We arrived at Pop Century at 8:00 p.m., after a quick trip from the airport on Magical Express. Travelers are DW and myself, usually visit WDW once a year. Last visit was week after Thanksgiving 2005, on the paid DDP. This trip was eight nights with free dining. We ate all of our meals at early hours, usually 11:00 lunch and 5:00 - 5:30 dinners. Had ADRs for all table service and no wait at any meal, except around 15 minutes late at Citricos, but no problem with that.
9/22 Lunch at Flame Tree---split a chicken/ribs meal, with drink and chocolate cake. Food was good, nice and hot.
Dinner at Citricos---DW had the shrimp/feta app., filet and tiramisu. App. was excellent, one of the best of the week. We prefer steaks well and as such the filet was split and actually a little overdone. But, that's what happens when we order well done. Tiramisu was okay, nothing great but not bad. I had Gateau of Crab, swordfish and mussels over pearl pasta and banana chocolate tart. Appetizer of crab was good, but had better later in the week. Entree and dessert was good.
Total $154.00
9/23 Lunch at Pinnochio---split a pizza/salad, drink and shake for dessert. Small salad was only fair, but pizza was good and hot.
Dinner at Sunshine Seasons--DW had Cuban veg. sandwich and fruit tulip, I had the ham and salami sandwich and Butterfinger cheesecake. All was good.
Total $51
9/24 Lunch at France counter service--DW had tomato pizza bread and lemon tart, I had ham quiche and pear tart. Pizza bread would have
been better had it been heated longer and had we not had a wait in line. The line was short as we ate early, but they had a CM in training on the register and that caused a huge delay. As well, this is the only place we experienced "issues" with the DP. We ordered a large tea, got to the register and they said only medium was covered. So they took the large, threw it out and gave us a medium. This after our last CS the CM said to get a large drink. As well, at Sunshine Seasons we both had a bag of chips and the CM said they weren't covered, but said not to take them back, she would include them. But, all is free so no complaints.
Dinner at Artist Point---DW had duck confit, salmon and coffee two ways, I had crab and heirloom tomato app., tenderloin and cobber. Not knowing exactly what duck confit was, we expected sliced duck on a salad, but we had a leg portion with a small amount of frisee. The duck was very good, as was the crab/tomato app. Salmon was good, pretty basic and the tenderloin was excellent. It was cooked well done, but not dry or tough. Coffee two ways was one of the best desserts of the week, the vanilla latte creme brulee was great. The cobbler was only okay, something I would not order again.
Total $175
9/25 Lunch at Pop Century--DW had Mediterranian chicken flat bread which was huge and very tasty. I had nachos supreme, just the basic stuff. Had carrot cake and tie dye cheesecake for dessert. I liked the bottom part of the cheesecake, which is a red velvet type of cake; made the cheesecake a little less heavy.
Dinner at Kona Cafe--DW had Kona salad, shrimp/scallops and Kiluea tort. All of her meal was excellent. The salad was great, especially for anyone that likes blue cheese. I had crab cakes, macadamia mahi mahi and macadamia torte. All of my meal was great too. Really liked the crab cakes and the macadamia torte. The Kona salad and crab cakes would have been a good meal for two to split. This meal was a pleasant surprise for a one TS credit, portions were huge, quality very good and service was very good.
Total $134
9/26 Lunch at Flame Tree--split a pork sandwich meal. Meal was good and hot.
Dinner at Coral Reef--DW had Caesar Salad app., blackened catfish and pineapple upside down cake. App. and catfish were good, cake was only fair. But, what can you do with pineapple upside down cake? I had shrimp cocktail, blackened catfish and butterscotch creme brulee. My mea was good. Both meals were just pretty basic, what you would expect for what we ordered. We had a 4:50 ADR, but arrived around 4:20 and seated at 4:30. As I had read on this board, the place was extremely noisy. I noticed it right when I walked in the building to check in for our ADR. Then we were seated right next to another table that was only a foot or so away. We received our app. and not three minutes later our entrees arrived. The server came by and apologized and asked if we wanted the entrees taken back. It was no big deal, since it was so loud we really were glad to eat and get out quickly. Food was good, but atmosphere lacked due to the noise and hectic activity. I would not want to go here and drop $80 or $90 for two people.
Total $112.
9/27 Breakfast at Pop---DW had waffle, I had breakfast platter. Both were good and hot.
Lunch at Columbia Harbor House---split ham sandwich, chips and chocolate cake. Sandwich was very good and more than enough for us to split. First time here and would go back.
Dinner at Mexico counter service---DW had chicken tacos, I had combo meal. Both were good, would have been better if they had been warmer. The place wasn't real busy and they had the meals already sitting, ready to go. Churro was not good, one bite and to the trash.
Total $65
9/28 Lunch at Japan counter service--DW had curried beef, I had combo meal. This was a disappointment. About the only thing good was the rice and the ginger cake was okay. The beef on my meal was full of fat. The flaver was good, but could not eat because of so much fat. Both meals were barely warm and we were there at opening. If we had "paid" for this, I probably would have taken them back. But, "free", so we ate the rice and went on.
Dinner at Narcoossees---DW had shrimp cocktail app., scallops and sorbet. Shrimp cocktail was very good, huge shrimp with a good tomato/cilantro sauce with it. Scallops were huge and good. I had calamari, surf and turf and raspberry mint mouse. Only the second time I have had calamari and it was good, served with diced pepperoncini, olives, onions, capers. It was a good combination. The filet was cooked perfectly well, tender and not dry. The lobster tail was also very good. The raspberry/mint mouse was excellent, the best dessert I had during the week. We were celebrating our anniversary this night and they brought us a complimentary key lime creme brulee, before we ordered our desserts. We started to skip ordering dessert, but glad we didn't. Overall this was the best meal of the week.
Total $190
Overall our meals were very good, both counter service and table service---our total for the week was $881. Except for a couple of meals,
everything was served hot and fresh. We used snack credits for drinks, milkshakes, sundaes at Pop, boxes of donuts at Pop and a large bag of
chips at Pop. We paid for the DP last fall and enjoyed it, free this time and enjoyed it. We are not normally real big eaters, but ate like pigs the
past week. It would be hard to not use the DP on return trips. It's hard for either of us to justify spending big $$ on meals, but the DP takes that
part out of the equation. Our service was good at every meal and I think we were only asked once if we were on the DP. Although the servers
might already know, since that question was asked when I made the ADRs. Also used the advice of this board and ordered two cases of water
from Staples. It was there when we arrived at Pop and was much needed, as temps were in the 90s during our stay. Except for one morning, ate
breakfast in the room, cereal bars, bananas, etc.
Saw one door decorated at Pop by a DISer, in building 8 first floor. I signed one of the note cards, in case you read this.
Any questions on the dining plan or our trip in general, please ask.
9/22 Lunch at Flame Tree---split a chicken/ribs meal, with drink and chocolate cake. Food was good, nice and hot.
Dinner at Citricos---DW had the shrimp/feta app., filet and tiramisu. App. was excellent, one of the best of the week. We prefer steaks well and as such the filet was split and actually a little overdone. But, that's what happens when we order well done. Tiramisu was okay, nothing great but not bad. I had Gateau of Crab, swordfish and mussels over pearl pasta and banana chocolate tart. Appetizer of crab was good, but had better later in the week. Entree and dessert was good.
Total $154.00
9/23 Lunch at Pinnochio---split a pizza/salad, drink and shake for dessert. Small salad was only fair, but pizza was good and hot.
Dinner at Sunshine Seasons--DW had Cuban veg. sandwich and fruit tulip, I had the ham and salami sandwich and Butterfinger cheesecake. All was good.
Total $51
9/24 Lunch at France counter service--DW had tomato pizza bread and lemon tart, I had ham quiche and pear tart. Pizza bread would have
been better had it been heated longer and had we not had a wait in line. The line was short as we ate early, but they had a CM in training on the register and that caused a huge delay. As well, this is the only place we experienced "issues" with the DP. We ordered a large tea, got to the register and they said only medium was covered. So they took the large, threw it out and gave us a medium. This after our last CS the CM said to get a large drink. As well, at Sunshine Seasons we both had a bag of chips and the CM said they weren't covered, but said not to take them back, she would include them. But, all is free so no complaints.
Dinner at Artist Point---DW had duck confit, salmon and coffee two ways, I had crab and heirloom tomato app., tenderloin and cobber. Not knowing exactly what duck confit was, we expected sliced duck on a salad, but we had a leg portion with a small amount of frisee. The duck was very good, as was the crab/tomato app. Salmon was good, pretty basic and the tenderloin was excellent. It was cooked well done, but not dry or tough. Coffee two ways was one of the best desserts of the week, the vanilla latte creme brulee was great. The cobbler was only okay, something I would not order again.
Total $175
9/25 Lunch at Pop Century--DW had Mediterranian chicken flat bread which was huge and very tasty. I had nachos supreme, just the basic stuff. Had carrot cake and tie dye cheesecake for dessert. I liked the bottom part of the cheesecake, which is a red velvet type of cake; made the cheesecake a little less heavy.
Dinner at Kona Cafe--DW had Kona salad, shrimp/scallops and Kiluea tort. All of her meal was excellent. The salad was great, especially for anyone that likes blue cheese. I had crab cakes, macadamia mahi mahi and macadamia torte. All of my meal was great too. Really liked the crab cakes and the macadamia torte. The Kona salad and crab cakes would have been a good meal for two to split. This meal was a pleasant surprise for a one TS credit, portions were huge, quality very good and service was very good.
Total $134
9/26 Lunch at Flame Tree--split a pork sandwich meal. Meal was good and hot.
Dinner at Coral Reef--DW had Caesar Salad app., blackened catfish and pineapple upside down cake. App. and catfish were good, cake was only fair. But, what can you do with pineapple upside down cake? I had shrimp cocktail, blackened catfish and butterscotch creme brulee. My mea was good. Both meals were just pretty basic, what you would expect for what we ordered. We had a 4:50 ADR, but arrived around 4:20 and seated at 4:30. As I had read on this board, the place was extremely noisy. I noticed it right when I walked in the building to check in for our ADR. Then we were seated right next to another table that was only a foot or so away. We received our app. and not three minutes later our entrees arrived. The server came by and apologized and asked if we wanted the entrees taken back. It was no big deal, since it was so loud we really were glad to eat and get out quickly. Food was good, but atmosphere lacked due to the noise and hectic activity. I would not want to go here and drop $80 or $90 for two people.
Total $112.
9/27 Breakfast at Pop---DW had waffle, I had breakfast platter. Both were good and hot.
Lunch at Columbia Harbor House---split ham sandwich, chips and chocolate cake. Sandwich was very good and more than enough for us to split. First time here and would go back.
Dinner at Mexico counter service---DW had chicken tacos, I had combo meal. Both were good, would have been better if they had been warmer. The place wasn't real busy and they had the meals already sitting, ready to go. Churro was not good, one bite and to the trash.
Total $65
9/28 Lunch at Japan counter service--DW had curried beef, I had combo meal. This was a disappointment. About the only thing good was the rice and the ginger cake was okay. The beef on my meal was full of fat. The flaver was good, but could not eat because of so much fat. Both meals were barely warm and we were there at opening. If we had "paid" for this, I probably would have taken them back. But, "free", so we ate the rice and went on.
Dinner at Narcoossees---DW had shrimp cocktail app., scallops and sorbet. Shrimp cocktail was very good, huge shrimp with a good tomato/cilantro sauce with it. Scallops were huge and good. I had calamari, surf and turf and raspberry mint mouse. Only the second time I have had calamari and it was good, served with diced pepperoncini, olives, onions, capers. It was a good combination. The filet was cooked perfectly well, tender and not dry. The lobster tail was also very good. The raspberry/mint mouse was excellent, the best dessert I had during the week. We were celebrating our anniversary this night and they brought us a complimentary key lime creme brulee, before we ordered our desserts. We started to skip ordering dessert, but glad we didn't. Overall this was the best meal of the week.
Total $190
Overall our meals were very good, both counter service and table service---our total for the week was $881. Except for a couple of meals,
everything was served hot and fresh. We used snack credits for drinks, milkshakes, sundaes at Pop, boxes of donuts at Pop and a large bag of
chips at Pop. We paid for the DP last fall and enjoyed it, free this time and enjoyed it. We are not normally real big eaters, but ate like pigs the
past week. It would be hard to not use the DP on return trips. It's hard for either of us to justify spending big $$ on meals, but the DP takes that
part out of the equation. Our service was good at every meal and I think we were only asked once if we were on the DP. Although the servers
might already know, since that question was asked when I made the ADRs. Also used the advice of this board and ordered two cases of water
from Staples. It was there when we arrived at Pop and was much needed, as temps were in the 90s during our stay. Except for one morning, ate
breakfast in the room, cereal bars, bananas, etc.
Saw one door decorated at Pop by a DISer, in building 8 first floor. I signed one of the note cards, in case you read this.
Any questions on the dining plan or our trip in general, please ask.
Thanks for the review!!!
