Mickey Bars in Bed & Dole Whips for Lunch - Nov 15 Dining Report - Complete!

[Vernie822]

Hello everyone, and WELCOME to my third dining review! Fourth if you count a little 4 day trek to WDW this past June You can read more about those in the links in my signature. This trip included myself (Ashley) and my fiancé, Justin. We went on our first trip to WDW together in September 2014. We stayed at Coronado Springs for a week with free dining. It was my first trip to WDW since 2009 and Justin's first trip to WDW EVER! He proposed on that trip , and we had such a blast, that we have been hooked ever since. We aren't real big beach bums, and like an action packed trip, so we really enjoy everything that WDW has to offer - especially the FOOD! We love trying new places and eating at others that have become our favorites.

Here we are on our trip in September 2014..

And on a quick trip we took in June 2015..

We traveled to WDW from Friday, 11/6, through Saturday, 11/14. We stayed 2 nights at Pop, 3 nights at an AKL studio villa, and 3 nights at a Polynesian studio villa. We decided to rent DVC points this trip to experience some deluxe resorts at a lower price tag. And we added in 2 nights before our original 6 night stay since Justin had more vacation time than he originally thought.

Spoiler alert: We tried to move in permanently to our villa at the Polynesian, but alas, we knew the money would run out quickly and we'd need it for other more important things, such as a wedding next September.

Now a little more about us.. I have been going to WDW since I was a kid. I get my love for Disney from my mom! I love Disney and all of the magic that comes with it. I love the planning, the trip reports, the podcasts, all of it. I enjoy keeping up with Disney news and reading about other people's experiences. My favorite Disney meal is Ohana, and Justin will say the same. I love seafood (he hates it), a good breakfast buffet, and a signature meal every now and then.

Justin despises seafood (but he will eat tuna and occasionally crab). He is somewhat of a picky eater. I shouldn't say picky, I should say he likes traditional food. Pizza, burgers, steak, spaghetti and meatballs, etc. He's really a simple guy, and balances out my crazy, which is good. He also loves a mid-day nap which proved to be a great idea this trip, because it was HOT, HOT HOT!

This trip, we paid out of pocket by charging to the room and then paying it off with Disney gift cards, which I purchased by buying Target gift cards on Raise.com at a discount, and then using those Target gift cards to buy Disney gift cards at a 5% discount using my Target Red Card. #bargainshopper

We had a total of 11 ADR's this trip, although we only ended up with 10 in the long run because we cancelled one a few days prior. More on that later. We did have one signature restaurant, Flying Fish, and MANY trips around the world at Food and Wine. Oh, and a bonus Hanson concert!

Now that we're back, I am looking forward to sharing all of our dining adventures with you guys! I love reading dining reviews because it gives me an idea of all of the different restaurants and snacks that are available. I hope you'll join us as we eat Mickey Bars in bed and Dole Whips for lunch.


​

 

[Vernie822]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Friday 11/6
Everything Pop Food Court

Saturday 11/7
Ohana
Food and Wine: Canada & Craft Beer
Flying Fish Cafe
Plaza Ice Cream Parlor

Sunday 11/8
Yak and Yeti
Writers Stop & Pizza Planet
50's Prime Time

Monday 11/9
Boma
Food and Wine
Sanaa & Dessert

Tuesday 11/10
Food & Wine: Joffrey's and Festival Center
Food and Wine: Part 1
Beverage Seminar w/ King Estate Winery (Oregon)
Food and Wine: Part 2

Wednesday 11/11
Boulangerie Patisserie
Be Our Guest
Plaza Ice Cream
Ohana

Thursday 11/12
Captain Cooks
Via Napoli: Eat to the Beat Dining Package & Hanson
Food and Wine - again!

Friday 11/12
Kona Cafe
Captain Cooks & Pineapple Lanai
Casey's Corner & Plaza Ice Cream Parlor

Saturday 11/13
Captain Cooks
Food and Wine / La Cantina de San Angel
Tambu Lounge / Captain Cooks​

 

[Vernie822]

We scheduled our flight that Friday in the late evening (5:45 PM) - once we changed our plans and added 2 days on at the beginning, it was one of the most cost-effective options. Also, this gave us the morning/afternoon to travel down to my parents' town and do some wedding stuff.. cake tasting and florist meeting!

Since this is a dining report and all, here are a few pics of the yummy goodies we sampled at the bakery during our cake tasting..

YUM, right?! I am still drooling. I used to work at this bakery in high school so I am well-versed in the language of cake and cookies.

After our appointments we enjoyed some beers at Quaker Steak & Lube at the airport.. I had a Blue Moon (my favorite) and Justin had the seasonal Sam Adams - might have been a Winter Lager or an Oktoberfest?

Our flight took off at 5:45 and landed in MCO at 8:15. We really landed around 7:50. During our 2+ hour plane ride, we watched Southwest's free wifi on my iPad to stream some "Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives". It was the best option and it did not disappoint, however after 4 episodes, one of which was completely dedicated to BBQ, Justin and I were STARVING and salivating for some BBQ.

We arrived to Pop Century around 9:15 PM, dropped our bags off at the room, and headed to Everything Pop to find some food. We had an early morning breakfast ADR so we decided to split an entree.

I had considered walking over to Art of Animation, because I LOVE their Food Court, but we decided it was just too late and we were going to split something simple. So we decided on the sandwich station at Pop.

Pop was absolutely flooded with people. Since it was after 9 PM on a Friday, I'm assuming lots of people had either just arrived like us, or were coming back from the parks.


Here are some of the sandwich options @ Everything Pop:

Their sandwich station also advertised a veggie sandwich, which was sitting out pre-made, although it sounded good.

Beef Brisket was calling our name. We had done a little research on the menu prior to deciding to eat here, so we kind of already knew what we wanted!

The different meats (brisket, meatballs, etc) were in pots, so the CM just scooped some brisket in, drizzled some juice on, and added a slice of cheese. About what I expected from a QS at a value resort, so no problem there.

Since we went with the beef brisket, it was served on a kimmelwick roll with munster cheese, and our choice of pasta salad, housemate chips, or coleslaw. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Disney's house made chips, so we chose those.

Here is our final product:

Here's a closer view..

We also grabbed a Diet Coke to share.

The Beef Brisket sandwich was decent. The meat was not fatty. It was juicy and shredded very nicely. The CM had also spooned some juice on top of it, kind of like an au jus, so it was nice and moist. But the bun didn't get too soggy, and the sandwich held together nicely.

The house made chips were perfection. Nice and salty, crispy, deliciousness. And the Diet Coke went well with it.

The sandwich and chips was $10.49 and I believe the Diet Coke was $2.99. Our total with tax was $14.39.

Justin rated the sandwich a 1, and remarked "that thing shouldn't even be called beef." Personally, I liked it, so I rated it a 3. Perhaps I was much hungrier than I thought and my opinion was skewed, haha. But I didn't mind it and the chips were a nice bonus.

For $14.39, it was a decent Quick Service meal that satisfied the both of us before going to bed.



Next up, a new experience at one of our favorite restaurants.. Breakfast @ Ohana!
​

 

[pumba]

thanks for your beginning of food porn...I love it...

 

[Iambatman85]

Awesome. Looking forward to all the pictures of Ohana Breakfast. Its also mine and my wife's favorite breakfast at disney

 

[Vernie822]

Justin and I eat dinner at Ohana each trip. It's our absolute favorite meal at WDW and we have always had a great experience. This time, Justin caught wind that they served breakfast (he was probably looking over my shoulder as I read a dining review, haha). He immediately decided that we should try and eat there. This surprised me, since he's not a big breakfast eater and prefers a lunch or dinner ADR. I agreed that it would be fun to try because I LOVE Lilo! And, I have heard great things about this breakfast.

We were already past our 180 day mark but I did manage to grab a reservation for 9:30. It would be a great sneak peek of what was to come when we checked into the Poly a few days later A few weeks later I was able to switch it for one at 8:10 which was more our speed. We're early birds. Especially on this trip, we were up by 6:30 or 7 nearly every day.

That morning, we got up around 5:50 (no clue why I was awake so early) and we left by 7:00. Luckily we walked right on to a bus heading for Magic Kingdom, so no issues there. I was concerned about getting a bus that early since the park didn't open until 9.

Once we got to MK, we hopped on the Resort Loop and we were at Ohana, in line to check in, by about 7:35. Our ADR was for 8:10, but we thought we would check in anyways.

We had just missed the opening celebration at 7:30.

The check in desk had no problem checking us in early. We thought we'd be sitting there for 20 minutes or so which was fine with us since we were early. But we buzzed less than 5 minutes later.

Our "Cousin" lead us past the bread pick up area, where we were given a basket of sweet bread.

We were seated, coincidentally in the exact same area (like within 2 tables) as the last two times we'd been there. And we'd be seated at the table next to it for dinner later that week. Must be a limited selection of 2 tops in there.

The restaurant was sooooo empty.

We were brought some drinks almost immediately which was great. We both had the POG juice which Justin discovered he loved. I think we each had like 3 glasses!

I also had a coffee and we both had an iced water.

The bread we were given consisted of a pineapple coconut bread and a cinnamon raisin bread.

I tried both, Justin just had the pineapple coconut. They were good. I ate mine with butter and it was delicious.

We were also brought some fresh fruit. Justin loves melon so he was happy, I just had some pineapple and raspberries.

The fruit was very fresh which was nice considering it's late fall and up in PA we hardly buy fresh summer fruit anymore.

Not too long after, we were brought our platter of food. This restaurant is "all you care to enjoy", so we enjoyed nearly all of this.

Let's start with the Mickey and Stitch waffles. Who doesn't love those!? My favorite part of any Disney breakfast. However, not sure why they only bring you two for two people. I could probably eat like six of these.

The bacon was fine, it was thin Disney bacon. They gave us like 12 pieces!

The sausage was nice, it was a thick sausage link as opposed to greasy patties that are sometimes found on breakfast buffets. Justin loved this. Again, only two pieces.

The eggs were good, I sometimes get a weird vibe from mass produced scrambled eggs because they're either powdery or runny. These were neither, but I didn't eat much of them because I'm not a huge egg fan anyways.

The breakfast potatoes were delicious. They were quite salty, but since everything else was not nearly as salty, it all balanced out.

The biscuits were left untouched, so I took a bite out of one just to judge. It was kind of hard and chewy - almost like it was from the day before. But we weren't really eating them anyways, so no big deal.

Our server had also brought us some syrup and butter for our waffles, and we asked her for some ketchup. Does anyone else put ketchup on their scrambled eggs, or is that a Pittsburgh thing!? She looked at us like we were crazy.

The characters started coming around mid way through our meal. Stitch was first, and he had his own photo pass. It was actually pretty clever- he had two photo pass people with him. They basically split the room down the center and while one was taking the picture with Stitch, the next would got to the next family and tell them to have their camera and autograph items ready. Then when Stitch was done, he'd move to the next table and they'd be ready. Good planning, Disney!

Lilo is my favorite. She was extra cute and was super excited when I told her we'd be coming to see her in Hawaii! The rest of the characters did not have a photo pass person with them.

Mickey was next. We got a (blurry) selfie with him...

and then Pluto, who stopped at our table but before we could get a picture with him, it was time for a parade with the kids!

Pluto lead the kids and it was HILARIOUS. All of the littles in their Ohana outfits were adorable. They paraded around the restaurant and it was the cutest thing.

When Pluto (or as Justin kept referring to him, "Goofy" ) was done he returned to our table for a picture.

We asked for more sausage and more waffles, and we were brought 2 more of each.

Service here was good, our server took a little while to refill our drinks but she was super nice and I think she was just over-worked with so many tables!

The food here was all very hot and fresh. I love that you get such a variety. It's basic breakfast food but they do it well and you're paying $29.99 per adult for the character interaction in addition to the food.

We felt as if $60 plus tax and tip was a little steep for 2 adults, but we were OK with it as we knew this going in and we did it for the food and the characters. The experience was definitely worth it, and this was the only character meal we did this week.

So while it's not somewhere we'll run to all the time, we did enjoy it and we definitely can't wait to return.

Justin rated this breakfast a 3. He is not a huge fan of breakfast and is satisfied with a $7 counter service breakfast, so it takes a lot for a breakfast to wow him. I rated this breakfast a 4.5. The biscuits could have been better and I wish they'd serve you more than just 2 Mickey waffles.

It's going to be hard trying not to book breakfast at Ohana every trip! After our breakfast, it was about 8:30. We caught the monorail back to MK and made it just in time for Rope Drop.

Up next, lunch at Food and Wine!​

 

[Vernie822]

thanks for your beginning of food porn...I love it...

Thanks for reading!!

Awesome. Looking forward to all the pictures of Ohana Breakfast. Its also mine and my wife's favorite breakfast at disney

Thanks for reading! We absolutely loved Ohana. It will be hard not to book it each trip.

 

[AllyinWonderland]

Yay! I am excited to follow along!

'Ohana breakfast looks great, so weird about only 2 waffles though. It is always on our possibility list but we haven't made it over there yet. We love the variety that is offered at buffets and we were waiting for DD to show an interest in Stitch, which just started in the past couple weeks. Next trip we are looking to stay at Poly or BLT, so I think we will finally give it a try.

 

[dawnmichele]

LOVE you wishes tshirt! Where did you find it?
Also - looking forward to the rest of your report. It sounds delicious so far!

 

[Vernie822]

Yay! I am excited to follow along!

'Ohana breakfast looks great, so weird about only 2 waffles though. It is always on our possibility list but we haven't made it over there yet. We love the variety that is offered at buffets and we were waiting for DD to show an interest in Stitch, which just started in the past couple weeks. Next trip we are looking to stay at Poly or BLT, so I think we will finally give it a try.

Thanks for reading! I am assuming they only gave us 2 waffles so that it wasn't wasteful, but seriously, only 2!? Lol. I loved Lilo and Stitch, it was great getting to see them there!

LOVE you wishes tshirt! Where did you find it?
Also - looking forward to the rest of your report. It sounds delicious so far!

Hey, thanks for reading! Just found your report - 19 DAYS IN DISNEY! Omg. I am going to have to follow along, that sounds like a dream. I got my shirt on Etsy from HappilyEverTees. I love it. I may need more, she has lots of cute ones.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

we only did Ohanas for dinner once but have done breakfast a few times and I love the restaurants view and the characters but I'm with your other half the food is just average IMHO. I'm sure we will return one day when my kids decide they are happy to return to character meals

 

[momof3princes]

Joining in! I am from Eastern PA and we put ketchup on scrambled eggs too, so maybe is a PA thing??
We love O'hana but have never done it for breakfast, great idea to eat there and hit rope drop at MK!
Looking forward to the rest of your trip!

 

[Vernie822]

we only did Ohanas for dinner once but have done breakfast a few times and I love the restaurants view and the characters but I'm with your other half the food is just average IMHO. I'm sure we will return one day when my kids decide they are happy to return to character meals

Thank you for reading! I agree, the food wasn't anything outstanding - nothing like Boma and their french toast bread pudding.

Joining in! I am from Eastern PA and we put ketchup on scrambled eggs too, so maybe is a PA thing??
We love O'hana but have never done it for breakfast, great idea to eat there and hit rope drop at MK!
Looking forward to the rest of your trip!

Thanks for joining! Glad to hear someone else appreciates ketchup on their eggs like us We didn't intend to hit rope drop like we did, but it ended up being a very productive morning and I'm glad we ate so early!

 

[jabead]

Hi Ashley! It looks like you arrived at WDW at about the time I left and sounds like the record temperatures continued. My first week the weather was great (other than a rainy day) but then starting the 1st of November, in came the heat wave! I was definitely not expecting it to be that hot in November.

Anyway, I enjoyed reading your 'Ohana breakfast review. I've only been there once for breakfast and that was more than 10 years ago. After reading your review I've made a mental note to return there sometime.

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Vernie822]

We left off as we were on the monorail, headed to Epcot for some lunch. Originally, I had planned to spend the afternoon/evening at the Food and Wine festival. I posted my plans to a previous dining report and a lovely Dis-er reminded me that it was the same day as the Wine and Dine half. Yeah, that wouldn't be a good idea! So I switched our Flying Fish ADR from Thursday to Saturday.

We got there a little before noon and decided that we didn't want to spoil our dinner, so we would just split a few things. It was PACKED and super hot, so we decided to just stick to one booth. Justin really wanted to get the filet and soup in Canada, so we headed that way!

We passed the Wine and Cheese studio on the way. I thought this display was cute.

We probably waited 8-10 minutes in line, so it wasn't too bad, just really humid and we were getting to the point where we needed to eat something.

We grabbed a table near the water, and shared it with another couple.

Here are the items we went with - all of the food items.

And we also had a Minute Maid Light Lemonade, which Justin ordered on an impulse because he thought it sounded refreshing. It was!

Here's a close up of the filet..

Le Cellier Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter Sauce, $7.50

This was outstanding, as usual! We really liked this last year. We have been wanting to eat at Le Cellier but just haven't done it yet. Next time, for sure. Justin rated this a 5 because he absolutely loves it. He doesn't eat the mushrooms, but I enjoyed those. I also rated this a 5. It was cooked medium-well, not too well, just how I like it!

This is also a snack credit on the dining plan - definitely a good value as it's one of the more expensive items.

And here is the chicken sausage...

Chicken sausage with creamy polenta and Minus 8 onion jam, $4.50

This item is also a snack credit on the dining plan. We thought this was just ok. Justin rated it a 3 and I rated it a 2. I don't really think anything was wrong with it, it just wasn't something I really enjoyed. I'm sure others loved it. The Minus 8 onion jam was sweet-ish and we kind of avoided that. Not something we would get again but I think it just wasn't our taste.

Unfortunately I didn't get a better picture of the soup, but the Canadian Cheddar Cheese soup was also on the menu for $4.25 (or a snack credit). This was delicious as usual, but a little thicker and clumpier than I remembered. Maybe it's supposed to be that way?! Not sure. We both rated this a 4.

In total, we spent $19.25 here for lunch. Not really a ton of food for the price (is anything at Food and Wine!? ) but just what we needed to fill up without being stuffed for our dinner tonight. We would end up at the Canada booth later in the week.


After Canada, we made our way to the Craft Beer booth to try a beer flight. We decided on Flight #2 and got in line.

The line came from both sides of the Odyssey Building and met in the middle. After paying, we had to wait in another line (on the same side as the line we came in) to pick up our beer. Unfortunately, the people who had waited on the other side of the building either didn't get the memo or wanted their beer rather quickly because they were just jumping in front of everyone else in the other line. So we waited 20 minutes to get to the cashier, and then 40 MINUTES to pick up our flight. Oy vey. By the end of it, I needed me a beer!

Note the line of people on the right... and no line of people on the left

We found a nice cool spot to stand and drink our beer!

​

In hindsight, maybe we should've tried the first flight (those beers sounded like lighter beers which we like more), but we went with Flight #2.

Flight #2: Craft Beer Lovers – $10.25
–3 Daughters St. Pete Beach Blonde Ale, St. Petersburg, FL
–Florida Beer Company Passport 20 Belgian-Style Tripel Ale, Cape Canaveral, FL
–Funky Buddha Vanilla Espresso Porter, Oakland Park, FL
–Shipyard Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, Clearwater, FL

The top left is #1, top right is #2, bottom left #3, bottom right #4.

I loved the first and second! Like I said I prefer a light beer so those two were most appealing to me. Justin really liked the 4th. Neither of us liked the third, Justin because he hates espresso and me because I don't like dark beer.

Overall we really liked this flight! For $10.25, it's really not a bad price, the pours are decently sized.

After that, we headed back to our room to catch some A/C and a little nap before heading out for the evening.

Next up.. Dinner at Flying Fish Cafe​

 

[SnowWhiteOz]

Didn't realise you'd started a DR as well as a TR Ashley! So I'm late but I'm here now for the foodie goodness!

 

[nco91590]

60 minutes for a beer flight???

 

[Vernie822]

Hi Ashley! It looks like you arrived at WDW at about the time I left and sounds like the record temperatures continued. My first week the weather was great (other than a rainy day) but then starting the 1st of November, in came the heat wave! I was definitely not expecting it to be that hot in November.

Anyway, I enjoyed reading your 'Ohana breakfast review. I've only been there once for breakfast and that was more than 10 years ago. After reading your review I've made a mental note to return there sometime.

Looking forward to reading more!

Hi Barb! We were definitely not expecting the heat. Some ladies from the November Facebook group said it was hot that first week so we changed out our jeans for shorts. I only needed a jacket once - and no rain, phew!

Ohana really was a great start to our trip. I REALLY loved Kona though.. you were right, the pineapple macadamia nut pancakes are the BEST!

Didn't realise you'd started a DR as well as a TR Ashley! So I'm late but I'm here now for the foodie goodness!

Hey, thanks for joining!! There is some peanut butter and chocolate to be found later on.

60 minutes for a beer flight???

YES! It was so busy that day, but I didn't think it would take that long!

 

[momof3princes]

Love that you can get snack sized Le Cellier goodies! I loved that at Food and Wine, the sausage looks good, too bad it looked better than it tasted.
That is a long wait for a beer flight!
Looking forward to Flying Fish

 

[1stTimeDisneyer]

Great Report! I cannot wait to hear about your meal at Flying Fish, as it is one of our favorites! Also hello from another Disney Fan from the Burgh!