January 3, 2017 – Travel Day
January 4, 2017
January 5, 2017
January 6, 2017
January 7, 2017
January 8, 2017
January 9, 2017
January 10, 2017
January 11, 2017
January 12, 2017
As an added extra – you can see the full Excel spreadsheet I used for tracking our Dining Reservations and Fastpasses by clicking here 🙂
This is technically the largest Disney park, but most of the land is for the animals.
So many different types of animals to see – the safari focuses mainly on African animals (elephants, giraffes, hippos, etc).
There are walking trails – one is Asian-inspired with tigers as the feature animal. Another one has gorillas. Definitely worth checking out!
This park is by far the most immersive theming. There are so many details, it really is a spectacular park.
Brand new, billion-dollar expansion opened in May 2017 – Pandora (based on the movie Avatar). It is absolutely amazing, but expect high crowds in that area of the park since it will still be so new.
Once we had secured our stay at Old Key West, we started researching it a bit more, and discovered that Olivia’s Cafe was considered a bit of a hidden gem in the Disney dining community. So, obviously we had to check it out! Initially, we had booked this reservation for 8:15am, however once we found out that the Race Expo was opening at noon, not 10am like we had planned, we were able to bump our reservation by an hour to 9:15am – extra sleep!
First of all, OKW is gorgeous! Olivia’s is located in the main building, along an open-air hallway with the main lobby directly across from it. How friggin cute is this restaurant?!
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/546/32677944646_60705667f7_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
We didn’t have to wait very long before we were led to our table – a booth that easily could have fit 4 people 
It wasn’t super busy, so I didn’t even feel guilty about sitting at a full-sized booth! According to the picture I took of our bill (which I did for just about every meal mainly for this report…), our server’s name was Andres. I don’t remember anything about him, I guess he was good enough that I don’t remember him being terrible, but he wasn’t one of the best we had on this trip either.
I ordered a glass of water, and Luke went for an orange juice. Nothing fancy for either of us, and no pictures either, sorry.
Here’s the menu:
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/591/32338778410_6dbe876530_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
I didn’t really need to even look at the menu, I knew exactly what I was going to order! I ordered the Banana Bread French Toast – topped with Bahamian Banana-Rum syrup, Coconut whipped cream, and served with choice of bacon, sausage or ham ($14).
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/406/32595504661_8e219d87e4_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
I went for the ham, which was served with some nice grill marks on it. The ham was ok, but the french toast – oh man! It was so good, but really sweet! It was also a very generous order – remember those are slices of banana bread, so they were quite heavy and dense. I don’t remember any specific coconut flavour from the whipped cream, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there – it just means I’m not the best at describing tastes sometimes haha.
I would order this again, but only if someone agreed to help me out with eating it. When I finished eating, there was still enough for another meal on my plate…
Luke decided to try the Eggs and Hash: 2 eggs served any-style over sweet potato ham hash, topped with key lime hollandaise, served with a buttermilk biscuit ($13).
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/761/32565618982_46f51c7f79_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
He decided on poached eggs, and said they were really well done. He loved this meal, and said he would absolutely order it again! I tried the sweet potato/regular potato ham hash, and it was so delicious! I’m not a huge hollandaise fan, but I tried it and you could really taste the key lime in it – it wasn’t overpowering, but it added a nice little something to it. The biscuit was just ok, especially after the amazing ones we had the night before at Homecoming…
Our bill came to $32.48 after tax. We both left this meal full and happy
Maid of Honor – Ashley
I met Ashley the first summer I spent in Fort McMurray, back in 2007. We were both working as summer students at Suncor, and we immediately bonded over our mutual love of 90’s boy bands. We were 19, dumb and made so many memories that summer that we decided to do it all over again the next summer! We even went and got matching Industrial piercings in our ears that second summer… Eventually, I made the permanent move to Alberta in April 2010, and we were both living back in Fort McMurray again when we decided to move to Edmonton together that summer – where we’ve both been ever since. I had the privilege of standing up as Ashley’s maid of honor at her wedding in 2015, so now it’s her turn to do the same for me!
Bridesmaid – Steph
I met Steph in our first year of university, back in 2006. We were living in the same residence – and would have had a bunch of classes together if I had actually went to class… I like to think I’m her “bad influence” friend – Steph held my hand while I got three out of four of my tattoos, and I held her hand when she got her second set of holes in her ears and her belly button pierced. We lived together (along with five guys) for eight months in 2008-2009 – and without her I would have never survived that experience…
Bridesmaid: Lauren
I first met Lauren in my second year of university, in 2007 – except I refused to believe her name was actually Lauren, and kept insisting it was Julia. We quickly became friends, and went on our fair share of adventures (all of which have photographic evidence, and are quite enjoyable to look through). I’m never bored when she’s around – Lauren can always come up with the best party themes! It’s just too bad our days as a songwriting duo never panned out…
And, just because I can, here’s more pictures 🙂
Halifax, 2014
Edmonton, 2012
Edmonton, 2011
Sackville, 2009
Fort McMurray, 2008
Prince Edward Island, 2008
We had our plans all made, ADR’s were in place, and I just kept coming back to this menu. I eventually decided to squeeze it in on our arrival day, and then spent the next 2 months looking forward to eating here. Seriously, I was so excited, and I’m not typically considered a foodie.
As we were sitting on the Magical Express at the airport, I started worrying about timing. I was still worried when the bus dropped us off at Old Key West, I was worried as bell services drove us to our room in a golf cart, I was still worrying when I boarded a Disney Springs bus. And of course, we ended up being 5 minutes early for our reservation – all that worrying for nothing!
Once we checked in, we were handed a pager and told it would be a few minutes – our pager went off about 90 seconds later. We were led to our table, a two-top directly behind the hostess desk. It was nice, because there was a wall so we couldn’t see the front door, and it also meant we only had a table on one side of us. I didn’t take pictures of our table, but here are some of the decor:
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/540/31696577903_0b2edd3cc8_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/564/32508089915_1a761f1c15_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
I wish I could tell you how many hours we spent on All Ears, reading the menus and planning out what we would order at each meal on our trip. We had come to the conclusion that Homecoming would probably end up being our most expensive meal, as there were so many things we wanted.
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/410/32467430226_152b86dd90_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/628/32386174271_34dc5423f2_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
We each decided to start with a moonshine cocktail, I had the moonshine mash: watermelon-infused moonshine, fresh watermelon, lime juice and simple syrup, $12
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/309/32508089755_7b6b27627b_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
Oh man. I’ve had moonshine before, and it typically has a very…strong taste. This was by far the smoothest moonshine I’ve ever had in my life, it was amazing! Luke hates watermelon flavouring, he gave this drink his approval as well – it was much more of a light, natural watermelon flavour. So good.
Luke went for the waitresses suggestion, and ordered the Bootlegger: Rumshine and dark rum, blackberry jam, house-made grenadine, simple syrup, lime juice, $12
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/472/31696579353_600b976d56_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
This sounded weird to me, but again – holy smokes! It was so amazing!
Luke decided to order an appetizer and went for the Church Lady Deviled Eggs: Homecoming-style whole deviled eggs, $10
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/285/31664714884_c088d2bd45_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
I’m not a huge fan of eggs, even at breakfast, so I didn’t try any of these. Luke figured he would just have a few, and then pack them up and eat them for breakfast the next morning. Yeah, that didn’t happen. He loved them so much he ate all 6 of them (keep in mind, we hadn’t ate much all day and were STARVING by the time we got there). He also loved the house-made hot sauce, and was a little sad when he found out he couldn’t just buy a bottle to bring home.
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/607/31664711394_0843da1220_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
For entrees, Luke ordered the Art’s Famous Fried Chicken – buttermilk brined for 24 hours then perfectly fried and garnished with our house-made hot sauce served with creamy mashed potatoes, a cheddar drop biscuit and love. $27
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/569/31696579233_daf02a64b8_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
Again, this place was impressive. This was a huge serving, and absolutely incredible. The chicken was so tender and juicy, and had been butchered so that there were no bones present on the plate.
I wanted to try something else, and went for the Chopped Pork BBQ Plate: Dressed with HFK sweet and spicy BBQ sauce, served with momma’s mac and cheese and a cheddar drop biscuit, $24. I’m not a fan of mac and cheese, so I asked to switch to mashed potatoes instead. This was no problem at all, and both of us also had our potatoes topped with gravy (which was a little spicy, but so good!)
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/584/32467430086_bb82a3c483_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
This pork was so good! And the BBQ sauce – ugh. I’ve run out of adjectives for amazing. The mashed potatoes were so buttery and smooth. I think I could live off those biscuits, it was incredible.
All of that food, and I still wanted dessert.
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/329/32356010112_a007a8dc49_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
I had my eye on one thing – that Shine Cake: Chef Art’s signature dessert. An adult-only butter cake soaked with moonshine syrup. Served with a seasonal fruit gastrique and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream $10. This thing was so lovely, I had to take two pictures of it:
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/278/32386171671_035d3a83cc_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
![[IMG]](https://i0.wp.com/c1.staticflickr.com/1/425/32356008312_20440938f5_z.jpg?w=474&ssl=1)
What a way to end this perfect meal! This cake was so nice and moist, and you could taste the moonshine. I’m not much of a drinker typically, and I usually hate the taste of liquor, but for some reason this tasted fantastic to me. It was strong though – I see why it’s adult’s only! I honestly got drunk from eating cake. Now I want more of that…
Luke also ordered another moonshine cocktail to have with dessert, the Apple Pie a la Mode: Ole Smokey Apple Pie Moonshine, vanilla vodka, apple juice, cinnamon, house-made simple syrup and a dash of lemon $12. I forgot to take a picture of it, I was too busy shoving alcoholic cake into my face. I did try a sip, and it was ok. It was by far our least favourite of the three drinks we tried.
In case you couldn’t tell, we LOVED this meal. I think it was a combination of being really hungry, the first meal of the trip and just being an amazing restaurant. This is actually the current #1 choice for our wedding reception when we get married at Disney next year…
The total cost of this meal was $107, or $113.96 after tax. It was worth every penny!
Our waitress, Tricia, was also great here, very attentive without hovering, and very friendly. We left her a generous tip
All of these transportation options are free, and can be used by anyone. You do no need to be staying in a mono-rail resort in order to use the monorail – same for any of the boats and buses, etc.
Airport (MCO only) to any Disney-owned hotel
All Star Movies/Music/Sports
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Art of Animation
Beach Club
Boardwalk
Caribbean Beach
Contemporary/Bay Lake Tower
Coronado Springs
Fort Wilderness
Grand Floridian
Old Key West
Polynesian
Pop Century
Port Orleans (Riverside and French Quarter)
Saratoga Springs
Wilderness Lodge
Yacht Club
Luke here. Fallon covered the free transport. Of which there is a lot. If you’re looking to stay off site, or should you need/choose to get from Point A to Point B – there are options too.
Mears Taxi – A Taxi company. They do Taxi stuff. Classic. Tried Tested and True. Their rates aren’t bad. But it’s the 2017/2018 season – who uses cabs anymore?
The easiest, quickets and most convenient non-free way to get around is via Uber or Lyft – for those unfamiliar, they’re both apps on your phone. You set up an account, attach a credit card, and whenever you need a ride just open the app. Punch in where you want to go and it’ll tell you the exact cost of the trip up front. It’ll give you the make/model of he vehicle picking you up, the license plate # and a timeline on when the ride will be there. You can watch on the app’s generated map as the ride approaches. It’s the best. Use it to get from park to park, to your dining reservations, to go to the grocery store and buy bananas for less than $1.69US apiece – whatever.
Also – if you want to get from park to park Disney World offers an express transit bus for an upcharge. It’s $19/day or $29 for a multi-day ticket. We haven’t used it yet. But if you’re at Epcot and need to get to Magic Kingdom in a jiffy – this seems super handy. Edit: This is no longer available.
Fallon Edit: Disney has partnered with Lyft to create Minnie Vans. These are part of the Lyft fleet, and you book using the same app – but the vehicles are painted red with black polka dots, and they are much more expensive than a typical Lyft.
This park is currently undergoing a major overhaul. As a result, there were a large number of things shut down over the past few years – and this park can easily be covered in a day (even a half day if you’re motivated enough). At some point in the second half of 2018, Toy Story Land will be opening, and then in 2019 Star Wars Land is opening. Expect HUGE crowds in this park after those open.
The nighttime fireworks show is Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular. This is my #1 night show at Walt Disney World (and second only to World of Colour at Disney’s California Adventure in Anaheim). The Star Wars show incorporates fireworks with projections, music, lights and lasers – it’s so cool.
They offer another nighttime show, Fantasmic – which is inside a large amphitheater built for the show. Lots of characters, pyro, lights – it’s worth seeing.
You can catch a boat from just outside the main gate which makes stops at the Swan & Dolphin, Beach Club/Yacht Club, Boardwalk Resort and finally Epcot (in that order).
In my opinion, this park has the weakest food options. This may change over the next few years as they finish Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land, but we actually chose to leave the park for lunch on our January 2017 trip. That doesn’t mean you won’t find something you like though!
Quick Service:
Table Service:
– similar to Indiana Jones ride at DL, but Indy is way better. A bumpy, shakey, dark ride with dinosaurs. On-ride photo is snapped when the dinosaur screams at you. Lines can be long.
– located in Asia. Hands down my favourite Disney ride. Fast-paced roller coaster that actually goes backwards at one point. No inversions, but great hills and turns and speed. Photo is snapped after the shadow Yeti scene. Lines can be long – grab a fastpass or go first thing in the morning or the last thing at night.
– located in Africa. Amazing. A stage show that included larger-than-life animatronics and Cirque-du-Soleil style performers. Worth seeing without a doubt. It’s my favourite show at WDW
– located in the Mexican pavilion. A little boat ride featuring Donald Duck traveling through Mexico. It’s cute, and never has a long line to get on it.
– very similar to Radiator Springs Racers at DCA, but Chevrolet sponsored. On-ride photo during the fast part. At the beginning you get to design a car on a screen. One of the few “big rides” at Epcot, so grab a Fastpass to avoid huge lines. Definitely worth doing at least once.