GoofySon'sMom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2007
Wonderful news on your Mom! 
And Congrats on your DH's new job! 
And Congrats on your DH's new job! 
Pooh & Eeyore eat Disney World 3/22 Le Cellier, Via Napoli, Pepper Market Lunch
- Thread starter Skye23
- Start date
kelleigh1
<font color=purple>Disney Baby<br><font color=gree
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2005
Nice reviews. I'm looking forward to following along.
We haven't gone since the old Dining Plan either, and we'll be on the Deluxe next time so it should be interesting. I saw a lot of similarities between us, but even though Mornings are not my friend, I love breakfast and I don't mind getting up when I'm on vacation because I feel like I have so much more of the day to play. Getting up to go to work however, is a whole different ballgame. Most people don't even speak to me until after 9 and they might be better off waiting until Noon, but that just won't work.
And glad to hear your Mom is doing well. My own Mom went through cancer treatment 2 years ago, so I understand that battle too!! She is doing great now, but is scheduled to go in again next week for another minor surgery because of a spot on her lung that they have been watching. They say it hasn't changed, but they just want to remove it now, so fingers crossed!!
We haven't gone since the old Dining Plan either, and we'll be on the Deluxe next time so it should be interesting. I saw a lot of similarities between us, but even though Mornings are not my friend, I love breakfast and I don't mind getting up when I'm on vacation because I feel like I have so much more of the day to play. Getting up to go to work however, is a whole different ballgame. Most people don't even speak to me until after 9 and they might be better off waiting until Noon, but that just won't work.
And glad to hear your Mom is doing well. My own Mom went through cancer treatment 2 years ago, so I understand that battle too!! She is doing great now, but is scheduled to go in again next week for another minor surgery because of a spot on her lung that they have been watching. They say it hasn't changed, but they just want to remove it now, so fingers crossed!!
I'll keep my fingers crossed for your Mom, Kelleigh1!
A note about Breakfast ADR's, at least when we went we found they were largely unnecessary. We had one for Kona, and we decided the night before we weren't sure if we could make it that early so we canceled it and just let ourselves get there when we did. Wasn't a problem at all, took maybe 5 minutes to seat us. Another day we had hoped to maybe go to The Wave for breakfast but I didn't want to make an ADR because we'd both had at least 1 rough day and had to cancel things. So I just checked availability the night before - pretty much every single time slot was available. So if you think you want breakfast and aren't sure about which day, or the times check in advance and see what the reservation system says. Chances are, if its not a charachter breakfast, and if its in a resort then you'll probably be able to get in. The resorts that offer monorails and boats to the various parks are really good for this.
And while the review isn't up yet I will say Kona was worth getting up for.
A note about Breakfast ADR's, at least when we went we found they were largely unnecessary. We had one for Kona, and we decided the night before we weren't sure if we could make it that early so we canceled it and just let ourselves get there when we did. Wasn't a problem at all, took maybe 5 minutes to seat us. Another day we had hoped to maybe go to The Wave for breakfast but I didn't want to make an ADR because we'd both had at least 1 rough day and had to cancel things. So I just checked availability the night before - pretty much every single time slot was available. So if you think you want breakfast and aren't sure about which day, or the times check in advance and see what the reservation system says. Chances are, if its not a charachter breakfast, and if its in a resort then you'll probably be able to get in. The resorts that offer monorails and boats to the various parks are really good for this.
And while the review isn't up yet I will say Kona was worth getting up for.
So sorry for the delay, I spent the last 2+ weeks in the middle of a fibromyalgia/cfids crash and largely offline. I'm slowly getting back in the grove though and will now resume with trying to get at least 1-2 reviews posted every couple of days.
Tuesday 2/14 Lunch at Pepper Market Buffet
This was supposed to be a lunch at Libery Tree Tavern, but when Hubby woke up he could barely walk due to swollen ankles. At first we thought it was an attack of gout, which has happened to him before on vacation but we later realized it was just swelling from the plane flight. It was odd it took so long to hit him, but the same thing happened when we got home, the same number of days later. We plan to have him wear those compression socks they sell the next time we fly to see if that helps. Anyway, because he couldn't walk we decided to cancel our reservations, and not go to the Magic Kingdom that day. Hungry we decided to queue up for the opening of the Pepper Market Buffet's lunch offerings. The pictures are going to be sorta pile-ish because I went and got all of our food and brought it back to our table to save him walking. Since it was Valentine's day and frankly I didn't want to make too many trips, I just put stuff on 1 plate and we ate it Lady and the Tramp Style
First up I have a lovely bowl of fruit. What can I say, it was fruit. It didn't blow my mind and make my toes curl like the fruit on my last Holland America cruise did. But at the same time I've been served a ton of fruit cups with much sadder fruit then this contained. I would have loved a few big ripe strawberries but the oranges and pineapple were very good. The melon and grapes were ok.
Next up I got us a plate of mixed green salad with some cucumbers, tomatoes and balsamic vinegrette. This was your basic salad, but the dressing was tasty and the lettuce was fresh. The tomatoes still weren't good ripe summer tomatoes but what can one expect in February. It was cool, crisp, and refreshing. Also on that plate was a composed salad made of cucumbers marinated in Ranch Dressing. This was surprisingly good and I got a 2nd serving of it for Hubby which isn't pictured. It was safe enough kids would eat it and tasty enough for adults to enjoy also.
Since hubby was abjectly miserable and we suspected gout I tried to get him some comfort food that wouldn't be high in protein. Clockwise around the bowl you can see some of the Kids Mac & Cheese, a slice of Cheese Pizza, Pasta with Meat Sauce and Penne Alfredo. I think all of this came from the Pasta station or thereabouts. The Kids Mac & Cheese was decent, we thought it might be Stouffers but having bought some of that recently when I was sick I now think it isn't. The shape is wrong, although the taste was similiar. We didn't end up eating it all but we each ate some of it. I don't know that I'd bother getting it again unless I was under the weather and really wanted that type of Mac & Cheese. The Pizza was not Via Napoli and I think we can just about leave it at that. Hubby said it was like the pizza they serve on Chinese Buffets, I had to remind him that he gets that Pizza sometimes. Again, ate some didn't eat all. The Pasta in Meat Sauce (may have had a fancier name) was actually quite good. It wasn't spectacular but we ate all of it and if we came here again and the weather was cool I would definately get a little of it again. It was kid-friendly but not adult-unfriendly if that makes sense. The Penne Alfredo was cooked well, al dente and all that but it was just bland. Salt and Pepper both didn't save it and most of it went uneaten. All in all this plate wasn't terribly successful even if Hubby did appreciate that I'd gotten him a plate of comfort food type things.
I'm going to post 2 pictures for this next plate, in the first picture you can see the rice, corn and mashed potato better and in the 2nd picture you get a better view of the Chicken Breast with Mango Salsa, Tilapa Veracruz (I think), and the Pork Roast. Starting with the side dishes, they had a basic version of Mexican style Corn with Peppers & Onions in it, in a sort of flavored butter sauce. Most of us have bought something similiar in the frozen veggie aisle. We liked it, we ate it, it was as expected. Also as expected was the Rice, I forget what they called it - Mexican, Cilantro - some descriptor I forgot to write down. Standard-issue Tex-Mex rice, safe and dependable but cooked properly aka not too mushy and not too crunchy either. The Mashed Potatoes were I believe Redskin and Garlic seasoned, but for some reason I don't have details in my notes. I know Hubby ate them all. On to the proteins - and these were the star of the plate. I do not have all of the names right, but its pretty clear cut on the Buffet, there's usually only 1 choice per thing so you'll know if you're being served the same thing. The Grilled Chicken Breasts with Mango Salsa were really, really good. I would go to a restaurant specifically to order these. Hubby could only eat a few bites and he's not a Mango sort of guy but he thought the Chicken was seasoned very nicely. Next up we had the Tilapia, I believe they called it Veracruz or something like that. Standard Mexican spices, not overdone, it was good but not as good as the Mango Chicken. Last up was some sort of Spice Rubbed Pork Loin. I'll keep it simple, next time we go my plate will basically be this and the Mango Chicken with perhaps a spot of salad on the side. I wanted to eat a bunch more slices of this but since Hubby couldn't eat a lot of protein I didn't want to eat it in front of him and I managed to restrain myself. It wasn't terribly complex, but it was done well - juicy, tender, seasoned nicely without being overpowered. A bite of it dredged through the mashed potatoes with a stop in the corn to pick up a few kernals fit my idea of comfort food perfectly.
Not pictured anywhere because I didn't want to make Hubby wait for me to take photos of it while he ate it was a plain Cheese Quesadilla. I didn't even GET to the Mexican station with all of the yummy treats there. I saw Chicken Quesadillas, Green Chile Pork Enchilladas (or Burritos, I forget) and a make your own taco area among other things. They looked good, the business men were swarming the station but Hubby was filling up and I skipped most of it. Since he was trying to avoid too much meat (partly due to our dinner reservation) and he was so incredibly miserable I asked the Lady at the Mexican station if she could possibly make me a single plain Cheese Quesadilla for someone in my group who was feeling under the weather. They were happy to oblige me, although I should note it was early in the service and they were not overwhelmed trying to keep up with the buffet like they might have been later. While I waited a business man came up to the line and demanded to know, in what I consider a very rude tone of voice, "is this all you have!". The nice Lady who'd agreed to make me the Quesadilla smiled sweetly at him and replied "Yes." - Lesson to be learned, ask politely and always tell them you'll understand if they can't do something. That and ask for simple things like a Quesadilla sans Chicken vs asking them to make something complex like a Green Chile Pork Quesadilla with blah blah..... How was the Quesadilla? Well I like mine a bit crispier but thats personal preference. Poor sick Hubby thinks that there really is no such thing as a bad Quesadilla provided the cheese is of good quality and melted. He's right too.
Last up, dessert. All of our romantic Valentine's Day Lady & the Tramp dining aside, for dessert I got us each our own plates. I told Hubby what they had, mostly basic choices and he asked for a bit of Ice Cream and some Churros. I made him a sundae out of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, M & M's, whipped cream and 2 Churros. He ate most of it, I ate the rest
For my dessert I decided to get the Strawberry ShortCake. I find that Cake Frostings often don't agree with me, probably because I had my gall bladder removed many years ago. I can do actual buttercream frostings or whipped cream frostings but the ones made with shortening just don't like me very much. I asked the Lady at the dessert station and she checked with one of the bakers for me and was able to assure me that the Frosting on this cake was of the Whipped Cream variety. The yellow cake was reasonably moist, the Frosting was light and the Strawberries were tasty. As with other things had these been in season ripe strawberries I'm sure it would have been even better but considering the venue and time of year I was satisfied. It was a nice light dessert, light enough I had room to finish off the last of Hubby's ice cream sundae.
Final thoughts - If you can eat here using a Quick Service Credit, this is a bargain. The food is solid, some of it is a bit bland but its all cooked well. If you pick and choose wisely and take a small sample of things and then go back for bigger portions of your favorites you can eat very well here. I would definately eat here again if it fit into our travel plans. Even as an OOP meal the price is pretty reasonable for Disney World, if you had a couple of teenagers this would be a great choice for a place to fill them up cheaply.
Meal Cost - 2 Lunch Buffets at $16.99 each - $33.98
Tax - $2.04 (I think, assuming 6%)
Total Cost - $36.02
Used 2 Dining Credits and charged the tip (not included above) to room
Please note that this is a Quick Service Credit if you're not on the Deluxe Plan
Tuesday 2/14 Lunch at Pepper Market Buffet
This was supposed to be a lunch at Libery Tree Tavern, but when Hubby woke up he could barely walk due to swollen ankles. At first we thought it was an attack of gout, which has happened to him before on vacation but we later realized it was just swelling from the plane flight. It was odd it took so long to hit him, but the same thing happened when we got home, the same number of days later. We plan to have him wear those compression socks they sell the next time we fly to see if that helps. Anyway, because he couldn't walk we decided to cancel our reservations, and not go to the Magic Kingdom that day. Hungry we decided to queue up for the opening of the Pepper Market Buffet's lunch offerings. The pictures are going to be sorta pile-ish because I went and got all of our food and brought it back to our table to save him walking. Since it was Valentine's day and frankly I didn't want to make too many trips, I just put stuff on 1 plate and we ate it Lady and the Tramp Style
First up I have a lovely bowl of fruit. What can I say, it was fruit. It didn't blow my mind and make my toes curl like the fruit on my last Holland America cruise did. But at the same time I've been served a ton of fruit cups with much sadder fruit then this contained. I would have loved a few big ripe strawberries but the oranges and pineapple were very good. The melon and grapes were ok.
Next up I got us a plate of mixed green salad with some cucumbers, tomatoes and balsamic vinegrette. This was your basic salad, but the dressing was tasty and the lettuce was fresh. The tomatoes still weren't good ripe summer tomatoes but what can one expect in February. It was cool, crisp, and refreshing. Also on that plate was a composed salad made of cucumbers marinated in Ranch Dressing. This was surprisingly good and I got a 2nd serving of it for Hubby which isn't pictured. It was safe enough kids would eat it and tasty enough for adults to enjoy also.
Since hubby was abjectly miserable and we suspected gout I tried to get him some comfort food that wouldn't be high in protein. Clockwise around the bowl you can see some of the Kids Mac & Cheese, a slice of Cheese Pizza, Pasta with Meat Sauce and Penne Alfredo. I think all of this came from the Pasta station or thereabouts. The Kids Mac & Cheese was decent, we thought it might be Stouffers but having bought some of that recently when I was sick I now think it isn't. The shape is wrong, although the taste was similiar. We didn't end up eating it all but we each ate some of it. I don't know that I'd bother getting it again unless I was under the weather and really wanted that type of Mac & Cheese. The Pizza was not Via Napoli and I think we can just about leave it at that. Hubby said it was like the pizza they serve on Chinese Buffets, I had to remind him that he gets that Pizza sometimes. Again, ate some didn't eat all. The Pasta in Meat Sauce (may have had a fancier name) was actually quite good. It wasn't spectacular but we ate all of it and if we came here again and the weather was cool I would definately get a little of it again. It was kid-friendly but not adult-unfriendly if that makes sense. The Penne Alfredo was cooked well, al dente and all that but it was just bland. Salt and Pepper both didn't save it and most of it went uneaten. All in all this plate wasn't terribly successful even if Hubby did appreciate that I'd gotten him a plate of comfort food type things.
I'm going to post 2 pictures for this next plate, in the first picture you can see the rice, corn and mashed potato better and in the 2nd picture you get a better view of the Chicken Breast with Mango Salsa, Tilapa Veracruz (I think), and the Pork Roast. Starting with the side dishes, they had a basic version of Mexican style Corn with Peppers & Onions in it, in a sort of flavored butter sauce. Most of us have bought something similiar in the frozen veggie aisle. We liked it, we ate it, it was as expected. Also as expected was the Rice, I forget what they called it - Mexican, Cilantro - some descriptor I forgot to write down. Standard-issue Tex-Mex rice, safe and dependable but cooked properly aka not too mushy and not too crunchy either. The Mashed Potatoes were I believe Redskin and Garlic seasoned, but for some reason I don't have details in my notes. I know Hubby ate them all. On to the proteins - and these were the star of the plate. I do not have all of the names right, but its pretty clear cut on the Buffet, there's usually only 1 choice per thing so you'll know if you're being served the same thing. The Grilled Chicken Breasts with Mango Salsa were really, really good. I would go to a restaurant specifically to order these. Hubby could only eat a few bites and he's not a Mango sort of guy but he thought the Chicken was seasoned very nicely. Next up we had the Tilapia, I believe they called it Veracruz or something like that. Standard Mexican spices, not overdone, it was good but not as good as the Mango Chicken. Last up was some sort of Spice Rubbed Pork Loin. I'll keep it simple, next time we go my plate will basically be this and the Mango Chicken with perhaps a spot of salad on the side. I wanted to eat a bunch more slices of this but since Hubby couldn't eat a lot of protein I didn't want to eat it in front of him and I managed to restrain myself. It wasn't terribly complex, but it was done well - juicy, tender, seasoned nicely without being overpowered. A bite of it dredged through the mashed potatoes with a stop in the corn to pick up a few kernals fit my idea of comfort food perfectly.
Not pictured anywhere because I didn't want to make Hubby wait for me to take photos of it while he ate it was a plain Cheese Quesadilla. I didn't even GET to the Mexican station with all of the yummy treats there. I saw Chicken Quesadillas, Green Chile Pork Enchilladas (or Burritos, I forget) and a make your own taco area among other things. They looked good, the business men were swarming the station but Hubby was filling up and I skipped most of it. Since he was trying to avoid too much meat (partly due to our dinner reservation) and he was so incredibly miserable I asked the Lady at the Mexican station if she could possibly make me a single plain Cheese Quesadilla for someone in my group who was feeling under the weather. They were happy to oblige me, although I should note it was early in the service and they were not overwhelmed trying to keep up with the buffet like they might have been later. While I waited a business man came up to the line and demanded to know, in what I consider a very rude tone of voice, "is this all you have!". The nice Lady who'd agreed to make me the Quesadilla smiled sweetly at him and replied "Yes." - Lesson to be learned, ask politely and always tell them you'll understand if they can't do something. That and ask for simple things like a Quesadilla sans Chicken vs asking them to make something complex like a Green Chile Pork Quesadilla with blah blah..... How was the Quesadilla? Well I like mine a bit crispier but thats personal preference. Poor sick Hubby thinks that there really is no such thing as a bad Quesadilla provided the cheese is of good quality and melted. He's right too.
Last up, dessert. All of our romantic Valentine's Day Lady & the Tramp dining aside, for dessert I got us each our own plates. I told Hubby what they had, mostly basic choices and he asked for a bit of Ice Cream and some Churros. I made him a sundae out of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, M & M's, whipped cream and 2 Churros. He ate most of it, I ate the rest
For my dessert I decided to get the Strawberry ShortCake. I find that Cake Frostings often don't agree with me, probably because I had my gall bladder removed many years ago. I can do actual buttercream frostings or whipped cream frostings but the ones made with shortening just don't like me very much. I asked the Lady at the dessert station and she checked with one of the bakers for me and was able to assure me that the Frosting on this cake was of the Whipped Cream variety. The yellow cake was reasonably moist, the Frosting was light and the Strawberries were tasty. As with other things had these been in season ripe strawberries I'm sure it would have been even better but considering the venue and time of year I was satisfied. It was a nice light dessert, light enough I had room to finish off the last of Hubby's ice cream sundae.
Final thoughts - If you can eat here using a Quick Service Credit, this is a bargain. The food is solid, some of it is a bit bland but its all cooked well. If you pick and choose wisely and take a small sample of things and then go back for bigger portions of your favorites you can eat very well here. I would definately eat here again if it fit into our travel plans. Even as an OOP meal the price is pretty reasonable for Disney World, if you had a couple of teenagers this would be a great choice for a place to fill them up cheaply.
Meal Cost - 2 Lunch Buffets at $16.99 each - $33.98
Tax - $2.04 (I think, assuming 6%)
Total Cost - $36.02
Used 2 Dining Credits and charged the tip (not included above) to room
Please note that this is a Quick Service Credit if you're not on the Deluxe Plan
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