Great Googly Moogly! Aug 16-23 DDP nearly whupped us!

[mmcguire]

Episode 1: Introduction

We visited WDW Aug 16-23 and did the DDP for the first time. Man, did we eat a lot! DH and I are big eaters, and we were SICK of eating by the end of this trip.

Cast of Characters:
DH "Freddie"
DS14 "J-Man"
DD5 "P"
and me!

Restaurants we visited:
Boma (dinner)
Starring Rolls Cafe (breakfast)
Kona Cafe (anniversary dinner)
Sunshine Seasons (lunch)
Yorkshire County Fish Shop (lunch)
Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe (2 lunches)
Tusker House (breakfast)
Le Cellier (dinner)
Tutto Italia (dinner)
Main Street Bakery (snacks, breakfast)
Restaurant Marrakesh (dinner)
Boulangerie Patisserie (snacks)
Beaches & Cream (ice cream)
Crystal Palace (dinner)
Pepper Market (1 lunch, 1 dinner, 1 breakfast)
Cafe Rix (lots of snacks)

Net weight gain: Me: 5 lbs DH: 8 lbs.

Stay tuned for Episode 2: Arrival night dinner at Boma!

 

[mmcguire]

We checked in at CSR around 4:00 PM and had a 6:55 reservation at Boma. We rested briefly, then hopped a bus to AK, then transferred to an AKL bus. We got there pretty quickly and checked in really early. While we waited, we walked outside and looked at the animals, shopped around in the gift shop, and sat in the very beautiful and comfy lobby area. We were called right at our reservation time.

We had a very nice server from Mexico (not Africa!), though I cannot remember his name. I am horrible with names, so please forgive me. Our server was very attentive and pleasant.

We went to Boma about 4 years ago and I was looking forward to the delicious oxtail soup I remembered, but alas, it was not to be. It wasn't on the menu that night, but our server recommended the seafood soup, which was quite good.

Sad to say, we were all rather underwhelmed with the buffet choices -- it just wasn't as tasty and exotic as we remembered. I had some prime rib, fufu, potatoes with Afritude, a little salmon, kool slaai, salad with grapefruit, avocado, and papaya (pretty tasty), and some hummus (DH and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE hummus, and would probably bathe in it if given the chance, but the hummus at Costco is better, IMHO). P had mac & cheese (I tasted and it was kind of yucky), some fish and veggies. Nobody else even remembers what they had, so that tells you how memorable the meal was.

The desserts were the best part of Boma for all of us. My favorites were the coconut tiramisu dish and the banana bread pudding, and J-Man went nuts over the zebra domes. Scott doesn't remember what his favorite was. P had chocolate mousse and ice cream. She just kind of picked at her food, but she's not been a very good eater lately.

All in all, we didn't dislike Boma, but it wasn't that great either. It probably won't make the cut next time.

Next episode: OOP breakast in Hollywood

 

[mmcguire]

On Sunday we arrived at DHS just after rope drop. TSM FPs was priority #1 so breakfast had to wait! After we had our FPs and did the backlot tour for nostalgia, we walked back up toward the front of DHS to Starring Rolls.
I believe this is the only place at DHS to get breakfast food, or at least it appeared that way.

The place was a madhouse -- people were lined up out the door, and family members were holding tables left & right. Over half the people at the tables had no food! The line moved pretty quickly and we soon had our food and went out to find a table. I spied an empty one, but a very rude mom pushing a stroller saw me teetering toward it with my tray and proceeded to quickly push her stroller over and plop down in a chair. I did remark to her, "I already have my food", and she just ignored me. Nice.

We walked across the street, prepared to eat on a wet park bench, when DH said he would find a table. We walked back toward Starring Rolls, and right around the corner we found most of the outdoor tables for The Brown Derby were empty. It wasn't open yet, so we grabbed a table and ate in peace away from the chaos of Starring Rolls. This frantic breakfast rush convinced us to eat breakfast in the room the rest of the week.

DH and I shared an everything bagle with cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers and onions. I ordered pastrami and discovered it was salmon only after spreading cream cheese on my bagle. The bagel "fixings" are inside a glass case, on paper plates covered in plastic wrap, so it's difficult to tell sliced salmon from sliced pastrami. I wasn't up for that line again, so we ate it. The salmon was OK, but I'm not big fan of cold fish for breakfast. DH and I also split a gigantic, yummy, gooey cinnamon roll, DS had a the same kind of cinnamon roll and milk, and DD had a chocolate chip muffin and milk. I tasted a bite of her muffin and it was pretty moist and good.

We paid out of pocket for this meal, thinking we wanted to save our snack credits for a goody later in the day. I think it was a little over $20.

Next up: Crazy big Pepper Market lunch

 

[mmcguire]

We left DHS around 1:30 and headed back to CSR. We went straight into El Centro (main bldg) and into the Pepper Market. This was our first Pepper Market experience, and it was a tad confusing with the stamps and cards.

DH wanted the Rib Eye steak, I wanted the rotisserie chicken, and DS wanted a hamburger. All three came from the Grill Station, which (not surprisingly) had the longest line.

DS ended up with what he calls a "bread burger" -- mostly bread and little burger. He's a big eater, and only ate half of it because he said it was terrible. I took a bite, and didn't think it was "terrible", but it was kind of dry. DD got ice cream because she wasn't very hungry (Edy's with Snicker's mix-in -- yum!). I used my lunch dessert for her ice cream.

The chicken (half a rotisserie chicken!) was very tasty, and came with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies. DH's steak (pretty large steak for lunch -- I'd say 12 oz.) came with fries and grilled veggies. He learned later in the week they have baked potatoes, but didn't know when he ordered. The steak had quite a bit of fat, but it was cooked like he wanted (med. rare) and had a good flavor.

For the remaining lunch desserts, we got pastries from the Pepper Market bakery to eat for breakfast the next morning. We paid out of pocket for a muffin for DD since I had used my dessert for her ice cream.

All in all, the food at Pepper Market was OK, but for a counter service, it really couldn't be beat.

Next up: Anniversary Dinner at Kona Cafe

 

[mmcguire]

Sunday the 17th was our 17th anniversary, and we had a ressie at Kona Cafe at the Poly. We took a bus from CSR to MK, then rode the monorail over. We checked in a little early, and waited in the lounge area next to 'Ohana.

We were called within 5 minutes of our reservation time, and were given a table near the back of the restaurant. It was much quieter and had a better ambience than the front, which was a little noisy from all the hotel lobby traffic.

Our server took our drink orders -- I had some sort of adult mango drink, DH got a Mai Tai, DS got a virgin strawberry daquiri, and DD got a soda.
The drinks all came with umbrellas, much to the delight of DD, who promptly collected them for safekeeping and then proceeded to eat all the fruit decorating our drinks.

Next came the delicious bread and macadamia nut butter. My goodness that is some good stuff, and how thankful I am that I can't get it at home (can I? Wait, don't tell me).

For dinner, DH got the Tuna Oscar and I ordered the New York Strip. We shared, so each of us got half the tuna and half the steak -- yum! The steak was perfectly prepared (med. rare), and the tuna was rare inside and delicious! The steak was served with mashed potatoes and broccolini, and the tuna came with crab and fried green tomatoes. DS got the prime rib, which was served with mashed potatoes and broccoli. Poor DD got the chicken strips served with pasta & marinara which, which I found almost repulsive to look at, and visibly tasteless compared to our meals. She barely touched it, and I don't blame her. We, of course, offered her some of our food, which she gladly ate.

As an aside, the kids meals (like this hasn't been said before!) are shameful. I felt so sorry for DD every time we looked at our menus, then saw that hers was the same bland, boring stuff. She is a very adventurous eater, and I felt like it was terribly unfair that she didn't have ethnic or at least more flavorful options in many places.

Dessert was wonderful -- DH had the banana creme brulee, I had the coconut cream kiki tart (I don't know what kiki is, but it's not a mispelling of kiwi as someone here once speculated -- there was no kiwi in sight that I could see or taste). Whatever it is, it was scrumptious. DS had the Kona Kone, and poor DD had the pitiful little fruit salad that came with her stinky kids meal. DS was generous enough to give her all of the cotton candy from his Kona Kone, and she was thrilled.

Kona was our favorite meal of the trip, and is now a must-do for us on future trips.

 

[FirstMagic]

Enjoying your review and can't wait to read more! Happy Anniversary (belated)!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoying reading your reviews

 

[MickeyNicki]

Looking forward to your Marrakesh reviews, great start!

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Can't wait to read more.

 

[butiflfeet]

Thanks for the reviews! Everything sounds pretty good so far. I can't wait for more!

 

[mmcguire]

--Pepper Market Pastries --
We slept in Monday because we stayed at MK until almost 3 AM. We made coffee in our room and ate the pastries we bought at Pepper Market the day before. We bought two small bottles of milk for the kids at the Main St. Bakery the night before, so they had something to drink. DH and I shared a blueberry pastry and a big fat pecan cinnamon roll. The pastry was yummy, and the cinnamon roll was pretty good, but a tad dry inside. DS also had a big fat cinnamon roll (no pecans) and DD had a blueberry muffin. -- both seemed to enjoy their breakfasts.

--Sunshine Seasons lunch --
We got to Epcot around noon. After we did a few things, we went to Sunshine Seasons for lunch between 1:00 and 2:00. It was pretty busy, but we had no trouble getting our food. Finding a table was a challenge, but we found one pretty quickly.

DH got the Turkey and Muenster Cheese on Foccacia (delicious!) a bag of chips, and a piece cheesecake. The cashier told him that the chips weren't included on the DDP, so he paid for those OOP. I got the grilled salmon, mashed potatoes, salad and key lime pie-- all very tasty. DS got some Asian dish with noodles (I couldn't tell if it was lo mein or udon). He wasn't too crazy about it, but he still ate most of it. I tasted it and it was OK. He also had the cheesecake and said it was delicious. He ate it in microscopic bites (which is saying a lot for a ravenous 14 year old!) so he could savor it. DD had the kids meal with a rotisserie chicken leg, mashed potatoes, carrots and chocolate pudding. She only ate about half of it, but also said it was good.

--Le Cellier Dinner--
This was our first visit to Le Cellier, so we were stoked. We checked in 15 min. early for our 6:45 res, and were called right at 6:45. We were seated in the side that represented the western part of Canada. Our server was from British Columbia, which was nice since we've actually been there and could relate to some of the places he mentioned.

DH and I enjoyed all the breads we were served, but DH especially raved about the pretzel bread. Our server brought us more bread after we snarfed it all up. Yum! DD got to order an appetizer with her kids meal. She got the Cheddar Cheese soup, and DH and I got to taste a little bite when she was finished -- it was smokey, bacony and creamy. Delicious!

I don't recall reading this before, but the dinner menu had a chef's selection option that was included on the basic DDP, and included an appetizer, an entree and a dessert. Unfortunately, it limited the choice of entrees, so we passed since we knew we wanted the New York Strip. I asked if they could substitute the cream cheese mashed potatoes for roasted Yukon Gold potatoes, and the server said, "of course!" DH got the same thing, also with mashed potatoes. DS got the prime rib and DD got the kids steak.

The steak was very tender and well-prepared and the cream cheese mashed potatoes were rich and sinfully delicious. DH also raved about his steak. DS enjoyed his prime rib, and ate every last morsel. DD only ate part of her steak because she wasn't that hungry, and we boxed up the rest for a late night snack for DH.

For dessert, DH, DS and I all got the Chocolate Whiskey Cake, which was divine. DD got the ice cream sundae.

Consensus was that Le Cellier was a definite winner, and one we will return to. When I mentioned writing this review, DS said to be sure to mention how great the service was -- again -- that's a lot coming from a 14 year old!

Next: Breakfast at Tusker House

 

[mmcguire]

If you've been under a rock the last two weeks, you might not be familiar with Tropical Storm Fay, which spent most of her vacation in Florida too. She parked right off the east coast of Florida and liked it so much she sat there for about four days without moving much.

On Tuesday, 8/19, the buzz around Lake Buena Vista was that Fay was going to come inland and pound Central Florida later in the day. For that reason, Disney decided to open all the parks an hour early to let guests get a jump on things before the storm hit.

The parking lot at AK was eerily empty -- I think many guests didn't even know it opened early. We were there for the 8:00 rope-drop and walked straight to Tusker House. We were all herded into a covered area then had our pictures taken. I seriously doubt they sold any pictures that day with everyone walking around in spitting rain with ponchos on. Not a good fashion day.

We were called relatively quickly, and seated in the nearly empty front dining room. The server brought some delicious juice (orange mango?) and asked if we wanted anything else to drink. I also ordered coffee.

This was a character buffet, so we went ahead and started getting our food before the characters started to arrive. I had some of the mealie pap, which was basically cheese grits -- very good. I also had eggs, sausage links, sweet potatoes, a biscuit and some gravy, some bread pudding and part of a bagel. It was all right -- nothing to write home about. It was more or less the typical breakfast fare you'd find at a Golden Corral (but better prepared), with a few ethnic dishes thrown in. DH said the same about his food, and we agreed it was not one for the books.

The character interaction at Tusker House was excellent, so if you want to see the characters, it's a great place to visit. DD5 got pics & autographs from Mickey, Donald, Pluto, and Daisy. The restaurant was well-themed, although it did get really noisy as the restaurant started to fill.

Tusker House is not bad meal; it's just not as unusual or ethnic as we had hoped, and I don't think we'd blow a table service on this (or any other breakfast) again where there are so many wonderful dinners to be had.

Coming up: Dinner at Pepper Market

 

[wilma-bride]

Thanks for the reviews so far - I totally agree that the kids' meals at Disney are sadly lacking. The grilled chicken strips are pitiful-looking and the meals look so bland and tasteless. My DS ended up sharing with us a lot of the time on our last trip. Next time I suspect we will eat off-site a lot so he has more choice.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

What did this mean for us? Well, it meant that we could take the bus to Animal Kingdom for our 8:05 breakfast reservation instead of driving. The parks were to have opened at 9, which meant the busses would start at 8, too late for us. Now that the parks were opening at 8, the busses started at 7, so DH didn't have to get out those car keys after all. He really hates driving at WDW, so he was thrilled.

Is this true? I thought buses started running to the parks at 7:00?

 

[wvgoofyfan]

Yes, I can confirm that buses do start at 7 AM every morning. These buses are the character breakfast buses and do run to Epcot, MK, AK, and MGM.

They are specifically for people who have the early ADR's for character breakfasts at those parks. I even had a bus driver pick us up at CSR one morning and ask us which park we needed to go too! When we told him we were going to AK for the then Donalds Breakfast at McDonalds..He said Special Delivery and flipped his sign for AK.... That was in 03 or 04 so not sure that that is still the norm.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Yes, I can confirm that buses do start at 7 AM every morning. These buses are the character breakfast buses and do run to Epcot, MK, AK, and MGM.

They are specifically for people who have the early ADR's for character breakfasts at those parks. I even had a bus driver pick us up at CSR one morning and ask us which park we needed to go too! When we told him we were going to AK for the then Donalds Breakfast at McDonalds..He said Special Delivery and flipped his sign for AK.... That was in 03 or 04 so not sure that that is still the norm.

Thanks, I got worried there for a second, since I have a few pre-park opening breakfasts.

 

[mmcguire]

Apparently I got some bad intelligence off the Dis-boards -- I read before our trip that the busses started running 1 hour before park opening, but was not right. Sorry for the confusion. I have edited my posts to remove the incorrect bus start times. Now back to our regular scheduled review...

 

[mmcguire]

We spent a really long time at AK, and since we'd had a big breakfast buffet, we didn't eat lunch. DS got a milkshake at Tamu Tamu Refreshments for a snack credit, and it was pretty tasty. DD later got a Mickey ice cream bar at one of the carts there.

After spending the day in strengthening wind and on & off rain at Animal Kingdom, we decided to head back to the hotel, have dinner there, and pack it in for the day.

We got back around 5:00, and were seated quickly at the Pepper Market. DH got the steak again, this time with a baked potato and grilled veggies. He said it was better than the one he had the first day.

I got the special for the evening -- pork carnitas served with beans and rice. They were DELICIOUS; so tender and juicy! The serving was huge, which was perfect because I was starving since we skipped lunch. I scored some corn salsa and sour cream at their little topping area, which made it even more delicious. DS gave their burger another chance, and this time he ate it all. DD got the kids chicken strips, which came with fruit and a cookie. She ate most of hers, too. We used our dessert credits for pastries for the next morning's breakfast.

As we were leaving Pepper Market, the rain had started to pour and the wind was whipping. As a result, it appeared that a lot of CSR guests had the same idea of dining at the hotel and staying in for the night. The line to get into PM was backed up down the corridor, past Cafe Rix.

Next: Cosmic Ray's Lunch, Crystal Palace Dinner

 

[mmcguire]

Wednesday was a MK day, all day. For breakfast we'd had the pastries we got at Pepper Market the night before. PM doesn't have a huge selection of pastries, but everything we tried was good. Mainly, they have bagels, a couple of varieties of muffins, pastries with either cherry or blueberry filling, chocolate croissants, and cinnamon rolls, with or without pecans. We made a pot of coffee in the room and the kiddies had milk.

We were at MK for rope drop, and had an early lunch (11:30) since we had a 5:00 dinner reservation for Crystal Palace. The portions at Cosmic Ray's were unbelievably huge. DH and I both got the chicken and rib platter, which each had a half a chicken and a half slab of ribs, mashed potatoes and green beans. DD and DS got burgers. I tricked out DS's burger at the toppings bar with grilled onions, cheese sauce, mustard, lettuce, tomato and mayo. DD just wanted ketchup on hers. DH and I had the carrot cake for dessert, and DS and DD got the chocolate cake. Everything was good, and we were STUFFED!!

After spending the afternoon riding taking in attractions, it was time for dinner at Crystal Palace. We checked in at 4:45, and were seated right at 5. We got really lucky on this trip; we never had to wait long to be seated. Our table was near the front, right by the window, so we had an awesome view of the castle. Our server was very friendly, and took our drink orders right away.

DH and I both tried the cheddar soup, was was really good. Not quite as bacon-flavored as the soup at Le Cellier, but still pretty darned tasty. Since this was a buffet and there was a lot of chaos with the characters coming by, I really don't remember what everyone else got, so I'll tell you about my selections.

I wasn't starving since we'd had such a big lunch, so I skipped most of the salad bar, except for a few peel & eat shrimp and some edamame salad. I also didn't get any of the breads, but they all looked pretty good. I also had some pork loin, corn spoon bread, salmon, mashed potatoes, some alfredo type pasta and I'm pretty sure I had some green beans, although I don't see them on the menu. Everything was good, but I think I just wasn't hungry enough to appreciate it -- except for dessert.

I tried a bit of the the red velvet cheesecake, which tasted nothing like I imagined. It wasn't bad, but it didn't taste like red velvet cake, if that was the intent. The Boston Cream Pie was pretty good. Then I tasted the flan. Oh my goodness -- CP has the most wonderful flan I've ever put in my mouth, and I'm not a big flan eater. It was perfectly smooth and delicate and creamy. I went back for seconds on it, and might have had thirds if I weren't so stuffed. I think I would go back to CP just for the flan!

The character interaction was great -- DD got to see Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and she saw Tigger twice. She also marched around the dining room with them twice, and had a ball. They all signed autographs and posed for a couple of pics. We never felt rushed the whole time. Not sure if we'll go back, just because we just didn't enjoy the buffets as much as we enjoyed the sit-down dinners. Not a knock on CP at all. It's good for a character experience, and for a buffet, it's pretty awesome.

Next: Breakfast pastries from Main St. Bakery, lunch at Yorkshire County Fish Shop, dinner at Tutto Italia, and a reservation switcheroo.

 

[mmcguire]

Before we left MK on Wednesday night, we went by the Main St. Bakery and picked up some nummies for breakfast the next morning. DH and I got some kind of honey cinnamon roll, which was awesome. DS got an apple turnover, and DD got a big M&M cookie (hey, it's vacation!)

As we had done most days, we brewed a pot of coffee in the room, and the kids drank milk.

We goofed around at Epcot for a while, then went to Yorkshire County Fish Shop for lunch. We all got the fish & chips, which were flavorful, very hot, and crispy. The only dessert option at the fish shop is a little pack of shortbread cookies, which were fine.

The weather was pretty nasty most of the day; the wind blew so hard that there were small whitecaps on the lake. We had been talking about our remaining plans, and realized that the next night (Friday) was our last night at Epcot, and things weren't looking promising for watching Illuminations tonight with the bad weather. Even though Epcot was open until 12 on Friday, if we kept our 9:30 reservation at 'Ohana, it would pretty much kill the whole night.

We ducked into the Mexico pavilion to escape the rain and while DH took DD to the Kidcot stop, I went to a pay phone to try to change our reservation. There was nothing earlier available at 'Ohana (not surprising; we'd called almost every day for the past 2 weeks to check), so I inquired about any openings at Epcot on Friday. We were able to get a 5:00 dinner at Marrakesh, so I took it and cancelled 'Ohana. We've never eaten at Marrakesh, so the idea of trying something new on our last night was a little exciting.

Dinner was at Tutto Italia, and it was probaby tied with Kona as our favorite meal. We had an 8:30 reservation, and like the other nights, we were seated right at our reservation time.

Our server here was the best of the whole trip. He was very helpful, friendly, and personable. He told us he was just a few months into his visa here, and told us that a lot of the people who work in the Italian pavilion actually live together during there stay. He said it was nice to get to know everyone so well, but it was very sad because someone was always leaving to go back to Italy. We had spoken to a lot of World Showcase employees and knew that most of them were on work visas, but we didn't know about the shared living arrangements. Interesting.

Our server took our drink orders and brought out some bread. I ordered a lemoncello drink, which was refreshing and delicious -- like a lemon slushie. The bread was delicious and plentiful, and there was also a dish of tasty olives.

DH had the Tagliata di Manzo, which was a New York Strip steak served with a salad and pesto. I had the Costoletta Di Maiale, which was a pork chop served with broccoli rabe, which tasted like spicy mustard greens. DH and I again split our dinners, so we both got a sample of each entree. The steak was tender and juicy and perfectly seasoned. The pesto topping was very nice on the steak.

DS had the Sacchetti - pasta pillows filled with ricotta and mozzarella cheese and pomdoro sauce. He gobbled it up in no time flat and said it was great. He then took some bread and sopped up all the sauce, so it must have been good! DD got the kids spaghetti and meatballs, and also got an appetizer. She chose the mozzarella sticks. She only ate one, so we all got to try those. They were pretty tasty; but no different than the ones you'd get at any other restaurant. Her spaghetti was very good, and she ate quite a bit of it.

For dessert, DH and DS both had the profiteroles (puff pastries filled with vanialla ice cream and covered in warm chocolate sauce). I had the Copetta Sotto Bosco, which was berries, zabaglione cream gelato and chocolate sauce -- divine!!! DD had the chocolate mousse, which was also yummy (I couldn't resist taking a bite).

Tutto Italia is another must-do for us on future trips. I had read a lot of reviews on the Dis that were less than stellar, but I can't imagine why. The food was prepared perfectly, and was all delicious. We were all very pleased with the food and the service.

Next: Junky breakfast, Cosmic Ray's II, Marrakesh, Boulangerie Patisserie