wendinator

Not a lot of Fort content unfortunately, but since TCD has trip report writing burnout I thought I'd share my recent trip (apart from the food photos I already posted). I won't feel bad if you don't read it all - I tend to write too much!

Back in about March my sister let me know she was planning to go for two weeks and asked if I was interested in joining. Since I got an AP in January this seemed like a no brainer so of course I said yes. For planning purposes the things we had to keep in mind were: 1. she was only telling her kids about the first week, so the second week would be a surprise, 2. we'd be down there for my birthday (yay!), and 3. the accommodations would be a mix of her time share on 192 and their DVC

My sister and her family started their summer vacation in the Canadian Maritimes with my parents and when that was over my parents headed back home and my sister headed south to Florida, making a few stops along the way. On Sunday, August 20 they checked into AKL for themselves and the timeshare for me. She set up her reservation with DME for 1 person from MCO to AKL, so when I flew down I hopped on DME to meet them. Is there anything better than seeing this for the first time?

When I arrived they were already poolside. I changed out of my jeans and runners into shorts and sandals in the Jiko/Boma bathroom - the handicap stall was occupied so I used a regular stall and all my wiggling around caused the toilet to flush at least 4 times. It was pretty funny but I felt bad about the water waste. They'd managed to get 2 nights at the club level so I rehydrated with a glass each of the lounge's water, lemonade (very sweet), and jungle juice (POG).

I knew that I'd be doing a bunch of different things from my sister and her family so I'd booked myself a rental car. My BIL drove me to where I thought the rental car pickup place was since I'd picked up a car from there before. But when we pulled in the parking lot it became pretty clear that I wasn't in the right place.

Fortunately there was a sign on the door with the address to the right place. When I got there it didn't look much better but at least it was actually open and staffed!

I picked up my rather beat up looking rental car and went to the time share to unpack my bags.

After unpacking I went to Target/CVS to lay in a few supplies. After that it was straight back to AKL to pick up one of my nephews who wanted to go to afternoon tea with me.

You can read all about our afternoon tea here.

After tea we popped our heads in a few of the GF gift shops. My nephews like to pin trade so are always on the lookout for interesting pins. I have a weakness for mugs/glasses and thought this one was cute.

But I also know I'm already out of cupboard space so I gave it a pass.

I don't have a lot of pictures after that. I'm pretty sure I was tired from travel so returned the kid to his parents, then I went back to the time share for some Zzz's in anticipation of rope drop at the Magic Kingdom the next day (Monday). We'll pick up there, which will be way more interesting than this!

I grabbed a drink there at the end of August. I had the Pepper's Ghost and although it was OK I would order something different the next time.

Bad picture of Pepper's Ghost:

The table beside me had the absinthe drink and said it was VERY strong. And yes, the one drink I had sure didn't come cheap.

Here's a bit of the drink list.

I was there alone and suspect I would have enjoyed the theming more if I'd sat at the bar.

Be sure to make note of the posters on the wall and check them often!

Also note that the photo booths on the boardwalk are free if you have PhotoPass. Just zap your MagicBand!

$10 and then 10% AP discount was a dollar off, and then 6.5% tax. Total for me was $9.59.

My sister and I swung by the Coke store at Disney Springs for their rooftop beverage bar. Note that it is outdoor seating (not air conditioned) and has some pretty loud music blaring. So if you're looking for cold and quiet, this isn't the place.

BUT they do have a float tray, and they do offer a 10% AP discount!

The tray has a liner on it that tells you what each of the flavors are.

My sister and I shared this so I didn't get to try all of them.

The cups are kind of small and the ice cream is soft to begin with so in August these are probably best consumed quickly or shared.

My favorite was the cream soda. I gave the grape one to my sister since I have bad memories of grape pop and she said that one was her favorite.

Just outside of Test Track is a small food truck type thing called Taste Track that sells some interesting sundaes. We debated between the apple pie sundae and chocolaty churro sundae. In the end the churros won out, and four of us shared this. It was pretty much a standard vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce sundae with the addition of two churros.

It melted quickly in the August heat, but with four people it didn't take long to finish it quickly!

The hours are a bit weird, something like noon - 5. So if you're interested in going make note of the limited availability.

Went to Geyser Point with my sister for lunch on our departure day.

It's outdoor seating, which wasn't a great idea at noon at the end of August. It was HOT. I saw there were ceiling fans above us that weren't on so I asked our server if they could turn it on for us... Nope. Not working.

In choosing where to sit I scoped out a spot that was close to an electrical outlet because I was working that day and needed some power for the laptop. Put my plug into the outlet and... nothing. Outlet wasn't working either.

Anyway, I ordered the grilled portobello salad.

I should  have taken a picture of the whole plate/bowl thing because it was funny the way it was all clustered at one end with lots of empty plate.  This doesn't look like much but the quinoa was very filling and I liked the balsamic and veg.

My sister had the bison burger (no photo) with a gluten free bun and was very impressed.

I'll need to go back here another time when it's not so hot and when I don't have to work!

Stopped in at the Nomad Lounge for a leisurely bite before a Rivers of Light fastpass.

I was looking forward to getting those cold rolls again but... nope. Menu has changed and they're gone. There's pad thai in its place, but I didn't think I wanted anything that heavy considering it was 1000° outside. So I went back to my old standby of the fish tacos.

They seemed smaller to me than the last time. Still good though.

Random side note that has nothing to do with the Nomad Lounge. I went to the Rivers of Light FP seating area and saw it's seating on stone benches. Wow did the stone ever hold onto the August sun's heat! I had well toasted buns by the time the show was over. I was glad I had my thin zip up hoodie to sit on.

And you know those dispensers of insect repellant they have scattered around? The people sitting in front of me availed themselves of some of it... then grabbed onto their Disney Parks shopping bag... that promptly shed its blue ink ALL OVER one woman's hands. She looked as blue as a Na'vi. I had a few wet naps in my purse so offered them to her, which she gladly accepted. It took some of the blue off, but I bet she could still have convincingly posed for Photo Pass pictures as a Na'vi until she got to proper soap and water.

They had people selling $3 bottles of water in the stands but I bet they could have made a killing selling Mickey bars. I would have done anything for ice cream that night but had nobody to hold my spot in order to go get one.

Took a break from the fam and from chicken nuggets and went to Citrico's for their 30% AP discount before 6:30/after 8:30.

All of the food groups represented here - bread, butter, and wine.

My server made some recommendations for each course and I managed to ignore her suggestions each time.

You can't see any evidence of tomatoes in this photo but this is a tomato salad. I don't see it listed on the current menu online so I don't remember what all was in it but I enjoy the balsamic, cheese, prosciutto flavors.

For my main I had the scallop risotto.

The portion was much bigger than I expected and I ate every bite of it.

Unfortunately by this point even though I ordered dessert I couldn't finish all of my key lime pie.  Nice little bit of sorbet and cookie in the bottom right corner.

And I'm embarrassed to admit how long it was before I noticed the deliberate Mickey in the bottom left corner.

I was the first table to be seated for dinner service and I was looking forward to a quiet adult meal so I was a little disappointed when a family with two young kids showed up. But man were those kids ever well behaved! I saw the Mom drinking a glass of champagne so I told my server that I wanted to pay for her glass. They weren't able to put it directly on my bill, but took it off theirs and gave it to me separately. At some point while I was stuffing my face, the family's server must have told them that I'd paid for it and she came over to say thanks. I told her I appreciated well behaved kids and that parenting well is hard and they're obviously doing a great job. She told me that it meant a lot to her because they'd had a tough year with one kid having challenging medical issues and the other one being autistic. I hope they had a great vacation.

I meant to mention that I was unable to get an ADR for last week and this is why:

I had occasion to spend a few hours in the lobby of the Grand Floridian right near the tea room and indeed there's some work going on in there, though it's not abundantly clear to me what it is they're doing. Some furniture is moved off to the side, there are drop cloths on some things, and there was a guy there with a ladder.

Wonder if any changes will be noticeable the next time...

Made my first trip to Pandora and one nephew was on a mission for the blueberry cream cheese mousse so we hit up the Satu'li Canteen.

Wish I'd taken a picture of the inside - it's very purple. The top white part is a hard sugar, not a soft icing. He must have liked it because I didn't even get a bite!

I ordered the vegetable steamed curry pods.

YUCK! Stodgy doughy dry exterior. Inside curry was OK I guess (I like curry). Chips were your standard Terra vegetable chips. At this point I don't even remember whether I liked the slaw or not. I ate one pod here and then stashed the other in a Ziploc bag and ate it one morning for breakfast. I appreciate an alternative to chicken nuggets/burgers but I would not get this again.

Note that this was my first experience with Mobile ordering and it was a win. I did mobile ordering at Cosmic Ray's twice and thought it was great.

Dropped my sister and one nephews off at Ohana for breakfast with Stitch and had some time to kill so went down to Capt Cook's for breakfast. I considered the tonga toast but needed a break from sweet so instead opted for the breakfast burrito.

It could have used a bit more time under the heat lamp since it wasn't very warm. It's served with a packet of sour cream (hiding) and some salsa (in the clear plastic tub) which help give it a bit more flavor. Apart from the bacon the contents are pretty bland.

20% AP discount so this was $6.21.

Our final dinner on my most recent trip was at Sanaa.

My sister said all she wanted was bread service, but I wanted to stuff my face with more than that. LOL.

Bread service doesn't come on that giant piece of wood anymore, it's on a smaller piece now.

If you look closely in the background of the photo you'll notice the two pieces of gluten free naan on a plate, and also a second tray of dips. When we ordered 1 bread service + 2 pieces of gluten free naan, they brought the second tray of dips just for my sister to prevent cross-contamination. Wow! Ended up having to get a few more pieces of bread to make sure we finished off all the dips. :)

The kids ordered an oxtail starter that they said was just OK. I didn't try any.

I went for the lamb shank. Why is it so hard to get vegetables? The green stuff was a bit like swiss chard/collard greens, and the "Tandoor Vegetables" were basically onions and some slivers of sweet pepper for color.

 I would have loved to have the kheer for dessert but I was too full (and overloaded by 2 weeks of sugar!).

My sister ordered the kid's meal butter chicken and it came with a dessert - Pumbaa's something or other. Chocolate pudding with Oreo crumble, candy rocks, and gummi worms. And green icing grass apparently.

If you scroll way way back you'll see I missed out on the ooey gooey toffee cake back in 2014. Well on this trip, that cake was mine! Went with my BIL and two nephews. We didn't want the big founder's platter so opted to order a la carte.

I ordered the corn fritters to start. Cut into one and discovered runny dough inside - they were WAY undercooked. Manager came and took them away, brought us new ones (cooked!) and took them off the bill. Sauce had a nice bit of heat to it.

I ordered the pot roast, which came with mashed potatoes and "vegetables" that turned out to just be corn. I was kind of hoping for something green like broccoli or beans.

My nephew ordered the roast beef too but wanted fries instead of mash. Look TCD! Thick fries!

Unfortunately I didn't get the pictures from my BIL of the clam chowder or pasta with shrimp. The pasta portion was enormous!

But finally I got my ooey gooey toffee cake.

I love the crunchy bits of toffee in it. Don't let that pan deceive you - it's not cast iron, it's plastic. We shared this amongst the 5 of us and I was already so full by that point that a few bites was enough for me.

I took advantage of the 30% off AP discount for reservations made before 6:30 or after 8:30 and headed back to Jiko.

We started with the Taste of Africa. L-R: mango chutney, raita, I forget..., and hummus. The raita one you were supposed to stir to mix in the green bits. All very tasty.

The rest of the fam shared the wild boar tenderloin appetizer and raved about it.

I neglected to take a picture but they also bring you some nice rolls with a fantastic goat butter. Wish I could find some butter like that at home.

I had the elk loin for my main and it's a bit hard to see from this dark picture, but although it looks weird, it was all very tasty. Those white marshmallow looking bits are pureed veg.

The kids both had the lamb shank - it was huge!

I really like the malva pudding, but I asked our server if they're still doing it in the same ridiculous configuration as they were when I was there back in March. He confirmed that they are still doing the weird shredded wheat bird's nest thing so I took a pass on the malva and had the Safari Sunset (carrot cake) instead. I loved the layer of lemon in it. Yum.

I've never had a bad meal here and it was nice to save $80 on the bill.

Did you know that if you're staying at the Poly that you can get Ohana room service? They call it the "Polynesian Twilight Feast" - Experience a complete in-room dining adventure for the entire family. You will enjoy the same delicacies featured in the 'Ohana's dining room. A selection of guests' favorites including Spiced Chicken Wings, Asian-style Pot Stickers, Yokisoba Noodles, Stir-fried Vegetables, and our special 'Ohana Sunset Punch; followed with our skewered meats and oak-grilled shrimp seasoned and cooked to perfection. Then we top it all off with our famous Bread Pudding which finishes this magnificent feast. $20.00 for guests 9 and under; for guests 10 and older $40.00

One adult portion easily feeds two. They can also do a gluten free version (which is what my sister got).

Buns!

Salad!

Big plate of noodles, pot stickers, and veg!

Meat and rice!

Two kinds of sauce!

I forgot to get a picture of the bread pudding before we dished it out, but here's a little piece.

I went here twice on my recent trip. I like ordering the kid's meal grilled chicken sandwich. It comes with a drink and a small sundae that is super cute.

They use the cherry stem for the tail.

On the other visit I ordered the "Frozen Sunshine" - Rainbow Sherbet, Vanilla Ice Cream, and Seltzer blended to perfection topped with Whipped Cream and a Candied Orange Slice. I wish I'd remembered to ask them to hold the whipped cream (I'm not a fan) but otherwise this was really nice and refreshing.

I didn't try it, but when I saw it in person... it looked nothing like the promotional photo. (Does anything ever look like the promotional photo?)

Would you order this?

None of you should be shocked to hear I went back to the Garden View Tea Room on my recent trip. I was there August 20 with my nephew.

When we arrived to check in there were three young girls using the Tea Room as their playground, running around in circles, climbing over/under a red velvet rope for a CM-only area. The woman at the check in podium assured me they'd tried suggesting to the adults that it wasn't appropriate, but without success. Fortunately for us, they left about the moment we were seated at our table.

The sandwiches have changed a little bit since I was last there. The golden beet is gone, and a roasted tomato is in its place.

Pretty much everything else remains the same. A 3-tiered tray holds the scones and your dessert course.

I'm disappointed that the apricot jam seems to be a permanent fixture, but once again they were able to find me some strawberry when asked. There's also never enough clotted cream on these prepared trays, but they will bring more when asked.

I still like to put the lemon curd on top of the jam tart.

The mousse swan flavor this time was white chocolate. I should have gone with the lemon blueberry trifle, which is what my nephew had. He couldn't finish it and I wasn't much help, but it was really good.

It doesn't look like the price has gone up, so that's good. Still $35 per person for the Bedfordshire.

I got one of these recently from the Fountain View at Epcot (tasty!) but also found them at the Boardwalk Bakery last night.

Bumping a really old thread...

Anybody know of a site that maintains a pretty current list? The one at the top of this thread hasn't been updated in about a year. http://capturingmagic.me/a-guide-to-disney-world-magic-shots

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

When Rocky and I got back, Mrs. TCD was just finishing up with the afternoon treat- chocolate rabbit fondue!:

That is a great idea! We're doing a delayed Easter dinner this weekend (my parents were away for actual Easter) so I've proposed this very activity. Thanks for the inspiration!

Are those white cookies on the tray? Looks like strawberries, cherries, apples, bananas, pineapple and... I can't quite tell what the white things are.

I was getting ice water from Pecos Bill last week and happened to notice they offer corn dog nuggets as a kids meal. It was news to me!

Not a great picture, but yes... that's a Jim Carrey "Dumb and Dumber" tattoo.

For our last night on our recent short trip, Mom and I went to Jiko for dinner. I'd heard there was a new chef and some recent changes to the menu so it was interesting to see what was new/different.

I started with a glass of white wine.

Their cocktail list has changed so no Sunriser for Mom this time. She got a Victoria Mist that she really enjoyed.

As before they bring some bread and butter to the table. I could easily gorge myself on just bread and butter without too much trouble.

I think we went a little overboard on the appetizers... We ordered and shared two.

The "Taste of Africa" has changed a bit since the last time I had it. The dips have changed and I don't remember what all of them are called but the reddish colored one was fan-freaking-tastic. There was also hummus, mango chutney and I forget what the orange one was. Finally, it's not easy to see but there's also a pat of goat butter that was sooo good. You've heard of goat cheese, well this was goat butter. Yum. For the bread there were two papadums, and two kinds of naan.

We also ordered the beet salad because our server said it was going off the menu soon. Mom and I both love beets, but there were only 3 pieces of beet in this beet salad. There was also pear, granola, some salad greens, and whatever the white stuff was (cheese? it was nicely flavored with herbs but I can't remember).

For our mains, Mom went with the oak grilled filet. She loved the brussel sprouts but wasn't a fan of the meat. The outside was seared and a little tough for her liking.

I ordered the braised short ribs, which I've had before, and were still fantastic - and a LOT of meat. You can also see the scallops we added and shared.

I didn't take an after picture, but I mixed up this plate as was recommended on a previous visit. So I took out the bone and then separated the meat (pulled pork stye) and stired up all the sauce into a big tasty mess. I had to get Mom to help me finish it all.

By this point we were pretty full but still felt we could share a dessert so ordered the malva pudding. I've had this a few times before and if you scroll up in this thread you'll see that they've prepared it at least two different ways... and the version we received was just crazy. There was virtually no pudding (cake) at all, and the bird's nest in the middle tasted like shredded wheat. I guess they were going for an artistic bird theme here, but what a disappointment. The white bird on top was a shortbread-like cookie.

Here's the new dessert menu. I wish I'd tried the safari sunset.

If we weren't full enough, these two little cookies came with the bill.

20% AP discount here which was nice.

After a failed attempt in January I finally made it to Casey's for their "first pitch". There was some fantastic singing, and free Cracker Jack, but they didn't actually throw a ball. I'm not sure whether they just didn't do it because there was nobody around, or whether they don't do it at all anymore.

Here's the singing.

And here's the Cracker Jack we got.

For anyone who cares to go, it was at 10 am.