The Picky Kid and Foodie Mom (with less tiny tummy) Return!... and eat! Updated: Epcot!

Yay! Another report. As a fellow gastric bypass person, I love reading your reports. And way to go on maintaining that 140 pound loss!!!!!
 
Look forward to following along! We are going to several of the places you visited on our upcoming trip so it will be great to get some reviews. And pics.... :)
 
It looks so photogenic but I guess you’re right, it’s better to eat it disassembled and scoop the ice cream with the churro. It is a nice snack to eat while waiting for the parade. The churros look fresh at least. I’ve had stale churros the last time I had one in MK.

ETA: I’m excited to see how much money you saved with the dining plan. I’ve already told my TA to add DxDP on the first half of my stay!
It's tasty just hard to eat and I'm not enough of a sweets person that I'd particularly pursue this one!

Yeah I am interested too now that all is said and done, that is why I started tracking!

That churro sandwich is my new favorite snack on property. I plan on having one in two weeks.

So are churros supposed to be chewy? no one answered, lol.

Congratulations on the weight loss. I love Be our Guest and it’s such a bargain on the qsdp but when we went last time you chose your seat
I love churros so the sandwich looks amazing.
Can’t wait for more.

Thanks! Yeah I am a huge fan of BoG now. Can't believe it took so long to try it!
 


Glad to see you're back with another review! I'll be following along! :)
Yay! I'll try to not disappoint. sorry in advance for the rambling!

Yay! Another report. As a fellow gastric bypass person, I love reading your reports. And way to go on maintaining that 140 pound loss!!!!!

So many things I never thought about before and there is not much info out there talking about it! It's only been about 6 months but some people on my group are already regaining so I'm gonna take every victory!!

Look forward to following along! We are going to several of the places you visited on our upcoming trip so it will be great to get some reviews. And pics.... :)

I have lots of pics!!! Welcome!
 
Day 1: Crystal Palace Dinner!

So by about 4:30 we were REALLY dragging after our long day and the kiddo wanted to check in early for our Crystal Palace dinner. At first I thought it would just cause trouble but then I realized it was a less than prime time and they still had ADRs so we went over and checked in and were seated pretty quickly.

Crystal Palace is one of our (ok my) not to miss meals at WDW, but we usually do breakfast because I'm too cheap to pay for buffet dinners and because dinner food is better made to order than it is on a buffet, while I find disney breakfast to be pretty much the same buffet or made to order to be quite honest. Also. I'm cheap. Also. breakfast lasagna. But since I decided to do the DDP and capture our more expensive TS meals at the front end of the trip, this seemed like pretty much the ideal first day dinner.

We have seen Christopher Robin a bunch of times, which has given my child some interest in Pooh beyond "it makes mom happy." So he was looking forward to this meal too.

I have read pretty meh reviews on the lunch/dinner buffet here - last time I was here in 2014, though, I remember enjoying it just fine, so I was honestly not sure what to expect. I kept my expectations pretty low, but they were exceeded by a mile and we ended up really really enjoying this meal. I mean it's a buffet, but in general everything was hot (that was meant to be!), well prepared, fresh and delicious, if not the most interesting thing in the world. The restaurant was about half empty at that time of the day and it did not feel like a regular zooey character meal. It was actually a pretty chill overall experience and much appreciated at the end of a long travel day where we'd been going for 12 hours already.

Our last dinner buffet was H&V in December 2016 and although that was far better than I expected (I was prepared for the worst) the food was MUCH better here. Honestly I'd happily do either breakfast OR dinner here again ... even though dinner is pricier, if it fit into my schedule better (as this did) I would not feel bad about doing it - whereas H&V I left feeling like I would not pay OOP for it and might only do it again during a holiday where I wanted to see the characters (Halloween or Christmas) AND on the DDP. There was nothing BAD about it but nothing that left me wanting to do it again.

Anyway on to the food!

The kid got up and attended to by himself while I waited for the server to show up and take drink orders (only benefit of having a disney adult kid is that they can pretty much attend to themselves in the bathroom and at buffets). No pics of drinks but pretty sure the kid got a chocolate milk as he usually does and I got a glass of Fess Parker Riesling. I have no real memory of it which means it was fine... it was not mineraly or I would have remembered that (I do not like that in a riesling). I think it is fine and since it is my favorite type of wine I appreciate having some form of riesling on all of the Disney menus rather than just pino and chardonnay, neither of which I love.

He was starving and honestly I am thinking I may always do a buffet for arrival day dinner because it's nice to not have to wait for ordering and prep and just be able to sit and chow down immediately.

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Bread. Mac and Cheese. Nuggets. Permissive vacation mom was in full force as I briefly thought about making another trip with him right then and there to see what he could try but then decided I was too bone tired to do that so I let him be.

For my first plate I tried a bit of everything that looked interesting.

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Starting at about 11 o'clock and going clockwise I had some weird slaw salad (did not like), some tomato and feta salad that I have no memory of, which means I was probably neutral on it, marinated cucumber and red onion salad that was delicious - vinegary and sweet and fresh and crunchy and some of the beet salad which was deliciously sweet... the little cubes of sweet beet went great with the more bitter greens. Then I had a couple of peel and eat shrimp with way too much cocktail sauce - these were solid tasty peel and eat shrimp with no off flavors or textures. Just your basic solid shrimp and the cocktail sauce has a little horseradish bite and does not taste overpoweringly like high fructose corn syrup like supermarket cocktail sauce does, so I enjoyed it. Next is the honey soy salmon which was absolutely delicious, with a sweet (but not cloyingly so) crispy glazed top and cooked the way I like it - I don't like rare salmon, I know that is not the foodie way to go but I don't like the texture (or salmon sushi, but I do like tuna). I always choose a piece from the thick part and it was done without being dry. Next are the pierogis, which I freaking LOVE and I have not had in nearly 2 years and I don't care if they are basically mini Mrs. T's pierogis, they were delicious topped with shredded parmesan and caramelized onions and fresh chives. I LOVED these. And then in the middle is jambalaya, which I basically mined a couple of shrimp and a couple of cubes of sausage out of and whatever little bit of rice stuck to it. This had more of a kick than I expected and and I really liked it a lot.

The characters came around while we were eating plate one and as tired as I was, we enjoyed them. Got the handler to take a pic of us with Pooh but I do wish they would make more of an effort to get kids to look at the camera rather than just snapping away... my child needs you to get his attention. Oh well.

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I will say I have also heard mixed reviews about character interaction here. There were a lot of little kids and the characters did not really seem to want to dawdle at our table UNTIL we started talking to them, and then they got really interactive. The kid LOVES Christopher Robin the movie and I mentioned we had seen it, Pooh got a LOT more perfunctory when I said that. So I would say on character interaction... sometimes you get out what you put in. If you give them something to latch on to they are happy to give you a more personalized experience but if you just stand and pose for photos, it's more likely you'll just get something more standard.

Anyway we both ended up going back for a second plate, as I can graze quite a bit of food in (for me) if I sit around and eat over the space of an hour, which is what we ended up doing. Kid's second plate

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This time I helped him get some carved strip loin from the carving station, which I then trimmed up for him. He liked it fine, and more mac and cheese.

My second:

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More of the same with the addition of one chicken nugget and a tiny spoon of the corn spoonbread. I have read this is disappointing as well but it was delicious, sweet and warm and comforting... maybe because I don't normally eat carbs I am less picky, I don't know. The chicken nugget was standard disney chicken nugget - salty and crispy and delicious... the nuggets at the buffets are tiny though, that's about the size of a quarter. 2 bites at most! Second plate is always "eyes bigger than stomach" and i just picked at this and left most of the salmon as protein really fills me the most.

Then it was time for dessert. CP does have an ice cream machine, which is a favorite of the picky kid. The kid got himself a big bowl and topped it off with a toffee molten brownie bite. What can I say, he's my kid and has his priorities right. We don't do cake a la mode, we do ice cream with a little cake!

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Here is my dessert plate:

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On the back is an orange chocolate chip brown pudding which I tried because I love bread pudding but it tasted like what I expected, that kind of gross sharp tasting fake orange and this was a big miss for me. I tried the toffee brownie bite thing and honestly was going to just have a bite (I am usually fine with a bite or two of something sweet after dinner.. I don't need an entire dessert and didn't even before surgery) but this was so delicious I ended up eating the whole thing. One thing anyone considering bariatric surgery should know is that if you don't have dumping (and I have the sleeve, so I don't) carbs go down REAL easy without making you feel full at all. I am not really so much into desserts so it's not a struggle for me really but I think that is how a lot of people gain back weight... sweets and chips and what they call "slider foods" that just go right down without making you feel full. Even though I was pretty full I still had room for that thing and a little bit of ice cream!

Overall even though we were both EXHAUSTED by now after being up at 4am for our flight, this was a great meal.

I would give it a solid "Disney Buffet" A. I don't think it is fair to rate a Disney Buffet against regular TS meals and although the food is not quite up to a Boma, with the addition of characters it gets the "A" for overall experience with very tasty food and solid character interaction. Crystal Palace remains on our do not miss list and although I'd still rather pay breakfast prices, I will not fear the lunch/dinner either.

Dining Plan Value Tally ($604 total): 1TS, 1QS, 1 Snack, $62.80 + $109.28 =$172.08 - $431.92 to break even (note, AP discounted prices are used for TS since we would have gotten the 10% off)

so for one day worth of eating, minus 3 snacks, we are running about $21 in extra value. Not bad!

Up next: PPO Garden Grill. A big hit last time, does it live up to the memory??? Stay tuned and see!

 
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Joining in the fun. Thanks for the CP dinner review. We always go for breakfast but your dinner review may get me to rethink. But would skip the Orange Bread Pudding :crazy2:.
Looking forward to more.
 


Just found your report

Bog looked good and noce that you can have a glass of wine( incl with ddp!)

Looking forward to following along.
 
That toffee brownie bite looks good!! Looks like a good experience all around. That’s great! And looks like a nice dent on the ddp! Excited for the next segment!
 
I love your reports and you’re reviewing a bunch of stuff that we have planned in the fall. I’m glad you like CP, we enjoyed it in 2015, but it was awful in 2017. We’ve put it back on the list for my daughters birthday dinner (she loved Winnie the Pooh as well!) so I’m so glad to see a positive review! The churro sandwich was also on my must try list. Can’t wait to read more!
 
You look fabulous, and I can't believe how tall your son has gotten. I always enjoy your dining reports, very informative, and great pictures.

I like how you are breaking down the cost of DDP over what you actually used your credits for. We go during free dining but upgrade from QS to DDP and I keep track and always come out ahead.
 
Hi Lisa!!!! First and foremost you look amazing!!! Your hard work has definitely paid off. And I can't believe the kiddo is now an "adult." Time is going way too fast.

Looks like you all had a great food start to your trip. I've been wanting to try the churro ice cream thing, but eating it sounds like an absolute mess.
 
I can’t wait to hear all about your trip. Congratulations on your weight loss! You look great!! BoG had kinda fallen off my radar but I think maybe it’s time to give it another try- your dish looks and sounds terrific!!
 
Following along. I have a picky eater too . At 21 though , he is finally trying new things. Turkey sandwiches are still a go to ( no condiments for him either) when he was younger , he wouldn’t eat a sandwich - he would eat the bread by itself and the turkey by itself.

I am thinking of Garden Grill breakfast for my next trip. Had dinner once and don’t have a great experience so it isn’t usually on my List to try.
 
Joining in the fun. Thanks for the CP dinner review. We always go for breakfast but your dinner review may get me to rethink. But would skip the Orange Bread Pudding :crazy2:.
Looking forward to more.

I think breakfast is always a safer bet. I've never had a bad one anywhere at Disney. I think that food lends itself better to a buffet than dinner food. But at least you know that CP is capable of doing a decent non-breakfast meal!

Just found your report

Bog looked good and noce that you can have a glass of wine( incl with ddp!)

Looking forward to following along.

Yes, that was definitely a nice pairing. Whether I'd pay like $35 with tax for that meal I'm not sure but I sure as heck enjoyed it on the DDP!

That toffee brownie bite looks good!! Looks like a good experience all around. That’s great! And looks like a nice dent on the ddp! Excited for the next segment!

My sense is that we did alright but I am just adding it up on the fly! It was surprisingly good, I am not a huge dessert person but that is one of the pairings I really like!


I love your reports and you’re reviewing a bunch of stuff that we have planned in the fall. I’m glad you like CP, we enjoyed it in 2015, but it was awful in 2017. We’ve put it back on the list for my daughters birthday dinner (she loved Winnie the Pooh as well!) so I’m so glad to see a positive review! The churro sandwich was also on my must try list. Can’t wait to read more!

Yes, I think the only thing disney is consistent with is their inconsistency unfortunately. But as I said above, at least you know they are capable of a good meal!

You look fabulous, and I can't believe how tall your son has gotten. I always enjoy your dining reports, very informative, and great pictures.

I like how you are breaking down the cost of DDP over what you actually used your credits for. We go during free dining but upgrade from QS to DDP and I keep track and always come out ahead.

Thank you! I may have said this already so forgive me if I am repeating myself but at his last doctor appointment (just last week) he is exactly 6" shorter. He is closing in! his dad is 6'2 so it is inevitable I think.

Yeah I sort of rearranged all of my dining to maximize the DDP but I think that would be very hard to do over longer than 4-5 nights because you just kind of get sick of all the food!

Hi Lisa!!!! First and foremost you look amazing!!! Your hard work has definitely paid off. And I can't believe the kiddo is now an "adult." Time is going way too fast.

Looks like you all had a great food start to your trip. I've been wanting to try the churro ice cream thing, but eating it sounds like an absolute mess.

Thanks!! you just wait, the mouse is coming for your little sweetie too!

I think the churro thing is a good "break" snack but it is not something you can eat and walk with IMO. Especially in the heat where the ice cream would melt faster. The cookie sandwiches are much easier to eat "whole" than this thing!


I can’t wait to hear all about your trip. Congratulations on your weight loss! You look great!! BoG had kinda fallen off my radar but I think maybe it’s time to give it another try- your dish looks and sounds terrific!!

Thanks! it was delicious and I think I might have to see if there is a copycat recipe out there on the internet, sounds like something I'd love to make here at home! I definitely get the hype of BoG for lunch now! It was as good or even a little better (since the green beans were better) than the pot roast kid meal at LTT - that's kind of the closest equivalent. So I would say definitely TS quality!

Also I love your DISboards name, presumably a reference to that old commercial where the kids are too excited to sleep and then you cut to the parents' room and they are also too excited to sleep :)

Following along. I have a picky eater too . At 21 though , he is finally trying new things. Turkey sandwiches are still a go to ( no condiments for him either) when he was younger , he wouldn’t eat a sandwich - he would eat the bread by itself and the turkey by itself.

I am thinking of Garden Grill breakfast for my next trip. Had dinner once and don’t have a great experience so it isn’t usually on my List to try.

His dad apparently was similar as a kid and now will eat veggies, so there is hope.

The dinner menu, no matter what they do to it, just never seems to appeal to me. I'm not sure why but abominations like sweet potato fries and no chocolate for dessert do not help matters any! Breakfast is a different story, as you are about to see!
 
Day 2: Garden Grill PPO Breakfast!

I won't lie, this meal has been one of our favorites on both of our last trips... which to me, sets up high expectations, which raises the chances of disappointment. I try not to repeat TOO many things because I find that between trips your estimation of how great it was last time grows and the experience has bigger and bigger shoes to fill every time. But our last two times doing this it was such an incredible awesome way to start our Epcot day, it was one of the kiddo's top 5 requests for "must do" so we did it.

Also I will say that in my 20+ years going to Disney, I have never taken the bus. I always rent a car, I don't like buses really... but I have a 7 night fantasy cruise planned for February 2020 (and they just announced the Star Wars Day at Sea! YEAH!!!!!!) which is currently #1 on my bucket list of things to do with my kiddo. He will be 11 by then which IMO is the sweetest spot of all to be in on the cruise - still young enough to do the "kid" stuff which is up to 12 (including Jedi Training) but also old enough to hang with the tween crowd, 11-14. So in an attempt to save money to put toward the cruise, I skipped the car.

So it was kind of unnerving trying to get to Epcot for a PPO breakfast, but unlike the published schedules - the buses WERE running between 7-8am and we got on one and were there by about 7:30... unfortunately to find out that the procedure had changed and they hold the PPO breakfast people OUTSIDE the gates until just a couple of minutes before 8am. I asked a CM how you're supposed to make an 8am breakfast if they won't let you in until 8am and he said "they know at the restaurant." yeah well, I booked it at 8am so that we could be seated at 8am so we could have time to get on Soarin'. So I was super edgy waiting and not real happy about the change in process.

But we were through the gates a couple of minutes after 8 and maybe 10 minutes late for our ADR (I do NOT run for anything at Disney) but we were seated almost immediately, only delayed a couple of minutes because I asked for a lower booth and we were accommodated. Fortunately that little bump in the road turned out to be nothing honestly. Our waitress was fantastic and right on it, and we were greeted by the big cheese himself immediately upon being seated!

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a couple of minutes later the food started showing up and we were HUNGRY

First comes the sticky bun, fruit and beverages.

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mama had to have some coffee, and of course my beloved POG juice. in my experience the sticky bun thing is kind of hit or mess depending on how fresh it is even at PPO. My kid is less picky than I am so always loves it, but me being not much of a sweets person, I am VERY fussy about that kind of a thing. I will say that this time the sticky bun was the best we'd ever had. Fresh, warm, loaded with icing. YUM. This should mean a lot from a not super into sweets person!

This is my plate while waiting for the good stuff and yes I managed to only eat that much sticky bun!!!20190118_081811.jpg

I will say too that Disney fruit is very hit and miss (everyone knows this) especially way out of season in January but the fruit here was all delicious! The strawberries were much better than they looked and even the melon was good.

After not too long and more character visits (they come around QUICKLY there at this time of morning) and our usual huge fun with chip and dale over the kiddo's chip and dale ears, the hot food came out.

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starting at 12 o'clock it's tater tots, bacon, waffles, scrambled eggs, and sausage.... see how the fruit doesn't look so great? It tasted WAY better than it looked. Also you can see the fresh salsa and the little container of chocolate hazelnut sauce peeking out int he lower right corner.

And here is my plate, which I think showcases the food better:

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Honestly, this is the BEST experience we've had at Garden Grill breakfast yet. You can maybe see a bit from my plate how perfectly everything is cooked (actually the sausage looks weird but it wasn't, haha). The bacon was perfectly crisp and not greasy, the tots were perfect crisp, the eggs were light and fluffy and not dry nor runny and the waffles were hot and fresh and crisp, and I do have a thing for Disney breakfast sausage. That salsa was To. Die. For. If you do not like garlic you won't like it, as it has plenty of fresh, raw chopped garlic in it... this was unexpected but OMG so good. I loved every bite of this meal, and even tried my son's famed "tater tots dipped in nutella" trick from last time:

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the kid was definitely onto something. That said this time he just went all out sugar rush and poured the chocolate sauce on the sticky bun. Permissive vacation mom was definitely in the house because I let him. oh well!

Breakfast was over and done and paid in about 45 minutes including seeing the characters at least 2x each (Mickey 3x including one last hug on the way out). We got right on Soarin' and were off by a couple of minutes past 9. This remains our absolute favorite start to any Disney day... the food, while basic, was spot on this time and the character interaction was fantastic as always. We've also always had great, efficient, friendly servers here.

I give this an A+ for food and characters, will not miss next time.

This meal was OOP for us on the DDP because I had 4 big dinners planned... even moreso when I decided to add the Broadway package to it because it was under $50 pp for 2 credits - not a good value at all. I have read you don't NEED the broadway package but it cost me about $9 more per person after they added AP discount to this package for what turned out to be AMAZING seating on the first show of the first day of the Festival... I had been planning to do GG anyway and it was totally worth the extra $18 for that guaranteed seating. The theater DID fill up behind us during that show and it was worth it for the peace of mind. I am not sure I'd book a meal I hadn't planned on for it but it was worth the upcharge for something I was doing anyway. Here is the non zoomed in view, we were about row 4 a little stage left of center.

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Also, the show was AWESOME. Kiddo was in his school production of Mary Poppins and we had a great time at this show.

Up next: Sunshine Seasons for Lunch, and "is that a bottle of pee you're carrying???"
 
Day 2: Sunshine Seasons Lunch!

Since it's kind of a down day and I am waiting for laundry, I figured I'd make more of a dent in this report.

My kid has been wanting to try Sunshine Seasons since seeing a review of it on DFB (disney food blog, he is a huge fan of AJ, lol) and it seemed like a good use of a QS credit so we put it into the plans on our full Epcot day. I had thought about maybe dragging the kid to mexico so I could have one of those expensive Patron margaritas courtesy of the DDP but there is really nothing the picky kid would love there and we were traveling with others too, so Sunshine Seasons it was.

Also I had read that you can get up to two boozy drinks with one adult buying 2 meals on the DDP so I figured this was a good place to try that. I was really happy to see that they had moscato in those little to-go wine "glass" thingies as I am not sure I saw it in any other cooler on property - usually just chardonnay. And honestly right at that moment, in spite of the fact that the BF's mom thinks I have "an alcohol problem" because I post the occasional photos of fun alcoholic drinks enjoyed in social occasions... I wasn't really in the mood for anything. BUT what I WAS in the mood for was maximizing the DDP. So off I went to buy our two meals and two wines I figured I'd save for later and paid for the kid's $2.99 chocolate milk OOP.

We ended up both at the grill and his is our tray:

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The kid was interested in trying:


Slow-Roasted Pork Loin
Slow-roasted Pork Loin with a House-made Rub served with Mashed Potatoes, Corn on the Cob and House-made Barbecue Sauce

You'll notice none of those sides apply - at the grill they will give you pretty much whatever two sides you want with whatever protein you get, and unadvertised are also roasted potato wedges and cornbread muffins.... I figured both of these had a higher probability of being enjoyed than the mashed potatoes and corn. Well, the probability might have been higher but the kid did not care much for either of these things. The cornbread muffin had pieces of actual corn in it, which I found to be lovely but he found to be offensive. The roasted potatoes were fine too, but not fantastic (could have been more brown), but he was not feeling it. He finds BOTH roasted potatoes AND mashed potatoes to be "just ok" which in kidspeak is "It won't make me gag and carry on and tick you off BUT I won't willingly eat much of it either." He does tend to like really nice hot and crispy breakfast potatoes so I figured these would be a bigger hit than mashed, but no dice.

The pork itself was amazing though - it was moist and delicious and flavorful, even the rub on the outside didn't bother him. How they get pork loin to be that moist and flavorful and perfect is beyond me. He was kind of in a mood and didn't end up eating much but among our table this entire piece of pork went, everyone had a little and agreed it was amazing.

I smartly got the bbq sauce on the side because even though the kid likes bbq sauce, it has to be a certain kind - like sweet baby ray's. sweet and not too spicy and I knew chances were he wouldn't like it and I was right. I actually wasn't nuts about it either, it tasted a lot like chili powder which is not my preferred flavor in bbq sauce, but the pork was so flavorful and delicious on its own it didn't need it.

I had the:

Salmon with Cheesy Grits and Andouille-Corn Succotash
Oak-grilled Salmon with Cheesy Grits and Andouille-Corn Succotash

Day 2, salmon dish #2. This was absolutely delicious honestly. I am a huge fan of shrimp and grits so to me this was just a play on that... the grits were delicious, although thicker than I expected and more like a soft polenta texture, which I really like - I am just used to "grits" being a bit looser... the succotash was flavorful and the salmon was cooked well. I ate all 3 together and finished most of this plate, it was soooooo good I couldn't stop.

Honestly either of these meals served to me at a lower priced table service place would make me happy. Plate it up for reals, throw on a little garnish, and have someone bring it to me and I'd not complain one bit. IMO Sunshine Seasons remains one of the better counter service options in the ' world, serving up "real food" at very reasonable prices.

Now the astute observer might notice that my two little cups of wine are missing their foil tops. That's because the cashier insisted I open them before I leave. I said to her "well I would like to take them back to the hotel with me for tonight." She said to me "I don't really care WHAT you do with them, right now you have to open them before you leave here." I was a little taken aback by the super obnoxious tone, so like any mature grownup person, I started to act like a passive aggressive child. I just barely cracked them open and she practically yelled at me that I had to open them all the way. I cracked them open a little more and she said "YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE WHOLE THING OFF RIGHT NOW!!!!" By now I'm getting really ticked off, being completely unable to consume that much liquid and also a meal at the same time but also my food was getting cold so I just took the lids off, still a little gobsmacked at the whole exchange.

So apparently while you can buy booze all the heck over Epcot and walk around like a drunken jerk all you want, if you try to buy two sealed containers of wine from Sunshine Seasons, you will be treated like a criminal.

BUT I had the last laugh... we had a water bottle with just a few sips left and I dumped the rest in the trash (because by now I'm SUPER annoyed and not about to take even one extra step to find a sink) and poured my wine into my Dasani bottle, which I then carried around with me for the rest of the afternoon, not caring if people thought I was carrying around a bottle of pee with me.

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It actually did not make it back to the hotel as when we sat down to wait for the broadway show, I decided it was a fine time to guzzle two glasses of wine in one sitting. I am half wondering if the amount I enjoyed that show had anything to do with that, but I guess I will never know.

Honestly I am not sure what the deal was, but I did not appreciate this cashier basically talking to me like I'm some kind of a lunatic criminal. I'm sure there is a reason they make people do that and saying something like "ma'am, law requires that blah blah" would have been a lot nicer than her giving me the side-eye and talking to me in such an obnoxious tone. Like I'm PAYING for the things, why are you treating me like I'm trying to get away with something? What exactly are you implying will happen if I stick them in my disney-themed vera bradley floral backpack?

But I did get to have my deferred wine and even feel a little big naughty for drinking it in the American Gardens Pavilion, though honestly I'm not sure if they care if you have food and beverage in there... all the rules of normal human decency seem suspended once you cross over into the world showcase.

So except for the jerky cashier, I give Sunshine seasons a solid A, would return. In fact my kid wanted to return on our later Epcot day to have it again but alas we were never hungry enough for that to happen. Both the pork and the salmon with grits were delicious and I'd happily order either again.

As this was QS #2 on the DDP, here is the Dining Plan Value Tally ($604 total spent): 1TS, 2QS, 1 Snack, $172.08 + $47.90 = $219.98 ... $384.02 to break even

Up Next: Food Booths!
 
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Day 2: Festival of the Arts Food Booths

So any kind of food booths are generally a no-go with the picky kid, but we were traveling with friends (another mother and son) so I figured it would be a good time to try to share some things there... thinking that maybe I could try more things if we split things more ways. But honestly, after two substantial meals that day... neither of us was super hungry (and neither were our traveling companions). BUT we did manage to try a few things. Not nearly as many as I wanted to though and honestly I think to fully enjoy a festival on the tiny tummy I'd need to spend a few afternoons there doing nothing but walking and eating and that is not going to happen with the kiddo. Maybe someday on my own or there will be a foodies of disboards dining reviews meetup or something where people will be willing to split stuff with me so I can have just one bite of something and try something else.

But anyway, up first was the:

Beef Wellington with Mushroom Bordelaise, Fennel Cream, and Roasted Baby Vegetables – $8

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We split this into 4 quarters and everyone had about 2 bites out of their quarter so it's a decent size IMO. The moms ate the veggies :) Everyone liked this, although Josh at easywdw says it's a cheap cut of meat... we were eating in the dark so I couldn't really tell what it was, but it was as tender as tenderloin, whatever it is... also I can't tell what temperature it was cooked to, but it was not dry. You really DO eat with your eyes and we probably missed out a lot doing this after dark. That said the picky kid had no idea there were mushrooms in there and he couldn't see them and just ate his and declared it delicious, so there are some upsides.

We also got

Pan-Seared Scallop with Chorizo, Roasted Red Pepper Coulis and a Parmesan Crisp – $6.75

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The picky kid won't eat seafood but my friend's son will so we split this 3 ways. It was good, but I get amazing scallops here out of cape cod and nantucket bay so I am hard to impress with them. Honestly I don't remember anything about it except that it was "good." My friend paid for this OOP.

Sipping Chocolate Flight: White, Milk and Dark – $8

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I bought two sets of these because sipping with someone who is not family is awkward but honestly these are so rich and there is so much, you could easily split among 3-4 people who don't mind swapping spit in that manner. My kid LOVED the dark chocolate version and that one went, but we probably pitched about half of the other two. They are very sweet and very rich, basically molten chocolate. They were good but just toooooo much too much, if you know what I mean. I got myself a raspberry lambic and they went great with the tart raspberry (or what became tart raspberry paired with the chocolate!) I would probably get this again but just knowing that we'd never in a million years finish it all. I think my friends finished theirs though but they are both two normal sized tummies and her son likes chocolate other than dark.

Next we stopped by Morocco and I really wanted to try the:

Spiced Beef with Pine Nuts and Dried Cherries, Hummus and Pita Chips – $8


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Josh at easywdw, whose opinions I greatly enjoy, did not find this a good value last year but I really enjoyed it and found it to be a tremendous amount of food. One complaint he had was that there were only 5 pita chips but we got at least 8 or 9, maybe even 10 (my son may have poached one before I took this picture). I love the sweet warm-spiced flavors of the middle east so the spiced beef together with the dried cherries and the hummus was a huge win for me. But this is VERY protein heavy and about 1/3 of this (neither kid touched it, my friend had the other 1/3) did me in for the night. We used forks to dip down an get out a good serving of hummus + cherries + beef and put it on a pita chip and we did not finish all of the pita chips either, but my son helped with THAT issue. It could be just because of my stomach configuration but I found this to be a very very filling dish for the $8 - maybe not super high end ingredients but certainly no more overpiced than most other things there. I totally want to make this at home too but without the pita chips. I was glad a tried it and it was definitely worth a snack credit.

Now at this point my son really wouldn't touch anything but a bite of the wellington in the dark and the drinking chocolate, so we headed over to Refreshment Port for the promised poutine - fries, gravy and cheese, what's not to like? he was eager to try this:

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and predictably he LOVED it. I had a couple of fries just for research purposes of course. These are typical Disney fries (which are fine) with a standard beef gravy and cheese curds. The cheese curds did not really get melty as neither the gravy nor the fries were hot enough to do that, but it still tasted good together. This is a MASSIVE portion of fries and cheese and gravy and definitely shareable, and definitely a good use of a savory snack credit that could be filling enough for a whole meal. Unfortunately the brisket and beer cheese version for $2 more does not count as a snack credit but he ended up pitching nearly half of this after he got full.

So overall it was nice to FINALLY have a little food festival fun, but there was so much more I wanted to try and never got around to it. Oh well, some day!

Dining Plan Value Tally ($604 total spent): 1TS, 2QS, 5 Snack, $219.98 + $33 = $252.98 ... $351.02 to break even

Next up: Ample Hills Creamery!
 
I know at sport arenas they have to open the wine/beer because it becomes a weapon you can throw otherwise. Although now that I think about it an unopened 20oz bottle of diet coke would be the same thing and I know they don't open those.

I know you aren't supposed to bring alcohol outside of Epcot with you, which I think includes unopened bottles of wine (you're supposed to send back to your resort). Maybe that's why?
 
Day 2: Ample Hills Creamery

Well I might as well close out the day before moving on to my laundry, so here goes.

The kiddo's dad and I divorced when he was about 18 months old, but we get along pretty well and we share the DVC. As it turns out, he was in Orlando for a conference while we were there and because he loves Illuminations as much as we do and has no plans to get to Disney this year, he was able to score an after 5 pass through his convention and he met us for Illuminations. Since we were staying at VWL and he was staying offsite, we decided to grab a Lyft at the Boardwalk (after watching Illuminations from our favorite place, the island beneath the international gateway bridge) but by then we hadn't eaten in like 2 or 3 hours, and I have always wanted to try Ample Hills, and I had snack credits to burn, so no one argued with me when I suggested we get some ice cream first... my treat.

The CM at Ample Hills was super sweet, super Disney... kiddo ordered his first and he got a mix of Chocolate Fudge Brownie and PB wins the cup. The CM asked if he wanted whipped cream and said toppings were free too so he got it mounded with whipped cream and chocolate chips.

I forget what the ex got but he got whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles on his, so I can't even tell from the picture.

I was the only one smart enough to not get whipped cream as really, ice cream is my FAVORITE thing in the world and I just wanted it naked. I got the Butter Pecan Brittle and the Dark Chocolate. Here is a photo of all 3 of our ice creams together:

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As I said, ice cream is my favorite thing and ample hills did NOT disappoint. It was rich and smooth and creamy and not icy and delicious. The whipped cream was not so good though - it was heavy and kind of greasy. My kid ate some and ended up scraping the rest off. I would skip the whipped cream and just stick with the ice cream. It was a perfect way to end a very LONG Epcot day from PPO to after Illuminations and the kid liked his ice cream enough to be temporarily rejuvenated.

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I can't get enough of that smile!

Also it was nice to visit the Boardwalk. Long story short i had planned to split my stay with the boardwalk first half but I messed up my reservation and lost it (don't ask) and I kind of was sad we hadn't stayed there. Maybe next time honestly, I really miss that place. Also I've decided I really need to get to know Boardwalk Joe.

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I would rate it an A, would go again if convenient but would not make a special trip (we live in a summer coastal tourist town so there is great homemade ice cream local).

Dining Plan Value Tally ($604 total spent): 1TS, 2QS, 8 Snack, $252.98 + $22.33 = $275.31 ... $328.69 to break even
 

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