Category: Walt Disney World

The Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen is the newest restaurant in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. This new table service eatery is themed around Adventureland, and more specifically, the Jungle Cruise attraction. For the theming of this location, the Imagineers went above and beyond in some of the details that may be easily missed by guests. The books in the library of the Skipper Canteen are chock full of inside jokes, nods to Imagineers, and attraction mentions.

Some of the books in the library pay homage to the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, which was based on the now defunct Adventurers Club in Pleasure Island at Disney World. The SEA was first incorporated into a park at Tokyo DisneySea, and one of the first times in their Tower of Terror attraction. Next, and most prominently, Hong King Disneyland introduced their Mystic Manor, which after SEA member Henry Mystic. More recently, stateside in the Magic Kingdom, Imagineers introduced member Barnabas T. Bullion as the owner of the Big Thunder Mining Company. He also is pictured in the queue of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and bears a striking resemblance to former Imagineer Tony Baxter. Albert the Monkey, who is the pet of Henry Mystic even has a book on the shelf along with books written by Mystic, and M.A. Pleasure (founder of Pleasure Island).

Jungle Cruise mainstay Trader Sam is referenced numerous times in various books as the author T. Sam. Titles of his include: Friends for Dinner, Top Hats and Umbrellas, The Missing Mask, and more. Other books from the Jungle Cruise are authored by Dr. Albert Falls. His offerings vary from A Small Village With A Large Heart to Rockefeller, Hippo, Pet, Family.

Other attractions in books that get mentions are the Animal Kingdom’s Kilimanjaro Safaris with The Harambe Chronicles by author Wilson. The Eyes of Mara by Jones might be referring to a certain archaeologist we all know and love with an attraction at Disneyland called Indiana Jones Adventure focusing on the Temple of the Forbidden Eye (of Mara).

In addition to the attractions, several Imagineers past and present get nods in the books of the library. J. Lasseter has a book called Great Characters of World Literature. Sklar has written a book called Meeting Royalty. Prof. Boag has penned Songs of the Tiki Bird. I’m sure John Lasseter, Marty Sklar, and Wally Boag would be honored. My favorite may be True Life Adventures by W.E.D. (Walter Elias Disney).

Then there are just the fun titles paired with authors that fit right in with the Jungle Cruise kind of humor in some of the library books. Native Orange Birds of the Southeastern United States by Dr. Sid Truss (citrus, get it?). Other titles without visible authors are Crooning Flowers, Bathing Elephants, The Congo Queen, In the Jaws of a Butterfly, and Two Bees or Not Two Bees (the Hamlet lover in me adores that one). Rock or Stonez by Col. Pebble, Is This Deadly? by Mort, Al, The Overwhelming Dodo Population by Dr. Francis X. Tinct, Spotted Tigers by G. Rowl, R.E. Venge wrote the series called Getting Even, Shades of Khaki by B. Land, Fleas Navidad and other Winter Insects by Hart, 101 Ways to Split a Banana by Peale, Swimming in the Amazon by Doug E. Paddle, and the Ten Minute Voyage by S.H. Tick. Also included for good measure is Rudyard Kipling’s the Jungle Book.

I’m sure there are many more fantastic jokes hidden in the books of the library of the Skipper Canteen and I cannot wait to go back and explore more. I hope you enjoyed this peek at some of the fun titles and let me know if I’ve missed any of your favorites you’ve discovered.

 

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This week marks a shift from Halloween to Christmas in the Disney parks, but let’s not forget about Thanksgiving in between. Although the decorations may be overlooked, or at least overshadowed by Christmas, Thanksgiving still has a presence at Walt Disney World.

In the parks and at several of the resorts, Disney has a wide variety of restaurants that are offering Thanksgiving meals for lunch and/or dinner. Here are the restaurants that are offering meals on Thanksgiving that vary from their regular menus:

Animal Kingdom

Tusker House

 

Epcot

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

Biergarten

Coral Reef

Le Cellier

Restaurant Marrakesh

Rose & Crown

Tutto Italia

Via Napoli

Hollywood Studios

50’s Prime Time Cafe

Hollywood & Vine

Disney Springs

Fulton’s Crab House

Planet Hollywood

Portobello Country Italian Trattoria

Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant

The Dining Room at Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe

Resorts

Artist Point

Boatwright’s Dining Hall

California Grill

Cape May Cafe

Captain’s Grille

Chef Mickey’s

Citricos

End Zone Food Court

Flying Fish Cafe

Fresh Mediterranean Market

Garden Grove

Grand Floridian Cafe

Jiko

Kona Cafe

Mickey’s Backyard BBQ

Narcoossee’s

Olivia’s Cafe

Sanaa

Shutters at Old Port Royale

The Turf Club

The Wave

Trail’s End

Trattoria al Forno

Victoria & Albert’s

Whispering Canyon Cafe

Yachtsman Steakhouse

 

Most of these restaurants are offering both lunch and dinner meals special for Thanksgiving. As always, things are subject to change and it is best to contact Disney Dining directly with any questions or to make reservations at 407-939-3463.

 

A few of the resorts will also be having special recreation activities for Thanksgiving if you are staying there as a guest on November 26th.

Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary is hosting an Autumn Festival from 3:30 – 8:30pm. They will have “fun games, crafts, giveaways and more” according to the recreation calendar.

Disney’s Old Key West Resort will have activities starting at 12:30pm with Football Fun. This is followed by a pool party, “Gobble ’til you Wobble,” design your own turkey themed cupcake, s’mores, and then Pocahontas will be the Movie Under the Stars at 7:00pm.

Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa is following the same schedule as Old Key West at the High Rock Spring Pool. At the Paddock Pool starting at 12:30pm also will be Make Your Own Turkey Hat. After that will be the pool party, Football Fun, Pine Cone Turkeys, and then the Disney Junior pool party.

 

If you happen to be at Walt Disney World this Thanksgiving, check out some of these great offerings!

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Shelley and I went to the grand opening of the Indiana Jones movie themed Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar a few weeks ago. You can check out her post on it here. Today I’d like to focus on a few of my favorite details that tie in to the Indiana Jones movies. I will focus primarily on the original trilogy of movies. If you aren’t familiar, Jock was Indy’s pilot in the first movie in the series, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Jock helped rescue Indy in the opening sequence from the South American tribe that was chasing him when he finds the idol. When the adventurous Dr. Jones jumps into Jock’s plane, we first learn of Indy’s fear of snakes, when he is introduced to Jock’s pet snake, Reggie.

Reggie is one of the more prominent characters, or evidence of the snake is rather. You can see this is the slightly pryed open cage that Reggie once resided in, as well as the potent looking libation glowing in a container on the bar labeled “Reggie’s Revenge.”

Much of the menu itself is inside jokes taken straight from the Indiana Jones movies. In addition to some of the more overt things like the menu items themselves, there are a bunch of hidden gems in Jock’s notes on the edges of the menu pages, and a few others I’ll point out.

This post card might raise some red flags for anyone who can read Spanish and who has seen the opening of the Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the movie, Indy is betrayed when he is looking for the idol and the Hovito tribe is loyal to the Frenchman Belloq, who is a longtime rival of Dr. Jones. I wonder if Jock got this in time and that’s why he was there to rescue Indy with his plane?

 

Good Dates refer to the bad ones eaten by the Nazi monkey in Cairo in Raiders. Air Pirates refers to the shirt in Jock’s plane in Raiders when he rescues Indy. Rolling Boulder Sliders refer to the opening of Raiders when Indy escapes the rolling boulder while trying to procure the idol. Snack of Ra refers to the Staff of Ra used the help find the Lost Ark. Tanis is the lost city where the Holy Grail is located in Last Crusade. Dr. Elsa Schneider is the Nazi who seduces Dr. Jones Jr. and Sr. in Last Crusade. Brody’s Brats refer to Marcus Brody who appears in both Raiders and Last Crusade. Lao Che’s Revenge is in reference to the owner of the Obi-Wan Night Club in Temple of Doom. Squid! Why’d it have to be Squid?! is a play on Indy’s same line replacing snakes with squid (probably at Reggie’s request).

 

Above the bar you can see Jock’s beloved New York Yankees hat hanging from a shelf. On another shelf you’ll see the voodoo dolls of Indy, Willie and Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Just below that is the lighter that Indy used in the Last Crusade movie where he was tied up with his dad in the castle with the Nazis.

The map behind the bar shows stamps and trails and Jock’s expeditions around the globe with and without Indy. For instance, you can see a depiction of the Shankara stones from the Temple of Doom movie seen near Nepal on the map.

Beside the bar in the locked up lost and found cage are a few more nods to the movies. The headpiece from the Staff of Ra from Raiders of the Lost Ark is sitting near the bottom left. There are a slew of keys labeled for characters like Marcus Brody, Willie, etc. on the half empty key rack. I’d also like to think that one of the umbrellas in the stand is one that Henry Jones Sr. used to scare away the birds into the propellers of the Nazis trying to attack him and Indy in Last Crusade.

There are three posters in the bar representing the original trilogy of movies and some of their locations with one for Cairo in the loft above the main entry doors. There’s another one for Pankot Province around the corner to the left after you enter. The third is at the end of a bookcase marking the end of the fuselage of the plane on the left that has a poster of Iskenderun.

In addition to the Indiana Jones movies, there are a couple of other movies that get nods in Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar. One is the Iron Man on the loft above the bar. The other is a mention of R2-D2 from Star Wars and Captain Rex from Star Tours 1.0. Supposedly there’s another Star Wars reference that I missed, but I’ll have to go back again and search for that.

I’m sure there are many more movie tie ins, but I don’t want to spoil them all for you. It is fun to discover some on your own, plus the cast members are usually all too willing to share if they know some hidden secrets that the Imagineers have snuck in the decor. There are even things that reference the Jungle Cruise, Hall of Presidents, and the Adventurer’s Club, but I will let you find those yourself. Definitely make a trip for yourself to Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar in Disney Springs to check out this fantastically themed new addition.

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New this year to Epcot’s International Food and Wine Festival is the French Family Meal Traditions Special Event. This lunch is hosted by Eric Weistroffer, manager of the French Pavilion at Epcot, and takes place in the restaurant Monsieur Paul. This premium event is a nice leisurely lunch that lasts from about noon until 3:30pm. The five course meal is accompanied by Eric describing how the meal correlates to the French Family Meal Traditions. I had the opportunity to experience this incredible French meal on the day it started and I highly recommend that you book this special event if you can.

The meal started with an aperitif cocktail and cheese sticks. We were also presented with fresh baked bread and butter which helped to cleanse the palate between courses. The cheese sticks were twists of cheese baked over bread and were crispy on the outside, but nice and soft on the inside. The cocktail we began with was called Cocktail La Presse and was made from Grand Marnier Titanium, lemon juice, simple syrup, raspberries and sparkling wine. It was a light and refreshing drink to start the meal with and just had hints of the orange, lemon and raspberry together.

For the traditional French Hors d’Oeurve we sampled a Traditional Quiche Lorraine and a side salad. The quiche was so light and flaky on the outside and inside the eggs, cheese and ham were so perfectly cooked. I am not usually a fan of quiche, but this was simply delightful. The salad was a nice complement to the quiche with a nice vinaigrette dressing. This course was paired with a French Vouvray wine, which was clean and crisp and matched the food amazingly.

The main course, or Plat de resistance, was a phenomenal white veal ragout served with rice, carrots, mushrooms and baby onions. I do not care for veal, but I tried it for the sake of being adventurous. This course was my favorite and I was pleasantly surprised. The white wine in the ragout was a nice balance to the vegetables. I especially enjoyed dipping my bread in the sauce along with the mushrooms and rice. What would appear to be a very heavy course was beautifully balanced. With this course, they served a red Chinon wine, which I found a little Earthy for my taste, but paired well with the entree.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this meal, aside from the food of course, was that it was a nice slow pace. We had time to talk with the other guests at our table and it felt much like you were sitting around a family table sharing a meal. At one point, Eric even slowed down the servers because he felt that we needed a bit more time in between courses to enjoy the conversation and to digest. This was perfect because I never felt over satiated during the meal, just sated. It was a fantastic to embrace the French way of enjoying a meal and to slow down and appreciate the surroundings.

The cheese course was next, with a nice Brie, walnuts, grapes, and more freshly baked bread. The Bordeaux that was paired with this course was very nice and a bit more fruity and full bodied than what I traditionally expect from most Bordeaux.

Dessert was a presentation to be seen and tasted just a fabulous as it looked. The light almond macaron, with bitter chocolate mousse, vanilla and chocolate sauces, and hazelnut ice cream was awesome! The sparkling white wine served with it was a JCB  21, and was a slightly dry wine, which I really liked. The dessert macaron was flaky and soft, not the more dense and hard macaron that I am used to, but it was very good. It was a bit rich, but the flavors melded together so well.

All in all this was a fantastic French meal between the fantastic setting with the view of World Showcase Lagoon below, to the impeccable service, wonderful food with wine pairings, and the great conversations with new friends. The lunch is still available for booking over the next few weeks of the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. The French Family Meal Traditions special event takes place on Friday and Sunday afternoons from now until November 15th, 2015. The cost is $95 plus tax per person including alcohol for those 21 and up. I will say when I first saw the price I was a bit skeptical, but having been now, I would have easily paid almost double that at many restaurants. The alcohol cost alone makes up more than half to two thirds of the cost if you were purchasing the drinks separately. For a five course meal with drinks included, this is really a good value for all that you are getting.

If you have a few hours available to enjoy this or one of several of the other premium special events during Epcot’s International Food and Wine Festival, I recommend that you book sooner rather than later as many of these events are filling up as word gets out as to how great they are. As of the time of writing this, there are still spots available for the French Family Meal Traditions as well as special events in Mexico, Italy, and Morocco. Please call 407-939-3378 for more information or availability and pricing.

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This past weekend, a few friends and I were lucky enough to experience the soft opening of the brand new Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.

We were in the first group to enter this tiki bar located in the Great Ceremonial House next to Captain Cook’s. For those of you familiar with Disneyland, this lounge is the counterpart to Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar.

The atmosphere at Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto draws inspiration from a great combination of Disney classic attractions like the Enchanted Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Imagineers have hidden lots of great references to these rides as well as many other Disney characters and films. If you keep a keen eye open, you may find the Orange Bird, a nod to the Rocketeer, and even my favorite nefarious Toad, J. Thaddeus.

Also, be on the look out for fun audio animatronics like a tentacle swinging from above the bar with a tight grip on a bottle, Uh Oa, the tiki goddess of disaster on the opposite wall, and tons of fantastic blacklight effects.

Once you’ve marveled over the fabulous decor and theming inside Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto, it is time to decide which beverages and food you want to experience. Similar to the vibe of the lounge, the small plates and drinks offered have a South Seas flair, heavy on the seafood and rum. We sampled all of the appetizers between our group and found everything to be quite tasty.

I definitely had a favorite in the Headhunter Sushi Roll, which if I recall is a beet rice roll with tuna, salmon, cucumber with an awesome hibiscus sauce. This roll was so good we killed it within just a couple of minutes between a few of us. I highly recommend it as a great combination of flavors that is different from any other roll I’ve had before.

 

Other popular choices in our group were the Chicken Lettuce Cups that you assembled yourself, which were really nice with the kimchi, and the Kalua Pork Tacos.

As far as what I didn’t particular care for, or feel I will order again in the near future, I’d say skip the Corn-Battered Portuguese Sausages. To me, these tasted kind of like corn dogs with a ketchup infused with curry.

 

The other items that we felt left a bit to be desired were the Pan-Fried Dumplings with soy-sesame dipping sauce. These were pork and shrimp combined, but seemed a bit light on the filling as far proportionally to the dumpling dough. I’d say the Salmon Oshizushi, Chicken and Pork Bahn Mi, and the Hawaiian Poke fall in the middle. I’d get them again, but maybe not as frequently as the Headhunter Roll or Lettuce Cups.

I took one for the team and was pretty much the designated drinker, ordering the Hippopotomai-Tai since it came with a new souvenir glass specific to Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto. This was a really good Mai Tai, with the obligatory “two shots of rum” offering a special effect.

Another in our group tried the Polynesian Pearl, which is a signature drink new for the Grog Grotto. It comes in a plastic “pearl” with a fun presentation from the bartenders each time one is ordered. This drink, which I just tasted, came across like a creamy version of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in beverage form.

 

For the non-alcoholic folks out there, we also sampled the Schweitzer Fall, which mostly tasted like pineapple juice and sprite, and the Skipper Sipper, a bit more refreshing and slightly less sweet combo of tropical juice with mint and lime.

Several of the alcoholic beverages at Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto can be purchased in souvenir glasses, which you can pick up on your way out already wrapped up for you. This is really nice to not have to wait for your used glass to be cleaned out and brought back to you. Our server simply highlighted my receipt, then I showed it to the Cast Members at the door where the glasses are on display. The Polynesian Pearl is plastic, which they will rinse out for you to take if you’d like. The Hippopotomai-Tai souvenir and the Kona beer flight are glass, and the others offered are all ceramic.

As of this time, the only souvenir glass not available is for the Nautilus, which will run approximately $52, but is currently around $34 for just the alcoholic drink. According to the Food and Beverage Cast Member with whom I spoke, they said it may be months before those arrive. I also asked, and souvenir drink glasses are not for sale independently of the alcohol.

Here are a few quick things to keep in mind for your visit to Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto:

• All prices, menu items, and drinks are subject to change as Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto is still in soft opening.
• No discounts are available currently at Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto.
• The lounge can hold about 50 inside, and the Trader Sam’s Tiki Terrace outside can seat an additional 80 guests.
• If you are looking to sit inside the Grog Grotto, there is a pager system since seating is so limited. There are a limited amount a pagers available, and wait times did go up to 4-5 hours on the first day of soft openings. Also, your wait time will depend on the size of your party.
• The full menu is available both inside and out, with a nice area for musicians and a dancer on the terrace. I really enjoyed this additional entertainment aspect and can see myself spending lots of time here in the future, especially in the warmer summer evenings here.
• Hours for Trader Sam’s, once they officially open in late April, will be from 4pm until 12am, with the lounge being 21 and up only from 8pm.

Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto met and exceeded my expectations based on my experiences at the West Coast version of Trader Sam’s at Disneyland. The Imagineers have done very well to echo the feeling of the lounge in California, while still making it unique enough to make me want to visit both locations. Like Disneyland, I am sure over time I will be spending hours inspecting all the fun pictures and memorabilia adorning the walls, ceiling, and shelves. This lounge is a much needed addition to the nightlife at Walt Disney World.

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