We Got The Mouse to Pay for Our Disney Feasts! w/PICS! REPORT COMPLETED!

[NorweJenNY]

Now that I've completed my July dining review ("I Got Work to Pay for my Disney Feasts!"), I figured it's time to start our fall free dining review... "We Got the Mouse to Pay for Our Disney Feasts!"

(If you couldn't already tell, I like when I don't have to pay for things myself. )

Now granted, free dining means you have to pay rack rates for resort stays, but that's pretty cheap for value resorts, which is where we stayed this time - the All Star Movies resort. This definitely made the free dining package worth it!

Anyhoo, this trip (Sept 26-Oct 4) was with hubby (for the first few days) and my Big Guy (age 6) and Little Guy (age 4). We came down a day early, but were soon joined by my dsil (DizzyMrsLizzy), my brother, my nephew (Baby was just over a year old) and my mother - who got to celebrate her birthday while we were there! (39 again, can you believe it? )

We basically spent the entire trip (9 nights for us, 8 for the rest of the gang), feeling full.

Here's what we've got lined up...

• Nine Dragons (lunch) (page 1)
• Sassagoula Floatworks @ POFQ (dinner) (page 1)
• Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe (lunch) (page 2)
• Whispering Canyon (dinner) (page 3)
• 50s Prime Time (lunch) (page 3)
• Crystal Palace (breakfast) (page 4)
• Chefs de France (dinner) (page 4)
• Tutto Italia (lunch) (page 5)
• Food & Wine booth: Krakow, Poland (page 6)
• All-Star Movies Food Court (dinner) (page 6)
• Donald's Safari Breakfast - Tusker House (page 6)
• Snacking @ Animal Kingdom (page 6)
• 1900 Park Fare (dinner) (page 6)
• Chef Mickey's (dinner) (page 7)
• Le Cellier (dinner) (page 7)
• Biergarten (lunch) (page 7)

Dsil will have to help contribute, especially for Le Cellier since that was one day I spent sick as a dog in the room by myself...

But I assure you that I have tons of pictures (thanks for helping to keep our family from eating everything before I got a photo, dsil!) I will also share some counter service meals and snacks as they come up...

So I hope you'll join in on our memories of the flavors to savor...

 

[dizneeat]

I am in ......... if the mouse pays ........... I am in!!!
(Actually he paid for my meals as well )

 

[KatMark]

I'm always in when someone else pays. Let the reviews begin.

 

[NorweJenNY]

I am in ......... if the mouse pays ........... I am in!!!
(Actually he paid for my meals as well )

I'm always in when someone else pays. Let the reviews begin.

Okey dokey... coming right up...

 

[NorweJenNY]

Nine Dragons

Lunch

September 26, 2009

First things first... we were headed to Disney after a night at my father-in-law's house in Ocala... he fed us quite the breakfast that morning - pancakes, french toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, etc., etc., etc... he might as well have been cooking at one of the Disney buffets! I highly recommend La Casa de Mi Father-in-Law!

Anyhoo, we got a little late heading out, so on the way to checking in at All-Star Movies, I called the Disney dining line to get an ADR about 45 minutes later. Good thing we were due to go to Nine Dragons! Just about any other restaurant and we probably would've been told, "nice try, no cigar!" (as this was Sept - midst of Free Dining - and the beginning of the Food & Wine Festival).

So it turns out we would have had enough time to get to Nine Dragons with our original ADR time, but of course the boys wouldn't want to go straight to Epcot and eat right away, so now we had a little play time before lunch.

We arrived at Nine Dragons just before our new ADR time and were promptly seated.

The windows looked like picture frames around nice scenes.

Check it out - a view of Norway from China:

The kids split a deluxe kid's meal, which included lo mein, meatballs, sweet & sour chicken, and carrots.

Big Guy enjoyed the lo mein & meatballs.

He even decided to try using chopsticks like his daddy did...

(Nice try, no cigar... )

Little Guy enjoyed the chicken, which fortunately came with the sauce on the side (that's something he wasn't particularly fond of).

Neither of them ate the carrots... nor did their parents...

We're just not carrot people...

But hubby and I did enjoy our honey sesame chicken! Just the right amount of sweetness, with a slight crisp on the outside, but soft and juicy on the inside! (How often do you get sesame chicken that's soft inside in a regular restaurant, hmmm?)

I know hubby has been looking forward to this meal since 2003, which is the last time we were at Nine Dragons, so we each had our own plate... though hubby helped me finish mine. I just started the trip with such a small stomach (appetite-wise).

Since hubby & I used TS credits for our meal (the boys were OOP, as we knew we'd need some more credits for them later on in the week), we had two desserts to get.

I wanted to try the cheesecake egg roll that I'd read so much about, but alas, they had stopped serving that!

So we just got one bowl of each type of ice cream, strawberry red bean (which Big Guy & I liked best), & ginger (which Little Guy basically devoured!)...

Hubby nibbled, but wasn't particularly fond of either. (He did have a lot of lunch though, after helping me with my chicken too! He probably just didn't have much appetite left.)

It was a lot of ice cream though, and even with all of us and just two bowls, we couldn't quite finish it all.

Overall, we enjoyed our meal. They kept the drinks coming. The staff was helpful and friendly. The atmosphere was nice (though the restaurant was still quite full, probably because of free dining - it was much quieter during the two trips we had there years ago).

Stay tuned for more good stuff...

 

[pinkxray]

loving your first review, can't wait to see more
Keep them coming!

 

[natalielongstaff]

great reviews so far

 

[MickeyNicki]

Im in!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Glad to hear you enjoyed Nine Dragons. We just added it to our upcoming trip because DS really wanted to have chinese food on Christmas Day! Go figure!

 

[NorweJenNY]

loving your first review, can't wait to see more
Keep them coming!

I will!

great reviews so far

Thanks!

Im in!

Glad to hear you enjoyed Nine Dragons. We just added it to our upcoming trip because DS really wanted to have chinese food on Christmas Day! Go figure!

...to each his own

(Though as long as your not cooking for Christmas, how can you go wrong?)

 

[NorweJenNY]

Sassagoula Floatworks

Dinner

September 26, 2009

So in July, I noticed what a wonderful variety Sassagoula Floatworks had for the whole family... and some in the family wanted to try beignets... so we decided that once dsil, db, Baby, and Grandmom came in, we'd go to Downtown Disney and then take a boat to POFQ for dinner. Sounds nice right?

Well, we get to Downtown Disney and expect to go to the Marketplace, browse a little bit, and hop on a boat right there.

Not that easy... we're on the bus and everyone starts getting off at the bus stop at the West Side.

We asked the bus driver why we were there, and that's when we find out that the Marketplace bus stop is not being utilized for some reason tonight... so we had a long walk.

Then when we got to the dock, we find a loooong line of people waiting to go, so we ended up missing the first boat that came and waiting 20+ minutes for the next one.

And we were hungry! We worked up an appetite with all the extra, unexpected walking.

We finally get to POFQ, and I took Big Guy & Little Guy to the playground for a little bit while the rest of the crew went to order and start getting food. It does take a while to get food from different stations, so I let the boys play for ten minutes or so.

Finally back all together, we find that the boys could have played on the playground for more like twenty minutes, as it was a little slow. Also, we had a minor problem because hubby discovered they weren't counting shakes as desserts with a dining plan CS credit (and I had wanted an oreo one like I had just gotten in July as a dessert on the dining plan - what's with all these changes?)

Despite all the little setbacks of the evening, I managed to get my ribs dinner with macaroni and cheese, which made everything worth while! I LOVE those ribs there! Better than FlameTree, better than Cosmic Ray's... I love them so much that my mom and I even decided to stay at POFQ on a quick last-minute trip we decided to take next month, just before Christmas.

Anyway, here are my ribs, and the oreo ice cream (not shake) that I got for my dessert...

Big Guy got grilled cheese with applesauce and a chocolate chip cookie...

Little Guy got chicken nuggets with applesauce and a chocolate chip cookie...

I believe my brother and my mother got ribs like me. I don't remember what hubby got though... for some reason I don't have a picture...

Baby (my nephew) ended up eating some of my macaroni and cheese... I got a double portion with my ribs, as I could have two sides and didn't care about getting another one.

And now for dsil... now, she has this "thing" about chicken, and it started with some type of situation with chicken in Disney World... so having a "thing" against chicken in Disney World developed.... so imagine my surprise when she gets this for dinner...

I just don't understand... dsil, if you're out there, can you explain why you have a "thing" against chicken, yet you ordered chicken as your first Disney meal this trip?

You can see from the picture that she is one who ordered beignets... my opinion is that they are a little disappointing because they were surprisingly hollow. But I don't remember how dsil felt about them!

I do recall Big Guy liking all the powdered sugar that the beignets sat in though... he'd just take a spoon and dig in!

So while we were glad we did Sassagoula, we were also a little nervous. As we were eating, this HUGE thunderstorm suddenly rolled in... we didn't have umbrellas or ponchos or anything, and it was getting late and dark! Had we been staying at POFQ, it wouldn't have been so bad, but we still had to go back to Downtown Disney, and then from there, back to All-Star Movies...

We would need be better prepared in the future. Florida weather does change suddenly and without much notice!

Stay tuned... lots more to come!

 

[Dizzymrslizzy]

Sassagoula Floatworks

Okay Okay I'm here now!!!! It's been a crazy week back here and I didn't get a chance to download all of the TR and Dining reports I wrote up while in the world.

Sassagoula Floatworks was one of DSILs picks. She raved and raved about the ribs here when they went back in the early summer, and knowing my loving DH loves Ribs I decided to bite the bullet and go. I wasn't looking forward to it at all, and when we got there I was even MORE unhappy with the choice. I'll be the first to admit.....I'm picky about my food. I'm VERY picky. I don't like most meats, I've had bad experiences with chicken, and was scarred for life at the Garden Grill when I was a teen with a chicken drumstick that had a big ole huge vein in it that my sister bit into and blood squirted everywhere. I don't really eat chicken out anymore since then. I was also on Weight watchers and wanted to try to be semi conscious during this trip of what I ate. I also had the problem of not having any meal plan for Baby. So I was trying to please him with my meal choices as well.

So yeah I came back with the Fried Chicken. I figured it was semi healthy (aside from the fried bit), and DS likes chicken. I have to say for a person who hates chicken it was pretty decent. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it, and would go back. It's not a first choice of mine, but if I had to I'd go back. I'd definitely go for desserts because the Beignets were so so good! The would have been a little better hot, as they had cooled off by the time I got to them.

We managed to feed Baby on our sides, and I gave him a good hunk of chicken to eat. I think his favorite part was the Beignets. They were yumm-a-licious.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Oh! Oh! I'm in! We are planning a trip this same week with free dining in 2010, so I want to hear all about the food, the wait time to get in the restaurants, the weather, the crowds...you get the picture!

 

[Dizzymrslizzy]

Twoboys! It was a WONDERFUL week to go! Lines were very short all around. Wait times for food weren't bad either. I think our longest wait was at Le Cellier.

 

[onelilspark]

Another report! I'm in!

 

[NorweJenNY]

Oh! Oh! I'm in! We are planning a trip this same week with free dining in 2010, so I want to hear all about the food, the wait time to get in the restaurants, the weather, the crowds...you get the picture!

Twoboys! It was a WONDERFUL week to go! Lines were very short all around. Wait times for food weren't bad either. I think our longest wait was at Le Cellier.

Yes, it was a great time of the year to visit!

And although I can't compare it to the Le Cellier wait, I think 50s PT takes the cake for the longest wait... we waited quite a while and had a hard time hearing the cast members calling who was next. I don't know why we didn't get a pager.

Although the crowds are down overall, the restaurants are crowded with free dining. That was easy to tell just by the fact that Nine Dragons was full! That's not the case during busier seasons without free dining!

But overall, I can't complain. DSIL and I even got to ride Splash Mountain with less than a 5 minute standby wait time in the middle of a warm afternoon! (Note: Go to MK on days when MNSSHP will be happening that evening... lowest crowds during the day!)

Another report! I'm in!

Glad you'll be joining us!

Yes... and I've gotta keep them coming! My family's (well, minus hubby who unfortunately has to work) third trip this year is in a mere three weeks! And we're planning on at least one, and very likely two, more trips in the first half of 2010 (while our annual passes are still good). I am so glad we moved within driving distance of Disney World!

When I say there's lots more to come, I mean it!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

No more cheesecake eggroll at the Nine Dragons? On our honeymoon when we ate there, i LOVED it. Do they only have icecream now? Bummer! P.S. 3 disney trips in 6 months, you are lucky!!!!

 

[NorweJenNY]

No more cheesecake eggroll at the Nine Dragons? On our honeymoon when we ate there, i LOVED it. Do they only have icecream now? Bummer! P.S. 3 disney trips in 6 months, you are lucky!!!!

Yeah... no more cheesecake eggroll... Never got a chance to try it!

Yeah, we really lucked out with these trips... it helps to be within driving distance and have gotten a good deal on APs in July!

 

[NorweJenNY]

Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe

Lunch

September 27, 2009

We spent our first full day as one big happy family at the Magic Kingdom, and Cosmic Ray's has pretty much become our favorite counter service.

My one gripe is that out of all the options, and varieties of adult burgers they serve, you'd think they'd serve a kid's meal with a burger... but they don't. Oh well. My mom (Grandmom) and I shared the Chicken & Ribs Combo (super value for one credit on the dining plan), and I let Big Guy eat a burger from an adult credit. Little Guy was happy with nuggets - so no problem there.

Big Guy's adult burger came with apples and apple juice. The apple juice comes from a fountain, and if you order a large (no extra charge on the DDP), there is easily enough to share around for three kids! Trust me! Good to save some for later as another option.

Little Guy's nuggets came with grapes. I believe we shared some fries around from other meals, but I did want my kids to have some fruit so they weren't just filling up on fried stuff.

In case you're wondering about the brownie, we shared our desserts around a bit... it doesn't come with the kid's meal. And the fries were part of my meal.

Here's some of Grandmom & my chicken... and ribs... with green beans to be healthier... and french fries instead of mashed potatoes to be not so healthy ...I love fries with cheese sauce, which is complimentary at Cosmic Ray's fixin bar. (You can see my cheese sauce in the background in one of the white containers in the rib pic.)

The chicken was moist, and good. The ribs were not really fall-off-the bone - not as good at POFQ, not as good as Whispering Canyon (where we're headed this night), but still satisfies my infatuation with ribs.

And here's hubby's burger...

Double cheeseburger... loaded with bacon.... My family likes meat!

Here's Little Guy eating some brownie...

They're actually sugar free brownies, and pretty tasty. In the past I thought it tasted more like a spice cake than a brownie, but this time it seemed a little more chocolatey to me. Not as dense as some brownies - more like a cake consistency... not bad.

And here's just a cute pic of Big Guy playing with his baby cousin...

I didn't get a shot of my brother's food... sorry, he was a little far away from me and my camera... and what did dsil eat? No, couldn't have been chicken again...

 

[chell]

Glad to see another one of your reviews!