Some Favorites at Beaches and Cream

By Nick 

On Episode 32 of The Disney Exchange Podcast, Lisa, Dave and I share our choices for a progressive dinner around the Epcot area resorts. For those who don't know, a progressive dinner is a group meal where each course is served at a different venue.

Both Dave and I chose to have our dessert at Beaches and Cream at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club, and that is because the ice cream and atmosphere is wonderful.



My wife, Barbie and I have eaten here many times through the years. I'm going to share some of our favorites, in no particular order.

The No Way Jose. Below is a photo of me encountering this absolutely delicious (especially if you like peanut butter) dessert for the first time!

 

 

What's in the No Way Jose?

1. 2 scoops Chocolate Ice Cream
2. 2 scoops Vanilla Ice Cream
3. 1/2 cup Jif Smooth Peanut Butter
4. 1/2 cup Hot Fudge Sauce
5. 1-2 tablespoons Peanut Butter Morsels
6. 1-2 tablespoons Chocolate Morsels
7. Reddi-Wip (or good quality) Whipped Cream
8. Cherry

Next, we have The Banana Split. Barbie doesn't even like bananas, but loves this.

 

This "Classic" consists of Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry ice cream, pineapple, strawberry and marshmallow toppings finished off with hot fudge, caramel, toasted almonds, whipped cream and a cherry.

 

Then there is the famous Kitchen Sink, which is, well...this.

 

Barbie and I have shared this monstrosity with our friends Kandi and John on a few occasions.

 

Here's a listing of what this amazing dessert includes:

• fudge topping, warmed
• butterscotch topping, warmed
•  peanut butter topping, warmed
• 1 medium banana, sliced in 1/2 –inch slices
• 1 cinnamon spice cupcake, quartered
• 1 angel food cupcake, quartered
• 2 4-oz. scoops vanilla ice cream
• 2 4-oz. scoops chocolate ice cream
• 2 4-oz. scoops strawberry ice cream
• 1 4-oz. scoop mint chocolate chip ice cream
• 1 4-oz. scoop coffee ice cream
• 3 tablespoons chocolate syrup
•  marshmallow crème
•  strawberry topping
•  pineapple topping
• 1 14-oz can dairy whipped topping
• 1 brownie, quartered
• 1 regular-sized (2 ounce) candy bar, quartered
• 4 chocolate cookies (oreos-basically) with cream filling
• 1 tablespoon sliced toasted almonds
• 1 tablespoon dark and white chocolate shavings
• 1 tablespoon chocolate cookies with cream filling, crushed
• 1 tablespoon chopped jellied orange slice
• 1 tablespoon milk chocolate chip morsels
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter chip morsels
• 1 tablespoon chocolate sprinkles
• 1 tablespoon rainbow sprinkles
• 1/2 cup drained maraschino cherries

But Beaches and Cream is more than just ice cream. They also have really tasty burgers, fries and onion rings.



Have you ever eaten at Beaches and Cream, and what did you have?

Throwback Thursday: Walt Disney World-May 2009 - Part 5

By Nick 

Part Four of this Walt Disney World trip report from May of 2009 that I wrote for the DVC News Forums can be found here.  Any commentary I make will be in italics.

Who: My wife, Barbie, my friends Todd and Meghan, and their baby, our Godson, Flynn who was 16 months old, and me.


Friday, May 22nd, 2009

The day started out innocently enough. Overcast, yet again. Very humid, which you know is trouble.
We went to the Studios because I wanted to see some Star Wars Weekend attendees and their costumes.
I even got some pics with a few folks.





Barbie and Meghan went to ride TSM (Toy Story Midway Mania), since Meghan didn't really get to experience it earlier in the week, while Todd, Flynn and I rode the Great Movie Ride. We then got a couple pastries at the Commissary. Meghan went to another class (she was in Orlando for work), and the rest of us went to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area.



We spent some time there, Flynn especially loved the musical steps.
I wanted to check out the special Star Wars merchandise, so we headed back to the store, only to find a line longer than the one for TSM!

We skipped that, and decided to head to Epcot, so I could maybe get some pics of the flowers before the rain. We hopped a boat, and on the way Todd mentioned he could go for some ice cream, so we got off at the Yacht & Beach Club stop, and had lunch at Beaches and Cream.



We all had burgers, fries, onion rings, and Todd tried to get Flynn to eat a hot dog. Barbie and I split a banana split, while Todd got an Old Fashioned Sundae.

About half way through ice cream, the skies opened up. To the point they closed Stormalong Bay. This was flood level rain.

Flynn was getting tired anyway, and rather than walk all the way through Epcot or take a boat back to the Studios, we got a cab back to POFQ.

I took a nap until I was awoken by thunder, seemingly directly above us.

At about 6PM, we saw that it was clearing, so made our way to the MK.

We rode the train around to Mickey's Toontown Fair (which is where the Storybook Circus portion of Fantasyland is today), where Flynn played in the playground, and we walked through the mouse's houses.

We had dinner at Cosmic Ray's, where Flynn grooved to Sonny Eclipse.

Then we rode the Jungle Cruise. Barbie and I hadn't done it in a while, having had several non enthusiastic CMs doing the same jokes. But this ride we had a skipper named Sarah who was both enthusiastic, and told several jokes we hadn't heard before. I laughed rather than groaned several times! Todd and Meghan thought she was a bit to edgy, bordering on angry, but I thought she was perfect for the role.



We then had Dole Whips. Barbie and Todd tried the citrus swirl, but I didn't care for it.
By now it was 9PM, and most people were out at the parade, so we walked onto Pirates of the Caribbean.



We stayed in back of the castle to watch Wishes, which is a pretty neat spot if you want to get a seat and avoid the throng.



Of course you have to deal with them leaving, but this is a nice respite. It took us nearly 20 minutes to make it down Main Street.

Usually we'll hit the shops and wait till the crowd thins, but they were just as packed. It seems everyone had come out on this lovely evening.

The POFQ revealed a definite advantage in it's small size, line for the bus was short compared to other resorts. Got back at 11:15PM. 





 Please stop back next Thursday for part 6.

Throwback Thursday: Walt Disney World-September/October 2008 - Part 6

By Nick

Thursday, October 2nd 2008

Part 1-Part 2-Part 3-Part 4-Part 5

I was up early, of course. The weather was beautiful and we headed over to the Magic Kingdom.





We missed rope drop because it was Morning Extra Magic Hours, but still, everything in Fantasyland was walk on, as was everything in Tomorrowland.
(This was in the middle of the economic downturn, and there were actual periods that the parks were not crowded.)
We walked over to Adventureland and rode Pirates of the Caribbean, and then had lunch at Columbia Harbour House.

We headed to Epcot around Noon. We rode Spaceship Earth, and then went to check out Storm Struck at Innoventions East.
One last ride on Test Track, then over to World Showcase, were we had one last taste of Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival. Our favorite of the whole event was the Grilled Beef with Chimichurri Sauce from The Buenos Aires Argentina kiosk (Still a favorite till this day, Argentina is now the Patagonia booth. )















We then walked over to the Beach Club, where we split a burger at Beaches and Cream. I also had a No Way Jose Sundae.



MMMM good! By then, it was about 4pm, and we sadly went back to the Boardwalk to wait for Magical Express.
Flew out on the 8:30 flight, and Southwest got us back to Philly early.

Thank you for following this trip, and please stop back for more journeys back in time on future Thursdays.

No Way Jose! : Story Behind the Photo

By: Nick

 

This is the first time I'm seeing a No Way Jose at Beaches and Cream at the Yacht and Beach Club at Walt Disney World. What's in the No Way Jose?

1. 2 scoops Chocolate Ice Cream
2. 2 scoops Vanilla Ice Cream
3. 1/2 cup Jif Smooth Peanut Butter
4. 1/2 cup Hot Fudge Sauce
5. 1-2 tablespoons Peanut Butter Morsels
6. 1-2 tablespoons Chocolate Morsels
7. Reddi-Wip (or good quality) Whipped Cream
8. Cherry

It's hard to say which I prefer, this or the Banana Split. 
I could eat both. By myself. And I have.

 No, NOT at the same time!

The Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream

Imagine going into a restaurant and ordering a Kitchen Sink, and you really get the kitchen sink! Despite the fact that it was freezing cold and January, that's what my husband and I did with our friends, Kandi and John. The lights in the restaurant dimmed, you could hear the crowd hush and people started clapping and ta dah! This is what was delivered to our table!

 Here's a listing of what this amazing dessert includes:
(thank you to disneyparks.com for this thorough breakdown) 

• fudge topping, warmed
• butterscotch topping, warmed
•  peanut butter topping, warmed
• 1 medium banana, sliced in 1/2 –inch slices
• 1 cinnamon spice cupcake, quartered
• 1 angel food cupcake, quartered
• 2 4-oz. scoops vanilla ice cream
• 2 4-oz. scoops chocolate ice cream
• 2 4-oz. scoops strawberry ice cream
• 1 4-oz. scoop mint chocolate chip ice cream
• 1 4-oz. scoop coffee ice cream
• 3 tablespoons chocolate syrup
•  marshmallow crème
•  strawberry topping
•  pineapple topping
• 1 14-oz can dairy whipped topping
• 1 brownie, quartered
• 1 regular-sized (2 ounce) candy bar, quartered
• 4 chocolate cookies (oreos-basically) with cream filling
• 1 tablespoon sliced toasted almonds
• 1 tablespoon dark and white chocolate shavings
• 1 tablespoon chocolate cookies with cream filling, crushed
• 1 tablespoon chopped jellied orange slice
• 1 tablespoon milk chocolate chip morsels
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter chip morsels
• 1 tablespoon chocolate sprinkles
• 1 tablespoon rainbow sprinkles
• 1/2 cup drained maraschino cherries

Barbie, Kandi, John, Nick

Look at us, we didn't know what we were getting into! We couldn't stop laughing once we saw what this was, and it was ours! The question now, could we finish it off? It's a long list of ingredients, too many to ponder on for any length of time...so did we finish it, and was it any good? Well, the consensus was that it was an fun and awesome dessert, that definitely needs to be shared with good friends; and yes, we absolutely were able to finish it off, and almost wound up licking the sink clean!!

Don't get the wrong idea, we're not done yet in this pic!

Don't Play With Your Food. Photograph It!

I'm going through every photo from our Disney vacations, and I see a lot, I mean A LOT, of pictures of food.
I know I'm not the only person to take pictures of food,
I used to write Trip Reports for the DVC fan sites I belong to, and now write restaurant reviews for this blog and the Tips For the Disney Diva Blog, and photos are integral to these articles.
But I also take these photos because it helps me remember a good, great, or even bad, meal.

All these examples are from early October, 2009.

We take photos of where we are eating.

 Sanaa, Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village

 Wolfgang Puck Express, Downtown Disney

We take photos of what we are eating.

 

 Wolfgang Puck Express

 Beaches and Cream, Yacht and Beach Club

Pictures of food being made.

Beaches and Cream

 Pictures of waiting for the food.

Beaches and Cream

The food being eaten.

  Beaches and Cream

A photo of food theft! Blatant food theft!

Wolfgang Puck Express

Before photos...

Beaches and Cream

...and after photos.

For more on the Banana Split at Beaches and Cream, please check out this post.

Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival at Walt Disney World is our favorite time to take pictures of food. We pose it as attractively as possible.

So, remember, Mom said don't play with your food, but she didn't say anything about photographing it!

Banana Split at Beaches and Cream

by Barbie

I've never been one to like bananas. Ever since I was little. Every one around me loved them and I just never understood the attraction. Then Nick asked me to share a banana split at Beaches and Cream at the Yacht and Beach Club Resort in Walt Disney World.

Against my better judgement, I said "yes."

So I dug in!

And I kept at it too! And all of a sudden I was appreciating the banana split and wanting more! Now I'm sitting here craving one, but I still don't want a bare banana. It must be the ice cream and all the awesome toppings that make a banana edible!

An InLinkz Link-up