You win some you booze some, a HOT August 2017 dining report! complete 1/25*

[Sailormoon2]

I LOVE TH. I agree the character interactions are always on point! I have never been for dinner though, only breakfast. Looks like a good variety of options.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Hi hon! Your Tusker House pics with the characters are adorable!!! I love the one of Ricky and Daisy!!!!
Are you doing a PTR for your March trip? If not, where are you all staying??????????????

 

[kastoney]

Hello, and welcome to my August dining report!
Oh wait, I said that back IN August But now that I've reported on our Nov. trip I'm ready to get back to the summer and continue on with our family vacation!

August???? Isn't in November? And where am I?

SWEET, SWEET NUTS

need I say anything else?

Nope, that says it all

We got to the park about 2:50 and our FOP FP started at 3, so we went right to Pandora. Steve and I had been on FOP during the AP previews in May but it was the first time for the boys and the both loved it, especially Ricky who wanted to go back on until he saw the 2+ hour line. I did attempt to score more FP's for the remainder of our stay but it didn't work, so that's my main goal for our March trip!

Glad the boys loved it!!!! We saw a 4 hour line on one day there and the line extended back to FOTLK and then swung around and went back toward Pandora. It was insanity. No way I'd tackle that thing without a fast pass.

The Mo'ara Margarita which I'd had 2 or 3 times before:

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    Sauza Conmemorativo Añejo tequila with strawberry and blood orange flavor topped with strawberry boba balls

Steve got the Hawkes' Grog Ale

Oh these look so good. We tried to get something from here 3 or 4 times, but the line was always insane. Sadly no margarita with smooshberries for me

Now he's not my favorite character but since we don't do many meets anymore, I do get excited when I meet him:

I can't believe how genuinely happy Ricky looks. Awesome!

This was mine! Broccoli and cheese soup, veggie samosa, corn dog nuggets to satisfy the classiness in me, a rice I no longer remember the name of and some type of African chicken I no longer remember the name of.

Keeping it classy with the corn dogs. You never cease to amaze me

White rice, mac n cheese, a chicken drumstick, melon and a pickle. Pretty generic but hey, he's eating! I know he didn't like the drumstick but he doesn't usually eat them and he also thought the mac n cheese was fantastic.

Similar to Chris with the seasoned steak fries added. Ricky is a mac n cheese connesieur and he felt TH really hit it out of the park with this particular recipe. He ate more of the chicken than Chris, also.

I was going to comment that Chris' plate was the whitest food I'd ever seen all together and then Ricky's plate had to show him up. You almost can't even see the food on the plate

As soon as Ricky stood up to meet her, she started jumping up and down and then gave him a hug. Again, such a good sport! I will say as reported here often, the character interaction was really, really good.

Great picture. Are you sure these are your kids?

Finally Goofy made his way over:

My plate: strawberry cake with white chocolate, pecan chocolate tart, and mini turtle brownie. I LOVED the strawberry cake and therefore, had another. But I'm partial to Betty Crocker strawberry cake mix anyway so that wasn't surprising. Actually all 3 desserts were delicious and it was hard to decide between a 2nd strawberry cake or a 2nd pecan tart, but I was too full for both believe it or not. So dessert was a hit! Again, I wouldn't tell anyone not to go here because the food was fine, just not as out of this world as we thought it was a few years ago. But overall a nice dinner with 2 kids who indulged mom by meeting characters and having fun doing it.

Yum! These look delicious. Glad to hear TH was a win all the way around. We've only ever done breakfast, but dinner is looking pretty awesome

 

[MeghanEmily]

A smattering of things that made me giggle...

Believe it or not, mine is the plate with the fruit on it - to balance out the chocolate chip muffins of perfection that I think I ate a tray of over the course of the trip.

Steve said the cinnamon roll was nothing like Gaston's and I was like, no sh*%!

We weren't there long before Steve and I needed a snack; what better snack to get than

SWEET, SWEET NUTS​

We were eating at Tusker House for the first time in ages. A small part of me booked this because I love the characters in their safari gear, but I booked it mostly because all of our past experiences here have been really good. So get ready for lots of food and character pics!

Ooh, I have a soft spot for Tusker House! Even though it always seems to be super crowded and chaotic when we're there...

a rice I no longer remember the name of and some type of African chicken I no longer remember the name of. This folks is the danger of not taking good notes and trying to report on your buffet meal over 4 months after it occurred!

Looks yummy though!

Steve was too full for dessert and Ricky's stomach was acting up again, but Chris and I were willing to give it a try

Haha taking one for the team here!

We always seems to only eat here for breakfast, but some of these offerings look pretty good!

 

[Tracy161]

corn dog nuggets to satisfy the classiness in me

Oooh, I must also be super classy then!

This isn't full enough for my plate so must be Chris's

I was gonna say... two selections is WEAK in my book! I like a full plate of desserts, personally

Chris thought the cheesecake had too much chocolate (WHAT)

Hmm... I didn't know there was such a thing as too much chocolate?!

I haven't done Tusker House yet... but the characters do look super cute in their safari gear

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

When we got out of FOP we visited Pongu Pongu for these:

Good Plan! I am dreaming of getting another one of those!

This was my 2nd time trying a veggie samosa and as with the first time, I didn't really like it. I don't think it was bad I just don't think it's my thing.

I love samosas! There are usually a bunch of spices in them, so, if you don't like th auspice mixture, I can see why you wouldn't like them. And they usually have peas in them!

The salmon looks really moist!

This is seriously the best pic! Yearbook worthy?

I could eat that whole pan of samosas!

That last picture is of some of the cold salads. Overall we didn't think the food was bad, but we didn't think it was as good as the last time we ate there which admittedly was 2 or 3 years ago. I don't know when we'll go back but I don't hesitate sending clients there because the food is still good and the character interaction great!

I kind of agree. Our Tusker House meal is next up for my trip report. But I will say, that we totally agree with your overall review. I want to try breakfast sometime. Have you done breakfast here?

Steve was too full for dessert and Ricky's stomach was acting up again, but Chris and I were willing to give it a try

Taking one for the team. Someone has to do it!

 

[thumper*]

The boys are so cute in their pictures.
Your deserts at TH look amazing.

 

[pepperandchips]

SWEET, SWEET NUTS

At least you had the decency to leave these somewhat clothed!!! These are so good though. I will never forget the time R begged/negotiated/pixie dusted his way into early nuts from a CM at the nut stand by the Africa bridge... what can I say, the aroma of her nuts was too much to withstand!

strawberry cake with white chocolate, pecan chocolate tart, and mini turtle brownie

That pecan chocolate tart kind of looks like a magic cookie bar!!! Yum!

Chris thought the cheesecake had too much chocolate (WHAT)

are we sure he is yours?

In all sincerity, your TH meal looks amazing! I've always been a fan of the more exotic fare available at AK and AKL and I'm thinking now maybe enough time has passed that we should be considering a return to Tusker House. I know I am preaching to the choir but sometimes it's hard to choose TH over Tiffins or Yak & Yeti. It's a great complaint to have TOO many good options to choose from!!

And you are so right on calling me out for being away too long. I'm usually lurking quietly when I'm away, but this time I was really away away. Work has gotten really busy this fall/winter and I haven't had much time to breathe, much less go through the 25 steps of getting my reports updated! I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel though... please!!!

 

[thumper*]

At least you had the decency to leave these somewhat clothed!!! These are so good though. I will never forget the time R begged/negotiated/pixie dusted his way into early nuts from a CM at the nut stand by the Africa bridge... what can I say, the aroma of her nuts was too much to withstand!

 

[FSU Girl]

Your last meal for your November trip looked really great. I did not know you could see fireworks from Citricos so that's a nice surprise.

Your food from Tusker House looked really good. I almost went there back in May, but then had to switch my days around to accommodate the sneak preview for Pandora and didn't get to go. I love the Character buffets, I guess I'm a kid at heart.

 

[Texans_loyal]

We tried Tusker house for the first time on our last trip and fell in love. the food was great and the characters weren't in a rush. I'm glad you had a good time!

 

[Lesley Wake]

I think Tusker House was my favorite dinner during our trip! It provided a great opportunity to have some things more themed, but also cater to my plain jane tastes! And our character interactions were great-we had dinner at 4:30 so the dining room was almost empty and we could spend as much time as we wanted with them! Goofy even tried to steal my chair when I was getting desserts and Donald was taking too much time with the next table (I'll post photos when I eventually get to that part in my TR)!

 

[Wood Nymph]

We have had good experiences at Tusker House when we've gone there for breakfast. I think the adults in our group had more fun with the characters than the kids did.

I wouldn't tell anyone not to go here because the food was fine, just not as out of this world as we thought it was a few years ago. But overall a nice dinner with 2 kids who indulged mom by meeting characters and having fun doing it.

It is a good thing that they have plenty of plain food for the kids to eat. I'm surprised at how many different things they serve. There is a lot more variety than they have at Boma.

It looks like the family had fun, including the boys.

 

[wdwnut61]

Great character photos especially with Goofy he gives the best hugs
The way you described TH was similar to our experience at H&V we did the Minnie’s Seasonal dine. The food was good but having Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Santa Goody all in the holiday attire made the meal.

 

[buzzrelly]

They had patiently waited for us doing this while Steve did this and I did this in our Lyft car but all was good now and I was finally able to drink too!

You earned that drink!

I'm a super cool boy mom and I would have been the BEST girl mom!

Ahhh, that's what grandchildren are for!

Oak-grilled Beef Filet: Potato Puree, Asparagus, Cipollini Jam, Bordelaise

Looks delicious!

I don't know if this happened during or after dinner, but for those of you not familiar with Citricos you can indeed see HEA from there:

So pretty!

I believe only Jason and I got dessert because we're the only normal ones.

Clearly! What is WRONG with people?!

Florida Key Lime Pie: Baked in a Graham Cracker Tart Shell served with fresh Strawberries and a Quenelle of Sweet Mandarin Sorbet

I Key Lime Pie!

but not before checking out the gingerbread house that was going up:

Amazing!

Oh wait, I said that back IN August But now that I've reported on our Nov. trip I'm ready to get back to the summer and continue on with our family vacation!

I'm so confused! In the immortal words of The Grateful Dead, "What a long, strange trip it's been." I am totally lost but still loving this!

Steve said the cinnamon roll was nothing like Gaston's and I was like, no sh*%!

Now he's not my favorite character but since we don't do many meets anymore, I do get excited when I meet him:

Great picture!

Steve and Chris's pic is better:

Also great!

As we were eating our first plates, Daisy came around!

OMG…Ricky! Love the smile!

But overall a nice dinner with 2 kids who indulged mom by meeting characters and having fun doing it.

Aw…you're a good mom

 

[ariane37]

I LOVE TH. I agree the character interactions are always on point!

They were as good as I remembered them being!

Are you doing a PTR for your March trip?

I wish! I did consider it. But, since I still have two days to go on this and my current TR, I figure I won't get that PTR started until like a week before we go and I'll never finish it! But I'm definitely do a TR for the trip and maybe a dining report, too

Glad the boys loved it!!!! We saw a 4 hour line on one day there and the line extended back to FOTLK and then swung around and went back toward Pandora. It was insanity. No way I'd tackle that thing without a fast pass.

Yeah, I think it's going to be a pretty long time until we see reasonable SB waits for FOP, like maybe not till SW Land opens. That might take some of the fascination away for a bit. In the meantime I'll just keep stressing whenever I need to get FOP for clients (or myself!)!

Keeping it classy with the corn dogs. You never cease to amaze me

That's me! I'm like a mullet: class in the front, bottom of the barrel in the back

A smattering of things that made me giggle...

I'm so glad I made you laugh!

Oooh, I must also be super classy then!

Oh you definitely are

Hmm... I didn't know there was such a thing as too much chocolate?!

Um technically there's not; there's just something wrong with my kid lol

I haven't done Tusker House yet... but the characters do look super cute in their safari gear

That's one of the main reasons I wanted to eat there again; I love the costumes!

 

[ariane37]

I love samosas! There are usually a bunch of spices in them, so, if you don't like th auspice mixture, I can see why you wouldn't like them. And they usually have peas in them!

It could have been the peas I do like lots of spices so I don't know exactly what it was; they seemed dry to me. But I've always wanted to try them so at least I did!

This is seriously the best pic! Yearbook worthy?

lol, well I recently put those magnet signs on my car advertising my business and when I pulled up to school to pick up Ricky and two of his friends they all had a s*^t because it's apparently SO embarrasing, so I have a feeling if I slipped that in the yearbook he'd leave and never come back!

I want to try breakfast sometime. Have you done breakfast here?

Breakfast was actually the first meal we ever did there and we did it twice, but the last time was about 5 years ago. We loved it both times!

The boys are so cute in their pictures.

Your deserts at TH look amazing

I think they were my favorite part

At least you had the decency to leave these somewhat clothed!!!

I try keeping my reports PG-13, though sometimes I fail (on purpose)

I will never forget the time R begged/negotiated/pixie dusted his way into early nuts from a CM at the nut stand by the Africa bridge... what can I say, the aroma of her nuts was too much to withstand!

That pecan chocolate tart kind of looks like a magic cookie bar!!! Yum!

It does, and it kind of tasted like it! Although I'd take my WL Magic Bar anyday

are we sure he is yours?

Actually I'm not; think I'll hold all his Christmas presents for awhile until he reconsiders the idea of "too much chocolate"

I've always been a fan of the more exotic fare available at AK and AKL

At first, as in years ago, I wasn't. But it's grown on me and I seriously appreciate it now.

I know I am preaching to the choir but sometimes it's hard to choose TH over Tiffins or Yak & Yeti. It's a great complaint to have TOO many good options to choose from!!

Ugh, yes! It's very hard for me now to be in AK and not eat at Tiffins! I totally planned to eat there with the whole family in March but the boys were a hard NO, and I'm not happy about it. I'm planning instead to go to Nomad Lounge so it's close enough, and I'm hoping to talk my travel buddy for my Feb. trip into eating there.

Work has gotten really busy this fall/winter and I haven't had much time to breathe, much less go through the 25 steps of getting my reports updated! I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel though... please!!!

I hope it calms down for you, not just so I see you around here more often but so you have more time for wedding plans

I did not know you could see fireworks from Citricos so that's a nice surprise.

It took us a couple trips there to realize you could; it was a nice surprise

We tried Tusker house for the first time on our last trip and fell in love. the food was great and the characters weren't in a rush. I'm glad you had a good time!

Glad you liked it! I see constant reports of great character interaction, I think it's one of the best if not THE best meal on property as far as the characters go.

 

[ariane37]

I think Tusker House was my favorite dinner during our trip! It provided a great opportunity to have some things more themed, but also cater to my plain jane tastes! And our character interactions were great-we had dinner at 4:30 so the dining room was almost empty and we could spend as much time as we wanted with them! Goofy even tried to steal my chair when I was getting desserts and Donald was taking too much time with the next table (I'll post photos when I eventually get to that part in my TR)!

That sounds so awesome! I need to get over and actually comment on your report I've been following! And liking your posts,but I seem to always have to go before I have time to comment. But I'm still there!

We have had good experiences at Tusker House when we've gone there for breakfast. I think the adults in our group had more fun with the characters than the kids did.

That's something I loved, they characters really interacted quite a bit with me and even Steve - the one time he got up

There is a lot more variety than they have at Boma.

Very true! Steve and I do love Boma and I'm considering taking the kids there in March, but thinking back to the last time Steve and I ate there I know there's more for the boys at TH.

It looks like the family had fun, including the boys.

We had an exceptionally enjoyable night

The way you described TH was similar to our experience at H&V we did the Minnie’s Seasonal dine. The food was good but having Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Santa Goody all in the holiday attire made the meal.

I've been wanting to do H&V! Not because I want to eat the food there lol, we did eat lunch there once in 2007 and it was just ok. But all the costumes they wear all year round are so adorable!

I Key Lime Pie!

It's one of my new favorite desserts ever since Rony "accidentally" brought it to me!

 

[ArielSRL]

Pineapple Margarita from La Cava Del Taquila: 100% Agave Tequila Reposado, ginger Liqueur, caramelized pineapple nectar, fresh lime and agave nectar served on the rocks

Anyhoo, the margarita wasn't quite what I expected but it wasn't bad. I thought it would be on the sweet side; not WCC watermelon moonshine sweet, but pineapple sweet. It was kind of half bitter half sweet.

Ok, so I was all about it after the menu description but now I’m not sure.

Soon we were at our destination and ready to chow down at Cape May Cafe!

I totally need to do this for dinner one trip!

Shrimp! BBQ shrimp, fried shrimp, shrimp n grits, sauteed shrimp, shrimp cocktail.......(guess what movie has been on TV lately):

 

[ArielSRL]

Me: cornbread, caesar salad, chicken marsala, a pesto pasta, and a piece of focaccia bread

This is making me so hungry!

He liked them but getting the meat out was way too much work for him and he stated that you are NOT supposed to have to work for your food.

I absolutely love crab legs but it is a lot of work!

Some dessert buffet pics:

Um...yum!

After dessert came what I believe to be Chris's favorite part of this meal. I also think as he gets older, he will either seek out restaurants that offer this or possibly even open a restaurant himself, simply to be able to give others the experience that is....

The After Dinner Hot Towel ​

I so love Chris and his antics! So hilariously entertaining!

Cobbler Kari @kastoney had warned me about this, but I'm not a good listener so I went ahead and tried some despite still being full of PB blondies. It was delicious!

Oh I love cobbler.

I can see reading this report is not going to be good for my after the holidays diet!