A QSDP and DATW review with pics. Loved it! (Complete)

[NoodlesMom]

I should go ahead and write this report before I lose the details. I think that I was so sad to be back home that I thought of the report as closure. Well lucky for me, my DH has decided to take me back to Disney for my birthday in two months so I don’t have to be Disney depressed anymore!

Let me introduce myself. I am a 29 year old mommy, middle school teacher and Disney addict. My first trip to Disney world was in 2007 and I fell in love. I’ve been on a Disney related vacation every year since except for 2008. This trip included DD 9, DS 5 and DH. Remember that I am a math teacher and not the best writer but here goes.

Last year we took our first DCL cruise and love, love, loved it! I had planned on going back but I never found a deal that I could live with. Because I am super cheap and will not pay full price for anything, I told DH that we would just have to wait to plan a vacation for 2010. Weather it was DCL or Disney World, we would just sit back and see what happens. I am a Disney Visa Debit card holder and the kids stay, play, eat free came out some time earlier this year. That was good enough for me and I was ready to book. Not even one week later, I received the free quick service pin. I was ecstatic!! It saved us even more money. I didn’t know what to think about the quick service plan so I went to DIS for advice . At that time I heard pretty good things about it but I wasn’t sure if I should go for it. In 2007 we did the full plan and on DCL everything is included so we weren’t sure if we would miss the table service meals. After thinking long and hard, I decided to go for it and here it goes.

My pictures are not the best but hopefully this will help someone. I don’t have pictures of everything because most of the time the food looked so good that I just dug in before snapping picures.


Coming up: Day 1- Ohana (Our only OOP meal)

 

[NoodlesMom]

Day 1- We drove from Houston and stayed overnight in Mobile. We arrived in Orlando around 2. We decided to stay at the Dolphin for one night and check into our package on our first full day. Ohana is a tradition for us and we did not want to miss it. This was our only out of pocket meal and it was delicious.

Ohana

Wings and Pot stickers

We thought that these were wonderful. The crust on the pot stickers could have been a little better but the overall taste was pretty good. Some of them were a little stale. We also ate the shrimp and I really didn't care for them. They were better in 2007 but I don't remember what the difference is.

The broccoli was very good and fresh. I’m not sure what the put on them but I really liked the flavor of them. It seemed like it may have been a think butter sauce of some kind.

We went to DW in 2007 and at that time they had the cheesy potatoes. I really do miss those but the noodles were actually decent. I didn’t expect much and I honestly didn’t think I would like them.
I hate to say it but I didn’t get any pictures of the main meal. By the time it came out I was in full gluttony mode and forgot to get out the camera. Sorry. I will say that my husband loved the beef. He probably ate a small cow in one sitting. I’m not a big steak or beef eater and I just thought it was just of. I ate more wings than anything. I also thought the chicken was a little dry but everything else was wonderful.

This was the highlight of the entire trip!!! I think that Ohana’s bread pudding is the best dessert that I’ve ever eaten. I know that those are strong words but I would pay full meal price just to eat this. It was that good!



Up Next: Day 2- Main Street Bakery, Pecos Bill, Wolfgang Puck Express (West Side)

 

[NoodlesMom]

Day 2-
Today we woke up at around 6:30 am and headed over to POP to check in and start our QSDP. We were checked in and in our rooms at 7:30. We dropped off our luggage in the room and to Magic Kingdom we went.

Breakfast:
Main Street Bakery- We stopped here for breakfast and used 4 snack credits. Between the four of us we shared a cinnamon roll, an apple turnover and bottled beverages.

The cinnamon roll was as good as everyone says. My husband loved the apple turnover. It was plenty of food for breakfast and we were set until lunch.

Lunch:

We ate at Pecos Bills for lunch. I had forgotten that we also ate here in 2007. When I saw the building, all I could think about was the horrible chicken wrap that I had in 07. It was full with lettuce and barely any chicken and I thought it was awful. I figured we would give it another try since I read so many great things on DIS about it. I tried the Deluxe 1/3 lb. Angus Cheeseburger. I really tried not to take pictures of already eaten food but I forgot. Luckily, I still had half a burger when I remembered that I was suppose to get a picture.

Sorry for the awful picture. I really enjoyed this burger. It had and onion ring, cheese, bacon and a tangy bbq sauce. I don’t care for Disney burgers
but this was very good. I think that all of the extra toppings made me forget about the just ok bun.

I didn’t want to take a picture of this thing but I figured I had to warn someone. When my daughter decided to get this I didn’t say anything because she is a very healthy eater and I knew the she didn’t want a burger. I figured that maybe it gotten better over the last three years. NOPE. It was still bad and this is all she was able to eat. I forgot to mention that I upgraded my daughter to the adult menu. She’s not a fan of Disney’s kids menu options.

Dinner:

Wolfgang Puck Express (West Side)

Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures tonight. DH and I both had a chicken sandwich. I can’t remember what it was called. DS had a cheese pizza which was very good and DD had the pepperoni and mushroom pizza.

WARNING- The Westside location of WPE does not have a full menu. I didn’t know this. I expected to see the plethora of menu items that I had seen on DIS and all they had were sandwiches and pizza. They were all extremely delicious but I was expecting more. I did finally make it to the market place location but I’ll get to that
later in the week.

 

[TruBlu]

I'm in! Great so far!!!

 

[KELLY]

Thanks so much for doing this. We are staying at pop again also. We decied to stick with the QSDP also. I could upgrade but the TS meal we want are T-rex,Rainforest and garden grill. So not worth it to us to upgrade. Plus for a 10 day stay we only have one adr.

 

[Denamac]

We are on the QSDP in September. The only OOP meal we are paying for is 'Ohana too. My girls have to have this meal! Looking forward to the rest of your reviews.

 

[NoodlesMom]

I'm in! Great so far!!!

Thanks!

Thanks so much for doing this. We are staying at pop again also. We decied to stick with the QSDP also. I could upgrade but the TS meal we want are T-rex,Rainforest and garden grill. So not worth it to us to upgrade. Plus for a 10 day stay we only have one adr.

The only TS that we wanted was Ohana so we fugured we would stick with QSDP and I am so glad we did. It freed up a lot of our time.

We are on the QSDP in September. The only OOP meal we are paying for is 'Ohana too. My girls have to have this meal! Looking forward to the rest of your reviews.

We love Ohana. We are going back on an adult trip in September and the first thing that I did was make my Ohana ressie .

 

[kerri0616]

Hey

I just wanted to say that I'm also a math teacher! We stayed at POP last year and also did the QSDP! And the only TS we paid OOP for was Ohana!!

I also won't pay full price for anything!

You have wonderful taste!!!!!!

Kerri

 

[NoodlesMom]

Day 3 was Epcot day. We didn’t get breakfast this morning so we had an early lunch. We stopped at Yorkshire Fish Shop. There were actually two fish fillets on this platter. Ofcourse I remebered to take the picture after the first one was gone.

My family didn’t really care for this. I’ve read other people say that this place is really authentic but it was just too greasy for me. DS peeled the fried crust off and ate the fish. I’m glad I tried but it just wasn’t for us.


There are many great TS restaurants in Epcot but I really didn’t like any of the options for the QS restaurants. We decided to have dinner at POP tonight instead of eating at the parks. I love the Everything Pop food court. Pop is the only Disney resort that I’ve been to so I don’t have any others to compare it to. Before dinner, we went back to the room to drop off some things and I forgot to bring the camera. I had the chicken alfredo and I thought it was very tasty. I also tried this in 07 and it was just as good. DH had the double cheeseburger but he said it was just OK. It’s funny that he’s had two hamburgers so far because the only way he would agree to QSDP is if he didn’t have to eat burgers every day. I don’t remember what the kids had but after dinner we took a stroll around the resort before heading to bed.

 

[NoodlesMom]

Day 4
Today we went to Hollywood Studios. We love this park but QS the dinning selections are lacking. We skipped breakfast again and ate an early lunch at Toy story pizza planet. Unfortunately, no pictures today. DH, DD and myself ordered the pepperoni pizza and DS ordered the cheese pizza. Lunch was pretty good. Our meals also came with a small dinner salad and Mickey rice crispy treats for dessert (yum). The pizza was pretty standard but we like it. This was our second visit here and it didn’t disappoint.

The night that we went to the wrong WPE location, I went back to the room and asked my fellow DIS’ers if the menu had change. They pointed me in the right direction which was the Marketplace location. Our bill came out to $89. Craziness! It was very good but that was the most expensive QS meal by far. Thank goodness for the dinning plan.

The food was very good. This was my second favorite QS meal. EOS was number one but I’ll get to that later. This was the Pennette Chicken Alfredo and it was tasty. I also loved the fact the we were able to eat it on real plates and silverware. We also had a waiter but he wasn’t very impressive. He only refilled our drinks once and DD had to go the front counter to pick up their ice cream desserts because he never brought them out. If you choose ice cream for dessert, the waiter is supposed to bring it to you after you complete your meal so that it doesn’t melt. I really didn’t mind since we were eating QS.

DD ordered the Salmon. I told you she was a healthy eater. She really enjoyed it but she didn’t like the type of lettuce underneath.

DH had the Half Rotisserie Chicken. He’s a beef lover so he said that it was just OK. I tasted it and thought it was wonderful. The next time we go to WPE, that’s what I’m getting.

DS had the Crispy Chicken Tenders & French Fries from the adult menu. WPE does not distinguish between adult and child so he was able to have anything on the menu and this is what he chooses. The piece of lettuce really freaked him out. He despises anything green. After about five minutes of guaranteeing him that the lettuce didn’t contaminate the rest of his meal, he ate it.

 

[NoodlesMom]

Today we also had an easy breezy freezy while at DHS. I loved this drink and it was very refreshing. I liked it so much that it is one of the only pictures I took of our snacks. There is popcorn in the box. It was pretty good but very salty.

 

[vettegirl]

I love Disney popcorn, how do they make soooo good! I really only eat popcorn at Disney, as I know it has a ton of calories. Great reviews so far

 

[NoodlesMom]

Today we had lunch at Earl of Sandwich. Let me start by saying that I am not a sandwich person. I feel like I can make a sandwich at home so why pay for it. The only reason I tried EOS was because of all of the excellent reviews on DIS and I am soooooooo happy we did. My sandwich was awesome!

I know it doesn’t look like much but it was melt in your mouth deliciousness. I had the Earls Club.

DD had the Italian. I know it doesn’t look like much but the bread is awesome.

DS had the Pizza Sandwich and it looked very good. He enjoyed it so much that he wouldn’t give me a bite.

For dinner we ordered pizza from the food court at POP. A large pizza was only two CS credits if you picked it up. It was actually pretty good and the box was huge. There was enough for all four of us. We also picked up a Greek salad which was very tasty.

I wish that I would have taken a picture of the entire box but I forgot. Here’s a slice.

Up Next:
Flame Tree Barbeque , snacks, and more Wolfgang Puck Express (no pics)

 

[NoodlesMom]

Day 6

I don’t really care for Animal Kingdom. It is my family’s least favorite park. It doesn’t feel right to go to Disney and miss an entire park so we gave it another try. I also wanted to go and try Flame Tree BBQ. I’ve seen rave reviews about the ribs. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

I know that my reasons are mostly due to that fact that I’m from Texas. BBQ to us is like mac and cheese to some. Pork ribs are a staple in our diet. I didn’t expect real BBQ but these were just not good to me. DH enjoyed them and he said that they were very “meaty”.
DD got the chicken salad.

It was okay but the chicken is cut really fine and there wasn’t much of it.
DS had the chicken nuggets.
We left the park pretty early today and went back to POP to swim. While DH and the kids were in the pool, I went to the food court to pick up a snack.

The cheese fries were only one snack credit each. You could also get cheese nachos or regular fries.



For dinner, we went back to WPE. Tonight DD and I got the meatloaf. It was my favorite dish for sure! It’s not traditional meatloaf but it was very good. The mashed potatoes were out of this world. DD also loved it. DH had a pepperoni pizza. He say’s that the West Side location has better pizza. Their pizza menu is totally different. I don’t remember what DS had but I’m pretty sure it involved chicken and french fries.

I have four days of inservice training to do, so I will have to put my report on hold for a few days. Only one more day left.

Up next: Columbia Harbor House

 

[cherjp]

I am ready and waiting ........ good reviews

 

[NoodlesMom]

Today was our last day. We went back to the Magic Kingdom today and ate lunch at Columbia Harbor House. This restaurant was definitely a must do. I wish we would have eaten here on our first MK day. We would have probably eaten here twice. I apologize in advance for the horrible pictures. DH dropped the camera and ruined the flash.

I got the shrimp platter and they were very good. The shrimp were a nice size and cooked perfectly. We were the second family in line after the restaurant opened and everything was very fresh. One thing that I forgot to mention in my other reviews is that when you order; make sure that you order a large drink, if that’s what you want. The CS restaurants will usually give you the medium by default.

DH had the fried fish. We both liked the fish here a lot more than the fish at the Yorkshire Fish Shop. The portion was a little small for DH so he also got the shrimp platter and used 2 CS credits. Since one of our dinners was a large pizza from Pop which only cost 2 CS credits, we had a few left over. I’m not sure how this works if you order all at once, but after DH realized that the fish platter was a little small he got back in line and ordered the second meal.

DD had the Anchors Away sandwich. She enjoyed it. Since I’m not a big sandwich person, it was just ok to me. It tastes like something I could make at home.

DS had chicken of course so I just stopped taking pictures of his meals.

Tonight we had Pizza at pop again. This was our last night so we spent most of our time packing up and taking one last swim in the pool.



Final thoughts about the QSDP:

What did I think about the QSDP?

I loved it! Yes, there were a few things that I didn’t care for but there are so many options to choose from I could have found something else. The one thing that I absolutely loved about the QSDP was the snack credits and the refillable mugs. Unlike the regular dinning plan that only offers 1 snack credit per day, 2 snack credits allowed us to have a snack in the parks as well as a snack back at the hotel. We are thinking about going back next December with the kids and we would absolutely do this again. We would do the same thing and pay OOP for Ohana. Disney has many good TS restaurants but we enjoyed the freedom of the QS plan. I don’t necessarily go to Disney to eat so the TS plan just takes too much of our time. I hope that this review was helpful.

Coming up: A quick Drinking Around the World review with pictures!!

 

[NoodlesMom]

Hey

I just wanted to say that I'm also a math teacher! We stayed at POP last year and also did the QSDP! And the only TS we paid OOP for was Ohana!!

I also won't pay full price for anything!

You have wonderful taste!!!!!!

Kerri

Math teachers think alike!!

I am ready and waiting ........ good reviews

Thanks! I hope this helps someone.

 

[NoodlesMom]

DH and I thought this was so much fun. Although DH is a beer drinker, I am not. We decided to stick with the fruity drinks tonight.

I will rate the drinks with thumbs up. 5 thumbs being the best.

Welsh Dragon (UK) 1/2

Grey Goose Slush

Grand Marnier Slush

Sultons Calada Habibi Daiquiri
(I thought the Habibi Daiquiri taste like flowers.)

Blood Orange Margarita

Thanks for reading and have a great Disney vacation!!!!!

 

[KELLY]

Thanks for doing this again. I can't wait to try the QSDP for the first time in a couple of months. I just can't wait to not have to be at a ADR.

 

[princess aleya]

Great Review