A Salute To All Things Disney, But Mostly Food - A Feb 15 Dining Report - That's a Wrap 7/18

[kastoney]

Yay! Loved your last report.

Thanks so much. Hope you enjoy this one. I know I loved the eating of it all.

Joining in.

Glad to have ya

I'm in for the next report!

Thanks for being my guest ; )

Aw yeah ... my foodie twin and NoVA BFF! I'm in!

Hey there Nova buddy. Lovely weather we are having, huh?

Joining in! Loved your last DR!

Ah, thanks so much. Hope you enjoy.

Following! Love the title. I'm a sucker for a good old Pirates and Pals reference

Gonna have to admit I didn't know about the Pirates and pals connection. Though we did get to walk by Peter as he was disembarking from his pirates cruise at the contemporary.

 

[kastoney]

Following!!

Thanks for coming along on my food journey

Whoo hoo!! Can't wait read all about it

Thanks Lori. Hope you enjoy.

All subbed up. Loved your prior report.

Aww, you like me, you really like me ; )

Following along

Welcome to the food party

Yay i'm here! Very excited to see what you think of Flying Fish and Artist Point! Love those restaurants so much!

Thanks for joining in. Love flying fish and artist point too, though one was a disappointment this time. I'll have to keep ha guessing on which.

Excited to read your report! We are going that week next year, our first time going in February. I'm interested to hear how it was then!

Thanks so much. The weather was a mixed bag, but better than our January trip last year. Crowds weren't too bad, but not as light as September

 

[jabead]

Yay!! Count me in! What a cute photo of Casey.

 

[DawnFeiss]

I'm in for round 2 loved the last one can't wait for this one. Happy birthday Casey!!

 

[TeresaNJ]

I'm here, patiently waiting!

 

[heathsf]

I finally finished your last report and now I'm here! And I passed my glucose test so bring on the food porn!!!

 

[Adgie128]

I'm here after reading your first report and loving it.

Looking forward to all your reviews and your pictures!

 

[ach222]

Joining in!

 

[sunnysideup3]

I'm in! Sounds delish and I love a side of sarcasm!

 

[MouseKitty]

Looking forward to following along! Sigh, food and Disney, two of the best things in life!

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

So glad to see you're doing another DR Kari!

 

[kastoney]

Yay!! Count me in! What a cute photo of Casey.

Hi Barb! I'll be sure to tell Casey you like her picture ; ) Hope you enjoy.

I'm in for round 2 loved the last one can't wait for this one. Happy birthday Casey!!

Thanks so much. We'll get this party started soon.

I'm here, patiently waiting!

Thanks for your patience ; )

I finally finished your last report and now I'm here! And I passed my glucose test so bring on the food porn!!!

Glad to hear you passed the test. This one will test that glucose too ; )

I'm here after reading your first report and loving it. Looking forward to all your reviews and your pictures!

Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy, I certainly enjoyed eating it.

 

[kastoney]

Joining in!

Thanks for following along. Got your trip report book marked so I can catch up!

I'm in! Sounds delish and I love a side of sarcasm!

Sides are sarcasm really are delightful aren't they ; )

Looking forward to following along! Sigh, food and Disney, two of the best things in life!

Yep, food and disney make the perfect pairing. Hope you enjoy!

So glad to see you're doing another DR Kari!

Thanks Rachel!

 

[kastoney]

Everybody, let's get into it, get stupid, Get it Started, Get it STARTED, Get IT STARTED!!! LET'S GET IT STARTED IN HERE....

And away we go. As I said in my intro this trip was to celebrate Casey's 4th birthday. Her actual b-day is 21 February, but we weren't leaving until the next day. So what's any good parent to do???? Ignore her birthday of course and pretend its the next day. Considering she has no concept of time yet, except for things taking "forever", we figured she'd be none the wiser. So on Casey's actual birthday we had a relaxing snow day at home and she was completely oblivious it was 1. Her Birthday and 2. We were headed to Disney the next day.

So come her "birthday" we woke her up at 0 Dark Thirty and told her we were going to IHOP for her birthday. My parents take her all the time and this kid loves her some funny face pancakes and bacon, so she was jumping up and down at the notion of going to her favorite place with us for the first time. Lie firmly in place we headed toward the airport, which is only about 10 minutes from our house. As we pulled up in front of the terminal she quickly surmised we were at the airport and without missing a beat a sly little smile crossed her face and said are we going to disney world. She proceeded to do a little dance in her car seat and kept saying "I'm so Excited" (and she's not even a pointer sisters fan). My confident now 4 year old also declared she just knew we'd go to disney for her b-day and stated we could skip IHOP and just eat at Disney ; ) Sounds good to me.

I'll spare you all the details of our trip, but to say it was a debacle is being kind. Our wonderful airline - frontier - had 3 flights going out that morning and ONE agent working check-in. There were at least 300 people in a line that stretched the length of half the airport terminal and needless to say after being in line for almost 3 hours we missed our flight. Due to many circumstances - and of course my desire to actually get to Disney as i'd just promised my daughter - we ended up using some airlines miles and some more dough to secure seats on a United flight. Never will I attempt Frontier again, you definitely get what you pay for.

So on to what everyone is actually here for....FOOD. After a good flight and leaving snow and single digit temperatures behind for the warmth of Florida, we had an uneventful DME ride to our beloved Wilderness Lodge. Our room was not ready yet and we had about an hour to kill before the stroller rental peeps met us, so we decided to try a new restaurant for us....Whispering Canyon

It was a little after 1 at this point and we were able to walk-up to the restaurant with no ADR and get seated with about a 5 minute wait. They were doing some of their famous "horse" races as we were getting seated and I suddenly recalled the shenanigans that occur at the restaurant. With my big fat mouth primed and ready from our airport experience we were down for whatever they could bring, but our server was very nice and polite and never attempted any hijinks. Perhaps she'd read my previous dining report and didn't want to get into it with me ; )

We ordered some drinks, which came in these very cute mason jars..

Tired from our early morning, I elected ice tea vice the beer I really wanted. Betcha didn't know I had any restraint ; ) We waited to be brought some corn bread we saw on some of the other tables it, but it never came. I should have asked, but presumed it only came with the all you can eat platters those eating around us had ordered.

But our food was quick to come out after we ordered. Casey and I were splitting the House Smoked Turkey Sandwich which is smoked turkey served on Toasted Multigrain Bread with Arugula, Tomato, and Cranberry Mayonnaise served with French Fries. This was recommended by our waitress and is apparently smoked right outside the lodge.

The turkey was nice and pink, an indication of a good smoking, and had a great flavor. The cranberry mayo was a great accompaniment and added some sweetness to sandwich. Anyone who read my prior report knows I worship at the alter of arugula - so no surprise I was thrilled with the crunch and peppery flavor it brought to the table. The bread was not my fav - I think this is the same one they serve the lighthouse sandwich at Columbia Harbor House on - as its a little tough and the crust almost has a burnt flavor. The fries were thin and crispy, but unfortunately were also cold. Casey wasn't as thrilled with the cranberry mayo - but ate her entire part of the sandwich once I took it off. Apparently it was finger lickin' good...


Jason ordered the Slow Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich, which is served on a on a Brioche Roll with Cowboy-style Baked Beans, Barbecue Sauce, and Western Slaw served with Sweet Potato Fries.

We eat a lot of bbq and Jason does his own smoking at work so we have high barbecue standards and we were very surprised at just how good this sandwich was. The pork was moist and flavorful and there was a TON of it on the sandwich. I'm not usually a fan of cole slaw on the sandwich, but this one was creamy and had a good bite from vinegar that added nice crunch to the sandwich. As good as the sandwich was, their bakes beans were the best I'd ever had. They had both sweetness and heat and tons of bacon flavor. I'm gonna have to see if I can find their recipe somewhere as they eclipsed anything we've ever made. The sweet potato fries were good, but also cold.

Casey was rocking her birthday button (which she insisted on wearing all week, a girl after my own birthday heart), so the waitress brought her a cupcake and had the entire restaurant sing Happy Birthday to her. Again, not one to shy away from attention she ate it up. Literally and figuratively. I present to you birthday cupcake:

And of course licking of the candle:

I didn't try it, but Jason said it was very moist and of course Casey gave it a big thumbs up.

Overall, Whispering Canyon was a great first meal. Being able to walk right up was awesome and our server was very attentive, though I would have liked to get a feel for what all the craziness was all about. The food was "cheap" for disney standards as both of our meals were only $13.49. As much as we love to stay at Wilderness Lodge, I'm sure we'll be back for future trips.

With Tables in Wonderland we saved $6.89.

Up next a quick trip to Ep-A-Cot, some magic band drama, and trying out another Wilderness Lodge restaurant....​

 

[DLFan123]

I'm reading along. More magic band drama? I keep reading about it! We are about to make our first WDW trip since the Magic Bands. I'm more than a little nervous. I don't do well with big drama on my Disney trips!

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

There's nothing better than a child's reaction to a surprise trip to Disney World! I've become a master at it but it's getting harder as they get older and see me putting their clothes in a suitcase.

You've just described one of my traveling nightmares. Love your lesson learned but I'm not letting this ruin our trip attitude.

Glad you had a good lunch at WCC. Both yours and Jason's entrees were two I considered last time we ate there and it looks like I should have chosen one of them.

Happy belated Birthday to Casey!

 

[Pfau]

Yeaaaaah. No WAY will I ever fly Frontier. It's incredibly tempting as the prices are so low but I've only heard nightmares. If I had to wait three hours with my girls, there would have been a mutiny, for sure. So happy you all finally made it out.

 

[TeresaNJ]

Great start! Casey is too cute!

 

[vettegirl]

Frontier sounds like a nightmare! We are loyal to United and I will pay more to avoid what you went through. Onto WCC, the food looks so good. We had dinner there back in Feb 2013 and we loved it. The WL is beautiful and is on by resort bucket list to try.

 

[Adgie128]

Sorry to hear that your morning didn't start out so well, but at least it turned around once you got to WL. Major props for not needing all of the alcohol by the time you'd gotten to your resort. Cranberry mayo sounds yummy. I'm a big fan of the cranberry and turkey pairing, so probably would have enjoyed it.