Even The Nights Are Better

I really like to hangout at the parks after dark so as to enjoy the atmospheric lighting  and take some swell night-time pictures. The trouble with that is, we gots to eat! It’s really hard to forgo dinner in favor of photography. At least we made it to dusk this time.  We starting the evening by taking a stroll to Adventureland to give the Jungle Cruise another go.

We’ve been on the Orlando version of Jungle Cruise several times. The first run out of the gate we had a high-larious skipper. He was so dry-witted and his jokes were painfully  pun-tastic. Ever since then, we’ve had out-right duds. Not only do they stick to the most boring script, they mumble through the whole ride!  I was hoping for something better out here, to no avail. Oh well, it’s still a boat ride.

Mr. Jones wasn’t going to make until dinner so we decided to partake in the famed Dole Whip. They have these in WDW too, but here in Disneyland they are an institution. The line for this frozen treat is the longest we stood in for the whole trip!

The Dole Whip is a soft serve treat that is vegan and gluten free, which leads one to ask “what exactly is in there?” The answer is, you probably don’t want to know. It’s creamy, cold, and tastes like pineapple. Let’s just leave it there.

We found another very picturesque spot to enjoy our Dole Whip. This was right near the Dole Whip Stand.  Very pretty spot, and it matched the sunny yellow of our frozen treat.

Fortified, we wandered over to the Rivers of  America to set sail on the Sailing Ship Columbia.

This was the perfect time of day to take in the views without the sun bearing down. We rode on the Mark Twain last trip, so I was psyched to be able to experience this ship as well.

Speaking of food, dinner could be delayed no longer so we wound back to the front of the park. By this time, the pretty light were aglow!

 Before we exited we visited the classic attraction Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. 

Great Moments is one of those attractions that brings you face to face with Walt Disney. He created the animatronic of Abraham Lincoln for the 1964 New York World’s Fair. People were so astonished by the realism of the animatronic that children threw ball bearings (inexplicably given out at another exhibit) at Lincoln to see if he would flinch. The message contained in this presentation still holds true today:

“What constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and independence? It is not our frowning embattlements, our bristling sea coasts. These are not our reliance against tyranny. Our reliance is in the love of liberty, which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.”

Now, off to dinner. I only made one reservation for this trip for our anniversary lunch, we just winged it for the rest. This is absolutely unthinkable in WDW. Sure, you can snag a same day reservation somewhere but not any place of good repute. Here in California, walking up is usually no problem. Another plus! The choices, however, are far more limited, especially compared to the glorious superfluity of dining found at Epcot. Tonight we supped in Downtown Disney.

 

 

We (I) decided on Ralph Brennan’s. Originally I hoped to watch the Disneyland Fireworks from the balcony, but there were no shows during the week. Dang. The menu still looked great, so we forged on. It turned out to be a bit too chilly for outside anyway.

 

The atmosphere was a little more fancy pants than I expected.

 

We started out with Boudin Balls. They reminded me of the Bitter Balls we had in Amsterdam. Yes, I’ve been to Europe Daaaahling.

 These were really good. Nice chunks of tender pork shoulder in there, and the sauces were a perfect accompaniment.

Jeff got the Pasta Jambalaya. Not being an expert, I thought that it would be sacrosanct to have Jambalaya over anything but rice. He really enjoyed it though, except as you can see in this photo, he reached for the hot sauce without tasting it first. Turns out it was quite hot enough.

I was super happy with my dinner, Barbecue Shrimp and Grits.  The BBQ was very different than you would expect. The sauce was savory and perfectly balanced. Plus, there were at least a dozen juicy shrimp here. So tasty!

As soon as we sat down, the server asked us if we wanted to order the Soufflé because it takes thirty minutes to prepare. I am not a big dessert person, but I felt a certain amount of pressure to participate in this apparently must-have confection. It was fine. Not much different than the mug cakes Meghan makes in the microwave.

Our neighbors however ordered the Bananas Foster. If I had my druthers, I would have much rather blew the extra calories on a table-side pyrotechnic show, with booze.

 All in all I really enjoyed our meal, though we kind of over ordered, but we’re on vacation so, no looking back!

The night was still young so we wandered on over to the Grand Californian for a digestif. We thought it would be lovely to stop in at the Napa Rose just like on our first visit, but we were denied. The bar closed at 10:00pm. Crazy!

We ended up at the Hearth Stone Lounge, also in the Grand. This turned out to be a stellar choice.

 

We ordered two drams of our favorite Single Malt Scotch, Lagavulin 16. The barkeep asked if we wanted a double for just $2.50 more. Why yes, yes we do!

This proved to be even more of a value after we were swindled at another establishment later on in the trip, but that’s for a future installment.  Drinks imbibed, it was time to walk back to our digs. First, a little stroll the the gorgeous lobby.

 

 

And just like that we’re back at the room.

 

Next up: I’m as happy as a tornado in a trailer park!