Magic Happens, and Then You EAT: Our Gluttonous *Year of the Dragon* COMPLETE!!

[iloveeeyore]

Index with links to completed reviews in next post!

Hi, fellow DISers! Welcome to the PTR stage of our third dining report! This time, since we are feeling exceptionally gluttonous and celebratory (for many reasons which may or may not be revealed to you later ), we are pulling out all the stops...I mean no holds barred...with the Deluxe Dining Plan!

When: August 3-11, 2012

Where: 1 night at Disney's Contemporary Resort (no dining plan), and 7 nights at Disney's Polynesian Resort (Deluxe Dining Plan) - all 4 theme parks, DTD, probably an afternoon at Blizzard Beach...in other words, all Disney, all the time!

Who: Our lucky family of four -
iloveeeyore AKA Jasmine- (45), staff nurse by night, family trip planner by day!
MainStreetFireman AKA Aladdin- (48 *Year of the Dragon* man!), volunteer fireman, renaissance man, great helper when it comes to trip planning!
Inspire&Imagine AKA Belle - (soon to be 18), high school graduation celebrator (almost college student!), actress, singer, dramatic writer!
DS (15) AKA Hercules - athlete, actor, singer, dancer!

We are all Disney fanatics! We also LOVE Disney Dining, great food, and laughing, playing, and EATING together! We enjoy sharing our experiences with our friends, so any little piece of information or advice we can offer can enrich the experiences of others. We hope that this report will bring something to you to assist in your planning! Thank you for reading, and please enjoy! And please chime in! We love to read your thoughts, ideas, criticisms, words of wisdom...anything you have to say will be appreciated here! So let's get ready to GO!

Again,

ADRs next post!

[iloveeeyore]

This post will be used as an index of the plans, and will be edited on an ongoing basis as I work on the report to tell you what's new, and if/when any of the plans below change. I will add links to posts that contain reviews as I complete them.

Rating System
Links Test

New 7/27: practice post for live report:
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...2&postcount=66

Day 1 Why ASMu for one night?
NEW 7/10 - SURPRISE ABOUT DAY 1 REVEALED!
B: Favorite local deli for bagels/sandwiches to eat at home
S: JetBlue snacks
"L:" Contempo Cafe
D: Chef Mickey's

Day 2 (arrive at Poly/Epcot)
B: 8:15 Kona Cafe (1)
S: Joy of Tea
L: 2:00 Via Napoli (1)
D: 9:30 HDDR (2)

Day 3 (MK)
B: Snack Credit
L: 11:30 Liberty Tree Tavern (1)
BONUS: Pre-dinner cocktails and possible mini DISmeet at Tambu Lounge
D: 8:00 Citricos (2)

Day 4 (Epcot)
B: Snack Credit
L: 12:00 Biergarten (1)
S: La Boulangerie Patisserie
D: 9:30 Yachtsman Steakhouse (2)

Day 5 (AK)
B: Snack Credit
8:45 Wild Africa Trek (we get a snack with this)
L: 1:30 Tusker House (1)
D: 8:00 Raglan Road (1)

Day 6 (MK)
B: Snack Credit
L: 12:05 The Plaza (1)
D: 7:20 Narcoossee's (2)

Day 7 (Epcot)
B: Snack Credit
L: 11:30 Le Cellier (1)
S: Karamell Kuche
D: 7:00 'Ohana (1)

Day 8 (DHS)
B: The Writer's Stop
L: 1:15 Mama Melrose (1)
BONUS: Pre-dinner coctails and mini DISmeet at the Tambu Lounge (again)
D: 9:30 California Grill(2)

Day 9 (MK and home )
B: 8:10 Crystal Palace (1)
S: Sunshine Tree, Confectionary
L: 2:35 Kona Cafe (1)

Final Thoughts

[MainStreetFireman]

Eventhough I already know about the plans, I still cannot wait to read about them! 89 days, and counting!

[dreamscometrue101]

I've never written a PTR or TR.... but I'm arriving at the World a week after you head home so maybe I'll get some inspiration from your PTR to write my TR when I get home.

I hope you're having as much fun planning your trip as I am planning mine.

Have a great trip and I'll be following along!

[CanadianPaco]

I'm in!!! Your restaurant choices look great!

[jacksmom]

Can't wait for more!

[jennyf2]

I'm in & will be at the Poly for 2 nights We have also upgraded to the Deluxe Dining plan..

Can't wait to read your PTR

[iloveeeyore]

Originally Posted by MainStreetFireman

Eventhough I already know about the plans, I still cannot wait to read about them! 89 days, and counting!

WooHoo! How deliciously decadent are we going to be?! I can't wait either, and the pre- trip report helps me to manage the excitement. Thanks for motivating me to get this started.

Originally Posted by dreamscometrue101

I've never written a PTR or TR.... but I'm arriving at the World a week after you head home so maybe I'll get some inspiration from your PTR to write my TR when I get home.

I hope you're having as much fun planning your trip as I am planning mine.

Have a great trip and I'll be following along!

I'm so glad you are following along! I will try to get some, if not most, of my reviews up live, so hopefully that will help more. Will you do a pre- trip report?

Originally Posted by CanadianPaco

I'm in!!! Your restaurant choices look great!

Thank you so much! Some of them are old favorites, but many will be new to us. I will get into the details about how we arrived at our choices soon! Hope you enjoy reading! Glad you're here.

Originally Posted by jacksmom

Can't wait for more!

Fantastic! I'm looking forward to sharing, so please stay tuned! Thanks for following along.

Originally Posted by jennyf2

I'm in & will be at the Poly for 2 nights We have also upgraded to the Deluxe Dining plan..

Can't wait to read your PTR

We're Tambu buddies, right?! I have to add our cocktails to the list of plans in post #2! Will you be writing a PTR? Thanks for joining in!

[MickeyNicki]

YAY! I made first page! I am so in for this....know why? Because I love your reviews, yes of course but the main reason? Because since you are going 2 months + before me I will have time to read your reviews and change my plans!

[iloveeeyore]

Originally Posted by MickeyNicki

YAY! I made first page! I am so in for this....know why? Because I love your reviews, yes of course but the main reason? Because since you are going 2 months + before me I will have time to read your reviews and change my plans!

Thank you, Nicki! You are my dining review idol and inspiration, so that means worlds to me! Oh, my, you might change your plans because of MY lil' ol' reviews? Now I really feel the pressure to get them right! Or more importantly, to get them up in a really timely manner! I promise I'll do my best.

Thank you for reading!

[iloveeeyore]

As you can count, we are one credit short, or in other words, we are exceptionally gluttonous! We will be on the DxDP for 7 nights, meaning we get 3 credits per night per person, or 21 credits. But we are at 22 with our current plan. What to do?

I put this question out on the Restaurant Board last week, and we (the DIS community, Aladdin and I) came to the conclusion that we can easily split a few of our meals at some of these venues, specifically at 4 venues (saving enough credits to cover all meals). That means that we will only order 3 meals at probably Kona breakfast, and lunches at Liberty Tree Tavern, Tony's Town Square and Mama Melrose. It has been ages since we have had breakfast at Tony's, and all of the others are completely new to us, so we are guessing that this will work. Hercules is a hungry boy and doesn't love to share food, so essentially, it will be Aladdin, Belle and I splitting 2 meals (with maybe a taste from Herc here and there) at each of these meals.

So experts, do you think these would be the best places to share meals? Can you think of any specific dishes that are big enough and worthy of sharing? And do you have any other suggestions?

Please keep the feedback coming!

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

So happy for you to be heading back so soon. It looks like you have wonderful plans! Hope you have good luck sharing dining credits. We have shared many meals at WDW but don't usually do the DDP.

[iloveeeyore]

Originally Posted by Smiling Cheshire Cat

So happy for you to be heading back so soon. It looks like you have wonderful plans! Hope you have good luck sharing dining credits. We have shared many meals at WDW but don't usually do the DDP.

Thank you, we are soooo excited to be heading back so soon, too! Thanks for the encouragement about the plans. Aladdin is opposed to paying OOP for any meals, on principle. He feels that the DxDP should be more than enough to satisfy us without having to pay more, except for adult beverages and tips, of course. We have never shared meals before, but primarily because we like to sample a variety. Typically, our family of 4 will order 4 different dishes so we can taste them all. It will be hard to see a fourth dish on the menu we'd like to try but skip it to save the credit. I will look at it as we are also saving the calories. We surely won't need a FULL 3 course meal twice a day. Especially since we will be "forced" to eat 2 snacks per day !

What meals have you most enjoyed sharing? Have you shared at any of the above? I'd appreciate any tips! And thanks for reading! I am reading yours, too!

[Inspire&Imagine]

Totally subscribed! <3

[iloveeeyore]

Originally Posted by Inspire&Imagine

Totally subscribed! <3

YAY! Thank you for reading my report, Beauty!