DDP Dining Review for 13 day trip - Day #10 Cont'd & Day #11 Updated 11/3/13

[Dopey4Life]

My favorite restaurant - Via Napoli

I love Via Napoli and make my husband go each trip, along with a few other of my regular spots. Thankfully we did much better with our food pictures this evening. With the kids meal, our daughter got to choose appetizer and picked the fruit.

She loves berries, so this was perfect for her. She rated it a 5 out of 5, though when I remembered to ask her she usually rated everything a 5 out of 5.

I saved room at lunch for my favorite appetizer, Arancini, which we paid out of pocket for. I love these little fried risotto balls and they, again, did not disappoint. They were definitely a 5 out of 5 in my book. I am drooling right now as I type thinking about them. Yum!

My husband and I shared the Candele (almost like a lasagna) and the Mezze Rigatoni alla Crema con Pollo (cream, chicken, and peas) - this was a great idea (patting myself on the back) because the rigatoni is a very rich dish. Plus both dishes are excellent, so hubby and I happily shared half of each. Next trip I promise I will let him choose his own entrée and just get the Candele, which is amazing. It was nice to share though and we loved both. We each rate each dish a 5 out of 5!

Our daughter had the kids spaghetti and meatballs, which was huge! She is a big eater for 4 years old, but did not even put a dent in it. I believe my hubby did finish her meatballs, though.

My mom had the Lasagna Verde (vegetable lasagne) and raved about it. She said it was delicious, but very rich. She rated it a 5 out of 5.

My mother-in-law had the vegetable pizza, which was the first pizza any of us have had after eating at Via Napoli over 5 trips. I know they are known for their pizza, but always love their pasta!

For dessert, my mom got a cappuccino and was very pleased with it.

Our daughter had chocolate gelato, which she loved. My husband tried the Italian soda dessert, which he said was very refreshing. My mother-in-law and I both had the lemon sorbet, which we always get. It was nice, light, and refreshing as the last time we had it.

Our waitress, Chiara (yes, I was also surprised there were female waitresses - I only remembered the cute Italian guys. I can say this and not get in trouble because I am married to a cute Italian guy! ) was wonderful and brought us a little treat and sang to us for our Anniversary. Overall, the meal was even better than our last time at Via Napoli, which is hard to do. We definitely rated the whole meal - food, service, experience as a 5 out of 5.

Next up...Day #6...Tusker House at Animal Kingdom and 1900 Park Fare Anniversary dinner...

 

[Dopey4Life]

Tusker House

We put our ponchos on and headed through the rain for our pre-rope drop breakfast at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. This has always been one of our favorite character breakfasts. Since it was raining, we got our Photopass picture outside under the covering in front of the restaurant, but Donald was not in the picture. Donald came to our table inside, along with the other characters.

We did not get many pictures from this meal, but I will tell you about what is on the two plates we did get pictures off. This plate had some good fruit and a bunch of pastries. The best, in both my husband and my opinion's, was the chocolate chip pastry. It is wonderful - chewy, sweet, and just delicious. We had a bunch of these and the Krispie Kreme donuts, which are not on the plates, but we definitely had some. My husband also said the blueberry muffin was very good.

The tater tots were a hit with my husband and daughter. We all liked the scrambled - they were moist and tasty. My husband also like the egg frittata. As always, the food was delicious and the character interaction was great. We rated the meal a 5 out of 5.

Lunch at Yak & Yeti
This was our first time eating at Yak & Yeti - we tried the counter service. Since we had a big breakfast and knew we were having a buffet dinner, we decided to share a few items. My husband ordered the fried rice as a snack credit and shared it with our daughter. He said it was good. He gave it a 3 out of 5. I think it rates a little higher just because it was only a snack credit!

I ordered the Honey chicken, which I was very excited to try. I really liked it, but my husband thought it was too sweet and just alright. I am over-ruling him and rating it a 4 out of 5.

This was perfect amount to share for a quick service credit - I got the frozen lemonade as our dessert - and a snack credit. I gave it a 4 out of 5 for taste and value!

Day #6 to be cont'd in the next post...dinner at 1900 Park Fare...

 

[Dopey4Life]

Anniversary Dinner at 1900 Park Fare

My daughter and I tried 1900 Park Fare last October and loved it! We decided to take my husband and the moms for this trip. For a dinner buffet, we were all quite impressed with the selections and the quality of the food.

The mashed potatoes were also delicious! The jasmine rice was not as quite flavorful as last October, but pretty good.

The strawberry soup was delicious! Everyone enjoyed it and we all rated it a 5 out of 5!

This was my mom's plate, she tried a little of everything and pretty much loved it all. I don't see that I got a picture of my plate, but I loved the kids' macaroni & cheese, the mozzarella and tomato skewers.

I ordered two desserts for my husband and I's anniversary. We got a dark chocolate Cinderella's glass slipper with chocolate mousse for our 10th wedding anniversary.

We were to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary last summer with our first trip to Disneyland, but had a medical emergency on the way and were not able to go. This trip was our make-up trip for our 10th anniversary and to celebrate our 11th anniversary. For our 11th anniversary, I got the mini-cake with the white chocolate castle on top. Here is a picture of the inside of the cake.

The slipper, mousse, and the cake were all beautiful and quite tasty. With all of the food from the day, the 5 of us only ate about half of the slipper and the cake. We took them back to our hotel and finished them a day or two later. They were still great!

With the wonderful character interaction, the step-sisters were hilarious and the great food and special desserts, we rated 1900 Park Fare a 5 out of 5. We will definitely be back there for our next trip!

Stay tuned for Day #7...

 

[Dopey4Life]

Keys to the Kingdom Tour - Lunch at Columbia Harbour House
For our anniversary present, the moms were spending the morning with our daughter so my husband and I could go on the Keys to the Kingdom tour.

Our tour started at 9 am, so we grabbed a cheese Danish and blueberry muffin from Pop's food court on our way to Magic Kingdom. We entered Magic Kingdom early, walked down Main street, had about a hundred pictures taken in front of the castle in our Anniversary outfits. Here are a few.

After our pictures, we ate our yummy breakfast snacks, while we waited for the tour to begin and watched the Magic Kingdom open. It was fun to watch the crowds head to the different attractions at Rope Drop and to see the characters exit the Railroad Station. Then we headed on tour, which I won't go into since this is a dining thread.

We loved the tour - it was amazing all of the little touches that Disney has that no one notices! We had a wonderful guide and enjoyed our magical morning. Towards the end of the morning, we had lunch at Columbia Harbour House, which was included in the cost of the tour. We had never eaten at CHH, but it was a good lunch. We both had the chicken fingers and french fries, which we fine. I guess, we were so excited about the tour, we did not take pictures of lunch. On our next trip, I would like to try to Apple Crisp at CHH! We rated lunch at CHH a 3 out of 5, but the KTTK tour was definitely a 5 out of 5!

Dinner at Pecos Bill
We met up with the moms and our daughter for Mermaid makeover at Pirates League. She did this makeover at our last trip in October, but my husband and the moms were not there. She was quite excited to have the makeover again. She loved it even more this time! Here are a few pictures of her makeover and then when she went to meet Ariel after her makeover.

After the makeover and before visiting Ariel, we were hungry and stopped at Pecos Bill. I did not manage to get pictures of all our food. My husband and I shared a Cheeseburger and fries and a Taco Salad. The toppings bar was wonderful, especially the liquid cheese for the french fries. This is a picture of my husband's half of the taco salad, once I remembered to take it.

My mom had the steak with corn and cornbread. She said it was very good for the price. I talked a CM into a piece of cornbread and it was amazing - a 5 out of 5!

My mother-in-law had the veggie burger, which I also did not get a picture of. I also cannot find what we chose for dessert, but I think it was a strawberry yogurt our daughter ate, a chocolate cake, and a couple of carrot cakes that were taken back for another day. With the fixing bar, we rated this quick service a 4 out of 5 (though the cornbread is 5 out of 5)!

Stay tuned for our next day...Star Wars Weekend with lunch at Mama Melrose...

 

[tluvstink]

Great reviews I didn't know you could get steak at Peco Bills.

Terri

 

[lillygator]

at 1900, did they have the crab pot at dinner?

 

[Dopey4Life]

Great reviews I didn't know you could get steak at Peco Bills.

Terri

I was surprised, too, but my mom said it was pretty good.

 

[Dopey4Life]

at 1900, did they have the crab pot at dinner?

Sorry, lillygator, none of us noticed if they had that.

 

[Dopey4Life]

Star Wars Weekend
This was our second weekend for Star Wars Weekend and the first time for the moms. We started the day off by seeing the Storm Troopers opening show, which our daughter loves the toilet paper around the head comment. Then, we raced to Toy Story Mania for a set of fast passes and our first ride.

Next we stood in line to meet Jedi Mickey, Leia Minnie, Storm Trooper Donald, and Darth Goofy. We got to see Donald and Goofy. Then we headed to our Hollywood & Vine Play & Dine ADR. As I had posted before, we like the breakfast buffet at Hollywood & Vine. It is not to the level of Tusker House or 1900 Park Fare breakfast, but it is good for us, especially since it is the park. I didn't get any pics of food, but it was pretty much the same as our first breakfast this trip. I loved the breakfast burritos we could make. We did get our daughter a special treat - the treasure chest dessert. She loved this! She ate a little of it and then we took it back to the hotel to share. We ate most of it of the next few days.

We gave the breakfast and dessert a 3/5, because it was good for our early Star Wars Weekend morning. Our daughter gave the dessert a 100 out of 5.

After breakfast, we met Jedi Mickey and Sorcerer Mickey while we were dressed in our coordinating Star Wars outfits.

Stay tuned...Star Wars day continues with dinner at Mama Melrose...

 

[Dopey4Life]

Mama Melrose
It has become a tradition for the moms to eat at Mama Melrose with us and this trip was no different. Since we had a mid-morning brunch, we had an early dinner. Our daughter had the cheese pizza on a kids' mickey mouse plate, which she loved. Both MIL and I had the Penne all Vodka, which we both have had before and liked. Here it is...

The portion for the Penne is huge. I liked it better this time than MIL did. I have it a 4 out of 5 and she gave it a 3 out of 5. We are going with my 4 of out 5.

My mom had the Shrimp Campanelle, which I cannot find that we took a picture of. She gave it a 3 out of 5. My hubbie had the Grilled Chicken flatbread.

He said it was alright and gave it a 3 out of 5.

For dessert MIL and I had the Vanilla Gelato. We both gave it a 5 out of 5. It was delicious, sweet, and very needed in the heat that afternoon. Our daughter also said it was excellent, because she ate at least half of mine. She had the spaghetti cupcake, which I thought was adorable, but she did not love it. My hubbie and I both enjoyed it. We gave it a 4 out of 5 for creativity. My mom had a cappuccino, which I cannot find a picture of. She said it was good and gave it a 3 out of 5. Finally, my hubbie ordered the Chocolate Cannoli Cake. He rated it a 4 out of 5.

Mama Melrose was a great experience again. We rated it a 4 out of 5 overall.

Next up...Day #9...Art of Animation breakfast...

 

[RGirl]

Just found your DR and joining in! It looks like y'all had some great meals and a lot of fun! Can't wait for more!

 

[HBGdancermom]

Hi! Joining in! Thanks for sharing.

We are going to the World in 6 days!!! We are having dinner as well at 1900 Park Fare and celebrating our 18th anniversary. How did you order those little cakes?

Thanks!

 

[Dopey4Life]

Just found your DR and joining in! It looks like y'all had some great meals and a lot of fun! Can't wait for more!

Thanks so much! I have a busy week at work, but hope to post a few more meals this weekend!

 

[Dopey4Life]

Hi! Joining in! Thanks for sharing.

We are going to the World in 6 days!!! We are having dinner as well at 1900 Park Fare and celebrating our 18th anniversary. How did you order those little cakes?

Thanks!

Ooohhh, I wish we could be in the World in 6 days! Happy 18th Anniversary! I love celebrating at Disney!

I used the Grand Floridian cake line from the Cake thread here on DisBoards! Enjoy!

 

[HBGdancermom]

Ooohhh, I wish we could be in the World in 6 days! Happy 18th Anniversary! I love celebrating at Disney!

I used the Grand Floridian cake line from the Cake thread here on DisBoards! Enjoy!

Okay! Awesome! Did they deliver it for you to the 1900? Thanks! Can't wait to read more.

 

[Dopey4Life]

Okay! Awesome! Did they deliver it for you to the 1900? Thanks! Can't wait to read more.

Yes, our server delivered it when we were ready to start having dessert. It was perfect!

 

[Dopey4Life]

Art of Animation breakfast
Since this was the mom's last morning and their Tragic (Magical return) Express picked them up mid-morning, we went to try the AoA Food Court for breakfast. We all really enjoyed breakfast here. Though, I don't have pictures of everyone's food because it does take a while to get it if you are going to different stations.

Our daughter shared a smoothie with us - a great use for a snack credit! She picked out everything for it and loved it. My MIL also had a smoothie, but a different flavor. She loved it, but I cannot find a picture.

She also got a fruit bowl, which was wonderful for her. She loves fruit! She had a lot of strawberries, raspberries, and pineapple. As you can see if the pic above, the bowl was overflowing. We rated both the smoothie and the bowl of fruit as a 5 out of 5. Both great, healthy, and refreshing for breakfast!

We shared the Bounty Platter, which was good. We also shared the Challah French Toast with bacon.

Both were good, but nothing outstanding! We rated these platters as 3 of 5.

We loved walking around the Art of Animation, especially the theming and the Deep Blue pool. We are booked for 5 nights in a Little Mermaid room for our June 2014 trip. This trip will be 13 night/14 days with stays at 3 different Disney Resorts - a value, moderate, and deluxe. AoA Little Mermaid room will be the second resort of the trip and new to my husband, daughter and I. I anticipate we will be having a smoothie each morning as a snack credit!

Next up...Day #9 Continued...Lunch and Dinner at DTD...

 

[Dopey4Life]

DTD - Wolfgang Puck Express
After the moms boarded the Magical Express back to the airport, we boarded a bus with our destination to Downtown Disney. We had a new restaurant to try for lunch, which is why we shared a couple platters and fruit for breakfast. After visiting a few shops and buying a few ornaments in the Christmas Shoppe, we headed to Wolfgang Puck Express. This was the first time at WPE for us, but I had heard many good reviews and had high expectations. Now for pictures and the review...

Since I had researched this menu extensively prior to our trip, we were prepared to order. Hubby agreed to share the Cavatappi Chicken Alfredo and the gourmet Macaroni & Cheese with me. Our daughter had the chicken fingers and French fries, which, of course, she loved and rated as perfection. The macaroni & cheese was very good, we gave it a 4 out of 5, but the Chicken Alfredo was amazing, outstanding, mouth-wateringly good! I will definitely order this for myself next time and not share!

For dessert, our daughter had the yogurt - with sprinkles, I believe - which I cannot find a picture of it. She was quite happy. Again, my hubby agreed to share with me. We ordered the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake and the Crème Brulee with me. The Crème Brulee was quite good and we rated it a 4 out of 5, but the Cheesecake was amazing! We fought over the last bites of this! If you have quick service dining credits, this is probably the best value with delicious food, sit-down service, and air-conditioning! We are definitely going again next trip - at least once, maybe twice - and I already know what I am ordering - Chicken Alfredo and Vanilla Bean Cheesecake! We give Wolfgang Puck Express a 5 out of 5 and has inched Be Our Guest out as our favorite quick service (thought BOG wins with ambiance).

Day #9...Continues...DTD with dinner at T-Rex...

 

[RGirl]

It really sounds like AoA has a great food court based on various review. And WPE looks delish based on what y'all ordered!

 

[Dopey4Life]

Dinner at T-Rex
My daughter and I discovered T-Rex last October for our girls trip. We actually liked it so much, we went twice that trip. We enjoyed the theming, but we surprised at how much we liked the food we ordered. We knew we had to take my husband here also, so we added it in for this trip. Since we already had a great breakfast and lunch, we did not have a huge amount of room for more food and had high expectations to match for the day.

Our daughter had the kid's Rocksy's Pasta with marinara sauce. This was a huge serving and really tasty. She loved it and I tried a bite - I was impressed, it was very good. She rated it a 5 out of 5. Hubby had the Triassic Tortellini, which he loved. He is not one to rave about something, but when he said it was great, it means fireworks should be going off. Finally, I had what has now become my standard - the Layers of the Earth Lasagne - love it! It was just as wonderful as the first 2 times I had it. Yummy, gooey cheese with great flavor in the mouth-watering noodles and sauce layers! I want some now!!! We rated each of our entrees as a 5 out of 5.

next up was dessert, which we forced ourselves and our full tummies to endure.

For dessert, our daughter had the Chocolate Tarpit or Dinosaur Dirt, which is basically chocolate pudding with crushed Oreos and gummy dinosaurs. She, of course, loved it. It was also huge, but she ate a good bit of it. My husband had the Ice Age Indulgence, which was the only thing during the whole meal that was just okay. He rated it a 3 out of 5. Finally, I had the Cosmic Key Lime Pie - which was, again - for my 3rd time, out of this world! I cannot wait to have this and the lasagna during my trip in June 2014! We all agreed that we love the theming, food, and craziness of T-Rex - we could sit and just watch around the restaurant for hours.

Stay tuned for Day #10...