The "I Didn't Have To Cook For 8 Days" DDP review ... 10/13 - 10/20

[MandM-Mom]

Your reviews are great, we were touring the World in August/Sept and we wanted to try Boma but missed an ADR, with those pictures I know its on my to do list for next trip!! Can't wait for your other reviews

 

[quiltymom]

QuiltyMom’s Tip of the Day: Don’t be on the DDP if you’re at Epcot during the Food and Wine Festival!

Day Three on our Disney quest brought us to Epcot. Handsome and I have always said that we’d get in as many meals at Epcot as we could, just to try all of the different ethnic foods that are available there.

When we first went to WDW (before we had kids!), we had dinner at the Restaurant Akershus and absolutely LOVED it. The pickled herring bar alone was enough to send me straight to gastronomic heaven! (I should add that I’m of 100% Swedish descent.) I cannot remember what else we had to eat besides wonderfully sweet Rice Cream that meal, but it was good Scandinavian fare.

Skip forward to 2005 and we have two kids, then 4-1/2 and 7. We ate there for the Princess Storybook Breakfast. It was good, good and heavy and very filling (we’re not big breakfast eaters – we ate cereal for every breakfast in our room this time around) but we missed the non-breakfast foods we had in the past. So, we said we’d book a lunch reservation if we ever returned.

And return, we did. But things didn't seem as they should. We should’ve known something was up when we arrived for a 1:00 ADR and the check-in line stretched almost back to Maelstrom. I went to the podium to check in, and I was sent – along with everyone else – to the back of that very long line. We all stood there grumbling that we were missing our seating times, so one parent went to speak with the Manager. It seems that we were all being sent into the line to take a photo with Belle, not to check in for our meal. I’m glad that parent decided to say something otherwise there would've been a lot of unhappy campers.

So, we finally checked in and within minutes were brought back into the photo line, which now went very quickly. Sweetie Girl got her photo taken with Belle (Buddy Boy would have nothing to do with any princess this trip!), and we were seated.

If you have not been there since they started the Princess meals, I’ll let you in on a secret – Restaurant Aksershus is a shadow of it’s former self. It is no longer a Norwegian restaurant serving luscious Scandinavian fare, but an Americanized-style buffet with just a smattering of ethnic foods on the menu: the cheeses, only two types of pickled herring in the cold buffet, and maybe one other thing or two. For us it was very sad.

Now, if you’re not the adventurous type when it comes to eating, you’ll love this place. The food was tasty and plentiful. The cold buffet (which I forgot to take photos of – sorry!) was stocked full of goodies to satisfy any picky eater. Shrimp, cheeses, bread, salads... Here's a copy of the current menu (it was tri-fold, so I did my best in scanning it - sorry if it looks confusing!):

Handsome & I ordered the two remaining Scandinavian-style meals on the menu:

Seafood chowder paired with Pan Seared Salmon on Toasted Multigrain Bread

It was good, but I liked mine better , the traditional Kjottkake meal (that's a bit of Jarlsberg cheese left over from the cold food buffet):

This was very tasty. I asked our server what flavored the meat, and he said it was just beef, pork, leek, salt & pepper formed into a pattie and thrown onto the grill. I make Swedish potato sausage – Potatis Korv – every Christmas, which consists of pork, veal, beef, potatoes, onions, salt, pepper & allspice, and this Kjottkake was nothing like this. It was so different, and very flavorful. I’ll have to try to make it sometime.

Buddy Boy got the pasta and meatballs, which didn't take him very long to demolish:

And Sweetie Girl the pizza:

I was looking forward to the desserts to get the Lingonberry Cheesecake, but once again I was left wanting. Here is what we had – chocolate cappuccino cheesecake (I hate coffee anything! ), Rice Cream, and a Princess Cake that was something like a Linzer torte. (That red stuff is sugar - kinda cool, huh?) Even the Rice Cream didn’t taste as good as it has in the past. Well, to me, at least.

The wait staff was very attentive and friendly, yet the princesses (Ariel, Cinderella, Jasmine & Sleeping Beauty) were whizzing on through the place as if they had a ball to attend. They were pleasant and gracious, but fast . Last visit they spent a lot of time with all the tables; this time it was pose for photos, sign the books and they were off and running to the next table.

Will we return? No. Why? Because next trip Sweetie Girl may be away from the Princess craze (she’s very quickly moving onto High School Musical anything these days!), and with the absence of ethnic foods here, we’ll choose another eating establishment in its place.

Will you be disappointed in the food? No. It’s all wonderfully prepared with a menu that will please just about anyone. It’s a beautiful setting and it’s refreshing not to have to stand in any lines to get the Princesses autographs. Book it during the heat of the day for a late lunch or early dinner to get out of the crowds for a while. And don’t be afraid to try the pickled herring – you may like it!

And don’t be timid about approaching management if things don’t seem as they should at the check-in desk.


Next: The Joy of Tea

 

[scottny]

great review and pics. I never really wanted to eat there so it seems like I am not missing all that much. The cappuccino cheesecake looked yummy to me.
Sorry it wasn't as good as the last time.

 

[parlay]

Fantastic review and pictures! My favorites were of Boma! Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[jrsmom]

Love you review! Great pictures!!!

 

[quiltymom]

Hello again!

I just wanted to let you know that I just added the menus for Goofy's Candy Co,. Boma and Akershus in their reveiws. I finally unearthed them from the unpacking we're still doing.

Enjoy!

 

[Hedy]

Hello again!

I just wanted to let you know that I just added the menus for Goofy's Candy Co,. Boma and Akershus in their reveiws. I finally unearthed them from the unpacking we're still doing.

Enjoy!

Thanks!

 

[MOTHERGOOSE3]

No cooking count me in. Great reviews

 

[DLo]

Thank you - thank you - thank you - quiltymom for ALL the Goofy's Candy Co. info. Now, I will defintely be going. Your rice krispie treat looks awesome. I love chocolate covered pretzels so I may go that route instead. Then again, I like almost anything with chocolate. I am not even picky about what kind dark, white, milk, any combo too. A little over 2 weeks and I will be there - can't believe my trip is almost here. We have been planning since last years trip. (didn't make res. until Feb though)

 

[quiltymom]

I’m a big tea drinker. I don’t drink coffee – and neither does Handsome. That’s why I married him! I hate coffee breath, therefore, I hate anything to do with coffee. So, …

I love tea, all sorts, all ways, just as long as it doesn’t have caffeine. One cup of caffeine during the day and I’m guaranteed to be awake all night. On our last trip to WDW, we went to Crystal Palace for our “welcome” meal. I had three glasses of root beer during the meal. Well, Handsome neglected to tell me that it was Barq’s Root Beer. Which has caffeine. Lots of it. He thought that I already knew it because WDW has the Coke contract, and Coke owns Barq’s.

Needless to say, I was up all evening. Not a pretty way to start a very full week at the world. But I digress ... again.

But every once in a while I make an exception. Like on a very hot day at Epcot when you just gotta get something icy cool to drink, and you happen to be in China. So, I had to stop by The Joy of Tea to get something to drink.

I really, really wanted to order the Peach Schnapps Tea Slush, but I knew that the kids would want to have a sip. Besides, the $6.99 price tag kept me away from it. So I settled on the Strawberry Oolong Tea Slush for only $4.99. The kids really don’t like tea, but if it’s hidden in something like a strawberry slushie, then they won’t know the difference!

Umm Mmmm. This was go-o-o-o-o-d. Nice, cool and refreshing. It was strawberry with a bit of tea taste. I really liked it. And once I gave it to the kids, I had to fight them for it. Needless to say, it didn’t last very long. And since they drank most of it, I didn’t have to worry about the caffeine I didn’t get to drink.

I should’ve gone back for the Peach Oolong Tea Schnapps Slush, after all.

Maybe I can try to make it at home. Now, there’s an idea…


Next: Le Cellier

 

[MickeyNicki]

The peach oolong schnapps tea is out of this world...make it a point to get it the next time

 

[quiltymom]

We were having an absolutely fun time over in the Seas Pavilion with Crush, the fish, Nemo, and the rest of the gang. I was under the impression that our ADR was for 6:00, and I had not put the time down in the Disney Trip Bible that we carried around each day. Then suddenly, at 4:50 pm, I realized that our ADR was for 5:00, not 6:00. AAAAhhhhh! We somehow disengaged the kids from the computer kiosks at Bruce's Sub Shack and we meandered as fast as our little feet could carry us through the crowds and on over to …

We arrive at 5:05, totally out of breath and sweating like mad. I ask the CM what time our ADR was for and he said, “Five o’clock. You’re a little late but you should still be okay.” “STILL BE OKAY?????,” I screamed silently to myself.

Of course, I was calm and cool the whole time. Can’t let them see you sweat, even though you really are!

He checked us in and while Handsome waited up by the restaurant, I brought the kids down to the KidCot station just down the lane from Le Cellier until they called us to dinner.

Now, when my wonderful Travel Agent, Tracy, over at Dreams Unlimited Travel made the ADR for this place, I had absolutely no idea that it was the most difficult ADR to secure in all of WDW. Needless to say I was thrilled to be eating here.

About 10-15 minutes later Handsome, along with a Le Cellier CM, comes to fetch us for our seating. I’d read all the complaints about just how close the tables are at Le Cellier, but they didn’t seem any closer together than any other restaurant we had been in so far.

We were seated in a nice cozy booth way back in a corner, which the kids loved. They love sitting in booths. They don’t tip their chairs over that way, which makes their mommy very happy, too.

After spending the majority of the day running around the parks, it was a nice break to take a breather and sit down for dinner. The only thing was that we were still so full from lunch that we really weren’t ready to eat again. Maybe tomorrow, but not today.

Our server, Brianna (who was fantastic, by the way), came over to take our drink order, and told us that the smoothies and a slushie were available for drink substitutes on the DDP, but that they were not refillable. I asked her if people really do have multiple smoothies along with a full meal, and she replied that I’d be surprised at how many people do. To me a smoothie IS a meal. I have one for breakfast just about every morning. So we ordered the Sour Apple Slushie (I think it was called) …

… and lots of water. Honestly, I think that I used up all of my tummy space filling up on water after wandering around all day that I didn’t leave much room for food. But the slushie was a tasty treat after being out in the heat all afternoon.

Here’s the famous bread sticks:

For appetizers, the kids got the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup – this was yummy, especially when pretzel bread is dipped into it.

I had the shrimp cocktail, which was okay. I really wasn’t that hungry for it. And since it was batch-made with the spicy sauce on it, Sweetie Girl didn’t want to have any of it. She likes her shrimp plain:

Handsome had the duck – this was nice and tasty & very moist:

For our entrees, it was a hard decision. Handsome got the Mushroom Fillet:

… while I had the petite Maple BBQ Glazed Fillet Mignon:

THIS was something else! The knife just melted through that piece of meat like it was soft butter. And the flavor was outstanding! I can say that this is the best piece of meat that I have ever had, and that is including what I’ve had at Morton’s and Ruth Chris steak houses, too! I ordered it Medium – I usually order it Medium-Rare, but it came out perfect. We did check with Briana when we ordering how the steaks were cooked, so she helped us to choose what would be perfect for us.

Handsome liked his Mushroom Fillet, but he said that I had the far superior dish that evening. He said his was good, but almost too rich for him. He enjoyed it, but he wished that he had gotten what I had.

Here’s Sweetie Girl’s kids steak, cooked Meduim-Well. She ate almost all of it:

And Buddy Boy’s hot dog, cooked to perfection! He belonged to the clean plate club that night:

It was now time for dessert. I couldn’t decide between the chocolate moose, or the Chocolate Whisky Cake, but the cake won out (maybe it was because of the Whisky part, but I could barely taste it). It wasn’t chocolatey enough for me. Sorry for the bad photo:

http://QuiltyMom.smugmug.com/photos/215997676-M.jpg


It was good, but not spectacular. I wished I would’ve had gotten the Moose. It was cuter!

Handsome got the apple crisp, which was good, but it wasn’t chocolate:

And the kids once again had their Make Your Own Sundae dessert. Here it is, minus the cherry, which was given to Daddy:

Whew! You could’ve rolled us out of the place. Our server graciously gave us extra pretzel bread sticks to take home with us, which was a real treat. They ended up being breakfast for the next day!

Le Cellier has now been placed on our “Must Return To” list. The portions were not huge, which was perfect for us. We thought about ordering a veggie side dish, but Sweetie Girl had enough green beans on her plate that we all shared them instead. So, if you have the opportunity, get yourself an ADR to Le Cellier! You will not regret it one bit.

Afterwards we went and caught David Cassidy’s Eat to the Beat concert. He’s still got it after all these years! He’s still not that bad looking for an old guy! (I can say that because I used to have his posters from Tiger Beat magazine all over my room, and now I am dating myself!)

Next: Back to AK for Flame Tree BBQ

 

[Hedy]

Mmm....Is the Chocolate Moose an adult or kids' dessert?

 

[scottny]

that dinner looked yummy.

david cassidy. what a hoot. did he sing "I think I love you". Now i have it in my head.

 

[quiltymom]

The chocolate moose dessert is on the adult menu. They only dessert they had on the kids menu was the make your own sundae.

And scottny, yes, he did sing that song! And the women gathered around the stage went nutso over it. I've tried loading it onto photobucket, but I've tried twice and it's been lost in cyberspace both times. I think that it's their way for me to sign up for a pro account. We'll see...

 

[winotracy]

quiltymom, thanks for the link to this thread! I'm enjoying reading about your ADRs. I think on my next trip to WDW I'll have to try Boma.

Tracy

 

[butterfly8]

Just wanted to let you know that I'm really enjoying your reviews.....and waiting anxiously for the next installment!!!!! Love your pics and your writing style!

 

[MARCIAKAZ]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

 

[quiltymom]

Since I seem to be doing this in chronological order, I thought it was best to jump back a day and add in our food from our Animal Kingdom day. That way I won’t forget about doing it! So, on with the food show!


With the mission to try new places to eat on this trip, I was disappointed that Tusker House was closed and undergoing renovations to a table service venue. I had heard so many good things about it that it had been on my must eat at list since our last trip almost three years ago.

So, instead, we ventured back to our favorite place in AK …

We particularly like the seating area of this restaurant, tucked back behind the building, next to the lake with a great view of Expedition Everest.

That’s one ride I’ll never go on again. You’ll have to read my trip report after I write it to find out why!

Sweetie girl found this lovely place next to this raised pond:

So we sat down and waited for Handsome to bring our meals to us.

Here’s the menu:

Did I happen to mention that we added a new member to our family that day? Her name is Rexley, adopted by Sweetie Girl, our budding paleontologist. She bought Rexley’s freedom from the store at Dinosaur, because she’s always wanted a pet T-Rex. Yep – you heard me right. See, Rexley was bored sitting on that shelf and needed to have her freedom, which Sweetie Girl was more than happy to give her.

So, Rexley & Mick sat down to rest with the kids while I go find Handsome to help with the meals.

Sweetie Girl chose the baked chicken with milk, applesauce and fruit punch jello for dessert. She pulled the meat off of the bones and dipped the chicken in the bbq sauce.

Buddy Boy ordered the hot dog, with the same sides:

Here’s the condiments cart:

Handsome got the pulled pork sandwich with baked beans, fountain drink and key lime pie. This was nice and tasty – all of it, except that I make a better key lime pie. But it was good so there were no complaints from us.

Finally, I ordered exactly what I did our last visit to AK, the chicken salad with chocolate cake and large water. We shared the fountain drink, which gave us the water to take with us to drink later. Don’t let this photo fool you since you don’t see the chicken. It’s all at the bottom of the bowl – a whole bunch of it! And was it tender, tasty & good. After a while I started getting full so I just picked out the chicken. Couldn’t let that good stuff go to waste!

The only thing is that I remember the BBQ sauce tasting better than it did. It now seems to be a run-of-the-mill sauce, but it was good none the less. I dipped my chicken pieces into it anyway.


Here’s a close-up of my chocolate cake. It was good and chocolately, but all of the pre-packaged chocolate cakes tasted the same.

Now Rexley, she had different tastes than us.

I guess that she was so hungry after sitting on that store shelf for so long that she decided she needed to eat anything she could. We decided to teach her table manners – that the table was to HOLD food, it wasn’t FOOD.

I guess we’ll keep coming back to the Flame Tree each visit. We like it, and we’d rather to Boma for a table service meal after touring AK for the day than to eat a table service meal anywhere else in the area.


Next up: A quick Fantasyland snack

 

[Hedy]

Hi Rexley!