Celebrating 50 Disney style! Complete w. cost breakdown and OOP vs DDP thoughts.

suse66

When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true!
Joined
Sep 3, 2008
Hi everyone! When I was last in Disney in March of this year my lovely DH gave the best early birthday present I could ever ask for.........a solo trip to Disney! My actual birthday is June 23rd but due to the fact I'm a kindergarten teacher and it's the end of our school year then, I decided to book my trip for August. I'm heading out in 18 days to the Boardwalk Inn and will be there from August 21st-25th!!!

So excited to be back in my happy place to eat, drink and celebrate being 50! Right now I have the following planned;

Sanaa lunch
Garden Grill breakfast
California Grill dinner
Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian
Hollywood Brown Derby lunch
Flying Fish dinner
Skippers Canteen lunch

Plus assorted snacks, occasional QS meals and beverages!!! I am going OOP again as I like the flexibility of ordering a couple of appetizers for a meal and won't want dessert with every meal. Looking forward to my first ever solo Disney adventure and of course sharing those adventures with all of you!
 
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Well I of course am here and fingers crossed hoping I may even may an appearance in your report :-)
 


In order to stop myself from packing two weeks early, I thought I'd plan QS meals, snacks and bevvies instead!

Sunday evening at AK~ Something light from Yak and Yeti CS. Drop in to the Dawa Bar for an African Margarita or a Watermelon Mimosa.
Monday afternoon at EP~ La Cava for guac'n'chips along with an avocado margarita.
Tuesday breakfast at Disney Springs~ WPE for breakfast pizza before shopping for a beautiful new Dooney bag!
Tuesday evening at EP~ A Cider and Black always goes down well while watching the band in the UK.
Wednesday breakfast~ Boardwalk bakery. Pool drinks in the afternoon at Leaping Horse Libations, I think the Roller Coaster Meltdown is calling my name!
Wednesday night at MK~ Pecos Bill? Friars Nook? Cosmic Rays? Ice cream for dinner???
Thursday breakfast at the Bellevue Lounge before heading out to RD at MK.

Snack must do's......Key Lime tart at Boardwalk Bakery.....Ooey Gooey Butter Cake Ice Cream at Ample Hills.....Churros in Mexico.....dark chocolate sea salt caramel in Germany.....Raspberry and Lime Macaroons in France.

Must stop in to AbracadaBar to check it out and try the Pepper's Ghost Cocktail........also need to to sample the Bellevue Cosmopolitan at the Bellevue Lounge. So much yummy food and drink.....I really need to book another trip!
 
Only one more week!! I decided to cancel my Flying Fish dinner as I was worried it was too soon after my lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby. Guess I better take advantage of my AP and book another trip so I can check it out! :)
 
Only one more week!! I decided to cancel my Flying Fish dinner as I was worried it was too soon after my lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby. Guess I better take advantage of my AP and book another trip so I can check it out! :)

Hurrah for one week!! FF has a pretty big bar area so you can always make a "last minute" decision to stop in and check it out- for just a drink, small bite or full meal! But another trip is a good idea too!!
 
Hi everyone, I'm back from an absolutely amazing solo trip to the World. I had so much fun and would book another solo trip in a heartbeat! I arrived at the Boardwalk at 12:30 and after dropping my bags with Bell Services, I waited for the Animal Kingdom bus and was on my way to Sanaa for lunch! I had about an hour before my reservation so decided to walk over to Jambo house and check out the resort. The grounds are beautiful and it was nice to get a feel for the resort. I checked in at Sanaa at 2:15 for my 2:25 reservation and was seated at 2:40. I was quite surprised with how busy the restaurant was. I didn't mind the wait as I sat along the windows overlooking the savannah and was quite entertained by three giraffes ambling along.

I was led to a lovely two top in the middle of the room that had great sightlines to a large window.My waiter was Michael and he was very friendly and welcoming. He was very aware of my nut allergies and went over the menu in detail with me. As it was the first day of vacation, I decided to treat myself to the Sanaa white wine flight.
IMG_2638.JPG
From left to right, these are the Gameskeeper Chenin Blanc, DMZ Chardonnay and The Bellingham Chenin Blanc. My favourite of these was the DMZ, followed by the Gameskeeper. Each glass was about a 2-3 oz pour. I decided to go with two appetizers as my meal; the salad sampler and the potato and pea samosas.

The salad sampler included three fabulous salads; watermelon, cucumber and fennel, golden and red beet and chickpea. The watermelon salad was out of this world delicious, a clear front runner with the beet salad a close second. I enjoyed the chickpea salad as well but it is very similar to one I make regularly at home, so nothing new or exciting for me.
IMG_2639.JPG
Michael was sure to space out my two appetizers so I had plenty of time to savour my meal and enjoy the ambiance of the restaurant. My samosas were piping hot, flaky and filled with potato and peas. The tamarind and mango chutney complimented them perfectly. Between the salad and the samosas, this was a perfect amount of food.
IMG_2640.JPG
Overall, this was an awesome lunch to start my 50th trip off right! I had a little trouble with getting room charges settled onto my magic band but was once that was settled I was on my way for a fun filled afternoon and evening at Animal Kingdom!
 
Hi everyone, I'm back from an absolutely amazing solo trip to the World. I had so much fun and would book another solo trip in a heartbeat! I arrived at the Boardwalk at 12:30 and after dropping my bags with Bell Services, I waited for the Animal Kingdom bus and was on my way to Sanaa for lunch! I had about an hour before my reservation so decided to walk over to Jambo house and check out the resort. The grounds are beautiful and it was nice to get a feel for the resort. I checked in at Sanaa at 2:15 for my 2:25 reservation and was seated at 2:40. I was quite surprised with how busy the restaurant was. I didn't mind the wait as I sat along the windows overlooking the savannah and was quite entertained by three giraffes ambling along.

I was led to a lovely two top in the middle of the room that had great sightlines to a large window.My waiter was Michael and he was very friendly and welcoming. He was very aware of my nut allergies and went over the menu in detail with me. As it was the first day of vacation, I decided to treat myself to the Sanaa white wine flight.
View attachment 190412
From left to right, these are the Gameskeeper Chenin Blanc, DMZ Chardonnay and The Bellingham Chenin Blanc. My favourite of these was the DMZ, followed by the Gameskeeper. Each glass was about a 2-3 oz pour. I decided to go with two appetizers as my meal; the salad sampler and the potato and pea samosas.

The salad sampler included three fabulous salads; watermelon, cucumber and fennel, golden and red beet and chickpea. The watermelon salad was out of this world delicious, a clear front runner with the beet salad a close second. I enjoyed the chickpea salad as well but it is very similar to one I make regularly at home, so nothing new or exciting for me.
View attachment 190413
Michael was sure to space out my two appetizers so I had plenty of time to savour my meal and enjoy the ambiance of the restaurant. My samosas were piping hot, flaky and filled with potato and peas. The tamarind and mango chutney complimented them perfectly. Between the salad and the samosas, this was a perfect amount of food.
View attachment 190415
Overall, this was an awesome lunch to start my 50th trip off right! I had a little trouble with getting room charges settled onto my magic band but was once that was settled I was on my way for a fun filled afternoon and evening at Animal Kingdom!
are those tiny glasses because those look like big pours to me, lol!
 
are those tiny glasses because those look like big pours to me, lol!
The glasses were pretty small Lisa. Certainly nothing like my white wine glasses at home that I feel like I could pour 1/2 of a bottle in!
 
Looks fabulous!! I have yet to try Sanaa...your post is sending up toward the top of the to-do list. So glad you had a great start to your birthday trip!
 
Looks fabulous!! I have yet to try Sanaa...your post is sending up toward the top of the to-do list. So glad you had a great start to your birthday trip!
Thanks so much! Yes, a bday trip was just the thing and I can't wait to go back again! i would highly recommend trying Sanaa, I'm sure you would enjoy it! :)
 
After finishing my gorgeous lunch at Sanaa, I was ready to head over to play at Animal Kingdom! I took some fun photos at the Tree of Life (Love photopass!), met my favourite pals Baloo and King Eddie, thoroughly enjoyed watching "Finding Nemo the Musical", tried my best to capture a Yeti and took in some incredible African dancing and music. By this point I was hot and feeling a bit peckish so I decided to wander over to Harambe Market and see what they had to offer. i decided to try the African milk tart which was a super yummy creamy coconut centre in a chocolate pastry shell, drizzled with dark chocolate. This was awesome!! Cold, creamy and not too sweet with lots of yummy coconut. IMG_2647.JPG
After enjoying this, I had some time to kill before my FP for the safari so decided to get in the mood with an icy cold Safari Amber! This was sheer perfection and so, so refreshing in the 36C heat!
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After riding the safari I decided that I couldn't wait to visit my beloved MK for another night. So I skipped my planned FP for Jungle Book and headed off to watch Wishes and ride IASW before it went down for refurb. Before I tally up today's totals, here is my fave pic from today....this character meet was so fun!
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Today's totals:
Lunch at Sanaa: $17.00 (wine flight $15.00)
Harambe market: African milk tart $4.79
Safari Amber $9.00
Yes, I just noticed that I spent more on adult bevvies today than I did on actual food....oh well! It was a terrific first day and I really enjoyed the food and drink I sampled.
 
Wow, that milk tart looks awesome! I am going to have to add that to my must try snack list!

Love the pic of Baloo & King Louie! WE had a great meet with them last year!
 

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