This place was on Luke’s list, so we found room to fit in a trip to their breakfast buffet (while also having a bit of a sleep-in day). We called an Uber to take us from Old Key West over to Fort Wilderness – and upon entering Fort Wilderness the Uber driver managed to get incredibly lost. After driving around the campground for about ten minutes, we found ourselves back at the main entrance – so we just hopped out and caught an internal bus to take us back to the Pioneer Hall area where the restaurant is located. It would have been much faster if we had just hopped out and done that as soon as we arrived – live and learn I guess.
We made it there for our 9:45am reservation and checked in. We only had to wait a few minutes before we were called and led to our table. Breakfast is a buffet, so after giving our waitress our drink orders (coffee for Luke, a Coke for me because #vacation), we headed up for our first tour of the buffet.
I wasn’t very hungry, so my plate looked a little boring – a warm pecan cinnamon roll that was covered in a buttery-syrupy-type sauce, tater tots, breakfast hash(hash browns and beef I think), biscuit and sausage gravy, grapes, strawberries and watermelon, a single random piece of deli meat I guess? and a mini corn muffin.
I was also clearly really lazy this morning, and didn’t take a single picture of the buffet or even the restaurant itself…
My food was fine. It was mainly standard breakfast fare on the buffet – which is definitely not my thing. I don’t really like eggs, or bacon, and I’d be happy with something small like a cookie to hold me over until lunch. But, Luke loves breakfast, and since I loved him enough to marry him, I suffer through breakfast just for him.
Luke’s first plate – deli meat, sausage, cheesy eggs, pulled pork, tater tots, bacon, smoked salmon and a hard boiled egg.
Luke also hit up the “Create-your-own yogurt parfait”, and got a bowl of plain yogurt and topped it with chocolate chips, craisins, coconut and walnuts.
Luke was very impressed by the size of the selection on the buffet here, and he really liked his food.
I did go back up for a second plate – more tater tots and breakfast potatoes, a biscuit with gravy and another amazing corn muffin (if you’ve ever been to Hoop dee doo, this is the same cornbread!), and I also grabbed some more fruit. Very boring, but as you can see I like bread products and potatoes haha.
Luke also went up to have a second plate, but I didn’t actually take a picture of it – I was really failing at blogging on this day….
This place is actually one of the best values on property – at this point, it was only $22 per person for breakfast. I’m sure we will make the trip back over there again at some point on a future trip – maybe to try out their supper buffet…
Tables in Wonderland original cost: $150 Break Even Point Before this meal: $97.58 Savings this Meal: $8.80 Total Until Breaking Even: $88.78
Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip) Estimated Cost of this meal: $42.60 Actual Cost: $37.49 Over/Under: Under by $5.11 Remaining: $2011.46
A restaurant that had been on my radar for awhile was Liberty Tree Tavern, and we finally found space to fit it into our schedule. It was very busy when we checked in, so we went outside and watched the Muppet show around the corner. Eventually, our names were called – but it was over half an hour past our reservation time. This seems to be a somewhat common occurrence at this restaurant – I don’t know if they overbook it, or don’t book the tables for a long enough period of time – but it’s a little thing I find very annoying. If I show up 15 minutes late to a reservation, Disney can cancel it and charge me a no-show fee, but it’s ok for them to keep me waiting 30-60 minutes past my reservation time?
Anyways, enough complaining. I hadn’t really ate up to that point in the day, so I think I was just a bit hangry haha. We were led to our table – a four-top in the first room on the right hand side. I know they’ve named each room after different presidents, but I can’t remember now what the name of our room was – not that it makes your experience any different.
Since we had a four-top for just the two of us, Frederick the AT-AT even got his own chair. Hey – if I was going to lug this thing around all day, I was going to make it worthwhile with pictures of him!
Once seated, the meal moved quickly. Our server came to take our drink orders – a Coke for me (included in the cost of the meal), and a Press Pot Coffee for Luke, $8.
Our basket of rolls appeared quickly, and they were delicious (all white bread is delicious to me). They were slightly warm, and the butter was really nice and soft and easy to spread.
Our salad arrived next: Declaration Salad – tossed mixed greens with house-made dressing. I never feel like I eat enough vegetables at Disney, so it’s always nice when it’s included with my meal! Luke and I polished this off no problem – he got to eat all those yucky onions sitting on top haha.
Before too long, our server arrived with the Patriot’s Platter – roast turkey breast, pot roast, oven roasted pork, mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, herb stuffing and house-made mac and cheese. They also bring you a gravy boat to pour over your food, and a side of cranberry sauce.
I’m not sure why they bother saying “seasonal vegetables” – it’s Disney, so they always just serve green beans…
This was all so good! I still don’t understand the love affair with Mac and cheese – I always try a bite of it when it’s offered, but I rarely go back for a second bite. I guess it’s just not my thing. The meat was great though, as were the mashed potatoes and stuffing. The green beans were pretty standard Disney beans, but we still ate them. We were clearly hungry, and actually managed to put an impressive dent into the platters of food!
As much as we stuffed ourselves – we did remember to leave room for dessert – the famous Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake – vanilla cake with gooey toffee filling, caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.
While we were eating, I was texting my Dad and sending him pictures of our meal. He was actually at the airport on a layover, heading towards Orlando that night!
This was so good, definitely worth all the hype! We returned here for another meal on a trip after this, and the presentation of the dessert had changed, and they only gave a tiny little piece of the Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake (along with two other options) – but they were more than happy to bring us a more sizeable piece when asked. This dessert is almost worth the entire meal to me, it’s one of my favourite sweet things I’ve ate at Disney!
Tables in Wonderland original cost: $150 Break Even Point Before this meal: $77.92 Savings this Meal: $15.60 Total Until Breaking Even: $62.32
Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip) Estimated Cost of this meal: $74.55 Actual Cost: $66.46 Over/Under: Under by $8.09 Remaining: $1494.74
Crew’s Cup Lounge, located directly beside Yachtsman Steakhouse at the Yacht Club had been on our list of places we wanted to try, and we decided to finally make it happen.
We arrived just after 4:40pm (it opens at 4:30) and we had no trouble finding a table. The server immediately brought us over menus and a bowl of… snacks? I don’t actually know what to call these, but they were delicious! They were basically fancier bar nuts – I ate them, loved them, but couldn’t actually name what anything was beside peanuts – corn nuts maybe? Other…nuts? (we’ve been back to Crew’s Cup since this, and this was never an option again sadly)
I wasn’t feeling like alcohol, so I ordered a Watermelon Lemonade – Odwalla lemonade and watermelon topped with lemon-lime foam, $4.79
This is available at most table service locations on property, and it’s really good! I love sweet drinks, and this fits that description. I’ve had it multiple times since then, and it’s been good every time.
Luke ordered the Ultimate Long Island Iced Tea – Bacardi Superior Rum, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Hendrick’s Gin, Corazón Blanco Tequila, Cointreau, and Sweet-and-Sour with a splash of Coca-Cola $11.50
Neither one of us remember anything about it, so it clearly wasn’t very special, but Luke did finish it…
Luke immediately knew what he wanted, the item he had come for – the Crew Burger – cheddar cheese, bacon, regatta sauce, shoe string onions on house-made toasted bun served with french fries, $18
The lettuce and tomato came served on the side, so you could add them to the burger yourself (which Luke did). Here’s a picture of it all loaded up –
(Also, Luke apparently got a glass of water at some point).
Luke LOVED this burger, and declared it the best burger he’d ever eaten on Disney property (as of that point, he’s had a few since then that have edged above it).
I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat, and I felt like being a little piggy – so I ordered two things off the menu. Item #1 was the Yachtsman Signature Bread – sourdough, pull-apart onion rolls, roasted garlic and salted butter, $7
These are the same rolls they serve next door at Yachtsman Steakhouse for free, but we didn’t have any plans to eat there on this trip and I really wanted to try them after hearing great things. I don’t like onions, but I’m ok with onion-flavouring, toasted onions, etc (it’s the texture of a raw/cooked onion that throws me off). These pull-apart rolls were amazing! Especially if you smeared it with a bit of that roasted garlic, which was as soft and spreadable as the salted butter beside it. I love sourdough, and this stuff was good – it just paled in comparison to the onion rolls.
My attention was also drawn to the Baked Cheese Dip – manchego and parmesan, house chorizo, peppers, artichoke hearts, pretzel bread, $13, so I ordered that as my second item.
This was rich! Really great flavours, but I couldn’t even half of it – it’s a lot of cheese, and I do try to watch my dairy intake. The pretzel bread was great, it was served warm and was the perfect density to rip pieces off for dipping into the cheese. I did pack this up to go, and ate it for bed lunch one night in our hotel room!
This lounge does not offer Annual Passholder discounts, but they do accept Tables in Wonderland.
Tables in Wonderland original cost: $150 Break Even Point Before this meal: $88.78 Savings this Meal: $10.86 Total Until Breaking Even: $77.92
Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip) Estimated Cost of this meal: $73.49 Actual Cost: $46.26 Over/Under: Under by $27.23 Remaining: $1965.20
We arrived early at the Contemporary for Highway in the Sky, so we decided to check out the hotel for a bit. We knew we’d have plenty to eat during Highway, but we were feeling a bit hungry and decided to check out Contempo Cafe. This quick service location is located on the fourth floor of the Contemporary Resort, adjacent to Chef Mickey’s. As you sit and eat, you can watch the monorail come through the building which is quite entertaining. This quick service can get a little loud, since Chef Mickey’s is a lively character buffet, but the noise isn’t a huge deal to us.
We decided to just share something, and ordered the Meat Flatbread – Italian sausage, pepperoni and Nueske’s bacon topped with mozzarella, $11.49 (on the current menu, it no longer lists this as a flatbread, I believe they might now be using regular pizza crust).
This was good! The crust was nice and crispy, there was lots of cheese and it really hit the spot! I’ve obviously had better pizzas, but for a quick serve location – I’d order this again. Now I’m craving pizza…
For drinks, I had a bottle of Coke, $2.99, and Luke had a Schofferhoffer Grapefruit beer, $9. This is the same beer they sell in the German Pavilion at Epcot, and it’s very light – even I’m ok with the taste of it, and I hate beer!
We also decided we each needed dessert, everything looked so good in the display case!
Luke, to no surprise, went for the Peanut Butter Pie, $4.79.
He loved this! He’s talked about it more than once since this trip, but for some reason we didn’t make it back here on our next two trips after this one so he could have another one… This thing was huge, and filled with a peanut butter mousse-custard stuff. I’ve seen this described before as peanut butter cookie dough, and that’s actually a great description of it! It’s inside a crispy tart, drizzled with chocolate and topped with chocolate bits and crunchy balls. This is probably Luke’s favourite Disney quick service dessert.
The item that caught my eye was the Smores Brownie, $4.29
This was another huge dessert, with a chocolate brown base (shaped like Mickey, how cute!), topped with chocolate icing (almost fudge-like in its consistency), marshmallows, graham crumbs and drizzled with more chocolate. This was a chocolate lover’s paradise! I really enjoyed this!
Our total was $34.68 after tax – no discounts were accepted here unfortunately.
Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip) Estimated Cost of this meal: $26.61 (Capt’ Cooks breakfast) + $41.81 (Pecos Bills lunch) = $68.42 Actual Cost: $34.68 Over/Under: Under by $33.74 Remaining: $1910.33
We had read that there was a special Minnie’s Garden Party event in the Odyssey building just for the weekend (May 2-6, 2019), featuring a specialty dessert, free celebrations pins, a meet and greet with Minnie and a flower wall for selfies. The building typically sells Flower & Garden festival merchandise along with a few food offerings for the festival.
We decided to check it out, and received the free celebration pins as we entered. It was really quiet when we were in there, and there wasn’t a single person in the food line so bought one of the special desserts being offered for four days only (none of the regular food offerings in here interested us). Look at how gorgeous this is (and how cute the free pins were)!
Just because it’s the prettiest dessert ever, here’s another picture of it:
This was sold as Minnie’s Garden Party Dessert – $7 according to the sign, with no description provided. The bottom layer was a carrot cake base topped with cheesecake and the dome on top was filled with whipped cream. The flowers, dome, bow and ears were all made with white chocolate, and the ears were topped with sugar crystals. This isn’t the best picture, but here’s what it looked like inside:
The dome housing the whipped cream was quite hard and difficult to break through, so we just tipped it over and scooped the whipped cream out. Neither one of us really care for white chocolate, so we didn’t eat many of the decorations past a little nibble (the sunflower, ears, etc.). But the flavours of cheesecake and carrot cake worked so well together! I wish this was served as a dessert all the time somewhere on property, I’d be all over that – and I don’t need all the frilly details that make this so pretty! Just give me a straight piece of carrot cake topped with classic cheesecake and I’d be very happy!
I’m definitely glad we tried this, it was exactly the sweetness we were craving by this point of the day. It wasn’t huge, but it was a good sharing size since we didn’t want to ruin our supper.
I knew I would be purchasing a refillable popcorn bucket for the trip, and we’d always been intrigued by the variety of flavours available at Epcot so when we felt peckish around 11am we headed over. This particular popcorn cart is located close to Journey into Imagination with Figment, and had the option of three different kinds – Sour Cream & Chive, Buffalo Bleu Cheese and Cheddar.
I wasn’t overly excited about any of the current specialty popcorn buckets, and decided I’d be fine with one of the regular refillable ones (and I wasn’t fussy about the colour – whatever one they gave me was perfectly fine). The refillable buckets cost $10, but they allow you to get refills for only $2 – a regular popcorn costs $5, so if you plan on purchasing popcorn at least three times on your trip you will save money!
We had walked over with the intention of getting the Buffalo Bleu Cheese popcorn, but we changed our minds at the last minute and opted for the Sour Cream & Chive instead. And it was so good! I would definitely pick up this flavour again! We split this, and didn’t even finish it all. The best part about these refillable buckets is the lid – we were able to snap the lid on, and finish it later in the day!
One of Luke’s favourite restaurants on our December 2018 trip was Kona Cafe for breakfast, and he was quick to request a return on the May trip. We booked an early reservation (7:45am), and caught a Lyft over to the Polynesian from OKW.
I love the Polynesian – we will stay here one day! It’s so beautiful (but just a little out of our price range) –
We headed upstairs and checked in. It was still early, so we only waited a minute or two before being called and led to our table.
We both knew exactly what we wanted to order – the exact food we had ordered in December!
Luke went for the Seven Seas Samoan – poached eggs with citrus hollandaise sauce on pulled pork and turkey hash with mustard greens and tomatoes tossed in a citrus vinaigrette -$14
Luke loved this – he tends to order whatever version of a benedict is on a menu, and this is one of his favourite ones. The mustard greens is basically just arugula. It doesn’t look like a huge portion (and it isn’t), but it’s very rich and contains a perfect mix of sweet, savory and salty with a bit of of freshness added in from the greens.
He also ordered the Freshly Brewed Joffrey’s Coffee Hawaiian Kona Maragogype Press Pot – $9.5
I don’t drink coffee, but according to Luke this is one of the better ones available on property – in his words “it’s smooth and has great flavour”.
I went for the famous Tonga Toast – banana stuffed french toast rolled in cinnamon sugar and served with a strawberry compote and your choice of ham, spiced ham, bacon or sausage – $16
They brought over a plate with condiments – butter, ketchup, maple syrup and strawberry compote.
It’s all about that strawberry compote on the tonga toast! It’s a huge piece of sourdough bread, stuffed with bananas and coated in cinnamon sugar after being fried – I barely put a dent in this before I was full, but it’s so good! It’s a large serving, and I could easily share it with someone.
Total Cost was $37.87 after applying my 10% AP discount, and we will absolutely be back again on a future trip! Luke says that Kona is his favourite breakfast on property (but he might only be saying that to make Boma breakfast jealous…)
After another satisfying meal at Homecomin’, we took a leisurely stroll around Disney Springs. I didn’t take many pictures, but we enjoyed some window shopping and a very slow-paced evening. At one point we decided to stop for a beverage that was on our must-try list: the Mango Moscato wine slushy from Amorette’s Patisserie, $9.
This was so good! I don’t love mango flavour, but I do love moscato! I’m a huge fan of all these new adult slushies that are popping up everywhere – it’s a trend I can definitely get behind! We enjoyed this so much – it was not the only one we had on this trip 🙂
Yes, we had just ate there the night before – but that didn’t stop us from going back again! Originally, our plan was to meet up with Billie, Sarah, Ariane and Steve there, they had a reservation at the exact same time as us. But then we were gifted the amazing present of a VIP tour for that day so plans were changed. We didn’t think we’d have time to actually make it to our reservation (since there were a few options for start times for the tour thrown around), but I decided to hold onto the reservation anyways. We ended up finishing our tour around 3:45 giving us lots of time to get to Disney Springs for a 5pm reservation!
We arrived, checked in and didn’t wait long before receiving the text that our table was ready. As we entered, I did a quick scan of the restaurant – unfortunately no Chef Art Smith in attendance tonight. Also no table by the window, instead we were at the same 2-top table right behind the hostess stand where we’d sat before on a previous trip.
Our waiter came over and asked if this was our first time eating at Homecomin’ ( obviously we told him no) – he then asked when was the last time we had ate there – he laughed when we told him yesterday. I believe his exact comment was something along the lines of “perfect! I don’t need to go over the menu with you guys!”.
Of course the first item to take care of when you’re at Homecomin’ is the drinks! We decided to switch it up from the day before, and Luke ordered The Local – RumHaven coconut water rum, lime, simple syrup and fresh pineapple $12 and I decided to try the Blood Orange Madras – blood orange moonshine, freshly muddled strawberries, pineapple puree and cranberry juice $12.
The Local was nothing really special, but Luke did enjoy it (he really likes pineappley-coconuty tasting things). He probably wouldn’t get it again, just because there’s so many unique, fantastic drinks on the menu at Homecomin’. My drink was delicious though! I believe it’s a limited time offering, but I’m sure it’ll be back again at some point!
We decided to skip the appetizers tonight, and try something different for our main entrees. Luke went for the Fried Chicken Salad – crispy fried chicken over mixed greens, pecan-smoked bacon, egg, heirloom cherry tomatoes, red onion and cucumber tossed with icebox dressing, cheddar biscuit croutons and fresh herbs $18
The icebox dressing was the same as the stuff drizzled on his house-made chips that were served with his Cuban sandwich (so he knew he liked it). Of course the chicken is great, and Luke ate all of this. It’s a great salad for those days when you want to pretend you’re a healthy eater haha….
I decided to cheat on my beloved fried chicken, and ordered the Braised Short Ribs – this fancy “pot roast” is made by slow-cooking boneless beef short ribs until they are fork tender. Served over creamy mashed potatoes with a demi-glace sauce and French green beans $30
This was my short ribs meal #1 of the trip – but definitely not my last! This was very good, but I do think I’ll stick to the chicken when I’m at Homecomin’ from now because I missed it haha. The mashed potatoes are always amazing, but the green beans were just ok – I like mine cooked a bit more than these ones (a little too al dente for my taste). They weren’t lying about the beef being fork tender though, you did not need a knife for it! Delicious!
Luke decided we needed dessert – but we figured we could share one tonight and ordered the giant slice of Hummingbird Cake – the famous pineapple-banana cake with cream cheese frosting from Chef Art’s bestselling book “Back to the Table”. Served with seasonal fruit gastrique and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream $12
This is a huge serving – I don’t know how one person could eat an entree and this by themselves – but it’s the perfect size for sharing! I don’t even really care for pineapple, but this is good. I’d still put the Pecan Pie as my favourite dessert here, but there’s really not a wrong option…
According to the picture I took of our bill, Luke ordered another Blue Hooch at some point. I didn’t take a picture of it, so enjoy this picture I had from when he ordered one during our meal the night before:
Out total bill came to $96.92 after applying my Annual Pass discount of 10% (before tip), and it was another great experience at our favourite restaurant <3
We had attended a Highway in the Sky event during our wedding trip back in January 2018, and absolutely loved it! We knew it wouldn’t be something that interested my Dad, so we skipped it on our December 2018 trip, but we knew we wanted to do it on this trip. I don’t remember exactly when we booked it, it was not available at the usual 180 day mark, but we just kept checking and as soon as the calendar showed our dates we locked in. You do have to pay in full at the time of booking, and it’s not a cheap option at $179/person – but I really enjoy it.
After we booked Highway in the Sky (I’m just going to abbreviate that to HITS from now on because I’m lazy and don’t want to keep typing out the full thing haha), we realized we had scheduled it for a day when we were moving hotels. We packed our HITS outfits in our backpacks and once arriving at Magic Kingdom for the day, rented a locker to shove everything into. Around 4:30, we went back to the locker and changed in the bathroom just outside the park by guest services. I had a few strange looks as I stood in front of a mirror putting on makeup in a floor-length dress haha. I also had a casualty, and dropped my favourite red lipstick, shattering its glass tube across the floor 🙁
Once we were ready, we re-entered Magic Kingdom to use our
third Fastpass of the day – to meet Celebration Mickey & Minnie! I
initially planned it this way, so we could meet them while looking fancy! It
was such a fantastic meet-and-greet, Mickey was very upset that Luke didn’t
have a bowtie on like he did, so he went over and ripped one off the Mickey
tuxedo decorating the room. The cast members were doubled over laughing as
Mickey proudly held a giant yellow bowtie out for Luke.
After our fantastic meet with the two main mice, we made the quick 10 minute walk over to the Contemporary hotel. Check-in is at the Wave, which is located on the first floor just past the check-in counter. We actually ended up being quite early, and were the first people to arrive. We found a seat in the little alcove to the side of the check-in desk and did what any great millennial couple does – sat side-by-side in complete silence looking at our phones haha. It wasn’t long before other couples began arriving, and the cast members showed up at 5:30 exactly. Luke went up and checked us in, and collected our lanyards and buttons. When you book Highway, you will receive a phone call about a week prior asking about food restrictions, so Luke had let them know I don’t eat seafood of any kind, so they also gave me a piece of paper with this stated on it to give to our server during the entrée portion of our evening. A cast member also took Luke out to bell services at the Contemporary so they could hold onto our park backpacks for the evening. I’ve heard the area where we were sitting referred to as the “blue room” – possibly due to the crazy blue hue my pictures have hahaha
Once everyone had arrived and checked in, a manager from the Wave (or the Contemporary dining team? I honestly don’t remember) greeted us and told us a bit about the hotel/restaurants located in the hotel. She also described the drink and first item we would be tasting on the evening – a pea soup with truffle oil and a drink with gin. I didn’t like the soup at all, but I’ve never liked pea soup. Luke loved it, and gladly ate my serving as well. The drink was delicious though! I wish it was on a regular menu somewhere, but it was a specialty drink just for Highway. It had cucumbers and strawberries, and maybe club soda? I took terrible notes during this meal haha. The most important thing is that the drink was tasty, and my glass was empty way too quickly. Both the drink and the soup were different than what we’d had on our first time doing HITS. (Also, not sure how I was able to get an actual decent picture of our drink, and such a terrible one of the little soup sample…)
While we sat in the Blue Room by the Wave, we started chatting with the couple who had sat on stools in front of us. They were a really lovely couple from New York named Wayne and Karen who had been married over 30 years. We ended up talking to them quite a bit over the course of the evening, and Karen and I are now Facebook friends – which makes sense since this trip was all about friendship and food! (hi Karen!)
Eventually, once of the cast members came around to let us
know it was time to leave. We had to go through security at the Contemporary to
get onto the monorail, but it was the only time we needed to go through
security that evening (which is why wearing the lanyard you received at
check-in is important). The cast members are actually in contact with the
monorail drivers throughout the night, so it is always sitting there waiting
for the Highway in the Sky group (which minimizes the time spent standing
around waiting for it). They also hold the entire front car for just the group,
so you never have to worry about finding a spot while on this tour.
Our next stop was the Polynesian. I don’t love the location for this, it’s literally just a roped off area just inside the doors from the monorail. They have improved the seating from our last time doing this however – our first time on this tour they only had high-top standing-only square tables. This time they had a mix of high-top and normal tables, but all had chairs/stools to sit on. Each place setting had a lei to wear, and in my opinion the food was better this time. (PS: our 5 year old neighbour found the lei and thought it was the greatest thing in the world, and proudly wore it home from our place haha)
The drink is a standard (but stiff!) Mai-tai (same as last
time).
Cheers to a great night!
Since I had no seafood marked for my name, my plate of small bites was slightly different than Luke’s. Starting with Luke’s (the more standard plate), it contained tuna poke , tuna ceviche with a shrimp crisp, and beef filet and roasted potatoes.
My plate had a chicken stir-fry with noodles, a fruit ceviche and the same beef/potatoes Luke had. The noodles were a bit dry, but the stir-fry did have water chestnuts so that made me very excited (I love those so much, even though they don’t really taste like anything, just whatever sauce is on them). The fruit was nice (and it had boba balls!), and the beef and few bites of potatoes were quite good – but it’s difficult to go wrong with potatoes in my eyes!
Again, while our food was being brought around to our table, a manager from the food and beverage division of the Polynesian talked to us about the hotel itself. He mentioned the various restaurants, Trader Sam’s, etc. Luke and I have never stayed at the Poly, but we’re actually quite well versed in the food options there haha.
Eventually, we were given the 5 minute warning and we
finished up our small plates and drinks before heading outside again to catch
the monorail again.
Our next stop was at the Grand Floridian. We were led over
to Citricos, where they had pre-assigned us to tables. The food provided here
is meant to serve as your main entrée for the evening, and it always seems to
be a surf-and-turf. On this particular night, it was Red Snapper and Beef Short
Ribs. Since I had asked for no seafood (and I was far from the only one with
this request), they gave me a double serving of beef. There were also mashed
potatoes on each plate under the beef, and some green stuff under the fish (or
in my case, my second chunk of short ribs haha).
I’ve been on a huge short ribs kick lately, and these ones were so good! Fall-apart with a fork tender, and the sauce on top was delicious. Also – insider tip – if you want to keep me happy, just feed me any variety of potato, I love them all. Luke also really enjoyed his fish. Since it’s something I won’t eat, we rarely have anything like that in our house, so it’s like an extra special treat when he does get properly prepared nice cuts of fish.
While our food was being served, our waiter came around pouring each person a glass of either red or white wine. I’m not much of a wine person, but I didn’t hate the white wine they served me. Luke opted for the red, and thought it was good. We had already drank some before I took this picture- they are conservative with the pours, but not as bad as it looks from this picture.
There was also a basket of bread on each table with some nice soft butter (you can see the butter in the picture with our wine).
Once we finished eating, the cast members with our group directed us downstairs to the Tea Room for our fourth course.
They again had assigned seats with names on each table. This course was a cheese/charcuterie plate and a glass of sparkling wine (I believe it was Fairy Tale Cuvee, which is the most common “champagne” I’ve seen on Disney property, and something which we had at our wedding because it was included with our package). Each person had their own plate of cheese and meats, with a shared plate containing little baguette slices.
I don’t like pickles or blue cheese, so those were immediately scraped onto Luke’s plate. Same for the mustard seeds, those were pushed off to the side. I really enjoy the honeycomb, and the meats and soft cheese were all decent. I’m honestly not a huge cheese/charcuterie person – give me a slab of plain ‘ol marble cheese and I’m happy 🙂 I did overall enjoy this course though!
Our table was directly beside Wayne and Karen’s, so we took a few pictures for them, and they returned the favour 🙂
Once we finished up, we went back upstairs to wait for the monorail. I pointed out the characters hidden in the floor to a few people, I just love all the little details around the Disney property 💕 I think I might be been feeling the effects of all the alcohol we’d drank already, these pictures were supposed to be of the characters on the floor, but I completely missed them all haha… I guess you can kind of see Goofy on the far left side in the first one?
While we were waiting for the monorail, I noticed that the couple we’d been talking to during the Citricos portion of the night was checking out things at Basin. They were a newly engaged young couple from England, and I immediately knew what they had to buy. I ran in to show George and Jade the bride and groom soap – it smells amazing, and it’s so cute! I had bought a slice of it during our wedding trip, and I still haven’t brought myself to use it haha. Just look how adorable it is:
Once the monorail arrived, we boarded for the last time and headed back to our starting hotel – the Contemporary. They had roped off the left side fourth floor observation deck for our group – which is the side with the permanent benches facing the Magic Kingdom. It’s a really nice location, the monorail goes right overhead, you can see the Castle and Space Mountain all lit up, and they had added some high-top tables for our group.
There was a selection of desserts and drinks to enjoy. Drinks included cans of pop (or soda for you Americans haha), coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc. and there was an option to add Bailey’s, Frangelico or Kahula. I’m not really into hot drinks (I never drink coffee), so I just grabbed a can of Coke. Luke had a coffee and Baileys – I don’t have a picture since it was just a standard to-go cup and a regular can. There were three desserts – Organic Chocolate Flourless Cake, Key Lime Cheesecake Bar and Florida Strawberry Shortcake ,and of course I had to try all three!
I really liked all three of these! I think my favourite was the chocolate cake – I love the denseness of flourless cake.
It was a beautiful evening, and it was so nice to just enjoy the view and the snacks. About ten minutes after we arrived, the opening notes of Happily Ever After started (yes, they pipe the music in for the 4th floor balcony), and we settled in for the show. The projections obviously are not visible from that far away, but the fireworks are! I’ve seen this show multiple times, and I love it so much <3
After Happily Ever After ended, Karen asked us if we could get some pictures, along with Jade and George and another couple who’s names I forget.
The cast members brought over our final food item of the night – a small box of chocolate truffles. I ended up not eating mine until we got back to Canada (which is also when I took these pictures of them sitting on my Wall-E cutting board).
It was another amazing experience at Highway in the Sky, and we would absolutely go to this again. I don’t know if it’s something we need to do on every single trip since it is pricey, but it’s such a fun evening!
We decided to extend our evening, and invited George and Jade to join us for a drink at Trader Sam’s, since they had never been.
