Nat and Joh make a (Food) Porno

[wilma-bride]

Me, my best friend Natalie and our families spent 11 nights at Disney World and 3 nights on the Disney Wonder in October. Following our fourteen nights of culinary delights, we decided to make a food porno for your titillation.

Before we start, I need to make it clear that I do not claim to be a culinary expert and most definitely do not have a sophisticated palate like some of the more (in)famous reviewers here. However, I can promise that there will be: a) pictures (lots of them) b) cocktails (a few) and c) copious uses of the words ‘yummy’, ‘smashing’ and ‘delicious’. If you’re still interested, feel free to read on…

The cast:

Me (Joh) – a self-confessed ‘fussy eater’ who doesn’t like sauces, pasta, fish or much else really
My DH (Gary) – will eat most things but has a weakness for ribs
DD1 (Sian, 16) – has developed her Mother’s refined palate and is almost (but not quite) as fussy as me
DD2 (Rhiannon, 15) – there isn’t much she won’t eat. In our house, if anyone can’t finish a meal, Rea is usually the one who finishes up for them
DS (Daniel, 6) – like Rea, he’s fairly adventurous. One of the few children I’ve met who LOVES vegetables

Natalie - will eat most things and try anything once (a statement I put to the test later in the trip)
Nat’s DH (Johnny) - like Rea, he is the one from the Longstaff household who finishes the uneaten meals
Nat’s DD (Ellie, 11) - can be a finicky eater; likes cheeseburgers without cheese
Nat’s DS (Matthew, 8) - like Father, like son - 'nuff said

This is us

L-R: (Back) Gary, Sian, Nat, John, Me, Rea (Front) Ellie, Matthew, Daniel

Nat and I were both on Weight Watchers for almost a year before this trip and lost a combined total of 60 lbs so we had a lot of eating to make up for. If anyone would like to hazard a guess at our combined weigh gain after this trip, feel free

Although we were staying on site, our meals consisted of a mixture of on and off-site. We weren’t on the dining plan but, for the most part, I kept a note of the costs. We had been slightly concerned about the problems of splitting the checks for meals so decided, before we left, to purchase a pre-paid Mastercard and loaded a number of $$$ on per person. For each adult, we loaded $50 per day, each teen we loaded $40 per day and each child we loaded $30 per day. Due to the fact that we had the DCL cruise, we only pre-paid enough for 10 days so our Mastercard started with a balance of $3713.

For the most part, I’ve got photos of what we all had even if I don’t know/can’t remember what it all was. So, without further ado, here is where we ate:

Frankie and Benny’s, Gatwick Airport, London – dinner
Earl of Sandwich, Downtown Disney – dinner
Crystal Palace, Magic Kingdom – breakfast
T-Rex, Downtown Disney – dinner
Ghirardelli’s, Downtown Disney – dessert
Busch Gardens - snacks
Bennigans’s, US192 – dinner
Friendly’s, International Drive – dinner
Sanaa lounge, Kidani Village – drinks
Thunder Falls Terrace, Islands of Adventure – lunch
Maji Pool Bar, Kidani Village – drinks
Longhorn Steakhouse, US192 – dinner
Sunshine Seasons, Epcot – breakfast
Cheesecake Factory, Mall at Millennia – late lunch
Sanaa lounge, Kidani Village – drinks
Yak and Yeti, Animal Kingdom – lunch
Chili’s, US192 – dinner
Starring Rolls Bakery, Hollywood Studios – breakfast and snacks
Mara, Animal Kingdom Lodge – dinner
Boma, Animal Kingdom Lodge – breakfast
The Plaza, Magic Kingdom – dinner
Sunshine Seasons, Epcot – breakfast
Yorkshire County Fish Shop, Epcot – lunch
T-Rex, Downtown Disney – dinner
Beach Blanket Buffet, Disney Wonder – lunch
Animator’s Palate, Disney Wonder – dinner
Wavebands, Disney Wonder – drinks
Promenade Lounge, Disney Wonder – drinks
Parrot Cay, Disney Wonder – dinner
Tritons, Disney Wonder – dinner
Contempo Café, Contemporary Resort – lunch
‘Ohana, Polynesian Resort – dinner
Starring Rolls Bakery, Hollywood Studios – breakfast
Friendly’s, International Drive - lunch

First picture review coming soon

 

[oybolshoi]

Hi Joh! Looking forward to reading your newest food reviews.

Congrats on the weight loss - that's terrific!

 

[wilma-bride]

It is tradition for our family to stay at the airport the night before our flight so, once we had completed twilight check-in, we headed for Gatwick Village and over to Frankie & Benny’s. It is a chain restaurant, popular in the UK, which is loosely based on a New York-style diner.

My DH is not a massive fan of F&B’s but choice is limited at Gatwick so you take what you can get.

We were seated almost straight away and ordered some drinks:- beer for John, glass of White Zinfandel for Nat, a Cosmopolitan for me and cokes/soft drinks for the kids and DH.

The Cosmo was lovely and, surprisingly enough for a chain place, pretty strong

We decided to forego appetisers in favour of dessert and orders were placed, amid high spirits and much hilarity. The food took a little while to arrive and we were all more than pleased to see it when it did. For some reason, I only seem to have pictures of some of the meals, so here is what I've got.

Rea - Meatballs on Spaghetti: Five large classic pork and beef meatballs, piled high on to spaghetti tossed in our rich tomato and beef ragu. A real big eat!

Gary - BBQ Double Cheese:Two 6oz* grilled hamburgers each topped with Monterey Jack cheese. Served with lettuce, tomato, red onion, dill pickle, mayo, spicy onion rings and a pot of BBQ sauce for you to pour!

Nat and John both ordered the Manhattan:Two 6oz* grilled hamburgers stacked high and topped with crispy grilled bacon, Monterey Jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, dill pickle, mayo and spicy onion rings

Are you going to eat that - or climb it?

I do know that Ellie had a cheese pizza and Daniel had chicken burger but I cannot remember for the life of me what I ate.

That may have something to do with the fact that, having enjoyed my Cosmo so much, Nat and I decided we would order a pitcher. It was a very generous amount, with enough for at least 2 glasses each. Like I said, it was pretty potent stuff and by the time we left I was feeling more than a little merry.

Main course finished, it was dessert time. Rea declared herself stuffed, which is unlike Rea - she is normally something of a bottomless pit. Sian also declined dessert.

Nat and I shared the Cinnamon Apple Waffle Crunch. Normally, when I share dessert with DH (which doesn't happen often - "Gary doesn't share food"), I have the difficulty of fighting to get my fair share. With Nat, I have the opposite problem - I have to stop her from pushing her share over to my side of the the plate

DH had an ice-cream sundae, as did the kids.

I'm pretty sure John must have had dessert - after all, John is John - but I'm not sure what he had.

We split the bill (or check as you guys call it) two ways and departed the restaurant. I'm pretty sure, if I'd laid down on my side, the others could have rolled me all the way back to the Hilton. As it was, I settled for walking (albeit unsteadily)

 

[wilma-bride]

Hi Joh! Looking forward to reading your newest food reviews.

Congrats on the weight loss - that's terrific!

Hey Brenda, so sorry we didn't get the chance to meet up in October. I did get to meet up with Kathy, though, so that was great

 

[2Tiggies]

Wow, your pics are GREAT! I really love the fact that you are not a "culinary expert" - I love "real people" reviews You also got my attention with the fussy part - your pickiness is similar to mine when it comes to preferences for no sauces, etc. YOu have yourself an attention-paying poster, enjoying your posts!

 

[Linda67]

Really looking forward to this one
Very interested is some of the off property restaurants as we are staying off property in March

 

[wilma-bride]

Wow, your pics are GREAT! I really love the fact that you are not a "culinary expert" - I love "real people" reviews You also got my attention with the fussy part - your pickiness is similar to mine when it comes to preferences for no sauces, etc. YOu have yourself an attention-paying poster, enjoying your posts!

Welcome, hope you enjoy the pictures and the pickiness

 

[wilma-bride]

Our first two food experiences of travel day were uneventful, not worthy of any real mention and, as I don't have any pictorial evidence (aka porn), let's move on shall we?

After 11 hours spent travelling and, haiving eaten nothing more than a pack of Mini Cheddars or Pringles since breakfast, it came as no surprise that the amjority of us were starving by the time we got to the resort. We were staying at AKV (Kidani village) so we could have popped over to Mara but Nat and I had been bandying around the idea of paying a visit to Downtown Disney for an Earl of Sandwich fix. Guess what won?

Sandwiches, lashings of fizzy pop and hot roast beef smoothies all round

Again, DH is not a massive fan but, let's face it, the guy obviously hasn't got any taste. What's not to like? Bread - good, meat - good, cheese - gooooood

Nat and John shared the BLT

The kids had the turkey and cheese

Me and Daniel shared an Earl's Club with no sauce

Rea had the Hawaiian BBQ

The sandwiches really hit the spot and even DH had no complaints - I think he was probably too tired

 

[oybolshoi]

Ahhhh, someone else who appreciates the hot roast beef smoothie sign!

 

[tony64]

 

[Symans3honeybees]

I love porn(food porn that is )

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Love your title!

 

[natalielongstaff]

Hope you are all enjoying the reviews as much as Joh and I enjoyed eating all the yummy food

 

[Sorsha]

Hope you are all enjoying the reviews as much as Joh and I enjoyed eating all the yummy food

Absolutely!
Can't wait for more!

 

[dizneeat]

Hi Joh! What a fun surprise that you started your food review!

But ..........

it's not nice to start without me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, back to post one and start reading now!

 

[wilma-bride]

Back in July, when I was making our ADRs, we'd had no plans to eat breakfast at Crystal Palace but, while on the phone to Disney Dining I thought I would ask and, as luck would have it, I was able to get an 8.15 breakfast on our first day. Nat and John had eaten there for dinner before but not breakfast so why not start the day off the right way. And so the deal was done!

Truth be told, there are two reasons why I love breafast at Crystal Palace:- a) Puffed French Toast and b) the opportunity to take pictures of a (virtually) empty Magic Kingdom.

Unfortunately, this morning the Gods had conspired against us and, thanks to DH's reluctance to get out of bad and an unlucky run of buses, we were running late from the outset and so reason b) was pretty much a non-starter. Not only were there far more people around than I would have liked but I barely had time to glance in the direction of the castle while I was hot-footin' it down Main Street almost 30 minutes late for our ADR. I still had puffed french toast to look forward to though.

Luckily, we were still seated fairly quickly and led to two tables on the left hand side of the restaurant. I was warned when making the ADR that, due to the size of our party, we may be split up. However, it wasn't a major problem. We had two smaller tables right next to each other - and I didn't have to sit with the kids so that was a bonus

Since part of the reason for our lateness was due to DH's lack of hot tea fix, we were quick to ask our server for "tea, and plenty of it, my good man"

Tea and OJ was provided quickly and there was no problem getting chocolate milk for the kids either (only on vacation).

Since there were no characters in the near vicinity, we all (with the exception of DH) made a beeline for the buffet. This was my first plate

Chocolate and plain Mickey waffles - the plain ones were lovely but I didn't like the chocolate ones at all, sausage - good, bacon - slightly more chewy than I would prefer, donut holes - yum, puffed french toast - yuk! Hang on, yuk?!? Yep, you got it guys, my beloved french toast tasted awful. Now I'm not sure whether it's due to the fact that I've been living on a diet of cream crackers and grilled chicken for the last ten months or if it was a bad batch but either way it wasn't good.

I was so distraught I had to have more Mickey waffles to cheer me up. I couldn't quite bring myself to try another piece of french toast though

Meanwhile, poor DH was obviously suffering from severe tea deprivation as the rest of us had paid at least two visits to the buffet before he could drag himself away from his tea and then, when he did, this is what he came back with.

The phrase 'why bother' springs to mind

Luckily, he redeemed himself on the second visit with some scrambled eggs, sausage and toast.

As for Natalie and John - well, I think it's safe to say that John enjoyed it. After all, Crystal Palace has two of his favourite things - food and no limit to how much you can eat Nat seemed to quite like the french toast too so maybe I just had a dodgy one.

So it wasn't a complete disappointment and, obviously, there was the other highlight of breakfast at Crystal Palace - the characters!

So, all in all, Crystal Palace was a good way to start our first day. We may be back, however, probably not on our next trip.

 

[Natasha&Matt]

OMG!! Chocolate Mickey Waffles i was so ecited until i read that you didnt like them lol im still gunna try when i go mmmm it all looks so good!!

 

[pinkxray]

Great reviews and pictures so far. Can't wait to see more!

 

[MickeyNicki]

With a name like that it has to be good!

 

[Kell-Bell]

Love the Title!!!

Great reviews, love your style of writing.

Bring on the next reviews!