Here's what a little PIXIE DUST can do ....... a dining review+pics COMPLETED!!!!!

dizneeat

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Well, actually a bit more than "a little" pixie dust! But let's start at the beginning.

Here's who's playing:
Tom, DB and travelling partner. LOVES everything and anything DISNEY! Works hard all year round so we can go on several Disney trips.

Me, Karin, planner of our trips to Disney and LOVER of everything and anything Disney as well!

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We were first sprinkled with Pixie dust in the summer of 2008, when we were able to book our first Disney cruise for 2009 AND got the Free Dining bounceback deal for 2009 at POR.
Needless to say our stay at WDW got changed a few times.

Next Pixie dust sprinkling happened when Disney offered the 4/3 deal and we were able to take advantage of it for a week in February.
Our Pirate adventure can be found here -
Pirates on the Dining Plan.

Actually more Pixie dust was sprinkled on our vacation when we were offered an incredible deal from the British Disney Travel company - for about 200$ more than our POR (+FD) reservation we were able to stay at a 1 bedroom villa at OKW AND got the FD.

Here is our itinerary!

Day 1 - airplane food, not so yummy, after arriving in Miami Beach we had dinner at Bubba Gump

Day 2 - Breakfast at the hotel buffet (Best Western Atlantic Beach), lunch at Bubba Gump (yip, we love it there) dinner - Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

Day 3 - Breakfast at the hotel buffet, drive to Key West (the real thing) dinner at the Outback Steakhouse

Day 4 - Breakfast at the Southernmost Cafe on the Beach, Key Limeade and Pina Colada Slushie, dinner at Turtle Kraals, snacking at the Key Lime Pie Factory

Day 5 - Breakfast at Sarabeth's, Starbuck's Coffee, dinner at the Southernmost Cafe at the Beach

Day 6 - Breakfast at Turtle Kraals, dinner at Red Lobster


Day 7 - Breakfast at hotel buffet, lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express, Ghirardelli, dinner at Kona Cafe

Day 8 - Lunch at the Cantina de San Angel and Sunshine Seasons, Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream, dinner at The Wave

Day 9 - Breakfast at Wolfgang Puck's Express, lunch at Beach Blanket on board the Disney Wonder, dinner at Triton's

Day 10 - Breakfast at Parrot Cay, lunch at Pluto's Dog House, dinner at Palo

Day 11 - Room Service Breakfast, lunch at Serenity Bay Barbeque,pirate dinner at Animator's Palate Part 1 Part 2

Day 12 - Brunch at Palo (Part 1, savory offerings) (Part 2, rest of savory items and sweet offerings), snack at Goofy's Galley and Martini Tasting, dinner at Palo Part 1 Part 2

Day 13 - Breakfast at Beach Blanket buffet, late lunch at Bubba Gump, Wishes Dessert Party

Day 14 - Breakfast at Island Dining Room, snack at Thunder Falls Terrasse (UO-IOA), snack in hotel room, Wishes Dessert Party

Day 15 - Lunch at Olive Garden, dinner Tony Roma, Krispy Kreme

Day 16 - Lunch at International Food and Film Festival (UO), Starbuck's Coffee, snack dinner in room

Day 17 - Lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express, dinner at California Grill

Day 18 - Lunch at Artist's Palette (SSP), dinner at Grand Floridian Cafe

Day 19 - Lunch at Cantina de San Angel and Kringla Bakeri og Cafe, dinner at Sanaa

Day 20 - Lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express, Ghirardelli, dinner at Kouzzina by Cat Cora

Day 21 - Breakfast at Boma, Lunch at The Wave, Hallowishes Dessert Party

Day 22 - Breakfast at Wolfgang Puck's Express, lunch at Cookes of Dublin and dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Cafe and a birthday cake from the Boardwalk Bakery

Day 23 - Lunch at Lotos Blossom Cafe, drinks at the French Pavillion, dinner at Ohana

Day 24 - Breakfast in villa, dinner at Tutto Italia

Day 25 - Lunch at Sci-Fi, dinner at Le Cellier

Day 26 - Lunch at Tangerine Cafe and Kringla Bakeri og Cafe, take away dinner from Wolfgang Puck's Express

Day 27 - Lunch at Flame Tree Barbeque, Picnic in the Park, dinner at California Grill

Day 28 - Lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express, dinner at Tony's Town Square

Day 29 - Lunch at Casey's Corner and Columbia Harbour House, a drink from the Enchanted Grove and dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Express, more not so yummy airplane food

Day 30 - airplane breakfast and back home again.

So, anyone hungry for a review?
 
Oh my gosh, I am so envious -- 30 days! I'm in for sure! )And wouldn't mind seeing a review of Bubba Gumps and all the Key West restaurants!)
 
Loved your last report. looking forward to this one. Have a great time on your cruise. We cruised last year at the beginning of Nov. Ahh Castaway Cay! Due to an itinerary change we were able to go there twice. Enjoy!
 


Loved your previous reviews. I am so ready for this report and so very jealous. ;)
 


Yay Karin! You started! I am so excited for this review!
 
:goodvibesWelcome everyone!!!!!!!!:goodvibes

Oh my gosh, I am so envious -- 30 days! I'm in for sure! )And wouldn't mind seeing a review of Bubba Gumps and all the Key West restaurants!)

I am glad you are here!!! And THANK YOU for asking for the reviews for the other restaurants - I wasn't sure if anyone wanted to see photos or read about other restaurants, but for us experiencing new food and going back to old favourites is part of the vacation fun! I got everything uploaded and will post some of our pre disney food adventures right away.

Loved your last report. looking forward to this one. Have a great time on your cruise. We cruised last year at the beginning of Nov. Ahh Castaway Cay! Due to an itinerary change we were able to go there twice. Enjoy!

Thank you for joining in! We loved our first cruise and are actually booked again for next summer - oops - gave that away :lmao:
I guess you loved Castaway Cay as much as we did! We are booked on a back to back cruise, so we can go to Castaway Cay twice - it's heaven, Disney heaven!!!

Signing on, can't wait!

Hey, good to see you here! First reviews (pre disney) coming up in a few more minutes.

I am so following you with your unbelievable 30 days' of pure bliss. :woohoo:

I hope you won't be disappointed ;)! I just checked HOW many food photos I took and there are A LOT!!

Can't wait.23 days @ WDW wow.

I am glad you are here. I'll rush through the pre disney part, so we get to see some Disney nosh soon!

Loved your previous reviews. I am so ready for this report and so very jealous. ;)

I am glad you enjoyed my previous reviews. I am finally ready to post - so let's go! :)
 
Sounds great, I'm in!

I am glad you are here! I'll try my best not to disappoint you!

Yay Karin! You started! I am so excited for this review!

Hey girlie! How are you doing today! Did you make it to Kouzzina?
I am honoured you joined the party!! :worship:

oooh ive a feelin this is gonna be good :cool1:

Hi! Glad you joined us too!

joining in and can't wait...popcorn::

First servings coming right up!


It's good to have you here!

Karin, I'm here. Bring on the food! popcorn::

I am SO happy to see you here! :yay: Loads of food photos uploaded and coming up in a few more minutes!

30 days!!! WOW I can't wait for the reviews!!:cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:

Great to have you here! Reviews starting right now!!
 


Caution! I am Austrian - English is NOT my first language, so there WILL be mistakes! Please forgive me!!!!!!!!!!!!! :flower3:

:yay:Okay, now let's go!!!:yay:

Since there was a request for our pre-Disney food adventures I am going to review them, but I'll just try to make it short, so we VERY soon can move on to some real Disney food!

Day 1, Aug 15

Well, let me start with the most boring food of them all - airplane food!

Our flight from Linz to Frankfurt takes about 55 minutes and this is what they fed us - "Americans" :rotfl: how appropriate! A rather soft cookie with hard icing.

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After a 2 hour layover we got on our plane to Miami! Now, if anyone ever decides to travel on German carrier Lufthansa - this is what they might feed you!

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Pretzel Mix - Austrian, therefore very good! ;)

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Lunch tray

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Salad and lemon cream dessert, the salad was unbelieveably fresh for airplane food and the dessert was very sweet with a slight lemony taste - Tom didn't even try it and I did not finish it! :scared1:

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Salad dressing, butter and cheese - regular stuff

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We both had the same main dish - sweet and sour chicken with white rice. Actually we were pleasantly surprised. The chicken war tender and the sauce really well seasoned. Well done for airplane food!

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Closeup of the lemon cream dessert

After sleeping for a few hours (with the help of a Walgreen's sleeping aid :rotfl:) this is what we were woken for:

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Another lunch tray (6 hour time difference!)

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The pasta dish did not impress much - slightly overcooked and dry at the edges pasta, but the sauce was well seasoned and nice

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Dinner roll - unfortunately served cold and dry, came with butter and some hard and dry cheese

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Dessert was fruit yoghurt - regular stuff!

 
Still Day 1, Aug 15

Bubba Gump at Bayside Marketplace

Once we landed we made our way through immigration, luggage retrieval and customs and picked up our rental car. Once assigned a car we walked outside and were greated by

a Florida DOWNPOUR!! Welcome to sunny Florida!! :rotfl:

We made it to the hotel, dropped the luggage in the room and off we went to START OFF our vacation with a dinner at Bubba Gump at Bayside Marketplace. They actually offer mainly the same food at all their locations, but since there is NOTHING like it here in Austria, we just LOVE to eat there.

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My all time favourite drink at Bubba Gump - Strawberry Speckled Lemonade - tart lemonade with the sweetness of strawberries in syrup - YUM!
Oh, Tom had a Diet Coke! :thumbsup2

We were hungry so we decided to share a starter. One we had not tried before.

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Dynamite Shrimp - Succulent popcorn shrimp with a sweet glaze and a special blend of Thai spices. The shrimp were juicy and the pop corn coating (guess the coating was popped amaranth) just gave it that right amount of crunch. It came with a coating of sweet glaze that had quite a kick to it. You started chewing and it would suddenly hit you - hot, but not too hot. The sauce even mixed so well with the chopped cabbage the shrimp sat on. We did not leave one single crumb of this heavenly starter.

For main courses we both decided on old favourites.

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Tom had the Bourbon Street Mahi Mahi. Charbroiled Cajun spiced Mahi Mahi with Bourbon Sauce and grilled Shrimp, served over Mashed Potato. Needless to say I tried a bite and it was wonderful. Moist, tender fish that blended well with the sauce and tasty grilled shrimp. I didn't taste the mash, but Tom was in for a clean plate sticker, so it must have been good!

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This is my all time favourite, which you might see once or twice again :lmao: Dumb Luck Coconut Shrimp served with Cajun Marmalade and Fries. The shrimp are so big and succulent and they go so well with the slightly sweet taste of the coconut coating. It is served with sweet Cajun Marmelade, fries and coleslaw, which was not as sweet as I remembered it from last year. I finished off my plate as well - yip I was really hungry!

After our dinner we went to Publix and stocked up on essentials - drinks, Oreo cookies, Doritos and salsa - the taste of snacks in America ;) before we went back to the hotel for a very early night.
 
Day 2, Aug 16

Breakfast at the hotel buffet (BW Atlantic Beach Resort)

The hotel restaurant offers a buffet breakfast - nothing to compare to WDW, but it fills your stomach.

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My plate, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and breakfast potatoes. The eggs lacked salt, the sausage was ...... well, sausage, the bacon was crisp and the potatoes really good!

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Tom's plate - with exactly the same items, he just had a lot of ketchup to go with it.

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What looks like toast actually is French Toast. A bit on the dry side, but drenched in syrup it was quite nice.

Next up - more Bubba Gump
 

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