Disney dining, how I do love thee. How thou hast charmed and beguiled me through swift passing years, how thou hast drawn my thoughts to thyself across miles and months as we have been apart. Thou art a temptress, teasing my mind with vivid imaginings and treasured remembrances. Thou art a beacon, illuminating the hope of future delights, and thou art a friend, walking with me in challenge and pleasure.
Are you beginning to get the idea that I am very, very fond indeed of Disney dining? Obviously it can cause me to wax poetical, but I promise to stop with the waxing and get on with the storytelling, the story of the dining adventures of 2 empty-nester vegetarians who spent 7 nights in January on free dining, with 2 bonus nights on the end.
DH and I married off our only child back in October. Her wedding was almost immediately followed by a huge family crisis involving the health and well being of my elderly parents. That situation has started to settle itself down a bit, and we decided that early January would be a dandy time to get away on the first vacation we've had in almost 2 years.
We booked free dining for 7 nights at Pop Century, which translates to the Quick Service Dining Plan. We contemplated upgrading it to the regular DP, since we knew we wanted to eat a table service meal most every day, but we did the math with the way we were likely to order, and it came up about $100 cheaper to just pay out of pocket for all our table service meals, the best we could figure.
By the way, we have only been full-time vegetarians for about 6 months, although we have eaten mostly vegetarian for about 3 years. This was our first completely veggie trip to WDW.
And now, gentle reader, enough with the background info, and on with the reviews!
Let me get the most boring part out of the way first - Everything Pop, the ubiquitous food court at Pop Century. We had 5 breakfasts, one dinner, and a number of snacks there, but let me confess right now that we did not take a single photo of anything we ate there. I think the chaos of the place just drove all thoughts of artistic endeavors clean out of our overloaded craniums.
That is not to say that EP is without merit. It does a good job at the Herculean task it faces each day of feeding the teeming masses that thunder through its doors on their hurried way. There are just SO MANY of those teeming masses that the place very often feels like a zoo. An efficient enough zoo, with decent food, but a zoo nonetheless.
Our first morning there we each had a cheese omelette, which came with some fried potatoes. They were fine, nothing special, but adequate fuel for the day ahead. The second morning we switched to bounty platters, asking for extra eggs in place of the meat. By the third morning, the effects of the dining plan were starting to kick in, and we began splitting a bounty platter each morning. DH took the french toast sticks, I took the biscuit, and we split the eggs and potatoes. One morning we used a snack credit and added a fruit cup on the side. One morning we only used snack credits and each got oatmeal, which was not surprisingly, even less exciting than the bounty platters. However, none of it was bad, and it filled our bellies and got us started on our day. All was well.
The one evening meal taken here consisted of 2 veggie burgers with fries. They were on par with the breakfasts, ok but nothing special. DH paid OoP for one of those little bottles of White Zinfandel to go with his. He picked up a cheesecake to take back to the room, while I opted to get my receipt stamped for ice cream after the meal. I was too full to eat my ice cream immediately, but the receipt stamp said I could come back for it any time in the next 90 minutes. I went to the room for a shower, and sent hubby back down for my sundae while I was in there. I really do wish I had remembered to take a photo of the beast he came back with so you could see it, gentle reader. It was easily enough ice cream for a family of 4, with brownies and whipped cream thrown in for good measure. THAT was a true bargain, and it was delicious, although I didn't come anywhere near finishing it.
One more outstanding bargain was the snack I had DH pick up for me and bring back to the room on another evening. It was just a humble side of fries, but they were absolutely delicious, and again, a huge portion. At least 3 times the amount we were served at couple of different counter service places in the parks where we also ordered a side of fries.
That takes care of Everything Pop. My reviews will be including visual proof starting with the very next one!
Are you beginning to get the idea that I am very, very fond indeed of Disney dining? Obviously it can cause me to wax poetical, but I promise to stop with the waxing and get on with the storytelling, the story of the dining adventures of 2 empty-nester vegetarians who spent 7 nights in January on free dining, with 2 bonus nights on the end.
DH and I married off our only child back in October. Her wedding was almost immediately followed by a huge family crisis involving the health and well being of my elderly parents. That situation has started to settle itself down a bit, and we decided that early January would be a dandy time to get away on the first vacation we've had in almost 2 years.
We booked free dining for 7 nights at Pop Century, which translates to the Quick Service Dining Plan. We contemplated upgrading it to the regular DP, since we knew we wanted to eat a table service meal most every day, but we did the math with the way we were likely to order, and it came up about $100 cheaper to just pay out of pocket for all our table service meals, the best we could figure.
By the way, we have only been full-time vegetarians for about 6 months, although we have eaten mostly vegetarian for about 3 years. This was our first completely veggie trip to WDW.
And now, gentle reader, enough with the background info, and on with the reviews!
Let me get the most boring part out of the way first - Everything Pop, the ubiquitous food court at Pop Century. We had 5 breakfasts, one dinner, and a number of snacks there, but let me confess right now that we did not take a single photo of anything we ate there. I think the chaos of the place just drove all thoughts of artistic endeavors clean out of our overloaded craniums.
That is not to say that EP is without merit. It does a good job at the Herculean task it faces each day of feeding the teeming masses that thunder through its doors on their hurried way. There are just SO MANY of those teeming masses that the place very often feels like a zoo. An efficient enough zoo, with decent food, but a zoo nonetheless.
Our first morning there we each had a cheese omelette, which came with some fried potatoes. They were fine, nothing special, but adequate fuel for the day ahead. The second morning we switched to bounty platters, asking for extra eggs in place of the meat. By the third morning, the effects of the dining plan were starting to kick in, and we began splitting a bounty platter each morning. DH took the french toast sticks, I took the biscuit, and we split the eggs and potatoes. One morning we used a snack credit and added a fruit cup on the side. One morning we only used snack credits and each got oatmeal, which was not surprisingly, even less exciting than the bounty platters. However, none of it was bad, and it filled our bellies and got us started on our day. All was well.
The one evening meal taken here consisted of 2 veggie burgers with fries. They were on par with the breakfasts, ok but nothing special. DH paid OoP for one of those little bottles of White Zinfandel to go with his. He picked up a cheesecake to take back to the room, while I opted to get my receipt stamped for ice cream after the meal. I was too full to eat my ice cream immediately, but the receipt stamp said I could come back for it any time in the next 90 minutes. I went to the room for a shower, and sent hubby back down for my sundae while I was in there. I really do wish I had remembered to take a photo of the beast he came back with so you could see it, gentle reader. It was easily enough ice cream for a family of 4, with brownies and whipped cream thrown in for good measure. THAT was a true bargain, and it was delicious, although I didn't come anywhere near finishing it.
One more outstanding bargain was the snack I had DH pick up for me and bring back to the room on another evening. It was just a humble side of fries, but they were absolutely delicious, and again, a huge portion. At least 3 times the amount we were served at couple of different counter service places in the parks where we also ordered a side of fries.
That takes care of Everything Pop. My reviews will be including visual proof starting with the very next one!
