A friend of mine just returned from a vacation in the Caribbean. After hearing about the trip, I wanted a little taste of the islands for myself so we headed off to Disney Caribbean Beach Resort.
While I was hoping to hear steel drums playing (tropical music always plays outdoors and in the Old Port Royale food and entertainment area), it was all about the pirates today. Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean to be exact.
It seems with the newest Pirates film now in theaters, Disney changed the overhead music track (at least while we were there) to theme music from the Magic Kingdom Pirates ride and possibly the movie. It was a relatively short track so you quickly get this "I've heard this before" vibe. Lots of dramatic loud music along with my favorite Yo Ho! Yo Ho! It's a pirate's life for me. Even though it is my favorite, I was still hoping for steel drums.
It was a beautiful sunny day and after strolling around Caribbean Cay. Caribbean Cay is an island accessible by footbridge just beyond the mail pool. It has winding paths and places to stop for relaxation or play including romantic gliders for two, gazebos with bench seating for the whole family, comfy hammocks and a children's playground.
We returned to Old Port Royale to grab a sandwich. We often seem to just miss the opening hours for the Market Street Deli, but today it was open so we instantly opted for that station and selected the Philly Cheese Steak.
I don't want to say that the cheese steak was bad, because the overall quality of the meat was good and the bread was fresh. It was just super bland. Hardly any flavor to it at all. I still have to say that the Cheese Steak Wrap at Disney's Pop Century is still a best bet if you're after the flavor of Philly.
The sandwich is served with your choice of pasta salad (more what I would call macaroni salad) or homemade potato chips. The chips were unique but nothing super special. They were topped with an unusual blend of spices - one of which was sweet. I didn't care for the sweet. To me, it is similar to the cinnamon-infused white rice at the Magic Kingdom's Crystal Palace buffet. Ick... I don't want cinnamon in my rice.
Refillable mugs at Walt Disney World have changed after a long run of the red Mickey Mug. We first noticed during our visit to the Pop Century Resort last week. We began seeing guests carrying a new design. During a visit to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, the mugs had been completely replaced with the new design.
The new refillable mugs have a cute pool scene with several Disney characters. Four cap/handle colors are available: black, pink, blue and yellow. Black and blue are the most difficult to find. Yellow seems to be the least popular color.
When I first noticed a guest with the new design, I thought it must have come from a Disney water park. Mickey Mouse is shown exiting a big water slide, Minnie Mouse is poolside on a lounge and Goofy is playing in the water. Pluto, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck are also on the cup.
If you're not familiar with the soft drink refill program, here's the rundown. Guests buy a mug for $13.99 for continuous filling at the beverage station available at your resort's food court area (or designated filling station). Choices include various Coke products, ice tea, coffee, tea and hot cocoa. The mug is only good during the duration of your current visit and only at your own resort. We often stayed at Pop Century for our Disney vacations because the refills used to also included Coke and Raspberry Icees. They are no longer served at the resort due to problems with the machines. We miss the Icees! One last note... refillable mugs are not good at the Disney World theme parks.
Speaking of food courts, we decided to snack on an order of chili cheese fries at Disney's Caribbean Beach resort. This is what we got:
We order chili cheese fries all the time and have never had them served like this before. The chili and cheese were served in separate small cups. Each cup held about 2-3 tablespoons. We asked if this was a change (normally the chili and cheese is spooned on top) and were told that some guests had complained and wanted to put the toppings on themselves. I like it served the old way - it felt like we got a whole lot more toppings that way. Especially, since an order of chili cheese fries at Disney costs about $5.
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.
