Scream if you want to go Fatter! Deluxe DDP to Drive Thru 2018

[collybird]

Gosh not an excellent experience at Via Napoli, the clams dish looks gorgeous though and the chicken parm sounds nice. I don’t think it’s okay to bring you out your pizza minus the basil, but I suppose you have to pick your battles! We had an underwhelming first visit to Via Napoli a long time ago but are giving it a go again this year, although I am keen to try Tutto Italia so looking forward to your review.

Not a good start at Le Cellier, we have only eaten there once way back in 2013 but we had much the same experience. The salmon does sound lovely, but I’ll have to go with the fillet.

Hmm the jury is out on the DIY sushi, I am leaning towards giving you a pass as it’s just so cute!

It’s unfortunate that you are just missing Food and Wine because the bratwurst is a great use of a snack credit. They do have it as an entrée at Sommerfest though.

I can’t believe there’s only two more days to go!

[Dr.JumbaJookiba]

Hmm haven't been to Le Cellier for years and looking at your review don't think I'll rush back, pity about Via Napoli too. Like you say they should be turning out consistently good pizzas at least.

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by JenD1

Finally up to date hooray! Drive home from Cornwall was 51/2 hours and that was with no traffic (left at 4.30pm). Hugely enjoying your food report. Very entertaining and extremely informative. Lots of new places/foods to consider. Keep up the excellent work 😁

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Well done on making it home in decent time! I'll keep plugging away at it, about two thirds of the way through now

Originally Posted by Disney Planning

Well I wouldn't be disappointed to miss a German sausage, but the challenge is on! I'm rather a plan kind of girl when it comes to food, not very adventurous I'm afraid.

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Lol if there's one thing that the Deluxe Dining Plan would do its make you try things food-wise, there's so much to eat you may as well

Originally Posted by Jedi Princess

Finally I’m up to date with your fabulous report. It’s very informative and entertaining, thanks for taking the time to write it all up.👍

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Cheers, I permanently feel like I'm running behind but generally it's about a day behind. Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by mexico07

Loved it , thanks for taking the time to do it xxx

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Great, still plenty more to come if we can hold our appetites together

Originally Posted by collybird

Gosh not an excellent experience at Via Napoli, the clams dish looks gorgeous though and the chicken parm sounds nice. I don’t think it’s okay to bring you out your pizza minus the basil, but I suppose you have to pick your battles! We had an underwhelming first visit to Via Napoli a long time ago but are giving it a go again this year, although I am keen to try Tutto Italia so looking forward to your review.

Not a good start at Le Cellier, we have only eaten there once way back in 2013 but we had much the same experience. The salmon does sound lovely, but I’ll have to go with the fillet.

Hmm the jury is out on the DIY sushi, I am leaning towards giving you a pass as it’s just so cute!

It’s unfortunate that you are just missing Food and Wine because the bratwurst is a great use of a snack credit. They do have it as an entrée at Sommerfest though.

I can’t believe there’s only two more days to go!

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We've never done Food and Wine so that is on the list last time it was Flower and Garden which is a bit of a mini version of F&W as I understand it. Via Napoli was a let down, le Cellier good food but they do make you hang around for a table. Looking forward to reading your report soon and hand on for DD's DIY sushi assembly step by step to follow We have 3 Universal days after Disney, looking forward to dropping food intake a little bit!

Originally Posted by Dr.JumbaJookiba

Hmm haven't been to Le Cellier for years and looking at your review don't think I'll rush back, pity about Via Napoli too. Like you say they should be turning out consistently good pizzas at least.

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When Via Napoli opened they made this big thing about shipping in water from Italy to make the dough etc. I think standards have slipped in the drive for profitability, I could easily have sent that second pizza back (no basil, mozzarella overdone). Le Cellier I'd try again but I'd go early evening because that dark little cellar was sending us all to sleep after a long hot day in the parks.

[theCMG]

Lunch - Nine Dragons (EPCOT China)

For lunch we visited Nine Dragons, a one credit restaurant in the China pavilion. This used to have a poor reputation but has apparently improved steadily over the years. As a drinks order I attempted to tick off one of the remaining t-shirt items, a brown drink from China. The most likely candidate looked like the Ginger Zinger (ginger Liqueur, Light Rum, Ginger Ale, Lemon Twist). Pictured here next to a strawberry smoothie selected by DD (DW had a vodka and diet coke).

it's not even strawberry blonde

Sadly as you can see, despite having what should be 3 brown ingredients out of 4 this drink came out clear so I’m not claiming it for the t-shirt and I’m going to try instead to grab one of the China drinks suggested in the pre-trip by MissFortune and Goldia. I love ginger drinks by the way, this just wasn’t the dark and stormy-esque thing I thought it would be, more like a light and watery

The first course choices were Treasure Rolls for DD, Pork Bao Buns for me (repeat of the Morimoto order) and a Chicken Dumpling Consomme for DW.

The Treasure rolls went down well, two substantial rolls filled with shredded chicken, shrimp and fish and served with yum yum sauce (similar to Teppan Edo’s) and sweet chilli sauce. My pork bao buns were less fatty than the Morimoto ones but still the wrong order (yes repeating a mistake I know!) as after all the food my whole self refuses to eat the fat. At home I’d have eaten this whole but here I removed the top layer, the dressing here was more appealing than Morimoto surprisingly and they were overall ok. DW loved her chicken broth, declaring it like an Italian tortellini in brodo which is high praise from her (one of her favourites).

So the starters went well. As a main DW ordered Salt & Pepper Shrimp (Fried, Spinach Noodles with Garlic Dressing). She didn’t like this, declaring it too dry. I had a taste and it did seem to be prepared properly, salt and pepper tempura on the prawns etc. as you’d expect but it was very dry. So we had a meeting with the server and settled on getting another bowl of the chicken consomme brought out and the first dish became the second dish below. This was then declared a hit

EPCOT t-shirt Challenge - Noodles done

9D Entree Hack. Sorry dear you can’t claim to have invented chicken noodle soup

Meantime DD had gone for a roast duck salad with the hoisin dressing on the side:

Roast Duck Salad (Mixed Greens, Golden Raisins, Walnuts, Scallion, Hoisin Dressing and Tortilla pieces)

If I’d been paying more attention when she ordered this I might have talked her out of it because she’s not that keen on mixed greens, raisins, walnuts or onion-like things Predictably she picked at the duck but mainly helped me with my main course instead. I actually thought this salad looked good.

Special - Spicy Honey Sesame Chicken with egg fried rice

This was great and a huge portion so that two of us could share They have the non spicy version of this on the regular menu but actually this wasn’t spicy at all, bit like a honey flavoured sweet and sour, orange chicken etc. This was great and the rice went well with it. I’d have it again.

Finally we attempted to push through the food barrier by ordering a dessert. DW and I shared Banana Cheesecake Eggrolls (serves 2) (Drizzled with Caramel Sauce and served with your choice of Ice Cream). It came with banana ice cream that didn’t taste of banana, we didn’t like this, hot squidgy banana putting everyone off and cheesecake seemed to be used only as a marketing term. Not sure what was cheesecake about it. Avoid unless you’re a cooked banana fiend!

Bill came to $127, more reasonable than many of the World Showcase meals.

That’s it for Nine Dragons, dinner is at Narcoossee.

[theCMG]

right I've lost count a bit through the updates in the posts so here's a recap on the t-shirt challenge. We're tbc on the sushi, currently standing at 19/22 with a hot dog and the China drink also still to collect

[caitlinsmummy]

Nine dragons looks lovely ... even the salad Although that dessert does look suspicious! We may pop in here for lunch and pay OOP as those prices appear very reasonable (currently spent all TS meals so far )

Can't believe your trip is nearly over, it's scary how quick it goes, I feel like you've barely been there. The T-Shirt challenge is coming along fab, almost complete x

[theCMG]

Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy

Nine dragons looks lovely ... even the salad Although that dessert does look suspicious! We may pop in here for lunch and pay OOP as those prices appear very reasonable (currently spent all TS meals so far )

Can't believe your trip is nearly over, it's scary how quick it goes, I feel like you've barely been there. The T-Shirt challenge is coming along fab, almost complete x

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YesI think 9 Dragons out of pocket could work. We're glad the Disney portion is almost done, no-one can eat any more Can't wait for the unplanned freedom of Universal!

[theCMG]

Dinner - Narcoossee (Grand Floridian Hotel)

We were over at I say Narcooosseeee you say Narcowsay (let’s call the whole thing off) for dinner. Not for the first time, I was accused of looking scruffy by both members of my party and forced to change items of clothing.

I think I looked rather dashing

We ate here on our last trip but jetlag spoiled it a little and DD famously fell asleep in a portion of cheeseburger sliders (the dish changes every time we re-tell the story, I think it was a kids burger). This time we were better prepared and not only for the lengthy walk from the carpark - park near the conference centre and walk through the gap/tip from the security gate. Drinks-wise I chose a negroni while DW went for an apple juice (complete with Mickey straw).

Now this is what a negroni should look like!

And DD got in the way of her martini shot so not included here sorry All the drinks were great though. Bread arrived soon after, it was warm but only ok by signature standards, the butter with pink salt grains was excellent though if you made sure to get a grain of salt in a mouthful.

DW went for the most elaborate starter, an artisanal cheese plate of the following:

The cheeses were all wonderful. I’ve never heard of the Jersey one (Barely Buzzed) but will keep an eye out for it back home assuming it’s made there as opposed to with Jersey cows elsewhere (or New Jersey cows - hey, yoozlookin at my udderz?). DD and I both ordered lobster bisque which was divine. I’m trying to score it against the Boathouse and I make it a draw...perhaps the Boathouse 1% better, they were both great Narcoossee version was more generous with lobster pieces in the soup, Boathouse bisque a touch more flavoursome on the night. Both great!

Onto main courses. DD went for, wait for it...a steak
Black Angus New York Strip (Yukon Gold Rustic Mash, Seasonal Vegetables, Red Wine-Oxtail Reduction). She went for this medium-rare as usual and liked it although 12oz was a little much for her and a lot came home. We need to deal with a steak mountain before we leave the Yacht Club!

Also above you can see my order of the surf and turf (Sirloin Steak and Lobster Tail served with Yukon Gold Rustic Mash, Roasted Carrots, Green Beans, Cipollini Onions. Your choice of Butter-poached yielding a tender Lobster Tail or Steamed producing a firmer texture). They forgot to ask me how to do the lobster tail but guessed correctly with butter-poaching. This dish was simply divine, perfect lobster tail with wonderful butter and a delicious, good-sized portion of steak. My best main course of the holiday so far.

DW’s main was Pan-seared Georges Bank Day Boat Scallops (House-made Parisian Gnocchi, Shiitake Mushrooms, Virginia Ham, English Peas, Preserved Meyer Lemon Emulsion Cream).

This was also great, a reasonable albeit not huge portion but perfectly prepared and with a nice balance of accompaniments. She loved this. At this point we were watching the windows for a spectacular local lightning storm to see if the fireworks show would go ahead. We did see the light show on the lake including this terrifying gator.

In the end the fireworks did start, just a few minutes late. Narcoossee is an ok place to view them from but there are better vantage points, you’re low down with restricted window views and a fair distance away so don’t confuse it with a substitute for watching them from Main Street.

We were absolutely going for dessert here.

Shown above are my Almond-crusted Cheesecake (with Lambert Cherry Sauce). This was amazing, so crunchy on the outside - I love almonds and cherry and cheesecake so you could say I enjoyed this Had to stop myself eating after just over half sadly as too full.

Then we have the DD order of Chocolate Torte (a No Sugar Added Dessert with Chocolate Crème and Raspberries). It was a little too rich for her so I donated the cream from mine which helped a little.

Finally, DW who was on the full side asked for a single scoop of raspberry sorbet. She got a lot more than that, it was excellent, lots of fresh fruit with the sorbet.

The bill came to $266

Overall an excellent meal and while we haven’t talked about it yet, this and Monsieur Paul look to be the two main contenders for best onsite meal at the moment. But we still have Yachtsman and Flying Fish to come oh and we had a spare credit too so we’ve upgraded DW’s solo lunch from Coral Reef to Paddlefish. Sadly we’ve also trimmed Yak and Yeti from the itinerary, it was a favourite from last time.