Team Bilp's 21-Day Dining Extravaganza- Lots of PICS- 24/7-14/8 UPDATED 8/21 Boma

[jeminni]

I'm in. Bring on the reviews.

nice picture, you two are a cute couple.

 

[Disney_Mama]

Great so far Looking forward to the rest. Glad you had a nice first meal at PH. Last time I ate there my meal was gross Now my DH loved his meal.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I need to try PF Changs and Planet Hollywood. I think I'm going to be getting a $15 voucher for Planet Hollywood, and though the menu doesn't appeal to me that much, I would like to see all the memorabilla, (I've eaten at ABC Comissary just so I could look at all the TV show stuff,) and with the voucher it'll basically be a free meal.

I also just got a coupon for any free grill item at PF Changs, so I want to use that. I could get tuna or a strip steak, so I figure the gift coupon is a pretty good deal too.

 

[askelton]

We split an appetizer of Chicken Crunch which are ‘tender strips of chicken breast with a crunchy sweet coating served with Creole mustard’. The chicken itself was tasty and the outer coating was tangy and yummy. The mustard dip was good too- very sweet and light. We didn’t like the grated carrot that came with it- it wasn’t fresh and was all soggy. There was really no point in sacrificing those poor carrots.

I have made this before and you're right, it's so good. Of course anything with Cap't Crunch. The recipe I have doesn't call for carrots though.

We went in Tiffany’s and I spotted a gorgeous necklace with stars on and, ok, I know it’s Tiffany’s but I thought, it’s a necklace, it’s costume jewellery, how bad can it be? Matt said I could have it as my Christmas present from him. Cool. So we asked the sales assistant if we could look. I spotted the price tag: $20000.

Tiffany

And now you know it's not costume jewelry.

 

[kimgof]

Great reviews! I have a PF Changs right near us. Their Lettuce Wraps are fabulous! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[DisneyDynamo]

Loving the review so far! Can't wait for the pictures!!

 

[Sam'sMom0126]

Great reviews!

PF Changs is great! We just went last night for our Anniversary dinner. Can't beat the lettuce wraps and spicy chicken. YUM!

 

[wilma-bride]

Really looking forward to the rest of your reviews - PF Changs sounds great - have added it to my list for next October. The question is, is it worth sacrificing Cheesecake Factory for???

 

[spincandy]

Sunday 27th July 2008- Breakfast with Pooh!

Thanks to good jetlag we were still getting up pretty easily for 6.30am starts so an 8.05am reservation at Crystal Palace was no problemo for us.

We were bright and breezy in the car. Bright and breezy past the ticket booths (me: “we can pick up our tickets at guest relations”). Bright and breezy on the monorail. Bright and breezy through security and trotting up to guest relations for will call. I open my backpack and pull out the claim vouchers… but they’re not there. I forgot our vouchers and we couldn’t pick up our tickets without them! We end up buying one day tickets (wow, they’re expensive- I never realized what a great deal us Brits got!) just so we don’t miss our ADR (and I’d also planned something through Gifts of a Lifetime for Matt, so couldn’t go home and get them and miss that either!)

Anywho so after that mini-disaster we wandered into Magic Kingdom pre-opening. We actually got into the park at 7.45am so it was even pretty much empty of the breakfast reservationees. Here’s a piccy with a background you don’t see very often:

You'll never see this again!

We got to Crystal Palace at about 8 after a leisurely stroll down Main Street and it was PACKED! People were queuing down the steps and all around the balcony area. I thought I’d gone mad and it actually opened at 7 and they were that far behind with reservations. But, no, this was the opening line.

We checked in at the pretty little window and stood to one side to take some more pics of the castle without anyone in sight. At about 8.10 the place opened and we were the first in!

For those of you who don’t know, Crystal Palace breakfast is buffet style joined by the major Winnie the Pooh players- Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet. We were first up to the buffet area- yay!- so we could grab our grub before the character even came out.

Here’s my plate:

Just give me Ketchup and I'm happy

On there from the bottom left is: fried egg (hiding some breakfast potatoes), sausage, bacon, French toast, Mickey waffle and a big ol’ dollop of Ketchup!

Matt was kind enough to get the fried egg for me (while he loaded his plate with two of his own) because I don’t like eggs any other way! It was so tasty. Breakfast potatoes are my new obsession- they were well seasoned and crispy, just like I like ‘em! The sausage was nothing special but nothing terrible. The bacon was yummy and crispy and salty- just like I like it when I’m being naughty on vacation. The French toast was such a disappointment. It was so sugary I felt as though I should have my dentist present to do emergency work after each bite! Ew. The Mickey waffle was good (how can something shaped like Mickey not be good!?). And the Ketchup.. well I’m obsessed with ketchup.

Here’s Matt’s plate:

Egg fest

Again from bottom left: Mickey waffle, fried eggs x2, sausage, bacon, random egg and French toast. Matt thought the breakfast was yummy too but he says his was a bit cold. I told him it wasn’t going to be piping hot but he still pouted a bit. I didn’t find any problems. Oh, we had these too:

I won't get to touch the yummy looking choccy treat!

There’s three slices of toast and a pain au chocolat. You made the toast yourself so we got to make it nice and well done just as we like it. I didn’t even get a look in on the pain au chocolat as Mr Pastry Man managed to scoff it easily in two bites.

Service-wise here.. well we hardly saw our server. Not that he didn't do everything he was supposed to.. he did. Our oj and Matt's coffee were topped up and he (somewhat reluctantly) took piccys of us with the characters but there was nothing personal there. No smiling, no chatting, busing our plates with a huff. *sigh*. He was quite busy with a whole bunch of tables though, so we managed to forgive him.

We were out of Crystal Palace by 8.40am and made our way to rope drop. This breaky was yummy and we’d definitely do it again. It got us into the park early and set us up for a long day nicely. We spent the day doing Matt’s GOAL surprise and then went to chill out, ready for Boma later!

 

[spincandy]

Yummy! I'm in. I have heard rave reviews about PF Chang's. We might have to try it next summer.

Do! Do! I can't recommend it enough. I would definitely go early or call up and make ressies though.

Great reviews so far!
I love P.F. Changs!! Next time you go, try their Key Lime Pie Martini--WOW--that is probably the best drink I've ever had!
Now I'm hungry for some chinese food!

Mmmm.. yay, more drinkys to try! Now we'll definitely have to go back!

I second this recommendation! I am not a big fan of key lime pie, but that martini . . . OMG, it just doesn't get any better!

PF Chang's is definitely one of my all-time favorite restaurants. I've never had anything there I didn't like.

Can't wait to read more. Your reviews are great!

Thanks for reading! PF Chang's is definitely on our 'must do every time' list now... only problem is that list is huuuuuge!

I'm in. Bring on the reviews.

nice picture, you two are a cute couple.

aww, thankies

Great so far Looking forward to the rest. Glad you had a nice first meal at PH. Last time I ate there my meal was gross Now my DH loved his meal.

We find PH to be a bit hit and miss. The meal we had later in the trip was a bit yuck. But you can't beat the fries!!!

I need to try PF Changs and Planet Hollywood. I think I'm going to be getting a $15 voucher for Planet Hollywood, and though the menu doesn't appeal to me that much, I would like to see all the memorabilla, (I've eaten at ABC Comissary just so I could look at all the TV show stuff,) and with the voucher it'll basically be a free meal.

I also just got a coupon for any free grill item at PF Changs, so I want to use that. I could get tuna or a strip steak, so I figure the gift coupon is a pretty good deal too.

Wow, we need to get more coupons! $15 would get you practically anything at PH! It's definitely worth it for the atmosphere alone- my dad would spend hours wandering around the place looking at all the memorabilla if my mum let him and he must have been 20 times now. And Matt nearly falls down the stairs he spends so much time staring at the walls

I have made this before and you're right, it's so good. Of course anything with Cap't Crunch. The recipe I have doesn't call for carrots though.

Tiffany

And now you know it's not costume jewelry.

The carrots were kinda a garnish and way weren't worth it. Ew. I got into Tiffany's and figured if I avoided the diamonds I'd be okay.. but apparently not! Ah well, I'd have a WDW holiday anyday over that (really really pretty!) necklace!

Great reviews! I have a PF Changs right near us. Their Lettuce Wraps are fabulous! Can't wait to hear more.

The lettuce wraps were so much better than either of us anticipated from the menu! Such a pleasant surprise! Even for my salad-hating DBF! Thanks for reading!

 

[spincandy]

Loving the review so far! Can't wait for the pictures!!

Hope the pictures make it a bit more yummy-lookin! thanks for reading!!!

Great reviews!

PF Changs is great! We just went last night for our Anniversary dinner. Can't beat the lettuce wraps and spicy chicken. YUM!

Mmm.. you lucky thing...I'm doing so much PF Chang thinking, I'm craving Chinese!

Really looking forward to the rest of your reviews - PF Changs sounds great - have added it to my list for next October. The question is, is it worth sacrificing Cheesecake Factory for???

Now there's the million dollar question! We were super ambitious, planning a meal at PF Chang's and then Cheesecake Factory dessert but we were WAY too full! I did miss CF but PF Chang's was super yummy and worth the sacrifice!

 

[ShaneH]

I visited Manchester last year and loved that city and cant wait to go back. Went to a bunch of your old pubs and loved the beer you guys have over there. Really neat old pubs.
Oh great food report also.

 

[suzimar57]

ah, thanks for clearing up that "GF room service" mystery - glad you got to enjoy a night onsite, as well as at Universal!

ok, enough talk - more food porn!!!

 

[spincandy]

Sunday 27th July 2008- Grazing with the Africans

After reading so many reviews on here about how good Boma is supposed to be, I knew we HAD to try it! And so it was done!

We’d never been to AKL before so we tried to get there a bit early so we could have a snoop around. Our ADR was at 7.30pm and we got parked up at 7pm- great! However, then the heavens opened and what felt like a year’s worth of rain was falling all around us. We had no umbrella or poncho and so decided to wait it out.

Twenty minutes later it was still pouring, so we decided to brave it. We sprinted through the parking lot (right through a huge puddle that soaked my sandals) and into the lodge.

Let me just say that AKL is such a pretty place… it’s so atmospheric and well-themed. It’s all dark wood and low lighting and huge windows- beautiful. Anyway, we get more time to check the place out later on in the trip. We checked in on the lobby level for Boma and, shock horror, the guy couldn’t find our reservation. I had my confirmation number all ready (and I’d confirmed all our ressies before the trip) but apparently we had to go downstairs to the actual podium to check numbers. The point in the upstairs podium was completely lost on me at this point as everybody seemed to be being directed downstairs.

We checked in downstairs and I was getting more than a little stressed when she couldn’t find our ressie either- I KNEW it was there about a week ago, so why wasn’t it now? I think the hostess could see the frustration because she winked at me and said ‘give me a sec’. She created a whole new ressie for us and apologized that our other one had disappeared, she didn’t know why it had. She said it could be a ten to fifteen minute wait. I was just glad we were in there!

We wandered up to the bar (Victoria Falls?) to grab a drink and chill out from the ressie stress! I ordered one of these bad boys:

It’s a Glowtini and it’s Skyy Citrus Vodka, Blue Curacao, Peach Schnapps, Sweet n Sour and Pineapple Juice. Oh, and a very funky glowing ice cube (which happened to fall into my handbag…). It was so tasty and got a bunch of attention- plenty of ‘oohs’ and ‘what’s thats’. And Matt had… can you guess?.. a Bud.

Our little pager went off after about 15 minutes and we made our way down to the restaurant. We were sat on a very cute table, pretty much on its own and with a nice view of a little pond out of the window. Our server came and introduced herself and invited us to get stuck in- we didn’t need telling twice!!!

Here are our first plates:

The top one is Matt’s. I can’t remember the name of it but it’s basically a lamb broth. It was good pieces of lamb mixed in with chunky vegetables and in a spicy-ish stew. Matt got it with Pita Bread for dipping. I don’t eat lamb so didn’t try it but Matt gave it a double thumbs up at the time and licked his bowl clean. However, he claimed it was this soup that…um.. *reappeared* the next morning (Ew. But it’s a warning!).

The next one is chicken corn porridge and it was SO good. My favourite thing in the whole world is a good, comforting soup and this was definitely up there with my mum’s potato and leek! It was chicken, corn, potatoes and other veggies. It was so creamy and well-seasoned, every last bit was super-tasty. I got Pita bread with it and managed to mop up the whole of the bowl with it. Yum!

Oh, I decided I needed to further sample the bar’s offerings:

This was a Captain’s Mai Tai- that’s white and dark rum and curacao with some sort of juices (the juices don’t matter, right!?). Boy, was it rummy! Even after I gave it a good straw mix I still felt as though I was sucking up straight rum! I couldn’t finish this, it felt like doing several hundred shots in a row!

Here’s my second plate (Matt’s seems to have gone missing):

Ok, let me see if I can decipher it! From the top left going anti-clockwise we have prime rib, Durban spiced roast chicken, potatoes with Afritude, salmon and a beef pie (I totally can’t remember the name!).

The rib was gorgeous- so tender it just melted in the mouth. The chicken was really randomly spiced- some bits were and some bits weren’t- and the piece I got was a bit slimy, but Matt had the same and said his was good so I must’ve just got a bad piece. The potatoes with Afritude were ok- I wasn’t too crazy about them but they were ok (I was a bigger fan of the breakfast potatoes at CP!). The salmon was the best! So good I went back for seconds of just this! It was in a gorgeous sweet sauce and the salmon was cooked to perfection- yum! I’m so disappointed I can’t remember the name of this last one but it was basically a beef pie. The pastry was super sweet and I couldn’t finish it but the beef inside was tender and in a yummy gravy! Now, desserts!

This is Matt’s plate- he wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous! From the bottom left anti-clockwise we’ve got strawberries, watermelon, berry tartlets, cookies and flourless chocolate cake. He said the fruit was fresh and crunchy and he gobbled down those tartlets so they must have been good too. He says he wishes there had been a bit more choice which pretty much means he wishes there was a bit more chocolate!

My plate looks a bit blurry! Probably that Mai Tai.. anyway from top right clockwise there’s pineapple cheesecake, chocolate mousse, strawberries, melon, zebra dome and flourless chocolate cake.

The pineapple cheesecake was yum, but how can you not love a refreshing, fruity cheesecake? The chocolate mousse was ewwy… it was sickly sweet and the texture was really sticky- I really couldn’t eat more than a couple of bites. The strawberries and melon were fresh and sweet. The Zebra dome was heavenly… I knew it was going to be good from the reviews on here but mmmm!!! It melted in my mouth and if I wasn’t so stuffed I would’ve gone and piled a few more on there! The flourless chocolate cake was ok… a leedle bit bland but not too bad.

The atmosphere in Boma was cool- a little noisy but what can you expect from a busy buffet? Our server was good, keeping Matt’s Coke topped up and not pressuring us too much with the bill. We would definitely go here again!

 

[Ginamarie]

Yum! Great review so far. So funny- we have a PF CHangs nearby and I've never been there, but reading this makes me want to go!

 

[spincandy]

Monday 28th July 2008- Columbia Harbour House

Today Matt had booked the whole day as his own to surprise me with events! The first surprise was a Keys to the Kingdom tour which was so much fun and really interesting. As part of the KTTK we got lunch at Columbia Harbour House, which we had to pre-order before the tour.

We both ordered the same- chicken nuggets and fries. Be warned, if you’re a smaller party on KTTK you will be sat with others for lunch. Usually no problemo for us, but we were sat with a couple who would just *not* *speak*. No matter how much we tried they wouldn’t talk to us, just amongst themselves. So we gave up, not everyone likes making conversation, I guess. No pics here, Matt was told ‘no cameras’ by the reservations agent but apparently you are allowed them, just not backstage *sigh*.

We both thought the food was yucky. The nuggets were greasy and way too much batter. The fries were lukewarm and fatty… not nice at all. I’m not sure whether it was because we were part of a tour and our meals had been pre-made or it’s always like that there but we won’t be going back.

Up next… a surprise dinner at Citrico’s!

 

[Jenvenza]

Great so far! Cant wait for more!

 

[iluvpluto27]

Enjoying your reviews, I just love Boma!

 

[WDWMeg311]

Subbing... great so far! Can't wait for more

 

[BeckWhy]

I like to do Planet Hollywood every trip also. I'm planning on the Blue Lagoon when I'm there in November. It sounds good! I had Sweet Death Becomes Her last time, that was really good!