jenjersnap
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- Joined
- Sep 18, 2004
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Our trip review continued ...
Thursday, 12/16. Another breakfast in the room with a character lunch planned at the Garden Grill. This was a bit of a disappointment. Actually everything about Epcot except WS was a disappointment, but I digress. I can understand why Garden Grill is being refurbished, I think it needs it badly. We liked that, at 2 pm, it was uncrowded so both boys gots several visits from the characters. However, there only seemed to be Mickey, Chip and Dale working. And, er, all of them were so grimy looking from Lord knows how many hours being hugged by greasy kids that I felt queasy letting my boys hug them. Again, it was understandable, but normally all the germiness is unseen and I can pretend its not there. LOL. The food was okay. Its family skillet style. The pork loin was good as were the au gratin potatoes, the catfish was boring, not enough spice for our liking. DS had the ubiquitous mac and cheese (which was good) and chicken strips. We all shared an excellent apple cobbler for dessert (DH says its exactly the same recipe as Le Celliers leading us to imagine some giant underground crisp/cobbler laboratory). DS was given worms and dirt for dessert with no other choice offered. He didnt like it, not sure why. As we were leaving, we noticed all the other kids had ice cream cones and he was upset that he didnt get one, not sure what happened there. Food grade: C
Dinner that night was at the Hoop de Doo revue. Absolutely the high point of our trip. Not sure how it happened because we didnt make particularly early ressies but we had a table right up against the stage. I was prepared to hate the food, but it was delicious. We were served fried chicken, bbq ribs, corn and baked beans. I havent eaten ribs since I was a kid but these were falling off the bone tender and not fatty. DH and I devoured them. We both had glasses of delicious sangria since we were taking the bus that night. We had an excellent waiter who joked with us, kept us stocked up, brought the kids some yes- mac and cheese. We thought the show was a hoot. The women in the show had lots of interaction with our hammy older DS who ended up being part of the stage show (he played the Texas Ranger, for anyone familiar with it) and enjoyed himself immensely. We were just so engrossed in watching him that we didnt eat much of the strawberry shortcake dessert. Younger DS was memerized by the entire show, we were worried cos this was way past his bedtime but he was great. Food: B, overall: A
Friday, 12/16 Another breakfast in the cabin. We were going to AK so lunch at RFC was in the plan. DS has been eagerly awaiting this for months, since his first time at a RFC in Vegas last summer. My mother and her friend met us there. It was typical RFC food, jut above regular mall food. The wishes were a good value though, since we used 3 wishes for all 6 of us the food bill was just under $200. We had the awesome adventurer appetizer platter and an order of chimichangas, 3 orders of lobster, 3 smoothies, apple cobbler, chocolate diablo cake and banana cheesecake. We were stuffed. The waiter was excellent and knew the rules along with the variations very well, helped us maximize everything. Too bad that DS fell asleep and missed most of what he was so excited to see! Food grade: C+
We attended the Spirit of Aloha show that evening. What a dud. We didnt enjoy it much at all. Not sure why, the HDDR is every bit as cheesy but much more fun. The food was terrible. There were ribs again, but these were gnarly and fatty. The marinated chicken, the rice and the mixed vegetables (with zucchini, darn it so DS wouldnt touch them) were marginal. The pineapple bread was blah. The dessert has hailed as volcano cake and the waiters brought these big smoking volcanoes; I thought Wow, finally something impressive! but they took those away and brought pyramid-shaped chocolate mousse things that were dry. I ordered the house merlot with dinner and it was undrinkable. The waiter came by a couple minutes after he dropped it off, I pointed at the glass and he was, like, No one has EVER drank a whole glass of that swill but I cant discourage anyone, try the zin! The zin was marginally better. Food grade: C-, overall grade: D+
Saturday, 12/18. Loaded up and checked out of our cabin. We were looking forward to our last character meal at Chef Mickeys. We ran around finishing up our last minute goodbyes to MK (we wanted to get the babys first haircut but we waited in line for an 1-1/2 hrs total on 3 separate occasions and never got in, oh well it was our only goal that went unachieved!) with CM PSs at 11 am. The buffet was pretty good, like Hilton-level hotel breakfast buffet for the most part, it was right up the babys alley since he ate more here than anywhere else. Again, with the late seating we had terrific character interaction. Agreat way to say goodbye though none of the food sticks out in my memory. Food grade: B
We moved into an off-site hotel. sigh Were so spoiled by our Disney experience that our perfectly adequate hotel is a disappointment. We drove back to the Boardwalk to explore before dinner at Spoodles. Rented a canopy boat fun. DS got his face painted, then onto Spoodles. I was looking forward to Spoodles because its menu is like restaurants we loved when we lived in Chicago. We liked the ambiance very much and had an excellent waiter but wishes it had more tapas options. I had a Blue Spoodle while enjoying our appetizers the mediterranean dips and the calamari. Oh, loved the dips so much, everyone in the family ate those up, the calamari wasnt chewy at all. For entrée, I had the paella, DH had the pork chop. The pork chop was better in theory than execution; it was quite tough. I enjoyed my paella very much. For dessert, we inquired about getting the sample platter, our waiter said it wasnt possible but brought it out anyway courtesy of the chef. Wow, I was expecting samples, but it was basically one of every dessert on the menu. What a heavenly way to wrap up our culinary trip! The white chocolate pistachio mousse was great as was the delce de leche cheesecake and flourless chocolate cake, we didnt care for the citrus roulade and the baklava was so so. We would eat definitely eat here again. Food grade: B+
Sunday, 12/19 was our last full day. Our hotel had a complimentary breakfast and it had enough offerings to keep us all satisfied. We went to SeaWorld that day and had a horrendous $30 (for two sandwiches, a kids meal and one drink) meal at Mamas Kitchen there. Then we had another horrendous meal at Planet Hollywood that night. That was for DS but he hated it too. We ordered a turkey and cheese sandwich for him; to our dismay it was a cold sandwich with American cheese (DS calls it slimy cheese) and deli turkey on white bread. Yuck. Both get an F
Monday, 12/20, another hotel breakfast, then we met friends at the Mall of Millenia at Panera. That was terrific, we dont have them in CO as far as I know, then we zipped over to DTD for one last pass through the toy store and sundaes at Girardhellis (I had the BOGO coupon) which were yummy though not as large as they initially appeared. Then on to the airport and home.
As you can tell, I have to go spend an hour on the treadmill. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed eating all of it. We had a wonderful first trip to Orlando and the DIS board played a huge role in that by pointing us in the right direction. Thanks!
Thursday, 12/16. Another breakfast in the room with a character lunch planned at the Garden Grill. This was a bit of a disappointment. Actually everything about Epcot except WS was a disappointment, but I digress. I can understand why Garden Grill is being refurbished, I think it needs it badly. We liked that, at 2 pm, it was uncrowded so both boys gots several visits from the characters. However, there only seemed to be Mickey, Chip and Dale working. And, er, all of them were so grimy looking from Lord knows how many hours being hugged by greasy kids that I felt queasy letting my boys hug them. Again, it was understandable, but normally all the germiness is unseen and I can pretend its not there. LOL. The food was okay. Its family skillet style. The pork loin was good as were the au gratin potatoes, the catfish was boring, not enough spice for our liking. DS had the ubiquitous mac and cheese (which was good) and chicken strips. We all shared an excellent apple cobbler for dessert (DH says its exactly the same recipe as Le Celliers leading us to imagine some giant underground crisp/cobbler laboratory). DS was given worms and dirt for dessert with no other choice offered. He didnt like it, not sure why. As we were leaving, we noticed all the other kids had ice cream cones and he was upset that he didnt get one, not sure what happened there. Food grade: C
Dinner that night was at the Hoop de Doo revue. Absolutely the high point of our trip. Not sure how it happened because we didnt make particularly early ressies but we had a table right up against the stage. I was prepared to hate the food, but it was delicious. We were served fried chicken, bbq ribs, corn and baked beans. I havent eaten ribs since I was a kid but these were falling off the bone tender and not fatty. DH and I devoured them. We both had glasses of delicious sangria since we were taking the bus that night. We had an excellent waiter who joked with us, kept us stocked up, brought the kids some yes- mac and cheese. We thought the show was a hoot. The women in the show had lots of interaction with our hammy older DS who ended up being part of the stage show (he played the Texas Ranger, for anyone familiar with it) and enjoyed himself immensely. We were just so engrossed in watching him that we didnt eat much of the strawberry shortcake dessert. Younger DS was memerized by the entire show, we were worried cos this was way past his bedtime but he was great. Food: B, overall: A
Friday, 12/16 Another breakfast in the cabin. We were going to AK so lunch at RFC was in the plan. DS has been eagerly awaiting this for months, since his first time at a RFC in Vegas last summer. My mother and her friend met us there. It was typical RFC food, jut above regular mall food. The wishes were a good value though, since we used 3 wishes for all 6 of us the food bill was just under $200. We had the awesome adventurer appetizer platter and an order of chimichangas, 3 orders of lobster, 3 smoothies, apple cobbler, chocolate diablo cake and banana cheesecake. We were stuffed. The waiter was excellent and knew the rules along with the variations very well, helped us maximize everything. Too bad that DS fell asleep and missed most of what he was so excited to see! Food grade: C+
We attended the Spirit of Aloha show that evening. What a dud. We didnt enjoy it much at all. Not sure why, the HDDR is every bit as cheesy but much more fun. The food was terrible. There were ribs again, but these were gnarly and fatty. The marinated chicken, the rice and the mixed vegetables (with zucchini, darn it so DS wouldnt touch them) were marginal. The pineapple bread was blah. The dessert has hailed as volcano cake and the waiters brought these big smoking volcanoes; I thought Wow, finally something impressive! but they took those away and brought pyramid-shaped chocolate mousse things that were dry. I ordered the house merlot with dinner and it was undrinkable. The waiter came by a couple minutes after he dropped it off, I pointed at the glass and he was, like, No one has EVER drank a whole glass of that swill but I cant discourage anyone, try the zin! The zin was marginally better. Food grade: C-, overall grade: D+
Saturday, 12/18. Loaded up and checked out of our cabin. We were looking forward to our last character meal at Chef Mickeys. We ran around finishing up our last minute goodbyes to MK (we wanted to get the babys first haircut but we waited in line for an 1-1/2 hrs total on 3 separate occasions and never got in, oh well it was our only goal that went unachieved!) with CM PSs at 11 am. The buffet was pretty good, like Hilton-level hotel breakfast buffet for the most part, it was right up the babys alley since he ate more here than anywhere else. Again, with the late seating we had terrific character interaction. Agreat way to say goodbye though none of the food sticks out in my memory. Food grade: B
We moved into an off-site hotel. sigh Were so spoiled by our Disney experience that our perfectly adequate hotel is a disappointment. We drove back to the Boardwalk to explore before dinner at Spoodles. Rented a canopy boat fun. DS got his face painted, then onto Spoodles. I was looking forward to Spoodles because its menu is like restaurants we loved when we lived in Chicago. We liked the ambiance very much and had an excellent waiter but wishes it had more tapas options. I had a Blue Spoodle while enjoying our appetizers the mediterranean dips and the calamari. Oh, loved the dips so much, everyone in the family ate those up, the calamari wasnt chewy at all. For entrée, I had the paella, DH had the pork chop. The pork chop was better in theory than execution; it was quite tough. I enjoyed my paella very much. For dessert, we inquired about getting the sample platter, our waiter said it wasnt possible but brought it out anyway courtesy of the chef. Wow, I was expecting samples, but it was basically one of every dessert on the menu. What a heavenly way to wrap up our culinary trip! The white chocolate pistachio mousse was great as was the delce de leche cheesecake and flourless chocolate cake, we didnt care for the citrus roulade and the baklava was so so. We would eat definitely eat here again. Food grade: B+
Sunday, 12/19 was our last full day. Our hotel had a complimentary breakfast and it had enough offerings to keep us all satisfied. We went to SeaWorld that day and had a horrendous $30 (for two sandwiches, a kids meal and one drink) meal at Mamas Kitchen there. Then we had another horrendous meal at Planet Hollywood that night. That was for DS but he hated it too. We ordered a turkey and cheese sandwich for him; to our dismay it was a cold sandwich with American cheese (DS calls it slimy cheese) and deli turkey on white bread. Yuck. Both get an F
Monday, 12/20, another hotel breakfast, then we met friends at the Mall of Millenia at Panera. That was terrific, we dont have them in CO as far as I know, then we zipped over to DTD for one last pass through the toy store and sundaes at Girardhellis (I had the BOGO coupon) which were yummy though not as large as they initially appeared. Then on to the airport and home.
As you can tell, I have to go spend an hour on the treadmill. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed eating all of it. We had a wonderful first trip to Orlando and the DIS board played a huge role in that by pointing us in the right direction. Thanks!
