What? We need to leave room for snacks?!!

[ReneeA]

Later that day (8/31) we went to EPCOT. I'm a crazy, detail oriented planner and originally I had us scheduled to go to Typhoon Lagoon in the morning, and EPCOT later that evening. Then Hurricane Erika threatened to hit Florida, so I got scared and changed my plans. I thought for sure it would rain for a good portion of our day so a water park would be a bust. Nope! We went to EPCOT and had gloriously fantastic water park weather until about 4, when it started to drizzle a bit.

A little after 11, we started feeling like lunch would be welcome. DD wanted Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles, or "the bakery in France" as we 'Mericans like to call it in our house. DS kinda scoffed at eating soup and rolls for lunch, so the boys decided to wander next door to Morocco for Tangierine Cafe.

DD and I ordered the ham and cheese sandwich (toasted), a napoleon, a large sprite, and a bowl of lobster bisque to share. Actually, I ate 3/4 of the sandwich and she ate the rest and all of the soup. We used 1 CS credit and 1 snack credit for this meal. It was all fantastic - fresh bread, nice ingredients. DD really enjoyed the soup as well. It was the perfect amount of food for the 2 of us, it filled us up without feeling stuffed. When we got all our food, we had it loaded up on a tray and walked next door to eat outside of Tangeriene with the boys.

I was a little bit nervous for the boys to order middle eastern food. Not because they don't like it...they really love it. We live in Detroit, which has the highest number of middle eastern people (of all varieties) living outside of the middle east. Seriously, we have *fabulous* middle eastern cuisine here on every corner. You can find shawarma lunch that makes your heart sing here for as little as $3 - super flavorful, made fresh right in front of you. You can also get a $60 rack of lamb at a fancy restaurant here that you'd be willing to trade your first born for. Seriously, it's that good. DS order the combo platter that he scarfed down and declared, "Good". I asked if it was as good as he gets at home, and his answer was, "No, but I didn't expect it to be." DH got the chicken platter, and he was not happy at all. He ate it, but said he expected better since he had read the reviews online. I tried it, and it was fine. I really think they would have enjoyed it more if they weren't used to knock your socks off shawarma. They both got a piece of baklava for dessert, which I thought was fine, but again...not as good as we get here. They used 2 of their CS credits for the meal there.

 

[luvpooh]

Really enjoying your reviews! Thanks for sharing them, it's making me more excited for my upcoming trip!

 

[ReneeA]

Really enjoying your reviews! Thanks for sharing them, it's making me more excited for my upcoming trip!

Thanks! It was such a great trip.

 

[ReneeA]

Tuesday, 9/1 was our AK day.

I forgot to mention, every morning we ate granola bars, dried fruit, pop in the refillable mugs, and of course...my glorious iced coffee.

We toured AK in the morning, rode EE a bunch of times, and decided to grab lunch around 11. We decided to give the new Harambe Market at try. DD & I shared a beef flatbread sandwich with tomato broccoli salad, DS got his own beef flatbread with the salad, and DH went for the ribs with a chickpea salad.

This meal was a huge hit! DH's ribs had great flavor and were fall of the bone tender. The rest of us all loved our flatbread as well, and it was plenty for 2 smaller appetites to share. 3 CS = 3 coconut tarts, and 3 drinks. I like that they have some different drink options here than the normal qs place. DS went for an African Strawberry pop, DD had a watermelon lemonade, and DH had diet coke. We also got a couple of ice waters to share as well since it was hotter than the surface of the sun in AK. As usual.

About 2, we were all hot, tired, and becoming extremely crabby. DH was about to lose it...and he's normally the easier going one. So we grabbed a frozen coke, a Mickey bar, and a frozen blue raspberry with snack credits. I found a stand with frozen alcoholic beverages and bought a frozen margarita. We sat through flights of wonder and drank our frozen goodness and everyone felt better. Snacks saved the day.

Next up...Turf Club for dinner.

 

[ariane37]

Joining! Loving your report so far We were in Orlando the same time as you, 8/29-9/6 but mostly did Universal this trip. We did sneak in a MK day on the 3rd though Glad you enjoyed BOG lunch, it's pretty much our favorite TS for dinner.
Looking forward to reading more!

 

[vettegirl]

I love the lobster bisque and sandwiches in France, and the soup is a great snack credit. I am a big fan of the Tangerine Cafe and it is a great use of the dining plan as that place isn't cheap. I am going to miss both places this next trip as we are getting the deluxe so it's all TS and signatures this go round.

 

[ReneeA]

Joining! Loving your report so far We were in Orlando the same time as you, 8/29-9/6 but mostly did Universal this trip. We did sneak in a MK day on the 3rd though Glad you enjoyed BOG lunch, it's pretty much our favorite TS for dinner.
Looking forward to reading more!

Oooohhh!! We did Universal/IoA/Sea World last year and it was fabulous!

I love the lobster bisque and sandwiches in France, and the soup is a great snack credit. I am a big fan of the Tangerine Cafe and it is a great use of the dining plan as that place isn't cheap. I am going to miss both places this next trip as we are getting the deluxe so it's all TS and signatures this go round.

Have fun with Deluxe! We thought it was overkill when we used it, but after this trip, even the regular one is out. We shared and still had too much, and had lots of CS and snack credits at the end of the trip. It was nice to head down to Roaring Forks for a couple of sandwiches and grab pastries for our trip back home using our left over CS/snack credits.




About 4pm, we got on the bus to Saratoga Springs for our 5pm ADR at Turf Club. We were unsure of which stop we had to get off at and I was not aware that Saratoga is the size of a large, bustling town. We got off at the wrong stop, had to look at a map and then ask a CM for the correct direction. I think the heat had gotten to our brains.

We arrived at Turf Club right on time and were seated immediately. I really liked the feel of the restaurant...it was dark, quiet, and surrounded by rich woods and fabrics. We ordered drinks and perused the menu to decide. Our server (I can't remember his name but he was fantastic) offered a price-fix menu at the upgrade price of $18. I believe it was a Porterhouse steak, a soup and salad as well as a dessert. DH really wanted the french onion soup, so decided to upgrade his meal. I ordered the sustainable fish, which was swordfish, DS ordered Prime Rib, and DD ordered Chicken breast with mac and cheese.

DH's meal started with a big crock of french onion soup, which was very good. Of course, we all had to have a spoonful or 2. Then they brought out a big plate of Caesar salad for him. Again, we all were picking from his plate...also very good. His steak came out perfectly medium rare, which is how he orders it, and it rarely comes out how he likes it...normally it's pink and overdone. It had a dipping sauce that was phenomenal. I tried a bit and it was super tasty.

My fish was nicely grilled, flaky and mild. I really loved the tomato and fennel compote that was stewed around it. The rice pilaf that was accompanying it was ok, but nothing to get overly excited about, so I left most of it to leave room for dessert.

DS's prime rib was cooked perfectly medium, and came with potatoes and broccolini on the side. It had a brandied-cherry dipping sauce that was very nice and tart. He loved it, and in typical teenage boy fashion, ate every last morsel on his plate and anything left on everyone else's plate.

DD had a fried chicken breast with a side of baked macaroni and cheese. She liked it a lot, but it was a huge serving size, and she's not a big eater. All the mac and cheese was gone, and she ate probably about 1/3 of the chicken. It was funny - when I asked how her chicken was, she told me it tasted like the chicken they use at Wong's - our favorite Chinese food restaurant near home. I must have looked at her funny (I mean - a steakhouse isn't where I'd expect to get a piece of chicken that tastes like take out chinese), and she laughed and said that she really liked it, but we should all try it. Sure enough - it must be the marinade, frying oil or seasoning they use, but it tasted just like sweet and sour chicken minus the sweet and sour. She was happy, so all was well.

Desserts - DH's came with the chocolate espresso torte, I ordered the Peach fruit crisp, DS got the cheesecake, and DD got strawberry shortcake. I swapped DH for his torte because he's not a huge coffee fan, and the glaze definitely had a strong coffee flavor. The crisp was just so-so (it wasn't terribly crispy), DS raved about the cheesecake, and DD ate every last bite of her shortcake and loved it. I was the real winner, though. That torte was fabulous - thick, heavy and rich. It was very satisfying, even though it was a smaller size. I was full, and still ate the whole thing. Normally, I'm big on sharing because I don't need to eat everything put in front of me, but it was a no-go on the torte. My beloved family would have lost the tips of their fingers if they had tried to snag any of that. I've been meaning to look up a recipe for a chocolate torte to make here, but haven't got around to it yet. That may be a good project for this weekend!

Big hit at Turf Club. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

 

[ariane37]

We stayed at SSR back in 2011 and ate at Turf Club one night. I don't remember everything we had b/c younger DS threw up in the middle of the meal but I do remember DH loved whatever fish he had and my pasta dish was awesome. I left with DS while DH stayed with older DS; he brought some dessert back to the room and that was delicious, too! I've often thought of going back there to eat but haven't done it yet-

 

[jesswindsor]

Turf Club is on my list for our next trip. We have never ate there and are excited to try it out. Nice reviews!!

 

[hblevins32]

following

 

[ReneeA]

We stayed at SSR back in 2011 and ate at Turf Club one night. I don't remember everything we had b/c younger DS threw up in the middle of the meal but I do remember DH loved whatever fish he had and my pasta dish was awesome. I left with DS while DH stayed with older DS; he brought some dessert back to the room and that was delicious, too! I've often thought of going back there to eat but haven't done it yet-

Awww...it's so disappointing to get sick on vacation. I think it happens so often to little kids because of the excitement, heat, and all the junk they don't eat in a daily basis gets to them.

Give Turf Club another try! We all loved it.

Turf Club is on my list for our next trip. We have never ate there and are excited to try it out. Nice reviews!!

Thanks! I think you'll like Turf Club a lot. It's one of those you never hear much about.

following

Yay!

Back on our EPCOT day, I forgot to review La Hacienda. My bad. I'll do that one next.

 

[NJlauren]

Really enjoying your reviews! I have never done the dining plan but enjoying. Seeing. How your family made it work.

 

[ReneeA]

I had gotten all excited to review our AK day and forgot a few things we ate in EPCOT.

We had dinner at La Hacienda...it was a new to us restaurant. We tried pretty hard this trip to try some new things since we've been on quite a few longer trips with the dining plan, and had repeated many meals throughout the years, but there are so many that we hadn't tried yet.

We were sat right away for our 5:30 ADR. It had been lightly raining, and the restaurants are so cold when you're wet...I was freezing. We all started with a drink. The other 3 got pop, but I cannot ever turn down a margarita when it's available. I went boring and went with the traditional one. I really thought about trying the orange fire margarita, and after I had gotten the traditional one, our waiter told me that I should have went with my first instinct and that if I like things spicy (I do!!) then I would have loved the other one. I should have just double fisted it at that point and gotten both. They also brought out the chips and salsa to share at this point as well.

We decided to all share meals and order one each of the mixed grill platters that serve 2. So we had the one with the chicken, chorizos, and steak along with the seafood one with shrimp, scallops and tilapia. The kids and I loved every bit of this meal. Everything tasted very fresh and there was tons of food. I loved the corn and beans on the side - I could have made a meal out of those. All of the proteins were very good. My DH doesn't like Cilantro - he's one of the 20% of the population that have an enzyme in their saliva that makes cilantro taste like soap. He does typically like most Mexican food though, and will do his best to scrape off what he can. There was lots of cilantro used in LaHacienda's dishes, so he had a hard time with the seasoning on most of the food. I did ask for extra salsa since we had used most of what was brought earlier. I liked it - kinda smoky, not super spicy.

The desserts were 3 empanadas and one corn ice cream. The empanadas were a little bit dry, nothing to write home about. DS wanted to try the corn ice cream and...it tasted like corn. Shocking, right? He was glad to try it just to say he has. All in all, not bad.

 

[ariane37]

OMG so that's why cilantro tastes like soap to me?? It's an enzyme I have?? So glad I know that now! People usually look at me like I have 2 heads when I tell them I think cilantro tastes like soap, but it does. Don't like it Good to know about La Hacienda, there and San Angel Inn are 2 places we've never eaten and we want to try one

 

[Vernie822]

We decided to all share meals and order one each of the mixed grill platters that serve 2. So we had the one with the chicken, chorizos, and steak along with the seafood one with shrimp, scallops and tilapia. The kids and I loved every bit of this meal. Everything tasted very fresh and there was tons of food. I loved the corn and beans on the side - I could have made a meal out of those. All of the proteins were very good. My DH doesn't like Cilantro - he's one of the 20% of the population that have an enzyme in their saliva that makes cilantro taste like soap. He does typically like most Mexican food though, and will do his best to scrape off what he can. There was lots of cilantro used in LaHacienda's dishes, so he had a hard time with the seasoning on most of the food. I did ask for extra salsa since we had used most of what was brought earlier. I liked it - kinda smoky, not super spicy.

La Hacienda has been one of those "in the back of my mind" places that I just haven't made an ADR for yet. But seriously your food sounds DELICIOUS! Splitting the mixed grill was an awesome idea. Crazy how the cilantro thing happens.. wow!

 

[ReneeA]

Really enjoying your reviews! I have never done the dining plan but enjoying. Seeing. How your family made it work.

We have used the dining plan for years, but this was the first year we were all adults on the plan. It was just plain too much food for us. DD12 and I shared a lot, and we ended up with quite a few credits left or last day.

OMG so that's why cilantro tastes like soap to me?? It's an enzyme I have?? So glad I know that now! People usually look at me like I have 2 heads when I tell them I think cilantro tastes like soap, but it does. Don't like it Good to know about La Hacienda, there and San Angel Inn are 2 places we've never eaten and we want to try one

Haha...yup, it's an extra special enzyme. Yuck. We've tried both San Angel and LaHacienda. I liked La Hacienda much better, but DH liked San Angel probably due to all the cilantro.

La Hacienda has been one of those "in the back of my mind" places that I just haven't made an ADR for yet. But seriously your food sounds DELICIOUS! Splitting the mixed grill was an awesome idea. Crazy how the cilantro thing happens.. wow!

Love the mixed grill. Lots to choose from, and everyone found a favorite.

 

[ReneeA]

Wed Sept 2 we got up and the plan was Typhoon Lagoon in the morning, then Magic Kingdom in the evening. Since everyone was up by 8, we went down to Roaring Forks to grab a couple of breakfasts. I got an iced coffee at Territorial Lounge, then we got a Bounty platter and Mickey waffles with bananas foster sauce. A couple of powerades rounded out the meal to take with us to the water park. Holy cow! Those waffles with the yummy banana caramel sauce were great. Everything else was cooked well, warm and tasted good. We used 2 CS meals for this.

At lunch time in TL, we girls wanted one thing, and the boys wanted another. Luckily, Typhoon Tillys and Snack Shark are right next to each other and share a seating area.

We went to Typhoon Tilly's - DD got fish and chips, a large sprite, and a packaged cake. She loved it and ate all of it. The fish was obviously right out of the fryer - she had to break up the pieces and let it cool to eat them.

I was tired of food. It was less than halfway through this trip and I was tired. of. food. I got a Caesar salad, fruit cup and water. It was fresh and nice. It came with dressing on the side, which I liked. I ate about half, ate the fruit cup - fruit was really fresh, more than half was cantaloupe, which isn't my favorite, but it was ripe and tasted good. I also got a bottled water for later in the day.

The boys really wanted a pulled pork waffle sandwich from snack shack. They waited forever, because the CM in the kitchen burnt 3 waffles before getting it right. They were each given an extra snack to make up for the long time it took.

Unfortunately, these weren't good. The cornbread was super dark on the outside, and it was still very doughy on the inside. They also kinda crumbled under the sogginess of the pork and coleslaw. The pork or the coleslaw didn't have any flavor at all. It was really disappointing because They were looking for something a little different. They both got key lime pie cups, which were great and free cookies, which also were warm and fresh. 2 pops rounded out their meals. I think they wished they had just stayed with us.

 

[ReneeA]

Originally, we were going back to EPCOT and going to have Chefs de France for dinner. The kids decided they'd rather spend some extra time at MK instead, so I cancelled that ADR and made one for The Plaza instead.

Our ADR was for 7:20, and we were seated within 10 minutes of checking in. It's tiny in there! It was our first time eating here because we always have the dining plan and it's kinda a waste of a TS credit for $12 sandwiches. I didn't care - my goal was to eat at as many new places as we could since we've been to so many of the restaurants already and we were ready to switch out up a bit this time.

Everyone ordered pop for their drinks. Or server was not terribly friendly and very stone faced through the whole meal. She did her job, but definitely was not happy to be there. I'm a really good tipper - 20-25%, but it does grind me to give that much to someone who can't even crack a smile.

DH and DS both ordered the cheese steak sandwich. It was a big bun with very little toppings. What was in it tasted good, but it looked like a plain sub bun sitting on a plate - you couldn't even see the filling there was so little in it. They are both big eaters, so this seemed to aggravate both of them. Both ordered a side of fries, which were a wider cut and came of lukewarm. Fail.

DD ordered the tuna croissant. She loved this. It was a nice fluffy buttery croissant topped with lots of tuna. There was not a lot of obvious "filler" like celery or onion, which she was very happy about. Just a plain tuna with lettuce and tomato. She's not typically a big eater, but she scarfed all of this down, plus the homemade chips that came with it.

I got a club sandwich with homemade chips. Yum! I loved it. Those chips are fabulous. I wish I could order a huge bag and have them shipped to me in Detroit.

Dessert was great - thank goodness since that's what the plaza is known for, right?

I got a chocolate malt served in the huge metal cup. It was thick and rich with lots of malted milk...my favorite. I could scrape some of the malt off there was so much. I wish I had one right now.

DH, DD and DS all got a banana split. DD could only eat about half, but was a big fan. The boys finished theirs and raved.

I'd return, but maybe to split sandwiches and eat lots of dessert, because that should take priority at the Plaza. They do it well.

 

[GoinghometoWDW]

I am loving your report. Being from Detroit as well, we also avoid the Morocco restaurants. They just can't compare.

 

[Giz1026]

Love your dining review!