Autumn '15 started 2/4/16 Better Late Than ... - BOG Yak Yeti Via Napoli Plaza Complete

phabric said:

Enjoyed your reviews and looking for more. I will be going to some of the same restaurants.

Click to expand...

Thank you! I hope you have a great time!

DAY 5 - Earl of Sandwich - Disney Springs

Today is our MNSSHP day. We don't have theme park tickets for today, just tickets for the party later tonight. We planned to sleep in this morning to reserve our energy for tonight's party, but we can't miss the delicious sandwiches at EOS either, so this means a trip to Disney Springs. Besides, it gives us an excuse to take the boat, one of the perks of staying at POR and POFQ.
We walk on over to the boat doc at POR to catch the boat to Disney Springs. We get to the dock and see this.



Do you see all those people to the left of the blue boat house? They're all waiting to go to Disney Springs too. And the line was actually worse than it looks in the photo. When we got all the way to the dock to join the crowd, one of the guests waiting in front of us said the boats only hold X amount of people and it looks like some of us will have to wait for the next boat or take a bus. I was glad for the warning. It saved us some time. DD and I decide to take the bus to Disney Springs and hopefully catch the boat on the way back to the resort after lunch.

We arrive at Earl of Sandwich. It is busy and crowded.... a long line, but they are efficient. The sandwiches and chips here are so good we really do try to make a point of stopping here for almost every trip.

DD and I get our food and manage to find a table for two, in these tight quarters and dig in to our delicious sandwiches. Oh, boy, EOS does not disappoint!

DD has the Veggie Sandwich "Feta, cucumber, red peppers, red onions, lettuce, Roma tomato & creamy Mediterranean dressing" DD rates this sandwich a 5 out of 5. She said it's a great sandwich. Photo below.



I have The Earl's Club "Turkey, bacon, Swiss, Lettuce, Tomato & sandwich sauce" which I also rate a 5 out of 5 with a 5 on the Earl potato chips! They are very similar to Panera chips, which I love. Photo below.



A few quick stops in a few stores and we are off to the dock to catch the boat back to POR. We are in line to board the boat but rats!... it fills to capacity and with only two people in front of us, we don't make the cut. Bummer. We will have to wait about 20 mins for the next one. ... all while standing. It is very hot. I'm happy I brought my mister fan.

The boat finally arrives. It's so nice to sit down. This is such a beautiful boat ride until.....the little boy who is with his dad and sitting directly behind us, starts whining about wanting to be with mommy. The whines turn into cry-whining followed by top of his lungs crying and screaming, "MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY, I want to sit with MOMMY" non-stop. I tried desperately to get a chuckle out of this, though, because I have a knack for sitting in front of screaming toddlers on Disney boats, so this was par for the course (I even wrote about one of those times in a previous trip report from years back - it was the "other blankee" incident, lol). But yes, I remembered the days when that was me and it was my kids screaming. It's kind of nice being a grandmother now. Though with toddler twin grandkids that haven't been to Disney yet, I know my days of Disney tantrums are far from over.

Luckily, after five long minutes of non-stop screaming, the dad decides to give the little boy what he wanted all along and that was to sit with his mom who was just across the isle one row back. Such a simple request, I don't know why it took the dad so long to do this.

Anyhow, as sanity was restored on the boat, we sail passed the treehouses and arrive at POFQ. It's so relaxing. I wish I could stay on the boat longer. I'm wondering why I love this ride so much, yet I don't like the friendship boats at Epcot resorts.

Everything is going smoothly until we reach POFQ and have to stop in the middle of the river and wait for something... another boat or something like that. One of the families on our boat starts getting irritated with the boat driver for stopping (like he has a choice?). The man was rude. He was saying "Hurry up, Buddy. We have a plane to catch," while holding up his arm and pointing to his watch. Now honestly, who in their right mind would rely on Disney boat transportation back to their resort (from Disney Springs, no less) when they have to race off to the airport that same afternoon. The boat driver ignored them. We felt bad for him. I'm sure he's heard it all before, but it doesn't make it any easier and that man made the rest of the ride unpleasant for everyone in the boat. Luckily he piped down when the boat started moving again. Thanks, Buddy. So with the little boy and the big man quiet now, we sailed over to POR.



Wow, so off the boat now and back in the room, we have enough time for me to do a little packing since we're leaving tomorrow (I hate even mentioning that because it means our fun vacation is coming to an end) and for DD to get ready for the Halloween party. She will be a pirate for MNSSHP. As much fun as I think the whole idea is to dress up, it is just much to hot for me to do that.

Before long, we will be heading to the bus for MNSSHP. We have early dinner reservations at the Plaza. It was extremely difficult to find dinner ADRs for party day (we didn't want Tony's and LTT was still closed).

TO BE CONTINUED..... up next, dinner at the Plaza

You ate at so many restaurants that are on our list so I'm pleased to read such great reviews, thank you

DisneyJo said:

You ate at so many restaurants that are on our list so I'm pleased to read such great reviews, thank you

Click to expand...

Oh, thanks so much, I'm glad you enjoyed reading them.

I had to laugh about your review of VN pizza. My family is from NY like you, and we are very picky about our pizza, but we can't wait to get back to VN to have the best pizza on earth!

iloveeeyore said:

I had to laugh about your review of VN pizza. My family is from NY like you, and we are very picky about our pizza, but we can't wait to get back to VN to have the best pizza on earth!

Click to expand...

Thanks for reading. Ah, NY, yes! You know good pizza!

Great reviews! I want to try Via Napoli, but my hubby doesn't like pizza. I know he had to be the only Chicago resident that doesn't like pizza. Well except stuffed from Uncle Pete ' s on Addison. I keep trying to convince him. Maybe if I show him your review, he will believe another Chicagoan. Pizza can be good away from home.

Niki Andiokno said:

Great reviews! I want to try Via Napoli, but my hubby doesn't like pizza. I know he had to be the only Chicago resident that doesn't like pizza. Well except stuffed from Uncle Pete ' s on Addison. I keep trying to convince him. Maybe if I show him your review, he will believe another Chicagoan. Pizza can be good away from home.

Click to expand...

Thanks for reading! Yes, tell your hubby VN is definitely worth a try! The worst that can happen is that he says I told you so, but even then, you'd have gotten to enjoy it! I'm still a pizza snob, though, because VN is the only pizza I will eat outside Chicago (unless I visit NY, another "trusted" state, lol). Uncle Pete's on Addison.... making a note of that.

Day 5 The Plaza Restaurant MK Dinner

Now back from Disney Springs with an early dinner ADR at the Plaza in MK, we are attending MNSSHP tonight. It is also our final day at Disney, boo hoo!
DD is all decked out in her pirate costume ready for the big night. We hop the bus at POR en route to MK and head directly to the Plaza.



We see many great costumes along the way, though this photo was taken before the party officially started.

We check in to the Plaza and are seated within 5-10 minutes at the exact same table we had a few days before, lol. Our server is different, a very nice CM, very sweet.

At the Plaza, sandwiches are served with choice of broccoli slaw, homemade chips, or French fries.

This time, DD orders the Vegetarian Sandwich, but makes sure to order fries instead of the broccoli slaw. The fries are delicious, but she rates the sandwich a 3.5. She says it just wasn't as good as the Plaza Vegetable Burger or the EOS vegetarian sandwich.

Vegetarian Sandwich "fresh mozzarella, hummus, basil pesto, cucumber, roasted red pepper, tomato, and lettuce on a freshly baked foccaccia"

I order the Angus Chuck Cheeseburger topped with cheddar and bacon, along with fries, since the fries were really good the last time (though I feel the Plaza is a little skimpy on the fries). For dessert, I ordered a "Creamy Hand-Dipped"chocolate milk shake. I had to google to find out what a hand dipped milk shake is. It is a milk shake made the old fashioned way using hand scooped ice cream and blending this with milk, rather than using some sort of milk shake mix, like most fast food places do. Good to know.

"Angus Chuck Cheeseburger - served on a flour-dusted kaiser roll with lettuce, tomato, and onion. Choose from the following toppings: Cheddar, American cheese, Bacon, Grilled Mushrooms or Grilled Onions"

My burger was delicious!!!! Not only did it taste really good, but it looked good too! It looked so good that the lady at the next table kept glancing over at it while she was looking over her menu trying to decide what to order. Sure enough, when their food arrived, she had ordered the cheeseburger! Hehe.

I rate the cheeseburger a high 4.50 out of 5. I would definitely order it again. There are a few other tempting choices at the Plaza that I would like to try, but this cheeseburger is a must do again. The fries were just as delicious as they were the other day when I had them. The milk shake was delicious, I'd rate it a 4.25. If they had malt flavoring, I would have rated higher, because I love malt flavoring (like Horlicks powder). There was enough milkshake for one good size serving and our server handed me the tall metal milkshake blender cup with some extra for person #2. With the milkshake and fries, what a yummy combo this was ~ it almost felt like I was time machined back into a 50s 60s diner malt shop, half expecting Wally and the Beav to walk in at any moment.









As I said, we ate at the Plaza twice this trip. We are happy we did and will plan to go back to the Plaza on our next trip, though would probably eat there once instead of twice since there are many other places we want to try. But we do want to start a tradition of doing the Plaza on arrival day. For us, it was a nice start to a Disney vacation.



We enjoyed MNSSHP. The parade, the fireworks, everything!



We can't wait to go back to Disney. On our list of must do repeats:
Plaza, Yak & Yeti, Via Napoli, Earl of Sandwich, and BOG

I have already started a list of restaurants we would like to tackle on our next trip.

Well, this concludes my dining report. I hope you enjoyed it and that it helped in some way. Thanks to all who have read.

tinkerbellmagic said:

Day 2 - Dinner - Via Napoli

This was our first visit to Via Napoli. DD and I were dying to try it.

I was still full from our Brown Derby lunch, (though the walking helped). DD was in much better shape because she skipped the appetizer at Brown Derby. The plan was that I would take a few bites of the pizza and when it was time to leave, I would have the rest wrapped up. Yes, that was the plan.

When we arrived at Via Napoli, the waiting area was pretty crowded. It was also the busy dinner hour. Eventually, I found a seat but DD stood while we waited to be called. It wasn't more than 10 minutes before our pager beeped. We were lead to a table for two in a very high traffic area which was incredibly close to the table for two next to us. The restaurant is pretty noisy, so it wasn't as if we could hear everything the couple next to us said, or visa versa, but almost. It didn't bother us or them, though. While I wasn't thrilled with the location of the table, the restaurant itself is a very busy, fast moving kind of place, so there's almost no escaping it. Don't count on any quiet dinner here.

DD ordered the Carciofi Signature Pie while I ordered the Pepperoni Signature Pie. Remember, I was only going to take a few bites and have it wrapped up to take back to the resort. Let me say that coming from Chicago, we have had some of the best pizzas. I grew up on all kinds of Chicago pizza, thin crust, thick crust, deep dish, stuffed, you name it, practically any Chicagoan has had it. Experience has taught me not to order pizza when I venture out of the windy city, but we heard Via Napoli pizza was supposed to be pretty good.

I took one bite of this hot flavorful Pepperoni Signature Pie and holy canoli, it knocked my socks off! This pizza was amazing, delicious, heavenly, the angels were singing, and I was certainly not expecting it to go down in history as one of the best pizzas I have ever had, but it did. And it wasn't because of all the handsome servers, either (though the eye candy was certainly not lost on us )! To me, this pizza was incredible! I took more than a couple bites and ended up eating more of it than I ever expected. I rate this pizza a 5 out of 5.

DD loved her Carciofi Signature Pie as well! She rates it a 4.75 out of 5. She says she would either order this again, or choose another vegetarian option.
We both boxed up the leftovers to enjoy back at the room later. I love how they give you handled doggie bags now, making it easier than ever to transport your foodie treasures back to your room. The following day, the leftover Via Napoli pizza in our mini fridge, didn't rate so high as a cold pizza snack, but it was still tasty. It just would have been tastier from a quick zapping in the microwave is all.

Our server, who could not have been sweeter, kept checking on us to make sure everything was ok during our meal. We couldn't have asked for a nicer guy.

Via Napoli is on our must do list and we will definitely be back for more.

View attachment 149609

View attachment 149611


Up next, a double BOG day! Breakfast AND Lunch at Be Our Guest!

Click to expand...

Are those individual pizzas? They look HUGE!

My husband has only requested 2 restaurants for our next trip and one is the Plaza which we're doing for lunch on our first day. It's a great way to start isn't it

Thanks for your great reviews it really helped that you said on the photo what the food was

I would never occur to me to order a veg sandwich but that one from the Plaza looks delicious! (I love basil pesto). Thanks for the reviews!

Redwitch said:

Thanks for sharing! I enjoyed your reviews. (And that cheeseburger looks amazing.)

Click to expand...

You're very welcome, Redwitch! I'm so glad you enjoyed the reviews. Yes, and the cheeseburger looked even better in real life. A real show stopper!

Lisa F said:

Are those individual pizzas? They look HUGE!

Click to expand...

Yes, Lisa, the menu I found on Allears says the pizzas are "individual." We sure couldn't finish them though and did wrap up the leftovers to store in our mini fridge back at the resort. The photo might make them appear larger than they were though.

DisneyJo said:

My husband has only requested 2 restaurants for our next trip and one is the Plaza which we're doing for lunch on our first day. It's a great way to start isn't it

Thanks for your great reviews it really helped that you said on the photo what the food was

Click to expand...

Have fun at the Plaza, DisneyJo! Yes, I agree, what a nice place for a first day meal. It's near the castle and all the sights and sounds of Main Street. I'm glad you enjoyed the reviews.
I wanted to label the photos so no one would have to guess what they are looking at and also where to find it in case they want to try it too.

MissKIA said:

I would never occur to me to order a veg sandwich but that one from the Plaza looks delicious! (I love basil pesto). Thanks for the reviews!

Click to expand...

You're welcome, MissKIA! DD did say the Plaza veggie burger tasted better to her, than the Plaza veggie sandwich, but that could be a matter of taste too.
I also love basil pesto.... Amy's makes a pesto tortellini that I love. It's in the frozen section of the grocery store.

tinkerbellmagic said:

Yes, Lisa, the menu I found on Allears says the pizzas are "individual." We sure couldn't finish them though and did wrap up the leftovers to store in our mini fridge back at the resort. The photo might make them appear larger than they were though.

Click to expand...

Do you think this pizza is big enough for an adult and a kid to share with an appetizer first? Considering going here and my child is a white pizza fiend. but. I'm not ordering him a $20 pizza lol. Maybe some rice balls and an individual pizza would be enough for both of us, of course with some dessert!

Lisa F said:

Do you think this pizza is big enough for an adult and a kid to share with an appetizer first? Considering going here and my child is a white pizza fiend. but. I'm not ordering him a $20 pizza lol. Maybe some rice balls and an individual pizza would be enough for both of us, of course with some dessert!

Click to expand...

Yes, I think the pizza is big enough for an adult and a kid to share with an appetizer first. Nice idea. I remember the days when I would go to Disney with my grandson. It was just the two of us sometimes. We shared a lot of food.

Yum... I am drooling!

Totally agree w/ you on the Croque Monsieur. We had it back in June and it was delicious. Had it in November and it was, like you said, kinda rubbery, and just overall unappealing. I can still picture the taste and it was not pretty.. yech. The french onion soup was so good, I have to agree with the idea of ordering soup and dessert! I don' t think the quinoa salad looks too impressing either.

Your meals at the Plaza look so delicious. Sometime when we're in MK we'll have to try it! I love a good veggie sandwich or a burger and both look awesome.

Yak and Yeti is always a great meal in our book. I have heard people rave about the burger, but I've never tried it, it looks amazing!!

Vernie822 said:

Yum... I am drooling!

Totally agree w/ you on the Croque Monsieur. We had it back in June and it was delicious. Had it in November and it was, like you said, kinda rubbery, and just overall unappealing. I can still picture the taste and it was not pretty.. yech. The french onion soup was so good, I have to agree with the idea of ordering soup and dessert! I don' t think the quinoa salad looks too impressing either.

Your meals at the Plaza look so delicious. Sometime when we're in MK we'll have to try it! I love a good veggie sandwich or a burger and both look awesome.

Yak and Yeti is always a great meal in our book. I have heard people rave about the burger, but I've never tried it, it looks amazing!!

Click to expand...

Oh! I had started reading your dining report too! Enjoying it so much!

Yes, that's a bummer when you order something and enjoy it and then because of that good experience you order again and it disappoints. The Croque Monsieur I had at BOG goes down in history as one of the three worst meals I ever had at Disney - and beyond - (the other two were - a Sci Fi Burger in 2002 and a Beaches N Cream Burger in 2003 - I feel like I'm repeating myself... did I already mention this? lol).
And yes, lol, every time I look at the photo I took of the Croque Monsieur, I just cringe remembering it.

You know before our trip, I tried to find out which lunch items at BOG received high marks, or at least higher marks than other items, and it wasn't so easy to do, especially since I don't eat mushrooms or horse radish. Ratings were all over the place. I'd still like to know which lunch items consistently gets good reviews at BOG.

I really wasn't expecting to find this gem of a burger in Yak and Yeti. Thinking about it now.... oh, the taste, it was so good. I didn't even know those Kobe burgers had such a good reputation. After we ordered, a group of three sat down at a table near us at Y&Y. One of the people ordered a Kobe burger. She told her dining pals that they're really good. I hadn't gotten mine yet, so that was the first inkling I had that I was in for a real treat!

Yeah, so the problem with trying new foods at Disney that turn out to be incredible is that you want the foods again the next time you go and that will mean you can't try as many new items as you thought, lol.

Thanks for reading! I am enjoying everyone's comments.

Oh my gosh, I want that milk shake!!!
Thanks for the reviews!

I'm not a huge fan of white pizza. it's fine but not my preference. So I'd have a piece or two to help him out and an appetizer maybe but I have no desire to order a huge one to share even though that might be more economical. Not even sure we'll go here, I have one slot in my plan I am trying to figure out. decisions, decisions