Libby_Darling
Flippin' Her Fins
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2010
"Hee hee hee, haw haw haw!" A vegetarian and a carnivore EAT...again!
Welcome!!
Come one, come all!! Welcome to my newest dining review; a mouthwatering, hunger-inducing culinary journey through the amazing food we ate on our second trip together to Orlando!!
We are Libby and Ben
and you may remember us from such former dining reviews as:
Les poissons, les poissons! A vegetarian and a carnivore EAT!
And well, thats it. But it was a good 'un! So good, in fact, that I've continued the name theme onto this one!
Now this vintage dining review is over a year old, and for that I apologise. Its been a very busy year since we got back (for reasons Ill explain in a minute) so I hope nobody minds reading about food that may or may not still be on menus, in restaurants that may or may not still be open
The Cast
Im Libby! Im 27 and I look like this:
And sometimes this:
I love all things Disney (specifically the history/Walts vision and the animated movies between the mid 80s and the mid 90s...precise, I know), America, cats, writing and FOOD. All food. All of it.
Ben is 26 and looks like this:
And sometimes this:
He also loves Disney (all the same stuff I do, which is why were the perfect fit
) America, MUSIC, vegetarian food, and basketball.
We live together in a beautiful flat in a converted schoolhouse, with our kitten Saffie:
SO GORGEOUS.
The Trip
So, this trip! After we returned in 2011 it was just a case of saving up to be able to go again, because it was seriously the best 2 weeks of our life. We saved for a year and a half, and booked to go in October 2013 waaayyy back in May 2012 (!) so it was a long time to wait!! But it also gave us plenty of time to plan the trip and more importantly, plan where we were going to eat. Yay!
I realise this isnt a trip report so Im going to try to reign it in and focus on the food
I will say though, that this trip exceeded all expectations, mainly due to this:
Which happened on Day 8. YAY!!! After 10 years together, my boy finally proposed in my favourite place on earth. What a good egg!! This is one of the reasons Ive taken a while to write this dining review wedding planning!!! For those interested, we're currently at a 90% chance of a DFTW
EXCITING!!
There were also loads of other highlights; I have actually written the entire trip report on another forum which Im considering copying and pasting it all over here too, to spread the love .if not, I will continue the style of my 1st dining review and pepper the food with tidbits of info about the trip. I feel you get a much better feel for the dining experiences that way
So yeah, there were lots of highlights, both food and otherwise. As with my last report, Ill be sharing every morsel of food we ate (I have a food blog so am very used to taking photos of food, as is Benj!) like our food on I-Drive and Universal, including the likes of OLIVE GARDEN and RED LOBSTER which many of you found hilarious last time as apparently they arent exactly fine dining!? 
Honestly though, and heres a spoiler, Red Lobster was one of my absolute top restaurants this trip. It was SO GOOD. You Americans dont know how good you have it, the food at your chain restaurants is amazing! The food at our chain pubs is so lame!!!
The Food
So, onto the food of this trip. First of all, we went for THREE WHOLE WEEKS!!!!! We stayed 4 nights on International Drive, 3 nights at the Hard Rock Hotel, and 14 nights at Saratoga Springs with the standard DDP (which we got for free (I use the term loosely!!))
Just to tell you a bit about what we like, food-wise:
Libbys food preferences: I love steak, carbs, garlic, cheese and seafood, preferably altogether I enjoy chocolate and peanut butter based desserts but was often way too full to enjoy dessert 
When hungry for a snack Ill always choose savoury over sweet, which did present some issues in WDW! Luckily Id done my research correctly and knew all the best places for savoury snacks 
Bens food preferences: Hes vegetarian for ethical reasons and has been for 8 years, so no meat or fish products. He loves spicy food, Mexican food and mushrooms. He hates leaving food on his plate, which led to many a food-induced coma on this holiday!! Sometimes he was forced to though due to the sheer massiveness of the portion sizes, haha!
We both enjoy a drink (or 7) on holiday, and loved sampling all the various alcoholic beverages WDW had to offer. Food and Wine was on during our stay and we found ourselves in Epcot a LOT!!
The Rating System
Okay, we're getting to the nitty gritty here. As with my first dining review, Ill be using a thorough academic rating system to judge each meal/snack, based on The Little Mermaids outfits. Yep.
These are the different ratings:
5 stars Ariel in her wedding dress! Doesnt get much better than this; shes human, shes got her man, her Dads cool with it all and its the happiest day of her life. This food is AWESOME!!
4 stars Ariel in her beautiful pink dress. Shes happy because shes having dinner with Eric! This food is really good
3 stars Blue dress! Nice dress but she doesnt have the best day what with being thrown into the water and all. Average food.
2 stars Ariel in her fins. Controversial choice but technically she didnt really like them, flipping your fins you dont get too far so although they are beautiful shes unhappy. This food is not good.
1 star Ariel in her makeshift DIY canvas dress. Not her best look!! Although I love how it looks awful in the first shot and then magically smoothes over and looks okay the rest of the scene! Ahhh Disney magic
This food is AWFUL!!!
The List
I think thats everything! Here is the list of everywhere we ate, Ill come back and update it with links as I do the reviews to make it easier! I know, Im so kind/ As I said earlier, I like to give as much info as possible so Ill be including all non-Disney food reviews as well, as they may help someone If you only want to read about Disney food, maybe join us a bit later on
Here we go
Pre-travel day hotel room picnic!
Wetherspoons Breakfast - Airport
Virgin Atlantic airplane food
Giordanos
Golden Corrall
Five Guys
Friendlys
Sharks Underwater Grill
Red Lobster <3
Discovery Cove food
Olive Garden
Simpsons Fast Food Boulevard
Bob Marleys Taste of Freedom
Circus McGurkus
Hard Rock Café
Croissant Moon Bakery
Meeting a celeb and Emack & Bolios
Main Street Bakery
Pecos Bills
BONUS - The Proposal!
Ohana
Teppan Edo
Amway Center food
Kouzzina (breakfast)
Territory Lounge
50's Prime Time
Raglan Road
Boma
FlameTree Barbecue
Saanaa
Eating and Drinking around the F&W Festival!
California Grill
Main Street Bakery (again!)
Pecos Bills (again!)
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Fairfax Fare
Pizza Planet
Wolfgang Puck
Restaurantosaurus
That time we were in a parade!!
F&W Booths
Sunshine Seasons
Chefs de France
Kouzzina (dinner)
Celebration Town Tavern
Via Napoli
Grand Floridian Cafe
Columbia Harbour House
Pecos Bills
Narcoosees
Rainforest Cafe
Bonus Airport and Plane Food!
Longest. List. Ever.
Wow thats a lot of places. And it doesn't even include snacks or drinks at bars. Please remember we were there for 3 weeks though, not like eating 7 meals a day. Although it did feel like that at times.
Okay then! Lets get straight in there, shall we!?
Welcome!!
Come one, come all!! Welcome to my newest dining review; a mouthwatering, hunger-inducing culinary journey through the amazing food we ate on our second trip together to Orlando!!
We are Libby and Ben
and you may remember us from such former dining reviews as:Les poissons, les poissons! A vegetarian and a carnivore EAT!
And well, thats it. But it was a good 'un! So good, in fact, that I've continued the name theme onto this one!
Now this vintage dining review is over a year old, and for that I apologise. Its been a very busy year since we got back (for reasons Ill explain in a minute) so I hope nobody minds reading about food that may or may not still be on menus, in restaurants that may or may not still be open
The Cast
Im Libby! Im 27 and I look like this:
And sometimes this:
I love all things Disney (specifically the history/Walts vision and the animated movies between the mid 80s and the mid 90s...precise, I know), America, cats, writing and FOOD. All food. All of it.
Ben is 26 and looks like this:
And sometimes this:
He also loves Disney (all the same stuff I do, which is why were the perfect fit
) America, MUSIC, vegetarian food, and basketball.We live together in a beautiful flat in a converted schoolhouse, with our kitten Saffie:
SO GORGEOUS.
The Trip
So, this trip! After we returned in 2011 it was just a case of saving up to be able to go again, because it was seriously the best 2 weeks of our life. We saved for a year and a half, and booked to go in October 2013 waaayyy back in May 2012 (!) so it was a long time to wait!! But it also gave us plenty of time to plan the trip and more importantly, plan where we were going to eat. Yay!
I realise this isnt a trip report so Im going to try to reign it in and focus on the food
I will say though, that this trip exceeded all expectations, mainly due to this:
Which happened on Day 8. YAY!!! After 10 years together, my boy finally proposed in my favourite place on earth. What a good egg!! This is one of the reasons Ive taken a while to write this dining review wedding planning!!! For those interested, we're currently at a 90% chance of a DFTW
EXCITING!!There were also loads of other highlights; I have actually written the entire trip report on another forum which Im considering copying and pasting it all over here too, to spread the love .if not, I will continue the style of my 1st dining review and pepper the food with tidbits of info about the trip. I feel you get a much better feel for the dining experiences that way
So yeah, there were lots of highlights, both food and otherwise. As with my last report, Ill be sharing every morsel of food we ate (I have a food blog so am very used to taking photos of food, as is Benj!) like our food on I-Drive and Universal, including the likes of OLIVE GARDEN and RED LOBSTER which many of you found hilarious last time as apparently they arent exactly fine dining!?
Honestly though, and heres a spoiler, Red Lobster was one of my absolute top restaurants this trip. It was SO GOOD. You Americans dont know how good you have it, the food at your chain restaurants is amazing! The food at our chain pubs is so lame!!!The Food
So, onto the food of this trip. First of all, we went for THREE WHOLE WEEKS!!!!! We stayed 4 nights on International Drive, 3 nights at the Hard Rock Hotel, and 14 nights at Saratoga Springs with the standard DDP (which we got for free (I use the term loosely!!))
Just to tell you a bit about what we like, food-wise:
Libbys food preferences: I love steak, carbs, garlic, cheese and seafood, preferably altogether
I enjoy chocolate and peanut butter based desserts but was often way too full to enjoy dessert When hungry for a snack Ill always choose savoury over sweet, which did present some issues in WDW! Luckily Id done my research correctly and knew all the best places for savoury snacks Bens food preferences: Hes vegetarian for ethical reasons and has been for 8 years, so no meat or fish products. He loves spicy food, Mexican food and mushrooms. He hates leaving food on his plate, which led to many a food-induced coma on this holiday!! Sometimes he was forced to though due to the sheer massiveness of the portion sizes, haha!
We both enjoy a drink (or 7) on holiday, and loved sampling all the various alcoholic beverages WDW had to offer. Food and Wine was on during our stay and we found ourselves in Epcot a LOT!!
The Rating System
Okay, we're getting to the nitty gritty here. As with my first dining review, Ill be using a thorough academic rating system to judge each meal/snack, based on The Little Mermaids outfits. Yep.
These are the different ratings:
5 stars Ariel in her wedding dress! Doesnt get much better than this; shes human, shes got her man, her Dads cool with it all and its the happiest day of her life. This food is AWESOME!!
4 stars Ariel in her beautiful pink dress. Shes happy because shes having dinner with Eric! This food is really good
3 stars Blue dress! Nice dress but she doesnt have the best day what with being thrown into the water and all. Average food.
2 stars Ariel in her fins. Controversial choice but technically she didnt really like them, flipping your fins you dont get too far so although they are beautiful shes unhappy. This food is not good.
1 star Ariel in her makeshift DIY canvas dress. Not her best look!! Although I love how it looks awful in the first shot and then magically smoothes over and looks okay the rest of the scene! Ahhh Disney magic
This food is AWFUL!!!
The List
I think thats everything! Here is the list of everywhere we ate, Ill come back and update it with links as I do the reviews to make it easier! I know, Im so kind/ As I said earlier, I like to give as much info as possible so Ill be including all non-Disney food reviews as well, as they may help someone
If you only want to read about Disney food, maybe join us a bit later on Here we go
Pre-travel day hotel room picnic!
Wetherspoons Breakfast - Airport
Virgin Atlantic airplane food
Giordanos
Golden Corrall
Five Guys
Friendlys
Sharks Underwater Grill
Red Lobster <3
Discovery Cove food
Olive Garden
Simpsons Fast Food Boulevard
Bob Marleys Taste of Freedom
Circus McGurkus
Hard Rock Café
Croissant Moon Bakery
Meeting a celeb and Emack & Bolios
Main Street Bakery
Pecos Bills
BONUS - The Proposal!
Ohana
Teppan Edo
Amway Center food
Kouzzina (breakfast)
Territory Lounge
50's Prime Time
Raglan Road
Boma
FlameTree Barbecue
Saanaa
Eating and Drinking around the F&W Festival!
California Grill
Main Street Bakery (again!)
Pecos Bills (again!)
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Fairfax Fare
Pizza Planet
Wolfgang Puck
Restaurantosaurus
That time we were in a parade!!
F&W Booths
Sunshine Seasons
Chefs de France
Kouzzina (dinner)
Celebration Town Tavern
Via Napoli
Grand Floridian Cafe
Columbia Harbour House
Pecos Bills
Narcoosees
Rainforest Cafe
Bonus Airport and Plane Food!
Longest. List. Ever.
Wow thats a lot of places. And it doesn't even include snacks or drinks at bars. Please remember we were there for 3 weeks though, not like eating 7 meals a day. Although it did feel like that at times.
Okay then! Lets get straight in there, shall we!?
Last edited:
xxx
I'm loving your trip so far - it's so fascinating to see the food overseas!
You are an adorable couple and your cat is so cute! Looking forward to following along on your culinary adventures!!!
If we go on minibreaks etc I trawl all the menus at places we're going to eat to make sure they have things he can have. I cook at home a lot and love it, so he eats really well at home (if I do say so myself) 
