Anniversary, Pregnancy, and 3.5 Generations at WDW! DxDP Update: Whispering Canyon!

[Buntington]

We just got back from my first trip to WDW in 8 years, and I'm excited to post my very first dining review, complete with lots of pictures! We won't be visiting WDW again for at least five years because of financial reasons , so this was a very special trip for us.

Cast of Characters:

Me: 29, in the second trimester of pregnancy with our first child (the 0.5 generation ), and a Disney addict! I grew up in FL and went to WDW with my mother and grandmother pretty much every year until I went to college. DH and I currently live in Indiana, where I am studying to get my Ph.D. As soon as I finish school, we plan to move back to FL--as close to WDW as we can get!

DH: 28, a very picky eater (he hates most vegetables, weird sauces, etc.). He's from MN and has only been to WDW twice--once when he was four and the second time when he was 18. He's never stayed at an official WDW resort and was not a big Disney fan prior to the trip. Now he's okay with us visiting more often when we move to FL. DH and I were celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary on this trip (8/13).

Mom: 57 and a big WDW fan. She's disabled with multiple sclerosis and used a scooter for our trip. She can walk with a cane, but only for short distances. She used Randy's Mobility and was very happy with their service.

Grandma: 83 and also a huge WDW fan. While we were planning this trip, she told me that she used to have annual passes to WDW and would take trips by herself just to stay at the Grand Floridian and eat at all of the restaurants. She was very excited to get the DxDP and to eat at the signature restaurants.

Ratings: I decided to use a simple one to five star system (one = inedible, five = the best thing ever). Mind you, not everyone conformed to my rating system (you'll see that my mom and grandma gave several "10s" at some of the signature restaurants.

The Schedule (links will be posted after I finish each review):

8/9
Artist Point

8/10
Akershus
Rose & Crown
Tokyo Dining
Epcot Snacks

8/11
Whispering Canyon Cafe (OOP)
Sci Fi Dine In Theater (DH and I)
Snacks (Hollywood Studios)
Ohana

8/12
Whispering Canyon (OOP)
Yak & Yeti (DH and I)
Grand Floridian Cafe (Mom and Grandma)
Aloha Luau (DH and I)
Narcoossee's (Mom and Grandma)

8/13
1900 Park Fare
Crystal Palace
Narcoossee's (DH and I, anniversary dinner )
Citricos (Mom and Grandma)
Snack (Dole Whip)

8/14
Chef Mickey's
Coral Reef
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Snack (napolean)

Yes, it was a lot of food, but we enjoyed all of it. DH and I are not members of the clean plate club and did not feel obliged to eat every scrap of our appetizers, entrees, and dessert, and we didn't use a lot of snack credits (I ended up using them at the end to get a bunch of Mickey rice krispie treats to take home to friends ). Anyhow, on with the food pictures...

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

Joining in...

 

[Buntington]

We arrived at the Wilderness Lodge late in the afternoon on 8/9 and discovered that we had been upgraded from standard view to a lovely courtyard view. I'm including a few pictures of the room and view for good measure.

Our room + bonus view of DH's legs

View from our window. It was very rainy on 8/9 and 8/10, but cleared up for the rest of our trip.

After we unpacked, we headed down to Artist Point for our first DxDP meal (2 TS per person). DH and I had received anniversary celebration buttons, which were quite fun to wear. Cast members would pass us and shout out, "Happy anniversary!" when we were least expecting it.

Artist Point dining room. You can see that it wasn't very busy. I love the dining room decor, and we had a great view of the pool area from our table.

Mom, Grandma, and I have dined at Artist Point before and loved it, so we were expecting delicious food. DH has never dined at any of the TS restaurants before, so he found the menu a bit offputting, initially. He had never tried risotto before, but decided to be brave and adventurous and ended up ordering it twice!

Menu

Menu

Menu

We received our bread first. I don't remember what kind it was, but it was good. Mom, Grandma, and I all gave it 4 stars, but DH only gave it a 3.

For her appetizer, grandma ordered the BLT. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of letting her take the picture. She doesn't know how to use a camera, so she took a picture of something black instead of the food, and by the time I realized this, the appetizer had been devoured. So no picture of the BLT, but she gave it 5 stars.

Mom and I both ordered the pear salad. We were surprised when it came with peaches instead of pears, but it was still delicious. The dressing was very nice and reminded me of the House dressing at Maggiano's. I gave it a 4 and Mom gave it 5.

DH bravely ordered the crab risotto. I sampled it and thought the blood orange sauce was absolutely divine. DH discovered that he likes risotto, but did not like the blood orange sauce quite as much, so he gave it a 4.

Entrees and desserts in the next post...

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

I'm in! Congrats on your .5!

Edited: You posted the start of AP as I was posting. It was our favorite restaurant last trip and the one we are most looking forward to in a couple of weeks. Can't wait to see the entrees!

 

[Buntington]

For our entrees, Mom and I both ordered the halibut. I had never had halibut before, so I figured I might as well try it. It was perfectly cooked--not too dry, but flaky, and the flavor was excellent. We both gave it 5 stars.

DH liked the risotto so much that he ordered the scallops and tomato risotto for his entree. He also gave this a 4. He loved the scallops and risotto, but did not like the tomatoes contaminating his food (did I mention that DH is picky?).

Grandma got the salmon, which is the signature dish at AP. She gave this a 5. I hate salmon, and she convinced me to try a bite of hers by swearing up and down that it did not taste like salmon. I tried it and thought it still tasted like salmon. At any rate, she devoured it and thought it was some of the best salmon she's ever had.

Dessert Menu:

For our desserts, Mom and I got the berry cobbler. This was piping hot and melts-in-your-mouth delicious. The ice cream on top was the perfect combination with the slightly tart fruit and sweet, hot cobbler. I gave it 5 stars, and Mom began ignoring my ratings system by giving it a 6 on a scale of 1 to 5.

DH ordered the no sugar added mousse. He doesn't like cobbler, and none of the other desserts appealed to him (all too weird ). He didn't really like this and gave it 3 stars. He said the mousse didn't have a lot of flavor (maybe because it was no sugar added?).

Grandma got the peach upside-down cake. This was moist and delicious, and she gave it a 5. The caramel drizzle was a nice accompaniment to the cake.

Finally, our server surprised us with a special anniversary cupcake! We didn't rate this, but I think I'd give it a 5. The frosting was scrumptious and the cake was moist and flavorful. As you can see, we had already eaten half of it before it occurred to me to take a picture. DH ended up eating most of this instead of the dessert he had ordered.

Overall, we all thought Artist Point was wonderful. The service was prompt, the food was delicious, and the presentation was also very nice. I definitely plan on eating at AP every time we visit WDW in the future.

 

[Buntington]

I'm in! Congrats on your .5!

Edited: You posted the start of AP as I was posting. It was our favorite restaurant last trip and the one we are most looking forward to in a couple of weeks. Can't wait to see the entrees!

Thanks!

After this week, I have to say that Artist Point is still my favorite restaurant...although Narcoossee's was a very close second. I know people have posted about the restaurants declining in quality, but I really thought AP was just as good this time as it was back in 2003. I hope your meal is just as delicious as ours was!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Great review and pics of Artist Point! It's one of my absolute favorite WDW restaurants.

Sorry that DH didn't really enjoy the berry mousse. It was actually my favorite dessert on my past trip - I thought it had the tartness of berries, the subtle sweetness of banana, the creaminess of the vanilla ice cream on the side (at least it was vanilla when I had it) and a wonderfully light texture. Because the mousse was light after a heavy meal, I actually preferred it to the berry cobbler, which I also love.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Your family is adorable! Thank you for sharing your reviews. Artist Point is amazing. Can't wait to eat, er, I mean read more.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Count me in!

 

[TinkandGoofy'sMom]

Great start! Congratulations on your baby!

 

[klacey1]

Definitely subscribing!

 

[lizzyb]

Great reviews soo far! I'm in!

 

[butiflfeet]

Your meal at Artist Point looks delicious! I'm looking forward to more of your reviews!

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Congratulations! Looks like we had almost the exact same dinner at AP. We all loved it.

 

[reking96]

Count me in as well. =)

 

[Linda67]

Joining in

By the way, none of you look your ages, you must have very good genes

Your Grandma certainly doesn't look anywhere near 83 !

 

[accountingbabe08]

great report so far

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Loved your review of Artist Pointe.

 

[Tracerr00]

Wonderful review and can't wait to read more! I've been seeing such great reviews of AP lately. I'm staying at WL in a few weeks and don't have an ADR for AP! What was I thinking? I need to fit it in! I laughed at the photo of your room because I didn't even see your DH's legs there until I read the "bonus" underneath it. The room looks lovely. I sure hope we get upgraded too!

Can't wait for more!!

 

[Buntington]

Epcot is my absolute favorite park. I've always loved the World Showcase, even as a small child, so with 5 days at the parks, I picked Epcot as the park to visit twice. I also love the dining at Epcot, of course, and there are so many restaurant options! We decided to begin and end our trip with Epcot, so 8/10 was our first Epcot day. Grandma is not Norwegian, but she married a Norwegian and learned all about the culture (and traditional baking!), so Mom and I identify with our Norwegian origins, and DH is also of Norwegian and Swedish descent. So we were very excited to go to the Akershus princess breakfast for our first breakfast ADR!

We got to Epcot at about 8 a.m. for our 8:20 a.m. ADR, and the park was deserted. It was a rainy day, and it was cool and lovely to walk through the empty park on our way to the World Showcase.

Duck crossing! So cute!

When we arrived at the Norway pavilion, part of the Puffin's Roost was open, so we browsed for a bit while we waited to be seated. We actually only had to wait for about five minutes before they called our name. Then we had our picture taken with Belle...

Akershus has a cold buffet, but they also bring hot food to your table family style. I took a few pictures of the cold buffet for good measure:

Everything looked really good. I stayed away from the cold smoked fish just to be safe, but Grandma had some and said it was delicious. Here are a few of our plates before we filled them with hot food:

My Plate

DH's plate

Our server was very attentive and brought the hot plate out quickly:

The princesses were out in force by the time we got seated. Snow White, Ariel, and Sleeping Beauty (Aurora) all stopped by our table to say hello. Then they led all of the kids around the restaurant in a princess parade. A lot of the little girls were dressed in princess costumes, and it was absolutely adorable. I can't wait to take my future child (boy or girl!) to this breakfast!

Ariel in her gown

So how was the food? We thought it was all pretty good. DH gave it a 3 because he preferred his eggs more dry and he thought the bacon had too much fat on it, but he liked his bagel and the lingonberry cream cheese. We both tried the mini lingonberry muffins and thought they were excellent. Grandma, Mom, and I all thought the potato casserole was excellent, and the sausage was perfectly cooked and had nice flavor. Grandma, Mom, and I rated it a 4 overall. It was tasty for a breakfast buffet, great selection, and we really had no complaints, but it wasn't out of this world amazing. You're obviously paying for the character interaction more than the food, but I would definitely visit again. We had a lot of fun and I'm sure it will be even more fun when we have our own children with us.