Back from Our Vacation - Here is Our Dining Report - US/IOA/WDW - DDP

[scanne]

EDITERD TO ADD:
Report begins on post #11!!!

Hi! We are heading to US/IOA and WDW again - and we didn't even think we would be going to WDW at all in 2011. But we are!!!

Here is our line up. We are on the DDP, but will be paying OOP for a couple of meals. Plus we are staying one night at Royal Pacific and spending two days at US/IOA and I'll review the places we are eating while there as well.


Our cast includes me, my hubby of 11 years, our two kids and my mom and dad. Last summer we spent 3 nights Portofino Bay and 9 nights at the Polynesian in the TPV room and we were on the DxDP. TOO MUCH FOOD for us....ok, for most of us. I love the DxDP, but since this trip is a gift from my parents, they didn't want to be slaves to food or dining reservations. Originally we were going to try the QSDP, but after a while, we realized that one TS meal a day would be very nice and a good way to relax and unwind, so we upgraded to the regular plan.

We are staying at my dad's favorite resort - Wilderness Lodge - in a courtyard view room. We all love this resort and we are looking forward to being there.

OK, so here is the dining line up!

August 14 - We arrive in Orlando early - around 10am - and we are planning on grabbing a quick lunch once we get to Universal property. We have a dinner reservation at the Islands Dining Room. The menu looked varied and not as $$$ as the places were at Portofino last summer.

August 15, 2011
We are planning on checking out, storing our luggage AND getting to IOA early so we can get into WWoHP. Hope to have lunch at Mythos or The Three Broomsticks.
We are getting picked up by limo at 4pm to head to the WL. Once we check in, we are heading to Fort Wilderness for the 7:15pm show of THe Hoop De Doo Revue. This was DS's request as he loves fried chicken, recently found he loves ribs and he LOVED this show last year! This is one of our OOP meals.

August 16, 2011
Today is one of our MK daya as it is our tradition to visit MK first! Lunch will be QS - and I'm hoping for Cosmic Rays or Pecos Bills or maybe we'll check out the Contempo Cafe at the Contemporary. We will be taking naps so we can hang at Epcot until midnight! Our dinner tonight is at La Hacienda. We are looking forward to trying this new eatery.

August 17, 2011
Today we will be at HS in the morning. I have a ressie at Sci Fi for lunch but I also have a ressie at Cape May Café for dinner. We will play this day by ear and decide which TS meal to keep the night before. As of right now, I am leaning toward Sci Fi because of the travel time involved with getting to BC for dinner.

August 18, 2011
Today is one of our hang in days and we will be doing some activities at the resort. We have a Fantasmic Lunch Package at Mama Melrose’s mid-afternoon, and we are excited because our kids haven't seen Fantasmic in a number of years. Mama's isn't one of our faves, but we don't like Brown Derby and the reviews I've read of H&V scare me.

August 19, 2011
We will be at Epcot this morning and into lunch time, so I'm hoping for lunch at Boulangerie Patisserie or Tangierine Cafe. But I'll have to make sure to save room because.....
I am so excited that I was able to get a dinner at ‘Ohana nearly last minute. This is one of our faves!

August 20, 2011 Today’s Parks: AK
Today we will be at AK and will grab some snacks for breakfast or see what kind of QS breakfast we can find. We have a late lunch at Yak and Yeti as it was the only one I could get. But we all really want to try this place so it's worth it!
We might go to Downtown Disney on this night, so I have a late dinner booked at Paradiso 37 - which would be our other OOP meal. But we ate here last year and it was SOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!

August 21, 2011
TOday we will have a late lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern 2:45pm and then we have reservations for the Wishes Dessert Party. We're going to be at the resort in the morning, so we will probably eat breakfast at Roaring Forks.

August 22, 2011
Today we will be at Epcot again for the morning and into lunch. Again, Boulangerie Patisserie, Tangierine Cafe and this time, Season's, is on my list. Plus Karmel Kuche!!!! We get to try another new place for dinner at The Wave at the Contemporary Resort. Looking forward to it!

August 23, 2011
This is our last day. After we check out of WL we will play in MK for the morning and Main Street Bakery tops the list for breakfast. We will wrap up our vacation with a late lunch at Whispering Canyon Café then catch Magical Express to the airport.

I am very excited about our trip and if you have any questions, please ask. I will post reviews and photos upon my return!!!

Thanks for reading!!!!

 

[RachaelRol]

I am in!!! it soundsblike a great time!!

 

[scanne]

I am in!!! it soundsblike a great time!!

Yay! I can't wait to share!!!

 

[scanne]

So if you read my first installment, thank you! I wanted to note an addition to our dining. I was able to book an 8:05am at the Crystal Palace for all of us yesterday. I was amazed when it popped up on the screen - so don't give up hope! All of you looking for reservations at the more popular places - I was able to snag 'Ohana two weeks ago and Crystal Palace yesterday. KEEP CHECKING!!!

Anyway, I am the only one in our party that actually WANTS to have a big breakfast one morning of the trip. So I'm hoping I can convince everyone to join me with the thoughts that we will be practically alone on Main Street that early in the morning and the photo ops will be priceless!

Plus that puffed french toast is calling my name.....

 

[chocolateMinnie]

looking forward to your reviews - we're still dithering on ioa for this trip (always stayed with the Disney parks except for the odd trip to KSC or Seaworld) so will be interested to hear your dining reviews for that day. We are trying MM for the first time this trip so keen to hear your views on the fantasmic package too

 

[MickeyNicki]

Count me in! I hope you have an amazing trip!

 

[scanne]

UPDATE:
I was able to make a reservation for Mythos at Islands of Adventure for Aug. 15th at noon.

I was also able to get Le Cellier for lunch and now that has thrown a wrench into my plans. I'm trying to shuffle Yak & Yeti around but the day I want has NO availiblity. I'll keep trying though...let's see if I can make this work....

It's getting closer....I can almost smell the popcorn on Main Street!!!

 

[Sappermont]

Awesome line-up. Count me in!! Have a great trip!

 

[iloveeeyore]

I'm in! I am also really encouraged that you've been able to find some last-minute ADRs. I haven't been quite as lucky yet, but I'm happy with the line-up I've managed to put together, especially considering I'm going during the first week of FD. Your report gives me hope!

 

[scanne]

looking forward to your reviews - we're still dithering on ioa for this trip (always stayed with the Disney parks except for the odd trip to KSC or Seaworld) so will be interested to hear your dining reviews for that day. We are trying MM for the first time this trip so keen to hear your views on the fantasmic package too

We liked IOA/US last summer, but were origianally supposed to stay for 4 nights. On our 2nd night, I called the hotel, asked if we'd get credit if we checked out early, was told "yes", called Disney, booked a room at the Polynesian and we left IOA/US a day early....that is why we're only doing one night this year. We've been to MM before, but never with the FDP. I'm looking forward to this meal.

Count me in! I hope you have an amazing trip!

I'm honored that you've signed on for my review!

Awesome line-up. Count me in!! Have a great trip!

Thank you!!!!

[QUOTEI'm in! I am also really encouraged that you've been able to find some last-minute ADRs. I haven't been quite as lucky yet, but I'm happy with the line-up I've managed to put together, especially considering I'm going during the first week of FD. Your report gives me hope! ][/QUOTE] Yes, keep trying. I looked multiple times a day and it's amazing what pops up!!! Thank you for reading!

 

[scanne]

Our first two days of dining are from Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure.

We begin with Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co.
This is a chain and it is owned and operated by Landry's. I have dined at two other Bubba locations - NYC and San Francisco. The food, atmosphere and decor is the same in all three locations. One thing I don't understand is that they do not serve Dr. Pepper at Bubba Gumps. I think they have coke products and Dr. Pepper is Pepsi or the other way around. But still, Dr. Pepper is Forrest's favorite. It should be on the menu! LOL!

So we started with drinks. Iced teas for myself and my parents, diet for my DH and the kids had a frozen lemonade and a cherry lemonade fizz.
Here is the fizz - I didn't get a pic of the frozen lemonade but both kids got the souvenir glass that lights up.

DD had the kids popcorn shrimp and DS had the kids chicken strips (there will be a theme here....). Shrimp is pictured below. No pic of chicken....sorry.

We also ordered the garlic bread for the table. It was buttery and cheesy, but not very garlicky and not toasty - kind of soggy. But we were starving so it didn't phase us much.

My mom, dad and I had the Shrimp salad with wasabi dressing, peanuts and wonton strips. DH had the pear berry salad with grilled chicken.
The salads were pretty and tasty, but a little scarce on the protein and we were all quite hungry again within a few hours.

We skipped dessert because we knew we would be getting our fill of desserts once we got to Disney...

Up next: Islands Dining Room at Royal Pacific Hotel

 

[scanne]

Two nice things about this place:
1. I was able to make a reservation using "open table" from my phone, however, it turns out I didn't need to make a reservation as the restaurant was nearly empty.
2. The night we ate there they had a kids' buffet deal - kids eat free at the buffet with the purchase of an adult entree. Well, there were four adults, and two kids, so that meant we were in luck. Our kids ate for nothing!!!

The buffet had salad, fresh fruit, chicken tenders, pizza (plain and pepperoni), mac and cheese, cookies and brownies. My kids loved it and loved that they could serve themselves while the grown ups ate.

Here is the bread that was brought to the table.

The bread was good and the breadsticks were soft and fresh.

All of the adults got burgers. My mom and I got regular burgers, my dad and DH got turkey burgers. The only difference was that the "real" burgers were served with onion rings. No rings for the turkeys! The turkey burgers came with fresh fruit, though, and we were able to take the fruit back to our rooms for breakfast.

(Oh, is there a hidden Mickey here? Not intentionally.....).
Once again we skipped dessert. We were heading to the WWoHP and knew that there would be some goodies ahead....

Well, the kids did have butterbeers.
Butterbeer pics!!

We got some snacks in Seussland, not WWoHP....the lines were too long in the candy store.
So we got a snickerdoodle cookie, a chocolate crunch cookie and a triple chocolate brownie which we enjoyed in the room.

And I was able to get a big cup of milk to enjoy with our treats.

I also got chocolate wands but didn't photograph them.

More to come.....a snack for DS at Circus McGurkus and lunch at Mythos.

 

[scanne]

This was our 2nd day of vacation and our last at US/IOA. We skipped breakfast and by 10am my DS was super hungry, so I took him into Circus McGurkus for a little bite of something before lunch.

DS is the extreme picky eater. He likes chicken nuggets, tenders, strips, sandwiches and the occasional chicken leg (if it's fried). He also recently found he likes bbq ribs. Sometimes he will eat pizza and VERY rarely a burger (and the burger has to be from Five Guys). He is also a chocolate, cookie, cake and junk food freak. Has me a bit worried...
Oh and he does eat salad but it has to be dry. Just lettuce, cucumbers and sometimes carrots, but NO dressing.

So his snack of choice was this bundt cake that he thought was a donut. It was a lemony-vanilla cake. Not that great. He ate about 2/3 of it, I took a taste and threw it away. He had a milk with it as well. He is a huge milk drinker.

I think he ended up with a soft pretzel and a slushie about an hour later. When he gets hungry, he gets cranky and moody....I try to encourage him to eat protein and foods with substance, but it's a tough battle. And then my DD is just the complete opposite.....

Anyway, I digress. I don't have pretzle/slushy pics, so let's move ahead to lunch at Mythos.

DH had wanted to eat here for a long time - I think since we visited US/IOA over 5 years ago. Well, he was not disappointed. He loved the theme in the restaurant and the food was very good.
The bread was delicious. It was a rosemary infused sour dough. I could have eaten the entire loaf!

DS had - yup, you guessed it - chicken, BUT, he didn't like the seasoning in the breading so he reluctantly agreed to swap it for a grilled cheese. He ate 1/4 of the grilled cheese.

DD had the kids burger which came with french fries and corn.

My dad had the caesar salad.

My mom had the tomato basil soup.

DH and I shared two entrees: the pad thai and the crab sliders. I MUCH preferred the pad thai to the sliders. The crab cakes were dry and more filler than crab...

We did get one dessert here. It was a flourless chocolate cake with peanut butter ice cream and bananas foster sauce. There are DH's three favorite flavors and he was in a dream state of food euphoria which very rarely happens. I had a taste - it was DELICIOUS!

So that concludes our US/IOA dining. NEXT we get to WDW and hit the Hoop De Doo Revue!!!!

 

[Tracerr00]

I will be spending a day at US/IOA during my upcoming trip and I know almost nothing about the food there. Can't wait to read more of your reviews!!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Loving the reviews so far! We are spending a day at IOA and can't wait to try the butter beer!

Look forward to reading all about your meals at Disney World

 

[scanne]

I will be spending a day at US/IOA during my upcoming trip and I know almost nothing about the food there. Can't wait to read more of your reviews!!

Have fun on your upcoming trip! I hope my reviews help with your planning. Thank you for reading along!

 

[scanne]

Loving the reviews so far! We are spending a day at IOA and can't wait to try the butter beer!

Look forward to reading all about your meals at Disney World

Thank you for reading! I prefer the frozen butterbeer. The regular is REALLY sweet, but if you have a sweet tooth, then go for it!

 

[scanne]

So we left US/IOA at 4pm via limousine, stopped at Publix to get water, then checked in to the WL. I was being picky about my room location...and I ended up asking to be switched to a room facing the inner courtyard (instead of the villa pool - we booked courtyard view), and after realizing that we would be clear across the resort from my parents, I asked to be switched back to the original room assignment.

I felt so bad and apologized to the CM about a dozen times. She was wonderfully kind and understanding.

I am glad I did switch back because our rooms were adjoining (had the door inside) and this worked out great.

Once we got to the room and somewhat settled, my mom and I went to concierge to have our HDDR tickets printed. While we were waiting in line for concierge, one of the hotel managers came over and asked if we had any questions.

I asked about being a flag family....so she checked her book....and sadly, no slots were open.

But then, pixie dust happened....
The manager asked if we had plans the evening of August 19th....we actually didn't - just dinner at 'Ohana at 5:15pm, but nothing afterwards. She then asked us if we would like to watch Wishes from the roof of the WL.

Um, yes please!
So she put us in the book for the fireworks from the roof while my mom and I stood there with big, silly grins stretching from ear to ear.

We got our HDDR tickets and headed to the room to tell everyone our good news! We were all so excited!

OK, now back to HDDR. We were seated on the floor to the left of the stage. It was an ok seat - somewhat hard to see everything, but we did have a ton of interaction from the performers - which I love!

Salad - fresh and crisp lettuce. DH and I asked for a salad without onions...

Cornbread

Wine

Ribs and Chicken and mashed potatoes

Strawberry Shortcake

 

[scanne]

When we got back to our room after the HDDR, we found that we had all been sprinkled quite generously with pixie dust - yet again!

Now I have read about this here on DISboards. I have seen the pics. I have drooled over others' good fortune. And I never, ever, EVER thought it would happen to me.

So imagine my surprise when we walked into our room(s) and found these treats!!!

Plate of cookies and a white chocolate Donald Duck:

Gift pails and shovels for the kids (there were two of the same - one for each kid):

And my parents also got:

And a WL box of chocolates!

We got cards from the staff of WL - ours read, "Welcome home. We hope you have a magical vacation!" ~The cast of Disney's Wilderness Lodge

My parents' card was similar but also wished them a happy anniversary. (They were celebrating 40 years!) I can totally understand the pixie dust for my mom and dad and their anniversary, but my family and I were just on vacation and we weren't celebrating anything.

So this is an example of that rare but wonderful pixie dust!!! (And that white chocolate Donald was mighty tasty!!!!)

 

[Duckkie]

Such incredible Pixie Dust! I love when something awesome happens to good people! I think those of us that don't expect such things end up with it happening to them for a reason!

Great start... Loving the reviews!

What did you all think of HDDR? Would you do it again?

When we got back to our room after the HDDR, we found that we had all been sprinkled quite generously with pixie dust - yet again!

Now I have read about this here on DISboards. I have seen the pics. I have drooled over others' good fortune. And I never, ever, EVER thought it would happen to me.

So imagine my surprise when we walked into our room(s) and found these treats!!!

Plate of cookies and a white chocolate Donald Duck:

Gift pails and shovels for the kids (there were two of the same - one for each kid):

And my parents also got:

And a WL box of chocolates!

We got cards from the staff of WL - ours read, "Welcome home. We hope you have a magical vacation!" ~The cast of Disney's Wilderness Lodge

My parents' card was similar but also wished them a happy anniversary. (They were celebrating 40 years!) I can totally understand the pixie dust for my mom and dad and their anniversary, but my family and I were just on vacation and we weren't celebrating anything.

So this is an example of that rare but wonderful pixie dust!!! (And that white chocolate Donald was mighty tasty!!!!)