Dining on the DDP – October 15th thru October 21st - Day 3 added 12/1

[Tidoublegrr]

This was our first time using the DDP but I was well prepared with my numerous hours of study on the DIS. As you can see from my post count, I’m a lurker more than a poster. I’m excited about this, my first dining review. Please be patient with me, as I manage a retail store, so the remaining reports may not come as quickly as I would like.

Both DH and I are fairly adventurous with not too many dislikes. The big one for DH is no seafood in any shape or form. I, on the other hand, could eat it every day, and that was my plan for this trip.

Day 1 – Sunday, October 15th

We arrived at AKL about 2:30 on Sunday, October 15th, right on schedule with my plans. We had 5:00 reservations at the Crystal Palace so as soon as we got checked in and settled, we headed for the Magic Kingdom. We got to the Crystal Palace a little before 5:00 and were seated about fifteen minutes later. This was the longest wait we had all week. It worked out well since we were able to visit the nearby Photopass photographer and get a few pictures with the castle while we waited.

Pooh had just passed our table as we were seated, but I wasn’t concerned because we were coming back for breakfast later in the week. We got pictures with Tigger and Eeyore while we ate. Piglet bypassed us, but once again, I wasn’t concerned since we were coming back. We enjoyed the parade of characters and kids that passed by our table about midway through dinner. We had a great server, Tammy, who made sure our drinks stayed full and empty plates were cleared quickly.

We tried a little bit of everything. Stand outs for me were the pasta with asiago cream sauce, the adobo pork and the salmon. I meant to go back and get more salmon, but I was just too full! DH tried several of the salads and liked them all. The only ones I remember were the edamame and the couscous. He was pleased with prime rib and really liked the kale too.

We didn’t plan well at the desserts and ended up with duplicates when we got back to the table. We took one for the team and cleaned our plates, but wished we had talked about it and gotten a bigger variety with no duplicates. Stand outs here were the key lime pie and the red velvet cheesecake.

I’m not a buffet snob, but one of the things I usually don’t like about them is that quality really suffers in the desserts. I hate to pick out a gorgeous looking dessert and take the first bite only to find out it doesn’t taste half as good as it looks. I can honestly say I never have that problem at Disney.

When I planned to eat at Crystal Palace, not just once, but twice during our trip, DH was a little concerned. I think more than anything, he was worried about the noise level and potential chaos with all the Pooh characters and their legions of small fans. We both enjoyed watching the characters and the kids interact. I t brought a little magic to the meal. We would find out later in the week, that there was another restaurant that we should have worried about a lot more.

After Crystal Palace, we enjoyed EMH. Despite being on the road at 6:00am, we stayed almost until close. I got the first of many Dole Whip floats at some points during the night. DH doesn’t see what the big deal is, but I love these. I was very pleased to be able to use a snack credit for it too!

Day 1 Summary:

Crystal Palace – 2TS used – Will go back but not every trip.
Aloha Isle – 1 Snack used – Will go back every time I can!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your review ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[loralie]

Can't wait to hear the rest.


Loralie

 

[joiev98]

Can't wait to hear the rest!!

 

[Tidoublegrr]

Day 2 – Monday, October 16th

Today was our first full day at WDW. We headed over to Epcot to get our Soarin’ fix and check out the Food and Wine Festival. We aren’t big breakfast eaters so you’ll notice most days our first meal is lunch. We’ll make a couple exceptions but for the most part, no breakfast.

This was our first time at Food and Wine. It was very nice to be able to use our snack credits for sampling what the different countries had to offer. Our first stop was at South Africa. We tried the Durban Chicken since we had heard a lot of good things about it. It was okay but nothing to write home about.

Next stop was Oktoberfest, I knew DH would love the Debrizinger Sausage and Sauerkraut in a Pretzel Roll and I was right. I got a tiny bite and I had to agree. He paid for this OOP because I wasn’t with him when he was in line and he still wasn’t too comfortable with the dining plan. I really wanted to stop at Sommerfest and get my first Franziskaner of the trip but we were planning on doing the Sam Adams tasting. DH was afraid I’d burn out too early and he was probably right.

On to USA, I got my daily requirement of seafood with a lobster roll and DH got the BBQ ribs with grilled fresh corn. The lobster roll at $6.00 was definitely a good use of a snack credit. It was very tasty. DH thought the ribs and corn were good but no where near as good as the sausage and sauerkraut he just had at Oktoberfest.

Time for the Sam Adams tasting! This was a lot of fun even with the really drunk guy at the back who just wouldn’t shut up and kept correcting our host. Our host didn’t put up with it and shut him down pretty quick. He either left early or was escorted out. Not sure since we were in the front row and he was all the way in the back. We sampled four Sam Adams beers and learned a lot in the process. I believe we had: Sam Adams, Sam Adams Light, Oktoberfest and Festival. I liked them all but the Light is still my favorite. This was my favorite of the two tastings we did because it was more organized and we each got a free bottle opener.

After the beer tasting, we decided to get a counter service meal to share since we were still hungry and our dinner at Spoodles was still several hours away. We chose Tangierine Café. We got a chicken shawarma platter. This was incredible. There was plenty for both of us and everything was so good. This was my favorite CS meal of the trip.

We continued touring World Showcase for the rest of the afternoon but we didn’t sample any more food. We did, however, participate in the International Beer Tasting. The line was short and we still had a couple hours to kill before dinner. This tasting wasn’t as well organized as the Sam Adams tasting. It was every man for himself as far as seating was concerned which made finding seats together a little stressful if you were towards the end of the line. We joined a very nice gentleman at his table. Every table got five bottles of different beers to share so if you only had three people at your table like we did there was a lot to sample. The five beers were Stella Artois, Beck’s, Brahma, Hoegaarden and Bass. The only one either of us had ever tried before was Bass. We both really enjoy it and had split a glass in line while waiting for the beer tasting to begin. My ranking for the beers was Bass, Hoegaarden, Stella, Brahma and Beck’s. I didn’t enjoy this tasting as much and DH agreed that it just wasn’t as good as the Sam Adams one. We both really enjoyed the host there and the one at the international tasting wasn’t as good. He criticized the Sam tasting several times which I didn’t care for.

Time for dinner at Spoodles! We walked in here on the first night of last years trip and loved it, so we had to come back. We checked in at 5:00 for our 5:20 reservation and were seated five minutes later. Our waiter was Giorgi and he was very attentive even as the restaurant began to fill up. We both love the complimentary bread and dip they give you. For appetizers, DH had the four cheese flatbread and I, of course, had the garlic shrimp. They were both wonderful. I had three huge shrimp with an incredible sauce. DH let me have a couple pieces of his flatbread and it was as good as I remembered. For entrees DH had the Lemon Chicken and I had the Portuguese Seafood Stew. Dh enjoyed his a lot. I liked mine but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I had read several reviews that this was spicy so I was looking forward to that. My dish was not spicy at all. It was good but I probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t read the reviews. Both of us got the vanilla crème brulee for dessert and it was very good.

Day 2 Summary:

Spoodles – 2TS used – Will go back, but may skip next time to try something new.
Tangierine Cafe – 1 CS used – Will be our must do when in EPCOT.
Food and Wine Booths – 1 OOP, 3 Snacks used - South Africa will pass next time, Oktoberfest and USA we’ll be back

 

[Lexxiefern]

Wow, they let you get a $6 lobster roll as a snack? Thanks for the reviews!

 

[Tidoublegrr]

Day 3 – Tuesday, October 17th

Today was a rare day as we actually had breakfast. We couldn’t stay at AKL and not eat at Boma. We had a 7:30 ADR. We were seated immediately near one of the windows. Our server was Theresa and she was wonderful. She kept our glasses of Frunch full. I loved the Frunch. The other standouts for this meal were the ham and pork. Unfortunately, I didn’t take good notes for this meal so I can’t give any more detail other than we both really enjoyed this breakfast. We paid OOP with our Disney Rewards card.

Tuesday was our Animal Kingdom day. After a morning of lots of Everest and the Safari, with a Devine sighting in between, we headed to Flame Tree for lunch. We split the ½ Smoked Chicken with key lime pie for dessert. We headed back to the seating by the water and had a great view of Everest while we ate. The chicken and beans were great. We had some of the spicy barbecue sauce from the condiment area and it made the chicken even better. The corn was okay but not great. The pie had good flavor but would have been better if it was colder. We had taken our time eating our chicken so by the time we got around to the pie it had been out in the Florida heat for a little while.

Tonight was the first of two MNSSHP we would attend. We had a 5:00 ADR at ‘Ohana., or as DH referred to it , Meat on Sticks. I was a little nervous about this meal since the reviews on DIS are split between “love it” and “hate it”. You can add two more “love its” to the list. This was the best meal we had the entire trip. DH is still talking about it.

We checked in right at 5:00 and waited about ten minutes to be seated. I ordered a Backscratcher to help me pass the time. Very tasty! DH wouldn’t let me keep the bamboo backscratcher that came with it. It was probably a wise decision as I would have used it on the very rude woman and her adult son who pushed in between us and another family right as Hallowishes was beginning later in the evening.

We were seated in the main room, very close to the fire pit and the staging area for the activities. I had read about some folks having issues with the audience participation when they were “on the parade route” and had planned to ask to be seated away from it but had forgotten in all the excitement. I’m glad I didn’t. We loved watching all the kids participate in the various activities. To be fair, we were just past the finish line for the coconut race so we didn’t have the racers at our table. We found all of the parents to be very considerate while trying to capture all of the magic moments on film.

Our server was Roy. He had a wonderful young lady helping him. I have looked everywhere for her name and can’t find it anywhere. She was the best server we had all week. She was very efficient so she was able to take the time to talk to her tables and get to know them. She was very friendly and open, the kind of person you want to talk to. I just wish I could thank her by name.

We started with the wonton chips and three sauces. I really liked the peanut and the chimichurri(green). The harissa(red) was okay. Next up, salad which was fresh and very tasty. We both loved the honey lime dressing. The wings and shrimp were next. The wings were incredible. DH had more salad while I enjoyed the shrimp. They are a little messy but I had my moist warm towel brought by our server so I wasn’t concerned.

Now it was time for meat and side dishes. We both had steak and pork. Both were cooked perfectly, nice and moist. The steak was good but the pork was incredibly flavorful. Loved, loved, loved the potatoes. The stir fried veggies were very crisp and tasty. Roy came back with the turkey and sausage at this point. We were both starting to feel pretty full and we knew we still had dessert so DH tried to decline. Roy shamed us into trying both by saying “What! you don’t like my cooking?” The sausage was okay not great. DH is not a turkey fan as he comes from a family that tends to overcook it. This turkey was not overcooked, it was perfect! After one bite, DH proclaimed it the best turkey he had ever had and finished it off.

Out came the bread pudding, and boy did it look good! It tasted even better. We finished our portion and DH really wanted to try to eat another but I was itching to get to the Magic Kingdom.

After the Hallowishes and the parade, it was time to visit Aloha Isle for a pineapple float. I sat and costume watched while I enjoyed it. DH is not a Dole Whip fan and trick or treated nearby while I ate. He needed candy to keep up his strength.

Day 3 Summary:

Boma – paid OOP – Will go back but not every trip.
Flame Tree Barbecue – 1 CS used – will go here whenever we’re at AK
‘Ohana – 2 TS – Best meal of trip. This will be a must do for every trip!
Aloha Isle – 1 Snack used – There’s always room for a pineapple float!