So, our long journey is over, but we still need to eat!
FYI, my sister also took pictures with her camera, but it may be a bit before we have any of them. For now, youll have to settle for my pictures!
First stop was Downtown Disney, to pick up my Tables in Wonderland card. Im really happy that parking is free there, but its also hella confusing. I went in the right entrance, but ended up parking far away from where I needed to be, AND it was raining. Not that thats Disneys fault.
Anyway, Becky stayed in the car while I went. The whole transaction went very smoothly. I cant believe I just found out about TiW in July! I could have saved so much money. It seems to be a pretty well-kept secret.
But now I have one, yay! And since I bought it September 1st, its good until October 31st of 2012. Good thing I didnt buy it three weeks before when I was in the area. Got some great extra time!
After DTD, the original plan was to check in at the hotel, bring most of our bags in, and then go have dinner at Sanaa. Our ADR was for 7:45, and it was just after 7 by the time I got out of DTD because of how late I had to work and the traffic we ran into. Rebekah was starving and so was I, so we decided to head over to Kidani Village first instead of French Quarter. I hoped that theyd be able to take us early.
In fact, the hostess said that they were actually running late. Boo! So Rebekah and I went outside to watch the animals while there was still some light left. I hoped that would help distract her from her hunger.
After awhile we realized the animals werent going to get very close, so we went back inside to wait.
Im going to backtrack a bit and say that maybe this is just me, but I suck at parking at Disney. Apparently, if theyre not directing me to a spot (which Im used to since I mostly only go to the parks), I have no idea where to go. Like at DTD, it took me forever to figure out where to park at Kidani Village, even though I had a card with directions! And I still parked pretty far from where we were supposed to be because the Timon parking area is so vast. Its not a huge deal, but I think parking at the resorts and DTD are quite confusing. Ah well. Could be worse.
Back to the show!
Here's a crappy picture I took of the interior of the restaurant. Believe me, it's prettier than it looks.
Once we were seated, Becky, who would choose an interesting drink over a plain old glass of water any day, picks up the drink menu and notices that theyre all alcoholic. But I point out a little secret: most of them can be made non-alcoholic, and for much cheaper! So she orders the ginger lemonade, and since Im boring I order the regular Minute Maid lite pomegranate lemonade.
I should have paid more attention to the lite part. You could taste the aspartame. Yuck! Aside from a purple-ish tint, it was very boring so I didnt take a picture of it. I did, however, take a picture of Rebekahs drink.
Rebekah did too and then texted it to her friend, who promptly assumed that it was alcoholic. She would, since shes been known to purchase cocktails with fake IDs. In front of my sister.
Rebekah LOVED the ginger lemonade. I did too when I had a sip of it. So good!
We ordered the bread service to start with. We had it with naan, papadum, and paneer paratha, which was bread stuffed we cheese. For our accompaniments we chose mango chutney, mint chutney, and tamarind chutney.
It was SOOOO yummy. We were really hungry so we devoured it. I particularly loved the tamarind chutney. The paneer paratha was something different and very delicious.
Let me take a minute here to explain that Rebekah and I grew up on Indian food. My mother ate at this one Indian place in Albany since she was in college. When she was pregnant with me, and I was full term, she decided she would try to induce labor by going there and eating a bunch of Indian food. It didnt work, but now I crave the stuff constantly. Rebekah loves it too, which is why I chose Sanaa. It was the only restaurant I could find on property that actually served Indian food. I knew we could go off property for cheaper food, but when Im on a Disney vacation, I dont leave Disney, plus I knew the atmosphere would be cooler than any US-192 Indian place. If Im wrong though, please tell me!
For her entrée, Rebekah ordered the vegetarian sampler, because she really wanted some palaak paneer (cheese and spinach). That one comes with two dishes, plus a choice of rice. She chose the vegetable sambar and the five grain pilaf.
I tried the paneer and spinach dish. The spinach isnt as creamy as Im used to. It seems they use fresher spinach, which I guess is a good thing, but go figure, it didnt taste as good to me. It tasted
healthier.
I had the meat sampler, which was also two dishes, plus rice. I chose the spicy Durban shrimp, coconut-curry lamb, and basmati rice.
It might not look like a lot of food (at least it didnt to me), but Ive long learned not to judge a Disney entrée by its appearance. This filled me up GOOD. I couldnt even finish it all. I will say I loved the shrimp. The lamb was good too, but it wasnt what I was expecting. When you hear coconut you tend to think something sweeter (like a Thai curry), but this turned out to be more like a spicy lamb stew. Still good though, but if I go again I will try something else.
Rebekah ate all of her entrée. Shes very good at finishing her food if she likes it. Since her metabolism is so fast, she needs to eat as much as she can, so shes developed a method of eating very slowly.
After our meal, I couldnt help but take a picture of the hidden Mickey on our way out!
Up next, we arrive at Port Orleans!
Seriously, I'm with you, what did the lady think that you were going to do with it if you kept it? Sell it or something? 
)
