3D: Disney's Dining & Desserts! Oct 2014 review :)

[mzpoirot]

Hello!

I just got back from Disney tonight and am soo excited to share how my trip went with you all. I have read many trip reports from others and took a LOT of pictures so I could share my experiences too!

My trip report will include some general things along with reports from these TS (table-service) locations:
1900 PF Dinner
Be Our Guest Dinner
Via Napoli Lunch
Crystal Palace Breakfast
Cinderella's Royal Table Dinner
Captain's Grille Breakfast
O'hana Dinner

as well as some quick service locations also! One exciting event we purchased tickets for was 3D: Disney's Dessert Discover party...soooo much fun....but more on that later....

First off - My name is Molly and I'm a laughaholic Actually, I am an Audiologist...but do thoroughly enjoy a good laugh and LOVE Disney.

We traveled to DW and stayed in Coronado Springs Resort from Oct 15-20th (yes, I am deliriously tired right now as I type this, but my excitement is taking over!). My group of travelers included my hubby (we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary on Oct 19th this year) and my Mom. A portion of the trip also included my mother, father, and sister-in-law. My Mom and I have been to WDW before - approximately 20 years ago or so - and it was a first time trip for everyone else.

I have been religiously planning this trip since May of this year (when we decided we would be going) and stalking the available dining reservations to no end - so I am very proud of which places we were able to get dining reservations for! (and I am sooo thankful for the help I received on these boards/facebook groups for assistance in planning our trip)

On another note - in my excitement I just downloaded all my pics on my Memory Maker and am now COMPLETELY exhausted from trying to upload a pic here...so I will type more tomorrow

TTFN

 

[mzpoirot]

So let's start with Day 1: (we had the standard dining plan for our trip)

We flew from KS and left at the crack of dawn so we were pretty exhausted by the time we arrived in Orlando. We met my Mom (who flew from PA) at the airport and immediately went down to the Magic Express. I LOVE the whole not having to fight people to get my bag at baggage claim and loved the little video they play for you on the way to your resort!

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We arrived at Coronado Springs and checked in. We went immediately to Pepper Market to use one of our quick service credits and we ordered nachos! For dessert I had churros, however, I was so full from the nachos that I only ate one churro....

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They were delicious! My Mom chose gluten free options most of the trip and had a salad with taco meat on top - each time she requested gluten free options the chef had to come speak with her...we met some fabulous, and not so fabulous chefs along our trip

After this we grabbed the snacks/goodies we had delivered to us from Orlando Grocer and went to the room. Our room was very clean and located semi-near a bus stop - it's nice because Coronado Springs does not share stops with any other resorts...so once on the bus it doesn't take very long to get to where you're going.

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We then went for a quick swim before getting ready for our dinner at 1900 Park Fare...

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I was surprised at how small the main pool is compared to the pictures I've seen of it. They have a nice little water slide though - Mom loved it

 

[dreamscometrue101]

I'm following along. I look forward to your reviews.

I head down 1 week from now and love to hear how others trips went.

 

[vettegirl]

Love CSR!! Pepper Market is also one of my favs. Cannot wait to hear more

 

[mzpoirot]

On to dinner at 1900 Park Fare (reservation time was 8:15p)...

Sooo we got ready after swimming, went to the nearest bus and took it to Magic Kingdom. From there we thought it would be fun to take the boat from MK to Grand Floridian...well, we had to wait a pretty long time and eventually gave up hopes on catching a boat in time to make our reservation so we took the monorail.

Once at 1900 PF we checked in (just an FYI to everyone out there: if you have a party of 10+ people not all of you need to be at the check in desk together to get a reservation....) and were informed that they were running behind and that we would need to wait. This wait time was fine for me because it allowed us to go shopping! Mom was VERY surprised at how busy the Grand Floridian was that night - it was pretty packed with people waiting for their reservations. 15-20 minutes later our buzzer went off and we checked back in and took the optional picture near the dining room doors....

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We then waited a few minutes longer for the hostess to come back and seat us...as we walked in it his me how very loud it was in the restaurant. Mom's instant reaction was "it's like Dennys in here..." We were sat in the very back portion of the restaurant and were informed that we could go get food and the characters would be with us shortly. Mom spoke with someone at the buffet about gluten free options who then informed her that she needed to wait at the table and tell our waitress of her preference - the waitress then informed us that we should have let the check-in people know and that she would need "to go yell" at whomever misinformed my Mom?!?! It was a mess. Eventually Mom was greeted by the Chef who walked through the buffet with her pointing out the gluten free options. Hubby and I went and stocked up our plates...

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The food was pretty good. I'm a fan of sushi, however, once was mismarked and had ginger (I think?) in it which I did not care for. We were brought to cupcakes for our anniversary!

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very tasty! Mom was brought out a gluten free dessert which she loved (brownie a la mode)

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The character interaction here was great! The one step-sister even sang for us and said she is very musical

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The step-mom asked if my hubby bought me a castle for our anniversary and agreed that he should buy me a bigger castle... sorry for the blurry photo

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Overall, I don't know that I would return to 1900 Park Fare. The food was good, but not great. The strawberry soup was probably my favorite thing here...along with the character interaction. After dinner we returned to our resort and headed to bead to get ready for our busy next day.

 

[OasterP]

That resort looks gorgeous!!

I loved 1900 characters - tons of fun.

I can't wait to read more!

 

[mzpoirot]

I'm following along. I look forward to your reviews.

I head down 1 week from now and love to hear how others trips went.

Thanks! Yay for your upcoming trip

Love CSR!! Pepper Market is also one of my favs. Cannot wait to hear more

The serving of Nachos was HUGE! Thanks for reading

That resort looks gorgeous!!

I loved 1900 characters - tons of fun.

I can't wait to read more!

It was a great place to stay! Thanks for following along!

 

[mzpoirot]

Day 2:

We started off the day in Animal Kingdom at rope drop - it's true that if you're there early they drop the rope before their posted opening time!! (in our case 8:45a) We immediately went to Kilaminjaro Safari and used up another fast pass or two and wondered around. Here is a pic of the whole group

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Once it came time for lunch we headed to Flame Tree BBQ since I had heard sooo many good reviews.

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I ordered the chicken and rib combo...it comes with bbq beans and coleslaw

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and because I used a quick-service credit we also got dessert....we all ordered the chocolate mousse

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Sooo I will start my review from lunch by saying that I'm spoiled and have amazing BBQ places all around me. We live in South Central Kansas.

First off, the chicken was pretty good...very moist and my hubby LOVED it.
Second, the ribs were chewy and had ok flavor....but def not the best. The beans were pretty good but nobody at our table at the coleslaw...very little flavor.

The dessert was great though and I loved the little confetti ghosts and pumpkins on it!

 

[mzpoirot]

I would type the rest of Day 2 tonight but I burnt two of my fingers on the stove top and am currently in agony!

 

[GravityGirl]

I would type the rest of Day 2 tonight but I burnt two of my fingers on the stove top and am currently in agony!

Ouch! Hope you're okay! Enjoying your review!

 

[mzpoirot]

Thanks GravityGirl - they are feeling much better now!!!

So here is now the second half of Day 2!:

Let me start by saying that I had done a TON of research before going on our trip - I mean I was constantly stalking the dining reservation boards. One thing I had thought very little about - and probably should have thought about more - was the distance of walking from place to place! I kid you not, we walked 14 miles the first day!!!! Granted...we started at 8:45 in Animal Kingdom, took a 30 minute break in our rooms, and then went to Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) until midnight...

So after our really short, too short, break we loaded back up into the bus and headed to the Magic Kingdom for our Be Our Guest reservation and MNSSHP!

We got to MK by 4 and instantly got our bands and candy trick-or-treat bags for the party. We then v-lined for the Beasts castle and checked in for our 4:45p reservation. We waited maybe 6 minutes (keeping in mind we checked in early) before they called our names to go in for dinner.

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Once inside the dining area we were escorted to the West Wing!!! I had been wanting to eat inside the West Wing and was beside myself excited!

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We sat down and immediately noticed the thunder and lightning - we sat right next to the red rose...

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We used one of our table service credits for this meal...but I also decided to order some Moscato (not sure which brand, but it was delicious) and their french onion soup...also delicious....the amount of cheese was delectable

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For dinner I ordered the scallop and shrimp puff pastry...soo good. The pastry was light and fluffy. My hubby had the steak, which he loved, and I inhaled many of his french fries with the mayo dipping sauce. I could live on the fries and dipping sauce.

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Mom had the Ratatouille and some gluten free bread (sorry, I don't have the pics of this). After we all inhaled our food the waiter brought by the dessert cart and explained each item

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I ordered the seasonal dessert...and orange chocolate concoction....to which the waiter immediately said "let me know if you don't like it"....

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I tried it and DID NOT like it...the waiter immediately returned and said "let me bring you my favorite...I don't prefer that one either"

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This one was much better...but not as good as my husbands pick. He chose the strawberry cheesecake cupcake...soooo good!

Right after dinner we had our pic taken with the Beast - we were first in line so we didn't wait long at all.

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Dinner was amazing - one of my top meals on our trip. Once we were done with dinner we went on multiple rides (small world, peter pan, haunted house, whinnie the pooh, space mountain without a wait! and maybe a few more?!?). We were waiting in line at the Haunted Mansion for the magic picture shot when the fireworks started - I do not suggest standing at the Haunted Mansion to watch the fireworks unless you did not plan your time well, like me

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From here we went to Sleep Hollow for a spiced pumpkin waffle - to be honest, I wasn't even hungry but had to try one because I had been thinking about it for months!

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The line for this was kinda long - but well worth the wait in my opinion. I loved the large amount of soft service ice cream on top

We stood right there (in front of sleepy hollow) to watch the Boo To You Parade - it was amaaaaazing! I especially loved the Haunted Mansion portion with the shovel dancers

Here is a pic of the deadly dancers

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So after the parade most of our group headed back to the resort. My hubby decided he would stick it out with me and so we headed to get our pic with the 7 dwarves! Once we got in line (which was still very long at 11:30pm) we were told we were the last people that would be getting pics!!!!!!! My instant thought was...wow! Maybe they will do something special because we are the last people!?!?! Who knows?!?! THEN...12 people decided to cut in line behind us through the side rope near the back. To be honest, I was mad...not only for the loss of the possibility of an ultra cool photo...but also because it made all the Cast Members stay even longer into the night. One girl who had cut in line behind us with her mom said "why can't we just skip to the front?" and the mom replied "because we have to follow the rules...." HELLO! You just broke the rules by jumping into line to start with...

Anyhow...here is our pic

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After this we went right back to the resort to go to sleep

 

[disnut1149]

Great reviews!! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to read more.

 

[mzpoirot]

Great reviews!! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to read more.

Thanks for following along!!

 

[weswife]

We leave tomorrow! Some of the places you are reviewing, we have plans to go to!

BOG is top of the list! I plan to order the steak but not sure about the dessert.

1900 Park Fare is fun! I enjoyed our last visit there!

Flametree is on our list, this will be our 1st visit there.

Great pics!!! Thanks for sharing

 

[mzpoirot]

We leave tomorrow! Some of the places you are reviewing, we have plans to go to!

BOG is top of the list! I plan to order the steak but not sure about the dessert.

1900 Park Fare is fun! I enjoyed our last visit there!

Flametree is on our list, this will be our 1st visit there.

Great pics!!! Thanks for sharing

I'm so jealous that you're leaving tomorrow - I already want to go back!!!

 

[mzpoirot]

Day 3: EPCOT day and 3D: Disney Dessert Discovery

So we woke up and planned to eat breakfast at Sunshine Seasons - so we got to the park around 9:30ish?! We walked straight back to sunshine seasons (in passing we noticed the character meet and greet lines were only 10 minutes) and went and ordered breakfast. Most of us ended up getting the breakfast combination platter which was eggs, french toast, breakfast potatoes, sausage, and bacon. It was delicious...so much so that I inhaled it and forgot to take a picture!

After breakfast we immediately got in line for Soarin' - which was soo cool, however, we waited one hour to ride...the posted time was 45 minutes and touring plans had posted 38 minutes....

We then went to ride Nemo and maybe something else (can't remember what else we did?!)





Then we hiked back to Italy in the World Showcase for our Via Napoli lunch. We had maybe a 4 minute wait once checking in - not bad at all. One waitress arrived at our table and offered two different kinds of water (sparkling vs tap) and mentioned the sparkling water is not included on the dining plan so I chose standard tap water lol.

For lunch I ordered the individual Carciofini pizza (sp?) and white sangria - it's a white pizza with truffle oil and artichoke hearts. My Mom (gluten free) had a cesar salad with chicken and my in-laws split a large pizza with spicy sausage and calamata olives (delicious!)





I loved my pizza - even though, as you can see, it was a bit burned. The sangria was pretty good - I would most likely just stick with water or iced tea the next time though. Hubby was not a big fan of the service here because his water was only filled once (he is like a camel and usually drinks a few gallons a day though...). Also, we had begun to notice that because my Mom was mentioning she was gluten free that we would not get bread brought to our table at multiple locations...not sure if we threw them off their game by saying she prefers gluten free food or not, but they would bring her gluten free rolls and we didn't have the traditional bread and dipping oil brought to us.

From here we watched the flag team and drums perform in Italy and then walked to America to hear the A Capella singers (amazing) and see the show about American history (snores-ville).

I will post the 3D Disney Dessert Discovery later today...I feel it deserves it's own post!

 

[irishsharon]

enjoying your reviews what did you think of pepper market? did you eat there again? would you recommend it? Looking forward too more updates

 

[mzpoirot]

enjoying your reviews what did you think of pepper market? did you eat there again? would you recommend it? Looking forward too more updates

Good question - we actually did eat there again at the start of Day 1 (forgot to include that!) and I had the oatmeal with fruit and brown sugar...it was delicious. Hubby had the breakfast sandwich with tater triangles...I ate his taters and they were soooo good. I told him I would go back just for those!....and the nachos......

Thanks for following along - I am going to start on the 3D party right now!

 

[mzpoirot]

So after running around looking at different things in the World Showcase we headed back to the front to use two more FP+'s. If you can believe it...we didn't stop at any of the Food and Wine booths!!!! We passed SEVERAL booths, some of which looked intriguing, however didn't stop because the lines were crazy long for most booths and we weren't hungry at the time.

We did some shopping then rode Mission Space and went to use our Fast Track FP and were informed it was closed for maintenance...

It was perfect timing though because I knew we wanted to check in a little early for the 3D: Disney's Dessert Discovery Party. The area is located in between Canada and the UK in World Showcase (on the way we passed the Hawaii booth and it smelled delicious...I was def getting hungry by this point in the night). We checked into the party at about 7:45p



Once inside you wait to go to a counter that verifies you are on the list of people that have paid for a ticket. I think tickets were $55 for regular admission and $90 for "sweet seats" which gives you a goodie gift bag, reserved seating near the stage, and special sweet treats through the night. The event was only on October 3, 10, and 17th - we went the 17th and it was completely sold out!

Here is a picture of the waiting area


We checked in and were given a menu - each portion of the menu is color coated and shows you where certain food items are located.



Right at 8pm the curtain was swept away and it was a mad dash for tables! I felt kinda bad because I was amidst the rush of people and knew I looked like I was about to tackle someone for a coveted spot! Come to find out they had plenty of tables (however, people that arrived at the VERY end had to hang out at the standing tables)...some seats have better views than others of the stage area.

Here is the view from our table


Ok so keep in mind for the next few pics that I was now in starvation mode and hubby and I loaded up on cheese and meat to devour!





The spicy hummus was to die for



Hubby went to the "hot dog stand" - everything on the hot dog is cake or dessert toppings!



So this pic is of spicy jalapeno cheese (they also had regular cheese and beer cheese) with pretzel sticks and fruit. This is not the run of the mill fruit available throughout the parks...this stuff was some of the best fruit I've ever had. Seriously. The fruit also had it's own flavor of sauces...mine was drenched in strawberry sauce.



This pic allows you to see the colors of the booths a bit better...again, each colored booth represents offerings in the menu of the same color!



Here are some shots of the menu





At each station was also different alcoholic offerings...I had two different wines. In the middle of all this we had flambeed donuts (sp?) - these things were to die for. You could choose from vanilla or chocolate ice cream with chocolate or caramel sauce and slivered almonds with cherries! Sooooo good. Unfortunately, I did not get a pic of these

On the center stage was a band - the main vocalist was very good and sang popular songs (top 40 type songs). This is not a very kid friendly event - I saw maybe 4 children total which was fine with our group!

So once we gorged ourselves they announced that the night was coming to and end and it was time for us to grab our 3D glasses and head out to the VIP reserved Illuminations viewing area. On the way out, right next to the glasses, they had Werthers caramel candies to grab by the handful to enjoy while you watched the fireworks!

We grabbed our glasses and then followed a LONG line of blue lit up lights being held by cast members guiding us to our reserved viewing area. The area was right as you enter the world showcase in between the two stores (in between the Duffy meeting area and Promenade drinks - I can't remember the names of the two stores that are even closer than that!). To get into this area you had to show your band - yes, there were people trying to get into this area and were turned away. We waited for Illuminations to start and snacked on our caramels...there was PLENTY of space in this area to move around.

Once the fireworks began we put on our glasses AND........((((spoiler alert...stop reading if you want to keep it a surprise)))
EVERY pin point of light turned into a mickey head. There were mickeys all over the place - it was AMAZING!

We would DEFINITELY pay to go to this event again. Amazing. It was my hubby's and my favorite thing on this trip. I'm wishing right now I could go back!

We then fought our way out (which we did have a head start being RIGHT next to the walkway out) and headed back to the resort for some sleep

 

[mzpoirot]

Day 4:

Crystal Palace breakfast - we were lucky enough to score a pre-park opening ADR and I was soooo looking forward to it! Hubby seemed pretty excited to meet the Whinnie the Pooh characters too

Once inside the park we hit up two different photographers for pictures...here is one!


I think it's funny to look at this picture because the park is soo empty it looks like we are standing in front of a green screen.

We checked in at Crystal Palace and waited maybe 8 minutes before we were seated - they had water available for the people waiting...




Once seated we were informed that we might want to hang out for a bit or we would miss Eeyore...so of course we stayed



We then loaded up our plates...once again, I failed to get pics of my actual food so I took pics of the buffet for you

I had the Mickey waffles with strawberry sauce...yummmm






The corned beef hash was pretty darn good


I could eat these bacon and cheese scones all day long...


If you can believe it - I didn't eat any of the breakfast lasagna!!!!! I saw it right as we were about to leave

But I did get some great pics of other stuff






Piglet made kissy sounds when I said "I love you" lol. Piglet also gave hubby some grief for being the only one at the table without a Whinnie the Pooh inspired shirt!



Whinnie the Pooh was the only character that we felt rushed with - he didn't stay for long at all





Tigger was great



I would definitely recommend eating at The Crystal Palace - especially if you can get in before the park opens We will be returning on our next trip (whenever that is...)