Lovemyboys CS Dining Report - with 1 TS too

So our annual trip this year was quite different. The trip that I planned months for (family suite at AS Music, free ddp, perfect ADRs, etc) got cancelled thanks to van problems and money issues :(

Luckily my sister and her family are DVC and had reservations at the Treehouse Villas. Even luckier, they are very nice people and for some reason enjoy having my kids and I vacation with them. :rotfl:

So last week, the boys and I flew down for a 5 night stay with them, leaving DH and baby at home. They hate the heat, and flying, and my DH needed a break after having the kids home with him all summer.

So we did not have free dining, we paid for the QSDP instead. It was very good, much less hassle and stress, especially in the park.

Here is a rundown of where we ate:

WPE - lunch, dinner, and breakfast

Earl of Sandwich

Cooke's of Dublin

Main Street Bakery

Pecos Bills

Columbia Harbor House

Casey's

Pepper Market

Artist's Palette

Sassaguoula @ PO FQ

And lots of snacks all over

My sisters and I also had a nice dinner at Narcoosee's, which is a favorite of ours.

I will write about each place and some general notes on the QSDP. I don't have pics, sorry. I would also love to answer any questions.

We flew in on Sunday night on a direct flight from Airtran. Those $25 coupons were great! The boys were happy to get free pretzels and vitamin water. I was happy because they had V8. We had a smooth flight and got in around 8:30.

My BIL graciously picked us up and we headed over to DTD to grab dinner. WPE was the place of choice and we got:

Kids cheese pizza, drink, brownie
Chicken tenders, herbed fries, drinks, chocolate chip cookies
Roast beef and cheddar on focaccia, drink, creme brulee

Everything was hot and fresh, all good. The older boys just love the chicken tenders there, they are good quality. The pizza is on a really thin crust, sort of like a pita. My little guy ate it all though. The sandwich was good and came with the homemade chips, not a lot of them though. My DS9 and I split it and it was enough to satisfy us both. We shared the creme brulee which was good, a little more burnt on top then I would have liked though.

Overall, great meal and wonderful use of 4 CS credits. Great first dinner to kick off our trip.

Up next. lots of MK dining......until we got rained out. :cry:

I love disney dining reviews. Thanks

MK day, no DH with us so I thought we would make rope drop with no problems. Unfortunately, you can't use gift cards for tickets at the kiosks so I had to wait in line for tickets. There were only 2 other parties ahead of me so no big deal, right? WRONG! Cripes it is so slow for people to choose their tickets, ask questions, get the birthday tickets, etc.:confused:

So we got in the park at 9:05 am and missed the show. Oh well, maybe next year. :rolleyes:

Breakfast was at MS bakery, no line at all! I should say that the crowds were excellent! The longest waits were 20 minutes for splash mountain at midday and 45 minutes for Peter Pan at one point. Truly great to go on so many rides with so little wait time, I was very pleased with that.

So breakfast was CS - one sandwich, one baked good, one drink. They also said you could do 2 bakery items and 2 drinks.

We got 3 egg/ham/cheese croissant sandwiches, two cinnamon rolls, one chocolate croissant, and 3 nesquiks for 3 CS credits. It was great, as usual! All items were fresh and delicious and more than enough for the 6 of us (we had my sister with us for MK too) :)

Main Street Bakery breakfast gets high marks from us!

Yum, now I want a chocolate croissant :sunshine2:

Oh you have some different ones on your list (different in that we haven't tried them yet). I can't wait to read your reviews.

I felt that the Main St Bakery was one of the best use of a CS credit. We had 6 peple and we could use 4 credits and it was always enough food and drink. Plus it is incredible. I LOVE their cinnamon rolls! TO DIE FOR

Thanks for reading and commenting ladies! :sunshine:

Moving through MK we had plenty of snacks, including root beer floats, churros, churros with chocolate sauce, pretzels (bought the $1 cheese cup OOP, it was big!), a sweet cream cheese pretzel (yum!), dole whip floats (always my favorite), fudge, and several others. :angel:

Lunch time we split ways, since DS6 HAS to have Casey's mini corndogs for lunch and the rest of us weren't interested. So DS13 took DS6 to Casey's while we headed of to CHH.

Casey's did not disappoint. Both boys got the corndogs, drinks, fries, and the brownie. The brownies were very fudgey and good. Everything was fresh and delicious and there was even seating inside - all great! :)

Over at CHH the orders we ordered: fried shrimp platter, fries, chocolate cake
Anchors Away tuna sandwich, chips, apple crisp
Chicken nuggets, fries, apple crisp

The fried shrimp platter was fine, my DS5 and I shared it and it was good. Not really remarkable though, I don't think I would order it again. The cake was fine too, my son liked the icing.

DS9's chicken nuggets were very much enjoyed by him and by DS13 who came over to bat clean-up after his lunch at Casey's. The "apple crisp" is more of what we get from Market Day as an apple blossom. It was good, tasted like apple pie.

My sister enjoyed the Anchor's Away a lot, nice change from fried food. It was freshly made and served with a bag of kettle chips.

We sat upstairs.....AHHH...so beautiful and so huge!!! It's really cute up there with all of the Americana nautical theming.

Overall CHH and Casey's remain our favorite CS options in MK :)

Loving this!! Our first trip is in less than 2 weeks. I've got all our Table Service planned and was realizing I have no idea where I want to eat for CS.

Thanks for great details!

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Originally Posted by Arky

Loving this!! Our first trip is in less than 2 weeks. I've got all our Table Service planned and was realizing I have no idea where I want to eat for CS.

Thanks for great details!

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First trip ever?? How fun!! :clap: What are your TS restaurants? You should have low crowds and hopefully a little less heat when you go down.

I thought I would be sorely missing all of our TS ADRs that I had made, but at the park I didn't miss them at all. We got SO much done! Plus it's nice not to have to pay all of those tips! That was a money saver!

I don't think I will be able to keep myself from doing regular ddp next year though, at the end of the day we did miss the TS experiences. My DS6 was really sad about not doing 'Ohana for breakfast.

Thanks for reading and commenting! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arky

Loving this!! Our first trip is in less than 2 weeks. I've got all our Table Service planned and was realizing I have no idea where I want to eat for CS.

Thanks for great details!

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Oh that is so cool. I have to say that one of our favorite CS places is the German pavilion. You can get the brat on a bun with a pretzel and dessert.

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Originally Posted by m 'n c

Oh that is so cool. I have to say that one of our favorite CS places is the German pavilion. You can get the brat on a bun with a pretzel and dessert.

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My DH would love that!!! Thanks for the suggestion!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LuvMyBoys

First trip ever?? How fun!! :clap: What are your TS restaurants? You should have low crowds and hopefully a little less heat when you go down.

)

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There will be 13 of us at WDW together, 8 adults and 5 kids. Here's our plan:
Princess Breakfast
Boma for dinner
Teppan Edo for dinner
Chef Mickey's for Bfast
Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner
Crystal Palace for dinner

It's hard to plan to please everyone. My kids each picked a place they wanted to try and then I picked the rest. I wanted fun places the kids would love. I am so excited and want to leave now!

We want to ride as many rides as we can...so we rarely do a table service meal (just crystal palace for the birthday girl)... so this is very helpful for me...
In MK we used to go to the pirate and the parrot near the pirates ride... but that was closed last year when we went...so I really need the ideas!!!

CHH sounds good... what is CHH???

Columbia Harbor House. Near Haunted Mansion, I think.

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Originally Posted by schaery

Columbia Harbor House. Near Haunted Mansion, I think.

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Yeah, it is in Liberty Square which is near Haunted Mansion and Hall of Presidents (which I still can't convince my kids to go in!). :)

There is lots of seating upstairs and it is quaint. There is also TONS of extra seating at Pecos Bills if you follow all of the little "additional seating" signs. I couldn't believe how far back that restaurant goes! Which was a good thing since it was are only refuge in the mini-hurricane that hit on our MK night!:rotfl:

We were thinking about eating dinner around 6pm, just need to gather up my older boys from Splash Mountain and meet up with my sister who had the two little ones over at Pooh's.

Then the rain started.....man it poured! And the wind! It was ridiculous! We had ponchos but we still got completely drenched as we tried to walk down the flooded streets of Frontierland. We got a spot under the porch of Pecos Bills, which had about 100 people in it trying to wait out the storm.

Let me just tell you, there was no waiting out this one! Unless you are good at long waits, which we are not :rotfl: So my poor sister finally brought the two little ones over after about 30 minutes of hiding out in Fantasy Land. The walk over was rough for them, my DS5 was crying when he finally got there. He was soaking wet, tired, and hungry.

Luckily, DS13 had been scouting tables and discovered that Pecos Bills keeps going and going, and then some. There are several seating areas in the back and he found us a table. :angel:

The Pecos Bills menu is okay. I'm not one for their burgers, I don't regularly eat hamburger anyway so it's not a surprise that I don't like them. The boys do though so I got one for DS9 and my sister. They loaded them up on the toppings bar and had yogurts for dessert. Yes, cups of strawberry yogurt. :)

My DS13 and I (split with DS5) decided to get the special. Note, if you want the advertised special, you have to go to a cashier, you cannot order it on the kiosk machine. Learned something new, didn't you? :rotfl:

The special was fried chicken breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, with corn on the cob. This was actually quite good!! My boys loved it, the chicken was moist and had good coating, it was a boneless breast, potatoes were very tasty and had white gravy (I think Southerners call it cream gravy?) and there was a mini corn on the cob which was okay.

We also got a taco salad for DS6, I didn't care for this. He doesn't eat salsa so I just put shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese in it - it was pretty bland and I didn't like the taste of the meat. When they give it to you it is literally the fried taco shell with taco meat in it. Again I don't like hamburger so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

We had the carrot cake for dessert, which is my favorite cake so I was happy that it was good.

Pecos Bill is not my first choice for CS dinner in MK, but this night it really served its purpose, and I was so happy to discover the extra seating. I would return for dinner if they had the special though - that was really good and a great "homestyle", not typical option for dinner. Pair that with the carrot cake and I am a happy camper. :)

Hi Carrie...

Thanks for the reviews.

We just returned and our CS experiences were pretty positive, on the whole. I had considered the QS plan, but then the free dining offer came around. I love the idea of the QS plan, but I'm not sure I would really be happy with it for a long trip.

I just wanted to let you know that we have only eaten at Casey's once, and that was two years ago. On that occasion I got the taco salad. I do eat hamburger occasionally, but not on a very regular basis. I didnt like the taco salad there either...so it is not just you. I am sure other like it, but I didn't care for it.

Our best counter service from our trip was WPE in DTD, by far!

Looking forward to reading more.

I think Peco's Bills taco salad is just a little too much on the junk food side for me. I quit eating carbs and refined sugar for a month before our Disney trip and I noticed that things that are deep fried or really fatty tasted strange/off to me when I ate them at WDW. Which is a good thing :)

The thing that makes the QS plan work for me is WPE!! If that wasn't an option, there would be no way in heck I would ever consider doing it again! ;)

we love pecos bill's-i usually get the bbq sub and just eat the meat and side of beans with grapes from DD's plate. DH usually eats my fries AND his (he's skinny as a rail, it makes me sick, lol). i've wanted to try columbia harbor house, but the others aren't big on seafood. thanks for the review!

So this trip we were supposed to hit Epcot too, but that didn't end up working out b/c of some financial issues :( The boys and I were a little bummed, but we will do it next year. And it was nice just to have the vacation!

We spent the rest of the trip enjoying the many pools of SSR and the quiet pool for the Treehouses. The kids got a big kick out of the slide at the main pool and the spray park at the other pool. We literally spent over 10 hours at the pools over 3 days! Yes, they like to swim :rotfl:

My DS13 also did Disney Quest for 6 hours, he really liked it. The younger boys were content with the arcade at SSR.

The morning after MK, we had breakfast at my favorite - Wolfgang Puck Express :)

This is by far the best thing about CS meals, in my view. I love a nice breakfast, not big on buffets. I really love a good omelet and potatoes, and WPE does wonderful in this regard.

I had the Denver, Denver which comes with fried potatoes, split it with DS9. Awesome and fresh, delicious as usual

DS13 had the breakfast pizza, also very delicious. This is a little different (it has ranch dressing on it), but it is very good, big enough for most people to share, but not DS13. :rolleyes:

My two little guys shared the chocolate chip waffles, which they loved.

So for 3 CS breakfasts were were able to feed 5 of us (you also get 2 drinks for each CS here, we would get coffee for me, tea for DS13, and then 2 bottled juices).

I cannot stress how great WPE is for CS breakfast, at our second breakfast there later in the week, they also allowed us to use 1 SC for a bagel and cream cheese, or fruit cup, or yogurt parfait.

Seriously, if you haven't gone there for breakfast yet - give it a try.....but keep it quiet, okay? We don't need another Goofy's Candy Company situation on our hands!! ;)

As usual life gets in the way of me finishing my report :angel:

Here is a quick run down of the rest:

Artist's Palette at SSR: we got the chicken cordon bleu paninis which came with homemade chips - YUM!! These were made fresh, hot and delicious. We got two orders and that was enough for 4 people. We were able to get cupcakes for dessert but ymmv on that. It seems to depend on who is working as to what is included on the ddp as a dessert.

Cookes of Dublin @ DTD: tiny inside, dirty tables b/c they are pretty short staffed and people apparently don't get the concept of clearing their trash off the table when they leave :confused: It took FOREVER for us to order b/c it was full of foreign people trying to understand what they could get on the ddp. Seriously, if you are from England and Australia - why are you eating the same food you get at home? :confused:

The wait for the food was ridiculous, over 20 minutes, but that was mostly due to a huge order that had been placed. We got the fish and chips, scallops, and beef and lamb pie. All were fried delicious!! LOL Seriously, if you liked fried and heavy food - it's good, very filling.

Desserts were hit or miss: fruit cup was a nice option after all of the fried foods, the doh-bar was a decadent treat (fried, delicious, and heavy), but the doughnuts were terrible. We pitched them b/c they tasted like fish batter with powdered sugar :eek:

My kids loved the beef/lamb pie (they are big shephard's pie fans) and it was nice to have something different so we will go back there again.

Our second to last night we headed over to PO FQ to have dinner at the Sassagoula food court. The kids wanted to try beignets, they LOVED them! I actually let them eat those first since they are best hot out of the fryer! :) They still talk about that :angel:

We ordered the 16 inch meat deluxe pizza for 2 cs credits. They let me get 1/2 of it plain cheese - which was just plain nice of them!! ;) My two little sons only eat plain cheese pizza so this made it much easier to split the pizza without having to order something extra for them. The pizza was good and it came in a super cute Disney box which the boys just loved! It's the little things ;)

It was more than enough to feed all of us and we ended up taking home 2 pieces for later. The boys also used some SC here on double scoop ice cream cones and just one more order of beignets :)

Pepper Market has been a good option for a nice CS dinner with a good variety of foods to satisfy all of us. It was still a good option this year, though they have down graded a lot of the food (quality wise) and took away quite a few choices.

We got the steak which was really a pretty cheap cut, like flank or skirt. It had grilled veggies which looked good, but were very oily and not really delicious. We also got salmon, I think. I remember that the tuna wasn't available and that my fish was good but the rice with it was sweet - which I hate. We were able to get some baked goods like brownies and cake for dessert - so that was better than last year. Overall we would go again, just because it is so nice to have more options than chicken nuggets, burgers, or hotdogs.

Narcoosee's was our 1 ts, just my two sisters and I went while my super nice BIL took all of the kids to BnC to get the kitchen sink :eek:

Unfortunately, there was another HUGE downpour/mini hurricane and Narcoossee's is quite a hike from the main GF building. The front desk called us a golf cart and we were driven over. We still got drenched b/c of the rain and wind, but much less so than if we had tried to walk :)

My little sister got the whole lobster - it was good but still not super sweet, she realized that she just likes crab better

My other sister got the crab encrusted halibut but subbed in the loaded potatoes - excellent meal, really delicious. We all wished we would have ordered that.

I wanted to get something lighter so I got the vegetarian option. It was four small dishes - the standouts being the cauliflower gratin and the baby zuchinni with hollandaise. It was light and very good.

For dessert we were disappointed to learn that only GF guest can get the macaroon cookies. So we split the almond crusted cheesecake and the chocolate cake with blood orange sauce. The cheesecake was excellent as usual but the chocolate cake was nothing special.

Overall it was a very good meal, the ambience was very nice and relaxed - a great girl's meal out. :)

That wraps it up, thanks for reading!