WDW Trip Report Jan 21-27, 2013

[Amy]

Looks like you had a very nice birthday dinner. That was so nice of the cooks and your server to make you feel so special ~ and it sounds like they had a sense of humor too
Those Tibs look tasty ~ I would try those, although I would be a bit suspicious of the sauce...was it spicy? And what was the complimentary dessert?

[JenMuse]

I do have an adventurous palate, but nothing was too hot. I don't actually like a great deal of heat in my food since it can deaden the taste buds. All the dishes were flavorful and I've made a variation on it since coming home that I really like. Here's the link to the recipe which just needs the addition of spinach to get pretty close to Jiko. Haven't quite gotten bold enough to try the filo and frying. And the link to her spice blend for the sauce.

Finding the spices was more challenging the preparing the blend.

The complimentary dessert was a chocolate cake that was nearly flourless and had a hint of cinnamon, with a caramel almost mousse and caramel like brittle chunks. I suspect it may be made slightly differently each night. It was yummy.

[Amy]

I do have an adventurous palate, but nothing was too hot. I don't actually like a great deal of heat in my food since it can deaden the taste buds. All the dishes were flavorful and I've made a variation on it since coming home that I really like. Here's the link to the recipe which just needs the addition of spinach to get pretty close to Jiko. Haven't quite gotten bold enough to try the filo and frying. And the link to her spice blend for the sauce.

Finding the spices was more challenging the preparing the blend.

The complimentary dessert was a chocolate cake that was nearly flourless and had a hint of cinnamon, with a caramel almost mousse and caramel like brittle chunks. I suspect it may be made slightly differently each night. It was yummy.

That Inguday Tibs recipe looks pretty good. I think I will wait for it to show up on a menu someday though ~ or try it at Jiko. Is it on the regular menu? The dessert sounds good too, although I'm not a big fan of cinnamon creeping in recipes. I never thought it tasted very good with chocolate, and I'm never quite sure that cinnamon belongs in savory foods. I know it pops up a lot in different dishes, but I prefer to keep it in my pie, or sprinkled on toast

[mlbplus5]

WOW, your trip is awesome, I can't wait to hear more. Love the pictures...

[JenMuse]

That Inguday Tibs recipe looks pretty good. I think I will wait for it to show up on a menu someday though ~ or try it at Jiko. Is it on the regular menu? The dessert sounds good too, although I'm not a big fan of cinnamon creeping in recipes. I never thought it tasted very good with chocolate, and I'm never quite sure that cinnamon belongs in savory foods. I know it pops up a lot in different dishes, but I prefer to keep it in my pie, or sprinkled on toast

I've done a 180 on cinnamon in savory foods. It really adds a nice punch. There's a dish at Restaurant Marrakesh that puts cinnamon and powdered sugar on top of spiced ground beef that helped push me towards adding cinnamon to many a savory dish. But it has to be real cinnamon. Ceylon or Sri Lanka on the label. It really is quite distinct from Saigon Cinnamon or Chinese Cinnamon. Best way to find the good stuff is to buy it in the Mexican aisle of your local store. Cheaper that way too.

The Inguday Tibs are on the menu, I believe the full appetizer comes with 3 triangles rather than 2. Do give them a try. I'm still working on recreating the curry vinaigrette. It was flavorful without heat. And played against the tartness of the granny smith apples delightfully.

And now I'm hungry...

(edited to complete a thought)

[yodiwan1]

where is the rest?? lol happy belated birthday! great pics so far!

[JenMuse]

where is the rest?? lol happy belated birthday! great pics so far!

Working on it!!!

[yodiwan1]

even though I worked up there as a CP, I have always wanted to take a solo trip. My wife has pretty much told me that will never happen, but one can hope!!!

[JenMuse]

When you start your day by eating reheated Sweet Potato Bread Pudding from Jiko as your breakfast, you just know you're in for a good day.

Day 3: the Magic Kingdom

After sitting through a rather crazy long timeshare presentation, I made it to the Magic Kindgom around 11:00am. Parking was easy, and I walked up just in time to board the ferry. I had really great timing this trip. Never had to wait long for ferries or trams.

Crowds were pretty light but still, I made a beeline for my Peter Pan fastpass. This happens to me at least once per trip, I put in my ticket for a Peter Pan fast pass and get a bonus fastpass for the Philharmagic. And even though it was January, with the new Fantasyland open, crowds were slightly heavier than usual. Still the wait for the Philharmagic was non-existent (less than 5) so the fast pass didn't really help me save any time.

But, there was no wait for the Carousel so I hopped right on, snapped a quick pic of the now closed Snow White ride. So very very sad that it is gone.


Here's the entry to the new fantasyland as seen from my awesome steed.


And now from the ground:


But before I ventured in, I used that bonus fastpass and spent some quality time with my man, who happens to be a duck with anger management issues. I really love the Philharmagic. It's quickly moving up my favorite attraction list.

Now into new Fantasyland.

The wait for Storytime with Belle was 65 minutes and the wait to dine in Beast's castle even longer; so, I just wandered around and soaked up the atmosphere.


Gaston's and the village were mobbed (by my clearly biased standards but obviously not summer norms) so I decided to come back later for photos, and skipped on over to the new Voyage of the Little Mermaid.



The posted wait was 15 minutes (but it was really closer to 5), so people were just barreling through all of the gorgeous exterior wait spaces and walking by the interactive queue stuff. When I paused to play along with the crabs and take photos a few people stopped to see what they were missing:


The crabs are helping Scuttle gather back Ariel collection of human things after a storm so you gesture toward items to guide the crabs. It's really quite adorable. And then you get to talk to Scuttle later in the queue. If the cows, er crowd, will let you linger long enough to interact that is.


When Scuttle started talking to me, people in the queue just couldn't believe it, especially when he wished me a happy birthday (yes, I wore my pin every day of my trip, darn it!). He was really fun but the queue was moving too quickly to linger as long as I would have liked.

I really enjoyed the ride part. Last time I was in CA Adventure, it was still under construction; so, the WDW version is the first I've seen. And I can report no dole-whip hairdo. It's a pretty long ride, but I was disappointed that the sea battle was so under-represented. Little Mermaid is my least favorite Disney film though, so not overly disappointed.

What will eventually be a loop around the Dwarfs' Mine and connect to the new Circus area will make for a great guest experience. But for now, the path dead ends at the Little Mermaid and makes for something of a bottleneck getting to and fro.



Speaking of the Dwarfs' mine train...here are some construction photos:




Fastpass for Peter Pan was good, so off I went to my happy place. I still love it. Been my favorite ride since I was 4 and it holds up. I got a second fastpass for it.

Figured lunchtime was a good time to hit Pooh's Adventure, but it was closed and there were barriers in front of lots of it. Wasn't on the schedule to be closed.

Then to Pinocchio Haus for lunch. Got an excellent table overlooking Small World. The flatbread pizza was just meh though. Or maybe it was just the lingering awesomeness of Jiko that made the pizza less than great. I ate half and threw the rest away.

And then I lost the other half on Small World. Just kidding! But they have switched the entry on Smallworld. What used to be the exit is now the entrance and vice-versa. Was very disconcerting. And I missed the clock cause I was behind it when it went off (seems a poor decision to make the waiting crowd miss the clock, it was the best part of the queue), but I suppose the imagineers had a reason for the change. Ride was still the classic until the end. All of the good bye signs were hidden behind a black curtain. Mysterious indeed.

I was disappointed to find Rapunzel's area still behind barriers, apparently it was not part of the grand opening. Boo!


But the wait for the Haunted Mansion was less than 10, and that was with me dawdling through the cemetery. So my disappointment found a quick remedy. And I had a great moment of Disney Magic. I like to linger...to be the last to leave the portrait gallery, the last of the group to be seated in a doom buggy so that there is at least one empty buggy ahead of me so I can pretend I'm alone (and not have to hear the chattering of other people). It's not that I hate people (ok, I kinda do), but I much prefer to ride in silence and actual darkness not spoiled by view screens, allowing the sounds of the mansion to be heard. So since the crowd was pushing on ahead, and I was dawdling (pretending to be putting something in my backpack style purse), I managed to get quite a bit of space between me and the last of the guests in my group stepping into their doom buggies. The very tall CM monitoring buggy entrances boomed at me in his deep bass voice, "Step lively, you don't want to linger lest you become a permanent resident." His inflection was spot-on in the style of the ghost host. Then right before the ghost host offered to lower my safety bar, the CM popped his head in that curve of the buggy along the moving walkway and said "or maybe that is exactly what you want!" It was just awesomely timed and so perfect!!! He made me jump and then applaud with happiness.

So then it was on to the Hall of Presidents and then the awesome Bear Country. The bears all looked absolutely fabulous. It had clearly just re-opened from a refurbishment. Every bear had gorgeous, lustrous fur. It was the same old show but better because they were so beautiful. I tried to get a few shots with my phone, but they didn't come out too well...

But my obligatory self portraits in the traditional kids photo spot came out great. Dad would always insist on timing the photo when the steam boat was docked.



Note the shawl. That is the first shawl I purchased at the Yak & Yeti shoppe many years ago.

Then back to Peter Pan. But with a quick shot of Rapunzel's tower peaking through the trees.



Since I had only eaten half a lunch, I was a tad hungry and as far as I'm concerned, a churro must be consumed on every WDW trip. So to the churro stand! I got maybe 2 feet away with churro in hand when a bold gull swooped in and ripped half of it away. A couple other guests saw it and we all just laughed. I didn't need the calories anyway. Especially not before hitting Big Thunder. The wait wasn't so bad - about 20 minutes, but I got a fastpass anyways. And then went on over to Pirates. As usual, Splash Mountain was closed for annual refurbishment (I'm used to never getting to experience it in January--it's a very logical time of the year to refresh an attraction that gets guests wet).

The right hand queue was closed for refurbishment and a few of the "views" on the left side were behind barriers. I wonder what they are up to back there....but it was great to see all the pirates. And the new mermaids. They are a subtle but nice touch I think (even though I didn't particularly enjoy any of the movie sequels). No one on my boat noticed the ones in the water but me it would seem. Granted everyone noticed the mer-skeleton on the beach...

Took a whirl with Aladdin and another cruise with the Pirates before heading back to Big Thunder. Did I mention the crowds were light? Yep, I love WDW in January. Aside from New Fantasyland (and really just story time with Belle) and the coasters, no wait longer than 15 minutes. I was saving the Jungle Cruise for a twilight ride.

Skipped right through the Big Thunder queue and enjoyed the wildest ride in the wilderness. Thought of my mom, as it is her favorite attraction. Then called her after exiting.

Hopped the train for a full circle tour (plus) and some quality knitting time, and then hopped off at the old toon town station to see the new circus area. It is really beautiful. The new Dumbo was quite fun, and I hadn't flown with Dumbo in 10+ years.



And the wait, much much shorter than I had ever seen it. Having two certainly makes a difference:


I had no idea about the indoor playground. It brought back great memories of the maze that once occupied a huge portion of Communicore. I remember my parents would leave us kids there (under the supervision of a CM) while they had dinner in Mexico and we would have the best time climbing through the maze and pretending we were various Disney characters. The playground inside the Dumbo tent isn't as big, but it sure looks like fun!





Then on to the ride itself


And since I was there, and the queue was short I went flying with Goofy


Then it was time for a stroll down the secret Card path to Tomorrowland...except the Alice in Wonderland cards are gone! The walk also seemed somewhat shorter than I remember it. Or maybe it's just that the queue for the Barnstormer has been expanded. End result I found myself facing Space Mountain much sooner than expected. Since the posted wait was 10 minutes and Buzz was 15, I snagged a Buzz fast pass and then waited for Space Mountain.

Then the Carousel of Progress, the PeopleMover, Stitch's Great Escape, regular wait for Buzz, then Fastpass Buzz. Had to save phone batteries so no photos...

Sun was descending quickly so I headed back to Adventureland for a twilight Jungle Cruise. The other guests didn't play along with the skipper, but I did and had lots of fun. Took another spin with Aladdin and another Pirate Cruise. Then my phone reminded me I needed to move the car and head to the Contemporary for my dinner reservation and fireworks viewing at the California Grill.

Couldn't resist a little castle photography on the way out of the park though.



So off to the parking lot, and after missing the turn not once but thrice, I made it to the Contemporary but missed most of the fireworks. And aside from riding the monorail through it, this was my first time IN the Contemporary. The scent was quite off putting. It can't really define it, but it was super crisp but like it was hiding a stronger scent of bleach. It smelled clearly artificial, which I disliked intensely.

But here's a shot from the top of the contemporary where my shawl was most useful. So windy!


The wait for my table was nearly interminable. And I knew almost immediately that I was in for a very different dining experience than at Jiko. The atmosphere was not nearly as intimate or quiet or warm. It was a very rushed and there were children playing in the spaces between tables about and very few diners had dressed for dinner. Looked to me that my waiter was covering two stations (I waited tables in college) and did not have the time to make that Disney magic happen. And it was clear that the entire place needed the refurbishment that had been postponed.

Having read great reviews of the sushi, I ordered the tuna three ways appetizer. It was quite beautiful. Presentation was superb.


Flavors were just ok though. Nothing spectacular, or maybe I'm just spoiled by having great sushi restaurants with same day caught fish, but this tuna had clearly been frozen.

For my main course, I ordered the pumpkin ravioli with stuffed fig.


Kinda bland to be honest. My local Italian place makes a much better dish. I treated the goat cheese stuffed fig as dessert and called it a night.

With a glass of Monterey County Pinot Noir, the bill was more than Jiko and not even close to the same level. So much for this Californian being impressed by Disney's version of California cuisine.

[Amy]

Wow ~ what a full day! Sounds like you were able to take in quite a few shows and attractions and still managed to relax. The food sure looks fancy at the Contemporary, but it doesn't sound as though it was all that tasty.
That is pretty neat about the interactive crabs at the Little Mermaid. I haven't seen that mentioned in any of the reports on the new attraction opening. Shows there is always something one can learn

[theBIGyowski]

I had a rainbow roll at The California Grill several years back and really enjoyed it. We got to watch Wishes from our table there which was really cool.

I probably won't go back there...just because there are so many other great places to eat at WDW...and because it is quite out of the way to get to unless you are staying at The Contemporary.

[BuzzyFan]

I've done a 180 on cinnamon in savory foods. It really adds a nice punch. There's a dish at Restaurant Marrakesh that puts cinnamon and powdered sugar on top of spiced ground beef that helped push me towards adding cinnamon to many a savory dish. But it has to be real cinnamon. Ceylon or Sri Lanka on the label. It really is quite distinct from Saigon Cinnamon or Chinese Cinnamon. Best way to find the good stuff is to buy it in the Mexican aisle of your local store. Cheaper that way too.

Penzey's Spices would be a good source for this, too. Their prices tend to be pretty good!