21 nights in WDW+DXDDP =over 300 food pics!! (& a huge weight gain!)COMPLETED 11/30!

[iluvpluto27]

Hi,

I've enjoyed reading all the great dining reviews that are on this board, and now it's my turn to add mine.

Myself and DH just got back today from 3 whole weeks at the world, and although very sad to be back, I thought I'd start my dining review to relive some of the great memories.

Firstly, I guess my thread title isn't totally accurate as we didn't do the Deluxe DDP for the whole 21 nights (even we couldn't manage that much food!! ), we actually had a 14 night DXDDP package at AKL, then a 4 night room only reservation at AKL, and we spent the final 3 nights at Hard Rock Hotel.

Quick intro to DH and I. We both enjoy eating out and trying new foods. I'll try just about anything once, and DH is pretty easy to please but he's been a vegetarian for the past 12 years, so no meat or fish for him.

Here's a list of all the food I'll be reviewing, in order of consumption:

AKL room service
Sci Fi Diner
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Tokyo Dining
Jiko
Tusker House (lunch)
Narcoosees
Liberty Tree Tavern
Spoodles
Rose and Crown
California Grill
San Angel Inn
Citricos
Wolfgang Pucks Cafe
Boma
Tony's Town Square
Hollywood Brown Derby
Coral Reef
Wolfgang Puck Express
Yak n Yeti
Flying Fish
Boma (Breakfast)
The Wave
Kona Cafe
Tutto Italia
Artist Point
Crystal Palace
AKL room service (again)
Boma Breakfast (again!!)
Chefs de France
Raglan Road

That was the end of of dining credits so the next few days were all OOP.
Sunrise Safari
AKL concierge offerings
The Mara
Sci fi Diner
Victoria and Alberts
Many F&W samples

Then onto Universal.
Margaritaville
Hard Rock Cafe
HRH Room Service
NBA restaurant

And that's pretty much it! I will also be posting pics of the various snacks we consumed on the DDP.

I'll start uploading my pics, and get the first installment up tonight.

 

[disneychick0412]

Wow! That's a lot of food! And I can't wait to see/read all about it!!!

 

[adsrtw]

Wow, what a list! I'm in.

 

[dizneeat]

Can't wait! Count me in!

 

[4 DZNY NUTZ]

looking forward to the reviews!!!

 

[MickeyNicki]

You lucky little thing! I am so jealous, bring it on I am soooo ready!

 

[John's Mom]

Count me in!

 

[jeminni]

I'm in too

 

[iluvpluto27]

Wow! That's a lot of food! And I can't wait to see/read all about it!!!

Thanks, believe me it definitely was a lot of food.

Wow, what a list! I'm in.

Thanks, first review coming up.

Can't wait! Count me in!

Thanks for joining in.

looking forward to the reviews!!!

Thank you.

You lucky little thing! I am so jealous, bring it on I am soooo ready!

Thanks. It was a fantastic holiday with so many great meals. I'm gutted it's all over now and it's back to weightwatchers ready meals for dinner!!

Count me in!

Thanks for joining in.

I'm in too

Thanks for joining in.

 

[princess&her4princes]

I'm in, too!!! 3 weeks away....how wonderful for you!!!!!

 

[TigerKat]

Bring it on.......

 

[iluvpluto27]

Ok, I've finally got the first lot of pictures uploaded and resized so I'm ready to go.

Our journey actually began the day before we flew to Orlando, as we had to get down to London Gatwick to catch our flight. As it wasn't disney food, I didn't bother capturing pics of what we ate this day, but we did pay a visit to Europe's longest champagne bar (located in London St Pancras station).

I'm a real cocktail fan (as you'll see throughout this review), and I decided that while we were near by we'd have to try a champagne cocktail from the bar. They were very good, but very expensive. It came to £22.50 for the 2 drinks, which given todays exchange rate is just over $38! Definitely the most expensive cocktails of the holiday!

The next day our flight was due to leave at 12:45. I've never taken pictures of airline food before, but we were flying Virgin Upper Class for the first time, and the food definitely wasn't your typical airline food (they even set the your tray table with a tablecloth and everything!!).

To start it was Cauliflower Cheese soup. Nice but a little bland.

For my main I had chicken stuffed with feta and spinach, served with lentils. This tasted better than it looked (it was a weird shade of green inside the chicken)

For dessert I chose rhubarb mousse which was nice and light.

Later on the flight we were served afternoon tea, which was some tasty sandwiches and a scone with cream and jam.

We had a Boma reservation for 8:30 that night, which should have been plenty of time. However our flight was delayed around an hour and a half, and we were stuck in the slowest immigration queue ever, so it was after half eight by the time we arrived at the lodge. We decided just to get room service instead, and shared a meal as neither of us were particularly hungry.

For an appetiser we got the cheese plate. This was absolutely huge, consisting of Brie, a very good creamy, garlicky cheese, 2 hard cheeses and plenty of lavosh bread, grapes and strawberries. A few of the grapes were mouldy but aside from that it was a nice appetiser.

For main we shared the Vegetarian taste of Boma. This was a reasonable substitute for missing our Boma reservation, and included cous cous (nice), fufu (I just love that stuff, it's is very sweet but I have a real sweet tooth), potato wedges (ok, not particularly flavourful), rice which was ok, falafel (quite spicy), roasted veg and I think some pap at the back, which was like plantain.

For dessert I picked the Giant Zebra Dome!! This was really good, and was just a mega sized version of the ones served in Boma. You could really taste the amarula, and had a nice creamy texture. It was served with a pot of mango coulis, which overpowered the zebra dome slightly, but was tasty when eaten by itself.

So that was our first days eating, with not too much Disney food due to our late arrival time.

Stay tuned for tomorrow when it's WDW food all the way, and I'll update with Sci Fi diner and Yachtsman. Thanks for reading.

 

[princess&her4princes]

Moldy grapes..oh no!!! The Zebra dome looks so yummy! I could go for it now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dizneeat]

That Zebra Dome looks HUGE! Need to make a note to order this next summer when we will be staying at AKL for 2 nights!
Yeah, still 299 days out, but already making plans.
Keep the reviews coming! They are wonderful.

 

[World Bouncer]

What a great start!!

Count me in for the ride!

 

[keelyhealthnut]

Wow...you're a cocktail drinker and DH is a vegetarian!! My DH and I will really enjoy this set of reviews. We are two veggies who love our cocktails. The food you've already posted looks delish!

 

[iluvpluto27]

Moldy grapes..oh no!!! The Zebra dome looks so yummy! I could go for it now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah the grapes weren't great but the zebra dome more than made up for it.

That Zebra Dome looks HUGE! Need to make a note to order this next summer when we will be staying at AKL for 2 nights!
Yeah, still 299 days out, but already making plans.
Keep the reviews coming! They are wonderful.

Thank you, and definitely try the giant zebra dome, it was good.

What a great start!!

Count me in for the ride!

Thank you

Wow...you're a cocktail drinker and DH is a vegetarian!! My DH and I will really enjoy this set of reviews. We are two veggies who love our cocktails. The food you've already posted looks delish!

Thanks, I definitely worked my way through WDWs cocktail menu! Hope you enjoy the reviews.

 

[iluvpluto27]

As I'm desperately trying to keep myself awake so I don't suffer too badly from jet lag, I'll go ahead and post day 2 tonight.

We woke up ridiculously early, as is usually the case after crossing the atlantic the night before, and decided to use some of our 56 snack credits for breakfast from Mara. I got the Yogurt Parfait which I really enjoyed, and had a few more of these during the course of the trip, and DH had a chocolate twist, which he enjoyed and again had a few more later in the trip.

We had an 11:30 reservation at Sci Fi Diner. We had eaten here before, and thought the food was ok, but really enjoyed the theming. I also remembered how much I enjoyed their creamy alcoholic milkshakes so decided we'd dine there again this trip.

We were seated in the back of a car almost immediately, the place was busy but not full. Our server greeted us and explained what we could order on the dxddp. She took our order and wanted us to order dessert then as well. I hate this practice, I have no idea what I want for dessert or whether I'll want dessert or what I'd want before I've even taken a bite of my appetiser. I said we probably wouldn't want one and she was fine with that.

For my drink I went for the Marsha's Martian, which was baileys. kaluha and chocolate/vanilla icecream. This was really good, you could taste the Baileys but it was quite filling and very sweet, I definitley needed the ice water to drink alongside it. It came with a glow cube as well, and I pretty much happy with any drink that glows.

We decided to share the Spinach and Artichoke dip as an appetiser. This was a big portion, nice and creamy with a thick cheesy skin on top.

For my entree I went for the cheeseburger. This was a bit burnt on the outside, and had a very charred taste. The fries were good, nice and hot and crispy. This was way too big a portion for me and I ate less than half.

DH went for the veggie option, which was marinated tofu served over rice. He said this had a nice flavour with a little kick to it. He cleared the plate so it must have been ok.

I was way to full for dessert, but DH fancied one so chose the chocolate tart. I had a couple of bites of this and it was actually pretty good, with a rich and creamy filling and crisp pastry shell.

Overall we enjoyed lunch at sci fi, although I would choose something other than the burger next time.

For dinner we had a 7:30 reservation at Yachtsman Steakhouse. We checked in a bit early and were told they were running 30 minutes behind, so we decided to have a drink at the bar.

I fancied something quite refreshing, so chose the Fusion Lemonade which contained vodka, orange & passionfruit liquor and light lemonade. This was very good, not too sweet and easy to drink.

No sooner had we paid for the drinks, we were buzzed, so I'm not sure what happened to the 30 minute wait.

We were seated at a nice corner table, next to another family. The tables are well spaced here, so you don't feel like you're actually sitting on top of nearby parties.

Our waiter was very friendly, experienced and efficient. For appetiser I decided to go for the lobster bisque.
This was very rich, with nice big pieces of lobster in, but it had a bit too much brandy in for my taste.

DH started the trend of the holiday and went for the cheese plate (as you'll see in future reviews he ordered the cheese plate at almost every restaurant).
This was a nice cheese plate, with good compliments for the cheeses which paired well, but was let down by the fact that no list or explanation of what the cheese's were was provided.

We actually found a description of the cheeses on the dessert menu, later in the meal but it was a bit late by then.

For my entree I chose the fillet with red wine sauce and mashed potatoes. The fillet was cooked medium-rare as requested but I didn't love it. I found the fillet to be quite chewy, and the red wine sauce, although present on the plate lacked in flavour. The mashed potatoes however were gorgeous, very creamy and smooth, with a nice hint of mustard.

The vegetarian option was Mushroom ravioli. This was open ravioli so looked a bit different to what I was expecting. The pasta was slightly undercooked making it very chewy, but the filling was very good with a strong mushroom flavour and large pieces of mushroom.

For desert I chose the Antique apple tart. This was nice but not mindblowing, it had good hints of cinammon and caramel flavour, but the caramel gelato tasted quite bland.

DH had the Grand Marnier Strawberries with lemon cornbread. This was a big portion, the balsamic reduction complemented the strawberries very well. The lemon cornbread was good, and didn't have an overowering lemon flavour and wasn't too sweet. A scoop of white chocolate gelato was also provided but didn't have a very strong flavour.

So overall, I liked the decor and the ambiance (it became quite quiet after 8ish), the food was nice but it won't be a must do for us.

 

[keelyhealthnut]

The milkshake sounds amazing and the vegetarian option looks really good. I had planned on requesting veggie burgers, but now I'm not so sure! I can already see our food bill increasing...

 

[spatter1234]

I am so jealous!!! Not necessarily for the food but 21 days at AKL!!!! What a treat!