Just returned-8 days of free dining! (9/20 Update Starring Rolls, Toy Story Pizza...)

[disfansx4]

We just returned from our 3rd trip to Disney, the 2nd using the dining plan. Our last trip was 3 1/2 years ago. The dining plan has changed a lot since then. The Dis boards helped us so much in planning this trip and the last so I thought I could help someone else by sharing our experiences.

After all this time lurking and reading about other people's trips I just registered and this is my first attempt at posting!

My family includes:
DH, Paul who loves steak, salmon, chocolate. We love to share our meals and try different things.
Me-I love great salads, seafood, desserts and occasionally steak. I lost 40 pounds 2 years ago so I eat pretty healthy most of the time but this is vacation!
DS Sam 11 is a big eater but picky eater. He loves pizza and french fries.
DS Ben 9 is our adventuresome eater-loves to try new things. Both my kids are super skinny but big eaters.

We debated before the trip whether we should upgrade DS 9 to an adult-it would have cost us about $30 for the ticket upgrade and an estimated $25 in extra tips. What we finally decided to do was assign DS 9 as the adult for the trip since we knew he would love to choose from all the adult options (he is taller and looks older than his big brother and was handed the adult menu automatically at every TS we ate at!). DS 11 (the pickier eater) would be happy eating kid options most of the time. We planned to use the extra $50 the upgrade would have cost us to buy him an adult CS meal whenever he wanted more food or better options. He also wanted to eat the steak and shrimp at Yak and Yetis after seeing pics on the DIS boards so we told him we would buy that one OOP if he wanted it at the time. I am so glad we didn't upgrade him! We shared most of our meals and had way more food than we could eat and hardly spent any money OOP.

Here are our TS ADRs:

LeCellier
Kona
Boma
Chef Mickeys
Yak and Yeti
Boma (again-we loved this place in 2006!)
Tutto Italia
Ohana

We also ate at these counter service places:

Sunshine Seasons (twice)
Cosmic Rays
Wolfgang Puck Express (twice)
Mara (twice)
Pinnochios
Main Street Bakery
Starring Rolls
Toy Story Pizza Planet
France CS at Epcot
Goofy's Candy Co (snacks)

As much fun as I had looking at Food Porn I didn't take any food pictures. I am sorry!!! Hopefully, I will be able to give you helpful info anyway.

I am going to try posting this-hopefully I will do it right!

[DaughteroftheKing]

Look forward to what you have to say!

We're also doing Boma and Chef Mickey's. For CS we plan on Sunshine Seasons and Main Street Bakery, as long as getting some snacks from Goofy's!

:D

[disfansx4]

We arrived on Sunday, the 1st day of free dining. We got to the Animal Kingdom Lodge around 1:00, our room wasn't quite ready (we were surprised with an upgrade to a Savannah view!) so we left our carry ons with Bell services and caught the bus to Epcot. I had packed a PB lunch for all of us which we ate while waiting for Magical Express at the airport so we weren't planning on eating lunch at Epcot. However, our reservations for LeCellier weren't until 7:05 so we knew we wouldn't make it without a snack. We went to Sunshine Seasons and DH, DS 9, and I split a CS meal, the roasted beet salad. It was so good, literally one of my favorite things I ate all week! My husband doesn't like beets but he really enjoyed this salad. It has goat cheese and candied pecans and a light vinaigrette dressing. Yum! We had the Key Lime Pie, really refreshing on a hot day. DS 11 got a chocolate chip muffin as a snack credit. DS 9 got a slushy outside as a snack.

We arrived at LeCellier about 15 minutes early. This was one of our longer waits to be seated. I think it was about 7:30 when we were shown to our table. What a delightful experience. We had wonderful service and great food. We were all offered smoothies or shakes as part of the DP (even the child). DS 9 and I had the Chocolate Raspberry, so good, and DS 11 had the chocolate. The only problem with these is that they did fill you up especially as we drank them at the same time we ate the yummy bread sticks-all of us got full fast this night! DS 11 (the "child") ordered the Cheddar cheese soup as his appetizer which we all enjoyed dipping our bread sticks in. Paul regretted not getting his own bowl. Sam ordered the child's steak with french fries, I ordered the mushroom filet with the risotto, Paul and Ben ordered the strip steak, DH with the au gratin potatoes and DS subbed the cream cheese mashed potatoes. Everyone ordered their steaks medium except me, I said medium to medium rare. My steak was cooked perfectly. The other 3 steaks which were all ordered Medium looked completely different! The child's steak was over done, Ben's steak was pretty rare, and my husband's steak was medium well (it was obvious at the time that we were going to have way more steak that we could possibly eat so we shared the steaks so everyone had some that was cooked to the pinkness they liked). Our waitress was so nice, I am sure that if we had expressed a concern about the way the steaks had been cooked they would have been happy to replace them). I could only eat about half my steak, we were all stuffed and exhausted by a long day of traveling. We packed up the leftover steak to go (we had a lot of leftovers!) and ordered our desserts to go. We got 2 whiskey cakes and one chocolate moose. Sam was disappointed that the child's ice cream could not be packed "to go". I reassured him that we would all share the desserts later and we ordered the child's fruit cup to go. I ended up eating the child fruit cup for breakfast the next morning. It was awesome, a large cup filled with fresh melons, grapes, and pineapple. Okay, then I will admit I ate half the whiskey cake for breakfast too. I loved it and it doesn't at all taste like whiskey if you are worried about that. Paul ate cold steak for breakfast-he ate the rest of mine and said. "you ordered the right thing, it was the best steak." Of course I knew that from reading the DIS! He just didn't listen to me in the restaurant. The other cake and chocolate moose were eaten later in the day and were big hits with all.

As we were getting ready to leave DS Ben, a baseball lover, was standing by our tucked away table and swinging an imaginary bat which he does all day long! A different waitress than ours walked by and without missing a beat "pitched" a ball to him-he smiled and swung at it. The staff was so friendly here, it was a great start to our dining adventures!

[christophfam]

Great report so far!! Can't wait to read the rest. We'll be dining at many of the same places next month! :goodvibes

[MickeyNicki]

Great start, cant wait for more!

[disfansx4]

I ordered a case of 24 water bottles from Costo.com. It was easy and cost only $7. It was waiting in our room when we arrived. Paul bought the refillable mug at Mara since he likes to drink several cups of coffee (even Disney coffee!) in the morning. As an aside, when he returned to the room he told me the CM told him these new mugs can be used anywhere in the parks or any resort. As he does not read the DIS boards and I do I told him I was pretty sure he got the wrong info! Paul was not planning on using the mug anywhere but Mara-he's not a huge pop drinker and had more that enough opportunities for pop on the DP at lunch and dinner. Just because he was curious the next time he went to Mara he asked a different CM. This one said you can't use them in the parks but you can use them at any resort counter service. I told Paul this was still wrong info. It does say in teeny tiny print (I would never have noticed it had I not read about it on the DIS and was looking for it-and I could only read it with my reading glasses!) that you may only use them in the resorts they were purchased in. Paul did not use his anywhere but Mara but we saw many people bringing them to the parks and using them there. I guess I am saying don't judge people automatically-they may have just been told the wrong info! If you didn't read the DIS you would just believe what you were told. I almost didn't write about this, please don't let it be a controversy!

We are big water drinkers-and especially in the heat we like ice cold water. Every counter place that serves fountain drinks serves filtered ice water (it tasted great-not like the drinking fountains!). We often stopped at CS just for this-we would get one cup of ice and one of ice water. We always carried empty Gatorade (wide mouthed) bottles to the park and them would fill them with ice to carry around. The boys sometimes had a bottle of Powerade left over from a CS meal. These got warm fast. When we had the ice we could make it ice cold and very refreshing. In the parks this was actually a better strategy for us than carrying the water from Costco.

Next up Cosmic Rays and Kona.

[DLo]

Thanks for taking the time to review. Looking forward to more.

[bluejasmine]

Cant wait for the Kona review

[disfansx4]

We arrived early at Cosmic Rays-it was very quiet with no wait. We still weren't that hungry-you know what healthy breakfast Paul and I ate!- and I think the boys had Fiber One bars. We were going to split 3 CS here. I was gong to go get the turkey bacon wrap and Paul was going to get the 8 piece chicken strips and the ribs and chicken combo. I was trying to explain to Paul what he should order and he was confused about the different ordering stations. The very nice CM told me we didn't have to worry, we could order an adult meal for our child if we wanted. We didn't, I was pretty sure we would have enough food with the 3 orders but she was nice to offer. This happened several times for us. I am sure you might get a different response from different CMs but it doesn't hurt to ask. She also threw in a 3rd drink for free (not that we needed it...we had plenty of pop with the 2 large ones we ordered!). We couldn't finish all the food. I got my wrap with the packaged apples (you could also get grapes or chips). They weren't bad, I was afraid they might have a funny taste. We all split those. I got the yogurt for dessert and a yummy iced mocha for my drink. Paul got 1 carrot cake and one chocolate cake. I tasted both and they were fine but I was so full I couldn't eat more than one bite of each. The boys didn't even try them. Most of all of the desserts went in the garbage. The ribs came with mashed potatoes and green beans. It was nice to have a vegetable at a CS! The beans were crisp and fresh. Everyone ate a little of everything. I loved the wrap. At the fixing station I got extra tomatoes and lettuce to put in the wrap. I also got a honey mustard salad dressing to use as a dipping sauce. Paul thought the ribs and chicken were just okay. I think he wished we had gotten something else as our 3rd choice. He said he wouldn't go back but I would. Get the wrap!

[mouseika]

Great reviews so far! We're leaving in 3 weeks for 8 days in the World, and you ate at several of the same restaurants we have ADRs for. I'm looking forward to the rest of your feedback! popcorn::

[KatMark]

Great reviews so far. Glad you had a great experience at LeCellier -- we've always had excellent service there.

[disfansx4]

This is the DH serving up Kona review. I wished to go elsewhere but was out voted. The Hawaiian bread with macadamia butter is outstanding. We asked for seconds then stuffed 1/2 of second loaf into a big ziplock to eat later. Very piggy. My DW ordered Shrimp and Scallops and loved the scallops. I wanted the Lump Crab Cakes so server/CM upgraded this appetizer to a full meal. It came with more ckaes and two sides. The asparagus was perfect. I recommend it, and particularly liked the pineapple relish. So did my DS 9. I wish he would have ordered the Kona Salad as a full meal which we then might have split. It was nice to know that Kona CM's were flexible. Their French Fries are great, crispy, salty and perfectly cooked inside. Both boys were thrilled with Kona Kones; if you bring kids here make sure they get it! My DW ordered the Kilauea Torte, her favorite dessert in the world. This meant I took one for family and ate kid sundae which was more than enough for an adult. At the table next to us the father ordered the Kona Coffee French Press Pot. This looked terrific. Why he was drinking 24 oz. of regular coffee at 8:00 PM is beyond me but if you love coffee, check that out for breakfast. I ordered decaf coffee but was offered (as part of DP) either a latte or a cappuccino. Both boys were offered smoothies on DP and one got a virgin strawberry daiquiri. Overall, no need for a recount, Kona is "pono"

[Jeanieblue114]

We have Kona reserved for our anniversary on Oct. 3rd.
Glad that you enjoyed it. I think hubby is looking forward to the virgin drinks and pineapple bread. If we don't eat anything else he will be a happy man!
Thanks for the reviews!

[natalielongstaff]

Really enjoying your reviews :thumbsup2

[disfansx4]

Tuesday was Typhoon Lagoon in the AM and DTD in the afternoon. We had brought roasted nut packages to eat as a snack at the water park. We were trying to conserve our snack credits at the beginning of the week. We shouldn't have!! We had plenty to last us. It was still nice to have a few snacks that we brought with us-our boys seem to be hungry all the time and we weren't always by a good snack place. We got to DTD right after noon and accidentally parked on the West Side instead of the Marketplace side. I knew from reading the DIS that the WPE on the Marketplace side had a bigger menu than the West Side one so even though Paul said, There's a Wolfgang Puck Express right here!", I made everyone walk to the other side! It would have been fine except the sky was getting dark and ominous. We also had left our Rain Gear back at the hotel thinking we weren't touring this day. We ran the last few blocks and made it just as the skies opened up to a torrential storm. We got a little wet which caused a major problem for DS 9, the air conditioning was set on arctic and he was freezing (and whiney!). We wished we had brought our backpack which had a long sleeve T in it. It was too stormy to eat outside so he needed to get over it. If you are sensitive to being cold you might want to remember a light sweater or long sleeve shirts when you go to the restaurants. We found the air conditioning many places to be really cold! Now on to the important stuff...the food! We LOVED this place! I had such a hard time choosing what to order. Paul and I worked together with a plan to share. I ordered the Chinois Chicken Salad. It's like an oriental cabbage salad and it's huge. Paul got the Roast Beef Gorgonzola Pocket Sandwich and we shared the 2. I loved the pocket sandwich, it had a horseradish dressing. I normally wouldn't think I liked horseradish but it was very light and yummy. It was served with house made Parmesan potato chips that were surprisingly good. DS 9 Ben ordered the same pocket sandwich. It was very filling and he could only eat half. He wanted to take the rest to go and was very upset when we had to throw it away later since we spent so much time at Disney Quest. Here comes the best part. I knew Sam would love the pepperoni pizza (good pizza versus Disney so-so pizza!). I asked the CM how big the kid's pizza was, I was thinking of buying Sam the adult pizza OOP. The CM said, "You don't have to order him the kid pizza, you can order the adult if you like." Yea! I would have been happy to pay for it because he loved it and ate every bite. She also told me I could pick any dessert for all 4 of us, we didn't need to pick a child dessert. Now, I am fully aware that at Disney you can get different responses from different CMs so you might have a different experience but we went back later in the week and was told the same thing again. We were there at prime lunch time and there was no line. When we went back later in the week it was packed! For dessert 3 of us got the Chocolate Brownies with Chocolate chips in it and Paul got the Chocolate chip cookie. We were all stuffed so we took them to go. I ate mine for breakfast the next day (are you seeing a pattern here? I would never do this in the real world, but dessert for breakfast is a vacation guilty pleasure.) The brownie was to die for. In fact, a secret confession, the boys completely forgot about these brownies and I ate theirs from the fridge over the next few days! What a terrible mom. One more thing, as a non pop drinker I enjoyed places that had freshly brewed non sweetened ice tea. WPE tea was so refreshing, they also had 2 other choices of sweetened tea. We knew we had to eat here again. In fact I think I could have eaten here everyday and eaten something different every time and been happy.

After WPE we ran to Goofy's Candy Co. before DQ. I told the boys they could each use a snack credit here. I tried to sell them on the make your own pretzels but they had no interest in these. Thank goodness! I still had not discovered yet that these were no longer snack credits. I was planning to get them for myself but decided to wait until the next time we came (I was stuffed and thinking about the Brownies we already had plus a big dinner planned for the evening). Sam picked our Disney characters chocolate coins. Ben used his own money to get the fill your own pixie stick-he loved this. So at this point we have only used a few snack credits and we have extra CS from sharing meals the first few days. I started to realize we didn't need to share and conserve but I also hated the idea of throwing food away that we couldn't eat.

Coming up next-that evening we went to Boma, a restaurant that we loved so much in '06 that we ate there twice and made 2 ADRs for this trip. Would it stand up to our memories? Stay tuned.

[Sandy321]

I admit to lurking on your thread!

Cant wait for your impressions of Boma - we enjoyed it the last time we went as well, but I'm not sure about going on our Jan after reading a report on the changes made... :confused3

particularly the soup and the beef!!

Glad your boys didnt have their heart set on the make your own pretzels! I'm curious if after free dining if they put them back on (highly unlikely!) which means we can skip DTD altogether!!

[catne]

Nice reviews:thumbsup2

[PrincessPeanut]

I'm really enjoying your reviews! We had great experiences at Le Cellier and Kona last week, as well. Their breads are both amazing.

Looking forward to more reviews. popcorn::

[disfansx4]

Arrggg! I don't know what happened but I just finished a long review, submitted it and them got a message that it couldn't be processed and now it's gone-I am definitely new to this! I will try a shorter amount at a time.

I forgot to write about our snack experiences at MK. As we were leaving we stopped into the Main Street Candy store. The boys saw these swirled vertical suckers which came in 2 sizes big and bigger. They asked if the giant ones were snacks and I told them to ask the CM. He said let me check and came back and they were! They were at least a foot long! They couldn't wait to walk around with them and show them off. This is what I love about the DP, I would never have bought these huge suckers for my boys. I am a sensible mom and this was not sensible! But it was so much fun watching their excitement about these. They ate them back in the room for a while and then I put their names on the sticks with a sharpie and put them in large ziplock bags (bring ziplock bags- we used them a lot!). They sat in the room the rest of the trip (too many other treats!) and they survived the plane flight back home.

The next day was our first AK day. After running for a FP for EE and riding the Safari we were ready for a snack. Outside the safari is a stand that sells fresh fruit and pretzels. We got a bowl of pineapple (so refreshing!) and a pretzel. The cheese pretzels were not a snack credit so we got the plain. Then a few feet farther is a CS stand (maybe Tamu Tamu?). This was an easy place to go to the food pick up window and ask for cups of ice and ice water. They gave us huge cups of great tasting ice and water for us to pour in our wide mouth bottles to enjoy the next few hours.

We left around 1 and headed back to AKL to eat lunch at Mara. Paul had the bacon double cheeseburger (he said it was fine), Sam had the Pepperoni pizza, Ben had the vegetable flat bread and I ordered the corn chicken flatbread. I had asked what the "zough" drizzle was in the description. She told me it was a spicy sauce and I could have it on the side. I said yes, I wasn't in the mood for spicy. Well, I took one bite and I hated it! It was way too spicy for me even without the sauce. I went back in and politely explained the situation and they happily replaced it with the vegetable flatbread. Ben and I loved the vegetable flatbread! I had read on another review that it was "gross" but it was yummy if you love olives and goat cheese (we do!). Shows that so much is personal taste-don't let me scare you off the chicken/corn one especially if you like spicy food. They really should call it the olive and goat cheese flatbread because other than a few onions there weren't any veggies! I loved it but could only eat half-I ate the rest cold for breakfast in the morning! I got the watermelon for dessert, Ben got the yogurt parfait (he loved it!), Paul got the carrot cake (Yum!) and I am not sure what Sam got!

Hopefully this post will work this time and I will rewrite the Boma review soon.

[disfansx4]

I got a little out of order with our CS meals but I am back on track now. We went to Boma on Tuesday night after spending the afternoon at DTD. When we came to Disney World in 06, Boma was our favorite place to eat. We liked it so much we canceled another reservation and went to Boma a 2nd time. Since we were staying at AKL it was so convenient to walk downstairs to Boma. The restaurant is beautiful, it is dark which is peaceful after being in the sun all day. We were seated within 10 minutes and off to the buffet we went. It was crowded but not awful. There were plenty of choices for everyone, even our picky eater DS Sam. Sam and DH Paul loved the french fries on the kid area (DH says they are the best french fries). Sam also ate the falafel, the chicken (again both Paul and Sam loved this-they said it was really moist), and the mac and cheese (Sam hated the Mac and Cheese everywhere he tried it and Boma was no exception and he typically loves mac and cheese). I ate some of the beef. It wasn't Prime RIb it was roast beef, but it was pink and that is what mattered to me. I don't think I would have noticed a difference but I rarely eat red meat so I am not a beef expert! Paul said he definitely noticed the difference in the beef. I loved the sauces to add to the beef, I had the tamarind sauce and the slightly spicy one with the chopped pecans. I also ate the falafel, the salmon topped with the tamarind BBQ (I liked this and Paul did not), the potatoes with affritude ( I was the only one to like these), the spinach and corn pudding (my favorite thing, fresh spinach leaves, really unique), the spinach and quinoa salad (can you tell I love spinach? This was really unique and yummy), and had some of the soups. We all liked the butternut squash soup the best, although it was too sweet to eat very much of it. We all disliked the she crab soup and we all love crab! The corn chicken chowder was so so. The soups disappointed us a little. That was what we had loved so much the last time we came. I have no idea what DSmBen ate for his first plate, he somehow got through the line and ate his whole first plate before the rest of us were back!

Onto the desserts...I had read a thread about how all the desserts contain alcohol and you have to be careful about what your kids choose...well Ben went through the dessert line and came back with a full plate without me. But when I went to get my desserts, the only item labeled "contains alcohol" was the rum chocolate sauce so they must have taken the alcohol out of the other items. I actually noticed that the zebra domes tasted different than the last time-I liked them more but still didn't love them. My favorite dessert was the pineapple cheesecake and I usually don't care for this combination. It was light and creamy. I also liked the chocolate mousse in the little chocolate cups. The fresh fruit is so yummy-perfectly ripe and fresh. Ben's favorite dessert of the entire trip was the coffee tartlets. I would be embarrassed to tell you how many he ate (you can count the ribs on his body and he has less than 3% body fat but he can eat!). Sam's favorites were the little chocolate mousses and the chocolate chip cookies. Paul thought the fruit cobbler was better than he thought it would be especially if it was fresh. He also liked the chocolate chip cookies but not the rest of the desserts. I had saved my drink to have decaf coffee with dessert. I was spoiled with all the offerings of lattes and cappichinos at Kona but only plain coffee on the DP here. It was fine.

We would all recommend Boma. Even with our few disappointments there was more that enough choices for us all to be happy. We were set to return here for dinner on Friday night. We were curious if we would have the same choices or a different rotation of food.

Up next: Pinnochios, Main Street Bakery, and Chef Mickeys (did it disgust us?). Stay tuned.

[ReneeA]

Great reviews!

[DisneyRunner2009]

My family had the shakes at LeCellier also. My husband and daughter were so full, they couldn't even look at the counter service food in France. I wanted them to, because I was considering it for the evening meal. Waiting to hear about Chef Mickey's, we ate there also.

[DLo]

We love WPE. Kona is a favorite. We have had both lunch and dinner there maybe one day we will make it to breakfast. Can't wait to visit Goofy's again. We weren't on the dp the last 2 years so didn't pay attention to the snack credits - this year free dp so I am bummed about the pretzels. That and the marshmallows are my fave. We prefer Boma b'fast to dinner but we have some pick eaters in our group.

[lazydazy8]

Thank you for your very explicit dining reviews! I specifically am looking for reviews on Boma, so it was great to see you list things out so clearly. Would you say that non-adventurous eaters will like it?

(BTW, I am a huge spinach lover myself! Spinach salad, creamed spinach, steamed spinach with salt and butter, spinach souffle, spinach dip, anyway you make it I love it!!)

We are arriving 11/30, so I am making my ADR's Tuesday a.m. We are staying at the AK for the first time. We are hoping to make this a truly relaxing trip this year! I thought it would start out beautifully, to stay on property and enjoy Boma our first night!

Thank you!!

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Enjoying your review and can't wait to read morepopcorn::

[disfansx4]

Would you say that non-adventurous eaters will like it?

(BTW, I am a huge spinach lover myself! Spinach salad, creamed spinach, steamed spinach with salt and butter, spinach souffle, spinach dip, anyway you make it I love it!!)

We are arriving 11/30, so I am making my ADR's Tuesday a.m. We are staying at the AK for the first time. We are hoping to make this a truly relaxing trip this year! I thought it would start out beautifully, to stay on property and enjoy Boma our first night!

Thank you!![/QUOTE]

You will love the AKL!!! It is the most beautiful place I have ever stayed. Yes, I do think non adventuresome eaters would like Boma. My oldest is very picky and he loved it (In fact he told me today that it was one of his favorites)! I would steer your non adventurous person to try small amounts and them go back for favorites. If all else fails, the kid part of the buffet looked pretty good, especially if they would like pasta and meatballs. If you love spinach you will love the spinach salad and the corn spinach pudding I wrote about. They were on the buffet both times we ate there.

[Sandy321]

Arrggg! I don't know what happened but I just finished a long review, submitted it and them got a message that it couldn't be processed and now it's gone-I am definitely new to this! I will try a shorter amount at a time.

I forgot to write about our snack experiences at MK. As we were leaving we stopped into the Main Street Candy store. The boys saw these swirled vertical suckers which came in 2 sizes big and bigger. They asked if the giant ones were snacks and I told them to ask the CM. He said let me check and came back and they were! They were at least a foot long! They couldn't wait to walk around with them and show them off. This is what I love about the DP, I would never have bought these huge suckers for my boys. I am a sensible mom and this was not sensible! But it was so much fun watching their excitement about these. They ate them back in the room for a while and then I put their names on the sticks with a sharpie and put them in large ziplock bags (bring ziplock bags- we used them a lot!). They sat in the room the rest of the trip (too many other treats!) and they survived the plane flight back home.

The next day was our first AK day. After running for a FP for EE and riding the Safari we were ready for a snack. Outside the safari is a stand that sells fresh fruit and pretzels. We got a bowl of pineapple (so refreshing!) and a pretzel. The cheese pretzels were not a snack credit so we got the plain. Then a few feet farther is a CS stand (maybe Tamu Tamu?). This was an easy place to go to the food pick up window and ask for cups of ice and ice water. They gave us huge cups of great tasting ice and water for us to pour in our wide mouth bottles to enjoy the next few hours.

We left around 1 and headed back to AKL to eat lunch at Mara. Paul had the bacon double cheeseburger (he said it was fine), Sam had the Pepperoni pizza, Ben had the vegetable flat bread and I ordered the corn chicken flatbread. I had asked what the "zough" drizzle was in the description. She told me it was a spicy sauce and I could have it on the side. I said yes, I wasn't in the mood for spicy. Well, I took one bite and I hated it! It was way too spicy for me even without the sauce. I went back in and politely explained the situation and they happily replaced it with the vegetable flatbread. Ben and I loved the vegetable flatbread! I had read on another review that it was "gross" but it was yummy if you love olives and goat cheese (we do!). Shows that so much is personal taste-don't let me scare you off the chicken/corn one especially if you like spicy food. They really should call it the olive and goat cheese flatbread because other than a few onions there weren't any veggies! I loved it but could only eat half-I ate the rest cold for breakfast in the morning! I got the watermelon for dessert, Ben got the yogurt parfait (he loved it!), Paul got the carrot cake (Yum!) and I am not sure what Sam got!

Hopefully this post will work this time and I will rewrite the Boma review soon.

Sorry you lost your post - Some Dis'ers write their reviews in Word, then just copy them in a reply!

The bolded parts are mine - I just wanted to comment!!
First the suckers - :rotfl2: Isnt that the way it is with those HUGE suckers and our kids? :thumbsup2 AWESOME tip about bringing ziplock bags! Great Mom Award for letting your kids get the HUGE suckers + having a ziplock bag for them! I'll bet they will remember that for a long time to come!!

:thumbsup2 I also like to bring a water bottle and fill it up with ice water - every time we get our meals I always ask for ice water - its so hot and humid!!

Last bold :wizard: Excellent point to remember - but I appreciate that you've taken time to explain the choices you got - and when you didnt like it, why and how it was resolved!! :idea: Great Points you made!!

[Sandy321]

Would you say that non-adventurous eaters will like it?

(BTW, I am a huge spinach lover myself! Spinach salad, creamed spinach, steamed spinach with salt and butter, spinach souffle, spinach dip, anyway you make it I love it!!)

We are arriving 11/30, so I am making my ADR's Tuesday a.m. We are staying at the AK for the first time. We are hoping to make this a truly relaxing trip this year! I thought it would start out beautifully, to stay on property and enjoy Boma our first night!

Thank you!!

You will love the AKL!!! It is the most beautiful place I have ever stayed. Yes, I do think non adventuresome eaters would like Boma. My oldest is very picky and he loved it (In fact he told me today that it was one of his favorites)! I would steer your non adventurous person to try small amounts and them go back for favorites. If all else fails, the kid part of the buffet looked pretty good, especially if they would like pasta and meatballs. If you love spinach you will love the spinach salad and the corn spinach pudding I wrote about. They were on the buffet both times we ate there.

Thanks for the detailed Boma Report - you addressed several of my concerns, and left me with the impression that we may also enjoy trying it again - DD read the warnings of the desserts with alcohol, so she refused to eat any of them - even when I told her I couldnt taste the alcohol! So I'm glad to hear they may have made some changes in that front!!

I quoted the quote because DD and I are not adventurous eaters - but dh is, so we went to Boma knowing dh would LOVE IT (he does!!) and we were not disappointed - so I too say - go for it!

I'm debating to add it or not - I think your review has tipped me into going again - thank you for addressing the "beef issue" and the dessert problem!! :rotfl:

I've read that they serve different soups on different days - so maybe it depends :confused3

[disneyfav4ever]

IIRC, Boma serves the same soups Tue/Fri, Mon/Thu, and Wed/Sat, and Sunday is a wild night. I've always had the crab soup and the butternut squash soup when I've been there on a Tuesday or a Friday night, so as far as I can tell, that is the rotation.

[disfansx4]

Sandi321, Thanks for your advice on writing in word and copy/pasting. That was a "duh" moment when I lost my post, I have been saving in word since then! Maybe you can help me...I don't know how to do the quote and then comment on the quote like you did. I tried it on another post and clearly didn't do it right! I would appreciate any advice!

[disfansx4]

disfav4ever,
Where were you when we were planning our trip? I was trying to determine what days might be the same rotation so we could be there on 2 different soup nights and we failed. We were there on Tuesday and Friday night and I can confirm what you said about the soups being the same both nights. Out of curiosity I walked through on a Sunday night and noticed a mushroom soup and I think a sausage soup (but not carrot ginger, that was the one I was hoping to have again after our last trip).

[disneyfav4ever]

disfav4ever,
Where were you when we were planning our trip? I was trying to determine what days might be the same rotation so we could be there on 2 different soup nights and we failed. We were there on Tuesday and Friday night and I can confirm what you said about the soups being the same both nights. Out of curiosity I walked through on a Sunday night and noticed a mushroom soup and I think a sausage soup (but not carrot ginger, that was the one I was hoping to have again after our last trip).Sunday seems like it's definatly a "wild" night then, since the carrot soup was there the last time I ate there, and that was a Sunday night.

I'm sorry you didn't like the crab soup though, that has always been one of my favorites, so I hope it hasn't changed since the last time I had it, which was like two years ago. But a little more then a month, and I'll be back again, hopefully it'll be good.

[disfansx4]

Wednesday was our 2nd Magic Kingdom day. We got up early to be at rope drop (I am proud to say that we made it to rope drop all 7 days we went to the parks!). Seeing our CS pile up I went to Mara and got a Chocolate Chop muffin and a cinnamon roll for the 3 boys to split for breakfast. (I ate the leftover veggie pizza I wrote about before). I also got 2 OJs. I split each pastry 3 ways and served it to the boys in bed while they watched Phineus and Ferb. What a decadent vacation moment! I have to say the pastries looked okay but not amazing. Sam didn't finish his which I don't think was a good sign. But it held them through the first few hours of touring. Around 11 we were in Fantasy Land and it was hot! I could tell the boys were melting and melting down, hungry, crabby, and tired. Our plan this day was to go to Columbia Harbor House and split 3 CS. We had never been there before, I knew we would all like the choices, and I had read so many good things about it on the DIS. However, I wasn't sure where it was and I didn't want to risk a bad moment with our kids while I got out the map and we wandered around. Sometimes as the parent you just need to know when to take a break! Since we were right in front of Pinnochios Haus, we walked in. Now, those of you that go to MK a lot and are very familiar with this area are scratching your heads at this. Imagine our surprise when we left Pinnochio's, walked a few feet in the direction of our next destination, Tom Saywer's Island and walked right past Columbia House. We had a good laugh about how close we were without knowing it. Oh well, it turned out okay. We decided to do 2 Cs and share, mainly among the boys. I wanted to try the Main Street Bakery and I wasn't very hungry yet. It was pretty early and not crowded at all. We knew we would get 1 pepperoni combo with the side salad. I would eat the side salad and DS Sam 11 would eat the pizza. When I asked my kids to share any comments about the places we ate for me to put in this review, Sam piped up, "Tell them not to go to Pinnochios if their kids are big eaters!" I put Sam's pizza in front of him and he put his head down and got a little weepy. I asked what was wrong and he said, "You got me the kid's pizza!" Well, it wasn't the kid's pizza, I had to show him the teeny-tiny pizza at the table next to us for him to believe me. So he thought the adult pizza was pretty small here. I wasn't worried because we could always get more food if he was still still hungry, but he seemed to be full after. DH Paul and DS Ben decided to split the Mediterranean salad. And then Paul and I were going to split something at MSB. My hubby and I had a little miscommunication, he thought I was going to get the salad and a pizza for he and Ben. Oops! It all worked out great. Ben absolutely loved, loved, loved the Mediterranean salad. It looked so fresh with big balls of fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, and tomatoes. I was so impressed with the variety of quality Ken's steakhouse dressings here, probably 6 kinds, including a light balsamic. Ben chowed down his salad and Paul only got a little. Paul however ate all of Sam's pizza crusts so I think he was satisfied for the moment. We got 2 chocolate cakes and they were pretty good (I had ordered 1 chocolate cake and 1 strawberry cheesecake but when I got to the counter I thought the cheesecake looked too artificial so I changed my order). We ate every bite of our meals and were not stuffed. Sharing really worked well for us. I hate to throw lots of food away and this way everyone was excited for a snack later on.

Later in the day, as we were close to leaving the park, we went to Main Street Bakery. I was planning to get the Fresh Mozzarella, tomato, basil sandwich I had read about, and then for dessert the cookie ice cream sandwich. I thought we could all split it. Here's where my perfect plan went awry. As I stood in the line to order Sam said, "I don't want an ice cream sandwich, I want a milkshake. Ben said, "I don't want an ice cream sandwich I want a frozen lemonade". How could they not want that yummy looking ice cream cooke sandwich??? Paul, being the wonderful dad that he is, took Sam to go find a milkshake. Before we had left for our trip I had printed a word document of all the snacks on the DP and their locations. But as Paul took off with Sam, guess where the sheet was? In my pocket. They went all over and finally found a shake at Mrs. Potts in FantasyLand. Paul found a frozen lemonade for Ben as well. Meanwhile I went thorough the line with Ben. My best advice here...the frozen mocha drink counts as your CS drink on the DP. This was the yummiest ever...Ben took a small sip and then was as hooked as I was! I had other frozen mochas this week but this was by far the best. In fact we got one at the Writer's Stop in HS later in the week and Ben commented that it wasn't as good as this one. The sandwich was great too, and splitting it with Paul was fine, although reading this back I wonder if he got enough to eat this day? I'll have to ask him. The sandwich was freshly made and tasty. They also had ham and turkey focaccia sandwiches that looked good as well. Sadly, the ice cream sandwich was only okay, the cookies were hard and crunchy. I had wished I had gotten the brownie with ice cream instead (or it might have been that I had stuffed myself with the frozen mocha and just wasn't "treat" hungry anymore!). Nothing else comes with the sandwich but I thought it was a great use of a snack credit. Up next-Chef Mickeys.

[bluejasmine]

Loving the reviews! I also love the wrap at CR! I am so excited about trying Kona in a few weeks!

[DisneyWisher]

Sadly, the ice cream sandwich was only okay, the cookies were hard and crunchy.

My DD now 23 feels the same way. She always comments that she wished they had never change the "cookie" counter. Years ago it was more of a Tollhouse Cookie store. The cookies were always fresh and the place smelled like freshly made cookies. Not that it doesn't smell good still but just as realtors suggest baking cookies before showing your house to give it that homey feel, nothing beats the smell of freshly made cookies. Hmmm I might be making cookies today. ;)

DD23 gets her cookie ice cream sandwich from the ice carts says the "fresh ones" are just too hard. At home the trick for keeping them soft is a slice of bread when storing them in a ziploc bag or tupperware (whichever breand you use). I learned this when shipping them. But only one slice, two slices and the cookie crumbles (great on ice cream), the bread will get very stale but the cookies are so nice and soft. Ok, now I know I'm baking cookies today.

[Sandy321]

Sandi321, Thanks for your advice on writing in word and copy/pasting. That was a "duh" moment when I lost my post, I have been saving in word since then! Maybe you can help me...I don't know how to do the quote and then comment on the quote like you did. I tried it on another post and clearly didn't do it right! I would appreciate any advice!

on the bottom of the post you read - there are 3 symbols - one says "quote" one has a + sign in it,, the 3rd is a 'quick reply' -

so hit the plus sign box - it will turn red, go to the next post you want to quote click on the plus sign box - then when you are ready hit the "post reply" button as usual only when the reply to thread box shows up - - all those posts you wanted to quote will show up!!

Hope that makes sense!!

Also I've read posts from people that go to Boma and say they are disappointed the Ginger soup isnt out, and :wizard: a bowl has appeared before them!! :wizard: It never hurts to ask!

[Sandy321]

I think its great that you let us know how you share your credits - we do the same as well! We share a Breakfast platter - the pastries are too sweet for us, we need some protein!

Did you ever make it to Columbia Harbor House? I remember our first trip reading the boards and putting it on our list of must dos - I couldnt find it either!! (and right there so obvious now - across from the Haunted Mansion!)

We've also had to get some food at Pinnochio's Haus, they have good salads - but I agree, some of those portions!

[Dizneydawn]

Hi! Great info and I have a couple questions!

#1 Did you lose that weight on your own or with the help of a support group like WW or Jenny Craig?

#2 I did not know that snack credits were no longer okay at the make your own station at Goofy's. How long has that happened and why? Anyone know? That was our standby for last minute uses of snack credits to bring back home. :confused:

#3 Love all the fresh choices you made - is the Veggie Flat Bread at Maras big enough to split? Does anyone have pics of it? What kind of olives were on it?

You are doing great being new here to posting! Keep up the good work!:hug:

[Sandy321]

Good Questions DizneyDawn -

I know from reading the boards about the Goofy Candy Changes - the day free dining started - prices and options changed! :sad1:

[Dizneydawn]

Good Questions DizneyDawn -

I know from reading the boards about the Goofy Candy Changes - the day free dining started - prices and options changed! :sad1:

I think I am on the boards a lot then I find out I know nada!

Heck - I am trying to finish my TR from last year after a hiatus before the next one in December! :lmao: Thank goodness people think I am funny enough to read because otherwise I would have a hard time when this trip is coming!

I love how much I learn from all of you and I might just have to try a piece of food porn review for myself. :goodvibes

[PrincessTrisha]

For dessert 3 of us got the Chocolate Brownies with Chocolate chips in it and Paul got the Chocolate chip cookie. We were all stuffed so we took them to go. I ate mine for breakfast the next day (are you seeing a pattern here? I would never do this in the real world, but dessert for breakfast is a vacation guilty pleasure.) The brownie was to die for. In fact, a secret confession, the boys completely forgot about these brownies and I ate theirs from the fridge over the next few days! What a terrible mom.

I so agree about those brownies! I didn't eat mine and ended up taking it home. A few days later it still tasted fresh and delicious.

Great reviews so far.

[Sandy321]

I think I am on the boards a lot then I find out I know nada!

Heck - I am trying to finish my TR from last year after a hiatus before the next one in December! :lmao: Thank goodness people think I am funny enough to read because otherwise I would have a hard time when this trip is coming!

I love how much I learn from all of you and I might just have to try a piece of food porn review for myself. :goodvibes

I am not going crazy :rolleyes1

The thread was on the DDP forum!! :rotfl:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1950505 (its pages long - skip to the last page and work your way back )

[disfansx4]

on the bottom of the post you read - there are 3 symbols - one says "quote" one has a + sign in it,, the 3rd is a 'quick reply' -

so hit the plus sign box - it will turn red, go to the next post you want to quote click on the plus sign box - then when you are ready hit the "post reply" button as usual only when the reply to thread box shows up - - all those posts you wanted to quote will show up!!

Hope that makes sense!!

Also I've read posts from people that go to Boma and say they are disappointed the Ginger soup isnt out, and :wizard: a bowl has appeared before them!! :wizard: It never hurts to ask!

Thanks! We'll soon see if I can follow your directions! I think you had such good advice to ask for things you want. If you ask politely all they can do is say no! I had a couple of times that I was surprised when a CM gave me something I had wanted! I wish I had asked more often for substitutions for beverages. Our last day asked for a piece of fruit instead of the drink at Mara and they were happy to do it.

Hi! Great info and I have a couple questions!

#1 Did you lose that weight on your own or with the help of a support group like WW or Jenny Craig?


#2 I did not know that snack credits were no longer okay at the make your own station at Goofy's. How long has that happened and why? Anyone know? That was our standby for last minute uses of snack credits to bring back home. :confused:

#3 Love all the fresh choices you made - is the Veggie Flat Bread at Maras big enough to split? Does anyone have pics of it? What kind of olives were on it?

You are doing great being new here to posting! Keep up the good work!:hug:

Thank you!!! I am surprised at how much fun writing the dining report it! I lost the weight on my own, just sensible stuff...eating healthy and exercising more. It sounds so simple doesn't it? I don't have a pic of the veggie flat bread but I know I saw it on another review somewhere. It had green olives so it was kind of salty. I think you could split it (Ben and I did one night) depending on how hungry you are and what you ate before or after that day. We ate such big TS meals that I was never super hungry for the CS.

I think its great that you let us know how you share your credits - we do the same as well! We share a Breakfast platter - the pastries are too sweet for us, we need some protein!

Did you ever make it to Columbia Harbor House? I remember our first trip reading the boards and putting it on our list of must dos - I couldnt find it either!! (and right there so obvious now - across from the Haunted Mansion!)

We've also had to get some food at Pinnochio's Haus, they have good salads - but I agree, some of those portions!

Sadly, we never got to the CHH.

[Sandy321]

:yay::woohoo::dance3:

Congrats on the MULTI Quote!!!

:cool1::banana: WTG on losing the weight too!! :cool1::banana:

:sad: you never made it to CHH - Guess you will just have to plan another WDW trip!!

:rotfl:

[disfansx4]

This is DH for my review of Chef Mickey's. My DW and I had booked the
reservation at Chef Mickey's because our sons wanted to eat here. Disboard
reviews and a previous visit had convinced us to try something new; we had
been there and done that but DS Sam was insistent. So we returned. Chef
Mickey's is a great way to meet characters. My DS Sam (at 11) still believes
and he was thrilled to see Mickey and the others. He loved it when I asked
Donald why duck wasn't on the menu and he cackled with glee when Pluto threw napkins at our server then blamed it on him. So, regardless of the food, choose this place if your kids need a healthy dose of characters. It was not disgusting.

The food was not of the same quality as I remembered from 2006 but better
than I was expecting. My favorite was the Roasted Turkey Pot Pie. Normally,
I do not care for turkey but I found this dish terrific. The prime rib was
replaced with Roast Beef which was prepared perfectly, tasted great, and
quite similar to the beef served at Boma. Here however, they have au jus and horseradish sauce, which I like. The pork loin I tasted lacked flavor and
was too dry. The mashed potatoes were fine and pasta selections were fair at best. The salad bar was better than expected. Both DS enjoyed the dessert bar and treats were tasty with lots to choose from. The ice cream was no better than what you find at places like Old Country Buffet or Q'cumbers but there were extras and DS Ben loved putting gummie bears on his sundae.

So, the food was acceptable and the experience made up for it. The food did not compare to what we ate at Boma but as DW and I ate we kept saying to each other that it was better than we expected. I have not been to other character meals so they may rank higher or offer better fare. The CM/server was prompt and did a fine job so we had a pleasant evening. Our DS both enjoyed riding into the resort on the monorail. The characters are the star of this show and go to Chef Mickey's for them. I appreciated eating
dinner while Mickey Mouse came to me rather than standing in line for 20 to
30 minutes waiting for him at the Toon Town Judges Tent. With that in mind,
I highly recommend booking your meal here early in your visit, perhaps even on the day of arrival; that way your dining meals will keep improving and you can walk by the Judges' Tent in Toon Town with that wry smile knowing you prepared ahead of time.

Me again: I ate completely different foods than DH. I enjoyed the basil chicken pasta, the salmon with fresh spinach leaves and a dill sauce, the roasted zucchini vegetables, and my favorite...a cold shrimp, scallop salad. An aside, my DSs heard us talking about how I had read the "Chef Mickey's disgusted me" thread the week before we were left and I had been so worried about the food. DS Sam said, "Those people must not know anything about good food!" So the food was a big hit with both my kids! I also felt the place was clean. My hint if the food starts looking like it has been picked over...go to the other side of the buffet and they may have just put out a fresh serving.

[ctnurse]

So glad to here a decent review of CM. We are going and know it not 5 star dining but this is the place 5 yr old ds wanted. I also agree about how could it be that disgusting.:cool1:

[crazytoshop]

Thanks so much for your reviews! I have booked Boma and Kona for the first time on our upcoming trip! I love the details that you provided!:)

[disfansx4]

On Thursday we were up early to make another rope drop, this time at Animal Kingdom. While the kids were still sleeping I decided to go to Mara and try a Bounty Platter CS for the family to share. I asked if they would give me 2 Mickey waffles in substitution for something else on the platter. They exchanged the biscuit, which I thought was a great trade! We also got 2 drinks with the platter. The boys bounced out of bed when I announced that I had brought Mickey waffles with me. They each ate one and split the bacon. Paul ate the sausage and we split the eggs. We still had leftovers so it was enough for us in the morning.

We arrived at AK in time for rope drop. I rushed to get a FP for EE and then hurried to meet my family at KS. After all that we were ready for a snack! Right outside KS is a fruit stand. We got a bowl of the fresh pineapple and a pretzel to share. It was a perfect snack for the 4 of us. We also got ice and cold water from the CS stand a little farther up. BTW, the spicy cheese pretzel I was hoping to try this trip wasn’t a SC here or anywhere else I saw it.

We had ADRs at Yak and Yeti for 1:00. We got there early and it was packed. We were so tired from our busy morning. We like to arrive for rope drop and then tour hard for 3-4 hours and then we need a break! There was a woman and her family standing right in front of the checking desk, leaning on it in fact. Since the check-in CM was looking down at her papers, I assumed this family was waiting for her. After 5 minutes I finally asked if they were waiting to check in. No, they were waiting for their table! I don’t know why you would stand blocking the check-in desk? So I said “excuse me” and the check-in person did not even look up, after giving my name she never responded or looked at me, just wrote my name down. We had such friendly service everywhere else I was kind of surprised. But it was packed in this tiny waiting area and I think a lot of people were crabby. We waited and waited and waited. I finally sent Paul to check thinking that maybe she hadn’t heard me when I checked in. Finally, about 50 minutes after our ADR, we were shown to our table. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. It was right in front check in area where all these people were standing waiting for there table and right in front of the bar. I never did see the rest of the restaurant. But I was trying on this trip to be patient and not let little things bug me. We had a super friendly waitress. She took our drink orders. This was the place where we had told our son Sam that he could order an adult meal and we would pay OOP. We knew he wouldn’t like any of the kid meals here and he had drooled over the steak and shrimp combo pic on the food porn. But, after seeing how much food we were wasting I asked Sam if Ben and I could share our meal with him. He could order the egg roll, which Ben and I would split, and he would eat the French fries on the kid meal. I was relieved when he agreed to this! Paul was the only one without a plan. He wanted the honey chicken but I warned him that I had not read any positive comments on this dish. He thought about the ribs but finally settled on the salmon. I think he wanted a lighter dish. We ordered and then we waited and waited and waited some more. My sons started noticing that everyone that had been seated after us was served their food before us. We were all starting to get crabby, I think Sam’s exact words were, “This place has dropped to ½ star.” Our waitress continued to be perky and friendly, showing us pictures of her children. I finally said, “We are really anxious to eat, when will our food come?” She finally brought Sam’s meal. He ate his fries and we split the egg roll. And then we waited some more…15 minutes after Sam was done with his meal our meals finally arrived. Thank goodness our kids were not toddlers or preschoolers-we never would have made it. I was also glad that we had already planned on sharing our meal with Sam; otherwise he would just have sat there while we ate. From the time we sat down it was at least an hour before the adults got served. In retrospect, we should have been more assertive in asking for our food (we were trying to be Minnesota nice). I think the waitress forgot to put our order in. To be fair, everyone else looked like they had prompt service.

[disfansx4]

The good news is… the food was awesome! I loved the shrimp dipped in the plum sauce. The batter is more like a tempura batter than typical friend shrimp batter but so yummy. Ben and I each gave a shrimp to Sam along with some steak. The steak was amazing. It is a thin steak but marinated in something flavorful. Even though it was a thin steak it was perfectly pink inside (I don’t like overcooked steak!) and it was so tender. I loved the rice and the vegetables. I poured the plum sauce over the rice and veggies, yum! My plate was clean, although I did share with Sam! Paul also got his fork in my meal and I think he was regretting his choice. The salmon was very good but the steak and shrimp combo is something special. Once again the DIS boards steered me right!

For dessert we ordered the Brownie Sundae for 2 and the Fried Wonton dessert. Ben wanted the sorbet but this time I said we were going with our original plan. I am glad we did because he inhaled the wonton dessert! I tried one and thought it was okay but he loved it and it was gone in minutes. Paul and I split the Brownie sundae-so good. We tried but just couldn’t finish it…I was almost bursting when we left. Sam had the kid sundae. He was upset because it only had about ½ teaspoon of chocolate sauce. When the waitress saw that Sam was disappointed she brought him a creamer container of sauce and he was a happy kid to pour it all over (then it was too much sauce in my opinion!). He didn’t want to share our delicious sundae because the brownies had nuts!

I loved this meal and would not hesitate to recommend it. It is just unfortunate that it took so long that we all had a bad taste by the time our food came. One more note. When we finished eating Paul took the kids and left-we couldn’t wait to get out of there! I stayed behind to wait for the check and pay. I charged the tip to the room card and started to leave when I realized the check couldn’t have been right. It was $75 for the whole meal (I knew the 3 adult entrees alone would have cost that). I flagged down a manager and she said that the amount they put on the check is the amount you would have paid for the Dining Plan for that day! I said, “But how do you know what to tip?” She said tip what you like. We did have bad service but I would have woefully under tipped our meal with out intending to. I was in a hurry and hardly looked at the check. I was crabby again because I had to mentally add up what the meal would have cost (making guesses on the desserts and drinks) and rewrite the tip amount. I feel bad for the wait staff because I am guessing this happens a lot.

More great meals to be reviewed soon!

[disfansx4]

Thanks so much for your reviews! I have booked Boma and Kona for the first time on our upcoming trip! I love the details that you provided!:)

Thanks! I never thought I would write a review but I know how much I loved reading reviews before our trip! I sometimes think, "Who would care what I ate for breakfast?", but then I remember how much I poured over those details when I was planning.

[disfansx4]

I'm back. I can't believe what a long break I took but I am a teacher and the first few weeks of school take every spare moment I've got!

Friday we were up early again and off for early entry to HS. We had our strategy for Toy Story Mania and it was worth it! We rode it first and then Paul stood in line for a FP for later while we took a bathroom break and walked to Star Tours. He got there the same time we did so it didn't take him as long as we thought it would to get the FP. After Star Tours we were ready for a snack (we had split a Mara Bounty platter 4 ways again for breakfast and we were getting hungry!). After reading about it on the DIS boards we stopped at the Writer's Stop and Paul and I got the carrot cake cookie to share. It is 2 large cookies with thick cream cheese frosting in the middle. It was so yummy!! Sam got a chocolate chip cookie and Ben and I got a Mocha Smoothie to split. Ben loved the Mocha smoothie at Main Street Bakery and when he tasted this one he proclaimed it good but not as good as the MSB one. I completely agree. In fact I wished I had gotten the Iced Mocha (over rocks, not blended.) That was made with real coffee and the blended one tasted a little artificial. Sam liked his cookie.

We already knew that Paul and I wanted to get lunch from the Starring Rolls. We had eaten at Toy Story pizza 3 years ago and it was only okay. I knew the boys would want to eat there though. We were planning on going to the 11:30 showing of Indiana Jones. I had read that Starring Rolls did not start serving the sandwiches until 11:30. But since we were right there (around 11:00) we decided to check it out. Many people were already seated and eating the sandwiches so I hopped in line. I got a Turkey focaccia sandwich and Paul got the Black Forest Ham Focaccia. Mine came with thick fresh mozzarella. Each came with a side of chips or fruit (apple or orange), we both got the BBQ chips. Paul picked the Praline cheese cake for dessert and I got the M & M brownie. Okay, now we were running out of time to make Indy Jones. We quickly packed the sandwiches in our ziplock bags (bring the large-these were huge). We should have asked for to go containers for the desserts (I am not sure if they even had them) but we carried the cheesecake on the plate and ran to make the show. I am sure I put a fork in the backpack. We got to the show in the nick of time but we weren't all able to sit together. We could not find the fork so we shared the cheesecake between two rows eating it with our fingers! It was outstanding. The desserts alone make this a great CS location. The rest of the lunch we took with us after the show when we went to Toy Story Pizza Planet. Sam got a pepperoni pizza and Ben got the veggie. This was a crazy long and slow line! It took forever. Paul and the boys found a table upstairs. They liked the pizza, I ate Sam's side salad, and the cookies went into a ziplock along with my brownie to enjoy later (it was delicious BTW-even though Paul shared his cheesecake with me, I did not share my brownie!). Paul and I ate our sandwiches-they were yummy, fresh, and filling. There was a ton of turkey in my sandwich. I read so many bad comments about CS at HS. Try Starring Rolls! We loved it and the boys were perfectly happy with Toy Story. Later in the day we were so hot and went to Min and Bill's Dockside DIner for more snacks. We were starting to realize how many snack credits we had left! Paul got a chocolate shake and Ben got a frozen lemonade. I had read about the spicy cheese pretzels there but I didn't see any pretzels when we were there. Sam got a Mickey bar at a kiosk.

That night we went to Boma for the 2nd time. It was just as good this time. We had a beautiful table right by the window. The menu was almost exactly the same this night. I forgot to mention in my first report of Boma about the yummy corn, plantain salad. It was really unique but I loved it!