Zero Forky's Given - An August 2019 Dining Report - Completed 8/18

[ariane37]

These were super-special extra magical magic hours and magic abounded.

Prepared super special those days just for you

Cream cheese pretzel from the Lunching Pad

I still need to try this! I feel like I was almost there and then they got rid of it for awhile? And then I forgot about it again when it came back.

We were clearly at Skippers Canteen where my husband felt compelled to do this.

I love his shirt! And I do want to know what he's doing here Is he summoning some of the 999 HappyHaunts? Was he just planning to jump out and do some skipper scaring?

Working from the amazing advice of my “sitter wife” @Jenny Sanders we also ordered from the supper secret menu and got the Pao de Queijo which is cheese bread from deep in the amazon served with Chimichurri cream cheese.

I don't know HOW I don't know about these!! They look like something I'd love along with their awesome sangria

 

[suse66]

We are doing well considering and Casey is officially enrolled in Daddy School. I had to work until Thursday but I was able to get in on the home school action yesterday. Though apparently I was more of a distraction than a help and was ruining their school mojo Unfortunately I don't have that much telework I can do beyond some training so there should be lots of DIS time in my future. Stay safe!

Glad you are staying safe! My three are doing work online, well really mostly Jack with his university courses. Our school board is still figuring out the delivery model for online delivery so the twins haven't had a lot to do. My teaching partner and I are trying to figure out how in the world you do a play based kindergarten program online. Any ideas??

But were we alarmed to only find only half of Magic Kingdom open and insane lines? Or were we concerned that the only “extra magic” thing we did was meet Cinderella but no photos appeared in MDE so we have no proof? Or were we aggravated to be held at not one, but two different ropes when trying to get to Frontierland? Or when we got to Big Thunder Railroad were we frustrated that the line went back to Country Bears and never actually moved? OF COURSE NOT! These were super-special extra magical magic hours and magic abounded.

Did they only have Tomorrowland and Fantasyland open?? That sucks! Adventureland and Fronteirland are the best parts of the park.

Family tradition of Pretzels on the Pooper!!!

Yum!

Per my notes Jason got a "kingaloosh." Pretty sure that is supposed to be a Kungaloosh Spiced Excursion Ale but he is married to me so perhaps I meant King Lush. I being in an extra kinda mood got a “much ultra.” Its so fancy it was even imported from St. Louis.

Michelob ultra????

First up we have the “Casbahs Chan’s slightly like avocado and slight spice very cilantro beer thing”

Those are delicious!

This was also the point in the meal where I learned my husband had been harboring a secret from me. After eating this for years he said he didn’t like shumai. Since I never met a dumpling I didn’t like that was blasphemy. Or as recorded in my notes “Shumai didn’t know j didn’t like ***????? (insert my favorite 3 letter acronym here) slight spice and good.”

Mystery in a marriage is always a good thing.....

Working from the amazing advice of my “sitter wife” @Jenny Sanders we also ordered from the supper secret menu and got the Pao de Queijo which is cheese bread from deep in the amazon served with Chimichurri cream cheese.

I need to try these! Sadly I did not make it to Skippers last summer and who knows if my trip with Jack in July will happen or not.

Their prices keep going up while the food portions are going down. I’d also like it if they added more secret items to mix up the menu some more.

Prices are crazy! Then add in our exchange rate as Canadians and it is not a pretty sight!

Before we left Casey requested Carousel of Progress and a snack on Main Street.

Smart girl!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

My teaching partner and I are trying to figure out how in the world you do a play based kindergarten program online. Any ideas??

Hiya don’t know if you are on Fb but if you are and you check out PlayboardNI it’s an organisation here that drives the education through play agenda here. Go to their photos and there are some great ideas for home based learning through play for both indoors and outdoor plus recipes for play dough among other things. Don’t know if it will be of use to you but maybe

 

[suse66]

Hiya don’t know if you are on Fb but if you are and you check out PlayboardNI it’s an organisation here that drives the education through play agenda here. Go to their photos and there are some great ideas for home based learning through play for both indoors and outdoor plus recipes for play dough among other things. Don’t know if it will be of use to you but maybe

Thank you so much Moira! That is really helpful!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

I don't know HOW I don't know about these!! They look like something I'd love along with their awesome sangria

Oh, Ariane!!! A cheeseball filled with melty cheese! Yes, how did you NOT know about them???? They are sooooo good!

 

[NJlauren]

Ugh sorry you arent able to work... or maybe you like that? I am not sure everyone is different. I am not enjoying working and home schooling... not for me

When we finally got on the bus were we annoyed when a lady regaled us with her adventures in Puerto Rico and her disbelief that no one spoke English? No way!

Oh i just love people!

But were we alarmed to only find only half of Magic Kingdom open and insane lines? Or were we concerned that the only “extra magic” thing we did was meet Cinderella but no photos appeared in MDE so we have no proof? Or were we aggravated to be held at not one, but two different ropes when trying to get to Frontierland? Or when we got to Big Thunder Railroad were we frustrated that the line went back to Country Bears and never actually moved? OF COURSE NOT! These were super-special extra magical magic hours and magic abounded.

HAHA you have like zero luck with early hours just stay in bed next time!

First up we have the “Casbahs Chan’s slightly like avocado and slight spice very cilantro beer thing”

this looks way good!

Working from the amazing advice of my “sitter wife” @Jenny Sanders we also ordered from the supper secret menu and got the Pao de Queijo which is cheese bread from deep in the amazon served with Chimichurri cream cheese.

Tell me more about this secret menu....

While i see we only got 3.5 forkys today, i do have to say i like Skippers, i think over all it is the best option on MK, i think the food is a bit different and not a complete let down!

 

[kastoney]

Prepared super special those days just for you

Bestest in the biz! Brought all those people in and closed half the park all for me

I still need to try this! I feel like I was almost there and then they got rid of it for awhile? And then I forgot about it again when it came back.

You remember right. It was gone for a while and then came back. Its not as good as it used to be as it doesn't have as much filling but still very good.

I love his shirt! And I do want to know what he's doing here Is he summoning some of the 999 HappyHaunts? Was he just planning to jump out and do some skipper scaring?

Sadly all of these seem like good ideas compared to what he was actually doing. He saw a strange nook and thought it a good idea to put his strange self inside of it. You can only imagine what stir crazy Jason is doing in the house on a daily basis

Glad you are staying safe! My three are doing work online, well really mostly Jack with his university courses. Our school board is still figuring out the delivery model for online delivery so the twins haven't had a lot to do. My teaching partner and I are trying to figure out how in the world you do a play based kindergarten program online. Any ideas??

Ours officially cancelled school for the rest of the year. They are still trying to figure it out too and based upon what they sent out it looks like they will only have an hour of actual instruction a day and no grades I think if nothing else its just good for the kiddos to see each other and talk. Casey has had 2 zoom sessions with her class and while her teacher has yet to figure out how to work the equipment they just love to see and talk to each other. I have zero expectations that Casey will actually learn anything through this so its definitely on us. Hang in there!

Did they only have Tomorrowland and Fantasyland open?? That sucks! Adventureland and Fronteirland are the best parts of the park.

Yepper! No clue why they didn't open the entire park or why I didn't know this. Seemed odd especially when like you we'd spend all our time in the lands of frontier and adventure

Michelob ultra????

Nothing but the fanciest for me

Oh, Ariane!!! A cheeseball filled with melty cheese! Yes, how did you NOT know about them???? They are sooooo good!

Because someone apparently didn't tell her like they did me

Ugh sorry you arent able to work... or maybe you like that? I am not sure everyone is different. I am not enjoying working and home schooling... not for me

I definitely needed a bit of a break for not as long as this is likely to go on. I am working some, I just work for the government so there isn't a lot I can do from home but doing what I can. I cannot imagine trying to manage a full time job and home schooling. Hang in there!

HAHA you have like zero luck with early hours just stay in bed next time!

Sadly we try one more time but we are officially done!

While i see we only got 3.5 forkys today, i do have to say i like Skippers, i think over all it is the best option on MK, i think the food is a bit different and not a complete let down!

I go back and forth between Skippers and Liberty Tree. Skippers is good but their menu gets old to me. Think its back to Liberty for a while until I get sick of it and go back to Skippers. Sad thing is MK food options just aren't good

Tell me more about this secret menu....

I'm not sure its so secret anymore but its got a few items on it. Just wish they would expand it more.

 

[NJlauren]

I go back and forth between Skippers and Liberty Tree. Skippers is good but their menu gets old to me. Think its back to Liberty for a while until I get sick of it and go back to Skippers. Sad thing is MK food options just aren't good

You are right i forget about Liberty sometimes, but i find there menu for dinner to be very heavy. We did eat there in August and i was surprised i liked it so much, but i tend to never think about it cause i view it as cold weather food.

I hear lunch is a bit better, heavy food wise, maybe i will try that next time!

 

[kastoney]

You are right i forget about Liberty sometimes, but i find there menu for dinner to be very heavy. We did eat there in August and i was surprised i liked it so much, but i tend to never think about it cause i view it as cold weather food.

I hear lunch is a bit better, heavy food wise, maybe i will try that next time!

Lunch is definitely where it is at. We've actually never even done dinner there for the heaviness you said but have some great non-thanksgiving options at lunch time.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Because someone apparently didn't tell her like they did me

YIKES!!!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Somehow I still haven't been to Skipper's. I think between the cachapas, secret cheese bread, and beer I will be giving it a try. I agree with you though, MK dining overall is just lackluster. Such a shame as there is so much opportunity to do really cool stuff. Hope you all are making the best of quarantine!

 

[kastoney]

Somehow I still haven't been to Skipper's. I think between the cachapas, secret cheese bread, and beer I will be giving it a try. I agree with you though, MK dining overall is just lackluster. Such a shame as there is so much opportunity to do really cool stuff. Hope you all are making the best of quarantine!

Its definitely worth a stop in. The food is good we just wished they could change it up a bit more. But it certainly is the most adventurous of the food options in MK but of course that isn't saying a lot. They really need to do something to add to the bleak MK options. Hope you are well too!

 

[kastoney]

A Birthday Touchdown

Tonight in honor of the anniversary of the day of my birth that was just 4 short days away Jason and I decided to roll solo and leave Casey locked up in the bathroom in our room.

I kid, I kid, but only almost.

Dinner was at the Swan and Dolphin where just about the only childcare center on property remains - “Camp Dolphin.” Even better you get two hours free if you eat in one of their restaurants so double score.

Unfortunately that is where the scoring ended. Buried deep in the basement of the hotel behind a heavy door with no distinguishing characteristics we found this place.

It doesn’t look that bad from the picture (stolen from the dark internet) but this is literally the entirety of the “camp.” It was like 5% the size of the Disney ones we’d used in the past. But we had drinkin' to do so I begrudgingly left my child with the humorless staff member running what I deemed a child labor camp. It was my birthday and not hers after all

We had a bit of time before our dinner reservation so what’s a birthday girl to do? Partake in some happy hour of course.

We headed to bluezoo (no space all lower case, how very Homecomin’ of them) who has a rare happy hour at Disney and grabbed a few seats at a nearly empty bar.

To start Jason got a beer that my very discerning notes deemed “local.”


I got a Happy Hour special the Smoking Sangria cocktail with Moscato, 4 oranges Florida vodka, St. Germain elderflower and Solerno blood orange liqueur finished with liquid nitrogen.

This lab experiment in a glass has to be one of the coolest and best deals on property. The drink itself was a little sweet for my liking but it was $7 and full of alcohol so of course I had two.


For his second round Jason got a glass of High West Double Rye.

Clearly he was not happy with his choice.

Throughout Happy Hour we were concerned about Casey and the labor camp we’d dropped her off at. We contemplated skipping dinner but ultimately figured a couple hours of forced labor wouldn’t kill her.

Are these the faces of guilt-ridden parents or what?

We paid our very small tab at BlueZoo and headed to our fancy dinner at a new to us restaurant for dinner: Shula’s. I mean what about eating at a steakhouse owned by a former NFL football coach packed with Miami Dolphins memorabilia does not scream birthday dinner?

I kid (only slightly) about the décor as Shula’s is really an old fashioned steakhouse in the best of ways. We had an amazing and attentive server and enjoyed the ambiance that included pictures of men performing Greco-Roman wrestling

And Doug!

Clearly not everyone got the fancy memo.

To start with they brought us some still warm sourdough bread and butter.

The “sour” of the bread was pretty strong, but delicious. Like everything else Dolphins related in the restaurant, my wonderful husband surmised that their sourdough starter likely owes its lineage to butt yeast from the 1973 Dolphins. Not hard to imagine how he woo’d me, huh?

To wash down our butt yeast bread we got a bottle of Freemark Abbey Cabernet Sauvignon that our waiter recommended.

This was a little light for a cab and likely needed a few more years to open up but it had a lot of tannins and blackberry undertones that went great with our steaks.

To continue the fanciness Shula’s brings you a selection of steak knives to pick for your meal.

I don’t recall which one I picked but I’m sure it was the fanciest.

For entrée’s I ordered the 10oz Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter. To no one’s surprise my notes got a little tipsy at this point as I characterized this as “filet blow yah Raman’s away good char but not overly so pick inieifr but could cut moist.”

But this filet was so good I don’t even need my tipsy notes as it Blew. Me. Away. The steak had an amazing char on the outside, but was cooked perfectly medium rare on the inside. It was delicious on its own but add in the decadent truffle butter and it just put it over the top. It was so tender I really didn’t even need my fancy knife. And it was quickly evident Yachtsman Steakhouse (aka yah Raman’s) didn’t even hold a candle to it.

Jason ordered the 22-oz Dry-Aged Prime Cowboy. I was surprised to see the Dolphins supporting the Cowboys on their menu but I guess some rivalries can be put aside for the sake of a good steak

Like me, Jason was in awe of his steak as my notes say “extra slightly candy taste he says large beefy and delicious.” After a brief consultation with the consumer of said cowboy he indicated he has zero idea what I was talking about but recalls it was so good he could eat it like candy. So we’ll go with that.

To go with our steaks we shared a couple of sides. First up we have the Creamed Spinach.

It doesn’t get more old school then this classic side and we were not disappointed. It was over the top creamy and garlicy and cheesy and everything you want creamed spinach to be. Popeye would be proud.

We also ordered their Macaroni and Cheese which is Cavatappi Pasta, Gouda-Cheddar Cheese Sauce, and Bread Crumbs.

This was perfectly good mac and cheese (or “okie no jiko” as my notes said) but in a meal of outstanding dishes it was just fine and nowhere near the level of the mac and cheese at Jiko. Not everything can be a touchdown, right?

But speaking of touchdowns, we had another with dessert. Straight outta Julia Child’s 1970’s kitchen meet the Chocolate Soufflé with vanilla creme anglaise, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream.

My very confused notes say “Soufflé steak sf 12 somehow light and rich perfect with cream anflaiaee” but I can assure you there was no steak anywhere near this. It was simultaneously light and rich and the perfect ending to my early birthday meal.

This was our first visit to Shula’s and it will undoubtedly not be our last. From the butt yeast bread to the candy steak, every detail of the meal and service was near perfection. While they do not take Tables in Wonderland thanks to an amazing tip from @Raeven I signed up for Shula’s rewards program which comes with a free steak for your birthday! My steak was $54 so this was much better than a Tables in Wonderland Discount!

In case it is not evident a full 5 forky’s were definitely given as this was without question the best meal of the trip.


In our wine and meat haze we’d almost forgotten about our interred child but we did eventually pick her up. Despite our worries she made some friends and had fun though even with 2 hours of free childcare I’m 99% sure we will not take her back here again. Looks like I’ll be sharing my Shula’s steak next time.

We Uber’d back to Caribbean Beach where a very tired Casey regaled us with yet another recap of the day.

Up next, drinking before noon galactic style.​

 

[2xcited2sleep]

You guys both look great! It can be so fun to get dressed up for a special dinner. BlueZoo's happy hour is undoubtedly a hidden gem -- don't go telling everyone! They have so many fun and creative cocktails. Next time, if not waiting on a dinner reservation, try the crab nachos -- SO good. I haven't tried Shula's yet but it's always been on my list. Everything looks great. Sorry the kids center wasn't the best but sounds like Casey didn't mind.

 

[L_MD]

I went to Shula's for the first time last year and got a strip...NY or Kansas City I dont remember, but the steak was SO good and the TRUFFLE BUTTER on top!!!!! Oh my God.

Sadly, it's not the best place for a solo diner. What with the 6 different waiters for me, who eats her food at light speed, I felt a touch awkward. The steak was worth it!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Glad you had such an amazing Shula's experience! That steak looks so good right now and chocolate soufflé's done right are so good that's why they are so classic!

 

[disneyAndi14]

Wow that meal looks amazing, I’m so glad you had an awesome Birthday meal!
Funny post as usual which we all need right now!

 

[hereforthechurros]

So glad you enjoyed Shula’s. We were so impressed with the service there, definitely a step up from most WDW dining. Jealous of the soufflé! We ordered one but after hearing it would take 25 minutes we were too full and tired to wait. Rookie move.

 

[buzzrelly]

Tonight in honor of the anniversary of the day of my birth that was just 4 short days away Jason and I decided to roll solo and leave Casey locked up in the bathroom in our room.

I kid, I kid, but only almost.

Wow! You guys look awesome! It's weird seeing you looking so serious

Unfortunately that is where the scoring ended. Buried deep in the basement of the hotel behind a heavy door with no distinguishing characteristics we found this place.

It doesn’t look that bad from the picture (stolen from the dark internet) but this is literally the entirety of the “camp.” It was like 5% the size of the Disney ones we’d used in the past. But we had drinkin' to do so I begrudgingly left my child with the humorless staff member running what I deemed a child labor camp. It was my birthday and not hers after all

Yikes…looks so warm and welcoming

I got a Happy Hour special the Smoking Sangria cocktail with Moscato, 4 oranges Florida vodka, St. Germain elderflower and Solerno blood orange liqueur finished with liquid nitrogen.

That looks fun

Throughout Happy Hour we were concerned about Casey and the labor camp we’d dropped her off at. We contemplated skipping dinner but ultimately figured a couple hours of forced labor wouldn’t kill her.

Are these the faces of guilt-ridden parents or what?

For sure!

This was our first visit to Shula’s and it will undoubtedly not be our last.

It looks amazing, we'll definitely have to check it out

We Uber’d back to Caribbean Beach where a very tired Casey regaled us with yet another recap of the day.

She looks cozy. I hope you made it to Galaxy's Hedge!

 

[Tracy161]

Beautiful photo, Kari!!!

This lab experiment in a glass has to be one of the coolest and best deals on property. The drink itself was a little sweet for my liking but it was $7 and full of alcohol so of course I had two.

Good choice. Sometimes drinking just comes down to efficiency

my wonderful husband surmised that their sourdough starter likely owes its lineage to butt yeast from the 1973 Dolphins. Not hard to imagine how he woo’d me, huh?

It all seems clear to me!

Always enjoy Casey's recaps! "How were extra magic hours?" "Horrible" Though... she speaks the truth, I'm afraid