Disneymoon dining report days 16-22

Friday 5 September 2014


The following morning we were rather sleepy and didn't manage to make it up in time for breakfast in the hotel. We ended up just going down to the kinda market place shop / smoothie bar inside the hard rock hotel and got some stuff.
I had cereal and water.
Robert got a giant smoothie.
Later as we were leaving universal I got a popcorn which I ate in the car on the way back to the other hotel.

This seemed to unleash my appetite and by the time we arrived back at our hotel I was starving. So was Robert, so we ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut in the hotel lobby. It was really good, I had the pepperoni half.
Much later in the evening we went a second trip to Walmart to get some bits and bobs before heading home (we still had 5 full days but 3 were on the cruise).
Lots of this was sweeties for Robert's workmates but some of it was mine too, yum yum!
We then popped to the outlets at Vineland to buy more jeans and stopped for dinner at the food court.
Robert went to Chicken Wow (he tells me that's what it was called, I'm not 100% sure). He got chicken with mash fries and gravy. The chicken was good he said, and he got more than he paid for, but the fries weren't great.
I went to the Chinese place. I think I had bourbon chicken and sesame chicken but can't remember for sure. It was pretty tasty whatever it was, but could maybe have done with some more sauce.

The next day was my birthday - yipee!!! My traditional birthday breakfast is always French toast and bacon, so I decided we should head to IHOP that morning to have my usual.
I ended up with way more than just French toast and bacon though, and everything was great. I think was maybe the split decision breakfast, and I subbed the pancakes for French toast.

Robert got an omelette with sausage and cheese and he couldn't believe the size of it. (Really, after 2 weeks in America?!)
My special birthday meal that evening was Be Our Guest - the must have hard to get reservation! Although I actually got my reservation with no problems amazingly.
We started out with the charcuterie board. This was reallllllly good, everything was delicious. I didn't want to fill up too much on the bread but it was all so delicious we couldn't help ourselves!
My main meal had been decided many months prior to this day, I went for the pork chop with the macaroni gratin. Which was lovely. The pork wasn't quite as good as the pork in House of Blues but the macaroni gratin more than made up for that. I ended up pretty full and I left some of my meat in favour of the pasta. It was so creamy and cheesey and delicious.
Robert went for a steak and his review was "it was good" with a smile and an enthusiastic nod. This is high praise from Robert.
I was so stuffed but our server brought me a little birthday card with a little blob of the grey stuff. It's delicious - if you don't believe me ask the dishes!
He also brought round the desert trolley and Robert chose to have a full size grey stuff cake. He didn't need to ask the dishes, he agreed it was lovely.

The following morning was cruise day! We didn't bother with breakfast, but I think I might have had another lunchables for while we were driving to Port Canaveral.
Once on board we headed up for the sail away party and I had a wee cocktail - not sure what exactly it was, it was some kind of ocean themed thing. Robert went for beers, just for a change.
I don't actually have any food pics from that day - it was all buffet food which is never particularly photogenic.
The following evening was our first proper sit down meal of the cruise. First up they brought us a bread basket with a variety of rolls. As usual I didn't want to fill up too much but I couldn't resist one.
For appetiser, Robert went for spicy alligator fritters. Unfortunately when it arrived the fritters were a bit like bhajis and were full of onion which Robert HATES. They also came with a bowl of crispy onions so it was left untouched.
I went for vegetable spring rolls which were tasty.
Roberts main course was southern fried chicken but it came on the bone and he wasn't Into that either. I don't seem to have a picture.

I had prime rib and it was delicious! I didn't want it to end! It came with a jacket potato with sour cream and bacon topping, and onion rings as you can see.
After dinner we relaxed on the deck with a wee drink. Mango daiquiri and johnny walker red label.

Food the following day was more buffet selections until our evening meal.
At dinner, I started with a bahama mama. This was ok but a wee bit too coconutty for me!
We both had the tomato and mozzarella stack as our appetiser, and it was pretty tasty.
Robert went back to his usual burger -
And I had pork in breadcrumbs which came with roasted vegetables and these lovely wee tiny chopped potatoes.
We were both too full again for pudding, but I grabbed some cheesecake from a buffet bar later on.
Back to disneyworld the next morning and as we arrived at the hotel I remembered there was a mcdonalds nearby and we popped in there for breakfast. We both got a sausage and egg mcmuffin meal, which came with a hash brown. Robert had coffee, I had diet coke.

Later in the day we were relaxing on the balcony before heading to Yachstman for dinner so I popped down to get a cocktail at the pool bar. I got a mango margarita which had yummy passion fruit foam on top.
Yachstman steakhouse was my most looked forward to meal of the holiday, saving the best for last really :) it lived up to my expectations and we had a lovely final evening.
As usual I had a cocktail, opting for another blue glowtini. Yet again I forgot to take a pic before drinking some!
Now the bread service here is half the reason I booked it, and oh my gosh it was simply amazing. They gave us 2 types of bread but I only tried the pull apart onion rolls because a. They were amazing and b. I left the other kind for Robert the onion hater.
It was served with roasted garlic and salted butter. I've never had roasted garlic served like this before but it was unbelievable. It was so well cooked that it spread on the bread like butter. Paired with the onion bread, it was heaven.


We skipped an appetiser in favour of a side dish to go with our mains - the famed mac and cheese with truffle oil. At this point my disney food stalking paid off because I knew the mac n cheese came with onion strings on top so I asked for those to come on the side for Robert's sake. Can't believe it but I don't actually have a photo of this! It was really delicious though and went well with the steaks. Again I was worried that the truffle may have been too strong but it wasn't too overpowering as the cheeses were strongly flavoured too.
Onto the mains - I chose the filet mignon, medium rare, which should have been served with mash and a Cabernet sauce. I asked however to switch it for the sides that came with the strip steak, which was a white cheddar twice baked potato (yum) and a brandy peppercorn sauce (double yum). This steak was amazing, I was genuinely sad when it was finished despite being stuffed. It was perfectly cooked, so tender it would melt in your mouth and deliciously seasoned.
Robert choose the New York strip which came with the same accompanyments as I had switched to. I just asked Robert how this was and he said "it was dead good". So there.
After dinner we were so full so I opted for another glowtini in place of dessert, but the server brought us a little plateful of treats because he knew we were on honeymoon.
While this was lovely and thoughtful, I have to be honest and say I only ate them because I didn't want to leave them and I was so full they were a bit wasted on me - I can't actually remember what any of them tasted like.
Overall the meal was just amazing. Very expensive but worth it for a special occasion in my opinion. The service was great and everything we had was delicious.

Last day now! :(
We checked out and decided to chill at the Animal kingdom lodge pool before heading to the airport. We popped into the Mara for a bite to eat and I opted for the BBQ chicken flatbread. This was really good and had loads of coriander (cilantro) on it, which I love. It seems to be a bit of a love/hate herb though so if you are a hater I'd advise to ask for it without!
Robert went for an Angus cheeseburger with bacon. Not much to say about that.
At Tampa airport we decided to head into chillis for a drink while we waited for our flight. I went for a classic marg on the rocks, and a yuengling for Robert.

While waiting I started to get a bit hungry again so we got an appetiser sampler to share. We got mini burgers, buffalo wings and chicken tenders which I think were honey BBQ or similar. It was all really nice and very reasonable for airport prices.
The return airline food was pretty rubbish. It was chicken curry and not nice at all although Robert seemed to enjoy his!
The wee lemon cake was quite tasty though.
And that's the last of my honeymoon eating and drinking!! :(
However, a few days after getting home I got to enjoy this wee treat that I had picked up in the Mara. I wish I'd known how good these were and I would have brought more home!
My last little taste of Disney magic -
Thanks for reading folks, hope you've enjoyed following the expansion of my waistline.
I'll be starting my trip report soon although I think that will be far more time consuming so I wouldn't hold your breath!
Jilly xx

Disney dining day 11 - 15

Up the next day was Kennedy Space centre. We had to stop for petrol so decided to get some snacks in the garage to keep us going til we got there.
Robert chose this wrap, but only ate half of it. Said it was really dry.
I made better selections and had a lunchables -

And some cheese and grapes, and apples with caramel dip. These were really yummy!
I intended for these 2 to keep me going until dinner tonight.
At KSC Robert was hungry as he'd only eaten half of that wrap. So he got a burger, which I don't seem to have a photo of! Fail! And I was actually feeling peckish too so I got a kids meal of chicken strips. The kids meal came with 2 and the adults has 3. I got a fountain drink but when I got to the bit to pay the woman told me I could have got a small included with the kids meal.
These were pretty good actually.

That night we had booked dinner at House of Blues - we had a restaurant.com voucher for $50off on a minimum spend of $100. Alcohol was included so we could make up our spend that way as our meals wouldn't be as much as that.
I started with a marg on the rocks, Robert had beers.
Sorry the photos are really dark here - I hate using my flash for food pics and it was dark inside.
We started with chicken wings to share - I think Robert has already nabbed one when I took this pic! The Asian slaw was yummy.
For entree, I had the adobo rubbed pork chop but I asked to sub the "black eyed pea and butternut squash picadillo" for mash. She said she would get some veg on there too. This was SO delicious, one of my favourite meals of the holiday. So so good. I don't even know what adobo is/means but it was amazing. The mash was creamy and delicious and it all just went together perfectly despite the fact it didn't come as listed on the menu.
Robert had the New York strip steak, which he also really enjoyed. He doesn't like onions so I robbed his bourbon onions and they went really well with my meal too.

I then had a frozen daiquiri, which was yummy but took me ages to drink because it was so cold. I guess frozen cocktails are better for outdoor drinking because they melt a bit while you drink hehe.

On the walk back to the hotel I stopped at the candy shop for another one of those mallow on a stick treats. Yum yum! (No pic sorry but it was same as the last one).
Next morning we went to breakfast at Denny's. Robert really wanted to go because we love breaking bad (if you watch it you'll get that). We were told 15 minutes wait but it was only about 5. Again I don't seem to have a pic of Roberts but I got a breakfast with French toast. Can't remember what it was called on the menu.
We were at Animal kingdom that day and about 5pm I decided it was time for a cocktail! I hunted down a frozen marg and was delighted to find they had mango flavour! This was SO GOOD. I really want one right now!

We walked over to crossroads that night and went to TGIs. We had a while to wait so ordered drinks at the bar. I had another daiquiri. Robert had a beer of some variety.
After a while we were seated. I fancied just having an appetiser sampler as I really wanted the pot stickers, potato skins and the pretzel sticks. Annoyingly though the sampler HAS to have chicken wings on it, so I ordered the pot stickers as an appetiser on their own. Robert got boneless wings.
I love love love the pot stickers here.
No picture of Roberts wings, I suspect he was starting to get annoyed with me making him wait every time his food came haha. But here is his burger. Those are fried jalapeños on top. Robert said the burger was good but he'd over eaten on his appetiser so was stuffed pretty quickly!

And my sampler - with boneless buffalo wings, pretzel sticks with beer cheese dip and potato skins. Everything was good but nothin was amazing. The pretzel sticks were a bit greasy. And the skins seemed like they'd been deep fried they were so crispy. I didn't manage all of the wings but I wasn't fussed, I'd only taken them because I had to!

During dinner I had a mango mojito despite it not being on the menu. The bar said they would give it a go but they put in a bit much mango concentrate and it was a bit too sweet. After dinner I had another frozen daiquiri coz I couldn't decide what else to get but I was actually a bit full to properly enjoy it. Waddled home feeling fat hehe.
The next day was Earl of Sandwich for lunch.
I of course had the amazing holiday sandwich again. Robert was in a mood because the queue was so long AND because the cannonballs sandwich wasn't on the menu anymore so I dont know what he had or have a picture of it.
Holiday sandwich again. Delicious again.

That evening we went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The wait was 1 hour but we had a few things we wanted to get in the mall so that was fine and we wandered off for half an hour or so. Our table was only about 10 minutes wait after we arrived back at the restaurant. This was around 8pm on a Saturday night so not too bad I thought.
Sorry the pics are so dreadful here, it was so dark inside. I've tried to lighten the pictures a bit using a photo edit app but still not great.
We shared macaroni balls so start with. These were SO YUMMY!
That is the middle of one macaroni ball on my plate (I think there were 4 all in)
Robert went for the teriyaki chicken. He said this was really good but the amount of rice was unnecessary. Who can seriously eat that amount of rice?!
Sorry it's so dark but you can clearly see the mountain of rice -
I just had to check the online menu to see what my meal was called but I had Chicken Bellagio. This was SO GOOD! It was (from the menu) "Crispy Coated Chicken Breast over Basil Pasta and Parmesan Cream Sauce Topped with Prosciutto and Arugula Salad"
Again, super dark photo but you can again see the portion was huge!
Obviously I wanted cheesecake but I had to get it to go because no way would I manage it tonight.
Behind the bag you can see Robert, who had developed a bit of an obsession with looking up reviews of the "under the door" pizza flier companies that the hotels recommend against. He discovered that half of them seemed to be the same dodgy company under various names, and decided by the pictures on the reviews that they must be based in someone's dirty garage haha. We'll stick to papa johns I think!
So anyways, this was breakfast the following morning - it was white choc and raspberry. And it was SO GOOD. I seem to say that a lot haha
Lunch that day ended up being drive through at mcdonalds and Taco Bell. It was supposed to be quick service at typhoon lagoon but just as we reached lunch time a storm hit so everyone was taking shelter and stopping for lunch so we headed out.
I went to Taco Bell first and got 3 tacos supreme and a cheesy fiesta potatoes. With a large drink. I think this was about $6.
This looks a bit gross but tastes so good!

And the tacos were yummy as always. There was plenty meat hiding under there-

No pics of mcdonalds, it was a double quarter pounder with cheese I think. I think this was about $8 for the meal.
That evening was hollywood studios and I was dying to try the mac n cheese hot dog. It was pretty good. It came with chips aka crisps, which Robert was so disappointed about. He thought he was getting a hot dog and chips. He had the chilli dog but again no pic sorry.
This was kinda messy to eat but tasty enough. I had worried that the truffle oil topping might be too strong but it wasn't very noticeable.
Back to hard rock hotel again the next morning. I woke up with a craving for pizza and knew I could get pizza at the monster cafe in universal so that's where we headed.
I had a giant slice of pizza.
And a giant slice of chocolate cake
Both were delicious!
Robert got a burger. I'm sure I worked this out to be something like 3/4 lb worth of burger. No 1/4 pounders here! It was huge and Robert said it was really good and said it was the best theme park burger he'd had. (Not quite living up to 5 guys).
Later in the afternoon we headed back to the hotel and by this time it was pouring down so our only option (of course) was to hit happy hour at the Velvet Lounge.
Robert was on pints again and I think I started with a marg, but then decided to try out a mango bay breeze which was mango Bacardi, pineapple and cranberry. Ohhhh wow, why had I not tried one of these sooner. So yummy.

Later we headed out (in the rain so s'cuse my hair) to margaritaville where I ordered the margarita flight. This was so cute and novelty and the drinks were lovely too. I can't really remember what each individual one was called but they were all really nice.
Food wise, Robert ordered a burger (shocker).

And I had quesadillas. I think this might actually be considered a starter but there was loads of food! I had a side ceasar salad with it too. I'm not normally a massive fan of salsa but it had loads of coriander in it which I LOVE so I ended up asking for more.

- THEME BY ECLAIR DESIGNS -