Pineapple Lanai at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort

By Nick

Back when I was a kid, and by kid, I mean in my early 40's, you could not only get a Dole Whip at the Magic Kingdom, you could also get one at Captain Cook's at the Polynesian. Not only that, but it was self serve! So, of course, people would tower their pineapple treat as high as gravity would allow!

That is no longer the case, but you can still get Dole Whips and Dole Whip Floats at the Poly, at Pineapple Lanai.

PL, as I just now started calling it, is located right off the main lobby of The Great Ceremonial House.
It has a souvenir bowl and sipper, but that isn't what makes this my new favorite spot to get a Dole Whip.

My favorite Dole Whip option is the Pineapple and Vanilla Swirl, and that is no longer offered at the Magic Kingdom, so this is the only spot to get that tasty snack!

Have you been to Pineapple Lanai?

My Disney Bucket List

My Disney Bucket List- by Shendl 

Photos: Disney

I am sure each and every Disney Fan has a Wish List or as I call it a Bucket List of things that they want to do or achieve on their Disney Vacations.

Some are Realistic and some are Fantasy. Today I am going to let you in on my current Disney Bucket List for my Next Vacation in 2017.

•    Eat at Be Our Guest.  This restaurant had just opened when we went to WDW in 2013, so we were unable to get a reservation and we didn’t want to stand in the really long Lines for lunch. This next trip in 2017, we will be booking a Dinner and Lunch/Breakfast depending on what we can get!  

•    Ride the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. The Mine Train was just being completed on our last vacation and I just Have to ride it and go through the interactive queue that I have heard so much about!

•    The Keys to the Kingdom Tour. One of my dreams has always been to see the Utilidors at Magic Kingdom (ever since I saw and Oprah episode where she took her whole audience to WDW), so we want to splurge a little next time!

  
•    The new Ferrytale Dessert and Wishes Cruise. This is a new addition to my List (its only just been released and it is a little pricey.) We want to treat ourselves for our Wedding Anniversary instead of buying each other a gift. This Cruise sounds like fun and the Desserts sounds amazing as well as the souvenir items you get.

     
•    Resort Hop. In my Four Vacations to WDW, I have never Resort Hopped!! This time we will be making sure that we have a day set aside just to visit as many resorts as we can and have  a snack or drink and get an item that says the resort name for our collection
   

•    Ride Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. I have promised myself and my husband, Dieter, that I will ride these two rides next time. I chickened out the last time and I really wish I had done them. So no chickening out this time!!

•    Buy a Disney Dooney and Burke handbag. I really, really love the Dooney and Burke Handbags that I see my friends in the USA buying and I have vowed to buy something that is a Dooney and Burke even if it’s the smallest one I can find…..as long as it fits into the budget!!

•    Get my face painted. I really wanted to get my face painted when I was at WDW the last time and for some reason I felt that I would look silly with it done. I have since seen friends of mine have it done on their vacations and HAVE to do it!!!
   
•    Eat a Dole Whip. I have NEVER done this!! I hear you Gasp as you read this……I will rectify this in 2017 for sure!!
   

•    Pick a Pearl in Japan at Epcot or at Disney Springs. This is another thing I wanted to do last time and didn’t for reason’s unknown to me. I see such gorgeous things that friends have had made with their pearl picks and I think it will be such a lovely souvenir to bring some magic home!

This is my Bucket List – the one I plan to complete on my next vacation in Sept 2017. I have a fantasy one as well but that I will share with you another time!

Looking forward to seeing your Disney Bucket Lists!!

Disney Food Favorites of 2014

By Nick

We ate a lot of great food in 2014, so I thought I'd take a look at some of our favorites.

My new favorite Snack, well, it's new to me anyway, is the Dole Whip Swirl. Pineapple and Vanilla. As a purist, I'd been avoiding it for the longest time, but Barbie thinks plain Pineapple is too sweet, so I gave this a shot. And, she was right, swirl is better!

Snack runner up and Barbie's fav, the Croissant Donut.

Favorite Breakfast: The All You Care to Enjoy Breakfast Platter (and then some, in our case) at Whispering Canyon in the Wilderness Lodge, which consists of Scrambled Eggs, Western Home Fries, Bacon, Sausage, Waffles, Buttermilk Biscuits and Sausage Gravy. Not only was the food delicious, but our server, Jeffro, was excellent.

Our friend Jill with Jeffro

  
Favorite Cheeseburger: Cheeseburgers are my favorite food. Surprisingly, the best Disney burger I had all last year was on the Disney Dream, from Tow Mater's Grill! So good, I forgot to get a photo of it!

Favorite Lunch: Afternoon Tea in the Garden View Lounge at the Grand Floridian. Delicious tea, alcoholic beverages, tiny sandwiches, and pastries. Plus we met and made friends with a wonderful couple. A great afternoon!

Favorite Epcot Internationl Food and Wine Festival offering: the Seared Sea Scallop at Scotland, moist and tender and the spinach-Cheddar Gratin and Crispy Bacon was amazing. So good, I had 2.

Favorite new beer: Einstok, Icelandic White Ale, light and refreshing on a hot day.

 
If I'm honest, no dinner entree stood out as being better than my perennial favorite, the Pork Chop at the Hollywood Brown Derby. 

I'd be completely wrong in not giving an honorable mention to The Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley at Universal Studios, which offers traditional British fair. We ate 2 excellent dinners there, and I look forward to returning in the future.

 The Bangers and Mash

Also, at Universal, they now serve warm Butterbeer, which is better than the cold, and that is saying something indeed!

Please stop back Monday for a variety of favorite attractions and experiences from 2014. 

Do you have a Disney Food Challenge for your next Trip?

By Shendl

I found a list that someone had compiled of things to eat in Walt Disney World and that got me thinking about making my own Challenge for my next trip.  The one I found online was not easily achievable for me and my husband, so I went through all the Goodies that we had yet to try and came up with our own FOOD CHALLENGE!

This is my Challenge for my next trip – I hope we can complete it!

Magic Kingdom

    •    Dole Whip or a Dole Whip Float - Aloha Isle

Photo: Nick

    •    Corn Dog Nuggets - Casey’s Corner

    •    Corn on the Cob - Liberty Square Market

    •    Le Fou’s Brew - Gastons Tavern

 Photo: Angel Sloan Rogers

Photo: Nick

    •    Warm Cinnamon Roll - Gastons Tavern
    •    The Plaza Ice Cream Sundae - The Plaza Ice Cream Parlour

Photo: Sue VanVleet

    •    Mickey Kitchen Sink Sundae -  The Plaza Ice Cream Parlour

Photo: Sue VanVleet

Epcot

    •    Chocolate Covered Sea Salt Caramel - Karamel Kuche (Germany)

    •    Macaron’s - Boulangerie Patisserie Les halles (France)
    •    House made Paprika Chips - Sommerfest (Germany)

    •    Kakigori - Kabuki Café (Japan)

Disney's Hollywood Studios

    •    Wheezy’s Breezy Freezey - Hey Howdy Hey Take Away

Animal Kingdom

    •    Turkey Leg - Trilo Bites

Photo: Carrie Atkins

Downtown Disney

    •    Crème Brulee - Wolfgang Puck Café

Photo: Diane Cole

These are things that I have not tried in WDW at all and they all sound so yummy (we are trying the turkey leg as experience, not sure if we will like it)

What is on your list of Foods and Snacks to try?

Dinner in Four Part Harmony at Epcot

by Gaylin

On my recent trip to Walt Disney World, I decided to have dinner 'around the world' at Epcot. And what does any good dinner start with . . . dessert!

I started at the France Pavilion at the L'Artisan des Glaces. This is a fairly new ice cream shop and is worth the stop. They have 16 flavours of ice cream or gelato and they are all made in house. I found the cast members to be really friendly and when I asked for my Cafe Glacé with only a little whipped cream – they tried to talk me into having lots. Nope, a little was good for me. This is an iced coffee drink with a scoop of ice cream in it, I chose Caramel Fleur de Sel (Salted Caramel) and loved it. There are not a lot of tables in this area but people have a tendency to eat and run so getting a table was pretty easy. I did end up sharing it with a nice family since I was on my own. One of the cool things about traveling alone is how many people I get to talk to. Ice cream as an appetizer works for me!

I meandered around the showcase for awhile until I found the Florida Fresh booth. I had done my research before I went on the trip and knew which of the kiosks would have food that was safe for me to eat, allergies are a pain. My choice at Florida Fresh was Shrimp and Grits. Creamy, perfectly cooked grits, with a bit of spiced oil on top, andouille sausage bits, sweet corn and cillantro. And of course on top, 3 wonderfully spiced shrimp. This was a marvellous choice. I ate slowly to savour every bite.

After some more wandering, I ended up at the Mexico pavilion and their kiosk Jardin de Fiestas to try their Tacos al Pastor. Another great choice! This was a pork taco with achiote and pineapple. The serving was a bit small but so very tasty. I would have liked more pineapple pieces, they were lightly roasted and a slightly sticky sweet counterpoint to the spicy pork. There was no place to sit so I ended up finding a place in the shade to drop my daypack so I could eat with my hands. Yum.

And finally for dessert, I stopped at the Pineapple Promenade and had a Pineapple Soft Serve. Everyone said it was just Dole Whip but I didn't find it as sweet as the Dole Whip from the Magic Kingdom or maybe it was because I had just had 2 spicy entrees, it didn't seem as sweet. I did appreciate that it wasn't a huge serving, starting with ice cream and ending with soft serve . . . enough sweet for me!

And to prove that I did something at Epcot that day, other than eating, here is a photo of the panda topiary at the China pavilion!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Homemade Dole Whip (From 5/28/13)

By: Barbie

A couple days ago, Nick came home with a sack full of ingredients and proclaimed that we were going to make Dole Whips! I was highly dubious. After all, Dole Whips are such a Disney experience. Is it possible to recreate perfection?

Ingredients

1. 2 20 ounce cans Dole crushed pineapple with juice
2. 2 tablespoons lemon juice
3. 2 tablespoons lime juice
4. 1/3 cup sugar
5. 1 and 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped

Here are the directions:

Drain pineapple; reserving 2 tablespoons of the juice. Set aside in a small cup.

Place pineapple, lemon juice, lime juice, sugar and reserved pineapple juice in blender or food processor; cover and blend until smooth.

Pour into two 1-quart freezer zipped bags and store bags flat in freezer. Freeze 1-1/2 hours or until slushy. Whip your heavy whipping cream until stiff.

Stir pineapple slush gently into whipped cream until slightly blended, in large bowl. Return to freezer until completely frozen, about 1 hour. (thanks to Magical Recipes for the ingredients and directions)

So, is it everything we hoped it would be? Well, I personally would have only used 1 cup of heavy whipping cream or I wouldn't have drained the pineapple, because it didn't have the kick that a Disney Dole Whip has. But, it was delicious! The two of us couldn't possibly finish it all off in one sitting, so what did we do?

We filled up our Disney popsicle moulds with the rest so now we have 8 popsicles waiting for us when it starts to get really hot later this week!