Tonga Toast to start the new year

Tuesday, January 1, 2008. My alarm sounds at 6:00, but I don’t pull myself up for another 45 minutes.

I went to bed last night with two questions on my mind: (a) how fast will I be asleep after my head hits the pillow? and (b) will the midnight fireworks wake me up? I can confidently report the answers as (a) not long, and (b) no, not even slightly. The boys and Becky heard them, but not me!

It’s a new day – technically, a new year even – at Walt Disney World. These morning times are always exciting, full of potential and undiscovered magic. What will we do today?

We have a reservation for the Kona Cafe – it’s Tonga toast day for me! – and then we will be heading to the Animal Kingdom. It may be a good day for that. For the previous two days it’s been in the 70’s and slightly humid, but today it’s cooler and foggy.

Benjamin’s dragging in getting ready this morning, but we’re all ready in time to meet Bob & Linda at the Kona Cafe by 7:20 for our 7:30 reservation. We check in at the hostess stand with a lady whose nametag reads “GARY.” I start to ask about it, but decide not to, since “Gary” barely has a voice this morning. No sense making her talk more than necessary.

“Gary” can’t seem to find our reservation in the system. Oh, great, here we go again. I’m not worried about this one, though, since the place is empty. Eventually she finds our info – for yesterday??? Oh, no, no, no. Again, not my fault, I’m sure of it. Something screwy is going on with their reservation system.

When we checked in, I almost did what some people had suggested, which was to get a printout of our reservations from the resort concierge. That way I could have spotted this error and the mix-up with the fireworks cruise in advance and done something about them. But I didn’t, since at the time we were anxious to get to the parks. I will from now on.

Again, the place is just opening at 7:30 and the tables are empty, so we get a table – although we do have to wait to be seated after two families who arrive after us, because their reservations are in order. We’re seated at a table near the back corner of the restaurant, close to the big windows that look out towards the monorail station and the greenery at the entrance to the Great House.

The boys and I each want Tonga Toast, the banana-stuffed French toast that is the Cafe’s specialty. We debate briefly whether they should share an order, but they both insist that they are hungry enough to eat a whole one each. Becky does not like bananas, so she gets plain French toast. Linda tries a ham and cheese omelet, and Bob orders the “Big Kahuna,” a breakfast feast that includes French toast, Macadamia-Pineapple pancakes (yum!), eggs, potatos, and three meats: ham, bacon, & sausage. We did keep him out late (for him) last night, so he probably needs the big breakfast to make up for lack of sleep.

The food is out quickly, and the restaurant never gets too crowded while we’re there, so it’s a nice relaxing meal. I like how we’re able to take our time and not pressure ourselves to be anywhere quickly. That’s what a vacation should be.

And the Tonga Toast? Is heavenly. It’s several inches thick, almost like two slabs of Texas toast with a layer of bananas between them, fried and rolled in cinnamon sugar. It’s crispy on the outside and flavorful throughout, especially with the strawberry puree that comes with it. Very, very tasty!

Even with the relaxed, no-pressure atmosphere, we’re out at 8:30. I go straight to the concierge desk for a printout of our remaining reservations!