Scream if you want to go Fatter! Deluxe DDP to Drive Thru Live!

[theCMG]

Dinner - Tiffins (Animal Kingdom, Discovery Island)

6pm was our ADR for Tiffins, the signature restaurant in AK. We started with a sit down in Nomad Lounge. DW stayed there for a good hour and had a pot of tea while she sorted some admin out

DD and I had gone off to ride Bug so I didn't have a drink there but what a lovely bar. The tea took 45 minutes from sitting to drinking so the advertised service problems are valid but don't let it worry you, it’s the most relaxing place in the park by a mile with good indoor and outdoor seating and great theming. They do beer and wine flight too what's not to like.

We were seated on time for our ADR, the restaurant is unusual in that it has 3 completely separate dining rooms linked BT cast member only doorways. Tiffins features around the walls mementoes of the travelling that head imagineer Joe Rohde and team made while researching for the park. Great but hard to see as there were full tables round most of the walls.

Our drinks were a Tusker lager for me (always liked this one and rarely get a chance to drink) and J&DC for DW / AJ for DD. Flight were not available with DDP even though individual glasses of wine and cocktails at higher prices were. Possibly this is to minimise workload at the understaffed Nomad Lounge bar which provides them.

Tusker was as nice as I remember (do they make it with rice or am I making that up?) and the apple juice was apparently the nicest ever (I tried and it was good, didn't have the heart to tell DD it tasted like a non-alcoholic version of a good cider )

Starters we decided to share and order the 3 different plates: charcuterie, cheese and the signature breads.

The first two of these were great. Too much to list but included great goats cheese, honeycomb and sweet sticky crackers, shredded ham, garlicky sausage etc. Only the breads were a little disappointing, poppadoms in there but the dips were meh (the chef’s spicy one being easily the best), the dark bread was OK but the paratha was chilled and not right at all.

I ate too much if this, the girls wisely held back. Entrees were the ribeye for both of them with the sauce as usual on the side.

Wagyu Snake River Farms Ribeye Fillet, Confit of new potatoes, sherry and bacon vinaigrette, variety of cauliflowers, Amarula cream

They loved this. The beef was not as tender as the previous night's but had more flavour which fits with the cuts served. DD ate more or less the whole plate, the emulsion was especially great. DW saved a chunk of the steak for a rainy day, we asked for foil and used a ziploc sandwich bag too as didn't fancy the animals all following us on the safari afterwards!

I ordered ramen:

Ramen kamo, Duck confit, poached egg, spicy coconut broth, Alba mushrooms, cashew nuts and lime

By no means an expert on ramen but it was great, noodles with the spicy coconut soup/base, egg, duck cooked beautifully, Asian spices, peppers, cashews, different veggies there was a lot going on. Every mouthful was an adventure! I couldn't get beyond half way after the starter plates and a beer but this was a good dish.

Dessert-wise DD didn't fancy the adult choices so for the first time went to a kids menu and had a chocolate brownie.

It disappeared in seconds and then she started trying ours. I had the chocolate ganache, a long and incredibly rich slab of chocolate with banana, raspberry coulis, cream etc.

It also had these little dark crispy wafers on top that I could have eaten a whole bowl of. Good but way too rich, DD helped a bit but between us we couldn't eat half.
DW had gone for the dessert sampler, a trio which was beautifully presented.

These were small portions of the ganache plus the Amarula whipped cheesecake (blitzed/deconstructed) and a tapioca cream passion fruit thing that I thought was ok but no-one else would touch (I and wouldn't want a whole portion of it either).

The dessert menu here isn't great as far as I'm concerned, would rather see something like a sweet Indian dessert added and the chocolate option being made more accessible (none of the 3 of us could completely take it)

The bill came to $237

Good meal but not in anyone's top 3 even at this stage of the holiday and a couple of one credit places (Chefs, Spice Road) are rated higher among the Disney places. Fantastic AK afternoon though and definitely have a sit down in Nomad Lounge.

[Unexpectedpenny]

I really need to try a napoleon next year, it’s been on my to eat list for ages!

I’m a big Star Wars fan so loving the memes

The night blossom sure is a pretty looking drink.

That ramen from Tiffins sounds delicious 😍

[Rescuer]

What no lobster popcorn soup at Tiffins. Now they have removed that Tiffins is scrubbed from my list and will never be mentioned again in this house.

[Mexy02]

Wow caught up again. Cali brunch just doesnt appeal at all, and you’ve helped to put it to bed once and for all. I’d still like to try dinner though .
Some expensive meals there , some of the dishes looked great but nothing really stands out of the menus for us for the cost as we pay oop. Out if interest would you eat here normally or think the food is worth the price if not on ddp?
Will you be adding it all up to see if you got full value ? How many snacks credits have you left over so far. Sorry for all the questions x

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by Unexpectedpenny

I really need to try a napoleon next year, it’s been on my to eat list for ages!

I’m a big Star Wars fan so loving the memes

The night blossom sure is a pretty looking drink.

That ramen from Tiffins sounds delicious 😍

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The Night Blossom was great, I wasn't expecting to like it but really nice and just enough if you share. Tiffins ramen was lovely, never knew what you'd get next and would consider having that again if we were to return.

Originally Posted by Rescuer

What no lobster popcorn soup at Tiffins. Now they have removed that Tiffins is scrubbed from my list and will never be mentioned again in this house.

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Tell me about it, that was the most nailed on of all choices I really want to try lobster popcorn Wonder where else does it! Have you managed to kill off the extra holiday appetite yet? I always hate that part about coming back!

Originally Posted by Mexy02

Wow caught up again. Cali brunch just doesnt appeal at all, and you’ve helped to put it to bed once and for all. I’d still like to try dinner though .
Some expensive meals there , some of the dishes looked great but nothing really stands out of the menus for us for the cost as we pay oop. Out if interest would you eat here normally or think the food is worth the price if not on ddp?
Will you be adding it all up to see if you got full value ? How many snacks credits have you left over so far. Sorry for all the questions x

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There were some fabulous dishes at Monsieur Paul especially and we've had some very good beef. We would only normally eat at these sort of places occasionally and TBH not at those prices no (but we do spend way too much eating out as you can probably guess ). Without DDP I'd be scouring reviews for the best off property places and expecting to pay half the Disney amount for something at least as good while mixing it up with stuff from all price ranges like on our offsite days.

To be fair to the Disney restaurants it's exactly the same equation as the hotels. Yacht Club is a great Disney hotel but by any other measure it's a decent 4 star at a price that would get you something jaw dropping almost anywhere else in the world!

Yes will add it all up at the end, I think we already know that it's not worth the money but will run the numbers to see how much more we've spent than we needed to. 42 snacks left we were on track with using them till today but these are not a worry because we can burn them very quickly. DD is also nagging me to keep loads back so that she can take a packaged snack home from each World Showcase country and then she'll probably taste them all with her friends (maybe even vlog it )

Thanks all for following Will post this morning (Day...7 I think it is) later on

[Rescuer]

Oh CMG it’s so hard to stop eating. It’s supposed to be my first good day and I’m sitting here starving! No disrespect but I need to stop reading your food report when I’m trying not to eat😂
I’ve never seen that soup elsewhere. Such a shame as it was definitely one of the best things on the menu.

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by Rescuer

Oh CMG it’s so hard to stop eating. It’s supposed to be my first good day and I’m sitting here starving! No disrespect but I need to stop reading your food report when I’m trying not to eat😂
I’ve never seen that soup elsewhere. Such a shame as it was definitely one of the best things on the menu.

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Stay strong! I was thinking I'd try to beat it with a 48 hour starvation or no carbs but then I realised I'm out visiting a brewery with my friends 24 hours after returning

Lobster popcorn sometimes two words were just meant to be together how can you take something like that off the menu

[theCMG]

- Trail’s End Breakfast
- Horse Riding
- Minigolf

Early start for the girls to horse ride at Fort Wilderness while I soloed the Trails End breakfast buffet. The logistics of buses etc. here are confusing. I thought they needed a bus from parking to the lakeside area with Pioneer Hall etc. but they didn't so only I got the 5 minute bus ride.

Wrote some dining report at the tables outside then headed to check in desk. I ended up at a table for 4 in between two families. Chose a coffee as a first drink and went to get some buffet.

The sweets diverted me from my planned granola option. I was already regretting this and feeling socially impaired when the server came over and said 'starting with the sweet stuff are we' at the top of her voice leaving me a little embarrassed. Now I'm fine with eating alone but a good server will put you at ease not embarrass in that situation. I nodded and she then left without asking if I wanted anything else (I was about to ask what the juice was again). The croissant and danish here were fine, exactly as you’d expect, the warm sticky pecan bun was good with the the hot pecan sauce added too.

Picked up a second plate from the hot section (they also had cereal, granola and cold-cuts areas plus breads).

Went for a modest plate of the Country Benedict, Tater Tots, Bacon, Sausage, Braised Beef Hash and a Biscuit. The server didn’t bother to offer ketchup to the table of one so it’s lucky I didn’t want any The highlight here was the country benedict which seemed to be a poached egg on pulled pork with a bit of bbq sauce flavour, very tasty and enjoyed this a lot more than the infamous Cali Grill lobster benedict! Tater tots are always welcome and the braised beef has was decent too - cubes of beef and potatoes. This all disappeared no problem and the second my plate was clear the server appeared with the bill. No rush she said as she rushed off again to see to her more lucrative clients

$23.43. Blurred to protect the innocent

By this point I’d had enough of her insincere and difficult style and waited for her to come back so that I could give her a $1 or $2 tip. There was no pen provided to write a tip so presumably it has to be 18 or 20%. I asked for a pen and explained while I wrote $2 down (8.5% tip) that I might have wanted some juice or ketchup. She offered me juice to go. I declined and stalked off huffily to the bus stop. Some people just aren’t cut out for front of house roles. She would be better deployed with a shovel in the stables

Meantime the girls were having a more magical experience on their horse ride around the woods and trails of Fort Wilderness. They both enjoyed this although I do now fear requests for further sessions when we get home. I’ve always maintained a firm no horse riding line i.e. we can’t afford a horse so no point borrowing one - ride your bike it’s better exercise (and free ).

Anyway after that we dropped DW off for some shopping. DD and I played a round of mini golf at Winter Summerland (Summer course). Gave her 1.5 shots a hole which was way too much because she trounced me with that start. We then did or WalMart shop of junk to take home.

Shopping mini hauls as follows, excluding boring stuff like drinks:

DD Haul - she claims most of this is requests from friends

Haul for me and DW (mostly me TBF), note the apples - clearly it’s health kick time

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Lunch is at Homecomin’

[DisneyPCLI]

Ahh shame about server at Trails End - the food looked Ok (what you had of it anyway) I’m sure you would have had more if server was more pleasant!
Looking forward to Homecomin, got that booked in October

As for Hershey bars 🤮 Lol

[mexico07]

Wow , all amazing loving it all , shame about Cali grill brunch , we have it booked so hopefully we will have a better experience than you did ! And your not helping me with my dilemma on whether to upgrade to dxddp 😂😂😂 looking forward to the rest , have a great time xxx