Four Months of Disney Dining! Final Updates 5/18

[bellebookworm9]

Subscribing! I'll be in WDW at the end of March and I am loving all the snack and quick service reviews! I hope your camera gets fixed soon, but in the mean time I will wait patiently...

ETA: We, too, are staying at Coronado Springs. Thanks for all of the great pics on your blog!

I'm glad you are enjoying all the reviews and pictures! If you're coming to Epcot, say hello!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Wednesday night I made a spur of the moment decision to go to the Studios. It was pouring rain and I was hungry, so first on the agenda was food! I went into Backlot Express but nothing on the menu appealed, so I decided to try and find Pizza Planet. It really is tucked away back in the corner, but I did succeed in my mission.

It wasn't terribly busy because even though it was prime dinner time, the rain was driving people out of the park. I decided on the veggie pizza, no side salad (I don't really like Caesar salads). It took between 5-10 minutes for the pizza to come out, but when it did it was hot and fresh.

This picture belongs to JRoyster86 and was taken from the Categorized Food Porn thread.

I found a table on the first floor and sat down to eat. The pizza was fine, but I didn't really care for the crust, as it was a bit burned. My only complaint about the restaurant was how incredibly loud it was-not even with people, just all the arcade games making noise! I would go here again, but would try to get a table outside where it isn't as loud.

 

[okw19]

I am loving all of your reviews!! Try Pizza Planet on the 2nd floor. It's still loud, but it's normally less crowded in some corners and is more relaxed.

 

[bellebookworm9]

I am loving all of your reviews!! Try Pizza Planet on the 2nd floor. It's still loud, but it's normally less crowded in some corners and is more relaxed.

I thought about going upstairs, but as I'm not supposed to be doing stairs with my knee sprain, I figured I'd avoid it. And it really wasn't crowded downstairs, just very loud.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Last night, I didn't plan things very well and didn't realize that the cast diner would be closed by the time I got my dinner break after 7pm. I changed my shirt and headed into the park, going straight for Electric Umbrella since it was the closest restaurant and I'd never eaten there before.

Upon entering, they had a large queue set up before you got to the registers. I joined that, although there weren't many people there, or really at the registers either. Once at the register, there were only 2-3 parties ahead of me, but by the time I had ordered and received my food, my 45 minute break had turned into a 20 minute break. Kind of ridiculous, since it wasn't even a prime dinner time.

All I wanted was a simple cheeseburger, which I was able to get. It was fine and just what I was looking for. I also ordered the strawberry cheesecake, which was kind of gross. It was a weird texture and flavor, and I would not recommend it.

************
Just a note that I have reservations at two new places over the next two days: Sanaa for lunch and The Wave for breakfast. Both places are currently offering a 40% cast discount, which is a great incentive for me to give them a try! I'm borrowing my roommate's camera so there will be pictures, at least from Sanaa.

 

[Linda67]

Great updates

We've never tried Pizza Planet but we might give it a go next time, your veggie pizza looked pretty good

I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about Sanaa as I have an ADR there in May for lunch

And, wow - 40% discount

 

[bellebookworm9]

(I had a camera snafu, so these pictures were taken as video with my iPod and then captured as screen shots on the computer, which is why they aren't so great).

This restaurant is currently offering a 40% discount for cast members at lunch. Since it's at one of my favorite resorts, how could I turn it down? So I made a reservation for 1:05pm only one day in advance.


Upon arrival at the hotel I made my way downstairs around 12:30 and was seated within minutes. I did not ask for a window seat, so was seated in the center of the restaurant. It was more crowded than I expected. However, I could still see out the window and was able to view some zebras, giraffes, and birds.


My server was Brenda and she was quite attentive. However, I did feel a bit rushed as when she came to the table to take my drink order, she immediately asked me if I knew what I'd like for my entree.


I really didn't know what to expect from this meal, but decided to start with the Tomato Soup with Paneer Cheese. The soup was very good, and the cheese had an interesting flavor. It came in four chunks, which I was not really expecting, but I was able to squash it with my spoon to make it mix more into the soup.

For my entree, I chose the Tandoori Shrimp. This is served as an open faced sandwich on Naan bread, with lettuce, onions, tomatoes,and cucumber raita. It was very tricky to eat and the bread was difficult to cut in to smaller pieces. I didn't really care for the dish-it had a lot of unfamiliar flavors in it that I found to be too much and a bit too spicy.

I'm glad I gave it a try and I would recommend it to adventurous eaters, but I don't think I would return.

For dessert, I walked over to Jambo House and down to Mara to get my beloved Zebra Domes.

Yummy, yummy as always! I let my roommate tried it and she was pleased as well.

 

[PelletierBears]

I've been really enjoying your reviews!

Even though I like spicy food Sanna just seems a bit too exotic for my tastes. The view sounds amazing though

 

[teacherjmc]

I love reading your reviews--it's fun to get an inside look at WDW! Can't wait to read more!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Oh look, it's Gretchen, crawling back out of the shadows to kick this dining review back into high gear! Not a lot of pictures because I just got my camera back, but hopefully the descriptions will suffice!

Beach Club Marketplace-Dinner 3/1
I went here after IllumiNations. After staring at the menu for a bit, I decided on the Turkey and Brie Sandwich. This came on ciabatta bread, with cranberry jelly. It was the only thing on the menu that even sort of appealed, and I didn't end up eating much of it, even though I kept it for a few days. Don't know that I'd get it again.

Restaurantosaurus-Lunch 3/6
The line to order was not particularly long, but the kitchen was very slow in getting the food out so there was a large backlog of people waiting to get their food.

When I finally received my plain cheeseburger with fries and bottled water, it wasn't too hard to find a seat. This restaurant is much larger than it first appears. I took a seat in one of the frontmost rooms and a cast member offered to get me anything I might need.

The burger and fries were adequate. I actually couldn't finish the whole burger. The bun was one of the wheat ones, but I found it edible and it didn't crumble, so I thought it was fine.

Captain Cook's-Dinner 3/6
My friend and I stopped in here on the evening of 3/6 before watching Wishes from the beach. Our original intent was simply to get pineapple Dole Whips, but I also ended up getting dinner.

The self-service ordering kiosk was simple enough. I chose the Grown Up Grilled Cheese with Poly chips, a dole whip, and a fountain drink. Now, the logical step, to me, is to go down to the counter to pick up your food, then proceed to the cashier. But not here. You must take your printed receipt from the kiosk to the cashier, who rings you up and then puts your order through, hands you a buzzer, and then you go back to the pick up counter.

Once I got all my food, we proceeded to the beach. It was obviously dark out there, so I couldn't really see what I was eating, but it was all delicious. The chips were especially awesome and I ate them all-they were like a kettle cooked chip. The sandwich was cheesy and awesome, will definitely get it again!

The Wave-Breakfast 3/7
This restaurant is currently offering a 40% discount for cast members at breakfast and lunch, so I booked a reservation for myself and two friends. We arrived just on time for our 10:30am ADR on 3/7, and even though one of our party had fallen ill that morning and was unable to accompany us, we were seated with no problem.

The restaurant is a little tricky to find-I'd never been in the Contemporary before, and we came by monorail this time-but once inside it was calming and tastefully decorated. I had debated between the sweet potato pancakes and the buffet, but upon finding out that the pancakes were on the buffet, both my friend and I chose that.

We were not disappointed. The croissants, bacon, muffins, breads, and pastries were excellent. I had some rice crispies cereal and was pleased to find milk at the cereal station, although I did have to ask for a spoon. The breakfast biscuit was fine, and I enjoyed the whole grain Mickey waffles. I had heard they were gritty and unpleasant, but I liked them-I had also doused them in syrup, so perhaps that made a difference? Really my only disappointment turned out to be the sweet potato pancakes! While they had excellent flavor, they were dry, even with the added pecan honey butter.

I was pleased to see that our drinks were included in the buffet price-something I was not expecting. Even including an automatic 18% gratuity, this still might be the cheapest buffet for CMs on property, with a total cost of $17. Will definitely return in the future!

ABC Commissary-Lupper 3/7
I ordered the fish and chips. It came out pretty quickly...and that was where the good ended. We did find a table with no difficulty, as it was around 3pm, but the food was not good. The fries were okay, but the fish was gross. Did not even appear to be "normal" fish & chips, but like long skinny strips. It didn't taste great either and just sat in my stomach for most of the evening. Dined here once five years ago and now I recall why I hadn't been there since.

Lotus Blossom Cafe-Dinner 3/8
As others have said, this does have a limited menu, but that was alright, as I knew I wanted the orange chicken. When we arrived, they have a menu posted outside, which we looked at, but as soon as we walked into the restaurant, a CM kind of jumped in our faces and thrust a picture menu towards us, telling us to give us her order so she could write it down and we could take the paper to the cashier. This seemed kind of redundant and there were no lines in the place, so it wasn't really expediting anything.

The chicken was ready extremely quickly-I didn't even have time to put my credit card away before it came out. My friend and I found a table and dug in. The chicken was good, but not the flavor I was expecting, I guess. I did eat all of it though, and most of the rice.

I suppose I would return, but as the orange chicken is the only thing I would eat, I'll try other places first.

Boulangerie Patisserie-Dinner 3/9
I finally got a chance to eat here on Friday, March 9th. The line was out the door, but moved along fairly quickly. I decided on the cheese plate, which for some reason I thought came with bread and fruit, but it did not-bread was extra and there was no fruit. I also chose the Napoleon for dessert after reading rave reviews.

The cheese plate contained three varities: a pale yellow spread, a bright yellow spread, and a solid cheese. I did not care for the solid one, and liked the pale spread the best. I thought there was too much cheese and not enough bread, however.

The Napoleon was excellent, as described. I'd never had one before and I really liked it a lot. Would absolutely get it again!

Artist's Palette-Lunch 3/13
Stopped in here for lunch yesterday. The entering/ordering lines are a little confusing, but I figured it out and ordered the Chicken, Spinach, and Artichoke Flatbread, plus a Minnie sugar cookie.

The flatbread was all right-bigger than I was expecting and I only ate half. I would have preferred a plain cheese, but I didn't see that as a menu option. The sugar cookie was fine. Not like any sugar cookie I've had before-the frosting was very hard, and the cookie itself was spongy and slighty cinnamon or ginger flavored. A nice place to grab a meal if you're staying at SSR, but I doubt I'd make another special trip.

Chefs de France-Lunch 3/14
Despite large crowds today, I was able to get a walk up seating for 1 at around 2:20pm. It was only about 5-10 minutes before I was led to a table right against the window with a view of World Showcase Promenade. My server was Jean-Michele and while he was friendly, he wasn't anything special.

I chose the Prix Fixe menu, beginning with the French Onion soup. I was also brought a baguette, which was excellent when dipped in the soup. I normally don't like french onion soup but this was very good.

My entree was the Ham and Cheese Sandwich. I did not care for the accompanying salad-the dressing was too strong. But the sandwich was delicious.

I was torn on dessert: the strawberries and cream cake or the profiteroles? But I ended up with the profiteroles and was not disappointed. The chocolate sauce was warm and perfectly offset the vanilla ice cream.

Between the entree and dessert, one of the cast members brought Chef Remy around on the cart and that was a delightful surprise. I really enjoyed this meal and am glad I finally got to eat here!

 

[pumba]

I have enjoyed clicking on your food reviews ....thanks so much for taking the time to do this..as we all know it does take time to do this and set it up for links...

Thanks again

 

[aras4007]

Loving your reviews!! I have been following along on your blog too. So jealous of you! Can't wait to read more and I hope you are loving your job!

 

[akayek31]

They all sound and look so good. I may have to try that ham and cheese sandwich next trip. How do you do the links? I have never figured that out in my 4 yrs on the Dis

 

[Linda67]

Woo hoo - lots of updates
You have just made me crave a grilled cheese sandwich and a dole whip from Captain Cooks

 

[bellebookworm9]

I have enjoyed clicking on your food reviews ....thanks so much for taking the time to do this..as we all know it does take time to do this and set it up for links...

Thanks again

No problem!

Loving your reviews!! I have been following along on your blog too. So jealous of you! Can't wait to read more and I hope you are loving your job!

Thanks for reading!

They all sound and look so good. I may have to try that ham and cheese sandwich next trip. How do you do the links? I have never figured that out in my 4 yrs on the Dis

The links are quite simple once you figure them out. You put Woo hoo - lots of updates
You have just made me crave a grilled cheese sandwich and a dole whip from Captain Cooks [/QUOTE]

Both very good things to crave!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Last night I wanted to go out to dinner but I wasn't sure where. After speaking to a friend at work and finding out that she had never been to a table service restaurant, I decided to take her with me. When I got home, I hopped on the computer to see what restaurants had availability, and to my surprise, there were quite a few. But I decided on Trail's End, as it is a buffet, I'd never been there, and it's cheap-ish.

It was no easy task to get there, that's for certain. We had to take the College Program "A" bus to the TTC. From there we could have transferred to the "B" bus, but instead we took the monorail to MK (pulled up seconds after we walked up the ramp) and the boat to Ft. Wilderness (which was there when we walked on to the dock), arriving moments after our reservation time.

We were given a buzzer and after a very short wait time, were seated at a table on the upper level near the buffet. All the staff was very personable and friendly. My first trip up to the buffet, I started with a salad, complete with cornbread croutons.

The salad was very good, but I didn't like the cornbread croutons. They were just a little too sweet for my liking.

Next round was fried chicken, honey glazed carrots, chili with cheese and sour cream, and mashed potatoes. The chili was too spicy for me, but the mashed potatoes were outstanding. The chicken and carrots were good as well.

Then it was on to dessert! First off I had some twist soft serve, with chocolate sauce, cookie crumbles, and M&Ms.

Back up for more dessert! This time I went for the apple cobbler, red velvet cake, pecan bar, and a sugar cookie. The apple cobbler was good, red velvet cake was out of this world. The pecan bar was overcooked, and the sugar cookie was hard and tasteless.

This was a surprisingly good meal, and pretty cheap for Disney. If you can actually get to it, I highly recommend it.

 

[auntfrannie]

I'm thoroughly enjoying your reviews! Thanks so much!

 

[akayek31]

Ok I may have to eat at trails end now. I need to stop reading your reviews because I keep finding places I want to eat next and am getting hungry

 

[DancinDaisyDuck]

Welcome Back, lol! You sure have been busy and everything looks yummy! I hope the Spring break crowds haven't got you too wiped out to keep eating. Looking forward to your next set of reviews!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Everything Pop! Lunch 3/16
Since I had discovered I like Red Velvet Cake at Trail's End, I decided to go to Pop Century for lunch and finally try the Tye Dye Cheesecake, since it has a red velvet base.

After browsing all the entree stations, I decided on the Veggie Calzone. The description stated there were red peppers in it, which I don't care for, but they are pre-made and then heated so I couldn't get one without them. I was, however, able to sub breadsticks for the side salad, which appeared to have banana peppers in it. And of course, I got a slice of the cheesecake.

Since it was about 2:30 in the afternoon, there was plenty of seating available so I set by the glass wall in the back. It was there that I discovered my camera's battery was dead. I couldn't find a picture of the calzone, but here's one of the breadsticks and one of the cheesecake, both from the DIS.

The breadsticks were awesome-soft and warm, with great flavoring. The calzone was also very good-the red peppers weren't too overpowering, but still noticeable. The cheesecake was just as amazing as everyone says it is. I think this meal was definitely worth the extra effort to get there!

Captain Cook's Dinner 3/18
After work on Sunday, I was supposed to go to the Studios with a friend to see Fantasmic, but she had car trouble and couldn't make it. I've already seen Fantasmic 3 times in the last 4 weeks or so, and I'm okay with not seeing it every week. I couldn't decided what I wanted for dinner though!

I took the cast bus from the main entrance to International Gateway and decided I didn't want to eat at Epcot, so I walked over to the Boardwalk. After ducking in to the bakery, nothing appealed, so I continued out front to the buses. Deciding to go to either Magic Kingdom or Downtown Disney, I got on the first bus that came, which was for MK. On the way there, I realized that I didn't really want anything there either! So I hopped on the monorail and ended up at the Polynesian to get the Grown Up Grilled Cheese again, with a side of Poly chips.

I know it doesn't look like much, but it's so good! If you like cheese, definitely give it a try some time!

For dessert, I got one of these babies:

I do not like Mickey Premium Bars. At all. But I love these, and it was the perfect thing to munch on while I walked to the TTC to catch the bus home. So glad I made the choice to go there for dinner!

1900 Park Fare Breakfast 3/20
Yesterday morning I realized I didn't have any breakfast food, and the WalMart buses are not cooperating with my schedule. So onto disneyworld.com I went to make a reservation. 1900 Park Fare had an available time for 10:05, so that's what I went with.

I arrived shortly before 10 and they took this super cute picture, which I ended up buying (hey, I got three copies and there was a CM discount!)

One server came by and asked me what I'd like to drink. I asked for apple juice and then went up to the buffet.

The Mickey waffle and cheesy scrambled eggs were really good. The bacon was limp and very greasy, and the croissant was not as buttery and flaky as they are at other restaurants. The fruit was just gross-not sweet at all.

Then the characters started coming around. The girls at the table next to mine asked me to take their picture, so I asked them to do the same for me.

Right before Tigger came by I had gone up to the buffet again for the Strawberry Soup, and a cheese danish, blueberry muffin, and biscuit, which I apparently forgot to take a picture of because Tigger was causing mischief at my table!

Overall, I found the meal disappointing. The good part was that it was cheaper than I was expecting; only $20.99 before my discount, tax, and tip. But the food was average at best, with the exception of the soup, and you can meet 4 out of those 5 characters for free at the parks.

Leaning Palms Lunch 3/20
Before I left Typhoon Lagoon this afternoon I decided to get some food. I generally think the choices at the water parks are boring and not very appealing, but the Pulled Pork Sandwich looked okay, so that's what I got.

It was fine, nothing special. I was able to find a seat under the pavilion right near by, which was nice.