BluegrassDaisy
02-02-2010, 11:41 PM
This trip was myself, DH, DD23 & DD11.
When I didn't book the DDP this trip, I decided to track our food expenses and compare the cost. With my AP, I had the option to purchase the Tables in Wonderland card and was able to use it at all of our table service meals and a few others; I used Garden Grocer (a 1st for us) and had a few groceries brought in: bottled water, beer, sodas, some breakfast items, sandwich supplies and snacks. I actually prefer to eat breakfast in the room, but hey – this is vacation, I’m not interested in cooking full course meals!! Bottom line: when I added the cost of the groceries (including delivery fee & tip – but not the beer); the cost of the TIW card, TS meals, CS meals and snacks, we saved about $300. This might not have been comparing apples & apples exactly – we did not have 7 table service meals and I don’t think we ever ordered desert with a CS, but we had more than enough to eat. I think this is the route we’ll take in the future. I love dining at Disney, but the past few trips, I have felt like our days revolved around where we had to be for dinner.
Here are my reviews (these aren't very detailed!)
Saturday: CS at Lotus Blossom Café – DD11 picked this, it was just OK; I would go there again in a pinch, but it wasn’t the best
Sunday: Beaches & Cream; the food was great, but we stayed at Epcot ‘til we were REALLY hungry, then had to wait 45 minutes for a table. This was poor planning on my part. I ended up filling our mugs at the market and going to the room for some snacks to eat while we waited. 3 of us had burgers and one had the chicken sandwich, we shared a basket of onion rings. DD23 and I realized after the fact, that we should have shared a burger; we were all too full for desert, but vowed to come back later in the week for ice cream. With such a late lunch, we weren’t really hungry for dinner, so we ended up having ice cream later in the evening at the MK. I had one of the home made ice cream sandwiches at the Main St Bakery, this is one of my favorites and it did not disappoint, it had been a couple of years since I had one and it was sooooo good. DH & DD11 had ice cream cones and DD23 had a float. I shared my HUGE sandwich.
Monday: We tried the character breakfast at Cape May Café for the 1st time and we loved it. Breakfast is DH’ favorite meal, so he was especially happy with this choice. The food was fresh and there were lots of choices, I especially enjoyed the bagels & lox and the fresh fruit choices. At the end of the meal, our server brought DD23 a muffin decorated with Mickey Heads and congratulated her on her graduation. Until then, I had forgotten that when I made our PS arrangements, they asked if we would be celebrating anything. This was a nice surprise for both of us. After such a big late breakfast, we just had snacks in WS during the afternoon. I had the School Bread in Norway and LOVED it!! DD11 had a cookie, DH & DD23 shared an order of nachos. We were all happy with our choices (especially me!) We had a 7:55 PS at Le Cellier. The food was wonderful, I had the filet w/mushroom risotto, DD23 had the pork chop, DD11 had the NY strip and DH had the salmon; in my opinion – you should ALWAYS order a steak here! Oh and I have to mention the pretzel bread – YUM!! Again, we were too full for desert.
Tuesday: Lunch was at Cosmic Rays, DD23 & I shared a Chicken Caesar Salad and a turkey wrap served with home made potato chips. Both were very good; the chips were especially delish. DH & DD11 had burgers which they were happy with. Dinner was at Wolfgang Puck Express at DTD. We had a variety of pasta dishes – all were great. And although WPE was not listed as a participating TIW location, I asked if they took the card and received a 10% discount.
Wednesday: Lunch at the Sci Fi Café, DD11 and I had eaten here on past trips, but this was the 1st visit for DD23 & DH; even though we had dined here several times, this was the 1st time we were seated in a car. DH got a kick out of the drive-in set up. We had an excellent server from the UK by the name of Sarah; we enjoyed burgers and sandwiches and were all pleased with our food. Once again, no desert. At the end of the meal, Sarah brought out a card for DD23; it said Congratulations on your graduation and was signed by all the cast members. Dinner tonight was our only problem meal of the week – another example of poor planning from me! We went to the MK with the plan to do a few attractions and to have dinner. We headed to Columbia Harbor House – it had closed at 5:00, then Pecos Bills, also closed, by this time it was around 7:30 and we wound up at Casey’s Corner. The hotdogs and chili were fine, but there were long lines and we were scrambling to find seating. I think Cosmic Rays was also open – but it was nearly time for Wishes and we had no desire to fight the crowd to get across the park. I pride myself on my planning – but hadn’t even considered how many place would close early.
Thursday: Lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue – we had the ribs, barbecue chicken salads, a kids meal with roast chicken and a basket of onion rings to share. The CS locations at AK accept the TIW card, so we got the 20% discount here. A funny (well maybe not at the time!) thing happened. The day was sunny, but rather cool. We were able to nab a table in the sun and were greatly enjoying it until a bird roosting in a nearby tree dropped a BIG surprise on our table, narrowly missing our food. DD11 had to get another drink, a kind cast member in the area took care of getting that for her (no charge); we quickly moved to another table. Shortly after, another unsuspecting family sat down there, I warned them and they moved before being bombed.
Friday: After missing dinner at Columbia Harbor House on Wednesday, we decided to grab lunch here today. We had fish, fish & chicken combos and a shrimp basket. They were all good, with the shrimp being VERY good. We had a nice quiet table upstairs and enjoyed our meal. We snacked a bit in the afternoon – popcorn & frozen lemonade and were pretty hungry when dinner time rolled around. We did that on purpose as dinner tonight was The Garden Grill, this was another request from DD23. I had not planned on dining here this trip. When we ate there last October, I left with a bad feeling, we waited nearly an hour for our table (we had a PS) and I felt the food was barely average. However, I had suffered from an upset stomach most of that trip and hoped maybe that was why I didn’t enjoy my dinner then. I think it might have been a combination of things. Free dining was in effect during that trip, all the TS locations were packed and I felt the food just so, so at several meals. That coupled with my illness made for some unpleasant experiences. I was worried for no reason, dinner this trip was wonderful. Our food was fresh and tasty and our server very good. She even offered to bring out mac & cheese for DD11, which we all enjoyed! My only complaint is that I prefer the apple crisp and ice cream that was served a few years ago over the blueberry buckle with whipped cream being served now. DD23 & I were there in May 2007 and the desert was berries & pastries - it was wonderful as well; I am assuming that this changes seasonally. At any rate, we were seated right away and our food was very good.
Saturday: DH went to the BC market and picked up a muffin and a couple of breakfast sandwiches to share while we packed. They were both very tasty.
One more thing to note: while at DTD we went to Goofy’s Candy Company and I got one of those delicious chocolate chip cookies, I ate it over the next couple of days; on Friday, we picked up another one at Goofy’s in the MK and shared it while we waited for the Country Bears. YUM!!
When I didn't book the DDP this trip, I decided to track our food expenses and compare the cost. With my AP, I had the option to purchase the Tables in Wonderland card and was able to use it at all of our table service meals and a few others; I used Garden Grocer (a 1st for us) and had a few groceries brought in: bottled water, beer, sodas, some breakfast items, sandwich supplies and snacks. I actually prefer to eat breakfast in the room, but hey – this is vacation, I’m not interested in cooking full course meals!! Bottom line: when I added the cost of the groceries (including delivery fee & tip – but not the beer); the cost of the TIW card, TS meals, CS meals and snacks, we saved about $300. This might not have been comparing apples & apples exactly – we did not have 7 table service meals and I don’t think we ever ordered desert with a CS, but we had more than enough to eat. I think this is the route we’ll take in the future. I love dining at Disney, but the past few trips, I have felt like our days revolved around where we had to be for dinner.
Here are my reviews (these aren't very detailed!)
Saturday: CS at Lotus Blossom Café – DD11 picked this, it was just OK; I would go there again in a pinch, but it wasn’t the best
Sunday: Beaches & Cream; the food was great, but we stayed at Epcot ‘til we were REALLY hungry, then had to wait 45 minutes for a table. This was poor planning on my part. I ended up filling our mugs at the market and going to the room for some snacks to eat while we waited. 3 of us had burgers and one had the chicken sandwich, we shared a basket of onion rings. DD23 and I realized after the fact, that we should have shared a burger; we were all too full for desert, but vowed to come back later in the week for ice cream. With such a late lunch, we weren’t really hungry for dinner, so we ended up having ice cream later in the evening at the MK. I had one of the home made ice cream sandwiches at the Main St Bakery, this is one of my favorites and it did not disappoint, it had been a couple of years since I had one and it was sooooo good. DH & DD11 had ice cream cones and DD23 had a float. I shared my HUGE sandwich.
Monday: We tried the character breakfast at Cape May Café for the 1st time and we loved it. Breakfast is DH’ favorite meal, so he was especially happy with this choice. The food was fresh and there were lots of choices, I especially enjoyed the bagels & lox and the fresh fruit choices. At the end of the meal, our server brought DD23 a muffin decorated with Mickey Heads and congratulated her on her graduation. Until then, I had forgotten that when I made our PS arrangements, they asked if we would be celebrating anything. This was a nice surprise for both of us. After such a big late breakfast, we just had snacks in WS during the afternoon. I had the School Bread in Norway and LOVED it!! DD11 had a cookie, DH & DD23 shared an order of nachos. We were all happy with our choices (especially me!) We had a 7:55 PS at Le Cellier. The food was wonderful, I had the filet w/mushroom risotto, DD23 had the pork chop, DD11 had the NY strip and DH had the salmon; in my opinion – you should ALWAYS order a steak here! Oh and I have to mention the pretzel bread – YUM!! Again, we were too full for desert.
Tuesday: Lunch was at Cosmic Rays, DD23 & I shared a Chicken Caesar Salad and a turkey wrap served with home made potato chips. Both were very good; the chips were especially delish. DH & DD11 had burgers which they were happy with. Dinner was at Wolfgang Puck Express at DTD. We had a variety of pasta dishes – all were great. And although WPE was not listed as a participating TIW location, I asked if they took the card and received a 10% discount.
Wednesday: Lunch at the Sci Fi Café, DD11 and I had eaten here on past trips, but this was the 1st visit for DD23 & DH; even though we had dined here several times, this was the 1st time we were seated in a car. DH got a kick out of the drive-in set up. We had an excellent server from the UK by the name of Sarah; we enjoyed burgers and sandwiches and were all pleased with our food. Once again, no desert. At the end of the meal, Sarah brought out a card for DD23; it said Congratulations on your graduation and was signed by all the cast members. Dinner tonight was our only problem meal of the week – another example of poor planning from me! We went to the MK with the plan to do a few attractions and to have dinner. We headed to Columbia Harbor House – it had closed at 5:00, then Pecos Bills, also closed, by this time it was around 7:30 and we wound up at Casey’s Corner. The hotdogs and chili were fine, but there were long lines and we were scrambling to find seating. I think Cosmic Rays was also open – but it was nearly time for Wishes and we had no desire to fight the crowd to get across the park. I pride myself on my planning – but hadn’t even considered how many place would close early.
Thursday: Lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue – we had the ribs, barbecue chicken salads, a kids meal with roast chicken and a basket of onion rings to share. The CS locations at AK accept the TIW card, so we got the 20% discount here. A funny (well maybe not at the time!) thing happened. The day was sunny, but rather cool. We were able to nab a table in the sun and were greatly enjoying it until a bird roosting in a nearby tree dropped a BIG surprise on our table, narrowly missing our food. DD11 had to get another drink, a kind cast member in the area took care of getting that for her (no charge); we quickly moved to another table. Shortly after, another unsuspecting family sat down there, I warned them and they moved before being bombed.
Friday: After missing dinner at Columbia Harbor House on Wednesday, we decided to grab lunch here today. We had fish, fish & chicken combos and a shrimp basket. They were all good, with the shrimp being VERY good. We had a nice quiet table upstairs and enjoyed our meal. We snacked a bit in the afternoon – popcorn & frozen lemonade and were pretty hungry when dinner time rolled around. We did that on purpose as dinner tonight was The Garden Grill, this was another request from DD23. I had not planned on dining here this trip. When we ate there last October, I left with a bad feeling, we waited nearly an hour for our table (we had a PS) and I felt the food was barely average. However, I had suffered from an upset stomach most of that trip and hoped maybe that was why I didn’t enjoy my dinner then. I think it might have been a combination of things. Free dining was in effect during that trip, all the TS locations were packed and I felt the food just so, so at several meals. That coupled with my illness made for some unpleasant experiences. I was worried for no reason, dinner this trip was wonderful. Our food was fresh and tasty and our server very good. She even offered to bring out mac & cheese for DD11, which we all enjoyed! My only complaint is that I prefer the apple crisp and ice cream that was served a few years ago over the blueberry buckle with whipped cream being served now. DD23 & I were there in May 2007 and the desert was berries & pastries - it was wonderful as well; I am assuming that this changes seasonally. At any rate, we were seated right away and our food was very good.
Saturday: DH went to the BC market and picked up a muffin and a couple of breakfast sandwiches to share while we packed. They were both very tasty.
One more thing to note: while at DTD we went to Goofy’s Candy Company and I got one of those delicious chocolate chip cookies, I ate it over the next couple of days; on Friday, we picked up another one at Goofy’s in the MK and shared it while we waited for the Country Bears. YUM!!