DL Addicts Take Over the World... with the DxDDP! CRT Added 3/28

[mrsxsparrow]

Hello everyone! I'm Nicole, and I'm leaving for WDW tomorrow!

First, I guess you should know who will be participating in this adventure. Its a short list; just me and one of my best friends, Alex. We're both 22. We live in Southern California and visit DisneyLAND probably at least twice a month. My first trip to WDW was the beginning of January, for the half marathon, with my family. We only had a limited time, so I didn't get to do much. Alex's first trip was about five years ago with her high school choir -- they didn't do much either. So by all accounts we're both counting it as our first REAL trip

Oh yeah, here's us at Disneyland:

We're going to celebrate our college graduations, both of which happened last spring. We'll be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for the first two nights, then switching to the Contemporary (my dream hotel ) for the last four. We'll be on the deluxe dining plan the whole week.

So where will we be eating? Here's the list:

First, some explanation.

2/2: Dinner at Jiko
2/3: Breakfast at Boma, "Linner" at Coral Reef, Wishes Dessert Party
2/4: Breakfast at Mara, Lunch at Sci-fi, Dinner at Rose & Crown
2/5: Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table, Lunch at The Plaza, Dinner at 'Ohana
2/6: Breakfast at Contempo Cafe**cancelled, Lunch at Via Napoli, Dinner at Le Cellier
2/7: Breakfast at Kona Cafe**changed to AKL In-Room Dining, Lunch somewhere in Universal, Dinner at California Grill
2/8: Breakfast at Kona Cafe**cancelled, Lunch at Earl of Sandwich**changed to the Mara

And a bunch of snacks thrown in somewhere!

Hope you all join me for my wonderful trip in which I plan to eat myself into a state of immobility Now I'm off to go get ready to eat eat eat.

 

[woodleygrrl]

Sounds fun and I look forward to the reports back!

Jennifer

 

[darthtatty]

Cant wait to hear how you got on.
Enjoy the Contemporary, we love it there. going to stay there again in August

 

[mrsxsparrow]

Hello!!

Well, we're officially back, and we had a great time! I do have some changes though, and some things that need explaining....

First off, we ended up spending our whole stay at AKL. We had a standard view, but only because right below us was a service area. We never saw it being used though and most of what we saw was savannah. How could we move to the Contemporary when we kept seeing zebras and giraffes outside our window? Anyway, this made getting to Kona in the morning more difficult, so we pretty much gave up Tonga Toast

Secondly, I ended up getting really sick towards the end of our trip. So much so I couldn't even eat my steak at Le Cellier or at California Grill. So my food choices are not exactly what I planned them to be. Also, I'm still sick, and the thought of looking at pictures of food and reviewing food doesn't sound fun, so it'll be a few days before I start my reviews. Sorry!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Sorry you got sick! Feel better. I'm looking forward to reviews from a fellow Disneyland addict. We are making our first trip EVER to WDW in September.

 

[mrsxsparrow]

Our flight got in around 4:45PM on Wednesday, so we decided to eat at the resort for dinner. I'm not a huge fan of buffets, and since we were on the deluxe plan I wasn't afraid to try a signature. From all the reviews I had read, Jiko sounded pretty good, and we weren't disappointed.

First of all, I had put on all our reservations that we were celebrating a graduation (which we were -- both of us graduated from college this past spring) and Jiko was one of the only places to recognize this.

Now on to the food! Before we got our appetizers we were brought this soup:

I have this written down as a cauliflower soup with spiced raisins. Oh my gosh, this soup was AMAZING! And I don't even like cauliflower! Or raisins! We both loved this. It was similar to a broccoli cheddar cheese soup but with cauliflower instead of broccoli and spiced raisins instead of cheddar cheese... at least that's what Alex said. It had a little curry but wasn't overpowering and was one of the best things I ate all trip. Seriously, if this is on the menu, GET IT!

For appetizers, I had:

Taste of Africa, an array of Dips with assorted breads and House-made Naan
This was good, I guess. I wasn't too thrilled. The two dips on the ends were spicy -- I forget what the one on the left was, and the one on the right was sun-dried tomato something. In the middle there was an edamame something and a kalamata hummus. There were also three kinds of bread; a cracker something, a naan, and something else I don't remember. The naan and sun-dried tomato dip was the best combo. I'm not sure if its because I grew up with a dad who constantly made naan and hummus from scratch, but I wasn't too impressed with this.

Alex had:

Crispy Beef “Bobotie” Roll with Cucumber Raita, Green Mango Atjar, and Honey-roasted Groundnuts
This was SO GOOD. I had wanted to try this and the breads and let Alex get this -- I wish I hadn't! I liked this much better than my appetizer. It was crispy, yummy, and warm. Alex said she really really liked it; the roll was kind of spicy but the sauce and cucumber cooled it down. Overall she was very satisfied.

For drinks, we had:

Victoria Falls Mist - A sweet, fruity and tangy fusion of Van Der Hum Tangerine liqueur, Melon liqueur, Banana liqueur, citrus juice and Sprite
There's not much to say about these... but they were yummy!

For entrees, I had:

Grilled Shrimp Curry with Citrus-Coconut Basmati, Fall Vegetables, and Durban Curry Sauce
I was trying to go for different things, and since I knew I'd be getting steak at Le Cellier and at California Grill, I went with the shrimp here. I think for me, personally it was a mistake. I ended up getting sick and not having steak at either Le Cellier or California Grill, and I guess I'm just not a big fan of shrimp. Everything was very good -- the shrimp was tender, there was just the right amount of spice in the dish, I really liked the rice wrapped in cucumber -- it just didn't overwhelm me. I think much of that, though, is my fault, not the fault of the dish.

Alex had:

Grilled-marinated Lamb Loin, with Chickpea and Chorizo, Spiced Swiss Chard, and Apple Cider Reduction
Okay, I might not like shrimp, but I sure do like lamb! This was my first time trying lamb and I found it to be quite delicious! Alex has lamb somewhat often and thought the same thing I did. She said the sides were disgusting, though, and I didn't try them. But the meat was excellent!

For dessert, I had:

Vanilla Cheesecake to go
I'm not a big fan of cheesecake but this was really good! I can't find a description anywhere, but it was a vanilla cheesecake with espresso beans on top. There was also some chocolate sauce on the bottom and that's a peanut brittle thing on the side. I'd order this again. Alex, who works at Cheesecake Factory, approved of this cheesecake, so that's pretty good, I guess!

Alex had:

No Sugar Added Walnut Torte -- Flourless Walnut Torte with Chocolate Ganache, Cranberry Compote, and Sweet Whipped Cream, to go (no whipped cream)
I didn't try this. Alex said it was good, but she could tell there was no sugar... in the end she said she didn't hate it. There were only a few dessert items you could get to go, and since we were so full from the rest of the meal, we went with those. I don't think either of us ended up with our first choice, and I definitely don't think Alex would order her dessert again.

Overall, we were both very impressed with Jiko and would definitely return. The Animal Kingdom Lodge In-Room Dining menu does say you can order from Jiko, and if you weren't set on being in the actual restaurant, I would think it'd be a great value on the dining plan since both would use two credits but tip is included with in-room dining. If we stayed at AKL again, we'd probably end up eating Jiko in-room.

Also, sorry for the picture quality... it was rather dark here and I didn't want to use flash. They get better.

Oh and descriptions are from the WDW website or AllEars. I tried to use the descriptions from WDW first but they aren't always on the website.

Were we glad we went? Yes.
Would we recommend the restaurant? For sure.
Would we return? Definitely!

Meal Credits Used: 4
Meal Cost Covered by Plan: $110.76
Total Cost Covered by Plan: $110.76


Next: Boma

 

[sophie832]

I can't believe I haven't signed on for your reviews already! DH and I are DL APs, so we're there a lot, but this past year we took our first trip(s) to WDW. Our most recent trip involved a lot of signatures, so I'm definitely interested in how your experiences compared. We really enjoyed our meal at Jiko, so I'm glad to see you did, too!

 

[Tracerr00]

Sorry to hear that you weren't feeling so well. That must be disappointing when you were planning to enjoy some great meals. Looking forward to hearing more reviews though. Signing on for this!

 

[Tinker12]

I'm sorry to hear that you became ill during your vacation! It seems like you weathered through it though. The first review is great! The pictures look amazing!!

 

[disneydreaminA115]

subbing! Sorry you weren't feeling the best, though

 

[mrsxsparrow]

For our first breakfast we hit Boma. I think maybe I should clarify something here, before I write my review. I'm not really a big breakfast person. I don't really like eggs, I don't love most breakfast meats, waffles, or french toast, and I'm pretty particular about my bacon and pancakes. Nevertheless, I suffered through...

Drinks

For drinks we had coffee and their juice. I believe this is the same juice they serve at Tusker House. Yuuuum. The coffee was fine. Our waitress brought us out fresh coffee in to-go cups when we were leaving, and any place that does that gets my approval

My Plates

Main plate -- there's breakfast potatoes, grilled tomatoes, sausage, cantaloupe, and grapes. I may not like many normal breakfast foods but I do love any kind of potato and grilled tomatoes. These potatoes were fine -- nothing memorable. The tomatoes I didn't like, and I'm a tomato freak! They had a very distinct smokey flavor I did not enjoy. As always, the fruit was nice and fresh -- is it just me or does Disney fruit (especially the grapes!) taste better than all the other fruit?

One thing I did enjoy was their made-to-order omelet station. This is pretty much the only way I actually like my eggs. This one had tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, and cheddar. It was pretty good. I usually find omelets to be too greasy -- I like them light and fresh -- but I didn't feel that way with this one. It was pretty good!

Here we have a blueberry muffin, and banana nut muffin, and a pecan bun thingie. I loooove pecans and was really looking forward to the pecan pastry (I had seen pictures beforehand) and while it was good, I wouldn't make a special trip to Boma for it. The other two muffins were good as well -- I think I liked the blueberry the best.

Alex's Plates

Here we have strawberries, pineapple, breakfast potatoes, I think those are scrambled eggs with chive or something, bacon, grilled tomatoes, and sausage.

And her pastry plate... a banana nut muffin and pecan sticky bun. All I have written down as Alex's response is that she liked the sticky bun and the potatoes, but was not fond of the smokey flavor of the tomatoes -- they reminded her of camping.

I had originally had a reservation at Tusker House before Animal Kingdom opened this day (we were doing the park today) but switched it after hearing good things about Boma. Plus I ate at Tusker House in January and wanted to try something different. Also I kind of hate the characters I'm glad I switched, but I think in the future I'd rather go to Tusker House on my AK days. As much as I liked most of what I got at Boma, I just couldn't stop thinking about those tater tots at Tusker House

Were we glad we went? Yep.
Would we recommend this restaurant? If you were staying at the hotel or wanted to see it, sure...
Would we return? Again, if we were staying at AKL, sure. I don't think we'd make a special trip there though.

Meal Credits Used: 2 (6 total)
Meal Cost Covered by Plan: $40.45
Total Cost Covered by Plan: $151.21

Next: Coral Reef

 

[mrsxsparrow]

Sounds fun and I look forward to the reports back!

Jennifer

Hope you're enjoying them now! Thanks for reading!

 

[mrsxsparrow]

Cant wait to hear how you got on.
Enjoy the Contemporary, we love it there. going to stay there again in August

We never ended up getting to the Contemporary... we just couldn't leave the four-giraffe family and three-zebra family that showed up outside our window every morning I still hope to stay at the Contemporary one day though... every time I walk into that lobby a sense of calm comes over me. I love it! Hope you have fun in August

 

[mrsxsparrow]

Sorry you got sick! Feel better. I'm looking forward to reviews from a fellow Disneyland addict. We are making our first trip EVER to WDW in September.

Yay! I'm 22 and took my first trip with my family this January. We loved it! It was weird not being able to parkhop by just walking a few feet though... no matter how many times people tell you the sheer size of WDW is insane. Hope you have fun

 

[mrsxsparrow]

I can't believe I haven't signed on for your reviews already! DH and I are DL APs, so we're there a lot, but this past year we took our first trip(s) to WDW. Our most recent trip involved a lot of signatures, so I'm definitely interested in how your experiences compared. We really enjoyed our meal at Jiko, so I'm glad to see you did, too!

From your signature I see you took your first trip in December and your second trip in January... I took my first trip in January and my second in February We did the deluxe plan because there were sooo many places we wanted to eat, but I think if we ever got the chance again, we'd do less lunches or breakfasts and eat at more signatures.

Any plans to return to WDW soon? I don't and now I don't know what to do with myself

 

[mrsxsparrow]

Sorry to hear that you weren't feeling so well. That must be disappointing when you were planning to enjoy some great meals. Looking forward to hearing more reviews though. Signing on for this!

Thanks. I'm looking at it as a sign that I just have to go back and eat at Le Cellier and CA Grill again

 

[mrsxsparrow]

I'm sorry to hear that you became ill during your vacation! It seems like you weathered through it though. The first review is great! The pictures look amazing!!

Thank you. Luckily it was really just the last two days, and we had enough time that we went back to the hotel and took naps those days. I'm just bummed I didn't get to eat the steaks I had planned Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of my reviews!

 

[mrsxsparrow]

subbing! Sorry you weren't feeling the best, though

Thanks! Hope you like the reviews!

 

[lblume91]

What a bummer to get sick on vacation! Glad you're feeling better. Looking forward to the rest of your reviews.

 

[princess aleya]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing.