I Found the Funnel Cake, but Where is the Chocolate Covered Pineapple? Updated 10/21

[ariane37]

But, now that DH is open to signatures and kids are more adventurous eaters, there are more places open to us.

I am DYING to try more signatures! The only one we've done is HBD, which all 4 of us loved and we're returning there on our trip later this month (11 days) Unfortunately, the menus at the others don't seem to have things that both DS's will eat. DS8 is pretty easy going but DS12 is extremely picky. Usually I ignore that and tell him too bad, he has to try something new lol, but for the price of signatures I hate to have to feed him somewhere else afterwards

 

[bangzoom6877]

I am DYING to try more signatures! The only one we've done is HBD, which all 4 of us loved and we're returning there on our trip later this month (11 days) Unfortunately, the menus at the others don't seem to have things that both DS's will eat. DS8 is pretty easy going but DS12 is extremely picky. Usually I ignore that and tell him too bad, he has to try something new lol, but for the price of signatures I hate to have to feed him somewhere else afterwards

We also enjoyed HBD. We just did the Fantasmic! Dinner Package there a couple of weeks ago and it was really good. It was nice to enjoy a full 3-course dinner at a signature. The lamb entree was fantastic. We also ate at Flying Fish and Jiko and we really loved both. Flying Fish is our favorite of the 3. DH and I each ended up getting an appetizer, entree and dessert which we usually don't do, but the food was so good and so worth it. Service was also excellent. I wonder if they would let your DS12 order off the kids' menu because they had some pretty basic stuff available. My DS7 had just plain pasta, but he had a good amount of my appetizer with me (fried shrimp and calamari, and they gave a lot!). They do try to work with picky eaters, so maybe it would work out?

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

We ar trying a few new and a few old we like - we love CP and Akershus (DD likes the characters too) so we are doing those again. But we are trying the H&V bfast since she secretly wants to meet Sophia and Doc McStuffins (but would kill me if she knew I publicly told someone ). Also trying Tusker House and BOG dnner. We may end up ditching Ohana for 50s Prime Tine instead - also considering the possibilty of the Wave for a change of pace.

We used to do CP and Akershus, but the DS wants no character meals. Between being 15, a boy and autistic, he wants nothing to do with them anymore. Well, at least I got them in while he was younger. But while we liked them well enough, they are on the "yeah, we'll probably go back to them someday list". I don't want to give too much away from my report, but BOG is not off our list. Tusker house falls under the first section as well, character meal. My whole family really has NO interest in the wave. I have heard conflicting reports about it, so I am leary of putting money out for it.

I am DYING to try more signatures! The only one we've done is HBD, which all 4 of us loved and we're returning there on our trip later this month (11 days) Unfortunately, the menus at the others don't seem to have things that both DS's will eat. DS8 is pretty easy going but DS12 is extremely picky. Usually I ignore that and tell him too bad, he has to try something new lol, but for the price of signatures I hate to have to feed him somewhere else afterwards

Have a fantastic trip! We want to do more sigs. Since both the kids will try something, I am the one that has to be satisfied. My DS will try the oddest things that I think he would never go for, but more power to him! DD will go for a steak if nothing else catching her eye. I just have to know to budget for that. And since we are on vacation there, she can have as many steaks as I can afford!!!

 

[bangzoom6877]

We used to do CP and Akershus, but the DS wants no character meals. Between being 15, a boy and autistic, he wants nothing to do with them anymore. Well, at least I got them in while he was younger. But while we liked them well enough, they are on the "yeah, we'll probably go back to them someday list". I don't want to give too much away from my report, but BOG is not off our list. Tusker house falls under the first section as well, character meal. My whole family really has NO interest in the wave. I have heard conflicting reports about it, so I am leary of putting money out for it. Have a fantastic trip! We want to do more sigs. Since both the kids will try something, I am the one that has to be satisfied. My DS will try the oddest things that I think he would never go for, but more power to him! DD will go for a steak if nothing else catching her eye. I just have to know to budget for that. And since we are on vacation there, she can have as many steaks as I can afford!!!

The signature restaurants definitely have some great steaks! I loved the filet mignon at Jiko. It was very well seasoned, but at the same time the seasoning was not overpowering, it just brought out the flavor of the steak.

The way I figure out our dining budget it to look at all the menus of where we are going to eat, and I add up 3 different amounts...how much it would cost for the most expensive items on the menu if DH and I both do 3 courses, how much it would cost for the least amount of food we would order, using the lowest priced items from the menu, and what I realistically think we would order (like sharing an appetizer and dessert with DH). It's funny, when is add up the numbers for the most expensive choices on the menu, and using the TIW card and also factoring in the $100 cost of the TIW card, it still comes out to less money than the deluxe dining plan for the 4 of us. And when we got our statement on the morning we checked out, that sure did show! We spent a lot less on food than we would have spent using the deluxe dining plan. The regular basic DDP doesn't fit into our eating patterns since we dine mainly at TS restaurants.

It takes some time of course to add up all the numbers I add up, but it is totally worth it to have an idea of what we will be spending. I also enjoy doing it, which is a plus!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Just found your thread and subbing in. Looks like you are off to a good start. Good choice with Krystal burger. We don't have one either and I always looks for an opportunity to find one. Definitely seeks like ohana has been going down as of late. We typically don't do ADRs more than a few hours in advance, so ohana doesn't come up often. Think we may try and hit up Kona next trip as I've read the wings and pot stickers are the same. Think I'd rather eat a selection of items of my own choosing vice a preset menu.

Just so you know the wings at Kona Cafe are different from the wings at Ohana. When we had dinner at Kona a couple of weeks ago, we wanted the wings as an appetizer and the chef informed us that they are fried in the same oil as shellfish (DS9 is allergic to shellfish, tree nuts and peanuts). The chef offered us the same wings as they serve at Ohana since those are baked. But DS9 didn't want any wings anyway so DH, DS7 and I just shared the appetizer. They were so good! I like them better than the wings at Ohana. I highly recommend them!

 

[ariane37]

We also enjoyed HBD. We just did the Fantasmic! Dinner Package there a couple of weeks ago and it was really good. It was nice to enjoy a full 3-course dinner at a signature. The lamb entree was fantastic. We also ate at Flying Fish and Jiko and we really loved both. Flying Fish is our favorite of the 3. DH and I each ended up getting an appetizer, entree and dessert which we usually don't do, but the food was so good and so worth it. Service was also excellent. I wonder if they would let your DS12 order off the kids' menu because they had some pretty basic stuff available. My DS7 had just plain pasta, but he had a good amount of my appetizer with me (fried shrimp and calamari, and they gave a lot!). They do try to work with picky eaters, so maybe it would work out?

I could always try this. Last time we had the DDP DS8 would order off the adult menu an DS12 usually ordered off the kids, so it evened out even though technically they were using each others' meals lol. But, then DS12 is hungry an hour later since the kids portions are so small. I suppose if we're not on the dining plan and they let him order off the kids menu, some placed may give him an adult portion of the kids meal.....something to think about, thanks!

 

[ariane37]

We used to do CP and Akershus, but the DS wants no character meals. Between being 15, a boy and autistic, he wants nothing to do with them anymore. Well, at least I got them in while he was younger. But while we liked them well enough, they are on the "yeah, we'll probably go back to them someday list". I don't want to give too much away from my report, but BOG is not off our list. Tusker house falls under the first section as well, character meal. My whole family really has NO interest in the wave. I have heard conflicting reports about it, so I am leary of putting money out for it.




Have a fantastic trip!

Thank you!

 

[ach222]

great start to your DR - can't wait to read more!

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

great start to your DR - can't wait to read more!

and thank you! I should have another update up later today. Glad you found my report and are enjoying it.

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Satuday, July 19th. We had a family party that we were at all day long. We have no Disney dining that day. It was great to see all my family members that live in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. We had a great day. This was the original reason we went to Florida in July, as we are normally an August traveling family.
My niece graduated high school, turned 18, and is going away to college so my Sister threw 1 big party for the whole deal. Much fun and merriment was had by all.
The only thing Disney that we did that day was to buy a refillable mug for the length of stay. For the entire stay I would say we filled it up at least 15 times. If each drink was say $2.69 x 15 = $40.35. We paid $19.16 including tax. I say we got our monies worth.

Onto our first park day, Sunday, July 20th, Magic Kingdom.
So, if you read the post where I list my original line-up, it says that we should be attending breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. Well, like I called it, that was the Original line-up. I read Jerseytinkerbell’s dinning report where she and her DH dined at Trail’s End and thoroughly enjoyed it and I posed that as an option to my family. I showed them the pictures from her report and told them what she had to say. They were open to it, but, since the original choice was by specific request of DD, we had to have her ultimate approval or risk a HUGE FULL DAY MELTDOWN!! (if you think I am kidding, have you raised an 11 year old girl lately???) She was totally down with the idea. Sweet!
So we booked that and knew we had to make special arrangements to get there. We had a car but didn’t want to drive after a long day in the park, so we opted for the bus to MK then take a boat to FT. Wilderness. Well bus fine, boat, not so fine. At that hour, the boats aren’t operational for the day. So, now what? We go and ask a CM. We had to then take a bus to Wilderness Lodge, then we had to wait for another bus to come to take us to Ft. Wilderness Campgrounds. Well, 25 minutes later, we arrived and walked the shortish distance to the restaurant. It probably would have taken the same amount of time if we had driven. So drama aside, now we get down to the food.
Ken was our server and he took our drink orders. He was a very sweet older gentleman. I told him about my allergies and he said the chef would be out in a minute to talk with me about them. The rest of the family went up to grab their first plates while I waited.
The chef talked to me and told me I had nothing to worry about as they don’t even have avocado in the building and they only have green tea for hot tea (which I don’t like anyway). He did mention that those were the oddest allergies that he had ever heard of and chuckled. Really?
So the first plate is DD’s. She had strawberry yogurt with fresh fruit, a fresh donut hole, scrambled eggs, a sausage with sausage gravy, and bacon.

Next was DS’s plate. He had a pulled pork eggs benedict, scrambled eggs, and a platter of bacon (boy loves his bacon!)

Next was DH’s. He had the pulled pork egg benedict, regular egg benedict, sausage and salmon

My plate consisted of breakfast potatoes and scrambled eggs both covered in sausage gravy, bacon, and hash (it had steak in it).

DH went back for the hash and potatoes and some yogurt.

DS went back for the regular eggs benedict, more bacon, a donut hole, and a biscuit.

DD got more donut holes!

Here are some of our beverages. Love that they are in mason jars!

I will finish this in the next post as I have too many pictures to do all in one. Stay tuned to find out what we thought of this place and all the buffet and décor pictures.

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Here are some pictures of the buffet line and restaurant décor.

So, what did we think? What were the winners and were there any losers?
Yogurt was a clear winner, eggs were great, with and without sausage gravy. Sausage gravy was wonderful. Donut holes were sweet, soft and warm. They tasted very fresh. The hash was phenomenal! DH and DS like the regular eggs benedict but NOT the pulled pork ones. Neither one like the flavor of the pork with the hollandaise sauce, said it didn’t work together. We all love Disney bacon.
Would we go back for breakfast? Yes we really liked it. It would get a 4 out of 5 from us. Ken was sweet and very good at what he does, which would be why he has been around for 36 years! I used my Disney Visa to get the 10% discount that they offer at this location. We paid $61.31 + tip (saving $6.40 with Visa card). If we had gone to Chef Mickey’s it would have cost us approximately $161 + tip. We saved about $100 and loved it. Yes, it is a little out of the way, but it was much quieter, good food and much better price, so to me it was worth it. I would recommend it. Thanks Jeri for the tip. We disagree about the pulled pork eggs benedict, but agree about everything else. (I have no opinion on the ppeb since I didn’t even try the ones the boys ate)

Up next, BOG

 

[Dislover1991]

Did they have oatmeal at Trails End? I may need to find time to fit in an ADR there!

 

[kastoney]

What an awesome meal and pics. Despite the long trip, it looks like trails end is well worth it. I'd read jerseys dining report too and think we may venture that way next trip. You may have just put the venture over the top ; )

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Did they have oatmeal at Trails End? I may need to find time to fit in an ADR there!

glad to have you reading along. I honestly don't remember seeing it, but, I don't eat it so I wouldn't be looking for it. I don't see it in any of my pictures but I may have missed an item or 2. Sorry. I would go again in a heartbeat! It had enough sweet and savory to satisfy just about anyone. The fresh fruit was very fresh and nothing sat very long at all, even though the restaurant was only 1/2 full the entire time we were there!

What an awesome meal and pics. Despite the long trip, it looks like trails end is well worth it. I'd read jerseys dining report too and think we may venture that way next trip. You may have just put the venture over the top ; )

Kari, It is so worth the trip. We only missed the boat by apparently 5 minutes. We took the boat from the campground to the Magic Kingdom. It was a nice trip that didn't take too long. We knew that even if we took our car, there was a special lot for that and we would have had to take an interior bus to the building anyway. So no matter how we went it would have taken some time. We just had our route mapped out and it threw us for a small curve. But all the CM's were very helpful to get us there. And we had allowed enough time and were still early to our ADR! We had fun getting there!

 

[nfggirl5454]

Just subscribing! I've been to Trail's End for dinner but need to check breakfast out sometime. The distance makes it hard for early in the morning, and I've never stayed at the lodge or the campgrounds. I have a dinner reservation lined up for Ohana in December, and if that salad isn't available, I think we'll have a problem - my sister absolutely loves it. And yay for trying new places on the way down! I live in Florida, and I really like Zaxby's, their chicken, their fries, their Zax sauce, all delicious.

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip

 

[bangzoom6877]

Trail's End looks awesome! I could see where your DH and DS are coming for a a far as hollandaise and pulled pork together...though I've never had them together, in my mind they just don't go together. I'm considering Trail's End for dinner on our next trip, but the transportation is a thought. We would be driving, but how much time to allow is the main question. Is it possible to walk to the restaurant from the parking lot?

 

[vettegirl]

Holy cow that buffet looks amazing!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Just subscribing! I've been to Trail's End for dinner but need to check breakfast out sometime. The distance makes it hard for early in the morning, and I've never stayed at the lodge or the campgrounds. I have a dinner reservation lined up for Ohana in December, and if that salad isn't available, I think we'll have a problem - my sister absolutely loves it. And yay for trying new places on the way down! I live in Florida, and I really like Zaxby's, their chicken, their fries, their Zax sauce, all delicious.

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip

It does make it a bit of a puzzle to get there. But, honestly, it is so worth it. We were not aware that the salad was gone. Those lettuce things just showed up. I wonder if our jaws were on the floor and what that server thought watching our reactions.

Trail's End looks awesome! I could see where your DH and DS are coming for a a far as hollandaise and pulled pork together...though I've never had them together, in my mind they just don't go together. I'm considering Trail's End for dinner on our next trip, but the transportation is a thought. We would be driving, but how much time to allow is the main question. Is it possible to walk to the restaurant from the parking lot?

DH and DS thought it sounded like a great combo of flavors, but their pallets didn't like the combo. I will say that if you are going in your car, you don't walk, you must take an interior bus. My parents did that. It can take up to 20 minutes depending on when the previous bus left. It didn't take them that long, they said it was about 10 minutes. I think that the cost savings from other buffets on property is worth the transportation extras. (IMHO)

Holy cow that buffet looks amazing!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

It was amazing! The only thing that we didn't like was those pulled pork eggs benedict. But Jeri, Jerseytinkerbell, loved them. So it all depends on your pallet. The amount of money you save is great, while still being able to eat til you are full. I would go right now, if I could!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Thanks for the transportation advice! It's definitely on my list of places to try in the future. Maybe we could do dinner there on our next trip and make a night of it with the campfire at Ft. Wilderness. That sounds like it would completely be worth it, along with the cost savings as you pointed out.

 

[ariane37]

That breakfast buffet does look awesome!! We were going to do Trail's End for dinner this trip but ended up making a reservation for HDDR, and I've read that the food is similar so I scrapped the TE dinner. We'll have a car, so maybe we'll venture over for breakfast one morning You said the restaurant was only about half full, and I think I've also read you don't necessarily need a reservation there