Food tastes better when it's FREE!! Dining Review: Complete!!

[jessrose18]

Welcome to my Dining Review. We booked free dining and stayed at the All Star Music hotel from 9/18-9/27. We booked dining reservations 180 days out right when the phone lines opened, and only changed around a few in the months following. This trip had tons of planning, and it all payed off-it was wonderful! I will start by saying we have visited WDW many times, twice as a married couple before, however, we had mostly only eaten Counter Service restaurants and off property restaurants. With the exception of our 2007 trip, where we went to Ohana's and had a wonderful experience, and wonderful food. So, here we go!!!

Us at MNSSHP

I will review:

Snacks: 18 credits total was $58.34 averaged $3.24 a credit
Snack pix: post 3 page 1

Counter Service: 18 credits total was $258 averaged $14.33 a credit
ASMu food court (B, L, D)- post 6 page 1
Yak and Yeti Local (L)- post 7 page 1
ABC Commissary (B)- post 8 page 1
Caseys Corner (L)- post 12 page 1
Earl of Sandwich (D)- post 13 page 1
Wolfgang Express (L)- post 18 page 2
Electric Umbrella (L)- post 16 page 2
Peco's Bills (D)- post 19 page 2

Table Service: 18 credits total $547.02 averaged $30.39 per credit
Ohana's (D)- post 27 page 2
Whispering Canyon Cafe (D)- post 28 page 2
Narcoossee's (D)- post 31 page 3
Crystal Palace (B)- post 32 page 3
1900 Park Fare (D)- post 33 page 3
50's Prime Time (L)- post 37 page 3
Le Cellier (D)- post 43 page 3
Boma (B)- post 44 page 3

Overall, we recieved $863.09 of free food which averaged $47.95 per person per day. We spent 114.60 on tips and 33.01 on extra food/beverages/alcholic drinks. We loved free dining, but would not pay for the dining plan, just our opinion!!

 

[DLo]

Looking forward to your reivews. We will be eating at CP for the 1st time this trip. Love Boma for b'fast - hope you did too. Trying to decide between Wolfgang Puck Express and Earl of Sandwich when we go to DTD. Both look really good. Which did you like better?

 

[jessrose18]

Pictures and opinion of Disney Snacks!

Dole Float $3.99. We loved these, had two on our trip, however the second one had warm pineapple juice and wasn't very refreshing. But, a great snack! 8/10 rating

Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar $2.50. We had 5 of these! Wonderful!!!! Great chocolate coating. 10/10 rating

Yak and Yeti Local Food Stand Egg Roll's $3.29. Pretty Good for Egg rolls, better than some I've had at "real" chinese restaurants. 8/10 rating

Napoleon from France bakery $3.98. Never had had one before, got it on a whim because people on DIS recomended. It was really good, and refreshing and light, big enought to share (sorry no pix) 7.5/10 rating.

Popcorn $2.59. I swear there is no better popcorn than Disney World popcorn!! However the line is always soooo long. 9/10 rating.

Apple turnover $2.59. We ate two of these from the ASMu food court for breakfast one morning. They were very large and delicious! 8/10 rating.

Goofy's make your own treats $3.50. Ok- this is where we used most of our snack credits 6 infact! We got: 1.vanilla cookie with m&m's with white choc drizzle -ok, too much candy, didn't like cookie part. 2.peanut butter filled cookie with reeses and carmel drizzle, husband loved this. 3. pretzel rods with dark choc and choc chips, carmel, and reeces, very good. 4. rice crispie treat with choc and carmel drizzle, the best one since it wasn't overwhelmed by candy pieces. 5. rice crispie with dark choc, choc chips and carmel drizzle, very good, again too many choc chips. 6. nut cluster. We made treats on two different days, and ate them over the coarse of the week. I think the trick is the simpler the better for us, some just had too much candy on the to enjoy. But we loved to try them!

 

[jessrose18]

Looking forward to your reivews. We will be eating at CP for the 1st time this trip. Love Boma for b'fast - hope you did too. Trying to decide between Wolfgang Puck Express and Earl of Sandwich when we go to DTD. Both look really good. Which did you like better?

We really loved WPE! But, Earl of Sandwhich was also good. You got a lot more food at WPE, the sandwiches at Earl are a little small.

For example our bill for 2 ppl at Earl was $18 and WPE was $39, so if you are on the dining plan, it is a beter value!

 

[TigerKat]

I'm on board.....

 

[jessrose18]

Starting off, we loved our hotel. The food court was very good also, although at time the lines were very long.

Penne Alfredo $8.19. We had this entree on three different occasions. It was awsome! The pasta was hot, they made it right there as we ordered, and the chicken breast was juicy inside and crispy outside. This is big enough to share, especially when getting a dessert also. One time we came in for lunch at 1:30 and the pasta line is by far the slowest, we waited a good 20 minutes with only 10 ppl ahead of us. 10/10 rating

Pancakes w/ Sausage $5.19. These were pretty good pancakes, you got 4 of them. We had this twice and shared both times, once we got one sausage, and the other time we got two? It is great that you get two beverages with breakfast, and you can chooses anything including the $3.59 smart water, or caribou coffee drink. 7/10 rating

Double Cheeseburger $7.09. This was not a great burger, blah tasting. Lots of fries though. 5/10 rating.

Brownie Sundaes $4.99. These were awsome! You can get the brownie sundaes as a dessert option with the dining credit's but not a snack option. You then go back within 90 minutes of your meal and pick out your ice cream and topping (which were unlimited). 10/10 rating!

Overall, the food court was always clean, and everybody was always friendly. We did not get the refillable mugs, we were a little far away for that instead we got pop out of the soda machine by our room at night. People really do go up and refill whatever container they have at the pop machine, so don't be afraid to save your fountain drink cup for multiple trips.

 

[jessrose18]

At Animal Kingdom we had tried Flame Tree before and didn't care for it, so we went for Yak and Yeti. We really liked it, the sauce was a little sweet on the Honey Chicken, and it was enough to share, we also purchased egg rolls with a snack credit. The food was very HOT! like we have to wait awhile to eat it. There was no line at noon, so service was very fast. The Mango pie was good too, I remember seeing pictures of it as a whole piece of pie, they must have changed that. I would eat here again! 8/10 rating.
Honey chicken $8.99
mango Pie $3.59
Egg Rolls $3.29 (used Snack credit).

 

[jessrose18]

YUCK YUCK YUCK, it's too bad I don't have a picture. We were at the studios for am ex hours and wanted to grad a bite to share. We went to ABC and got a sausage egg and cheese bagel $5.79 , orange juice $2, and apple juice $2. We used one CS credit. They put two sausage patties on it, so we could share easily, each taking a half. The problem was the cheese wasn't melted at all, the bagel had no flavor, and the sausage was really greasy and had no flavor at all!! And my $2 apple juice was a Juice box!! Waste of a credit, and this was the only breakfast option there outside of a roll. 1/10 rating.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PrincessMonkey]

Great job so far!
Just curious, how much food do you get per day on the free dining plan (approximate snack credits, TS and CS credits per night)? Did your free food include the cost of any appetizers before you had an entree?

 

[jessrose18]

Great job so far!
Just curious, how much food do you get per day on the free dining plan (approximate snack credits, TS and CS credits per night)? Did your free food include the cost of any appetizers before you had an entree?

The free dining plan is just the regular dining plan which would have cost $37.99 a day per adult, but it was a promotional deal where you got it for free. So you get one table service, one counter service, and one snack per person per day. The promotion usually get's anounced in April, for the past couple of years at least. Appetizers and tips were not included.

 

[jessrose18]

We shared a combo meal (hotdog and fries) $5.79, and brownie $2.39, and a large soda $2.39. Good hotdog, great fries (sorry no pictures) 7/10 rating.

 

[jessrose18]

Really excited to try this restaurant! The lines were pretty long at about 7 pm on a weeknight, but plenty of seating. I tried the all america $5.75 which had turkey, cheese, lettuce, ranch dressing and cranberrys (ordered it w/ no tomato, but they put tomato on it anyways) It was a good sandwich, a little dry though. He had Caribbean jerk Chicken $5.75 and loved it. For dessert we each got strawberry shortcake, tried one didn't like it, gave the other one to the family sitting next to us. It just tasted a little old. Earl was kind of confusing, you ordered in line, then went to another register to pay, then waited for your food at another counter. Overall, the sandwiche's were a little on the small side, but for the price, I would definately eat here and pay OOP. 7/10 rating.

 

[keelyhealthnut]

Those sundaes look amazing!! That pb cookie w/ the reeses looks so good as well! Great review so far.

 

[HonnyDipp]

I love your pics! Everything looks so amazing!

 

[jessrose18]

I had a dbl bacon cheesburger with frys $7.59, cheescake w/ strawberrys $3.58, and a soda 2.29. The cheesburger was so good, tasted flame broiled like burger king, fries were great too. The cheescake was very good, didn't try the strawberry sauce though. I looked at the menu at Sunshine Seasons, and nothing looked good, I was really craving a burger, this was one of two I had on the trip ASMu food court was not very good compared to this one. And there was a pop station, so you could refill your drink!
9/10 rating.

 

[Joyful Pixiedust]

Awesome review! thanks for posting!

 

[jessrose18]

I had read a ton of great reviews of this place, but still didn't think we would eat here. I am so glad we did, even went back for a second time!!
9" Meatball Pizza $12.95- He loved this!!
9" Pepperoni pizza $10.95- I loved this!!
1 side of mac and cheese- $4.21-paid oop-loved, loved, loved it!!!
2 frozen yogurts $7.90- very good, and light, got to pick one topping. 9/10 rating

2nd round:
9" Pepperoni pizza $10.95- great, a little overdone, and greasy this time (pix after I "degreased it" with my napking)
rosemary chicken w/ mashed potatoes $13.95- He loved it, the potatoes were so good!!
2 creme brulee $7.90- good, not as good as the restaurant i work at though, so I'm a little biased. 8/10 rating

Each time our bill was almost $40 with drinks. There are servers there who refill your drinks and bring you your food. We felt awful that the first time there we didn't bring any cash to tip, we went up to the counter to see if we could put one on our bill or charge to our room and they said no. So sorry to our server! Second time around, brought some cash. Great value on dining plan, don't know if I would pay that much OOP though, I just saw we have one of these restaurants in the Mall of America, I will go there for the Mac and Cheese!!

 

[jessrose18]

We had one CS credit left, and we were at MNSSHHP and looking for dinner. We went to Columbia Harbour House, had never been there before, and found it closed!! This was at 5:30 pm, so that was disapointing. So we went to Peco's bills and shared a BBQ sandwich $7.59, carrot cake $3.59, and a diet coke $2.39. The sandwich was very good, better than the pulled pork at WCC (which I will get to later). Topping bar looked awesome, used the cheese sauce for our fries. The carrot cake was also good, and fresh tasting. This restaurant is huge, it had so many seats inside, and self serve kiosks were up and working. 8/10 rating.

 

[Nohal]

Love the title of your trip report, I agree. We were there the same time as you. Pictures and review are great. Can't wait to read more.