We ate everything but the F&G Flowers! Updated 5.8.10...

[slk537]

Random Epcot shots...

gummy bears in Germany - these were HUGE! I really wanted to bring some back as gifts, but honestly didn't know who we knew who would want one. Although one would be cute on my desk at work....

Suckers in France - a DS tradition. He loves picking out a sucker here every trip. He chose an orange one.

Wine Walk:

We decided to do this this year as well. I have really wanted to try the Rosa Regale and this seemed to be a great way to try it, as well as 5 other wines. We love that we can pick and choose each of the wines whenever we want them, and not all in one day. We still have two to go on a future trip;

The first glass - rosa regale. LOVED this:

I also tried the pinot grigio in Italy and the pouilly fuisse in France. I...er...was not a fan of either. Too dry. But in the interest of full disclosure, I love rieslings, gewurtztimeiners, liebfraumilch, moscato, and ice wines. I like light, sweet and occasionally fizzy. Not a fan of dry.

 

[slk537]

I am drooling over the zebra domes. I absolutely love them. We drive to AKL when we don't stay there just for me to get my "fix."

Loved all of your dining reviews so far and can't wait to hear about the rest of your experience.

HEE!! So do we!

And thank you!!

 

[irongirlof12]

ahh brilliant - that rose regale looks so delish , shame about tutto meal

 

[superdiz]

I NEED ONE OF THOSE BEARS! OMG if that is not a reason to head to Florida right now I don't know what is! lol Rosa Regale is my favorite. Second is the Bellini, also in France.

 

[H20DogsNDisney]

You are very right - the food was good. I can't believe the lack of value though - much of the food was on par with a good day at Macaroni Grill but twice as expensive. You are defintely paying for the WDW location. We really loved it back in July 2008 and that added to the disappointment.

I don't think we'll be redoing this one anytime soon but I do look forward to the pizza place opening, as Italy is SUCH a beautiful pavilion.

Same here looking forward very much so to the pizza place!

 

[emmabelle]

loving the reviews!

We decided to upgrade to DDX and I'm actually frightened by the amount of food. But can't wait at the same time!

 

[vitamingirl]

uckers in France - a DS tradition. He loves picking out a sucker here every trip. He chose an orange one.


We love these too.
We found these in November. My DD loved these!! We brought them some for her stocking!!

 

[slk537]

ahh brilliant - that rose regale looks so delish , shame about tutto meal

I had a feeling I'd like it. but it was SO GOOD!!

I NEED ONE OF THOSE BEARS! OMG if that is not a reason to head to Florida right now I don't know what is! lol Rosa Regale is my favorite. Second is the Bellini, also in France.

They were really cute!

loving the reviews!

We decided to upgrade to DDX and I'm actually frightened by the amount of food. But can't wait at the same time!

I was surprised how well it worked for us - but we had five full days for four nights of DDP and did tons of signatures. I'm sure you'll love it!

uckers in France - a DS tradition. He loves picking out a sucker here every trip. He chose an orange one.


We love these too.
We found these in November. My DD loved these!! We brought them some for her stocking!!

Very cool!! He just loves them for some reason.

 

[LuvEeyore]

signing on...told my mom that I was looking at food porn...she replied, "At Disney, there is no pornography!!

 

[Minnie]

Tutto Italia lunch

The atmosphere was okay but there was a lack of friendliness from our host and server and the manager who had to come talk to me about my food allergy (bleu cheese). He was also pretty misinformed. He asked if it would be okay to just take the cheese off a premade plate or if I needed an entirely new one. And oh yeah, it was gorgonzola so I should be fine, right?

Sigh..

Bummer... I have food allergies that if handled incorrectly could easily ruin my trip - wanted to try Tutto but after reading this I think we'll pass

Hope the remainder of the restaurants handled your allergy better

 

[slk537]

signing on...told my mom that I was looking at food porn...she replied, "At Disney, there is no pornography!!

love it!!

Bummer... I have food allergies that if handled incorrectly could easily ruin my trip - wanted to try Tutto but after reading this I think we'll pass

Hope the remainder of the restaurants handled your allergy better

I was surprised too - WDW has always been really good about allergies.

 

[slk537]

Citricos was one of the ADR's we were most looking forward to as it was new to us and we hadn't read much about it. We had switched it out with Cape May earlier in the week as we hadn't been in the mood to dress up that day and it worked out well.

Anyway, the restaurant was beautiful and our server was pleasant but it was another place where we didn't feel entirely relaxed and comfortable. We like casual and formal restaurants, but I think we just weren't in the mood for more formal that night. There were plenty of families with young kids (one right next to us) and people dressed anywhere from sequins and sparkles to shorts and t's.

That said - the food was delicious and we had a HUGE bonus....!!!

We had ordered our drinks and starters, I had switched chairs because DS spilled his cherry coke on my lap (sigh) and suddenly the whole restaurant started buzzing and coming towards our table. I was facing the window and looked out to see a huge swirly corkscrew white cloud and a small white object sailing above it going straight up. It was the space shuttle! I was surprised at first, because DH usually looks those up and tries to get us down to Cape Canaveral for launches, but turns out this was the secret one they did that was announced after it happened. I know that "secret" sounds very dramatic, but that was what the news called it. And we had a perfect view and perfect timing. VERY cool!!

So what did we eat? We started with very good bread and butter with salt:

DS started with chicken noodle soup and took the photo himself. He was very happy with it, although I think the photo leaves a bit to be desired...

DH ordered the asparagus salad and was not impressed. I tried it and it was okay. I liked the combo of the goat cheese sauce, cold asparagus and bacon, but it wasn't as good as it sounded.

I ordered the sauteed shrimp and LOVED it! Huge chunks of warm feta, tomato and shrimp in a lemon wine sauce. The shrimp were overcooked - very curled up and chewy but it took nothing away from the combination of shrimp, feta and the sauce. DH tasted and also liked it.

DS decided on the filet, medium rare with mashed potatoes and broccolini. He got a kick out of the hidden Mickey potatoes. It was a very good meal.

DH and I both ordered the Filet Sicilian. I loved the sauce, onions, banana peppers and peppadew (I love love love peppadews!!) but DH wasn't excited about the sauce. He also didn't really eat his 4 cheese potatoes, but I loved them. They are mostly hidden under the steak:

For dessert, DS was full so he ordered the dalmation bone to go. This travelled beautifully and we actually moved it with us to the BCV and ate it there - it is supposed to be an eclair shaped like a dog bone. The whole thing is filled with chocolate mousse, dipped in a chocolate shell and served with whipped cream and raspberry sauce.

DH ordered the lemon cheesecake which was amazing. Totally blew the lemon cheesecake sample I had at Tutto away.

I had the warm chocolate banana tart and it was outstanding! It was a buttery chocolate tart shell filled with the chocolate the tasted like a lava cake with pieces of banana in it. The ice cream was a perfect addition.

All in all this wouldn't be the first signature I'd book again (THAT is still to come!) but in the end we really liked the meal.

 

[lynn46356]

Ok, send me a dog bone NOW!!!!!! How wonderful to be able to see the secret shuttle launch my DH would have loved that. So how many filets have you ate on this trip so far? Can't wait for more.

 

[pasofan]

Wine Walk:

We decided to do this this year as well. I have really wanted to try the Rosa Regale and this seemed to be a great way to try it, as well as 5 other wines. We love that we can pick and choose each of the wines whenever we want them, and not all in one day. We still have two to go on a future trip;

Can you do the Wine Walk anytime? I can't seem to find any info on it and it sounds perfect! Where do you get the "Passport"?

 

[slk537]

Can you do the Wine Walk anytime? I can't seem to find any info on it and it sounds perfect! Where do you get the "Passport"?

Yup! You can do it year round (not just F&W) and anytime world showcase is open.

We got our passport in Italy, but you can pick it up in Germany or France too. I love that you can pick and choose and have all six in one day or spread out over many. It was $20.

Enjoy!!!

 

[H20DogsNDisney]

oooo loved the update looked so good!

 

[slk537]

Hi all! Long time since an update with a crazy first week back at work, so here goes...!

The next morning we woke up and I started packing while DS watched TV and DH ran over to the BCV's to get our room keys. He came back with a not very exotic, but delicious breakfast for us:

This was accompanied by a few egg mc muffins, etc. But it is actually WDW food, since bought at a McD's on property

When I was just about done packing and ready to make the move from Kidani to BCV's to drop off our luggage, DH got a text that our room was ready! So at 10:22 am we were settled into our new home and ready to take the international gateway to Epcot for lunch.

Coral Reef.

I was looking forward to this restaurant - we hadn't been here for two years and lunch seemed like a good way to enjoy it again. DS started out with a virgin pina colada/daquiri mix, which he enjoyed:

He also chose the celery and carrots with ranch as his starter.

DH opted for the corn chowder with chili oil since nothing else appealed and the caesar was only available for an entree. He liked this, but I make a corn chowder at home that blows it away (thank you, Food Network).

I opted for the lobster soup, having LOVED it in the past. The soup I remember was thick and creamy and filled with chunks of lobster. It was like a decadent clam chowder and I knew there was nothing else I'd order:

Well. It looks the same. The texture is the same. But the taste was decidely fishy and I hated it. I tried several bites and then had DH try it and it is definitely different. Our server offered to switch it for something else when she saw I wasn't enjoying it, but there wasn't really anything else that appealed to me either and it wasn't a big deal. Disappointing, but not a big deal.

For his entree, DS picked the cheese pizza, and liked it well enough:

DH ordered his standard - the NY strip. He was very satisfied with his meal and I have always ordered the same here and have liked it also:

I had ordered the lobster ravioli and was wondering if that was also going to be a mistake. I had imagined it as ravioli stuffed with lobster meat covered with an alfredo type sauce filled with oinions, olives and capers. Nope.

This was cheese filled ravioli covered in a tomato based sauce with very few olives, some capers, onions, pepper and TONS (and I do mean a lot) of lobster meat. If you enjoy lobster claws, tail, etc., you would love this dish. I liked it enough to no longer be hungry and while I wouldn't order it again (I don't like lobster THAT much) I would not say there was anything negative about it, other than not really meeting my personal taste. Seriously though - the lobster pieces were plentiful and large.

For dessert, DS declined in lieu of getting a Mickey sandwich or snack later. DH opted for a peach dessert which had a granola cookie covered in almond gelato with a biscotti and peach compote. He loved it. I thought the almond flavor was a little different than the almond extract I use and prefer, but it was still very nice and the granola was really good:

I decided on the butterscotch creme brulee and I enjoyed every bit of it - definitely the highlight of my meal:

All in all, I'd have been just as happy at a good CS place (similar to my feelings about Tutto), but the server was very nice, the atmosphere was very cool and DS loved spotting all the fish with his guide. It made a good jumpstart to our touring of the Living Seas after lunch (or whatever it's called now....)

 

[slk537]

Sunshine Seasons

After Nemo, Crush, Bruce and all the other fish in the Seas, we headed over to enjoy The Land. Once we had ridden Soarin' and Living with the Land, it was time for a snack. DS couldn't find any Mickey ice cream sandwiches, but was just as happy with his choice:

DH and I are both creatures of habit here and got the same things we get every single time...

DH:

The lightest, fluffiest key lime pie ever. Not custardy or thick at all, this is like a key lime mousse or souffle with meringue. He loves it, I like it, everyone is happy.

Me:

The strawberry shortcake is a Must Eat for me. I love the real whipped cream and the fresh berries and the almost non existent cake. They had just brought out a freshly made tray and it was perfect.

We went on to enjoy Epcot for a bit longer and then back to the villas for a swim. The plan for the night was Narcoosee's, but on a whim we changed it for the meal that turned out to be my absolute favorite of the whole trip.

Coming up soon: Flying Fish.

 

[Linda67]

Great updates
Your Strawberry Shortcake looks delicious

 

[jodywgirl]

Your revies are great they are making me hungry. I can't wait to be back in the World in August for Deluxe Dining Plan.