Hello, my friends! Did you miss me? I hope you did! Well, OK. Hopefully, you missed me at least a little bit. Anyway, I’m back! For how long? Who knows. “Real life” has me very busy!

It took me a couple of weeks to figure out how to respond to Disney’s decision to start charging their defenseless Guests for the privilege of parking at all of their highfalutin’ (that was for you, Judith) resorts. Here’s my opinion … book a Marriott. At least you’ll earn points.

Hey! Check out Doug Davis and John Peters as they rant about Disney’s nefarious parking lot “cash-grab”. Catch it on the WDW Main Street Podcast –the place where rants were born!

Episode 438 – Parking Rant!

Now, let’s let’s talk about something fun … FOOD! On our most-recent visit to “Mickey’s World”, Mrs. All in WDW and I made it a point to drop by the Yacht Club’s brand-new Ale & Compass Lounge. Uh, a couple of times, actually!

Mrs. All in WDW considered these expensive and ordinary, but I loved them. True, at $12, Ale’s Parker House Rolls and Spreads were a bit costly. With Bacon Jam, Pub Cheese,and Smoked Trout Spread, however, they were pretty darn good!

We’ve found a place, in Nashville, that serves a phenomenal Nashville Hot Cauliflower. This lounge’s version – a Roasted Buffalo-style Cauliflower – is reasonably-priced ($9) but not as good. Maybe we’re spoiled by Nashville’s recipe, but Ale’s cauliflower was a bit too al dente for us.

Of all that, though, this one was the $18 pièce de résistance … one of their Hearth Oven “Pies”! Check this baby out, folks! Adorned with caramelized leeks, chorizo, and an egg, this pie was phenomenal! We had it twice! In fact, it’s one of our favorite dishes on property … now that we’ve experienced it!

It’s true that I was very disappointed when Disney decided to close the Yacht Club’s Captain’s Grille. But, even I have to admit that WDW notched a ‘home run’ with this refurbishment. When it comes to this lounge, we’ll definitely be back … for that “pizza”!