SuperCalorieCarbarifficMyWeightIsGonnaBeAtrocious: May2019: Fatty's 21 day Floridian Food Wrap

[Bootrip2]

Got to love the RFC, one of DD favs and its great using the Landrys cards! Thanks for doing such an extensive report. X

[dixonsontour]

Glad you had a good last meal. We always enjoy rainforest cafe too.

[JenD1]

I had same as you did at RFC and it was delicious. Thanks for the food report. Looking forward to the rest of your trip report.

[gjdjud]

Originally Posted by Bootrip2

Got to love the RFC, one of DD favs and its great using the Landrys cards! Thanks for doing such an extensive report. X

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Thank you for reading

Originally Posted by dixonsontour

Glad you had a good last meal. We always enjoy rainforest cafe too.

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We always enjoy it. We think we prefer the one at Animal Kingdom

Originally Posted by JenD1

I had same as you did at RFC and it was delicious. Thanks for the food report. Looking forward to the rest of your trip report.

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Only a little bit left

[gjdjud]

BURGER KING MCO

So the final eats in Florida

After the busy hassle of security at MCO we were keen to get sorted with something to eat before getting on the plane. We knew it was doubtful we’d be eating the plane food on the way home. This proved to be correct so this it the final food report

The girls and Kelly found some seats which were few and far between while I went to sort out the food. The plan was I’d go to Burger King for the ladies and then go and get myself a hot dog from Nathan’s when I’d gotten there’s.

The queue was pretty long but I didn’t think it would take too long. Boy was I wrong! It took about 35 minutes from joining the queue to brining the food back. Totally unorganised and understaffed. 25 minutes in Kelly came to see where I was as she was worried!

When I finally got served I abandoned my plan to get Nathan’s and ordered from here as well as I couldn’t face another queue. Luckily Kelly was there to take care of the self service drinks.

All the ladies wanted the same thing and that was the Original Chicken Sandwich. All 3 were meals. The girls getting bottles of water and a Diet Coke for Kelly. All 3 really enjoyed them and found them much tastier than the ones in the UK. Not that we eat at Burger King very often.

I went for the Double Stacker King with bacon. This was pretty good.

Above McDonalds but below Five Guys in my Fast Food Burger rankings. It did a job and I was full. $45 though! A little tip if you want to eat here. There was some self service machines you could order from if paying by card. These were so much quicker. I was paying cash so couldn’t use them

So that’s it for the food. I’ll have some final bits later today with my final thoughts, future plans and Fatty Awards.

Thanks for reading

George

[GezzasGem]

Always pains me when burger king style places are soooo expensive at airports-and always seemingly badly run! When we flew back home last year from Fuerteventura there were literally fights on the queue over poor lines/slow service/Not accepting cards - nightmare! ☹

[gjdjud]

Originally Posted by GezzasGem

Always pains me when burger king style places are soooo expensive at airports-and always seemingly badly run! When we flew back home last year from Fuerteventura there were literally fights on the queue over poor lines/slow service/Not accepting cards - nightmare! ☹

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The food was ok but it was a bit of dull way to finish!

[gjdjud]

FINAL THOUGHTS

So that’s end of our 4th family holiday to Florida. As always plans were made and then completely changed when we got there!

The easiest way to do the summing up is to divide up the different areas.

DISNEY WITH FREE DINING PLAN

So we upgraded from free qsdp to the full ddp at the time of booking. As it was only six days and there was a couple of table service meals we definitely wanted to do then this was financially a no brainier for us.

After 3 previous visits using the full DDP we have our favourites and we have places we wouldn’t try again and we have some in between! I found choosing very hard this time. I think the choices were made in view of that it might be the final time the girls want to do character meals. We did Tusker House, Chef Mickey’s, Garden Grill and Ohana. So 4 of our 6 meals. In hindsight at least one two many. Evie at 12 is at that age where a character meal is too babyish for her. I can’t say we didn’t enjoy them as we did but in future it will be less of an emphasis on character meals and buffets. It’s kind of sad in a way. The other two table service meals weren’t anything amazing, Teppen Edo and Planet Hollywood, I know for future that sharing a table with others isn’t for me. That’s just me.

So my conclusion from this is that the full ddp isn’t for us anymore. This is something I thought about for this trip but my heart overruled my head. If we go again it will definitely be the QSDP only. There is such an amazing choice now on this plan. We absolutely fell in love with Port Orleans French Quarter. With Disney Springs and the good food court at French Quarter we could have some great food. Being tied down to adrs has never been too much of an issue before but I felt it this time. We also found we had less use for snacks with having a table service meal everyday. We wasted loads again. When we didn’t have the ddp we ended up getting far more snacks which of course we had to pay for. I hope free DDP continues. It’s an amazing deal for fans of onsite like us. One thing that has been confirmed by this trip. We are very much an onsite family.


DISNEY WITHOUT THE DDP

So we had quite a few visits to the Disney parks when we didn’t have the dining plan. This was a first for us. It made such a difference. The costs added up big time. It’s easy to say have a big breakfast first before going but the girls didn’t always want that so we ended up buying a lot of snacks whilst there. I also ended up cancelling three adrs I had made as I didn’t feel I could justify the cost. Adding in parking as well, 30 day fastpasses. Onsite with free ddp is a massive draw.

UNIVERSAL

First on to the quick service food. As stated I had pre bought the the dining plan for 3 days. For me this is the best thing to do for us. If I hadn’t have done I think we would have held back a little and that’s not something I wanted to do. I like the quick service options at Universal and the three q/s meals we had were good. The snacks aren’t as good as Disney but I felt they were better than 2017. The dining plan is non expiry so I have some bits already sorted for next time

I like Citywalk as well and we had a good couple of meals there and we really liked Antojitos. Voodoo Donut was a mixed bag but I really liked mine. Overall Universal is a very positive experience for us.

OFFSITE

This I found was a very mixed bag for us. We loved the place we had at Encantada. It was a lovely house but Kelly and the girls found the travelling around a little trying though and we did feel a little out the way of things. We as a family I think are more suited to onsite. I get the appeal though of offsite though for many people.

Food wise we didn’t go to a few of the places I wanted to get too. Teak due to distance and Longhorn because I’m an idiot. We did have some good food and the variety and price is great. My plan of filling up on big breakfasts so we didn’t need much in the parks didn’t really work, the girls weren’t always keen on breakfast.

Our least favourite meals of the holiday were offsite places though.

So overall food wise I give this trip a B- Some success but still not top marks. Hoping to do better next time

[gjdjud]

FATTY AWARDS

So my best and worst of things

WORST MEAL
To be honest nothing was too bad so I’m struggling a little.

(3) Millers Alehouse 192. None of us really enjoyed our mains
(2) Boma. Stupidly busy, unorganised and so overbooked we didn’t even get to eat there!
(1) Manny’s Chophouse 2 visit. Bad ribs and tasteless steak. Very disappointing

BEST BREAKFAST

(3) Village Inn. Cheap and good. Definitely recommended.
(2) Keke’s. As an overall package this place is hard to beat. Cracker Barrel would have given it a go if the girls weren’t in such bad moods!
(1) Tusker House. Our favourite always.

BEST SNACK

(5) The Big Pink Universal Studios. An old classic
(4) Beignets POFQ food court. Messy but good.
(3) Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich Dino Bites AK. Huge and lovely.
(2) Mickey Peanut Butter Cake Epcot. Much better than the peanut butter pie.
(1) Maple Glazed Cinnamon Roll POFQ food court. Awesome for breakfast.

Cinnamon

BEST QUICK SEVICE MEAL

(5) ABC Commissary: Surprisingly good.
(4) Fast Food Boulevard: wide variety of choice but get there early!
(3) Be Our Guest: So surprised by this. My French dip was great.
(2) Culvers: Not in a park but we absolutely loved the burgers here.
(1) Bread Box: We all loved this. Highly recommended.

BEST TABLE SERVICE MEAL

(5) The Cheesecake Factory: massive choice, expensive but good.
(4) Giordano’s Pizza. Go hungry. Great pizza.
(3) Antojitos. A real hit with us. A surprise.
(2) Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin. Awesome chicken. Kelly loved hers as well.
(1) Texas Roadhouse. Best overall, food,atmosphere, price. Would go again definitely.

[gjdjud]

FUTURE PLANS

w

I am VERY keen for us to go back. I’m pretty sure we will be looking at 2021. We’ve been 4 times in May but this would now need to switch to August. There are a few stumbling blocks to overcome.

(1) Evie. She says she doesn’t want to go again. I wish I could say why. She’s had a very challenging last few years and one thing we know with Evie if you push her to do something she doesn’t want to do then she will push back as hard as she can. We have to let her make the decision herself. I don’t know if she just struggles with certain things on these trips. She won’t say why she doesn’t want to go again. She says she wants to stay with her Nanny and Grandad. I couldn’t imagine going without her so it’s not something we’d consider. I watch her telling her Nanny and Grandad certain things about the holiday and her face lights up so I’m still hopeful.

(2)Flights. This could be an issue between me and Kelly. I know full well BA to Tampa will be a hell of a lot cheaper in August than Virgin to MCO. Kelly is stubborn and is adamant Virgin only. I think just it’s a way to get from A to B and cheapest is best. She may well dig her heels in over this rendering it too expensive.

(3)Going in August. Not an issue for me and probably the least likely reason to stop us. Kelly is concerned about the crowds and the weather. I personally don’t see this stopping us.

Me and Kelly have an agreement not to discuss things until the new year. We aren’t even back in our house yet. Unfortunately when we returned loads of the promised work hasn’t been done and the house isn’t liveable yet. We’re looking at a further month at the in laws. I’m finding this difficult!

So HYPOTHETICALLY, if I was inclined to say that on the day we got back from this trip that I started saving and plotting secretly, then what would I be plotting for next time?

I know if we were at Disney hotel with free qsdp(if offered) then I’d need very little spends. I’d rather invest the amount I took in spends for the trip we just had into a more expensive longer Disney stay. I don’t think there wouldn’t be a great deal of difference in the cost. I hope that makes sense!

My idea would be 21 nights again, 7 nights at 2 Universal hotels(2 nights at RPR for Express passes, 5 nights at the new value Endless Summer Resort) 14 nights at POFQ. No Seaworld parks for us next time at all. Smaller car, BA flights. But remember this is all just HYPOTHETICAL

So I think we will know soon enough into next year and I’ll have the decision I’m after!

Thanks for reading and commenting. Hopefully back in 2021!

You can find more of our exploits in the full trip report HEY MICKEY YOU'RE SO FINE,YOU'RE SO FINE YOU BLOW MY..MONEY. MAY 2019 Index I’m slowly writing it now.

The end.