A lesson in sharing or how to turn 12 TS credits into 14 meals (COMPLETE)

[elaine amj]

Our family of 4 just returned from 12 days in WDW where we had 14 meals, 2 of which were signatures. Pretty much all we did was eat, eat, and eat some more. It was an absolutely fabulous vacation that revolved around food. And oh yea, we did some rides, slides, and video games. Did I mention we ate?

With 12 days of DDP, I was slightly concerned how we would be able to stretch our credits to cover all our meals. We didn’t want to pay OOP for too much but weren’t too concerned if we had to do so for a few meals. I brought some instant oatmeal but we planned to have most of our breakfasts in the food court as my DH likes a "proper breakfast".

Well...when all was said and done, we stretched and maximized our credits like crazy while still eating what we wanted and actually had extra CS and snack credits at the end of the day – which was perfect for us as we wanted to bring back souvenirs. The end result? We were stuffed, stuffed, stuffed! We ate like kings and all the choices I made for where to eat, etc were spot on and we had great experiences.

Our family likes to share meals. DH tries to be healthy and I try to eat somewhat reasonable portion sizes (but we’re on vacation so I splurged...a LOT!). Still, sharing meals makes me feel better about my portion sizes My DD eats like a pig (when she likes the food) and we always laugh about the bottomless pit she hides in her skinny frame. My DS has a much smaller appetite but DH pushes him to eat what he considers a "Reasonable portion" - which I always consider way too much!

My rating system:
Yuck, yuck, YUCK! Will never, ever eat here again
Edible, but forgettable
Decent, will eat here again but will not go out of my way
Good, will happily eat here again
Loved it!!! Highly recommend this!

Day 1
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Leaning Palms at Typhoon Lagoon
Snacks: Ice Cream (2) and Large pastries (3) from stands at Typhoon Lagoon
Dinner: Cooke's of Dublin

Day 2
Breakfast: Pepper Market at Coronado Springs Resort
Lunch: Random CS in Blizzard Beach
Snacks: Snow cone (2) and Roasted pecans from stands in Blizzard Beach
Dinner: Turf Club at Saratoga Springs

Day 3
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Le Cellier
Snacks: 3 snacks (can't remember what) and pastries from French Bakery (4) for breakfast the next morning
Dinner: Teppan Edo

Day 4
Breakfast: Snacks from Boulangerie Patisserie (purchased the night before)
Lunch: 50s Prime Time
Snacks: 1 bag popcorn, 1 carrot cake cookie from Writer's Stop, 1 gigantic M&M cookie from Writer's Stop and 1 iced coffee, also from Writer's Stop
Dinner: Catalina Eddie's at DHS

Day 5
Brunch: Wolfgang Puck Express at DtD Marketplace
Snacks: 2 bags popcorn from DQ
Dinner: Whispering Canyon Cafe

Day 6
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Restaurantasaurus
Snack: 1 iced ginger tea from the Joy of Tea
Dinner: Boma

Day 7
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Columbia Harbor House
Snacks: 2 Dole Whips, 1 Popsicle, and 1 Citrus Swirl
Dinner: Ohana

Day 8
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Katsura Grill & Chefs de France
Snacks: 1 school bread, 1 pastry from Norway bakery, 1 Kaki Gori, 1 giant cookie from Karamel Kuche
Dinner: Garden Grill

Day 9
Brunch: Beaches & Cream
Lunch: Lottawatta Lodge at Blizzard Beach
Snacks: none
Dinner: Narcoossee

Day 10
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Wolfgang Puck Express at DtD Marketplace
Snacks: 2 popcorns from DQ and 2 candy treats from Goofy's in DtD
Dinner: Planet Hollywood & Wolfgang Puck Express West Side

Day 11
Brunch: Cinderella's Royal Table @ the Castle
Snack: 1 smoothie from Auntie Gravity's, 1 frozen carbonated drink from The Lunching Pad, and 12 treats from Main St candy store to bring home as gifts (and snacks for school!!)
Dinner: 1900 Park Fare

Day 12
Breakfast: Snacks
(whatever we had left in the room)
Lunch: Landscape of Flavors at Art of Animation

Day 1
Breakfast was shared at Pop. DH got the Bounty Platter and I ended up getting a sushi...just because I was in the mood LOL. The best part about getting a sushi instead of a breakfast entree is that I got to get a dessert with it. My DD wanted apple slices so that saved us a snack credit. So...2 CS credits (we all shared everything we ordered) and we were on a roll.
Edible, but forgettable

Lunch was at Typhoon Lagoon – just from one of their CS places. DH and I split a Chicken Caesar Wrap. It was completely gross. DS and DD split Chicken Strips/Nuggets (I use the terms interchangeably LOL). That was OK.
Yuck, yuck, YUCK! Will never, ever eat here again
AND
Edible, but forgettable

We used all 4 snacks today on 2 ice creams and 2 pastries. The pastries they sell are yummy and enormous and well worth a snack credit.
Good, will happily eat here again

For dinner we went to DTD with reservations at Trex. When we got there, we were told our TA messed up our ressies and it was for a different date (even though I double checked with her just before we left *sigh*). No problems, we were told to wait and they would accommodate us. My kids made a beeline for the dig area where they had a lot of fun digging for fossils. Less than 10 mins later, they called us and I had to drag them out kicking and screaming (ok - a bit of an exaggeration LOL). We were seated right outside the ice cave - very good seats where we could see everything and right beneath the meteor showed (which I found rather unimpressive to be honest). We didn't want to overeat so decided to split 2 meals for 2 TS credits. Our waitress took our order and went off. While waiting, wewandered the restaurant taking pics of the dinos. My DD is rather apprehensive with dinos (but is much better than she used to be!) so she stayed at a distance.

At this time the waitress came back and said there was no way we could share meals on the DDP at all. We asked for a manager and were told the same thing. No way, no how. We discussed it and decided to leave. My DS was a bit unhappy with our decision but after settling at Cooke's of Dublin(CS) enjoying a band and some delicious chicken strips, he forgave us and didn't ask to return to TRex.

I'm glad we left. It was a fun place but we had other meals planned and didn't want to spend all 4 TS credits there. By the way...we ate at 14 TS places in 12 days and had not a whit of problems anywhere else sharing our credits.

So dinner ended up at Cooke's of Dublin. The batter they use on everything is very very good and we really enjoyed our meals here. Chilling on an outdoor patio enjoying a band on a nice summer night was even better. Used up 4 CS here as we all wanted different things, I had the chicken and field mushroom pie. Very good - DH who doesn't like pie, kept stealing from me. DD had a gigantic cheeseburger which she pronounced "delicious", DS had the chicken strips (his fave), and DH had the scallops - YUM!! However, the Edy's ice cream was a disappointment. I expected hand scooped ice cream and it turned out to be softserve with a weird taste and a frozen crushed ice consistency. We didn't finish any of our ice cream.

Good, will happily eat here again

 

[elaine amj]

Day 2

Blizzard Beach today. For breakfast, we decided to head over to Pepper Market in Coronado Springs Resort. We slept in and got there about 10. They offer a really great deal - A full buffet breakfast for a CS credit. (they do the same thing for lunch) So we used 4 CS credits. The food was solidly decent and there was a nice variety.

Good, will happily eat here again

Later in the afternoon, we had lunch in a CS in Blizzard Beach. DH and I split a BLT salad. This was pretty good. I would order it again. Kids had something forgettable.

Decent, will eat here again but will not go out of my way

For dinner, it started raining so we left about 5pm (planned to leave at 6pm)and headed to Saratoga Springs for our reservation at the Turf Club. Yum, yum, and triple yum! It was verrrryyyy good and this was one of my fave TS meals. Great value for 1 TS credit. We used 2 adult meals, and 1 kids meal. I had the lamb chops which was as good as other reviewers say. My DH's steak was also very good. He enjoyed it more than the filet mignon I ordered at Narcoossee. My DD & DS shared the kids' steak and judging from the sounds of bliss...they enjoyed it. The cheesecake and warm apple torte were a nice ending.

Plus we really enjoyed the relaxing country club atmosphere. Best of all, we were allowed to order virgin drinks here. I had a pina colada and DH ordered a strawberry daiquiri for the kids to share. Nice treat - we don't drink pop often and typically order ice water, even on DDP.

My kids are newish into pin trading and pin trading at SSR was the very best experience we had. We were in the gift store first and they saw a giant pin board for the first time (All the resorts have them but they didn't know it then). At SSR they were the only ones there so it was a lovely, uncrowded experience and they spent 20 mins at it (At Pop - it was always crowded and only available for 2 set hours of the day and they limit you to 1 trade per person). SSR was completely unlimited and the CMs super gracious. They then referred us out to the front desk where there was another board. So after dinner, we went to the front desk. My kids now spent a glorious 30 mins while DH and I chilled. I apologized for taking up the CM's time and she assured me it was fine and "she had nothing else to do". She was so sweet with them.

Loved it!!! Highly recommend this!

 

[elaine amj]

Day 3

This was our Epcot day!

Breakfast was at Everything Pop and was forgettable. I don't remember what we had or how many credits we used.

Edible, but forgettable

Lunch was at Le Cellier and we chose to use 3 TS credits  2 adults and 1 kid. We loved Le Cellier last year and ate there twice. Went back again this year really looking forward to it. As good as we remember!!! Keep in mind, we went during free dining and did a 1TS lunch which colors our viewpoint a bit. I loooove the filet mignon, especially with the sauce and DH adores their house burger. I switched my side to the cream cheese mashed potatoes. I love risotto but last year found it too salty and decided not to chance it this year. My kids split a kids steak (after I asked for extra truffle mushroom sauce!)

I really enjoy the non-alcoholic drink options of the DDP here as well. We had the ginger lemonade...but unfortunately while good, wasn't as gingery as last year. Oh well - still a fun drink choice.

As a balance we decided to try Narcoossee this year at the end of our trip. I got the lobster and filet. DH thought my filet was not as good as my LC filet. I enjoyed it - it was a good cut of meat. Missed the sauce at LC though. Discovered I like my beef drowned in sauce. I also found my filet at LC just as good as the one at Narcoossee. The overall experience at Narcoossee was a bit better though...and our waiter was fantastic. More on Narccoossee later.

Loved it!!! Highly recommend this!

Dinner today was at Teppan Edo. It was sooooo much fun. I almost canceled the ressie and was so glad we didn't. The chef's show was a hoot and the whole experience was very enjoyable. We only ordered 2 meals for DH and I  filet mignon and swordfish. The kids shared the filet mignon (which is as good as everyone says) and DH and I split the swordfish (very good!). The chef split the portions up and served each of us. They happily brought my Ds an extra bowl of rice since for our dishes, rice was unlimited. I was worried about our split for this meal - I heard portions were small and I planned to supplement with CS afterwards. Turns out we were super full still from LC - we actually delayed dinner by 1 hour to try to get a bit more hungry! At the end of the day, because we were still rather full, the 2 TS meals were a perfect portion size. Keep in mind that they also serve rice and noodles. That said, if we were at our normal hunger level, I'm pretty sure we would have had to supplement with snacks/CS (very easy to do at Epcot!).

Loved it!!! Highly recommend this!

For snacks, we picked up pastries at the bakery in France before leaving for breakfast in the room the next morning. It wasnt quite as good as I remember  but better than other breakfast options.

 

[elaine amj]

Day 4
We switched up some of our plans and moved DHS to this day.

Again breakfast at Everything Pop was forgettable.

Edible, but forgettable

For lunch, I had no problems getting a 2pm 50s Prime Time reservation when I went online the day before. When at the park, my DD picked up FPs for Toy Story and sadly the return time was earlier than expected. This was going to conflict with our 2pm reservation. Thankfully I managed to get a walk-in a little after 11am (note: no online reservations available and at Guest Services I was told they were fully booked. When I walked in at 11am, tables were easily available). We got a TV table that I requested.

The food was decent. I ordered the sampler and shared it with DH. He ended up being glad we didnt order the whole dish of fried chicken as it was only so-so and not as great as I had hoped. We ordered the kids each their own meal which they liked well enough. Nothing hugely memorable. I also got the PB&J milkshake and our family was fairly blah about it. It was good but not a flavor we adored. We got a Dads brownie was ridiculously huge....and yummy. Definitely a great choice. Overall, we enjoyed the theming of the restaurant. Our waitress was ok with us but often disappeared for long periods of time she wasnt big on antics. The waitress next door was hamming it up like crazy with them which was fun to watch. I was happy we picked this place the theming was very fun but Im not in a rush to return.

Decent, will eat here again but will not go out of my way

For snacks, I got a carrot cake cookie from the Writer's Stop after reading so many rave reviews. It wasd definitely very good although not sublime (Note: I'm nuts about real European pastries and typically find most American bakeries too heavy and sweet). Still, it was worth the extra effort I also got my kids a giant M&M cookie which the CM recommended - VERY good. A big step up from a regular cookie. Plus I picked up a box of popcorn. We ate our snacks while watching Lights, Motor Action - a great spot to enjoy some snacks while not wasting time.

Dinner was CS that we picked up on Sunset Drive and brought into Fantasmic. We had a cheese pizza the kids shared and a Hot Italian Sandwich DH and I shared. It was enough food for us as I was still really full from our 11am lunch. This was a great way to wait for Fantasmic and not waste time.

Edible, but forgettable

 

[minniebeth]

Awesome reviews! You did a lot! I'm enjoying reading and can't wait to read more. I always love to read about other's experiences of restaurants we've eaten at recently, and you also have a few places of restaurants we will eat at on our upcoming trips! Thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

[rnorwo1]

Thanks for the reviews, always nice to hear about places where you can share. I hate feeling so stuffed after big meals!

 

[deenbrad]

At this time the waitress came back and said there was no way we could share meals on the DDP at all. We asked for a manager and were told the same thing. No way, no how. We discussed it and decided to leave. My DS was a bit unhappy with our decision but after settling at Cooke's of Dublin(CS) enjoying a band and some delicious chicken strips, he forgave us and didn't ask to return to TRex.

I always wonder if it's the "sharing" word that puts them in such a tizzy?! What could they do if you said two of you already ate? It's hard enough for people to afford Disney - you'd think they'd give folks a break!

 

[elaine amj]

I always wonder if it's the "sharing" word that puts them in such a tizzy?! What could they do if you said two of you already ate? It's hard enough for people to afford Disney - you'd think they'd give folks a break!

It was sharing on DDP that gave them a problem apparently. The impression I got was that sharing OOP would likely be OK. Oh well - like I said...not a huge deal really. Initially I thought we would just use the 4 TS credits but while there we just didn't feel it and decided to walk out. Nowhere else gave us any problems whatsoever about sharing and all were super good about it. We were very happy how it was handled elsewhere and we always tipped as if we all ordered.

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

I'm in, can't wait to hear more!

 

[elaine amj]

Thanks for the reviews, always nice to hear about places where you can share. I hate feeling so stuffed after big meals!

One of the places I worried the most about was Teppan Edo. I heard the portion sizes are not particularly big and I just wasn't sure. However, we were still pretty full at 7:30pm after our 11:30am lunch at Le Cellier so all turned out just fine. After splitting 2 adult entrees...we had plenty of food to go around and we were all satisfied.

By the way - it was NOT a good place to watch Illum...too much stuff blocking the view. We pretty much could not see the globe at all. We tried it first from the balcony and ended up moving down to the railing at the lake which was marginally better. We regretted planning to watch from there and wished we had moved to our fave spot near Canada. That said - it was a very uncrowded spot to watch the fireworks from.

 

[WDWCPALUM03]

Our family of 4 just returned from 12 days in WDW where we had 14 meals, 2 of which were signatures. Pretty much all we did was eat, eat, and eat some more. It was an absolutely fabulous vacation that revolved around food. And oh yea, we did some rides, slides, and video games. Did I mention we ate?

With 12 days of DDP, I was slightly concerned how we would be able to stretch our credits to cover all our meals. We didn’t want to pay OOP for too much but weren’t too concerned if we had to do so for a few meals. I brought some instant oatmeal but we planned to have most of our breakfasts in the food court as my DH likes a "proper breakfast".

Well...when all was said and done, we stretched and maximized our credits like crazy while still eating what we wanted and actually had extra CS and snack credits at the end of the day – which was perfect for us as we wanted to bring back souvenirs. The end result? We were stuffed, stuffed, stuffed! We ate like kings and all the choices I made for where to eat, etc were spot on and we had great experiences.

Our family likes to share meals. DH tries to be healthy and I try to eat somewhat reasonable portion sizes (but we’re on vacation so I splurged...a LOT!). Still, sharing meals makes me feel better about my portion sizes My DD eats like a pig (when she likes the food) and we always laugh about the bottomless pit she hides in her skinny frame. My DS has a much smaller appetite but DH pushes him to eat what he considers a "Reasonable portion" - which I always consider way too much!

My rating system:
Yuck, yuck, YUCK! Will never, ever eat here again
Edible, but forgettable
Decent, will eat here again but will not go out of my way
Good, will happily eat here again
Loved it!!! Highly recommend this!

Day 1
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Leaning Palms at Typhoon Lagoon
Dinner: Cooke's of Dublin

Day 2
Breakfast: Pepper Market at Coronado Springs Resort
Lunch: Random CS in Blizzard Beach
Dinner: Turf Club at Saratoga Springs

Day 3
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Le Cellier
Dinner: Teppan Edo

Day 4
Breakfast: Snacks from Boulangerie Patisserie (purchased the night before)
Lunch: 50s Prime Time
Dinner: Catalina Eddie's at DHS

Day 5
Brunch: Wolfgang Puck Express at DtD Marketplace
Dinner: Whispering Canyon Cafe

Day 6
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Restaurantasaurus
Dinner: Boma

Day 7
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Columbia Harbor House
Dinner: Ohana

Day 8
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Katsura Grill & Chefs de France
Dinner: Garden Grill

Day 9
Brunch: Beaches & Cream
Lunch: Lottawatta Lodge at Blizzard Beach
Dinner: Narcoossee

Day 10
Breakfast: Everything Pop
Lunch: Wolfgang Puck Express at DtD Marketplace
Dinner: Planet Hollywood & Wolfgang Puck Express West Side

Day 11
Brunch: Cinderella's Royal Table @ the Castle
Dinner: 1900 Park Fare

Day 12
Breakfast: Snacks
Lunch: Landscape of Flavors at Art of Animation

Day 1
Breakfast was shared at Pop. DH got the Bounty Platter and I ended up getting a sushi...just because I was in the mood LOL. The best part about getting a sushi instead of a breakfast entree is that I got to get a dessert with it. My DD wanted apple slices so that saved us a snack credit. So...2 CS credits (we all shared everything we ordered) and we were on a roll.
Edible, but forgettable

Lunch was at Typhoon Lagoon – just from one of their CS places. DH and I split a Chicken Caesar Wrap. It was completely gross. DS and DD split Chicken Strips/Nuggets (I use the terms interchangeably LOL). That was OK.
Yuck, yuck, YUCK! Will never, ever eat here again
AND
Edible, but forgettable

We used all 4 snacks today on 2 ice creams and 2 pastries. The pastries they sell are yummy and enormous and well worth a snack credit.
Good, will happily eat here again

For dinner we went to DTD with reservations at Trex. When we got there, we were told our TA messed up our ressies and it was for a different date (even though I double checked with her just before we left *sigh*). No problems, we were told to wait and they would accommodate us. My kids made a beeline for the dig area where they had a lot of fun digging for fossils. Less than 10 mins later, they called us and I had to drag them out kicking and screaming (ok - a bit of an exaggeration LOL). We were seated right outside the ice cave - very good seats where we could see everything and right beneath the meteor showed (which I found rather unimpressive to be honest). We didn't want to overeat so decided to split 2 meals for 2 TS credits. Our waitress took our order and went off. While waiting, wewandered the restaurant taking pics of the dinos. My DD is rather apprehensive with dinos (but is much better than she used to be!) so she stayed at a distance.

At this time the waitress came back and said there was no way we could share meals on the DDP at all. We asked for a manager and were told the same thing. No way, no how. We discussed it and decided to leave. My DS was a bit unhappy with our decision but after settling at Cooke's of Dublin(CS) enjoying a band and some delicious chicken strips, he forgave us and didn't ask to return to TRex.

I'm glad we left. It was a fun place but we had other meals planned and didn't want to spend all 4 TS credits there. By the way...we ate at 14 TS places in 12 days and had not a whit of problems anywhere else sharing our credits.

So dinner ended up at Cooke's of Dublin. The batter they use on everything is very very good and we really enjoyed our meals here. Chilling on an outdoor patio enjoying a band on a nice summer night was even better. Used up 4 CS here as we all wanted different things, I had the chicken and field mushroom pie. Very good - DH who doesn't like pie, kept stealing from me. DD had a gigantic cheeseburger which she pronounced "delicious", DS had the chicken strips (his fave), and DH had the scallops - YUM!! However, the Edy's ice cream was a disappointment. I expected hand scooped ice cream and it turned out to be softserve with a weird taste and a frozen crushed ice consistency. We didn't finish any of our ice cream.

Good, will happily eat here again

Posted from DISboards.com App for Android

 

[elaine amj]

Hmm..been pre-occupied with a number of other stuff - so a little late back into the game - sorry! Here it goes again..

Day 5
Brunch: Wolfgang Puck Express at DtD Marketplace
Dinner: Whispering Canyon Cafe

Today we slept in a little. It was nice to have a lazy day. Our plans were to get to DQ for opening. Today was the day Hurricane Isaac was supposed to hit so we expected plenty of rain.

Brunch was at Wolfgang Puck Express. We got there for 10am. The DtD bus was NOT stopping at Pleasure Island so early - which worked as we wanted to go to Marketplace anyway as the WPE there has more selection. IT was POURING rain so thank goodness for ponchos! DH and I thoroughly enjoyed our brunch here. DH had the spinach omellette and I got a Smoked Bacon Pizza and a Crispy Cornflake French Toast to share with the kids. Turns out they weren't a huge fan of conflakes crusted on French Toast but both ate some of it. (I on the other hand...really enjoyed it!). They liked the base of the Smoked Bacon Pizza and my DS ate quite a fair bit of it. DD can't stand eggs (and I forgot there were eggs on it) but she consented to eat it after I scraped off the eggs. Overall, neither enjoyed their meals here. Oh well - DH and I did! Still, a bit of a dampener when folks in your party aren't enjoying their meals.

Good, will happily eat here again

Snacks was some popcorn at DQ and probably 1 or 2 other things that I forget.

For dinner, we left DtD to head to WL for Whispering Canyon Cafe - a last minute add-on to our ADR list after we skipped out on TRex on Day 1. On a side note - this was the craziest day of the year to be in DQ (so much for my crowd-level planning skills!!). It was so packed that when we walked out at 2pm to get a snack outside, we saw a long lineup of people waiting for folks to leave so they could get in! Thankfully the wonderful CM at the exit recognized us as having just left and let us right back in.

We took the WL bus and made it over to WL with plenty of time before our ADR. We were tired and wanted a break so spent a half hour with DH and I chilling on the comfy couches and rocking chairs while the kids played the with piles of toys everywhere. They LOVED it. I was thoroughly impressed. I had a really hard time tearing them away when the buzzer sounded - except that they were enchanted with the cute welcome message on the buzzer.

Dinner was good. DH and I ordered a steak to share and got the kids both skillets. So 1 adult TS and 2 Kids TS meals here. They were VERY good about our sharing the meal and even split our steaks in half and served us separately. No sooner then my DD saw my steak that she swiped it. So I swiped a couple of ribs from her skillet. When we got seconds for our kids, I mentioned that my DD had swiped my steak. She was sweet and left DH 2 ribs and myself 1 ear of corn to "hold for the kids". Of course, it never made it to the kids' skillets!! Overall though, we were careful not to abuse the fact that the kids skillets were AYCE, especially since I was mindful that we shared an entree. I took 2 of my DD's ribs and DH had 1 of my DS' ribs and then the couple the waitress gave him. Oh we also ate the mashed potatoes my DD wouldn't eat.

We somehow managed to leave ridiculously full as always. That very big milkshake didn't help matters. I ordered it because it was bottomless. Fact is, I don't think we refilled it once. If we paid OOP - it wouldn't have been worth the bottomless surcharge. The theme of the restaurant was fun. The corniness was great. MY DS was thoroughly embarrassed when we did the hokey pokey and huddled in his chair wishing the floor would open up and swallow him. Our waitress wasn't around a massive amount and didn't rag us too much - but the waitress next table over was a hoot to watch. My kids ADORED the whole ketchup thing and kept begging to be allowed to ask for a 2nd round of ketchup. Sadly, our waitress took so long to re-appear that their food was long gone and there was no way they could decently ask for ketchup again.

Good, will happily eat here again

 

[summerw]

Good reviews so far. Can't wait for the ones coming up.

 

[elaine amj]

Day 6

Breakfast was at Everything Pop - I have no clue what we had LOL! Honestly, none of our breakfasts here made a huge impression on me - because we stayed so many days, it was same old same old.

Edible, but forgettable

Lunch today was at Restaurantasaurus. I didn't find too many reviews of this before we went - probably because the name is so darned hard to spell! I was hoping for the shrimp po'boy.

We got in JUST as it started to rain. It was early for lunch (around 11)so the place was pretty empty. We found seats at the back right by the trailer. (which was definitely the coolest seats in the house). Sadly, the trailer was occupied (only 2 tables) so we just sat near it. We got in at the perfect time because it started POURING shortly afterwards and the place was jammed with folks looking for shelter.

There was no shrimp po'boy My DD had the Angus Cheeseburger, DD had nuggets (what else), and my DH and I shared the Dig Site Salad. All our food was good - my DS' nuggets in particular were excellent. The Dig Site Salad was exactly what I needed after so many days of gorging myself. My DH filled up helping my DD with some of her burger. We also gorged on apple slices (I think even the kids were feeling the effects of all the Disney food). We got them as sides instead of fries and also got them for dessert. They tasted SO good that day! (Although if I had realised the place served sweet potato fries...I might have re-thought one of those apple slices).

Good, will happily eat here again

Dinner tonight was Boma. I mixed up our reservations (story of our trip). I actually had it reserved for 5:30pm. However at some point WDW extended AK hours until 6pm. I had it fixed in my mind that our Boma ressies were a half hr after park close. So we showed up there at 6:30pm only for me to realise what a dummy I was. They were very sweet though and fit us in with only a minimal 5-10 min wait.

The food was DELICIOUS! We particularly liked that it was exotic and different from our usual cuisine and really enjoyed trying all the different things. The coconut curry seafood soup was amongst my favorites. I also particularly enjoyed the Fufu (mashed sweet & white potatoes) and Bobotie (lamb and beef quiche).

My kids didn't eat all that much though and my DS in particular was being picky. I don't even know what he ate except he claimed to be full and I remember nagging him to at least get another serving of fruit. They both really enjoyed the desserts though! We all did! By the way...that bread pudding there....YUMMMMMM!!

Loved it!!! Highly recommend this!

The best part of Boma was exploring AKL. What a beautiful resort. I found the hot tubs tucked away in a little nook and was completely enchanted. We spent a lot of time wandering around as we decided to wait for the night vision goggles. At one point, the kids and I ended up down by the Simba kids' club. They have a Wii set up outside the room for anyone to use and nice CMs hanging outside there. My kids started playing and I spent 15 mins chatting with a very friendly CM. That was one of the favorite parts of their night!

The night vision thing though...more of a gimmick. It wasn't anywhere near as cool as we thought and we saw the animals better without them. Still, we now have bragging rights and that was worth it

We routed back to Pop using DHS. Our bus driver was the pits. We were the ONLY ones in the bus and told him exactly what we were trying to do - 2x. He insisted on dropping us off at the DHS entrance, then we watched him drive over to the resort bus area while we hiked aaaaallllll the way across the parking lot to the Pop bus. It was a very long walk at the end of a late night and we were thoroughly annoyed that the bus driver wouldn't at least drop us at HIS stop at the resort bus area. Oh well. We made it back to Pop eventually.

 

[elaine amj]

Day 7

Like most days, breakfast was at Everything Pop.

Edible, but forgettable

Lunch today was at Columbia Harbor House. My original plan was to eat at Sleepy Hollow and watch the Castle show here (the view is not bad at all). However, I managed to mess up the timing and the showtime had changed from what I noted before and so this didn't work out. I really wanted the chicken waffle sandwich from Sleepy Hollow....but we ended up all moving to the airconditioning of Colubia Harbor House and sat on the 2nd floor. It finally ended up to be too much hassle to order from Sleepy Hollow.

I resigned myself to a lobster roll from CHH. It's definitely a lobster salad roll and as I rarely get stuff like that and I LOVE mayo, I really enjoyed this. It was very overstuffed - which wasn't a bad thing in my book! I shared with DH - but he didn't really like it (not a lobster fan). We got a basket of nuggets for the kids to share. They ended up liking it so much (and yes, it was VERY good) that we went back down to get a 2nd basket. I seem to remember the fries being very good here as well. Overall, we all liked the food here and it was a nice, quiet break in the middle of our day. Great for sharing as the nuggets were big.

Good, will happily eat here again

Dinner was Ohana - we were thoroughly excited as it was DH's favorite on our last trip. YUMmmm!!! I have discovered the secret to good food here. Just ask for another round! Our first round of chicken, mine was delish and my DS' was dried out and yucky. Our first round of salad was yucky and I stopped after 3 bites disappointed as it was my fave dish on our last trip. At the end of the meal, I asked for another small bowl of salad. This was as good as I remember and I devoured it. The food overall was much much better tham our last trip and we had a wonderful meal! We fell in love last trip and this year was much, much better. My son usually isn't huge on steak (my Dd is the steak nut) but he loved Ohana's steak and ate and ate and ate. We ALL ate!!

They didn't do hula dancing last time we were there and this time they did. Just my 2 kids went up (DS was embarrassed but I conned him into doing it - saying he needed to get me a lei). They ended up getting leis for all 4 of us and it was fun, particularly for pics the rest of the night.

A GREAT meal that met every dream! However, we ended up cancelling our 2nd Ohana ressie later in our trip in favor of trying Narcoossee.

Loved it!!! Highly recommend this!

I'm finished Day 7 - and am realising how MANY more days I still have left to cover!! Wow - we REALLY maxed out free dining this trip!

 

[elaine amj]

Day 8

As usual, breakfast was something grabbed at the food court. By this time, I was constantly full and skipping breakfast many mornings. My DH and kids would more often than not share a Bounty Platter. I have to mention, I quite liked the french toast off the Bounty Platter.

For lunch, I craved sushi. We had ressies at Chefs de France I didn't want to miss (for Remy). Plus, we needed to stretch our TS credits for NArcoossee the next day. So we parked the kids in France to hang out while DH and I booked it to Japan so I could grab a quick sushi from the Katsura Grill CS.

I got slightly turned around looking for it as it is not well-signed. After asking a little, I found it. It's a beautiful spot perched in the midst of their gardens with lovely views. Very nice, relaxing spot.

We split a Spicy Tuna Roll and Tsukemen Combo with a Matcha Roll for dessert. The sushi was decent (it hit the spot!!) and I ended up really liking the Tsukemen! It's a very big bowl of noodles. DH ate most of this and it was PLENTY for a meal. The Tsukemen is served cold had the same flavor of seaweed salad (Which I'm nuts about) so it must use some of the same seasonings. I wolfed down my food really fast as walking here had taken longer than I expected and I didn't want to leave my kids for too long.

Raced back in time to grab them for Chefs de France with my husband joining a few minutes later (so he could relax and enjoy his food). Now what to say about Chefs...

WOW....a thoroughly enjoyable lunch experience for our family. We opted to just let the kids order meals here. Our waiter insisted on us having some baguettes which were completely yummy. Not as good as REAL baguettes...but so good compared to what we normally get. We ate, and kept nibbling all through the meal as it was hard to stop. Kids got to order an app, entree and dessert. My kids both ordered the cheese puff pastry instead of the salad. It came accompanied by a fair bit of salad anyway. We all shared the two pastries. My DH and DS preferred the pastries and my DD and I preferred the baguette. They both got chicken strips and pasta...and the strips were surprisingly good. Dessert was 2 flavors of sorbet each. My kids were in food heaven and loved every bite. I thought their tummies would explode. The app was a huge full size pastry. Then, Remy paid us a surprise visit

THis was an ADR I debated like crazy and was close to cancelling it multiple times. I'm so glad we didn't. The kids meals were great...and frankly, enough food for all 4 of us.

Our waiter really made the meal a pleasure. At the end, he managed to incorrectly process our dinner receipt and we weren't able to give him a tip. He insisted it was ok since it was his fault. But my DH was so happy with the service (and our happy kids), he insisted we order a $4 bottle of Perrier so we could give the guy a very large tip. Now we are a super frugal family and would NEVER pay $4 for WATER! But this guy really made our meal so wonderful we felt it was completely worth it.

Loved it!!! Highly recommend this!

Snacks today was at Karamel Kuche for my DD - she got a giant cookie (although I REALLY wanted the massive rice krispie they had there). My DS got a Kaki Gori in Japan - he loves snow cones so was super happy. I picked up a school bread at one point - YUM!! I really enjoyed this

Dinner was at Garden Grill - and again I was wowed. Another great meal. We didn't come for the characters...but as other reviewers have pointed out, this place has the absolute best character interaction. All of them came by about 3-4 times. Mickey insisted on taking a pic with me once when I didn't get out and kissed my hand and was sweet. Chip danced with my DD.

If you are only doing ONE character meal - Garden Grill is the best by far. It doesn't have anywhere near the hype as the other character meals - but I was so impressed with how GOOD the interaction was. We're not huge on character meals - I prefer to meet characters at their actual meets - so this really surprised us.

We sat in the perfect spot in a booth facing out. The food was not gourmet but decent, well -cooked food that we all enjoyed. We asked our waiter for more mac n cheese for my DD...and he brought back this absolutely ridiculously sized bowl. It was a hoot watching my DD attempt to tackle it! The best character meal by far and the revolving floor was a big hit - my kids were absolutely thrilled.

Loved it!!! Highly recommend this!

 

[elaine amj]

Day 9
Brunch: Beaches & Cream
Lunch: Lottawatta Lodge at Blizzard Beach
Dinner: Narcoossee

Brunch today was super special - we were going to make an attempt on the Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream to celebrate my DD's birthday! After everything I read - I was determined we were going to finish this between the 4 of us. After all...it's $26 and we had no choice to to pay OOP!! So, my grand plan was no breakfast and no lunch. Just the kitchen sink all in it's lonesome grand glory.

We took a bus to BB and then another bus to the Beach Club. We actually got off at the Boardwalk because it was a shorter walk to B&C from there.

We got in just after 11am and had no problems getting a table. We immediately ordered the infamous kitchen sink, mentioning that it was for my DD's bday. Lights went out, sirens started flashing, and here it came in all it's glory!

My DD immediately started digging in - using the massive serving spoon! Oddly enough, my DS got in a silly mood and decided to just eat ice cubes for lunch. He was quite happy sucking away on his ice cubes and turned down all offers of chocolate bars, candy pieces, ice cream...everything. Oh well, the 3 of us gave it our best shot!

We made it about 2/3 of the way in and then finally called it quits. The thing is massive!!! We were all in this awful ice cream coma afterwards and I really regretted my last bowl LOL.

I'm glad we didn't order lunch. Burgers AND the kitchen sink would have been ridiculously too much. This was well worth paying OOP - mostly for the novelty and bragging rights. Ice cream for lunch...you can't get any more decadent.

Loved it!!! Highly recommend this!


We did eventually order lunch at Lottawatta Lodge in Blizzard Beach - several hours later. I had promised my kids the bucket meals so for once, we ordered kids meals at a CS. I can't even remember what they ordered - something. The green buckets were lots of fun though, and worth it. Even though the line was not long, food took quite a while to prep here.

Edible, but forgettable

Dinner tonight was at Narccoossee.

Earlier in the week we wrestled with a decision. After so much sharing we had extra credits remaining. So Narccoossee or 2 separate TS places? We ended choosing to go Narccoossee just because we hadn't done it before.

Our night started off on the wrong foot when our bus driver decided to take 1 hour to get to MK. We ended up out in the middle of Orlando when she left property!!! We ended up transferring to a Mears bus to get to the MK...and then she was so freaked out she couldn't open the doors! The Mears bus driver opened up the back door for us LOL! We had planned to watch Wishes on the boat dock before going in for our ressie. We ended up watching from the boat over from MK and watched the last bit from the boat dock. I really missed the soundtrack. Oh well - not the end of the world, we'd already seen Wishes twice by that point.

Our dinner at Narccoossee was really good. Our waiter was a sweetheart. I thoroughly enjoyed my lobster and filet. I rarely eat steamed lobsters - mostly I get the Chinese-style ones done in Ginger in Green Onion sauce. And this was my first time with a Maine lobster. It was sweeter than regular lobsters - but I think I still prefer my Chinese-style lobsters. DH liked his Seared Ahi Tuna a lot too - he said the flavors were unique for him and very good. My DS got the kids steak and my DD ended up with the Mac & Cheese. The Almond Crusted Cheesecake IS "to-die-for". For dessert, they gave my DD the Almond-Crusted Cheesecake because she really wanted it (it was to-die-for") and my DS got the Make Your Own S'mores. The S'mores was super cute and very "real" - a skewer of roasted marshmallows, a pile of graham crackers, and squares of milk chocolate. I got the cheese sampler for dessert. OMG it was so good!

This was one meal we decided to splurge like crazy and not share AT ALL. I did end up regretting not sharing though. We were all overfull. Dessert was half-eaten because we just couldn't manage another bite. My DD got so overstuffed with her valiant attempt to finish her cheesecake that she got a bad tummy upset. I ended up rushing her out to the back porch for some fresh air as she was nauseated. We had some tears because DH got impatient with her nausea. We ended up going to the GF pool and laying on the pool chairs for 20 mins before leaving just to give her the fresh air she needed (and some time to digest!).

All that said, we had awesome meals in so many places and I finally ended up feeling that while we appreciate great food - we're not really signature folks. My DH loved the Le Cellier filet much more - mostly because the mushroom sauce there is YUMMY while the Narccoossee filet came with very little sauce. My DD wouldn't even eat her steak until I asked for a butter sauce.

In future, it's regular 1 TS meals for us.

Loved it!!! Highly recommend this! (although we probably won't eat here again)

 

[Nohal]

We also ate at Chefs de France last week. I hesitated eating there after reading reviews but was glad we kept our dinner ADR. The meal was great and the service was exceptional. Our waiter was Sebastian he was wonderful, always there when we needed him, kept the dinner moving and the check came in a timely fashion. We also gave him a large tip as this was the best service I have every had at any restaurant.

 

[elaine amj]

We also ate at Chefs de France last week. I hesitated eating there after reading reviews but was glad we kept our dinner ADR. The meal was great and the service was exceptional. Our waiter was Sebastian he was wonderful, always there when we needed him, kept the dinner moving and the check came in a timely fashion. We also gave him a large tip as this was the best service I have every had at any restaurant.

Sometimes the waitstaff really do make the meal Something in the air was just right that day and seeing our kids so happy and enjoying their meals so much just made incredible memories.

 

[elaine amj]

I have just realised I neglected to include a tally of our snacks. Since this made a big difference in how we were able to stretch our credits, I have added them in. For now, I have only added them into the main list in the first post and will gradually add them into my day by day review.

I was actually very surprised we ended up with 12 credits to use for treats to bring home. We were consciously remembering to use our snack credits and really didn't restrict ourselves much at all...other than to not allow the kids to eat armfuls of candy. In fact, I was insisting we find and eat 4 snacks a day much of the time. We did get slightly conservative in the last couple of days and did consciously conserve our snack credits to buy treats.