A First Time Family Review of 8 days on DDP (8/13-8/21)

[ajkoos]

So we were at Blizzard Beach and I packed plenty of snacks (granola bars, cheese nips, fig newtons, potato chips) to munch on while we were swimming.

As a result, we weren't really hungry, just kind of hungry around lunchtime. Most of the food at Blizzard Beach didn't look very appealing so we chose to go to Cooling Hut and use two snack credits for Nachos and a soft Pretzel.

The nachos came with a container of cheese and were just okay. There definitely was not enough cheese for our family but there were plenty of chips.

The pretzel was good sized and very yummy. It actually hit the spot on a hot day.

Cost:
Nachos - $3.49
Pretzel - $3.79

Total: $7.76 (used two snack credits)

 

[ajkoos]

This was sort of the accidental dinner. This was the only night that we would be able to see Fantasmic while we were at WDW and while we knew we would have to get in line early, we weren't quite expecting it to be at 6:45 p.m. That meant we hadn't had a chance to stop for dinner, and after the light (non) lunch we had, we were all hungry.

So we got in line for Fantasmic and once we were inside and seated (which because of where we were in line, we got seated smack dab in the center of the auditorium. The seats were fantastic!) I went back out to just grab food at the various food kiosks on Sunset Boulevard and of course, everybody wanted something from a different place, so I was balancing a tray with all different types of food (after standing in three different lines) as I walked back into Fantasmic.

DH - He got a pulled pork bbq sandwich from Fairfax Fare. The sandwich came with cole slaw, a piece of chocolate cake and he got a coke. This was a good sandwich. It had lots of meat and wasn't full of sloppy, wet BBQ sauce. I would have like to try a bite but he ate it so quickly, I didn't have a chance.

Me and DS - We split a double cheeseburger and fries from Rosie's All American Cafe. I usually only eat a single burger so I knew that there would be plenty of meat for both me and DS. Not to mention he ate most of the fries. The burger was about 1/3 pound of meat and was okay. Better than McDonald's but not as good as the local burger places that specialize in juicy burgers. We also had the same chocolate cake that DH had, nothing special.

DD - She had cheese pizza. Which looked like the crappy cheese pizza we saw all over WDW. Being a kid, she loved it and ate the whole thing (except the crust, she hates crust.)

Cost:
BBQ sandwich - $9.99
Double Cheeseburger - $8.09
Kids Meal Cheese Pizza - $4.99
Chocolate Cake - $3.59 each
Coke - $2.19
Bottled Water - $2.50

Total: $37.23 (3 QS credits)

Given how long we had to wait for the 9 p.m. show, we were able to eat and finish dinner by 8:15 p.m. while we sat in our bleacher seats. It took a little bit of maneuvering but we managed not to spill anything. Plus, the CMs at the food court area told me that they allow people to take trays into Fantasmic all the time and to just leave the tray on top of the trash bins.

So while we had originally anticipated eating at another QS at DHS that night, this worked out just fine. It just wasn't our favorite QS meal of the trip.

 

[ajkoos]

As you've probably noticed, we don't eat a lot for breakfast. And while my husband is now protesting the commando-style WDW vacation we took (just because I made him make RD at all the parks...), he doesn't eat breakfast when we're at home anyway.

So Rix Cafe was perfect for us.

On this morning we picked up two cinnamon rolls and two Minute Maid cranapple juices and a banana to go with granola bars we had brought. Now I will say these were good cinnamon rolls, not great. They were a little crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle. They were a decent size, but not like the ones at Main Street bakery which we tried later in the trip.

Cost:
Cinnamon roll - $3.95 each
Juice - $2.99 each
Banana - 99 cents

Total cost: $15.85 (4 snack credits used, paid $1.06 OOP for banana)

 

[ajkoos]

Let me just start with this....It was the worst meal we had at WDW.

And I wasn't sure if I should call this a review of Ananadapur Local Cafes since that is the CS for Yak & Yeti but all the receipts said Yak & Yeti so this the restaurant name I'm going to smackdown in this post.

We knew going into our day at Animal Kingdom that we were probably not going to be happy with the CS that day. We had been looking forward to FlameTree for months until the middle of the summer when we learned that it was going to be closed for renovation while we were at WDW. So we basically picked the closest CS to where we were at that moment when we were hungry. BIG MISTAKE. The food was awful. And even though I wasn't expecting much, I expected it to be at least Panda Express quality or Manchu Wok and it didn't come close. And being Chinese, I should have known better than to eat at Yak & Yeti, but we were hungry.

What we ordered:

DH - Orange Beef. Lots of peppers and scallions in this over white rice. The beef was too tough and chewy.

Me - Sweet and sour chicken. The chicken was deep fried and oily. And the veggies with it were just blah.

DD - Kids cheeseburger. Not a great burger, but not a bad one either. But at this point in our trip, we realized we wouldn't be getting great burgers at WDW from CS restaurants anyway.

DS - Kids chicken bites. Your typical chicken nuggets, nothing great about these.

Note: Allears.net shows that you can sub out Fried Rice with the kids meal instead of carrot sticks or applesauce. I was not allowed to do that when I ordered their meals.

We also ordered four egg rolls, figuring you couldn't screw up egg rolls too badly. We were wrong. The pork filling was too spicy and they weren't crunchy like they had been sitting under a heat lamp all day.

Cost:
Orange beef - $10.99
Sweet n sour - $9.99
Kid cheeseburger - $4.99
Kid chicken bites - $4.99
Frozen lemonades (they were dessert, the Nestle kind....) - $3.29 each
Large iced tea and lemonade - $2.59 each

Total cost: $55.07 (4 CS credits used, paid $9.57 OOP for the egg rolls)

We will never eat here again. I've had mediocre Chinese food before but this was pretty bad. And while it wasn't because I found hair in the noodles or a bug in the stir fry, the way my DH and I could tell the food was not good was because about 30 minutes later we all felt like we had a rock in our stomach. Digestion was not pleasant. And while none of us got sick, it was just that uncomfortable feeling the rest of the afternoon.

 

[ajkoos]

We kept going back and forth between Sanaa and Boma and weren’t sure which one we wanted to try. But since our kids aren’t huge buffet eaters, we decided to try Sanaa. And I’m so glad we did.

While Le Cellier was DH’s fave meal while we were at WDW, Sanaa was the best meal I had from a *food* perspective. Everything tasted amazing and was cooked to perfection. All of the food had great flavor without being overpowering or too spicy. I have to say the food exceeded any expectations I may have had. It was that good.

What kept Sanaa from being the best restaurant we ate at while at WDW was the service. To say it was horrible is an understatement. And it wasn’t the entire staff as we noticed no one else was having the problems we had. It was completely the fault of our waitress Michelle, who should not be a waitress. First, it took her about 5 minutes to even greet us at the table and take our drink order. Second (and this was the biggest issue), she put in the wrong food order for DH. When the food arrived, the table runner brought out a different dish instead of the steak DH ordered. And when the waitress came out she tried to blame it on the table runner saying that the wrong plate was grabbed. Well that would have meant that there was a steak sitting on the line with DH’s name on it, but that wasn’t the case since the table runner had to come back out and ask how DH wanted his steak done. Third, she took DH’s dessert order and then never brought it out. We had to flag down another waitress to get the cake delivered after all the other desserts were out. Fourth, she charged us for TWO entrees for DH so we had to send the bill back to get it corrected. Her service was so bad that after we left our table DH went to the hostess to have her get the manager (we never complain while we’re eating because you never know what the waitress is going to put in your food if you complain....) So DH talked to the manager just so they would know what a horrific job Michelle had done.

Now that I’ve said my piece on the terrible service, on to the fantastic food!

DH – Once he finally got it, he had the New York Strip Steak which came with a delicious tomato chutney. This steak was a close second to Le Cellier in terms of taste and how it was prepared. It was that good. It was perfectly prepared rare for my DH and was tender. It also came with a vegetable pancake (mushrooms and something else?) which was crispy and not too mushy or oily. For dessert, (when he finally got it.) the orange sesame cake he said was good but I didn’t try it.

Me – I had the sustainable fish with vegetables and scallops in a light curry broth. It was unbelievably good. The fish was salmon and the curry broth makes this dish. It is savory with a nice heat to it. I don’t like things too spicy so this was spot on. The fish was perfectly cooked and wasn’t dried out. I can still taste how good this dish was, my fave at all of WDW. For dessert, I had the sampler which came with chocolate cake and a chai cream and one other thing that I can’t remember. It was yummy but I had eaten every bite of my main course that I wasn’t really that hungry for dessert.

DD and DS – They both had the meaty macaroni which had ground turkey in it. I don’t think I told them it ground turkey (which we don’t usually eat) so I think they figured it was just hamburger. But anyway, this was my DS favorite meal at all of WDW. He ate all of it. My DD also liked it a lot but her fave meal was her steak at Le Cellier. This was a large portion for a kids meal but I liked that it was substantial enough for an older to kid to be filled up. DS started with the creamy tomato soup which she didn’t like but DH and I had a taste of it and we thought it tasted yummy. DS had the fruit cup which was small. Both of them had the chocolate cake but at that point, after walking around AK all day I think they were ready to fall asleep, so they didn’t really eat that much.

Cost:
New York Strip Steak - $27.99
Sustainable Fish - $23.99
Kids Meaty Mac - $8.59 each
Orange Sesame Cake - $5.49
Sampler Dessert - $5.99
Smoothies - $4.69 each (We had 3 berry smoothies and 1 mango smoothie and quite frankly, all of the smoothies at the TS restaurants started tasting the same and just had different names.)
Coffee - $3.00

Total with tip: $124.06 ($15.00 tip OOP)

Would we go to Sanaa again? Most definitely. I’m not going to let one bad waitress ruin what was mouth-watering food. The only thing that might keep us from Sanaa again is the fact that we may want to try Jiko or Boma next time we’re at WDW. But I highly recommend Sanaa to anyone that has an adventurous palate. The food was some of the best at WDW.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

catching up with the great updates, thanks for sharing

 

[ajkoos]

October totally got away from me with a huge project at work that I finally turned in last week. So I promise, I am going to finish up the last three days of our vacation dining review since I know these only have a shelf life of about three months.

On to breakfast!!!!

Once again, Rix Cafe is great for those who want to eat breakfast or snacks on the go as they head out to the parks.

I had a banana for $1.06 (OOP) and a granola bar that we had brought with us.

And my kids had two muffins (one banana nut and one blueberry) both which tasted fresh and were definitely filling enough for them. We also got two Minute Maid juices.

So we used up 4 snack credits which would have cost us $14.78 and then paid out of pocket for the banana.

 

[ajkoos]

If you ever have a chance to stop in here for lunch, dessert, anytime, this place is fantastic. This was our second MK day and we had planned on using the EMH to zip through Fantasyland and most of Tomorrowland which we were able to accomplish by 11:30 a.m. So we wanted to head back to the room for some rest before our kids BBB/Pirates League afternoon appointments and our dinner at CRT.

But on the way out of the park, we stopped at Main Street Bakery to pick up lunch and take it back to our hotel room. We were so glad that we did.

DH - he got a Ham and Cheese combo and the sandwiches here are large. Since it was a combo meal on the DP, it came with chips and then he got to pick up a huge piece of chocolate cake. The sandwich was delicious and fresh and the bread wasn't stale like you see at some sandwich places.

Me - I picked up a Turkey Swiss sandwich and it was also large, fresh, delicious and all those wonderful adjectives. Thinking ahead, I decided to pick up a chocolate croissant to eat for breakfast the next day (I had ziploc bags at the hotel to keep bakery items fresh.) It also came with chips which from a selection standpoint was pretty much only Lays. I would have like the option to have a least a variety of chips to choose from.

Kids - this is my only complaint about MSB. The only kids meal available is the peanut butter and jelly uncrustables. Amazingly, both my kids actually said that was what they wanted before I even gave them a choice which is unusual since they don't eat uncrustables. But since they also get dessert with their meals, they also chose a blueberry muffin and croissant (which would become breakfast the next day).

Cost:
Ham and cheese sandwich - $6.99
Turkey Swiss sandwich - $6.99
Kids meals - $4.99
32 oz fountain drinks (came with each meal) - $2.19 each (we got three)
1 bottled water - $2.50
Chocolate Cake - $3.29
Blueberry muffin - $2.59
Chocolate croissant - $2.79
Croissant - $2.29

Total with tax: $46.84 (4 QS credits)

We loved eating here and I feel like you get the most bang for your buck because instead of dessert you can pick up fantastic pastries for breakfast the next day. (although the lovely cinammon roll is not one of those choices.) We would definitely eat here again at MK.

 

[ajkoos]

When we booked this ADR about 170 days out, we knew from reading reviews that it was not going to be the best meal at WDW but we were willing to burn two TS for the experience for our kids. This is their first time going to the Magic Kingdom and we had booked Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and the Pirates League for our kids that afternoon so they could be all dressed up for dinner. And for us, eating inside the castle was definitely worth it.

We arrived about 10 minutes before our ADR and were seated within 20 minutes. It was nice that after our picture with Cinderella and a few other families who had to have their picture taken with her, Cinderella had some free time so she just went around talking to the kids individually and posing for more photos (with our camera) which was very cool.

Once upstairs, the princesses were already out and walking around so we saw Belle, Jasmine, Aurora and Ariel right away after we ordered our food. So it was nice that we didn't have to mess with autograph books while the food was out. We had an excellent server who was very attentive and I have to say was probably the best server we had the entire time at WDW. DH was very impressed considering how packed in the tables are at CRT. We were also lucky enough to get a window seat looking over Fantasyland, however, with the construction, you can see past the barriers which was kind of cool but kind of not at the same time.

On to the food....

DH - He started with a crab cake appetizer which was very yummy. It had a nice little kick to it (he let me try a piece.) and then for his main entree he had the prime rib. It was a little salty but it was nice and juicy and not dried out at all. The big disappointment for him was the dessert. He ordered the creme brulee which was more like a flan instead. If he had known it was going to be more like a custard then he would have ordered something else. It was not good.

Me - I tried the cheese platter (I love cheese, even though I'm lactose-intolerant so lots of Lactaid that night...) and it was okay. I've had better cheese platters not to mention the goat cheese on the plate was a little over powering of the other cheese. I then had the lamb chops which were on the rare side (which is how lamb should be done) but it also, like the prime rib, was a little salty. But it was a good portion side with four petit lamb chops on the plate. For dessert, I ordered the chocolate mousse which was a little dense but a nice way to finish off the meal.

Kids - They both started off with fruit salad which was the largest fruit salad that we had at any restaurant at WDW (good too because it had nice large pieces of melon and pineapple that my kids devoured.) For dinner, both my kids had the pasta since I was not about to let them order hot dogs or chicken tenders for the price we were paying. For dessert, they each had a sundae.

Overall, the food quality was okay. It wasn't bad but it wasn't the best meal either (all of those are at Epcot!). But for us, being first-timers to WDW, it was a very magical meal. From the wishing stars to the wands to the swords, my kids were so excited that they really didn't eat too much because they were just happy to be there, eating in the castle. Will we do this again? Probably not because the next time we go, our kids will be older and eating in the castle probably won't be as big a deal. (We can't afford to go every year like some DISers so our next trip will probably be in five years.) But if you have a little princess or prince, this meal was definitely a highlight of our trip.

Cost:
Adults and kids (price-fixed) - $177.00 which included tax and tip. (8 TS credits used)
We did pay an additional $20 OOP tip for our server, because he was that good. We believe in rewarding great service and he was definitely the best we had at WDW.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

thanks for the review on CRT, we were suppose to eat there but they changed the menu and the kids pasta is no longer and the other stuff my son doesn't eat. I think they took out the prime rib too.
Glad you guys had the experience dinning dinner there. We went for breakfast but I really wanted to go for dinner but read the new menu to my son and he said he doesn't like the choices.

 

[ag98]

I totally understand about October getting away from you. It is always one of our busiest months.

Thanks for coming back and continuing your report!

 

[ajkoos]

So if you saw my previous lunch post at Main Street Bakery, we got their pastries as dessert with our QS so that was breakfast the next day in the room. And let me tell you, they definitely taste just as good the next day.

For lunch we were in Epcot as Friday was our day to see the World Showcase. And we had intentionally planned on stopping in Morroco to eat lunch. It was definitely worth it. This was one of the best QS we had at WDW. At this point in our trip, we realized that no matter what park we were at, we would have been better off jumping to Epcot for food. Because it is that much better than everywhere else in WDW.

Even though Tangierine Cafe is not air conditioned we were able to find a spot inside, under a fan and it was definitely twenty degrees cooler than the 100 plus temp outside.

To the food!

DH - He had the Lamb wrap which came with coucous and a lentil salad. It was excellent. The cumcumber sauce in the lamb wrap was yummy and a perfectly refreshing compliment to the lamb. I can't tell you what the lentil salad tastes like because he devoured it before I got back to the table with our drinks. So it must have been good.

Me and DS - We split the combo chicken and lamb platter which came with coucous, hummus, tabouleh and flatbread. It was plenty of food for us to share (since he's only six) DS ate all the lamb which I got a nibble of, and it was very fresh. The chicken was okay since it is sliced off a large rotating thing (like traditional Moroccan style) so it was a little thinner than I would have liked. But the coucous, hummus and tabouleh were all very fresh and I loved eating it with the flatbread.

DD - she decided to have a kids meal Cheeseburger. She's not as adventerous as DS but that's okay. It looked like every other cheeseburger we saw at WDW.

For our drinks we picked up two bottled waters to take with us through the worldshowcase the rest of the day and asked for cups of water which we added Hawaiian Punch and Cranberry drink packets to drink with lunch.

For dessert we got three pieces of baklava and it had the appropriate amounts of honey and nuts in it. And they were large enough for us all to share and have a little leftover.

Cost:
Lamb wrap - $10.95
Combo chicken/lamb platter - $13.95
Kids burger - $7.99
Baklava - $2.50 each
Bottled water - $2.50 each

Total with tax: $48.34 (3 QS used)

Would we go back? Definitely. I liked the variety and DH and I have actually talked about Marrakesh for dinner the next time we're at WDW, in fact, it almost made our ADR list this time around, we just ran out of nights. The portion sizes here were medium-sized but since we were so hot it was easy to share with my DS since we weren't going to eat that much. Easily one of my favorite QS places at Epcot.

 

[ajkoos]

I totally understand about October getting away from you. It is always one of our busiest months.

Thanks for coming back and continuing your report!

I felt so bad when I realized I hadn't posted to it in almost a month. And I'm one of those can't leave anything unfinished type of person...glad to be back!

 

[NOLAdisneymom]

Great Reviews...

 

[ajkoos]

So to cap off our WDW vacation we wanted seafood and wanted to celebrate our tenth anniversary so we chose Narcoosee's. That meant between CRT and this restaurant we burned 16 TS, so we were expecting a little more out of the 2TS restaurants.

Here's the thing with Narcoosee's...it wasn't bad, but it wasn't spectacular either. And if we had it to do over, we might have chosen Citricos instead but this was the decision we made...Since it was our anniversary celebration, they gave as champagne toast on the house, which was nice. The ambiance of Narcoosee's is very casual for a 2TS, and we were sitting inside the restaurant but were closest to the hostess stand so it felt like a really busy restaurant since we were also by the open kitchen where food was constantly coming out. But what we did like was that by the time we finished dinner, we were able to go out to the outside patio and watch the Electrical Water Pageant.

On to the food!

To start off, we split the Duck Confit appetizer, which we were disappointed with when it came out. It's basically a Duck egg roll, but not described like an egg roll. We should have gone for the Prince Edward Island Mussels but thought it might be too much seafood since we both had...

The Maine LOBSTER! I had been looking forward to having a whole Maine Lobster all week. And it was very good. The only problem was that it was too small. For $58, I expected a little bit bigger lobster. DH thinks they gave us tiny lobsters because we were on DP, which could be true. The side dish that came with the Maine Lobster was this pasta dish with bread crumbs on it, that quite frankly was very bland.

Both my kids had steak, but DS pretty much fell asleep in his food after a week of theme parks. The steak was good but not as good as Le Cellier. They also both had the fruit cup and the kids smores. The smores were great! DD loved being able to put her smores together. DS since he was asleep, they packaged it up for him so we could take it back to the room and have later.

For dessert, I had a seasonal fruit dessert while my husband had the berry pyramid. They were both refreshing after having seafood for dinner. DH also had coffee with dessert and I had a glass of Pinot Grigio with dinner.

Cost:
Duck egg roll appetizer - $12
Lobster - $58 each
Kids Steak meal - $13
Kids fruit cup - $3
Kids Smores - $5
Seasonal fruit dessert - $8
Berry pyramid - $7
Pinot Grigio -$10
Coffee - $6.29

Total with tax: $225.03 (8 TS credits used)
Tip OOP: $50

Would we go back? Probably not. DH was very disappointed with the lobster size. Plus I think we would want to try Citricos or Yachtsman instead for our fancy dinner the next time we're at WDW. It's not that Narcoosee's was bad, it just wasn't fantastic. And for 2TS that is what we were expecting.

 

[ilovepete]

Wow what a bummer! That really stinks that it wasn't up to par.

 

[moxiemom]

Thank you for all your reviews! I really enjoyed reading them.

 

[rlduvall]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post reviews. I thoroughly enjoyed them and could picture myself at each place eating there with your great descriptions.

 

[materise]

great review

 

[nessz79]

Thank you for all the reviews! We're visiting a few of these places on our trip .