Mickey Waffles Zero; Cucumbers are my Heroes! A September AND December 2020 Dining Report *Festival of the Holidays 1/31*

[CruellaNY]

Well, danq it! That's just a doqqon shame!

Hey, you have the same issue!

Yay, I'm glad you came back to wrap this trip up And even more excited for your birthday trip report to come!! I'll cross my fingers for Steve's shrimp skewer!!

I'm loving being back! It's funny, interesting and I guess maybe sad lol to realize how much satisfaction one gets from being on the DIS. But hey, anything that brings us satisfaction these days we should just DO!

 

[pkondz]

Hey, you have the same issue!

Oh, lady... I have issues all right.

Ask anyone who's ever met me!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I know having a trip to look forward to is helping all the people I "work" with!

I can imagine! I hope things are starting to pick up a little for you work wise. I even started a pre trip report! I am still hesitant to plan anything but give me something to look forward to.

So between that and the possibility of growing their family (which I totally am not opposed to lol) it's pretty much on hold for now.

That's ok.. Just makes it twice as special when you do go! I would love to get my sister to go with her little boy. But I don't know if they would ever want to go.

I've heard a few reports that they're better, I may try again next month. I hope so!

We need to know! Ha!

hey have lots of My Hero Academia stuff at BoxLunch and in Mitsukoshi in Japan!

The girls are itching to get to Mitsukoshi for this reason.

 

[kastoney]

I'm actually embarrassed to be returning here after so long but I swore I was going to finish this and darnit I'm going to! Plus I leave for my big birthday trip soon and I'm just in the Disney mood So hopefully somewhere out there you're still watching and waiting for your long lost friend to return and will follow along again while I finish our SEPTEMBER dining report!

Pretty sure your weeks long break isn't as bad as those of us who took a few months. Or some of our friends who seem to have up and disappeared entirely.

And may I be the first to officially say one more day until your birthday month!!!! With so little to look forward to these day we've turned our Disney countdown into a Casey birthday coutdown so we've been counting down for a few weeks now. Sadly no Disney for her big 1-0 but she wants to go to WV tubing again. Certainly not the usual b-day but she doesn't seem to bothered by it.

Lots of my friends have eaten here and they give it mixed reviews but I love Mexican food so really wanted to try it.

We didn't love it but glad to see you had a different experience. We love Mexican food too and why its so dang hard to get good stuff I will never undertand.

I do remember the guac being really good. I don't recall which one we had but it was definitely tasty.

Speaking of shrimp he is hoping so hard that his sugar cane skewar shrimp returns to the Isle of the Caribbean booth at the Flower and Garden Festival this year and if we go, Chris asked us to bring him some back.......

I can just see you taking that sugar cane skewer through TSA now and assuring them it is just food.

Now I do remember that glorious sangria and it was delicious. But why no cricket shot? I would have expected more of you all.

The long awaited boring ending to Steve's birthday trip, another awesome adventure with our dear DIS friends.

Not boring at all compared to the lives some of us are currently living . So sad we keep missing everything and everyone, especially your big birthday celebration But know we'll finally get some Disney this year whenever that may be.

 

[CruellaNY]

Look at me back already! Again thank you all for continuing to follow my report Since I'm done with September, I thought I'd do a short add on of the quick December trip Steve and I took to Universal for "work", with 2 days of Disney parks added on the front. But first I want to add a few family "what have we been up to" pics here if you don't mind!

As you know, we went on a family Thanksgiving Disney trip last year. There was good, there was annoying, but in the end I was happy to have my boys with me for once:



And then, we were lucky enough to be able to have family with us for Christmas!
​

Family who played "Cards Against Humanity" with my 73 year old mom, but family........

We had a quiet New Years, and a pretty quiet January. It was nice having Ricky home for 2 months (ahem) but it was finally time for him to go back a week ago to start spring semester at Quinnipiac. I did get a nice Sunday delivery surprise the week before he left, by way of some early birthday wine compliments of our dear friends Joe and Jenny! (That's the Jenny Sanders we all know and love, but for some reason the DIS isn't letting me tag people right now)



We are so lucky that through all this we've been able to see our granddaughter on a regular basis. They live about 6 minutes away from us and when this all started, we were basically the only ones they saw. Steve's cousin upstate has twin grandbabies who just turned 13 months old; they live in Canada and she hasn't seen them in 12 months and that doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon. I feel for all of you who are missing grandchildren!
​

Back to December. You may remember I mentioned getting chosen for a work trip to Universal and then adding on a night at BWV beforehand. Ricky was home so no need for mom to stay with Chris; no need to take boys since they'd just been! LOL we did ask but Ricky had his finals-the last 2 weeks of the semester were virtual as to not have kids return for 2 weeks after Thanksgiving- and Chris is always a no.
Our trip started on Sunday Dec. 6th bright and early with a 7am flight. We Lyfted to Boardwalk, dropped our bags as our room was ready, and walked over to our park for the day, Epcot.




Always a pretty tree in the BW courtyard!
We chose Epcot because of the Festival of the Holidays! We missed it on our Thanksgiving trip since we did our Epcot day before it started and the boys aren't huge Epcot fans anymore so we just did 1 day there.

Since we entered through the IG, it made sense to start in France. Regardless of festival I always enjoy something from the booth here!
Today we got just about everything on the menu:

Rillette de Saumon: Salmon Spread with House-made Bread
Dinde Forestière, Pommes Dauphines: Turkey with Bacon, Mushrooms, and Onions in a Mustard Cream Sauce with Puffed Potatoes
Bûche de Noël au Caramel: Christmas Log with Chocolate Cake and Dark Chocolate Caramel Ganache



And of course
Rosé Pétillant Méthode Traditionnelle Champenoise for MOI. The salmon dish was Steve's because, remember, I don't do seafood. He enjoyed it and said the taste was great and the bread soft. I was not overly enthralled with my Dinde Forestiere Pommes Dauphines though. It was good and I was starving but it needed a little seasoning and the turkey was a tiny bit tough. This was also my first time getting the Buche de Noel here even though it was my 4th time at the festival. It was smooth and not heavy but the chocolate was too plain for me! Yeah, not enough chocolate "pop". But you know what? That sparking wine really hit the spot!

Now, we arrived to Epcot hungry. And while France was a good beginning we were far from done. And since this was our only day here we weren't playing around! On to Germany to find an old favorite and then some at the Bavaria Holiday Kitchen:



One of everything again!
Pork Schnitzel with Mushroom Sauce, Spätzle, and Braised Red Cabbage
Cheese Fondue in a Bread Bowl with Steamed Baby Vegetables and Marble Potatoes
Linzer Cookie (Cookie Stroll)

The pork Schnitzel was new to us and Steve got that. I ate some of the Spatzle because I LOVE spatzle and he enjoyed the rest of the dish saying the port was flavorful and tender. The Cheese Fondue Bread Bowl was MINE! I've gotten this every festival and it never disappoints! There is for once more than enough cheese as far as the cheese to bread ratio so you never really run out of cheese! It's a rather strong beer cheese though so you have to like that. The bread is always slightly warm and soft; the boys like the potatoes and apparently from what Steve says the veggies also work well dipped in the cheese fondue. I will always give this a thumbs up.

I had to get the Linzer Tart because those are my favorite cookies and they were good last year! It was good again; not the best, it was a little too crumbly but I'd get it again. Unfortunately this was the only "cookie stroll" cookie we got this time as opposed to last year when we got them all. I liked about half of them and really wanted the chocolate crinkle cookie so I guess we have to go again this year.

That drink is Steve's Ayinger Brewery Celebrator Doppelbock, Bavaria. It was dark and kind of hoppy the way Steve likes his beer so I stayed away.

While we were at a table eating our first cavalcade of the day came by! I have been loving these since our first return trip in July and this was our first time catching SANTA in Epcot:






We saw most of the holiday cavalcades during our Thanksgiving trip but Santa wasn't around when we were in Epcot that day.

We took a little break from eating and caught the entertainment Disney has allowed to remain: Voices of Liberty, Mariachi Cobri and the Jammitors doing a really cool holiday set on the stage in Canada! Then we went inside the Festival Center to see what was up in there. Stay tuned for more festival fun, food, and drinks!

 

[CruellaNY]

I hope things are starting to pick up a little for you work wise.

Oh they've picked up lol! It started getting busy again back in May and then got steady by September . But now since early December it's been CRAZY which is why I wasn't on the DIS for so long! I just finally got caught up and totally organized again so feel ok taking some "down time" to do something for myself and be back here January was actually my highest sales month ever! So happy people understand the benefit of what I do and support small business!

That's ok.. Just makes it twice as special when you do go! I would love to get my sister to go with her little boy. But I don't know if they would ever want to go.

True, and now we'll probably end up taking two grandchildren when we do go! My sisters boys have never been and it kills me, she hates Disney. I always wanted to bring the boys but um, that costs more $ lol.

Or some of our friends who seem to have up and disappeared entirely.

Ooh hello friend! Miss you! Glad you aren't one that has disappeared but yeah, SO many have

And may I be the first to officially say one more day until your birthday month!!!! With so little to look forward to these day we've turned our Disney countdown into a Casey birthday coutdown so we've been counting down for a few weeks now. Sadly no Disney for her big 1-0 but she wants to go to WV tubing again. Certainly not the usual b-day but she doesn't seem to bothered by it.

YES! Now we are down to hours! Although honestly I don't want this birthday to come nor any future birthdays so maybe I'll just pretend I am also celebrating the big 1-0. Snow tubing for us all!
Seriously glad she's looking forward to an exciting birthday, plenty of birthdays ahead to spend in Disney.

I can just see you taking that sugar cane skewer through TSA now and assuring them it is just food.

No no TSA officer you don't understand STEVE SHRIMP!

But why no cricket shot? I would have expected more of you all.

Ah NO. Nope. I asked and it comes with arugula so that wasn't happening.

But know we'll finally get some Disney this year whenever that may be.

And when that time is decided I will be doing my best to be down there with you!

 

[pkondz]

Look at me back already!

Who even are you???

But first I want to add a few family "what have we been up to" pics here if you don't mind!

Certainly don't mind at all!

There was good, there was annoying

Oh? What was annoying?

Awwww... Soooo cute.
Lovely that you got to have family with you, we were in code red, so that was out for us this year.

Family who played "Cards Against Humanity" with my 73 year old mom

So... small confession. I have never played and other than the name... know nothing about it.

I did get a nice Sunday delivery surprise the week before he left, by way of some early birthday wine compliments of our dear friends Joe and Jenny!

Nice of them!
And happy birthday!

(That's the Jenny Sanders we all know and love, but for some reason the DIS isn't letting me tag people right now)

Yeah... there's a quite a few things that have stopped working. I've posted one on the support board, but... all I've gotten is "We'll include that with the others". So... yay.

Always a pretty tree in the BW courtyard!

very nice. I like it.

Today we got just about everything on the menu:

Sure! It all sounds good.

This was also my first time getting the Buche de Noel here

That looks so good. This year was the first year I (and a little help from DD) made one. Turned out pretty good.

One of everything again!

Well... yeah!

I ate some of the Spatzle because I LOVE spatzle

Oh, Lord. You and my youngest DD would get along just fine. When we were in Germany, that's all she ate for the entire week. DW thought she'd had enough and wouldn't let her finish off DW's plate. The kid still talks about it.

I have been loving these since our first return trip in July and this was our first time catching SANTA in Epcot:

caught the entertainment Disney has allowed to remain: Voices of Liberty, Mariachi Cobri and the Jammitors doing a really cool holiday set on the stage in Canada!

Oh, nice! I'm glad they kept some entertainment. Especially VOL.

 

[Wood Nymph]

It looks like you had a very nice Christmas. Your granddaughter is adorable in that hat.

I went with my sister for a very quick weekend trip this last weekend. She had booked a standard view at Coronado Springs and Disney gave her a free upgrade to the Grand Floridian. We had a 10pm arrival time on Friday and we didn't receive our room number until we were on the Magical Express. I kept teasing her that the reason they weren't telling us the room number ahead of time was because they were going to greet us at the door and take us to the Roy Disney suite. I know they do that, occasionally. We ended up in a normal room and I was grateful to be there instead of CS.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Um, hello? Is anyone still there?

I am. This is so funny because I literally finished up my TR this morning.

I did get a nice Sunday delivery surprise the week before he left, by way of some early birthday wine compliments of our dear friends Joe and Jenny! (That's the Jenny Sanders we all know and love, but for some reason the DIS isn't letting me tag people right now)

I'm so happy you liked it and there is more to come!!!! I cannot wait to see you both!!!!!!!

 

[CruellaNY]

Who even are you???

Well I'm not ........37 that's for sure

Oh? What was annoying?

Um, the boys? LOL when one has a taste of living on their own at college and then comes home and leaves right away to go on vacation with ones parents, ALL have some adjusting to do. So that part was not so fun!

So... small confession. I have never played and other than the name... know nothing about it.

Well look it up; give it a google It's not a game you want to play with your kids let alone have your kids play with their grandmother! Hence why I wasn't playing

Yeah... there's a quite a few things that have stopped working. I've posted one on the support board, but... all I've gotten is "We'll include that with the others". So... yay.

Hm good to know! Guess I'll just keep not tagging folks......

That looks so good. This year was the first year I (and a little help from DD) made one. Turned out pretty good.

Nice! It seems like it would be complicated to make, was it?

You and my youngest DD would get along just fine. When we were in Germany, that's all she ate for the entire week. DW thought she'd had enough and wouldn't let her finish off DW's plate. The kid still talks about it.

There is a wonderful German restaurant about an hour from us that we used to frequent all the time and I got hooked on their spaetzle. When I see it now I sparkle lol

, nice! I'm glad they kept some entertainment. Especially VOL.

Me too. VOL is always wonderful and the JaMMitors were awesome! Much more interesting than their regular show. Mariachi Cobri didn't "wow" us but as one of 3 entertainment options we were happy to see them. I know all 3 are still performing now at the Festival of the Arts.

Your granddaughter is adorable in that hat.

Thank you

I went with my sister for a very quick weekend trip this last weekend. She had booked a standard view at Coronado Springs and Disney gave her a free upgrade to the Grand Floridian. We had a 10pm arrival time on Friday and we didn't receive our room number until we were on the Magical Express. I kept teasing her that the reason they weren't telling us the room number ahead of time was because they were going to greet us at the door and take us to the Roy Disney suite. I know they do that, occasionally.

I saw somewhere on the boards that you just returned! Hope you had a good trip! And sorry about the Roy Disney suite lol but if your sister wants any proof that it happens I'm happy to share photos of our pixie dust That is seriously a really nice upgrade though! Wonder if it had anything to do with the NBA G-League being at CSR now!

I'm so happy you liked it and there is more to come!!!! I cannot wait to see you both!!!!!!!

Loved it and cannot wait! it's almost time!

 

[pkondz]

Well I'm not ........37 that's for sure

Obviously. I'd never guess a woman's age, but I'd say it's a fair bet to say you are in your 20s.

Um, the boys?

Well look it up; give it a google It's not a game you want to play with your kids let alone have your kids play with their grandmother! Hence why I wasn't playing

I'll have to take a peek.

Hm good to know! Guess I'll just keep not tagging folks......

You can, but you just have to know their exact name. For instance @Cruella doesn't work but @CruellaNY will, see? @CruellaNY

Nice! It seems like it would be complicated to make, was it?

Not too bad, actually. But I should've cut the ends off to square it up. Otherwise, though... yummy!

There is a wonderful German restaurant about an hour from us that we used to frequent all the time and I got hooked on their spaetzle. When I see it now I sparkle lol

 

[missjackiemcg]

LOVE that Christmas cavalcade!! While I would be SO sad if Once Upon a Christmastime parade isn't happening next December, I honestly would be so excited to catch this!

 

[vamassey1]

Thanks for sharing your Christmas fun and Disney eats. We had the cheese bowl from Germany in 2019 and loved it! I would get it again. Looking forward to more eats.

 

[CruellaNY]

LOVE that Christmas cavalcade!! While I would be SO sad if Once Upon a Christmastime parade isn't happening next December, I honestly would be so excited to catch this!

While I love the special cavalcades I do love the Halloween and Christmas parades too! With Universal planning on normal HHN I am really really really hoping for Disney parties and regular parades this year!!

Thanks for sharing your Christmas fun and Disney eats. We had the cheese bowl from Germany in 2019 and loved it! I would get it again. Looking forward to more eats.

Hey glad you're still here I think my least favorite festival food is Festival of the Arts even though otherwise I love the festival and honestly, while Flower and Garden is my food fave, I do prefer the Holidays over Food and Wine!

 

[vamassey1]

Hey glad you're still here I think my least favorite festival food is Festival of the Arts even though otherwise I love the festival and honestly, while Flower and Garden is my food fave, I do prefer the Holidays over Food and Wine!

Of course I'm still here! We tried the mixed Flower & Garden and Food & Wine in October but I have yet to have just Food & Wine. We'll be getting Flower and Garden again in May and looking forward to it.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Good to catch up with you again. Your granddaughter is just gorgeous
I will have to go look the card game up too as I've never heard of it.
I laughed when I read that it took some adjusting having the boys with you on your trip. I'm thinking we will all have some pretty major adjustments to make when my son moves back home-not looking forward to the adjusting or the increase in food bill lol

 

[TeresaNJ]

@buzzrelly I wanted you to know you are not alone in your love of Tony's...we had tried it a long time ago and weren't impressed at all. Then DH and I revisited it in August of this year and we really enjoyed it...service and food all very good. We have one ADR for our next trip...might add another one.

So yes @CruellaNY you should give at another try sometime soon. Since we do plan to go back this month I'll do another writeup then just to confirm and maybe even try some different stuff this time.

Just for reference, these little cheese bites in the middle...so good...really too good to share so might need my own next time:

View attachment 534174

And though not really Italian, my Caesar salad was pretty good too...and DH really enjoyed his seafood pasta (in the background):
View attachment 534175

The rest of my Italian family will hopefully be able to provide more food reviews next month!

Add me to the Tony's loving list! My sister and I ate lunch there this past July, mainly because there just aren't many table service options in the MK, just after the parks re-opened, and we were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed our food. It was one of the best meals of the trip, and I'm looking forward to going back. Also, the service was excellent! Hello, @CruellaNY! I'm finally here, but not under my DIS witness protection program name, LOL!