Now Complete - 50 Shades of Beige - Disney Dining report Feb 2022

[theCMG]

Carrying on with the previews for the second part of the trip.

Animal Kingdom Lodge

Boma
The Mara
Sanaa Lounge
Sanaa

Another first time trip to a hotel, we’ve never been over to Animal Kingdom Lodge at all. DW loves Africa and planned for many years for a safari trip for her 50th which thankfully happened pre-COVID. So I’m hoping we’ll enjoy the vibes here and that the staff layoffs, college program cuts etc. haven’t affected the numbers of African staff too badly. We’ve gone for the basic room here, the Savanna view is tempting but it’s a lot of cash and I figure there are plenty of other good places to spot wildlife as tempting as it was. Anyway I’m sure it’s better than the wildlife hotel at Chessington World of Adventures which is the only comparative I have

This must be photoshopped

Food wise we’re going to eat everywhere we can that’s open in the hotel and adjacent Kidani Village DVC areas. At the time of writing that doesn’t include Jiko which is a shame but we’re excited about trying the highly rated Sanaa and Boma as well as The Mara and whatever bars and lounges are open.

Sanaa Bread Service - happening

Animal Kingdom Park

Tamu Tamu Refreshments
Satu’li Canteen
Dawa Bar
Pongu Pongu
Flame Tree BBQ

On the park days we’re likely sticking to the excellent Animal Kingdom quick service and again trying new places where we can. Of those above Pongu Pongu is the only one we’ve visited before. Satu’li canteen is an obvious one to go for although I’m a little torn on those bowls that are so well loved as they sound a lot like meals I cook for myself at home all the time so…

Admittedly mine never look as nice as this

Also keen to have a few drinks here as for once we’ll not be driving to the park and the selection of bars there is actually pretty varied and interesting.

Did I mention bars?

Disney Springs

The Boathouse
Wine Bar George
Enzo’s Hideaway
The Edison
Homecomin’
Coca-Cola Rooftop Bar

Because AKL is pretty remote when you don’t have a car I’m planning to link it up with some trips to Disney Springs, our main shopping trip etc. so that we can have some more varied eats when we’re not in the park.

The Boathouse and Homecomin’ are two returning favourites with Homecomin’ this time being booked for the weekend brunch option which was one of the trickier ones to secure this time (I almost messed it up at the 60 day+ booking window but managed to jimmy my way into an ADR by booking it for 3 not 2 when 2 was unavailable but then amending it to 2 which then worked, not sure how it worked but it did this time).

Some of the Brunch menu items are pure filth

I’d like to check out the Coca-Cola rooftop bar if we get the chance because I have a compulsion to drink, rank and make daft comments about small portions of liquid

Aside from that I’ve scheduled a half bar crawl, half small plates gluttony evening at Disney Springs where we plan to try and check out Jock Lindsay’s, Wine Bar George, Enzo’s Hideaway and The Edison. Not sure if we will drink in the first 3 then eat at The Edison or do a bit of both at each, I suspect the latter which is more the DW preference…

Go ahead Steampunk, make my filet

This reminds me of one of the lesser known dining reservation tips which I’d forgotten myself until the last minute when it helped out on some planning quandaries. Remember that with some of the Disney Springs places, selected resort area dining/drink spots and for a lot of the Swan and Dolphin restaurants you can book tables outside of the Disney system using Opentable etc. and this is not restricted to the usual 60 days plus stay rule as it is all open to the public etc.

I used this to book WBG, Edison, Enzo’s plus the Brewhouse at the Boardwalk and the Swolphin restaurants like Bluezoo etc. that I’ll preview in the next update. It’s not only good for booking some things much earlier but I also used it to book alternatives when some of the Disney timeslots needed to move around due to unavailability at my preferred times, one to keep in mind as it’s easy to forget this tip.

Catch you later

[KarenG]

Nice update and some great looking plans.

Can’t believe you’ve never visited AKL before! We’ve had a few quite short stays and although it is far from Disney Springs, distance wise, as a chunk of it is along Osceola Parkway it passes quite quickly.

It’s a beautiful resort and the bars and restaurants are great. If Jiko does reopen (unlikely I know) please do try and squeeze it in!

It’s getting close now! 😀 😁

[caitlinsmummy]

I think you'll love AK Lodge. Savannah view would be lovely, but for the amount of time you're in the room it probably isn't worth it and there's plenty of viewing areas around the resort, there's a lovely one outside of Saana too.

Cannot wait to see your Saana review, it was one of our favourite meals when we went.

So excited for your report! x

[Disney Planning]

Ooh can’t wait for your Homecomin meal, it was one of our favourites last time.

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by KarenG

Nice update and some great looking plans.

Can’t believe you’ve never visited AKL before! We’ve had a few quite short stays and although it is far from Disney Springs, distance wise, as a chunk of it is along Osceola Parkway it passes quite quickly.

It’s a beautiful resort and the bars and restaurants are great. If Jiko does reopen (unlikely I know) please do try and squeeze it in!

It’s getting close now! 😀 😁

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It was disappointing to find Jiko hadn’t reopened (as was DW for Monsieur Paul). But never mind, it gives us more opportunity to try new places which is a lot of the fun for us.

Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy

I think you'll love AK Lodge. Savannah view would be lovely, but for the amount of time you're in the room it probably isn't worth it and there's plenty of viewing areas around the resort, there's a lovely one outside of Saana too.

Cannot wait to see your Saana review, it was one of our favourite meals when we went.

So excited for your report! x

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We can’t wait now, crossing everything that we get to go

Originally Posted by Disney Planning

Ooh can’t wait for your Homecomin meal, it was one of our favourites last time.

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Yes we loved it last time and a good meal here could see it become my overall fav, certainly for a blow out meal.

Thanks everyone for following along

[Pez01]

Homecomin brunch sounds like it could be really good can’t wait to slobber over the photos of that one…

[Rescuer]

All looks like a great plan.

AKl is lovely, have you put in a room request? You want the Kudu trail high floor. That might well get you a partial Savannah view, it worked for us twice.

I really liked that The Mara often had some of the Boma specials, especially the soups which were always amazing.

If you are looking for a unique safari experience you could see if they are still doing the after dark safari from Kidani. You go out on a jeep with night vision stuff on to the Savannah with a guide, there were around 10 people on our tour when we did it and it was fab.

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by Pez01

Homecomin brunch sounds like it could be really good can’t wait to slobber over the photos of that one…

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It's already proving so tough to choose and we're not even in the country yet! The dishes are all huge, I wish we could just have a sampler of everything 😁 This may end up with me over-ordering...

Originally Posted by Rescuer

All looks like a great plan.

AKl is lovely, have you put in a room request? You want the Kudu trail high floor. That might well get you a partial Savannah view, it worked for us twice.

I really liked that The Mara often had some of the Boma specials, especially the soups which were always amazing.

If you are looking for a unique safari experience you could see if they are still doing the after dark safari from Kidani. You go out on a jeep with night vision stuff on to the Savannah with a guide, there were around 10 people on our tour when we did it and it was fab.

See more...

Great tip on the room I'll have to try that 😀 don't think any tours are running right now. We really wanted to do Behind the Seeds at EPCOT so I've been keeping an eye on them. Suspect they will be back by the Summer. I'm too much of a scaredycat for a night Safari anyway 🤣

Thanks both for reading and commenting.

[theCMG]

This isn't the 3rd and final part of the hotel and restaurant preview (that should be over the weekend) but was looking for something in the loft and stumbled on some old Disney kids activity books that must have belonged to the previous owner's son.

They are copyrighted 1986 and mention Discovery Island which closed in 1999. From the age of their son I reckon this is from the late 90s unless there was another child there earlier. There are 3 of the activity books and of course bring a boy he had scrawled something on one page of all 3 😂

[Disney Planning]

What a random thing to leave behind!