Our 1st trip! 12/7-12/12 here's what we ate!

[Daisy14]

Great reviews, waiting for more

 

[decbysteph]

Today we went to MGM in the morning, and weren't very sure where to go for lunch. As we were walking around my daughter spotted Pizza Planet. This was not a thrilling choice for my DH and I (remember he's Italian, and very picky especially when it comes to authentic italian food), but DD hadn't really had any choice on where we had eaten yet, so we'll try it. So not expecting "authentic" italian, here are the reviews:

Toy Story Pizza Planet
1 Veggie Pizza and salad with Rootbeer and rice crispy treat
1 Pepperoni Pizza and salad with coke and rice crispy treat

I ate 1 of the salads and had 1/4 of each pizza. I liked the veggie one best. I wasn't expecting anything great, and overall the pizza was okay. They were pretty big, and I was glad we shared 2 between the 3 of us. My daughter loved her pepperoni pizza, but she likes all pizza. (she loves those lunchable pizzas, yuck!)
The salad was your average bagged iceberg salad mix with a tomato on the side.
The rice crispy treat was pretty nasty. It seemed greasy, or waxy to DH and I. DD ate half of hers and seemed fine with it (thank God she's not picky like her dad).
DH was upset that I ordered us soda instead of our normal waters, he said they were way too sweet. We hadn't drank soda for about a year. Tasted good to me!
The best part of the meal for me was that we sat at this little table right outside the doors, and I loved looking at people walking down the little street there.
I probably wouldn't eat here again, but if you really need a pizza fix, it will do! And if you are on the dining plan and your kids want a pizza this is a good choice for them, but they could probably share. DH gives it a 5, I give it a 6, DD gives it a 8.

Were are the GOOD pretzels at WDW? We couldn't find any!! DH decided to try a couple different places, but they were all pretty bad. We had a spicy cheese one at MGM (Bill and Min's dockside?, I think?) It was okay, but still dissapointing.

Next up 1900 park fare....

 

[S.Poppins]

Great reviews! We are looking forward to eating at many of these places in 23 days!!!!

 

[decbysteph]

1900 Park Fare

DD dressed up in her Cinderella gown, and we took a cab from the BC to GF. That took forever!! We arrived right at 4:30, which was our ADR. They were packed! We stood in the back and watched Cinderella and Prince Charming come out and open the dining room doors. I felt like we were cattle being herded in! My first impression of this place was how bad the lighting was. This normally would never bother me, but I kept wondering how pictures would turn out when we met the charaters. I was also expecting it to look more elegant, or more decorated. It just looked to me like your average hotel/convetion center banquet room with bad lighting.
Now it has been about a year since my DH and I went to a buffet. During our year of weight loss, we decided to leave those dining establishments behind, so we didn't feel the need to "get our moneys worth". We were excited to try this one out.
This was not your average buffet! They had some wonderful choices, such as the pasta station. They had a wonderful tortellini in creamy basil type sauce (my DH liked it!!), and a very good salmon dish. I remember they had some terrific cold salads and fruit. My daughter LOVED the strawberry soup and inhaled 2 bowls of it. She also LOVED the mac and cheese. I had some primerib and I liked that they had some different sauces available for your meat. The Horshradish cream sauce was very good with the primerib. They had somekind of a pork tenderloin dish that was very good also.

They dessert table was great! They had really good little keylime tarts, brownies, and bread pudding. I saw that they were in the process of making bananna foster sauce, but I didn't get a chance to go back and get some, booo hooo. DH really liked the bread pudding, plain.

It is hard for me to remember much about the food, because I sadly didn't realize how character meals don't really allow you to relax and enjoy your food. At least with a 5 yr old little girl!! She was panicked that if we went up to the buffet, she would miss Cinderella! And we felt rushed to eat because we didn't want our food to get cold if a character stopped by. We also felt rushed because we planned on going to MK after dinner to see Spectro at 7:00, and wanted to get a good spot on Main St.

The characters were nice and pleasant and DD enjoyed meeting them all. I did have tears well up in my eyes when Prince Charming hugged my DD. And again when an elderly woman sitting next to us held Cinderella's hand and kissed the Prince on the cheek- so sweet!
I did find the food to be very pleasantly different, and everything tasted good. But I did not care for the atmosphere at all, and for some reason that does effect the way I review a restaurant. If they would just add a couple chandeliers or something.
I would return, but next time I would take my time, and not worry about making it on time for anything afterwards. We give the food a 9, the characters a 10, the atmosphere a 5.

By the way, we did get great spots on Main St for Spectro, and then up closer to the castle for Wishes. Tinkerbell flew right over our heads! I cried like a baby watching Wishes right there in front of me. Oh, sorry this should go in my trip report! I'll be starting that next week!!

Up next day 5 (our last full day and Boma)

 

[DisneyJo]

This is one of the first food TR I've read and it's great. We will be eating at lots of the places you have been to so it's good to get your opinions. Well done on your weight loss, I was thinking I need to diet before we go to Disney, last year I actually lost weight whilst there, but we weren't on the Dining plan then!

 

[decbysteph]

Today we went to Epcot first thing in the morning, and being that we were switching to AKL for our last night, I was busy packing up and getting out the door, so no cereal in the room for me. So by 10:00 I was hungry.

I had been wanting to try Seasons CS, specifically the salmon and a fruit tulip, that I had heard good things about. So we arrived at 10:30, but they weren't serving lunch yet. My DD was hungry too, so we decided to just get dessert, and then eat around the world showcase later for lunch.

Sunshine Seasons (cs in the "Land" at Epcot)
1 fruit tulip
1 strawberry shortcake
1 water
1 coffee

The fruit tulip sure looked pretty, but was very disapointing. Not sure if I was given a leftover from the day before or what, but it had this nasty clear jell gunk all over it, once you got close up to it. It was fresh fruit (but didn't taste too "fresh") like kiwi, blueberrys, strawberry, and I think a raspberry, on top of a vanilla custard and all in an edible chocolate waffle cone type shell. Sounds good, but it mainly just looked good. Would not get it again.

The Strawberry shortcake I wasn't expecting much from, but I knew it would make my DD's day to eat something like that this early in the morning! It was actually fabulous!! I was totally surprised. And that my DH thought it was really good was even more of a surprise!! It was layers of fresh strawberries, fresh whipped cream, pound cake I believe, and it was beautiful to look at! I would definetly get this again.

If we get back to WDW I will try some other things at Seasons, looked like a great place to get many different things.


For Lunch my daughter wanted sweet and sour chicken in China. They have Orange Chicken, which is very similar, so that's were we headed. But before we got there, I stopped for a Fiesta Margarita in Mexico. Which is a layering of lime, mango, strawberry, and something else I thnk.? Wow! I very rarely drink, and by the time I reached China, I was already feeling it! (and that is only a few steps away!) I really liked the Mango flavor the best.



China CS
1 Orange chicken with rice
1 bottle water
1 red bean icecream

Orange Chicken we all shared this. It was pretty good! I could taste the orange rind in it, and really liked it. DD inhaled most of it, and actually kept pulling the plate closer and closer to herself. We got the hint and let her finish it off! The red bean icecream was very good. We were glad we tried it. It had a nutty, almost pistachio taste to it. My DH really like it. My DH and I would rate this CS a 7, DD a 9+.

DH and I really wanted another platter at the Tangerine Cafe. So we headed then to Morocco.

Tangerine Cafe:
1 lamb Shawarma Platter
1 extra Tabuleh (paid OP for)
1 bottle water
1 Baklava

Everything was excellent!! Even better than our first time there, which we loved! We definetly would just stick to the lamb platter, intead of the lamb and chicken combo. Love, love. love this place!! Sitting outside under the little orange trees and looking across the lake at the Epcot ball, just perfect! We give it a 10!

On the way out of World Showcase, we stopped for those sweet roasted nuts. We had tried walnuts on a previous night, and this time we ordered pecans. OH, those are goooood!!!! That was my DH's favorite snack of the whole trip!


We went back to AK later in the day, and went back to Flame Tree when it started raining. DH had to have more ribs!

Flame Tree
1 RIB platter
1 choc. cake
1 water
1 coffee

(good coffee here by the way)
Everything just as good as the first time, even though we were there at a weird time, 3:00. We give it a 9+.


Well, I have to get packed for our trip to see family for Christmas. Hopefully I'll finish this dining review today or over the weekend. If not, Happy Holidays everyone! I'll write more and start my trip report next week!!

Up next, Boma and leftover CS and snack credits. And personal views on DP...

 

[dawgfan]

Thanks for the review.

 

[Lexxiefern]

Great reviews! Thanks for sharing and congratulations on your weight loss success!

 

[decbysteph]

Well, Christmas is over and between the holiday food and not working out in a month, I have gained 7lbs! Not good. Oh well, on with the last review...

We were really looking forward to this meal at Boma. We checked DD into the childcare center at AKL and headed over to this packed full of people waiting area at Boma. We checked in at 6:50 for our 7:00 ADR, recieved our beeper, and decided to get out of the crowded waiting area and head up to the gift shop. We waited about 15 minutes until the beeper went off. We were seated at a small table that shared a bench/booth seat with the tables next to us. So it was kind of akward sliding in and out with plates of food, right next to your neighbors. It was very loud in there, and very busy.
I tried to sample everything. Some things that stick out are (forgive all the mispellings!) :
Bobotie (I remember liking this, it was some kind of a sweet meat dish)

Herb crusted prime rib (this was good, and my DH liked the very end piece I was able to get him. He doesn't normally like prime rib at all.) and the sauces they had on the side were all pretty good.

Some kind of salmon (didn't care for this, 1900 P.F.'s was much better)

Africanized potato wedges (didn't do much for me)

Some kind of a whipped sweet potato dish (this was good)

Baked chicken (pretty boring)

3 different kinds of hummus (1 was great, the other 2 not so great)

watermelon rind salad (warning, only for those that really enjoy ginger!, I enjoy ginger, but not that much!! A little of this salad goes a long way)

coconut carrot salad (very dry to eat)

Seafood gumbo (not very good, but edible)

Palver's stew (this was like a good gumbo, but with beef, shrimp, pork, and chicken thrown in, this was probably the best soup there)

Let me stop here to say that I had read many great things about the soups here. The night we were here they only had 3 soups, and none were that exciting. Cream of mushroom, seafood gumbo, and palvers stew. I had been looking forward to some of the others. I was also very dissapointed by the meat selections. Boring baked chicken, Primerib, and not very good salmon. That was it. I was hoping for more.

Peanut rice (just tasted like white rice mixed with a little peanut butter)

There was something that was like cream of rice cereal with tomoto sauce on top (no, I won't be making that at home!!)

Desserts:

I had been waiting months to try a Zebra dome. They only had white ones, I was expecting chocolate ones, am I confused? Are there supposed to be darker chocolate ones, or just white chocolate? I did not care for the ones they had there, I was under the impression that there would be regular chocolate ones. So, I would give the white ones a big thumbs down. DH liked them though.

I don't remember really liking much on the dessert table, except my 1 shining star of the night. Something that was like a coconut Tiramisu. I really liked this!!

So, this basically was a disapointing night for us. I had hoped to try some "exotic" seasoned foods, but everything just seemed "sweetened", instead of "seasoned". I would love to try Boma again, but only if I knew there was going to be some different selections, especially the meats. DH said he would never go back. He would have rather had a CS meal at Flame Tree or Morroco again!!

DH gives this a 6, I give it a 7- (the coconut tiramisu saved it from a 6).

 

[decbysteph]

Some snacks we got were:

Warm sweet pecans and walnuts at the World Showcase entrance (pecans were better, my DH LOVED THESE!!)

School bread and Cloudberry Horn and a double espresso at Norway Bakery (the school bread was the better of the two, GREAT custard filling. DH got up in the middle of the night and finished the other half of it. Cloudberry horn was very pretty to look at.The espresso wasn't done correctly, it was like she just put regular coffee in a small cup- I think she made a mistake)

Kaji Gori in Japan: DD said "good"

DoleWhip: Well, I think this would have tasted better if it was a little warmer than 40 degrees out, and I wasn't soaking wet and freezing from a very unfortunate "It's a small world" accident! I got the float, and it was refreshing. I was expecting the dolewhip to be more of a pineapple sorbet, not a pineapple icecream. It was good, but not "to die for".

Various pretzels, none were good, must have gone to all the wrong places.

Beach Club Marketplace Gelato: toasted almond was GREAT, Chocolate was very good.

Cinnamon roll and caramel roll at Africa bakery at AK. VERY VERY GOOD!

Napolean in France and an espresso. Great!

1 Brownie at Gasprilla Grill at GF. very good.

I did try to get a french toast loaf at the Main St. Bakery, but it was 9:00 in the evening on a Sunday, and they were out. I would have tried a icecream cookie sandwich, but I had just had a dolewhip. So nothing there, boooo hooo.

DD had a premium micky bar at AK, and loved it.

2 boxes of Minnie's bake shop cookies.(sent these to DD's kindergarden class)

Some of these things we paid out of pocket for, by the way.

On our last night we still had 1 cs left, so we were able to get 3 snacks and a drink for it at Mara. It was late and they didn't have much left, so we ended up with 1 granola yogurt parfait. 1 box of cereal w/milk, and 1 container of red grapes. We were planning on eating this stuff for breakfast. But we forgot to put it in our fridge, so I had to go down and buy us breakfast in the morning anyways! Which was painful, since we didn't have to had out cash for a meal yet. Which brings me to:

Dining plan thoughts!
We were very thankful that we were on the Dining Plan, since my DH hates spending money for meals out. It was nice not to worry about the tip too, and we noticed that when we ordered something extra to pay out of pocket for, an automatic gratuity was added to it already, so we rarely left extra tips.

Now I will put on my flame suit. We shared all of our CS meals between the 3 of us, which we did because we are not the big eaters we used to be, not because we were trying to get the most out of the plan. So technically we never ordered a child's CS meal. But we did eat at 2 places where there were no "chid" meals, so it wouldn't have mattered there anyways. And we did have 1 CS left in the end, and we told them it was a Child credit, and they told us it didn't matter and to get 3 snacks and 1 drink. We also had a 4 day dining plan, for 5 days of staying on property, because AAA wasn't able to add on 1 additional day to our trip when we decided to stay at AKL for our last night. So we didn't have 5 days of credits to use anyways, which being that we were sharing, worked out well for us in the end.
We also ended up using my DD's 2 TS credits for our last meal at Boma. We were prepared to Pay out of pocket for that meal, and even told our server that we had 2 credits left because we had used the childcare services for 2 nights so DH and I could have a couple "childless" nights. She said it didn't matter, not to worry about it. We had asked the childcare places if we could somehow put a TS credit toward the meal she would eat there, and like give us $5 off the childcare bill. But they said no, you just have to lose the credit or find a different way to spend it.

So we were very happy with the plan, and would most definetly get it again, just so we didn't have to think about the money we would be handing out at the end of our meal. It is a lot of food, however. I would never order an appetizer, entree, and dessert normally. It was nice, and I'm sorry but I don't feel guilty for leaving food behind. I would rather leave it go to the trash, rather than on my hips!!

If anyone has any questions for me, just holler! I'll be starting my trip report this week, so look there if you are interested in hearing more!!

 

[UBSHANG]

I greatly enjoyed reading your insightful, informative and inspiring dining reviews. Sharing your personal dining experiences provided an outstanding detailed account of your culinary journeys from which readers could make well informed decisions. This is what the Disboards are all about. Thank you!

 

[icebrat001]

Thank you for posting.

 

[decbysteph]

I greatly enjoyed reading your insightful, informative and inspiring dining reviews. Sharing your personal dining experiences provided an outstanding detailed account of your culinary journeys from which readers could make well informed decisions. This is what the Disboards are all about. Thank you!

Thank you for reading my review! The trip went so fast, it seems like a dream! I had wanted to take pictures and be able to describe the tastes and textures better, but I find I can't remember that much! Thanks again for you kind words!

 

[DisneyMom5]

Very nice review! Thanks for taking the time to type it all up.