Sadly our last morning was upon us all too soon
. We decided to head over to MK one last time for a few rides and to use up our remaining CS credits on an early (very early!) lunch.
We needed just a little nosh to tide us over so we stopped at the Chesire Café near the teacups and used two snack credits on a bottle of orange juice and a blueberry muffin.
I found it interesting that this location is sponsored by Minute Maid but the oj was Simply Orange (I looked it up later and learned that MM founded Simply Orange). Anyway, the muffin was prepackaged and reminded me of an Otis Spunkmeyer muffin. It wasnt anything earth shattering but it served its purpose.
We saw that CHH opened for lunch at 10:30 a.m. so we decided to head over there shortly after that time. I cant remember the last time I ate lunch so early! While DH waited for the food (which took a surprisingly long time given that there was only one other family in there), DD and I headed upstairs to snag a table overlooking Fantasyland. We were sad to see that all the windows were covered with felt. On our first visit here earlier in the week one window was covered but it had been expanded to the whole side now.
Being the snoop that I am
, I pulled the felt back a teeny bit to confirm the reason for the covering there is a view right into the construction going on at the old skyway exit.
We were going to sit on the other side of the room overlooking the steamboat, but oddly the tables were really dirty crumbs, salt and little bits of dried up broccoli pieces. Eww
. Given the early hour, I can only assume that someone missed cleaning that section the night before
. So with that we headed back downstairs to eat.
End-of-trip depression had set in by now so Im sorry I only have one lone food picture. DH and I each ordered a sandwich one tuna, one hummus and shared. DD had the nuggets again. For dessert we each got the apple cobbler, which DH kindly reminded me I have not photographed in the past (first time weve had it) so heres a picture of his half-eaten (oops!).
The sandwiches were delicious as usual
the multigrain bread is hearty, the tuna fresh and good quality, and the hummus a nice change of pace from typical sandwiches. The cobbler was good but probably not something I wouldve ordered if we didnt have dessert included with the
DDP. CHH remains one of my all-time favorite Disney CS locations and I think well always fit in at least one meal here during each trip. Cost OOP for this meal wouldve been $38.
On our way out of the park we knew we had to get DD that Mickey ice cream sandwich shed been wanting so we stopped at a cart near the hub and got one with our lonely last snack credit. We found a table outside of Caseys for her to sit and enjoy it while I soaked in the last moments in the bubble
.
******
So on to my final thoughts about DDP vs. OOP:
Strictly by the numbers we came out slightly ahead by using the DDP. Our cost for the DDP was $590 and the cost OOP for all that we ate using credits wouldve been about $655, so a savings of about $65. I didnt include the cost of the mugs in here because honestly, we hardly used them and while they are cute souvenirs, they arent something I think wed ever buy on our own. But if I included the value of the mugs our savings probably pushes close to the $100 mark.
We couldve come out even further ahead if wed done a couple things differently 1) used our snack credits for items closer to the $4 mark instead of so many low-priced breakfast items (like bottles of orange juice, which I think ran about $2.59) and 2) not used one of our TS credits for a character breakfast. With that said, we used the plan how it best worked for us, not necessarily to get the biggest savings, so Im not saying we wouldve done that differently, just pointing out how YMMV. I did want to at least break even and we did even better than that so Im happy
.
We decide whether or not to purchase the DDP on a trip-by-trip basis. On this trip, since we were doing several fixed-price meals (Biergarten, Ohana dinner and originally Akershus, which we changed to Tusker House when we switched resorts), I felt it made sense this time around. When were planning to do a trip with the majority of our TS meals being a la carte, it doesnt make as much sense for us because DH and I often like to split one appetizer, one dessert and each get our own entrée. I didnt keep close track of how much we spent OOP over and above what was included on the DDP. The biggest expense was our OOP dinner at Citricos and other than that it was mainly adding a few things, like cereal and milk, at breakfast (still annoys me that cereal and milk is now considered an entrée not a snack credit, even though its cheaper than some snack credit options
).
The inclusion of dessert with the CS meal has always been something Im not a fan of, TBH. In reality, there are only a few CS places that I think I would order dessert at if I was paying OOP (Sunshine Seasons comes to mind, as does Tangierine for that delish baklava). I just dont need all that dessert and Im not a fan of many of the CS dessert options. With that said, I didnt feel overwhelmed by dessert this time around (maybe because it was a short trip) and I was heartened to see some interesting options have been added like the gelato we enjoyed at a couple of places.
So thats a wrap on my dining reviews. Thank you so much for reading along and commenting I really enjoyed sharing it with all of you!
).
, including lunch at Coral Reef.
) but I prefer a traditional chocolate croissant.
