wendinator

Mom and I went to the Territory Lounge twice on our most recent trip. We like that it's usually quiet, you don't need an ADR, and there tend not to be kids.

On our first visit I started with a Moscow Mule. Yum.

We then ordered the charcuterie board.

That's mustard on the little spoon, some kind of jam in the small jar, and a nice bunch of bread that you have to pull apart.

Here's the cheat sheet for the meat.

We didn't have a knife for the jam and didn't think to ask for one, so just used the other end of a spoon from Mom's coffee. Of course we thought this was funny.

On our second visit I got a Blue Moon. Our server (Katie) let me try some of the wheat beer they have on tap but it turns out I like Blue Moon better.

Mom went for a "Wilderness coffee" which she quite enjoyed.

This time we got two things - first up is the caprese flatbread. I was expecting this to be more basil/mozzarella but... it wasn't.

And we ordered the soy chicken wings. I prefer the sweet ones at Kona but these were still good.

And at the end of it all they brought us warm towels for our sticky fingers.

Just got back from a short trip with my Mom and of course we went for afternoon tea.

Hard to believe but the menu has changed yet again since I was last there just a couple of months ago. And you'll be shocked to hear that you now get less food for the same price! But for those of you who were disappointed that the cheese plate was gone, there's some good news on that front. Here we go.

We were seated at a nice big table by the window with a view of a pleasant day.

There was a teapot of fresh flowers on our table too.

OK, enough ambiance. Onto the food. If you scroll up you'll see I mentioned that the -shire teas were gone in January. Did you miss them? If you did then you're in luck because they're back! Here's the new menu.

The Bedfordshire is the basic tea, and back in January your $35 got you some cheese, fruit and lavosh but you'll notice all that is conspicuously absent now. The sandwich flavors themselves are the same as in January, but their configuration has changed slightly. The egg sandwich is now open face with some garnish on top - capers, olive, and I think that was red pepper and not tomato. Similarly the cucumber is now open faced. Is it still a sandwich if there's only one piece of bread? Is this some kind of weird cost savings measure? The only sandwich that has two pieces of bread is the curry chicken.

My Mom had been looking forward to the cheese so decided to order the Cheshire Tea (Bedfordshire + cheese plate) and here's the plate of fruit and cheese we got. Kiwi, mango, papaya, pineapple, honey, and then 4 kinds of cheese - blue, brie, cheddar, and one other I forget. Oh yes and there was also fruit that was described to us as "grapes dried on the vine". So... raisins?

Here's a close up of those dried grapes since we got such a laugh out of that.

The tea still comes more or less the same way. It arrives pre-steeped, there's no tea strainer, and no tea leaves/bag in the pot. Tea cozy looked like it's showing its age a bit.

You still have your choice of strawberries & cream, trifle of the day (bananas foster), or pastries. We both opted for the pastries. The scones and pastries are presented same as last time, on a 3-tiered tray.

No real change here so once again I voice my opinion that apricot jam is still wrong, and they never give you enough clotted cream. The jam situation was remedied by my server grabbing some strawberry jam from elsewhere, and bringing another tray of clotted cream.

As you might have read before, I like to put the lemon curd on top of the jam tart.

And you may also recall that my husband, a Brit, is very specific about the order of the cream and jam on top of the scone. Jam first, then cream. Always.

These were our pastries. The mousse in the swan was "peach tea" today which was OK but nothing to write home about. Macarons were (L-R) strawberry, lemon, vanilla, and chocolate. Chocolate covered strawberry remains the same.

We had a lovely time as always.

A few other stray observations. The table to our right and the table to our left both ordered gluten-free tea (I had no idea that was an option, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised). It took so long for their food to arrive that at least one of those two tables had their meals comped. I don't know what you get when you order gluten-free, but apparently you can get an hour's wait and a freebie. I asked our server if Riley was still working there and she said yes, so that was good news even though I haven't seen her the last few times I've been. I also asked our server about Lynn - the old lady with the dolls who hangs out in the lobby - because I hadn't seen her the last few times either. She said the last she'd heard was that Lynn is now in hospice care and they all miss her.

So there ya have it until the next time I go!

Caterpillar roll seems to be gone from the menu at Kona but the volcano roll remains and here it is.

This past Friday I had lunch at the 50s Prime Time Cafe. I hadn't been there in a really long time.

Once again I ordered off the kids menu. This was the kids chicken pot pie. Looking at the picture you'll understand my confusion when I received a bowl of chicken pot pie filling with two Mickey shaped puff pastries on top.

It wasn't quite what I expected. It's hard to tell from the photo but there was actually quite a lot of chicken in there (big hunks of it, not little pieces) along with mushrooms, carrots, peas, and onions. It was very tasty and a pretty big portion size too (I don't think a kid would actually be able to finish it).

I took this picture on Friday at DHS for TCD. I know how much you like KOS (kids on shoulders) so wondered how you might feel about AOS...

I'd heard good things about the Tipsy Ducks in Love - though presumably not from the Fort Fiends! - and decided to try one last weekend.

The price is now $8.95 + tax, so it came to $9.54, which isn't really all that much worse than the rum & coke I had at Rose & Crown. Also note that the 45¢ increase in almost 5 years isn't too bad, especially compared to how much the price of my afternoon tea has gone up in the same amount of time. ($10!)

Anyway, the bourbon pour was generous and fortunately they've done away with the whipped cream (I would have asked them to leave it off).

Since I don't drink coffee I can't compare it to other iced coffees but boy this was tasty. I assume it's pretty much an iced mocha with a buzz and I won't think about how much sugar is in it. I thought I'd taken a picture of it, but really it looks the same as what you saw above. I only have a selfie with me holding it, and I think your life is complete without me sharing that.

9 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

As I think about it, there have been other kind of recent changes to the ride too.

The whole garage scene with one of the Steves (Jobs? or Wozniak?) working on the computer is new, as is the scene immediately preceding it with the giant computer and the young lady in the miniskirt.

One of the best costumes I saw at MNSSHP a few years ago was someone dressed up as that woman in the miniskirt. I regret not getting a picture.

5 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Well, that's good to hear.  The effect had been broken for a few months, and it seemed like it was going to stay that way.

The last time I rode it (Tuesday) Walter Cronkite wasn't working — the TV was just black. But I assume that's temporary. It was working on my previous ride a few days earlier.

My head went on the animated bodies in the last few days. I've ridden it twice.

1 hour ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

They don't give you devices any more? You use your own phone? Although the last time I did that was Kim Possible and they handed out the devices.

I did a bunch of the Agent P missions this past Saturday and yes, you just use your own phone. I don't know if there's still an option for them to give you a device. You sign up from your phone by going to http://agentpwsa.com/ and you give that code to a CM who gets you started. I was glad I had headphones with me for my phone.

I hadn't really been to Disney Springs since its relaunch so that was last night's project. I didn't want a lengthy meal so was looking for some quick serve. Blaze Pizza had a pretty long line up, plus I've been having grilled cheese for lunch every day this week so I thought maybe another plate of bread wasn't exactly what I wanted. So off I went to D-Luxe Burger.

I ordered their classic cheeseburger, regular fries with curry ketchup, and although I really wanted a milkshake I figured I'd already ordered two days worth of calories... and also a shake is $7 which seems like a lot.

They give you a table finder puck so you can sit wherever you want. It was a nice night so I sat outside, and there's a specific area on the table where the puck has to be placed. My food arrived pretty promptly.

Sorry about the flash for this picture but it was pretty dark outside. Here's how my burger and fries arrived - in a big paper bag.

Unfortunately the best thing I can say about the food here is that the portions were big. The burger was just OK, and the fries were somehow chewy? Almost like they'd been made from very old potatoes. I liked the curry ketchup though - there wasn't enough for the amount of fries they give you. Also it looked like my table hadn't been cleaned/wiped in quite some time.

AP discount here of 20% so the burger, fries and a soft drink came to $15.58.

11 minutes ago, Beckers said:

It's even steeper when your kids pretty much don't eat any of it lol. 

Seriously! One of the kids at the table beside me turned up his nose at the food and was brought a PB&J instead. That's an expensive sandwich!

I had a few little missions to do at Epcot tonight and everyone knows that a woman on a mission needs sustenance. After debating my options with my sister via text message, we settled on the Garden Grill. I pulled in the parking lot at about 5:30 and was able to make an ADR for 7:20.

I checked in almost half an hour early at 6:50 and they seated me a bit before 7. I think I'd been to the Garden Grill once before when I was a kid, but that would have been a VERY long time ago. The place seemed really loud to me. But maybe I'm just old.

Anyway, this is an all you care to eat, family style place. They started me off with salad and rolls.

I didn't want to fill up too much on this stuff, so I didn't eat a roll until much later, and I only picked at the salad (ate the radishes, cucumbers, bacon, and a bit of lettuce). I'm not quite sure what kind of salad dressing that was supposed to be - no particular flavor stood out to me.

Then they bring out the main event - a skillet with turkey & gravy, pot roast, sausage, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, and what I assume was cranberry sauce though I didn't eat any of it.

I stashed the sausage in a Ziploc bag for tomorrow's lunch, but I ate almost all of everything else shown here. The meat was tender and flavorful and not dry. The beans were cooked well. The mashed potatoes weren't as good as the ones I had at Rose & Crown but they were still passable.

They also bring some sweet potato fries with cinnamon sugar and some mac & cheese with goldfish crackers on top.

I couldn't finish all of this but I sure tried.

For dessert they were bringing out some kind of mixed berry cake (cobbler?) thing - I'm not entirely sure what it was. I asked my server if he had something that was a) smaller and b ) preferably chocolate. He came out with this piece of cake which I'm sure is standard issue WDW chocolate cake but it was exactly what I had in mind. (It looks bigger in the picture than it really was.) He even offered to bring me a second one in case this one wasn't enough.

20% AP discount here so it came to $38.34 including tax (but not including tip). Soft drinks are also included.

Almost forgot to mention that this is a character meal. Pluto, Mickey, Chip & Dale all made the rounds. (And maybe Minnie? I forget.) I was pretty focused on eating so mostly just waved at them and they moved along to other tables with families instead of solo diners with a Ziploc bag of sausage.

26 minutes ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

Good to know they're still good.  I didn't realize they'd brought them back and will have to remember that for next time.

We actually tried making plain pretzels a couple of weeks ago. They were pretty easy and delicious.  And now DH wants to find a way to stuff them with cream cheese.  LOL

I saw a YouTube video where someone made cream cheese stuffed pretzels. I admire their ambition but it looked like way more work than I'd ever do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ci05hRcSpk

10 minutes ago, DaveInTN said:

If I remember right, it's a sweetened cream cheese, right?  

Yes! And they're served warm. <drool>

1 minute ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

Was the pretzel as good as before?  I remember having these for breakfast when we did the 24 hour MK event and they were delicious.

I really like these - in fact I've never ordered a Mickey pretzel before. This one tasted just the same as all the previous ones I've had at the Lunching Pad.

And interestingly there's a frozen yogurt place right near where my sister lives that seems to sell the identical ones. I'll have to make a note of how much they charge for them by way of comparison.

I went to AK for just the last two hours before it closed tonight - there were only two things I wanted to do there tonight, and going to the Nomad Lounge was one of them.

The Nomad Lounge is adjacent to Tiffins, and neither of them were busy tonight. It was a lovely night to sit outside so that's what I did. I perused the menu, and although my server offered me the option to have any of the appetizers off the Tiffins menu, I opted to get two things from the Nomad menu.

I started with the Snow Leopard Salvation.

i expected this to be a bit more mint-y like a mojito, but the predominant flavor was the ginger beer. I still liked it and it was pretty big, which I guess is a good thing considering it's $12.

For food I went with the vegetable cold rolls. If you've had Thai/Vietnamese cold rolls, that's what these are. They really hit the spot. The dipping sauce had some real kick to it.

I also had the fish tacos. Most of the ones I've had before are made with fish that's battered and deep fried, but this fish was not. These were very tasty too.

So although expensive (cuz Disney), this was a nice dinner. No AP discount here (you can get that at Tiffins) but they do take TIW if you have it.

They have a dish called "Tastes like Chicken - Because it is!" which is a good entry point if you're not sure about the more adventurous offerings.

A table near me was getting the kids mac & cheese delivered and it looked pretty tempting too. (I like getting kids meals!)

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/magic-kingdom/jungle-navigation-skipper-canteen/menus/

Got into Spice Road Table without much wait and without an ADR yesterday at around 7 pm. I wish I had someone with me so I could have ordered a few more things to share. In the end I just got the lamb sausages. They had some nice spice to them and they hit the spot. They were served with a little tomato salad which was a nice contrast to the meat.

I can't find my receipt for this right now but I'm pretty sure they offered an AP discount here.

I spent some time at Epcot yesterday during the Festival of the Arts. This sure felt quite a bit like food & wine (which I confess I've done only once before) so I agree with others who think the booths will be a semi-permanent fixture. I didn't get to many of the booths, but I did try these two things and both were very tasty and flavorful.

Since the warm brioche at L'Artisan des Glaces didn't float my boat, this time I tried the macaron - "chocolate or seasonal macaron ice cream sandwich". I opted for seasonal which was strawberry and cream (vanilla).

This was quite good. They are pre-made. You may find the macaron part quite sweet but I definitely liked this better than the brioche. $5.

Today was my first time going to Skipper Canteen - I went for lunch.

Since you can now get alcohol here, I figured I'd have a beer. I liked the notion of the souvenir mug (you can buy it separately from the drinks that are featured with it)... until she brought me one and I saw it was a thin metal that wouldn't be suitable at all for hot drinks. I ended up not getting it.

They start you off with "Ethopian celebration bread" with honey. The honey was nice but the bread didn't seem very fresh. I didn't eat much of it unfortunately.

Instead of getting an entree I thought I'd get two appetizers. It seemed like a good idea in theory but it turned out to be too much food and I ended up carrying my leftover noodles for the rest of the day.

I ordered the S.E.A. Shu Mai and they were really tasty.

I also got the Shiriki noodle salad - "rice noodles, edamame beans, mushrooms, green mango, and cucumber tossed with a sweet chili sauce". There was a little bit of spice to this. I would have been happy to have more veggies in this - it felt like it was mostly noodles.

As someone here suggested (I think?) the books on the shelves are well worth checking out. These ones in particular had me laughing.

20% AP discount here on food, but it was still a $31 dollar lunch including tax and tip. (Beer, noodles, dumplings.)

My server was a lot of fun. If you like the corny jokes at the Jungle Cruise, you'll like the corny jokes here.

I went to the Lunching Pad today for the first time since the cream cheese pretzels were removed and then came back. Ordered my usual frozen Coke and this time it came with a Mickey straw. I don't remember how much a frozen Coke was the last time I got one, but let's assume that since you now get a Mickey straw that the price went up.

Pretzel was $4.79 and frozen Coke was $4.69.

Did I hear someone say they wanted more afternoon tea pictures? No? Oh well - too bad! Here they are.

I went for afternoon tea today. If you scroll up you'll see the last time I was there was December 2015 - so over a year ago now (wow - time flies) - and there has been yet another change to the menu since my last visit.

You may recall they previously had the "shire" menu choices — Yorkshire, Berkshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, and Bedfordshire. The -shires are gone now, there's just one base tea service to which you can choose to add accompaniments. Here's the new menu, which is pretty much what you had before in the Bedfordshire tea. And you'll be shocked to hear that the price went up too. The Bedfordshire was $30 (Jan 2015) and the new menu is now $35. 

Here's the new menu:

And here's your choice of accompaniments where you can add champagne, caviar (for a mere $95), or more fruit & cheese.

The sandwich plate remains pretty much the same — sandwiches of curry chicken, egg salad, cucumber, and beet, now just two smaller pieces of cheese instead of three big chunks, fruit assortment, and fortunately still the tasty onion tart. One piece of cheese is hiding in this photo, you can sort of see a bit of orange by the curry chicken sandwich. I stashed it in a ziploc bag for later but ate the sage cheese, which seemed more flavorful to me than previous visits, even though I'm sure it's exactly the same stuff.

Nothing much has changed for the scone and tart. They still brought apricot jam so I had to ask for strawberry (which they were able to provide) and as you can see in the picture the cream was much runnier/softer this time than in my previous visits.

The trifle today was bananas foster, so I opted for the pastries. What was new this time was no more tiny eclair (which was only just OK anyway) and instead I got two macarons, one vanilla and one pistachio. These were quite good. The mousse swan today was lemon poppyseed and I really enjoyed it. Chocolate covered strawberry was the same as always.

I didn't take a picture but the teapot and tea cozy remain the same, but the tea strainers are gone. I think the teas themselves have changed but I've never paid close enough attention to be sure. Regardless, there's no loose tea in the pot when they bring it to you. I suspect it's bagged tea now that they remove before it's brought to your table.

There's no AP discount for the afternoon tea and with the price increase + tax & tip this works out to a pretty pricey indulgence at just under $44 (especially by the time you convert it to Canadian dollars!). But I'm stuffed and won't need dinner, and my Mom and I will still undoubtedly go again when we've got a trip scheduled in March.

I did a walk up at the Rose & Crown tonight and they were able to get me a table in about half an hour. I'd checked out the menu online before I went so already knew what I wanted... the kids bangers and mash!

It's a little hard to tell but the mash was in the shape of a hidden/deliberate Mickey. It's supposed to come with a drink and dessert but I passed on those (I'd already had a croissant donut a few hours earlier) so the rum & coke cost more than the dinner. With AP discount I was only charged $5.80 for the food (+ tax) and it was just the right amount for me. The rum & coke was $9! 

I popped into Capt. Cook's for a quick dinner last night. This is the "Seared Chicken Breast served with Pineapple Sambal, Red Quinoa, and Edamame Salad".

The chicken was a little tough - I wondered if it might have been cooked quite some time ago and sat under a heat lamp for a while. The pineapple stuff on top was good. And the quinoa and edamame salad was a little bland but it was plentiful. You can't tell from the photo but it's served to you in a big box which was kind of a pain to eat out of when you're trying to cut the chicken with a knife and fork.

I got the 20% AP discount so including tax it was $7.66 which I thought wasn't a bad deal.