11 days of DDP with pictures-Day 10, Narcoossee's Dinner added

[Dizneydaz]

Dinner
Hollywood Brown Derby
Disney/MGM Studios
ADR 7:30



Believe it, or not, this was our only visit to MGM, and we only went to go to HBD. It’s not that we don’t like MGM, it just worked out that way this time. We did get there early enough for me to ride ToT, then it was time to eat! While we were waiting in the lobby, one of the CM, Mark, leaned over and whispered to me, “What’s your daughter’s name?” (He noticed she was wearing her “It’s my Birthday” button. I whispered back, “Danielle” and then he casually wandered over to the lobby payphones and after awhile he came out and said “I have a call for Danielle, is Danielle here?” DD said that’s me, and Mark said you have a phone call. DD said “Is it that Goofy again? How does he find me?!” Mark asked if she had spoken to Goofy before and she said she had earlier in the day, at Epcot. Mark picked up the phone, punched a few buttons, and DD got on the phone. She laughed, giggled, and smiled When she got off the phone, I asked what did Goofy say, and she said “I hope your still having a great day” (or something like that) It was a magical moment! Even though she is very smart, she still hasn’t figured out how Goofy keeps tracking her down! We were seated in about 5 minutes. The restaurant wasn’t very busy. Our server was Marcie.


Interior of HBD

My DM and I shared the Cobb Salad for Two with chopped greens, turkey breast, egg, bacon, tomatoes, bleu cheese, avocado, chives and Cobb dressing as our appetizer. DM ordered the Pan-Fired Grouper over balsamic roasted asparagus, lemon butter sauce, topped with Bermuda onion marmalade, water, and Grapefruit Cake A Brown Derby Original! Light Layers of Yellow Cake with fresh Grapefruit Cream Cheese Icing . I ordered the Sesame Seared Ahi Tuna with honey-gingered spaghetti squash, warm soy vinaigrette, and Wasabi oil, Ice Tea, and Double Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee with a gingersnap sugar stick. DD had the Kid’s Mac ‘n Cheese (no longer on menu?), no appetizer, and a Shirley Temple-we paid OOP for her pasta.

The Cobb Salad was very good, served on 2 plates. The bread and butter were also good. Mom’s grouper was served on top of asparagus and she said it was delicious.

My tuna was so good! And the serving size was huge! You can’t really tell in the picture, since it’s covered by that triangle, but the piece of fish was very big, and about 1-1/2”, or so, thick. It was the best, rare tuna, I have every eaten! My DM agreed since I shared some with her, and still couldn’t eat it all. I will definitely order the tuna again!

Cobb Salad for 2, 1/2 serving

My Tuna

Mom's Grouper

DD Mac n Cheese

DD declared her Mac ‘n Cheese-delicious. The best she had on the trip. Though she just told me it was little bit cold, but okay (kids remember the smallest details-I’m writing this part of the review over 4 months after we were there!)

My DM’s Grapefruit Cake was good. My Crème Brulee was delicious-very creamy! I love crème brulee but the only place I ever have it is WDW-go figure! Marcie brought DD a surprise dessert. They call it the Celebration Cake and it was really beautiful. She loved it. It was more like chocolate mousse, than cake. It had a hard chocolate outer shell with a lot of Mickey sprinkles. Topped with whipped cream and a birthday candle. We sang to her. She really enjoyed it, and I enjoyed the fact that the restaurant comp’d it as her birthday dessert.

DD Birthday Celebration Cake

Creme Brulee

Grapefruit cake

HBD is a very nice, relaxing restaurant. While it may not be your most “bang for the buck” Signature Restaurant (requiring 2 credits) it still is very nice. Actually, when I put all our meals on a spreadsheet, HBD value-per-credit was fairly low at $24/credit. It was the lowest of the 3 Signature Restaurants we ate. In fact, it was the second lowest dollars per credit of our trip. The lowest one was 1900 Park Fare breakfast. ($20.32/each) These numbers do not take into effect that some of our meals included a kid’s meal, and others didn’t. If I was to remove the Kid’s meal from PF, it may be that HBD would actually fall to last. Hmmm, maybe they Disney should change HBD to a 1 TS meal, like they did Le Cellier. But then again, if they do, HBD’s service and meals may degrade like (IMHO) Le Cellier has. Just wondering. We’ve enjoyed our meals there, whether on, or off, DDP. Of course when we are paying for it all OOP, we aren’t so extravagant with our ordering. My DM usually gets the Cobb Salad for 2 as her entrée and I don’t get appetizer, or dessert. I’ve even ordered off the kid’s menu before. The kid’s chicken entrée is very good-and a great choice if you don’t want to eat too much-perfect for lunch.



We finished our meal about 8:20

DDP Remaining Tally
9TS 15 QS 15 SC


Service:Top Notch in lobby, very good in restaurant
Food quality: Very Good
Food quantity: Decent
Décor: Lovely-linen table clothes, piano player
Noise level: Good-very quiet
Would return: Yes

DDP Cost $96.38 4 TS (2x2) OOP $6.22 for kid’s pasta (plus extra tip)
(value per credit $24)

NEXT UP-Day 10 Dinner at Narcoossee's-Best Meal on Trip!

 

[TruBlu]

Fantastic pictures and reviews! Thanks!

 

[Disney owl]

Thanks for sharing

 

[momofdbsdc]

Awesome reviews and pictures!! I love the t-shirts that you made! Thanks for sharing!!!

Kim
momofdbsdca

 

[JJClemson]

Thanks for sharing all your reviews and great pictures Your DD is definitely a cutie! Thanks to your reviews, I am making an ADR for Kona

 

[Dizneydaz]

Day 10
Sept. 18, Monday

From home I had made ADRs for Coral Reef for lunch and Hollywood Brown Derby for dinner. We cancelled both. We ate at HBD yesterday, and I was able to make an ADR for Narcoossee’s at GF for tonight-neither Saturday, or Sunday, were available. We have yet to eat at Coral Reef. Maybe next trip?

Breakfast
Animal Kingdom
Tusker House/Kusafirir Coffee Shop and Bakery
9:30 a.m.
We went to AK. It was EMH morning and the park was pretty crowded (for a Sept.) We arrived about 9 a.m. , got a FP for KS, and went to Tuskers for breakfast. This was our one, and only, breakfast eaten in one of the 4 parks. Since we had so many QS credits left, we decided to throw caution to the wind and use up some of our remaining credits for breakfast. Say goodbye to cereal and pop tarts, hello hot breakfast. Well, I did have a little snack, earlier, to tide me over.

We got to Tuskers at about 9:20-the lines were very short. My Mom was hungry and ordered the scrambled eggs with bacon with a large Diet Coke. DD didn’t want a full breakfast; she only wanted a cinnamon roll. I tried to order a cinnamon roll with a soda using a QS credit, but, no way. I couldn’t make a cin.roll a meal. Had to order a complete meal. Hah, the jokes on them, I ordered just the cinnamon roll and we shared the diet coke from DM meal! And remember we had a lot of bottles of water in our room and we carried a few with us into the park. Since DD and I had eaten a little in the room, we weren’t too hungry, until..…DD got a taste of the roll.! She ate almost the whole thing and said she wanted some more so I went to the Kusafir Coffee Shop and got another one. (By this time, 9:40, the line at Tusker’s had grown.) So, she and I ate the last roll and I had a little of my mom’s leftovers too!

My DM declared the eggs some of the best she’d eaten out-hot, tasty, and not too runny or dry. And there was plenty for me to have a few bites. She was right, they were good. (You have to understand my DM and I aren’t the easiest to please, really we aren’t!) The potatoes were good too. DD also loved the cinnamon roll (as I mentioned above) and I liked it too. It was very similar to ones we’ve had at the Princess Storybook Breakfast at Restaurant Akershus in Norway.

We will definitely have to return here, for breakfast, on our next trip.

1 SQ credit, and 2 SC used.

DDP Remaining Tally
7TS 14 QS 11 SC

DDP cost-QS 8.18. QS $6
Value per credit QS $8.18; SC $3

Service: Self-Cafeteria style
Food quality: Very Good
Food quantity: Very Good-sharable
Décor: Nice-there are a lot of items displayed on the walls.
Noise level: Can be a little noisy. There is outside seating that is quieter, as long as the musicians aren’t performing.
Would return: Yes

Snack
Tamu Tamu
Africa
11:11 a.m.

After we went on KS, we felt like we needed a small snack. I’d been wanting to try Tamu Tamu, and this was the day! I ordered DD a Root Beer float, and my DM and I shared a Banana Strawberry Smoothie. DD float came with a fun Pluto straw. DD enjoyed her float and DM and I liked the smoothie, but we would have rather have a float.


DD enjoying float

DDP cost $8.00 2 SC used.
Value per credit $4

DDP Remaining Tally
7TS 14 QS 9 SC

Service: Self-order at window
Food quality: Good
Food quantity: Good
Décor: Nice and Cool-outside, a nice quiet seating area in back. We saw the musicians who perform outside of Tuskers go in, and out of, CM only area.
Noise level: Quiet
Would return: Yes-but would order a float next time.

Lunch
FlameTree BBQ and Restaurantosaurus
Dinoland
1:00 and 1:15

DM and I wanted to eat at FlameTree and DD wanted McDonalds. (Now I have to interject here that she doesn’t get McDonalds very often, at home. Maybe 1-2 times a month. And rarely does she get McNuggets, usually it’s the double cheeseburger, plain, for $1 )

So mom and I decided what we wanted (with 14 QS credits left we decided to get our own meals ) Mom ordered us 1 Rib meal-1/2 Slab of St. Louis Ribs served with baked beans and corn on the cob with Key Lime Pie. We also ordered the Safari Fruit Plate- seasonal sliced fruit plate served with honey yogurt , Onion Rings, and Frozen Lemonade (as dessert), and 2 large Diet Cokes. We also decided that we would approach guests and see if we could treat them to lunch. I approached a family of four behind us and asked them if I cold treat them to lunch. At first, of course, they didn’t believe it. After I explained why I was doing it, they happily accepted. I ordered them 2 Pork Sandwich meals, 2 Chocolate Cakes, 2 Large Diet Cokes, 1 Kid’s Meal Hot Dog, 1 Kid’s Coke, and 1 Frozen Lemonade. After I gave them their food and they started to leave, the mom turned back, and with tears in her eyes, said “I have to give you a hug!” And she did. I felt great- this must be how the Disney Dream Team members feel when they give out some of those Million Dreams! Anyway, they were very appreciative, and thanked me profusely. DM and DD left when they got our order and went to wait for me at Restaurantosaurus. I followed as soon as I gave my new friends from Georgia, their meal.

At Restaurantosaurus I ordered DD the McNugget 10 piece Basket with Brownie and Large Sprite. I found a family consisting of Grandparents owith 5 yr. old twin girls, to treat here. They ordered Kid’s Meal Nuggets with milk, and Double Cheeseburger Basket with Strawberry Shortcake and a Large Diet Coke. As I handed them their meal, the Grandpa tried to hand me $5. I refused it and told him that’s not why I did it. I told him to use the money they saved to buy their granddaughters a souvenir. I’ve got to tell you, spreading some Disney Magic feels great!

Restaurantosaurus has a toppings bar for those who want something other than a plain burger.

With each of us having our own meals, we had way too much food. The ribs were as good as always. The onion rings were yummy. The fruit salad was very good, with a lot of fresh fruit. DD declared the McNuggets good. We threw away a lot of food-we we’re so full! With the exception of the frozen lemonade, we saved the desserts for later.

DDP cost FlameTree ours $33, 2 QS credits used
Value per credit $16.50
Restaurantosaurus ours $9 1 QS credit used

We used a total of 8 QS credits for all the lunches
DDP Remaining Tally
7TS 6 QS 9 SC

Service: Self-order at window
Food quality: Good. Especially the ribs and fruit salad.
Food quantity: Huge-sharable
Décor: We ate in Restaurantosaurus it’s very nice with a lot of dino artifacts on display.
Noise level: Fine, not noticeable. We ate at about 1:20
Would return: Yes, to both

NEXT-our meal at Narcoossee's

 

[TigerKat]

How awesome of you to share your meal credits with others. That must have made you feel so good!!

 

[maiyasgram]

Thanks so much for the reviews and pics. We are contemplating the DDP for our trip in Sept. I think your reviews have made the decision clear.

Thanks!!

 

[the Fidge]

What great reviews I love all the areas that you are pointing out and how they do affect a dining experience. I LOVE those tees!! GReat job!

 

[DisneyJo]

Just read your review and I must say it's great, so informative, can't wait for the rest! We're going for 14 days on DP and can see we will struggle to use them all too.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Day 10
September 18th, cont...

BEST MEAL OF THE TRIP!
Dinner
Narcoossee’s
Grand Floridian
I made an ADR, a few days ago, for 7:30




We decided to eat here after a recommendation from some fellow diners who sat next to us earlier in the trip at Kona Café.

We’ve never eaten here, nor had I read any reviews for it, so I didn’t have any preconceived notions. When we arrived there were only a few guests waiting. The kitchen is open to, and visible from, the lobby.


Sorry-it's a little blurry.

Some guests were very nicely dressed, others were like us, more resort casual, but not beach casual. We checked in at the podium and he told us it would be a few minutes. He confirmed we were celebrating something special (DD turns 7 tomorrow). While we were waiting (the lobby is pretty small but there are some outdoor benches to wait on-this is also where they ask strollers to be parked.) every guest who checked in after us said they were celebrating something and asked for a window seat. I knew at this point we weren’t going to get one, since I didn’t even ask.

We experienced our longest wait at this restaurant (we had ADRs at all). We waited about 20 minutes, or so. (not too bad.) The restaurant is fairly small, mutli level. We were seated on the bar level, next to the rail. It was a nice location, next best after a window seat. The restaurant has high windows and high ceilings. It’s very pretty and has a great view of the castle. (this was really important later on).

Our server was Christina and she was quick to point out that on DDP we could order anything, including the lobster! (Either the whole Maine lobster, or the lobster tail with a filet.) So of course, we did! I can’t remember the last time I had lobster. I let Christine know that we would be paying OOP for DD dinner. No problem. (okay a small problem later) DD ordered the Kid’s Pasta Marinara and a Shirley Temple (this counted as DM beverage). I ordered the Calamari appetizer, Surf ‘n Turf, Almond Cheesecake, and a Diet Coke. My DM ordered Shrimp Appetizer, Surf ‘n Turf, Berry Sorbet Cup, and a glass of Cabernet (OOP). Christina offered to take a picture of the 3 of us at our table. Thanks Christina!


My Calamari


Mom's Shrimp

The Calamari (Fried Calamari with a peppercini relish) was very good! The calamari were fried in a light batter, topped with sliced green olives and peppers and drizzled with a light vinegary dressing. I loved it. I didn’t eat the olives or peppers, but the flavor was very good. The calamari was very light, not greasy. We had had the calamari a few years ago at Spoodles and really missed it when they took it off the menu. This calamari was better. My DM enjoyed her Shrimp (Chilled Shrimp - cucumber avocado salsa) they were very good! .It was 4, or 5, jumbo shrimps served with covering of cocktail sauce and a piece of fried plantain. My mom gave me one in exchange for some calamari. Yummo!


Surf 'n Turf

The Surf ‘n Turf was very good. I ordered my filet rare, and it was, and it was excellent. DM enjoyed hers too! The lobster tail was also delicious. DD's pasta was very good-she said it was one of the best meals she had on this trip.


DD and Kid's Pasta Marinara-----------------DD and Shirley Temple

Shortly after our desserts were delivered, the lights in the restaurant were dimmed and the music for Wishes started to play (piped in). At first, we watched from our seats but we really couldn’t see the tops of the fireworks so we went out on the viewing area outside the windows and had an awesome view! And the music is piped outside too! To me, this was a better view than we had at CG and the lights are dimmed! It makes a huge difference. I also realized that we could watch the fireworks from the area by Narcoossee’s, (near, or on, the boat dock) anytime we want to watch, but don’t want to go into the park.


Almond Crusted Cheesecake!


Berry Sorbet Cup


DD and Birthday Brownie-ala carte

Now, for the best part of the meal: My Almond Crusted Cheesecake was the best dessert I’ve had in my life. REALLY, I mean it. The cheesecake was shaped like a hockey puck (about the same size too) and complete covered in toasted almonds. It was served on a plate with a generous serving of whipped cream and cherries (both on the side) along with a few chocolate ribbons. Oh so good! My mom’s Berry Sorbet Cup was also very good. It was a scoop of 2 different flavors of sorbet served in a bowl with an assortment of fresh berries served on a plate with additional berries and some globs (not a nice sounding word, but descriptive) of berry sauce. My mom said it was very good, the perfect ending-not too filling, and very fresh tasting. She added some of the whipped cream from my dessert to her plate. DD got the Birthday Brownie. I asked for the brownie and ice cream to be served separately and they were, along with the chocolate sauce. DD is just starting to like chocolate and doesn’t want the sauce on top of her ice cream. The restaurant comp’d the dessert for her birthday. We also got to keep our personalized menus with “Happy Birthday” on them. A nice souvenir. We left just before 10 p.m.


Narcoossee's from boat dock-we took ferry over from MK for dinner. (sorry it's pretty blurry-handheld)

Service: Excellent
Food quality: Excellent
Food quantity: Good-we could have shared
Décor: Very nice, especially the view of the castle and fireworks.
Noise level: Fine, not noticeable
Would return: Yes. If I was paying OOP I would probably only order the calamari appetizer and the dessert. Those were both excellent, and would make a meal

DDP cost $183 4 (2x2) TS used
OOP $20 for wine and Kid’s meal
(value per credit $46/each)

DDP Remaining Tally
3TS 6 QS 9 SC

As we were returning to POP, I for some reason, I thought I should look at our receipts from dinner (mental note-always look before you leave the restaurant!) Good thing I did because our server had mistakenly charged us for 3 guests (a total of 6 credits). I knew it was a mistake since DD only had the pasta (no appetizer) and we had paid OOP for it, along with DM's wine. When we returned to the POP, I tried to reach Narcoossee’s but, unfortunately they closed at 10 and didn’t answer the phone. The nice CM, on the phone at GF told me that all I had to do, the next day, was to go to the concierge in our lobby and they would straighten it out for us. We needed the last 3 TS credits for DD 7th birthday breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. So, in the a.m., while we were getting ready to check out, I sent DM to the lobby to straighten it out. She did, no problem. This was the only time we had a problem with our credits. Everything else went smoothly.


Next up, last day, last meals 1900 Park Fare breakfast and Gasparilla Food and Games (food to go)

 

[donaldtutter]

Awesome reviews!!

 

[fivefordisney]

Wow! You are such a great reviewer! Thank you for taking the time to review for all of us. I really love the credit value...you really can tell whether the DDP is a good value at each restaurant from that.

Thanks again!!!

 

[minniemee]

Great reviews! Boy I sure hope I remember to look at my receipts, it's nice to know that the concierge can always fix it though!
We will be 11 people, that's a heck of alot to keep track of!
I may need a calculator, on second thought what the heck, we're going on vacation, who cares!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dizneydaz]

Okay, it's now later in the day and my DM took DD to Fazoli's for a quick Valentine's meal so it's just me and the computer -I posted some more pictures from Narcoossee's-ENJOY!

 

[mommykds]

Love your reviews & pictures! Thanks for posting.

 

[shovan]

WOW, we haven't been to Narcoosee's in years. I will definitely have to do ADR for our next trip! Thanks so much for posting!

 

[kelleigh1]

Ok, you may have just sold me on Narcoossee's. (I linked over from your post in my thread about which 2TS we should go to.) The food looks fantastic and Calamari is hubby's favorite so that will probably convince him - although he doesn't need much convincing since talking to him yesterday, it seems we're both leaning toward Narcoossee's anyway.

 

[Dizneydaz]

Oh the calamari and cheesecake were so good! And Wishes view, and sound, were great! Hope you go and have a wonderful time.

We are planning on returning there on our trip in September.

 

[kelleigh1]

I talked to hubby about an hour and a half ago and told him what you said, especially about the Surf n' Turf and Lobster being on the DDP and he said "well that's decided then". So Narcoossee's it is!!

I did tell him that I was going to make him look at your pictures too. No reason why I should be the only one drooling over them.