Dining Reviews May 14-22-A mix of DXDP and OOP picked by a six year old-Complete6/7

[sydneysmom]

awesome reviews so far ! I can't wait to read more !! (and now I'm super hungry !!)

 

[pinkxray]

We spent the day at IOA and had a few hot dogs for lunch. We were not impressed with our food last year so we stuck to Nathan’s hot dogs and Miss Vickie chips. You can’t mess those up right. We also purchased a frozen butterbeer which was okay.

Altogether we spent about 40 in IOA that day
.
We ended up spending most of the day at IOA so I cancelled our ADR for Sanaa since we wouldn’t make it to AKL by 5.

We headed over to Pop to try out their food court.

We used 2 credits to get a pizza. The pizza was okay, DD said she didn't really like it but she ate 2 pieces anyway. I think she just wanted an excuse to have DH's doritos later though.

(Sorry we were hungry)

DH had a burger and got a bag of doritos as a dessert

You also get 2 drinks and 2 desserts with the pizza

I finally got to try the tie dye cheesecake which was very good.

We ate this a few days later and it was still very good.

The pizza , drinks and desserts were about 25 which seems pretty good. If I was ever on the qsdp Everything Pop would be a great place to eat.

DH of course forgot how much his meal was but altogether we used 3 credits at Pop. I am going to guess DH spent about 13 which might be a bit low.

That leaves us with 3 more credits. One was used at RF by DH and DD who split a cheeseburger and Doritos one night.

We used 2 in Mara for a swiss and ham sandwich from the grab and go and a chicken casear salad.
Just a note- Allears still has the fried shrimp on the menu at Mara, but it was no longer available when we were there.

I loved the salad and I think I ate every single bite while sitting at our balcony at AKL watching the animals. I was a bit disappointed in the options at Mara since we don't eat African stew and such. They had the typical burger and chicken nuggets too, but I think I would get very tired of eating dinner at Mara if we stayed there all week. Luckily it is pretty easy to head to Pop if needed.

Famous zebra domes (not a huge fan- they were okay, but with all the junk I was eating they didn’t seem worth the calories. I ate the tie dye cheesecake that night instead

Some sort of crumb cake that had a bit of cheese in it. Since we had breakfast every morning I don’t think I ever tried this.

 

[pinkxray]

Great reviews, Diane.

We've never done CRT (two boys who would rather have been beat up rather than eat in a castle with princesses!).

We've also never done Ohanas. We won't do breakfast (not a fan of Stitch or family style), but I keep putting it on the list for dinner but it always gets knocked off.

We've only done CP for breakfast (not a big fan of the buffets for dinner at Disney), but CP's didn't look too bad.

We prefer Chef Mickey's for breakfast over dinner. The last time we went for dinner in 2004 it was pretty nasty; breakfast, if you go early like you suggested, is not bad.

But I agree with you....I would rather eat at Crystal Palace or one of the other ones.

I would skip CRT if didn't have a little girl too. If we ever have another little girl we will pick Akershus over the castle. You get better food for only 1 credit.

I love 'Ohana dinner. I thought about skipping it this time to try Kona for dinner but I couldn't bring myself to cancel it. Glad I didn't b/c I love the food there.

CP for breakfast is going back on my list for next time. I am glad we tried dinner but I just love seeing Pooh and friends before starting the day in MK. It just puts you in a happy mood for the rest of the day.

awesome reviews so far ! I can't wait to read more !! (and now I'm super hungry !!)

Thank you. I didn't think anyone was still reading, but I am curious to see how we did using the dxdp so I figured I would finish anyway.

 

[butiflfeet]

Great reviews so far! I can't wait for more

 

[pinkxray]

Deluxe Dining Plan for 3 nights cost us $540

We ended up spending $700 which isn't the greatest savings but hey it is better than nothing. It would have been more if we had eaten at Sanaa instead of Pop plus we skipped appetizers at Sci-fi. I lost track of the snack credits we used but counted them as $3 each (although I do remember a few being at least $4.) We used snack credits for drinks, popcorn, candy and things to stretch a counter service meal for two. We only had 4 left the last night so I grabbed some powerade and Chip and Dale crackers to use for the 2 nights we were OOP.

Overall they say you need to use about 2/3 of your credits on TS to break even. We had 27 credits and used 7 for counter service.

I am happy with the results. I thought the dxdp for this part of the trip worked well and yes, we could have saved more choosing more expensive places but we chose the places we liked instead of maximizing the value of the plan. I felt like our plans really allowed for flexibilty and was very happy with the way these days went.

Our only OOP expenses were DH's hot dog he snuck in before CP (we could have easily used a credit though) and lunch at US which could be avoided by not going to US. If we had spent the day in a Disney park we would have been able to arrange to spread the credits for that meal too.

I am very glad I upgraded to the DXDP for this part. Even if we didn't have huge savings I would have cringed every time I got the bill at places like CP.Almost $100 for DD to eat some pizza! It is much easier to hand over the room key. DH cringes at the $30 it usually cost for 2 counter service meals so he loves the prepaid dining plan.

 

[ccgirl]

Sorry, way late joining the party. My DH and myself are going sans children to the F&W in October - renting points as well. I just learned about the DxDDP (not sure how I didn't know about it) and we're trying to decide between that and the QSDP as I want the 2 snack credits per night for the F&W booths. SO, I am very interested in your reviews. Great food porn by the way, my tummy is growling! Your DD is absolutely adorable!

When you added up the receipts, did it add up to at least the cost of the plan?

 

[pinkxray]

Great reviews so far! I can't wait for more

Thanks for reading!

 

[pinkxray]

Sorry, way late joining the party. My DH and myself are going sans children to the F&W in October - renting points as well. I just learned about the DxDDP (not sure how I didn't know about it) and we're trying to decide between that and the QSDP as I want the 2 snack credits per night for the F&W booths. SO, I am very interested in your reviews. Great food porn by the way, my tummy is growling! Your DD is absolutely adorable!

When you added up the receipts, did it add up to at least the cost of the plan?

I just added up our totals for the first few days and we spent about $700 and paid $540 for the plan. We could have easily saved more by eating at places like Tutto over Sci-fi but I choose to eat where we wanted over picking places by cost.

If I was going to F &W I would probably try the qsdp. I found that was rarely hungry during meals and I would want to have room for all the food at F &W. Since DD wanted to do all the character meals one more time the DXDP made sense for this trip. Next time we will either do QSDP or OOP.

I am not sure how the other 2 nights of dxdp we did our last weekend will turn out. DH seemed to spend a little more OOP then I would have liked but we had to stretch 6 credits over 3 full days and there had to be some OOP.

 

[pinkxray]

Just figured I would include Discovery Cove in case anyone is going soon. (If you are I am very jealous b/c it is fantastic!)


When DH and I went to DC in 2003 you got 1 meal for lunch and that was it. They now have breakfast and lunch which is all you can eat. There is a main food area and also a little snack stand that has chips and beer that are included in the price.

I tried taking pictures but I didn’t get much since DH thought everyone was looking at me.

Laguna Grill is the main food area. DC opens at 9 but I would try to get there early since they will let you in early. I have heard people who arrive at 8. You won’t be able to get in the reef part but you can get breakfast, get dressed and put everything in your locker by the time DC actually opens. We arrived about 8:30 and there were already a bunch of people in line for breakfast. Our dolphin swim time was 9:30 so I was worried we wouldn’t make it in time since the line was moving very slowly.

They had your typical breakfast items. Eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes and French toast sticks. DD was once again unhappy b/c she doesn’t like any of those. I got her some French toast sticks but she doesn’t really like those and she had a strawberry yogurt.

They have some fruit, yogurt (only 2 flavors though which DD was not happy about since the didn’t have vanilla- I think they had strawberry and strawberry-banana) and plain crossaints. They also had a few cereals.

The line seemed to take forever. They had 2 people behind the counter. You told them what you wanted and they got it for you. The first girl gave you the eggs and potatoes and then passed the plate to the other girl who gave you the meats and French toast. It seems like they could do it in a faster way.

Food was okay. Pretty much matched regular cafeteria food or Chef Mickey’s quality.

They also had OJ, coffee, and Pepsi soda products you grabbed yourself.
Breakfast is served from opening until 10:30.
Lunch is served 11- 3( I think it was 3. I know the card said it closed a few hours before the park closed)

Back in 2003 when you were only able to get 1 meal I remember having a cheeseburger and an oreo cake for dessert. The burger was amazing and right up there with my favorite burgers ever. Now they have it were you can eat all you want during the day so they must have cut down the quality.
DH and I both grabbed burgers and DD had chicken tenders. I thought about getting something else but I remembered how good the burger was last time.

They had a small selection of desserts- maybe cheesecake, pudding and key lime pie

Small salad

Overall I was a bit disappointed in the food. The burger was so heavy. I just didn’t like it all all. I ended up going back and getting chicken tenders since I tried one of DD’s and I knew they were safe. I also grabbed some corn on the cob and extra fries which were all eaten.The salad and key lime pie got tossed. I have come to the conclusion I just don’t like key lime pie so I’m not really qualified to judge it. I thought it was gross. I missed the oreo cake from last time.

These are the options you have. DH and DD insist we HAVE to go to Discovery Cove every time we go to FL now so next time I will try something else. People around us seemed happy enough so hopefully the other menu items are good.

The snack stand had bags of Lays potato chips and pretzels. That was were you could also pick up a couple of different beers. I know the beers were included but I am not sure if the other offerings were. I saw people drinking pina colada type drinks too.


It was very nice having food available all day. We left around 4 and it looked like Laguna Grill was still open. If we didn't have T-tex scheduled that night we would have just eaten here and had no OOP that day.



Besides you don't go to Discovery Cove for the food. You go to kiss a dolphin!

 

[KatMark]

Thanks for sharing this, Diane. I've been wanting to do this, but the price is awfully high. And like you said, you are not there for the food -- but the dolphin (I love the pic of Caitlin kissing the dolphin). Do they have a price without the food?

Actually, I'm thinking we will just wait and do the dolphin excursion when we do the Disney Dream in 2013 for our 30th wedding anniversary.

 

[pinkxray]

Thanks for sharing this, Diane. I've been wanting to do this, but the price is awfully high. And like you said, you are not there for the food -- but the dolphin (I love the pic of Caitlin kissing the dolphin). Do they have a price without the food?

Actually, I'm thinking we will just wait and do the dolphin excursion when we do the Disney Dream in 2013 for our 30th wedding anniversary.

I think they just have a price for with a dolphin swim and without. If you haven't done the swim yet you have to do it. I am thinking of sitting out the swim next time and recording Caitlin doing it, but I am sure I'll change my mind by then.

I've been looking into a cruise for 2012 and saw the dolphin excursion. Those look like so much fun. They seem like you get to do a bit more with the dolphin in those, but Discovery Cove is awesome. It was one of our best days and you know how hard it was for us to actually agree on something on our trip. Caitlin was begging us to go back again later in the trip.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

can't believe I've missed these reviews for a week - great reviews, beautiful daughter and I'm glad to see a review with the Mara in it.

 

[ccgirl]

I just added up our totals for the first few days and we spent about $700 and paid $540 for the plan. We could have easily saved more by eating at places like Tutto over Sci-fi but I choose to eat where we wanted over picking places by cost.

If I was going to F &W I would probably try the qsdp. I found that was rarely hungry during meals and I would want to have room for all the food at F &W. Since DD wanted to do all the character meals one more time the DXDP made sense for this trip. Next time we will either do QSDP or OOP.

I am not sure how the other 2 nights of dxdp we did our last weekend will turn out. DH seemed to spend a little more OOP then I would have liked but we had to stretch 6 credits over 3 full days and there had to be some OOP.

Thanks! That was my concern; not having any room to sample the foods at the booths. Maybe we will just get the DxDDP for the 1st night staying at AKL and the QSDP for the next two nights when we're staying at BCV. That way we can get our sigature meal in plus 1. Hmmmm....decisions...decisions!

 

[dizneeat]

I love all your reviews - I am sorry, but I fell behind, AGAIN!!!! So therefore it took a little time to answer again.

Had to about your comment of the cream cheese french toast - I feel the same way about the tie die cheesecake - didn't like it at all! And I wasn't a fan of the puffed french toast or the beignets as well.

I am really thankful for your CRT review as I thought of adding it to my list, but I added Captain's Grill breakfast instead.

I might be repeating myself, but your daughter is just too cute to be true!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Just finding your review today and really enjoying them. We are trying Ohana for dinner for the first time our next trip and your pictures and review are really getting me excited


Oh, and I love the look on your daughters face in this pictures. She likes like she is really confused and not sure where to look

Our server took this picture for us.

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[pinkxray]

We had a 6pm adr at T-rex. We checked in and were seated immediately. The restaurant was pretty busy and all the seats were full so I was impressed we didn’t have to wait.

We were in the room with the bar. DD did not like the huge Octopus over the bar and the tentacles coming close to our table.
“Mom, the eye just moved”
DD had the kids burger with fries.

She ate the whole burger but didn’t like the fries. They tasted exactly like Arby’s curly fries which she likes, but apparently she doesn’t eat waffle fries.

Dh had –
Paleonzoic Chicken Sandwich - Fried pizza dough with grilled chicken, lettuce, bacon, pepper jack cheese, avocado, tomato and lemon aioli $14.99 (from allears)without the avocado and tomato. He liked it.


I debated between the shrimp platter and the appetizer sampler but ended up going with-

Supersaurus Sampler - For an appetite as big as T-REX! Spinach and pepper jack queso with tortilla chips, Brachiosaurus Bruschetta, T-Rexadillas and Onion Rings $18.99

I was really in the mood for nachos and this worked for me. I thought everything was very good. I don’t like tomatoes so I skipped the bruschetta.

I thought about getting the donut holes to share but DH actually agreed to go to Ghiradelli for dessert.

Our server here was a bit off. He brought us refills and checked in but he just looked MISERABLE. He looked as though he hated every second of being there. Our bill was 48 and change and I had a $50 gift card that I had gotten through Discovercard’s cash back rewards. I am going to be honest and say when I got the card I don’t think I called to check the balance. He took the card and came back a few minutes later. The card was declined. I asked him if he was sure and he said, “Well, I tried it twice” Hmmm. I ended up just paying cash and we left. We were supposed to go to RFC a few days later so I could always use the card there. What if we canceled it though? (which we did) I called and the card certainly had $50 on it. So we walked back and told the girl in the front the problem. I guess the guy was new and had ran it under the wrong slot. She gave us back the $50 in cash and the card with the $2 left on it. (I used cash for all the tips on this trip so that I didn’t have to deal with putting it on a separate card, I just took care of the bill and wrote cash on the tip line, much easier to me)

The food was very good. I know everyone says T-rex is loud. It is very loud. I don't think I would bring a young child there. It was so loud most of the meal we didn't talk at all, which if you are like me you might need a bit of quiet time from the family

One of my favorite parts of not being on the dining plan is that you can eat dinner and later on have dessert.

After some shopping we headed to Ghiradelli.
DD asked me to get her cookies and cream, but she has spent the last 6 years ordering vanilla so I totally forgot and ordered her vanilla.

I got the Gold Rush.

I took 2 pictures b/c DH thought it would look better from the other side.

We spent 13 and change.
You just can’t beat ice cream with pb and choc. It was great!


This was one of of OOP days and we spent $13 on ice cream, tip at T-rex and that was it. Of course not everyone will have a gift card to T-rex but they were easy to get. I got a $50 one from Discover cash back and a $25 one from my points.

 

[lbuzz52]

next time i will ahve to eat lunch before i come to this thread!
i had the same thoughts about ohana's meats.

and the same thoguhts about CRT breakfast. they used to have this omelet that was so tasty it woudl be worth it- but its not on the menu anymore. not that i'm a dxdp expert... but i'm confused about your credits at CRT. i thought it was 2 per person?

i love that you used the excuse of research to sample all the desserts

we have that same blue dress- sort of. its the green version from last year. I love crazy 8!

 

[lynn46356]

Loving your reviews! Thanks for sharing!!!!! I've never ate at CRT (all boys in the family also) but your breakfast item doesn't look bad at all but the price of the meal, well that's another story. Haha. I took a girls only trip back in February and we ate at 1900 Park Fare (dinner) and I did NOT care for that meal at all. I would pick CRT over that any day but that's just me. Maybe someday if we have granddaughters we'll venture over to CRT. This last trip to did enjoy LTT and The Plaza. I really really enjoyed the colony salad at LTT and our meal at the Plaza too although I can't remember now what I had but I know the banana split was very very good! Again, thanks for sharing!!!!!!!

 

[pinkxray]

next time i will ahve to eat lunch before i come to this thread!
i had the same thoughts about ohana's meats.

and the same thoguhts about CRT breakfast. they used to have this omelet that was so tasty it woudl be worth it- but its not on the menu anymore. not that i'm a dxdp expert... but i'm confused about your credits at CRT. i thought it was 2 per person?

i love that you used the excuse of research to sample all the desserts

we have that same blue dress- sort of. its the green version from last year. I love crazy 8!

I thought I changed it.i guess it didnt work. It should be 6 credits all together. Ill edit it tonight.i can't bring up that page on my phone with all the pictures it takes forever

 

[deenbrad]

Our server here was a bit off. He brought us refills and checked in but he just looked MISERABLE. He looked as though he hated every second of being there. Our bill was 48 and change and I had a $50 gift card that I had gotten through Discovercard’s cash back rewards. I am going to be honest and say when I got the card I don’t think I called to check the balance. He took the card and came back a few minutes later. The card was declined. I asked him if he was sure and he said, “Well, I tried it twice” Hmmm. I ended up just paying cash and we left. We were supposed to go to RFC a few days later so I could always use the card there. What if we canceled it though? (which we did) I called and the card certainly had $50 on it. So we walked back and told the girl in the front the problem. I guess the guy was new and had ran it under the wrong slot. She gave us back the $50 in cash and the card with the $2 left on it. (I used cash for all the tips on this trip so that I didn’t have to deal with putting it on a separate card, I just took care of the bill and wrote cash on the tip line, much easier to me)

He probably ran it through including what he thought should be the tip (they do this often). It sent it over the limit and therefore it was declined. This has happened to my sister in restaurants as well. Took an army of management to figure out the problem!