Live-ish blog. My thoughts and observations April 7-13

Staying at AKL Jambo House...

I am gonna try and just hit some bullet points here. We will start off with post 1, night one...

We arrived at MCO at 9:12pm. Headed straight to Magic Express, boarded a waiting motor coach. We then proceeded to wait for approximately 45 minutes to leave. They packed the bus to bursting, and people were standing in the back(against policy, but I guess efficiency beats safety) we were the 3rd stop and didn't arrive at our resort till a little after 11.

We were then woken up at 2am by a call from bell services asking if they could deliver our luggage. This was after I spoke to them at 11, and specifically asked them not to call or knock that night. I was infuriated. Also, despite talking to the front desk and bell services, I was basically given a "we're sorry" shoulder shrug. Which, believe it or not, doesn't help with my 3 year olds lack of sleep.

Anyhoo, that's day 1. Good start.

 

[snek]

Speaking of food though..

When I was looking at AKL the menu at Mara looked good. Did you eat there at all? Did they have decent kid choices?

The mara is very good. They have interesting rotating choices. I really liked the corn chowder heh.

 

[21stamps]

The mara is very good. They have interesting rotating choices. I really liked the corn chowder heh.

Thanks!

 

[xdan0920]

The only places I've had one are Captain Cook's and Roaring Forks.. each time I could finish only half or just over. So to me they seem like large portions

I guess it depends on how someone eats..really. That's 6 slices...and a mini salad. Maybe to men it seems like not enough.lol

I eat 1 slice of pizza in a sitting. That flatbread, by weight, is less then one real, honest to goodness slice of pizza. I'd bet my house on it. If I took a slice from my local pizza place, and weighed it against that flatbread, my single slice would tip the scales.

And it's not a small salad. I found a picture on the interwebz for you.

It's that little tiny cup of bruschetta. That's the side salad.

 

[ford91exploder]

"Pepperoni Flatbread - freshley baked flatbread with tangy tomato sauce, mozzarella, and spicy pepperoni slices, served with tomato and cucumber salad $10.49"

$11 after tax for a flatbread. No sides. No drink. That's reasonable to you?

Not to mention said flatbread is about the size of a Mission pre-madr tortilla....

 

[ford91exploder]

I eat 1 slice of pizza in a sitting. That flatbread, by weight, is less then one real, honest to goodness slice of pizza. I'd bet my house on it. If I took a slice from my local pizza place, and weighed it against that flatbread, my single slice would tip the scales.

And it's not a small salad. I found a picture on the interwebz for you.

It's that little tiny cup of bruschetta. That's the side salad.

An average slice from the local Cumberland farms would probably weigh in at 2x the weight of Disney's so called flatbread and we are not talking about a NYC or Chicago slice here.

Real and very tasty flatbreads are done by these guys.

https://www.flatbreadcompany.com

 

[xdan0920]

The mara is very good. They have interesting rotating choices. I really liked the corn chowder heh.

The Mara was ok. More flatbreads, a cheeseburger, a hot dog, a chicken sandwich. Then there were a few more off beat choices.

Kids Menu was standard fare.

 

[21stamps]

I eat 1 slice of pizza in a sitting. That flatbread, by weight, is less then one real, honest to goodness slice of pizza. I'd bet my house on it. If I took a slice from my local pizza place, and weighed it against that flatbread, my single slice would tip the scales.

And it's not a small salad. I found a picture on the interwebz for you.

It's that little tiny cup of bruschetta. That's the side salad.

Not to mention said flatbread is about the size of a Mission pre-madr tortilla....

OK so my original question was "Am I the only one .."

Apparently in a group with you guys I am. Lol
But my opinion is still the serving sizes are very large at Disney, for the most part.
But I will say that paying five dollars for an uncrustable would have almost brought me to tears. I feel for ya on that one.


ETA that is really disappointing to hear about The;Children's options at the Mara

 

[ford91exploder]

The Mara was ok. More flatbreads, a cheeseburger, a hot dog, a chicken sandwich. Then there were a few more off beat choices.

Kids Menu was standard fare.

At the Mara the offbeat stuff is the ONLY stuff worth eating. The African Stew and the Mulligatawny soup are both excellent. They also have decent currys from time to time.

Im guessing these are tasty because they are made fresh onsite in restaurant quantities.

As opposed to the rest which is made offsite in institutional quantities and preparation...

As to the cheeseburgers. Well The cheeseburgers are standard Disney where the boxes they were shipped in would probably taste better...

 

[ford91exploder]

OK so my original question was "Am I the only one .."

Apparently in a group with you guys I am. Lol
But my opinion is still the serving sizes are very large at Disney, for the most part.
But I will say that paying five dollars for an uncrustable would have almost brought me to tears. I feel for ya on that one.


ETA that is really disappointing to hear about The;Children's options at the Mara

I'd agree with you that TS portions tend to be large at Disney (though they have shrunk 20-30%) over the last year.

QS otoh tends to be very small compared to real-world offerings of similar foods. You are going to get a larger serving of say chicken fingers at the local DQ than you will at Disney

The first and last time i ordered a flatbread at Disney i asked 'is this from the childrens menu' b/c it was so small

The .99 slices at the local convenience store easily weigh 2x what a Disney flatbread weighs

 

[21stamps]

At the Mara the offbeat stuff is the ONLY stuff worth eating. The African Stew and the Mulligatawny soup are both excellent. They also have decent currys from time to time.

Im guessing these are tasty because they are made fresh onsite in restaurant quantities.

As opposed to the rest which is made offsite in institutional quantities and preparation...

As to the cheeseburgers. Well The cheeseburgers are standard Disney where the boxes they were shipped in would probably taste better...

You guys are making me feel like a garbage disposal for real.
I don't think there's any quick service at a resort where I didn't like the food. Either a chicken sandwich or a flatbread or breakfast ,same with most restaurants and character meals.:. My least favorite foods at Disney were at the Crystal Palace and whispering Canyon. I loved the experience at whispering Canyon but I barely touched the skillet, I ate mostly salad and rolls. Lol next time I will order something different. But I know that those two restaurants are typically popular with people, so maybe I'm strange.

 

[ford91exploder]

You guys are making me feel like a garbage disposal for real.
I don't think there's any quick service at a resort where I didn't like the food. Either a chicken sandwich or a flatbread or breakfast ,same with most restaurants and character meals.:. My least favorite foods at Disney were at the Crystal Palace and whispering Canyon. I loved the experience at whispering Canyon but I barely touched the skillet, I ate mostly salad and rolls. Lol next time I will order something different. But I know that those two restaurants are typically popular with people, so maybe I'm strange.

For me i like food with a little ZIP in it, that said i still love Kraft Mac-n-Cheese the stuff in the boxes to the point where we buy the stuff by the case (33bx) from Amazon

 

[21stamps]

I'd agree with you that TS portions tend to be large at Disney (though they have shrunk 20-30%) over the last year.

QS otoh tends to be very small compared to real-world offerings of similar foods. You are going to get a larger serving of say chicken fingers at the local DQ than you will at Disney

The first and last time i ordered a flatbread at Disney i asked 'is this from the childrens menu' b/c it was so small

The .99 slices at the local convenience store easily weigh 2x what a Disney flatbread weighs

And see that's funny because I've never finished a meal at a quick service...but the guys I used to go with did. Now that it's me and my kid neither one of us ever finishes our QS meals. If we are at the resort and he's having a turkey sandwich or something, I just put it in the refrigerator in our room and he eats the other half later.

By far I think tangerine café in Epcot is probably the best value of any meal at Disney. It just angers me that I have to buy my kid an adult meal there when neither one of us even come close to finishing our plate. We were eating around the world so much on our last trip that we ended up just sharing a platter last time. That was better. We didn't waste as much.

 

[snek]

At the Mara the offbeat stuff is the ONLY stuff worth eating. The African Stew and the Mulligatawny soup are both excellent. They also have decent currys from time to time.

Yes that's exactly right. I only chose the interesting food like the African chowder. Okay and zebra domes. And for boring we got a half roast chicken with vegetables and potatoes and it was still good and felt like a real meal instead of fast food. I didn't bother with the burgers or flatbreads though.

 

[Plowboy]

Yes that's exactly right. I only chose the interesting food like the African chowder. Okay and zebra domes. And for boring we got a half roast chicken with vegetables and potatoes and it was still good and felt like a real meal instead of fast food. I didn't bother with the burgers or flatbreads though.

Ditto. We can get a burger anywhere. That's what makes the food at Boma, Sanaa, Biergarten, Chef De France, etc. more appealing to us. It's something we can't get everyday at home.

 

[Bandini]

Large?!?!?

It's hardly bigger then a standard size napkin.

View attachment 199772

That looks like an awful lot of bread! Yuck

 

[MinnieM123]

At the Mara the offbeat stuff is the ONLY stuff worth eating. The African Stew and the Mulligatawny soup are both excellent. They also have decent currys from time to time.

Im guessing these are tasty because they are made fresh onsite in restaurant quantities.

As opposed to the rest which is made offsite in institutional quantities and preparation...

As to the cheeseburgers. Well The cheeseburgers are standard Disney where the boxes they were shipped in would probably taste better...

Last May, I took a bus over to AKL (hadn't been there in years, and I just wanted to look around). Went to The Mara, and I was impressed with their QS menu options. Although I wasn't in the mood for the stew that particular day, I did get an excellent, (generous size) turkey sandwich (and the turkey was freshly carved--not the pre-packaged junk), with some sort of mayo/cranberry spread. For dessert, I got the Zebra Domes.

From observing what others had on their trays, I'd say that the food there looked much better than most of the QS locations in the parks. So I just wanted to mention here that it's not just the "offbeat" stuff that's good.

 

[ford91exploder]

Last May, I took a bus over to AKL (hadn't been there in years, and I just wanted to look around). Went to The Mara, and I was impressed with their QS menu options. Although I wasn't in the mood for the stew that particular day, I did get an excellent, (generous size) turkey sandwich (and the turkey was freshly carved--not the pre-packaged junk), with some sort of mayo/cranberry spread. For dessert, I got the Zebra Domes.

From observing what others had on their trays, I'd say that the food there looked much better than most of the QS locations in the parks. So I just wanted to mention here that it's not just the "offbeat" stuff that's good.

Good to hear that the other food has improved in quality that Turkey Sandwich sounds really good!!!

Last time i was there for the marathon in 2016 i tried the mac and cheese and it reminded me of the library paste i tried in kindergarten

 

[Disney4family]

Sad to read this. We just spent a day at Six Flags NJ and in comparison thought WDW was so much better in terms of food quality, price, service & taking care of tons of people at once.
The service at Six Flags had 2 speeds - slow and reverse.
The table was a middle school science lab experiment - so filthy.
It cost $22.11 for an inedible hamburger, fries & bottle of water.

 

[xdan0920]

Sad to read this. We just spent a day at Six Flags NJ and in comparison thought WDW was so much better in terms of food quality, price, service & taking care of tons of people at once.
The service at Six Flags had 2 speeds - slow and reverse.
The table was a middle school science lab experiment - so filthy.
It cost $22.11 for an inedible hamburger, fries & bottle of water.

Comparing Great Adventure to WDW is silly. They aren't even close to the same thing. You can get into Great Adventure for free with a coke can. An annual pass costs $84. Please don't bring them up when talking about WDW.

 

[Disney4family]

Comparing Great Adventure to WDW is silly. They aren't even close to the same thing. You can get into Great Adventure for free with a coke can. An annual pass costs $84. Please don't bring them up when talking about WDW.[/QUOTE
In terms of quality of experience, cost, food, etc., it is fair to compare a day at either place. I always tell people that WDW is the best "bang for the buck".
As a DVC member who is able to visit WDW once a year, I do compare the quality of my daily experiences. I prefer the all-encompassing magic and time spent at WDW. However, I am not able to go as often as others on this board. I do try to do other things with my kids. I know it's not the same money-wise overall, but I do compare. Sorry for being human.
I was only commenting on how sad it is that, based on your comments, the quality of such things at WDW has declined.
WDW is the "gold-standard". You've stated how it's been tainted. I wasn't making it any less than what we all believe it is.
Whatever. No need to be so rude.