Disney Eats, Traveling Disney Style

The Polite Pig

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To say Disney Springs has grown since Downtown Disney was first created would be the understatement of the year. Every time we go to Disney there are new shops and restaurants to visit. However, we have some that are our standard favorites, and I’m sharing one of those today along with a few tips for heading to Disney Springs during the warmer months. First up, let’s talk about one of our favorite lunch places, The Polite Pig.

We have visited The Polite Pig before, and there are three things that make it one of our favorites. First, it’s fast casual, but they bring the food to you. I like this because we don’t have to wrangle trays trying to get to our seats like a lot of quick service in the parks. Second, the prices are super reasonable for the amount of food you get. A lot of the meals are shareable, and the boys will usually get a kids’ meal and then eat some of the brisket off of my plate. Third, like one of our favorite restaurants at home, there isn’t a “waiter”, but there are people who will come and refill your drink and check on you during your meal (side note: you can tip these servers when you pay at the front when your order, so if you’re wondering what the tip area is for, this is it).

On this trip I ordered the brisket and cauliflower:

B got the pulled pork sandwich:

A got the kids’ pulled pork sandwich:

 

And J got the chicken fingers and fries:

All of our meals were tasty, flavorful, and I probably could’ve eaten another helping of cauliflower. My only regret was we went too early to get one of the famous Gideon Bakery chocolate chip cookies that they have (you can usually get them after 4:00 p.m.). Oh! You also can pick from a selection of sauces with your meal. And when you’re done, they bus the table, so you can just get up and go.

Now, on to a couple of extra tips! It gets really hot at Disney Springs from May-October, so I always suggest getting there when they open at 10:00 a.m. shopping a bit then having lunch and leaving to go back to the resort pool (our favorite plan). Or set-up a table service reservation for 7:00 p.m. then wait until late afternoon (around 5:00 p.m.) and head there, do some shopping and then go to dinner. It tends to be super crowded at night, so we opt for the earlier option quite a bit more. If you stay at Port Orleans, you can take the boat!

However, if you are driving over to Disney Springs, choose your parking garage wisely. All of the parking garages are free, but because of the size of Disney Springs some are more convenient than others depending on where you are eating/shopping. For example, The Polite Pig is right next to The Lime Garage.

We parked there and did some shopping and then had lunch! After that we headed back to the resort and had a calm afternoon because we were headed to Villains After Hours that night. Disney Springs is definitely a great way to spend some non-park time and The Polite Pig is a great place to eat while you are there! For our previous review of The Polite Pig check here.

My sunnies, shirt, shorts, and shoes.

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Disney Eats, Traveling Disney Style

Disney Five Day Travel Guide

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One of the things that we get asked a lot about going to Disney, is it worth it to do all the work/planning ahead to go? And my answer is always yes. I’m a planner by nature, so I love checklists, charts, etc. so planning all of our days in advance is definitely something I enjoy. However, even if you are not a planner like me, you can still do just a bit of pre-trip organization to make your experience while you’re there much more enjoyable. Our favorite website to use for ride/event planning is WDWPrepSchool, and our favorite food planning site is DisneyFoodBlog. For every trip we go on I plan out a travel guide that includes our fast passes, dining places, and events. We sometimes follow it exactly, and other times we go off the path. For example, on our last trip we walked into Disney early on Saturday, so we ran to fantasyland and liberty square and walked on several rides we weren’t planning to go on. Another day, we were headed out of lunch in Frontierland and there was only a 25 minute wait at Splash Mountain so B and J went and rode it.

A couple of other items to note, as I’ve talked about in the past A doesn’t like big rides, so we actually divide up our magic bands, so J can ride them with either B or I. You can tell this in the set-up if there is a big ride, but it says N & A it is typically J & N. This is a good plan if you have one like ours, or a kiddo who’s not quite tall enough for the rides and one who is.

The last thing, is that I try to plan so we aren’t trekking back and forth across the park, you will log a lot of steps anyway, and backtracking with kids is not fun. Happy Disney trip planning!

Disney World

Monday-Arrival Day

  • Arrive at Beach Club and drop off luggage 
  • Animal Kingdom Lodge
  • Lunch: The Mara
  • Pool at Beach Club

Tuesday- Magic Kingdom Day 1

  • Pirates of the Caribbean 
  • Jungle Cruise
  • Dole Whip Snack Aloha Isle
  • Pirate Adventure Kiosk
  • Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse
  • Lunch: Pecos Bill 
  • Thunder Mountain 11:40-12:40 FP x 2 A &B
  • Splash Mountain 12:35-1:35 FP x 2 J & N
  • Tom Sawyer Island
  • Haunted Mansion FP x 4 1:35-2:35
  • Peter Pan FP x 4 2:40-3:40
  • Finish pirate scavenger hunt
  • Take Disney train 
  • Mermaid cupcake or Mickey cinnamon roll
  • Dinner: Casey’s Corner

Wednesday- Epcot Day 2

  • Frozen Ever After
  • Explore World Showcase
  • Test Track FP x 4 1:30-2:30
  • Spaceship Earth FP x 4 3:00-4:00
  • Living with the Land FP x 4 4:45-5:45
  • The Seas
  • Finding Nemo Ride 
  • Dinner: Coral Reef 6:50 p.m.
  • Soarin’

Thursday- Hollywood Studios Day 3

  • Toy Story Mania FP x 4 9:45-10:45
  • Lunch: ABC Commissary 
  • Rocking roller coaster 12:00-1:00 FP x 2 B & J
  • March of the First Order 1:00
  • Tower of Terror 12:40-1:40 FP x 2 N & A
  • Star Tours x 2 FP 2:15-3:15 B & J
  • Muppets 3 D
  • Dinner: Via Napoli 7:05 p.m.

Friday-Animal Kingdom Day 4

  • Wilderness Explorer Books
  • Kilimanjaro Safari
  • Rafiki’s Planet Watch
  • Jungle Juice Slush @ Tambu Tambu- Snack
  • Pretzel – Snack
  • Gorilla Falls Trail
  • Lunch: Flame Tree BBQ QS 11:00
  • Kali River Rapids – FP x 4 12:25-1:25
  • Dinosaur 1:50-2:50 FP x 2 B & J
  • Boneyard
  • Snack
  • Navi River Journey 3:05-4:05 FP x 2 N & A
  • Flight of Passage x 2 3:25-4:25 FP x 2 B & J
  • Expedition Everest x 2 4:40-5:40 N & A
  • Maharajah Jungle Trek
  • Flights of Wonder
  • Dinner: Yak and Yeti 6:15 p.m.

Saturday – Magic Kingdom Day 5

  • Breakfast: Ohana 7:50 a.m.
  • Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
  • Prince Charming Carousel
  • It’s a small world 
  • Dumbo 
  • Meet Disney carnival characters
  • Lunch: Be Our Guest 12:20 p.m.
  • Seven Dwarves 1:05-2:05 FP x 2 B & J
  • Little Mermaid 1:10-2:10 FP x 2 N & A
  • Carousel of Progress
  • Space Mountain 3:10-4:10 FP x 2 B & J
  • Tomorrowland Speedway 2:30-3:30 FP x 2 N & A
  • Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor 
  • Buzz Lightyear 4:35-5:35 FP x 4 
  • Dinner: Ohana 6:50 p.m.
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Disney Eats, Traveling Disney Style

Coral Reef Review

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This was our second trip to Coral Reef in Epcot, and it was much improved from our first meal. The first time we ate at Coral Reef two years ago, our food was okay, our table was decent, and our waiter was fine. On this trip I requested a table by the aquarium (which we got), the food was excellent, and our waiter was wonderful. My advice with this is never count a Disney restaurant out. This was my husband’s pick on this trip, and I was reluctant to go. However, when the boys left the restaurant still chatting with the waiter and flying their Buzz Lightyear light up toys, I was sad it was already over! Now to share more about our experience!

Here is our friend that sat by J throughout dinner:

And A checking out the kids’ menu:

We started out with a basket of rolls (always a win in my book). These were fabulously fluffy yeast rolls, sprinkled with flour, and served with fresh butter:

Next we ordered the calamari appetizer. These were a tad salty for me (but I hardly like salt at all), otherwise they were perfectly tender, and the boys ate them up. They come with a very light corn salsa, which is a refreshing twist on the typical cocktail sauce you get with calamari.

For the boys’ meals A ordered Alfredo shells, which were creamy and rich:

And J ordered shrimp and grits, which were not overly spicy, so it was very apparent that the chef was mindful that this was a kid dish (which I appreciated greatly!):

The boys ordered fruit cups with their meals which were filled with fresh fruit:

I ordered the seared mahi mahi with jasmine rice, coconut and cilantro-lime sauce, and avocado mango salsa. The fish was flaky and tender, the salsa was refreshing, and I can see why it’s one of their highly recommended dishes:

And B ordered the grilled sirloin steak, and the steak was exactly medium as he requested and the mashed potatoes and creamed spinach were shared around the table!

And finally, the boys had ice cream sandwiches for dessert that were truly a sight to behold:

Fruity pebble “bread” with vanilla ice cream center and a chocolate pearl. Very instagrammable! They were a little tricky to eat, but they managed to make the fruity pebbles not taste overly sweet, and they kept their crispiness with a great chew added by the marshmallow.

The boys left the restaurant  zooming Buzz Lightyears through Epcot:

That matched the glow of Spaceship Earth:

And then we took a quick trip on the Nemo and Friends ride:

To finish off a great dinner and evening!

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