Melted, Roasted, & Cooked (and that's not just the food!) Our 10 day foodie review.

[MegaWoman]

Well I'm finally finding some time to post our dining reviews from our trip in May. 10 days, DDP and Star Wars Weekends.

We were on the DDP, and we have been before. I thought about upgrading the kids to an adult ticket and DDP because we've found the kids' menus to lack variety, but in the end we kept the kids as kids. (We should have upgraded) I'm going to complain all the time about the kids' menus, and I apologize in advance for that, but WDW is really failing at this.

There are many, many restaurants that we've been to before, that are our "must-do" repeat-eats!!

So here it goes!

The eaters:

Me (MegaWoman): I love new foods, love eating out, love cooking and baking.

DH (Let's call him Fred): Travels constantly for work, eats out all the time. Loves trying new things, also loves the same thing over and over again.

DS (Let's call him The Padawan): Meat-eater, huge appetite, hates sauce of any kind.

DD (Let's call her The Princess): Not a huge fan of meat, loves fruit and veggies, eats food other kids call "weird".

I'll do this day-by-day, and include all our food, meals and snacks. Not so many photos, but I'll include what I've got!

You can also check out my other dining review from a couple of years ago in my signature.

 

[sue and co]

Looking forward to it.

 

[JessiLynn015]

I'm on board!

 

[jacksmom]

Can't wait for more!

 

[TanzUnited99]

I'm joining in! Can't wait to read more!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Looking forward to the reviews - ds sounds a lot like my dd - we call her the Atkins kid because what she eats out of choice most only eat on the Atkins diet :

 

[msmith1026]

joining in.

 

[Tracerr00]

Looking forward to your reviews!! I'm in!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Cant wait!

 

[MegaWoman]

Welp, here goes nothin'!!

**BTW: we don't park hop! We will go from a resort to a park and back again though, we don't always stay at the park all day either

Day One (MK)

Columbia Harbour House (Lunch)

MegaWoman: Chicken Breast Nuggets and Fish w/fries. Though this is normally not my thing and a much larger portion than I would eat for lunch, I ordered this because DS would probably want more to eat than the usual kid’s portion. I ate the fish and gave DS the chicken! It's good, not too exciting and the upstairs dining room is just what we needed. Our kids are accustomed to eating at a table with us every meal. We have a strict no getting up from the table until everyone has finished their meal, and I really can't stand being in a restaurant with screaming, running kids (and their parents). Please don't flame me, I just have high expectations for my kids! I know its WDW and there are kids everywhere, but I can tell the difference between "Mommy I'm hot and sticky and I just need to cry" and "Yelling, screaming, parents-ignoring-it-all" kids.
*Steps off soapbox; won't happen again. Maybe*
Back to the food. Ordered Sweet Tea (you just can't get this stuff up here in Canada, I'll be ordering this as often as possible) and had the chocolate cake for dessert that I shared with the kids. (The usual CS cake, good and not too sweet)

Fred: Chicken Breast Nuggets and Fish. Same as above; he shared far less with DS than I did though! He thought the condiments bar was great, they have everything you need, right there upstairs (Wait a minute - is that StitchKingdom.com I saw eating up here? Why yes, yes it was! ) He ordered the Pomegranate Lemonade and the apple pie. He did not share with the kids, they don't really like pie!

The Padawan: Kids' Meal chicken nuggets w/ fries and grapes. We have a one healthy side-minimum, so he opted for grapes with his fries. Why oh, why aren't the kid's nuggets the same as the adults? I just don't get it. DS devoured his meal, plus my chicken and half my cake! (This is where I really began to doubt the kids DDP for him, on day one). He also had orange juice with his meal.

The Princess: Mixed Greens with chicken w/ grapes and a cookie. My DD is quite possible the quirkiest child when it comes to food. She inhaled the salad, it was good and fresh. Then we had to coerce her into eating two bites of chicken. She ate her grapes and cookie no problem though. She had apple juice to drink.

Will we eat here again? Yes. We have eaten here on every trip, and always enjoy the food and atmosphere. Had we ordered the adult DDP I think my kids would have been more satisfied. The Lighthouse sandwich would have been DD's first choice, as she loves hummus. I really wish the kids' menu was just scaled down portions of the adult menu. (You'll see me say this often)

Tony's Town Square (Dinner)

MegaWoman: Chicken Parmigiana w/ pomegranate lemonade (no sweet tea here) and cheesecake for dessert. Ugh. Didn't even finish. There was NO FLAVOUR in this meal. I understand not over-spicing things for the masses, but there was nothing about this meal that I liked. Yuck. The cheesecake was okay, but just the same old, same old to me.

**This was my dessert at Tony's, a coffee-flavoured cheesecake**​

Fred: NY Strip w/pomegranate lemonade and lemon walnut cake. DH said this was okay. Nothing to write home about, it was cold and we had to send it back to be warmed up. Thought the dessert was nice. Fell in love with pomegranate lemonade and tried to order this everywhere!

The Padawan: Spaghetti & meatballs, no sauce just butter & parmesan cheese, with carrot and celery sticks, orange juice and fruit salad for dessert. It was pasta. Meh. The fruit salad was incredibly small and there was lots of melon, which my kids don't like. We promised them Mickey Bars to compensate for the lacklustre meal.

The Princess: Mickey-shaped cheese-filled ravioli, carrot and celery sticks, fruit salad and pomegranate lemonade. If I could have eaten this I would have been happy. The ravioli is served with "crispy pepperoni" on the side. DD wouldn't touch this with a ten-foot pole, and happily gave it to her brother, who proclaimed it "very weird". DD did fall in love with the lemonade though, and thought the birds flying in and out of the restaurant was great! Especially when they dove right for the bread crumbs on the floor.

Will we eat here again? No. Let me begin by saying that we've eaten at Tony's Town Square, The Plaza and Cinderella's Royal Table. And while Cinderella's is great atmosphere and good food it is a 2-credit meal, and not something we will do often. We are always disappointed with MK-TS meals, and won't be eating a TS meal here again. We would rather hop on the monorail and eat at a resort.
It's kind of noisy here, I'm not sure what it was, but it didn't give my any warm-fuzzies being here. Nope, we'll never eat here again. MK has great CS places, but they really need to improve the TS!

MK Ice-Cream Cart; right outside Tony's Town Square (Dessert/Snack)

Mickey Bars!!! We shared two for the four of us. Yum. As always. *sigh*

Will we eat here again? YES! Bring on the Mickey Bars

 

[MegaWoman]

Cant wait!

Looking forward to your reviews!! I'm in!

joining in.

Looking forward to the reviews - ds sounds a lot like my dd - we call her the Atkins kid because what she eats out of choice most only eat on the Atkins diet :

I'm joining in! Can't wait to read more!

Can't wait for more!

I'm on board!

Looking forward to it.

Awww! Thanks for all the love & the follows (or +1's if you're a Google+ fan!) I'll try and post pics too, though we're not always that great at remembering to take pics of our plates, we're usually too hungry

 

[TanzUnited99]

I'm glad you enjoyed CHH! Lol it sure sounds like the kids DDP is not for your DS! At least he got to share some of your food.

Oh no on not enjoying Tony's Town Square The only MK TS we have an ADR at is CP and I have read good things about it!

 

[vettegirl]

Enjoying the reviews so far!

 

[butiflfeet]

Great start! Too bad about Tony's though. I've eaten there once and loved the atmosphere but the food was just ok. I know what you mean about the table service options at MK. We do breakfast at Crystal Palace but other than that I'm much happier heading over to The Wave or Kona Cafe or Grand Floridian Cafe for a one Table Service credit meal.

 

[TigerKat]

Great start! We were in the World the same time, never again going during the summer. WAY too hot for this gal.

 

[Aristocath]

I'm in! Last year just one of my three boys was on the kids plan. He was seven and my other boys are "Disney" adults. I agree with you that Disney fails on the kids meals. We should have upgraded him but we didn't realize that 10 days of Disney kid meals would be such a bad thing!

Sorry you didn't enjoy Tony's more. We have always had a good experience here.

Looking forward to more reviews.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

in full agreement about the kid's meals. We are doing lots of buffets this trip so it makes no difference and will pay oop for a couple of the others for dd but honestly the choice is revolting at most places. Found Kouzzina and Le Cellier to be better kid's options than most.

 

[Kat in GA]

Joining in!

I completely agree with you about the kids meals. A few years ago, we upgraded my daughter from a kid to an adult -- she's a big eater - and so not picky.

We went last month - and my youngest (at 10) requested a kids chicken nugget meal - and her sister had an adult version - I was surprised that they are not the same nuggets at all. I wonder why?! So, we had to order the adult version for her later in the week - when portion wise, she really only needed the kids size.

UGH!

 

[MegaWoman]

Hi there! I'm back!
Sorry to be gone so long, it's summer and we spend our days at our local pool, there's no Wi-Fi, and I spend almost as much time in the water as the kids do!

So here we are, the second day of our trip, and we're heading to Animal Kingdom!

Tamu Tamu (Lunch)

MegaWoman: I ordered the Tuna Salad Pita w/apple slices, diet coke and a chocolate shake for dessert. We chose this place, because there wasn't a line-up when we arrived, though as we were ordering there were 20 people or more in line behind us! There's no kids' menu here, and that was a plus as well. It was really hot while we were here on vacation, we didn't want something hot and messy. The pita sandwiches were enormous! I really was only able to eat about half. My meal was really good, fresh, and the outdoor seating area was nice and shady (though there are some very sunny seats as well). We were also sitting near a Cast Member door, where some performers (drummers mostly) were headed, and they gave is a private show! It really made us feel the magic. We also gave our seats to a group of lovely ladies who were visiting for the first time, celebrating their 50th Birthdays together, must make a note and do that when I turn 50. I almost forgot my backpack there, but they were kind enough to chase after me to return it.

Fred: Ordered the Tuna Salad Pita w/chips, coke and a vanilla shake for dessert. Fred thought the sandwich was big, but not too big for him to finish it. He was hungry, and about two hours from a complete meltdown, which I'll write about in a bit. He shared his chips with the princess, and was very happy with his meal.

The Padawan: Cheeseburger basket (minus the cheese!), w/apple slices, lemonade and a vanilla shake for dessert. The Padawan was excited that there wasn't a kid's menu. He was so hungry he wanted a "man burger", and that's what he got! They were accommodating when he wanted a cheeseburger-hold-the-cheese, and was happy that the toppings came with his favourites: pickles and lettuce. He really doesn't like lemonade, so he gave it to his sister and drank water we had brought with us.

The Princess: **She doesn't enjoy burgers, tuna salad or turkey sandwiches that much! The Princess ate off our plates, the apple slices, chips, veggies from the burgers and sandwiches with the lemonade and shakes! It worked out very well for us; the portions were huge, so we were all more than willing to share!

Will we eat here again? Yes. We really liked that there wasn't a kid's menu, and everything was really well prepared and tasty. It beats Pizzafari

Dino Diner (Snack)

Here's where the meltdown happened. And here's a little back-story. Every single time we are on a vacation or camping, Fred loses his cool on the third day. Every. Single. Time. I'd been preparing myself for this all day. And true to form it happened on the way to Finding Nemo-The Musical. I told him to take a Disney bus back to the resort, the kids and I really wanted to see Finding Nemo, and we would meet him back at ASMu in time to change and get to AKL for dinner. He was a mess, hot sticky, fed up of all the screaming kids we encountered that day, and gladly accepted my suggestion when I reminded him it was is "Day Three Meltdown". He tries not to let it happen, but it always does. . .

The Princess had been asking for a frozen lemonade slushie. So we stopped here and ordered one for the two of us to share. DinoLand is so darn HOT! I really don't like it over here; unless it's the winter then we take the kids to the Digsite to play. We liked the frozen lemonade, but the kids enjoyed playing in the ice bucket outside the stand more. We had to throw out the rest before we entered the theatre for Finding Nemo. (Which I cry at on a good day - this time I think the people sitting near us thought I was just a little crazy )

Boma @ Animal Kingdom Lodge (Dinner)

MegaWoman: We have eaten here every trip, and we talk about it all the time. The buffet here is so good, that next time I think we'll eat here twice. I ordered a Tusker Lager, to see if it still tastes the same. You see; the summer I was 17 I travelled to Kenya to renovate a medical clinic and build housing for the doctor and nurse to staff the clinic, as we may or may not have consumed a few Tuskers along the way - and yes, it tastes exactly the same, though at 6.75$ a bottle, the price is considerably more .

*** Tusker, how I love thee!***​

Fred: I think Fred went back five times or so, he didn't say much except Mmmm, mmm, mmm, curry mmmm, soup mmm.

The Padawan: Is there a carving station? Yummm. He ate quite a bit of fresh fruit too. And dessert was really hard to choose just a few things.

The Princess: She liked the chickpea salad and all the fresh fruit and veggies. She also ate quite a helping for pasta and loved the Zebra Domes.

Will we eat here again? Yes, yes & yes! We always love it here, though it amazes us the number of people that complain about all the "weird" food, and how they just eat from the kid's section of the buffet. I mean do you not look at what's on the menu before you go to a restaurant?
We also had an amazing experience after dinner. We decided to take a walk outside, check out the pool and the grounds, and while we were there we saw three giraffes eating and walking. They were so close to us it was incredible! There were also flamingos that The Princess loved. But we stood there for probably 1/2 hour whispering to each other and watching the giraffes. Peaceful.

 

[MegaWoman]

I'm glad you enjoyed CHH! Lol it sure sounds like the kids DDP is not for your DS! At least he got to share some of your food.

Oh no on not enjoying Tony's Town Square The only MK TS we have an ADR at is CP and I have read good things about it!

I'm thinking about trying CP next trip, but my kids really aren't Pooh-fans, so we might just skip it.

Enjoying the reviews so far!

Merci!

Great start! Too bad about Tony's though. I've eaten there once and loved the atmosphere but the food was just ok. I know what you mean about the table service options at MK. We do breakfast at Crystal Palace but other than that I'm much happier heading over to The Wave or Kona Cafe or Grand Floridian Cafe for a one Table Service credit meal.

The restaurants at the Monorail resorts are much better than any MK TS in my book. That's what we're going to do from now on. Live and learn eh?

Great start! We were in the World the same time, never again going during the summer. WAY too hot for this gal.

Way too hot for this Canadian girl! I honestly don't know how the Cast Members do it, especially the people in costumes!

I'm in! Last year just one of my three boys was on the kids plan. He was seven and my other boys are "Disney" adults. I agree with you that Disney fails on the kids meals. We should have upgraded him but we didn't realize that 10 days of Disney kid meals would be such a bad thing!

Sorry you didn't enjoy Tony's more. We have always had a good experience here.

Looking forward to more reviews.

Never going to get the kids DDP again, the lack of variety is just not cool.

in full agreement about the kid's meals. We are doing lots of buffets this trip so it makes no difference and will pay oop for a couple of the others for dd but honestly the choice is revolting at most places. Found Kouzzina and Le Cellier to be better kid's options than most.

Haven't tried Kouzzina yet. I did see the kid's menu looked good though.

Joining in!

I completely agree with you about the kids meals. A few years ago, we upgraded my daughter from a kid to an adult -- she's a big eater - and so not picky.

We went last month - and my youngest (at 10) requested a kids chicken nugget meal - and her sister had an adult version - I was surprised that they are not the same nuggets at all. I wonder why?! So, we had to order the adult version for her later in the week - when portion wise, she really only needed the kids size.

UGH!

I've e-mailed about the kid's menus after every trip, maybe if everyone did that they would consider that today's kid's for the most part, have had a much more varied diet than ever before and expand the menu to include real food options!


** Thanks everyone for the follows, I'll keep updating and trying to find the photos