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Old 18 Sep 17, 01:54 PM  
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#41
DisneyDreamer81
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Day 5 - 17th September 2017 (Part 1)

We had a very stressful start to the day as the transport methods we used (or tried to use) all seemed to be against us. We were off to California Grill for brunch, with a reservation time of 11.55am. After our transport traumas we eventually arrived, stressed, sweaty and having had a few "words" with each other, at 12.15pm. Thankfully the lady who checked us in just told us not to worry and "restored" our booking. Phew!

We were taken up to the 15th floor, handed a mimosa each and shown to the most amazing table right by the window. Our server was Jess, from Buffalo, and she was just the sweetest. We were talked through the menus, given water and a coffee for me and then Jess brought us a couple more mimosas. Unfortunately her tray wobbled and one of the mimosas crashed down on to our table, taking out my coffee with it. The two of them created an almighty splashdown and our table was basically covered! Thankfully neither I nor Ainge had a drop on us Jess was mortified, bless her, but we really weren't bothered at all. Our table was reset in moments and we were free to head up to the buffet!



The first course at brunch is all self-serve and we had about 3 plates full each The sushi and charcuterie was amazing and a special shout out to the devilled eggs too! I don't have any photos of the buffet (because it felt too fancy to be taking snaps) so have a selection of our plates instead...





For the main course, you order an entree each from the menu and it's brought out once you've gorged yourself on buffet treats. I went for the eggs benedict with Maine lobster and Ainge went for the crispy fried chicken breast with Korean sweet and spicy sauce. Oh my word, both were amazing! It was probably the best lobster I've ever had - so sweet and full of flavour.




They were both absolutely massive though and we were starting to get pretty stuffed. However, Jess then appeared with a tray of sweet treats for us to finish on. These were gorgeous but we could barely make a dent so got the rest boxed up to take away. From what I can remember there were fig and cardamom cookies, blueberry and lemon cakes, chocolate bark, blueberry truffle, mango truffle, an earl grey macaron and and a salted caramel macaron. So pretty!



We then settled up, leaving a good tip for Jess as she'd been fab. It we'd been paying OOP it would have been $170 plus tip but we used 4 TS credits. Given we had 4 or 5 mimosas each, plus the ridiculous amount of delicious food, I'd definitely pay OOP for it - it was amazing!

I'll write up the rest of day 5 later as we're off to Epcot now for a few rides and then drinks around the world
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1990 - Sheraton Lakeside, Kissimmee
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2017 - Yacht Club & Disney Dream

Edited at 03:09 PM.
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Old 18 Sep 17, 02:19 PM  
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#42
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Originally Posted by sheluk View Post
Ooh that food at Pandora looks SO good, that's seriously one of the things I'm most excited to try. I don't even like cheesecake but that dome !

Yummy pizza, sounds like a fab little dinner before HS. And that dessert party looks a thousand times better than the MK one - although I'd have been totalling devo'd not to be able to have the free cocktails. Really glad you are having such a wonderful time
I was honestly surprised at how good it was! Thought it might be style over substance but it was yum!

The dessert party was so much fun. Absolutely loved it. Thankyou lovely, we're having the best time! Xx
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1990 - Sheraton Lakeside, Kissimmee
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1997 - Radisson Parkway, Kissimmee
2015 - Disneymoon! Caribbean Beach Resort & Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
2017 - Yacht Club & Disney Dream
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Old 18 Sep 17, 03:05 PM  
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Loving your report so far!
Hope you have a great time <3
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Old 18 Sep 17, 08:27 PM  
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Ok, you've sold me on the California Grill brunch. Looks amazing and it's going straight on the list for next year. Looks divine!
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Old 20 Sep 17, 11:55 AM  
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Loving the food report! 😄

Kat
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Old 29 Sep 17, 09:11 PM  
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Ooh that brunch looks divine <3 and well done on the mimosas
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Old 2 Oct 17, 11:33 AM  
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Originally Posted by Dutchdisneyfan View Post
Loving your report so far!
Hope you have a great time <3
It was amazing thanks. I totally failed to keep up with the live element but I'll be writing up the rest soon!

Originally Posted by HelenJNT View Post
Ok, you've sold me on the California Grill brunch. Looks amazing and it's going straight on the list for next year. Looks divine!
It was incredible. Definitely in my top 3 meals of the trip!

Originally Posted by Kat11 View Post
Loving the food report! 😄

Kat
Thankyou! More to come very soon!

Originally Posted by sheluk View Post
Ooh that brunch looks divine <3 and well done on the mimosas
It was amazing. Such a lovely experience. And I thought you'd be proud
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1990 - Sheraton Lakeside, Kissimmee
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1997 - Radisson Parkway, Kissimmee
2015 - Disneymoon! Caribbean Beach Resort & Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
2017 - Yacht Club & Disney Dream
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Old 2 Oct 17, 11:34 AM  
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So, as I half expected, after the first few days, I totally failed to write up our eats and drinks "live"! However, we are now home (sob) and I'll be writing it all up very soon, as well as starting a "proper" trip report.

Thanks for all the lovely comments along the way!
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1990 - Sheraton Lakeside, Kissimmee
1992 & 1995 - Hyatt Orlando, Kissimmee
1997 - Radisson Parkway, Kissimmee
2015 - Disneymoon! Caribbean Beach Resort & Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
2017 - Yacht Club & Disney Dream
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Old 4 Oct 17, 06:06 PM  
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Day 5 - 17th September 2017 (Part 2)

After a lengthy delay (sorry!), I present to you... Day 5, Part 2!

After we waddled away from brunch we headed to the Grand Floridian on the Monorail. Mizner's Lounge was our destination and we found a nice table for two by the window. I ordered The Grand Cocktail ($11.25) and Ainge went for the Old Fashioned ($13). They were both great, although mine was so delicious I could have downed it, which is a bit dangerous




Our next stop was the Polynesian! We headed to Trader Sam's Grog Grotto (we managed to walk past the door twice as it's rather unassuming!) and put our names down for a table. It was about 4.20pm by this time and we were told it would be a 45 minute wait. We were given a buzzer and headed out to the Tiki Terrace to grab a drink while we waited. For the first time on this trip we both got asked for ID. We hadn't taken our passports out and they wouldn't accept just a driving licence so we decided to wander round the shop and wait for our Grog Grotto table. However, I remembered that I'd taken a photo of Ainge's passport a while ago and I also had a scan of my passport in my email account from a work trip abroad earlier in the year.

ID in hand, we headed back to the Tiki Terrace and ordered an Ace Pineapple Hard Cider for me and a beer (possibly Fat Tire) for Ainge. I can't remember the prices but will see if I can find the receipt and will add them in if I do!



Of course, as soon as our drinks arrived, the buzzer went off! We'd only waited about 20 minutes in total for the Grog Grotto, which I think is pretty decent. Ainge headed off inside to hand over the buzzer while I settled up for the drinks.

Luckily, he managed to snag a table just as one became free (being allowed in to the Grog Grotto doesn't guarantee a table!) and we settled in for a peruse of the menu. To cut a long story short, we tried all the cocktails bar the Nautilus and the ones that didn't come in souvenir glasses!

We started with a Hippopotomai-tai (two type of rum, orange curacao, orgeat, agave nectar and fresh lime juice) for Ainge and a Krakatoa Punch (spiced rum, rum, orgeat, hibiscus grenadine and Sam's Gorilla Grog). I definitely won the battle of the drinks here as mine was soooo good. It's my favourite mug too!




Up next for me was a Polynesian Pearl (RumChata, Grand Marnier, cinnamon and tropical juices) and a Shrunken Zombie Head (3 types of rum, tropical juices, Falernum and cinnamon) for Ainge. I wasn't expecting much from mine (but I wanted the souvenir pearl ) but it was gorgeous! Ainge's was far too strong for me but he enjoyed it.




And to finish we had the Uh-oa! (two types of rum, orange, passion fruit, guava, pineapple, and grapefruit juices, Falernum, cinnamon, and fresh lime juice) to share. This was also really good although quite strong and Ainge struggled with the end of it as it was very cinnamon-y!



We spent about 2.5 hours in the Grog Grotto and loved every minute of it. It was really fun with all the special effects, etc, and we were more than a little merry by the end of it. However, we had business to attend to - dinner at Ohana! We paid up (ouch!), collected our souvenir mugs (they were out of the Uh-oa! sadly, which was Ainge's favourite ) and headed up the stairs to check in for our 7.10pm dinner reservation.

We were shown to a lovely table with a castle view and ordered a Lapu Lapu ($14) each (because we clearly hadn't drunk enough ), plus a pomegranate lemonade each as our dining plan drink. The pineapple-coconut bread and mixed salad then arrived. The bread was lovely, although I couldn't really taste pineapple or coconut, but the salad was AMAZING. And I'm not normally one to get excited about salad (I blame Trader Sam for the blurry salad photo)





We ate most of the salad and about half the bread and then the pork dumplings and honey-coriander chicken wings arrived, with the noodles and vegetables in the same pan. Everything was delicious and I started to get The Fear as I was already feeling full (note to self: don't book brunch and a table service dinner on the same day!).



The sweet and sour chicken, szechuan sirloin steak and spicy shrimp were then brought round on skewers. Again, all amazing! We both managed a fair amount of each and then Ainge had more steak but I was completely stuffed.

Eventually, even Ainge admitted defeat and we were then brought our dessert, which was of course the bread pudding topped with caramel sauce and bananas. Having never been a fan of bread pudding I was skeptical but OH MY WORD this was good. We made a valiant effort but had to admit defeat after about half. I still regret not getting the rest boxed up for breakfast the next morning!



We paid for our drinks and tip and then headed off back to California Grill to watch Hallowishes from the terrace.

A boozy, expensive, food-filled and hilarious day!
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1990 - Sheraton Lakeside, Kissimmee
1992 & 1995 - Hyatt Orlando, Kissimmee
1997 - Radisson Parkway, Kissimmee
2015 - Disneymoon! Caribbean Beach Resort & Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
2017 - Yacht Club & Disney Dream

Edited at 03:13 PM.
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Old 4 Oct 17, 06:52 PM  
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Wow, what a day. No wonder it's taken so long to write it up, you must've been in an alcohol stupor for days and days it sounds perfect. I love that you had a mission to try all the cocktails. Please can I come on holiday with you next time! Yummy!

I hope you enjoyed the rest of the holiday, after you recovered from your day of excess...how did you feel the day after? Can't wait for the next update.
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