After our Illuminations Cruise was cancelled, we found ourselves at the poolside bar at the Beach Club. Luke went to grab drinks for us both, and came back with this for me –
This was delicious, but $14 for a drink is kind of insane…. if it was a bit more reasonably priced, I would have had another one – it was slushy and sweet and everything I like from my alcohol.
Luke had a Captain Morgan and Coke, which is a classic, but boring to photograph so no pictures of that one. It was the “special” of the day, but a double still cost like $14 or something crazy.
This was a lounge that had been on our radar for a few years, but we had never managed to make the time to get there. We were actually excited to finally get a chance to eat here.
The group of us took over most of the tables in the entire lounge, and pulled them together into the centre of the room. We started with some drinks –
Luke decided to just have water, but I went for Our Neighbourhood – Don Q Rum and blackberry cordial with strawberry puree and orange juice fusion topped with blackberries, $12
We knew we wanted some food too –
Luke and I decided to share a few things, and ordered Oregon Chardonnay Fondue – pretzel bread and grapes on the vine, $14 and Nachos – corn chips, burnt ends, queso, pico de gallo, sour cream, $13.
What a wonderful picture hahahaha
The lighting was terrible for pictures in here – but these were both sooo good! We were both hungry but there was enough food for us to fill up without feeling too stuffed (and we didn’t want full meals at that time of night anyways). The pretzel bread was perfect in the cheese fondue, and I loved how salty the bread was.
We had another great evening hanging out with a wonderful group of people. There were a lot of laughs, and we met our new friend Terry hahaha (Jenny’s face says everything) –
We entered Epcot through the International Gateway, and I had one thing on my mind, so we headed straight to France for a visit to the Fleur de Lys booth –
La Vie en Rose – Grey Goose Vodka Orange, St. Germain Liqueur, White and Red Cranberry Juice – $10.75
This was delicious! I definitely had a few more during this trip haha. We also found St. Germain (which is an Elderflower liquor) at a local liquor store and made these ourselves recently. Obviously the Disney ones were better since they have a proper slushy machine and I just used my Ninja blender – but since we can’t currently travel to Disney it was a nice little taste to remind ourselves of this trip <3. I love all the slushes from the France Pavilion, since my preferred alcohol of choice is vodka.
Since the rain was coming down hard, everyone was making the most of our time stuck in the Odyessy Building, and a bunch of people grabbed the Beer Flight – $9.50. I don’t think Luke bought this, and he doesn’t remember it either (and said that he probably wouldn’t buy it because none of these sound appealing to him – and I’d only had one drink thus far in the day so I can’t even blame my forgetfulness on that..). I didn’t even take a picture of the beer itself, oops! I’m not going to count this in our food total haha…
The drinks we grabbed from the Norway Pavilion were not Flower and Garden specific, but we didn’t care. Luke had the Einstock White Ale, $9.75 which is a Norwegian beer. I grabbed the cutest little thing of Copa Moscato wine, $9. My wine wasn’t even from Norway, but it was cute and sweet and cheap – I’m not fancy and I love cheap moscato wine haha. Luke really likes this beer, and described it as smooth with a slight bitterness. Plus it was served nice and cold, and he’s enjoyed it every time he’s had it.
We eventually found ourselves at Refreshment Port, so we stopped to grab some poutine like the good Canadians that we are haha. Beef Brisket Poutine – french fries with beef brisket, beer cheese sauce and poutine gravy topped with crispy onions, $8.99 and Coffee-Rubbed Pork Poutine – BBQ demi-glace, fire roasted corn relish and cheese curds, $8.49. These are definitely not a traditional poutine, but we were both hungry by this point and these hit the spot! Despite me hating coffee anything, it was a very subtle flavour that I barely noticed, and the pork poutine was our favourite of the two. The BBQ sauce offered a nice sweetness, while the brisket one was just a lot of savoury. We had to wait a few minutes for this which meant our fries were nice and fresh and hot – very tasty! I think the poutine options here change every so often, but I would order either one of these again.
We stopped at the A Taste of Marrakesh booth, where Luke purchased the Fried Cauliflower – with capers, garlic parsley and chili ranch sauce, $6, and a Casa Beer, $4.5. I tried one of these because I do like fried cauliflower, but they were so spicy! One and done for me! Luke handles spicy much better than I do, and he loved these. He described it as “sinus-clearing spicy” haha. He also said the beer was “beer-flavoured beer”, and was better than he expected it to be. He also liked the smaller size, so he finished his beer while it was still cold.
Also – it makes me laugh that cauliflower is spelt incorrectly on the receipt – what is cauliflowler?
We made a stop at the Kabuki Cafe in the Japan Pavilion. Every trip I have to get a Kakigori – shaved ice topped with fruit syrup, $4.50. I’ve tried most of the flavours, so I know tangerine is my favourite one. This is one of the better shaved ice I’ve had, I think it’s the syrup they use. Lots of flavour, doesn’t melt too quickly and so refreshing on a hot Florida day!
Luke went for the Sake Mist – alcoholic shaved ice, $9 (he chose the blackberry flavour). He’s had this a few times, and loves it. Because of the alcohol in this, it does melt really quickly – so you’re constantly toeing the line between eating it quickly and getting brain freeze.
Luke also went to Joy of Tea in the China Pavilion so he could grab a Tipsy Ducks in Love – Bourbon Whisky, coffee, black tea, cream and chocolate syrup, $12.50. I don’t have any pictures of it, but he loves this drink and has had it multiple times – just about every time we’re at Epcot.
Luke and I were still feeling full from our breakfast, but we had to stop and grab a snack before we left Hollywood Studios at Neighbourhood Bakery (located in the Incredibles area). The menu here isn’t huge, but we were after one thing – the Num Num Cookie! They had another sign out listing two limited time offerings, and one of those caught Luke’s attention.
I was excited for the Num Num Cookie – a warm crunchy but gooey chocolate chip cookie tart, $5.79, while Luke went for the Key Lime Pie on a Stick – $4.99
You can’t really tell from that picture, but that cookie was huge! It was warm enough that the chocolate inside was slightly melty and delicious. Luke also really enjoyed his Key Lime Pie, which I remembered to take an inside picture of (see below). The inside tasted like a key lime cheesecake, and the coating was (we believe) white chocolate which was thick and offered a nice crunch.
I ended up not eating all of my cookie since it was so huge, but I tend to keep empty ziplock baggies in my backpack for reasons like this. Before packing up my cookie, however, I decided it needed a photoshoot (because of course it did…)
I also noticed a PhotoPass photographer, and made Luke get pictures with our snacks hahahaha
I was really looking forward to this breakfast, we had scheduled it for our wedding trip in 2018 but ended up needing to cancel at the last minute. So I was determined to make it there on this trip!
Our reservation was early – we were one of the first tables to be seated, the characters hadn’t even appeared yet.
We both knew what we wanted to order before we even sat down (we always look at menus ahead of time), but we still looked at the menu just to make sure nothing had changed. Since this is a character breakfast, it has a fixed price, but you can order any entree from the list. Juice/coffee/pop are included, but specialty drinks do cost extra.
I had decided on the Royale Breakfast – oak-grilled steak, asparagus, cheesy-egg torte, fonduta, breakfast potatoes, crispy onion.
This doesn’t look like anything special, but it was soooo good! I don’t think the steak typically comes cut into pieces like that, but again – I like to ruin my beef by asking for it well done. This was cooked perfectly, not dry at all. I don’t eat eggs very often, so I gave Luke the cheesy egg torte – but I did eat the asparagus and the fonduta on top was nice. I also gave Luke most of the crispy onions but I refused to share any of the potatoes. They were delicious! I would definitely order this again, I loved it.
Luke went for King Triton’s Shipwreck al Forno – calzone with scrambled eggs, bell peppers, salumi, bacon, sausage, blend of cheeses, Sunday Gravy.
They bring this dish out with the giant trident, but the server stands there while you take a picture and then they take the trident back with them immediately. I’m sure it’s for safety, that thing looks like it could hurt someone.
Luke enjoyed this more than he thought he would, but he couldn’t finish it. It was just too much food for that early in the morning, especially something as heavy as a calzone. But he told me he would definitely order it again!
Luke and I both ordered orange juice, and he had a coffee as well. We knew there would be plenty of time later that day for alcohol haha.
Also included with this meal is a basket of pastries, which are very pretty!
We split these, and ate every last bite of them! They were much better than we were expecting!
Of course this is a character meal – with Ariel, Prince Eric, Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder. We met Rapunzel and Flynn before our meals even arrived, and Ariel showed up before I had a single bite of my food. It was actually great timing, as we were able to enjoy the majority of our meal without worrying about missing a character. (and yes, my ears are battery-operated and light up!)
Tangled is a favourite in our house, so we really enjoyed meeting those two! Prince Eric is typically a boring character, but this cast member was excellent and really brought the character to life!
Our total bill after AP discount but before tip was $76.68. We paid, and were out of the restaurant shortly after 8am.
Highway in the Sky was announced shortly before our January 2017 trip, but it sold out so quickly we didn’t even have a chance to try and fit it into our schedule. It was one of the top things we wanted to experience on our wedding trip though, so we kept stalking the website waiting for booking to open. We actually had a few nights during our vacation where we could have fit it in, we weren’t 100% sure which nights of the week it would be offered on.
Finally, Luke texted me one day that booking had opened for the dates of our trip, and he had already paid for and reserved two spots for us on the first Thursday night we were there.
This is an expensive event, I believe it was $159/person plus tax when we booked (but that included gratuity), but it was our wedding trip and we felt like treating ourselves. #treatyoself (Also – the price has increased since this point, and I believe at last look it was up to $170/person)
The evening began by meeting up at the Contemporary, and heading to the Wave to sign in. Once they verified our names against their list, we were handed a lanyard and invited to take a seat in the waiting area of the restaurant.
After a short wait, someone from the Wave came over and talked a bit about the restaurant, before servers appeared with our first drink and food item of the night. Typically they serve a fairly standard cocktail, but it was really cold outside so they switched it up to a hot drink. We each received a warm rum butter apple cider with whiskey and a maple foam. I apologize for the terrible picture of this, it was dark where we were sitting.
I wish this drink was on a regular menu somewhere on property, I would go out of my way just to get it. I absolutely loved it – the Maple wasn’t too overpowering (I’m Canadian, I know my Maple products haha), it wasn’t hot enough to burn my tongue which was nice and it wasn’t too strong – I never want to taste the alcohol in my first drink of the evening. We were off to a delicious start to the night!
They also brought around little cups with butternut squash soup. I’d honestly never tried this before because I just assumed I wouldn’t like it (I don’t like squash at all – but apparently blend it with cream and I’m a fan?). This was a very small serving, but it was really good! (Pictures are before and after I stirred it up)
After a few minutes of chatting with some of the other couples there that night, the cast members came around and rounded us up, leading us to security and up onto the monorail. The three cast members assigned to Highway in the Sky are in constant communication with the monorail drivers, so you never actually have to stand around waiting – the monorail is actually waiting for the group! They also keep the entire front car empty just for your group, which is a nice touch that really makes you feel like a VIP!
After boarding at the Contemporary, we rode the monorail over to the Polynesian. They escorted us inside to the open space on the second floor, where they had set up four-top standing tables decorated with cute little Polynesian touches.
Seating was not assigned, so we just found a table with two empty spots and introduced ourselves to the other couple. A Polynesian Resort cast member came out to tell us all about dining at the resort, while cast members came around putting a Mai Tai in front of each of us.
I loved these slanted glasses, and this drink was strong! The Polynesian Resort cast member described the food we were about to eat before the three small plates were placed in front of us. The ukelele player who I’ve seen at ‘Ohana before then came out and played for us while we ate.
The first small plate was ???? The second one was some kind of sushi and the third one was pork belly. The first two didn’t interest me at all, but the pork belly was delicious!
Once we had finished eating, we were rounded up once again and escorted back to the monorail (this time skipping security). Our destination this time was the Grand Floridian for the entree portion of the evening. We were led to Citricos, and we were called by couple and led to assigned tables in the restaurant. There was a bread basket on each table, and servers came around offering a choice of red or white wine (I went white, Luke went for the red). I’m not a huge wine person, this was dryer than I tend to go for but I still drank it. I can’t tell you anything about it haha – I’m not one of those people who can describe the flavours in a wine.
The main course was a surf and turf – on this night it was a boneless beef short rib and halibut, served with mashed potatoes and green beans. I don’t eat seafood of any kind, so I quickly shoved my fish onto Luke’s plate and just enjoyed the beef (he gave me quite a bit of his beef in return). It was perfect – fall apart tender, the sauce was really tasty and the mashed potatoes were smooth and creamy.
Once we had finished up, we were told to head downstairs to the Tea Room, where we each received a glass of champagne and a charcuterie plate.
The champagne was definitely the Fairy Tale Cuvee that was served at our wedding a few days later – it’s ok (but I don’t love champagne to begin with). The charcuterie doesn’t look like much, but it was tasty! I didn’t try the blue cheese or the pickles or the mustard (I’ve come a long way, but I can still be a bit picky at times haha). I enjoyed everything else on the plate though! Not pictured was a little plate of baguette.
When we headed back upstairs, we had a few minutes before the monorail arrived, so we took a group picture, and tried to see how many characters we could spot on the floor.
There’s a lot more than that, but it’s another one of those little details that I just love about Disney!
Our monorail arrived, and we piled back in to head to our final stop of the night – back to the Contemporary. The final part of Highway in the Sky is a private viewing of the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the fourth floor balcony, along with some desserts. Typically the desserts and drinks (canned soft drinks, coffee, tea, Bailey’s, Kahula, Frangelico, etc) are set up outside, but due to how cold it was on this evening, they set up it up inside. We each grabbed a plate with some desserts, I had a can of Coke and Luke had a coffee with Bailey’s. We were able to sit on the couches just inside the fourth floor balcony enjoying our final snacks of the evening until shortly before the fireworks started.
As we headed outside to watch the fireworks, the cast members handed us a blanket to wrap up in so we would stay warm. Obviously you are too far away to see the castle projections, but the view of the fireworks from here is great!
As we exited and handed the blankets back in, we were each handed a small box with the Contemporary Resort logo and chocolate truffles inside. It was a nice little parting gift after a wonderful evening!
Overall, we really enjoyed this experience, and did it again on our May 2019 trip. I didn’t love all the food on this night (but that’s just because I’m a bit picky and don’t like seafood) – but I still felt the value was there! Since they keep the groups small, you really feel like a VIP, and the food that I actually did eat was all great!
Carnation Cafe, located on Main Street in Disneyland is becoming one of my favourite restaurants in the park. The menu isn’t very large, but the options on there are made very well!
Initially this reservation was for all four of us, but Mom and Rhonda decided to skip this meal, and head back to the mall for a little additional shopping. Luke and I checked in, and let them know it would just be the two of us, and it wasn’t an issue at all. We were led to the small outside area and seated at a two-top table. A few minutes later, a cast member approached us and asked if we would mind moving, as they were pushing a few tables together for a larger family and they needed our two-top – no complaints from us since we ended up being moved to a four-top!
First up were drinks – nothing crazy. Water for both of us, a Root Beer, $3.99 for me and a Cherry Coke, $3.99 for Luke.
We decided to skip appetizers, and went straight into entrees. Luke ordered the Chicken-Fried Chicken – buttermilk fried chicken breast served with mashed potatoes, milk gravy and seasonal vegetables, $19
This is my usual go-to every time we eat here, so he knew he would like this. It’s really good – the batter on the chicken is nice and crispy, the gravy is good… There was nothing left on this plate by the time we finished eating!
It’s not shown on the menu I posted above, but since it was Pixar Festival they were offering a few special Up-themed menu items just for the summer. One of them in particular had really caught my eye, so I ordered Ellie’s TV Dinner – spiced apple pork chop, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, corn muffin and a chocolate lava cake, $23
I loved this! I’m actually sad it’s not on the regular menu (and I haven’t seen it come back at any time in the year and a half it took between this meal and writing this review). The pork chop was cooked wonderfully, the apples on top complimented it perfectly, and even the cornbread and lava cake were fantastic! Plus – look at how adorable this presentation is! And yes, that is butter on top of the cornbread <3
Our total bill came to $53.85.
It was another great meal at Carnation Cafe – and it wouldn’t be very long before we returned again! After showing them the pictures of our meals, Mom and Rhonda realized they had missed out on a meal they would have loved, so we were able to find a reservation and we ended up returning the next day!
Luke and I had ate here on our first trip to Walt Disney World, back in 2016, and I didn’t love it. The atmosphere and theming were great, but my food wasn’t. Luke loved his meal though, and I really wanted to like this restaurant, so I decided I was willing to give it another chance. Originally it was supposed to be just Luke and I at Hollywood Studios this morning, so we made a reservation for two at 12:50. However, once we realized my dad would be flying in on January 5th instead of the 6th, we were able to drop our reservation and get one for three people instead at 1:05pm.
We didn’t tell my Dad anything about this place, and he hadn’t researched it (he didn’t research anything about Disney haha – he just showed up and knew I’d take care of it). He had such a confused, puzzled look on his face while we were standing in the waiting room to be called in – the servers just yell out the last name of the group they are looking for (and some of them really yell loud). While we were waiting I enjoyed looking at the little details in the waiting room – like the hidden Mickey on the end tables.
Eventually my name was called, and we were led inside- to the exact same table Luke and I had sat at when we ate there in 2016! Frederick the AT-AT got a prime spot right by the TV –
Our server, Chris, was immediately in character and started giving us sass. My Dad caught on quickly and started playfully giving him attitude back. When Chris came back over, he dropped a stack of napkins and a dish of cutlery on the table, and informed my Dad he would be the one setting the table for this meal. Dad was loving this place, he was laughing and smiling the entire time he was setting the table.
Now for the drinks: Luke knew before we even got there that he would be ordering one of their Peanut Butter and Jelly milkshakes, $7 – he loved the one he’d had from there in 2016, and he loved this one.
I didn’t take a picture, but Dad ordered a Strawberry milkshake, $7. I hadn’t trained him yet to not try his food until I got a picture of it for my food reviews hahaha. He was happy with it, and drank it all. I try to limit the amount of dairy I eat (it doesn’t always agree with my stomach), so I skipped a milkshake and ordered a Vanilla Coke, $4.
After we ordered our food, I took some pictures of our surroundings while we waited.
Oh right, you might actually want to see a picture of the menu…
On to the food: Dad decided to order A Sampling of Mom’s Favourite Recipes – Golden Fried Chicken, fork tender pot roast and traditional meatloaf with all the fixings, $24.
He enjoyed everything, and cleared his plate. I guess I picked a good restaurant to be Dad’s first in-park food experience!
Luke went for the Cousin Megan’s Traditional Meatloaf – blend of beef and pork topped with tomato glaze served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and green beans, $18
I had been really disappointed in my meal here back in 2016, I had the Chicken Pot Pie and was not a fan at all. I was determined to have a better experience this time, and decided to order the Mom’s Old Fashioned Pot Roast – slow cooked til fork tender served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, brown gravy and garnished with julienned carrots and celery, $21.
This was a much better choice than I had made in 2016! I really enjoyed this, and would order it again.
Tables in Wonderland original cost: $150 Break Even Point Before this meal: $50.31 Savings this Meal: $16.20 (this includes all three meals) Total Until Breaking Even: $34.11
Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Estimated Cost of this meal: $77.75Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Actual Cost: $42.60 (mine and Luke’s only – Dad gave me cash for his meal afterwards)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Over/Under: Under by $35.15 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Remaining: $1302.97
During our trip to WDW in January 2017, we ate at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ on our arrival night, and we both declared it as one of the best meals we’d ever ate. After Luke proposed and we started discussing the very real possibility of holding our wedding at Walt Disney World (and we had agreed that a Wishes Wedding – which includes a reception catered by Disney – was too far out of our budget), we decided we needed a reception venue. I almost immediately suggested Homecomin’, I remembered reading about another couple who had great things to say about hosting private functions there – and it didn’t take much convincing to get Luke on board!
The first thing we did to get the ball rolling was to go onto their website, http://www.homecominkitchen.com. At the bottom it mentioned Group Events, with an email to contact them for groups of 25 or more. At the time, we had no idea how many people we would have, but we used that anyways. We were also still a few months out from being able to lock in our date with Disney, but we wanted to see pricing so we could begin setting a budget.
I received an email back from Homecomin’ the next day – communication was excellent throughout the entire planning process for this! They sent us two options for menus – a $55/person one and $70/person one (this has since changed, and I’ve heard the cost is now dependent on the time of day you are holding your event). This is what the $55/person menu looked like:
The only difference between this one and the $70/person menu we were sent was the addition of one appetizer (three appetizers instead of two – which seemed like a lot of money for such a small difference).
We knew there would be more than enough food without the addition of another appetizer, so the $55 menu it was! I let my contact at Homecomin’ know our choices for dates for our wedding (first choice January 10th, second choice January 9th), and told her I would let her know as soon as I was able to confirm the date with Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings. Luckily, both of those dates were available at Homecomin’ – not a huge surprise since they were a Tuesday and Wednesday.
Once everything was confirmed, and we had our dates set, we set our menu and paid a 50% deposit. At the time, we still didn’t have final numbers, so we based it on 20 people total.
As our wedding day got closer and we had a better number, I contacted Homecomin’ again and updated our guest list to 21 adults, 1 child and 1 infant. We also added on one moonshine cocktail (or drink of choice) for everyone. Looking back now, I wish I had left off the drink for everyone, and just picked up the tab at the end of our reception- we had to pay $12/drink up front, but some people ordered $7 beer, some people didn’t drink at all, etc. Those who had more than one drink were brought a bill to pay the difference, and I really didn’t like that. The cost to add an open bar was insane, but I should have just had it all added to the bill Luke and I paid at the end of the night. They weren’t very clear on offering a bill on consumption bill – but that’s honestly my biggest complaint about the entire experience dealing with them.
Our guest list included 3 vegans and 1 vegan/gluten free – not the greatest food restriction when eating at Homecomin’. However, I contacted them and they sent me options. The day of the wedding I didn’t sit with any of the vegans so I didn’t see their food, but they told me it was delicious and they were all full. I believe they had a large salad specially made for them, and topped with a chopped up vegan patty – sorry I have no photos of it. They were also brought french fries I think? And possibly a few other things?
On the day of the wedding, we arrived a little bit early. They weren’t finished setting up, but they let me go out to the porch area since I had the centerpieces (I just never had time to drop them off in the days leading up to the wedding). Everyone was staring at me as I made my way through the restaurant in my wedding dress haha.
I handed over my little box that had the centerpieces, and they set them out for me. I kept it simple, and we used the bridesmaids paper bouquets to fill out the centerpieces. The rest of the sparkly things I had purchased from the Christmas section at Michael’s Craft Store, and the vases were plain ones that I wrapped a single strand of rhinestone ribbon around (you can kind of see the shimmer from the rhinestones towards the bottom). They fit our colourful, Up-theme perfectly, and they didn’t cost an arm and a leg. I can guarantee I’m the only one who even remembers what the centerpieces looked like that day – so save your money brides!
They also had an extra table for us to set up our guest book and Polaroid camera, and we set our Mickey balloons from our ceremony beside that. And yes – we had even bought Disney-themed Polaroid film!
We had the entire back part of the patio, with three tables to accommodate our guests. We also had two dedicated servers – they had no other tables in the restaurant and they were only there to assist the 20 of us – it was unbelievable service!
We all made our way to the tables, and shortly afterwards the food began to arrive! It was served family style, with a serving dish placed on each table.
First up was the Jasper Board – Assortment of pimento cheese, buttermilk crackers, smoked sausage, shaved ham, bread & butter pickles and candied pecans (and here’s a picture from my professional photographer of it – )
And here’s the picture I snapped of it quickly with my phone after it was already half-eaten –
This was slightly different than the description, as that stuff in the center was a fish dip, and I don’t remember any smoked sausage on there. I also didn’t eat much from here, I knew how many other delicious things were heading our way and I had to save room in my belly! I did try a small piece of ham and a candied pecan – and both were very tasty! I did find out afterwards that they would keep refilling this board as requested – the table that Luke’s family was sitting at went through three servings of pimento cheese haha – so it was clearly a big hit!
Our second choice for an appetizer was the Church Lady Deviled Eggs – Homecomin’ Kitchen style whole deviled eggs
These are always a hard pass for me, I don’t really like eggs at all. But Luke loves these, so this was a choice for him. Most people seemed to enjoy them though, and I don’t think there were any left by the end of the meal.
Next was the salad: Harvest Salad – mixed greens tossed with fire-roasted red peppers and corn, shredded white cheddar cheese, heirloom cherry tomatoes and house-made balsamic dressing. Topped with avocado and hushpuppy croutons.
I seem to remember this having more of a ranch-style dressing (like a house-made ice-box dressing) instead of balsamic – which would be much more up my alley. I ate a bit of this – I skipped the red peppers and tomatoes, but everything else was nice and fresh – and I always appreciate vegetables while at Disney since I never seem to eat enough of them!
On to the entrees! Three of the five offered involved seafood – which I don’t eat. So that made my decision easy – chicken (which was non-negotiable, it was always going to be part of our menu), and pork.
Art’s Fabulous Fried Chicken – buttermilk brined for 24 hours then perfectly fried and garnished with fresh herbs
Right after the main entrees were brought out, the chef in charge of our meal came out to introduce himself and to personally ask if everything tasted fine – again, the service we received here was spectacular! I mentioned that I wouldn’t mind a few more pieces of white meat chicken, and he went into the kitchen and came back with a full platter of it! Obviously, we couldn’t eat it all so they packed it up for me to take with me at the end of the night 🙂
Chopped Barbecue Pork – dressed with HFK sweet and spicy barbecue sauce
This doesn’t come close to the fried chicken, but it’s very tasty pork! It’s tender and the sauce is clearly house-made. I’m pretty sure the platter that was placed on our table was polished off by the time everyone finished eating. The pickles and coleslaw were nice little touches too!
We also selected three side dishes. The first one was a no-brainer: Cheddar Drop Biscuits
I LOVE these things – they are so amazing here. Every single time we come to this restaurant, I must have these biscuits! I don’t know what it is about them, but they are the best ones I’ve ever had.
Our other two picks were: Creamy Mashed Potatoes and Southern Style Green Beans
Pretty straight forward, but I do love my mashed potatoes! We chose the green beans because we felt we needed a vegetable – and collard greens are gross.
Since we only had two underage guests – one was my gluten free/vegan cousin and the other was our five month old niece, we decided to go for the Shine Cake – an adult only buttercake soaked with moonshine syrup. We figured they would just bring out a slice for each person – and they did. But, the head chef working that day didn’t realize we were a wedding reception until we arrived (he just knew he had to prepare for a private function) – so he took it upon himself to bake an entire Shine cake just for Luke and I so we had something to cut! We were not expecting this, and it was such a nice gesture! Plus, look at how gorgeous this thing is!
After having a small slice each, they brought out a box and packed up the rest of the cake for us to take with us – and yes it made it all the way back to Canada! We froze it, and ate it over a year later and it still tasted awesome!
Obviously, this wasn’t going to work for the gluten free and vegans in our group, so I had called ahead and ordered a cake from Erin Mckenna’s Bakery in Disney Springs. It was the smallest size they offered – 6″ I think? But it was so thick and huge! I prepaid the $55 (I think?), and my cousin picked it up and brought it with her to Homecomin’ – the servers there took it and cut it and plated it nicely, which I thought was a really nice touch. I didn’t even get a picture of it, and I can’t remember what kind I even ordered for them… but just know I didn’t forgot about them!
After everyone was completely stuffed, we took a bit of time for speeches from my Maid of Honour, my best friend Ashley, and Luke’s Best Woman, his sister Jill (with an adorable little poem by his youngest sister, Callie)
By this point, we had long overstayed our welcome, and we still had one more wedding day event to get to! So we settled up the remaining balance we owed, we told the servers to keep the centerpieces (minus the bouquets – they were actually so excited and one of the ladies immediately shoved one of the glittery fake flower-looking things into her hair), we grabbed our boxed up food leftovers and off we went!
It was seriously an amazing experience – one that took me an entire novel to write about haha. The level of service we received was top notch, and we felt that it was worth every penny we paid. Plus, it was a slightly unique wedding reception menu with incredible food – and no one left hungry!
I don’t have the exact total cost for this, but it was built into our wedding budget (not our food budget for the trip) and we felt the price was comparable to a wedding reception menu anywhere at about $100/person (and that’s after adding a drink, tax, service charge, gratuity, etc). We also left a huge tip, since we were so impressed and our dedicated servers were fantastic! If you ever find yourself needing to book a Disney Springs restaurant for a private function, I can’t recommend this enough!
We didn’t want to waste precious Christmas party time with a sit-down meal, so we took advantage of the fact that you can enter the park at 4pm with a Party ticket (even though the party itself doesn’t start until 7pm), and made a reservation for Skipper Canteen at 5pm. It gave us time to get a quick ride on the Jungle Cruise, fill our bellies and have the full five hours to enjoy MVMCP.
This was our first time at Skipper Canteen, and I was actually a little worried. I’m not always the most adventurous eater, but I was sure I’d be able to find something I’d like. We actually booked this fairly last minute – about a week before we left for our trip.
Our names were called, and we were led to our table. The host showing us to our table was fantastic, and so in character. They pointed out a few of their favourite parts of the restuarant – like that one over there, and that one right there haha. He then circled around our table three times before telling us it was our table – Luke and I love the terrible sense of humour from the Jungle Cruise, so we followed him, walking circles around the same table before sitting down. Why go to Disney if you’re not going to participate in the fun, am I right?!
We were in the middle of the main room, which is a fun, lively room. We could see the hosts and hostesses leading in the other guests, and the clueless looks on some people’s faces were great hahaha – they clearly had no idea the theme of the place.
We didn’t wait long before our server, Tyler, arrived. He was also full of terrible puns while he went over the menu with us. It’s not a huge menu, and it’s very straight forward – beverages, appetizers and entrees.
First up of course – the drinks! Even though this is one of the few locations in Magic Kingdom that offer alcohol, I just wasn’t feeling it and decided on one of the specialty non-alcoholic options. Behold, the Schweitzer Slush – frozen apple juice and passion fruit topped with bursting green apple boba balls, first concocted by the noted explorer and humanitarian, Dr. Albert Slush, $6.50. As seen in the picture, I was also crazy and ordered a glass of water – I was getting pretty wild tonight!
This was really good! It was very sweet, so you have to like sugar – luckily I’m all about my sweet drinks! My biggest complaint – those damn paper straws that turn soggy way too quickly. I might have used a spoon to scoop out a bunch of the boba balls, then drank the actual drink right from the glass….
Luke was feeling like a beer, and decided on a Blue Moon – $7.75
This was a beer he’s had before, it tastes like beer and he likes it. Not really a lot to say about it haha.
We decided to try one of the appetizers, and went for Orinoco Ida’s Cachapas – and you thought our jokes were corny! House made corn pancakes, mojo-braised pork, black bean salad and avocado cream – $11.
I wasn’t sure I’d like these at all – but there weren’t very many black beans on it so I was easily able to scrape those off along with the onions and tomatoes. The house-made corn pancakes were excellent, and the avocado cream was a nice, light accompaniment with each bite. The pork looks kind of dry and boring in the picture, but it was very good as well! I’ve been trying to push myself to at least try lots of different food lately, and I’m really glad I tried this – I liked it so much I insisted on ordering it again the next time we went to Skipper Canteen.
For my main entree, I did decide to keep it safe, and ordered the Hardy Har Char Siu Pork – char siu-marinated pork served with seasonal vegetables and jasmine rice – $24
Now that I’m looking at my pictures, I definitely did not get any seasonal vegetables, which is odd. I always feel like I could use more vegetables on every Disney trip, so that’s not something I would have asked them to leave off my plate. At the moment, I was hungry and very excited about Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, so I didn’t even notice to bring it up with our server.
As for the taste – this was fine. The pork was good, but honestly a bit too much sauce for my taste. The rice was also good – but it was just standard jasmine rice. The price is honestly quite outrageous for a dish like this (and I’m not usually one to complain about Disney pricing). But $24 for a scoop of rice and a few tiny little pork chops? Thank goodness we had a Tables in Wonderland card to ease the cost of that a little bit…
Luke made the better meal choice here, and went for the A Lot at Steak Salad – We’re betting it all on this one! Grilled steak, romaine lettuce, spring mix, pickled jalapenos, red onions, queso fresco and pumpkin seeds tossed in a chimichurri vinaigrette – $19
He ordered his steak medium or medium-well, and whichever one he chose he was happy with. I did steal some of the more well-done pieces and agreed that it was a delicious salad (minus the yucky jalapenos and onions haha).
Luke took a picture of me with my food – and my plate looks so sad an empty despite not having eaten a bite of it at this point….
We passed on dessert – nothing was really calling our name, and we knew we’d have a few cookies at MVMCP.
Our total bill came to $70.44 after applying our TIW card. We had already come out ahead on our Tables card on our wedding trip, so every little bit we saved on this trip was just a bonus!
Overall, we really enjoyed Skipper Canteen, and we did end up returning on our next Disney trip (May 2019). It is a place that we will absolutely return again on another future trip!
