A table for 2.5 please! Disney dining with a baby! NEW-Animator's Palate / The End!

[AussieAngel]

some great reviews & lovely pictures.
Thanks for sharing them with us.

Yak & Yeti is where we usually go, we didn't manage to go last time as we were at the other end of the park and I was a bit cranky as I was tired and thirsty.
We went to another restaurant and the wait and seating, was as bad as Y&Y usually is.
So perhaps its all of Ak's restaurants.

Looking forward to seeing more reviews.

Interesting that other places in AK are busy too. Everywhere in AK seems busy to me, so I guess it makes sense that the restaurants are too!

Thanks so much for reading! I'm glad you're enjoying the reviews and photos.

 

[AussieAngel]

When I left off, we'd just had a delicious dinner at 'Ohana after a fun day at Animal Kingdom. The next day was our Hollywood Studios day... My second favourite park after Magic Kingdom!

We ate breakfast in our villa as usual, and headed to Hollywood Studios where we had a fun morning doing all the big rides and taking some time to explore new attractions we've never done before without a baby - like Disney Playhouse Live on Stage! How cute is that!?

By the time lunchtime came around, I was starving. Originally we were going to eat lunch at Sci-Fi Dine In, but then realised it would be a bit awkward with a baby so we cancelled our ADR. I hadn't really done a lot of research on different CS options in HS, so we really didn't know where to eat! Indecision at Disney World... That's a new one! Eventually Conan said he felt like pizza, so we headed over to Toy Story Pizza Planet.

Conan took Leo in the stroller and grabbed a table, while I stood in line and ordered our food... And voila!



I ordered the Vegetable Pizza - with mushrooms, peppers, onions and tomatoes, which was served with Caesar Salad, while Conan had the Meatlover's Pizza with Caesar Salad.

So our pizzas were... just okay. They filled a hole in our hungry tummies, but that's about it really. Neither of us are fans of really thick pizza bread, and wow, was that thick! It was pretty heavy and doughy. Ick.

In that little white paper bag at the back of the salads was our desserts - two choc chip cookies, which were actually delicious and definitely the best part of our meal! Pity I didn't get an actual photo of them though, sorry!

We won't be rushing back to Pizza Planet for lunch again. Next time I'll have to do some better research about where to eat at Hollywood Studios!

We headed back to the BCV after lunch to let Leo have a nice long nap, and while he was napping, I ducked down to the Marketplace to pick up some of this... One of my favourite snacks ever...



Cheese popcorn!

Cheese popcorn is very hard to find in Australia, and I just love it! The first time we went to WDW I ate about ten buckletloads (okay, maybe not that much...) and the second time they didn't have any! Augh! I was SO excited to see it back on the shelves again this time!

And of course, it was just as cheesy and delicious as always.

I'll be back soon with the rest of our food for that day! Still a few Christmas presents to wrap first though, I'd better get back to it!

 

[DisneyJo]

I'm sorry Leo has been unwell, so glad he's getting better for Christmas though

Your food at Yak & Yeti sounded lovely just such a pity about the seating, they really need to increase the area!!

We don't really get cheese popcorn here either but I'm still a traditional sweet girl

 

[RGirl]

Yeah, the pizza does not look all that great. I'm sorry it wasn't a better lunch. Glad the cookies were good though!

I would totally opt for the cheese popcorn over the Pizza Planet lunch!

 

[Imagineer5]

First, I've never had cheddar cheese popcorn - need to try it!!

Second, too bad Pizza Planet wasn't too great.

I usually pick the Brown Derby as my favorite TS place (we actually ate here on our august trip) though we had a delicious meal at Mama Melrose a few months ago and I've been meaning to go back. The theming in 50's is fun but the food doesn't appeal to me as much as it does to my DH.

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[AussieAngel]

Ho ho ho! I hope everybody had a lovely, happy Christmas with your families!

We had a fun but busy time, catching up with both sides of the family in one day. Leo had a great time though, ripping into his presents... Of course, the wrapping paper itself was far more exciting than what was inside though!

Here he is opening one of his very first presents from Santa...



And here's our lovely 18 year old cat Annie, enjoying her new red blanket from Santa!



Some replies before I begin the next installment of the dining report...

I'm sorry Leo has been unwell, so glad he's getting better for Christmas though

Your food at Yak & Yeti sounded lovely just such a pity about the seating, they really need to increase the area!!

We don't really get cheese popcorn here either but I'm still a traditional sweet girl

Thank you for your thoughts about Leo - he's much better now, thank goodness! It's so scary when they're not well and can't tell you what's wrong. Yak & Yeti definitely need to do something about that seating area, it's crazy!

Thanks so much for reading and replying!

Yeah, the pizza does not look all that great. I'm sorry it wasn't a better lunch. Glad the cookies were good though!

I would totally opt for the cheese popcorn over the Pizza Planet lunch!

Hehee, yes! I would eat cheese popcorn over that Pizza Planet lunch any day too! The pizza really wasn't very good. Ah well, we'll know to go somewhere else next time! Thanks for continuing to read and reply!

First, I've never had cheddar cheese popcorn - need to try it!!

Second, too bad Pizza Planet wasn't too great.

I usually pick the Brown Derby as my favorite TS place (we actually ate here on our august trip) though we had a delicious meal at Mama Melrose a few months ago and I've been meaning to go back. The theming in 50's is fun but the food doesn't appeal to me as much as it does to my DH.

You so need to try cheddar cheese popcorn next time you're in WDW! It's delicious! Hmm, we've never eaten at Brown Derby... There's something about it that just doesn't appeal to me! We tried to eat at Mama Melrose a few years back but for some reason they said our ADR time was too late for us to make it to Fantasmic, even though we'd booked the Fantasmic package... It was all a bit drama so we ended up just leaving and going elsewhere! We don't seem to have much luck at HS restaurants, it seems!

Never mind, lucky there's plenty of choice elsewhere! Thanks again for reading!

joining in

Great! Welcome!

 

[AussieAngel]

When I last left off, we'd eaten a so-so lunch at Toy Story Pizza Planet and then enjoyed some cheese popcorn for an afternoon snack. Once Leo woke up from his nap, we wandered over to Epcot's World Showcase to continue exploring the Food & Wine Festival!

We'd already made it about half way around a few days earlier, so our mission that night was to complete walking around the whole world showcase, using some more of our snack credits and trying some great food.

Our first stop was Japan, where Conan grabbed a Teriyaki Chicken Hand Roll...



He said this was really tasty and fresh, and gobbled it up very quickly!

We then made our way to Italy, where I chose the Ravioli de Formaggio all'Emiliana (Baked cheese ravioli with creamy beef bolognese sauce, parmesan and mozzarella)...



Ehhh, this was just okay. The ravioli itself was quite nice, but the sauce was thick and gluggy, and didn't really have much taste. Plus the whole thing tasted like it had been reheated a couple of times in a microwave or had been sitting under a heat lamp too long or something... A bit dry and tasteless, overall.

Luckily our next stop made up for the disappointment in Italy! We stopped at China and bought two items to share. First, Black Pepper Shrimp with Sichuan Noodles...



These were fantastic! The noodles were so flavoursome with just the right amount of spicy kick to the shrimp. We both loved this dish!

Also from China, we shared the Mongolian Beef in a Steamed Bun...



Unexpectedly, this was the best food of the night! The bun was soft and light, while the beef was delicious and also a little bit spicy. The sauce was great and those little noodles in there were lovely and crunchy. It was just a shame we had to share it, really!

Although we were both starting to get pretty full by this stage, we stopped at the Refreshment Port to try the Fried Shrimp with Dole Pineapple Sweet & Sour Sauce...



This was quite nice, but huge! The shrimp were crispy and very tasty, but there wasn't really enough sauce for all those shrimp, and there were also a LOT of fries under there too. It would really be a meal by itself!

And just because it was right there and we love them so much, we also bought an Orange Dole Whip to share for dessert! Yum!



As we wandered around the World Showcase, I also popped into Karamell Kuche in Germany to buy some treats for later. I'd never been here before and was dying to try some of the delicious looking caramel treats I'd seen here on the DIS Boards. There was a really long line, but the smells coming out of there while they baked caramel popcorn was amazing!

I ended up buying a Chocolate Caramel Marshmallow Bar for Conan...



... which he said was excellent. It looks pretty good, too!

And for myself, I bought the Chocolate Caramel Pineapple...



This was SO good! By now I'm sure it's pretty clear that I love pineapple anything, but the sweetness of the milk chocolate and caramel, combined with the juicy pineapple was just perfect! I would add this to one of my favourite WDW treats, as well as Dole Whips and cheese popcorn!

I also bought a Chewy Caramel Bar, which Conan and I both shared...



This basically tasted like crumbly shortbread, with caramel running through it. Nice but not as good as my pineapple!

What an amazing night of food we had! It was so much fun wandering around the World Showcase and trying lots of delicious new food. Leo was more than happy in his stroller, people watching and kicking his little feet around!

Later that night, after Leo was asleep, Conan and I kicked back on the couch and watched some TV. It was almost 10.30pm and we were contemplating heading to bed soon, when we had this conversation...

Conan: "Is Beaches & Cream still open?"

Me: "I don't know, why?"

Conan: "I kind of feel like a late night banana split for a special treat."

Me: "Ooh! That's exciting! Maybe I could have a Frozen Sunshine..."

And so that's exactly what happened! Conan headed downstairs to grab some take away Beaches & Cream, and brought it back up for us!



These were such nice late night treats! When we'd first eaten at Beaches & Cream on our first night at WDW, we were both too full to make it through dessert so he wanted to give his banana split another go - and he loved it, of course. It was still absolutely massive and he only ate about half of it! The rest went in the freezer, and he thinks it was still there when we left a couple of days later. Oops!

My Frozen Sunshine was just as amazing as when I had it the first night. Orangey, creamy goodness! And this time I got to enjoy it in my pj's on the couch! What could be better than that!?

We were well and truly full, happy and ready for bed then, after a delicious evening of Disney food!

Next up... Marketplace breakfast and more F&W Festival for lunch!

 

[princess_momma]

Love your reviews! I could go for a stroll around the F&W fest now! We have a lot of the same favorites too (Ohana and Raglan Road)! Can't wait for more, especially the cruise portion!

 

[RGirl]

Awww - cute Christmas Leo pic!

Mmm, the chicken roll looks very tasty. Too bad about the ravioli - it does kind of look like it had sat under heat lamps for awhile.

My DD and I had those noodles from the China booth a few years ago - they are good, aren’t they??? The beef dish looks really great too - I don’t think I’ve seen that one before.

Wow - that was a LOT of fried shrimp! Very nice.

The caramel treats look amazing. I would totally have picked the pineapple as well. I can’t believe we still haven’t been in there - we are just never hungry when we are in the area.

Oh my goodness! B&C take-out treats! What an absolutely fantastic idea!!!!

 

[maryr1oz]

Hi

I just saw your dining report! I love reading about other Aussies trips... and your baby is such a cutie!

Looking forward to reading more about your trip - do you have a trip report or only the dining report?

 

[AussieAngel]

Oops, sorry I've been a bit of a slowcoach with my reviews lately! Just lots of festive Christmas / New Year things going on... But I do hope to wrap up this dining report in the next week or two! So stick with me... There's lots more delicious Disney food coming your way!

Love your reviews! I could go for a stroll around the F&W fest now! We have a lot of the same favorites too (Ohana and Raglan Road)! Can't wait for more, especially the cruise portion!

Thank you! Wouldn't it be lovely to have a stroll around the F&W Festival now? I wish! Ohana and Raglan Road are the best!

Awww - cute Christmas Leo pic!

Mmm, the chicken roll looks very tasty. Too bad about the ravioli - it does kind of look like it had sat under heat lamps for awhile.

My DD and I had those noodles from the China booth a few years ago - they are good, aren’t they??? The beef dish looks really great too - I don’t think I’ve seen that one before.

Wow - that was a LOT of fried shrimp! Very nice.

The caramel treats look amazing. I would totally have picked the pineapple as well. I can’t believe we still haven’t been in there - we are just never hungry when we are in the area.

Oh my goodness! B&C take-out treats! What an absolutely fantastic idea!!!!

Hey! Yes those noodles were great! The beef really was delicious as well. Definitely some of my favourite F&W Festival dishes.

Ooh, you must pop into Karamell Kuche next time you're there! So many amazing treats and it smells fantastic! Even if you're not hungry, grab something yummy for later!

Hi

I just saw your dining report! I love reading about other Aussies trips... and your baby is such a cutie!

Looking forward to reading more about your trip - do you have a trip report or only the dining report?

Welcome fellow Aussie, and thanks for reading! Glad you're enjoying it so far! Nope, I'm not writing a trip report this time. It would really just be The Leo Trip Report and would revolve around feeding and naptime!

 

[Chrispygal]

Marking to come back and read later.

 

[AussieAngel]

Time for an update!

So this was our sixth day at WDW and our plans included something we'd never done before, on any of our three trips to Disney... We split up for the day!

Conan LOVES Blizzard Beach and was really excited to go there, but we both agreed it just wasn't very baby friendly. I'm sure we could have taken Leo there and he might have had a nice time splashing around in the shallows, but I was more than happy to wander around Epcot with Leo and head back to the villa to let him have a nice long morning nap... So that's exactly what we did!

But first though, we grabbed some breakfast from the Beach Club Marketplace and brought it back to our room.

We both ordered the same thing - The bacon & egg sandwich (on a croissant instead of a bagel because they were all out... ) with potato casserole on the side.



Eeeek!

There's really only one way to describe this breakfast, I'm afraid - ICK!!

The croissant was heavy and thick, and not like a croissant at all. Croissants are meant to be light and flaky! But also, the eggs were gluggy and rubbery, and the cheese in there didn't even look like cheese. The potato casserole wasn't quite as bad, but I certainly wouldn't be heading back for more!

So basically... breakfast certainly wasn't a hit!

Conan headed to Blizzard Beach after that, while Leo and I had a play in the villa before his nice long nap.

Once he woke up, we walked over to the World Showcase. It was around lunchtime by then, and we had a lovely time wandering around shopping, riding the Mexican Fiesta boat ride thingy, and of course, sampling some more F&W Festival booths! (Okay, well I did, not Leo. )

Our first stop was Singapore, where I tried the Lemongrass Chicken Curry with Coconut and Jasmine Rice...



This was fantastic! Amazing flavours and the perfect amount of spiciness to add a little kick, and the serving size was quite large too. Big thumbs up from me!

Since we were walking past Norway anyway, I decided to pop in to Kringla Bakeri and try something I'd always wanted to try... The Cloudberry Horn!



I'd seen so many photos of this over the years on the DISBoards, and was so excited to finally try it! But well... it was just okay. Maybe my expectations were too high, but the pastry wasn't as light as I'd hoped. It tasted a bit stale, actually. The cream was nice enough but overall, I was a bit disappointed.

To make up for it, I visited my favourite place again, to grab some treats for later - Karamell Kuche!



I just had to get another chocolate and caramel covered pineapple spear! My favourite! And also a chewy caramel covered in chocolate, which was amaaaazing. Seriously, if you haven't been there yet, you have to! Love it! I took these back to our villa and we shared them during the afternoon.

There was one more F&W Festival booth item I really wanted to try... The Chocolate Creme Brulee from France!



This was delicious too! Hard, crunchy top with a smooth, rich chocolate underneath - what's not to love!?

Leo started to get a bit hot and bothered in his stroller by then, so we headed back to our resort for a play and a rest. Clearly I hadn't had a very good healthy eating day, but don't worry... I also ate this!





(As a side note, Conan saw that photo on my camera later and said, "Did you really take a photo of a banana!? It's a banana!" Hehee.)

Anyway, the banana was fabulous.

Leo had another lovely big nap that afternoon, and Conan returned from Blizzard Beach during his nap. He loved his day, although said it wasn't quite the same without Leo and me. Aww.

He hadn't eaten at Blizzard Beach so he ran down to the Marketplace to grab a late lunch. (Brave man!) He chose the Caesar Salad with Chocolate Cake for dessert.



He quite enjoyed the salad, but especially loved the chocolate cake!

And just to add to my day of unhealthy eating, he also bought me a surprise... A massive cupcake!



Yum! I loved this, but I don't think I ate it all. Way too big!

Now... this is where I become a bad dining reviewer. We had dinner that night at Boma - and I didn't take photos! Augh!

We actually met a friend for dinner at Boma, Bree, who is currently working as a cast member in the college program at WDW. She's having a fantastic time and loving every minute of it... And shh, she's a character performer! She gets to be "friends" with Mickey, Minnie, Lilo, Piglet and lots of other characters. Needless to say, we were so busy chatting and hearing lots of inside WDW gossip, we all totally forgot to take photos! Sorry!

But it was a wonderful meal at Boma, as always. Conan and I had been here twice before and it's always consistently great. My favourite dishes were the curry pasta, sundried tomato dip and flatbread and of course the zebra domes for dessert!

I also had a pomegranate lemonade as my drink and LOVED it!

Leo had a fun night playing with Bree, and was very spoilt with these Mickey ears - a very special present from Mickey himself! (Well kind of! )



We gave Boma out of five!

Another fun day at Disney World with some sensational (and not so sensational) food!

Next up... Crystal Palace breakfast with Pooh and co!

 

[jedijill]

I'm totally in love with little Leo!

(The food looks good too!)

Jill in CO

 

[Imagineer5]

Your day sounds fantastic! That lemongrass chicken looks wonderful, I hope they bring it back this F&W festival. So nice to get out and about with just Leo too! The breakfast sounds horrible, I wish that the Marketplace had more options, it's pretty disappointing.

Glad Boma was a hit, sounds like an awesome evening, what DIS'er would want to take pics when you're busy chatting about disney insider stuff!!

Cute pics from christmas too, glad you had a wonderful day!! We were super busy the last few weeks too, so sorry I wasn't here to read but glad to come back to a couple updates. Everything looks delish!

 

[DisneyTeacher2]

Joining in! Better late then never! Can't wait to see the bits of you on the cruise! We have been considering a Disney Cruise for many years, looking forward to your reviews.

LOVING your food pictures and ADORABLE little guy!

 

[SilentK]

Still following. Those ears are so cute!

 

[SilentK]

Oops double post!

 

[TX Momof2]

Julie, I just found your DR. Your little Leo is adorable! What part of Australia are you from? My hubby is working in New Zealand right now. Can't wait to read this report!