The Whole Family's Here...Let's Eat! - COMPLETE!

[momof2disprincesses]

Let me introduce my family. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here we are:

From left to right is Kaylee, age 15; me (Jodi - aka the Mom), David (aka Dad to the kids, but my Prince Charming of 22+ years to me) and Amanda, age 19.

Just a tiny bit of background about this trip.

We are from Appleton, WI. All of WI gets 2-3 days off of school at the end of October for a state-wide teacher's convention. So we have been to Disney at this time of year many times and it's one of our all-time favorite times to come because of crowds, weather and of course - THE EPCOT FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL!!

This trip was originally supposed to include 13 people in all - my two best friends and their families with my whole family. However, for various reasons, both friends with their families had to drop out.

So then it was going to be just me, DH and DD15. We had invited DD19 all along but she is a sophomore in college in MN and really didn't think she would be able to get out of all of her responsibilities (work and school) to come.

However, at the very last minute (5 days before we left) she asked if she could still come. She was able to work things out with her professors and boss and I was able to snag her a free flight on Air Tran for the way there and a $107 flight on the way home. I couldn't believe that!

LOVE Air Train - gonna miss you!

We are DVC members but we love FREE dining (see my signature - this was our 8th time on a free dining trip). We had rented some of our DVC points to friends this past summer, so we really didn't have points left for this trip and with 4 adults, free dining is an awesome deal for us.

We LOVE POFQ and so we decided to stay there and had the regular ddp free. We had the very best room location I've ever had at a Disney resort. We were in room 4225. It was on the second floor, in building 4. It was the second room in from the stairs which led to to food court entrance. It was literally like 20-25 steps from our door to the door to enter the food court.

So filling up our refillable mugs or getting a yummy snack like beignets was quick & easy! Speaking of beignets, that was the first use of our 20 snack credits and we forgot to take a picture! SORRY!

I do promise LOTS of food porn to come though, so stay tuned.

 

[mouser_momof2]

I'm in! Looking forward to your reviews!

We'll be at Port Orleans, Riverside in January. I can't wait! The only other time we've stayed on property was in '09 at the Pop.....


We live near New Orleans, and not far from Cafe Dumond so I'm looking forward to seeing how the beignets are there- if they measure up or not!

 

[Linda67]

Sounds like fun, count me in

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

I'm in!

 

[JD698]

I'm in too. Will be at POFQ (switched from POP) in Jan/Feb with DH and twin sons - - all first timers except DH who was only at WDW once in the late 80s. Surprise trip for the kids' birthday!!! So excited.

Can't wait to see your pics and reviews!!!

 

[momof2disprincesses]

We love POFQ! Kidani is our DVC home resort and it is my all-time favorite place in the world to stay. POFQ is a close second. I love how small and quaint it is. I love the music they play. I love the food. I love the pool (although it was really too cold for much swimming this trip). I love the horse-drawn carriage rides. I love taking the boat from the resort to POR and downtown Disney.

As I said, we had the absolute BEST room location for this trip too. That made it even more special. We were so close to the bus stops, the lobby, the food court, the pool and just a short stroll to the boat landing.

Our first day of this trip was Wed. Oct. 26. DH, DD15 and I flew in from Milwaukee and arrived around 2:30pm. We quickly boarded ME and were at the resort by 4pm. I had requested ground floor, near transportation. We didn't get ground floor, but "close to everything" was certainly granted!

DD19 was flying in from Minneapolis. She had a test that morning so she didn't fly out until later in the day and arrived around 9pm.

We just chilled in the room until she arrived. We had gotten up at 2am to catch our 6:30am flight (we live 2 hours from the Milwaukee airport). So a little nap waiting for DD19 was wonderful!

When she arrived, we felt it was too late to go anywhere else, but we were all pretty hungry so we walked our 25 steps to the food court and got a pizza using 2 CS credits. I know I have pictures of it but can't find them right now, so those will come later.

Then, bedtime approached. We wanted to get up bright and early Thursday for a fun morning at MK.

Thursday morning, we were at MK around opening time. The girls went on a hike for fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear and DH and I stopped at Main St. Bakery to get 2 CS meals to share. We didn't want to eat too much - LeCellier was coming for lunch!

The girls came back with fastpasses and we shared this wonderful breakfast:

We used 2 CS and 1 snack. They used to let you get a sandwich, a sweet and a drink for CS. This time, we were told we could only get a sandwich and drink as a CS. So we got 2 of the croissant sandwiches (with egg, ham & cheese) and an iced coffee and a chocolate milk. The super delicious, yummy cinnamon roll was a snack credit. We all shared it.

Later that morning, DH did want to get a soft-serve ice cream in Tomorrowland. We got 2 ice cream cones as snacks to share and sat and watched a delightful show with PUSH the talking trash can. My favorite part was when he goes up to the 2 regular garbage cans and says "Mom & Dad!" Then he adds "Mom's a picky eater" (she's the recycling container!).

One of my favorite sit-down restaurants ever - LeCellier is coming up next!

 

[momof2disprincesses]

Got the picture of our first Disney meal loaded, so here it is.

As I said before, it was late (after 10pm) by the time our daughter arrived and we were ready to eat, so a quick pizza in the POFQ food court hit the spot.

Using 2 CS credits, we got the full-size pepperoni pizza with 2 waters (to put in the fridge in our room for later) and got a vanilla and chocolate milkshake as the desserts. This hit the spot and got our free dining trip off to a good start.

I love that they have a bakery and small ice cream shop at the POFQ food court. The hand-made milkshakes were super creamy and delicious!

 

[st4rrab0vemybed]

Great review so far and looking forward to hearing more!

The cinnamon roll you had looks soooo good; I was practically drooling at my desk.

 

[momof2disprincesses]

So we took the monorail from MK to Epcot. I love that ride! I love how you go through part of Epcot before the ride is over.

We arrived around 1:30pm and headed straight to Canada for our lunch ADR at LeCellier. This is the first of our sit down meals on this trip and it was a great way to start!

Check in went smooth and we were seated quickly. I liked going at 2pm because the lunch crowd was starting to thin and we got to talk a lot with our server.

DD15 and I started out with virgin strawberry daiquiris. They were sweet and cold and delicious!!! DD19 got a red maple, which was a version of the virgin daiquiri but raspberry flavored. DH got a boring diet coke (he's not into fruity drinks I guess).

Next came the yummy pretzel bread! I remember from previous visits here they had 3 kinds of bread - a multi-grain one, a sourdough and pretzel bread. This time, everyone was being served just the pretzel bread. That was fine with us because it's the favorite one for my whole family anyway.

Us 3 ladies got the prix fixe lunch. Which included one appetizer, one entree and one dessert from a special prix fixe menu.

The choices of appetizer included:

• Mixed field greens
• Spicy chicken and chipotle sausage
• Canadian cheddar cheese soup

All 3 of us chose the soup. We even let DH dip his pretzel bread in our soup. Aren't we nice!

For entrees, we had these choices:

• LeCellier steak and potato skillet
• Sauteed potato gnocchi
• Caesar salad with grilled chicken
• Korean barbeque beef skewer
• LeCellier house burger

Again, all 3 of us chose the same entrees - the LeCellier house burger. It was described as having roasted mushrooms, pancetta, black diamond cheddar, maple barbeque, crispy onions and coming with a side of fries. We all ordered our mushrooms "on the side" because none of us actually like them and DH does. He got a steak, so they went well with his meal.

This burger was out of this world delicious! Oh my goodness - literally one of the best burgers I've ever had. It was well done, but still juicy and the combination of toppings made it perfect!

Even the fries were super yummy!

DH got the NY strip steak for his entree. It was described as: New York Strip Steak - with bercy butter, served with Gruyere-Yukon Gold potato gratin $31.99. DH and I did "half and half" - a combo we do in our family often. He shared half his steak with me. I shared half my burger with him.

The steak was superb! It did not disappoint at all.

For the prix fixe lunch menu, it showed these choices for dessert:

• Maple creme brulee
• Canadian chocolate "moose"
• Seasonal sorbet

Both DH and DD15 got the adorable chocolate moose.

DD19 got the maple creme brulee.

I tried a bite of this. It was sugary sweet - maybe a little too much for my tastes. She didn't "love" it either, so we actually wound up sharing my dessert, which was unexpectedly delicious. I say this because my first choice of dessert was going to be cheesecake but they were out, so I "settled" for this. I don't even remember what it was called, but it was heavenly good!

It was some kind of ice-cold meringue. It came with the syrup which our server poured over it. All I can say is "glad they were out of the cheesecake!"

Overall, this meal would have cost $151.99. So having it on the ddp for free was really nice!

Up next - a light dinner at the PO-Riverside food court.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

That burger looks delicious! We tried Le Cellier for dinner as a signature this past trip. We enjoyed our meal but didn't feel it lived up to the other signatures. So it is on our list for lunch next year. Seeing that burger has cemented it for me!

 

[momof2disprincesses]

After our wonderful lunch at LeCellier, we walked around Epcot for awhile and then decided we were tired and would go back to the room to take a little nap. We had an ADR at 9pm at Whispering Canyon Cafe.

So back to the room we went, everyone laid down and fell asleep...

Who sees what's coming next?

Yes, that is correct - we slept through dinner! When DD15 woke up, she said, "hey, it's 9:05, weren't we supposed to be somewhere at 9pm?" OOOOPS! I guess waking up the previous day at 2am for our flight made us more exhausted than we realized.

So I called Disney dining and told them what happened. They were very nice and rescheduled us for WCC for Saturday night.

So once everyone woke up a bit more, we decided to take the boat to Port Orleans Riverside for some dinner. I knew they had a "build your own pasta" that both of my girls would love there. Plus, it is always fun to take the boat and see POR.

So we strolled down to the boat dock for a quick but beautiful ride over to POR. I was surprised how busy the food court was at 10pm!

Both girls did get the build your own pasta. I think they basically both got the same thing. Here is one of their meals:

One of the girls got a brownie for dessert. The other got a cookie.

DH and I were actually still pretty full from lunch and didn't want a big meal. We both got the chicken nuggets and fries. I don't think either of us ate many of the fries, but the chicken was good. I miss the old honey mustard sauce they used to have for chicken nuggets. Now the honey mustard is too mustardy for me. The old one used to be creamy - like the kind you get at Outback Steakhouse.

DH got the apple blossom for dessert. I got the carrot cake. Here's a closer look at both:

The sad thing is that delicious looking apple blossom never did get eaten. It wound up in the garbage later in the week. All of us were full from our entrees and we all took our desserts back to the room. Eventually the brownie, cookie & carrot cake did get eaten, but the sad apple blossom was never touched again. Sorry apple blossom!

Coming up next - Friday's food included lunch at Le Chefs de France, dinner at Wolfgang Puck Cafe and some very yummy snacks from Epcot!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Great reviews, we were there the same time! POFQ is our fave resort, wish I stayed there in Oct

 

[DisneyDaze928]

I am loving reading your posts so far. I definitely need to put POVQ on my list of places to stay....can't wait to read more.....

 

[momof2disprincesses]

Thank you for the nice comments and for taking the time to read my report.

I'm really enjoying writing it. Doing any kind of trip or food report helps you re-live the wonderful vacation!

On Friday, we slept in a little bit and made it over to Epcot in time for our 1:20pm ADR at Chefs De France. DD15 and I had eaten here a few years ago for dinner and really enjoyed it. DD19 requested that we eat here for this trip and so I snagged a last minute lunch ADR here. I think I preferred the lunch menu over the dinner menu and everything was very good!

We were seated in the little glass area where you can see the fountain. I liked that area, but at times passers-by would literally stop at the glass and gawk at us dining in there. I felt a little like I was in a fish tank.

Our server was Aurelie, who of course is from France. Since it was somewhat slow at that time of day, I got to practice the teeny tiny bit of French I speak and ask her about her home. She was fun and fascinating and very professional.

Again, all 3 of us ladies decided on the prix fixe 3 course menu.

All 3 of us chose the Soupe a l' oignon gratinee - Onion soup topped with Gruyere cheese. I have to admit, this was the main reason we were all excited about this meal. This soup is SOOOOOOO good! It was dripping with cheese! It was served with a baguette (French bread) which was also yummy. Again, us ladies so nicely let DH dip his bread in our soup.

As we were enjoying the soup and bread, a friend stopped by to say Hello:

He's so gosh-darn cute!

For our entrees, all 4 of us got something different (all descriptions of food is from allears).

DH got the Plat de Cote de boeuf au cabernet avec pates - beef short ribs briased in cabernet with pasta, pearl onions and mushrooms

DD19 got the Croque monsieur et sa salade verte - classic French toasted ham and cheese sandwich with a green salad

DD15 got the Gratin de Macaroni - Baked macaroni with cream and gruyere cheese

And I got the Quiche Lorraine - ham and cheese quiche

Everything was good. DD19 and I shared a bit of each others and really enjoyed both. DD15 didn't "LOVE" the macaroni & cheese and DD19 lovingly shared part of her sandwich. DH enjoyed his entree. I tried one bite of his and knew it was not for me.

Even though we were basically stuffed, we did order dessert.

Two of us got the Profiteroles au chocolat - Puff choux with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce

DH got the Crepe a la pomme et cannelle, glace vanille, caramel jus de pommes - Crepes filled with cinnamon, apple, vanilla ice cream and apple caramel sauce

DD15 got some kind of chocolate cake. I don't see it on the menu and on our receipt it is listed as "menue choc cake"

We all got diet cokes to drink. One thing I remember about this meal was the diet coke was not served with ice. Is this a French thing? So I asked for a glass of ice because my drink was pretty warm and I like beverages ice cold.

Overall, this meal would have been $123.45. Nice to have it free on the ddp!

After lunch, we did a few Kim Possible missions and then watched the movie in France. I love that movie!

Then we strolled around the World Showcase and did a little shopping and even a little more eating (after several hours of walking).

A few Epcot snacks & a Mother-daughter dinner at Wolfgang Puck Cafe are coming up next!

 

[Jonesloonybin]

Great reviews so far!! We like Chefs de France for lunch also. It is our first ADR for our upcoming trip.

I can't wait to hear more!!

Terri

 

[emmysmommy]

Love your review and photos. thanks for sharing!

 

[Linda67]

I'm really enjoying your reviews

Everything looks yummy; especially those crepes

 

[momof2disprincesses]

After our France lunch, we did a few Kim Possible missions and strolled around the WS. We shopped a bit and even ate a little more! Everything at the Food & Wine Festival was so tempting! I assure you many more pictures from the Festival are coming (Sunday night we basically "ate" dinner around the world).

But we did make a stop in Poland because DD19 was tempted by the Kielbasa. Now I have to add a story here, my Dad's entire side of the family is from Poland and kielbasa is basically the only thing my Dad knows how to cook without my Mom around, so growing up, whenever my Mom was away, I was served kielbasa. I came to hate it. So I had no bit of this OR desire to have any. But the girls liked it so much that they shared the first one and went back to get another one! Good for them.

Then DD19 and I wandered over to the Karamell-Kuche in Germany. She LOVES caramel, so we knew we had to use up some snack credits here. She got the Werther's gourmet cookie, which actually was like a brownie - it was delicious! I got the caramel with marshmallow treat. It was also good, but being that they were both 1 snack credit, her cookie was a far better value than my small piece of caramel.

We headed back to our room for awhile and had an ADR at Wolfgang Puck Cafe for that night at 9pm. WPC if one of my favorite restaurants in all of Disney World. I love the view of the water. I love the delicious food and I love how it tends to be less crowded than other restaurants.

Well, DD15 and DH didn't feel like going, but DD19 and I really did want to still go, so we decided it was a good time to have a "Mother-daughter" date. Since she's been away at college, I don't get to have long, heart-to-heart talks with her and its so rare for us to have an hour or more alone together, so I relished this opportunity to have a quiet dinner with my firstborn. We did have a wonderful talk at dinner about her future and deep life issues. I really enjoyed it!

Now, basically the entire reason I love WPC is the Macadamia nut crusted breast of chicken, which is described on their menu as panko and macadamia nut crusted boneless breast of chicken, sho-yu cream sauce and garlic mashed potatoes. garnished with red papaya marmalade. Here's a photo:

Unfortunately this didn't live up to the last few times I've enjoyed this dish. Even in the photo, it doesn't look very appetizing. It wasn't awful, it just wasn't up to par from previous trips.

Onto dessert, DD19 ordered the Snickers cheesecake (not listed on the allears menu).

I ordered the Chocolate Lava Cake - Warm soft centered cake with vanilla ice cream

Our intention was to do "half and half" again, but I loved the cheesecake so much and she loved the lava cake, so we just switched.

Normally I get the key lime pie at WPC, but DD19 didn't like that idea, so we got these instead. I did miss the key lime pie a little, but that Snicker's cheesecake was WOW!

Coming up next - Wolfgang Puck Cafe and Whispering Canyon Cafe!

 

[dmoore718]

I love reading your review!!! It really helps to know what people like about each of the TS restaurants!

 

[jennyf2]

Great TR so far Can't wait to read the rest!!!!