MONORAIL BAR CRAWL
Hey friends! I have a lot of these written up but I can't quite figure out Photobucket. I've uploaded them but had to figure out a workaround to post the links. Blech.
That evening, we were planning on doing a booze crawl along the monorail. For whatever reason we hadn't made dinner plans that night - actually I think we were considering Trails End - so a few months before, I looked at reservations to see what was available. Lo and behold, a Highway in the Sky! The whole affair sounded amazing and.. EXPENSIVE. After much consideration we decided to skip it for a few reasons. Justin doesn't eat seafood, so there were a few things he wouldn't eat (including half of the main course), though I don't doubt that Disney would fix it by giving him double of whatever else. It was expensive, and we weren't willing to shell out the $165ish per person. So I booked it in a moment of weakness, and then we cancelled it. I'd love to try it someday, but we decided to do a monorail crawl in its place. That way, we could get what we wanted and try a few different things.
As a bonus,
@pepperandchips and
@Dis_Yoda (along with their travel partners) joined us that evening!! I know, I know, they wrote their reports in a timely manner. I am literally 3 months behind hahaha.
Justin and I started off at The Wave Lounge, a place we'd been to once before when dining at Cali Grill. We had a great conversation with the bartender last time, and it was a good experience, so we stopped in again.
I started off with a lot of indecisiveness, and eventually landed on the Kona Brewing Company Big Wave Golden Ale. It was a little heavier than I usually like, but they didn't have much on tap and for some reason I wanted a draft beer that evening.
I was intrigued by it after having it once or twice in Hawaii. While in Hawaii, I had a Maui Brewing Company Bikini Blonde Ale, which was by far my favorite of all the Hawaiian brews I had. I can't seem to find it on the east coast, though!
Justin went with a Kentucky Mule- a twist on a usual Moscow Mule, using Bourbon instead of Vodka:
Both of our drinks were good, nothing special. Unfortunately the service here was really off tonight. Two bartenders that were bickering with the wait staff! The wait staff came up with their drink orders for their tables and one of the bartenders berated a particular server for not specifying something about one of the drinks. Our drinks took about 10 minutes to come even though the bartenders weren't too busy. It was just an odd atmosphere.
We also asked about appetizers, since in January, they had a specific lounge menu with things like shrimp tacos, sandwiches, pretzels and beer cheese, etc. We were told that there was no Lounge menu but we could order off of the regular restaurant menu, or a "late night" burger/fries menu. We were kind of baffled considering we'd seen the menu two months prior, and people near us had ordered the food. We decided to skip food at this stop and move on to our next stop... Trader Sams!
With a 45+ minute wait inside, we ended up on the patio, where started off with two
Hippopotamaitais.
Hippopotamai-tai: Coruba Dark Rum, Bacardi Superior Rum, Bols Orange Curacao, Orgeat (almond), organic agave nectar, and fresh lime juice.
These were great, albeit STRONG for my liking. You can definitely taste the alcohol but they were delicious and slightly sweet at the same time. For $11, I think the price is right and it packs a punch. Side note- why is it that some mixed drinks at places in WDW are like $16!? Heck to the no. I think my limit is right around $12 for one drink. I may be cheap but.... if I'm paying $15 per drink, I can get 3 for the price of 2. I'm all about a good bargain.
Little did we know
@Dis_Yoda and her friend were out on the patio as well, so we joined forces with them!
@pepperandchips and R survived their Uber ride and lived to tell the tale, so they joined us too. And so it began, the saga of David.
Justin and I ordered some appetizers:
His pick, the potstickers, and my pick, the chicken lettuce wraps.
Pan-Fried Dumplings - with soy-sesame dipping sauce $8.49
Chicken Lettuce Cups - with Hoisin ginger sauce $10.99
The dumplings here were just fine, but nothing special. Nothing like the ones at Ohana
I think Justin liked them, but we've been getting the ones from Trader Joe's (anyone else do Trader Joe's Chinese takeout? Yum) and those are just as good.
I really liked the chicken wraps. The pickled veggies in the center of the plate were actually the star for me. Between the onions, the pickles, and a bit of carrot, it added a ton of flavor to the already flavorful chicken. I would absolutely go back and order these again.
Unfortunately, the service stopped there. I swear. We waited around for probably an hour just chatting and waiting for drinks and food. It was comical and we joked that David forgot about us but... he literally did.
@Dis_Yoda's friend never received her food and I think the rest of us had to remind David of our orders no less than 45 times. He kept commenting that "So sorry, we're just slammed" and we all just looked around... crickets.... because it was not that busy.
Justin wanted to try the Uh-Oa. He had gone up to the bar before David came over to our table when we'd first arrived, but they wouldn't serve it to him since I wasn't up there at the bar with him and it serves 2 or more. Eventually we got our Uh-Oa and we got to experience some special effects!
Uh-Oa! - Myers's Original Dark Ru, Bacardi Superior Rum, orange, passion fruit, guava, pineapple, and grapefruit juices, Falernum, Cinnamon, and fresh lime juice. Recommended for two or more guests.
This was second to the Mai-tai, in my opinion, but still really fun. Still unclear on what Falernum actually is. The cinnamon gives it a funky taste/texture, but adds to the effects and wasn't too much to spoil the drink itself. I don't recall this being overly liquor-y in flavor, but pretty fruity due to all of the juices.
We decided to move to Mizner's at the Grand Floridian for hopefully some better service and a little more food. Fortunately for us, we had a great server, and it was a much better experience!
I ordered a glass (which turned into 3...) of Riesling. I definitely didn't need 2, let alone 3, so I'm not sure but I guess I just kept telling her to keep 'em coming! I am going to assume I went with the Fess Parker Riesling, which is usually my go-to at Disney when I'm in a Riesling kinda mood.
See the Pub Mix in the background? Goodness gracious that stuff is good! Yes, you can probably get it in a canister at the grocery store.. but it's still good.
Justin and I were still hungry so we ordered a seasonal flatbread, which had some sausage, maybe some chorizo, some cheese, and tomatoes. I wish I had the description because it was sooooo good. The sausage was nice and crispy, not greasy, and I remember the tomatoes being really juicy.
We took a group picture before calling it a night:
Cute!
Justin and I took the monorail back to BLT. 3 sheets to the Riesling and I decided I needed some dessert from Contempo Cafe. Unfortunately it was closed and the only options were the pre-bagged stuff, so I thought Cheetos would do.
Unfortunately my husband didn't want to partake in my Mickey ear photo shoot... I can't figure out why?
We called it a VERY late night after that! I really enjoyed meeting up and hanging out with our new DIS friends!
Up next, a very sad Hangover breakfast, and lunch at Beaches and Cream.
Maybe someone from Disney's IT Dept. wrote that up??
We're staying there next month and that best not happen. We also stayed there last year and had great bus service, so thinking (and hoping) it was just nasty fluke..................
It's Terk. But Tarzan's original sidekick from the old movies was Cheeta! We can blame the Great Movie Ride for leading you astray.
I was so disappointed. That aside, their flavor was decent.
It's so nice to live so close!
Between moving into our new house (YAY!) along with final inspections and actually moving.. a huge assignment for my actuarial credentials.. a cousin's wedding (and shower, bachelorette, etc), I have been a busy bee. Can't wait to catch up on everyone else's TRs and I swear I'll update mine eventually, ha! 
I'll be looking for your next update!
but she told me that her parents asked for Bryon at mizner's and were told he doesn't work there anymore. Nooooooo! 
