Penguins with a chance of... SQUIRREL!!! Photo Dining Review - Final Update 8-18
- Thread starter Golf4food
- Start date
NikkiMouse
OMG we're going to DISNEY!!!!!!!
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2008
- Messages
- 185
Good morning from Scotland 
Loving your food pics making my mouth water and it's not 10.30 yet!
I like a good steak and YS is kinda on the the list for my 40th B'day trip next year, along with 100 others!
Your steak looked good but the gratin potatoes looked like a wedge of puff pastry! Good to hear you can swap sides around
I think I am in love with both your puddings!
Never thought about Chef de France, just love me some onion soup right now, sorry the creme brulee didn't live up to it's gorgeous picture, it looks so good, it should be in a food magazine.
Looking forward to more food piccies please, now I think I'll go and have a cup of tea and biscuits
Yes we call them biscuits in Scotland too!
The first time we had US 'biscuits' was in a KFC near Universal (classy or what!), came with a bucket of chicken and mac and cheese, we were like "What the heck is this!" It was tasty though, not sure if it went with KFC, think they would be better with a bit of gravy!!
Loving your food pics making my mouth water and it's not 10.30 yet!
I like a good steak and YS is kinda on the the list for my 40th B'day trip next year, along with 100 others!
Your steak looked good but the gratin potatoes looked like a wedge of puff pastry! Good to hear you can swap sides around
I think I am in love with both your puddings!
Never thought about Chef de France, just love me some onion soup right now, sorry the creme brulee didn't live up to it's gorgeous picture, it looks so good, it should be in a food magazine.
Looking forward to more food piccies please, now I think I'll go and have a cup of tea and biscuits
Yes we call them biscuits in Scotland too!The first time we had US 'biscuits' was in a KFC near Universal (classy or what!), came with a bucket of chicken and mac and cheese, we were like "What the heck is this!" It was tasty though, not sure if it went with KFC, think they would be better with a bit of gravy!!
Pooh's-Honey-Pot
DVC owner since 2020 - VGF, BLT and SSR
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- May 31, 2007
- Messages
- 3,668
Ohh loving your reviews - YUM!!
nutz2notz
Mouseketeer
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- Jul 6, 2003
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- 242
Great report and I love your penguins.
The cream puff looks amazing. Hopefully they will still be there when we go in January. Also, the lunch you had at Le Chefs looks wonderful. I think we will plan to go for lunch and I am looking forward to trying the onion soup and the sandwich.
Looking forward to the rest of your reviews.
The cream puff looks amazing. Hopefully they will still be there when we go in January. Also, the lunch you had at Le Chefs looks wonderful. I think we will plan to go for lunch and I am looking forward to trying the onion soup and the sandwich.
Looking forward to the rest of your reviews.
pezaddict231
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2009
- Messages
- 2,620
great report! I love penguins too and your pics are great. I'll have to try Kringla on our next trip, I've never been there before but that cream puff looks so yummy!
DVClurkerRob
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2010
- Messages
- 27
Your DR is great! I am 11 days away from eating at Yachtsman for my second time. My first impression was very similar to yours. It has been five years, and we thought we would give it another go. I'm taking your review into consideration as I think about what to order.
Great pics, too!
Great pics, too!
/
Golf4food
Male pirate last time I checked. Yep. Still male.
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2005
- Messages
- 8,175
ooh the cream puff looks yummy
i could just eat that right now
We could eat one at any time.
Good morning from Scotland
Loving your food pics making my mouth water and it's not 10.30 yet!
I like a good steak and YS is kinda on the the list for my 40th B'day trip next year, along with 100 others!
Your steak looked good but the gratin potatoes looked like a wedge of puff pastry! Good to hear you can swap sides around
I think I am in love with both your puddings!
Never thought about Chef de France, just love me some onion soup right now, sorry the creme brulee didn't live up to it's gorgeous picture, it looks so good, it should be in a food magazine.
Looking forward to more food piccies please, now I think I'll go and have a cup of tea and biscuits
The first time we had US 'biscuits' was in a KFC near Universal (classy or what!), came with a bucket of chicken and mac and cheese, we were like "What the heck is this!" It was tasty though, not sure if it went with KFC, think they would be better with a bit of gravy!!
So what is considered a pudding?
Biscuits and fried chicken go together like tea and crumpets.
Ohh loving your reviews - YUM!!
Thanks!
Great reviews thanks so much
Thank you, too!
Great report and I love your penguins.
The cream puff looks amazing. Hopefully they will still be there when we go in January. Also, the lunch you had at Le Chefs looks wonderful. I think we will plan to go for lunch and I am looking forward to trying the onion soup and the sandwich.
Looking forward to the rest of your reviews.
I'm sure the cream puff will be sticking around, it is too good to go away (please!).
Awesome. The more penguin lovers the better! We had never been
SQUIRREL!
to Kringla before either to actually order anything, we'd only walked through to check it out. So glad we stopped this time.
Your DR is great! I am 11 days away from eating at Yachtsman for my second time. My first impression was very similar to yours. It has been five years, and we thought we would give it another go. I'm taking your review into consideration as I think about what to order.
Great pics, too!
Enjoy your trip and let us know how it goes. We'll keep Yachtsman in our rotation, but we have other places to try soon before we'll get back.
Gouden Leeuw
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2010
- Messages
- 76
Gotta get caught up!
Golf4food
Male pirate last time I checked. Yep. Still male.
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2005
- Messages
- 8,175
Aloha!
Wait! Come back!!!
We meant "Aloha-Hello", not "Aloha-goodbye!"
That's better.
After our scrumdiddlyumptious snacks at Kringla we made our way through Mexico (and boy are my feet tired) and then journeyed through the history of man's communication, and then jogged to the parking lot to get our jackets out of the car (that last one is not a ride you'll find on your guide maps...). I had been hoping to get to ride the Tronorail, but alas, twas not to be. We wound up one early and "had" to ride a different train instead. Oh, well. It is still the monorail - an extra ride to me. We arrived at the TTC and walked over to the Poly, arriving about 45 minutes early. We were given a buzzer and had to go back downstairs to find a pair of seats. Then the buzzer went off and I had to run back up the stairs to make sure they didn't give away our table. Too much running for a vacation!
(You can find menu shots for Kona dinner here, there, yonder, hither, and yon.)
We were seated along the wall backing the kitchen side of the main room at a two-top with a large pole next to it, which made for small space and bad lighting - at least I didn't witness the kid to my left who yacked up half their dinner thanks to said pole (Tazicket was not so fortunate). (And yes, the parents then let said yacker have a Kona cone for dessert. Makes sense...)
The meal begins with a large loaf of bread served with macadamia nut-pineapple butter:
Good flavor. Love the butter.
Nice bread, similar to the King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls you can get at the supermarket, which is never a bad thing 'cause those rock.
We didn't think we were hungry enough for an entree and dessert each, so we chose to split a Pomegranate BBQ Pork Chop with Pan-roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Braised Swiss Chard:
Really yummy. The potatoes were great and the swiss chard had a lot of flavor. The pomegranate was subtle but very nice. A good dish overall.
I thought the pork chop was excellent. Well prepared, properly cooked, good texture, and wonderful flavors. Neither the pomegranate nor BBQ flavors were overly pronounced. The potatoes were excellent in both flavor and texture with a slightly crisp outside. I'd never had swiss chard prior to this, so I have no baseline for comparison, but I ate some of it - as Forrest Gump would say, "That's all there is to say about that." (We are going to Savannah next month...)
With dessert on its way next we couldn't pass up a cup of Kona blend coffee (which our server informed us is 30% Kona beans, 70% Columbian beans - so now you know) - decaf for Tazicket so she can still sleep at night and regular for me. What is there to say about Kona coffee? It is always the best coffee on WDW property - the press pot of full Kona is obviously better, but the blend is still very nice.
Now for dessert we were treated to a special birthday treat for Tazicket that isn't shown on the menu - a chocolate mouse filled cream puff of sorts:
This was a surprise dessert for my "birthday". It was pretty good, but I LOVED the Lilo & Stitch chocolate stencil art on the plate. It was sooooo flippin' cute! I talked about it for the next several days. (I'm one of only 3 people in the world who think Stitch is cute, so this just made my day!)
The cream puff was nice and light and fluffy - not too sweet or overpowering.
For our actual dessert orders Tazicket went with the Kiluea Tort - basically a chocolate lava cake:
This was supposed to be a chocolate lava cake. Good chocolate flavor but there was no lava. "Why was there no lava?", you may be asking. Because it was chilled. <Facepalm> The lava was cold and solid in the middle of the cake. I'm sure that if I had asked they would have taken it back and heated it properly, but I didn't have much room left and didn't want to cause a fuss over a dessert I wouldn't be able to finish anyway.
I went with a combination of two of my favorite dessert flavors - white chocolate cheesecake:
This was good, not great. It was not overpoweringly sweet, which is nice, but it was closer to dry than creamy and I prefer my cheesecake to be on the creamy side, or very creamy. Heck, I'd eat cheesecake soup (cold of course... like a cheesecake gazpacho... yeah, that's the ticket...)
Our server was Ratana, who was a nice enough guy, but hurried, pretty busy, and not overly attentive. Not bad at all, just not as attentive as some service we've had at WDW (possibly miffed that we only ordered one entree?).
Overall a nice meal but they lose major points for serving a lava cake with frozen lava... three and a half penguins:
Bill:
Pork Chop: $21.99
Minute Made Light Pomegranate Lemonade: $2.69 ea = $5.38 (side note since we didn't mention this higher - this stuff has an extremely obvious fake sweetener aftertaste to it, so if you don't like that fake bitterness, leave this stuff alone)
Coffee: $2.69 ea = $5.38
Kilahuea Tort: $5.49
White Chocolate Cheesecake: $5.49
18% Gratuity: $7.87
Tax: $2.28
20% TIW Discount: ($8.75)
-----------------------------
Total: $45.13
Total TIW Savings so far: $52.73
After dinner we made our way out onto the Poly beach to enjoy Wishes from across the lake. The Electric Water Parade also started at the same time, so we had a combination show. A few sample shots:
After Wishes we made our way back to the monorail - which stopped and shut down two seconds after leaving the station! It was rebooted in less than 30 seconds and we were on our way again, but it was enough to make Tazicket a little uneasy. And then EMH at Epcot until almost midnight, which is a great time to be in Epcot because you can get photos like these:
And so drew to a close day one in the parks. The next morning brings us a day of fun in the MK, but first... my favorite breakfast in all of WDW and possibly the entire non-WD world, too...
.
Wait! Come back!!!
We meant "Aloha-Hello", not "Aloha-goodbye!"
That's better.
After our scrumdiddlyumptious snacks at Kringla we made our way through Mexico (and boy are my feet tired) and then journeyed through the history of man's communication, and then jogged to the parking lot to get our jackets out of the car (that last one is not a ride you'll find on your guide maps...). I had been hoping to get to ride the Tronorail, but alas, twas not to be. We wound up one early and "had" to ride a different train instead. Oh, well. It is still the monorail - an extra ride to me. We arrived at the TTC and walked over to the Poly, arriving about 45 minutes early. We were given a buzzer and had to go back downstairs to find a pair of seats. Then the buzzer went off and I had to run back up the stairs to make sure they didn't give away our table. Too much running for a vacation!
(You can find menu shots for Kona dinner here, there, yonder, hither, and yon.)
We were seated along the wall backing the kitchen side of the main room at a two-top with a large pole next to it, which made for small space and bad lighting - at least I didn't witness the kid to my left who yacked up half their dinner thanks to said pole (Tazicket was not so fortunate). (And yes, the parents then let said yacker have a Kona cone for dessert. Makes sense...)
The meal begins with a large loaf of bread served with macadamia nut-pineapple butter:
We didn't think we were hungry enough for an entree and dessert each, so we chose to split a Pomegranate BBQ Pork Chop with Pan-roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Braised Swiss Chard:
With dessert on its way next we couldn't pass up a cup of Kona blend coffee (which our server informed us is 30% Kona beans, 70% Columbian beans - so now you know) - decaf for Tazicket so she can still sleep at night and regular for me. What is there to say about Kona coffee? It is always the best coffee on WDW property - the press pot of full Kona is obviously better, but the blend is still very nice.
Now for dessert we were treated to a special birthday treat for Tazicket that isn't shown on the menu - a chocolate mouse filled cream puff of sorts:
For our actual dessert orders Tazicket went with the Kiluea Tort - basically a chocolate lava cake:
I went with a combination of two of my favorite dessert flavors - white chocolate cheesecake:
This was good, not great. It was not overpoweringly sweet, which is nice, but it was closer to dry than creamy and I prefer my cheesecake to be on the creamy side, or very creamy. Heck, I'd eat cheesecake soup (cold of course... like a cheesecake gazpacho... yeah, that's the ticket...)
Our server was Ratana, who was a nice enough guy, but hurried, pretty busy, and not overly attentive. Not bad at all, just not as attentive as some service we've had at WDW (possibly miffed that we only ordered one entree?).
Overall a nice meal but they lose major points for serving a lava cake with frozen lava... three and a half penguins:
Bill:
Pork Chop: $21.99
Minute Made Light Pomegranate Lemonade: $2.69 ea = $5.38 (side note since we didn't mention this higher - this stuff has an extremely obvious fake sweetener aftertaste to it, so if you don't like that fake bitterness, leave this stuff alone)
Coffee: $2.69 ea = $5.38
Kilahuea Tort: $5.49
White Chocolate Cheesecake: $5.49
18% Gratuity: $7.87
Tax: $2.28
20% TIW Discount: ($8.75)
-----------------------------
Total: $45.13
Total TIW Savings so far: $52.73
After dinner we made our way out onto the Poly beach to enjoy Wishes from across the lake. The Electric Water Parade also started at the same time, so we had a combination show. A few sample shots:
After Wishes we made our way back to the monorail - which stopped and shut down two seconds after leaving the station! It was rebooted in less than 30 seconds and we were on our way again, but it was enough to make Tazicket a little uneasy. And then EMH at Epcot until almost midnight, which is a great time to be in Epcot because you can get photos like these:
And so drew to a close day one in the parks. The next morning brings us a day of fun in the MK, but first... my favorite breakfast in all of WDW and possibly the entire non-WD world, too...
.
PixieDustandEeyore
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2008
- Messages
- 1,983
those nighttime shots are awesome
ocdisney08
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2008
- Messages
- 121
i have to agree, they are super amazinggg.
Golf4food
Male pirate last time I checked. Yep. Still male.
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2005
- Messages
- 8,175
Great review of Kona
My DH had the same pork dish and thought it was wonderful
Great Epcot shots by the way - slightly off topic but did you use a tripod?
Thanks, y'all.
Yes, I use a tripod at night. It is the only way to get good, clear shots. Any vibration at night kills a photo. Unless there is a wall or trash can top to use instead, a tripod is the only way to go, and also the only way to truly control where you shoot and how high or low.
Some more Epcot at night shots since y'all enjoy them:
Canada:
France: (HDR)
Morocco:
Italy:
butiflfeet
I drink and I know things
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2008
- Messages
- 1,397
Great night pictures! I always intend to drag along a tripod with me (even a small one) at Disney World but it never happens. Oh well, at least there are people like you who will go through the effort to show us those beautiful pictures
Cookie Princess
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2004
- Messages
- 2,727
Those EPCOT evening photos are GREAT! You have inspired me for August!!
Golf4food
Male pirate last time I checked. Yep. Still male.
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2005
- Messages
- 8,175
Sorry for the delay in getting up another post, y'all. It's been a busy week.
Anywho...
We kicked off day 3 by driving over to the Grand Floridian... the long way... the roads were all roped off for an Iron Man triatholon event and all resort traffic was being sent all the way around the back of the MK - onto roads that are usually marked off to park guests - past such out of the way places as the fire station and the monorail repair station.
After we finally made our way all the way around the MK to the Grand Floridian (going around your elbow to get to your nose as my grandmother would say) we again made use of our TIW free valet parking (luv it!) and still had a few minutes before our ADR.
A few photos of the interior of the lovely Grand Floridian Cafe:
You can view menu pics starting here: Click me for menus!!!! (Just click the next photo in the set for the next menu shot, repeat, etc.)
I started things off with something I didn't recall being on the menu last year: the Grand Press Pot of coffee - a single serve press pot. The server brings your press pot out to the table along with the heated coffee mug, presses the coffee for you at the table, and then pours you a nice hot cup of Joe.
This is a nice, strong cup of coffee. Almost espresso strong. By far the strongest cup of coffee I've had at WDW, which is nice. A great wake you up.
But even better than strong coffee is the real reason to come to the Grand Floridian Cafe: Maple Vanilla French Toast - with bacon, which we both ordered, along with two scrambled eggs, which we split.
Behold, the goodness...
Do you hear the angels singing? I know I do...
Maple Vanilla French Toast: Superstar! Perfectly cooked. Awesome, subtle maple vanilla flavor. Butter was great and spread easily. Favorite French toast anywhere. Really, truly great.
Bacon: Nice thickness, but a little less crispy than I prefer. Great flavor, though.
Eggs: Good flavor. More on the wet side.
Coffee: I had the regular coffee, not the press pot. It was a good standard cup of coffee, also in a heated mug.
Maple Vanilla French Toast: Best French toast in the universe. Little known fact: it is served at the breakfast buffet in Heaven.
Bacon: Could be crispier, but tasted good.
Eggs: Nice flavor, slightly creamy
Our server was Annie. She was very friendly and happy when we arrived and took our order promptly, etc. However, once she brought out our food she basically went AWOL. We were finished and ready to go, had our cards out sitting on the table for many minutes before she ever came back out and near our table. No asking how our food was, no checking for drink refills (she did leave a coffee pot at the first so we could refill our own), no nothing. If she had been more attentive we could have given this meal the coveted five penguin rating. It was just frustrating sitting there when we wanted to get to the MK. Alas, we must knock off a little from the score so the GFC will have to settle for four and a half penguins instead:
Bill:
French Toast: $10.99
French Toast: $10.99
Extra eggs (two): $3.49
Press Pot Coffee: $6.29
Coffee: $2.39
TIW 20% discount: ($6.83)
18% Gratuity: $6.15
Tax: $1.78
-----------------------------
Total: $35.25
Total TIW Savings so far: $69.56
We'll leave you now with some relaxing photos of the Grand Floridian as we make our way over to the MK...
Squirrel!!!!!
Anywho...
We kicked off day 3 by driving over to the Grand Floridian... the long way... the roads were all roped off for an Iron Man triatholon event and all resort traffic was being sent all the way around the back of the MK - onto roads that are usually marked off to park guests - past such out of the way places as the fire station and the monorail repair station.
After we finally made our way all the way around the MK to the Grand Floridian (going around your elbow to get to your nose as my grandmother would say) we again made use of our TIW free valet parking (luv it!) and still had a few minutes before our ADR.
A few photos of the interior of the lovely Grand Floridian Cafe:
You can view menu pics starting here: Click me for menus!!!! (Just click the next photo in the set for the next menu shot, repeat, etc.)
I started things off with something I didn't recall being on the menu last year: the Grand Press Pot of coffee - a single serve press pot. The server brings your press pot out to the table along with the heated coffee mug, presses the coffee for you at the table, and then pours you a nice hot cup of Joe.
This is a nice, strong cup of coffee. Almost espresso strong. By far the strongest cup of coffee I've had at WDW, which is nice. A great wake you up.
But even better than strong coffee is the real reason to come to the Grand Floridian Cafe: Maple Vanilla French Toast - with bacon, which we both ordered, along with two scrambled eggs, which we split.
Behold, the goodness...
Do you hear the angels singing? I know I do...
Maple Vanilla French Toast: Superstar! Perfectly cooked. Awesome, subtle maple vanilla flavor. Butter was great and spread easily. Favorite French toast anywhere. Really, truly great.
Bacon: Nice thickness, but a little less crispy than I prefer. Great flavor, though.
Eggs: Good flavor. More on the wet side.
Coffee: I had the regular coffee, not the press pot. It was a good standard cup of coffee, also in a heated mug.
Maple Vanilla French Toast: Best French toast in the universe. Little known fact: it is served at the breakfast buffet in Heaven.
Bacon: Could be crispier, but tasted good.
Eggs: Nice flavor, slightly creamy
Our server was Annie. She was very friendly and happy when we arrived and took our order promptly, etc. However, once she brought out our food she basically went AWOL. We were finished and ready to go, had our cards out sitting on the table for many minutes before she ever came back out and near our table. No asking how our food was, no checking for drink refills (she did leave a coffee pot at the first so we could refill our own), no nothing. If she had been more attentive we could have given this meal the coveted five penguin rating. It was just frustrating sitting there when we wanted to get to the MK. Alas, we must knock off a little from the score so the GFC will have to settle for four and a half penguins instead:
Bill:
French Toast: $10.99
French Toast: $10.99
Extra eggs (two): $3.49
Press Pot Coffee: $6.29
Coffee: $2.39
TIW 20% discount: ($6.83)
18% Gratuity: $6.15
Tax: $1.78
-----------------------------
Total: $35.25
Total TIW Savings so far: $69.56
We'll leave you now with some relaxing photos of the Grand Floridian as we make our way over to the MK...
Squirrel!!!!!
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