“I can’t believe we ate THIS much food” – Food Trip Report Oct 2015 Univ/Disney inc DDP - COMPLETE
 

Welcome to my 2015 food report. Looking back I cannot believe we ate this much food!

To put you in the picture, we spent 16 nights in Florida this October with the 1st 2 nights at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal and then 14 nights at The Wilderness Lodge at Disney with the free dining plan.
My DW is the photographer and always remembers to take the photos (and there were a lot of them) before we start, so credit to her, as I just like eating it! Also with us was our 10 year old DS who likes his food and given he is classed as an adult on the DDP (which is unbelievable) he did indulge!

I was somewhat sceptical of the DDP beforehand and was also concerned about the volume of food and potential weight gain, flatulence etc….. I was pleasantly surprised however by the variety of food and also the quality. We also found that there was flexibility with the new plan, to swap desserts etc which I will detail in the report.

The best part was visiting lots of different restaurants and resorts on property which in a lot of cases were a first for us. We have previously always stayed off site and enjoyed the different restaurants on offer but I would say we have now been converted, if the free DDP is on offer!
Anyway on with the grub…..


Index
Day 1 - Manchester Airport/Thomas Cook/NYPD pizza
Day 2 – Universal Studios/Bubba Gumps
Day 3 – IOA/Wilderness Lodge/Trails End
Day 4 – MK/Be Our Guest/Raglan Road
Day 5 – AK/Tusker House/Beaches & Cream
Day 6 – Typhoon Lagoon/Roaring Fork/Biergarten
Day 7 – Hollywood Studios/Starring Rolls/Pizza Planet/Garden Grill
Day 8 – Contempo Café/Ohana
Day 9 – Chef de France/MNSSHP at MK/Cosmic Rays
Day 10 – HS/Backlot Express/Writers Stop/Sanaa
Day 11 – Crystal Palace/MK/Via Napoli
Day 12 – Earl of Sandwich/Ghirardellis/MK/Pinochio’s Village Haus
Day 13 – Epcot/Boulangerie Les Halles/Epcot Food & Wine
Day 14 – Roaring Fork/MK/Yachtsman Steakhouse Day 15 – Roaring Fork/Wolfgang Puck’s Express/Columbia Harbour House
Day 16 – Roaring Fork breakfast and lunch/Sunshine Seasons/Sci Fi Diner
Day 17 – BOG breakfast/Roaring Fork/Outback

Looking forward to reading

Can't wait to read all about it.

Oh yess, a foodie report :thumbs-up

Looking forward to reading this :), some restaurants we plan on visiting in April and some we were in this time last year so a bit of reminiscing lol... see you have Thomas Cook listed on day one... we fly with Thomas Cook so looking forward to reading and seeing how that turns out... airplane food usually a mixed bag of reviews but read quite good things about the Thomas Cook James Martin meals... if it's bad though it will remind me to grab a meal deal from boots ;)

Day 1 – Travel day Manchester Airport/Thomas Cook/NYPD pizza
 

Although we live in Scotland, flight prices dictated this years trip would be from Manchester and we spent the 1st night at the Premier Inn (North) at Runger Lane. We did our usual and took an M & S picnic to have in the room before an early night. After an early start we ate breakfast at the Bar MCR in T1 using an Eat, Dine and fly voucher (tip from DIBB) which saved us 15%. Food here was OK but settled some rumbling tummies.

I had the breakfast bap which was good. DW and DS both had toast and butter and we had 3 OJs.




We flew this year with Thomas Cook and the food as ever was pretty good going out and dreadful coming back (see later update).
I had the James Martin curry which was good and DW the sausage and mash and DS the pasta. All were good and the wee dessert tasty enough.







cream cracker and cheese plus usual bits and pieces


Near the end of the flight, a further snack, an egg roll, a cheese roll and fruit scone with some jam and Rhoddas clotted cream. Doss!



and a wee half sized Cornetto lookalike...


On arrival we raced through immigration and car hire and found ourselves at the Hard Rock Hotel by late afternoon. We had planned to visit the Longhorns on I Drive however to DS’s disgust, the hot dog was no longer on the menu so we plumped for NYPD pizza based on good reviews near the Vista Cay. Service was quick, which was great as we were all tired and we shared a couple of pizzas and some garlic knots.





The food here was tasty, plentiful and most of all good value.
Price $30 inc tip and drinks
We then had a quick shop in the nearby Publix for some essentials including some muffins for next days breakfast.



I love Publix and could have spent a fortune here if given the chance!

All looks good so far... subscribing! :thumbs-up

Day 2 – Universal Studios/Bubba Gumps
 

We were up bright and early for our early entry into Universal and scoffed our muffins in the room. By mid morning we were peckish and had a couple of coffees from Starbucks before sharing a Lard Lad doughnut which was delicious and huge…..



We later shared 2 soft scoop ice creams from Forean Fortescue’s in Diagon Alley which were well needed and well tasty!


Cost $10.63

After a nice first park day we needed food and tonights dinner was to be Bubba Gumps on Citywalk. I had joined the Landrys membership scheme following a great tip on DIBB and as my birthday is in October I was given $25 on my card. Perfect!

We reached the walk up podium at 6.45 and the restaurant was rammed with lots of people waiting outside for tables. The guy in front of me was then told there would be a 45 min to an hour wait for a table and I feared the worst. Not to worry however as production of my Landrys card meant we were escorted straight in without wait and seated in a priority seat. The food here and service here were great. We decided to miss the appetizers and went straight for mains as we wanted to try the desserts…

I went for the captains fish and chips which was lovely with a Cajun type batter on the fish, DW had the Texas Cajun sandwich which she said was amazing and couldn’t finish and DS had the kids fish and chips.





Even though we probably had no room DW and I both had desserts although neither finished them. I had the Key Lime pie which was huge and superb and DW had the hot cookie sundae which I can testify was amazing.




I bought the beer glass having finished the beer (!) and the bill came to £85 (inc the glass) with tip and drinks less the $50 on my Landrys card (half of which had been given to me as a birthday gift). This was a cracking meal with good service. Before leaving, we were tested on our knowledge of Forrest Gump by Kris, our server, who was excellent throughout, and I'm glad to say we passed the test.

Bubba Gumps looks delicious... looking forward to more :grin:

Day 3 – IOA/Wilderness Lodge/Trails End
 

After a quick breakfast in our room, another early start to Universal Studios and then onto Islands of Adventure via the Hogwarts Express. We stopped late morning for snacks and DS had popcorn from a stall in The Jurassic Park area bought from the world’s most unenthusiastic employee. Honestly the Universal staff need to cheer up a bit!



DW and I had coffees from Starbucks and I had a lemon poundcake which filled a hole and DW tried one of the recommended snacks – the Cinnabon and was pretty disappointed after waiting forever in the queue for it! She said it was so soggy inside and the pastry was raw and not a patch on the one at Gastons in MK or even the one she enjoyed from Tesco’s a few days earlier!


half eaten I'm afraid


The soggy cinnabon!

Today was our moving day to Disney and our 1st ADR at Trails End at Fort Wilderness. After checking in to The Wilderness Lodge as well as being excited we were peckish and eager to start our dining plan. We visited the Roaring Fork and collected our rapid fill mugs and after filling used our first two snack credits sharing a chocolate brownie and the amazing Magic cookie bar (the 1st of many!)




After some time in the resort we took the boat to Fort Wilderness where after a look at the beautiful horses and stables we checked in at Trails End at 6.10.


Our buzzer went off very quickly and we were sat near the buffet (perfect!). The buffet area was smaller than I had imagined and we were served our drinks in the famous mason jars.



We then tucked into the buffet with a plate of fried chicken, ribs, baked potatoes, salad, pulled pork (which was really good) and salmon amongst others.



The buffet was regularly refreshed and the food was plentiful but we found it to be a bit bland, dry and not really our cup of tea. In other words it was OK but not great.



The desserts were a bit the same to be honest although we gave them a go.



Soft serve ice cream station.


Prior to booking with Disney they had noted my birthday celebration and even though today wasn’t my birthday I was brought some poundcake and cream with a candle which was a nice touch.



The service here was good enough and food OK but not one we would do again.

The bill came to $83.04 and we used 3 TS credits and paid tip of $14.03.