Notices
Reports and Reviews for Dining and Restaurants Trip Reports

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 1 Nov 16, 07:35 PM  
Link to this Post
#61
sha9
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
sha9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 08

sha9's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 1
Day 17 - more Universal

Today was going to be a “do however much we want in the parks until they close” day so we didn’t rush and went to Orchid Court in the hotel for breakfast. It’s a counter service place where you get a bit of a continental breakfast. They had a machine that made pancakes, cereal, pastries and a hot ham and egg croissant. There was a bit of confusion where I thought we were splitting a serving of pancakes but thought it might not be enough so also got a ham & egg croissant to share. Marie thought all the pancakes were hers. In the end they were quite big so I got some. After all that they were a bit rubbery!







This was ok. The pancakes came as part of a bundle which gave you a drink and a piece of fruit as well for $9. In total it cost $19.44 when you added in my coffee and croissant. Not a great price but we only did it once.

When we got to the parks we refilled our coke freestyle for $7.45 each. Hopefully we can use these again next year. We’ll certainly try!

By lunchtime we found ourselves finished at IoA so went out to Citywalk for lunch. We hadn’t used the “meal” part of our Meal & Mini-Golf deal so went to Margaritaville. Again it’s a limited menu.



We both chose the Cheeseburger in Paradise. This was amazing! It was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. This is definitely on the list for next year but we may not bother with the golf deal. I’m not sure if tip was included but after we’d finished eating our server said we were “good to go” so we assumed it was.



Later when we were in US we stopped off at The Hopping Pot for some Butterbeer ice cream. We sat at the picnic tables at the front to eat them where an American family joined us. I think they were hoping we’d leave but we sat them out and eventually they left. Then a South American family sat there. I get that there’s limited seating there but I’m not a fan of people invading your space.



We started thinking about dinner as we were getting ready to leave the park. Neither of us were hungry but we also couldn’t be bothered with the thought of going out again later. We stopped off at the Beverly Hills Boulangerie before we left and got tuna baguettes, some Lays and I got a cream horn. Marie still had tiramisu left so didn’t get any cake. This all cost us $26.16. These were nice and we ate them watching TV later.



__________________
Lisa



Trip Report Index
sha9 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 1 Nov 16, 08:07 PM  
Link to this Post
#62
sha9
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
sha9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 08

sha9's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 1
Day 18 - Universal and MK

Today we were checking out of RPR and into BLT. For breakfast we had caramel pecabons we’d bought on our way past the evening before. This time I actually do have a picture!



We were in Hogsmeade about lunchtime so decided to try out Mythos. We’ve never been here before and thought it would be a nice way to end at Universal. We had a 10 minute wait for a table although it felt slightly longer. The restaurant was lovely inside but quite cold.






We got some bread to start. I haven’t made a note on this and can’t really remember it so it must have been ok.




I chose the lamb burger which the server said the chef “recommends medium”. I said that I wasn’t a fan of pink in my meat so the server suggested medium well which I went with. This was fine as I can actually deal with a little bit of pink but didn’t want to risk it being too undercooked. This was lovely but really messy to eat. The fries were a bit too salty though which was disappointing.



Marie had a chicken BLT which she said was alright but nothing special.



This cost us $37 and was nice but not amazing. I’d go back but only because QS restaurants in Universal are poor.

As we left Universal we got some more cinnabon for breakfast the next day. We got another caramel pecabon and some donut holes.

Dinner was in MK as we were so close at BLT it would have been rude not to! We chose Be Our Guest . We arrived 15 minutes early for our ADR and were told there was a 25-30 minute wait as they were running late. We were directed inside but there really wasn’t room for all the people waiting and it had started to rain so they were trying to cram more in. We were eventually called 30 minutes after we checked in which I suppose wasn’t bad since we’d checked in early. We were seated in the dining room which was nice as we’d never been in there before. It was nice and quiet in there and not all the tables were full. It does lack in theming a bit though compared to the other rooms.




We were served some lovely dinner rolls to start.




Both of us chose the strip steak. I fancied the chicken but Marie wanted steak and I suspected if I saw Marie’s steak I’d regret my choice so just got it too. This was served with pommes frites (or McCain Home fries to give them another name). It was a shame the chips were so poor as the steak was lovely.



For dessert we both chose the Grey Stuff. Now I do really like the actual “grey stuff” and love the cupcake at lunchtime but I didn’t really like the biscuit base that come with this. It tasted a bit stale to me.



This cost us an eye watering $110 including tip. It was at this point I decided I was never staying onsite without dining plan again! I get that BoG is a really well themed restaurant but I didn’t really feel the quality of the food was enough to justify the price. Next year we’ll do lunch on DDP and maybe try breakfast but I don’t think we’ll do dinner again.
__________________
Lisa



Trip Report Index
sha9 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 6 Nov 16, 02:51 PM  
Link to this Post
#63
sha9
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
sha9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 08

sha9's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 1
Day 19 - Epcot, DS and outlets

We had originally planned AK this morning with a repeat visit to Tusker House and an Epcot evening sampling Food & Wine fare. After already doing a TH breakfast we didn’t feel the need to go back and cancelled the ADR. We then changed our plans entirely as Epcot had EMH that morning so headed there instead. Breakfast was some of the cereal we’d brought from home then carted to RPR and now BLT!
Mid-morning we headed to Sunshine Seasons while waiting for our Soarin’ FP window to open. I was starving so got a Strawberry Shortcake (again) and a chocolate croissant. Marie got a cinnamon bun. I felt a bit greedy so gave Marie some of the Strawberry Shortcake to taste. These were all really nice and in particular I enjoyed the Strawberry Shortcake again. Although there’s still no actual shortcake! Can’t find the receipt for this so not sure how much it was.





Before leaving the park we had to have a last visit to Club Cool. I had my favourite South African one.



I also had a taste of this one but didn’t note which one it is!



By lunchtime we were in Disney Springs doing some final shopping. We still had $25 birthday reward on my Landry card so I suggested we just use it as it seemed a waste not to. We considered T-rex but I felt we should give RFC another go as we’d always enjoyed it in the past. We got seated straight away with the Landry card as expected but that was it on the speed front. Our lovely, smiley server too an age to come and welcome us and take a drink order. Shortly after the manager came to say hello and ask how everything was but seemed a bit perturbed that we didn’t even have drinks at this point. Eventually they came and we ordered food – BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger for me again I’m afraid and Marie had the nacho appetiser with chili beef. Again these took a while to come and we were getting a bit bored. When the food did arrive it was lovely. Marie’s nachos were huge! They were a sharing starter so meant for 2 but she managed OK!




This cost us $25 after the $25 reward was taken off but that included the tip. I don’t remember how much we left but it won’t have been 20%. Our server was very pleasant and the food was good but we just waited so long for it. Unfortunately this visit didn’t really make up for our previous visit so I’m not sure if we’ll use our Landry birthday rewards here next year. Maybe we’ll give T-Rex a go.

We hadn’t really made any plans for what to do about dinner. After DS we went to the outlets so didn’t get back to BLT until later. We had about half an hour before MK closed and Marie wanted to pop in for a bag she’d seen. We therefore planned to get take out from Casey’s. We love it here and hadn’t made it at all this trip. We got a BBQ slaw dog (foot long) and some corn dog nuggets to share, both with fries. It wasn’t easy cramming the foot long into the “to go” boxes, especially as there’s nowhere really designed for people to do this but we managed! This was really messy and difficult to eat. Especially as we were eating in our beds! They were tasty but would have been better if we’d had time to eat them in the park fresh. These cost us $21.60 and that was without drinks. The picture is of my half!



Later we had the caramel pecabon for dessert. Having the microwave meant we could heat it up which was great.
__________________
Lisa



Trip Report Index
sha9 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 6 Nov 16, 03:18 PM  
Link to this Post
#64
sha9
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
sha9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 08

sha9's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 1
Day 20 - DHS

Our last full day. Didn’t go as planned as Mum and Dad were flying back down from New York and United cancelled their flight. We therefore spent a day on edge waiting to hear that they were actually on a flight to Orlando. They had booked DME but with all the delays we decided to just go pick them up so felt we couldn’t relax until we knew when they’d arrive.
We had a morning at DHS planned so that didn’t change. Breakfast was some cereal in the room again and then a later start at DHS.
Mid-morning we got drinks so bought our BB-8 cups we’d been eyeing up. No picture of this for some reason. I’ll try and take one and add it in later.
Lunch was ABC Commissary where we both got chicken nuggets and fries. Marie got a chocolate milk and I got a diet coke. The server gave me a large which I didn’t ask for which increased the cost and this was $27.01 for the two of us (I miss dining plan!). I do enjoy the Disney chicken nuggets though, especially with the honey mustard dip.



Before we left DHS we went to Starring Rolls to get something for dessert later. I got a carrot cake cupcake and Marie a Napolean. I haven’t made notes about them and forgot we’d had them but I think it was nice. I’m pretty sure I ate all mine!




Dinner was always planned as the Grand Floridian Café as our last night dinner however with Mum and Dad being delayed beyond our ADR time we had a chat about what to do. I reckoned WDW Dining would be sympathetic and we could probably have cancelled without penalty but Marie and I still had to eat! Since you can change the time of a reservation through the app we decided just to bring the meal forward and change it to just the two of us. That was easily done and we ate about 5.30 so we’d be free to collect Mum & Dad later.
We didn’t have too long to wait to be seated after checking in. Our server was polite and efficient. He brought us some bread to start which was nice.



Since it was the last night I ordered the New York Strip steak and subbed the fingerling potatoes for ordinary mash. This was nice but the seasoning wasn’t my favourite of the trip.



Marie had ravioli in an attempt to make up for the visit to Trattoria al Forno! She said this was ok. She doesn’t really remember too much about it so it couldn’t have been spectacular.



This cost us $61.75 and I think we rounded it up to $72 with tip. The meal was fine and I love the setting of the Grand Floridian Café but in hindsight we were so distracted waiting to hear from Mum & Dad we should probably have cancelled and just ate QS somewhere. We weren’t able to enjoy it and I now feel we’ve tainted our feelings towards GFC. Might give it a try next year.
__________________
Lisa



Trip Report Index
sha9 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 6 Nov 16, 03:28 PM  
Link to this Post
#65
sha9
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
sha9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 08

sha9's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 1
Day 21 - Mk and home

Our last day . We had a relatively early flight of 4.05pm so we got up early to take advantage of an 8am opening at MK. Breakfast was whatever we had left in the room. Mid-morning we went to Gastons and had a last Le Fous Brew and split a cinnamon roll since they’re so large and we were paying cash! I love Le Fous Brew but the cinnamon roll was a bit dry even though it was fresh.




It filled a hole and kept us going until lunch at the airport. This is where the photos end as I wasn’t in the mood anymore! For lunch we went to Outback as we like to wait until we’re through security and the options are limited at that point. We ate there last time and enjoyed it however so it wasn’t a hardship. I had the steak tacos and fries. Really nice and a bit unusual. I really enjoyed these. Mum had chicken finger and fries and Marie and Dad both had a burger. I don’t remember the cost but it wasn’t too bad and we all enjoyed it.
Flight food wasn’t great but it never is on the return I feel. The choice was some kind of beef stew, Korean chicken curry and tortellini with cheese. Marie and I had the pasta (Mum and Dad were over the other side of the plane again). Marie enjoyed it but I didn’t. The bread roll was dry and the pudding of chocolate orange tart was horrible. Breakfast was a chocolate croissant that despite being a bit floppy was quite tasty, fruit, yoghurt and granola. It was just ok.
__________________
Lisa



Trip Report Index
sha9 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 6 Nov 16, 03:41 PM  
Link to this Post
#66
sha9
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
sha9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 08

sha9's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 1
Well, that's it done! 3 weeks doesn't seem that long when you see it written like that! I'm going to sum it up with highs and lows but some of the lows weren't really that bad.

Highs

Having free dining. I don't normally pay attention to cost on DDP but I did for this report and I was shocked. It was especially noticable having to pay for food the last week. I don't think I could go and not have DDP either free or paid for in the future. It just takes away any concerns about what you're ordering.

I particularly enjoyed The Yachtsman this trip. It's just such lovely relaxed atmosphere and it didn't feel noisy or crowded. Our server was excellent and the food fantastic. The signatures in general were great and I think we'll do another one next year.

Sanaa was lovely and something different. I can't see us going back as it's not to Marie's taste but for anyone considering it, just do it!

Substitutions made the plan much more flexible as did being able to exchange QS credits for snacks. I hope this is still doable next year.

Lows

Trattoria al Forno was a bit meh and I so wanted to really like it here as the setting was so nice. Not bad but just not great.

Rainforest Cafe was disappointing both times we visited this trip for different reasons. Such a shame as it's been a favourite of ours.

Grand Floridian Cafe was another disappointment but may be down to frame of mind so may give it another go.

Overall, loved having free dining, hated paying for food! The prepaid stuff we bought for Universal helped a bit and although I won't prepay for anything in dollars for next year unless the rate improves I've already bought the Hard Rock Cafe deal. I'm hoping we can get the QS meal plan BOGO 50% off again with the annual passes.

So now I'm off to plan the trip report. I suspect it'll take quite a bit longer than this!
__________________
Lisa



Trip Report Index
sha9 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 6 Nov 16, 05:21 PM  
Link to this Post
#67
Goldia
VIP Dibber
 
Goldia's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 16

Goldia's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 43
I always love reading your food reports Lisa, thanks for sharing it. I hope your parents enjoyed the holiday too.
__________________
Abby
New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
Goldia is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 6 Nov 16, 05:27 PM  
Link to this Post
#68
sha9
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
sha9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 08

sha9's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 1
Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
I always love reading your food reports Lisa, thanks for sharing it. I hope your parents enjoyed the holiday too.
Aw thank you! Yes they did. My Mum loved the view from our OKW balcony!
__________________
Lisa



Trip Report Index
sha9 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 6 Nov 16, 05:34 PM  
Link to this Post
#69
Goldia
VIP Dibber
 
Goldia's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 16

Goldia's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 5
Restaurant Reviews: 43
Mobile

Originally Posted by sha9 View Post
Aw thank you! Yes they did. My Mum loved the view from our OKW balcony!
We always stay at CBR but I'm thinking of SSR or OKW as the kids are getting older and we'd like a bit more space. When I was looking around I spotted the balconies and they look fab.
__________________
Abby
New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
Goldia is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 7 Nov 16, 02:41 PM  
Link to this Post
#70
DisneyDreamer81
Imagineer
 
DisneyDreamer81's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 15
Location: Manchester

DisneyDreamer81's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 2
Loved reading this - thanks so much for writing it!
__________________
1990 - Sheraton Lakeside, Kissimmee
1992 & 1995 - Hyatt Orlando, Kissimmee
1997 - Radisson Parkway, Kissimmee
2015 - Disneymoon! Caribbean Beach Resort & Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress
2017 - Yacht Club & Disney Dream
DisneyDreamer81 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:39 PM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »
Aquatica Orlando announce the grand opening of its newest attraction, Tassie’s Underwater Twist, on 15... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2347
CaxtonFX  $1.2319
Covent Garden FX  $1.2445
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2337
TESCO  $1.2343
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 13:30 28/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1426
CaxtonFX  €1.1398
Covent Garden FX  €1.1502
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1419
TESCO  €1.1425
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 13:30 28/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X