
Kobe Steakhouse and a Room for the Night
A new day has dawned (and then some) and we try to forget about Saturday’s misfortunes and move on.
We start with break-lunch (it was 3pm) at Bojangles. A southern fast food chain that caught my attention because they have pork chop sandwiches!
It was actually quite tasty for fast food. The biscuit was fresh and the pork chop was juicy and seasoned nicely.
Not pictured is the awful drink mixup that was not helping my confidence in the day. I ordered a cherry soda of some sort, put in the straw, take a big swig and get SWEET TEA! Ugh, ptooie, ew ew. I get Chris to run in and trade my tea for something more palatable….
Back on the road!

Back home these are just called Shell gas stations…
Another driving recap for you:

More oddities – the LPGA has a random blvd sponsored here.

No idea what this is, but the building was cool looking.

Moon!

Look, Harry Potter billboard – oops there it goes… (cut off rudely by a freeway wall)
18 hours is a LONG time in a car, even with a stop for snacks and a quick nap. I start getting artsy with the photos out of boredom. Lookit the pretty balls of light!
Finally though – we ARRIVE! Even better, we have just enough time to make it to dinner at our favorite non-Disney restaurant. My parents ate here years ago and went on and on about it, and amazingly (we don’t always agree on cuisine tastes) when we went in 2011 we loved it as well.
Around 9:30pm we pull in to the parking lot at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. At last, something goes as intended.

Fishy fishy.

Happy to officially start our vacation.
It was happy hour, and drinks were 1/2 off. So I treated myself to a Kobe Breeze. Bacardi Coco Rum, Strawberry, Cranberry, Pineapple.
We went for the $34 hibachi dinner for two – which gets you soup and salad to start, then chicken, shrimp and steak with vegetables, noodles and fried rice. It is an amazing amount of food for the price!
Oiling the grill.



Spinning the spatula
Dicing up the veggies.
Handing out the crack sauce. They sell this by the bottle – it’s a Kobe Steakhouse original.
Setting up the volcano.
Woo, fire!
I don’t know what they do to this fettuccine, but this plus some of the signature white sauce (aka crack sauce) is amazing.
Sorry guys, I was starving. We didn’t dare stop for any other food besides that pork chop biscuit in case it made us late for this meal. So this is the only shot you get of my plate. I swear I had an amazing pile of food here.
I barely managed to finish my plate. Then they found out it was our anniversary and we got a song, “Kobe Steakhouse” chef hats and these cupcakes. I couldn’t even, but Chris found room. Because free .
We dragged ourselves back to the car, and headed to our short term hotel. One night before we started Disney!
A few shots out the window.
Mickey snuck up on us – so this is the first “magical” shot you get.
We decided to stay at the Best Western Lake Buena Vista again. While I’m not fond of the beds (still) I can’t argue it’s a good price for the location and the view.
We got in too late to see any fireworks this time, but I got a case of the giggles walking out to the balcony and being able to see EPCOT and Downtown Disney.
It finally made it real. In just a few hours we were going to be heading to our resort, and to our first park.
We record a quick “vlog” on my cell phone and then crash into bed.
Up next: Day one at Disney

