Day 8 - Platinum Plan, Day 2

Up early again today, this was our last Disney day. Sad. But, waking up to the view we had on such a beautiful day was more than we could have asked for. We started to get packed and ready for the day, and our breakfast arrived just as I was getting out of the shower. Once again, the high life. It’s a good thing we’re leaving today, I’m starting to get too used to being pampered. I threw on a robe and ate my giant Mickey Waffle (I really do love these things) and lounged in the chair while Rin had a ham and cheese omelet and hash browns. Both were delicious, I feel like they get made at the kitchen for Grand Floridian Cafe and brought over. I was worried that the waffle would get a touch soggy from the trip, but it was still nice and crisp and perfect.

As we were finishing up, we heard something going on out our window. We went onto the balcony, and although we couldn’t see much, we were able to hear the festivities from rope drop. While we never actually made it to a rope drop this trip, it was nice to be able to hear what was happening.

Once we were all checked out, with our luggage stored with Bell Service, we headed to MK to our tour. On tap today was Keys to the Kingdom. Rin was really apprehensive at first about this one, since she was worried it would ruin some of the Magic. After talking to some people on the DISBoards, she decided it would be ok, and we booked it. Am I ever glad we did.

When we checked in for the tour near Town Hall, we got free water, snacks and name badges, along with a backstage pass and a headset. I really like the headset idea, since no matter where you were, you could hear the guide. Again, I can’t remember our guides name, but she was awesome. An elderly lady who seemed like she could have been there from the start (although it turned out she had only been with the company for a few years), she really seemed to love what she was doing.

We started with a tour of Main St, and were shown the opening credits painted all along the windows. I knew about some of these, but there were lots of names I’d never heard of as well. We also learned that Main St is actually sloped, so that when you go in you’re climbing to get in, and when you leave, you have a nice downhill walk to look forward to.

I won’t go into detail about anything else really, since I won’t explain it nearly as well as our guide did. I’ll just mention that throughout the tour we went on Jungle Cruise, with ‘backstage commentary’ instead of the usual commentary, we did Haunted Mansion through the back entrance, we went backstage to several areas, including parade storage, and underground to the utilidoors.

Our lunch was done at Columbia Harbour house, and was delicious. I had the Chicken Finger Platter, while Rin had a Chicken Caesar Salad. While we’ve not done many Quick Service meals throughout our trips, this is probably the best we’ve had to date. And as a bonus, we sat with our guide, and had a chance to talk about everything from Cirque du Soleil to Victoria & Albert’s to Las Vegas. A good lunch with good conversation. What more can you ask for?

Once our tour was done, we headed over to Contemporary for our next activity. We had booked parasailing and an hour or so of jetskiing though Sammy Duvalls. Rin was a bit hesitant of parasailing since she’s afraid of heights (and she really only did jetskiing for me), but when we booked, we were told that there would be no charge for us whether or not she did it, since it would just be billed through the Platinum Plan. Once we got out on the water, there was one lady that would go before us. Rin watched her, talked to the guy in charge of the parasailing and decided to go for it.

This was kind of a surreal experience. Rin freaked out a couple of times, like when we first started going up into the air, and when I shifted so that I wouldn’t come off my little strap, but overall she really enjoyed it. We were able to see most of Magic Kingdom, Spaceship Earth at Epcot and the Hollywood Hotel at HS, as well as the remains of Discovery Island. I think we were up in the air for about 20 minutes. I’m not sure if it’s something I would pay to do again, but it was definitely worth our time on this trip.

After parasailing, we went jetskiing for a bit. I would have preferred to do one of the morning tours, since then you go all around the lake, but in the afternoon, you’re limited to a buoyed off section of water. The jetskis are governed at around 35mph, but that seemed fast enough for what we were doing. Rin was a bit apprehensive, since she’d never been on a jetski, and she kept worrying that I was going to run into her (I was a bit more comfortable on it, so I would get closer to her than she would to me). By the end though, she was going full speed and we were doing a bit of racing up and down the strip. A good time was had, but again, I’m not sure I’d pay full price for it.

Since we were between hotels, we had been very careful on the jetskis not to get too wet, and we were quite successful, so we headed to Downtown Disney. We looked around a bit, but the real reason we were here was for La Nouba. We’d seen it once before in 2008, it was our first experience with Cirque, and we loved it (we’ve since seen 2 other shows,LOVE, in Vegas and Quidam, one of the touring shows, both of which we also loved). Since we had free tickets included with the Platinum Plan, we figured we’d check it out again. The night started with some excitement when the clowns were doing their thing before the show. Someone near the back screamed “Someone help her,” and I think everyone assumed she was referring to the girl ‘selected’ for the preshow. She screamed again, and people realized something was wrong. Turns out someone was choking. So the clowns paused, waited a few minutes, and handled it perfectly, imo. Once it was established that everything was ok, they treated it as a big affront that someone would have had the gall to interrupt them. I still think the clowns are one of my favourite parts of the show.

Now onto the main show. I’m not sure if La Nouba has gone downhill, if it’s just not as good as the other shows we saw, or if they were just having an off night, but we really weren’t impressed. The young Chinese girls with the diabolos dropped the spools a couple of times, and the trapeze artists missed a catch or two, but even apart from that, something just didn’t feel right. I’m not sure why exactly, but I felt as though I was watching a dumbed down version of the other shows I’d seen. Maybe my expectations were just too high, since I had remembered it so fondly.

After the show, we were off to Fulton’s Crab House. I was really only here for Rin, since I don’t eat seafood, but I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience.

We showed up and had to wait a bit for our table, but nothing too long. Kevin, our server, was amazing. He outlined the specials, and it somehow came out that I’m not a seafood fan, and he told me to go with the steak. Like me, he usually won’t get steak at seafood places, since they’re usually not that well done, or of good quality, but he assured me that these were of steakhouse quality, and that the chefs knew how to cook them. He talked to us about a bunch of other things on the menu too, and made the whole experience that much better.

To start, I got the Portabello Fries, and Rin had Conch Fritters. Again, I’m gonna let Rin write about her meal, since most of it was beyond me, being all seafoody.

My Portabello Fries were quite good. I’m not a huge mushroom fan, but these intrigued me, and I’m glad I got them. Some of them were a bit thick, but overall they were cooked really well, and the batter on them was amazing. I’m not sure I would get them again, but I’m glad I got them this time.
The Conch Fritters were really nice, though you couldn;t so much tell it was conch in them as opposed to anything else. Which, I suppose means conch has a nice, light flavour to it? Not sure really, I just wanted to try something new - it's kind of my goal when we go to Disney now. I tried Zife's Portobello Fries, too, and they were also very good.

For my main, I followed Kevin’s advice, and had a steak. Nothing fancy, just a good old New York Strip, with fries. I’ve discovered something about fries: steakhouses and seafood places always have the best fries. I’m not sure why, that’s just the way it is. Since this place was the best of both worlds, I expected damn good fries. I wasn’t disappointed. The steak was really good too. Well seasoned, cook just right, nice and juicy. Not Wagyu mind you, but still a damn good steak, on par with those that I’ve had at many steakhouses in my travels.

Oh. Sweet. Lord. Crab Legs. Can I just say Crab Legs? They were amazing. They were sweet and absolutely gigantic and probably the most amazing crab legs I have ever had. I had been going back and forth between these and some stuffed lobster thing, and Kevin suggested I go for the legs. Thank you, Kevin.

Bless you.

Finally, dessert. I got (gasp) triple chocolate mouse cake, and Rin had Cheesecake. However, we were so full, we took them with us (we actually had a bag of food when we left, I’m pretty sure it was a bit from each course). I had a bit of it the cake the next day, and it was still really good, if somewhat infused with the flavour of steak, from sitting in the fridge with it over-night. I find that the flavour of leftover steak manages to get into anything that it’s in the fridge with, no matter what it is. Odd. 

I did manage to eat my cheesecake later - I feel like I might have had a little bit of it there, as well. It, also, was absolutely incredible. I felt so indulgent eating it, even after it had been in a hotel fridge for a few days. It was creamy and rich and not as stiff as some New York Style cheesecakes tend to be, but just absolutely fabulous (to coin a phrase). Might have been better than the crab legs, but I think more data is needed to be sure. We'll just have to go back, I suppose. Oh well.

Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes. As is Rin, she loves her seafood.
Would I Go Back? - Yes. If it was included on the DDP. Since it’s not (only on Premium or Platinum), probably not anytime soon.
Rating:   Me - 8.5/10
                  Rin - 9/10
Cost - $147.55

After our meal was done, we met up with partypa for a quick chat. Having ‘known’ her for a couple of years on the boards, it was nice to finally meet her in person. For those of you who haven’t met her, she’s exactly like you would expect. Nice, funny and overall just a good person to be around. We met up with her a couple more times during the trip (or was it just once?), and each time was like meeting an old friend. When we met her, we were stuffed from our meal at Fulton’s, so we forwent the usual Ghirardelli’s trip and just sat on the wall out front. She was kind enough to bring us each a TA ballcap, lanyard fan and luggage tags from the earlier gathering that we missed. Next time we’re in Orlando, we hope to get to an actual gathering, but for now, I’m satiated.

With the night coming to a close, we said our goodbyes, spent our last couple of snack credits and headed to our new hotel: Four Points by Sheraton Studio City. I got this hotel free with SPG points, and I’d read mostly good things about it on TA. I’d had enough points to book a top floor suite, and I was amazed by it. The room was large, well appointed and had wall-wall, floor-ceiling windows. And since the hotel is a big circle, the view was fairly panoramic. Rin didn’t realize this until the next morning, but we could even see Hogwarts. When she saw it, she almost started crying.

We got unpacked, settled in, and hit the sack.

Day 7 - Platinum Plan, Day 1

Day 7 - Platinum Plan, Day 1

So, today was the first day of our Platinum extravaganza. We spent a long time on the phone with Disney and on various websites getting this just right. I’m glad we did it, since (although we didn’t know this at the time of booking) it would be the last chance we would have to give it a try. I’m extremely glad we had the chance, but I’m not sure it’s something we’d do again. More on that later.

First thing in the morning, like around 6:00am, we checked-out of AKL, drove over to Grand Floridian, and checked-in there. I decided to splurge, and went with valet parking at GF. I was pleasantly surprised by the cost, I think it was less than $20/day. I don’t think I’d do it for an entire trip, but it was nice to have for a couple of days.

We weren’t staying Club Level at GF, so we went to the check-in desk, and got most things sorted. Because we were there so early, the Concierge wasn’t open, and they’re the ones that had our check-in package. After a bit of time, they got our room keys printed, and we were on our way. I definitely missed the Concierge check-in experience, but this was fine. I just want to mention (in case, for some crazy reason, someone from Disney is reading this), I think those doing the Platinum Plan should get a special Key to the World card. I mean, Club Level gets a gold card, why not give Platinum guests something special? They’re likely spending significantly more than a Club Level guest...

Anyway, after we got all of our stuff to the room (thanks to the excellent Bell Service), we headed down to Grand Floridian Cafe for some breakfast. I honestly think this is the first time we’ve ever had a non-buffet breakfast at Disney. We usually don’t have breakfast (since we usually don’t wake up on time), but when we do, we do it with Character(s), so having a regular sit-down breakfast was kind of nice.

Our server was Brendon, and he was great. We talked about various ways to get to the parks, what we would be doing for the rest of the day, whether we’d visited before, etc. I think since it was so early in the morning, we were his only table, and he was a bit bored, so maybe he enjoyed having people to talk to.

For those of you who know me, you likely know what I had to eat. I’ve always been a big fan of the little Mickey Waffles at buffets. So, when I saw that GF Cafe had them, I was ecstatic. Little did I know what I was getting myself in to. This thing was huge, probably the size of my face. And oh so delicious. I always thought the small ones were good, but this was sooooo much better. Just the right amount of crispness on the outside, and light and fluffy on the inside. And the eyes, nose, mouth, ears all made perfect holders for maple syrup. My mouth is watering as I write about this. Seriously.

Rin on the other hand had something she's wanted to try since our last trip in 2009. See, we were supposed to eat here on that trip, but due to our tendency of over-planning, and trying to do too much in one trip (notice a trend between the last trip and this one?), we slept in and missed it. So, when we planned to go back, she knew exactly what she would be getting. The Lobster Eggs Benedict.

Oh, Lobster Eggs Benedict. How does Rin love thee? Let her count the ways. To be honest, Rin was actually a bit weary of this dish. She had never had eggs benedict in any form before and was therefore unsure as to whether she liked hollandaise or not. Given that the dish is swimming in hollandaise, this could have gone very badly for her. And even worse, might have made her come between me and my waffles.

Someone would have ended up with a fork in the hand, that’s all I’m saying.

However, she took one bite and in the middle of the restaurant announced that her mouth was enjoying an orgasm. The sauce was absolutely lovely, the lobster was cooked better than some dinners she had had it in, and the eggs were perfect. In fact, I still hear her in her sleep sometimes, calling out Lobster Eggs Benedict’s name... I die a little inside every time...

Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Indeed. Rin and I both have new loves. Although I suppose mine is just a larger version of a former love...
Would I Go Back? - Yes. Although, we don’t often do breakfast outside of a park or our Resort. Maybe we’ll have to make an exception for GFC, since we likely won’t be staying at GF again any time soon.
Rating:   Me - 8/10 (the only reason it didn’t get a 9 is because I couldn’t justifiably put it on the same level as Jiko)
                  Rin - 9/10
Cost - $42.96

After breakfast, we headed back to the room for a few minutes, I called down to valet to have my car brought around, and it was waiting for me with the AC on by the time we got to the lobby. Ah, the high life. I’d best not get too used to it, it’s addicting. We got to Epcot with some time to spare, and made it to Guest Relations just before our first tour was scheduled to begin. This is probably the tour I was looking forward to most: Around the World on a Segway.

It starts in Innoventions (I believe it was West) with a safety video, a talk about the features and functions of a Segway and a short question and answer period. I have to say, our Segway trainer (I can’t remember his name) was amazing. He was funny, easy to talk to, and just plain fun. After all of the boring stuff (which actually wasn’t boring, to be honest), we went out and learned how to get on the Segway. Once you get on, you have to be able to keep the Segway between two cones before the trainer will leave you be. We had at least two people drop out at this point, since they couldn’t control the Segway. For anyone thinking about doing this, you have to be comfortable standing in one spot for a long time without much shifting, and you have to have the knee and hip strength to control the Segway.

Once everyone was on and able to balance, we did a little obstacle course, learned to go up and downhill, learned how to stop abruptly (it’s actually very natural: when the trainer randomly jumps in front of you, you tend to pull back, which stops the Segway), etc. Now, on to the tour. We left Innoventions, became the parade for the day (since there’s no parade at Epcot), made our way through the crowds, and over to the World Showcase.

At this point, the World Showcase is still closed off, so you’re technically entering a ‘backstage area’ and no pictures are permitted. We went through the countries, learning a bit about each one, and what the various landmarks are that have been replicated, and you do some ‘obstacle course’ type driving through pillars, gardens and shops. We also ‘met’ several Cast Members as we were going. Always fun to see the Cast Members when they’re technically off duty. They’re so much more relaxed and personal somehow. At about the half way mark, you stop for a few minutes to get your photos taken and basically do what you want on the Segways. Then, back to the tour. We finished up just as the World Showcase was opening, so we had another obstacle course made of people. That was interesting, especially when kids keep jumping in front of you. This is why they teach you how to stop on a dime, I suppose.

Once we were done, we put the Segways away (a few people almost dropped their Segways; when you turn them off, they just fall over if you’re not holding them), had a bit of a chat, and got some Around the World pins. I have to say, I have a lot of fun at Disney, but I can see why their backstage tours are so popular. This was easily one of the best things we did the entire trip, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

At this point, we had a bit of time before our next tour, so we took a trip around the World Showcase and made a lunch out of snacks from the Food and Wine carts.

Our first stop was in Ireland. Rin had been reading and subsequently dreaming about the fisherman’s pie. According to her, it did not disappoint. It was quite hot, but the potato was lovely and fluffy and the seafood amazingly mouth-watering. I had to take her word for it, as I am a fool who hates all things delicious, such as lobster.

We walked along with the pie in one hand and our passport in the other. We already knew going in which dishes we really wanted to try, but this made it even easier, being able to peruse the list before getting to the stand.

As there were more items Rin wanted than I did, we made sure to stop at France where two dishes looked pretty decent. First was the milk chocolate creme brulee. At first, we weren;t going to bother using a snack credit on this. But then we cancelled our reservation at Chefs de France and both Rin and I really wanted to see what the French of Epcot had to offer by way of creme brulee. Rin thought it was quite nice, lighter than she had expected (she thought it would be overly rich and sweet). The chicken was alright, nothing spectacular. Maybe even a bit heavy on the sauce.

Passing the Belgium stand, Rin noticed that they had the Guylian truffles. She knows I love these, and, once again, she was interested in more items than I was, and so she talked me into getting them. There were two truffles in a box (or maybe three...) - I think it was the first item in the whole festival I had actually felt ripped off about. But, I really do love Guylian chocolate, so all was fogiven when I had my first one.

In New Zealand Rin got the scallop. She said it was really nice, though she wasn;t crazy about the chutney stuff they put on it. She’d definitely had better scallops; at Disney, none-the-less.

After that was another Rin-item (it’s because the festival was so seafood heavy, I swear). This one she was torn on, though. She spent the entire time in line going back and forth between the Lobster Claw Coddle and the Lobster Roll. Eventually, she asked the girl at the counter, and from her descriptions of the two, went with the roll. She was not disappointed. She said it was delicious and light and not too heavy with the mayonnaise and everything she had ever hoped a lobster roll would be. Though she thought it was funny that the bun wasn’t a nicer one.

In South Africa we got a beef tenderloin which was being cooked on the grill while we watched. This was served with mashed potato (?). The side I could take or leave, but Rin liked it. She let me have most of the beef, just tasting it herself.

At this point, Rin wanted to look at some of the countries we had always skipped over before, but I knew that we probably didn’t even have time to eat anymore if we wanted to make it to our next tour. Maybe next time, China. She did manage to convince me to stop and grab a jerk chicken drumstick, but only because the line was so short.

In fact, all of the lines had been pleasantly manageable throughout the entire tour. We figured it was probably because it was still so early, but it was kind of awesome, given the horror stories we had read about before leaving. As for our final dish? Rin said she liked it, not too overly spicy.

Final Thoughts - I was really glad we were here to experience the Food & Wine Festival, even if we really only spent 1 day at it. I have to say, snack credits are amazing at F&W, since everything seems to count as a snack. However, I don’t think I’d ever plan a trip specifically to do F&W. It was nice, but not that great, and since neither Rin nor I drink, a lot of the special events are a waste of money for us. But, if I happened to be back again during F&W, I wouldn’t complain.

As I worked on cleaning the jerk chicken spices from my face (apparently I’m messy when I eat and walk), we headed out to the Guest Relations outside of the park to meet up for our next tour, the Epcot Seas Aqua Tour. When we got there, we were informed the tour had been cancelled due to an issue with bacteria in the tanks. Really? No one told us. So, they got a manager for us. He said the same thing, and told us that we had been informed. I said that I had not received any word of this, but he assured me there was likely on a message on my home phone, and that we had been refunded. Well, we hadn’t paid anything, so it was really just an inconvenience more than anything, but you would think they could have at least informed the Club Level people so that it would have been noted on my itinerary. Also, as it turned out, there was no message on my phone. Or with my travel agent, or anywhere that I could think of checking. No biggie though, back to GF we went to see if we could get something else to fill this time.

Well, it turns out that the Aqua Tour is the only one that starts that late in the day. So, we had the choices of trying to get a time for golf, going to play some mini-golf, or doing our spa treatments. Since we had other things we’d rather do, we had opted out of doing the spa treatments, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use them. So they booked us each a massage at Saratoga Springs, since the GF spa was closed.

Now, someone on TripAdvisor loves Saratoga Springs. I want to say USL. Sorry to say, but I wasn’t a fan. It was too big, there weren’t enough signs, and we got lost on the way to the spa. However, once we were there, it was amazing. Probably the best massage I’ve had in years. I think I may have fallen asleep during it since Rin says she’s pretty she heard me snoring. All I can say is that I was relaxed. I didn’t want it to end. Ever. But, it had to, and we had a dinner reservation to go get ready for. Tonight, we dine in HELL!!!!!! Wait, no. Wrong movie. Tonight, Victoria and Albert’s.

So, back to GF to get showered and prettied up. Doesn’t take much for Rin, but trying to make me pretty takes some effort. Once I was ready, I had to go get some Band-Aids for Rin’s toes, since we had run out of the ones the nurse gave her at Blizzard Beach. I really enjoy dressing up, and I have to say, walking through Disney in a 3-Piece suit, even through the Grand Floridian, you get a lot of strange looks. I got a lot of ‘sirs’ from the gentleman at the Sundry shop too. It all kind of adds to the fun of being dressed up.

Then, once Rin was finished, we got even more strange looks, since she was in a rather fancy dress with heels high enough that I had to help her up and down the stairs. I’m not sure why we didn’t take the elevator up to the second floor in the main building...

I had extremely high expectations for V&A after last night’s meal at Jiko, and I was really hoping V&A would live up to them. For those of you who’ve never been to V&A, it’s kind of a surreal experience. First, you check in, behind closed doors, then you wait in the outer waiting room overlooking the grounds, with comfy chairs and nice tables. Anyone can actually get to the waiting area, it’s right next to Citrico’s if I remember correctly.

So we hung out here for a few minutes, then the host (Maitre d’, I suppose) came to get us and take us to our table. It was every bit a classy as I expected, with a harpist in the corner, magnificent place settings and a very hushed feel. Admittedly, I’ve never been a big fan of such quiet restaurants, but this didn’t seem to bad. The maitre d’ showed us to our table, pulled our chairs back for us and helped us with our napkins. All very proper. And very on par with Jiko. So far, so good.

Something that’s interesting about V&A is that they have a full place setting down when you sit. All for decoration, since it is mostly removed when they start bringing out food. It was all quite beautiful though, it definitely adds to the air of the place.

However, the presentation of the menus is where you start to really notice the difference between this and any other restaurant in Disney. Because I don’t eat fish or seafood (personal preference), they tailor made the menu for me. Where Rin had something like scallops, I had roasted quail. After the server outlines the entire menu to you (in a surprising amount of detail), they give you a few minutes to decide, since you order everything at once. Although it is a prix-fixe menu, there are a few items that incur an extra charge, like caviar or Wagyu beef. After Rin and I decided and placed our orders, the food started coming. And it never stopped.

(Just a note, I’m bringing Rin in for this one. She’s funnier than I am, and more well spoken, and I think V&A deserves her writing expertise. Her writing will look like this.)

To start with is an amuse-bouche plate. Each plate came with 4 small items, again, each tailored to the diners taste. I can’t remember exactly what was on them, but I do remember mine had tempura green beans and a tiny little devilled Quail egg. Rin’s had a chilled watermelon soup, a shrimp, a crab spring roll, and something else. Actually, I think mine had watermelon soup too.

I honestly didn’t think I’d like most of what was on my plate. I don’t eat eggs, and as stated earlier in the report, if food is supposed to be hot, I don’t like it cold, so cold soup was a bit of a stretch. Oh, and I generally don’t eat watermelon. The soup had two strikes against it. But, I was pleasantly surprised. The tempura green beans were probably the best thing on the plate, imo, and the quail egg wasn’t bad. Especially since it was so small. However, it was the watermelon soup that really surprised me. Yes, it was cold, but that was ok. It was nice and refreshing, and not too strong. Just a nice way to start the meal.

Can I just say I love the concept of the amuse-bouche? It’s this neat little bonus at the beginning of your meal, and I don’t think I’ve ever met one that I didn’t like. I agree with Zife when it comes too the watermelon soup - it was really good. Nice and light and refreshing, and I love watermelon anyway, so bonus there. I actually wished there had been quite a bit more of it. The same went for the crab roll - I love spring rolls and I love crab, so it was like a match made in heaven. Once again, nice and light and refreshing. In fact, the whole plate was like a ice cold glass of water after you’ve just been on a mile long run.

Course number 1, the appetizer I suppose, was Applewood Smoked Buffalo “Waldorf”. I was a bit leery of this, since the buffalo at Artist Point had let me down so thoroughly. But, I took a bite of this and was in heaven. I believe there was both shredded and whole buffalo loin, and while I preferred the non-shredded version, both were delicious. It was flavourful, ridiculously tender, and, perhaps most importantly, tasted different than beef. There were tiny little apples as well, which were insane. They were like tiny little pockets of concentrated apple flavour. And they had just enough crunch to give a different texture, but not so solid as to throw off the party in your mouth. I’m sure there was some greenery as well, being a play on a salad, but I feel that greenery is what my food eats.

Like Zife, I had the Buffalo Waldorf for my first course. And, again like him, I loved it. It was something I’d never tasted before, even though I too had had the buffalo at Artist Point. It was rich and savory and the apples were cooked so well, better than any apple pie filling or crumble I’ve ever had. I did eat my salad, unlike Zife, and it was great as well - the light dressy was nice and tangy, so when eating it, an apple and the buffalo all together, it was basically perfection.

I think this was where we had the first bread course. I want to say it was sourdough. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I’m not a big fan of sourdough, so I could have done without this.

I like all bread - bread equals good. Though there are some I prefer over others, such as I’ll always take a ciabatta over a sourdough.

Second course: Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin and Belly with Verjus-Bacon Vinaigrette. It was quite delicious, and everything I’d hoped that pork belly would be. The pork tenderloin was good enough, but the pork belly was where it was at. Alas, the flavour of the pork belly (and tenderloin, to some extent) was strong enough to overshadow the flavour of the bacon vinaigrette. I’m sure it was there, complimenting the pork oh so delicately, but I wasn’t ‘hit’ with a bacon flavour. Still, all very tasty.

Now was the fish course. Zife, who despises all fish, had a pork course, but c’est la vie. Myself, I chose the Diver Scallop with Braised Fennel and Blood Orange Gastrique. I love scallops, and one of the only times I get to eat them is when we’re at Disney, mainly because I both can’t justify getting them as a main and Zife and I usually share starters, so they’re out for that, as well. The scallop here was awesome. Perfectly cooked, which is surprisingly rare, at least the my standards. I like my scallops to be firm throughout with a little browning on the outsides, whereas a lot of places serve them still kind of gelatinous in the middle - especially when they’re the larger sea scallops. But these were wonderful, and I even liked the citrusy gastrique. I’ve never had blood oranges before, but I may just have to give them a go.

Then the second bread course. I have no idea what it was. Oops.

I do! I know! It was a bread with seeds in it. I remember thinking it was really good and being surprised Zife liked it as well, mainly due to the seeds.

Next up was Roasted Quail with Asian Pears and Serrano Ham Jus. I was really excited about this one for two reasons. First off, I’ve never had quail before, so it was something new to add to my list. Second, I figured quail is a bit like chicken, and serrano ham jus might be a touch like bacon vinaigrette (if not as close to it as the bacon vinaigrette was with my last course), thus, the chicken I had been longing for from Narcoossee’s. I know, it’s a stretch, but, that’s how my brain works. It wasn’t quite the same, but it was still very tasty. Unfortunately, I can’t remember it well enough to say much more than that. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t overly memorable.

I tasted his quail, it was amazing. Especially where I prefer dark meat in poultry, and that was essentially what it was. Given the choice, I’d get that next next. For myself, however, I went with the Duck Breast, Duck Sausage and Confit with Strawberry-Rhubarb Puree. I had kicked myself last time when we were at Narcoosee’s and Zife got the duck confit and I didn’t, so there was no way I was passing it up.

It was all very nice. The duck was soft and flavourful, and the puree was lovely and sweet. A very nice course in all.

This is where the final bread course should have been, but, our Albert apparently forgot it.

I think he might have brought it out later, but we were so full we couldn’t be bothered. It was some kind of whole wheat anyway, I believe. (False, see below.)

Now, for the main event. This is probably the number one reason I wanted to go to V&A. Blackmore Wagyu Striploin with Oxtail Jus. I was a touch disappointed, since they’d had true Japanese Wagyu in the past, as opposed to Australian Wagyu (which is where Blackmore comes from), but my disappointment was eased when I learned that even though Blackmore is Australian, they only use full-blooded Japanese Wagyu stock, not cross bred like a lot of Australian “Kobe-Style” beef. The feeding and raising style is still a bit different, but for someone like me, it would likely be impossible to tell the two apart. Anyway, enough about that, on to the actual food.

Usually, I eat steak Medium. However, since I was spending so much on this single cut of beef, I figured I’d go with whatever the chef recommended. In this case, as I had expected, it was Medium-Rare. I cut the beef, my knife going through it like butter, took a bite, and I forgot all about every other steak, or cut of meat in general, I’d ever had.This was easily the most tender, most flavourful meat I’d ever had. I don’t even think I had to chew it, it just kind of dissolved in my mouth. The only thing I would have changed about this dish was the amount. There wasn’t enough. Even the oxtail (literally: cattle tail) jus was different than anything I’d tasted before, and added to the overall experience.

I, too, went with the Blackmore Wagyu Striploin with Oxtail Jus. I took a bit of a journey to get here, really. Zife and I knew  we would be opting for the Wagyu about a year in advance. At this point, I was getting my steak well-done. VERY well-done. Send it back several times because pink meat totally skeeved me out well-done. Then, we decided on expensive steak. Also, I saw on a cooking show that the pink in meat wasn’t blood, but rather an enzyme that turns the meat red. I don;t know why, but that did it for me. I resolved to lower my cooking temps to a more acceptable level, or else risk being tossed out by every Albert in the place, while the chef shouted obscenities to my back. It was a slow process, but by the time we got to Disney I was eating my steak medium well, and at Victoria and Albert’s I bit the bullet and went down to medium - couldn’t quite do the medium rare yet, though. I had it in my head that it would feel like underdone chicken.

The steak was amazing. I tried some of Zife’s at medium rare, too, and that was pretty damn good as well. (In fact, we recently went to the Keg and they mixed our steaks and I ended up having a whole medium rare one without even noticing). In fact, everything on the plate was great, from the steak to the jus to the potatoes. I’d have it again in a heartbeat, even at the extra cost.

It was at this point that I inquired about our missing bread. Our Albert was very apologetic, and brought it out right away. He joked with us a bit, saying how lucky he was that it was brioche, and brioche is essentially a dessert bread anyway. It was actually quite nice, if a bit creamy for my taste. Can I describe bread as creamy? Screw it, I just did.

Finally, dessert. I went with White Chocolate Gelato with Tableside Shavings. Delicious. I’m really iffy with white chocolate, but this was flavourful without being too rich, just perfect. And the tableside white chocolate shavings they add are a nice touch.

Here, I went with a traditional cheese plate: Flora Nelle, 24-Month Parmigiano-Reggiano, Gouda Reypenaer XO and Goat Brie. I figure, I like cheese, and I rarely get a chance to try the really posh stuff. Turns out, that’s probably for the best. The parmigiano was good, as was the gouda, but I discovered on this trip that I am really very much not a fan of goat cheese in any form (this was backed up by a disastrous tart in the AKL’s concierge lounge), nor do I much care for flora nelle, whatever that may be. I also discovered that I do not like figs, though tiny little grapes are both the cutest and sweetest things on the face of the earth, and more fun to spear on your fork than peas. All in all, though, I’d probably go for the gelato next time.

Oh, did I say finally? My bad, that was my ‘cheese course,’ as Rin pointed out above. This was my actual dessert. A Tanzanie Chocolate Pyramid with a Champagne-Chambord Truffle. Honestly, I had no idea what Chambord was, but it turns out it tastes like Raspberries. The chocolate pyramid was a bit dark for my taste, but apparently all Tanzanie chocolate is dark. I should have known. Not my favourite dessert of the trip, but still good.

There might be a theme emerging here, but for dessert I went with the creme brulee. The Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee, to be exact. It was very nice, topped with fresh berries and an absolutely enormous wall of hard caramel/brittle substance, all done up like a tower of lace. I didn’t finish it - I was so amazingly full at this point I don;t think I could have if I’d tried.

And if you weren’t quite stuffed by this point, you get friandises, literally ‘delicacies.’ In this case, they were tiny little cubes of sugared fruits. A nice little way to end the evening.

As I said before, I was stuffed at this point. What made this worse, as Zife has said, was that they then brought out little dessert cubes. Zife assured me they were very nice, but I was only able to try one.

I did indulge in the coffee, though. I normally don;t drink coffee (more of a tea girl, myself) but I didn’t want to drink their tea in case it was bagged (loose is so much better) and I had heard their “Celebes” coffee was fancy.

Okay, this was the coolest thing I have ever seen. It was some kind of crazy voodoo coffee machine that defied the laws of gravity. The water was in a bottom bit, and the grounds in the top, and as the water heated - by a burner- it went up to the top and made the coffee. I’m telling you, worth it just for that. Plus, I had the whole service, and so could add as much milk and sugar as I liked without feeling silly. Which is good, because like I said, I don’t normally do coffee, and so I needed quite a lot. Very good as java goes, though. I liked it.

Finally, when the food was all gone, they brought us more food. That’s right. We got a goody bag with a rose for Rin, and a small loaf of bread. Although I have to admit, I never had the chance to try the bread.

I tried the bread for breakfast one of our days off World. It was really nice, thick and cakey and sweet, but not too sweet. Very lovely.

Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes. I’ve wanted to since I heard about it, and I’m glad I finally got the chance.
Would I Go Back? - Yes. Probably not any time soon, mind you, since we can’t afford it, but I do plan on going back. I will say I hope I get a different Albert though. Ours was very difficult to understand, and forgot one of our bread courses.
Rating:   Me - 9/10
                  Rin - 9/10
Cost - $439.15 (We paid $170.40 for the extras [the Wagyu], with the rest being covered by the Platinum Plan)

We wound up finishing our meal more quickly than expected, probably because they forgot to remove the notation that we were doing a Wishes Cruise after dinner. Mind you, the meal was still about 2.5 hours, I merely found it odd that we were leaving before some people that had arrived after us. So, we headed back to the room, got changed into park going clothes, and went to MK.

We got to the park (via monorail I think - I have to say, being in a monorail resort is very convenient), and it was packed. We couldn’t figure out why at the time, but upon talking to some CMs later, we figured out that it was the last day until Saturday (it was Wednesday) that people would be able to watch Wishes, since MNSSHP was on Thursday and Friday.

As we tried to go down Main St, a rather grumpy CM tried to stop us, said no one else could go down there (it was almost time for Wishes). At the time, we weren’t quite sure what we were doing, so I said we were just going through to get to the other side of the Castle. She told us we couldn’t do that either. I was confused. I asked her how she wanted us to walk through the park. She wasn’t sure how to answer that and let me go. The CM that was with her helping direct traffic just looked at her then looked at me and rolled his eyes as if to say “Get me out of here.” I’ve honestly never seen it that busy. Again, when talking to the CMs later, they mentioned that it wasn’t expected that it would be that busy, so they didn’t have enough people on to handle the crowds. Apparently, it wasn’t as busy as it seemed, it was just poorly handled.

We wound up getting crushed into the mob as we were walking, and hung out near a popcorn stand near the Castle hub at the end of Main St. People kept standing in the marked thoroughfares, and there was a CM trying to bring get one of those big bins to the popcorn stand to resupply it. No one would move for him, so Rin hopped in front, put her arms out, and started yelling at people to make a hole. Ah, the military side of her. It worked surprisingly well, and the CM rewarded her with some free popcorn. Score.

This was our first night seeing the Magic, Memories and You show on the Castle. I was actually blown away. I think I mentioned this when we first got back, but I had seen a YouTube video before our trip, and wasn’t impressed. However, actually seeing it, I was in awe. I wandered a touch looking for the projectors, and found one on top of Tony’s Town Square, and assumed that there would be another on top of Casey’s. I’m a bit of a techie, so these things interest me. I learned I was wrong the next day.

After that, we continued to hang out for Wishes. Brought tears to Rin’s eyes, as usual. Once again, once Wishes was done, I decided to hang out to see if we could catch the Kiss Goodnight. Since it wasn’t a party night, I assumed it would happen tonight. As we waited, we talked to some various people and got a few pictures. This was about the time the giant street vacuums started up. I really hoped they’d stop before the Kiss happened, but they didn’t So we kind of heard it, but it was a bit of a letdown since our ears were being assaulted from all sides by the sound of vacuum motors. Oh well, Rin was pleased, since she didn’t even know it would happen, so I considered it a success.

Back to GF for the night. Since this was the last day for our Deluxe Plan credits to be valid, we headed to Gasparilla Grill to stock up on water for the next few days. It turns out you can turn unused meal credits into three snack credits, so we got a lot of water. We headed back to the room carrying our bounty.

I forgot to mention our view earlier. We had paid for a theme park view, but I didn’t really have high expectations, since I know some of the buildings don’t have such a great view. We wound up in a Dormer Room (top floor) in Boca Chica. I don’t think it would have been possible to have a better view/room. The private, enclosed balcony was great, and we could easily see the Castle, Main St., Space Mountain, the entrance to MK, etc. So when we got back that night, we took a few pictures of the view we had.

I’ll mention something about our pictures now. We had a hard drive crash (literally - our dog knocked our external drive onto the floor) about a week or so after we got back from vacation, and lost a lot of pictures. Wedding, honeymoon, other trips, gone. But, most of our pictures from this vacation were on a separate hard drive (and some were still on the cameras), so I have a bunch of them still. I didn’t have everything uploaded when I started these posts, so I think I’m going to do a picture dump once everything else is done. I’ll be sure to separate by days and make references to posts, if need be.

We decided that since we had another early morning the next day that we’d get room service for breakfast (room service counts as a single meal for Platinum Plan), so we put in our order and turned in for a (relatively) early night.

Day 6 - Rin's Birthday!

So, this its the day many of you have been waiting to hear about. Rin's Birthday. Rin had decided she wanted to do Magic Kingdom for her birthday, and eat at Jiko for supper. Fine by me. What she didn't know was that, for about 3 months, I had been dealing with Gifts of a Lifetime to set up a scavenger hunt around MK for her.

I'll give a bit of background, in case any of you want to use GoaL in the future. I first contacted them about 6 months in advance, sometime artound May. I didn't realize this, but they don't get back to you right away, so if you contact them way in advance like me, be prepared to wait. Once Jane (the owner) got back to me, she offered me a couple of choices based on the questionaire I had filled out. One was an Amazing Race style event at Epcot (that could be moved to other parks, or spread out over the course of several days), and the other was Peter Pan based. Essentially, Peter had bought Rin a gift, Tinkerbell was jealous, told Hook, Hook stole the gift, now Tinkerbell feels guilty, so she's helping Rin get her gift back. Rin loves Peter Pan, so it wasn't a difficult choice. Once that was settled, Jane told me the various locations they use, I helped come up with some clues for a few of them (I wanted to test Rin's knowledge), and then the big day arrived.

When we got up, we did the obigatory Lounge run to get some water and pastries, then drove out to MK. Yet again, we were just a touch too late for Rope Drop. One of these days we'll make it. The scavenger hunt didn't start until 10:00am, so we had a bit of time to kill, since it was just after 9:00am at this point. I didn't want to get in line for any rides in case the wait times were off, so we basically just wandered, took some pictures, and checked out some shops, including the kitchen shop between Liberty Square and Fantasyland. Some pretty cool stuff in there, but we didn't wind up buying anything.

When 10:00am rolled around, the opening clue would be waiting at the sleigh in front of the Christmas Shop (they usually use the Wishing Well, but it was blocked by the construction crane for putting up Cinderella's Dream Lights). I got Rin to hop on the sleigh so that I could get a picture, but she didn't find the clue. Odd. Jane saw me (they had pictures of us), said it was in the back, not the front (she had texted me about that, but it never came through), and offered to take a picture of the both of us. I had sent Rin away so she didn't see this exchange, so I called her back, we hopped in the back of the sleigh, got a picture, and Rin found her note. She told me  that she almost started crying, but didn't want everyone to see.

I should mention that we only had 2 hours to finish looking for it, since Hook and Smee were on our tails looking as well. Oh no! We had to be quick, so we were off to the first location!

I think we had the most difficulty with the first clue. We were supposed to be looking near some flowers, outside of a shop. We got to the shop, and began our search. We thought it would be an 8x10 piece of paper, much like the first clue we got. Turns out the remainder were index card sized. So we looked everywhere around this shop, even the underside of the windowsill above the flowers. Finally, Rin noticed it in with the plants. Crisis averted. On the the next clue.

At one point we got a clue saying that the gift would be in a cannon outside of Pirates of the Caribbean (only in riddle form), and it had a pictue of Smee on it. Rin thought it was a trap, but it's all we had to go on. Turns out Rin was right, but Tinkerbell got rid of the trab and put our next clue. Apparently no one hides gifts in cannons. Another crisis averted.

Eventually, we were told to go to the ride that hosts 999 happy haunts, and stand as close to the middle of the room that grows as possible, and that the ghosts would give us our next clue. We got there, stood in the middle, and when the lights went off, Rin was 'crowned' - the ghosts had laid her next clue on her head with some ribbon attached. Nifty.

About an hour, maybe and hour and a half later, the scavegner hunt came to an end, and Rin found her prize - the Dooney and Bourke bag I had bought her. Jane came over and offered to get a picture of us again (Rin recognized her this time), and told us that was the first time anyone had ever looked under the windowsill for that first clue. Yay! We're special! I have a feeling that Jane usually wouldn't come 'ruin the effect' at the end if you're doing it for kids, but we liked being able to talk to her for a few minutes afterwards.

With the scavenger hunt done, the rest of the day was ours to do what we pleased. One of the clues had taken us to the Carousel of Progess, but we'd still never actually been on it. So, off we went. I honestly didn't have high expectations for this attraction, but I really liked it. I think it's in some need of updating though. The scene at the end just threw me off a bit.

The rest of the day was spent doing some more rides and just wandering MK. Bliss. I think we may have hit Buzz Lightyear, and I’ve decided I’m not a huge fan. I could never quite figure out exactly where I was shooting, since there were so many other people shooting at the same things, and no way to tell your little red dot from another. I think we’ll likely skip this next time. I probably said the same thing last trip too though, so I expect you’ll hear the same from me if I ever do another TR.

I think this may have been the day that we did Space Mountain about five or six times. We started doing ‘odd’ ride photos again (we were sleeping in one), but none of them turned out well enough to justify buying. We did Splash Mountain too. Sadly, it was the only time we did Splash Mountain the entire trip. Still as fun as ever.

I forgot to mention lunch. We did lunch today at Tony’s Town Square. We were both really looking forward to this place for one reason: they have garlic bread. I don’t know why, but garlic bread (proper garlic bread, not bread sticks or something like that) seems to be impossible to find anywhere in the USA. Seriously, we would go shopping in Syracuse, about an hour from the border, and not a single restaurant we ever went to had heard of garlic bread. So, when we found a single restaurant at WDW with garlic bread, we knew we had to go. I’m happy to report that the garlic bread didn’t dissappoint. It wasn’t the best garlic bread we’d ever had, but it was good, cheesy and well toasted. The rest of the meal, well, that’s a different story.

Both Rin and I had Coke to drink so nothing exciting there. I had the Pollo Parmigiana (Chicken Parmigiana), which wasn’t that great. The breading was soft as if it had been prepared earlier in the day then left to get soggy. The marinara tasted like Ragu, just like any old canned sauce. The mozzarella was probably the main redeeming quality of the dish. Melted nicely without getting brown and hard.

Rin had Baked Ziti. She just didn’t like it. Again, she thought the sauce was bland, just like out of a can (I should mention that Rin makes her own sauce, so that's usually our basis for whether or not a sauce is good).

We’re both huge fans of Italian food, and we both usually enjoy pasta of all kinds, but I have to say, we both walked away from the mains a bit dissappointed. Well, maybe more than a bit. We hoped that dessert would be a good end to the meal.

For dessert, I got the Ice Cream Bomb, which was vanilla and chocolate ice cream which chocolate sauce. I want to say there was something special about it, but that’s all I can think of. It was good, but nothing mind blowing, from what I can recall.

Rin had the Cheesecake. Apparently, it’s the Chef’s Signature Cheesecake. It came with a neat little syrup drawing of Lady and the Tramp, and Rin though that it was the best part of the meal.

Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? -Well... I’m going to have to go with no. The garlic bread was good, and I’m glad we had it, but it wasn’t enough to make the meal ‘worth it’ in our opinion.
Would I Go Back? - No. I think it’s getting to the point that when we’re in MK, we’ll be eating at a Resort. Or maybe Epcot.
Rating:   Me - 4/10
                  Rin - 5/10
Cost - $63.42

Once we were done at MK, we headed to Jiko. Let me say to begin with, Jiko was always a close runner against Narcoossee’s for first place. After our experience with Narcoossee’s earlier in the trip, I was expecting Jiko to jump to the front of the pack. I have to say, my expectations were not met. They were blown out of the water. I have fond memories of this place, having eaten here for my birthday in 2009. The service was excellent, the food was delicious, and I got a card signed by each Cast Member in their native language (Rin got one of these too, since it was her birthday this time).

This time, as soon as we sat down, I was overwhelmed with service. Patty, our CM for the evening, placed Rin’s napkin in her lap for her (I had already put mine in my lap, so she didn’t have the chance for me), gave us some water, made sure we were settled, and wandered away. She immediately came back with hot washcloths for both of us, and I have to say, these were an amazing start to the meal. I don’t know why, but it just felt so good, being able to wipe my hands off and just press the cloth to my face. I wasn’t sure if even Victoria and Albert’s would be able to beat this service, and we were only a few minutes in to the meal.

After our cleanup, we were each brought a complimentary amuse bouche. I can’t for the life of me remember what was in it, other than quinoa. It was nice, but cold, and I’m not a big fan of cold appetizers. Although admittedly, it was a ‘salad’, and I’m not a big fan of them either. Rin really liked hers though, found it nice and refreshing. And it was a perfect size for an amuse bouche, basically just a spoon sized salad.

For starters, I had the Wild Boar Tenderloin. It was delicious. I’d had wild boar before, but only in sausage form, so this was kind of new. I have to say, even the mealie pap that came with it was good.

Rin started with the Chicken Flat Bread. She had a similar chicken flat bread last time we were at Jiko, and has thought about it ever since. This one didn’t have the apple and bbq sauce that the original had, but it was still quite good.

For our mains, we both went with duck. Seared Barbarie Duck Breast to be more specific. I'm not sure why I went with duck, since I’ve become less and less impressed with duck over the years. Nothing has been able to live up to the Duck Confit I had at Narcoossee’s in 2009. However, this was good. My biggest complaint about duck is that it’s always paired with orange, or some other kind of citrus. This bugs me. Happily, Jiko’s duck had no citrus, although I found the port emulsion to be a bit overpowering (for someone who doesn’t drink, port is probably the worst thing to pair a dish with...).

Rin, for the first time, got her duck cooked *not* well done. She can’t remember much about it, but she remembers that she liked it (again, I apologize for waiting so long to write these...).

Finally, dessert. I heard about this dessert from a TR that I read, and as soon as I’d heard about it, I knew it was what I wanted. It’s called One Last Cup, and is Tanzanian Chocolate and Kenya Coffee Mousse with cinnamon mascarpone, nutty chocolates and "hot chocolate." The whole thing was just so cute, and being able to play with my food a bit is always fun. It wasn’t the best dessert I’d ever had (partially since I’m not a fan of coffee), but the presentation alone was worth getting it.

Rin had the Creamy Madagascar Vanilla Cheesecake, but can’t remember anything about it.

Final Thoughts
Am I Glad I Ate Here? - Yes, yes, and again, yes. That is all.
Would I Go Back? - Yep. Like I said (or, I think I did...), it’s now taken Narcoossee’s spot as number one for me. Although I would likely try something other than the duck next time.
Rating:   Me - 9/10
                  Rin - 9/10
Cost - $136.73

I think that once we finished up with supper, we wandered the grounds of AKL a bit, then headed back to the room for some sleep. Tomorrow would be an early morning.