Yet again, We disappeared during September for a trip to Walt Disney World.  No work, 90-95 degrees, sun, and very little rain.  Reagan parents even came down for most of our trip as well.
Why do we keep going to the same place?  Let’s see:  It’s fun, it’s a total escape from reality, the engineering is amazing – even the tiny details, and it is it’s own separate magic world.  How should we detail this years trip…..  How about the food?

This was the 3rd year we got in on the ‘Free Dining Plan’ from Disney.  This is a promotion they run now and then to fill in rooms during the lower season.  They have tweaked it now and then, but the main two options are:  Stay at a value resort, get the quick service meal plan.  Stay at a moderate or deluxe resort, get the full dining plan.  If you want to enjoy, go for a moderate or better.
You can find food in one of 4 ways at WDW:  Snack carts, counter service, table serve, and signature dining.  Those signature spots are $$$$ and count as two meals.  The way the plans work is for each day you are there, each person gets 1 snack, 1 counter service, and 1 table service – FREE.  (value plan gets 2 counter services – no tables)  Take it from us, sitting down and being waited on changes your day around.  Counter services lend to that get something, find a table and get out rush.  Sit back and enjoy and your feet and attitude will be happy.
The only downfall to the dining plan, is that you have to plan it out.  Since everyone there is doing this, the table service restaurants fill up.  6 months out from our trip, I went online and saw which park was open later (to resort guests), when the special fireworks or parades were and laid out a basic schedule…aka we want to be at this park on this day to see [event].
From there, we picked restaurants and made reservations right at the times we picked.  1:00 for lunch, between 6-7:30 for dinner is great.
So now you know how this works, let’s start the foodie review.  It will go without further mention that the service is always great.

Magic Kingdom:

Tony’s Town Square (table).  Great Italian, good deserts with chocolate characters on the plates.

Main Street Bakery (snack).  The warm cinnamon rolls are worth not getting breakfast at the hotel.  We usually come straight here in the morning.

Crystal Palace (table) – standard buffet, nothing to fancy.  Pooh characters are here, so expects lots of little kids.

Dole whips (Snack)- You must get these.  Bonus points for getting it as a float.

Colombia Harbour House. (counter) Probably standard fare, but something about the fish and chips and fried shrimp always makes me come back

Liberty Tree Tavern (table)  The menu looked great and I really wanted to try the pot roast.  But, it was near the end of the week, it was hot and sweaty, and wasn’t ready for a big meal.  I broke down and got the only cheeseburger of the trip.  It was huge, had all the fixin’s, and was yummy.  It hit the spot.

 

EPCOT:

Fountain View Ice Cream (s) good smoothies, shakes, and they scoop ice cream into a pair of huge cookies.

Coral Reef (t)- OK, eating in a place where one wall is an aquarium is neat.  Also interesting that they served a lot of seafood.  I’m going to say that the food was good, but didn’t knock my socks off.

Sunshine Seasons (c) Good array of food, always found good treats here.

Mexico – San Angel Inn. (t) Wow.  A book we read had bad reviews, but we all found the food to be top notch and tasty.  I’m planning on returning.  PS: Good margaritas.

China – Nine Dragons (t)  Pick a handful of your favorite Chinese places, and this one would fit right in.

Germany – (s) Really, who can’t walk by and get a pretzel and a lager?

Japan – Teppan Edo (t)- Awesome Japanese Steakhouse, you know the kind where you sit around the grill and the chef makes everything there, juggles, makes bad jokes, etc.  Very good

Japan – Tokyo Dinning (t) How can you go wrong with tempura?

France – Chefs de France (t)  Another WOW.  Great food.  Very tasty.  Remy also makes an appearance.

 

Hollywood Studios

I’ve never found the quick service places here too good.  Very average grab and go stuff.

Sci-Fi Dine-in (t) Great theme.  Malts, burgers.  A great step up from counter service

50′s Prime Time cafe (t) Good old fashioned food, and lots of fun.  Meatloaf, fried chicken, pot roast.  All very good and lots of fun.

Mama Melrose’s (t)   Another great Italian place, much like Tony’s.

Hollywood Brown Derby (Signature)- Jan and Steve report some of the best food of their week

 

Animal Kingdom:

Tusker House (t) – Big buffet.  Lots of standards, but quite a few African inspired dishes.  I kept seeing kids get mac and cheese and pb&j, and not trying anything.  Nothing to special.  Would rather go to:

Yak & Yeti (t) Great food.  I get the steak and shrimp each time.  The straws here are paper and can get soggy over time.

DownTown Disney – Earl of Sandwich. (c) WOW.  best 6″ subs ever.  We went back a second night!

 

Resort food:

At the food courts:  Mickey waffles rule. Each resort has a unique section and the rest is standard.  Also watch for the roast beef and blue cheese sandwich – yum.

Caribbean Beach – Shutters (t)  Really good food, kicked way up compared to the food court.

Port Orleans Riverside – Boatwrights (t)  Excellent food, definitely top notch prime rib, salmons, etc.

Contemporary – California Grill – (Signature)  This was our first signature meal – ever.  We even had to think ahead for packing as this restaurant had a dress code.   We spent the day at the Magic Kingdom and had placed a bag full of clean clothes and deodorant at the lockers up front.   The check in desk is on the 2nd floor, and you get on a private elevator up to the 15th floor.  This restaurant is that smaller section on the top center of the Contemporary Resort.  They view over the Seven Seas lagoon was breathtaking and a great place for a lounge.  We got seated in the corner of the VIP room which was 1/2 wine cellar and 1/2 windows over Bay Lake towards Fort Wilderness, and what used to be Discovery Island and River Country.  EPCOT could be seen in the distance.

The meal started with a great cheese sampler tray.  Mason had a terrific salmon and I had a filet that truly did melt in your mouth.  Reagan had a huge sushi sampler from one of the few female sushi chefs in America who had also won many awards.  Desert was also to die for!  The wait staff here was impeccable and had tons of knowledge.

Now for the bonus that we did not know about.  They have viewing areas that dinner guests can use for the night.  We decided to check it out after dinner.  By viewing areas, they meant balconies.  More specifically, there were a pair of 10′ wide catwalks that ran along the top of the pylons that gave the hotel it’s shape.  You could walk along the roof line of the hotel, all the way to the end that overlooked Space Mountain.  The Wishes firework show started in 90 minutes. Reagan went shopping downstairs and Mason and I returned to the Magic Kingdom to get in a round of Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear and caught most of the Electrical Parade then picked up Reagan.  You have to check in again to gain access to the elevator.  No free rides up here!  We had a great view of the entire Magic Kingdom with the fireworks in front of us.  I’m planning on returning here again.

Vacation wrap-up:  The Disney Magic ends when you hit the curb at the airport.  We had a huge flight snafu which caused an extra day to get home (it helps to have an airplane at the airport the flight is leaving).  So, our airline vouchers must be used in the next year.  They covered almost 3/4 of the price we paid for those tickets.  Sounds like we are going again, and next year they will have direct flights!

 

 

 

 

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There has not been too much work done here this summer.  Too many instances of ‘life’ happening.  Highlights so far include.  Better growing season, Strawberries growing strong, got a newer tractor that works with the older implements, strengthened up the shed, framed for windows, and got the back half of it’s roof re-decked.  The shingles come next week.
The crib did get new windows on the South side, and we’ve gone down a few times to work out the trim.  The upstairs has been getting cleaned out, and parts of the center bin are getting removed.  I think once we get some time to work on once specific thing, a lot of changes will be seen.
Not too worried about progress.  It seemed that last year the “winter’s coming panic” got a lot of work done.  Hoping to do that again this year.

Vacation did happen again here.  Trip 3# in a row to Walt Disney World.  We’ll get some reviews and pics uploaded soon.

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