Did we survive 11 days of DxDP? Upd 3/24 California Grill

[debrapagliasotti]

Great reviews as always! My only problem is wanting to eat at almost all the places you review! So many restaurants, so little time!

Thank you

Even after being at WDW for 11 days in Dec, there were still places we didnt get to try. I think I need about 3 weeks at WDW to fit everything in

 

[Emteach]

Thank you

Even after being at WDW for 11 days in Dec, there were still places we didnt get to try. I think I need about 3 weeks at WDW to fit everything in

Disney Dining is incredible. On my bucket list is a trip to Disney just to try all the food it has to offer. The only bad part about Disney dining is how boring everyday food seems when you get back from your trip

 

[SAT887]

Catching up on your DR.... It's making me want to add more ADRs to our Oct trip, the Yachtsman looks fantastic. So what are your thoughts on CL? Did you feel like you took advantage of it? I was thinking a CL trip for our 10th wedding anniversary at the Poly.... Just looking for some input because I would probably surprise DH with it, and well.... It will be interesting hiding money away for that one!

 

[debrapagliasotti]

Disney Dining is incredible. On my bucket list is a trip to Disney just to try all the food it has to offer. The only bad part about Disney dining is how boring everyday food seems when you get back from your trip

I agree, everyday food is just so blah when you get back home.

Catching up on your DR.... It's making me want to add more ADRs to our Oct trip, the Yachtsman looks fantastic. So what are your thoughts on CL? Did you feel like you took advantage of it? I was thinking a CL trip for our 10th wedding anniversary at the Poly.... Just looking for some input because I would probably surprise DH with it, and well.... It will be interesting hiding money away for that one!

CL thoughts -- unfortunately we didnt utilize it much during this trip. I appreciated having the Itinerary Planning Office make all the ADRs. We went up to the lounge several times to get big bottles of Evian to take back to our room, a few beers for hubby and I.

We are staying CL again at BW in Oct and are planning on taking advantage of it more.

 

[debrapagliasotti]

On December 26, we had a 10am ADR for Ohana. We arrived a few minutes early and were told to go get in line for our pictures. About 1020am we had our pictures done, and it was another 10 minutes or so before our buzzer went off.

This was our first time at Ohana for breakfast. This was sort of an afterthought ADR and we booked it in October.

Ohana's breakfast menu consists of the following --

Assorted Breakfast Breads and Seasonal Fruit, Hua Paka (scrambled eggs) Made fresh, hot, and delicious, Uala Kahiki Island-style Potatoes, Pua’a Pork Breakfast Sausage Links and Smoked Bacon, Mickey waffles.

The breakfast breads were really good. We all enjoyed these very much. Warm, soft, very fresh.

The seasonal fruit was nice and fresh too. However, this plate went very quickly. My little boys could easily have shared this plate.

The main platter was good. Hunter & I are the only ones who eat eggs, so no one else touched them. The potatoes had a good taste. Everything was really good.

Overall we really enjoyed our breakfast at Ohana. The characters were a lot of fun and we would definately eat here again.

6TS credits used.

 

[debrapagliasotti]

On Dec 26, we had an ADR for the 515pm Spirit of Aloha.

We had been to SOA back in August 2008 and really enjoyed the food (and some of the show ), so Hunter & Harper asked if we could do this again.

I saw in October that the menu had changed, but we decided to go ahead and stick with the ADR. Since some of the items now contained macadamia nuts, I had a notation made on our ADR that Hunter was allergic to them.

They brought out 2 identical platters to our table since we were a group of 6.

Salad platter Pineapple-Coconut Bread, Asian Apple Pear Slaw, Hawaiian Potato Salad (macadamia free version for Hunter). Honestly, none of us cared for either of the salads. The bread was good, but it was different than what they gave us a few years ago. There was also a salad with some sort of vinagerette that was fine, nothing special.

Main platter Island Pork Loin, Roasted Chicken, Polynesian Rice, Fall Harvest Vegetable Medley. We all seemed to enjoy the chicken for the most part, but the pork loin was very dry. The rice was just sort of "blah" and the veggies were a bit mushy. Not at all impressed.

Jaxon & Evan would not have touched this food with a 10 ft pole, so we got them one of the kids offerings, PB&J with goldfish. They were the only ones who actually enjoyed their dinner

Dessert a few years ago was a lava chocolate cake that Harper loved. She was so disappointed when I told her they no longer offered it. Now they serve Milk Chocolate Macadamia Nut Mousse. This was a huge disappointment. Even Harper, my chocolate loving girl didnt care for this.

Hunter's white chocolate mousse (macadamia nut free dessert option). He liked this ok.

12 TS credits used.

Would we return?? No. Its safe to say that Spirit of Aloha is far off our radar from now on. We liked the old menu which included ribs and fresh pineapple.

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi Debra! I'm caught up and can't seem to recall half of what I wanted to comment on but let's try!

YSH: So glad that you had a great experience. I am a fan of the filet. What a great place for a really nice family dinner.

Akershus: Sorry the princesses weren't more engaging...What a great Christmas breakfast selection. I'm surprised it wasn't packed.

Le Cellier: I love the look on your kid's faces with their food. So cute!

Ohana breakfast: What was the pink stuff by the fruit plate. It reminds me of the strawberry sauce they serve with tonga toast. I'm glad you liked your meal there.

Ohana dinner: Lapu Lapus - awesome!!! Your photo of the bread pudding makes me crave some of that - yes, even now for breakfast!

SoA: Well..... not every meal can be perfect. I agree, the kid's PB&J looks like something I would enjoy versus mushy veggies and dry meat.

What great dining experiences at some of my favorites!

 

[MrsB1228]

All caught up with your reviews and enjoying them immensely! Sorry your Spirit of Aloha dinner wasn't as good as you remembered, other reviews I've read have also expressed disappointment in this meal. For the most part though, it sounds like you really enjoyed most of your other experiences!

Looking forward to the rest!

 

[englishrose47]

After reading your review of SOA it is OFF my list too !!I will stick with O'Hana for supper !!!

 

[SAT887]

I agree, everyday food is just so blah when you get back home.



CL thoughts -- unfortunately we didnt utilize it much during this trip. I appreciated having the Itinerary Planning Office make all the ADRs. We went up to the lounge several times to get big bottles of Evian to take back to our room, a few beers for hubby and I.

We are staying CL again at BW in Oct and are planning on taking advantage of it more.

So maybe I will have to ask you then Especially since it will be F&W when I want to go as well (in 2014)

Bummer about SOA.... I guess I won't be looking into that anytime soon!

 

[debrapagliasotti]

Hi Debra! I'm caught up and can't seem to recall half of what I wanted to comment on but let's try!

YSH: So glad that you had a great experience. I am a fan of the filet. What a great place for a really nice family dinner.

We REALLY enjoyed YSH! It was our first signature restraunt with the kids and I wasnt sure what to expect, but it worked out perfect.

Akershus: Sorry the princesses weren't more engaging...What a great Christmas breakfast selection. I'm surprised it wasn't packed.

I was suprised they werent more engaging either. Regardless, it was a nice Christmas breakfast.

Le Cellier: I love the look on your kid's faces with their food. So cute!

We all loved LC! Hunter will be disappointed the LC burger is off the menu when we go in Oct though.

Ohana breakfast: What was the pink stuff by the fruit plate. It reminds me of the strawberry sauce they serve with tonga toast. I'm glad you liked your meal there.

I'm not 100% sure what the pink stuff was to be honest. It didnt taste like the strawberry sauce you get with Tonga Toast, but it wasnt yogurt like either.

Ohana dinner: Lapu Lapus - awesome!!! Your photo of the bread pudding makes me crave some of that - yes, even now for breakfast!

What I wouldnt give for some Ohana bread pudding right about now!

SoA: Well..... not every meal can be perfect. I agree, the kid's PB&J looks like something I would enjoy versus mushy veggies and dry meat.

Disappointing for sure, but we still have fun...and even a bad meal at WDW is still a meal at WDW

What great dining experiences at some of my favorites!

All caught up with your reviews and enjoying them immensely! Sorry your Spirit of Aloha dinner wasn't as good as you remembered, other reviews I've read have also expressed disappointment in this meal. For the most part though, it sounds like you really enjoyed most of your other experiences!

Looking forward to the rest!

SOA was probably our least favorite meal of the entire trip...but there is still one other meal that was not so great coming up in the reviews too.

After reading your review of SOA it is OFF my list too !!I will stick with O'Hana for supper !!!

Ohana will be our choice too!

So maybe I will have to ask you then Especially since it will be F&W when I want to go as well (in 2014)

Bummer about SOA.... I guess I won't be looking into that anytime soon!

Sounds good! I can let you know in mid Oct. We are planning 2 ADRS for that trip, both dinners. Possibly a 3rd ADR which would be a character bkfst just so the kids can have one. Its such a short trip so its hard to try and plan too much with F&W too.

 

[debrapagliasotti]

On December 27 we had no ADR for lunch. We had previously cancelled our Boma late breakfast ADR and headed off to AK.

Just before noon we found ourselves near Tamu Tamu and decided on lunch there since there was plenty of seating available.

We ordered the following...

4 Turkey and Swiss on Focaccia - served with chipotle mayonnaise and apple slices or chips (2 with chips, 2 with apples)
2 cheesecake
2 chocolate shake (dessert)
2 lemonade
1 coke
3 water
2 kids powerpack meals - goldfish, strawberry yogurt, applesauce, chocolate cookie, string cheese, apple juice

Turkey & Swiss on Focaccia. This was a really nice flavored sandwich. The bread was soft and fresh and the chipolte mayo gave the turkey a nice kick. Hunter & Harper enjoyed the chocolate shake, but the cheesecake got mixed reviews from Bo & I. He thought it was good, while I couldnt get over the weird "gel" on top of the cheesecake. I didnt care for the dessert much.

Both of the little boys had the kids powerpack meals. I was suprised how much food was in there! They loved this!

Tamu Tamu was a nice choice for a QS meal. It was nice to eat something a bit "healthier" for lunch.

6QS credits used & 2 snack credits used for 2 waters

 

[debrapagliasotti]

We had the following snacks between Dec 23-27

Dec 23 snacks

AK frozen banana - Harper loved this! She said it was great!

AK pineapple bar - Hunter loved this too! He said it was the perfect pineapple taste

Inkeepers Lounge at BW cookies & apples with caramel. I loved how thinly sliced these apples were! The kids loved the cookies!

Dec 24 snacks

2 Dibbs ice cream from MK. Hunter & Harper love these and didnt want to share with their brothers

Christmas cookies from BW lobby. Hunter made great friends with the 2 ladies handing out the cookies. He got 10 of them...yes, 10!

Dec 25 - no snacks

Dec 26 snacks

Grey Goose Citron lemonade slush at Epcot. OMG...delish!! Delish!! Delish!! This was mine...all mine! Paid OOP.

Bo had the Grand Marnier slush which he loved. He liked this one more than mine, so it worked perfectly. Paid OOP.

From Karamell Kurche...

2 caramel apple oatmeal cookies. Harper had 1 and loved it! The other was shared by the little boys and they also loved this! Photo from Disney Food Blog.

Bo & I shared dark chocolate covered caramel with sea salt. OMG, this was so good! Rich, but good! Photo from Disney Food Blog.

Hunter had the chocolate covered pineapple which he absolutely loved. I never even saw him eat this it was gone so fast. Photo from Disney Food Blog.

Dec 27 snacks

4 jalapeno pretzels at AK. SOOO tasty!

1 regular pretzel for the little boys to share. They enjoyed this.

 

[Emteach]

I know exactly what you mean about the "mystery gel". We ate at Restaurantsaurus at AK and they have the same "cheesecake". I scooped that gel off and ate just the middle part - didn't really like the crumbs at the bottom either.

 

[vettegirl]

Great looking snacks

 

[lovingeire]

I think we'll steer clear of the luau. My husband always wants to eat there so he can get beer with his meal! Not worth it to me!

Oh my goodness, the O'hana breakfast looks yummy! I can't wait to eat there in August!

I too would love a vacation that was long enough to eat my way through Disney! Maybe someday!

 

[PrincessTiannaLove]

As you near the end, I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for sharing all your pictures, your family & your wonderful reviews with us. I enjoyed them so much & looked forward to every new installment. I appreciate all the work you put into it. Again, just awesome. Thanks! ! !

 

[sydneysmom]

Thanks for taking us along on your wonderful trip! Your reviews were fantastic and the pictures were really great. It looks like you had a really magical time!!!

 

[pattiken]

Just found your great dining report.. Signing in for the last parts

 

[Linda67]

Wow, I've just read your whole review during my lunch break
Great and detailed reviews, thanks so much for sharing
You've really helped me to narrow down some of our choices
Our trip isn't until December but it's never too early to plan right