Disney Dining Plan – beauty girls mom

June 2, 2015June 2, 2015

Tables in Wonderland – Helping Make Disney Dining Affordable

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As a long time Walt Disney World annual passholder and a DVC member, I admit to feelings of jealousy when fellow travelers gobbled up offers of free dining at Walt Disney World. With minimum ticket purchases and minimum night stays, this great way to save money at Walt Disney World always left a bad taste in my mouth. But for those of us who come with tickets and accommodatios already covered, there is an alternative. Tables in Wonderland has been helping to make Disney dining affordable for those of us who aren’t eligible for the free dining promotion.

Tables in Wonderland is only available to Florida residents, annual passholders, and Disney Vacation Club members. “Boasting a buffet of benefits”, the card offers a discount of 20% on meals at participating Walt Disney World restaurants. The list of restaurants is extensive, featuring resort dining, theme park dining, and even locations in Downtown Disney. Primarily accepted at table service dining locations, you will find a handful of counter service meals available, especially where there isn’t a table service option (value resort food courts, for example, are participants).

The card costs $125 for Florida residents, $100 for DVC members and annual passholders, so it doesn’t take many table service meals to hit the break even point. With my family of five (plus one), one really nice meal at a place like California Grill can make the card worth the purchase. You get a full year of benefits, and the perks include complimentary valet parking at resorts and complimentary theme park parking (before 5 PM, there is a three hour maximum). Even better, Tables in Wonderland offers the discount on your entire meal – including alcoholic beverages! Many of the resort hotel lounges are covered under the plan.

So if you are looking for ways to make Disney dining more affordable on your next visit, consider making the Tables in Wonderland purchase. Enjoy the cuisine you’ve come to love while keeping a little cabbage in your pocket!

April 12, 2014April 12, 2014

The Best Things I’ve Ever Eaten – Disney World Version

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I periodically pour over the Disney World restaurant menus, always searching for new things I’d like to try, but I always have a list of my favorite things. I’m sure you have a list of things you love, like Lou Mongello’s carrot cake cookie obsession from the Writer’s Stop at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (I really try to love it, Lou, but it hurts my teeth to even think about it’s sweetness!) – and I want you to share it with me! Here are some of my favorite things to eat at Walt Disney World:

Smokey Portobello Soup – Artist Point

At Christmas time last year, our waiter accidentally brought a bowl of this smokey, rich, delicious soup to my mother-in-law, who doesn’t eat it. The waiter offered to leave it on the table, but my MIL told him to take it back, as we all already had our appetizers (most of which were the soup). I thought my middle child would burst into tears, as she watched the creamy bowl of mushroom goodness being walked back to the kitchen. It embodies the taste of a rustic home in the heart of winter, and the flavor will keep you warm your whole trip.

Bobotie – Boma

Minced meat, spices, flavors of sweet and savory, all baked into an egg mixture – oh my goodness. This very traditional South African dish is an explosion of flavors that leaves my mouth very happy. It’s comfort food at its finest.

Kakigori – EPCOT

It’s August. In Florida. Where there is only one way to describe the heat. Hell-like. I’ve always thought I could survive the depths of Hades, having done the “EPCOT death march” at the peak of summer. The big difference? There is no Kakigori in hell. This absolutely heavenly refresher is shaved ice, with your choice of a variety of sweet syrup, much like a traditional snow cone. There are two big differences between the Kakigori and the snow cone you might get at your local fair or carnival. The ice in Kakigori is shaved so finely, you don’t get any of the big, chunky, brain freeze pieces you always get in a snow cone, and it doesn’t glue itself all together as it melts, as a snow cone sometimes does. The other difference is the syrups. These seem not as cloyingly sweet as some you might find for a snow cone, and the flavors are brighter – tangerine, melon, and strawberry – much closer to fresh fruit than the snow cone flavors. I like to taste the rainbow – and dream of cooler days!

Braised Pork – Be Our Guest in the Magic Kingdom

Let me tell you, my little Mouseketeers, this is one of the best bargains on Disney property. Served only during lunch, the pork is cooked like a Coq Au Vin, which is a traditionally French dish made with chicken and red wine, simmered in a pot until tender and delicious. This dish hits the tender and delicious part spot on, and the serving is a full and generous portion – especially since this is lunch! You’ll get the wonderfully flavored pork, a healthy portion of mashed potatoes, a gravy filled with carrots, onions and mushrooms, and another side dish of green beans. Easily a $30 entree at a sit down restaurant with fancy napkins and French waiters, go for a late lunch (no reservations required!!) and make this your dinner. You’ll have room for a late night Dole Whip snack!

So what are some of your Disney favorites?

January 12, 2014

50s Prime Time Cafe – Restaurant Review

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Back in the day when Brighid was little, 50s Prime Time Cafe was the place to go for really delicious, homestyle comfort foods. But more than that, it was the place to go for an experience like no other – where you became part of the “family” dining at Mom’s table – complete with Mom yelling at you and making you stand in the corner if you talked back. Or didn’t eat your veggies. Or you put your elbows on the table. And if you did manage to make it through your vegetables, Mom – or a cousin – would hand you a ViewMaster dessert menu, taking you right back to your childhood (or your mother’s childhood) while you perused options for your sweet reward for suffering through the green beans.

On our recent visit, we were pleased to see the menu with which we have become so familiar. Mom’s pot roast – a table favorite – it perfectly tender, shredded into delicious gravy covered bites, and served with garlic mashed potatoes and veggies you totally don’t mind eating, because they are so perfectly cooked and flavorful.

Cousin Ann’s meatloaf, although flavorful and delicious, was a bit on the dry side. Nothing a few squirts of ketchup didn’t cure, but the ketchup then overpowered the yummy glaze. Served on a bed of the garlic mashed potatoes, it’s about as close to Mom made as you’ll find.

Aunt Liz’s Golden Fried Chicken won tremendous praise at our table. Golden and crisp, the chicken had the perfect crunch without an abundance of grease (take that, Colonel Sanders). There were those garlic mashed potatoes again, and sweet corn, adding a comfort-ful side dish to an already homey plate.

The one health conscious person at our table ordered the chicken Caesar salad, and claimed it delicious. And really, in these days of diets and fad food trends, is there anything more classic than the chicken Caesar? It has become almost as comforting as pot roast and meatloaf.

What our experience lacked was the fun factor. I’ve heard before that they no longer use the ViewMasters for dessert due to health concerns, with the toys being so close to so many eyes. I guess I get that. But even the interaction with the servers has been greatly curtailed over the years. Our waiter, Cousin Richard, was nothing more than a sarcastic, bitter, hating his job type of guy who couldn’t wait to be done taking our order and moving on. And while Richard was one of the worst we’ve had in a while, there is no more real home atmosphere, where mom is yelling at you for something and someone is getting in trouble. I was told by one server that people didn’t like being told to stand in a corner, so they scaled back that type of interaction, but it was a huge part of the fun of the experience.

Would I recommend this restaurant? Highly. It’s still great fun to see and be transported to the 1950s. The food is still very good overall. The peanut butter and jelly milkshake is still one of the best milkshakes – anywhere. But I would tell folks who were there a long time ago to curb their expectations. What used to be good food and great fun is now great food and good fun. It’s still a must do for my family.

August 14, 2013

How Not to Starve on Two Meals a Day – The Disney Dining Plan

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Friends and family alike are always asking me questions about the Disney Dining Plan. Is it a good value? Can I eat anywhere I want? Can I eat anything I want? But the question that keeps coming up again and again is the question about how much people need to budget for the third meal that is not included in the quick service or regular Disney Dining Plan.

And my answer to that really should be – you aren’t going to starve.

In addition to credits to cover you for two meals, you also get a snack credit for each night of your package on either of those plans. When I tell them “snack”, most people think an ice cream bar or a box of popcorn, but when I tell you what your other snack options are, you’ll understand the not starving thing.

If you’d like to save your meal credits for lunch or dinner, check out some of the amazing breakfast options that count as a snack. You’ll find muffins, pastries, scones and coffee cake on the list of snacks you can use to enjoy breakfast. You might also opt for a mixed fruit cup, a whole piece of fruit, a hefty cinnamon roll (you could share this between two people!), or a yogurt.

Maybe breakfast has to be your biggest meal of the day, so you’d like to use one of your meal credits to get yourself a nice platter of breakfast foods somewhere. Save those snack credits for lunch instead – or even a light dinner. If you’ve eaten a big breakfast, you might be satisfied with an egg roll or some sushi, both options you can use snack credits for. If you’d like something a bit more filling, you’ll find one snack credit buys you a good sized serving of chili cheese fries. Be Our Guest has delicious and filling crocks of potato leek or French onion soup as snack offerings.

You might split your snack credits with friends, and make a meal out of the lobster bisque and a whole baguette – each one snack credit – available at the recently opened Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie at EPCOT’s France pavilion. A nice breakfast is half an oatmeal and half of a yogurt and fruit parfait – a whole one of each is available at Animal Kingdom for one snack credit each, and can be shared with a friend.

You’ll find carrots and celery with dip, trail mix, and nachos and cheese – all of which are offered in pretty generous serving sizes that will tide you over until your next meal. I haven’t met many people who regret sacrificing snack credits for food that is more like a meal.

And don’t forget – you can grab a dessert with your meal that can be boxed up and eaten later – as a snack!

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