Trip Report COMPLETED Flowers, Family, and ??Fireworks?? (and lots of FOOD): A Memorial Week Trip Report

Figgy1 · Jun 9, 2016

MinnieM123 said:
That's great that they have a separate menu with vegetarian options. Shows they put some extra thought into creating some nice, meatless dishes. As for moi, I eat meat, but I also eat an occasional vegetarian meal. But I'll tell you who would love this menu -- that would be our esteemed WDW Magic forum member, @figmentfan423 . (Hey Figgy, did you see this menu yet?)

Yes thank you, it made our short list, but got bumped because they don't have a gluten free fryer and with 3 of us being gf(my poor ds didn't stand a chance with both his parents having to be

)My dh and ds didn't want to eat there without being able to have chips. Hijack over.

ScarletBegonias · Jun 9, 2016

Love that you chose German on SE! I took 3 yrs in high school, and actually have started brushing up on it again with the Duolingo app! So fun!

bee · Jun 9, 2016

figmentfan423 said:
Yes thank you, it made our short list, but got bumped because they don't have a gluten free fryer and with 3 of us being gf(my poor ds didn't stand a chance with both his parents having to be)My dh and ds didn't want to eat there without being able to have chips. Hijack over.

Awww, what did you pick instead? Are a lot of the WDW restaurants like this where you'd be stuck having an alternate side instead of chips or fries?

ScarletBegonias said:
Love that you chose German on SE! I took 3 yrs in high school, and actually have started brushing up on it again with the Duolingo app! So fun!

I use Duolingo as well! My German was best when I was studying in Austria. I had an hour and a half of class every weekday and then had the chance to go out and practice in the real world each day. I functioned pretty well and was able to do all the essentials like order food, buy train tickets, and whatnot. I need to get back there to practice again!

Figgy1 · Jun 9, 2016

We chose Nine Dragons instead, I have a friend who went and they have a gf veggie tofu stir fry that she liked. La Hacienda is one of only a few places I'd have trouble fining something for everybody.

ScarletBegonias · Jun 9, 2016

bee said:
Awww, what did you pick instead? Are a lot of the WDW restaurants like this where you'd be stuck having an alternate side instead of chips or fries?

I use Duolingo as well! My German was best when I was studying in Austria. I had an hour and a half of class every weekday and then had the chance to go out and practice in the real world each day. I functioned pretty well and was able to do all the essentials like order food, buy train tickets, and whatnot. I need to get back there to practice again!

I like Duolingo, but it honestly doesn't explain the words well enough especially all the "The" usages. Unless I'm missing something somewhere, it's like it skips over it. I only know them because I've taken German, but I feel like a newbie would be totally lost with the Ein, Eine.. Der, Die , Das, ect.

bee · Jun 9, 2016

ScarletBegonias said:
I like Duolingo, but it honestly doesn't explain the words well enough especially all the "The" usages. Unless I'm missing something somewhere, it's like it skips over it. I only know them because I've taken German, but I feel like a newbie would be totally lost with the Ein, Eine.. Der, Die , Das, ect.

I totally agree. It's good for building vocabulary but there is almost zero emphasis on grammar. Like you, if I hadn't studied German before I would have no idea about the cases and articles and which article to use with which preposition and whatnot.

ScarletBegonias · Jun 9, 2016

bee said:
I totally agree. It's good for building vocabulary but there is almost zero emphasis on grammar. Like you, if I hadn't studied German before I would have no idea about the cases and articles and which article to use with which preposition and whatnot.

Exactly! I'm surprised they didn't think that'd be important! it's like just learning the words without understanding them, if that makes sense!

bee · Jun 9, 2016

Day 2, cont.

Once again we just missed a Friendship boat. There was already a huge line and we would have had to wait in the sun for the next boat, so again we took the walking path. It was really hot by this point and we were hungry so we decided to either get room service or try one of the onsite restaurants after we unpacked in the room.

Getting closer...

Almost there!

We finally reached the hotel and got our keys from the front desk. We were in the west wing of the building in room 901, which was the closest room to the main west elevators. Our room was huge and the recent renovations are a nice improvement over the furnishings of the Dolphin room where we stayed last October.

901

Beds

(The only picture of the TV stand/dresser/coffee area turned out crummy, sorry!)

Fancy shower

Sink #1

Sink #2

We thought our room couldn’t get any better. Then we opened the curtains and looked out the window!

Can you spot Everest and the Tree of Life?

And the view looking down:

We realized we must have been upgraded, because we booked a traditional room which according to the website is supposed to look like this:

from StarwoodHotels.com

But we definitely had a resort view. The space between the beds and the TV stand/dresser also seemed bigger though I’m not sure if it actually was.

Resort view, also from StarwoodHotels.com

Next up: FOOD!

bee · Jun 9, 2016

Day 2, cont.

The room service menu didn’t appeal to us and the nicer restaurants in the Swan don’t open until dinner time (not that we were dressed for them anyway) so we went downstairs and walked across to the Dolphin looking for the quick service.

Cute elevator

I couldn’t remember the QS restaurant’s name (Picabu) so we stopped at The Fountain thinking that was what we wanted. When we realized it was table service, we didn’t care enough to switch because we were so tired and hungry.

The Fountain

Official menu from SwanDolphinRestaurants.com

We decided to split the soft pretzel bites and the black bean burger. In my haste to just order something I didn’t even notice that the pretzel bites came with a cheese sauce! MMMMmmMMMMM!!

I'm drooling just thinking about these again...

Our burger was ready soon and the kitchen was kind enough to split it for us. This was one of the best veggie burgers I’ve ever had, and I have had A LOT of veggie burgers! The toppings were plentiful and tasty, but they weren’t there to conceal a weak burger patty. The patty was definitely homemade and not some frozen/reheated Boca or Morningstar BS. And the fries were crinkle cut but I’ve never seen crinkle cut fries where the crinkle was parallel to the cut of the fry itself. They were perfectly crispy with just enough potato-y softness inside, and so well-seasoned that they were better without ketchup than with. They might be the best fries I’ve ever had at Disney.

Top of the burger

There was so much going on in this burger that I had to get a photo from another angle!

It was so much food that I couldn’t even finish my fries!

To-go box

The prices were also reasonable. Even though The Fountain doesn’t take Tables, we got out of there at $30 even including tax and a generous tip for our excellent server. Yes, we shared, but it was plenty of food for us and I couldn’t even finish it all.

Did I enjoy the meal?
Yes!

Would I eat there again?
Yes! Especially if stayed at the Swolphin again.

Next up: Back to the room, ice cream, and some more park time!

ScarletBegonias · Jun 9, 2016

WOW! I don't know much about Swolphin, but that's a gorgeous room!!!

Figgy1 · Jun 9, 2016

That food looked amazing! I may have to stop at the Swalphin

dclfan · Jun 9, 2016

Swolphin hahahahahahaha
I love your food reviews, they are so great and are making me hungry.

bee · Jun 9, 2016

figmentfan423 said:
That food looked amazing! I may have to stop at the Swalphin

It was the best veggie burger I've had on Disney property and I've had a lot of veggie burgers on Disney property!

dclfan said:
Swolphin hahahahahahaha
I love your food reviews, they are so great and are making me hungry.

Glad you are enjoying my food reviews! There are many more to come!

bee · Jun 9, 2016

Day 2, cont.

By the time we were back in the room and finished eating, it was time for the Toy Story FP I had made for all of us and I knew M and I wouldn’t make it back to DHS in time. So we told the rest of the fam to go ahead without us. We had ridden it recently enough but I don’t think any of them had ridden it. They said they enjoyed it so I’m glad we were able to make the FP for them as they would have never figured it out.

After everything we decided not to go back to HS and to have a bit of resting time in the room before heading to Epcot later. I think M and I took baths and cool showers and soon we were ready to get back to Epcot.

I was dying to try Ample Hills so we decided if the boat was just leaving us when we got outside we would walk on the Boardwalk side and stop for ice cream on the way to Epcot. The boat was INDEED just leaving as we approached (for the third time today!) so ice cream it was!! We walked over to AH, expecting it to be crowded since it opened recently. Instead it was nearly empty and only two or three people were in line in front of us.

Queue/ordering area

Cute ceiling

Cute "toppings" display, along with someone's abandoned water bottle.

M and I both LOVE coffee ice cream, so naturally we had to try Coffee Toffee Coffee, which is what it sounds like. When we learned that a small cup could hold two different flavors we decided on Baked/Unbaked which is basically a dupe of Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked. We actually both liked the Baked/Unbaked better than the Coffee Toffee Coffee because there was, in our humble opinions, too much Toffee and not enough Coffee in the CTC. Both were really delicious though, and we thought the price (between $5 and $6) was reasonable for how much ice cream we got in the small. It was almost too much, even to share!

Coffee Toffee Coffee and Baked/Unbaked

Did I enjoy the snack?
Definitely!

Would I eat it again?
Of course!

We walked the rest of the way to Epcot and the International Gateway. This was the first time we were “randomly selected” for the metal detectors. It didn’t take long, though, and we were on our way to try a new F&G snack!

Next up: Cheese-eating surrender monkeys, and a swarm of bees!

bee · Jun 9, 2016

Day 2, cont.

Our first kiosk stop was Fleur de Lys in France for the Tarte a l’onion. It smelled to me like Thanksgiving and tasted a bit like stuffing. It wasn’t a bad thing, just unexpected.

<3 <3 <3

Tarte

Did I enjoy the snack?
Yes

Would I eat it again?
Maybe

While we were eating by the canal toward Crescent Lake, we overheard a guest telling another guest, “These cheese-eating surrender monkeys only have wine!” presumably after returning from the wine kiosk seeking beer. I think he was joking but o...kay…

We decided next to take a stroll in the English Tea Garden in the UK. This was a really nice quiet area and we liked seeing the different flowers and tea plants.

Pretty things

But then we noticed a swarm of bees on the side of the building!

See all those little dots against the building? BEES.

Another gif experiment. They're hard to see but they're there.

It was time for another snack. We liked the lemon scone at F&G 2014 and were ready to try another refreshing salad. We also had the shandy (half lager and half black cherry cider).

Tasty!

Did I enjoy the snack? (scone)
Yes

Would I eat it again?
Definitely

Did I enjoy the snack? (salad)
Yes

Would I eat it again?
Probably

Did I enjoy the beverage?
Yes

Would I drink it again?
Sure

Soon one of the in-laws texted us to say they were at the front gate of Epcot so we headed to FW to meet them.

On our way

Next up: Flower overload!

prfctlyximprct · Jun 9, 2016

Thank goodness I just ate dinner before reading your trip report! I am loving your food reviews! And I have always been so against staying at the swan or dolphin, but you dear sir, are changing my mind! What a GORGEOUS ROOM WITH A VIEW. Okay back to regular breathing now.

MinnieM123 · Jun 9, 2016

prfctlyximprct said:
Thank goodness I just ate dinner before reading your trip report! I am loving your food reviews! And I have always been so against staying at the swan or dolphin, but you dear sir, are changing my mind! What a GORGEOUS ROOM WITH A VIEW. Okay back to regular breathing now.

I'm a huge fan of Swofin. Stayed at Dolphin a few times and my favorite is the Swan, because it's smaller--just more to my taste. The food in both is a cut above many of the Disney restaurants. The location can't be beat, and their room rates are reasonable (I also use my AAA discount each spring).

MinnieM123 · Jun 9, 2016

@bee , you were lucky to get the 9th floor of the Swan!! I'm jealous! (Think the highest I ever stayed in was the 7th floor, but I did have a fabulous view of the evening fireworks from both EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. (Some of the views at the Swan are great; others not so much.)

Really enjoying your food reviews and you also took some great photos. I particularly love the photo of Monorail Blue over the Flower & Garden display at EPCOT. Gorgeous photo!!

bee · Jun 9, 2016

prfctlyximprct said:
Thank goodness I just ate dinner before reading your trip report! I am loving your food reviews! And I have always been so against staying at the swan or dolphin, but you dear sir, are changing my mind! What a GORGEOUS ROOM WITH A VIEW. Okay back to regular breathing now.

Just wait! Make sure you eat before reading upcoming parts as there will be MANY more food pics. Glad you're enjoying!

MinnieM123 said:
@bee , you were lucky to get the 9th floor of the Swan!! I'm jealous! (Think the highest I ever stayed in was the 7th floor, but I did have a fabulous view of the evening fireworks from both EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. (Some of the views at the Swan are great; others not so much.)

Really enjoying your food reviews and you also took some great photos. I particularly love the photo of Monorail Blue over the Flower & Garden display at EPCOT. Gorgeous photo!!

I got very lucky! When we checked in the CM asked if we preferred an upper or lower floor and of course I said upper and wow! I hope it doesn't spoil the next stay for me.

Later in the report there will be some more great views from the hotel.

And thank you for the photo compliments! I was determined to get a few nice monorail shots and so I kept stalking the good spots and waiting for trains to come by.

Figgy1 · Jun 10, 2016

bee said:
It was the best veggie burger I've had on Disney property and I've had a lot of veggie burgers on Disney property!

Glad you are enjoying my food reviews! There are many more to come!

I showed you pics and the menu to my dh and now he also wants to go there. He said we may but that would mean dropping LTT. Decisions

Trip Report COMPLETED Flowers, Family, and ??Fireworks?? (and lots of FOOD): A Memorial Week Trip Report

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Trip Report COMPLETED Flowers, Family, and ??Fireworks?? (and lots of FOOD): A Memorial Week Trip Report