Dining Extravaganza 9/23-10/3/06, Free & otherwise-Pics. Updated 10/16/07 Last Meal

[TyRy]

Great reviews and I love the pictures.

Thank you very much! If life would stop being so crazy I could get more up!

Enjoying your reviews, we have several of the same places on our list for May!

YEAH - someone with similar tastes! Hope your visits are as good as our were.

 

[Tasmen]

Definitely thanks for posting pictures of the drinkies Great reviews!

 

[TyRy]

Definitely thanks for posting pictures of the drinkies Great reviews!

You are very welcome Tasmen...I still have almost a whole week left to post, including The Brown Derby, Cali Grill, Jiko and CRT.

Ty

 

[TyRy]

EEEK - I just realized I skipped a day, I'll try and get that up next (Brown Derby) So sorry!

Today was our Animal Kingdom day so we had lunch at Tusker House. I love chicken and garlic mashed potatoes so we decided to eat here over Flame Tree since we’d been there a few times. And after this meal, it will be where we will be going back to from now on. We wandered in around 2ish so most of the lunch rush was gone. There were only a couple people ahead of us. We were using the DDP for this meal (thankfully). DH ordered Tusker House Chicken Salad and chocolate cake for his dessert – shocking because I don’t think I’d ever seen DH ordered a salad!! I ordered the 1/2 rotisserie chicken w/ garlic mashed and carrot cake. Along with two pops.

DH liked his salad but wasn’t very hungry so he only ate about half of it. This worked out well for me, because two bites into my chicken and I was done. It was the greasiest, slimiest, grossest chicken I’ve ever tried. I was so very disappointed because it looked good but was just awful. Even DH was grossed out by it. I know many people love this place, and I probably just had an “off” piece but just thinking about it makes me queasy. I actually finished DH’s salad although I did pick the chicken out

That night we had an ADR for California Grill – our first time for this restaurant. I had tried earlier in the day to change our ADR from two to four – DH’s parents were now in town – but they said they had us at a three top, so we could not do it. Ok – not a problem. We still met up with D-IL’s and they said they would just join us for a drink at the bar and then go. Well, when we checked in and asked again about four - no problem. Our table was actually ready and we headed up right away. We weren’t by the castle side by still had a nice view (which I have no pictures of for some reason!) We also were greeted with Mickey confetti for our anniversary.

Mike was our server who started out a little slow in my opinion, but quickly redeemed himself and made our meal very enjoyable.

We started with a bottle of wine which was really good and ended up getting another one.

We then were served bread and olive oil which is a favorite of mine!

For appetizers DMIL and I had the romaine salad,

DH had the Yellow Fin Tuna three ways (which we forgot to get a picture of) and DFIL had the flatbread. It was yummy and we almost did not get a picture of it.

For entrees, I had the Oak-Fired Filet of Beef – YUMMY!!!

DH and DMIL had the Grilled Pork Tenderloin

And I think DFIL had some type of fish….

Everything was delicious and timed well. We went out to the balcony after dinner and Mike held our desserts so we could watch Hallowishes – for which they did pipe the music in. It was awesome seeing it from that view.

We then went back in for desserts which were so good we forgot to take pictures!!! DH and I had the Blueberry Blast and Banana and Butterscotch Buzz which we shared with DIL’s.

We were very pleased with the CG and will probably be going back. Our bill without alcohol came to 158.12. Well worth it to us to use 4 dining credits.

Up next (again) Brown Derby!

 

[jakenjess]

Thanks so much for your review! We'll be at the CG in a month, and I can't wait!

 

[caitann24]

Thanks for the reviews!

We had a similar problem last year at Le Cellier. Our appetizers and entrees were brought out practically on top of one another and then our server disappeared for quite awhile after. We waited for a solid 20 minutes to put in our dessert order. Like you, I'm happy it worked out that way though - I ate so much that I wouldn't have been able to finish the dessert had it been brought out right away.

Looking forward to more!

 

[TyRy]

Thanks so much for your review! We'll be at the CG in a month, and I can't wait!

You are welcome jakenjess. My only comment is not rely on the menus you see online...they change them constantly. I had wanted something else only to be told they had just changed menus again.

Thanks for the reviews!

We had a similar problem last year at Le Cellier. Our appetizers and entrees were brought out practically on top of one another and then our server disappeared for quite awhile after. We waited for a solid 20 minutes to put in our dessert order. Like you, I'm happy it worked out that way though - I ate so much that I wouldn't have been able to finish the dessert had it been brought out right away.

Looking forward to more!

Thanks caitann24. I'm glad to hear it wasn't just us...perhaps Le Cellier plans it that way since they know we are soooooo full from dinner.

 

[TyRy]

9/28-MGM Day – We skipped breakfast this morning as I had to go on the dreaded TOT and did not want anything in my tummy for that. But as soon as that was over it was time for some food. It was probably around 11 when we decided to eat. We headed to Rosie’s All American Café (I think) across from the Beauty and the Beast Theatre. We used the DDP for this meal. DH had a double cheeseburger and I had the chicken strips. We had a chocolate cake and an apple pie – in containers – for dessert.

You expect burgers and chicken strips to be pretty much the same all over property. But for some reason these were not really all that great. Almost if they had been sitting for a long time under heat lamps or something. May have to skip this place next time and just grab some fries somewhere!

For a snack we had a couple of frozen lemonades from the stunt show food cart – we did not take a picture, but just picture a slurpee from 7-11. That’s what it was.

For dinner we opted to pay out of pocket and do Fantasmic Package at the Brown Derby, a great deal in my opinion. We had an ADR for 5pm and when we walk in, they were swamped. We kind of looked at each other like – uh-oh, here comes a wait. But thankfully that did not happen. We were given a beeper, but were probably seated after about five minutes. I don’t know if everyone waiting was a larger party or a walk-in. We were seated in one of the booths which was a really nice way to relax and we had a nice view of the whole restaurant.

Our server was Raul and he really seemed to time the dinner perfectly. We started with a couple of drinks, and bread and butter.

For our appetizer we decided to share the Cobb Salad for two. DH liked everything that was in it, while I’m a little pickier. But things are so small and chopped up that I actually ate quite a bit – which surprised DH…I think he thought he’d have most to himself.

For dinner I had the Char-grilled Filet Mignon and DH had the Roasted Pork Rib Chop. My filet was done perfectly again (asked for medium and got medium-rare which is what I was expecting by now) and very very tender.

DH had the pork chop and also really like it, as it was very tender and seasoned well.

For dessert we both had the Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee and DH had an after dinner drink.

Overall it was again a great experience and well worth the cost of the package. It was also really nice being able to walk into Fantasmic only 20 minutes or so before the show.

 

[jakenjess]

Did you order your filet at CG medium or medium-rare? I usually order medium-rare, but I at some places it comes out a little too rare. Just wondering how it was at CG. Thanks!

 

[TyRy]

Did you order your filet at CG medium or medium-rare? I usually order medium-rare, but I at some places it comes out a little too rare. Just wondering how it was at CG. Thanks!

Hi jakenjess - I ordered it medium - but it came out medium-rare, which is what I wanted. Somewhere on this board someone had posted that in order to get med-rare they figured out tou had to order medium. It worked for us, as we ordered everything that way and it was never to rare.

Ty

 

[medicgirl911]

I am soooo enjoying the food porn, thanks for all the pics!!!!!

 

[TyRy]

I am soooo enjoying the food porn, thanks for all the pics!!!!!

Hi medicgirl911 - I'm glad you are enjoying the food porn - I LOVED looking at all the pics before we went on our trip, so now I can pay everyone back a little.

 

[shovan]

Absolutely great reviews!!!

 

[TyRy]

Absolutely great reviews!!!

Thanks very much Shovan!

 

[TyRy]

Found a couple more pics from our visit to CG - My DMIL had taken these and then e-mailed me.

Tuna Three Ways which DH thought was just ok.

And then a picture of the whole table with all our entrees:

 

[TyRy]

This was our first night at the AKL and I have to admit I was a HUGE crab all day. All I wanted to do was go back to the WL…I have no idea why – just wasn’t loving AKL. We had actually run into another couple during the day who had the wife feeling the same way. OK – just had to preface that before we get into the food.

We did have a couple of drinks at the poolbar which DH thought might calm me down – didn’t work. I had the poolside lemonade and DH had a couple of beers.

We had a 7:40pm ADR for Jiko and arrived a couple of minutes early. The waiting area was a complete zoo! It was the worst we had seen – this was probably mostly due to everyone waiting for Boma, but it was the first time the whole trip we encountered so many people waiting (Warning – the next part is stolen directly from my trip report!) So we finally get to check-in and the CM asked if there were any allergies, so I added that I am allergic to chocolate – WHAT – yes I hear the gasping. Even DH tried to argue with me. I just knew that I was in unfamiliar territory with the food and if I even get close to real chocolate that I will be ill. Just the smell of walking into Godiva here in Chicago almost knocks me out, and not in a good way. So we get that settled and we grab our beeper and waited, wandered, waited, finally got a drink, waited, met another couple who told us how much they loved the AKL, and finally got our table. I want to say we waited about 45 minutes, but it was probably closer to a half hour. Remember, I was already crabby about the AKL and this did not help. It was, however, the longest wait we had on the trip.

So we are finally seated (here’s a picture I took earlier in the day) right by the second pole. I think the picture makes it look like you on top of each other, but is wasn’t bad – definitely not like Le Cellier!

Our server was Omar and I thought he took a little long getting to us, but again, I was super crabby girl by the time we sat down, so my notes from that night are probably somewhat distorted. He asked if we were on the DDP and we explained that one of us would be since we had 2 credits left and they would expire at midnight. He was fine with that. Brought us our wine and we ordered.

For an appetizer I had the Kalamata Flatbread – about the only thing that looked like I might like a little of it…remember, I’m the picky one I’m also not a fan of olives, but figured I could just pick some off. Let me just say it came with a LOT of olives! It was fine as I picked most off, and the plain cheese flatbread I was left with was very good. DH had the Maize and Sweet Potatoes “Tamales” and really enjoyed them.

We then had the bread and butter brought to us. Bread was fine, but if I remember correctly the butter was a sweet curry type – I didn’t like it but DH did.

For dinner I had the Wood Roasted Filet with Mac and Cheese. With all the different flavors I have to admit I was a bit worried. So I also got a pop at this point. However, my fears were laid to rest. The filet was fine…not super outstanding but good. The mac and cheese was another story. I’m not big on this to begin with, but I would eat this version every single day. It was out of this world fantastic! I actually finished that off before I did my steak. I don’t know what it was with it, but is was simply amazing!!!

DH had the Wood Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Dumplings. He really enjoyed this as well. He tried to steal a little of my mac and cheese and he really liked the tiny bit he got as well.

For dessert nothing was really appealing to me, so DH got the Flourless Chocolate-Mocha Cake Stack which he liked. He warned me not to even take a taste of this as it was super chocolaty and would send me over the edge in a bad way…I still took a bite of the frosting and was glad I had the pop to wash it down with as it was super super chocolaty.

We were also brought out a “surprise” dessert that we did not order for our anniversary. It was the Green Apple Mascarpone Trifle – the one dessert I had thought about ordering but did not. It was really good! The best part, of course, were the Mickey sprinkles…I LOVE sprinkles!!!

When the bill finally came, Omar had forgotten we were using 2 dining credits, no biggie, he took it right back and actually applied the most expensive parts of the meal to the DDP. We also then noticed the anniversary dessert they brought us was comped…very nice! The total DDP for the night was 65.98 and OOP was 59.11 with drinks!

Overall – a good experience – I would go back for the mac and cheese alone. I think when they were building the resort they maybe should have separated the waiting areas due to the amount of people crammed into a small space. But that’s the only really negative thing about it!

Oh – and the one thing I do not have a picture of (darn it!) After dinner we went into the Zawadi Marketplace and used the rest of our snack credits…we ended up with: 3 boxes of Minnie Crème Cookies, Box of Chocolate Doughnuts, Box of Van/Choc Cookies, Beef Jerky, Energy Snack Mix, and Pretzels. We have just now finished up everything that we brought home with us

Up next: I FINALLY get a Mickey Waffle and Narcoosee’s.

 

[Flossbolna]

We were also brought out a “surprise” dessert that we did not order for our anniversary. It was the Green Apple Mascarpone Trifle – the one dessert I had thought about ordering but did not. It was really good! The best part, of course, were the Mickey sprinkles…I LOVE sprinkles!!!

Great review! I will be eating at Jiko's in 4 weeks time and it was very interesting to read about. Are the apples in the dessert cooked? I am allergic against uncooked apples, but the dessert looks fantastic, I would love to eat it!

 

[jakenjess]

We've never eaten at Jiko's but your meal looks fabulous! It's definitely going on my to-do list!

 

[TyRy]

Great review! I will be eating at Jiko's in 4 weeks time and it was very interesting to read about. Are the apples in the dessert cooked? I am allergic against uncooked apples, but the dessert looks fantastic, I would love to eat it!

Thanks very much! I believe the apples were cooked - at least they tasted that way to me. Just be sure to double check.

Ty

 

[purpliequeen]

Thank you for the reviews! We are doing the Brown Derby Fantasmic Package this June and I've been looking everywhere for reviews. Thanks again!