DDP 4/28-5/4 Kona, CP, CM, WCC, WPC, LeCell

[sandym718]

HI everyone!! Got back Saturday from a fabulous trip! The reviews here were so helpful to me, I want to repay the favor!

We are: Me (29 for a few more months!), DH (34), DS (5 next week) and DD (2, almost 3). The three of us were on the DDP, DD was free.

The DDP worked SO WELL for us!! We really got to enjoy a lot of food and it was such a GREAT DEAL for us! I calculated that we saved $310.50 by using the plan! Basically, what we paid for in the plan cost did not even cover all of our table service (an extra $53.54), never mind the Quick Service ($195.89) and snacks ($61.07). Definitely well worth it for us, we would definitely do it again!!

A few more notes before the actual reviews. We had PLENTY of food for all 4 of us, never bought any food OOP at all, even for DD. The kids meals were enough for them both to share - they're both light eaters, so there were still always leftovers at the TS. We did order her an extra chocolate milk at every TS - we were never charged for it Anywhere! That was so nice of them, I had planned on paying OOP for that. They split the choc. milk at QS or one drank water (we brought bottled). Also, they NEVER ate sugar-free Jello! I wouldn't have minded it once or twice, they do like it, but they NEVER had it, I don't even remember seeing it that much! We also had good service everywhere, didn't seem to be affected by having DDP. WCC was slow, see below, but our server seemed to be for everyone, not just us! Finally, we saw only 2 inconsistencies - our last two days, see the reviews below.

Here we go:
Day One-- Saturday, April 28th

Lunch at Cosmic Ray's -- Well, we waited till noon which was a mistake, LOL! Very crowded. Also, we all wanted stuff from each of the 3 Bays so it took forever. I think it would be better to have them all at one!
Me -- Iced Tea, Pork Sandwich with Pasta Salad, Chocolate Cake
DH -- Pop, Double Cheeseburger with Fries, Chocolate Cake
Kids -- split a Chicken Nugget meal with applesauce and grapes, chocolate milk and chocolate cake *** This time they were allowed 2 sides + ANY dessert - this was not the case on our last day, as you'll see later***

My Pork sandwich was VERY good, I really liked it! Pasta Salad OK, We all liked the Chocolate cake. Kids and DH enjoyed their respective meals.

Dinner at Kona Cafe -- I think my fave meal of all!!!! A great deal on the DDP, our total bill was close to $120. Service was great! She offered us Smoothies, which we each got. Mine was Raspberry, DH had Mango (? I think, can't remember!) Both great!!
Me -- Sticky Wings, Filet, Kileau Torte, Smoothie and water
DH -- Stickey Wings, Prime Rib, Apple Brown Betty, Smoothie and water
Kids -- choc milk for both, split a Cheeseburger meal with Chicken Noodle Soup appy and Ice Cream Sundae for dessert

We all loved it here! ADR was for 6:05, we were seated by 6:15 I believe. Quick service, but not rushed. Good atmosphere for kids. STickey wings were HUGE portions - I think 8 wings each! I didn't eat them all! Filet was GREAT! Le Cellier a bit better I think, but this was awesome too! DH loved his Prime Rib. Mashed potatoes were sooooo good, a trend I found everywhere this week! Kids enjoyed their meal just fine. Desserts were good, I loved the Kileau - I think my fave dessert of the week!


Day Two coming up!!

 

[sandym718]

Day Two -- Sunday, April 29th

Breakfast - in room, we brought donuts, milk, cereal. This is what we had all week.

Lunch -- Captain Cook's
Me -- Iced Tea, Turkey Club, Chocolate Crossaint
DH -- Pop, Double Cheeseburger, Chocolate Crossaint
Kids -- Split a Chicken STrips meal with applesauce, grapes, chocolate milk and pudding

All very good, nothing SPECTACULAR, except the chocolate crossaints - TO DIE FOR! These are with choc. chips, they are sooooo good. I had a few more with snack credits over the course of our trip!

Snack -- Captain Cook's
At naptime, DH got his first Dole Whip - loved it!!!!

Dinner -- Crystal Palace
This was very good, kids loved the characters! OUr ADR was for 5:10, we waited till past 5:30, then it took till almost 7 to see all the characters, but that was OK.
My faves here were the mashed potatoes, pasta with mushrooms and cream sauce and the bread pudding. DH seemed to like everything - he ate a ton!!

 

[Motherofboys]

Great reviews We were there last week too, Kona was our favorite TS dinner too. The mashed potatoes were so good! Can't wait to read the rest!

 

[DLo]

Thanks for your reviews. Looking forward to the rest. Kona is one of my favorites !!!

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

Sounds fantastic!

 

[rentayenta]

Excellent. The CS meals come with dessert too? Holy Hannah, I am going to gain some weight.

 

[Pooh Lover]

Great reviews! Can't wait to read the rest.

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent reviews ~ Looking forward to reading more

 

[sandym718]

Excellent. The CS meals come with dessert too? Holy Hannah, I am going to gain some weight.

LOL, I gained 2 pounds total over the week. You do a lot of walking, too, so it "sorta" balances out. I got 1 of those pounds off already, hopefully the other by the end of the week. Then it's the rest I need to lose, LOL!

Rest of the week should be up this afternoon, evening!

 

[dancemomnj]

Thanks for the review. Looking foward to the rest!

 

[Disneyolic]

Loving you reviews so far. I love to hear reviews especially from people with young kids. We have 3 kids and 1 of them will still be under 3 when we go in June. I have been debating on if we will need to ever pay OOP for her.

 

[Tinkerbell_Girl]

Great reviews! I can't wait to read the rest!

 

[wilma-bride]

Great reviews so far - can't wait to read more

 

[sandym718]

Day Three - Monday, April 30th

Breakfast in the room

Lunch -- Electric Umbrella - this wasn't my first choice for a QS in Epcot, but we were near it, so that's where we ate

Me-Iced Tea, Turkey Wrap w/apple slices and brownie
DH -Pop, Bacon double cheeseburger, strawberry cheesecake
Kids - split a Chicken Nuggets meal w/ choc. milk, grapes, applesauce and a brownie; They also ate most of my apple slices later as a snack

Everything here was OK, not great, not bad. My wrap was supposed to have orange mayo on it - I couldn't taste it at all. Brownies were good!!

Snack -- another Dole Whip from Captain Cook's for DH at nap time


Dinner-- Whispering Canyon Cafe ADR 5:30 , we were seated within 5 minutes
We all got the skillet (DD just sharing). We were offered smoothies or milkshakes. DH got some sort of smoothie, I can't remember. I opted for just iced tea as I didn't want to be overfull. Kids each got choc. milk of course!
The salad was OK, not enough dressing for my taste. Kids got watermelon appy, they loved that. the cornbread is SOOOOO good!! I really love cornbread and this was just great! The skillet food was good, not great. I really liked the mashed potatoes. I think DS ate 3 corn-on-the-cob, but I didn't try it, so I don't know what it was like. The pork was good, DH liked the sausage.
DH and I both got the Apple Caramel Pie for dessert which was DELISH! Kids shared Worms in Dirt, which they loved.

This was our only so-so service, very slow! Forever in-between salad and bread and the skillet, then forever again for dessert order, then to get it, then to handle the check. Luckily the kids were occupied by the antics. They did the pony race, etc. They were losing it while waiting for the check, so I took them back to the Lincoln Log table. They were happy with that since we were seated so quickly they hadn't had much time to play. I will say that I do NOT think the slow service had anything to do with us having the DDP. Our server just kept disappearing and wasn't helping ANY of her tables. She was nice and fun, but slow. At one point before taking our dessert order, she was putting up a "Coloring Hall of Fame" and spent several minutes coloring a picture just a few feet from us. Oh well, the dinner was fine. We enjoyed it, this is probably the only TS we wouldn't go back to, though. It was good to try once.

Day Four coming right up!!

 

[sandym718]

Day Four - Tuesday, May 1st

Kids ate a light breakfast in the room


Brunch/Lunch -- Chef Mickey's
our ADR was for 11 AM. We overestimated travel time and got there about 10:40. Should've done a few more rides in MK, because we weren't seated until almost 11:30!!! That really kind of stunk, but oh well. Another family was waiting also, from OH near us too, also 11 AM ADR, seated right after us. We saw Minnie right away, then ate and ate without seeing more characters. Restaurant was clearing out as it was after the last breakfast seating, so I think people who wanted to leave were just going TO the characters and thus they couldn't move around the dining room as usual. DD enjoyed waving her napkin for the "party". I was just on the verge of getting annoyed at only seeing 1/5 characters as DH and I were done eating and the kids were on their very last bites. I was going to talk to our waitress, but then they came, and came one right after the other!! Which ended up being very nice, we got our plates cleared and just enjoyed a little time with the 4 characters before leaving. Worked out very well after all.

Food was good. Kids loved the Mickey waffles. DH ate a ton of bacon and sausage. I really like the Cheesy potatoes and biscuits/gravy. Chocolate crossaints here are not Nearly as good as at Captain Cook's.

Snacks -- Plaza Ice Cream Parlor
DD and I went back to MK to see Princesses and the Parade, DH and DS went back to the Poly to swim. Before sitting down for the parade, I got the two of us some ice cream to beat the heat. DD got the kid's Mickey cone, w/ choc. ice cream and the whole thing in a cup. I got a cup of mint chocolate chip. Hit the spot and kept us sorta cool.

Dinner -- Captain Cook's
QS for dinner tonight since our TS was earlier. We had decided at this point that we would be staying through lunch on Friday, so instead of stuffing ourselves, we'd save a few credits for that day (We stayed 6 nights so had 6 "days" worth of dining credits, but we had 7 day park tickets and used all 7)

DH was not very hungry at all, so he used a Snack Credit for yet another Dole Whip after we finished eating.

Kids and I shared a Pepperoni Flatbread and a brownie. I got iced tea with it and we used another Snack credit for a chocolate milk for the kids. I absolutely LOVED the Flatbread, delicious! Kids did too!

****NOTE: QS credits are NOT split between child/adult. However, we did not ever attempt to use credits for other than their intended purpose. So I cannot say if that can/does work. We shared on this night - but used the child QS credit on Friday -for a kid's meal. DH did not use a QS credit this day, used it on Friday. I used snacks on Friday. Just to note that****

 

[sandym718]

Day Five - Wednesday, May 2nd

Breakfast in the room

Lunch -- Lottawatta Lodge
Blizzard Beach today and this seemed to have the best selection, so here it was!
Me- Iced Tea, Pepperoni Pizza, Nestle Tollhouse Ice Cream Sandwich
DH- Iced Tea, Chicken Strips with fries, Nestle Crunch Ice Cream Bar
Kids - split a Hot dog meal with grapes and applesauce and chocolate milk. We were told the kids got no dessert here ?? Oh well, they shared the sandwich with me which was good - those are 500 calories a pop! But GOOD! Kids also had a bit of my pizza in addition to their half a hot dog. Pizza was OK, no where near as good as CC flatbread!
We were told to bring up our receipt for our ice cream once we finished our lunch, it was no problem at all.

Snacks -- Captain Cook's
DH and I got a Dole Whip and Chocolate Crossaint respectively at nap time. Yum!

Dinner--Wolfgang Puck Cafe ADR 5:30, we were seated immediately. I like the look of this place. It is a bit loud, but that's good for a family with young kids! Great service, I had heard some negative things, but we had no problem really.

Me--Iced Tea, Soup of the Day (Loaded Baked Potato), Pasta Bolognese, Bread Pudding
DH--Iced Tea, Calimari, Wolf Steak, Key Lime Pie
Kids - Each got a fruit punch, only white milk was included on the DDP (which they DO drink, that's all the drink at home, they like a treat when they eat out); shared a Spaghetti and Meatball meal and the Artist Palette Sundae. No appy for them here. That was fine, we were served bread which was fine for them!
My soup was sooooo good!! I'm glad I asked what the Soup was for the day. DH said the Calimari was good. Both liked our entrees a lot, kids ate well too. DH said Key Lime Pie was OK, it's not his fave thing anyway, not sure why he ordered it. I asked what the Bread Pudding of the day was and server said Strawberry and chocolate chip. I ordered it and when it came - it was peach instead, but no problem b/c it was AWESOME!! I can't say how good, with an anglaise whipped cream or something like that which was divine. I was so stuffed afterwards!!


More Snacks -- Goofy's Candy Company
At this point we knew we'd have a lot of snacks leftover, as the kids weren't really using them (if they snacked at all, they ate little snacks we brought from home - my Mom had given them a ton) and we hadn't used them all. So, we went to Goofy's. Kids each picked out lollipop sets for themselves - DS Mickey ones, DD "princess" heart ones. We also bought 4 boxes of cookies using credits to take home for family

 

[sandym718]

Day Six - Thursday, May 3rd

Breakfast in the room

Lunch -- Flame Tree BBQ
Me-- Iced Tea, BBQ Pork Sandwich, Chocolate Cake
DH - Iced Tea, BBQ Pork Sandwich, Frozen Lemonade
Kids - shared a Chicken Wing meal, choc. milk, applesauce and grapes

We were told no dessert here either for the kids? Again, that was fine, we all shared the 2 desserts and it was plenty. **The meals here no longer come with corn on the cob!** Wanted to note that b/c the menu at All Ears still says that. No loss for me, but I did notice some of the other meals, ribs I know for sure, also include a corn muffin which was huge and I would've liked, but I wanted the sandwich - that came with just the BBQ beans. The Pork was good, but I actually like Cosmic Ray's better. Beans good, cake and froz. lemonade good. Kids really liked the Wings (we took the meat off for them) and DH finished them up, saying they were good.

No snacks today, DH was full, there were no choc. crossaints at CC, LOL!

Dinner -- Le Cellier - ADR 5:30, we were seated within 5 minutes
My second fave meal of the trip, very close to Kona - they could be tied!
Me-- Choc. Raspberry Shake, Cheese Soup, Filet w/ BBQ sauce on side, Chocolate Whiskey Cake
DH -- Mango Smoothie, Tomato Stack, Prime Rib, Smores
Kids -- each got choc. milk, shared a spaghetti dinner w/ cheese soup and ice cream sundae

Everything was sooo good! Great service! Offered us the smoothies/shakes. OMG, the choc/rasp. shake is sooo good!! I really liked the cheese soup, but especially with the pretzel bread dipped in it! Kids digged the pretzel bread. Not sure if DS liked the soup or not, he ate some. DH said tomato stack was good. My filet was AWESOME! Delicious! I had the sauce on the side b/c I wasn't sure if I'd like sauce on my steak, I never have it. It was really good, though, so I used it. Mashed potatoes were Delish once again! DH liked his prime rib a lot. Kids ate almost all of the pasta, it must have been good. Desserts were awesome! My cake came with another anglaise (sauce this time), made it extra good. DH dug the Smores, shared a little with the kids. It looked delicious!

This was a fabulous last TS for us!!

 

[wilma-bride]

Great reviews. Your DH's choices at Wolfgang Puck are exactly the same as I will be ordering in Auugst. Did the calimari have some kind of sauce on top or on the side or was it just the calimari?

When you had your ADR at Chef Mickey's, was the food still fairly fresh seeing as it was quite late on - were they still putting fresh food out?

 

[KAC2005]

Thanks for the reviews. Really looking forward to Le Cellier now!

 

[sandym718]

Day Seven - Friday, May 4th

Breakfast in the room

We all headed to MK this AM, then DH and DD went back to the Poly and DS and I stayed on to do bigger rides - SpMtn, BTMRR.

Lunch -- Captain Cooks, Cosmic Ray's, Lunching Pad, Aloha Isle
DH and DD went to CC. They split a flatbread meal with a drink and an ice cream sandwich. Used a snack credit for DD choc. milk and another to buy me a choc. crossaint for the ride home!!! (Yay!)

I wanted a Cream Cheese Pretzel, so I got that with a snack credit at the Lunching Pad, then took DS to Cosmic Ray's for his lunch. This was the big inconsistency we saw (but no big deal). If you remember on day 1, we got a Kid's chick. nugget meal w/ applesauce, grapes, choc. milk and choc. cake. Well, today I tried to order the same thing except with carrots instead of grapes (DD had been eating those). I was told they either get 2 sides OR 1 side, 1 dessert. So, OK drop the carrots. Then, she said the dessert for kids was only pudding or a cookie. Hmm...got cake just a few days ago?? I didn't even ask, though, it didn't matter - just pointing it out here for interest. He got the pudding and loved it.

For our final snack credit, DS and I went to Aloha Isle on our "way" out (just a few steps out of the way) and got a Dole Float - DELISH!! I knew DH was using the other 2 remaining snack credits.

Summary -- We ate like KINGS!!! We used all the credits and I was so happy with the DDP. Saved us a bunch of $$, as I said. Now, if we were eating w/o the plan, would we each have ordered appys and dessert, smoothies, etc? No, but this is vacation and we WANTED to splurge!! We watch our pennies carefully at home, trust me this trip - at the POLY - was a HUGE splurge for us. I loved not having to worry about $ at all, it was all paid for except for souveniers! I loved ordering whatever I wanted basically!! I mean, that steak at Kona alone was close to $30! I probably would never have paid that OOP, but I LOVE Filet. This was a true treat for all of us, and really the DDP price was obviously well worth it. Assuming the DDP stays the same, I'd definitely do it again!

As for TS, WCC is probably the only one we definitely wouldn't do again. Not that it was bad, just not so special we'd need to go again. I can't imagine not doing Kona or LeCellier again, those are must-do's now. CP and CM - good food, great for the characters so we'll have to see for next trip - who do the kids want to see?? I'd do them again if they want those characters. Somehow, I'll think we'll be doing a princess meal! WPC - I'd do this again too, no problem, but I might also want to try more new places, KWIM? As I said, the two I can't imagine NOT eating at at Disney now are Kona and LeCellier.

So, that's it! My Dining Reviews. Any questions, don't hesitate to ask, I'd love to help as I got so much help here!!! I will be starting a Trip Report soon, so be sure to check that out if you're interested!! Thanks for reading!