For heaven's sakes mom! Leave the gecko at home! Update: 10/19 Jiko's

[princessaloha]

AAALLLOOOHHHAAA Fellow Food Fiends! Just got back from climbing the mountain of food that is the DxDP and would love to share our experience in pictures. Because secretly, I'm a food porn addict and need to drag as many people with me down my addiction as I can. And since all my girlfriends are on stupid diets, you my fellow dis-ers are stuck with me.

Pertinent information: we are a family of five, me, DH, AdultDS, DD5, and DD2. We hail from Hawaii (I know, big surprise) and we love to eat, love, laugh and play. So of course Disney is the perfect place for us.

What's up with the title? Weeellll (in my best Samantha Stevens voice), when I first started thinking about doing a dining review, I really wanted to find a small gecko to pose in all the pictures. A Gecko Eats The World theme. And surprisingly after weeks of searching, I couldn't find one single stinking little wooden/magnetic/toy gecko. Lizards, turtles, googly eyeballs, but no gecko. I was becoming obsessed. Friends were dropping off huge stuffed ones and lizard looking ones, but not what I wanted. One day, my DS asked me what exactly was I looking for and I said I wanted one that looks like the ones running around our house. He jokingly said, we should just capture one and take it on the trip with us. Light bulb moment! So I seriously start to try and figure out how to do this. My son, with a look of horror on his face, tells me he was only joking. But I was already in the middle of a brainstorm and there was no stopping me. The the biggest concerns were 1. sanitation issues 2. decomposition issues and 3. would I have enough time to make cute outfits for him to wear. For issue 1 and 2, I was tossing around the idea of calling a local taxidermist and see what they could do in a short time. Next thing I know, my very mellow laid back son, yells, "for heaven's sakes mom! LEAVE the gecko at home!". That snapped me out of it and I came to my senses.

Unfortunately that means boring normal food pictures. Sorry everyone.

Please bare with me folks as I've only posted one picture here, and that was this morning. I'm trying to work out the kinks. If the pics are too large or grainy or you have any suggestions, please please let me know.

Although we were on the DxDP plan, I once saw someone post the actual costs of the meal, and thought that was helpful. I was thinking about doing the same but if that seems tacky I won't.

Here's our run down:

FULTON'S CRAB HOUSE - DTD
pre food stuff http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=46443605&postcount=6
appetizers http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=46443366&postcount=3
entrees http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=46444604&postcount=13
desserts and final thoughts http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=46446489&postcount=14

TONY'S TOWN SQUARE - MK
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=46452799&postcount=21

JIKO - AKL
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=46465249&postcount=26
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=46494294&postcount=27

TEPPAN EDO - EP

VICTORIA & ALBERTS' QVROOM - GF

LES CHEFS DE FRANCE - EP

ARTIST POINT - WL

FOOD & WINE - EP

T-REX - DTD

CINDERELLA'S ROUND TABLE - MK

RAINFOREST CAFE - AK

TUSKER HOUSE - AK

WOLFGANG PUCK SIG -DTD

SANAA - AKL

BROWN DERBY - HS

1900 PARK FARE - GF

NARCOOSEE - GF

FLYING FISH - BW

AKERSHUS - EP

1900 PARK FARE - GF

OLIVIA'S - OKW

PORTOBELLO - DTD

EARL OF SANDWICH - DTD

MISC SNACKS: TURKEY LEGS, CANDY, CUPCAKES


I hope you will join me for the ride

 

[Quin]

Looks great; I'm in!

 

[princessaloha]

Two weeks prior to our trip, I had an emergency appendectomy and was put on a liquid then soft food diet. My first "real" meal in weeks was at Fulton's Crab House. So to put it mildly, I WAS HUNGRY! Originally we were scheduled to arrive in Orlando around 4:00pm on Monday but do to some AA delays we arrived around 5:30pm. We had an 8:50 reservation for Fulton's. By the time we got to OKW, checked in, got our KTTW loaded, picked up our mugs and got to our rooms, we had less than an hour to get change and get to dinner.

If taking a bus to DTD, it's better to get off at the West Side/Pleasure Island Stop and walk the short distance to Fulton's. We didn't know this. Also, no one apparently on the East Side of DTD has even heard of Fulton's or even knows that there's another side to DTD and will send you in all sorts of interesting directions. Let's say Little Miss Matched and the Disney Art Store are very lovely, especially if your not in a hurry.

Appetizers:

Lobster Bisque - blue crab garnish

This was just ok. Mostly because we prefer the white/cream based bisques and chowders and not the red/tomato based ones we found all over WDW.

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Crab Cake - Jumbo lump blue crab, roasted corn maque choux, fried green tomato, remoulade sauce. ETA found a better picture.

This was very good. We liked the roasted corn maque choux (a saute of corn, peppers, and tomatoes...according to google). This was the first time we ever had fried green tomatoes and were looking forward to trying them. Although they were good, they kind of fell short of the fried green tomato lore we were expecting. Not really sure what we were expecting. Maybe a deep unknown Southern accent to spring forth from our lips? Nope, we still sounded like us

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Portobello Mushroom Fries - Orange Blossom Pilsner battered, mustard sauce. Please note that by the time I got to this one for a photo, the children had already started. No love for the camera person.

We (not including DH) love mushrooms and jumped on these. Unfortunately within minutes of being set down at our table they were kind of soggy and just ok.

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Not a great start to our dinner. Next up: Entrees

 

[loganpaulsmom]

I'm in.. Our trip is in April and we booked a lot of similar ressies. I'm really excited to hear about Fultons.. It's new to us and I think the one I am most looking forward to..

 

[princessaloha]

Looks great; I'm in!

COOL! Thank you for coming along. So much more fun with company.

 

[princessaloha]

Just realized I got ahead of myself.

Fulton's Crab House is located almost in the center of Down Town Disney in a beautiful river boat out of an old Hollywood movie on the lake. At night it's very romantic all lit up. The shear size of it is amazing. If you can get a window seat, it's great. We were a couple of tables over from the window but half way through our dinner, the place was pretty empty and we were able to check it out.

We were seated immediately and our waiter was very friendly, although a little rushed. We had been up for close to 36 hours straight and working on our 10th second wind so were a little delirious and giddy. We tend to get silly when tired. The table next to us, a family of six, mom, dad, three teen girls, older teen son, kept staring at us the entire time. It made us a bit nervous to the point I thought maybe there was something on my face. Subconsciously I started to rub my nose and the rest of my face, which in turned made my DH take a swipe at his face, which in turn made my DS and then it just turned into a touch your face for fear there's something on it fest.

The meal service was very good. Not too much waiting between services and regular water refills.

Do you guys mind if I return to that other family? Ok, so they get their bill and start arguing and passing the bill around. When their waiter comes back they insist that their remaining meal count was wrong and slowly start to escalate their tone and argument with the poor waiter. At one point the waiter declares, "I promise you, we would never steal extra credits from our customers!". Eventually there were several people, I'm assuming managers and other waiters, gathered around their table trying to resolve the issue. It was getting kind of exciting to watch. Like a dinner show. Anyways, it was resolved when the father stated he would take it up with the front desk when they returned to their hotel.

Anyways, where were we? Oh yes, Entrees. Be Right Back with that after I get the family lunch.

 

[poohangel]

Sorry that your Gecko idea didnt work out. Cant wait for the next installment of your reviews.

 

[princessaloha]

I'm in.. Our trip is in April and we booked a lot of similar ressies. I'm really excited to hear about Fultons.. It's new to us and I think the one I am most looking forward to..

Welcome aboard loganpaulsmom! I'm glad your trip is in April, it'll probably take me that long to get through everything

 

[loganpaulsmom]

Welcome aboard loganpaulsmom! I'm glad your trip is in April, it'll probably take me that long to get through everything

Haha.. This will be my 4th trip since 2008.. And my 3rd trip in a row. I always start Ptrs and then frustrated when I have no followers. Lol I start dining reviews again don't finish them.. I'm worst at TR's though. I go into Disney depression when my trip is over and don't want to talk about it.. Lol

 

[starousse]

Looks great. I'm in.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

You had me at the Samantha Stevens reference. And a great line-up of restaurants doesn't hurt either!

Oh, and kinda glad your son talked you out of the gecko idea.

 

[princessaloha]

Sorry that your Gecko idea didnt work out. Cant wait for the next installment of your reviews.

Welcome poohangel! I'm sorry too. I had big dreams for him. Maybe even his own Facebook Page and Twitter account. Note that I consider him a "him" because although he is really cute, he's also kind of irritating running around my house, sort of like a husband. Therefore, definitely a "him" gecko.

Haha.. This will be my 4th trip since 2008.. And my 3rd trip in a row. I always start Ptrs and then frustrated when I have no followers. Lol I start dining reviews again don't finish them.. I'm worst at TR's though. I go into Disney depression when my trip is over and don't want to talk about it.. Lol

Oh, I'm so with you. I've posted several threads and only heard crickets. Thought maybe it was my deoderant? So this time around, I put on extra deodorant before I started posting and VOILA', here you guys are! At this rate, we might be able to move up to a mini van for this ride! lol.

My biggest problem is that I'm easily distracted. I'm the Hawaiian Dory, so it might take me some time to remember to keep on going until its done, especially if there's surf.

If you start another TR, let me know. I would love to join you for the ride!

Looks great. I'm in.

Welcome starousse!

You had me at the Samantha Stevens reference. And a great line-up of restaurants doesn't hurt either!

Oh, and kinda glad your son talked you out of the gecko idea.

Oh, thank goodness someone understood that reference. Probably dating myself.

What?! ugh, another sensible person. My DS will be happy to know he's not the only one out there. But...you should have seen the outfits I was going to make. He would have been the best dressed taxidermed Gecko ever. Would have put Duffy to shame.

 

[princessaloha]

First entree up was the children's Baby Shrimp Pasta with gulf shrimp sauteed in olive oil

It was huge and they're not kidding when they say "sauteed in olive oil". I'm pretty sure if there's an olive oil shortage next year, it's probably Fulton's Baby Shrimp Pasta's fault. On a completely un related tangent: my DD's hair was incredibly glossy and bouncing and behaving the next day The baby fell asleep before this arrived and DD5 only had a few bites. I took a bite and wasn't all that impressed. We took the rest home with us. A couple of mornings later I pulled it out for a quick bite before heading off to the parks and it was fantastic. Better than the first night. If we ever came back here again, I would order this to go and stick it in the refrigerator for a few days.

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Louis Fulton's Ultimate Crab and Lobster Experience - Two whole pound and a quarter Maine lobsters, Alaska snow crab, Pacific Northwest dungeness crab. For two

Aren't they adorable together? It's like even on my plate, their love for each other burns red with passion. Not sure if it was because it was our anniversary trip but DH insisted we get this. I'm not usually one who shares her lobster plate with anyone and I really wanted the Narragansett but I was getting tired and the people next to us were freaking me out so what the heck, I decided to share.

We're very spoiled here in the islands with phenomenal seafood that sometimes we forget that not all seafood is created equally. I'm very sad to report that the lobster was very bland with no flavor at all and the crab legs were so thin, it was almost impossible to get anything out of them. I can't believe someone could mess up steamed lobster and crabs. What is wrong with the world????

ETA: Ha! Was asking DH about this and he said that the crab legs should be listed as "crab flavored toothpicks". That's how skinny they were. LOL

Narragansett, Rhode Island Lobster - One pound and a quarter lobster, shrimp, scallop, spinach and mushroom stuffing, toasted breadcrumbs

This one should have gone second, DDs, then DS then ours but this one ended up being the shining STAR so I save it for last. This is the one I wanted but DH talked me out of it. Stinking romantic notions. DS loved this so much that he made me ask twice before he let me have a taste. Yes, he's still alive and healthy. Barely.

Next up will be desserts and Final Review of Fulton's.

 

[princessaloha]

Desserts!

DD had the children's build your own sundae but I wasn't able to find the picture.

Chocolate Creme Brulee with seasonal fruit and chocolate shavings

DS loved this. Thought the sweet/tartness of the berries played well with the creaminess of the creme. And really, how can you go wrong with any creme brulee

Double chocolate cake with a raspberry coulis sauce. It was good chocolate cake. What made it special was that we didn't realize how wonderful Disney is when you are celebrating special events. This was the first of many very sweet surprises for us. I would encourage everyone, if you are celebrating a special event and you want to feel special, do it at Disney.

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Final thoughts: the setting is wonderful and very romantic and the service was good. However the food wasn't anything special, especially considering this is a Signature Restaurant and requires 2 credits per person. Both DH and DS said to scratch this one off the repeat list.

Total
8 credits or $268.33
OOP tip $50.39

Next up will be Tony's Town Square in the Magic Kingdom. I have a good feeling about this one

 

[Dalamara]

[

Sounds good already! Can't wait to read more

 

[ksack]

Sounds good so far!!

 

[princessaloha]

[

Sounds good already! Can't wait to read more

Sounds good so far!!

Thank you Dalamara and ksack! Glad you guys are here

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Subscribing - great start

 

[Tracerr00]

You're cracking me up already and it's only your first post! This is going to be a fun one to read! Sorry your gecko idea didn't quite go as planned. We have two geckos as pets and I had to cover their ears (earholes) when I read the post to my DD. By the way, my DD has a very cute stuffed gecko and he's wearing surfer shorts with a tribal arm tattoo. He would have been a great addition to your vacation. Sadly I choose not to travel with him but I bring a long a 5 year old sausage, is still in its (his?) wrapper which has its own possible decomposition issues.

Great first review! Sorry to hear that your seafood wasn't quite amazing but I hope you have some great meals coming up!

 

[DISNEYDUET]

Terrific start!! Joining the party!