Free DDP Review- 2 30somethings eat their hearts out!

[exwdwcm]

Me- almost 33 (dang it, next week!), huge disney fan, ex WDWCP'er
DH- 35, not a huge disney fan, but big fan of food!

DH and i took a 5 night/6 day trip at CBR with the free dining. in fact the free dining was the catch to get Dh to go to WDW for the first time in 11 years. That was our one and only WDW trip together. I've been many times since then, including just in December with my family/sisters. DH has passed on those trips in the past.

But this time, just the two of us and tons of food. We like to eat. We exercise a lot, so that is how we afford to eat a lot of what we want and stay healthy! I threw all my healthy eating out the window this trip- time to splurge and enjoy! plus, we were walking a ton, right?

So here are some reviews from our trip- we did 6 table service meals and used every single one of our dining credits. We were stuffed though!

Here's where we ate and I'll review each in this thread:
Chefs De France dinner
Sci Fi Dine In dinner
Crystal Palace breakfast
Le Cellier lunch
Ohana dinner
Liberty Tree Tavern dinner

Cosmic Ray's lunch
CBR beach breakfast
Flame Tree Barbeque
The Land food court (seasons?)
Earle of Sandwich lunch (twice)
Mexico counter service
UK Fish and Chips

DAY 1- FRIDAY, AUGUST 18TH EARLE OF SANDWICH
We got in the late afternoon and had plans to do dinner at Earle of Sandwich at DTD, one of my favorites. I have gone on about how good it is to DH. My family loves it too. In fact on my last business trip to Orlando (last april)- i went to DTD 3 separate nights to get a sandwich there for lunch or dinner! I've got it bad, i know!

We arrived at Earle at about 6pm or so. Not really large crowds at all, in fact, we only waited with a few people ahead of us. good timing! DTD was not crowded at all. I had my usual Le Frenchy (ham/cheese/dressing), but with turkey instead of ham. I got my usual tomato soup too- OOP ($1.25). I got a coke to drink and a brownie for dessert. DH got a sandwich with chicken, spinach and mushrooms, diet coke, potato salad (OOP) and a cookie for dessert. It cost us about $3 for the OOP stuff. Not bad, found a great AC spot inside and both enjoyed our meal. I did notice they started using dark meat turkey, which i don't like. They always used white meat before. I might have to change sandwiches in the future if they keep using dark meat- ugh! DH enjoyed his sandwich, really liked the bread. He was impressed and even asked if they had other locations in the US. I told him no, but that it is a franchise, (my family looked at the website to find out!)- so perhaps DH could open one? lol

So good meal at Earle as usual. We saved our desserts for later though, we were too stuffed and i only ate half of my sandwich as it was!

coming up- Day 2 and meals at CBR food court, Cosmic Ray's and Chefs De France

 

[exwdwcm]

DAY 2, SATURDAY, AUGUST 19TH

CARRIBEAN BEACH FOOD COURT- BREAKFAST

I originally planned to try the french toast loaf at MK this morning, but we decided to do a full breakfast at CBR instead before heading to MK at opening. The food court was not too crowded, but not slow either. We shared an adult breakfast platter and OJ. One counter service credit. NOt the best use of a credit, but we weren't nickling and diming our credits either. We just used one when we needed to and still didn't pay out of pocket for much at the end.

The breakfast platter included some waffles, biscuit, eggs, sausage and bacon. I wasn't feeling great and am not a big breakfast eater, so I just had the biscuit and a few bites of eggs. DH finished off the rest. We saw many folks sharing this platter. The food court did offer a variety of other foods, fruit, cereal, pastries, breakfast sandwiches etc. Overall pretty decent breakfast, can't complain.

COSMIC RAY'S- LUNCH
I have to eat here or Peco's bill at least once every trip! We were closer to Tomorrowland near lunch, so we went with Cosmic Ray's, plus they offered more air conditioned seating. The place appeared crowded upon first entering, I wasn't sure we would find a seat even. All 3 bays were open- sandwiches/soup, burgers and chicken. I chose the burgers, DH got in the chicken line. I told him there was rotisserie chicken, so he was all over that, not quite letting go of the healthy eating. i, however, did. Bacon doublecheeseburger for me, of which i ate half. came with fries, coke and I got a chocolate cake for dessert.

DH had the chicken/ribs combo meal with mashed potatoes and carrots. It looked very good! he ate all of it too. He had a diet coke and brownie for dessert I believe. We did find plenty of seating in the back. We both enjoyed this meal, it is just so much food! DH saved his dessert for later. We ended up having a collection of brownies/cookies in our room, many of which made the trip home with us and we just finished eating at home. We both enjoyed the selection and quality of food here.

CHEFS DE FRANCE- DINNER
So while i try and eat healthy sometimes, i exercise mostly to stay in shape, because i am a picky eater. I don't eat salad, i hate lettuce, onions and tomatos, however i like tomato products like ketchup, V-8, bloody mary mix, salsa! I am weird, i know. I don't eat fish either. I am a meat and potatoes type of girl. How i don't weigh 400 lbs, i don't know. So finding a few places to get a good steak were on my mind. I thought Chefs De France would be a good choice. I checked out the menus on allearsnet and saw some items that looked good, including chocolate mousse for dessert. So I made us an ADR for 7:30pm.

Unluckily for us, it started pouring as we were exploring Mexico in the WS and I had just bought DH a margarita. I donned the poncho and DH used the umbrella and we waded through water to get to France. We finally made it but had time to kill, so we caught the movie first there. There was quite a line/wait there, people trying to get out of the rain too. We checked in and were seated about 5 minutes later, no wait at all. We were seated by the window which was nice.

Bread/rolls were served first. I did notice the tables were rather close here, so if you like privacy, it's probably not for you! I don't know how the waitstaff didn't trip/fall with what little room there was.

I started off with the french onion soup- which was wonderful- soggy bread and tons of cheese. I could have made this a meal, it filled me up. DH started with the lobster bisque and enjoyed it as well. I ordered the flank steak for my meal, but asked for mashed potatos instead of fries. they accomodated it with no problem. In fact i got two helpings of mashed potatoes, way too much! DH ordered the cod, over a bed of spinach with a lobster sauce. He said it was very good. We both had sodas/tea and then for dessert, i wanted the mousse, but it was nowhere on the menu, either was the filet I swore i had seen on Deb's website on the menu. I guess this was an updated menu. So no mousse for me. I knew they had it in the pastry shop around the corner though. So i went with the strawberry sorbet. Nothing else appealed to me. The sorbet was very good and light, just what I needed. DH ordered the mango mousse....don't ask! He liked it though.

We both enjoyed this meal, the scenery out the window and had good service. I never noticed a cast member treating us differently due to the free DDP, of course almost everyone was on it. They did ask us at each meal if we were on it. The bill here would have been at least $100. We tipped a little extra even though the plan includes 18% tip. Overall not a bad meal, but not my favorite either. Not sure I would go back, maybe to try lunch instead there.


coming up next- Day 3- lunch at Flame Tree at AK and dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern

 

[Disney owl]

Thanks for sharing

 

[loralie]

Me- almost 33 (dang it, next week!), huge disney fan, ex WDWCP'er

Great reviews and happy birthday. I thought I knew all the abbr. but what is WDWCP?


Loralie

 

[PrincessPatty]

Great reviews and happy birthday. I thought I knew all the abbr. but what is WDWCP?


Loralie

Walt Disney World College Program'er

 

[disneybound31]

Which one are you in the sisters pic? So we know who we are reading...

 

[exwdwcm]

Which one are you in the sisters pic? So we know who we are reading...

in the bottom/sig pic, i am in the middle!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Cant wait for the CP breakfast review, we are eating there for the first time (breakfast) in Oct

 

[swankybeth]

Great reviews so far, looking forward to more!

 

[lovemyguys]

Please keep 'em coming!! This is my Disney fix until we get there in 8 looooooong months. Also staying at the CBR (first time at that resort).

Lisa

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Great reviews so far!!!

 

[jcchicago]

Can't wait to hear more. Great job!

 

[notnothin]

Eager to hear the rest, you're off to a great start!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.