Oh, I'm detecting nuttiness, all right! 3D Dessert Discovery (11/2) - Complete

[librarygeek]

Sorry your trip started off a bit rough! But it looks like things are picking up. Your dinner at Shula's looks amazing. Like others have mentioned, I don't think I've seen many pics of the food there, so it's much appreciated! It's also great to see the pictures of what you're getting at the F&W.

From reading a few reviews it seems really crowded in Disney right now. I would have thought October would be a bit of an off time - do you think it's just because of F&W? Or is there another reason why it's so crowded? We were just there in September and the place felt absolutely empty.

 

[franandaj]

He did his presentation of the meat & we placed our orders.

Looks like you are enjoying yourself and that was a very nice dinner.

So when you made the statement above, is this like Morton's where they have a cart of meat that they wheel around to all the tables and show you the various cuts wrapped in cellophane?

Also, I was hoping I might meet you at some of the F&W events this coming weekend, but alas I have just completed the unfortunate task of canceling my entire trip. All I have left is to call up about the Prepaid events and beg and plead on the grounds of medical emergency to get a refund.

So for another year. I will be living F&W vicariously through you!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Thank you for your review of Shula's. We are thinking of going for our trip in Sept. and this is making decisions even harder.

You should definitely go there for your next trip! Its on the pricy side but very very worth it. Hopefully one of these days I'll actually be hungry enough to get my own steak!

Sorry your trip started off a bit rough! But it looks like things are picking up. Your dinner at Shula's looks amazing. Like others have mentioned, I don't think I've seen many pics of the food there, so it's much appreciated! It's also great to see the pictures of what you're getting at the F&W.

From reading a few reviews it seems really crowded in Disney right now. I would have thought October would be a bit of an off time - do you think it's just because of F&W? Or is there another reason why it's so crowded? We were just there in September and the place felt absolutely empty.

Yeah everything has picked up from the rough start. I really enjoyed my dinner there & my husband can't wait to go back next year. EPCOT has been really crowded on the weekends but its typical for F&W time. My husband & I were at MK this afternoon and everything we went on was only a max 15 minute wait so I though that was pretty decent. Space Mountain was only at 40 minutes at 4pm but we're waiting to do that tomorrow morning.

Looks like you are enjoying yourself and that was a very nice dinner.

So when you made the statement above, is this like Morton's where they have a cart of meat that they wheel around to all the tables and show you the various cuts wrapped in cellophane?

Also, I was hoping I might meet you at some of the F&W events this coming weekend, but alas I have just completed the unfortunate task of canceling my entire trip. All I have left is to call up about the Prepaid events and beg and plead on the grounds of medical emergency to get a refund.

So for another year. I will be living F&W vicariously through you!

Thanks, I'm definitely enjoying myself this past weekend.

Its very similar to Morton's - just they don't have a live lobster on the cart (I always feel really bad for that lobster)

I'm sorry you had to cancel your trip. I was looking forward to meeting you. I hope everything gets better for whatever the emergency is. Hopefully Disney will give you a refund for the events you had!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Pepper Market​

This morning my husband wanted eggs cooked his way. Luckily the Pepper Market has a station that cooks eggs as you want, so we headed that way for breakfast.

It was mostly empty for a Sunday morning. I guess since they have the Cafe Rix now, not as many people have to eat at the Pepper Market.

My husband went for the Eggs - Scrambled.

They came with potatoes & bacon.
The one good thing - the bacon was real - non of that microwave/pre-cooked crap Disney tries to pass off as bacon.

As my husband completely cleared his plate, he enjoyed it all. I guess its pretty standard fare no matter where one gets it.

I went with one of my staple breakfast choices - Chocolate Crossiant & when I saw it was real bacon, a Side of Bacon

They were enjoyable enough. Probably a bit too much bacon for the morning, I should have just stolen my husband's from his plate.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Coral Reef​

After our breakfast, we headed to open EPCOT.

We headed to Soarin then Living with the Land as we were right there

We grabbed our FP for Test Track and got Mission:Space & Spaceship Earth out of the way before heading back there. Next up was Living Seas w/ Nemo & finally it was time for our lunch. We checked in a little early so they hadn't opened yet. (Coral Reef opens at 11:30am)

We were very quickly seated after opening right in front of the window in the far side of the restaurant. Our server was very friendly & as we knew exactly what we wanted to order, we were all set. We wanted to eat a lighter entree as we knew we had the culinary demo at 1pm & didn't want to be too full to enjoy it.

Our service here was extremely quick. 10 minutes after ordering, a runner was out with our food.

My husband is boring & went with the Grilled Chicken Caesar.

He said it wasn't as good as last night's but was fine for a sit down lunch.

I ordered off the appetizer menu & had their Fried Shrimp w/ Coral Reef Slaw.

This is a perfect lunch portion for me today! The shrimp were nicely cooked & I enjoyed the kick to the sauce for them.

My husband enjoyed the Very Berry Punch to drink while I had the Black Cherry Twist (I really love that Red Stag)

One of the reasons I do keep Coral Reef on our dining rotations is my love of a certain dessert.
Jack Daniel & Bailey Mousse

They have had a few different variations of this over the past few years. I think I like this most recent one the best.

My husband for some reason didn't get his cheesecake that he tends to always get no matter the restaurant. He went with the Chocolate Wave.

Overall he enjoyed it.

This meal was quick but not overly so. We were in and out within 35 minutes but we didn't really feel rushed. Our server was great & friendly. We'll probably return next year when we want a sit down lunch on an EPCOT day.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Robert Irvine Culinary Demo​

Next up for us today, was the Robert Irvine Culinary Demo in the festival center. We headed there immediately after lunch & browsed the shoppes for a little bit. I thought about buying some wine & liquor, but I looked up the prices online to determine if it was a good deal& decided to just take notes of the names and if my usual store doesn't have it, have them order it for us.

We headed to line & my husband went and got our tickets.

A little before 1, they let us in & to get our seats. I really like the new set up for the kitchen demo area. It makes it a lot more easier to see the stage no matter where you sit!

Pam came up to the stage & introduced the winery.
I dazed off for a bit as I'm not a huge Cab fan for anything but when I'm eating beef.

I do like how the wine is being served in real glasses & not thimbles anymore.

After the winery spoke, Robert Irvine came out & did his intro. He was a great entertainer for the hour - including hopefully embarrassing a 10 year old boy from sucking his thumb. A few ball jokes were made based on the meatballs and he had us laughing a ton.

For the food, he made us Turkey Meatballs.

They had an Asian style sauce made with grape seed oil for the noodles. I really enjoyed them and usually I avoid meatballs!

It was well worth the fee. My husband is willing to let me book a Kitchen Memories with him if he does it next year so at least thats something new for us to try out!

 

[cbg1027]

Oooh Pepper Market breakfast looks better than the value's. The potatoes and bacon especially.

I'm glad to see that Ceasar from Coral Reef looking the way it does. I went there two years ago and had an awful shrimp ceasar - mostly because the dressing was super disgusting. It was like a giant thick glop of yellow mayo. Looks like they've gone with something more traditional and hopefully edible!

The demo sounds fun....I didn't know you were allowed to make ball jokes at Disney.

 

[franandaj]

It was well worth the fee. My husband is willing to let me book a Kitchen Memories with him if he does it next year so at least thats something new for us to try out!

So was this one of the "TBD" events? And if so, when did you find out Robert Irvine would be there?

I so hope that they bring back the F&W Festival to CA then I can go to events like you do!

 

[Linda67]

I have finally caught up with your excellent reviews

Sorry your Artist Point Dinner wasn't so great

Shula's looks wonderful, we've never tried it but I have heard such good reviews of the place

We've never tried Coral Reef either but I am a big seafood fan so I really should; we just always tend to end up eating in World Showcase when in Epcot

Really looking forward to reading more

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Oooh Pepper Market breakfast looks better than the value's. The potatoes and bacon especially.

I'm glad to see that Ceasar from Coral Reef looking the way it does. I went there two years ago and had an awful shrimp ceasar - mostly because the dressing was super disgusting. It was like a giant thick glop of yellow mayo. Looks like they've gone with something more traditional and hopefully edible!

The demo sounds fun....I didn't know you were allowed to make ball jokes at Disney.

Yeah the pepper market was really good for breakfast. Granted there is that whole 10% service charge thing but meh.

Oh I remember that caesar! My husband and I had it and hated it.

So was this one of the "TBD" events? And if so, when did you find out Robert Irvine would be there?

I so hope that they bring back the F&W Festival to CA then I can go to events like you do!

It was a set event - his was on Friday the 21st and was announced when the rest of the events were leaked.

I hope they bring back the CA F&W Festival too!

I have finally caught up with your excellent reviews

Sorry your Artist Point Dinner wasn't so great

Shula's looks wonderful, we've never tried it but I have heard such good reviews of the place

We've never tried Coral Reef either but I am a big seafood fan so I really should; we just always tend to end up eating in World Showcase when in Epcot

Really looking forward to reading more

Glad you caught up! You should try Shula's sometime - its so worth the visit over to the dolphin for it. We tend to keep the World Showcase places for dinners than lunchs but there are so many great places to try there. I need more trips to get them all.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Magic Kingdom Snack​

My husband and I decided after the demo to head to MK and try to get Adventureland out of the way. Shockingly, despite arriving close to 3pm. The rides in the park were not bad at all. Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Haunted Mansion only had about 15 minute waits.

Around 4:30, I wanted a snack & I knew exactly what I wanted.

A Mickey Pretzel.

Sometimes food shaped like a mouse just tastes better!

Only issue was there were so many birds hanging out in the walkway between Frontierland and Liberty Square. I've never seen that many sitting on benches next to people waiting for handouts.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Tambu Lounge​

As we finished up Magic Kingdom, we decided against going to Flying Fish. We were on the tired side & just didn't want a long nicer meal today. I think we completely over did it for us as my husband is still next to me asleep despite my compulsion of rope drop at MK to get Fantasyland out of the way.

We decided to get some drinks at the Tambu Lounge while we waited for dinner.

I went with the Backscratcher while my husband had the Tropical Ginger Lemonade.

Both of them were good and I'm glad we had an out of the way table from the masses of people waiting for Ohana.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Kona​

After a 30 minute wait, we were seated at Kona.

Our server was well a little slow but it was nice to just sit after running around as much as we did.

We got our Bread w/ Macadamia Nut Butter

I ordered the Tropical Macaw

I blanked here - what I really wanted was the Ultimate Long Island but my brain and mouth didn't work together. It was nice and fruity though so I guess it works for Kona.

My husband passed on an appetizer.

I went for one of my favorite things at Kona.
Duck Potstickers

I really love these, especially the sauce. In fact I used the bread to make sure I got all the sauce when I was done.

My husband went with the Coconut Almond Chicken.

He thought this would be a home run as he loves coconut and he loves almonds. It wasn't. He told me it tasted like sugar upon sugar upon sugar. He ate about 2 bites and was done.

I choose another appetizer for my meal,
Fried Rock Shrimp

They were ok. The breading definitely needed some salt or more seasonings to it as it just tasted bland.

We decided to take our desserts to go and head back to the resort.

My husband had the White Chocolate Cheesecake.

I had the Banana-Chocolate Cream Brulee

Both were wonderful.

I think we're just going to stick to Kona for evening desserts (well and my potstickers too) as for entrees we just aren't the biggest fans.

 

[janabananas]

Kona​

After a 30 minute wait, we were seated at Kona.

Our server was well a little slow but it was nice to just sit after running around as much as we did.

We got our Bread w/ Macadamia Nut Butter

I ordered the Tropical Macaw

I blanked here - what I really wanted was the Ultimate Long Island but my brain and mouth didn't work together. It was nice and fruity though so I guess it works for Kona.

My husband passed on an appetizer.

I went for one of my favorite things at Kona.
Duck Potstickers

I really love these, especially the sauce. In fact I used the bread to make sure I got all the sauce when I was done.

My husband went with the Coconut Almond Chicken.

He thought this would be a home run as he loves coconut and he loves almonds. It wasn't. He told me it tasted like sugar upon sugar upon sugar. He ate about 2 bites and was done.

I choose another appetizer for my meal,
Fried Rock Shrimp

They were ok. The breading definitely needed some salt or more seasonings to it as it just tasted bland.

We decided to take our desserts to go and head back to the resort.

My husband had the White Chocolate Cheesecake.

I had the Banana-Chocolate Cream Brulee

Both were wonderful.

I think we're just going to stick to Kona for evening desserts (well and my potstickers too) as for entrees we just aren't the biggest fans.

That stinks that you were unsatisfied with your entrees. When we went, I had the ribeye and liked it LOTS, but wasn't a huge fan of the potstickers. Dbf LOVED his sweet potato soup app & Tuna Oscar entree. But I LOVED!! the banana-chocolate creme brulee and take out Lapu Lapu. I was going to order the coconut chicken and I am glad I didn't because I don't want dessert for my entree.

Thanks for your review!

 

[librarygeek]

That cooking demonstration looks like so much fun! The food you got to try looks really tasty too.

Too bad your food at Kona wasn't all that great - I would think I would like the chicken too since I love coconut and almonds, but not if it just tastes like sugar! Hopefully they'll improve that because it sounds like such a promising dish.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

That stinks that you were unsatisfied with your entrees. When we went, I had the ribeye and liked it LOTS, but wasn't a huge fan of the potstickers. Dbf LOVED his sweet potato soup app & Tuna Oscar entree. But I LOVED!! the banana-chocolate creme brulee and take out Lapu Lapu. I was going to order the coconut chicken and I am glad I didn't because I don't want dessert for my entree.

Thanks for your review!

The people around us that had the ribeye seemed to enjoyed it, but as we had Shula's the night before and have Le Cellier tonight, we wanted to stay away from the beef.

I love many of their desserts - we've had most of them over the years. You can't really go wrong with any of them.

That cooking demonstration looks like so much fun! The food you got to try looks really tasty too.

Too bad your food at Kona wasn't all that great - I would think I would like the chicken too since I love coconut and almonds, but not if it just tastes like sugar! Hopefully they'll improve that because it sounds like such a promising dish.

It was really fun. Much more engaging than some others I've seen. I usually hate meatballs but I liked those.

Hopefully if you get it - it wouldn't be as sweet.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Contempo Cafe​

This morning started out slow. Our alarm went off at 7:00am but my husband refused to wake up. Didn't he know we needed to get to MK for park opening so we wouldn't have to deal with major crowds in Fantasyland?

Yeah, my whining didn't work.

He slept until 8:30am while I played around on my computer and dealt with some of the work stuff I needed to do.

I knew what I wanted for breakfast this morning ever since I had seen onelittlespark's dining report the other week.

We finally left the room at 8:50am & headed to the Contemporary for breakfast.

I went with the Salted Caramel Waffle w/ Bacon

I love salted caramel and I love bananas. I loved this waffle. However, 2 of them was just too much. I ate 1 and was done. My husband tasted my second one and liked it.

My husband went for their Bounty Platter

They forgot his sausage but he survived. The eggs were nice as were the fresh out of the oven potatoes. French Toast was ok and Disney's Biscuits just suck. He would go for eggs & potatoes only next time.

We then headed to the Magic Kingdom where the Monorail stopped for about 20 minutes due to a break down or them bringing another train online or something. I was happy I had a seat and not having to stand.

We got to Magic Kingdom a little after 10am & it was crowded.

We headed over to Fantasyland as we know it gets crowded fast. We were too late. They had arrived.

We did get free fastpasses for Philharmagic

And I liked the food quotes in the line for Winnie the Pooh

But after we used our fastpasses for Peter Pan we left. It was way too crowded and they just kept pouring in.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Paradiso 37​

After we left the Magic Kingdom, we had to visit Downtown Disney.

Last night, I noticed in my gmail a notice from Chase that my credit card had tried to be used for a $770 purchase at LukOil in Russia on 10/22. As I'm currently in Orlando, that wasn't possible as there was no way for me to get to Russia & back that quick. Talking with the fraud agent last night, I was told to pick up my rewards card from DTD and transfer them over or else they would be held 5 days while the transfer occurred.

So after picking up the card, my husband and I debated on lunch. After I told him the ice cream place isn't a reasonable lunch, he finally decided to try Paradiso 37 (ugh, but I'll be a good wife and let him try it)

It was pretty much empty in there and we were sat at a high top near the bar. The bartender was the waiter too.

I ordered a Pisco Sour (yum!) and my husband had a Pina Colada.

Looking over the menu, there wasn't much I wanted. My husband found something he wanted though.

A burrito.

I sat there looking at him when he ordered this as I know he wouldn't love it as much as where we go for Mexican at home. I was right. He said it was ok - he didn't like that they put BBQ sauce on top in place of the red sauce.

I went for a Chicken Quesadilla

I chose it as I knew it would be something I liked that doesn't really go wrong no matter where you order it. I was right. It was enjoyable but not $12.99 enjoyable.

Their room charge system was also not working so it took a while to get our bill straightened.

I dont think we plan on returning again.

After lunch, we headed back to the room for me to finish my work that has to be done. My husband is catching up on his tv shows. We're going to head into EPCOT tonight for some booths & dinner @ Le Cellier.

 

[auntfrannie]

Love the live reviews! How disappointing that you had two bummer meals! I hope it gets better for you!

 

[librarygeek]

Those Mickey's Philharmagic FPs were popping out left and right while we were there! Interesting, though we never did make it on Peter Pan - why is the wait time always so long for that ride?

Yeah, Paradiso 37 looks just eh. Though I would have been fine with ice cream for lunch