SWW: The Food is strong with these ones UPDATED 6/24 x2 Min & Bill's, BOG

[StayAwake]

As I mentioned in the intro post, while meeting Ray Park, he offered Bounty Hunter a wristband that would allow him to go on stage during the show and learn a martial arts routine. We had a FP+ for the show, but didn't end up using it because the kids & their adults got reserved seating just behind the VIP reserved seating. At the end of the show, each of the kids got a certificate for participating, and we stayed behind a few minutes to take pictures. We then had to hustle our way to Hollywood & Vine for our second Star Wars Character Dining meal.

I had originally reserved this as the Fantasmic package which was $59.99 per Disney adult. When we arrived for the trip, Bounty Hunter mentioned that he really wanted to see Illuminations. This was going to be our only night where that would work, so I asked at check-in if we could switch to the non-Fantasmic package at $54.99 per Disney Adult, and the CM said it was no problem.

After check-in, we were directed to a line to have our photos take with Chip & Dale dressed as Ewoks. We were then directed back outside to wait for our names to be called & be seated. We waited around 10 minutes each time. Hollywood & Vine did have large containers of ice water and plastic cups available so that you could stay hydrated while waiting.

We then headed to the buffet, where many on the items had been renamed with a Star Wars theme.

First plate:

From the top going clockwise around: Caesar salad, peel & eat shrimp with cocktail sauce, Lando's lobster & shrimp mac & cheese, Mos Eisley BBQ meatball, BBQ chicken "thighwalker", Skywalker ranch chicken, fresh fruit, roasted beet & goat cheese salad. Center: C3P0's creamed corn spoon bread.

Of these choices, the Lobster & Shrimp mac & cheese was the standout. Other excellent choices were the peel & eat shrimp, citrus BBQ chicken thighwalker & the normal caesar salad and beet & goat cheese salad. The BBQ meatball was just OK, the ranch chicken was dry and the coating soggy, the fruit was the normal melon assortment, and the spoon bread was very mild with little taste.

Plate 2:

Again from the top of the plate: Solo's sweet plantain, Yoda's steamed broccoli, beef tenderloin from the Jedi Council Carving Station, Spice Mines of Kessel Garlic Mashed potatoes, Kamino Maple Glazed Mustard Salmon, Salacious Crumb's crusted pork, & another helping of the lobster & shrimp mac & cheese.

The broccoli was still slightly crunchy, which I love. The beef was very juicy, but a little rare for my tastes. Mashed potatoes were good. Pork was very dry. I have an aversion to flakey fish, and my one bite of salmon was more than enough for me.

Besides the Mac & Cheese, Bounty Hunter loved the Princes Leia penne pasta with meat sauce and the salmon.

Now on to desserts!



Blue Ice Cream. This was pretty good, with a distinct, if artificial, blue raspberry taste.



From the top: Red velvet Darth Maul cake, chocolate dipped strawberry, mini Darth Vader cupcake (chocolate & peanut butter), key lime tart, mini Yoda cupcake (chocolate & hazelnut), banana pudding dessert. They also had sugar cookies shaped like the characters, but we decided not to waste any of our calories on that!

The Darth Vader cupcake was the clear winner for me here. So rich and the peanut butter icing was awesome! The hazelnut icing on the Yoda cupcake wasn't flavorful enough to offset the strength of the chocolate cake, although the white chocolate Yoda was yummy.

After we stuffed ourselves full of dessert, our server brought out a birthday cupcake for Bounty Hunter, with a birthday button, since he had refused to wear the one we got at check-in, and a card signed by all the characters. We were too full to eat it, but it was a really nice bit of Pixie Dust!

We did also have fun with the roaming characters. We were each given a piece of paper that could be rolled up to make a blue lightsaber (Rebels) or a red lightsaber (Empire). Jedi Mickey wasn't impressed with Bounty Hunter's red lightsaber, or that we told Princess Leia Minnie that we thought it was about time she got to fly the X-wing fighter instead of Mickey. Darth Goofy wearing his red & white heart boxer shorts outside his suit was also a hit.



Of the two Star Wars Character meals, this was Bounty Hunter's favorite. Mostly because it was all you can eat, which is important for a 12 year old boy. I thought the price was a little high, especially because Tables in Wonderland wasn't accepted for this meal either, and because it didn't have any little extras on top of the special characters like the breakfast did.

 

[StayAwake]

Today we decided to sleep in a little, and have breakfast before heading out to the Studios. The food court was fairly empty at 6:30 when we arrived, so we split up to get food at different stations.



I went with the Pop Waffle with breakfast meat. This was just as good as I remembered from January- hot & fresh, crispy outside and fluffy, malty inside. The fruit topping was also still delicious.



Bounty Hunter got the breakfast burrito. This was a very large portion- he couldn't finish it all. He said that it would have been better if they had used a different meat than ground beef, but that he liked it.

This meal also gave us our first TiW savings of the trip: we saved $4.37 on breakfast.

We got to the Studios around 7:20 and thought we'd see if there were any celebrity autograph fastpasses left. We got in the James Arnold Taylor line, but after they gave us our wristbands they mentioned that they were for standby- not a guaranteed autograph. We decided that was fine and headed off to enjoy our second day of Star Wars Weekends.

 

[RedskinFan]

I really enjoyed reading your last report and was thrilled to see your current report. Keep the food porn coming

 

[StayAwake]

Inside the Darth's Mall shopping area was the Ackbar Snackbar.



Here we were finally able to locate the infamous Dark Side drink with Death Star glow Cube. Even better, you could get the non-alcoholic version inside the Stormtrooper mug.



The alcoholic Dark Side was Parrot Bay Coconut Rum, Cointreau, and Pomegranate Lemonade. So what if it was 10am? It was still delicious! As I mentioned in the previous post, this was my favorite of the two specialty drinks.

We also picked up a Darth Vader popcorn bucket, to bring along to our next food event- the parade!

The Ackbar Snackbar was a fun specially themed area, inside the air conditioning. Since we only made it inside Darth's Mall once, it was a little tricky trying to juggle our drinks, snacks, and shopping basket, but we managed. And the CM at the checkout was nice enough to allow us to put the stormtrooper mug inside one of our bags for resort delivery, so we didn't have to lug it around all day.

 

[StayAwake]

Feel the Force was a special package with two components: a reserved viewing area for the parade and a reserved viewing area for the Star Wars themed pre-show/fireworks show. Of course, both parts came with FOOD!

The parade part of this experience was complicated for us by the standby fastpass we had for James Arnold Taylor's autograph. We had to be at the standby line at 10 am, and check-in for Feel the Force sometime between 10 and 11am. This was where being SWW newbies hurt us a little- we should have given up on the autograph long before we did. Instead we tried to keep going back & forth, which complicated things a bit.

Hey look: another wristband!



With the help of a kind Diser that we had met earlier in the morning in the Chewbacca photo line, we staked out a piece of pavement, and ran back to the autograph line, only to be told that they weren't going to be accepting any standbys for autographs. So we ran back to the Feel the Force area to settle in and grab our snacks.



A delicious and refreshing Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar, along with our Darth Vader Popcorn Bucket. During the parade time, there were AYCTE Mickey Bars, Strawberry frozen fruit bars, water and soft drinks. It really worked well to be able to alternate the sweet with the salty of the popcorn.

While we ended up 3 or 4 people back from the "rope", we still were able to see everyone in the parade without a problem while remaining in the shade. I know many people have criticized this part of the Feel the Force package, but I thought it was well worth it. Without it, we would have had to stake out a spot in the shade by 9:30 or 10:00 and there wouldn't have been a chance that we could have left it and tried for our autograph opportunity.

 

[StayAwake]

Time for Bounty Hunter to get in some screen time at the 50's Prime Time Cafe.

This was a new restaurant for him, although his dad & I have eaten here twice before. I couldn't believe it when they brought us back to the exact same table! I'm now 3 for 3- there must not be that many 2-tops in the restaurant.

We didn't have a TV at our table, but we did have a window, which made it very convenient for the server to drop off extra Root Beer for Bounty Hunter's Root Beer float from the other side of the window. It was a nice touch that really set the mood for our dining experience.

Although we had just come from AYCTE Mickey Bars, someone was hungry. Hint: It wasn't me. Here's what we had.



Bounty Hunter ordered the Chicken Noodle Soup. He didn't have much to say about it, but cleaned the bowl of every drop, so it must have been good.



I got Cousin Amy's Iceberg Lettuce Wedge. I really wanted a salad to help cool me off. Even though it is off the appetizer menu, it was giant! I think I was just too hot, but the blue cheese dressing didn't appeal to me as it usually does and was really overpowering. I only ate about a third of this before I gave up.



Bounty Hunter's entree: Cousin Barry's Olive Oil Poached Salmon, with mushroom ragout, bacon & swiss chard on roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

In contrast, I got:



The kid's fried chicken! The food runner was very confused and kept trying to give me the salmon and Bounty Hunter the kid's meal. Nope!

Bounty Hunter really liked the salmon- he ate more than 3/4ths of it and all but a bite of the mashed potatoes. He didn't eat any of the mushroom ragout or swiss chard- he's not quite the foodie that he thinks he is. The cousin who had seated us had a great time telling him that she was going to steal his food and eat it because it looked so delicious every time she came past.

My chicken was good- crispy and it had good flavor. Still, I think I like the Hoop De Doo fried chicken slightly better.

With our TiW savings, my meal was almost free. We saved $9.36, bringing our total TiW savings for this trip up to $13.73.

We had just the right amount of antics, and Bounty Hunter loved that I got busted for having my elbows on the table (after I'd finished eating!). The food here is solid and the theming is great.

 

[StayAwake]

I had booked this restaurant because I knew that we had to have one steak dinner to celebrate Bounty Hunter's birthday, and I was still upset about having cancelled it in January when I sprained my knee. So this restaurant was new to both of us!

We planned to leave Hollywood Studios in plenty of time so that we could get in a few rides or shows at EPCOT, but the Force was not with us! Thunderstorms rolled in just as we were leaving the Stars of the Saga SWW show and heading towards the exit. Since it started raining, a ton of other people decided to leave the park too. Then the Friendship Boats weren't running (maybe because of lightening? Not sure). So we got in the EPCOT bus line. Sure enough, the people in front of us were the last to get on the bus.

Once we arrived, we walked quite quickly to Canada and made it 2 minutes before our ADR time. Thank goodness we weren't eating in Italy!

We waited around 5 minutes to be seated, and were seated in the Quebec area of the restaurant. I was joking with Bounty Hunter that we would have to order our meals in French, and then our server turned out to be from Manitoba. Of the three of us, I knew the most French.

We started off, as so many do:



The Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup, with pretzel bread for dunking. We ordered one bowl to share and the server kindly brought it split into two cups- which lessened our chances of fighting or spilling substantially. Bounty Hunter loved this- he wouldn't get enough of it, while I thought it was just OK. It had a very strong peppery flavor that I wasn't expecting and didn't love- I felt like I lost the cheese flavor a little.



Bounty Hunter's Filet Mignon with truffle-butter sauce and roasted potato wedges substituted for the risotto. He proclaimed this delicious and ate almost the whole thing, but had made the rookie mistake of having too much bread, and he just couldn't finish it.



I on the other hand had no such problem. Filet Mignon with truffle-butter sauce and English-pea risotto. I am not a huge fan of steak, but this one was good. It was seasoned well and cooked correctly. The English-pea risotto was a little strange- the peas in it weren't fully cooked so while they gave a texture contrast to the soft risotto, it just didn't feel good in my mouth. I would have preferred the traditional mushroom risotto, or if they are going to make it seasonal, an asparagus risotto. And the bean sprout garnish was just silly and didn't add anything to the plate.

Bounty Hunter said he was full, but I really wanted to surprise him with a special birthday dessert, even if it meant I ended up eating most of it.



The chocolate mousse Moose, off the kid's menu. Bounty Hunter had mentioned that he'd never had chocolate mousse before, so I couldn't let this opportunity pass, as it's likely he'd never have as fun a version as this in the future. He did eat 2 bites and said it was really good, but I ended up eating the majority of it. The wafer used for the tongue was the only part that I thought was just OK- the rest was delicious!

This one is a hard one to call- maybe because it has such devoted followers? The food was good, but for a Signature restaurant I wanted it to be better than it was. I'm glad I tried it, but I won't be in any hurry to come back. We spent about the same eating here with the discount as we did on the special Star Wars Breakfast without the discount, but there I felt we were paying for the entertainment & the characters more than the food and felt that was worth it. And we spent less here than at Hollywood & Vine.

We did save $23.20 with TiW, bringing our total trip savings to $36.93.

 

[StayAwake]

Bounty Hunter still wanted to ride something at EPCOT, so we settled on Mission Space before heading back out to the front to catch the bus back to the Studios. I didn't want to go to the International Gateway and discover that the boats were still down.

The good part about being a 12 year old boy is that by the time we made it back to the Studios, he was hungry again. The bad part was that by the time we checked in for the dessert party around 8:30, every table in the reserved area had people at it. We wandered around a bit and asked a few people if we could share their table and several people said "no" and were quite rude about it. Finally we found a nice couple celebrating their wedding anniversary who agreed to let us share with them. It was great to have a spot to put down our backpacks and Darth Vader popcorn bucket while we perused the dessert options.

I didn't end up taking any pictures of our plates, but here are some of the choices:


Darth Vader cupcakes


Decorated Rice Krispie treats


Darth Maul chocolate cakes


Raspberry tarts and vanilla custards


Carrot cakes


Yoda cupcakes


Specialty Drink menu - and yes, they've used the same names for different drinks available at this event vs. during the day.

There were also AYCTE water & soda pop, as well as Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bars, Mickey Ice Cream Sandwiches, Frozen Chocolate Covered Bananas, Strawberry frozen fruit bars & Orange Dreamsicle bars.

There was a lot to choose from, and everything I had was delicious. It was too hot for the heavy chocolate cupcakes to be appealing to me, so I was glad we had gotten to try them the night before at Hollywood and Vine. All the alcoholic drinks were good, and the lines for the specialty drinks weren't too long and went fairly quickly.

We were up nice and close with DJ Lobot as he spun the tunes until it was time for the pre-show and fireworks. I had a great time dancing and embarrassing Bounty Hunter. This was the only day we did without a break in the middle, and he was starting to droop- he sat right down on the pavement by the table and just chilled out for a bit. But he perked right up for the pre-show and we both LOVED the fireworks. John Williams' music is so phenomenal.

Was the Feel the Force package worth it? It cost $54 per Disney Adult, including tax. We didn't have perfect viewing for the parade because we didn't get there soon enough, and we didn't have perfect viewing for the fireworks because of how close we were to the stage. We didn't eat or drink $108 worth between the two of us. But I still feel it was worth it.

We saved ourselves a bunch of time- at least 1-1.5 hours for the parade, and at least 30 minutes for the dance party. We were able to come and go as we pleased, making it possible for us to try for the standby autograph and the last minute bathroom run without having to worry about losing our spots. That, coupled with the knowledge of unlimited cold beverages and cold snacks really made things much easier for me. We didn't need for the experience to be perfect to be able to find the value in what we received.

After the fireworks, we joined the crowd flooding out of the park. We had another early wake-up call ahead of us!

 

[Nohal]

Enjoying your reviews very informative. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[StayAwake]

I really enjoyed reading your last report and was thrilled to see your current report. Keep the food porn coming

Aww- thanks! I can't believe that this one is almost done already. 4 nights just isn't long enough for Disney Dining.

Enjoying your reviews very informative. Looking forward to the rest.

Thank you so much! I try to bring a balanced view to my reviews, and hope I'm succeeding!

 

[StayAwake]

We had a 3 am wake-up call to be at the Studios by 3:30 for our John Ratzenberger autograph fast-pass. This was Bounty Hunter's top priority for the trip, so I didn't want to risk getting there too late and getting standby or nothing. He was doing 3 autograph sessions, and I was hoping for the middle one so that as soon as we got our wristbands & return time we could head back to the room for some sleep.

Of course, we got the end of the first session. 10:25 return time wasn't going to give us any time for sleeping if we headed back to the room then, so we bravely soldiered on and found some rides to do while we tried to keep our eyes propped open.

Clif Bars at 4 am meant we were pretty hungry by the time we finished with autographs. Knowing the parade would start at 11:30, I suggested we grab a quick lunch on our way out of the park so that we wouldn't be trapped by the parade. Min & Bill's was right on our path out of the park.



We had almost identical choices, so only one photo here. Frankfurter in a pretzel roll, chips, and I chose the seasonal shake which was pineapple with toasted coconut topping, while Bounty Hunter had a soda.

The pretzel roll was warm and soft inside, with a slightly hard & salty exterior. Bounty Hunter loved this, but I thought it was just OK. There's a squirt of Dijon mustard inside the roll, and mine was very unevenly distributed. I'd have one bite with almost no mustard, and then one bite where my eyes were almost watering because there was so much mustard.

The seasonal shake was possibly the worst thing I've eaten at Disney. It had an oily consistency, as though it were made with cool whip that had been sitting out too long. It had almost no pineapple flavor, for all its bright yellow color, and it was very thick and almost impossible to eat without a spoon, which we couldn't find. I scooped up two bites using the straw as a shovel and gave up. Yuck!

We quickly scooted down the street and out of the park just before the parade started. Goodbye Hollywood Studios! It was fun, but we're done. For this trip at least.

 

[StayAwake]

Waking refreshed and ready to head out to the Magic Kingdom for dinner and an attempt to close down EMH at 3 am, we stepped out of the room to a downpour. Back inside for raincoats, and we were off for our last chance at park time.

We made it in time to play a few villains worth of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom before heading into New Fantasyland for dinner at Be Our Guest.

If you followed my last dining review, you may remember that I haven't had consistent experiences at BOG, and even declared it the most overrated restaurant at Disney. But since this was only Bounty Hunter's second ever trip to Disney, when the ADR came up a month before the trip, I grabbed it so that he could have the experience. Will I finally have a meal where the food and the service comes together? Let's get started.



Bounty Hunter was torn between the two soup options on the menu, so we each got one and agreed to share tastes. He ordered:



The French Onion soup. He loved this. It was incredibly gooey and cheesy, but the soup itself was fairly mild. I prefer a French Onion with a beefier soup, so I thought it was just OK.



The Potato Leek Soup. Bounty Hunter didn't like this one as much as the French Onion. I liked it more. Although I would have preferred a thicker soup, this had nice flavor and was a good start to the meal.

I had been sure that Bounty Hunter would order either the steak or the salmon, but we both ended up ordering the same entree.



The shrimp & scallops in puff pastry. Don't let that delightful looking scallop perched on top fool you- there were only 2 scallops in the dish. Bounty Hunter even remarked on it. But the flavor of the sauce was delicious and the seafood cooked perfectly- no gritty scallops. Bounty Hunter got overwhelmed by the puff pastry- there was quite a bit of it- but finished the rest of the dish with no problems, and my plate was very clean. The braised pork for lunch and this dish for dinner are the only 2 I've enjoyed here.

Now- to dessert!


Chocolate cream puff for Bounty Hunter. It was gone before I had a chance to ask how it was- so I'd say that's a pretty good recommendation.



Strawberry cupcake with cream cheese icing. This was delicious, and very light compared to the Star Wars chocolate cupcakes we'd been eating the rest of the weekend.

We did get a little plate of the grey stuff with a candle in it for Bounty Hunter's birthday, as well as a birthday card from Belle & the Beast. Another pixie dust moment!

The service was good but not outstanding. But I'll take it. Be Our Guest, you have redeemed yourself in my eyes. There's still lots of places for me to try, but now I won't feel a knot in my stomach when people tell me they're going to eat there.

Our TiW discount was $16.90, bringing the total savings to $53.83 for this trip.

And is there any better way to close out the park than with my favorite Disney snack? Dole Whips at Midnight, and they were just as good as ever!

 

[jesswindsor]

Look Like you all had a blast!!! I have never had a chance to go to a Star Wars weekend. Great Reviews so far!!!

 

[Angeejoe]

Just finished your last TR & just found this new one! Looking forward to another great Tr & getting caught up!

 

[Couchy]

Late to respond but have been following.... love the reviews

 

[Linda67]

Enjoying your reviews
We did the Sci-Fi Breakfast, Feel The Force Package and the H&V Star Wars dinner as well (not all on the same day!) so I was interested to hear your thoughts
Apart from the fact that the breakfast and dinner are over priced, I would do them both again. It was a great way to meet the characters and we both really enjoyed our food
I thought the parade viewing section at the FtF package wasn't that great but we LOVED the dessert party and fireworks in the evening
Looking forward to reading the rest of you reviews

 

[vettegirl]

I agree with you on the soup at BOG I wasn't in love as I love a beefier soup as well. The dessert selections look wonderful. We did dinner once and may go back for lunch in December so I can have a dessert this time. I really want to try the grey stuff.

 

[Angeejoe]

Great updates ! I love how the Star Wars theme meals look, I hope that they keep them!

I think its so cool that you took your nephew for the trip. I have say he really is an adventurous eater. I went with my sister & 4yr old nephew in Dec, he was the king of chicken nuggets & hot dogs ! So it's cool you can share & try each others meals.

I see you have a BC trip planned for the fall, the Epcot resorts are the best! Are you doing a family trip or a solo trip? What ADRs do you have so far?