Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 20 - Magic Kingdom, Kona Cafe & Artist Point

[Scruffette]

Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 20

Index

Tuesday 18th September

Magic Kingdom

Breakfast at Be Our Guest, Lunch at Kona Cafe, Dinner at Artist Point

I was so excited this morning for a return to Magic Kingdom! We’d spent evenings in the park and had managed to view the fireworks plenty, but you need a good few mornings in MK to get the rides done. The early wake up almost didn’t seem too bad!

Our plans for today looked like this –











After the normal shower/suncream/hot chocolate routine, we were leaving the room just after 7am. A bus arrived at 7.10am and we had a driver in training.

We arrived at 7.25am to no wait for bag check (expected as the park didn’t open officially until 9am). We joined the queue of reservations – as well as breakfast reservations there was the Early Morning Magic ticketed event this morning.



They held us outside the park until 7.45am and gave us guidance to head to Be Our Guest via the Liberty Square Bridge.



Quick ‘hi!’ to the castle en route.



Can they at least give them Mickey ears?



We checked in to Be Our Guest and those who had pre-ordered (us included) were let in at 8am to a round of applause from the cast members.









We did a self check out of our order on the screens, collected cutlery and went to choose our table.



We’ve only ever sat in the Ballroom here, but as the West Wing had space we took a seat here. I was worried about not being able to see my food, but my eyes adjusted after 5 minutes.

The West Wing is so atmospheric to sit in. I attempted to get a picture of the prince’s portrait as it changed, but didn’t quite manage it.







To eat, we both went for the Open-Faced Bacon and Egg Sandwich - Poached Eggs, Applewood Bacon, Brie Cheese, and Arugula on a Croissant served with Fresh Fruit and a selection of pastries - $28.00





Yes, it is overpriced for breakfast – I don’t think I would have breakfast without being on a dining plan. However, I really enjoyed the croissant. But I love anything with brie!

I always think the brown coloured muffin is Disney’s idea of a cruel joke. I wonder how many siblings fight over what they think is a chocolate muffin, to find out it’s actually a bran muffin.

We both had a chocolate milk to drink and got some iced waters from the drinks machine as well.

After breakfast, we restroomed and were heading towards Peter Pan by 8.50am. As Extra Morning Magic was on, we were held by a cast member until 9am on the dot. She waited until a firework went off on the welcome show until we were allowed to move – very precise!







I really enjoy this ride, but it’s so short that I never know why it has such long queues. It was a good option to head to after opening.

It was then over to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain, as we’d only managed it once so far this trip.

They were handing out these zip lock bags on the way into the ride. Is it interesting that they making an effort to cut out plastic in other places, but have then introduced these plastic bags….



We were in the front row this time for Splash, which is never a good idea.

When we rode the week before, we were at the back and I came off a bit smug as we didn’t get too wet. Clearly karma, as this time we got drenched. If it wasn’t enough to get soaked on the big drop, we got stuck next to one of the fountains for a fair amount of time.

The ride was great as always, but I got quite a lot of water in my eyes which didn’t agree with my contacts and I couldn’t see anything for the last minute of the ride!

Big Thunder was showing as a 10 minute wait, so that was our next stop. We were in the front row – although the ride feels slower at the front, we enjoyed the view from these seats.

We headed over to Tomorrowland next for our Space Mountain FP. The park seemed a lot quieter this morning – probably a combination a weekday and being later in September. Either way, it was appreciated!





Space Mountain was fun as always. I got the front seat on this ride which is always an interesting experience.

As we were in Tomorrowland, it would have been rude not to do the People Mover.







Buzz Lightyear was showing as a 10 minute wait, so we got in the queue. Whilst waiting, I picked up an email to tell me that Pirates of the Caribbean was down. It was a shame but we were hopeful for later.

The queue took more like 20 minutes, which wasn’t an issue. In fact, it turned into a very successful ride with us both becoming a galactic hero. The ride may have stopped briefly for about 30 seconds, which in fairness did help!







We made sure to ask for stickers on the way out. I’m not sure if the cast member believed we both got 999,999.



With our time at Disney quickly running out, we knew this would be our last opportunity for a funnel cake. We took a divide and conquer approach for our snack – I headed to Gaston’s Tavern for a Le Fou’s Brew and Ollie went to Sleepy Hollow for a funnel cakes with strawberries and cream.











I met him at sleepy hollow just after he found a table. I do love a funnel cake

Whilst eating, we decided to change our Jungle Cruise fastpass as Ollie wasn’t feeling it. We actually changed it to Peter Pan, to allow us a second ride.

After our snack, we walked over to Pirates but it was still down

That could only mean one thing – a trip to the Enchanted Tiki Room! I have a weird soft spot for this one.







Back to Peter Pan to use our fastpass now – the standby queue was some ridiculous time, so we were glad to be on within 5 minutes here. I’m pleased we managed two rides today.



As Pirates still hadn’t re-opened, we used the anytime fastpass on Ollie’s favourite – Space Mountain.



We both think it’s less dark in there than it used to be, so Ollie decided to wear his sunglasses to make it a bit scarier. He stands by this plan!



I loved the water sketches in Tomorrowland. It was so hot though that they faded really quickly.







I was really happy with what we’d achieved this morning and managed to tick off a lot of our favourites. I always get a bit worried when we’re near the end of a Disney trip about running out of time. The only thing I hadn’t managed to do yet was Carousel of Progress, but we would be back briefly tomorrow evening and planned to fit this in then.



It was time to head out of the park for a lunch ADR. Whenever we head out of Magic Kingdom, Ollie suddenly decides that he wants to meet Mickey, despite having opportunities at other points! In fact, Ollie was in charge of writing our notes for this trip and I quote (in capitals) ‘WASN’T ALLOWED TO MEET MICKEY ’

That man sure knows how to guilt trip me. He was soon cheered up by the thought of lunch though! We hopped on a monorail over to the Polynesian for our ADR at Kona Café.

In our original plans for the day, we had a lunch ADR for Skipper Canteen. I’d read so many great revieiws and the menu looked great, that we thought we’d want a second meal here. However, after being a bit underwhelmed by our dinner there, we decided to look at other options. Nothing else in MK really took our fancy (having already had good meals at Liberty Tree Tavern and The Plaza), so we settled on Kona Café as we always like a trip to the Poly.

[Scruffette]

The resturant was fairly quiet at this time, so we probably didn’t need an ADR.



We continued our tradition of having cocktails with lunch by sharing the now regular pina colava and an Island Sunset - Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum, Parrot Bay Coconut Rum, Midori, and Peach combined with our Orange and Guava-Passion Fruit Juice - $9.75



They looked fancier here with the umbrellas. They were both a bit more frozen as well so took a while to drink.

Kona bread –



Not one big loaf like last time we ate here. The macadamia nut butter here is delicious. Porbably one of my favourite butters of the trip (is it weird to compare butters?)

To start, we both had the Pot Stickers - Pork and Vegetable Dumplings, Soy-Ginger Cream Sauce -$9.00



I’m pretty sure these are the same as ‘Ohana, just dressed up a little fancier, which is fine with me! Even if it does look like one is trying to escape!

Delicious, and I’m glad we didn’t share.

For mains, after asking the advice of our server, Ollie went for the Asian Stir Fry - Yakisoba Noodles, Wok-seared with Vegetables, Roasted Peanuts, and your choice of Chicken or Tofu in a Soy-Citrus Sauce - $19.00



He chose the chicken for his dish. This was a good sized bowl which he polished off. He thought the volume of whole peanuts on top was a bit excessive and picked most of these off.

I fancied the salmon, but when ordering the server told me this is actually sushi grade salmon and asked how I wanted it cooked. I probably really offended the chef by asking for it more on the cooked side.

Togarashi-cured Salmon - Plum Wine Glaze, Sesame Rice Cake, Baby Bok Choy, and Mushrooms - $25.00




I do like a rare steak, but I like my fish a bit more cooked!

I did enjoy the salmon, it probably came out a medium overall. The thing on top was a bit odd, although I’m still not completely sure what it was!

For dessert, I went for the Kilauea Torte - An explosion of warm liquid Chocolate inside Chocolate Volcano - $7.00



I can never resist a warm chocolate dessert! This melted in the middle and was very tasty.

Ollie chose Te Fiti's Island Mousse - A Passion Fruit and Coconut Mousse Dome with Pineapple and Seasonal Sorbet - $8.00



This was beautifully presented. He enjoyed this as he quite likes a tropical fruit pudding. However, he didn’t manage to finish it all. I made possibly the worst joke ever and claimed he had been ‘te-feated’ by his dessert. This wasn’t too funny at the time, but Ollie insisted on repeating this to our server who really didn’t get it.

After settling up, we got the monorail back to MK where there was a French Quarter bus waiting at the stop. Perfect.



One back at the resort, we got some drinks, stopped by the front desk to pay off a small room balance (75c to be precise – after getting some package delivery fees refunded we had to spend something!), and started the horrible job of packing. We had accumulated so much stuff this trip and were a bit concerned about weight limits.

I clearly felt the need to document filling up the mugs -









After making ourselves presentable for the evening, we left the room around 6.05pm and got straight on a bus to MK.

There were lots of costumes on the bus as it was a Halloween party night and it was really entertaining to see!

We cleared security at MK and got in the boat queue for Wilderness Lodge. We waited a really long time for a boat here. We just missed one when we got there, but knew we’d make the next boat. However, there only seemed to be one boat on the route.









We debated at one point joining the bus queue, but as non Halloween party guests had now left the Magic Kingdom, the lines looked really long.

Eventually, we made it to Wilderness Lodge over an hour after we joined the boat queue. We were quite late for our ADR and apologised, but they managed to seat us with not too much of a wait.

I’m not sure how useful a review of Artist’s Point is, given that it’s now closed, but here it is anyway!

I really liked the feel of the restaurant and think it’s a shame it’s now been re-vamped into storybook dining (although I haven’t tried this, so it might be great!). I like the high ceilings and murals on the walls.





To drink, I had a glass of sparkling wine somewhere from the American North West (the theme of the restaurant)

Ollie had the Seattle City Apple Martini - Skyy Vodka, DeKuyper Sour Apple, Monin Granny Smith Apple, and Sweet-and-Sour - $11.50.



The cocktails certainly felt a bit fancier/more grown up than some of the other signatures!

To start, we both had the Smoked Mushroom Bisque - Nettle Pistou, Sunflower Seed, Salsify - $13.00



We thought we both had to try the signature appetiser. Again, excuse the awful food photography. I really liked the smoked flavour of the soup and really enjoyed it. I’m a big fan of mushrooms anyway and put them in most of my meals!

For mains, I decided to go for something completely different and try the buffalo ($49). I was toying with the idea of the salmon, but decided as I had salmon for lunch to try something different.

I can’t really remember what came with it (or tell from the horrendous photography which makes it look like a poppadum) but I do remember enjoying it. Ollie and I had negotiated a one third-two third split of our meals tonight, so I got to try some of his aswell.



Ollie went for the 7-oz Filet Mignon - Choice of House Side - $49.00



Obviously, everyone wants a giant onion with their meal.

He went for the mc n cheese as his side. Not the best mac of the trip (I wasn’t too sure about the topping) but still fine.

For dessert, I went for the Warm Donuts - Roasted Banana Anglaise, Blooms - $12.00



I liked that you could get donuts in a signature restaurant! Although, the presentation was quite fancy. They warm and tasty, just like I expect donuts to be.

Ollie had the Cobbler - Seasonal Berries, Forest Berry Ice Cream - $13.50



I promise there is cobbler under there somewhere! He really enjoyed the cobbler a few years before at Whispering Canyon Café, and hope this would be similar. He enjoyed this – it’s rare he meets a cobbler he doesn’t like (Boathouse, I’m looking at you!)

After dessert, our served brought us over two small glasses of sparkling wine for our honeymoon, which was sweet of her.



After settling up and admiring the Wilderness Lodge lobby, we got the bus back to Magic Kingdom (after almost leaving my cardi on the bench – I ran off the bus quickly to get it)



As we were all the way at the Magic Kingdom anyway, we decided to get the boat over to the Polynesian to watch Hallowishes from the beach, as we’d really enjoyed our previous few viewings.



The timing was perfect – we arrived on the beach just as the spooky music began to play. There were lots of people on the beach but everyone sat down and there was a lovely atmosphere.



A boat pulled up just as the fireworks ended, so we cleared security again and made our way back to the bus stops.

It was pretty busy at the bus stop as people were starting to leave the Halloween party. We just got onto a standing room only bus as some families with strollers decided to wait for seat.

There was a car crash on the new main road out of MK, so the journey took longer than expected but fortunately we weren’t caught in any of the issues.

I did my usual and fell asleep – yes, even standing up I fell asleep twice (holding onto Ollie for support!)

Once back at the resort we did a little more packing and shortly crashed out for the evening.

Day 21 - Animal Kingdom, Check into Grand Floridian & Magic Kingdom