The NOT SO SUNNY Flordia DR- COMPLETE

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Hi, my name's Rachel and welcome to my Dining Review!

We spent 9 nights at the fabulous Wilderness Lodge June 6th-15th. Our family are annual passholders so we try to travel to Disney as much as possible, but not nearly as much as I would like. This was our third and final trip out of these passes. We also have the Tables In Wonderland Card and used it for most of our meals.

Here's a picture of me at Beaches and Cream last summer barely getting one bite of a No Way Jose Sundae.

url=https://flic.kr/p/ntWAzb]

[/url]IMG_1445 by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

With me is my DS, Chase, and DD, Brianna. DH, Brian must have been taking the picture.

As you can tell from my DR title, we encountered a good bit of rain this trip. Summer trips to Florida have often meant getting caught in a short downpour, but this trip saw rain that would last for hours. The good news was that it wasn't nearly as hot as our last summer trip. And this also left us inside more often which led to more eating.

Instead of doing my usual chronological DR, I think I will start with our worst meal and finish with our best. So I'm gonna kick off with...

Star Wars Intergalactic Breakfast- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51818627&postcount=5
Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51832145&postcount=13
Princess Pictures- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51832204&postcount=14
Roaring Fork- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51850019&postcount=22
Whispering Canyon Café Breakfast- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51869476&postcount=29
Columbia Harbor House- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51911012&postcount=34
Teppan Edo- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51931919&postcount=39
Whispering Canyon Café Lunch- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51945770&postcount=44
A Room With a View- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51945820&postcount=45
The Wave Breakfast- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51973392&postcount=54
Artist Point- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51996321&postcount=61
Les Chefs De France Dinner- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=52020401&postcount=65
Earl of Sandwich- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=52088249&postcount=77
Beaches and Cream-http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=52150281&postcount=85
Hollywood and Vine Breakfast-http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=52195071&postcount=90
Brown Derby Lunch- http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=52261757#post52261757
Trail's End Breakfast-http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=52373340#post52373340
Ohana Dinner- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=52415247&postcount=103
Tony's- http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=52453558&postcount=107

 

[jabead]

Hi Rachel! So happy to see that you are doing a dining report. I can't wait to see where all you ate and which was your worst/best meal.

 

[bellenbuzz]

Hmmmmmm, looking forward to reading more !

 

[kitty2kidz]

I am in

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Star Wars Intergalactic Breakfast

I remember how excited I was one day in March when I read here on the Dis that Disney was going to be doing a Star Wars character meal with Star Wars villains during our trip. Knowing that Chase is a huge Star Wars fan I got right on the phone to make a reservation. Then I heard the price and hesitated. $45 for adults and $30 for children and with no TIW discount seemed too steep for me. So I decided to make the reservation for 2 adults with the idea that Chase would go with either Brian or me. Since we couldn't agree on who was going we decided to hedge a bet on our March Madness brackets. Well, here's the winner with Chase, Darth Vadar, and Bobba Fett.

Rachel and Chase with Darth Vadar and Bobba Fett by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

Seriously, I was so excited that my bracket beat Brian's and that I got to meet Darth Vadar.

We had an 8:20 reservation and were easily let into DHS through the breakfast line. They did carefully check to make sure we were on the list before we were allowed in the park. I wish I would have taken a picture of all the people in line for the Hollywood and Dine breakfast. It stretched all the way back to Hollywood Boulevard!

Back to our breakfast, there were several cast members with signs directing the way to Sci-Fi. After checking in we were directed to a line that led right to the photo with Darth Vadar and Bobba Fett. The line was not terribly long, but everyone was rushed through their photo with the characters. I asked the photographer if I could have one shot with Chase and one with the two of us. She said, "if we hurry." There was no opportunity to interact with the characters at all. I was hoping for more.

Next we were led to our table. Since we were a party of 2 I knew we would be sharing a car. Here's Chase seated in the back of our car all the way in the back of the restaurant.

Chase at Star Wars breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

It's kind of funny because the lady that was sitting in the second seat of the car moved to the front seat cramming 3 people in shortly after we were seated.

We decided to skip the blue milk and chose Sci-Fi's signature cherry and vanilla cokes instead. These were yummy.

The first plate that was brought to us was these pastries.

pastries and Star Wars breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

And here's a closer look starting with my favorite, the double chocolate muffin. Love the CP30 candy on top!

chocolate muffin at Star Wars Breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

And here's the vanilla cream turnover with Darth Vadar stenciled on it. Can't say I cared for these at all, but I'm not a fan of cream puffs.

cream puff at Star Wars breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

And lastly this one was called an almond pastry. Not sure what the Star Wars tie-in is, but these were not good or bad.

pastry at Star Wars breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

While we were waiting on the next course to come these guys came by. Chase traded a crayon with this Jawa and came away with a highlighter.

trading with the Jawas at Star Wars breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

Chase and I both chose the fruit cup over the granola. This was probably my favorite course. I love fresh fruit and the Yoda honeydew was almost too cute to eat.

yoda fruit cup at Star Wars breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

Next Greedo stopped by our table.

Greedo and Chase at Star Wars breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

This Greedo had on UGG boots! Who knew they sold UGGS at Mos Eisley?

For my main course I chose the beef tenderloin. It had some cute Star Wars name that I forgot. It was served with horseradish potatoes and a cheese and bacon mold.

filet at Star Wars breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

The good news is my steak was cooked perfectly. The cheese and bacon custard was ok, but the horseradish potatoes were not edible. Horseradish was all I could taste. And as you can see this is a small plate with a small piece of meat on it.

Chase opted for the traditional breakfast. He was able to substitute extra bacon instead of sausage. It was served with potatoes and eggs.

traditional breakfast at Star Wars breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

I hate to point out again how small the entrees were, but I can really tell it from looking at Chase's. And he was also served the same horseradish potatoes as I was, even though the menu did not specify that the traditional would have horseradish in the potatoes.

We might have been able to have gotten more pastries, but we didn't ask for any and none was offered. Also our server seemed anxious for us to leave. She prefaced all her questions with "there's no hurry but... have you seen all the characters? or "there's no hurry but, here's your check" and "there's no hurry but, the exit is to your left." I began to feel like the idea was to get us in and out quickly.

Anyway, here's Chase with another favorite of his, the Stormtrooper.
Chase and a Stormtrooper at Star Wars breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

This is now his Twitter avatar.

And lastly this "surprise" was brought to the table.

dessert at Star Wars breakfast by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

I honestly can't remember much about what this was except it had juice balls in it and that we didn't really eat any of it.

And here's a copy of our receipt.

star wars breakfast receipt by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

So Chase and I left Sci-Fi a little poorer but with moderately full bellies and happy to have met some of our favorite Star Wars characters. I was really glad that I made the decision to let Brianna and her Dad stay back at the room since it was so pricey and she could have cared less about meeting these characters.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

Hi Rachel! So happy to see that you are doing a dining report. I can't wait to see where all you ate and which was your worst/best meal.

Thanks Barb! I'm finally feeling organized a month after our trip to get started on a DR.

I am in

So glad you're joining.

Hmmmmmm, looking forward to reading more !

I know that was a teaser. I really did hope to get it started right away, but got interrupted. Thanks for reading!

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

And since I'm on a Star Wars kick, I'm gonna indulge and post these pictures of Chase.

Chase in an ewok mask by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

Love the ewok mask!

And here he is with a Chewbacca backpack which he's asked me to buy for him for the last 5 trips, but I won't since a lady on Star Tours told me the strap on hers broke quickly.

Chase with a Chewbacca backpack by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

Instead he got a Bobba Fett baseball cap and built his own lightsaber. He's still little at heart!

 

[Pirate Granny]

We were there about the same time...lots of rain. I decided to do the Star Wars dinner at the Hollywood and Vine. OMG, what a zoo, it was my DGS 5th BD. They wouldn't even let just him get a picture with chip and dale ewokes alone. One picture for NINE of us. The food was mediocre and the character interaction was poor to none...costly. OH yeah! Since no TIW discount it was even more expensive than Le Cellier. BUT the kids were happy to see the characters...dressed as Star Wars characters. It was my way to avoid standing in the sun to watch the parade, but will try a different tactic next year. This truly was too costly for the experience. $60 for adults for a buffet? I believe the kids were almost $40?!?

 

[vettegirl]

Love the Star Wars review. Ugg boots on a character hilarious!!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Subbing

 

[Avery&Todd]

subbing!!!

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

We were there about the same time...lots of rain. I decided to do the Star Wars dinner at the Hollywood and Vine. OMG, what a zoo, it was my DGS 5th BD. They wouldn't even let just him get a picture with chip and dale ewokes alone. One picture for NINE of us. The food was mediocre and the character interaction was poor to none...costly. OH yeah! Since no TIW discount it was even more expensive than Le Cellier. BUT the kids were happy to see the characters...dressed as Star Wars characters. It was my way to avoid standing in the sun to watch the parade, but will try a different tactic next year. This truly was too costly for the experience. $60 for adults for a buffet? I believe the kids were almost $40?!?

Would have loved to have done the H&V dinner too, but decided it was just too much. I totally agree with your thoughts about the Star Wars meal. We didn't regret doing it, but wouldn't go again. There just wasn't enough character interaction to justify the cost.

Love the Star Wars review. Ugg boots on a character hilarious!!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

They truly were UGG brand boots! I tried to get a picture of the label but Greedo turned around before I could.

Subbing

Thanks so much! Glad you're reading along.

subbing!!!

So glad you're here!

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

We were very lucky this trip to have good meals and service, so from here my ranking of worst to best will be more like good, better, best. So up next falling into the "good" category will be...

LIBERTY TREE TAVERN LUNCH

LTT is a place that we eat at nearly every trip for lunch. We enjoy the food and the location. And since we almost never use the DDP, the cost for lunch isn't too bad either.

On this particular day, we were quickly seated in Paul Revere room which is directly to the right of the front door. I took special note of which room we were in because I will request a different section next time because of the flies! The front doors were left propped open and this had let the flies in. This really was a nuisance and not very appetizing.

Chase wanted to order the fried cheese as an appetizer. We used to get it often, but when they stopped adding the cheese curds we stopped ordering it. Here is a picture of it, and I think they look different from the last time we got it. There used to be 5 cheese sticks. This picture only shows 4 and they do seem larger, but it is possible Chase might have eaten one before I took the picture.

Fried cheese from LTT by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

These were okay, but not nearly as good as they used to be.

For our entrees, Brian chose the clam chowder soup. He loves clam chowder and said this one was great.

clam chowder from LTT by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

Chase got his usual here, the bacon cheeseburger with cheddar cheese. He ate the whole thing.

bacon cheeseburger from LTT by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

I got my favorite, the colony salad with the craisins on the side. I don't like them and I intended to share some with Brian who loves craisins.

colony salad at LTT by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

This is one of my all time favorite salads. The candied pecans, cheddar, and apple go so well with the vinaigrette. But I have to agree with Paula's (smileforstamps) recent review that there was way too much dressing on this salad. There was a pool left in the bottom of the bowl when I was finished. So next time I will ask for the dressing on the side.

Brianna said she wasn't very hungry so instead of getting her the turkey meal we chose just this side of mashed potatoes.

[mashed potatoes from LTT by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

Even though this was a good sized portion I should have ordered her the meal. With the price of her drink it would have cost nearly the same and she would have gotten a dessert as well.

Other than the flies, my complaint with this meal was the lack of service. We didn't get drink refills and never received the lemon that we asked for with our waters. We had to stop our waiter and tell him we wanted to order dessert.

Speaking of dessert, here's the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake that LTT is famous for. It could be my favorite dessert in all of WDW and this one was delicious as always. We probably should have ordered 2 since there was a spoon fight over who was getting the last bite!

ooey gooey toffee cake from LTT by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr/

And here's a copy of our receipt. We saved $11.65 using the TIW card at this meal.

LTT lunch receipt by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

Summing up, even though this wasn't our best meal at LTT I'm sure we will be back our next trip. We really like the food, especially the dessert.

 

[Smiling Cheshire Cat]

And I can't help myself but post these pictures of the kids with the Frozen princess since I worked so hard to get a fastpass.

Chase and Bree with Frozen princesses by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

And they also met Aurora-

Chase and Bree with Aurora by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

But this one of Chase and Merida is probably my favorite. They look like they could be brother and sister.

Chase with Merida by Smiling Cheshire Cat, on Flickr

 

[Disneytam]

I love the LTT for lunch but I nearly choked at the $4.29 for an ice cream scoop of mashed potatoes for your daughters meal. Wow!

 

[lynn46356]

Another for the colony salad at LTT. It's my favorite also along with LTT being a must on every trip. Looking forward to a meal there the week of Thanksgiving and more of your reviews!!!!!

 

[lizzyb]

Great start!

 

[mom2my3kids]

loving your reviews so far, let me ask you how was the crowds? We are planning a trip the first of june next year we usually dont go during summer but with a daughter in college that is the only time she could go..

 

[bangzoom6877]

Loving your reviews! We are going to LTT for lunch on our trip next week. Haven't been there since the character dinner in 2008! Looking forward to it...I have my eye on the homemade veggie burger, even though I'm not a vegetarian. I love a good veggie burger though. And sweet potato fries are a side option with it!

 

[kastoney]

Subbing in and considering you are going from bad to good, I can't wait to see what all you have in store. Btw if you go again I have read that you can order multiple entrees at the Star Wars breakfast. Think I saw it on the disney food blog