Raeven
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2015
So we've been back for about a week and a half, and I wanted to share a little of the trip here. I've decided not to do a full trip report, and more of a summary like last time. But I'm just going to include it at the end of this PTR since this was our last trip for the year.
Also this is definitely a trip where a lot of our plans didn't go right, but we tried to make the best of things.
To start with we arrived at Aventura around 4 pm. We took some time to get settled in, and exchange Christmas gifts. We were back in one of the deluxe rooms at Aventura, and I always love staying in those. I honestly wish we'd stayed the whole trip in this hotel (though it wasn't really possible with our plans), but I'll get to that later.
We had plans to get dinner at Vivo and see the new Hunger Games movie the first night.
When we checked in at Vivo, they said it would be a bit of a wait so we went to the Universal Store, it didn't seem busy at all, but 20 minutes later when they still hadn't called us we decided to check in with them. They seated us immediately, but kind of had an attitude about it? They sat us at this table where the light above it was flickering constantly. All the other tables that had lights like that, had them off. I almost feel like they sat us there because they were upset we asked to be seated? Because eventually someone came by and was like "oh is that light bothering you?" And I said yes because Kayleigh was getting a headache, and I figured they could shut it off like the other tables but instead they moved us all the way across the restaurant.
That was all very weird, but I think it was for the best because everyone we had interacted with so far seemed to have an attitude, and the waiter in our new section was incredibly nice and we didn't have any other issues.
Our bread:
For an appetizer we got:
Fried Ricotta
rosemary lemon ricotta lightly breaded and fried, house made tomato sauce, basil, ricotta salata
This was so good!
I got the:
Parmigiano
marinara, mozzarella, linguine, chicken
Same as the other times I've had this it was really good. I will say a few pieces of my linguine were super overcooked and hard, but the chicken was cheesy and delicious.
Kayleigh got the:
Lasagna
pasta layers, bolognese, Parmesan, mozzarella, creamy white sauce
She said this was very good, and I'm kind of curious what this tasted like because I've never had a lasagna with white sauce before.
After our delicious meal we headed to the theater, and this is where we hit our first snag. We went to buy tickets, and every seat was sold out but the front row. There was no way we were going to sit that close to the screen, but it was also kind of a long movie so we were unsure we'd have another time to see it. There was also nothing else playing around the same time that we wanted to see. We had a reservation for dessert booked for when the movie would've gotten out, but were unable to change it to any earlier.
Despite the low crowds there was no reservation open anytime soon for anywhere we could get dessert and drinks. The only place that had any reservation open within the next hour was Amatista. If you remember my past dining reports we've had such bad experiences there that it was the one restaurant I swore to never go to again, and I'd even been telling Kayleigh about it on the way to Citywalk. But she wanted to go and I figured the desserts probably weren't so bad, so we headed over.
We got some drinks. She got a wine, and I got the:
HAVANA COLADA
Bacardi 8 yr, cream of coconut, pineapple purée, Myers’s Dark Rum
The drink was good, and the service was better than other times at Amatista, but our waiter wasn't around a lot, and there was probably 30-40 minutes between when our drinks came out and when the dessert did.
For dessert Kayleigh got a chocolate/raspberry mousse (which I didn't get a picture of), and.I got the:
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKE LAVA CAKE
Chocolate chip cookie filled with dark chocolate fudge ganache.
This was pretty good, and I don't think there was really a way to screw this up. But I will say it seemed like something they just warmed up in the microwave.
So though this trip to Amatista didn't completely redeem it in my eyes and I won't be hurrying back there, it was at least better than my last visit.
Next Up
A trip to the Rainforest Cafe
Also this is definitely a trip where a lot of our plans didn't go right, but we tried to make the best of things.
To start with we arrived at Aventura around 4 pm. We took some time to get settled in, and exchange Christmas gifts. We were back in one of the deluxe rooms at Aventura, and I always love staying in those. I honestly wish we'd stayed the whole trip in this hotel (though it wasn't really possible with our plans), but I'll get to that later.
We had plans to get dinner at Vivo and see the new Hunger Games movie the first night.
When we checked in at Vivo, they said it would be a bit of a wait so we went to the Universal Store, it didn't seem busy at all, but 20 minutes later when they still hadn't called us we decided to check in with them. They seated us immediately, but kind of had an attitude about it? They sat us at this table where the light above it was flickering constantly. All the other tables that had lights like that, had them off. I almost feel like they sat us there because they were upset we asked to be seated? Because eventually someone came by and was like "oh is that light bothering you?" And I said yes because Kayleigh was getting a headache, and I figured they could shut it off like the other tables but instead they moved us all the way across the restaurant.
That was all very weird, but I think it was for the best because everyone we had interacted with so far seemed to have an attitude, and the waiter in our new section was incredibly nice and we didn't have any other issues.
Our bread:
For an appetizer we got:
Fried Ricotta
rosemary lemon ricotta lightly breaded and fried, house made tomato sauce, basil, ricotta salata
This was so good!
I got the:
Parmigiano
marinara, mozzarella, linguine, chicken
Same as the other times I've had this it was really good. I will say a few pieces of my linguine were super overcooked and hard, but the chicken was cheesy and delicious.
Kayleigh got the:
Lasagna
pasta layers, bolognese, Parmesan, mozzarella, creamy white sauce
She said this was very good, and I'm kind of curious what this tasted like because I've never had a lasagna with white sauce before.
After our delicious meal we headed to the theater, and this is where we hit our first snag. We went to buy tickets, and every seat was sold out but the front row. There was no way we were going to sit that close to the screen, but it was also kind of a long movie so we were unsure we'd have another time to see it. There was also nothing else playing around the same time that we wanted to see. We had a reservation for dessert booked for when the movie would've gotten out, but were unable to change it to any earlier.
Despite the low crowds there was no reservation open anytime soon for anywhere we could get dessert and drinks. The only place that had any reservation open within the next hour was Amatista. If you remember my past dining reports we've had such bad experiences there that it was the one restaurant I swore to never go to again, and I'd even been telling Kayleigh about it on the way to Citywalk. But she wanted to go and I figured the desserts probably weren't so bad, so we headed over.
We got some drinks. She got a wine, and I got the:
HAVANA COLADA
Bacardi 8 yr, cream of coconut, pineapple purée, Myers’s Dark Rum
The drink was good, and the service was better than other times at Amatista, but our waiter wasn't around a lot, and there was probably 30-40 minutes between when our drinks came out and when the dessert did.
For dessert Kayleigh got a chocolate/raspberry mousse (which I didn't get a picture of), and.I got the:
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKE LAVA CAKE
Chocolate chip cookie filled with dark chocolate fudge ganache.
This was pretty good, and I don't think there was really a way to screw this up. But I will say it seemed like something they just warmed up in the microwave.
So though this trip to Amatista didn't completely redeem it in my eyes and I won't be hurrying back there, it was at least better than my last visit.
Next Up
A trip to the Rainforest Cafe