21 nights in WDW+DXDDP =over 300 food pics!! (& a huge weight gain!)COMPLETED 11/30!

[mickeysgirl17]

Glad you enjoyed Artist point.

 

[29apr00]

I've heard good things about Artist Point. Would like to try that one sometime!

 

[iluvpluto27]

Just joining in on the fun your reviews are awesome.

Thank you very much, and glad to have you on board.

Artist Point looks great. We loved staying at Wilderness Lodge - it really is the most beautiful resort

I think it's really beautiful too, but for some reason DH just doesn't get it. He says it's too dark but I don't think it's any darker than AKL. Never mind - I'll get my fix through visting Artist Point.

I have found what I want to do for my 15th anniversary - an eating trip to WDW. Though we have done the DDP with two small children we have always limited where we go as the food was not the main focus- getting in and out to the parks again was.

Especially having just the two of us and not cutting anyone's meat sounds heavenly.

Looking forward to the rest of your fantastic reviews!

It really was a relaxing holiday and so much fun. We loved dining at all the signatures and V&A was a fantastic adult meal. Glad you're enjoying the reviews.

Just got done catching up, cant wait for more!

Thank you. I'll have to get the next update done tomorrow, we've been out for dinner tonight and I've consumed a bit too much wine to write a coherent review tonight

I'm so jealous of 3 weeks !!!! I'm here, now I need to catch up. Looks great.

Three weeks was fantastic, and it still wasn't enough, I can't wait to go back.

I was thinking of Artist Point, now I am thinking more.

You should definitely give it a try, it really is a good meal in a nice setting.

I really am enjoying your reviews and am now starting to question my Table service ideas

Thank you. I hope I give you some good ideas for restaurants to try, part of the fun of planning for me is re-arranging my adrs several times, until I'm finally happy!!

This is probably the best dining review I've read on here--I am so impressed!

Thank you for taking the time to get pictures of everything and write it!

Thank you so much, it's really great to hear you're enjoying my review. I'm really enjoying writing it as it's reminding me of all the fantastic meals we had over there.

Glad you enjoyed Artist point.

Thank you, it was a really nice meal.

I've heard good things about Artist Point. Would like to try that one sometime!

It's a nice restaurant, definitely worth a try.

 

[iluvpluto27]

Today was our second table service breakfast. As mentioned before I'm not a big breakfast eater, but it's tradition for us to do 1 character meal per trip, and I really wanted to try the Breakfast Lasagne.

We arrived at 10:30 for our ADR, and there weren't too many people waiting to be seated. We were called pretty quickly, and our waitress greeted us straight away. We really liked our waitress here, she was very friendly and brought drinks and refills quickly. The restaurant was very pretty, but loud as most character meals are. We got to see all the characters but Tigger, as he never came to our side of the room, but it was very much a snap a picture and leave type interaction. We dined at Garden Grill on a previous trip and the characters there, actually stopped at each table and interacted for a while, as well as all coming round multiple times.

Anyway onto the food. On my first trip to the buffet I picked Puffed French toast which was good, very sweet and quite donut like, breakfast pizza which was very good, just like scrambled egg and cheese, potato casserole (good), vegetable frittata (nice) and Corn beef hash which was tasty but salty.

DH tried the Puffed French toast which he also really liked, vegetable frittata which he thought was nice but the vegetables lacked a bit of flavour, a biscuit( good, a bit like a savoury scone we'd get over here), and a waffle which was crispy on the outside but nice and fluffy inside.

On my second plate I got some breakfast lasagne (I couldn't find it on my first trip to the buffet!), which was fantastic. It was very sweet but I loved the combination of bananas, berries and a sweet pancake, pound cake mixture The caramalised sugar topping was also very good, and added a bit of crunch to it. I also grabbed a donut hole which was fine, a little more of the potato casserole and walnut/banana bread which was nice, but not quite as good as the one served at Boma.

On DH's second trip, he got two fried eggs that were cooked to order by the chef at the buffet, some scrambled egg (the man likes his eggs!) and potatoes, which were a bit too hard.

He made one final trip to get something sweet and was going to try the breakfast lasagne. By this point it was approaching 11:30 and half the buffet area had been cleared away, including the breakfast lasagne. He made do with a chocolate croissant (nice, soft pastry), the walnut and banana bread, and a donut which he liked.

Overall we enjoyed this breakfast and it had some interesting items (breakfast pizza and lasagne were definitely my favourites). There was a good selection on the buffet and service was good, but character interaction was rushed or non-existant in the case of Tigger. We would probably return but not a must do for us.

We spent the next few hours in Magic Kingdom and a bit later I grabbed a Strawberry Banana Smoothie from Auntie Gravitys in Tomorrowland. This was another attempt to use up snack credits, as we had 20 left and only 2 days to use them. This was nice but quite sweet.

When we returned to the resort around 3ish we decided to split a CS at the Mara. We shared a falafel pita, which was really nice. The falafel had a bit of a kick to them, and the bread was soft and fresh. It was served with cous cous which was very good, sweet and fruity. A very good CS meal that I would defintely order again.

DH also picked up a cheesecake as dessert, but neither of us were hungry and although we put it in the fridge, it got thrown out the next day when we moved rooms. It looked quite nice though!

 

[MickeyNicki]

That falafel and couscous is my all time favorite thing to eat at WDW and I wish I had some right now! Alas, I must wait until January....and for CP breakfast too which looks soooo gooood

 

[BellaSoleil]

Wow! The falafel pita looks amazing!

Thanks again for doing this report. It is the best dining report I've seen.

 

[2ofUs]

We have truly enjoyed your dining reviews and are looking forward to trying out some of them during our up-coming trip in January 2009.

It is our understanding that the Deluxe plan also includes some of the tours offered. Did you try any of them?

Also, if you have put pen-to-paper, were you able to determine if the Deluxe plan was a good budget choice?

Keep up your reports and know they are VERY helpful to your fellow WDW fans!!! Thanks.

 

[iluvpluto27]

That falafel and couscous is my all time favorite thing to eat at WDW and I wish I had some right now! Alas, I must wait until January....and for CP breakfast too which looks soooo gooood

It's really good isn't it? January's not too far away, I'm still trying to persuade DH we should return next year, I think I'm slowly wearing him down.

Wow! The falafel pita looks amazing!

Thanks again for doing this report. It is the best dining report I've seen.

Thank you so much, I'm really glad you're liking my reviews.

We have truly enjoyed your dining reviews and are looking forward to trying out some of them during our up-coming trip in January 2009.

It is our understanding that the Deluxe plan also includes some of the tours offered. Did you try any of them?

Also, if you have put pen-to-paper, were you able to determine if the Deluxe plan was a good budget choice?

Keep up your reports and know they are VERY helpful to your fellow WDW fans!!! Thanks.

Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy your disney dining as much as we did.

It's the Premium and Platinum plans that include the recreation and tours, the deluxe plan just includes the food. Therefore the only tour we did was the Sunrise Safari offered to AKL concierge guests, which was fab.

The deluxe plan was definitely a good deal for us. I did some workings out before we left and even if we'd paid full price (we were there during free dining) we broke even and most days saved money every day. And that wasn't choosing the most expensive menu items either, or ordering everything the plan entitled us to.

The only thing to bear in mind is that the cost of tips adds up quickly with 2 or 3 table service meals a day.

 

[rookie2]

Ok I'm finally caught up. I love your reviews. You have inspired me to talk my DH into DLXDDP for our anniversary trip. I can not wait to read the rest.

 

[wilma-bride]

Crystal Palace is our absolute favourite breakfast on property (so far - hoping to try Boma next trip). I love the puffed french toast

Do we get to see any pictures of you two, by the way - even though I know this is a food review

 

[iluvpluto27]

Ok I'm finally caught up. I love your reviews. You have inspired me to talk my DH into DLXDDP for our anniversary trip. I can not wait to read the rest.

Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the dxddp as much as we did.

Crystal Palace is our absolute favourite breakfast on property (so far - hoping to try Boma next trip). I love the puffed french toast

Do we get to see any pictures of you two, by the way - even though I know this is a food review

Definitely try Boma, we liked Crystal Palace but Boma was fab. DH hates having his picture taken so I've looked through our photos and couldn't find one of the two of us together!! I asked him if I could post one from a previous trip, and he said 'no way'!

 

[iluvpluto27]

Tonight we actually had a reservation at Jiko. However after getting dressed for dinner and checking in at the podium I was feeling a bit off, I probably would have been ok but I was remembering my Brown Derby experience and asked DH if he minded giving it a miss, and getting room service instead. I was sad we didn't get to dine here again, but we'd ate here once this trip already and there's always next time.

We asked about ordering food from Jiko as room service, as it states on the room service menu this is possible. However there's a 20% surcharge on the restaurant prices and isn't included with the DDP. Therefore we ordered from the normal menu, or the credits would have gone to waste.
The food arrived about 30 minutes after ordering and we certainly got plenty of it.

We got bread that was similar to that served at Jiko but didn't have that gorgeous tandoori butter.

I chose Pita chips with hummus as my appetiser. This was an enormous portion and even with DH's help there was loads left. It was 3 pots of the sundried tomato, white bean and olive hummus that are served at Boma, I didn't like the olive one, but then I don't like olives but loved the other two. It was served with lavosh and pita chips, a very nice appetiser.

DH once again ordered the cheese plate. There was a mix of hard cheese, a brie and a gorgeous garlic/herb spreadable type cheese. He said it was good, and there were no mouldy grapes this time, but once again it was massive and loads went to waste.

For an entree we both ordered the Vegetable taste of Boma, DH because it was the only veggie choice and me, because I thought it would be easier on my stomach than meat. It was good again, we both enjoyed the cous cous, rice with kidney beans, fufu (I could live on this stuff), and falafel although again they had a bit of a kick to them. Neither of us were keen on the roasted vegetables (bland and slightly watery), or the potatoes which were a bit bland. To be honest there was a lot wasted, mainly because we were both full from the enormous appetisers.

For dessert I chose the Flourless Chocolate cake. This was a big piece of cake which had a very dense texture, and filled with plenty of buttercream. However it seemed to lack a bit of flavour as it didn't taste particularly chocolatey.

DH ordered the Banana Split. I was worried this would completely melt before he got round to eating it but he put it in the fridge and it held up ok. This was good with at least one whole banana, big scoops of vanilla and chocolate icecream, lots of whipped cream, chocolate sauce and cherries on top. It came with two little pots of chopped nuts and mickey sprinkles.

As it was served:

And after DH had added sprinkles and nuts.

I also had a glass of Passion-Orange-Guava juice which is the same as the Frunch served at Boma breakfast and was very good.

Although no where an near as good as Jiko, this was nice food and we got plenty to eat. It was a relaxing night, just chilling in the room which made a change from going out to eat.

A bonus picture. While in MK earlier that day we'd picked up some fudge from the Confectionary. We chose Reeses Pieces and Mint Chocolate, both were yum and a great use of a snack credit.

 

[suzimar57]

just catching up here with your wonderful reviews/phots - very generous portions for the room service, and really liked seeing what you got at Tutto - even that crispy pastry dessert looked great!

 

[TPCShauna]

Good to know fudge is an option with a snack credit. I'd never pay OOP for it but I wouldn't mind using a snack!

 

[wilma-bride]

Sorry you weren't feeling well again and didn't get to have a second meal at Jiko - room service looks great, though, and it's good to have that as an option.

Had to laugh at the Reese's Pieces fudge - we call our youngest daughter Reese's Pieces

 

[AussieAngel]

Yum! That fudge looks fantastic! What is the confectionary store called where it came from? I think we'll definitely have to make a trip there!

 

[Candice30]

looks good...i still have yet to order room service at disney.

 

[iluvpluto27]

just catching up here with your wonderful reviews/phots - very generous portions for the room service, and really liked seeing what you got at Tutto - even that crispy pastry dessert looked great!

The room service portions definitely were big, I felt bad leaving so much food. Tutto was fab, and the pastry dessert wasn't bad, just unique!

Good to know fudge is an option with a snack credit. I'd never pay OOP for it but I wouldn't mind using a snack!

It was a good snack option, I wouldn't pay nearly $4 for it either, but it was great for using up snack credits.

Sorry you weren't feeling well again and didn't get to have a second meal at Jiko - room service looks great, though, and it's good to have that as an option.

Had to laugh at the Reese's Pieces fudge - we call our youngest daughter Reese's Pieces

It was really handy to have room service as an option, it really made me appreciate staying in a deluxe.

Yum! That fudge looks fantastic! What is the confectionary store called where it came from? I think we'll definitely have to make a trip there!

I think it's just called Main Street Confectionary, it's on the same side of the street as the bakery, you can't miss it.

looks good...i still have yet to order room service at disney.

It was good, and probably worth the two credits, just for the convenience of dining in the room.

 

[iluvpluto27]

Before I do my next update, I just have to share my excitement, I've persuaded DH to return to WDW next year!!

We weren't going back until 2010, but I spied a deal last week where we could get 40% off SSR or OKW, and free dining for a September trip next year. After crunching some numbers, we just couldn't resist booking so I now have a 14 night stay in a One Bed Villa at SSR, with DXDDP booked!!

We'll add 3 nights room only (probably POFQ) and 4 nights at Universal closer to the time. I'm so excited, we've never stayed at a DVC resort before and SSR looks really pretty. Ok, Boma breakfast coming up next.

 

[iluvpluto27]

Ok, we didn't have this meal planned, but as we'd both enjoyed Boma and neither of us were too keen on the Mara breakfasts, I rang the previous night and grabbed a 8:00am reservation.

It was a bit busier than last time, but still loads of empty tables so we probably could have got in as a walk up anyway. Our waiter this morning was just terrible, and this was the only time I tipped less than 18% all trip. He took ages to greet us, finally did with 'what do you want to drink?'. No small talk, no explanation of the buffet or even asking if we'd dined there before. He didn't offer re-fills, clear the plates and when I give him my dining card he charged the room instead of taking the credits, and had to run it through again.
We could see our waiter from last time and wished we were sitting in his section again.

Anyway onto the food. We didn't want to eat too much here, because we had a lunch reservation at 12. Therefore I tried to show some restraint and just try a few things.

I had Turkey Bobotie, which was good but not as good as when it's made with beef, french toast which was gorgeous again, very sweet and soft, and one potato which was a bit hard.

DH had some oatmeal, which he said was ok, but added extra milk and he enjoyed it more.

Then he had a cheese omlette, which was good and contained plenty of cheese again, french toast and a pancake.

I went up for a second plate and got some strawberries which were nice and fresh, banana bread (very good again), a scone (ok, not as good or sweet as a proper english scone) and an apple pastry which was nice and sweet. I got two of these pastries by accident, as I didn't realise they were attached when I picked them up. I think DH ate my spare one.

DH got a couple of sweet things to finish off with, a chocolate pastry and banana bread, both of which he said were very good.

A very nice breakfast again, but the service was pretty poor this time round.

We went back to our room to finish packing then headed down to the lobby to check in for our next reservation. We'd never stayed club level before and it was really nice. They took us upstairs to the lounge to check in and gave us our new room keys. Our new room wasn't ready yet so we headed to Epcot to play.

Coming up next, Chefs de France.