we don't need no stinking dining plan! we'll eat what we want, when we want!

[cab0ad]

Greetings! Just got back with my DD6 from a 7 day stay at POP Century! We have always done the dining plan but opted to go without this time because we wanted to see if it would be less expensive and more relaxing to go with absolutely no dining reservations.

Here we are:

This is a mother/daughter trip with my daughter. We were ready to meet characters, ride rides, and eat anything in sight!

7 days of eating included all CS restraunts! No table service meals meant fast meals and more time for rides, no tips, and no stressing about being there in time for your meal! I have to admit, I thought I'd miss the TS meals but the complete freedom I felt was a nice change and it was great for my DD6 for when she got a spontaneous craving for a certain food or got too cranky to stick in the park!

Who is ready to embark on an adventure in eating?

 

[cab0ad]

First up: Restrauntasaurus at AK.
After a long plane trip and the ME to POP we went to AK and grabbed a quick lunch. DD's choice? Restrauntasaurus. i was not thrilled. Never eaten here and never wanted to. I wanted to try Yak and Yeti, but hey, I can give a little here. It is our first meal and she wanted to go to Dino-land so off we went. It was HOT and I was not too hungry so I ordered the kids meal turkey wrap for myself with fries and a cookie and my DD ordered the hamburger meal with fries and a cookie. we both had milk with our meals. Never knew the kids meals here came in a bucket. That was a happy surprise that my DD benefited from all week at the pool. She has gotten more use out of those buckets than any of the other stuff I got her!

My turkey wrap meal (kids meal):



My DD's hamburger:


the pail of fries that we both got:
fixins bar:



and the cookie we both got:


The turkey wrap was pretty good actually. a LOT of meat in it and after the fixing bar helped out with lettuce and tomato it was very good! DD loved the hamburger. about the size of a mcdonalds hamburger: not huge but good enough for a kid. neither of us liked the fries. they were limp and had been sitting around too long. we both ate a few and threw them out. we saved the cookies for later deciding we might want a snack in line sometime. i don't advise that: they melt too fast!

overall, this meal was okay. the fries were terrible but the main dish and the pails made up for that. the pails alone were worth the trip there. I had to carry them around all day but my DD loved playing with them in the pool! two thumbs up for Restrauntasaurus, the restraunt I didn't want to even try!

Total cost for meal: $15.96 for 2 kids meals

 

[cab0ad]

next up: snacktime at AK!

Okay, so I said it wasn't a good idea to "save the cookie for later" right? chocolate chip cookies plus extreme heat equals a big mess that you end up throwing away rather than eating...so... off to get mickey ear ice cream we go! DD wanted one but I skipped. too messy for me! but here it is:


looked good but melted way too fast creating a huge mess. DD ate half of it and then gave up and threw it away because of the mess. Still, how can you NOT get at least one of these on your trip, right? only 1 thumb up here due to the huge mess it creates. If you get one of these, procede immediately to the nearest air-conditioned location! Run, don't walk!

Total cost: $3.75 for one mickey head ice cream...

 

[donnaf516]

Great start! Looking forward to reading more : )

 

[WildGinger]

Looks great, can't wait to hear the rest!

 

[wilma-bride]

Fab start! Love the fact that you're playing it wild and loose with no ADRs

 

[cab0ad]

thanks guys! can't wait to get all the pics on! I had some great surprises when it came to meals!

next up for dinner was...Landscapes at AOA! Ok, so we stayed at POP but the menu at AOA seemed more appealing so we headed across the bridge to their food court. so glad we did!

DD opted for the mac and cheese with seasoned fries and pudding for dessert. The mac and cheese was FABULOUS for counter service. It had a melty cheesy top that was baked on. I know it was so good because I snuck a bite before sending DD to get a straw at a nearby service station for her milk. Her pudding was nothing to be excited about. barely average. she ate a few bites and let it be. the fries were better than earlier in the day, but they still had the "I've been sitting under a heat lamp all day" kinda taste. She ate some of them though. the portion for kids here was HUGE!!! She couldn't finish half of it. Definitely a good place to get good portions for a small amount!



I opted for the surf and turf burger with coleslaw. The coleslaw was fresh and good. very cold! had a vinegar bite to it, which I like. The burger was wonderful! Lots of large clumps of crab meat in the patty which surprised me. I was expecting a bunch of small mushy meats for some reason. the fried shrimp on top was also good. the sauce was a bit spicy but not so much it was inedible (I hate spicy foods...)

close up of the sandwich only

after dinner we decided to get some desserts to take back to the room for later. DD got:

not impressed with it. just a regular old cupcake from any store. did not taste too fresh--looks good though.

I got the pumpkin/pecan tart:

This was AWESOME! It was like pumpkin pie on the bottom with the top of pecan pie! so rich but so good! This dessert alone made going to AOA a really good night!

Didn't take us long to decide we would be eating here again!

Then early to bed for our BBB apt. the next day and eating at BOG!

Total meal cost: $26.05 for one adult meal, one kids meal, and 2 desserts

 

[cab0ad]

up nice and early the next day for our BBB appt. and had to get a quick bite from POP. cereal and milk. we had a choice of wheat frosted flakes (which I did not know existed), raisin bran, corn pops, and a few others I can't remember. DD got the wheat frosted flakes and thankfully did not notice the difference between what the frosted flakes at home looked like/tasted like!

what can you say about cereal and milk? at least she ate??? okay, done with that!

total cost: $5.73 for 1 cereal and 2 milks

 

[cab0ad]

BOG for lunch!

so we went to BBB and got "princessfied", got pics in the studio, saw some characters, and changed out of the dress to get her more comfortable. Went to BOG to get in the line which was right at the end of the bridge. Waited FOREVER to get to the ordering machine. Literally FOREVER... side tangent here: why can't they just take our orders? we were in line for 1 hour total from getting in line to finding a table but the hold up was the ordering process. People were taking way too long to order! I saw families sit at those ordering screens for 10 minutes! People were acting confused, kids were wanting to do it themselves (making the process even longer) and people in line watching them just got angrier and hungrier. i didn't think the process was hard, but the touch screen was not very sensitive and you really had to push hard to make the screen respond. maybe my screen was broken or something. anyway, after ordering I went into the dining room expecting to fight for a table and the restraunt was half empty! seriously, half empty! we chose a seat right next to the snow falling window in the ballroom and waited for our food. Okay, off my soapbox now...

DD go the meatloaf but substituted fries for the zucchini. I got the kids meatloaf meal just the way it comes. we couldn't decide on dessert so we got 3 to share: the lemon cupcake, strawberry cupcake, and passion fruit cream puff.
Mine:

This was delicious! LOVED the veggies. crunchy and fresh! not floppy or overcooked. the turkey meatloaf was well spiced. not crazy about the carrot sauce. ketchup would have been nice but the meatloaf had enough flavor it was not necessary. the meat was not greasy.
DD's

same as mine but with fries. did not try the fries and neither did DD. she at the meatloaf and broccoli and wanted her dessert. she also snubbed the carrot dip but used the ketchup for her meatloaf. lucky her!
lemon cupcake:

we both hated the lemon cupcake. one bite each and we were done. just didn't taste good at all. hated the topping!
strawberry:

this one was yummy! I only got a bite and DD claimed it for hers! tasted fresh and yummy!
inside of cupcake:

cream puff:

inside of cream puff:

The cream puff was my favorite dessert I had all week. It gets a bad rap here for some reason but the flavor was delicious, it was large, and it did not have the "mass produced and injected with preservatives" taste that many disney desserts have. it was light, fluffy, and wonderful! I loved the passion fruit taste! seriously wanted another one of these when I had eaten it all!

BOG was a success! we both loved the food, but hated the wait to get it!

Total cost: $27.64 for 2 kids meals and 3 desserts. Ouch! this one hurt! Would hate to see the price if I had ordered an adult meal!

 

[cab0ad]

Dinner: POP food court

after a long day of princesses, rides, and walking we went to the POP food court for dinner. boy, was that a mistake! neither of us were too hungry and we both got the mac and cheese kids meal with yogurt, and one of us got pudding for dessert and the other got one of those generic choc. chip cookies. hey, maybe we would get to eat this cookie before it melted!





what can I say? just not good...dry mac and cheese with a thick burnt tasting crusty topping of some sort of cracker or cereal or something. the topping was so thick and hard that there was hardly any edible mac and cheese under. it really was terrible. the yogurt was a welcome comfort after the mac and cheese! DD ate all of the average pudding too. took the cookie back to the room and ate it later. just an average cookie. nothing to be excited about. just a sad, lame meal. just the first sad lame meal of POP unfortunately! NOT a fan of the new menu here! Off subject of my dinner: I saw a family get the nachos and they put the toppings on potato chips! looked disgusting!

Total cost: $12.76 for 2 kids meals

 

[darthtatty]

great start

Sounds like BOG needs to be a lot more organised, they've been open a while now too.

The burger at AOA-was that the surf & surf burger, rather than the surf & turf?
just I keep hearing about the double seafood burger, I love seafood and really want to try it.
It looks very yummy in your picture.

Cant wait to read more

 

[cab0ad]

another bright and beautiful day begins! don't have to rush of to BBB so we have time to eat a real breakfast before going to HS! well...kinda a real meal. We ate at the POP food court (which our first meal in was gross) thinking, how can you screw up breakfast? we both ordered the kids biscuit and gravy meal with eggs. didn't expect quite what we got. they literally put the eggs in the middle of the plate, put the biscuit on the eggs, and put gravy on top of it all! why????

I was not a fan, but dd liked it. Mental note: ask for the eggs on the SIDE next time... the biscut was hard (not surprised) but the gravy had a nice flavor to it. just not on eggs!

total cost: $10.63 for 2 kids breakfasts

 

[cab0ad]

great start

Sounds like BOG needs to be a lot more organised, they've been open a while now too.

The burger at AOA-was that the surf & surf burger, rather than the surf & turf?
just I keep hearing about the double seafood burger, I love seafood and really want to try it.
It looks very yummy in your picture.

Cant wait to read more

probably surf and surf! I am not good with remembering names of meals! I just know it had a crab cake and fried shrimp and it was GOOD!!!

 

[cab0ad]

Off to HS for Toy story mania! We really didn't do too much here and wanted to leave around noon but got a quick snack beforehand at Starring Rolls Cafe. Never eaten here before so it seemed like a good idea to stop in for a snack!
DD opted for an apple danish

I did not get to taste it. She ate the WHOLE THING!!!! She said it was very yummy. It looked like any regular old danish from any grocery store but according to DD it was the best dessert ever...of course I have never actually given her a danish before, but what does that matter?

I was about to get the butterfinger cupcake when I struck up a conversation with the register worker and asked if I could get the grapefruit cake from the neighboring restraunt. She said she would run over and get me one! I have read a lot about this cake but never tried it so I was excited (even though it was $7 for the slice!).



The grapefruit cake was good, but not $7 good and worth all the hype in my opinion. had more of a bitter taste than a sweet sugary taste. I'm glad I tried it, but I will not be asking for it again. Oh, I wasn't sure if you were supposed to actually eat the ring of fruit I tried it. I am guessing it is just a garnish and not meant to be eaten from the bite I had!

Total cost: $12.66 for a "light snack"

 

[cab0ad]

off to lunch/dinner at Cookes of Dublin!

We swam a while and skipped lunch but went to Downtown Disney to eat an early dinner at a restraunt I have heard a lot of positive things about: Cookes of Dublin. So glad we went there! YUMMY!!!!

DD got the kids meal with fries and mac and cheese (I know, you're shocked...):

The mac and cheese was creamy and good! the fries were the best fries we had the entire week! crispy, fresh, and GOOD!

I opted for the chicken pie with leeks, potatoes, and field mushrooms.

inside of pie

This pie was delicious! one of the best meals I had all week. It was piping hot fresh, tasted homemade, and had an earthy taste to it. LOVED it. It was gigantic and I could not finish it, but it was good! The fries, as stated above, were the best we had all week. crispy, crunchy, and fresh!

we got the doh bar to share for dessert:


I had 2 bites of this and DD refused to eat any of it. It was not the best. I didn't know what to expect... I have never had a deep fried candy bar before. it was just hot and the inside was runny and messy. Too rich for such heat in Florida! I don't understand the obsession people seem to have for it...

Overall Cookes of Dublin was great! Definitely would want to eat here again!

Total cost: $30.52 for 1 kids meal with milk, 1 adult meal, one iced tea, and a doh bar. This was the most expensive meal I paid for but WELL worth it!

 

[cab0ad]

Goofy's candy company: a good excuse to buy too much sugar!

Well, who knows when we'll get downtown again, right? better stock up on some goodies for the room!

thought about these:

decided they probably didn't taste as good as they looked though.

Got the Minnie cookie of these:

thought this would be good since it was wrapped up so good. ate it a few days later. GROSS!!!! the cookie was harder than cement and the icing had a distinct taste that was not pleasant. You know a cookie is bad when your DD takes one bite, her entire mouth turns black from the icing, and she asks to brush her teeth after throwing the cookie in the trash! Not too magical!

got this cupcake and ate it a few days after it was purchased:

DD scraped the icing off of it declaring it was "funny tasting" but ate the cake up. I took a finger full of icing and I agree... it tasted funny...

got this and ate it the same night:

cut it up with a knife from the food court and shared it. It was good! good coating of caramel and nuts and fresh tasting apple! Did not get that watery consistency when I sliced it that some caramel apples do. A good dessert and it made up for the minnie cookie disaster and the cupcake.

Finally, got this:

It was HUGE and took us about 4 days to eat. The icing actually tasted a bit like strawberry flavoring. The cookie was not too sweet. not bad, but not the best either. we could take it or leave it.

Lesson learned from Goofy: get the apples, not the cookies or cupcakes!

Total goofy cost: $29.05 but I also got some jelly beans that are not pictured.

 

[cab0ad]

another day, another breakfast! at POP... again...

DD got the biscuit and gravy over eggs again...

Hey, if she likes it and eats it I'm okay with that... I sure wasn't gonna order it again!

I got the kids waffle meal:

It came with 2 mickey waffles, a slice of bacon, and a chicken sausage that I asked to substiute out for an additional slice of bacon. why would anyone order an adult breakfast here when the kids breakfasts are so big? I don't get it! 2 mickey waffles, bacon, and fruit filled me up just fine! loved the waffles. crispy outside and yummy inside! the fruit was just ok. the bacon was a floppy mess but I still ate it. washed it down with my mickey milk and left full and happy that I finally ate something at POP that didn't leave my stomach upset!

Total cost: $10.63 for 2 kids meals with milk

 

[cab0ad]

Off to the MK again! It got hot really quick and we stopped by Gaston's to get a cool off drink: the Lefous Brew! I opted to only get 1 to share. I paid for the $10 souv. glass but asked them to put the drink in a disposable cup so I didn't have to carry around a sticky dirty mug all day.

I don't have a good pic of this. sorry!


This thing was sweet! and I mean, sugary sweet! the 2 of us drunk about 2/3 of it but could not finish the whole thing. Just too sugary! the foam topping was interesting... the apple slushy part was good too. just STRONG!

total cost: $10.64 for 1 drink and a souveneir cup on the side.

 

[cab0ad]

lunchtime at the Columbia Harbor house

Never eaten here since DS and DH hate seafood so this was the perfect time to try it since they were not with us.

DD got... wait for it... mac and cheese again. hey, at least all of you people at home can compare/contrast the mac and cheese options of the world!

not bad mac and cheese! creamy. reminds me of the mac and cheese from Liberty Tree Tavern. fries, as most do, were limp and soggy and uneaten. got another choc. chip cookie to carry around and not eat.

I got the tuna sandwich with chips.

Oh yummy yummy yum! This sandwich was good! mutigrain bread was a bit overtoasted but I like it crunchy so it worked for me! The tuna was plentiful and good! not completely drenched in mayo, which surprised me. had fresh tomato and lettuce on it. ripe tomato! it was SO GOOD! sandwich was huge and I didn't eat the chips. not a chip fan, but the sandwich more than filled me up!

So glad we finally tried CHH! will go back again.

total cost: $18.46 for a kids meal with milk and an adult sandwich/chips with water

 

[cab0ad]

snacktime at sleepy hollow!

never been here either but sought it out purpously for the waffle with nutella and fruit I have heard so many good things about.

DD and I shared and this truly was fabulous! the waffle was crispy and fresh, the nutella was not overpowering, and the fruit was fresh and complimented the spread so well! This was right at the top of my list of foods I loved the most for this trip! Wish I could order this for breakfast at POP everyday!

Run, don't walk to sleepy hollow to get one of these! Well worth the effort!

total cost: $6.81 and I would've paid double that to eat it again!