Jen & Rob's Not-So-Scary Deluxe Dining Report UPDATE 10/23 - Breakfast at 'Ohana

Signing myself up for your report. I also have ulcerative colitis (diagnosed a little over a year ago) so I'm interested to see how dining at Disney with UC goes. This December will be first trip after my diagnosis, and while my own UC is fairly under control, I do still worry about how it will affect me sometimes.

Glad that you're getting better!
 
I'm following along as well!!
You had me @ ur love of Kona & the mimosa w/ the special poly juice.:rotfl: I think I'll try that. :goodvibes
 
Signing myself up for your report. I also have ulcerative colitis (diagnosed a little over a year ago) so I'm interested to see how dining at Disney with UC goes. This December will be first trip after my diagnosis, and while my own UC is fairly under control, I do still worry about how it will affect me sometimes.

Glad that you're getting better!

I'm sorry to hear that you know how it goes. It's a big concern for me since I'm juuuuust turning the corner now into feeling better. Thanks for the good wishes!
 


Hi, love your plans!! Yummm!! So sorry to hear about your health problems the past year and I hope this trip is the beginning of feeling better and stronger than ever!!! We'll be there the 15th through the 22nd and another week in Orlando, with one or two appearances at WDW!

Looking forward to more!!
 


Hi, love your plans!! Yummm!! So sorry to hear about your health problems the past year and I hope this trip is the beginning of feeling better and stronger than ever!!! We'll be there the 15th through the 22nd and another week in Orlando, with one or two appearances at WDW!

Looking forward to more!!


Your report looks delicious already!
Can't wait to hear more :goodvibes


Count me in for this culinary adventure! :goodvibes

Thank you, everyone! :)
 
We're still trying to get an ADR for Yachtsman on Monday night, since we booked 'Ohana on the night we were supposed to be enjoying our juicy steaks. At the moment, there's only one slot open - at 8:40. Um, no thanks. I'm already putting a night's sleep in jeopardy by dining at 'Ohana when I'm normally asleep...

Anyway, let's talk about Yachtsman. My first WDW dinner was enjoyed there, on the first evening of our honeymoon.

yachtsman0001.jpg


We were so young and fresh-faced. Those were the days.

Incidentally, that was one of the best pina coladas I've ever had.

yachtsman_board.jpg


On our last visit, I ordered the charcuterie board as an appetizer. I don't think I'd order it again - it was way too filling (especially for such an overall heavy meal), and just okay. I wasn't blown away by it.

yachtsman_bisque.jpg


I'm pretty sure Guitarob has always ordered the lobster bisque. I'd say he's a fan. ;)

Typically, I'm not a huge red meat eater. I'm that person who'll order seafood at a steakhouse...unless I'm really in the mood for beef. And it seems like I'm always in the mood for it when we're at Yachtsman. I could do a lot worse, right?

yachtsman_filet.jpg


Normally I order the filet. I like my meat pretty bloody - medium rare. And it's always been cooked perfectly to my liking, not to mention well seasoned and basically delicious in every way. If we make it back there this time around, I'll definitely order it again.

Oh, and I always mash the roasted garlic in with the mashed potatoes. Because it's the right thing to do.

One time, my eyes were much bigger than my stomach and I ordered the porterhouse. Ouch. I mean, it was yummy...just completely overwhelming. I felt like I needed to keep eating in order to do justice to it.

It was painful.

Rob wasn't put off, though, and he ordered it for the second time on our next visit.

yachtsman_porterhouse.jpg


That's a lot of meat.

yachtsman_spinach.jpg


I'm a huge fan of creamed spinach in general, and always order it. The last time we were there it seemed even richer than usual - to its detriment. I've never been much for moderation, but even I know that it's possible to have too much of a good thing. And there was way too much cheese in that batch.

yachtsman_brulee.jpg


I really liked the creme brulee - again, nothing overly special, but then again I rarely find desserts in Disney to be amazing.

I mean, they can't all be bananas foster bread pudding, right? ;)

I really hope we manage to get in there this year. We've always enjoyed lingering over our meal, and it's always been delicious!
 
Yay that your trip is in almost one week! Polynesian theme park view club level should be absolutely heavenly, and all of the restaurants you picked are capable of serving some great food. :thumbsup2
 
Okay.

I know I should be working right now (last work week before vacation...always a joy), but I had to fill you all in on the latest changes to our itinerary.

Long story short: In the interest of eeking out just one more full day o' Disney, we're spending the night of the 21st at Pop Century! This will allow us to not rush through our dinner and right into a towncar to the airport. Granted, we'll be leaving early Saturday AM (7:00...groan...not so much fun when you're on the way home...). But it's worth it!

We have yet to decide exactly what we're going to do on that last full day - we have access to the Poly pool & lounge til midnight, and I'd love to spend one more afternoon there. We can always carry a backpack with a change of clothes for dinner, etc. But then there's the tempting thought of just heading over to Pop after whichever park we choose to spend time in that morning, in case a nap becomes necessary. No idea!

The beauty part: We don't have to have it all figured out ahead of time!

We'll likely catch Illuminations, and so have ditched the ADR at Chefs for Thursday afternoon and booked dinner on Friday instead. I can't lie - I'm not 100% sold on Chefs since I've heard so many middling-to-poor reviews. But I'm always the first person to tell others not to listen so much to reviews, so... ;)

We managed to get a decent ADR at Yachtsman for Monday 9/17, so we'll most likely go to DHS, over to YS for dinner, then back to DHS in order to take advantage of EMH's and what will hopefully be a quieter park thanks to Fantasmic. We can dream, right? :)

Whew! :faint: So many changes! But it only adds to the anticipation!

:hyper:
 
Yay, another night at WDW! :cool1: I'll edit your trip info on my list. ;)

Also, I can't seem to remember if I had asked you if you might like to do any live reporting during your trip??? You would just have to take an occasional pic with your phone and text it to me with a short description. I would do all the rest of the work. If it sounds like fun, just note back here or send me a PM.
 
Our Tuesday night dinner will be spent at Artist Point, tucked within the beautiful Wilderness Lodge.

wl_outside.jpg


We really looked forward to this visit in 2010, as we'd heard great things about both the food and the resort. My extended family stays there frequently and they absolutely love it.

After a bit of exploration, we could see why!

wl_lamp.jpg


I just love how the theme is carried out down to the very last detail. Disney is so good at that. :)

wl_view.jpg


Talk about peaceful and tranquil. Not to mention lovely.

Once we'd explored to our hearts' content, we settled in for some grub.

wl_artistpoint.jpg


First and foremost, we've never been anything but blown away by the generosity we encounter at just about every restaurant in light of the fact that we're always celebrating when we go - first our honeymoon, then two subsequent anniversaries. So we almost always get champagne or some other complimentary thingamajig. At AP, we were presented with blackberry champagne.

ap_blackberrychampagne.jpg


It was so yummy! And the perfect start to our meal.

Can we discuss the mushroom soup momentarily? Can we, please?

ap_portobello.jpg


I'd heard great things about it. I was totally jazzed about ordering it. But nothing could prepare me for that first taste. I found myself thanking my lucky stars that Rob doesn't like mushrooms - so I wouldn't have to share.

I'm pretty sure I moaned and groaned throughout that first course.

ap_buffalo.jpg


Rob's grilled buffalo was a revelation. He couldn't stop raving about how delicious and perfectly cooked it was. He was even generous enough to share a bite and I had to agree that it was amazing.

ap_salmon.jpg


Meanwhile, I had some seriously romantic thoughts about my salmon. Thoughts I can't share here because this is a family place. :blush:

ap_trufflefries.jpg


And truffle fries. Hello, my crispy little lovers. I don't see them on any online menus - are they still offered? Because I swear to you, they were hands-down the best fries I've ever eaten. I'm not a big fry person - much like when it comes to beef, I have to be in the mood - so it takes a lot for me to say that I went crazy over them.

I'm not even as committed to the mushroom soup as I am to the truffle fries. That should tell you something.

Me + truffle fries = 4-ever :lovestruc

Rob surprised me afterwards by declaring Artist Point to be a very close second to California Grill - in fact, he named AP as a "must-do", which until that point only included CG. I was amazed...but not terribly.

Because it was a great meal - and we're hoping to enjoy an even better one this time around!
 
Every time I read a review about Artist Point, it just makes me want to try it even more. Yours looked especially delicious. That mushroom soup in particular! Yum! :woohoo:

 
When we’'re lucky enough to be spending our anniversary in WDW, our anniversary dinner is always spent at California Grill. For us it’'s the most special restaurant in the World. I can’'t quite put my finger on what makes it so. I guess it’'s a combination of the terrific service we’'ve always received, the excellent food we've always enjoyed, and the atmosphere which I’'ve always found relaxing (especially when we were seated in the much-quieter wine room in 2010). We usually linger over our meal for up to two hours, just enjoying being there. I think my fondest memory involves sipping scotch and bourbon while looking out over the Magic Kingdom in 2009.

I’'m just gonna put it out there for y’'all now: We eat like pigs when we go there. As my husband put it in his trip report from 2010, Warning: The amount of food consumed this night would have probably fed a small third-world country for an evening. The following is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. It was our anniversary, and apparently, gluttony was on the menu. :rotfl:

cali_cheeseflatbread.jpg


We’'ve always shared a flatbread, and in 2010 it was the Four Cheese. Yummy, as always. I’'m wondering if we’'ll share a flatbread this time – I’'m intrigued by the cheeseburger one, as well as the chicken and bacon since we had one very similar on our honeymoon and I fell in love with it.

cali_stempura.jpg


The deluxe sushi platter features two pieces of heaven, aka a shrimp tempura roll with mango, wrapped in soy paper. Honestly, I don’'t know what it is about this roll that I love so much...is it the mix of textures? The way the soy paper just melts away? The way the sweet mango pairs so unbelievably well with the slight saltiness of the tempura coating around the shrimp? All I know is that I darn near made a fool of myself when I tasted it for the first time. Like, gripping the table cloth and making strange animal noises. I’'m serious. It was not my proudest moment. :lovestruc

I straight up almost said "“No fair!”" when I saw a young boy at another table with a plate of just the shrimp tempura roll. Had I known it was possible at the time I would have ordered the same thing as an appetizer.

During our 2010 trip, I did just that. I managed to share it with Rob because I’'m generous and a very good wife.

Then came my favorite sushi roll ever (and I eat a.lot.of.sushi. in my day-to-day life): Spicy Kazan Roll. :love:

cali_kazan.jpg


Oh, goodness. How fortunate I am that Rob ordered this on our first trip. It’s been a straight-up love affair ever since. For those of you not in the know, under all that beautiful crunchy goodness in the middle is a mini lake composed of spicy mayo sauce (which I could drink with a straw) and the cutest, sweetest little scallops you’'ll ever wrap your mouth around. :cloud9:

There is not a single thing about this roll and its presentation that I don’'t absolutely adore. There’s's no way we could ever share this… - Rob gets ugly over it. And if he tries to deny it, don’t believe him. He’'s full of baloney.

For those keeping track, that’'s one roll apiece, plus a shared roll and a shared flatbread. And we hadn’'t even gotten entrees yet.

Up to that point, my dinners at CG had been straight-up sushi. On this trip, though, I felt the urge to expand my horizons a bit, and since I’'d heard many good things about the pork tenderloin, I figured I’'d give it a try.

cali_tenderloin.jpg


:worship: And let me state with 100% seriousness that this was and is to this day the best entrée I’'ve ever eaten. From start to finish – the quality and preparation of the pork, the mustard rub, the amazingly creamy and cheesy polenta which left me wanting to lick the plate clean, the mushrooms in their glaze (I’'m sort of a mushroom freak in the first place). Everything worked together perfectly and I ate way more of it than I thought I’'d be able to handle since, let’'s face it, I’'d already eaten more than my fair share before the pork even made it to the table.

Needless to say, I’'ll be ordering this next week. Oh yes.

cali_filet2.jpg


Rob usually gets the filet (except for the time in 2009 when they had scallops with gnocchi and pears in some sort of bacon-infused sauce…...oh my lord…). The filet doesn’t disappoint.

I’'ve said it before and I’'ll say it again: With the exception of the bread pudding at ‘Ohana and the little bit of cheesecake I managed to steal from Rob at Narcoossee’s, the desserts I’'ve eaten in WDW restaurants have generally failed to excite me. Honestly, I’'d rather order a cheese plate in most cases. Does anyone know if the cheese plate at CG is available as a dessert? I think I’'ve seen dining reports where that was the case. Regardless, while the desserts at CG are typically delicious, they just don’'t wow me.

But will I eat them? Sure. Because that’'s how I roll. :rolleyes1

It looks like this meal will be much the same as the last, at least for me! And I'm totally cool with that. I’'m a creature of habit, and I like to stick with what I know works. Rob is the same way. Which is why we keep going back to California Grill time and again. :lovestruc
 
I'm going to my first meal at Cali Grill on sept 28.... I can hardly wait! You've got me wanting to try the pork now, and I'm a big time steak lover! Almost all our meals this trip have steak though, (Cali grill, Teppan Edo, OHANA, yactmans)....so I may just venture out and try something new! :thumbsup2 those sushi rolls look amazing, I am braving trying sushi for my first time at Cali grill too.....something more than my usual safe California roll! The tempura shrimp sushi looks amazing and right up my alley! The spicy Kazan roll looks good too,so I don't know which one I'll order yet, but it'll be one of those!
Thanks for sharing, and I can't wait! 13 days until I check into mt FIRST poly CL stay! :cool1: I could only afford garden view at club level, but I think we will love it there! :lovestruc


When we’'re lucky enough to be spending our anniversary in WDW, our anniversary dinner is always spent at California Grill. For us it’'s the most special restaurant in the World. I can’'t quite put my finger on what makes it so. I guess it’'s a combination of the terrific service we’'ve always received, the excellent food we've always enjoyed, and the atmosphere which I’'ve always found relaxing (especially when we were seated in the much-quieter wine room in 2010). We usually linger over our meal for up to two hours, just enjoying being there. I think my fondest memory involves sipping scotch and bourbon while looking out over the Magic Kingdom in 2009.

I’'m just gonna put it out there for y’'all now: We eat like pigs when we go there. As my husband put it in his trip report from 2010, Warning: The amount of food consumed this night would have probably fed a small third-world country for an evening. The following is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. It was our anniversary, and apparently, gluttony was on the menu. :rotfl:

cali_cheeseflatbread.jpg


We’'ve always shared a flatbread, and in 2010 it was the Four Cheese. Yummy, as always. I’'m wondering if we’'ll share a flatbread this time – I’'m intrigued by the cheeseburger one, as well as the chicken and bacon since we had one very similar on our honeymoon and I fell in love with it.

cali_stempura.jpg


The deluxe sushi platter features two pieces of heaven, aka a shrimp tempura roll with mango, wrapped in soy paper. Honestly, I don’'t know what it is about this roll that I love so much...is it the mix of textures? The way the soy paper just melts away? The way the sweet mango pairs so unbelievably well with the slight saltiness of the tempura coating around the shrimp? All I know is that I darn near made a fool of myself when I tasted it for the first time. Like, gripping the table cloth and making strange animal noises. I’'m serious. It was not my proudest moment. :lovestruc

I straight up almost said "“No fair!”" when I saw a young boy at another table with a plate of just the shrimp tempura roll. Had I known it was possible at the time I would have ordered the same thing as an appetizer.

During our 2010 trip, I did just that. I managed to share it with Rob because I’'m generous and a very good wife.

Then came my favorite sushi roll ever (and I eat a.lot.of.sushi. in my day-to-day life): Spicy Kazan Roll. :love:

cali_kazan.jpg


Oh, goodness. How fortunate I am that Rob ordered this on our first trip. It’s been a straight-up love affair ever since. For those of you not in the know, under all that beautiful crunchy goodness in the middle is a mini lake composed of spicy mayo sauce (which I could drink with a straw) and the cutest, sweetest little scallops you’'ll ever wrap your mouth around. :cloud9:

There is not a single thing about this roll and its presentation that I don’'t absolutely adore. There’s's no way we could ever share this… - Rob gets ugly over it. And if he tries to deny it, don’t believe him. He’'s full of baloney.

For those keeping track, that’'s one roll apiece, plus a shared roll and a shared flatbread. And we hadn’'t even gotten entrees yet.

Up to that point, my dinners at CG had been straight-up sushi. On this trip, though, I felt the urge to expand my horizons a bit, and since I’'d heard many good things about the pork tenderloin, I figured I’'d give it a try.

cali_tenderloin.jpg


:worship: And let me state with 100% seriousness that this was and is to this day the best entrée I’'ve ever eaten. From start to finish – the quality and preparation of the pork, the mustard rub, the amazingly creamy and cheesy polenta which left me wanting to lick the plate clean, the mushrooms in their glaze (I’'m sort of a mushroom freak in the first place). Everything worked together perfectly and I ate way more of it than I thought I’'d be able to handle since, let’'s face it, I’'d already eaten more than my fair share before the pork even made it to the table.

Needless to say, I’'ll be ordering this next week. Oh yes.

cali_filet2.jpg


Rob usually gets the filet (except for the time in 2009 when they had scallops with gnocchi and pears in some sort of bacon-infused sauce…...oh my lord…). The filet doesn’t disappoint.

I’'ve said it before and I’'ll say it again: With the exception of the bread pudding at ‘Ohana and the little bit of cheesecake I managed to steal from Rob at Narcoossee’s, the desserts I’'ve eaten in WDW restaurants have generally failed to excite me. Honestly, I’'d rather order a cheese plate in most cases. Does anyone know if the cheese plate at CG is available as a dessert? I think I’'ve seen dining reports where that was the case. Regardless, while the desserts at CG are typically delicious, they just don’'t wow me.

But will I eat them? Sure. Because that’'s how I roll. :rolleyes1

It looks like this meal will be much the same as the last, at least for me! And I'm totally cool with that. I’'m a creature of habit, and I like to stick with what I know works. Rob is the same way. Which is why we keep going back to California Grill time and again. :lovestruc
 
I am braving trying sushi for my first time at Cali grill too.....something more than my usual safe California roll! The tempura shrimp sushi looks amazing and right up my alley! The spicy Kazan roll looks good too,so I don't know which one I'll order yet, but it'll be one of those!

The California Grill is one of the best places you can choose to really try out sushi. It's all so fresh and excellently prepared. You'll love it!
 

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