Desperately Seeking Susan...Oh, I mean first-hand reports

[3PRINCESSMOM]

Sorry for that 80's flashback moment...

I read a thread here last week written by a Dis'er just back from a trip on the DDP. He/She wrote where they ate, how the service was, how they ordered; detailed yet very straight-forward. It was a "report" not a "review." Can we please hear from others recently back who can/care to share their experience...??? I love to read these types of threads all of the time, but I am especially interested now since we are a month away from our first DDP experience. All of this speculation, interpretation, accusation, wonder and worry has gotten me in a funk. I really, really, really want to get out of it and start to feel the magic. Anybody out there able to help??? PLEASE...!!!
Thank you very much!

 

[wdwdreamin2]

Don't be in a funk!!!! You are going to Disney World!!!

We went in May, 10 nights at POR. We were one of two families. This can get a little confusing so let me delineate by F1 and F2.
F1 Me, DH, DD5, DD1
F2 Sister-in-law, DH, DS16, DD9, DS6

We arrived two days after F2, so our first day, after arrival on ME at 3pm we met at...
The Rose and Crown:ADR 7:20pm. We request outside, but with a large party we are inside, but can see the lagoon from the window. DH & I had a late lunch, so we plan to share one Adult TS. We order fruit & cheese, Steak & fish combo entree, and chocolate cake. TONS of food!!! Day one and we are Lovin' DDP.
Day 2:
Lunch: Flame Tree BBQ @12:00pm F1 &F2
The ribs were great, DD5 got a hot dog, corn and we all got frozen lemonade for dessert.
Dinner: Boma 8:00pm F1, F2, plus family friend (FL resident)
We had eaten here on a prevoius trip, but for breakfast. I love the lodge and was eager to try the dinner buffet. The food did not disappoint, and the kids had fun trying new food as well as the usual pasta, PB&J, etc. The waiter seemed overwhelmed with the party size and we did have to wait about 25 min past ADR for a table. After the meal we waited another 45 min (not exaggerating) to get the bill correct.
Day 3:
Lunch:Pecos Bill's @11am F1, F2
Great burgers and topping bar!!
Dinner: Liberty Tree Tavern F1, F2
We waited about 15 minutes for our table. Actually two, the kids were at one The food is served family style and all you can eat. Great food plus apple cobbler and ice cream for dessert. The characters came by numerous times and really interacted with all the kids
Day 4:
Lunch: Rainforest Cafe at DTD. F1
We did pay for this OOP b/c we were saving a TS. Just a choice we made. We walked right in, and the meal was good. We were pleasantly surprised.
Dinner: F1
The name is escaping me, but it was the counter in England.
Me and DDH fish and chips and 2 pints , DD5 pb&j, and cookies for dessert. I was able to get a table (major score), and we saw Illuminations for the second time
Day 5:
Sister in law's birthday...
Breakfast: Chef Mickey's @10:10am F1 & F2
You Must go here. Great buffet. The characters and CMs are very high energy and lots of fun. My favorite breakfast items all in the same place: Lox and bagels, sausage gravy & biskets, and chocolate croissants Everybody loved it, and they sang Happy Birthday.
Dinner: Kona Cafe 5:00pm F1 & F2
Here, the kids can order an adult app. I can't remember what they got, but we had crab cakes, I had Mahi Mahi, DH got scallops and shrimp. Amazing choices for dessert, chocolate lava cake and banana creme brulee for us, and the kids got this incredible ice cream waffle cone filled with ice cream, topped with sauce and surrounded with blue cotton candy and more candies. It stood upright on the plate in hard chocolate...good thing we worked off the sugar high at MK!! The waiter was the best so far, and the time was great b/c it wasn't too crowded yet. By the time we left it was packed.

I'll finish tomorrow, hope this helps!!

 

[3PRINCESSMOM]

That is just what I needed. Thanks for investing the time so far. I can't wait for you to continue.

Please know I am sincere in my thanks... I know how much time these posts take!!!

You da bomb!!!!

 

[3PRINCESSMOM]

Anyone else????

My good friend, wdwdreamin2, are you out there? Care to go on about your experience...???

Pretty please???

 

[wdwdreamin2]

I'm sorry!! I don't mean to neglect you! We are moving...I will try to get more up tonite
I'm glad you are feeling better!! Do you have ADR's yet? You must do Chef Mickey's. The Best is yet to come...

Amy

 

[wdwdreamin2]

Day 6: DD1 First Birthday
Lunch: Crystal Palace @11:40am F1, F2
We had been indoctrinating Pooh characters for weeks!! The restaurant is very large, and if you are not at the table when the character comes by, then too bad. This was the only one that was like that. The CM's are pretty good about trying to tell you when they will be there, so that helps. The food was good, buffet style, but not the best. They did bring out a cupcake for the baby at no extra cost. Unless you totally love Pooh, there are better places to go. JMHO. It was perfect for the baby and she had a blast.
Dinner: POR food court and early to bed!!

Day 7:
Lunch: Wolfgang Puck's DTD. Remember that extra TS we had from Rose & Crown? Well , we dropped the kids at the Jester Cruise at POR, the men did Keys to the Kingdom, and Debi and I had a great early lunch...alone!!! OK DD1, and DS16 were there, but it still was great! I had a salad and a sushi roll that was to die for. Deb had a chicken dish she raved about. OMG I almost forgot the chocolate fondue for dessert...YUM!!! We wanted to eat a bit on the light side b/c we had ADR at...
Dinner: Le Cellier @ 4:00pm F1 F2
This was the highlight of the (dining part) of the trip!! This is another place where the kids could order off the appetizer menu. Most of them had the cheese soup, the rest had cheese plates, soup and I had the mussels. They were amazing. We all ordered steak (kids too). My petite filet was perfect. We had a super server, very chatty and funny. The desserts were great, the raspberry sorbet was a perfect ending to a terriffic meal. I had the chocolate fix earlier....

Sorry so short...I'll have more time tomorrow

 

[3PRINCESSMOM]

You are in the middle of moving and you're still attending to my...a complete strangers, wishes...??? Are you nuts...!!!??? You are far too good of a person! Go pack. If I can't get out of my crazy little "funk" on my own, thinking about all of the wonderful things we're going to experience, then shame on me.

I am enjoying your no nonsense report immensely, though. Bottomline...the DDP worked just fine with no problems, correct? Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

 

[NEM]

Hi there,

Here is a summary..DDP was easy. We asked everywhere and if what we got did not work for us then we ordered what we needed. We used the DDE on any extra items and alcohol. I just handed them both cards when the time came...no big deal, no trouble anywhere.

We are a party of 6 - My sister & myself and her 4 children ages 9,8,4 & 2.

We pretty much shared everything everywhere. We early decided that it was way too much food for us and we ordered accordingly. We took a friend of one of the girls to a character meal and had no trouble getting meals for more than the number of parties listed on our card. Maybe it is because it was another kid and not adult, but we were not paying attention to that. I handed my card...the waiter took the appropriate credits, but I was prepared to pay for her extra if need be.

With all the hullaballo on the board, we threw up our hands and said we were going, and going to order like we would without the plan (well, we did have dessert more than we would have normally) and pay for whatever else we felt we would need.

Never had a lick of trouble til the last day, when our credits got out of whack, but I noticed it right away and they fixed it right away...I did track our credits every night of our trip as we had 55 TS, 55 CS & 55 S - it was way too much...the last 3 days it was fun trying to use them all up and I have a dozen Earl of Sandwich sandwiches - all ordered at one time in the freezer (we love them).

We are DVC, so we had bfast in the villa most mornings or picked up bakery items with CS credits to keep til morning.

Here is a summary from some of my notes:
7/14
Lunch:
Hurricane Hannas (via the pool guy) -
Adults: burger, Diet Coke & Ice Cream
Kids: Lunch pails, water & Ice Cream
Decent and brought to us at the table. Waiter brough the ice cream a bit later when the kids were ready for their mickey bars & itzakadoozies...a great deal....

Snacks: Small Powder Pucker tube at the Beach Club Marketplace

7/15
Snacks: Water & Cotton Candy

Lunch: Pecos Bills
Adults:
• Burger, Diet Coke & Peanut butter mousse brownie (only dessert here, but very yummy
•*Chicken Wrap, Diet Coke and same brownies.
•*3 kids meals - dont have what it was

Dinner: Spoodles
Wow...our favorite of the trip - delicious. We went back another time and basically ordered the same
Adults:
•*1 med dips, 1 steak dinner, 1 creme brulee (the adults shared)
•*1 garlic shrimp, 1 steak dinner, 1 kids sundae - (given to one of the kids)
Kids:
• 1 fruit cup, 1 grilled chicken dinner, 1 kids sundae
• 1 grilled chs flatbread, 1 grilled chicken flatbread 1 kids sundae

The 2 little ones shared off our plates and we still had doggie bags to take home. At this point we were figuring out this was way too much food for us, so we ordered accordingly and shared without any trouble and tipped for the number of diners accordingly

7/16
Lunch: Tusker House
Adults: 2 rotisserie meals, 2 diet cokes, 1 carrot cake/1 Chocolate cake
Kids: 3 leg meals, water, milks & 3 more desserts
This is one of our favorite meals ever...with or without dining plan. Also ordered side of fries and paid for it.

Dinner: Chef Mickeys - 5 TS credits...yummy. I had no issues. Food was fresh, characters were great, delicious!!

Snacks: we realized here we were not keeping up with our daily allotments so we got 2 CS credits worth of MK Bakery items & caprese sandwiches for bfast the next day (2 items + 1 drink) and used 4 snack credits for other bakery items. Also got the girls each one of those super large swirl around lollipops for 4 more Snack credits... All was really good. Yum Yum. Love the banana bread pudding and the cherry turnovers.

More to come...

 

[3PRINCESSMOM]

Don't Stop It. Please Don't Stop It!"

This time you'll have to forgive the 70's flashback!
I know, its not that funny, but it's a hellova lot better than what many are posting these days ...whine...whine...whine...
accuse...accuse...accuse.

NEM, your report is quite useful to me. I have a DD 13 and am hoping that for a few of our TS meals she and I can share. Based on what I have experienced personally with regard to portion size this is what we hope we can do. Sounds like it is still possible. I know things can change at any time. Anyway...Thanks for taking the time to share...(pun intended).

 

[NEM]

Here is part 2:

7/17 -
Lunch - Beach Club Marketplace
Adults:
• Hot turkey sandwich, chips, coke & mickey bar
• Hot roast beef sandwich, chips, water & mickey bar
Kids:
•*2 kids turkey wraps, 2 chips, 2 mickey bars & 2 bottled drinks

Now it gets interesting, the 8 yr old is a huge chick caesar fan, so we figured it never hurts to ask and asked if they could make a kids portion of the caesar salad for the kids credit as they make the items to order...they said, and I quote there was no difference...it did not matter. If that was what we wanted then just order. Anyway, I knew better, but they insisted, so we got one of the kids the chicken caesar salad. If it had not been allowed, I was completely prepared to pay for it if needed...as I said we were on vacation, our plan did not include eating around the dining plan.

The counter girls also said that gelato was not a snack, and I ordered prepared to pay for it and when I got to the counter, I was pleasantly suprised that it is a snack (large size too!) It rang right up and thus began my habit of gelato for snacks...it was way yummy. Chocolate or lemon was the best. Pistachio had a bit of the sweet salty thing going on and I did not get around to trying mango, but there is always next time. We were also able to do 1/2 & 1/2 of flavors...so all in all a nice Dining Plan snack suprise...

Snacks:
1 box entenmans donuts
2 large gelato
4 cookies/brownies at Goofy Candy Co

We paid out of pocket for the special caramel apples at Goofy Candy Co that night. 2 of the girls had a blast making them. The others enjoyed a cookie. The cookies were a bit floury/lardy tasting...not made with butter. We had much better elsewhere. They look great, but the taste is not so great. The apples were delicious. Brownie - also just ok...I would not order these items out of the Goofy Candy Co again....yummier stuff in other places.

7/18
Lunch: Sci Fi
Adults:
•*1 onion rings, 1 burger, (we donated 2 shakes which they said counted as a dessert to the little people and they split them for us in cups 4 ways)
•*1 cheese artichoke dip, 1 burger, (again donated the shake - they were considered a dessert according to our waiter...no biggie...the kids wanted shakes and we were not interested in dessert)
Kids:
• 2 fruit & cheese plates, 2 burgers, 2 fruit cup desserts
•*1 fruit & cheese plate, 1 mac/cheese, 1 fruit cup

All was good. The kids shared our appetizers like they have at every meal since the day they were born and no one had a problem.

Snacks:
•*Ice Cream Cone at MGM - Mint chip - YUMMY
•*Itzakadoozie - 4 yr old loved it.
•*H20 - it was really hot
•*2 gelatos - when we got home

Dinner: Spoodles again....just as delicious...ordered about the same and paid oop for some pita bread for the little ones. Took 4 cookie and milk desserts home as we were too stuffed for dessert. The cookies were delicious...Goofy's candy co could learn something about cookie making from Spoodles. Had a late night cookie snack while working. Trying to figure out how to use all these credits....we are not keeping up....

7/19
Lunch: Wolfgang Puck Express -
Delicious!!!
Kids all had mac & cheese and by far this was the best mac and cheese on property we had all week. (a close 2nd was the Cape May dinner buffet with a bechamel sauce) The kids all had cookies for dessert & drink with their meals
Adults-
•*Rotisserie chicken dinner with Mashed potatoes, creme brulee & diet coke
•*BBQ chick pizza, white chock macadamia cookie & diet coke

All was really good, but the Mac & cheese was by far the winner on this one. It was really good. The cookies were also the best ones we had all week. I went back for more on our last day when we were trying to use up all our snacks. They were delicious! I would not order the bbq chick pizza again, but had the bbq chick quesadilla later in the week and I would order that again in a heartbeat...

Dinner: Crystal Palace....
Character buffet - with a 4 & 2 year old...what can I say? They love it. The 2 year old had just started warming up to the characters and it was great seeing her with them. Food was good, desserts were mediocre. We went for the characters, some air conditioning. In that regard it was perfect. All the characters came around at least 2x. A fun time...not about the food for us for this meal.

7/20
Lunch: (Sonic at Walmart) I know, I know....what a waste!!!.... all these credits that we have to use up and we decided to get sonic....I am addicted to the ice, what can I say? We left campus to get a presciption filled for my sis and ended up there on the way out. So, we got what was to be a snack and to put it in perspective when I managed to feed and water all 6 of us for a mere $23. A fraction of any Disney meal - which pricing is not based in reality. It was a weird perception...I am still working through how i felt about it. I soon realized we should have used up some credits...oh well - it was still really good.

Dinner: O'Hanas
We loved it. Had great cocktails! The Malibu Macaw was beautiful and a favorite. The Lapu Lapu pineapple thing was good, but way too strong. It was a fun thing to get anyway. We also ended up with a Backscratcher too...another too strong for my tastes...but the Malibu Macaw...now that is what I am looking forward to when I return.

The food was really good. Yes, the shrimp are messy, but our lovely waitress brought us as many hot towels as we needed. THey tried to pawn the kids meals off on our group...but they did not realize they had shimp eating freaks on their hands...our 4 girls went through 6 bowls....it was funny. My sister and I peeling as fast as they could eat it. It was fun and we did not mind. We both liked the wings...the potatoes were ok...did not like the veggies and liked the salad and dressing. We were mostly too stuffed for the meat when it was time, but our pork tenderloin was moist and flavorful and the beef was good too but a little drier. The best was the Bread pudding. My sister is a bread pudding expert and declared it one of the best. Not soggy and wet and the sauce and ice cream were more caramelly than banana....it was delicous. They girls all had ice cream and fun doing the hula and the limbo. We somehow missed the coconut races. They were off and running before we realized it was happening. We will be back.



7/21
Now we are in use up credits mode....we are realizing there is no way we would eat all of this before we had to leave. I did some strategic planning and got us on track to get to the finish line with not too many credits on the table.....

Breakfast: Cape May Cafe - again more characters, but supprisingly good. As a southern girl that doesnt see them often, I feasted on cheesy grits and biscuits and gravy. It was good....bad for the diet, but oh so yummy... Again, we were using table services up and the girls love the characters, so everyone is happy. I know bfast is not the best use of credits, but it is better than leaving them unused at alll...so to breakfast we started to go.

Snack: 1 Gelato - becoming a habit

Dinner: Beaches and Cream
Adults:
• 2 onion rings (shared among all), 2 burgers, 2 diet cokes, and the best part: 1 No Way Jose & 1 Brownie Fudge Slide with Mint Chip---WOW...so yummy.
• 3 hot dogs with fries ( and they opted to take their cookie desserts home and partake of the sundaes....smart girls)
So, IMHO Beaches and Cream is a bit overrated for those that say they have the best burgers. For the 2nd time, they were just mediocre. My sis and I discussed and decided that if you like fried burgers then you like B&C, if you like flame broiled burgers, then Sci Fi is the ticket. Our Sci Fi burger was far and above better than B&C. I have never had anything other than burgers at Sci Fi, but I do believe that the other food may be mediocre as well. But burger to burger, we prefer Sci Fi and will not do B&C again....

Now, on the other had the onion rings and the sundaes are off the chart. So, now this is a dessert place for us and we are fine with that. The sundaes were perfect and delicious and HUGE. The 6 of us managed to put a bit of a hurt on both of them....

Paid oop for a root beer float for one of the girls...

We waddled out of there.

A bit more to go....trying to get the credits used up...

Michelle

 

[NEM]

Ok...so here we are 2.5 days left and dozens of credits to use...so here was our plan...

And dont worry about the sharing...just go, order what you like. Tell them it is too much food for you so you will be sharing and have fun on your vacation. I must admit, having just returned, I believe alot of the panic on the board is a bit of a storm in a teacup.

Anyway...off soapbox....

7/22
Sunshine Seasons - EPCOT
Adults:
•*Beef flatbread, Fruit Tulip & Diet Coke
•*Beef flatbread, lemon pie, diet coke
Kids:
• Mac n Cheese Cookie and drink
•*Chicken leg meal, cookie and drink

Snacks:
•*4 Norway pastries - YUMMY school bread...this will be a must have on all future trips. The sweet pretzels were dry and the cookies were good.
• 4 bags of candied nuts in America - they were going home with us
•*2 Waters
•*2 Frozen cokes

Late afternoon CS:
2 orders fish/chips with 2 cokes and 2 shortbread cookies split 6 ways...

Dinner
Beach Club Marketplace -
Again we used up 6 CS credits here...more than on the card to stock up some sandwiches, caesar salad, chips drinks and mickey bars. All very good. No mention that we were buying more meals than the number on the card at one time.

7/23
Breakfast: Again Cape May with an extra child. No problem using a credit for her.

Lunch: Disney Quest
We were so full by now...with so many credits left, but we just could not eat any more....

We shared 1 burger and fries and choc cupcake & 1 chick sandwich and fries and choc cupcake. Got one mac/cheese for a little one and called it a day. They were delicious. One of our top 3 counter service meals of the whole trip. I look forward to going back.

Dinner: Did Cape May again...it was in the hotel...we were packing up nearly 2 weeks of Disney settling and just looking for a place to get something easy and fast. I like it. Some things are not to my taste. Others are really delicious. None of us were impressed much with the desserts, so we stopped off again for BC Marketplace gelato for dessert.


7/24 - This is the day we left...we actually hit Cape May one more time for Bfast to use up the remaining table service credits....again good, but the grits were a bit runny for my taste this time...still I was so full from all the eating, I just liked seeing the girls have fun on the last morning with the characters.

We then went to Downtown Disney and stocked up on 14 Earl of Sandwich sandwiches and cookies and each got a drink. I brough them all home. I saved a few counter service to go to Wolfgang Puck and Patisserie Boulangerie as I had a night flight.

We let the girls all blow through another 12 snack credits left at goofys candy co and off they went.

I went back and got one more school bread in Norway and 4 pastries in France and then took them all with me home where I had them for breakfast with my roommate the next morning. All delicious. The lemon tart in France was my favorite. I went to Wolfgang Puck and had the BBQ chicken pizza and then waved the white flag...

So, with a bag full of lunches for the next week or so, I headed out.

My sister and I talked about it and we would have probably spent more, but gotten less had we not used the plan. I never had an issue sharing and I think it is a question that had been blown out of proportion. It is still a restaurant and you are a customer.

We have always shared our food. We are ones who order based on what the other is getting so we can have a taste. The girls have always eaten off our plates. Sometimes we ordered for them and sometimes not...but we did it as we would based on our hunger level, not to beat the system. If Disney changes to Kid/Adult credits, we would still do it and just pay if it did not work for us.

It did feel like we were always focused on our next meal and how to use up all the credits, but next time we are going to add in a couple of 2 credit places to help ease that feeling of so much to fit in. And we have always liked some of the 2 credit places...in fact I booked Flying Fish today and am very much looking forward to it. We did get alot of food. Alot we would never ordered...such as dessert at lunch AND dinner, but we also would have probably overordered as well as we were in the habit of getting the 2 yr old her own meal and this time we just let her share off of what we have. We tried alot of things we would not have just because we could...

I found some new favorites and found some other things I dont like. Now I dont have to wonder. It was fun. We are signing up again for the Oct trip and when the time comes, we will do what we would do if we were paying for it.

Really dont stress - once I let go and just said fine...I will do what I have to do to have fun on my vacation it was not so hard. I am sure you will be fine sharing with your daughter. Please let me know if you have any questions about anywhere specifically we went. As long as this is, it is a readers digest version of my experiences....i can elaborate futher if there is anywhere specific you are going....

Have a great trip...I am looking forward to our next one...

Michelle

 

[punkin]

Thank you so much. That was a great report.

 

[javaj]

Nem,
Awesome report and reviews! Thanks so much, it was very helpful. Now I'm trying to figure out where else we can get gelato since we won't be at an Epcot resort And I had no idea that Goofy's candy co participated in the DDP, that is awesome!

 

[mmiller711]

Day 6: DD1 First Birthday

Well , we dropped the kids at the Jester Cruise at POR, the men did Keys to the Kingdom, and Debi and I had a great early lunch...alone!!!

I just booked the POR Jester Cruise and wondered if you could tell me how they liked it? I was hoping for a pirate cruise but they were booked. Any info would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[3PRINCESSMOM]

Just what the Dr. ordered! I needed that. I feel better about all things related to the DDP and my plans.

Regards,
Robin