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Old 28 Nov 18, 09:01 PM  
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#11
dibdobber
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Great report. Thanks v much for taking the effort, almost (!) as good as being there!
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Old 29 Nov 18, 02:50 AM  
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#12
Wordsworth
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Originally Posted by gjdjud View Post
Really enjoying so far. I know from personal experience that it's always best to listen to your wife
Can you remind my husband of that please?

Originally Posted by Kat11 View Post
Fab start! 😀

Kat
Thanks!

Originally Posted by dibdobber View Post
Great report. Thanks v much for taking the effort, almost (!) as good as being there!
I’m enjoying it, I love food.
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Old 29 Nov 18, 03:55 AM  
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#13
Wordsworth
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Day 4

I have always been a hardcore Disney visitor - a 4 day ticket, in the parks early and there all day. DH always struggles in the middle of the day, though, so one of the ways I sold him on an on-site stay with a 14 day ticket was the opportunity to take things a little easier due to the nearness of the hotel. If we can find time for a hotel break, he’s happy!

It was with that in mind that I planned our first full day onsite. Rather than dash out to a park, we headed to Roaring Fork for a small bite to eat. We shared an apple danish (which cost one snack credit) and drank tea from our refillable mugs.



After that we headed off to Disney Springs, primarily to collect our gift card (and I promptly spent about half the balance on pins and ears, oops) but also to walk the Christmas tree trail and get some lunch, not necessarily in that order.

This is where DH started to appreciate the power of the DiBB, as I told him I wanted to try Blaze Pizza based on what I’d seen here. We used one QS credit and shared one of the signature pizzas - the Hot Link. This is classic dough topped with spicy red sauce, jalepeños, sausage, black olives, red onions, banana peppers and mozzarella cheese. We love a hint of heat in our food so it was an obvious choice. For our drink we picked a standard bottle of water.



This was excellent pizza and we both enjoyed it - so much so DH suggested we might return to Blaze later in the holiday. Well done to the DiBB!

After that we walked the Christmas tree trail, where I paid OOP for a Pluto bucket of popcorn, then headed to Ghirardelli to spend two snack credits on a strawberry sugar cone (for DH) and a mint chocolate sugar cone (for me). We always like to visit Ghirardelli after first visiting their store during our honeymoon stay in San Francisco. The ice cream was as tasty as always.



I had planned that we would go for a round of mini golf next but as we’d been at Disney Springs longer than I’d anticipated, I offered DH the chance to go back to the hotel. He said he was fine to play golf, though, so we headed for Winter Summerland where DH won by 4 holes. We both got holes in one though! Then we did head back to WL for a break.

After suitable rest, we headed out to MK as we had FP for Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain and Seven Dwarves Mine train. The park was really busy, I think because it was one of the few non-party nights and everyone wanted to see Happily Ever After.

We did the first two rides and then decided to get something to eat. We weren’t that hungry and while checking out the mobile order option for Cosmic Rays we saw the secret menu item - Galaxy loaded fries. These are fries topped with bacon, pico relish, garlic ranch sauce, cheese sauce, and flaming hot cheese dust. We decided to spend 2 snack credits on a portion of those plus a bottle of water. (I haven’t ever bothered photographing the water on the basis you all know what it looks like!)



Mobile order worked okay up until the point our food sat on the pass while the server dealt with someone who’d wandered up with a problem. This meant the fries weren’t that hot when we (finally) got them, but cool salted fries are a guilty pleasure of mine so I was ok with it! These were nice but I can’t say that I particularly noticed the Cheeto dust.

We popped into Carousel of Progress, which I’ve loved since I was a kid, and although the rain had now started we had waterproofed up so could make our way to Fantasyland for a turn on the Little Mermaid ride, which was a walk-on, before our Mine Train FP. This was our first experience of this ride and I have to say it was incredible in the dark! Even better, the rain had stopped by then.

There was time to use one last snack credit before the fireworks and we went for one of DH’s favourites - a funnel cake with powdered sugar. Because of the volume of people ordering these, this was fresh out of the fryer and was predictably delicious, despite the fact it was raining again. The weather also explains this poor photo...



We watched Happily Ever After for the first time -I wasn’t that impressed to be honest, but I think it might have been due to where we were standing; I’ll find out soon enough - then called it a night.

In the end we used 1 QS credit and 6 snack credits today, and we paid $15.50 for my popcorn OOP, because I wanted the bucket!
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Old 29 Nov 18, 11:57 AM  
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foodie53
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Thank you for spending time doing this report- our tastes seem quite similar. Looking forward to your Victoria and Albert visit- we are booked in the dining room during our Christmas Disney holiday. I love the sound of the Grand Martini- will try that at our Narcoossees ADR. Carry on having great time!
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Old 29 Nov 18, 12:04 PM  
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Eccle
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Great report so far. Outback and Chilis are both favourites of ours, I love both the quesadillas and the chicken crispers you had.

Lots of lovely looking Disney food so far too!
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Old 30 Nov 18, 04:51 AM  
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Wordsworth
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Originally Posted by foodie53 View Post
Thank you for spending time doing this report- our tastes seem quite similar. Looking forward to your Victoria and Albert visit- we are booked in the dining room during our Christmas Disney holiday. I love the sound of the Grand Martini- will try that at our Narcoossees ADR. Carry on having great time!
Thank you! V&A called to confirm a couple of days ago so it’s on!

Originally Posted by Eccle View Post
Great report so far. Outback and Chilis are both favourites of ours, I love both the quesadillas and the chicken crispers you had.

Lots of lovely looking Disney food so far too!
They’re must dos for us in Florida (and often other US places too). We even made a trip to an Outback in Japan to compare
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Old 30 Nov 18, 05:35 AM  
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Day 5

Today the plan was to spend the first part of the day in Hollywood Studios, take a break, then head to Epcot for Iluminations and EMH.

We didn’t eat breakfast at the WL; instead we decided to grab something at Hollywood Studios. As our first FP was for Toy Story Mania, we decided to check out Woody’s Lunch Box. (insert childish snigger here.)

We used a QS credit and a snack credit here, to share the smoked turkey breakfast sandwich (turkey, Swiss cheese and scrambled egg on sourdough) and a lunch box tart - although they had a holiday cranapple special, we went for the standard chocolate-hazelnut version.

The sandwich was ok, the turkey was a little dry so we added a sachet of hot sauce, but the tart was more disappointing - it was quite hard. We had a bottle of water as the drink with the QS meal.





After Toy Story Mania we had some PhotoPass pictures taken and then we FP’d my favourite ride at Disney - Tower of Terror. That, perhaps oddly, put me in the mood for lunch. We used another QS credit at the Dockside Diner to get loaded chilli cheese nachos (and the obligatory water). I enjoyed these, much like I enjoy all nachos. 🤣 And at least you can see what they are, unlike my Peco Bills nachos!



Star Tours and another old fave, Muppet Vision 3D, followed lunch and then it must surely be time for a snack, right?

If I’m obsessed with nachos and cocktails at Disney, then DH’s twin passions are funnel cake and churros, and as he hasn’t had the latter yet it felt like it was time!



This was one snack credit. Being a churro purist, DH deemed the chocolate sauce unnecessary and binned it (they did ask if he wanted it so I’m not sure why he said yes).

Clearly if DH was being allowed to indulge in one of his passions, it was time for one of mine...



This is a frosted gingerbread martini as part of Flurry of Fun at Backlot Express and it was DELICIOUS. I love frozen cocktails and the spiced creaminess of this hit the spot with me. It is vodka, Baileys, Kahlua, ice cream mix and gingerbread syrup and was $14.50 OOP. I should note the cinnamon sprinkle was originally on the top but I had to have this poured into another glass as it was overflowing!

It had been quite chilly that morning so it was nice to take a moment to sit in a patch of sun and drink my cocktail; once that was done we headed back to WL.

As noted above, we had planned a late night in Epcot and had decided to shift an ADR so that we could dine from the holiday kitchens.

First stop - France!



Turkey and mushrooms in a veloute cream sauce served in a light puff pastry. This was basically an enormous vol au vent. The sauce was creamy, the toppings plentiful and the pastry flaky. We enjoyed this; it cost one snack credit.

Next we headed for L’Chaim! I exchanged one QS credit for three snacks (I note that not all booths will do this - for example Mexico wouldn’t).



This is potato knish with herb sour cream, pastrami on rye with pickles and mustard, and an egg cream.

The potato knish was basically mash inside a crisp shell - what’s not to like? Nothing, that’s what! DH loves pastrami and deemed this one “ok, not the best I’ve had”. I ordered an egg cream just because it heavily featured in a book I read a lot as a kid and I’d never tried one. I wish I hadn’t bothered, it didn’t really taste of anything. We didn’t finish it.

Next we exchanged a snack credit for the New Year Celebration Soba at Shi Wasu holiday kitchen - sobs noodles in dashi soup with chicken and spinach.



The chicken was served in one large piece, which was a bit odd and made it tricky to eat, but the dashi was flavoursome and reminded us of the dishes we ate in Japan, so that’s a win.

We were starting to get full now but still had room for the Mongolian beef bao bun (and fortune cookie) and Shanghai Holiday Kitchen.



The beef was tender so we enjoyed this. It was also one snack credit.

As I said at the start, we had planned to stay for illuminations and EMH but by now it was so cold, we decided to scrap that plan and head for the hotel after our Soaring FP. There was, however, time for one final holiday treat for me.



This, from Las Posadas, is the La Posada Margarita - tequila, horchata-cinnamon liqueur and Agua de Horchata topped with cinnamon. This was $11 OOP and reminded me of the gingerbread cocktail from earlier in the day - as it was served on the rocks, it didn’t have the same texture, but the presence of cinnamon in both was obvious.

It was just what I needed to keep me warm as we waited for the bus!
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Old 1 Dec 18, 01:33 PM  
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theCMG
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Thanks for sharing, some great eats and photos but of all things I’m drooling over your loaded baked potato
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Old 1 Dec 18, 03:32 PM  
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Wordsworth
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Originally Posted by theCMG View Post
Thanks for sharing, some great eats and photos but of all things I’m drooling over your loaded baked potato
It’s understandable, it is a thing of beauty, and if it were down to me I’d have loaded way more toppings on it!
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Old 1 Dec 18, 04:15 PM  
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Day 6

Today we were heading for Animal Kingdom. It was really cold again so the sweatshirt I bought on Black Friday made an appearance!

We only had a drink using our refillable mugs at the hotel - DH will go and get us tea while I lie in bed, it’s glorious, for me anyway. 🤣 we had decided to get something at the park.

We made our way to Pandora first as we had a FP for Na’vi River Journey. While we were waiting for our return time to come up, we used one snack credit on a Pongu Lumpia - spring roll filled with cream cheese and pineapple. While I love cream cheese I’m not a huge fan of pineapple, but the way the fruit was shredded was good and we enjoyed this.



We thought Na’vi was just ok - the movement of the animatronic was cool and we liked some of the projections but there wasn’t much to it - and the length of the standby line was insane in light of that.

We headed over to Africa to walk the gorilla falls trails, then reminded ourselves why it’s Tough to be a Bug before intending to go on an Everest exploration. Alas, the ride was still closed at our FP window. We got a FP that could be used on any ride instead, so we used that for Dinosaur and switched our later Dinosaur FP to an Everest one.

It was almost time for lunch. I had been swithering over booking Tiffins since the start of planning as I thought the menu looked interesting, but had decided to use the 4 TS credits on Artist’s Point at WL. We’re not interested in character dining, though, so when that switched to Snow White I decided to book the Rivers of Light package at Tiffins.

On the package you get an appetiser, main, dessert and drink each plus preferred seating at one of the shows - we were show 1 which suited us fine given how cold it was, we didn’t intend to hang around!

Drinks first - I had an Annapurna Zing, which is Bombay Sapphire East Gin, Passion Fruit Purée, Mint, Lime Juice, Ginger Beer. It was lovely and refreshing; even DH, who doesn’t love spirits, thought so. He had a glass of white wine which we think was Sauvignon Blanc but neither of us can quite remember!



Bread service was next and I warned DH that a lot of people didn’t seem to like the dipping oil and pomegranate molasses, but actually we both really enjoyed this - the molasses brought an unusual tang to the table (literally! &#128580 that we liked, it was nice change from the usual balsamic vinegar.



For appetiser I had Charred Octopus with Romesco Sauce, Olive Tapenade, Chorizo, and Squid Ink Aïoli. I enjoyed this, the octopus was cooked perfectly, firm but not tough or chewy, and the level of char was great - I hate charred dishes that have an overpowering burnt taste. I still marginally preferred the calamari at Narcoossee’s, presumably because as a Scot I naturally like things that are crispy as it makes me feel if they were deep fried! 🤪



I thought my octopus looked like a dinosaur on the plate. 🤔 DH considered the Thai curry mussels option but he is a sucker for soup, so eventually went for Mushroom Soup - Wild Chanterelle Ragoût, Truffle Oil, Crispy Shiitake. The bowl came with only the crispy mushroom in it, then the broth was poured over.

This was only ok - while very mushroomy, you couldn’t taste the truffle at all and pouring the soup over the ≈≈≈≈take meant it lost its crispness.



For main, I chose Tarmarind-braised Short Rib - Parsnip-Potato Purée, Cauliflower, Cipollini Onion, Medjool Date Vinaigrette. This was delicious and I loved the tamarind glaze on the beef, which was pull apart tender.



DH considered the whole fish, which was snapper, but he couldn’t be bothered dealing with the bones so instead went for surf and turf - Grilled Beef Tenderloin, Butter-poached lobster Tail, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Charred Broccolini, Cape Mountain Whisky Butter. He liked this, although I ate most of his mash as he’s not a fan - I could taste truffle in that! I also ate some of the lobster and that was well cooked. And I ate some of the broccoli...basically I helped myself! #marriage



Desserts were Guava Mousse (Lemon Curd, Pomegranate Sauce) and Whipped Cheesecake (Amarula Panna Cotta, Sesame Crumbs, Espresso Sponge). Both were ok but not a highlight of the meal.





I can’t remember how much the OOP cost would have been for this (I want to say it was around $160 - I’ll try to find the receipt) and we paid using our 4 credits and we tipped 20% as cash. All of our servers on the trip have been great, including the meals I haven’t written up yet.

And that was almost it for food for the day! We wandered around the park, walked the maharajah jungle trek, met a talking dog and a small mailman, had a great bird adventure, conquered Everest and watched Rivers of Light (which we enjoyed, it’s good to see some of California’s World of Color tech getting an outing in Florida).

After the show we headed back to the hotel and shared a campfire cupcake, which was one snack credit from Roaring Fork. This was good, the chocolate cake was needed to balance the sweet frosting.





Next up is Epcot and the Yachtsman!
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