12/21 Pizzafari. Sis had the pepperoni pizza, mom had the kid's quesadilla, and grandma and I split the chicken parm sandwich. Decent food, reasonable cost. Didn't use the Q&C here due to the low cost and it would have been even lower if idiot(me) hadn't forget until the next day that this counter service takes the DDE card. Food A, service N/A.
12/21 Liberty Tree Tavern. Good food and lots of it. We had ate here in October prior to
MNSSHP and the dessert was a cherry cobbler. This time it was apple. Character interaction was better than Ohanas. Food A, service A. DDE savings $22.39.
12/22 Electric Umbrella. Sis and I had the bacon double cheeseburger meal w/ strawberry cheesecake for dessert and mom and grandma had the chicken strip meal w/ the no sugar added brownie. We used the last 2 Q & C vouchers here. I got an extra bun to split the burger and it cost $0.80. Food B+, service n/a.
12/22 Boatwright's. Sis had the ravioli which she actually finished, I had the jambalaya which I gave some to mom and still couldn't finish, and mom and grandma split the pot roast which they really liked. Food A+, service A+. DDE savings $10.79. We then did the carriage ride which was pretty neat.
The single BEST dining event of the week- 12/23 Afternoon Tea in the Garden View Lounge at the Grand Floridian. We were joined by my cousin's wife(they and their boys moved to Orlando area in June) and her mother. All 6 of us got the Buckingham. We tried the cinnamon spice-2 of us(which we bought some to bring home), blackcurrant, jasmine, peppermint, and the organic green tea. We shared the teas between us so we could sample more than one. We enjoyed the tea sandwhiches followed by the warm scone w/ devonshire cream, and then 3 of us got the trifle for dessert, one the fresh fruit and cream, and 2 the assorted pastries. It took 2 hours for the tea and it felt perfectly paced. We had plenty of time to visit and to eat. My cousin's mom had been to tea at the Empress in Victoria BC and said she preferred this experience. Food A++, service A+++. I'm going to send an email to Disney complementing our server Jennifer and this experience. DDE saved approx $20, this was the one reciept I lost track of.
12/23 Olivias. Mom really liked the apple dessert earlier in the week so we made a late ADR planning on dessert. In reality, mom and I split a penne pasta, sis had a cup of the pepperoni pizza soup and a kid's spaghetti, and grandma had the kid's chicken fingers, and no one had space for dessert. Food A+, service A+. DDE saved $6.67.
12/24 Boma breakfast. Probably tied w/ Kona Cafe and Boatwright's for the best breakfast we've had at WDW. Particularly appreciated the variety available and the quality of the carving station meats. I want to know where they get there grapes- at home I tend to buy green rather than red but I really like the red grapes I get at WDW. They are consistently sweet whether gotten in December or July. Food A+, service A. DDE saved $13.59.
in summary, we had many good meals during the trip. Ohanas breakfast is the one that we would most hesitate before booking again due to it just being kind of one step below the other TS(and 2 of the CS meals). It seemed like the experience at Rose and Crown was kind of just a result of circumstance and not something systematically wrong. We did think the food there was quite good and would probably give them another try.
So the reason I tracked the DDE savings and total food costs so carefully for this trip was the annoucement that DVC members will be able to get the dining plan starting this Spring. It somewhat appealed to have the cost pre-paid but we won't be getting it. It's too much food even w/ counter service and is more than we routinely pay for meals. The only day we exceeded $37.99/person was Ohanas breakfast/ Le Cellier CP and that would have been the equivalent of a 3 TS credit day. The dining plan may be great for some people but is not appropriate for us. Even the increase in price of the DDE still makes it a better value for us. We'll have 8 trips use out of it when our APs expire in May and it was paid for with savings started on the first trip on these APs.
Hope somebody finds these review informative and any questions, just ask.
