Today we spent an afternoon in the Caribbean. Well, close to it. We spent the afternoon at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. This moderate Disney hotel transports guests to a lush tropical paradise patterned after these popular vacation destinations - Aruba, Jamaica, Barbados, Martinique and Trinidad.
It's hard not to smile among all the brightly colored buildings and the upbeat island-style music playing throughout. The Caribbean Beach Resort holds some very special personal memories for us. Our first visit to this resort was 18 years ago when we were newly in-love. While sharing a meal of chicken fingers in Old Port Royale (the town center for food and shopping) another guest stopped at our table and asked if we were on our honeymoon (nope, just dating).
At that time, Old Port Royale was one of the very few places in Walt Disney World to enjoy the generously sized and perfectly battered and fried chicken fingers with a side of Ken's honey mustard dressing - delicious! We often returned to Caribbean Beach specifically for the chicken fingers. Later, they were much easier to find as the same chicken fingers became available at nearly every counter service restaurant throught the theme parks and hotels. So far so good.
Fast forward to today... the chicken fingers we once loved have been replaced with much less attractive chicken nuggets. While the fingers were (almost) always fresh and meaty, the nuggets seem to be more coating than chicken and are cooked so far in advance they are nearly always cold. And the delicious honey mustard? It has been replaced too by a Heinz product which is far less sweet - making it less appetizing as a dipping sauce.
My husband and I have had so many bad experiences with the chicken nuggets, we won't even order them any more. For today's visit to Old Port Royale, we simply shared an order of fries. The nuggets were introduced about two years ago followed by the switch to the Heinz mustard. We really hope Disney returns to the chicken strips and Ken's honey mustard.
At least the spirit of Caribbean Beach has not changed. Strolling along the tropical pathways along white sand beaches and hammocks still makes it a favorite place to enjoy a mini Disney vacation.