9 days of Free DDP, Sept 07. Tons of pics!

[estherhead]

I have this in my complete Trip Report but decided to just copy & paste the food sections for here since I know I like food reviews all by themselves.

Just a tiny bit of background:

Dh: 33, loves seafood & steak, beer, anything banana, can be picky about service and quality.

Me: 33, hates seafood, Weight Watchers leader but still a junk food junkie (definately choose french fries over carrots any day!) Also, bake wedding cakes for a living so am picky about desserts.

Mulan: 6, very mature for her age, except when it comes to what she eats. PICKY!

Ariel: 5, just like her Daddy when it comes to food, minus the beer.

Baby: 6 months old. Just discovered food. Current attitude about food? "Yes, please!"

Day One:

At our resort (ASSp):

While we waited for our luggage we went down to check out the food and use our first free counter service meal. It was 10:30pm and was a MADHOUSE! There were people everywhere. Bright colors, loud noice, fence around the pool, chaos. I popped in line and got a Chicken tenders meal and a veggie burger meal. It was so good that I didn’t get any. The girls and DH scarfed it all down. But I really didn’t want to go get more as by this time it was 11:00pm and I was worried that after eating so healthy in my normal life, the rich food at Disney would give me a tummy ache. We had gotten two Mickey Krispie treats also so everyone ate those too. We got the ones dipped in chocolate which was a kind of weird chocolate, like the kind on Ho-Ho’s, not a real milk chocolate. So I skipped those after my first bite. But they were also gobbled down by the others. In addition to the food we also got 2 chocolate milks and 2 refillable mugs. The mugs were smaller than I was expecting. It was nice because they fit in our stroller cup holders, but disappointed because there were small. All in all, as far as food went, our first meal was a success. Atmosphere was another story. We knew we would spend little time here.

 

[estherhead]

Day 2 did not end up the way we had planned and so we ended up with no ADR (long story about luggage not coming.) I called 4 times for ADR’s (& I tried to walk up to a few places) and it was no doing. There was squat at the Boardwalk or Studios. We had started bright & early at MGM & then came back to swim at the pool (& see if our luggage had been found.) I had packed a bottle of rum in our luggage so once it came we filled the refillable mugs (half way) with rum and went to the dining hall. Topped off the mugs with Coke and "bought" Danish, brownie, chips, and Powerade. Off to the piano pool. It was heavenly. And really, the first relaxing thing about our vacation. Loved that brownie. LOVED it.

Side note: we did not try to maximize our dining plan. We just got what we wanted when we wanted it. It was the perfect amount of food. Had we maximized it, it would have been too much food. But had I paid for it, you can be guaranteed we would have tried harder to maximize it. As it was, we used it to turn our Disney trip into a cruise. All the food you want, when you want it.

We then went back to MGM. We hadn't really had a real meal this day as the world had conspired against us so we were weak with hunger. I walked up to all the TS places in MGM but there was no seats so we had to give up on a TS place. So we did the logical thing and went to Pizza Planet. What a ton of food they gave us! There were no kid’s meals here and I should have just gotten 2 or maybe 3 meals but I didn’t know. First, I didn’t realize the only side item was a salad which my girls wouldn’t eat. So I told them no salad. Instead they gave us 2 desserts with each meal. So we ended up with 6 desserts (dh & I did eat the salad.) I wonder if they are still good after 10 days? I ended up throwing them away once I got home. I think we threw away one whole salad and a pizza and a half. The salad was pretty good, it was just iceberg which I normally don’t like but it had a fat free vinaigrette and was very fresh. I like it. And I like the pizza. And the baby loved the pizza crust.





We also sat outside in the peaceful little area outside. The rain had cooled everything off and cleared the area so it was nice and quiet. We had an umbrella so the tiny remaining drizzle didn’t bother us.

We love this little plaza area. I'm not a huge fan of the arcade part of Pizza Planet, & since I have girls I don't have to like it. But I love pizza & Toy Story so this is a place I've eaten quite a few times.

 

[estherhead]

We had early ADR's for Chef Mickey's so we got up early & went to the MK bus stop where a bus was awaiting us. Pixie dust, pixie dust! Everyone on the bus was going to MK & MK resorts breakfasts so we were all discussing this when I notice we are pulling into the Contemporary. Why? “Chef Mickey’s?” the bus driver announces. I pop up & say, “You’re dropping us here? I thought we’d have to walk from MK.” She says, “It helps to be a good listener when you’re a bus driver.” So we were dropped right at the front door! You have no idea how excited I was. Not only did I not have to make my family walk, but even though we had left our room at 7:30 and gotten on a bus immediately, we were going to be late as our ADR was for 8:00 and it was 7:55. I HATE being late so this just made my day. Thank you wonderful bus driver.

There was a tiny line to check-in and then we got our photos taken and then were called right away. I had gotten this highchair cover at my baby shower and this was the first time we were going to use it. It ended up being pretty cool and made it so the baby couldn’t suck on any nasty highchairs. But it took just a minute. Then the fam got food while I finished settling her in. Linda was our server and she came over the second I actually sat down and took our drink order. I forgot to get Dh a water and we sincerely and honestly never saw her again. I am the kind of person who will get up from the table and follow a server to get what I want, or if need be I will go to the server drink station and get it myself. But the drink stations are behind doors at Disney and other than fleetingly, we never saw her. This was our first TS meal and I was already thinking that taking the 18% tip off might be a good thing. Fortunately, things got a lot better in the food department after our first 2 days!

Here are the food photos and reviews:

Here is the chilled part of the buffet. The only part of this I tried was the applesauce for the baby. It was chunky and she really hated it and it was a bit odd.


Here were the egg varieties. The eggs here were really good. I didn't try them all, but what I did have were perfectly cooked eggs.


The closest thing to you is a cornbread hash. I thought it was going to be good, but it really wasn't. Actually, I hated it. Next were cinnamon rolls which I didn't try but all the cinnamon rolls we did try at WDW in general were yummy. Then there are some potatoes. There were 3 varieties of potatoes on this buffet and I found all of them yummy. My fam didn't like them as they had peppers in them and they are fried potatoes purests.



Here is Ariel's plate. Ariel just LOVES breakfast.


And here is the wall that annoyed me. Gummy bears for breakfast? Really? Mulan, of course, came back with a whole bowl of them. It's our first TS at Disney. Do I really want to tell her no way? No. So (in her defense she had already had a plate of healthy food) she ate a whole bowl of gummy bears. We should have just poured skim milk on them and called it cereal.


The only thing I got from that particular station was this:


Sure, it looks delicious but the banana was WAY better than the other thing. Ick. Other than the above mentioned: The bacon and sausage were cooked perfectly, truly fabulous donuts, and the crepes were nice. And the baby loved the oatmeal.

OK, so back to the characters, which is why one goes to a character breakfast. They were OK. I don't know what was wrong, but this just wasn't working for us. Later in the week Ariel told me the one character she really wanted to see was Minnie. I pointed out that she had already met Minnie at Chef Mickey's and she was like, "Really? Oh yeah." And the twirling of the napkins was just a strange interruption, not really fun. I don't know what was wrong with our experience here, but we wouldn't do it again. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't us. The monorail going through was cool but not cool enough. I wasn't a huge fan of the Contemperary. It just seemed like an institution, like a hospital or a school. I'm sure this makes me an uncultured person. But it just didn't seem to have much charm for me. And that was how I felt about Chef Mickey's too. There was nothing bad about it. It just wasn't memorable. It isn't on our Don't Go Again list but it also isn't on our Do Again list.

 

[estherhead]

We spent the late morning, late afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon & therefore ate lunch there. Byt the time we noticed we were hungry it was 12:15. I was a bit concerned as because of free dining I had heard it was good to eat at off times. Silly us. But there was no lines again. I got chicken nuggets and applesauce, grapes, and fries for the girls. They got sweet and sour dipping sauces along with Chadwick BBQ sauce. I really enjoyed this BBQ sauce. It was yummy and we got it at almost every meal. And Sprites. And I had hand pulled pork sandwich. I didn’t eat the bread as I thought it would fill me up too much. And I ate half the fries. And I got a water and took my Diet Coke to DH as it was all he wanted. The kid’s meals had come in buckets with shovels so we took those over to the sand and the girls played while DH and I chilled a bit more. We loved those buckets & took them to the pools & water parks the rest of the week.

After a bit I popped up to get the ice cream (you don't have to eat it right after lucnh, you can go back & get it later.) No one had explained the process to me so I stood in line at the cashier again, which should have been fine as there was only one family in front of me. Unforunately for me the cashier was from China and was earning her ears and the family was from Brazil so though everyone was speaking English, no one was really understanding the other’s English. Plus the Brazilian family all spoke at once and were totally wild, while the Chinese woman was very reserved and could not focus on which person was throwing which order at her. Finally, I had to step in being the helpful extrovert that I am & translate English into English (whew, good thing I’m fluent in both languages!) and I believe the Brazilians got what they wanted. Then it was my turn only to find out that I need not stand in line at the cashier but should go up to the window of the exact place I got my order. Which guess what? I wasn’t even at the right restaurant! So by the time I was at the right place we were ready to go so we ate the Itzakadoozies and Nestle Crunch Bar as we wandered toward the bus stop.

Evidently, you have to order your complete meal, then take the receipt back to the same counter (not cashier, to the actual food prep people) that you picked up your food from. THey will then give you the ice cream. It works smoothly if you have a clue.

San Angel:

We left TL, went home for a little rest & were into Mexico for our 4:45 ADR. Dh LOVES Mexican food.



My sister and best friend had eaten at San Angel last time and it was one of their very favorite things on our two week vacation so I was really looking forward to it. But honestly I did not enjoy it nearly as much as I should have as Tower of Terror and the Great Movie Ride has scarred my children so much that the volcano was terrifying to them. That’s right, terrified of a fake volcano. We decided we should take them on the fun ride first to calm them down but they refused to get onto it as they just knew it would be scary. So we went to get seated. We had lovely seats right at the railing. It was so peaceful and not overly crowded and really quite romantic. But poor little Ariel’s eyes just kept sweeping over to the volcano in fear.

On a positive note, despite free dining, we didn't have anyone on either side of us for quite awhile so although the tables are squooshed together, we didn't feel tight.

Finally they got into their menus & did the activities and I got a scrumpdiddlylicious Strawberry Margarita and Dh got some kind of alcohol (sorry, his drink isn’t in my notes) and we ordered. It is so dark we moved the lamps right next to the girls so they could see their menus & do the activities. It’s a good idea to bring crayons and/or pens if you are going to be doing TS as they have activities but no writing utensils. WDW must be anti-Crayola.

My drink:


Dh got ceviche which he loved. I got nachos which were super yummy, though it is a tiny bit hard to eat nachos when you cannot see them and the lights were about as far away from me as could be. Then the girls got the quesadillas with rice and beans. We requested the black beans as it isn’t Mexican food in our minds if there are grapes or some such things. It needs to be beans. Our entrees were really good. I got the Chicken Mole which Dh did not care for. I have had mole many a time in Mexico and my parents used to make it every once in awhile. It kind of tastes like burnt chocolate with coffee. So although I love it, I can’t recommend it as it is definitely something people could hate. It was on some kind of stew which was delicious but I couldn’t see it at all so I can’t tell what was in it. Maybe you can tell from the pictures, they at least were taken with a flash.

We already started to eat before we remembered photos. This happened a lot.


Forgot to turn this.


Camerones Con Fideos


Mole:


My side:


Kid's Meal:


Dessert got mixed reviews. I knew prior to ordering anything, I wasn’t going to like it. I’m not really a custard/tapioca kind of girl and all the desserts were of that nature. Dh ordered rice pudding which he adored. I wanted to try everything so even though I hate rice pudding I tasted it. I spit it out immediately. I also did not eat the flan which I ordered. I took a bite and wasn’t a fan. But it did taste exactly like flan so if you are a fan…

Dessert was the highlight for the kids. They got banana/strawberry smoothies and I think they would agree to come back here just for this smoothie. I didn’t get a chance to try it, but it was a big, big hit. The baby liked this restaurant a lot. I just kept her little mouth full of black beans and rice & a bit of water every once in awhile and she watched the people on the boats passing below her and we heard not a single peep.








Then we went to Norway where I bought a school bread to be eaten later. I was too full to eat it right then. We asked how to spell it in Norwegian. Any guesses? Skool Bread. Well, that was pretty easy to remember.

 

[estherhead]

We were all pretty happy right off the bat as Downtown Disney seemed empty. We were the only ones in Goofy’s to begin with and we filled out our order forms and played with the fun mirror. I looked around at other stuff. It took longer than I was thinking and it was confusing. I guess that’s because it was Goofy’s lay out. But you have to stand in 3 different lines and even though I was the only one in there I kept getting in the wrong line and being redirected. It would have been better had the CM’s seemed to care. But I think they may have been new also as they didn’t really seem to know which line I should be in until I handed them the order form/finished product/credit card and they then re-directed me.

























After shopping, I went home with the packages & baby & grabbed a cheeseburger, fries, Diet Coke, and apple turnover and headed to the room. My plan was to eat just a tiny bit of this but I was starving and had not been eating enough in general for all the running around I was doing so over the course of the next blissful 2 hours where the baby was sleeping and I enjoyed the quiet room alone, I ended up eating every bite! It just tasted sooooooo good.

The rest of the family went to Disneyquest & started with lunch at the Cheesecake Factory restaurant at DQ. They used three counter service credits and in retrospect wished they'd only used two. Mulan got pizza, it came with garlic bread rolls and a snack. Ariel got spaghetti and meatballs, also with garlic bread and a snack. Dh got the chicken and mushroom panini which was he LOVED once he added some of the olive oil and vineagar that they provide at the condiment stand. For dessert they got apple cobbler and cheesecake-topped brownie. Mulan said the apple cobbler was the best dessert she's ever had in her life! The dessert portions were way too large for the three of them to conquer, so they boxed them up and took them back to a me! We put them in the fridge for later, since I, too, had eaten way too much.

Our ADR was for 5:20 at the Whispering Canyon Cafe but I had made it well before we bought tickets for the P&PP so I couldn’t get it changed. We just showed up early & as pirates and they were fine with that. We didn't want to miss too much of the party.

We loved this place and we loved the WL. We would love to come back again when we had no where to go and we would love to come not at opening as the antics were in no way in full throttle. We never did end up asking for ketchup as we didn’t need it and it was fairly lame as no one had any until we were almost checking out, so though they’d call for ketchup it didn’t come from everywhere because only 2 people had already asked for it. Also, we missed out on any dancing but the hokey pokey as it just didn’t fall quite right.

Then we really messed up the servers as we were quite obviously pirates and we were in the wild, wild west. I’m very sure they get very few bands of pirates round these parts as they didn’t know what to do with us. The very first thing I had done when we sat down was ask for crackers for my parrot. It just seemed right. A parrot should have crackers.

This threw their game completely as instead of harassing us, they took photos of the parrot with her cracker. The coolest server in the place (I could tell from his antics) came over and sat down with us to chitchat about our outfits and his pirating experience at said party & asked about our parrot and who made the costume, etc. Very much a 2000’s conversation and utterly NOT wild, wild west.

Finally we messed up by not coming hungry. We had not planned this day out correctly at all and every single one of us had eaten way too much lunch. So we came to the WCC and not one single one of us had the skillet. I had specifically made this ADR as this is our kind of food, and we didn’t eat it.
Here is what we did eat:
Our drinks: The Blue Glowtini


Cotton Candy Milkshakes, HUGE hits with both girls.


I ate only this cornbread YUMMY!

And this delicious cheesy southwestern soup:


Here is Mulan's Mac & Cheese. She hates watermelon & we should have asked for something else in that ear. She didn't eat a lot of this. Compared to her milkshake, it just wasn't doing it.


And here is Ariel's. She made quite a dent in whatever this is. It was basically baked ziti, but not with ziti. She thoroughly enjoyed it. Again, not very wild west.


Here was Dh's Prime Rib. He absolutely adored this. We split a TS, me the appetizer, him the entree. It had some kind of smokiness to it and is was sooooooo goooood! The green beans were just OK and the potatoes were a step up from OK, but the meat was great.


Finally, we ordered dessert. I LOVED this. Maybe my favorite dessert of the entire week.


The girl's dessert:


Uhm, can I have the LARGE water?


Do you see the black under my eyes? I don't use eyeliner much, not jetblack ever and well, guess what? It runs. I seemed to have black eyeliner everywhere this whole evening. Any tips for this? In case I'm a pirate again?

Here is me using my enormous straw to give my parrot a bit of water:


So, we loved this place. But we did it all, all wrong. Hopefully on a future trip we will come here with 2 hours to spare from 6-8 p.m, boating over from MK and then back over to MK for Wishes. That would be perfect.

Still, it was super fun being pirates. Now I know that it is quite fun being a pirate even in the wild west.

 

[estherhead]

To lunch. The BB lunch area is nice. Lots of shade and umbrellas. It is all one big rectangle but we enjoyed it. We got chicken tenders which were the best I had all week. We also got chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. This was nice.

We didn’t have a lot of time after BB since we had enjoyed our day there so much. So we came home, showered and changed into our cute Hawaiian t-shirts and were on the bus to MK where we boarded the monorail to the Poly. This was all so painless that I don’t remember any details. We got there in plenty of time and stood in the line which looked endless but was actually short to get into the main Luau area.

In the Poly:





They asked us if we wanted to upgrade from tier 3 to tier 2 and showed us on a map the difference. Since our food (and alcohol) was free it seemed no big deal to pay the extra $24.01 to upgrade to better seats. So we said yes, went and got our official photo taken and then went to a desk to pay. We then went in shortly and were seated. Exactly 2 feet from where we would have been. This seemed very, very silly. And since the table we would have been at was on a raised platform and right next to the potty, I’m pretty sure I should have saved my money and been at a better seat! Tier 3 seemed fine.

Anyhow, after that minor disappointment, we stayed in our little Tier 2 seats and ate our pineapple bread and salad. The bread was quite delicious and I really enjoyed the salad. I like fruity salads and this had mandarin oranges and a fruity vinaigrette. The rest of the family had almost no salad. Then we were brought our drinks. Dh enjoyed his multiple beers which are included here and I ordered a rose. Yuck. This was very yucky wine. But that’s OK, I enjoyed my water and salad and bread.







Then we were served dinner. This was fine and the reason I chose the Luau was because the food is quite similar to the way we eat at home. Meat, rice, with fresh veggies and fruit. The problem was, I actually make this meal better than they did at the Luau. So my girls were disappointed and Mulan finally asked for something else and was given a Smucker’s Uncrustable. She thoroughly enjoyed that. The kind of thing you as a kid always want your parents to buy and they always say, “What kind of idiots pay $5.00 for a PB&J?” Ya’ll know what I’m talking about, I’m sure. Anyhow she had PB&J here.

Then the show began while we were eating which was nice. We all turned our seats. The truth is, we really didn’t like this. For us it just seemed way, way too cheesy. I really can’t say much positive about the show and had I paid money for this I would have been incredibly disappointed. The beer and food was worth more than $24.01 so that is fine. But had I paid the however much it is per person without the free DDP it would have been the worst part of our trip. Well, almost the worst part but more on that later.

Anyhow it is this silly story about a girl who came to the mainland and changed and has come home and really is the same. It has a strange, geeky cousin who falls in love with the tomboy. Truth be told, High School Musical 2 is much better and I can watch it for free while eating my delish food at home (and we have great wine and a keg in our basement so even that is kind of a wash.) The only difference is we have no cool fire thrower at home. He was amazing.






Right before he came out they served volcano desserts which were also yucky. The girls like them and ate DH & my portions. I could hardly handle my one bite. It was just weird chocolate mousse with a mango? sauce and a raspberry sauce.




Anyhow, we left disappointed and wouldn’t do this again.

 

[estherhead]

We got to MK EARLY with no food. We ran around like crazy kids until the real kids staged a coup stating they were not getting on another ride until they’d had some breakfast. I had been looking forward to having a cream cheese pretzel so we decided to have them meet Ariel while I got a bite from Scuttle’s Landing. Well, the bakery had not delivered to the MK yet for some reason & there were no baked goods to be had! Shocking, I know. It was 9:15am. Ariel had been a walk-up so by the time I discovered no baked goods, the clan was done meeting Ariel. Dh said he would go to Main Street & grab us something. So we rode Pooh & the carousel & then went into Tinkerbell’s Treasures to see her. We found the perfect bench outside Tink’s to eat, under the morning shadow of the castle. It was absolute delight. We used 2 CS meals to get OJ, milk, 2 breakfast croissants, a chocolate éclair and a crumb cake. Dh proclaimed that this is the way coffee cake is supposed to taste. He was wearing the baby in the carrier (facing out, as always) and tortured her with every bite he ate. Her whole head followed every single bite, with very few bites ending up in her mouth.

This is still one of my trasured memories of the trip.

At 1pm we headed off to Pooh. Guess what? Dh had checked us in already and as we graced the Palace with our presence they promptly seated us with no wait at all. (I think Dh waited 5-10 minutes) We were seated at a window seat overlooking the Castle. The second we turned in our drink orders, Pooh dropped by to have a conversation & ask if we were rumbly in our tumbly. This was the best food we’d had so far. The meats were all great. Mashed potatoes, chipotle corn casserole, mushroom noodles, curry, broccoli. Mmmmm, yummy!

The view:


Can you BELIEVE that sky????? Gorgeous, gorgeous day!


Some CP food:


THe food not touching is a long standing diet strategy of mine. If you pretend you are a toddler & can't let your food touch then you will eat a lot less at a buffet. The stuffing & potatoes were an exception as they just taste better touching. That corn stuffing/casserole was amazing! The perfect bite with a bit of that, a bit of the pork, & a bit of the pots. Mmmm...

The girls enjoyed this:


I got my own personal dessert plate & tried everything. Cheesecake, whiskey cake, bread pudding, berries, etc. The girls loved the chicken nuggets here and Ariel ADORED the prime rib. How much beef can one girl eat?

Did I just put the word "diet" in the same area as this photo?


Actually this is a another buffet strategy. Take a tiny bite of each. Take the ones that aren't incredible & dump them onto another plate & pour water on it (to make it not appetizing) then eat the ones that you wish you had a 13x9 pan of! Wish I could remember which one I especially loved. I know I only ate all of one of them, though I did get back up get a whole plate of the strawberries. They were especially good here.

One thing that delighted the girls to no end was when they hugged Eeyore they got glitter from their hair do’s on his nose. As he paraded around his big ole’ nose was pink and sparkling. Just the kind of thing Eeyore would not enjoy. Which naturally made it all the funnier.

We had great service here too & loved our server. We would eat here even if it wasn’t free for absolute sure.



After lunch, we did stuff together for awhile. Then we split so I could have a break. Where should I go? A free woman with only a baby in a stroller in the MK. How to spend a free hour in MK? DOLE WHIP! I grabbed a Dole Whip float (sorry, no photo.) I sat across from Swiss Family Ro. In the shade under a big fan, wrote in my journal, & gleefully ate my snack. Fed the baby, called my mom, listened to the train whistle. Perfection. Peaceful perfection.

THen we had a 6:15 ADR at Tony's. I had read bad reviews & had almost cancelled this several times but was SOOOOOO glad I hadn't. We sat in the little waiting room (OK, it’s a BIG waiting room) for maybe 5 minutes, maybe 10. I don’t know because I was trying to get a good photo with our secondary kind of yucky camera & just couldn’t so it burned a lot of time. (those photos later too) We were seated right behind the fountain.



We really liked this place. We decided to use only 1 TS and buy everything else. I ordered the artichoke dip which was horrific.

None of us could eat even a bit of it. In retrospect, we should have sent it back. Surely something was wrong with it. But everything else we had was really good.
The girls wolfed these down:


I really loved this white pizza:


Since we had just finished up at CP 4 hours ago we weren't really hungry so Dh & I were going to share this steak.


Right. I got like... none. I had maybe 2-3 bites and a few potatoes. It was the best steak of the week, IMHO. Really, Really Good.

For dessert we were going to share a trio of desserts. Here are the cannolis which we gave one to each girl.



Then we were going to share the cheesecake & tiramasu. I'm not kidding when I say Dh had one bite & almost stabbed me with his fork when I tried to get a bite. No joke. So I got 3 bites of steak & the tiniest little nibble of dessert ever. He only let me have a nibble when I threatened to order my own just to have a bite. No way he was letting me spend $8.00 or whatever for my own. Oh well , keeps me thin.

Here he is stabbing me when I simply tried to take a picture:


And here is when I gave him the really mean Mommy look:

See his fork hovering? Just waiting for the one second it took for the photo to take before eating the rest.

It was a great atmosphere too. The girls were so happy and refreshed. After this we went to the confectionary shop to get 6 snack credits worth of cookies & lollipops for the girl’s classrooms (quite popular, by the way.) Oh & 1 snack credit of fill it yourself bags of taffy, which I hate but everyone else loves (another good say thing strategy, get candy you despise!) By this time it was 7:45pm and people were already finding seats for the 9:00 Spectromagic. I found the perfect spot right at the corner in front of the confectionary shop and camped out. I should have gotten myself a delicious treat but I just couldn't muster up the energy.

Overall, I think this was our best food day. Every meal & snack was great, with the exception of the Tony's dip stuff, every BITE was good. Why didn't I send that cursed thing back? Then it would have been a perfect Disney dining day. And free!

 

[estherhead]

At 8 am I threw in some laundry & grabbed some breakfast at the nearly dead End Zone & took it outside to eat in the construction zone which had been called a pool before we got there. I’ve been raised around construction & eaten many meals in construction zones so it didn’t bother me too much. I was reading an mystery novel & soaking up the early morning sunshine while soaking up internally coffee. I popped the laundry in the dryer & headed up to see what was up in our room.

After seeing the mayhem that was my young family getting ready I escaped to the mayhem of the End Zone again which by this point was crazy. I almost bailed and got them donuts or something but I decided to stick it out & get hot breakfasts. It really didn't take that long, as long as you can handle obnoxiously loud noises & a million people who have no clue what they are doing (the patrons, not the DIsney people.)

For lunch we were at AK. So we went to the Flame Tree BBQ. I ordered while Dh got seats. I hadn’t realized how huge it was so we didn’t have a how to find each other plan. I called Dh & he didn’t really know where he was so I guessed. I had read in a report that right handed people naturally turn right whenever they get to a two way decision. So I decided to go right at every turn I came to. Nope. He had gone LEFT at every turn. That figures. Stupid news, it's never right. So I backtracked & wandered some more & eventually found him. We had our own cabana and it was a really nice lunch. I had ordered way too much food. I ate & ate & ate.



Since we had gotten a late start we didn’t really fell like going back to our hotel at 4:30pm but our O’hana ADR wasn’t until 7:15pm. So we opted to get on the Poly bus & see if we could get an earlier dinner. We got there before 5 & I went & asked and the lady almost laughed at me. Dh was a bit disappointed but I was rather excited to go hang out at the Poly. We grabbed a hammock & fruity cocktails & the girls had their sand buckets (smart Mommy had brought them just in case) and shovels and played in the sand for over 2 hours. It was so enjoyable. We were totally relaxed & very, very much on vacation. Sooooo sweet! There is no way Dh would have hung out on the beach after dinner for 2 hours so I was grateful O’hana’s didn’t have an earlier opening.



How is this for a view?


O’hanas was AMAZING! They had live Hawaiian music playing which Ariel hula’d to all on her own. We got a table a bit off the beaten track & in no way felt rushed. It was the perfect pace. The peanut sauce was delightful. I ate it on everything. The sausage was gross but all the other meat was amazing. The potatoes made me laugh as I had read so much about them on hear & was looking forward to these unique Hawaiian potatoes. They were exactly the way my family has made scalloped potatoes my whole life. You silly Disers.





I ate a lot of these wings:


Dh ate all of these shrimp himself:


The hula instructor:


The meat, it tastes as good as it looks:


Our server was great. He was from HI. Kanali or Kalani?



Oh, and dessert! HEAVEN! Just heaven. I can’t say anything else. Why is Dh always have a utensil in my photos of dessert? I swear he was secretly trying to keep me thin by not allowing me to eat any sweets!

 

[estherhead]

This is the only day of our vacation that went terribly wrong. THere's always one, right? So we ended up getting a last minute spot at Nine Dragons. I had heard pretty much only terrible things, but mostly we like this.

Here is Dh's drink in China to try to make the pain of our day go away:


Pretasted spring rolls:


I LOVED these yummy potstickers. I don't know if they were bad for me or not.


Funny story here: After the baby woke from her nap she needed nursed. The tables in the China TS are very close together so it was kind of like we were sitting at the same table as 2 couples (probably in their 60's.) So I put a blanket over me& the baby & continue eating. Well the couples had been making goo-goo eyes at the cute baby & kept looking over at us to see if the baby was done eating. The minute she was done she pulled off & ripped the blanket off in one fell swoop which made me grab for cover. They started laughing & dh said, "Dinner AND a show!" They just thought it was so hilarious.

Here she is drunk from the deliciousness of it all.


Orange chicken, I KNOW this was bad for me.


Dh LOVED this yummy fish.


THis is the kid's meal with bowl of rice. THey loved it.


Here is the world's grossest cake. And I KNOW cake:


And here is the strangest ice cream I've ever tasted. Blech.


The name from the stroller parking.

 

[estherhead]

The End Zone:

I loved this fritter. And there is my 32 page color itinerary in the background, also where I kept all my notes.


ANd here is what Dh ate:


And a chocolate croissant to go:




My most anticipated ADR: Le Cellier. We checked into Le Cellier at right around 1 p.m. & the did the Canada Kidcot, our last one. The girls got their posters & we got seated. The baby was being a little pill so Dh & I kept trading her back & forth. I didn’t want to eat bad for me cheese soup so I stuck with my diet plan and ordered the barley soup. It was fairly good but almost impossible to eat with a squirmy baby on my lap. The broth & barley kept falling off my spoon. So I gave up & enjoyed the bread & little bites of cheese soup from the girls. I liked the sourdough bread best, the pretzel bread was just OK. We all ordered steak & Mulan substituted mashed potatoes instead of fries with hers.

We were so stuffed & the baby was so cranky we didn’t want dessert. Dh had taken the baby out of the place so I ordered him crème brulee despite him telling me not to order it. It was free, ya know? And I had read so much about it. So I ordered the s’mores thinking I would let the girls eat it but it was sooooo incredible I had trouble not eating it myself. I also tasted Dh’s crème brulee & it was amazing so I went out and told him to go eat it & I would watch the baby. No, he didn’t want it. Yes you have to go. Finally he was just angry with me & kinda threw the baby (we were calling her crank-butt by this point) at me. Well guess what? He LOVED it and ate the entire thing & part of mine. Yummy, yummy. Why won't husbands listen to their wives? We're so smart.

Matt from BC was our server and we liked him. He promised us he would go skiing when he got home as he had never gone before despite living in the mountains of BC!



Dh loved this appy:


Can you tell he's a seafood man?

The soup:


The soup which can't be eaten while holding a wiggly wee one:


Kid's plate with fries


Kid's plate with potatoes


This looks tiny but the bowl was enormous


Kid's dessert


Oh my goodness I CANNOT believe how delicious this really is:


This is what I made dh come back in for and won the "Things the wife made me do that I didn't want to do that I'm glad she made me" award.

 

[estherhead]

Absolutely ADORED free dining. Wish I could do it every year, but can't. This year will be a November trip & I'm already struggling with editing my food choices!

In retrospect (5 months later with no notes.)

Favorite CS Meal:

Dh: The Cheesecake Factory at DQ. Best value by far.
Me: Honestly? Blizzard Beach's. Simple, good value.

Favorite TS Meal:

Dh: San Angel for food, Whispering Canyon Cafe for atmosphere, O'hana for both
Me: Crystal Palace. Loved it being in MK. Loved the food. But O'hana was a close runner up.
Mulan: Le Cellier. It was quiet & they had steak
Ariel: Le Cellier. See above.

Favorite Dessert:

Dh: Skool Bread
Me: S'mores from Le Cellier
Mulan: The trio from Tony's (how did she even get any of this?)
Ariel: S'mores from Le Cellier

Favorite Appetizer:

Dh: Ohana's shrimp with dips
Me: The soup at Wilderness Cafe with the cornbread
Both girls: Soup at Le Cellier

Favorite Entree:

Dh: Steak at the Wilderness Cafe
Me: Crystal Palace's buffet
Mulan: Steak at Le Cellier
Ariel: The Chinese food (sweet & sour chicken.)

One place we would LOVE to repeat:

Dh: O'hana's
Me: O'hana's
Mulan: Crystal Palace
Ariel: No clue.

So that's it. We love our food & can't wait to re-try some of our favorites & try some new ones. Hope it helps you if you're on the fence of which places to pick. I had a HORRIBLE time decided on ADR's & re did them over & over. But am grateful to everyone on this dining review board for such honesty! Thanks!!!!!

 

[Steph9072]

Great reviews and awesome pictures. Thanks for sharing

 

[ciera321]

Really enjoyed your reviews - Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[estherhead]

Thanks guys! Glad you liked 'em.

 

[tweetylori]

How wonderful to come on board and find such a wonderful, entertaining,and complete report. Thank you so much!

 

[estherhead]

You're so welcome, tweetylori. I'm glad you enjoyed it and hope it helps you!

 

[Leslieann1024]

What a delightful dining review ! I loved your detail, and your personal family touches. (I will admit to emitting a muffled giggle when I read the breastfeeding bit - I've had the same thing happen !).

Thanks again for sharing !

 

[estherhead]

Thanks Leslieann! Glad my little peep show story made you laugh. Being that this is the third kid, it made me laugh too.

 

[BabyPiglet]

The potatoes made me laugh as I had read so much about them on hear & was looking forward to these unique Hawaiian potatoes. They were exactly the way my family has made scalloped potatoes my whole life. You silly Disers.

We had the same thoughts!

Anyways, I adore the reviews. They sound like they came from me! We were there during free dining as well, loved it. Plan to go back this year.

Again, great reviews!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent