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We Came, We Saw, We Ate...But Mostly We Ate! A January DxDDP Review! U/D Via Napoli!
- Thread starter sophie832
- Start date
sophie832
F&W Addict
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2010
I won't lie, it was awesome! But, we hadn't taken a big vacation in 2 years, and we won't be taking any more anytime soon. Totally worth it, though.
I'm in
Yay, more followers!
I'm in and I'm jealous!Not only did you get to go 2 months in a row, but you did DxDP. Maybe someday I'll get to try all of those great restaurants and not just character meals and counter service...
We figure we'll do more character meals someday when we have kids. Although, I did get nearly a full autograph book of character signatures between our two trips. I'm a big kid
Count me in!
DH is still a little upset that he didn't get one.
I'm in!!!!
sophie832
F&W Addict
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2010
DH alert! This is him! I brought him over to the dark side...I mean, the DIS
Gotta make him feel welcome
Disneyfreak616
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2010
Oh welcome DH!! Congrats on bringin' him over! Hahaha SO excited for your reviews! 
Congrats on bringin' him over! Hahaha SO excited for your reviews! 
Coconuts
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2007
POOHS3
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2006
Your reviews are great! I voted and added a comment
I am soooo glad you commented on the hat! I first saw it on our first full day of our December trip, which was 12/3. They were selling them at a cart outside Muppetvision. We left DHS that afternoon without it, but we went back later in the day for the Osborne lights, and I was determined to get it. Well, the cart was closed, but they still had them inside the main Muppet store there (can't remember the name of it). They also had Animal and Kermit hats. A few days later, there were none to be found. Come to find out that they are sold out, and they wouldn't be getting any new ones in until January.
DH really wanted an Animal hat, so we looked at DL when we got home. Turns out the Beaker hat was in-stock there, but the other hats were sold out! When we went back right before our trip, all of them were sold out. On this recent trip to WDW, CMs told us that they can't even keep them on the shelves, so they are always sold out.
I love the hat soooo much! It's really warm, but it also gets lots of attention. CMs are always asking about it, and it got me on the big screen at the Laugh Floor. So, I hope they get more in, and you get a chance to buy one
We will not be visiting WDW until late Aug, but it won't stop me from looking for one. I luvvv Beeker! Good luck to you and your husband on tracking down animal, if you get back to DL or WDW.
MickeyNicki
It is pretty darn sad when a valet picks you out a
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2005
I am soooo in!!!!
MickeyNicki
It is pretty darn sad when a valet picks you out a
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2005
And on a very very very selfish note could you please PM me about your meal on the Yachtsman? We are going to try it again in 2 weeks and I am on the fence with it....I dont want to interrupt your thread so a quick yeah it was great or no it aint will suffice 
disneypofq05
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2005
Count me in! I can't wait to read about your adventure.
GoofySon'sMom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2007
A little late, but I am in!
sophie832
F&W Addict
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2010
Oh welcome DH!!
Welcome!
I'm feelin' the love for my DH! Awwww
sophie832
F&W Addict
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2010
I can't even believe we ate at all those places! Thanks for joining
I am so excited to see you following my reviews! I've been lurking in your recent dining threads, and I read the others. You guys are really WDW Dining experts!
Ok, no problem. We have all our receipts, so we'll know the approximate time we left. I will say, without spoiling my reviews too much, that most signature dining experiences took a couple of hours. However, we were on the DxDDP, which means we ate an appetizer. Also, I think we were taking it easy...although you can't really rush the food once you've ordered it, I know that we took our time choosing our dishes and eating them.
Jumping in too! I can not to hear how everything went
Thanks to everyone who is signed up! I promise my first review will be sometime today (West Coast time, of course). DH has already uploaded our pictures from night 1, but I want to make sure I have the receipt and my notes in front of me when I do the review, so everything is accurate. So, look for my CA Grill review soon
Principessa
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2005
Sounds like a great thread...I'm in. We were there for the MLKjr. weekend as well. I have not read too many reports so I'm going to read and learn. Maybe after our June trip I'll write a report! Looking forward to reading your reviews.
I can't even believe we ate at all those places! Thanks for joining
I am so excited to see you following my reviews! I've been lurking in your recent dining threads, and I read the others. You guys are really WDW Dining experts!
Ok, no problem. We have all our receipts, so we'll know the approximate time we left. I will say, without spoiling my reviews too much, that most signature dining experiences took a couple of hours. However, we were on the DxDDP, which means we ate an appetizer. Also, I think we were taking it easy...although you can't really rush the food once you've ordered it, I know that we took our time choosing our dishes and eating them.
Thank, I think we are just doing on sig. with our son!
sophie832
F&W Addict
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2010
For our first night back at WDW, I decided we should start off with a bang, and eat at the much-hyped California Grill. The weather was fierce that night: rain, thunder, lighting, and even a tornado watch 
Nevertheless, I put on my little black dress, DH wore a polo with khaki's, and we took a cab for the 5-min ride over to the CR from WL (the boats weren't running due to the weather). We were told by the WL concierge that the cab ride would cost $6, but they would take credit cards. We only had $4 cash. When we got there, the total was $4.40. I told the cab driver we wanted to pay with a credit card, and he got all upset and said we could just get out for free. Well, we had wanted to give him something, so we gave him our $4. So, no tip, but what else could we do??? Before we went to CA Grill, we stopped at the ATM to get some cash for the cab ride back.
Our ADR was for 7:45pm, and we arrived about 15 minutes early. We immediately went up in the elevator with Carol, a friendly CM who told us a little about the restaurant. When we got up to the main dining room, it seemed to be total chaos. We had our buzzer, and were told we could wait in the bar or lounge area, but that was totally full. We managed to find a small spot over by the window while we waited. There were quite a few groups waiting for tables, many of them upset that they had to wait. Our buzzer went off at 7:42! Early! I think part of that was because we were just 2 people. It's just easier to get a table for 2.
Anyway, our waiter was Justin from Rhode Island. He had a thick, New England accent, but he was a pretty cool guy. The only small issue was sometimes he'd start to make conversation, but then act disinterested when we talked. His service was good, though. We didn't feel rushed, but we didn't feel forgotten, either, and he knew a lot about the food. Neither of us felt like having an alcoholic beverage, so I had iced tea and DH had a Sprite.
Justin brought out the bread basket with the drinks. I think it was sourdough:
I don't remember this being better than your typical bread, so I guess it was average. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the butter has sea salt in it. It was hard to get good pictures with the type of lighting in there, so they all have kind of a tint to them.
Justin recommended the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli w/sundried tomatoes, pesto, shiitake mushrooms, and basil, as one of the appetizers, so I chose that:
I thought it would be maybe 2 or 3 smaller ravioli, but it was the one giant ravioli. I loved this because I love goat cheese! The "sauce" was kind of an oil-tomato mixture. That part was probably my least fav portion of the appetizer.
DH is a big fan of anything squash and/or pumpkin. He was in luck, because the seasonal soup at most of the signatures was either a pumpkin or butternut squash dish. At CA Grill, he ordered the Cinderella Pumpkin Soup w/bacon, apple, pumpkin seed croutons, and cider creme fraiche:
Although he liked it, it really didn't taste anything like pumpkin. It tasted more like a generic squash soup.
For the main course, we also took Justin's suggestions. I ordered the Seared Rare Tuna w/Szechwan Peppercorns, buckwheat soba noodles, cashews, and ginger miso broth:
The tuna was exactly as I imagined it, seared to perfection. However, I wasn't that happy with the rest of the dish. I know that the sauce had miso in it, but it seemed really salty. I think I regretted ordering an Asian style dish, as I quickly found out I wasn't in the mood for it. I still managed to finish most of the tuna, though.
DH had the Oak-fired Filet of Beef, Dauphinoise potatoes w/smoked bacon, ginger-scented carrots, and a teriyaki barbecue sauce:
DH usually orders his steaks medium well, hoping for just a little pink in it. Justin asked if it would be ok for the chef to butterfly the steak (so it would cook a little faster). DH said fine, but in hindsight it was probably a mistake as the filet came out a little overcooked. For DH this wasn't a huge issue, as long as it isn't burned, but I think it might be a bigger issue for a lot of foodies. He was so-so on most of this entree, but the sauce...OMG, the sauce! He let me taste it, and it was outstanding! Justin told us before we ordered that this was a very special sauce, known throughout the cooking world, and it lived up to the hype. We just wish the rest of the dish had tasted as good as that sauce.
I'm going to come right out and say that dessert is my favorite part of all these meals, signature or not. I think the one I had at CA Grill might have been one of the best I had on the trip...the Valrhona Chocolate Cake:
It had a nice chocolate ice cream with it (I think that was the flavor), and fruit compote. I can't even tell you how good this was.
DH was also extremely happy with his Chocolate Creme Brulee:
He doesn't like pound cake, so he wasn't too keen on that part, but the rest was really good. I think he mentioned that dessert quite a few times to me on the rest of the vacation, so it must've been good!
By the time we were ordering dessert, the 8pm fireworks time had come and gone...no fireworks due to weather
They told us we could come back another night of the week to see them, but we knew we probably wouldn't make it. However, we weren't really that upset. First, we see fireworks a lot at DL. Second, we got to see some really fabulous lightning over the lake. Third, the restaurant got nice and quiet after the "fireworks lurkers" left.
As we were waiting for dessert, I saw a pressed pot of tea at another table, and exclaimed to DH that I had to have some! Remembering my great tea experiences from the prior trip, I asked Justin if I could have some, and he said it wouldn't be a problem. I never thought to ask if it would be included in our dining plan, but it was (at least at this restaurant...stay tuned). Here's a picture of the pot of tea:
I didn't think to ask for an actual tea menu, but when Justin said green tea, that sounded good, so that's what I got. I thoroughly enjoyed it with my chocolate cake
DH ordered some coffee...no pictures of that, but here are pictures of the cream and sugar:
No idea why he liked those items enough to take pictures, but I thought I would share them anyway.
We sat down at 7:42, and I swear we were about to leave, check and all, around 9:42. So, that's exactly 2 hours.
Total OOP cost before tip? $155
Atmosphere? Noisy before all the bar ppl and fireworks ppl left. The decor reminded us a bit of CA Pizza Kitchen. Not really all that impressive. We'd give this a 2.5.
Service? Justin was a good waiter. I'm not sure I'd take all of his recommendations again, but he gave us good service. Carol in the elevator was nice, and we got seated on-time. We give it a 4.
Food? Although my appetizer and the desserts were delicious, this turned out to not even be in the top 3 dining experiences we had on this trip. Can't really compare a signature to a non-signature, so we're looking at it in comparison to our other signature meals. Therefore, we can't go higher than a 3.5.
Overall rating? I think we would go back again, but not with the same enthusiasm. I'd still like to see the fireworks there someday.
Nevertheless, I put on my little black dress, DH wore a polo with khaki's, and we took a cab for the 5-min ride over to the CR from WL (the boats weren't running due to the weather). We were told by the WL concierge that the cab ride would cost $6, but they would take credit cards. We only had $4 cash. When we got there, the total was $4.40. I told the cab driver we wanted to pay with a credit card, and he got all upset and said we could just get out for free. Well, we had wanted to give him something, so we gave him our $4. So, no tip, but what else could we do??? Before we went to CA Grill, we stopped at the ATM to get some cash for the cab ride back.Our ADR was for 7:45pm, and we arrived about 15 minutes early. We immediately went up in the elevator with Carol, a friendly CM who told us a little about the restaurant. When we got up to the main dining room, it seemed to be total chaos. We had our buzzer, and were told we could wait in the bar or lounge area, but that was totally full. We managed to find a small spot over by the window while we waited. There were quite a few groups waiting for tables, many of them upset that they had to wait. Our buzzer went off at 7:42! Early! I think part of that was because we were just 2 people. It's just easier to get a table for 2.
Anyway, our waiter was Justin from Rhode Island. He had a thick, New England accent, but he was a pretty cool guy. The only small issue was sometimes he'd start to make conversation, but then act disinterested when we talked. His service was good, though. We didn't feel rushed, but we didn't feel forgotten, either, and he knew a lot about the food. Neither of us felt like having an alcoholic beverage, so I had iced tea and DH had a Sprite.
Justin brought out the bread basket with the drinks. I think it was sourdough:
I don't remember this being better than your typical bread, so I guess it was average. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the butter has sea salt in it. It was hard to get good pictures with the type of lighting in there, so they all have kind of a tint to them.
Justin recommended the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli w/sundried tomatoes, pesto, shiitake mushrooms, and basil, as one of the appetizers, so I chose that:
I thought it would be maybe 2 or 3 smaller ravioli, but it was the one giant ravioli. I loved this because I love goat cheese! The "sauce" was kind of an oil-tomato mixture. That part was probably my least fav portion of the appetizer.
DH is a big fan of anything squash and/or pumpkin. He was in luck, because the seasonal soup at most of the signatures was either a pumpkin or butternut squash dish. At CA Grill, he ordered the Cinderella Pumpkin Soup w/bacon, apple, pumpkin seed croutons, and cider creme fraiche:
Although he liked it, it really didn't taste anything like pumpkin. It tasted more like a generic squash soup.
For the main course, we also took Justin's suggestions. I ordered the Seared Rare Tuna w/Szechwan Peppercorns, buckwheat soba noodles, cashews, and ginger miso broth:
The tuna was exactly as I imagined it, seared to perfection. However, I wasn't that happy with the rest of the dish. I know that the sauce had miso in it, but it seemed really salty. I think I regretted ordering an Asian style dish, as I quickly found out I wasn't in the mood for it. I still managed to finish most of the tuna, though.
DH had the Oak-fired Filet of Beef, Dauphinoise potatoes w/smoked bacon, ginger-scented carrots, and a teriyaki barbecue sauce:
DH usually orders his steaks medium well, hoping for just a little pink in it. Justin asked if it would be ok for the chef to butterfly the steak (so it would cook a little faster). DH said fine, but in hindsight it was probably a mistake as the filet came out a little overcooked. For DH this wasn't a huge issue, as long as it isn't burned, but I think it might be a bigger issue for a lot of foodies. He was so-so on most of this entree, but the sauce...OMG, the sauce! He let me taste it, and it was outstanding! Justin told us before we ordered that this was a very special sauce, known throughout the cooking world, and it lived up to the hype. We just wish the rest of the dish had tasted as good as that sauce.
I'm going to come right out and say that dessert is my favorite part of all these meals, signature or not. I think the one I had at CA Grill might have been one of the best I had on the trip...the Valrhona Chocolate Cake:
It had a nice chocolate ice cream with it (I think that was the flavor), and fruit compote. I can't even tell you how good this was.
DH was also extremely happy with his Chocolate Creme Brulee:
He doesn't like pound cake, so he wasn't too keen on that part, but the rest was really good. I think he mentioned that dessert quite a few times to me on the rest of the vacation, so it must've been good!
By the time we were ordering dessert, the 8pm fireworks time had come and gone...no fireworks due to weather
They told us we could come back another night of the week to see them, but we knew we probably wouldn't make it. However, we weren't really that upset. First, we see fireworks a lot at DL. Second, we got to see some really fabulous lightning over the lake. Third, the restaurant got nice and quiet after the "fireworks lurkers" left.As we were waiting for dessert, I saw a pressed pot of tea at another table, and exclaimed to DH that I had to have some! Remembering my great tea experiences from the prior trip, I asked Justin if I could have some, and he said it wouldn't be a problem. I never thought to ask if it would be included in our dining plan, but it was (at least at this restaurant...stay tuned). Here's a picture of the pot of tea:
I didn't think to ask for an actual tea menu, but when Justin said green tea, that sounded good, so that's what I got. I thoroughly enjoyed it with my chocolate cake
DH ordered some coffee...no pictures of that, but here are pictures of the cream and sugar:
No idea why he liked those items enough to take pictures, but I thought I would share them anyway.
We sat down at 7:42, and I swear we were about to leave, check and all, around 9:42. So, that's exactly 2 hours.
Total OOP cost before tip? $155
Atmosphere? Noisy before all the bar ppl and fireworks ppl left. The decor reminded us a bit of CA Pizza Kitchen. Not really all that impressive. We'd give this a 2.5.
Service? Justin was a good waiter. I'm not sure I'd take all of his recommendations again, but he gave us good service. Carol in the elevator was nice, and we got seated on-time. We give it a 4.
Food? Although my appetizer and the desserts were delicious, this turned out to not even be in the top 3 dining experiences we had on this trip. Can't really compare a signature to a non-signature, so we're looking at it in comparison to our other signature meals. Therefore, we can't go higher than a 3.5.
Overall rating? I think we would go back again, but not with the same enthusiasm. I'd still like to see the fireworks there someday.
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