Birthday Celebration Disney Style! DDP Review: Complete!

[ThinkTink09]

My sister and I just returned from a fantastic trip to the world! It was sunny, it was warm, and it was filled with good eats!

We traveled over my Birthday, and I couldn’t have had a better day. We stayed at POR-Riverside (which may I just add is absolutely gorgeous) for 7 nights.

I enjoy looking at these dining reviews, so I thought I’d try one of my own. I hope that someone finds it helpful - as I did make my sister ‘suffer’ through taking food pics (I told her she couldn’t complain since it was my birthday trip after all) . I'm going to blame the few blurry pics on a sugar-induced shaky hand. LOL!

We have done the Disney dining plan before, and both times have found it to be a LOT of food, but hey its vacation! Here’s a list of the places we ate:

Riverside Mill - dinner
Le Cellier - lunch
Hollywood Studios - snack
Riverside Mill - dinner
Main Street Bakery - snack
Pecos Bill - lunch
Cape May Clambake - dinner
Yak &Yeti - lunch
Riverside Mill - snack
Wolfgang Puck Café - dinner
Starring Rolls - lunch
Pizza Delivery - dinner
Kona Café - breakfast
Riverside Mill - dinner
Wishes Dessert Party
Via Napoli - lunch
Columbia Harbor House - dinner
Riverside Mill - breakfast

[donnaf516]

I'm in!

[ThinkTink09]

We had an evening flight our arrival day. We landed at MCO around 8:20 and took the Magical Express – arriving at POR around 9:30. We checked in, scoped out our room, and headed to the food court; we were starved! As a side note, we paid for a preferred room to be close to the main resort amenities, and were very happy with that decision.

Here’s a picture of the Riverside Mill Food court. I liked the options here. You had the general burger/pizza fare as well as a make your own pasta/salad station. They also had some options in line with the New Orleans theme.



My sister chose the Cajun Chicken sandwich with fries - she really enjoyed it. It was covered in a spicy mustard sauce with lettuce and cheese. She said the chicken was very moist and flavorful, and that the mustard had the perfect amount of heat. Fries were of course edible crispy goodness.



I was less adventurous, but also greatly enjoyed my chicken nuggets. I am very particular when it comes to chicken. I can’t stand any slimy stringy bits in my chicken. These nuggets were delicious! Good quality white meat that was tender and juicy. They were large too- eight pieces came with the meal; six would have been plenty.



For dessert my sister chose the magic cookie bar. I know a lot of people like this; but we didn’t. I was really a very rich combination of cookie, dark chocolate, peanut butter chips, and coconut. Just not to either of our taste.



I had the bakery carrot cake. It was sooo good. It was a real bakery made carrot cake, not the fake processed kind. The cream cheese icing was perfect and he cake was moist with real carrot shreds and the perfect taste of cinnamon. Yummy!



We headed back to our room very full and sleepy. The only un-magical moment of the trip came next….it took until 2 am to receive our luggage from the magical express! Note to self: next time when arriving late, claim own luggage.

[Mrs. Sojourner]

Can't wait to hear the rest!

I can't believe about the luggage.

[Disneyfreak616]

OMG I'm second?!?!?! YAYY!!!!!!! Count me in! Can't wait for more reviews!!

[MickeyNicki]

Count me in!

[athenna]

I'm in

[Linda67]

Joining in

[ThinkTink09]

Hello to everyone joining in on this review!

Our first day in the parks was at EPCOT. What a beautiful day it was!! The warm breezy 79 degree weather felt amazing compared to the 28 degree weather from the day before, and the flower and garden festival was so pretty. It was one of my favorite days from the trip.

We had a lunch ressie at Le Cellier for 1:35 and were pretty hungry since we skipped breakfast. We checked in and waited inside. It was pretty interesting to watch the front desk. Since the restaurant had just recently changed to signature status in the evenings, I guess they were working out some organizational kinks. They ran out of lunch menus and had been inadvertently handing out children’s menus instead. The waiters kept coming to the front to say ‘you gave the wrong menu’ Then a guy in a suit came scurrying out from somewhere ( a manager I assume) and sped out the front saying he was going to look for more menus. It was funny!

I also thought you would be interested to know - someone came to the check-in and asked for pretzel bread and cheese soup ‘to go’ and was denied. The front lady said the cheese soup was taken off the menu. I thought that was strange since people seem to love it so much, but I later found it was still on the menu. Maybe she just didn’t want to say no? I read a post the other day indicating this request was met with success. It must depend upon who is working.

Anyway…to the food…

I absolutely adore Le Cellier’s pretzel bread, and think that the spaceship-earth-shaped butter balls are so cute. We ate every last warm buttery morsel of bread.





On the dining plan you could order a soft drink, or a smoothie, or a milkshake. I choose a strawberry milkshake. It was really good! The strawberry was huge and fresh, and the shake wasn’t overly sweet or heavy. It almost had a smoothie like consistency, but tasted like a milkshake. It was the best strawberry shake I’ve ever had.





My sister has gotten the same dish all three times we have dined at Le Cellier: the New York strip with potatoes au gratin. She loves this dish. She ordered the steak medium, and enjoyed every last bite. She always raves about the potatoes too. Now my sister salts everything, she loves salt, but she proclaimed the dish perfect. That is very rare for her, so I wonder if some would find the dish too salty for their taste.





I chose the House Burger with BBQ, bacon, mushrooms, and onion crips. I like my meat well done. The burger was perfect. I think it was my favorite meal of the trip. The bbq sauce was delicious! Sweet and tangy, and it complimented the bacon and meat perfectly. I have had the filet before, and really enjoyed that, but I think this burger is now my must do! The fries were really good too. I was so sad that I couldn’t finish them. Oh, and the pickle on the side…best…pickle…ever…I’m serious!





For desert I ordered the maple crème brulee. I’d never had crème brulee before and wanted to try it. I thought it was very good. Almost pudding like with a hardened sugar coating on top. I think I would have liked it more without the maple flavoring, but did enjoy my choice. They bought the desert out with a candle for my birthday (I was wearing my birthday button). I thought that was a nice touch.





Behind the brulee is my sister’s choice, the bumbleberry cobbler with cheesecake ice cream. She did not like this at all. I tried a bit, and have to agree. The graham part was good with the ice-cream, but the fruit was really bitter-probably an acquired taste.

All in all another great meal at Le Cellier, and we’ll definitely do lunch from now on. The new menu additions for the signature status don’t appeal to us, and you can still get the steak for lunch!

[CreightonsMomma]

Joining in.

[CreightonsMomma]

Mmmm..That New York Strip looks sooo yummy. I will definitely have to do Le Cellier for lunch next time I am there.

[Adgie128]

I'm in! That burger looks great.

[Rohais]

Great reviews so far!

[ThinkTink09]

We used our first snack credit in the evening at Hollywood Studios. It was pretty crowded that night (fantasmic night) so we headed to the far left side of the park to have ice cream and stroll around. I chose a twist, my sister chose chocolate. Both in a waffle cone, which I think is the only way to eat ice cream. It was good – how can you go wrong with ice-cream?




We stayed to watch fantasmic that night, and holy-moley was that interesting. We saw the second show and it was still nearly filled! We ended up getting seated on the far left of the amphitheater (much to our dismay) but luckily at the end of a row in the back. We scurried out of there just before the show ended. There is something exhilarating about beating the stampede LOL!

[ThinkTink09]

After Fantasmic, we headed back to our resort for some dinner. Thank goodness we were one of the first ones to make it into our resort bus line. I am not kidding you…the line got so long it extended out of the queue, onto the sidewalk, to at least 2 resort bus stations back. It was crazy!!

Back at the food court, I decided to try the make your own pasta station. I’m so glad I did! First you had to decide your pasta: penne, linguine, or spaghetti. Then you chose your toppings - there were so many: onion, pepper, broccoli, mushroom, peas, artichoke - and more. Then your sauce: alfredo, marinara, pesto. And finally the protein: shrimp or chicken. They cook the veggies and protein of choice in a pan with oil right in front of you. Then the noodles are added and then the sauce. It was neat to watch the chef…there were so many pans, fire, and food…but he kept the orders straight and pushed them out in quick succession.

I choose linguine noodles with alfredo sauce, shrimp, and peas. They sprinkle your finished dish with parmesan cheese and add a piece of garlic bread. It was sooo good. And it was a huge portion. It could easily be split between two people.





My sister chose the chicken nuggets; same picture and review as before.





For dessert I was hoping to get a ‘disney’ cupcake, but the bakery was out I dream about those cupcakes - I love them, but a slice of cheesecake was a yummy substitution. It wasn’t the best I’d ever had but it was good. Creamy and not too sweet.





My sister chose a sugar cookie with Mickey sprinkles. She loves these cookies almost as much as I love the cupcakes. It’s a pretty big cookie - nearly the size of your face. She said it was soft and sweet and perfectly chewy.



All in all a pretty good night!