Two Adults & Free Dining August 15-20, 2010: Quick Service Meals

[teacherlisa1978]

Two adults in our 30's spent a fabulous (almost) week in the World in the midst of the August heat. We were able to take advantage of the free dining plan, staying at our favorite, Port Orleans French Quarter. Thought I'd do two separate sets of reviews for quick service and table service.

Quick service meals were:
Sassagoula Floatworks Food Factory (POFQ) breakfast
Earl of Sandwich dinner
Starring Rolls lunch
Sunshine Seasons lunch
Pizzafari lunch
Sassagoula Floatworks dinner
Pecos Bill's lunch
Sassagoula Floatworks lunch

Most days we ate breakfast in the room (brought oatmeal, granola bars, applesauce from home and just got hot water in our refillable mugs each morning-saved time and money and I enjoyed the walk to the food court each morning in the peace and quiet to get the water!), and saved our counter service credits for lunch most days, as you can see.

Sassagoula Floatworks Breakfast
After arriving on a red eye from Seattle at 7am and taking Magical Express to POFQ we were hungry! But we were planning to spend the day in Epcot (and use our Get a Day fastpasses to ride Test Track 3 times in a row!) so didn't want to be weighed down with full counter service meals. So, we split the croissant breakfast sandwich which was good. Not overly greasy and splitting it was just right. We also ordered 3 beignets which were packaged to go...when I got up to pay it was discovered we had been given 6. What the heck, we're on vacation and they're full of air anyway! So we each had 3 which seems alarming but was awfully tasty at the time!

This was our only quick service breakfast of the week and we were happy with our selection, but agreed it's just as good to bring breakfast food from home to eat in the room. We'd definitely rather save our credits for other meals. And yes, we could have used snack credits for breakfast but there are so many yummy Disney snacks...why waste credits on a bagel?

 

[teacherlisa1978]

After spending our first full day in Epcot and then napping/relaxing by the pool we went to Downtown Disney for the evening. We love DTD but never seem to make it here more than once per trip despite being right on the river with easy access. We ate dinner at:

Earl of Sandwich
I had eaten here on my trip in 2009 but my husband never had and I was eager for him to try it. Despite being poked multiple times while in line by the 2 year old in front of me with the chopsticks her dad reached over into the food prep area to grab, and hearing the yelling family behind me argue over whether the children should have smoothies or not we had a very enjoyable meal here. Because EOS offers a AAA discount we paid OOP for this meal. We also had brought our refillable mugs with us so didn't need drinks or want desserts so this was a good meal to pay for ourselves. (We also paid for our breakfast earlier that day since it was inexpensive and not a good use of credits.)

I had my favorite-the All American with no cranberries. Yum! The ranch seems light and not greasy/overpowering to the sandwich, just adds a nice flavor. The bread here is of course to die for as always.

My husband had the Hawaiian BBQ and couldn't stop raving about it. He says EOS is now a must do on future trips. (He ended up saying this about almost every restaurant we went to this time! Guess all the research on the dis paid off!)

The best thing about EOS in my opinion, in addition to the delicious and fresh food, is how quickly you are served! The line always looks intimidating and scary but it moved very fast and we had no trouble finding a table despite lots of people being out and about.

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Starring Rolls

On the advice of many disboarders we headed to Starring Rolls for lunch on our DHS day. We always tried to be in line for counter service lunches between 11 and 11:30 and this worked well...crowds were always just beginning to build but we never had trouble finding a table or had to wait long for our food.

We told the server behind the counter that we were on the dining plan and he was great about explaining what our choices were. It was hard to believe all of those yummy dessert options were really available to us! We both had the turkey focaccia with chips. There was a kind of relish on the sandwich which was fine but if you're picky you might want to scrape a bit of it off-there was lots of it. We could not believe the size of these sandwiches and the amount of meat on them-we could easily have split this. It was nice to get the bag of chips and be able to save them for later as a snack, which we did.

My husband was overwhelmed with the dessert choices and said "just get me a brownie" which was huge and delicious of course. He ended up coming back later in the week for the well known butterfinger cupcake. Wow, it was just as good as we had heard. I was surprised that there was frosting underneath that butterfinger coating on the top. If you like cupcakes, frosting, chocolate, and butterfingers...this is for you! I had the tiramisu which I loved-tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts and I was not disappointed.

Despite the limited sandwich selection we'll definitely be back. Loved that the tables were outside but all had umbrellas for shade, and loved that it was tucked away and offered choices besides the usual fried foods you can get everywhere.

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Sunshine Seasons
This is one of my favorite places to have a meal or snack in WDW and we were not disappointed on this trip. Again, my husband had never had a meal here, so we spent some time checking out the various stations before making a choice. I had thought for sure he'd go for the Asian food but in the end we both went with, yet again, a turkey sandwich.

I think with the heat and humidity we both enjoyed a cold lunch during the heat of the day on this day and the previous one as were adjusting to the Florida weather. We were again impressed with the freshness and flavor of the sandwiches as well as the size-giant! Also, given that they are premade on a tray and then sliced and served, I'd wondered if they'd be somewhat soggy-but not a bit. The chipotle mayo gave a nice mild flavor-not spicy in either of our opinions (I like spicy, hubby doesn't, and we both liked this so there you go!). He did not like the cold salad that came with the sandwich (a vinegary type of potato salad-not a deli style potato salad) but then he is a basic food kind of guy. I thought it was okay. On my last trip I'd gotten a grab and go sandwich and the tomato mozzarella salad and loved it...wish that would have been an option for a side this time. Could have paid OOP for it but didn't see the point-we knew we'd have plenty of food.

Hubby went to get our drinks while I waited in line for the sandwiches and then dessert-he took one look at my strawberry shortcake and wanted the same thing. I had a hard time choosing between this and the key lime cheesecake. Ended up coming back later in the week for the cheesecake as a snack and it definitely tasted as good as it looked!

Another huge, delicious, fresh, and filling meal! No trouble finding a seat before 11:30 but it was definitely a full restaurant by the time we were leaving.

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Pizzafari
This meal was...fine. No complaints but no rave reviews either. We had really hoped to try Flame Tree BBQ this trip and were sad when we realized it would be closed during our trip. Had thought about doing the Picnic in the Park because we liked the choiced offered and the bag it comes in is cute, but decided against it because we'd have to take time out to order it, decide when we'd want it to be ready, and then go pick it up before finding a place to eat. We did a LOT of running around on our trip in 2007 and just wanted to make this trip a bit more streamlined and easy.

We saw the Festival of the Lion King show (which was awesome and so much better than either of us had expected!) and then walked right into Pizzafari.
My husband had the pepperoni pizza and I had the cheese. The size of the pizza was larger than we'd expected-bigger than a personal pan you'd get at Pizza Hut but the crust of course was not as thick. The caesar salad was nothing special-a bit of romaine lettuce mixed with caesar dressing, but it was nice as a side. Glad I hadn't ordered the chicken caesar as my entree because I think I wouldn't have been impressed.

We both had the chocolate mousse for dessert. The strawberry dessert looked good on other people's trays but sometimes sugar free desserts have that slightly 'off' taste we wanted to avoid. (And this is from a diet coke lover-I know, makes no sense.) I love chocolate mousse and this was fine. Not the best I've ever had but for theme park fast food it was good.

This restaurant is definitely not a must do for us on every trip but if you're in the area and hungry it does the trick. We didn't wander around and see the different rooms in the restaurant-we ate outside in the shade which was pleasant despite the heat.

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Dinner @ POFQ
After our morning at AK and a relaxing afternoon we had a carriage ride scheduled for 9pm at Riverside. We thought about heading to DTD for Earl of Sandwich again but in the end, it was very nice to take the 2 minute walk to the food court and eat 'at home'.

My mom adores the chicken parm here and I was really looking forward to trying it on this trip. I had not snacked in the afternoon (except for the requisite pool-side lava smoothie!) in order to be good and hungry for this and so, imagine my disappointment when I walked up to the pizza/pasta window and saw it shuttered and closed. They were still offering pizza and a chicken alfredo pasta but no chicken parm! Oh no! I had to readjust my tastebuds and ended up going with the ground beef taco salad. I loved how they made it to order right in front of you with whatever toppings you wanted. I had it with 'the works' and it was very good-I'd get it again for sure if the chicken parm was still not an option.

My husband had a cheeseburger from the grill with fries, our only complaint here is that because the grill items are freshly made sometimes you have to wait a while for them. It was awkward because there was nowhere for me to wait with my food while waiting for his to be ready, so I went ahead and paid, sat down, and started eating-and was about halfway through my salad before he was ready. I'm not sure how a family with one adult and multiple kids would handle this-it would be hard.

We did use a counter service credit for this meal. For our drinks, since we had our mugs, we got two bottled apple juices for hubby to have with breakfast (not a coffee drinker so he thought this was nice to have in the a.m.), and for dessert we both had the cheesecake with strawberry topping. It was fine, but I was disappointed that it was the prepackaged kind in a little cup-last time I'd been there it was a fresh, creamy and delicious slice of fresh baked cheesecake and I remember it being divine. This was fine but nothing like the time before. I'm thinking I'll let Disney know about how I feel about that change. I'm wracking my brain now trying to remember...because I know later on our trip, somewhere, I saw that they still had the regular kind of cheesecake and I was surprised POFQ didn't. Maybe it was later that night when we walked into the POR food court just to check it out? Yes, I bet that was it and that's why I was so surprised-that one of the 'sister' resorts would have it and one would not.

We love staying at POFQ and despite the few bumps along the way for this meal we were very happy with the overall experience. Seeing as how this is the only place we ever stay (or ever want to stay!) we will definitely be eating here again!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Pecos Bill's Lunch

Maybe it shows just what simple people we really are, but I'm not sure two people have ever been more excited about cheeseburgers, fries, onions, mushrooms, and cheese sauce. Simple and so good!

We tried out the self-serve computerized ordering kiosk. For whatever reason it wouldn't register my keystrokes (I have an iPhone with the touch screen, I wonder if I was using that type of touch and the computers need a firmer hand?), but it worked fine for my husband. We found it quite easy to use-once you told it you were on the dining plan it walked you right through your choices. I was curious about how you would tell it to 'hold' something on your burger but maybe that's just not a choice. We both had the deluxe burger with the onion rings and bbq sauce on it. (Given the choice I would have held the bbq but since it wasn't a choice I had it and tasted fine-just not my first preference.) We loaded up on tomatoes, lettuce, grilled onions and mushrooms and of course the cheese sauce for our burgers and our fries. Absolutely delicious and so glad they are offering the cheese again-I've heard that it comes and goes.

The only disappointment here was the desserts. To me, strawberry yogurt is not a dessert. But since I do not like carrot cake, that's what I had. It was fine, and better for me than a piece of cake for sure, but I found it an odd dessert choice. My husband had the cake and thought it was good.

Good, simple burger meals at Pecos Bills-another one for hubby's must do list!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Our last meal at WDW
After a breakfast at Crystal Palace we were not hungry for lunch...back at POFQ while waiting for the Magical Express (pick up time was at 3pm) we knew we'd better eat something before heading to the airport. We decided to split a chicken quesadilla. This was quite good and the perfect amount to share for a light meal or a snack. I'm a picky chicken eater and this chicken passed my test very well (it has to be well cooked, all white meat, completely trimmed). It came with a side of salsa and sour cream which went well with the chicken and cheese. It was nicely toasted and quite tasty.

Before free dining had been announced for this trip we'd been booked on the quick service dining plan. Once free dining came out we switched to that plan in order to take advantage of eating some table service meals because we probably wouldn't have spent the money on that otherwise. Judging from the meals we ate on the trip-the variety, flavor, options beyond burgers and fries-we will definitely consider the QSDP in the future and could eat happily that way for a weeklong trip.

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

teacherlisa1978, thank you for taking the time to write a report. It helps to see what other people did and how they liked it.

Sounds as if you had a pretty nice trip. Now it is time to start planning the next one.

Slightly Goofy