Meal Deal (Universal/IOA) + DDP = 1 very full family (Pictures Included!)Updt 9/3

[chairol]

After scouring all of the food reviews on DisBoards, I've decided to give back and give my own reviews. I have to say that reading all of your food reviews have been a joy and helped me chose which restaurants to eat at during our vacation. My family and I are have been regularly going to Disneyland since I was one. Since we live in California, we only make it out to Disney World every 3-4 years. My sister graduated high school this year, so my parents treated her and our family to a Disney World vacation. So here's the cast:

Me - I love trying new food. I particularly like Thai and Japanese food. I also love love love burgers and french fries. I believe that french fries will one day be the death of me.

Lindsay (sister) - Loves meat, any steak, bbq, and chicken.

Mom - Also likes to try new food. Has very similar tastes as me

Dad - Loves meat, Italian, and Chinese food.

I will be reviewing the following restaurants:
Universal/IOA
Monster's Cafe
Comic Strip Cafe
International Food and Film Festival

Disney World
Wolfgang Puck Cafe
Chefs De France
Le Cellier
Coral Reef

Tusker House
Lottawatta Lodge
Backlot Express
Sunshine Seasons
Pepper Market

 

[momofdbsdc]

Can't wait!!!

 

[2manypets]

I'm looking forward to your reviews. We've got ressies at 3 of your WDW TS's.

 

[sandybobandy]

I'm signing on and can't wait for your review!

 

[natalielongstaff]

can't wait

 

[chairol]

We took a red eye out of California and arrived in Orlando around 10am. We spent Sat and Sun (8/11-8/12) at Universal Studios and IOA. We were not on the meal plan on Sat. We paid OOP.

Day 1
Monster Cafe
We weren't very hungry so we decided to share two spaghetti with bolognese sauce and a Caesar salad. The salad was average. The spaghetti portion was very small, and there was barely any meat in the bolognese sause. I do not reccomend eating here. You would be better off going to Louie's for spaghetti. For less than a dollar more, you can get spaghetti with two meatballs. This is a much better value.

Dinner was offsite

Day 2
Today we were on the meal plan. We bought two plans for the four of us to share. The plan cost $23.99 each and allows unlimited counter service meals at both Universal and IOA. Each time through the line you are allowed one counter service meal and one dessert. The desert options are the same at every place: cookie, jello parfait, chocolate mouse cake, lemon bunt cake. I don't think it is worth it to buy a meal plan for every single person in your party. It is a little bit a pain to stand in line mutliple times though. But we made it work by eating small meals throughout the day, which is actually better for you. We also stayed onsite at The Royal Pacific, so we had unlimited express pass access which saved a lot of time and allowed us to sit down multiple times for food. We also ate at odd hours which helped with the lines. We also bought a meal deal sipper cup for $8.99. This sipper cup allows for unlimited refills at the participating meal deal restaurants. This is a great deal! When refilling your cup, you don't have to wait in line, just go to the food pick up area and ask for a refill. Very convenient, especially in the hot Florida sun.

Comic Strip Cafe
For lunch my family shared fish and chips, chile dog platter, and a cheese burger platter. The fish and chips were just ok. The the seasoning on the fish was a little too salty for me. The fries were good though. The chile dog platter was yummy. The chile mixed well with the hotdog. The burger was your typical amusement park burger. It was good though.

Later on in the day we came back to the Comic Strip Cafe and had a two pepperoni pizzas and a chicken caesar salad. The pizza was soooo good. The crust on this pizza was chewy and bready, just the way I like it. The caesar salad was also good too. The croutons were really tasty. My only complaint is that it had little too much dressing on the salad.

 

[TigerKat]

Subscribing, can't wait for more.

 

[disneymom2twins]

can't wait for more!!!

 

[Minniespal]

Great start, looking forward to reading more.

 

[kindakrazy2]

Wonderful start - keep it coming!

 

[2manypets]

Great start. That chili dog looks very good!

 

[mom2fivecs]

Signing up to enjoy the rest

 

[chairol]

Thanks for all of your replies

In the evening we headed to Universal Studios to enjoy their firework show. After riding Jaws and Men in Black we headed over to the International Food and Film Festival.

Day 2 (cont)
International Food and Film Festival
My family and I shared two counter service entrees:
1. Combo - Szechwan Orange Chicken and Stir Fry Beef and Peppers with White or Fried Rice - $9.49. This was a large portion of food. I preferred the beef over the orange chicken. The stir fry beef tastes like a non spicy mongolian beef. It was very tasty.

2. Szechwan Orange Chicken - Served with White or Fried Rice and Stir Fry Vegetables - $8.29. I liked that this came with veggies. The orange chicken was thick and juicy and the sauce was not overpowering.

We ate our meals outside and watched the Universal's lagoon cinesphere firework show. It was a great way to end the night. Here's a good picture of the fireworks that I took.

 

[natalielongstaff]

your photos made me very hungry !! that fish sure looks nice

 

[Nicole786]

Great pics and reviews so far, i'll be at universal so its nice to find threads like this!

 

[snoopywoodstockus]

Pictures and reviews look great! Can't wait to see more.

Thanks for the time and effort doing this.

 

[2manypets]

I had no idea Universal had fireworks. The food looks good too.

 

[sleepycor]

are fireworks at Universal daily?

 

[chairol]

I'm not sure if the fireworks are everyday. I was there Sat and Sun, and they had shows both of those nights.

Day 3
Tusker House
Monday morning we headed to Disney World. We went to AK, grabbed a fastpass for Mt. Everest, and headed for Tusker House.

We shared 3 cs entrees here:

1/2 Rotisserie Chicken served with garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables $7.99

Grilled Salmon served with jollof rice and seasonal vegetables $7.99

Turkey Wrap with corn chowder $7.29

The salmon was moist, flaky, and delicious. It was just the right portion. The green beans were seasoned with garlic.....so yummy! Green beans are my favorite type of veggies. The rice reminded me of spanish rice, it also was good.

The turkey wrap was my least favorite. There were some spices in their that made it taste a little weird. There also wasn't much meat in the wrap. The cucumber tomato salad with the tzatziki sauce was good. The best part of this meal was the corn chowder. Sorry no picture of that.

I didn't have much of the chicken because I'm not much a chicken fan. But my family all said it was yummy.

For dessert we had a chocolate cake, cheesecake, and a carrot cake. All those these were pre-packaged. The carrot cake and chocalate cake were both very moist. The cheesecake was not too rich and also was delicious. I'm sad to see the Tusker House go. I guess its good that I got to try it before it closes and turns into a sit down restaurant.

 

[Nicole786]

i'm so upset tusker house will be closed when we go, i love that place!