"Your concern is hardly warranted." - October 2024 4 Night Disney Fantasy HotHS - Complete

[Dis_Yoda]

Sunday October 13th – Remy

Shortly before 6PM, I headed upstairs to check in for my meal at Remy. They weren’t quite open yet when I arrived so I hung out in Meridian until it was time.

I was sat a nice table overlooking the aft for my meal where one of my servers stopped by to make me their signature drink, the Colette.


Table View


The Colette

The server went over the menu and the various pairings offered. I selected my water (San Benedetto Sparkling) and then decided on which of the two menus I would pick. I went with the Gout from Chef Hunnel as I decided I wanted the (American) Wagyu more than the other main.

After ordering, I was served my first amuse bouche which were two small bites. The first was a cauliflower cojita cheese bite that was just ok. I don’t really like cauliflower all that much but the cheese helped a lot. The other was a beet tartare which felt it met the flavors of fall really well.


Amuse Bouche – Cauliflower Cojita Cheese, Tartare

So I don’t remember exactly what was under that amazing Foie Gras Mousse but I remember wanting to lick the plate. It was good!


Fois Gras Mousse

My first wine pairing and another reason I went with the Gout menu. This is honestly my favorite champagne! I sent a photo of it to my husband to let him know what I was enjoying.




From there, I was served a piece of bread with 3 types of butter. A seaweed butter, a classic and a spiced one. The bread paired best with the classic with the flakey sea salt but I did enjoy the other two butters for a bite or two.


Bread and Butter

The next course was king crab presented two ways – hot and cold. The cold ended up being my favorite as it was a crab meat salad with just the right amount of horseradish kick to it. The hot king crab had a hollandaise sauce that was really rich.


King Crab, Horseradish, Asparagus paired with Billecart Salmon Blanc de Blancs

​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Sunday October 13th – Remy Part 2

The toothfish was served with two sauces. What was really the star of this dish was the fried squash blossom leaves served alongside that were so good dipped in the green sauce.


Toothfish, Squash, Muhmara served with Baron de L Pouilly-Fume

The next course was quail with a really rich sauce and truffle risotto on the side. I really enjoyed this as well. The wine also paired well.


Quail w/ Pahlmeyer Merlot
I opted for the ‘standard’ wagyu and not the upgraded version. This was still perfectly cooked. There were two types of potatoes. Sous Vide Potato pearls infused with rosemary butter and then a puree on top of granola. The granola added a nice mix of textures to the meal.


Wagyu Beef w/ Potato, Guanciale Granola w/ Saint Juliet Chateau Beychevelle Fourth Growth

Afterwards the cheese cart came by and my server selected a few cheeses for me. I really wish I would have taken some notes but I didn’t. I also was getting full at this point and wanted to save room for my dessert.


Cheese Cart


Cheese Plate

Dessert was a lovely banana cheesecake. I’m not normally a huge cheesecake lover but this was light and well balanced.


Banana Cheesecake w/ Passion, Guava w/ Sauternes Chateau Suduiraut First Growth

I was then served the final extra bites of food but I got the majority of those wrapped up togo as I just couldn’t eat anymore.


Ending Bites

The meal took just about 2 hours but I know it was quicker than usual as I was solo so not a long time to linger and discuss during each course. Luckily this meant I could do some Halloween things that were about to start!​

 

[buteraa]

Sunday October 13th – Remy Part 2

The toothfish was served with two sauces. What was really the star of this dish was the fried squash blossom leaves served alongside that were so good dipped in the green sauce.

View attachment 908826View attachment 908827
Toothfish, Squash, Muhmara served with Baron de L Pouilly-Fume

The next course was quail with a really rich sauce and truffle risotto on the side. I really enjoyed this as well. The wine also paired well.

View attachment 908830
Quail w/ Pahlmeyer Merlot
I opted for the ‘standard’ wagyu and not the upgraded version. This was still perfectly cooked. There were two types of potatoes. Sous Vide Potato pearls infused with rosemary butter and then a puree on top of granola. The granola added a nice mix of textures to the meal.

View attachment 908831
Wagyu Beef w/ Potato, Guanciale Granola w/ Saint Juliet Chateau Beychevelle Fourth Growth

Afterwards the cheese cart came by and my server selected a few cheeses for me. I really wish I would have taken some notes but I didn’t. I also was getting full at this point and wanted to save room for my dessert.

View attachment 908832
Cheese Cart

View attachment 908833
Cheese Plate

Dessert was a lovely banana cheesecake. I’m not normally a huge cheesecake lover but this was light and well balanced.

View attachment 908834
Banana Cheesecake w/ Passion, Guava w/ Sauternes Chateau Suduiraut First Growth

I was then served the final extra bites of food but I got the majority of those wrapped up togo as I just couldn’t eat anymore.

View attachment 908835
Ending Bites

The meal took just about 2 hours but I know it was quicker than usual as I was solo so not a long time to linger and discuss during each course. Luckily this meant I could do some Halloween things that were about to start!​

Everything looks amazing!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Sunday October 13th – Halloween Activities

I dropped off my leftovers in the stateroom and got a look at my towel animal before I changed back into normal clothes.



I headed back to Deck 11 to go Trick or Treating around Cabanas. It felt silly but hey! Who doesn’t love Candy?




A decent size haul for an adult I would say as they had many stations set up around Cabanas.

Due to some light rain, the Halloween deck party got moved to the Atrium so I headed to the 5th floor balcony area to be able to watch without a ton of crowding. It was a cute dance party to watch and see all the characters in their Halloween best!








From there, I headed to Skyline for a cocktail as I waited for the adult entertainment to occur in the Tube.



In the Tube, I had more to drink and we enjoyed the adult Halloween dance show.



My friends won the group costume!




Afterwards, we all parted ways and I went to bed.​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Everything looks amazing!

It truly was! I left so full that I was sad for the bites I did have to leave behind.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Monday October 14th – Lookout Cay

I was up around 7:30AM and saw we were at Lookout Cay!



We weren’t cleared to disembark yet so I headed to breakfast at Cabanas where I got myself a banana, some bacon and cheese.

I knew I’m more of a morning person at a beach than an all-day type person so I got my bag together as I waited for All Ashore to be called. There was a bit of a delay and there was a mass of crowds on Deck 2 midship waiting for that to occur. Eventually it was called and everyone moved out. Yes the walk to the island is long but I didn’t hate it? It felt good to get some activity in them after a couple days on the ship being the relaxation queen that I am.



I took the shuttle to the beach area and then walked to the Serenity Bay. As it was still early, very few people were there and I went towards the far edge of the beach and got settled for a while. I enjoyed the water some and I also enjoyed a Pina Colada and people watching.





Eventually, I had enough and headed up to the bar on the adult side to get another cocktail and get out of the sun while I waited for lunch to be served at 11:30AM.



Lunch was ok. The pork rib was decent but the chicken wasn’t good. I did enjoy the fresh fruit though.

After lunch I headed back to the main pavilion and looked in the shops but didn’t buy anything. I also loved the character photo stations they had around the pickup area!







I took the tram back to entry port and walked back to the ship to get cleaned up and figure out things to enjoy this early afternoon before my Stem to Stern Wine Tasting at 4PM. The walk wasn't bad but I could see how it would be brutal in the heat of summer after a long day at the beach.

​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Monday October 14th – Activity, Disney Food Trivia, Star Wars (Advanced), Stem to Stern Wine Tasting

After getting cleaned up, I headed to a decorate your own drink holder activity. I won’t lie, this was kinda lame. The markers didn’t really work well but it happens! I was really there just killing time until trivia in D Lounge.



This was Disney Food Trivia and I was solo in doing this. I ended up tying with another team but because the team was only a team of 2 and they had 4 medals, they just gave us all a medal rather than doing the tie breaker. Works for me!

There was one question in trivia that really made us laugh.



Who doesn’t want to enjoy some Cole Slaw while watching the Tiki Birds?



I headed to O’Gills to do Advanced Star Wars Trivia and I really wished my husband was there with me. I ended up teaming up with the team of 2 that I tied with in Disney Food Trivia and we got all of 5 right. The winning person only had like 11 of the 20. It was hard. Well – my husband probably would have known more but he was at home caring for our dogs. I sent him a text message after that told him how bad we did and he laughed.

From there I switched back to my bathing suit and headed to the Rainforest Room to use my daily scrub for the showers and then enjoyed some heated lounger time for a short nap. The Navigator app said there was going to be a spa raffle at 3PM but turns out it was an error so the 3 of us that showed up each got a $50 spa gift card.

I headed back to my room to get cleaned up and dressed for the evening before I headed down to Oh La La for my Stem to Stern Wine Tasting.

The tasting consisted of 6 wines we would try blind as the sommelier went through the grapes and notes and such so we could try to determine what type of wine it was.







Overall the wines were a nice range of what’s normally available for varietals:

Cloudy Bay – Sauvignon Blanc
Pouilly-Fuisse AOC – Chardonnay (French)
Selbach Oster – Riesling Spatlese
King Estate – Pinot Noir
Chianti Classico Banfi – Chianti
Paysage Lasseter Family Winery – Red Blend (Malbec/Merlot with a tiny bit of Cabernet Sauvignon)

Overall, I enjoyed the event but depending on when my next cruise is – I may skip but I realize I tend to drink a lot of different wines at home on a regular basis.

From there, I headed back to the D Lounge to watch the “It’s A Pirate Life For Me” game show. It was silly and family friendly. I had some good laughs and it was nice to see the kids being adorable and their dads being good sports about playing along.







​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Monday October 14th – Pirate Night

By the time the game show was over, it was time to head to Animator’s Palette for the Pirate Night dinner. As I had dined at Remy the night before, I didn’t know where our table was supposed to be and that seemed to annoy the people as I entered the restaurant. Sorry? Guess I should have known it was going to set the tone of the meal.

All my friends arrived on time and we caught up on our day up until now. Most of us enjoyed the beach but their crowding was different than mine because of the time of day they made it out there.

We ordered drinks and looked at the menu. I remembered that the Pirate menu tends to be the weakest and boy was that right. At least my cocktail was good.


Pirate’s Nest – Starr Rum, Mango Ginger Green Tea and Ginger Beer

For my appetizer, I got the crab cake. It was 100% filler and like no crab to be found. It was like eating a bad hush puppy.


Deep Fried Calypso Crab Cake

I didn’t take a photo but I ordered as Caesar Salad and even that was bad as the lettuce was swimming in a heavy mayo dressing with zero flavor.

When the salads came out, my friend asked to switch seats with me so she could talk to her other friend and I was talking a bunch with her husband anyway so it worked out. That upset our assistant server so much to the point she made a comment that we are messing things up. My friend and I just looked at each other and were like we can switch our meals – its ok.

I went with the beef option and also bleh. It needed flavor that the horseradish just didn’t give it. I ate it as I knew I needed some substance as we would be drinking more this evening.


King George’s Roasted Privateer Strip Loin w/ Thyme-Roasted Potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding and Rosemary Wine Sauce

For dessert, nothing looked good so I just asked for ice cream with some chocolate sauce. It was fine.


Ice Cream w/ Chocolate Sauce

We really had to flag down our servers to close out our tabs as we had 90’s music trivia to get to at the Tube.

We made it in time for it to start and our team kicked some booty and won!


More bourbon

My friend wanted to go do photos and go to the show but I was going to stick around for movie trivia so my friend’s husband stayed with me. We did better than I thought but we didn’t win. We then proceeded back to the Meridian to drink some wine and talk until my friend joined us back there and we headed back to the Tube for Karoke.

Let’s just say I had enough to drink that I actually sang. I was feeling no pain.

I do remember making it back to my room and eating my Remy desserts from the night before and passing out hard after I sent this photo to my dog friends saying what is this?


(We determined it was a kraken)

​

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Did the mango and ginger in the drink go together well? I like both of those flavors, but can't quite imagine together!

I usually enjoy the pirate menu, but that crab cake definitely doesn't look good! I know I had it last time and it looked better and tasted really good, so much that DH said he should have gotten it! ( Can't remember what he did have). Next time I'm going to get the samosa, shrimp, and Shanghai noodle stir fry. I agree none of the desserts really sound good. Last time I had the caramel macadamia cheesecake tart, and it was just hard and dry. I don't think I'll waste the calories next time.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Did the mango and ginger in the drink go together well? I like both of those flavors, but can't quite imagine together!

I usually enjoy the pirate menu, but that crab cake definitely doesn't look good! I know I had it last time and it looked better and tasted really good, so much that DH said he should have gotten it! ( Can't remember what he did have). Next time I'm going to get the samosa, shrimp, and Shanghai noodle stir fry. I agree none of the desserts really sound good. Last time I had the caramel macadamia cheesecake tart, and it was just hard and dry. I don't think I'll waste the calories next time.

I did enjoy that drink! It wasn't very strong which was fine as I was able to make it last throughout the meal that way along with my Pellegrino.

Some of my friends did get the Samosa and they enjoyed it. The noodle stir fry would also probably been a better choice as well.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Tuesday October 15th – Palo Brunch

When I woke up around 7AM, I needed something in my stomach. I headed up to cabanas to make a breakfast slider of cheese, butter and bacon off the buffet. I had two of those along with some diet coke and was feeling less like I drank too much the night before.

I headed to Senses as I had a 75-minute massage booked so I got checked in and waited in the relaxation room filling out paperwork until it was time for it. It was absolutely blissful and because I had that extra $50 – I did add on some of those upgrades.



I did catch a glimpse of the Royal Gathering as I picked up my daily DVC gift before it was back to the room to relax and enjoy the ocean view from the balcony until it was time to get ready to meet my group of friends at Palo for brunch.


Menu w/ Champagne.



Almond Croissants


Other Pastries


Seafood Platter - Jonah Crab Claw, Lemon-Marinated Shrimp, Marinated Green Lip Mussels, Spiced Ahi Tuna, Gravlax served with Meyer Lemon, Saffron Aloll, Dill Honey Mustard and Cocktail Sauce


Meat Platter - Sliced Prosciutto, Sliced Coppa, Sliced Bresaola, Salame Gentile, Marinated Cerignola Olives, Roasted Garlic, Caciotta a Tartufo, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Sweet Peppers



Lasagna Bolognese w/ Roma Tomato Sauce


Limoncello Torte – Citrus Cake, Crème Cheese, Lemon Curd, Citrus Salad

Overall, brunch was amazing! So much food. Not pictured were the pizzas we also ordered for the table. I was completely stuffed upon leaving.

After Palo, we all went our separate ways for a bit. I know I enjoyed the Rainforest Room with my last scrub, checked in for my flight and still got a B49 boarding number. I took a nap, and figured out my bags. I got everything packed up except for what I was wearing and what I was going to wear the next day so I would be able to get my luggage out of the door later this evening for disembarkation.​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Tuesday October 15th – Chocolate & Liquor Tasting, Enchanted Garden, Trivia, Bourbon Tasting

A little before 4PM, I headed to Oh La La for my next liquor tasting – the Chocolate and Liquor one.




I will say of all my tastings, this was the biggest bleh to me and just didn’t feel worth the money. Yes, we had champagne, a nice red, a port and a scotch and it was fun tasting them with the various chocolates but I found myself bored.

Immediately after I met with my friend and her husband in La Piazza to join them with Muppets trivia where her husband was so excited and on it. He only got 1 question wrong but apparently someone else got 20/20 and thus he didn’t win.

From there we headed to Enchanted Garden for our final night dinner.

For my appetizer, I went with the lobster ravioli and in my first bite I bite into a large piece of shell which ugh. I didn’t eat more afterwards.


North Atlantic Lobster Ravioli

I skipped the salad/soup course as nothing sounded good and I went with chicken since I had noted I had eaten a lot of beef this trip. That was the wrong choice as well. The skin was rubbery and there was zero flavor under that skin. The mashed sweet potatoes were the best part.


Marjoram-Scented Roast Chicken

3 of the adults rushed to The Tube for 2000s music trivia. We missed one artist of the 20 artist-song combos which ugh. ATC’s Around the World (La La La La La) we knew the title but who remembers ATC. I then headed back to my room to get my luggage outside my door before the rest of the evening’s activities.





I wanted to do the TV Catchphrase trivia so my friend’s husband stayed with me while the rest went to go see Frozen. My friend ended up coming back. We ended up winning! There was some other adult activity in The Tube going on that my friend was going to enjoy but I headed to Cove Café for the Whiskey Tasting.



I was a little annoyed they started it about 15 minutes late as while the class was sold out – people were slow to arrive today. Probably because it being the last day of the cruise but still. Rude!





The tasting was fine. I just was in a bit of a bad mood about it all.

After the tasting, I headed back to the Tube where my friends were for the 80s Music Challenge which was incredibly silly and fun. But as they were switching to a silent disco after that – we all called it a night.​

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Wednesday October 16th – Travel Home

I woke up around 6:15AM and got ready to leave the stateroom for the final time. As I had Disney transfers and an early afternoon flight – I wasn’t too concerned about timing so I went to the disembarkation breakfast and this is where we had issues with the Navigator app. My Navigator App had it listed at 6:45AM but they didn’t open the gates to eat at the Enchanted Garden until 7:15AM...so there was a large crowd ready for it to open! Most of our group was there at breakfast except for my one friend & husband.

I ordered the chocolate chip pancakes and just regular wate and a diet coke.



We all said our goodbyes and I waited for my disembarkation group to be called. They were doing Fast Walkoff so they all had their luggage with them. It wasn’t too long of a wait until my Tinkerbell group was called and I headed off the ship. My luggage was easy to find (thank you purple luggage!) and I breezed through customs and immediately was loaded onto a bus to the airport.

The ride was uneventful and the hurricane damage we had seen on the way to the port at the beginning of the week had long been cleaned up by now. I actually ended up at the airport too early to drop my luggage off at Southwest so I just sat around for another hour until I could do so and then hit TSA. TSA was slow but such is the MCO airport.

I grabbed a quick easy lunch at Jersey Mike’s so it would be less to worry about later.



The one thing I hate about Southwest boarding in MCO is how large family boarding is. Luckily, I still was able to get an exit row seat in the two-seat row. Perfect! My seat mate was terrible though with invading personal space and I’m the fatter of the two! Oh well. I landed and took an Uber home and got ready for work the next day.

Overall, it was a good trip. The specialty dining was amazing even though the main dining left a lot to be desired. Next cruise I'm finally Gold status so now we just need to figure out when that next one will be.​

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Thanks for sending me a link. Can't believe I missed 2 Dis Yoda reports! A lot of the tasting descriptions remind me of the Food & Wine festival events in the old days. And food trivia?? Sign me up - though I would not have known the original name for Casey's Corner either. The rainforest room sounds delightful. Hopefully I can keep better track of your reports in 2025!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Thanks for sending me a link. Can't believe I missed 2 Dis Yoda reports! A lot of the tasting descriptions remind me of the Food & Wine festival events in the old days. And food trivia?? Sign me up - though I would not have known the original name for Casey's Corner either. The rainforest room sounds delightful. Hopefully I can keep better track of your reports in 2025!

I do miss the F&W events of the old days and I'm sad its never going to come back.

We have only 2 WDW trips planned for 2025 - the April race weekend and then Wine & Dine weekend at the end of RRCUS Nationals (it happens this year in Ocala) Our big trip is Provence, France in September so no real good place to post that trip on this board.