Welcome to our ‘Evacuation from Gustav” AKA- I need a vacation!

[newdisneymum]

This was not a planned trip at all, we are doing in December and I have that trip planned to a T but when we had a mandatory evacuation for Gustav I convinced everyone a Disney trip was needed. I am a teacher and as most teachers know, the first weeks are stressful so I was very much in need of a vacation, especially of the Disney World kind. We stayed at the Caribbean Beach (yuck!) and were on the Deluxe Dining Plan.

I'm writing this as Hurricane Ike is coming down on us so bare with me on how long this review might take.

To be reviewed:
Wolfgang Puck Express (dinner)
Crystal Palace (lunch)
Rose and Crown (dinner)
Princess Breakfast (breakfast of course)
50’s Primetime Café (lunch)
Spoodles (dinner)
Cape May (breakfast)
Tokoyo Dining (dinner)
Hotel Breakfast
Kona Café (lunch)
Shutters (dinner)

My DSiL is helping my with this review, we both tried to remember to take the pictures and she is pasting the pictures into the words.


Cast:
Me: 24 year old teacher who loves Ariel. food wise- will try anything other than shrimp (had a bad one so I’m kind of off of them) and lamb.
DD: 2 years old, her 3rd time to Disney. Loves Belle and newly found love for Jasmine. Food wise- favorites are chicken nuggets, fries, and diet coke
DS: 3 month old who is happy all the time. Likes to look at Mickey and Winnie the Pooh food wise- similac advanced lol. It’s his 1st trip to Disney!
DGM: Loves Tinkerbell! food wise- Doesn’t like beef so chicken was always on her plate.
DGP: Doesn’t really have a favorite character Food wise- loves red meat and seafood and will pretty much eat anywhere.
DB1: 17 years old loves Winnie the Pooh and Mickey. Food wise loves seafood and will try different things
DB2: 25 year old Star Wars fanatic! Food wise- Loves pizza. Likes his beef very well done-burnt even! Occasionally eats fish but Spoodles may have kicked that habit.
DSiL: 23 year old artist and Aurora fan, food wise- very reluctant to experiment, loves cheeseburgers, pasta, fried food, and lots of Coke!






Day 1: Wolfgang Puck Express for Dinner
We had a room only reservation for this night so we didn’t have the DxDDP yet. We went to Downtown Disney and had a dinner, with take out for DB1 who was doing homework back at the room. We normally would go to Earl of Sandwich but I had convinced everyone to try somewhere different and I remember reading how good Wolfgang Puck’s was so that is where we went.

Me and DGM both had the Chinois Chicken salad with a diet coke. It was great, a much needed change from the traditional fast food. In a perfect world
I would have more wontons in my salad and DGM would have more chicken and less asian slaw but overall we both liked it.

DD had the Crispy Chicken Fingers with a diet coke. The chicken wasn’t a big hit but she LOVED the fries. She seemed to like the seasoning on them, who knew she was into fancy fries lol.

DGP had the Roast Beef & Cheddar Pocket Sandwich. He liked it although he didn’t seem to like the chips. DD was ready to leave the restaurant around the time I went to ask him about it and I forgot what he said.

DB1 had the BBQ Chicken Quesadilla. I didn’t get a chance to ask him or for a picture because he ate it so fast! He said it was good though.

DB2 had the Four Cheese Pizza. He liked it a lot. He thought the ingredients were very fresh. He loves pizza so he gets pretty picky about it, he sure cleaned the plate though!

DSiL had the Spaghetti & Meatballs. She liked it although it was so filling she couldn't finish it! The picture is deceptive as there was much more pasta than there appears to be.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Yum Im in!

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

great reviews We were in florida the same time We also did WPE our first night

 

[Rebelmom67]

Great start, I'm in!

 

[wilma-bride]

Great start and excellent pictures. We really love Wolfgang Puck Express and ate there a couple of times on our last trip.

 

[TigerKat]

Glad you were able to turn evacuation into vacation. I was not so lucky, we spent a week in Hattiesburg, MS.

Looking forward to your reviews!!!!

 

[John's Mom]

Great start!

 

[butiflfeet]

Thanks for the pics of the yummy food! I can't wait for more!

 

[mamaboogie]

Wonderful food photos!

Sorry you don't appear to have enjoyed CBR - we stayed there in August and had an amazing time!

 

[suzimar57]

great photos of wolfgang puck - that salad looks huge!

 

[mvmarcz]

I'm still so sad I couldn't finish that spaghetti !

 

[newdisneymum]

Day 2:

Breakfast was just snacks in the breakfast as DGM and I had to go recheck into the hotel so we could get our tickets and DxDDP.

Lunch- Crystal Palace
We didn’t take pictures of this as everyone has pretty much seen the food spread. This was an okay lunch. We won’t be doing this restaurant anytime soon as DD had a freak out when the characters came to the table.

Dinner- Rose and Crown
This dinner was a request from DGP not everyone else was as excited.

Appetizers

Me and DB1 both had the Crab Timbale. This was described as lump crabmeat but there is no way. It was so watery and flavorless. The only thing you could taste was curry; it was like they put buckets of it in to overcompensate for the lack of flavor in the crab. We both had Diet Coke to drink

DGM had the Samosas. She loved them and after having a few bites, I wished I had ordered them. They were a bit spicy for me but I can’t handle spice, DGM thought they were fine. She had a Diet Coke with her meal.

DSiL had the Mixed Greens Salad. She changed out the dressing for ranch. She had Coke with her meal.

DGP and DB2 both had the Potato and Leek Soup. They both seemed to like it as they ate it all. DD had a spoon full and seemed to like it but wasn’t in the mood to eat. DGP had Sprite and DB2 had Coke with his meal.

DD had the celery/carrot sticks. There was nothing for her to eat on our plates so we ordered her a child’s meal and ate OOP for it. She didn’t like them at all. I had them and it was like they had been sitting out for a while so they were dry and starting to turn brown. She had a Diet Coke with her meal.

Entrees

Me- Steak and Fish. It wasn’t very good. The steak was tough and flavorless. The fish was flavorless as well, it was like they didn’t put salt on the fish before frying. The green beans were very hard and still had the ends on them- it was like the tips were snapped off first.

DD- Mac and Cheese. She picked at it apparently while I was in the bathroom changing DS. She only eats Mac and Cheese sometimes so I wasn’t surprised when it was only picked at.

DGM- Marinated Chicken Breast. She had to send the first one back as it was stone cold. The second one wasn’t very good at all either. She picked at it but didn’t eat much.

DGP- Herb-roasted Lamb. He liked this very much. He was at the end of the table so I didn’t get info on his food. If you had any questions I can ask him though.

DB1- Bangers and Mash with the cabbage on the side. He said that he liked it but was trying to give his bangers away to DGM and me. I have to say though, the bangers were quite good.

DB2 and DSiL- Harry Ramsden's Fish & Chips. He didn't seem to have an opinion one way or the other. She thought the fish seemed a bit more slimy than it ought to have been but the batter tasted good, the chips well...how can you really mess up fried potato?

Dessert- I got a little lost on what people had because me and DSiL were changing a diaper that was a diaper to end all diapers.

Me, DB2, and DSiL had the Warm Apple Crumble- I was disappointed in this dessert. I was expecting something different; it was more watery than crumble. She thought it was ok but lacking in crumble as well.

DD and DB1 had the make your own sundae- She liked it but she loves sprinkles and the sprinkles were all stuck to the bottom. It was like they had them plated really early so they all ‘glued’ together.

DGM had the Baileys Irish Coffee Trifle. She loved this and after a had a bite of it, i wished I had ordered it. Oh and that's DS in the picture as well cuddling his Grammy

DGP had the Chocolate Scotch Cake. He liked this as well. Overall Dessert seemed to be the best part of the meal.

Needless to say- We won’t be returning to Rose and Crown anytime soon. The only good thing though, DGM and I shared in a Cider which was so good, so much that we bought another one when we were outside.

 

[newdisneymum]

Day 3:

Breakfast- Princess Storybook Dining
This was a great meal; it is brought to you family style and includes Bacon, Sausage, Scrambled Eggs and Potato Casserole. We asked for seconds for the sausage. To us it is more of a British sausage than the spicer American version. Our server was great although I kind of got him in trouble. Our server was at our table and when Jasmine was to come to our table, she saw him and went to another table. She was our last character and DD and DS were ready to go so I went and asked the character wrangler when/if she was coming back. Phew that lady was a little witchy and explained rudely to me that when a server is at the table the character can’t come. I understand that but no need for the witchyness (not a word but oh well).

Lunch- 50’s Primetime Café
This was a late addition by me, some people in the party weren’t exactly so sure about this restaurant.
Appetizers

Me and DB1 both had the crab cake. It was so good and so much better than Rose and Crown. It tasted like crab although it did have a good bit of filling in it. We both had Diet Cokes.

DGM, DSiL, and DB2 all had the Beer-Battered Onion Rings. They were huge and everyone seemed to like them. DD liked the onion ring batter so we pulled out the onion and let her eat the batter (not healthy probably but she was hungry). DGM had Diet Coke and DSiL and DB2 both had Cokes.

DGP had the shrimp cocktail. He seemed to like it, he is a man of few words but he ate it all. He had a Sprite with his meal. We couldn't get a picture he ate them so fast!

Entrees

Me- Caesar Salad with Chicken. It was okay, the chicken was great but there was a lot of dressing on the lettuce which made everything kind of wet so I didn’t eat much of that.

DGM- Stacked Sandwich with Ham. She had it with chips. She loved it although it was huge and she could only finish half of the sandwich.

DGP- Old-Fashioned Pot Roast. He can’t stand carrots and asked for it to be without them but the server said it was part of them. When it came though, they were just placed on top so we think they could have been removed but oh well. He liked it, I had a bite of it was the roast was very tender. It was a huge portion and he didn’t finish it all.

DB1- Char-grilled Chicken Sandwich without tomato. He had the fries incase DD wanted some. He seemed to like it, he ate it all.

DB2 and DSiL- Golden Fried Chicken. DSiL said it was just like her grandmother makes (Her grandmother being a 100% southern grandma) They both enjoyed it. That pickle is from DB1's meal, DSiL snagged it for herself since he didn't want it.

Dessert

Me- Brownie Sundae. I shared it with DD and we both loved it. She really loved the brownie and the whipped cream.

DGM- Angel Food Cake. She wanted something light and said this really hit the spot. It looked really good and good for you but I liked my bad for you dessert lol

DGP- Root beer float. He loved it and especially that the server gave him extra root beer to add to the float.

DB1 and DSiL- Chocolate Milkshake. He liked it, kind of hard to mess that dessert up. DSiL loved it. She loved that they brought it in a to go cup, it was so thick!

DB2- Caramel Ice Cream Sundae. He liked it.

 

[newdisneymum]

Dinner: Spoodles
We were excited about eating at this restaurant as this was a new place for us and I had heard such great reviews of it. Although I’m sure it is a great place for some, for our tastes we didn’t like it very much. For this meal we bought DD a child’s meal and also DGM and I shared 2 glow-tini. The first drink was very yummy but the second one had a little bit harder alcohol taste. Onto the food, now we will say that we were so stuffed from breakfast and lunch that we didn’t eat much here.
Here's the bread they bring to the table:

Appetizers

Me- Mediterranean Dips- I liked this but it was a lot of food. The olives were really salty which I didn’t like so I gave them to DSiL.

DD- Chicken noodle soup- She loved this but would have liked more noodles.

DGM- Margherita Flatbread- She liked this because it had big slices of tomatoes. It looked really good but I don’t like balsamic vinegar so I didn’t try a bite.

DGP- Steamed Mussels- He loved this especially the saffron cream sauce.

DB1- Garlic Shrimp- I’m guessing he liked this as it was all gone in a few seconds, like most 17 year old boys they just ate and didn’t really go into details.

DB2- Four-Cheese Flatbread He said it was fine, he wasn't feeling well at this point because of all the food.

DSiL- Greek Salad- DSiL loves olives and loved the dip for the bread and the olives from my starter. Her salad had olives in it to so to this point it was all win for her, sadly the entrees weren't so lucky.

Entrees

Me- Crispy Chicken Cutlet- The chicken was good but I didn’t like any of the extra stuff put on top of it. The Vinaigrette tasted a little funky like there was to much lemon and not enough olive oil on it.

DD- Cheese Pizza- She liked it and ate a few bites but the cheese was really thick on it. I ordered it for her because she loves thin crust pizza which for some reason I thought it would be but it wasn’t. It seemed like an already made pizza put in the oven for a minute to reheat.

DGM- Tuscan-pressed Chicken (I think) - She didn’t like the look of it and the fact that it was swimming in olive oil. She ate 2 potatoes.

DGP and DB1- Lobster Ravioli (A special) - They both seemed to like it. DGP more than my brother, but he hadn’t really had lobster before.

DB2- Pan-roasted Fillet of Red Snapper, Really really REALLY did not like this. He was so stuffed from earlier so I'm sure that didn't help but he commented after that he was off fish for the rest of the trip.

DSiL- Lemon-Garlic Shrimp Linguine, Shrimp, pasta, normally this is right up her alley but between being so full and the overpowering lemony-ness of it, it was a big let down.

Desserts – We had these to go since we were so stuffed

Me and DMG- Mascarpone Cheesecake. I never ate this since I was stuffed and someone else ate it back at the rest but I will say we didn’t get any of the strawberries or reduction on it just the plan cheesecake. DGM liked it but said the strawberries with it would be better.

DGP and DB1- Amaretto Flan. He liked it but again it didn’t come with the fruit, it was just the plain flan. DB1 didn’t like anything on the menu so he just ordered it DGP to have later. Once he saw DB2 and DSiL’s he wanted that.

DD- Make your own sundae- She loved it, especially the sprinkles which were fresher than Rose and Crown.

DB2 and DSiL- Gelato They really enjoyed eating this on the boardwalk after leaving the restaurant since it was so hot out. DSiL thought the sweetness was just right and was sad to see it go when it was finished.

 

[Rebelmom67]

I am thoroughly enjoying these reviews! I have to agree with your assessment of the Rose and Crown.....we had a "not so good" meal there too (the steak and fish).

 

[LiteBrite]

Having endured several hurricane evacuations, we have found that you might as well try to have some fun while you're gone, because it's not always very fun when you get back home after a hurricane.

We have coined our own term for this - evacuation + vacation = evacucation.

Enjoying your reviews!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent

 

[accountingbabe08]

I'm loving your evacuation vacation reviews. Can't wait to read more.

 

[SauceBoss]

Great review and pics - it sounds like Spoodles just wasn't your type of restaurant.

 

[wilma-bride]

What a shame your experience at Spoodles wasn't the greatest - it's had some excellent reviews of late. I can see why you didn't want to dine at the Rose and Crown - I am from the UK and wouldn't want to eat there either