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

[Disney Planning]

Oh but it’s interesting to hear about other restaurants too, outside of Disney or poolside BBQ maybe 😉

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by Disney Planning

Oh but it’s interesting to hear about other restaurants too, outside of Disney or poolside BBQ maybe 😉

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I travel a fair bit and eat at some nice places so will figure out a way to post some of those pics on here (maybe in the photo reports section) 😃

[Wordsworth]

Thanks for your report, lovely to see different Disney eats again although if I’m honest your U.K. meal the night before departure was the one that interested me most!

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by Wordsworth

Thanks for your report, lovely to see different Disney eats again although if I’m honest your U.K. meal the night before departure was the one that interested me most!

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Cheers, yes - that was our favourite meal too although I've excluded it from the Awards that I'll share tomorrow as they are about the Florida trip.

That meal at Tony Parkin's was really a replacement for an original intention to eat at Victoria & Albert which hasn't re-opened yet. I'd love to know if V&A could have matched or beaten it the prices and menu are of a similar level. Trying now to think of an excuse to go back for another tasting menu when he changes it in the Summer!

I also just saw that the DIS team have posted a new review of Shula's where they also loved it, ordering many of the things we did including the bacon starter and the filet -



Final update and awards tomorrow

[Disney Planning]

Looking forward to the award ceremony 😀

[theCMG]

Post-Trip: Wrap up and the Awards:

And so to the end We stayed roughly equal amounts of time in 3 hotels - Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo) and Yacht Club of which the first two were new to us. WL was easily our favourite as two adults relaxed and spacious and as adult oriented as YC but with the more restful vibe of being further from the chaos of WDW. We enjoyed the other two but Wilderness Lodge is the one we’d be most likely to return to - even if it was freezing for half the time we were there

Perks are slim on property right now (I guess free dining will try to fill that gap). If the early access was an hour not 30 minutes that would make a difference because with Genie Plus replacing the Fastpass system the ability to rope drop and do all the big rides easily in less than a full day via Fastpass, Extra Magic Hours etc. is hard to replicate. The late hours they offer currently are only for deluxe resort guests and only once per week at MK and at EPCOT. Transport has improved below as mentioned below, somewhere like Caribbean Beach with the Skyliner for example; it should make a big difference to the appeal of that resort

This was our first trip to Florida without a car and our first (and last) trip solely staying on Disney property. Not having a car worked ok. It was out of season - less busy but the boats to WL, buses, monorails and the Skyliner we tried were all quick, clean and efficient We started out using taxis but switched to Uber after a few days and this worked very well. We spent less than half on transport than we would with car rental, parking, fuel etc. on a basic car with the big difference being the charges for Disney Resort parking. But it depends how often you venture off property on top of the airport transfers obviously, 6-7 times in our case all within 10 miles.

Booking the paid for Lightning Lanes themselves wasn’t too bad although bagging Rise of the Resistance requires precision timing. Genie is next to useless IMHO if you know anything about the parks and Genie Plus looks like it’s becoming an extra cost on the day for most tourists (I read that half of visitors are currently buying it). We only used it once so hardly a good study but it was certainly nothing like using the Universal Express Pass in terms of the time you can save

Without further ado…Dining Awards

Best Quick Service:
Tijuana Flats (off property W.Sandlake Road)

Best Table Service Restaurant:
Sanaa (Animal Kingdom Lodge, Kidani Village)

Best Fine Dining Experience (Florida - excluding pre-travel day which would have won )
CMG - Narcoossee’s/Shula’s (can’t separate them just now)
DW - Ocean Prime

The ones that got away:
Trader Sam’s & Oga’s Cantina, (could have visited both but didn’t make it to either) Space 220 (unable to book given our split stays)

Dream Meal CMG:
Starter - Firecracker Sushi, Ocean Prime
Main - 12oz Filet, Shula’s
Dessert - Red Velvet Cheesecake, Cheesecake Factory

Dream Meal DW:
Starter - West Coast Oysters, Ocean Prime
Main - Goan Seafood Curry, Sanaa
Dessert - New York Cheesecake, Shula’s

Worst Meal:
Rose and Crown lunch, UK pavilion (worst by a mile). But this will live longer in the memory - I'm sure there's a bit still in me somewhere

Best Snacks:
Lots - 50th Glimmer & Shimmer Blondie (Backlot Express), Chick Fil-A tenders w.Honey Mustard (yes this is a snack ), Nyala Brownie (The Mara/AKL). But this was the winner:

Pineapple Dole Whip Float

Favourite Drink:
CMG - 1971 Sunset (Steakhouse 71 Lounge fishbowl - called Tequila Sunrise for 2 on the online menu), honorable mention Safari Amber (beer), Sanaa lounge
DW - Shift F6 (Tanqueray and Tonic, no ice/no slice - various locations)

Get that lime out of there

Favourite Festival item:
CMG - 3 Daughter’s Brewing Strawberry Blonde Nitro (Deco Delights)
DW - Carne Asada (El Artista Hambriento)

Favourite Bars:
Steakhouse 71 Lounge (Contemporary), Geyser Point (Wilderness Lodge), Enchanted Rose (Grand Floridian), Bluezoo Bar (Dolphin Hotel)

And that’s it for another report Probably my last WDW one as DD (16) has a friend with a villa near Orlando so wisely wants to go there in future and to other places with us. I’ll find a way to share food photos from other trips and holidays somewhere on the site. If I've missed covering anything you want to know about in the write-up ask a question. Otherwise, thanks for reading

[Disney Planning]

What a great round up and no surprise for some of the winners. I like the dream meal idea 😍
The Dole Whip is a great snack isn’t it…..so refreshing. Funnily enough they do one at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park so this has put us on in absence of the real thing!
Thanks for writing your report, thoroughly enjoyed it 😀

[SuziQz]

Brilliant round up, so glad Sanaa is in there as it’s on DS’s list of ones he wants to go back to. The bread service made a big impression on a then 9 year old (6 years ago!)

That fishbowl definitely needs to factor in our (my) plans somehow.

Thanks again for taking the time to do this report and I’ll keep an eye out for any future adventures you may like to share be it Egham, Europe or the Everglades 😉

[Wordsworth]

Originally Posted by theCMG

That meal at Tony Parkin's was really a replacement for an original intention to eat at Victoria & Albert which hasn't re-opened yet. I'd love to know if V&A could have matched or beaten it the prices and menu are of a similar level. Trying now to think of an excuse to go back for another tasting menu when he changes it in the Summer!
:

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I’m going to go out on a limb and say the V&A wouldn’t match it. I was reflecting yesterday that my trip to the V&A in 2018 didn’t match the starred meal I’d had in NYC earlier that year. I was thinking about the fact I went back to the Gramercy Tavern this year but would never feel the need to visit the V&A again!

We loved the WL, I’d still like to try YC (it was cancelled in 2020) and I’m not fussed about DDP coming back, but all the changes to the parks are putting me off right now.

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by Disney Planning

What a great round up and no surprise for some of the winners. I like the dream meal idea 😍
The Dole Whip is a great snack isn’t it…..so refreshing. Funnily enough they do one at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park so this has put us on in absence of the real thing!
Thanks for writing your report, thoroughly enjoyed it 😀

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Ah thank you. I could never eat that dream meal, would be full 3/4 of the way through the main if I tried to eat everything (that sushi was big!). Need to find a Dole Whip here but Yorkshire is a long way to go, I'm not sure Just Eat would take that job on

Originally Posted by SuziQz

Brilliant round up, so glad Sanaa is in there as it’s on DS’s list of ones he wants to go back to. The bread service made a big impression on a then 9 year old (6 years ago!)

That fishbowl definitely needs to factor in our (my) plans somehow.

Thanks again for taking the time to do this report and I’ll keep an eye out for any future adventures you may like to share be it Egham, Europe or the Everglades 😉

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Sanaa and the fishbowl were two definite highlights. I'll try for New York, Paris, Peckham instead

Originally Posted by Wordsworth

I’m going to go out on a limb and say the V&A wouldn’t match it. I was reflecting yesterday that my trip to the V&A in 2018 didn’t match the starred meal I’d had in NYC earlier that year. I was thinking about the fact I went back to the Gramercy Tavern this year but would never feel the need to visit the V&A again!

We loved the WL, I’d still like to try YC (it was cancelled in 2020) and I’m not fussed about DDP coming back, but all the changes to the parks are putting me off right now.

See more...

Interesting on V&A, they certainly have the Michelin* airs and graces what with the water menu but it wouldn't surprise me if the food could suffer from Disney's love of the biggest possible profit margin on almost everything! WL was amazing, Geyser Point especially (although the ipad clipboarders responsible for seating people at the tables need to chill out ) Where was your NY meal?