Nineteen nights of MouseFest, Disney and Christmas - THREAD 4 - UPDATED 3/17 About This Page:

[WDWfan]

I had heard that people decorated at FW, but I had no idea the extent of the decorating. I Christmas lights. I may have to schedule a sleigh ride at FW for my next trip to Mousefest.

[DyanKJ130]

Sounds like a wonderful sleigh ride! Can't wait to hear more

[Lemap760]

It's nice to see Fort Wilderness all decked out for the holidays.

[chezp]

Sunday 16 December – part five: I want to feel my fingers and toes!

The wind had obviously got stronger while we had been on the carriage. We went to get the boat back to the Wilderness Lodge and just missed one and had to wait for another one. Oh my goodness, if it was cold on the dock waiting for the boat, that was nothing compared to what it was like on board. Oh the way over to the Contemporary, we had the wind right in our face and boy, it was strong. At least we got some relief when we headed for the Wilderness Lodge.


Mark freezing!

Even so, when we got back into the Wilderness Lodge, we were freezing. We were half an hour early for Artist Point, but checked in anyway. However, it was not to be our night, as we were told that they were running behind. Our priority was to warm up, so we grabbed hot chocolate from Roaring Forks and grabbed seats in front of the Grand Canyon Fireplace in the lobby. By the time we had finished our drinks, we could just about feel our toes and fingers again.


The Grand Canyon fireplace

We were eventually called to our dinner at Artist Point at around 8.10 and it was so well worth the wait. This has to be the best meal on this vacation so far. I had really forgotten how great the theming is here. You can really tell that this place was designed by the same person designed the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland. The touches in here are very similar and I couldn’t help but think of eating in the Storytellers’ Café and Napa Rose, as we sat there.



It wasn’t long before we met our server Andres, who was a double for Sylvester Stallone, both in looks and in voice. It was quite uncanny and Mark became convinced that he probably worked as a double for him at some point! Now, why on earth didn’t I take a photo of him, so I could show you? :headsmack:

Andres certainly looked after us very well and, as you’d expect from this standard of restaurant, knew the menu and wine list thoroughly. For appetiser, Mark went for the crispy venison spring rolls with hot sweet and sour sauce, while I had the smokey Portobello soup with roasted shiitakes and chive oil. Neither of us could really fault them, they were both excellent.



For main course, I went for the pan-seared halibut with roasted fingerling potatoes, asparagus and rose beurre blanc, while Mark had the grilled beef tenderloin with roasted garlic potato cake, wild mushrooms, spinach and carmelized onion sauce.


Mark waiting for his main course to arrive!


We always think that the sign of a good meal is that you don’t feel completely full after your main course and still have room for dessert and that’s exactly how it was here. To finish off, I had the Artist Point Cobbler, seasonal berries and house-made black raspberry ice cream, which was really good. Mark had the warm heirloom apple tart with candied pecans and spice syrup. It did come with buttermilk ice cream, but Mark passed on that. Both were great, but there was no way I could finish mine, it was sadly just too much for me.



All in all, this was a superb meal and I came away wondering why it had taken us three years to get back here. We mustn’t leave it so long next time. : The bill, with good tip for Andres, came to $121 and that also included a glass of wine for me and a glass of beer for Mark. I don’t think that was bad value for what we got.

Artist Point:

Appetiser 10 9½
Main course 9½ 10
Dessert 10 9
Service 10 10
Atmosphere 9 9½
Value for money 9 9

Average score: 9.54

By the time we had finished, we had well and truly missed Illuminations. We had been hoping to get back to the room to see it, but our leisurely meal had put paid to that. Still, never mind. It was such good food we weren’t really worried.

Today we walked 5.31 miles.
The weather today was windy, cool and cloudy in the morning, but hot and sunny in the afternoon with temperatures in the 70’s.
The best thing today was swimming with the dolphins.
The worst thing today was how cold it was while we did the dolphin swim and then later on in the evening.
The funniest thing today was Oliver and Hannah at Discovery Cove.
Today we tried the sleigh ride at Fort Wilderness
And the result was it’s much better than the one at the Wilderness Lodge.
The most magical moment today was riding back with our dolphin Natasha.

Next: OK, who turned off the heating?

[BritDisFan]

Goodness Mark looks freezing! What a lovely meal at AP, your cobbler looks delicious .

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you had a fantastic meal at Artist Point Sorry you guys were so cold

[MickeyMAC]

Your meal looks fantastic. Sorry you got so cold.

[mestitch]

your meal looked delicious!!! And it was coooooold that night!!!

[scrapbookmomma3]

I am simply amazed by how much you are able to fit in a day. It's inspiring! I love reading! More please!

[emtpej]

I vote for the Artist Point Cobbler as most colorful dessert!

[disneydani]

Sounds like a delicious meal at AP...you ordered my boys' favorite appetizers, too. Sorry about the cold and windy evening, though I like the way you warmed up!

danielle

[lauren-roxy]

Your sleigh ride sounds amazing!!! Your meal at Artist Point looked so delicious!!!

[Joy J]

I'm just catching up with your trip report and it sounds like you're having a fabulous time. Sorry about the cold (been there, done that) but it sounds like you chose the perfect way to warm up.

Joy

[RobDVC]

So glad you had a nice bone-warming meal after that bone-chilling boat ride.

[lexiemom]

Brrrrrr that boat ride sounded cold! Your meal sounded wonderful.