The Hudson's do Disney w/Tropical Storm Fay & the DDP!! Aug 16-23 with Pics!!

[wilma-bride]

I can't wait to eat at Le Cellier again - everything looks so good

 

[workinmom]

So after a late night, we were at the bus stop at the WL for our 8:10 ADR at Crystal Palace. Now when I made this ADR, my kids weren't the least interested in seeing Winnie the Pooh & his friends, but I didn't listen to them. Our 1st trip to WDW we had breakfast at CRT the first full day of our trip & I thought it was a great way to start the vacation, besides, we were able to go into MK before it officially opened. The bus ride to MK was the quickest we had all week & we were strolling down main street about 7:50 am.

We took some pictures in front of the castle & headed over to CP to put our name in. There looked like a lot of people waiting, but we probably only waited about 10 min or so for our name to be called. This was our first time eating here & it was so pretty. We were seated in the dining room off to the left of the lobby. Our server came over to explain how the buffet worked, as well as, how the characters would make their way around the room. Shortly after getting our drinks Tigger began making his rounds. My kids quickly jumped up & headed for the food!!! Ray & I stayed at the table & got our pictures taken with Tigger!!

Amanda & Andrew returned with full plates of food & Winnie the Pooh & Piglet soon arrived. I could tell they weren't thrilled, but got their pictures taken.

Ray & I went to the buffet. I made it a point to try the breakfast lasagna but couldn't find the puffed french toast. I later learned that it was on the kids section. I think the kids went up for seconds & I was able to try the puffed french toast. I thought the breakfast lasagna was good, but no one else in my family was crazy about it. We didn't take pictures of the buffet, b/c my plate always looks like a mess since I try lots of things and I wasn't sure I would remember what the food was. We really enjoyed our breakfast...the food was hot and fresh, although there was nothing that was outstanding. I only went up for one trip so I wouldn't be stuffed the rest of the day.

We were watching our time because we wanted to be out of the restaurant for rope drop. It was just about 9 am & we flagged down our waiter to get our bill. Eyeore was making his way around the room, but we didn't stay around to see him. I have read that this meal can take awhile depending on the characters. We were in and out in about 50 min...now we didn't relax, and didn't see Eyeore, because we were on a mission to get Fast Passes for Space Mountain!!! Crystal Palace was a great way to start the day & it worked out well to be there before MK opened. We tipped 15% and our total was $13.00.

About 3:00, we decided to head back to WL for a break before going to DTD for the evening. I wasn't really starving, but new I wanted to try an ice cream sandwich from the Main Street Bakery. It was nice to get out of the heat & Andrew & I ordered an ice cream sandwich and Amanda got a piece of carrot cake. Ray decided he was trying to be "healthy", so he didn't get anything.

The ice cream sandwiches were huge and just as delicious as I had read about. The only problem I had was trying to bite it. The cookie wasn't chewy & the ice cream started to ooze out. I think I pretty much attacked but couldn't quite finish it. Andrew ate all of his & the rest of mine. 14 yr old boys!!!

Amanda's carrot cake was huge & delicious.

We waddled out of MK & went back to WL for a nap before heading to DTD.

I don't want to make my posts too long, so I'll end here & continue our evening in another one....

 

[sherry8253]

Great reviews. Thanks for taking the time to post. Count me in.

 

[workinmom]

When planning out our trip I had thought we would eat dinner at Earl of Sandwich, b/c it has always gotten really good reviews. Well....as the trip got closer, I decided that since it was dinner maybe we would try Wolfgang Puck Express since I had read that the menu was pretty extensive for a CS. What a smart person I am!!! We all loved WPE. (except Amanda)

After entering, we picked up take-out menus so we could stand back & decide what we wanted. The selections are posted behind the counter on a board, but we felt like we were holding up the line since everything looked really good and we can never make a decision quickly.

Ray, Andrew, & I all settled for the gourmet pizzas. We all got different ones so we could sample each other's. Amanda, being the pasta lover, got the Rigatoni with Chicken Alfredo.

Meatball and Parmesean:

Spicy Chicken:

Margherita:

Rigatoni:

All the pizzas were delicious and were a good size. Amanda was the only one disappointed in her meal. She said the pasta was a little more than "al dente". I don't know if it had been sitting around for awhile, but she only ate about 1/2 of it. We shared pizzas with her.

I guess we didn't take pictures of the desserts, but we had creme brulee which Andrew tried for the 1st time and cookies and brownies which we took back to the room b/c we were stuffed (again)! Andrew liked the creme brulee & the cookies/brownies were good, although a little smashed after being in our bag.

This is a great use of a CS meal on the DDP. You get a lot of food and the atmosphere is relaxing. I would have chosen a table outside where it was really quiet, but Andrew picked the table so I didn't want to complain. We did leave a few dollars for a tip since we had a waiter serve us our food. Ray and I commented that although the pizzas were good, we certainly would not have liked to pay $75.51 for our meal. Thank heavens for DDP!!!

Another must do for us after reading food porn was Goofy's Candy Co. to make our own treats. After some shopping, we headed over. I think it must have been around 10 pm or a little later when we arrived. Ray was still being "healthy" and didn't want to order anything even though we told him he "had to" so the rest of us grabbed our papers and began deciding what to get.

I ordered the pretzel rods and the kids got the Mickey rice krispy treats. I don't remember exactly what we ordered, but I did dip my 3 pretzels in milk chocolate, then got a different topping on each one & put caramel drizzle on all of them. I think Andrew picked several toppings (don't know if he was supposed to, but he got away with it). The man making them was an older gentleman & seemed kinda slow, but he figured out our orders and after waiting for them to chill....we had our creations. I thought I took a picture of the pretzels, but I can't find it.

Andrew's: I can see oreos, M&M's, butterfinger, & I think Reeses.

Side view of Andrew's

Amanda trying to get her mouth around hers.

As everyone has said, this is a great use of a snack credit. Even if you're paying OOP, it's the best use of $3.50 on Disney Property. We snacked on these for several days. Especially the pretzels, I usually only ate 1/2 at a time. We vowed that we would try & stop at Goofy's again before going to the airport to take a little bit of Disney home with us. Would we have any snack credits left???

Up next....Cantina de San Angel for lunch and Andrew's 14th birthday dinner at the Coral Reef with a surprise!!

 

[Harambe]

Enjoying your reviews!

We were there 8/21-8/28, proudly wearing the ponchos along with you guys!!! Fay messed up a few of our meals, but we had fun (and still ate good, mind you).

It was our first time trying WPE at DTD, and we loved it, too. Looking forward to more from you.

 

[bluechic03]

love your reviews I cant wait to make my own Mickey Rice Krispie Treat! And we want to do Cantina de San Angel for lunch for our upcoming trip so Im interested to see what you think

 

[workinmom]

We woke up early again this morning & headed to Epcot for Rope Drop. Today was Andrew's birthday and I had planned a little surprise for him at dinner.

Skipped breakfast since I had planned on eating about 11:30 am. We toured Future World so I figured we would try Sunshine Seasons. After we got finished Soarin, I pointed out the eating area to my family. No one really responded, I guess they were getting tired of me pointing things out to them that I had read about or planned. We did some other things in FW and shortly after 11 am, I told everyone we should eat soon so we could head back to the room for our break around 1 pm. It was pretty hot today & we would be returning to Epcot for dinner. I again suggest going back to the Land pavilion & Sunshine Seasons or walking to World Showcase & eating at the Mexican Pavilion. We had eaten there in 2001, but no one seemed to remember and we all love Mexican food, it was on to Cantina de San Angel.

WS had opened just a little while ago, so there weren't too many people around. The only downside to eating in Mexico was we had to eat outside & couldn't get out of the heat, but no one seemed to mind. We gathered & decided what everyone wanted to eat & Ray went to get a table. He picked one out next to the railing so we could look out over the water. There were ducks milling around. I guess they are used to the people by now. I thought the food was a little slow coming out, but I guess they make everything after you order. The guys each ordered the Plato Combinacion, Amanda got the Cantina Nachos, and I got the Ensalada Mexicana. The only choice for dessert were churros.

Nachos:

Plato Combinacion:

Taco Salad:

Everything was hot and fresh. The guys devoured their meals...touring is hard work. Amanda enjoyed her nachos and my salad was really good as well. I was a little disappointed that it didn't come in a "shell", but I know it was a little healthier the way they served it. The churros were good as well. We were stuffed after the meal...I was beginning to think we should start sharing our CS meals & use some of them for breakfast.

We walked around for a little while longer, used some of the FP we had collected earlier & headed back to the Lodge for a rest.

Up next....Andrew's birthday dinner at Coral Reef & his "surprise".

 

[workinmom]

Hope everyone is following along ok...I should have taken notes since we've actually been home almost 1 month!!!

When we booked our trip, I realized we would be celebrating Andrew's 14th birthday at WDW. I asked him if there was any place he wanted to go for his "birthday dinner." Since we had only been to Disney once before, he really didn't come up with anything. I wanted somewhere fun and had thought about WCC, but after reading some reports of having to ride a stick horse around the restaurant singing Happy Birthday, I decided against it. Andrew would have been appalled. I also read about Coral Reef and the personalized menus and scuba divers so I decided to arrange that. Let me just say, it took about 5 phone calls (over a 2 month period) to get Debi at Coral reef to return my call. Now from what I have read, this is not the norm, but I did not get a call back quickly. When I did hear back from her, it was through email & she gave me the details for the menu and diver. She let me know that when I arrived for my ADR that I didn't need to say anything, "just let the magic happen!!"

With all that background behind us, back to the review: We left our room about 5:15-5:30 and headed out to the bus stop. Shortly after, a bus pulls up to bus stop #2 (Epcot area) with a sign for DHS on the front of his bus. He said, "I'm going to Epcot". When everyone waiting, informed him that his bus said, "DHS" he checked his list & decided he was, in fact, going to DHS. We waited, & waited, & waited for another Epcot bus. It is so frustrating to wait & have 3 AK busses appear etc...but none for the park that you need to go to. Another family had already been waiting 15 min before us. The group kept growing larger & more frustrated as no bus appeared. I was secretly panicking because I knew we had special arrangements for our scuba diver & didn't know what would happen if we were late for our ADR. Ray and Amanda knew why I was in a little panic, but I tried not to let Andrew know there was any other reason than we had a long wait. About 6:15, our bus arrived. Now, I loved the WL, but it was frustrating to have to wait 45 min for a bus & then go to Fort Wilderness to pick up more guests. Nothing against Fort Wilderness, we were just late!!! We finally made it to Epcot and practically sprinted to the Coral Reef. Thank heavens our dinner wasn't in World Showcase!!!

We arrived about 6:45 at the podium to check in & got behind a couple who were checking in for their ADR. Apparently the CM couldn't find their name & the couple had no confirmation number!!! Finally it was found...dinner had been scheduled for 4:00 pm. After being told they would have to wait for about an hour & doing quite a bit of complaining, it was our time to check in. Since I was late also, (not 2 hrs) I politely said, "We are also a little late for our ADR, we had to wait 45 min for a bus from our resort". The CM actually told me that she had heard of waits of over an hour for a bus. We got our buzzer & waited in the lobby. After about 10-15 min, we were called. We were escorted to a table on the 1st raised tier with a great view of the fish tank. As we were seated, the CM passed out our menus and told Andrew that since it was his birthday, the chef had prepared a special menu for him. Andrew opened the menu & I think it took a minute for it to sink in that he was looking at pictures of himself. Whew....1st part of the surprise accomplished!!! After arranging this for Andrew, I decided to also do one for Amanda "just because". She was also really surprised.

As we were looking over our menus, I was watching fish tank. Since we were late, I didn't know if we would have the scuba diver but after only a few minutes, I saw some activity in the tank!!! I tried to play it off & said, "look, there's a diver in the tank." Actually there were about 6 divers that made their way over to the tank in front of us & one of them unrolled the sign...."Happy Birthday, Andrew". They tossed the sand up like confetti & kept waving to him. Andrew was grinning, but wouldn't walk over to the tank to get his picture taken, so I tried to take a picture without him. Sorry, it's a little dark.

I promise the food part is coming, but since this was so long, I will do that in the next post!!!

 

[Jenvenza]

Cant wait for more! You ate at three places we are eating at next week so far!! I cant wait for Coral Reef this saturday!!

 

[KatMark]

Loving your reviews. We just got back this past weekend. We dined at LeCellier for dinner and I had the same dessert--Chocolate on Chocolate Whiskey Cake--I licked the plate clean! (I did my review of it--with pictures--under 25th anniversary reviews).

Can't wait to read more of yours.

 

[HonnyDipp]

Everything looks so good! Can't wait to read more!

 

[pperfectmom]

I'm loving your reviews! Keep 'em coming!

 

[janloz]

Love the reviews, I have arranged the diver and personalized menus for DS's 11th bday in Dec. So hard to keep the secret for everyone.

 

[frdeb1999]

Loving the reviews and pics!

 

[workinmom]

OMG! I am turning into one of those people that starts a review and doesn't finish!!! NOT! It's amazing now that I'm back from my trip and not planning it, that I can't find time to get on the boards!!! Back to the food....

After being seated, the waiter brought us out bread and olive oil w/balsamic vinegar. We were really hungry & my whole family loves bread, so we devoured it. Bread was warm & crusty. Balsamic made a nice taste to the oil.

Even as teenagers, my kids wanted a drink with the light up ice cube!! The waiter said the pirate's punch wasn't that good, so they ordered the "Blue Dolphin". I can't find our bill, but I think we had to pay extra for this since it came with the light up ice cube. Basically, I think it was just Sprite with a plastic dolphin clipped on the side & the ice cube. Oh well....it's Disney Sprite!!!

Just like yesterday, Ray wanted a salad and decided to order a Caesar. It looked really good, although it was different because they served the whole romaine leaves with the dressing on the top. It got a thumbs up. Ray would definitely be one of those people that would love to have appetizer instead of dessert with the DDP. It would be nice if they offered a choice.

Now, I have to apologize, I knew there were a couple of meals where we forgot to take pictures & unfortunately this was one of them. Not one of the 4 of us remembered to take pictures of the entrees. Don't know how when we had just snapped the salad & bread. Oh well...
We always try & order something different from each other, but again tonight, Amanda & I ordered the Seafood Linguine. It was served in a large bowl & was filled with lots of seafood. The addition of andouille sausage gave it a "bite". The broth was not at all heavy...we both loved it.
Andrew again ordered steak. His NY Strip was served with au gratin potatoes and brocolini. He really enjoyed his steak, although he said it wasn't as good as his prime rib at Le Cellier.
Ray decided on the Grilled Mahi Mahi and he raved about it. I tasted it also & thought it was really good.
Now dessert: I decided I would try the famous "Chocolate Wave". It was very good, although I will agree with all those that say the cherries were drenched in the brandy. Andrew also tasted it & said, "yum".

Amanda & Andrew tried the "Bailey's & Jack Daniels Mousse". They both loved it & emptied the cup.

Ray went for something "lighter" & got the key lime tart. It must have been good, because for someone who is not a "dessert person" he finished it!!!

The waiter also brought Andrew a special "Happy Birthday" dessert. It was a make your own sundae. He somehow managed to make a pretty good dent in it after eating his dinner & other dessert. Oh to be 14 again....

We all loved the Coral Reef although the service was a little slow. We were trying to get to test track to use our fast passes from the morning & I think it was about 8:30 when we left the restaurant. We had to pay for the salad & the blue dolphin drinks & I think we left 20% tip. The atmosphere here was great although it is a little loud.

Next up....50's Prime Time Cafe...

 

[workinmom]

When we got back to WL, we had a message on our answering machine that due to the impending Tropical Storm, all parks would open an hour earlier on Tuesday. It was almost 11 pm & to get to an 8 am rope drop meant a really early wake up call. We decided we would try our best, but not panic if we didn't get there right at 8. We were hoping not everyone would know about the early opening.

We woke up Tuesday am & there was no rain, but decided to change our 5:30 pm ADR to a lunch in case the weather got horrible & we couldn't stay in the parks that late. I had no problem switching it & changed to 12:45 pm.

Since we were out of the room early & didn't have a lunch planned until later, everyone was hungry about 10:30 or so. We decided to go to Starring Rolls & get a snack. It was pretty crowded inside & by now had started raining. We got an assortment of bagels, muffins, etc & found a table outside under the cover of the building. Our food was good & hit the spot until lunchtime.

We ate at 50's PTC in 2001 & we all loved it. Especially the peanut butter & jelly milkshakes, so my family wanted to eat here again this trip. We arrived about 5 minutes before our ADR, & there was a line out the door to get inside!!! Once inside, I found out that most people were walking in, trying to see if they could get a table withougt an ADR. What were these people thinking? Don't they know it's Disney & you can't just walk inside & eat??? We checked in & squeezed in the "living room" area to wait. The whole place was packed. I figured we had a long wait ahead of us. I don't know for sure, but I don't think we waited more than 10-15 min for our table.

We were seated at a regular table (not one with a TV) & our server, Elaine came over. She was pleasant & we chatted throughout the meal b/c she was from NJ & being from MD & having family in NJ, we basically knew where she was from. When Andrew couldn't make up his mind on his meal, she did tell him, "this is not a slow train, honey", but other than that, there really weren't any antics. The table next to us did get green beans spoon fed to them, but all in all, it was pretty subdued. It could have been because it was really busy.

We were told that we could order the milkshakes as part of our DDP meal, or use them as a dessert. The kids & I ordered them as our drink. My sensible husband, ordered ice tea & decided to get the shake as dessert.

I always get the peanut butter & jelly milkshake with chocolate ice cream. It tastes just like a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. Delicious, although those things were huge. I also decided I would try the pot roast. It was a delicious as everyone says. No knife needed & the mashed potatoes and veggies on top were good as well.

Ray ordered the meat loaf. I really can't remember what he thought about it, but he was a member of the "clean plate club", so I guess it was good.

Andrew ordered the chicken sandwich which I don't see on the Allears menu. It had bbq sauce and cheddar cheese. He said it was really good.

Amanda decided on the chicken pot pie & said it was delicious. I think she really liked the puff pastry crust!

Now that it was time for dessert, the kids & I couldn't eat another thing. So much for thinking we could drink a milkshake, eat a meal, & still have dessert. We decided to just use the milkshake as dessert. I guess we could have gotten something to go, but then we would have had to walk around the park carrying it, so we just skipped it.
In the end, Ray turned out to be the smart one & got his milkshake & drank it as dessert.

We enjoyed our meal at 50's PTC, but would probably skip it next time. The food was all hot & fresh & we all enjoyed what we ordered, but I think one of the reasons to go are the antics & we really didn't experience any this time.

About 8:30 that night I thought we should get something to eat b/c heaven for bid we skip a meal....especially one that was paid for, so we headed to Roaring Fork. We didn't take any pictures here, though. We all ordered various burgers & fries. Everything was fine. We aren't really picky eaters, as I'm sure you can tell & thought the food was pretty good. The baked goods for dessert were really good & huge!!!

Next up....Peco's Bills & Whispering Canyon Cafe

 

[habg1]

Lovin the reviews.

 

[Jenna319]

Loving your report so far!!

 

[workinmom]

I'm back....finally. I can't believe it has taken me so long to write this review.

We had originally planned to go to Blizzard Beach on Wed and then to MK after dinner for Spectromagic & Wishes, but we woke up & it was raining, so we slept in a little bit, decided to scrap BB, and headed to the MK about 10:30 am. About 11:15 or so, I thought we should have lunch to beat the lines and also b/c we had a 5:30 ADR at WCC. If we ate any later, no one would be hungry. I kept suggesting Columbia Harbour Cafe, but when asked what they had there & I said Tuna sandwiches and stuff, no one took me up on the suggestion, so we went to Peco's Bills instead.

There was virtually no line inside Peco's Bills but we decided to use the self ordering kiosks. They were a little confusing at first, but we finally got the hang of them. I am the kind of person that cannot eat a huge lunch & then be hungry for dinner, so I ordered the chicken wrap. Ray got the taco salad and the kids each got a burger. Amanda a single & Andrew a double. I thought the fixin' bar looked great & my family enjoyed adding fixins to their meals. We neglected to take pictures, so I have forgotten what we got for dessert. I only remember that Ray had a "Yoplait" strawberry yogurt & I think I had chocolate cake.

The kids wolfed their burgers down & said they were really good. Ray & I ended up splitting the taco salad & chicken wrap. The wrap was good, but nothing special. Just cold diced chicken, lettuce & tomato. The taco salad was good....love those "taco shell bowls".

This was a good spot for a quick lunch & there was lots of seating. I would imagine on a busy day you would still be able to find a seat.

Up next....Whispering Canyon Cafe.

 

[workinmom]

As 5:30 pm approached, my family declared they really weren't that hungry & I knew with the possibility of ordering the all you can eat skillet, we would need to be, so I went down to WCC to see if I could push back our reservation. Since Spectro was cancelled due to the bridge repairs, we just needed to get back to MK before Wishes so we didn't have to eat quite so early. The girl at the counter told me she would put our ADR on hold & to come in whenever. We checked in at about 6:15 and I asked for a table in the main room so we could see the "action". Since we were staying at WL, I saw the "extra" seating area & knew that if we sat there, we wouldn't see or hear much that was going on.

After checking in, we waited about 5 min for our table. We sat right on the rail that overlooks the lobby. Our waitress, "Fancy Margarita" came over & introduced herself & told us a little bit about the antics we might experience. We told here we were fine with that!!! Ray & I each ordered a draft beer & Andrew sheepishly ordered a large coke! Fancy didn't hear him & when he repeated it, he lost his nerve & just said, "coke". He was so hoping to get one of the big sodas I had told him about.

Ray, Andrew, & I ordered the skillet & Amanda got the Western Chicken Pasta. Fancy told her that it had a "kick" but she said it was ok. (it turned out not to be)

Fancy brought out our drinks & threw the napkins & straws at us. and then returned with the salad, cole slaw & cornbread and told us not to fill up on the "rabbit food". The salad was delcicious as was the cornbread, but the coleslaw left a lot to be desired. (I guess we didn't take pictures of these)

Our skillet & Amanda's pasta came out soon after & Andrew had finished his soda already. Fancy asked him if he would like another & brought him his "LARGE COKE." Magic does happen at WDW.

The skillet before we dug in:

This was so much food. I thought everything was really good. The only thing I didn't try was the chicken, but Andrew said it was really good. Ray said his portion of the pulled pork was very fatty, but the serving I had was all tender meat. YUM... Shrimp were also delicious and the mashed potatoes also, beans were ok.

The skillet at the end:

Amanda's pasta "with a kick" was horrible. Now I said at the beginning of the review that we aren't picky eaters, but the garlic was so overpowering in this dish, Amanda only picked at it. I even tried it & my mouth burned from the garlic. It almost tasted bitter. I think she had a couple of shrimp from the skillet & cornbread, but only picked at the pasta. She is not a fan of BBQ like the rest of us.

Andrew....still drinking. Actually he drank a lot of this. I figured he would be in the bathroom the whole night!!!

DESSERT!!! How could we possible eat another morsel? Amanda was the smart one & ordered hers to go. She should have been able to eat this since she didn't eat much dinner, but I think she just wasn't feeling too well after the pasta. She ordered the Kahula chocolate cake. I think she had some for breakfast the next day & declared it really good.

Since we always try to get different things to share, I encouraged Ray to get the dust bowl (this seems to have a different name now on the allears menu). I guess Ray gave up on being "healthy", he ate every last bite!!! I tried it & it was yummy.

Andrew got the Caramel Apple Pie & said it was great.

I opted for the Smores cheesecake. I was so full, but managed to make a good dent in this. It was delicious. Sorry the picture of this is a little blurry.

Throughout the meal, there were numerous birthdays & anniversarys to celebrate. It certainly is not a quiet place to dine but it was fun. I don't think we would go back next time. We would want to try something new. Ray didn't rate this as high as I did, but I think we just overate & were soooo uncomfortable the rest of the night. Why do we do this to ourselves??

Up next....snacks at France & Tutto Italia for dinner.