Notices
Reports and Reviews for Dining and Restaurants Trip Reports

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 18 Oct 18, 01:40 PM  
Link to this Post
#11
gjdjud
GEORGE
 
gjdjud's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 11
Location: Surrey

gjdjud's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 3
Restaurant Reviews: 26
Looking forward to reading more. Chicken Guy sounds a bit disappointing It's on my list for when we go in May. I've been building it up in my mind so it might be a good thing to have it knocked back a peg or two so I can then revel in it when I try
gjdjud is online now Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 18 Oct 18, 04:34 PM  
Link to this Post
#12
Lullington
Getting Excited
 
Join Date: Apr 14
Really enjoy reading your trip reports! Thanks for going to all the trouble. I didn't know Chicken Guy had been added to the dining plan. My youngest daughter has just said "pencil it in mom" Jo
Lullington is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 18 Oct 18, 04:45 PM  
Link to this Post
#13
Eccle
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Nov 10
Looking forward to reading the rest, I really enjoyed your last one. It's a shame to hear Chicken Guy was a disappointment
Eccle is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 18 Oct 18, 08:03 PM  
Link to this Post
#14
Minnie Mum
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Nov 15
Mobile

Great start to your holiday😊 looking forward to reading along
Minnie Mum is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 18 Oct 18, 08:13 PM  
Link to this Post
#15
Unexpectedpenny
Imagineer
 
Unexpectedpenny's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 13
Yay you’ve started! Looking forward to reading along.
Unexpectedpenny is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 18 Oct 18, 09:59 PM  
Link to this Post
#16
Floridaagogo
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jul 14
Chicken guy didn’t look very appetising ! Your haddock fish cake looked fab x
Floridaagogo is offline Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 19 Oct 18, 08:26 AM  
Link to this Post
#17
wilma-bride
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Aug 05

wilma-bride's Reviews
Restaurant Reviews: 1
Great start. The whole debacle over the Pepsi/Pepsi Max makes me think of a time when I ordered Diet Coke and got full fat and the waiter didn't seem to understand the problem. personally, I love Pepsi max and always get really excited when they have that as an option.

I don't necessarily completely agree with your opinion on Chicken Guy. My chicken certainly wasn't dry at all, but I do like my food very plain. I love the seasoning on the fries. I just didn't think it was anything special, I much prefer KFC

Edited at 08:27 AM.
wilma-bride is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 19 Oct 18, 01:28 PM  
Link to this Post
#18
collybird
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Oct 11
Location: Dundee
Originally Posted by ohana_mama View Post
Yessss! I'm so glad you are doing your report :-) Been looking forward to it since your last one! We are going in a couple of weeks with DxDDP so really looking forward to hearing how you got on!
Doesn't sound good that DxDDP took revenge...
Hope u had a fab time
Oh I am so excited to hear you are doing DxDP! I am going to catch up on your PTR ASAP.

Thank you for reading


Originally Posted by gjdjud View Post
Looking forward to reading more. Chicken Guy sounds a bit disappointing It's on my list for when we go in May. I've been building it up in my mind so it might be a good thing to have it knocked back a peg or two so I can then revel in it when I try
Definitely go and try Chicken Guy for yourself, I am looking forward to hearing how you get on. Thank you for reading!


Originally Posted by Lullington View Post
Really enjoy reading your trip reports! Thanks for going to all the trouble. I didn't know Chicken Guy had been added to the dining plan. My youngest daughter has just said "pencil it in mom" Jo
I didn't realise it had been added to the dining plan until we were actually there, I had my credit card out ready to pay but then I heard the person in front of me being asked if they wanted to use a credit so it was a nice bonus. I hope you guys enjoy it, you'll have to let me know how you get on. Thank you for reading!


Originally Posted by Eccle View Post
Looking forward to reading the rest, I really enjoyed your last one. It's a shame to hear Chicken Guy was a disappointment
It was a pity we didn't enjoy it that much, as on paper it's right up our street, we are glad we tried it though. Thank you for reading!


Originally Posted by Minnie Mum View Post
Great start to your holiday😊 looking forward to reading along
Thank you for reading


Originally Posted by Unexpectedpenny View Post
Yay you’ve started! Looking forward to reading along.
Thank you for reading


Originally Posted by Floridaagogo View Post
Chicken guy didn’t look very appetising ! Your haddock fish cake looked fab x
The fish cake was really nice, I was pleasantly surprised. Thank you for reading!


Originally Posted by wilma-bride View Post
Great start. The whole debacle over the Pepsi/Pepsi Max makes me think of a time when I ordered Diet Coke and got full fat and the waiter didn't seem to understand the problem. personally, I love Pepsi max and always get really excited when they have that as an option.

I don't necessarily completely agree with your opinion on Chicken Guy. My chicken certainly wasn't dry at all, but I do like my food very plain. I love the seasoning on the fries. I just didn't think it was anything special, I much prefer KFC
I felt like maybe I was being a bit OTT about the Pepsi situation (don't like to make a fuss!) but I'd have never drunk the Max. I think that waiter needs to reevaluate his careers choice, what if he'd given full fat Coke to someone who had a medical condition!?

I'm glad to hear you had better luck with Chicken Guy than me, perhaps I got some that had been sitting for a while!? Hopefully everyone else will enjoy it.

Thank you for reading
collybird is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 19 Oct 18, 02:20 PM  
Link to this Post
#19
collybird
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Oct 11
Location: Dundee
DAY 1

This morning’s ADR had gone through numerous changes, for a long time it was ‘Ohana; I wanted at least one meal at each of the Deluxe resorts so Mum could enjoy the hotels, and breakfast at the Polynesian was the only meal that really worked for us. I opted for ‘Ohana over Kona as we ate at Kona in 2016 when we were last with Mum and I wanted her to try something new. The thing is I don’t really rate ‘Ohana breakfast, so eventually I switched to Kona and was looking forward to some Macadamia Nut Pancakes.

But, with only days to go I decided I just had to do Early Morning Magic at Magic Kingdom again, and this meant my reservation at The Wave either had to be cancelled or moved, so Kona bit the dust and The Wave became our first ADR of the trip.

The Wave



The Wave is the Contemporary Resort’s casual table-service restaurant, it is located on the first (ground to us) floor of the hotel. It slips under the radar quite a bit which is think is a bit surprising as it’s so aesthetically pleasing from outside.



The Wave offers both a buffet breakfast and a selection of a la carte options. We had a lovely server who pointed out that the majority of the menu items were actually available on the buffet (something I hadn’t clicked onto before), I believe the only things not included were the omelette, the Floridian Eggs Benedict (the buffet does include the ‘normal’ version) and the Avocado toast. If you opt for the buffet the chef is happy to prepare you egg freshly cooked to order however you prefer, although the buffet does include scrambled eggs.

We all opted for the buffet. The restaurant was very quiet, and made for a much more relaxing start to the day than Chef Mickey’s! It was so quiet that for the first time in my life I thought I’d attempt to snap some buffet pictures. I was so pleased I was able to get these, I’ve always wondered how people manage it! They are not the best, as I was trying to be quick and not get in anyone’s way but I am hoping they will be more pleasing for you to see than pictures of our plates!

Lovely fresh fruit, Mum actually cried out in delight when she saw how pretty this looked


A selection of yogurt parfaits, Mum and Nik both loved these, especially the honey vanilla one.


Some chilled items, the smoked salmon was probably the nicest I had all trip and I ate a lot of it! The Deviled Eggs were topped with Boursin cheese.


Cereal


Pastries


Some more baked goods


Some hot food, underneath the towel is freshly baked biscuits, and hidden in the back corner is oatmeal. The sausages were really nice, and I’m not usually a fan of Disney sausages.


More hot items. They had mini flour tortillas to use with he chorizo eggs to make breakfast burritos! I tried the Egg Benedict but I wasn’t a fan of the key lime hollandaise sauce. Don't worry, these dishes were replenished shortly after I took this picture.


Of course, Mickey waffles aren’t forgotten! The hash brown casserole was delicious, the best breakfast potatoes we had.


Now, let’s talk about the sweet potato pancakes! These are The Wave’s star item, everyone talks about them but I didn’t try them the last time we ate here as I just thought they sounded weird. But this year I thought I would go for it, and WOW, alongside the seasonal accompaniments they were AMAZING! One of the best things I ate all trip.


We all loved our breakfasts. I couldn’t fault The Wave, everything was hot and fresh, our server (who I am sure has served us previously at Chef Mickey’s) was faultless and even offered us drinks to go. Our ADR was at 7.30am so we were finished in plenty of time to make rope drop. This meal was such a success that I was feeling very smug in my decision to do DxDP again and have lots of yummy TS meals ahead of us…

Breakfast came to $73.49 but we used 3 TS credits.

CREDITS USED 6
TOTAL IN $$ 110.21

***

I had a Minute Maid Frozen Lemonade from Anaheim Produce on Sunset Boulevard, something to keep me cool whilst we enjoyed Beauty and the Beast. Mum and Nik both had bottles of water, I know, how very dull!



This costs $4.99 or 1 Snack Credit.

***

Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano

I often call Mama Melrose’s my favourite restaurant but I’m not sure how true that is, but I do know that the strip steak is my favourite dish in Disney and having not visited since 2015 I was very ready to have it again! My mum loves Italian so I was excited to take her here, particularly as the restaurant is so well themed, it really makes me feel as though I am sitting in a movie.

The restaurant’s check-in area is usually extremely crowded with people waiting for their tables as they are usually running late, today the lobby was very quiet and our table was ready for us before I even came back from the rest room!

I forgot to take a picture of the menu so had to snap this quickly as we were leaving.



We were brought some bread, and some oil for dipping, Mum wasn’t yet properly trained in allowing me to take photos before tucking in!




Mum ordered the Pomegranate Lemonade which you can see in the background of this improved photo of the oil



Of course, the Deluxe Dining Plan includes an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert, but Mum said she didn’t want an appetizer, then Nik decided he didn’t want one either! Eventually I persuaded them to share a flatbread. The server did say that many people on the DxDP decline appetizers and will take one of the flatbreads with them to go instead, but we declined this kind offer.

We ordered Mushroom Flatbread - Roasted Cremini and Button Mushrooms with a Roasted Vidalia Onion Spread topped with a Fontina and Asiago Cheese finished with Balsamic Reduction and fresh Herbs. I have only just discovered I don’t have a picture of this! I think I was recovering from the stress of the others not wanting to take one for the team and order a starter just for me to report on! I’ve had to borrow one elsewhere.


CREDIT Theme Park Insider

Now, I love mushrooms, but ours was even heavier on the mushrooms than the one pictured. The flatbread just completely flopped under the weight of them, and I anticipated it would have a nice crunch. The flavour of the cheese was completely lost underneath the mushrooms and the balsamic, some of it was peaking through near the crusts and tasted very nice. I don’t like balsamic, if we’d ordered this at home I’d have asked for it to be left off but I like to try things ‘as they come’ on holiday, I hoped it would be just a drizzle but they had used so much that it had soaked through the flatbread and onto the plate! This wasn’t a nice dish at all, and I wish we’d ordered the Margarita Flatbread.

Mum ordered Mama’s Italian Pasta - Spaghetti tossed with Roasted Garlic, Tomato, fresh Basil, and Asiago-Herb Crostini This is available with either chicken or shrimp, Mum ordered shrimp.



She really enjoyed this, the sauce was oil based and she said it was very light. It is a very photogenic looking dish.

Nik had Wood-Grilled Chicken and Penne Pasta - House-Made Four-Cheese Sauce garnished with Pecorino Ramono Cheese and Parsley



At the time, he seemed to enjoy this but he has just declared that it wasn’t cheesy enough! Personally I’m not a fan of the US style of serving pasta with the sauce just dumped on the top, I don’t think it’s appetising at all.

Of course, there was never any doubt what I would be ordering. THE BEST STEAK IN DISNEY. Charred Strip Steak - Four-Cheese Macaroni with Pancetta, Aged Balsamic-Shallot Butter, and Chianti Wine Reduction.



The thicker part of the steak was a little overdone (I had asked for medium-rare) and the macaroni could have been hotter but regardless, this is still my favourite dish in Disney, just delicious. I am pretty sure the pasta served alongside the steak is the same as in the dish Nik had, personally I think it's very heavy on the cheese, so don't agree with him that the sauce wasn't cheesy enough.



I ordered a favourite of mine Tiramisu - Layers of Mascarpone and Espresso soaked Lady Fingers topped with Cocoa Powder and Whipped Cream



This was horrible! It was just a sloppy messy with no texture what so ever, it was like water. I had one bite and gave up.

Mum and Nik both ordered Chocolate and Cherry Tort - Made with Ghiradelli Creamy Chocolate infused with Morello Cherries served with Cherry Coulis topped with Whipped Cream. Black Forrest Gateau is my all-time favourite dessert so I really wanted to try this but there was no way I was letting us all order the same thing!



This was as delicious as it sounds, we all loved it. It was beautifully presented too.

Service was good. Aside from offering us the flatbreads to go the server also filled us in on menu updates, told us all about the available mocktails and was forthcoming with the refils.

Lunch came to $135.75 and cost us 3 TS credits

CREDITS USED 9
TOTAL IN $$ 245.96


***

We were desperate for a drink after our Alien Swirling Saucers FP+ it really is as hot as they say in Toy Story Land!. Mum had a Mystic Portal Punch from Woody’s Lunch Box. This is Powerade Mountain Berry Blast with flavors of lemon-lime and tangerine. She liked this, I thought it was revolting, it tasted like medicine.



***

I wasn't sure how jet lagged we'd be feeling this evening so had kept our options open over where to eat. I had booked a table at House of Blues via OpenTable so if we decided we were too tired for TS we could miss it without consequence. My alternate option was Landscape of Flavours, the food court at Art of Animation - I knew Mum would love their Create-Your-Own Pasta option.

We were feeling okay, so headed to Disney Springs. This was a huge mistake! It was Saturday, one of the car parks was full and the other had an enormous line of cars waiting to go in. I knew even if we did manage to find a space that the area would be heaving, so we resorted to my original plan of visiting Art of Animation.

Landscape of Flavors

My notes begin by saying this meal was a ‘disaster’…

The food courts at the value resorts have different order stations serving different dishes, for example, one serves pizza, one burgers, and another pasta. This makes for quite a stressful start to your meal if your party wants different things from different stations, as you all order separately, then meet together to take everything to the till to pay. It also risks things going cold depending on how quickly you’re served at the various stations. You can view the Landscape of Flavors menu here.

Nik wanted mac and cheese, he had had this here a few years ago and had loved it. Unfortunately, it is only listed as a kids’ menu item, but I said I would ask if they could do a full-size portion. Mum decided she’d like the macaroni too, I explained it may only come as a kids’ portion and she said this was fine. I sent Nik off to order me a burger and got in line for the macaroni. Unfortunately, they said they only offered it in one size.

The last time we ate here the mac and cheese was freshly baked and served on a plate, even the kids portion made for an adequate meal but this one was served in a tiny pot. I knew straight away that it wasn’t going to be enough to make up a meal, so I quickly headed over to station Nik was at to ask him to add on a couple of sides of fries, but it was too late he had been served.

I got inline at the station serving fries and decided to get some chicken nuggets to share. I asked for a nuggets meal, and an extra side of fries. The girl on the till gave me a funny look and asked again if I wanted two fries, I said yes. As I was waiting for the food I realised that all of the meals at this station came with two sides, as I had just asked Nik for a ‘cheeseburger and fries’, that meal also had ‘double fries’, so we now had the equivalent of four portions of fries.

I was annoyed at myself for not taking the time to read the menu before ordering as the other side options were coleslaw and Caesar salad, both of which I love, particularly Disney Caesar salad which is more dressing than greens!

When it came to paying the cashier explained that as we had our refillable mugs as part of the dining plan we could sub the mac and cheese in place of drinks with our meals, this was a nice bonus! So, a portion of nuggets, a cheeseburger, four(!) portions of fries, and two sides of mac and cheese was only 2 dining credits.

This all felt like it took a ridiculous amount of time, but it was probably mere minutes. Eventually we sat down with our mountains of fries, and I said I would go and get an extra plate so we could split the meals and I would explain who was having what as we now had various meals on various different plates. Nik doesn’t really like to share food.



It’s not that he’s like Joey, it’s just that he is too polite for his own good and doesn’t like to feel as though he’s taking someone else’s share so he would rather go hungry than tuck in.

In the short time I had be gone from the table my mum had taken the plate with the nuggets on them and was tucking in. I don’t understand why she did this as I had got them to share between us all, and I hadn’t yet explained that to anyone. I explained that they were to share, and she did that guilty thing people do where she pushed the plate away and then refused to eat anymore. And Nik wouldn’t eat them now because he felt like my mum wanted them, and I wouldn’t eat them because I was being stubborn. You can see from the stellar photography that my stress level were off the scale here. I hope you can appreciate just now many fries we had, there’s 10 nuggets buried there somewhere. There was also another portion of fries plated separately (that came with the burger) not pictured.



My burger and the original portions of fries were cold now. I didn’t eat them.



This evening felt like such a waste of dining credit and the DxDP, usually I am at peace with whatever changes we make to our dining plans, but I was frustrated about this one, we should have gone to House of Blues.

And after all of this, the mac and cheese wasn’t as good as Nik remembered.



Dinner came to $35.10 or 2 dining credits.

CREDITS USED 11
TOTAL IN $$ 281.06
collybird is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 19 Oct 18, 02:56 PM  
Link to this Post
#20
mrsdjh
Imagineer
 
mrsdjh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 13
I love reading your food reports Collette and what a great start as always.

I think the seasoning makes all the difference on Nik’s breakfast! Great to know about being able to pay on the app there as I find getting the bill often frustrating in places like F&Bs.

The Chicken Guy meal looks nice so I was a little sad to read you were disappointed with the taste. I love the fact having your mum with you stopped you tasting all 22 dips – you should have told her you were doing it as a public service for readers of the Dibb.

The Wave breakfasts always look good when I see them in peoples reports – we usually only have QSDP and just book a couple of TS meals - maybe one day I’ll get to sample it. Same with Mama Melrose – especially the steak and that Chocolate and Cherry Tort – I cant believe you didn’t order one if its your favourite. That's definitely dedication to the trip report.

Poor you at AOA – it does sound a very stressful meal.


Diane
mrsdjh is online now 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 10:25 AM.


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  $1.2292
Covent Garden FX  $1.2482
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2362
TESCO  $1.2343
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 09:00 28/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1426
CaxtonFX  €1.1389
Covent Garden FX  €1.1497
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1442
TESCO  €1.1425
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 09:00 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