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

[tinacaplan]

DH always tells me if I could put about a 1/4 of time and energy I use in planning and thinking about Disney into my career, I would be running the hospital by now. Too bad taking x-rays aren't as fun as Disney.

I always love dining and resort reviews and read so many of them when planning my trips. I like to give back, plus I know many people debate the dxdp and I really like it when you do character meals. Those meals add up real quick!

I saw someone mention taking pictures of the receipts on a dining review and it was so much easier than saving the reciept. I had how Disney 000 out the reciept. It's like they don't want you to go home and check the math. Last year I wrote the amount of the meal on the zeroed out reciept but this worked out so much better. I wasn't able to keep perfect track of cs meals or snacks but can get a ballpark figure from allears menus. I haven't added up how much we spent yet so I am hoping we came out ahead. I am sure we did the first few days, but the last 2 might be tough.

I guess I'm lucky in the husband department...Mark doesn't mind my Disney obsession at all, nor the time I spend on the Dis. He thinks its good for me to have a hobby. Love him. And besides, sometimes you just need the kind of escape that planning and reading about Disney vacations can provide.

And I'm totally going to steal your receipt idea!

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

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I agree with this completely! I love having the option to have dinner a bit after my meal!

Great reviews!

 

[smiths02]

Oh man!

I just learned that I could get a Rainforest Cafe gift card (I am assuming you can use at TRex) as my cashback bonus from Discover...and guess what...I have $34 cashback and need $45 (and we leave in a month so I won't have time to earn that much AND have it come in the mail)

 

[pinkxray]

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!

I am surprised you are able to keep up with anyone with all the work you do on your own threads. I think I am up to date on most of your threads but I need to double check. I am staying away from your trip report with the cruise though, b/c I am fighting the urge not to hit the confirm button on the DCL page when pricing cruises.

I would skip CRT. The food wasn't great and there is no variety. Sure the castle is nice, but I would have preferred to eat at CG if it was just me.

Thank you I think she is pretty adorable, but I might be a bit biased.

 

[pinkxray]

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.

Thank you. We didn't eat much from the Mara but everything we did have was good. We are pretty plain eaters so I wish they had a few more options, but it worked. I just wish they still had the fried shrimp platter.

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

I think she was very confused. It has been years since there has been a camera out that wasn't taking a picture of her.

'Ohana is so good

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!

Thanks for reminding me about the CRT credits. I meant to change it before and it is corrected now. 12 credits would be a very expensive breakfast

I thought the blue dress was perfect. I really didn't want to get DD a princess dress b/c she would never it again but the blue dress matched Cinderella so it was nice for the picture.

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!!!!!!!

DD refuses to go to Park Fare for either meal. She saw the Mad Hatter for breakfast on Youtube and that he was too loud. She doesn't like mean characters and won't go to dinner anywhere near the stepsisters. I am kind of glad, the reviews of the food are never very good.

I would love to try LTT or Plaza. One of these days I will get there!

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!

I didn't really press the issue. I probably should have asked him to try again with some help. I didn't realize he was new, he just stressed out. I'm glad it was easy to fix and I didn't end up with a $50 gift card I would never use.

 

[pinkxray]

I guess I'm lucky in the husband department...Mark doesn't mind my Disney obsession at all, nor the time I spend on the Dis. He thinks its good for me to have a hobby. Love him. And besides, sometimes you just need the kind of escape that planning and reading about Disney vacations can provide.

And I'm totally going to steal your receipt idea!


I agree with this completely! I love having the option to have dinner a bit after my meal!

Great reviews!

It was so much easier taking a picture of the reciept. Up next is TH which was OOP. I guess I thought I would keep the receipt and now I can't find it.

DH thinks I need a less expensive hobby. Although it seems to be his resort choices and extras that always seem to drive up my trip budgets.

It was so nice not to have to get dessert right after dinner. Another reason I will probably stick to OOP next time.

Oh man!

I just learned that I could get a Rainforest Cafe gift card (I am assuming you can use at TRex) as my cashback bonus from Discover...and guess what...I have $34 cashback and need $45 (and we leave in a month so I won't have time to earn that much AND have it come in the mail)

Yep, you can use them at T-rex. Too bad you just found out, it was nice to have a few gift cards to use towards food that didn't really cost anything. I loved paying the $45 for a $50 card

 

[pinkxray]

We had an 8:05 adr at Tuskerhouse. I love walking through an empty park.

My two plates.
DD’s plate

Everything was SO good. I still don’t understand how the quality at TH can be so much better than CM, but is. The tater tots were great and I loved the sausage patties instead of the links like everywhere else. The bacon still wasn’t great, but everything else made up for it. I also liked the coffee the best there too. I think I had about 4 cups.

There were some other more adventurous items I would like to try one day, but DH wanted to be out to make it to the safari at 9. Plus I just love tater tots The bread pudding with vanilla sauce is such a yummy treat to have for breakfast.

This was OOP but I really didn’t mind paying for this meal at all where as I would not pay for CM OOP.

We loved it. The waitress told us about the lunch and that sounds good too. It will be hard to pick where to eat next trip!

I lost the receipt but it cost 22.99 for adults and 12.99 for a child. I think with tax that would be about 64? (I think FL is 12%, am I right)
Well worth the cost. The characters were Donald outside, Minnie, Goofy and Daisy.

 

[caitty13]

The food here was really yummy, my ds6 loved the donuts. We also had 8:00am reservations, loved that it's right outside the safari. Were you here on the 18th?

 

[tinacaplan]

We loved Tusker House...OK, so I did. My husband ate fruit loops that day...don't know why. And that bread pudding is delicious.

 

[KatMark]

We have never eaten at Tusker House but it looks really good.

 

[DnA2010]

Loving your reviews! Thanks for including lots of great pics!

We went to Discovery Cove in March and loved the food! at the brekkie they also had biscuits and gravy (tried this for the first time yum!) and some yummy cinnamon roles.

At lunch between our group we had the chicken curry, salmon, pasta with alfredo, and pork loin- each one of these dishes was excellent! Lots of great flavours for sure.

At this snack shack they also had cookies and various ice cream cups and bars yum yum!

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[pinkxray]

The food here was really yummy, my ds6 loved the donuts. We also had 8:00am reservations, loved that it's right outside the safari. Were you here on the 18th?

We were there on the 19th.

DD loved the donuts too. We went there last year and all she ate was too donuts. This year she actually had a waffle or two.

We loved Tusker House...OK, so I did. My husband ate fruit loops that day...don't know why. And that bread pudding is delicious.

Fruit loops??? Too funny. Tell him to save the fruit loop eating for Chef Mickeys if you ever make it there.

For some reason I wasn't really hungry that morning. I debated on going back for a second plate and then I remembered you talking about the bread pudding on you TR. I am so glad you did b/c it is soooooo good. Next time I'll start with that so I have lots of room for it.

We have never eaten at Tusker House but it looks really good.

Everything was so good. It is going to be hard in the future to try something new in AK b/c as long as it remains the same I am going to want to book it each time we go back.

Loving your reviews! Thanks for including lots of great pics!

We went to Discovery Cove in March and loved the food! at the brekkie they also had biscuits and gravy (tried this for the first time yum!) and some yummy cinnamon roles.

At lunch between our group we had the chicken curry, salmon, pasta with alfredo, and pork loin- each one of these dishes was excellent! Lots of great flavours for sure.

At this snack shack they also had cookies and various ice cream cups and bars yum yum!

Looking forward to reading more!

Glad to hear the other options were good at DC. Next time I am going to try something else.

I didn't see anyone eating ice cream. Please do not mention that to DD.

I wish I could be seating on the beach at DC right now.

 

[PrincessBetsy]

Sorry I'm late, but better late than never, right? Love your reviews and can't wait for more! Your breakfast at Tusker House looks wonderful - I do love me some tator tots! And your daughter is so cute!

 

[pinkxray]

Sorry I'm late, but better late than never, right? Love your reviews and can't wait for more! Your breakfast at Tusker House looks wonderful - I do love me some tator tots! And your daughter is so cute!

I want to go back for the tater tots and bread pudding alone. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

Thank you

 

[pinkxray]

We were supposed to have lunch at RFC but DH and DD got hungry around noon( that is what they get for not eating anything when at buffets) Our adr wasn’t until 2 and they didn’t want to stick around AK that long. We ended up agreeing to stop at Pop on the way back to AKL.

DH once again had a burger, DD had chicken tenders, and I had the penne alfredo with chicken. I really liked my meal although the sauce was a bit bland. The chicken was very good.

The total was about 28 including 1 drink (DD had stopped in AK to grab a juice an the way out and didn’t need one)

DH and DD enjoyed their meal. One good thing about no dining plan is that DD is able to just get the adult chicken tenders which she likes much better than the kids chicken nuggets cs meals.

Everyone enjoyed their meal and DH has agreed that we should try Pop out some time for a short stay. We loved the food court and the whole place looks like fun.

We ended up skipping dinner. By this time in our trip it was HOT and we really just weren’t hungry. DH and DD went to see a movie at DTD while I shopped. I believe they had some popcorn.


While at DTD I really wanted to try WPE but it was closed.

EOS sounded good, but I really wanted something light. I ended up heading back to Mara and just grabbing a snack.

That was it for our 2 nights of OOP. I have to say it was pretty nice not worrying about using credits and just grabbing whatever, whenever.

 

[pinkxray]

The next morning we checked into the BCV and would have 2 nights of DXDP that we would spread out over the next 3 days. I was fully prepared to have a few OOP cs lunches since we only had 6 credits to use for 3 days. I figured any OOP would still end up being cheaper than adding the ddp or dxdp to the last night of our stay.

First Plate- I was so excited to have the goat cheese scrambled eggs again, but they weren’t very goog this time. They were a bit cold. The strawberries were very good, everything else was average.

Second plate- I was hoping the eggs would be warmer this time, but nope- still lukewarm. The pastries were okay, nothing spectacular. The best part of the meal was for me was the ham. I asked for a small piece and they gave me a bunch. So glad they did, it was very good.

We had a great meal last year and I was excited to return. I was a tad disappointed this year. Everything seemed pretty average. Our waitress never seemed to be around when I needed her and even though I told her we were on the dxdp she somehow charged it to the room by mistake .I think we’ll skip it next time.

Total 52.16 or 3 dxdp credits

 

[tinacaplan]

I'm glad I could help direct to TH's delicious bread pudding. An amazing treat at breakfast. And I'm so looking forward to not worrying about credits and being able to, as you put, do whatever whenever!

 

[pinkxray]

We spent the morning at US and grabbed some Sonics for lunch on the way to the hotel. When we do the dxdp I usually make DH pay for any meals that we have at US or OOP. I wanted to go to BC and have lunch at Hurrican Hannah but he was tired off dropping $30 for each cs meal. We ended up at Sonics and spent $13 on some burgers and fries.

Dinner was at Mama Melrose with the Fantasmic Package.
I wanted to try something new this year, but DD insisted on seeing Fantasmic. Since it was SWW I figured we would be better off with the package.

We checked in on time and was told there would be about a 30 minute wait. I was kind of expecting this since we had the same experience during SWW last year. We didn’t end up waiting that long though, maybe 20 minutes.
We were seated and it took quite some time before our waitress appeared to take our drink orders. They were setting up a table for a large party in our section and there was a girl who keep looking over at us. She ended up being our waitress.

I love the inside of Mama Melrose. It just reminds me of going out to pizza with my parents when I was a kid.

DH skipped his appetizer and I had a Caesar salad. I had the salad last year and enjoyed it much more last year. I thought I had a picture but I guess not.

For our entrees DH and I both got the chicken parm and DD got the pizza. I was nervous DD wouldn’t eat the pizza since she has never had the flatbread type they serve here, but she ate it all.

I thought the chicken parm was okay. It doesn’t seem like a very big portion to me and the sauce wasn’t that great. I think I’ll stick to the chicken parm from my local Italian restaurant instead of trying to get good Italian at WDW. If we return to MM I would try something else.

I had the canoli cake for dessert which was just as good as last year.

(sorry about DD's face. that was her feelings on my picture taking that evening)

DD and DH both got vanilla gelato.

Total covered by DXDP-
71.53
OOP 7.99 for some sangria

I don’t think we would come back. We have seen Fantasmic the last few trips and will probably skip it next time. Without the package I doubt we will ever return to MM. The food wasn’t as good as it was last year and our waitress was awful. Once she finally took our order she was never around, no refills, another sangria?, and it took forever to get the check.

The food wasn't awful so out of the 3 places that offer the F. Package I would still probably pick MM. We have been there twice and each time there has been a packed entrance, they are running behind, and then each time the waitress was none existent. I know they are busy but I don't think that should be an excuse at Disney. Isn't every restaurant busy?

 

[pinkxray]

We had an 8:30 adr at Akershus.
DD had her picture taken with Belle.

Once inside the princesses were in another room so we went to the cold item buffets.
I grabbed some berries, muenster cheese and some pastries.

All DD found that she liked was grapes. She is the only child who wouldn’t be able to find something on the buffet. There were plenty of different pastries and I think little muffins, but she is extremely picky.
They brought our hot plate. (I forgot to take a picture so I borrowed this one from google images.It looked exactly the same)

DD was very upset that she didn’t like anything on the plate either. I knew we could ask for pancakes so as soon as our waitress came over we ordered pancakes. I saw on a recent thread you can also get Mickey waffles, is that true?

DH snagged all the eggs, but didn’t want to even try the potatoes. I got them all for me. I loved everything I had to eat there. I meant to hit the buffet for a few more ligonberry pastries or muffins but was full after eating all of the potatoes and sausage. DD was very happy with her pancakes. She was not happy that it turned out to be the same princesses she had seen at CRT. Once again we saw Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, and Aurora (this time Belle was in her yellow dress though)

DD did not join in the princess procession that happens every 20 minutes or so. It is much different than CRT b/c they stop everything and do a little parade through the restaurant. It is so cute with all the little girls in their princess dresses. It did seem to happen a bit too often but I guess they want to make sure everyone gets a chance to see it.

Total cost 91.56 or 3 dxdp. Great value if you are on the dining plan. The photo is included where at Tuskerhouse or Chef Mickey’s it cost like $30. If you look at it that way the breakfast is only really $60. Totally worth it. I liked pretty much everything about Akershus over CRT, the food was very good and the princess parade was very cute if you have a little girl.

 

[pinkxray]

We spent the afternoon in WS. With all the yummy cs service places there DD chose to have a hot dog and chips from Promenade. We used one CS credit and got the hot dog, chips, lemonade and a pretzel for dessert. It worked out well b/c DH and DD split the meal and I had the pretzel as a mid afternoon snack.
With tax it was about 17/18. It was also a good choice b/c they don’t have kids options so you wouldn’t have to get a small kids meal there.


Around 3pm DH was hungry so he had a cheese flatbread from BC market place. I believe it was 6 or $7 that he paid OOP. We each had a little bit and it was okay. A good, cheap snack to hold us over until dinner. I did point out to DH he could use a snack credit to tide himself over but he refused. He wanted the flatbread. Before he got his flatbread we checked the wait at Beaches and Cream and it was over an hour.



We had dinner plans for Via Napoli, but by this point DH had declared he will never step foot in WS again. I thought about taking DD but it was like 100 degrees and we were tired. I switched our ADR to Captain’s Grill.


While waiting I looked over the menu. They must have changed it right before our trip, b/c I had a feeling we would end up eating here and had already checked Disney’s website so I could know what to order. The menu they have online is the updated one so I didn’t bother taking a picture.
It wasn’t very busy for a Saturday night around 6pm. Lots of empty tables. Our server was Jing and she was fantastic. DH was very interested in why people from other countries would want to come to work in Disney and she answered his billion questions. I think she spent about 10 minutes telling us her life story and how she ended up at Disney.


We had some bread. Okay, I had some bread. DH and DD didn’t touch it.

I chose the shrimp for my appetizer. I only ate the actual shrimp part which was good, I don’t know about the cucumber salad.

Buttermilk Fried Rock Shrimp
with Chipotle Rémoulade, Citrus Cream, and Chilled Cucumber Salad 10.99 (From Disney websites menu)

Dh actually got an appetizer and ordered the green goddess salad

Green Goddess Salad
Romaine with House-made Green Goddess Dressing and Croutons 5.49
I guess I don’t have a picture. It was just some lettuce, croutons and dressing but he ate it all.

DD didn’t want any of the appetizers options available so Jing offered to bring out her food first.

The camera must have gotten bumped in my bag, b/c it got set on some mode I couldn’t get out of. I apologize for the blurry pictures. DH was able to fix it before dessert though.

I had planned on getting the strip since I always order the strip steak, but I don’t love mustard flavoring and I wanted mashed potatoes. I decided to go with the rib eye.

Grilled Rib-Eye
with Cheddar-Bacon Mashed Potatoes, seasonal Vegetables, and Herb Butter 27.99

(This was the description for the strip steak- Stone-ground Mustard-rubbed New York Strip
with Herb-roasted Fingerling Potatoes, seasonal Vegetables, Spiced Veal Jus, and Cipollini Onions 28.99 )

DH is the only man I know who is a burger and fries guy over steak and potatoes so I mentioned that they do have a burger on the lunch menu and he could probably get one if he wanted. I didn’t have to tell him twice. He ordered a burger and fries.

The picture was awful but the burger looked very good. The fries were thick cut and very good.

Dessert was a tough decision. Hazelnut chocolate cake or turtle cheesecake.

I ordered the cheesecake

DH had vanilla gelato again. I had really hoped he wouldn’t want anything so I could get the cake to go, but of course this is the one night he decided to actually eat

Caitlin had the make it yourself sundae. She loved adding her own toppings.

She waited until she had eaten though, b/c of course she doesn’t actually eat ice cream with toppings on it.

This is how DD felt about her dessert.

It pretty much sums up our meal here. It was probably the best meal of the trip. Great food and great service.

We also got 3 of these before we left.

Lemon poppy- I had these our last morning with some coffee and they were a very nice treat.
Total was 84.67 or 3 dxdp credits

 

[Sam'sMom0126]

OMG I so wish I knew you could request pancakes in Akershus! We were just there and my DS ate maybe 4 grapes. I told him we won't go back and eat with the princesses because I'm not paying that much money for grapes!

Also, I feel you on the tator tots. My DH fave thing at Tusker house is the tator tots which is the ONLY way I can get him to return. When we were there in May the character interaction was terrible so we're going to skip it next trip!

Loving your reviews!