Retirement and Graduation: Our Three Generation Spring Break Dining Report...New 4/21

[MusicMouse]

Welcome to my Spring Break dining report! Before we get started, let me tell you a little about our traveling group. We are a three generation vacation group of five who went to Disney World to celebrate both my father’s retirement and my upcoming doctoral defense. (Apparently my folks have a lot of faith in me, because they gave me my graduation gift before I actually completed my defense.) Our group consists of DGma, DGpa, Me, DS8, and DS5 (due to work, DH couldn’t make it this time).

We are all adventurous eaters, and our goal was to eat at places that we had not previously visited. This was easier for me and my boys, as we had only been to WDW once before in 2010. My folks, however, have been to WDW several times over the past ten years. Like everyone, they had their favorite places to eat, and tended to eat in those places over and over again. This time, they wanted to branch out, and they (bravely) placed themselves in my hands for dining reservations. I knew that getting reservations during Spring Break would be harder than our February 2010 trip, but I was up bright and early on my 180+10 date and scored reservations for everything that we wanted. We would normally have visited WDW at a less crowded time of year, but between retirement and schooling, this was the only week that fit into all of our schedules. We ate at quite a variety of places, so sit back and enjoy the reviews!

3/25: Sunshine Seasons http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44577367&postcount=5

3/26: Pizzafari http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44595166&postcount=10
Boma http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44655209&postcount=12

3/27: Starring Rolls
Cape May Café

3/28: Columbia Harbor House
Akershus Dinner

3/29: Wolfgang Puck Express
Biergarten

3/30: Crystal Palace Breakfast
‘Ohana

3/31: Tangierine Café/Katsura Grill
Garden Grill

4/1: La Cantina de San Angel/Lotus Blossom Café/Promenade Refreshments
Café Rix (Coronado Springs)

 

[tluvstink]

That's a great pic of your family!! I'm looking forward to your reviews

Terri

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Some great reservations - looking forward to your reviews

 

[MusicMouse]

That's a great pic of your family!! I'm looking forward to your reviews

Terri

Thank you, and welcome!

Some great reservations - looking forward to your reviews

Welcome aboard! The restaurants were great, and as you will see, we ate far too much!

 

[MusicMouse]

The boys and I arrived at Coronado Springs on Sunday evening, hopped on a bus, and headed straight to Epcot to meet my folks. They had eaten a late lunch, but we were starving, so we stopped inside The Land Pavilion to grab some dinner at:

Sunshine Seasons is a quick service restaurant on the bottom floor of the Land. This restaurant was a new one for us, but with all of the great choices how could I pass it up? Sunshine Seasons is divided into separate stations, each specializing in a certain type of food: The Grill, Soup and Salad, Asian Noodles, and Sandwiches.

Each of these has its own offering for the kids, and since Noah (DS8) and Nicholas (DS5) were both restricted to kid’s offerings on the Dining Plan, we had to peruse each station. Noah finally chose the Pizza Panini with a side of grapes, Mickey gelatin, and chocolate milk. Nicholas chose something that was not on the posted menu (but is one of his favorites), Macaroni and Cheese with a side of carrots, Mickey gelatin, and apple juice. After spending half of the day on airplanes and in buses, I was looking for something that was a little lighter so I chose:

The Oak Grilled Vegetable Flatbread Sandwich. This was really delicious! It had grilled red peppers, zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, feta cheese, and a vinaigrette dressing, and it was served warm on a wheat flatbread. It came with a side of potato salad, which was cold, fresh, and a tasty counterpoint to the sandwich. Of course, being on the dining plan, I was forced to get a dessert. It was a difficult decision. I mean, look at all of the choices here:

My Dad was so tempted by all of this that he forgot about how full he was from his late lunch and used a snack credit for a piece of chocolate mousse cake:

The boys helped Grandpa out by eating several bites of it for him. Having eaten a (relatively) healthy dinner, I opted for a piece of their famous strawberry shortcake:

It was light and sweet and creamy – a perfect ending to the meal. All in all, Sunshine Seasons was a winner. It was a great value for a counter service meal, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a variety of choices and a yummy array of desserts!

 

[Linda67]

Ooh I love the look of the grilled vegetable flatbread

I've never tried the strawberry shorcake at SS but it's on my (very long) list of things to try next month

Looking forward to reading along with the rest of your reviews

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Thank you for posting a list of the foods at Sunshine Seasons - never seen it on a report at all and it's really making me want to try there in October

 

[pumba]

great start to your vacation..

Thanks for taking the time to post that photo too...we are going in a few weeks and I would like to try the Asian Noodle station...looks good to me..
Thanks again

 

[MusicMouse]

Ooh I love the look of the grilled vegetable flatbread

I've never tried the strawberry shorcake at SS but it's on my (very long) list of things to try next month

Looking forward to reading along with the rest of your reviews

Welcome! The strawberry shortcake was really good. Even after trying a bunch of new things, I STILL have a long list of things to try at WDW.

Thank you for posting a list of the foods at Sunshine Seasons - never seen it on a report at all and it's really making me want to try there in October

It was great if you have a lot of folks with different tastes - there is something for everyone!

great start to your vacation..

Thanks for taking the time to post that photo too...we are going in a few weeks and I would like to try the Asian Noodle station...looks good to me..
Thanks again

Welcome to my report! That whole Asian Noodle Station smelled so good! I was really torn between ordering the flatbread or the seared tuna with noodles. Maybe next time.

 

[MusicMouse]

Monday was Animal Kingdom day, and we scrambled out at the crack of dawn for EMH, which started at 8:00. After much research here on the DISboards, I had planned for us to eat at Flame Tree BBQ, and I’m sure that someday I will actually get to eat there. Unfortunately, my plans were waylaid by an 8 year-old boy’s vulnerability to the siren call of pizza. After catching the 10:30 show of the Festival of the Lion King, Noah declared that he was starving and would perish if he didn’t get a pizza immediately! Well, I didn’t want him to perish (how would I explain that to my husband when I got home?), so we ducked into Pizzafari.

It’s conveniently located if you find yourself down near Camp Minnie Mickey around lunchtime. Since we wanted to head back down there to meet some characters after lunch, it turned out to be a good choice for us. Noah and Grandpa opted for pepperoni pizza. Noah’s came with grapes and a cookie, and Grandpa’s came with a Caesar side salad and he chose the chocolate mousse for dessert.

Nicholas had the kids’ Macaroni and cheese with carrots and a cookie. If you are asking yourself ‘Isn’t that what he had for dinner the night before?’, the answer is yes. <SIGH> We did somehow end up with an extra Caesar side salad, which Nicholas also ate (he loves salad). Apparently all that walking builds up an appetite. Fortunately for Grandma and me, there is more on the menu than just pizza and side salads.

Grandma chose the delicious looking Antipasto Salad, which came with a substantially sized piece of garlic bread. She enjoyed it, and said that all of the components were fresh and that the tomatoes were perfectly ripe.

I chose the Hot Italian-Style Sandwich with a side of chips.

This was really good! The bread was slightly toasted, the cheese and meat were melted together and warm, and the lettuce and tomatoes were fresh and cool. The greens were tossed with an Italian Vinaigrette, which was not too overpowering and gave the whole sandwich a nice tangy flavor. Even though they only give you half of a sandwich, it was large and filling. This was probably just as well since my side of chips mysteriously disappeared…

Grandma and I both ordered the chocolate mousse for dessert.

The dark layer on the top was like eating Hershey’s Syrup straight from the bottle (not that I have EVER done that ), but the mousse underneath was light and fluffy. Grandpa described it as “sugar overload”, and taken as a whole, I have to agree. It was definitely more sugary than chocolaty. Overall, Pizzafari was a surprisingly great place to eat! The food was tasty and filling, and the decor was brightly colored and fun. There is a lot of indoor seating, and it was air conditioned, which started becoming an issue as the week kept getting hotter and hotter. But someday, I am going to get to eat at Flame Tree…

 

[DiggleBelle]

Enjoying your review very much! Great pictures!

 

[MusicMouse]

After an adventure-filled day in the Animal Kingdom, we hopped on a bus and headed for the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was the first time that I had seen it, and let me tell you that the theming is AMAZING! Disney really went all out with this one, and since we were a little early we stopped to look around for a little bit. After admiring all of the beautiful African art in the lobby, we went downstairs to:

I had heard so many good things about Boma here on the DISboards, and I was really excited to try something new and different. We were seated right away, and since we were all hot and thirsty we ordered a round of Boma’s famous Jungle Juice.

It was refreshing and not too sweet. This juice is a perfect blend of pineapple, mango, and orange juices blended with a hint of lemonade. Order it if you get a chance – you will not be disappointed. Boma is an extensive buffet that is divided into sections, or “pods”. The actual menu varies from day to day, but there is always plenty of variety.

I have to admit that I am a huge fan of soup, and since Boma usually has four or five kinds on offer, I was really looking forward to trying a little of each one. On this particular night, the soups were Seafood Gumbo, Mulligatawny Soup, Black-Eyed Peas with Ham, Peanut Soup, and Mushroom Soup.

I would highly recommend the Seafood Gumbo and the Mulligatawny Soup! The first was full of shrimp and scallops, with a little sausage for kick. The second was completely different with chicken, curry powder, and apples for a hint of sweetness. Yum!! The Black-eyed Pea soup was okay, but the ham made it a bit too salty. The Peanut Soup was incredibly sweet. It was like eating peanut butter that had been thinned out with a little vegetable broth – not really to my taste. The Mushroom Soup was okay, but really nothing special. All right, thank you for indulging my love of soup. There are actually a lot of other delicious foods on this buffet as well. Surprisingly, Noah’s favorite pod was this one:

The bread station had both pita bread and lavash (a flat bread), and three different types of hummus to go with it: white bean, black olive, and sun-dried tomato. Each hummus was delicious, although I personally preferred the black olive. There was also a salad pod (try the mango vinaigrette – it’s divine). Nicholas loved all the fresh fruit (strawberries, grapes, pineapples, honeydew, and cantaloupe). I really enjoyed the Kool Slai and the Watermelon Rind Salad (which tastes a lot like pickled ginger), as well as the Orange, Olive, and Fennel Salad, the Spinach and Quinoa Salad, and the Lentils with Hearts of Palm Salad. I think Noah went back for three helpings of the Mealie Bread (cornbread muffins) that accompanied the salads.


The hot food was also amazing. I skipped over the carved roasted beef, but Grandpa tried it with the Tamarind Barbeque Sauce. He said that the meat was okay, but the sauce was really good. Some other table favorites included the Fufu (mashed sweet potatoes with cinnamon), Salmon with Harrisa (Noah went back for seconds), Durban Spiced Chicken, Curried Lamb (Grandma’s favorite), Couscous with dried fruits and nuts, and Roasted Root Vegetables. There was also a pod for the less adventurous, including penne pasta with meatballs and sauce, macaroni and cheese (yes, Nicholas had to have some of that), mashed potatoes, and baked chicken.

Finally, it was time for dessert. Luckily, they are all bite-sized so we could try a variety. Of course, I had to try the famous Zebra Domes:

There were several other tasty bite-sized options as well, including Chocolate Cinnamon Mousse (Great!), Caramel Cheesecake (okay), Kenyan Coffee Tarts (So Good!), Passion Fruit Pana Cotta with Apricot Gelee (surprisingly tart, but amazing!), brownies (a kid favorite), and assorted cookies. There was also a warm fruit cobbler, which I didn’t get to try due to lack of stomach space. I guess I will have to plan better next time.
Overall, this buffet is amazing and I would eat there again…tonight if I had a teleporter. If you are looking for something interesting, different, and delicious at WDW, go make an ADR for Boma!

 

[Paradise18]

Boma looks wonderful. Thanks for the review.

 

[candy0730]

You have alot of our favorites on your list so I can't wait to hear if you enjoyed them.