BONUS Review: Nomad Lounge at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris (00:01):
Hey there podcast family.
on today's bonus episode, we aregoing to be talking about the
Nomad lounge and cocktail bar,affectionately called the Nomad
lounge. Look as a general protip when it comes to Disney,
don't sleep on the lounges.
Okay? Many of the higher endrestaurants at Disney have an

(00:22):
attached or nearby lounge thatoffer many of the same menu
items as their restaurantcounterparts. But without the
need for reservations. The NomadLounge is one of these options
and absolutely worth the visit.

Kelli (00:35):
Yes, definitely. And during COVID they are doing a
waitlist on the app. So when wewere there in December when we
got to the park, we immediatelychecked the waitlist and it said
the waitlist is full and we werepretty bummed out about that.
But we just kept checking backand checking back and literally
within 45 minutes it had openedup and we had a reservation
within five minutes. Yep. Sodon't give up on it. If it says

(00:57):
it's full. Just keep checkingand checking and checking you
can get in we had no issueswalking right in and getting an
amazing seat near the water.
Absolutely.

Chris (01:06):
And really all it took for us to want to try the Nomad
lounge was the words breadsurvey man. Bread service were
sold. But, but it offered somuch more by way of small plates
and wonderful libations NomadLounge is located right next to
tiffins, which is easily thenicest restaurant Animal

(01:27):
Kingdom. It's one of the nicerrestaurants on Walt Disney World
property. If you're walkingtowards Pandora from discovery
Island, it'll be on the rightjust before the bridge over the
water to go to Pandora. Soyou'll see tiffins and then
you'll see the Nomad lounge. Itincludes an indoor and outdoor

(01:48):
seating area. And if you sitoutside, you have actually a
fantastic view of the river thatruns through Animal Kingdom.
Which means you get primeviewing of the floating
character cavalcades that are socool.

Kelli (02:01):
It was fantastic.

Chris (02:02):
So relaxing, beautiful.
nd there's so many details inhe banks of the river, that you
an just try to spot things. I's amazing. The decor speaks to
he heart of those with wanderlut, which we both have. They h
ar these, the inside has thse large banners hanging from
he ceiling in the center ofhe lounge that pose questions ab

(02:22):
ut traveling and the thrillof discovery. in normal times
on pandemic times the cast wll provide you with a decorat
ve little tag and you jot dwn answers to the questions on
he banners and your the people tat work there might display y
ur answers on the quoteag chandelier that hangs up on
he bar for all to see your answe

Kelli (02:46):
That's really cool. But as always, the menu is the star
here right? We went for thebread service but we knew it was
going to be a phenomenal menu.
And at Nomad lounge, it's acollection of small plates.
There's a decent selection ofbeers, wine, specialty
cocktails, the wine and beeroptions as well as the cocktails
not extensive. But they are allquite interesting. And you can

(03:06):
tell that was very intentionallyselected. So let's go down
through the small plates. Theyhave and this is sort of on
their standard menu. There'salso a specials menu will hit
that too. So on the small platesthey had the chicken Manchurian
Nomad bowl, and all these aremeant to be shared. So this is

(03:26):
steamed rice, red cabbage kimchiand ginger scallion oil and
cremini mushrooms that's $13 thetogarashi spice tuna Nomad bowl
which is steamed rice, redcabbage, kimchi, Ginger scallion
all and cremini mushrooms aswell. We had the other three
which are the impossible sliderswith chipotley aoili and yu

(03:49):
a fries, the tiffins bread servie which comes with four d
fferent types of bread,

Chris (03:55):
There was the pomegranate focaccia there was naan lavos
and there was another one thatcan'

Kelli (04:01):
really crispy one Yeah, yes. And that comes with red
pepper, hummus, spicy corianderyogurt and ginger pear chutney
for $12. And then churros, whichare somehow gluten free. Yeah, I
don't know how they do that withvanilla crema and chili
strawberry, which I'm gonna behonest, those things were just
amazing.

Chris (04:20):
I could've just drank

Kelli (04:22):
So we got the impossible sliders obviously because I'm
vegetarian, but what did youthink about them?

Chris (04:26):
I thought they were fantastic.

Kelli (04:27):
Yeah, they were de ightful.

Chris (04:30):
Yeah, there was an impossible there was like a
vegetarian booth at the Epcotfestival last year. That that's
what they reminded me of. Yeah,but the the slaw on them just
set it off. It

Kelli (04:41):
was Yeah, absolutely. The yuca

Chris (04:42):
fries. Not only that, but the bread was you could tell the
bread was fresh baked. Oh, yeah.
And these little rolls and breadwill make a sandwich or break a
sandwich and they just killedthis.

Kelli (04:53):
Yeah. So they brought out our impossible sliders at the
same time. They brought out thetables next to us. Regular
slide.

Chris (04:59):
Yes. On the specials, we have beef sliders

Kelli (05:01):
and beef sliders. And so we were like did we get the beef
or do we get the we couldn't wehonestly couldn't tell the
difference by looking at whichone they had delivered to us.
But

Chris (05:09):
I'll tell you though, ours were bigger. Ours are
bigger. Ours are prettier. Yeah,

Kelli (05:14):
they did what I thought they must be the real beef
because they looked like aprettier little slider. Yeah,
absolutely. Sure. The breadservice was as amazing as we
thought it was going to be. Itis tiffins bread service. Yeah.
So you're getting the same breadservice at Nomad lounge that you
would get if you hadreservations at tiffins. That's
right. And it was justphenomenal. The dip, the bread,

(05:34):
everything about that service.
Amazing. And the churros.

Chris (05:38):
I don't even know what to say the best churros I've ever
read in my life. And let me tellyou, I've eaten a million
churros. Whether at Disney, nota Disney. We tried making them
at home one time and baseballgames. If they sell a churro I
tried to eat it were forchurros. But no churro will e
er stand up to the

Kelli (05:57):
They were they were th best churros I've ever had. H
w are they? How are they going fr it? And

Chris (06:01):
we had churros in Lima Peru at a place that specialized
restaurant. Yes. And these werbetter. These were better tha
chili spice strawberry so goodOh my gosh

Kelli (06:11):
the sauces did with a kid and man they made it. So yeah,
so we highly recommend thosethree on the regular menu, the
bread service, please don't missthe bread service. Don't sleep
on that. Don't skip theimpossible sliders just because
it's impossible me and if you goand don't get the churros just
you're messing up and go to justget the churros if that's if you
get nothing get the churros andthe bread service. Well then so

(06:33):
they had several specials whilewe were there. They had a squash
soup, some beef sliders, smokedpork ribs with a sweet soy glaze
and an apple hikma slawcharcuterie board and a lobster
mac and cheese with BlackDiamond cheddar cheese Sherry in
orange Yeti pasta. Yeah.

Chris (06:50):
So you got the lobster Mac and the smoked pork ribs and
tell us all about so there'ssmoked pork ribs were just fall
off the bone. Just there weremassive. They were massive. They
were they were meaty. They weresticky. Sweet. That little umami
flavored sticky sweetness likeKorean barbecue almost

Kelli (07:12):
they were beautiful.

Chris (07:13):
Oh my gosh, they just I can I'm just thinking it was
like

Kelli (07:15):
gorgeous and I would not I mean it I get it. They're
defined as a small plate but man

Chris (07:20):
Yeah, you could you could have walked away full these were
these were massive. But we werethere to eat man. So I also got
the lobster mac and cheese.
Which is everything you wantlobster mac and cheese to be
plenty of big chunks of lobsterand there's a crock. It wasn't a
it wasn't a crock that you knowthey baked it right in that
rock. It was a layer of cheeseon top and just it was so
decadent.

Kelli (07:44):
It was yes rig.
beautiful, gorgeous, gorgeous,gorgeous. We also went for the
cocktails right? No lie. Theseare cocktails you can't get
anywhere else on Disneyproperties. These are unique to
animal kingdom, right? So a lotof them use liquors that
specifically have a tie intosome something to do with animal

(08:05):
catcher. That's right, right. Sofor example, the Lamu libation
has star African rum. And sothen you've also got the spice
trader classic, and Annapurnazing, the lungs delight, which
also has the star African ROMtimpe, attempting Tigris. In
that gray it's Russell's reserve10 year bourbon with an all

(08:29):
spice drum, tamarind syrup andlime juice.
The night monkey the nightmonkeys fantastic plantation
original dark rum guava puree,coffee, simple syrup and lime
juice with a hint of cilantro.
Yes, I am seriously consideredthe Mustang coffee, which is
Crown Royal brown sugar andbutter with hot coffee. Yeah,

(08:53):
sounds good. Yes, but I ended upgetting the Sinaloa sangria
which is a South Americansangria may with Susanna Bow Bow
creos rosae, Barstow, K, branta,Pisco and fresh fruit. They had
me at Pisco.

Chris (09:08):
Pisco was was the selling factor there.

Kelli (09:11):
They had me at Pisco and it was it was delightful it was
refreshing again, you're sittingout on a porch on a perfectly
perfect day with like people,you know, characters coming by
and cavalcade and I'm sipping ona Pisco, sangria. It was
fantastic. They also had a bottoRita and a high tower rocks. You

(09:32):
had the snow leopard salvation,tell us about that.

Chris (09:34):
It was great, very refreshing. And so this was a
snow leopard vodka, bed debris,a pear liqueur, so pear liqueur.
Mint, lime juice, topped withginger beer reminded me a little
bit of like a mint julep, maybelike a mint julep and, and,
again, we're sitting on a porch,the sun sort of coming down. It

(09:58):
was cool, but You had theradiant heat from the sunshine
and that refreshing drink. Itwas pretty it was just
delightful.

Kelli (10:08):
And it Yeah, Snow Leopard salvation. That vodka in
particular donates money to helpkeep the snow leopard alive.

Chris (10:15):
Well, I'm sure that's why I ordered it.

Kelli (10:17):
I'm sure. I also had the Jenn's tattoo just because
I really loved the name and tht was a huge win it's Ketel o
e vodka, watermelon hibiscus ad lime juice. That is an actu
l candied hibiscus flower sittig on top of that, and I gotta te
l you, it made my day. They hae several wines all coming fr
m the southern hemisphere, ad several beers again, these a

(10:38):
e all very intentionally selecte. They also have some n
n alcoholic beverages for te kiddos. They have some ala car
e small plates for the kidds including falafel with garl
c yogurt, and they haven opportunity for the kids
o create their own entree ad slide like build your own entr
e and slides things whichs really cool. Now I will say th
s is a lounge it's meant to st and chill This isn't a run

(11:01):
n and run out place. So you knw you know your kids the best a
d just decide if that's somethig that you want. But this is o
e of the most relaxing placesn animal kingdom and I can't s
e us ever going back to animl kingdom and not doing Yea

Chris (11:13):
this is they these is couch seating and easy you know
wicker chair seating. Yeah, thisis not sitting at a table and
dining the services wonderful,lovely but this is this is a
place to go to relax.

Kelli (11:25):
Yes, absolutely.

Chris (11:26):
I loved every bit about it. So look, if you if you're
going to animal kingdom do notsleep on Nomad lounge man. Make
it make a plan to get in therejust to relax for a minute. You
will not regret it go in there.
If you do nothing else. Getyourself a beverage, get the red
service in the churros. And youwill be thanking our podcasts

(11:46):
are giving you that idea. Sowhen Hey, if you enjoyed this,
go out to iTunes and write us.
Give us leave us a review. Runout to our YouTube page
supercalifragilistic awesomeDisney podcast and subscribe.

(12:08):
We'll put out more stuff likethis. We hope you enjoyed it.
And with that, we hope to seeyou real soon

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

United States of Kennedy

Dateline NBC

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}BONUS Review: Nomad Lounge at Disney's Animal Kingdom