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You are here: Home / Blog / Downtown Disney Construction, BOATHOUSE Outdoor Bar Review, AMC Fork and Screen – 6/27/15

Downtown Disney Construction, BOATHOUSE Outdoor Bar Review, AMC Fork and Screen – 6/27/15

June 28, 2015 ~ 8 minutes read34 Comments

It’s been about a month since we last took a look at Downtown Disney walls in depth.

Construction continues on the transformation of Hoi Polloi to Universal World Soccer.

Basic Caramel and Candy Apples are now available as snack credits on the Disney Dining Plan as previously reported.

Some of the more expensive $5.49 “Mickey Crispy Treats”  are also available as snack credits there in the middle row.

The more intricate $9.99 apples do not quality.

Larger: https://i2.wp.com/easywdw.com/reports13/candycauldron.jpg

This is at Candy Cauldron on the West Side.

Larger: https://i2.wp.com/easywdw.com/reports13/planetarium.jpg

Construction is relatively light in guest-accessible areas on the West Side, though there is a lot going on behind the walls that line Planet Hollywood and the bridge up through what was once Pleasure Island. Fast forward a year and these should be picturesque canals meandering through The Landing.

Larger: https://i2.wp.com/easywdw.com/reports13/hollywood.jpg

This panorama from the top floor of the parking garage might give you a better idea about the size of construction back there.

A non-panorama from the second floor.

Speaking of the parking garage, it’s mostly complete on the West Side with the top floor partially-open to guests.

Combined, the two parking garages will have something like 6,000 parking spots. And there are three electric car charging stations.

Behind the garage, it looks like they’re paving another parking lot.

Back on the ground with the walls that line Planet Hollywood, which is supposed to be transformed into a planetarium-looking-thing.

I’m a big proponent of the AMC Dine-In Theater at Downtown Disney, particularly on opening weekend of popular films. You get to select your seats in advance and there are only two or four seats before an aisle break, so you can sit on the end of the center row and still basically be in the middle. And there’s a wall behind each row so the kid behind you can’t kick the back of your seat the whole movie. The food is basically quick service quality, but prices are moderate. My BBQ chicken flatbread was $12. Lisa’s club sandwich was similarly priced. Quality is serviceable, but probably nothing spectacular. Most people order food and drinks upon arriving and there is a button you can press that calls your server to your seat for any other needs. Tickets for Fork and Screen do run about $3.20 more than tickets to the regular theater, but I think it’s worth it for the extra comfort.

My advice is always to go to Downtown Disney as early in the day as possible and ideally as early in the week as possible. Things are pretty chill here on a Saturday afternoon, but evenings are usually surprisingly busy.

The old Adventurers Club is coming down.

To the left of it.

Further up, work continues on expanding Paradiso 37.

Vivoli Il Gelato (Vivoli Gelateria?) opened a couple of weeks ago to what seem like positive reviews, though it can be difficult to gauge how good something actually is is when everything is obnoxiously UH.MAZE.ING.

The Hangar Bar, loosely themed to Indiana Jones, is expected to open later this year in between Paradiso and The BOATHOUSE®: Great Food, Waterfront Dining, Dream Boats™.

Work is active as construction crews make progress throughout the day. Reggie is the name of the boat hanging off the side, which goes back to Jock Lindsey’s pet boa constrictor.

Larger: https://i2.wp.com/easywdw.com/reports13/dockside.jpg

I reviewed The BOATHOUSE dinner experience last month in this post, but was interested to return for lunch. BOATHOUSE enjoys a lot of variety in seating indoors and out with the Dockside Bar located at the end of a dock behind the restaurant.

Seating is open both around the bar and at the 2-person hightop tables that circle it.

We grabbed a hightop with a nice view of the water and amphicar launch next door. While it was hot, there was a nice breeze coming off the water and the casual vibe of the space lent itself nicely to a leisurely lunch.

The restaurant offers a variety of menus – this is officially the outdoor menu, though you can request the full restaurant menu that includes the more expensive steak and seafood options. Conversely, you can request this menu inside as well:

Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, the Beach Bucket entrees actually went down in price since the restaurant’s launch. The Cod went down from $21 to $15. Other items aren’t  necessarily expensive, though you can certainly pay a lot of money if you want to.

The Blueberry Lemonade is a new addition since our last visit. They also have a full bar.

Bread was delivered to each table, which is always a nice touch. A lot of restaurants don’t do bread at lunch or don’t provide it at the bars unless you specifically request it. BOATHOUSE’s rolls are nice and fluffy with easily spreadable butter, but nothing about them is particularly memorable.

They’re still doing the water carafe thing with little glasses, but at least there was some ice in it this time around.

Lisa ordered a $13 Moscow Mule, which was delivered in this adorable copper mug. I would have liked to have brought a couple home with me, but they aren’t available for sale and would probably cost $50 each if they were.

A few of the other drinks are available in a souvenir glass that you can take home for an extra six bucks. They look very similar to Pat O’Briens souvenir hurricane glasses, though these seemed to be constructed a little better. The thin base on the bottom is very prone to breaking on the Pat O’s glasses. I’m not sure how well these would weather a wash or two, but I didn’t really want to carry a glass around with me for the rest of the day and opted to enjoy my $15 Blueberry Lemonade and let them keep the glass. Both drinks were made well and they’re big enough that it will take a while to enjoy them, which is probably good. You could definitely taste the Stoli up front, but the homemade lemonade did a nice job of masking any lingering unpleasantness on the back end. That’s what I like in a drink.

We started with the BOATHOUSE Lobster Cocktail – Half Chilled 1 1/4 lb. Lobster with Cocktail and Lady Rose Sauces.

BOATHOUSE proudly showcases its raw seafood in a case in front of the restaurant. And for good reason, as it’s reliably fresh, flavorful, and presented nicely here on an ice-filled plate with lemons and two small forks for poking the meat out. Very good, though it’s a little awkward trying to scrape some of the meat out with (half of) the poor lobster staring back at you.

I don’t know if I’m praying here or rubbing my hands together in anticipation of digging in or what.

Lisa ordered the $15 “Yacht Club” Club – Roasted Turkey Breast, Cucumber, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Chipotle Honey Mayo, and Swiss Cheese on Multigrain Bread. It’s a sizable portion with three…thirds I guess with the thinly sliced turkey piled high along with freshly cut tomato and cucumber and thick, crispy slices of bacon that you can’t really see. The bread was nicely toasted and the sauce had a bit of a sweet, spicy kick to it. She would have preferred lettuce to the cucumber, which we probably could have substituted.

It’s artsy because it’s tilted.

I ordered the $23 Steak Sandwich – Sirloin Steak, Arugula, Beefsteak Tomato, and BOATHOUSE Steak Sauce on Toasted Ciabata Bread. They asked how I wanted the steak cooked, which is always a good sign that you’re not going to get some defrosted steak strips out of a bag from the freezer. The steak was the best part of the sandwich – you can see the pink center on a couple of the slices that are spilling out onto the plate. And there was a lot of it, which made the sandwich a reasonable value considering the high quality of Gibson beef. Unfortunately, the bread was too dry. On one hand, there was too much of it, but on the other hand, it was still soggy from the sauce, which made things slippery, particularly when you add the tomato. I ended up just eating the steak out of the second half.

The fries look a lot better than they taste, I think. Ours at least weren’t particularly fresh and they had absorbed too much of the oil, leaving them sort of limp and flavorless. But you do get an awful lot with each of the entrees.

Overall, I love the bar’s location on the water and the friendliness of the staff and other patrons made for one of the most pleasant lunches I’ve enjoyed at Downtown Disney. You are sort of in your own little world out there and you could just as easily be at a beachside restaurant far removed from the hustle, bustle, and construction walls that plague much of the area these days. While I wasn’t smitten with my entree, I still look forward to returning in front of just about any other nearby restaurant.

Over the walls between T-Rex and Raglan Road.

There aren’t a lot of walls up in the Marketplace section as most of the vertical construction is behind T-Rex and the other buildings. It doesn’t look as massive as it is here in this picture, I don’t think.

I popped into Tren-D to see if there was any merchandise I hadn’t photographed and was surprised by how little Disney-branded merchandise remained. It’s gotten to the point where 75% or more is third party.

This is a new design of kitchenware.

Bowl set.

A similar-looking throw.

One of these days…

There are a ton of changes at World of Disney as work continues on expanding it.

All of the cash registers have moved to a central location and the merchandise in each of the rooms has shifted around. Just in time for me to have figured out the previous configuration.

There wasn’t much of interest.

Though these are pretty presh.

That’s about what’s going on at Downtown Disney.

Last modified: July 17, 2015 Filed Under: Blog

Comments

  1. Neil says

    June 28, 2015 at 3:51 pm

    I want a copper mug too! They look fantastic. Surely they’re missing a trick not having them as merch to buy?

    Oh and who is “Indian Jones”? Is this the new Bollywood-inspired Lucas/Spielberg remake I’ve read about? 🙂

    Reply
  2. Dave says

    June 28, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    Any idea on a completion date?

    Reply
    • josh says

      June 29, 2015 at 8:44 am

      “[Disney Springs] will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” – Walt Disney

      Reply
      • Anonymous says

        June 29, 2015 at 6:44 pm

        So 2025-ish?

        Reply
  3. RebeccaMcK says

    June 28, 2015 at 4:48 pm

    I can’t wait to ride in an amphibicar. Looking forward to exploring all the new stuff, too, some day.

    Reply
  4. Jenny682 says

    June 28, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    I’ll have the lobster cocktail please, and I’m not sharing.

    Reply
  5. Keith says

    June 28, 2015 at 5:54 pm

    Save yourself some discomfort and skip the movie theater. The food is incredibly average and the place smells horrible….it makes it difficult to focus on any movie with the odor of bile filling your nostrils.

    Reply
    • Traci says

      June 29, 2015 at 4:48 am

      Now, you see I was going to say the EXACT opposite! We went on evening for Cinderella and I just loved it! Wish we had something like that close to home.

      I have very acute sense of smell and never noticed anything unusual. Maybe it was just you got the unlucky deal of being in the wrong place and the wrong time.

      Reply
      • josh says

        June 29, 2015 at 8:46 am

        Strange comment indeed. I have never run into a foul smell and have never met or talked to anyone that has. If the theater was inadequately cleaned in a one-off oversight, you could certainly speak to your server who would relay the problem to the manager who would refund your money.

        Reply
        • Keith says

          June 29, 2015 at 6:54 pm

          Don’t care about a refund…we did stay and watch the entire movie after all. But that was not a one-time odor anomally…it was conspicuously a funk compounded over time.

          Reply
          • Kathryn says

            July 1, 2015 at 8:36 am

            We went last month to see Spy. I have to agree. As we were walking to our theater, the smell was overwhelming and I wondered if I would be able to stand the movie. Thankfully, the smell wasn’t as strong inside the theater. I think it was the carpet in the hallway that had the most odor. I have smelled the same odor in other restaurants with old carpet that has been cleaned over and over. Other than that, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience and thought the food was great!

  6. Katie says

    June 28, 2015 at 6:42 pm

    Is the “outdoor menu” at the Boathouse the same around dinner time too? I like what I see on the menu but will likely not get to DTD until dinner time when I am there. Thanks Josh!

    Reply
    • josh says

      June 29, 2015 at 8:46 am

      Yes.

      Reply
  7. Vik says

    June 28, 2015 at 6:44 pm

    Ooooo… good thing I didn’t see those blue-and-white dishes at Disneyland last week, or I would have blown up my souvenir budget 10x. DTD is coming along.

    Reply
    • RebeccaMcK says

      June 30, 2015 at 8:26 am

      Ah, but did you see the 60th anniversary Disneyland plates, bowls, etc.? I was there June 1st and considered making that my new fine china, lol.

      Reply
  8. ShinyKat says

    June 28, 2015 at 8:18 pm

    Ok, sooooo, is it just me or does anyone else wonder why cooked stuff is on the raw bar menu? Am I missing something here?

    Reply
    • josh says

      June 29, 2015 at 8:47 am

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_bar

      Reply
  9. IndyND says

    June 29, 2015 at 6:39 am

    I got the Lobster Cocktail a few weeks back when we were there adn my 11 year old daughter ate most of it. I got the claw and that’s about it.

    The Filet, corn and new potatoes are freaking awesome.

    Reply
  10. Rebecca says

    June 29, 2015 at 7:36 am

    I’ve got a trip planned in October, and wanted to eat at Morimoto’s, but haven’t seen anything about it since the initial announcement. Does it look like progress is actually happening on the restaurant? Thanks!

    Reply
    • josh says

      June 29, 2015 at 8:48 am

      They are certainly making progress. The restaurant is set for a “Summer 2015 opening,” but it seems like it would be September at the absolute earliest.

      Reply
      • Rebecca says

        June 29, 2015 at 11:47 am

        Thanks Josh, you’re the best <3

        Reply
      • RebeccaMcK says

        June 29, 2015 at 5:13 pm

        And if it opens the day before the first day of fall, it would technically still be summer. That’s how the theme parks work with opening dates these days.

        Reply
  11. Mike says

    June 29, 2015 at 8:39 am

    It looks like there’s still enough of the old Adventurers Club left to chain ourselves to. Who’s with me?

    Reply
  12. Nell says

    June 29, 2015 at 11:54 am

    I’m with Mike. My heart aches for the good old Kungaloosh days. My sister and I got seriously basted at the Adventurers Club one night and couldn’t figure out why/how our barstools kept going up and down. I think we were stupid enough that the CMs had to step backstage to deal with their laughter. It is a tragic loss to the entire Disney concept.

    Reply
    • Anonymous says

      June 30, 2015 at 5:08 pm

      Sounds like you were one of the AC regulars who actually spent money in there. So many didn’t, they just hung around and “mooched” the atmosphere.
      I also enjoyed spending & drinking in there.
      Wish there were more like us, it’d still be around.

      Reply
  13. Sean says

    June 29, 2015 at 12:15 pm

    That outdoor menu looks better than the indoor lunch menu. We have lunch reservations for Sunday October 25 and will be requesting that menu. Are the outdoor tables first come first serve?

    Thanks

    Reply
  14. Dawn 16 says

    June 29, 2015 at 1:54 pm

    Oooh, that outdoor Boathouse menu does look good – thanks for reviewing. Though the $29 lobster roll is a bit of a sticker shock to a New Englander. At least they know it should be in a toasted split top roll 🙂

    Reply
  15. Sara says

    June 29, 2015 at 1:56 pm

    I love the new dishware…how much does that run? And is it something Lisa could buy and ship?

    Reply
  16. Megan says

    June 30, 2015 at 8:52 am

    Is there any reason to go to DTD for our late October trip? I booked a dining reservation at Raglan Road. Is there anything left for a 4 year old to enjoy? We haven’t been to DTD since 2008! Should we just wait for 2017?

    Reply
    • sam says

      June 30, 2015 at 11:49 am

      I would say maybe the Lego store if you don’t have one near you. It’s changed a bit since when it first opened so a lot of it is what you can find in a run of the mill Lego store or even Target. The cool things are they still do that build-a-race car thing (I think that’s what it is) and you can put together your own mini-figs.

      Reply
      • Megan says

        June 30, 2015 at 3:48 pm

        Thank you!

        Reply
  17. Angelique says

    July 1, 2015 at 11:08 am

    That review was UH.MAE.ZING! (low-hanging fruit. can’t believe no one else snagged it) Except for the amphibicar. That’s pretty much what the streets of Houston look like every day.

    Reply
  18. DUSTY CHEATHAM says

    July 2, 2015 at 2:45 am

    I have always wondered why a top flight eatery like boathouse which can do everything so well fails on ice water & French fries . josh agree about the fries my lunch was disappointing due too 2 lbs of over cooked shoestring fries . my middle name is French frie & what I was served was below subpar . however the $ 4.00 shrimp was excellent & according to the ball & chain the bread was delish as was the house salad . now to save $$$$$$ for the steaks

    Reply
  19. k- says

    July 6, 2015 at 12:25 pm

    LOL I am curious about Elsa’s tropical cocktail. shouldn’t it be something more like a hot toddy?

    Reply

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