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Old 8 Dec 18, 03:46 PM  
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Wordsworth
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Day 11

Today was V&A day.

We started the day at Animal Kingdom, where (after FPing the safari ride) we had a FP for FOP. We really enjoyed this ride, although again I wouldn’t wait in the standby line for it (and I say that as the kid who waited in line for Splash Mountain for more than 2 hours in the heat of July after that ride opened!).

I’m a little ahead of myself though as after the safari ride, we first decided to head over to the Yak and Yeti local cafe for breakfast and spent 2QS credits on:

Canadian Bacon English Muffin - Eggs, Smoked Gouda, Canadian Bacon on a toasted English Muffin with Hash Brown Bites.

and

Breakfast Burrito - Eggs, American Cheese, Chorizo, Peppers and Onions with Hash Brown Bites.



The muffin was better than the burrito; the burrito wrap was pretty unpleasant and none of the spicier flavours came through. As DH doesn’t really enjoy hash browns but I never met a potato I didn’t like, I ate most of those.





After riding FOP we started to walk back over towards Asia, as we had a FP for the River Rapids ride. This was just as well as it was much busier than it had been on the recent cold day, when unsurprisingly no one wanted to ride! As I could still feel the grease in my mouth from the burrito, we decided a refreshing treat was in order. We used 2 snack credits on:



A dole whip (Mine) and a Mickey ice cream sundae (DH). I think mine was better; DH gave me one of the cookies but it was cold and hard.

I have a feeling that after Kali we grabbed a FP for Dinosaur, and then called it a day and headed back to the WL. There I decided I wanted to try a treat I’ve seen a lot on here:



The magic cookie bar! It was really magical, so much so that DH asked if we could spend all of our remaining snack credits on these!

We got ready for V&A and got our pic taken in front of the WL Christmas tree. We decided to take a Minnie van across to the GF since we didn’t fancy the boat or bus in our gladrags (my hair would have frizzed terribly LOL) and (once i’d worked out how to use the app) this was quick and painless. We had a lovely driver and chose to tip him in cash as we’d read that tips through the app took a while to reach them. The cost via the app was just over $20.

Onto dinner in the main dining room; we were presented with our personalised menus and the format of the dinner explained. I will say that they do come across as a bit obsessed with explaining the price of the meal - it’s in the email you get a week or so before, they go through it again when they call to confirm and then the waiter explains it again when you arrive. I don’t know if they’ve had issues with people arriving and not understanding the pricing of the meal, but we thought it was a bit unnecessary.



We already knew we would do the wine pairing, as I really enjoy those experiences, and having reviewed the additional courses and heard the waiter’s description of them, we decided to both add the turbot. DH loves fish so was excited about this.

This is where the V&A didn’t live up to the standard I expect of a fine dining restaurant - the waiter reappeared at our table two minutes later to tell us there was no longer any turbot. He admitted he was embarrassed about this and I can understand it - for me, rather than personalising a menu with my name, I’d prefer that you can supply the dishes on said menu! We were also not exactly dining late, so for them to have run out...not great in my opinion.

With that complaint out of the way...onto the food pictures!



The langoustine amuse Bouche put us back on track - the flavours of this really popped in your mouth. I particularly liked the hit of lime.



The bison dish disappointed us both - the carpaccio-style bison was so thin that you couldn’t really taste it at all; in fact the horseradish cream seemed to overpower everything else on the plate.



Bread served with salted butter; who wouldn’t like this?



This was easily the dish of the night. The cod and scallops were cooked perfectly and that cheese sauce had amazing flavour. (The fact the fish course was our favourite made DH even more annoyed about the missing turbot!)



Bonus dish - in all honesty I can’t really remember this one now, but I do remember being disappointed that what looked (at first glance) like a sprout wasn’t a sprout!



Second bread course and the truffle butter was another highlight - they removed this before the third bread course and DH was devastated.



The quail was cooked well and I particularly enjoyed this course.



Again the pork was cooked well but I wanted more wow! from the topping; I also felt that for my tastes the proportion of pineapple to pork was out of balance.



Third bread course and RIP truffle butter, we miss you.



The beef dish was another winner - the meat was melt in the mouth tender and the chimmichurri sauce was really delicious!



The Stilton cheesecake was an interesting way to present a cheese course; I liked it but I think I prefer having a selection of cheeses.



Tea please; we’re British! I had the Mad Hatter blend (no milk) and really enjoyed it. There was a restaurant in Edinburgh that used to serve a soup course in these contraptions and it was fun to see it in action again.



Bonus chocolate dessert course (with my already tasted paired port in show). In all honesty the dessert course at a fine dining restaurant is generally never a highlight for me, and the V&A was no different. This was just ok.



For my thoughts on the maple chiffon dessert course, please see above comments on fine dining dessert courses!





Chocolates to finish - I selected raspberry and praline while DH chose raspberry and mimosa. I think we could have taken these away with us as I saw others around us leaving with a paper bag. We were just given our menus in an envelope (and I received a rose).

And that was the Victoria and Albert! What did I think?

I enjoyed all the courses served, some much more than others, but on final review it didn’t live up to the expectations I had. It may be that these were too high; I have been fortunate to do a fair amount of 1 and 2 star dining around the UK and the world, and this experience didn’t match up to that - which is frustrating on two levels.

(1) I do firmly believe that non-starred fine dining experiences can be equally as good if everything is done well, and
(2) the cost of this meal exceeded the cost of any of those other meals, and by quite some way in some cases.

I’m glad I did the V&A and I did have a great evening, but I feel my curiosity has been satisfied and I wouldn’t feel the need to do it again. For US fine dining I’d rather return to the Gramercy Tavern in NYC and do the tasting menu and wines there; we did that in the summer and it was fabulous.

I hope this isn’t too controversial - it is just my opinion!
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Old 9 Dec 18, 06:13 PM  
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foodie53
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Shame v and a didn’t live up to expectations. Your photos look good and made me hungry! Thank you again for the reports.
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Old 9 Dec 18, 08:19 PM  
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Nothing controversial about the V and A .

If you want fine dining nip across the channel to France where numerous restaurants will provide better degustation menus.


Some good wines though but that cheap Austrian offering with the Bison is extremely odd.
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Old 10 Dec 18, 02:28 AM  
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#44
Wordsworth
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Originally Posted by foodie53 View Post
Shame v and a didn’t live up to expectations. Your photos look good and made me hungry! Thank you again for the reports.
It was still a good meal but I wanted more wow. If I’m making DH wear a suit it has to be worth it.

Originally Posted by barryp1 View Post
Nothing controversial about the V and A .

If you want fine dining nip across the channel to France where numerous restaurants will provide better degustation menus.


Some good wines though but that cheap Austrian offering with the Bison is extremely odd.
I will say I had a better degustation menu in Fife recently.

You’ve also reminded me that the waiter accidentally mixed up two of the wines at one stage, but caught himself before he poured. He handled it well.
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Old 10 Dec 18, 03:20 AM  
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Day 12

I’d allowed for a slower start to today, on the basis that after the excess of the previous evening, we might not want to rush anywhere. Although I did then make our first FP for Space Mountain so...

As I knew I’d need to eat something before riding, I found the oat bar I’d kept from our first flight in the bottom of my bag and ate that on the way to the park.



That was nice enough and kept me going through both Space Mountain and another round of Space Raider Spin, where DH and I are highly competitive and fight for control of the vehicle.

Our third FP was for Mine Train but not until later so we decided to get something to eat as we made our way through the park. We stopped in at Cosmic Ray’s but DH didn’t fancy anything on the menu. He decided he preferred to go to Pinocchio Village Haus, but they weren’t quite open yet, so we did Small World as a 10 minute wait then headed back for food.



We used two QS credits and shared a pepperoni flatbread and a meat lovers flatbread; these were hot and fresh and we enjoyed our early lunch. We both got a bottle of water as our drink.

Now fed, we wandered next to Frontierland where we ended up riding the mountains - Big Thunder with a FP and Splash with a minimal wait. On the way back to Fantasyland, DH picked up a churro (declining the chocolate sauce) in exchange of a snack credit.



We rode Mine Train then decided an ice cream was in order. This was an example of where being on the DDP encouraged us to eat more than we normally would; we would usually share an ice cream but here we used two snack credits to get one each.



I’m not a Tinkerbell fan so of course DH had to try to wind me up by going for Tink’s pixie-dusted cone, which was lime with green cotton candy and white chocolate wings. He liked this (but then he wouldn’t say otherwise because it’s Tinkerbell).

I on the other hand went for the festive special; the peppermint soft serve sundae.



I really liked this but then I love chocolate and peppermint. I could have lived without the sprinkles and I’m not sure why the crushed candy cane had to be stuck to a straw, but I felt the sundae itself made up for these things.

After our ice cream we picked up a quick FP for Dumbo, to pay homage to a childhood memory, then headed back to WL for a break.

That evening we had an ADR at Tokyo Dining in Epcot, so we took a bus to the park then walked through the world showcase to Japan. This was DH’s choice, inspired by how much we’ve enjoyed our trips to Japan.

We checked in 5 minutes early and were told it could be up to 20 minutes before we were seated, but in reality we only waited a couple of minutes before we were paged.

For drinks, I ordered a Violet Silk Martini. It can’t have been particularly memorable because I can’t really remember how I felt about it! It must have been enjoyable enough or I would know...I do recall that DH had a glass of pinot grigio that he ordered in a bit of a panic as he’d barely looked at the menu.



For entrees, I already knew I’d like a selection of everything so chose the Bento Box - Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura, New York Sirloin Steak with Garlic-Ginger Sauce, Chicken Teriyaki, Tuna and Salmon Poke Salad with Sesame-Ginger Dressing, Tuna Roll, Salmon Roll, Shrimp Nigiri Roll, and Vegetable Roll.



I liked all of this, and it was nice to be able to have a small(ish!) selection of a number of different dishes - this is a way I do like to eat, I like the variety.

DH had been considering udon but at the last minute changed his mind and also ordered a bento box, so I didn’t bother taking a photo of his! He also likes variety so it made sense, plus he was already thinking of getting more soba noodles from the holiday booth at some point.

The dessert options were mousse cake, mousse cake, or mousse cake! I don’t like green tea so went for mango flavour; my husband does like green tea but likes ginger more so the latter was his pick. The mango is at the front with the ginger at the back:



While this was nothing special, it was nice and light and we both enjoyed our choices.

Everything we had was covered by 2TS credits and again we tipped 20% in cash.

We then made our way to Canada where we watched Martin Short talk about our 2019 holiday destination, then headed to Mexico and found a spot to watch Illuminations. I enjoyed a classic lime frozen margarita while we did this, which did threaten to freeze my fingers as I held the glass!



This was the last time I’d see Illuminations so I was a bit sad about that, for some reason it always gives me Olympic opening ceremony vibes! I really enjoyed the spectacular holiday finale again.

It was EMH for resort guests so we rode Soaring and Test Track then wandered around taking pictures before getting the bus back to WL.

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Old 10 Dec 18, 09:19 AM  
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Coincidence- we have adr for Tokyo Dining as well - enjoyed it in the past and we love seeing the staff in kimonos and they are so so polite! Always a good choice. Loved the look of your sundae as well. At V and A some of our party is thinking of cocktails rather than wine - did you notice if they had cocktail menu - nothing on website? Thank you.
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Old 10 Dec 18, 03:46 PM  
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Wordsworth
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Originally Posted by foodie53 View Post
Coincidence- we have adr for Tokyo Dining as well - enjoyed it in the past and we love seeing the staff in kimonos and they are so so polite! Always a good choice. Loved the look of your sundae as well. At V and A some of our party is thinking of cocktails rather than wine - did you notice if they had cocktail menu - nothing on website? Thank you.
I didn’t look at the drinks menu since we were doing matching wines, however more than one person at the table next to us was drinking from a martini glass, so I’d assume cocktails of some description are available.

Sorry I can’t be of more help than that!
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Old 12 Dec 18, 09:49 PM  
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Day 13

This morning we made our last trip to Animal Kingdom. We rode FOP again before lining our stomachs for Everest with these:



These are apple cider donut holes - fried donut holes containing apple pieces, rolled in cinnamon sugar and drizzled with an apple cider glaze.

We enjoyed these although I thought the apple pieces in the donut holes were surprisingly dry; the donut itself was not and the drizzle was tasty. We spent two snack credits on a portion of three and a bottle of water.

After riding Everest, our final FP was for Dinosaur. We decided two things - to grab some lunch before this and to have our first (and it turns out only) Disney CS burgers of the holiday.

We used 2QS credits and, as there was already a large queue despite it being relatively early in the day, I used mobile order and this worked well - we had our food before the person who’d been in front of us in the regular queue had finished ordering.

I ordered the Bacon Cheeseburger for us both, and although I deliberately didn’t pick the combo option - we realised we had been given that anyway when we received brownies on our tray.



The combo is an Angus Bacon Cheeseburger served with French Fries, a Warm Caramel Chocolate Brownie and choice of Beverage - I had water and DH had Cherry Coke, which is my absolute favourite fizzy drink so I may have stolen a sip!

I added grilled onions and a variety of different peppers to my burger, plus some salsa, at the toppings bar, while DH only added pickles. The food hit the spot in the way only a Disney burger can!

After riding Dinosaur we went back to WL, as we’d arranged to meet a couple of friends who were in Orlando for a few days for drinks. The four of us went to Geyser Point, where we were seated in the lounge. The menfolk drank Miller Lite or wine, but my friend and I went for the cocktail list.



We both started with a Grand Margarita - Jose Cuervo Gold Tequila, Grand Marnier, fresh Lime Juice, and Sweet-and-Sour.



Then my friend switched to the Northwest Iced Tea - Rogue Dark Rum, 44° North Idaho Potato Vodka, Aviation Gin, Cointreau, and Sweet-and-Sour with a splash of Coke. I tried the Black Cherry Mule - Zodiac Black Cherry Vodka, fresh Lime Juice, and Agave Nectar topped with Fever Tree Ginger Beer.

For our third and my final round, of which it seems I forgot to take a picture, my friend had another Iced Tea, while I went for the Banana - Cabana Cruzan Mango Rum, Coruba Coconut Rum, Bols Crème de Banana, with Orange and Pineapple Juices and Grenadine. (I think my friend then had another Iced Tea after this.)

I think I preferred our first round, as Sci Fi Dine In aside, I do think it’s hard to go wrong with a margarita. The cocktails, two beers and one glass of wine, plus 20% tip, came to approximately $150 - not cheap but it was a good catch up!

After saying goodbye to our friends we made our way to Hollywood Studios, where we had the Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam dessert party booked. Despite having a night of desserts ahead, I decided to spend a snack credit on the Santa macarons.



I enjoyed them although they didn’t have a particular strong flavour; they were crisp and chewy as a macaron should be.

We took some photos around the park and had a final ride on Tower of Terror before checking in for the dessert party at 7pm.

This party was not as well organised as the Happily Every After party; it felt very cramped as there were a lot of tables in a small space. All tables also seemed to be set for 4 so all parties of 2, like us, had to share with someone else.



We were table 74 and there were yet more behind us! You’ll also note that we had a time to see goofy at 7.55 - this wasn’t ideal as at check in we’d all been told we’d be escorted to the viewing area at 7.50! A cast member soon approached our table to tell us to ignore that time for that reason, and go to see Goofy whenever we wanted.

There were various different buffet areas around the space and given how cramped it was, it was quite awkward to see what was available or get to some of them. Rest assured, though, that I had no issue spotting the bar (we were right next to it!).



Plate 1 was savoury for me - cheese fondue with pretzel roll, the roasted onion dip with kettle chips and the spinach and artichoke dip with a flatbread. Oh and a gingerbread cocktail from the bar - this wasn’t frozen like my favourite from Backlot Express, but i enjoyed it. It was Smirnoff Whipped Cream Vodka and Gingerbread Flavored Cream apparently!



Plate 2 contained a Chocolate Verrine with Cinnamon Marshmallows - I didn’t like this at all - a mint macaroon - which was ok - and my favourite of this selection, warm Candy Cane Brownie with Peppermint Ganache. You could have this with ice cream but another thing that annoyed me about this party was the plates were tiny; I didn’t have room for ice cream!

I also picked up one of these on my way past the bar.



It’s a Hot Chocolate Martini - a mixture of Hot Chocolate and the Smirnoff Toasted Marshmallow that didn’t really work for me at all, which was really disappointing.

While DH ate and didn’t rate the following plate of desserts:



I got over my cocoa disappointment with a Jingle Bell Holiday Punch - Raspberry Lemonade and Bacardi Limon rum. While this was sweet it wasn’t overly so, and I found it refreshing after all the chocolate.



We got our picture with Santa Goofy and then just before we were to be escorted to the viewing area, I decided to get another gingerbread cocktail to take with me. This one was, for some reason, rather larger than the first - and I definitely wasn’t complaining about that!



I really did enjoy the gingerbread cocktails. We also enjoyed the show itself - I know some people think the viewing area is too close but I liked feeling that the show was happening around me.

We’d thought about going to MK for EMH after the show but instead decided to head back to the hotel. As we both fancied something savoury we used 2 snack credits in Roaring Fork.



DH ate the crisps while I had the cheese - I thought burrata was a slightly odd choice to include in a cheese platter but I ate it all the same!



And that was the day done!
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Old 13 Dec 18, 11:30 AM  
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A respectable amount of cocktails- just what we need on holiday. Good to see seasonal drinks and eats. Thoroughly enjoyed your report.
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Old 14 Dec 18, 02:33 PM  
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Shame you didn't like V&A quite at much as you'd hoped. My OH thought it was just ok but I loved it. I do think the price has become ridiculous, £700 for 2 with wine pairing and tip! That coupled with the fact they no longer do the 7 course option means we'll likely not return.
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