I am so excited to have all of you along with me! I once read someones dining report where they said that writing all this helps relive the trip and it does!!! I would absolutely suggest doing a dining report on your next trip!
Today we had planned to do AK and then HS.. AK had am extra magic hours, which never really phases us.. i don't ever base our schedule on crowd predictions or avoiding the EMH. I check out the hours of the park and go from there!
So like i said in a previous post, we tended to eat breakfast a Pop almost every morning, it was just much more convenient. If any of you have stayed at Pop, you know they have pretty much the biggest food court ever - there are so many options you could eat there every day for 2 weeks and never get the same thing! *which is pretty much what we did! lol*
So, bright eyed and bushy tailed we headed over very early to grab some breakfast and hit AK!
Breakfast
POP Waffle with Meat $5.69
Apple Juice Box $1.99
Milk Chocolate 8oz $1.49
we both got the pop waffles, dan got apple juice and i got a chocolate milk (vacation breakfast staple as chocolate milk in my house is like
) THESE ARE CONSISTENTLY GOOD. i like to have faith in humanity that even the most disgruntled disney employee (what! never) could not screw up a pop waffle! They were nice and crispy on the outside.. not soggy, which in hindsight, i should have asked them their secret. We have one of those intense waffle makers at home, the kind that rotate.. but sometimes they come out a little soggy. Dan eats his waffle with just butter.... and i more of a syrup kind of girl! The waffle also comes with your choice of meat, bacon or sausage.. so that got handed off to Dan right away. He ended up getting so much bacon this trip because, well im not eating it.. he likes Disney bacon.. from the looks of it though it always seemed a little floppy.. sorry not in this pic! Also, we decided to pay OOP for some quick breakfasts as at first i was not willing to waste a QS/snack credit.. which in the end kind of rushed us to use what we had left.
Total: $15.13
DDP: 0 credits used
OOP: $15.13
We hit up AK and i got some awesome pictures, i'm gonna post them at the end of this - just to share!
Let me say that being at AK is like walking on the surface of the sun, do they import the heat from Africa as well?!?!!? I really have no idea why it seems so much hotter there.. prob all psychological.. those imagineers! Anyways we stopped for a drink at
The Royal Anandapur Tea Company.. which i had heard about on the Dis and we were aimless looking for this place.. i even pulled out a map lol i know, we keep the map just in case hahah.. a super nice CM heard my anxiety about locating this place as i still don't believe it is located on that map.. but if you all want to go there its almost directly across from the Flights of Wonder theater.. just opposite side and down a little.
Frozen Cappuccino $4.79/$5.29/$5.79
Fruit Smoothie $4.79/$5.29/$5.79 ( i believe it was mango)
Dan had the fruit, i had the cappuccino... his was VERY sweet.. i prob couldn't drink the whole thing by myself.. but the frozen cappuccino.. to DIE for, seriously i will have to see if any place up here makes one! so amazing on a hot day in Africa right! the only downside is using the paper straws, but ITS FOR THE ANIMALS!!!!! So we should not complain!
Total: $9.58
DDP: 2 Snack Credits
OOP: $0.00
I also thought i was a genious because in my head im like, well i can use a
Snack Credit so i am
going to get the biggest one! hahaha and then the CM was like.. uhm no, only the small is include... OK, that's cool.. i wouldn't even finish that big one anywayssssss.
Lunch
I am not one to plan QS locations, i like to plan and all but i would lose my mind if i had to ensure we were at certain places to go along with the QS schedule.. so we just figure the QS out as we go along!
We decided to head to DTD.. which we love, and we would go to Earl of Sandwhich.. i was a little hesitant at first because i am sometimes peculiar when it comes to food/drinks.. for instance at subway i only like the bread toasted.. even though they have to question me 10x times if i want the cheese melted too.. NO no thank you.. i do not want the cheese melted.. and i tend not to like warm sandwiches.. and Earl is for the most part all heated up! anyways - i checked out the menu and BAM! fresh mozz and tomato sandwhich.. yes please!
Walking through the line, a CM came up and asked if we had any questions, and even though we had been here before, i like to make sure we are all on the same DDP page. So, i asked her what was included which was an entree, a drink, and then you could get a dessert OR you could get a side of potato/macaroni salad/coleslaw! YAY! i was so excited to hear this because usually places do not offer alternatives to dessert and i love their potato salad. For dessert or a side you can get the smaller cups (anything under $2.50), not the large ones.. but a small one was more than enough! They also have some brownies and cupcakes towards the end of the line.. i believe they have some pudding as well!
The Caprese - fresh mozzarella, roma tomatos, fresh basil and drizzled balsamic vinaigrette $5.99
SO GOOD! there was just enough balsamic to add something to it but not ruin it, ya know! The mozzarella was gooey and tomatoes were nice and cooked!
Dan just ordered a regular Turkey and Cheddar Cheese.. which i didn't even realize you could just order what you wanted! good to know! $5.99
Dan said it was really good.. he related it to the sandwiches from Panera Bread (if anyone is familiar with that place) so far we were
Here are the $2.50 sides, macaroni and potato salad.
The potato salad was excellent, just enough mayo - big chunks of red skinned potatoes.. and it was NOT sweet.. i do not like when potato/macaroni salad is sweet, not sure why anyone would make it like that
Now the macaroni salad was a different story...
WAY WAY WAY too much mayo, think of like having some noodles with your bowl of mayo... the CM who put that together just got a little mayo happy.. basically had no taste other than mayo.. you could save yourself $2.50 and just hit up your fridge now with a big ol spoon and dig into your jar of mayo, and i assure you.. it will taste the same
haaha
Total: $20.82
DDP: 2 QS
OOP: $0.00
DINNER
Now let me preface this by saying Mama Melrose is one of our favorites.. and i totally jinxed us.. someone had posted on the dis about how they always wait at Mama Melrose for a table.. like so long.. and the one post i do reply to, im like... WOW! I AM SHOCKED, I NEVER WAIT FOR A TABLE, IT'S SO GREAT THERE.. yadda yadda yadda.
Well we arrive, and long story short - they are backed up and will be seating people... wait for it...
40 minutes after your ressie
wow, were there a lot of not so happy tourists in that waiting area, but i have to give it to the hostesses/managers.. they stayed so calm and talked so nicely to everyone.. we didnt have anywhere to be, it was evening EMH.. so we sat our tooshies down and waited.. it ended up being about 20min after our ressie that we got seated. The smaller groups tended to get sat sooner, but when we went in we saw so many empty tables so im not exactly sure how or why they were so backed up.
Holly was our waitress, she was very cool and very apologetic about the wait.. no problemo
she brought out some
WARM and crispy on the outside! has anyone learned the secret to not stuff yourself with bread!?? please share if you have!
we were starving, so what did we do....
Crispy Calamari for Two - topped with grilled peppers and onions, served with dipping sauces $12.99
now Dan and I are from NJ, we are EYE TALIAN
sicilian and napoleton
so, we know our food.. and if you want to talk like a TRUE italian, you say "galamad" that is how calamari is pronounced up here.. but in Disney i do say " C A L I M A R I " because otherwise i get this look
.. !!
They changed this up a bit from the last time i've had it and they did a great job, not too chewy, didn't fall out of the breadcrumbs which sometimes leaves you with just the squid. AND the dipping sauces were awesome, a spicy marinara, sweet honey sauce, and some pesto!
I would like to say that Dan and I work as a couple because i like the tenticles and he likes the rings.. thats just how we roll
lol
Charred Strip Steak - with five-cheese baked macaroni, aged balsamic-shallot butter, and Chianti Wine Reduction $28.99
Sorry! didn't realize until now that this is blurry!
We had to send the steak back because Dan ordered it well done and it obviously spent about 2.5 seconds on the grill.. i get it though the cooks are trying to turn out that food especially with a backed up house, but is it really worth it to ignore orders? Dan said the steak was good when it did come, and he had eaten all his mac and cheese before they took the steak back, it was very creamy, thick and cheeeeesey!! And when they brought the steak back out they threw on some more mac and cheese!
Seafood Cioppino - fresh clams, shrimp, calamari, and mussels tossed with fregola pasta and a flavorful tomato seafood broth $21.99
This was.. alright. We have our own rating scale.. if i say something is "alright" means i wouldn't get it again or didnt like it... The pasta was like aci de pepe.. if you have ever had that they are tiny little round pasta balls.. the tomato broth was a little spicy and they do give you a pretty good portion of seafood, but they do bulk it up with calamari.. which since i just ate.. i was not interested. I'm glad i tried it but i wouldn't get this again.
Chocolate Amarettini Cheesecake $5.49
This was yummy, i tried it.. pretty good for cheesecake
but the real winner was
Chocolate Cannoli Cake - with cannoli and nutella filling $5.99
this little bad boy made up for that extended wait time! PLEASE go there and eat this... cannoli filling + nutella... you have just died and gone to eye talian heaven with Don Corleone!!! if you have never had nutella.. get to the store right now!!
Total: $75.45
DDP: 2 TS
OOP: $12.99 + tip
*Side note* I think disney is on to us DDP people who are trying to determine the value of the plan, i RARELY got a receipt with the totals.. next to all our food it always says $0.00 - unless it was not on the plan, so all the prices i am estimating using all ears*
next post will have some pictures from AK!
I can answer this!! I see this comment a lot and I know the answer! I work at a specialty store with a restaurant and this happens to us all the time. Many times one...or two...of our servers will call in sick or can't make it to work so just because we have the seats doesn't mean that we have enough servers to do the job. We could overload our servers and give them more tables than they should have but that would result in horrible service and extremely stressed out servers. Then customers would be very unhappy that they aren't getting the attention that they deserve, it takes a long time for refills, takes a long time to get the bill, etc...which then leads to complaints to the managers. So that is just my guess as to why they were backed up with empty seats - they were short staffed so they couldn't seat as many people. 
I totally cracked up reading this! I was born and raised on Long Island but moved to GA 15 years ago and had to learn how to speak so people would know what to bring me! 
