Merry Stitchmas! An onsite and offsite Dining Report, December 2016

[Ycryan]

Just came across your food report and loved it. IHOP is definitely one of my favourite breakfasts, I could almost taste those pancakes. Thanks for sharing. x

[Wismgari]

OK, so I was totally planning to bale on this report... I have moved house, been crazy busy at work, and I am finishing up my PhD thesis so life is mad! But I was encouraged on another thread to finish it up so I am going to do it! There will be a bit less detail I am afraid - I have lost the receipts and I can't remember exactly what order everything happened in, but I have food pictures and overall prices from each place (I live through spreadsheets, so everything is there!). So here goes...

14th December:

I think today was the day where we toured some more of the resorts - firstly we walked round pop and I found this cool display in someone's window:

I assume we had pop tarts for breakfast as I have no record of spending anything on breakfast!

We also went to Caribbean Beach and saw their tree and had a wander round the lovely resort and chilled on the beach with our refillable mugs

When we got hungry we headed off site to Smokey Bones as I had a voucher ($5 off I think?) and the bf really wanted ribs! We absolutely loved this place and would definitely go back.

I had a combo of pulled pork and chicken (white meat), with fries, brocolli and garlic bread (all meals came with a choice of two sides and the garlic bread)

He had chicken, ribs, loaded baked potato, beans and garlic bread

We both loved it... I should have had a baked potato though as the fries were a bit boring! We also both loved the theming:

We both had water to drink I think. We paid $33.92, including tip and it was a great meal!

Afterwards, although neither of us were really hungry we went to coldstone creamery as I really wanted to go! I can't remember what flavours we got, but they were good! I remember that I preferred the mint one I had got on a previous trip though.

These cost $6.20 for the two - we had some sort of voucher (maybe BOGOF? for joining their mailing list).

That evening we went to Magic Kingdom and watched Elsa light up the castle

Later on in the evening we both got a cupcake - we both got the same one, which was a mistake as it was a bit dry and nowhere near as good as they looked

They cost $11.91 for the two.

At some point the BF had a coffee from starbucks as well - $5.64

Total spends for the day: $57.67

[Disney Bear]

So glad you started up again. The ribs looked good - think I might avoid the cupcakes.

[Wismgari]

15th December:

After (I assume) another Pop Tarts breakfast we headed off to see some more resorts again - including Conorado Springs:

On this trip we managed to get to every on site resort, apart from the All Stars. Plus, the Swan and Dolphin. It was really good fun, and a nice benefit of having a car... I would never do it on Disney transport!

After our touring round we went to get some lunch before returning the car, we had decided not to pay for a car for our last couple of days to save a few pennies. Lunch was my choice today and there was one place I knew I HAD to go back to... Olive Garden! We went and enjoyed their lunch menu today... wow it is a bargain!

I do not have pictures but I am sure I would have had a raspberry lemonade and he probably did too! We both had soup to start (no pictures sorry!). I really liked mine, I am not a soup person normally but I had the zuppa toscana and it was really tasty. We had the amazing bread... this was back to its best after a couple of disappointing trips:

We ate off the lunch menu so the portions were really small compared to normal, but still more than enough considering the soup and bread was included too! I had the fettuccine alfredo:

It is worth noting that when it came it looked a little dry to me so I asked if they could bring me some more sauce and this was no problem. This was so good!

He had some sort of meaty cannelloni:

He ate it all and said it was good.

The total of the meal, including tip was $27.93 - good value at lunch time!

In the afternoon we returned the car and then got dropped off at Hollywood Studios by a completely crazy shuttle driver who was singing most of his conversation to us! Only at disney

At Hollywood Studios the bf decided he was hungry and wanted some more food so he got a chilli cheese dog and fries from Backlot Express:

I wasn't really hungry so stole a couple of fries. He said it was OK. It cost $11.18.

We headed to Fort Wilderness that evening to go to the Chip and Dale campfire singalong! In hindsight... this may have been easier to do on an evening with a car! The campfire was fun

We bought a very large bag of overpriced marshmallows and toasting sticks ($8.29) and barely made a dent in it. We met Chip n Dale, listened to some American campfire songs which everyone but us was able to join in with, had a little dance with Chip n Dale and I accidentally stabbed my bf in the eye with the stick we used for toasting marshmallows... I mean, why are they so long?!

Once he had recovered and I had apologised about 100 times we went for a walk around to look at the amazing decorations people but on their pitches... wow!

After this we got a boat back to the Contemporary (we just missed the MK boat so though this would be quicker) and had an amazing Xmas sing along led by the boat driver! He was amazing!

When we finally arrived back at Pop, I was starving! Marshmallows were really not enough of a dinner. I popped to the food court and got a kids chicken nuggets and chips meal... This was stupidly huge and I couldn't finish it! It cost $6.92

When we got back to the room we found mousekeeping had had some fun!

Total spends for the day: $54.32

[Wismgari]

Originally Posted by Disney Bear

So glad you started up again. The ribs looked good - think I might avoid the cupcakes.

See more...

Thank you It will be nice to have it completed... I think I just got frustrated that I wouldn't be able to put in as many details... but still, better than nothing!

All of the meat at Smokey Bones was good, if BBQ is your thing I would recommend it (and cheap especially at lunch time). I have tried a couple of Disney cupcakes and never been overwhelmed... I may give them one more try next year... we are on the dining plan next time though, not sure I would pay for them again!

[mrmoo123]

Great updates... how good do the xmas decs at Fort Wilderness look?!

Does anyone know if anyone (staying offsite) can drive in and take a look?

[Wismgari]

Originally Posted by mrmoo123

Great updates... how good do the xmas decs at Fort Wilderness look?!

Does anyone know if anyone (staying offsite) can drive in and take a look?

See more...

We got the boat from MK. But we drove to lots of other resorts to just look around and just said we wanted to have a look around and noone asked if we were onsite. I imagine Fort Wilderness would be exactly the same

[mrmoo123]

Originally Posted by Wismgari

We got the boat from MK. But we drove to lots of other resorts to just look around and just said we wanted to have a look around and noone asked if we were onsite. I imagine Fort Wilderness would be exactly the same

See more...

Thanks for this... think we will check it out!

[Wismgari]

16th December (last full day - boo!)

We didn't seem to eat a lot today... we were just permanently full by this point I think, even without the dining plan!

Today must have started out with some more pop tarts/ snacks and our refillable mugs - we definitely got our moneys worth out of them on this trip!

This morning we were going somewhere different - to see the ICE show at Gaylord Palms - we only bought tickets the day before (about £23 each) and we got an uber each way. We deliberately left this until after we had returned the car as an uber each way was cheaper than parking the car! (and we also had a free journey for signing up to uber as well).

This display was AMAZING and I fully recommend anyone goes to see it, pictures do not do it justice... the whole place was made of ice, the sculptures were huge and there was even an ice slide...

It was so so cold though... you definitely need to wrap up really warm, as well as the coats they provide for you.

After this the bf grabbed some sort of coffee from starbucks ($5.51) and after a wander round the amazing hotel we got an uber to Disney Springs.

We bought some snacks in goofys candy - I got a make your own crispy treat (which I managed to successfully get home in my hand luggage to ease the Disney blues at home) - $5.85

And the bf bought some some savoury snacks - $6.38 (no picture and can't remember exactly what these were, sorry!).

We then headed back to one of our favourites for lunch - Blaze! We both had the create your own pizzas once again and drank a large amount of blood orange lemonade to go with them! We did try the other drinks, but this was a clear favourite for us both. The total was $26.94 - good value for the amount and quality of food you get

After popping back to Pop to get ready we were off to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party! I was so excited for this. And it was a good way to ease the last night blues!

There were snack stations around the park where all the snacks and drinks were free - different snacks at different stations. So the drinks available were hot chocolate, hot cider (hot apple and cinnamon juice) and egg nog. The snacks were snow cones, sugar cookies, mint chocolate chip cookies and I am sure there was one more but I cannot remember, sorry! Our favourites were the mint cookies and apple cider.

Quick highlights of the evening since this is supposed to be a food report - meeting the princesses with their princes (Flynn's smoulder...), meeting the seven dwarves (I wasn't going to que but the wait time really dropped in the first parade as we happened to walk past), the parade, the fireworks, the general party atmosphere and Disney Chrsitmas music and of course...

Seeing Stitch dressed as Santa!

This was a great evening, I was so happy! We got given cookies on the way into the party as well, which we brought home with us and sadly most didn't get eaten

And one of my favourite pictures of the holiday... taken by a photopass photographer, without us having a clue! He just tapped us on the shoulder and handed us a photopass card

Todays total spends: $44.68

[Wismgari]

17th December - going home day

I wanted some final Mickey waffles today so we headed to the Pop food court for breakfast. I had the kids Mickey waffles again - $5.32 - delicious as ever!

He had the adult pancakes platter - $9.05

After packing up and saying goodbye to our room we headed to Epcot for a few hours - usually MK would be my choice for the final morning, but I absolutely adored Epcot at Christmas! It also meant we could have a final lunch at the French bakery! I forgot to take pictures before we started eating, but I did get a great picture of our empty plates and our desserts!

I had the ham and cheese croissant once again (amazing as ever) and he had the turkey BLT (which he enjoyed once again). For dessert I had the framboise (raspberry mousse cake) - I really liked this! I think he had the coffee mouse cake, but I can't remember for sure (this is where the receipt would be useful!). We had some ice water with this. In total it came to $25.83. After lunch the bf got an iced coffee from Joffreys for his caffeine fix - $6

After saying goodbye to Epcot...

... we headed back to Pop to get the (not so) magical express to the airport.

I am never impressed by the choice of food at the airport, but I knew I should eat something as plane food is usually worse. I got a slice of pizza - $4.89. This was horrible - they microwaved it, but it was only luke warm. I wouldn't eat it again! The bf got a burrito (no picture, I was depressed by this point!) and he really liked it - $10.64

After spending $5.58 on some water we boarded our plane. There are no pictures of the food I am afraid... plane food is terrible! I got pasta bake for dinner, but it has been sat in the heat for so long it had completely shrived up... I really wish I had taken a picture of how bad this was! The pasta was in one solid lump in the middle of the dish, there was no sign of any sauce, and a layer of black over the top... delicious! I have no memory of what dessert was, but I assume it must have been better than dinner! I also can't remember what my bf ate... For breakfast we got a warm chocolate croissant and a yogurt. I ate the croissant and it was quite nice.

After landing we had the long drive back to South Wales (we really need a closer airport that flies direct!). So the bf would have drunk a load of coffee whilst I dozed in the car!

Final day's total spends: $67.31