We must look like Bread Lovers – A Dining Report - Complete!

kristenhh

Why can't we go to DL for EVERY vacation?
Joined
Sep 30, 2005
We had a few goals for this trip:

1. Celebrate my husband’s Birthday and help him forget he is turning the big 50 on this trip.

2. Enjoy time with our cast member daughter who lives here.

3. Do it for practically nothing!

We did pretty good on all of them. Let’s start with #3. How can we do it for practically nothing you ask? Well you really need to have a cast member family member. She could get the 3 of us (Me, Husband, 17 y/o son) into the parks for free.

We could have stayed at her apartment for free, but her roommates might not like that, so my husband started looking at paying for a hotel with points we had accrued. We found a great deal at the WDW Dolphin Hotel. We have never stayed here, but have always wanted to stay in the Epcot resort area, so we were very excited. We had to make 2 reservations using 2 sources for points, but we were able to get a room totally covered by points.

Now for flights. We had done a deal to get a Southwest credit card, which gave us a lot of points, and a companion pass for a year, so one of us can always fly free. We have one child still at home, and even though it will be the beginning of the school year, we decided to pull him out and take him with us. Southwest actually started a direct flight from our home town to Orlando- which is the best thing ever- and I was able to cover two flights, with the third one free with the points I had. So the flights are free – and a direct flight!

So really, the only big cost left is food. Again, we are lucky to have a CM daughter, who just happened to save her Holiday discount coupons from last Christmas, and they are still good. These are coupons that are good for 50%, 40%, and 30% off at most table service restaurants. AND there is a whole list of restaurants that she always gets a 40% discount at. So we tried to plan all of our meals at discount places, or where she could use a coupon. We had a great plan, but then the season changed, and the places she could get 40% off changed, and then they shortened the places she could use her coupons. So we had to make some adjustments. The worst was Le Cellier had to be cut. I know not everyone loves Le Cellier, but I do. I have always had an outstanding meal there. It is my favorite restaurant in the world. Not Disneyworld – THE WORLD. But we would have to pay full price, and this trip is about bargains. And it’s not my Birthday.

Here's all the places we ate:

Wolfgang Puck Express
Trail’s End Brunch
Backlot Express
Boma (dinner)
Kona Café (lunch)
Flying Fish
F&W Festival (lunch)
La Cantina de San Angel (dinner)
Be Our Guest (lunch)
Jiko
Coral Reef
F&W (dinner)
Beaches & Cream (dessert)
Skipper’s Canteen
Liberty Tree Tavern (dinner)
Satuli
Yak & Yeti


I will concentrate on the food, with some trip details and some pictures thrown in.
 
Arrival Day – September 14 - Wolfgang Puck Express

We enjoyed having a direct flight all the way from Sacramento. We arrived at about 7 pm Florida time, but to us it felt like 4 pm – the perfect time for dinner. We had originally planned to try and get in the Airport lounge and eat some free dinner, but my daughter took off work early and came and got us so we decided to go eat at Disney Springs, which had not been on our original plan.

Birthday boy wanted WPE, so that is where we went. Now a side note, and really the only bad element of our trip: IT WAS SO HOT. Everywhere we walked it was hot, humid and awful. Note to selves: NEVER EVER GO IN THE SUMMER AGAIN.

Moving on. We have been to WPE numerous times and it never disappoints. We had a Margherita Pizza, a Cheese Pizza, Meat loaf and the BBQ chicken salad. All were very good. I had originally ordered the salad, and I carefully read the description which does not mention cilantro anywhere. Why you ask? Because I hate it so very much. So there I was enjoying my salad when all of the sudden I had a bite that tasted horrible. Cilantro! It’s really the worst. I tried to find bites without it, but soon my nice husband, who likes the vile stuff, grabbed my salad, and gave me his meatloaf plate. We were planning on sharing anyway, but he is the best! Everyone shared some, and we had a great meal. The total cost was $49.42 which included a $11.60 CM discount.

After a long day, we were ready to get to the hotel and sleep. My daughter dropped us off at the Dolphin, and my husband went to check us in. We had reserved with points a room with double beds, and had asked to be close to the bus stop and boat dock. I was really hoping for a King bed room instead, but we got room 1028 in the East wing.

I think it was an upgrade because we had a patio with a table and 2 chairs. And we could see the boat dock. But there was no exit from the building anywhere to get out near our room. So being near the boat dock, didn’t really help in getting to the boat dock. However, my clever 17 year old, became a master of setting the dropping lock on our sliding glass door just right, then after we went out the sliding glass door, he would thunk the door with his fist (like Fonzie), and the look would fall into place! It only worked for leaving, but not coming home.

The room was nice, and we could set the AC to super cool, and it was a lovely place to come back to, which we did every afternoon, because we couldn’t take being outside any more. There was also plenty of room for the air mattress that we used for my son, because there was no way me and my husband were sharing 1 double bed. Sorry kid!
 
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Looks like a great plan! I’m hoping to stay at the Dolphin next fall with points so I look forward to hearing if you liked it.
 


Day 1 – September 15 – Birthday Day - Trail's End Brunch, Backlot Express & Boma

Our daughter picked us up and we headed to Ft. Wilderness for our Trail’s End brunch to start off Birthday day. We parked in the main parking lot, then hopped a bus to Pioneer Hall where Trail’s End is located. We were seated quickly and enjoyed a nice breakfast. Look I took a picture of my plate! But apparently the pictures aren't working...

http://s1073.photobucket.com/user/kristenhh/media/Trails End.jpg.html

We enjoyed the food, tasty juice, and even a diet coke for the road. The total cost was $81.90 including the tip. The CM discount was 40% here which saved us $40. For all of these places, they automatically added an 18% tip before the discount is applied.

We headed over to Hollywood Studios – this was our only day scheduled here, and Touring Plans had predicted that crowd levels would be a 1 out of 10. In my opinion, it was much more crowded than that. We weren’t able to get a Slinky Dog Fast pass, but I wasn’t worried because the crowds would be so log. Nope. And it was hot, did I mention that? We rode the rides we liked and used our fastpasses, but then we got hungry. The original plan had been just to get a snack to tide us over, but my husband had decided just before we left that we should try the Brown Derby lounge and just split some items. That sounded like a good idea, but when we walked by, it was outside and there wasn’t any good shade. He re-evaluated his priorities and decided we needed to eat somewhere with AC.

We took a shot and tried to see if Sci-Fi would take us. Nope. Finally, he decided a salad sounded good, and we decided to try the Backlot Express which had inside seating.

It was crazy finding a table, but we did and I ordered the food. We got a Royal Guard Burger, Chicken Nuggets and French fries, and a Galactic Salad with Chicken. They also have refillable soda here which we really needed.

Everything here was okay, except for the chicken that came with the salad. And the fact that they give no discounts here. Not even for a Disney Visa. Disneyland CS places pretty much all give you at least 10% if you have a Disney Visa.

Back to the salad chicken. My husband said it was probably the worst chicken he had ever had. So overcooked you couldn’t really even chew it. We donated chicken nuggets to his salad and it was much better.


It was too hot to do anything else in the park, so we headed back to the hotel for a break in the nice air conditioning.

Birthday dinner was at Boma tonight. We always enjoy our meals at Boma, and it did not disappoint! The carved meats were good, but the real winners here are the side dishes: soups, salads, mashed potatoes, etc. They also had some really tasty corn polenta with spinach. I still miss the bread pudding they used to serve. We are not Zebra dome lovers – they are okay – and none of the desserts they have really sparkle in my opinion. And I don’t like the trend to mini desserts, but maybe that is just me.

The cost including tip and discount was $128.25, and the discount saved us $90. After the trip, my husband said this was his favorite meal of the trip, which was good, since he picked it for this Birthday dinner.
 
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Day 2 – September 16 – Kona Café & Flying Fish

We woke up early and went to church with my daughter, and we were ready for lunch! We had been to the Kona Café many years ago for breakfast, and were excited to try it for lunch. The menu has more variety than a lot of places, and our son is a big sushi fan, so it seemed like a good choice. My husband and I had made a plan to get the Asian Stir Fry and Pork Belly Noodle bowl and share them. However, when I read the description of the Noodle Bowl on the menu, I was skeptical because I had been to a restaurant once and ordered something similar, and it was almost entirely broth, with a few things in it. Now I am not opposed to soup, but what I really wanted was a bowl of noodles. So I asked the waitress about it, and she said that she found that most people don’t like it. So I went with the Asian Stir fry so my husband could have some, thinking he would get something else, but he ordered the same thing. I may have gone with a different choice, if I had known, but the Asian Stir Fry was delicious.

Our daughter had the Island Style Burger. I had a bite when she was done – by the way it is huge, and I don’t know if it could fit in anyone’s mouth- and it was fantastic. The Pineapple bun was especially tasty. My son had the large sushi sampler. He thought this was only okay. He is more used to sushi rolls, and a lot of this was just big pieces of fish. He ate it all, but is just wasn’t that exciting to him. Luckily there was plenty of stir fry and burger left for him to fill up on!

Before our entrees came, the waitress brought us out 4 rolls and some macadamia butter. The rolls were nice and soft, but the clear winner was the butter! So when the waitress came back, we asked for more butter. When she came back, she brought some more butter, and another plate with like 6 rolls. We didn’t think much of it then, but this will crop up again…

We also ordered the pot stickers and sticky wings as an appetizer. Neither of these things were impressive, but they weren’t bad. I guess we just have too many good Asian restaurants by us and we are spoiled.

We only had one issue with Kona, we were in a booth at the back, and there was a strong smell of old urine. We didn’t want to make any trouble, so I figured I would just tell the people at the front discreetly when we were leaving. However, as we passed the passageway to the kitchen, we smelled it again. It looked like it was the scent of their mopping bucket or cleaning solution they were using. It was awful, but we realized it wasn’t unique to our table, so we just left. Our meal cost $92.11, including the pre-discounted tip, and we saved $44.99 off of the original bill.

After lunch we had planned to go to Animal Kingdom and do some mellow things like see the animals. But oh my goodness, it was “I might be dying” hot. We walked into the park and already felt done. Thank goodness I had purchased some cooling towels. They helped a lot, but it was still too hot. We decided to see Finding Nemo, the musical, where it would be nice and cool. I love that show!

After the show, the heat wasn’t any better, and there was no way we wanted to do more walking, so we caught the bus back to our hotel and hung out. We pretty much did this every afternoon to cool down.

Dinner was new restaurant for us – The Flying Fish at the Boardwalk. My husband and I again had had a plan to order two different things, and share them, but they no longer had the short rib on the menu.

We just missed the boat from our hotel, so we decided to walk. It is not a bad walk at all, but it was still too hot. When I saw that the boat dock was right by the Flying fish, I wished I had waited for the next boat.

We were seated at a table in the very back of the restaurant. It would have been nice to have a Boardwalk view, and there were lots of empty tables, but I didn’t know to ask, but I probably would next time. The restaurant was very nice and the silverware handles looked like fish scales.

My son is the only fish eater in the family – except for grandparents – we aren’t quite sure what happened to him, but the waiter talked him in to the Sea Bass. He liked it, but said really the fish wasn’t very flavorful. I told him he picked badly, because the rest of us had the Wagyu Filet Mignon. Every bite was like heaven. It was every bit as good as Le Cellier’s filet, so I felt much better because we had had to take that off our plans. It had a little bit of risotto with it (not quite enough, in my opinion) and some asparagus and it was out of this world good. My husband also had a Burrata salad as an appetizer, and it was also tasty. So far all of the signature places I have been to have excellent Filet Mignon. I would definitely come back here, even though sea food is their specialty, and we are not sea food people. Well except for the weird one. Just kidding. Kind of. This was one of our priciest meals at $199.41 with tip, but we did save $97.40 with my daughter’s wonderful 40% discount.

Since we hadn’t done much today, we decided to go to Epcot and get some French Bakery things for breakfast the next day and a salted caramel ice cream cone from France that my daughter has been telling me about for years. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint! We found a bench not to far down from France, where we could see Illuminations, and ate our ice cream while we were waiting for it to start. We started feeling some drops of rain, and decided to head to a big umbrella closer to the water that had space before it got worse. And the rain got much worse! It was pouring and everyone walking by was soaked. The show went on however, and not long after it ended, the rain stopped and we were able to walk to the boat without getting wet. After Illuminations, my husband said, “They really need a new show here.” It was funny, because the next day, my CM daughter got an email that said this show was going away. I said, maybe some executive was under our umbrella and heard you!

I was glad we saw at least one night time show. Because we just never had the energy to battle the heat to go back for another one. Even when the sun went down, it was still awful outside. Florida is just not for me I guess.
 
Day 3 – September 17 – Food & Wine Festival & La Cantina de San Angel

Today’s plan was Epcot with grazing around the F&W festival for lunch. We took the boat over from the Dolphin, and we didn’t have a fastpass for an hour, so we tried to quickly go to the Land Pavilion to ride Soarin in the standby line. We were hoping it wouldn’t have a long wait first thing, but it was still a good 30-40 minute line. On a side note, all of the Touring Plans crowd predictions for this week were pretty low. Now it wasn’t hugely crowded, but I sure didn’t see 1 or 2 out of 10 level crowds like they predicted. Of course, it was just a prediction.

We rode Soarin, and used fastpasses on Spaceship Earth, Frozen, and Living with the Land. Then it was time for lunch! My husband and I had been to F&W once a couple of years ago, and we had great success sharing everything we tried. We did that again, and the kids shared as well. We all got a large soda (we are not drinkers) to take around with us, expect the boy who drank water all week. But even better than last time, we got 20% off almost everywhere due to our cast member daughter.

We started in Mexico, and shared some of the Short Rib Tostadas, and one coconut rice pudding. The tostadas were delicious, and we also really liked the rice pudding. The desserts this time were quite large, and were delicious, but filled us up faster for the lunch items. Just a warning.

In Hawaii we split a couple of the Teriyaki-glazed Spam Hash. This was also very tasty.

Next was the Almond Orchard where we had two of the Creamy Spinach and Artichoke Dips and one banana soft serve. Wow these were both so good! And the Dip was huge and had lots of chicken in it (I actually wanted more artichoke). But we loved both things. Again, the dessert was big.

At the Wine & Dine Studio, we shared the Butternut Squash Ravioli. We thought is was fine, but rather a skimpy portion – only 2 ravioli.

It was really hot that day, so finding shade to enjoy our food because a priority. And it was hard to come by!

At the Cheese Studio, we had the Braised Beef Stroganoff and the Maple Cheesecake. They were both excellent. I hadn’t had the stroganoff on my list of things to try, but my husband wanted to try it, and I was glad we did. We were getting pretty full by this point, and there was still so much more to try!

I think we did one more ride at this point, then ended our lunch with Flavors from Fire and we all shared the Piggy Wings, Smoked Corn Beef, and the Skirt Steak. We also liked all of these, although the corn beef didn’t really taste like corn beef. It was still good though.

We went back to the hotel for a rest and a swim. For dinner we voted on which CS place at Epcot to go to, and the majority went for Mexico. As we walked back into Epcot, the sun was down, and it felt a little better, so we were encouraged that evenings would be better. However, as soon as we got up from dinner, it was actually hotter- how does that happen?

La Cantina de San Angel is a favorite CS meal of ours, and we enjoyed our meal, even though we learned at dinner time, there is not inside seating, and no CM discount.

My husband and I shared the Pollo Cascabel and the Empanadas con Queso. Out of these 2, I think the win goes to the Empanadas. My daughter already knew this, and ordered herself empanadas, but substituted rice for the slaw. My son went with the nachos- they were covered with jalapenos, and he loved it. Not me, I’m a wimp.

We walked around the countries for a while, and I had promised my son he could get a pearl at Japan. He enjoyed the experience, and surprised the CM’s there because he already knew how to count in Japan. (Apparently he memorized it the last time he was in that shop many years ago.)

When we walked by the American pavilion, we stopped in at the F&W booth for some carrot cake. If you haven’t had it, you need to. We listened to some of the Plain White T’s, but we were all hot and ready to go home.
 


A quick review of the Dolphin:

It was a lovely hotel and you certainly cannot beat the location, or the cost relative to the other Deluxe resorts at Disney. We did not eat at any of the restaurants there, except for grabbing some bananas, milk and a donut at Picabu.

Random thoughts:

1. Boat to Epcot- The Dolphin/Swan is the first stop, so there are plenty of seats. The Boat to Hollywood Studios it is the last stop, and always had a full line at the boat dock. Often on the way to Epcot, the captain tried to encourage everyone on the boat to get off and walk to Epcot from the Boardwalk. Sure it is not a long walk- in nice weather- which it wasn’t, but frankly I think they were trying to get people off just to make room for the Boardwalk and YC/BC people.

2. The Dolphin lobby is really nice, but can be a bit noisy at times as there is a bar there. We used it so we could sit on a couch and read one afternoon. Many afternoons and evenings there were live musicians.

3. The pools were nice and very refreshing on a hot day. There are no life guards at all, which surprised me. The only thing I did not like is it was such a long walk from my room. I would have gone more if it wasn’t so far.

4. It is a very large resort. Our room seemed really far from any food places and the pool.

5. There is a small Disney store off the lobby.

6. I missed having a Disney style food court

7. I would definitely stay again.
 
Day 4 – September 18 – Be Our Guest Lunch & Jiko

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom before opening and rushed to do Peter Pan first thing. My daughter knew a short cut, unfortunately, it was blocked off, but we made it. We probably had to wait about 20 minutes, which is short for that ride. We also did It’s a Small World before we went to Space Mountain for our FP.

Then we did Buzz Lightyear – I lost as usual - and then we had a FP at Big Thunder. It was hot, and my husband had a leg pain, so we sent the kids, and my daughter reworked our FP so we could see Mickey’s Philharmagic. We really didn’t need a FP for this, but we were the first people in.

It was time for lunch at BOG. We checked in and got in the line to order, which moved pretty quickly considering it was jammed full of people! We all went with the Braised pork with mashed potatoes and gravy, plus we added one French Onion soup, and a Strawberry Cream cheese cupcake for my daughter. Our plan had been to go have dessert in the park, but it was too hot. (A common theme, I know!).

I have had the pork several times, and each time it is fabulous. And it is a huge portion. Actually, I would have sacrificed some of the pork for some more mashed potatoes- they were delicious. The French onion soup was also amazing. If you are a fan of FO, you should get some. We also like that you can get drink refills here, and we took advantage. Even though they have raised the prices here, I still feel like it is a great value, and you get a really nice meal. No discounts here. Our total was $95.12.

We followed the same afternoon game plan, cooling off and resting at the hotel.

Our dinner this night was at Jiko – which is a place I have always wanted to try, so I was really excited.

We are usually pretty frugal, so looking at the prices hurt a little here, and the Birthday boy ordered a couple of appetizers. But we did have a CM holiday coupon that took off 50%, but still!

I have always heard good things about Grilled Wild Boar Tenderloin, so we started with that, and my husband also ordered the Charcuterie and Cheese. There was enough for all four of us to try each of these things. I thought that the Boar was in the okay category. To me it was nothing special, so I was a little disappointed. And I really didn’t care for the Charcuterie. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t for me. But onto the entrees! My husband and I decided to share the Snake River Farms Wagyu Strip Loin and the Botswana-Style Seswaa Beef Short Rib. When I had read the menu description previous to this trip, one of them came with the famous Mac and Cheese. However, the current menu had other sides, so we ordered it as a side dish for a mere $14- yikes!

I have been reading for years that this mac and cheese is the best. Again, I was not that impressed. I don’t think I am that hard to please, however, we are pretty good cooks and make some really excellent mac and cheese.

The short ribs were in front of me, so that is what I had more of. I also had some of the Wagyu beef, and both were good, but not excellent. I guess I just really expected more from this signature restaurant. The former Captain’s Grille had a way better short rib dish, in my opinion, and was way way way cheaper. But oh well – we tried it and I’m glad we did, but I don’t think I would go again.

And I forgot to mention the bread. Yes – they brought us way more than 4 people need. So apparently we really do look like bread lovers. This meal was actually cheaper than the Flying Fish at $183.11 including a tip, and we saved $128.50. And wow the servers in these expensive places must do pretty well.
 
Day 5 – September 19 – Coral Reef – F&W booths – Beaches & Cream

It was another Epcot morning, and we wanted to finish up the things we hadn’t seen. The only FP we could get for Test Track was in the late afternoon – and we knew we wouldn’t be around for that – so we headed over there first thing for a hopefully shorter standby line. No such luck! However, we are good going as single riders, and we were on within 5 minutes. So, we did it again!

Before the trip, we had planned to do another CS meal at one of the countries, but when I compared the price of doing that to eating at the Coral Reef at 40% off, it was only slightly more. Now I know that this place gets a lot of bad reviews. But my husband and I went there a couple of years ago and had the shrimp and grits, and they were excellent. Plus the kids had not been there, and it is a pretty place to eat. Even right before our trip, my husband was reading some bad reviews, and thinking maybe we should cancel, but I talked him out of it.

We arrived early because we were ready to get out of the heat, and were seated in a few minutes, with a decent view of the tank. Soon our waiter brought our drinks, and then THE MOST RIDICULOUS FULL PLATE OF BREAD we have ever seen. For the four of us. Like four rolls each. Is there a sign on our backs?

My husband and I each ordered the shrimp and grits, and it was again fantastic. Our son ordered the mahi mahi as recommended by our server, and he also liked it. (But my meal was huge, so he finished it, and said it was better than his). My daughter does not like sea food at all, and ordered their steak. And guess what? It wasn’t great. But that what happens at a sea food restaurant, in my opinion. Of course there was always bread. So much bread. Oh and my husband also got a ceasar salad, which was tasty, and not too fishy, like I thought it might be. Our total here with tip was $115.86 and we saved $56.59.

We saw Figment, and the Pixar short films on our way out for our afternoon break.

The evening plan for dinner was to finish grazing around the F&W festival. It was overcast, and we had missed the boat, so my husband decided we should walk. As we walked, the sprinkles started coming, and got harder and harder. Of course I had come prepared with my umbrella, and 2 disposable ponchos, but no one else did. The kids tried to share the umbrella, which didn’t work very well, and my husband and I put on the ponchos, but they didn’t fit very well, and soon ripped when I tried to squeeze my bag in too. This is how I came to buy 2 very expensive Disney umbrellas. The first one to keep the kids from fighting, and after my poncho had had it, one for me.

We were a little worried that they were closing the booths due to the rain, but they mostly just make adjustments like moving some of the cash registers under the hard roof. We had fun trying to keep all of the food from getting soaked, and found tables and covered ourselves with the umbrellas while we ate.

We started with Ireland and had the Roasted Irish Sausage and the Warm Chocolate pudding. We liked both of them.

Next up was Canada. Three of us got the cheese soup with the pretzel bread, and my son got the Mushroom Filet. Unfortunately, all of these were barely warm, and mostly cold. I understand it was raining, but the food needs to be kept hot until served, in my opinion.

We then got a couple of the Carbonade de Boeuf from France. These were also decent, but I liked the beef they had there a couple of years ago better.

At Brazil, we shared a couple of the Crispy Pork Belly. These were good, but not the best pork belly I have had, even at a Disney park.

At Belgium, we decided to forgo the waffles (even though we like them) because we were getting ice cream later. But we had the Braised beef. This was one of our favorites last time, but it was just off tonight.

Last we had the Terayaki Chicken bun and the spicy roll from Japan. The Bun was the surprise big hit for me. It wasn’t on my list, but my husband got one, and offered me a bit. It was fantastic! My son ate all of the spicy roll, he’s the sushi guy, and he liked it as well.

We went back in the store and Japan and got a pearl for my daughter.

None of us were totally full, but we decided to stop eating in favor of ice cream later. We dragged our wet selves into the American pavilion and watched the show/film there. We looked around at some more of the countries, then headed over to the Beach Club.

My husband loves ice cream, so I had managed to snag a late ADR and Beaches and Cream so we could get him a Birthday treat. We had already decided we would split the Chocolate Kitchen Sink, but some of the other creations looked really tasty.

We had fun with the dessert and the presentation. Even though it looks huge, there are only 8 scoops of ice cream, so for 4 people, it wasn’t bad, and we still had a little left at the end. Our total was $34.08 not including the tip, and with no discount.

We all decided that even though we were kind of wet, we enjoyed this evening and eating at the booths more, because it wasn’t hot. I know, we are weird. However, future days that predicted rain, I made sure we took the good ponchos and umbrellas.
 
Just found your report. Appreciate your honesty. Looking forward to reading the rest
 
I am really glad to hear that you liked Coral Reef so much. I have never tried it before due to the bad reviews. I have a solo trip booked for February and decided it was time to give it a try.
 
Day 6 – September 20 – Part 1 - Skipper’s Canteen

Today was the day my daughter had scored a FP for Flights of Passage, so it was an Animal Kingdom morning. We had some time before our pass, so we rode the Safari first, then headed to Pandora. The queue for the FP line pretty much kept moving all of the way through, and it was mostly covered, and with AC! The standby line was enormous, I would not want to wait in that line… We finally got to the first chamber where you get some instructions and get “scanned”. And then the instructor said, it looks like we are having some problems – I’ll get back to you. And we waited quite a while. We were a little worried the ride was broken, but they must have fixed the issue- thank goodness! I was also a little worried that I would not fit on the ride, but it wasn’t a problem. Phew.

The ride was amazing. And long. I loved it. Someday I will be able to do it again when the wait isn’t forever, or I can get a FP.

Our next FP was Expedition Everest, which is my favorite roller coaster ever. Of course it is no where near Pandora, so we made the hot trek over there. And it was shut down. Lesson to me- always check the App before you take a long sweaty walk. An unfortunately, it was down all day. We needed ice water and snack, so we hit up the snack area by EE and sat down on the ground in the tiny bit of shade we could find. We had just missed the start of the Up Bird show, and had I looked at the App, we could have gone. I really didn’t want to walk anywhere else. The kids went on Kali River Rapids, and we sat at an outside table near Yak & Yeti.

We needed to get over the Magic Kingdom for lunch, so we started the long trek to the bus stop. It was really hot and we were really thirsty, and we waited and waited. Bus after bus came and took people to all of the other parks, but no MK bus. I got on the app and was able to move our reservation to a little bit later, because there is no way we were going to make. A bus came after we had waited about 50 minutes which was ridiculous when they are supposed to come every 20 minutes. And there were people in front of us who had been waiting longer. But we finally got to the MK and walked to the Skipper’s Canteen. Thank goodness they had ice water in their lobby! We were a little early for our moved reservation, but they sat us within a few minutes.

Whew! Sorry about the long-winded report to get to the food. Our waiter was funny, not over the top, but told us a joke every time he came around. The funniest thing I heard was from a hostess when I got lost on the way to the rest room. She gave me directions ending with, and head straight for about 4 miles.

I was interested the Thai noodles, but they were labeled as Spicy, so I asked our server just how spicy they were. He said Very and gave them a 7 out of 10 spicy level. I am a total spice wimp. At home when I order Pad Thai, I tell them a spice level of 0-1. So I didn’t order it, but my son did. I snuck a bite, and our server was totally wrong. Maybe too many people complain about the spice level, but I have had things spiced at Level 1 (of course I know this is relative, and differs from place to place) that were spicier than that. So what I am saying is don’t let the term Spicy scare you off.

We ordered the S.E.A. SHU MAI for an appetizer. They weren’t impressive. My son really liked the Perkins Thai Noodles

My husband and daughter both had the Char Siu Pork, and they both liked that as well.

After being talked out of the Thai noodles, I went with the Tastes Like Chicken. I had heard good things about it. I didn’t like it at all. Maybe mine was just cooked poorly, but it was way overcooked, dry and tough. I ate bites of everyone else’s plates, and sawed off and ate some of my chicken. And drank lots of soda and water to get rehydrated. I personally wasn’t impressed here, but I may come try something else.

One funny thing here is our server said he would bring bread, but he never did. And we joked around with each other- Doesn’t he know how much we like bread?

This cost a total of $97.03 including the tip with a 40% discount, and our total savings was $47.39.
 
I am really glad to hear that you liked Coral Reef so much. I have never tried it before due to the bad reviews. I have a solo trip booked for February and decided it was time to give it a try.

I can only speak for the Shrimp and Grits - both times it was really good.
 
Day 6 – September 20 – Part 2 - Liberty Tree Tavern

This was the one day we did not go back to the hotel for our afternoon break because we had dinner planned at the Magic Kingdom, and our late lunch meant there wouldn’t be enough time. So we decided to hang out at some of the MK monorail resorts. First up was the Contemporary. We looked around, shopped in the shops, then took the monorail over to the Poly. They have a lovely lobby to hang out in, and they sell Dole Whip! Win Win.

We shopped, had Dole Whip, and lounged for a while. Someday, I would like to stay here, but it is just so crazy expensive.

We caught the Monorail back to the MK for our dinner reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern. We had never been here, but my daughter went a few months ago, and said they had a “Life Changing Dessert”. Spoiler alert – She was right.

We weren’t terribly hungry yet, but we checked in and found a place to sit. We had a bit of wait, but that was okay as we weren’t ready to eat when we arrived. Our family was announced and we taken to our table. We let our server know that no one in our family likes turkey, so if we could get a platter without turkey, that would be great so it wouldn’t go to waste. He came back with our drinks and informed me that he had placed our order, and we should expect a platter with extra turkey. I liked him. He should transfer to the Skipper’s Canteen.

Our platter came and all the sides came, and Holy Cow it was a lot of food! But it was really excellent. All of the sides were great – especially the mashed potatoes and the stuffing. And guess what else came with the sides? An enormous plate full of rolls! Apparently, they got the message that we are bread loves. We had a good laugh. I loved the pot roast on the platter. I was thinking this would be a great filling meal if you had a bunch of hungry teenage boys. I tried not to eat too much, because I wanted room for dessert- the toffee cake with ice cream. It was so good! I wanted to keep eating it, but I ran out of room. I really liked this meal, although it is quite expensive – unless you have a Cast Member with a 40% off coupon, like we did! I would definitely come again. Our total was $117.94 including a tip, and we saved $57.60.

The sun was down after dinner, and it was a little overcast, which made the temperature a little better! There was a party that night, but we had until 7:00 p.m. and we rushed around and were able to go on the Haunted Mansion, Pirates and the Jungle Cruise before we ran out of time. Not bad for 30 minutes.
 
Day 7 – September 21 – Satuli & Yak & Yeti

Short Back Story: Because we were using cast member passes to get into the parks, we couldn’t make FP’s the normal way. My daughter had to make all of them, and she didn’t get to do it as early, and only a few days at a time. For our Animal Kingdom day, she had booked us a FP for Festival of the Lion King. All 3 of us (not her), said “Why did she book that FP? We don’t really like that show.” On arrival night we were sitting at WPE and talking about our upcoming FP’s and we shared this with her. She gave us a dirty look – I’m not kidding – and berated us for not loving the most popular show at WDW. And apparently, her roommate, who had done a professional internship doing costuming for that show, had reserved us special seats. She immediately texted her roommate that we were not fans, and she sent us mean looks via text messages. Wow – they were really protective of this show! But I only have one thing to say – Finding Nemo the Musical Rules!!

My daughter let it go for a few days, but then mentioned that we ought to give it another chance, and we didn’t want to rock the boat anymore, so we decided to see it again in the special seating.

Before the show, we had lunch at Satuli. My daughter has been raving about this place since it opened, and she wasn’t wrong. She did a professional internship as a VIP tour guide, and their night time AK tour, included dinner here, so she got to go numerous times, on the job and paid for!

Satuli also gets bonus points for lots of interior air-conditioned seating, and refillable drinks.

Her recommendation was the Red and Sweet Potato Hash base, chicken, and the Creamy Herb Dressing. We all went with her, but switched to the Combination Bowl, which had both chicken and beef. It was fantastic. And it was filling and there was plenty of it. This is a Must-Do counter service place in my opinion. She was even allowed to use a 40% off holiday coupon, which usually weren’t good in the parks at CS places. We toyed with the idea of getting the family platter, which gave you a little bit of everything, but decided that we might not like everything they had – like the fish. However, I would definitely be open to trying some of the other combinations, and sharing with everyone. Our total bill here was $47.18, and we saved $29.53. This would be a great place to use a CS dining credit if you have the Dining plan.

It was starting to rain as we made our way to FOTLK – luckily I had made everyone bring their expensive umbrellas today.

My daughter went to a special location to check us in, and we waited to be seated. It was then we learned that not only did we have reserved seats, but they were in the very front row, the row where they grab people to participate. My husband hates to be chosen. But my daughter said not to worry, the only section where they pick an adult man is the Wart Hog section, and I don’t think we will get put there. We were the last special group to be seated, and guess where? Yep- Wart Hogs. My husband tried to move to the 2nd row, and was told – nicely – that we only got the 1st row. So of course, he was picked, and told his name in Swahili means “My Lucky Day” to the nice CM who picked him. He had to make wart hog noises, and he did a good job and was a good sport about it. But it was funny icing on the cake to be picked a show he didn’t really want to be at!

The show was better sitting in the front row, and all the performers were looking right at you. (So even if it wasn’t, we pretended it was!)

The performers on stilts were amazing! Not only were they on stilts, but they were dancing and doing a lot of moving.

After this show, we checked on EE, and it was open! So we walked over and used the single rider line, which got us on in just a few minutes. The rain was nice today because it was overcast and not as hot. The kids were up to more walking than we were, so they walked the Asia animal trail, and road the River Rapids ride while we found a chair and put our feet up for a while.

We took our normal afternoon break back at the hotel, then came back to AK for our Yak and Yeti dinner.

We had originally planned to do this one of our first nights, and just have appetizers and desserts for dinner, and save a little money this way. But this was our last dinner, and we decided we would just do a full dinner – plus appetizers and desserts!

Before this trip, we had joined the Landry’s club, knowing that we were coming here, and we knew we would get a $25 reward for my husband’s birthday, and priority seating. We were seated very quickly. The last time we had come here, we loved the green beans and the Fried wontons, but for entrees had had chicken dishes that were both over-cooked. You can see this is something we are sensitive to. We suggested to everyone to not get a chicken dish, and everyone listened. We skipped the green beans, and got a Dim Sum basket, and my husband got a house salad. I thought the Dim Sum basket was fine, but nothing special. Definitely better than at Skipper’s Canteen, but not something I would order again.

They had a Seasonal Specials menu that had Korean meatballs over noodles. Two of our party got this, and it was the clear winner. I got a couple of bites, and it was delicious. Too bad I don’t think if is on the regular menu. My son got the Korean Beef entrée – he liked it. I got the Kobe Beef burger. I didn’t love it. It wasn’t bad, I just didn’t love it. The burger my daughter had at Kona was WAY better. But it was okay, because I was really there for the wontons. And one order was not going to be enough for 4 of us to share. So I ordered 2, then my husband also ordered the pineapple upside down cake. Now 3 desserts WAS too much for us to share. The wontons were of course fantastic- it is like 3 desserts in 1: Wontons, Fresh Strawberries/Pineapple, and Ice cream. So good! The Pineapple cake was also excellent, but I was mostly stuffing myself with the wontons. This is not a Disney owned restaurant, so there are not CM discounts, but we had the $25 off, and they also gave us one of the desserts for free because we were members. Score! This dinner came to $117.36 including the tip that we added, and we saved $34 being Landry’s members.

It was a good last night, and we enjoyed being together.
 
Final Day – The Wave and The Lounge at MCO

It was departure day, which is always sad, except for the fact that we were excited to leave the awful heat and humidity. But we had had such a nice visit with our daughter, and ate lots of lovely meals. We really didn’t feel like we had enjoyed the parks enough- it was just too hot. We packed up, and checked out, and our daughter picked us up and we headed to the Contemporary for a final breakfast. She had been to the Wave, but we had never been, but had heard lots of good things about it. We all went for the buffet. Also with the buffet, they will make you any kind of eggs you want, or French toast, and bring it piping hot to the table. I also got some orange juice that tasted like it was fresh squeezed- it was really good.

Most of us ordered some eggs, and it the buffet. There were lots of good choices, and we really enjoyed it. In fact, most of the things you could order Ala Carte from the menu, were on the buffet. Our server was good, and even brought us to go cups of soda when we were done. My husband said he actually enjoyed this buffet more than Trail’s End. And it was actually cheaper, and much easier to get to. Our total with tip was $75.35 and we saved $36.80.

Our flight was not until 5:00, but my daughter had to go back to work, so she dropped us off at the airport.

The plan had been to check our bags and go to the lounge at the Airport, because my husband had access with one of this credit cards. However, Southwest would not let us check in until 4 hours before the flight. Bummer! So we found some seats and sat with a whole lot of people with their bags that were probably in the same boat as us. We had to hang out for a couple of hours, but were finally able to check in and ditch the luggage.

Our flight’s terminal was not the same one that had the lounge, but we were still able to get over there, and got in the lounge without any trouble. It was really nice! We found a place to sit in the food area because they had a table where my son could finish up his homework.

The food choices included: soups, finger sandwiches, salads, granola bars , cookies, fruit, veggies, and dip, and jelly beans. Also they had soda machines. We are not drinkers, but they also had a bar. We all had a nice light lunch and spent several hours hanging out.


Final Food Thoughts:

We had a lot of lovely meals, and really enjoyed the discounts my daughter could get- even so, we spent approximately $1800 on food. But having nice meals at WDW is a big part of the fun for us, and that was really the only cost for us on this trip. Next time (and every time) we will go in the winter when the weather isn’t crazy hot.
 

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