesterday and Ricky actually seemed interested in it and I thought it was cool, although until that point I had no idea they worked for Darth Vader. Or followed him. Or whatevs.

Casey has totally embraced Star Wars despite never seeing a movie. I think she likes it because Daddy thinks its cool and we have 2.5 seconds left until that goes away

And the stormtroopers march is totally cool, even for us non-Star Wars grinches. Dark side or not, its an imposing site to see.

We also walked by Yachtsman tonight and I commented to Steve that we need to get back there! Those rolls with the garlic cloves were heaven, not to mention the steak Other than Kona you guys are doing pretty good!

How does one walk by Yachtsman and not dive right in there And yes we are doing pretty darn good. With one mild exception to come, we were hitting on all dining cylinders this trip.

Thanks for all the updates - I had fun catching up! Casey continues to be the cutest from her Jedi battle, to snooze on the bus, to bartending skills, to cupcake glory. I expect the Jedi academy will get a new spot in "Star Wars land" whenever that opens.

Thanks. She is pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. I do hope the academy gets a new home in star wars land. This was just brutal. Of course Casey will probably be 21 and could care less by the time that happens

Glad you got to return to 50's and got some redeeming service. But what's up with the table assignments?? I haven't eaten in the restaurant proper in quite some time but enjoy the Tune In Lounge - when you can get a seat. Wish they'd separate the waiting area and the lounge!

Yeah despite the table, 50's was great. But I'm totally with you on tune in lounge. I went in there to grab a beer on another trip and it took me a good 10 minutes to even get someones attention. Definitely need to separate it from the waiting area.

All hail the glorious onion roll!!! Those babies are so good. I agree Yachtsman is one of my favorites - consistently so good. Will make a note on the wine- you haven't steered me wrong yet! I said in my last comment but you really should check out Crews Cup too - there's also a window into the "butcher room" and food so good. They have a separate menu but in slower times I've heard some have been able to order off Yachtsman menu. I've never tried but think I may try to order onion rolls next time!

Yeah, I think I've seen the wine at Jiko too. Definitely a must try. Yeah, we most definitely need to try Crews Cup. Not sure we'll get there next trip (have my brother with us and a list of requests from him already) but hopefully we'll get there on another time.

 

[kastoney]

Love Yachtsman, always!! Trying to get back there, but we definitely want to try the new Flying Fish. That filet looks spectacular!

Yeah, think we'll do one of the two on our next trip. Likely Flying Fish because we'll have my no beef eating brother with us. Oh the sacrilege!!!

Your description of those steaks is making me drool! We're going to have to make it there one of these days for sure

You must. I'm totally in the that is an insane amount of money to pay for something I can buy for less than $10 in the store camp, but then you taste it and totally understand what a steak is really supposed to taste like.

Entertaining and mouthwatering TR as always. Those wings look delicious but from what i have been reading not worth the wait Are they in the Tambu lounge too?Very late to the party but can't wait to get all caught up

Thanks and welcome. Yeah I understand the wings are the same ones they serve at Ohana and Tambu lounge. They were good, but certainly not worth the hype.

Just now getting caught up, but OH MY GOSH!! We had Marnie at 50's Prime Time a couple of weeks ago!! She is fabulous! She made my daughter stick her nose to the wall for using a "walkie talkie." I think she realized by the end of the meal that my daughter is the reason I drink (she's a teenager).

a
Wow, that is awesome you all had Marine too!!!! She was certainly fabulous. I think Casey would have fainted if she'd been called out for her walkie talkie

Freshly back at the Dis after my amazing Cali trip. Loved your recommendations and will have to do a little write up over on the California & The West boards in case anyone else wonders where to go in the future. I saw on another thread we both follow that you are planning another possible wine trip in September so I would love to hear all about that one! The best way to recover from vacation withdrawals is to read about someone else's... Well, okay no the best thing would be to go on another one. But I digress....

Welcome back!!!! So glad to hear your trip was amazing!!! Please send the write-up link if you do it. I'd love to read all about what you all did.

Yeah, I think we are headed to Sonoma in September. No plans as of yet, but its our 10th anniversary and right now Sonoma is leading the pack.

Yachtsman looks divine! I totally agree on the bone marrow. Meat butter heaven. It's weird though, the biggest reason we haven't made it to Yachtsman yet is because their steaks are served sort of a la carte... and I am one of those people who loves tasting all the different side items so it would cost a fortune for me to order everything I want to try there! Maybe I will convince R to go there someday and split one steak and all the sides The mashed potato review certainly doesn't help with my accompaniment envy!!!

Yeah the Yacthsman sides are definitely something to behold. The ones that come with the steaks are good too (bone marrow I'm looking at you), but its hard to pass up the creamed spinach or the truffled mac and cheese or just about anything else

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Yachtsman looked so good, with my meat lover boys that is going to have to be on the list for the next trip

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving too. Our was very nice. Had an early and quiet family dinner then spent the evening with some friends and a steelers victory!

Yachtsman steakhouse. Meat =awesome!! I need steak like now!

Meat does = awesome, especially when its Yachtsman meat

Great review of Yachtsman. I love a good filet, but I think I would have preferred it with the potatoes. Sounds delicious though.

The potatoes were darn good. I'm just a sucker for all things bone marrow!

Following along! I just finished reading your entire report up until Yachtsman... made for a very good bed time read, but then I got hungry and had to walk to the kitchen for some snacks

Glad you enjoyed. Hope the snacks were good and you saved some for me

Love the review of the Yachtsman! I agree that those potatoes are some of the best and the pull apart rolls need no explanation! I haven't been in several years but it may be time to head back soon!

You must go back soon. It is oh so good. I can hear the potatoes and rolls calling your name now, Vicki, Vicki, Vicki

I am loving your review(s)!!! It's been a slow week at work so I'm binging on a few of your reviews and you are awesome!
I think we were separated at birth! LOL
I also have an only child (she's 10) and she has always said some of the same funny things like "drunk on a plane" and "mommy juice". She also is one of the few kids I know that LOVES sushi!
Keep up the great work - loving the report!!

Wow, anything I can do to help work go by faster I'm all for Sounds like our awesome drunkin' parenting skills would be good compliments to each other. And the kids could enjoy slushi while we drank

 

[kastoney]

Happy Trails To You

After our epic carnivore feast, we took the opportunity to sleep in the next morning but eventually the Polynesian disney hunger gods started calling our names. We'd booked an ADR for Trails End, which I was really excited about after years of reading @jerseytinkerbell (aka Jeri's) amazing reviews. I was also thrilled as we were supposed to be getting there just about the time @ariane37 (aka Ariane) and her hubby were finishing up. Of course the key word here is supposed because Ariane learned that in our family time is really just a suggestion and instead of meeting I think we were literally two ships passing on the bay lake version of night. Good news is we'd see each other later that day, plus it was a lovely day for a boat ride.


Needless to say we were late (as usual) to our ADR, but after a quick round of horseshoes we were seated.

And after 5 days in the world, you'll be shocked to learn that our seat was in fact in the back corner of the restaurant right by the emergency exit again. Maybe this is our penance for being late Speaking of being late we waited and waited and waited some more for our server. Casey even tried ordering from this guy, but apparently he was just into hanging around.


Eventually he showed up and took our drink orders (you'll be shocked to see what they are) before we headed to the buffet. On Sunday's trails end does a brunch vice breakfast, so the buffet was filled with both morning and lunchtime goodies. Please do enjoy the obligatory buffet photos.






Needless to say Trails End had a ton of options. And I didn't even get the carving station with roasted turkey and smoked bacon or the dessert area.

Now for our plates. Casey went with some Mickey waffles with blueberry syrup, breakfast pizza, watermelon, scrambled eggs, and of course bacon (her plate would have been all bacon had I not intervened)


I started off with biscuits and gravy, Smoked Pork Eggs Benedict, Grits, and French Toast Bread Pudding.

In order the biscuits and gravy were very good. The biscuit nice and fluffy and the gravy good and peppery. I hadn't eaten this in years so it was quite the indulgence. I also enjoyed the eggs benedict as the pork was tender and had amazing flavor. My only complaints (cause what is one of my dining reviews without complaints) were that the egg was a bit overcooked and it had no muffin or other carb like substance with it but I just ate it with the biscuit. Also in the complaint department the grits were definitely instant and rather cold and in need of some salt. But in the complete opposite direction the french toast bread pudding was AH-MAZ-ING!!! Imagine moist french toast, combined with some cream cheese, and topped with a delicious praline sauce. It was just like being in New Orleans. In fact it was so good some not to be named 5 year old kept helping herself to it.

To wash all of our goodness down, Jason and I both got a couple of Bloody Mary's. I went with the old fashioned vodka kind, but Jason got one made from moonshine. I guess when in trails end...


Mine was the standard disney version, but it hit the proverbial bloody spot. Strangely despite being $3 more, Jason's moonshine one tasted exactly the same as mine. Oh well, it was 10 am and we were drinking so no complaints there.

For round two Casey took on the dessert station....

....While I wanted to try some of their lunch options. Unfortunately most of them didn't look too appetizing as they clearly hadn't been touched much yet, so I just stuck with the fried chicken.

The chicken was pretty much the same as we'd had at Hoop Dee Doo before. The breading was a bit thicker than I like and it didn't have a ton of flavor, but a few shots of tobacco helped that out. Of course I had to also help myself to more of the delicious bread pudding and I also tried some apple cobbler. The ladder wasn't very warm, but had good flavor. Definitely homemade.

We had to wait forever for our waiter to bring our checks, but eventually we finished up and rolled our full bellies out of there. Overall, we really enjoyed Trails End and I"m sure we'll be back again some time. While Jason prefers Tusker House for breakfast and I prefer The Wave (largely because of their bloody mary, don't judge) it was definitely in our top 3 of Disney breakfast buffets which for a family that doesn't like buffets is saying a lot. With our Tables in Wonderland card we saved $15.50. Just 5 buckaroo's until we break even and we're only half way through the trip

After lunch we slowly made our way through Ft. Wilderness and enjoyed taking a few pictures along the way.


We intended to head back to the Poly for some pool time, but the lure of MK was just too much and we headed in for a while. Casey was in full on autograph mode and she had a great time filling her book up.




We also battled with a pirates, cruised through the jungle, and eventually flew our magic carpets back to the Poly...

... just before the skies opened up and our pool hopes were out the window. Oh well, we had quite the evening ahead of us.

Up next, oh oh oh I wanna be like you, ou, ou ​

 

[ArielSRL]

Love the review. We will be hitting up that brunch in June! Being from the South, I'm a huge biscuits and gravy kind of gal...so yum on that! I am not a French toast fan (cinnamon is not something on my like list) but with the addition of some cream cheese and praline sauce, I may have to try it! Looking forward to all the options, both breakfast and lunch! It will be our departure day, so I am not sure I'll be able to indulge in the Bloody Mary....so sad.

Glad you got some MK time in before the sky's opened up!

 

[Vernie822]

That bread pudding is what dreams are made of!!! I have tried a few times to get to Trails End, but we just haven't done it yet. Everything looks great!