9 days of yumminess on the DDP - 8/24-9/2! - Updated 9/26

[lauritagoddess]

We just got back from WDW on Sunday and I’m really, really missing it. We had free dining for all but one day of our trip and enjoyed every second of it. It's just my son B and I, and this trip was a novel one for us in terms of dining since he turned 10 in June and is now an adult per Disney, so no more ordering off the kids menus. It made dining both easier and more complicated. It definitely gave him more options, but he also has a 10 year old's tastes in things so it meant evaluating menu's more and seeing what he'd like. To make the trip even more interesting, while he's normally a prodigious eater, he was diagnosed with strep 3 days before we arrived and his appetite, at least at the beginning of the trip, was diminished. We also skipped a few things we'd planned, switched things up a little, but still had lots and lots of yummies.


My reviews will include

8/24 - Cafe Rix - dinner

8/25 - Pepper Market - breakfast
Beaches & Cream - lunch
Candy Cauldron - snack
Chef Mickey's - dinner

8/26 - Cafe Rix - breakfast
Plaza Restaurant - lunch
Wetzel's Pretzels, Haagen Dazs - snack
Tommorowland Terrace Wishes Dessert Party

8/27 - Food Quest - lunch
Landscape of Flavors - Art of Animation - dinner

8/28 - Cafe Rix - breakfast
50s Prime Time Cafe - lunch
SciFi - dinner

8/29 - Mickey's cookies and cream ice cream sandwich - snack
Sommerfest - lunch
Italy - gelato - snack
Cape May Cafe - dinner
Candy Cauldron - snack

8/30 - Pepper Market - breakfast
Columbia Harbor House - lunch
Sunshine Tree Terrace - snack
Whispering Canyon Cafe- dinner

8/31 - Tusker House - breakfast
Restaurantasaurus - lunch
Hollywood & Vine - dinner (Fantasmic Dining Package)

9/1 - Cafe Rix - breakfast
Hey Howdy Take Away - snack
Backlot Express - lunch
Stand near Japan - snack
FoodQuest - dinner
Candy Cauldron- snack
Clawdaddy's- lobster roll truck

9/2 - Cafe Rix - breakfast

I'm really looking forward to writing all this up!

 

[lauritagoddess]

Our trip started somewhat unusually. We were supposed to fly out on Saturday 8/25 and stay through 9/2. I started getting really nervous a few days before the trip because of Isaac and hoping that we wouldn't be hit by the hurricane, not that it would affect our travel since they weren't really forecasting anything starting until at least Sunday night, but I was afraid we'd be stuck at the hotel and lose park time. I decided to see if we could go down early and was able to change our flights to a day earlier and book a room only reservation for one night. So off we went on Friday 8/24. This was our first stay at Coronado Springs and while I didn't plan for us to eat at Maya Grill, I was really interested in the fact that Pepper Market had a breakfast and lunch buffet that was a quick service.

We arrived about 2:45 and checked out the resort, went down to the Dig Site to check out the pool and so my son could try out the arcade. In the main area, El Centro, there's the two quick service options, Cafe Rix and Pepper Market. Cafe Rix is more of the grab and go place, although there is some seating next to it adjacent to the lounge. We decided to just grab dinner there, although we did go and check out Pepper Market which reverts back from a buffet to food court for dinner. He got a pepperoni pizza, I got chicken tenders and we shared a Coke Zero. The pizza was the standard Disney pizza but my son enjoyed it. The only place I ever eat chicken nuggets is in Disney, I just don't like them anywhere else, but I love them here. And these weren't nugget sized, but were tenders. And these were just really, really good. They were really crisp on the outside and fresh and juicy on the inside. They came with chips. My son asked me if they were good and I said they were okay, they tasted like Ruffles. When we walked back through Cafe Rix we saw these huge bags of Ruffles. My sophisticated tastebuds don't lie, lol. This meal was also OOP since we were on the room only reservation and the dining plan wouldn't start until the next day.

We had also decided that we would rate each meal. While not a gourmet meal, we both enjoyed it and B and I both gave it an A.

 

[deenbrad]

I'm in!

 

[lauritagoddess]

The next morning we checked in again for our package reservation and started our free dining, yippee! We decided to use our first 2 QS at the Pepper Market for breakfast. We both sampled different things. I thought the corned beef hash was pretty good and the ham too, but the rest I tried was just eh. B took a full plate with a ton of bacon on it and then only ate a little bacon and sausage and left the rest. The food was decent and for 2 QS not bad, but we both gave it only a B.

(This picture was taken on a different day with the lunch buffet sign up, but you get the idea. )

After breakfast we headed to Epcot. We got there so early we were literally the first ones at the turnstiles. And as an aside, is there no rope drop any more at any of the parks? We were surprised that morning when they let us through about 8:45 and then we were free to go into the park. We had the same experience in the other parks too. Well, I don't know about AK because we entered early for our Tusker House breakfast, but we didn't experience rope drop at MK or HS either.

We had some fun in Future World and made our way over to World Showcase at 11:00. We went to Canada and the UK and then decided to go to Beaches and Cream for lunch. We've been several times before for ice cream, but never ate a real meal there before. It was relatively uncrowded when we got there. We've never been before where we didn't have to sit at the counter, but we got a table easily.

I ordered the turkey sandwich with fries and a Diet Coke. B got a hot dog with onion rings on the side and a Sprite. The turkey on the sandwich was just regular deli style turkey, but ohmigod the bacon was amazing!! Especially after that skimpy limp bacon at breakfast, this was so mmmm... The fries were also really good. B had only at a tiny bit of the hot dog but put away most of the onion rings. Our intention had been to share a sundae after our meals, but I was pretty full and B wasn't that hungry. I didn't want to waste TS credits on this meal so I paid OOP, but it was pretty reasonable. Overall we gave the meal a B+. I think maybe we were expecting a little bit more because of how droolworthy the sundaes are. Not that the meal was bad by any means. But while B loved the onion rings he didn't think much of the hot dog. As I noted above, I really loved the bacon on the sandwich, but the bun fell apart pretty easily. I had a couple of more turkey sandwiches on this trip that were much better. And does anyone else watch Adam Richman's Best Sandwich in America on Travel Channel? He does this BITE scale for sandwiches - Bread, Interior, Taste and Experience. Any time we had a sandwich or burger on this trip we rated them according to the BITE scale which B thought was a hoot to do. This sandwich did well on the I, the T and the E, but it was the B that didn't get as good a rating.

 

[ShortStuff]

Oh my goodness, that bacon does look good!! When we stayed at CS, I really wasn't too impressed with Pepper Market. Maybe we hit it at a bad time when we ate there, (twice), but I liked POR much better.

Looking forward to more reviews and I'm glad your son didn't feel bad the whole time!

 

[Trish.Glenn]

Awesome review so far!!l

 

[butiflfeet]

Great start! I'm hoping we'll have room to finally try Beaches and Cream this next trip!

 

[lauritagoddess]

Oh my goodness, that bacon does look good!! When we stayed at CS, I really wasn't too impressed with Pepper Market. Maybe we hit it at a bad time when we ate there, (twice), but I liked POR much better.

Looking forward to more reviews and I'm glad your son didn't feel bad the whole time!

I agree, I was underwhelmed by Pepper Market, but it was nice to have two different QS options.

Awesome review so far!!l

Thanks!

Great start! I'm hoping we'll have room to finally try Beaches and Cream this next trip!

It's worth making a trip over there, although I think next time we'll just get a sundae.

 

[lauritagoddess]

After lunch we decided to leave the rest of the World Showcase for another day and decided to take a bus to Downtown Disney. B was especially keen to go to DisneyQuest. I got the water park and more tickets last year and we tried DisneyQuest for the first time and my video and arcade game loving child was in nirvana. He couldn’t wait this year to go back. The weather was already iffy so I agreed we could go. We got off at the West Side and stopped in some of the stores first, including Candy Cauldron. I love what they do with the apples, they are so cute!


We decided to use a snack credit and got a cake pop. It was yummy.

After DisneyQuest we took a bus to the Contemporary for our Chef Mickey’s reservation. We always start off every trip with a visit to Chef Mickey’s, ever since I first took B when he was 3. This would have been our first meal of the trip if we’d come in on Saturday as we’d originally planned. We got seated this time in a different section of the restaurant. Occasionally we get seated in the area off to the side of the buffet, but usually in the room behind it. This time we got seated off to the left side. When we got there, Goofy was already making the rounds, followed very quickly by Donald and then Pluto. We saw all three before we even got up to get food. Or rather I should say that I got up to get food. B decided he wasn’t hungry and wasn’t going to eat anything. I don’t believe once he got beyond the picky toddler stage that my child has ever told me that he doesn’t want to eat. He said he was happy just to meet the characters and would have a drink. Had I been paying OOP for this meal I probably would have been apoplectic at paying so much, especially since he’s a Disney adult now, and with his not eating. But since we were on the free dining, I figured, whatever.

I can’t say he missed that much however since most of the food just didn’t look that appealing. I know people always say you go to Chef Mickey’s for the character interaction and not the food, but really I can’t say that the food was ever bad or unappetizing, maybe not spectacular, but usually pretty good. But this time it was only okay. Of the regular food, the only thing I thought was really good was the peel and eat shrimp and the corn bread. B did nibble one or two shrimp two I think. While we were eating Mickey and then Minnie came over which elicited smiles from B. For dessert I got a few things to try and some ice cream. Again, it was just okay. The oreo bite which I normally love, the cookie was all soggy which B and I were both remarking on.

For a rating, we gave this meal 2 scores. For the character interaction and for our very nice waiter (I think his name was Kevin??), we gave an A. For the food, a B-. I would still definitely go back because of the characters, but the food was definitely underwhelming this time.

 

[disnut1149]

Hi
Great reviews!! Can't wait to read more. Thanks!!

 

[lauritagoddess]

For breakfast we went back to Cafe Rix. It was an exciting meal of Frosted Flakes, Pop Tarts, a banana and orange juice, lol. We were going save one of the Pop Tarts for later, but it crumbled before it could be eaten. I paid OOP for this. B's Donald toy was eyeing the Frosted Flakes, but he never did get any. We'd give this meal a B.

We went to Magic Kingdom this morning and got there for the park opening and split the morning between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. We had a lunch ADR for the Plaza Restaurant and made our way over to Main Street a little before noon. This was one ADR that I was really looking forward to. We had eaten there last year and their turkey sandwich was probably one of the best sandwiches I’d ever had and I had been drooling for it since then. We checked in and were given a pager and sat for a little while in the seats outside people watching, but it was probably only about 5 minutes.

We were seated at table near the windows. I ordered the turkey sandwich with the homemade chips and B ordered the angus burger, no cheese, with bacon, and with fries. While we were waiting for our food we amused ourselves by taking goofy pics of ourselves. B was taken with the condiments, he thought it was funny how the swirl on top went outward on 3 of the them, swirled downward on the other. I guess whatever amuses a 10 year old.

The aforementioned condiment swirls.

But then our food arrived. Oh, sandwich nirvana. This is by far my favorite, favorite sandwich. The turkey is so fresh, the bread is a great whole grain and is nice and toasty. I’m normally not that big a mayo fan, but it’s just perfect on here. The sandwich was just as good as I’d remembered. B liked his burger a lot, although he did make a point to ask the server why there was “white dust” on top of the bun. He didn’t really touch the fries because he was too busy helping me go to town on the homemade chips. See him nabbing one before I even got the picture taken? These are un-freakin-believably good. They are thick, and crispy, and so tasty. I definitely recommend them.

It was dessert time after that. We weren’t really that hungry, but hey it’s a TS credit and we were going to get our ice cream. I got a sundae with rocky road ice cream, hot fudge and whipped cream. B got a brownie sundae with cookies and cream ice cream. I don’t think he ate much of it, maybe a few spoonfuls and I managed some of mine, but we both agreed that they were very, very good.

Overall, this was my favorite meal of the whole trip. The sandwich was amazing, the chips were fabulous and what I could manage of the sundae was very yummy. B agreed pretty much with my assessment, although he did rank our lunch at 50s PT two days later as his absolute favorite meal of the trip. We rated this meal an A+++.

 

[CraigB03]

Loving your reviews, that turkey sandwich looks awesome. Can't wait to head over to La Plaza restaurant on my next trip to the world; its been getting some truly drool worthy reviews lately

 

[lauritagoddess]

Loving your reviews, that turkey sandwich looks awesome. Can't wait to head over to La Plaza restaurant on my next trip to the world; its been getting some truly drool worthy reviews lately

I think the Plaza often gets overlooked which is a shame because the food is really good. But then it does make it easier to get ADRs which is a plus.

 

[lauritagoddess]

After lunch we stayed a little longer in MK, but then went back to the resort and then on to Downtown Disney again. We weren't sure what to do about dinner since we had the dessert party tonight and we dithered about it and eventually wound up just getting a snack type dinner. B had some Wetzel's Pretzel bites and a lemonade and I got a Belgian Chocolate Chocolate shake at Haagen Dazs. We were both happy with this, although it was a little overkill to have the shake when I'd had ice cream at lunchtime, but oh well. I paid OOP for this, and we'd both give it an A.

That brings us to the evening and the Wishes Dessert Party! I had checked and checked for when the ADRs would open for this. Every day in May into June I checked the Disney site and the disboards. I was so excited when I scored the ADR. I got really concerned though about Isaac and whether we would have our great Wishes experience. It had been raining on an off during the day and the wind was picking up. But then it was perfect. I think it drizzled a tiny bit while we were there, but otherwise it was clear and beautiful.

We had an 8:10 ADR. We got there a little past 8:00 and there was a long line already snaking around Tomorrowland Terrace. The line moved fairly quickly though and when they checked our names off the list they had they gave us wristbands to wear. We went in and found our table with our name tag on it and then went and scoped out the desserts.

We sampled various desserts, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate mousse, ice cream, cupcake, rice krispie treat, tart, chocolate covered strawberry, and B also had some vanilla ice cream. They also had various drinks, water, milk, lemonade, coffee, tea.

The desserts were fairly underwhelming with the exception of the brownies which were actually really, really good. But then again we weren't exactly going for the desserts. About 8:35 people started going up to the railing facing the castle and we joined them. First we watch the Magic, Memories and You show on the castle which was kind of cool from our vantage point. But then was the real reason we were there, Wishes! And wow, it was amazing. I don't think I could ever watch the fireworks from any other location again. It was worth every single penny I paid just to be able to see them the way we did.

Overall, we gave this a B- for food, but definitely an A+ for location.

 

[lauritagoddess]

The following morning we woke up to pouring rain from Isaac. I had bought some food from Panchitos the day before in case we had gotten stuck in our room from the weather. Our breakfast was some Entenmann's donuts. No picture available.

We decided to blow this off as a park day and headed over to Downtown Disney. We were going to see a movie, but even though the rain had let up quite a bit by that point I think everyone else who had the same idea as us and it was packed at the AMC. We headed over to Disney Quest instead and the line was snaking out of the building, but my son said he didn't care and he wanted to go anyway. We decided to have lunch at Food Quest. The line was pretty long there too but it actually moved fairly quickly. The food there is mostly your basic quick service food but they do have some pretty good desserts, especially the cupcakes. B got pepperoni pizza, Sprite and the chocolate peanut butter cupcake. I got chicken nuggets and fries and the carrot cake cupcake. B enjoyed the pizza and ate a couple of pieces of chocolate off of the cupcake but was too full to eat more than that. The nuggets were good and the carrot cake cupcake was very fresh. I ate a little of it, but also cut open the chocolate cupcake to take a taste of the peanut butter. This cupcake was a little less fresh, but still tasty. Overall we'd give it an B+.

Sorry that the pictures aren't as good this time.

 

[lauritagoddess]

We had an ADR at House of Blues for dinner but just didn't feel like it. We hung around for awhile at Disney Quest, walked back through the West Side and then sat on a bench and dithered about what to do. I then had the idea of going over to Art of Animation and eating in their food court. One of the things on this trip we said we were going to do was to go and check out Art of Animation and this seemed like a good opportunity.

Before I get into the food, let me say that B was just wowed by Art of Animation. He loved everything about it, he loved what we could see of the Finding Nemo pool, he loved the Cars area, he went nuts over the arcade, he said he wanted to stay there every year for the next 5 years. We've stayed twice at Pop and at all the All Stars, but he said he thought Art of Animation was a zillion times better and wanted to know if we could switch right then from Coronado Springs. So, an over the top yes to Art of Animation from this 10 year old.

The food court, Landscape of Flavors, also got huge thumbs up from both of us. I love how it's different from the food courts at the other values.

B was so excited to do the build your own burger (he chose the angus burger, bacon and chipotle BBQ source). It came with seasoned fries which made it even better for him. He also rated this as the best burger he ate the whole trip, better than the ones he had at the TS restaurants. He also was impressed with the regular silverware in a food court. I went to the build your own salad area and I was in heaven. You have so many choices. I chose spinach as my base and added chicken, grape tomatoes, red pepper, cucumber, peas, corn, Parmesan cheese, bacon, croutons, and low fat Italian dressing. This was sooooo good. We also got a Mickey cupcake and an Art of Animation cupcake which were very cute. This was a great use of our QS credits. I do think we will be staying here for our next trip and am thinking that we would definitely enjoy the food court. We both rated this meal an A+.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Loving your reviews. Interested to see the pictures of the buffet food at Pepper Mkt. We love cSR but stopped going when they stopped serving the buffet breakfast at Maya Grill. I know it sounds daft but we need our buffet breakfast to get moving

Also think the cupcakes at Disneyquest look amazing.

 

[lauritagoddess]

Loving your reviews. Interested to see the pictures of the buffet food at Pepper Mkt. We love cSR but stopped going when they stopped serving the buffet breakfast at Maya Grill. I know it sounds daft but we need our buffet breakfast to get moving

Also think the cupcakes at Disneyquest look amazing.

We never did it make it to Maya Grill. I would have liked to have gone there for dinner one night, but we had enough other ADRs and it just wasn't meant to be.

 

[AKLodger]

Subbing!

 

[vettegirl]

Wow I see a visit over to AOA in my future to try the food, looks great. I love all the theming there