Jungle Crawl Booze Safari with Rhinoceroses and Dinner at Yak & Yeti

Disney celebrated its 15th Anniversary last Monday. T-shirts and hats are still available. You can still get Epcot 30th Anniversary merchandise for that matter.

In other merchandise news, Animal Kingdom has added this Jiminy Cricket Plush to the Buy More…Buy More offer. Monsters University merchandise is widely available:

Cute stuff.

The Dawa Bar, located in Africa to the left of Tusker House, should be your destination if you’re looking for just one drink at Animal Kingdom. Menu:

You’ve got some of Animal Kingdom’s best cocktails along with the widest selection of African beer and wine.

The African Margarita – Sauza Gold Tequila, Van der Hum Tangerine Liqueur from South Africa, Sweet-and-Sour, and Lime Juice – $8.75.

The Tangerine Liqueur is what makes the drink, adding some citrus notes to an otherwise standard margarita.

The Lost on Safari – Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, Bacardi Superior Rum, and our refreshing Pangani Punch – $7.75. This is fruity without being too sweet or artificial and it has more alcohol in it than most of the other drinks we’ll run into later. It’s also prepared fresh in front of you, unlike a lot of the other drinks that sit in vats most of the day.

The Dawa Colada – Bacardi Black Razz Rum blended with Pina Colada Mix and Raspberry Puree – $7.75. This is one of those pre-mixed cocktails, but it was creamy rather than that Slurpee texture that a lot of frozen drinks have. The raspberry puree is what carries the drink – another sweet drink that’s better than the competition. It was Lisa’s favorite drink of the day.

The Sugar Cane Mojito – Starr African Rum and Sugar Cane Syrup mixed with Fresh Mint, Lime, and a splash of Soda – $9.75. This had a nice minty flavor that seemed to mask the alcohol from the rum well. The addition of a chewable sugar cane was a nice touch. It wasn’t quite Bongos-mojito-quality, but I found it to be refreshing. Recommended.

Of the beers available, I like the Tusker House from Kenya, particularly on a hot afternoon. I would probably skip the Casa Lager, which is also available over in Morocco at Epcot. They recently removed my favorite, the Bedele Pilsner.

Yak & Yeti’s quick service arm has a drink window that you probably wouldn’t notice unless you headed back to the seating section.

They offer two specialty drinks along with an assortment of draft beer.

The Yak Attack – Mango Daiquiri, Bacardi Light Rum, and Wildberry Flavors- $7.99. Yak & Yeti may just be too cheap to reprint their menu, but I feel like these drinks have been eight bucks for 15 years.

They’re dispensed out of the Electric Freeze. The same drink is available inside the restaurant as well. The Yak Attack is mango-y sweet. There is no alcohol taste whatsoever and the drinks are on the large side. These tasted a lot better than the other various rum frozen drinks we’re going to run into later. Recommended.

We run into the Safari Amber here along with Shock Top, Kirin Ichiban, and Bud Light. Ichiban is one of my least favorite beers of all time. Of all time. Tastes like metal bread in my opinion. Pass the Natty Ice, please. Shock Top is brewed by Anheuser-Busch and it’s not bad with a distinct wheat flavor to it. We’ll get to Safari Amber later.

Now we find ourselves at Restaurantosaurus, which added two drinks in August 2012.

A Lychee Coconut Rum Lemonade and Wildberry Mango Rum Lemonade to be exact.

The Lychee Coconut Rum Lemonade is extremely sweet, not particularly boozy, and tasted like what I assume lychees taste like. It was tres refreshing. The coconut flavor comes from the rum, so if you’re coconut-adverse, I don’t think you have much to worry about. Coconut rum isn’t particularly alcoholic, so don’t expect to get drunk here. But I was happy with the portion and the flavor for the price, especially because “lychee lemonades” aren’t particularly common.  Recommended.

And a Wildberry Mango Rum Lemonade. This is the second or third time we’ve run into “wildberry.” I’m pretty sure they’re making it up. I don’t think they sell a lot of these as the cast member was having an awful time making it. This is also a sweet concoction and basically tastes like fruit punch with a hint of rum. On the plus side, it’s two to three dollars less expensive than just about any other drink you’ll find at Animal Kingdom and it’s a large size.

Also in DinoLand, you’ll find the Dino Diner, which is hilarious looking.

It offers a single alcoholic beverage.

The Frozen Bacardi Raspberry Rum Lemonade. Like most of Disney’s “frozen” beverages, it consists of less than an ounce of “Bacardi Black Razz” rum underneath the usual frozen lemonade. You’d be much better off putting some rum in a water bottle and ordering the $4 non-alcoholic version. It’s quite refreshing in the hot weather, but don’t expect much booziness. Not necessarily recommended.

Trilo-Bites, also in DinoLand, gets in on the action.

Here, we have a “Blueberry-Mango Rum Lemonade.”

Said lemonade. Lisa and I agreed that this tasted almost exactly like the Wildberry Lemonade from Restaurantosaurus, only in Slurpee form. This is another drink where the rum is added separately and it basically tastes like a Slurpee with an ounce of rum added. Because that’s what it is.

Upcountry Beverages sits next to Flights of Wonder in Asia.

Pre-made frozen margaritas.

A half Bali Hai Strawberry/Maharajah Lime Margarita on the left and the Maharajah Lime Margarita on the right (should memory serve). These were both pretty good for what they are – very cold, very refreshing, and moderately boozy. You’re familiar with these if you’ve ever had a frozen Margarita at the Mexico Pavilion or anywhere else for that matter, you slobbery drunk. I wouldn’t hesitate to order another when temperatures really start to get up there. They’re a nice choice if it’s what you’re looking for.

Kingfisher Premium is another common beer when Disney is trying to be “African.” This one originated in Bangalore, India, but as you can see from the bottle, is brewed in Saratoga Springs, New York. But still very Disney with the Saratoga Springs Resort on property! This 4.8% American Pale Lager is okay. It probably tastes better when it’s 95 degrees out and feels like 170. It sort of tastes like Old Englishe with added sweetness.

That’s almost all of the drinks available at the various stands around Animal Kingdom. You’ll run into Eppa Sangria at Pizzafari. It’s $8.50 for a few ounces or $11 for a bottle at the store. Tamu Tamu Refreshments in Africa offers some coffee drinks with liqueur added that are much too hot to drink this time of year. Maybe in December.

Dinner is at Yak & Yeti in the Asia section, which is located to the left of Kali River Rapids.

Menu. Readable: https://www.easywdw.com/reports7/yakmenu.jpg.

Yak & Yeti has a small bar area just inside the entrance. Securing a reservation shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s an option if you’re by yourself or just want to pop in. The full menu is available.

The restaurant is otherwise operated by Landry’s, which is the same outfit that runs Rainforest Cafe, T-Rex, Morton’s, Claim Jumper, and others.

We talked to four or five cast members over the course of the meal, each of whom pointed out that “all of the artifacts are authentic.” I’m not sure what this means as the keyboard I’m typing on is an “authentic artifact” as is just about anything else in the world. But the restaurant is neat. They let us know we were free to walk around and take pictures if you wanted to:

This is the restaurant where you can watch the 3:45pm Parade should you ask to be seated at the window that overlooks Asia.

Assuming they’re seating people on the second floor.

We were seated on the first floor near the windows. In the corner, which is where I’m generally placed.

Of course there is a story. Drink menu:

The Yak Attack is exactly what we saw outside at the drink window.

Lisa started with the 22-ounce Safari Amber, which is Anheuser-Busch’s “specialty beer” that they market under approximately 7,354 different names. It’s a lot better than your typical Bud Light and worth the extra 25 cents just on alcohol content.

I went with the Big Bamboo on the bartender’s recommendation – Malibu Coconut Rum, Bacardi Light Rum, DeKuyper Banana Liqueur, and Tropical Fruit Juices – $7.99. Okay. Fruity. They do make their cocktails fresh, which is a step in the right direction.

Whenever Lisa and I dine together, she always orders two drinks immediately. I don’t blame her. This is a Bonsai Blast – Skyy Vodka, DeKuyper Banana Liqueur, Peachtree Schanpps, Blue Curacao, and Sweet & Sour. This one had too much curacao and their glasses seem to thin out as you make your way down.

I always aim to give you the full Disney Food Blog experience, which consists of ordering one of everything and telling you how amazing it all was. This is the best I could do on short notice – the Wok Fried Green Beans – Battered green beans, sweet Thai dipping sauce – $8.99.  These were really good, served piping hot and perfectly crunchy.  The only problem was that the entrees came out “literally” four minutes after the beans were delivered.

Lisa took this picture of her Crispy Honey Chicken – Tempura Chicken, Broccoli, Carrots, Honey Sauce – $17.99.  I should also mention that the “Jimmy Buffett joke” in the last post was hers.  We don’t have Jimmy Buffett on the west coast, though I did have a Magaritaville for a short time in college.  It was too cumbersome to clean so I just took it back to Costco.

The Honey Chicken in the restaurant is similar to what’s served outside at the quick service, though I think you get your +$7 worth inside.  It’s lightly battered chicken deep fried with a sweet, honey sauce.  Your +$7 at least gets you out of the sun.

Because I’m a huge baller (and Lisa was paying), I ordered the Shaoxing Steak and Shrimp – Skirt steak, tempura-battered shrimp, jasmine rice, stir-fried vegetables, chili plum dipping sauce – $25.99.

Half eaten for your viewing pleasure.  This was what you could expect from the cut of beef – flavorful without being particularly tender.  The four tempura-battered shrimp were served alongside a similar/the same sauce as the green beans.

The side of vegetables were prepared well – piping hot and still crunchy.

Overall, the meal was above average and Yak & Yeti continues to be a good choice for those looking for relatively inexpensive table service food in a fun setting.  I would have liked more than four minutes with the green beans though, particularly with nobody being seated upstairs and half the restaurant empty on the bottom floor.