ADRs? We Don't Need No Stinking ADRs - A Sept '14 Dining Report - THAT'S A WRAP 3/5

Via Napoli looks so amazing! We're doing Biergarten and San Angel Inn when we're in Epcot. I think I might have to try to convince DH to let me switch San Angel to Via Napoli.

I had no idea you could get wine in Italy at Epcot. Obviously I haven't explored the WS very well. We're staying at YC so I will definitely be stocking up. Enjoying your reviews!
We liked San Angel too, but more for the booze than the food. I'd highly encourage you to look into Via Napoli, clearly I'm a big fan. They sell wine in at least Germany, France, and Italy. Not huge selections, but convenient. Enjoy YC!
I love the look on Casey's face. Priceless!! :goodvibes
She is most definitely priceless. Frozen cookie = pure bliss
Found your report and totally subbing!
Welcome to the food party. Hope you enjoy.
 
just got all caught up on your dining reviews thus far! yummy you are making me hungry... wl is one of my favs as well...we stayed there for our honeymoon. we also adore via napoli...we go every trip. looking forward to more reviews!
 
just got all caught up on your dining reviews thus far! yummy you are making me hungry... wl is one of my favs as well...we stayed there for our honeymoon. we also adore via napoli...we go every trip. looking forward to more reviews!

Thanks for following along. If I could just move into WL and eat at Via every day life would be perfect ; )
 
Today was our only day we had planned to be in MGM, as we had a fast pass for the new frozen sing along. Sadly these days since Casey can't ride the rockin' roller coaster yet and I didn't dare put her on tower of terror after her reaction on splash mountain, I could skip this park all together. So of course since I wasn't particularly looking forward to this day, it was gonna rain.

The boat to MGM was great and quick and gave us time to suit up for the rain. We made a mad dash to the not so great movie ride, which Casey oddly liked, before using our toy story mania fast pass. I'm not sure if it was the rain or what, but Casey was in a particularly punchy mood this morning. Case in point, here is her answer to a request for a "smile" with Jason...


I sat with Casey and helped her aim. Despite what was likely the lowest score of the day, thanks to my expertise she was 81% accurate.


From there we checked out Casey's beloved Disney Jr stage show, aka yes sitting on the floor for 30 minutes sounds like a grand idea. She loves singing and dancing along and this time was kind enough to ask the family next to us to watch her shake her butt ; ) Yes she is my child. After a walk-on in the newly remodeled star tours it was time for our SciFi ADR.

I'd been hopeful the night before that I could pick up a Hollywood and Vine ressie, as despite my loathing of the food Casey loved meeting Doc McStuffins and Sofia last time. Oddly there was nothing to be had, so SciFi it was. We had a bit of a wait to get in, but Casey amused herself playing in the car outside. After about 20 mins we were headed in.

We hadn't eaten breakfast so we were hung-a-ry - so an appetizer it was for us. I have a deep love for fried pickles, so that was the obvious choice (apologies for the poor pictures, drive-ins are not conducive to photos). Meet the fried dill pickles with a spicy ranch dipping sauce...

I'm generally more of a pickle chip, not spear girl but these were good and crispy and the dill flavor wasn't overwhelmed by the breading. Only issue was they were barely lukewarm and the "spicy" ranch was decidedly unspicy.

Casey and I decided to split the Salmon BLT, which is served on crusty French Roll with Arugula, Vine-ripened Tomatoes, Bacon, Red Onion, and Chili-Chive Aïoli served with a choice of Cucumber Salad or French Fries.

We ordered this without the onions - which are the only food Casey doesn't like - and I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was. The salmon was well cooked and moist and the arugula and chive aioli added a nice zing. I let Casey have all the bacon (that kid would eat a whole pig if given an option), but it appeared to be crispy. The cucumber salad was a little too sweet and didn't have enough vinegar for my palette, but it was a nice sub for the fries.

Jason went for the Reuben - Corned Beef, Sauerkraut, Swiss, and Thousand Island Dressing on Marble Rye Bread served with French Fries.

This was a pretty typical reuben. The ingredients were nicely balanced and the bread was nicely toasted.

With our TiW card we saved $8.93

From there it was time for the frozen sing along. I had lowered my expectations for this one since we'd been forced to watch frozen at least 100 times at this point, but i was surprised at how watchable it was. They had lots of jokes aimed at parents, so they were making it palatable for the over 12 set. Next it was the muppet show which dumps out into the Phineus and Ferb meet and greet. I had no idea who they were, but Casey did for some reason so meet and greet with odd looking characters I didn't recognize it was....


On our way out of the park we stopped at the Writer's Shop for some iced coffee and a carrot cake cookie. If you've never had this "cookie" it's more whoopee pie than cookie and one of our favorite snacks in all the parks. Of course it was hard to pry the cookie away from this one...


We'd just missed the boat back to the boardwalk so we elected to walk. It was a quick trip back, but our room was still being cleaned when we arrived. We went back to the elevator bay to wait and Casey decided to regale us with her dance moves to the flapper era music. Please enjoy what what 6 months of dance classes can do for a child.


Up next, Casey naps the afternoon away and leaves us with little food options...​
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We'd just left off, Casey was feeling a bit punchy and exhibited this in a lovely dance for all the Boardwalk lobby to see. The kid was clearly tired (or "drunk" as we call it in our house as she gets like me when I've had a few too many), so nap time it was. While she slept I looked at ADR's for our night time options. Early on it looked good, flying fish, blue zoo, and even one for Le Celler but she kept napping and napping and napping and napping. 3 hours later it was after 6 and the options had all but dried up. Love her, but losing so many hours in the middle of the day is cramping my food style ; )

Wanting to take advantage of the quick walk to Ep-A-Cot and not wanting quick service we decided upon Restaurant Marrakesh. I'd recently read a good review on the disney tourist blog and was up for an adventure.

We arrived to find the remnants of what appeared to from someone sick in the lobby (yes smell and sight) and 4 hostesses engrossed in their own world behind the check in counter. I oh so patiently waited about 3 minutes for them to break away and acknowledge my birthday existence before just asking them if someone would mind helping me whenever they were done talking. 4 eye rolls in my direction later we were finally seated, but this should have been an omen.

The place was surprisingly packed, but our server was efficient and quickly brought us some very Moroccan bread ; )

Clearly this was neither Moroccan or good, so we quickly moved on.

For our appetizer we decided to split the Beef Brewat Roll, which is baked layers of thin pastry filled with seasoned minced beef, eggs, fried and sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

This was good and crispy from the phillo dough, but i wasn't a huge fan of the combo of beef and sugar.

For our entree's Casey and I split the Couscous with Lamb Shank - Lamb shank with rolled semolina steamed and served with seasonal veggies

While this looked good, sadly that is where the good news ended. The lamb was beyond overcooked, which is usually pretty hard to do with a shank, and the couscous and veggies were bland. I picked on it, but didn't eat much and instead focused on my Ksar white wine which was a Moroccan wine (who knew they could grow grapes there) that tasted a bit like Pinot Grigio.

Thankfully Jason faired better than I and got the Couscous M'Rouzia Fassi - Braised beef served with prunes, balsamic vinegar, honey, sesame seeds and eggs

Again, I wasn't a huge fan of the sweet things and beef combo but this was solid and much better than my disaster. He washed this down with a casa beer which per Jason was weak and yeasty. Sounds delish :)

During dinner we got to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Moroccan entertainment and Casey even got to get in on the belly dancing action.




Overall the interior of the restaurant is nice and the entertainment solid, but the food was just not up to par. Perhaps because we were there during free dining the crowds were higher and they just couldn't keep up with the quality. Service was efficient, but decidedly stoic. This was one of those times when the no ADR strategy and napping child backfired on me. With our Tables in Wonderland card we saved $18.28.

Having missed it the night prior, we let Casey take a spin on Figment - where she held her nose the whole time in anticipation of the smelling room.


From there we took a trip through the Big Ball, where Mommy and her couple of glasses of wine may have taken the opportunity to shut her eyes for a bit. She then spent a long time running around like a banshee on future worlds sidewalk lights.


While Jason and I got to spot Mickey taking a much needed break....


Up next, I try lobster for the first time in several years after a not so pleasant experience last time. We'll see how that goes.
 
We'd just left off, Casey was feeling a bit punchy and exhibited this in a lovely dance for all the Boardwalk lobby to see. The kid was clearly tired (or "drunk" as we call it in our house as she gets like me when I've had a few too many), so nap time it was.

HAHAHA. :rotfl2: Too funny! Sometimes kids are just like drunk adults, it's true. LOL
 
HAHAHA. :rotfl2: Too funny! Sometimes kids are just like drunk adults, it's true. LOL

Definitley true. I sometimes get some wonderful looks when I comment she is drunk, but in a 3 year old tired + sugar = drunk ;)
 
We're going back to disney to disney to disney, We're going back to disney, yep I think so (sung to the tune of the immortal LL Cool J's Goin' back to Cali).

Just had to share my great news. Our Tables in Wonderland card expires at the end of next month - which just happens to be Casey's birthday month too - so we figured it would just be irresponsible of us not to go. We leave in 42 glorious days and I can't wait. So I'll be sure to finish this bad boy off, so I can share more food porn with everyone.

O.K. back to our original programming....

We were slow to get out the door today and didn't arrive at the Magic Kingdom until after 10. We'd come to regret this later as it was freaking hot today. Our first stop was starbucks on main street for some coffee (even as I type this writing that feels oh so wrong), but the line was almost out the door. Didn't want it that bad. So after a quick spin on buzz we found some iced coffee's at Auntie Gravities.

Then it was off to Casey's beloved Goofy roller coaster (aka the world's shortest ride), before she took the opportunity to cool off in her name sake Casey Jr. splash area. I will never understand the appeal of running through water in your clothes, but it's pure 3 year old bliss.


From there we went to meet Ariel where Casey did her best impression of Ariel when she meets Prince Eric and didn't speak the whole time. Doesn't she look thrilled...


It was getting hotter by the minute so we took the opportunity to spend some more time under the sea before catching something I hadn't seen since childhood, Country Bear Jamboree. Casey enjoyed the show, but Jason and I decided it would have been better if the 3 female bears had the baby hands from Saturday Night Live. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about..


We then headed back to Fantasyland for Casey's second opportunity to meet her Norwegian idols. She'd apparently regained her voice from Ursula by this time and talked to Elsa about the snow flakes in her hair. Casey of course wanted some but Elsa was quick to point out they would melt when she drank hot chocolate. Despite the 100 degree heat index outside this seemed to appease her. Anna and she had a talk about the whereabouts of olaf (on the beach in a grass skirt and coconut shells) and sven (running errands), before she gave case a hard time for only have Elsa on her shirt. But they made up, so here's a couple of pics.




At this point we were just miserable in the heat (which sounds wonderful right now though as I write this with the thermostat reading 10 outside) and hadn't had anything all day, except for the iced coffees. Opting to not strip down and run through the Casey Jr. splash area, we decided to head back to the Boardwalk for some much needed food.

The Boardwalk Bakery was surprisingly empty so we were in and out pretty quickly and headed back to our room to eat. Casey had the mac n cheese (yes I do let her have her own meal once in a while), which when I snuck a bite was nice and creamy and clearly made from real cheese and not orange powder.


Jason got the Pork Loin Sandwich which came on a kaiser roll with apple slaw. The pork was nice and tender and the slaw added a nice crunch, but it needed some other kind of sauce on it so it wasn't so one note.


I was going to order their fresh mozzarella sandwich, but saw a picture of the lobster roll and couldn't resist. Bit of a back story I've always eaten lobster, but experienced my first bouts of morning sickness while we were at the beach cooking up lobsters fresh from the ocean. I haven't touched it since but figured in my massive hunger this was a good time to give it whirl cause there was literally nothing i wouldn't have eaten at this point. So here is the Maine Lobster Roll with butter chive mayo (because mayo isn't bad enough for you throw a little butter in there)

I'm happy to report this went down without incident and my lobster phobia is now a thing of the past. The lobster still was sweet and had a bit of a bite to it (in a good way) and the butter chive mayo was creamy, though I couldn't detect any butter flavor. They could improve the bread (it was essentially a big hot dog bun) as the lobster would be better served in a better vessel. But all in all it was delicious and I wouldn't hesitate to eat it again.

I'll end it there today. Up next, our best meal of the trip!!!
 
Really enjoying your report! I can't WAIT for that prosciutto and melon pizza to be in my FACE!

Casey is just darling. :)
 
I have to say your posts about Club Level are cracking me up!!
We have stayed CL at WL, AKL, Poly, GF, BC and one I think I'm forgetting...
With my AP discount, I swear we save money just on alcohol! (even having Tables in Wonderland!)
We aren't drunks but when you think of the price of a Disney drink, if you have two adults who like even three drinks each in the course of the day, it adds up!!!
LOL!
Glad you enjoyed!
Heading off in two weeks for another split GF/AKL CL stay myself!
 
Enjoying your reviews! Too bad Restaurant Marrakesh was disappointing. We ate there last trip because we wanted to try something different. While I don't remember anything terrible it wasn't that great. And I seem to remember the hosts being sorta rude. If I recall correctly I complemented one gal's hair and she gave me the stink eye. Huh. :confused: :rotfl2:

Oh my gosh, that fried pickle alone has me reconsidering my HS ADRs for our upcoming trip. ;) Also, you got some great pics of your food there.

Thanks for posting about Boardwalk Bakery. I hope to eat there at least once this trip. That's an interesting lobster roll. My favorite local place for lobster rolls serves them either cold with mayo or warm with butter so that's in interesting combo of both. I'll have to try it!
 
Really enjoying your report! I can't WAIT for that prosciutto and melon pizza to be in my FACE! Casey is just darling. :)

That pizza is to die for. It will be prominently in my face next month ; )
 
I have to say your posts about Club Level are cracking me up!! We have stayed CL at WL, AKL, Poly, GF, BC and one I think I'm forgetting... With my AP discount, I swear we save money just on alcohol! (even having Tables in Wonderland!) We aren't drunks but when you think of the price of a Disney drink, if you have two adults who like even three drinks each in the course of the day, it adds up!!! LOL! Glad you enjoyed! Heading off in two weeks for another split GF/AKL CL stay myself!

Thanks! I never sat down and did the math but from what we spent on breakfast and bottles of wine at the Boardwalk the cost for club level was at least a wash.

2 weeks of club level!!!! Be still my heart ; )
 

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