The Bare Necessities - Cocktails, coffee and cookies Summer 2019

[DisneyDaffodil]

Yes we are talking about the same cocktails 😂

I was shocked when I read you can’t add things to the photopass photos any more, Georgia loved adding borders and silly bits onto our photos too 😢

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by orlandoamber

I was already sad that Blizzard Beach is closed during our trip, but those nacho pics have made me double sad! They look sooooo good - especially for a water park. Yum!

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Really good for the water parks, shame you can't go.

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

Yes we are talking about the same cocktails 😂

I was shocked when I read you can’t add things to the photopass photos any more, Georgia loved adding borders and silly bits onto our photos too 😢

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re cocktails.

Although I've actually turned into a blubbering mess because of the photo situation, and I'm supposed to be cooking dinner, well I am cooking dinner so, in about 45 minutes the others are going to appear and I'm going to hope I've stopped leaking by then or the other option is to pretend that I had something in my eye. I'm sort of glad it's not just news to me that didn't know.

[MrsSilverStar]

Oh Abby, what a shame about the photos. I had read it somewhere on here I think, but was hoping it was just a glitch when they changed the website or something. So you can’t add anything to them now? None of those borders which say what park or time of year? That is rubbish.

[Rescuer]

Sorry!

We didn’t end up with many magic shots either.

It’s such a shame they took away all the borders and stamps. I’m sure your photos are still lovely though and hold lots of precious memories.

[caitlinsmummy]

I'm so sorry about the photos Abby. I don't understand why they've taken it off tbh such a shame xx

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar

Oh Abby, what a shame about the photos. I had read it somewhere on here I think, but was hoping it was just a glitch when they changed the website or something. So you can’t add anything to them now? None of those borders which say what park or time of year? That is rubbish.

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I was a bit sad yesterday. I couldn't find any borders or year etc, which is why I asked. Maybe they will change it back? I'll have another look later.

Originally Posted by Rescuer

Sorry!

We didn’t end up with many magic shots either.

It’s such a shame they took away all the borders and stamps. I’m sure your photos are still lovely though and hold lots of precious memories.

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I know it's a silly thing to have been upset about, of course you are right as we have thousands of photos and they will still be lovely.

Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy

I'm so sorry about the photos Abby. I don't understand why they've taken it off tbh such a shame xx

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Last year I spent ages adding in 2018, park borders, I even added Figment to one of our Epcot photos. It's a shame that has gone now.

[DiddyDan]

I’ve just read your whole food report and thoroughly enjoyed it! I’m not on the DDP this year, but still looking forward to trying some of the snacks and QS meals you’ve had! Thank you so much for sharing with us, you’ve done so will to post so much while you were on holiday!

Looking forward to the last few days!

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by DiddyDan

I’ve just read your whole food report and thoroughly enjoyed it! I’m not on the DDP this year, but still looking forward to trying some of the snacks and QS meals you’ve had! Thank you so much for sharing with us, you’ve done so will to post so much while you were on holiday!

Looking forward to the last few days!

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I'm glad to hear that. Lots more QS and snacks still to come. Have a great holiday.

[Goldia]

Day 11 AK cookies for breakfast, BBQ for lunch, Storybook Dining for dinner

Why oh why have I never been inside Zuri’s sweet shop in the Africa area at AK? Clearly I have not planned in advance properly . I had to take photos of the counter.

It’s a very similar selection to the one on the corner of Main Street.
We used up 6 snack credits for breakfast, Dave, Max and me had a jumbo Mickey head cookie each! I couldn’t eat all mine and donated some to Max, even he couldn’t eat my leftovers as well as his own cookie . Kate had a chocolate icing Mickey sugar cookie, Mum had the strawberry one. Dad had a pecan nut fudge.

This was a close 2nd in the most sickly breakfast we ate category, way too much sugar for us, it rivaled the funnel cake but that still tops out.

For lunch we went to Flametree BBQ.

We ordered two of the ribs, chicken and pulled pork sampler combos, this comes with a side of beans and coleslaw.

I like these ribs as they are quite dry and I’m not overly keen on a lot of BBQ sauce. There was way too much here though. We barely touched the pulled pork. Kate wanted the pulled pork sandwich, which she enjoyed.

So as we had used up 3 QS credits we ordered 3 cocktails. We got 3 of the orange and lemon vodka lemonades.

We also used one snack on plain French fries for Max

and in a fit of madness of wanting to use up the snack credits I ordered 3 of the French fries with pulled pork and cheese

This was a crazy choice as of course we were never going to eat all this food.

We also ordered 4 sodas as snacks and some cups of water.

We were off to Wilderness Lodge for dinner (I think this is my favourite lobby area of the deluxe’s).

We were about an hour early so stopped off in Territory Lounge for a drink before the meal.

Dave had the First Timer (basically an old fashioned), he loved it. Mum had Welcome Home, vodka, Cointreau and some juices (pineapple, cranberry and lime).

I had Lodge Fizz, vodka, triple sec, sprite and cranberry juice. This was good and I enjoyed it. Dad had a ginger ale, the kids had cokes.

We were in Territory Lounge a little while as we were so early, eventually the buzzer went off and we were called in to dinner.

The others had a bit of a panic as they thought there were only 3 cocktail options as the first double page of the menu looks like this.

But, I figured out that if you turn the page over you get the rest of the selection yes, I figured it out all by myself A shame I was so excited by my find that I couldn't hold the phone steady to take the photo

For the dinner drinks Dad ordered Alchemy (gin and elderflower) he wasn’t so keen at first, I told him to stir it a bit and this helped I think.

Dave had A Brew of Peaches (buffalo trace bourbon, essentially another old fashioned). He loved it.

I ordered Evil to the Core, tequila, habanero, blackberry and orange juice. I can’t really remember if I liked this drink or not. My head was hurting I probably should have just stuck with a soft drink.

Mum had red wine.

Kate and Max both had In the Clowds.

There was a syrup in the bottom of the glass and candyfloss and you pour powerade over it and it dissolves the candyfloss.

Action shot

It didn't look that appetising when it was all combined

The characters all came around pretty quickly and were fun. Snow White made it to the table before we had been given drinks or the starter.

They were barely with us a minute though and we’ve had better character interactions.

The starters are small samplers.

You get 1 prawn each (but after the 1 scallop at CRT I shouldn’t be surprised). It was a good prawn but I’d have liked more. I enjoyed the mushroom bisque, this was the best starter I think.

We also had Hunter’s Terrine which was only ok.

We got an invite to go and meet the evil queen after the starters and she was menacing and the best part of the meal as far as I was concerned.

This was fun and I’m glad we had a chance to meet her, there aren’t many villains to meet in WDW.

5 of us all ordered the Royal prime rib roast with horseradish mash and a popover (basically a Yorkshire pudding). The mash was good, the beef was fatty.

I didn’t enjoy this meal I’m afraid . The others seemed to, but when I spoke to Dave the next day he admitted he hadn't enjoyed it, but he hadn't wanted to say anything at the time, it was a bit too fatty for him as well.

Kate had the Sorceress Spell of Land and Sea BBQ pork and clams.

Unfortunately this turned out to be pork belly and so had lots of fat and Kate didn’t really like it.

The desserts are also a sampler plate.

By this point I had given up hopes of popping into MK after dinner as my head really was hurting. I had also given up hope of enjoying the food. I only ate one of the desserts, the gooseberry meringue pie.

I really liked it, but I just couldn’t face the other puddings. The kids seemed to like the popcorn at the end.

Overall, this was not a win for us. It would have cost us the four of us $313 (inc tax and tip), but only ended up being the 4 TS credits plus the tip.

Undoubtedly I would have enjoyed it more if I didn’t have a headache. Also, if we had taken the advice of the server, who recommended the chicken as the main course perhaps the food would have been more of a hit. Maybe if the characters had spent more than a cursory moment with us it would have been a more memorable experience, but all in all the meal was a bit of a flop.

Am I glad we went? Sure, it was great to get over to Wilderness Lodge and then to take the boat back to MK in the twilight as the lights all came on.

Will I go back to Storybook Dining? Probably not, this is another one that needs to be added to the Misses list.

Day 11 Credits

Snacks – 6 on cookies at breakfast, 4 on fries and 4 on sodas at lunch. So that is 14 snacks used up, 53 remaining.
QS – 3 used for the Flametree BBQ lunch, tut, tut, must try harder, 27 remaining.
TS – 6 on the dinner at SBD, so 18 credits remaining

Next up, back to MK and Dole Whip for breakfast , Columbia Harbour House for lunch and one I had been waiting for…California Grill for dinner. We had done the brunch last year and this was a standout meal of the trip. Dave and Kate would have loved to repeat the brunch, but I wanted to try dinner and see the fireworks. Fortunately it was more a hit than today’s meal , even if it was a bit drizzly while watching the fireworks.

[OB1LukeLucas]

Those loaded fries look good...never mind the headache perhaps Storybook wasn’t the best because you were so full from breakfast cookies and Flame Tree! only joking, I am impressed with the way you are trying to use up the credits
I’m sure the headache soured the experience but you certainly didn’t seem too have hit lucky with the meat at all, disappointing. I would love to have a peak in Wilderness Lodge I’m not sure why my family don’t find the idea of trailing around the hotels for ‘a look’ appealing