The 'no witty title' foodie report - Aug 2017

[halloweenbaby2]

What fab updates
Can't believe your DH doesn't want to go with you - it's hard to believe that not everyone enjoys it as much as us Dibber's

[bogtrottin]

Enjoying reading, O'Hana looks really good to me.

[Disney1sttimers]

The next day we spent the morning at the Premium Outlets on another not-to-successful shopping trip. We then went to Animal Kingdom for a 12.45pm reservation in Yak & Yeti. Although we had eaten at the quick service on several occasions before this was our first time in the table service area.

Although it was only lunchtime the Kiwi Kimono cocktail sounded lovely so I had to partake. It had Parrot Bay coconut rum, vodka, Midori melon liqueur, fresh kiwi and sweet & sour.

I had one of the specials - fish tacos which were lovely.

DD1 had the honey chicken.

DD2 had the Bhaktapur duck. I must admit to sneaking a bite and it was very tasty indeed.

DD3 had the mini corn dogs.

We don't normally eat so much at lunchtime so by dessert we were already struggling.

I had the fried wontons.

DD1 had the chocolate pudding cake.

DD2 had the mango pie.

DD3 had the ice-cream sundae.

We would definitely return to Yak & Yeti but next time it will be for an evening meal.

Later that evening we had an ADR at BOMA. In hindsight it was a mistake to have 2 table service meals in one day as we just weren't hungry enough to fully appreciate BOMA. Although we enjoyed it we really didn't do it justice but here's a couple of snaps anyway.

[Disney1sttimers]

Originally Posted by halloweenbaby2

What fab updates
Can't believe your DH doesn't want to go with you - it's hard to believe that not everyone enjoys it as much as us Dibber's

See more...

I know. It did make me feel a bit sad that he wasn't with us but it really isn't his type of holiday. He'd rather just laze around a pool which I can understand in a way as he works so hard but a holiday sitting around the pool is my idea of hell. Its a wonder we're still together ha ha but I suppose they do say opposites attract.

[Disney1sttimers]

The following day we were up again bright and early as we had a night at Universal's Royal Pacific Resort. It was DD1's 16th birthday so I thought a break away from the Disney bubble might make a pleasant change. I was wrong, our 2 days at Universal made us realise we are now die-hard Disney fanatics. We just didn't enjoy Universal and IOA as much as on previous occasions so have decided the next time we go to Florida we may try Busch and Seaworld. The one thing we were slightly grateful for in a funny way was a break away from so much food being on hand. Having said that, for lunch we went to Citywalk and shared a 2 foot long hotdog. Would you look at the size of this thing!

Later that evening we had made arrangements to meet my cousin and her family who were arriving from Gatwick that afternoon. However, they were delayed so we had to abandon our plans to meet them for dinner in the Hard Rock Cafe. Instead we just went to Panda Express and took it back to the room to eat (sorry no pictures but it was nice enough).

Just as an afterthought, and this is turning into a bit of a trip report as well as a food one, we did notice a big difference in the helpfulness of the cast members between Disney and Universal. Earlier in the holiday one of DD3’s hearing aids fell out when she took her glasses off on Star Tours. She got herself really upset but the cast member was so lovely and as soon as the ride finished and we informed her of what had happened they stopped loading any more people and found it straight away. At Typhoon Lagoon DD2 had taken her specially made swim plugs out and put them on her food tray () but then forgot about them and when she emptied her tray into the bin the swim plugs went in with the leftovers. She didn’t realise until 20 minutes later. Because she suffers from a lot of ear infections and also wears hearing aids, if they couldn’t be found she wasn’t going to be able to go swimming for the remainder of the holiday. I explained this to a nearby cast member who, without hesitation, opened up the bin and delved right in with his own hands under piles of food to elbow height and retrieved them. Thankfully they were bright orange so not too difficult to find. Compare this to when we were at Universal and when DD2 had another mishap and left her bag under her seat on the Jimmy Fallon ride. We had to wait in excess of an hour to retrieve it as they kept loading people and just did not seem concerned about making us wait for so long. Then a few hours later DD2's (yes the same daughter again!) express pass fell out of her lanyard on the Mummy ride. We went to a nearby kiosk explaining what happened and the cast member more or less shouted at us that we'd need proof of purchase before it was replaced. She wasn't even in a position to replace it so sent us to another kiosk near Men In Black where there wasn't even a cast member present. We ended up having to walk all the way to Guest Relations at the park entrance to replace it. I think it was these little things that reinforced why we weren't terribly impressed with Universal this time.

[Disney1sttimers]

By our second day at Universal we were getting bored of all the simulator rides so left Universal early afternoon and headed back to Port Orleans. We hadn't booked an ADR so went to Disney Springs where we headed to Blaze Pizza for the girls and D Luxe Burger for me. All the food was so good.

That evening we nipped over to Animal Kingdom for another ride on the fantastic Flight of Passage.

[Disney1sttimers]

We were now in the final couple of days of our holiday so wanted to have a last attempt at shopping. Before we headed off to the Premium Outlets we made a detour to the Polynesian and Captain Cooks as I had always wanted to try the tonga toast.

It was lovely but there is no way I could eat a whole one to myself. We also shared a child's portion of french toast.

Alas, this shopping trip again was not very successful. To make up for it I went mad in the Yankee Candle store and my house now smells wonderful (not that it smelt awful before ). The only thing we could kick ourselves for was forgetting to go to Bath & Body Works. We had gone on our first shopping trip to Altamonte Mall but I said my usual to the girls "lets wait till later in the holiday". We then forgot ahhhhh! Oh well gives us another excuse to go back.

That evening we had an 8pm ADR at La Hacienda de San Angel at Epcot specifically to watch Illuminations. We made the mistake though of trying to finish the remainder of our earlier food challenge of getting one item from each country in World Showcase. We still had Canada, the UK, France, Morocco and Japan to conquer!

Although not technically in Canada the refreshment port was near enough so DD2 got herself a croissant doughnut. She really enjoyed it.

Next up was the UK where of course it had to be fish and chips from the Yorkshire County fish shop. I'd never notice the little seating area behind it before and it was a lovely relaxing place just to rest for a while. The fish and chips were really good too.

France was next and although in the run up to the holiday we had a list as long as your arm of snacks we wanted to try we were conscious of the fact we were having a sit down meal a couple of hours later so DD1 opted for a croissant jambon fromage. She enjoyed practising her French with the servers in the Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles. All the cakes and desserts looked so lovely but they would have to wait until our next visit.

Then it was Morocco and I really don't know why we bothered. We went to the Tangierine Cafe and got a lamb and chicken shawarma platter. It would have been lovely if we'd been in the mood to eat it.

We had to admit failure by this time and give the planned teriyaki chicken from Katsura Grill in Japan a miss.

After just relaxing in Epcot for a while we then went to La Hacienda de San Angel. DD2 and I shared a Parrillada - Del Mar (mixed grill with shrimp, fish, scallops and vegetables, served with beans and fresh salsas). It was lovely but would have been even nicer if we were hungrier.

DD1 wasn't at all hungry and left most of her tacos.

DD3 had the tacos as well.

I think the waiter was initially worried that we didn't like the food but when I explained to him that we just weren't overly hungry he was happy and put some churritos in a doggie back for us to take back to our room. During our meal the lights were dimmed for illuminations and they were lovely to watch in the comfort of the restaurant.

[Goldia]

You made a good stab at the snacking around the world! The Tangierine cafe is probably our favourite QS restaurant, it was the first place we went to back in 2016, as we love it so much, it never disappoints.

[Disney1sttimers]

So it was our last full day at Disney and we had a last minute change of plan when we found out that today Mission Space was reopening after its refurbishment. This was also the last ever day of the Great Movie ride so off we went to Hollywood Studios first for extra magic hours and a ride on the GMR. We also managed to catch a great seat in the Beauty & the Beast show. (Little did we know that DD1 would secure the starring role as Belle in her school musical of this so now even over a month later our house is full of Disney songs with her practising every waking moment for the production at the end of October!). We bid farewell to Hollywood Studios and picked up some Starbucks refresher drinks and snacks on our way out of the park, including this which I cannot remember for the life of me what it was!

We headed to Epcot for a quick go on Mission Space and then drove to Goofy's Candy Store in Disney Springs as we still had so many quick services and snack credits left. This is the haul we had when we got back home!

We managed to use all our table service credits (we had upgraded from the quick service plan to the regular dining plan) and our snack credits. I think we had probably about 10-15 quick service credits remaining and I'm kicking myself now that I didn't use these to get more bars of chocolate at Ghiradelli's. At least I'll know for next time.

Our last ADR was at 1900 Park Fare. Not many photos I'm afraid but we did really enjoy it and the character interaction was fabulous.

[Disney1sttimers]

Originally Posted by Goldia

You made a good stab at the snacking around the world! The Tangierine cafe is probably our favourite QS restaurant, it was the first place we went to back in 2016, as we love it so much, it never disappoints.

See more...

Hopefully we'll do better next time