A "newbie" does an abbreviated, newbie dining review..

[Lmans77]

Hi, my name is Lara, and I am increasingly becoming a super Disney nerd.
This was our 2nd trip as a family. Last one was 2ish years ago. I went once as a teen, DH a few times as a kid/young adult.
Random trivia is that his family (mom, dad, 3 siblings) had a singing group and performed during Christmas at the Magic Kingdom in like 1980.

I so enjoyed reading dining reviews in anticipation of our trip, that I wanted to do one. I am a total newbie so bear with me. I call this abbreviated, because as time went on, or as meals went on, I increasingly forgot to take pictures. And if I remember, the food was half eaten or even completely demolished. So I only have pics for maybe 1/4 of the food I ate.
I promise to not give up my day job in hopes of becoming a food writer or blogger.

We stayed at Wilderness Lodge June 8-14. Me, DH, DD 6 and DS4
I love this photo. It rained a lot but we rolled with it, and I love this pic of a storm rolling in.

Yes, this is me taking a selfie in the mirror at WL. I wanted to show off my super sweet Frozen shirt I got at Target



These are my cuties. I love the joy in this picture on the teacups.


We were on the standard dining plan.

Day 1: Magic Kingdom
Lunch - BOG
Dinner - Hoop Dee Doo Revue

Day 2: Animal Kingdom / WL
Lunch - Flame Tree BBQ
Dinner - Roaring Fork at WL

Day 3: Magic Kingdom
Breakfast - Chef Mickey's
Dinner - Liberty Tree Tavern

Day 4: Hollywood Studios
Lunch - Backlot Express
Dinner - Cinderella's Royal Table

Day 5: Rest / Water Park day
Lunch - Blizzard Beach
Dinner - Boma

Day 6: Epcot
Lunch - Sunshine Seasons
Dinner - Kona

Day 7: MK am, then leave
Lunch - Columbia Harbour House.


So I'm not sure where to organize this from here, so I guess I'll do a separate post for everyday.

 

[SPOERLX3]

That picture of your kids says a 1000 words! It is priceless!
They are adorable!

 

[Lmans77]

Day 1:

We stayed offsite the night before our check in to WDW. Got to WL to check in, and actually got into our room by 7:30. Then we were off to the MK. We had a FP for lunch at Be Our Guest and we headed over there shortly after our start time of 10:40. Got checked in quickly and headed to the kiosks. We had to reorder but no biggie. We actually changed it up a bit.

I had the Croque Monsieur with the Master's Cupcake. DH had the braised pork, also with the Master's cupcake. We both used our snack credit on the French Onion soup. Kids had macaroni with marinara.

Food was delicious. My sandwich looks kinda dry, but it really wasn't inside. Bonus, I dipped it in the soup. And the soup was divine, especially all that glorious, melted cheese. French fries were also good..hot and crisp.
DH really enjoyed his pork, and I agree. It was very good.
Cupcakes were also delicious. Very moist, and not overly sweet. The perfect ending to the meal.

BOG was an awesome experience. The dining room was beautiful. We sat close to the back window, and watching it "snow" outside was magical. Especially for my kids who have never seen real snow - stinks to be a kid living in Houston, TX!

I like the way they bring your food in the fancy wooden rolling carts, the real silverware and the drink station.

My only pic. You can see the soup off to the side, a glimpse of DH's meal to the right and the kids meal to the left.




After lunch, we did some more MK and then headed back to the WL. We enjoyed a quick dip in the pool and then we were off to our ADR at Hoop Dee Doo.
We did Hoop Dee Doo on our last trip and it was a must do for us this trip. We all think its such a hoot.

But sadly, because I was so entertained and since my phone is perpetually dying, no pics of the food.

The food was good, but for some reasons not quite as good as I remembered from the last trip, but good nonetheless. My crazy DS 4 loves salad and he LOVED the salad. The cornbread and the strawberry shortcake were the highlights for me. DH was laughing at me, because literally I was scooping out the last of the strawberry shortcake as I was trying to leave. It was sooo good.
Fried chicken has a nice flavor and texture. The mashed potatoes are solid, and the beans are a ranch type, corn was good basic corn. Ribs were fair, but a bit chewy.

I always recommend the HDD. Its a great value considering what you get in terms of food, entertainment and drink, even if you don't drink like us. We paid it OOP since we also had CRT on the schedule. Our server was Rob (or BOR as he likes to say) and he was a total HOOT. He gave us pens with his name on it..I'm guessing he's been there a long time.

Thanks for reading this far! I'll be back with more tomorrow !

 

[phabric]

Enjoyed reading your review. We hope to eat at BOG in Dec.

 

[houstonmama]

Following!!

 

[vettegirl]

Glad to hear a nice lunch review of BOG. I am considering lunch there in Dec, we had a terrible dinner there last Sept so want to try it again at lunch.

 

[Lmans77]

Day 2 was Animal Kingdom. We got there early since it was an EMH day.

Lunch was FlameTree BBQ. I had the 1/2 rack of ribs and my DH had the smoked turkey leg. Both were absolutely delicious. I really like their beans too. Instead of the ranch type that HDD served, they have a touch of sweetness to them. The ribs were fall off the bone and very smoky as well. The ribs are night and day from the ribs at Hoop Dee Doo. 100X better. DH is a ribs guy and he had a hard time deciding between the turkey leg and ribs. He LOVED the ribs. He liked his turkey leg too and it was on his WDW bucket list, but I think he wishes he had gone for the ribs.
You get your own sauce at the napkin station, and they have mild and spicy varieties. This is nice because you can eat them dry or with sauce, depending on your likes. Slaw was also pretty good probably 7.5/10 scale for me, DH liked it more. I am finicky about my slaw though.
I had the key lime dessert and DH had the chocolate. He said his was good, and I really really enjoyed mine. Moreso than I was expecting.





We didn't have an ADR for dinner.. we had planned on pool time in the afternoon and dinner at Roaring Fork CS at the Wilderness Lodge. It was a nice afternoon and I got a much needed nap while DH took the kids to the pool.

At Roaring Fork, I already knew I was going to order the beef and blue sandwich based on prior recommendations from the Disboards, along with the magic cookie bar.
DH chose the chef's special of the day, which was a Alfredo pasta with bread. He had a strawberry cupcake for dessert.

My sandwich was even better than expected. The herbed foccacia was just that, you could actually taste the herbs, and the bread was nice and soft. The herbs complemented the beef which was moist. And the blue cheese..oh my. Now I am a big blue cheese fan but I understand some are not. This isn't knock you in your face blue cheese...more like a mayonaisse-y blue cheese spread? It was flavorful but not overwhelming. Again, it complemented it all nicely. The house made chips were solid and crisp.



DH's pasta was also good. The sauce tasted homemade and not jarred. The bread was fresh.




And then on to the cookie bar. YUM! However, I was so full from lunch, snack and then my sandwich that I could only eat about 1/4. And I wrapped up the rest to save for later.

Dh inahled his cupcake. It had a cream inside. I forget, maybe it was a lemony cream? Don't hold me to that. It was good, that's all that matters to my memory.



Overall, I really really enjoyed Roaring Fork. I wish we would have had an opportunity to eat there again. The food was good, and we enjoyed sitting outside on the patio, close to the pool. It was a gorgeous evening, and there was plenty of seating. I like how you order your entrees with the cashier and then they give you a number. You can go sit down and they'll bring you your entree, you only have to take out your drinks and dessert.

And I'll leave you here with a cute picture of our furry friend that kept us company. She/he was obviously not afraid..just hopped around, probably hoping for food. But don't worry, we didn't feed the animals. My daughter loved watching her.

 

[The Librarian]

Great reviews so far.

What did your kiddies eat at Flame Tree BBQ & Roaring Fork? We should be eating at both of those places for our upcoming trip and could always use suggs if something I particularly good (or bad).

 

[Lmans77]

That picture of your kids says a 1000 words! It is priceless!
They are adorable!

aww..thanks! I think it captures the magic perfectly.

Enjoyed reading your review. We hope to eat at BOG in Dec.

Thank you! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Glad to hear a nice lunch review of BOG. I am considering lunch there in Dec, we had a terrible dinner there last Sept so want to try it again at lunch.

I hope lunch turns it around for you!

Great reviews so far.

What did your kiddies eat at Flame Tree BBQ & Roaring Fork? We should be eating at both of those places for our upcoming trip and could always use suggs if something I particularly good (or bad).

At Flame Tree, My daughter had the chicken sandwich. She liked it. I had a bite and it was pretty good..not too try which I had expected it to be, since it's a basic small chicken breast on a bun.
My son had a plain hot dog with ketchup on top. Not my idea of a good time but he liked it. I guess typical 4 year old boy.

At Roaring Fork..I'm trying to remember. I'm pretty sure DD had a cheese pizza and DS had Mac and cheese. The Mac was standard WDW Mac, and DD's pizza looked like a decent, kids cheese pizza.

 

[mickeymouse108]

cant wait to read your report

 

[Finkerfell]

Great reviews! looking forward to more!

 

[Lmans77]

Ok, this is where stuff gets eaten. As time went on, I forgot to take pictures and if I did take a picture, I had already eaten some or all of it.

The next day, Tuesday June 10 we went back to the MK. We had a 7:40 ADR at Chef Mickey's. We were so involved with the characters (My DS LOVES Mickey) that I totally forgot to take any pictures of the food. That said, we really enjoyed the food at CM. Waffles were good, the cheesy potatoes were awesome. Definitely would do it again.

That night we had an ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern at 6:30ish so we didn't have a lunch planned. We had some ice cream at the park, and went back to the hotel for a mid afternoon break and had some snacks in our room.

So back to LTT..just as we arrived to the MK in the bus, it started POURING. Naturally we had no umbrella or ponchos. It hadn't rained on us up until that point and we had planned on buying ponchos in the park when the time came. Big mistake, we were absolutely soaked by the time we got through bag check and into the park. Thankfully, the kids were in a covered stroller. We were also running a bit behind, so I literally sprinted up Mainstreet in a gully washer. It actually was kind of fun and the run felt good. Glad I had on my running shoes!

We got checked in and seated at LTT right away. My feet were sloshing inside my shoes, but we enjoyed our meal. We were seated in a corner with two windows so it was a lovely scene looking out on the rain splattered window panes. I love LTT, this was our second time here. I am a big comfort food and Thanksgiving food person so its right up my alley.


My half eaten plate with roast beef, stuffing, potatoes, green beans and sweet potatoes.

A pic of our table. Sorry that's all I got!

 

[Lmans77]

Our next day was Hollywood studios. We ate at Backlot Express for lunch. I had the grilled turkey sandwich. I was pleasantly surprised..it was very good!! I also really liked the chocolate mousse dessert. DH had a standard burger and the kids had nuggets. Everyone enjoyed their meal. I only got a picture of mine naturally.



Dessert


I was hoping to get a Starring Rolls cupcake for a snack but it didn't happen. We were too busy to stop in the morning and then just didn't get around to it. Maybe next time!!

We really enjoyed HS. Our first trip we didn't get much done there and had smaller grumpy children. This time everything went super smooth and we got to do a lot with FP+ including Toy Story Mania which the kids loved.

Later that evening we hopped on over to CRT for an 8:05 ADR. We were seated next to the back windows overlooking the Carousel. Our waiter was Christopher (IIRC) and he was absolutely wonderful. Witty and charming.

I went with the port belly confit for my appetizer, steak and shrimp for my entree and their "Clock Strikes Twelve" signature dessert.

Menu Pic


Pork belly confit.. This was good, the sauce definitely had some heat to it.
The port was super tender and melt in your mouth. I'm not sure I would order it again given the chance though. The flavor didn't knock my socks off.


My entree. The filet was delicious..shrimp were just eh. Tasted like cold, boiled shrimp with no additional flavor. No bad, not wow. But that didn't dampen my enthusiasm for the steak which was flavorful. The potatoes were also good.


Honestly I can't remember what DH got for his appetizer. He ordered the pork loin for his entree and liked it, and he got the same dessert as me. We both concluded that dessert was our favorite part of the meal.

Kids both got a roasted chicken leg with sides and it was a well done kids meal.

We enjoy CRT because of the atmosphere, getting to eat in the castle and all the princesses. We have a 6yo DD so that's why we go. We enjoy the food, although for that amount of money, I do wish it was just a touch better. But I'm not going to complain anymore...I got to go to WDW and eat in the castle!