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

[wilma-bride]

Yum, I am so hoping to try Boma for breakfast on our next trip

 

[petbren]

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.

Congrats on planning your next year's trip.
We are going Oct.24 to include Halloween with DS13,DD11.
Hopefully your reviews will be up by then so I can decide if I've made the right ADRs.
We are DVC members but never stayed at SSR yet. I will be reserving BWV next week for the trip, and trying to swtich to BCV, or maybe VWL at the 7 month window. It's F&W when we go, so would prefer to stay at the EPCOT area resorts.
Soooo, you guys get to the World a lot, have you ever thought about DVC
It is an amazing deal you've landed, don't think they offer a deal like that for us Canadians

 

[iluvpluto27]

Congrats on planning your next year's trip.
We are going Oct.24 to include Halloween with DS13,DD11.
Hopefully your reviews will be up by then so I can decide if I've made the right ADRs.
We are DVC members but never stayed at SSR yet. I will be reserving BWV next week for the trip, and trying to swtich to BCV, or maybe VWL at the 7 month window. It's F&W when we go, so would prefer to stay at the EPCOT area resorts.
Soooo, you guys get to the World a lot, have you ever thought about DVC
It is an amazing deal you've landed, don't think they offer a deal like that for us Canadians

Thank you very much and my reviews will definitely be finished be the time your trip comes round!

I'm really looking forward to trying SSR. We've thought about buying into DVC but because we travel at off peak times, we always seem to get quite good deals anyway, (although this years is exceptional), so I haven't worked out whether it's worth it. However as we're at SSR anyway, I'm sure I'll be able to convince DH to take the tour, and from there who knows??

 

[oybolshoi]

you will like SSR - we have points there as well as at BCV and it's very relaxing. It's also nice to be able to walk to Downtown Disney - that's why on our last trip we had a fair number of ADRs over there since it was so easy to get to.

Loved your room service review ... I'm a room service junkie and that's one thing you can't get at SSR so I'm looking forward to BCV next October for room service and easy access to Epcot!

We tried Boma for the first time last month - it really was as good as everyone said. Too bad about your service though. And I'm sorry to hear you weren't feeling well the night before - a shame to miss out on the joy that is Jiko.

Thanks for sharing ... looking forward to reading the rest!

 

[iluvpluto27]

Yum, I am so hoping to try Boma for breakfast on our next trip

It was a really good breakfast, hope you enjoy.

you will like SSR - we have points there as well as at BCV and it's very relaxing. It's also nice to be able to walk to Downtown Disney - that's why on our last trip we had a fair number of ADRs over there since it was so easy to get to.

Loved your room service review ... I'm a room service junkie and that's one thing you can't get at SSR so I'm looking forward to BCV next October for room service and easy access to Epcot!

We tried Boma for the first time last month - it really was as good as everyone said. Too bad about your service though. And I'm sorry to hear you weren't feeling well the night before - a shame to miss out on the joy that is Jiko.

Thanks for sharing ... looking forward to reading the rest!

Pleased to hear you like SSR, I'm really looking forward to trying it. I must admit we really liked having the room service option and I'll miss that at SSR.

Glad you liked Boma too, I was disappointed to miss Jiko but was glad that we'd dined there earlier in the trip, so at least I'd experienced it once. We'll definitely be dining there again next year.

 

[iluvpluto27]

We checked into Chefs at 12pm, there were a fair few people waiting to be seated, but I think they were just opening and started seating a lot of parties quickly. We waited a few minutes and were taken to a nice window table near the end of the restaurant. We had a great view of all the desserts from there.

Our waiter was very friendly and chatty. He'd lived in England for a few years so we had a nice talk about that. He was efficient and kept our water glasses topped up.

I ordered a Kir Royale to drink. This is one of my all time favourite cocktails and this one didn't disappoint. There was a nice balance of creme de cassis and champagne, and although expensive was worth every penny.

For an appetiser DH ordered the cheese plate once again. This consisted of goats cheese, brie, emmantel and one other I can't remember. You certainly got lots of cheese, but it lacked bread and accompaniments. A pretty average cheese selection.

I ordered the lobster bisque which had a nice flavour to it, but was quite thin and had no pieces of lobster in it. Compared to the rich, creamy bisque at Coral reef this was a bit disappointing, however the portion was certainly much more generous than Coral Reefs!

For my entree I had the Croque Monsieur, or the ham and toasted cheese sandwich!! This was good, and again you got plenty. The bread was nice and crisp, the cheese was warm and gooey and there were thick slices of ham. It was served with salad, but I wasn't able to finish half the sandwich so I never even tried the salad.

DH had the Gratin de Macaroni. Again this was a massive portion, and it was probably cheese overload after already consuming the cheese plate. He said the pasta was nice and soft, and you could taste plenty of the Gruyere cheese. A good, but quite heavy dish.

We were both stuffed by this point, but we'd spent the meal looking at all the yummy looking desserts so decided we had to try them.
I went for the Creme Brulee, and when it first arrived I thought the top looked like it hadn't been caramelised nearly enough. Actually it had a perfectly creamy texture, and although I thought the topping should have been thicker, it did add enough crunch. It was served with a Madeleine which was also very nice and very soft.

DH ordered profiteroles. He realised he hadn't read the menu properly because he'd assumed they were going to be filled with cream, like profiteroles usually are. This version are filled with ice cream instead which he didn't like as much. However he said both the pastry and the chocolate sauce were good.

We had a nice meal here with good service. It wasn't anything outstanding, but for 1TS place, it's pretty good.

When we got back to AKL we were able to get into our room. We had a few issues with our room but a CM stopped by with our gift, a chocolate AKL sign which I thought was really cute.

Coming up next, our last dinner on the deluxe plan, Raglan Road.

 

[SunnieRN]

I think I've gained weight reading your reviews!! Yumm! Saratoga Springs is beautiful! I hope you really enjoy it next year!
I am very excited as we booked club level at animal kingdom next October! Looking forward to more!

 

[CanadianWDWfan]

Wow! your descriptions are fantastic, I can almost taste the food. You certainally were able to dine at the best. I can't wait to read more. My taste buds patiently await the next stop. I may have try a cocktail or two on my next trip, thanks to you.

Can you pay the difference and upgrade to DDP from the free DP offered? Sorry, if you have already answered this.

 

[iluvpluto27]

I think I've gained weight reading your reviews!! Yumm! Saratoga Springs is beautiful! I hope you really enjoy it next year!
I am very excited as we booked club level at animal kingdom next October! Looking forward to more!

Thank you. I think you'll really enjoy club level at AKL, it was great and to be honest I'm sad we can't stay there again next year. However Saratoga does look very pretty and I'm hoping we'll like it just as much as AKL. The idea of all the space a one bedroom offers is very nice, and I'm looking forward to utilising that jacuzzi tub!

Wow! your descriptions are fantastic, I can almost taste the food. You certainally were able to dine at the best. I can't wait to read more. My taste buds patiently await the next stop. I may have try a cocktail or two on my next trip, thanks to you.

Can you pay the difference and upgrade to DDP from the free DP offered? Sorry, if you have already answered this.

Thank you very much. I'll be uploading the next lot of photo's today so hopefully I'll get Raglan Road written up today.

Yes, we paid the difference this year, booking through the US Disney site and we've paid the difference again for next years trip, booked through the UK Disney site. It was very easy on both sites, and it automatically worked out the cost, deluxe minus normal ddp.

 

[iluvpluto27]

We arrived a bit early for our 7:30 reservation, and there was quite a queue of people checking in. Even though it was a busy saturday night and the restaurant looked pretty packed, they were taking walk ups with some wait.
Once we checked in, we were called immediately and were seated at a corner table.

Our waitress seemed incredibly busy here, and I think she had about 7 tables to look after. We didn't get the best service, as she took a while to greet us, bring drinks and take orders, but she always seemed to be running around doing something.

Firstly I'll apologise for the quality of the photos in this update. As the restaurant was quite dark and we were seated so close to other parties I didn't feel comfortable using flash, so the pictures are pretty dark.

To drink I ordered a Jay'Gail Sangria, which was good but it seemed weaker than when I'd tried it last year. DH ordered a pint of Smithwicks.

For an appetiser we couldn't order any of the apps for sharing as there were no vegetarian options. This limited the choices for both of us, but I eventually chose the colcannon soup. This was very nice with a good colcannon flavour, you could really taste the ham in it and although the texture was quite thin it was pretty filling. It was served with a cheese twist, which was flaky and had a good cheesy flavour to it.

There was actually no vegetarian appetiser on the menu at all which I thought was disappointing. Last year the goats cheese salad counted as an app, but this year it was an entree. Our waitress said the soup of the day was normally vegetarian but this time it had ham in it. She offered a side salad or macaroni and cheese, and he chose the mac&cheese. He said this was alright, but very bland and he had to add pepper to give it a bit of a kick.

For my main I chose the Jus' Chicken. This was a nice dish but the chicken was a bit dry. The mash it was served with was nice and creamy, and the sauce was packed full of mushrooms, and had a fantastic flavour to it. Overall, a nice dish but nothing special.

DH went for the Goats Town which he said was very flavourful. The breaded goats cheese, was lovely and soft and had a good, strong flavour to it which paired well with the berry compote. However as they class this dish as an entree it really could have done with at least two pieces of goats cheese.

For dessert I decided to try the triple your pleasure which was a white and dark chocolate mousse and a chocolate milkshake. All three of these were good with the white chocolate mousse being my favourite. It was sweet but had a very light, airy texture, whereas the dark chocolate mousse was much thicker and richer, almost more like a ganache than a mousse. The milkshake was good, but it was so thick it was hard to drink with the straw provided. All in all, a very good dessert.

DH had the Ger's bread and butter pudding. This was just as fantastic as when we tried it last year, with moist bread and butter, plenty of raisins and when mixed with the creme anglaise and caramel sauce, just to die for. It's a big portion and quite a heavy dessert however, and although DH pronounced it his favourite dessert of the trip (and he sampled more than a few!!), he really struggled to finish it.

Overall we enjoyed Raglan Road, and thought the desserts were excellent. The lack of vegetarian appetiser's was disappointing, but we'll be back to sample the bread and butter pudding again.

After we left Raglan we walked across to Goofys to use of some of our spare snack credits. I wanted to get some more make your own treats, but that area was swamped, so I settled for pre-made treats.

We chose fudge - I think one was cookies and cream and one rocky road. I'm not sure we ever got round to eating both of these, but I had a nibble of the rocky road and it was good.

2 Chocolate covered strawberries - we ate these the next day and they were gorgeous. The chocolate was so thick and the strawberry nice and fr

Pre-made pretzel rods, like the make your own it's 3 for 1 snack credit. I chose one chocolate chip, one m&m and one covered in reeses. All these were good, although not quite as good as the make your own, the m&m one was my favourite.

After our shopping spree at Goofys and picking up about 5 bottles of water at AKL, we only left 2 unused snack credits, which isn't bad considering we started with 56!!

Coming up next, sunrise safari, AKL lounge and the Mara.

 

[wilma-bride]

The milkshake was good, but it was so thick it was hard to drink with the straw provided. All in all, a very good dessert.

I would have used the spoon

We liked Raglan Road last time we visited but have heard some not-so-good reviews since then. Must admit, I would like to go back and give it another try - the fish and chips there are lovely

 

[iluvpluto27]

I would have used the spoon

We liked Raglan Road last time we visited but have heard some not-so-good reviews since then. Must admit, I would like to go back and give it another try - the fish and chips there are lovely

I was quite fancying the fish and chips but decided I wanted something lighter in the end. May be next time though.

Oh, and I did end up using the spoon!!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

JUST spent an incredibly enjoyable hour looking at your reviews, oh yum!!! Just a shame that I have to agree with my family when i book our adr's as I could make my own shortlist from your lovely photos.

 

[29apr00]

I have got to try that desert at Raglan Road! I've seen it in a few TR's and it just looks soooo yummy!!! I WANT IT!!

Great job using all those snack credits!!

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I caught up!

Oh my! Everything sounds sooo good!!!

 

[mommyintn]

We checked into Chefs at 12pm, there were a fair few people waiting to be seated, but I think they were just opening and started seating a lot of parties quickly. We waited a few minutes and were taken to a nice window table near the end of the restaurant. We had a great view of all the desserts from there.

Our waiter was very friendly and chatty. He'd lived in England for a few years so we had a nice talk about that. He was efficient and kept our water glasses topped up.

I ordered a Kir Royale to drink. This is one of my all time favourite cocktails and this one didn't disappoint. There was a nice balance of creme de cassis and champagne, and although expensive was worth every penny.

I love that you took pictures of your cocktails and this drinks sounds yummy! Your reviews have been great and I really appreciate all the time you've put into it. Now I can't wait to hear about next years trip!

 

[TigerKat]

I would have used the spoon

We liked Raglan Road last time we visited but have heard some not-so-good reviews since then. Must admit, I would like to go back and give it another try - the fish and chips there are lovely

We LOVED it!!!! I had the It's not bleedin' chowder, one of my fave entrees of the trip!!!

 

[Pooh'sTwin]

Your reviews rock! Love all the pictures and attention to detail. I can't wait to see what else is to come.

 

[iluvpluto27]

JUST spent an incredibly enjoyable hour looking at your reviews, oh yum!!! Just a shame that I have to agree with my family when i book our adr's as I could make my own shortlist from your lovely photos.

Glad you're enjoying them. Hope you get to try some great restaurants on your next trip. I'm quite lucky as DH doesn't really care where we eat as long as there's a vegetarian option so I get to pick all the restaurants.

I have got to try that desert at Raglan Road! I've seen it in a few TR's and it just looks soooo yummy!!! I WANT IT!!

Great job using all those snack credits!!

Both desserts were fab. It was a bit of a struggle using the credits but we got to try some great treats we would have passed on otherwise.

I caught up!

Oh my! Everything sounds sooo good!!!

Thank you.

I love that you took pictures of your cocktails and this drinks sounds yummy! Your reviews have been great and I really appreciate all the time you've put into it. Now I can't wait to hear about next years trip!

Thank you very much. I'll definitely be writing reviews next year but there's plenty more to come in this review yet, including my favourite meal of the trip, V&A!

We LOVED it!!!! I had the It's not bleedin' chowder, one of my fave entrees of the trip!!!

I was tempted by the chowder, I may have to give it a go next time.

Your reviews rock! Love all the pictures and attention to detail. I can't wait to see what else is to come.

Thank you so much. Plenty more to come including V&A and a whole day of f&w festival snacking.

But the next update will be sunrise safari, concierge lounge and the Mara.

 

[iluvpluto27]

Today was our first day without the dining plan, but it was also the day I'd been looking forward to the most due to it being Sunrise Safari day!!

This is a tour only offered to AKL concierge guests for $55, and it was worth every penny. We were out on the savannah for over an hour and got some fantastic pictures. Here's just a couple of my favs.

After the tour you are taken to breakfast in a private room at pizzafari. This breakfast was really nice, and there was a fair bit of selection. I didn't get pictures of everything we ate but I grabbed a couple of shots.

I had breakfast potatoes with peppers and onion, which were good, banana french toast which was very good but very sweet with caramalised banana's and some vegetable fritata which was tasty and contained plenty of cheese.

The picture I got of DH's plate shows banana bread, which he said was very good, the banana french toast and fruit cobbler which again was very good and sweet.

For lunch we just shared a carton of fries from the McDonalds window. See the difference, on the dining plan we were eating $50 lunches, without it we share a $4 box of fries!! Really we just weren't hungry after a big breakfast, and were rushing to see the 1pm lion king show.

That evening was the first chance we'd had to take advantage of the AKL concierge lounge offerings, as we'd been out at Raglan Road the night before.

So around 5ish we went to the lounge, and grabbed a couple of glasses of wine and some appetisers.

We tried some vegetable bobotie quiches which were really tasty, white bean hummus as served at Boma, with various breads, and morrocan spiced carrots. The soup bowl in the background contained carrot and ginger soup which was good but very sweet.

A similar plate with hummus, veg bobotie, roasted red pepper and a piece of brie.

DH must have had a second plate with bobotie, cheese and lavosh.

We both thought these offerings were really nice and there was a good selection for vegetarians.

A while later we headed down to Mara for something a bit more substantial to eat.

I chose Chicken nuggets and fries (as we'd been dining at TS restaurants all the time, I was missing the junk food). These were good, fresh and hot. The portion was a lot bigger than shown in the picture, because DH ordered a pizza which was made to order. He had the camera so I sat and ate while he waited for his pizza.

DH said his cheese pizza was alright but nothing special. It was good that they make them to order though as at least it was fresh.

Later still we headed back to the lounge for desserts and cordials. I had a glass of Baileys and a selection of desserts.
I chose a pineapple cheesecake which is also served at Boma. This was very nice, with a rich creamy texture, and thick crunchy base, it is very sweet though. I also had an oatmeal and raisin cookie (good) and a fruit tart which was just ok, I wasn't too keen on the filo pastry.

DH had a coconut square which he said was very good, plenty of coconut flavour and a soft texture, a cookie, a fruit tart and some sort of carrot cake style pyramid all of which he said were fine.

That concludes of first day of concierge dining at Disney. So far, so good and probabaly worth the extra money we paid.

Coming up next our second lunch at Sci Fi diner.