Only 3 Pound Weight Gain? A DxDP Review upd 2/9 Yachtsman and Final Thoughts

[creativeamanda]

Originally Posted by amandaw

California Grill sounds like a very nice meal indeed!

I'm thinking we are going to do a date night on our December trip. If both have availabilities, would you choose California Grill or Narcoossee's?

Hands down, California Grill.

[creativeamanda]

That morning, we headed to Animal Kingdom for AM EMH. We rode Expedition Everest several times, and then stopped for breakfast at Pizzafari. In the past, they had biscuits and gravy for a snack credit, but this was taken off the menu, so I paid out of pocket for a bounty platter:


from the top, clockwise: sausage and bacon, biscuit, potatoes, eggs, and french toast.

We shared this and it was just okay.

Later, we shared this at Boulangerie Patisserie:


creme brulee. It was good, not as good as at Chefs, but good.

I'll leave ratings alone for these. Suffice it to say, this was an okay set of meals.

[jecskc]

I didn't know they served breakfast at Pizzafari ..... interesting.

[amandaw]

Originally Posted by creativeamanda

Hands down, California Grill.

Good to know! I will be trying hard on my 180 day to get an ADR for California Grill then. It'll be nice to have a date night at CR since that's where we'll be staying. Although, we'll have to go to either Poly or WL to bring our DS to a kids club. Oh well...they're both close. He loved the Neverland Club in October, so we may choose that one again.

[creativeamanda]

Originally Posted by jecskc

I didn't know they served breakfast at Pizzafari ..... interesting.

We discovered this summer 2011 as we were trying to find a good breakfast there. They used to have biscuits and gravy and it was a snack credit, but they do not anymore. That was disappointing, but it's a good option there in Animal Kingdom.

Originally Posted by amandaw

Good to know! I will be trying hard on my 180 day to get an ADR for California Grill then. It'll be nice to have a date night at CR since that's where we'll be staying. Although, we'll have to go to either Poly or WL to bring our DS to a kids club. Oh well...they're both close. He loved the Neverland Club in October, so we may choose that one again.

I know plenty of people have done the Poly for their dinners at CG. It's right there on the monorail, so it is pretty convenient.

[creativeamanda]

Dinner that night was at one of our favorites. . .Cape May Café.
Cape May for dinner is a clam bake buffet. It is in my opinion, not the best seafood, but comparable to what you would find at Myrtle Beach in one of the buffets there.
Sweetie and I were seated very close to our 5:15pm ADR time, if not earlier. We ordered our drinks—Coke for Sweetie, Diet Coke for me, and went to the buffet.

My plate: clams, mussels, pasta, potatoes, and crab legs

Sweeties: Shrimp, crab legs, roast beef, crab legs, and potatoes.
I know I went back for some more crab legs, but I did not get a picture.
My major problem with seafood is I can keep eating it without stopping. I love it that much. I’m glad this was the only trip here, or I would have gained 30, not 3 pounds.
On to desserts:
Sweetie got

Oreo bonbons, which she adores
I got:

Oreo bonbon, boston crème cake, cookie bar of some sort, and flan.
Overall, this was an okay trip there. Some of the food was running out quick and the staff was simply not keeping up. I don’t know that my feelings were completely fair, as it was the night after CaliGrill. Either way, we enjoyed our trip here to our favorite resort.

Anyway, our ratings for Cape May Café:
Service: 4—not over the top, but okay
Atmosphere: 4—I love the atmosphere of the Beach Club
Food Quality: 3—not the best, but standard fare
Value: 3—not a good deal oop at $40+, but good for DDP
Overall: 3.5

[dmiller64152]

Originally Posted by creativeamanda

Value: 3 (sticker shock first day--after this we were on the DxDP, and I think it made for a little less shock.)
Overall: 3.25

Curious if you had to pay out of pocket the first day, or chose to. We're have the plan for 8 nights, but we leave EARLY the last day so won't have any dining.

We can start using the DDP as soon as we check in, right???

[creativeamanda]

Originally Posted by dmiller64152

Curious if you had to pay out of pocket the first day, or chose to. We're have the plan for 8 nights, but we leave EARLY the last day so won't have any dining.

We can start using the DDP as soon as we check in, right???

Yes, you can use the dining plan at check in. THis day, we weren't checked into the resort we had our plan booked for. We had a room only reservation at POP Century and had the dining plan for the next reservation that started the next day. So, you can use the dining plan the moment you check in on the package. We've checked in before at like 7 am and used our first credits within 30 minutes of check in. YOu could actually use every single one of your credits on the first day if you were so inclined. Hope that helps.

[amandaw]

Seems like y'all had an overall good dinner @ Cape May.

I don't think it's a place we'll ever go to for dinner. Ed is not a huge seafood lover. And while I do love seafood and could it everyday, I can get really awesome seafood down here in south Louisiana. I'd be afraid to bring Ed there and it just be mediocre.

[jesswindsor]

Really enjoying your report!!

[creativeamanda]

Originally Posted by amandaw

Seems like y'all had an overall good dinner @ Cape May.

I don't think it's a place we'll ever go to for dinner. Ed is not a huge seafood lover. And while I do love seafood and could it everyday, I can get really awesome seafood down here in south Louisiana. I'd be afraid to bring Ed there and it just be mediocre.

That is a big possibility here. I think that Cape May is not incredible, but just pretty good. As far as buffets go, though, I like the option of a non character buffet.

Originally Posted by jesswindsor

Really enjoying your report!!

Thank you!

[rachel09985]

Wait when did you go to Cape May?? Did they bring back their oreo bon bons!???

[creativeamanda]

Lunch this day was a first for us: Wolfgang Puck Express. This was a place I was interested in.

We ordered and found a seat. The server came and brought us our drinks, and we waited for him to bring our meals.

Sweetie had:


Chicken Fingers and French Fries

She liked them. Definitely better than regular CS options.


I had a turkey sandwich. I have to admit, that Sweetie's was better and in the future, I would not get this. It was still better than regular CS locations.

We both had this for dessert:



Creme brulee. Okay, again, not the best we've had there, but it was pretty good.

I liked the meal. It was not blow away awesome, but a great meal for a CS credit.

our ratings for Wolfgang Puck Express:
Service: 4--good for a CS
Atmosphere: 4—nice environment, we were able to find a good table
Food Quality: 4—not the best, but better than most CS
Value: 4—great deal on the DDP as a CS location
Overall: 4

[amandaw]

We've had lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express before and really enjoyed but we had all gone with pizza. I do like that it doesn't feel like your typical quick service restaurant.

[creativeamanda]

Originally Posted by amandaw

We've had lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express before and really enjoyed but we had all gone with pizza. I do like that it doesn't feel like your typical quick service restaurant.

No, it's not like the typical one, and it was delicious!