12 Days of Good Eats **Completed 8/29**

[Pixiedust34]

I'd be glad to answer questions about the places we ate on this trip.

I took pictures in some places, so if you're interested in a particular restaurant, I might have a picture of some of the food selections at that place. We were not on the dining plan, so we did not get an appetizer and/or dessert at some of our meals. The food was outstanding!

Here's where we ate:

--Animal Kingdom

Tusker House (B, L) Tusker House is soon closing, which is a shame. It's a great counter service!
Popcorn in souvenir bucket

--Disney-MGM Studios

ABC Commissary (B)
Sci-Fi (was supposed to be dinner, but we changed our ADR to lunch)
Mama Melrose's (Fantasmic Dinner package, though we ended up not going to Fantasmic)
popcorn in souvenir bucket

--Epcot

The Garden Grill (L)
Biergarten (was supposed to be dinner, but we had to change our ADR to lunch to fit in Illuminations)
Akerhaus Princess Storybook Breakfast
Tangierine Cafe (D)
Cantina de San Angel (D)
France, Italy, Mexico, Morocco--various adult beverages
Japan--Kaki Goris
Popcorn in souvenir bucket

--Magic Kingdom

Columbia Horbour House (L, D)
Crystal Palace (L)
Auntie Gravity's--ice cream snack (The ice cream melted faster than we could eat it).

--Downtown Disney

Raglan Road (L)
Goofy's Candy Company--custom made chocolate dipped treats

--Port Orleans Riverside

Riverside Mill (B, L, D)
Boatwright's (B)
Muddy Rivers (adult beverages/pizza from food court)

--The Polynesian Resort
'Ohana (B)
Kona Cafe (L)
Captain Cook's (L)

--Animal Kingdom Lodge
Boma

--Fort Wilderness
Hoop De Doo

The popcorn in a souvenir bucket was a good deal. For under $4.00, we had a tasty snack. We'd share a few handfuls of popcorn in the park, and then bring the rest of the popcorn back to the room to enjoy later that evening. That was like getting two snacks for the price of one, plus now we have 3 popcorn buckets as souvenirs.

We bought four refillable mugs at Port Orleans Riverside, and used them way too many times to count.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Kid's Meal:

Banana stuffed French Toast:

My dh's platter:

The fruit cup was mine. I didn't want bacon or sausage with my French toast, and our server substituted a fruit cup for me.

It was a yummy and very filling breakfast!

 

[TigerKat]

Subscribing...

 

[lisaj]

subscribing too, looks like a great bunch of restaurants

 

[sandybobandy]

I'm signing up early for this one! lol

Great pics so far!

 

[disneymom2twins]

Signing up too!! Love the pics

 

[Minniespal]

Looking forward to reading more

 

[Pixiedust34]

I'm sorry I don't have food pictures for Crystal Palace. It was busy and I was too occupied with keeping our plates full and meeting the characters as they visited.

The food here was good! I enjoyed the Meditteranean Pasta Salad a lot.

Character interaction was great. My kids said cute stuff to the characters, such as, "Tigger, I hope you didn't wreck Rabbit's garden today!" and "Piglet, we love you because you're so brave!" The characters were cute in their responses to us. I was wearing an Eeyore shirt, and Eeyore noticed.

We celebrated both of our kids' b-days at WDW, and we bought cakes for them at 'Ohana and The Garden Grill, so I wasn't expecting anything birthday related at any of our other restaurants. My dd's birthday must have still been on our ADR when we checked in because the cast member mentioned it. When we were seated, our table had Mickey "pixie dust" on it, and dd was given a cupcake with a candle, which was a nice surprise!

Service here was pretty good. Our waiter sang "Happy Birthday" to dd, and our drinks were refilled promptly.

Here are a couple of pictures from the restaurant. The one picture is of the parade that the kids do with the characters around the restaurant.

 

[Pixiedust34]

We've eaten at MM once before and enjoyed it, and we also enjoyed it on this trip. The service was good and our courses were nicely timed. We were not rushed, and yet we didn't have to wait too long for our food. Our drinks were refilled on a regular basis.

Here's what we had:

Dh: Brushetta, Spicy Italian Sausage, Cheesecake

Me: Toasted Italian Bread Salad (more of a lettuce salad--not what I expected, but it was still good!), Penne Alla Vodka, Tiramisu

Ds: Breads with spreads (Huge portion! If you're not on the dining plan nor have the Fantasmic package, this is good to share), 4 Cheese Flatbread Pizza, Cheesecake

Dd (Kid's menu) Salad, Pasta, Ice cream sundae

The pasta portions were huge and dh and I could not eat all of our entrees. MM recently quit giving bread with your meal (a poor move for an Italian restaurant, IMHO), so if you like bread with your pasta make sure you order that bread appetizer that my ds ordered.

The appetizers were good. Dh and I both enjoyed our pasta dishes, and ds inhaled his flatbread! My tiramisu was outstanding! Ds' cheesecake came with a candle to celebrate his birthday. That was a nice touch and unexpected, as we were not aware that his birthday was mentioned on our ADR.



bread appetizer

salad appetizer

flatbread entree

Penne Alla Vodka entree

tiramisu

cheesecake

They put a candle in ds' cheesecake because his b-day was mentioned in our ADR.

I LOVED the tiramisu!!

We were planning to do Fantasmic, but the heat was brutal and we decided to go back to our resort and swim after dinner instead of staying at MGM. Our server passed on our Fantasmic seating voucher to another family.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

Great reviews! How kind of you to pass on your Fantasmic voucher!

Your CP pictures are making me so excited. We go there for breakfast every trip. I think it is the only restaurant we have gone to all three (soon to be four) trips. I like to try new places, but we love their breakfast and the Pooh characters.

 

[John's Mom]

Thanks for sharing your reviews and pictures!

 

[atisikitabasket]

Were you happy with the birthday cakes? How did they taste? I am looking at ordering a cake at 'Ohana.

Love the reviews so far!

 

[Pixiedust34]

Thank you all for the replies! I have more reviews and pictures to post, and I'm going to try and do a little bit each day.

Amy, at both locations we ordered the 6" standard cakes for $12.50. They were OK. Not good and not bad--just OK. Cake pictures will be coming. : )

If you want to order the 6" cakes, you can no longer pre-order them. You just tell the cast member at check-in that you want the cake and then they'll bring it to you for dessert. If you want a customized cake, you do order that in advance.

 

[Pixiedust34]

I'm going to throw in a couple of cs meals now.

We've eaten at La Cantina in the past and have enjoyed it, but on this trip it was the only disappointing meal we ate.

Dh = burrito meal
me = nachos (dh & I split a maragarita)
kids = kid meals
We also got a churro and shared it

The food didn't seem to be too fresh. I disliked the taco (?) meat and black beans that came with my nachos, plus it didn't have enough cheese. I regretted not getting the salad. Dh said that his burrito was OK at best. Ds was so-so about his kid's meal, and dd didn't like hers. The only food we enjoyed here was the churro. Oh--and the margarita was OK but it seemed to be on the strong side.

Here are the pix:

La Cantina Kid's Meal

La Cantina burrito meal

La Cantina Nachos

I read that La Cantina is slated for a rehab, so maybe they will change the menu a little if it closes and then reopens. I also read that a tequila bar will be opening inside the Mexican pavilion.

 

[Pixiedust34]

On the day that we had our 'Ohana breakfast, dh and ds went parasailing at 1:00. After parasailing, we went back to the Poly to grab a quick & late lunch before heading back to POR. I'm glad we stopped at the Poly! The cs service was quick with the ordering screens, and the food was great. I'd like to see those screens being used at other resorts.

Dh = chicken stir fry
me = Aloha pork sandwich
kids = both had flatbread (pizza)

We brought our refillable mugs with us since the new mugs are good at all resorts during your stay. We got a lot of use out of those mugs on this day! We used them at the Poly, CR, and back at POR.

Dh enjoyed his stir fry, and my sandwich was flavorful. Portions were big. We ate at an off-time, and the small food area was not crowded at all. I do like the bigger food courts at the mods and values, but the Poly's food court was nice.

Captain Cook's

(Note: While dh and ds parasailed, dd and I hung out near the Food and Fun Center at the CR. It was supposed to be closed for a rehab, but it was still open. Anyway, we decided that we didn't want to eat there. It was surprisingly not too clean at the time we were there, which was 1:00 to 1:30. I'm glad we had a meal at the Poly instead of the at the CR).

 

[marivaid]

Great reviews, looking forward to more

 

[JulieAnn]

Great reviews; I can't wait to read more!

 

[natalielongstaff]

nice to hear a decent review of mama melrose, thanks

 

[coasterfreak]

Subscribing, nice selection of restaurants

 

[wen8jr]

subscribing, can't wait to see more pics