Here's what a little PIXIE DUST can do ....... a dining review+pics COMPLETED!!!!!

[lindsey clare]

karin, you are killing me with all the amazing shrimp photos! that shrimp trio looks fabulous... a little too buttery perhaps, so i can completely understand why you couldn't finish that dish!

 

[dizneeat]

Those Red Lobster cheddar biscuits really are great! Everything looked wonderful.
I'm very eager to read your Wolfgang Puck's Express review- we are going there in 7 weeks!

We only "discovered" Red Lobster last year and it was such a good meal - the biscuits are heavenly and their seafood is too!
Wolfgang Puck is coming right up - we LOVE it and go there OFTEN! If you check out my previous trip reports you will find lots of WPE reviews

karin, you are killing me with all the amazing shrimp photos! that shrimp trio looks fabulous... a little too buttery perhaps, so i can completely understand why you couldn't finish that dish!

I just love shrimp and I am ashamed to say I had shrimp the next day as well. So brace yourself!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 7, Aug 21

Lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express

We had a very early breakfast at the hotel restaurant buffet, which looked exactly like the one we had our second day. We checked out of the hotel at 8.15 and were on our way to Orlando at 8.30. It is a long boring drive and we were counting down the rest stations. We stopped once to have a drink and a cookie but we wanted to get to Walt Disney World as early as possible.
When we were about a half hours drive from WDW I called our friends Mary Ellen and Joe, who had flown in that morning if they had arrived safely. They were already waiting for us at the CBR.

No more stops and a short time later we went through the famous sign!

We picked up Mary Ellen and Joe, and went back to Caribbean Beach's Customs House to check in. I had booked both our rooms with my AP discount and we therefore needed to check in together. After picking up all our paper work, including the one for our cruise we went back to the car and drove over to DTD to enjoy our first lunch together.

When we arrived the place was packed and there was even a long line to order your food. We have never had that happen before! But the line moved fast and we quickly were able to order our first DDP CS!

We both have favourites there and are longing for them all year round, so when we got there we HAD TO order those favourites.

Tom ordered his all time favourite - the Rotisserie BBQ Beef, Fire-Roasted Focaccia Melt - Slices of house-roasted Niman Ranch rotisserie beef, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and Wolfgang's signature BBQ sauce, topped with mozzarella, rolled in warm, all-natural garlic focaccia bread, served with homemade chips and some green leaves.
I tried it and it was as good as we remembered it. The beef is so tender and the taste of it together with the other components is just amazing.

Mary Ellen had ordered the Roasted Chicken and Mash, but she had dug into it before I was able to take a picture.

Joe had the Pepperoni and Mushroom Pizza - mozzarella and Grana Padano Parmesan with tomato-basil garlic sauce, which he loved.

I always love the Four Cheese Pesto Pizza - creamy goat cheese, mozzarella, fontina and Parmesan with Roma tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic-basil pesto sauce and sun dried tomatoes, so this is what I had. It is a rather heavy pizza with all that cheese, but it is just SO good. I was so happy I was so hungry and I nearly finished off the whole pizza. But I had to save room for dessert.

Joe and Mary Ellen had gotten a fruit cup and a cookie, but there is only one thing Tom and I order when we go there. Don't get me wrong, we have tried them all, their cookies are freshly made and really yummy, the brownie is chewy, moist and yummy and the frozen yoghurt with toppings is so good too, but I love ....................

their Creme Brulee! It is so silky and creamy and always perfect. I very often order Creme Brulee, but this is by far my favourite!

Was the DDP worth it?
Paid for DDP (2 people, 2 nights) $ 160,-
WPE $ 41, 70
$ 160 - $ 41, 70 = $ 118,30

Next up - Ghirardelli ice-cream sundaes

 

[Tarheel Tink]

Tom's rotisserie BBQ beef meal! OMG! That immediately got added to my list! Great photos!

 

[dizneeat]

Tom's rotisserie BBQ beef meal! OMG! That immediately got added to my list! Great photos!

I am trying to do my best with the photos, unfortunately they don't always turn out well!

 

[dizneeat]

Still day 7, Aug 21

After our lunch we went to check out DTD and waited for our phone calls from Disney that our rooms would be ready.
Mary Ellen and Joe were waiting for their CM friend who was giving them tickets for the parks for the next day and Tom and I needed to renew our APs.
When we came back from Guest relations Kryss (the CM) had joined Mary Ellen and Joe and we decided to have an ice-cream sundae at Ghirardelli's.

Kryss and Joe dug into their ice-cream before I could even reach for my camera but Mary Ellen let me take a photo of her sundae.

She had the Haight AshBerry - Very Berry Sundae - strawberry cheesecake ice cream smothered with sliced strawberries under a layer of blueberry cheesecake ice cream, blueberry topping, whipped cream, our chocolate-covered blueberries and a chocolate dipped waffle roll. Well, what can I say - it must have been good - she finished it!!

Tom and I were still stuffed from lunch, so we decided to share a sundae.

We had The Gold Rush - Peanut Butter Hot Fudge Sundae - Vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and melted peanut better throughout. Topped with whipped cream, roasted peanut halves, cherry and Ghirardelli Squares milk chocolate. I have lately developed my love for all things peanut butter, so this was just up my alley. But beware this thing is huge! The two of us had trouble finishing it, even though we both loved it!

We paid OOP for that, so no DDP calculation.

Next up - dinner at Kona Cafe.

 

[SurfinTX]

That Strawberry Cheescake sundae...that will be my precious. Good to see you have made it to Orlando with little to no fuss.

 

[dizneeat]

That Strawberry Cheescake sundae...that will be my precious. Good to see you have made it to Orlando with little to no fuss.

Now, let's go and eat some more!

 

[wdwfanatic316]

Love your reviews! Can't wait for more!

 

[dizneeat]

Love your reviews! Can't wait for more!

I am so glad you like them! Just working on the next installment, should be up real soon!

 

[dizneeat]

.......... and still day 7, Aug 21

Before we headed back to the resort we made a short stop at Publix to buy a few drinks we wanted to take on the cruise.

Finally we went back to the resort and checked out our rooms. We had asked for connecting rooms and we got them. Tom and I even had a corner room - two windows, yeah!!!!

Here are a few pix of the room! I love those new Pirate rooms!

After we had settled in and I had found them, Mary Ellen was given her birthday presents and we had fun just hanging out in the room. We then decided that we needed to walk around the resort, so we did.

By 8pm we drove over to the Polynesian for our 8.40 dinner ADR. When we arrived the rest of the party, Mary Ellen's brother Vinny, his girlfriend Susan and her daughter Olivia, had already checked us in and we were just waiting to be called. And that's what we did, we waited ........ and waited ......... and waited. After an hour's wait and several families with our "head count" who had arrived long after us, had been seated, Joe and Susan went over to sort things out. They claimed not to have had a table our size, but at least two families of 7 or 8 had been seated by then, and they had ALL arrived later than we had. After an hour and 10 minutes we were finally seated - 7 people at a 6 top!! We were all NOT very happy by then, but we were hungry!

From here on it went quite well. We had a fun and fast server, who promptly took our drinks orders and brought out the welcome bread and macademia nut butter. They were all so hungry and everyone dug into the bread before I could take a photo.

5 of us ordered the Teriyaki-style New York Strip - sirloin strip grilled with pineapple teriyaki glaze served with mashed Yukon gold potatoes and stir-fried broccolini, cooked to different stages, from medium rare to well done. Unfortunately the only photo I have of it came out VERY blurry, so I won't post it.

Here is what Tom and I decided on.

Tom had the Miso Glazed Mahi-mahi - served with soba noodles and baby bok choy. He definitely is the adventurous eater in the family!
I tried it and it was very nice. The Mahi-mahi was moist and tender and the noodles and bok choy were tasty. He cleaned his plate.

I had an old favourite of mine, the Shrimp and Scallops - panko breaded shrimp and pan-seared scallops with sticky rice and ponzu, spicy guava-passion fruit and wasabi cream sauces. I love this dish. The shrimp are really big and the breading is crisp on the juice shrimp. The scallops were cooked to perfection. Seared on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside - yum. Needless to say - I cleaned my plate too!

Since we were on the DDP, we were in for dessert.

Vinny, Susan and Olivia had the Kilauea Torte - sorry no photo.

But here are two others we had for you!

Mary Ellen had A Sweet Ending to Your Celebration... White Chocolate Cheesecake - Cheesecake with a hint of white chocolate, strawberry coulis, and whipped cream. I did not try it and I know she LOVES cheesecake and she said it was very good.

Tom and I had the Chocolate Fondue. Warm chocolate ganache and fruit and maccaroons and crispy cookies to dip into it! What else can a chocolate lover want, ! Well, it was SO good. The fruit were flavourful and full of juice and the cookies were just perfect to go with the chocolate. We loved it!

Since dinner had taken so long, we all decided to skip EMH at the MK and just go back to the resort.

Was the DDP worth it?
Paid for DDP (2 people, 2 nights) $ 160,-
Left over amount paid $ 118,30
Kona Cafe: $ 66,20
$ 118,30 - $ 66,20 = $ 52,10

Next up - lunch at the Cantina de San Angel.

 

[wbarkhur]

I am really enjoying your reviews. Great job!!

 

[Christine9125]

Still day 7, Aug 21

After our lunch we went to check out DTD and waited for our phone calls from Disney that our rooms would be ready.
Mary Ellen and Joe were waiting for their CM friend who was giving them tickets for the parks for the next day and Tom and I needed to renew our APs.
When we came back from Guest relations Kryss (the CM) had joined Mary Ellen and Joe and we decided to have an ice-cream sundae at Ghirardelli's.

Kryss and Joe dug into their ice-cream before I could even reach for my camera but Mary Ellen let me take a photo of her sundae.

She had the Haight AshBerry - Very Berry Sundae - strawberry cheesecake ice cream smothered with sliced strawberries under a layer of blueberry cheesecake ice cream, blueberry topping, whipped cream, our chocolate-covered blueberries and a chocolate dipped waffle roll. Well, what can I say - it must have been good - she finished it!!

Tom and I were still stuffed from lunch, so we decided to share a sundae.

We had The Gold Rush - Peanut Butter Hot Fudge Sundae - Vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and melted peanut better throughout. Topped with whipped cream, roasted peanut halves, cherry and Ghirardelli Squares milk chocolate. I have lately developed my love for all things peanut butter, so this was just up my alley. But beware this thing is huge! The two of us had trouble finishing it, even though we both loved it!

We paid OOP for that, so no DDP calculation.

Next up - dinner at Kona Cafe.

I have to haved The Gold Rush, that looks awesome after a sandwich at Earls'

 

[KatMark]

Awesome updated...great pics!

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

Goodness, Key West was so lovely I would have been almost sad to leave for WDW. Almost!

 

[dizneeat]

I am really enjoying your reviews. Great job!!

Thank you! Glad to have you here!

I have to haved The Gold Rush, that looks awesome after a sandwich at Earls'

Awesome updated...great pics!

Thank you! But wait until our food at Palo! We had two dinners there and one brunch and it was heaven on earth, well ..... on a cruise ship,

Goodness, Key West was so lovely I would have been almost sad to leave for WDW. Almost!

I actually WAS sad leaving Key West ! But the thought of WDW didn't let that feeling linger very long!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 8, Aug 22

Lunch at Cantina de San Angel

Tom and I had an early start after munching a few Oreo cookies and sipping some Coke. We had signed up for the meet of the "Tagrel" group to go "Soarin'" together. The Tags were the group we went on the cruise with, so you are going to hear more of them.

Here are some impressions of the meet.

After the meet we had some time to kill before the WS opened and so we just enjoyed a picture perfect morning.

Once WS opened we started our quest to try food from different countries. Mexico was first ....

We tried a burrito (I think ), that came with rice and refried black beans. I don't get to eat much mexican food, so I do not have anything to compare it with, but I thought it was nice, but nothing to write home about. Good theme park food.

Here's the whole tray. We got two diet cokes - I paid OOP for the second one and a churro for dessert. That churro was dry and hard and seemed to be a leftover from the day before. I have had MUCH better ones before.

Was the DDP worth it?
Paid for DDP (2 people, 2 nights) $ 160,-
Left over amount paid $ 52,10
Cantina de San Angel: $ 14,80
$ 52,10 - $ 14,80 = $ 37,30

Next up - more food at Sunshine Seasons

 

[ennisb]

Thanks so much for taking the time to post the reviews and photo's. I just can't wait to head down again and enjoy it all.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

30 days?!?!

I have so enjoyed your previous reviews so can't wait for this round! Marking my place and looking forward to coming back and reading it all!

 

[schatterjee]

Always love your reviews - thank you for taking the time!