It seems to me right now, Disney is really pulling out all the stops at improving the Resort. But before I get into all that, I'll share a little about the trip and all the "new" places we went to eat. For the first time, we went to Disney with our fellow Disney lovers, the Faheys! This is the third year in a row that we have been together the same two weeks, but never at Disney.
2010 - Disney's Vero Beach Resort
2011 - Italy - The Colosseum
2012 - Walt Disney World and Vero Beach
#1 New Thing - Animal Kingdom Lodge
Dad had wanted to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge since they announced there would be such a thing. The Faheys have stayed there before so we all decided to book our Disney World stay at the Animal Kingdom Villas. I was not all that thrilled about it, honestly. Not that isn't a great place to stay, but it is very far away from the most of the Parks, other hotels, and shopping. But I was pleasantly surprised how nice it was. We had a two bedroom villa with three bathrooms. It was ultra-spacious. We did not splurge for the "Savannah View" of the animals, but surprisingly, we had a balcony the length of our entire Villa that had a view of the animals.
The Lobby of the Kidini Village at Animal Kingdom Villas
The Master Bathroom with a little Lion King motif backsplash
The Tile work in my bathroom (2nd Bathroom)
Our non-"Savannah View" savannah view - a nice treat!
Will we stay here again? Probably - since I'm checking availability for my December trip and it is the only place open. I just wish it was a little closer to all the "magic!"
#2 New Thing - New Restaurants
Sanaa - I was really uneasy about this restaurant. It is at Animal Kingdom: Kidani Village. {FYI Animal Kingdom Resort has basically two separate "hotels". The Lodge or Jambo House with regular rooms and Kidani Village that is all Villas}. Sanna is billed as an African restaurant with Indian influences. Neither of these sounded appetizing. But we went and I think overall we enjoyed it. It is located on the bottom floor in Kidani Village so it is even with the Savannah so at any one time, you can look at the window and see a giraffe just strolling by! Our waitress was very kind and knowledge, not only of the menu and food, but also the animals. I don't think this is a restaurant you want to go if you are in a hurry though. It was probably about 30 minutes between the time we sat down and the time we ordered, just because she explained the menu to us a couple of times and then had one-on-one Q&A sessions with us if we had any other questions.
Liberty Tree Tavern is technically not a new place for us, but it might as well been because it has been at least 15 years since we had eaten there. Since the last time we were there, the character dinner has been replaced with just a family-style meal. The meal is billed as Patriotic Food. There was a salad with a great homemade dressing, and then gobs of turkey breast, roast beef, and pork with dressing, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables. I found the turkey to be the best meat and I think I had about 7 servings of vegetables. They were great. For dessert was a apple/cranberry cake - it didn't sound good, but it was very good.
Via Napoli is the newest Italian restaurant in the Italy Pavilion of Epcot. I'm always down for some good Italian and Via did not disappoint. This was another laid back meal. We had late reservations (7:45 pm) and we knew that the park would be closed by the time we finished dinner, so we were very relaxed and again took our time - which the Italians love! I have traveled to Italy five times and one of the first things you learn from their culture is their love of food and meals. As they say in Italia, "Italians live to eat and American eat to live." So when we sat down out our table and spoke a little Italian to the waiter (the cast members in the Epcot pavilions are from the respective countries) he knew that he could take his time with us and we would enjoy it. The first thing that caught my eye was Arancini which was fried risotto balls. Risotto happens to be my favorite food and I wasn't sure if the fried-ness would ruin risotto, but I was up for a challenge. And thank goodness I was...I think all of us decided it was one of the best things we had ever eaten and definitely the best on the trip.
There was only 3 in an antipasti (appetizer) so we got 2 orders and then added another order after we tasted them! Most of us got something different. Although Dad and I both got Chicken Parmigiana. I ordered it because it was served with roasted potatoes, another thing that Italians know how to cook well. Actually if you don't know much about the Italian cuisine culture, there are three courses: antipasti (appetizers), primi (first course), and secondi (second course). The pasta is served in the primi course; it's not even the main course like it is here in the good ole' USA. The secondi is the meat and potato course. There are also 3 large pizza ovens that cook non-stop. Dylan got a pizza and again it was traditional Italian style, which means to us thin crust and about the size of a medium to large pizza and that is one serving. It was also great. If you go, you must venture out and try the zeppole di ricotta which is fried ricotta balls. Dad had these and while they were very different, they were great and not heavy at all.
We actually left Disney for about 5 nights and went to the beach, but then returned for a night and we went to another new restaurant Il Mulino New York Trattoria which is located in the Swan hotel. We actually were having a semi-family reunion and they were so nice to accommodate 17 of us. We had our own little room which was closed off with huge sliding doors. It was very posh and definitely made me feel like I was in some swanky restaurant in Manhattan or Las Vegas. The food here was also Italian and portions were large. Several people shared entrees and salads. I got the risotto con funghi - risotto with mushrooms - and it was delicious. Hopefully I will get to eat there again.
#2 New Thing - New Restaurants
Sanaa - I was really uneasy about this restaurant. It is at Animal Kingdom: Kidani Village. {FYI Animal Kingdom Resort has basically two separate "hotels". The Lodge or Jambo House with regular rooms and Kidani Village that is all Villas}. Sanna is billed as an African restaurant with Indian influences. Neither of these sounded appetizing. But we went and I think overall we enjoyed it. It is located on the bottom floor in Kidani Village so it is even with the Savannah so at any one time, you can look at the window and see a giraffe just strolling by! Our waitress was very kind and knowledge, not only of the menu and food, but also the animals. I don't think this is a restaurant you want to go if you are in a hurry though. It was probably about 30 minutes between the time we sat down and the time we ordered, just because she explained the menu to us a couple of times and then had one-on-one Q&A sessions with us if we had any other questions.
Me and the Fahey boys waiting on dinner
Hard to see but just a giraffe walking behind Pat's head on the other side of the window
Indian Bread Service. About 3 different types of breads and 9 different sauces/butters to put on them.
Dad got the Fresh Fish of the day
This was someone's slow cooked meats in gravy. You got to choose 2 meats from a selection of about 6 to 8 different meats
Dylan opted for the traditional "American" steak and potatoes!
This was my dessert. I can't remember how it was worded but something like a banana sundae/split. I wasn't expecting this, but it was good...Interesting. The white square was a banana sorbet (not really sure but that would be the closet description) with chocolate sauce on top with a side of strawberries, cherry sauce, and a dehydrated slice of pineapple.
Dylan was not adventurous and just got a cookie sandwich
Via Napoli is the newest Italian restaurant in the Italy Pavilion of Epcot. I'm always down for some good Italian and Via did not disappoint. This was another laid back meal. We had late reservations (7:45 pm) and we knew that the park would be closed by the time we finished dinner, so we were very relaxed and again took our time - which the Italians love! I have traveled to Italy five times and one of the first things you learn from their culture is their love of food and meals. As they say in Italia, "Italians live to eat and American eat to live." So when we sat down out our table and spoke a little Italian to the waiter (the cast members in the Epcot pavilions are from the respective countries) he knew that he could take his time with us and we would enjoy it. The first thing that caught my eye was Arancini which was fried risotto balls. Risotto happens to be my favorite food and I wasn't sure if the fried-ness would ruin risotto, but I was up for a challenge. And thank goodness I was...I think all of us decided it was one of the best things we had ever eaten and definitely the best on the trip.
We actually left Disney for about 5 nights and went to the beach, but then returned for a night and we went to another new restaurant Il Mulino New York Trattoria which is located in the Swan hotel. We actually were having a semi-family reunion and they were so nice to accommodate 17 of us. We had our own little room which was closed off with huge sliding doors. It was very posh and definitely made me feel like I was in some swanky restaurant in Manhattan or Las Vegas. The food here was also Italian and portions were large. Several people shared entrees and salads. I got the risotto con funghi - risotto with mushrooms - and it was delicious. Hopefully I will get to eat there again.
Our "private" room at Il Mulino
#3 New Thing - The New Fantasyland
Well if you have been living under a hole, well maybe if you just aren't up with your Disney news, Walt Disney World is currently doing the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history. {This is big, people!} It has currently being going on since 2009. Several rides under went under some minor upgrades - the line in Winnie the Pooh has turned "interactive". But mainly the large part of it was the removal of the land known as Toon Town - actually it changed so many times, I don't know what it's name was when it closed). For many trips now, I have stared at those construction walls wondering what was going on on the other side. Wondering if I could somehow convince someone at Disney to just let me take a little peak. Well this time, I saw progress. Not only progress, but two rides where opened. If you have been to Magic Kingdom ever, you probably are aware that Dumbo is in the middle of Fantasyland behind Cinderella's Castle and Carousel. Well it has been moved over to the new area, which is roughly between Mad Tea Party and the Tomorrowland Motor Speedway. There will actually be two Dumbo rides now, one going clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. The clockwise Dumbo ride was opened, although we didn't go on it. The other ride that was opened was The Barnstormer with the Great Goofini. We wanted to ride this since it was a newer ride. It was like a little child's roller coaster. We liked it, however we will say that the seats were made for an adult and child, not two adults and that it lasted approximately 22 seconds. But it was cute. Actually that same day, they also opened Casey Jr. Splash and Soak area which was a mini water park for kids.
After walking in a little part of the "New" Fantasyland, I cannot wait until the whole thing is opened. Disney has a completion date of 2014, so there is alot more work to do. Hopefully when I go in December, I will be able to try out the new table service restaurant "Be Our Guest." In the end, there will be a Snow White mine ride - Snow White's Scary Adventures closed May 31, and a Little Mermaid ride that will open. It looks like work just began on the mine ride. Enjoy the pictures.
This is the model of the New Fantasyland. The model can be found at One Man's Dream at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
The model of the Little Mermaid ride. After looking at this, I expect that this will be a ride similar to the Nemo ride at Epcot
Part of the track going up with the Mine ride
Walking into the "Storybook Circus" part of the New Fantasyland
The Toontown train depot had closed during construction but it is now reopened
In line for the Great Goofini!
Cast member costumes in the Storybook Circus part of the New Fantasyland
The Great Goofini
#4 (Not) New Thing, but haven't done in awhile thing - Blizzard Beach
We went to Blizzard Beach for the first time in a couple years and had a blast. The Fahey boys braved the Blizzard and went down Summitt Plummitt - a ridiculous slide that is straight down, while the Hunters took the ski lift to the top of the mountain and did Teamboat Springs - the longest family water slide ride in the world - five times. Sometimes it is easy to forgot how much fun a water park is. So if you ever need a break from the parks or the heat head to the water parks. They are just as much fun and cooler!
Well it is now July 6th and this post took much larger and is much longer than I thought. So I will have to save some more vacation news for later. Enjoy this heat!
