We are going to Disney in 3 weeks, for our Spring break! update 6/12 Boma

Wow, your meal at Jiko looks fantastic and your ROL pictures are gorgeous!

Our meal at Jiko was really good. It always lives up to our expectations. Funny that you mentioned about pictures. For the first time, I didn't bother to take my DSRL on this trip. All my photos were taken by my iPhone and videos by GoPro. I thought that our pictures were ok and I loved not having extra weight.

Looks like an awesome day in AK & AKL and an even awesomer meal at Jiko. Its one of our favorites too!!!! Though yes I do miss the tandori butter. It made the bread even better!!!!

Yes, we had a great day and really awesome meal at Jiko. I tried recreating tandoori butter at home but it's not the same.

Enjoying your reviews!

Thank you for reading!

The dinner looks so yummy at Jiko, how nice your teen son is adventurous with dining. I would love to try it there, Andi is not quite as bold and she really doesn't like red meat:confused3.

We love Jiko and yes, I am so fortunate that teen DS is adventurous eater. He prefers sushi over chicken nuggets or pizza. But I've noticed that his not the norm among his friends. :rotfl:
 
We got up at 6am as we were trying to make to MK 7am EMH this morning. I know, it's crazy insane hour but we've done this last year during this time, lots of rides were basically walk-on if you could make it. We had our clothes and everything set up the night before so we just had to roll out of the room. When we got to the empty and dark bus stop, MK bus just pulled away. So we just sat on the bench, watching some workers fixing something on the bus stop. Wait, the bus just made a big turn and came back to pick us up. It was empty when we got on so DS and I enjoyed quiet bus ride to MK while munching our cereal bar. We were through turnstiles by 6:35 or so.





There were maybe 30 people ahead of us but soon, it was getting crowded. We headed straight to 7DMT, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid and decided to take a break by Tangled bathroom for 5 minutes or so before they let us through to the rest of the MK open.







For some reason, Thunder Mt opened 10 minutes late so the line was growing. I know that it looks like lots of people ahead of us but once the line started to move, we didn't wait at all to ride. After Thunder Mt, we rode DS's favorite ride at MK, FP Splash Mt. We then proceeded to ride Pirates of Caribbean, then we used our FP for 7DMT, FP for Space Mt, People Mover, and Buzz Lightyear.





We were finished riding what we wanted by 10:30 at MK so took Express Bus by Buzz Lightyear to Epcot. We arrived at Epcot within 20 minutes and decided to cash out one of our paper FP for Test Track. Afterwards, we were pretty hungry so we decided to check out some F & G booths while heading to our Via Napoli ADR.





Since we took path way from Test Track, La Isla Fresca was so conveniently located right at the end of path way, DS couldn't just pass. He once again ordered Sugar Cane Shrimp Skewer. This became DS's favorite dish this year at F&G booths and I think he had about 5~6 dishes during this trip.





Next booths that caught our interest was Jardin de Fiestas. We do love Mexican Food so decided to try Chile Relleno de Picadillo. This was ok. It certainly wasn't bad but didn't have much flavor. It seemed very bland and meat was little dry. So now that our hunger was little manageable, we decided to go to Italy without stopping for anymore food as we wanted to enjoy our meal.







I checked us in 5 minutes before our 11:30 ADR and there were several families already waiting in the wait room. As 11:30 was Via Napoli's first ADR spot, we were quickly seated on two top table by the window. We had lovely view of the Italy's court and enjoyed people watching. Again, I love that we had extra space due to the window seal, so I had my bag and phone resting on the window seal.



We decided to use 1TS credit from our DxDP and pay OOP for a personal pizza. We've dined at Via Napoli last 5~6 trips so DS didn't have to look before what he wanted for "our" appetizer.



Calamari Fritti: corn-crusted rings served with spicy tomato sauce. This as usual came piping hot. Calamari was tender and crispy without being greasy. We do love the spicy tomato sauce that came with the calamari. My only gripe is that why don't they serve legs. However, these were good as usual. :thumbsup2



Linguini allo Scoglio: shrimp, clams, mussels, and squid tossed with cherry tomatoes
This was DS's main entree. I thought that he would pick one of the pizza as he loves some thin crust, Italian pizza. However, he surprised me by choosing a pasta dish. So I decided to go for a pizza as I do love good Margherita pizza and VP knows how to make one right.




Sorry, DS stole one piece before I was ready to take a picture. We shared the entrees and linguini was done in al dante and all the sea food were very good as well. The sauce in pasta was little spicy and our waiter warned us about it. I also enjoyed the pizza as well but I noticed that my pizza crusts were little white side. I do enjoy some burnt(?) parts as that's natural in the brick oven. However, we didn't have any problem finishing the plates.



I was too full for desert but DS on the other hand, always have different stomach for desert. He ordered chocolate gelato and was quit content. I can't comment on how it taste, as I didn't even try. Our waiter was very attentive and prompt. Our drinks were always filled and timing of food was good as well. We really enjoyed our meal here once again.

 
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After lunch, we enjoyed watching the performance. And slowly strolled out of Epcot for much needed rest back to AKL as we had an early morning start.







When we got to AKL lobby, the drummers were out so we took seat near and watched a little before retreating back to our room.
 
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Via Napoli always looks amazing. And it looks like getting up early paid off! Those crowds (except the line picture) looked so great in the morning!
 


What a great early morning plan! It's definitely worth getting up early to beat the crowds and the lines.
 
Rivers of Light looks beautiful...sorry we missed it! We booked the package at Tiffins...had a wonderful dinner, but it was the worse rain ever before the show and we decided to leave! Even with rain ponchos, we were soaked from head to toe...thanks for the photos of this beautiful show.
 
Via Napoli always looks amazing. And it looks like getting up early paid off! Those crowds (except the line picture) looked so great in the morning!
We really like Via Napoli. They have best pizza on the property! Yes, getting up early really paid off. We are morning birds so it's not too horrible to get up early as we get up by 6am every morning.

What a great early morning plan! It's definitely worth getting up early to beat the crowds and the lines.
Thankfully, teen DS does not object to getting up early as he's a morning bird. I love getting up and walking around fairly empty park.


Rivers of Light looks beautiful...sorry we missed it! We booked the package at Tiffins...had a wonderful dinner, but it was the worse rain ever before the show and we decided to leave! Even with rain ponchos, we were soaked from head to toe...thanks for the photos of this beautiful show.
Sorry you missed the Rivers of Light as it was really beautiful. I've also recorded the whole show on my GoPro and I rewatched several times and still mesmerized by the beauty of the show. However, I'll never do it without the package since I saw the FP line stretching down for miles by the Asia side.
 


OMG I didn't realize you had this going on!

However, W was having so much fun that he didn't feel hunger
:laughing: I wish I could just NOT feel hunger

So we looked and found Shrimp Skewer at La Isla Fresca.
I'm very familiar with that since DH had about 10 of them!

Spicy Hot Dog with Pineapple Chutney and Plantain Chips from Pineapple promenade.
This was one of the things I kind of wanted to try but didn't. I was afraid it would be too spicy, although I really like spice. But then I thought if it was too spicy it would mess up my eating for the rest of the day and there were way too many other good things to try at F&G!

W declared that the tour was the best thing we did this trip and I totally agree with him.
Wow, interesting and good to hear! I've been debating doing this with my boys on our August trip but was afraid my 15yo would be completely bored. Not to mention AK being extra extra hot in the summer :scared: I'll have to give it more consideration and good to know you could walk up and find availability.

Disney white van pulled up and said that he will take us to our resort. :confused3
Weird, and a bit like an abduction lol

While driving, just noted how far the MK area is from AKL.
This didn't bother us at all on our first AKL stay, but on our stay last month the distance kind of got to DH and he said he hadn't realized just how far the resort is from MK

As well, the Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcake was delicious
My favorite there :goodvibes

Although it was nice show to watch, I don't think it will be a must every trip.
This is how DH and I felt after seeing it in March. We skipped it in May and I'm not even planning to see it in Aug. with the boys b/c I really don't think they'll enjoy it.........
 
:laughing: I wish I could just NOT feel hunger
Usually, DS is the one who gets so hungry so he must have lots of fun searching for the eggs.

This was one of the things I kind of wanted to try but didn't. I was afraid it would be too spicy, although I really like spice. But then I thought if it was too spicy it would mess up my eating for the rest of the day and there were way too many other good things to try at F&G!

It was very spicy as we had to purchase a bottle of water right away. However, very addictive.

Wow, interesting and good to hear! I've been debating doing this with my boys on our August trip but was afraid my 15yo would be completely bored. Not to mention AK being extra extra hot in the summer :scared: I'll have to give it more consideration and good to know you could walk up and find availability.

Caring for Giants is something that I recommend but not during the summer. AK is the hottest park due to all the foliages during the summer. When we went on the tour it was 70 deg with light breeze. However, my almost 14yo was happy with the tour.

Weird, and a bit like an abduction lol

:rotfl:Yeah, I was worried a bit but he was wearing Disney transportation uniform when he got out to open the van door and also the fact that all Disney buses that passed us waved to him. So I eased my suspicions.

This didn't bother us at all on our first AKL stay, but on our stay last month the distance kind of got to DH and he said he hadn't realized just how far the resort is from MK

Funny, when we stayed at AKL first time, we didn't noticed it either. For some reason, this trip, I noticed it's really far. Maybe staying at MK/Epcot resorts really spoiled us.

This is how DH and I felt after seeing it in March. We skipped it in May and I'm not even planning to see it in Aug. with the boys b/c I really don't think they'll enjoy it.........

I think we are skipping ROL for our Aug as well. Really not worth all the wait and hassle during the heat and humidity. Also, I want to check out Pandora rather than ROL.
 
That pizza totally needed another 15-20 seconds in the oven. There's a fine line between "charred" and "burnt," but that pie doesn't even approach it!
 
That pizza totally needed another 15-20 seconds in the oven. There's a fine line between "charred" and "burnt," but that pie doesn't even approach it!

I am so glad that you agree with me that pizza wasn't near where it should be!
 
I little life update!
I booked bounce back offer during our spring break to return to Disney for the last week of August. We've been to Disney during the summer mainly because I don't want DS to miss school anymore. Otherwise, I would never go to Disney in during summer due to the heat and humidity. Anyways, DS wanted to take one or more of his friends on this trip and I agreed. I figured, he would have fun with his friends, and I would get some alone time and get somethings I would like to do sans DS. I asked the parents first and made sure that DS doesn't mention anything to his friends first since I wanted to give the parents to decide since this is not some overnight trip. It ended up that one of the friend's family decided that they would take the trip with us and will book at Beach Club so that kids could play together at the pool as well as the parks. With that said, I waited and watched airline tickets going up and down for our dates, but couldn't book until everything solidified. If I was taking DS's friends, since they were minor, I wanted to book plane tickets together to make sure we are seated together and most importantly, they were on the same plane as we were. Now that the whole family is going, I don't have to worry about that problem. So last week or so, I've been actively searching for plane tickets and finally, yesterday, I booked via American Airline for out dates. I feel like when you buy that non-refundable air tickets, the trip is final deal. :jumping1:

Also when I booked the bounce back offer, there was no summer offer for Annual Passholders yet. However, upon checking the AP offer, there was $20/night cheaper than the bounce back offer so I cancelled the bounce back offer and rebooked under the AP discount. I am so happy that we get to experience the very beginning of Food and Wine and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party on this trips well. I am really happy that Disney is starting these events early this year. Since these are fall events, I didn't think we would be able to do as fall/winter is really busy in our household with school and activities. There is no way that we could do a Disney trip anymore as there's no more true "Jersey week (first week of November)" as the kids only get off two days of school as to the whole week before.
 
We will be at Beach Club August 31 - September 8! I love that F&W is beginning early this year. Glad you got everything figured out for the August trip. Looking forward to the rest of your reviews.
 
would you, please, share what offering you made to the Disney Bus Gods?!? i would like to copy you. :worship:
your bus luck is amazing!!! and your food choices look wonderful, too!!!
 
We will be at Beach Club August 31 - September 8! I love that F&W is beginning early this year. Glad you got everything figured out for the August trip. Looking forward to the rest of your reviews.
Lovely! We will be at BC from 8/25~9/2. I also look forward to F&W and plan try as many items as possible before we leave.

would you, please, share what offering you made to the Disney Bus Gods?!? i would like to copy you. :worship:
your bus luck is amazing!!! and your food choices look wonderful, too!!!

We've had the worst Disney bus luck all our trips. You know, standard "Oops, the bus just left, now you have to wait 20~30 minutes." However, this trip, we had the best bus service. DS is convinced that maybe we shouldn't rent a car for this coming trip. However, I love having a car for a grocery trip, shopping at outlets and not riding bus/bus on resort ADRs.
 
After another relaxing afternoon for DS and some retail therapy at the outlets for me, I was too lazy to head out to Epcot for our original ADR at Teppan Edo. I called Disney Dining Reservations line and asked CM, if there's any availability for either Boma or Saana. I didn't want to travel far and just wanted to eat and rest up for the night. CM searched and said that there was no availability at Saana but Boma had one at 6:30 and switched our ADR without the penalty. We went down at 6:25 and waited about 5 minutes before they called us.





Some Easter egg decorations near Boma.

We were seated in two top table near the back of the restaurant.









Some pictures of buffet line but certainly not all since there were many people, I didn't take all the buffet pictures. There were hot carving stations, always full of line.


Where we sat, it was kind of cramped spaced with all the two tops and could certainly hear everyone's conversation since the tables were really close to each other.



My plate. Pork with mustard which was really good. The durban chicken was good as well. Curried coconut seafood stew on the bowl with basmati rice was really tasty. Spinach Couscous salad was just ok, little bland. Asparagus was perfectly cooked. Pap and chakalaka was not my thing.



DS's first plate. I know that he finished his plate. I didn't hear any comment so I am assuming everything was pretty good.



We did try some deserts. Zebra dome was ok. I still don't get the hype for this. Guava Panna Cotta was pretty good along with Kenya Coffee Tart and Chocolate cupcake. This meal was certainly very convenient as we were too tired to travel for dinner. However, as we finished the meal, we slightly regretted not going to Teppan Edo. It seems, we don't enjoy buffets as much as other family. However, Boma itself has more options and variety than other buffets.
 
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Personally, I don't get the Zebra dome hype either. I think is nostalgia.
We first had them at least 15 years ago on the buffet. It was amazing. We made a special trip to Mara to buy several packages to snack on for the long drive back to our then-home in Virginia.
When we had them the second time, a year or two later, they looked very similar. But, tasted gross. Nothing like before, seriously. None of us have liked them since. And, we eat everything.
 
Great reviews, we will be at Disney the same time as you. I think, from reading another thread we are going to the same MNSSHP, we should try to say hi. I agree about the zebra domes as well, nothing special. When you were talking about your two top ugh! It reminds me of all our tables this past trip. We got close and personal with many people. I always felt like we were in the traffic flow.

Boma food looks very good.
 

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