If Mickey Cooks It, We Will Come.. And Eat It! (NEW: WCC, Tea, RFC, CM's, & More)

Hi all. I'm working on the LTT review now. Should be up in a few hours. Not feeling very well, so everything is slow going at the moment.

Great reviews. I love the gold pixie dust on the castle. You should post your cake pictures on the cake chatter thread. People would love to see pictures of your beautiful cake over there and to hear about your ordering experience. :)

Thanks! I especially liked the gold dust as well. I'll definitely take my pics and experience and post them in that thread when I get a chance. My DIS time right now is pretty much focused on these reviews. I wanted to get them finished quickly due to the rule, and the fact that I leave for another trip very soon!

I was going to whine about wanting a cake like that for my birthday...until I saw the price! Holy, moly! I'm not a fantastically talented cake decorator, but, given a castle mold I could make the whole cake for under $10. I guess their prices are meant to control the level of demand. Sigh. I wish I were one of the fine folk who can afford to spend that on a cake! It was beautiful!

The price is really horrifying, and I agree that part of it is probably not wanting to have a huge demand for cakes. Other part is most people are a bit of a captive audience. If you want a cake, you either get it from them in some form or trek out to a grocery store. Believe me, we can't afford cakes like this either, usually. Usually we spend between $15-$20 on birthday or Mother's Day cakes. It just counted as part of my birthday present, and also factored into our food budget. This was the second and probably last time I'll ever be in WDW on my birthday. It's fun, but twice was enough for me. Miss seeing other family back home.

Great reviews. :)
Thanks for reading!

Oo, I like your description of the Tonga Toast. So many people praise it, but you were so descriptive about it that I know now without ordering it that I would NOT like it. Some reviews make it seem as if everyone in the world will enjoy it, but you're very honest about it, and I appreciate that!
Glad it was helpful to you! As much as I love Disney, I aim to be honest about everything. As much as Pixie Dust is fab, I realize not everyone likes the same variety! :goodvibes Don't think it does much of anyone good to say "You will all love this!" when I know full well some people won't. Like with Chefs-- I love it, but if someone hates noise, I say skip it and go to Bistro.

In general, I'm the type to praise or criticize Disney as I see fit; pretty balanced in that regard, I think. Despite the amount of money the Mouse nabs from my wallet, I am no shill for Disney. ;)

Just found your thread. Gotta get caught up.

EoS looks very good. Might have to try it on the upcoming trip!

I hope you do get to try it! Lots of different options, so everyone should be able to find something they like! Thanks for reading!

It would actually help if I selected subscribe!

I think actually by just replying you're subscribed. That's how it used to be, unless they recently changed that. In which case, I'm behind the times! Not able to be on here as much as I used to be.

Great reviews and thanks for taking the time to finish it!

Thank you for taking the time to read it! Sorry it's taken so long. Between family emergencies and computer problems and photobucket issues, this has become a far more complicated project than I ever anticipated.
 
Day 4 Lunch: Liberty Tree Tavern


This trip I had really made an effort to try several new restaurants, and LTT was one of them. None of us had ever eaten here before, and I was looking forward to it. Had read some good reviews here on the DIS about the lunch menu, especially. Dinner does not interest me at all. If I want Stouffer's food, I'll go to my local grocery store's freezer section. When I'm on vacation, I want to (by and large) eat unusual things I can't get anywhere else. Hence why I avoid chain restaurants and outside fast food while there. I can get that stuff anywhere else, anytime else.

We were running behind after our Captain Cook's breakfast, and after a delay with the boat launch at Wilderness Lodge, we didn't even get to Magic Kingdom until maybe 15 minutes before our 1:45pm-ish ADR. So, we headed straight to Liberty Square and LTT.


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They were quite crowded, more than any of the other restaurants we'd been to, and we settled in for around a fifteen to twenty minute wait for a table. Here's part of the waiting area, looking out towards the entrance, and another looking towards the left:


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Once we were seated, we took a gander at the menu. Again, my mom and I already knew what we were ordering, the William Penne Chicken Pasta. My dad wasn't sure however. Apparently I forgot or didn't have time to take a pic of the back of the menu. But here is a pic of the front of the menu:


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The Reviews:

I was starting to feel really crabby and kind of "off" at this point, so I asked :earsgirl: if she and I could split an order of the William Penne Chicken Pasta. She was fine with that, but we decided to order an appetizer for all three of us as well, in case it wasn't enough food. We settled on the Tavern Fried Cheese, and :goofy: decided to order the two blue crab cakes appetizer as his entree.

I also ordered a Coke because I was feeling so strange. At this point, I thought it was leftover effects from the Tonga Toast. The glasses here are so cute. They have the LTT logo on one side, and Donald, Mickey, and Goofy dressed in Revolutionary Era garb on the other. Here's a pic of the LTT side:


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When our waitress returned, I remembered I wanted to get the Patriot's Punch so that I could get a mug to take home. It was a little over $8, and the drink was a mix of orange sherbet, Sprite, and lemonade. Pretty good, but I definitely wanted it for the mug and not the drink itself (which will be important later in this review, unfortunately). Here's a pic of the Punch with the character side of the mug showing:


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Our Tavern Fried Cheese arrived first, not too long after the drinks. I'm sure the long sticks were Mozzarella, and I think the bite-size pieces were some type of Cheddar. It came with marinara sauce, and current menus have it costing $5.49. Here's a pic:


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I love fried Mozzarella sticks. Really, I love cheese in general, as mentioned before. But I was underwhelmed by this. The bite size fried cheese I didn't care for at all. The marinara was on the cool side. And frankly I've had better fried Mozzarella sticks from Arby's than these. If I ever return to LTT, I would not order this again. :goofy: thought it was "Alright," but :earsgirl: agreed that it was not good enough to justify the cost. They got the portion right, I think, but the food itself was just not that good.

A while longer and our actual meals arrived. Thankfully, they went ahead and split the pasta into two different bowls so we didn't have to do it ourselves. William Penne Chicken Pasta cost $15.99, and is described as: Applewood smoked bacon, mushrooms, marinated chicken, and basil tossed in a creamy marinara sauce. Here is a pic of my serving first, and then the serving my mom received:


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It is better to get more for your money than not enough, but Disney continues to amaze me on the portion sizes. What amazes me even more is that one person can ever actually eat all of that! Half was even too much for me to eat!

I was utterly disappointed in this dish, but for a very specific reason. To me, the marinated chicken was incredibly spicy. To the average person, it probably wouldn't be at all. I tried a couple of pieces, and I realized there was no way I could eat it. It almost tasted like pepper might've been in it as well, because I got that familiar tingling feeling in my tongue that I get whenever I accidentally eat pepper (I'm mildly allergic). My solution to the problem was to just not eat the chicken. The pasta was great, liked the sauce, and the bacon and mushrooms were very yummy. Was a bummer though that I didn't get to eat the chicken and enjoy the dish as it's intended.

:earsgirl: didn't mind the chicken as much as I did, but she too thought it had a little spice to it. She liked her meal, but said it was too much to eat.

I don't see the blue crab cakes that my dad ordered on the current menu right now, so I'm going off of memory. I think they were around $8. Here's a pic:


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They came with some kind of bean dish (including lima beans) and some type of sauce. He's the seafood connoisseur of the family, and he really enjoyed them. Said it had a decent amount of crab in it, and it was fresh. Liked the fact that the cost wasn't bad, either. Enjoyed the beans.

Lastly, we decided to order a dessert to split. I had read on here about the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake, and thought that sounded good. So, we decided to try that. It's described as Vanilla cake with a gooey Toffee filling and caramel sauce, and it cost $5.


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Here's a pic of the inside of the cake:


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This was actually really good. It sounds nauseatingly sugary, but I didn't find it that bad. We split it between the three of us. I wish I could've eaten more of it! Hands down the best part of the meal. It tastes like Toffee, but not overpoweringly so. As long as you don't hate caramel or Toffee, you should be fine with this. I don't care for cake usually, but I still really enjoyed this. All three of us did, actually!

When they brought out the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake, they also brought me a cupcake with a lit candle, and sang the LTT birthday song. They also rang a bell beforehand and announced something like "All sons and daughters of Liberty, this young lady is celebrating her birthday on this day of May." Or something like that! The song was neat, and it was a nice memory. Mildly embarrassing, but fun. I can't comment on the cupcake; I couldn't eat it, so we took it back to the room to keep it in the fridge for later. Fast forward to today, and it's in my freezer at home as a souvenir.


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We then asked for the check. By this point, the restaurant was pretty much empty and everyone still eating lunch was almost finished.


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With fewer people around, you could really look around more. To me, LTT is like a Tavern in Williamsburg, VA. The rooms have different themes, with different photos and set props and such. If you've ever been to Williamsburg, this place is very much like that, right down to the clothes the staff wears. It's nice, although looking back on it, not quite sure why I chose this for lunch. I've been in that area a lot over the years, so this was not exactly a unique setting for me. I guess it really is mostly about the food for me when dining in WDW!

When our waitress brought us the check, she informed us they were out of mugs to sell, so she "only" charged us about $5.50 for the Patriot's Punch. I so wish I had complained about this. But I was feeling even stranger at that point and didn't. That was the entire reason I got the drink (which we did tell her). We should've been told beforehand, and they certainly have a lot of nerve saying that drink is worth that cost. I was not happy at all. And I still want my daggone mug! :sad2:


The Ratings:

Food: 3x :donald: I've had far worse food at WDW, but I've had better. I give the dessert a 5 star, though!

Atmosphere: 4x :donald: If I wasn't on Colonial Era overkill in regular life, I'd rate this higher. It's a nice representation of that time period though, and I enjoyed looking at all of the pictures, paintings and props. Like the waitstaff's costumes as well.

Cost: 3 and 1/2 x :donald: For the portion size, the pasta was fairly priced. The crab cakes were very reasonably priced for the quality. Dessert was great. It was the Punch and the Tavern Fried Cheese I thought were unfairly priced.


OVERALL: 3 and 3/4 x :donald: A good place for lunch, but not among my favorites at MK. If I go back, it will just be for dessert. And to try, once again, to get my darned mug.


Until Next Time!
~Sorcerer Donald~


Up Next: Dinner at the Plaza Restaurant!
 
Thanks for the review. I had been wodnering if dh and I could share one app, one entree and one dessert at LTT for lunch. I think the answer is yes! I'm curious to see how LTT compares to The Plaza.

Looking forward to the rest.:thumbsup2
 
Y'all will have to forgive me for being slow once again. I am still having horrible computer problems, particularly everything freezing for hours at a time when I try to open a new window or reply to a post. I plan on writing several more reviews tonight. Aiming to finish this by middle of next week, because I have another WDW trip rapidly approaching! Now, on with the show!


Day 4 Dinner: The Plaza Restaurant

Our ADR for The Plaza was, I believe, around 7:10pm. We got there right around 7pm. If you are facing the Castle, The Plaza is all the way at the end of Main Street, just around the righthand corner. Basically, if you go to the Ice Cream Parlor, hang a right at the corner and The Plaza is right there. Definitely not a large restaurant, so if you are sure you want to eat here, I'd say make an ADR well in advance. We had no problems getting an ADR a couple weeks in advance, but we also went in a slower time of year. The place does not hold many people at all.


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When we arrived, we were given a pager and told it would be at least a 35 minute wait. They were running incredibly behind. That was not welcome news, because at this point, I felt absolutely horrible and didn't feel like waiting around. But wait we did, because I really wanted to try their Cheese Steak Sandwich. Oddly enough, they aren't all that easy to find on WDW property. When I was looking over all of the menus when we were about to make ADRs, I think I only counted 3 places they were available at, with The Plaza being the only place they were available at in MK.

Since it was my birthday, when we arrived at the MK I had to choose what goody to get for the 2009 birthday promotion. I already had a multi-day hopper obviously, so didn't need free admission. That left it between the Fast Passes and the $75 (I think it was $75) gift card. Thank you, I'll take the gift card! While :goofy: waited for the pager to go off, :earsgirl: and I went window shopping on Main Street. I didn't know what to get, and I felt awful, so I didn't really enjoy this. Checked in with :goofy: two different times, and they still hadn't called us. Around 7:40pm, I figured they had to call us soon, so we all sat and waited outside The Plaza. Assuming things is never a good idea. By the time they actually paged us, it was 8:05pm. In their defense, they did apologize and gave us a "Valid at any ride" FastPass, which we used later on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Only had a 25 minute wait to begin with, but when you're rapidly getting sick, every little bit helps.

Finally, we were seated at a corner, partial booth and given menus. FYI, The booth is on one side, and chairs are on the other. Here are pictures of the view from our table, and the menu:


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Once again, :earsgirl: and I knew what we were ordering before we got there: The Cheese Steak sandwich, without the red peppers. :goofy: wasn't sure.



The Reviews:


As long as the wait was, at least our waiter was great. Prompt, attentive service. He took our order right away. Drinks (ice tea) were out within a couple minutes, and the food arrived about 15 minutes later. Not bad at all, considering how long the wait for a table was.

The Cheese Steak Sandwich at The Plaza is described as "Shaved Beef grilled, with Onions, Mushrooms, Red Peppers, and White American Cheese served on a Hoagie Roll." It, as all sandwiches at The Plaza, comes with fries. Menu price at the time was $11.49. :earsgirl: and I both ordered this without the peppers. Here is a pic of mine, and then a pic of hers:


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:earsgirl: and I had the same comment for this meal: Fabulous! Although, she was able to enjoy this a lot more than I could, seeing as my throat was on fire and I felt like I was about to croak. The beef was hot, with no fat in it that either of us could find. The onions were cooked and flavorful, but not to the point of being raw or greasy. Mushrooms had a good flavor to them as well; didn't seem like the canned type, seemed fresh. The cheese was nicely melted and plentiful as well. Roll was soft and hot. The fries were fab! Thick, not greasy, and a little crispy. Loved this meal. Cost wasn't bad at all, considering area restaurants here charge roughly $10 for the same type of sandwich, except they are only topped with cheese and onions.


:goofy: decided to order the Angus Chuck Cheeseburger. The menu described it as: "served on a Flour-dusted Kaiser roll with Lettuce, Tomato, and Onion. Choose from the following toppings: Cheddar, American Cheese, Bacon, Grilled Mushrooms, or Grilled Onions. Veggie Burgers available upon request." The price at that time was $11.99, and it also came with fries. Here's a pic of :goofy: 's burger:


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He stuck with lettuce, tomato, Cheddar cheese, bacon, pickles, and ketchup and mustard for his toppings. No mushrooms, no onions. He really enjoyed this. Said it was better than any WDW CS burger he'd eaten in the past. Juicy and hot, well cooked. Bacon wasn't greasy or too fatty. Also loved the fries for the same reasons we did-- crispy, thick, and not greasy.

The waiter brought us a dessert menu, but I didn't feel like eating anything else; no one did. But he was still very kind and brought me out a cupcake, saying he knew I didn't want dessert but thought I'd like it anyway and could take it with me. He led the restaurant in singing "Happy Birthday" to me. It was nice, and made me feel a little bit better than I felt. I wish I remembered his name; probably the best waiter we had all trip. Very tall Asian man, if anyone knows who that might be.

Here is my cupcake, which is also making a home in my freezer, haha:


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One complaint I had that was not the restaurant's fault-- Adults, if you have a small child with you, and y'all are sitting on one of those half-booth, half-tables and the child is on the booth side: For Pete's sake, stop them when they kick, walk, and crawl all over the booth right next to other diners! I don't know how many times I asked the child to my right to "Please stop" kicking and crawling and walking literally within 5 inches of me on the actual booth seat. She didn't, so :goofy: finally asked the adults with her very politely to tell her to stop. They just turned their noses up (literally) and ignored him. I love children. I fully understand WDW is a very exciting and overwhelming place for them. But that does not excuse parents or other adults to allow children to act like they were born and raised in a barn, just because they're in WDW. I honestly don't hold that child responsible either-- She looked like she was about 2. That falls on the adults at that age, IMO. /rant


By the time we left, the 9pm Spectro had just made it to that part of Main Street. Talk about a lengthy time for a simple dinner! All in all, it worked out though. After the 2nd Spectro ended, I used my gift card towards the bronze Partners statue replica, something I'd spotted just before heading back to The Plaza. Never would have bought that otherwise. So, if you have to wait a long time somewhere, at least Main Street isn't a bad place to have to do it!


The Ratings:

Food: 5x :donald: Perfect all around. Perfect sandwiches, perfect burger, perfect fries. I just wish more than a couple WDW eateries had sweet tea! Ordering unsweet tea that's already cold and then trying to get sugar to dissolve in it does not work so well. Their unsweet tea is good, but I hate having to try and fix sweet tea myself.


Atmosphere: 4x :donald: It's a nice restaurant, nicely and simply decorated. Lot of glass, so at times the noise can get kind of loud as it echoes off of the glass. If you get a table anywhere near the windows, you really can't go wrong. Just something special about eating on Main Street (in air conditioning, haha)!


Cost: 5x :donald: Prices are almost on par with area grills and restaurants, and I certainly don't live in a Mouse/Human Trap! Quality of food was high as well. Again, here you're just paying a few dollars more per person for food you can't get elsewhere easily, like the Cheese Steaks.


OVERALL: 4x :donald: Really enjoyed The Plaza. Did not enjoy the wait. I would've given it 5 Donalds had it not been for that.


Until Next Time!
~Sorcerer Donald~

Up Next: Day 5 Lunch at Tony's Town Square!

Thanks for the review. I had been wodnering if dh and I could share one app, one entree and one dessert at LTT for lunch. I think the answer is yes! I'm curious to see how LTT compares to The Plaza.

Looking forward to the rest.:thumbsup2

Thanks for reading! I would definitely say it's enough for two people, as long as y'all don't want a really big meal. I preferred LTT for theme, wait time, and the dessert menu; preferred The Plaza for the actual meal. If I had to choose just one to return to, I'd go with The Plaza.
 

Day 5 Lunch: Tony's Town Square Restaurant

Our fourth full day in WDW fell on a Sunday, which was (and still is) Evening Extra Magic Hours at MK. The plan had been to go to 'Ohana early that morning for breakfast, and then head to MK for a leisurely day and late night. Well, that certainly wasn't happening. By the time we had gotten back to Wilderness Lodge the previous night, I was feeling even worse. I couldn't even open all of my birthday presents, which says right there how awful I felt. :earsgirl: called to cancel and hopefully get another ADR for another day. Nothing. Booked solid the rest of our trip. Luckily, on our second to last full day, several times opened up on our last full day there, and we were able to get another ADR. Goes to show how important it is for people to cancel ADRs that they won't be using, if at all possible. If anyone here canceled that day, Bless YOU! I was so upset Sunday morning because of this and feeling so awful. We'd never eaten at 'Ohana before, and I was looking forward to it.

I honestly didn't think I was going to make it to our 2:45pm lunch ADR at Tony's either. But I took some Tylenol and went back to sleep. I felt better when I woke up, so I hoped I was slowly getting back to normal. In hindsight, I should've just stayed in the room. The monsoon rain started that evening and definitely made me worse. For those miffed with me for possibly spreading germs, I honestly thought I had a bad sinus infection. Became obvious the next day that it was some type of virus, and I only left the room to eat at that point.

We didn't arrive at Tony's until about 5 minutes to 3pm, thanks to me moving slowly and yet another delay at the Wilderness Lodge boat dock. If I had been moving quicker, it wouldn't have mattered. They barely agreed to take us, saying if we didn't order by 3pm, we wouldn't get any food. Funny thing though-- Others came up behind us and definitely ordered long after we did. They got their food, as did we.

Anyhow, Tony's is on the righthand side of Town Square. Basically, you enter the turnstiles, pass under the train station, and it's on your right. Look for the bench with the Goofy statue, and you're in the right area. The entrance is inside a shop; forgive me for not recalling the name. We loved this for lunch in 2008, and were very much looking forward to trying their pizzas again.


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Here are some pictures of the waiting area. Very nice, Victorian feel to the whole place.


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We were seated in the glassed-in sun room this time. The first time we ate here, we were seated by the Lady & the Tramp fountain. It was nice to eat in the sun room. We had a lot more light there, and we got to see some of the 3 o'clock parade! Here's a particular fave picture of mine from our table:


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We had another great waiter here, who promptly gave us menus, took our order, etc. The table had been decorated for my now-belated birthday. Our waiter was also celebrating that day; it was his anniversary. That was neat to know and be able to give him well wishes! Here is our table, the view from our table, and the menu (front-side only this time, sorry!):


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This was another place we knew exactly what we were getting before setting foot in the door. We ordered our drinks (Coca-Cola) and food (flatbread pizzas), and were served everything within 15 minutes.

The Reviews:

:earsgirl: and I ordered the Bianca Flatbread, something we had enjoyed immensely a year before. It is described on the menu as "A blend of five Cheeses, Garlic, Basil, and Oregano" and costs $11.99. Beware of some online menus' description of this-- For some reason, many list this as a mozzarella only flatbread. It is not. I remember reading at one point what exactly is in it, but can't remember now other than ricotta.

Here is a pic of mine. I don't have a pic of the one :earsgirl: got, but it looked almost exactly the same anyway.


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Both of us liked this better the trip before. The mixture of cheeses is great, giving it a bit of a sharp flavor. The spices are perfect. But it was extra greasy this time, both the flaky crust and on top of the cheese. The first time we ordered it, it was not greasy at all. There also wasn't as much cheese on it this time. If you order this, make sure you get a soda with it. It really is so much cheese that it can be somewhat nauseating, because it's so rich. I'm going to get it again this year, and hope last year was just a case of it being the last batch of pizzas made for the day. Which brings me to another point: If you want pizza at Tony's, you need to make a lunch ADR. They are not served during dinner.

All of us ordered the Bianca Flatbread in 2008, but this time :goofy: wanted to try something different. He had looked at my menu binder the night before, and decided he would go with the Tony's Flatbread. It is described on the menu as: "Smoked Chicken, Caramelized Onions, Fontina Cheese, Spinach, and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce." It cost $12.99. Here is a picture:


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He really liked this, much more than he liked the Bianca Flatbread the year before. Liked the combination of flavors and said it wasn't greasy. Different strokes for different folks, as they say. That combination of flavors, let alone in a pizza, sounds disgusting to me!

None of us felt like dessert, so we asked for our check, paid, and boogied on down to Tomorrowland to catch up on things we missed the previous day.


The Ratings:

Food: 3 and 3/4 x :donald: I would rate it higher if not for the grease factor. If I had done a review of Tony's the year before, it would have gotten 5 Donalds, I loved it so much. Fingers crossed this was a one time issue.


Atmosphere: 5x :donald: This place screams Disney to me more than almost any other restaurant on property. I would rank it only behind Cinderella's Royal Table for most "Disney" restaurant. Chef Mickey's would be third. It truly feels like you were inserted into the movie Lady & the Tramp, and that you're actually eating in Tony's restaurant. There are framed pictures from the film on the walls, Hidden Mickeys in bread loafs on display, the fountain, and so much more. Classic Disney.


Cost: 3x :donald: A couple years back we got flatbreads from California Grill cheaper than these, and they were slightly larger. Based on toppings, I think the cost for the Tony's Flatbread is fairer than the cost of the Bianca Flatbread. Basically, the Bianca is $0.50 more than my Cheese Steak sandwich and fries the previous night at The Plaza. From a comparative perspective, Tony's seems overpriced. However, perhaps they too know how awful CS pizza is and figured people are willing to pay more for a better, TS variety. They got that right!


OVERALL: 3 and 1/2x :donald: An okay-to-good meal here, but great atmosphere. Not as good as 2008, but still a great restaurant. Looking forward to returning and hopefully seeing it return to the high esteem I held it in before.

Until Next Time!
~Sorcerer Donald~

Up Next: Day 5 Snack at Auntie Gravity's in Tomorrowland!
 
Day 5 Snacks: Auntie Gravity's, Toontown Fair Hall of Fame Tent Candy Counter, and The Lunching Pad

Since my next three reviews are all snack reviews, I'll be doing this a little differently. All reviews will be in this post. Just look for the headlines dividing them. Now, on with the show!


Auntie Gravity's​


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After our Tony's ADR, we did some light shopping on Main Street. I felt even worse at that time, but we were trying to head over to Tomorrowland to play catch-up there and see the Stitch show, which I believe is now defunct. On the way there, I decided we'd make a pit stop at Auntie Gravity's in Tomorrowland. This is an ice cream and smoothie place with outdoor tables. Near Cosmic Ray's and the Speedway, if I recall correctly. Only outdoor seating, which looks like this:


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We try to get here every trip for the smoothies. They're the best we've found on WDW property in all of our travels.

The Reviews:

As usual, we got two of the Tropical Fruit Smoothies, one for me and one for :earsgirl: and :goofy: to share. The Tropical Fruit smoothie costs $3.99 a piece, and is a mixture of no-fat yogurt, orange, pineapple, mango, and passion fruit. Here is a pic of mine:


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This is just fabulous. If you don't like yogurt very much, IMO, you don't really taste it in this. I just taste the fruit. It's a great blend of flavors, and the smoothie isn't powdery like some are. Occasionally they're thin and runny, but not so this trip. Fairly thick, maybe a tad less than the ones at Earl were. Auntie Gravity's used to serve their smoothies in plastic cups with Mickey balloons and the castle all over it, but sadly that went the way of the wind around 2006, I believe. Still a great drink though! If I had to choose between Earl's smoothies and AG's, I go with AG's smoothies every time. Fair warning, this place can have a hefty wait right before fireworks. They also sometimes shut their machines off a good 15-20 minutes before they're supposed to close. We've seen this happen a couple times.


The Ratings:

Food: 5x :donald: Absolutely fabulous. Great smoothie.

Atmosphere: 4x :donald: For a CS location, this is neat. I enjoy people watching and listening to the Vroom Vroom (nod to Mike of Monsters Inc. fame) of the Speedway. Umbrellas are there and the side of the building provides some shelter from the sun.

Cost: 5x :donald: For the quality, and again in comparison to other menu items around WDW, fair price. I have to pay $0.50 more for a smaller, much lower quality smoothie in this area, unfortunately.

OVERALL:
5x :donald: Great location, good prices, great smoothies. Highly recommend it.


Toontown Fair Hall of Fame Tent Candy Counter​


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Later that evening, the mid-May monsoon of last year had started. We hadn't been through Toontown in a couple of years, but we headed that way to try and get the train to the front of the park in time for fireworks. And we thought the rain would let up. Wrong! It let up about a week later after we had left! We wound up stuck in the Hall of Fame for over an hour. After browsing around the merch, I happened upon a candy counter in the back of the tent, near the benches area, outside the exit to the Meet and Greets. As I said, I hadn't been in here in years, so I don't know how long this has been here. But it was a nice surprise! Here's a pic of the candy counter:


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The Reviews:


We got two pieces of fudge to take back to the room. I believe each one is either $2.95 or $3.95. I'm tempted to side with the $2.95 side of things. Memory's failing me on that, and I don't see the price anywhere online. We didn't actually eat these until we were back home. Too much food throughout the trip! We got a square of the Butterfinger fudge and a square of the Strawberry Cheesecake fudge. Butterfinger is on the top shelf, towards the right, with the crumbly brown and tan toppings. The Strawberry Cheesecake is roughly in the middle of the top shelf; it's the one that's pink on top. My dad doesn't really like fudge, so this was for my mom and myself. We both had the same opinions on these. The Butterfinger fudge was absolutely disgusting. It had little tiny crumbles of Butterfinger on top, but otherwise it tasted like a really, really awful combination of vanilla and white chocolate. It tasted nothing like a Butterfinger bar. Very disappointed in this, considering when we bought them, I thought that sounded like the better of the two! The Strawberry Cheesecake fudge, however (which I expected to not be so great) was FABULOUS. It had a lot of strawberry flavor to it, with a cheesecake flavor as well. That was a perfect translation of a concept for fudge into actual fudge. Hopefully it's still there now. Would love to try it again!


The Ratings:

Food:
3x :donald: Half great, half awful. Hopefully the good stuff outweighs the bad in that case!

Atmosphere: 4x :donald: Kind of neat to unexpectedly find a candy counter in a random shop like that. Fun, bright atmosphere. If you have family going in the character lines and you don't want to go, grab some candy, grab a seat, and pass the time munching away!

Cost: 5x :donald: Again, my local candy shops charge more than this for a piece of fudge this size. Compared to that, great bargain.

OVERALL: 4x :donald: Smart of Disney to put this here. I don't think we ever even had time to go into the Main Street Confectionary, so this was a time saving way to get our fudge that we wanted. Just be aware that sometimes things that sound good are not so hot. In hindsight, they may have offered samples. If so, that would have prevented the problem. Didn't think to ask, though!


The Lunching Pad​


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From the "Me and my bright ideas" department, the train had stopped running due to the heavy rain. I don't think they typically stop just due to rain, but this was like torrential downpours. So, back towards Fantasyland we went, when I remembered I wanted to get a sweet cream cheese pretzel from The Lunching Pad. Had this in 2008, and it was great. The Lunching Pad is located underneath Astro Orbitor, and has some covered seating. Sells various pretzels, frozen Cokes, and turkey legs. We've been getting Frozen Cokes here for years. My throat was so bad at this point, I got one with my pretzel.

The Reviews:

The sweet cream cheese pretzel is exactly what it sounds like. It is a soft, hot pretzel, stuffed with sweet cream cheese. My mom can't handle it because she thinks it's too sugary; as mentioned before, I don't care for really sugary stuff, but this doesn't bother me. Go figure! It costs around $4.29, pre-tax. Here are pics of mine:


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And here is a pic of my frozen Coke, which cost $3.69 in a regular plastic cup:


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The lighting is kind of funky in this area, so it can be hard to see what you're eating or drinking, if you care about that! Here's what the area looks like without my flash lighting things up:


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This was supposed to be evening EMH at MK, so I thought I could somehow manage to wait out the rain while I ate and see at least Wishes and then do some rides with short lines. Long story short, they announced Wishes was delayed. I was feeling worse, so much so that I could only eat half of my beloved pretzel. We waited an hour, and finally left the park, the rain was so bad and I felt so awful. To this day, I don't know if they even had it that night or not. Tried to get dinner from Casey's on Main Street, but they were packed with nowhere indoors to sit. So, we headed back to the boat launch to Wilderness Lodge. Would just get dinner there from Roaring Fork, which will be my next review.

The Ratings:

Food: 5x :donald: Perfect for a light snack. Also an unusual snack that you can't find elsewhere.

Atmosphere: 5x :donald: I love sitting in this place, when it's not damp and raining! Another great people watching spot, and since you're in the middle of Tomorrowland, you're really immersed in the whole area. Love it.

Cost: 5x :donald: Once again, fair price for the quality of the food.

OVERALL: 5x :donald: One of my favorite snack spots in all of WDW!

Until Next Time!

~Sorcerer Donald~

Up Next: Day 5 Dinner at Roaring Fork



More great reviews! That Bianca Flatbread looks so good!

Thanks for the comments, and glad you're enjoying the reviews! Hope you get a chance to enjoy the Flatbread at some point soon!
 
Day 5 Dinner: Roaring Fork​

After a chilly and wet boat ride from MK back to Wilderness Lodge, we headed to our room to change clothes (we were soaked!) and then downstairs to Roaring Fork to get dinner. In my first review of this place, I posted some pics of the signage, seating area, and display case. So this time, here are a few pics of the actual food and drink area, including menu pics:


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The Reviews:

I always enjoy the WDW chicken nuggets, particularly because they are all white meat. So I figured I would try that. :earsgirl: decided to get the same thing, while :goofy: went for a ham sandwich.

Here is a pic of my Chicken Breast nuggets with fries dinner. It cost $7.69. You had a choice of fries or veggie pasta salad, BTW.


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Despite the fact that Disney changed from the larger chicken strips to chicken nuggets, at least they still taste the same! My mom and I both enjoyed this meal. Great, flavorful, moist chicken, with a crispy and not greasy coating. The fries at Roaring Fork are always above par as well. My only complaint is a recurring theme at WDW: This is too much to eat! If I had used my brain, :earsgirl: and I would have split one of these instead of ordering two. Lot of wasted food, and I hate wasting food.

Here is :goofy: 's Ham and Tillamook Cheddar sandwich with veggie pasta. It cost $8.89.


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He didn't have much to say about the sandwich, other than it was "okay." I had it the year before, and I really didn't care for the type of mustard they used. Ham was okay though, but a little on the salty side. Earl's ham sandwiches are a lot better, IMO. He really liked the pasta salad. :earsgirl: tried some and said it was spicy, and she didn't care for it. Either way, at least there's some options other than more fried stuff with meals!

The Ratings:

Food:
4x :donald: Five star for my mom and I, 3 or 4 for my dad. Good quality food, and served promptly. Not many people were there though, so I can't speak to how this place handles long lines.

Atmosphere: N/A We took our food back to our room, so no atmosphere rating this time.

Cost: 3x :donald: Lot of food for the price, and good food. But 9 bucks for a ham sandwich and 8 bucks for chicken nuggets is still absolutely psychotic to me.

OVERALL: 3 and 1/2 x :donald: Good food, but expensive. Not the biggest selection either. Passable for meals, but I would hate to eat here more than 1 or 2 times per trip for lunch or dinner.


Until Next Time!
~Sorcerer Donald~


Up Next: Day 6 Lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe, and Day 6 Snack/Meal/Afternoon Tea at the Gardenview Tea Lounge.


PLEASE NOTE: All reviews will be finished by late Monday night. Look for more to be posted started Sunday night, with it all being wrapped up within the next day. So check back for all the rest of my reviews at that point.
 
The sweet cream pretzel and frozen coke look great. I think I will have to try those when we go. So sorry to hear you weren't feeling good. I hope you feel better in the next post! :goodvibes
 
Day 6 Lunch: Whispering Canyon Cafe​

Almost every WDW vacation, we take one day that is just a "rest" day. Invariably most rest days end up being spent running around to ADRs and shopping in DTD, but this time we really did take it mostly as a rest day. The extra sleep did help me feel a little better, as did the fact that all I had to do was get up, get ready, and walk downstairs to Whispering Canyon Cafe for lunch. This was our first time eating here. I'm always kind of leery of places with "antics" because I am a more introverted person, but :goofy: really wanted to try the skillet. So, off I went.


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We only had about a five minute wait for our table. Really wasn't that crowded. Off the top of my head, I don't recall our ADR time. I believe it was around 12:30pm. The theme is very much in keeping with Wilderness Lodge. Our waitress reminded me a lot of the actress Kristin Chenowith looks and voice-wise, actually. She was very funny, and a great waitress. As nutty as some of the antics there are, that's mostly what you hear/read about in regards to WCC. But it actually has a really pretty view from many tables as well. Here are some pics of the inside of the restaurant:


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The Reviews:

We all ordered water to drink as we looked over the menu. The glasses here are like jelly jars. I didn't drink any of mine, but :earsgirl: did and said the water tasted soapy. She was afraid to ask for more, so she didn't drink anything either.


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Here is a pic of the menu:


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:goofy: ordered the skillet, all you can eat for $17.99. It came with cornbread, smoked pork ribs, oven-roasted chicken, pork sausage, cowboy beans, seasonal vegetable (corn on the cob at that time), creamy coleslaw, and mashed potatoes. Here are pics:


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He really enjoyed this. It was too much food for him to eat all of it, but he did get seconds of the ribs. He asked for them to be cooked a little bit more the second time. Smoked meat usually does turn out pink, but this looked pink to the point of undercooked. The second time wasn't as bad. He really appreciated the value of the meal, and the type of food. He wants to eat here again when we return.

:earsgirl: and myself ordered the Smoke House Stack Sandwich for $12.49. It came with turkey, ham, bacon, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and Shallot mayo on Foccacia bread. You got to choose between the veggie pasta salad and chips. She and I both requested it be made without the turkey. I don't know what is up with WL and turkey, but every time we've ever gotten any kind of turkey sandwich from Roaring Fork, it has bloody pieces to it. The first time, :earsgirl: didn't notice until she'd already eaten most of it and got very sick within a few hours. I assume RF and WCC gets their turkey from the same place, so we both decided to skip this.

Here's a pic of my sandwich. I got the chips with it.


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The chips were fab. Not greasy, but a better taste than normal, bagged potato chips. I hated the sandwich. The ham was thin like the kind you get in the lunch meat section of a grocery store, and incredibly greasy. The cheese didn't go well with it either. Also didn't care for the mayo, and the roll was too chewy for my liking. I can honestly say this was the only meal I hated the entire trip.


:earsgirl: got the pasta salad:


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I take back the part of my review from Roaring Fork where she said the salad was spicy. That was actually at WCC; she didn't try any of my dad's salad the night before. She liked her sandwich itself okay. Said it was pretty good, and she wouldn't mind having it again. We usually have the same tastes, but not this time.

I had wanted to try the banana-cinnamon bowl dessert, so we asked for a dessert menu.


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Lo and behold, it wasn't on the menu. I was still hungry after not eating but maybe half of my sandwich, so we had to get something. We settled on the Smores' Cheesecake for $6.99. Here's a pic:


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Obviously my luck at this place was just plain poor. I also hated this. It tasted like regular cheesecake (and not a very good version, might I add) with some chocolate and a few marshmallows slapped on top. They used all the right things (such as graham cracker crust), but it didn't translate into what it was supposed to be, IMO. It simply didn't remind me, taste-wise, of Smores at all. Wouldn't order this again; too many other places on property with really good cheesecake, like Kringla Bakeri in Norway.


The Ratings:

Food: I give this a 1 and 1/2x :donald: I didn't enjoy anything I ate except for the chips, and I downright hated the sandwich. My mom probably would give it a 3 and 1/2, and my dad a 5 star.

Atmosphere: 5x :donald: I really enjoyed the antics and the view here. Also liked being able to look out into the lobby as well. Great place for atmosphere, even though I am introverted.

Cost: Three ratings for this. 5x :donald: for the skillet, 3x for the cheesecake, and 2x for the sandwiches. The skillet is a great value if you like that type of food. Cheesecake wasn't great, but cost-wise is on par with others on property. Almost $13 for a sandwich is still crazy to me, WDW or not.

OVERALL: 2x :donald: Great atmosphere, great waitress, great skillet for those who like that. Otherwise, I didn't care for this place at all. If it was up to me, I wouldn't return here for the forseeable future. But my dad wants to return, so... Oh well for me!


Until Next Time!

~Sorcerer Donald~


Up Next: Afternoon Tea at Gardenview Lounge in the Grand Floridian



The sweet cream pretzel and frozen coke look great. I think I will have to try those when we go. So sorry to hear you weren't feeling good. I hope you feel better in the next post! :goodvibes

Thanks! I was glad to be feeling a little better that day! I did get worse that night though. Thanks for following along! Hope you do try that combo next time! Sugar high, but I excuse it for myself since it's vacation.
 
Day 6 Tea and "Snack": Afternoon Tea at the Gardenview Lounge in the Grand Floridian​

One thing not too many people seem to know about is Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian. I had read about it here on the DIS in 2008, and I thought it sounded like a blast. When I was growing up, my mom and I would have pretend tea parties all the time, so this had a special meaning to me, besides the fact that I love tea! In 2008 though, my mom got sick and couldn't enjoy it very much. Then this time I was sick! Maybe next time no one will be ill! My dad is a good sport and humors us, although he does mock us by holding his pinky up in the air while he drinks his tea, haha!

A few hours after our WCC lunch, we headed over to the Grand by car. It was still pouring down buckets, thanks to the May Monsoon. I was glad that day wasn't a park day!


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When you arrive at the GF, you go in the main entrance and walk allllll the way across the lobby. The Gardenview Lounge is right there, with the podium in front of it, below a couple of stairs.





We were seated right away, and our waitress brought out the menus. I made sure to take pics, because I thought that might be helpful to some of you here in deciding ahead of time what you want. And may I just say, the table settings are beautiful, as is the bone china! It's made by Royal Albert, and I believe the pattern name is Old Country Roses. I actually received a set of these cups and saucers for Christmas 2008, I loved the pattern so much. Here's a view of our table, from our table, and the entire menu:


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The Reviews:

You can split a pot of tea between people, which is a good thing. The pot is large, and there's no way we could drink 3 pots of tea (we made the mistake of ordering 3 in 2008)! We got two pots of tea. One pot costs $5.95. Here is a pic of mine:


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I ordered the Gardenview Blend, which is only sold in this tea lounge. If you like more "typical" tea than a lot of weird flavors, this is for you. I ordered the Eros last trip, thinking orange and vanilla would be a great combo. Not so much when the tea is heavy on vanilla and very light on orange! My dad had ordered the Gardenview Blend that time, and I tried some of it. I really liked it, so I ordered that this trip. Here is a pic:


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The other tea we ordered was the Mad Hatter. That's described as "A blend of passion fruit, pomegranate, and vanilla for a clean and sweet finish." My parents mostly drank this. My dad liked it, but my mom thought it was too sweet. She much preferred the Gardenview Blend, and switched to that after her first cup of the Mad Hatter. No pic to share, unfortunately. I tried a little of it, and thought it was okay, but nothing I would order.


Besides tea, there were yummy treats to be had here! I was still hungry thanks to the failed WCC lunch, so I basically ordered lunch yet again from here instead. First up were the scones, with Devonshire cream and Strawberry preserves. The cost was $3.50 for two.


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These are so delicious! Flaky, soft, and flavorful. The cream is a perfect compliment to them. I didn't use the preserves; was leery of mixing up too many things.


Also brought out at the same time was the Sally Lunn sweet bread with Apricot preserves. It also cost $3.50. I ordered this because I had read rave reviews about it on the DIS. Here's a pic:


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Well, from the "Try it for yourself and see if you like it" file, I HATED this. It was so sweet, so sugary, that I felt like I was going to be completely sick. I ate one slice, and I shouldn't have even eaten that much. Lesson learned! That's why I always say, whether I loved or hated a place or food item, it's usually best to try it for yourself and see if you like it. Everyone has different tastes. Some love this, but it's just not for me.


The last major thing brought to our table was a plate of tea sandwiches. :earsgirl: was still hungry as well, so she and I split these. The tea sandwich plate came with 1 onion tart, 1 chicken salad sandwich, 1 shrimp salad sandwich, 1 egg salad sandwich, 1 pear and gorgonzola sandwich, and 1 watercress sandwich. Together, it cost $8.50.


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I ate the egg salad and chicken salad sandwiches. My mom had the shrimp salad and the watercress sandwich. We split the pear and gorgonzola sandwich. I loved the egg salad and chicken salad. She loved the shrimp. The watercress, she did not like. Neither one of us liked the pear and gorgonzola sandwich. That was a really awful combo of flavors, and tasted practically bitter. Lesson learned: Sub out those sandwiches next time, since the Tea Room does let you substitute if you don't want one or more of the sandwiches.


Last but not least, I had gotten a mango mousse-filled swan pastry last year and loved it. But I couldn't eat anything else this time! So, I got one to go. This time, they had strawberry mousse as the filling. It cost $2.75.


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Unfortunately, I never could eat this, so I can't give y'all a review of it. But based on the mango one I had 2 years ago, that was fab. The mousse wasn't too sugary, and it was thick. Good fruit flavor, and a yummy, light pastry. Good dessert, especially for those not keen on sugar, sugar, sugar.


The Ratings:

Food: 4 and 1/2 x :donald: Loved everything except the 2 weird sandwiches and the Sally Lunn bread that felt like it could send a person into a diabetic coma. My tea was fabulous, and the other was okay-good.


Atmosphere: 5x :donald: During tea, the piano player upstairs is often playing, which only adds to the atmosphere. It's really quiet in here, save for china clinking occasionally. You can look out into the gardens or into the lobby. Nice, fancy, relaxing change of pace.


Cost: 5x :donald: All things considered, I think this is well worth the price. It's not just a tea or meal, it's an experience. Beyond that, once again in terms of comparison-- I think I would rather spend $8.50 for tea sandwiches than 13 bucks for a ham sandwich I didn't like at WCC, and $3.50 for scones/$2.75 for a swan than $6.99 for a poor piece of cheesecake at WCC.


OVERALL: 5x :donald: Love this place and can't wait to return! Can't recommend it enough to anyone who likes tea, likes quiet, or just wants to experience something really different in WDW. Make ADRs early, though. Especially on weekends, they tend to fill up. Doesn't hold that many people, and I believe they only have two general seating time periods.


Until Next Time!

~Sorcerer Donald~


Up Next: Day 6 Dinner at Rainforest Cafe!
 
Day 6 Dinner: Rainforest Cafe​

After tea, we went back to Wilderness Lodge so I could rest more. We finally ventured out a little after 9pm to see the Electrical Water Pageant (in the rain...) and then to DTD for dinner at Rainforest Cafe. We called ahead and made an ADR in case there were a lot of people there. Very few people were in the restaurant when we got there, but it was good to think ahead anyway. I was feeling awful again by the time we got there, so I appreciated no wait.


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The Reviews:

We always go to either the DTD or the Animal Kingdom location on our trips. We prefer the AK location because it's less crowded and seems to usually have faster service than the DTD version. This time, though, the service at DTD was prompt. Had another great waiter. :goofy: loves their Buffalo wings, and :earsgirl: and I love the Passport to Paradise Pizza. We've never ordered anything different, actually, save for the few times we ordered dessert. It's a fun place. The AAs are not up to current Disney-standard snuff, but they're cute and entertaining anyway. The rainstorm effect is neat. The lights flash and you hear rain, as if you're in a thundershower. May I just say though that Birnbaum's Dining book is right-- This place is always, always freezing! Bring a jacket with you if you don't like to be cold. Here's the inside of the restaurant:


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As usual, we ordered our standards. All of us got sweet tea to start. Important point to note: Rainforest is one of the few places in WDW where you can order sweet iced tea. Almost everywhere else, you're stuck ordering unsweet tea and adding sugar packets to it. Their tea is fabulous, by the way. I like McDonald's sweet tea (when it's not overkill on sugar), but I like the tea at RFC even more.

:goofy: ordered the Raging Thunder Buffalo Wings. This was described on the menu as: "One pound of traditional buffalo wings served with carrots, celery sticks, and bleu cheese dressing." It cost $10.99 at the time. He got, I believe, Ranch dressing instead of bleu cheese dressing, because he absolutely hates bleu cheese.


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He loves these. Says they're moist and have a great flavor to them, but the flavor isn't spicy to him. :earsgirl: has tried them and thinks they are spicy. I never have, so I can't comment. This is one of his favorite meals in WDW. Even with our trip later this year, he keeps asking me when we will be eating at RFC so he can get his Buffalo wings. :rotfl: He likes them that much!

:earsgirl: and I ordered the Passport to Paradise Pizza. It cost $14.49. It's a thin, flaky, and light crust, with chunky marinara used for the sauce. They use Parmesan, Provolone, Mozzarella, and Romano cheeses, and then top it with fresh basil. It's the perfect blend of cheeses, and the basil gives it an extra "kick" flavor-wise. The marinara is great, as well.


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Since I was feeling so poorly, I could only eat two pieces. My mom had three, I believe, so :goofy: got to have some pizza as well with his Buffalo wings. The pizza was good, but my throat felt so awful that it burned all the way down. Looking forward to trying this yet again and actually being able to enjoy it.

None of us could eat dessert, so we asked for the check, paid, and headed back to Wilderness Lodge in less than an hour.


The Ratings:

Food: 5x :donald: Great pizza, great wings. I read bad reviews of this place, but to me it seems like if you stick to the simpler fare here, you are far less likely to have a bad meal. Case in point, we stick to the simple stuff and we've never had anything less than great food here.

Atmosphere: 4x :donald: Fun atmosphere, but cold and incredibly noisy, even without many diners around us. The noise doesn't really bother us since it's part of the theme, but I know it would bother some people.

Cost: 5x :donald: Very cheap for 3 people ordering what we did, especially compared to Disney-owned places. I also had a $10 off coupon, which made it even cheaper!

OVERALL: 4 and 1/2 x :donald: If they would just turn down the daggone AC, I'd give this place a perfect rating. Love it!


Until Next Time!

~Sorcerer Donald~


Up Next: Day 7 Breakfast at Chef Mickey's!
 
I have no idea how I missed this...but I am loving your reviews and your rating system. I was particularly interested in your review of Coral Reef as we are doing that one for the first time in over ten years (DH wanted a break from LeCellier as we've eaten there the last four years in a row); I also enjoyed your review of The Plaza (it is one of our favorites...and always our last meal of our trip). And I agree with you...didn't like Whispering Canyon Cafe either (we hated the skillet).
 
Day 7 Breakfast: Chef Mickey's​


Continuing from my RFC review, I had felt really awful that night. The next morning, I woke up around 7am and was even more ill than I was the day before. I got really upset and started to cry, because I didn't think there was any way I'd make it to Chef Mickey's. CM's is one of my favorite Disney dining establishments because of the characters, the monorail, and Donald being there. Some of my best WDW memories are made here. Our ADR wasn't until a little before 11:30am though, so I went back to sleep in hopes I would feel well enough to go. I did feel better, but my throat was even worse. Eating would not be pleasant, but we headed over there anyway by car.



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FWIW, I stayed away from the buffet so as not to touch or breathe around any of it. I was still thinking it was a sinus infection because I get terrible drainage and thus soar throats from them. To be safe though, I didn't get near the food and my mom went and got my food for me. I did take buffet line pics, but I used my zoom lens for them. In hindsight, I am sure it was a virus, and I should've stayed in the room. Pushing more and more made me worse, and I just hope I didn't give it to anyone else. I fell into selfish and foolish "I planned this for months, and I have to go!" mode, and I shouldn't have.


The Reviews:

Here are pics of the buffet line:


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And here's a picture of my plates:


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Don't have a pic of my dad's plates, but here is one of my mom's plates:


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If it weren't for the pictures, I wouldn't even remember what I ate except for the waffles. That's how out of it I was. I assume everything was good. I couldn't tell because my throat was on fire, and even the waffles burned going down my throat. You can get sodas with your juice, so I got Coca-Cola, which helped my throat some. I didn't dare touch the OJ due to the acidity factor. I've always loved my food here. So have my mom and my dad; they loved everything they ate this time. The only bad thing I've ever had was the cheesy potatoes with bacon pieces several years ago. It was greasy and cold. I tried it again the next trip, and it was hot, but still really greasy. Not getting that again. Everything else has always been great and hot, even though we almost always eat here right at the end of breakfast. They keep everything out and hot until late and everyone is seemingly wrapping it up. The eggs with cheese are FAB! Very light and airy, and not greasy.

My birthday had been noted on the ADR, so the waitress brought me out yet another cupcake (which I also never could eat!) and a birthday button.


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Donald saw my button and wrote "Happy Birthday" in my autograph book.


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We had a fun "conversation" about the fact that he gets no respect, and that the restaurant should be named "Chef Donald's." I got a big "kiss" for that, haha! It also emboldened him when he ran into Mickey a few minutes later. Mickey's backed was turned, and Donald's walked up behind him and kicked him right in the rear! :rotfl: Must not have been hard because Mickey barely turned around. Donald then sauntered off, as if to say "Who, me? I didn't do anything!" Love that duck! Here's right after it happened:


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Character interaction is usually good to great here, especially if you have a later ADR. You're more likely to have at least 1 or 2 characters visit you twice then, because the restaurant is emptying out.

I have not been looking forward to writing this review for a sad reason. As I was looking through my pictures a couple months ago when I started getting more uploaded, I realized that I had pics of both Monorail Pink and Monorail Purple traveling through the Contemporary that morning. Both were running the Resorts route. The fatal accident involving them was a little over a month later. I am so sad for the Pilot's family and friends, and they continue to be in my prayers. I don't know if he was ever our pilot on the trip, but regardless... Prayers are with him and his loved ones. Part of me hates to post the pictures, but I loved seeing them that morning. One of the few things that made me smile that day, I felt so terrible. Honestly, I was at the point where I just wanted to leave WDW and go home, which is totally out of character for me. So, I'm posting the pictures in tribute. I loved those colors, and I love the Monorail.


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The Ratings:

Food: 4x :donald: Basing my rating off of years past. Great, hot food. Big variety as well, which I appreciate.

Atmosphere: 5x :donald: Donald and friends (Mickey's just window dressing to me, haha!), the Monorail, and colorful wall themes all make for one cool place to dine.

Cost: 3 and 1/2 x :donald: Based on menus and other diners' reviews, I think CM's has the best variety of any breakfast buffet. This makes the cost more reasonable than some other locations. The food is great too, which helps. But it's still super expensive, and the price continues to climb, unfortunately.

OVERALL: 4x :donald: One of my favorite WDW restaurants, illness or not. If you're leery about bad reviews, you're better off going with breakfast here. I read far less bad things about it than dinner.


Bonus pic: Possibly the funniest picture I've ever taken in WDW was taken here. Donald kept wacking me with his tail feathers as he greeted another family, and I finally got an amusing idea for a pic. ;)


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Until Next Time!

~Sorcerer Donald~


Up Next: Day 7 Lunch at Cantina de San Angel
 
Day 7 Lunch: Cantina de San Angel:​

After going back to Wilderness Lodge to rest a little while, I was feeling a bit better. So, we drove over to the MK parking lot (odd thing about WL-- You have to completely exit the MK area and come back around in a loop to get into it). We parked, caught a tram, and then caught a Monorail to Epcot. I love the Monorail, as mentioned in my CM's review, so I definitely love the Epcot Monorail. It's considerably longer than the MK routes, and I like the sights! At night, you can catch the fireworks from MK if you time it right. The rain was still torrential downpour strength, unfortunately. So after a few Future World rides, we sloshed over to Mexico in our ponchos, deciding to try Cantina de San Angel for a very late lunch. This was probably around 5pm or so.

Cantina is/was the CS location in Mexico, on the right hand side of the pavilion. Right now it's closed while they're expanding it and, I believe, adding a TS component. We had never eaten here before. Kringla Bakeri in Norway was our standard lunch at Epcot, but a couple years ago they changed the open-faced sandwiches to a sandwich on a really hard roll-type bread, and they did away with the yummy ham. I had a chicken salad sandwich there in 2008, and besides the fact that the roll was nearing inedible status, it only had a tiny amount of chicken salad in it, with only a tiny amount of chicken in said chicken salad. That was the end of lunches at Kringla Bakeri.

I don't have any picture of the actual Cantina CS location. It was still pouring, so I wasn't taking my camera out and risking damaging it. The problem with this place was, despite many tables being covered, the weather was so bad that everything was still soaked, and the overhead covers were leaking. Gushing type leaks, in fact. This probably isn't allowed or encouraged, but we got our food and took it inside the pavilion, eating on the bench by the fountain.


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I didn't see any "No food or drinks" signs, and CMs saw us and didn't stop us, so I guess it was okay. I think even if there was a rule, they would've given us a pass. It was a nasty mess out there, and very few people were anywhere in the park. First time I've ever seen white-capped waves on World Showcase Lagoon! :eek:


The Reviews:

I enjoy loaded nachos, so I decided to get the Cantina Nachos. Thought the salt would help my throat as well. They cost $7.95, and they came with seasoned beef, a hot and melted cheese (like the standard orange nacho cheese, but not quite), tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, sour cream, and black re-fried beans. I wanted them without the jalapeno peppers (can't eat them) and the re-fried beans (don't like them), but the CM insisted that everything was on the side. Still said I wanted them without both, but she wouldn't put in the order that way. Naturally, when the order was ready, I went inside and uncovered the plate, and lo and behold: Everything was all on top of the nachos. That cost me some of my food, as I had to eat around the beans and avoid anything the peppers had been on. I should've returned it, but I was too wet, sick, and exhausted to bother. Here they are, in all their inaccurate glory:


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I like Mexican food, both the actual authentic variety and the Taco Bell kind. I admittedly don't know what loaded nachos are supposed to be ike authentically, but this tasted a lot different than Taco Bell's variety! The beef had a spice to it. I have no idea what kind of seasoning they used, but for once, I actually liked it! It actually helped my throat and gave me some energy. The cheese was hot, and the tomatoes were fresh. Could've used a little more sour cream, since I hate eating loaded nachos without a good helping of that. Really loved this meal, and only wished that they hadn't messed up my order. Then I wouldn't have had to throw out so many nachos.


Both :earsgirl: and :goofy: decided to order the Plato Del Nino off of the child's menu. This was a grilled chicken and cheese quesadilla with nachos and cheese sauce, along with a small soft drink. It cost $3.99.

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Both of them liked the chicken, the nachos, and the cheese. :earsgirl: thought it was all too bland though, and she wished she had gotten the Cantina Nachos. They both thought it was a good value, however. A taco Bell cheese quesadilla costs over $2 here, and this came with chicken, plus a side of nachos and a drink. Good value, and still enough food for them both.

None of us ordered a dessert, deciding instead to get something from Kringla Bakeri in Norway for later in the day, or to save for another day.

The Ratings:

Food: 4 and 3/4 x :donald: The food I was able to eat was excellent. If the lady had taken my order as I asked her to, it would have been perfect. Can't really penalize them for the quesadillas being a bit bland, since they were on the child's menu.


Atmosphere: N/A Couldn't eat outside, so I can't rate it. Eating by the fountain was fun but hard to do with all of our stuff. I'd probably give that a 5x :donald: just for the fact I was out of the rain, haha!


Cost: 5x :donald: Given the amount of food, Cantina was a very reasonably priced CS place in World Showcase. Kringla was always far more expensive in terms of actual meals.


OVERALL: 5x :donald: I am so disappointed this is closed right now. It was one of my favorite CS meals all trip. Hopefully when it opens back up, it will be just as great as it was.


Until Next Time!

~Sorcerer Donald~


Up Next: Day 7 Snack from Kringla Bakeri
 
Day 7 Snack: Kringla Bakeri​

Kringla used to be our stomping grounds for lunch in Epcot, but that went the way of the wind recently. See my Cantina de San Angel review for the sad and sorry explanation of that! :sad2: But, we still love their desserts. So we decided to pop on in before heading to other countries we had missed on our main Epcot day. If you are standing right at the main walkway in Norway, facing towards the Maelstrom building, Kringla is slightly ahead to your left. More or less across from Akershus.


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The Reviews:

Normally, we get at least 2 desserts from here, but since we weren't eating a meal this time, we stuck to one. We ordered one order of School Bread to go. It cost $1.99, pre-tax.

In its to go container:

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Cut in half:

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Thankfully, I had already read on the DIS about the shrinkage of this dessert since my May 2008 trip. It's basically half the size it used to be. The coconut on top is now toasted, making it look even more different. Some people have reported it is caramel frosting now instead of white frosting. I can't speak for what it currently is, but that was absolutely not the case when I was there. The frosting was the same as it always had been. The coconut is simply toasted now, making it look brown.

School Bread itself is a pastry filled with a type of custard. If you've ever had custard-filled doughnuts from Krispy Kreme, the filling is sort of similar. But I would say this custard is thicker, creamier, and not quite as sugary. Some people say the bread itself is like a doughnut, but I wouldn't say that. It's firmer than a doughnut, but not hard either. I wouldn't say it's chewy, but it's also not flaky. It's one of those things that is really hard to describe. You really need to try it for yourself. It was great as always, although we were still upset about the size being cut in half!

Some recommendations I have for y'all were things we didn't get around to trying this time. Like I discussed in my WCC review, the cheesecake here is usually fab. We've had various types at Kringla, including raspberry and strawberry. All were excellent. The other main thing I would recommend is Lefse. This is traditional Norwegian potato bread covered with a butter and cinnamon paste-like concoction, and rolled into long sections. As of last year, they still came two to a serving. They're really yummy, as long as they don't go light on the filling. In which case, they can be a bit dry.


The Ratings:

Food: 5x :donald: Generally speaking, you can't go wrong with dessert from Kringla. If I had been rating the sandwiches, I'd have given it a 1 star, unfortunately.


Atmosphere: N/A We didn't eat in the covered seating area adjacent to the Bakeri (there is no seating inside). But if you do eat here, it's a shaded and nice spot to enjoy lunch. You can people watch as folks buzz by around World Showcase. There is a gang of sparrows here (not of the Captain Jack variety, mind you! ;) ), and they will hop right up to your feet. If you fear or hate birds, stay away from this seating area. Other than the occasional dirty table or chair, they don't seem to be of the pushy variety. They hop and fly around, but they aren't going to steal your food or start pecking you, unless there's a wild one in the bunch acting out of character! We've never had any problems with them. They're just crumb hunting. I think we've been here every trip since 1993, and there have been sparrows here every single time. Might all be relatives, which is kind of neat when you think about it.


Cost: 5x :donald: Under $2 for a dessert ANYWHERE in WDW is practically newsworthy. I would assume the price is roughly still the same now. Even if it has increased a little, that's still not bad. Sandwiches are obviously pricier, though.


OVERALL: 5x :donald: Best bakery in all of WDW, IMO. Highly recommend it to all. They have all kinds of goodies besides the ones I mentioned, from sweet pretzels to danishes, fruit tarts, custards, and more. If you like dessert at all, there's definitely something for you here.


Until Next Time!

~Sorcerer Donald~


Up Next: Day 7 Dinner at Planet Hollywood
 
Day 7 Dinner: Planet Hollywood​

After we left Epcot, we headed to the Monorail, then the tram, and then to our car. From there, we headed to DTD for a late dinner. By now, it was after 10pm. We hadn't been able to eat at Planet Hollywood in 2007 due to me not feeling well (bad back), or in 2008 due to us getting there just a few minutes after they closed. So this was our first time eating here since 2006. We love PH, aside from the noise. Enjoy the props and costumes, and love the food. We eat at the Myrtle Beach, SC location once a year as well. Both are equally yummy in terms of food, but Orlando has 3 floors of table settings, while Myrtle Beach only has one (with only the bar and a small merch stand on the upper floor). The props are definitely better in Orlando, as well.

I had some issues getting the palm tree out of my picture, so we'll just pretend this is all one picture! Haha!


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We had no wait for a table, and immediately ordered our food once our waiter arrived. We order the exact same thing whether we're in Orlando or Myrtle Beach, and the food is consistent between the two locations. Only difference is we sometimes order smoothies. Didn't this time, though. Below is a pic of up above from our table. And I think I spot a familiar face among the celebrity cutouts along the main wall...


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Wish I could include some decent memorabilia pics, but my Photobucket account is acting up and I can't edit them or add more. So if you don't mind turning your head sideways, here is the wedding dress from the movie Father of the Bride, and one of the costumes from A League of their Own. Two of my favorite movies!


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They also have several costumes from The Wizard of Oz, including one of the dresses Judy Garland wore as Dorothy during filming. There were also two Munchkins jackets. They are amazing to see. The dress especially seems to have held up very well through the decades. I have a pic of it, but can't upload it right now. If I can get it to work later this month, I'll edit this post and add it in.


The Reviews:

:earsgirl: and I ordered our standard entree, the Turkey Club Sandwich. Unlike the Wilderness Lodge turkey, I don't think we've ever had a problem with PH's turkey. It comes cut in four pieces, held together by toothpicks. There are layers of thin-sliced turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, bacon, Swiss cheese, and mayo on Artisan bread. It costs $11.99 each, and comes with fries. This was my sandwich:


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This is SOOOO good, I can't tell you. Turkey is always moist and plentiful (and cooked!). Fresh lettuce and tomatoes. Hefty serving of cheese, and just enough mayo. Soft and yummy bread. Fabulous fries; crispy and not greasy at all. I would eat this every day if I could. My brain almost automatically goes into comparison mode, and I definitely compare this to sandwiches in WDW owned restaurants. This far surpasses most of them. Especially the even more costly sandwich at Whispering Canyon. :earsgirl: loves this as well, and this time was no exception.


:goofy: got his usual, the BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich on a homestyle bun. This also came with fries, and cost $12.99.


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Generally speaking, this is his favorite Pulled Pork sandwich anywhere. We have a lot of BBQ places around us, but this remains his favorite. He enjoyed it once again, saying there was a lot of BBQ on it and it was hot. Loved the fries as well.

We also skipped dessert here, and just asked for the check. Had great service here. Friendly and attentive waiter. We used our $15 PH voucher, since we had done a WDW Travel Package that trip, so the meal was even more reasonable than usual.


The Ratings:

Food: 5x :donald: Another place we've never had a bad meal at. Great sandwiches, and yummy fries. Glad to have gotten to return here after missing out on it 2 years in a row prior to this.

Atmosphere: 4x :donald: I love movie memorabilia, especially older stuff. The Wizard of Oz costumes are my favorite things here. I enjoy the film clips as well. The one thing I hate about this place is the noise. Unlike at RFC, the noise, IMO, adds nothing to the theme here. And the noise is far worse here than at Rainforest. Be prepared to yell if you want others in your party to hear you. That applies regardless of whether or not the restaurant is crowded.

Cost: 4x :donald: All things considered, cheaper than most WDW-owned TS sandwiches, and a lot better too. The voucher only helped make it even more reasonable. I challenge WDW to come up with a turkey sandwich as good as this one. I won't hold my breath, however.

OVERALL: 4x :donald: I would give this a 5 star, but the noise is what brings my rating down. When you can't even hear your waiter and he can't hear you, that's an issue! This is another place I read bad reviews of, but feel very positively about. I would suggest again, like at RFC, sticking to basic fair here, as well as eating at off times to avoid the crowds.


Until Next Time!

~Sorcerer Donald~


Up Next: Day 8 Lunch at Pizzafari!
 
Day 8 Lunch: Pizzafari​

We're now finally winding down with my dining reviews, and we're up to our second to last full day in WDW. And yes, the rain was still torrential. It stopped for awhile, thank goodness, because we had scheduled the Backstage Safari Tour at Animal Kingdom that afternoon. I was finally feeling better by then. Still felt really sluggish and was congested, but no more soar throat. We were standing outside the Elephant houses on the tour, talking to one of their zookeepers, when the thunder and rain started. By the time we got in the vans, it was downpouring again. Thankfully the guide gave us all ponchos (for free), but there was still a lot of in and out of vans to come, and boy was that unpleasant in the rain.

When the tour ended, you had two options: Be dropped off at the Africa gate if you wanted to stay in the park (FYI, I think that gate is where Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade parade starts and ends); or be taken back to the front of the park to leave AK. We were the only ones who braved it and stuck around! :rotfl: Oh well. We were supposed to all ride Kilimanjaro Safaris, but with the heavy rain, they canceled it. Wasn't even lightning, it was just the rain was that bad. Parade was kiboshed too. The tour guide gave us FastPasses for KS, which we used the next morning. It never reopened that day. Luckily we weren't too far away from a safari of another variety: Pizzafari! So, we headed there. They give you snacks and water midway through the Backstage Safari tour (which I highly recommend, btw), but we hadn't had hardly anything for breakfast and were starving. I only had half of a boxed doughnut, from the food section of the gift shop in Wilderness Lodge!

Onward we trudged through the pouring rain. We got there about 15 minutes before they stopped serving food. Talk about cutting it close! Odd that they closed so early, because it was EMH at AK that night. But I digress. No outside pic because, once again, no way was I taking my camera out in that kind of downpour. I did however, take a picture of what we had to use to dry our shoes and some of our clothes with:


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:rotfl: It was just pitiful at this point. My shoes were soaked; my hat, which had been under my poncho hood, was a mess; my slacks were sopping wet from the knee down; my hair was wet; my eyeliner was running off of me. Total mess. Umbrellas did absolutely no good because the rain was so heavy. So, this was really a combo meal and drying off opportunity.

One thing I love about Pizzafari is the different rooms. Each room has a different theme, and the paintings on the walls reflect that. They each have names, but I have no idea what the name of our room was. We sat in a large room on the end, with rabbits on one side and a tiger on the other. :goofy: went and got the food, while :earsgirl: and I began trying to sop some of the water out of our shoes and hair. :sad2:


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The Reviews:

The trip before I had tried the Chicken Caesar Salad and absolutely adored it. So, I got it again this year. :earsgirl: was sick in 2008 and didn't go to AK, so she hadn't tried it before. I convinced her to get it this time. It cost $7.79.

Both salads on the tray:


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My salad:


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I love this! A lot of dressing, already mixed in with the salad. Not a spicy Caesar, but still flavorful. Very fresh lettuce. Delicious chicken; very moist and flavorful as well. A slight garlic taste to the croutons, but not overpowering at all. Hands down my fave Chicken Caesar salad, anywhere. :earsgirl: liked it as well.


:goofy: got his standard from here, the pepperoni pizza. Not sure what the cost was; I believe it was a little under $6. I don't have a pic, but I do have a pic of a cheese pizza. I must be losing my mind because in looking at my pics, I see two pizzas. I don't remember :earsgirl: getting a pizza. Maybe she did and got the pizza-salad combo. Whatever happened, I guess the cheese one wasn't good or bad, because I don't recall even the slightest thing about it. I know I didn't eat it, anyway! :rotfl: My Chicken Caesar salad was also in a deeper bowl than the two on the tray, now that I think of it. So I guess both of them did get the combo. That costs around $8.50, if memory serves. I guess my brain took a nap during that meal. Whoops.


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He said the pepperoni pizza was okay. He does find their pizza to be the least greasy of all Counter Service pizza places, which is a positive thing.


Since we were all starving, we ordered a side of breadsticks for $3.99. They come topped with cheese, a little seasoning of some sort (basil, perhaps?), and are served with marinara sauce.


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The breadsticks were yummy and hot. The sauce was ice cold. Since they were closing when :goofy: ordered, we couldn't take it back and get warm or hot marinara. That was a shame. Once I realized how bad it tasted cold, I just ate a breadstick plain. I think my parents did as well. The black mug you see in the above pic is the Backstage Safari mugs you're given during the snack break on the tour, btw. Each person was given one. I've never used mine, but it's a nice reminder of the tour. Has the AK logo on it, with the words "Backstage Safari" printed above it.


The Ratings:

Food: 4x :donald: Great salads, better than average pepperoni pizza. Who knows about the cheese one! Yummy breadsticks, but poorly heated sauce. Might have had to do with them closing. They might not have had any hot, so they just grabbed some that was cold. No excuse either way, though.


Atmosphere: 5x :donald: Of all of the CS restaurants in WDW, I don't think any has paintings as colorful and interesting as this place.


Cost: 4x :donald: In terms of comparing to other WDW CS locations, this is a pretty good value. Same price for the pizza as everywhere else, and I believe the salad is the same as well. Rather have this than the $13 WCC sandwich any day! (Can you tell I hated that sandwich? :rotfl2: )


OVERALL: 4x :donald: My favorite CS location in Animal Kingdom. I would think this would especially be a good place to bring babies. The paintings should keep them interested for awhile!


Until Next Time!

~Sorcerer Donald~


Up Next: Day 8 Snack from Royal Anandapur Tea Company!
 
Day 8 Snack: Royal Anandapur Tea Company​


Since :earsgirl: and I both do love our tea, I suggested we stop by the Royal Anadapur Tea Company stand in Asia during EMH, just before we headed over to Everest. Never been here before, but read good things about it on the DIS.

:goofy: didn't want anything, so :earsgirl: and I perused the menu for a bit before making a choice.

The Reviews:

We settled on two medium Raspberry iced teas. They cost $3.25 a piece, pre-tax.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures (again due to the rain), but they came in clear Solo cups. The tea was, quite obviously, a reddish color. :earsgirl: didn't like it at all. Even with extra ice, it was still on the hot side. She also thought it was too strong. I drank maybe half of mine before throwing the rest away. It was pretty meh. I love raspberries and raspberry flavored drinks (like Italian sodas), but the flavor on this just tasted off to me. It barely tasted like raspberries.

I don't see this on current online menus, so it may not even be sold anymore. I wouldn't mind trying something different next time, like the Chai Freeze. Not ready to give up on this place quite yet.


The Ratings:

Food: 1x :donald: Not food obviously, but tea. And not iced tea for that matter, either! Not cold enough, and the flavor was not right.


Atmosphere: N/A Considering this is a walk-up, open windowed place, I can't give it an atmosphere rating.


Cost: 2x :donald: The cost wasn't bad for a specialty tea, but it was bad considering the quality. Even worse when you think about the fact that you can head over to the Grand Floridian and get a whole pot of tea (albeit hot) from the Gardenview Lounge for $5.95. :sad2:


OVERALL: 1x :donald: Not impressed at all this time, but will give it another whirl next trip, hopefully.


Until Next Time!

~Sorcerer Donald~



Up Next: Day 8 Dinner at California Grill!
 
lots of great reviews there. :goodvibes
your trip sounds like ours last May. It rained so much and like you said it was hard rain. I remember one time at Epcot when we were walking in the rain, i had a ponocho on but the rain stung as it hit my back. we all still got soaked through and i got ill like you. I still had a great time, i hope you did too.xxx :)
 















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