My Dining Reviews w/Pics 10/28 - 11/2

[LoraJ]

Just got home from our wonderful stay at WDW. I'll dive right into my reviews while I am motivated before I have to go back to reality tomorrow.

We didn't do the dining plan, doesn't work for us.


Where we ate:

Fulton's Crab House - Dinner
Goofy's Candy Company
Brown Derby - Lunch
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company - Universal City walk
Food & Wine Festival booths (2 days)
Shula's - Dinner
Cape May -Breakfast
House of Blue's -Lunch
Beaches & Cream - ice cream to go
Pecos Bill - Dinner
Flame Tree BBQ - Lunch
Coral Reef - Dinner
Boardwalk Bakery


Traveling was myself and my DH of 1 year. This was our 4th trip to WDW together.

 

[LoraJ]

Day 1 - October 28, 2008

We arrived in the afternoon, picked up some goodies from a grocery store and headed off to Beach Club Villas.

Before dinner we explored the area and then headed off to Downtown Disney.

Our fist meal was Fulton's Crab House. This is my DH's favorite even though it seems to get bad reviews on the DIS. Usually the place is packed and we have to wait 20 minutes to be seated. But we were seated right away. In fact, they didn't even look up my ADR.

We had wonderful, attentive service, and everything we had was delicious.

We started off with some cocktails:

I had the Pop Rocks Martini. It was sweet and delicious!

DH had the Bloody Mary.

For an appetizer, I had the Portabello Mushroom Fries.


For the main course:

I'm not a seafood lover, so I had the Filet Mignon. It was really good.

DH had the crab claw, lobster tail special which he loved.

We stopped over at Goofy's Candy Company where I had a marshmallow treat created. I had them dipped in dark chocolate w/m&m's, chocolate chips, sprinkles and milk chocolate drizzle. Yummy. I ate this over the period of 3 days.

When we returned to BCV, we headed over to Martha's Vineyard where I was introduced to the Magical Star. Such sweet goodness.

I now have a good collection of those glow cubes.

 

[LoraJ]

Day 2 - October 29

DH rarely eats breakfast. I had bought some yogurt and packed my Jenny Craig granola so I made my own parfaits. I am definitely dreading my weigh-in on Tuesday. I didn't worry about my diet at all. I was on vacation.


We had nothing planned for this day except Halloween Horror Nights at Universal. We had thought about going to a water park, but the weather was in the low 60's so we decided to do a park instead. We headed over to DHS.

The park seemed a bit more crowded than the last time we came the same week in 2006. But we still found it to be manageable.


We went to the dining reservations booth and got an ADR for the Brown Derby.

I had the cobb salad:

I really like this cobb salad and how the mix it up for you.


DH had the lobster bisque:

He also had some sort of salad. He loved the soup and thought that the salad was okay.

Our service was pretty good until the end where we seemed to be forgotten. Not a big deal.


So after DHS and my nap, we headed off to Universal Studios. HHN is the whole reason for our trip. DH loves it!

After doing a couple of rides and 1 house, we went out to city walk and had dinner at Bubba Gump's. We have eaten at this location as well as others around the U.S.. It's nothing spectacular, but it hits the spot.

I had the fried chicken:

It was really good. I loved the mashed potatoes.


DH had the hush puppies:

He sad they wee "yummy".


At HHN I just had to have a blood bag which was a delicious jello shot.

And let me apologize now for any pics with my nails in them. I forgot my nail file at home and they are a mess from my luggage.

 

[LoraJ]

Day 3 - October 30th

For lunch we planned to hit the booths at the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot.

The crowds at the booths were pretty light.

First stop was Canada. We both got the cheese soup:

Thumbs up from both of us.

Next we headed over to Chile:

I got the beef empanada which I really liked.

DH Got the shrimp w/cilantro salsa. Thumbs up.

We made our way over to Hops & Barley where DH got his fave, the lobster roll.

I went to San Francisco and got what ended up being my fave, the beef medallion. It was so nice and tender and delicious.

Then we walked back to the beginning again and DH stopped at Argentina and got the beef w/chimichurri sauce. He liked it, but he wasn't impressed with the sauce.

I went to Mexico and got the Quesadilla.

It was good, but dry. Wish there was some salsa with it.


continued...

 

[LoraJ]

Here's DH's beef w/chimichurri:

Now time for the sweet stuff! We went back to Canada and got the maple custard topped w/almond crumble.

We shared this and both gave it a thumbs up!

On the way out, we grabbed a pistachio baklava but gobbled it up so fast that I forgot to take a photo (this time. ) So good!




For dinner we walked over to Shula's at the Dolphin. I think this was our best meal. We both loved it! We had been to another Shula's in Ft. Lauderdale and weren't very impressed. But after reading so many great reviews about this location, we decided to give it a shot instead of doing the usual visit to Le Cellier. I am so glad we did this.

I had the tomato & mozzarella chopped salad. It was wonderful!:

For my main course, I had the steak Mary Anne, which is a smaller version of the filet mignon but with a peppercorn sauce. It was so tender and delicious. Definitely the best filet I have had on Disney property. I got a side of creamed spinach which was also very good. DH had a side of mushrooms which we shared.

DH had the surf-n-turf which he loved:

On the way home we stopped at the Boardwalk Bakery for some dessert to go. I got a fruit tart and he got the peanut butter cake. Thumbs up for both.

 

[granmaz]

Thanks for the reviews. Interesting to read one on Shulas, and also the F&W as we should be there next year for the first time.

 

[notaclue]

Does anyone know if Shula's is on the DDP?

 

[LoraJ]

Does anyone know if Shula's is on the DDP?

I don't believe it is.

Thanks for the reviews. Interesting to read one on Shulas, and also the F&W as we should be there next year for the first time.

I think you will really enjoy the food and wine festival. Such a great time to go.

 

[LoraJ]

Day 4 - October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

On this morning I was craving a big breakfast. DH didn't want breakfast so I decided to go on my own. I walked down to Cape May to see if I could get a table. I was told it would be about a 20 minute wait. I sat down and 1 minute later my table was ready.

I felt a bit weird being a character meal alone. I really just wanted the breakfast part, didn't need any character interaction. When they came to my table they just took my hand and kissed it, and Minnie kissed my forehead. I couldn't have been there for more than 30 minutes and got to see all the characters.

As for the food, it was great!

I really loved the waffles and breakfast pizza. The service was good and my orange juice glass was kept full.


Not soon after, DH was hungry for lunch. We went to Downtown Disney to one of his favorites, House of Blues.

For starters, he had some sort of crawfish bisque:

And then he had a Thai chicken salad (we think, whatever it is isn't on the HOB website).

He enjoyed the soup. The salad he only liked the chicken and didn't care for the salad/dressing part.


I was still a bit stuffed from breakfast, but thought I would nibble on the spinach and artichoke dip:

It was okay, I have had better.

And I just couldn't resist the sweet potato fries. I probably should have just had this.:

This evening we had tickets to MNSSHP. We went in October 2006 and had a good time. I was worried about going on Halloween this time, especially on a Friday. It was a bit too crowded for my liking. Although we walked on to just about every ride, that was great.

We had dinner at Pecos Bill. We went right before the parade so it wasn't that crowded. I loved the self service kiosk. No getting stuck behind someone who doesn't know how to use the dining plan which seems to happen every single time we go to a CS restaurant.

I forgot to take pictures. I was a bit out of it because I didn't get around to my daily nap.

DH had the pork sandwich which he liked and I had the taco salad. I thought it was pretty good. I am so glad they have the taco salad there because that is what I loved and missed about El Pirata y El Perico.


For dessert I nibbled on my trick-or-treat loot.:

 

[MickeyNicki]

We loved loved loved Fultons when we went last month, it was crazy good!

 

[TigerKat]

Really enjoying your reviews! That Bloody Mary at Fulton's will be in my hand on Saturday.....

 

[LoraJ]

Day 5 - November 1, 2008


On November 1st in 2006, we headed to AK still glowing from our Halloween fun at HHN only to be greeted with a Christmas tree and Chistmas music throughout the park. Bahumbug! I wasn't ready for that at all.

This year however, there was no signs of Christmas at AK so we could still feel the spirit of Halloween.

For lunch we were debating between Flame Tree and Yak-n-Yeti. We decided to go for Flame Tree.

I had the pork sandwich! It was as good as always.

DH had the ribs:

He really liked them.

We both got a side of cole slaw and enjoyed that as well.


We had some company hoping we would drop some food on the ground:

They seemed to not get the memo:

While relaxing back at the resort in the afternoon, I got us some hot fudge sundae's to go from Beaches and Cream. DH had chocolate and vanilla and I had chocolate and mint chocolate chip. Scrumptious! However, it is disappointing that they no longer have the full ice cream menu for take-out. I was drooling over the No Way Jose that a couple at the counter were eating.


For dinner that night I had planned Coral Reef. When I made the reservation back in May, it was getting rave reviews. I showed DH the menu and he approved.

Since then the reviews went downhill and I was getting a bit nervous. Especially when they got rid of the crab since I think that is what DH wanted. I made a boo boo on Saturday and showed DH the menu listed on the DIS and didn't realize it was over a year old. I should have shown him the one from allears because that was more up to date. He got attached to the tuna. Of course we get there and there is no tuna on the menu. Uh oh!

So he ended up getting all appetizers.

The Lobster Soup:

Sea & Land:

and a salad:

He liked them all okay.

I had the corn chowder:

and the chicken:

Both were good, but nothing spectacular.

Of course I had to have a Magical Star and DH had a Long Island Iced Tea:

I'm glad we tried Coral Reef, but I don't think we'll be going back. I enjoyed the atmosphere though. This was the only restaurant that we had to wait to be seated. Wasn't too long though. 5 - 10 minutes.

It was cool to see divers in the tank.

After dinner I walked over to the Boardwalk and stopped in the bakery again. This time I got the carrot cake. It was sooooo good.

 

[suzimar57]

great photos and reviews - nice to see the variety you had at the F&W booths, too!

 

[LoraJ]

Day 6 - November 2, 2008

How did it get to be our last day already?

Our flight was at around 7pm, so we had plenty of time to kill. We decided to hit some more booths at the F&W Fest.

I started off with the Chilaquiles at Mexico. Delish!

Then we headed to Spain where we both got the chilled tomato w/garlic soup. Yum!

DH got the Seared Tuna Loin which he really liked.

Then after dodging a quick rain shower, we headed over to India and both got Somosas.

DH then got the crab cake at Hops & Barley. I don't remember if he liked it or not. It smelled a bit fishy to me.

We both wanted stuff from San Francisco, DH wanting the beet salad and I wanted another beef medallion goodness, but the line was too long for our liking.

On to Morocco where I got the beef in Pita. It was basically a mini burger in a pita, but it was good.

And finally, I just had to have the pistachio baklava from Turkey again. So yummy!

And that is the end of our food journey. Now it is back to the diet for me.

Hope you enjoyed the pics and let me know if you have any questions.

 

[JustLikeHeaven]

Great pictures btw. I would love to try to NO WAY JOSE sundae at Beaches and Cream. It sounds so good. We'll have to make sure we have time to eat in. 26 DAYS and COUNTING!!!

 

[John's Mom]

Thanks for sharing your great reviews and pictures!

 

[SunnieRN]

Thanks for the great reviews and pictures!

 

[jess20k]

Loving your reviews! That bloody mary looks sooooo delicious! Is it really spicy? I have to get one of those!

 

[D&R love Disney]

Great reviews! Shula's is one of our favorites, we always get a great meal there.

 

[LoraJ]

Loving your reviews! That bloody mary looks sooooo delicious! Is it really spicy? I have to get one of those!

I finally got around to asking DH and he said it *is* really spicy.