The Moveable Feast (or 4 Trips in 4 Months!) - Part 2 - Visiting the In-laws

[llqool]

We had a quick trip booked for the opening weekend of the F&W Festival. And then we found out that my husband's sister, whom he hasn't seen in a couple of years, was going to be in Orlando in the first weekend in October, so we thought we'd go meet her and her hubby. And then a friend of mine, a grad of a swanky culinary school, wants to meet us at the F&W fest in November, and then we have *ANOTHER* trip booked for December, right before we go on our first Disney Cruise.

So....FOUR trips, two on the DDP, two OOP, supplemented by Tables in Wonderland. Yikes!

Can we survive without being carried out in wheelbarrows? Will my husband, already not a huge fan of WDW, rebel? Will our toddlers drive us crazy as we attempt to sample the fare at the fest? We shall see!

Cast of characters:
Me, who plotted to get hubby transferred to FL so that we could get FL resident annual passes (oh, and be close to family, too)
Hubby, who only tolerates WDW, but does like the F&W fest
Wild Child, 6, Our wayward older daughter who loves Disney but if you give her a choice between A and B will probably choose E. Not an adventurous eater but does like fruits and veggies.
Stitch, 3, Our younger daughter who emits an ear-splitting shriek when upset. A friend referred to the sound as a cross between Mariah Carey and a Wampa, the snow monster from Star Wars. She's a pretty good eater, though.

Up next, Trip One, Day One 9/26...dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express in DTD.
Day Two, 9/27....breakfast at Crystal Palace
Quick CS at Cosmic Rays
Day Two, snacks at F & W Festival, Part 1
More snacks at the F & W Festival
Tangierine Cafe
Yorkshire County Fish Shop
Snacks from Pop Century Food Court
Day 3, 9/28
Flame Tree Barbecue
Goofy's Candy Company
Oh, Spoodles

Trip 2, Day One - October 3
Dinner at Intermission Food Court

 

[TigerKat]

Signing on......

 

[jeminni]

I'm in

 

[llqool]

We arrived here right before the dinner time rush at WPE in the Marketplace. I dithered a bit at the register b/c even after MONTHS of looking at menus, I somehow didn't know what I wanted. We were also trying to figure out entitlements on the DDP and were using our APs to get a discount on a couple of OOP items. Oh, and the kids were rather wild after a 4 hour car trip. So ordering was a bit chaotic.

I also did not get pictures during this visit -- my husband is VERY anti-food-picture-taking. And for the first half of the trip, we thought we had forgotten to bring the camera. But I promise to try my best to sneak a few quick shots for the next trip.

This is what we got:

Hubby: BBQ chicken pizza (this isn't on the all ears menu, but it was on the menu board there), diet coke and a frozen yogurt, choc and vanilla swirl. He devoured this, but complained about the tomatoes on the top. I had fortunately asked them to leave off the onions.
Me: Four Cheese Macaroni, Butternut Squash Soup (OOP), a coffee, frozen yogurt. The soup was excellent, as always. The mac was very good, but not as drop dead fabulous as I remembered it being. The coffee is the real deal, not nescafe. I got a caesar salad with my mac & cheese, and gave it to hubby b/c I didn't want him to not have enough food -- he gets cranky when not fed regularly). The yogurt was good -- refreshing AND lowfat.
Wild Child: Got the kids cheese pizza (she ate it all and wanted more!) with a milk and a frozen yogurt, which she claimed she didn't want to eat. She must've been over-tired, b/c the girl definitely has the family sweet tooth.
Stitch: Got a side of Mac & Cheese, Milk and a Fruit Cup. She didn't like the mac and cheese (of course --- it's not the disgusting Kraft stuff, and has *real* cheese, so it just doesn't have that kid appeal), ate about 4 grapes out of the fruit cup, and some of the chicken off the top of my husband's pizza. She also ate about 4 spoonsful of frozen yogurt.

Notes: The cashier gave us a great tip -- you can ask for fruit as a topping on your frozen yogurt. That way, you can have both fruit AND a dessert! Another thing - the mac and cheese wasn't on the menu as a kids meal, but my daughter was able to get a side of mac and cheese as the main part of her kids meal. It was a decent-sized bowl full of it. But, as I said, she didn't like it!

Summary: We STILL love this place! Great service -- we tipped b/c the guy was great about bringing our food, clearing things off, coming to check on us, and getting us our yogurt after we had finished dinner so it wouldn't melt. Even though they have added inside seating, we were unable to get a table for four inside. And that was when the place wasn't even crowded. At least it was evening so sitting outside was bearable!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Sounds like a lot of fun, I'm in

 

[llqool]

We had to rush to get to our 8:20 ADR at Crystal Palace this morning. Not because we got up late, but b/c the busses at POP were ssllllowwwww. And when a bus finally came after about 25 mins, it was driven by an older lady who went 20 mph the whole way (and I know, b/c I was shoved up against the yellow line at the front of the bus). But, we did make it. We checked in, only about 2 mins late, and were seated about 5 minutes after that.

We were seated at a window, overlooking the bridge that leads to Adventureland. The CMs had noted that it was our 6 yr old's b-day, and scattered mickey head confetti on the table. She was very excited ("how did they *know* that it was my birthday??!" )

Our server, Rob, came over quickly and explained the set up and got our drink orders. He brought the kids milk and the adults OJ and a pot of coffee. He told us we'd have a couple of mins before the characters were next due to come around, plenty of time to grab our first plate of food.

The food here was a little disappointing, I have to say. The fruit was good and they had fresh pineapple in addition to the usual melon/strawberry offerings. But the other dishes were kind of "eh". I didn't really like the breakfast potato casserole (the crumbs on top seemed to be sprinkled on as an afterthought and might have tasted better had they been baked in or maybe if some cheese were sprinkled on there, too). The bacon was thin, which is good as far as I'm concerned, but it was *not* crisp enough. I tried the famous breakfast lasagna (I think that's what it's called!). It was interesting, but it tasted like someone had dumped an entire container of nutmeg in it. the thing I probably liked the best here was the breakfast pizza on the kid's buffet.

Hubby: stuck with the basics -- eggs and bacon. Got the regular potatoes, not the casserole. Was happy b/c he got to eat a bunch of pineapple
Me: Tried a little bit of everything, including the yogurt and granola. Wasn't impressed by the specialty dishes, except for the b-fast pizza. Everything was decent, but not fabulous.
Wild Child: Mostly ate strawberries and a HUGE plate of bacon. Would not try or eat anything else except a Mickey waffle, which she said she didn't like.
Stitch: Ate eggs, bacon, mickey waffles, fruit and seemed to really like it all.

Even though our server was totally swamped with a ton of tables, he was attentive and speedy. He brought our daughter a cupcake for her b-day and when Stitch started to pitch a fit that she didn't get one (and I was worried that she might start emitting that Mariah/Wampa shriek), he quickly brought her one, too. He also did NOT mention anything about gratuities, did not pressure us in any way, and that, combined w/great service, got him a nice cash tip.

Character interaction was decent...we saw Tigger, Pooh and Piglet. But we only saw Eeyore from afar. And the kids would *not* participate in the parade around the restaurant.

Notes: It was ridiculously easy to get in to MK for our breakfast reservation. I had thought they'd want the ADR, DNA samples and a retinal scan, but the CMs cheerfully waved us in without even asking the specifics beyond the time of our reservation.
Also, Hubby really needed more coffee, but it was time to hit Dumbo before the line was an hour long. So we asked Rob and he gave hubby a to go cup of coffee. Hubby was VERY thankful and was consequently able to brave both Dumbo and It's a Small World.

 

[llqool]

Hubby was all for ditching the Magic Kingdom and making our way to the F&W Fest as soon as the kids got off of Goofy's Barnstormer, but I convinced him we had to do the Buzz Lightyear ride since we had missed it on a couple of previous trips. We got fastpasses and had some time to kill and the kids were getting hungry and cranky, so we went in to Cosmic Rays to cool off and get some food to share. We went for the 1/2 Chicken and BBQ Rib Combo. Wild Child ate all the ribs and said they were "delish" (and that really is a quote!). Stitch ate pieces of the rotisserie chicken. Neither one would touch the mashed potatoes, and I think that's b/c they are the "real" kind with skin and chunks of potato in them. Hubby ended up eating all of them. And the green beans also appeared to be "real" (vs frozen or canned), but were way overdone and somewhat soggy. They shared a chocolate chip cookie and my husband had a diet coke.

 

[llqool]

We finally made it over to the F&W Festival. By this time it was pretty durn hot and muggy. But luckily Stitch had fallen asleep in her stroller. The down side to the heat was that for the third year in a row, the heat was so oppressive that I could not eat as much as I wanted to. There were many MANY things that I wanted to taste because they looked so interesting, but I couldn't bring myself to do so b/c I was *dying* from the heat. I also exclusively drank white wine b/c I couldn't bring myself to try any of the reds (altho' I did have a few sips of hubby's!)

So here is what we tasted:

Chile
Shrimp With Cilantro Salsa - I don't like shrimp, but hubby liked these. He ditched the salsa, though
Classic Series Chardonnay - Good, but maybe that's b/c it was my first wine of the day.
Alpha Syrah - this was hubby's -- I tried a taste. Good, but it was too hot a day for a red wine. Nice bite to it.

The Mouse Catch
Selection of Cheese: Dorothea, Holland; Asiago Pressato, Italy; Manchego, Spain - all I can say is Yum Yum Yum. This was good, even on a hot day.
Martini and Rossi Prosecco - I don't have a sophisticated wine palate. But me likey the dry, sparkling wines. I could have ordered about 4 of these!

Mexico City, Mexico
Quesadilla con Chorizo - I guess this was good, b/c my husband had eaten it before I even really got a good look at it.
Petite Syrah - I don't know why, but my husband kept ordering red wines even tho he is a beer kind of guy. This one he said tasted hotter than the rest. Maybe the bottle was sitting in the sun?

 

[llqool]

Although I fully intended on trying several things at the South African kiosk, it was blazing hot and we just kept walking. I remembered why I usually go in the opposite direction around the world showcase -- duh, if you go counter clockwise, you end up heading east instead of west into the setting sun. Note to self: ALWAYS start in Canada!!!

We did end up stopping in Australia. The way the line was set up, it took about 2 seconds to pay, but that was deceiving b/c the food line was about 10 mins long. That's b/c they were waiting for lamb chops to come out. It didn't matter if you weren't getting lamb -- if you were stuck behind ppl that were, you just had to wait. A very poor system that i hope they streamline.

Melbourne, Australia
Pepperberry Prawns on the Barbie with Sweet Potato Hash - hubby liked these, and was pleasantly surprised by the sweet potato.
Coralook Chardonnay - I guess we shared this one. I don't remember it at all, though, so it can't have been that wonderful!

Bologna, Italy
Tantinel Prosecco - another refreshing, sparkling white wine. Yum!
Moretti Beer - My husband decided to switch to beer at this point. He usually likes dark beers, but he has had this before and I guess he just decided he wanted a cold one!

I wanted several things from Ireland, but the line was WAY long. So we kept walking toward America. I was hoping that we'd get into the 3:35 Samuel Adams' sponsored History of Beer in America, but we just missed it. Darn! I did, however, stand in a really long line at

Hops and Barley
Boston Crab Cake with Corn and Barley Salad - Yummy!!! This is the same one they've had several times in the past, but it is very good and so is the salad on the side.
New England Lobster Roll - Great use of a snack credit, b/c this puppy cost $7. But I can't really say I liked it. I had no idea what a lobster roll was. But I certainly didn't expect it to be lobster salad with lots of mayo on a roll. My husband ate it and very kindly let me have most of the crab cake.
13th Annual Festival Lager - my husband always gets the festival lager, which was amber rather than a golden lager. He liked it a lot. There was some confusion at the kiosk -- right as they got to me, there was a mild panic that they might be out of the lager. But it turned out that there was another keg up there that they had mistakenly put the wrong tap on. So if you thought your Boston Ale tasted weird that day, it was probably b/c it was really the Festival Lager!!!

 

[llqool]

Trying to quickly finish these up, b/c believe it or not, we are headed back down there this afternoon!

Anyway, as the afternoon wore on, we found ourselves at Morocco. The lines for the F&W kiosks were getting long, the natives were getting restless, so we stopped in to Tangierine Cafe for a quick bite. This was selfish of me, I admit -- *I* wanted to eat there (and I knew my husband would heartily agree), and I was *hoping* the kids would like something on the plate.

We got the Chicken and Lamb Shawarma Platter, which came with baklava and a diet coke. This did not disappoint. The meats were as yummy as I remembered. Lamb is not a meat that I usually consider ordering, but when I taste dishes like this, I think again! The hummus was very good, too. The only thing I didn't care for was the bread. It was a soggy roll, although I guess it's supposed to be some sort of soggy Moroccan roll. I vaguely remember being able to substitute pita type bread for this in the past, but I had forgotten about it and didn't ask. I toyed w/the idea of getting the super-strong moroccan coffee, but again, it was just too durn hot.

The kids did *not* even taste anything on the plate. And I had thought Stitch, who really likes hummus, would at least try it. So we had to forge ahead and try and find them something b/c by now they were getting really cranky....

 

[llqool]

We finally made it around the bend in World Showcase and got the sun out of our eyes. We heard the sounds of the Beatles in the background. I parked the kids and hubby in a semi-shady spot to watch the British Invasion and I got in line at Yorkshire County Fish Shop, b/c Wild Child said that yes, she would eat Fish and Chips.

There's not much choice here, but they had what Wild Child wanted -- Fish and Chips. This came w/a drink and Walker's short bread for dessert. The CM at the counter allowed me to get a bag of Lays chips instead (prompting a confusing interchange, b/c she was British, and they call french fries chips and potato chips crisps). Wild Child happily devoured the fish and Stitch helped her.

 

[llqool]

When we got back to the resort, the kids wanted to go in the kiddie pool. So I went up to the food court and used my TiW card to purchase a kids meal of (Plain) Pasta and Meatball with grapes, a small water and a chocolate chip cookie. They didn't eat much of this meal, even though they had claimed they were starving, b/c by the time they would get out of the water, it was cold.

I also realized that they sell entire bottles of wine! And it came out to way less per glass than individual drinks. So I bought a bottle of pinot grigio, olive tapenade, hummus, and fresh bagel chips. All of it was SO good. And it was perfect to sit out by the pool and enjoy drinks and snacks as the evening cooled off. Ahhh.....

Note: They have bottle openers and little plastic wine glasses at the register. All you have to do is ask!

 

[llqool]

We had one CS meal to use up, and had an early lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue, a place we'd never been before. All the things I'd heard about the birds were true, and it wasn't helped by the fact that our neighbors were actually feeding the birds. Grrr....

We got a 1/2 Slab of St Louis ribs with a diet coke and a key lime pie, which my husband split with Wild Child, who is becoming a rib fiend. He said the ribs were good, but not as good as at Cosmic Rays. I didn't taste the beans, but my husband said "you wouldn't like them". I also used my TiW card to get a Pork Sandwich. They let me pay a small upcharge to substitute fries as a side (so I guess you can make substitutions if you're paying OOP, not on the DDP). I also got Stitch the kids Hot Dog with grapes, milk, and a chocolate cookie. She split most of it with Wild Child. The pork sandwich was unexpectedly good....and i liked the spicy sweet bbq sauce you could get from the condiment station.

 

[Krissalee]

All the things I'd heard about the birds were true, and it wasn't helped by the fact that our neighbors were actually feeding the birds. Grrr....

That makes me crazy when people are feeding the birds! Nothing good can come of that.

Thanks for taking the time to share your reviews!

 

[llqool]

After a morning at AK, we went back to DTD to do a little shopping and use up our last few snack credits at Goofy's Candy Company. I guess a lot of ppl do this, b/c the CM at the store, a very nice woman named Sha, said "you look like someone who has some snack credits to use up".

Yes, we had three snack credits and we got:

Pretzels Three pretzel rods rolled in dark chocolate and covered in sprinkles, chocolate chips and m&ms. I did not realize until later that each pretzel will come rolled in *one* of the three toppings you choose. Stitch promptly dropped her pretzel on the floor of the Candy Co, but Sha was kind enough to make her a brand new one!
Peanut Butter Fudge Cookie A peanut butter flavored *giant* oreo-like cookie dipped in dark chocolate, M&Ms, chocolate chips and pecans and drizzled in caramel. I got this for my husband, but it was SO GOOD i wish i had gotten it for myself! It took the two of us three days to eat it b/c it was so rich, and that is really saying something!!!
gingerbread cookie a mickey gingerbread cookie dipped in dark chocolate w/chocolate chips, pecans, and caramel. in retrospect, this *sounded* good, but i liked my husband's cookie better!

we also got two columbian coffees -- yes, they serve the real deal here, none of that Nescafe garbage.

I am already thinking about visiting here in December, when we will again be on the DDP and i will doubtless have snack credits to use up!

 

[llqool]

I wanted to try somewhere new, and my husband and I both like Mediterranean cuisine, so I got us ADRs at Spoodles. We had the earliest reservations possible -- 5 pm -- b/c we had to drive back up to North FL afterward.

We got to the Boardwalk early -- just before 4 pm -- but they told us there was absolutely NO parking except for valet. That kind of surprised me! I was glad that I remembered that our TiW card includes free valet parking when you dine at a resort.

We ended up hanging out in the lounge at the Boardwalk Inn for about an hour b/c it was really hot and muggy outside and Stitch had fallen asleep in her stroller. What a great place that is! They have all kinds of vintage boardgames to play and interesting memorabilia to look at. We will have to go back there when they are open some time (they open at 5).

Spoodles was letting ppl in early to wait in the AC, so we got in there about 4:50 and were given a pager that went off within a few minutes.

Our server (can't remember her name) was pleasant enough, but not incredibly attentive and had to be reminded a few times to get things like lemons or napkins.

We were brought focaccia bread w/olive oil and olive tapenade. I did not like the bread on its own (it was cold, even tho' the place had just opened and tasted like fennel, and I don't really like that spice), I was hungry enough to wolf it down when dipped in generous amts of oil and tapenade. The kids did *not* like the bread at all.

Our entrees took a while to come out. I ordered the Pan Roasted Filet of Red Snapper without the chorizo, b/c I don't like it. It was a big disappointment. The fish was overdone and rather tough. The couscous was good, but couldn't make up for the fish. My husband HATES sending things back, so he made me switch entrees with him (but honestly, that fish *needed* to be sent back!). Luckily, he had gotten the Crispy Chicken Cutlet which was VERY yummy. The I almost felt guilty, but he insisted that he liked the fish and wouldn't let me send it back. So that's on him! And I did probably like the arugula and tomatoes that came on the side better than he would have, anyway.

Wild Child got the kid's Cheese Pizza, which was a small, brick-fired oven pizza. It was slightly underdone (didn't get that nice brown coloration that pizzas generally get in those kind of ovens), but then again, my daughter hates any hint that something might be burned, so that's just as well. She substituted fresh fruit for the salad and didn't eat any of it.

Stitch got the kid's Macaroni and Cheese which turned out to be mickey head pasta in a watery cheese sauce. I really would have expected better than this from a purported Mediterranean place. We have definitely had kid sized portions of "real" pasta at other restaurants (Mama Melrose for one). Anyway, Stitch wouldn't have any of it. Nor would she eat the fruit. I think the issue w/the fruit was the melon was not ripe at all. So i guess I can't blame her.

The kids both got chocolate mousse as their dessert. Wild Child liked it, but Stitch didn't. (what kid doesn't like chocolate??!!)

For dessert, I got the Chocolate Financier Cake. The best part of this was definitely the coffee gelato on the side. The cake itself was very rich and just not memorable. Hubby got the Marscapone Cheesecake. WOW!!!! It was fabulous!!!! So yummy we were fighting over the last bite. We had ordered coffee as our beverage, but they were so slow in bringing it that we had finished our dessert before it got there (altho' they did fill a cup for hubby to take on the road).

We also ordered a half carafe of pinot grigio. Since it costs more than two glasses of wine bought individually, I would have expected it to be at least 2 1/2 glasses worth, but it wasn't. I don't know if she just wasn't generous when she filled it up or what.

There was some confusion about having half of the order on DDP and the drinks on TiW (but surely ppl do this all the time?). It took so long to figure this out that I had to end up taking the girls to the restroom before it was untangled. Meanwhile, they had finally figured out that it was Wild Child's b-day, so they gave my husband a cupcake on the way out! And yes, right as he met us outside the bathroom, the cupcake fell on the floor, so there was a little unhappiness (to put it mildly!)

All in all, this meal was just "eh". I am glad we went here on the DDP, b/c I would not have wanted to pay out of pocket for it. The dessert was FABULOUS, but that does not a meal make.

Up next....Trip 2 and my husband finally lets me take pictures of the food!!!!!

 

[llqool]

After *just* having been down here last weekend, we returned this weekend (October 3) to meet family who were visiting the parks and KSC.

I decided to branch out and try All Star Music's Intermission Food Court. Well, the resort was OK, but the food court was NOT. My husband claims that there is no difference between the value food courts. All I can say is, he must not have read the menus or looked at the food they were serving. To my mind, POP has a far superior choice of foods, including things like hummus and olive tapenade. The intermission food court had basic fast food choices. Unable to find something that looked appealing to me, I decided to get a large cheese pizza figuring that the kids would eat some of it. Well, they didn't eat *any* of it (granted, they were very tired and not feeling well) and I ate one piece and ended up giving it to our visiting relatives, who had a condo and a fridge. The pizza was very "bleh". Sauce that didn't taste very good and overall quite underdone.

My husband fared better with a Create Your Own Salad. He had all kinds of stuff in there including romaine lettuce, chicken, bell pepper, corn, cucumber, celery, carrots, cheese, walnuts....he was pleasantly surprised by all the choices he had.

So all in all, I wasn't very happy with the choices in the food court. At least it wasn't crowded, but then again we were there at almost 8 pm at night. I don't think I'll be going back there any time soon!