We stayed at Pop Century, but were given the full dining plan free, not just quick service. Something about my "frequent visits" qualified me. I'm not sure that I buy that, but ok... Free is free, right?
First, about the plan itself, you get one snack, one counter service meal, and one table service meal, for every night of your stay. Since we stayed 9 nights, we got 9 of each. (times two).
The snack is just that: A snack. It could be a soft drink, a bottle of water, a cheap dessert, or one of the food/wine foods. Everything is clearly marked at the stations, so you know just what you're getting for your credit.
The counter service meal includes one entree (or combo meal such as burger/fries), one nonalcoholic beverage, and one dessert. Dessert usually meant chocolate cake, or carrot cake, or cheesecake at most of the park restaurants. At Pop Century's restaurant, it meant a large number of things including their yummy tye-dye cheesecake (which was more velvet cake, but whatever, it was good) or even fruit.
The table service meal also includes one entree, drink, and dessert. This brings us to my first complaint. I like dessert once in awhile, but I'd much rather have the appetizer back. Or at least make it an either/or thing.
Now for our trip, I will go down the list of all the table services:
Saturday, Oct 10, Biergarten, lunch
This is, by far, my favorite buffet in the World. Excellent food, the beer is inexpensive ($12 for a liter!!!) and I think the show is very cute, and keeps me entertained while sitting with strangers. This trip we were with 2 retirees that kept to themselves, and a mom, her daughter, and the "frat boy fiance" that obviously just wanted to drink and go home. Nobody talked except to their own party. Very disappointing, but at least we got to see two of the shows. This place had everything from those little bratwursts, to cold cole slaw, and sauerkraut, cold beet salad, warm pretzel bread, and many other things that I know I'm forgetting. We actually paid cash for this one, because I booked us 2 more table meals than we had credits for.
Sunday, Oct 11, Mama Melrose, lunch
This was our first use of table service credits. I also made the reservation for the opening of the restaurant, so we only waited a few moments to be seated. As a reminder, the plan does not include alcohol, but I wanted a bellini, so I had to pay out of pocket for that. We both had chicken parm, served over spaghetti. It was delicious, but nothing great. The bread was served with oliveoil and black pepper. Macaroni Grill has better seasoning, but once again, it was free, so we ate it up.
Sunday, Oct 11, Jiko, dinner
Jiko, in the Animal Kingdom Lodge, is my favorite sit down and be served restaurant in the whole World (differing from above as it's not a buffet). It's dark, kids are either not present, or well tranquilized. Most everyone is dressed nice, and the ambient noise is low. Shawn and I are making this one a tradition. Jiko is a "signature restaurant" so it cost us 2 table credits each to dine here. We shared a flat bread pizza, and also each got an appetizer, and I had 2 glasses of wine. Combining that with the tip, it was still a $100 meal, and our entrees and desserts were covered, so be warned. However, it is very tasty, and very enjoyable. The flat bread was chicken barbeque. Shawn had "the taste of africa" which is pita bread served with 3 sauces. One is hummus, one is curry, and I forget the green one, but it was slightly spicy, and went down smooth. My appetizer was a "BLT salad" which was these giant chunks of bacon served with random greens and tomatoes. Entrees were filet mignon (medium rare, thank you very much) for me, and Shawn had halibut. I'm blanking on the dessert, as I didn't take notes. I'm pretty sure it was some sort of cheesecake. And Shawn had something chocolatey... LOL. Sorry I can't remember, it mustn't have made an impression on us.
Monday, October 12, California Grill dinner
This one was also a splurge because I wanted to share Hallowishes with Shawn from atop the Contemporary. We did get great photos, but this restaurant is definitely on the "skip list" now. It is WAY LOUD, kids are everywhere, and the service was very slow. We were there 2 1/2 hours! In comparison, we ate slowly at Jiko, and were done in 1 1/2 hours. I know I had scallops, but the rest of the meal was a big blur due to how long it was, and how tired we were from being out all day. Their wine was pretty tasty, as I chose a riesling to go with the scallops, and some sort of tomato mozarella salad. I apologize to those folks that love this place, but I highly suggest you try Jiko instead. Same price, (2 table credits), but much better experience.
Tuesday, October 13, Grand Floridian Cafe dinner
Shawn and I spent much of the late morning, and early afternoon, grazing at the F&W festival, so we weren't terribly hungry when it was time for this reservation. I even offered to back out of it for a rest before the Halloween party, but was overruled!
Our reservation was early, 5 pm, and we showed up a little late from the monorail journey from EPCOT. I was also a wee bit tipsy when we got there, but it was all good
The Floridian is a beautiful hotel as we all know, but this restaurant was just barely above counter service. The water tasted like that stanky water you have to bathe in at your hotel room. I had rare tuna, that was just ok. The blueberry sorbet was the best part of the meal, to be honest. I don't recall what Shawn had (I'm a horrible note taker).
Wednesday, October 14, Boma dinner
Shawn and I made the mistake of eating HUGE ice cream sundaes at Beaches and Cream around 3:30 pm, so we weren't hungry when getting to the buffet. Dumb, huh? So we barely ate, but it was free. Boma had all kinds of normal food like beef and chicken, but the sauces and spices add the african flair. Plus it had tons of cute pastries for dessert.
Thursday, October 15, Teppan Edo lunch
OK my summaries are getting shorter, lol, so here goes. If you've been to Benihana, you've been here, however more of a rip off. At least at local chains you get soup, salad, maybe a shrimp appetizer, all for free... not here. You get smiley japanese women that bow a lot and thank you for absolutely everything you do. The scallops were tasty, but I'm glad it was free. Green tea pudding for dessert was divine, however.
Friday, October 16, Kona cafe breakfast
OMG TONGA TOAST YUMMY DROOL MOAN MOAN MOAN
Saturday, October 17, Coral Reef lunch
The food was pretty good, but the appeal to this restaurant is the view of the aquarium. We were seated right next to the window and had great company. But who else thinks its weird to eat fish right in front of fish?
Shawn had Mahi Mahi and I had Trout. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals, but we were getting sad that our trip was almost over.
Of course we had tons of counter service tossed in these days too, so there was no shortage of food. But I'm sure most of you know the standard burgers, fries, chicken nuggets, and other theme park fare.
Throw in cream cheese pretzels, churros, ice cream bars, and lots and lots of wine, and you can guess that we gained tons of weight
I'm done typing for now, lol. I hope you enjoyed my review!
Looking forward to hearing your comments on the DDP. We had one (viciously bad) experience with it, so I'm always looking for more info... maybe looking for courage to try it again one day.
jiko too.
