4 days in the World with "free" DDP

MikeSF

Mouseketeer
Joined
Oct 20, 2010
Messages
305
Just got back from Orlando, and while I probably will do a full trip report at sometime, rather than make one rather cluttered trip report breaking it up seems like a good thing to do. This alone will be quite long anyways!

Do note that this food review is simply my opinion and might seem polarizing (i.e. my opinions differ than yours) so please take it as such everyone doesn't need to like the same things. :hippie:

So I planned a trip in early Jan (4 through 15) to Orlando with my wife and no kids (we have none), do note that what we did may not work for you if you have kids, our crankiness due to hunger can be better managed :) We only stayed at a resort, PO:R, for 4 nights a timeshare off site for 7 other nights, did 6 Disney park days, 2 Universal park days, 1 swim with the manatees and 1 waste of a day going to a time share (but I made $100 out of it).

When booking the trip I had the option of I believe 25% off the rack rates (why is Disney the only place that actually uses those?) or free dining plan. 25% off translated to about $45 per night, while the two of use could eat for less than that, this is a vacation I was more than willing to be less cheap. Overall with the DDP we ate about $400 worth of food/drinks/snacks/desserts, probably about $60 in tips too for table service meals. Now, while we wouldn't have ordered all of what we did ordinarily (primarily drinks and desserts), the fact we got to indulge was nice and well worth the savings. Is the "free" dining good for you? Maybe, maybe not.*

Some topics

DDP: While I like the idea of how it works, it was only worth wild at the rate we "paid" for it i.e. $45 per night, a quick Google shows at current rates $103 between the two of us it is NOT worth it AT ALL.

ADR: Again having reservations is a good thing, but I absolutely HATE HATE HATE *loud voice* HATE the way Disney implements them. Basically 6 months out you are allowed to book a reservation, this is way too long IMO,. Hell a week our seems to be pushing things, but I understand some people like to plan a trip in a most anal retentive way, that ain't me, also we didn't have a plan to which parks we'd be in on what days!

That said I only booked one ADR in advance when I booked my trip that was Ohanas (good thing too!), 2 dinners we had a number of choices 2 hours before eating, and one place (resort) we simply walked up. Again no kids, so we didn't need character dining, and we were willing to be quite flexible while enjoying a good meal.

Also we've never been to WDW, more DL people where you have so many choices OFF site that ADRs seem completely foreign/stupid to me :) If I want a reservation I call that morning, if nothing is available its because other people called before me that morning, not because some anal retentive planner did it 6 months out (no offense to those of you who are these people :love: )

Tipping: Another hot topic! No I'm not going to say "but 15% of $0 is $0!" I'm ok with tipping, however even though I'm some what young, I remember when tipping was a measure of your service, and not simply the customers duty to pay the workers directly so that the restaurant doesn't need to feel the need to raise the prices on a menu. That said I had good service and tipped the full 20% each time, I do like that they show you what 18% is and what 20% on the receipt, although I don't remember getting that memo where 15% is a cheap skate tip, and 20% is the "norm". I'm sure the wait staff must be rolling in the bucks during the free DDP times of the year, my tips @ 20% were in the $12-15 range and that was just 2 people it'd be way more with larger groups, multiply the tips of 4-5 tables per hour (or more) they wait and even them splitting the money up between various staff I'm sure are pulling in $40+/hr

Ok all the icky stuff out of the way. Some reviews of what we ate.

Refillable Mug
Meh.. we were not at the resort long enough to get a "$15" value out of it. The "collectable" mug really isn't, its cheap and I see a few times of being washed the paint comes off. I REALLY would have liked to see juices available instead of soda, coco, tea, and coffee. It is what it is, but we only got coco a couple nights, and iced tea a few others. We're not big drinkers of sugar so we skipped the soda. I think this is a bit too restrictive too with you only being able to use it in a resort, it's not terribly large so filling up and going somewhere is not practical, plus they're giving you what essentially is the cheapest thing out there (soda), granted its a HUGE profit margin for them, but still. Give me a refillable mug let me fill up in the parks.

Snack Credits
Not in any particular order.
Warm Cinnamon Roll at the Main Street Bakery
ooh this was so gooey tasty good, my wife and I shared one, and it was more than enough for the both of us, this basically was breakfast on that day. 1 snack credit = breakfast? Hell yeah! Only downside, the sugar crash an hour or so later :)
Dole Whip Float at Aloha something or other in MK
Wife only got this as the pineapple flavored soft serve wasn't grooving with me, I love pineapple juice, just in ice cream form didn't do it for me. She loved it though.
Pastries at Boulangerie Patisserie at Epcot/France
I got a chocolate eclair that had chocolate cream inside, did not like it terribly much, it was good, but for "famous french pastries" meh, the chocolate creme was a bit much inside, I think a custard filling would have been a lot better, plus the eclair itself was a bit dry. Wife I believe got a chocolate mousse... she had a chocolate craving and enjoyed hers. Also did not notice the purple DDP on any of the signs, maybe its a French thing :)
Desserts at Boardwalk Bakery at the Boardwalk
I got a cupcake, a very tasty Orange Creme cupcake, it was pretty good, the flavors were hitting me everywhere, the cupcake itself was quite dry, but I could overlook that because it tasted so good. Wife got a cheesecake brownie, in her words "two of my favorite desserts in one!" she let me have a bite and yeah it was pretty tasty! This turned out to be a bit of a mistake though, this was the day we were leaving and still didn't eat lunch before our flight and made us feel slow, lethargic, and not terribly hungry :rotfl:
Soft Serve Cones at some snack shack in Animal Kingdom
it is what it is, soft serve. It was one of the two warm days while we were there too, so it worked

Counter Service
Overall you get an "entree", dessert, and drink. While I don't want to complain about free stuff, the dessert really was a bit much to have with lunch, maybe for a kids meal with a tiny "uncrustables" sandwich or something. Portions we had were good sized and left us feeling a bit too full afterward. However unlike other theme parks we've been at, you get a good amount of food for your money, and while we could have shared a single meal at most places we would be hungry later on.
Again in no particular order
Chicken Bleu at ABC Commissary, DHS
Note: We didn't have the DDP available at this time, we picked up tickets 3 days early but the DDP doesn't start until your first night. We ordered the same thing we really wanted to stay away from burgers if possible. Basically a chicken breast with a slice of ham on it, and a cream sauce, basically trying to do a sandwich version of chicken cordon bleu, it was ok, nothing to write home to mom about though. It came with fries, filled us up, and we weren't hungry until MUCH later. Just under $20 for two adults.
Chicken wrap & Deluxe Cheeseburger at Pecos Bill, MK
Again no DDP plan, this came out of pocket again. I was tempted by the taco salad, but seeing that it essentially was a tortilla bowl with a scoop of ground beef (no beans!??!) skip. I did the chicken wrap, wife did the deluxe cheeseburger, the toppings bar is where one could have turned the scoop of beef into a taco salad, I put some extras on my wrap, again filled me up, nothing terribly impressive though. Again $20 two adults.
Tangierine cafe @ Epcot/Morocco
First official DDP, now we're talking free food! No way in hell we're eating burgers with all the choices at Epcot, so went with Moroccan. We both got the lamb & chicken combo plate which also had some flat bread, hummus, couscous, a salad of some sort(tabouleh), and a yogurt/dip. All of it was quite tasty except the salad, didn't dig that, and it didn't sit well in my belly later on in the day. They had a dessert area too that got me so excited about what dessert we get to pick... then they give us baklava out of a fridge, talk about a disappointment, the baklava was way overly sweet too, didn't care for it at all. We thought this is how things would go, but luckily this was the only place to do that.
Flame Tree BBQ at Animal Kingdom
This one started with blond hair teenage girl leading her "pack" towards it (we happened to be in the area at the time), the place was closed and the whole group groaned however I mentioned to them that it probably didn't open until 11am (it was 10:45am), they perked up and agreed that must be why (you could smell BBQ coming through the building!) she then mentioned to me that the place was really good. So we went on a ride came back and I got the rib plate, wife got the combo chicken and rib, and yum yum yum fall off the bone goodness those ribs were! Came with beans which were tasty, only downside was the coleslaw which was a little too heavily dressed for my liking. Wife got chocolate mousse for dessert I got the key line mousse, I loved mine it was tasty not overly frothy (more on this later), had a tiny candy jelly lime on it and overall great. My wife's mousse apparently was equally great, she admitted to me if we were at home she would have licked the inside of the cup :rotfl:
Sunshine Seasons at Epcot/The Land
I got a turkey sandwich on a flat bread, was good sized, very tasty, came with a potato salad without mayo! loved it loved it loved it! Got strawberry shortcake for dessert which was good, not great, but good. Wife got the pork chop with mashed potatoes, had some red chunky bbq sauce on it, never saw bbq sauce still with chunks of tomatoes in it, she enjoyed it very much, got a chocolate mousse cake (her theme of the trip!). Overall the food here probably tasted the best just because of how flavorful the ingredients tasted none of them were overpowered with a sauce, or condiment, or oil. Only downside was that whole building is very loud, people eating plus the Soarin' zombies waiting until the end of time in the standby line.
Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney
This was the only regret I had as far as counter service. Don't get me wrong, the sandwiches are good (it was the 3rd time eating there the entire trip!) but they're really inexpensive, and a waste of "free". We were doing souvenir shopping as we were leaving in an hour, wife was cranky at that time she couldn't find anything, I wanted to eat at Wolfgang's Express window, but I didn't say anything and let her decide. Of the three sandwiches I got the one I got "for free" was the worst, BLT sandwich, with not much bacon at all, and what was in there was a bit overcooked (I realize people like crispy bacon, but I like meaty bacon). Other than that we got berry parfait that we had to scarf down before going through security check at the airport. We didn't eat for one park day in the park because ironically we took a bus, then a boat to DD, and ate at the Earl! (yeah that was a waste of 3 hours round trip!).


Table Service
Overall, we ate at 2 buffets and 2 menu places, not really fond of buffets personally because I don't eat a large quantity at one time, I'm more of a grazer. We tried to choose somewhat "new" food, we're spoiled living in San Francisco since you can get just about any type of food here, we didn't want "American", Mexican or Chinese food since that is a waste of a dining opportunity, we had plenty of options however even though we only made 1 ADR more than a few hours in advance
Biergarten at Epcot/Germany
Buffet food. Didn't really dig most of it I have to say, really need to be a fan of German food, however I did get one of each dessert and loved all of those. Wife enjoyed it however, it was her choice afterall she better! :)

Boatwright's Dining Hall at POR resort
This was after a day at AK, we didn't stay until park close so we actually got back a bit before 5pm. We ran through possible choices of what to do, Disney's online system is actually quite helpful for ADRs! It all boiled down to we didn't feel like going someplace, and since we were hungry and there were ADRs all night long, we decided to not even bother and simply walked up. No problem getting a table either.
I had the prime rib, she had the tenderloin medallions. The prime rib was one of the fattier pieces I've gotten before, and wasn't terribly happy with that, but it did taste good regardless, potatoes as a side were really done well. Wife said hers tasted good, we didn't share here, so I'll take her word on it, dessert for me was the Banana Foster Angel Food Cake, which was damn near as big as my entree was! However the "foster" part of it was really REALLY sweet (too much), so much so that the ice cream actually didn't taste sweet at all. She got the bread pudding dessert which was equally sweet... I had a raspberry lemonade and after eating some of that dessert (didn't finish it) it actually tasted sour!!
Ohanas at Polynesian Resort
This was the only ADR I made when I booked some 3 months ago due to rave reviews. So glad I did too. We got seated as soon as they opened and oh my, the food was just unbelievably good. The kids entertainment was silly but kids usually don't like buffets so it was there to keep them busy I guess. We got seated right next to a window and had a clear shot of the Castle from where we were, if only we could stay until 8pm to see wishes... but alas no way I could stretch out eating for 3 hours :rotfl: While I didn't care for the salad they served, wife loved it, everything else was off the chart as far as flavors, from the potstickers, to the meats, the meat had a very woody smoked flavor on it, and was absolutely to die for. They had a bread pudding too, but this was the proper amount of sweet and I loved it. While I'm anti-ADR I would recommend you book this one for dinner if you're an adult (kids probably could give a flip about the food), revolve your vacation around eating at this one place is my recommendation :)
Coral Reef Restaurant at Epcot/Seas
Last place to eat, I actually made the ADR the night before since I didn't have mobile internet access, did have free wifi in the room though!
Finally got a steak, and my favorite cut NY cut! It was tasty, sides were tasty, potatoes and green beans both perfectly seasoned (I did add butter to the potatoes). Bread they gave us was a bit of a let down, a bit overdone IMO, I was expecting a sourdough for some reason (even though I no place else doesn't it right :) ) Got key lime mousse for dessert, which was really fancy/frufru however it was lacking as it was way to airy. Wife got the sustainable fish, I however am not a fan of seafood at all, so I'll leave it at that (but she did love it)
Overall though it was a great meal

Well that's all, I know I wrote a thesis on it, but if you made it through, I thank you for reading, it was a nice trip that we had to WDW, which was our first trip, and probably our last trip. We have Disneyland within driving distance, and that probably will hold our fix of Disney.
 
Awesome, thanks for the report! We're headed down to the World for the first time in a couple of months. I grew up in Cali, so it was DL all the way. Stoked to check stuff out, but it will most likely be our first & last time there as well.

Glad you guys had fun!:cool2:
 

Great dining reviews! Just the way I like them....very succinct.

Thanks!
Thanks for the compliment, you think it wasn't too rambling? As I was typing that out I was thinking to myself, my god it didn't take me this long to eat all this food! Either way, I didn't want to bulk it in with the trip report, don't know when I'm going to get that one going.

Awesome, thanks for the report! We're headed down to the World for the first time in a couple of months. I grew up in Cali, so it was DL all the way. Stoked to check stuff out, but it will most likely be our first & last time there as well.

Glad you guys had fun!:cool2:
Yeah, we had a lot of fun, no issues really, while yeah we saw ECVs, Strollers, and Tour groups being led by flags, none of it was an issue ;)
We MAY go back in 10 years or what not, but not like some of the people on these boards who make it a yearly pilgrimage. I'll honestly say while it is fun, Disneyland is enough for me.

Yum! Looking forward to Flame Tree BBQ!
Yeah that place was great, while I have had better ribs before, the fact that they were actually that good from a counter service was quite surprising. Even a half rack of ribs made me feel fat afterward!
 
Thanks for the simple and honest review! I have been trying and trying to get 'Ohana and your review just made me even more upset that I haven't gotten it :sad1:

Just an FYI - the refillable mugs are handwash only..I put the lids in the dishwasher and every once in awhile my DH or DFIL puts the cup in as well without paying attention :scared1:. I use the ones we got in september everyday for my coffee and they still look good as new. I mix using my Keurig and it holds 1 medium size brew of my coco and 1 small brew of my coffee with a little bit of room left.
 
Yeah from an adult with no kids point of view that food at Ohana's probably ranks up there as the absolute best all you can eat food I have EVER had anywhere. Watching them throw huge logs into the fire pit with tall dancing flames and the smoke just impregnating the meat with flavor... man, I just wish I could find something anywhere close to that around here. The whole "family" atmosphere, eh didn't feel it really, but didn't care either, yeah they had coconut races and hulu lessons for a bit, but again didn't care that food made that place not any little tricks that other buffets try to do to make up for so-so food (i.e. having characters).

I'm not a big fan of the cups, I had ice tea in it one night, but was so exhausted I fell asleep without drinking it all, by morning (and even now) there's a yellow/brownish stain from it inside the cup.
 
Great reviews:thumbsup2 I really enjoyed your writing of each place. DH and I are heading down on the 30th, doing QSDP, adding in our own OOP TS, as we too don't like to be tied down to reservations.
 
Great reviews - I really loved the quick summary of each place, with the stand-outs and the not-so-goods :thumbsup2
 







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