Honeymoon Lovers and Seafood Lovers take on Disney Dining! - dining plan analysis

[librarygeek]

I'm so excited to be able to start my first dining review! So first, a bit about us...

I'm Becky, 23, and I'm currently a grad student studying library science. In terms of food, I used to be mostly a chicken gal til I met Jason, whose family does a lot of seafood. Now I'm a seafood lover, especially shrimp! I'm also a huge pasta lover, but I'm picky about sauces - I don't like Alfredo and sometimes don't like red sauce depending on how it's done.

My new husband is Jason, 22, and he's a software developer. He's also a seafood lover but enjoys everything, and likes to have some good steak once in awhile!

In these reviews you'll see lots of the seafood options, but there are lots dishes as well that we ordered!

We were married on Sept. 3rd, 2011, and left the next day to go to Disney for the honeymoon! We were there for eight nights. Here's a picture from the wedding:

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and were on the Disney Dining Plan (since we had gotten it for free), but we paid for a few meals out of pocket so we could do a table service every day including a few signatures. Here's the run down of where we ate:

Earl of Sandwich
Narcoossee's
Columbia Harbour House
Cinderella's Royal Table
Wishes Dessert Party
Sunshine Seasons
Coral Reef
1900 Park Fare
Boardwalk Bakery
Kouzzina
Pizza Planet
Sci-Fi Dine In
Yak and Yeti Local Foods Cafe (counter service)
T-REX
Chefs de France
World Showcase Snacks / Wine Walk
Akershus
Riverside Mill Food Court - lunch
Tony's Town Square
Riverside Mill Food Court - Breakfast
Dining Plan Analysis
Best/Worst Meals and Restaurants

 

[Nairnyn]

We're going on our honeymoon in November/December, so I can't wait to hear about your experience!

 

[MickeyNicki]

You guys are so cute! Hope you had a great time and cannot wait to read all about it

 

[butiflfeet]

Congratulations! You two look so cute together. I hope you had tons of tasty food so you can share some great reviews with us

 

[sw33t_angel]

SO excited to hear about your honeymoon Becky!!

You ate at a lot of places that are on my honeymoon plans so I am looking forward to hearing all about them!!

Ready when you are Mrs.!!!

 

[librarygeek]

We're going on our honeymoon in November/December, so I can't wait to hear about your experience!

Congratulations!! I hope you have a great honeymoon trip, I know we did!

You guys are so cute! Hope you had a great time and cannot wait to read all about it

Thank you!

Congratulations! You two look so cute together. I hope you had tons of tasty food so you can share some great reviews with us

Thanks so much - we definitely had lots of great food!

SO excited to hear about your honeymoon Becky!!

You ate at a lot of places that are on my honeymoon plans so I am looking forward to hearing all about them!!

Ready when you are Mrs.!!!

Yay! You'll have to let me know which places you're eating at too - we liked almost every place we went to so that's a good sign!

 

[librarygeek]

Earl of Sandwich

We arrived at Disney around 1 o'clock, checked into Port Orleans Riverside, and decided to take the boat over to DTD! Because for our counter service meal today there was really no question for the two of us about where we would go... Earl of Sandwich!

Jason and I feel this is the best CS meal on property that we've tried. Their sandwiches are delicious. I really like their portion sizes, because they don't stuff you silly. We were on the DP but getting dessert with every meal really made me feel overly full.

For my meal I ordered the Caprese (Fresh Mozzarella, Roma Tomatoes, Fresh Basil & Drizzled Balsamic Vinaigrette). I've gotten this style of sandwich before at other places and I love it, so of course I had to try it here.

I gave it a 9 out of 10. The only reason why it lost a point was because it needed a little more of the sauce, and wasn't quite as good as my favorite place that I go to for a Caprese. It was still really tasty though.

Unfortunately I hadn't had good eating habits the past few days (due to nerves on the wedding day, I only had dinner the day before and no other meals), so my stomach couldn't handle too much food. I only ate about 2/3 of it and Jason finished the rest.

Jason ordered the Earl's Club (Roasted Turkey, Smoked Bacon, Aged Swiss, Lettuce, Roma Tomatoes & Sandwich Sauce):

He really, really enjoyed this, giving it a 9.5 out of 10. The only reason for the half point lost was because he said "there's always room for improvement." He doesn't like giving perfect scores.

For our dessert credits we had these:

I think Jason's was a strawberry shortcake cup, and mine was fresh fruit cup. I saved the fruit for an hour or two later, but I found it was really fresh and sweet.

Overall we give the Earl of Sandwich experience a strong 9.5 out of 10! A must do in DTD!

We used two CS credits, but here are the prices if anyone's interested:

Caprese - $5.99
Earl's Club - $5.99
Fruit Cup - $2.49
Strawberry shortcake cup - $2.49
I don't recall the exact prices of the sodas (when you use the DP they give you a receipt with everything listed as $0), but I would guess they were around $1.99 and we each got one

Total (not including tax): $20.94

 

[Dizneydawn]

You two are so darn cute and young and happy and young and joyous and young...did I mention young??? So much time ahead!!

I wish you the best future. Take time for these trips to regenerate your love often!

Excited for your reviews!!!

 

[Bickimook2]

Well hello my dear friend. Welcome back, I am so excited to read your reviews. We are booking soon for our anniversary and I need to get my list going Now seeing yours I am reminded that I have still have the final day of my review to finish I know I am ridiculous! Can't wait to here your experiences and congratz to you once again dearest!

 

[jeminni]

I'm in

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Congratulations on your marriage! My husband and I are spending our 20th anniversary at Disney later this year and will definitely visit the Earl of Sandwich. I agree it is probably the best CS place on property.

 

[TigerKat]

Congratulations! Looking forward to reading your reviews!

 

[want2bamommy]

Congratulations on getting married ! I look forward to reading your reviews.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Congrats on your wedding!

I think the sodas at Earl's are $1.99, I paid OOP for one and a sandwich the other day, and my total was $8 and some change, so $1.99 sounds right. I have my receipt somewhere, I can check it when - if - I find it.

 

[lilsqueakrr]

Hiiii! I'm here! =] Finally have a second to sit down so I can read up! =]

Love Earl of Sandwich as well! And the Caprese is a favorite of mine as well! Love Love Love it! Especially from there. Yummy!

Cannot wait to see more of your yumminess for your dining! Since I'm not going to Disney World for a bit, I'm going to vicariously live thru your dining review!

 

[Linda67]

Count me in for this one

 

[tybrilinja]

I'm in, looks like a great list of restaurants! Also, let me congratulate the both of you, I wish you many years of happy times together!

That caprese sandwich looks divine!!! OMG, that is a must try for our trip.

 

[librarygeek]

You two are so darn cute and young and happy and young and joyous and young...did I mention young??? So much time ahead!!

I wish you the best future. Take time for these trips to regenerate your love often!

Excited for your reviews!!!

Haha thanks! Definitely looking forward to the years ahead! And it looks like from your signature that you're going on your honeymoon soon? You will love it!!

Well hello my dear friend. Welcome back, I am so excited to read your reviews. We are booking soon for our anniversary and I need to get my list going Now seeing yours I am reminded that I have still have the final day of my review to finish I know I am ridiculous! Can't wait to here your experiences and congratz to you once again dearest!

Yay, Vicki's here! Wow, I can't believe you are already booking for your anniversary trip, it seems like your wedding was literally yesterday! And haha yes, I want to hear the last day of your review!

I'm in

Welcome!!

Congratulations on your marriage! My husband and I are spending our 20th anniversary at Disney later this year and will definitely visit the Earl of Sandwich. I agree it is probably the best CS place on property.

Thanks so much! Hope you have a wonderful 20th anniversary, congratulations!!

Congratulations! Looking forward to reading your reviews!

Thanks!

Congratulations on getting married ! I look forward to reading your reviews.

Thanks so much!

Congrats on your wedding!

I think the sodas at Earl's are $1.99, I paid OOP for one and a sandwich the other day, and my total was $8 and some change, so $1.99 sounds right. I have my receipt somewhere, I can check it when - if - I find it.

Thank you - that does sound about right on the sodas.

Hiiii! I'm here! =] Finally have a second to sit down so I can read up! =]

Love Earl of Sandwich as well! And the Caprese is a favorite of mine as well! Love Love Love it! Especially from there. Yummy!

Cannot wait to see more of your yumminess for your dining! Since I'm not going to Disney World for a bit, I'm going to vicariously live thru your dining review!

Yay, you're here! I know what you mean about living vicariously - but you've got Disneyland coming up - I want to hear all about the food there too!!

Count me in for this one

All right! Welcome!

I'm in, looks like a great list of restaurants! Also, let me congratulate the both of you, I wish you many years of happy times together!

That caprese sandwich looks divine!!! OMG, that is a must try for our trip.

Thanks so much! The caprese is so good! Then again, I have yet to have a sandwich I didn't love at Earl.

 

[librarygeek]

Narcoossee's

We had made a rather late dinner reservation at Narcoossee's so we could see the fireworks - our ressie was at 9 pm. First of all, it was madness to get to the Grand Floridian. We left Port Orleans around 7:10 and we were probably about five minutes late for our reservation. We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then decided to take the monorail to the GF. We were on the monorail by 8 so I thought we were in good shape. However, I guess there were just massive amounts of people leaving MK at that point, and the monorails were super crowded. The GF was the last stop on the monorail, and we also spent a lot of time just sitting around not actually at a stop because there were so many other monorails running that we had to wait for others to leave the station before we could pull in. All in all, we arrived at the GF around 8:55 and then had to locate Narcoossee's, making it there just a few minutes after 9. Phew! Lesson learned: if you're traveling from resort to resort, leave TONS of time!

I think this night was actually the longest time we had to wait to be seated - I think we actually sat down around 9:20 or 9:25. And as we were sitting down we got a glimpse of this show:

Pretty neat, I had never seen the water pageant before!

So first thing we did was order drinks. Jason got the Narcoossee's Lemonade (Hangar One Mandarin Blossom vodka with lemonade and a splash of grenadine.):

He actually found it rather bland. I tried it too and agreed - it just didn't have a lot of taste, and seemed kind of watered down. Not nearly as sweet as I (and he) was expecting, given the lemonade and grenadine that's supposed to be in it.

I had the white sangria (A refreshing mix of Pinot Grigio and an array of fruit juices topped with peach schnapps):

It was good, definitely sweeter than Jason's but still seemed a little watered down - note the amount of ice cubes they put in it! So definitely not the best (or cheapest, for sure) Sangria that I've had.

Then they brought the bread! This was just absolutely delicious! I loved the butter with sea salt.

For an entree, Jason ordered the surf and turf (Medallions of filet Mignon, lobster tail, duchess potatoes, wax beans with shaved garlic and caramelized onion demi glace):

We'd heard some mixed things about it on these boards, but Jason really enjoyed it. He gave it a 9 out of 10. He loved both the lobster tail and the beef, but didn't care for the beans, saying they were too crunchy.

I had the whole Maine lobster ( Baked Sherry cheddar Orecchiette pasta and broccolini):

This was so good. I had to give it a 10 out of 10. The lobster was tender and delicious, and I just loved the fact that they've already taken it out of the shell and it was really easy to eat. The baked sherry cheddar pasta was amazing too - I love pasta but can be really picky about it, but I couldn't stop eating this! I pretty much cleaned my plate.

As we were eating our entrees the fireworks began! We had a pretty decent view:

Some of the people right next to the window were actually in a bad position because people were out on the porch watching and stood right in front of them. I thought people in the restaurant might go out to watch as well, but nobody did. Everyone just stayed at their tables.

Then dessert! Jason ordered the Almond crusted cheesecake:

He really enjoyed this too and gave it a 9 out of 10, saying it was just a little too rich. But he was pretty full at this point. It was really sweet of them to put the Congratulations on the plates too!

I had the Stawberry Lemon fruit tart:

This was the perfect dessert for me, so I gave it a 9.5 out of 10. The strawberries were big and fresh, and the flavors together were fantastic. I just wish I had more room in my stomach! I also ordered Earl Gray tea with dessert, as my 1 non-alcoholic beverage for the dining plan.

Overall we give the Narcoossee's experience a 9.5 out of 10, and will definitely come back someday! However, we'd like to give some of the other signatures a try first, as we're still newbies and this was really our first time experiencing Disney dining (having previously eaten mostly counter service meals - this was the first sit down meal in Disney Jason had ever done in his life! Though I did a number of them with my family). Also a downside was the amount of time it took to have this one meal when you factor in travel. We left at 7 pm and didn't get back to our resort until about 12:45. Service was pretty slow there, so even with a 9 pm reservation we didn't leave until around 11:15.

We used two TS credits each (for a total of four). Here's the breakdown though:

Sangria: $7.50
Lobster: $58.00
Fruit Dessert: $10.00
Earl Grey: $6.29
Surf n Turf: $59.00
Narcoossee's Lemonade: $9.25
Almond Cheesecake: $10.00

Total with tax and tip came to: $199.25

But after the dining plan we only had to pay: $46.65

 

[deenbrad]

You guys are so cute! Congratulations! Looking forward to the rest!