Disney World Round Two: Fun and Dining Plan Free (10/28-11/4)

[bluetenshi55]

Hi all! Long time lurker, first time reviewer. I'm working on my trip report over here, but I wanted to do a more indepth dining report for those foodies like me!

An introduction is in order!

My name is Samantha. I'm a diehard Disney World fan. It is/was my family's preferred vacation destination when I was growing up. When I say family, I mean FAMILY... all my mom's side including grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, and great aunts/uncles. If I had to guess, I've been on between 16-18 trips (coming from Michigan or now Nevada) in my 28 years.

My DH is Jason. Sadly, he didn't get the fun Disney vacations growing up, so I'm trying to make up for that! We've gone 3 times in 3 years, with two in 2014!

The Food Plan
Our plan changed a bit a few weeks before we went to WDW. The Wave had been on our list, but they changed the menu and took off two of the things I wanted! We switched to Kona, which is one of our favorites.

We went OOP this time, as we got an awesome deal at AKL. We've also realized that the Dining Plan is just too much food for us. I tried to keep tabs on our food costs (I didn't do too great, but I tried) to see how much we actually spent.

It also was a "TRY NEW PLACES" trip for us along with some flexibility as per my DH's request.

Day 1 (10/28): Airport and The Mara & Club Level
Day 2 (10/29): Food & Wine and Biergarten (D)
Day 3 (10/30): Sunrise Safari and Artist's Point (D)
Day 4 (10/31): 50s Primetime Diner (L)
Day 5 (11/1): Sanaa (L) and CORN DOG!!!!!!
Day 6 (11/2): Kona (D) and GIELOW PICKLES
Day 7 (11/3): Food & Wine and Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie (D)
Day 8 (11/4): Boma (B)
AKL Club Level Snacks

As I remember the snacks, I'll add them into the list above. We actually didn't eat that many snacks this time.

 

[nanhol]

Hi Samantha, I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip & your food!

I'm planning a big 40th birthday trip Disney for next summer and it will be my family's first big trip without a meal plan---so I'm looking for ideas on meals & snacks that we may have bypassed when we were on the meal plan! Plus, I just love reading dining reports and getting in the mood for Disney--it's one of my favorite ways to procrastinate! Thanks for sharing about your trip!

 

[princess aleya]

I'm in

 

[tluvstink]

I'm in! You have a great line up and I'm especially interested in reading about the sunrise safari

Terro

 

[Denamac]

I just subscribed to both reports! We are staying AKL CL in July so I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts. We've done it once before but only for a a couple of nights.

 

[bluetenshi55]

Thanks everyone for following! It may take me a little while to get everything out there!

Between work, our new house, and the fact that I invited friends over for Thanksgiving, my life went from pretty dull to "AHHHH BUSY!"

I'll get the first day up today!

 

[bluetenshi55]

Our day started out on a slightly panicky note. DH accidentally left our new, fancy camera at home (a 30 min drive from the airport). My lovely coworker drove all the way back home, then back to the airport to drop it off. Thanks to her you're not going to have all crappy cell phone pictures!

Las Vegas' Southwest terminal is not know for it's awesome food selection, so our vacation started out with a Einstein bagel for DH. I got him his favorite power bar and wanted to get him pumpkin spread, but of course they were out! He was happy with the breakfast as we wouldn't be getting to Disney until after 7, despite leaving around 10 AM. Ahhh timezones!

Luckily, Disney made for the unhappy start to the day by greeting us with these lovelies as we check in at Club Level.

One thing we've noticed about Disney is they have generous pours! These Jungle Juice mimosas were just what we needed!

DH's birthday is today, but as he's sensitive about it, I decided to celebrate it while at Disney. No one can be upset with a Disney birthday right? He was charmed by the chocolates that greeted him in the room and said that they were very tasty.

We headed back up to club level to check out the dessert offerings. DH only got pictures of the two things he was interested in: coffee and the liqueur selection. Dessert-wise they had chocolate peanut butter brownie, rice krispies, 3 different cookies, and I believe a pumpkin pie tart.

We sampled everything and really liked the brownie, oatmeal raisin cookie, and the tart. I wasn't highly impressed with the desserts. This is the second time I've stayed club level (Poly in 2009) and compared to that and even reviews from a couple of years ago, the offerings didn't seem as special and there wasn't too much variety over the nights. The cookies, rice kripsie treats, and brownies reappeared every day with one or two other small desserts.

Club level sampled, we headed back down to The Mara to finally get dinner at close to 9 PM. It was an interesting ordering system compared to other resorts we stayed in and slightly confusing for DH who was ordering.

We ended up with the BBQ Flatbread, the chicken pita, and ZEBRA DOMES! DH had the flatbread and it got high marks from him. The tamarind in the BBQ sauce added a nice tang and he really liked the corn on it (despite supposedly not liking corn). The chicken pita was excellent. Full of moist grilled chicken and the sun-dried hummus was a nice touch. I was a bit worried as I'm not a hummus fan. There was more than enough for me to share with him.

Zebra domes are one of those desserts that you just have to have when visiting the AKL. If not going to Boma, you can get them at the Mara. The were delicious and rich enough that 4 were more than enough of the two of us.