Thursday, February 14, 2013

Thanksgiving at Disney - A Trip Report - Day 1 - Dining in the Enchanted Garden



Before I share all the food photos, I'm going to make a quick disclaimer!  First, I didn't think to write down the names of all the foods we ate.  I believe the menu can change, but I've looked up the menus for your benefit here.  Either way, just enjoy the pics, ok?  ;-)  Second, this meal I was having major issues with my head making a shadow in my photos.  Like I mentioned before, I'm not a professional photographer, and I definitely need to work on my food photography skills!  That said... bon appatit!

My family was seated almost immediately at a large table away from the windows.  Our server was a sweet, young man named Niks. He absolutely did not understand my brother-in-law's sense of humor which made things quite humorous to us but not so much to Niks. I think he thought we were insane! Our drink server was Bima.  Both were very attentive.  The first night Mom asked for a glass of skim milk, and so every night after Bima brought her a glass with her other beverage.  Bima, on the other hand, could not seem to understand Dad's heavy southern accent which also made us all giggle. We were a table full of miscommunications!

On a side note: The waters were very choppy many times during our cruise, and this night was one of those times.  The captain made an announcement to our rooms about it and let us know that Guest Services was giving away free Dramamine.  While I did not have any issues with seasickness during my high school cruise, it got me this trip. Thankfully I was only mildly nauseous, but it lasted pretty much the entire cruise (whenever the boat was in motion and not docked).  Dramamine did help when I could remember to take it.  This meal Mom and I were both really feeling the movement of the boat.

The menu at the Enchanted Garden looked fantastic, and we all found items we were eager to taste.  Instead of describing it all, here are the photos of our meal:

This was my favorite spread for bread of all 3 nights - it was
pretty much hummus, but oh my goodness, it was perfection!
It was called Chickpea-Garlic Puree.
The North Atlantic Lobster Ravioli was delicious!
The broth was light and made for the perfect appetizer.
See what I mean about my head's shadow being in
my shots? I've got to work on that! 
Mom had the Thyme and Garlic Brioche.  It was yummy, but I'm not a big
mushroom fan, so I was glad I got ravioli!
I also had a Heirloom Tomato Soup. It was more of a tomato basil soup than
your basic tomato, but it wasn't anything special. I still very
much so enjoyed it.
Mom enjoyed a Spinach and Raspberry salad. While I'm talking about my mother's and
my meals so far, it's mostly just because we all ordered the same items.

One of the great things for the kids (and everyone else in our party) was that they served the kids much quicker than the adults, so they could leave around 9 to go to the kids' club.  They were picked up at the front of the dining room, and then we could pick them up after dinner.  This meant with the late seating, the kids didn't sit there starving, waiting for their food, and they didn't have to wait for us to finish our leisurely dinner.  No one was rushed this way.  I highly recommend using this perk!  Even if the kiddos are tired, remember the photos of the kids' club showed there were plenty of places of them to lie down to watch a movie.

Mid-meal and the kids already had their Mickey bars! They devoured one
of these treats every single night!  Both agreed that the best part
was that the Mickey bars came out with sprinkles and chocolate! 
This was the Caramelized Sea Scallops dish.  Mom only ate about half of it, but she really
wasn't feeling well.  She said she didn't really like this entree, but
she wasn't tasting much at that point.
This was the table favorite: Slow Roasted Prime Rib! We all loved it, and it was by far
my favorite meal of the entire trip (on both land and sea)!
LaRae got the Roasted Pork Tenderloin seasoned with Smoked Salt.
While tasty, it was no prime rib. ;-)
Niks brought us an off-menu chef special while we waited for our
desserts: fresh truffles. They were chocolate and mango. You know
me and my weird fruit thing, so I stuck to the chocolate ones!
Mom never could really decide on one dessert. She always got the
dessert trio, so she could taste more than one!  This one is the Sweet Temptations
which had a Passion Fruit Tart, Strawberry Cheesecake, and Sacher Torte.
Most of the desserts on this menu had fruit in them which is a big no-no
for LaRae & I.  Thankfully it was Mickey's birthday, so we were able
to order a piece of his birthday cake!  It was not the best dessert
of the trip, but the prime rib was so amazing that I hardly noticed!
Dad had a Banana Foster Sundae.
Randy had the Sacher Torte... it has some sort of fruit in it...
LaRae and Randy in the Garden

While I really enjoyed the meal in the Enchanted Garden, I did not notice many "enchanted" items in it.   The lights changed colors a bit, and the room seemed to change times of day.  The lights looked like flowers and each petal had a small pulley.  I thought for sure that the flowers would open and close, but they remained static all night.  Other than that, the meal itself was phenomenal.  I can already tell I'm going to need my thesaurus to describe the rest of our meals!

After dinner we picked up the kids and went back to our cabins to go to bed.  Since we dined so late, we never really wanted to visit the late night buffets.  Besides the beds were like sleeping on a cloud!  The quicker I could get in mine, the better!  Oh, and can I add that the interior cabins are deliciously dark at night, so sleeping is absolutely wonderful (once you get past the rocking of the ship)!

Join me on Monday for the start of Day 2 and a tour of the Rainforest Room in the Dream's spa.


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