The (Culinary) Valley of the Trip
With a Choose Your Own Adventure style evening ahead of me, I contemplated my options: a movie, bar-hopping and eating at Disney Springs? Head downstairs to Kimonos, get sushi and use up some of those drink vouchers? Use up all of the drink vouchers by lounge-hopping between bluezoo, Il Mulino and Kimonos? Look for a nice solo ADR for somewhere new in World Showcase, or maybe at another resort?
It's with perfect hindsight that I regret to inform you I did not choose any of these excellent options. Since I wasn't hungry yet, I decided to just head out to Epcot and see where the evening might take me. (Spoiler alert, it did not take me anywhere fun food-wise, but I had fun outside of that.) I remember wanting a ~low key~ evening because the wedding was the next morning, but instead I reverted to my usual solo routine: rides and park-hopping!
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I picked up a rolling FP for Soarin' and headed over to Future World. It was a pleasant, mostly empty walk along the Boardwalk and through World Showcase -- it had stormed sometime while I was still in the room, and then sprinkled on and off for a few more hours:
After safely returning from Soarin' around the world, I moseyed on over to Sunshine Seasons, which we both love but haven't been to since January. Plus, I had some special cupcakes on my mental to-eat list, two of which are found at Sunshine Seasons!
The Land was pretty empty then (6:30pm) and it was easy to find a table. For some reason I didn't take a picture of everything together, but I got...
Spicy Fish Tacos: Pan-seared Tilapia topped with Lime-Cabbage Slaw and Spicy Poblano Pepper Aïoli, $11.79, with potato salad as a side
Okay, so over probably seven or eight visits to Sunshine Seasons I've repeatedly chosen either the shrimp noodle stir fry (gone now) or the fish tacos. I want to emphasize they did not always advertise the fish was tilapia, but I had an inkling after the first bite last August
And they've always been delicious! They are not spicy (is anything in Disney World
ever actually spicy?) but that is why The Land has bestowed us with packets of Texas Pete's hot sauce. I've always liked these tacos: fresh ingredients, relatively healthy, and it's one of only two instances in which tilapia has ever been made palatable.
Buuuut... I probably won't get these again. On the last bite of the first taco, I tasted that dreaded flavor: TILAPIA.
Then I wondered, have I been duping myself
all this time?! I always drown the tacos in hot sauce... had that unmistakable tilapia flavor been there all along? Had I only masked it with hot sauce and fooled myself? Almost certainly!
The potato salad is blameless. It's made with a vinegar-based dressing, not mayo, and it's consistently tasty and fresh.
At first I was determined to try something "new" and get the
Rotisserie Turkey Breast Club Sandwich (Roast Turkey Breast, Bacon Jam and Avocado Spread on Ciabatta Bread), but my Bad Decision Brain took over last minute and led me toward the tacos. Also, the turkey sandwiches have an intimidating bread to meat/veggies ratio, and at the time I figured it would be irresponsible to eat what looked like an entire loaf of bread and a cupcake. It had to be one or the other, and I really wanted the beautiful cupcake.
Lucky for me, I had already purchased the liquid version of tilapia to wash down my sudden taco disappointment:
This was utter trash. And it cost $8.50 before tax! The rum and ginger soda tasted awful. Again with the last minute Bad Decision Brain, I originally had a can of Fat Tire and put it back in favor of trying a ~new-to-me, canned cocktail~, as if canned cocktails are ever a good idea. Never one to torture myself over a sunk cost, I stopped trying to like it around the 3/4 full mark and did not finish it.
The one thing I liked about this was that the cashier ID'd me, which only happens ~20% of the time nowadays.
But, not all was lost. There was still an oversized cupcake with my fingerprints already on it:
Behold, the PB&J cupcake! I chose this over the rose gold Minnie ears cupcake because I'm not big on chocolate, and this has very little chocolate -- the "dirt" on top is a pile of chocolate cake crumbles, and that's it. The rest is a peanut butter cake, peanut butter frosting (??? the orange might have peanut butter while the rest was plain buttercream), globs of peanut butter and jelly inside, and edible flowers on top.
Of course, the cute garden on top is 100% why I wanted this in the first place.
These pictures don't have object references, but the PB&J cupcake is huge. It probably isn't meant for one person. At $5.99 it seems like a reasonably priced dessert for sharing.
The cake was very moist and it wasn't too sweet. As a whole I thought it was mostly light and enjoyable, until I crossed the halfway mark, and suddenly it was all too sweet and rich. The peanut butter lump inside was like... 1.5 tablespoons of thick, aggressive peanut butter. It was too much! The jelly was a nice break from all of the peanut flavor, but there must've been a teaspoon or so of jelly to the 1.5 tablespoons of peanut butter. And, of course, it had way more frosting than necessary, even if you were to share it. I ate the flower but the "grass" (I'm not totally sure what plant this was, but it was meant to look like grass) was a little too stiff, so I left most of that.
Following my valiant effort to finish most of the cupcake and absorb its beauty, I finally internalized that part of Into the Woods where Little Red Riding Hood sings "nice is different than good." I really didn't need to eat this. It was beautiful, but I didn't need to purchase or consume it to appreciate the design.
Overall, it was the worst meal I've had at Sunshine Seasons, which has done nothing to diminish my love of it. Every other time has been awesome! I just need to avoid the gigantic cupcakes, canned cocktails, and fish tacos.
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I had picked up a FP for Spaceship Earth and it was raining again when I left The Land. Then I discovered my poncho was ripped straight down the front
And I felt a little bummed! I had started the evening in such high spirits, but I distinctly felt I had Chosen the Wrong Adventure. I thought about how I could've had sushi at Kimonos, or anything in Disney Springs, how I should've gone to the cocktail party, or how I could be in a movie theater watching Ocean's 8 instead of walking in the rain with a broken poncho.
A spin on Spaceship Earth cheered me up, as usual, and then I snagged a FP for Frozen Ever After (which I strangely enjoy despite not liking the movie, or the ride initially). I had about 30 minutes to kill before the FP window opened, so I exchanged my ripped poncho for a new one (hooray!) and then came across Choza de Margarita with nobody in line. It seems every time I walk by the line is 50 people deep, so I felt like my luck was turning.
I chose the
Guava Pink Peppercorn margarita: Mezcal Zignum Reposado, Guava Nectar, Grapefruit Liqueur, Lime Juice, Peychaud's Bitters and Pink Peppercorns.
All I can say about this is that it was a good size, not strong, and just average taste-wise. I honestly think they may have forgotten to put alcohol in this. Also, it was way overpriced at $14, and I remember being briefly outraged that Disney was wasting pink peppercorns
It wasn't all bad -- the sunset was nice! After FEA I picked up a FP for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train for 9:30pm and headed to Magic Kingdom, where surprise surprise, the direct monorail between TTC<->MK was not running. I rode the resort monorail, because even with its lack of airflow and the several stops before reaching MK, the monorail was preferable for being much less crowded than the ferry.
I zoomed over to Fantasyland as the fireworks were due to begin soon and I didn't want to be stuck on Main Street. I stopped for photopass shots on the bridge in front of Beast's castle and in front of the fountain outside Gaston's Tavern. Neither of us have seen Happily Ever After in front of the castle (but don't worry, we've seen every other park's nighttime show!), but we enjoyed the HEA fireworks while eating at Cinderella's Royal Table, in November. What a treat it was to experience the show from Fantasyland:
I'm sure it will surprise no one to hear that SDMT was down, I never got to redeem my FP for it, and it never came back up that night. I rode Dumbo then the Barnstormer (first time on that), neither had a wait. Since my SDMT FP turned into an "anytime" FP, I could pick up rolling FP again. I made a FP for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which I unabashedly love. After that I went over to Tomorrowland, got a photopass shot, then headed to Space Mountain to use the anytime FP, where the FP line was backed up to the entrance. It took about 20 minutes to get to the boarding zone, and then I blasted off on a rocket ship through space.
I'd wanted to ride the People Mover and Carousel of Progress, both of which compete with Winnie the Pooh for my favorite MK ride
But, it was almost 11pm, and it suddenly dawned on me that even though I didn't need to be at the wedding until 9:30am, T would probably be up at 7 to leave by 8, and I depended on him to zip up the back of my dress. So, I had to be awake before 8 after all
A quick bus ride back to the Swan, and we were asleep just a few minutes before midnight. (T had been back in the room for quite a while, and was ironing his clothes for the wedding when I came up.) It was a nice pivot day overall -- San Angel Inn, World Showcase, swan paddleboats, swimming, Happily Ever After from Fantasyland, and a bunch of Epcot and MK rides.
Up next: a boozy morning wedding and a much-needed classic Disney snack...
I’ve also never tried Boma but I do love the Animal Kingdom Lodge and it’s so easy to make a whole night out of dinner and all their activities. I’ve heard a rainy safari can be one of the best... good to know it’s true! Sorry you had to switch so many plans around - how funny is the groom- but always good to have a reason to return. Glad you enjoyed San Angel Inn. Similarly I wouldn’t say it’s on our favorites list but I do like it - my chief complaint being how close the tables are to each other and they do seem odd about assigning water tables. Very much looking forward to hearing more. I’m hoping Flying Fish isn’t part of the foreshadowed tumble.
Have you eaten at Jiko or Sanaa? We ate at all three when we stayed at AKL (we didn't do the lounges, sadly), but for some reason Boma really sticks out.
" and Tabby graciously agreed to help. She was a thousand times gentler with the dress (the material was delicate) when zipping it than T has ever been, which I felt was noteworthy. I still need to write compliment emails to the Swan about Tabby and some other folks.
while teetotaler-T stuck with water 
Let's zoom in...
I loved it. The pistachio "sand" and dehydrated milk foam were really cool! I liked the chocolate coral sponge too, as well as the raspberry(?) sauce and the brittle on top. The varied textures were interesting. The chocolate was very rich, smooth, "premium" tasting, and not really my thing, but this was all so nice and thoughtful.
I sympathize with all of that. Waiting outside of the covered bus queue while it's pouring -- that is peak "I chose the wrong adventure." 
So funny how perfect hindsight is in these situations; your idea of eating at a resort and making an evening of that sounds, of course, simple and great. And I had thought of that option but didn't do it either, bah humbug. At least we're well prepared for next time! 
You totally have my psyched to return to Flying Fish on our next trip.
