2 weeks of offsite/onsite eats

[tnkrbell]

So we're just back from two weeks in Orlando. We did a combination of on site and off site dining. Traveling on this trip was myself Michelle (26) and my DFi Colin. At the start of our second week we were joined by my parents and youngest sister. We (myself and DFi) decided as well to set ourselves a challenge that we wouldn't eat any burgers for the whole two weeks we were there. Although it was tempting at times to just give up we stuck it out and not one burger passed our lips during the two weeks
Before we left I had purchased the Eat Play Card from Attraction Tickets Direct. This was great and we certainly got our monies worth from it. During our two weeks we had some excellent meals but unfortunately poor service
WE stayed in the Extended Stay Deluxe on Universal Boulevard and my parents stayed in the Homewood Suites on Universal Boulevard too (these were about a 2 min walk away) Breakfast was included in both of these hotels. ESD was a continental style - cereal, pastries, etc while Homewood Suites was hot offerings, cereal, porridge and pastries. Both hotels had kitchenettes which allowed myself and DFi to cook breakfast in our room.
This is my first trip report/food report so go easy on me
Also apologise in advance for quality of photos all our food photos were taken on an iphone.

Top 5 Meals
1 Kona Cafe
2 House of Blues
3 Cheesecake Factory
4 Yak & Yeti
5 9 Dragons

Breakfast in order of preference
Cracker Barrel
IHOP
Denny's

21/5
B~ Aer Lingus Lounge
L~ AerLingus Flight EI121 Economy
D~ Miller's Ale House I Drive

22/5
B~ Denny's I Drive
L~Boulangerie Patisserie des Halles France WS
D~ 9 Dragons China WS

23/5
B~ Breakfast in room
L~ Chicken Now Premium Outlets I Drive
D~ Olive Garden I Drive

24/5
B~ Breakfast in room
L~ Plaza Restaurant MK
D~ Contempo Cafe Contemporary Resort

25/5
B/L~ Brunch Denny's I Drive
Starbucks's Premium Outlet Vineland Ave
D~ Tony Roma's I Drive

26/5
B~ Breakfast in Room
L~ Pizza Planet DHS
S~ Cream cheese pretzel
D~ Rosie's All American Cafe beside Tower of Terror

27/5
B~ Breakfast in room
L~ Avalunch BB
D~ Brick House Tavern I Drive

28/5 ~ Parents and sister arrive
B~ Breakfast in room
L~ Yak & Yeti Table Service AK
D~ Miller's Ale House I Drive

29/5
B~ Breakfast in room
D~ Columbia Harbour House MK (part of KTTK tour)
L~ Kona Cafe Polynesian Resort

30/5
B~ Breakfast in Homewood Suites
No lunch today
D~ Cheesecake Factory Mall at Millenia

31/5
B~ Breakfast in Homewood Suites
L~ Homemade lunch with fries KSC
D~ Ruby Tuesday's Florida Mall

1/6
B~ Denny's I Drive
L~ Premium Outlet Vineland Ave
D~ Outback Steakhouse by outlets

2/6
B~ Breakfast in Homewood Suites
L~ Homemade lunch and also Pinocchio Haus
S~ Le Feus' Brew
D~ 9 Dragon's China WS

3/6
B~ IHOP I Drive
L~ Sbarro Premium Outlets I Drive
D~ House of Blues DTD
S~ Goofy's Candy Company DTD

4/6
B/L~ Cracker Barrel on OBT
S~ Krispy Kreme MCO
D~ AerLingus Flight EI120 Economy

[tnkrbell]

21/5 Travel Day

Aer Lingus Gold Circle Lounge
As DFi is a Gold Circle Member we decided to head here for a spot of breakfast. We both fly a bit out of T2 and never find the eateries to be anything special. The lounge offers continental offerings for breakfast, assortment of tea, coffee, juices and of course a stocked bar for you nervous flyers
Fresh fruit salad and yogurt to start for the two of us with some juice and tea. I also had a scone and Colin had a danish. All the food here was really fresh and the lounge was clean. The food in the lounge was kept restocked throughout the morning. We also had a great view of the planes. The lounge was also nice and quiet and perfect to get away from the aiport hustle and bustle. There was also Irish papers on offer and free wifi. We were also called for pre clearance in plenty of time. One thing we did notice about the lounge was there were no children in there. Upstairs in the lounge there's a quiet area along with shower facilites.

[tnkrbell]

AerLingus Flight Outbound

So about an hour and a half into the flight food service started. First up was drinks and pretzels. AerLingus do offer alcohol on board but you have to purchase it. They accepted both euro and dollars. AFAIR prices were 5/7e. They did ask that you purchase your alcohol for your meal at this time. AL also dont provide cans for soft drinks. As a way of cutting down on rubbish they use 2l bottles of soft drink.
Absolutely love these pretzels.


After drinks and pretzels dinner option was served. It was the usual chicken or beef option for dinner. We decided we get one of each to try (the things we do for a food report
Chicken option was a chicken casserole. I had decided on this but as Colin didn't like the beef option I swapped with him. For plane food this was pretty decent. My parents also had this option on their flight over. We were sat in a smaller economy which meant we were served food first and also meant the tea at dinner time was still hot Beef option was pasta with mince beef with tomatoe sauce. It reminded me of the pasta bolognese in work. Again it was decent enough.






About 2 hours prior to landing, tea was served. Fruit scone and jam. It was again fine and tied us over until we got to the hotel. During the flight there was also tea, coffe and sweets/crisps to purchase. The air hostesses also came around through out the flight with plenty of water.

[CazP]

Thanks for starting this report Enjoyed reading so far x

[Guest]

Loving it so far

[highland lass]

That scone looks tasty

[mossyflossy]

yay a great start to a food report and looking forward to the rest

[KK_Cat]

Ooh I love food reports, looking forward to this. You have a few on your list that are on my "to do" list.

Those Aer Lingus meals look familiar . I know people complain about airplane food but I've always found the AL economy meals pretty good.

[tnkrbell]

Miller's Ale House I Drive

After months of dreaming of the chicken quesadillas we were finally getting them. For those of you who haven't been to Miller's, the restaurant has two seating areas - a covered patio area and an indoor booth area. The patio area can get a bit busy and noisey during the evening time. We always sit in the booths. Plenty of choice on the menu and plenty of drink options. We also noticed they offer kids eat free on some nights. On big game nights Miller's can get busy. Miller's is always visited twice during our holiday and always on our first night
When we arrived we realised just how hungry we were. Decided on appetisers as our main course and we would just share them. The appetisers here are massive and certainly can be shared. Before we sat down we knew what we wanted. Swear there was no reading of menus before our trip

First off:
Blackened Chicken Quesadillas. This came with a side of wild rice and black bean combo. You could also add guacamole as an extra for a couple of $$'s. There's always a fight for the rice on the plate.


Zinger mountain melt with honey BBQ
This was just delicious. Think chips and chicken goujon covered with cheese and BBQ sauce and bacon bits. There was plenty in this. How this can be for one person I've no idea


Beer Batter Onion Rings.
These were really nice once they came out and were hot but once they cooled down the batter wasn't that good. Came with a cajun spiced ranch sauce. I wasn't a huge fan of this.


And of course as it was our first night of course there was dessert.
Apple Crisp
Delicious apple cobbler served warm with a mahoosive scoop of ice cream.


Now feeling very very full. No we didn't go for more We got the bill and waddled back to our hotel. Our hotel was a 5 minute walk which is very handy.
Service was excellent here and we didn't have to ask for any refills. There also wasn't a wait for a table.
Total for the 2 of us with 2 soft drinks was $36.96.

[tnkrbell]

22/5
Denny's I Drive

As we were awake at a ridiculous time this morning we decided to head out for breakfast before getting the shuttle. Arrived just after 7 at Denny's and there was 6 other people in the restaurant. Grand we thought should take no time. How wrong were we! Waited close enough to half an hour to get our food out (when it did arrive it was piping hot!).
The Denny's we head to is a couple of minutes walk from the hotel and beside Senor Frogs. Also seems to be a popular one with locals. At the weekends they have a balloon maker going around making balloons for tips.
Today's breakfast:
Lumberjack Slam for Colin. This comes with side of bread (toast, bagel, muffin) and 2 pancakes. Eggs as well also are done to your choice (fried, poached or scambled). Colin gave me half his portion of eggs. Colin had sweetened ice tea to drink Unfortunately Shame there isn't a smiley close to the face he made.


Build your own slam for myself. The BYO has great options and also great value for what you get. There's about 15 options or so and you can pick 4. There's also the option to add extra item for a couple of cents (think it's 49c and premium items are about $1) I chose pancakes (2) bacon (2) hashbrowns and chicken sausage patty (sounds a bit iffy but it was yum!) I kept my bacon back so I could have it with my pancakes. To drink I ordered raspberry ice tea. My ice tea was



Denny's is one of the restaurants where the Eat Play card is accepted. The discount here is very decent 20% off your bill. Our bill prior to discount was $22.43. Once the discounted was taken our bill came to $17.95