Trip Report "Shake It Off" March 2018 WDW Trip Report

Hello everyone! We just got back from our trip on Saturday and already I'm experiencing Disney Withdrawals It always amazes me how quickly a Disney vacation goes by while days at home can drag LOL. I think I went into this trip with my hopes too high because my 2016 was so sad for me. A lot of negative things happened during this trip so I'm going to gloss over them - I don't want to read this trip report in the future and remember the bad. So I'm going to focus only on the positive things that happened. Which is where the trip report title comes from Every trip, there seems to be a song that we always hear and it becomes our theme song. Unfortunately, this year it was Taylor Swift's song "Shake It Off." Now, I'm not a Taylor Swift fan AT ALL so I'm somewhat upset at this being our theme song LOL. But it was literally everywhere this trip. Where did my magical Disney music go???? Even though I don't like the song, it was very fitting for the negatives and drama that occurred during the trip. I had a lot of things that I had to "shake off"....

Before I start this trip report, let me start by giving details for those that didn't read my pre trip report:

Who: Me, R (my husband), K (my brother in law), and J (K's wife)
When: March 10 - 17, 2018 (me and R), March 9 - 14, 2018 (K and J)
Discount: Disney Visa Room Discount
Where: Coronado Springs Resort
Why: (1) My redo 2016 trip (2) my 15th anniversary with R (3) R's bday th following week (4) K & J's 20th wedding anniversary (5) K's bday earlier in the month

Originally, we had all planned a cruise for September 2017 which got rescheduled to March 2018. R decided to cancel the cruise so the whole trip became a WDW trip. No complaining here When plans changed, I asked J if she would like to join us at WDW and we could celebrate our anniversaries together. They decided to join us, which worked perfectly since he just got ordered that they will be transferred from CA to Colombia in May. They came early and stayed at Saratoga Springs March 9th before transferred to CSR on the 10th, so they were already enjoying Disney fun, while I was at home doing last minute cleaning. No fair! The Friday before we left was so stressful and all I wanted was to already be at Disney.

Finally, Saturday arrives and we get to the airport only to find out our plane was delayed. This is where our plane was supposed to be...

I started counting the minutes because we had an Ohana dinner reservation at 5pm so I knew it was going to cut it close. We get loaded onto the plane, start moving from the gate, only for the pilot to announce that a plane had broken down on the runway and it would be a little bit longer until we could leave. Nooooo!!!! We left half an hour late (not too bad) and landed on time at MCO. I had all of these plans to take pictures at MCO but I was running late and had no time for pictures. We get into the DME line and only had to wait 15 minutes for a bus. But we were the last stop - our bus went to AKL resorts first. J was there first and had let me know that I got a renovated room in Ranchos 7A but it wasn't ready yet. They had gotten an older room in Ranchos and were trying to switch to 7A as well. We got our room location right as we pulled away from AKL. Great timing! When we walked into CSR lobby, K and J were waiting for us. We had to go to the front desk because I had forgotten our pin number so that had to be reset. And we got a $60 gift card for opting out of housekeeping. Business done, no dawdling allowed, we had to get to our room, drop off our carry ons and change into warm weather clothes. Here are some pictures I took while walking to our room:

K and J walking with us to our room. They had some things they needed to leave in our room since their room wasn't yet ready. Some stranger totally photo bombed us


We loved our room and location! I faxed in our request for a room in 7A and we got a corner room, in the back of the resort, near the bus stop. Score! And we got the construction pins (I'm a big pin collector) so this made me happy

It was a short walk to the bus stop, which came in handy later in our trip. We had to catch the bus to MK and get on the monorail to the Polynesian. Luck was on our side and we didn't have a long wait for either the bus or monorail. While we were waiting, I played with my new phone. I dropped in a Stormtrooper lol. About a month before this trip, I had to get a new phone. My old Samsung's battery wouldn't last (conveniently after my contract had ended) and I was mad and bought a Google Pixel 2. I love the phone and camera but I was still learning it on this trip. Which affected my pictures later. My husband didn't want to help me take pictures using my point and shoot camera so most pictures were taken using my camera phone. I didn't get nearly as many great pictures as I was hoping. Not sure if the quality will be good enough to make photo album with Shutterfly yet.



We got to the Poly with half an hour until our reservation time. I was the only planner for this trip so I was worried about making good dining reservations, FP selections, etc to make everyone's trip enjoyable. I was worried that Ohana wouldn't be as good this trip but it turned out to be everyone's favorite meal. It was soooooo good. Even though the waiter never came back to get my drink order - guess I didn't need that whiskey drink after all

We ate most of the salad before we remembered to take pictures. We just can't control ourselves when it comes to Ohana. I can't stress again how GOOD this was that day. Everything was on point! Just thinking of this meal makes me want to go back RIGHT NOW and make a total pig of myself....again!!!

And the bread pudding...OMG it was better than I remembered. So good that K had to get his picture taken with it LOL. And for Ohana fans, I got some sad/shocking news for you. The table next to us didn't even touch their bread pudding before they left. Uneaten bread pudding yall J wondered if it would've been tacky to take their portion since it was clearly not wanted.




UP NEXT: A walk to Grand Floridian and return to CSR

 

[LeighM]

If you have a chance I'd be interested in the other parts of the recipe. If you don't want to retake, perhaps a picture of it. Thanks!

Vanilla Chiffon
4 cups Cake flour
1 tablespoon Baking powder
2 teaspoons Salt
2 cups Granulated sugar
1 cup Vegetable oil
6 each Large eggs
1 cup Whole milk
16 each Large egg whites
1 cup Granulated Sugar

Sift the cake flour, baking powder, salt and first sugar together
On a mixer fit with a paddle attachment, mix the sifted ingredients with the oil, eggs and milk
In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites and second sugar to stiff peaks
Fold the whipped egg whites into the cake batter, careful not to deflate the egg whites
Pour the batter on a parchment lined sheet pan
Bake on 300F until golden brown
Cut a circle that fits inside the spring form pan. (This will be put on the cheesecake after it is baked)

Orange Blossom Honey Ice Cream
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
2 cups Whole Milk
½ cup Orange Blossom Honey
¼ cup Granulated Sugar
¼ cup Egg yolks
½ each Orange Zest

Heat the heavy cream, whole milk, honey, orange zest and half of the sugar
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the other half of the sugar until light in color
Once the milk/ cream mixture reaches 170°F, temper in the egg yolks and whisk quickly.
Turn off the heat and cool the mixture completely
Make the ice cream according to the manufacturer's instructions on your ice cream machine.

Pizelle- Waffle Cookie
3 each Large eggs
¾ cup Granulated sugar
3/8 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 ¾ cups All- purpose flour
2 teaspoons Baking powder
½ cup Melted butter
Zest of 1 orange

Beat the eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla until well combined.
Stir in the flour and baking powder, mixing until smooth.
Add the orange zest
Add the melted butter, again mixing until smooth; the batter will be thick and soft.
Let the batter set in the refrigerator overnight.
Heat your pizzelle iron.
Cook the pizzelle according to the instructions that came with your iron.
Remove the pizzelle from the iron, and cut into desired shape when warm

Fennel Pollen Meringue
1 ½ cups Granulates sugar
5 each Large egg whites

Pour egg whites into the bowl of your stand mixer (make sure it's clean) fitted with the whisk attachment.
Whisk on low allowing bubbles to form, increase to high and continue whisking until stiff peaks form and you can turn the bowl upside down without the egg whites falling out.
Begin whisking again at high speed.
Add one big spoonful of sugar at a time, ensuring that the whites come back to stiff peaks after each addition.
Once all the sugar is added, continue to whisk for 5 - 7 minutes. You should be able to rub the mixture between your fingers and not feel any grit from the sugar. You know it's ready to use when it forms a smooth shiny peak on the tip of your finger.
Decrease oven temperature to 200 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a dab of meringue on four corners of
pan and press paper on top to hold it down flat.
Snip off the tip of the piping bag about an inch in diameter and pipe kisses on baking sheet.
Once piped onto the sheet pan, dust them with fennel pollen
Bake at 200 degrees for 30-40 minutes until the kisses can easily be lifted off the parchment paper with bases intact.
Let cool completely.

Assembly
1. Place slice of cheesecake on place
2. Put 3 of the dried fennel pollen meringues around the cheesecake
3. Place a scoop of the orange blossom ice cream next to the cheesecake
4. Drizzle Wildflower honey over the cheesecake and the ice cream
5. Top the ice cream with the pizelle cookie
6. Enjoy!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Thanks!

 

[LeighM]

Thanks!

If you make it, let me know how it turns out. We're going to wait until it gets warmer outside before trying

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

If you make it, let me know how it turns out. We're going to wait until it gets warmer outside before trying

If you make it you'll have to let me know as well. I too was thinking it would be good to make when it got warmer. Which in my case might not be until August! Seriously I think it might be a good Memorial Day dessert.

 

[LeighM]

Our plans for next year changed again - shocking LOL! Turns out the in-laws may not be going to Colombia after all, which changes their spring break to March. I'm not vacationing in March again - at least not as long as I live in Virginia and the weather is as crazy as it's been the last few years. So I moved our cruise back to April 29th (unfortunately, I lost my dream stateroom 8188 ) I'll keep checking for cancellations the closer we get to paid in full date. But the positives to moving the trip back to April 29th? We'll be at WDW for Dapper Day weekend!! We might stay for a couple days after the trip as well so we can go to HS for May the 4th and be there for Avengers 4 opening weekend. Unless they move it up a week like they did this year for Infinity War - in which case we can watch the movie on the ship! Win-win!!!!!