Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 17 - AK, DS, MK & Citricos

[Scruffette]

Newlyweds in the Caribbean: Curse of the DLXDDP - Day 17

Index

Saturday 15th September

Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs & Magic Kingdom

Breakfast at Boma, Lunch at Morimoto Asia, Dinner at Citricos

After two relatively late mornings, we were back to the early starts for Extra Magic Hours at Animal Kingdom. We had a busy day planned, mainly as were attempting three table service meals in one day!

We got up and got ready, sharing the nutritious caramel butter bar from Karamel Kuche for breakfast. The Disney Food Blog were right about this one – another hit from their recommendations.

Whilst I was getting ready (taking far too long as usual) Ollie called guest services to arrange more fresh towels and request a bin change. This was a nice easy process. Earlier in the week he’d bumped into some mousekeeping staff and was able to take some towels directly of their trolley.

Our reservations for today looked like this –








We left the room around 7am and had a 10 minute wait for a bus. Our bus driver this morning was on great form - my favourite joke was that the real Disney magic was air conditioning. He also pointed out different sights along the route and it made for a great start to the day.

This morning Animal Kingdom had Extra Magic Hours and the crowds were a lot busier than the last time we rope-dropped AK on a non EMH morning.

We were let in with the crowds to Pandora and were led into the land in an orderly manner, walked over the bridge towards Africa and looped pack towards Pandora.











We were off the ride by 8.40am, which I thought was respectable (although not as good as earlier in the week). I was loving this ride more and more every time. Despite having ridden it a few times, there was one particular part that made me jump every ride without fail!

I also had a little look away from the screen and towards the other riders at one point, to get an idea of how the ride worked.

I could talk even more about how well themed the Pandora area is, but I’ve probably mentioned it enough already!



















Na’vi river journey was listed as a 25 minute wait and we thought we would give this another go. The line was actually only 20 minutes which was a bonus, and we were off by 9.15am.



I do love this animatronic as the end of this ride –



After our chilled journey we took a restroom stop – although they looked a bit run down from the outside, I can confirm they were a lot more pristine on the inside!



We stopped in the Pandora gift shop and picked up a magnet for $6.99 plus tax. A lot of magnet buying happened this trip!

Our fastpass for Flight of Passage had opened up, so that was our next stop. We were very lucky to be able to ride twice today, and had already clocked up 4 rides this trip. Obviously, we loved the ride!

It was only really a flying visit to Animal Kingdom lodge this morning and we were soon leaving the park. We were definitely heading in the opposite direction to everyone else as we left Pandora!



There wasn’t too long to wait for a bus and we were soon on our way to Animal Kingdom Lodge. I’d worked up quite an appetite with all that banshee flying and was ready to tuck into a big breakfast!

We checked in for our 10.30am reservation and had a short wait for our table.





Our server took a long time to come round to take our drink orders. She assumed we would both want jungle juice, tried to leave a carafe and started to walk off.

I had to get her attention to ask for some waters for both of us and some chocolate milk for me. However, I had to ask her again when she turned up with some water but no chocolate milk. Maybe it was her way of telling me that it was a child’s drink and I shouldn’t be having something more sophisticated!



Ollie was very happy with his jungle juice, after missing out on this at Garden Grill.

I was really impressed with the breakfast selection and all the options were being replenished.



I started with my usual savoury plate, and went to town a bit on the sweet plate!



The bread pudding concoction was a thing of beauty!



Ollie’s first plate –



If we didn’t have so much food planned today, I would have done some serious damage here!

Although the service was slow (it took a while to get our bill), I couldn’t fault the food at all. I’ve not had dinner here since 2011 and this has made me want to revisit.

A trip to the Animal Kingdom Lodge isn’t complete without a look outside at the ‘savannah’.



We did spot this friend –



Ollie had only visited Kidani Village before, although I think Jambo house is very similar, just on a larger scale.

Obligatory photo of this piece of art. No idea what it is, but I have multiple identical photo from previous visits!



We took a quick look in the gift shop and headed outside to wait for a bus to Disney Springs.

No, we didn’t get The Incredibles bus!



We only waited around 5 minutes and it took around 20 minutes to get to Disney Springs. I don’t think I took a nap on this bus journey, which is rare for me.

I do think that Disney Springs looks great now all the work is finished. It was a shame we hadn’t allowed for an evening here, as I imagine the atmosphere is great.





We stuck our heads into The Edison, which hadn’t been open that long at this point.





Our next port of call was Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar. On our last trip in 2015, we got an ACE pineapple cider in Epcot from the African Outpost. Ollie loved this drink, but the only place we could find it in the whole of WDW was at Jock Lindsey’s, so a visit was a must!

The theming here was great and there was so much to look at.



We sat in this diving bell –



The food going passed looked delicious, but we had other food plans!





The ciders were $9.50 each. It was nice to take some time out of our day just to sit, chill and talk about our amazing trip so far. Often we are too busy rushing from attraction to attraction!

Our next stop was World of Disney, although we stopped to look at these amphicars en route for a bit.



World of Disney was still a work in progress at this point, so the shop was a lot smaller than usual.





They did manage to fit a fair amount of stock into the limited space though, even if it felt a bit crowded at times. Ollie appreciated the smaller size as it meant we were much quicker in the shop!

To help speed up things even more, we had a list of what purchases we wanted to buy. This had turned into quite a long list….

First up, I eventually bought the skyline mug I had been eyeing up ($13.99). This one had popped up in a lot of haul videos!



Ollie bought me the Disney attraction calendar ($24.99) to put up for Christmas. He normally buys me the Thomas Kinkade Disney calendar, which is also beautiful, but I fancied a change this year.



The only annoying thing about this calendar is there is no space to write anything on the days, which sort of defeats the point of a calendar! However, it does look gorgeous in the kitchen.

I bought Ollie two more metal earth figurines to put up for birthday/Christmas – a Haunted Mansion one ($16.99) and a Cinderella Castle one ($19.99)



We always really enjoy the Tomas Kinkade puzzles (Beauty and the Beast is framed in our bedroom) and I think they are good value. We picked up a night time castle one for my parents for Christmas for $21.99.



I bought two set of notelets for my Mum, a set for birthday and a set for Christmas. She only uses Disney post-its! These were $12.99 each normally, or 2 for $20.



Who doesn’t love a pair of Disney socks?



We got a ‘Mine’ pair for my Dad. He loves the seagulls from Finding Nemo and already has the mug and tshirt! We got a pair of Eeyore socks for Ollie’s sister for her birthday – they had tails! They would normally be $14.99 each, but they were on offer for 2 for $22.

I noticed Disney was doing a lot more ‘2 for x’ deals this time. There was one covering all the couple matching tshirts, although I couldn’t convince Ollie to get some!

[Scruffette]

We bought this notepad ($12.99) as we always used a Disney pad for our food shopping list.



It was my Mum’s birthday just after we got back and she had requested a Disney gift! I bought this pashmina for her ($24.99) which she wears a lot. She likes that it is subtle Disney, but she knows that it’s there!



Lastly, was this photo album ($19.99). We’d already picked up a photo album on the cruise, but knew that we’d need two for all the photos I’d taken.



So a fair amount of our purchases were gifts, which makes it sound better, even if they were gifts for ourselves!

We browsed in a few more shops, including Mickey’s Pantry, Disney Corner and Once upon a toy. Once upon a toy was about a third of the size of our last visit.

Although breakfast didn’t seem that long ago, it was time for lunch! We tried to go for a slightly later lunch at 2.30pm, to try and space things out a bit!



Morimoto Asia wasn’t really on our radar until we watched a Disney Food Blog video where they raved about it. It a signature restaurant in the evenings, but only one credit for lunch.

The restaurant is big inside with two levels, although it was really quiet when we were there. We were sat upstairs with no one else in our section.







To drinks, Ollie had an Angry Orchard Rosé Hard Cider (of Barley & Hops food & wine booth fame).



Unusually for me, I wasn’t feeling an alcoholic drink and went for a coke zero, along with an iced water each. Ollie shared my coke and we had quite a few refills between us!

For appetisers, we split the Chicken Bao - steamed buns, teriyaki chicken, lettuce, spicy mayo - $10.00 and the Pork Egg Roll - pork, cabbage, apricot sweet chili sauce - $8.00





We enjoyed both. The terryaki chicken had a good flavour, even if I’m never too keen on the outside of a bao bun. (On a slightly related note, has everyone seen the Pixar short Bao? I’ll never be able to look at a bao bun the same again …)

For mains, we both went for the Orange Chicken - tempura chicken, chinese broccoli, wok-tossed with a sweet florida orange sauce - Serving $20.00



Looking back, I really wish I went for something more adventurous, but I just wasn’t feeling it at the time. I think I was just after something a bit stodgy that day! I had assumed it would be individually battered pieces of chicken, rather than larger pieces. It was nice, and probably my fault for not ordering something more interesting.

The dessert menu at Morimoto Asia is just a bit weird and has some unusual concoctions on it.

The first dessert was quite normal, which was the Churro Fondue - housemade churros, nutella, vanilla cream - $13.00



The Nutella sauce had to be squeezed out like a tiny tube of toothpaste…

The first batch of churros were massively overcooked, almost a bit burnt with a tough texture. We were then brought a second batch which were much better.

The other dessert choice was - Chocolate Cream & Crunch -oreo tempura, mandarin orange jelly,dark chocolate gelato, hazelnut chocolate crunchies -$10.00



A bit odd, but a lot better than the sweet potato ice cream at Tiffins.
The oreo tempura was actually quite nice, but we only ate token amounts of the jelly/custard pot that came with it.

Our final stop at Disney Springs was Goofy’s Candy Company. I’d been meaning to have one of the create-your-own rice krispie treats for years and had never gotten around to it.





The smell of this place is like heaven to Ollie!



We filled in our forms and a really sweet older cast member made up our treats. There was a bit of a mix up with one of the treats after Ollie changes his mind on one of the toppings on our form. She made up a fresh one and gave us both – meaning we got 3 treats for our 2 snack credits, which was very kind of her.

We ate one of these for breakfast over a couple of morning, and the other two came home with us. I actually had one of them in my hold luggage and it came home pretty pristine!

Anyone ever bought one of these?



The candy shop was close to the boat dock, so we took a leisurely boat ride back to French Quarter.









We popped to the gift shop to collect some purchases (they don’t phone your room anymore to let you know they arrived). It took the cast member a while to come out with our purchases, as we had 7 bags….

Whilst there, I purchased this print of French Quarter for $25 (clearly we didn’t have enough purchases in those 7 bags). I love this print, although it still hasn’t made it on the wall!



Ollie did a drinks run and spotted a carriage ride on his journey –



We both freshened up for the evening and were heading out around 6.40pm. We waited around 5 minutes for a bus and the journey only took around 10 minutes. I love how quick it is to get to MK!

Hi castle!





The park felt busy this evening – we again managed to end up in MK on a Saturday evening. There were so many Halloween parties that it’s quite limited when guest can view the fireworks, so the evenings can feel quite busy.

We managed to get a FP for Haunted Mansion, so that was our first stop. The standby line was 35 minutes or so. Annoyingly, a large group were chatting all the way through the preshow, which ruined the spooky atmosphere.



The next aim for the evening was to get the Tangled latern photo (along with everyone else it seemed!). We joined the already reasonably long line and were advised they would start taking photos around 8pm once it was dark enough.



They had 3 photopass photographers out as it took a few of them to do the set up. After every few people they would have to stop and reset as the light levels kept changing, which must be a challenge for them.

Some families in the queue were being a bit greedy I felt. I get you may want a few combinations – eg the whole party and then just the kids. There was one family just in front of us who wanted each kind individually, as well as various group combinations. They must have had about 10 combinations in total, which I don’t think is fair in that kind of line.

Anyway, we got to the front just before 8.30pm and got our photo. I think this is a great photo opportunity



Happily Ever After was on at 8.30pm, and the music started just after our photos finished. We needed to make a quick exit after the show, so went up to the train station to watch. We missed the start of the show and although the view wasn’t as good as last time, it was pretty good considering our late arrival! I’m always happy to be watching this amazing show



We made a quick exit at the end and decided to get the boat over to the Grand Floridian. We just missed a boat and waited around 15 minutes for the next one. We had a pretty good view of the water pageant while waiting.



The boat over to the GF only took 5 minutes and we were soon checking in for our 9.30pm ADR at Citricos. It was quite a late reservation, but we had already had two table service meals today!

We had a short wait for our table and the restaurant was very quiet by this point. Our server was very nice and had clearly been doing the job a long time. He told us storied about serving Princess Diana at the restaurant once.

To drink, I had a glass of prosecco, which is my go-to drink. Well, we were in a Mediterranean restaurant.

You know that pineapple cider we had earlier today, that we couldn’t find on any other menu in WDW? Hilariously, they had it on the menu here! Ollie was very happy and ordered his second of the day.



We were also brought out some bread, which I’m sure was nice but not the most memorable.



To start, we both had the Chorizo Arancini -Crispy Chorizo Risotto, Romesco Sauce, Confit Peppers - $13.00



We didn’t get two to share as we normally would, as we both really wanted to try a whole portion! This was delicious and we made the right call not sharing.

For mains, I went for the Red Wine-braised Beef Short Ribs -Polenta, Exotic Mushrooms, Seasonal Greens, Pickled Cipollini, Gremolata -$48.00

The short ribs had been slow cooked but weren’t dry at all.



Ollie went for the Oak-grilled Beef Filet -Potato Purée, Jumbo Asparagus, Cipollini Jam, Bordelaise -$49.00



I was surprised that my main was almost the same price as his, when normally I’d expect a price difference between other dishes and the filet.

I tried a bit of Ollie’s steak (after some negotiating, we shared a third of each other’s) and it was nice, but not as nice as other steaks on the trip.

With our dessert our server brought us out two complimentary glasses of sparkling wine, which was a nice gesture. He said we must be sick of getting free wine by now, but this was actually the first time this had happened!



For desserts, we had the Florida Key Lime Pie -baked in a Graham Cracker Tart Shell served with fresh Strawberries and a Quenelle of Sweet Mandarin Sorbet -$10.00 and the Lemon-scented Cheesecake -with a Chocolate Ganache -$10.00



Before the trip, I had my heart set on their signature banana chocolate torte. It came up on every review as the must-have dessert here. However, our served advised they had just got a new pastry chef, and the first change he made was turning the banana torte into a cherry torte. Why, Disney signature restaurants, must you put cherries in everything?!

I begrudgingly went with the lemon cheesecake and tried some of Ollie’s key lime pie. The congratulations plaques were a nice touch, but the desserts were generally a bit forgettable.



Overall, our meal at Citricos was nice and I’m glad we got the opportunity to try the restaurant on the deluxe plan. However, on the standard plan it wouldn’t make the cut for us.

I can never resist a photo of the GF lobby!



We were the last to leave the restaurant and got the monorail back to MK. The park had shut and most people had left, but cast members were going round the bus stops and arranging buses for those who were left.





We got on a riverside bus which made a special stop at French Quarter for us. Obviously, I napped on the bus back.

Today was definitely a food filled day, which we always enjoy!

Day 18 - Hollywood Studios, The Boathouse and 'Ohana