Diary of a Picky Kid (& his Foodie Mom) DxDDP in December! Update 4/9 'Ohana Dinner!

Lisa F said:

Pokemon Go was great for when we were sitting around waiting for stuff. He was pretty good about not playing except when we were waiting although we did have a couple of pokemon go induced meltdowns when something ran away and he was hungry or something. He has a hard time with that frustration and with being on vacation and his routine being messed up and all the stimulation he is quick to melt about frustrations... there are not a whole lot of them because I plan really well and keep things flowing for him but pokemon go was both good and bad! He needed one more slowpoke to evolve it and got frustrated a few times when he couldn't catch one.

So I uploaded another batch of photos to photobucket so I think it might be time to get going on my next day of reviews!

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Thanks for that info! My guess is that my son will want to use it when my wife and I need a bit more of a break during a QS dining experience and he's all done his food. He can check in on his Pokémon then. I hope I catch enough Slowpoke myself to be able to evolve!

My ADR date is tomorrow. Getting excited.

xlsm said:

I think Disney should hire you to promote Cali Grill because I have this overwhelming feeling that if I don't book it I will die.

.

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I'm seriously questioning our April reservations! Great reviews - but I love the CG post. My steak-loving child would be all about the butter, too.

Day 4: Epcot day! Coral Reef w/CP Package

While we used our parkhoppers a lot to this point, today was Epcot from rope drop to park close. I will say, it is a LONG freaking day but since we were doing Candlelight processional it was not that bad to be honest because there was a lot of sitting time... but boy were we pooped by the end. The only reason we went SO hard this day is that the next day was a planned rest day, I felt like we could.

But we were up bright and early and had the foresight the night before to stop by the boardwalk bakery to burn a couple of snack credits on breakfast for the next day. We also picked up our refillable mugs, which I filled with powerade for the kid and pomegranate lemonade for me and NEVER USED AGAIN. But we have been using them a ton at home so it's a nice little souvenir, but I would never add their value into the plan because I don't tend to stay in food-court centric places and I like to travel light.

Anyway for me, I passed on the nasty yogurt parfaits in the cooler and got a simple croissant. This was nice microwaved for 20 seconds before spreading it with the nasty "margarine" that disney gives you instead of real butter. Really disney? You can't do real butter at the parks? It did not taste terrible especially melted into the warm buttery croissant, which had a buttery flavor all on its own.



The kid wanted a cinnamon roll and it was vacation, so a cinnamon roll he had. We got the icing on the side and OMG they gave us so much... what looked like a cup of soup container FULL of icing. This is less than half of it. I scooped out a bunch and warmed the whole thing in the microwave and the kid ate about 3/4 of this, eventually conquered by the cinnamon roll nearly the size of his head. I had a bite and it was decent... I never met a cream cheese frosting I didn't like and the frosting was nice and tangy to cut the sweetness a bit. One bite was plenty for me though. Overall a smart use of snack credits (and by smart I mean "not sure what the hell else to use them on because we are already overeating on TS meals" smart, not necessarily a "great financial value" smart... and also, it was smart to get them the night before!):




So we did, indeed, make it to rope drop there. Honestly I never knew I was a morning person til I had a kid at Disney. When I went as an adult, I NEVER made it to RD but here I was, getting there 30-45 minutes before. It is nice going through the international gateway, there is no crowd and then they hold you at the entrance to futureworld east and west, so no real rush to get there. We spent a fun morning utilizing same day fastpasses to ride soarin' 3x and TT 2x and then finally over to the seas to ride the seas ride before our early lunch at Coral Reef. Now I had wanted to get there by 11:15 to request a table by the tank for our 11:35 ADR... I figured our chances were good that early and also being a table for 2. So we got there right at 11:30, checked in, went to the bathroom and then our pager went off.

We were taken to a lovely 2-top not RIGHT on the tank but it was a 4-top split into 2 2-tops so we were one table off the tank. A solo diner had snagged the one on the tank and was watching this huge ray that was sitting right there. She got some great video of the thing taking off too, it was amazing. She was nice and we had a little bit of small talk about the tank and I get the impression she is local and comes there a lot because she seemed to know a tremendous amount about what was in the tank.

Our server was prompt and when I let her know were on the DxDDP with CP package, she explained what we could order. Because it was the CP package, kiddo had to order off the kid menu, but as it turned out it probably was not all that different than what he would have gotten on the adult menu so it did not matter... but more on that later.

So we were told that we could each order an appetizer, entree, dessert and non alcoholic beverage... soft drinks had free refills but the specialty ones were one and done. Kiddo ordered his customary apple juice and I ordered the

All-Natural Lemonade - topped with a wildberry foam




I'm actually a bit of a lemonade fiend. I do not like soda AT ALL and will drink water but on rare occasions indulge in Lemonade. This is good lemonade. It was the Odwalla and I believe it was strawberry lemonade (from the color) and might have had a lemon lime foam instead of the berry listed in the thing I c&p from allears since it's not listed anywhere else. I ordered a water as well so I wouldn't suck this down in my dehydrated state. It was good and my go-to non alcoholic beverage whenever I could get it. You can see the kid's apple juice in the background. I will say one thing, Disney is VERY generous with their servings of juices at the TS restaurants, and they will give refills. My child does NOT get juice at home and he gets one serving of milk in the morning, otherwise drinks water... so getting juice is a big deal to him and he was in hog heaven.

They also brought out a basket of rolls, which you can kind of see in the background but I don't appear to have taken a photo of. They are yummy, crusty, warm and fresh sourdough rolls. My child was raised on sourdough bread and it is my personal favorite so we had to exercise some major restraint here as we were starving since we just had pure carbs for breakfast 4 hours earlier. I wish I had a picture, they were sooooo good. If you're a warm, crusty, chewy bread person... you're gonna love the rolls here.

So there is literally nothing on the appetizer menu here my child will touch. The waitress was super nice and offered to let him order something off of the adult menu if there was something he would like there but there still wasn't, so I ended up ordering a cup of the creamy lobster for him (for me. oink oink, I admit it). This soup is an old favorite of mine as well, very very mild and creamy.... and as I've said before, I love creamy stuff. I have seen pics of what the adult portion looks like and it's a nice huge bowl of it... so this cup was definitely kid sized. Also, it says on the menu "soup of the day" is an option but she immediately let us know that the creamy lobster soup was ALSO an option. I was glad to have this smaller portion because there was so much food yet to come (and my own appetizer).

Creamy Lobster Soup
made with Tarragon and Brandy



it was just as I remembered it, creamy and mild without an overly fishy taste... I have found the darker red the bisque, the more strongly it tastes of fish and I have always liked coral reef's best. I didn't see any tarragon in it (it used to come with chervil snipped on top) but it did have some nice chunks of lobster in it. I finished this whole thing and may have dipped a sourdough roll in it, and my eyes MAY have rolled into the back of my head while I was doing so. Maybe.

She also brought MY appetizer at the same time, which was more creamy seafoody stuff

Creamy Crab-Spinach Fondue
Toasted Panko, fresh Herbs, and Lavash



This was really good but really really rich. This is EASILY enough for 2, maybe as many as 4 depending on your appetite and tolerance for rich foods. The lavash was alright, it was hard and crunchy but the dip was really creamy and full of lots of crab and had a vaguely... sherry maybe? taste. It doesn't say on the menu but it definitely had that kind of sherry flavor to me, but I may just be insane. Anyway I left more than half of this but was glad I ordered it because I rarely indulge in such decadence at home... but with kiddo's creamy soup maybe the tomatoes would have been a better pair. it was a lot of rich creamy stuff for the first course.

For his main meal, kiddo ordered the

Jr. Reef Steak
with Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli



obviously this is served with neither mashed potatoes nor broccoli. He will sometimes eat a few bites of mashed potatoes but it is not his favorite so we asked what other options there were and the fries were offered. And no broccoli meant double fries. a MOUNTAIN of fries. This came out and the kid's eyes got big as saucers and he said to the waitress "did you leave any fries for anyone else?" he did not mean it to be rude, he was genuinely concerned that he had bogarted the fries for the entire restaurant. As I said before it did not matter really that he ordered off the kid's menu because he would have eaten substantially the same thing - steak and fries. Actually the kid's cut of steak looked to be the end cuts of a whole tenderloin... I have wondered aloud on other threads if Disney butchers a lot of their own meat from larger cuts and the ends and leftovers end up on the non-specified steak kid menu items. Well today it was tenderloin and he was happy once again... and a substantial amount of it, two largish pieces that probably together made up the same amount of meat he had at the CA Grill the night before. It did not have butter on top but he really enjoyed this and i'm not sure he would have enjoyed the adult strip steak any more (or would have gotten any more food out of it either).

I ordered the

Shrimp and Grits
Sautéed Shrimp, Cheddar Grits, local Corn Succotash, Andouille Sausage, and Creole Spice Emulsion



I violated my rule here of not ordering stuff I make at home. I do make this at home, but not the same way, and I was in the mood for it, so I ordered it here.

This is how I make it at home, which is Bobby Flay's recipe. Yes I take photos of my food there too, lol. But as you can see it is kind of similar but kind of not.



The waitress warned me that this was spicy but I have never found anything at Disney that I considered prohibitively spicy and this certainly was nowhere near that line (my line is right at medium wings).

This is just how I like my shrimp and grits with simply prepared, non sauced shrimp served over creamy, cheesy grits with some kind of crispy pork product. I made it with bacon per Bobby Flay when I made it, but at Coral Reef it was DELICIOUS with the little bits of andouille sausage, cut in small pieces and cooked crispy on the outside. The sauce was the perfect little bit of creamy (ha ha) and spicy, the lima beans were not at all the lima beans my grandma used to serve me as part of the frozen veggie mix that were starchy and slimy at the same time... these were nice and dry and had a nutty flavor to them, and almost reminded me of edamame. The corn was perfection too. Wet corn is a pet peeve of mine. Whenever I put corn in soup I always oven roast it first to get rid of the moisture and then when it rehydrates in the soup it is crispy instead of soggy and flavorful with the corn flavor concentrated. That is exactly what they did here, it was crunchy and sweet and roasty toasty without being watery. This is a very simple dish but each component was done to perfection and taking my fork and sliding it through the sauce and into the grits and picking up a piece of sausage, a lima bean and some corn before stabbing a shrimp was the PERFECT bite. I did offload the weird garnish in the middle... but now that I say that, I feel like I saw a container of that stuff in the supermarket the other day... and I was surprised at what it was. It was not some kind of flower petal but something else. Anyone know what it is? I hope they have it again when I go so I can pay more attention, I even read the label and promptly forgot it.

anyway, This was definitely one of my favorite entrees of the trip and might have been actually been my favorite, even above CA Grill's filet, which is neck and neck with this. I never see this thing reviewed, people tend to get the steak or the seafood scampi and occasionally the salmon, but seriously, this dish is delicious and way underrated. Holy Moly was it good.

And now we come to dessert. By now I'm stuffed full of rich creamy food and seafood but it comes with so what the hey...

Again the waitress asked if the kiddo wanted anything off the adult menu but he was very content to just have a cupcake, so he got the

Seaside Cupcake

It was totes adorbs. It was a vanilla cupcake with I believe vanilla frosting dyed blue. Warning to parents: that blue food dye is no joke. I believe it took all day to finally wear off his hands and face. But he seemed to enjoy it as much as any child enjoys a cupcake leaving blue stains and crumbs all over their person (which is to say a lot).

I got another old favorite of mine,

The Chocolate Wave
served with Raspberry Gelato



So again, my pickiness is going to come way through on this. I love to cook myself and am always thinking about how to improve things. So when reading reviews on the coral reef, one person suggested you get vanilla ice cream instead of the raspberry gelato with this. Others said that was sacrilege, you HAVE to get the raspberry gelato. I wavered and decided to get the dessert as served. This is another dessert I have had many times over the last couple of decades in various incarnations and I preferred it when it actually had a molten center. it was warm and a bit gooey but not molten so that was a bit of a bummer. The cake itself is not too sweet, which I really liked and have always liked about it (I am a dark chocolate person) and I loved the raspberry puree with it. I did not love the raspberry gelato with it. I often find fruit ice creams too be too icy with water from the fruit and this was kind of icy rather than creamy. I wished I had gotten it with vanilla ice cream and asked for more raspberry puree on the side, this way you get more of the punch of the tart raspberry but still have the creamy sweet vanilla that would have so perfectly balanced the rich dark chocolate flavor of the cake. So anyone ordering this, that is my big advice. Vanilla ice cream and some extra raspberry puree on the side, because what is on the plate is not enough. Also the chocolate curls are gratuitous and not great. They were kind of brittle and dried out - I did not care for the texture of them at all. It did look kind of pretty though on the plate so I just didn't eat them and it was fine. I could only eat about half of this because I was so stuffed... maybe even less. Plus I kind of lost my appetite when I saw my kid with blue smeared all over his white limited edition 1980's journey into imagination figment and dreamfinder tshirt. Oh well.

At the end of the meal when our neighbor near the tank left and after they re-set the table but before the new people were seated, we took a selfie on the tank. You can see that HUGE ray in the background sitting there. It was awesome being so close to the tank, I love it and find it very relaxing.



Overall Coral Reef is one of those that gets mixed reviews that has somehow always been one of my favorites. I have never had a bad meal here and for some reason have a knack for picking the best thing on the menu I think. Service was just fine, another thing I see people complaining about. It wasn't too loud but the restaurant wasn't fully full until we left. This is the first Disney TS I ever went to, in 1991 when I was a junior in HS and my friend was a senior... they had room on the bus for the senior trip to Disney and opened it up to the juniors. I shared a room with my best friend and talked her into trying the restaurant in the aquarium, that I had been dying to try. I had a bowl of that creamy lobster soup. She had the raw tuna appetizer. This was WAY before sushi was so common... I mean it was downright weird. We felt so grown up and elegant and probably ate 4 baskets of those rolls (which as far as I remember have not changed in all those years) because all we could afford was an appetizer each. That was back in the days when the butters were molded into the shape of Mickey and the walls were covered with slightly musty carpet. We drank water. It was phenomenal. Sometimes I wonder if my memory of that colors my current experiences with the place but honestly we have never had a bad meal here and some, like this one, were downright outstanding. The thing about the place is though, I only like doing it once every few trips. Not sure why... it's an itch that stays scratched for a while. But glad we did it, it was one of the best meals of the trip and the kid has a blast too. Oh and the dye did come out of his shirt!

FrancoFun said:

Thanks for that info! My guess is that my son will want to use it when my wife and I need a bit more of a break during a QS dining experience and he's all done his food. He can check in on his Pokémon then. I hope I catch enough Slowpoke myself to be able to evolve!

My ADR date is tomorrow. Getting excited.

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I play a bit too and I will tell you, it was very exciting to be able to evolve my santa hat raichu! I do love pikachu, lol. He played while waiting for restaurants and parades/fireworks mostly. There are so many pokestops often wherever we were was close enough to one that he could sit and pick up a bunch of pokeballs and stuff while waiting. It's definitely vacation enhancing if you keep a handle on it.

Exciting about your ADR date! what are you hoping to get?

maw said:

I'm seriously questioning our April reservations! Great reviews - but I love the CG post. My steak-loving child would be all about the butter, too.

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Well I think you can get a filet at any of the signatures! Also I'd hate to be responsible for anyone's bad meal, lol. I think all restaurants have an off night, we had an awful meal at Narcoossees but it gets mostly amazing reviews. But it is kind of off our list for the forseeable future now. But we really did love CA Grill and it is another one that as I said, gets mixed reviews but nails it for us every single time and has for decades now.

Lisa F said:

I play a bit too and I will tell you, it was very exciting to be able to evolve my santa hat raichu! I do love pikachu, lol. He played while waiting for restaurants and parades/fireworks mostly. There are so many pokestops often wherever we were was close enough to one that he could sit and pick up a bunch of pokeballs and stuff while waiting. It's definitely vacation enhancing if you keep a handle on it.

Exciting about your ADR date! what are you hoping to get?

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I love my santa hat Raichu!

For ADRs, we're not doing a ton as I do want to do some snacking and QS, but I am hoping to get Boma and Garden Grill for breakfasts and 'Ohana, TeppanEdo, Yak & Yeti, and Raglan Road for suppers. I could/should likely book something for our DHS day, but I have truly no idea what as nothing at the park really jumps out at me, so maybe something back at POR?

FrancoFun said:

I love my santa hat Raichu!

For ADRs, we're not doing a ton as I do want to do some snacking and QS, but I am hoping to get Boma and Garden Grill for breakfasts and 'Ohana, TeppanEdo, Yak & Yeti, and Raglan Road for suppers. I could/should likely book something for our DHS day, but I have truly no idea what as nothing at the park really jumps out at me, so maybe something back at POR?

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Boatwright's is actually on my bucket list. I have NEVER been to POR to be honest, I have only ever stayed at deluxe and dvc. But the resort looks beautifully themed... nowadays I can't justify the cash price of it over a DVC room though since we've owned for so long. But I do love southern food... I do a great red beans and rice (my friend from NoLA told me it's as good as what you get down there) and I have done my own shrimp and grits (see above) and their steak sounds good to (peppercorn cream? yum. and crawfish mac and cheese? double yum). Picky kid would do many of the things on that menu too. Some day I will make it over there!

You're right that the food at DHS is less than inspired. Sci Fi was tasty but it's not standout, we just love the theming. Ditto 50's prime time, it's tasty comfort food but nothing standout imo. I love Mama Melrose but that is more for theming and that "little italy of the olden days" feel of it than the actual food. Picky kid does not do red sauce and I tried to avoid anywhere where all he could eat is pasta and butter... we are out of the phase where I am forced to pay $10 for $0.25 worth of pasta and butter and I'd like to stay tthat way. H&V which I will review next was fine but nothing I'd be craving, it was great for character interaction and great value on the DxDDP with F! tickets but not super eager to return soon. And HBD has never been great imo... and their kid menu is super unappealing to the picky kid. I think in DHS that the theming excels but the food is really nothing to write home about... but I am pretty happy with just tasty in between other outstanding meals.

Glad you both enjoyed Coral Reef! It's been years since we've been there and since I don't do seafood we just haven't had the desire to return, but it's nice to see a positive review of a place that normally only gets negative ones.

Lisa F said:

Seaside Cupcake

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This really is totally adorable!

ariane37 said:

Glad you both enjoyed Coral Reef! It's been years since we've been there and since I don't do seafood we just haven't had the desire to return, but it's nice to see a positive review of a place that normally only gets negative ones.


This really is totally adorable!

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Yeah, that would be kind of like a vegetarian going to Yachtsman. I'm sure they can accommodate if you are with a group but if you're with your core people, there are plenty of places you can choose that would suit everyone. Coral Reef's menu is very seafood heavy. I love seafood. I see food and I eat it. yuckyuckyuck.

I think the kid was glad at certain points to just have a simple cupcake or a chicken tender, lol. This was one of those points.

I had the shrimp and grits on our Christmas Extravaganza and loved it too!

I never have an overwhelming desire to have a meal at Coral Reef (except for the thrill of seeing the aquariums...although I'm afraid I would feel guilty eating my seafood in front of...seafood.) because I feel like we *have* to take advantage of the dining opportunities in the World Showcase. I feel like I'm cheating on the WS if I book somewhere else, which is insane, but...that's me. I like that you have such a history with the restaurant, that makes it so special! I'm like that with 'Ohana.

That crab app looks and sounds so delicious though!! The best shrimp and grits I've ever had came from a restaurant called Gram and Dun in Kansas City, and I've never had the guts to order them anywhere else after that because I'm afraid they won't be as good!!

Oh, that cupcake is CUTE! The combo of chocolate and raspberry is one of my favorites, and it looks beautiful - too bad it wasn't as good as it looks!

I think I might go make some dark chocolate brownies with vanilla ice cream and raspberry puree this weekend though!

(and I'm glad the frosting came out of his shirt )

I'm really enjoying reading your reviews! Your meal at California Grill looked amazing!

Hello! Wanted to say I'm following along and very much enjoying your report! It's making me hungry!
I need to try Sanaa, that looks so good.
Was wondering if I could ask a couple of non Disney questions? My son starts college next year and is looking at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. We were in your neck of the woods 2 weeks ago during all the snow! He had a tour with the lacrosse coach and we rented a house in Mashpee. Our original plan included a ferry ride to Martha's Vineyard but that didn't happen because of the snow. Anyway on to the questions.. we have to come back up in March for a scholarship interview and I was thinking of flying because the drive from Delaware pretty much stinks, do you fly out of Boston? Or is there somewhere else I should look at? Wasn't sure about providence? And do you have a recommendation for a good seafood dinner spot on the cape? Preferably near Buzzards Bay.
Sorry to hijack, hope you don't kind. Please return to the food porn

tyandskyesmom said:

I had the shrimp and grits on our Christmas Extravaganza and loved it too!

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IMO most underrated dish. Are you ever gonna finish your non dxddp report? or did I miss an update? lol

xlsm said:

I never have an overwhelming desire to have a meal at Coral Reef (except for the thrill of seeing the aquariums...although I'm afraid I would feel guilty eating my seafood in front of...seafood.) because I feel like we *have* to take advantage of the dining opportunities in the World Showcase. I feel like I'm cheating on the WS if I book somewhere else, which is insane, but...that's me. I like that you have such a history with the restaurant, that makes it so special! I'm like that with 'Ohana.

That crab app looks and sounds so delicious though!! The best shrimp and grits I've ever had came from a restaurant called Gram and Dun in Kansas City, and I've never had the guts to order them anywhere else after that because I'm afraid they won't be as good!!

Oh, that cupcake is CUTE! The combo of chocolate and raspberry is one of my favorites, and it looks beautiful - too bad it wasn't as good as it looks!

I think I might go make some dark chocolate brownies with vanilla ice cream and raspberry puree this weekend though!

(and I'm glad the frosting came out of his shirt )

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Yeah Epcot is tough. Coral Reef works well because I like to go there right at opening and we are usually in future world still at that point... and also I prefer to eat at places at Disney that are "Disney" to me. That kind of crosses off things like hibachi, mexican and pizza just because they are kind of easy to get here... although San Angel Inn gets not as great reviews as La Hacienda does and the food looks great at La Hacienda, there is just nothing Disney enough for me... I'd be more inclined to go to San Angel but with how close the tables are and how dark it is in there I scratched it off the list for this trip - sometimes kiddo has a hard time staying in his seat and will come around and stand next to/lean on me while I'm waiting for and dealing with check and stuff. I won't let him if he will be in someone else's space but I try not to pick restaurants with tables too close together for that reason. That said, I'm kind of hoping to do Le Cellier next time because I am feeling the need to put that mushroom filet in my belly!

Haha, I don't feel guilty eating seafood in front of seafood at all. Does that make me a sociopath?

I love 'Ohana too, another old favorite that gets mixed reviews but we have always had a good meal here, so, *shrug*

It was delicious but I felt the need to scrape out my arteries with one of those bottle cleaners after, lol. It was just SOOO rich. I might have felt like less of an oinker if I was sharing it with someone... even though I left more than half it was still so decadent sitting there with a bowl of that stuff in front of me, especially following the creamy lobster soup.

I hear you on the expectations too, there are certain things I have a hard time with if they are not exactly the way I like them! Sometimes you can never beat your first time and you just have to learn to accept that.

Yeah like I said I think the picky kid enjoyed being just a kid at this meal. I think if I "encouraged" him to order off the adult menu for a whole trip he'd get sick of it.

I would not say the chocolate wave is not as good as it looks but it's a victim of me having it in one form or another for the last 15+ years, lol. I think it was my introduction to a molten lava cake before they started having them in menus everywhere and I still remember my delight when I broke into it and that chocolate oozed everywhere. The flavor was all there, the cake was the perfect chocolatey sweetness (ie not too sweet for a dark chocolate girl) and it was definitely moist and it was not "cake brownie-like" like the kungaloosh. I'd say it was an 8/10 for me - with vanilla ice cream and extra raspberry puree would have been a 9/10 and if the center were molten, 10/10. i wouldn't have even dinged it for the chocolate shavings, which I could easily push aside as garnish. And I ate about half of this (it is actually quite a large dessert, i'd say twice as big as the Kungaloosh!) so I did some damage to it before crying uncle. It was not because it didn't taste good, it was because I was about to burst!

mmm brownies and raspberry puree and vanilla ice cream. what is better than that combo? nothing, let me tell you! Maybe I will go back on my next trip so I can have a do-over on the chocolate wave the right way!

mkate9 said:

I'm really enjoying reading your reviews! Your meal at California Grill looked amazing!

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it was, without a doubt, the highlight meal of the trip. The combo of server, food and atmosphere was hard to beat! Now I've gone and ruined it for everyone else setting expectations unreasonably high!

cyndiloveswalt said:

Hello! Wanted to say I'm following along and very much enjoying your report! It's making me hungry!
I need to try Sanaa, that looks so good.
Was wondering if I could ask a couple of non Disney questions? My son starts college next year and is looking at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. We were in your neck of the woods 2 weeks ago during all the snow! He had a tour with the lacrosse coach and we rented a house in Mashpee. Our original plan included a ferry ride to Martha's Vineyard but that didn't happen because of the snow. Anyway on to the questions.. we have to come back up in March for a scholarship interview and I was thinking of flying because the drive from Delaware pretty much stinks, do you fly out of Boston? Or is there somewhere else I should look at? Wasn't sure about providence? And do you have a recommendation for a good seafood dinner spot on the cape? Preferably near Buzzards Bay.
Sorry to hijack, hope you don't kind. Please return to the food porn

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I always fly out of Providence if I can (and I can to Disney, there are a decent number of direct flights). I fly out of small airports whenever I can. Logan is huge and a pain to navigate and the traffic from there to here can be insane depending on time of day (boyfriend once took 4 hours making the drive, you'd be better off driving from Delaware I suspect than dealing with that). Providence and Logan are about the same distance to cape (1.5 hour drive no traffic) but you will pretty much never find no traffic from Logan.

I don't know about a seafood spot near Buzzard's Bay. @areno79 might know better, she has been a tourist here... I rarely eat seafood when I am on cape because I'm so excited to have reasonably priced other stuff. I can ask some friends though. I know the raw bar in mashpee has been recommended to me though! (I stay in mashpee a lot!) PM me to remind me and I will ask some friends on cape about buzzard's bay! Congrats to your son on starting college, huge milestone! There is no good indian around here though, lol. BF likes the golden swan in Falmouth but I was not impresesed... much preferred Sanaa!

Evening 4: CP, Biergarten, FEA and Illuminations!

So this is sort of turning into a bit of a TR that is 95% dining, but I will just have to say that this day was another perfect Epcot day. It was long and it was exhausting but we did SO much, it was just an amazing day. We rode a ton of stuff in future world and then took off for the world showcase where I had very tight plans... we had to get all the way over to the American Adventure for the 3:30pm show of voices of liberty. I LOVE the voices of liberty... I mean love them. I try to see them every time I go and I love their holiday performance.

It was SO hot that day though that we just had to stop by Japan to get a rainbow kakigori... which let's face it, is just fun to say. I've never had this before but it sounded so good... and it is HUGE. I didn't take a picture of it but here is one cribbed from the internet that shows exactly what we had:



Kakigōri
Japanese Shaved Ice available in Rainbow, Strawberry, Melon, Cherry, or Tangerine - rainbow has all 4. I got rainbow because I figured it would be good to share with the kid in case he didn't like any one flavor and as it turned out he didn't like melon OR tangerine so he ate all of the red parts and I ate most of the rest. This does take some time to consume and is not good walking/sharing with your kid food so we ended up standing outside the American Adventure trying to finish it up... we also met up with some new Disney friends while we were there... another disboards member was traveling solo with her son and our sons really hit it off at the dessert party so we exchanged phone numbers and met up a whole bunch of times (including for Jedi training academy... forgot to mention that part since it was not food related!)

Anyway because of time spent consuming kakigori, we unfortunately got to the voices of liberty a little late and got in as they were already singing their first song but here is a shot, I love their holiday costumes:



their performance was fantastic as usual. If you have never seen them, you should make time to do so... they are really an amazing a capella group and one of those lesser known things in Epcot that make it so special. After that we did the 3:45 American Adventure and got out around 4:15 and got ourselves seated for the Candlelight Processional. Edward James Olmos was the narrator and he was fantastic... I saw him about 15 years ago and he was fantastic then as well. We ended up with seats all the way front right in the roped off VIP section, which was a kind of nice surprise (a little Disney magic.... when we originally came in we sat all the way to the left and then realized we could not see the narrator podium AT ALL... my new friend asked a CM about it and since the VIP section was empty they let us sit there, along with some other latecomer CP package holders).

Since the CP package is such a big thing I will make this comment about seating and the show as well... If you can, sit on the right side of the stage. That's where the sign language interpreter is and in my experience, Disney sign language interpreters are INCREDIBLE to watch. They are so fluid and graceful and performers themselves. Even though our seats were on the extreme right I really really enjoyed them.

So here are a couple of pictures before we get to the food.

fuzzy zoomed in pic of EJO:



view of the stage from our seats:


thank you all for indulging me in my bit of remembrance about the rest of that day. The show ended at 5:45 but by the time we cleared the theater and split off for our own dinner plans and fought the crowds to Germany and dealt with both of our bathroom needs (as it turned out the nearest restroom was IN Biergarten) it was time to check in for our meal. We got a nice preview passing the buffet and tables to the bathroom though! Anyway we were given a pager and attempted to walk around the German pavilion but it was so packed with people and so freaking HOT and HUMID. So we decided to just head back into the waiting area and then our pager went off. It was not a very long wait at all. We found the hostess and waited a few minutes for the other party to arrive.

As you know (or know now) Biergarten only has tables for 8 and communal seating if you are less than a part of 8. This is probably part of (but not the entire reason) that I had managed to go to WDW for the last 18 years with Epcot as our favorite park and NEVER ended up at Biergarten. The other reason is that in my former life as a DINK, we tended to not gravitate toward the buffets... signatures were more our style. So for whatever reason, Biergarten has been around forever and is probably the last of the non-recent World Showcases that I have yet to go to. So we were standing around waiting for the other 6 people for our table to arrive and they showed up a few minutes after we did.

Now this is a big source of anxiety for a lot of people, myself included. But we decided that Biergarten looked interesting enough that I'd be willing to risk it, and the picky kid is ALWAYS up for making new friends. It turned out we didn't have much to worry about, a nice family of 6 (grandparents, parents, two kids) were seated with us. They were really nice and flexible about letting me sit next to G and the two kids sat down at our end of the table and by the end of the meal picky kid and their girls were talking up a storm about pokemon while I chatted with the adults about DVC, the food and beer. It was a nice meal from that perspective.

But now that you've endured all the rest of this stuff, we can move on to the food. I WILL say that I had fairly low expectations of Biergarten, being a buffet that gets mostly good but also some mixed reviews. I will also say that we showed up pretty hungry. So we were probably in an ideal place to enjoy this experience, and enjoy it we did!

For drinks, picky kid ordered apple juice and got it in a smaller beer mug looking thing. I didn't take another picture of apple juice, sorry. I got the grapefruit beer and stupidly ordered a liter of it. I'm not sure what I was thinking except "hey, 2x the beer for 1.5x the price! what a bargain!"

This is what I ended up with:



this turned into a pretty major eyes bigger than stomach situation. It was good, nice and cold but just toooooo much to finish. more on that later.

I took the picky kid up to the buffet and here is his first (and only) plate. He typically got second plates at other buffets but by the time he was done with this he had his head buried in our tablemate's phone looking at her pokedex and that was the end of dinnertime... there was also a lot of food on this plate.



starting at the top 12 o'clock position and going clockwise we have: roasted chicken, salami from the cold bar, a huge wedge of mac and cheese, a couple of pretzel rolls (I ended up grabbing one of these), and a couple of pieces of pork schnitzel.

Now this was his plate so I can't tell you firsthand how it tasted, but when I cut the chicken up for him it was nice and moist... and I can tell you that everything on it was gone...devoured... except the chicken bones and chicken skin. So he must have liked it, even the custardy mac and cheese which some picky kids have issues with... but molten cheese is basically one of his major food groups.

Here is my first plate:


I will now give a listing starting at 12 o'clock and going clockwise with everything on my plate along with my commentary about it.

right at the top the red stuff is the beet salad which is not really "salad" as much as sliced beets, which is fine by me because I love beets. These were good pickled beets, kind of lightly pickled and not too much extra sugar added (I find some have too much extra sugar) and nice and fresh and had a little crunch to them (I prefer them with a bit of bite back rather than too soft).

to the right of that the few cucumber slices were the homemade pickles. This is my one major Biergarten regret... when I went through the buffet line, there were not many left. I tried to not be rude and clean them out and only took a few assuming I could get more later. Well, when I went up for the second round they were gone! I asked the CM behind the counter if they had more and he said no they were all out for the evening. These are some amazing pickles. I seriously still dream about these pickles and wonder if I can make them at home myself, they were that good. So crisp and fresh and perfectly sour... I hate sweet pickles and these are not sweet at all. I seriously am thinking of booking Biergarten on my next trip just so I can have the pickles! And next time, forget the people behind me - if there are a few left I'm demolishing it!

going next at around 2 o'clock is the braised beef roulade. It was ok, it was brown and tasty but nothing I dream about like other items.

next at 3 o'clock is a poached salmon with some dill. I don't really like dill but I love salmon and the dill was NOT overwhelming at all so it didn't bother me. I've found that herbs I say I don't like I really just don't like in huge quantity. This was perfectly cooked and moist and flavorful, much better than I expected for salmon on a buffet... part of that is that the poaching method is more forgiving and less drying out I think.

at 6 o'clock is the famous biergarten mac and cheese. This was super yummy, I think I prefer it greatly to regular mac and cheese. Under a thick SLAB of gooey molten cheese was a mix of noodles and some kind of custard, I'm not even sure how cheesy the custard was (if at all) because I ate every bite with a piece of the slab cheese. This was super yummy and the picky kid devoured his as well.

at around 7 o'clock is the pretzel roll. This was great dipped into the soup of the day, which was a beer cheese soup. While I loved the combo of the pretzel roll and beer cheese soup together once the roll was gone I gave up on the soup, it tasted WAY too strongly of beer for me... but for some reason was perfection with the pretzel roll. The picky kid dipped his roll in my soup a few times too but thought it was yucky off the spoon too. Next time I'd just get a tiny bit for dipping.

at 9 o'clock is a cold potato salad... I did not like this at all as I found the potatoes to still be a bit crunchy and I do NOT like crunchy potatoes. This was pretty much the only thing I didn't like.

filling out the space between the potato salad and the beets is a cold cucumber salad that was also delicious. It was not pickled but marinated I think in something not too heavy.. but there was a bit of creaminess in it too... it even had a bit of dill too but I did not find it overpowering at all. So I am going to revise my "I don't like dill" to "I don't like overdone dill."

and right in the middle is the pork schnitzel, which was maybe my favorite thing of the whole meal (after the pickles, but that might just be a scarcity thing). I kind of expected it to be a bit dried out like most thin cut meat/poultry cutlets that have been breaded and fried are on buffets but it was perfectly crispy (and not greasy AT ALL) on the outside and moist and juicy on the inside. It was soooooooo good, the kid devoured his as well.

As I mentioned earlier the kid did not end up with a second plate... but I did and again had more eyes bigger than stomach issues. Here is my second plate:



on the top are more beets and cucumber salad, a sad substitution for the pickles. More pork schnitzel was in order but I saved it to eat last and was too full to eat it when I got to it. The sausage is I believe a bratwurst and it was so juicy and flavorful, next time sausage will be on my first plate... it was whatever the more "brown" sausage was and not the one that was more "pink." Also I tried the spaetzle with some gravy and this was as expected, kind of doughy and not my thing, but it is traditional german so I figured I would give it a try.

The show was going on throughout dinner and the timing was good that kids were called down right when we finished up dinner but before dessert. Our tablemates' kids and the picky kid went down but the picky kid came back quickly preferring to be with me, which is ok, I didn't feel like going down there myself. Here is a shot of the show during "Silent Night" when they light up the christmas lights. The atmosphere in here is so amazing, especially during this part of the show I remember thinking "Biergarten, where have you BEEN all my life?!"



After the show ended it was time for a little dessert... and I do mean a little, we were both stuffed. The picky kid had:



a slice of chocolate roll, which he ate... a chocolate chip cookie, which he ate, and bavarian cheesecake, which he did not eat.

Here is my dessert plate (remembering I'm not much of a dessert person)



I had a piece of bavarian cheesecake and a half piece (left behind from someone else's half piece) of the apple strudel with vanilla sauce. The apple strudel was just ok, the apples were a bit more crisp than I like in baked desserts, but the bavarian cheesecake was phenomenal. A light fluffy and not too sweet cheese layer was sandwiched between two layers of delicate sponge cake. I can't say that the yummy vanilla sauce did not enhance the whole thing either. I think this may be actually one of my favorite desserts of the whole trip.

Sadly, this is how much beer left by the time I cried "uncle" at the end of the meal:



The waitress was happy to give me a to-go cup for it but there was no lid and after the 4th or 5th time the kid bumped into the arm carrying it avoiding the crowds in the world showcase and nearly spilling it on myself, I ended up pitching it.

After biergarten we were well situated for our Frozen Ever After FP+ and although the kid, NOT a Frozen fan, reluctantly agreed to go on with me he actually really enjoyed the ride. I think he is a fan of the classic world showcase "inside out" thing as well because he commented on it at both places.

And of course, we ended the night with Illuminations again. So I will end my review with another shot of our favorite nighttime show.



It was another completely amazing epcot day with multiple rides on both Soarin' and TT and the highly coveted FEA as well as two of the best meals of the trip and our favorite nighttime show. We stumbled back to the BWV and collapsed into bed, glad that the next day would be a "rest" day.

Overall Biergarten was absolutely delicious. It far exceeded all of my expectations for food quality and tastiness and the show was so much fun and the atmosphere so amazing... we just enjoyed it so darn much that it is on our list of places to go next time we're in Epcot. Yes even with all of the other choices. It was THAT good. I still dream about the schnitzel, pickles and bavarian cheesecake... next time I'll order the half liter of beer though. It's not so much of a bargain if you pitch nearly half of it!

Thanks for sharing..... Love all the pictures

Disney_Mama said:

Thanks for sharing..... Love all the pictures

Click to expand...

Thanks! I figure I am either entertaining people or boring them to tears, lol. I am enjoying reliving my vacation and will save this somewhere when I am done for posterity!

Well, now I am feeling sad that we don't have a Biergarten ADR planned for our July trip! Ah well, there is always a "next time," right?

HA! The first time we went to Biergarten we about fell off our chairs when the liters of beer showed up. The schnitzel really is delicious, too. I've never had better anywhere.

Kakigori is going on my list for June! I can't believe I have yet to try some!

I love this report! You are such a talented writer. The details you give on each dish are so descriptive and seriously helpful! I love how you delve into the flavors, textures, and why you guys did or did not like something. Also the descriptors re: the atmosphere is fab...makes me feel like I'm in the restaurant! As a Disney newbie all that is such great info and it's entertaining to read! Can't wait for more!!