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A DREAM is a WISH your HEART makes ..... 18 days of Free Disney Dining! (with pix)

Another great update. :thumbsup2

I think that brownie was the Butter finger brownie. Looks good!

Thank you!! I knew it was something special, but really couldn't remember!!

Oooh! I want to know what was borrowed so I can look for the Austrian products in January!

Well, first of all Swarovski crystals are AUSTRIAN. They are selling a lot of their stuff. Then there are quite a few "traditional" fabrics, like tablecloths and napkins and stuff. Just turn them over and it will say Made in Austria!!!

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(I knew these would come in handy one day! :rotfl: )
Needless to say that there are very often sweets that are Austrian - like the Mozartballs (the ones they had lately were a cheap German copy of the real Austrian ones), plus they used to sell Mannerschnitten, which are as Viennese as something can get.
Needless to say, that I have yet to meet a German who hides a pickle on his christmas tree! :lmao:

Guten Morgen!

I love your review. I had to cancel my October trip so I am living vicariously though you.

I'm with you on the the stuff that the Germans are "borrowing" from Austria....the first time I saw the Mozart balls for sale it really took me back! (But they are very good!)

Jill in CO

Thank you!! You should try the "real" Austrian Mozart balls by Mirabell :thumbsup2 - they are out of this world yummy - not like the stuff they sell in Epcot Germany!
 
(I knew these would come in handy one day! :rotfl: )


Thank YOU! I'll have four kids under foot while I'm shopping so it helps to have a game plan, and Austria is so very close to my heart that I HAVE to come home with something special!

I love the table coverings- that may very well be what I come home with!
 
Thank YOU! I'll have four kids under foot while I'm shopping so it helps to have a game plan, and Austria is so very close to my heart that I HAVE to come home with something special!

I love the table coverings- that may very well be what I come home with!

You are very welcome! They do sell little fabric "baskets" for bread, you can see one in one of the shelves in the photo. These are really traditional Austrian!
 
Congrats on winning your ears and I'm always amazed that they sell Toblerone in Germany when it's Swiss :confused:
 


You are very welcome! They do sell little fabric "baskets" for bread, you can see one in one of the shelves in the photo. These are really traditional Austrian!

That's fantastic! We serve bread with just about every meal and a bread basket would be a perfect souvenir! The blue and white fits in with our decor too... a match made in heaven!
 
Congrats on winning your ears and I'm always amazed that they sell Toblerone in Germany when it's Swiss :confused:

I am SO with you!!! I can never believe what else they "borrow" from other countries, LOL! ;)

That's fantastic! We serve bread with just about every meal and a bread basket would be a perfect souvenir! The blue and white fits in with our decor too... a match made in heaven!

Great!! I am happy I could help! :goodvibes
 
Aug 4 - Farewell dinner at the California Grill

Tom and I went home to the resort to do some more packing, having travelled for four weeks, we had gathered a LOT of stuff, which needed to be packed away carefully. We both then had a shower and got changed before we went over to the Contemporary for our farewell dinner.

We had our car Valet parked at the Contemporary and went to meet Mary Ellen and Joe, who had spent the rest of the day at Epcot. Right on time they arrived and I showed them the new restaurant "The Wave", where we had eaten two weeks prior. We made a note to ourselves to put The Wave on our list for next summer :goodvibes .

Then we signed in at the second floor and were taken upstairs immediately. Since we were early AND they were already running behind we decided to go outside and enjoy the few and the watch the sunset.

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We then went inside and got some seats and waited some more. After about 45 minutes Joe went to the podium to inquire about a possible seating time. That's when they discovered that there was a mistake and they didn't have us on the list until about 2 hours later. Thankfully that was resolved soon and we were seated within 5 minutes.

Tom had another Whiskey Sour

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while Mary Ellen and I had a Strawberry Daiquiri

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The server took our order and while we waited brought out some bread. butter and olive oil for dipping. Their sourdough bread is very nice and it was served fresh and warm. The oil they serve is very strong and tasty. Butter is still that - butter!

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We ordered some flatbreads to share as our starters. Mary Ellen and Joe had the "Chef's Garden" Heirloom Tomato Flatbread - Made with roasted garlic, provolone and arugula. Well, it was very nice.

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Tom and I had decided to try the Roasted Chicken Flatbread - Made with Applewood smoked bacon, crisp romaine, caramelized onions, and lemon mayo
which was sooooooo yummy! The lemon mayo corresponded so well with the romaine and the onions - I could have made a meal out of that flatbread alone.

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For our maincourses the Americans chose the Oak-fired Filet of Beef with Boniato Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Haricot Vert and Teriyaki Barbeque Sauce. Joe had his without the greens and sauce. Both seemed to enjoy it and cleaned their plates.

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I finally talked Tom into trying my all time favourite dish at the California Grill, the Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Goat Cheese Polenta, Button Mushrooms and Zinfandel Glaze. No matter how stuffed I feel, this is the dish that is always eaten to the last bite! :thumbsup2

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Joe chose to have coffee instead of dessert. Tom and Mary Ellen had the Valrhona Chocolate Cake and Apricots Warm Chocolate Cake with Molten Center, House-made Apricot Ice Cream and Apricot Sauce. Another favourite, which never fails to please - what can you say against, warm gooey chocolate cake, paired with ice-cream.

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Well, the Creme Bruleé lover (= me) found out they now offer "The Original" - The California Grill's legendary butterscotch creme brulee with a duo of banana cakes, and caramelized bananas. Fab Creme Bruleé, the small chocolate cake that came with it was yummy, the other one was a bit dry.

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Tom and I had some coffee, Tom had Espresso (sorry, no photo) and I had another Cappuccino

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The timing was just perfect. When we had finished our desserts we went outside and watched the fireworks.

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and the Water Pageant

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We then settled the bill, picked up the car and went to Krispy Kreme to pick up some more fresh doughnuts for breakfast before we went back to the resort. This was our last day together. Tom and I had decided to get up early and check out of the resort to be able to hit the MK for the day, while Mary Ellen and Joe intended to sleep late, pack up things and hit the MK late in the day as they stayed for the MVMCP. This meant saying goodbye that evening. We sat in our room laughing and having fun for a long time, before we had a tearful goodbye and everyone went to one's rooms.

To be continued ............ only one more time
Next up - Peco's Bills, Wolfgang Puck's Express (yeah, again), Goofy's Candy Company and airplane food!
 


Was the creme brulee more butterscotchy or banana-y? DH loves butterscotch but can take or leave banana so I'm wondering if he will like that.

Great update!
 
NO, NO I don't want the story to end. You must continue to vacation forever...

Well, it's about time to close THIS chapter :lmao: , but ..........

We are going to DLRP in early December and I intend to post a Dining review too.
We are going to DLRP AGAIN in June and I intend to post a Dining review too.
AND
Since it's going to be a milestone birthday for me next summer we have another trip planned. It includes
5 days at the Disneyland Resort in California - means LOTS of food reviews
3 nights at one of the new CBR Pirate Rooms with DDP -more food reviews
4 nights on the Disney Wonder - even more food reviews
and
11 nights on the free DDP (bounceback) - the ultimate in food reviews.

So, in a way ...... your wish is my command ;) We'll just take a short break and earn some money for Mickey! :lmao:

Was the creme brulee more butterscotchy or banana-y? DH loves butterscotch but can take or leave banana so I'm wondering if he will like that.

Great update!

Actually it had more of a banana taste then butterscotch. But even the banana taste was very faint and would only intensify if you had some of the caramelized bananas with it.

what do you mean you are leaving and only have one more installment?!!!

:goodvibes Yip, we needed to go home and "stock up" on Disneydollars. :rotfl:

Wow, your Le Cellier review was fantastic! I can't wait to go there!

I hope your experience there will be just like ours. :thumbsup2
 
Sept 5 - Peco's Bills, Wolfgang Puck's Express (yeah, again), Goofy's Candy Company and airplane food!

Our last night at Pop Century Resort had ended, they had NOT forgotten to hang one of their "billing envelopes" on our door handle, so it was time to go. We finished some of our Cokes and the Krispy Kreme doughnuts before Tom drove the car over to the luggage loading zone and we started taking everything down. It took about 20 minutes to get everything down and into the car. When we were done with everything, we went over to Mary Ellen and Joe's room again, but everything was quiet and they had the "Privacy Please" in the lock, so we didn't want to disturb them and left Pop.
We always spend our last day at the Magic Kingdom, so this is where we went.
When we got there, they had finished all the Halloween decorations and it looked beautiful. We had lots of Photopass photos taken (in the end we ended up with 1400 photo - edited ones included). I can tell you it helps to tell the photographer you have already purchased the CD, they do a lot more poses with you!!
The park was really empty and we were able to go on ALL our favourite rides at least once more before we left. While we were in Frontierland we shared a CS credit at Pecos Bill's.
We had the Chili Cheese Fries and a diet coke. There was more than enough for the two of us to share. It's not a LIGHT snack!! but yummy!

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We went on Big Thunder Mountain 3 times in a row because wait times were really low and it was around mid day!

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Same with Space Mountain!

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Within 4 hours we were able to do everything we wanted at least once.

By 2 pm we needed to leave, we had two CS credits and a few snack credits left and we KNEW where to spend them!

We went to DTD for one last lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express!!! We both decided to try a sandwich this time. Tom had the Roast Beef and Chedder (oven warmed) sandwich - thinly sliced Niman Ranch beef, sharp cheddar, mixed baby greens, tomato, Horseradish sauce and Dijon Aioli. It was just disneyliscious!!! So good!!!

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I had the Rotisserie Beef and Gorgonzola Pocket - house roasted Niman Ranch rotisserie beef, Gorganzola, red onions, chopped Romaine, Roma tomatoes and Horseradish Caesar . All I can say is YUM!!!!!! It was a HUGE serving, but so good!

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Needless to say we didn't want to leave without having dessert there once more. And yes, you guessed it - I had another Creme Bruleé. I still believe it is one of the best you can get in WDW!!!!

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Tom chose another frozen yoghurt. We nicknamed it the patriotic dessert, LOL. When I went to pick it up they only had a few strawberries left, so they offered blueberries as well. Now, this is what we got - very patriotic, don't you think?

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Next stop Goofy's Candy Company to spend the last two of our snack credits! Yes, we finished them ALL off!!!!

We got some some dipped Marshmallows and a rice krispy treat!

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By then it was really time to leave and head for the airport. We filled up the car, returned it to the Hertz car rental station near the airport and got onto the shuttle. We were really lucky because there were only about 5 families ahead of us at check in. We took our luggage over to the inspection and went to the Main Hall of the airport, where all the shops are. More windowshopping, before we finished off our Cokes and went through the security checks.
Our plane left on time and we were served dinner. What a shock from the wonderful food we had just enjoyed during the last 4 weeks.

Here are our dinner plates! The pasta was nice and the salad too. I did not care for the dessert at all!

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Then it was time for sleeping aid from Walgreens and a few hours of very uncomfortable sleeping in these airplane seats.

Next was breakfast - another plate of airplane food!

The fruit was quite nice, but the omelette tasted like cardboard!

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We had a stopover in Frankfurt and longed for some real food! Don't forget this is a 10 hour flight!!

We went to the airport restaurant and ordered pizza and a mixed salad each.
Tom had a ham and salami pizza.

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I had a cheese pizza, but both did not live up to WPE pizzas!!! By far NOT!!!!

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Well, that was it!!! The WISH my HEART made had come true. 18 days of Free Disney Dining (plus a few extra days at UO)
I hope you all enjoyed the "ride" and hope to see you all again in 5 more weeks when I will be reviewing some of the restaurants at DLRP!!

See you then and THANKS for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Oh, by the way, if you want to read what else happened in between meals - visit my homepage! I am working on putting ALL our adventures up in the next few days!)

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Thank you so much for such wonderful reviews and photos - so sad they have come to an end - for now. ;)

I'm sure you'll have a fabulous time in DLRP - it is so magical at Christmas time. :goodvibes

Looking forward to more of your disneylicious reviews in the future. :hippie:
 
Thank you for a lovely review and I had to laugh that you had your final WDW meal at WPE, thanks again :goodvibes
 
Thanks so much for taking the time to post your fantastic reviews! I'm leaving in a few days and you've got me pumped up!!!!:woohoo:
 
I have really enjoyed your TR and cannot wait to experience so many of these things for myself on my first trip in January!
 
Awesome reviews, I loved every minute of it! And now I'm torn on what to get at WPE. I was set on those foccaica wrap things that Tom kept getting, but after seeing those sandwiches...:confused3 It all looks TOO GOOD! Creme Brulee for sure though. :cloud9:
 
Thank you so much for sharing! I really enjoyed your reviews. It's funny as much as some people hated the frogs from the begining I actually missed them when you were at POP. :laughing:
 

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