Sistah Twistah - A January Dining Review- Updated- 6/25 - COMPLETE!!!

[Jerusalem Gal]

Thanks. LOL at the licking plates clean. I do engage in that habit when home alone (and sometimes at my parents' house). I can just imagine my mom's mortification if I actually did that in public.

LOL! I do that kind of thing when I'm not in public

 

[speiser.girl]

I have no idea how to use this thing (with all the quotes and stuff) but thanks for the warm wellcom, happy to be here

 

[LinderInWonderland]

Yay for AK day! We are going to be eating Flametree BBQ this trip (DH's and my first time). Last time we tried to cram too much into one day at AK, since neither DH nor I were excited about going there BUT it's his sister's favorite park. This time we are being much kinder to our bodies by planning 2, maybe three half-days. Maybe I will get to try stuff at Harambe, if the sun doesn't make me want to die.

Hooray for Shira joining in! Confidentially to Shira: my cousin got me to join Facebook with the promise of seeing wedding photos. Family...they'll get you with photos every time!

That ice cream sandwich looks crazy good!

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

Yay for AK day! We are going to be eating Flametree BBQ this trip (DH's and my first time). Last time we tried to cram too much into one day at AK, since neither DH nor I were excited about going there BUT it's his sister's favorite park. This time we are being much kinder to our bodies by planning 2, maybe three half-days. Maybe I will get to try stuff at Harambe, if the sun doesn't make me want to die.

Hooray for Shira joining in! Confidentially to Shira: my cousin got me to join Facebook with the promise of seeing wedding photos. Family...they'll get you with photos every time!

That ice cream sandwich looks crazy good!

Hey, nice to see you!!
We didn't spend nearly enough time at AK and I'll have to make up for it next time. I think it's a beautiful park, even if it doesn't have the same "Disney magic" that other parks have. It's got its own kind of magic and is certainly worth getting to know it well! Are you guys park-hopping? Or just doing half-days in the park and the other half for other things? How long will your trip be? (You lucky people, you!)

Facebook used to have the option of sending an external link so that people who aren't registered can still see your pictures. I don't think they have that anymore... I hope you don't regret joining

 

[LinderInWonderland]

Hey, nice to see you!!
We didn't spend nearly enough time at AK and I'll have to make up for it next time. I think it's a beautiful park, even if it doesn't have the same "Disney magic" that other parks have. It's got its own kind of magic and is certainly worth getting to know it well! Are you guys park-hopping? Or just doing half-days in the park and the other half for other things? How long will your trip be? (You lucky people, you!)

We are for sure park-hopping. After last time, we found we do way better taking mid-day breaks back at the room/pool and avoiding the heat of the day. We are going to be there for 8 nights.

Honestly, one of my best moments the whole trip was walking into AK for morning EMH. It was cool and lovely and the Tree of Life was so incredible. Then D23 happened and they announced Rivers of Light and I could see that they were going to animate the tree the way they animate the castle for Celebrate the Magic (my favorite thing in all of WDW) and I got MUCH more excited about more time in AK. Now, with everything up in the air, we may not get to see RoL this trip, but maybe someday.

Facebook used to have the option of sending an external link so that people who aren't registered can still see your pictures. I don't think they have that anymore... I hope you don't regret joining

Nah! I'm a full-on FB addict now.

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

We are for sure park-hopping. After last time, we found we do way better taking mid-day breaks back at the room/pool and avoiding the heat of the day. We are going to be there for 8 nights.

Honestly, one of my best moments the whole trip was walking into AK for morning EMH. It was cool and lovely and the Tree of Life was so incredible. Then D23 happened and they announced Rivers of Light and I could see that they were going to animate the tree the way they animate the castle for Celebrate the Magic (my favorite thing in all of WDW) and I got MUCH more excited about more time in AK. Now, with everything up in the air, we may not get to see RoL this trip, but maybe someday.

Nah! I'm a full-on FB addict now.

Rivers of Light sounds great and I'm sorry they've pushed off the opening
You might have already answered this but when are you going?
(I'm updating right now!!! Stay tuned! Don't give up hope!)

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated!!
It seems it gets harder and harder to sit down and write this up as the days (and weeks and months) go by.... But I'll do my best to keep it moving

We left off at Animal Kingdom on Friday.
For dinner we relaxed at Everything Pop once again (hey, it was close and it was good!)

This time around I had me Southwestern Burger (with no jalapenos) and fries



The Southwesterner - $13.99
"Angus Chuck Patty topped with Pepper Jack Cheese, Lettuce, Avocado, Vine Ripe Tomato, Jalapeno, Lime Sour Cream and Corn Tortilla Strips on a Brioche Roll with choice of two sides"

I only got one side but maybe things have changed since we were there.
A better look at the burger itself:



Ok. This was my only disappointment at Everything Pop.

The burger was... how can I put this nicely...? ..... terrible. The best part of this big, beautiful burger were the tortilla strips.
The burger had no flavor. None of the (many many) elements that made up this meal had any flavor except for the tortillas. Also, the fries were cold!
Normally I would go back and have them give me a fresh serving of fries, but I was too tired. (Ok, I'm not sure that's true but I'd like to think that I'd go.)
I didn't finish my burger or the fries. Just kind of picked at them until giving up...

Luckily, my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I also ordered me a kids' meal serving of mac n cheese!



Macaroni and Cheese - $5.99
"with Dannon® Danimals® Smoothie and Carrots"

I paid for this OOP.
This came with a choice of a small drink (I believe there was plain milk and flavored milks. Maybe also juice?) and a small packet of fruit and veggies. Not sure what those Danimals smoothies are



The chocolate milk was wonderful. The cute little packets of carrots and grapes I'm sorry to say were forgotten in our fridge at the resort....
They were really too much for that one dinner together with whatever I ate of the burger + the macaroni (which was delicious and worth every penny!)

As a drink/dessert for my QS meal I got me another little chocolate cake AND an Oreo cupcake!



I ended up taking these back to the room and eating them later. (This time I scraped the little Mickey candies off the cake and enjoyed it much more without them.)
In short: SUGAR OVERLOAD
(In shorter: YUM)

Ok, so again no pictures of this (why????) but Shira was smart enough to go with her number one choice and the thing she still fantasizes about 3 months later: The Picnic Burger!
In truth, I kind of fantasize about it too. Especially while I was sitting there, watching her eat and enjoy it while picking at my cold, icky Southwesterner
For dessert she got the same as me- chocolate cake and the Oreo cupcake. The cake she saved for later and the cupcake I believe she ate for dessert that night. At least that's what it says in my notes.



As this next meal (breakfast for a change) was also at Everything Pop and finished off our stay there, I'll add it to this post.

After checkout, we wandered back into Everything Pop for one last meal. I don't eat breakfast, as I mentioned previously, so this was all Shira.




Pancackes - $7.79
"with Fruit Topping, Bacon, and Sausage"

She had originally wanted to try the Mickey waffles. I'm not sure what happened exactly. (Shira? Care to remind us?)
We paid for this OOP as it seemed like a waste of a QS credit.
Instead of the sausage we asked for a double helping of turkey bacon. That way Shira could enjoy the full meal.
She says the strawberries were sweet and went well with the pancakes, the bacon was dry and salty (but she finished it) and the syrup they had there was awful.

Which reminds me- what's up with the syrup?? We could not find one normal and tasty pancake syrup. Obviously I'm not expecting real maple syrup, but the two kinds I tried there were terrible!
Also, do they not serve real actual butter?


Well folks, a bit shorter than usual but at least I got through another update (and one resort out of two!)
Next up- we take a stroll to the Art of Animation Resort and have a mini lunch at Landscape of Flavors!

 

[LinderInWonderland]

Welcome back to your dining report!

Rivers of Light sounds great and I'm sorry they've pushed off the opening
You might have already answered this but when are you going?
(I'm updating right now!!! Stay tuned! Don't give up hope!)

We are leaving in 18 days!!!! While I am bummed about RoL's delay (and the press previews made me cry - they are so beautiful!), we DID find out that we get to see Symphony in the Stars while we are there. We booked the dessert party to go along with it, so my husband is especially excited.

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated!!
It seems it gets harder and harder to sit down and write this up as the days (and weeks and months) go by.... But I'll do my best to keep it moving

We left off at Animal Kingdom on Friday.
For dinner we relaxed at Everything Pop once again (hey, it was close and it was good!)

This time around I had me Southwestern Burger (with no jalapenos) and fries

View attachment 164565

The Southwesterner - $13.99
"Angus Chuck Patty topped with Pepper Jack Cheese, Lettuce, Avocado, Vine Ripe Tomato, Jalapeno, Lime Sour Cream and Corn Tortilla Strips on a Brioche Roll with choice of two sides"

I only got one side but maybe things have changed since we were there.
A better look at the burger itself:

View attachment 164566

Ok. This was my only disappointment at Everything Pop.

The burger was... how can I put this nicely...? ..... terrible. The best part of this big, beautiful burger were the tortilla strips.
The burger had no flavor. None of the (many many) elements that made up this meal had any flavor except for the tortillas. Also, the fries were cold!
Normally I would go back and have them give me a fresh serving of fries, but I was too tired. (Ok, I'm not sure that's true but I'd like to think that I'd go.)
I didn't finish my burger or the fries. Just kind of picked at them until giving up...

Luckily, my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I also ordered me a kids' meal serving of mac n cheese!

View attachment 164563

Macaroni and Cheese - $5.99
"with Dannon® Danimals® Smoothie and Carrots"

I paid for this OOP.
This came with a choice of a small drink (I believe there was plain milk and flavored milks. Maybe also juice?) and a small packet of fruit and veggies. Not sure what those Danimals smoothies are

View attachment 164564

The chocolate milk was wonderful. The cute little packets of carrots and grapes I'm sorry to say were forgotten in our fridge at the resort....
They were really too much for that one dinner together with whatever I ate of the burger + the macaroni (which was delicious and worth every penny!)

As a drink/dessert for my QS meal I got me another little chocolate cake AND an Oreo cupcake!

View attachment 164562

I ended up taking these back to the room and eating them later. (This time I scraped the little Mickey candies off the cake and enjoyed it much more without them.)
In short: SUGAR OVERLOAD
(In shorter: YUM)

Ok, so again no pictures of this (why????) but Shira was smart enough to go with her number one choice and the thing she still fantasizes about 3 months later: The Picnic Burger!
In truth, I kind of fantasize about it too. Especially while I was sitting there, watching her eat and enjoy it while picking at my cold, icky Southwesterner
For dessert she got the same as me- chocolate cake and the Oreo cupcake. The cake she saved for later and the cupcake I believe she ate for dessert that night. At least that's what it says in my notes.

Sad burgers are sad. I ate exactly two burgers my whole trip last time. The one from Electric Umbrella was all kinds of sad. The one from Sci-Fi Drive-in was DELICIOUS and the total opposite of sad.

Which reminds me- what's up with the syrup?? We could not find one normal and tasty pancake syrup. Obviously I'm not expecting real maple syrup, but the two kinds I tried there were terrible!
Also, do they not serve real actual butter?

I guess I am used to terrible American fake syrup, since I wasn't grossed out by it. Then again, I only had Mickey waffles once (at 'Ohana) and I was so in love with their breakfast sausage that I may have blocked out the terrible syrup. Real butter may only be at the more expensive restaurants. Typically other fast food places use margarine or 'tasty buttery spread'. It's a lot cheaper, so it helps their profit margins.

 

[speiser.girl]

Ok, so I really didn't want to read this because honestly it's too damn hard thinking about it and missing it so much... I don't really remember why I took pancakes instead of Micky waffles, but I think it was because it looked like a bigger portion (yup, that makes sense )
The picnic burger is probably in my top 5 favorite things I ate there (along with Casey's Corner's corn dog nuggets, Ohana's bread pudding (sobb ) and a few other things..
Thank you once again DeeDee for an amazing and mouth watering (actually for that I hate you) review.
XOXO

 

[Saphire5742]

Too bad about the tasteless burger. At least dessert was tasty.
Speaking of mac and cheese, I recently listened to a podcast that also proclaimed Biergarten's version as the best on property.

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

We are leaving in 18 days!!!! While I am bummed about RoL's delay (and the press previews made me cry - they are so beautiful!), we DID find out that we get to see Symphony in the Stars while we are there. We booked the dessert party to go along with it, so my husband is especially excited.

Oh my gosh!!!!! 18 days!!!!!!!!!!!
And I really want to see Symphony in the Stars! You lucky people, you!

Sad burgers are sad. I ate exactly two burgers my whole trip last time. The one from Electric Umbrella was all kinds of sad. The one from Sci-Fi Drive-in was DELICIOUS and the total opposite of sad.

We didn't eat at sci-fi but we did have a great one at T-Rex! (Spoiler alert ) And even Electric Umbrella wasn't bad (I think. Gotta check my notes.)
But this one was a disaster

I guess I am used to terrible American fake syrup, since I wasn't grossed out by it. Then again, I only had Mickey waffles once (at 'Ohana) and I was so in love with their breakfast sausage that I may have blocked out the terrible syrup. Real butter may only be at the more expensive restaurants. Typically other fast food places use margarine or 'tasty buttery spread'. It's a lot cheaper, so it helps their profit margins.

Lol at the breakfast sausage! I guess if you're used to it, it's ok. I was mostly surprised.
And the fake butter was just margarine... I understand why they'd want to cut on costs but this was also a surprise to me. In Israel you can always find real butter at hotels. Even the cheapest ones.

Ok, so I really didn't want to read this because honestly it's too damn hard thinking about it and missing it so much... I don't really remember why I took pancakes instead of Micky waffles, but I think it was because it looked like a bigger portion (yup, that makes sense )
The picnic burger is probably in my top 5 favorite things I ate there (along with Casey's Corner's corn dog nuggets, Ohana's bread pudding (sobb ) and a few other things..
Thank you once again DeeDee for an amazing and mouth watering (actually for that I hate you) review.
XOXO

Hi Shira! Don't hate me! And don't tell them about 'Ohana yet!!!

Too bad about the tasteless burger. At least dessert was tasty.
Speaking of mac and cheese, I recently listened to a podcast that also proclaimed Biergarten's version as the best on property.

Biergarten's mac and cheese was really something else! I might have to go back just for that!

 

[TeresaNJ]

So glad to catch up on your report. We had a family tragedy about a month ago, so I've been on here sporadically. Forgot where I left off reading, so started at the end of your report & worked my way backwards! I'm sorry your report is over! I'm going to miss your great sense of humor & awesome food descriptions! Thanks for an enjoyable read!

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

So glad to catch up on your report. We had a family tragedy about a month ago, so I've been on here sporadically. Forgot where I left off reading, so started at the end of your report & worked my way backwards! I'm sorry your report is over! I'm going to miss your great sense of humor & awesome food descriptions! Thanks for an enjoyable read!

I'm so sorry to hear that Teresa! I hope you're ok.
On a happier note- my review isn't really over- it's just that we checked out of Pop and moved to the Contemporary. I have plenty of reviews to still write up. Like a million.
Glad you're caught up and I'll really try to be better and post more frequently!

 

[TeresaNJ]

Oh, I'm so happy to hear that! Your reports make me smile, & take my mind off of things. I'm good, just sad. Here's a link to what happened, if you're interested. If you happen to read it, please keep my nephew, Dom, in your prayers. http://www.disboards.com/threads/as...in-a-coma-update-4-23-post-95-page-5.3497881/

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

Oh, I'm so happy to hear that! Your reports make me smile, & take my mind off of things. I'm good, just sad. Here's a link to what happened, if you're interested. If you happen to read it, please keep my nephew, Dom, in your prayers. http://www.disboards.com/threads/as...in-a-coma-update-4-23-post-95-page-5.3497881/

So so sorry. I hope he gets better soon! I commented on your thread and am looking forward to hearing good news!

 

[Vernie822]

At first glance I thought your burger looked good.. bummer that it wasn't! I hate being served cold food. Meh!

That mac and cheese looks delicious though! I love that the kids meals come with the sides that you can take back for later.

Love AOA's food court.. excited to read about that one!!

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

At first glance I thought your burger looked good.. bummer that it wasn't! I hate being served cold food. Meh!

That mac and cheese looks delicious though! I love that the kids meals come with the sides that you can take back for later.

Love AOA's food court.. excited to read about that one!!

On one hand I was disappointed by the food that evening and sorry I didn't stick to my previous choice.
But on the other hand I'm happy that I got to try something different and didn't stay with the familiar (and good) things- like the picnic burger
I hope to post another update tonight

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

Helloooooo to everyone!!!!
I'm back for the second half of my dining report!!!
Just to make things interesting, I've changed my text color. It's also a symbolic gesture that indicates we've moved from one resort (POP) to another (Contemporary).

This second half of our trip has a lot more TS meals and is more varied than the first half. (Hint: we don't eat at Everything Pop anymore)

For anyone wondering about the DDP and split stays- it's complicated! I mean, it's not THAT complicated, but it's twice the trouble when you have two deadlines and two separate sets of DDP credits to manage.
When booking a split stay you have to make two separate reservations. You get two reservation numbers, two packages, two Magic Bands and if you're getting the DDP, two refillable mugs. This also means you'll be getting two separate sets of credits. Our first ressie was for 4 nights at Pop and so we got 4 QS meals + 4 TS meals + 4 snacks each and they expired at midnight on the last day. But on that last day we weren't on our way home (thank God!), we were at another resort. And so we had one day (or a few hours) overlapping.
Basically you need to make sure you finish all the credits from your first DDP ressie by midnight or you lose them. The reason I'm mentioning this is because it could be pretty difficult to keep track of all your credits and I kind of messed up a little bit.
(More on that later...)

Right now it's Saturday. We checked out of Pop in the morning, Shira had her breakfast and then we took a long walk all over Pop in the freezing winds for some great pictures. Then we walked over to AoA which is a beautiful resort because I insisted we check it out. (Not sure how I survived that actually. Shira was giving me some pretty murderous looks in that cold weather!) We had planned for a non-park day and that meant I finally had the time to just stroll and look at all the great resort decor

I gotta add a couple of non-dining pictures because they're AWESOME



Thank you for the pics Shira!



My lovey dovey prince Eric

When I finally got pictures of all the different sections and all the characters and Shira was seriously about to kill me, we sat down for lunch at Landscape of Flavors.

The setup is very very similar to the food court at Pop. Open gift shop, then a wide area with the different counters and food options and lots of room to sit.
For me the choice was obvious. I was here for the Create-Your-Own-Pasta dish. I saw it in a few DISers' dining reviews but at the end it was @Elevationist 's report that made me 100% sure I was gonna be visiting Landscape of Flavors.

Unfortunately Shira was not impressed by their lunch selection and didn't want to waste a credit there. I couldn't just eat alone and so we paid OOP for:



Kids' Meal Corn Dog Nuggets - $5.99
"with Grapes and Carrot Sticks"

FAIL! The fries and corn dogs were soggy! Not fresh at all. BAD. (I'm quoting from my note pad.) Also there were only 3 or maybe 4 nuggets. I know it's a kids' meal but I guess they must be really little kids. My mac and cheese at Pop the night before was a much larger portion. Shira didn't take the grapes or carrots for some reason so it was basically just the awful corn dogs and fries.

Lucky for me, I was smart enough to get this....



Create-Your-Own-Pasta - $11.99
"Choose from a variety of your favorite sauces and fresh ingredients, including Chicken or Shrimp"
(And it came with a slice of garlic bread!)

And this...



Cheesy Pesto Bread - $5.29
"Sliced Ciabatta with Pesto and melted Mozzarella with Marinara Sauce"

And this...



Butterfinger Cookie - $??
(This is not on the current menu)

We'll start from the end.

PLOT TWIST!
Shira loved my cookie so much, she went and got herself one too! (As a snack credit!)

This cookie was amazing. Shira has never had a Butterfinger before so she didn't know what to expect. But for me Butterfingers are nostalgic and remind me of the years we lived in LA.
She said it barely tasted like peanut butter and was a little heavy. But at the end she wrote, and I quote: "WOW".
I agree. Delicious!

Next, working our way backwards was the genius concept of replacing my drink on the QS meal with a snack. Hello cheesy pesto bread!
I'm not a big fan of pesto but we're on ok terms. (Hi pesto!)
The bread was a little on the soggy side but all in all tasty. And this was excellent value for a snack credit. A nice filling portion. (And look at all that cheese!) The marinara sauce was also a nice touch and added flavor to the bread.

Last but not least ("not least"? Best!) - my pasta was SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!
Meals like this are just perfect for me. I don't have to choose one thing- I can get them all!
I got the campanelle pasta with alfredo sauce. I added both chicken and shrimp (tiny baby shrimp! So cute!) and these were the veggies I chose: (Because if they're in alfredo sauce they don't count as vegetables) Peas, spinach, garlic, onions and mushrooms. And of course- parmesan cheese.

Let me explain the concept of this magical dish:
You stand in line. Then you choose the type of pasta you want, the sauce you'd like, any protein and any veggies you'd like to add.
While you're choosing the stuff you want in your sauce, they actually put the ingredients in your plate real-time. Then they pass it on to the person making your sauce. Fresh. On the spot.
I saw this with my own eyes!
They cook the pasta fresh on the spot, they saute the veggies + protein and add the sauce on the spot and then they mix them all together and plate them for you. Then they add a mountain of parmesan cheese on top (if you want. Duh) and you get it all freshly made! Wow.
This was a really large portion. They were so generous with everything and it was SO tasty! I also didn't realize it came with a slice of garlic bread! (Meh.)
I highly recommend this for any pasta lovers out there!

Two more small points on this meal:

We had our refillable mugs with us so I had Cherry Coke for the first time in years. Well, I guess I really built it up in my mind since the last time I had it because it was gross
Tasted like cough syrup!

Also, I took a picture of these yummy looking things in the dessert section and I have no idea what they are. I must have wanted to mention them on my report.. Can anyone enlighten me? They look tasty!



Well, that was our Saturday lunch (I should say MY Saturday lunch) Up next- We check in to the Contemporary! Shira has her lunch from Contempo Cafe and then it's dinner at Chef Mickey's!!!!!

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

Oh, and one more thing!
They had actual dishes and cutlery! First and last time I saw this at any QS place. Resort or park. Cool!

 

[speiser.girl]

probably my least favorite meal from our trip, but that butterfinger cookie- OMG!
I think my awesome sister said it all...