Its a world of seafood, a world of beef, eating at LeCellier&Coral Reef(&more w/pics)

[tggrrstarr]

This is my first time writing a review on the Dis boards, but I have meant to do so for my last two trips. I just never seem to get around to it. So here it is, a little late but better than never. Maybe I will even get around to doing trip #3 sometime! So let me give you all the important information & introduce ourselves.
This was our fourth trip to WDW, 2nd on the free DDP. So we were a little better prepared this time, making sure we planned when to use which credits. The only thing we didn’t account for was not being hungry! You’d think after 5 hours of touring a park, we’d work up an appetite, but this really didn’t happen too often!
This trip was just me & my husband. We stayed at All Star Music, a first for us Here we are:

I am Kelli, age 32 He is Mic (aka Michael or even Mickey – Obi_Mic on the boards), age 37.
You’ll find that Mic is a meat & potatoes kinda guy, while I am just a little bit more adventurous. I love steak, chicken & some shellfish. Not too keen on fish, but I am willing to try it from time to time. We both love coke, a little too much, so that is usually our drink of choice. Wait. Did I mention how picky of an eater Mic is? Very, very picky.
We don’t have any kids, and we usually go by ourselves. Last year was different. We had planned to go with 3 of our friends, then HIS parents & brother decided to go too. You can imagine the fun we had. We somehow managed to make it work pretty well. Time with friends, time with family, & time with both. You’ll notice there wasn’t any time by ourselves. That’s one of the reasons we decided to go this year. It was a spontaneous decision made just before the end of the free dining promo. So here we are!

We had a very hard time planning our ADR’s this trip. We knew we had to go back to CRT for breakfast, and we would pay out of pocket. That left us with 8 slots to fill. We wanted to try some new places, and had multiple places we wanted to revisit. After about 6 weeks of changing our minds, we finally made our choices. Here they are:

Saturday 1900 Park Fare
The Coral Reef
Sunday Kona Café
Monday Cape May Buffet
Tuesday Cinderella’s Royal Table
Wednesday Narcoossee’s
Thursday Columbia Harbour House & Les Chefs de France
Friday Wolfgang Puck Express
Le Cellier


Since we were on the dining plan, I will try to include our choices for snacks & quick service as well, although I don’t have too many pictures for those. I must note that in my restaurant planning I have utilized the menus on All Ears.net & the WDW dining app for my ipod touch. For the most part, these were very accurate in food description & pricing. I believe Cinderella’s Royal Table was the only restaurant that was almost completely wrong. These were a great resource for calculating my tips ahead of time.

So, on to the reviews!

 

[tggrrstarr]

We arrived on Friday, October 2nd, & when we checked in at ASMu at 1pm, we were hungry & ready to use our DDP!
So we chose to eat right away at Intermission Food Court instead of eating at Animal Kingdom. We both opted for the classic double bacon cheeseburger & fries, large coke & chocolate cake.

Believe it or not, this pretty much held us the rest of the day. The first day of travel pretty much always wipes us out, so I really don’t know why we thought we could do a park on arrival day. We were back at the hotel pretty early despite extra evening hours, & asleep pretty quickly.

I did get one more QS to take back to the room – chicken alfredo with penne pasta. I had had this on the last day of our previous trip, and it was just as fantastic as I remembered. It came with a small salad & I picked out key lime pie as desert. I got a bottled ice tea as drink for later & used my refillable mug for the meal.
QS used - 3 QS remaining -13
No snack credits used.

 

[nashville_minnie]

Looking forward to reading your review of CRT breakfast!!

 

[jessrose18]

Love the title..signing on want to know what you though of Cape May going in two weeks, for the Crab Legs and more! Looking forward to your reviews

 

[tggrrstarr]

Our reservation for 1900 Park Fare was at 8:20 am on Saturday, so we planned plenty of time for bus & monorail travel there. We got there at 7:20 am – I think I might have overestimated a little bit! We took advantage of the early hour to wander around the nearly empty grounds.
We did find this guy:

It was so beautiful & peaceful at that time of morning, I think I have a new favorite hotel.
We made our way inside just before 8. There was a huge line to check in, so we sat in the lobby for a few to let it die down. We got to the podium at 8:05 am, still way early, but no problem.
They took us in for our photo & our table right away. I didn’t get quite as many pictures of food here since it is buffet style. One of the reasons I chose this breakfast was for the make your own omelet station, and it was fantastic. I got ham, cheese & mushrooms. I love mushrooms, but this was the first time I had them in an omelet. Yummy! This was my favorite part of my meal, next to the strawberry soup. Love the strawberry soup. I enjoyed the other selections, bacon, bread pudding (yum), potatoes. I also got some yogurt with granola & raisins. I usually love this combo, but the yogurt tasted funny to me. I thought it was vanilla, but it might have been plain yogurt.

Mic usually doesn’t have too much of an appetite at breakfast, so he just enjoyed some simple scrambled eggs, bacon & sausage. Of course he had to have a Mickey plate.

Our waiter was really good, & very friendly.
Now for character interaction. Maybe it was because of how early we were, but the first character (Pooh) didn’t come out til we were halfway done eating. And we were seated at the end of the line. Very disappointing. This was our first full day in a park, and we were raring to go. But we had to wait. We got Pooh & Tigger, but we still had to wait ages for Mary Poppins, Alice & the Mad Hatter.

The second reason I made this resv was for the MH. And he was last. It would be at least another half hour before we saw him. This was the closest I got to him:

So we made a snap decision & left. We didn’t need a pic with Mary, we got her last year, & we figured we would see Alice & MH later in the parks.
(Bad choice, btw, we never got to see either of these. Lesson learned.)
My over all opinion of this restaurant, I LOVED it. I loved how many choices there were & how there was something for every appetite.
Cost of meal $37.98
TS used – 2 TS remaining – 14

 

[tggrrstarr]

Love the title..

Thanks! I have to give full credit to my husband for that. I told him I would write the reviews, but he had to come up with a title for me. Unfortunately, I still have the tune of Its a Small World running through my head.

 

[Symans3honeybees]

We have been to WDW countless times. We have not yet produced one trip/food report. We really appreciate that you took the time writing this review for our viewing pleasure. Thank you.

 

[Linda67]

Lovely photos, really enjoying your reviews

 

[vettegirl]

That is one lucky duck in the pool at the GF

 

[weswife]

I am here!!!! Great pics.!!!!!

 

[darthtatty]

well done on writing a food report, im hoping to do one on my next trip.
great start, shame your character interaction wasnt that good.

 

[tggrrstarr]

signing on want to know what you though of Cape May going in two weeks, for the Crab Legs and more! Looking forward to your reviews

Thanks! Cape May is coming up soon...

We have been to WDW countless times. We have not yet produced one trip/food report. We really appreciate that you took the time writing this review for our viewing pleasure. Thank you.

I've said time & again I would do it, and I just got busy and forgot about it. We spend our trip preparing for the review, then it just didn't happen. So I decided to just do it, even if I am 6 months late!

Lovely photos, really enjoying your reviews

I am here!!!! Great pics.!!!!!

Thank you so much, thanks for joining.

well done on writing a food report, im hoping to do one on my next trip.
great start, shame your character interaction wasnt that good.

Its my own fault for being so impatient! Good thing I loved the food, now I have two excuses to go back.

Coral Reef coming up very soon....

 

[jeminni]

That is one lucky duck in the pool at the GF

I agree.

 

[tggrrstarr]

We spent Saturday at Epcot. We had planned to snack for lunch at the F&W Fest, but we just weren’t that hungry. We skipped lunch & after completely revising our touring plan, went back to ASMu to nap & refresh.

We came back around 4pm to use a few Fastpasses & eat dinner at The Coral Reef. We had eaten here last year, and had both enjoyed it. Mic was really looking forward to coming back.
Our resv time was 6:05pm, and we got there about 15 min early. We ended up waiting til about 6:15. I think this was the longest we waited for a reservation all trip. Our table was towards the back of the restaurant, but since we had a perfect view last year, neither of us really minded.

Our drinks were both coke ($2.69 each). We both got the New York Strip Steak with roasted potatoes & watercress ($30.99 each), the same thing we ate last year.

Both of our entrees were great, although I just don’t get the watercress.
For desert, I got the chocolate wave($7.99)

I had not gotten this last year & had really been looking forward to the brandied cherries. I was disappointed to find that it now comes with raspberries, which are good, but I was just in the mood for those cherries. Still, the desert was great.
Mic had the Baileys and Jack Daniel’s Mousse ($7.99).

He ate the top two layers, but the bottom layer was too rich for him. I think we know where the alcohol is in this desert! (Neither one of us is much of a drinker, we usually just avoid alcohol.)

This was one of Mic’s best meals of the trip. I enjoyed mine, it was a perfect steak, but it wasn’t spectacular for me. I enjoy this restaurant but its not a necessity for me. It is a necessity for Mic.
Total price before tax $83.34
TS used - 2 TS remaining - 12

We got back to ASMu just as Escape to Witch Mountain was starting on the big screen near the pool. We decided to stay & watch, so I used a snack credit on a strawberry popsicle at the food court. (sorry, no pic) After the heat & all the walking, this was a nice treat I wouldn’t normally have indulged in.
I believe the cost was about $2-3.
Sn used – 1 Sn remaining - 15

 

[Symans3honeybees]

Yummm!! want more.....

 

[lovemickeyshouse]

Waiting for more pics

 

[tggrrstarr]

Our plan on this trip was to skip breakfast most days, since neither one of us are usually too hungry first thing in the morning.
We meant to eat lunch on Sunday at Pinocchio’s Village Haus, but when we got hungry, we got hungry fast. And Pecos Bill’s was right there when it happened. So Pecos Bills it was.

Neither of us had eaten here before, in fact, I don’t think we had ever really noticed it before. In planning for this trip, I had seen it & its topping bar mentioned quite a few times. I am really glad we went there. The topping bar was awesome. Mmmm Mushrooms. I was really feeling the mushrooms this trip. So I got the double bacon cheeseburger with French fries ($8.09), Large Coke ($2.49) & Carrot Cake ($3.59). I put lots and lots of sautéed mushrooms on my burger.

Mic had the exactly the same as me, except for the toppings. He had ketchup on his burger. He doesn’t deviate much from the basics.
Total cost of meal $28.34
QS used – 2 QS remaining - 11

For Dinner we had ADR’s at Kona Café at 5:15pm. We had gone back to the hotel for a nap, so we just went straight to the Poly from ASMu. We had never been to Kona before. We had almost eaten here on our honeymoon, but changed our minds. Since then, I have seen all the great reviews on the Dis Boards and have really wanted to try it.
We got seated right away, & our waiter was fantastic. Mic even snapped a pic of me talking to him:

We started out with the yummy bread Kona is known for. Mic is picky when it comes to bread, so I got to enjoy this all by myself. I don’t know if that was the best idea!
I ordered the shrimp roll ($12.99).

I have been all about tempura shrimp rolls lately, and let me tell you, this one was amazing! I am not the most knowledgeable about sushi, but our waiter explained how this one had a white instead of green nori paper. Less aftertaste. Since our dining plan doesn’t cover appetizers, this one was paid for out of pocket.
As for my meal, I ordered the Panko breaded shrimp & pan-seared scallops with sticky rice & ponzu ($20.99). It came with guava passion fruit & wasabi cream sauces.

I really enjoyed this. The sauces were ok, but I’m not really a fan of spicy stuff, so these were used sparingly.
Mic got the slow roasted Prime Rib with mashed potatoes & brocolini ($21.99).

Guess who got the brocolini? Me! Mic doesn’t eat green food.

Now desert is something I was really looking forward to. The problem was, I ate too much! There really wasn’t much room left for the Banana Chocolate Crème Brule ($5.99) I had been dreaming of for so long. But I managed to eat about half of it.

Mic got the Kona Kone ($5.99).

Basically a make your own sundae with a big cone of cotton candy. He ate the ice cream, but really didn’t want the cotton candy. Guess I would have to take it. Darn! I love cotton candy. Even more so, I love the smell of cotton candy. So we took it with us back to Magic Kingdom, and I picked at it along the way. I know I looked like a big dork smelling it the whole way.

Overall opinion of Kona Café – I loved it. Mic was happy cause he got steak. Our service was so good we even tipped a little extra.
Cost of meal $72.93 ($59.94 covered by ddp)
TS used – 2 TS remaining – 10

With all my planning, everything told me that there would not be a Spectromagic parade this particular evening, so I had resigned myself to not seeing it this trip. But I was quite pleasantly surprised to find them setting up for it upon exiting the Hall of Presidents.
We got great seats, and Mic went and used up his first snack credit on a big popcorn. Mic loves popcorn, & eating popcorn during the parades has become a mini tradition for him. (sorry, can’t remember the cost of this one)
Snacks used – 1 Snacks remaining - 14

 

[Cookie Princess]

I am also a cotton candy nut. DS (14) and I tend to "fight" over who gets the last of it.

 

[WAHMto5]

Great reviews, thanks for sharing!!

 

[tggrrstarr]

Today was our only Hollywood Studios day, so we got there extremely early to be first in line for the mad dash to Toy Story Mania. And we were first in line. At the gate, at the rope & at the FP machine!
So afterwards, we were kinda hungry. Skipping breakfast wasn’t working so well today.
Last trip I had wanted to try some of the goodies at Starring Rolls Café, but was never hungry. So we headed straight there. The banana split concoction was calling my name, so I went with that. I then saw a man who I thought was my husband and started yelling at him for picking out a plain bagel when there were so many other great things to choose from.
Uh, that wasn’t my husband. Some poor man got yelled at by a complete stranger for wanting to eat a bagel. Mic was laughing at me all through breakfast. He actually picked out a cinnamon roll to eat, which he really enjoyed.
We later made our way to the Scary Apothecary for some strawberry & grape icee’s.
Snacks used – 4 Snacks remaining - 10

We decided to eat lunch at Pizza Planet. We are old pros at Pizza Planet by now; we seem to go there quite a bit. I don’t always feel like eating pizza, but Mic loves it. I love the stories about the two sides of the line & how so many people don’t seem to get it. When we walked up to the lines, every line was long except for the end register. There was only one person on the right side. So this is where we went. When the Cast Member switched sides, we noticed the reaction from the left side of the line. We just kept moving.

Mic ordered the Pepperoni Pizza with salad ($8.29) while I ordered the Cheese pizza with salad ($7.99). We each got a Large Coke ($2.49) to drink. Most places automatically give you a medium, but you can ask for a large. I got potato chips ($2.69) for my desert & Mic got a chocolate chip cookie ($1.99). I think we are used to the dining plan enough by now to order what we feel like eating, not the most expensive thing. Besides, it was free. Maybe if we pay for the plan out of pocket (which we might do next trip) we’ll go back to that other mentality.
Everything tasted so good; it was the perfect timing for pizza.
Cost of meal $25.94
QS used – 2 QS remaining – 9

Dinner tonight was at a new restaurant for us & at a hotel we had never visited before. This was one of our latest reservation times all trip, & it worked out perfectly. We had plenty of time to explore, take pictures & dream. We took the boat from DHS to the Beach Club Resort & Villas. We love the boat ride. It is one of my favorite methods of transportation in The World. We got a picture right off the dock with Photopass:

Then we checked out the pool. I think I love this resort, mostly for the pool! There is actually sand on the bottom.
We finally found our way in to Cape May & were still a half hour early. They took our name, gave us a buzzer & we sat and waited. We were seated almost immediately.

I was so excited to eat here so I could try some of the seafood. In planning, I had heard Cape May occasionally has crab legs, & I was really hoping they would be here tonight. I wasn’t disappointed!
The waitress was really nice & described the entire buffet to us and said they just started serving crab legs all the time. Yeah! I hope it stays that way.

Mic ate the usual, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, prime rib.
Of course I had crab legs, ribs, corn on the cob, prime rib, zuchini – yum!

I tried some clams, they were pretty good. I’ve never been too crazy about clams alone, but mixed in food they are ok – so this was a step forward. I also tried the fish (Mahi?) not so much. But I really don’t like fish anyway, no surprise. (I do like Tilapia).
You can see how I felt about the crab:

Desert was good, but it was the food I was interested in here. Everything was tiny, there was cheesecake, key lime pie, tiramisu & flan. All good, I wasn't too into the flan though.

I like how the tops were decorated with the Beach Club & Yacht Club names.

I love this place! Must come back! There was way too much to choose from & it was all fantastic! Mic was happy too, there was a lot for even a picky eater like him to choose from.
Cost of dinner $26.99 per person, $53.98 total
TS used – 2 TS remaining – 8