We had Thanksgiving dinner at Ohana at the Polynesian.  This was a bit of a let down, because I didn't know that the regularly scheduled all you can eat meat fest was going to be interrupted with all you can eat turkey dinner.  I don't like turkey, and Thanksgiving dinner at my house usually includes some sort of pasta.  None to be found here.

The cranberry sauce was chunky and though it was a little too sweet, I couldn't stop myself from eating almost two bowls of it

Here is our first platter of the turkey and all the fixings except pasta.  There were about 8 green beans, and not enough gravy.  I asked for extra and was given a whole bowl of gravy.

Dessert.  Pumpkin bread pudding.  With ice cream.  And a little pitcher of creamy sauce  I liked this.  A lot.

The turkey dinner was nothing special, but that's because I don't like turkey.  The stuffing was good, and so were the potatoes, so I consumed large quantities of each.  It's hard keeping your girlish figure at Disney.

Chilling by the wood fires

In the lobby

Cushy chairs are scattered throughout the Polynesian.

There is vegetation surrounding a waterfall.  Try not to fall in if you sit here

My new friend - I think he's a drummer

More of the plants and flowers by the waterfall

See the waterfall in the background?  I was afraid I was going to fall in.

We walked from Downtown Disney to the Waffle House Thanksgiving morning.  I wanted to get a bowl of cheese grits.  I can't believe that Dean agreed to walk 2 miles to a place he can't stand.  It was the best breakfast that I have had so far.  Sad but true.

No frills surroundings - where is the Disney Magic?

Score!  Cheese Grits!  Buttered down, too!

Everything on this plate was cooked in butter!!!!

I ordered an omelette with jalapenos, cheese, and ham, and raisin toast.  And the grits.  Dean ordered the All Star Breakfast.  The coffee was good, the service was brisk, and the tiny cafe was packed the entire time we were there.  

Having loaded up on fatty grams, we were ready for the hike back to Downtown Disney, where we waited forever for a bus to anywhere.

I will admit that I was feeling a little disappointed with our meals so far.  Either the food or the service was not impressive, and the one thing that I look forward to the most on any vacation is the food.  The Yachtsman Steakhouse excelled at both, and now I'm eager for those ADRs again.

A closet filled with raw meat!

We spent most of the day wandering around EPCOT and the EPCOT resorts, grazing as we went.  I now understand what Blondie finds so appealing about her vacation in the pasture.  More on the day later, let's just get right to the food!

Oscar was our waiter, and he was fantastic  He even noticed the doll and made sure that she was a happy camper, too.  He said he was used to Mickey's at the table, but this was one of the first Barbies that he has seen.   Yea, Oscar! Every time you asked what she wanted for dinner or if she needed a refill on her beverages, your tip went up.

They serve two kinds of bread here, a sourdough and onion rolls.  Dean ate the onion rolls so I didn't have to.  Thanks for the sacrifice!  The awesome thing about the bread is they give you a little cup of warm, freshly roasted garlic.  Man, oh, man, was it good!  I quickly consumed most of it.

We started out with  Seared Maine Diver Scallops served with risotto and vegetables..  These were like butter and just melted in your mouth.  The risotto was a touch salty, but this appetizer got our hopes up that this would be a wonderful meal.

I also ordered the squash bisque with seasonally spiced cream.  I was little afraid that the soup would be inedible like at Mara, but I was wrong.  The cinnamon was a little strong, but it wasn't overpowering like at Mara.

Artfully presented lamb

Next up, I ordered Boneless Lamb Loin - 9-oz boneless loin with Shiitake mushrooms,and squash, lamb merlot reduction.  Yeah, yeah, who orders lamb at a steakhouse?  I do!  I love lamb, and this was quite tasty.  I asked for it to be prepared medium rare, and it was very tender.

Dean had the NY Strip Steak - 12-oz strip steak served with peppercorn brandy sauce and potato gratin with Diamond white cheddar.  He thought the meat was very tender, and he enjoyed the potatoes.   I thought at medium well he ordered it too cooked, but we don't agree on our steak preparation preferences.

We were both pretty stuffed after our meals, but since we had skipped dessert at Narcoossee's we weren't about to do that again.  We agreed to split a trio of chocolate tastings.  I let him eat most of it because I was just too full.

Comfy chair for me!

On Wednesday morning, we got up a little early so we could eat at Boma's.  There was already a line of people waiting with their little pagers.  We didn't have to wait for every long, and were soon led to our table.  This was a disappointing seat because the sun was so blinding.  Dean had to move his stuff over to my side of the table, and we sat side by side because of the sun.

Boma is just an excuse to over eat

Boma was just a pig fest.  There were stations with pastries, fruits, meats, breads, eggs, and traditional African breakfasts.  The curried sausage was good, and there was a very spicy sauce for the turkey and roast beef.

Look, another plate loaded with fattening food

This was a reasonably priced breakfast, but mainly because of the heaping mounds of food.  The coffee was good, too.

Serving station

More serving stations

So much food!

I didn't get to try everything

Wednesday night was our dinner at Narcoossee's.  I was looking forward to this meal, and I left feeling terribly disappointed.  And irritated.  Not a good thing.

See how nice the drink menu is?  Too bad the wait staff wasn't as pleasant.

Things kicked off to a good start, as we ordered our drinks and then our appetizers.  The seating assignment was less that stellar, so I asked if I could keep the drink menu on the table.  I wanted to use it as a backdrop for my photos, since it was a very attractive book, and I didn't want to include the people behind us in my shots.  Well, after that, the waiter made a very annoying habit of not stopping by our table.

Dean's girly drink.  No alcohol.

Bread basket shaped like a fish

French press coffee!  I love it!  Unlike at Citricos, the waiter never came to make sure I had coffee or to refill my cup

We started with a seafood bisque, which had main rock crab and a sourdough crostini.  Crostini is just another word for stale bread, so don't be fooled.  The strips of seafood were a little insubstantial, but overall, the soup had a nice flavor.

I ordered togarashi spiced ahi tuna - about 20 minutes after finishing my soup.  The theme of the dinner was wait, wait, wait.  I reminded me of the horrible meal we had at the Coral Reef a few years ago, which took about three hours because the wait staff ignored us then, too.  At Narcoossee's, the waiter was busy helping out the tables all around us, but he didn't want to trouble himself taking our order.

It took about thirty minutes after placing the order the receive our meals.  We were both afraid that the food would be cold because it was sitting in the back, forgotten, just like us.  My rice wasn't hot, but since my tuna was shashimi style, it wasn't going to be hot anyway,.

The tuna was served with sticky rice topped wasabi tobiko, a soy chili glaze and vegetable rolls.  The tobiko was interesting, but the vegetable rolls didn't impress.

Dean ordered crab crusted yellow tail snapper with crushed fingerling potatoes, haricot verts, and meyer lemon sauce.  He thought the food was very good.  I was wondering how pissed off you have to be at the potatoes to crush them.

Because we were tired of sitting there, forgotten, for so long, we opted to not order dessert.  We never opt to not order dessert.  The absent waiter was rewarded for his crappy service with a dollar tip.  We won't be eating here again.

We arrived for our ADR at the Wave, and we were given a pager.  I took a few pictures while we waited,.  They were still in the process of setting up for dinner.  Then our pager went off and we were led to a tiny table in the middle of the restaurant.  The only thing that saved it from being a crappy seat was the very large pillar next to the table.

Waiting for the pager to go off

I thought the candle holder was very fashionable

We started the meal with lettuce wraps - this dish consisted of sauteed lamb and bay scallops with a soy rice wine vinegar sauce.  This was a little disappointing.  The scallops were of the pygmy variety, and the lamb was shaped in to tiny balls.  The plate was awash with onions, which I hate, but the sauce was very peppery and had a lot of flavor.  Probably to drown out the onions.  There were only three pieces of lettuce, which I did not understand at all.  Come on, give us at least four, will ya?

The bread was very flavorful, and the butter had little brown chunks of salt sprinkled on top.

Dean's tough guy drink

I ordered the seasonal vegetable stew, served over a multigrain rice.  This had a lot of onion as well, but they had been simmering in broth for a while, so when I occasionally ate one, I wasn't grossed out.  The sauce had a strong taste of lemon, which I liked, but overall, this was a pretty bland meal.

Dean ordered the linguini with littleneck clams and rock shrimp in a chunky tomato sauce.  Again, the seafood was tiny, tiny.  Dean wasn't overly impressed and thought the meal lacked flavor.

For dessert, I ordered Braised Pineapple spears in vanilla sauce, almond raisin baklava, and carrot zucchini cake.  Now, before you start thinking that I'm a big pig, these were served as a trio tasting, just a bite or two of each.  I liked the carrot cake the best.

Overall, this wasn't our favorite meal at Disney.  I only booked here because it is a new restaurant.  The service was not very memorable, either.  He did a good job, but there were long, long gaps between visits to our table.

Rating:  I'll give this a C

Jumping for joy to finally be on VACATION!

As is typical, I didn't sleep well last night.  I just I get pre-trip excitement and it keeps me up all night.  We ate at Pei Wei last night, and after checking into the Baymont, I did sleep like a log until 1:30 - then I was up the rest of the night.  Suck.  I haven't mastered the art of sleeping on planes, either, so now I'm pooped.

Healthy breakfast burrito

We arrived at Orlando early, but then I had this monstrous line to stand in to check in for the Magical Express.  That is the free bus that ships you off to Disney.  The terminal was hot and humid, and it was not fun waiting in that line.  Then we had to move over to a different part of the terminal to stand in another line to actually board the bus.  Welcome to Disney!

A little light reading material for the plane ride

After stopping at two other resorts, we made a mad dash to the front desk and were the first in line at Animal Kingdom Lodge.  Check in was smooth and painless, as was getting our park hoppers added to our Keys to the World.  Then it was up to the room, and decide where to go next.  Since we had advance dinner reservations at the Wave at the Contemporary, we headed over to Magic Kingdom.

Look at how they fold towels in Disney!

It was extremely crowded, but we were able to breeze aboard Pirates of the Caribbean.  They have rehabbed the ride since the last time we were here, and Capt Jack was added to the attraction.  Other than that, it's the same old ride.  I still like it, but I am easily amused.

Next was Transit Authority, which Dean thinks is about the lamest ride, and then Carousel of Progress, which I don't remember ever seeing before.  It was interesting, though the song was a little annoying.   After, we scurried over to the Monorail to the Contemporary for dinner.  Review of the Wave to follow.

Well, here we are, back home again.  It's nice to be home, but the thought of going into work tomorrow isn't doing much for me.

The flight home was uneventful, other than a last minute gate change that we didn't know about.  After settling into my seat, I read manga or watched Bleach on my portable DVD player.

We got stuck in a traffic jam on 275, which was a total downer. I hate getting stuck in traffic.  We wasted 30 minutes trying to go a whole mile!  Argh!

We dashed into Meijer for some essential groceries, and picked up Buu from the kennel.  After we got home, he spent the first hour patrolling and barking at every little noise.

I am getting sick again, but thankfully this year it waited until the last night to start manifesting itself.  Disney has got to be one of the germiest places on the entire planet.  Every time I visit, I bring some disease home with me. I even had hand sanitizer, and we both used it religiously.  *Sigh*

Some of you might be wondering about Monday as I skipped blogging about it.  We went to Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and MGM Studios, hitting some of the rides that were too busy to enjoy with all of the Thanksgiving crowd hanging around the parks.

Dinner was at the Brown Derby at 3:30, and was probably the one I was most looking forward to. The dinner didn't live up to my memory from last year. 

We purchased the Fantasmic Dinner package again, which meant the we both got to order an appetizer, entree and dessert for 40 bucks a person.  We also received a special ticket that allowed us to sit in reserved seating at the light show. 

I started with Seared Sea Scallop with barbecued pork rib belly and corn relish.  It's too bad I dropped most of the pork rib and didn't get to eat it.  Clumsy me!  Dean had the Crab Cake with potato crust, avocado mustard sauce and napa slaw.

For dinner, I ordered Sesame Seared Ahi Tuna with honey-gingered spaghetti squash, warm soy vinaigrette, and Wasabi oil.  I was disappointed with it.  There was hardly any wasabi favor and the tuna wasn't as tender as it could have been.  Dean got the Pan Roasted Duck Breast and Duck Sausage with toasted garlic grits, natural reduction, and chili jam, which I had contemplated, but passed up on it.

Dessert was an easy choice:  tiramisu creme brulee with dark chocolate dipped lady finger.  My two favorite desserts combined!  Better than a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup!  Dean settled for the Grapefruit Cake - A Brown Derby Original! Light Layers of Yellow Cake with fresh Grapefruit Cream Cheese Icing, which turned out to be his favorite dessert of the trip.

We lingered after our meals at the park, waiting for Fantasmic to begin.  The Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights gets turned on at 6, so like dummies, we went and stood with the throng, waiting for the switch to be flipped.  We only stayed a few minutes after, as there were too many people crammed onto too small a space.

Fantasmic was wonderful as always.  I forgot how good a show it is.  The only downside is having to get a seat 30 minutes before the show starts.  I hate waiting!

After Fantasmic, we went back to see the Christmas lights.  This year, they added snow (foam that they blew from the rooftops), and the lights "danced" to music.  It was really cool to watch, but again, it was way too crowded.

Tuesday was humid and overcast.  We went back to the Waffle for breakfast, mainly because Dean knows I won't be able to eat at another one until summertime.  This was only the second time all vacation that we ate together in the morning.  Dean doesn't usually eat breakfast, so I would get up, take a shower, and head downstairs by myself.  It's a good thing I got used to eating by myself at horse shows.

After packing up our stuff and sending it off with Fedex, we headed to the internet center at the hotel to print off our boarding passes.  After fighting with NWA's website for about 5 minutes (at .20 per!) I finally thought of checking us each in separately.  Worked like a charm, but I've never had to do that before.

With most of the administrative tasks for the trip home complete, we headed to Epcot. We arrived shortly after 11, and walked over to the Land to see how long the Fast Pass line was for Soarin'. It was for a 4:15-5:15 return, which was too close to our dinner reservations, so we just stood in the 45 minute standby line.

After a short wait of about 20 minutes, we boarded our glider and were sent off soaring into the clouds.  This is a great ride, and it's amazing how thoroughly confused your brain becomes with a huge movie screen and a few changes in what you're sitting on. 

After Soarin' we walked over to France for a last visit to the pastry shop.  Then I stopped for some photo ops with Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty. 

By the time we circled the World Showcase again, I was hungry for some chips in the UK.  I once again failed in my quest to eat my way around the world, but this gives me a good excuse to plan another visit to WDW some time in the future.

Just for giggles, I stopped at a Disney Vacation Club kiosk to listen to the spiel about the Disney version of a time share.  Too bad I don't have the $15100 it costs to buy my "deed" in the Kingdom.  It's a tad overpriced, even if I get 47 years of annual Disney trips.

We tried to ride Spaceship Earth again (yes, Dean thinks it's a lame ride, too), but it had broken down and was closed.  So sad!

Dinner was at Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  It started raining, so we left a little early so we could watch the animals wandering around the savannah.  I wanted to see the wildebeests, they were right in front of the observation area.  Yeah!

Jiko is the only resort restaurant that gave Dean a hard time about being in a sleeveless shirt.  He had just purchased a sweatshirt in the gift shop, so he put that on.  No more complaints about how he was dressed.

We started our meal with a Taste of Africa - Kalamata Olive Hummus, Durban Tikka Masala, and Malay Sagh Dhal Dip with Lentil Pappadam, whole wheat lavosh, and flaxseed Naan bread.  This was awesome!  I ordered the Roasted Butternut Squash Soup - with sagh dhal cottage cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds.  It wasn't as good as the soup at Citricos, but the pumpkin seeds were a nice touch.

For dinner, I ordered Durban Shrimp Curry - with artichokes, tomatoes, sweet peas and colusari rice.  This was excellent!  I especially enjoyed the microgreens, though it could have been slightly spicier.   It was one of my favorite meals all vacation.  Dean tried the Maize-crusted and Seared Pacific Halibut - with vegetables of the moment, tomato butter sauce, and crispy sweet potatoes.  He didn't think the veggies or the sweet potatoes did much for him, but he said the fish was excellent.

For dessert, we shared a Pistachio Creme Brulee with layered chocolate bottom.  It did taste like pistachio, and the chocolate on the bottom was a nice touch. By this time, I was tired of eating!    This means that it's time to go home!!