So much to do (and eat) we need to go twice! A food-focused trip report. COMPLETE 7/28/22

[ambula603]

What a lovely report! I was searching for some Universal food ideas and found this and thoroughly enjoyed myself and read it all in one day. Your pictures and thoughts were very helpful! We also love the Thanksgiving sandwich at Earl, and haven't ever really heard anyone mention it. Along the same lines, LTT is our favorite meal on property. It is hard to beat the classic Thanksgiving theme!

I wanted to try Beaches and Cream but now I am not so sure it's worth the extra effort. I also NEED the Gideons cake in my life. We liked the Num Num much better than Gideons, as well. I don't love a ton of chocolate in my cookies, so it was just too much for me. We did the warm cookie with ice cream there but next time I am going to try the cake slice.

I love a good split stay, there are so many places to see and try and it isn't hard to pack up and move hotels. Someday I want to do a resort crawl like you and DH...maybe when my girls are older I will aim for that! There is something so lovely about taking the boat or monorail to a leisurely dinner and not being rushed...and sadly that is something we don't usually do!

Have fun in December, can't wait to see what you eat! ;o)

 

[mickey916]

What a lovely report! I was searching for some Universal food ideas and found this and thoroughly enjoyed myself and read it all in one day. Your pictures and thoughts were very helpful! We also love the Thanksgiving sandwich at Earl, and haven't ever really heard anyone mention it. Along the same lines, LTT is our favorite meal on property. It is hard to beat the classic Thanksgiving theme!

I wanted to try Beaches and Cream but now I am not so sure it's worth the extra effort. I also NEED the Gideons cake in my life. We liked the Num Num much better than Gideons, as well. I don't love a ton of chocolate in my cookies, so it was just too much for me. We did the warm cookie with ice cream there but next time I am going to try the cake slice.

I love a good split stay, there are so many places to see and try and it isn't hard to pack up and move hotels. Someday I want to do a resort crawl like you and DH...maybe when my girls are older I will aim for that! There is something so lovely about taking the boat or monorail to a leisurely dinner and not being rushed...and sadly that is something we don't usually do!

Have fun in December, can't wait to see what you eat! ;o)

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed my first report! We actually went this past December so I'm working on that report already. You can follow along here: More to do (and eat) so we went a third time (spoiler alert: we ate a lot of Gideon's cake).

We really enjoy doing split stays. In December we were only going to the Swan but then extended our trip a day on each end and there was no availability so we did Towneplace Suites and POFQ on either end.

We love doing resort crawls when it's just the two of us. We did several on the December trip. Hope you enjoy your next trip!

 

[KimM82]

Following along, I know this is an old report, but helps get me ready for our trip!

 

[mickey916]

Following along, I know this is an old report, but helps get me ready for our trip!

Always happy to have someone new read along! I have a few other more recent reports in my signature too...

 

[KimM82]

Day 2 - Lunch in Mexico​

After planning our route for months, I suddenly realized a week or two before we left that this visit would be on a Friday in Lent and we don't eat meat on those days. This required some revamping but led us to try some things we might otherwise have overlooked. For lunch we headed to La Cantina de San Angel and shared an order of Cheese Empanadas with rice and beans and an order of churros for dessert.View attachment 665385
These were pillows of cheesy goodness! Really, really good! We didn't miss the meat at all! The rice and beans were solid sides.
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The churros were good but basic churros. We liked the chocolate dipping sauce but not as much as the chocolate sauce that comes with the beignets.

As we ventured around the world, we also did the Easter Egg hunt. It was really fun and forced us to slow down and spend time in each country. Sometimes the eggs were sooooo obvious once we found them that we couldn't believe we had missed them!

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Donald in Mexico, of course. This was an easy one.

Interesting that the chocolate sauces are different.. you would think they are the same.

 

[mickey916]

Interesting that the chocolate sauces are different.. you would think they are the same.

The ones with the churros in the Mexico pavilion are pre-packaged but the beignets from Port Orleans come with a chocolate sauce poured into a cup, like it is more "fresh".

 

[KimM82]

Day 2 continued - Morocco, France, United Kingdom​

We headed to Morocco and found thumper. View attachment 666063
Then we split a Mediterranean flatbread from Tangierine Cafe. It was okay. It definitely needed something more, but I'm not sure what.
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We found Daisy in France and hopped in line at L'Artisan de Glaces. Unfortunately after standing in line for about fifteen minutes we noticed that the same exact people were still in the doorway waiting to get in. We're not sure what was going on but there seemed to be a high school group congregating out front, so we're guessing they had just placed a massive order for their whole group. We got tired of waiting so no ice cream for us....really wanted to try the Croque Glace, next trip perhaps.View attachment 666067
We headed on to the United Kingdom and of course had to get an order of fish & chips from Yorkshire County. Unfortunately this was a miss for us. The breading was crispy and delicious but the fish was too strong. In fairness, we're from New England and usually when we eat fish I've caught it myself so we knew it was probably not going to be as good as that. We're glad we tried it and the "chips" were good but it's a one and done for us.
View attachment 666069We then found the white rabbit in the UK. This one was a tricky one as well.
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Almost there, one country left, a visit to a Flower & Garden booth and circling back to Germany for the best treat of the day yet to come.

I'm from New England as well... so hard to try seafood in other places because it just isn't the same.... and why get Maine lobster in FL?!?!?

 

[mickey916]

I'm from New England as well... so hard to try seafood in other places because it just isn't the same.... and why get Maine lobster in FL?!?!?

Exactly! I won't get lobster outside of New England. I remember in college once going on a date in Washington DC and ordering lobster. My date thought it was great and I had to be polite and eat it but it was grosssss! Never again.

 

[KimM82]

5/19 Day 6 Animal Kingdom
​

We decided to purchase Genie+ for our AK day and I was surprised to discover that despite my brother's family no longer having tickets or park passes, I still experienced the AP glitch which prevented me from purchasing Genie+ in my account. I ended up having to purchase it on my husband's account who wasn't connected with my brother's family. While in line for early entry at 7:00, I was able to use my own account to purchase a ILL$ for Pandora at 9:30 and booked the Safari for 8:45. We decided to rope drop the Navi River Journey as everyone else in the crowd headed to FOP. We got right on with no wait and then headed to Dino-land and rode Dinosaur with no wait. None of remembered it being so rough last time we rode it. While the dinosaurs are cool none of us cared for being jostled around so much.

We then went to Asia and rode Expedition Everest with no wait. Such a fun ride! We decided to get right back in line and rode a second time with only about a 10 minute wait. It was then time for our safari LL so we headed to Africa and had a great ride, seeing a lot of animals.
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After already riding five rides, it was finally time for breakfast. We decided to go to Tamu Tamu refreshments. My DS-25 ordered the birthday blueberry muffin. It looked delicious and he said it was very good.
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My DS-23, my DH, and I decided to share the colossal Mickey cinnamon roll and
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a chocolate twist.
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They were both fine but nothing special. We then walked Gorilla Falls trail and rode our ILL$ for Flight of Passage. I was so happy to share this ride with my two sons! They both thought it was as amazing as I did when I first rode it in April. (As a side note, in my rush to get a good timeslot I had accidentally booked FOP for all four of us but my DH can't ride due to his motion sickness. Earlier in the morning when we were walking from Asia to Africa I visited guest services at a blue umbrella and they very easily refunded the cost of his ILL$.)

We then checked in for our Up Close with the Rhinos tour. I had tried to book this for our April trip unsuccessfully so for our May trip I made sure to check at 5:30 am on my ADR day and was so happy to book this for the four of us. We all got to pat Kiama. We were so surprised at how rough her skin felt, almost like concrete. We also got to meet Kendi and her baby rhino Ranger who was whining and fussing because he wanted to nurse. It was funny to see such a large creature making a crying noise. It is very evident how much their zookeepers care about them. It was such a cool experience. Unfortunately since it was backstage we weren't allowed to take any photos.

We had placed a mobile order for lunch at Satuli Canteen so we headed there after our tour. My DS-25 ordered the beef and chicken combo with noodles and creamy garlic sauce.
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My DH and DS-23 also ordered the beef and chicken with noodles but ordered their beef medium-well on the app. Their beef was definitely more cooked...
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All three of them really enjoyed their meals. I ordered the shrimp with noodles. I thought this was excellent as well. I actually preferred it over the chicken noodle bowl I got in April. The shrimp were perfectly seasoned and cooked.
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After lunch it was pretty hot so we used a LL to ride the Kali River Rapids. We didn't really get as wet as we hoped and were amazed at how short this ride is. We all decided it is nowhere near as good as Bluto's Bilgerat Barges at Universal which we love and kind of a waste of a ride. We also watched the Birds in Flight show, explored the Tree of Life, and saw It's Tough to Be a Bug (and my DS-25 still doesn't like being stung). We grabbed a LL for Expedition Everest so we could ride it a third time. To cool off, we went to the Warung Outpost to get the delicious Shangri-La Berry Freeze. This is such a delicious frozen strawberry drink. It tastes like it's made with fresh strawberries, not artificial flavoring. So good!
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We also got to see Kevin several times. Love her!
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Up next dinner, dessert, and finishing the night with the Starlight S

 

[KimM82]

I am having trouble replying, something up with keyboard. Can you tell me more about the Rhino? My husband wants to do something similar, but only if we can be up close to the animals.

 

[KimM82]

Exactly! I won't get lobster outside of New England. I remember in college once going on a date in Washington DC and ordering lobster. My date thought it was great and I had to be polite and eat it but it was grosssss! Never again.

When I did the College Program, my roommate's parents took us to Shulas. I had the lobster and I was like what is this ? We went to Morimoto's last year, and we got oysters- we tried some from Washington State. Definitely not as good as East Coast!

 

[KimM82]

Trip Report Conclusion:​

I wanted to end with some “stats” and superlatives.

Stats: Overall, we accomplished the following:

• Vacationed in Orlando for 21 days
• Stayed in 5 different hotels
• Visited every resort except Fort Wilderness and Shades of Green
• Experienced all forms of transportation: boats, bus, monorail, skyliner, and rental car.
• Dined at 23 Table Service Meals, 5 Lounges, and 55 Quick Service/Kiosks
• Spent 12 days in WDW parks and 2 days in Universal parks
• Experienced 3 Tours
• Rode every attraction we wanted to ride

Here’s our awards in each category:

Most Favorite Hotel: Contemporary (with Swan a very close 2nd)
Least Favorite Hotel: Marriott Orlando World Center (not that it was bad but was just our least favorite due to its hugeness)
Most Impressive Resort we didn’t stay at: Wilderness Lodge (with the Riviera a close second)
Favorite Mode of Transportation: Walking to the parks (but we really liked the Skyliner & Monorail)
Favorite Table Service: Chef Art Smith’s, ‘Ohana, Garden Grill, Liberty Tree Tavern (the first time) – All Excellent!
Least Favorite Table Service: Beaches & Cream (both times), only exception No Way Jose sundae
Favorite Breakfast: Primo Piatto & Gaston’s
Favorite Treat: Beignets
Favorite Dessert at Quick Service: Gideon’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Favorite Dessert at Table Service: Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake
Favorite Drinks: Pineapple Coconut Slushy & Shangri-la Berry Freeze
Favorite Cookie: Jack-Jack’s Num Num cookie (sorry Gideon’s)
Favorite Sandwich: Earl of Sandwich Thanksgiving sandwich
Least Favorite Sandwich: Monte Cristo from the Plaza
Ranking the WDW Parks (Best to Worst)
DH & Me: EP, MK, AK, HS
DS-25: HS, AK, MK, EP
DS-23: EP, MK, HS, AK
Favorite Rides at WDW:
Me: Guardians of the Galaxy
DH: Living with the Land
DS-25: Expedition Everest
DS-23: Toy Story Mania
Honorable Mentions: Rise & Flight of Passage
Least Favorite Ride at WDW: (tied) Frozen & Test Track (we miss the old versions of both)
Favorite Ride at Universal: Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges: all of us
Honorable Mention: Hagrid’s Motor Bike & Velocicoaster
Least Favorite Ride at Universal: Forbidden Journey (most nausea producing ride we’ve ever ridden.)
Tour Ranking (best to worst): Starlight Safari, Up Close with Rhinos, Keys to the Kingdom

Thank you for following along on my first trip report! It’s been fun sharing all our experiences. We feel very fortunate to have had two great trips filled with lots of great dining, family time, and adventures. We had so much fun that DH agreed we need to go back and experience the holidays, so we’ll be returning for a brief trip in December. I hope to do a report of that trip, too.

Until then….May all your adventures be tasty and fun!

Loved this report!!! Thank you for all your attention to detail. Looking forward to the others.

 

[mickey916]

I am having trouble replying, something up with keyboard. Can you tell me more about the Rhino? My husband wants to do something similar, but only if we can be up close to the animals.

We really enjoyed the Rhino tour. They took us backstage and let us each touch a rhino through bars at an enclosure. They brought in two other rhinos to an enclosure and talked to us while we were just feet away from them. It was an informative tour and they definitely let you get up close. This year we did the Caring for Giants tour to see the elephants and it was a little disappointing. The elephants were very far away. We've seen them much closer at our local zoo. Also the Caring for Giants tour guide seemed to be working from a script, whereas the rhino tour guides were clearly people who worked with the rhinos. Between the two, I would say the rhino tour is worth the time and money.

 

[mickey916]

Loved this report!!! Thank you for all your attention to detail. Looking forward to the others.

Thank you! Writing reports helps me to relive my trips. Glad you enjoyed it.