What better way to grieve than to do it in WDW? - PTR/TR November 2015 Trip - Completed 12/7/15

[mindylee847]

Part Four: Animal Kingdom Lodge

I was really excited to have snagged a Thanksgiving dinner reservation for Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Our ADR time was at 8:50 PM and we headed out from All Star Movies around 7:30. ASMo is in the Animal Kingdom area so I knew it wasn't going to be too far of a drive. It took us less than 10 minutes, maybe only 7 to get through security and park. Upon driving in, we saw the Jambo House sign decorated for the holidays. (Sorry it's a little blurry. My phone couldn't capture images that well in the car.)

We had plenty of time to check out the decorations before trying to find Jiko and check in. This was the display window for the gift shop.

And then we walked in and were basically floored by the size of the tree in one of my favorite lobbies!

We checked out the signs and the map... and somehow we still ended up not being able to find Jiko the first time we walked around.

We explored the gift shop which was also all decorated. They had a guy carving animals out of wood and a few games for kids too. I found a great AKL mug, but Mike said that I couldn't have it until we stay there to commemorate that visit. Boo! But at least he thinks we'll be staying there one day...

There was a fire going in the lobby and plenty of people sitting around and enjoying the warmth. On our way down to Jiko, we noticed that the Packers game was about to start at the lounge. It was pretty busy so we continued down to check in around 8:25 for our reservation.

We were told that they were seating by reservation time and that we had a while to still wait. We took our buzzer and walked outside to check out the little river and walkway that I assume heads to the pool and to Mara since people kept walking by with french fries in their swim suits.

So, did we get in on time? What did we order? Was it a feast to remember? All coming up next! ​

 

[Smbmoyers]

So awesome to see you guys road trippin! We'll have a 12 hour drive in front of us! Your post makes me want to sneak away for a weekend before our trip!!!

 

[mindylee847]

So awesome to see you guys road trippin! We'll have a 12 hour drive in front of us! Your post makes me want to sneak away for a weekend before our trip!!!

I'm so jealous. A 12 hour drive is so much more doable than 19 hours! People definitely thought we were crazy to drive so long for only two nights, but it was so worth it!! I hope you have a great trip.

 

[missangelalexis]

Yay you made it to the hotel with no issues!

Love the pictures of all the holiday decorations at AKL.

Can't wait to hear about your meal

 

[mindylee847]

Yay you made it to the hotel with no issues!

Love the pictures of all the holiday decorations at AKL.

Can't wait to hear about your meal

Mike and I are seriously so beyond impressed with the magic bands and being able to go directly to our room. I can't even tell you how much that blew our minds!! I absolutely love that feature and I'm so glad it worked without a hitch!

I could have spent forever in the AKL lobby admiring the decorations. Just wait - there's plenty more holiday coming up!!

 

[mindylee847]

Part Five: Jiko Thanksgiving Dinner

We ended up "waiting" about thirty minutes for our buzzer to go off. At this point we were sitting on some benches in the breezeway since it was really pretty crowded near the waiting area of Boma and Jiko. I know that some people were playing some drums every now and then near Boma and there were a lot of kids yelling and it did really echo in there - not saying this is bad, lol. Just an observation. But I was really thankful that our buzzer went off only five minutes after our ADR time. We were starving only having had some Starbucks breakfast and Subway that day.

We were seated right next to a window which would have had a view of the walkway and river that we looked at while we had been waiting. You couldn't really see it because it was 9 PM at this point and pretty dark outside. The only picture I took of the actual restaurant was of the bird like structures that hung from the ceiling.

Our server came by and introduced himself. I apologize that I already forgot his name but I was getting pretty delirious from not having had any food at this point! He was friendly and mentioned to us that there was a set menu for the night. You can see it in my previous post. We were going to have the bread service, an appetizer, soup or salad, our choice of entree, a side, and dessert. I want to say that the set price was about $69.95 a person. I knew it was going to be pricey when I made the reservation but figured we'd still get the most out of the meal.

We were given a drink menu. There were tons of wines to choose from and I wish I had gone with a red wine instead of a cocktail - but cocktails always sound so fun!

I ordered the Hanging' Out in Cape Town Martini. I had asked the waiter what he recommended and it was between this and the Victoria Falls Mist. I asked how dry the martini was and he said that he thought it was pretty dry. It was not. The cranberry juice definitely made it a lot fruitier than I wanted in my martini. It was good still, just not really my style. Like I said - should have picked a wine!

Mike chose the St. George beer from Ethiopia. He wasn't really impressed with this... but to be fair, we've grown up in Milwaukee WI. Our baseball team is literally named the Brewers.

They brought out the bread service between my martini and Mike's beer. I'm sorry that I don't remember what each one was named exactly, but I can tell you that I absolutely loved the flat and crispy bread with the green dip. Mike was obsessed with the tinier garlic naan pieces. I really loved the larger roll, but just on it's own and not dipped. Mike's favorite dip was the reddish one that is farthest away in the picture... and neither of us cared for the reddish one closer - this one had that curry sort of taste to it. Which is fine, we just preferred the others. The dip on the right was a hummus. This was good, but I mean... it's hummus.

Next they brought out the Inguday Tibs in Brik which were AMAZING!! There were two on this plate and I snagged one before remember to take a picture... I was ashamed after I realized what I did. This was my favorite part of the meal. The apple slices were a perfect pairing. Yum!! And the sauce!!

Mike and I had both ordered the Winter Squash Soup. This was my second favorite dish of the night and Mike's favorite. I had to tell him to not lick the bowl clean and to use some bread to soak up the rest... but he had already eaten up all of the garlicy naan bits so he was really sad.

For our entrees, Mike had the maize-crusted grouper. He really enjoyed this. In particular, he thought the sauce was amazing. The fish was cooked well and everything complemented each other perfectly.

I had the vegetable and tofu sambusas... and realized that this dish was not for me. It was too sweet for me to enjoy as an entree. The rice was tasty though. At this point, I was so stuffed and not really that into my meal that I was only able to eat one of the sambusas and a small amount of the rice.

They also brought out our side of sweet potato fufu. I wasn't sure how this exactly fit into the meal and it seemed more or less like it was supposed to just make it seem more like Thanksgiving. They didn't bring out extra plates or even a serving spoon for it... I did dip my fork into it and try it. Had I not been so full, I probably would have had more.

At this point, we knew that dessert would be next but we asked that they box these up to go. Mike asked for the cheesecake and I asked for the malva. We hoped to be able to eat these early on the first part of the car ride back... but we'll see what happens!

Here we are stuffed in front of the tree one last time before heading back to All Star Movies.

Overall, I would say that I enjoyed my meal at Jiko. Mike loved it. He's been talking about the soup every single day. I'm not joking. I ask what he wants for dinner and he says he wants the soup. I should probably look into finding that recipe - does anyone reading along have it? I'll have to definitely look for it and surprise him.

The service was good and our drinks were always full (we also had waters). I think the only problem is that I'm not as into this type of cuisine as Mike is. We will probably try another signature restaurant on our next trip. So far we've had Jiko, Le Cellier, and California Grill - with Cali Grill being my favorite of the three.

Coming up next - Did we pass out from exhaustion and full tummies or did we have it in us to walk around All Star Movies to see those decorations? Or did we just need to walk off a bit of this meal before lying down?? I think you probably know the answer... but all of that and more - coming up next!
​

 

[mindylee847]

Part Six: A Movie Christmas

When we arrived back to the All Star Resort area, our magic band worked when we drove up to the scanny thing and the bar. We weren't sure if it would since we didn't officially register our car... that's something I'm still unsure about. We never received a ticket or warning, but we were also only there for a day. Anyways... we made it back to the Toy Story lot near our building and all of the spots were filled up - and mostly because a few larger vehicles decided that needed two spots instead of just the one. We were able to find a spot in the lot near the other Toy Story building, but it was a little frustrating.

We stopped off at our room to put the desserts in the fridge and then we decided that we weren't ready to lay down just yet. So we headed out to check out the decorations in the ASMo lobby.

We swung by to take a picture of Buzz.

In the lobby we saw two movie displays - The Muppets and Star Wars.

There were a lot of wreathes up and a (much) smaller Christmas tree in the lobby.

I really adored these star wreathes!! I thought they were perfect for this lobby.

We then swung by the gift shop to check out the merchandise. Mike knew that I secretly was aiming to go here to pick up some ears for the next day, and he didn't mind. Such a good guy!

I'm going to post pictures at the end of my purchases. But I'll tell you now that I did find the ears I wanted (which you'll see in the pictures for the next day anyways), I picked up an ornament for my friend who was checking in on our cats, and I also picked up a new car air freshener.

In regards to the air freshener... I was on a mission to get the Mickey waffle air freshener. I already have the premium bar and the dole whip. I had asked another friend who had gone to Disney in August to pick me up a waffle. Well, she picked one up for me but her daughter kept taking it and putting it in her toy box or taking it out of the car... then I guess eventually, her dad just threw it out on accident!! So I was on a mission for this waffle. I didn't see any air fresheners hanging up around the store so Mike asked a CM who was pretty confused about what we were talking about. She asked someone else and they went in back... they found the premium bar and the Minnie Mouse one that smells like strawberries... so I settled for Minnie (which I was still ecstatic about really), but never found my waffle. We checked at Hollywood Studios the next day and we checked at all of the deluxe resorts we went to on Saturday morning... but I never found the elusive Mickey waffle air freshener... ​

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm glad overall it was an enjoyable meal. And while you weren't crazy about it, at least Mike was!

Cute resort decorations. I'm glad you had it in you to walk around a bit and do some shopping!

 

[mindylee847]

I'm glad overall it was an enjoyable meal. And while you weren't crazy about it, at least Mike was!

Cute resort decorations. I'm glad you had it in you to walk around a bit and do some shopping!

Oh for sure. One of the main reasons I was so excited about Jiko was because I knew he would love it! There was a time period where he would buy only African/Indian frozen meals from Trader Joe's for his lunch at work. I knew this was going to be a hit. And honestly, I would definitely go back just for the bread, appetizer, and soup alone which is a plenty big enough meal for me... but there's too many options at Disney! I need to try them all!

 

[Smbmoyers]

Jiko is one of the restaurants I am afraid to try when I go. Do you think it was really spicey? We're lame and don't handle spice well. The planes on the ceiling look so awesome!!

 

[mindylee847]

Jiko is one of the restaurants I am afraid to try when I go. Do you think it was really spicey? We're lame and don't handle spice well. The planes on the ceiling look so awesome!!

I'd say that Jiko is "spicy" but not in a hot way, if that's what you mean. There's a lot of taste to the food, that's for sure. For instance, my entree wasn't spicy as much as it had a good amount of coconut and saffron flavors. There's just a heck of a lot of flavor in the meal. Picture Remy when he was combining strawberries and cheese together with all the different flavor sensation swirls... lol. I'm sure if you asked the server, they'd help you avoid anything that was "hot"... I think the only thing we had with any real kick to it was the reddish dip that my husband and I both preferred during the bread service. I know that my mom wouldn't like a place like Jiko because she prefers more of a basic type of food... not too many different flavors combined. If that's what you mean, then you're probably better off not going to Jiko... maybe trying some of the smaller counter options at Animal Kingdom park or in the Mara food court before going all out on a signature dining experience? I hope that helps. It was a great experience but I could see how it may not be popular with some people.

Thanks for following along!

 

[mindylee847]

Part Seven: Good Morning, Hollywood!

As you know, our Friday was planned for Hollywood Studios. I wanted to see the Osborne Lights and hit my favorite ride - Tower of Terror. We actually had shifted our fastpasses around since we had cancelled our breakfast. We got up at 7 AM this morning and having showered the night before, we were in line for the bus by 7:30 AM. Our first fastpass was for Tower of Terror at 9:05 AM so we had plenty of time.

All dressed up in our holiday sweaters! It was a bit chilly initially in the morning, but quickly warmed up for most of the day when the sun was out. Here's our bus!! We were in line for only 5 minutes until it came by. The All Star Resort buses were individual this day and we didn't go pick up anyone or drop anyone off that night at Music or Sports - so that was fantastic.

I think it was about a ten to fifteen minute drive to drop us off... and then we took the obligatory Christmas tree picture.

I love this tree! Here are some decorations outside of the park.

Obligatory street picture. I absolutely love this park. I don't know why, but it's definitely my favorite. I do miss the hat, but the view now is just so classic Hollywood I can barely handle it.

We checked out the windows on the way to our first destination.

I recently found an ornament in this shape on the Disney Store website... but found it was sold out. Bummer! I know I'll be keeping an eye out for it from now on (just like my Mickey waffle).

We went to the Trolley Cart Cafe and I ordered us two house coffees, a croissant for me, and a spinach wrap for Mike. We received our food and I was just so in love with what the CMs did.

We ate as we continued to walk towards Toy Story Midway Mania. We expected the line to be the shortest that we'd see that day and decided that if it was short enough, we'd just go on. I should mention that we were in the park before 8 AM... which was listed as the opening time so I was pretty excited and hopeful.

I am super excited for Jungle Book. It's always been one of my favorite movies. I was obsessed with the live action version from the 90's and watched it a million times. I only have the VHS copy with no VCR now... I should try and see if I can get it on DVD or something.

We got over to the queue area and the line was already up to 60 minutes. Mike and I had decided that if it were listed as more than 45, that we would pass since we are going to Disneyland soon and should be able to get on it quicker there and more frequently without as much of a hassle.

So where to next? With caffeine in our systems and a fairly empty park... what to do? Coming up next!


​

 

[mindylee847]

Part Eight: In 3D!

With Toy Story not happening, we continued on forward and came across this sign!!

Shut upppppp!! I literally started jumping up and down and freaking out. For those who don't know, Ashley Eckstein voices Ahsoka Tano!!! Ahsoka Tano is the character featured currently as my avatar and is my FAVORITE STAR WARS CHARACTER IN THE WHOLE "UNIVERSE". Plus, her clothing line is awesome. So we went over to Watto's and wandered around a bit to window shop and ask the CMs more details about it. They didn't really have much information and just said that we should come back later to get a piece of clothing signed and that we need to have a wristband. After we left I started going back and forth over the whole thing. I didn't want to spend money on a piece of clothing to have it autographed. Mike said that we should still just go anyways and then I just ended up getting cranky over the whole thing. I didn't want to have to ruin a perfectly fine piece of clothing in my mind and so I was basically set on not going at this point - which Mike thought was absurd. But he stopped talking to me about it as we continued to wander elsewhere.

I thought this door was adorable near the Monsters Meet & Greet.

We then wandered the Streets of America because I wanted to find the Osborne Lights shirt and ornament.

We waited a few minutes for them to open up the shop on the street so that I could get my ornament. I think we waited about 5 to 10 minutes. Ornament in hand, we headed over to Muppets Vision 3D. This is a must do for us and it was so early there was no line and we were allowed to stop in the middle!!

I won't spoil anything from the show, but it's so fun. I've heard rumors about it going... but I hope it's not true. The Muppets are just classic.

Anyways... it was still only about 8:30 at this time, so what to do next? Here's a hint: It was time to see what some brothers were up to for their winter vacations! ​

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a nice morning so far! I love your sweater Curious to find out what you ended up doing about the signing!

 

[mindylee847]

Sounds like a nice morning so far! I love your sweater Curious to find out what you ended up doing about the signing!

Thanks! I found the sweater at the Disney Store at the beginning of November. The trip hadn't been even discussed yet, but I knew I needed it in my life!! So many people asked me in the park about it and I think someone even tried looking to see if it was still online when they were in line behind us.

 

[mindylee847]

Part Nine: I Know What We're Gonna Do Today!

After visiting the Muppets, we were near the Meet and Greets for Phineas and Ferb. We've met them before and had a great interaction and this time they were wearing scarves and Christmas hats!! How could we not meet up with some of our besties??

The line was not long at all. Maybe a five minute wait.

It was our turn and I asked Ferb how his winter vacation has been compared to summer. He said it's been cold! And I told him I totally understood since I'm from Wisconsin! Mike was busy asking Phineas where Perry was. Phineas pointed at Ducky Momo and Mike was like "Phineas! That's Ducky Momo!" I don't think Phineas expected Mike to know so much.

The CMs asked us to scooch in more together for our picture.

We realllllllllly scooched in!

That's one of my favorite pictures of the trip! It was so much fun and the interaction was awesome. Meeting Phineas & Ferb is a must do for us!

Next, we saw absolutely no line for Lightning and Mater so we swung by for some pics with our favorite cars!

All of this - and it was only just about 9 AM! Next - we had some fastpasses to get to! Coming up next. ​

 

[missangelalexis]

What great pictures!! You both look so happy, it's so great!

 

[mindylee847]

What great pictures!! You both look so happy, it's so great!

Thanks! Yeah, ya know... it was just such a good day! And that's literally only the first hour of our time there so far. I'm so glad we made this quick trip.

 

[Smbmoyers]

Lalalove what Starbucks employees did to make everything more magical! I love your tr!

 

[mindylee847]

Lalalove what Starbucks employees did to make everything more magical! I love your tr!

Thanks! That really means a lot.