WDW 10-19 to 10-26 Dining Plan here we go! Now up to day 3

[perdidobay]

I don't have nearly as many food porn photos as I'd like to have, as I forgot most of the time to bring a camera, and/or take photos! D'oh!

Eating will be- Me, trip planner and ADR maker
DH Danny, who asks only that we eat at some of his favorite places, ie, any place that has Guinness on tap

I made my ADR's 6 weeks in advance of our trip, and made changes to only one, San Angel, which I changed to a 3 hours later, on the day of the ADR, at the Guest Services at Epcot with no problems at all.

Total cost of DDP was $532, and I applied at check-in the balance of my Disney Rewards card to bring it to $265.
We arrived at MCO at 12:30 pm, Thursday Oct 19th, get our rental car and make a stop at SuperTarget on Orange Blossom Trail for bottled water, a 12pk of Diet Mt Dew, a bag of ChexMix, and a bunch of Bananas.
We check in at Wilderness Lodge at 2pm, and our villa studio room is ready!

After unloading our stuff, we head to Roaring Fork since we had only had coffee that morning at 6am.
My first purchase was two refillable mugs, they paid for themselves by the end of the week! And I think they make dandy little souvies!

We used 2 CS credits for lunch....
We both used our mugs for Diet Coke.
I had the Grilled Chicken-Apple salad
Chocolate Bundt Cake
A bottle of Orange Juice (the cake and orange juice was saved for the next days breakfast).

Grilled Chicken Salad with Apple Vinaigrette - Granny Smith Apples, Candied walnuts, Tillamook cheddar cheese, croutons.
(photo actually from a later day) Forgot camera -d'oh!

The salad was very filling, even though I was hungry I couldn't eat it all.

Danny had the Smoked Turkey and Brie on Honey-Oatmeal Bread with Tarragon Mayo spread and Mizuna Lettuce, a bag of Lays Potato Chips, and a bottle of Chocolate milk, which he saved for breakfast. Same sandwich from a different day...

Everything was very very good, so good we get it again 4 days later.

We headed back to our room to unpack and rest since Danny had a headache. He ended up sleeping for two hours while I read a book in front of the Fireplace in the Villas lobby.


Dinner- Ragland Road 2 TS credits
Our ADR is for 8pm, as we like to arrive about when the band starts playing. We are about 20 minutes early, so tell the hostess we'd like to wait for a table in the main room so we can see the band, and we get our pager and sit by the bar and order the first of many Guinness to come Before we've had a chance to polish off the first round, we are seated at an excellent table for watching the Band (and the lovely Danielle, the Irish step dancer).

We order another round of Guinness, I'm driving after dinner so I keep it to 2 beers for the night.

For an appetizer, we share the Dalky's Duo, battered and fried sausages
(what's not to love? )

After polishing off those little goodies, our entrees arrive..
Kevin's Bacon for Danny

Salmon of Knowledge for me

Both are excellent, the pork is tender and well flavored and the salmon has a light glaze that just adds to the very fresh flavor of the salmon.

Danny orders a Smithwicks and we enjoy the band while waiting on dessert, we both order Ger's Bread & Butter Pudding. This is our hands down favorite dessert in all of WDW. We can just feel our arteries clogging up...

and it doesn't disappoint us this visit.

Danny orders a Baileys (see why I am driving?) And we enjoy the band for a few more minutes, then roll out the door. Thank goodness when we arrived, we were able to find a parking spot not more than 2 minutes walk from the restaurant. A very good day of dining and we go to sleep with plans of the Food and Wine Festival tomorrow!

 

[jess20k]

Thank you for the reviews and your photos!!! Sounded and looked good!

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent start

 

[oybolshoi]

Hi Jo! Weren't those dalkeys yummie? Raglan Road has just moved to the top of our WDW dining list - we thought it was great.

BTW - what, no Manilow?

 

[perdidobay]

Day 2- Friday Oct 20th
No photos today as someone (me) forgot the camera
I've decided to post the cost of the items that were DDP, so as to show the savings (or not) that we had.

After sleeping in till 9am, Danny woke up with no ill effects due to his sure-fire-no hangover-sleep-propped-up-with-5-pillows method. He swears by this, it's something he learned on our pub and beer tour of Ireland two years ago.

We have coffee from the coffee pot in our room, with Danny eating half the chocolate bundt cake from the day before, and a banana, plus his chocolate milk. I have a banana.
We work out for 30 minutes at Sturdy Branches, then back to the room to shower and get ready for the day. That means time to call the office for Danny. We stop by Roaring Fork to fill our mugs with Diet Coke and head to Epcot. We arrive at Epcot around 11:30am.

We hit FW first and ride all the "lunch liberators" so we can snack our way around the F&W festival without worry later.
As we make our way around the World Showcase, we scope out the offerings at each F&W booth. Our first stop is Poland, where we use two snack credits to get Kielbasa and Potato Pierogies with sour cream and the cabbage roll with spiced beef. Cost of both-$6.50 The portions aren't really big enough to split, so we each share just a bite of each item. The cabbage roll is the winner here, although the kielbasa is good too, the pierogie is just so-so.

After a stop at the bar in the Rose and Crown for a....surprise!! Guinness!! Did you see that one coming?? We lament the fact that no one in Orlando is a true master of the keg, i.e., they don't know how to pull a proper pint of Guinness. You see, Danny IS a beer snob. And after having been to that mecca of beers (not once! but twice!) St James Gate, Dublin, he, like any true religious zealot, has high standards for the object of his worship.
Of course, we realize that the fine folks at Ragland Road and the Rose and Crown are busy, and it takes time to pull a Guinness right, which they don't have. Nor do they usually have clientele that are willing to wait.
Later in our trip, we WILL find one true Master of the Keg!
We stroll along clockwise, back to Mexico where we sample the Quesadilla con Chorizo y Pollo and the Chilaquiles. Cost of both- $7 (2 snack credits used).
Both were excellent, and were washed down with a Lime Margarita from the Margarita stand. I had planned on getting the Chilaquiles again later in the trip, but never did, I'm sad because it was really that good.
Time flew by and before we knew it, it was time for our 8pm ADR at Le Cellier.
We had a bit of a wait, I kept hearing the hostess tell folks that they were "running behind". We waited inside across from the hostess stand, and every single person who walked up without an ADR was turned away. Finally after 15 minutes, we were seated against the back wall, which I like as the traffic in the dining area can get pretty busy.
We had a great server, Renata, who suggested to me a mango smoothie. It was way to sweet for me, but I think it would make a great drink with some rum added and served alongside a pool on a cruise ship. I ended up just drinking water. Danny decided to give his liver a break and had iced tea.

After reading several good reviews on this board about the Prince Edward Island Mussels, I decided it was high time I had them. I was not disappointed, they were so good I was using the bread sticks to sop up every little bit of broth out of the bowl
Danny had the Cheese soup, which he loves and has every time we dine here.
We both ordered the Mushroom filet, mine rare, better known as "show a cow a match and slap him on a plate", according to Danny, and his medium, or "please don't let me see any blood" according to me. They come just as ordered and need I say, are so good, along with the mushroom risotto.

For dessert Danny and I both have the Creme Brulee Sampler, I like the Maple the best, and Danny likes the Vanilla. We roll out of the place happy campers, ready to take on EMH. Total cost $111.34, two table service Credits used.

 

[perdidobay]

Hi Jo! Weren't those dalkeys yummie? Raglan Road has just moved to the top of our WDW dining list - we thought it was great.

BTW - what, no Manilow?

This is a NO-MANILOW ZONE....please keep all Manilow clear of the doors...oops, I'm still in WDW mode.

I agree, A DIS Meet before the cruise at Ragalnd Road and Dalkeys and beer all around!!!

 

[DisneyMom5]

Yum! Nice reviews.

 

[oybolshoi]

Great review, ma'am! Jason and I have never made it to Le Cellier but it's on the list and it sounds fabulous.

 

[pperfectmom]

As a beer snob myself,(also married to another one) I appreciated your reviews . Keep 'em coming!

 

[perdidobay]

Saturday Oct 21 - Day 3 ..no food photos today either, sorry

Another nice warm day (boy do I miss it now, it's been cold, rainy and grey for the last two days). Again we sleep in and hit Sturdy Branches for 30 minutes on the Elliptical before we head back to breakfast in our room. Coffee and a banana for the both of us. We are trying to be good, so we can be bad...does this make sense to any of you?

Today's plan is Disney MGM studios, and we manage to make it there by 11am.
We have an ADR for 50's Prime Time Cafe at 2pm.
After doing our favorite attractions in the park we see Mater and Lightning while walking around New York street. Yes we are 49 and 50 years old respectively, but we are like giddy little kids when we see them. But we were good and didn't push any little ones out of the way to see them up close

We show up at 50's PT just before our ADR and are seated right away. Our server is Mark, and can I just say this... he IS a GOD All the times we have eaten here, he is the BEST we have ever had waiting our table. He's so quick witted and so low key yet perfectly in character that we are rolling on the floor with not just what he says to us, but those around us. Dining in a place like this is just soooo much better when everyone around you is laughing and having a good time. It would take too long to post all the things he did, so I'll just say Mark!

I am a huge fan of the Peanut Butter and Jelly shake they make here so I indulge, after all I worked out this morning for just this reason, right?
Danny has iced tea. Needless to say the PB&J shake is worth every calorie
Danny has the Beer-Battered Onion Rings for his app, and I have the Fried Herb Cheese - lightly breaded, served with toasted French bread and fresh fruit.

The onion rings are HUGE and hot, very crispy. The portions are really big here. The Fried herb cheese was served nice and warm and with the french toast to eat it with, is so good I could make a meal of just it. The strawberries and grapes that were on the plate were really good too, and I was happy to have good strawberries so late in the year. Danny helped me eat the cheese and fruit and I had one of his onion rings.
I do recall having a fried cheese app on the Disney Cruise in one of the dining rooms one night, that was very similar.
For an entree, Danny has the Stacked Sandwich -smoked turkey or ham on seven grain bread, lettuce, tomatoes, Swiss cheese and mayonnaise, served with potato chips.
I have the Golden Fried Chicken - Served with Mashed Potatoes, Chicken gravy, and Southern greens, but I asked for green beans instead of the greens. Again let me say the portions are really big here, we do our best to eat what we can without being overstuffed, but it's hard when the food is good! The chicken is cooked perfectly, crispy on the outside, while hot and moist on the inside. The mashed potatoes are hot and creamy, and I love to eat them with a little of the beans on my fork too. I'm not one to be overly fond of green beans, but the ones here and at Tusker House in AK are the best I've had anywhere. Danny's sandwich is fresh, and filling, and he's in happy camper land.

We don't really NEED dessert, but Mark brings us a Viewmaster, and I've got to say...the view is good! I order the S'mores, and Danny gets the Angel food cake with fresh berries. The portion size of the s'mores has been reduced from previous visits, but it's a good thing as I feel less guilty about leaving 3/4 of it uneaten. It was good, but I'm just too full. Danny eats about half of Angel Food cake, it is very good, and the berries are excellent, but he too is too full to do it justice.
After tipping Mark $5 over the included 18% tip, we roll our way over to the stunt show, and thank goodness all we have to do is sit and digest this food!
2 TS credits used... cost of meal $69.99.

We leave the Studios to head back to Wilderness Lodge Villas at 6pm. Danny catches up on some office business, I go to Roaring Forks for a mug full of diet coke, then I enjoy an hour or two reading on the sofa in the villas lobby. My dream home would look like the villas lobby, so it's fun for me to sit and pretend it's home. I also love watching the families come in from the parks, all tired and happy, except for the few screaming babies


Danny and I are too full from lunch to eat, but we decide a drink would be quite nice. we head over to the Lodge at 8pm to spend the evening at Territory Lounge and watch the Cardinals whoop up on the Tigers in the first game of the series. We've never been to the lounge in all our stays at WL or the villas, and we will not be missing this place on future trips. We really enjoy the ambiance here. I have a Pumpkin Spice Martini, and Danny has some beer I can't remember, as alas, they have no Guinness, on tap or bottled. I love my martini, it was a creamy concoction of light cream, a pumpkin liquor, and maybe a spiced vodka? It was sprinkled with a little nutmeg, if I recall correctly. My memory fails me as it is not the only drink of the night
Danny's beer can't be all bad as he polishes it off fairly quickly. We move tables after a group departs, so we can move closer to the TV, we had been able to watch the game but not hear it. I decide I need an Amaretto Sour, and Danny has another beer. We are surrounded by Tiger fans so we are quietly cheering the runs scored by the redbirds. We decide we are a "little" hungry after all, and order the Nachos. Yum Yum... they were gone in about 6 minutes, I think Danny managed to eat some of them

It's said that everyone needs something to believe in, and I believe I'll have another AmSur, thnkyouverymush. That's probably what I said to our server. Danny too, has one more beer, and then at 10:30 or so we wobble our way back to our room. Thank Goodness I am only walking drunk, I think that's still legal in WDW. Tonight's a good night for me to try Danny's No Hangover Method.

 

[MinnieMommy]

Yummy dining report! Thanks!

 

[momofdbsdc]

Awesome reviews! Thank you!!!

 

[oybolshoi]

I knew someone else at WDW had to be pulling for the Redbirds!!

And that pumpkin spice martini sounds like something I need to try...preferably right now!

Thanks for sharing.