Why is the rum always gone? We might be responsible! UPDATE 7/13: My photos are back and other stuff

[kastoney]

Looks like a great 2 days. Total score on the wishes California Grill reservation. I must get their charcuterie next time. Venison and sweet breads and truffles all in one dish sounds too good to be true. Agree it is pricey, but such a good and fun splurge.

Speaking of splurging, how did I never think of doing the lapu lapu poolside!!!!!!! #Perfect. And love the pineapple photo shoot. I never realized it was so photogenic ; )

Looks like a great MNSSHP too. So glad you loved the pretzel too. It's one of our favs and I'm so happy its back. Missed that little buggar.

 

[mustinjourney]

October 22, 2016-Part Two





I love giraffes! And zebras! I have no idea what those other guys are. When I saved the picture I titled it “savanna cows.” I am pretty much 100% sure that that is incorrect. Anyway, they were cool to look at.

Not sure if anyone else commented yet -- but these cows are called Ankole Longhorns (or ankole-watusi).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankole-Watusi

 

[Denamac]

I love your skirts/skorts! Do you mind telling me what brand they are? Loving all your reviews!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Where did you find that? I thought all delicious stuffed pretzels were a thing of the past! (I am pretty sure the jalapeño stuffed pretzel is long gone.) These are my favorite snack that can take the place of a meal. (Because although my kids are happy with a granola bar for breakfast, I am not.) Your short Poly stay looks great! I have yet to try that glorious Lapu Lapu. The backscratcher on the other hand.... Yum.

It was at the Lunching Pad in Tomorrowland! I was super excited to see that it was back, since I'd missed it on our first trip in 2014 and then it was gone when we went last year.

I definitely give the Lapu Lapu a , maybe more for the novelty than anything else. I'll have to put the backscratcher on my short list of things to try!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

I love your skirts/skorts! Do you mind telling me what brand they are? Loving all your reviews!

Oh thanks! They are all Athleta skorts. They are my absolute favorite thing to wear in the parks (along with my Yellow Box flip flops!) since they are short enough to keep cool but you don't have to worry about flashing anyone getting on/off rides

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Um, I think you are my spirit animal. I love this and I mean, really, is there anything more majestic than booze served in fresh fruit carcass? I highly doubt it. Carry on.

Fresh fruit carcass! This whole comment literally made me LOL

I am jealous of your upcoming trips. Where are you staying for New Years? Have fun at the Poly in March!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Well for some reason I tripped over a beach chair I'm sure it was just because the chair was in a stupid place where no chair should be, no other reason I would trip after 1.5 of those babies, right?

LOL! This is soooo totally something I would do.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Speaking of splurging, how did I never think of doing the lapu lapu poolside!!!!!!! #Perfect. And love the pineapple photo shoot. I never realized it was so photogenic ; )

I think I really captured its boozy beauty, don't you?

Looks like a great MNSSHP too. So glad you loved the pretzel too. It's one of our favs and I'm so happy its back. Missed that little buggar.

I was so super excited about that pretzel! I pretty much inhaled it and didn't even consider sharing it with anyone. Mine! I hope it's still there next year.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

October 24, 2016-Part One

This was our departure day from WDW. Booooo! We had fun plans for the day, though, and were checking into Universal that night, so we really couldn’t complain.

We had a 9:00 a.m. ADR at Kona Café.



I love the lobby at the Poly!



Nobody was particularly in the mood to get up and get moving after our late night at MNSSHP the night before. This wasn’t helped by what turned out to be very slow service and pretty underwhelming food at Kona. I know, I know, everyone loves breakfast here! Except me, apparently

Now granted, I wasn’t interested in their specialties—I’m not big on pineapple as a topping (though we’ve established that I do like it in drink form), or nuts in my pancakes, and the Tonga Toast (while I’m sure delicious) just is not the kind of thing I can stomach first thing in the morning. So that having been said this may not be the fairest assessment of Kona Café, but it was convenient and I’d read so many positive reviews and wanted to give it a try.

Our server was nice but, as I already mentioned, she was very slow. I know this is a common complaint about Kona. Why can’t they get some servers who can shake a leg? I don’t remember what we had for drinks…juice and waters I think. I know DH had a Diet Coke because he was in need of some caffeine.

The boys all got the kids’ order of pancakes with bacon…regular for Dylan:



…and blueberry for Sean, which you can only just barely see in the background (whoops). Nathan got chocolate chip:



These were all fine. Hard to go wrong with pancakes. Devon had the Samoan, Poached Eggs with Hollandaise served over Smoked Pulled Pork Hash:



When I asked him what he thought about this meal he said "long wait for food, but I really liked what I had." He probably enjoyed his breakfast the most out of the five of us. I got the Egg White Omelet with Roasted Red Peppers and Goat Cheese:



This was good as well. Nothing exciting, but I wanted a light breakfast and this fit the bill. The fruit that it came with was also very good and fresh. Though I do have to mention that when I was ordering I asked our server if the omelet came with potatoes (the menu didn’t specify any sides) and she said yes. I didn’t complain about the fruit when it arrived because, honestly, I was better off having fruit instead of potatoes anyway, but I found it odd that I’d specifically asked about the side and been told the wrong thing.

Anyway, if I had to pick a word to describe Kona Café it would be “fine.” The food was acceptable, the service left something to be desired. It’s possible that we’d eat there again if we were staying at the Poly as it’s a convenient option, but we certainly wouldn’t go out of our way to visit again. At any rate, Kona Café succeeded in meeting its intended purpose, which was putting some food in our stomachs so we could head out for the day!

 

[Mainemama]

It was at the Lunching Pad in Tomorrowland! I was super excited to see that it was back, since I'd missed it on our first trip in 2014 and then it was gone when we went last year.

Thank you so much for this detail! This is what I like to do while waiting out rider swap on Space Mountain... eat a cream cheese pretzel! Who-ho! Now, if only the jalapeno pretzel would return. That is my favorite attraction, I mean snack, at AK.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Oh, I loooove the jalapeno pretzel as well. Actually, if I'm being honest, I probably prefer it to the cream cheese one! But they are both delicious.

 

[pepperandchips]

Fresh fruit carcass! This whole comment literally made me LOL

I am jealous of your upcoming trips. Where are you staying for New Years? Have fun at the Poly in March!

So glad to be able to return some of the humor! Loving your report. We are doing a cray cray split stay over New Year's that started out as a way to enjoy the platinum plan on its literal last hoorah as it won't be offered in 2017 and I wanted to take a lot of tours. So (deep breath) we are doing Royal Pacific Resort at Universal for one night, checking in to Wilderness Lodge Villas for a night (oh excuse me, Boulder Ridge or whatever it is now), 3 nights at the Wilderness Lodge proper, followed by one night at Animal Kingdom Jambo villas. The villa stays are courtesy of my DVC points and I also had a friend who was willing to transfer me some of her DVC points this year so that is also providing our Poly villas stay. I could never afford my Deluxe habit otherwise! (Well okay when I was stacking Disney discounts with Orbitz discounts I was doing pretty good but it looks like maybe you can't do that anymore )

I know, I know, everyone loves breakfast here! Except me, apparently

Now granted, I wasn’t interested in their specialties—I’m not big on pineapple as a topping (though we’ve established that I do like it in drink form), or nuts in my pancakes, and the Tonga Toast (while I’m sure delicious) just is not the kind of thing I can stomach first thing in the morning.

I am a Kona lover but I am with you on not liking sweets first thing in the morning. We usually plan to get the last possible seating for Kona breakfast and we do a few hours in Magic Kingdom before we monorail it to a Kona brunch. Maybe that's why I like it more? Maybe the servers are less sluggish after waking up? Haha

Nathan got chocolate chip:

Oh that's pathetic. Please tell me there were some chocolate chips INSIDE the pancake as well?!

I was better off having fruit instead of potatoes anyway

I am shocked by that delicious looking serving of berries. All I ever get at WDW is underripe cantaloupe and honeydew! Even at my local grocery store that serving of berries in the grab and go would easily be a few bucks so I think you lucked out with the lack of potatoes. Plus if you are going to have potatoes you might as well do it in the Samoan! That's my favorite but I can usually con someone into sharing a Tonga Toast and a Samoan (my perfect breakfast after a morning of Magic Kingdom!)

Please tell me you are going to include the Universal write up!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

So glad to be able to return some of the humor! Loving your report. We are doing a cray cray split stay over New Year's that started out as a way to enjoy the platinum plan on its literal last hoorah as it won't be offered in 2017 and I wanted to take a lot of tours. So (deep breath) we are doing Royal Pacific Resort at Universal for one night, checking in to Wilderness Lodge Villas for a night (oh excuse me, Boulder Ridge or whatever it is now), 3 nights at the Wilderness Lodge proper, followed by one night at Animal Kingdom Jambo villas. The villa stays are courtesy of my DVC points and I also had a friend who was willing to transfer me some of her DVC points this year so that is also providing our Poly villas stay. I could never afford my Deluxe habit otherwise! (Well okay when I was stacking Disney discounts with Orbitz discounts I was doing pretty good but it looks like maybe you can't do that anymore )


I am a Kona lover but I am with you on not liking sweets first thing in the morning. We usually plan to get the last possible seating for Kona breakfast and we do a few hours in Magic Kingdom before we monorail it to a Kona brunch. Maybe that's why I like it more? Maybe the servers are less sluggish after waking up? Haha


Oh that's pathetic. Please tell me there were some chocolate chips INSIDE the pancake as well?!


I am shocked by that delicious looking serving of berries. All I ever get at WDW is underripe cantaloupe and honeydew! Even at my local grocery store that serving of berries in the grab and go would easily be a few bucks so I think you lucked out with the lack of potatoes. Plus if you are going to have potatoes you might as well do it in the Samoan! That's my favorite but I can usually con someone into sharing a Tonga Toast and a Samoan (my perfect breakfast after a morning of Magic Kingdom!)

Please tell me you are going to include the Universal write up!

Oh how fun to stay at all those awesome places in one trip! And yeah, those chocolate chip pancakes do look kind of sad. I am almost positive there were chips inside as well...I'll have to see if Nathan remembers (I doubt it).

I will do a Universal post but it is going to be kind of a hodge podge since I did not take photos of most of our meals--I promised my family that if they let me document all our Disney food that I'd leave them (mostly) alone at Universal. I do have pics of some fun drinks (shocker) and snacks, and the last dinner of our trip though

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

October 24, 2016-Part Two

We spent the day at Typhoon Lagoon, which was a first for us. It was really fun! The crowds weren’t bad and it was nice to have what felt like a mellow day after all the time we spent in the parks. I don’t have any pictures from Typhoon Lagoon since my phone and the camera spent the day in a locker, but the only things we got to eat were Mickey ice cream bars and ice cream sandwiches, and I know you all know what those look like



After we changed into dry clothes we headed to Disney Springs for some dinner. My original plan had been for us to check into our hotel at Universal and have dinner at City Walk, but I really wanted to try Wolfgang Puck Express after all the awesome reviews it gets around here, so we changed up our plans at the last minute. It was another gorgeous day and Disney Springs was looking great again:



Our first stop was Goofy’s Candy Company. While the boys finished up making their treats I grabbed an Angry Orchard Cider and enjoyed the sunshine and the view:



Then it was time for dinner!

Devon and I each got a glass of sauvignon blanc and let me tell you, they know how to pour a glass of wine at WPE:



Sean had…drumroll…a cheese pizza!



In an equally shocking turn of events, Dylan had a pepperoni pizza:



Nathan actually surprised me and got the Spaghetti & Chicken Meatballs with Torn Basil and Parmesan. He loved this! And I got to have all the fresh cherry tomatoes off of it, which were super sweet and delicious:



DH got the Half Rotisserie Chicken with Garlic Butter, Rosemary and Mashed Potatoes:



He loved his meal as well. After an entire day at the water park and skipping lunch we were starving so he and I also split the Caesar Salad:



This was a pretty standard Caesar Salad (except for the addition of the red onion, which I would actually have them leave off next time) but it was nice to have something fresh for a change!

And last but not least, I had the Four Cheese Pizza with Pesto, Roma Tomatoes and Sun-dried Tomatoes:



This was just as delicious as it looks, and as everyone else who’s reviewed it has said. YUM.

WPE was a huge success for us. We were really in the mood for a nice relaxed, casual meal so this was perfect. We had a nice table outside, the service was fast and friendly, and everyone enjoyed their meal. And boy is the price right! Looking back, this was one of our favorite meals of the trip. We’ll be back again for sure.

While we were finishing up dinner the boys dug into their treats from Goofy’s Candy Company:







Sean and Nathan both got marshmallows with sprinkles and white chocolate drizzle (and crushed Oreos on Sean's), and Dylan got a Mickey rice krispie treat with crushed Oreos and white chocolate drizzle.

We hit the Lego store and World of Disney...



…and then it was time to bid a fond farewell to WDW for this trip. We were off to Universal for the next three days!

 

[ariane37]

We've eaten at WPE a few times but I've never gotten pizza there. I read so many great reviews of their pizza, I really need to try it! Yours sounds really good
Also never been to either Disney water park, we have a pretty big water park 5 minutes from us and I'm not a big water park person so I've put it off lol. My youngest would like to go and my oldest isn't too interested, but maybe we'll make it there one day!

 

[kastoney]

Looks like a great meal at WPE. Of course put me outside with a glass of wine and I'll eat just about anything ; )

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

We've eaten at WPE a few times but I've never gotten pizza there. I read so many great reviews of their pizza, I really need to try it! Yours sounds really good
Also never been to either Disney water park, we have a pretty big water park 5 minutes from us and I'm not a big water park person so I've put it off lol. My youngest would like to go and my oldest isn't too interested, but maybe we'll make it there one day!

Yes. You must go there. Eat the pizza. LOL

We live in Madison, WI and have the Wisconsin Dells near us but those water parks are all indoors half the year and I just can't force myself to go (feels like being a fish in a tank full of chlorine). I did take Nathan and his two BFFs to the outdoor one (Noah's Ark) last summer and that was fun, but it's not something we do on a regular basis. It was so cheap to add the water park/etc. option to our hoppers that we figured what the hell, especially knowing that we had a transition day checking out of the Poly in the morning and checking into Universal that afternoon/evening. Between that and the mini golf it more than paid for itself! BTW, there is plenty at Typhoon Lagoon for your oldest. If anything, we thought the slides were more geared toward older kids (Nathan at 14 and Dylan at 12 loved it...as did Devon at 42, LOL).

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Looks like a great meal at WPE. Of course put me outside with a glass of wine and I'll eat just about anything ; )

Right? I was like cider? Check. Giant glass of wine? Check. Gorgeous evening? Pizza? Double check.

 

[lizzyshakuntala]

Your pizza looks so good!! It's kind of a family 'tradition' to eat at WPE as our last WDW meal every time we go. The first 2 times this happened were completely by accident, but then we just kept on the 'tradition' as we love that place! Since our last WDW trip in Oct 2015 we have moved to Indonesia, so I'm pretty far away from a WPE outlet.... or so I thought! Waddya know-- during our trip to Tokyo this past October we stumbled upon a WPE totally by luck (I didn't know that they have WPE outside the US) That definitely made up for the year lack of WPE food lol

 

[samsteele]

The pizza at WPE is very tasty and a huge serving. I remember taking extras back to my room for breakfast nibblies. The entire menu is great & I always try to fit in a visit to WPE. Glad you had a great meal!