Tie Your Napkin 'Round Your Neck, Cherie! Completed 6/12/10

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Lovin' the reviews !

We love the view of the parade from Casey's when it's not too crowded. Kind of a tradition of ours...

(I think that brown duck knows me by name...) :rotfl:

I can see why it would become a tradition to view the parade from there. It's a really great spot! Plus, the company is obviously great with all those birds and that duck roaming around. :laughing:

I'm staying at POP for the first time in December and I can't wait to try that cheesecake! YUMMY!!! (And the Twinkie tiramisu...anyone had that? It sounds amazing!) :love:

I have heard of a twinkie tiramisu before, but I must have missed it when I was there! I'd love to find out where that is, too! Anyone?

I hope you enjoy your stay at Pop. I've stayed at all the value resorts except for ASMo, but Pop has been my favorite thus far. Granted we went in a lesser crowded month and it was very chilly for Florida weather, but the resort was much quieter than the other two. :thumbsup2
 
If I'm not mistaken, The Magic Kingdom was open for EMH on our last day in the parks. At any rate we arrived there very early. Since it was a while until our lunch reservation at the Plaza, we decided to have a mid-morning snack. My mom decided she wanted another turkey leg so we headed over to the Lunching Pad.

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I don't remember what I was doing, but I didn't actually go with her to get them. I sat down at a table and she came back with these beauties. Two of them? :scared1: They were huge; I knew there was no way I could finish it, but it was delicious anyway. They were the first ones of the day- fresh, hot, and scrumptious.

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Much later on and still a long time before lunch, we wanted something small to snack on. We knew we would have dessert at The Plaza so neither of us wanted anything sweet. So, that left salty. I'd read about Figaro Fries so we went to Pinocchio's Village Haus. Obviously, I didn't read these boards as well as I thought because the CM informed me they had stopped selling them over a year ago. :eek: Oops. So, I just ordered regular fries and decided to call it a day. Not going to let a little cheese and bacon get me down. :laughing:

There was a problem with either the machine or my KTTW card, but it wouldn't work. He called several people for assistance and after about ten minutes the card finally worked. Hooray! :cheer2: The CM (I wish I could remember his name) apologized profusely, but it wasn't a big deal at all. He even had them replace my fries with fresh ones, which was a very nice gesture but a little unnecessary.

Call me weird, but I love to dip fries in honey mustard. I saw a packet of Parmesan cheese so I grabbed that and made pseudo Figaro Fries. They may have been nothing like the original, but they were just fine for me. :)

We finally made it to our lunch reservation later that afternoon. Neither of us had been to The Plaza before, but I had my heart set on the grilled chicken sandwich. I ordered that while my mother decided to have the Angus chuck cheeseburger.

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With all the fixins of lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, bacon, grilled onions, and mushrooms she was intent on loading up this burger as she had done at Pecos Bill's on our first day. She also ordered the broccoli slaw, but changed it to fries at the last minute.

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This is mine. I know what you're thinking! No, that certainly isn't the grilled chicken sandwich. Like mother like daughter, I suppose, but I changed my mind after my mom ordered the burger. I hadn't had one the whole time at Disney World and it sounded delicious so I changed it. I'm so glad I did! Mine isn't quite as packed as hers, but it was delectable with just mayonnaise, crispy bacon, and Cheddar cheese. The burger itself was seasoned quite nicely and cooked perfectly. The chips were crispy and crunchy, just the way I like them.

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Guess whose dessert this was! My mom's, of course! This is the Brownie Sundae- vanilla ice cream and whipped cream sandwiched between brownies and topped with hot fudge sauce and a cherry. The brownie was chewy, but it was good overall.

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I had the banana split. This was hands down the biggest banana split I had ever seen in my life! What was there not to love? Chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream- good. Crushed pineapple, hot fudge, and strawberry sauce- good. Nuts, banana, and cherry- good. Whipped cream- goooooooood. We are planning an oop dinner here in September, but after seeing pictures of it I believe we're both in agreement to split this wonderful dessert. It's definitely not something I think I can take on by myself again! :rotfl:

Pricing:
The Lunching Pad- $16.17
Pinocchio's Village Haus- $5.30 1 Snack used per person
The Plaza- $44.56 1 TS used per person
 
I love, love the cheeseburger and the brownie sundae at The Plaza. I can not wait until August to eat there, which will be our first Disney meal of the trip. I think our ADRs are at 11:15am - the earliest ADR I could get cause I know I'll be foaming at the mouth!
 
I love, love the cheeseburger and the brownie sundae at The Plaza. I can not wait until August to eat there, which will be our first Disney meal of the trip. I think our ADRs are at 11:15am - the earliest ADR I could get cause I know I'll be foaming at the mouth!

:rotfl:

Eating at the Plaza sounds like a great way to kick off a Disney trip to me! We have to wait until about halfway through our trip and 8:00 pm to enjoy those burgers again, but here's hoping summer passes quickly for both of us!
 

We said our goodbyes-for-now to the Magic Kingdom and headed over to Epcot for our last adventure to the parks for that trip. :sad2: We couldn't believe it was over already, but we were determined to make the very best of our last night. :thumbsup2 And, making the very best of a Disney trip often involves. . . food!

We had a few snack credits left that needed to be put to good use. So why not start with dessert before dinner? Since we weren't going to venture into the countries again past Canada we decided to go to the Sunshine Seasons Bakery and have a little treat.

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We split the Asian Chocolate Cake. It was just okay, really. I liked the crunch of it, but it had a really weird texture. I'm pretty sure I'd never get it again.

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Oh, but these two I would definitely get again, the Blondies! :love: We did get them to go and had them the next day. Even a day old they were still delicious. Very soft and moist and the butterscotch chips were tasty. I wish we had used the third credit on another of those instead of the chocolate cake. :rolleyes1

Le Cellier was the reservation my mom was the most eager to enjoy. We had been there once before for lunch on the DDxP and had fallen in love with the fillet and beer cheese soup. We were both skipping the soup this time, but she was ready to order the fillet again. I, on the other hand, had other plans.

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The bread basket: pretzel, multi-grain, and sourdough (I think?) breadsticks served with butter. I love the pretzel bread but don't particularly care for the other two. It was warm, though, which is nice to melt the cool butter.

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My mom's fillet with cream cheese mashed potatoes substituted for the risotto. Just like the first time, she very much enjoyed this tender steak and the side.

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I decided to try the coffee-rubbed Kansas City strip steak, an overwhelmingly generous portion of steak rubbed in coffee, topped with hazelnut butter, and served with cream cheese mashed potatoes. I ordered this medium well and was told it would take a while to cook since it was a larger steak. I had no problem with this at all and didn't mind if they went ahead and served my mom so she wouldn't have to wait. A few minutes later, though, both entrees came out. It was a little more on the medium side of well but so long as it's still warm and at least medium I don't really mind. The coffee (which had burned to the meat) was a little bit of a shock even though I was completely expecting it. The butter paired well with the coffee, but I really didn't enjoy it that much. The potatoes did live up to expectations, however.

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For dessert we both had the Chocolate on Chocolate Whiskey Cake- an extremely rich chocolate cake complemented with honey-thyme and chocolate-vanilla walnut sauces. It was a little too rich for me, but my mom loved that about it. Chocoholics, what are you gonna do? :laughing: I tried the sauce, but I really couldn't get past the thyme. Yuck yuck yuck. :eek:

Overall, Le Cellier wasn't as impressive as it was the first time. It was still good, though, don't get me wrong. I'm certain that she and I will eat here again in the future, but it's not scheduled for our next trip. I'll just try something different or revert back to the fillet. Or maybe just fill up on soup! :cloud9:

Pricing:
Sunshine Seasons- $10.41 3 Snacks used
Le Cellier- $95.15 1 TS per person
 
We will be trying Le Cellier on our next visit for dinner. Everything looks so good. I can't wait to try it. I keep reading great reviews on the soup that we may have to try it.:thumbsup2
 
Ah, day seven, the final day; the infamous end of the journey that we Disney fans mourn together. :sad2: Though it has taken me a while to get here, writing the end of this review almost makes me feel like I'm leaving the World all over again. But there is still one more meal to critique so I'll get on with it!

We intentionally took an early afternoon flight back home so we would not feel too rushed with the morning preparations for leaving. With that being said, I'm fairly certain I was up, already packed, and sitting by the door before the sun had even risen. Because we chose to pay oop for Ohana, we had one counter service meal left. So after checking in our luggage out front, we headed to Everything Pop for breakfast.

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We both had the ham and cheese omelet with breakfast potatoes. I'm not a very big fan of eggs in any form, but I will eat them occasionally especially if stuffed with ham and cheese! The omelet itself was a little dry and crunchy, but the ingredients inside were good. The potatoes were good as well.

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I was pleased that I could grab a small carton of milk for my drink and my mom opted for a diet coke if I remember correctly.

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For my dessert, I had the banana nut bread. Mmmm, very moist. I do make my own from scratch and I will say it rivaled it. Not quite beat it, but close enough. ;)

I don't have a picture or even recall what my mom had for her dessert because of a cute little side story. My beloved 81-year-old grandmother has a taste for ribs and sweets. She called and said if we ate all of our snacks without bringing her one we would be in trouble. Since the ribs would ruin my suitcase, we kept a few of the packaged desserts that would travel well to take to her. She enjoyed them and we dodged a bullet! :laughing:

This concludes the review portion of my trip. As promised, I will be totaling the prices and reveal the results as well as give a few updates concerning our upcoming trip.

Also, unfortunately another receipt seems to have abandoned ship. I had to estimate the total of Everything Pop so it won't be exactly 100% accurate.

Estimated Total Price: $27.63
 
I have just a few more finishing touches before this review is completed.

First up, the costs:

Dining Plan Cost: $503.88
Out of Pocket Expenses: $92.84
Sum of Dining Plan and Out of Pocket Purchases: $596.72
Total spent using the Dining Plan: $637.41

So was this a value for us? Yes, we still did save money even though we made quite a few purchases outside of the plan, including dining at 'Ohana. Granted, we dined at a few places such as The Plaza and Yak & Yeti that aren't the best value for the plan, but I don't regret it. If I throw in the money we spent on tips, it tips the scale slightly but that's okay, too. The next time we actually purchase the Dining Plan, I will utilize it a little better but I'm glad to see it was still a value for what was spent.

Next up: There are a few awards I feel should be given.

Restaurant that lived up to its hype: This goes to 'Ohana. I had heard so many mixed reviews, but I really did have very high hopes for this place. The food did not disappoint me in any way at all. In fact, I will be dining here again in September.

Best Dessert: The bread pudding from 'Ohana. I love contrast between warm desserts and cold ice cream, which made this even more wonderful to me. It was rich and delicious, and I cannot wait to have it again.
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Worst Meal: This was almost a tie between Pecos Bill and Fairfax Fare, but the saving grace was that my mother enjoyed her burger from the former. I think it's worthy of a second chance whereas it's highly unlikely I will ever return to the latter. Why did I rank this the worst? Rubber chicken, enough said!
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Biggest Disappointment: Unfortunately, I have to hand this off to Le Cellier. I was very impressed with it the first time, but it wasn't quite as good the second time around. I will still return to it, of course, because it is still very worthy of spending a dining credit!

Most Surprising: Again, I had read so many mixed reviews on Tutto Italia that I honestly wasn't going to expect very much from the restaurant. But one little dish caught me completely by surprise: the gnocchi. I could probably sing my praises of this place until I'm blue in the face, but it really was one of the best dishes I have ever had on the property. We are due here again in the fall, and I will be having another taste of this wonderful entree.
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Favorite Drink: By far, the peanut butter and jelly shake from the 50's Prime Time Cafe wins this. Not only was it delicious and a drink credit on the plan, but the portion was gigantic. I didn't taste the jelly, but the peanut butter flavor was incredible.
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And finally,

Favorite Snack: This is a tie between the blondie at Sunshine Seasons Bakery and the sweet cream cheese pretzel at The Lunching Pad. Both of these are wonderful little treats in taste, though the pretzel is slightly more expensive than the blondie.
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My DBF and I booked a trip for this coming September last August and are going to enjoy free dining! We are planning two out of pocket meals because we received a gift certificate. Here's a list of some of the meals planned:

ADRs:
'Ohana (D)
Marrakesh (L)
Teppan Edo (D)
The Plaza (D- oop)
Sci-fi (D)
Tutto Italia (L)
Les Chefs de France (D)
Rose and Crown (D)
Raglan Road (D- oop)

Quick Services:
Columbia Harbour House
Flame Tree Barbecue
Earl of Sandwich
Starring Rolls
Yak & Yeti
POR Food Court

Many of these are going to be a first try for the both of us, but we're definitely returning to our favorites such as Columbia Harbour House and Rose and Crown.

And lastly, I just want to say thank you so much to every single person who took the time to read this rocky review from a rookie. I appreciate all of the feedback I received and am so grateful for all the help fellow Dis'ers have given me. Big :hug: to all of you!

Until next time~

The End.
 
nice reviews, great pictures.

About that Pop Century twinkie tiramisu mentioned several posts ago ...sorry, they don't have it anymore. Don't know when they discontinued it, but has been gone a couple of years, I believe - we were there in Sept '08 and it was gone then - CM couldn't remember when they quit carrying it. I'm surprised they still do the tye-dye cheesecake. That's about the only uniquely "POP" item they still have, I guess. (Used to be the only resort with a coke slushy machine, too...but that's gone too.:sad2:)
 
Congrats on finishing up the report! :thumbsup2

Based on my similar taste buds, I will now have to try those Blondies... they look great! Thanks for all the reviews!
 
nice reviews, great pictures.

About that Pop Century twinkie tiramisu mentioned several posts ago ...sorry, they don't have it anymore. Don't know when they discontinued it, but has been gone a couple of years, I believe - we were there in Sept '08 and it was gone then - CM couldn't remember when they quit carrying it. I'm surprised they still do the tye-dye cheesecake. That's about the only uniquely "POP" item they still have, I guess. (Used to be the only resort with a coke slushy machine, too...but that's gone too.:sad2:)

Thank you so much for that information! I'm sad I never had a chance to try it, but I'll just add it to the list with the Figaro Fries. :sad2: But at least I won't drive myself crazy trying to track it down. :laughing:

Congrats on finishing up the report! :thumbsup2

Based on my similar taste buds, I will now have to try those Blondies... they look great! Thanks for all the reviews!

Took me long enough! :lmao:

Yes!!!! You must try one. Who knows, they may even fall into the same category as the beloved gnocchi! :cloud9:
 
Really great reviews, I've really enjoyed reading them :goodvibes
Hope you have a wonderful trip in September :)
 
That is an impressive review. Thank you sooo much for all the information. You have definitely sold me on O'hanas for our next trip.
 
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