We, ate and ate, and ate and ate . . . My 10 day DDP review! *** COMPLETED***

[MegaWoman]

This is my very first attempt at any kind of trip report – so be kind! I always forget to take pictures, so there aren’t any of the food. Sorry! You’ll have to use your imagination for this!

So here is a little about us:

Me: LOVE food, probably too much and I have a few extra pounds to prove it! I love trying new things and my favourite kind of food, besides chocolate it Szechuan. I like spicy but not crazy spicy, and veggies. I love desserts, the more chocolate the better I say! I love southern sweet tea and I drink it as often as I can when we travel. You just can’t get the good stuff here in Canada.

DH: Eats out all the time, due to a crazy work/travel schedule. Likes Thai, and comfort foods like shepherd’s pie & meatloaf. His vice is ice cream.

DS: Age 5, loves veggies, fruits (not cantaloupe though), steak, roasted chicken, seafood and pizza. HATES potatoes unless they are oven wedges or French fries, also hates all sauces. Does not eat ketchup or anything too mushy. Forgets he likes something until we ask him to try it yet again.

DD: Age 3, loves veggies, fruits, pasta and pizza. Does not like meat, will eat meatballs, but not meatloaf or hamburgers. Does not like most sauces. Does not eat ketchup, but will eat pickled asparagus, raw onion and any kind of junkfood you could think of (I attribute that trait to the fact that I ate chocolate EVERY day when I was pregnant with her)

We stayed at WDW for ten days from Dec.10-20, 2007 and had the DDP. We also drove to WDW from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. So we had been eating out for two days before we arrived. Usually burgers and chicken nuggets in the car, so by the time we arrived we were ready for veggies! Ice Cream! Magic!

We brought a fridge from home to keep in our room at ASM, so we ate breakfast in our room most mornings. When we do it again, we’ll use more snack credits for morning munchies and coffee for me. We had far too many snack credits at the end of the trip. We did use them at Goofy’s Candy Co., but I could have used coffee or slushies or ice-cream more often!

So here it is!

Day one (MK)

Snack

We arrived at ASM, checked in the room was ready! We threw our bags into the room and headed to MK for MICKEY ICE-CREAM! DD and I had the chocolate dipped on a stick version, and DH and DS had the sandwich version. I have to tell you that this was the BEST ice-cream EVER! I know that it’s not anything fancy, but I recommend having this first thing when you arrive, fills you up with magic!

Cosmic Ray’s

Me: 1/2 Chicken and BBQ Rib Combination served with Mashed Potatoes and a seasonal vegetables (these were green beans) & triple chocolate cake for dessert. I had sweet tea to drink. I loved this, there WAS lots of food, but my DS is a big eater, so DH and I shared our chicken with him.

DH: 1/2 Chicken and BBQ Rib Combination served with Mashed Potatoes and a seasonal vegetables (these were green beans) & carrot cake for dessert. He had a Coke to drink. DH loves rotisserie chicken and thought this was very good. Though probably too much food.

DS: Kid’s chicken nuggets, carrot sticks & grapes w/ milk. DS is a BIG eater, so this wasn’t enough food for him, but we had plenty of chicken to share with him. One thing I noticed is that the carrots were not only dry, but on several occasions they were past their sell-by date. Always check!

DD: Kid’s PB&J, grapes & apple sauce w/ chocolate milk. This was perfect for DD; she’s not a big eater. I really liked that it was unsweetened applesauce.

Overall we really like Cosmic Ray’s, we actually ate there twice on this trip. We like the food quite a bit, and DH and kids love the lounge lizard! Also the proximity to Tomorrowland is a plus; we can get right back on Space Ranger Spin!

Would we eat here again? You Betcha!

 

[mpmluvstigger]

Great so far Thanks for taking the time to give your reviews.

 

[TigerKat]

Looking forward to more!

 

[Sunshein]

As a fellow Canadian with a DD3 and a DD5, my hat seriously goes off to you fro driving the whole way. I look forward to doing this when they are 10 and 12, but now? I would rather eat nails! You are my hero!

I have never tried sweet tea, but now I will make an effort to do so. Great start to your reviews and I am looking forward to more!

 

[TruBlu]

Great so far! I can't believe we've never tried Cosmic Ray's. We are definitely going this year!

 

[BabyPiglet]

Great reviews so far! We love Cosmic Rays as well.

Looking forward to the updates!

 

[MegaWoman]

As a fellow Canadian with a DD3 and a DD5, my hat seriously goes off to you fro driving the whole way. I look forward to doing this when they are 10 and 12, but now? I would rather eat nails! You are my hero!

I have never tried sweet tea, but now I will make an effort to do so. Great start to your reviews and I am looking forward to more!

Hey Sunshein I grew up in Montreal! Bonjour!

Not only did we drive from the TDot to WDW, but we drove home to Montreal for Christmas. I have to say the drive to Montreal was worse! You hit all the major cities, and we did it the Friday before Christmas. The drive to TO is much easier, boring and you go through some serious mountains, but no gridlock.

 

[my3disneygirls]

DS: Kid’s chicken nuggets, carrot sticks & grapes w/ milk. DS is a BIG eater, so this wasn’t enough food for him, but we had plenty of chicken to share with him. One thing I noticed is that the carrots were not only dry, but on several occasions they were past their sell-by date. Always check!

Yuck! Thanks for the tip. My youngest loves carrots, I'll be sure to check them out if she gets any.

 

[Sunshein]

Hey Sunshein I grew up in Montreal! Bonjour!

Not only did we drive from the TDot to WDW, but we drove home to Montreal for Christmas. I have to say the drive to Montreal was worse! You hit all the major cities, and we did it the Friday before Christmas. The drive to TO is much easier, boring and you go through some serious mountains, but no gridlock.

Bonjour toi meme! We too decided to travel to New Brunswick on the Friday before Christmas and it took us two and a half hours to get off the stinkin' island! What were we thinking?? Of course we find out in the Lafontaine tunnel that our DVD is fini, so once we got out of the gridlock we made a quick stop to a Futureshop in Boucherville for a replacement. How did you keep the kids entertained for such long drives?

Also did you do anything special while down there with your kids? We are going in April and are looking for something special to do. We thought about Princess and Pirate Party but it starts at 7 (usually my kids are pretty much done by 7) and would cost us about $180 for our family for one night so we don't think we are reasy for that. I am anxious to see the rest of your reviews!

 

[MegaWoman]

Day Two (EPCOT)

Coral Reef (Lunch)

ME: New England Cod Cake, Lobster Salad w/ lobster soup & mixed greens. Iced Tea & Bailey’s & Jack Daniels Mousse. I liked, not loved the food. The lobster soup was good, and I asked for the recipe. It was nothing too exciting, and the dessert was OK, but I don’t like my dessert to taste like hooch, KWIM? The Bailey’s mousse was great, but underneath was bad-boy Jack Daniels mousse and I didn’t like it. Oh, and the iced tea was unsweetened, blech! I can get that in Toronto, I would have preferred sweet tea

DH: Lobster soup, blackened catfish w/grits. Strawberry freeze smoothie & key lime tart. DH liked this, I had a bite of Catfish and I found it to be too crazy spicy. We don’t get grits here in Canada, so this was a nice change. Everyone loved the smoothie and we all should have ordered it! DH liked the key lime tart, but he said he has had better.

DS: Lobster soup, chicken strips w/fries, orange juice & kids’ ice cream sundae. DS has never had lobster, though he LOVES shrimp and scallops so he was ready for this. He liked the soup, but he preferred my lobster salad. He has never met a chicken nugget he doesn’t like, so they were good. Of course the ice cream was a hit. He would have liked a kid’s meal with shrimp and scallops, and he didn’t want the Mahi-Mahi.

DD: Carrots & celery, kid’s mac’n’cheese, milk & ice cream sundae. DD was happy; she ate everything so we were happy.

Would we eat here again? Nope. The atmosphere was the pits. It was noisy, busy and hectic. There was a long wait and the food was just OK, I have a feeling we would have been happier eating at the World Showcase. We think this restaurant is over-hyped. It wasn’t terrible, but since we’ve done it once, we won’t go again.


WPE DTD Marketplace (Supper)

ME: Warm Chicken Aioli sandwich w/mango iced tea & brownie. Mmmm, good eats here. The Mango iced tea was good, but not sweetened. And the staff here is great, really helpful, and polite and there is the nicest outdoor eating area.

DH: BBQ Chicken pizza w/ mango iced tea & chocolate chip cookie. DH loved this so much that while he was still eating he said we should eat here again the same week! He didn’t like the iced tea, because it tasted too much like tea, so he refilled with Coke. Two thumbs up here!

DS: Chicken fingers & fries w/milk & chocolate chip cookie. This was good, though I have no idea how he manages to eat chicken fingers so often! I kind of wished there was another option for kids. Very good though, and the server called him “sir”. Too funny!

DD: Four cheese macaroni w/ milk & chocolate chip cookie. She ate the whole thing without any arguments, so that’s a thumbs up for us. I was surprised she didn’t have the pizza.

Would we eat here again? Yup, and we do! Stay tuned!!!

 

[MegaWoman]

How did you keep the kids entertained for such long drives?

Also did you do anything special while down there with your kids? We are going in April and are looking for something special to do. We thought about Princess and Pirate Party but it starts at 7 (usually my kids are pretty much done by 7) and would cost us about $180 for our family for one night so we don't think we are reasy for that. I am anxious to see the rest of your reviews!

We use a DVD player in the car too. It's the only way the kids can entertain themselves, since they can't read very well yet!

We didn't do any additional parties, the kids are early to bed, early to rise kind of kids, so they were in bed at the latest at 9pm. So the extra tickets would have been a waste. We'll wait until they're older.

 

[John's Mom]

Thanks for sharing your reviews!

 

[MegaWoman]

Day Three – MGM (AKA the hissy-fit day)

My theory is this: no matter where we go, even if it’s camping near home, the third day we’re away there is a full-on-entire-family-hissy-fit-day. Well at least we’re consistent. The kids were snotty with us, I was snippy with DH, and DH pouted. But we did have a great day after we all got it out of our systems! At least this wasn’t our CRT day. . .

We ate breakfast in our room. We used snack credits at Intermission Food Court the night before to get individual boxes of cereal & small milk and fresh fruit salad & grapes. One individual cereal & small milk is one snack credit. The fruit sell by dates were only two days away, and by the next morning one of the containers had spoiled, and was inedible. We should have gone back to the food court to get a new one, but it WAS hissy-fit day, so I didn’t bother.

Toy Story Pizza Planet (Lunch)

ME: Junkyard Meal Deal (veggie pizza & garden salad) w/ diet coke & apple slices. This was good, lots of veggies on the pizza, the salad was a good size for a side salad, and there were several dressings to choose from. We found a great spot outside to eat; the indoor seating seemed loud because of the arcade games. We ordered apple slices to snack on later. They were OK, I don’t remember if they were pre-peeled or not!

DH: Junkyard Meal Deal (veggie pizza & garden salad) w/ diet coke & apple slices. DH thought the veggies could have been spread out more. The veggies on his pizza seemed to be all lumped into the middle.

DS: Woody’s Meal Deal (pepperoni pizza & garden salad) w/apple juice & apple slices. DS would have liked more veggies in the salad that weren’t lettuce! He thought this was good.

DD: Buzz’s Meal Deal (cheese pizza & garden salad) w/apple juice & apple slices. DD is a pizza connoisseur; she eats pizza everywhere, and thought this was good. But I think the appeal was watching the ducks walk by quacking all through the meal!

Would we eat here again? Yup, we will next time!

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre (Supper)

ME: Crispy Onion Rings, Angus Chuck Burger with cheddar cheese & bacon, fries w/cherry coke & cheesecake. The burger is from the lunch menu. Why did I order fries after having onion rings? So I could share with the kids! We ate here on our last trip for lunch, and the kids thought eating in the “car” was a hoot, so we did it again. I really wanted a burger and there isn’t one on the dinner menu, but they were more than accommodating when we requested items from the lunch menu. It was just what I wanted, big drippy, messy burger. I thought onion rings as an appetizer was weird – I should have ordered a salad and requested the onion rings as my side. We all shared the appetizers. The cheesecake was good, it had caramel sauce and caramel popcorn scattered on the plate, it was cute! I like this restaurant for the theme. The kids were tired so sitting in the dark and nibbling their food while watching vintage Sci-Fi was just what we needed. They both fell asleep in the car on the way back to ASM.

DH: Spinach & artichoke dip, Smoked Turkey Sandwich w/vanilla shake & apple crisp. The sandwich is from the lunch menu. DH always orders the dip at any restaurant that has it on the menu. This was good, nothing out of the ordinary, and the chips were just OK. He liked the sandwich, he was looking for something burger-like, that wasn’t a burger and this fit the bill. He loved the milkshake, and it was huge! He did need to order water because the milkshake really wasn’t thirst quenching. The apple crisp was good, but I make it better!

DS: Hot Dog, green beans, orange juice & ice-cream sundae. The green beans were cooked well, and how can you mess up a hot dog? He liked the ice-cream, but didn’t finish it. He was too tired.

DD: Beef and Macaroni with marinara sauce and topped with mozzarella (DD had this with the sauce on the side), green beans w/milk & ice-cream sundae. We thought DD would try the sauce, but because this was hissy-fit day we didn’t push her to try it. She ate the noodles with just the cheese sprinkled on top. Everything else was good.

Would we eat here again? Maybe, we’ve eaten here twice and like the theme.

 

[ciera321]

I'm really enjoying your reviews!! More please...

 

[ampc3]

great reviews!

 

[MegaWoman]

We, ate and ate, and ate and ate . . . My 10 day DDP review! (Day 4 – Magic Wands & Royalty)

Day Four (MK)

We ate a big breakfast in our room, had a swim and took our time getting ready, because today was lunch at the Castle! The only reservation I could get was for 2pm, so it was going to be a late lunch. DD wore her princess dress that we picked up at Target for Hallowen’en that looks remarkably like Glinda the Good Witch’s dress from the Wizard of Oz. We really should have brought DS a knight’s or prince’s costume, because he really did feel left out, but the kids assure me that on the next trip he’ll bring a costume. (And when is our next trip Mummy? Ummm, I don’t know yet . . . OK I’ll ask Daddy then . . .)

A Fairytale Lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table (Lunch/Supper)

Me: Appetizers were pre-plated and honestly I don’t remember what they were. I think there was a Thai salad. I remember we were hungry and DH and I devoured everything, and that nothing on the plate appealed to the kids! We remember that we enjoyed it very much! I ate the Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin, mustard cheese grits, cabernet sauce and crispy onions w/ginger ale & dessert of some sort. We were so excited to be there that I really can’t remember eating! The kids’ eyes were just filled with delight and that is what I was focusing on the most. Because it was the last lunch seating, after a while the restaurant was really quiet and we never felt rushed. I remember thinking that the food was much better than I thought it would be for such a heavily themed restaurant.

DH: Major Domo's Favorite Pie w/ coke & dessert. As I mentioned we shared the appitetizer. DH was pretty hungry, but also our official family videographer, so he kind of shoveled it all in, while mumbling “Mmm, food, good . . .” So there you have it. Neither of us can seem to remember what we had for dessert! Maybe I should watch our home movies . . .

DS: Hot Dogs, mashed potatoes w/ milk & Royal Crown Sundae. DS HATES potatoes and he really cannot eat mashed potatoes (it’s a texture thing), and I didn’t even realize it when we ordered his lunch, and so we had to scrape the offending mashed potato onto DH’s plate. DS likes hot dogs, and he ate them happily while sword fighting with the boy sitting next to us. I think the boys were a little princess’d out, KMIM? They thought the dessert was the best! They loved the chocolate crown, and asked if I could make them at home. So if anyone knows where to buy the molds, please let me know!

DD: Chicken strips, mashed potatoes w/ milk & Royal Crown Sundae. Ok, let’s be honest here – we knew that DD wasn’t going to eat much, and so we had packed plenty of fruit and crackers for her to munch on later. She did eat a couple of mouthfuls, and she did eat her whole sundae, but all the princess action was a little too much. We were visited by Belle, Mary Poppins, Snow White, and wait for it: Princess Aurora. Well, that was it for DD, she couldn’t eat another bite. I have never seen her so star stuck before! And that made it all worth it in the end.

Would we eat here again? Yes, because they are only young once, and the whole atmosphere is pure magic. I have never seen my family so happy before. So even if they only nibbled their food, it was worth it. But, the food was good also.

The photo session takes a while, but the kids were just so awestruck that they were in the Castle; waiting in line for quite a while wasn’t an issue. DS’s sword did break that night when he was climbing into bed (he NEEDED to sleep with it!), and so on our next MK day we brought the broken sword back to the restaurant and the amazing CM working the front desk gave us two more as a replacement – just in case.

Liberty Square Market (Snack)

We bought a container of grapes and a container of watermelon for the kids to eat around supper time. We had planned on having a CS meal, but no one was hungry, so the kids snacked on the fruit and we skipped supper. We watched the castle Christmas lights and then Wishes, and went to bed early (MK closed early that night, at 7pm)

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent

 

[MegaWoman]

We, ate and ate, and ate and ate . . . My 10 day DDP review! (Day Five - Please try the Beer)

Day Five – EPCOT

Let me tell you a secret. I really didn’t feel like going to EPCOT on this day. I was a tad cranky, and I kind of wished that I had planned a resort/pool day. But I didn’t want to disappoint the family, so off we went.

Le Cellier (Lunch)

Why would a family of Canadians want to eat at the restaurant at the Canada Pavilion? Because we had heard nothing but positive things. So there you have it.

***Beer review!!! I grew up in Montréal, and spent lots of my young adult life in pubs. (Who didn’t? ) I have to HIGHLY recommend any of the UniBroue beers on the menu here. They are: Blanche de Chambly (5% abv), Maudite (8% abv), La Fin du Monde (9% abv) et Trois Pistoles (9% abv). Sure you can get Moosehead (blech!), and yes, Unibroue isn’t the tiny micro-brewery it used to be, but they still produce some great beer. And these aren’t chug-‘em-back beers, these are savour the flavour kind of beers that many people drink with dinner like a wine. I enjoy all of these. And yes, Ice-wine is good, but some years are better than others, it’s really expensive and sweet, but if you’ve already tried the ice-wine and the novelty has worn off – please, try the beer.

Me: Beefsteak Tomato stack, Le Petit Filet (5oz filet mignon) w/ lemonade & chocolate “moose”. Mmmm, good food. The tomato stack was really good, the tomatoes tasted really ripe and tomato-y. My steak was perfect; it came with cream cheese mashed potatoes that were delish! My chocolate “moose” was adorable, and perfect. I really liked the restaurant, we didn’t feel crowded at all, but we were sitting over in the corner near the wall. You really need a reservation here though, we were there during a relatively quiet time, and the hosts were turning people away telling them that they aren’t taking walk-ups all day. ** I lied about not having any pictures! Here's my chocolate moose:

DH: Cheddar Cheese soup, heirloom squash ravioli w/ Niagara refresher smoothie & apple crumble. He loved the cheddar cheese soup. I have to add that many Canadians on Disboards say they’ve never heard of this, but I’ve had it in Québec City years ago, and also in Montréal. So I think it’s a French-Canadian thing. DS tried it too, and thought it was good, but he didn’t feel like having soup. DH ordered pasta, which surprised me, but it was delicious (I had a bite), the flavours were not what I would expect from a pasta dish. The apple crumble was the usual, nothing exciting.


DS: Celery & carrot sticks, steak w/ apple slices & orange juice. DS was stoked that he could have steak! I asked for the veggies at the same time as our appetizers, as the kids were hungry, so they wolfed them down, and then he inhaled his steak. He feels more grown-up when he can order steak, and he just loves it! The kids were told to order the fruit for dessert, so we could have a treat later, and the other option was ice-cream, and I think they were a little tired of ice-cream.

DD: Celery & carrot sticks, cheese pizza w/ apple slices & milk. This was just the usual WDW pizza. It wasn’t bad, just run-of-the-mill.

Would we eat here again? Ummm, not sure. There are so many other restaurants in World Showcase that we want to try; we might not eat here again for a while. We really want to try Restaurant Marrakesh, San Angel Inn & Chefs de France.

Liberty Inn Kiosk (Snack)

We used a couple of snack credits for frozen lemonades. We all thought they were good. DD loved it.

Cantina de San Angel (Supper)

WE decided to try this just for the heck of it. I had no idea if the kids would like it, but DH and I took a chance, and it was a great choice.

Me: Plato Combinacion w/ diet coke & churro. This is a chicken taco, beef burrito and a quesadilla w/ refried beans. This was A LOT of food, and I didn’t finish the quesadilla. It was really tasty and I loved the eating area. The churro would have been better if it stayed warm while we were eating. Everything was great. Not too spicy, and flavourful.

DH: Wet burrito w/ lemonade & churro. This is a soft tortilla w/ beef, cheese, lettuce & tomato, cheese & refried beans, and a sauce that I can’t remember. DH loved this and ate it all up, except the refried beans. He’s not a fan of beans, refried or otherwise. It was just enough food for him.

DS: Plato del Nino w/ milk & churro. This is a grilled chicken and cheese quesadilla with tortilla chips. The kids didn’t want to try this, and were sulking at the table waiting for the food, but we explained that it’s kind of like pizza, but with tortillas (which they like). They LOVED this and now we have to eat quesadillas at least once a week. They also thought the churros were fun.

DD: Plato del Nino w/ milk & churro. DD surprised us by saying that she would like to eat here again. Well, wonders will never cease . . .

Would we eat here again? Oh yes! ‘nuff said.

 

[Sunshein]

We, ate and ate, and ate and ate . . . My 10 day DDP review! (Day Five - Please try the Beer)

Why would a family of Canadians want to eat at the restaurant at the Canada Pavilion? Because we had heard nothing but positive things. So there you have it.

I read this and started laugh! When we went last year I didn't make a ressie at Le cellier because I figured, why would a Montrealer go to a French steakhouse at Disney? All the pictures look like Gibby's at the Old Port of Montreal. Then I kept reading all of these amazing reviews and DH loves steak... but then it was too late and there were no adr's to be had. So this time it was one of the first adr's I made! And I do look forward to having a good Unibroue beer.

Great reviews!

 

[phabric]

Enjoyed reading your reviews. We are going in Aug and I am hoping to get ADR for Le Cellier. My DD, also said, we are Canadians why eat at Canada but I would like to see what everyone is saying about it.