Do I dare?!? My first DXDDP review with pics!

[torian]

Ok,

I've never written a review, but as I was going thru my pictures from our trip in April 2009 (to get excited about our 2010 trip!) I realized I have a few food porn pics. I'm going to give it a shot!

The background: This was our family's very first trip to the world, and as such we wanted to do it in style - hence DXDDP! Warning: it's A LOT of food - to the point that by the end, we were skipping apps and dessert. I'm pretty sure we had next to all our snack credits left by the end of our trip, too!

We are foodies - even our kids (8 and 9 at the time). Sadly, except for 1 occassion (will fill you in later which dining experience this was!), the kids were very disappointed in the kid menu selections - so much so that we will be paying OOP for our next rrip so they don't have to order off the kid's menu.

Here's our dining itinerary for this trip:

First day:
Kona Cafe dinner

2nd day:
Captain Cooks breakfast - post #25
50s Prime time lunch - post #25
Brown derby dinner - post #27

3rd day:
Sunshine Seasons breakfast - post #32
Tepan Edo lunch - post #32
Coral Reef dinner

4th day:
Kona Cafe Breakfast
Leaning Palms lunch
Wolfgang Puck dinner

5th day:
Chef Mickey breakfast
Liberty Tree Tavern lunch
Crystal Palace dinner

6th day:
GF Cafe breakfast
Kona Cafe lunch
Artist Point dinner

7th day:
Tusker House breakfast
Boma dinner

8th day:
WCC breakfast

Tori

 

[dizneeat]

I am all eager to hear your first reviews! Bring them on!

 

[torian]

Originally, we had an ADR for afternoon tea at the GV Lounge. I realize that it is not covered on the plan, but I'm a sucker for this sort of thing, and this ADR was *my* special treat on the trip.

As soon as we got to our resort (Poly), we immediately changed into our swimsuits and went for a swim. We were having so much fun that we really did not want to rush out of the pool and dry off in order to get to our 3pm ADR at the GF.

My H suggested that we go to Kona Cafe. I laughed. I told him the chances of us getting into Kona without an ADR was next to none and that we should just pick up dinner at Captain Cooks. He insisted that we at least try.

We got to Kona around 4pm. It was closed, but servers were out and about getting ready for dinner. I walked up to one of them and said something along the lines of: "I know this is very last minute, and if there is no space, I totally understand, but I was wondering if by chance there was any room for a last minute reservation for 4?"

The server looked up on her computer for a few minutes and said, "If you come back right before 5pm, we can seat you immediately!

Holy pixie dust!

Kona sign:

Restaurant:

Since we were on the DXDDP, the we got to order apps:

Crab cakes - me and my DS loved the crab cakes at the world!

From the sushi bar:

My DH was not a huge fan of the sushi. It was ok, but not great.

For the main I ordered the shrimp and scallops (I ate a bit before we took the pic!):

The rice was a little beige, but the shrimp and scallops were cooked to perfection!

My DH had this:

I think is was the chicken, although I really can't remember! He loved it!

A picture of a partially eaten kid's meal - grilled chicken, fruit and macaroni:

They liked this - unfortunately at this point they did not know that they would essentially get to choose from the exact same things, over and over again during this trip.

For dessert we shared a chocolate fondue:

and the molten chocolate cake:

These were both so good - and I'm not a huge dessert eater!

Of course I had to try to famous Kona Cafe French press:

I'm a bit of a coffee snob, and I don't like Starbucks, and this coffee tasted a lot like Starbucks...but it was better than the crap in the parks that they try to pass off as coffee.

Overall, the food here was pretty good. The service - and I don't remember our server's name - was exceptional! She took my leftover coffee and put it in a take out cup when she heard my kids getting restless waiting for me to finish her coffee so they could explore the resort. She even took a picture of us at the table, and it is one of my fav pics of us all from the trip. The atmosphere was pretty good, too. You'd think that it would be so noisy because it is so open, but it wasn't. And it was not as crazy busy as Ohanas was.

We plan to go back here on our next trip!

Next up: Day 2!

 

[danielle.st]

I completely understand about the kids selections. Ours handled it pretty well because I knew ahead of time what the selections were like and made sure to plan a lot of buffets to avoid the problem (and because they wanted to see the characters).
I do wish they had more variety on the menus for kids.

 

[torian]

I completely understand about the kids selections. Ours handled it pretty well because I knew ahead of time what the selections were like and made sure to plan a lot of buffets to avoid the problem (and because they wanted to see the characters).
I do wish they had more variety on the menus for kids.

Thankfully we had a few buffets planned, too! Also, we shared quite a bit of our food with the kids so they could eat stuff they were used to eating at home.

The other option for our next trip was to upgrade my DS (he'll only be 9 for our next trip) and get the DXDDP for all of us, but that would be 4 apps, 4 mains, and 4 desserts, 3 times a day for 8 days. There's no way that is going to happen! By going OOP we can order what we want, and if we are not hungry for an app or dessert there's no feeling like you HAVE to eat it since you've in essence already paid for it!

 

[weswife]

Great review, so far!

Staying tuned!

 

[danalee]

Good job! Glad you shared

 

[kamikazecat]

I am here as well. Can't wait to read your next review!

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm in

 

[OurDogCisco]

I'm in!!! I agree the kid's menus suck at WDW. They act like all kids eat like toddlers. I hope Disney is listening...

 

[MHTeacher]

The second best thing I love to reading trip reports...is reading food reviews with pictures!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

I'm in - Great start!

 

[disney_princess_85]

Great start, looking forward to more!

 

[Nancy for Disney]

Great start. Those crab cakes look like a work of art.

 

[CanadianPaco]

I could use a pot of the great Kona coffee right now! And GREAT reviews so far! Can't wait for more!THX for sharing!!

 

[natalielongstaff]

great reviews so far, i totally agree about hte kids menus no imagination at all !

 

[kate_wdw]

Torian, I'm really enjoying your trip report. I share your for the crab cakes in WDW. I had them at the HBD, 50's PTD and Kona, and all of them were delicious!

 

[Linda67]

Great reviews - thanks for taking the time out to post

 

[martinolichfamily]

Just found your report....great reviews....waiting for more!

 

[SnwflkCts]

You're doing great! More reviews ... More reviews ... do you hear the sound of my knife and fork banging against the table?