COMPLETED! Tipsy Ducks in Love: A Honeymoon Trip Report/First Time Trip - January 2019 - Completed 7/3!

PassedTheEndorMoon

Mouseketeer
Joined
Oct 9, 2018
Greetings internet strangers and fellow Disney fans! We’ve finally gone through our photos from our First Trip/Honeymoon Trip and we’re so excited to share it with you all! First off the introductions:

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Who: Nick (me, a chemist) and Tory (my new wife!! and a microbiologist)

What: A 9-night Honeymoon Trip and our first time to WDW!

When: January 22 – 31, 2019

Where: Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House

Why: To celebrate our recent nuptials!


WDW Favorites:

Nick:

Ride: Flight of Passage

Park: Animal Kingdom

Snack: Cheeseburger Spring Rolls, Bacon and Cheese Roulade

Drink: Hippopoto-Mai Tai from Trader Sam’s

Restaurant: Jungle Skipper Canteen

Lounge: Trader Sam’s

Resort: Yacht Club


Tory:

Ride: Flight of Passage

Park: Animal Kingdom

Snack: Schoolbread, Mr. Kamal Fries

Drink: Avocado Margarita from La Cava del Tequila

Restaurant: Saana

Lounge: Wine Bar at Jiko

Resort: Animal Kingdom Lodge

Tory and I are Disneyland locals. It’s in our blood. Disneyland is our home away from home. We both grew up there in the early to mid 90's when Fantasmic! was new, California Adventure was a parking lot, and the line for Indiana Jones would often stretch to Main Street. It was a different era. I have particularly strong memories of the Lion King Parade and getting to shake a rain stick while sitting on the curb on Main Street USA. Meanwhile, Tory has a strong recollection of meeting her favorite princess Snow White while being held in her Dad’s arms. We hold these memories, and many others close, thanks to our parents who brought us frequently to the park. We were both raised in the Disney spirit and it never left us.

Flash forward to July 1, 2015. Tory and I had our first date at the Anthill Pub and Grill on the campus of UC Irvine. We got to know each other and the topic of Disneyland quickly came up. After asking her how she felt about the Autopia (I promise not to rant too much about this ride in what should be a positive WDW trip report), discussing how great the new Paint the Night Parade was, and other topics, we had finished our beer. Neither of us wanted the night to end so soon, and we made the somewhat bold decision to hop into her car and drive the 20 minutes (there's no traffic at 9pm) over to the park to catch the 9:25 PM Disneyland Forever fireworks show. The rest is history. We were meant to be.

Flash forward again, to July 2, 2017. A warm Sunday afternoon in Southern California. Tory and I had finished up our Sunday morning chores and grocery shopping when I suggested we head over to Disneyland for an afternoon walk. Once there, I then did something that childhood me would be so proud of. I proposed to her, in Disneyland. She said yes, thankfully. And the rest is history, yet again.

We even took engagement photos at Disneyland.

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The first wedding planning decision we made was that we would obviously be honeymooning at Walt Disney World! Despite us both being lifelong Disneyland locals, neither of us had made it out to the World before.

We thankful had a reasonable long engagement (18 months!) because planning a WDW honeymoon was no small feat. We woke up at 2:45 AM to get dining reservations sometime last summer and upgraded to Premier passes (financially it made more sense) the day before Thanksgiving. That was a stressful day since we also had out one month out walk-through at our wedding venue and we had to brine a turkey that evening. The day after Thanksgiving, we woke up just before 4 AM to book FPs.

We quickly found out that our passes weren’t linked to our account! We called Disney and chatted with the nicest Cast Member who promised to fix the issue and made sure to book us the in-demand FP rides while the issue was being sorted out. The issue ended up being fixed around 9am West Coast time, and there were still plenty of FPs available. We realized that the FPs the Cast Member booked were “extra experiences” and we were still able to book 3 FPs ourselves. So, we ended up with four FPs most days!

We were then only 60 days out from our first WDW trip! We got married at the end of December and had a classy tropical-themed wedding! Again, we love all things tiki and tropical! Our cake was pina colada flavored and had little flamingo cake toppers.


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We then had 3 very long weeks before we left. But eventually, it arrived! We gave our pup Bieksa some last minute cuddles before we dropped him off at Doggy Day Care for boarding the evening before. Then, we finished packing (it was going to be cold for us Southern Californians!), and went to bed early for our morning flight.


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Stay tuned for our whirlwind Honeymoon trip, including our thoughts on Drinking Around the World, the Wanyama Safari, Brunch at the Top, the Chef’s Table at V&A’s, our first time at 4 new Disney parks, and much more!
 


Welcome all! Thanks for following! Hopefully this trip report will be as fun to read as it was for us to live. We got much better about taking photos as the trip went on FYI. Now, without further ado, we proudly present Day 1.

Day 1: Bad Lyft Driver. Drove backwards at one point.

(Note: all post titles are excerpts from the notes we wrote at the end of every day)

Like many adventures, ours starts in the wee hours of the morning. We had an alarm set for 4 AM PST and a Lyft scheduled to pick us up between 4:15 -4:30 AM. However, due to the excitement, we had a restless night of sleep and by 3:30 AM, we were both wide awake and so excited to have the trip begin. It was so early that we didn’t think to take pictures until we got to WDW.

Right at 4:15 AM, our Lyft driver arrived to take us to LAX. We had a very nice driver who was also a recent newlywed and we commiserated about the absurd prices of wedding related things in Southern California and about their honeymoon to Hawaii. I was floored at how many people were on the road before 5 AM on a Tuesday.

We left for LAX earlier than we normally would have because of all the news related to the government shutdown and unhappy TSA agents across the country. Thankfully, this was not an issue at Terminal 4 of LAX that morning. We had ample time to grab some breakfast (overpriced airport bagel sandwiches that Tory was not a fan of) and browse some stores before our flight.

Our flight was on time and so boarding started around 6:30 AM just as the sun was rising over Los Angeles. Only thing of note here is that Terry Crews was on the flight. He seemed like a nice gentlemen. I would never stop a celebrity in public as I know how awkward I would be and how tiring that must be to be stopped when you are just trying to go about your day.

We tried to sleep on our flight while watching The Incredibles 2 for the first time. It’s a cute movie, but it really does pale in comparison to the first.

We landed at MCO on schedule. On final approach, Tory and I both marveled at how flat and green Florida is. Despite the urban sprawl, there are still so many trees everywhere. Once we deplaned and got our checked luggage, which took a surprisingly long time, we called a Lyft to take us to Animal Kingdom Lodge. As we had made dinner reservations and it was our Honeymoon, we decided against the Magical Express. We plan to give it a try on our return trip before our Premier Passes expire.

Our Lyft driver was friendly enough but as we were approaching AKL, he took the fork that heads towards the parking lot for Animal Kingdom, not the lodge. I pointed this out to him and he got upset with himself. I mentioned that they would probably just let him turn around one he got up to the gate. Instead of taking that suggestion, he did something that would be unthinkable in California. He drove backwards. Yep, he put his car in reserve and we drove backwards for at least 100 feet to where the road forked. Tory and I both had a look of confusion and terror on our face as back home this would get you honked at incessantly if not killed. Thankfully, neither happened, and he got us to Animal Kingdom Lodge shortly thereafter (with no tip and a poor rating from me).

Stepping inside Jambo House for the first time made that Lyft ride seem like it was years ago on a different continent! Wow! Pictures do not do justice for the Jambo House Lobby. It is truly breathtaking. Grand and large while still somehow managing to feel warm and cozy (I have plenty more thoughts on hotel lobbies throughout the trip, so don’t worry). I looked at Tory with a smile and said “We did it!”.

The cast member that checked us in was incredibly friendly and gave us our First Visit buttons. She explained the resort to us and let us know that we would have a full savanna view! (The second of many “pixie dust moments”). Our room was near the end of the Zebra trail, opposite the pool. Our room was 2469, our home for the next nine nights.

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Our eyes were immediately drawn to the window and sliding door at the back of the room for just outside was a bustling savanna. Tory and set our bags down and immediately opened the door and stepped out onto our patio. We immediately knew we had made the right resort choice. Over the next 10 days we would spend so much time looking out at all the species of wildlife just outside our room. We took 10 minutes to soak it all in and take some pictures before heading back inside to check out the rest of the room. The level of detail that goes into the theming of each individual room is amazing. I particularly loved the wallpaper in the bathroom and the sconces holding the bedside lamps. This was not just a hotel room near a theme park. You truly left the bustle of the parks and other parts of property behind when you stepped into the lobby. Truly a transportational experience. Epcot and the Magic Kingdom seemed thousands of miles away.

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We marveled at the room for a bit before realizing that there was so much more to this resort than just the room and so we wandered outside for our first Disney World adventure. We walked around the resort to get our bearings. Wow! The entire resort is so perfectly manicured and there are so many places that were carved out to watch the animals out on the savanna from. The pool area looked like it belonged on another continent with how lush and forested it was with tropical plants.

We stopped into The Mara (which Tory likes to point out has the most adorable logo) to get our first treat of the trip: zebra domes! We had heard so much about these and how they are kind of divisive among fans of AKL. We bought a 4 pack, got to try out the charge to the room feature of the Magic Band (scary easy!) and sat down at a table outside taking in the late afternoon sun. The Zebra Domes were a hit! They were incredibly light for being a chocolate dessert item. Reminiscent of tiramisu with the cake base and the amaretto flavor coming through.

Again, I looked at Tory and said some really sweet romantic things. We had finally made it to our dream honeymoon as husband and wife, and I had Zebra Domes in my belly and was running off of 4 hours of sleep. I got emotional. Tory stopped me before I became too much of a mess, reminding me that we had so much to see and do. We headed into the lobby to check out some of the art and nooks and crannies. It was there that we ran into a few cast members standing in front of, what looked like to us, an academic conference poster. Since we’re both scientists who have experienced awkward poster sessions at conferences, we kind of timidly walked up and the very gracious cast member from Botswana began to tell us all about this project that was funded by the Disney Conservation Fund in Africa. As we learned, elephants don’t like bees. They even have specific calls they make to alert others in the herd as to the presence of bees. The project aimed to use bees to serve as a boundary between savanna land in Africa and farm land. Not only could people use the beehives to produce and sell honey, but it also worked to prevent the elephants from trampling their crops. Pretty clever!

This interaction was the first of many Disney edutainment moments we would have. The trip left us curious and thinking about our own science. I know edutainment is going by the wayside in the Disney universe but it still exists at Animal Kingdom and the Lodge (and EPCOT!) and we loved soaking any bit of it up. Our love of edutainment experiences would be another common theme throughout this trip.

We said our goodbyes to them to head back to the room as it was nearly time for our first ADR of the trip. We quickly got dressed into our tropical inspired best to seamlessly fit in at ‘Ohana and grabbed a Lyft.

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From the very beginning of our research, we had been told 'Ohana is fast (#knockitoff, thanks Pete!). Everyone says it. We thought that we had internalized that our first Honeymoon dinner wouldn't be a romantic drawn out affair. Somehow, with all that in mind, we were still caught off guard.

We checked in 20 minutes early after a leisurely evening stroll around the Poly grounds, soaking in the sights of Seven Seas Lagoon. We were in awe of the size of it all. The three hotels on the monorail loop seemed so distant from each other. It is truly Disney on a grander scale than Disneyland.
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After checking in, we found ourselves right in front of the first of many barstools. This time at the Tambu Lounge. And what more perfect way to start our Honeymoon than with a tiki drink served in a pineapple? Gimmicks aside, the drink is rum-forward which we both appreciated (A running theme of this trip is too many sweet drinks that try and mask the liquor).
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We got our cue (read text) to enter 'Ohana, and this is where the speed dining began. 'Ohana has a host station with table assignment receipts constantly printing. They found our name, and we were walked into the restaurant with a new server who was excited that she got to give the whole spiel for her first time to first timers. She grabbed some bread and we were seated. The view out the large glass windows was truly special, even at night since you can see Cinderella's Castle and Space Mountain rise above the trees across the lake. We wish we would have gotten pictures, but again, speed dining. Our server greeted us and explained the process which in theory to first timers sounded amazing. Sides and meats would just magically appear at our choosing.

Less than a minute after she left, our salad arrived. This was an excellent start to the meal. We regularly eat kale and we were surprised to see it here! It was well dressed and balanced.

Before we could truly savor it, our sides showed up. Okay, that's a little odd, but sure. Maybe they had a plate ready to go??

The sides were delicious! We visited 'Ohana shortly after Noodlegate occurred. As we had never been before, we thought the angry reactions of some of the fans seemed extreme.

Then we ate them. Wow!

Tory kept coming back to the noodles throughout the meal. A clear hit! The rest of the sides were solid as well. Despite being tasty, the wings were our least favorite. The flavor of the sauce couldn't overcome the work that goes in to getting one little nugget of meat.

Again, before we could fully have these conversations, or really any conversation, our server was by with the first of the meat skewers. I'll admit the skewer concept is a fun concept and really adds to the vibe of the restaurant being a family-style meal. The chicken was phenomenal! Getting chicken breast pieces to be that tender and flavorful is not easy, and 'Ohana has figured it out. Same with the shrimp. Shrimp is never my go-to seafood of choice, but here I found myself three shrimp deep and asking our server when she came by again, shortly later, for more. The smokiness from the grill paired with the seasoning amazingly well. The steak was our least favorite (as sees to be the online consensus).

Tory and I were enjoying our feast and the continued attention from servers offering us more meat. But again, super fast. We were being offered seconds before we had even made it halfway through our first helping of meat. As we slowed down, our server reappeared and explained that when we wanted it, the famous 'Ohana bread pudding would be brought out. This was the only time all night that we had a say in the speed of the experience. I took a few more minutes to savor some more shrimp, before admitting defeat. While taking a moment to chat and breathe after a whirlwind of food, Happily Ever After began. This capped a great meal and a magical welcome to the World for us Disneyland folks. The fact that they play the soundtrack inside the restaurant is a great touch. During the spectacular, our dessert was brought out. The bread pudding lived up to the hype. Chewy and warm while being soaked in the custard base long enough.

Full and beginning to feel the Disney magic, our check was dropped. We had a 7:20 reservation, and if it weren't for HEA we would have been done in less than an hour. Overall, I now understand the 'Ohana hype and if I were offered a reservation, I wouldn't turn it down. However, I wouldn't make it a top priority for ADR booking.

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Tory and I took a digestion walk around the Poly grounds, passed the wedding pavilion and went into the Grand Floridian lobby. Wow! Talk about grand! The lobby evokes a strong sense of time and place like being transported to Martha's Vineyard or Nag's Head in the early 1900s. We soaked in some lobby entertainment and reslished the fact that we would be back here in 9 days (for V&A’s Chef’s Table!) before catching a Lyft back to AKL.
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We returned to the lodge and had a nightcap at the Victoria Falls Lounge while discussing how excited, and full, we were. The lounge is beautifully themed, but the menu is nothing special. However, this drink led to a tradition over the course of the trip: a nightcap to end each amazing day on property.

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Congratulations! Loving your report so far. Great title!!! Super fun to hear from a first timer and Disneyland veteran. It sounds like you guys did a lot of research and prep (those early mornings are rough!) and hopefully that made for an awesome trip ... backward-driving Lyft drivers aside. Animal Kingdom Lodge was a great choice... truly feels like you’re a million miles away. I can’t wait to hear more - especially Chef’s Table — that’s so fantastic that you were able to secure it for your trip.
 


Congratulations! Loving your report so far. Great title!!! Super fun to hear from a first timer and Disneyland veteran. It sounds like you guys did a lot of research and prep (those early mornings are rough!) and hopefully that made for an awesome trip ... backward-driving Lyft drivers aside. Animal Kingdom Lodge was a great choice... truly feels like you’re a million miles away. I can’t wait to hear more - especially Chef’s Table — that’s so fantastic that you were able to secure it for your trip.

It was wild being a first-timer and Disneyland veteran! Disneyland feels so intimate, whereas Magic Kingdom was 10 miles away from Animal Kingdom. So we felt like we had to be extra prepared to be able to get from place to place! But Animal Kingdom was so gorgeous. It was worth being further away.

Thankfully we adjusted pretty quickly to being on east coast time, so it was only that first day that was rough.

The Chef's Table was definitely worth the 180+ day wait!!
 
Day 2: Huge, but with unattractive toes!

Despite falling asleep rather quickly, I still tossed and turned a decent amount. I kept waking up to look at the clock, hoping it was morning so that we could start our first full day on property. Eventually, it was time to get up. We opened the curtains to look out at a sunny sunrise on the savanna, with all kinds of animals stirring. It was truly an amazing sight. We excitedly put on some clothes to head down to grab some food for breakfast. We decided on some oatmeal and breakfast quinoa from the Mara.
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They really hit the spot and we ate them while sitting out on the balcony watching the animals start their day. The breakfast quinoa was excellent! It had apple pieces and dried cranberries in it along with warm spices. We cannot find a recipe for this anywhere, anyone able to offer some insight? We also took a couple selfies of us being giraffes!

We finished getting ready for a day in the park, and hopped our first bus of the trip over to Animal Kingdom.

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A brief note here about the buses. We had heard so many negative comments about the bus system that we had decided before we left that we would give them a shot the first few days. But, we were more than willing to splurge for a Lyft if they were bad. We did not have a single bad bus experience. Sure, there were a couple of mornings where it was standing room only, but that’s the case with the Toy Story Lot Shuttle out here. The longest we waited for a bus was 15 minutes in Disney Springs, and that was only bad because it was actively storming (stay tuned folks!). I’m not sure if it is due to staying at AKL or going at a quiet time, but the bus system worked amazingly well for us. We only used Lyft for Resort to Resort transportation.

We were inside the gates of Animal Kingdom by 9:30. Our first stop? Dinoland U.S.A! Tory and I had spent the last year and a half laughing about the backstory for this land, and mocking Dinorama, so it had to be seen immediately. Having been there, I think it gets too much grief. For being a roadside carnival theme it is done incredibly well!
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Our first ride of the trip (and ever) at WDW was none other than Primeval Whirl! Very similar to Goofy’s Sky School out on our coast, although Tory was sad because all of the dinosaurs were having to run away from extinction.
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We then walked right on to Triceratop Spin for a relaxing view of Dinoland.
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At that point, they were playing Walk the Dinosaur in the background and we could not get it out of our heads the rest of the trip.

We still had a bit of time before our first FP+ and we could already tell how beautiful AK was, so we decided to take a leisurely stroll to see some animals and get our bearings. Guys, AK is so incredibly gorgeous! The flora is amazing, but the built environment themed to these jungle locales is truly remarkable. Harambe, Africa is breathtaking. The views across the bridges are awe inspiring. This park is special.

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Our first FP+ of the day was for Na’vi River Journey. The first time we walked through Pandora, we were just stunned at the beauty. Just incredible place making. I could gush about this park for thousands of words, but I promise I’ll stop soon.

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NRJ was fun! I thought it ended rather abruptly and lacked a bit of story but it was truly beautiful. The shaman was much larger than we had imagined it could be! Tory noted that her toes were very unattractive, but I didn’t see them. Knowing that NRJ is the lesser of the two Pandora attractions, our excitement for Flight of Passage grew even higher.

We tried out mobile ordering at this point and got the pulled pork mac and cheese from Flame Tree BBQ. We sat down by the lake looking across at Everest. How many amazing views does this place have? The mac n cheese/pulled pork/cole slaw/onion ring/ combo worked really well together and was a good size to share. I’ll counter that on it’s own the cole slaw was much too sweet and needed some additional vinegar.

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We wandered over to Expedition Everest for our next FP+. Joe Rhode, you did it again! The theming, the details, the sound effects. Everything about this attraction from entering the queue to leaving through the surprisingly, well themed gift shop works. The ride itself had me guessing the whole time! Disco Yeti is a bit of a letdown, but he is still super imposing.
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We walked through Asia over to the Maharajah Jungle Trek. We were actually able to spend several minutes talking to a keeper about the kimono dragon on display including talking about some current research that is being done. Tory, ever the microbiologist, wondered about the bacteria that were present in the kimono’s bite that were able of taking down things as large as a water buffalo. Is it particular strains, or is it just number of colonies? And how is it that they don’t affect the host at all? Hmmm, I smell a really good grant proposal!
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After very quickly walking through the bird enclosure (Tory is not a bird fan), we passed by Mr. Kamal’s and knew we had to get our next snack. The Mr. Kamal Special fries covered in tzatziki and sriracha ketchup! These were seriously amazing! The cool yogurt worked perfectly with the spicy ketchup and the piping hot fries.

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We ate those while wandering back towards Dinoland for our next FP+ for Dinosaur. This became a top 5 ride of the whole trip. As scientists, we enjoyed the pre-show with Dr. Seeker (a classic grumpy postdoc type) and Dr. Marsh (yay, a woman PI!). The ride was campy, funny, and thrilling all at the same time! And not having to claim your photo at the end?! Pure Disney magic. All the dino-themed souvenirs were awesome too!

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We headed next over to It’s Tough to Be a Bug to pay our respects as we had recently lost it out at DCA, and never got the chance to give it a send-off show. I was shocked at how full the theater was! We had never seen that many people in one showing at DCA. Perhaps why it finally got the axe.

We were then just in time to catch the next showing of the Festival of the Lion King. We were giraffes and for the life of me, I can’t remember what a giraffe sounds like now. The show is pure Disney fun and incredibly well-executed. At one point the fire dancer dropped his fire stick, which was unexpected! And doesn’t happen every time right, guys? The Simba puppet reminded us of our dog Bieksa. They both do this weird thing where they extend their neck and bob it around. Strange, but gave us a good laugh.

Our fourth (Seriously gracious for this pixie dust!!) FP+ was for Flight of Passage. I really don’t want to reinvent the wheel here. From the first preshow room until you exit into the gift shop, the experience is truly immersive and ground breaking. We walked off sad that it was already over. But excited that we had more FPs lined up for it. Truly breathtaking.

So, it was at this point that we made our first rookie mistake. After getting off FOP, Tory was able to score us another FP+ for Dinosaur that started at 4 PM. I commented that happened to be the same time as the start of the last showing of Finding Nemo: The Musical. She left the decision up to me. I chose poorly. In the name of new experiences, I opted for us to go see Finding Nemo: The Musical. Without this post turning into a theater review, the show just wasn’t great. All kinds of credit to the actors and stage crew for their work and skills, but they can only do so much with a poorly paced, poorly written show. The songs were really amateurish (at one point rhymed bad with sad). We later looked up that it was written by the co-creator of Avenue Q and Book of Mormon! How could it have been so poor?! About 10 minutes in, Tory and I made eye contact and had a conversation without speaking that this was a mistake.

We put our brave faces on and toughed out the rest of the show. After leaving, we realized it nearing our early dinner reservation, and so we slowly sauntered over to Tiffins. We were still 20 minutes early, but they seated us right away.

Tiffins was everything ‘Ohana was not. As opposed to the loud chaotic nature of ‘Ohana, Tiffins was reserved, understated and quiet. We were sat in the room inspired by the Imagineers trips to Asia, which was beautifully decorated and polished. As opposed to having a ton of different servers drop off food at ‘Ohana, our server took care of us the whole meal. She was phenomenal! Willing to explain the menu, answer our questions and even chat about our thoughts on the parks and Florida. We, towards the end of the meal, found out that it was her last day and she was moving over to Dockside Margaritas later in the week. We meant to go visit her over there, but never made it. Next time!

Tory went with a white wine that was recommended with her entrée and I had the Florida beer flight. Coming from the craft beer mecca of Southern California this was a must.

We started by splitting the Duo of Appetizers which had the charred octopus appetizer along with the falafel. Tory and I are big fans of octopus and this did not disappoint. The char was perfect, and it paired so well with the romesco sauce! It was such a refined bite that it felt odd to be on the same plate as a falafel. Not that there's anything wrong with falafel! We cook it at home fairly regularly, but it didn’t have the same level of flavor development as the octopus.
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I should note that the meal was paced incredibly well. Nothing is quite like ‘Ohana, but we had feared that in-park dining would be rushed even for a signature meal. This was not the case as even though it was only two people it was still an hour and a half dinner.

For entrees, I got the Tarmarind-braised Short Rib while Tory opted for the Pan-seared Alaskan Halibut, and we opted to add on the roasted Brussel sprouts. The entrees are the only plates we don’t have pictures of. I guess I was just super excited to dive in. Both dishes were so tasty! I think Tiffins gets too much flak for being too adventurous for most guests. While they may market themselves as pan-asian, it really is Asian-inspired new American. Nothing we ate, other than the falafel was truly ethnic. It was well prepared American dishes with an Asian twist (generally the choice of spices). The names might sound intimidating, but I assure you, the flavors are not. Also, butter chicken is an English dish, not Indian. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

As a congratulations from the chef, we were offered a free “pre-dessert”. I have no recollection of what it was, but suffice to say it was tasty. We then chose the dessert trio, as we could not decide on which one to get between the mousse and the ganache. While both of those were excellent, it was the cheesecake that stole the show! It was a deconstructed dish with a cheesecake base that was whipped to be incredibly light along with a delicate espresso sponge. This made for a great end to the meal. Well done Tiffins! In-park dining truly can be phenomenal!
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Seeing as it wasn’t even seven yet, we didn’t want the night to end already, so we decided to go check out the Boardwalk. We hopped a bus to the Boardwalk resort, and walked through the charming but too east-coast for me lobby outside. Considering it was still kind of early on a Wednesday evening in January, the boardwalk was empty and quiet. It’s an incredibly romantic spot at night as you look out at Beach and Yacht club. We wandered into a very dead Abracadabar to get a nightcap. I had a manhattan while Tory opted for a Gin Collins. (I just melt every time I hear her order a gin drink). The bartenders were a little reserved and not overly friendly at first, but the drinks were stiff so we didn’t complain. Over the next 30 minutes some more people trickled in to sit at the bar with us including a lovely older couple who honeymooned at Disney back in the 80s, an Orlando local, and a girl on her 21st birthday! The conversation started flowing and we got some marriage advice and were able to discuss the merits of drinking whiskey with an ice cube versus neat (not to mention the 30 something local’s failed attempts to hit on the birthday girl). The theming is great in there, and I would love to go back on a night where it is a little more crowded.

We paid our tab and headed back out to the Boardwalk. We took in the sights and sounds and then wandered into Ample Hills Creamery, another spot we had heard rave things about. I’m not going to say Tory and I are ice cream snobs, but the ice cream we most often have in our freezer is Tillamook. Ample Hills is the real deal! They know how to make creamy, soft, fresh ice cream that isn’t overly sugary and instead relies on some unique sweet mixins. Tory and I split a cup of the Nonna D's Oatmeal Lace and The Coffee of Kings. It was incredible! I still think about the oatmeal cookie ice cream when I am having any other ice cream. Somehow the cookie pieces were still fresh and chewy. The warm Christmas spices work so well. And the coffee one was really good too! Can’t wait to come back in a warmer month, where this will hit the spot!

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We were starting to tire out and so we took a leisurely stroll down the rest of the Boardwalk, through the International Gateway into EPCOT to head out to the bus stop. This served as a sneak peek of what was to come at EPCOT, and it got me super excited! We made it to the front gates and waited for a bus back to AKL with a very nice family from Toronto. The dad had clearly been enjoying the many libations around World Showcase and was super chatty and fun. A great fun memory to end the day!

When we got back to our hotel, we had a lovely note from AKL wishing us a happy honeymoon and some chocolate covered strawberries! They were delicious!


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What an awesome trip this is going to be. Congratulations on your wedding. I look forward to hearing all about all your wonderful vacation and hopefully lots of Pixie Dust.
 
I absolutely love your report so far! You are staying at one of my favourite resorts, in fact my husband and I are staying there as part of our 20th anniversary trip. Looking forward to reading more!
 
Day 3: Country beer!!!

We woke up Thursday morning to the sounds of thunder and pouring rain. I actually woke up at 5 AM to a thunder clap and peeked out the window to see a pretty nice lightning show for a moment before climbing back into bed. We slept in a bit this morning, knowing that we weren’t going to leave the resort until after lunch. As we stirred, it was still rainy and few animals were out and about. We threw on some gym clothes and went over to the gym for a quick workout. Even on vacation, it felt good to wake up with some exercise. (Spoiler alert: this is the only day we made it to the gym. Vacation mode and theme park excitement won out.) We were shocked at the number of folks at the gym, but it became clear once we stepped into a very crowded Mara afterwards that a lot of people were also having a slow lazy morning due to the rain. It was projected to stop by 11 AM, so it was worth waiting it out.

We grabbed the exact same breakfast as yesterday and went back to the room to eat it. We were headed to the Magic Kingdom this afternoon, so we pulled up some videos regarding the best snacks there to refresh our memory headed into the day. Seriously, there is just so much information to keep straight about the World!

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We had an 11:30 ADR at Sanaa and so shortly before 11 we took the short walk over to Kidani Village. The rain had thankfully let up and the sun was beginning to break through the cloud layer. But it was freezing! At least for us Southern Californians. Kidani’s lobby feels much more intimate but just as equally as inviting. After checking in a little early, we sat for a few minutes on the back patio and watched some animals go about their days.
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Side note: we also stopped into the restrooms outside of Sanaa, and my goodness they are beautiful! Second best bathroom experience of the trip!

Sanaa. Oh, Sanaa! We absolutely loved every second of this meal. Seriously! We walked through the perfectly executed North African-inspired entryway to our table, which was right next to the windows looking out on the savanna. Now, I understand how many folks who have not been exposed to Indian and African cuisine might be nervous, but they have no reason to be. Sanaa is a great introduction to ethnic cuisines in a comfortable setting. Nothing is overly hot, and everything on the menu has a plain English description. Tory and I, as California foodies, always go for Indian when we are feeling like takeout so this meal was very highly anticipated. It did not disappoint.

Obviously, we started with the bread service. Guys, if you have not had Sanaa’s bread service before (or even in the last month), make yourself a reservation for your next trip for this alone. The naan was fresh, the paratha stuffed with paneer was new to us, and so delicious even on its own. All nine accompaniments were tasty, but personally, I could not stop talking about the tomato and fig marmalade or the pickled garlic. I now want to put pickled garlic on every piece of bread ever.
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Thinking that it couldn’t possible get better than this, we also ordered the tomato soup which came with paneer. Think of it as an Indian spiced grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup combo all in one bowl. It hit the spot on a chilly day and made me giggle aloud because of how tasty it was.
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Knowing that everything would be shared between us and that the bread service was giant, we opted to split one entrée. We got the Potjie Inspired combo with the braised beef and the lentil dal. The dal was the star here having used three different kinds of lentils to give the dal texture. The depth of flavor was also amazing. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember much about the beef because Tory and I spent so much of our time talking about how to recreate the dal at home. We forgot to take a photo!

Stuffed and grinning ear to ear, our waitress brought out a small dessert to congratulate us on our marriage. A scoop of blueberry ice cream with chai spiced whipped cream. Yes, I know, I didn’t realize you could add chai to whipped cream, either! A great idea and well executed too!
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So now even more stuffed and still grinning ear to ear we headed out to the bus stop to Magic Kingdom.
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Magic Kingdom felt familiar and yet, it made us constantly look around knowing that something seemed off. It is very similar to the original Disneyland but on a grander scale. It’s like a dream version of Disneyland. Cinderella’s castle is impressive in scale, but Main Street and the hub just didn’t seem to have the intimacy and charm we have come to expect of Disneyland. Our FPs were not until later in the afternoon, and so after some celebratory photos, we just started walking like we were back at our home park. It was super sunny at that moment!

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We took a purple wall photo and then our first attraction of the day was Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor (clearly the same people who came up with the name for Alien Swirling Saucers were in charge of this one as well). We had absolutely no idea what to expect but we both sent in our best jokes.
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Tory’s joke: What does a clock do when it is hungry? It goes back four seconds!

Nick’s joke: Why don’t cannibals like divorced women? They find them bitter!

I think it’s pretty obvious which one was selected for use at a Disney Parks show.

Nevertheless, I also got to get in on the act as I was chosen to be Sulley! Probably has something to do with the beard.

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The show was really funny, and we both highly enjoyed ourselves! We will definitely come back, and I’ll try a G-rated dad joke next time.

We exited the comedy club and walked out into the heart of Tomorrowland and the first thing that caught our collective eyes was The Peoplemover! It lives! Having only faint memories of riding it as a child, we got in the short line for some serious nostalgia time!

Blurry photos, but hey. The Peoplemover was moving the people!

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A small complaint here. For the most part, it felt like the crowds were much more well-behaved than out in California, but this was one of the most annoying interactions we had. During the portion of the ride in which you go into Space Mountain, the father in the car in front of us decided to take a flash picture with his phone of his daughter. That light was so bright and so obnoxious and lasted for most of the nearly pitch black segment. Please, no flash on dark rides!

The castle and Tomorrowland looked great in the afternoon sun, and it was starting to warm up a bit such that I got some time in just a T-shirt. (This would be the last time that I didn’t have a coat or hoodie on outside for the rest of the trip).

After a grand tour of Tomorrowland, we walked clear across the park to Big Thunder Mountain for our first FP of the day. This began an afternoon of comparisons, and, for the most part Disneyland won out. The WDW Big Thunder seemed to lack a lot of detail. There was a lot less to look at than out at Disneyland, and I’m not just talking about the new blasting scene in California. After the first lift, it just seemed so quiet and uninspired. Tory and I spent some time talking about this and why we felt disappointed getting off. This conversation continued while we found a spot right in front of the Splash Mountain and waited for the Festival of Fantasy parade.
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The parade was pure Disney fun and reminded us of the incredible place we were currently in. Apparently, Maleficent the dragon made her big return the day after we watched the parade. Oh well. We will see her next time! The floats were really impressive though! So much detail!

One place where MK does trump Disneyland: It still has the Country Bear Jamboree. My grandparents often took me to the parks as a young child and this was one of my grandfather’s favorites, and mine too. Tory had never seen it. So it was logically our next stop. The show is just as campy as ever and had a really good crowd. Please, Disney, keep this one around! And if I’m not being too greedy, bring back the Country Bear Vacation Hoedown!

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After that blast from the past, we walked back to Fantasyland to finally see New Fantasyland for ourselves! It’s amazing how they were able to pull off three distinct lands within the one land. Really great attention to detail too! We wandered out to Storybook Circus and got in a non-existent line to meet Donald and Goofy in their Sideshow attire. Donald was very smitten with Tory and tried to steal her away. While cute, after a couple more days, we really wished there were more opportunities to meet the characters in their classic attire around the resort. Most M&Gs had them in some sort of non-standard attire.
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We then walked over to Enchanted Tales with Belle for our next FP+. This was my request as I had heard so much about the Lumiere animatronic and wanted to check it out or myself. We had no idea what the attraction entailed. Once inside the first room, we realized that we were the only adults there without children. As we progressed through the story, we realized we were not the target audience of this experience. Although, I was bummed that I didn’t get to be a suit of armor. We enjoyed laughing at ourselves over this mistake, and it was cute to see the kids act out the story of Beauty and the Beast; however, we won’t need to go back again. The Lumiere was incredible though! So well animated!

We had to kill a little more time before our Mine Train FP+ so we happened upon an amazing Photopass photographer who really took her time with us!
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Soon enough, the time arrived and we were able to head into the 7 Dwarves Mine. Wow! Seriously, that was the first word out of my mouth when we made the left hand turn into the mine and you are just surrounded by the dwarves and precious gems. The ride was longer than I thought it would be and pretty fun for its size and thrill level! Tory and I walked off really happy that we had made FP+ for both of our MK days, and we would get to ride it again. The fact that the ride video of us showed up on our phones a little bit later was too cool! Magic Bands are incredible!
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We took a quick spin on the Mad Tea Party since there was no wait. Again, this pales in comparison to the Disneyland version which sits in the heart of Fantasyland and seems so much more vibrant.
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By this point we realized we hadn’t actually gotten any of the snacks that we had learned about in DFB videos since we were still so full from Sanaa. So, we headed into Adventureland for a citrus swirl. This might have been the biggest disappointment food wise the whole trip. It just wasn’t nearly as tasty as everyone makes it out to be. It tasted like vanilla soft serve with cheap frozen OJ. I was expecting the OJ to be tart, but not bitter. Tasted like they found some particularly bad Valencia oranges to use. Just not our favorite and not what we expected at all. Tory only had a couple of bites and let me finish it, which I did, thinking it would get better. It did not.

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We then walked back across the hub towards Space Mountain for our last FP+. I’ll briefly mention here that of all the parks and resorts, MK was the only one that felt dirty. It just definitely needed some touch up paint and a deep scrubbing. The bathrooms were consistently messy here as well. Just an observation. But the castle is gorgeous at sunset! And yay! Sonny Eclipse lives!

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Now, Space Mountain. If the citrus swirl was the biggest food disappointment, this was the biggest ride disappointment. It just paled in comparison to the Disneyland version. There is no music, the stars aren’t bright at all (so you are truly just in the dark), it’s really rough, and worst of all, it takes your photo at the beginning of the ride. Why? First timers like ourselves won’t be smiling yet (although I don’t know that I ever was). The initial lift hill is cool and I thought we would get more animatronics, but after that, it was just the Matterhorn in the dark. To quote Tory, “Instead of launching, it crashed and burned.” I am sorry if this is unpopular, but I’d love to debate someone who has been on both and prefers the MK version. I didn’t get the appeal.
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After a small string of disappointments, we made our way back across the hub for our ADR at Skipper Canteen. I’ll go ahead and assure you, dear reader, that it was at this point that our day got back on the right track! For reference, my favorite ride at Disneyland is the Jungle Cruise. What can I say, I am a sucker for bad jokes and all things animals and the age of Imperialism. I actually did the Jungle Cruise skipper routine at a talent show back in high school. Seriously! The love runs deep! So, dinner at Skipper Canteen was a must!

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The place is so well-themed. Small details and jokes all over the restaurant. We got sat in the main mess hall, which was a little loud, but just so well-themed and transportative. I sat in awe of a Jungle Cruise-themed restaurant. Our skipper, Kim, came over and introduced herself. Once she found out that we were first timers, she made sure to really lay the shtick on. It was just wonderful. When she came back to take our orders, we found out that she is a huge Disney nerd as well, and we spent a delightful couple of minutes talking about Galaxy’s Edge, Disneyland, and how Disneyland ruined our Tower of Terror with a Guardians of the Galaxy overlay. She agreed with us that our Space Mountain was better as well, which was a great sanity check for me.

We ordered a glass of sangria each and the cachapas to start. The novelty of drinking alcohol in the Magic Kingdom wasn’t lost on us and the sangria was pretty tasty. The cachapas were decent, but needed a little more flavor.

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Soon after our entrees came out. As Kim brought them to us she mentioned that we had inadvertently order the two largest dishes on the menu. I had the Perkins Thai Noodles and Tory got the Curried Vegetable Crew Stew. These were both super large portions and all-around delicious! Kim had warned me that the pad thai was spicy, and I shot back that I’m a Californian, so it was all good. I was amazed to try it and find that it did have some actual heat! Props to the kitchen for that! The sauce was flavorful, the tofu was well prepared and the noodles were perfectly cooked. Tory’s stew/curry was equally tasty. It tasted like comfort food with plenty of turmeric and other warm Indian spices. Again, it was a really generous serving and she didn’t quite finish it all. We were both pleasantly shocked to get such good quality and flavorful food inside the Magic Kingdom!



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As we were winding down dinner, we realized the park was going to close soon. But since we had a late start, we didn’t want the night to end so soon! So when Kim brought out dessert (a piece of cheesecake that was courtesy of the skips!), I asked her where we should go to get a drink.


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Kim had so many different ideas, she was almost scatterbrained. At one point she said, ” I’ll be right back,” and then came back with pen and paper and a fellow skipper named Robert. The two of them then began to describe what we learned is known as the Monorail Crawl. Stopping for a drink at each of the three resorts of the monorail loop. The two of them playfully bickered about where to send us at each resort and gave us turn-by-turn directions since we were first-timers. At one point Robert even told us a way to get into the Top of the World lounge even if we weren’t DVC members. It was such a fun experience and we still have their note card. We thanked them profusely for all of their advice, paid our relatively inexpensive tab, and headed back out into the park. We caught some of Happily Ever After as we were headed down Main Street, vowing to ourselves we would come back and see it later in the trip (Spoiler: we didn’t. It’s amazing just how much there is to do on property!). We headed out of the park and made it to the monorail platform before the fireworks ended. We quickly hopped on a monorail and decided to forgo the first stop in the crawl for more time at Trader Sam’s.

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Once we made it to the Poly, we found the small unassuming door to Trader Sam’s and were told it was a 30-45 minute wait. We put our name in, and headed out to the patio to get a drink. We debated whether or not we wanted to wait it out, but once we grabbed drinks from the to-go window and sat down, the charm of the Poly and tiki cocktails set in and we knew we wouldn’t be in any hurry.

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We actually got to see the Electrical Water Pageant from our table which was a nice treat. I had only vaguely read about it in planning, but didn’t think about it too much since we weren’t staying on Seven Seas Lagoon. It was really cute! Just over 30 minutes after putting our name in, and barely having time to finish round number 1, we got the text that we head inside.

Prior to our experience with WDW’s Trader Sam’s, we had heard that it was so much better and more awesome than ours out in Anaheim. This came as kind of a shock to me, as Trader Sam’s Anaheim (TSA for short) was truly my happy place. For the second time today, WDW won out. Trader Sam’s Orlando (TSO haha) was amazing!

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The imagineers took what worked from TSA and just amped it up for TSO! We especially appreciated the added animatronics and increased sight gags. While TSA has a relaxed, kick-back tiki vibe, TSO is an all-out tiki party! That is due, in large part, to the bartenders who just lean into their role so well and make every moment hilarious. One even told us that TSA is like the boring cousin of TSO, which, I must admit, was fairly accurate. My favorite part of TSO is the antics around ordering a Hippopota-mai-tai. I got into yelling, “Two shots of rum!” really quickly. If we could import that tradition to TSA, I would be so happy. The only thing that struck as weird is that despite having to wait to get in, there aren’t guaranteed seats available. Thankfully, we found some at the bar within a few minutes, but it felt like TSA where one has to be really good about keeping an eye on every party at the bar to figure out who is leaving first and when to swoop in. Just a little confusing. A minor quip though. We can’t wait to go back to the cool hip cousin and catch some more hippos!

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After our round inside, we decided to call it a night and caught a Lyft to AKL. The evening more than made up for the slightly disappointing afternoon, and the day as a whole was another truly great Disney day.
 
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