Yes - we have your bananas! 10 days **Complete** plus my "Ultimate Meal Day"

[Harambe]

DAY 7

We had a glitch in our planning today, but since we cancelled some of our ADRs, it was easy to flip flop Days 7 & 8. DS is an actor and is in a play that goes up in February. He brought his script to work on on the plane and in the evenings when we got home, but he received an email with a ton of changes added. So he said he would have to stay at the villa and work on that for awhile. I switched up some FP+s and luckily things worked out. I managed to free up this evening and tomorrow morning, something me and my aching back could use as well, then put the rest of us at Epcot WS tomorrow night, since that isn't something DS really likes to do.

But on this day, we went to Hollywood Studios. Second breakfast was at Starring Rolls, and again, I am thankful for Starbucks coming in over at the Trolley Car Cafe, if only to keep the line down over at Starring Rolls! I knew immediately that I wanted a Butterfinger Cupcake. I went in to make sure they had them, told DH to get me one with a coffee, then went out to scope out a table. The coffee was very tasty here! DH and DS got the Cinnamon Bun, which was PF but they ar now spoiled by the massive Cinnamon Roll from Gaston's! DD ordered a Cheese Danish and orange juice. I hate that they charge $4.29 for an orange juice and regret that I didn't just order that from Garden Grocer, to give her her OJ fix. Yep, could have turned in some of those bananas for a gallon of OJ!! Anyway, I couldn't wait to share my cupcake with all of them - since you really can't eat a whole one by yourself, with all that frosting! Of course, when I try to cut through it . . . FROZEN again. Gosh. I had to more or less stab down through it, and it broke apart. We all shared it, though, and it was still delicious. An additional note - I saw people ordering the turkey sandwich at this time (around 10am), so if you needed a really early lunch, you could do that at Starring Rolls.

We had an ADR for lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre. We all love it here, more for the setting and the tradition, so this is one ADR that we would never cancel. We each like it for different reasons. DD likes the food, DS loves the just plain fun he has here, and DH thinks eating in the cars is cool. Me, I love the relaxing environment. Yes - relaxing!!! First, we always do lunch, and it is wonderful to walk into the calming darkness and get out of the midday sun. Second, the cars are set up in a way that hampers a lot of conversation. And third, the movies clips are playing and most folks are content to eat and watch them, even the kiddos! Now, if there was a way to turn off the drive-in speaker that hangs on the car, I would be a happy woman. For food, DD ordered her usual - Spinach & Artichoke dip, a Rueben, and an Oreo Cookie milkshake.

 

[Harambe]

CONTINUE

I shared the dip with her and it was tasty, with a pretty good kick at the end of it. Not too spicy though. She loves that Rueben, and also likes "drinking" dessert with her meal. DS and DH shared the appetizer sampler. They enjoyed the wings and all, but I was sad to see Sci-Fi has gone with the pickle spears for the fried pickles. Fried pickles should be chips, no? DH said the horseradish dipping sauce was full of flavor. DS got the pulled pork burger with fries. He inhaled it, along with an Oreo Milk Shake. DH ordered the rib dinner. He said the BBQ was great, and really likes the cole slaw here. He had a chocolate milk shake with his meal. I ordered tea, and a Salmon BLT. I asked for the salmon to be well done, which is a sin for chefs but that's the way I like it. It came out perfectly! The sandwich was delicious. Both DH and I ordered the Sweet Potato fries with our meal. These were crispy and salted just right! This meal is also a good value, I think. Our "speeding ticket" was about $120 for four of us, which included all those shakes, two apps, and four entrees.

On our way out of HS, I stopped at Sweet Spells for my dessert! This is inside the Beverly Sunset store. Of course, we picked up two Carrot Cake Cookies for the room (DD likes carrot cake and cream cheese frosting), another big Mickey head sugar cookie, and a "mammoth pecan pattie". I also saw the line-up of whoopie pies that they sell here, but I really couldn't call them whoopie pies because they have a whole layer of frosting on the top! The beauty of a whoopie pie is that you can hold it in your hand to eat it - like the Carrot Cake Cookie, which is basically a big whoopie pie. The line-up did include a whoopie pie that had bacon all over it - not sure how I feel about that . . . We shared all of the treats eventually, with DD saying the pecan dessert was better than the Carrot Cake Cookie, which is saying a lot. But that sugar cookie is starting to be the best thing I ate during our trip!

We arrived back at our room in late afternoon. DS started to work and the rest of us took a nap or rested. Later on in the evening, DH went over to Goods to Go and picked up 2 PF cheeseburgers for himself and DS, and 2 Jerk Chicken and Rice bowls for DD and me. She liked it, but I was not a fan. The meat had a very vinegar-y taste that bordered on sour. This might have been one of those rare occasions were I was just sick of eating!!

 

[Harambe]

Day 8

We slept in, since we had cancelled our Olivia's breakfast ADR previously. We headed to AK to see Festival of the Lion King. Glad I got this FP+ only because the line for the show without a FP+ was huge. The theatre is large, so everyone got in, but sometimes standing in that big of a line freaks me out! LOVE this show!! Totally choke up every time they sing the Circle of Life. After the show we went to Yak and Yeti Local Cafe for lunch. This meal was a big hit! DS ordered the Kobe cheeseburger and fries, and at $15, probably the most expensive CS burger we ordered all trip, but he said it was delicious, and NOT the same burgers you get all around the parks. This burger seems to be the same one on the Yak and Yeti restaurant menu, without the mushrooms and scallion compote. That burger is about $20, and DS would have scrapped off those mushrooms, so I think we made the right choice picking the CS! Both DH and DD ordered the Teriyaki Beef Bowl. This looked beautiful. They said it was filling with lots of beef and vegetables served along side of the white rice (not served on top of the rice). I ordered one egg roll and the chicken fried rice. What a perfect lunch! The egg roll was fine, just your average food court egg roll, but the chicken fried rice was so tasty! I loved that it came in a regular Chinese food container that could easily be eaten while walking through the park. And I really like the tables/setting of this place. It is busy all around you, but it still has a laid back feel to it.

In the afternoon, the kids and DH went up to Expedition Everest with a FP+, and I went to Kasafir Coffee Shop and Bakery for - I hoped! - a Paw Print Brownie. They didn't have any, so I went with the gorgeous Elephant Ear Pastry. For my coffee, I ordered an iced black coffee, but the CM told me they didn't offer ice black coffee, only French Vanilla or Mocha. I was bummed but went with the french vanilla. It was pre-made, with loads of cream and sugar and very small for about $5, but I needed a coffee at this point in the day, and also to go with my treat! So, this was totally my fault, because I didn't understand that the CM was saying that they didn't serve ICED black coffee, but of course I could have ordered a HOT black coffee. Brain fart on my part - but, again, this is why I think it is so important to familiarize yourself with all the menus at WDW before you leave home - LOL! Okay, that freakin' Elephant Ear Pastry! Fabulous! I ate half of it with the intention of sharing with the rest with the family. I enjoyed my coffee right outside the Dawa Bar, watching the Tumblers before the band came out and had a dance party. When the family came back to find me, they were eating soft serve waffle cones, so I gladly polished off the rest of that Elephant Ear myself. Another beautiful day in my beloved Animal Kingdom!

That evening, DH, DD and I went to Epcot to stroll around the World Showcase. DD was the first to find something for dinner, and ordered the Lucky Combo meal at the Joy of Tea kiosk in the China Pavillion. She had a Curry chicken pocket, two egg rolls, a drink, and a little tub of ice cream. She wished she could have had two of the chicken curry pockets, as they were way better than the egg rolls. But what a great value at $11, right?? We continued to shop along, until we hit Sommerfest in Germany. This is where I wanted to eat! I had a craving for mustard! I ordered a Bratwurst combo, which is the sausage and the paprika chips. I like that they ask if you want the sauerkraut, but who the heck says no?!? So good! DH ordered a "pretzel und beer" in honor of Stacey from Must Do Disney, but also got to have about 1/3 of my Bratwurst. Only sad part was the outside seating was full, so we had to eat on a bench right at the ordering kiosk. Would have loved to do some people watching! We poked around some more, then headed for Italy, for a coffee and something sweet at the Italian Gelato Kiosk. I made of point of coming here to try the Cannoli Cupcake. Again, the thing was frozen, but I planned on just walking around with it a bit to help thaw it out! I also ordered a Caffe Americano, which was a good cup of coffee! I ate the teeny tiny cannoli off the top of the cupcake, and it was quite good. Was it a cannoli from Mike's Pastry in Boston's North End? No, but was it made in the traditional style - yes! DH and DD ordered a gelato sandwich, which they put together for you right then - a scoop of gelato between two chocolate chip cookies. This isn't huge, but just the right size because of the rich gelato. Once my cupcake thawed a bit, I dug in. The cake was a bit dry, more like pound cake than birthday cake, with a surprise of ricotta cream at the bottom (this is served in a cup). I loved it!

 

[Harambe]

Day 9

Day before we were leaving (**sigh**) so we finished up our breakfast foods - eggs, toast, cereal & milk - leaving just enough for tomorrow. Off to Epcot to use our Test Track FP+. This day was beautiful, but the sun was strong and for me, Epcot is the hottest park due to an absence of shade. I get waaaaaaay lazy here, so we stood in line to ride the Friendship boat over to Japan instead of walking over there. DD is all about Anime and the Japanese culture in general so she wanted to finish her shopping at the Japanese Pavilion. We strolled up to France to have lunch, but the CS there was ridiculously crowded, so we kept going up to the UK. We got in line at Yorkshire County Fish Shop, while the kids went to find a table. 4 orders of fish and chips, please. Sooooo good! Crispy outside, and melt-in-your-mouth inside, the fish is so fresh tasting. Love how they serve it on the "newspaper". On the way out of World Showcase, right after Canada, the rest of the group got yet another soft serve in a waffle cone to eat while we made our way out of Epcot for our last time.

In the evening we rode the boat over to Disney Springs. There was some shopping that had to happen! We stood between Blaze and D-Luxe Burgers, checking out the menus, eventually choosing D-Luxe Burgers. The set up here is fun, with the paper towels sitting on the tables, and the condiment area offering all different dipping sauces. The shakes were the winners at this meal! The family all had the S'Mores Shake, and loved it. I went with the good old fashion Root Beer Float, and it hit the spot! Now the burgers were PF, and wicked messy! We got 2 large orders of fresh cut fries (you can see the potato skins on them), and that was way too much. The burgers are HUGE, so we only had a few fries each, and tossed the rest of the fries. DD and I got the Classic Cheeseburger, and DH and DS ordered the BBQ Classic. I assumed the BBQ burger would have pulled pork on top, as there seemed to be a lot of those around the parks, but this one just had BBQ sauce on it. DH had to take his apart because he couldn't get his mouth around it. DS - being a pro after eating that humungous Mad King Burger over at Splitsville - got one big bite in before he took out a few things, too. He didn't go for the Gouda cheese. So, all and all, a Perfectly Fine burger place, but we probably wouldn't go out of our way to return. Well, maybe for a shake or root beer float!

Back at the villa, I did some laundry and we got packed up so that we could get out of the room early in the morning.

 

[tigerlilly]

Thank you so much for all of your reviews!! I have loved reading them. We are planning on many of the Table service restaurants you went to when we go in August. We are taking our soon to be 21 year old daughter, her boyfriend, my parents and our 15 year old son (staying at BWI and Villas...and AKL for last few nights). I shared your reviews with my daughter and we have decided to kind of tone down all the table services we had planned. You seemed to hit a lot of great counter services! Loved reading the AK day and the Epcot evening!
Do you think SciFi for 7 is ok? This is where everyone really wants to eat and I understand we won't necessarily sit across from one another, and by that point in the trip we may like not speaking for an hour lol. I have read that there are "picnic" tables at the back.... are those equally as fun?

Again thank you!!

 

[Harambe]

Thank you so much for all of your reviews!! I have loved reading them. We are planning on many of the Table service restaurants you went to when we go in August. We are taking our soon to be 21 year old daughter, her boyfriend, my parents and our 15 year old son (staying at BWI and Villas...and AKL for last few nights). I shared your reviews with my daughter and we have decided to kind of tone down all the table services we had planned. You seemed to hit a lot of great counter services! Loved reading the AK day and the Epcot evening!
Do you think SciFi for 7 is ok? This is where everyone really wants to eat and I understand we won't necessarily sit across from one another, and by that point in the trip we may like not speaking for an hour lol. I have read that there are "picnic" tables at the back.... are those equally as fun?

Again thank you!!

I did see the picnic tables - they are way n the back. The cars seat 4, and maybe there are some that seat 6, but some of the cars are lined up next to each other, so maybe they put you guys like that?? Not sure, but you can only fit two people in each "car seat". This place is fun, and although we didn't indulge, all those Milk Shakes also come with alcohol, which might be fun for your DD and the boyfriend.

We have been to WDW about 3 times in the August heat, and Sci-Fi will be a great break from the heat of the parks. The August heat did drive us indoors for all of our eating, so it was nice this trip (January) to eat at some of the beautiful outdoor settings at places like Flame Tree BBQ, and benches along the lagoon in World Showcase.

Enjoy your trip! I am just starting to plan our next trip with just DH & me. We plan on staying at Boardwalk, since we stayed once and loved it, but as the kids got bigger we couldn't fit comfortably in one room.

 

[Harambe]

DAY 10

We packed up, left our stuff with Bell Services and headed to MK for Extra Magic Hour. Funny, but I didn't think about checking out at all until I got to MK! But I figure if you can check-in online without going to the desk, check out must be similar. Since we were going back to OKW to get picked up by Tiffany Towncar at 5pm for our flight out, I planned to ask at the desk when I got back (hoping I didn't somehow added on an additional late charge or something). I did ask later and the front desk said they just process everything electronically now. So, there you go!

The family headed to Space Mountain at rope drop, and I strolled along Main Street, popping in some of the empty shops. I waited a few minutes too long, though, because when I got to Starbucks there was already a long line, and I wanted to go in and buy my "You Are Here" coffee mug. I love these! They are a great size and a perfect "hand" fit. I liked the colors on the one I saw at Disney Springs, but the MK one has a Pirate ship on it - Yo Ho!!! After I got the cup I went to Tomorrowland and waited near the Splash Mountain exit. DS came off and said he wanted coffee and something to eat, so he headed back to Starbucks and got an ice coffee and a piece of PF coffee cake. The rest of us walked right on BuzzLight Year! After a few more rides, we went back to Gaston's Tavern so we could get another huge Cinnamon Roll. DH ordered that and 2 of the Hot Pocket pretzels and coffee. The CM rang it in and took his payment, then came back (as you order the CM at the register rings you in then gets the whole order for you - I think they should have one person running the register and someone else helping with getting the food) and told him they were out of the pretzels. He asked for his money back, and she said she couldn't do that . . . is there anything else he wanted? Huh?? He kinda lost it at that point, and he felt bad about that later, but the CM ended up giving him one of those little hummus and pretzel cups and two containers of fruit, along with the cinnamon roll. Weird.

None of us are great flyers, so we tend to only pick at food as the evening flight time nears. That means we need to have a really substantial lunch. We always spend our last day at MK, and at lunch, we like to relax, talk about the trip, linger over coffee and dessert. So we needed to keep this ADR at Tony's Town Square. I know Tony's gets a bad rap sometimes, but as long as your expectations aren't high for Italian food, you will get a PF meal here, along with wonderful service, and - most importantly - you will not be rushed out like 85% of the TS places. We started with the zucchini fires - nice and crisp, and they came with a sun-dried tomato dipping sauce that had loads of flavor! DH ordered the Vegetable pizza as his entree after he saw it go by our table. It was very light, more like a flatbread than pizza - he liked it, but his stomach was already a little nervous for the flight so he only ate half. DS and I both got the Chicken Parm - not a big wow but absolutely fine. It came with spaghetti on the side. He finished his, but I only ate about half. Of course, the price for what you get at Tony's annoys a lot of people, but again, we don't come here for stupendous Italian food! It is more for the setting, since Lady and the Tramp was a favorite of our kids growing up. DD ordered the spaghetti and meatball, and she said the meatball was very tasty! For dessert, I ordered Tiramisu with coffee. Devine! It was not the one that came in the coffee cup like before. This one was a long strip drizzled with chocolate sauce, sitting on a plate dusted with cocoa. And guess what? It was NOT frozen! Just right! DD ordered a dessert called a Budino, and she raved about it! It was a cross between chocolate mousse and ice cream, sitting on top of a chocolate crumble that had hazelnuts in it. We walked over to Pirates to do our last ride of the trip! We had a blast!

 

[Harambe]

How about a new meal service from Disney, called "We Know You're Blue" Apron. They would send you an entire day of Disney eating, including all of your favorites from your trip. It would help with the transition back to reality, no??? Here is what I would ask for in my food container:

Breakfast: bananas . . . lots of bananas!

Second breakfast: Strawberry Shortcake from Sunshine Seasons (Epcot), and an iced Shakin' Jamaican coffee from Joffrey's (HS)

Lunch: Galactic Chicken Salad from Backlot Express (HS)

Afternoon treat: Elephant Ear Pastry from Kusafiri Bakery (AK) and a pressed pot of coffee from Le Cellier, but only coffee!!!

Dinner: Bratwurst with Sauerkraut and Paprika chips from Sommerfest (Epcot), followed by a cup of Crema gelato from Vivoli (Disney Springs).

Evening snack - a Mickey Head sugar cookie with red frosted ears. The big one from the Confectionery (MK)!

So there you have it! Our ten day trip is over, and DH and I have been back on our no-sugar regular diet. We did the three day sugar detox, which maybe should have had an extra day after all those Disney treats, and we are now feeling lighter and brighter. Fingers crossed that we can continue with that, and get even healthier for our first "just you & me" trip in Dec of 2018. I gotta see me some Gingerbread Houses, and eat a shingle at each one!

Thanks for reading this far - I love seeing all of your reviews, too.

 

[FrancoFun]

Wonderful report. Thanks for all the details!

 

[tigerlilly]

Thank you again for all the lovely reports! I like your "we know you're blue" idea
Thanks for the info on Sci-Fi... our daughter has already been eyeing the special drinks there
Nice to know your family survived the August heat in years past! It is my one fear for our upcoming trip. We have not visited WDW since December of 2005! We live in California so it is a long trip and we visit Disneyland multiple times per year! Thus the request from our daughter for Epcot on her 21st bday...
Happy planning for Dec. 2019

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Great reviews, I enjoyed reading along!

 

[Klinger13]

I really enjoyed following along on your reviews! I was SO hoping your final eats wouldn't be frozen so the fact that the dessert didn't need to thaw made me cheer. Thanks for taking the time to write these up!!

 

[minoh]

Your reviews are great, thanks so much for sharing all of your insights!

 

[TeresaNJ]

Loved your report, and didn't miss photos one bit!

 

[Harambe]

Loved your report, and didn't miss photos one bit!

Thanks, TeresaNJ. Amazingly, we take very few photos any more. I have so many when the kids were little at WDW, but now they roll the eyes at me! hahaha

Glad the review were enjoyable! I get so much out of others' reviews, I wanted to pass on any info I could. Gosh, I miss Disney but have already picked dates for our (just DH & me) next trip!!! Woo hoo!

 

[HeidiGW]

Thanks!! I enjoyed reading about your trip...now I need a burger and a milk shake!!!