Day 2:The Animal Drink Challenge Continues
Both days this trip we had zero plans, and it was tons of fun to just let the day evolve before us. We were able to be much more spontaneous than normal, and the change was refreshing. We spent a heck of a lot of time on Disney transportation this trip, but without any concrete plans or reservations to make, the leisurely boat rides, monorail trips and bus hopping didn't bother us one bit. Plus each wait was an opportunity to collect Pokemons. (I'm a little nuts about them.)
We started off day two with an itch for swimming. The Wilderness Lodge slide looked completely pathetic, so we headed over to Grand Floridian instead (via boat to Magic Kingdom and monorail) to try our hand at pool hopping. Our first task was to eat some lunch. We were frustrated by the number of tables that were occupied by people's things with no people nearby!!!!! Aaaargh!! It's so frustrating. I can see taking up a lounge chair because there really is no other choice of a place to put your things, but to take up a whole table when there are so few places to eat drove me bananas. Disney could really solve this problem of holding lounge chairs and tables by providing cubbies. I can't be the only one that doesn't want to do any lounging, I just want a place to keep my shorts dry while I swim. If they had a bank of cubbies at each pool where I could stash my shorts, book, and flip flops, I bet the lounge chair saving problem would go away completely.
We ate, then took three trips down the slide before hopping over to the Contemporary pool to try their slide (boat to MK and walk to Contemporary). Between the two, the Grand definitely had the better slide as the Contemporary one was a bit slow. After three slides we were ready to hit the road. As we approached the boat dock lightening struck across the lake, and the boats and pool were shut down. Instead of waiting, we opted to walk back over to the Magic Kingdom, and grabbed the bus back to Wilderness Lodge.
Today was the day of musical Disney Transportation, so far we had ridden 2 boats, a monorail, and a bus and all we had done was go swimming. After showering and putting on dry clothes we headed over to Trader Sam's Grog Grotto via Magic Kingdom bus and monorail. When we arrived at 3:40 there was already a line outside the Grotto waiting for it to open at 4:00pm. The line included many families with small children. I know I've read threads with people on both sides of the fence on whether kids should be allowed in bars at Disney, and I think I'm finally able to choose a side. Are you ready for this? I choose the side of the fence where no little kids are hanging out in bars. I would love to see a minimum age, like at least 15. These kids outside Trader Sam's were maybe 4, they didn't belong there. It's a bar. Just because it's Disney, doesn't make it not a bar. It ruins the atmosphere for the adults trying to have a good time. It's a little less fun when you have to watch everything you say because there might be a four year old next to you at a bar. The atmosphere is a little less magical when with every cool effect you hear a mommy going "Oooooh honey do you see the volcano?" in a baby talk voice. Sigh...I will stop ranting now. So to continue, Trader Sam's offered plenty of animal selections including:
8. Mosquito Mojito- A pretty basic mojito. Nothing to rave about.
9. A Hippopotamaitai- Hands down winner for the best name. Definitely not the best tasting, but it did come with animatronics and effects and screaming bar tenders. Don't take pictures with the flash on or you will be chastised by the bar tenders. "No FLASHING! This is a Disney bar!"
10. A nautilus- a very yummy and very large selection of just about every alcohol on the shelf. This was very tasty and was served in a submarine. We chose it because a nautilus is also a sea creature. It was also ridiculously expensive.
Goodness only knows how much the drink is with the souvenir glass:
When we got our bill I saw that the nautilus was listed as $29, so I reminded our skipper that we didn't want the souvenir glass. He said "No that's right, that's without the glass." And then I nearly passed out. Or rather felt rather foolish for ordering such an expensive drink. $29!!!!!! And I didn't even get to keep the freakin glass?! They should really warn you when you order it, there is no price listed on the picture above. I think more people would think twice about it if they were told the price.
Overall we liked the Grotto, it had some similar gag's to the adventurer's club (seats that sink down), and most signature drinks came with some prescribed antics by the skippers which you heard over and over again while you were there. So many hippos were shot out of the trees!! "Two shots of rum!" That's exactly the type of chant I want my four year old learning. (Sorry that rant slipped out.)
Here I am gibbering on about the drinks and I completely forgot about the food. That's because the food was completely unremarkable. We ordered Chicken Lettuce Wraps, the sushi roll, and the fried dumplings. They were each ok at best, although to be fair all three items cost less than our one nautilus drink so really they were a bargain. Moral of the story, don't bother with food here. Go, order one drink that doesn't cost thirty dollars (any drink would do, it doesn't have to be on their specialty menu), and listen to the antics produced by the other people ordering pricey drinks. Believe me, there will be plenty of pricey drinks ordered around you. Leave before you think it's a good idea to order a nautilus. It's never a good idea!
The days are long when you don't have park tickets, there's still so much story left to tell for this day, including two more bars, a round of minigolf, a small world story to blow your mind, and Grizzly getting sent on a 90 minute bus tour of WDW. Let's get started!
We left Poly and we were going to head over to Animal Kingdom Lodge to try a zebratini. What animal drink challenge would be complete without a trip to Animal Kingdom Lodge? We had to go. We hopped on an Animal Kingdom bus, but it was also a Blizzard Beach bus. Upon seeing the Winter Summerland golf course we hopped off the bus for our very first game of Disney minigolf. Now, I've been going to Disney since 1988, and have been at least once, if not 2-3 times per year since 2002, and I have never once played a game of minigolf at Disney. And I LOVE minigolf, the cheesier the course the better. Well...the Winter side of Winter Summerland did not disappoint. It was amazing!!!! Unlike most minigolf courses where the one moving windmill never actually moves, every piece of equipment that was supposed to move, spin, make noise, or squirt was in perfect working order. I also loved that many of the holes were very forgiving, so I could see kids really enjoying it and not getting too frustrated (aka my son will not throw a fit from continually getting 6's). I can't wait to bring Tigger mini golfing next trip. For the record, I destroyed Grizzly 42 to 46.
After minigolf we hopped a bus back to Animal Kingdom to get a transfer to the lodge. Unfortunately, Disney has a bit of an oversight with this transfer system. Everyone coming from Blizzard beach gets dumped at Animal Kingdom, and then they need to find a bus back to their resort or other park. Except, you are dropped off in the middle of the bus station, and the sign that tells you where all the different buses are, is wasaaaaay back near the actual Animal Kingdom park entrance. So we trek waaaaaaay over there, only to find out that the Animal Kingdom Lodge bus is pretty close to where we started. And worse yet, we see the bus sitting there. Oh the agony of seeing a bus at your stop and being too far away. We know there's no running allowed, but I haven't heard any rules about galloping. So I'm galloping swiftly to catch the bus, and Grizzly in his infinite wisdom decides this would be the absolute best time to give me one of those playful side kicks in the butt. Except he misses my butt, but nicely catches my phone which I have been holding down by my side awaiting Pokemons. My phone goes flying, thankfully doesn't break, but in the mayhem and ensuing "what were you thinking!" growling we missed the bus. I gave Grizzly my best glare of disdain as we waited for the next bus, but didn't stay mad for long, how could I, it was actually pretty funny.
We realized on the bus ride over to Animal Kingdom that Jiko, the restaurant serving the zebratini has a dress code, and we were collectively breaking all of the rules including wearing flip flops, tank tops, and shorts. There was not a collared shirt to be had between us and definitely no sports coats. We decided it would be best to avoid Jiko, and instead stopped by the lounge above Jiko. We told them our sad tale about wanting to try the zebratini, but not meeting the dress code. The waitress told us to go right down into the bar anyways. The dress code only applies to the sit down restaurant, not the bar. Nobody will care she said. And so we did. And the we enjoyed our 11th animal drink, and no-one cared that we looked like tired grungy disney tourists:
11. Zebratini - A creamy drink including espresso (I asked for decaf), Amarillo, frangelico, and other creamy things served in a martini glass swirled with chocolate.
Grizzly and I looked longingly at our chocolate swirled glasses once the drink was gone and wondered who would notice if we stuck our snouts right in to lick the chocolate off. We kept it classy, avoided licking the glasses, and were soon on our way back to Animal Kingdom where we transferred to a Yacht Club bus. From Yacht Club we trotted over to Ample Hills for another sundae before heading over to Todd English's Blue Zoo in the Dolphin to sample their menagerie of animal drinks. And this is where the evening's fun really starts, or ends depending on how you judge fun. If fun for you is spending 90 minutes frantically riding buses, then hold on to your hats boys because you're in for a treat.
So we pull up to the bar and order a Swedish Fish and a The Local Bee's Knees:
12. Swedish Fish- an amazing drink made especially for alcoholic five year olds that tastes exactly like Swedish fish. It even comes with three Swedish fish and a very tasty Swedish fish foam.
13. The Local Bees Knees- a drink involving alcohol and honey and another tasty fancy foam layer.
About two sips into our fancy drinks Grizzly notices the register. It has a bunch of credit card symbols on it, but no Magic Band symbol or devices are in sight. Oh noooooo! We ask the lovely bar tender if they take magic bands, and she says they don't. She also says she normally warns people who she sees wearing magic bands, but since I had a purse she thought I must have had my wallet with me. Nope! I only carried my purse in order to carry my backup battery for my phone so I could play Pokemon Go all afternoon. My nerdiness really burned us this time. Who carries around a purse and only puts an extra battery in it? Grizzly agrees to "run back to the room" and I stayed and held down the fort at the Blue Zoo. After about thirty minutes without Grizzly's prompt return, the bar tender asked where our room was, and when I told her the Wilderness Lodge she felt horrible.
I passed my time chatting with the bar tender, writing my trip report, and catching Pokemons. Then the strangest thing happened as I was talking with the bar tender. Here was our conversation:
Bar tender: Everyone in my family went to school for different things.
Me: Everyone in my family is a teacher, and I swore I'd never be a teacher, but now I'm a teacher.
Stranger who just walked up to order food: Where do you teach?
Me: Upstate New York
Stranger- Oh my brother goes to college at (Insert specific university and specific program)
And to make a short story even shorter it turns out her brother was my student this past fall. How cool is that? He even happened to be one of my sweet students who gave me a card at the end of the semester that I put into my "This is why you teach folder" that I keep for those rainy days when you need a pick me up from all the BS that comes with teaching sometimes. So I got to know my student's sister a bit, we sent him a selfie, and then off she gallivanted with her salad and I remained at the bar feverishly catching Pokemon. I talked quite a bit with the bar tender. She was a performer for five years for Disney, but she didn't really like the company culture and said the girls were really nasty to each other, especially if you had a role they wanted. I don't know if she's right, but she also said that Disney charges rent based on sales for stores and restaurants, and that the rate is 40% of sales. She said she used to work for Raglan Road, said it was the highest grossing restaurant on property and would often pull in $150,000 in a single night, and Disney would take 40% of it. Those numbers are mind boggling to me.
While Grizzly was away I ordered a Mexican Mule to round off my mule choices for the weekend.
13. Mexican Mule - Another mule, this time a blend of tequila and ginger beer, also served in a special mule copper mug. This mule was by far my favorite, and actually tasted yummy.
I caught this rattata trying to take a sip:
When grizzly finally returned we had a zooberry ready for him:
14. Zooberry - A red drink that Grizzly thought was the best drink of the weekend.
The drinks at the Blue Zoo were much more expensive than the average WDW mixed drink, running $13 instead of $10, but the quality was much higher, they definitely felt fancier, and they were by far the best tasting. I would definitely stop back here sometime for a cocktail, but next time bring a credit card. We checked out shortly after Grizzly finally returned after walking to and back from the HS to catch buses to Wilderness Lodge. The sweet bartender felt so bad for Grizzly's extended effort to get us a credit card that she comped us our first round of drinks. What a sweety.
We made our way back home via Disney Springs and were in bed by 1:00am.
Stay tuned for our last and final day. Will we make it to 15 animal drinks?