While on the boat from Hollywood Studios over to Epcot, we noticed that a wedding was happening at Sea Breeze Point. We weren’t in a rush (we were still a few hours away from our 2pm meet-up time), so we got off the boat at the Beach/Yacht Club stop and went to be lurkeyloos at the wedding. I know, it’s weird, but I wanted to see if I recognized the bride from the Disney Wedding Facebook group I’m in (I didn’t instantly recognize her, but she was a member of the group). I was also excited to see the Landau Coach in person (we didn’t use purchase any of the upgraded transportation options for our wedding).
We didn’t hang around long before walking the short distance over to Epcot, and entered the park through the International Gateway. We turned right into France – I had one thing on my mind! I needed to try the La Vie en Rose slushy!
I wrote all about the food and drinks we had that day over here – if you’re interested in descriptions, prices and our thoughts 🙂
This drink was just so pretty, I took multiple photos of it haha –
And of course I had to take pictures of all the topiaries in the France Pavilion –
Since we were right there, and we still had time before our meet-up time, we decided to do something we’d never done before and headed in to see Impressions de France. I enjoy all of these films in the World Showcase, it’s a great way to learn about the country and it provides a nice break from the Florida sun.
We took some time to check out a few other topiaries as we headed towards Future World. While on the boat ride over from Hollywood Studios we had managed to grab a Fastpass for Soarin’ so we were headed there. We had purchased one of the Spike’s Pollen Nation Exploration maps (the scavenger hunt for the festival), so we were keeping an eye out for those as we wandered along.
Soarin’ was fantastic as always, but it was time to meet up with the group by the time we exited the ride. I checked my phone to see the messages that everyone had headed over to Odyssey Building due to imminient rain, so we began heading there. The sky was getting darker, which made for some great photos as we walked over.
As is the case on way too many mornings at Disney, we were awake extremely early, and by 7:30am we had already taken a Lyft over to the Polynesian hotel.
Every time we step into this lobby, we talk about how much we would love to stay here one day – it’ll happen someday!
Of course we were heading to a breakfast reservation at Kona Cafe, one of Luke’s favourite breakfast places on Disney property. Our reservation was at 7:45am (maybe one day we’ll sleep in while at Disney…). We checked in, and had another great meal here (click here to read all about it!).
After finishing up our meal, we headed out to the monorail. We rarely travel via monorail – but we do enjoy it! We were heading to Epcot, and this method of transportation was amazing – I loved the view of the Flower and Garden Festival as the monorail circled the park on its way to the station.
Before long, we found ourselves through the security check, and scanned into the park. I love Epcot so much, and we planned on spending quite a bit of time in this park on this trip, so we were not in any rush and took the time to soak up the atmosphere.
Of course I quickly spotted a photopass photographer, and made Luke stop for pictures with me. On our first trip, he grumbled about this a bit, but by this point he accepts it, knows how happy it makes me and will actually point out short photopass lines – I married a great one <3
Oh yes – today’s outfit! My pants are from the Disney line at Hot Topic, my shirt is the Rose Gold spirit jersey from the parks, and my hat was found at the Character Outlet on Vineland (originally sold in the parks). Luke skipped the Disney clothes and just wore his Mickey hat (which was purchased in the parks).
We made our way through the park, stopping to check out the topiaries as we went. I think I managed to snap a picture of every single one of them in the park throughout the course of our trip….
Since we were headed to Future World East, we decided to make a quick pit stop at MouseGears so I could grab my Annual Passholder magnet (based on the date, it was the Daisy one) – which I was very excited about! They scanned my AP, which let them know I had not received a Pluto one either – but they still had some left so I left with both!
As an out-of-country Annual Passholder, I have never received the AP magnet in the mail (despite having multiple AP’s over the past few years), and I can’t exactly stop in to the park every single time they release a new magnet – so I treasure these things! So, now you can understand my extreme disappointment/anger when I returned home, and found my Pluto magnet had been stolen from my checked bag. I had the two magnets stuck together, inside a pocket accessible only from the inside of my bag – Daisy was still there but no Pluto to be found anywhere, and a slip from TSA stating they had opened my bag. I’m sorry, but if it just “fell out”, they would have both been gone – I know for a fact they were stuck to one another. I contacted MCO and filed a missing claim, but of course nothing ever came of it. I also reached out to Disney and basically got a “sucks to be you” response. I wasn’t the only one on the Epic trip who had an item go missing from a checked bag either – so yes I am accusing someone who works at the MCO airport of stealing items and more than likely reselling them for profit on Ebay (these magnets are handed out for free – last I checked there are dozens of them listed on Ebay for $15 and up (plus $20-$30 in shipping costs to Canada). I know next time, any AP magnet will be going straight into my carry-on bag. Rant over.
But, back to May 3, 2019 before I knew one would go missing. I left the store so excited, and shared this picture on my social media before tucking them safely into Luke’s backpack.
Here is what our fastpass plans looked like for the day (and yes, that 3:30 one was timed intentionally to line up with the approximate time we’d be leaving the park, so we could hop on Spaceship Earth as we walked past it – and of course our plans are always subject to change haha) –
I stopped to snap a picture of this topiary before heading over to our first Fastpass:
We had timed it so we were towards the end of our fastpass window for Mission Space, allowing us to travel around the Earth on the green side of the motion simulator before walking straight over to our second fastpass on Test Track. We really don’t love Test Track (we’ve been to Disneyland multiple times, Radiator Springs racers is FAR superior) – but we do enjoy building the most ridiculous vehicle possible haha.
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) Estimated Cost of this meal: $77.75 Actual Cost: $42.60 (mine and Luke’s only – Dad gave me cash for his meal afterwards) Over/Under: Under by $35.15 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!
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
