kkpsirog163
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 28, 2013
Hey everyone, this is my first dining report that I've done. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but here we go!
Information - This was the fourth stay at Walt Disney World Resort for my wife and I. We always stay in value resorts because we don't spend much time in the room, and would rather spend that extra money on all the great food! We were on the deluxe dining plan (As always).
Me: I'm Roger, I'm 34 years old. My favorite restaurant on property is probably California Grill. My favorite characters are Donald, Chip, and Dale. My favorite WDW ride is Haunted Mansion. My favorite Disneyland ride is Space Mountain (So much better than the WDW version!!). My favorite Disney park is a tossup between Epcot and Disneyland.
DW: Letetia is 35 years old. Her favorite restaurant on property is Le Cellier. Her favorite characters are the princes and princesses. Her favorite WDW ride is probably Living with the Land. Her favorite Disneyland ride is - well I'm not sure. Her favorite Disney park is Epcot.
Sunday - 12-8
Letetia drove through the night. We are from Philippi, WV. We had stayed with some family in Richmond, VA and left for the world from there. After a (long) overnight drive, we arrived at our hotel, All-Star Music, before the parks opened, got checked in, and headed for our first destination, Animal Kingdom - where we had our first ADR scheduled as well!
Tusker House Breakfast - We really enjoyed this breakfast. We overbooked our dining and paid for a couple of meals, including this one, out of pocket. Despite enjoying it, it was probably our least favorite breakfast of the trip, simply because the other three really knocked it out of the park. I was brave and tried some of the chicken curry - which I did enjoy! We got our pictures with the characters and filled ourselves up - I was sure to have plenty of Mickey Waffles(my favorite), and I also loved the fresh carved ham. Overall, we do want to return here, but we'll probably try the lunch next time instead.
After filling our bellies, we had a Disney Vacation Club appointment (Which we weren't happy with at all, in fact they completely turned us OFF from buying), and headed to our second park of the day, Epcot. Once arriving Epcot, we jumped on Spaceship Earth - we wanted to get one last ride on it before it goes through it's upcoming changes. We then stopped and got our Chip and Dale Christmas Tree Spree maps, and started our way into the World Showcase, where we had our lunch reservation booked.
Rose and Crown - This was no question one of the best meals of our trip. We're big Rose and Crown fans and it's always one of our top recommendations at the World Showcase, especially for picky eaters (Which we aren't super picky). We ordered the scotch egg and cheese plate for our appetizers, and split them. The scotch egg continues to be a favorite. Letetia ordered their braised beef entree, which just found it's way back onto the menu. This was absolutely phenomenal, she says it's one of the best meals she had all week. I went with the fish and chips which is always delicious, however if I could do it over again, I'd order the braised beef, and hit the counter service next door later in the week for fish and chips. For dessert she had the English Trifle and I had the Sticky Toffee Pudding. We both enjoyed the desserts.
After lunch, we decided to head back to the hotel and freshen up and rest for a few minutes before our evening activities, as we were both tired from the drive. After a rest, we headed over to Hollywood Studios, as I had an appointment at the Droid Depot! I was blown away by Galaxy's Edge - as a huge Star Wars fan, and enjoyed building my BB Unit. We then hopped in line for Millenium Falcon, as it was only a thirty minute wait. We both loved the ride and highly recommend it. We still had time to kill before our dinner reservation, so we hopped on the Alien Swirling Saucers (This was also our first trip since Toy Story Land had opened). After the ride, we headed off to the Grand Floridian, for our dinner at.....
Narcoossee's - This is a bit of a nostalgic one for us. We had our first signature dining meal ever at Narcoossee's in 2013. We typically schedule this as our first night meal. This time however, was probably our last trip to the restaurant. Now mind you, we were EXTREMELY tired, and I had been battling a toothache, which was acting up, but we were thoroughly disappointed. Letetia ordered the cheese plate(She loves her cheese plates!), and I had the lobster bisque. The bisque was rather flavorless. For our entrees she had the Seafood Tagliatelle, which she said was good. I ordered the full lobster, which also, was underwhelming - which is sad, as I love lobster. We were both full and too tired for dessert, but we took them to go - carrot cake, and of course, the almond crusted cheesecake(one of my favorite disney desserts). We headed back to the hotel, and crashed.
Monday, 12-9
We started our day off at Magic Kingdom, as we had a Taste of the Magic Kingdom VIP Tour booked. This had lots of goodies, most of which we had never tried. It started off with a huge, delicious Mickey Cinnamon roll. We then went behind the scenes at the kitchens of Casey's and the Skippers' Canteen, before stopping for a bite to eat at the canteen itself, where we got to sample the cachapas appetizer, and the curried vegetable stew entree. These were both delicious - so much so that we decided we're going to try the Skippers' Canteen on our next trip for sure! Then the tour took us to Aloha Isle for a raspberry/pineapple Dole Whip swirl. Letetia doesn't like dole whip (Chip and Dale, and Launchpad all gave her grief for that later in the day). We then headed to Tortuga Tavern where we were given several pieces of turkey leg, which I loved, but again, Letetia did not. We went to the diamond horseshoe for a celebration salad from Liberty Tree - which we both enjoyed, before going backstage and given the grey stuff in a chip cup from Be Our Guest. The tour ended at Cosmic Ray's with a plant based sloppy joe, which I refused to try, but Letetia didn't seem to hate, followed by an upcoming menu item for a dessert party - a rose shaped/colored raspberry filled "cheesecake" - which tasted nothing like cheesecake and was partially frozen. From here we were pretty full, but of course, we have an ADR for lunch, so we hopped on over to Animal Kingdom, because it was time for...
Yak and Yeti - We love Yak and Yeti. It's the only one of the landry restaurants at WDW that we continue to go back to, because we always have a good experience. We paid for this out of pocket as we weren't super hungry and only ordered appetizers. We got a dim sum basket to split - we loved the bao buns and potstickers, but weren't crazy about the shumai. Letetia also ordered the coconut shrimp, which was good, but we both agreed that it wasn't as good as Outback (I know, crazy, but there's something about Outback's coconut shrimp). I ordered the egg rolls, as I LOVE egg rolls(More egg rolls later in the trip). I was happy with these, as I'd ordered them before and had previously enjoyed them.
We spent the afternoon with a couple of fast passes - Expedition Everest, and Na'vi River Journey. We also rode Dinosaur, and met characters at Donald's Dino-Bash - Launchpad, and Chip and Dale dressed as dinosaurs. I was wearing a dole whip shirt, all three characters pointed it out, and I told all of them Letetia didn't like dole whip. This came with GREAT reactions from the characters. We had a snack break. I went with the dole whip float with coconut rum, and she got the african spiced fries(or something along those lines), with some Asian dipping sauces. I also grabbed a popcorn bucket at this point - a lovely Christmas Tree bucket. We carried our snacks (Minus the dole whip which I consumed a little earlier), and checked in for our final fast pass at Rivers of Light. This is our favorite night time show at Disney, although we still have yet to watch Happily Ever After. Afterward, we went to our next ADR, the one we were the most excited for, as it had been the best meal on our previous trip, at.....
Jiko - We loved Jiko on our first visit. We fell out of love on this evening. Letetia ordered the Tibs in Brik, and I got the African Spiced Scallops. This earns the award for me as the second best appetizer I had all week. Letetia liked hers. We both got the filet with mac and cheese. Letetia ordered it medium well(I know.), and it came out like shoe leather. She was extremely dissapointed, and also didn't like the oak flavor. Mine was cooked to a perfect medium rare, and was delicious, but I also could have gone without the oak flavor of the steak. For dessert she had the Melktert, and hated it. I had the Braai brownie, which was good but not great. We will likely return to Jiko and give it one last chance, but it's definitely no longer one of our top two choices for a signature meal.
Tuesday, 12-10
We started out today at Epcot, with breakfast at Akershus - this was our first visit here. Letetia loves the princesses so we decided to try this one out. We both really enjoyed the breakfast here, and the princesses were very pleasant. Once we finished, we hopped in a 20 minute line for Frozen, as the park had just opened as we were finishing breakfast, and then sat in front of the water and enjoyed some Joffrey's coffee at the entrance to World Showcase while waiting for the rest of World Showcase to open. This was very relaxing and a great way to spend the morning. Once World Showcase opened, we started our way around the world. We first hit the Mexico Pavilion, riding The Three Caballeros, and doing some pre-shopping for later. We walked through Norway and China, checking out the shops as we went, and finding Chip and Dale for the scavenger hunt. We finally arrived at Germany, checking out the Caramel Kuche and again finding Chip and Dale, before having our ADR lunch stop -
Biergarten - Again, like Rose and Crown, we LOVE the Biergarten. It's one of our top three one credit choices for World Showcase. The food is never disappointing and they have a nice variety of German foods, along with a really fun show. I highly recommend this, especially for pickier eaters, as it's one of the more picky-friendly choices in World Showcase. We continued our trek after this, hitting up and finding the pesky chipmunks in Italy, and The American Adventure, as well as Japan. We then hopped onto the boat on Morocco to hit our fastpass at Test Track. Then it was off to Magic Kingdom for our Pre-Christmas Party dinner at....
Be Our Guest - This was our first trip here since it became a two-credit signature restaurant. Previously the food here was just okay. We started with appetizers. Letetia ordered the spiced, seared tuna. Neither of us had ever had tuna like this, and it was DELICIOUS. I ordered the lobster bisque, and dare I say, it was better than Narcoossee's. Four our entrees, she went with the plant based tortellini option, which she enjoyed, and I had the spiced lamb rack - which was cooked to perfection and absolutely delicious. The dessert trio was also great. Be Our Guest has gone from an "okay" dining experience, to a really good one in my opinion. However, this is not the best use of the dining plan as the price doesn't really correlate to two credits. We did enjoy this however. At the party we spent our time meeting some characters, and riding a few rides - Space Mountain with the holiday overlay which was great, splash mountain, and some others. We then viewed Minnie's Holiday Fireworks before returning to our hotel, exhausted at that point.
I'll be posting more tomorrow!
Information - This was the fourth stay at Walt Disney World Resort for my wife and I. We always stay in value resorts because we don't spend much time in the room, and would rather spend that extra money on all the great food! We were on the deluxe dining plan (As always).
Me: I'm Roger, I'm 34 years old. My favorite restaurant on property is probably California Grill. My favorite characters are Donald, Chip, and Dale. My favorite WDW ride is Haunted Mansion. My favorite Disneyland ride is Space Mountain (So much better than the WDW version!!). My favorite Disney park is a tossup between Epcot and Disneyland.
DW: Letetia is 35 years old. Her favorite restaurant on property is Le Cellier. Her favorite characters are the princes and princesses. Her favorite WDW ride is probably Living with the Land. Her favorite Disneyland ride is - well I'm not sure. Her favorite Disney park is Epcot.
Sunday - 12-8
Letetia drove through the night. We are from Philippi, WV. We had stayed with some family in Richmond, VA and left for the world from there. After a (long) overnight drive, we arrived at our hotel, All-Star Music, before the parks opened, got checked in, and headed for our first destination, Animal Kingdom - where we had our first ADR scheduled as well!
Tusker House Breakfast - We really enjoyed this breakfast. We overbooked our dining and paid for a couple of meals, including this one, out of pocket. Despite enjoying it, it was probably our least favorite breakfast of the trip, simply because the other three really knocked it out of the park. I was brave and tried some of the chicken curry - which I did enjoy! We got our pictures with the characters and filled ourselves up - I was sure to have plenty of Mickey Waffles(my favorite), and I also loved the fresh carved ham. Overall, we do want to return here, but we'll probably try the lunch next time instead.
After filling our bellies, we had a Disney Vacation Club appointment (Which we weren't happy with at all, in fact they completely turned us OFF from buying), and headed to our second park of the day, Epcot. Once arriving Epcot, we jumped on Spaceship Earth - we wanted to get one last ride on it before it goes through it's upcoming changes. We then stopped and got our Chip and Dale Christmas Tree Spree maps, and started our way into the World Showcase, where we had our lunch reservation booked.
Rose and Crown - This was no question one of the best meals of our trip. We're big Rose and Crown fans and it's always one of our top recommendations at the World Showcase, especially for picky eaters (Which we aren't super picky). We ordered the scotch egg and cheese plate for our appetizers, and split them. The scotch egg continues to be a favorite. Letetia ordered their braised beef entree, which just found it's way back onto the menu. This was absolutely phenomenal, she says it's one of the best meals she had all week. I went with the fish and chips which is always delicious, however if I could do it over again, I'd order the braised beef, and hit the counter service next door later in the week for fish and chips. For dessert she had the English Trifle and I had the Sticky Toffee Pudding. We both enjoyed the desserts.
After lunch, we decided to head back to the hotel and freshen up and rest for a few minutes before our evening activities, as we were both tired from the drive. After a rest, we headed over to Hollywood Studios, as I had an appointment at the Droid Depot! I was blown away by Galaxy's Edge - as a huge Star Wars fan, and enjoyed building my BB Unit. We then hopped in line for Millenium Falcon, as it was only a thirty minute wait. We both loved the ride and highly recommend it. We still had time to kill before our dinner reservation, so we hopped on the Alien Swirling Saucers (This was also our first trip since Toy Story Land had opened). After the ride, we headed off to the Grand Floridian, for our dinner at.....
Narcoossee's - This is a bit of a nostalgic one for us. We had our first signature dining meal ever at Narcoossee's in 2013. We typically schedule this as our first night meal. This time however, was probably our last trip to the restaurant. Now mind you, we were EXTREMELY tired, and I had been battling a toothache, which was acting up, but we were thoroughly disappointed. Letetia ordered the cheese plate(She loves her cheese plates!), and I had the lobster bisque. The bisque was rather flavorless. For our entrees she had the Seafood Tagliatelle, which she said was good. I ordered the full lobster, which also, was underwhelming - which is sad, as I love lobster. We were both full and too tired for dessert, but we took them to go - carrot cake, and of course, the almond crusted cheesecake(one of my favorite disney desserts). We headed back to the hotel, and crashed.
Monday, 12-9
We started our day off at Magic Kingdom, as we had a Taste of the Magic Kingdom VIP Tour booked. This had lots of goodies, most of which we had never tried. It started off with a huge, delicious Mickey Cinnamon roll. We then went behind the scenes at the kitchens of Casey's and the Skippers' Canteen, before stopping for a bite to eat at the canteen itself, where we got to sample the cachapas appetizer, and the curried vegetable stew entree. These were both delicious - so much so that we decided we're going to try the Skippers' Canteen on our next trip for sure! Then the tour took us to Aloha Isle for a raspberry/pineapple Dole Whip swirl. Letetia doesn't like dole whip (Chip and Dale, and Launchpad all gave her grief for that later in the day). We then headed to Tortuga Tavern where we were given several pieces of turkey leg, which I loved, but again, Letetia did not. We went to the diamond horseshoe for a celebration salad from Liberty Tree - which we both enjoyed, before going backstage and given the grey stuff in a chip cup from Be Our Guest. The tour ended at Cosmic Ray's with a plant based sloppy joe, which I refused to try, but Letetia didn't seem to hate, followed by an upcoming menu item for a dessert party - a rose shaped/colored raspberry filled "cheesecake" - which tasted nothing like cheesecake and was partially frozen. From here we were pretty full, but of course, we have an ADR for lunch, so we hopped on over to Animal Kingdom, because it was time for...
Yak and Yeti - We love Yak and Yeti. It's the only one of the landry restaurants at WDW that we continue to go back to, because we always have a good experience. We paid for this out of pocket as we weren't super hungry and only ordered appetizers. We got a dim sum basket to split - we loved the bao buns and potstickers, but weren't crazy about the shumai. Letetia also ordered the coconut shrimp, which was good, but we both agreed that it wasn't as good as Outback (I know, crazy, but there's something about Outback's coconut shrimp). I ordered the egg rolls, as I LOVE egg rolls(More egg rolls later in the trip). I was happy with these, as I'd ordered them before and had previously enjoyed them.
We spent the afternoon with a couple of fast passes - Expedition Everest, and Na'vi River Journey. We also rode Dinosaur, and met characters at Donald's Dino-Bash - Launchpad, and Chip and Dale dressed as dinosaurs. I was wearing a dole whip shirt, all three characters pointed it out, and I told all of them Letetia didn't like dole whip. This came with GREAT reactions from the characters. We had a snack break. I went with the dole whip float with coconut rum, and she got the african spiced fries(or something along those lines), with some Asian dipping sauces. I also grabbed a popcorn bucket at this point - a lovely Christmas Tree bucket. We carried our snacks (Minus the dole whip which I consumed a little earlier), and checked in for our final fast pass at Rivers of Light. This is our favorite night time show at Disney, although we still have yet to watch Happily Ever After. Afterward, we went to our next ADR, the one we were the most excited for, as it had been the best meal on our previous trip, at.....
Jiko - We loved Jiko on our first visit. We fell out of love on this evening. Letetia ordered the Tibs in Brik, and I got the African Spiced Scallops. This earns the award for me as the second best appetizer I had all week. Letetia liked hers. We both got the filet with mac and cheese. Letetia ordered it medium well(I know.), and it came out like shoe leather. She was extremely dissapointed, and also didn't like the oak flavor. Mine was cooked to a perfect medium rare, and was delicious, but I also could have gone without the oak flavor of the steak. For dessert she had the Melktert, and hated it. I had the Braai brownie, which was good but not great. We will likely return to Jiko and give it one last chance, but it's definitely no longer one of our top two choices for a signature meal.
Tuesday, 12-10
We started out today at Epcot, with breakfast at Akershus - this was our first visit here. Letetia loves the princesses so we decided to try this one out. We both really enjoyed the breakfast here, and the princesses were very pleasant. Once we finished, we hopped in a 20 minute line for Frozen, as the park had just opened as we were finishing breakfast, and then sat in front of the water and enjoyed some Joffrey's coffee at the entrance to World Showcase while waiting for the rest of World Showcase to open. This was very relaxing and a great way to spend the morning. Once World Showcase opened, we started our way around the world. We first hit the Mexico Pavilion, riding The Three Caballeros, and doing some pre-shopping for later. We walked through Norway and China, checking out the shops as we went, and finding Chip and Dale for the scavenger hunt. We finally arrived at Germany, checking out the Caramel Kuche and again finding Chip and Dale, before having our ADR lunch stop -
Biergarten - Again, like Rose and Crown, we LOVE the Biergarten. It's one of our top three one credit choices for World Showcase. The food is never disappointing and they have a nice variety of German foods, along with a really fun show. I highly recommend this, especially for pickier eaters, as it's one of the more picky-friendly choices in World Showcase. We continued our trek after this, hitting up and finding the pesky chipmunks in Italy, and The American Adventure, as well as Japan. We then hopped onto the boat on Morocco to hit our fastpass at Test Track. Then it was off to Magic Kingdom for our Pre-Christmas Party dinner at....
Be Our Guest - This was our first trip here since it became a two-credit signature restaurant. Previously the food here was just okay. We started with appetizers. Letetia ordered the spiced, seared tuna. Neither of us had ever had tuna like this, and it was DELICIOUS. I ordered the lobster bisque, and dare I say, it was better than Narcoossee's. Four our entrees, she went with the plant based tortellini option, which she enjoyed, and I had the spiced lamb rack - which was cooked to perfection and absolutely delicious. The dessert trio was also great. Be Our Guest has gone from an "okay" dining experience, to a really good one in my opinion. However, this is not the best use of the dining plan as the price doesn't really correlate to two credits. We did enjoy this however. At the party we spent our time meeting some characters, and riding a few rides - Space Mountain with the holiday overlay which was great, splash mountain, and some others. We then viewed Minnie's Holiday Fireworks before returning to our hotel, exhausted at that point.
I'll be posting more tomorrow!
❤ Were you up for, like, 24 hours that first day?!
