Dining 12/15 to 12/20 - My first Dining Reviews!!- With pictures!1900 Park Fair added

[princesswendy720]

Well we just returned from an absolutely wonderful trip to the World. We were on the DDP for the first time. I thought it wouldn't be enough food, boy was I wrong!! So for 6 days I swore off counting Weight Watchers Points and indulged at all the restaurants I had been painstakingly researching and pouring over for months on end!

Here are the TS and CS restaurants that I will be reviewing...and yes, I have plenty of pictures to go along with the reviews!!

Cantina de San Angel Post #6
Pecos Bills Post #7
Kona Cafe (breakfast)
Crystal Palace
Casey's
Flame Tree BBQ
Le Cellier
Sci Fi Dine In
Tutto Italia
1900 Park Fare (breakfast)
Chefs de France
Wolfgang Puck Express

Plus various snacks and adult beverages throughout!!

Here is the cast of characters:
Me (Wendy): 22 yo female. Just graduated from college in May and this is my first trip to Disney since turning 21. I've been to Disney over 10 times since I was 11 months old. My parents raised me to be a Disney freak. They even had a Disneymoon back in the day. I spend most of my time working at a small advertising agency, hanging out with Dbf, and wishing I was at Disney.

Favorite Disney Character: Alice. Close 2nd is Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and 3rd is Tink.

Favorite Ride at Disney: Splash Mountain

Dbf (Greg): 25 year old male, works in IT for the county. Has been to Disney about 3 times, twice on school trips and once with his family. Loves everything Zelda and Star Wars

Favorite Disney character is Donald

Favorite Ride: Space Mountain

 

[Leslieann1024]

I'm in and ready to hear all about it !

Can't wait !

 

[TigerKat]

I'm in.......

 

[OurDogCisco]

Can't wait to hear the rest!

 

[Tricia7]

Anxiously awaiting your reviews!!!!

 

[princesswendy720]

We arrived in Disney on 12/15 and checked into our resort around 11. The room wasn't ready and we were both starving so we decided to grab some grub. Nothing in the POP food court looked too appealing, and I didn't really want to waste a CS credit when I knew that there was all this delicious food waiting for me in Epcot!!

After riding Mission Space, we headed over to Mexico. I'm really glad we didn't eat before Mission Space....I don't usually get motion sickness but I definitely felt queasy after that ride!

I decided to get the Cantina Nachos (tortilla chips, beef, cheese, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, sour cream, black refried beans $7.95) with a Diet Coke and a churro.

Nachos are one of my favorite things when I'm not dieting, so this was way off the scale in terms of weight watchers points I'm sure! But it was sooo good! I normally don't like nacho cheese, but everything was great. I had a few bites of my churro (not eating the whole thing is better, right? lol) which was also great. There's just something about churros from Disney..yum!

Greg got the Plato Combinacion: chicken taco, beef burrito and a quesadilla served with black refried beans and Mexican salsa $8.75 with a diet coke and churro. He later added a XX.

I give this meal out of 5! One of the best CS meals all week!

Coming up next...Main Street Bakery and Pecos Bills!

 

[princesswendy720]

After spending some time in Epcot and picking 2 pearls in Japan (one was 7 mm and one was 8 mm!), we decided to go over to the Magic Kingdom. It's my favorite park and I just couldn't wait until the next day!

After taking some photopass pictures, we stopped in the Main Street bakery for a snack.

I had been dreaming about the Cinnamon Rolls for months so I got one of those, while Greg got a piece of chocolate cake.

My cinnamon roll did not disappoint! It was HUGE and warm and gooey and wonderful! Dbf's cake was very rich and good.

After going on some rides and watching the fireworks, it was already EMH and we decided time to use another CS credit!

We were in Adventureland, so we headed over to Pecos Bills. I had done my research prior to leaving for Disney, so I was excited to get a burger and take a trip to the fixins bar.

I got the 1/4 lb cheeseburger with fries and a diet coke. The fixins bar was awfully crowded! After waiting in line I went to the nacho cheese only to have it spray on my hand...it was very very hot! The CM who was standing there just yelped "Don't use that one!" and took it away to refill it. I put mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, and lots of pickles on my burger and some nacho cheese on my frieds.

And for dessert I chose the carrot cake.

I wish I could review the carrot cake for you, but the truth is I never got around to eating it! We had a fridge in our room at Pop (which we did not ask or pay for...I'm calling it pixie dust) so Dbf and I kept our cakes in there. I figured we'd eat it later in the week for breakfast, but mid-way through the trip I started feeling very guilty about my poor food choices and I never ate it.

The burger was great, but very greasy.

Dbf got the double bacon cheeseburger with fries, a diet coke, and carrot cake. I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of his, but it looked like a bigger version of my burger.

I give this meal out of 5! Good, but Mexico was better.

 

[loralie]

Great review so far. I am going to be in WDW in May and I am also on weight watchers. I just reached lifetime member and I have lost a total of 70 pounds. We are also going to be on the DDP and I am a little nervous about gaining so much weight back. If you don't mind me asking...did you have a big gain when you came back?

 

[chocolateMinnie]

great reviews, can't wait for more. Can't say I like the look of what you call 'nacho cheese' is it like a cheese sauce? We have cheddar or similar on our nachos here and I love it and I do love mexican food.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Awesome reviews and pics! I can sympathize about that hot cheese sauce...I put some in little cups and when I went to pick them up man were they HOT!

 

[princesswendy720]

Great review so far. I am going to be in WDW in May and I am also on weight watchers. I just reached lifetime member and I have lost a total of 70 pounds. We are also going to be on the DDP and I am a little nervous about gaining so much weight back. If you don't mind me asking...did you have a big gain when you came back?

Wow great for you!! I just started at the beginning of November and have lost 10 lbs. When I got back I jumped on the scale and it said that I had gained a few pounds, but now, 3 days after getting back, I am already back to my pre-Disney weight. I think it was a lot of water weight that I was seeing at first. My best advice is don't eat all of the desserts! You get soo many and I'd just pick a couple throughout the week to actually have. Some places will have fruit as a dessert option (but not many). I also started foregoing fries and getting the healthier side options like apple slices later in the trip because my guilt caught up with me! I was doing so much walking that I think I earned enough activity points to balance things out, but I found it too hard to count points there since I didn't know ingredients of most things. Good luck!

great reviews, can't wait for more. Can't say I like the look of what you call 'nacho cheese' is it like a cheese sauce? We have cheddar or similar on our nachos here and I love it and I do love mexican food.

Thanks! Yes, it's a cheese sauce. I usually like to have nachos with real melted cheese, but this was good. Although I hadn't eaten since 6 am when I had them so it may have been the hunger talkin!

Awesome reviews and pics! I can sympathize about that hot cheese sauce...I put some in little cups and when I went to pick them up man were they HOT!

Thank you! And they really should monitor that sauce better, it can really burn someone! lol

 

[TeaForTulips]

I'm in!

 

[TigerKat]

Great review so far. I am going to be in WDW in May and I am also on weight watchers. I just reached lifetime member and I have lost a total of 70 pounds. We are also going to be on the DDP and I am a little nervous about gaining so much weight back. If you don't mind me asking...did you have a big gain when you came back?

I had similar concerns on our last trip. Did a lot of eating and drinking for one week and didn't gain a pound. All the walking must have balanced it out!

 

[princesswendy720]

Work is slow today so I will do another post because I need to reminisce about the trip!

Now I had 4 sit-down breakfasts scheduled for our 6 day trip. I quickly learned that Dbf is not a morning or a breakfast person so we compromised and cancelled 2. This was one that I was really looking forward to...Kona Cafe! I didn't realize how difficult it would be to travel from Pop to the Poly, we got on a bus to the MK, jumped on the monorail and had to ride it almost in a complete circle until we reached the Poly. We were a little late, but Kona is so easy to find from the monorail exit. You walk into the hotel and it's right on your left.

Our reservation was for 8 am but we didn't get there until aroud 8:10. We were seated within 5 minutes of checking in. I was surprised that so many people were waiting for tables when there were several empty ones in the dining area. Atmosphere at this restaurant isn't great, like a typical hotel restaurant, but that's not why I wanted to go there.

First we ordered some drinks. I decided it was vacation and it's ok to drink at breakfast on vacation so I ordered a mimosa.

Greg tried to sneak into the picture as I was taking it. This was delicious. I love champagne and orange juice, they are even better together.

We also ordered a pressed pot of Kona coffee.

This was big enough for the 2 of us to share. I got 2 full cups out of it and Dbf got 1 1/2...oops. They also gave us a little pitcher of cream and a bowl of sugar, splenda (my sweetener of choice), and I think equal.

Now on to the delicious food! I ordered the Tonga Toast with bacon (of course!) after reading about it so much on these boards and Dbf ordered the ham and cheese omelet.

They brought out a little dish of butter, maple syrup, strawberry sauce, and ketchup for the 2 of us.

Tonga Toast - banana stuffed sourdough bread, rolled in cinnamon sugar and served with Strawberry Compote and your choice of ham, bacon, or sausage $10.99

It was everything I dreamed it would be! Soft and warm on the inside and a little crunchy and sweet on the outside. I tried it with the strawberry sauce, but preferred it without it. I didn't think it was overly sweet.The bacon was ok, it was kind of greasy. I prefer my bacon to be crispy.

Ham and Cheese Omelet with home-fried potatoes and a biscuit $10.49

Greg said this was "better than it looked." The omelet was very cheesey and had a lot of ham. We both agreed that the potatoes were excellent! They were seasoned very well. He would have ate them all but it felt a little too much like eating french fries for breakfast. He didn't care for the biscuit. He said it was dry and when I mentioned that there were pancakes that came with macadamia nut butter he was grossed out by the butter we had. I tasted it and said that it was just regular butter but I think he had macadamia nuts on the brain (he hates them).

I give this breakfast out of 5! I think we'd go here again if we stayed in a hotel that was closer or I'd like to try dinner on a night that we're in the MK. It takes a little too long to travel to in the morning from Pop. We're late risers.

 

[sandym718]

Great reviews so far!! We'll be eating at many of the same places in May, so I'm in!!

 

[princesswendy720]

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! We got to leave work early, so I'll do another update.

We spent the day in the Magic Kingdom with MVMCP that night. I had originally wanted to have dinner at the Crystal Palace, but it was booked solid. I got a late lunch instead at 2:40 pm.

We got to the check in desk around 2:20 and were seated around 2:50. I don't remember our waitress's name, but we each ordered a diet coke from her and she explained how the characters would come around.

We were seated to the far left of the restaurant, which meant there was a pretty far walk to the buffet and considerable obstacles from time to time.

Here is my first plate:

From the top center going clockwise:
Medditeranean Pasta salad - this was ok
Couscous tofu salad - this had a really weird texture, I was not impressed
Some sort of southwest chicken and corn salad: I really liked this...I got seconds
Tropical Slaw: I liked this too
Greens: Just your typical salad

And my second plate:

Again, clockwise from top...
Pizza: This wasn't bad per se. I just come from NJ where we have really good pizza. So I only had one or two bites.
Pasta with cream sauce: I LOVED this. I got seconds. It was delicious.
Mashed Potatoes: These were ok.
Broccoli with puri puri and key lime ponzu: I liked these alot. Broccoli is my favorite vegetable and they were seasoned well and cooked very well. Not too mushy, but not too raw either.
Fire Roasted Corn spoon bread: I really wanted to like this. I love corn break so I figured it would be similar. But I just couldn't get myself to like it. It tasted like there was something missing and it had a weird texture.
And finally some sort of balsamic pasta: This was ok. I liked the pasta with cream sauce better.

My 3rd plate (lol! I sample a lot I swear...I never finish my plates):

Flank Steak with a sauce (I don't remember what): This was good. Cooked well...not too overdone
More pasta in cream sauce: yum!
Ancho Chile Rubbed Atlantic Salmon: This was spiced well, but it was a little too over cooked for me.
Rotisserie Chicken: I was starting to get full so I didn't get around to trying this.
Pulled pork: this was very good too!
I'm not sure what this was...I think pork tenderloin: I didn't try this. But I could tell without even eating it that it was very very dry!

And the dessert plate!

Chocolate peanut butter cake: This was the best one of them all! I love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter!
I don't remember what that glob is..I know I was scraping the bottom of a bowl for it though!
Apple cobbler: This was pretty good.
Banana bread pudding with Baily's Irish Cream sauce: Yum! This was like a warm, gooier, softer version of banana bread!
Carrot cake in the middle: This came in close 2nd behind the chocolate peanut butter cake. Very very good!

I didn't take any pictures of Dbf's plates because we were on opposite eating schedules. He'd be at the buffet while I was eating and vice versa.

I give this meal out of 5! We met all of the characters and took pictures. I'll put them in another post though.

 

[princesswendy720]

It's been a few days since I posted a review...I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday! I'm going through post-Christmas depression. I love December and the spirit of the season and it always makes me sad to have to wait another year for it to come around again.

I completely skipped over this in my last review, but on our first full day in MK Greg and I were in Adventureland when I started to feel a little sick. It was warm and we had been walking alot. I sent him to get me a cold water (I had a water bottle but it was warm) and sat down on a bench to relax. When he came back with me water, he also had this with him:

A Dole Whip float! I told him how famous these were on the DIS. I kept stealing some bites and it was yummy. Very sweet, but it was nice to have something cold on such a warm day. The sugar gave me a little pick me up as well.

After we ate at CP, we did the rides for a few more hours. Then it was time for MVMCP! I knew we were in trouble when they announced that it was sold out for the night. We saw the castle lighting and ran over to Tomorrowland for Mickey's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was standing room only, but we had a good view.

I was hungry and wanted to grab something to eat after the show. I thought I had read on here that other places than those listed on the map would be open for food, however this was not true. All of the CS locations other than the ones on the map were locations for cookies and hot chocolate. We got ours at Columbia Harbor House (I'm sad I didn't get to have a regular meal here...I was craving something lighter than a burger or fried chicken) but the cookies held me over. They were pretty dry to be quite honest. Compared to the cookies at Crystal Palace, which Dbf ate and claimed were "the best cookies in the world," these were not so good. THe hot cocoa wasn't bad.

After the cookies, we went over to Frontierland and rode BTMRR then went over to Adventureland. Pirates was closed due to technical difficulties, so we went over towards the hub. I decided to try out Casey's for some food.

We both got the hot dog meal. Dbf got fries with his and I got apples (can you tell I was feeling guilty for all the bad food?) and we each got cracker jacks. For drinks I got a water and Greg got a diet coke.

Yes, there is a hot dog somewhere under there. I got relish, ketchup, and mustard on my hot dog.

I really like the hot dog! It was filling without making me feel too stuffed. The apples were crisp and juicy. I saved my cracker jacks but never ate them. I suspect they taste like regular cracker jacks.

Now, Dbf got sick in the middle of the night that night. He claimed it was the hot dog, but I told him I ate it too (and everything else he ate that day). From being on these boards I've learned that there has been a stomach bug going around Disney all month. I was spared, and Dbf was feeling better and eating again by the next morning.

Overall, I give this meal out of 5!

 

[danalee]

cant wait for more!

 

[princesswendy720]

I can tell it's going to be slow at work (really, we should just be one of those companies that closes between Christmas and New Years) and I'm missing Disney a whole lot today so I will post more!

Our third day in the World was spent at Animal Kingdom. I had never been on Expedition Everest so Dbf and I ran over there, grabbed FPs for later and rode once. After we got off, we decided it was time for some coffee and a small breakfast.

Originally, I had a breakfast at Boma scheduled for today, but since we had stayed at MVMCP until nearly midnight the night before (...that means we spent 15 hours in the MK!!) we were too exhausted and decided to cancel it.

Dbf isn't really a breakfast person anyway, and since he was up half the night hugging a toilet, a buffet would have been a waste of money on him.

We stopped at the Andapur (sp?) Tea Company cart over in Asia for some iced coffees and we split a blueberry muffin. This cart is not on the dining plan (I found that weird) so we paid OOP.

Both were very good and I definitely needed the caffeine after the late night!

We walked the park and went on Dinosaur, EE again, and used our FP for the Safari when I decided it was time for a snack. There was a snack stand right outside of the Safari and I saw that they had spicy cheese stuffe pretzels!! I was so excited that I used a snack credit to get one.

The cheese was different color than I expected. Overall, this pretzel could've been spicier and it would have been better with salt on the outside, but I love salty and spicy food so some people might enjoy this more. I still thought it was tasty, I just might get a regular stuffed pretzel with nacho cheese on the side the next time I'm craving a pretzel in WDW.

After walking around some more and taking in A Bug's Life, Greg and I decided to get a CS lunch. From doing my research on here, I knew I wanted to try Flame Tree BBQ. The lines were pretty long, but I manged to hop in one that moved faster (of course it was the furthest away...people are so lazy I tell you!). Greg and I both got the 1/2 Slab of St. Louis Ribs served with baked beans and corn muffin - $10.49 We both got waters and I got key lime pie while Dbf got the chocolate cake. It had little Christmas sprinkles on it which was cute.

Yummy!! The baked beans were great, the corn muffin was excellent (I LOVE corn muffins...I wonder where the best ones on property are?), and the ribs were a huge portion!! I suggest getting the BBQ sauce on the side too, they'd be a little dry (not the meat just the flavoring) without it. I don't even think I finished half of my ribs. The pie was refreshing and sweet and tart.

Now my one complaint, the birds were out of control here!!The ducks kept walking up to me and quacking for food. I thought they were going to bite my little toes off! Then all of a sudden, this HUGE white bird (I think it was 2 feet tall) swooped down and landed next to me with it's wings fully extended (it had a wingspan of about 3 feet) and squaked (sp?) right at me. I screamed. It was terrifying...this bird looked like it belonged on the Safari! One of the CMs chased it away.

All that aside, I give this meal out of 5! A great value for a CS on the DDP!

 

[princesswendy720]

Ok so this is totally off topic but I've been editing my Photopass pictures and I just wanted to post some awesome screen shots of what I have so far:

These 2 are my favorites!