My Reviews w/QSDP, F&WF, Dessert Party w/ LOTS OF PICS Updated 11/4 Cosmic Rays

[tndisneyfan]

Ok, so I've been back almost two weeks and I still haven't got around to doing my dining reviews. I better get to it or my family is going to kill me for taking all those pictures of their food for nothing.

Places I will be posting pictures and giving my thoughts on.

Pepper Market- for whatever reason we ate there a lot. I guess because we took a lot of mid-day breaks.
Wolfgang Puck Express- Ate there twice, great as always
Dessert Party
Crystal Palace Breakfast
Chef Mickey's Dinner
Pop Century Food Court
Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe
Various Food from the Food and Wine Festival

There's probably a few more I can't think of right now but i will add them as I go.

Overall I enjoyed the food but we just tried to cram too much into a 5 night/6 day trip. A mistake even a WDW veteran like myself can make.

Hope you enjoy my reviews and find them helpful.

Pepper Market Breakfast - Page 1
Sunshine Seasons - Page 1
Wishes Dessert Party - Page 1
Crystal Palace Breakfast - Page 1
Pop Century Food Court - Page 1
Pepper Market Dinner - Page 1
Food and Wine Festival - Page 1
Food and Wine Festival continued- Page 2
Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe- Page 2

 

[MickeyNicki]

Cannot wait for your Dessert Party pics and reviews.

 

[tndisneyfan]

We normally wouldn't waste a CS credit on a breakfast but we knew we had a few to burn because we were doing two TS meals. So on arrival day and our last day we decided to just get breakfast at the resort. So this review is actually two in one, our arrival and departure day breakfast. The photos are actually from the second meal, as I forgot the camera the first time.

Pepper Market

Waffle w/ Sausage

I had the waffle with sausage. What is it about being at WDW that makes a waffle so much better than anywhere else in the world? The waffle was wonderful and the sausage was good too. The first time my sausage was cool and I think I only got two, but the second time I got three and they were good and hot.

Waffle w/ Bacon

DS got the waffle with bacon. As you will see if you keep reading these reviews, about all I can get out of DS is, it was good. So he said it was good and liked the bacon. Personally I didn't like the bacon. I prefer mine to be crisp and I thought this bacon was limp. Also the bacon was very smokey. To me it tasted like poor quality bacon, almost like streaked meat.

Southwestern Omelet

Both time DH got the southwestern omelet. He said it was good, and it had a good amount of meat and stuff in it. The platter came with potatoes, DH and I were very surprised how good they were. They look bland but they were very well seasoned. They tasted a lot like little mini steak fries. The platter also came with a muffin or biscuit. We are southern and a little picky about biscuits so DH went with a Blueberry muffin. DS ate it and said it was good. I think the second time DH ate it and said it was good but a little on the dry side.

Overall Thoughts
I thought the breakfast was good. I like Pepper market but it can be aggravating because everyone gets their food at a different time. I thought it was a little pricey for breakfast if you were paying for it.

 

[tndisneyfan]

So after breakfast we head over to Epcot. When we decided we were hungry we headed for Sunshine Season. We enjoyed SS very much our last trip and were looking forward to eating there again. When we got there we were disappointed that the 2 meats and 2 sides option was gone from the Asian section. Oh well.

Sunshine Seasons

Sweet and Sour Chicken w/ Mixed Veggies and Rice

This is DH's food. He liked it but kept saying he missed having the beef too.

Sweet and Sour Chicken w/ Rice and Noodles

This is what I had. It was good, I thought the noodles had a lot of flavor. The rice was just bland white rice, not much you can do to it. I liked my chicken but I thought it had a little too much pineapple in it compared to the amount of chicken. They had some good looking broccoli up there and I wish I would have tried it, but I liked both of my sides.

Sweet and Sour Chicken w/ Noodles and Mixed Veggies

I could've probably condensed this down to two pictures because we all got basically the same sides. Oh well. Ds enjoyed this, he said it was good.

Now on to the desserts.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

DH got the Chocolate Mousse Cake. He like it but wished he had got the apple tart. The cake had a very bitter, dark chocolate taste to it. So if you really like dark chocolate you will like this, but if you don't like dark chocolate you probably won't enjoy it.

Asian Chocolate Cake

DS got the Asian Chocolate Cake. He enjoyed it. I tried it our last trip, I thought it was good but a little on the dry side.

Butterfinger Cheesecake

What can I say, this was love on a plate. Well almost. It was a very good cheesecake. I thought it could've used a little more Butterfinger flavor in it, but overall it was a great dessert.

Overall Thoughts
I still enjoyed Sunshine Season, but I did miss the two meat option. It is still top of my list for Epcot. I also like how you get your own drinks so you can get refills.

 

[tndisneyfan]

These are just a few pictures of the dessert party. I meant to take the camera to the buffet when I went up but I was hungry and forgot.

This is just a picture of one of the tables set up.

This is a picture we took while standing in line waiting to be seated. I found that it didn't matter what time your ADR was for, it mattered how far back in line you were. They didn't call you by ADR time, they just went down the line.

More in line pictures.

A close up from waiting in line. This is the last line photo, I promise.

The rest of the pictures were took after the fireworks. We were hanging out and letting the crowd die down.

The mango shooters everyone goes on about. I thought they were just OK, not really my thing. DH didn't like them at all. They also had raspberry shooters, DH said they weren't good but I didn't try them.

Not sure what these are, just showing a closeup of some of the goods.

This is just a picture of some of the drinks. I think it's lemonade, some kind of fruit punch that tasted like watered down pink lemonade, and I think the other is unsweet tea.

Overall Thoughts
It was interesting getting to try all those different desserts. There were a few things I had never been able to try before, like cannoli and the shooters. They kept everthing full until fireworks time, then after the fireworks started didn't refill anymore. DH really liked the white chocolate truffles. I liked the tiramisu and a chocolate tart. DS stuck with basically cookies and brownies. To drink, they had milk, the drinks from the picture above, water, and coffee. Not sure if there was anything else to drink or not. Overall I would have to say it was OK, I'm glad I did it, but would not do it again. Also for close to $25 dollars a person, I would've like to have had a Coke. For $75 for three people, we could've went and had a sit down meal.

 

[KatMark]

I'm in.

 

[alboq]

I'm in. I booked the dessert party for our first Christmas trip at WDW I just booked it yesterday for Dec 22. I booked more for the convience of having a spot to see Wishes. We know it will be sooo crowded on Main Street,etc. This is a surpise trip for our 2DSs and we are doing special things that we never do when we visit Disney.

 

[tndisneyfan]

So the next day we had an 8:15 ADR for breakfast at Crystal Palace. We were almost late because of the bus situation. We were walking across the parking lot at CSR and saw the bus at the stop, there was no way we could make it. Well it took 35 minutes for another bus to come by. But we made it.

We ate here for the first time last June, we enjoyed it so much we thought we would try it again. I didn't take pictures from our plates because I think that food from a buffet looks gross on your plate, plus it's hard to tell what is what.

Breakfast Lasagna

Sorry this picture is so blurry. I'm not sure what the deal was. But this is the breakfast lasagna everyone goes on about. I meant to try it but didn't. Personally I don't think it looks good.

Pooh's Puffed French Toast and Breakfast Pizza

I love Pooh's Puffed French Toast. Absolutely love it. I don't know why, it's just fried dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar. I did not try the breakfast pizza, it's just not my think.

The next few are just various shot from the buffet line. The pictures are a little dark. I was trying not to use the flash.

Mickey Waffles and Chocolate Mickey Waffles

The Mickey waffles were good, but where we had the dessert party the night before I just couldn't get into them or the puffed french toast like I normally would. It wasn't them, it was me

This is some kind of skillet omelet type thing they already had made up. It was good. I didn't expect to like it but it was tasty.

DH thought it was funny that they whole wheat bread was next to the donuts.

There was other food on the buffet that I didn't get pictures of. There was a larger bread section that had croissants and some other breads. There was also whole bananas and apples. The cold section had some cut up fruit, cold cereals, some muesli cereal stuff. There was also chef cooking fresh Mickey pancakes and omelets to order.

Overall Thoughts
I really enjoyed the breakfast. I like getting into the parks early. The food was really good. We didn't really go for the characters so I can't comment on character interraction. My only complaint would be the line for the made to order omelets and pancakes at times was very long. So long that I didn't bother.

 

[tndisneyfan]

So we spent the morning and early afternoon at Magic Kingdom. Nobody pigged out at Crystal Palace so we were starting to get hungry. Nothing at MK appealed to us so we hopped on a bus and headed to Pop Century. We've stayed at POP several times and like the food court.

Chicken Penne Alfredo

DS and I both got this. I think this is the third time I've had it and it's been great every time. It is a Parmesan chicken breast with alfredo sauce with penne pasta and a garlic breadstick. The chicken breast was very moist and you can really taste the Parmesan in the breading. I thought it could have used a little more Alfredo sauce, but other than that it was excellent.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

DH got this. It's the same Parmesan Chicken that's in the photo above, but with a green salad with a vinagrette type dressing already on it. DH thought the chicken was a touch greasy. He thought the crust wasn't as crispy as it had been in the past. I didn't notice it on mine because I ate it with the alfredo sauce. He said it was still good, just not as crispy.

Brownie Sundae

We all got this as dessert, sorry I ate the cherry before I took the picture. You can get it made with whatever ice cream you want. DH and I went with vanilla, but DS had it made with Cookies and Cream. This dessert is huge, the picture does not do it justice. Way too big for one person, unless that's all you are eating. The ice cream was good but the brownie was just OK, it tasted very processed, like a Little Debbie brownie. We decided if we went back to POP food court on the DDP we would get one of these to share and get two other desserts. Something that would carry back to the room, like a cookie or something.

Overall Thoughts
Although DH thought his chicken was a little on the greasy side, it was still a very good meal. A good value on the DDP.

 

[tndisneyfan]

We got back to the hotel late and decided to get something at Pepper Market before it got too late.

Pepperoni and Sausage Pizza

DS got the pizza. I thought it was really good, better than typical WDW pizza, but not as good as Wolfgang Puck Express. I liked how the sausage was sliced and not crumbled, and there was a whole lot of cheese on there. After the pizza was finished they drizzled what looked like a garlic butter sauce around the edges. My only complaint would be that I thought the cheese tasted very processed. Like it was low quality cheese. I may not have noticed it as much if there wasn't so much on there.

I put the second shot of the pizza to show how much cheese was actually on there. Also the pizza is much bigger than a WDW personal size pizza. DS is a big eater and he only ate half of it.

Steak w/Fries and Mixed Veggies

DH and I both ordered this. I'm not sure what cut of steak this was, the menu didn't say. I ordered mine medium and DH ordered his Medium well. They both came out well done, but oddly enough it was still very tender and had a good taste. They slow cooked the steak on a grill, it took about fifteen minutes for the steaks to cook. When I ordered they had just mushroom to put on the steak and that's what I wanted, but they ran out and put this pepper, onion, mushroom, and I don't know what else mixture on thre. DH stayed and waited for the steaks, if I had been there I would've told them to leave that off mine. I just don't like cooked green pepper, but I just took off what I didn't like and it was fine. The steak was very good and tender, but as I said, overcooked. The mixed veggies had pepper, onion, zucchini, and eggplant. I liked the veggies, they were seasoned well, but may be too done for some people's taste. I'm southern so I like my veggies cooked down a little. The fries were OK, they were very, very thin shoestring fries. I prefer my fries a little thicker, but they were OK. Not super fresh but decent.

Desserts

DH got the Oreo Cake and I got the chocolate cake. They look better than they were. They weren't bad or anything, but I thought it was going to be something special. It was just a piece of cake.

Overall Thoughts
I was a little disappointed in the menu change. I was looking forward to the fajitas, but they were no longer on the menu. Also the Prime Rib and the other nicer cut of steak was gone too. I was also surprised that they got rid of the Churro too. Now the prices are more in line with other resort food courts.

Overall though, I thought the food tasted good. They still have a decent variety, but not near as much as before. My only complaint is, that everyone gets their food at a different time. I think DS was almost done eating before we even got our steaks. Just wanted to add, it was pretty darn good for a $13 or $14 steak. It wasn't LeCellier or Yachtsman but for the price, and in our case with a CS credit, it was good. When we ate there in June I thought the steak wasn't worth the $24 you have to pay for it if you pay OOP, but this one most definitely is.

 

[tndisneyfan]

Sorry to everyone who's reading my reviews. I had to go back to work and haven't had time to keep updating. I will try to update Monday or Tuesday. Still have lots of reviews and pics to come.

 

[tndisneyfan]

I'm in. I booked the dessert party for our first Christmas trip at WDW I just booked it yesterday for Dec 22. I booked more for the convience of having a spot to see Wishes. We know it will be sooo crowded on Main Street,etc. This is a surpise trip for our 2DSs and we are doing special things that we never do when we visit Disney.

I did like having a place to sit and wait for Wishes and something to do while we waited. It's not the best viewing angle but it was still a nice view.

 

[KatMark]

I'm upset about the changes in the Pepper Market menu as well. But I'm glad you enjoyed what you got there. We didn't have a chance to eat there last month as we were only there for four days, but that pizza looks really good!

 

[tndisneyfan]

This day we slept in a little because we were doing MNSSHP that night. We had been looking forward to the F&WF. So we decided today that we were going to snack around Epcot for lunch.

Grilled Pork Skewer with Farofa

This is from the Brazil kiosk. I forgot to take a picture before we dug in, so the portion is three pieces of meat and not two. That worked out well for us since there was three of us. I thought this was good but was a little disappointed that it was just meat on a stick. I guess I was expecting something with it. The pork was tender and had a good amount of flavor. I thought it was a little pricey for what you got.

Frozen Grand Marnier Parfait with Orange Coulis

DH had been looking forward to this since the menus came out. He loves the Grand Marnier Slush. We liked this but not as much as we thought we would. The parfait had an interesting texture. It was very, very cold but wasn't froze so hard you couldn't get your spoon thru it. DH thought the parfait was a little tart and had more of a lemony taste. The coulis was good but eaten by itself, it was a little bitter. Overall, DH was disappointed because it wasn't what he expected it to be. I liked because I wasn't expecting anything, if that makes any sense.

Austrian Bundt Cake

DS wanted this when we got the Grand Marnier Parfait. He liked it. I thought it was just a raisin bundt cake. I thought it was a tad on the dry side.

Three Cheese Selection

I love cheese so I could't pass this by. The cheeses are Dorothea, Mahon, and Piave but I'm not sure which is which. If anyone knows I would appreciate you posting it. I liked all the cheeses but the the slightly yellow colored one in the middle was my favorite, unfortunately DS ate most of it. It had almost a sweet taste to it. The top one was very good too. The bottom was my least favorite, though still very good. It was a harder sharper cheese. My only complaint would be that I wish instead of just a small pack of crackers, it came with a slice of bread.

Tostado de Pallo

Corn Tortilla filled with Chipolte Chicken. We all really like this. The chicken was very flavorful and spicy, but not so spicey DS couldn't enjoy it. I was reluctant to try it because I'm not a big fan of black beans, but there were really good. It may have changed my mind on black beans . I got to eat most of this because it had sour cream on it and DS and DH don't like it.

Special Blue Margarita

Sorry the picture looks a little blurry. I know not technically part of the F&WF. I had always meant to try a margarita at this stand but I always kept skipping it. So this time I had to try one. I thought my biggest dilemma was going to be trying to decide between a regular lime margarita and a fiesta margarita. So when I get up there they have this special blue margarita. I wish I'd took a picture of the description they had but I forgot. It had Blue Curacao and Patron in it and I apologize but I can't remember what else Anyone who reads this that has a better description, please feel free to post. The salt around the rim was a cactus and lemon grass salt. The margarita itself was wonderful but the salt really set it off. The color of the salt is sort of yucky looking, it was a brown-green color, but it had a nice citrus taste to it. Very, very good. THE BEST margarita I have ever had. Period. DH didn't like the salt, but thought the margarita was good without it.

After this we went to the China kiosk and got a Pork Pot Sticker. I did not take a picture . It was very good though. It was two dumpling with a dark broth over them. They had a lot of pork in them. DH and I liked it but DS did not. It had a little bit of cabbage in there and I think that's what turned DS off. Sorry about the no picture.

Rice and Lentil Crepe with Potato and Onion Filling

After China we stopped near the India kiosk to rest and cool down. I walked over and got this. This is the only thing I got that I didn't like. I just didn't like it. It was very spicey, almost too hot for me and I've got average to slightly above average tolerance for hot. I also didn't like the texture of it. It was chunky. DH thought it was OK but I just didn't like it so I left it for him to eat.

I am going to post this in two parts or this post is going to be super long. I may end up having to make it three. I will have to see how many more pictures I took. I will finish this up in a bit.

 

[Schmoodle]

Thanks for the reviews! I tried to get reservations for the dessert party for my September trip, but couldn't. I wasn't too disappointed because I couldn't imagine how we would have wanted more desserts. But I would have done it just to have a good vantage point. Good to know we didn't miss much.

 

[mcrabeck]

Enjoying youre reviews- we are going to the Desert Party on NY Day. How early did you line up to get checked in? Do you think it is important to be early in line or did the check in process go pretty fast? TIA

 

[tndisneyfan]

Enjoying youre reviews- we are going to the Desert Party on NY Day. How early did you line up to get checked in? Do you think it is important to be early in line or did the check in process go pretty fast? TIA

Our reservation was for 8:10, I think we got over there about 7:40 and got in line. There was already a good sized line when we got there. They checked us in while we were still in line. A couple of CM's came thru checking names and putting on wrist bands. They seated you not by your ressie time but by where you were in line, first come first serve. They started seating at 8:00. So if your ADR was at 8:00, but you were at the end of the line, then you were seated last.

 

[tndisneyfan]

So on with the food and wine pictures.

Green Papaya Salad with Shrimp

DS loves shrimp so we had to try this. The shrimp was very good but I didn't care much for the papaya salad. I thought it was bland. It would've probably been better if actually eaten with the shrimp, but DS ate the shrimp and left me with the papaya salad to eat.

Grilled Lamb Chop with Red Wine Sauce

This was from Australia. I like lamb but I don't get many opportunities to eat it. It's just not common to eat lamb in East Tennessee. So I when I saw this I knew I had to try it. They were cooking it fresh as I waited. I liked it, I thought it was very tender and flavorful. I liked the red wine sauce on it. DH thought the lamb itself was good but didn't like the red wine sauce.

Nuernberger Sausage on Pretzel Roll

We all liked this. The sausage was very flavorful and we liked that it was on the pretzel bun instead of just a plain white or wheat bun.

Apple Strudel with Vanilla Sauce

DH and DS liked this more than I did. I do not like cooked apple that well so I am not the best judge. I did try the pastry part and thought it was good. I also thought the vanilla sauce just tasted like melted vanilla bean ice cream. But DH and DS both loved it.

Praline Bread Pudding with Bourbon Caramel Sauce

Absolutely my favorite dessert, not just at the F&WF but for the whole trip. It was a very good praline bread pudding but the bourbon caramel sauce just took it over the top. They kept the sauce hot and poured it on when you ordered. The only way it could've been better was if they put just a dab of ice cream on top.

Chicken and Andouille Gumbo

Sorry the last two pictures were so bad. The last one was way off center and this one was dark. I had a lighter one but it just showed the rice on top, you couldn't see the gumbo and I wanted ya'll to be able to see what it looked like. The gumbo was very good too. Spicy and flavorful but not too hot. Overall I think the New Orleans kiosk was our favorite stop.

Strawberry Kaki Gori

I know, not F&WF but still part of the reviews. I was expecting just shaved ice, but it was way better than any shaved ice I've ever had. The ice was an interesting texture, it's hard to explain. It was very smooth. It kind of reminded me of the texture of snow ice cream we used to make when I was a kid (back when we used to get snow). The syrup was good too, very sweet but not too sweet with a strong fruity taste. I liked it and will get another next trip.

Spicy Tuna Roll

I had been looking forward to this but wish I hadn't wasted a snack credit on it. Don't get me wrong, it was good but I was so full from everything else I just didn't feel like eating it . DH will not eat fish, much less raw fish, so he didn't try it.

California Sushi Roll

This was DS's and DS's alone. This is the one thing he really wanted so he ate the whole thing by himself and swore that he loved it. He loves California Rolls, but only at WDW. I have offered many time to take him to a local sushi place and get one, but he says he only likes sushi at WDW. He didn't want to try my tuna roll, BTW.

We were all full and right there at the boat stop so we decided to head back to the Future World area.

Overall Thoughts
The whole family loves the F&WF, even DS. I like trying all the different foods that I normally don't get to try. I thought overall the food was very, very good and reasonably priced for the amount you got. We were on the QSDP and I loved using up snack credits this way.

New Orleans Kiosk was the family favorite overall. My favorites of the day was the Cheese Selection at the Mouse Catch and the Bread Pudding at New Orleans. For DH it was either the Sausage on pretzel bread or the Gumbo. DS loved the sushi. I think everyone's favorite dessert was the Bread Pudding..

 

[tndisneyfan]

After grazing at the F&WF we headed back to Future World for a few rides. Tonight was our MNSSHP night so we headed over to Magic Kingdom. I know after MK closes for the Halloween party the Cosmic Rays goes over to just burgers and nuggets. I didn't want a burger so we went ahead and got something to eat before the party started. Plus I didn't want to waste valuable party time eating.


Bacon Double Cheeseburger and Fries

DH and DS both got the bacon double cheeseburger. The both said it was good, it tasted fresh and not dried out. The fixings bar was good also, they had all the same stuff as Pecos Bills. The fries were fresh also.

1/2 Rotisserie Chicken

I debated on getting the ribs and chicken, since we were on the dining plan the "cost" would be the same. I think the ribs are just OK plus I wasn't super hugry so I just got the chicken. The chicken is very, very good. It was moist and had a lot of seasoning on it. I thought the mashed potatoes were pretty good too. I am not a big fan of peel in my mashed potatoes but I am starting to get used to it. The green beans had a good flavor but the texture was very off putting. They weren't crisp like I was expecting, but had an odd rubbery and waxy texture. Very odd but they tasted just fine.

Chocolate Cake

I was a little disappointed here. Our last trip they had strawberry yogurt on the dessert menu but now it's on the Sides menu. I was looking forward to a less sweet dessert because I was starting to get dessert burnout. They may have let me got it if I had asked, but I did not. So we all got the chocolate cake instead. It was nothing special or anything but better than I expected. To me most of these packaged desserts aren't good but this one wasn't too bad. It was most and not too rich. A little bit better than most desserts like this. Also notice the Halloween sprinkles on top. I thought that was a nice touch.

Overall Thoughts
We all enjoyed our food here. In my opinion Cosmic Rays is one of the best CS options if you are on the DDP. My only complaint about this place is having to get in different lines for different food. I believe there are three different station, so your family could really be splitting up to get your food.