10 days of Disney Dining 5/17-5/26

[LizinSTL]

The title isn't exactly accurate- we did 8 full days of disney dining with a little off-site stuff thrown in the first 2 days.

The cast:
Liz- lead planner and mom
Mike- grumpy dad who (mostly) went along with the plan
Sarah- 'tween with attitude
Olivia- picky almost 8 year old

Background:
This is our 2nd disney trip and our 2nd time on the DDP. I'm cheap, frugal, tight, whatever you want to call it but I hate to throw away money except on vacation. We like to have 1 sitdown meal (on average) a day. I know that any on-site meals will run about $100 on the fixed price meals and maybe more, maybe less if it's all ala carte. I knew that paying upfront would make me less grumpy if my kids didn't finish their food or they chose only plain noodles from a buffet. While the DDP isn't the steal it was last year and before- it's still a decent savings. I estimate that the $868 we spent on the DDP Bought us about $1050 in food for a savings of about $182.
We paid OOP for 1 lunch at Olivia's ($50), 1 dinner at Olivia's ($45), a few drinks at dinner including a wine flight at Boma, a few beers at misc restaurants, sangria and an appetizer at Spoodles, Tamu Tamu at Ohana and those stupid pirate punches. We paid approximately $150 OOP in tips when using our DDP credits (including the tips on our alcohol.) Our total cost for food for the 10 day trip was about $1200 including the offsite, oop, ddp and tips.



Places we ate:
off site:
Steak n shake
Golden Corral
Chevy's
Sea World

on site:
FoodQuest x2
Everything Pop
Goods to Go
Lottawotta lodge
Spoodles x2
Flame Tree BBQ
Boma
Pecos Bills
1900 Park Fare
Rosie's All American Cafe
Taluca Turkey Legs
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Sunshine Seasons x2
Cantina de San Angel
Lotus Blossom Cafe
Sommerfest
Tangierine Cafe
Yorkshire County Fish shop
Olivia's x2
Ohana dinner
Ohana breakfast

We arrived in Orlando mid morning on 5-17. We rented a car on this trip and stopped at Steak n Shake at about 10:30 am for lunch (early I know but we'd been awake since 3am. We checked into Pop Century for 2 nights and headed out to the Magic Kingdom. There were no crowds at all- we concentrated on Tomorrowland and ended up with a quick snack of frozen cokes and chips before calling it a night and heading back to the hotel. We decided to use up one of our Water park n more extras on our 10 day ticket and we visited Disney Quest. We ate at FoodQuest and had a kids cheeseburger, adult cheeseburger, Carribean wrap and a cheesesteak with a shared order of cheese fries. They won't give you ice water here, they hand you a cup of ice and point you to the drinking fountain....very annoying. The food was made fresh as you order it so don't plan to go here if you are in a hurry. Do have a member of your party stand at the counter to wait for it or else others will grab your order even if they just ordered! Also annoying. But Disney quest was fun and we were hungry! The wrap was tasty and filling, the burgers were ok but I fail to see the increased value on the adult burger, both were generous in size but not a $2 difference in size! We headed back to Pop to swim before turning in for the night.

Next up Sea world and off site dining all day!

 

[mindyd]

Hi,

I am looking forward to your reviews great start!

 

[LizinSTL]

Day 2- Sun May 18

We started the day at the Golden Corral breakfast buffet at the exit just past Sea World. The cashier only charged us for 2 adults 0 kids even though we told her our older dd was an "adult" according to their price sign. The food was fresh and well stocked. They replaced things as needed and took away "old" stuff and dumped it frequently. It wasn't busy but it was early (8am on a Sunday.) They had a wide assortment of tasty fresh fruit and an omelette station too.
We spent the day at Sea World- got their when they opened and went straight to feeding the dolphins. After a few times on Kraken, we had lunch at a bbq place inside the park. The food was ok, if pricey. We shared a couple combo plates and got a large serving of fresh watermelon for a couple bucks. After being totally soaked by Shamu, we headed back to Pop.
Dinner Sunday was offsite again at Chevy's. It was an easy 10 minute drive from Pop. It was just like any other experience we'd ever had there. Nothing fabulous, but decent food with good service.

 

[phabric]

Enjoyed your reviews. Will be looking for more.

 

[TigerKat]

Can't wait for more!

 

[LizinSTL]

Monday May 19th, we checked out of Pop and into Old Key West for a 7 night stay with the DDP.

My dh bought a breakfast sandwich at Everything Pop while the girls and I got up and got dressed. He said the croissant breakfast sandwich was really big and well executed- He couldn't pick it up because there was just too much egg and cheese dripping all over, he ended up using a fork and knife to eat it.

We went to Blizzard Beach for the day and had an early lunch at Lottawatta Lodge. We shared a chicken wrap w/ chips and a cheeseburger with fries. They allow you to get the ice cream for dessert later in the day if you want. We grabbed a couple bottles of water for our drinks. A couple hours later, we got a chili dog with fries, bottle of water and another ice cream bar to share before we went back to check out the new room at Old Key West, unpack and relax before our dinner reservations at Spoodles. The chicken wrap was big and tasty. It was nice and refreshing on a hot, humid day. I much preferred the chicken wrap of all the entrees we got here. The burger and chili dog were just ok.

We headed over to the Boardwalk in time for our Spoodles reservation and it was deserted. We say only 1 or 2 other groups of people on the boardwalk at 5:30. We went inside Spoodles and the first thing we noticed is it was LOUD. Lots of kitchen noise, big groups of people seated throughout the restaurant, tons of kids all over. Let me preface this by saying Spoodles ended up being our favorite meal of the week by far!
They start you with a delicious and fresh rosemary focaccia bread and an olive tapenade dip. We could have made a meal on that!
My older dd ordered the Oak Fired steak kabobs (our waiter took the liberty of asking for the harissa on the side- great move, IMO.) They were delicious, nice tender, well prepared steak served over a nice pilaf and carmelized onions. It was a generous portion too- probably about 10-12 oz of meat total.
My younger dd had the kids meal beef kabobs served with Sweet potato fries, a salad and ice cream sundae for dessert. The kid's kabobs are a smaller portion of meat and no tomatoes between the pieces of meat on the skewer. Still very good and perfectly prepared.
I ordered the pan roasted red snapper. This was delicious. It's served on a bed of couscous and chorizo and lightly dressed with a tomato broth. The snapper was, again, perfectly prepared with a nice crisp exterior and flakey and moist inside.
My dh ordered the pan fried chicken cutlet. Oh my goodness, this was delicious. The crispy chicken cutlet was covered with serrano ham, shaved asiago cheese and topped with a fennel and arugula salad that was very lightly dressed in a lemon and balsamic vinegrette. I'd have been happy if we'd all ordered the chicken. It was an amazing taste combination.
We were all stuffed but decided to order dessert anyway.

I tried the baklava, it was a huge square drizzled with honey and served with dried fruit on the side. It was rich, flakey and delicious.
My dh got the marscapone cheesecake. The balsamic reduction that is served with it was a pleasant surprise since, while it was sweet, it also cut the sweetness of the berries and cake.
My older dd had the chocolate financier cake. It's a dense chocolate cake topped with a mocha gelato. She didn't care for it, but we tasted it and I think it was just too "coffee-y" for her.
My little one had the make your own ice cream sundae- she loved it.

I have to note that the service here was wonderful. My dh was thirsty and asked the waiter to keep his water full. The server really hustled all night, checking in with us the second the runner dropped off our food, and again after we'd had a chance to taste it. He kept our drinks full and was very attentive.

That night we went to Epcot for a little while to wander through the world showcase. Spoodles is a great dinner option if you are spending the day at Epcot, it's close enough to walk or to take the ferry over the water from the International gateway.

Day 4 Tuesday May 20th
My husband made a little grocery run this morning for some breakfast stuff so we didn't have to go to Goods to Go every day. The selection at Goods to Go is pretty limited so we had a supply of bagels, cereal and juice in the room.
We went to the Animal Kingdom on this day and had lunch at Flametree BBQ. We shared a kids hotdog meal with carrots and grapes, a bbq pork sandwich with beans and a frozen lemonade, and a turkey sandwich on the multi-grain bread with slaw and a slice of chocolate cake. The food was pretty good. We were hungry so that colors the quality of the food! The highlight was the turkey sandwich. It had a lot of turkey on it - maybe 6 or more oz. I also enjoyed the slaw.
For dinner we went to Boma at the Animal Kingdom lodge. It was busy but the buffet was well stocked. I'll just share the highlights for the meal- The prime rib was very good with several interesting sauces to try. The jicama salad was refreshing and tasty. The hummus was good- 3 varieties to choose from. The butternut squash soup was amazing (again.) I duplicate this at home but there's totally tops mine! It's sweet and creamy with a light nutmeg flavor that makes it seem like you are eating pumpkin pie soup. We really enjoyed the desserts this time too. The fresh fruit was good. I enjoyed the bread pudding and a little pineapple upsidedown cheesecake. My husband liked the chocolate mousse and the vanilla flan. My girls ate a bunch of cookies and flourless chocolate cake.
Our service was terrible. We ordered water, my girls ordered soft drinks and my dh and I ordered drinks (a cocktail and the red wine flight) as soon as we were seated. We'd planned to get coffee as our included drink with our dessert. Unfortunately, we didn't get our drinks for almost 30 minutes after we ordered. Nothing, not even water. Then we had to physically stop our server at the end of the meal to ask for our bill. He wasn't processing it correctly at first and we had to ask him several times to run it through as DDP. We specifically told him we'd room charge the drinks and I wrote "cash" on the tip line. He brought it back and told me that I needed to fill out the whole form (the first one that asks for the tip amount.) I told him to again to process it as DDP with room charge for the drinks. Finally, after several back and forth exhanges I asked if we should just have a manager run the bill. With that, he said he understood now and he ran it as DDP with room charge for the drinks. I signed the bill and left about $12 in cash on the table for a tip. Honestly, he didn't deserve a penny. Other servers cleared our plates. He didn't deliver our drinks. We couldn't even order coffee because we couldn't find him! He didn't check in with us at all. But I knew he'd need to tip out the bar and others so I left a little. It was right at 10%.

 

[christinou]

Great review, thanks.

 

[luckytobeme88]

Thank you for posting this review. It has a good read and can't wait for more.

 

[LizinSTL]

Day 5 - May 21th

This was a planned Magic Kingdom day. We didn't get started as early as I prefer but we made it there by 10am and enjoyed a few rides before grabbing 2 double cheeseburgers w/ fries, a couple soft drinks and a couple chocolate cakes.
The fixin bar really makes this restaurant. Dad and little dd enjoyed sauted mushrooms and onions with lettuce and tomato on their split burger. My other dd and I enjoyed lettuce, pickles and sauteed onions on ours. We love cheese fries and rarely ever get them so we treated ourselves to plenty of cheese sauce for our fries! The burgers were good- nice and big, juicy and delicious. I preferred the pb mousse chocolate cake they used to have. The choc cake they have now was ok, but nothing spectacular.

I should note here that we randomly enjoyed lots of mickey bars, minnie strawberry bars and itzakadoozie popsicles over the course of the week. We even tried a frozen banana one day. I'm sure we used some snack credits along the way on this day.

My family poops out easily so we headed back to the resort to swim and rest right after the parade. Dinner tonight was scheduled at 1900 Park Fare. The character interaction here was great. Our only problem was there was a huge party (3 tables full) seated behind us. Those kids got antsy whenever the characters were near us and we ended up having time for a quick autograph and picture but we enjoyed seeing some of the stuff that Lady Tremaine did with other tables. We'd seen Prince Charming and Anastasia before that party was seated and they spent a lot of time with us.

The food was pretty good- highlights were the Prime Rib for dh, the cheese pizza. tomato and mozzerella salad, and caesar salad for my little one, the chicken marsala for my older dd and I really liked the edamame salad, the prime rib and the strawberry soup. The desserts, imo, were the best part of this meal. The mini cheesecake, key lime pie, fruit torte and mini chocolate mousse were all wonderful. I do love sweets so it was fun to have mini sized portions so I didn't feel badly tasting them all!

This night fell on a pirates & princess party so we had my dh drop the girls and I off at downtown disney for some shopping and he went back to the hotel. We used 3 snack credits at Goofy's Candy Kitchen. I got the rice krispie treat dipped in milk chocolate, pecans and drizzled with caramel. One dd got the pretzel rods dipped in milk chocolate and each one had a different topping- cookie crumbs, pb cups and m&ms. Olivia got the dipped marshmallows in milk chocolate and nearly every possible topping- sprinkles, nuts, m&ms, candy bars, etc and then drizzled with white chocolate- they were just sinful. We saved them for later since we weren't hungry at all. We took the boat/water ferry back to the resort and enjoyed a relaxing night.

 

[Mom2JPL]

I'm enjoying your review - can't wait for the rest!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Cannot wait for the rest!

 

[suzimar57]

great reviews so far!

 

[iluvpluto27]

Great reviews. Can't wait for more.

 

[LizinSTL]

Day 6- May 22nd Hollywood Studios, Typhoon Lagoon and Whispering Canyon Cafe

Breakfast- in the room

This day sounds a lot more hectic than it actually was. It helped that we used the rental car vs Disney transportation but the crowds were so low that we could take our time, walk right onto rides and get lots done.

We got to Hollywood Studios close to 9am and were able to walk right onto Tower of Terror after grabbing fast passes for Rock n Roll Rollercoaster. We did a chicken swap on ToT and on my older dd's second ride with me there were only 2 other people on the elevator.

We did a few other rides over the course of the day, caught a few characters for autographs and pictures, did some pin trading for the girls, etc. While my husband and older dd used 2 of the fast passes for RnR, my little one and I lucked onto Toy Story mania. We rode it and then went to gather the others. While I rode RnR with Sarah, my husband grabbed lunch.

We had Rosie's All American Cafe and Toluca Turkey Leg company for lunch.
From Rosie's we had a double cheeseburger w/ fries, chicken nuggets with fries and 2 chocolate cakes, a lemonade and a bottle of water.
From Toluca Turkey legs, we got my older dd's much anticipated turkey leg, chips and carrot cake along with soda.
These counter service meals were fine. They served their purpose. The chicken nuggets were actually chicken strips cut into about 1/3s. I'm not sure that we'd eat at this park for a CS meal if we were paying OOP. We may have just done snacks and then eaten when we left. The burger was a basic burger w/ cheese, nothing spectacular. Considering they were eating when we arrived after using our fast passes (in under 15 minutes), everything was pre-prepared.
After lunch, we headed over to Toy Story Mania again....that ride is a lot of fun!
We headed over to Typhoon Lagoon at this point. My dh grabbed a hot dog at Surf Doggies- it was huge and he shared it with the girls.

After about 3 hours at the park, having been able to do everything including crush n gusher about 5 times. We headed over the Wilderness Lodge for dinner at WCC.

Our ADRs were for 5:00. In hindsight, we should have checked in right away but instead we wandered through the gift shop, looked at the lobby, etc before checking in about 15 minutes early. We were the 4th or 5th party seated for dinner service.
The 3 adults on the plan got the AYCE skillet. My little one got the kid's burger with fries and worms n dirt for dessert. Both girls got all you can drink milkshakes- they tried between them, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and orange. I really preferred the orange but the kids liked the "traditional flavors" best. My dh had coffee and I had a diet coke.
The skillet is served fast- if that's all you get at your table, you'll be in and out pretty quickly, I think (from what I could observe at other tables!) We enjoyed the antics, the giant straws, the huge glasses of water, the ketchup fun, and the pony races. Now for the food, we really enjoyed it. We started with a basket of cornbread and a salad. I really liked the salad and probably wouldn't have minded only having that for dinner! The vinagrette was mildly sweet, yet perfectly tangy and it was really very refreshing.
The sides: mashed potatoes, beans and corn on the cob.... The mashed poatoes were great. I really loved them- creamy, a little lumpy- yum! My dh loved the beans. I prefer a sweeter baked bean but he loved the cowboy beans. I had to cut the corn off the cob for my dd (new braces) but I thought it was nice and fresh too, not overcooked and mushy.
The meats: ribs, pork, chicken and shrimp. Because of an allergy, I had the shrimp all to myself- they didn't even serve it near the other food, just brought me my own bowl of it. It was good- mildly spicey in some bites, nicely cooked- It is peel and eat though, so if that bugs you- skip it. It's messy. Luckily they give you plenty of handiwipes! The chicken was bone-in and flavorful and juicy. My dd ate both the legs right away. There was a LOT of it. I think it was the only meat left when we finished. There was a generous serving of pulled pork. I think it was about 10 oz or so on the skillet. We didn't get more but we observed other tables getting more of something or another all the time. The ribs were good...tender, but not fall off the bone tender, just as I prefer them. They are oversteamed when you don't need to bite at all to get the meat! I'd recommend this entree without any reservation at all. It's a lot of food, for a fairly reasonable (considering this is Disney) price. It's probably the only place on property that offers AYCE for 4 adults for under $100 at dinner time.

Desserts: Both girls ended up with worms n dirt. I had the caramel apple pie and my dh got the Kaluha flavored chocolate cake. We ended up boxing them up and taking them back to the hotel. Word of warning. If an older child (adult on the plan) orders worms n dirt, be prepared for a wait. I gather it's prepared in the main kitchen and the server needed to place a new order for it. It got lost in the shuffle and we waited quite a while for it (our other desserts had been served and boxed long before she got her dessert. )

We headed back to OKW for a swim and a movie in the room.

tomorrow: Eating around the world.....

 

[TigerKat]

Glad to read yet another great review of Spoodles, we LOVE it!!

 

[LizinSTL]

Day 7 Friday May 23rd
This was a planned Epcot day. We arrived pretty close to opening and grabbed fast passes for Soarin before doing the Nemo ride and exploring the aquariums in the Living Seas for a very long time. The Dolphin demonstration is really interesting.

Before riding Soarin, we decided to share a sandwich from Sunshine Seasons in the Land. We got the Turkey and Muenster on Foccacia bread, a bottle of water and a chocolate croissant for dessert. The chipotle mayo on this sandwich adds a nice zip to it. This was my favorite quick service meal of the trip. It was fresh, well built and delicious. It's enough to share for a light meal with one other person but splitting it 4 ways (even as a snack) just left you wanting more! My older dd was not feeling well at all so dad and little sis used 2 of the fast passes while I sat with Sarah and got her to drink more water. They returned after a very long wait (it took them 40 minutes to go through the line and ride the ride even with fast passes!) I sent my husband back to the resort with Sarah and Olivia stayed, dashing over to Soarin to use the other 2 fast passes. They actually almost didn't let us through despite our FP showing an 11:15-12:15 return time and the FP return time on the ride showed 12:15. He said- you are too late and I told him No, we're just on time and going in. It's the only time I had any sort of attitude regarding FP! Oddly, we were IN the window (barely but in it!) and he still was "sassy", imo.

After a ride on Soarin, Olivia wanted another Turkey sandwich- at this point it's been over an hour since we snacked on one. I offered her all the choices in the land- suggested anything in the World Showcase but she wanted that Turkey Sandwich! It was very good (again) and this time they allowed us a bag of sunchips on the side for 1 CS credit. We enjoyed time doing other rides and shows (figment, honey I shrunk the audience, character meet n greets, Club Cool samples, etc. ) before heading back for a swim.

{Side note: Dh and Sarah took naps and then ordered a Double cheeseburger with fruit salad, key lime pie and water and a soft pretzel at Goods to Go @ OKW.... they enjoyed the burger, Key lime pie and pretzel but really didn't care for the dressing on the fruit salad- it consisted of diced fruit and a honey lime dressing. They ended up tossing it. }

The weather didn't cooperate with the idea of an afternoon swim. As soon as we got to the studio, the sky opened up and there was a pretty big thunderstorm for about 2 hours. We ended up in the Community Hall w/ our refillable mugs passing the time.

We headed back to Epcot at dinner time to enjoy a feast around the world. Some of it was OOP, most was DDP.

Starting in Mexico- I had a margarita and everyone else shared a churro.

We skipped Norway (much to my dismay- no one else wanted to sample anything!) I'll get school bread or an almond pretzel on the next trip! In hindsight, I should have just gotten a CS meal here- we had 1 left at the end of the trip!

In China, we got an order of egg rolls and ate them while the girls did their kidcot stop. They were hot, not too greasy and loaded with veggies.

In Germany, we had a CS meal of bratwurst with sauerkraut, apple struedel and a bottle of water. The brat was good, excellent sauerkraut and they had spicey mustard which is absolutely necessary on a brat! The apple struedal was really good- the apples were firm and tart and they offset the sweetness of the vanilla sauce nicely. It was a very big serving!

On to Japan- no kaki gori- the stand was closed...bummer!

In Moracco we had 2 CS meals...a lamb wrap served with cold couscous and a cold lentil salad, lots of lamb and veggies on the wrap, and the shawarma platter (combo) served with hummus, couscous and tabbouleh. We had a couple soft drinks and 2 pieces of baklava for dessert. We could have shared one meal here but the wrap that my dh wanted was too hard to split and he didnt' want the platter so we got both. Lots of food, nicely seasoned, generous portions. I really liked the couscous and the lentil salad. My dh enjoyed the hummus. The kids choked down a bit of meat and ate all the baklava!

The line was much too long in France to consider going there. The kids did Kidcot and we moved on to the UK. It was about 8:15 at this point so the family scoped out a place to watch Illuminations on the patio by the Yorkshire County Fish shop and I ordered 1 CS meal here- fish n chips, shortbread cookie and a lemonade. Everyone enjoyed this meal. 2 nice pieces of fish, hot, crispy thick cut fries and a nice little cookie. We managed to survive until Illuminations and really enjoyed the show (it was our first chance....my kids just don't do well late at night- we are better at early stuff than later stuff!)

Overall impressions,
I'd definately repeat meals at Sommerfest (Germany) or Tangeriene Cafe (Moracco.) Next time I'll do a Shawarma lamb wrap. I'd have preferred to try a pastry at least in Norway and France but in the future, I'll do a CS meal at these locations. I didn't see the soup on the menu board in Norway and I wonder if it's the same delicious leek soup I had 2 years ago at Akershus. The family was antsy to get to Germany and didn't allow me to look too closely at the Kringla bakery menu. There are so many options in the World Showcase, I think you could spend 10 days at Disney ONLY at the World showcase and not repeat a meal!

It was this night that the family decided that they'd prefer to repeat Spoodles on Sunday night if possible, rather than eat at Teppan Edo. Due to my dh's shellfish allergy, it's always a risk to do Japanese steakhouse food but the kids like it and he just makes sure to carry benedryl and an epi-pen for those rare meals there. It was an easy decision to drop Teppan Edo when Spoodles had availability at 5:35 on Sunday!

 

[suzimar57]

love how you "snacked" around world showcase!

 

[littlbugmom]

You've given me a wonderful idea for our day at Epcot, thank you! My dd(8) is going to love snacking around the world.

I'm off to read the rest of your reviews. You give great detail!

Kim

 

[LizinSTL]

Thanks for all the replies!

Day 8 Saturday May 24th

This was another planned MK day but the Memorial Day crowds were tough and the family was worn down so we hung out at the pool in the morning and decided to add a TS lunch at Olivia's Cafe before going to the MK....they don't listen when I suggest this may be a bad idea- crowd-wise. Luckily I'm proven right again!

Breakfast in the room

Lunch at Olivia's Cafe at Old Key West. This was really a pleasant surprise. We were hungry and not planning on using DDP credits but this meal ended up costing us LESS oop than some of our CS meals would have!

My husband chose the Chipotle BBQ chicken sandwich w/ homemade chips. It was a nice flavor combo with the sweet pineapple, the spicy chipotle bbq sauce and the smokiness of the gouda. Plus it had bacon and you can't go wrong with bacon. It was a BIG sandwich and I'm not sure I'd have finished it had I ordered it.

I had the soup/sandwich combo. The soup of the day was jalapeno cheddar. It was nice and creamy and just slightly spicy. My older dd tasted it and really enjoyed it too. The sandwich was a half of their roast beef and bleu cheese sandwich served with balsamic onions and horseradish sauce. It had nice fresh crisp greens and lots of sliced tomatoes too. This was the smallest amount of food of the entrees we saw but it was perfect for lunch. It was satisfying and left you full but not stuffed to the gills like so many of the other meals.

My tween ordered the Angus chuck cheeseburger with fries. I told her she could order off the kid's menu since it wasn't DDP on this meal but she's convinced those meals are too babyish for her now! The burger was well prepared to our specs. The cheese was nicely melted and the bacon was excellent...again, you can't go wrong with bacon!

My little one ordered the kid's burger and salad. She didn't touch the salad but thought she needed to order something b/c of the way the menu is written. It was here that we learned she could have just gotten the burger because the kids "You pick it" side of the menu is actually charged a la carte. The salad was a $1-2 charge on the bill, the burger was $4.09 and the dessert (had she ordered it) would have been an additional charge along with the drink.

** I think this is extremely helpful information for those who are going to WDW and paying OOP for their meals. I noticed that the same thing was on our Spoodles bill the next night- she passed on the appetizer and there was no charge/line on the bill for it before it was zero'd out.

Overall, our bill was $41 before we handed over our room charge- since we were staying on points, our card was printed with DVC on it and she gave us 10% off. We did tell her we weren't members but she still gave us the discount. So after tip, our total was about $45 for a nice sit down lunch. We all had water to drink. The burger was easily able to be shared as were any of the entrees except maybe the soup and sandwich entree. If you are staying at OKW or find yourself in Downtown disney and want a nice relaxed sit down lunch, consider Olivia's. They were taking walk-ins all week long.

After lunch we headed over to the MK. It was PACKED and rainy. The memorial day crowds were out in full force. It rained so long that they postponed the parade for about 20 minutes! We wandered back to fantasyland and discovered another level to crowds.... Rides that we'd walked onto all week long now had 60 minute posted waits. FP returns for Peter Pan were for 5 hours later and the standby line had a posted 75 minute wait. My dh and older dd decided to head over to Tomorrowland to try to ride Space Mountain or something! My little one and I did Snow White and then sat in Pinocchio Village Haus with a sprite to wait for them. Her heart just wasn't in the day so after we met up with the rest of the family, I took her back to the resort to rest. I had found 4 FP for Big Thunder Mountain on the table at Pinocchio's and passed them onto my dh and Sarah to use. They were expired but I told them to try to use them.

They stayed to try to ride rides but even the FP return line at BTMRR was visible from the entrance! Splash Mountain had a posted 120 min standby line. So they gave it up too after having a Minnie Strawberry bar or two.

Dinner tonight was planned for 'Ohana. This was our first visit to the Polynesian. What a gorgeous resort! I loved the waterfalls, tropical flowers and all the statues all over. Great photo ops!

We made it to the 2nd floor and the crowds were enormous. There were huge groups of people standing around all over. We checked in about 20 minutes before our ADR and were told that we'd probably be seated close to our ADR time. I told them that was fine and we wandered through the gift shops on that level.

We only waited about 15 minutes and our pager went off. We were seated at a 6 top with a terrific view of the MK. (Had our reservation been for an hour later, we'd have caught WISHES) You really need to allow for at least 90 minutes for this meal with the way it's served. The 2 top near us asked for everything to be brought at once and they still ended up taking over an hour to eat.

I ordered a Lapu Lapu just because I think it looks fun! It was sweet and tasty but I don't need to order it again for the price. My dh splurged and ordered the Pirate Punches for the girls. My little one didn't like the flavored lemonade but my older dd finished it off.

The food: We were started with the pineapple coconut bread, it was delicious with the scent of coconut and the occasional texture of it but without the overwhelming flavor.
The salad was delicious with a light sweet lime dressing that was extremely refreshing. After we served ourselves the salad, the runner tried to pull the bowl and move on to the other foods. We slowed her down a little so we could enjoy the meal. She checked in with us about 5 minutes later and served the appetizers- sweet chicken wings and pork potstickers. We like our wings crispy under the sauce so the girls didn't care for them. The flavor was good but I'd like to see the wings crispier! The potstickers were a big hit. The flavor was nice, they were loaded with pork and veggies and the drizzle sauce added a nice contrast to the saltiness of the dumpling.
Next came the veggies and lo mein. The veggies were mostly brocolli with a couple snow peas. They were good- just a little firm, nice and garlicy, perfect! I'd have like more snow peas but it worked. My little one likes a dish I call "Mud and trees" with steamed brocolli and a little peanut butter dip so she enjoyed the veggies with the peanut sauce. The lo mein was great, my little one ate nearly the whole bowl.
The meats: Everyone loved this. The steak, turkey, pork and (for me the shrimp) were all nicely done. The girls each ate a couple pieces of steak and tasted the other 2 meats. My dh ate a LOT of steak. I had a piece of each plus several shrimp. The meats were well seasoned, well prepared and nice and hot. The shrimp was messy and spicy but delicious.

The dessert: OMG, I'm not sure what to say about this other than you MUST try it. The bread pudding was perfect, not too soggy but not dry, flavorful and rich. The vanilla ice cream is good quality ice cream and very rich. The sauce...oh the sauce is perfect. I found a recipe for it in a WDW cookbook a friend has and I'm going to try to duplicate it.

My dd also got a birthday cupcake here- yummy yellow cake with a whipped frosting and mickey head sprinkles.

The atmosphere: what fun, the girls enjoyed the games and songs/dances. Every 30 minutes or so they did 15-20 minutes of entertainment so it seemed like it was basically constant with time for the kids to eat. We left there with about 10 leis! We also liked the touch of the warm towels between courses.
If you have kids that don't like their food to touch, ask for a new plate between courses. I had to wipe off the salad dressing before my little one would move on to more food.

We'd definately repeat this meal! No doubt.

up next: Spoodles again!

 

[LizinSTL]

Day 9 Sunday May 25th

We had breakfast in the room (last day to eat the purchased bagels and cereal.)

Then we headed over to Epcot for EMH. We walked right in and onto Test Track. After Test Track we went to the Land to grab Soarin FP and then got in the standby line with a posted 20 minute wait. I really think their posted wait time is to the FP return CM, not to the ride itself but I digress

By the time we got off, Epcot was "open" to the masses and you could tell. We rode Living with the Land and then grabbed something to eat at Sunshine Seasons. They were still serving breakfast so we had a fruit bowl, a bottle of water and a bag of chips to carry us to lunch time. About 15 minutes later they switched the menu boards to lunch and we grabbed another Turkey and Muenster Focaccia sandwich, a chicken caesar salad, a rice krispie treat, a fruit tulip and 2 soft drinks. On this visit the CM didn't allow for a bag of chips to be included with the sandwich, so clearly this varies by CM. No big deal we just paid for it.

The sandwich was as good as it was on our previous visit. The salad was very large and filling with a lot of sliced chicken and crunchy croutons. The fruit tulip that I've seen raves about on here was just ok. It was certainly beautiful and large but it just didn't do it for anyone in my family. The crust got a little soggy along the edges, the filling was pretty non-descript. The best thing about it was the fresh fruit on top- blackberries, strawberries and kiwi.

As an aside *****The only negative experience we had at a CS location on this trip happened here and it wasn't the food, it was our fellow tourists.... We sat at our table for nearly an hour between the prelunch snack and then lunch itself. Right after we sat down, the family next to us got up and left....all their trash sitting on the table. They just walked away. We were shocked. A CM came over and cleared the table without a word- threw away their trash and then wiped the table. Immediately another family- a man and 3 girls sat down. The man kept shoveling food in his mouth saying it was crap- can you believe this crap- this is the worst food I've ever eaten. The kids ate a lot- sausage, pastries, etc- they each had a plate of meat or eggs and meat and 2 pastries plus bottles of juice and water. The man finished about half of his meal and threw his fork down- pushed the tray away and said "this is crap let's go!" and they all stopped eating and walked away AGAIN leaving their stuff all over the table. We were floored- the guy on the other side of them said "Did they just leave that food laying there?" he was shocked as well. The CM came over, dutifully cleared the table without a word. I wonder if the next guests would leave their mess too. It was absolutely unbelievable.****

After our lunch experience, we headed out to do a few more things before deciding to call it quits based on the crowd levels (Spaceship Earth had a posted 70 minute wait!) We expected as much on Memorial Day weekend though. We grabbed a couple frozen treats for the girls before heading to the car.

We spent the afternoon swimming at OKW, grabbing a pretzel from Goods to Go while at the pool. It was hot, fresh and tasty dipped into the honey mustard they have there.

That evening we had cancelled our original Teppan Edo ADR and got one for Spoodles instead. We were seated at the same table we'd had on Monday the 19th with the same waiter too! Daniel remembered some things we'd ordered, was extremely attentive once again and provided fabulous service.

Tonight we ordered the Mediterrean dips as an appetizer- totally shareable especially combined with the provided focaccia bread and olive tepanade dip! We particularly enjoyed the feta dip and tzatziki dip. It was also served with hummus and another dip that we just didn't care for. Daniel told us that the one we didn't like was being replaced in the next few days with some baba ganoush.

I had Sangria and my dh had a beer. Daniel got my older dd the raspberry lemonade that's served as the Pirates Punch but without the light up tinkerbell and souvenier cup. My little one just had water. The sangria was very good- I liked that it still tasted like red wine, often restaurant sangria is mostly fruit juice. I ended up having two glasses over the course of the meal and mentioned that I should have ordered a pitcher!

For our entrees:
My dh ordered the pork chop with white beans and chorizo. It was really big- 10 oz and THICK. The chop itself was well-executed, moist and tender and very flavorful. My dh kept saying- Wow they use good meat here!

I had the chicken cutlet that he'd ordered earlier in the week. I ate one cutlet and passed the other to him. It was as delicious this time as when I tasted it on Monday. Daniel told us both of these menu items were changing the next day. The pork chop was giving way to a pork tenderloin dish. The chicken was staying basically the same but the order on the plate would be different and they were adding tomatoes to the top. Rather than a chicken cutlet topped with seranno ham, cheese and the salad. It would be the fennel and arugula topped wtih the chicken with the ham and cheese melted on it and then topped with the tomatos.

Those were the only two menu items he mentioned as changing- well that and the baba ganoush being added to the mediterrean dip appetizer.

My dd ordered the steak kabobs again but asked for fries instead of the pilaf. She enjoyed it once again.

My little one was feeling kind of worn out and she just nibbled on her steak kabob and fries.

We had coffee with our desserts- we didn't try anything new- my little one skipped dessert, we were offered fruit to take back to the room if we wanted. My older dd got an adult version of the kids sundae- just a larger portion. My dh and I had the marscapone cheesecake and the baklava. They were just as good as they were earlier in the week.

Spoodles remained the favorite meal(s) of the week. My girls both said that's the meal they'd like to repeat on future visits. We are working on trying to duplicate the chicken cutlet dish at home. Hey, if the kids will eat arugula and fennel, I'll make it every week!


Up next: departure day with breakfast at 'Ohana, lunch at FoodQuest and dinner at Olivia's.