Dining At The BOATHOUSE At Disney Springs

The Williams Family dined at The BOATHOUSE at Disney Springs for a second time!  We made reservations for New Year's Eve, arrived before our reservation, and were seated immediately.

The BOATHOUSE is located on The Landing portion of Disney Springs.  The restaurant is decorated with various boats and boating memorabilia inside and out.

There is also an adjacent shop with BOATHOUSE souvenirs and boating trinkets.  The boys found a spot to take a rest just outside the shop.

The menu offers various seafood options along with steak, chicken, pasta, and salads.  This menu is posted outside the restaurant so guests can have a look.  Appetizers are on the menu, too, including a "raw bar."  The backside of the menu has a full list of wines, beers, and other adult beverages.  The boy said the best part of the meal is the bread service featuring warm rolls and honey butter.

The entrance to the restaurant and bar is a large open air doorway that leads to the bar.  The reservation desk is just to the right with the remainder of the restaurant adjacent. During our most recent visit, we also walked past another portion of the restaurant--Regatta Club--which by appearances is even more elegant and exclusive dining.

The boy enjoyed lobster bisque for an appetizer.  Note that we were seated inside but there are tables both inside and outside, and even another bar located on the pier like structure located outside the restaurant.

The husband enjoyed the swordfish with vegetables.  Yummy!  I had the jumbo lump crab cake.

The BOATHOUSE is open for lunch and dinner daily.  Reservations are available and recommended.  If using a Disney Dining Plan, the restaurant takes 2 table service credits per person as it is considered Signature Dining.  We did not use dining plan credits, and instead paid out of pocket with an Annual Pass Discount and the total, including tip was at the $100 mark for 3 entrees and one appetizer.

Click here for The BOATHOUSE website.

The BOATHOUSE is also the home of Amphicar Tours.  We did this during our first visit to The BOATHOUSE.  Click here to read about our tour experience.

Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar At Disney Springs

NOTE:  A guest writer, the husband, wrote the majority of this post!

December 31 of 2017, the Williams Family made a historic sojourn to Jock Lindsey's HANGER bar, located at Disney Springs. For the Boy and I this has been on our Disney Bucket List place to visit. My lovely Wife with her near infinite resources made it happen. Actually we had plenty of time to use before our dinner at the Boathouse.

Excuse me, I hear a couple of readers wondering what the significance of the HANGER Bar is to the boy and I.  Jock Lindsey is the pilot who whisked Indiana Jones to safety in the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark. One of our favorite movies. Even though Jock has less than a minute of screen time an important fact is revealed about Indy. As Jock and Indy are flying off our rough and tough archaeologist finds he is sharing his seat with Jock's pet boa constrictor Reggie. Indiana Jones hates snakes and this becomes evident in all his films.

Click here to see the 2 minute clip of the movie that includes Jock and Reggie!

The origin of the HANGER Bar comes from some Disney Imagineers. They expanded the role and history of Jock. At some point in Jock's life he quit being a pilot and converted his hanger into a bar. The walls inside adorn Jock's history and adventures. You see what Jock's life was like along with various archeological specimens brought in by you know who. Look around and you may see a certain gold idol from Peru.

A scavenged diving bell turns into a private booth for guests.

The actual bar is small but very well stocked. Plenty of tables and booths. When business booms there is an overflow area outside overlooking the water. The structure is a quaint homage to blue collar adventurers of the 30s and 40s.

The menu is designed to look like a pilot's log book with stories and pictures of Jock's adventures.  Guest can select from the appetizers and beverages--which are the only things Jock's sells.

Here's the "Cool-Headed Money"--the wife's beverage.

The boy had the "antidote" from this menu page.

Check out the propeller used as a ceiling fan.  Did you know Reggie's cage is in the rafters, too?  Only dedicated Indian Jones fans will know who Reggie is.

Cool-headed Monkey

Beverage 1

The Wife and I had some adult beverages. I had a beer and Reggie's Revenge. A liquor whiskey combo with lime juice. The Wife had a rum concoction called Chilled Monkey Brain. The Boy, a teenager, had  "the antidote"--a non-adult beverage.. Jock's has a nice selection of appetizers. I split a mountain of cheesy beef nachos with the Wife and the Boy ate some burger sliders.

The boy's sliders

Beverage 2

The boy and I made it outside to check out the deck and found a two-way radio.  He had a conversation with someone in Tibet.

Jock Lindsey's HANGER Bar may not be everyone's cup of tea but it is definitely my glass of frosty brew. The Williams Family shall return to the HANGER Bar.

*************

I'm taking over from here . . 

The Hangar Bar does not have an age limit to be inside, at least while we were there which was late in the afternoon.  Obviously, only those of age can order/consume the adult beverages.  Anyone is welcome to order food and there were fun non-adult beverages on the menu.  Prices were a little inflated.  We paid $65 for three drinks and two appetizers and with the tip, we were closer to $80.  Compare that to a dinner at The Boathouse with three entrees and one appetizer for $100 including tip.

Hours vary.  The day we were there, it opened at 3:00 pm, but some days it opens at noon.  Check MyDisneyExperience or the Walt Disney World website to confirm the hours.

There is no live entertainment due to space.  At the same time, there's a great location just outside the Hangar Bar for live entertainment and there was a group playing the night we were there.

The Landing boat dock is right beside Jock's, too.  So if you are on the West Side or Marketplace and want to visit Jock's, taking the boat launch is an option.  After our dinner at The Boathouse, not too far from Jock's, we used the boat to get us to the West Side as the pier was right in from of LaNouba's theater location, which was our destination.

Bathrooms are located right inside Jock's, just to the right.  Be SURE to check them out as the theming is incredible!

Click here to go to the official Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar site.

Is It A Boat? Is It A Car? It's An Amphicar!

Guests at Disney Springs, the shopping and dining destination in the Walt Disney World Resort, can have a unique experience of riding in an Amphicar! 

Want to ride?  Find The BOATHOUSE Restaurant and head to The Boatique shop and ask for a ride.

The 20 minute tours are offered 10:00 am to 10:00 pm daily, dependent on the weather.  The coast is $125 with discounts available with dining specials or Chase Disney Visa holders.

We had a dining reservation at The Boathouse and knew we wanted to take an amphicar tour, so arrived a bit early for our reservation.  A rain storm had just passed so we were fortunate enough that the tours were just beginning to operate again after the storm.

We had a photo taken in front of our amphicar with our captain or is it driver?

We climbed into the car for photos, were given some directions about where life jackets were located, not  put our hands in the water--snapping turtles and dirty water, and off we went down the amphicar launch!

What I had not anticipated was that our photos were going to be taken and if we had Memory Maker, those photos would be added to our account for no additional expense.  I just headed to The Boatique at the end of our ride and our MagicBands were scanned to connect the photos to our account.

After going down the ramp, there was a big splash--the water went up to the windshield and we experienced the spray, and we were off!  The wheels were no longer in operation and were now moving via boat propeller.

Our captain, or is a driver, gave us some history of amphicars.  The story goes that many amphicars were produced to be used in Europe for cross country travel where roads readily collided with streams and having an amphicar made travel easier.  Over time, the product stopped being made and sold and the amphicars aged and were in disrepair.  Then, and investor/owner of The BOATHOUSE searched for them and repaired the fleet to offer this experience in Orlando at Disney Springs.

In addition to this experience being incredible fun and memorable, we also got great views of Disney Springs from the water.

All too soon, our ride came to an end and we returned to the Amphicar Launch and felt the wheels engage with the pavement. 

We thanked our driver and headed into The Boatique to get our photos--see the kiosk below.

And, of course, after our amphicar tour, it was time for dinner at The BOATHOUSE.

Want to know more?  Check out The BOATHOUSE website!