Flowers, Gardens, and Free Ice Cream. A March 2013 Dining Review (updated 05/02)

[WOODY&BO-PEEP]

Hey howdy hey!

To all who come to this dining review, welcome.

It's been just a shade over four years since we did a dining review and clearly all of you were pining for another review from us. No? Well, we hope that you'll enjoy going along on this journey with us anyway.

Before we get to the review, let's give you a quick snapshot of the trip so you'll know where we're heading on this journey of food!

First and foremost, my name is Alan and my wife's name is Blair. We've been married just over three years. We were at the World from March 17th through March 25th and we stayed at Kidani Village using our DVC points. Currently, we are annual pass holders and for this trip, we decided to take advantage of the Tables in Wonderland card as opposed to the dining plan. We have used some variation of the dining plan for each of our three previous trips so this was a new experience for us.

Here is a list of the reviews that you can expect along the way:

Sunday March 17th:

Lunch - Earl of Sandwich
Dinner - Paradiso 37

Monday March 18th:

Breakfast - The Crystal Palace
Lunch - The Mara
Dinner - Ohana

Tuesday March 19th:

Lunch - Min & Bill's Dockside Diner
Dinner - Tokyo Dining

Wednesday March 20th:

Lunch - Flower & Garden Festival food booths
Dinner - Flying Fish

Thursday March 21st:

Lunch - Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant
Dinner - Jiko

Friday March 22nd:

Lunch - Tamu Tamu Refreshments
Dinner - Nine Dragons

Saturday March 23rd:

Lunch - Landscape of Flavors
Dinner - Victoria & Albert's

Sunday March 24th:

Lunch - Via Napoli
Dinner - Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe

Monday March 25th:

Lunch - Earl of Sandwich
Dinner - Earl of Sandwich


Those are the main reviews that you can expect along the way, but rest assured that there will be plenty of snacks thrown in for good measure. We look forward to sharing our dining experiences with you and discussing our trip with you along the way. We hope you'll join us as we re-live our trip.

 

[OThopeful35]

Great line up!! Can't wait to see the pics and read your reviews

 

[WOODY&BO-PEEP]

After driving part of the way on Saturday night and stopping in beautiful Yemassee, South Carolina, we woke up early on Sunday morning and drove the rest of the way in to Orlando.

Conveniently for us, we arrived around 12:30 which is the perfect time to stop at Downtown Disney for a visit to Earl of Sandwich. Then again, what time isn't a perfect time for Earl of Sandwich?

It's appropriate that they wrap these delicious sandwiches in gold.

Blair ordered the Chipotle Chicken Avocado sandwich.

I ordered the Holiday Turkey sandwich.

Blair was less than impressed with her chicken sandwich. She said that it lacked flavor and she would not order it again in the future. As for the holiday sandwich, I had been anticipating this sandwich for weeks and as I sat down to eat it, I was concerned that I had overhyped it in my head. I took one bite...and all of those fears went away because this sandwich is absolutely amazing. It is quite possibly the greatest sandwich that I have ever eaten in my life and no amount of pre-meal hype could have ruined this sandwich.

Overall, it was good. While Blair didn't particularly like her sandwich, it wasn't terrible and I absolutely loved the Holiday Turkey sandwich. Earl of Sandwich was a great place to start our WDW vacation.

Bill

Chipotle Chicken Avocado - $5.99
Holiday Turkey - $5.99
Original Recipe Chips - $1.29
BBQ Chips - $1.29
Fountain Soda - 2 @ $1.99 = $3.98
Tax - $1.21

Total - $19.75

 

[klacey1]

Definitely subscribing! Too bad about your wife's sandwich! It looks and sounds delicious.

 

[MrsB1228]

Definitely joining in! We love EoS too and both your sandwiches look amazing. Too bad Blair didn't really enjoy hers, it certainly sounds and looks good. I haven't had the holiday turkey sandwich as I'm not a fan of cranberry sauce with turkey, but I may try it one of these days to see if this sandwich will change my mind.

You have a great line-up of restaurants, looking forward to the next update!

 

[starousse]

joining in

 

[librarygeek]

Yum, we absolutely love Earl of Sandwich! Sorry your wife wasn't such a fan, but I see you went a few more times during your trip so hopefully she found something she enjoyed more!

 

[SEASONK]

Joining in. I have never been to EoS since DH is not a big fan of sandwiches. It's on my list of things to do on my next trip.

 

[wilma-bride]

I'm in - what a way to start a dining review. Love EoS

 

[wiigirl]

Joining in!

 

[jedijill]

I'm in!

You know that Earl's has a DVC discount, right?

Jill in CO

 

[Alice BlueBonnet]

Subbing!!

I'm with you about the holiday sandwich, it is my favourite!!!

 

[wilma-bride]

I'm in!

You know that Earl's has a DVC discount, right?

Jill in CO

Really? I didn't know that - I could have been saving on those lovely sandwiches all this time.

 

[jedijill]

Really? I didn't know that - I could have been saving on those lovely sandwiches all this time.

I don't know...I ask and they've given it to me.

Jill in CO

 

[Lauralooneyfordisney]

That is correct. EOS gives 10% discount for DVC & AP. We love their sandwiches and brownie dessert.

 

[WOODY&BO-PEEP]

Great line up!! Can't wait to see the pics and read your reviews

Definitely subscribing! Too bad about your wife's sandwich! It looks and sounds delicious.

Definitely joining in! We love EoS too and both your sandwiches look amazing. Too bad Blair didn't really enjoy hers, it certainly sounds and looks good. I haven't had the holiday turkey sandwich as I'm not a fan of cranberry sauce with turkey, but I may try it one of these days to see if this sandwich will change my mind.

You have a great line-up of restaurants, looking forward to the next update!

joining in

Yum, we absolutely love Earl of Sandwich! Sorry your wife wasn't such a fan, but I see you went a few more times during your trip so hopefully she found something she enjoyed more!

Joining in. I have never been to EoS since DH is not a big fan of sandwiches. It's on my list of things to do on my next trip.

I'm in - what a way to start a dining review. Love EoS

Joining in!

I'm in!

You know that Earl's has a DVC discount, right?

Jill in CO

Subbing!!

I'm with you about the holiday sandwich, it is my favourite!!!

That is correct. EOS gives 10% discount for DVC & AP. We love their sandwiches and brownie dessert.

Thanks for joining in everyone! We should have our next review up in the next few days. Blair really likes Earl of Sandwich, she just branched out from her usual and was less than pleased. She's still a big EoS fan!

 

[jennylyn_b]

Joining in! Great start so far. Hey, you can't love every sandwich from EOS right?!? The holiday is my favorite hands down!

 

[AR81]

Anxious to read more reviews--awesome so far!! Off topic question, but how did you like AKV? We are considering renting points for next summers trip and staying there. Did you use Disney transportation or drove? If we go we are going to rely on disney transportation and curious because so many people say the only way they will stay at AKL is if they have their own vehicle to get around. We have only stayed at POP so we are used to buses everywhere....

 

[WOODY&BO-PEEP]

Joining in! Great start so far. Hey, you can't love every sandwich from EOS right?!? The holiday is my favorite hands down!

Thanks for joining in! Yeah, you can't like every item at every restaurant.

Anxious to read more reviews--awesome so far!! Off topic question, but how did you like AKV? We are considering renting points for next summers trip and staying there. Did you use Disney transportation or drove? If we go we are going to rely on disney transportation and curious because so many people say the only way they will stay at AKL is if they have their own vehicle to get around. We have only stayed at POP so we are used to buses everywhere....

We love Animal Kingdom Villas. That's our home resort. We drove down on this trip, so we had our car. It's true that AKL is a little out of the way, so not having a car may be an issue. Having said that, we're probably not the best people to answer this question because we always prefer to have a car. If we fly down, we rent a car. We like the freedom that comes with having a car.

 

[WOODY&BO-PEEP]

After finishing lunch, we went to check in at our home resort, Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village. We had a savannah view room which distracted us for a bit. After taking several pictures of our animal neighbors, we unpacked and settled into the room before heading back out to Downtown Disney for dinner at Paradiso 37.

We've been here in the past and we really enjoyed it. They have great appetizers so we decided to split a few of them instead of ordering entrees.

We both ordered a mangled margarita which is a mix of frozen margarita and frozen sangria.

Chicken Quesadillas - flour tortillas, chicken, imported cheeses, sour cream, and pico de gallo.

Central American Crazy Corn - Fire roasted corn on the cob, spicy yellow pepper sauce, and imported cheeses.

Paradiso 37 Queso - imported cheeses flavored with spinach, cilantro, peppers, chiles, and onions served with corn tortilla chips.

Everything at Paradiso 37 is great and we've always been pleased with our meals here. The mangled margarita is a really good alcoholic beverage that goes down smoothly. The quesadillas were really cheesy and the chicken was tender and juicy. The crazy corn is one of my favorite appetizers in all of Walt Disney World, and the queso has a great combination of cheeses that makes it creamy and delicious. This is two trips in a row that we started our trip out at Paradiso 37 and it's becoming a bit of a tradition for us. Downtown Disney provides that Disney atmosphere without having to burn a park hopper day. It's even better when you get an outdoor table looking out over the water. We highly recommend going to Paradiso 37 for appetizers and drinks.

After dinner, we also purchased The Cable Car Sundae from Ghirardelli Soda Fountain. It has rocky road, chocolate chip, and chocolate ice cream covered with marshmallow topping, hot fudge, whipped cream, almonds, a cherry, and a Ghirardelli milk chocolate square. Sadly...we dove into this so quickly that we did not take a picture.

Bill - Paradiso 37

Mangled Margarita - 2 @ $10.00 = $20.00
Mexican Quesadillas - $13.99
Crazy Corn - $9.99
Spinach Dip - $10.99

Sub Total - $54.97
TiW Discount - $10.99
Tax - $3.58
Auto Gratuity - $9.89

Total - $57.45

Bill - Ghirardelli

Cable Car - $9.95
Tax - $0.65

Total - $10.60