8/23 to 9/1 Free Dining with a child with a peanut allergy

[PandK]

First post ever, so i hope it goes well. The cast of characters are:

P-43 Not very hard to please food wise, as long as it tastes good and i don't leave hungry, its all good

K-DW44 Not picky per se, but very predictable when ordering. Hates onions

D-DS 11 Big boy, pretty much like his mother, loves snacking and hates mustard

G-DS 9 Little boy at 65lbs, but is not afraid to try anything. Loves Bread, any kind of bread. He is the one with the peanut allergy, only peanuts, but we do avoid all tree nuts to be on the safe side. I booked him as a ten year old (paid the difference in ticket price) so he would have more choices.


After reading the DIS Boards for months before my trip to help plan, i booked all ADR's that would work for us and not base them on opinions of posters here in these forums. Some of resturants reviewed are:

San Angel Inn
Rose and Crown Pub
Sci-Fi Dine In
Earl of Sandwich
Raglan Road
Tusker House
Crystal Palace
Liberty Tree Tavern
Plus others

Now on with the show

Disclaimer: The following reviews are just opinions of the dining experiences we had at the specific time and location. Others my have had different experiences.

 

[PandK]

Day 1 Sat 8/23 Flight landed at 12:30 and was checked in and eating at the Pop Century food court at 2:00

P and K - Cheeseburger Baskets($6.89 ea) Good burgers, fries were hot and crispy, little container of shredded lettuce, tomato slice, pickles and onions was nice. Did notice the little brown specks on the rolls, but can't understand why people complain about them, tasted no different than a regular bun to us.

D-8 piece Chicken Nugget Basket($7.69) He really liked them. They are not anything like McDonalds nuggets as others have posted, but are definetly not the tenders they used to serve. I tried them and thought they were good.

G-Pepperoni Pizza($6.09) He was happy with it. Traded a slice to D for a nugget and some fries.

We also purchased the refillable mugs for the frozen cokes for the kids and the coffee for me. I am probably in the minority, but i love Disney coffee. Total OOP for this meal w/mugs was $80.86


That evening we headed to DTD to do some shopping and eat at Earl of Sandwich.

K-The Earls Club, cheddar, no swiss. Enjoyed it

D-The Italian, no peppers. Liked it, could only eat half, to full

P and G-The Original Both of us thought they were good. G's first time having horseradish and liked it. He was also full after a half of sandwich.

Also ordered 3 bags of chips and a couple sodas. Total OOP here was $32.65

We all agreed that their bread is excellent. Wrapped up the two uneaten halfs and brought them back to the room which i ate later on. They were good, but alot better when they are hot and crispy, but still tasty.

 

[PandK]

Day 2 8/24

Had 8:05 am ADR for Crystal Palace. Checked in and was seated in very short time. Our waitress, Sherri, noted the peanut allergy, took our drink orders and was off to get a chef. He could have eveything except the bakery products which are not made there. The plan here was to hit the hot buffet once and then do some damage on the bakery items. That never happened. 1). The selection of bakery items was very limited and 2). The hot items were really good. Without going into what everyone had, I will give a general idea of what we liked and what some didn't. Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, breakfast potatoes, biscuits and gravy. P and G had multiple helpings of the corned beef hash. P liked the potatoe casserole, K didn't. Being some of the first ones in, the food was fresh and very hot. Sherri was quick with the juice and milk, but i never got my coffee and we had to hunt her down to get my KTTW card back. Tipped in cash, a little less than i had planned but still a good one. If not on the DDP, cost would have been around $82.00. Would definately eat here again.


Went back to the POP around 2:00 to beat the heat with a swim. Used our CS credits at the food court.

P and K Both had the Chicken Penne Alfredo. Plenty of food, not very hot and I found it to be really salty. I would however, get it again. P had the carrot cake for dessert, liked the cake, hated the frosting and never had it again. K had the Chocolate cake and like it, a little to much frosting though.

D-Bacon Double Cheeseburger He ate it, so i assume he liked it. Dessert he had the Worms in Dirt.

G-Chili Cheese Hotdog He liked the hot dog, liked the cheese, didn't care for the chili. Only ate half plus the fries. Had the Tye Dye cheesecake for dessert and liked it.

When eating at POP, we would use our mugs for drinks and get bottled drinks to take back to the room for later. Total if not on the DDP would have been around $60.00

Later that night, back in the Magic Kingdom, used our SC at Aloha Isle. P and D both had the Dole Whip Float, K had the Coke Float and G, the Root Beer Float. All were enjoyed. Total about $16.00

Decided to call it a day about midnight and as we headed out, stopped at the Main St Bakery. Picked up 2 pieces of Carrot Cake(excellent), Chocolate Cake for D and a cupcake for G. Also a bottle of Sprite. Payed OOP ($15.59) because used our SC earlier and was trying to use only one a day per person, mistake on my part as you will see later on.

 

[PandK]

As a side note, while I was checking in at POP, a CM was talking to my wife about participating in a study in which she would have to keep a diary for our entire trip, from check in until we actually boarded the plane out of Orlando. Not sure if others have posted about it. It was a small spiral bound note book with pre-printed pages with different codes for resturants, gift shops ect. Info they wanted was basically where you went that day, how many gift shops you went into, how many fastpasses you used, how much you spent of food(outside the free dining plan),tips, how much you spent on drinks(alcholic and non-alcholic), how much you spent on souveniers, how much tax you paid for the day how much you spent on additional snacks, etc. I kept every reciept for the week thats why i am posting prices for both OOP and what it would have cost if not on the DDP. In my last post, i will give a total cost of what meals would have cost if not on the DDP and what we actually spent OOP for the 10 days.

 

[Mom of 2 Wife of 1]

Interesting about the diary. Did they want you to mail it back to them, or how are they expecting you to get them the information?

 

[PandK]

Yes, in the back was a prepaid envelope to mail it back. I did a search for the diary and found some posts about them but back in 2004. Seems back then, your gift was a $25 gift card for the Disney store and people were also getting a different pen for each day. No pens for us but the CM did say that she would receive a special gift from Disney.

 

[Mom of 2 Wife of 1]

Hmmm. I've never heard of this assignment before. I hope they don't offer it to my husband when we check in. He could figure out a way to manipulate a Fortune 500 multimedia conglomerate with a paper clip.

 

[PandK]

Day 3 8/25

Used our CS credits at TSPP for lunch. All of us had the Woody Meal deal(pepperoni pizza w/side salad) 4 drinks and 3 sugar and 1 chocolate chip cookie for dessert. As a family that loves pizza, we are not partial to any particular kind. Within a 10 minute drive in any direction from home, you will find 10 totally different styles of pizza, from national chains, italian owned, greek owned and bar pizzas, all different and all good, just depends on what kind your in the mood for. Pizza was good and hot, salads fresh and cold. Saved the cookies for later and ate them while watching Indiana Jones, they were ok.

That night, had ADR at 6:40 for Mama Melroses and was seated at 6:45. Read mixed reveiws here, but decided to give it a try anyway.
Our server was Barbara and was very good. After she took our drink orders, the chef came to the table to go over what G could have. They use no peanuts or have no peanut oil in the resturant. He could have any entree' that he wanted. Bread was also fine. A couple of deserts were off limits, not because that had peanuts per se, but processed or manufactured in facilities that had them or in the case of the Chocolate Truffle Cake, almond flour is used and pistachios which we try to avoid anyway. That being said, lets review:

Basket of Rolls with butter-good


P-Penne alla Vodka, Coke, and Choc Truffle Cake. The bowl of penne was huge, hot and tasty. I have had better, but would not hesitate to get it again. Choc Truffle Cake was good. Warm, moist, nice goey choc center with a lace pistachio cookie and fresh berries.


K and D Oven Baked Chicken Parm. Both liked it. The portions were huge. Two breasts of chicken and a ton of pasta. Seen pictures of this dish on the food porn thread and it looked rather skimpy, boy was i wrong, it was huge.

G-Spicy Italian Sausage w/penne. He loved it. Not really a pasta eater at home, he could not stop eating even after saying he was full. I tried the sausage, and yes, they were spicy but agreed they were good. Had to have been at least 4 full sausages cut in half in his bowl.

K had tiramisu for dessert. Good, not to big, just the right size after that big meal.

Both D and G had the Frozen Cappuccino to go as their dessert.

Probably the 2nd best meal of the trip. Cost outside the DDP, $103.61

Didn't use any SC for the day, however bought a Powerade OOP for $2.39