Wow- 8 days in Disney with Dining plan and friends-- They come in pairs

[shortypots]

This is going to be a long one, but bear with me...

Let’s set the stage. Our party consisted of:
Myself- avid Disney lover, would come here every year if I could. On my 4th visit to Disney, and 3rd during the holidays. 32 yrs old, picky eater, but love food, and especially the chocolate food group.
DH- 37 yrs old, doesn’t come to Disney for the Disney aspect. Loves the rides and the food. On 3rd visit to Disney, and 2nd during the holidays. Not picky at all about food, and loves great food since his parents owned a restaurant for many years. Although, is not big on desserts, would prefer more entrée to dessert any day.
BFF- 32 yrs old, on 3rd visit (I think) to Disney, 1st with folks, 2nd on honeymoon. 1st time at the holidays. Picky about certain things about food, but not food in general. She can always find something to eat.
BFH- 32 yrs old. BFF’s hubby. I think he is on his 2nd visit to Disney, 1st was his honeymoon, and never been during the holidays. Hasn’t met a food (or beer) he doesn’t like.

BFF and I have been friends since we were 8 yrs old, so we are going on 24 yrs together. We stayed in Old Key West in a 1bd first floor unit in building 46, right off the river (what a view!).

The trip extends from Dec 14- 21st with many ADR’s planned and fun times. We do have plans to go to the candlelight processional on the 19th with Kirk Cameron as the speaker. This is a huge deal for us because he was considered quite the hottie when BFF& I were growing up!

We are on the Dining Plan, and will have access to the Dining Experience as well, since we have 3 trips planned in the next year.

Day 1 in Disney—Dec 14th
We were not meeting our friends until much later today because they had to fly in from Philadelphia, so my hubby and I made ADR’s for Hollywood Brown Derby since he cannot possibly go on another Disney trip without getting the cobb salad. We had noon ADR’s but showed up about 15mins early. We were seated within 5 mins and got into the restaurant to find it completely empty. Tim was our server and asked if we were on the dining plan. We said yes, but we would be paying OOP for this meal. He let us know there was a full bar and an excellent wine list. He made recommendations of the Shrimp Anglotti pasta and the grouper, and took our drink orders. NOTE- I did notice a wine flight option. You could choose 2 of 4 wines for $20. Cannot remember the pour size or the names of the wines, but do remember there were 2 white and 2 red. Hubby and I waited for Tim to get back with our drinks and then placed our order. Big surprise, hubby ordered the Cobb Salad, and I the grouper (I had heard many good comments on the boards, and thought it would be nice). Eventually the restaurant started filling up (High School musical 2 rendition was playing right outside at the sorcerer’s hat and had ended at 12:15pm.) I did not pay attention to how long it took to come out, but it eventually did and looked and smelled wonderful. Tim tossed DH’s salad, and I waited impatiently to dig in. The grouper was wonderful! It was lightly pan fried topped with sweet onion marmalade (which I promptly removed) and then had a lemon butter sauce with asparagus roasted in balsamic glaze. WOW! The fish was light and flaky and the lemon sauce just the right touch. The balsamic glaze was perfect on the tender asparagus too. I have never seen stalks that thin before and they were wonderful! Still crisp which is how I like most of my food- crunchy!  DH’s salad was to his liking as well and just as good as he remembered the last one 6 yrs prior. We debated whether or not to share the grapefruit cake, and I had heard it wasn’t super sweet, so I thought I would get my own – the flourless chocolate cake. Boy did that hit the spot! It was rich, but surprisingly light. It was decorated with a beautiful chocolate ribbon and a white chocolate medallion with Aurora and her prince, also had a sweet crème fraiche and berries on the side. The chocolate cake was very rich without the small addition of the crème fraiche and was just perfect with a small dollop on it. Hit the spot. I was trying to be good by only having a couple of bites, but I couldn’t help myself, I ate about ¾ of it. Hubby enjoyed his Grapefruit cake and said it was the perfect sweetness for him and ate the whole thing.

The total bill would have come to around $58, but we had the DDE, so it came to about $46 before tip. Since this one would have cost us 2 DP Ts’s we decided to pay OOP for it.

50’s prime time café- 8pm- no pics sorry! Not sure how many I will get on this trip.
We met up with our friends at 4 and tackled some of the park (including Fantasmic! And the Dancing lights -Awesome) before dinner, and arrived about 10 mins before our ADR. We were seated again within 5 mins, and off to a table with Richard as our server. We were kinda stuck in a corner, but wasn’t a problem for us. Richard seemed a little busy, but explained what came with the dining plan. Told us the only drinks, besides alcohol, that were not included in the dining plan were the pirates punch and Mickey’s bee bop or something. He asked for our drink order, and hubby made the mistake of asking what kind of shakes they had, but wanted to know if they had more than Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, and PB&J. Richard gave him a hard time, so DH fought back- he is quite the smart alak. We ordered 1 coke float, 1 root beer float, 1 PB&J with a touch of chocolate shake, and 1 chocolate shake. Richard went off to work on those, and came back a little later to get our dinner order, we made the mistake of not ordering waters with our “drink order” and he of course was not happy  For appetizers we had the shrimp cocktail, 2 orders of the fried cheese, and the onion rings. For entrée’s I ordered the pot roast, BF ordered the Sirloin, BFH and DH ordered the meatloaf. Wasn’t quite sure what the Root Vegetable Hash was, and I never did find out, was too busy with my pot roast. The apps and drinks arrived (not at the same time) and were really tasty. I didn’t try anything else, but the fried cheese was very unique and very yummy. Although, if they want us to finish our meals, they really need to give you one more piece of bread to put it on. Shortly thereafter (even before I was finished with my appie, I have a feeling this will become a norm) our meals were delivered, and it had to be the biggest pot roast I have ever seen. I don’t usually serve this size to both DH and myself, and this was just for me! It had a great flavor and I really enjoyed the veggies (surprise surprise since I do not usually enjoy cooked veggies, I mentioned that crunchy thing right? ) The veggies were still nice and crisp and had a good bit of flavor with the pot roast. The pot roast pulled apart easily and was great with the gravy. Thumbs up so far. Everyone else cleaned their plates, but I was unable. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get dessert, but I distracted Richard by working on a grocery list that DH and BFH were going to get later. We all ordered dessert- 2 apple cobblers, 1 smores, and 1 brownie sundae. We really didn’t share these at all and everyone was pleased with their selection. I little odd mention. They served caramel popcorn on top of the sundae. This was great for presentation, but tasted soggy from the ice cream. The brownie was yummy and had vanilla ice cream, fudge sauce, m&m’s, and caramel sauce. This was very tasty but too big for 1 person. We found out exactly how much food you get on the dining plan, and boy is it a lot! DH and I normally get an appetizer, entrée, and I get dessert when we go out, but we don’t usually add a milkshake to it, so it was really a lot of food!

Total Ts’s used – 4 Total Remaining – 24
Total value of meal- $172 plus gratuity (approx $43 pp)

Day 2 in Disney-- Sat Dec 15th

Crystal Palace-
We decided to start the day off with a character breakfast at the Crystal Palace. We arrived a couple of minutes early for our 10:20am ADR and were seated within 2-3 mins. We walked in to see the beautiful floral arrangements of Pooh and Piglet, and headed off the right and saw Tigger. We were seated in one of the middle tables closest to the buffet. This turned out not to be the best location because we ended up getting completely skipped by Pooh and Piglet, and only Eeyore and Tigger came to see us. I got BFF and BFH pictures with Tigger, and I finally had to gesture over to Eeyore so I could get my pic with a character, and I was the one most excited about the breakfast. Character interaction wasn’t the best for us, but I am guessing it was because we had 4 adults sitting at our table and no kids, however, I did pay for a character meal, and wanted interaction!  The food was really good though. Our entire party was a major thumbs up on the puffed French toast. I also tried most of the items on the buffet. They had a nice selection of fruits, cheeses, and various types of bread. They had a vegetable frittata, breakfast lasagna and made to order pancakes and omelets, along with the normal breakfast items like scrambled eggs and bacon. All the food was really good. Overall, I enjoyed my meal, but would have liked more interaction with the characters.

Tony’s Town Square-
We decided to make it an entire Magic Kingdom day and had dinner at Tony’s Town Square. This was the first time we had to wait for our ADR. Our ressie was set for 7:15pm, and we showed up 15 mins early. We didn’t get sat until 7:45pm. I really think they need to keep people up to date on their ressies and let them know they are running late. We finally got to our table and our server took our drink orders. Found out the smoothies can only be ordered for dessert, so we just normal beverages for our drinks. For appies we had 3 spinach and artichoke dips, and 1 minestrone soup. For dinner, there was Spinach and Beef Cannelloni, Seafood Diavolo, Spaghetti and Sausage, and I had the NY strip steak. The apps were good, but somehow mine came out cold in comparison to the others that were piping hot. It tasted ok, but probably would have been better if it were hot. Shane said the minestrone was good. At the time our appies arrived, the Spectromagic parade had started. We were sitting near the windows so we didn’t have a fantastic view, but we did get to see it! The meals came out, and again mine was on the cooler side. The asparagus that I ordered instead of the broccolini was awful, so I didn’t eat it. The potatoes albeit cold, were tasty, and the steak was cooked nice, but a little dry, good thing it had a sauce that you could dip it in. BFH said his seafood diavolo was really good and cleaned his plate. DH said the sausage was really good but the marinara left a little to be desired. BFF didn’t really really say much about hers, so I am guessing she enjoyed it. The desserts were next, and we decided on gelato, 2 orders crème brulee, and 1 lemon walnut cake. The gelato was cinnamon and chocolate 1 scoop of each and was tasty. The lemon walnut layer cake was very good, right up DH’s alley. The crème brulee was a slight green color and was very tasty. Had a pistachio flavor but no pistachios in them. We all tried the gelato and the cinnamon was very good. All in all it was a good meal, and we got out just in time to catch wishes. Service was a little slow and getting in for the adr was a long wait. I guess I would give it a 6 out of 10 if I had to. The colder food was the big detractor for me.

Total Ts’s used – 4 Total Remaining – 20
Total value of meal- $179 plus gratuity (approx $44 pp)

 

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Day 3 in Disney – Sun Dec 16th

Lotus blossom café-
We wandered around for a little while checking out the close locations for Counter service and the only one that all four of us could agree on seemed to be Lotus Blossom Café, or at least within the timeframe and distance we were looking at. We ordered various soft drinks, 1 orange chicken, 1 Beef Noodle Bowl, 1 Veggie Stir Fry, and 1 Mongolian beef sandwich. The orange chicken was my dish and was very tasty. Nice size portion and seemed to be very fresh. DH liked his Mongolian beef noodle bowl. I tried some of the beef and it was tasty. BFF liked her stir fry and there seemed to be a good amount on her plate, and BFH, well, since he is a big boy, the sandwiches were not enough for him. He didn’t realize how small they were. I gladly shared my orange chicken with him, and he agreed that it was yummy. On to the desserts, they have 2 options on the dining plan for desserts: Red Bean Ice Cream or Ginger Ice cream. Not much of a choice, so we ordered 3 gingers and 1 red bean. Come to find out the red bean was flavored with strawberry which is why it tasted like strawberry ice cream. The ginger ice cream was very good. Had little bits of candied ginger in there and was quite good.

Total CS’s used – 4 Total Remaining – 24
Total value of meal -- $39.96 no grat added (Approx $10 pp )

Kringla Bakery –
We decided to grab a snack on our way back to the Living Seas. So we snapped off 2 snack credits for a Sweet pretzel and a crème horn. They were very good, but the pretzel tasted more like cake than a pretzel. The crème horn was yummy.

Total Snacks used- 2 Total remaining- 26
Total value of snacks- $7.33 (approx $3.65 each)

Rose and Crown Pub-
We had Disney’s Dive Quest scheduled for this day for DH and I, and we weren’t certain if we could make it there by 7:30, so I made an 8pm ADR. We had a blast at Dive Quest, and are looking into doing that again next time we are there in May. It was awesome. We got finished with that about 7:15pm, and headed straight to the Pub. We made it there a little before 7:30 and I checked us in. I requested a patio table on the lake, but they told me that it was a first available table, but they might be able to work it out since with it being a little chilly, not many people were wanting to sit out there. However, if we didn’t get a lake side table, we were welcome to use their special viewing area. Works for me. So we sat and waited. BFF and BFH showed up and joined DH in a beer. Right before 8pm, off goes the pager and we go to the hostess desk. She turns to us and exclaimed was a great table we got, and boy was she right! Major pixie dust we got! WOOHOO! We were right on the water in the far right of the restaurant! BFF and BFH had never been there, and I told them if we were lucky enough to get a patio table how awesome it would be, and boy was I right! HA! We all gave the hostess a high five as we sat down, and Karla came up to get our drink orders. Turns out they were all out of Guiness! WHAT?!? An English Pub out of guiness? SACRILEDGE! Oh well, DH and BFH got Goldens (half harp and half bass) and BFF and I got Glowtini’s. The glowtini’s were great and so much fun, we played with the glow cubes all night! By the end of the night, we had 2 in the martinis and 2 in the beers. Karla explained what we got with the dining plan, and we placed our orders. We had 2 orders of the roasted mushrooms, 1 potato and leek soup, and 1 smoked salmon. The roasted mushrooms were really good. DH thought they needed more salt and less garlic, but I thought they were tasty as is, so did BFF who had them as well. BFH ordered the smoked salmon, and it came out like a salmon mousse. A little too much mayo for my tastes, but he ate the whole thing and my remaining mushrooms. DH ordered the potato and leek soup. It had a heavy onion flavor, but was tasty. He ate the whole bowl and really enjoyed it. For dinner, we ordered 2 orders of the Steak and Fish, 1 fish and chips and the pork tenderloin. BFF had the pork and really enjoyed it. She said the sweet potatoes were really yummy. BFH and I got the steak and fish. I wanted to try the fish, but didn’t want a full order of the fish, so it was nice to get the steak with it. I didn’t like the fish, not my kinda thing. Not that it wasn’t good, just wasn’t to my liking. DH got the fish and chips and loved it, so it wasn’t that it wasn’t good, I just thought the fish itself didn’t have much flavor. The steak on the other hand was fantastic. Perfectly cooked at medium rare and very tender. Even the sauce was tasty. BFH enjoyed his as well, and when Karla tried to take his plate thinking he was done, she almost got her hand gnawed off.  It was getting to be time for Illuminations because they started playing with the flamed lights around the lake. Karla came back to take our dessert orders and recommended the Sticky Toffee Pudding. I ordered that, then we also ordered the Bailey’s Trifle, the chocolate guiness torte, and apple cobbler. The toffee pudding was awesome! It was a toffee cake topped with hot butter rum topping sitting on top of warm vanilla custard. This one was voted the best of the night, but I think I would have put the Bailey trifle on top. It was more like a bailey’s mousse and it was so yummy. The chocolate torte was ok, but I am not a beer fan so I wasn’t fond of it, but BFH loved it. Right up his alley. Never really heard about the apple cobbler, but I imagine it was pretty good considering there wasn’t much left. Illuminations was fantastic and our seats were amazing! It turned out to be the best meal so far in the trip, and I have a feeling it will not be topped!

Total Ts’s used – 4 Total Remaining – 16
Total value of meal- $169 plus gratuity (approx $42 pp)
Liquor bill was $71 including gratuity for 4 beers and 4 martinins with DDE discount and gratuity added. DH added a little more because he liked Karla’s accent. Before gratuity was $58.79 (they added 18% gratuity on the original total then took the discount off.)

Day 4 in Disney– Mon Dec 17

Sci Fi dine in Theater-
BFF and BFH wanted to try this place out, so I made us a lunch ADR for 1:35pm. We showed up about 10 mins early, and they asked us what kind of table we wanted. We decided on the one that you can face each other as opposed to the screen. Well, when they attempted to seat us a little while later, they tried to give us the other table. We went back to the front, and they seemed to forget about us. BFH and DH decided to go up to the front to find out what happened, and they appeared to have lost our reservation now. After a couple more minutes (it was like 25-30 mins past our ADR at this point), they figured it out and had a table ready for us. We got one of the limo style tables where you face each other. Our server arrived and told us what was included on the dining plan so we all got milkshakes 2 oreo, 1 chocolate, and 1 strawberry. We then ordered the rest of our food. We got 2 Spinach and Artichokes dips and 2 BLT soups. I liked this version of the dip better than Tony’s, first of all, it was served piping hot whereas Tony’s was served cold- luke warm. It also had a better taste overall. The BLT soup was really good. We were a little worried about the lettuce in the soup but it really worked. Next came the entrée’s. We got 3 orders of the Shrimp penne pasta, and 1 Reuben. I was very disappointed with the pasta after the strong flavor of the dips, but it was good. Probably not something I would get again, but good. I was a little surprised at how fast the entrees came out. We hadn’t even finished half of our appetizers when they arrived. I continued eating my app, and my entrée was slightly cool by the time I got to it. DH’s Reuben must have been good because there wasn’t a bite left. Dessert was next and we were getting pretty full. 2 chocolate tarts, 1 apple pecan cobbler and 1 cheesecake. The chocolate tart was really really good. It had chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, and chocolate ribbons on it and was my favorite of the desserts. I nearly finished the whole thing. DH was not pleased with his apple cobbler and said it was pretty bad. BFF got the cheesecake and it was a cute little round piece of cheesecake covered in something, like cornflakes or crushed popcorn or something. It was also surrounded by caramel corn and m&m’s. It was tasty, but I stuck to my chocolate tart. Took our server a little while to come back with the bill, but she seemed to be a little busy.

Total Ts’s used – 4 Total Remaining – 12
Total value of meal- $162 plus gratuity (approx $41.50 pp)

Goofy’s Candy company-
After we finished up in MGM, we ran over to try to hit Space mountain for the 3rd time and wouldn’t ya know, they were down again. Apparently we were having no luck there. So we decided to get a fast pass for Buzz Lightyear and then wait on line. While we were waiting on line, someone gave us 4 fast passes for right then. We decided to keep waiting and then we would go on 3 times, challenging our BFF and BFH to best of 3!  After the first one, DH and I won, we both had over 100K points. So we go in for the second round on the fast passes that someone gave us, and they didn’t take the passes when we went through. Well, BFF and BFH won that round, so now we were tied. We decided to leave it that way and gave our fast passes and the ones that were taken to another family coming in. It is always nice to spread the magic! Keep the pixie dust Karma even!  Well, they decided to try for a 4th time to Space mountain, and it was from 20 mins to 60 mins in the standby line so they decided to skip it. So we decided to go to Downtown Disney. We walked over to the Contemporary resort and wandered around a bit, then off to DD. We arrived at Goofy’s Candy company and thought we would snap off a few snack credits on some goodies made to our specifications. We got 1 set of pretzel rods dipped in milk chocolate, nuts and oreos, then drizzled with caramel. 1 Marshamellow dipped in dark chocolate and nuts, drizzled with milk chocolate (gift for my mom who loves rocky road anything!) 1 Rice Krispie dipped in Dark Chocolate and drizzled with caramel. 1 Rice Krispie dipped in Milk Chocolate with M&M’s, PB cups, then drizzled with white chocolate and caramel. Finally a PB fudge cookie dipped in Dark Chocolate, rainbow sprinkles, oreo cookies and Caramel drizzle.

Total snack credits used – 5 Total Remaining – 21
Total cost of snacks - $16.50 (approx $3.50 each)

Earl of Sandwich –
It was 10 oclock and none of us were really hungry at this point, but we decided we better eat. The line was non existent since it was almost closing time. BFF and BFH ordered the Full Montagu with cupcakes for dessert, I ordered the Hawaiian Chicken and tomato soup and DH ordered the Scudetto and pasta salad. I liked the fact that you could choose a side or dessert here. I wasn’t really in the mood for dessert, but due to the cold temps, I really wanted the soup. The sandwiches are good, but I am not sure if I would return, maybe if I was in DD, but I don’t think I would make a separate trip to go there. Let me see how the rest of my CS meals go before I make final judgment.

Total CS used – 4 Total remaining – 20
Total cost of meal -- $39 ( approx $10 pp)

 

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Day 5 in Disney- Tues Dec 18

Flame Tree BBQ-
Today was an animal kingdom day and we had lunch about 1:30pm. Didn’t take long to order, or get the food. We had 3 orders of the ribs and 1 chicken. I also ordered a snack of fries because I am not a bean gal. BFF, BFH, and DH really enjoyed the ribs, although said they were not fall off the bone ribs, but had a great rub on them. I had the chicken, and although a little dry (a little BBQ sauce fixed that problem), was very tasty. Each entrée came with a huge corn muffin as well, and dessert with the dining plan. BFH had the chocolate cake, the rest of us had key lime pie. Although preprocessed, the pie was very good. Never got a chance to eat the cake because BFH had downed it in no time. I am guessing it was good.

Total CS used – 4 Total remaining – 16
Total cost of meal - $61.43 (approx $15 pp)

Total snacks used – 1 total remaining – 19 (missed an ice cream some where)
Total cost of snack – $3.79

Teppan Edo-
For dinner we went to Teppan Edo. We had 8:15 pm ADR and arrived at around 8pm. We were seated about 8:25-8:30pm, and were seated with a group that spoke Spanish. Our server came by and explained what was on the dining plan. We were disappointed that the sushi was not included as an appetizer. So I started with Miso Soup, BFH had the Japanese clear soup, DH and BFF had the tempura. We also ordered 2 sushi samplers and 1 of the beef roll. These were pretty good. I wasn’t fond of the beef roll, but DH really liked them. The sushi was good, but I have had better. We ordered drinks, DH and BFH ordered the kirin beer, BFF had a Mt Fuji, and I had a Tokyo sunset. I was not fond of the Miso soup because it was my first taste of it. Don’t think I would order that again, but the tempura and the Japanese clear soup were very yummy. For our entrees BFF and I got the Shrimp and Steak, BFH ordered Steak and Chicken, and DH ordered the filet mignon. We were served with zucchini and onions along with noodles, but not large portions of that. We were then given 3 dipping sauces, ginger sauce, mustard sauce, and shrimp sauce. They also gave us each a bowl of white rice. I was very disappointed with my meal because I feel that I can get a better (and cheaper) meal at the local Kanki and have it flavored better and get fried rice. Even the shrimp sauce which is my favorite condiment for hibachi style foods was lacking a lot of flavor. It really seemed to me that they were speeding up the show to get more people in because there were no flames in the show. I always thought the shrimp were supposed to be flaming, but I guess not here. For dessert we ordered 2 green tea puddings, and 2 chocolate ginger cakes. I tried the green tea pudding (looked like a green flan) and did not like it whatsoever, had a really odd taste, but DH and BFF loved it. BFH and I had the chocolate ginger cake. It was like a chocolate mousse layer with a ginger crème layer and it was really good. I really enjoyed this dessert. Best part of the meal.

Total TS’s used – 4 Total remaining – 8
Total value of meal – approx $166 (we had to guess because they didn’t give us the right receipt that gave us the cost of the meal) (approx $41.50 pp before gratuity)

OOP portion - $57 for drinks and sushi after DDE discount and before gratuity.

Day 6 in Disney- Wed Dec 19 – Candlelight processional day!
Le Cellier-
Today was our candlelight processional day with Kirk Cameron as the guest narrator. BFF and I were very excited about this because we both had major crushes on Kirk Cameron when we were younger. But first, it was off to lunch at Le Cellier! 3 of us started off with the smoothies, 2 sour apples and 1 chocolate raspberry. All were very yummy. BFH had a beer (sorry cannot recall which one). For apps we had 3 cheese soups and DH had the beefsteak stack. The soup was excellent but very thick, and as has been mentioned before, the pretzel bread was great with the soup. DH’s beefsteak stack was very fresh and he enjoyed it immensely. He wanted another one when he was done with the first. For meals, BFF and I got the 5 oz filet, BFH got the prime rib sandwich, and DH got the strip. Our filets were amazing, cooked perfectly at medium rare (although BFF ordered Medium, oops) they were fork tender and the cherry reduction was very good. It came with mashed sweet potatoes that were good especially with a little of the cherry sauce on them, I finished all of my filet, but left a lot of the potatoes behind. BFH loved his prime rib sandwich, there wasn’t a bit left on his plate. DH enjoyed his strip steak very much. It was very odd because we came here in 2001 and were not all that pleased, and after this meal, we cannot recall why! I can definitely see why it is the most requested restaurant in the WDW resort area. For dessert, we ordered 2 chocolate “mooses”, a crème brulee, and the apple crumble. The maple ice cream on the crumble was really tasty and I really enjoyed BFF’s crème brulee. My chocolate moose was everything I hoped it would be. It was very rich but soooo good!!

Total TS’s used – 4 Total remaining – 4
Total cost of meal -- $170 approx with candelight package ($42 pp approx)

OOP - $5.95 plus gratuity for the beer after DDE discount

Kringla bakery—
This time we had to try the school breads. Boy were they tasty. Just enough before lunch so we didn’t mess with our appetites. We also had an ice cream from one of the stands as well.
Snacks used – 3 Total remaining – 12
Total cost -- $9.50 (about $3.25 each)

Goofy’s candy company-
Ok, after the first set of tasty treats, we decided we wanted more. I made another set of pretzel rods with milk chocolate, nuts and all the drizzles, and BFF made some too with milk chocolate, pb cups, nuts, and caramel and white chocolate drizzles. Looking forward to eating those.
Snacks used – 2 Total remaining – 10
Total cost -- $7 (about 3.50 each)

Wolfgang puck express-
It seems any time we ate a lunch instead of a dinner we were not overly hungry during normal dining hours, so we ate very late (almost 10pm) on those days including this one. We tried Wolfgang puck express and I have to say it was very good! I had the Rosemary chicken, BFF and DH had the meatloaf, and BFH had one of the pizzas. The pizza was gone in a matter of minutes and he ate the whole thing. DH and BFF loved the meatloaf and neither one left a stitch on their plate either. My rosemary chicken was excellent. It was perfectly cooked where it was still juicy and the lemon rosemary sauce was incredible. It was served with garlic mashed potatoes that were tasty. We ended the meal with 3 carrot cakes and 1 key lime pie. I have to say the key lime pie was the best I have had here. The carrot cakes were said to be good, but I was enjoying my key lime too much to care! 

Total CS’s used – 4 Total remaining – 12
Total cost of meal – approx $56 (about $14 pp ) This one confused me though because all of our meals were about $12.95 each and we all had a $5 dessert. When they rang it up it came up to $56 but when I figured it out, it should have been around $80, I guess it is all internal #’s.

Day 7 in Disney- Thurs Dec 20
Flame tree BBQ and Pizzafari-
We split up with BFF and BFH so they could go to Magic Kingdom and finally get to ride space mountain. We went twice during the trip and it was down both times, so they wanted to make sure they got to ride, so they went during the magic hours in the morning and we met up at the BBQ place around noon. The food was smelling so good that I decided not to wait for them anymore and DH and I ordered our lunch. We ordered the pork sandwich and the beef sandwich, with key lime pie and chocolate cake, and we ordered onion rings and French fries as our snacks. For some reason, when we ate here before we got small drinks, this time we got the monster ones. When BFF and BFH joined us, BFF decided she didn’t want BBQ and went over to Pizzafari for her sandwich, BFH wanted a pork sandwich so he stood in line for Flame Tree again. BFF ended up getting the Italian sandwich and some apple turnover for dessert. BFH got the pork sandwich and the frozen lemonade. I enjoyed my pork sandwich very much, it was surprisingly juicy, but still needed a little extra BBQ sauce. The key lime was yummy as usual. BFF really enjoyed her sandwich and the apple dessert.

Total CS used – 4 Total remaining – 8
Total cost of meal -- $29 for DH and I, $13.30 for BFH, and $13.60 for BFF for the meals (average cost - $14pp)
Total snacks used – 2 total remaining – 8
Total cost of snacks-- $8 (average cost $4 per snack)

Snacks-
We got 2 more premium bars and a box of popcorn, and the popcorn was really really salty. We decided not to eat too much of it. The ice was great as always.

Total snacks used – 3 Total remaining - 5
Total cost of snacks -- $7.50

Boma-
We ate at Boma for dinner and we arrived really early in the hopes of being able to get in early. We arrived at 7 for a 7:40pm ressie, but they told us there was no chance of getting in early so we hit the lounge upstairs. BFF and I ordered a couple of Cancy Cane Martinins and the guys ordered some beers. The candy cane martini’s were really good. The guys must have liked their beers because they ordered more. BFF and I decided to try a sparkling mango mint, but we didn’t realize 1 major factor, they cost $14.50 each!! Had I known how much they cost, I never would have ordered it. (When we got to dinner Jeff actually warned us, wish the bartender would have done the same thing). The Sparkling drink was good, but not worth $14. We were finally called for our table and down to dinner we went. Jeff greeted us and was fantastic! We really liked him. There was so much food to choose from. I started off with soups. They had 5 soups available: seafood gumbo, mushroom soup, potato and bacon, and 2 others I cannot remember. I tried the mushroom soup and the potato bacon soup. The mushroom was amazing. The potato bacon had a bit of spice that came on at the end and was really thick. I liked it, but like the mushroom better. I also had a bite of one of the ones I couldn’t remember the name of (it began with an M), and it was a sweet curry soup, it was pretty good too, but also very thick. Finally I had a bite of the seafood gumbo. It was good too, but I am not a gumbo fan. Next I went up for salads. I had a basic greens salad with the mango vinaigrette, the carrot/coconut salad, and the sundried tomato hummus. The salad was a salad, but the mango vinaigrette was tasty. It was my first time trying hummus, but I knew I didn’t like beans or olives, so it looked like the sundried tomato was the best option. It was very tasty, I really enjoyed it. I was very surprised by the coconut carrot raisin salad- it was great! Next round came the meats. I tried the bobotie, the sausage, prime rib, and the 2 types of rices. One was a cinnamon rice the other was a peanut rice. I also tried the various sauces and the only one I liked was the BBQ. The prime rib was excellent really just perfectly cooked and yummy! Wasn’t fond of the bobotie, but I am not a lamb person. Loved both of the rices, they were both very good. Went for my next round and got more prime rib and rice. My final round was dessert. I think I tried everything but my favorite was most definitely the chocolate mousse. The cocomisu was good too, but nothing could beat the chocolate mousse. I definitely gave this one a thumbs up, it was awesome! We will definitely return for this meal!

Total TS’s used – 4 Total remaining – 0
Total cost of meal – approx $130 before gratuity (approx $32 pp)
OOP – approx $25 for another beer and 2 more candy cane martini’s with DDE discount

Day 8 in Disney – Fri Dec 21 – time to go home 
Riverside food court—
We decided to try the food court after we packed up all our stuff into the car. BFF and BFH dropped off their stuff with the bellhop and we all hopped into DH and my convertible. We drove down to riverside to grab breakfast in their food court since we had so many counter service meals left. It gave us a lot of options for breakfast. I chose the breakfast platter that had a biscuit, 1 small mickey waffle, eggs, bacon and sausage. My breakfast was really good. I really enjoyed it. DH got pancakes and bacon. BFH got the breakfast platter too, and BFF got the fruit topped waffles with bacon. All plates except mine were clean by the end of breakfast. The other thing I liked was that you could get a juice and another beverage with the dining plan, so we all got milk and juice.

Total CS’s used – 4 Total remaining – 4
Total cost of meal – approx $40 (about $10 pp)

Goods to go-
We decided to use up our last CS meals by getting sandwiches for the ride home. Unfortunately, the sandwiches are premade and I hate mayo, which they all had on them. But the other 3 got the turkey sandwiches, chips instead of dessert, and 3 bottles of water. Not sure how they tasted, but DH enjoyed his when we got home after our 9 hour car ride.

Total CS’s used – 3 total remaining – 1
Total cost – approx $33.93 (approx $11 pp)


Here are some of the ratings that we came up with-

Best breakfast – Crystal Palace – the puffed French toast put it over the top.
Best TS food – Le Cellier
Best overall TS Meal – Rose and Crown Pub- the seating we had for Illuminations was just amazing!

Determined that the cost of the dining plan was $1091 for the 4 of us for the week, and the total value including gratuity was over $1600!!! Definitely think we got our money’s worth, and lots of memories to go with it. However, with them removing gratuity and appetizers next year, and us having the DDE, not sure that the plan will make sense for us in the future.

 

[familyS]

Thanks for writing the reviews. Glad to hear you enjoyed Boma, I am so looking forward to giving it a try!

 

[Poppinsme]

Hey great reviews!!!
It sure sounds like you had a fun time. I wish I was at WDW right now sitting at Rose and Crown Pub having a Shandy.

 

[TigerKat]

Thanks for taking the time to share your reviews with us!

 

[Quicklabs]

What great reviews! Thanks for sharing in such detail! Glad you had a good time.

 

[John's Mom]

Thanks for taking the time to share your reviews, plus including the costs of your meals.

 

[my3disneygirls]

Thanks for the great reviews! Considering all of the different food you ate you don't sound all that pickey to me. Thanks for taking to time to write, but now I'm hungry.

 

[danalee]

Very Nice, Thanks!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

Thanks for the great reviews!

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

Great reviews! Your commentary is excellent and the details about the costs and DDP/DDE breakdown is so helpful.

 

[distherapy]

Thanks - that was perfect!