FOOOOOOOOOOD!!! DDP in the World, Sept. '07

[goofyisinphilly]

Many thanks to my wife for her letting me do this on her account...

Imagine my surprise when my wonderful wife sprung the news on me... WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!! WITH FREE DINING!!

First... an introduction to the cast of two from the Queen City (Charlotte, NC).

Me (shesgrumpyimdopey) -- the serious one. 27-year-old IT manager / cheerleading coach on the first real vacation with his wife of 3 years. And as a side note... before this trip, I lost 40 lbs on Weight Watchers. Trust me, it was oh so worth it!

The wife (goofyisinphylly) -- the mastermind behind this trip. She did a really wonderful job planning everything out. Goodness knows I couldn't have planned it even half as well.

The happy couple:

Most of our pictures are of our table service meals. There are some counter service meals and snack pictures sprinkled in. And now... a list of our dining excursions!

• Kona Cafe -- Sunday
• Raglan Road -- Monday
• Marrakesh -- Tuesday
• Artist Point -- Wednesday
• San Angel Inn -- Thursday
• Boma -- Friday
• Concourse Steakhouse -- Saturday

And now... on to the good stuff!

 

[goofyisinphilly]

We arrived at the world late Saturday afternoon, unpacked our bags, and headed straight for MGM. Saw Fantasmic. Was fantastic.

Next morning, we had our first TS meal of the day: breakfast at Kona.

We arrived early for our ADR and were seated within 10 minutes. We started with a pot of french press Kona coffee. This might have possibly been the best coffee I've ever tasted. Coincidentally enough, there is now a French press and a canister of Kona coffee in our kitchen.

I had the steak and eggs...

... while DW had the Tonga toast.

Although the steak was a little overdone to my liking, I still enjoyed my steak and eggs. I enjoyed DW's Tonga toast even more. The Tonga toast was crispy on the outside, with lots of banana in the middle. Perfectly done, and very rich. YUM-O!

The happy couple at breakfast:

Then it was off to AK for the morning / afternoon. We used a snack credit for a pretzel. Warm and soft, just as a pretzel should be. Sorry, no picture of the pretzel. She ate it before I could snap it.

Later that afternoon, we made our first venture to MK. Our first destination was to find something to eat, and we wound up at Cosmic Rays. We both got a bacon cheeseburger. I had fries, while DW had apple slices.

We both agree that the food was okay, on par with Wendy's. DW liked the selections at the toppings bar.

Between AK and MK, we went back to POFQ for a Long Island Iced Tea and a siesta. The flavor was okay, but the drink overall was a little weak.

This wraps up our first full day!

 

[goofyisinphilly]

We decided to make our second full day sort of a down day, so off to Typhoon Lagoon we went! After a hard morning of floating down the lazy river...

...we split a chicken wrap from Typhoon Tilly's. The CM at the register was kind enough to give us each a Mickey bar. The chicken wrap was kinda gristly, but the Mickey bars were superb!

Later that evening, it was off to Pleasure Island and one of the highlights of our trip: Raglan Road.

Now I'd like to make a note that the majority of my souvenirs consisted of alcoholic beverages. Having said that, here was the beer flight I had. From left to right: Tucher Hefeweizen, Stella Artois, Kronenbourg 1667, and Boddington's.

Out of all the beers on this flight, I liked Boddington's the best. I'm not a big fan of beers I have to add fruit to.

For our appetizers, I had the drunken chicken because the salmon delivery had not come in that day. It was okay... not very spicy, but a nice presentation.

DW had the Goats Town: fried goat cheese with greens and cranberry chutney. It was very rich and filling, and it could almost serve as a full meal. It was her favorite appy of the entire trip.

For my entree, I had the Pie in the Sky. Glorified chicken pot pie. But it was REALLY good glorified chicken pot pie. All of the flavors blended together just right.

DW's entree was Paddy's Pork: pork loin with honey soy sauce on top of mashed potatoes. DW does not like soy sauce. But according to the waiter, it should not have been overly strong on the soy. DW was lied to. She felt it was too much soy... would've liked it without the sauce.

Finally, dessert! I had the Dunbrody Kiss: CHOCOLATE!!!! I absolutely loved this dessert. Very rich and chocolatey!

DW's dessert was Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding. To this day, she still has dreams about it. In her opinion, it was definitely one of the top 2 desserts on our trip.

That's all for today! We'll post again soon. Enjoy!

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

mmmmm great reviews so far!
can't wait for more!!

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Great reviews, can't wait for more!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Can't wait for more!

 

[eemmie1]

I was there in September with my DH and we enjoyed Raglan Road as well. I LOVED bread pudding!

 

[John's Mom]

Enjoying your great reviews. Thanks for posting.

 

[Sunshein]

Great start! We are heading back in April and the only restaurant we really wanted to repeat from our last trip in September was Raglan Road. we will also be going to a bunch of your other choices so I am looking forward to the rest of your reviews!

 

[KAC2005]

Great start. We are going to Raglan Road in July, can't wait now!! Your photos are brilliant.

 

[goofyisinphilly]

Thanks for all the replies!

Our next full day at Disney started with an early excursion to MK. DW was thrilled!

We ate lunch at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe. No pictures here... sorry. I had the BBQ Pork Sandwich with fries. It was pretty pathetic... but I was hungry enough by that time to eat it all. DW had the bacon double cheeseburger. It was just okay, nothing spectacular.

Later that afternoon, we were off to Epcot for our next TS meal: Restaurant Marrakesh.

We heard that Marrakesh was often underappreciated, and we wanted to try something different. I have to admit that we were pretty disappointed overall with Marrakesh. It was by far the busiest restaurant we were at during our whole trip. Service there overall was rather pathetic. The entertainment was pretty neat, though:

Now... on to the food! For our appetizer, we shared the combination appetizer for two: beef brewat rolls, chicken bastilla and jasmina salad.

DW liked the chicken bastilla, but she didn't really care for any of the other items. I thought it was okay. Interesting flavors, but nothing that really stood out in my mind. The best part of the meal had to have been the bread:

It was very yummy and delicious! For my entree, I ordered the roast lamb meshoui with seasoned rice:

I wasn't a real big fan of the lamb. The rice was good, however. DW had the shish kebabs:

DW was expecting more spices from the shish kebabs than what she got. She thought the texture was good, though. For dessert, I had the bastilla. It was pretty good. Not very heavy and overpowering with the sweet flavor, but it was a nice finish.

DW picked the winner for dessert with the baklava. Very sweet and moist... definitely the highlight of her meal.

After dinner, we took a leisurely stroll over to France and treated ourselves to a couple of after-dinner delights: the Grand Marnier Orange Slush and the Grey Goose Lemon Citron Slush

Later that evening, we hit up Pleasure Island... which meant for me another trip to Raglan Road for drinks! SWEET! So naturally, I get the other beer flight. From left to right: Guinness, Smithwicks, Murphy's, and Harp.

I enjoyed this beer flight a bit more than the other flight I had the previous night, as you can see:

Finally, we wrapped up our evening with a jaunt over to the Adventurer's Club. Great fun!

The drinks we had were pretty standard fare, but still tasty. I had a rum and coke, while DW had a Smirnoff Ice:

That's all for this day! Stay tuned for the next day as we finally go to our signature restaurant: Artist Point!

 

[TruBlu]

Wonderful reviews - and even better pictures! Thanks!!!

 

[caa1277]

Great reviews so far!

Congratulations on the weight loss!!!! So how long did it take you to lose that 40lbs?

 

[disneyquilter]

Great reviews

 

[arieljasmine]

Loving your reports so far. We had our first trip to Raglan Road in September and I am still dreaming about that bread and butter pudding! The goats cheese appetizer looks really good, I think I will go for that next time.

Laur's

 

[TigerKat]

Enjoying your reviews....Love those slushies in France!!!!

 

[tluvstink]

The reviews are great Thanks for posting.

Terri

 

[mindyd]

Great reviews

 

[Texas lady]

Great review, love the pictures, will have to get the Grey Goose Lemon Citron Slush, it looks very 'refreshing'

 

[lajones81]

Great reviews! I can't wait to read more!