Mojitos, Night Shows & 40 Attractions! A September 2017 Trip

[Lesley Wake]

Next time you and the girls should just come out to LA too and go to Disneyland! Who needs school-Disney provides the life experiences

So, they crammed themselves both into the stroller. In order to do that, Morgan got in first and sat sideways. And then Gwen got in and held on for dear life to not fall out. But they were glad to be able to not walk at that point.

I wish you had a picture of that-it sounds hilarious!

I really liked the big animal floats. I thought they were beautiful, but moved really slow.

The turtle looks really cute, unfortunately it wasn't out during our show!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Good Morning Everyone! It is COOOOOOLLLLLDDDD here this morning. And I was rich, I would have booked a flight to somewhere warm this weekend. It is to feel like -11 today! I am over the cold. Of course, it is cold in Florida too. Anyway, I hope everyone is staying warm!

Weird......I know at BOG for dinner they'll only let you check in 10 or 15 minutes early but that's the only place I've heard anything similar.

It was so strange. I was def busy but why they can't take my name is just strange.

Glad it was a good meal at Tusker House (even if you had to wait a little long).

It wasn't too bad. I want to try breakfast there next.

Hope the snow didn't hit you too bad and you are staying warm!!

We got 4" of snow, so not too much. It's this cold that is killing me! I think I saw you were in the greater PA/NY/NJ area? How about you? We are near Philly.

Oh Gwen just looks so sad with her ride ticket!

I felt so bad. I knew there was a height requirement. I just walked out on it. I could have avoided a little of the melt down. She really was so sad. And I knew the game was going to make it worse, being that I figured her chances of winning were pretty slim.

Next time you and the girls should just come out to LA too and go to Disneyland! Who needs school-Disney provides the life experiences

I def want to do Disneyland at some point! DH was complaining about his work trip and how he didn't want to have to come back out that way. And I was thinking, but we didn't get our Disneyland trip yet... Bad wife, I know...

I wish you had a picture of that-it sounds hilarious!

I don't know why I didn't take a picture. Probably because I was wishing I could climb in too! I thought I did, but obviously did not. #tripreportfail

The turtle looks really cute, unfortunately it wasn't out during our show!

Oh man! My biggest complaint is that they have 2 sets of animals and they stay to one side, they don't make them cross over. The other side had a cute owl. But he was all the way on the other side.

 

[kastoney]

We stopped at cart on the way over, grabbed 2 bags of chips for the girls to snack on and 2 drinks a water and a soda I believe. I debated getting a beer but I was so hot and tired I just didn't feel like it. We parked the stroller and hopped into the theater just before the show started. We were all the way in the back, but we were just glad to be sitting in air conditioning. Well, the adults were. The girls were moping a bit still.

What is it with kids and not wanting to see these shows? We haven't seen any of the AK shows in several trips as Casey flat out refuses. Air conditioning aside, the shows are great!!!

Gwen was NOT tall enough. She was VERY sad about this.

Poor thing. I remember having this trouble with Casey a few trips back. She's tall enough now, but that didn't help those days when she couldn't

We did see the Cheetas up and about. Which Morgan was super excited about.

Great pic! I don't think I've ever seen the cheatahs mobile

After our ride through the savannah, we needed a potty break. I have no idea why, but we ended up in the family bathroom. So, Morgan decided to "change" her baby zebra on the baby changing table.

When in Rome, or family bathrooms at least

I some how don't have a picture of either of the girls with there drink. But Gwen was OVER the moon that I got them a glow cube as well. My drink was SO good! I wish I got two! Although, trying to balance 3 drinks would have been way too much!

Love this pic and the drink sounds awesome!!!! Nothing like boozey disney nights

The big finale... Not much of a finale... Fire, I guess.

The show was... nice... I didn't have HUGE expectations for the show. I knew it was getting mixed reviews. And I am glad we saw it. But it was... well... kind of boring... Beautiful, but no real excitement. And it went a little too long for my liking. But we were tired too.

These are great pictures. We've still yet to see the show, largely for the reasons you say, but "m sure we will at some point

We wanted to check out the tree of Life show on the way out. So, we watched some of the show. It was really cool! And the girls really liked it. But I think we left before we saw the WHOLE show.

The girls were total troopers! I'm surprise you saw any semblance of this

Tusker House Lunch:
(2) Adult Buffet Meals $59.99 each

Is lunch really $60 for adults????? That is more than most signature entries. Insane!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

What is it with kids and not wanting to see these shows? We haven't seen any of the AK shows in several trips as Casey flat out refuses. Air conditioning aside, the shows are great!!!

Our girls always like them once the show starts but always complain waiting for it to start. Who knows... My theory is at least with Gwen when she gets super tired she doesn't want to stop and relax. So, that might of had something to do with it? Who knows! We needed a break though!

Poor thing. I remember having this trouble with Casey a few trips back. She's tall enough now, but that didn't help those days when she couldn't

I am going to still have a problem in Feb. Gwen REALLY wants to go on Rockn' Rollercoaster and I don't think she is 48" yet. I am going to try and get her some super puffy shoes or something... Maybe put some papertowels in her shoes...

Love this pic and the drink sounds awesome!!!! Nothing like boozey disney nights

I am pretty sure the glow cube made the drink taste better as well!

These are great pictures.

I can't take credit for the photos, Andy take really great pics with our DSLR camera.

We've still yet to see the show, largely for the reasons you say, but "m sure we will at some point

It is worth seeing at least once. Just grab some drinks first and a glow cube for Casey!

Is lunch really $60 for adults????? That is more than most signature entries. Insane!

So, I am not completely positive that was the cost. That is the range listed on the Disney Website. Since we were on the dinning plan, I didn't take pics or save all the receipts after the trip was over. But it is a character meal and that always jacks the price up! The dis lists the cost at $52. We also did the ROL Dinning Package, so I am not completely sure. But somewhere between 50 & 60 bucks!

 

[amazingact21]

I just found your report and still have a lot of catching up to do, but I wanted to let you know that I'm following along!

The reveal was great, and your girls looked so excited when they realized where they were going. I like the idea of letting it be a surprise, while also giving them enough time to process the news.

I have to say, this:

is a genius idea!!! Oh my gosh, once my kids get old enough to read I am stealing this. (I might've saved the image to my computer for future reference, hope you don't mind!)

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hello Everyone!

We leave for Disney again in 24 days! It has been soooo cold here in New Jersey, that I am so so so glad we decided to go at our regularly schedule trip time even though we took this September trip. I just keep telling myself that we are going to Disney soon, we are going to Disney soon. Of course, I am crossing my fingers that it will actually be warm when we are there. I did order the girls fleece jackets from Disney Store this morning just in case. And I am starting to collect my Tinkerbell Gifts for the girls. I am trying to keep them as cheap as possible, since we were just there.

Day Four: Some much needed RnR

I left off with our long day in Animal Kingdom. I felt like we really got to explore the park a lot more. Up until this trip, it was def the park we had done the least in. So that was nice. But we all needed some rest this morning!

Today's plan was rest in the AM, a late lunch at a place I had been wanting to try, and then head to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!


So, Tinkerbell left the girls provisions for the party. Halloween Costumes, a Trick or Treat Bag and some Halloween Glow Sticks!


The girls were super excited about there outfits. But also exhausted!

We chilled in the room for a bit and discussed what to do for breakfast. I wanted to try out the breakfast over by Geyser Point. I had wanted to try the crabcake eggs benedict. But they had already removed that from the menu! Bummer. But I still dragged everyone down to get some breakfast.

There was no-one down there, meanwhile Roaring Forks was packed. I think some people might not of realized it was open? Maybe?

We were able to order at the walk up counter and then find a seat in the seating at Geyser Point. It was really nice, they brought the food on real plates with cloth napkins and silverware. And we had this as our view!


I ordered the Smoked Salmon Everything Bialy

If you like Smoked Salmon..... then this is a must have! It was soooooo good. I mean, technically there is nothing special about this but everything was fresh! I was so happy with this breakfast. I am pretty sure that they made the chive cream cheese there, it def wasn't packaged.
Since we were on the dinning plan, and we had our refillable cups with us. The CM was nice enough to let us know that we could sub a side of bacon or sausage instead of a drink. So, I got bacon on the side. And filled my cup with coffee from the drink station.

Andy ordered the Smoked Ham, Spinach, Mushroom and Feta Breakfast Wrap served with Fresh Fruit.

Andy said this was good. Nothing to rave about but good. Andy also got a side of bacon instead of a drink. I think he filled up his cup with coffee but wait till we got back to the room for it to cool. He is a cold coffee only kind of guy.

Morgan ordered the Buttermilk Pancakes with Cinnamon-Apple Compote served with a choice of Sausage or Bacon

This is the adult size. I was smart enough to order the adult size, since it didn't matter with counter service if it was kid or adults. That small metal ramekin is the Apple Compote. Not nearly enough in my opinion. Morgan ate that straight with a fork. The pancakes were fluffy and decent. Again, not something that I would say you NEED to get but good pancakes. Since Morgan's came with bacon, we got a bottle of water with hers.

And Gwen ordered the Breakfast Box choice of Cereal with Milk, Dannon® Danimals® Smoothie, Peanut Butter and Grapes and served with small Lowfat Milk or small Dasani® Water. This was on the Kids' meal and just what she wanted. No picture of her meal, though. It did come in a bag, kids meal style and she was very happy with that.

It was a really nice relaxing start to the day. No wait for our food, we got to sit in lounge type chairs, it was great. It was starting to get hot already, so once we were done, we headed back to the room to put on our bathing suits and come back down and swim for a bit.

On the way back I noticed these in the walkway.

Just one of those small touches.

I also made the girls pose in front of the buffalo topiary.

As you can see, Gwen had brought her bubble wand! (If you were worried that she was over her wand already, she was NOT)

No pictures of us swimming, as I think we all got in and floated around. Around 11:30, I said that we needed to head back to the room to rest, shower and get ready to head out. But I wanted to grab a drink at the bar before heading up. So, I gave the girls a 10 minute warning and headed over to the bar.

I must have been the first customer, because the lady had to open the register and took awhile finding certain things. But all was good, we were in relax mode at the moment. There are so many yummy looking drinks here, I had a hard time deciding on what to get but I ended up ordering this:

Black Cherry Mule
Zodiac Black Cherry Vodka, fresh Lime Juice, and Agave Nectar topped with Fever Tree Ginger Beer

OMG!!! This was my favorite drink of the trip! It was so good. The bartender said she would see me in a bit and that they go down fast. And she was so right! Unfortantly we had gone up to the room, so going back down for another one seemed well... a little like I had a problem. Ha.


So good. (You can also see the "mickey" Gwen drew on my fingers before we left, she is VERY into painting my nails)

I grabbed the girls and they wanted something to snack on in the room. So, we stopped into Roaring Fork to grab some snacks for the room.

Morgan picked out a Cinnamon Roll.

It's a cinnamon roll...

Gwen picked out yet ANOTHER bacon Donut. Pretty sure she got THE last one for the morning! No picture as this is like her millionth one.

And then we got one of the campfire cupcakes to split.

This was really good. It was kind of like a Ho Ho Donut with filling in the middle. It was super cute too!

We all lounged, took turns getting showered/bathed and ready to head out.

Next up lunch at somewhere I was VERY much looking forward to trying!!!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I just found your report and still have a lot of catching up to do, but I wanted to let you know that I'm following along!

Welcome!!! YEAH!!!!

is a genius idea!!! Oh my gosh, once my kids get old enough to read I am stealing this. (I might've saved the image to my computer for future reference, hope you don't mind!)

I don't mind at all! I googled Disney Watercolors and found the images. There are lot so different images that you can find.

But the "rules" have been a thing for us for awhile. It started on the first trip, because Gwen was 2-3/4 and had decided that she wanted to potty train like a week before we left for Disney. And she is a frequent pee-er. But it always helps to have the "rules" come from Tinkerbell instead of the parents.

 

[amalone1013]

I didn't really know what to expect and it was good that the wait wasn't long because Gwen decided she had to go to the bathroom once we were in line. We all don't look too scared of the big Scare.

Every picture we have on this ride DH's face just looks like, what the heck?!?

You are all welcome! You can see all of the lights and sprayers on the inside.

I had to send this to DH, because he's super into that.

I found this was too funny. Hopefully they lost this on there way to Rivers of Light. Andy actually said I should take a picture for my Trip Report! Ha, he was starting to "get" this Trip Report stuff.

Haha, whenever I go to take a picture of food DH sighs and asks if it's for my blog.

I really liked the big animal floats. I thought they were beautiful, but moved really slow.

The floats are very pretty I think. The show was neat, but not my favorite. DH loves fountains so he's really excited to see it again.

The boats were kind of hard to see the people on them. Or what in the world they were doing.

I couldn't really see the people on the boats, and we had done a dining package...

We wanted to check out the tree of Life show on the way out. So, we watched some of the show. It was really cool! And the girls really liked it. But I think we left before we saw the WHOLE show.

We leave for Disney again in 24 days! It has been soooo cold here in New Jersey, that I am so so so glad we decided to go at our regularly schedule trip time even though we took this September trip. I just keep telling myself that we are going to Disney soon, we are going to Disney soon. Of course, I am crossing my fingers that it will actually be warm when we are there. I did order the girls fleece jackets from Disney Store this morning just in case. And I am starting to collect my Tinkerbell Gifts for the girls. I am trying to keep them as cheap as possible, since we were just there.

I was trying to add up when you were going, it seems like we'll be leaving as you get there!

These are so cute!

I also made the girls pose in front of the buffalo topiary.

I love this, I don't know why...

 

[kastoney]

I am going to still have a problem in Feb. Gwen REALLY wants to go on Rockn' Rollercoaster and I don't think she is 48" yet. I am going to try and get her some super puffy shoes or something... Maybe put some papertowels in her shoes...

Hope she can make it. Will keep your fingers crossed for her. Casey was big enough but chickened out last minute.

We leave for Disney again in 24 days! It has been soooo cold here in New Jersey, that I am so so so glad we decided to go at our regularly schedule trip time even though we took this September trip. I just keep telling myself that we are going to Disney soon, we are going to Disney soon. Of course, I am crossing my fingers that it will actually be warm when we are there. I did order the girls fleece jackets from Disney Store this morning just in case. And I am starting to collect my Tinkerbell Gifts for the girls. I am trying to keep them as cheap as possible, since we were just there.

I can't believe you are going next month. That is awesome!!!! Even if its not crazy warm, its gotta be better than what you've been contending with this winter. We were lamenting this week that this is the first time in year we have no "warm" vacations planned for the winter. If we don't do Disney we've gone to Key West or Mexico or anywhere else that helps the winter go by. I'll have to live vicariously through you.

We were able to order at the walk up counter and then find a seat in the seating at Geyser Point. It was really nice, they brought the food on real plates with cloth napkins and silverware. And we had this as our view!

What a great place to grab some breakfast. I can't believe more people weren't there.

If you like Smoked Salmon..... then this is a must have! It was soooooo good. I mean, technically there is nothing special about this but everything was fresh! I was so happy with this breakfast. I am pretty sure that they made the chive cream cheese there, it def wasn't packaged.

Yum!!!! I love, love, love smoked salmon so this would be right up my alley. Just need a bloody mary to go with it

I also made the girls pose in front of the buffalo topiary.

Love this pic. Though it makes me think of dances with wolves and I have "tatanka" running through my brain.

Black Cherry Mule
Zodiac Black Cherry Vodka, fresh Lime Juice, and Agave Nectar topped with Fever Tree Ginger Beer

OMG!!! This was my favorite drink of the trip! It was so good. The bartender said she would see me in a bit and that they go down fast. And she was so right! Unfortantly we had gone up to the room, so going back down for another one seemed well... a little like I had a problem. Ha.

This looks and sounds amazing. I'm a sucker for a good mule and love the addition of some black cherry vodka. Will most definitely have to try this.

Next up lunch at somewhere I was VERY much looking forward to trying!!!!

Can't wait to see what this is....

 

[missangelalexis]

We got 4" of snow, so not too much. It's this cold that is killing me! I think I saw you were in the greater PA/NY/NJ area? How about you? We are near Philly.

I'm in northern NJ, literally right outside NYC. Te cold has been so brutal! Looks like this week we will finally get some warmth though!

Sounds like a great morning between the tasty breakfasts and lounging at the pool! The Halloween costumes are so cute, can't wait to see them on you all!

 

[missjackiemcg]

So, I did the most acceptable next thing, I got in line for a drink!

We were able to check in 15 minutes ahead of our Tusker House reservation on this trip, BUT the line was INSANE to check in! And once we did check in, we were told they were running at least 30 minutes behind. I was so irritated, so we, too, got in line immediately for a drink! Pleasant surprise though--as I was putting my wallet away, our buzzer went off and we were seated right away. Yay for a moment of pixie dust!!

We got off the ride and DH turned to me and said "That was it?" I almost laughed at loud. I guess since I knew it was so short I wasn't surprised. We all agreed that it was nice but not more than 15 min wait nice.

Our feelings exactly!!! We didn't even get to see the audio-animatronic at the end--she wasn't functioning so we got the drop down screen of her. LAME.

And I am glad we saw it. But it was... well... kind of boring... Beautiful, but no real excitement. And it went a little too long for my liking.

Agreed. Rob said it was the most confusing show he's ever seen LOL

 

[Lesley Wake]

We leave for Disney again in 24 days! It has been soooo cold here in New Jersey, that I am so so so glad we decided to go at our regularly schedule trip time even though we took this September trip. I just keep telling myself that we are going to Disney soon, we are going to Disney soon. Of course, I am crossing my fingers that it will actually be warm when we are there. I did order the girls fleece jackets from Disney Store this morning just in case. And I am starting to collect my Tinkerbell Gifts for the girls. I am trying to keep them as cheap as possible, since we were just there.

Yay! I know, I'm counting down the days myself! 51!

This is the adult size. I was smart enough to order the adult size, since it didn't matter with counter service if it was kid or adults. That small metal ramekin is the Apple Compote. Not nearly enough in my opinion. Morgan ate that straight with a fork. The pancakes were fluffy and decent. Again, not something that I would say you NEED to get but good pancakes. Since Morgan's came with bacon, we got a bottle of water with hers.

Hmm, I was glancing at menus and that had popped out to me for a possible breakfast when I stay there in December. Well, I'll see if they change the menu before then!

As you can see, Gwen had brought her bubble wand! (If you were worried that she was over her wand already, she was NOT)

OMG-bubble wands were a huge hit with my friend's kids (they are basically family at this point and I'm sort of their de facto aunt and favorite person, which is adorable). A brother and sister got BB-8 and a Tie Fighter and my other friend's kid got the glowing Mickey. They all loved them!!! (Ages 5.5-2)

And then we got one of the campfire cupcakes to split.

This was really good. It was kind of like a Ho Ho Donut with filling in the middle. It was super cute too!

I'm totally getting one of these!

 

[MeghanEmily]

I had gotten super behind!!

Sugar Cane Mojito
Starr African Rum and Sugar Cane Syrup mixed with fresh Lime Juice, Mint and a splash of Soda Water

Yum, this looks great!

All was good. But I have to say all a little bland. Indian and African food is so flavorful and this was def dialed back a bit to appease the masses. It was good, don't get me wrong but not as good as Boma (in my opinion)

I think they definitely do tone down the flavours a bit for guests who aren't used to the spices and the heat.

Can you tell Gwen was SOOOO excited to be meeting some characters? She is practically latched around Donald's waste!

That's so cute! Gwen's so enthused!

She looks like a little super hero!

We got off the ride and DH turned to me and said "That was it?" I almost laughed at loud. I guess since I knew it was so short I wasn't surprised. We all agreed that it was nice but not more than 15 min wait nice.

Bahah yeah, it's definitely not the most thrilling of rides. I really liked it, but I went in with tempered expectations. And I'd never wait very long for it.

I love this show! I think it is amazing that they perform this multiple times a day every day. (That and the Lion King show as well!)

I agree! Nemo used to be my favourite show, and probably still is to an extent. (I'll be discussing this in my TRs! haha) You're really getting a Broadway-style show, performed live, multiple times a day. It's wild. Lion King is similar that way, too, you're right.

After more crying, I finally got Gwen to calm down and we went on Triceratop Spin. She did call it a baby ride. Triple Sigh...

Poor Gwen. It's hard to be too little sometimes.

You are all welcome! You can see all of the lights and sprayers on the inside.

Oh cool! thanks for sharing this!

Andy actually said I should take a picture for my Trip Report! Ha, he was starting to "get" this Trip Report stuff.

Nathan's also getting on board with the trip report stuff a bit! He didn't get it at first, and now he's obsessed with coming up with TR titles and with me keeping random stories in my notes.

And I got a Lotus Flower Glow Cube for them as well.

I like these glow cubes! We got some pixie-dusted to us on our honeymoon.

The show was... nice... I didn't have HUGE expectations for the show. I knew it was getting mixed reviews. And I am glad we saw it. But it was... well... kind of boring... Beautiful, but no real excitement. And it went a little too long for my liking. But we were tired too.

I liked ROL, but I went in with low expectations. It's very pretty, but there's not much plot to follow, which is a con for me.

We wanted to check out the tree of Life show on the way out. So, we watched some of the show. It was really cool! And the girls really liked it. But I think we left before we saw the WHOLE show.

Each little show is pretty short, so you probably didn't miss much. It's one of my favourite things about having nighttime hours at AK now, but it's sometimes hard to enjoy anything when you're so tired at the end of the day.

The girls were super excited about there outfits. But also exhausted!

I love these outfits!!

Black Cherry Mule
Zodiac Black Cherry Vodka, fresh Lime Juice, and Agave Nectar topped with Fever Tree Ginger Beer

OMG!!! This was my favorite drink of the trip! It was so good. The bartender said she would see me in a bit and that they go down fast. And she was so right!

Ooh, I'll have to make note of this! I think Nathan would like it!

 

[amazingact21]

Okay, I am all caught up! Spent last night reading your updates after I put the kids to bed.
Love all the outfits Tinkerbell left every morning. The Tangled and Inside Out costumes are my favorite, so far. Did you order them online? I'm thinking I might have to look into this for our June DLP trip!

You guys had a long Animal Kingdom day, but it seemed successful. I haven't been on Kali River Rapids since I was a kid, so it was really fun reading about your experience. Hope you were able to go on it one more time since it seemed to be a hit with the girls.
So many delicious sounding drinks at Animal Kingdom! Is it just me or does it seem like AK has some of the best adult beverage choices out of all the parks?
What a bummer that Gwen was too short for Primeval Whirl...then again, that meant you were able to pass riding it so maybe not a total loss.

Your Ohana dinner sounded like it was a huge win for the entire family. With so many different dishes, there's bound to be something there that everyone enjoys. And it might have just been the picture, but your noodles did look dry that night. I remember them having a darker coating of sauce on them...

Seriously, why do they not sell a kids drink in a pineapple? Missed opportunity, Disney!!

I'm with you on the bread pudding front. Soggy bread? Yuck.

Good call on the rest morning at the resort. After that long, hot day at AK you guys needed some relaxation at the pool.

(Oh, and I saw your facebook conversation with another DISer and will send you a request, as well.)

 

[bpesch]

Seriously, why do they not sell a kids drink in a pineapple? Missed opportunity, Disney!!

We took a trip in November and my DD got one without alcohol in it. I can't remember if we just asked for the same drink without alcohol or what, but that's exactly what we got.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Seriously, why do they not sell a kids drink in a pineapple? Missed opportunity, Disney!!

We took a trip in November and my DD got one without alcohol in it. I can't remember if we just asked for the same drink without alcohol or what, but that's exactly what we got.

Yep! You can order them virgin. Then it's basically just...juice. Because most of the actual drink is rum. But they should be advertising something! Kids would be ALL over that...

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hi Everyone! Happy Hump Day!

I am going to try and get 1 or 2 updates in tonight! We leave for Disney again on the 31st and I want to be farther along than I am. I might do a pre-trip update eventually, although we are trying to go on the "cheap" (or as cheap as you can with Disney). So, I am trying my hardest to not try and plan out every single detail and meal. We plan to do mostly counter service with some sit down sprinkled in. So, we will see!

I will give a little update on the surprise of the trip. So Far Gwen STILL doesn't know. Morgan has kept it a secret! Although, now that it is getting closer, she wants to talk about it more and I am afraid she will talk about it to loudly around Gwen. We will see!

Day Four: Bread Service at Sanaa!

Sanaa has been on my must do list for awhile now. I see everyones rave reviews of it here on the boards and we love Indian, so I knew we had to try it at some point. I was calling this my official 40th Birthday Dinner.

I left off that we went back up to the room to rest, bath and get ready to head out. We decided to take Lyft over to Animal Kingdom Lodge, as that would be the fastest. And then take the bus to Magic Kingdom after. So, we all got dressed and headed downstairs. Andy arranged for a Lyft pick up and we waited maybe 2 or 3 minutes for the guy to show up. The guy was very nice and Andy chatted it up with him. He almost took us to Animal Kingdom instead of the Lodge. But thankfully Andy was paying attention!

We arrived at the lodge, thanked our driver and headed in. I love both Kadani and Jambo House. They are both so beautiful. I don't think we had time to look at the animals. We just went down and checked in. They took my cell number and said they would text me when our table was ready. We took a quick bathroom break while we waited and before we were even done, they text to say our table was ready!

Now, I do want to say before I get into the actual review of lunch/dinner, that we live in Voorhees, NJ and there is a large Indian population in this area. We have many Indian restaurants and even an Indian Grocery Store. At Morgan and Gwen's school, they are in the minority. It is very diverse and we love that about it. But there are many kids in there classes that speak both English and Indian as they have family members that only speak Indian in the household. So, we can get Indian often and I feel like we can get some fairly authentic Indian at that. One of our good friends grew up in India and I am afraid to let her eat my version of Butter Chicken.

We were seated towards the back away from the windows.I forgot to request near the windows. But it was fine. It was kind of stormy out at the moment and I was more worried about our party weather

We ordered some drinks first!

I decided to continue with the Mojito theme and ordered this:
African Starr Mojito
Starr African Rum, Van der Hum Tangerine Liqueur from South Africa, fresh Lime Juice, and Mint

It was good but not as good as my mule earlier in the day.

Andy ordered a beer, the Safari Amber Draft I believe. Morgan and Gwen drinks in kid cups. I can't remember what.

We got out drinks and had a little birthday cheers for me turning 40!


While we waited for our appetizer to come to the table, we let the girls go over to the windows and take some pictures of the animals out on the savannah. These were taken by Morgan and Gwen, so pardon there photography skills!


Zebras!


And Giraffes!

We called the girls back to the table because our app had arrived! We of course, started with the Bread Service!

Indian-style Bread Service with all Nine Accompaniments
Bread - Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kucha, or Paneer Paratha. Accompaniments - Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chuntey, Garlic Pickle, Red Chile Sambal, or Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle

We went with all kinds of Naan and all 9 Dips!



This was SOOOOO Good. So, fun to eat, too! I def was happy with this. I couldn't stop picking at the Naan. I totally thought we would run out of bread but that was not an issue. I really liked the Coriander Chutney, I am a sucker for Coriander (cilantro) and the Red Chile Sambal. The Spicy Jalapeño Lime Pickle was nice to have with one of the sweeter dips to balance it out. I wasn't brave enough to try the Garlic Pickle. They were WHOLE cloves. I should have but had enough other ones to try.


Me in my Happy Place. Mojito and Bread Service! Ha

Morgan actually tried a couple of the dips that we told her were not spicy. I believe she tried the Mango Chutney and the Tomato-Date Jam.

Between the bread service and the main meal coming, the girls took a few more pics of the animals. We kept watch to make sure they didn't get too close to any of the people dining right by the window.


Just a bird pic.. And some VERY blurry pics and a pic of Morgan's Ear... I will spare you from those pictures...

We ordered our main dishes somewhere along the way. And this is where I went wrong. I just ordered wrong... Andy and I both ordered the Potjie Inspired Dishes.

Our waitress told us we could pick 3 since we were on the dinning plan. Which I had never heard anyone mention on the boards, so I am not sure it that is usually the case or what? But it was so, much food!

I choose the Butter Chicken, Chickpea Wit, & the Aloo Masala.


Ok, my thoughts.....
The Butter Chicken needed a lot more Spice. I found it very bland. It was good just bland.

The Chickpea Wit I didn't actually get! I ordered it upon @kastoney review and recommendations. Oh, well, there is always next time! I ended up with the Dhal dish but I was so full I didn't bother saying anything. I wasn't going to be able to eat all of it anyway. The Dhal was ok but the lentils were a little too crunchy for my liking.

Aloo Masala was very good. Also could have used more spice. Potatoes were cooked well and was very comfort like. It was probably my favorite of the three.

I should have ordered something a little different since we can get all of the Potjie options here at home. That or asked if they could of spiced them up a bit. They were good, but we have had better. Andy agreed. Next time!

Morgan ordered Shrimp Sosatie
with Quinoa Pilaf, Seasonal Vegetables, and Sliced Apples served with choice of Small Lowfat Milk or Small Dasani® Water. She ate every shrimp that she got.

She only kind of liked the Pilaf and def not the seasonal vegetables. But, she also ate some of the potatoes from my Aloo Masala. So, that shows how mild it was, Morgan won't eat anything spicy!

Gwen ordered the kids Naan Pizza. Which we do at home sometimes, and was nothing special. But she wouldn't have eaten anything crazier.


We were sooooo full but since we were on the dinning plan, we were able to get dessert as well. While we waited for Dessert, the girls took MORE animal pictures.


The girls came back from taking this one and were laughing hysterically... Zebra Butt!!


A little better pic and angle of the Zebra.


And the Giraffe got pretty close, so they were excited about that as well.



Soon, we called them back to the table for Dessert!

The girls both ordered:
African Shield Brownie
Paint-your-own White Chocolate-covered Brownie Shield. Accompanied by Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

They LOOOOOVED this. And took decorating there Shields VERY serious!





At some point, one of the girls asked for water. And our waitress brought out little water bottles and said that way, the girls could take them into the park with them when we left. Which I thought was such a nice thing!

I ordered the:
Serradura
Butterscotch Pudding, Almond Coffee Streusel, Pineapple, Mango, and Breton Shortbread



It was ok. But I was seriously so full, I am not sure it would have tasted good no matter what.

And Andy picked:
Letite Creme
Madagascar Vanilla Bean Custard with compressed Strawberries, Lemon Confit, and Caramel Tuile (I think...)



He said this was good but he was also SUPER full. So, I don't think the dessert reviews are really fair.

The girls spent A LONG time painting there shields!


This is Morgan's finished product


And this is Gwen's. She started eating before I took the picture.

At this point, we really needed to get moving. I wanted to get to Magic Kingdom around 4:00 to get the most out of our Party Tickets. So, we asked for the check while the girls finished up there decorating / eating. At some point, the girl noticed another little girl in the restaurant with the Tinkerbell Glow Thing. And they asked about it. I said maybe at another meal they could get one. As it was getting late already. And they just said ok and didn't whine about it or anything.

Not sure if the waitress heard this conversation or just wanted to give the girls a little pixie dust. But she brought out the check and presented the girls with the tinker bell glow things and said that they were so well behaved! it really made the girls night when she did that.


Gwen clipped hers into her hair!

Overall, we enjoyed Sanaa and will def make it back again. I will probably try something else, or even go with the bread service and maybe another app like @ArielSRL has said she would probably do.

Before I leave the Sanaa item. I mentioned at the restaurant that having serving dishes like the one they use for bread service would be so fun to have at home. Fast Forward to Christmas, and Andy was trying to find something similar to give me for Christmas! he isn't great at coming up with his own ideas but he is really good at remembering my side comments (and sometimes not so side comments).

Anyway, He gave me this for Christmas.



He found the one in the back from Target and had ordered 2 by mistake.

Morgan let it slip at one point that Andy was looking for those dishes one day. So, I started looking around as well. And I of course, tried to see if anyone had any good suggestions. A few people had some good ideas. So, Andy then got a second set for me because he wasn't convinced I would like his choice...

But I believe Andy ended up getting the wood platter from Target and the small ramekins from Crate and Barrel. I love it! I have used both for a couple things! So, now I have both!

So, I planned Naan Dips for both Christmas Day and New Years Eve because I was so excited to use my dishes! I made a special trip to the local Indian Grocery Store and got premade Mango Chili Sauce, Tamarind Chutney, and one called Masanala. I wasn't sure what that one was but I figured I would give it a try. I also got a hummus and a yogurt sauce from Trader Joes. And then I made one dip. Muhammara Dip. So, good!!! My sister boyfriend made it a couple weekends before for our get together. And I looooved it. It reminded me of a dip I had at Boma. Everyone who has tried it loves it!

If you want to give it a try, here is the recipe.
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/muhammara-10982
You need Pomegranate Molasses. I just ordered it off of amazon. If anyone makes it, let me know what you think!

Ok, I am pushing Post on this before I loose all of this Sanaa goodness! Up next we head to Magic Kingdom for our first Not So Scary Halloween Party!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

had to send this to DH, because he's super into that.

YEAH!!! I am glad someone will appreciate it!

Haha, whenever I go to take a picture of food DH sighs and asks if it's for my blog.

They just don't totally get it.

I was trying to add up when you were going, it seems like we'll be leaving as you get there!

We are arriving Jan. 31st. When are you guys going again? I think I remember you mentioned it in your trip report...

Hope she can make it. Will keep your fingers crossed for her. Casey was big enough but chickened out last minute.

We will see... I want to take the girls shoe shopping this weekend for new shoes. Gonna look for ones with fat soles for Gwen!

What a great place to grab some breakfast. I can't believe more people weren't there.

It was fabulous. I just wish we could have eaten out there again.

I'm in northern NJ, literally right outside NYC. Te cold has been so brutal! Looks like this week we will finally get some warmth though!

Wasn't it nice today? It felt almost like summer! Ha!

We were able to check in 15 minutes ahead of our Tusker House reservation on this trip, BUT the line was INSANE to check in!

Sounded like all of Disney was pretty busy with all of the races. Congrats again, BTW!!!!

We didn't even get to see the audio-animatronic at the end--she wasn't functioning so we got the drop down screen of her. LAME.

What is the point if the audio-animatronic isn't working!

Yay! I know, I'm counting down the days myself! 51!

YEAH!!!!

OMG-bubble wands were a huge hit with my friend's kids

Gwen still uses the bubble wand. And says she is bringing it back to Disney with her.

Bahah yeah, it's definitely not the most thrilling of rides. I really liked it, but I went in with tempered expectations. And I'd never wait very long for it.

I think that is the key, you need to not expect too much. And waiting 2 hours makes you want more.

I agree! Nemo used to be my favourite show, and probably still is to an extent. (I'll be discussing this in my TRs! haha)

Can't wait!

I like these glow cubes! We got some pixie-dusted to us on our honeymoon.

YEAH!!! As you should have!!!

Ooh, I'll have to make note of this! I think Nathan would like it!

SOoooo good.

The Tangled and Inside Out costumes are my favorite, so far. Did you order them online? I'm thinking I might have to look into this for our June DLP trip!

I ordered both sets on Etsy. The seller for Inside Out was great, she went back and forth with me on the color of the girls tank tops since I wanted them to be similar to the tutus. I had to buy the Tangled tank tops twice because I totally ordered the wrong sizes for the girls. So, I have another larger set for the girls when they get bigger.

So many delicious sounding drinks at Animal Kingdom! Is it just me or does it seem like AK has some of the best adult beverage choices out of all the parks?

They do! That and EPCOT! I think I had a few more drinks I wanted to try, but just didn't have the time.

And it might have just been the picture, but your noodles did look dry that night. I remember them having a darker coating of sauce on them...

They were so dry! Maybe it was a bad batch. It didn't ruin the meal, though. Everything else was delish.

Seriously, why do they not sell a kids drink in a pineapple? Missed opportunity, Disney!

See below!!!!

(Oh, and I saw your facebook conversation with another DISer and will send you a request, as well.)

I accepted! Welcome!

We took a trip in November and my DD got one without alcohol in it. I can't remember if we just asked for the same drink without alcohol or what, but that's exactly what we got.

OMG!!! I am not telling my girls. I will have to surprise them the next time we go! They will be sooooo excited.

Yep! You can order them virgin. Then it's basically just...juice. Because most of the actual drink is rum. But they should be advertising something! Kids would be ALL over that...

Do either of you remember how much they charged you for the non-alcoholic version?

 

[MeghanEmily]

We went with all kinds of Naan and all 9 Dips!

Excellent choice! Gotta try it all—that's the fun part!

I am a sucker for Coriander (cilantro) and the Red Chile Sambal. The Spicy Jalapeño Lime Pickle was nice to have with one of the sweeter dips to balance it out. I wasn't brave enough to try the Garlic Pickle. They were WHOLE cloves. I should have but had enough other ones to try.

Now I was the opposite! I'm a pretty mild kinda girl, so I wouldn't go near the jalapeño one, but I tried the garlic one and liked it okay! I guess maybe because we roast cloves of garlic sometimes for crackers/bread, so I wasn't put off by eating a whole love of garlic at once, etc. (P.S. I totally recommend that by the way if you haven't done it before! Roasting garlic is easy and it really mellows it out! Delish!)

The Butter Chicken needed a lot more Spice. I found it very bland. It was good just bland.

I haven't tried the butter chicken, but I'm not surprised you say that! I expect they probably do that on purpose because butter chicken is something most people are familiar with and they think that probably the people without much experience with Indian food who don't have very developed palates will probably order that? Too bad though since there are people like you guys who will order it and will know how it should taste if it were more authentic.

Not sure if the waitress heard this conversation or just wanted to give the girls a little pixie dust. But she brought out the check and presented the girls with the tinker bell glow things and said that they were so well behaved! it really made the girls night when she did that.

How awesome is that!? I love a little Disney pixie dust, goes a long way

 

[amalone1013]

Indian-style Bread Service with all Nine Accompaniments
Bread - Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kucha, or Paneer Paratha. Accompaniments - Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chuntey, Garlic Pickle, Red Chile Sambal, or Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle

We went with all kinds of Naan and all 9 Dips!

We need to go here. I need bread service! And really, how could you not go with all the dips and a variety of Naan?

I choose the Butter Chicken, Chickpea Wit, & the Aloo Masala.

I had to look up Aloo Masala, but it sounds really good! I'm sheltered and haven't had much Indian food haha

We are arriving Jan. 31st. When are you guys going again? I think I remember you mentioned it in your trip report...

3
We'll be there from the 26th to the 31st. We've got a 7pm flight that night.