The OCD Trip Planner's Dining Report 9/20-9/28 Completed! 10/17

[catho72]

We returned home last night from a fantastic 9 day/8 night trip to WDW. We were on the free dining plan. On our trip in February, we were on the DxDDP. We preferred the DDP over the DxDDP. With the DxDDP, we felt like we had to eat CS each meal to get our money's worth. With the DDP, we knew we were getting our money's worth since it was FREE! (even if it hadn't been free, we still would have gotten our money's worth)

Traveling with the OCD Trip Planner (Me) was:

Joel (DH), who eats everything (except for peanuts, popcorn, corn and strawberries because of diverticulitis).
Megan (DD 9), who prefers chicken, hamburgers, pizza or grilled cheese
Jay (DS 7), who eats just about anything
Amy (DD 5), who eats like a bird but will eat anything.

I knew I wasn't going to be able to eat as much as I normally would at WDW because I need to loose 10 pounds before I'm approved for Lap-Band surgery. Before I left, I had lost 6 pounds already! By sharing meals with Amy, we'd be able to stretch out our meal credits and not stretch out my stomach!

Here's the list of restaurants we dined at:
Pinnochio Village Haus
Riverside Food Court
Studio Catering Company
Mama Melrose
Coral Reef
Norway Bakery (Kringla Bakeri og Cafe)
Crystal Palace
Plaza
Starring Rolls Cafe'
Wolfgang Puck Cafe'
LeCellier
Electric Umbrella
Beaches and Cream
Chef Mickey's
'Ohana
Captain Cook's
Earl of Sandwich
Cosmic Ray's

My mouth was watering as I was listing all the places!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Cannot wait to hear all about it!

 

[catho72]

I'm going to apologize now before I get started...I don't have any food pictures. Joel wouldn't let me take pictures. Also, having two meals a day makes 5 hungry people dive right into their meals!

Day one:

We arrived at MK and headed straight for Pinnochio Village Haus. I'd been hearing about Figaro Fries on the boards here and knew I wanted to try them. Joel and Jay both ordered pizza, Megan ordered mac and cheese and Amy and I shared a chicken Caesar salad and we all shared the Figaro Fries.

OH MY GOODNESS! Those Figaro Fries were incredible. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed them. I didn't order them as FF's off the menu since they didn't come as a side on the DDP. The helpful CM told me to order fries with cheese and bacon. We put the ranch dressing on the fries ourselves. Delicious!

We all enjoyed our meals there. It did take quite a long time to order and receive the food. We will return there in the future.

4 CS credits
$51 had we not had DDP

Day two:

We started our day with breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Joel and Jay had dined there previously but it was new to Megan, Amy and myself. The buffet was good....Mickey waffles are the BEST! Everything was tasty but nothing spectacular. All the characters came around in a timely manner. We had very good character interaction. There is some construction going on and they have a temporary wall up. That took away from the ambiance especially since we were dining on the side of the restaurant with the temporary wall. There wasn't any construction noise as others have reported. I don't think eating there would have been worth it had we not been on the DDP. That being said, it was a nice way to start off our trip!

5 TS credits
$90 had we not used DDP

For lunch, we knew we were eating an early dinner so we didn't want to have too large of a meal. We stopped at the Studio Catering Company for a quick and small bite to eat. Joel and I shared the Chicken Caesar wrap and the three kids shared two mac and cheese meals. For desert, we had a marble cheesecake and chocolate cake. It was pretty good. It wasn't anything to write home about but it satisfied our hunger.

3 CS credits
$23 had we not used DDP

That night for dinner, we had ADR's at Mama Melrose with the Fantasmic! Package. Our ressie was at 4:00. We were seated after a 7 minute wait. With the Fantasmic! Package, we received an appy, entree and dessert. Joel ordered the Artisan bread and spreads and one of the nightly specials which I think was any oyster/clam/mussels/shrimp pasta. He wouldn't order either one again. The bread was tasty but the spreads were not. I don't think he liked the sauce on the pasta. I can't remember exactly what kind it was but I do remember he didn't care for it.

I ordered the calamari (delicious, even Amy ate some!) and the shrimp pasta with artichokes/peas/red pepper. They were fantastic! Joel enjoyed my entree more than his own. The people next to us ordered a carafe of sangria that looked fantastic. They didn't enjoy it because they didn't drink any besides their initial sips. I thought it might be uncouth of me to take their carafe after they left so I didn't. I also didn't think it would be prudent on my diet!

The kids shared spaghetti and grilled chicken. The minestrone was good as were the crudites. Everyone enjoyed the dessert...the kids had sundaes, Joel had the warm truffle chocolate cake and I had the lemon custard. Even though the three kids shared two meals, our waitress didn't think Amy should have to share a dessert so she brought out one for her, too! She was very kind!

We would go back to Mama Melrose in the future. I don't think you need the Fantasmic Package in September, though. When we arrived at the Fantasmic! theater at 7:30 for the 8:00 show, there were still lots of empty seats left. We sat in the section next to the FP section which was closer to the middle of the theater. Our seats were good...near the top of the theater and close to the exit.

4 TS credits
$96 had we not used DDP

 

[suzimar57]

enjoying your reviews - mama melrose sounds great, we're going in december first time there!

 

[HonnyDipp]

Loved the reviews! Thanks!

 

[jeminni]

I'm in

 

[mcrabeck]

Great reviews! Look forward to reading more

 

[catho72]

Thanks for the kind words. Again, I apologize for not taking pictures.

Day three

We ate breakfast at the Port Orleans Riverside food court (or as the kids liked to call it, "The Cafeteria"). Joel had the Bounty Platter which included scrambled eggs, sausage/bacon, biscuit and I'm sure something else, but not a waffle. Joel thought the scrambled eggs were incredible! I had the Mickey Waffle with strawberries and bacon. All three kids had the kids Mickey waffles. Those Mickey waffles are darn tasty! We each had our own meal because lunch wasn't until 2:30. The food court at POR is HUGE! It is also quite crowded after 8:30am. There's a huge variety of food. We've been to other hotel's CS restaurants and prefer POR's.

5 CS credits
$37 had we not used DDP

In between breakfast and lunch, we just happened (aka I planned) to walk past the Kringla Bakery in Norway. Having read rave reviews about the School Bread, I knew we had to try it. I ordered one schoolbread and one Kringla sweet pretzel (without the shaved almonds) for us all to share. Let me tell you, the schoolbread didn't disappoint. It is INCREDIBLE! The dough isn't sweet because there's enough sweetness in the custard and the coconut. I don't know if we had the original version or the "new and improved" version but it was delish! The pretzel was good too, but it would have been better with the shaved almonds.

2 snack credits
$7 had we not used DDP

Our lunch ressie was at Coral Reef. We had previously eaten there on our last trip and I thought it was our best meal. I think I had too high of expectations this trip, though. They took my favorite meal off the menu (shrimp with linguine). I ordered the lobster salad, which came with the always yummy lobster bisque. My entree was ok but I wouldn't order it again. Joel ordered the New York strip steak. He enjoyed his steak. The kids shared two orders of the grilled chicken with lobster bisque and carrots/celery. They ate the chicken without any complaints. The waitress offered them a virgin pina colada, strawberry daquiri or a mixture of both. Jay and Amy got the strawberry daquiri while Megan had the mix. Jay hated the slushie (I finished it...it WAS good!) so he ordered root beer. Megan didn't care for hers either (Joel and I shared it, it was good, too). Amy enjoyed her strawberry slushie.

For dessert, the kids had the make your own sundae (only two for the three of them), Joel ordered the Chocolate Wave and I ordered the Jack Daniels Mousse. Megan ate my mousse so Amy could have her own sundae. I did have a bite of it and it was tasty. Joel thoroughly enjoyed his chocolate cake as did the kids with their sundaes.

Coral Reef is no longer my favorite restaurant. The service was OK...not extremely attentive but not ignoring us either. I take that back, they did ignore us sometimes. My soup didn't have a spoon with it. We asked our waitress for one but she never got it for us. We had to ask two additional people for a spoon and finally a busboy (busman since he wasn't a boy?) found me one. By then, my lobster bisque wasn't hot, merely warm. We were also seated on the top level in one of the booths towards the back. We didn't really have a great view of the aquarium. I called Disney Dining everyday (OK, sometimes more than once a day) to see if we could get a dinner ressie instead of a lunch one but wasn't able to get one for dinner. I don't think I'll be so persistent again. We'll eat there again but maybe not on our next trip.

4 TS credits
$96 had we not used DDP

Around 8pm, we were kinda hungry again so we shared four dinners back at the POR food court. Amy and I shared the chicken strips (very good!), Joel ordered the fish and chicken basket (very good, too!), Megan had the kid's chicken nuggets (only 4 came with it so she also shared our chicken strips) while Jay had a kid's hamburger. We brought the two brownies that we ordered as dessert back to our room since we were stuffed. I think Joel ate part of one a few days later, but we threw the other one away the day we left (not because it tasted bad, but because we were full from all our eating extravaganzas! )

4 CS credits
$43 had we not used DDP

To be continued!

 

[catho72]

Day four

We had breakfast ressies at Crystal Palace at 8:10. It was awesome walking into MK without many people around. We got lots of great pictures on Main Street and in front of the castle without others in the background. On our last trip, we really enjoyed our dinner at CP and were excited to try it for breakfast. The food was very good...it was your basic breakfast buffet...eggs, bacon/sausage, fruit, cereal, bagels, Mickey waffles (can't get enough of them!), etc. Our server was prompt with our drinks and clearing dirty dishes. The characters were a bit slow, though. We met Pooh and Eeyore but didn't want to wait to see the rest of them when we could be at rope drop at the castle. We would definitely dine there again!

5 TS credits
$75 had we not used DDP

With our dinner ressies at 4:30, we didn't want a large lunch. What else is there that would satisfy 5 hot and tired Chicagoans in Adventureland? Pecos Bill would be one answer but incorrect! Dole Whips is the correct answer! Woo hoo! The three kids shared two root beer floats (tasty!) and Joel and I each had our own Dole Whip Float. They are FANTABULOUS! Whoever invented these was a culinary genius! If you haven't tried them yet, I highly recommend them (can you tell?)!

4 snack credits
$18 had we not used DDP

We attended the MNSSHP that night and knew we didn't want to spend a lot of time eating dinner. We had 4:30 ADR's at Plaza Restaurant. It is very small but cozy on the inside. One of the hostesses had us entertained while waiting for our table by telling us WDW stories and singing along with the Dream Along With Mickey show. Joel and I shared a grilled chicken sandwich with the best fries in WDW. They were crispy yet mushy on the inside. The three kids shared two orders of grilled chicken. I had never seen grilled chicken served on skewers without any veggies. IMO, this made it harder for the kids to eat since they were firmly situated on these sticks. It tasted good and there was plenty of chicken for the three of them. For desert, Joel and I shared the banana split (you can tell I'm doing real well on my diet! ) which was delicious. Megan and Amy each had a chocolate chip cookie served with a thimble of milk and Jay had a carmel sundae. I don't think she charged us for three kids deserts...she must've felt it to be unfair to make three kids share two deserts. She must be a mother! Anyway, there wasn't a crumb left from anyone's desert! We were in and out in about 40-45 minutes which was perfect for us. We paid OOP for this since it is a relatively inexpensive TS restaurant.

I can't find my receipt but I believe we paid around $56 including tip for this meal OOP.

 

[TigerKat]

Sounds great so far!!

 

[frdeb1999]

Great review so far!

 

[catho72]

Day five

We tried to get something quick to eat at the POR "Cafeteria" but the lines were very long. We walked in, saw the crowds, walked right out again. Off to DHS to get fastpasses for TSM. After getting our FP and waiting 30 minutes in line for TSM, we walked over to Starring Rolls Cafe for a quick breakfast. We shared two cinnamon rolls, a blueberry muffin and a chocolate muffin. They were excellent! The Rice Krispie Treats were HUGE and delicious-looking so we took one to go. We were all full after this quick and tasty breakfast.

5 snack credits
$14 had we not used DDP

After a quick morning at DHS, we went back to POR for a swim. We were all hungry for lunch since all those carbs we ate for breakfast didn't last too long. Amy and I shared a "pick your own ingredient" salad with grilled chicken. IMO, this is the best meal there. It's huge, fresh and tasty. Jay ordered a hamburger kids meal, and Megan and Joel each had a chicken strip dinner. For desert, we had two cheesecake cups and a cookie. We almost had to force ourselves to finish it! Everything tasted good. Like I said before, this is a great food court!

4 CS credits
$41 had we not used DDP

We headed over to DTD after swimming for our ADR at Wolfgang Puck Cafe'. In February, we really enjoyed our meal there and were excited about going again. This time, our server was mediocre but the food was tasty. WPC is a very noisy restaurant. We enjoyed it nonetheless. I had the macadamia-crusted chicken with mashed potatoes. It was very good. Joel ordered the flat iron steak. He enjoyed it but preferred LeCellier's steak. Jay had the spaghetti while Megan had the mini-burgers. She ordered smiley fries but he brought out regular fries instead. Amy ate from Megan, Jay and my plates. For desert, Megan had the make-your-own sundae, Jay had the vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce, I had the chocolate mousse with raspberries and Joel had the key lime pie. There wasn't a drop of desert left on our plates! I know we'll go back but not sure if it will be on our next trip since there's so many great restaurants to choose from.

4 TS Credits
$107 has we not used DDP

 

[catho72]

Day six

Our ADR at LeCellier was at 11:30 so we didn't eat breakfast. By the time 11:30 came, our stomachs were positively concave! We arrived 20 minutes early and was at the restaurant for their opening ceremony. All the servers and hostesses came out to sing O Canada (some in French, some in English). It was neat to see them singing their national anthem. We were the second table seated and our waitress came over immediately. She informed us the milkshakes were a part of the dining plan. Megan and Amy ordered chocolate (YUMMY!) and Jay ordered vanilla (even YUMMIER!). I knew I wanted a bowl of cheese soup but didn't want to pay OOP or order one of their "chef's favorites", which includes an appy, entree and desert. I also was leery about ordering the mushroom filet mignon because I'm not crazy about mushrooms. Our waitress said she would tell the kitchen to go easy with the mushrooms and she substituted the mushroom risotto with mashed potatoes. This was my favorite meal of the trip! Everything was phenomenal! Joel ordered the New York strip steak and didn't leave one bit on his plate. All three kids ordered the steak. Everything was great! The kids didn't eat all their soup so Joel and I finished theirs with the pretzel bread. For desert, I ordered the chocolate "moose" (always tasty!), Joel had the chocolate cake (he liked it but me, not so much) and the kids had sundaes. We were all happy and stuffed by the time we left. It was everyone's favorite meal and we can't wait to return in the future!

Side note, not dining related: As we were waiting for our food, Joel starts videotaping us on our digital camera. I didn't realize he was doing this, I just thought he was looking at our pictures. He asked everyone what our favorite rides were so far. Jay answered Mission:Space. We all were like, OK, whatever. Then, Joel prompts Jay to tell us why it's his favorite ride (it was already his favorite ride so I thought this was a stupid question). Jay breaks out into a big smile and says, "because we won Dream Fastpasses!" and whips his out of his pocket. Joel explained as they were walking onto MS, the dream squad were passing them out. Jay thought, "oh no, Mom, Megan and Amy are going to be mad they didn't get one!" so Joel had Jay talk to one of the dream squad people telling them his sister was too small to ride M:S and could he get more Fastpasses? Jay walked back to Joel with the CM who asked Joel how many more we needed. They gave him enough for everyone in our party! It turns out Epcot was so slow that day we didn't need them. I felt bad for Jay who really wanted to use it so we walked back to Norway to ride Malestrom but they were closed. We used it on Test Track (our 5th time riding it that day!) as we were leaving Epcot.

5 TS credits
$124 had we not used DDP

For dinner, we ate quickly at the Electric Umbrella. We knew we didn't want too much since we feasted at lunch. Joel shared his hamburger with Amy, Megan and I shared the chicken strips and Jay had a hamburger. We sat at a table that faced the fountain and Innoventions. It was fun to people watch. The Electric Umbrella was completely empty. There might have been 5 other people in the whole restaurant. I was shocked by how few people were there at 6pm. Looking back, it was the preview day for the food and wine festival.

3 CS credits
$32 had we not used DDP

After dinner, we walked back to see what was offered for the F & W festival. It was PACKED! The lines were quite long and people were everywhere. We felt completely out of place with our three kids and wearing our t-shirts and shorts. Everyone was dressed up and sans children. We quickly made our way to Norway to buy more schoolbread (can't get enough of it!) and pretzel (this time with almonds....EXCELLENT!). You would have thought Akershus was giving food away by the amount of people waiting outside for their ADR. Crazy!

3 snack credits
$10 had we not used DDP

We had an IllumiNations cruise booked that evening. Our cruise departed from the Yacht and Beach Club Marina at 8:30 but we had to be there at 8:00. This cruise was wonderful! After the cruise, we walked over to Beaches and Cream. Guess what we ordered? What else but a Kitchen Sink! The kids thought this was hysterical. We substituted the coffee ice cream for another scoop of mint. We did take a picture of this.
Before:

After:

As you can see, we loved it!

We paid OOP $23 for it.

 

[wdwthanksgiving]

enjoying your reviews - thanks for sharing!

 

[catho72]

Day seven

We had our breakfast at 'Ohana. The kids were thrilled since Stitch is Megan's favorite character. I didn't realize Mickey would be there, so that was a nice surprise! We arrived about 20 minutes early and were seated within 5 minutes of checking in. Almost as soon as we sat down, our waitress came over with the Passion Fruit juice. Joel, who HATES oranges or anything orange-related (he blames his aversion on St. Joseph's children's asprin...he's 38 now, get over it!) drank all of his, much to our amusement. Our food arrived shortly after the juice and man, was it tasty! We enjoyed the eggs, sausage, fruit, sweet rolls, and more MICKEY WAFFLES! This was our favorite breakfast. Having the food served family style was great because you weren't worried about leaving the table in case a character came around. The food was delicious and the character interaction was fun. When Lilo came around for the second time, Goofy came over and invaded the picture with a group hug where all you could see was him. It is a cute picture. We will make this breakfast a "must do" next time!

5 TS credits
$75 had we not used DDP

We had the best lunch this day: MICKEY BARS and Dole Whips! It's vacation, what can I say!

5 Snack credits
$14 had we not used DDP (I'm not sure this is accurate...it seems kind of low)

Our dinner that evening was at Chef Mickey's. Again, we arrived 30 minutes early and was seated about 10 minutes after we checked in. This was on a Friday night during Free Dining. Our dinner here was OK, but not great. The food was fine...the prime rib was very fatty (I despise fat on my meat) and the peel and eat shrimp were hard to peel. The kids enjoyed their usual...mac and cheese, pizza, chicken strips. The clam chowder was very good. I think there was a cheesy potato caserole that was darn tasty, too. Our server wasn't very attentive and it took him 20 minutes to get our check to us after he cleared our desert plates. (Just a side note, he looked like Billy Bob Thornton..I kept checking to see if he had a vial of Angelina's blood around his neck...LOL) People keep saying how great the desert station is at CM. A few of their pastries weren't very good. The Oreo with Mickey Ears was too rich (but it was cute) and the chocolate/peanut butter thing (it wasn't a cake or a pie but kinda fudge-like) wasn't that good either. The kids liked the ice cream (what's not to like about ice cream) and I liked the Rice Krispie Treat. The character interaction was good but very hard while we were trying to get our food. We arrived as Mickey was about 4 tables away so we had to rush to get our food. Then, just as he was getting to our table, he had to go in and take a break. We did get some good pictures with the characters and bought the picture of the kids they took before we were seated. I'm very glad we didn't pay OOP for this meal.

5 TS credits
$111 had we not used DDP

 

[catho72]

Day eight

It was our last full day at WDW. Our breakfast ADR was at Boma. We (meaning me) heard great things about Boma and we were excited to check out another deluxe resort. The buffet here is very good. The fruit was fantastic, extremely fresh! The kids stuck to their typical breakfast fare: pancakes, bagels, sausage, fruit. I tried things I normally wouldn't have tried: I tried the curry something (as you can tell, it made a big impression on me) but didn't like it, the bobotie (corned beef) was awesome as was the brioche and potatoes. Joel didn't like the omelet but really enjoyed the scrambled eggs. Our waitress was very gracious and attentive...she was one of the best we had on the whole trip! Animal Kingdom was our least favorite park but when we go back to AK, we'll be back at Boma.

3 Kid TS credits used
$40 OOP for 2 adult meals

After spending several hot hours at Animal Kingdom, we wanted to eat lunch and swim. We were too tired to walk to the back of the park to eat at Yak and Yeti's CS restaurant. Instead, we went to Captain Cooks at Poly for lunch since I did my homework and found out they serve Dole Whips there. Jay ordered the kid's turkey sandwich. Megan ordered the chicken nuggets. Amy and I shared the chicken caesar salad. Joel ordered the Aloha pork sandwich. Everyone shared the polynesian chips and an order of fries. By the time we were done, there wasn't a crumb of food left! Joel and I both had a Dole Whip for desert. We both really liked the pineapple and vanilla twist. Ordering there was very neat...it's done on a computer screen, you get a number, then pay the cashier who then gives you a beeper that alerts you when your food is ready. I was surprised as to how small Captain Cooks is. After having lunch there that day and breakfast there the day before, our family wants to stay at the Polynesian in the future! We loved it!

4 TS credits used
$43 had we not used DDP

Day eight to be continued...

 

[hill6]

Great review. What kind of stuff did they put in the Kitchen Sink. We go in 5 weeks and I think that would be fun to do.

 

[catho72]

Great review. What kind of stuff did they put in the Kitchen Sink. We go in 5 weeks and I think that would be fun to do.

Everything! There's multiple scoops of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream plus one of mint chocolate chip and one coffee. You can request to leave certain flavors out. The toppings include caramel, hot fudge, strawberry topping, angel food cake, brownies, snicker pieces, peanut butter, oreo pieces, banana slices, a whole can of whipped cream, pecans and marachino cherries. I'm sure there's other things in there but I can't recall them all. It was awesome. We saw lots of families ordering one so you won't seem like the only pigs in the restaurant! We had a blast! Have fun!

 

[catho72]

Day eight continued

For dinner that night, we went to DTD. As soon as we got off the boat from POR, we saw Goofy's Candy Shop. Knowing we had many snack credits that we needed to "use or loose" we all picked out something. This place is awesome! Two of us picked the rice krispie treat dipped in chocolate and coated with carmel, oreos and M&M's. Three of us had the pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and coated with various goodies. These came home with us to enjoy back in Chicago. What a fun way to use snack credits!

5 snack credits
$17 had we not used DDP

After creating our goodies, we ate at Earl of Sandwich. This place is a well-oiled machine. The line was long but moved very fast. Amy and I shared the Earl's Cobb with chicken. It was delicious! Megan ordered the kid's grilled cheese. It wasn't served on regular white bread but on their Artesian baked loaf. I didn't think she's like it but she did, in fact, we all did. Jay ordered the kid's turkey sandwich and enjoyed it. Joel ordered the Ham and Swiss sandwich. The deserts were darn tasty, too. The cookie was delish as was the bread pudding. This is a great restaurant! We will definitely be back in the future!

4 CS credits
$36 had we not used DDP

 

[catho72]

Day nine

It was our last day of vacation. Boo hoo We ate breakfast at the POR food court once again. Mickey waffles were had by all. I can't get tired of Mickey waffles!

4 CS credits used
$34 had we not used DDP

For lunch, we ate at Cosmic Ray's. Cheeseburgers and fries for everyone! The topping bar was great. The kids really liked the melted cheese we could put on the fries. The hamburgers were very good as were the fries. Megan commented that this was her favorite restaurant! I couldn't believe it! After all the fantastic TS restaurants we dined at, her favorite was a hamburger at a CS! Go figure. I don't see her being a gourmet restaurant reviewer as an adult!

4 CS credits used
$40 had we not used DDP

We still had some snack credits left as we were walking out of MK. We stopped at the Main Street Bake Shop and stocked up on some fudge and rice krispie treats. I wasn't overly impressed by the snacks there. We ate them when we got home and they were OK. I'm very glad we didn't pay OOP for them!

7 snack credits used
$30 had we not used DDP