Having Annual Passes means infinite Disney trips, right? *COMPLETED* 6/5 California Grill Brunch

Sorry to hear Via Napoli was a bit of a bust. Service there is always spotty, but it sounds like you had an even worse time than normal. Every time we go I curse the service and then I eat the pizza and all is forgiven.
The service definitely left a lot to be desired, at least I enjoyed my pizza. I like your method, I'll have to try that next time.
 
How was your trip?! How did the photo shoot go?! I hope it was fabulous!!!
It was great! Professional photos are tough work, I've never done it before. They had us pose in a lot of different ways. A lot of guests commented on my dress and one little girl told her mom I looked like a princess :love: My hair and makeup turned out awesome too
 
Trip 8 - 3/16-3/18
The Mara & Satu'li Canteen

We are starting to reach the end of my dining report. After this trip I only have one more set for May before my annual pass expires. I think it's safe to say with 9 trips I definitely got my money's worth.

This was a spur of the moment kind of trip. The main reason for it was to do a hair and makeup trial for my wedding, which then turned into doing an engagement shoot and I also booked a Keys to the Kingdom tour so lots of fun firsts!

We drove up after work and got to the hotel around 9:30pm. We were staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in the main building Jambo. I was starving since I hadn't had dinner yet, so after dropping our bags off we went straight to the quick service The Mara.

The last time we had stayed at this hotel we were in Kidani in the DVC rooms. I think I liked that room better, but I prefer being in the main building with the impressive lobby and all the food.

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I got the Braai Chicken Flatbread - Oak-fired Chicken, Sun-dried Tomato Pesto, Bacon, Red Onion, Cheddar Cheese and Dal Saag Ranch. This was delicious and I would definitely order it again.

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My Fiance got Vegetarian Falafel Hummus and Pita - Ground Chickpeas, Cucumber and Tomato with Crumbled Feta. He ordered this since I mentioned the last time we were here he got a falafel burger and enjoyed it. I didn't see that on the menu this time, but he really liked this. When he went up to get napkins and silverware someone took a bite out of his falafel, no clue who that could be :rolleyes1

I really like The Mara. Both times I've been here (lunch and dinner) it wasn't too crowded and the food was delicious. It has pretty unique food too, which is nice when there are so many burgers and fries everywhere.

After dinner we went right to sleep. I had to be up really early for my hair and makeup. They did an excellent job, I loved the results.

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This is how my hair will look at my wedding. We did our professional photoshoot, which was a lot more work than I thought it would be. We had to do all these poses and some were hard to hold. People seemed to love my dress, a lot came up to me to compliment me and one little girl said I looked like a princess :love:

When we finished with the photoshoot I changed into normal clothes and went to Animal Kingdom looking the best I ever have in a theme park. Today was also St. Patrick's Day so there was a lot of green everywhere and the one guy we rode the bus with was a little bit drunk.

We had fast passes for FOP, but had some time so we went to Satu'li Canteen to eat some lunch. This is the quick service located in the land of Pandora. I really enjoy this place and love how the castmembers here always stay in character. We thought about doing the mobile ordering, but decided to just walk up. There wasn't too much of a wait.

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My Fiance and I basically got the same dish with different sauces.

We did the create your own bowl and picked Chicken, Rice and I think I got a creamy herb dressing and I think my Fiance got a black bean and herb dressing. I really enjoyed this and so did my Fiance. Looking at the menu on the website it's not as clear as the menu when you're in the restaurant.

After lunch we went to ride FOP. It still amazes me that people will wait 4 hours in line for this. When we got to the ride a seat was broken so we ended up having to wait for the next ride. It was cool though, we got to stand in the room before the ride alone and we chitchatted with the Castmember for a bit.

I was feeling a little sleepy and wanted to go back to the hotel and rest. We were able to move up our late Safari fast pass and released our third one. This was probably the best safari ride I've ever gone on. All the animals were super active.

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The baby hippo! You can sort of see the mama in the background. The baby was being super playful running around. So cute.

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The wild dogs were up and playing too. The driver said it was the first time she ever saw them awake. They don't bark, but apparently chirp and it was really cute. My favorite is the dog in the corner on the left who looks so happy with his mouth open.

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More babies! The baby elephant was leading the line and super cute too.

After that we went back to the hotel. That ride was a bit eventful when a little girl sitting across from me on the bus got a massive nosebleed. I don't think I've ever seen that much blood. But I feel like this has happened to her before since the mom wasn't panicking.

We got back to the room and saw this cute surprise.
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I have heard about Disney hotels back in the day making towel animals. I had never gotten one before so was really excited to see this.

My favorite reason for staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge:
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Having a savanna view room. My Fiance napped while I hung out on the balcony watching the animals.

Up next our amazing dinner at Jiko...

 


After dinner we went right to sleep. I had to be up really early for my hair and makeup. They did an excellent job, I loved the results.

I love your hair it looks so pretty!

The wild dogs were up and playing too. The driver said it was the first time she ever saw them awake. They don't bark, but apparently chirp and it was really cute.

We saw them recently for the first time too. That is really cute that they chirp.
 


That flatbread photo is making me so hungry right now! Looks like you had a fabulous weekend. And of course, your hair looks gorgeous!
 
Loving all the AK and AKL amazing counter service food. It's great to see Disney do different things and do them so well, it just makes it sad though that they can't get it together across the board.

Your hair for the photoshoot looks great. Hope the pics are great!
 
Loving all the AK and AKL amazing counter service food. It's great to see Disney do different things and do them so well, it just makes it sad though that they can't get it together across the board.

Your hair for the photoshoot looks great. Hope the pics are great!
Disney restaurants can be a bit hit or miss, I feel like they think they can get away with the inconsistencies. So far all my meals in AKL have been fantastic

The pictures came out great thank you! :)
 
Trip 8 - 3/16-3/18
Jiko


We decided to stay in our hotel for dinner and try out Jiko. I think I might have eaten here over a decade ago with my friend, but I don't really remember. This meal was much more memorable.

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We were seated right away and I had a nice view of outside from my seat.

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There were so many delicious things on the menu I wasn't sure what to get. I convinced my Fiance to get the Elk so I could try a bite.

After we ordered our waiter brought out the below plates. We were a little surprised, I didn't know you got a free amuse bouche here.

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I think this was tuna, I know it was at least some sort of fish. It was in an asian sauce, somewhat like teriyaki. It was really good.

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They gave us a little fork to eat it with. I tried to capture how small the fork on the right was, but I'm not sure this picture really demonstrates it well.

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Then some bread was brought out with some beer butter. These tasted pretty good, although the butter had a little too much of a beer taste for me.

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For an appetizer we went with Mushroom-Leek Flatbread, which comes with Portobello Mushrooms, spiced Leek Fondue, Sweet Peppers, Aged Goat Cheese. This was delicious, I wish there was more of it. I highly recommend it.

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I got the Oak-grilled Filet Mignon served with Macaroni and Cheese, Kachumbari, South African Red Wine Sauce. This was delicious. I loved the Macaroni and Cheese and am thinking of having it on my menu for my wedding it was that good.

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My Fiance's Durham Ranch Elk Loin served with Celery Root Purée, Hibiscus-candied Apples, Turnip Atjar, Lemon-Elk Jus. He really enjoyed this. I had one bite, but I think the meat was too rare for me and I didn't particularly care for it.



Continued next post...
 
Trip 8 - 3/16-3/18
Jiko Continued


We don't normally get desserts, but I figured since we had taken engagement pictures it was a cause for celebration and we should splurge on some dessert.

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So looking at the menu we weren't really sure what we wanted to try. Our waiter started describing one of his favorites to us and it sounded pretty good so we went with that.

Malva Pudding - Melktart Ice Cream, Kataifi, Kanu Tuile, Cabernet Gelée. So reading just the description I would never have picked this dessert. I didn't know what most of these words meant and would have just passed it over. Thankfully, our waiter did such a fantastic job on selling this dessert we went with it because it was delicious!

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It was soaked in an amaretto tasting alcohol and was so good. The ice cream was heavenly. The little birds nest was a cute design, although I thought it tasted like shredded cinnamon cereal.

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A different angle for the food. I clearly like it since I took two pictures of it :)

After we finished up and asked for the check we were yet again surprised by some unexpected food.

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These little cookies were brought out to us. I don't really remember what was in them, just that the waiter warned us they were not sweet so as not to be taken aback when we'd bite into them.

Overall our dinner here was fantastic and we will definitely be going back in the future.

Up next Keys to the Kingdom tour with lunch at
Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe...
 
We've skipped Jiko for a while mainly due to all the other options around WDW.

I like some of the updates to the menu since I was last there. The dishes you got (sans the mushroom dish) look great. Good to know the Mac & Cheese is back although I think the elk would have won out for me!

Disney Weddings are the best!
 
:sad: It looks like they took the bobotie mac n cheese off the filet dish, which was pretty much my favorite thing at WDW! I wonder if they can make it for you still if you ask.

Your meal looks amazing, Jiko has been among my favorites over the last year. I am hoping to get back there this weekend as we have one night at Kidani.

That Malva tart is amazing but I agree it tastes like cinnamon cereal! Seriously so yummy though. Nice touch with the amuse Bouche! Another great celebration meal :-)
 
:sad: It looks like they took the bobotie mac n cheese off the filet dish, which was pretty much my favorite thing at WDW! I wonder if they can make it for you still if you ask.

Your meal looks amazing, Jiko has been among my favorites over the last year. I am hoping to get back there this weekend as we have one night at Kidani.

That Malva tart is amazing but I agree it tastes like cinnamon cereal! Seriously so yummy though. Nice touch with the amuse Bouche! Another great celebration meal :-)

I loved that mac n cheese :(
 
We've skipped Jiko for a while mainly due to all the other options around WDW.

I like some of the updates to the menu since I was last there. The dishes you got (sans the mushroom dish) look great. Good to know the Mac & Cheese is back although I think the elk would have won out for me!

Disney Weddings are the best!
The food here is really high quality and I think definitely worth a trip to at least once. I agree Disney Weddings are the best :)

:sad: It looks like they took the bobotie mac n cheese off the filet dish, which was pretty much my favorite thing at WDW! I wonder if they can make it for you still if you ask.
So the Mac and Cheese I had was different from what it used to be? I really liked this Mac and Cheese and was thinking of requesting it for the wedding, now I'm not sure they'd know which one I'm talking about. My dad wants to try the lobster Mac and Cheese Disney has on their menu list he thinks it'll impress the guests more

Your meal looks amazing, Jiko has been among my favorites over the last year. I am hoping to get back there this weekend as we have one night at Kidani.
Jiko is pretty easy to get last minute reservations for, you should definitely stop by on your Kidani night. I really liked my stay at Kidani, I just wish they had more food options in the hotel instead of just at the main building. Have fun on your trip!

That Malva tart is amazing but I agree it tastes like cinnamon cereal! Seriously so yummy though. Nice touch with the amuse Bouche! Another great celebration meal :-)
This dessert was so good it really surprised me how much I liked it and how I really need to branch out more with menu choices since I'd never have picked this form just reading the menu. They did do a lot of little touches that made the dinner really special. I'm not sure if that's the norm or not since I don't have anything else to compare it to.

I loved that mac n cheese :(
Was the original Mac and Cheese a lot different from the one I had?
 
So the Mac and Cheese I had was different from what it used to be? I really liked this Mac and Cheese and was thinking of requesting it for the wedding, now I'm not sure they'd know which one I'm talking about. My dad wants to try the lobster Mac and Cheese Disney has on their menu list he thinks it'll impress the guests more
Jiko has been through a few different side items offered with the filet. The most famous was the original filet with red wine reduction and a sort of standard mac and cheese. I had it back in 2014 and it was good. Then when we went with my mom (last summer if I recall) they had changed to offering bobotie mac and chese. If the original was good, the bobotie version was AMAZING! but it looks like what you had was closer to the original. I think if you asked your wedding planner to confirm that it's the same one you were served they'd be able to figure out which one was on the menu when you visited.

This dessert was so good it really surprised me how much I liked it and how I really need to branch out more with menu choices since I'd never have picked this form just reading the menu. They did do a lot of little touches that made the dinner really special. I'm not sure if that's the norm or not since I don't have anything else to compare it to.
We have always had fantastic experiences there- some of them were really over the top special like it sounds like yours was, but we've never had bad service or a bad experience! It's a gem.
 
The food here is really high quality and I think definitely worth a trip to at least once. I agree Disney Weddings are the best :)


So the Mac and Cheese I had was different from what it used to be? I really liked this Mac and Cheese and was thinking of requesting it for the wedding, now I'm not sure they'd know which one I'm talking about. My dad wants to try the lobster Mac and Cheese Disney has on their menu list he thinks it'll impress the guests more


Jiko is pretty easy to get last minute reservations for, you should definitely stop by on your Kidani night. I really liked my stay at Kidani, I just wish they had more food options in the hotel instead of just at the main building. Have fun on your trip!


This dessert was so good it really surprised me how much I liked it and how I really need to branch out more with menu choices since I'd never have picked this form just reading the menu. They did do a lot of little touches that made the dinner really special. I'm not sure if that's the norm or not since I don't have anything else to compare it to.


Was the original Mac and Cheese a lot different from the one I had?
The one I like had ground meat and spices in it. The original one was plain but delicious.
 

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