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Old 16 Jun 19, 05:36 PM  
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4holibobs
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LIVE NOW (ish) food report - Eating our way across land and sea ~ including QSDP ~ September 2019

I'm very excited to start the pre-trip section of my foodie trip for our September 2019 trip.

Although it was hard work staying live ish last time, I have enjoyed reading back on my previous report so I'm determined to complete one this year.

Here's a link to my previous report if you're interested... the actual trip starts on page 11 - we didn't have any sort of dining plan so all prices are listed for those who are paying out of pocket.

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...d.php?t=971015



Trip index -
Pre trip report -Pre trip report ramblings
Pre-travel day - Pre travel day
Travel day (part 1) - Travel day (part 1)
Travel day (part 2) - Travel day (part 2)
Day 1 morning/lunch - Day 1 Magic Kingdom
Day 1 evening - Day 1 - Teak Neighbourhood Grill
Day 2 - Day 2 - Cracker Barrel, Polite Pig and Columbia Harbour House
Day 3 part 1 morning / lunch Day 3 part 1 - KeKe’s Breakfast Cafe and Sassagula Floatworks
Day 3 part 2 evening Day 3 part 2 - Animal Kingdom
Day 4 - Epcot, Typhoon Lagoon and back to Epcot
Day 5 - Magic Kingdom, Be Our Guest, Manny’s Chophouse
Day 6 part 1 - Hollywood Studios and Disney Springs
Day 6 part 2 - Disney Springs
Day 7 part 1 POFQ
and Disney Springs

Day 7 part 2 Epcot Food and Wine Festival
Day 8 Animal Kingdom, Five Guys, Disney Springs
Day 9 Resort hopping, POFQ, Magic Kingdom

Edited at 03:33 AM.
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Old 16 Jun 19, 05:51 PM  
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Introduction and how this trip came about...

So three years have passed since my last food report. We had just moved house a month before our last trip and I'd not long started a new job.

Three years later and me and DH have celebrated 10 years of married life (last year), we are still happy in our lovely (not so new home), and I've changed jobs twice since!

We have flown into Orlando twice since our 2016 trip for cruises from both Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale and I've been eager to return to Disney ever since our trip.

We weren't clued up in free dining last time we booked, but having read more about it, I knew if we were going to book a future trip it would make sense to try and incorporate free dining into our trip.

So last April we had a quote from Virgin Holidays for 10 nights at Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter (one night longer than our last trip) and a 7 night Caribbean cruise, and with our flying club discount to my surprise it worked out cheaper than I could do it DIY so we booked with a countdown of 520 days!

I think Disney have massively upped their game with snacks and merch since we were last there so I'm super excited to be back in the magic and living my best life.

During the past 10 weeks we have been on a health mission and we are following the weight watchers plan. DH has lost 21 lbs and I have lost 2 stone. We still have 87 days or 12 weeks to go before our trip so I'm positive I can lose another stone before we go, ensuring there's plenty of room for all of our food!

Edited at 08:23 PM.
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Old 16 Jun 19, 06:10 PM  
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Our itinerary

So we will be heading to Raddison Blu at Manchester Airport on Wednesday 11th September for a pre night stay. We have booked 18 nights parking included.



We have stayed here twice before and love the convenience of walking to the terminal.

We have eaten in the restaurant before and found it expensive for the food in offer.

I think we will probably stop on the motorway and pick up an M&S picnic for tea.

The next morning we have the V Room included in our package... I've heard mixed reviews if this place, but as we normally pay for a cooked breakfast in the airport, and this was free we'll definitely give it a go..the pancake machines look cool.



Our flight leaves before 10am and we have pre-booked the exit row seats at the front of the plane hoping to be some of the first off the plane and through immigration.

We will definitely pick up a boots meak deal for the plane as the afternoon tea doesn't look too great. I may pre- purchase some snacks for the plane too rather than pay Airport prices... I'm think a malteasers pouch, or two!

This trip we have decided not to hire a car until the very last day of our trip to take us from Port to Airport so we will be getting the magical express for the very first time, although not before collecting our free $200 gift card from the airport.

We're staying at POFQ again as we loved the grown up feel of the resort, how close we were to Disney Springs, and how small the resort was to all the amenities.

I can't wait to be back!



The plan for the first night is to collect our resort mugs (a first for us!), unpack and head to Disney Springs.

We caught the boat over the last time on our first evening and we loved it.. so that's the plan again.

There's only one place we have in mind for our tea and that's Blaze pizza!

We visited Disney Springs last year pre our cruise and visited Blaze for the first time.. and wow we loved it.



Not the best photo, but we both had the create your own pizza last time and devoured the lot. We sat outside and it was lovey to have the warm Florida air, great food and our whole trip ahead of us.., can't wait for this feeling again!

Edited at 08:25 PM.
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Old 16 Jun 19, 06:48 PM  
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Day one wouldn't be day one for me without a trip to Magic Kingdom.

The plan here is to head to Main Street Bakery for breakfast and find a quiet spot to soak up the atmosphere.



As we have never had any sort of dining plan before, one thing we are deliberating over is what value snacks we should pay for out of pocket and what we should use a snack credit for... as an example if I pick up a croissant for breakfast would I be better paying for this oop and saving the snack credits for the more expensive snacks? We don't want to be left with lots of credits left over at the end of the trip but don't want to waste them either.

One thing I definitely want to try in Magic Kingdom is the waffle from sleepy hallow.. this was on my list last time and I never got round to it



One place we did really enjoy in Magic Kingdom last time was Pecos Bills so we may pop here for lunch before heading back to the hotel for some pool time.




After some pool time we will be heading to Animal Kingdom, and I'm hoping to bag a fastpass for flight of passage. We have not seen Pandora yet so I'm excited to see this new area, even though I've not watched Avatar.

I'm excited to try a night blossom..



and I'm even more excited to eat at Satu'li Canteen and try the cheeseburger pods!



I think that's pretty much it for day one.

Day two is a Saturday, and whilst it's not usually advised, we are going to be heading to Typhoon Lagoon this morning after a trip to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

Cracker Barrel is my absolute favourite place for pankcakes, I love them with warm peaches and of course enjoy looking at the cute gift shop on the way out!



We're undecided yet whether we will stay in Typhoon Lagoon for lunch or stop off at Disney Springs for something...I've heard good things about D Luxe Burger and Chicken Guy and they aren't included in our plans at the moment..

On the evening we are heading to Magic Kingdom. Due to MNSSHP (which we aren't doing this time) there's limited times we can watch Happily Ever After (which is new for us) and I'd like to see it at least twice this trip.

Again I'm not sure what we will eat tonight, maybe Cosmic Rays again as we enjoyed the chicken burgers the last time, or I've heard good things about Columbia Harbour House so perhaps we will try there... one thing I have never had in our my Disney trips is the chicken nuggets so I definitely want to try some this trip.
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Old 16 Jun 19, 07:12 PM  
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Day three morning and afternoon we are off shopping, but first, Denny's for breakfast.





If I had my way I'd eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel every offsite breakfast but DH wants to mix it up a bit.

We will get heading to Walmart to pick up our stash of American candy, especially caramel M&M's!

We will be heading to the shops at Rolling Oaks, TJMaxx and Ross Dress for Less (we love TK Max at home!) and then if we're hungry enough will stop for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes.



This evening our plan is to head to Hollywood Studios.

Notice our plans don't include heading to this park at 6am for Galaxy's Edge. If we get to see it, fine, if not then it's no big deal. Hollywood Studios is our least favourite park, we didn't think the food offering some were particularly great last night, although we haven't seen Toy Story Land yet, so I'm hoping to bag a Slinky Dog fast pass.

If anyone has any suggestions on where to eat at Hollywood Studios, please let me know!
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Old 16 Jun 19, 07:40 PM  
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Day four and we are spending the morning and evening at EPCOT but heading back to the hotel at some point to cool down in the pool and take a break.

We may have breakfast in the hotel this morning, last time we were at POFQ sassagula floatworks was being refurbished so it will be interesting to see what it's like.

Otherwise, we may get breakfast at Starbucks in EPCOT.

One thing we enjoyed last trip was eating around the world, so we want to try and have some of our favourite from last time, which included -

The steak from Canada as recommended by Miss Fortune



The spicy beef from South Korea



And the patty from Jamaica



I've downloaded the Food and Wine app in preparation for the festival which starts on 29th August, so I'm excited to see if these choices are still available and to see what's new this year.

I still have my passports from last time so I'll be picking a new one up this year too.

Day 5 its my birthday so we will be heading to Magic Kingdom for the morning.

We will be eating something light as we have our one and only ADR booked in today of the whole trip and that is Be Our Guest.



We cancelled our reservation the last time but seeing as we are on then QSDP we thought this was a must do.

I think from what I have read it's best to pre order, but I'm currently torn between the Coq au Vin and the turkey sandwich. We may get a grey stuff cupcake just for the photo

If we have time, and space, I would like to try a lefou's brew from Gastons Tavern and maybe a cinnamon bun.





We'll be leaving Magic Kingdom early afternoon to get changed and we will be heading out to the outlets on Vineland for a look around.

I definitely want to hit the Disney Character Outlet, Old Navy Store, GAP and possibly converse.

We'll most likely pick up an acai strawberry refresher when we're there... I became absolutely obsessed with these on our last trip!



For my birthday we have chosen to eat offsite at one of our favourite restaurants, Mannys Chophouse.

Since being on Weight Watchers one of the meals we talk about the most is from Mannys, including the boneless chicken wings, potato skins and steaks... such a lot of food but we're currently dreaming if this...







I actually cannot wait for this meal!
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Old 16 Jun 19, 08:00 PM  
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Day 6 and I'm hoping to persuade DH to head back to Cracker Barrel for breakfast before we head to Blizzard Beach.

Notice that we are including some offsite meals in this trip despite having the QSDP. As we have the dining plan for free we are happy to pay out of pocket for some of our favourite meals offsite. It's also nice to step out of the bubble that is Disney sometimes.

Again as with Typhoon Kagoon I'm unsure whether we will eat at the park or head to Disney Springs for some lunch.

One thing I would like to try from Disney Springs is the poutine so if we're too full for a full meal, perhaps we can try it..



Of course one thing I haven't mentioned which I also loved from our last trip was the beignets and I can see that they now come Mickey shaped... what a dream!

I'll definitely be having some of these when we head back for down time at the hotel



This evening we will be heading back into EPCOT for some more eating and drinking around the World. I'm also hoping to bag a fastpass for Soarin and we would like to get on test track too.

Day 7 will be a morning at Hollywood Studios if we do not manage to do all of Toy Story Land on day 3. If we don't fancy it then we may have a morning at the hotel or perhaps head to Celebration as it's somewhere we haven't been to yet. I'd like to think that we can keep our plans quite loose and see how we feel.

Late afternoon and evening we are planned to go to Disney Springs.

We love this place and have pencilled in to eat at Polite Pig.



I've read great things about Polite Pig including it being a great use of a quick service credit.

We love BBQ food and I'm hoping this will be a real winner for us.
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Old 16 Jun 19, 08:21 PM  
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Day 8 and we have a morning at Animal Kingdom planned.

I'm hoping to bag another Flight of Passage fastpass and for us to go on the safari, Everest and dinosaur too.

On our last two trips we have eaten at Yak and Yeti. We do have a Landry card and we will have $25 loaded on it, but depending on how many credits we have left we will probably eat and the counter service today.

DH had the honey chicken the last time and I wasn't too keen, but everyone raves about this from the quick service so I may try it.

One thing I'm hoping to try is the mango pie, I've heard this is amazing and I do love mango so I think I will really enjoy this.



I've also read from other food reports that Animal Kingdom is a great park to find fresh fruit so depending on how many snack credits we have left this may be a good use of some credits (rather than stacks of goofy candy on the last day!)

Tonight we are planning another of our favourite off site meals as Longhorns. We love it here, it's such good value for money and the food is always excellent.

The bread they bring to start is AMAZING!



It's hard not to fill up on it, and with my current p,an I've more or less cut out all bread so I think this will be like heaven!

We'll most likely get the rib eye steak again, it's really yummy.



I'll try and find a voucher before we go, I'm sure last time I found a $5 off voucher.

Our last Disney Day we have left open to see what we fancy doing in the morning/afternoon.

I'm hoping to head back to Cracker Barrel again, or if not and DH wants to try somewhere new maybe Keke's for breakfast as I have heard good things... and this would be right up my street!



We have visited IHOP on our last few trips, but last year we found it to be dirty and the food wasn't great so I think we will be giving it a miss. I know each experience can vary but it's put us off for a while.

We may end up at a water park today, or maybe celebration, or shopping. If there's anything else local you can recommend please let me know. We will get getting an uber/lyft wherever we go.

For our last evening we will be heading to Magic Kingdom to see Happily Ever After for the final time.

More snacks will be consumed but I'm hoping at this stage we won't have a stack of credits left over.

We did love the frozen lemonades last time and still have a collection of the straws in our kitchen drawer



And also the dole whip I'm hoping we have room for one of these before we leave!



And just like that our 10 nights at Disney will be over
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Old 16 Jun 19, 08:27 PM  
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Wow some great plans there! Making me hungry reading along 😄 I sometimes wonder if I am wasting snack credits on say a breakfast pastry, but now it has changed a little and we will get 2 snacks a day am not stressing as much! 😁👌
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Old 16 Jun 19, 08:37 PM  
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The cruise

We will be catching an Uber from Disney down to Port Canaveral probably at around 10am.

I've checked prices of transfers and I'm surprised to find that they are all quite expensive whereas an uber I think will be anywhere from $70 - $100.

Today we will be embarking the Harmony of the Seas for 7 nights.





We have sailed with Royal Caribbean many times and we are excited to be back on an Oasis class ship for this sailing.

We have a balcony cabin booked and our stops include St Maarten, St Thomas and Coco Cay.

We have booked an open bus tour in St Maarten, we visited last year and did a snuba trip and were talking to the reps who told us how the hurricane devastated the island so it will be interesting to see what it's like. In St Thomas we have booked a catamaran snorkelling trip which includes a bbq lunch. We haven't made any plans at Coco Cay, it's Royal Caribbeans private part of the island so I think it will just be a beach day, which I'm sure will be well deserved after ten nights at Disney!

When we disembark the ship we have hired a car to drive back to the airport, we may stop off at the outlets and probably sweet tomatoes for something light to eat before our flight home.

Hopefully my next update will be once our fastpasses are booked as this will confirm our p,and above and what parks we will be on which days.

I'm more excited about this trip than I can tell you, so apologies this report has started so early, but I wanted to get our plans down on paper, so to speak, and get this report kicked off!

Thanks if you have read to the end, I hopefully you will stick with me during my live report
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