We bought this notepad ($12.99) as we always used a Disney pad for our food shopping list.
It was my Mum’s birthday just after we got back and she had requested a Disney gift! I bought this pashmina for her ($24.99) which she wears a lot. She likes that it is subtle Disney, but she knows that it’s there!
Lastly, was this photo album ($19.99). We’d already picked up a photo album on the cruise, but knew that we’d need two for all the photos I’d taken.
So a fair amount of our purchases were gifts, which makes it sound better, even if they were gifts for ourselves!
We browsed in a few more shops, including Mickey’s Pantry, Disney Corner and Once upon a toy. Once upon a toy was about a third of the size of our last visit.
Although breakfast didn’t seem that long ago, it was time for lunch! We tried to go for a slightly later lunch at 2.30pm, to try and space things out a bit!
Morimoto Asia wasn’t really on our radar until we watched a Disney Food Blog video where they raved about it. It a signature restaurant in the evenings, but only one credit for lunch.
The restaurant is big inside with two levels, although it was really quiet when we were there. We were sat upstairs with no one else in our section.
To drinks, Ollie had an Angry Orchard Rosé Hard Cider (of Barley & Hops food & wine booth fame).
Unusually for me, I wasn’t feeling an alcoholic drink and went for a coke zero, along with an iced water each. Ollie shared my coke and we had quite a few refills between us!
For appetisers, we split the Chicken Bao -
steamed buns, teriyaki chicken, lettuce, spicy mayo - $10.00 and the Pork Egg Roll -
pork, cabbage, apricot sweet chili sauce - $8.00
We enjoyed both. The terryaki chicken had a good flavour, even if I’m never too keen on the outside of a bao bun. (On a slightly related note, has everyone seen the Pixar short Bao? I’ll never be able to look at a bao bun the same again …)
For mains, we both went for the Orange Chicken -
tempura chicken, chinese broccoli, wok-tossed with a sweet florida orange sauce - Serving $20.00
Looking back, I really wish I went for something more adventurous, but I just wasn’t feeling it at the time. I think I was just after something a bit stodgy that day! I had assumed it would be individually battered pieces of chicken, rather than larger pieces. It was nice, and probably my fault for not ordering something more interesting.
The dessert menu at Morimoto Asia is just a bit weird and has some unusual concoctions on it.
The first dessert was quite normal, which was the Churro Fondue -
housemade churros, nutella, vanilla cream - $13.00
The Nutella sauce had to be squeezed out like a tiny tube of toothpaste…
The first batch of churros were massively overcooked, almost a bit burnt with a tough texture. We were then brought a second batch which were much better.
The other dessert choice was - Chocolate Cream & Crunch -
oreo tempura, mandarin orange jelly,dark chocolate gelato, hazelnut chocolate crunchies -$10.00
A bit odd, but a lot better than the sweet potato ice cream at Tiffins.
The oreo tempura was actually quite nice, but we only ate token amounts of the jelly/custard pot that came with it.
Our final stop at Disney Springs was Goofy’s Candy Company. I’d been meaning to have one of the create-your-own rice krispie treats for years and had never gotten around to it.
The smell of this place is like heaven to Ollie!
We filled in our forms and a really sweet older cast member made up our treats. There was a bit of a mix up with one of the treats after Ollie changes his mind on one of the toppings on our form. She made up a fresh one and gave us both – meaning we got 3 treats for our 2 snack credits, which was very kind of her.
We ate one of these for breakfast over a couple of morning, and the other two came home with us. I actually had one of them in my hold luggage and it came home pretty pristine!
Anyone ever bought one of these?
The candy shop was close to the boat dock, so we took a leisurely boat ride back to French Quarter.
We popped to the gift shop to collect some purchases (they don’t phone your room anymore to let you know they arrived). It took the cast member a while to come out with our purchases, as we had 7 bags….
Whilst there, I purchased this print of French Quarter for $25 (clearly we didn’t have enough purchases in those 7 bags). I love this print, although it still hasn’t made it on the wall!
Ollie did a drinks run and spotted a carriage ride on his journey –
We both freshened up for the evening and were heading out around 6.40pm. We waited around 5 minutes for a bus and the journey only took around 10 minutes. I love how quick it is to get to MK!
Hi castle!
The park felt busy this evening – we again managed to end up in MK on a Saturday evening. There were so many Halloween parties that it’s quite limited when guest can view the fireworks, so the evenings can feel quite busy.
We managed to get a FP for Haunted Mansion, so that was our first stop. The standby line was 35 minutes or so. Annoyingly, a large group were chatting all the way through the preshow, which ruined the spooky atmosphere.
The next aim for the evening was to get the Tangled latern photo (along with everyone else it seemed!). We joined the already reasonably long line and were advised they would start taking photos around 8pm once it was dark enough.
They had 3 photopass photographers out as it took a few of them to do the set up. After every few people they would have to stop and reset as the light levels kept changing, which must be a challenge for them.
Some families in the queue were being a bit greedy I felt. I get you may want a few combinations – eg the whole party and then just the kids. There was one family just in front of us who wanted each kind individually, as well as various group combinations. They must have had about 10 combinations in total, which I don’t think is fair in that kind of line.
Anyway, we got to the front just before 8.30pm and got our photo. I think this is a great photo opportunity
Happily Ever After was on at 8.30pm, and the music started just after our photos finished. We needed to make a quick exit after the show, so went up to the train station to watch. We missed the start of the show and although the view wasn’t as good as last time, it was pretty good considering our late arrival! I’m always happy to be watching this amazing show
We made a quick exit at the end and decided to get the boat over to the Grand Floridian. We just missed a boat and waited around 15 minutes for the next one. We had a pretty good view of the water pageant while waiting.
The boat over to the GF only took 5 minutes and we were soon checking in for our 9.30pm
ADR at Citricos. It was quite a late reservation, but we had already had two table service meals today!
We had a short wait for our table and the restaurant was very quiet by this point. Our server was very nice and had clearly been doing the job a long time. He told us storied about serving Princess Diana at the restaurant once.
To drink, I had a glass of prosecco, which is my go-to drink. Well, we were in a Mediterranean restaurant.
You know that pineapple cider we had earlier today, that we couldn’t find on any other menu in WDW? Hilariously, they had it on the menu here! Ollie was very happy and ordered his second of the day.
We were also brought out some bread, which I’m sure was nice but not the most memorable.
To start, we both had the Chorizo Arancini -
Crispy Chorizo Risotto, Romesco Sauce, Confit Peppers - $13.00
We didn’t get two to share as we normally would, as we both really wanted to try a whole portion! This was delicious and we made the right call not sharing.
For mains, I went for the Red Wine-braised Beef Short Ribs -
Polenta, Exotic Mushrooms, Seasonal Greens, Pickled Cipollini, Gremolata -$48.00
The short ribs had been slow cooked but weren’t dry at all.
Ollie went for the Oak-grilled Beef Filet -
Potato Purée, Jumbo Asparagus, Cipollini Jam, Bordelaise -$49.00
I was surprised that my main was almost the same price as his, when normally I’d expect a price difference between other dishes and the filet.
I tried a bit of Ollie’s steak (after some negotiating, we shared a third of each other’s) and it was nice, but not as nice as other steaks on the trip.
With our dessert our server brought us out two complimentary glasses of sparkling wine, which was a nice gesture. He said we must be sick of getting free wine by now, but this was actually the first time this had happened!
For desserts, we had the Florida Key Lime Pie -
baked in a Graham Cracker Tart Shell served with fresh Strawberries and a Quenelle of Sweet Mandarin Sorbet -$10.00 and the Lemon-scented Cheesecake -
with a Chocolate Ganache -$10.00
Before the trip, I had my heart set on their signature banana chocolate torte. It came up on every review as the must-have dessert here. However, our served advised they had just got a new pastry chef, and the first change he made was turning the banana torte into a cherry torte. Why, Disney signature restaurants, must you put cherries in everything?!
I begrudgingly went with the lemon cheesecake and tried some of Ollie’s key lime pie. The congratulations plaques were a nice touch, but the desserts were generally a bit forgettable.
Overall, our meal at Citricos was nice and I’m glad we got the opportunity to try the restaurant on the deluxe plan. However, on the standard plan it wouldn’t make the cut for us.
I can never resist a photo of the GF lobby!
We were the last to leave the restaurant and got the monorail back to MK. The park had shut and most people had left, but cast members were going round the bus stops and arranging buses for those who were left.
We got on a riverside bus which made a special stop at French Quarter for us. Obviously, I napped on the bus back.
Today was definitely a food filled day, which we always enjoy!
Day 18 - Hollywood Studios, The Boathouse and 'Ohana