Honeymoon Lovers and Seafood Lovers take on Disney Dining! - dining plan analysis

[librarygeek]

Okay, my pics are back and I am back! Here we go!


Akershus

I had mainly booked this meal because I wanted to try some Norwegian food. I have a friend who lives in Norway and so I know probably at least a little bit more about the country than the average American and I'm always eager to find out more! I was eh about having the characters - I would have preferred to not have them there as I've heard the more authentic dishes have disappeared as a result and the food quality has gone down. But it was cool to meet Belle in her ball gown! The inside of the restaurant was very cool, looking like an old castle or banquet hall:

The first thing that we did was order our drinks. I don't remember who ordered what or which drink is which, but one was the Oslo (this frozen
fruity favorite combines Strawberries with Crème de Banana, Linie Aquavit, and Vodka) and one was the Kristiansand (a frozen combination of Raspberries, Mango, Linie Aquavit, and Rum) :

And we ended up switching drinks because each of us preferred the other! Apparently we don't know how to order right

We then started with the cold buffet for an appetizer. They had an assortment of things, including cold cuts, cheeses, salads, and rolls:

To be honest, it wasn't really my thing. My favorite part of the appetizer buffet was just the roll, though the salad was okay. It was decent, I just didn't think it was anything delicious so I gave it a 7 out of 10. DH, on the other hand, loved it. He really enjoys trying different kinds of cheeses and he filled his plate up and gave it a 9 out of 10.

For my entree I ordered the salmon (with Roasted Root Vegetable Hash and
Cardamom-Lemon Grass Glaze):

This was quite good - it was a really nice piece of fish and glaze was definitely tasty. I gave it an 8.5 out of 10.

DH ordered the Herb dusted beef tips (Seared Beef Tenderloin Tips in Wild Mushroom Sauce served with Mashed Potatoes and seasonal Vegetable):

He gave it an 8.5 out of 10, though I couldn't really get any comments from him about it. But I guess it was good!

As we were eating the Princesses came around for pictures. We got the chance to meet Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Ariel, and Snow White (so all of the same ones that were at CRT).

Finally we came to the shared dessert plate. It had chocolate mousse, rice pudding with strawberry sauce, and a flaky puff pastry filled with Mascarpone Mousse topped with fresh Berries:

DH gave the dessert plate a 7 out of 10, while I gave it a 6.5 out of 10. I loved the pastry with berries, that was delicious. The chocolate mousse was okay, though it was definitely a bit rich for me, especially without any raspberry sauce! And I thought the rice pudding was pretty gross, but I think that's just not my thing.

Overall we'd give Akershus a 7.5 out of 10. Personally, if you're going for the characters I think it's a fantastic deal on the dining plan. You only use one TS credit per person, and you meet all of the same princesses at CRT. Plus, we thought the food was better there than at CRT. You get a lot of value out of the TS credit here.

We used two TS credits here:

Adult Meal: $42.99
Adult Meal: $42.99
Kristiansand: $10.50
Oslo: $10.50

Tip: $18.18
Tax: $6.96

Total with tax and tip: $132.12

 

[TanzUnited99]

Sounds like a great meal! We also enjoyed our time at Akershus and had fun meeting the Princesses. I agree it's a great deal on the dining plan.

 

[librarygeek]

Sounds like a great meal! We also enjoyed our time at Akershus and had fun meeting the Princesses. I agree it's a great deal on the dining plan.

It was a good meal! I would definitely try it again, but I want to try some of the other places in Epcot first. But if when we have kids someday we have a little girl, this would definitely be on the list of places to eat!

 

[erinscreen]

I may have to break down and give Kouzzina a try for dinner. I had breakfast there earlier this year and wasn't impressed. Although I think a lot of that had to do with the lackluster service.

I'm enjoying your reviews! Keep 'em coming!

i LOVE greek food, but des moines has such an eclectic food vibe that i think i would be disappointed. i don't have an adr, but might give it a try when i am there in january

 

[librarygeek]

i LOVE greek food, but des moines has such an eclectic food vibe that i think i would be disappointed. i don't have an adr, but might give it a try when i am there in january

It's definitely possible. I don't go to many different places around here for food so it wasn't anything that I had tried before.

 

[librarygeek]

Riverside Mill food court - lunch

Since we had planned an MK day this day for the extra magic hours that kept the park open until midnight, and we'd already done a lot in MK the other day we were there, we decided to get a late start and go over there around noon - meaning we could sleep in! We were originally planning on getting lunch at an MK CS place, maybe Cosmic Ray's, but we were already hungry so we decided to just go to the food court at POR.

I was all set to order the make your own pasta dish, but then I remembered we had reservations at Tony's for tonight and I would most likely be eating pasta for dinner. So instead I went with the Grilled Chicken Sandwich, which came with fries and was described as having some sort of spicy sauce on it:

Not very good. I should have just gotten the pasta. I give it a 4 out of 10 because it wasn't bad, there was just nothing good about it.The chicken sandwich was boring and bland. The sauce was not really spicy at all and had almost no taste to it. The fries were kind of limp and soggy.

DH got a create your own salad, with steak:

I forget what exactly he got in it but he really liked it, giving it a 7 out of 10. The one downside was that it took forever for him to receive it. I probably could have been done with my meal by the time his was ready. I noticed the pasta station was taking a really long time too, there was a very impatient man who got a bit annoyed that he waited 15 minutes for his CS food. We did get there right around 11 when they start lunch, but they were definitely taking their time. Most of the people didn't even start taking orders until 11:10 or so.

I got a Mickey rice krispie treat for dessert:

And I have to give it a 3 out of 10. It was probably the worst rice krispie treat I've ever had, though I know some people love them! The one I had was just really soft and mushy (they're supposed to be crispy, right? A Krispie treat!). And it had almost no flavor at all. I took a few bites and that was it.

DH had the cheesecake with strawberry topping:

He said it was pretty good, nothing really special but tasty. He gave it an 8 out of 10 because he was impressed by the portion size, feeling that they gave him a really big piece.

For me, this was hands down the worst place I ate. DH had better luck with his food choices. He still found it to be pretty average though. I would eat here again, but would definitely try something different. Overall the place gets a 5 out of 10.

We used two CS credits here.

Create Your Own Salad: $10.49
Grilled Chicken Sandwich: $8.59
Cheesecake: $3.59
Rice Krispie treat: $2.69

Total without tax: $25.36

 

[librarygeek]

Magic Kingdom snacks:

We enjoyed three snacks at the MK this day. The first was a popcorn and soda, which I didn't take a picture of! We also had to try one of the infamous Dole Whips:

It was good, but pretty much what I expected as someone who enjoys pineapple flavors but doesn't love it. Next time I would definitely try the orange soft serve instead.

I also got a "smoothie" at Auntie Gravity's:

I shouldn't have, given my smoothie experience in HS, but I thought this place might be different. Unfortunately not. It was another icy mess, just fruit flavors with ice mixed in, definitely not a smoothie consistency like I would expect. Oh well, lesson learned I guess.

 

[librarygeek]

Tony's Town Square

For dinner this evening we ate at Tony's. It is right near where you enter the park. We managed to watch some of a 9/11 remembrance performance they were doing in the square before going into our reservations.

The inside is nice. I love the Lady and the Tramp theming!

The meal started out with rolls and olive oil. They were just the typical rolls, nothing special. I prefer olive oil with my bread over butter, so I was happy about that.

For my main course I had the shrimp scampi (Linguini with Sun-dried Tomatoes
and Asparagus tossed in a Garlic Sauce) :

It was pretty good, I'd give it a 7.5 out of 10. I've had shrimp scampi a number of places and this was average - it was good, but nothing amazing or special. Definitely an enjoyable meal though.

DH ordered the Seafood Diavolo (Linguini Pasta with Clams, Mussels, Calamari,
Shrimp, and fresh Fish of the Day served in a spicy Tomato Sauce):

He liked this, said it was good, and gave it an 8 out of 10. I couldn't get many more comments from him, but he ate it all.

For dessert I was super full, and nothing was all that appealing, so I just ordered the chocolate gelato:

They gave a massive amount! I could barely eat any of it. It was fine, a 6.5 out of 10 because it was really just basic chocolate ice cream, nothing too impressive about it.

DH had the pistachio creme brulee:

He enjoyed it, and gave it an 8.5 out of 10. It wasn't as good as the one at Chefs de France, but still really good.

Overall we had a decent dinner at Tony's, though it wasn't one of the more memorable dinners of the trip. We'd give it about a 7.5 out of 10 overall.

We used 2 TS credits here.

Shrimp Scampi - $18.99
Seafood Diavolo - $22.99
Lemonade - $2.69
Root Beer - $2.69
Creme Brulee - $5.99
Gelato - $4.49

Tax: $3.76
Tip: $10.41

Total including tax and tip: $72.01

 

[CupcakeLisa]

Really enjoyed your food report! thanks for sharing

 

[klacey1]

Glad to hear Tony's was at least decent for you guys. We'll probably end up there next trip. Those shrimp look delicious from this end!

 

[st4rrab0vemybed]

Your shrimp scampi looked tasty. I think the Lady & The Tramp theme is really cute, and it was one of the main reasons I wanted to eat here last April. Unfortunately, it was packed and we ended up going to Kona Cafe instead. I've heard such mixed reviews, but the food you and your husband had doesn't look too bad. Ah well, maybe one day. Thanks for the updates!

 

[st4rrab0vemybed]

double post ... sorry!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Glad you enjoyed Tony's and if I ever ate here I would probably order the shrimp scampi as well

I have still to try the famous dole whip...

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Great reviews!

I love all the pictures.

Can't wait to read more

 

[librarygeek]

Really enjoyed your food report! thanks for sharing

Thanks! And thank you for reading!

Glad to hear Tony's was at least decent for you guys. We'll probably end up there next trip. Those shrimp look delicious from this end!

The shrimp were quite good, I recommend the dish!

Your shrimp scampi looked tasty. I think the Lady & The Tramp theme is really cute, and it was one of the main reasons I wanted to eat here last April. Unfortunately, it was packed and we ended up going to Kona Cafe instead. I've heard such mixed reviews, but the food you and your husband had doesn't look too bad. Ah well, maybe one day. Thanks for the updates!

I've read some mixed reviews as well, so I guess we just got lucky... or ordered things that people haven't really negatively reviewed. It's definitely worth a try!

Glad you enjoyed Tony's and if I ever ate here I would probably order the shrimp scampi as well

I have still to try the famous dole whip...

Definitely try the dole whip someday! It's not my favorite, but if you're a fan of pineapple I'm sure you'll like it!

Great reviews!

I love all the pictures.

Can't wait to read more

Thank you, and thanks for following along!

 

[librarygeek]

Riverside Mill Food Court - Breakfast

Our last day in Disney, and though our plane didn't leave til 2 we had to get the 11 am Magical Express, so there wasn't really time to do anything. We decided to just grab breakfast at the POR food court.

I went with the Breakfast Platter (scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, sausage and a biscuit):

It was fine, I'd give it a 7 out of 10. Pretty standard, average breakfast food, but it worked. I didn't care for the potatoes and didn't really eat any of them, but I enjoyed the eggs, bacon, and biscuit. Sausage was just okay.

I was impressed with the wide variety of bottled juices that they had, and I went with apple cranberry:

DH had the Bounty Platter, which had all of the same things as mine except it also had french toast:

He gave it a 6 out of 10, saying that it didn't really stand out but it was exactly what you'd expect. If I remember correctly he didn't eat the potatoes either. He had orange juice with his meal.

Overall we give the breakfast here a 6.5 out of 10. It was fine, and filled up our bellies, but didn't stand out in any way. I'd say it tasted very similar to the typical breakfast cafeteria food we got in college.

He used two CS credits for this, although we ended up with two left over that we just couldn't use.

Bounty Platter - $8.29
Breakfast Platter - $6.29
Juice - $2.49 (guessing on the juice here because I don't have a price for it)
Orange juice - $2.49

Total without tax: $19.56


And that was our last meal, and so my last review! But I plan to do an analysis of the dining plan, as well as a list of best meals/restaurants, so be sure to stick around for another week or two!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Thanks for sharing your reviews...I have enjoyed reading along and am looking forward to the analysis of the dining plan

Your breakfast looks good and is making me want to be back at Disney World again

 

[archdandy]

Great dining report. I have to say that the french toast on the Bounty Platter made me a little sad. I guess its because I'm so used to the french toast at the Coronado counter service and it is soo much better looking.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Thanks for taking the time to do a review! Great review... sad it is over though..

 

[librarygeek]

Thanks for sharing your reviews...I have enjoyed reading along and am looking forward to the analysis of the dining plan

Your breakfast looks good and is making me want to be back at Disney World again

Thank you for following along, I always enjoy reading your comments! I'll be back with dining plan thoughts soon!

Great dining report. I have to say that the french toast on the Bounty Platter made me a little sad. I guess its because I'm so used to the french toast at the Coronado counter service and it is soo much better looking.

Thanks! I know what you mean, that is some pretty sad looking french toast. I've never stayed at Coronado but if I get over there I will definitely make sure to try it!

Thanks for taking the time to do a review! Great review... sad it is over though..

Thank you for taking the time to read it! I'm sad it is over too, I will miss writing about the food on my trip. I guess it's never too early to start planning the next one, even though we aren't going back to WDW until April 2013!