Two Delicious Birthdays-Version 2011-10 Days of Yum 5/5-5/14 - Tutto / Yak n Yeti!

[LuvLuvLuv]

Okay! So I'll be updating the first post tonight with updated meals for the table of contents... all will be explained in the report! As a reminder, we were at Saratoga Springs for the first 2 nights with no dining plan, and at Kidani Village for 7 nights with the DxDDP.

Out of curiosity, I'm going to try to remember our 28 snacks:

In no particular order and mostly split between us:

1 Snickerdoodle Cookie
2 Chocolate Chunk w/ M&M Cookie
3 PB Chip/Milk Chocolate Dipped Pretzel
4 PB Chip/Milk Chocolate Dipped Pretzel
5 PB Chip/Milk Chocolate Dipped Pretzel
6 Chocolate Covered Banana
7 Snack Bag of Karamel Kuche Caramel Popcorn
8 Snack Bag of Karamel Kuche Caramel Popcorn
9 Snack Bag of Karamel Kuche Caramel Popcorn
10 Snack Bag of Karamel Kuche Caramel Popcorn
11 Solid Caramel Block from Karamel Kuche
12 Strawberry Banana Smoothie from Rock n Roller Coaster Kiosk
13 French Fries with Cheese from Casey's
14 Coke from Casey's
15 Coke from Casey's
16 Chocolate Fudge
17 Grapes
18 Cherry Coke
19 Water in Animal Kingdom
20 Water at Rock and Roller Coaster Kiosk
21 Water at Rock and Roller Coaster Kiosk
22 Water at Epcot
23 Water at Epcot
24 Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup
25 Tangerine Kaki Gori
26 Chocolate Mousse
27 Sprite
28 Cherry Coke

I'm having some popcorn now I'll enjoy all of it as I'm playing catch-up at work this week!!

 

[princessallegra]

YUM! I love the cheese fries from Casey's. Can't wait to read your reviews!!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

Reviews are on the way!! I started to get the pictures onto photobucket last night, then we started talking wedding stuff, then the finales of CSI came on, then it was bedtime Can't wait to get started!!

 

[mstmp]

Yay count me in! Can't wait to read your reviews

 

[lblume91]

Looking forward to your reviews!!!

 

[doclegler]

I didn't know snack credits could be used on the caramel corn (must have new smaller bags??) SO excited about that. I absolutely LOVED it last time!

Can't wait for more. Glad you had a wonderful trip!!

 

[John's Mom]

Count me in!

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

Can't wait to read your reviews. I am getting nervous about the heat! Hope you didn't get heat exhaustion. We plan on drinking a lot of bottled water, maybe I should get a reusable water bottle with a filter so I can fill up at drinking fountains too? I hate the taste of Florida water.

 

[princessallegra]

Just saying HIIII!!!! 10 days for us!!!!

 

[BLTLDZ]

Joining in

 

[phabric]

Looking forward to your reviews.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

reviews will start this weekend all my pictures are on photobucket and i'm ready to go! thanks for joining in everyone!!

 

[pinkxray]

Yum, I can't wait. You have so many places I would love to try one day. That is once I don't have to book every character meal available.

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

Here we go!

If you've read my previous reports... I always give a little bit about the trip in my Dining Review... so hopefully that's okay

Our flight from Cincinnati to MCO was extremely painful. We were on a plane FULL of 14ish year old wild animals. Screaming, changing seats, kicking, shaking, yelling and the 3 chaperones were in the very front and didn't turn around once. It was quite a treat. We were very glad to get off that plane. We pretty much ran to get down to ME just in case the crowd was going to follow. We got to Saratoga Springs and checked in. The room wasn't ready yet. We weren't on the dining plan for the first 2 days so we had no plan other than Ohana that night.

We found our way to the Turf Club. I might add that I was on Day 4 of the stomach flu. I sure I don't need to say anything more on that. Food didn't sound good, but Dave was hungry and I hadn't had food for 24 hours because I thought it was best to fast before boarding a plane We were seated promptly--choosing inside since it was a little toasty outside and I was getting queasy at the thought of food. Out waitress was very nice... but a little slow. We weren't in a rush since we were waiting for our room... so we didn't mind. We bypassed the appies and just got entrees. I ordered the fish and chips (all regular fries), and he had the BBQ bacon burger (mix of regular and sweet potato fries).

Dave's burger was a burger--a good burger--but just a burger. Both of our fries were wayyyyyyyyyyyy over peppered. There was clumps of it and it was pretty impossible to get around some of it... but other than that... they were good! My fish tasted weird to me. I couldn't decide if I was just sick and was being overly picky? I'm not a fan of beer batter, and the server said it wasn't before I ordered. I kept tasting alcohol So I had Dave try it. He said it wasn't beer but it tasted odd. He tried a piece of just the batter... and he didn't taste the weirdness there. He tried a piece of the fish without the batter and he said the fish tasted funky. We then decided it was a drunk fish.

I didn't think I wanted dessert... I wanted a hotel room and a bed to lay in. When our server brought us the dessert menu I saw something I couldn't believe? The suggested dessert wine was Magicale. That's been discontinued!! So I asked if it was brought back? She came back out and said it was a mistake on the new menu, it WAS discontinued, but they still had one bottle left. Funny how I had to correct them I was nervous I would never see it again, so I did order a glass. It's like liquid gold... or liquid ruby??

We paid the bill and the room still wasn't ready. It's such a big resort I thought it should be ready soon, so I thought we should walk toward it. We had our carry-on luggage with us and we wheeled it around in the heat, lol. Clearly we can't read maps because we walked around for an hour and a half because we went the wrong way. At least we got to check out the resort. So we finally made it to the Grandstand, and we sat on a bench till it was ready at 4pm. We checked in at 12:30. We came in to a dirty room with the vacuum in the middle of the floor, stuff on the floor, dirty towels on the sink, toothpaste on the bathroom sink and spanish TV blaring. For reals? We waited 3 1/2 hours for a dirty room?? So I call, am transferred 3 times, there's no where to move us, and there was a few conflicting stories from the housekeeping manager and it made me really mad, so finally i talked to SSR's resort manager and she had sent someone right up, and credited me $150 for my spa appointment that I had to be at in 30 minutes. The call took 25 minutes to resolve a dirty room. Why??

On a good note! The spa at Saratoga is sooooooooooooooo amazing. I can't wait to go back! I had a 50 minute swedish with reflexology and a custom facial. I also had a $50 coupon so it was total of $200 off!!! I'm secretly happy my room was dirty So after I was done there, I went back to the room to get ready for Ohana. I was feeling totally refreshed.

Where was Dave during all this?? At DisneyQuest playing games. Good for him... I wasn't a huge fan of that place, but he likes it! We both got back around the same time, and we were off!! I was pretty pumped for dinner and to see Wishes!

I can't find my pictures of Ohana. I may not have even taken any. You've seen it... We've all seen it. They bring me a hot fudge brownie sundae since I'm allergic to coconut and can't have the bread/bread pudding. It's always stellar... and to be honest.. the meal is getting better there. The quality has been really good my past 2 trips!! We both ate like crazy people and I finally had an appetite. When we were leaving, it was a little after 11 and the gift shop had already closed. I just looked thru the clear barrier to see what all they had and down on the bottom of the cooler, I couldn't believe my eyes. Four bottles of Magicale!! I wanted to break thru the door so bad... but I knew I'd just have to come back, or find it somewhere else. We made it back to the hotel and were so exhausted from the day.

We planned on Typhoon Lagoon the next day, until the weather said it would rain all day. So plan #1 would be to sleep in and go from there!! I reallllly like this no planning stuff!!

Thanks for joining in for Day 1!!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Ok ick about the fish...that would have sent me reeling, especially after having a stomach bug!

What the heck about your room? Yay about the gift card to SSR spa though, I really want to try that place one day!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

Ok ick about the fish...that would have sent me reeling, especially after having a stomach bug!

What the heck about your room? Yay about the gift card to SSR spa though, I really want to try that place one day!

I know! You have to try SSR's spa some time! Make sure to allow extra time to hang out in the women's area downstairs! Very relaxing!!

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

Well here's Day 2 reviews!

Just to give you an idea of what you're dealing with here... I just got done with my homemade dinner at 11:20pm. An entire box of Cars2 Mac and Cheese, a handful of croutons and cherry coke in a wine glass I'm quite the foodie you know


So our plan of Typhoon Lagoon was shattered by the weather report. We had 8 day PH/WPF&M tickets... since we were there for 10 days, and had ADRs in parks the last 8 days... we couldn't go to a park. I know we could have upgraded, but I really wanted 2 relaxing days. So we took the boat over to Downtown Disney. We rarely go there in the day. We always go late at night and are rushed while stuff is closing. It was nice to relax and look at everything. We bought lots of tea, salts and spices at Mickey's Pantry and then we decided it was time to eat. I wanted Cookes of Dublin and he wanted Earl of Sandwich which was close by. It was pouring and what I wanted was quite a hike away in the rain. I decided to get a sandwich and chips there with him and try to wait out the weather.

Mine is a BLT with no lettuce or mayo. These sandwiches are really big and filling!! There was so much bacon on it! I only ate half. I was still getting my courage back to eat and I thought I did pretty well.

He's a piggy... and/or couldn't decide so he got 2! I think they were the Hawaiian BBQ and the Full Montagu. There were no complaints here! He didn't finish them, his eyes were bigger than his stomach! He said he didn't think a $6 sandwich could fill him.

We would definately come back here. It's a pretty darn good value for as filling everything was. They also have cherry coke in the fountain so it earned an extra point from me (I'm still drinking my cherry coke in my wine glass ) I also want to add that the line was pretty long and it moved quick. There was someone in the middle of the line who took questions so when you got to the order person, you were ready. I like this concept a lot.

The rain let up to a sprinkle. We did some financial damage in World of Disney then made our way back to SSR on the boat. It had quit raining so we decided to hit the Grandstand Pool. We got there.. the water was freezing and it started to rain again. Lame. So pool time became nap time until dinner. We got all dolled up and made our way to the Dolphin. We thought we'd be early, but good ol' Disney busses got us there in an hour and 20 minutes, lol. Here we are on the bus...

We checked into Shula's about 3 minutes late. The girls at the hostess stand did seem a little "nose up in the air ish" but based on other threads I've read, I kind of expected it. We were seated in a half booth/half chairs table and I always take the booth side

Dave told me he was not permitting me to take pictures here. This made me sad, but I obeyed because considering our surroundings, it did seem a bit tacky Plus it was VERY dark in there and they probably would not have come out well.

Our server came to take our drink order. The Iced Tea is served in weird flavors and in a bottle. I had Peach Ginger and he had Blackberry Sage. It was weird, but still refreshing.

The server came and did a presentation of the steaks which was rather impressive. He was drooling over the 48oz and I told him to keep dreaming. I had also done a little research on their website, so I had viewed a few pix, and was hoping everything was served looking just as fantastic.

We ordered French Onion Soup and a Crab Cake for Appies. The soup was sweet and perfect. I thought Chefs de France had the best... but this is now my #1. The crab cake came out just like the picture I saw on the website. I encourage you to look at the Shula's site to see this crab cake. It was ALL crab. It was so filling, but we couldn't stop eating it! I know I rave about the Captain's Grille crab cake... but this is my new #1 by a landslide... I'm mean seriously... the best ever.

I haven't mentioned the bread... it was good... but I didn't care for the butter. It tasted smoky and I just wasn't a fan. I like the sea salt on unsalted the best. I know this is just a preview... but the butter is my only gripe the whole time--so I guess that's okay.

If you don't already know how Shula's works, you order your steak, then all your sides are a la cart. The sides are family style and enough for 3 or 4 people to share. Being that there are 2 of us, we felt the need to get 2 I ordered the 12 oz filet medium plus (between medium and medium well----remember this for later, lol) and he got the 24 oz porterhouse medium. He got the grilled asparagus for him (i won't touch that stuff) and we got the hashbrown potato for us to share.

I can't even explain how perfect our steaks were. Mine was so tender and his was so flavorful. He loved his asparagus, and the potato hashbrown was served like a HUGE potato pancake and it was crispy goodness. This was more than I had ate in the entire week combined since I was sick, but I was finally feeling better and boy was I glad I got to enjoy this. We were both extremely impressed with this place and are spoiled for life. I can't wait to go back. We were too full for dessert so we skipped that and took the check. We had a Restauraunt.com coupon so that helped a little... but it was still hefty. We didn't care because it was so good and we will definatley do it again

So we left there. We had never been in the Dolphin so we looked around and made our way out. Of course my sweet tooth was creeping up on me and I had the idea of Boardwalk Bakery! I wanted a piece of Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake! So we walk over there... they dont make it anymore I suggest Beaches and Cream, got him all excited like a little boy... and it was an hour and 20 minute wait He was sad. I shouldn't have even brought it up, lol. So we went needed a bus to DD to get back to SSR. I decided we should try Ghirardelli's since we've never been. That place was INSANE! The lines were chaos and the wait area was chaos. I don't know that we'll be back. He got a dark chocolate hot fudge sundae and I got chocolate ice cream with strawberries.

We got outta there as fast as we could. We walked to the boat and got back to our room. We needed to re-pack so we could check into Kidani the next morning.

Well that's Day 2!!

 

[ThePrincess&TheJohn]

Really enjoying your reviews! Really gorgeous picture of you two, by the way!!

Totally understand why you couldn't take pictures at Shula's but it kind of makes me not want to go there...I need to take my pics

Can't wait for more!

 

[deenbrad]

I was wondering how Shula's was there. DH and I went in Key West and we loved it!! Actually went twice in four days.

Then we went in Richmond and it wasn't quite as good. I couldn't decide if it was the food or that they allowed smoking in the restaurant. I hadn't been in a smoking-allowed restaurant in years!

The reviews are great! Keep em coming!

 

[ilovepete]

I'm in!