Category Archives: Wining & Dining

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Christmas at Wilderness Lodge

We kicked around several resorts for Christmas 2022, but Wilderness Lodge just seemed like the perfect place for Christmas. Especially when Christmas Day was that super cold day (somewhere in the 40s)–freezing for Florida. It was too cold to walk the property so we spent our time inside the Lodge.

We booked lunch at Whispering Canyon, which served a traditional Christmas turkey skillet dinner. It wasn’t what we were expecting and it seemed rather average in idea, but it was amazingly delicious!






And now we’ve caught up with our Disney adventures since we arrived back in Florida the end of June.

To many more adventures!

Happy New Year!

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Birthday at the Yachtsman Steakhouse

Thankfully, we were both recovered from Covid by the time Rich’s birthday rolled around the following month. He chose the Yachtsman Steakhouse. We hadn’t eaten there in over a decade. So long ago, they still had the salted crusted baked potato. Our server was shocked when we mentioned that – lol!

Speaking of our server, he was amazing. His name was David and he gave us excellent service without intruding upon our personal space like the Jiko server did. The food was incredible, too. The Caesar salad (marinated white anchovies and olive oil croutons) – well, the croutons are the only reason I need to dine there again. I know, crazy, isn’t it?

First we started off with Martinis, dirty, of course. Rich had the Wedge Salad, I had the Caesar, Rich had his the  Filet Mignon with Truffle Mac n Cheese, and I had the Filet Mignon with House Made Truffle Fries. We ordered Strawberry Shortcake for dessert and David brought us over some kind of chocolate birthday surprise. Overall, an unforgettable evening and birthday worthy celebration!!

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Birthday Dinner at Jiko

We were due to switch air bnbs on my birthday so we made reservations for my birthday dinner at Jiko on the following Saturday. Jiko had recently reopened and we were excited about it.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge a bit early to walk around and have a drink at Victoria Falls. Then when it was time for our ressie, we carried our drinks in to dinner with us.

It’s been a while since then so I don’t remember the details, such as the server’s name, but she was very enthusiastic and thorough. She told us stories about the excitement and hugs the CMs gave each other when they reported back to work.

Rich was looking for a white wine to pair with his entree, so she recommended a wine for tasting and it was just what he was looking for. I had a South African red. She took our order and stopped by frequently to chat and joke around with us.

Maybe too much interaction because a few days later I tested positive for Covid. Two days after that, Rich did. We’d been so careful and this is the closest we’d come to interacting with anybody but it was also when that crazy contagious strain was making the rounds last summer.

Anyway, here are a few photos of our otherwise wonderful evening at Jiko. As I recall, I had the deliciously tender short rib and I have no idea what Rich had but probably some kind of fish. And everything was quite delicious! Disney does a great job at making your birthday feel special!