Mom & Son Going Back! 10 days DxDDP! Complete 10/2 - LTT, GG & Cost Totals

[GoofySon'sMom]

We tried Flying Fish in 2009 and it was one of the worst meals of our trip. But, we had a late reservation, we were cold & tired (it was Christmas week) and when we asked if there was any way to be seated early, the hostess was less than nice. By the time we got to eat, we were just done. Our waiter wasn't the best mostly due to being busy. For the most part, we did like the food though. With all the great reviews FF gets here on the Dis, I felt we owed it another chance when we were in a better frame of mind.

We were seated shortly after checking in near the back of the restaurant. A very large and loud group was seated behind us. Thankfully they left right around our appetizers. Our waiter's name was Tony, but I believe he was from Taiwan. Very efficient, a bit hard to understand. Overall we were very pleased with the service.

I started with the Spanish White wine tasting ...

I love Spanish whites and was thrilled to get a sampler. The Albarino was my favorite and I ended up getting a glass of that with my meal. As a side note, the gentleman that owns our local wine store in town used to work at the Grand Floridian. We told him about the wine and is going to try to order it for us.

Our food started with the bread

We all enjoyed this ... nice & crusty. Yummy sea salted butter.

For appetizers, I was very happy to see the BLT soup. Crispy smoked bacon, Epcot land pavilion bibb lettuce, chive creme fraiche, tiny tomatoes and chive infused oil - $12.00

This is something I have seen on the menus and really wanted to try. I expected a tomato based soup and was surprised it came out green! But it was really delicious. Just the right amount of smokey bacon. I would love to recreate this at home.

DS had the Chef's Special Degustation of worldly Artisanal Cheeses - Five Tastings Portions Raisins on the Vine, Membrillo, Italian Fig Torta and Marcona Almonds - $16.00

This is really an excellent cheese plate and something we remembered loving from our last meal here. It did not disappoint.

DH had Fresh Mozzarella di Bufala - Yellow Beefsteak, "Ugli Ripe", and Tiny Heirloom Tomatoes, Balsamic Glaze, Exotic Peppercorns, Petite Basil, and Sicilian Olio Verde $15.00

I did not taste but DH said it was really good. Soft cheese, fresh tomatos.

For entree, I knew I had to try the Signature Flying Fish Cafe Potato-wrapped Red Snapper - Leek Fondue with a veal glace, red wine and Cassis butter reduction - $36.00

Neither DS or I eat much fish or seafood but he had this last trip and loved it. So did I this trip. Not really fishy at all. Everything married well and the wine was just perfect with it.

DS had Rainforest Pepperberry-grilled Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin - leek, fontina and truffle-laced pasta Mac n Cheese, grilled asparagus and a cherry port wine, balsamico, carmelized onion and trumpet mushroom compote $37.00

This was also very, very good especially the mac & cheese. I only had a small taste, he ate every bite.

DH had the "Thunder" fish of the evening and I am not seeing it on any of the menus.

I think maybe it was swordfish? Of course I know so little about fish, I just don't know. Anyone that was there with us and has the menu, I would love to know! I didn't try it but he really enjoyed it.

We had a side of the Grilled Asparagus - with Sauce Foyot $8.00

I got this mostly because I was afraid I would hate the fish! It was really good ... a very smokey charred flavor.

DH has the wine pairings with each of his courses.

On to dessert ... first I had Earl Grey tea

This is my favorite tea to have at the end of a great meal ...

I don't see any of our desserts on the current menus online here on the Dis, on Allears or on the WDW site.

DS had a chocolate dessert but I am not sure that it is the trio one on the current menus

This was really good but really rich. He ate it all but I don't know that I would have been able to.

DH had a creamy strawberry dessert ...

Again, very tasty ... not too sweet.

And I had the trio of Boardwalk favorites...

I was really happy to see this still on the menu as it was really the main reason I pushed to go to FF instead of Citricos once we made the decision to cancel Brown Derby. I was not disappointed. The "cake" hamburger was a bit on the dry side but still very good. The popsicle was very tart due to the lime. But the popcorn dessert was overall the best. Very creamy, a bit salty. I just loved this presentation.

So our 2nd trip was a huge success. I put this 4th for the signatures this trip just a smidge behind Le Cellier but well ahead of Jiko and Flying Fish. Right now I have it as a must do next trip but we'll see what happens with the menus as the time to make reservations nears!

Total dining plan cost was $206.98. OOP cost for the wine was $51.25 (Yikes!). We were not charged for the side of asparagus. Not sure if FF includes the sides with the DxDDP as AP used to. Would have loved to try the risotto if we had known!

 

[starousse]

That FF dessert, the trio of Boardwalk treats. I haven't seen that on any of the online menus. Is that a special?

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

That FF dessert, the trio of Boardwalk treats. I haven't seen that on any of the online menus. Is that a special?

I don't think so. I had seen it before our trip. I am really surprised it isn't on any of the online menus since most are dated 8/11 and I know I saw it in August. It was tasty. Plus I think desserts like that are so fun!

 

[tortoni]

We had the same experience as you at FF. Didn't like it the first time, but it was a winner the second time around. I had the same dessert trio in August- so yummy. Next time try the risotto, it was really good!

 

[Linda67]

We are eating at FF in a little under two weeks

I am praying that the taste of the boardwalk dessert trio will be on the menu

As everyone points out, it is never listed on any of the on-line menus

 

[accountingbabe08]

Great reviews thanks for sharing your trip with us!

 

[deenbrad]

DH had a creamy strawberry dessert ...

Again, very tasty ... not too sweet.

Your DH's dessert was “Our Chef’s No Sugar Added Specialty”
Walnut-crusted Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake. They gave it to us for our anniversary celebration when we went! Looks like the no sugar added is now a pumpkin dessert. Might have to stray from the creme brulee!

 

[vettegirl]

Yum the beef tartare at Le Cellier looks delish!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

We had the same experience as you at FF. Didn't like it the first time, but it was a winner the second time around. I had the same dessert trio in August- so yummy. Next time try the risotto, it was really good!

I definitely will! I am so glad we gave this one a 2nd chance.

We are eating at FF in a little under two weeks

I am praying that the taste of the boardwalk dessert trio will be on the menu

As everyone points out, it is never listed on any of the on-line menus

I know ... weird. I hope it is there for you as well. Can't wait to hear about your trip!

Great reviews thanks for sharing your trip with us!

Thank you for reading! It prolongs the trip a bit to do the reivews!

Your DH's dessert was “Our Chef’s No Sugar Added Specialty”
Walnut-crusted Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake. They gave it to us for our anniversary celebration when we went! Looks like the no sugar added is now a pumpkin dessert. Might have to stray from the creme brulee!

Yeah, that sounds right although I am not sure why we would have ordered the no sugar option. Guess it didn't matter as he liked it!

Yum the beef tartare at Le Cellier looks delish!

It was really good! It's funny because I used to eat my meat very well done, now I can go medium, but nowhere near rare! But I have always liked the raw tartare and carpaccio!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

So we have come to our last day! The end of the reviews is like the trip is really over.

We were supposed to eat at Coral Reef today but I really wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom so I changed our ADR to Liberty Tree Tavern.

We all started with iced teas and water. I love the mugs here ...

DH & DS both started with New England Clam Chowder - New England clam chowder - $6.99

I don't eat Chowder so I didn't try it but they both enjoyed it.

I wanted to try the Tavern Fried Cheese - Served with marinara sauce. - $5.49

This was very good, especially the smaller ones. Too much for one person though! DS helped out!

Both DH and DS had Angus Chuck Cheeseburger - topped with Bacon and Cheddar or Mushrooms and Provolone served with fresh Fruit or Tavern Fries - $12.99

Both had bacon and cheddar with the fries. And again, both liked the burgers just fine. I tried the fries and they were good ... hot, salty & crispy!

I had the The Tri-Corner Sandwich - Roast beef and Swiss cheese with Liberty slaw, horseradish cream sauce, and Arugula served on herbed Focaccia with Tavern fries. - $12.99

I really love roast beef with a horseradish sauce and thought this was very good although the sauce could have been a bit spicier for me.

We were all stuffed but DS and I just had to have the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake - Vanilla cake with a gooey toffee filling, caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream - $6.49

We shared as we were way too stuffed to each have one. This is probably my favorite dessert on property (closely followed by the R&C Sticky Toffee Pudding). It is just like the name says, ooey, gooey and delicious!

DH had the Apple Tart - Shortbread crust, sugared apples, and Butterscotch ice cream. - $6.49

He, too, was full from the burger and only had a few bites but said it was very good.

Dining plan total was $91.57. I really love LTT, DS not so much and DH doesn't have a strong opinion either way. Therefore it is not a must do and unfortunately for me, we will probably skip it next trip.

Dinner was at Garden Grill. We had never eaten here and were looking forward to trying it.

Family style Dinner - Farmers Salad, Char Grilled Beef Strip Loin, Roasted Turkey Breast, Fish of the Day, Garden Fresh Vegetables, Smashed Potatoes, and Turkey Dressing, Strawberry/Rhubarb Crisp, with Vanilla Ice Cream

Our server, Chris, also recommended that we try the Baked Mac and Cheese, Broccoli and crispy Sweet potato sticks. With Mickey Mouse cookies and Cream from the kids menu!

The salad was really amazing. I could have eaten bowls and bowls of just that. Since the veggies come from the Land greenhouse, everything was super fresh.

Wow, was this good! I really, really loved the turkey & mashed potatos. The beef was amazingly tender, not fatty at all. I didn't eat much of the fish but DH & DS loved it. I have to admit that I didn't expect to love the food here, but we really did.

The desserts were nice as well, but we didn't eat much as we were going to the Dessert Party later.

Dining Plan total was $111.80. I really, really liked this restaurant and would very much like to come back next trip but we'll have to see. Next year will be shorter and with wanting to eat at so many of the signature meals, there won't be many "one credit" dinner nights!

Which leaves the Dessert Party. I originally had this booked for our first night but we thought Hurricane Irene would hit Florida, we changed it to our last night. I didn't want to take a chance of missing out if they had to close the Park. Turned out that we had nothing to worry about. I wish we had gone that first night as we were all tired at the end of the trip and the Magic Kingdom was just crazy crowded with it being the night before Labor Day.

I didn't take many pictures at all ... only one of my first (and only)plate

Everything was just Ok for me. I didn't "love" anything. But we were thrilled to be sitting out of the crowds with plenty of cold iced tea. I loved when Tink flew over and we really enjoyed Wishes from there. Plus we were able to just sit and relax while the crowd thinned out a bit!

Would we do it again? Not sure. Maybe. I would like to maybe try it earlier in the trip when we are not sooooo tired and sooool full of eating. I am not sure we have it a fair shake.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Wow - some of the food at Liberty Tree Tavern and Garden Grill looks absolutely delicious!

I've never been a huge fan of LTT, but the tavern fried cheese and the toffee cake look wonderful.

Garden Grill was my favorite restaurant as a 4 year old, but we haven't been there in ages. For the past few years, we've largely become "signature snobs," but on our past trip, that trend began to slightly change (with good meals at Tokyo Dining, Kona Cafe, and Captain's Grille). Honestly, the food at Garden Grill looks really tasty: the salad, entrees, fruit crisp, everything! Maybe it's time for me to return to my former favorite restaurant.

Love your reviews!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Our last morning we were supposed to have breakfast at 'Ohana before heading to the airport. Due to the late night the night before and the fear of large crowds at the airport on Labor Day we decided to pass. So we ended up with 3 unused dining credits and two unused snack credits.

The DxDDP cost is $78.99 per person times the 3 of us times 10 nights for a total of $2369.70.

But we had free QS dining (cost of $34.99 per person) so we only paid the difference of $44 per person per night or $1320.

Totalling the receipts I had, our dining plan purchases totalled $2739.68. This does not count most of the snack credits that we used for 'breakfast', bottle water and other yummy treats or our refillable mugs which we did fill most nights with iced tea back in the room. As you could see, we did not always eat dessert nor did we eat the most expensive items on the menu and we still came out ahead.

Savings over the full cost of the plan would have been $369.98. Our savings was $1419.68.

We only had a couple of days with 3 meals per day and yes, those days we felt like slaves to the ADRs. But most days having an early lunch (11:30ish) and a signature dinner worked just perfectly for us. The food is a huge part of our vacation. And appetizers are our favorite part of the meal so the regular plan just won't work for us even if we didn't eat at the signatures.

Next year we are staying at Coronado and we have the regular dining plan for free. We did pay the difference to upgrade to deluxe. I truly cannot imagine going to WDW without it unless it was for a very short stay.

Thank you all for reading along! Stay tuned for Mom & Son part 4 next August 25th!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Wow - some of the food at Liberty Tree Tavern and Garden Grill looks absolutely delicious!

I've never been a huge fan of LTT, but the tavern fried cheese and the toffee cake look wonderful.

Garden Grill was my favorite restaurant as a 4 year old, but we haven't been there in ages. For the past few years, we've largely become "signature snobs," but on our past trip, that trend began to slightly change (with good meals at Tokyo Dining, Kona Cafe, and Captain's Grille). Honestly, the food at Garden Grill looks really tasty: the salad, entrees, fruit crisp, everything! Maybe it's time for me to return to my former favorite restaurant.

Love your reviews!

Thank you! I feel that we are food snobs as well and really did not expect to love GG. But I have to say the beef was delicious! Very tender and flavorful. And the characters were really fun. I definitely say give it a try!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Thank you! I feel that we are food snobs as well and really did not expect to love GG. But I have to say the beef was delicious! Very tender and flavorful. And the characters were really fun. I definitely say give it a try!

Sounds like a really good meal and fun time! I'd be happy to start incorporating one character meal into our trips, especially one that I used to love and that has such good food.

Honestly, we've kind of been going in the opposite direction from our food snobbery. I'm starting to realize that the 1-credit restaurants aren't as bad as we thought. One trip in summer 2008, a lot of the food was surprisingly disappointing (including at Boma and Spoodles, 2 of our old favorites). That trip really made us feel safer at the signatures. Since then, we've been gradually trying some of the 1-credit locations again. Quite a few of them (Tokyo Dining, Captain's Grille, Kona Cafe, and Le Cellier lunch if I get the filet) have largely won me over.

You better watch out - my next review (instead of gastriques and espumas from the signature restaurants) might focus on Sci-Fi's new picnic burger, Prime Time's meatloaf and Garden Grill's turkey. I'm not even kidding.

 

[disneymomof1]

subbing , now to go back to the start and get reading

 

[Linda67]

Sad that your reviews are over
You've done a great job

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Sounds like a really good meal and fun time! I'd be happy to start incorporating one character meal into our trips, especially one that I used to love and that has such good food.

Honestly, we've kind of been going in the opposite direction from our food snobbery. I'm starting to realize that the 1-credit restaurants aren't as bad as we thought. One trip in summer 2008, a lot of the food was surprisingly disappointing (including at Boma and Spoodles, 2 of our old favorites). That trip really made us feel safer at the signatures. Since then, we've been gradually trying some of the 1-credit locations again. Quite a few of them (Tokyo Dining, Captain's Grille, Kona Cafe, and Le Cellier lunch if I get the filet) have largely won me over.

You better watch out - my next review (instead of gastriques and espumas from the signature restaurants) might focus on Sci-Fi's new picnic burger, Prime Time's meatloaf and Garden Grill's turkey. I'm not even kidding.

I look forward to your next reviews, whatever they may be!

subbing , now to go back to the start and get reading

Thanks for joining in!

Sad that your reviews are over
You've done a great job

Thank you! I am sad as well, feels like the trip is really over now!

 

[mousegear]

All caught up~~~ but so sad that your dining review is over.
I love your Liberty Tree Tavern review. Next trip, I'm thinking of sticking with QSDP (which is a first) and maybe add 2~3 TS. We have a big group (14 of us) and I don't want to spend too much time gathering and waiting and eating at TS restaurant. But how can I got to WDW and not eat at TS restaurants? I think your review convinced me to try Les Chef lunch and Liberty Tree Tavern lunch.