moretigger
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2005
Cast: Me, DH, DS3
Third trip with dining plan (and 3rd trip to WDW) - first time DS was on the plan as he was 2 y.o. the other 2 times.
I will try to list what we ate and some opinions. We were satisfied with everything and pleasantly surprised in some cases.
First, my opinion on the dining plan. We really like the dining plan - I like having everything prepaid, so I don't have to come home to a big bill. I don't mind planning out where we are going to eat ahead of time - likely because we have always used the plan and that is what we are used to. It offers a lot of food, but you don't have to order every single thing. I think you come out well even if you don't order every course. We typically order 1 app or soup/salads when we eat out and order a dessert for DS and a dessert for use to share 50% of the time at home, and do the same at Disney. We mostly got 2 CS meals and shared (again, this is what we often do at home) and this worked out well for us. For those keeping score at home, we sometimes got 2 adult CS meals, sometimes 1 adult and 1 kids. DS doesn't seem to eat much at Disney (although he really doesn't eat that much at home either), so that lends itself to sharing. We could have used more snacks and less CS, mainly because we got a lot of water (goodness it was hot!!) and we like to get snacks as a break in the park.
We stayed at PopCentury. The crowd in the food court really depended on the time of day - later in the morning and around 3-4 were the busiest it seemed. We bought refillable mugs and used them at least 2x per day - morning coffee and a drink when we came back for our afternoon rest.
9/23 Saturday/Typhoon Lagoon:
CS - Pop: shared 1 breakfast platter in the room. Lukewarm after the trip back to the room, but fine for counter service breakfast.
Typhoon lagoon: Got the grilled cheese pretzel kids CS meal, mainly for the bucket it came in. I ate some of the pretzel and it was fresh tasting and had american cheese melted in the middle. We also got water with snack credits and shared a Pina Colada - it was stronger than I thought it would be!
Pop: Got a double burger (and paid for an extra bun)with fries and a sloppy joe (no side). The sloppy joe was a little sweet and was huge. The burger was good and greasy. DS and I were going to share the burger, but he ate some fries, the bun and the rice krispy treat dessert. We got bottled water to take to the room and used our mugs for drinks.
9/24 Sunday/Magic Kingdom
CS - Columbia Harbor House for lunch. Shared the tuna sandwich with chips and the fish/chicken combo with fries.
TS - Ohana dinner. This was our second time here for dinner and we enjoyed it as much as the first. It is a loud, busy place, but fun and friendly. There was a large rehearsal dinner that night and several large tables. We about 10 minutes late for our ADR and seated about 10 minutes after checking in. We got a Lapu lapu (the drink in the pineapple) and a pina colada. The lapu lapu tasted fizzy - like it had tonic or something in it. I wasn't expecting that so I thought I would pass that info along. We all thought the food was wonderful - DS ate enough for the week at this dinner. He and I ate all of the salad in the large bowl- he had 3 helpings. The meats were good - steak was medium, with some charring on the outside, pork was cooked more than I like it but not too dry, turkey was juicy and DS and DH enjoyed the sausage (I didn't have any). I have to say that the sauces really enhance the pork and turkey - try the meat with the sauces to see what you like. Our waiter got 2 large tables as we were finishing our food, which resulted in a 15 minute break between the main course and dessert. He was very apologetic, and we frankly needed the break to digest! DS enjoyed the coconut races, the singing and dancing. We were right on the aisle near the kitchen door and had a nice conversation with the entertainer when he was coming back from the break. This is shaping up to be a trip tradition for us, we all agreed we have a good time here.
9/25 Monday/Epcot
TS - Chef Mickey's breakfast. Second trip for breakfast, enjoyed it as much as the first. This place is busy, bright, and noisy. We were seated in a smaller room to the side, but still very near the buffet. It apparently was a section reserved for families that find it cute when their children run from table to table following the characters and crawl around the floor and under other tables. I think we will ask for the mean parent section next time. Anyhoo - the food was good, hot, fresh, etc. and there was a great variety - I had a bagel with salmon and cream cheese, fruit, eggs with cheese and bacon. DH had some of everything - egg casserole, cheesy hashbrowns, bagel, fruit, sausage, bacon. DS had 4 glasses of oj, chocolate milk and some cereal. As a side note, when the server was asking about drinks, he said to DS "and you get chocolate milk!" I don't usually give DS that option, especially at breakfast, but wasn't going to argue after it had been dangled in front of him. I am sure the waiter thought he was being cute/fun/helpful, but I thought it was a little cheeky. The point is not so much that DS had chocolate milk for breakfast (it is vacation), just the set up was odd. Off soapbox and on to the characters - we saw everyone at least once, Minnie danced with the kids in our section during the napkin whirling dance and Pluto was out front. We will probably always eat breakfast here on our trips, but said maybe we will try another breakfast at somepoint.
CS-lunch at Pop. We had late ADR's, so I got some food to snack on before heading back to Epcot. I asked if I could use CS for snacks - I was given the hairy eyeball, but told ok as long as it wasn't the packaged candy/merchandise. I sort of felt like I has inside information I shouldn't have had. I could get two snacks and a drink for 1 CS. I got 1 water, 1 carrots/celery cup, and a fruit cup.
TS San Angel Inn/dinner. This was our first time here. I picked this place based on photos of the interior - it was so pretty inside, but be forewarned that the tables are very close together. DS (remember he is 3) was pretty sure it was going to rain and/or the volcano was going to erupt, so he was on high alert throughout dinner. We split a nachos appetizer and really enjoyed it - plenty of jalepeno's and other toppings. DS loves salsa and was happy to munch on that while waiting. I ordered the house maragita on the rocks - I don't know why but I didn't like it. I think it tasted more like triple sec (orange) than lime - maybe I am so used to mixes I couldn't appreciate it. DH drank it and I switched to a beer. For dinner, I had the plato mexicano, DH had whatever dish came with the fried plantains and DS had a cheese quesadilla. DS ate his rice, my rice, and most of my steak. I enjoyed my dish - the beans were wonderful -and Dh's plantains. DH said his dinner was very good and wished he had some plantains. We agreed that there was too much food and couldn't finish. We skipped on desert, but DS did get a scoop of ice cream. We enjoyed dinner, but will try somewhere else next time - there are so many other places we want to try.
9/26 CRT dinner/MK
Today was supposed to be a MK day, but ended up being a hotel day after a brief detour - DS fell apart on the bus to MK, so we got off the bus and walked over to the Pop Century stop and took the tantrum express back to the hotel. We had lunch from the food court at Pop in the room - ham and cheese sandwich from the grab n go, yogurt parfait, carrots/celery cup, and fruit cup (used 2 CS total).
CRT - dinner. We last went to Disney in Feb06 when CRT changed to 2TS, so on that trip we went to Akershus instead. Since dining was free this trip, I thought this was good a time as any to use 2TS for a meal there. Dinner was all that was open the day we wanted to go, but DS had said he wanted to eat in the castle, so we went with it. It was pouring when we got to MK about an hour before our ADR, so we skipped through the rain and rode some rides. So we were soaked and not looking too cute for our picture with Cinderella - but we road Big Thunder 2x with no line, so it was a trade off! Cinderella was so sweet with DS - he loves he even more now. He likes the princesses because they talk to him and give him kisses - they do seem to make a fuss over boys. We were taken upstairs and seated on the second level at the railing, so we had a nice view out the windows. I had the soup, the chicken, and the blueberry buckle. DH had the salad, the pork, and the buckle. DS had noodles with butter and the crown sundae. I loved the soup, the polenta and the lemon ice cream with the buckle. My chicken breast was dry, but the thigh meat was tender - I must confess though that I am not wild about roast chicken and ordered the dish for the polenta, so don't take too much stock in what I say about the chicken! That polenta was awesome and I ate it all. DH said his was ok, but nothing spectacular. DS ate all his noodles, some of my chicken and polenta, a good bit of DH's pork, most of my blueberry "muffin", and all of his sundae - he was making up for not really eating since Ohana. The show was cute, the castle was beautiful, and I am glad we went. We may go back for a special occasion.
9/27 Wed/MGM
Hollywood and Vine Playhouse Disney Breakfast - We has a reservation for 8:40 and the park opened at 9am. There was a woman at the end turnstyle calling over people with ADR's and we went right through. I have to say that I thought this was really, really cute. There are 4 characters - JoJo, Goliath, June, and Leo (I don't know if the Little Einsteins switch off or not) who go around. There are also 2 people that lead song and dance times every 20 minutes or so - same costume as the Playhouse Disney stage show host. They really seemed to add to the fun - there was a conga line, singing of the Mickey Mouse songs, the JoJo songs, that kind of thing - it was funny seeing that parents seemed to know all the words! We waited a while (20 minutes?) before the first character came over, but then they came pretty quickly. The seemed to spend a good amount of time with the kids, and they were very interactive during the dance parts. The food offerings were simple, but I thought they were very tasty (I think I liked the food better than at Chef Mickey's) - they had scrambled eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, cheese grits (that were good - not lumpy), mickey waffles, fruit and pastries. No sugar cereal or candy like at Chef Mickey's. On a side note - the Chef came to a table near ours to talk to them about allergy concerns.
This was a day of snacks - we got pretzels and frozen lemonades at the dinosaur place, popcorn, waters, and Mickey bars througout the day.
While we were waiting for the parade, DS declared he was starving so I got fish and chips from ABC commisary as it was close by. We all picked at it and it was fine for CS.
Dinner was at Pop for DS and me (DH stayed behind to ride the big kid rides). We got a pizza and a kids mac and cheese and rice krispy treats (god, I love those things).
9/28 Blizzard Beach/Ft. Wilderness Day
Pop - I had a Pop waffle (it has the pop logo on it, quite cute) with bacon, DH and DS got pancakes with bacon and sausage. FYI - the platters come with bacon and sausage, but I asked for bacon only and was given double bacon.
Blizzard beach - Let me just say that of the many good things I have learned from reading these boards, the best piece of advice is to get the donuts at the carts in the waterparks. They didn't open till about 10:30 and we stalked them like crazy people, going past every 20 minutes and it was so worth it. They are warm cake donuts covered in sugar and were so, so, so good. We were only at Blizzard beach a few hours so we didn't eat.
Pop - I got some more grab n go items to take for the room to eat before nap. I got a chef salad (huge, very fresh) and yogurt parfait.
Hoop De Doo - Let me say upfront that we went here because it was free. I couldn't wrap my head around what it was supposed to be about and if we would like it- I wasn't really sure that it was worth it, especially 2 credits, but I wouldn't pay that much cash for something I wasn't sure what it was. We reserved this about a month before we went and our seats would probably be considered bad by many - the balcony is one row of tables along the rail and we were on the side, one table from the end of the "u". BUT - we looked right over the stage, no one was in front of us and we thought this table was great. I have to say that the show was so bad, so silly, so cheesy, that I loved it. I laughed out loud, I might have slapped my knee. I will say that you could easily be too cool for this show and hate it, but if you go to a place called Fort Wilderness, to see a show called the Hoop De Doo Musical Revue in Pioneer Hall, you shouldn't be expecting Cirque du Soleil. My favorite line was "Call me butter, cause I'm on a roll." If you just rolled your eyes and smiled, go see it. If you rolled your eyes and frowned, don't go.
The same can be said of the food - the dishes are pewter, the bring out ribs and chicken in buckets and plop them on the table. There was corn on the cob and baked beans and cornbread. I think you either like that kind of mess or you don't.
9/29 Friday/Typhoon Lagoon/Halloween Party
We used snack credits at Typhoon Lagoon to get soft pretzels - they are huge! We got two and didn't finish them. We got more donuts and more Pina Coladas.
We got CS - burger and nuggets at Cosmic Ray's during the party. I was fussy because Columbia Harbor House was closed for a media reception, so I mostly ate Halloween candy. We got popcorn, dole whip and water for snacks
9/30 Saturday
Pop We used up our counter service to get Mickey waffles for all of us in flagrant defiance of the no adults eating child meals penal code. I will fight for the right to eat Mickey heads to the end.
I think I left out some snacks, but we did get a box of donuts and a big bag of Baked Lays in the food court with snack credits - they were with all the other snack options and well labeled.
Well, I am obviously getting a little punchy...let me know if you have any questions, pat yourself on the back if you made it this far, there was lots of rambling to go through!
Third trip with dining plan (and 3rd trip to WDW) - first time DS was on the plan as he was 2 y.o. the other 2 times.
I will try to list what we ate and some opinions. We were satisfied with everything and pleasantly surprised in some cases.
First, my opinion on the dining plan. We really like the dining plan - I like having everything prepaid, so I don't have to come home to a big bill. I don't mind planning out where we are going to eat ahead of time - likely because we have always used the plan and that is what we are used to. It offers a lot of food, but you don't have to order every single thing. I think you come out well even if you don't order every course. We typically order 1 app or soup/salads when we eat out and order a dessert for DS and a dessert for use to share 50% of the time at home, and do the same at Disney. We mostly got 2 CS meals and shared (again, this is what we often do at home) and this worked out well for us. For those keeping score at home, we sometimes got 2 adult CS meals, sometimes 1 adult and 1 kids. DS doesn't seem to eat much at Disney (although he really doesn't eat that much at home either), so that lends itself to sharing. We could have used more snacks and less CS, mainly because we got a lot of water (goodness it was hot!!) and we like to get snacks as a break in the park.
We stayed at PopCentury. The crowd in the food court really depended on the time of day - later in the morning and around 3-4 were the busiest it seemed. We bought refillable mugs and used them at least 2x per day - morning coffee and a drink when we came back for our afternoon rest.
9/23 Saturday/Typhoon Lagoon:
CS - Pop: shared 1 breakfast platter in the room. Lukewarm after the trip back to the room, but fine for counter service breakfast.
Typhoon lagoon: Got the grilled cheese pretzel kids CS meal, mainly for the bucket it came in. I ate some of the pretzel and it was fresh tasting and had american cheese melted in the middle. We also got water with snack credits and shared a Pina Colada - it was stronger than I thought it would be!
Pop: Got a double burger (and paid for an extra bun)with fries and a sloppy joe (no side). The sloppy joe was a little sweet and was huge. The burger was good and greasy. DS and I were going to share the burger, but he ate some fries, the bun and the rice krispy treat dessert. We got bottled water to take to the room and used our mugs for drinks.
9/24 Sunday/Magic Kingdom
CS - Columbia Harbor House for lunch. Shared the tuna sandwich with chips and the fish/chicken combo with fries.
TS - Ohana dinner. This was our second time here for dinner and we enjoyed it as much as the first. It is a loud, busy place, but fun and friendly. There was a large rehearsal dinner that night and several large tables. We about 10 minutes late for our ADR and seated about 10 minutes after checking in. We got a Lapu lapu (the drink in the pineapple) and a pina colada. The lapu lapu tasted fizzy - like it had tonic or something in it. I wasn't expecting that so I thought I would pass that info along. We all thought the food was wonderful - DS ate enough for the week at this dinner. He and I ate all of the salad in the large bowl- he had 3 helpings. The meats were good - steak was medium, with some charring on the outside, pork was cooked more than I like it but not too dry, turkey was juicy and DS and DH enjoyed the sausage (I didn't have any). I have to say that the sauces really enhance the pork and turkey - try the meat with the sauces to see what you like. Our waiter got 2 large tables as we were finishing our food, which resulted in a 15 minute break between the main course and dessert. He was very apologetic, and we frankly needed the break to digest! DS enjoyed the coconut races, the singing and dancing. We were right on the aisle near the kitchen door and had a nice conversation with the entertainer when he was coming back from the break. This is shaping up to be a trip tradition for us, we all agreed we have a good time here.
9/25 Monday/Epcot
TS - Chef Mickey's breakfast. Second trip for breakfast, enjoyed it as much as the first. This place is busy, bright, and noisy. We were seated in a smaller room to the side, but still very near the buffet. It apparently was a section reserved for families that find it cute when their children run from table to table following the characters and crawl around the floor and under other tables. I think we will ask for the mean parent section next time. Anyhoo - the food was good, hot, fresh, etc. and there was a great variety - I had a bagel with salmon and cream cheese, fruit, eggs with cheese and bacon. DH had some of everything - egg casserole, cheesy hashbrowns, bagel, fruit, sausage, bacon. DS had 4 glasses of oj, chocolate milk and some cereal. As a side note, when the server was asking about drinks, he said to DS "and you get chocolate milk!" I don't usually give DS that option, especially at breakfast, but wasn't going to argue after it had been dangled in front of him. I am sure the waiter thought he was being cute/fun/helpful, but I thought it was a little cheeky. The point is not so much that DS had chocolate milk for breakfast (it is vacation), just the set up was odd. Off soapbox and on to the characters - we saw everyone at least once, Minnie danced with the kids in our section during the napkin whirling dance and Pluto was out front. We will probably always eat breakfast here on our trips, but said maybe we will try another breakfast at somepoint.
CS-lunch at Pop. We had late ADR's, so I got some food to snack on before heading back to Epcot. I asked if I could use CS for snacks - I was given the hairy eyeball, but told ok as long as it wasn't the packaged candy/merchandise. I sort of felt like I has inside information I shouldn't have had. I could get two snacks and a drink for 1 CS. I got 1 water, 1 carrots/celery cup, and a fruit cup.
TS San Angel Inn/dinner. This was our first time here. I picked this place based on photos of the interior - it was so pretty inside, but be forewarned that the tables are very close together. DS (remember he is 3) was pretty sure it was going to rain and/or the volcano was going to erupt, so he was on high alert throughout dinner. We split a nachos appetizer and really enjoyed it - plenty of jalepeno's and other toppings. DS loves salsa and was happy to munch on that while waiting. I ordered the house maragita on the rocks - I don't know why but I didn't like it. I think it tasted more like triple sec (orange) than lime - maybe I am so used to mixes I couldn't appreciate it. DH drank it and I switched to a beer. For dinner, I had the plato mexicano, DH had whatever dish came with the fried plantains and DS had a cheese quesadilla. DS ate his rice, my rice, and most of my steak. I enjoyed my dish - the beans were wonderful -and Dh's plantains. DH said his dinner was very good and wished he had some plantains. We agreed that there was too much food and couldn't finish. We skipped on desert, but DS did get a scoop of ice cream. We enjoyed dinner, but will try somewhere else next time - there are so many other places we want to try.
9/26 CRT dinner/MK
Today was supposed to be a MK day, but ended up being a hotel day after a brief detour - DS fell apart on the bus to MK, so we got off the bus and walked over to the Pop Century stop and took the tantrum express back to the hotel. We had lunch from the food court at Pop in the room - ham and cheese sandwich from the grab n go, yogurt parfait, carrots/celery cup, and fruit cup (used 2 CS total).
CRT - dinner. We last went to Disney in Feb06 when CRT changed to 2TS, so on that trip we went to Akershus instead. Since dining was free this trip, I thought this was good a time as any to use 2TS for a meal there. Dinner was all that was open the day we wanted to go, but DS had said he wanted to eat in the castle, so we went with it. It was pouring when we got to MK about an hour before our ADR, so we skipped through the rain and rode some rides. So we were soaked and not looking too cute for our picture with Cinderella - but we road Big Thunder 2x with no line, so it was a trade off! Cinderella was so sweet with DS - he loves he even more now. He likes the princesses because they talk to him and give him kisses - they do seem to make a fuss over boys. We were taken upstairs and seated on the second level at the railing, so we had a nice view out the windows. I had the soup, the chicken, and the blueberry buckle. DH had the salad, the pork, and the buckle. DS had noodles with butter and the crown sundae. I loved the soup, the polenta and the lemon ice cream with the buckle. My chicken breast was dry, but the thigh meat was tender - I must confess though that I am not wild about roast chicken and ordered the dish for the polenta, so don't take too much stock in what I say about the chicken! That polenta was awesome and I ate it all. DH said his was ok, but nothing spectacular. DS ate all his noodles, some of my chicken and polenta, a good bit of DH's pork, most of my blueberry "muffin", and all of his sundae - he was making up for not really eating since Ohana. The show was cute, the castle was beautiful, and I am glad we went. We may go back for a special occasion.
9/27 Wed/MGM
Hollywood and Vine Playhouse Disney Breakfast - We has a reservation for 8:40 and the park opened at 9am. There was a woman at the end turnstyle calling over people with ADR's and we went right through. I have to say that I thought this was really, really cute. There are 4 characters - JoJo, Goliath, June, and Leo (I don't know if the Little Einsteins switch off or not) who go around. There are also 2 people that lead song and dance times every 20 minutes or so - same costume as the Playhouse Disney stage show host. They really seemed to add to the fun - there was a conga line, singing of the Mickey Mouse songs, the JoJo songs, that kind of thing - it was funny seeing that parents seemed to know all the words! We waited a while (20 minutes?) before the first character came over, but then they came pretty quickly. The seemed to spend a good amount of time with the kids, and they were very interactive during the dance parts. The food offerings were simple, but I thought they were very tasty (I think I liked the food better than at Chef Mickey's) - they had scrambled eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, cheese grits (that were good - not lumpy), mickey waffles, fruit and pastries. No sugar cereal or candy like at Chef Mickey's. On a side note - the Chef came to a table near ours to talk to them about allergy concerns.
This was a day of snacks - we got pretzels and frozen lemonades at the dinosaur place, popcorn, waters, and Mickey bars througout the day.
While we were waiting for the parade, DS declared he was starving so I got fish and chips from ABC commisary as it was close by. We all picked at it and it was fine for CS.
Dinner was at Pop for DS and me (DH stayed behind to ride the big kid rides). We got a pizza and a kids mac and cheese and rice krispy treats (god, I love those things).
9/28 Blizzard Beach/Ft. Wilderness Day
Pop - I had a Pop waffle (it has the pop logo on it, quite cute) with bacon, DH and DS got pancakes with bacon and sausage. FYI - the platters come with bacon and sausage, but I asked for bacon only and was given double bacon.
Blizzard beach - Let me just say that of the many good things I have learned from reading these boards, the best piece of advice is to get the donuts at the carts in the waterparks. They didn't open till about 10:30 and we stalked them like crazy people, going past every 20 minutes and it was so worth it. They are warm cake donuts covered in sugar and were so, so, so good. We were only at Blizzard beach a few hours so we didn't eat.
Pop - I got some more grab n go items to take for the room to eat before nap. I got a chef salad (huge, very fresh) and yogurt parfait.
Hoop De Doo - Let me say upfront that we went here because it was free. I couldn't wrap my head around what it was supposed to be about and if we would like it- I wasn't really sure that it was worth it, especially 2 credits, but I wouldn't pay that much cash for something I wasn't sure what it was. We reserved this about a month before we went and our seats would probably be considered bad by many - the balcony is one row of tables along the rail and we were on the side, one table from the end of the "u". BUT - we looked right over the stage, no one was in front of us and we thought this table was great. I have to say that the show was so bad, so silly, so cheesy, that I loved it. I laughed out loud, I might have slapped my knee. I will say that you could easily be too cool for this show and hate it, but if you go to a place called Fort Wilderness, to see a show called the Hoop De Doo Musical Revue in Pioneer Hall, you shouldn't be expecting Cirque du Soleil. My favorite line was "Call me butter, cause I'm on a roll." If you just rolled your eyes and smiled, go see it. If you rolled your eyes and frowned, don't go.
The same can be said of the food - the dishes are pewter, the bring out ribs and chicken in buckets and plop them on the table. There was corn on the cob and baked beans and cornbread. I think you either like that kind of mess or you don't.
9/29 Friday/Typhoon Lagoon/Halloween Party
We used snack credits at Typhoon Lagoon to get soft pretzels - they are huge! We got two and didn't finish them. We got more donuts and more Pina Coladas.
We got CS - burger and nuggets at Cosmic Ray's during the party. I was fussy because Columbia Harbor House was closed for a media reception, so I mostly ate Halloween candy. We got popcorn, dole whip and water for snacks
9/30 Saturday
Pop We used up our counter service to get Mickey waffles for all of us in flagrant defiance of the no adults eating child meals penal code. I will fight for the right to eat Mickey heads to the end.
I think I left out some snacks, but we did get a box of donuts and a big bag of Baked Lays in the food court with snack credits - they were with all the other snack options and well labeled.
Well, I am obviously getting a little punchy...let me know if you have any questions, pat yourself on the back if you made it this far, there was lots of rambling to go through!
