The Dynamic Dieting Duo - Aug 21/28 - 7 nights of QSDP w/pics!

[Yummy]

Welcome back to my food report! So glad to see people still pouring in! I feel as popular as a cheerleader

Day 3 is the one day we had to plan around an ADR, as we had lunch reservations at Les Chefs de France at noon exactly. Since we had to go to Epcot, I figured it would be the right morning to go to the Polynesian resort for breakfast, to try the famous tonga toast. We could then just hop on the monorail and go to Epcot. Day 3 is the only morning we didn’t eat breakfast at our own resort… We ate at Captain Cooks, which serves the exact same tonga toast people go to Kona Café for, but for a CS credit instead of a TS credit. But before I talk about the food, let’s talk about Captain Cooks: what a tiny little place! When you’re used to the value resorts’ huge food courts, it’s a bit of a shock to go to Captain Cooks. The lines are inefficient, the place is cramped, and even the CMs didn’t seem as nice as the ones at ASMu. We had to order our food from a terminal, then go in line to pay, where they gave us a beeper, which blinked when our tonga toast was ready. So anyway, like 10 minutes later, we finally had our food.

We got the tonga toast plate (6.19$), which included regular sausage or bacon. I much prefer the chicken sausage, but that wasn’t an option you could chose on the ordering thingy so we got the regular, fatter sausage. Since we didn’t bring our refillable mugs with us, we took two drinks (one coffee (2.09$) for MarieLune and one bottled chocolate milk (2.19$) for me). We also used one snack credit to get our traditional morning fruit cup (3.99$) (a WDW morning is not complete without it!).

The tonga toast was pretty good. Not sure I’d go through the trouble of going to the Poly often to get it, but pretty good (this coming from someone who doesn’t like bananas, and the toast has a creamy banana filling!). I’d probably eat there again just for the tonga toast, maybe on a MK morning. I think it,s definitely one of those special WDW foods you have to try at least once, like Dole whip or turkey legs.

Polynesian resort’s Captain Cooks food court
Counter Service credits: Used : 1 Remaining: 21
Snack credits: Used: 1 Remaining : 23
Value : 14.46$ + tx

Less than 3 hours later, we had our ADR at Les Chefs de France. We arrived in Epcot a bit early, so we walked around a bit in the world showcase until our ADR time (have I mentioned how much I hate having meals at set times?). It was very humid, we were suffocating, and were looking forward to the air conditioning. The sky was also a dangerous shade of grey, so we were hoping to be seated before it started raining. We were seated about 10 minutes after we arrived at the podium, which wasn’t so bad since we could wait in the shade. It was weird to speak French to the girl at the podium, the maitre d’hotel and our waitress: I almost felt snooty doing it! (let’s mention that French is our first language, though Quebec French and France French are very different, like comparing United States English and New Zealand English). It started raining not long after we were seated, and it poured like crazy!

Our waitress Laetitia was super nice from the get go. She saw in our reservation that we were celebrating our anniversary, so she asked if we wanted a little drink for the occasion. We opted for a sparkling wine (the champagne of the poor!), which was very good (8.75$ a glass). I had a little trouble deciding what to eat though. I had made up my mind before going, and wanted the salade nicoise (a French classic), which was listed on the menu on Allears.net. Unfortunatly, it wasn’t on the menu anymore, and there wasn’t anything that particularly appealed to me, so we both just went with what everyone else takes: the prix fixe menu (a 3 course meal for 23.95$). We both ordered the French onion soup (neither of us is a fan of lobster, so the bisque de homard didn’t have much going for it). Below the soups, as well as our sparkling wine and bread :

The soup was very good, almost as good as the one I make at home Seriously, I usually just do mine with mozzarella cheese, but from now on, I think I’ll do it with gruyere cheese like they do, so much better! These are very filling, especially on a hot day, so I would have gone straight to dessert. However, we still had to eat our entrees. There’s only 3 choices on the prix fixe menu, and neither of us likes quiche, so MarieLune got the Croque Monsieur (snooty name for toasted cheese and ham sandwich) and I got the gratin the macaroni (snooty name for mac & cheese). Both meals were OK, but didn’t really wow me. I could have skipped this course and wouldn’t have been sad. Below are are entrees :

We were finishing our entrees and hadn’t seen Remi yet, so MarieLune was getting anxious (we did go there solely to meet the little fella). He finally appeared as we finished our entrees: you should have seen MarieLune’s face! She looked like a 5-year old who’s just seen Santa Claus, she was so cute! I wish I had taken a picture of her, it was priceless. However, I wasn’t in a picture-taking mood by then. See, I don’t know if it’s the heat, or the too much cheese, or the drinks, but I wasn’t feeling well at all. Really REALLY not feeling well . I was heavily sweating, was feeling queasy, and basically like I was going to throw up all over the table. I made every effort to keep it together, because I didn’t want to ruin MarieLune’s time with Remi. He finally arrived at our table, and I don’t remember most of it. I did film a bit of him chatting with MarieLune, but frankly, I was just trying not to collapse. Once Remi left for the next table, our desserts arrived. I had ordered the creme brulee (one of my favourite desserts), and MarieLune had ordered the profiteroles. Well, believe it or not, I felt so sick, I only ate half of the creme brulee, and no profiteroles at all. I know, it’s like a sin or something. So MarieLune had to eat both desserts, and she didn’t complain one bit. What a trooper Here are the desserts, which were apparently very good :

MarieLune got a cappuccino with her dessert, while I drank the rest of my glass of water. We left the restaurant right after. It was raining a bit, and walking in the rain actually seemed to help a bit, because I didn’t actually get sick, but it was a close call. Lesson learned; no more table service in August, way too hot. I have a feeling it was just too much carbs in one meal.

Les Chefs de France
Paid OOP : 88.86$, including tax and tip

We headed back to our resort for an afternoon nap, which I really needed. I think I slept for about 3 hours that afternoon! We got up around 5pm, and weren’t even hungry. We decided to go to MK to catch the main Street Electrical Parade and Wishes. Our appetite was back when we walked across the Aloha Isle, so we got a pineapple float (sorry, same picture as day 1, didn’t take a pic this time):

Aloha Isle
Counter Service credits: Used : 0 Remaining: 21
Snack credits: Used: 1 Remaining : 22
Value : 3.99$ + tx

We got fast passes to the BTMR, and went to the Haunted Mansion. We also walked around a bit to work up an appetite, and went to dinner at my favourite CS place in MK: Columbia Harbour House! I love the fried shrimps basket there, but given what had happened earlier that day, we were wise and only split a Lighthouse sandwich (8.09$), low-fat milk (1.49$) and apple crisp (3.59$). It was our first time trying this sandwich, and a great surprise it was! It’s a sandwich made on whole grain bread, with tomatoes, hummus and broccoli slaw. Sounds weird, but it was very refreshing, and right up our alley. The sandwich did come with a bag of chips, which I would have substituted for a healthier option, but forgot to ask. The apple crisp is also really good. Definitely a great place to eat, and there’s always lots of tables to sit at. Here’s our meal :

Columbia Harbour House
Counter Service credits: Used : 1 Remaining: 20
Snack credits: Used: 0 Remaining : 22
Value : 13.17$ + tx

We hung out some more, rode a few rides (Stich, Pooh, Laugh Floor, Buzz 3 times in a row, etc). We grabbed a cappuccino smoothie at Auntie Gravity, which really hit the spot. It’s cappuccino, but it tastes a bit like chocolate too. Sorry for the picture, we were so thirsty, we drank half of it before we remembered we didn't take a picture :

Auntie Gravity
Counter Service credits: Used : 0 Remaining: 20
Snack credits: Used: 1 Remaining : 21
Value : 4.19$ + tx

We watched the electrical parade (loved it!) and Wishes, then it took us like over an hour before we could get a bus to our resort. That’s why I hate leaving after the night shows. We were getting pretty cranky by then: so glad we don’t have kids! We went to bed completely exhausted, and I slept like a baby.


Next up: Day 4 – Typhoon Lagoon, Hollywood Studios and… laundry (oh, the excitement!)

 

[KELLY]

I just love having something unique to eat, a bite of this, a bite of that.

Last time we were at DS we found that Min & Bills has a pretzel hot dog that was something different and quite tasty. Other than Starring Rolls we cannot find anything good to eat there either. Now that have done away with my beloved Millionaire we no longer spend much time over there anymore. You could get a milkshake to drink at M&B's as well. Our plan, this trip, is to get the food and get a seat over where we can watch the big screen for American Idol for the last show of the night, the best one IMO.

Great advice about getting a snack in place of one of the drinks for breakfast at Music. Wonder if it will work at Sports? Have to give that a try. They offer the biscuits and gravy for a snack point at all the Values now and that is a great way to start the day without using up too many points.

Thank you for the info on the taco salad. No oil laden taco shell for me. I use a low carb tortilla and drape it over an oven proof small dish, spray it with Pam and bake it for my own homemade and much healthier option.

I would hate to see how much better you would handle the English language if it was your native language. I was an English major way back when so I know a little bit of something, even if I no longer adhere to the principals so well any more.

You are so correct in that the low fat ice cream will cancel out all the calories of those huge chocolate chip cookies. Okay, so it will not but all that walking will. I hope.

Slightly Goofy

Sorry to get OT here. But are the hotdogs at hS considered a snack or CS meal? I think we were just going to hit Pizza planet but looking for other options.

 

[Krissalee]

I've been following your reviews and have really been enjoying them! I haven't had a lot of meals at counter service places, but I am really starting to see the value in them - good food options and more reasonable prices, plus the flexability of eating when you want.

When you wrote about feeling sick - I can empathize, and I think you were correct about too many carbs. That has happened to me too, so I always try to start my day with protein, otherwise I feel like garbage.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

Yummy, me tough? Nah, and especially to someone by your name. I know all too well the justifications we make concerning our food choices, or Disney trips. I have never gained a pound at DW either.

Loving that tuna sandwich at Columbia House. They had a wonderful one at POP Century that was made fresh and had sliced cucumbers it but alas, it is no more.

BTW, I think the Tonga toast is what did you in. I once went way out of my way for some and could not stomach all that sweet.

Yes, if you give something a fancy name you can not only get more bucks for it but get folks to stand on line to get. Capt Cook's has a fancy dancy and good tasting cheese sandwich as well. We go at night and go out on the beach to see Wishes and the EWP. Is one of our favorite things to do. Take along some Dole Whip before heading to the beach! Maybe your next anniversary?

KELLY, the hot dogs along with other sandwiches were a CS credit. You got a bag of chips and could get a milkshake in place of your drink if you wanted. A PP says they might not be there any longer. I think they must go around and see what we all like and get rid of it just for the fun of it.

Slightly Goofy

 

[ChristyWI]

Thanks for all the detail in your reports! Great job!

 

[kelsco99]

Great report - can't wait for your next update

 

[Yummy]

As a chubby, this inner fat girl is LOVING all of the food porn. Because let's be honest. Food is my favorite drug.

The great thing about food porn is that is not only leagal, but totally calorie-free!

I've been following your reviews and have really been enjoying them! I haven't had a lot of meals at counter service places, but I am really starting to see the value in them - good food options and more reasonable prices, plus the flexability of eating when you want.

When you wrote about feeling sick - I can empathize, and I think you were correct about too many carbs. That has happened to me too, so I always try to start my day with protein, otherwise I feel like garbage.

Thanks for reading and enjoying my reviews! The thing with counter service places in WDW is knowing where to eat at, because there is some really good stuff, and some really ordinary stuff, and even prices for the same or very similar items are sometimes not the same everywhere.

Loving that tuna sandwich at Columbia House. They had a wonderful one at POP Century that was made fresh and had sliced cucumbers it but alas, it is no more.

BTW, I think the Tonga toast is what did you in. I once went way out of my way for some and could not stomach all that sweet.

I've never tried the tuna sandwich as Columbia Harbour House, but it sounds good. May try it next time, if not sharing with MarieLune, who doesn't like most fish nor sea food.

Yeah, I think the combination of tonga toast and Les Chefs de France probably got me. Not a smart move, now that I think of it!

Thanks for all the detail in your reports! Great job!

Thanks! It's hard to find the right balance between not enough detail and too much detail. I do my best to keep my audience entertained and salivating!

Great report - can't wait for your next update

Thanks! I'll try to post a few reviews over the weekend, so stay tuned!

 

[Yummy]

Welcome back everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting, but it’s been a long 4-day week at work. Real life has the bad habit of getting in the way sometimes

On our fourth day in WDW, we wanted to go to Typhoon Lagoon. We began our day, as usual, at our food court, to eat a light breakfast. We got a grilled ham & cheese sandwich (6.39$), a fruit cup (3.99$) and a bottle of chocolate milk (2.19$). We also used a snack credit to get a chocolate croissant (2.79$). We were pretty hungry, since we hadn’t had much for dinner the previous day. Here’s a picture of our breakfast :

MarieLune had wanted to try the grilled ham & cheese sandwich since the first morning. It was good, but not as good as the one at les Chefs de France (not the same price either though!). It made for a filling breakfast, and easy to share. And the chocolate croissant was quite good and fresh, very flaky. Not as good as the ones I get at my local bakery, but very decent for WDW.

All-Star Music Intermission food court
Counter Service credits: Used : 1 Remaining: 19
Snack credits: Used: 1 Remaining : 20
Value : 15.36$ + tx

After breakfast, we headed to Typhoon Lagoon. We made sure to arrive for rope drop, because we really wanted to do the shark reef. For those of you who’ve never been, it’s a big salt water tank filled with tropical fish and small sharks, and swim with them. Well, on top of them, with scuba gear. We did it twice in a row, and there was no line at all. It was so cool! Unfortunately, I’m blind as a bat without my glasses, and don’t wear contact lenses, so I didn’t fully experience the whole thing: I saw a lot of blurry things swimming around me It was still cool though. Next time we plan to scuba dive, I must remember to have contact lenses made for the occasion. Other than that, we did a couple of slides (definitely NOT the fastest ones!), some lazy river and wave pool (wow, those waves are huge! ). We left Typhoon Lagoon before lunch, and went straight to Hollywood Studios (actually, we went to the Caribean Beach resort, and hopped on a HS bus, since there’s no buses to the parks from the water parks).

In Hollywood Studios, we had lunch at the only decent place there is: Starring Rolls! We weren’t super hungry then, so we shared one meal. They only have 2 choices of entrees at Starring Rolls: a turkey sandwich or a ham sandwich. Both are very good, and very big. We got the turkey sandwich (9.19$), with a bag of chips (we could have had a fruit instead, but harder to share). We got low fat milk to drink (1.49$), and for dessert, we got the tiramisu (2.99$). For those of you who have never been to Starring Rolls, the best reason to go is their large dessert selection . I don’t have a picture, but they have I’d say at least a dozen different desserts to choose from, and all look soooo good! It’s always hard to choose, and in retrospect, I wish I had used a snack credit to get an extra dessert on that day. Here’s our food :

Everything was delicious as usual. However, if I was not on the dinning plan, maybe I would think the sandwich is a bit overpriced, compared to some other foods in WDW. The desserts however are all reasonably priced even OOP.

Starring Rolls Cafe
Counter Service credits: Used : 1 Remaining: 18
Snack credits: Used: 0 Remaining : 20
Value : 13.67$ + tx

After lunch, we went for a walk on Sunset blvd, to go see the Beauty and the Beast show. It was raining a bit, a bit depressing. As we were walking, we ran into familiar faces: MarieLune’s brother, his wife and our two nieces! See, we knew they were going to be in WDW at the same time as we were, but it was their first time, so they wanted to be just the four of them, and we totally understood, so we had only made plans to meet for dinner on day 5 in Epcot (see my next post!). But seeing them in HS was totally unexpected, and a wonderful surprise! The girls were enjoying their trip a lot, despite the rain, and so were their parents. We took the opportunity to give them a few hints and tips to help them for the rest of their trip, and then went our separate ways… Anyway, this is a food report, so on with the food!

We found we were still hungry after our lunch at Starring Rolls, so we made our way to Toy Story Pizza Planet for our lunch No2. It’s definitely not the same food quality as Starring Rolls, but we felt like eating pizza. We got the veggie pizza with side salad combo (8.49$, one large Coke (2.49) and a chocolate chip cookie (1.99$). Here’s the food:

It wasn’t as good as I remembered from our first trip. Maybe it’s the veggies, but the pizza was soaking wet, so the texture wasn’t appetizing, and the pizza tasted somewhat watery. The side salad was smaller than it was back in 2009; just plain iceberg lettuce with two grape tomatoes, but smaller portion than in the past. Nothing special to say about the Coke nor the cookie. It filled our stomachs, but it was a meal to forget, and we should have just taken two meals instead of one at Starring Rolls.

Toy Story pizza Planet
Counter Service credits: Used : 1 Remaining: 17
Snack credits: Used: 0 Remaining : 20
Value : 12.97$ + tx

Later that afternoon, we grabbed two popcorns (2 X 3.25$) at the cart near the Sorcerer’s hat, to watch the Block Party Bash parade. We only wanted one to share, but the CM didn’t seem all there, and punched two popcorns instead of one. I didn’t want the hassle of having her call a manager to refund one credit (we had that happen earlier in the trip), so we just took the two popcorns. We knew we’d have left over credits at the end of the week anyway. Here’s one of the two popcorn :

Popcorn kiosk
Counter Service credits: Used : 0 Remaining: 17
Snack credits: Used: 2 Remaining : 18
Value : 6.50$ + tx

We did a few more things in HS , including Star Tours, which still made me sick. I just can’t stand that ride, and neither can MarieLune. We must be getting too old. Weended our HS half-day with the Lights! Motor! Action! stunt show, which was super cool (it was our first time seeing it). We left HS right after the show, and returned to our resort. We’re used to taking afternoon breaks, so we were very tired by then. Fortunately, we had planned to stay at our resort that evening, to do some laundry: I needed my Disney t-shirts (I only have three) to be washed so I could continue wearing them the rest of the week! So while MarieLune got the laundry started, I got our dinner at the food court. We shared a create-your-own salad with chicken (9.99$), a bottle of chocolate milk (2.19$), and a brownie sundae (4.99$). Here’s our delicious food:

I love the create-your-own salad at the All-Stars, it’s definitely one of my favourite entrees. They have a big selection of veggies and garnishes to put in your salad, such as chick peas, sunflower seeds, nuts, cranberries, cheese, eggs, fried asian noodles, corn, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, etc. You can have it with chicken (grilled chicken breast) or salmon. The salad was super good as always, though I was disappointed they didn’t have mix greens as previous times, just iceberg and romaine.
And as you might expect, our brownie sundae was delicious! They make it with a whole piece of brownie (about an inch and a half thick, and 4 inch by 4 inch wide), and your choice of ice cream (we got chocolate mint) and toppings (we just got hot fudge). These desserts are one great reason to eat a few lunches and dinners at the ASMu food court! There aren’t many counter service places where you can get such huge desserts on the dining plan.

All-Star Music Intermission foud court
Counter Service credits: Used : 1 Remaining: 16
Snack credits: Used: 0 Remaining : 18
Value : 17.17$ + tx

We finished our laundry and went to bed early, because we wanted to get up for EMH rope drop at Animal Kingdom the next morning, for our only AK half-day.


Next up: Day 5 – Animal Kingdom, feeling sick part 2 and some family time in Epcot

 

[DLo]

enjoying your reviews. we have only had starring rolls for b'fast ( a must do for my mom each trip) now I am going to try and talk her into lunch or just dessert later in the day. we were going to do qsdp before fd came out. We really only want to go to 2 tx per trip . think we will do it next year.

 

[Guatemommy]

I am really enjoying your trip report! We are staying at ASMu in Ocotber so I am taking notes on all your tips!

We upgraded to the regular DP as this is my daughter's first trip and she wanted to do a lot of character meals. I also originally thought that we wouldn't care for all the CS food, but after reading your report, we may have to consider this next time. It certainly saves time on planning and running to all the ADRSs!

Can't wait for your next chapter - hope you didn't get too sick!

 

[kima86]

Enjoying your reviews...can't wait for the rest! I'll be trying Starring Rolls for my first time in 8 trips this Nov/Dec. I'm always learning something new on these boards for upcoming trips.

 

[Ullis]

Great reviews and thanks for the info on how to get a CS Tonga toast - I now will be having me one of those by the end of this month!

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

While I am sorry that Pizza Planet was a disappointment I am glad to see that I am not the only one who does not care for the place. Other than being conveniently located nothing about the place appeals to me.

Those extra snack credits are very useful for filling for bad or unfilling meals.

Slightly Goofy

 

[Krissalee]

More great reviews - thanks!

 

[Yummy]

enjoying your reviews. we have only had starring rolls for b'fast ( a must do for my mom each trip) now I am going to try and talk her into lunch or just dessert later in the day. we were going to do qsdp before fd came out. We really only want to go to 2 tx per trip . think we will do it next year.

Thanks for reading and enjoying my ramblings! I don't think I ever had breakfast in a park, so the concept is almost alien to me I'm rarely super hungry in the morning, but I can't start my day on an empty stomach.

I am really enjoying your trip report! We are staying at ASMu in Ocotber so I am taking notes on all your tips!

We upgraded to the regular DP as this is my daughter's first trip and she wanted to do a lot of character meals. I also originally thought that we wouldn't care for all the CS food, but after reading your report, we may have to consider this next time. It certainly saves time on planning and running to all the ADRSs!

Can't wait for your next chapter - hope you didn't get too sick!

Go ASMu Go! We call it home now I don't know if you've ever stayed there, but I love the variety in the food court. Don't forget to get the ice cream cookie sandwich for dessert! Hope you have a magical trip!

Enjoying your reviews...can't wait for the rest! I'll be trying Starring Rolls for my first time in 8 trips this Nov/Dec. I'm always learning something new on these boards for upcoming trips.

Thanks for reading! That's what I love about this board: there's always something to learn.

Great reviews and thanks for the info on how to get a CS Tonga toast - I now will be having me one of those by the end of this month!

You're welcome! Enjoy it! I don't get why people would use a TS credit to get Tonga toast, when you can get it as a CS credit

While I am sorry that Pizza Planet was a disappointment I am glad to see that I am not the only one who does not care for the place. Other than being conveniently located nothing about the place appeals to me.

Yeah, I don't know why I had good memory of that place. I guess on a first trip, everything seems nicer and tastes better! I don't think we'll be wasting any more credits there, unless we really REALLY crave pizza when in HS.

More great reviews - thanks!

Thanks! Just wish I was a little better at updates!

 

[Yummy]

Ah! You are all still there! Lucky I have such a captive audience, because I haven’t been treating you well these past few days. I do apologize for the lack of update: I need to finish this report before I start procrastinating too much! It’s getting harder and harder to remember every little detail about our trip, as I didn’t take any notes. Hopefully, all these yummy pictures will refresh my memory!

So, on our day 5, we decided to hit Animal Kingdom for morning EMH. Of course, you know it by now, our morning begun with a delicious breakfast at the All-Star music food court, which we shared. Seriously, I think we must have tried just about everything on their breakfast menu. On that particular day, we had the pancakes with chicken sausage (6.29$), our usual fruit cup (3.99$) and chocolate milk (2.19$). All was very good as usual. The one thing I do want to complain about is that the food stations, except one, open at 7am: when you want to be at rope drop for EMH, it means you have to eat fast!

All-Star Music Intermission food court
Counter Service credits: Used : 1 Remaining: 15
Snack credits: Used: 0 Remaining : 18
Value : 12.47$ + tx

After breakfast, we went straight to AK. We don’t do the most popular ride, the Everest, so really, we don’t have to do EMH. We just happen to be early risers, and I do like to be in the parks when it’s a little quieter. I won’t go into details as to why we don’t ride Everest, but let’s just say we rode it once on our first trip, MarieLune almost threw up in the Everest souvenir store ‘Nuf said. We’re just a couple of aunties who like to see shows and ride the Caroussel of Progress!

Aaaaanyway, I digress. On our morning EMH, we rode Dinosaur (meh), got fast passes for Kali River, and went on the safari. The safari was cool, lots of animals showed up that morning. We saw It’s Tough to be a Bug too: a poor little guy was screaming like crazy when the bugs exited the theatre. I think he was traumatized for life… All this excitement made us hungry, so we walked over to the Harambe fuit market and grabbed one of these babies :

Hmmmmmm jalapeno cheese pretzel. I love these! (must be why I nibbled on it before I remembered to take a picture) I especially loved it back in December, when we had on our coats, scarves and gloves. The jalapeno offered some much needed heat! Too bad they don’t have them in HS anymore (they were called spicy cheese pretzels, but they were very similar).

Harambe fruit market
Counter Service credits: Used : 0 Remaining: 15
Snack credits: Used: 1 Remaining : 17
Value : 4.29$ + tx

By that time, it was getting pretty hot and humid, and MarieLine wasn’t feeling so well. She had stomach cramps and a headache, and was a little cranky. I asked her several times if she wanted to go back to the hotel, but she put on a brave face and stuck it out, because she knew there many things I wanted to do in AK. We ended up seeing Flights of Wonder for the first time (loved it!), as well as Festival of the Lion King (very good). I really would have liked to go see Finding Nemo again (it was one of our best memories from our December trip), but I decided not to push our luck, as MarieLune was looking paler and paler , and was getting more and more cranky. I also scratched my plans to go eat lunch at AKL’s Mara food court (bye bye zebra domes), and instead we went back to our resort sometime before 1pm, for our afternoon rest. We knew we would be going to Epcot later on for dinner and an evening with MarieLune’s brother and his family, so we wanted to be well rested.

Back at ASMu, we had a light lunch, which consisted of a chicken quesadilla platter (8.59$), a Coke (2.49$) and a milkshake for dessert (4.19$). The quesadilla platter is not too big, and is easy to share (frankly, I find it a bit overpriced for the size if I were to pay OOP). It’s also a reasonable size, so it was perfect, given how MarieLune was feeling. We also got a Coke because she thought some bubbles might help her stomach (and it did). MarieLune went back to our room before I was done eating, so I grabbed the milkshake (got chocolate mint) and brought it to the room. I tried not to drink any until I was in the room so I could take a picture, so it wasn’t very thick by then! Here’s the food :

All-Star Music Intermission food court
Counter Service credits: Used : 1 Remaining: 14
Snack credits: Used: 0 Remaining : 17
Value : 15.27$ + tx

We slept all afternoon, and only woke up around 4pm, and had to meet MarieLune’s brother at 5pm in Epcot (at the entrance of Spaceship Earth). So glad we slept though, because MarieLune was feeling much better, and was in a better mood too.

We met my brother-in-law and his family as planned at 5pm; since we were already at the entrance of Spaceship Earth and there was no line, we rode it. Our nieces liked it a lot, even though it wasn’t as exciting as some other rides. After that, we went to Test Track; there were no fast passes left by that time of course, so we went stand by (about 45-50 minutes). It didn’t seem that long, because we chatted the whole time, asking them about their trip, what they’d liked best so far, giving them more tips, etc. We had a blast on Test Track! So glad we rode it with them

After that, I was getting pretty hungry, but they wanted to ride Mission:Space. I know myself enough to know that ride isn’t for me. MarieLune decided to go, which I advised her against, given how she was feeling earlier that day. They ended up riding the chicken version, and she was fine though. By then, I was self-digesting, so we went to The Land pavilion, to eat at Sunshine Season, and were hoping to ride Soarin’ after dinner, before Illumination.

On this rare occasion, MarieLune and I each got our own meal. She didn’t want to look cheap in front of her brother , but also, I wanted the tuna salad, which she doesn’t like. I was a little disappointed because they didn’t have the tuna salad they used to have back in December 2009, which was made of mixed greens, with seared tuna. What they had instead was a noodle salad with seared tuna (9.99$), which I ended up getting. I had a hard time choosing a dessert (too much choice!), but ended up with what I almost always get, the strawberry shortcake (3.99$). To drink, I just got a bottle of water (2.50$). MarieLune tried the ginger mongolian beef (9.99$), the key lime pie (3.79$) and got another Coke (2.49$). Here’s our feast :

The size of the portions at Sunshine Season has definitely gone down since our first trip (May 2009). In just over a year, it seems they’ve been reduced by half. The food is still good, but it’s definitely less of a great value than it used to be. My tuna was fabulous, but the noodle salad was very small, and had too much dressing. Also, the service was crappy, as it took the CM like 15 minutes just to make my darn salad. At some point, I think they were 3 CM’s working on my dish. Ridiculous! The shortcake was good, as usual, but I do think it was a bit smaller than on previous occasions, and had less strawberries in it. For her part, MarieLune didn’t enjoy her beef so much, said there was too much ginger in it, and it was very hot (my sister-in-law got that too, and didn’t enjoy it so much either). She preferred her key lime pie to my shortcake: I liked them both.

Sunshine Season
Counter Service credits: Used : 2 Remaining: 12
Snack credits: Used: 0 Remaining : 17
Value : 32.75$ + tx

By the time we all finished dinner, we had to choose to ride Soarin’ stand-by (70 minute wait), or see Illumination. Since MarieLune and I had done Soarin’ and seen Illumination already, we left the decision to MarieLune’s brother and his family since it was their first visit. To my surprise, they chose to see Illumination. Since we still had some time ahead of us, we stopped by The Seas with Nemo & Friends and rode it with no wait, then headed to the lagoon and got a spot to watch the fireworks. We went our separate ways after that.

Back at our resort, around 10:30pm, we were a bit hungry. Since we knew by then we’d have tons of leftover snacks, we treated ourselves to a Disney classic: a Mickey premium ice cream bar (3.29$) :

All-Star Music Intermission food court
Counter Service credits: Used : 0 Remaining: 12
Snack credits: Used: 1 Remaining : 16
Value : 3.29$ + tx

I don’t know what they put in them, but they’re so good! I love the chocolate on them. Thankfully, eating sugar just before we went to bed didn’t seem to have an impact on our sleep, which is good, because we were planning for another EMH morning for day 6, this time at the Magic Kingdom!


Next up: Day 6 – El Pirata y El Perico (yes, it does open sometimes!), DisneyQuest and eating around the World in Epcot!

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

Great update the mickey bar looks delish!

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

Man, I can even see the ice crystals on that Mickey Bar and sitting here in all this heat it is really getting to me. I think the secret to the Mickey bars is that they are simply perfect, not overdone and with the very best ingredients i.e. not diet in any way whatsoever. I know that they sell similarly made bars in the local grocery stores but something about the shape of the Disney ones just make them perfect. Ears first!

Hate to be negative on such a delightful report but I do believe that if the food plan costs keep going up and the food quality and quantity go back down many folks will go back to bringing their own or driving off site to eat. I thought that dining plan, especially when 'free', was one of the best ideas that Disney has had, other than the Magical Express, for making it easier for folks to just stay on site, along with their credit cards and wallets.

Slightly Goofy

 

[LMO429]

just read your report. I love it looking forward to more.

 

[sk8jdgca]

Great report- now i have to go back-thanks for feeding the obsession