WDW Radio # 685 – Territory Lounge at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Live Review

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Lou Mongello: I've always believed that the resorts in Walt Disney world are attractions in and of themselves and of my, one of my favorites. Since the first time I visited continues to be Disney's wilderness lodge. Don't believe me, check the show notes and see how many times I've done a podcast about wilderness lodge.

Going back to show 48. When we talked about the background music, going back to show 2 0 8 DSI with the wilderness lodge, history stories and details. Going back to show two 12, where we look into the history and stories and take a virtual tour of the Carolwood Pacific room, going back to show 4 82, a live review of Geer point, which is still oh, so very good.

If only there was, well, actually there is somebody and show 6 76, a wilderness lodge resort report, which I did with the person who was joining me today because to know her is to love her. And if you've heard me talk on the show in the past, you know, that I've promised Becky not one, not two, not three, but countless.

Live dining lounge reviews. I am a man of my word and we're sitting in one of my favorite when we did the top 10 lounges in Walt Disney world territory lounge was very high on my list. And so tonight, why are you looking me funny? Cause you never listened to the show. I'm joining me tonight for a live review of territory.

Lounge. Check this one off the box. I, I keep my promises, Becky Mackin from mouse van travel. Finally, just say, thank you.

Beci Mahnken: Just don't say finally in a lounge. Well, actually I was thinking before, the one that we did in Italy was probably a lounge review that could have

Lou Mongello: actually, it was Tutto Gusto was a lounge review and again, just you and I, um, Again, if only there was somebody I finally found somebody

Beci Mahnken: and I showed [00:02:00] up and see what happens, we're gonna like drink all the drinks and eat all the food and

Lou Mongello: it'll be fun.

And that's why Beci showed up. I promised her a lounge, alcohol and air conditioning. You freaked out a little bit when you saw the kids, but other than that, it's fine. And baby in a bar, but you know, by the way, it's five o'clock in the afternoon,

Beci Mahnken: but that's okay because, you know, whatever, but I, I just wanna make it very clear that this is only one of the lounge interviews of the, about 30 that you promised you,

Lou Mongello: correct?

Correct. There is a, um, there is a, and actually, no, I take that back. This is one of multiple that we will do, and then we will come. We will, at some point in the very new near future. Cause we haven't actually done, we haven't gotten to the top 10 lounges in Walt Disney world. So it really was more of a, just to let you know.

Territory lounge is gonna make the list based on what we see and do and taste tonight. Um, I think you and I, we've been here a few times together before. Um, I love it here. It's sort of tucked out of the way. It's incredibly well themed. I won't go too much into the details. Go back to our DSI where we talked a lot about it, but I really sort of dig the overall vibe and location of this lounge, which is just off the lobby, but still sort of close to the outside pool

Beci Mahnken: area.

And it's close to the restaurant too. So it's a nice place to sit and have a cocktail while you're waiting for your reservation. If you come in early, which is kind of nice, and this looks like where I come from, it's got that Pacific Northwest feel, uh, that wood lodge, um, uh, atmosphere to it with all of the open, uh, open beams and you know, a couple of wooden bears.

You can't go wrong in a place that has a couple of wooden bears, right?

Lou Mongello: I've seen your house. It looks nothing like this. I

Beci Mahnken: don't mean my house. I mean the, the whole Pacific Northwest area, it's got that vibe. And as you look at the menu, it's inspired by the Pacific [00:04:00] Northwest. Therefore it fits what are you laughing at me for?

Lou Mongello: Beci has the menu open, right to the cocktail of course, uh, right to the cocktail. So let's get right into it. Let's go down to it. Um, because one of the things I, reason why I chose this is obviously for the menu, right? Some of the different lounges throughout Walter's world property, not everyone has an actual lounge menu with food.

So for example, we've talked in the past before. I love Bellevue lounge. Mm-hmm at the boardwalk, but there's nothing to eat there. And so when we get to the top 10, it's going to be partially based, not just on location and theme, but the quantity and the quality of the menu as well. We'll also talk about sort of what qualifies as a lounge, whether it's in a resort or lounges in the parks, because things like is space two 20, get on that list.

So what are some of the other in park lounges, but let me cover the small bites. You can cover the cocktails. Becky's freaking out about the kids, by the way. It's so God, we have to start doing these on video so the small bites menu consists of five items and then two sweets. So there's a mushroom bisque.

The house made chips with Chi cherry ranch dip. Hello, uh, which, which has a plant based option upon request. There's the artisanal cheese and charcuterie at $22 Chipotle glazed barbecue rib three bones for 13, five bones for 17 in the Oregon Chardonnay fondue at 14, you had me at pretzel bread. You kept me at grapes on the vine, and there's also a flowerless chocolate cake.

We're getting this. It's a flowerless chocolate cake cauldron. It's a cauldron that, that has your name written all over. No, no, no.

Beci Mahnken: It actually surprises me a little bit, cuz it makes me wonder how it's going to be served. It's gonna be chocolate cake

Lou Mongello: in a big I'm I'm gonna bring lighting effects and you're gonna do the double, double toil and trouble over it.

Beci Mahnken: That goes on in the [00:06:00] restaurant. Now remember they did introduce the, the evil queen a little bit earlier. And do you know, I haven't been there yet.

Lou Mongello: I haven't either. If only there was somebody only, there was somebody, anybody who would anybody who would go well, I would go with you, but I have, I'm not sure if you know this about, um, so this, that used to be.

Artist point, which is one of the more upscale, amazing restaurant

Beci Mahnken: with

Lou Mongello: amazing dishes, unique items, a lot of unique. It is now the story book, dining experience. And I've heard nothing about good things, but the one thing you're not gonna like about it, Becky there's a lot of children in there. I'm

Beci Mahnken: fine with children.

I don't, I still 14 years later. And I still don't know where you, where you got this, uh, the obsession

Lou Mongello: about she's giving me this, stop saying that children thing. All right. So I think we're gonna get everything on the menu. Maybe we'll skip the BIS. Okay. Yeah. I'm because it's, it's 137 degrees outside too,

Beci Mahnken: and it's, it's kind of difficult to share.

Lou Mongello: Listen, whatever cooties I got, you got just, we've been together a long time. Um, there's also an extensive, there's a two page wine and huge, huge beer menu here. I am not a beer drinker, but there's also an entire page of cocktails. I will let you guide us through the, the area that really, the reason why.

Beci Mahnken: Well, I am not a beer drinker myself. However, in the Pacific Northwest beer is a big deal for us. So they've got a very large, uh, selection of bottled beer here, everything from your typical Budweiser into angry orchard Corona. Uh, but then they get into some of the more unusual, which is kind of fun, like the funky Buddhist seasonal, which I know, it sounds very interesting to me.

Um, this Sierra Nevada IPA. Um, couple of the other ones that, oh, they do also have a, a wildberry sparkling hard soda if you like that. So a lot of bottled beer options, and then they have a couple things on draft too, where the bud light moose head lagger, um, there's a space [00:08:00] dust IPA, and a Kentucky bourbon ale that they have on draft, which a lot of my beer drinking friends love to pick their lounges based on what draft beers are available versus the bottled beer.

So for tho those beer drinkers out there, and we won't go into the reasons why I don't drink beer. Becky

Lou Mongello: beer, wait a second. What your spell worked? You literally waved your hands and the kids disappeared. There's no more kids

Beci Mahnken: in the bar. I know that you didn't, you walked up to one of the waitresses and said, I didn't, you know who I am.

Lou Mongello: You literally waved your hands in the air and the families walked out. Oh you. So I'm not saying that it was, you are so funny. I'm I'm I'm honest too, by the way, I'm gonna take pictures guys.

Beci Mahnken: He's he's on. Not about some things about some things, geez. And he's putting the microphone and the camera in my face, which is perfect.

So the cocktails, they have five different specialty cocktails, but they do have a full bar. So if something here doesn't make you happy, there's definitely something that they can make or brew back there. If you wanna go, if you wanna go down that path, Lou, we can really just go down that path. Um, but they have, I, I love this a welcome home for $14, which is Veka.

I can never say that word, that one. Thank you. Pineapple, cranberry juice and lime. They also have an in our neighborhood. So I, I kinda like the names of some of these with a rum, a Blackberry cordial strawberry, or pre, well, that one sounds really good. Orange juice and blackberries. Hmm, yum. A first timer, which I don't think I qualify for that one.

Probably, uh, makers, mark, uh, blueberry, cordial, uh, cranberry juice in an almond. Territory refresher, which always sounds refreshing when they put refresher in the name, uh, Hendricks creamed, a banana, which, you know, a good minions drink. If they show up unexpectedly on Disney property, one part and pineapple, watermelon and lime.

And I'm, [00:10:00] I'm looking at that one that looks good. And then they also have a lodge fizz, which is absolute vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice and top with Sprite. So that sounds like a lighter, more refreshing cocktail. So they do have a lot of, of good choices here. That kind of range from the lighter to a little bit more heavy.

And I have two that I think I may have to choose from,

Lou Mongello: or you'll just order both. Well, we

Beci Mahnken: could do that too. You might have to get me a minivan

Lou Mongello: to get, you took a minivan

Beci Mahnken: here, didn't you? No, I drove. So we shouldn't have, I should have thought about that a little bit in advance. Well, that's all right. Next week when we do the next one, I'll make sure to take.

Yeah.

Lou Mongello: and the only thing better than the atmosphere and the food at territory lounge is the service. Ava. It is nice to see you. We are so excited to be here. Not just because you're here, but because we're starving too. What is your favorite small bite item on the menu?

Beci Mahnken: I love

Lou Mongello: our cheese fondue, so it is Chardon, egg Guer, and cheddar cheese with delicious bread of bread and fresh grapes.

That is our absolute favorite. We just bonded because it's my favorite thing on the menu too. There you go. However, we don't just want the, we don't just want the fun due. Okay. We would also like three ribs. Perfect. And we would also, do you want this cheese and charcuterie too? Yeah. Hello. Her majesty would like the cheese and charcuterie.

And we would like the potato chips too. So basically everything but the BI please. Are you sure about the BIS, let me tell you the BIS comes from artist point. Oh yes. Um, our rips come from west spring canyon and then everything else. Well, let's say they, um, cheeseboard, you can also find at Geer point the fund, you can only find here.

So that's like a signature that's her specialty. Yes. You can only find it here, but yes, I will double

Beci Mahnken: think that about the

Lou Mongello: mushroom. So do we get the BIS [00:12:00] and ditch the cheese and charco? No, all you're saying Becky's like, no. Oh, you can't so ditch that. I'm sorry. I would say probably

Beci Mahnken: go for the best

Lou Mongello: instead of the potato chips, the potato chip ares, regular potato chips.

Okay.

All right. By that. Okay. The Jimmy ranch is amazing. Oh, nice Eva. You're killing me small. I would say get one of everything's. I mean, okay. It is for research purpose family, right? Okay. One of, one of everything. Please

Beci Mahnken: remember. There are desserts for later too. So you have to think about that. That's all right, Tim, you met you.

I think we'll have no problem making our way through that. I'm glad we got the larger table. That's that's all I'm saying there. So my question is I'm I'm down. Oh, here we go. Two different cocktails. Okay. I'm looking at the, our neighborhood and the territory refresher. Which one do you

Lou Mongello: like? I love my personal favor is the territory refresher.

Okay. So it's a, it sounds like it's all over the place, right? It's the Hendrix gin, right? Creta banana watermelon, lime and pineapple, but it's a really nice balance of just tropical flavors. And then the Hendrix just being brings this like herbal tones to it. Okay. It's really good. The neighborhood is amazing too, but it's, it's something easier to drink something you

Beci Mahnken: can drink older.

Oh, where you can't taste the alcohol dangerous. Yes. Awesome. So between the two, which one is sweeter? Our neighborhood, of course you were gonna say that because you got all, I'm gonna start notice. I, that

Lou Mongello: you can't say everything on the menu when you're going and pet through the cocktail. I'm thinking of

Beci Mahnken: two

I'm thinking of sticking with two maybe, and maybe I'll have one of each what? Yeah, no, go ahead. You'll be using, there's gonna be a lot of, a lot of, you know, food here to help it's for research purposes only, and you'll drive you home. So , I will start with the refresher. I'll start there and then I'll move to the coming stand.

Absolutely.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. [00:14:00] This is a nice job back here. oh, this is fun. How about for you, sir? Why can I bring for you? Um, I'm gonna be even more difficult. I'm just gonna have some lemon for my water, please.

Beci Mahnken: Okay. So there's a problem with that. Don't you think don't you think you should don't you think maybe you should order the other cocktail and then we could split them?

No, you

Lou Mongello: just want me why car? You were thinking you just want me to order it so you can drink both?

Beci Mahnken: Well, I couldn't drink both anyway, but at least it was something that you could at least taste one

Lou Mongello: of each. I'll start with this and then we'll move on to sounds good. Thank you.

Beci Mahnken: Absolutely. And, and this is why you need me at a lounge review clearly.

Lou Mongello: Yeah, you cost me way more than other lounge. Thank you. so wait a minute. We just got like the super secret insider pro tip I'm already from, from Dana. Something I never would've thought about. Tell, tell me what you just told me. So if you're ordering the pretzel fondue, Um, it comes with three pieces of pretzel bread.

However, the proportion to the cheese, fondue to pretzel, you only get three pieces, so you're gonna wanna get extra pretzel bread, but I always recommend getting the mushroom bisque. And if you're gonna get the extra pretzel bread and make sure you order it with the mushroom bisque, because it is the best thing ever, and it should come with it, but it doesn't so $5 more for extra pretzel bread and it is just amazing.

Oh, so you dip the pretzel bread into the fondue and you dip it in the BI. Yes, but not together. Like, I mean you can, but yes, it's a double dipper. So you can order a, an extra side of pretzel bread.

Beci Mahnken: She just became your best friend. Didn't she . She just like enabled you to be able to reorder anything that you want talk menu.

Lou Mongello: So maybe you, so you're saying that maybe we need to order more pretzel bread. We'd like to order more pretzel bread, please.

Beci Mahnken: Bar, least she can take it home. See, at least pretzel bread. You can take it back to your room, put it. If you don't go through all of it, [00:16:00] get a little

Lou Mongello: snacked, take it back to my room.

You think it's gonna survive? It's actually too bad. We're not recording this live so we can almost put out a call to arms like we need,

Beci Mahnken: what are you doing? I am taking a picture of the two cocktails that just landed on in front of you on the, uh, on the table, which looks

pretty

Lou Mongello: darn Becky. I am wonderfully appalled at how much food is on our table already.

And it's not even everything.

Beci Mahnken: I know. I think we're missing a couple of dishes, but the, the table's pretty full and it smells so good.

Lou Mongello: Oh my God. These ribs look so good. And this monstrous bowl of soup and then the cheese with the extra pretzel bread. I, I, I think this in terms of attacking, I think we do ribs first.

Okay. We then use the wet nap steps, and then we, like, we reboot

Beci Mahnken: say they do bring you quite an assortment of wonderful, um,

Lou Mongello: wet, wet. Yeah. There's about 40 fives. Right? Which I have a feeling we're gonna, we're gonna need, I would say so. So ladies first dig in,

Beci Mahnken: oh, you want me to dig in and figure out how to eat these things because correct.

They're they're that dish is incredibly hot. If you even put your, your hand over it, you can feel the heat. So they are fresh off. Wait before

Lou Mongello: you get there. Tell me about your, your two double fisting cocktails sitting in front of you. That's

Beci Mahnken: pretty awesome. So the R neighborhood is the one that she was, she said is gonna be a little bit more sweet.

And in fact, it's, it's a little heavier, it's got that puree in it. So the strawberry puree. It does have a hint of sweetness to it, but it's very citrusy and it gets coming from the, the orange juice and the blackberries, but it's, it's a little heavier and it definitely is one of those drinks that you can drink and not realize that alcohol is in it.

Now, the refresher, what she was talking about, which is the territory refresher, um, it looks light, it kinda looks, uh, it looks refreshing and [00:18:00] I can taste the banana. It comes through, it's like the, this really nice, um, combination of the banana and the pineapple and the watermelon all working together. And I'm not a big Hendrix fan typically, but I don't another cocktail.

I don't really taste the Hendrix, uh, because it blends so nicely. So out of the two, I, I really do kind of like, um, the, the sweeter side of things, but I will say if I was gonna order it again, I'd order the refresher.

Lou Mongello: Oh, thank thank you so much, Dana, because we didn't have enough food on table. Mind you we're sitting at like one of the largest tables in here and that's completely full because the charco thank you.

The charco board just came. Wow. That's beautiful. That is gorgeous presentation. Thank you. Oh yeah. Can you, you want, can you take us through? Oh, sure. Thank you. So goat, cheese, aged Parmesan, salami, Peru, duck comfy, our little garlic pickles, honey. Lacone so it's gonna be a bit chewy and, um, house, ground mustard and a book.

Wheat lavash. Wow. Brought mine. . Wow. That's nice

Beci Mahnken: between that and the, the, the pretzel bread. I am so enamored with the pretzel bread without even it all smells so

Lou Mongello: fantastic. So be now mind you we're sit we're Heward at five o'clock. So this clearly can be. A dinner. It could be sort of a pre-game dinner.

You know, it would be really nice little here's the play. We spend a nice little evening in the magic kingdom. Watch some fireworks. You hop on the boat, not just to avoid the crowd, but because it's a beautiful ride. You walk through that sort of giant Florida forest past the Geer and the pool. And you come inside here late night for [00:20:00] this is

Beci Mahnken: nice.

You could do one or the entire thing. Like you said, this could be a dinner for two people just order one of everything, share all the bites

Lou Mongello: or a dinner for one don't judge me. I could do this. This

Beci Mahnken: is true. Um, but I, I think this is a, a fabulous way to do meals in the magic kingdom, because if you do big sit down restaurant meals every single night, it's it becomes a lot of food after a while.

Take one or two of those days in your seven night. Go to a lounge and just order off of the appetizer menu like this, it makes for

Lou Mongello: a great meal. Yeah. Can you do me a favor? Yeah. Can you hurry up and eat that rib so I can get to that aged Parmesan cheese.

Beci Mahnken: I'm working my way to the rib now and you can do as so as well.

Lou Mongello: I'm gonna need a protective coating for my recorder because I have a feeling it's gonna be covered in rib stuff. And so these are they're marinated in a Chipotle barbecue song and I heard the yummy sound come out.

Beci Mahnken: Yeah, it's really good. It it's very Tany. It's extraordinarily Tany. So a little bit beyond the, the flavor palette that I like.

It's maybe a little bit more Tany than, than I'm used to, but it's still very good. I don't know if I could eat an entire plate of them, but definitely could, it would be a good plate to share.

Lou Mongello: Wait a second. I really like these, you know what? I just came not too long ago from the reopening of hoop to do, which has great ribs, no longer in buckets, but in large, I think these might be better.

The meat falls off the bone. So there's more of a dry rub on the hoopy do ribs. This is definitely more of a sort of mopped on Chipotle barbecue sauce. So there is a lot more, it's a wetter and sort of thicker [00:22:00] sauce. It's not spicy at all. There's a, there's more of almost a, a sweetness to the Chipotle. Uh, so don't let the Chipotle throw you off, cuz I know you don't like heat and there's really none of that on here at all at all.

It's not, this'll be a nice compliment with the pretzel

Beci Mahnken: bread. Mm-hmm I think it might be the Chipotle that that's throwing me off a little bit for the, for the Tang. , but it is really good as flavorful. It's not dry whatsoever. It is. Um, it's a ton of flavors and I really, really like it. And you clearly do because you have it all over yourself

Lou Mongello: right now.

Keep talking. I don't need time to clean up after this.

Beci Mahnken: I would say, so I need a bath after this. There's a lot of, of

Lou Mongello: sauce going everywhere. These ribs are not a first aid food or it is a good first aid food. So, you know, oh yeah, I'm totally fine with him or her sort of licking their finger. Would you really it's all take first date hurt my face.

Isn't it?

Beci Mahnken: Yes, it is. Would you really do this for a first date

Lou Mongello: happen? You might be able to know this is the one let's ask the question. What was your first date? This is the one I'm assuming you don't want this other ring? No, it's all yours.

Beci Mahnken: Where, where did you go on your first date ever?

Lou Mongello: Mm-hmm

it was a long time ago, Becky. I didn't date very much. Um, I like this. Top 10 ribs in Walt Disney world. I need to write that down. There's a, there's a research trip that I'm, if only there was somebody, anybody that I can find help me do that. I dig these. I would do these, these, these late at night. Oh yeah.

And these come in at $13 for three and 17 for five. So the more you get, the more you save it's like going into digital, the more you stay, the more you play, the more you save, something like that, the more you eat, the more you save for somebody that doesn't like that rib Becky, you're doing quite a good job on it.

Beci Mahnken: I didn't say I didn't like it. [00:24:00] I said the flavor Pelle or the it's really strong to me. It's a, it's a strong flavor, which doesn't make it bad. It's just kinda strong.

Lou Mongello: It's very flavorful. And I, I, I like. I like a little bit of, because sometimes some foods, depending on where you go, they're toned down sometimes for different pallets mm-hmm and I don't feel this is raw.

I really like this a lot. No, no. This, this gets a, this is a solid these ribs or a solid nine in my book. That's a solid nine. All right. So we're gonna move from the meaty and sweet and Tany to something a little bit more, almost sort of comfort foody. We've got the cheese fond, do dip and the BIS with small individual loaves of pretzel bread.

They're almost sort of little baseball size loaves of pretzel bread with some grapes as well too, ladies, first, I think we go fondue first. Okay. And then we move our way over to the soup. See, I, I love pretzel bread. Nice big pieces of, of salt, like kosher salt on it. Smell so

Beci Mahnken: good. Just the pretzel bread by itself.

The little butter is like almost

Lou Mongello: perfection. You don't even need butter. I said ladies first, but if you don't hurry up, I'm gonna gonna jump moving in. I'm

Beci Mahnken: moving. I'm moving. Ooh.

Lou Mongello: Mm, mm mm-hmm.

Beci Mahnken: no, that's fantastic.

Lou Mongello: All you need to know is, mm, wow. Wow. Wow. That's really good.

Beci Mahnken: Talk about flavorful. That is, it's so smooth and it has a ton of flavor behind it, but it's not overdone where, you know, sometimes the cheese can be just a little bit [00:26:00] too much. This is so smooth and so light, and I could eat all of

Lou Mongello: this by myself.

You almost, you almost get that little bit of the, the bite on the back of the pallet. Mm-hmm from the sharp cheese and the Chardonnay. There's no sort of a, an alcohol over wine overtone to it, but it's very, very subtle, but it adds another sort of extension of the spectrum of just what the FLA. Wow, that's really good as if cheese couldn't get any better.

It did. It

Beci Mahnken: really did.

Lou Mongello: I'm so happy. We ordered, remember what I said about the service. They were so smart to order that $5 is the best $5 we ever spent on that extra pretzel bread.

Beci Mahnken: And then you have grapes too, to the side. So if you wanna cut into a little sweetness afterwards, you take a bite after the cheese.

It actually is a really nice combination of, of flavor.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. And everything obviously is super shareable. Not necessarily the, so we're gonna share it anyway.

Beci Mahnken: Mm-hmm so good. And then make sure that you try the part with a lot of salt on the bread, because that changes the flavor as

Lou Mongello: well. Did you ever do fondue as a kid?

Yeah, like it's a seventies things, kids, but like, we actually have a fondue thing at home and I've done it before, um, for like parties and stuff like that. Everything is better with cheese.

Beci Mahnken: Did you do cheese fondue or did you do different types of fondue as a kid?

Lou Mongello: So recently I remember doing cheese fondue, but as a kid, I remember there was like a cheese fondue, and I think there was like a chocolate fondue and there was like a.

I could see that seventies yellowish orange thing with the long, with the pot, with the long skewers, with the boiling

Beci Mahnken: oil. Yeah. So my dad used to that's what it was boiling oil, and he would make,

Lou Mongello: keep [00:28:00] talking, I'll keep eating. He

Beci Mahnken: would make cubes of steak and vegetables and, um, different types of meats.

And you would like skew that with the little fondue stick and you would cook it yourself into the, uh, in the fondue pot. And it was like the perfect way to create your meal together as a family. So we did that, um, the, the dinner type fondue with the boiling oil, and then we would have cheese, fondue, and then chocolate fondue.

So you'd have three different ones for the three courses. There's a

Lou Mongello: restaurant around here. There's a melting pot melting pot. We've I haven't been there God in ages. All right, I'm gonna move on. I'm gonna move on to the mushroom bisque. You it's a, it's a hearty bowl of mushroom bacon and I'll post photos of all these in the show notes@wwradio.com and on my Instagram, uh, stories or reels or whatever.

So you can see exactly where we're eating. So this is, oh, it's a very, it's very thick. Almost sort of like a, a stew like consistency.

Mm oh, oh. You're not gonna like this. Don't eat this. It's almost like it's super thick. Yeah. It's almost like a dip

Beci Mahnken: more than it is a soup.

Lou Mongello: Super creamy. Nice and earthy. I mean, I have to love mushroom,

Beci Mahnken: but that's really. Yeah. If, if you like mushroom flavor, that's, that's amazing.

Lou Mongello: I'm not sure. Let me, you know what, maybe I need to try one more piece.

Beci Mahnken: Yep. Good call on the extra, on the extra pretzel bread, because even for just two people, three pieces, isn't gonna do it. You need the extra pretzel bread.

Lou Mongello: So again, like super, you don't need a spoon for your mushroom biscuits, you eat it with the pretzel bread. That's the way that you do it. And that's the way that you share it.

I'm going deep. I'm going like all the way in. It's almost like

Beci Mahnken: a, a thin hummus in a way that type of consistency. It's, it's very thick. Um, it has a texture to it. So if you like soup that has texture, this [00:30:00] is a perfect soup for you. Otherwise, like you said, a dip is probably your,

Lou Mongello: and even on a scaling hot, super humid day.

Like today, it's delicious. Don't let what's going on on the outside affect what you order here on the inside, or at least

Beci Mahnken: wait until you've, um, had a taste of your refresher and then go for the soup after you've cooled down a little bit, because I know how that's like you walk in from 96 degrees and you think soup.

I don't want soup.

Lou Mongello: We almost, we, we almost wrote it off and I'm happy. We didn't. Yeah, I did

Beci Mahnken: too. We were talking about the menu earlier and we did decide to just forego the chips because there are the typical house made potato chips that they have all the way across property. So it's not something that you're gonna get here.

That's a, a unique

Lou Mongello: flavor, cuz I need you to know something to know. Mm-hmm, there's a little part of me that, that regrets not doing it because I wanted to dip the chips in both of these, just to see, you know, what the chips from a purely textural perspective. Maybe not like cheese, but I think in the, oh, no mushroom.

So what did I say earlier? Everything's better with cheese, including chips. wow. That's really good. Good. Because

Beci Mahnken: the goat cheese over there is all yours.

Lou Mongello: I can't wait.

So I have to tell you, you win the award for cast member of the century, for the tip about getting the extra pretzel bread in the mushroom soup. It's so, so good. And I would never think about doing it, especially like in the heat. You're like, oh, I don't need mushroom soup. You need the mushroom soup. It's Portini mushrooms.

So people you don't like mushrooms actually love that soup. Yeah. It's delicious. And it's a, it's a big portion too. Like you can, it, you don't need the spoons, just get the pretzel breads to share it. The only place that you can get it out property because they serve it at artist point. So I. Same thing with the ribs.

We're the only place you can get it all the cart. You have to get it at whisper canyon. And the skill is so you can get him here or you can get it quick to go. It's very quick and convenient. Remember [00:32:00] when I said spoiler alert, this is gonna be one of the top 10 lounges in Walt Disney world. It's moving up the list very, very quickly.

All right. Let's attack the sh board by the way, very smart way to do this hot stuff first, moving on her way. And this is a nice way to sort of casually end the meal. There's a nice ride of things. I think this is a perfect size for one or two people to split mm-hmm ladies. First, I'm gonna let you in.

This would be the

Beci Mahnken: perfect scenario for if you wanted to get an appetizer before dinner. If you were waiting for your dinner reservation, you could just sit here, order a cup of cocktails and get the scudi board. And that would be a perfect way to start a meal.

Lou Mongello: And obviously like the meats and things like that are, are gonna be the same ever.

I love if this Lage bread it's, it's thin and it's. As you can hear her is very like crispy. I know you're not a goat cheese person, so you're not a goat cheese. Yay. For me.

Beci Mahnken: However, I am a honeycomb person. I love honey off the comb. And anytime you have that on a board, I could just put the fork in that and grab it and

Lou Mongello: eat that I could eat.

See, now iron under the hand could eat that. Go cheese with a spoon. No sweat. It's delicious. It's creamy. It's definitely good. And I'm I love try this. Try it. You'll what sometimes try it, Mike. You'll

Beci Mahnken: like the problem with goat cheese is it, it has a texture that does not quite agree with my palette. Oh, great.

Lou Mongello: So I'm videotaping just in case. Yes.

Beci Mahnken: Yeah, no yeah, totally.

Lou Mongello: No, no. And that's why I'm videotaped. okay. Listen. Yep. Different strokes for different folks. It's all good. Wash it down with some . I wish I was still recording. Let's take a little bit of the honeycomb Ines that I, oh, it's so good. So I'm gonna put this, I'm gonna put a pole in the clubhouse and or [00:34:00] on Instagram goat cheese.

Yes or no. Ugh.

Beci Mahnken: No, just so many levels of no

Lou Mongello: fresh honeycomb, so, so good. It's delicious honeycombs coming my way. Honeycombs big. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's not small. No, no, no. Honeycombs got a big, big bite, big, big taste or a big, big bite. If you weren't born before 1971, you have no idea what I'm talking about.

If you get that reference, let me know.

Beci Mahnken: I do. And all I did was just take a big bite of the honeycomb that right there is dessert for me. Mm-hmm I could eat that entire thing. I'm

Lou Mongello: gonna take some with a spoon. Like

Becky's also wearing half of her honeycomb too, but,

Beci Mahnken: but we did kind of just end up on my shirt too.

Lou Mongello: Mm. That was amazing. Delicious, amazing. So this is what you do, though. If you like the go cheese, they take a beast piece Lavo and you put the goat cheese and the honeycomb on it.

Beci Mahnken: These are tastes that don't go together because one of the tastes just

Lou Mongello: doesn't go at all.

That's what somebody said about Reese, peanut butter cups, and now who's laughing.

Beci Mahnken: Okay. You do that. I'm gonna go to the Parmesan cheese because you know how much we love Parmesan, cheese,

Lou Mongello: sweet and salty and rich and creamy. insanely

Beci Mahnken: good. This is right up there with DCL. Try this. It's amazing. The, the, the par on cheese, one of the things that I love about Disney cruise line is that especially if you go to, to, um, uh, to Paul, you get that little bit of cheese off the cheese, right? This has that same wonderful rich texture of Parmesan cheese.

You can eat directly without having to combine it with anything. It's amazing. [00:36:00]

Lou Mongello: You know, why they changed PA to long longer be the buffet and thing. It has nothing to do with C it's. Cuz I used to go up to the parms on cheese wheel and I would bring zip go bags and just bring eight pounds of it. It was one, one of my favorite things in PA for brunch, but see like I love this like a little bit of the meat with some of the mustard.

The lava is so nice and thin. So you. It doesn't so sometimes bread overpowers the taste of the meats and the cheeses is compliments it with just a nice little texture. I love it. I love it. And this, the charcuterie, the char COO board comes in again at $22. That's a

Beci Mahnken: great value for $22. That was really good.

And yeah, you're right. The, the, um, the, the bread isn't really bread. It's light. It allows the other flavors from the cheeses and the meats to come through without overpowering

Lou Mongello: it. So are you a duck com fee person? No. This is the best. This is the best thing ever. Cuz Becky doesn't eat half of the stuff that's on here.

Well, this is the, kind of

Beci Mahnken: the wonderful thing about having me do this because I like many of you, I'm a picky eater. I tend to,

Lou Mongello: I'm a picky eater. I pick this, I pick that. I pick

Beci Mahnken: that you pick that up, you pick that up, you pick that up. Um, I've, there's some flavors and things that don't go well with me. And I'm kind of choosy about what those things are.

Nothing here for the exception of the goat. Cheese is something that I wouldn't enjoy. I loved everything that we've touched so far.

Lou Mongello: I'm not a, so you might want to, so this is nice because it's not gamey at all. Yeah. Sometimes duck, if it's not cooked, right. There's a, there's a textual issue because in sort of the tenderness of the duck, this is actually very light.

It doesn't have any sort of strong flavors to it. Try it. You'll like it. I

Beci Mahnken: always will try something once. And then sometimes,

Lou Mongello: you know, people say, wait, lemme start videotaping again. Wait, wait, wait. Oh, wow. Just in case [00:38:00] this is gold.

Beci Mahnken: I have a pickle in my hand too. So this is, this is a wonderful combination.

You're right. It's that, that doesn't have a gamey taste to it, but it still, it doesn't have a, um,

Lou Mongello: it's not, yeah. It's not me wash it down with your 16 cocktails in front of you. Yes. Bring it on. So Eva, that was amazing. But I have two questions for you. One, what is your seasonal pie? We have a lemon Maring tart.

It's more like a tart instead of a pie. And the second question is really a two parter. Your flowerless chocolate cake cauldron really comes in a cauldron. Oh yes. We would like one. And can you please put it directly in front of, um, my lovely friend

Beci Mahnken: here?

Absolutely.

Lou Mongello: Would you like to have it with the vanilla

Beci Mahnken: ice cream or without a vanilla.

Lou Mongello: Is the vanilla ice cream bubbling, like, you know, smokey like a regular cauldron, but yes, I think, yes, it'll be cold. It won't be, it'll be cold. Yes, please. Becky's nodding. Yes. I would like ice cream, please. Thank you. You're welcome. So somehow, Becky, we literally ate almost everything on the menu and pretty much everything that was delivered to our table.

So what do you do when that happens? You order dessert? I couldn't have asked for a better presentation when she put down a cauldron of flowerless chocolate cake with two scoops of Anine ice cream, an aside of whipped cream and two lovely black berries. It is your call. Look it's even like oozing over the side.

Take your spoon and please dig in first. It doesn't. And when I see flowerless in my estimation, that means it's healthy. It

Beci Mahnken: doesn't look like cake. To me, it looks like chocolate sauce in a caldron next to two scoops of vanilla and ice cream. But when you dip your spoon in, you do

Lou Mongello: kind of please stop playing with your [00:40:00] food and by your food.

I mean our food. Oh, she's stirring it. Like it's a, oh my God. I should have this on video.

Beci Mahnken: Stop. Stop. So many levels of stop. There's a lot of chocolate here. It's right up your wow. Oh, oh, wow. Yeah, stop it.

it's it's like a melted chocolate bar.

Lou Mongello: I don't think you listen as one of my favorite Disney characters. And favorite apprentices likes to say, actually she didn't say it, but from it's from her movie, doesn't matter. Mama already used to say, you gotta dig a little deeper. You gotta really get down there.

Hold this. Would you hold, let me show you how to do this. All right. You gotta dig all the way down to the bottom of the look to the bottom of the RIT. Yeah. That's what all the good stuff is. Like all the little children all the way down to the bottom. What did you just say? What see. So you gotta get a big he and spoon film again, not a first day

Beci Mahnken: food.

It really needs the ice cream though. Mm-hmm you gotta dip that into the ice cream, because that gives it that little hold

Lou Mongello: by the way, let me just go on record by saying I'm not a sweet guy. oh, no, but is not a sweets guy,

Beci Mahnken: not a

Lou Mongello: sweets guy, but oh. It's like rich and creamy and decadent, but not overly heavy, but.

Right. She's just, she just came over. She nodded and walked away. It's so good. Light airing. That's what I just said, but it's not it's Lightar but the net vanilla be ice cream, quite balances. Dana, you and I are on the same wave cake itself is not sweet. It's not, they're good NAS. So it's almost like a devil food cake chocolate where it's not super sweet, but the ganache tops off that, Dana, I'm not a sweet guy, but I really like that.

It's really good in the ours is like a tart and [00:42:00] I like Marue. So the poor proportion to the Marue to tart. So I always go with, I think this is a nice way to sort of round out the meal and your day and oh yeah. And then you go into a coma pretty much. And then you just, then you sleep somewhere and then you're.

Beci Mahnken: You realize on your tombstone I'm but I'm

Lou Mongello: not sweet guy. Don't like chocolate, except for the Coran.

Becky. You're a little Calder over there. It's it's real. That's really nice.

Beci Mahnken: It is really good. Now the ice cream does not come with the caldron. You have to add that. And I would definitely say, add it. You have to do it. You have to, because I think that that, that balance of the flavors and the texture and the cold with the warm, that makes the dessert right there, it reminds

Lou Mongello: me of almost an inside out, um, like polo, like chocolate lava cake, but twice as big, but same thing, you need that cold bit of creaminess from the ice cream.

You don't even need the whipped cream, cuz I'm clearly I'm watching my calories today. So I'm gonna just ditch the whip. I'm gonna eat the Blackberry instead of the whipped cream. So I can really.

Beci Mahnken: Yeah, I like that. Yeah. This made a meal. This made a perfect meal with all of these choices and the great beverages, and then topping it off with this dessert.

Great shareable here. I wouldn't get to, I think that this is shareable for two, possibly even three people. It is large when you, uh, compare or pair it with the, uh, with the ice cream. But I think

Lou Mongello: I forgot to take a picture of it. Other than just you, with your hand, waving over the culture. wonderful. You can still get the, you know what, the only thing better than the small bite menu, a territory lounge is not the ambiance.

It's not the location. It's not even the service Becky Mankin from elsewhere travel. It's the company.

Beci Mahnken: Aw. You just [00:44:00] say that because you have a picture of me with my hand, waving over a caldron.

Lou Mongello: I mean, and I want you to pay for dinner too, but no, it's true. This is, it's why I love lounges so much because whether you come.

With family, where they come with a small or large group of friends, like this is where this, this table right here, the dinner table, the kitchen table, the dining room table is where some of the best moments and memories and conversations happen, we gather around food. And it's sort of that commonality, that, that thing that sort of literally brings us and bonds us together.

And when you have a nice meal with great service in a great environment, there's nothing else like it. And I love being able to just sort of graze my way around the table and pick and share and, and make it a fun meal. Yeah. And that's the other

Beci Mahnken: thing I enjoy about this too, is that when you're at restaurant and you have to pick your entree, you're, you're stuck without one flavor.

That one thing for your, unless you're on the cruise, correct. Then you can do what you do, which is say, I want all of these. And then all of those from the fourth panel. And by the way, two of these, I, I know Yoda

Lou Mongello: used to say. Don't judge me by my order. Don't no, don't judge me whatever. It's research by the

Beci Mahnken: size of your order.

Right? So this allows you to have different tastes of different things. And I think I really enjoy doing this type of meal a lot more than I do having to pick one entree. And just, especially when you're looking at something, you're like, I want that. And I want that. And I want that, which would be way too much food, unless you're you, but here you at least get that opportunity to get a small plate and share it.

It is. It's

Lou Mongello: like a tabletop pretty much with friends. There you go. Lounges are tabletop buffets with friends. I need to trademark that somehow. Um, this was wonderful. Our servers were amazing. Yeah, the company was great. And hopefully you who was sitting in this empty chair beside. Felt like you were here with us and did not listen hungry.

It [00:46:00] doesn't matter what I'm talking about on the show and just never listen hungry just as a precautionary measure. If you are looking to come to territory lounge, to story book, dining, to Geer point or anywhere in Walton, we had to do story book dining. We have to do that next. We, I think we need like a gaggle of people.

We need a little small group that will really sort of get into the, the story book. That'd be fun treat. Um, if, and when you are ready to come, of course, visit Becky and the amazing team over@mousefedtravel.com. Yes,

Beci Mahnken: please. for all of your Disney vacation needs and MEI travel.com for all of your other needs.

And if you're not going to Disney this time, which people

Lou Mongello: sometimes choose not to, I've heard of that. I've heard peoples do go elsewhere. Sometimes I've actually done it on occasion too, which is crazy. It's nuts, Becky, as you dig in for what is now going to be well, you've eaten the whole thing. So that the last, the last of the bites,

Beci Mahnken: I'm making my wife from the ice cream.

So you better

Lou Mongello: hurry up this. Um, this was a lot of fun. It was absolutely delicious. I wanna know from you, have you ever eaten a territory lounge? If so, what do you think? If not, is this something that is on your radar, a place to come and visit, even if you're not staying here, the destination is sometimes worth the journey.

And then where does this rank in your lounge

Beci Mahnken: list? And if you come here, do the territory refresher that's that is now the drink of. Choice. I think it would. It's in the top five. It's in the top five of cocktails. What did I call

Lou Mongello: lounges are a tabletop buffet with friends, with friends. I like this...[00:48:00]