Healing thru Food - with pics Sept 26-Oct. 3 Updated 10/31 California Grill

[nikandboys]

Here is my 1st try at a dining report. This trip was taken 3 weeks following the death of my father so a lot of plans changed. We booked our trip 6 months in advance and booked all our ADRs at the 180 day window. 2 1/2 months before the trip, my dad tells my mom to go with us as she needs a vacation after taking care of him for 6 months (broke his back and back surgery). So at 2 1/2 months before, I had to change our plans around. I managed but had to give up a few things. Unfortunately exactly 3 weeks before we were to leave my dad was scheduled for a back surgery that was going to improve his quality of life and his heart couldn't handle the surgery. Mom decided she still wanted to go to WDW when I asked if I should cancel, so off we went and the plans changed here and there, but hopefully I can show you what we ate and how the week progressed. Thanks for reading!

Me - Nik - age 35 - food porn addict and amature foodie. Works lots of hours and have been looking forward to this very carefully planned and replanned trip.

DH - Wm - age 37 - likes food but doesn't want to plan anything. Likes it when things go smoothly. Developed terrible cough and was in the emergency room for other reasons the week we left.

DM - Mom - age sixtyish - not very adventurous, in mourning terribly, answers the question "what do you want to do, Mom?" with "Its up to you"., Also has terrible cough that gets worse during the trip

DS - Josh - age 9 - loves chicken strips, sugar and video games. Period.

DS - Sam aka Stinky - age 6 - tiny foodie, "strong willed child"

I will try to review as many restaraunts as I can. Many ADRs for breakfast were cancelled and we ate at CBR more times than I would have liked. I know the first part was a bit of a downer, but I will try not to keep the review down. Just wanted everyone to know the background a bit. It explains why things happened as they did.

Here are the places I will put on the thread:
Raglan Road
CRT
Liberty Tree Tavern
50's Prime Time
Coral Reef
Food and Wine Festival
Planet Hollywood
Earl of Sandwich
Yak and Yeti
California Grill
Kona Cafe
Brown Derby
We had lots more planned, but some plans fell through.

 

[sandym718]

So sorry for your loss! Looking forward to your reviews

 

[DLo]

So sorry about your father. i hope this trip helped you and your family make good memories during a difficult time.

 

[Angibaby]

I am sorry about your dad. I think it was good for you guys to go despite your loss though. Sometimes you just need to distract from the hurt.

As a side note, I call my youngest (5 yo dd) "stinky" or "stinkerbell" all the time! I am the ONLY person she lets call her Stinky. LOL!

 

[frdeb1999]

So sorry on the loss of your father. A very hard thing to go through. Looking forward to your review.

 

[nikandboys]

Our first night and everyone is still feeling OK and excited about trying something new! The restaurant is very pretty and big. We showed up on time for our ADR, but were given a pager and we waited about 10 minutes. We were seated at a table for 5 and had plenty of room. I really liked the Irish comedian playing in the bathrooms. We were all pretty hungry from flying/swiming so we all order our own appetizers.

Wm had the Eatin-n-Drinkin (mushroom soup). He really liked it and I even tried it even though I HATE fungus with a pashion. I liked the broth, but couldn't manage to eat an actual mushroom.

I had the Drunk Chicken. Very good. Josh liked it too, which is good as he is very picky. I really liked the zuchinni.

I don't remember what Mom had for an appie.

It's Not Bleedin' Chowder - It is potatoes, mussels, prawns, scallops and fresh seafood infused with white wine and finished with cream. I loved it. Stinky had to save one of the shells and named it Clammy. Clammy unfortuately passed away later in the week.

Keen Eye for the Sheperds Pie - We give the traditional Shepherd's Pie (prime beef and lamb) a much-needed makeover with our contemporary twist to this favorite dish. Wm said this was just OK. Said it tasted like mashed potatoes over ground meet with some sauce. Not very poetic, but he wasn't that impressed.

Fish and Chips - beer-battered fish and chips served with fresh tartar sauce . Mom loves fish, but wasn't too impressed with this one. She said it was Ok.

Little Big Burger - sirloin beef burger, char grilled, topped with Wexford vintage cheddar. Stinky got this without cheese. Not much to say except "good burger".

Gold'n Chicken - Two deep-fried chicken goujons. Josh had this and said the chicken was good. You get a lot for a kids portion.

Both Stinky and Josh had the ice cream. They loved it. But this was the first time they had ice cream for the trip. They were pretty sick of ice cream by the end of the week.

Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding - I had this. I was so full but ate about half. es it is the best bread pudding I have ever had (with exception to mom's chocolate bread pudding).

I believe this is Sticky Toffee pudding. Mom and Wm had this and both really liked it. I tried it and would get this next time if offered.

Sorry about the size of some of the images. I will work on that for the next review. Tonight we are having Micky shaped chicken nuggets from Costco. WooHoo!

 

[TigerKat]

Sorry for the loss of your father, but admire the fact that you all went ahead with your vacation. Hopefully it worked out well. Can't wait for the rest!

 

[keelyhealthnut]

Raglan Road is on our list to try. It looks so good!

I hope that the trip provided atleast a little healing for you all...

 

[jeminni]

Sorry for your loss. I hope the rest of your trip was ok. Looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

 

[bob6sims]

So sorry to hear about your dad - sending you a healing hug

When my dad died suddenly a few years ago my husband arrange for us to go to Disney a couple of months later. It was nice to go away as a family and share some laughs and happy times again, it did help us start to heal.

Looking forward to reading more of your reviews .

 

[KatMark]

I'm looking forward to more of your reviews. I'm sorry for your loss. I lost my dad a week before we went to Disney last month and I know how difficult it is. You, your mom and all your family are in our prayers.

 

[nikandboys]

I am sorry about your dad. I think it was good for you guys to go despite your loss though. Sometimes you just need to distract from the hurt.

As a side note, I call my youngest (5 yo dd) "stinky" or "stinkerbell" all the time! I am the ONLY person she lets call her Stinky. LOL!

I called him stinkerbell forever untill he hit six them it didn't sound masculine enough. Sad thing is we named the cat stinky also!

 

[plutosgirl]

So sorry to hear of your dad. I hope everyone else is feeling healthy now.

 

[nikandboys]

Thank you for all the kind words...I haven't figured out how to multiple quote yet. Things have gotten better. My mom still has the cold though. I have stopped bursting into tears, so definately better.

 

[KSG'sDisneyMem]

So sorry to hear of the loss of your father. It must be a difficult time for all of you. Was DH well by the time you travelled? Thanks for the reviews. Looking forward to reading more. I have never been to Raglan Road and not sure if I am convinced this is one to add to my list of places to try.

 

[Angibaby]

That is so funny that you called him "stinkerbelle" also! LMAO! Then you named the cat stinky, hopefully neither are confused as to who you are talking too... I called my dd "stinky" out of nowhere one day maybe 2.5 years ago & my sweetie got all mad at me "why would you call her that? Stop it." Well needless to say I dont take someone telling me what to do very well and I kept calling her that and even got her to agree that she LIKES being called "stinky" by her Mom! Mostly just to spite him! He isnt her Dad but she is still the apple of his eye so it just annoys him but he ignores it now (maybe thinking I would stop but it stuck now so too bad! ) I have never met anyone else who calls their kids suck wierd nicknames as me (my 9yo was "dookey" or "dookey bootie" until she asked me to stop a couple years ago! My other two never had such "mean" names, I guess I didnt like them as much! )

Well I cant wait to hear the rest of your healing food reviews. I am glad to hear things are getting easier.

 

[nikandboys]

Cinderella's Royal Table - otherwise known as "the place where the boys got swords" and "Oh my gosh, Who Knew Snow Whites voice sounded like that?" This sparked a debate and a re-occurring(sp?) joke for our vacation . We debated wether or not that was Snow White's real voice and then I would often ask my husband innapropriate things while using that voice. Very funny to me, kinda scary to him!

Food - Ok, nothing fabulous. The breads and Fruit were the best. Mom and I agreed the strawberries were the bomb! Wm really liked the stuffed french toast. The coffee was Yucky and the juice was Ok.

Atmosphere - fabulous, esp for me the ONLY girl in my house except for one of the cats. I really enjoyed eating in the castle. Its a gotta do it once kind of thing.

Characters - did a great job, they really played up to my boys as they were dressed as pirates. Stinky LOVED telling the princesses that he was a bad pirate. Josh told them he wasn't really a pirate but that I made him wear the shirt. No creativity!

Pics

Adult plate

Kids Plate

 

[dundeehunter]

Nicole,
I'm glad you are writing this report...even though we work together and see each other almost every day...this is a hoot!
God, If people only knew your family...I can hear your boys saying all your quotes!

Keep up the good work. Just to let you know...97 days and counting for my trip...I know 11 months yada yada yada for your bounce back trip!

See you at work!
Your disney dork, police ticklely friend!

 

[nikandboys]

Liberty Tree Tavern for Lunch
Following a morning of "How come I don't get to pick the ride", "whatever you want to do", and "I a NOT going on Space Mountain again". Everyone was hungry. We had late ADRs but I decided we should try to get in early following a minor melt down because Stinky was not picked by his idol and best friend Captain Jack Sparrow for pirate training. We checked in at the podium, got our pager and went to the bathroom to get away from my loving family for a few minutes. I come out to find them all quietly sitting in the waiting room. Yeah! they calmed down. Mom and Wm are still coughing but not doing to bad yet. Our pager goes off and we are seated. Unfortunately we are seated on one of those long bench seats where you get to sit next to other diners. Crud, I like to have my mini breakdowns privately. The problem with traveling with me is that I have our meals kind of planned even to the point of what should be ordered. There was some discussion as to what appetizers should be ordered and I kinda had issues here. I know Josh would want the fried cheese, he doesn't get an appie so hubby should just read my mind and order it. Unfortunately Wm left his psychic abilities in Wisconsin and a discussion occurred in which two orders of fried cheese and a salad were ordered and I needed another lemonaid and 2 aspirin. No pics of the appies as I was crabby, but the family liked them. Josh didn't like the nuggets but liked the sticks, Mom liked all, Wm liked the cheese but not the marinara, Stinky thought they were OK. I am a cheese snob, coming from the home of Sargento, Sartori, Bordens, and Bakers cheese, so these were Ok. No squeeking. If you know curds, you know what I am talking about! While we were eating a family sat down next to us (this is why I don't like bench seats) and they have a CM guide who happens to know EVERYTHING about everything. UGH he was sooooo annoying. But Anyhoo...I did enjoy the Declaration Salad, I think I needed the crunch!

Wm had the "New England Pot Roast... Our Tavern Keeper's Favorite - braised beef in a cabernet wine and mushroom sauce served with mashed potatoes and garden vegetables" It looked gross, but Wm said it was Ok. Josh liked the meat as he didn't like his Mac-n -Cheese. The mac-n-cheese had a funny texture so I didn't give him a hard time about it.

Mac-n-cheese

Mom had the "Colony Salad - Washington apples, sweet pecans and applewood smoked cheddar and grilled chicken tossed with field greens in honey shallot vinaigrette" whiched she liked but she had a hard time finding the pecans. The dressing was light and not overpowering at all. Was to much food though. She at till stuffed and still didn't look like she touched the salad.

Stinky had the kids Pizza. Ok but too much sauce for him. He would eat pizza made with just cheese and crust.

I had "William Penn Chicken Pasta -- applewood smoked bacon, mushrooms, marinated chicken, and basil with a creamy marinara". I really liked the sauce, couldn't taste the bacon, avoided the fungus, and tolerated a bit of the overcooked chicken. Overa;; I would still get it cause I really liked that sauce.

Desserts...Wm didn't want his and mom and I split one so we let the boys have the adult "Three-Chocolate Brownie - dark, milk and white chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream " Josh was in chocolate heavan, Stinky was mad that there was chocolate sauce over the whole thing. He is a purist..he wanted a brownie on one plate and a bowl of ice cream. I tried the brownie and it was good and dark. yummy

Mom and I split "Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake -- vanilla cake with a gooey toffee filling and caramel sauce " We really liked this. Even Wm liked it as he tried a few bites. Definately a "get again"

I apologize for the few pics with bites taken already, very hard to keep my ravenous family from diving in.

hanks DundeeHunter for the kind words...You are my best Disney friend.

 

[Sandy321]

I want to add my condolences on your loss, I'm sure I cant imagine how your family must feel, but I do hope somehow this Disney adventure helped to begin the healing - and I so appreciate that you took the time to give -

now, how funny - and I thought I had the only stubborn child!!

but, please, I wish to thank you most sincerely for the pictures of the food - ESPECIALLY the ones with bites missing - it adds to my knowledge of what is inside!!

and I have to add one more for your comment on cheese -

you cheesehead you - so I suppose you are a Packer fan - drat that Favre anyway!!