Libby_Darling
Flippin' Her Fins
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2010
Welcome, welcome!
This is my first ever dining review, exciting! Ive already posted the trippie of our holiday on another WDW forum but having spent countless lunchbreaks reading dining reviews here on the Disboards I felt it was my DUTY to contribute to this ever-growing collection of gastronomic delights and write a separate dining review! These reviews were invaluable when I was making our ADRs and if mine help even one person, I will be a very happy girl
So, a bit of background on us and the trip
WE are me (Libby) and my wonderful boyfriend of nearly 8 years, Ben.
This is us!
(I had to include that photo it cracks me up!!)
This was our first holiday to America together The furthest we had been was Disneyland Paris for two wonderful trips in 2007 and 2010. We were both at Uni for 3 years (well technically 4 because I did a Foundation year) and I wanted to go to Florida sooooooooo much but obviously we never had enough money I had been a few times with my family when I was younger and the need to go back was becoming so intense I had to do something about it!! So, fast forward to September 2010 after our wonderful Disneyland Paris holiday. We had both finished Uni, got good jobs and were feeling pretty good about the future. One night I was browsing the Disney UK website for the 589th time and I mentioned to Ben how good the current offer was (stay at OKW or SSR 45% off + free dining) and he told me to put the deposit down! The rest, as they say, is history! We flew out from London 6/10/11 and flew back 21/10/11.
The holiday cost a small fortune, we had a jam-packed schedule, did everything we wanted and more and it was the best 2 weeks of our whole lives We need to go back!!!!!
I could literally talk for hours about the holiday BUT you are here for the food so I will try to refrain from mindless chatter and focus!!
We actually did a split stay this holiday we stayed in 3 different hotels! 8 nights at Homewood Suites on International Drive, 1 night at Universals Hard Rock Hotel and 7 nights at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. I dont know if you guys want to read about our food from the first week? We did eat at some really amazing places! (I am obsessed with America/American food so it was all amazing to me but I understand to most of you it will just be normal food hahaha) They are part of the holiday to me and I always enjoy reading about non-Disney food and I know others might so Im gonna share them, if youre only here for Disney food you might want to just check back at the end!
So, our dining preferences. This may SHOCK YOU (as it seemed to do to 99% of the servers we encountered on this holiday!) but Ben is the vegetarian and I, dear reader, am the carnivore! We found sooooo many times that the waiter/tress would put the veggie option down on my plate and the huge great steak on Bens before we could even utter a word! We found it hilarious! Stereotypes ahoy! Ben has been vegetarian for 6 years now and Im very proud of him I eat mainly veggie when Im with him (which is like, all the time!!) but when eating out I prefer to order meat, and when in America I prefer to order A LOT of meat!! I love steak and ate some of the best steaks of my life on this holiday. I also love love love seafood, prawns, crab and scallops and I was lucky enough to try lobster properly for the first time in Florida and absolutely fell in love with it I also really love pizza and developed an obsession with spinach and artichoke dip (as youll see!) which you cant get over here for love nor money
Benji-bob is a very lovely, non-preachy, 100% vegetarian (no food with a face! fish has a face!) He eats ANYTHING that doesnt contain meat and is not fussy in the slightest which makes it pretty easy when eating out and also when I cook for him
I am the obsessive planner in the relationship and I spent literally hours looking at menus and reading reviews before deciding where to eat and making our ADRs. Not just for Ben but for both of us as we both love eating and wanted to try some really amazing restaurants that we wouldnt have been able to had we not been on the DDP. But, this had the added benefit of knowing pretty much every veggie option in WDW (and to a lesser extent, outside the World) which came in handy if we decided to change any of our reservations
SO without further ado, here is the list of every single place we ate at during the holiday:
Picnic in our room at Gatwick Travelodge
Breakfast at Gatwick Airport Lloyds Pub
British Airways in-flight meals
Uno Chicago delivery pizza
Homewood Suites Suite-Start buffet breakfast (will group these together seeing as we ate there most mornings!)
Friendlys lunch
Millers Ale House dinner
Walmart haul and another takeaway pizza!!
Confisco Grille character breakfast Islands of Adventure
NBA City lunch (Citywalk)
Hard Rock Hotel cocktails
Bubba Gumps Shrimp Company
Universal Studios Boulangerie Patisserie
Universal Studios pizza lunch
Butterbeer! and general WWOHP snacks
Bahama Breeze dinner
Florida Mall foodcourt lunch
Margaritaville cocktails and corndog
Cuba Libre dinner
Seaworld Sharks Underwater Grill
Giordano's deep dish pizza!! (3rd pizza delivery )
Discovery Cove dining (breakfast, lunch and snacks!)
Olive Garden dinner
And DISNEY FOOD!!
Cinderellas Royal Table breakfast
Cosmic Rays lunch and Cosmic Rays dinner!!! (howd that happen!?)
F&W festival snacks and drinks Part 1
F&W festival snacks and drinks Part 2
Sunshine Seasons lunch
California Grill birthday dinner (Part 1)
California Grill birthday dinner (Part 2)
Super duper Anniversary HAMPER from Ben
SSR Artists Palette lunch
Tune-In Lounge drinks
Ohana dinner Part 1
'Ohana dinner Part 2
Animal Kingdom snacks
Restaurantosaurus lunch
Boma dinner Part 1
Boma Dinner Part 2
Earl of Sandwich late night snack
50s Prime Time lunch - Part 1
50's Prime Time lunch - Part 2
MNSSHP - Pecos Bills dinner
Earl of Sandwich lunch
F&W festival eating and drinking (Part 1)
F&W festival eating and drinking (Part 2)
Tonys Town Square lunch
Bonus Content - Saying Goodbye to the MK
Narcoosees Anniversary dinner Part 1
Narcoosees Anniversary dinner Part 2
Last day and lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express Part 1
Last day and lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express Park 2
Airport food, British Airways in-flight food and final message!
WOW thats a lot of food. I promise it was only 2 weeks!! I work full time and have a fairly busy social life but I already have some of the reviews typed up so hopefully it wont take too long, I am determined to finish as I hate unfinished dining reviews!
Finally, my rating system!
As you may have guessed from the title, The Little Mermaid is my NUMBER ONE DISNEY MOVIE OF ALL TIME, an extremely high accolade. So, it seemed fitting to have a LM rating system!!
I considered a system that included Ariel as the best and Ursula as the worst but I dont think there are any places we visited that deserve an Ursula!! So Im going for a much more light-hearted outfit based option
5 stars Ariel in her wedding dress! Doesnt get much better than this; shes human, shes got her man, her Dads cool with it all and its the happiest day of her life. This food is AWESOME!!
4 stars Ariel in her beautiful pink dress. Shes happy because shes having dinner with Eric! This food is really good
3 stars Blue dress! Nice dress but she doesnt have the best day what with being thrown into the water and all. Average food.
2 stars Ariel in her fins. Controversial choice but technically she didnt really like them, flipping your fins you dont get too far so although they are beautiful shes unhappy. This food is not good.
1 star Ariel in her makeshift DIY canvas dress. Not her best look!! Although I love how it looks awful in the first shot and then magically smoothes over and looks okay the rest of the scene! Ahhh Disney magic This food is AWFUL!!!
I hope you like my rating system and I hope you enjoy the reviews! Ill try not to write so much next time!!
This is my first ever dining review, exciting! Ive already posted the trippie of our holiday on another WDW forum but having spent countless lunchbreaks reading dining reviews here on the Disboards I felt it was my DUTY to contribute to this ever-growing collection of gastronomic delights and write a separate dining review! These reviews were invaluable when I was making our ADRs and if mine help even one person, I will be a very happy girl
So, a bit of background on us and the trip
WE are me (Libby) and my wonderful boyfriend of nearly 8 years, Ben.
This is us!
(I had to include that photo it cracks me up!!)
This was our first holiday to America together The furthest we had been was Disneyland Paris for two wonderful trips in 2007 and 2010. We were both at Uni for 3 years (well technically 4 because I did a Foundation year) and I wanted to go to Florida sooooooooo much but obviously we never had enough money I had been a few times with my family when I was younger and the need to go back was becoming so intense I had to do something about it!! So, fast forward to September 2010 after our wonderful Disneyland Paris holiday. We had both finished Uni, got good jobs and were feeling pretty good about the future. One night I was browsing the Disney UK website for the 589th time and I mentioned to Ben how good the current offer was (stay at OKW or SSR 45% off + free dining) and he told me to put the deposit down! The rest, as they say, is history! We flew out from London 6/10/11 and flew back 21/10/11.
The holiday cost a small fortune, we had a jam-packed schedule, did everything we wanted and more and it was the best 2 weeks of our whole lives We need to go back!!!!!
I could literally talk for hours about the holiday BUT you are here for the food so I will try to refrain from mindless chatter and focus!!
We actually did a split stay this holiday we stayed in 3 different hotels! 8 nights at Homewood Suites on International Drive, 1 night at Universals Hard Rock Hotel and 7 nights at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. I dont know if you guys want to read about our food from the first week? We did eat at some really amazing places! (I am obsessed with America/American food so it was all amazing to me but I understand to most of you it will just be normal food hahaha) They are part of the holiday to me and I always enjoy reading about non-Disney food and I know others might so Im gonna share them, if youre only here for Disney food you might want to just check back at the end!
So, our dining preferences. This may SHOCK YOU (as it seemed to do to 99% of the servers we encountered on this holiday!) but Ben is the vegetarian and I, dear reader, am the carnivore! We found sooooo many times that the waiter/tress would put the veggie option down on my plate and the huge great steak on Bens before we could even utter a word! We found it hilarious! Stereotypes ahoy! Ben has been vegetarian for 6 years now and Im very proud of him I eat mainly veggie when Im with him (which is like, all the time!!) but when eating out I prefer to order meat, and when in America I prefer to order A LOT of meat!! I love steak and ate some of the best steaks of my life on this holiday. I also love love love seafood, prawns, crab and scallops and I was lucky enough to try lobster properly for the first time in Florida and absolutely fell in love with it I also really love pizza and developed an obsession with spinach and artichoke dip (as youll see!) which you cant get over here for love nor money
Benji-bob is a very lovely, non-preachy, 100% vegetarian (no food with a face! fish has a face!) He eats ANYTHING that doesnt contain meat and is not fussy in the slightest which makes it pretty easy when eating out and also when I cook for him
I am the obsessive planner in the relationship and I spent literally hours looking at menus and reading reviews before deciding where to eat and making our ADRs. Not just for Ben but for both of us as we both love eating and wanted to try some really amazing restaurants that we wouldnt have been able to had we not been on the DDP. But, this had the added benefit of knowing pretty much every veggie option in WDW (and to a lesser extent, outside the World) which came in handy if we decided to change any of our reservations
SO without further ado, here is the list of every single place we ate at during the holiday:
Picnic in our room at Gatwick Travelodge
Breakfast at Gatwick Airport Lloyds Pub
British Airways in-flight meals
Uno Chicago delivery pizza
Homewood Suites Suite-Start buffet breakfast (will group these together seeing as we ate there most mornings!)
Friendlys lunch
Millers Ale House dinner
Walmart haul and another takeaway pizza!!
Confisco Grille character breakfast Islands of Adventure
NBA City lunch (Citywalk)
Hard Rock Hotel cocktails
Bubba Gumps Shrimp Company
Universal Studios Boulangerie Patisserie
Universal Studios pizza lunch
Butterbeer! and general WWOHP snacks
Bahama Breeze dinner
Florida Mall foodcourt lunch
Margaritaville cocktails and corndog
Cuba Libre dinner
Seaworld Sharks Underwater Grill
Giordano's deep dish pizza!! (3rd pizza delivery )
Discovery Cove dining (breakfast, lunch and snacks!)
Olive Garden dinner
And DISNEY FOOD!!
Cinderellas Royal Table breakfast
Cosmic Rays lunch and Cosmic Rays dinner!!! (howd that happen!?)
F&W festival snacks and drinks Part 1
F&W festival snacks and drinks Part 2
Sunshine Seasons lunch
California Grill birthday dinner (Part 1)
California Grill birthday dinner (Part 2)
Super duper Anniversary HAMPER from Ben
SSR Artists Palette lunch
Tune-In Lounge drinks
Ohana dinner Part 1
'Ohana dinner Part 2
Animal Kingdom snacks
Restaurantosaurus lunch
Boma dinner Part 1
Boma Dinner Part 2
Earl of Sandwich late night snack
50s Prime Time lunch - Part 1
50's Prime Time lunch - Part 2
MNSSHP - Pecos Bills dinner
Earl of Sandwich lunch
F&W festival eating and drinking (Part 1)
F&W festival eating and drinking (Part 2)
Tonys Town Square lunch
Bonus Content - Saying Goodbye to the MK
Narcoosees Anniversary dinner Part 1
Narcoosees Anniversary dinner Part 2
Last day and lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express Part 1
Last day and lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express Park 2
Airport food, British Airways in-flight food and final message!
WOW thats a lot of food. I promise it was only 2 weeks!! I work full time and have a fairly busy social life but I already have some of the reviews typed up so hopefully it wont take too long, I am determined to finish as I hate unfinished dining reviews!
Finally, my rating system!
As you may have guessed from the title, The Little Mermaid is my NUMBER ONE DISNEY MOVIE OF ALL TIME, an extremely high accolade. So, it seemed fitting to have a LM rating system!!
I considered a system that included Ariel as the best and Ursula as the worst but I dont think there are any places we visited that deserve an Ursula!! So Im going for a much more light-hearted outfit based option
5 stars Ariel in her wedding dress! Doesnt get much better than this; shes human, shes got her man, her Dads cool with it all and its the happiest day of her life. This food is AWESOME!!
4 stars Ariel in her beautiful pink dress. Shes happy because shes having dinner with Eric! This food is really good
3 stars Blue dress! Nice dress but she doesnt have the best day what with being thrown into the water and all. Average food.
2 stars Ariel in her fins. Controversial choice but technically she didnt really like them, flipping your fins you dont get too far so although they are beautiful shes unhappy. This food is not good.
1 star Ariel in her makeshift DIY canvas dress. Not her best look!! Although I love how it looks awful in the first shot and then magically smoothes over and looks okay the rest of the scene! Ahhh Disney magic This food is AWFUL!!!
I hope you like my rating system and I hope you enjoy the reviews! Ill try not to write so much next time!!