FL AP Quick Service Extravaganza with Picky Eaters Galore

[Buntington]

Hello all!

We are FL residents who just got our first set of APs in November. I am so excited to be going to the parks almost every week (with the exception of blackout dates in December, April, and all summer). We are on a budget, so we are mostly bringing our own snacks, eating QS lunches, and going home before dinner in order to save money. For others who are in the same situation, I thought it might be helpful to do some reviews of our QS meals and snacks as we make our way through the parks each week. We do have a few character dining experiences and other ADRs planned here and there, but otherwise it's QS all the way, baby!

A bit about us...

We are a family of 4. DH and I are in our 30s. I'm a psychologist and DH is a SAHD right now. I have Fridays off, which is the perfect time for us to visit WDW! I'm an adventurous eater and enjoy a variety of cuisines, especially veggies. DH is...not. Additionally, he has a chronic illness that he manages by controlling his diet, which also limits where we can eat.

These are our mini Disney fanatics! Can you tell that they enjoy Star Wars? DS is 3.5 and DD is 1.5. DS is also a very picky eater, like his dad. He basically lives on chicken nuggets and fruit. DD is more like me and will try a variety of things.

My mom and grandmother might also appear in some of these reviews. They are both disabled but love Disney and also love food! They will be joining us for a couple of trips.

So there you have it! On to the reviews. I'll update as we have more trips to the parks.

Review List:
12/16 Lotus Blossom Cafe & Kringla Snack (Epcot)
January-we'll be eating at at least two QS in Epcot, we have an ADR for Rose & Crown Pub, and we'll likely be checking out additional QS at HS, MK, and AK.
February-BOG breakfast ADR
March-Garden Grill lunch ADR
April-Akershus breakfast ADR (DS's birthday), Crystal Palace dinner ADR (DD's birthday)

 

[Buntington]

One thing all four members of our family enjoy is Chinese food. So for our first Epcot trip, trying the Lotus Blossom Cafe was a no brainer.

We got there at about 12:45 and the first thing that struck me was...no line. We walked right up and ordered immediately! Having waited 20-30 minutes to order at QS in MK and HS, we were shocked. I'm not sure whether this is a testament to Lotus Blossom's lack of popularity or the sheer number of restaurants at Epcot, but I'll take it.

I should have taken more pictures of the exterior of the restaurant, the menu, etc. Oops. Will do next time. Here is the interior, which is outdoors but at least features some shade and fans. It was a nice day in the low 70s, so it didn't feel uncomfortable, and you have a nice view of the China pavilion. I imagine this will get fairly hot during the summer months, though.

Here's the menu on Disney's website, but it's not updated. They did not have the curry or the beef noodle soup.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/epcot/lotus-blossom-cafe/menus/

The tables were nothing special but they were functional. We chose a booth to corral the kids, who would otherwise climb in and out of the chairs constantly. DD is still too small to really sit in a regular chair but refuses to sit in a high chair, so we do the best we can.

For our appetizer, we ordered two pork egg rolls. These were the only underwhelming part of the meal. The flavor was not great, and they were very bland. The outside was also not very crunchy or flavorful. Just edible overall. I would not order them again. Next time we'll try potstickers, I guess. C-

DH ordered the beef mongolian style for his entree. It didn't have many veggies in it, which suited him just fine. I tried a noodle and liked the flavor, and he said the beef was tender and of good quality. B overall.

The kids didn't want sweet and sour chicken, so we had to order from the adult menu for them. They selected orange chicken as their entree. The white rice was a nice texture, and the orange sauce was nice, but the real highlight here was the chicken itself. Just the right amount of crispiness. So often when I order Chinese food, the breaded chicken is soggy on the outside and dry inside. This was the opposite--moist chicken and a nice, crunchy outer shell. They had obviously just added the sauce to the chicken. DD decided she didn't like it and ate the egg roll and a mountain of white rice instead, but DH, DS, and I all ate some of the orange chicken. B+

And here's my entree, the sesame chicken salad. This was my favorite. The lettuce was so fresh--I wonder if it might have come straight from The Land pavilion. It did not taste like store-bought lettuce that had been sitting in a bag while being shipped. In addition to the lettuce, there was some edamame, which added some nice flavor and crunch. The honey dressing was a bit on the sweet side, but still tasty. But again, the highlight was the chicken. It was the same chicken base as the orange chicken, but with honey sauce and sesame seeds topping it instead of orange sauce. Delicious! A overall.

At the conclusion of our meal, everyone agreed that we would dine here again on one of our subsequent Epcot trips. We felt that the quality was at least as good as take-out Chinese, for even lower prices ($8 for my salad and $10 for the other entrees, no gratuity needed!). Actually, these prices were slightly lower than a lot of the other entrees we've seen on QS lunch menus. We were quite happy with our pick, so if you're looking for something cheap but tasty, definitely try Lotus Blossom.

 

[Buntington]

Later in the afternoon, we continued our informal cupcake crawl through the parks.

At HS, the kids each got their own cupcake because...well, because Star Wars. Waaaaay too much food. The cupcakes aren't quite as big as their heads, but I think they're much larger than average stomach size for a 3-year-old.

So this time we went to Kringla Bakeri in the Norway pavilion to get a single cupcake for all 4 of us. They had a really cute set of 4 mini Frozen cupcakes, but we decided to leave that for when a friend of mine is visiting in two weeks. So we selected Anna's Birthday Cupcake. I'm sure 5000 other people have reviewed it before since we had it last time we were at Epcot in January of this year.

The cupcake is good if you like vanilla. Moist yellow cake, vanilla buttercream frosting, and cute little snowflake sprinkles. Again, I didn't get a picture, but inside the cupcake was some kind of white filling--also vanilla but not frosting. Not sure if it was pudding or marshmallow, but it tasted good. DS ate almost all of it so I didn't get to sample much, but it obviously met with his approval. DH liked it but wished it had a bit more flavor. It was plenty of food for the 4 of us. Verdict: we've already eaten it twice now and we would definitely eat it again! A