free QSPS and then some - ALL DONE 12/31, WPE, EOS, snacks and final thoughts

[abminer]

Hi everyone and welcome to my 4th dining review! (here’s a link to my last one: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2331778)

DBF and I spent 10/2 – 10/6 at Pop Century with the free QSDP and enjoyed F&W. I had done the regular DDP three times (twice free) and I love it. But, would the QSDP work for us? Would we die without daily TS (did some OOP)? Tune in and find out!

A bit about us:
Me – longtime DISer; a foodie, but not a food snob. I have no dining restrictions, but don’t like very spicy foods. I’m somewhat adventurous – I love trying new WDW restaurants. I’ve been to WDW 8 times, but still have a long list of yummy places left to try. Most of all I love desserts, like really love them. I never crave salty stuff, it’s sugar sugar sugar for me. You’ll see, I eat my fair share of cupcakes.

DBF – a comfort food lover who generally plays it safe. He’s a meat and potatoes guy (+ chocolate), but he likes Thai and other foreign foods. He’s the one who loves the salty stuff and can’t say no to a burger or fries.

We both tried each other’s dishes so I have a grade from each of us when possible.

We ate at:
Everything Pop food court (L and B x 2) [post 3, 6 & 14]
Columbia Harbor House (L) [post 8]
Contempo Café (D) [post 12]
Yachtsman Steakhouse (D) [post 19]
Sunshine Seasons (B) [post 24]
Boulangerie Patisserie/France (L) [post 27]
Kringla Bakeri Og/Norway (D) [post 30]
Wolfgang Puck Express (B)[post 32]
Earl of Sandwich (D) [post 31]
+ a trip to WWOHP [post 17], WDW snacks [BW bakery post 22][DTD and Pop post 33] and F&W booths [post 29]

Here we go!

 

[Leslieann1024]

Hey ! I might be the first one in - looking forward to it ! Sounds like it's going to be a fun ride !

 

[abminer]

Day 1 - Lunch at Everything Pop food court

We had a light breakfast at Boston’s Logan airport before 8am and some Starbucks drinks at MCO so we were really ready for lunch by time we got all checked in at Pop. It was 2pm already so we hit Everything Pop food court.

At that time of day there were no lines, there were always very nice CMs, and lots of options to eat. We split up to hit different “pods”.

I got the Mediterranean chicken flatbread ($8.59):

DBF got the philly cheesesteak wrap, it came with fries ($8.99):

I gave the flatbread at C+, the toppings were good, but it was a lot of artichoke. What I didn’t care for was the crust. It was wholegrain, that’s good, but thin and tough. DBF gave this a B+/A- . Go figure.

The cheesesteak was pretty good, we both gave it a B, the only bad thing was that the tortilla was stale thus hard. The fries were great, DBF saw them come out of the fryer.

On to dessert!

Everything Pop has a large refrigerated section with many shelves of bakery items and snacks. This was great. We both chose treats from the refrigerated cases (the only desserts outside of this section are the hand-dipped ice creams which have their own pod.)

I got, drumroll please.. the famous Tiedye cheesecake! ($3.59):

DBF chose the vanilla tiedye cupcake ($3.59):

I have been waiting for this cheesecak for years! This was our first time staying at (or even visiting) Pop, but it’s been on my to-stay list for a long time. So, did it live up to the Dis hype? Well, it’s prettier than it is tasty. There is a thick layer of plain cheesecake (the colors are dye, not flavors) on top of a thin layer of red velvet cake. DBF liked the red velvet part, but wasn’t wowed by the cheesecake. For me, the cheesecake is a little too light (not as dense or rich as NYC style or even Cheesecake Factory), but together with the red velvet, it had good flavor. This was a B in my book.

The tiedye cucpcake was somewhere between supermarket and boxed cake mix. It had a very homogenous, fine crum yellow cake (a little spongy) with a light, powdered sugar frosting. Nothing special but certainly edible, C+.

I must now confess – I’m a tough audience when it comes to desserts. I am an amateur pastry chef, I do all the events at my office and certainly for families and friends, and this summer I took a culinary school course on French gateaux (cakes). But, I’m not a snob I just want my calories to be worth it, you know?

For drinks we got bottled smart water (love those) and yellow powerade, which we saved to take to the parks. Since we had the free QSDP we got the refillable mugs, which you must pick up at the food court (there are large displays near the shelves/refrigerator cases). I’ve never gotten these before. Honestly, we drink a lot of water and we’ve found the drinks that come with CS and TS meals tide us over. Then there’s the awful WDW nescafe coffee issue… We found the mugs to be great! We had a rental car so we’d fill up on iced tea or lemonade to drink on the road to the parks, leave the mugs in the car and then refill again as passed through the lobby going back to our room. The pop mug stations are still the same, no limited amount of refills like the machines they’re testing at ASSports. There’s coke products including light lemonade, those iced tea machines with several options (you have to push the button to select your flavor since there’s only one spout – this seemed to mystify some guests), bad Nescafe coffee and some rather watery hot cocoa. I fell in love with the iced green tea and sometimes I mixed it with the fruity white tea. Yum! We may just buy these next time if we don’t do a dining plan.

We spent 2 (free!) CS credits on this meal. (it would have been about $28)

 

[abminer]

Hey ! I might be the first one in - looking forward to it ! Sounds like it's going to be a fun ride !

Big points for being the first one!

Hopefully this one will help those considering the QSDP. I'm happy to see other QSDP reviews out there now.

 

[Cin]

We'll be eating at some of the same places so it's great to hear what you have to say about them. I am more excited about the dining and restaurants than I am the parks, but that is just the foodie in me. I will have to go back and read your other reviews too!

 

[abminer]

Day 2 - breakfast at Everything Pop food court

The reason we went down to FL this time was for my pal’s wedding; we had a great time at the wedding and festivities in Orlando our first night including a great dinner, but now we were ready for our first day in the parks. We wanted to get to the MK before rope drop and had a long day of touring ahead so we returned to Everything Pop food court for breakfast around 7:30am; it wasn’t crowded at all.

I got the POP Waffle with Topping ($5.69) and asked for extra fruit:

DBF got the Bounty Platter - scrambled eggs, potatoes, biscuit, 2 cinnamon french toast sticks, 1 sausage, and 2 pieces of bacon ($8.29):

About the platter – I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure those were powdered eggs and I thought they were gross, but the bacon was ok – maybe Disney bacon gets a bad rep on the Dis. The homefries were good and well seasoned. It was a ton of food. DBF gave it a B and I agreed.

I got the Pop waffle with extra fruit and boy did they give me lots of fruit! You can’t even see that the word “pop” is imprinted on the waffle. The CM at the waffle counter was so nice and the waffle was very fresh, warm and fluffy. I thought this was very good and gave it an A- .

For drinks we got another bottled smart water and a powerade, which we took to the MK. In his mug DBF got coffee. This was his first Nescafe since we stayed at CSR last time and they have real coffee. Did he survive it? He said it “wasn't too terrible.” A ringing endorsement! I got hot cocoa in mine and added creamer, I think WDW hot cocoa is just too watery.

Overall a good start to the day.

We spent 2 (free!) CS credits on this meal. (it would have been about $21)

 

[SPOERLX3]

I'm Here too!
We will be at Disney December 16-23 and our first time on the QSDP. Soooo looking forward to it and not being tied down to ressies. Excited to follow along in your review

 

[abminer]

Day 2 – lunch at Columbia Harbor House and a stop at Aloha Isle

This was my 8th trip to WDW and every time I go, I seek out new experiences. I don’t know why I didn’t do so earlier, but this day we did the Keys To The Kingdom behind the scenes tour in the MK and it was the Disney highlight of our trip! The price of the tour includes lunch with the group in a private area upstairs at CCH. You place your order before the tour starts when you sign in (drink and combo meal only, no dessert is offered ☹ and there are fewer options than on the regular menu).

With the exception of breakfast at CP, I don’t like the dining options in the MK. Lunch at LLT is ok, but I hate the CS. Cosmic Ray and Pecos Bill burgers are totally gross, imho. It was about time we tried CHH.

I got the Anchors Aweigh Tuna Sandwich ($8.99), which came with chips:

DBF got the chicken and broccoli peppercorn salad ($8.19), which he inhaled so fast that I didn’t get a chance to snap a pic. Yes, he should know better. I found this one online:

I always read reviews that praise the anchors aweigh sandwich and thought, really? It’s just a tunafish sandwich, but… it’s worth the hype! This was a really good sandwich, in great part because the bread is real. It’s multigrain, sliced thin and is clearly fresh baked vs. pre-sliced. It’s not wonder bread. The lettuce and tomato were fresh and it wasn’t too mayonnaisy. I don’t like Disney’s new kettle-type chips, they’re too hard. But, the sandwich was enough.

The salad that dbf inhaled must have been great since it was gone so fast. We both got diet cokes. We’ve gotten so used to dessert at every meal on the dining plans that I pouted a bit without it, but we left happy.

We went into CHH at noon and we saw plenty of seating upstairs and the colonial home atmosphere is nicer than some other CS places. I’m thrilled to have finally found CS in the MK that I like.

Overall an A- (no dessert to judge means no solid A!)

Because this was part of our tour, we didn’t use any credits

Snack:

After the tour ended we worked our way back to Adventureland. It had gotten really hot and Dole Whips were mentioned on the tour, so… I had no plan for this and honestly don’t love dole whips (the float is too much pineapple for me), but we needed something refreshing and I wanted DBF to have his first Aloha Isle treat and we got on line. Unfortunately, a whole lot of people had the same idea. What had been a reasonable line turned into a huge and very slow-moving line in about 2 minutes.

We waited 25 min., and almost bailed, but we made it and got this to share, the citrus swirl ($3.49):

This was delish and hit the spot. Imagine if creamsicles were made with fresh-squeezed oj and you’ve got this. I may not like the classic pineapple dole whip, but Aloha Isle has redeemed itself with me. We used 1 snack credit.

 

[Tracerr00]

Excellent reviews so far! Not only are we staying at Pop in January after our cruise, but we also did the KTTK tour during our last trip so I feel like we have a lot in common. We also loved the tour as well as CHH - I'd never been there before either and it was so nice to sit down and take a little breather in the middle of the tour. I didn't have the Anchors Aweigh sandwich while I was there but I might just have to try it next time, it looks yummy! Can't wait for the rest of your reviews!

 

[discnewbie]

Love these reviews! I am definitely subscribing. Will be at POP and using the free QSPS as well!

 

[Linda67]

Joining in and enjoying your reviews so far

 

[abminer]

Day 2 – dinner at Contempo Cafe

The free QSDP gave us the excuse to finally try CS places at resorts other than our own and when you’re in the MK, CR is only one monorail stop away. DBF loves CR and the monorail so Contempo Café was the natural choice. This dinner gave us a nice break from a looong day at the MK (16 hours in total!).

After a quick monorail ride we went right down to Contempo. It’s immediately in front of Chef Mickeys and you can see the monorail come in right over your head…pretty cool. You order from self-service touch screen kiosks. It was very easy and explained each step. You select your entrees and sides. It prints a receipt out for you to bring to the register. You get cups and desserts on your own. When you pay you get a buzzer to let you know it’s time to pick up your entrees.

I’d already had one good sandwich this day, so let’s see if the momentum can keep rolling. I chose the Hot Turkey Sandwich - topped with Brie, apple butter and arugula on Challah bread and I got the chilled sesame green beans as a side ($9.09):

DBF got the Marinated Beef Flatbread - with oven roasted tomatoes, garlic, onions, arugula, and goat cheese ($8.29):

And…another great sandwich! This one was even better, buttery and warm served on griddled bread (tasted more like sourdough). The turkey is thin sliced and is topped with thin slices of green apple and crisp lettuce. It was all yummy sweetness. The cold, sesame green beans were a big portion and covered in a yummy glaze.

DBF’s flatbread couldn’t have been more different than the one we’d had at Pop food court. It also had wheat crust, but it was great – like real bread, fresh and chewy without being tough. It also had caramelized onion and big pieces of steak that weren’t dried out or over done. Delish!

And now, on to my favorite part, dessert! I had seen images of Contempo’s cupcakes on the Disney Food Blog and had to get one. I went with the well-loved caramel Dos Leches flavor ($3.99):

I wanted him to get a different cupcake, but DBF went with the oatmeal cookie ($1.79):

The cookie was just ok, average, but the cupcake! It was huge, had a heavy crumb yellow cake with gooey caramel oozing out of the center. It was topped with a light tasting caramel buttercream- so good!

We couldn’t believe the difference between this resort CS and Pop’s. Everything is better at a deluxe. If we had planned another MK day this trip, we would have eaten at Contempo Café again. This meal was an A!

We spent 2 (free!) CS credits on this meal. (it would have been $32.53)

I’ve finally found good CS in and around the MK. If the options in the park aren’t working for you, hit the monorail, it’s worth it, even for CS.


Snack:

After returning to the MK and enjoying pm EMHs, we were a little hungry on the way out of the park so we swung through the confectionary for a treat to go. I got two Minnie’s bake shop cookies so we could take them with us to IOA/US the next day and we got a mickey-shaped sugar cookie from the counter to share immediately. There aren’t many options in the case that you can use a snack credit on other than fudge. Only small cookies count so this was what we chose (sorry for the dark phone pic):

The top was dipped in some sort of green icing. They had other colors too. We ate this on the line for the bus back to Pop at midnight. It was just ok. I was not liking the cookies this trip.

We spent 3 (free!) snack credits at the confectionary. (it would have been $12.63)

 

[momto2inKC]

Joining in...we leave in a couple of weeks for Disney and we ditched the regular dining plan to try the quick service one this time. Enjoying your reviews and pics!

 

[abminer]

Day 3 – another breakfast at Pop, 3 strikes…

Our third day promised to be great as we were meeting the bride, groom and pals from the wedding we attended at Universal’s IOA for our first peak at Potter! Sadly, this day got off to a rough start.

We hit the Everything Pop food court later than the last time and the crowds were much bigger. In the pandemonium we again went to separate pods and reconvened at the registers.

I got the Breakfast pizza ($5.49):

DBF got the pancakes with meat, he chose sausage ($5.29):

The breakfast pizza, where to begin… There was a thick layer of ranch dressing under a layer of scrambled powdered eggs with nasty Disney bacon and rubber cheese on a floppy crust. It was disgusting and tasted funny. I ate a piece and tried to get used to it, but wasn’t having it. DBF tasted it and didn’t think it was rancid, just bad.

DBF’s pancake platter was better, but not very good. The pancake pucks had clearly been made ahead and been sitting under a heat lamp for a long time – they were rubbery. This was just like a McDonald’s hotcakes platter. It was tolerable (DBF gave it a C).

I virtually never do this, but I took my pizza back. The CMs were very nice. I just went back to the same pod, handed over the offensive pizza and got the sausage egg croissant instead ($6.29):

It still had the powdered eggs, but fried into a thin sheet and it was served with buttery potatoes, which were still tasty, and on a fresh croissant. Better for sure. DBF called it "worthy of faint praise."

I hated my breakfast at Pop, and as it turned out, it hated me too. Within 20 minutes I was sick. The drive to IOA/US was not fun. I’m just glad I always pack immodium in my touring backpack! We had gotten two smart waters to go so I had something to wash the pills down with. I honestly was not right for 48 hours. The next a.m., still feeling a bit under the weather, we went to the concierge desk to report my possible food poisoning. The manager spoke to us and offered me medical care at any point during our stay and asked what more they could do. I asked that they restore my one cs credit to my kttw card and they gave us two, which was nice.

After 3 meals at Everything Pop food court, which ranged from only decent to sickening, we were done with that place and vowed not to return for any more meals. 3 strikes and you’re out.

We spent 2 (free!) CS credits this time at Pop, but got them back the next day.

 

[discnewbie]

That's horrible! I'm sorry your breakfast turned out so badly at POP. I've heard really good things about it and I was hopeful, but it's good to know this. I likely won't have a real breakfast at POP -- I'm thinking fruit and bagels now, and save my meal credits for when I am in a park.

 

[abminer]

That's horrible! I'm sorry your breakfast turned out so badly at POP. I've heard really good things about it and I was hopeful, but it's good to know this. I likely won't have a real breakfast at POP -- I'm thinking fruit and bagels now, and save my meal credits for when I am in a park.

I too was really disappointed in Pop's food court; I had read so many good reviews and generally like food courts for the variety. I think the culprit is Disney powdered eggs, which they seem to have some places and not others. Or the ranch dressing could have been to blame. Who knows, maybe no one else got sick that day, but it wasn't fun for me.

If it hadn't been food and wine, we would have used snack credits for most breakfasts, or at least used 1 and split 1 CS credit. You can always swap 1 CS credit for 3 snack items and make up a continental breakfast. I wish I'd done that!

 

[abminer]

Day 3 – a side trip for lunch: WWOHP and DIS snacks

I love everything Disney, have all my life, but I must admit that I (and DBF, but to a lesser degree) love Harry Potter! We met our pals and had a blast at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, especially in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I usually don’t post offsite food photos, but this is worth an exception.

We had lunch at the Three Broomsticks.

The theming couldn’t be better at this counter service place – the attention to detail is great. Going in early Oct. meant very manageable crowds, but it was a bit chaotic at lunch. You order at the registers then move over to pick up your order at the counter, but that was a crowded area and it took a long time to get our food, but when we did…

I got the Cornish Pasties - Flakey pastry pies filled with ground beef, vegetables & potatoes served with a side salad and choice of dressing- ($7.99) and the frozen butterbeer ($3.99):

DBF got the Shepherd’s Pie– Ground beef and vegetables crowned with potatoes.
($9.99) and a regular butterbeer ($3.99):

The pasties were very good, but it was a small portion. Luckily the delicious frozen butterbeer is pretty filling on its own. If cream soda and butterscotch and a slurpee and the foam from a latte met, this is what they would create. So good, but brain freeze inducing. The salad was passable – straight from a bag.

The shepherd’s pie wasn’t as good as the pasties, but still tasty and filling. The regular butterbeer is good too, but I give the edge to the frozen version. I tried my friend’s pumpkin juice and wasn’t a fan. It has the consistency of apple juice, but tastes strongly like pumpkin pie spice – it’s very very sweet and kind of weird.

Overall Three Broomsticks is fun, the food is pretty good, and the prices are fair (B+)

Snack:

We had a late dinner reservation at Yachtsman Steakhouse, but we were hungry after a few more hours of touring. I had bought these last night at the MK confectionary and after spending the day in my touring backpack they were soft and warm. Tasty!

 

[beccawes7471]

Loving your report, so excited to see two recent counter service dining reports. We will be on the free qsdp in March and we have always done the regular dining plan. We too are spending one day at IOA/WWOHP. Our dining habits sound incredibly similar, I am the total sweet not salty craver and my dh is the opposite. Great report and can't wait to hear the rest. Thanks!

 

[abminer]

Day 3 – Yachtsman Steakhouse

My last two WDW trips I didn’t do any signature dining. It’s a lousy value to use 2 TS credits on one meal with the regular DDP. I really missed these great meals so this time we thought about it and chose not to upgrade the free QSDP to DDP, instead we’d pay OOP for signature dining and it worked out great!

I showed DBF menus on allearsnet for Cali Grill, Flying Fish and Yachtsman. I hadn’t tried any of these and have wanted to forever, but let him choose and Yachtsman won. We had never spent time in the Boardwalk area either so we looked forward to making a night of it. We changed into khakis and polos and headed to our 8:05 ADR.

I’d read some really lousy reviews of Yachtsman – both its food and service, so I was quite nervous about this big expenditure. We arrived 15 minutes early, but were told at the podium, by an unfriendly CM, that they were running quite a bit behind – a good 30 minutes. Uh oh, this is going badly already! We took our pager and walked around a bit, YC is so gorgeous. Well, the panic wasn’t necessary since our pager went off in 15-20 minutes. When we came back, we just stood there a few minutes while the seating waiter ignored us! But, once we got to the table things were great.

We started with the famous bread basket, which includes onion pull-apart rolls, sourdough rolls, and whole cloves of roasted garlic:

I actually found the garlic to be too much, the soft onion popover-like rolls don't need it. I was surprised that the sourdough was excellent too.

Our server, Joan, was amazing. She was so good that she managed to talk us into ordering way more food than we intended to. We asked if the porterhouse, the Yachtsman’s specialty, was enough to share and she said no. We should have gone with our gut and ordered that and maybe a smaller pasta entrée, but we ended up with two medium rare porterhouse steaks, each 24-oz center cut with roasted garlic butter. Here’s one, served with the au gratin potatoes:

I subbed my au gratin for the sweet potato beignets (they actually brought me both kinds of potatoes), here they are:

We also got the brussel sprout side dish:

The au gratin potatoes were very bland. They are sliced paper-thin and stacked and a bit dry. DBF dubbed them "fine." The sweet potatoes had both cinnamon and spicy powder on them – a surprising little kick. They were crisp on the outside, soft on the inside for great consistency. The sprouts were super rich, with crisp pancetta and a cheddar cheesy hollandaise. Good, but we barely touched it because…

The steaks. They had incredible flavor (yum, garlic butter!) and were cooked properly to order, but were tougher than expected, kind of hard to cut. My steak knife seemed like a butter knife, which I blame in part on the meat, but the lousy cutlery was a big part of it. The steak was much better toward the bone. I’d heard this before and can add to the chorus, this is not Le Cirque or even Ruth’s Chris level steak. Only the price tag is the same. But, we found the steaks enjoyable anyway.

The real issue was that such a huge steak nearly kicked my butt! We should have never listened to our server and ordered two of these. We left feeling like she was a good waitress, but a better salesman. I was full after 1/3 of my steak, but I fought it until I'd eaten 2/3. DBF ate more, 3/4+ , but I know he struggled a bit too.

We enjoyed the experience though we were stuffed. It was 100 minutes with nice pacing. We liked the decor, nice but comfortable; it wasn’t the oppressive dark wood of the average steakhouse.

We don’t regret trying Yachtsman, we had a lovely evening, but we do regret being talked into ordering something we didn’t plan to and letting so much go to waste. We were staying at Pop so we didn’t even have a mini fridge to put leftovers in. We also found the beef quality to be below what I expect at this price point, but we liked our food and knew the deal –WDW prices are inflated. Period. I lost my receipt, but I recall this meal being about $125.

There are a lot of signature restaurants we want to try so while we had fun at Yachtsman, we won’t be back any time soon. We give this one a B.

 

[Cin]

After reading your reviews on the food court at POP, I am certainly going to stick to yogurt, fruit and a bagel for breakfast and skip anything else. I still have planned to eat lunch there but I don't know maybe after check in we'll just head over to DD and try Earl of Sandwich since we are paying OOP. I am still excited to stay at POP though and get lots of pics of the resort and have fun walking down memory lane.