The 'no witty title' foodie report - Aug 2017

[Disney1sttimers]

So we’ve been back from Florida for a month now and it feels like so long ago I thought I’d relive the memories and do a foodie/trip report. It was myself and 3 daughters aged 15 (turned 16 out there), 14 and 9. My husband isn’t too keen on Florida (too far, too hot and too much like an endurance test he says!) but is quite happy to let us go off. We weren’t planning on going until 2018 but when the BA fly drive deal came up last September I just had to take advantage of the fact that it was only £1700 for the 4 of us. Compare this to 2014 when we paid €5,000 for flights only from Dublin to Orlando with Aer Lingus for the 5 of us – ouch!

We stayed at the Premier Inn in Bath Road the night before our flight. Although we live in County Galway in Ireland, my mum and sister and her family live in London so we had a few days with them beforehand.

I had purchased the meal deal which I think is good value especially when there are children involved. The food was decent enough.

My bourbon chicken & bacon melt.

DD1's pizza (apologies for the missing chunk - I hadn't quite got into 'remember to take a photo before eating' mode!)

DD 2 & 3 both ate from the children's buffet. Just a pic of DD 3's plate.

I had the cheesecake for dessert.

DD1 had the chocolate brownie.

DD's 2&3 shared an eton mess.

We travelled from Heathrow to Miami with American Airlines and it was lovely. The staff were very attentive (possibly because the girls were wearing their Mickey ears!) and the food and IFE were far superior than the BA return flight. Immigration at Miami Airport was also a breeze.

I had joined Avis Preferred beforehand so we went straight to the garage. Very efficient and although we didn’t have a choice of vehicle we were happy with the SUV we were allocated. I must admit to feeling a little apprehensive about the toll roads. Although I have previously driven in Florida & California this was my first time driving up from Miami and I was a little uncertain about the Sun Pass/cashless tolls situation. Anyhow, I needn’t have worried as I turned the transponder on in the car and since returning home Avis have billed my credit car something like £45.00 in toll fees which I don’t think is too bad.

It was raining heavily in Miami and we got slightly lost trying to find our way to the turnpike. We were staying for the night at the Hilton in Boca Raton an hour north of Miami. A couple of reasons for this – I’m not a huge fan of Miami and I also wanted to lessen the drive to Orlando the following morning. The traffic out of Miami was quite heavy due to evening rush hour but eventually the rain stopped, the traffic eased and we reached the Hilton. Nice enough hotel and it was literally seconds from the turnpike. It also had the advantage of being 2 minutes drive from Millers Ale House which is where we headed for something to eat. In hindsight we were probably too tired to fully enjoy the meal but here’s some pics.

I had the zingers salad.

DD1 had a philly cheese steak sandwich.

DD2 had a bbq chicken flatbread.

DD3 had mac and cheese.

None of us were able to finish any of our meals - still getting used to American portions! We took a doggy bag back to the room but we more or less crashed out as soon as we got back and the following morning it all ended up in the bin as usual!

Breakfast was included in the room rate but to be honest we hardly ate a thing - way too excited thinking about what lay ahead.

[Disney1sttimers]

We checked out of the Hilton at 7am (we weren’t really excited ) and the drive up to Port Orleans Riverside was easy. Our room wasn’t ready so we just picked up our magic bands, left the luggage in the car and headed to Epcot on the bus. This was the only day we didn’t have an ADR booked. We had decided we would just snack around World Showcase. We were on a mission to get one item from each country between the 4 of us, whether it be a snack or quick service. Unfortunately we failed miserably! We only got as far as America when we had to concede due to tiredness and not being hungry. Anyway, here are some pics of what we did manage.

First stop was Mexico and some churros. They were lush.

Next was Norway and school bread. I liked it, the girls not so much.

Then it was onto China and orange chicken from the Lotus Blossom cafe. We all rather enjoyed it.

From here it was onto Germany and a salted caramel cupcake from Karamelle-Kuche. DD1 loves salted caramel but I think the orange chicken had filled us all up even though we had shared it. We couldn't quite finish the cupcake. Oh how I could now though whilst writing this!

Next up was supposed to be a slice of pizza from the pizza window at Via Napoli, however we couldn't find the place. We found Via Napoli alright, just not the pizza window and we couldn't be bothered asking anyone.

So onwards to America and the American Dream Slushie from Fife & Drum. It was gorgeous.

So that was our food challenge fail. However, later that evening after having unpacked and had a rest in our royal room in Oak Manor (which was lovely and ample space for the 4 of us ) we were peckish so went to the food court and got pizza and fish & chips. Very nice but again we hadn't appreciated the portion size so some of it ended up in the bin. (I normally hate to waste food and I promise we did better after this.)

[Disney1sttimers]

So there can only really be one park for our first full day – Magic Kingdom. In the past we have gone to Crystal Palace but with the change in the opening ceremony we decided on Be Our Guest and managed to get an 8am ADR. This was mainly so that we could get ahead of the queue for 7DMT which indeed we did and were second to get on. Anyhow back to Be Our Guest. We aren’t really big breakfast eaters so we shared the following.

Open faced bacon and egg sandwich. I know some people complain that the food in BOG can be cold but this wasn't at all, possibly due to us being one of the first people in. The girls made a beeline for the pastry tray so I had most of this to myself and really enjoyed it.

The pastry tray.

I had also pre-ordered the croissant doughnut but this was quite sweet for so early in the day. The bananas were lovely though.

After a lovely morning at Magic Kingdom we then got the boat over to Whispering Canyon where we had a 2pm ADR. We hadn't told DD3 about the 'tomato ketchup' antics and she's one of those children who wants ketchup with everything so, even though the restaurant was fairly quiet, when she asked for it over 10 bottles arrived at the table. She thought it hilarious and I have some great pictures of her.

We were given bread to start with. We weren't overly keen on this.

Myself and dd3 had the skillet. It was really nice.

DD1 had the tuna melt which she really enjoyed.

DD2 had the pulled pork sandwich which she said was lovely.

Our server was really great. Lovely interaction with the girls especially the youngest one. When it came to desserts we weren't really up to them but he insisted we try a couple especially as they were included in the price so we shared:

The mason jar cheesecake which was ok.

And some kind of warm chocolate dessert. I'm sure this would have been even nicer if we were hungry.

[Minnie Mum]

Yum food looks great. We have ppo at bog and dinner as WC so great to see reviews 😊

[Disney1sttimers]

I hope your experiences are as nice as ours. Have a fabulous holiday.

[Minnie Mum]

Originally Posted by Disney1sttimers

I hope your experiences are as nice as ours. Have a fabulous holiday.

See more...

Thank you. Looking forward to reading more 😊

[Disney1sttimers]

The following morning it was extra magic hours at Magic Kingdom so we headed there first. However it seemed really busy so we only stayed for an hour before heading to Hollywood Studios. We had saved our fastpasses for here as we had an ADR at Mama Melrose as part of the Pixar/Fantasmic package. Mama Melrose ended up being one of the favourite meals of the holiday. Our server was so lovely and chatted away to us. When she found out we were from Ireland she told us she loved the country and that her first husband was from Dublin. Apparently he was a ≈≈≈≈ though and they ended up divorcing!

Anyway, back to Mama Melrose. We had the bread service to start with.

My eldest daughter loves bread so I always have to tell her not to fill herself up. It was lovely.

I had calamari to start together with a glass of red sangria. Again it was lovely.

DD1 had an Italian flatbread as her starter.

DD2 had a margarita flatbread.

DD3 didn't fancy any of the children's starters so had the meatballs and pasta which she enjoyed.

For my main course I had the charred strip steak. Now I'm not normally a steak person but this was lovely (it was surpassed later in the holiday though by the California Grill steak - more on that to follow.)

DD1 had the chicken and penne pasta which she demolished.

DD2 had the chicken parmigiana.

We all had the trio of desserts except youngest dd who had the spaghetti and meatball cupcake.

Afterwards we went to see the Pixar orchestra which we absolutely loved. We didn't get to the Fantasmic show as we were still struggling with jet lag but we have seen it before so weren't too worried about missing it.

[Carol_G]

Enjoying your report so far. I haven't eaten in Mama Melrose for years but that's two reports I've read that the food looks good. Must try it again.

[Kat11]

Love this! 😋

Kat

[spenners]

Thanks for posting, love reading food reports