Disney Dining at it's Finest - New Pics of Donald's Breakfast - post #3.

[scanne]

The Cast of Characters:
Me - The Disney Queen (as DH calls me). Master planner of all Disney trips! Age 31.
DH - Scott - Loves Disney, but would rather leave the planning to me. I say that is just perfect! He is 36.
DS - Chase - Loves Disney as much as mommy and daddy, but only goes on a select few rides. (We'll get into that later). He will be 4 on 8/8.
DD - Erika - A true princess (My fault! ) and LOVES to eat. She just turned 2.
My Mom - We'll call her GMom. Loves Disney and loves experiencing the World with her grandkids.
My Dad - We'll call him Dude, which is what Chase and Erika call him. He takes the photos and loves cherishing this time with the grandkids as well.

Day 1 – July 17, 2006

Ah, arriving at Disney brings a smile to your face, a thrill to your psyche and to some, a pang of hunger in the stomach! This report is dedicated to those of you who appreciate fine dining, casual dining, snacking, libations, um, ok. If you like to eat, you’ll like this report! It all begins on a warm day in July as six hungry people ranging in age from 2 to 62 enter the Magic Kingdom after being woken up by the crazy Disney Queen (me!) to get to WDW as early as humanly possible!

We enter the beloved park at 11:30am and discuss our dining options. We have no ADR’s on this day. At first, we think about Pecos Bills, then our thoughts turn to Columbia Harbour House. But the Disney Queen sees that this group has barely made it past Main Street USA, so she gets an idea. The Plaza! Taking her chances, she walks up to the podium and politely asks if there is any availibility for a party of six. Well, pixie dust is showered upon her and the six hungry people are seated within 5 minutes!

Ordering is easy. One cheeseburger to share (my mom and I).

Two turkey sandwiches – one with sweet potato chips and one with potato salad.

And finally, one kids’ grilled cheese to be shared between the brother and sister.

The burger was very good, and the sandwiches were enjoyed by my DH and Dude. Chase ate some of the grilled cheese but had a serious hankering for a good old Mickey Bar. Daddy gave in and the kids had their Mickey Bars at the table while the rest of us inhaled our lunch.

Being in the Plaza, I had to have some ice cream, so my mom and I shared a Mickeylodean.

Very cute and simply delicious. How can you mess up vanilla bean ice cream? Erika played with the cone and placed it on her head as though she were a princess. If the crown fits…

I really do love the Plaza. It’s a nice diversion from the hectic pace of the MK and the counter service places within. This was a very nice way to begin the vacation.

Up next - Donald's Breakfastosaurus and Pizza Planet (with a very unexpected turn for the worse!)

 

[bluejasmine]

wow even the grilled cheese looked good! lol

 

[scanne]

Day 2 – July 18, 2006
Donald’s Breakfastosaurus – no pictures for this yet. I’m having technical difficulties with my new camera.

I booked this for two reasons.

1. To get into AK early so we could get on Expedition Everest
2. So that Erika could meet “D” Duck (Donald) who she has been talking about since, um, well, since she learned to talk.

We had eaten here in 2003 and I remembered it to be very good. Either I’m going senile or the quality has declined in the past 3 years.

There was plenty to choose from on the buffet. French toast, pancakes – plain and chocolate chip, scrambled eggs, two kinds of quiche, breakfast pizza, plain potatos and cheesy potatos, sausage and bacon, croissants, muffins, bagels, toast, cold cereal, hot cereal and yogurt.
Pastries

I had some eggs, a croissant, some sausage, a yogurt and a piece of the french toast. Nothing stood out in my mind. Just your typical breakfast fare.

Deep dish apple pie.

Sausage, bacon and biscuits.

Donuts

Character interaction was ok. A little quick, but the kids REALLY loved seeing the characters and taking pictures with them. Erika gave them all big hugs and Chase was all about the high fives!

This meal served it’s two purposes because right after breakfast, we high-tailed it to Asia for two back-to-back rides on EE! Check that out on the Trip Report (which hasn’t been started yet).

Pizza Planet

Well, this place was definitely my idea based on some reviews here on the DIS. It seemed like it would be good and it WAS. I had pepperoni pizza and salad, Gmom had a cheese pizza and salad, Scott had pepperoni pizza with no cheese (he’s lactose intolerant) and Dude had the veggie pizza and a salad. Everyone enjoyed their pizzas. Oh, Chase? He had chocolate milk and not much else. (The boy practically lived on the chocolate moo juice all week).

As you can see from this picture,

Erika thoroughly enjoyed her pizza.

So the meal was good when we ate it. Unfortunately though, when my dad got back to the hotel, he started getting sick. This lasted through the night and all the next day. He even went to a clinic in Orlando and the physician thinks he had food poisoning. Now, none of us got sick and we all ate at Pizza Planet, too. Which leads me to believe it was the veggie pizza. You see, since I had to get Scott his pizza with no cheese, I stood up at the counter and waited for it – about 10 minutes. In that 10 minutes, all the pizzas going out were either cheese or pepperoni. Not a single veggie pizza left the heat lamp. So I started thinking. If the veggie pizza my dad ate was sitting under a heat lamp for a LONG time, bacteria could certainly grow. Also, the physician at the clinic suspected that, too, and said that perhaps the veggies weren’t washed well. Anyway, we’ve come to the conclusion that if it WAS food poisoning, it was the veggie pizza. And if it wasn’t food poisoning then it was a 24 hour stomach virus. Neither are really treatable, except to get lots of rest and to stay hydrated, which my dad did.

It did take my dad about 3 days to fully recover his appetite.
This was the only glitch in the whole trip and we rolled with the punches. Dude didn’t want us sitting around doing nothing, so he encouraged us to stick with our itinerary. He joined us full force again on Thursday.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[ntsammy5]

Day 2 – July 18, 2006
Donald’s Breakfastosaurus – no pictures for this yet. I’m having technical difficulties with my new camera.

OK. Good so far. Waiting for more!

Erika is way cute BTW.

 

[swankybeth]

Great review and pix so far! Looking forward to more. Sorry to hear your dad got sick, though.

 

[AussieAngel]

Yayyyy, thanks for your reviews!

It was great to see some photos of The Plaza. Looks very yummy!

Can't wait for the rest!

 

[Dis31]

WOW ... you jsut made my life idk you could get pizza without cheese in disney . My life is now complete!! lol thanks

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Can't wait to read the rest of your reviews, and I'm so glad there's pictures. I'm sorry your dad got sick. Also, your daughter is adorable.

 

[scanne]

Day 3 – July 19, 2006

This morning I woke up very excited for Erika. She was going to have lunch with the Princesses! Lunch was early today – 11:30am – at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall.

We got to Epcot in plenty of time and had a chance to browse in the Norway gift shop. Soon it was time to go into the Hall. Erika’s first Princess encounter was with Ariel. And she was in her “human” form, which was very cool to see! Erika ran right to Ariel and gave her a big hug!!!

We were then seated and our server, Knut, came right over and took our drink order and explained how the menu worked. I went up to the cold buffet and got some cheese – jarlsburg and muenster. I also got some mixed field greens and a slice of bread.

Scott tried the ham and turkey and some of the pasta salad and a slice of the whole grain bread. I think he had some chicken salad as well.

Everything on the cold buffet looked good, and what I had was delicious.

Our entrees selections were the braised short ribs,

grilled chicken with pasta and veggies

and the salmon sandwich and leek and jarlsburg cheese soup.

We all shared to get to see what everything was like. I have to say, I was so happily surprised by the food here! It was so delicious. Everything was fresh and flavorful and we all enjoyed the meal very much.

Erika and Chase shared the kids pasta and meatballs. This was good, too. (Yes, I snuck a taste!).

Erika was able to meet four other Princesses. They were Aurora, Jasmine, Cinderella and Belle. She loved each and every one of them! I am so glad she enjoyed this meal.

The meal’s conclusion was a trio of desserts. Chocolate mousse roll, lingonberry cheesecake and rice cream.

WOW! They were all excellent, but the rice cream was heavenly! I really liked that and the cheesecake the best. I’m glad I got the WDW cookbook with the rice cream recipe. I will certainly be trying it out!!!

 

[DisneycrazedX6]

Great reports....looking for more. Sorry to hear about food poisoning, did they do anything for him at the clinic. My 4 yr old got sick last year and we had to stay in the hotel for 2 days. She finally felt better for the last two days or so we thought. She vomitted the whole ride in the car back to Massachusetts....that was fun!!!!!!

 

[3princesses4us]

More! More! Loving the pics!

 

[richard_andmel]

Great report and pictures. Can't wait to read the rest. Sorry about your father getting food poisoning. Glad it didn't ruin the trip.

 

[scanne]

Day 3 – 7/19/06

Alfredo’s

Truthfully, the only reason I wanted to eat here was to try the Nutella cake. However, I went in with an open mind and not very high expectations. I’m sorry to say that the service and food was mediocre at best. Our server was WAY too pushy. He was pushing wine, appetizers, more wine – and when Scott tried to order a garden salad with the dressing on the side, the waiter kept insisting they couldn’t do that and the conversation ended with the server saying “Ok, so no salad for you.” Huh?!

I got a caesar salad even though our waiter tried to push the fresh mozzarella and tomato salad. No dude. I WANT a Caesar salad! Let me order what I want. Sheesh! The salad was fine – nothing stellar. Erika seemed to like it.

Our entrees arrived shortly thereafter – everything was rushed. Salad – eat it, take the plate, bring next course. This was no relaxing meal, believe me. And boy was it noisy in the restaurant.

OK, back to our entrees. Erika had the kids chicken nuggets. She ate all but one. Chase had chocolate milk. That’s it.

Scott had the trio pf wild boar and fennel sausage (am I missing an ingredient since it’s a trio? Yup, I think so!) and he substituted ziti for the beans. Wise move, man.

I had the shrimp over pasta with a vodka marinara/cream sauce. It had a fancy name, but I can’t remember it.

Overall I thought the food was on par with the Olive Garden, as another DISer had put it in a review I read before we left. The presentations were nothing special. They didn’t even put fresh parsley or basil on my dish.

The only part of the meal that I did think was a stand out, was the Nutella cake. It was delicious and the presentation was nice, too. Erika and I shared the cake. I love Nutella – I could eat it by the spoonful! So the cake really hit the spot.

I don’t think we’ll return to Alfredo’s. But I may try to get the Nutella cake to go next time!s

 

[Alicnwondrln]

your daughter is a DOLL
cant wait for the trip report

 

[scanne]

your daughter is a DOLL

Thank you very much! My grandmother keeps telling me that I treat Erika like a "doll" - I love to dress her up and do her hair! But what mother of a little girl doesn't enjoy all that girly stuff?

Glad you're enjoying the reviews. The trip report will take longer than the dining report. I'll start that this weekend.

 

[Ashley80]

I don’t think we’ll return to Alfredo’s. But I may try to get the Nutella cake to go next time!s

What is this made of? It looks delicious!!! I may try it in October!

 

[scanne]

Ashley80,

The cake was a layer of sponge cake, a custard filling and Nutella on top. Nutella is a chocolate hazelnut spread. You can find it in most grocery stores. It is SO delicious! I really loved the cake and I hope I can get it "to go" on my trip in September.

 

[WAHMto5]

Great reviews and love all the pictures!!

 

[scanne]

Day 4 – July 20, 2006

Today we just grabbed breakfast in the room before heading to Downtown Disney.

We decided to lunch at Earl of Sandwich. Scott had the Full Montague,

Dude had a plain turkey sandwich – he was hungry but didn’t want to push it.

I had the chinese chicken salad. We all gave our lunches a big thumbs up!

Gmom and the kids had Happy Meals from McDonald’s.

Dinner tonight was supposed to be ‘Ohana, but my dad didn’t want to overeat (and who doesn’t overeat at ‘Ohana??) so we were able to change our ressie to Kona Café. I think we end up at Kona on every trip. It is always a stand out to us.

I started my meal with the Kona Chowder.

One of the best chowders I have EVER had! And it is very filling. Gmom helped me finish it off because I really wanted dessert – the kiluea torte was calling to me, but I never got it…hang on, though. There IS a reason!

For our entrees we chose
Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi over mushroom risotto and a lime buerre blanc.

I had this dish last summer and loved it. It was good this time, too, but the sauce was not balanced too well. Very acidic. They need to go easy on the lime juice next time.

My mom had the pan-asian pasta with chicken. Excellent.

Scott had the panko shrimp and seared scallops. He gets this every time. Need I say more?

My dad got the prime rib well done (he still hadn’t fully recovered, but he usually orders steak medium).

He only ate about ½ of it, but saved it for later in the week. He said it was excellent, even though his stomach was making him take it easy.
The kids had grilled cheese

and chicken fingers.

Their drinks were brought out with a special touch, too.

So I was all set to order my beloved dessert when our server came out with a birthday cake. What? I didn’t order CAKE (at least not here – wait until we get to 1900 Park Fare and Crystal Palace).

Hmmmm, it seems that some of my sneakiness had rubbed off on Gmom and SHE ordered the cake in honor of my birthday (which is August 2nd.)

Earlier in the week, I surprised my mom with a birthday cake from WL private dining. Her birthday was July 8th.
Cake from WL Private Dining.

So I chose to skip the torte and eat some cake. The cake was good – your standard vanilla cake with buttercream frosting. I think the frosting was actually made with shortening instead of butter. Frosting is always better with butter, though. But I was very surprised by this gesture and enjoyed my surprise cake!


Up next: Main Street Bakery and 1900 Park Fare Dinner!!!