A Christmas trip that was all about the Dining, But aren't they all!Updated 1/8

[exwdwcm]

Hi Vicki- found you!

love those shirts- you guys just look so great in that pic!!!!

loving all the reviews. Sorry CRT was a bummer. I avoid it if at all possible, but i know you gotta do it for the little girls sometimes. and so glad you enjoyed the dessert party and your daughter was able to enjoy the fireworks. we did the party last Dec and enjoyed it- i might try it again next year too. DH wanted to do it this Dec, but we had so much going on already between the MVMCP and other stuff, that I just didn't want to stick another thing in for us to do. but you make me miss doing it!

 

[Vickis3js]

Hi Vicki- found you!

love those shirts- you guys just look so great in that pic!!!!

loving all the reviews. Sorry CRT was a bummer. I avoid it if at all possible, but i know you gotta do it for the little girls sometimes. and so glad you enjoyed the dessert party and your daughter was able to enjoy the fireworks. we did the party last Dec and enjoyed it- i might try it again next year too. DH wanted to do it this Dec, but we had so much going on already between the MVMCP and other stuff, that I just didn't want to stick another thing in for us to do. but you make me miss doing it!

Yeah the things we do for our kids LOL.

We had a lot going on this trip too. We ended up canceling a bunch of ADRs it got a little insane. I think my approach this trip was I was anticipating way bigger crowds so I wanted to make sure if the parks were unmanegable we would have something to do. But lucky us the parks were not that bad.

I see you are going in Oct in 2011. I am jealous I want to do food and wine so bad. My kids play football/cheer and DH coaches so unless they decide to give it up I don't see me going then until they are much older.

 

[Vickis3js]

Alrighty now that the drama of having our company work van ran into in front of our house has settled a bit I can get on with this review. I am going to try and finish it today.

I will start with a pleasant surprise. Liberty Tree Tavern. Now I will admit that I am reviewing out of order. We did LTT on Christmas eve I booked kind of late in the game because when I looked at our plans and saw that we have a 6pm dinner and then the dessert party I said thats so not going to work. So I decided to do a late lunch at LTT. We arrived a tad before our 2:45 adr and we were given a pager and I swear like 1 minute later it went off. I wondered why in the world they even bothered.

We were seated right off the entrance in a corner which I actually enjoyed. Now I KNEW that I wanted to try the Tavern Fried Cheese. With 3 kids we ordered 2 of them.

It was tasty.

So I got the Pilgrims Feast

It was really good as well. It came our hot and it was a really big portion for lunch. It was nice to have the veggies since it seems that in most meals they are not included so they were actually the first thing gone from my plate.

DH ordered a pasta dish that I can not find on any menu.

He ate it. He said it wasn't bad but it wasn't mine. See DH does this atleast once every trip. He will ask me what to order from the reviews I've read and pics I've seen. I will tell him a few options and he will go with somethung different. I knew I wanted to either try the turkey or pot roast so I told him to get one and I would get the other and we would split. But NOOOOO he had to order what he wanted. He did try mine and said it was really good and would have loved to have tried the pot roast. UGHHH men!

Now my DD ordered something that will prove that Disney lacks in the veggie department she ordered the Colony Salad

She liked it but she said it needed a little more dressing. She said the bottom didn't taste like much. She ate a nice portion of it.

DS and DD #2 both got the kids turkey

Now you see that the soup came with their meal. This happened a few times. Its listed as an app so why does it come with the meal? Anyway the portions for the kids as you see is rather large. The kids LOVED it but couldn't eat all of it. They were really really really happy here!

Now onto dessert! DD didn't know if she wanted the chocolate dessert or the apple tart and I kinda felt like the apple tart so I ordered that

and DD got mad and ordered the chocolate one LOL

SHe LOVED the chocolate dessert, which I think is different then the brownie I see listed on allears. I let her try the apple tart and she bragged about how much better hers was. She is a stinker. I must say the apple tart was really good though. I really enjoyed it, but I LOVE apple desserts. DH ordered the sugar free sorbet and got pretty much the same dessert he did at CRT he enjoyed it yet again.

Now I didn't get the kids desserts because they went with the ice cream sundae and well if you've seen one then you've seen them all.

We went into LTT not expecting much at all but we really enjoyed it. We will be adding it to our return to list. I can't see us enjoying the dinner there as we did the lunch but we might give it a try.

 

[Vickis3js]

Sci Fi oh Sci Fi how I love thee. Chocolate milk shake and alcohol nuff said!!! Now I have pics for here but I can tell you that they suck. I have no clue what was up with my camera this trip. It took really bad pics and normally we don't have that problem. Not only that but its dark and I really did not want to use the flash much here because its so dark.

We checked in a few minutes before our 12:10 ADR and people were trying to get walk ups but were being turned away. We were seated in a matter of minutes. We got a car all to ourselves. DS and DD #2 sat in the front DD #1 in the middle and DH and I in the back. I felt bad having one of my kids sit by themselves but she offered and she liked actually being in the middle. Plus it would have gotten ugly if I tried putting all 3 in one row. My kids may be young but my kids are not small.

So I had to try the Onion rings. So we ordered those. Here is a pic but its way too dark

I also knew I had to have a Space Monkey. DH was thrilled that they had sugar free ice cream and that they could make him one with that. His was vanilla because thats all they had. Again another worthless pic

DS and DD #2 decided they were not ordering from the kids menu here. Since we were paying OOP it was no problem at all. They decided to split the turkey sandwich. They brought it out on 2 plates already split and they each had their own order of fries. It was the PERFECT portion for them. I believe DD left a lot of fries and DS left a little of both. I do not have a pic because of the glare sorry.

DH, DD#1 and I all got the burger. I really wish DD and I had split one. I ate maybe half of mine and she didn't even eat half of hers. They are HUGE and tasty. DD and I just had bacon, cheddar, lettuce,and tomato. DH had all that plus mushrooms and onions. Here is a good pic of mine

It was really a good burger.

For dessert the kids got oreo shakes which there was no way they could have finished.They said they were awesome though. I had to try the chocolate pb cake. DH stole a bite and when he did he took almost all of the PB center. I could have stabbed him with my spoon. I was only able to take a few bites of dessert. It was tasty though would have been better if my hubby didn't steal the best part of it!

So the results for Sci Fi are good ones. We will definatly be adding it to our do again list. We will just learn from our past mistakes and DD #1 and I will split a meal.

 

[Vickis3js]

This is a review of an ADR made that day. We getting towards the end of our vacation and we were tired. I was sick and DD #1 wasn't feeling too well so we knew we needed an early night. So we canceld our Cape May cafe ADR and since we were staying at OKW we got one for Olivia's for earlier in the night. I had read a lot of good things about this place and we were not disappointed.

DH and I decided to try the Conch fritters. They were ok. Much better then I expected. They did not have an overly seafood taste. We've never had conch so we were not sure what to expect. Not sure we would order them again but I think thats just our taste though.

For dinner DH and DD #1 went with the special of the day. It was chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans

DH said it was good just a little salty. He couldn't pin point if the extra salt was from the chicken breading or the gravy. DD said it was good as well.

I had the Key west salad with steak.

It was good. I would have liked a TAD more dressing and I am not a fan of a lot of dressing. I think the reason I think it needed more was because it was heavier on the oil then the acid. So I think it needed a tad more flavor. But it was not bad. I actually ate all of the salad and left a bunch of the steak. I would order this again but maybe ask for the dressing on the side. You tend to get a little more that way.

DD #2 went with the grilled chicken total shocker

she ate all but a few fries. She said it was good nothing special.

DS was going through pasta withdraw so he had to have the pasta with meat sauce

He licked his plate clean!

For dessert DH and I both had a Key lime martini with it

wow was this tart and strong. We drank it though LOL

I got the Key lime tart since I had heard so much about it

it was yummy. Definatly did not disappoint.

DH got the no sugar added lemon pound cake

DH was happy it was not sorbet. He was honestly sorbeted out. He said it was good. It was light and fresh and the fruit and whipped cream really made it a nice dessert.

DD #1 got the banana bread pudding sundae

this was good but looked odd. That thing on top is the sauce that hardened over the cold ice cream. The syrup is SUPER DUPER sweet. Like almost too sweet. The bread pudding was really good though.

The other 2 got the the sundae which they had fun taking pics of LOL

Here is one of them.

Ok so what made this place so darn special was the service and the atmosphere. OUr server was awesome. All of them really intereacted with their tables and made it seem like it was a local joint and we were regulars. We were even picked as family of the day and we got a certificate and balloons. The kids LOVED that. The food was good too so that made it even better. Even though our experiance with OKW was not a good one we would return to Olivia's to dine!!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I love all the sprinkles on the sundae at Olivias! I always over-accessorize my desserts too!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

joining in!! everything looks great!!

 

[Vickis3js]

Alright so I am back with more. I am going to try and finish today. I know I know I know I said that before but I didn't realize I had so many more places to review. Wow we ate a lot on this trip LOL.

So I will be reviewing Earl of Sandwich. This and WGPE is our favorite CS places.

I got my favorite sandwich in the entire world. The Caprese its light and fresh and tasty.

DD #1 got the same thing. We had split it on our last trip.

DD #2 and DS got the kids pizza sandwich and a fruit cup

They both really enjoyed it.

DH got the original I believe but he started eating before I could get a pic and well one bite made that thing look kinda gross. He said he would definatly get it again.

This place was crazy busy. The line moves quickly though. Only problem is finding a place to sit and eat. Thankfully someone saw us wandering and let us know they were getting up so she said to grab it while she cleaned up her mess.

 

[Vickis3js]

Now on to Christmas breakfast. The kids got to pick where we dined today. They all chose WCC so WCC it was. Now we had eaten here before for dinner on Christmas and we enjoyed it so figured why not for breakfast.

So we got there a little early since we happened to get really really lucky. When we got to the bus stop at OKW a DHS bus pulled up so we jumped on. When we got off at DHS we were looking for the WL stop and I guess we looked confused because a CM standing by a van asked what we were looking for. When we told him the WL bus he said you are in luck and opened the van door and told us to hop in. He said they were trying to give the buses a break and had vans transported people back to resorts since it was early and only a few people there.

So we checked in a few mins early and we were seated 5 min later. Our server was tootsie pop or something like that. She was ok but not as into it as the guy not too far from us. He had us in tears. We totally had server envy. But he liked our shirts so he would mess with us occasionally.

We all got the skillet except for DS who got the french toast.

this is the best pic I have of the skillet. This is the best pic I got of the french toast

We enjoyed the skillet. DH is the only one who eats the gravy. He said it wasn't that great. Everything else was good though. They have a different sausage here that DH likes a lot though.

Now to explain the pics. The table next to us had all the ketchup. When they were finally able to get rid of it and give it to the table behind us the mom dropped us a bottle of ketchup. Now when our food came Tootsie asked how we got the ketchup. I told her that DS had stolen it. So she started calling for security and yelling about a ketchip their. So goes off and comes back with the jail thing. OMG it was a riot. Then she had everyone bring us the ketchup so DS wouldn't go around stealing anymore. The kids had a blast with this. They really loved eating here. Its like dinner and a show all in one.

We have this on our return to list for both breakfast and dinner. Mainly because it is a lot of fun!

 

[Vickis3js]

Now onto our BIGGEST disappointment of the trip. Chef Mickeys. Now we knew not to expect much and yet we were still disappointed. We had eaten her for Christmas Brunch in 08 and figured we would give it a try for Christmas dinner, expecially since we had the fireworks cruise that night and needed to be there anyway.

Now they have done some remodeling since we had been there and all I have to say is WHY??? They changed the check in area and now have random chairs and ottomons thrown all over the waiting area. It looks like a hot mess and not finished. So I hope that they have some sort of plan for it. I did think the photo set up is a little better though. Looked like the plate got a facelift too.

We checked in a little early and we were seated within 10 mins.

So we go to the buffet and this is my first plate

Potatoes were really l little loose and tasteless, green beans cold, and mac and cheese tasted like nothing. The roast was good not very flavorful but it was tender.

DH's plate

He enjoyed the turkey and that is it. He said the beef/pasta thing was gross, fish was dry and over cooked, he agreed about the beans and the ravioli were cold as well. Oh and there is an orchietta pasta there that was DISGUSTING!!!! It tasted like chemicals. I had to force myself to swallow it.

This

was the only saving grace here and I really enjoyed it. Chicken and corn chowder. It was really good. I ate 2 bowls of it and that was it.

For dessert the kids got ice cream and DH had fruit since they ahve nothing sugar free and I never thought to put anything on the ADR. This is what I got

I was not a fan of any of it. The mickey bon bons were ok the top was kinda flavorless and the bottom was stale. The other is a pumpkin cheesecake and that was ok.

The character all came by rather quickly here Pluto played with the kids a bit and interacted with them. Mickey came by and rushed off. The others were somewhere in the middle of taking time and being playful and rushing off.

Now normally my DH will find somethng to eat but here he wasn't even happy and didn't eat much. So when he does that I know its not good and not just me being picky. So this is not on our list to return to.

 

[Vickis3js]

Olivia's for breakfast on check out day. Now I have no pics because we had packed the bag and silly me put the camera in the suitcase. Now we had originally planned to check out and go over to Cape May for a goodbye character breakfast. But after reading about the horror stories on here about dining credits vanishing upon checkout we decided to go ask about it. We were told that more then likely they would be gone. We were told to pay for it or charge it to the room. THen go back to OKW and they would then deal with it. Being that we were already dealing with driving home to/into a blizzard we didn't want to deal with the extra stress. So we figured we would cancel Cape May and schedule a Olivia's breakfast for before checkout. So tahts what we did.

DH got the omelet with everything. He liked it and ate it all. The potatoes were yummy I stole some.

DD #1 got the omelet but with cheese and onions she said it was good.

I got the banana bread french toast. Was NOT a fan. The syrup was sickening sweet. I ate the piece in the middle that was not swimming in it. I was thankful I also got the fresh strawberries and cream. I mean this was 10 times sweeter then the tonga toast.

The 2 kids got the Good Morning Donald - Scrambled Eggs and Bacon, Breakfast Potatoes and Toast
They left happy.

It was definatly not the character buffet we had planned but it was not bad. I just would not order the french toast again. It was nice to not deal with the DDP credit issue and to be on the road earlier.

Not sure we would make a special trip here for breakfast though.

 

[Vickis3js]

Alright I think that was all of our TS places. I noticed I forgot a few of the CS meals so I will add them now.

Mexico La Cantina we were planning on eating at the new La Hacienda but I kept seeing more and more bad reviews and didn't want to chance it. But I noticed that this place was getting good reviews so I scheduled this one into our plans just to try it.

DH got Tacos de Carne - grilled beef tacos served on fresh handmade corn tortillas with Pico de Gallo, lime and corn tortilla chips $11.95

I got Tacos de Pollo - marinated grilled chicken served on fresh handmade corn tortillas with Pico de Gallo, lime and corn tortilla chips $10.95

DD #1 Got Nachos - corn tortilla chips with ground beef, nacho cheese, fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, black beans, and sour cream $9.95

All with the idea that we would share them. I thought the chicken ones were a littel spicey so DH ate most of them. I really liked his beef ones so 1 of his and half of one of mine. But I ate a lot of DD's nachos. They were HUGE and tasty!!!! I wish we would have jsut gotten 2 orders of them and we all could have split them and saved the kids and 1 CS credit thats how big they were.

Now the kids got the chicken tenders and ate them all.

For dessert we got 3 orders of churros but we were all so full we ended up wrapping them up and putting them in a bag. The kids snacked on them later and said they were still tasty.

This is definatly a great value on the DDP. Bill was over $60 and we had enough food to feed an army.

 

[Vickis3js]

Cosmic Rays

We all were boring we all got the chicken tenders. DD and I split an order. We loved being able to get the cheese sauce. We also really liked the seating set up. It was nice walking up to someone with our food, telling them we had 5, and then walking to a table. It definatly beat wondering around with food for 10 mins trying to find a table. Our food was actually still hot when we sat down!!

 

[Vickis3js]

Wolfgang Puck Express

Another one of our favs. It was a toss up this night between eating here again or going to Cookes. Since DH didn't feel like eating fried food we went here.

I got the half chicken. The only thing I can really say about this is that the chicken was moist. I wish I could taste it but I was sick and because of that I could not taste a thing. I was so very sad. I can tell you that I was a little sad about you can no longer order a side salad here. I don't mean with the DDP I mean you can't period they no longer offer them only the huge meal sized ones.

DH got the meatballs and peppers pizz he thought it was alright. He said it wasn't bad. But we live where we can get awesome pizza so thats why nothing is ever really awesome.

DD #1 got the pennette chicken alfredo. She said it was yummy and that the bacon made it extra yummy. Neither DH or I tried it DS tried it and said it was really good.

DS got the kids spaghetti and it was 2 twirls of his fork and he was done. My DS is my light eater and this wasn't even enough for him. Thankfully DD #1 had plenty to share with him.

DD #2 got the kids pizza. This was not much smaller then DH's. She enjoyed it.

For dessert I got the cheesecake but was sad that I could not taste it. DH said it was good nice and creamy.

DH got a fruit cup and the kids all got the frozen yogurt which they all loved.

This bill was just shy of $100. On the DDP that is awesome for a CS place!

 

[Vickis3js]

Last review for this trip will be snacks we got at Main Street Bakery. Which to me is like heavan on earth!!!!!

We got a bunch of things to go on Christmas Eve and it all made it home.....Well almost.

We got banana bread pudding. OMG this stuff is AWESOME. I am dreaming of it right now. I need to find out how to make it. This is the one thing that did not make it home, well all the way home. We had to stop in NC on the way home for the night due to the blizzard. This was my dinner because everything was closed due to the weather by 7pm. Made a killer dinner too!!

Walnut brownie that I took 3 days to eat once home because it was so darn good.

Sugar free chocolate muffin DH said it was dry but in its defense the container had been open for who knows how long. But he said it tasted good.

Holiday cupcakes that the kids all got one of and they enjoyed it.

This is my favorite place to get snacks. I love coming home with some of them too. Prolongs my vacation!!

Now the rest of our snacks were jus the prepackaged candy and stuff that we brought home to give to friends and family.

 

[Vickis3js]

Now to sum it all up.

This will probably be our last year on the DDP. DS does not eat enough to justify the cost. This will probably also be the last year we do buffett dinners. Atleast until he starts to grow LOL.

DDP costs us 1199.60 or around there. The receipts that I could find totaled around $1500 but that was with no snacks and I was missing a CS meal. We also left with 2 unused CS meals. So it definalty saved us some money.

For the restaurants we dined at
Tusker House
Kona Cafe
WCC breakfast
liberty Tree Tavern lunch
Sci FI
Were all added to our will return to list

Olivia's dinner
Mama Melrose
Were added to our maybe list

CRT
CM dinner
Le Celier
Were all added to not returning to list

As far as CS places
La Cantina
Earl of Sandwich
Wolfgangs
Sassagoula floatworks
Are all on our return to list

Cosmic Rays
Sunshine seasons
are both maybes

So I hoped you liked my review. DH and I are hoping to be able to go in March and then we will be returning again for sure in Dec 2011 where we will have 10days of dining to review. All of which will be new to us, well wiht the exception of my meal with Pooh LOL.

Thanks so much for reading!!!

 

[sunnysideup3]

Great job on the dining reviews! You were really thorough and honest!

 

[jenseib]

Thanks for the review.
What is the story about the vanishing dining credits? I haven't heard this yet? Is it just from Cape May or all places?

 

[Vickis3js]

Thanks for the review.
What is the story about the vanishing dining credits? I haven't heard this yet? Is it just from Cape May or all places?

Not sure if its a DVC thing or across the board thing. From what I've read and from what the CM at OKW said is that for some reason when you check out they clear your card. So none of the credits you have left are useable. They said that the front desk staff at whatever resort you were staying in can see that you still have credits left but the restaurants can't.