Dining Around the World 4/29-5/7 with dessert pics from Alfredo's in #22

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

The time has come for me to give something back to the DIS community. So many people provided helpful information about so many different restaurants that I want to help give a little bit back. In that spirit, I will be posting dining reviews from our recent trip to Walt Disney World. Given that our party consisted of 8 people, I don't remember everything that everybody ordered, but I do remember what I ordered and a few other dishes as well as everyone's general thoughts on the restaurants. For general purposes, we were on the dining plan and found that it provided plenty of food, but was a great value, especially when you choose World Showcase restaurants in EPCOT.

So, I invite you to relax and pull up a chair as I proudly present my dining reviews.

Day 1: After a long flight that arrived in Orlando at 8:05pm, we boarded DME and headed off to our first fine dining experience. The culinary classic known as Disney's Pop Century foodcourt. I had an inkling then that the DDP would provide plenty of food. I was really hungry given how long it had been since I ate the lunch that mom packed for the whole group on the plane, and had to push myself to finish dinner. I ordered the Chicken Penne Pasta with Alfredo. For a quick heads up, the Chicken parmesean is the same as the alfredo, but without the sauce. I found it to be very satisfying. The chocolate brownie looked better than it tasted, but it wasn't too bad. My father is diabetic and was able to order a fruit bowl for his dessert. You can also do this if you're not diabetic. It's a good thing to know considering how much dessert the plan gives you.

Coming next: Day 2.

 

[dizneycc]

Can't wait to read the rest! We are experiencing DDP for the first time in August and are staying at POP too. I have had the Chicken Alfredo Penne at POP twice. The first time it was too much, so the second time I shared it with a friend and it was just the right amount. That was without getting dessert!

 

[3princesses4us]

So far so good. Keep 'em coming!

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

For lunch my brother and I headed to Tusker House in Animal Kingdom, a tip I got from the boards here. We both had the rotissierie chicken and mashed potatoes with the chocolate cake. All was excellent. I need to make a comment here about the green beans. I don't care for green beans, but I actually ate them in WDW because of how they were seasoned. I still don't like them that well, but the right seasoning makes a huge difference.

For dinner, the whole party of 8 went to Le Cellier, a favorite among everybody except my little sister who doesn't always get along with steak. I got lucky with this one as my sister ordered the kabob appetizer, but didn't care for it, so I got to eat her kabob and my cheese soup. Both were excellent, and I got the best of both worlds. For dinner most of us went with the filet mignon, which was outstanding. One of the best steaks I've ever eaten. My mom and one brother went with the New York strip steak, and liked it. My brother was also able to order the smoothie as his drink on the ddp. My sister didn't much care for anything, but she's very picky when it comes to meat. I can't figure her meat tastes out. For dessert, I went with the raspberry sorbet, which like the rest of the meal was great. My sister, who shot me daggers when I pondered switching Boma to Le Cellier later in the week, did say that she would come back for the strawberry dessert that she absolutely loved. Le Cellier was my favorite meal of the trip. Those who ordered the filet mignon agreed with me. Those who ordered the New York strip steak thought Le Cellier was second best. By the way, the dining plan easily paid for itself on this day as the bill was almost $150 over what the plan cost for one day and we all didn't do the order the most expensive thing on the menu.

Final observations: Our ADR was at 6:10 and we were seated about 6:30 and we got out of the restaurant at about 8:30. If you're eating at a non-buffet/all you can eat table service, plan on at least 2 hours for the meal. As I'll go into later, the buffets took about an hour,but the non-buffets averaged around 2 hours. The only thing we would do different was get an earlier ADR for the non-buffet restaurants as the 9:00 park closings made dinner the last thing of the night, minimizing park time for those who started their day at about noon.

 

[3princesses4us]

Yeah, you answered my question about Le Cellier. We will be going with a party of 7 in September and I am one of the rare ones who didn't like their cheese soup and was just wondering if they had smoothies there I could get as my appetizer instead. Thanks so much for reading my mind! Any chance you remember what flavors they offered?

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

My brother got the kabob as his appetizer. The smoothie counted as his beverage. He was at the other table, so I have no idea what flavor he got or what flavors they had. I know that he liked it though. You can also get smoothies as beverages at Whispering Canyon, but they're not bottomless unlike the shakes at WCC.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

I'm enjoying your reviews. Keep them coming.

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

Spent most of the day at MGM. Given the poor reviews I'd heard about MGM counter service, I had planned to head to Downtown Disney for lunch. However, when lunchtime rolled around, we didn't have time to go there and make it back for Lights, Motors, Action, so my sister and I went to Flatbread Grill. In the end, not too bad except for the juice box fiasco. Deciding that juice was healthier than soda, I decided to order apple juice with my pulled pork sandwich and chips. Bad idea. I nearly died when I saw a juice box placed on my tree. The moral of the story is, never order juice with your lunch. I had to use a snack credit later on in the day for soda, and was super thirsty the rest of this day all because of the juice box. However, the pulled pork sandwich was good and I liked the fresh fruit eclair, especially because of the fresh fruit. My sister ordered the chicken wrap with a chocolate milk which she really liked, but she didn't care for the fresh fruit eclair. The meal itself was filling and tasted fine, but all the other counter service meals were much better than this one. That said, I don't regret eating there as it saved time, tasted good, and allowed us to do a lot of other attractions instead of traveling to a better counter service place.

Lesson from the dining plan: When you ask for a large soda as a snack, they will usually give you a large soda for the snack credit instead of the default medium soda. This also holds true for counter service meals.

Dinner was at 1900 Park Fare, chosen by my little sister because of the strawberry soup on account of her love for strawberries. We all liked this buffet. I thought the salmon especially was excellent as were the potatoes. The character interaction was good too. Suzy and Perla visited each table many times and were fun. Cinderella and Prince Charming visited the tables as well and there were a whole lot of little girls running around in Princess dresses as you might expect. As I mentioned the food here was good, but I don't know that I would go back right away as there are a lot of other places I want to try and Cinderella, while a nice film that I enjoy watching, is not one of my favorites. If you like Cinderella or have a child that wants to see her, by all means go here for dinner. The food is good, and it's cheaper than CRT.

I want to add that this was the weakest day of our meals, but we didn't have a bad meal all trip. It's just that we liked other ones better. And I would easily rate 1900 Park Fare food quality well above all the buffets around where I live.

 

[suswa]

Waiting in suspense....

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoying reading ~ Can't wait for more.

 

[Tanya90210]

Loving your reviews!! Can't wait for more

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

Sorry it's been so long. Life's been crazy and the 24 season finale was last night.

When we all started to get hungry around 1:00pm, I pulled out my trip binder, which contained a list of all CS restaurants in the parks on the DDP. After consideration, we all decided that Cantina de San Angel sounded good and we were already in World Showcase. My dad, brother, and myself ordered the combination plate. My mom ordered the chicken tacos if I remember correctly. We all thought the food was excellent, so much so that my brother said he wished he had chosen San Angel TS for his meal(With 8 adults and 8 TS meals on the DDP, we all got to choose one). The churro was the only dessert available and it tasted fine. I wanted to try their other dessert since I can get Churros at Costco, but it wasn't available. All in all, the portions were filling and tasted very good. There's no reason to go hungry if you're on the DDP.

For dinner we had a 5:40 ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. My little sister chose this meal on account of their colonial America themed food names and the fact that Goofy, her favorite, would be attending the meal.

The food was quite good. As many have mentioned, it's standard Thanksgiving dinner fare with ham and roast beef thrown in for good measure. Our server, Eric, did a great job keeping us stocked with food and soda, and even brought us some cheese when we requested it. Some of the rolls were too hard to eat, but there were also enough soft rolls that it wasn't a problem. We were all stuffed and found the apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream excellent. That was the only dessert option on the DDP, but it tasted great. Warm and gooey.

Now, as this was a character meal, I'll also comment on the characters present. First off, if you absolutely have to get autographs, character dining is a great way to do it. You're sitting down and the characters come to you. It's also fun at LTT because the characters are in colonial attire and not their standard attire. On this night, my 7 month old nephew was the star of the show. He loved grabbing the characters noses. Of special note, his two favorite were Minnie and Pluto, we think because we gave him a stuffed Mickey and Pluto for Christmas. The characters were great with him, and gave us extra attention. Chip and Dale were very funny about wiping off their noses after my nephew drooled all over their noses. And yes, they really like peanuts. I saved some from the flight for this purpose, and Dale gobbled them up and became my new best friend.

Our youngest, not counting my nephew is 18, and the characters played around as much with us as they did with other diners. They really don't care how old you are. Also, as one family was getting ready to leave, one of the chipmunks broke his usual order of visiting tables to see the departing family. A child at the other table was disappointed that he didn't visit them. We heard the father say, "I guess he forgot us." After finishing at the departing table, the chipmunk went back to the table he skipped and made sure the child knew he hadn't forgotten. I don't know whether or not he heard the comment, but it was very clear that they don't skip tables or forget about people.

We were visited by Goofy, Minnie, and Pluto at least twice. I remember that Chip and Dale came around more often. The characters interacted early and often at this meal, more so than we had at 1900 Park Fare, although the interaction there was also nice. If you're looking for quality time with some of Disney's most beloved characters, LTT is a great place to get it and the food tastes good and there is plenty of it.

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

Wow, two dining reviews in one day. I'm on a roll.

For lunch, my brother and I decided to try Cosmic Ray's. We both really liked this, though we realized afterwards that we could have easily split the ribs and chicken plate and still been stuffed, and we're two boys famous for being able to eat lots and lots of food. On the DDP, you can get about $20 worth of food for one CS credit if you get the ribs and chicken plate. As it was my brother and I put our desserts in the bag for later. And it can easily be split by two people who are big eaters, let alone light eaters. This was one of those times where I was amazed at the quality of counter service meals. They may be counter service, but the quality and portion size is very good. Disney CS is definitely not like McDonalds or Burger King.

Also, on this day we discovered the improved snack options when we enjoyed a raspberry lemoande slushie. I was prepared to pay out of pocket for something like this, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that this was a snack option on the DDP. We wandered by the Dole Whip stand and learned that the famous Dole Whips, which I had never tried, were also on the plan. I made a mental note to come back for a Dole Whip later in the week.

Dinner was at Alfredo's in World Showcase. My sister-in-law chose this in part because of her Italian ancestry. We really enjoyed the ambience of the restaurant, especially with the famous Italian music and the accordion player. Since my dad is an accountant and my parents traditionally celebrate their late April anniversary the first week of May, I mentioned it was their anniversary at most of the restaurants we ate in. At Alfredo's, the accordion player came to our table and asked what song they wanted him to play for them. I suggested Bella Note from Lady and the Tramp, and he happily obliged us. We all really enjoyed hearing a classic Disney love song played live on the accordion at Walt Disney World for my parents anniversary. Mom was glad I suggested it because she doesn't really know Italian music, so she was happy to hear a song that she knew.

Now, on to the food. For an appetizer I went in on the cheese plate with my dad and brother. We liked all the cheeses, though my brother didn't realize that some of them were supposed to be spread on crackers, so he didn't like them as much. I also had a taste of my sister's fettucine alfredo. Excellent. I like this dish to begin with, but I really enjoyed tasting the cheese instead of the butter. I really wish they offered this dish with chicken in it. I would have ordered that in a hearbeat. Instead I ordered the steak and potatoes, which I found to be quite good, but also very filling. I couldn't finish it all, a second for this trip after the chicken and ribs from Cosmic Ray's. I also had a taste of my sister's lasagne bolognese, which was good, but different from what I'm used to. I don't think I would order it for myself. For dessert, I had the Citrus trifle, which was very good. The light citrus flavoring was great and the dessert was light enough to sit right with me after being stuffed from dinner. I also sampled my brother's nutella cake, which was good, but I liked the citrus trifle better.

The atmosphere was also quite fun with the napkin waving and music, although I ocassionally had to hold my sister's napkin so she would stop whipping me in the face with it.

 

[luciloo]

Great Reviews, keep them coming.

 

[Uncleromulus]

So far-so good!!

 

[pplasky]

Reviews are great. Can't wait to read the rest.

 

[thelionqueen]

Great reviews...thanks for posting!!!

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Later today, I'll post some pictures of the desserts at Alfredo's. My camera only has 128K memory, so I wanted to save space for other pictures, but my brother took pictures of the desserts at Alfredo's, so I'll post them for all to enjoy. After learning that Costco has 1GB cards for $50, my next trip will have more food pictures.

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

Okay, so I've been busy the past few days. I will post those dessert pics later though, but in the meantime, onto Day 5 of dining at Walt Disney World.

After getting a late start, it was on to EPCOT, where I had the most left to do and Thursday was a good day to visit EPCOT. After going over the menus in my trip binder for EPCOT, my brother and I decided to try Sunshine Seasons. And we were both very glad that we did. Seasons has a tremendous selection of different kinds of food. That makes it, I think, an ideal choice for families with picky eaters and/or differing tastes if you want to eat together. As varied as the entree selection is, the dessert selection is even better. Had it been earlier in the trip, I would have been tempted to go back to Seasons merely to try another dessert. Both my brother and I decided to go with the Chinese food at Seasons, getting the sweet and sour chicken. The portions were plentiful and the food was very good. We went different routes on dessert, my brother getting the strawberry shortcake, and like my father before, I like chocolate, so I went for the Asian chocolate cake. I found the Asian chocolate cake to be excellent. It was easy to taste the five different flavors of chocolate, yet not excessively rich. My brother, who doesn't like rich desserts, had a bite and told me that he thought the cake was quite good. He also liked the strawberry shortcake. The tremendous dessert selection makes Sunshine Seasons my favorite counter service meal from the trip.

For dinner, it was onto Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Lodge. This place lived up to it's reputation with funny antics. We were able to get either the bottomless milkshakes or smoothie(no refills) with the DDP. I thought the orange shake was great, and it was nice to have a non-traditional shake flavor. My mother and sister in law got the smoothie, but mom wished she had gotten the shake. I liked her smoothie, but was glad I got the shake. For appetizers, most everybody got the nachos, except I went for the skillet, so I had the salad, with numerous samplings of mom's nachos. The nachos were huge, large enough to be an entree for most people, and that includes me and my brothers. I really liked the skillet, but was unable to even make it through what they brought me, but I was the only one who ordered the skillet. The ribs were excellent, as was the chicken, and I really like pulled pork. The beans were also very good. We had dessert to go, as my sister in law had been ill all day and had to go to the ER(she was just fine after antibiotics, so all was well). The s'more dessert tasted good a couple of hours after dinner and I was still stuffed.

I'll post more on the antics later when I have a bit more time.

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

We went for an early lunch in MK at Cosmic Ray's as my dad really wanted to try their chicken and ribs and it was very convenient for our schedule that day. Dad, my brother, and myself split 2 combos easily. My mom and sister went with the burger and fries. My mom said that the burger was very good and also very filling. My brother helped her finish it off. This time I had room for the chocolate cake, which I thought tasted good.

For a snack that afternoon, I decided it was time to try the legendary Dole Float, mainly on account of the pineapple juice that the float included. I thought it was excellent. Cool and refreshing, plus I love drinking the remainder of any beverage after it's been mixed in with the ice cream, so that made the pineapple juice taste even better. I could only chuckle as I thought of how many people would be absolutely thrilled that Dole Whips and Floats were now snack options on the DDP.

A second snack came at Animal Kingdom that afternoon as my sister and mom could not finish the orange juice bar they got before Festival of the Lion King. Me and my brother, having returned from Everest were more than up for the challenge. I like those orange juice bars. I remember having them years ago on a trip to Disneyland when I wasn't even a teenager yet. It brought back fun memories, but then again a Disney trip always does.

Dinner for the evening was a 5:50 ADR at Boma. I had really been looking forward to trying this place, and it did not disappoint. Many members of my family have shellfish allergies and the chefs were great about walking through the line with them and outlining what was safe and what they needed to avoid. Overall, I enjoyed the food here. I started out with small portions in case something wasn't to my tastes, but I found that I enjoyed most things. The prime rib was excellent. My little sister, who didn't care for Le Cellier, even liked the prime rib. The barbeque sauce was excellent also, with a different kind of spicing. The spicing is different from what I was used to, so I recommend trying small portions at first and then going back for more. The potatoes with afritude were quite good. They reminded me of steak style fries with curly fry seasoning. I found that Boma had the best buffet dessert selection of the trip. I really liked the mango mousse, going back for multiples as well as the banana bread pudding. Plus, as it was my parents anniversary the week before, they brought them a card, and a plate with some specialty chocolates prepared by the house. Well, for whatever reason, nobody else wanted much, so I ended up eating most of those by myself. They were very good.

Final thoughts on Boma. Very good. Most everybody found something to their liking, although my youngest sister didn't care for it much, so she had lots of fruit. I liked it a lot and it was my favorite buffet of the trip. The service was good and the drinks were refilled quickly, which was very nice as I was very thirsty as usual. The dessert selection here was my favorite. I found a lot that I really liked and since the portions were small, it was very easy to return for more. The special Expedition: Everest dessert was fun too, a golden brown cake with a white chocolate snow cap.