Free dining reviews from a bad weight watcher mom and son.....

[Davidsmommy]

My son and I just returned from a magical free dining trip. We had a ball!

Here is our cast:

Me - Kristen, Disney freak, food lover, on weight watchers (but went off the plan for our trip lol), a 33 year old (almost 34) mom of two. Married to a wonderful man (almost 10 years!), but this trip was all about me and my son. The whole family went together back in January, and my hubby and I are going next month for our anniversary, but this trip was for a Disney obsessed mother and son to enjoy the magic together.

My son - David - he is 7 and loves the Food Channel, and the Travel Channel. That is what clued me in that maybe he could be my little Disney buddy. He is much like me, and without my husband and my 2 year old daughter slowing us down (no booing please, I am sure that my little princess and I will take a trip alone when she is a tad older!), I thought we could have an amazing trip. I was right!

So, without further ado, our first dining review:

We arrived at Pop late (midnight) on Saturday 8/25. No food at that point (although the food court was still hopping!). We were just passing through and sleeping one night. We were planning on heading over to SSR early the next morning to check in and our first planned meal was breakfast at the Pop Food Court Sunday 8/26.

Well, we walked through around 9:30 after sleeping in, and it was a madhouse. I suggested we just head over to SSR and my son agreed! So, we grabbed a cab and got checked into our villa (it was ready!). We then headed to DTD and decided to skip breakfast entirely and use our first CS credits for lunch at 11:00 at Wolfgang Puck Express in the Marketplace.

I ordered the rosemary chicken with mashed potatoes, a diet coke, and an orange for dessert (I was still in semi weight watchers mode lol....that ended quickly). My son ordered a cheese pizza, orange soda, and a brownie with chocolate chips for dessert.

My chicken was delicious, although I have to admit I didn't taste much rosemary (which was fine with me). The mashed potatoes had a big puddle of butter in the middle, and every time I looked at it I thought about the points (confessions of a weight watcher), so I basically ate around the puddle.

I didn't eat the orange. Ever. I carted it back to our villa fully expecting to eat it sometime, but I ended up throwing it away on our last day. Sigh.

David really enjoyed his pizza. I tasted it as well and thought it was great.

The. Brownie. Was. Amazing. Seriously.

I fully expected it to be a typical pre-packaged brownie. Dry. Cruddy. A complete waste of calories.

However, I still had to taste it, and OMG - it was moist, chewy, and wonderfully chocolaty! I normally wouldn't gush over something like this, but I was very surprised!

We really enjoyed WPE. It was kind-of a last minute decision, but I am glad we made it, and thankful that I had read about it on the Dis so I knew it would be a good choice!

Next up: Capt'n Jacks for dinner.

 

[normmo]

I'm on Weight watchers too and do not plan on counting points for my September trip (free dining!) so it's good to know that I'm not alone. There is so much walking at Disney that hopefully we'll be fine for the next weight in! I'm considering trying the CORE plan soon since that might work better for times like this when I'm on vacation and the FLEX plan isn't convenient. Have fun and enjoy all the wonderful food that you usually don't have - life is short and you're at Disney after all!

 

[sandybobandy]

Another WW lady here too! Have lost 70 pounds since '04 and can't WAIT for our trip in 25 days. I too won't be counting points on the trip. Am totally planning on getting right back on program when we get back though.

Core is a wonderful program when traveling. It's much easier IMO to follow than Flex.

Looking forward to more reviews!

 

[Davidsmommy]

Yay! Other weight watchers! I do have to admit, I love the program. I lost 25 pounds before I got pregnant with David while excercising madly (training for a half marathon). I was so healthy and fit! I wasn't skinny, exactly, but I was healthy and toned and felt great. Then, I got pregnant. And, honestly, I just never tried to get back in shape, which is sad.

Now, David is 7, we have another child, and I am VERY overweight. I need to lose a good 60 pounds. Which is daunting. But, I recently started working out again and am loving it (and am really looking forward to school starting next week so I can have more scheduled workouts!), and when I am in "plan mode" I have no problem staying within my points.

I am going to have to look at core for my anniversary trip, because getting back on track hasn't been easy since I have been home (only a few days).

So, Capt'n Jacks.

We LIKE Capt'n Jacks. I know a lot of people don't, but this was a third time eating there, and we always enjoy it.

We spent the afternoon at DisneyQuest and checked in at about 5 Pm for our 5:20 ressie (I couldn't remember what time our ressie was for....I knew it was between 5 and 6 lol). We were seated very quickly.

We had Ann as our server, and she was the server we had back in January too! She is super nice.

I ordered the crabcakes as my app (I like their crabcakes, they aren't really fishy!). I had the lobster tails for my entree. I tried not to dip them in the butter too much for the WW dialouge going on in my head. It came with wild rice (yummy) and green beans. The whole entree was good. For dessert, I ordered the chocolate cake with ice cream, but I just tasted it and gave the rest to my son.

David had the white chowder for his app (he loves NE Chowder), mac and cheese with goldfish crackers for his entree, and the berrie smoothie drink for his dessert (which I tried and it was delicious!). Ann was wonderful, because I asked if the Mac and cheese was processed (as that is the only type he will eat lol - he doesn't like real mac and cheese) and she brought out a sample for him! Very nice!

We enjoyed our meal here. I know it gets bad reviews, but this is somewhere we love to visit and always enjoy.

After dinner we stopped into Goofy's Candy Co and David got a make your own marshmallow with lots of goop on it, and I got a make your own Rice Crispy Treat with white chocolate, crushed up reeses peanut butter cups, and chololate drizzle. I am proud to say I simply had one bite one night, just to taste it, and threw the rest away. It was great though.

Here we are at dinner:

 

[mom2fivecs]

Subscribing

 

[natalielongstaff]

Yay! Other weight watchers! I do have to admit, I love the program. I lost 25 pounds before I got pregnant with David while excercising madly (training for a half marathon). I was so healthy and fit! I wasn't skinny, exactly, but I was healthy and toned and felt great. Then, I got pregnant. And, honestly, I just never tried to get back in shape, which is sad.

Now, David is 7, we have another child, and I am VERY overweight. I need to lose a good 60 pounds. Which is daunting. But, I recently started working out again and am loving it (and am really looking forward to school starting next week so I can have more scheduled workouts!), and when I am in "plan mode" I have no problem staying within my points.

good luck with WW i lost 60lb with them here in the UK ....your last comment about being in plan mode reminded me of me

 

[Davidsmommy]

Love to see the other WW!

The next day was our MGM day. We ate a quick breakfast in our villa (donut and cereal for David, english muffin for me).

We had a couple snacks at MGM. We split some popcorn and David also had an itsakadoozie. Delicious!

We ate our CS lunch at Backlot Express. I had a burger (no cheese) and fries, marble cheesecake, and diet coke. David had chicken nuggets, fries, chocolate pudding, and chocolate milk.

My burger was fine. Standard fast food fare. I only ate about half of it and a few of the fries. I tasted the cheesecake. It was pre-packaged, and again, standard fast food fare. I didn't want to waste the calories on it, so I threw most of it away. David said he didn't like his nuggets, but he ate a few. And some fries. He ate the pudding and the milk a little too quickly we found out a little later (when he got ill in line at RNR).

I think it was a mixture of nervousness about trying the ride (even though he loved TOT), the heat, and too much chocolate all at once. So, we hightailed it out of line and got cleaned up as best we could in the restroom, and then headed out to rest.

In any case, this was not our favorite meal. I mean, it was ok, but we are probably not going back anytime soon.

After a long bath, some laundry, a long rest, and several conversations about whether he was really fine (he kept insisting he was, but I was nervous he was really sick), we decided to head back out for our Brown Derby ressie. It appears that he was not sick and it was just his nerves and everything, because he insisted he was fine 3 minutes after he was sick, and he was fine the rest of the trip.

So, onto Brown Derby. David was REALLY looking forward to this meal. He had watched a food channel program that featured it and he was very excited about the grapefruit cake (even though I knew he wouldn't like it lol).

We arrived 15 minutes before our ADR and we were seated quickly in one of the leather booths. It was pretty packed. We had a wonderful waitress. I ordered a beer (light) for my drink and David had apple juice.

The rolls were good - hot, which I love - David really enjoyed them. I kept telling him to take it easy because him getting sick was again in the back of my mind, plus I wanted him to eat something besides bread.

He got chicken soup for his app, and I had lobster bisque. He said his was good. I didn't love mine. I am not sure why, it just wasn't what I was in the mood for I guess.

I ordered the filet for my entree and David had grilled cheese. I reflexively ordered my steak medium rare, which is how I always get it out in the real world. I forgot that I had read here that most of the Disney places cook steaks more on the rare side. My steak was not pink, it was blue. It was very, very rare. Not medium rare, RARE. More rare than I could handle, and I am frequently told that I like my meat mooing.

I wasn't very hungry, so I ate around the outside of it. We were tired and I didn't feel like sending it back, especially since I wasn't going to eat much of it anyway. My fault, I know. Now, I knew to order things medium instead. I ate a few of the potatoes and they were good.

For dessert, I ordered the grapefruit cake, which neither of us liked (I knew we wouldn't but he really wanted to be able to say he tried it. I didn't need dessert anyway!) David got a sundae type thing with gummy worms. He loved it!

I did treat myself to a 3 oz pour of ice wine for dessert. Now, that might have been the best $15 I spent on the trip! I cannot wait until the Food and Wine festival with my hubby......

Overall, we enjoyed the ambiance of the Brown Derby, and I am glad we ate there. I would certainly go back, but I will order my meat less rare.

 

[TigerKat]

Enjoying your reviews!!

 

[irongirlof12]

ohhh, I'm so excited ' the WW at disney plan' can't wait for more.

Love WW best diet ever, and believe me I have tried them all!

Can we have a 'before' and 'after 'weight loss/ gain

 

[Davidsmommy]

ohhh, I'm so excited ' the WW at disney plan' can't wait for more.

Love WW best diet ever, and believe me I have tried them all!

Can we have a 'before' and 'after 'weight loss/ gain

Thanks! I actually maintained the whole time. Didn't gain at all. Didn't lose either, but that is ok with me. I have lost about 8 pounds in 2 weeks (I started 2 weeks before we left) - and I weighed myself when we got back and I was the same as before I left. So, I am hoping I can lose another 5 pounds before we leave for our anniversary trip - then maintain again. I have 3 weeks about until we go back!

 

[swankybeth]

Enjoying your reviews, thanks for posting.

 

[granmaz]

Enjoying your reviews. I know what you mean about the puddle of butter in the mashed potatoes at WPE! If it was all mixed in we would never know(well ok, we might suspect, but if we can't see it it isn't there!!!), but because it is all there in all it's wonderful glory the guilt sets in!!

 

[eemmie1]

Great Reviews!

 

[Mom2Evie]

Free Dining Plan and Weight Watchers member heading down in one week! I lost almost 50 pounds several years ago on WW & slowly put it back on over the last 18-24 months. I'm so worried that I'll totally undo all the progress that I've made this month. I'm going to try to make smart choices, but I'm not going to totally stress about it either. If you guys have any suggestions, I'm totally open to them! It's my goal to have fruit for breakfast on the mornings we aren't eating with characters. That should really start me out right. That being said, my big downfall is creme brulee. I love it, I could eat it every day and just might try to do that at WDW.

I started two weeks ago, so will have a total of three weeks to form some healthy habits before we go down there. I really would like to maintian my current weightloss. That's my goal for my 6 days at WDW: maintain, not gain!!

 

[Busymom85]

Great reviews so far. Look forward to more.

 

[kelleigh1]

Friend/Co-worker is on WW and she has lost over 35 lbs. She's doing great. One of my bosses is trying to convince me to join her group, although she doesn't love her group as much as this other girl does and I'm just afraid I won't stick to it. But when we move to our new office, we'll have a fitness center in the building and we get a huge discount as tenants of the building. There are quite a few of us who are planning on joining, so I'm hoping this will help me in the weight loss game. (Wish I lived closer to my other friend so I could go to her group with her since she loves them so much.)

Anyway...great report so far! I envy you being able to go 3 times in one year. We're lucky we were able to go in Jan. 2006 and can go again in Nov. 2007.

 

[Davidsmommy]

Thanks! I have been blessed this year to be able to go so often.

I am also happy to report, I am down another 3 pounds since being home and getting back "on plan!" YAY! Just in time for my next trip lol.....

So, our next day was Tuesday, which was our Magic Kingdom day, and also the day of the Pirates and Princess party.

Breakfast was in our room. Cereal for me (frosted flakes with a little milk), a donut and cereal for David.

We were at MK at rope drop (incidentally, this was the first trip EVER I made it to opening at all the parks we went to! I was uber proud!).

I don't know if any of you out there were at MK on Tuesday 8/28, but it was AWESOME. It was so great. Very few lines. I don't think we waited in line for anything at all - all day! Maybe a few minutes here and there, but nothing significant. By lunch, we had done everything on our must do list. Most things twice.

We had lunch at Cosmic Rays. I had the chicken and ribs platter, with mashed potatoes, carrots, and diet soda. It was yummy. I ate all the carrots, a few bites of the ribs (just to taste) and a lot of the chicken (without the skin that I pulled off). I had chocolate cake for dessert (tried a couple bites - prepackaged, but good).

David had chicken nuggets, fries, juice, and applesauce. (He is telling me he DID NOT have applesauce and had a chocolate chip cookie instead. I honestly don't remember. He has a really good memory though, and he says it was good. So, ok. I'll go with the cookie.) He ate up the nuggets and fries, and ate some of my cake, and apparently some of the cookie. Lol

We then did a couple more rides and went back to rest.

We returned to MK at 5 for our ADR at the Plaza and the P&P Party!

We checked in a few minutes early (about 20) and were seated immediately. What a charming little place! We paid OOP for this one, and I have to say, it was the cheapest meal all week!

I had: a burger (no cheese) with fries, and diet coke. David had a grilled cheese, fries (he just told me the fries were too salty - he cracks me up! lol) with grapes (I think she gave him the grapes as an appetizer since he didn't want either app choice). He had juice or milk to drink.

My burger was great, I ate half of it. My fries were fine, I again ate half. I figured leaving food on my plate would be a good plan.

David said everything was great (except for the salt content of the fries lol). He also got sherbet as his dessert. He enjoyed it. I was too full for dessert. I think our meal was like $25! It was great. A wonderful place for a quick bite. I highly reccomend it.

At the party, he announced he needed a snack around 10:30 PM. I looked and looked for a popcorn stand, as I could have gone for some, but couldn't find one. So, we went to the stand near the astro orbiter, as he wanted a pretzel, but they didn't have any plain ones. So, he got some slushie thing.

We went back and fell asleep almost immediately! It was a great night!

 

[StaciMc]

My son (just turned 8) and I are going 9/22 - 9/25 - just the two of us, so I am particularly enjoying your reports! I also need to lose weight and am unofficially doing WW (counting points, but not attending meetings...)

Keep the reports coming they are great!

 

[sorul82?]

I'm on Nutrisystem and I really blew it with free dining. I gained 10 pounds. I knew I would gain some, but geez, not that much. Thinking back, we didn't go go go like we usually do at WDW because it was just too darn hot and we spent a lot of time waiting for busses to/from POR.

 

[Mom2Evie]

Congrats on the additional weight loss. I've taken off 5 pounds in my first two weeks. I weigh in again on Monday, then leave for WDW on Tuesday. I set a healthy goal of 5 pounds by Disney and maintaining while I'm there. Well, I've succeeded at half of my goal. WIsh me luck on the second half.

Great reviews, I enjoy reading them. I've been cutting portions in half at restaurants too (unless its veggies) I'll have to remember to do that at Disney too!!