collybird's Unfinished Business [a Fall 2019 Report] - COMPLETE

[collybird]

With less than two weeks to go, I had imagined starting my Pre-Trip Report in a flurry of excitement, instead I am caught up in the stress of the Thomas Cook situation. Fingers crossed it can be saved, an awful time for customers and staff.

Let's talk food in a bid to distract ourselves.

***

Contents

Day -1 Frankie & Benny's - Glasgow Airport
Day 0 Sonoma - Gatwick
Day 1 Kona Cafe
Day 1 Geyser Point
Day 1 - Boma
Day 2 - Yak & Yeti
Day 2 Maya Grill
Day 3 Cinderella's Royal Table
Day 3 - Be Our Guest
Day 3 - Yachtsman Steakhouse
Day 4 - Bon Voyage Breakfast - Trattoria al Forno
Day 4 - Hollywood Brown Derby
Day 5 - El Mercado de Coronado, Sunshine Seasons and Food & Wine Festival
Day 5 - Le Cellier
Day 6 - Crystal Palace and Rix Sport Bar & Grill
Day 6 - Narcoossee's
Day 7 - STK Orlando and El Mercado de Coronado
Day 8 Raglan Road, Catalina Eddie and Morimoto Asia
Day 9 Akershus and Food & Wine
Day 9 - Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill
Day 10 Via Napoli and Food & Wine
Day 10 - Boatwright's
Day 11 - 1900 Park Fare
Day 12 - Liberty Tree Tavern
Day 12 - Citricos
Day 13 Skipper Canteen
Day 13 - California Grill
Day 14 - Chefs de France and Food & Wine Festival
Day 14 - Monsieur Paul
Day 15 - Cheesecake Factory
Day 16 - Sonama - Gatwick Airport

Introduction

Hands up who believed I would really stick with QSDP?! Just me?! Oh well.

If you are here for the promised QSDP mixed with offsite dining report then I am very sorry to say you will be disappointed, as SURPRISE once again, we upgraded to the DELUXE DINING PLAN!

It was a long road with many twists and turns which I’ll spare you all from, there were SO many changes that I even bored myself.

This year we have reverted to the OG cast of just Nik and I. This will be our 8th trip to Florida, we’re spending 14 nights in the World with no car hire meaning no naughty offsite culinary adventures. We unexpectedly were able to add an extra two days onto the start of our trip very close to travel and will be spending one night at All-Star Sports and one night at All-Star Movies before we kick off our trip proper at Coronado Springs, our home for the remaining 12 nights.

Normally, I’m not one for a Pre-Trip report but I am hoping it will help with accountability and I won’t flake out on ADRs because then I’d be letting the Dibb down haha.

I am super excited to be doing the Deluxe Dining Plan once more, trying some new restaurants and laying to rest the ghosts of last year’s trip.


The Rules

Yes, there are rules.

1. We have to eat at EVERY cancelled ADR from last year (hence ‘Unfinished Businesss’), you may be thinking that surely that can’t be that many as we still made it to 20 ADRs, but you would be wrong. We missed 12!

2. Eat some new places, somehow last year we didn’t make it to any new restaurants.

3. Eat at the resort, we stayed at Coronado Springs in 2017 and never made it to the food court or resort restaurant. Maya Grill is probably our most cancelled ADR of all time. The opening of Gran Destino Tower also means that we have Toledo right on our doorstep. Not to mention Rix Sports Bar & Grill whose menu we have been hankering over since they opened. AND there’s the new Three Bridges Bar & Grill lounge.

4. No snack credits on soft drinks or water. This is a controversial one as I don’t usually mind this but I feel we’ve been falling short in the snack department in previous years.

[collybird]

The ADRs

It would be a fair to say that last years’ experience left us feeling a little jaded by Disney Table Service dining, so I was keen to freshen things up this year and visit lots of new places alongside places we haven’t visited for a few years. Nik asked if that meant we were going back to The Diamond Horseshoe. Absolutely not.

It was tough to leave out some trusted old friends – Sci-Fi, Mama Melrose, Narcoossee’s and Citricos had to bite the dust to make way for some potential new favourites. Near misses were Boatwright’s Dining Hall, Frontera Cocina, Nine Dragons, STK Orlando, The Edison and Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill. I really wanted to spend a lot more time dining at Disney Springs as it’s full of untapped potential for us but with a shorter trip this year I couldn’t justify sacrificing so much park time to make it happen. There’s also a distinct lack of resort dining, you’d think this would be due to not having a car but it’s actually because I’ve focussed on maximising the park time we have.

Here’s our ADR list, the ones marked with an asterisk are our ‘Unfinished Business’ cancelled ADRs from last year.

- 1900 Park Fare
- 50’s Prime Time Café
- Akershus*
- Boma – Flavors of Africa *
- Calfornia Grill
- Chef de France *
- Cinderella’s Royal Table
- Crystal Palace*
- The Garden Grill
- The Hollywood Brown Derby
- House of Blues
- Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen – NEW *
- Kona Cafe
- La Hacienda de San Angel - NEW
- Le Cellier Steakhouse *
- Liberty Tree Tavern *
- Maya Grill - NEW
- Monsieur Paul – NEW
- The Plaza Restaurant
- Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant *
- Restaurant Marrakesh – NEW
- Rix Sports Bar & Grill – NEW
- Tiffins
- Tony’s Town Square
- Trattoria al Forno*
- Tusker House
- Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria *
- Yachtsman Steakhouse
- Yak & Yeti Restaurant *

[Guest]

Looking forward to it, many of those restaurants would be in my choices.

When I get home, I am going to compare whee we ate with the restaurants on my planning spreadsheet. I am not sure any are exactly where I planned them. One I thought would not budge is Storybook Dining, however we are checking out of Wilderness Lodge today (unplanned) and so have decided to not bother with it, I usually like to eat where I am staying.

[loves2plan]

Wow, that's a lot of food! If you're eating all of that, will you have any room left for snacks? You'd have to roll me home, but looking forward to seeing how you get on

[collybird]

Originally Posted by Claudette

Looking forward to it, many of those restaurants would be in my choices.

When I get home, I am going to compare whee we ate with the restaurants on my planning spreadsheet. I am not sure any are exactly where I planned them. One I thought would not budge is Storybook Dining, however we are checking out of Wilderness Lodge today (unplanned) and so have decided to not bother with it, I usually like to eat where I am staying.

See more...

Do you think you've missed a lot places you want to eat? It's been nice to see how impromptu things have been for you OOP.

I'd have been interested on your take on Storybook Dining, as it happens, it's the only ADR I have never seen pop up as available when I've been tinkering.

Originally Posted by loves2plan

Wow, that's a lot of food! If you're eating all of that, will you have any room left for snacks? You'd have to roll me home, but looking forward to seeing how you get on

See more...

Wait until you see the snack list

[gjdjud]

Really looking forward to reading I’m a great fan of saying qsdp but knowing full well it would be an upgrade! Watch what I say when we go again in 2021

I hope no issues with Thomas Cook

[Guest]

Originally Posted by collybird

Do you think you've missed a lot places you want to eat? It's been nice to see how impromptu things have been for you OOP.

I'd have been interested on your take on Storybook Dining, as it happens, it's the only ADR I have never seen pop up as available when I've been tinkering.

See more...

Well I have moved some ADRs to different days. I have so far cancelled Boma, 1900 Park Fare, CG, Shulahs, Storybook Dining and Sci Fi Dine in. The later I would like to rebook, I only cancelled as the original time doesn’t suit any more - I have replanned some days due to it being so hot between about 1pm to 5pm.

I am a bit disappointed about Storybook Dining, but we are leaving WL primarily because the transport has been so bad, so I am not coming back! I never saw any availability for it much after my 180 days, however whilst I have been here I have seen it come up for a last minute booking a few times.

[sha9]

Not long now! Fingers crossed everything works out ok for you and you can tackle that list!

[Sandraoh40]

We have booked for the first time on a dining plan dxddp for next year. 9 nights at YC.
I like reading through your reports, and Claudette’s , to see what we like the look of. I’m going to be honest, we will more than likely do either a breakfast or lunch then a signature or a show. We just couldn’t manage 3 meals a day. Defo not being judgmental here as tbh I wish we could as would be able to try more of the restaurants but we want the dxddp so we can try more of the signatures. It’s defo going to be more of a food trip.
Looking forward to this

[Bellesdream]

Ahhhhh I am sooo looking forward to this! Currently in Disney depression and need to write up my trip report. I'm back to reading the food trip reports... Whilst we are not going back for a while 😱😱😭😭😭😭😭