Shiny Happy People's Dining Report - updated Tutto Italia!

[nicwoodard]

Hey everyone!

I have posted on this board for over two years now, but have never done any type of report. My GOAL after this trip is to do BOTH a Dining Report and a Trip Report. So, I thought I would try to do the Dining Report as we are there and the Regular Trip Report after.

Meet the Shiny Happy People:

We are a family of 4 from Texas! We arrive on June 9th and leave Jun 16th and have the great fortune of staying at the Beach Club!

OP (me) 40 - aka nicwoodard; wife, mom and elementary teacher. I love Disney and especially enjoy reading/posting about Disney.

DH 39 - aka Mr. Incredible; CPA and fantastic husband and dad

DS 12 - aka Timone; All boy and almost taller than me - how does THAT happen?

DD 8 - aka Pluto's girl; a girly girl who loves Pluto and all things Disney


We are on the Disney Dining Plan and have ADR's for the following:

June 9 - Coral Reef dinner
June 10 - CP breakfast
1900 Park Fare dinner
June 11 - Sci-Fi Drive In
June 12 - no ressies today - water park day for DH and kids; MY day to explore the World Showcase
July 13 - Chef Mickey breakfast
Tutto Italia dinner
July 15 - Le Cellier dinner

We just got a new camera and one of the settings is for close ups of FOOD. (NO, I am not kidding) I saw that as a sign that I was to do this report! We hope you enjoy this and I hope to make my first dining post from the World on Tuesday evening!

 

[KatMark]

Bring on the food porn!

 

[butiflfeet]

I am so excited for your trip! Have a great time and make sure you tell us EVERYTHING about the food!

 

[nicwoodard]

Bring on the food porn!

I will do my best!

I am so excited for your trip! Have a great time and make sure you tell us EVERYTHING about the food!

Thank you - these last two days are kind of hard...the trip is SO close you can almost touch it...but not quite!

 

[Busymom85]

Can't wait to read your reviews. Thinking about some of the same places. Have a great time.

 

[nicwoodard]

Can't wait to read your reviews. Thinking about some of the same places. Have a great time.

Thanks so much! In less than 24 hours we will be noshing at Coral Reef!

 

[Disneylover87]

Cant wait to hear your reviews! were going in sept to most of those resturants too! plus some!!!

im nervous about coral reef! were really going cause of the scenery!!

 

[nicwoodard]

Cant wait to hear your reviews! were going in sept to most of those resturants too! plus some!!!

im nervous about coral reef! were really going cause of the scenery!!

Thanks for your response! I have certainly read the iffy reviews as well. My kids really wanted to eat near the aquarium. I am hoping for the best.

My nervousness about Spoodles only came up because of the fact that restaurant is transitioning into a buffet in July and then closing to become a new restaurant. I am still considering "calling an audible" and dropping that for something else - IF possible.

 

[jacksmom]

Looking forward to your reviews! Can't wait to see your pics!

 

[adsrtw]

I am loving the camera setting. Can't wait!

 

[dancemomnj]

Have a great trip! Looking forward to your report!

 

[Disneylover87]

Thanks for your response! I have certainly read the iffy reviews as well. My kids really wanted to eat near the aquarium. I am hoping for the best.

My nervousness about Spoodles only came up because of the fact that restaurant is transitioning into a buffet in July and then closing to become a new restaurant. I am still considering "calling an audible" and dropping that for something else - IF possible.

I know! I read about that! spoodles was a great resturant before but im not so sure about the buffet!

 

[TigerKat]

Signing on!

 

[JJ&JHsmom]

Count me in!!!

 

[nicwoodard]

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for your patience! I had planned to do this report WHILE at Disney, but a poor Internet connection and the busy-ness of our vacation got in the way! However, I did take pictures and have plenty to report about our dining experiences!

We LOVED the Beach Club! It is a 5 minute walk to Epcot and a quick boat ride to DHS, so it was perfect for us! We checked in around 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9th. We were shocked and surprised to be named the "Beach Club Family of the Day" which meant we were upgraded FOR FREE to Club Level! It was awesome and we had the great luck to partake in the awesome snack and beverage offerings that you get that the Club Level!

Anyway, around 3:00 or so we walked over to Epcot. It was pretty busy, so we did a few rides and looked forward to our 6:15 ressies at Coral Reef. However, we DID stop at Sunshine Seasons for a quick snack. We got the Strawberry Shortcake and an awesome Rice Krispy Treat.

We got to Coral Reef about 6:05 and it was SUPER busy. Although we had ressies, we had to wait about 35 minutes to get a table. Now, THIS WAS THE ONLY TIME THE ENTIRE TRIP that we did not get in at or a bit before reservation time. Since we are "Shiny Happy People" we didn't let that get us down and the food/atmosphere more than made up for the wait!

We were seated at table near the back of the restaurant, but had a great view of the aquarium! There were divers in the tank who did a few funny things to entertain.

To start out, I ordered a glass of the Fess Parker Reisling, Timone and Pluto's Girl got smoothies and Mr. Incredible ordered iced tea. Our server brought us a bread basket and olive oil for dipping. Since we had been up since about 4:00 a.m. ( I had been up since about 1:30 a.m.), we were starving! We did not have to wait to order or get served and in fact our server here was probably the best one we had the entire trip!

Pluto's Girl decided to have the kid's cheese pizza:

Timone is a carnivore (this will be a recuring theme...) and got the Grilled New York Strip. He LOVED it! We all had bites and it was cooked very well. He had two other steaks at different restaurants, but in his opinion this one was the best!

Mr. Incredible got the Pan-Seared Seasonal Catch (halibut that day) with mushroom and scallop risotto. He liked it!

I got the Blackened Catfish with the pepper jack cheese grits. I was covered with a tomato marmalade. I liked the catfish and grits, but felt that, for me, there was too much of the tomato marmalade. I scraped it off to the side and it was better!

All in all, we felt it was a GREAT dinner! The surprise of the night was the quality of the steak in the seafood restaurant!

Here are our dessert choices:
Pluto's Girl - "Make Your Own Sundae"

Timone and Mr. Incredible shared both the Creme Brulee and the Mousse.

I had the CHOCOLATE WAVE!!

Our family really enjoyed Coral Reef! I would recommend it to anyone, and we will definitely go back there! It was a fantastic way to start our "culinary" vacation.

 

[tlynk]

That Grilled New York Strip looks delish, and I'm not a huge steak fan. Thanks for your review.

 

[dd50]

Boy, I would love to have that steak. Sounds like you had a good time.

 

[tkitty]

Loved the pics. I'm a big fan of Coral Reef also. We'll be hoping to get in this October!

 

[gardengirl628]

Signing on! We were pleasantly surprised by Coral Reef two years ago as well.

I am thinking about getting a new camera....if you don't mind, what type do you have that has food settings? The pictures look great!

 

[annie1995]

We loved Coral Reef!!! Can't wait to see the rest of your pics and review!!!