Day Three - Resort fun and Disney Date Night

Saturday was our third day, and it was a special one. June 15th is our wedding anniversary, and to be celebrating it at Disney is always a magical time. We wanted to do something different to celebrate our anniversary. We will highlight some of the ways you can celebrate an anniversary at the most magical place in the world and enjoy some quality family time as well.

As we have mentioned in our earlier posts, we wanted this to be a different trip. We wanted to experience the resort we were staying at and enjoy some non-park amenities as well. Today was our first non-park day. The weekend park crowds tend to be more elevated, so we decided Saturday would make a great day to enjoy our resort and celebrate our anniversary.  

Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory

Our day begins at breakfast as many great days do. We decided to go to Port Orleans French Quarter, which is a short walk along the Sassagoula River to the Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory. Now I have to admit breakfast here was not as top-notch as the last visit but the Mickey Beignets are always a must. There was not a lack of Mickey waffle at our table, definitely a Disney World staple. 

The eggs during this breakfast were a little bland, so I suggest some salt, pepper or maybe some hot sauce help make them edible. The Mickey Beignets were excellent although a little doughy this time around.

We also bought the dipping sauce flight, which is a chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce, and a caramel sauce. The chocolate was my favorite; the caramel was a close second, and then the strawberry sauce I do not recommend.

The kids traded some pin with a cast member who looked dressed up for Mardi Gras.

We spent most of the morning playing at the pool at Riverside. It was a great morning; it was nice to relax at the resort and sip a few drinks while the kids played. Old Man Island has a large slide designed like an old sawmill. Make sure to go down the slide with your little ones because it is always fun to see the look on their faces when their family members let loose. I recommend planning days into your vacation for some resort time. Honestly, some of the resorts have enough to do to make them a vacation in themselves.

There is also a playground next to the pool with great climbing and sliding structures that could entertain a kid for hours. Next to the playground, you can find plenty of seating to hang out and watch your kids play along with a hammock to take a nap in if need be.  

After the pool and playground, we went back to the room and chilled out for a bit before our big night.  

So what did the kids get to do while we "adulted" through Disney Springs for our anniversary? We signed them up for the new Captain Hooks Pirate Crew located at Disneys Beach Club. This swashbuckling adventure is a parents night out were cast members entertain (babysit) your children with all sorts of pirate adventures. They even get to go out on a boat and look for lost treasure. The Captain Hook's Pirate Crew was a fun experience for the kids and a fantastic opportunity to get in some quality time with your significant other. Children must be ages 4-12, and the cost is 55 dollars per child. The hours are from 5 P.M. to 8:30 P.M., but drop off begins at 4:30 P.M. They also offered while we were checking in an additional hour for an additional 10 dollars per child. Not sure if this happens every time but that extra hour could be advantageous with how Disney transportation can sometimes be.  

We showed up early to the Pirate Crew Experience to explore Beach Club Resort, so it was fun to explore around the resort. It also gives opportunities to meet other Disney enthusiasts. During check-in, we met another family who had a daughter about our daughter's age, so they instantly became best friends they hit it off immediately. They just sat there and talked for 20 minutes. Come to find out they are also Floridians and love Disney and go all the time. They were doing a parents night out and going over to Beaches ‘n Cream. 

Checkin was reasonably straightforward, arrive early because the line does build up. The kids were so excited we barely got a "bye" from them.  

After checking the kids in, we walked (skipped) to the bus stop to start our night of adulting. One thing to remember when doing anything at Disney is that Disney transportation is slow. The My Disney Experience app does have bus schedules so that you can see when the next bus will come. I think the standard is that a bus will arrive every 20 minutes. So we got a bus to Disney Springs and went to check-in at Morimoto Asia for dinner.  

Morimoto Asia is a fantastic pan Asian restaurant by Master Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Tami has wanted to try Morimoto Asia since it opened in 2015 so we are a little overdue. Our Advanced Dining Reservation was not until 5:45 P.M., so we checked in and had drinks at the bar until our table was ready.  

We were seated upstairs, which gave a great view of the restaurant. Morimoto Asia has large glowing lanterns encased in flowing beads that resemble jellyfish. There are large mason jars that adorn the walls that I would assume light up at night, which would give the restaurant a unique glow.  

We ordered the Spicy Tuna Rolls and Vegetable Rolls to start.  The Spicy Tuna Roll was spicy tuna, mayo, and scallions while the Vegetable Rolls were asparagus, carrot, avocado, spring mix, cucumber. The Spicy Tuna Rolls were delicious, and Tami enjoyed her Vushi as well. It is always refreshing to go somewhere that has good options for vegetarians. I think restaurants are exploring vegetarian menu items more now and becoming more bold with them as well. 

For her entree, Tami ordered the Steamed Vegetables which includes seasonal vegetables, tofu, and ponzu sauce, which she had the tofu left out, but she did love the dish. I ordered the Morimoto Gomoku Fried Rice, which came with duck, pork, chicken, and vegetable with a spicy house sambal sauce. The Morimoto Gomoku Fried Rice has easily topped my favorite Disney dishes list.

After dinner, we wanted to check out some of the shops and lounges around Morimoto Asia. The first stop was Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar. We have wanted to go in and explore this lounge since it opened but never seemed like the right spot for kids. They have a small area inside that you can hang out with some unique areas to sit. There is more outdoor seating if the lounge is full. Make sure to take in the indoor seating area, there is a lot to look at and enjoy.

After Jock Lindseys we went to The Ganachery to look for the new Forky dessert although it wasn't there. So we took in some amazing scents and perused the new Fresh from Florida sweets and then headed out.

The night was flying by so we had to end the adult night out and take a bus back to pick up the kids at the Beach Club. The kids were blown away by their experience at Captain Hooks Pirate Crew. The cast members told us that they had tons of fun and were hanging out with the kids drawing and playing games until the parents arrived. I highly recommend this experience for your kids and yourselves if you are parents. A tip though when doing this is to keep an eye on the time. Four hours can go by surprisingly fast when you are enjoying the Disney nightlife and also dealing with Disney transportation. Try to plan for something close to Beach Club Resort or use Lyft or Uber to cut down on transportation times.

That concludes day three of our Disney World vacation. Day four is Sunday at Hollywood Studios for extra magic hours and then a Magic Kingdom afternoon. I hope that you enjoyed these trip reports and will continue to follow along with us.