Tag Archives: Food

Flame Tree BBQ – January 2, 2018

We were feeling a little hungry, and decided we wanted a snack around 11:30am, so we headed over to Flame Tree BBQ. We didn’t want anything big, so we ordered some fries to split.

It was also really cold out, so Luke ordered a coffee and I got a hot chocolate.

Our fries tasted like fries, and our drinks were warm. It was everything we’d hoped for.

Cost: $7.57 after using my Tables in Wonderland card ($1.77 saved)

*See post for Tony’s to see explanation of the math below*

Tables in Wonderland Original Cost: $150                                              Break Even Point Before this Meal: $119.80                                                      Savings this Meal: $1.77                                                                                          Total until Breaking Even: $118.03

Predicted food budget: $2631.67                                                                            Estimated Cost of this meal: $0 (not planned)                                                   Actual Cost: $7.57                                                                                      Over/Under: Over by $7.57                                                                    Remaining: $2135.81

Next: Nomad Lounge

Carnation Cafe – November 11, 2017

Each and every trip to Disney, we like to try out at least one new-to-us restaurant. During this trip, that happened to be Carnation Cafe (which is definitely not a new restaurant to the park!)

Located on Main Street USA, Carnation Cafe features some of Walt’s favourite recipes. It is not a huge place, and reservations are definitely recommended.

We checked in, and only had to wait a few minutes before our names were called and we were led to a two-top table in the outside section. The menu is not huge here, just a single page.

We ordered our drinks – a root beer for me and a cherry coke for Luke. They quickly arrived (and apparently I was so thirsty I drank a quarter of mine before taking a picture haha).

I loved the carnations in the design of the tabletop, I thought it was a cute way to tie in the name of the restaurant. It also gave it a vintage feel – I wonder how old these tables actually are?

There were also real carnations on every table. I’m not a huge flower person, but I’ve always likes the simplicity of carnations 🙂

While we were sitting there, waiting for our food, a server came over and asked if we would mind moving to a different table. They had a large group checking in, and they needed our two-top table to push up against a large 6-top. They ended up moving us to a 4-top table – so no complaints from us! It’s always nice to have a little more space for our food!

Luke decided to start with the Fried Pickles with Dipping Sauce – Dill pickle spears dipped in Parmesan and Panko, fried golden brown and served with a house sauce, $7.

I don’t like pickles, so I didn’t try these, but Luke seemed to really enjoy them! He described them as having a nice crispy/dense panko-style breading The sauce was like a cajun aioli, and tasted great with the pickles. He did recommend sharing it between two people, he found it to be a lot to eat all on his own.

I had scoped out the menu before we even made this dining reservation, so I knew exactly what I was going to order before I even sat down – the Chicken-Fried Chicken – buttermilk-fried chicken breast served with mashed potatoes, country gravy and seasonal vegetables, $18.

This was a huge piece of chicken! It was much larger than I expected it to be, and it was tasty! The batter on it was really good – flaky and crispy at the same time, and the chicken was nice and moist. The mashed potatoes were good, although I did ask for more of the country gravy so I could pour it on top of those as well. The seasonal vegetables were a little underwhelming, just a few pieces of cauliflower and broccoli, but I still ate them. The sourdough roll was nice, and I appreciated the huge dish of butter they provided to smear over everything (obviously, I didn’t put butter on my chicken haha).

I came close, but I wasn’t quite able to finish everything on my plate. I would definitely order this meal again!

Luke ordered the Homemade Meatloaf – our special blend of beef and pork served with ketchup glaze, mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy and seasonal vegetables, $15.  Since my meal was also served with mashed potatoes, we asked about switching his out for french fries, and that was no issue at all – we just wanted to try both 🙂

The outside of the meatloaf had a nice crunch to it, while the inside was juicy and flavourful. The ketchup glaze had a smokey taste and the mushroom gravy was just the right amount of savoury. The perfect umami complement to its tangy tomato counterpart. The shoestring fries were as you’d want them to be. Light, crisp and not too greasy. The ketchup was sublime. Or Heinz. Either way – 9/10. Would dip fries into again. The vegetables were pretty good to, if not necessary to get a little fibre involved with this whole thing. We’re not getting any younger – amiright?

After using my annual pass to save 15%, our total bill came to $43.94 after tax – not bad for such a good meal!

Goofy’s Kitchen – Brunch – January 29, 2017

In the spirit of trying out new-to-us restaurants on this trip, we had made a reservation at Goofy’s Kitchen – a buffet meal with characters located at the Disneyland Hotel.

We walked over to the hotel and checked in for our 11am reservation. By ten after eleven, we had already paid for our meal – which you do before even being seated – and were in line to meet Goofy. The cost per person is $36, but they automatically add 18% gratuity to your bill. I did get 15% off with my Annual Pass so our total bill came to $79.91. I’m used to the characters coming to your table during character meals, and for the most part they still do that here. But, you typically meet Chef Goofy before entering the restaurant, and then during your meal cast members come around and try to make you pay more money to get the picture they took of you with him. I’m not a fan of this at all – in my opinion I’ve already paid more than enough just to eat here, plus I had Photopass covered by my annual pass. Needless to say, we did not purchase the photo.

Anyways,  we were led to our table – a two-top close to the main entrance, and immediately went to hit up the buffet. I took a crazy amount of pictures of this buffet, so enjoy:

                                                          The main buffet area

         Cold options – mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, baby corn, black olives and beets

          Beets (again), cucumbers, rolls

   The sign just says Garbanzo – which would be the lighter coloured ones (I call them chickpeas). The red ones look like kidney beans. Also, balsalmic and ranch.

  Smoked salmon, sliced deli-meat turkey

  Sliced cheese, pasta salad, Tarragon Chicken Salad

  Pork Stew, Oatmeal

  Bacon, scrambled eggs, pork sausage

  Pork sausage, eggs benedict, roasted potatoes

 Sliced Ham, Pasta Pasguali

  Seasonal vegetables, chicken teriyaki, rice pilaf

 Made-to-order omelets – choose from red onion, tomato, green pepper, black olive, spinach, mushrooms, ham, bacon, chicken sausage, pork chorizo, jalapenos, cheddar cheese

  Mickey pancakes, chicken nuggets   Hot dogs and buns

   Margherita Pizza (tomato, mozzarella, basil), Macaroni & cheese pizza, Cheese pizza

  Pepperoni pizza, Peanut Butter & Jelly pizza

  Orange jello, cake pops

  Worms and dirt (chocolate pudding, crumbled Oreos and gummy worms)

 Root Beer Bundt cake

  Croissants, assorted mini muffins

   Banana Bread, cookies

 Assorted cookies, squares

   Ice cream machine – vanilla, chocolate or swirl

  Ice cream toppings – blue sugar, chocolate covered peanuts, Mickey sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, mini M&M’s, Reese’s pieces, white chocolate pearls

Not pictured (since the pans were mostly empty when I was up taking pictures): Bread Pudding, Monkey Bread and a Seasonal Cobbler.

Now for our plates of food:

I didn’t pile my first plate too high, and went for a slice of pepperoni pizza, some cucumbers with ranch dressing, a slice of ham, green beans/carrots, chicken nuggets, rice and chicken teriyaki.

I also grabbed some orange jello – it’s something that is so simple, yet I never make at home, but I’m always a fan!

Luke’s first plate – eggs Benedict, pepperoni pizza, PB&J pizza, chicken nuggets, bacon, cucumbers, sliced deli turkey, a slice of cheese and chicken salad.

My second plate:

I actually went fairly healthy (not very common for me, really), and grabbed more cucumbers and  green beans/carrots, some pasta, and then half a plate of fruit – grapes, blueberries, strawberries, watermelon and raspberries.

Luke’s second plate:

A made-to-order omelet (he can’t remember for sure what he had, but it looks like ham, green peppers and onions), chicken teriyaki, green bean/carrot mix, a sausage and another eggs benedict.

Finally, we had the ridiculousness that was our desert plates… first up, Luke’s:

A mini creme brulee, a square (looks like a puffed wheat square) and some of the seasonal cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream.

Since my second plate of food was healthy,  I guess that qualified me to go crazy on my dessert plate – this looks like the plate of a five year old…

More orange jello, a cake pop covered in sprinkles, a piece of the root beer bundt cake, a dish of ice cream covered in sprinkles and some of the worms and dirt. Yup, I’m definitely an adult…

Oh, we also can’t forget that they brought over a cupcake for Luke’s birthday:

This was a rainbow chip cupcake with orange icing piled high, decorated with Mickey sprinkles and a little chocolate Goofy hat. Yes, we ate this too…

Also, not pictured is the bowl of mini M&M’s I had… can we say sugar high?!

Overall, the food was good – it was nothing spectacular, but it was exactly the consistency and quality I’ve come to expect from Disney buffets. I never leave hungry or unsatisfied, and usually enjoy my meals.

Of course, Goofy’s is most known for being a character meal! The characters were making their rounds, we saw some of them more than once.

Overall, we enjoyed our experience at Goofy’s Kitchen. I really do not agree with them trying to force you into buying your picture with Goofy, I think they need to re-evaluate that and have that included for anyone with an annual pass or who has paid for Photopass – I refused to pay them an extra $30 just for a picture when I had just paid $1500 for an annual pass a few days earlier (and $80 just to eat here). Why not just run things like they do at WDW?

One thing I really like about the character meals at Disneyland are the custom pins they have. You get one just by eating there – we have a good collection of these now!

We don’t feel the need to eat at Goofy’s Kitchen on every trip, but we will definitely be back at some point!

 

Galactic Grill (Tomorrowland Terrace)

Breakfast – February 27, 2016

After cancelling our Plaza Inn breakfast reservation in lieu of meeting some Oilers (including Mr. McDavid!), we arrived to Disneyland hungry. After securing our coveted fastpass for Hyperspace Mountain, we decided to just grab something from the Tomorrowland Terrace since we were already in Tomorrowland.

At this point, the Tomorrowland Terrace had been re-themed as the Galactic Grill and was serving up Star Wars-inspired food options.

We had a lunch reservation for Blue Bayou a little later that day, so we decided to just split a kid’s meal (and grab a churro immediately afterwards as well…) – so we ordered the Blue Milk French Toast, served with bacon and a fruit cup.

The french toast was actually blue! It was also coated with a generous layer of powdered sugar – in case you needed even more sweetness with your breakfast. Since this was a kid’s meal, there was only two pieces of french toast (or one full slice of bread) and two slices of bacon.

The french toast was just ok – not terrible, but not overly great either. We were both hungry though, and it hit the spot and held us over until lunch. The bacon was standard Disney bacon, and the fruit cup was not bad – fairly fresh!

I can’t remember the exact cost of this meal, but it was cheap – I want to say $5.99?

I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat breakfast here again, but it was fine for what it was.

Wine Country Trattoria – WOC Dining – January 28, 2017

It’s been almost 10 months since this meal, and I’m finally attempting to write this report. I’ve been dreading it, trying to put it off for as long as possible. I hate negative reports, but I really don’t know if there are any positives from this meal…

We did the World of Colour Dining Package at Wine Country Trattoria back in 2015 on our first trip to Disneyland and it was great, so we were looking forward to getting back to try it again.

We checked in, and were led upstairs to an almost empty second floor. Apparently this is where all of the WOC dining package people were sitting (in 2015 we were in the regular restaurant).

We had the dining package menu placed in front of us:

First up was our drink orders. While we were downstairs waiting for our table, I was looking through the drink menu and saw that they had Fairytale Cuvee – the champagne that is included with an Escape Wedding Package through Disney Fairy Tale Weddings. We had already been discussing that as an option for our wedding (we had only been engaged for a few weeks at this point), so I decided I wanted to order a glass to try it. The waiter looked so confused, and told me he had to go ask for permission to serve me a glass of it (what? He had just told us we could order anything from the bar downstairs…) Eventually he came back with my tiny little $17 DOLLAR GLASS OF CHAMPAGNE! Ouch, I probably wouldn’t have ordered it if I had known it would be that expensive (can you tell I rarely drink at restaurants?)

Luke kept it a little easier for our waiter, and just ordered a beer of some kind (according to our receipt, it’s an  ‘Anaheim Hefewzn’ – whatever that means.). He described it as not bad, but not memorable.

Next up were our Appetizers – we could choose between soup or salad.

I went for the soup, which was a Minestrone that day. It was ok, nothing special. I’ve had better at Olive Garden. It was also a pretty small serving.

Luke went for the Starter Salad – arugula, fennel, red onion, spiced walnuts and goat cheese with a fig-balsamic dressing (the only thing I’d eat from that salad are the walnuts, and I’m not supposed to eat nuts due to my Crohn’s). This salad was similar to the one Luke had back in 2015, but it wasn’t as good as he remembered.

Then came the entrees. On our trip in 2015, I had ordered the steak option and sent it back twice to be cooked as I had ordered it (if I ask for well done, I don’t want it bleeding out on my plate). Once I finally did get it cooked as ordered, it was delicious.

I decided to go for the steak option again this time, and ordered the Ribeye Steak – served with creamy garlic stacked potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts with bacon and honey. I mentioned that I don’t like brussel sprouts, and the waiter let me know I could swap out for broccoli no problem.

The steak was fairly dry (I know, I ordered it well done – but a properly cooked well-done steak should not be dry!). There also wasn’t much flavour on it – shouldn’t they be putting at least salt and pepper or something on it while they cook? The broccoli was cold (but cooked), and the potatoes were just ok. They reminded me a bit of the scalloped potatoes I had at Olivia’s Cafe at Old Key West a few weeks earlier, but the Olivia’s ones were a million times better!

Luke ordered the Herb-Roasted Chicken Breast – served with broccolini, caramelized onions, red peppers and fettucine pasta with an alfredo sauce.

The pasta was good, but the chicken was much better back in 2015. Luke says it seems like everything was pre-prepared, and pretty dry by the time it made it’s way to us – as if it had been sitting under a heat lamp for awhile.

Also included in this dining package is a tray of desserts – Trattoria Tiramisu, European Macaroons, Caramel Chocolate Panna Cotta and Lemon Cream Puffs.

I’m not a fan of cream puffs (or lemon flavour), so Luke ate his and mine was left. I also don’t get the current obsession with macarons (or European macaroons as the menu called them…) – I ate one of these, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy them (I did buy a few from a cart in Downtown Disney a few days prior, and I regretted it  – I just don’t love them!). Luke told me his list of best to worst form this dessert plate would be the macaron-cream puff-tiramisu-panna cotta. In comparison, my list would be panna cotta-macaron-tiramisu-cream puff.

Overall, the desserts were fine – but the rest of the meal had been so disappointing up to that point that we were just over it.

This meal cost $46 each, and we saved $13.80 with my annual pass. Our total bill was $111.20 – way too expensive for such a disappointing meal.

Budget Friendly Disney Eats!

Look, we know Disney is expensive. Just because we’ve made all those dining reservations does not mean you need to join us for them – but you’re still going to want to eat haha. We decided to put together a list of some great options we’ve tried (or trust the opinions of people who have tried) that might be little easier on the wallet…

Magic Kingdom

  • This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Peco’s Bills! It’s possibly my favourite quick service restaurant at Disney (that fixin’s bar doesn’t hurt my opinion of that). It’s a Tex-Mex style menu, and you can easily get an entree and a soft drink for under $20 (we recommend the fajita platter at $14.99 or the beef nachos, $12.49), and then you load it up with all the shredded cheese, salsa, guacamole and sour cream your heart desires – you end up with a large portion!  
  • Columbia Harbour House – we have never ate here, but it always has great reviews. The most expensive entree on the menu is $15, and you can actually get healthier options (like grilled salmon, salad, etc)
  • Another option is Casey’s Corner, located on the corner of Main Street. This place is all about the foot long hot dogs – topped with chili&cheese or mac&cheese – each $10.99 (includes fries) – or . I’ve also heard a lot of great things about the corn dog nuggets ($8.49 with fries). Honestly, they are just hot dogs, but the fries are shoestring style (my favourite!)
  •  
  • I’m giving an honourable mention to Be Our Guest (lunch only). This is one of the only quick serve locations on property to accept advance dining reservations, as it is one of the most in-demand places to eat. The lunch menu is reasonably priced, and soft drinks are self-serve, so you can get free refills throughout your meal as well.

Epcot

  • Sunshine Seasons is the top of my list for this park based on the size of the menu. There are options for everyone – soup, salad, sandwiches, chinese food, vegan – and everything is under $15!
  • We’ve never ate there, but Tangierine Cafe in the Morocco Pavilion is always raved about. The servings are generous, and cost is under $20.
  • If you’re feeling like fish and chips ($10.99), head to Yorkshire County Fish Shop in the UK Pavilion.
  • It’s very easy to make a meal out of snacking around Epcot. Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles has very cheap French pastries, if you like coconut you’ll love the School Bread ($3.49) from Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe in the Norway Pavilion, the curry chicken pocket ($4.50) from Joy of Tea in the China Pavilion is delicious. Turkey legs (~$10) are found in the American Adventure Pavilion, as well as funnel cakes ($7.99).

Hollywood Studios

  • This is the park most lacking in food options, but you can still find things to fill your belly 🙂 The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge has a small menu that is surprisingly affordable. The actual restaurant is pricer, but you can get a smaller version of their famous Cobb salad in the lounge for $10, or wagyu-beef sliders for $17.
  • Backlot Express is considered the best quick service location at the Studios. The menu is fairly straight forward, with a few items having a Star Wars theme (like the Dark Side chicken and waffles, $10.99)

Animal Kingdom

  • Satu’li Canteen is a brand new restaurant that opened with Avatar Land in May of 2017. They offer a healthy “bowl” served with your choice of beef or fish for $12.99, or chicken or tofu for $11.49. I highly recommend this place – and make sure you get dessert! 
  • If you’re looking for a giant plate of fries, head to Flame Tree BBQ. We shared an order of their pulled pork and cheese fries ($6.49) on a previous trip, and it was more than enough for us as a mid-afternoon snack.  
  • There is a Rainforest Cafe located near the entrance to the park. The appetizer menu is shareable and affordable – we shared a $20 appy platter on our last trip to California at the Rainforest Cafe located there and it was a generous portion of food.

Disney Springs

  • Our #1 recommendation here will always be Earl of Sandwich. Luke loves it – I’m not even much of a sandwich person and I’ve always enjoyed my meals here as well. They are very simple pressed sandwiches with straight forward ingredients, and cost under $7.50 each. Even if you make your meal a combo (add a drink and small bag of chips), your total will be only be a little over $10. You can’t eat on Disney property much cheaper than that!                                                                     
  • We haven’t tried it in Orlando (it’s a franchise we have in Edmonton), but Blaze Pizza always seems to be loved! Who can complain about $10 pizzas?
  • D-Luxe Burger is also highly reviewed, burgers are $10-$13 with a side of fries costing about $5.
  • Morimoto Street Food is a grab and go location serving Asian-inspired snacks (Bao buns are $8-10 for 2, sushi rolls $8, etc)
  • If you’re craving something sweeter, Ghiradelli serves great ice cream sundaes, although they are a little pricy ($10 and up).
  • Chicken Guy – the menu is very basic, but the chicken strips were fantastic! It’s all about the sauces here – be a little adventurous and try a few!

Disney Resorts

  • A lot of people seem to forget about all the options available at the hotels. A personal favourite is Saana at Animal Kingdom Lodge. This can an expensive option depending on what you order, but I highly recommend the bread service ($17). It is more than enough food for one person to make a meal out of!
  • The food options at the All Star Resorts are plentiful and affordable. I had a turkey dinner at All Star Music back in 2016 for under $11 – and it was actually really tasty! [IMG]
  • Beaches and Cream at Beach Club Resort is technically a table service restaurant and you will need an advance reservation, but the prices are very affordable!  It is an old, 50’s diner feeling, and serves up very basic fare – patty melts, burgers, sandwiches, etc. My personal favourite was the grilled cheese and tomato soup ($12.99) – honestly one of the best I’ve ever had. Also save room for dessert – giant ice cream sundaes large enough to share between 2-3 people ($7.99 for No Way Jose, the one we shared)

Honourable Mentions

  • I need to give a shout-out to Disney chicken nuggets. These can be found at select quick service locations in every park, as well as a few resort food courts. They are not your standard McDonald’s style nuggets, they are real chunks of chicken and are quite tasty! ($9.49)
Satu’li Canteen at Animal Kingdom
Casey’s Corner in Magic Kingdom
Chicken Guy sauces from Disney Springs

Earl of Sandwich – Supper – January 27, 2017

After finally getting to meet Captain America and Spiderman, we decided to call it a night – after eating of course! We headed out of the park and over to Downtown Disney, walking until we reached our destination: Earl of Sandwich!

We had ate at Earl a few weeks earlier when we were in Orlando, and it was close to the top of Luke’s ‘must-eat’s’ while in Anaheim.

We didn’t switch it up much on this visit, and I ordered the exact same sandwich I’d had in Orlando – the Holiday Turkey: Turkey, cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce and mayonnaise $6.99. Of course, I asked for it without cranberry – I’m just not a fan.

This was just as good as the last one I’d ate earlier in the month! I’ll have a really hard time ordering anything different on future trips – the combination of turkey and stuffing is just perfect 🙂

Luke also decided to order one of his favourites from our meal at Earl of Sandwich a few weeks earlier, and got the Hawaiian BBQ: Grilled chicken, ham, swiss, pineapple and BBQ sauce $6.99. He loved it once again!

For some reason, I also insisted on ordering one of their Pepperoni Pizzas: Tangy pizza sauce, Italian seasoning, mozzarella & pepperoni on our Artisan bread. $6.99.

This was ok, but from now on I’ll just stick to my beloved Holiday Turkey sandwich 🙂

We made both of our sandwiches into combos, which meant we each had a fountain drink and a bag of chips. The cost was an additional $2.99/each.

Our total bill came to $29.11. We did not use my annual pass – I can’t remember if we forgot about it, or if they just don’t accept it there. Either way, it’s a relatively cheap meal for something so great 🙂

 

Naples – Supper – January 29, 2017

We checked in a little early for this reservation, but didn’t have much of a wait before being led to our table. They brought crusty bread and an oil/vinegar over for us right away, along with our drinks of choice – glasses of water for both of us, a glass of root beer for me ($4.25) and a bottle of Shocktop beer for Luke ($8.50).

I hate balsamic vinegar, so I tried to eat this without mixing the two – I do like dipping my bread in the oil!

We decided to order an appetizer, and went for:

Panzerotti – fried pizza dough filled with fresh mozzarella, artisan ricotta and Parmesan, marinara sauce; three for $9, five for $13.00

We ordered 3, since we weren’t fully sure what we were getting haha. These were really awesome though! I would probably order 5 of them the next time we go! It was hot, deep fried goodness wrapped around melty cheese. Yum!

We decided to share a pizza, and kept it safe by ordering a Pepperoni – mozzarella, tomato sauce $21/$35/$47.

This was the $21 size, and it was more than enough food for the two of us! I can’t even imagine the size of the $47 pizza… They were not cheap with the pepperoni, I just wish it was spread out a little better (my OCD kicked in, and I rearranged most of the pepperoni so it was more evenly distributed haha). This was a good pizza though, I do love Neapolitan style pizzerias!

Since we didn’t think that would be enough food, and we wanted the allusion of pretending to eat something healthy, we also ordered a Caesar Salad – romaine lettuce, Parmesan and olive oil croutons, classic dressing; $9/ $14.00.

This was the $9 size, which seemed a little pricey. It was good, nothing really special though.

With my annual pass, we saved 10% off our bill. The total for our bill came to $51.10 after the discount.

Overall, I enjoyed this meal and would not hesitate to return again! Plus, it’s located in Downtown Disney so it allows you to escape the crowds of the parks for a bit.

Earl of Sandwich – Lunch – January 7, 2017

Hi, Luke here. That’s why it’s written in italics. Fallon commissioned me to tackle this blog post because when it comes to eating sandwiches – she’s a novice and I am the Jane Goodall of eating these things. I wish I could go live with sammitches in the wild. Roam free with them in the delis of New York. Become a part of their hoagie tribe. Then when they’re not expecting it – devour every last one of those suckers as they sleep or whatever sandwiches do in this oddball scenario,

What’s important is that you know my answer to what I’d eat if I were marooned on a desert island with only 1 thing to eat for the rest of my life is the humble sandwich. Think about it. If you value variety in your 1 food option for the rest of your life, it’s the only right answer. There’s no such thing as ice cream spaghetti that I know of.

Anyways, for years I’d heard anyone who’d visited Vegas rave about Earl of Sandwich. I hadn’t realized there even was one of these places in Orlando in 2016 so we didn’t go. But we were on the Disney Dining Plan that trip so we wouldn’t have gone to Earl anyhow. It’s a poor value on the DDP for those unbeknownst. That said, as an out of pocket food stop – NOTHING BEATS EARL OF SANDWICH. HEY, CAPS LOCK IS ON. I’LL ALLOW IT.

So when we were laying out our plan for Disney World 2.0, the idea was to head to Earl of Sandwich to consume all of the carbs in celebration of my finishing my first half-marathon since 2013. It was a solid plan. Supple, but apropos. You know what they say about the best laid plans and lightning storms cancelling road races because people working it are averse to lightning strikes. It’s like they don’t even want to see if they’d get super powers…

You know what the next best thing to eating sandwiches of victory after accomplishing your goals? Eating consolation sandwiches cause shit – I can’t help that they cancelled the race. May as well carbo-load. It’s just so comforting.

So we get to Earl of Sandwich on this rainy/gloomy day and it’s lined up out the door. This is not out of the ordinary. Cause hot damn – these sangs you guys. You get to the counter and order your choice(s) and shuffle along for the other stuff (chips/drinks/mac and cheese/salads/a giant vat of horseradish if you’re one of those weirdos who’s into that sort of thing). Fallon orders a holiday turkey with no cranberry sauce. This displeased the clerk who gave her quite the ribbing. I ordered a Hawaiian BBQ. Then I ordered a The Earl’s Club. In case the first one broke down. Hey –  I was coping and these turned out to be super-terrific. I was in the right and a half.

So we move along, make ours a combo with kettle cooked potato chips and fountain pops ($2.99 extra each). Canadians call soda pops because that’s terminology approved by the queen of England so we’re like “k” about it. My point here is whenever there’s Cherry Coke on tap I’m all in.

Fallon grabbed a table because seating here is at a premium. Yeah you can take it out or sit outside if it’s not barely above zero Celsius in the rain. That was not the case that day. So Fallon hovered waiting for a spot to open up while I held the pager thing… eagerly awaiting it’s buzz to alert me that it’s my time to indulge in crispy flavoured deliciousness.

The buzzer sounds. The crowd roars (1 man can be a crowd if he’s hungry enough). I go grab the food and I’m all whisky tango foxtrot?!?!? Fallon ordered a soup. Gimme gimme gimme. Which in Canadian sounds like “Oh excuse me… I believe you forgot our soup. And I didn’t order whatever is in this aluminum tray.” The server was aghast. The politeness was too much. He got the soup, and told me to keep the mystery tray.

I think before Fallon unwrapped her sandwich I’d already polished off half of that Earl’s Club sumbitch. Oh man… so good. There’s not too many ingredients on any of Earl of Sandwich’s offerings and that simplicity is what makes them all work so well. They have 12 options on the menu, with 3-7 ingredients each, on 1 type of amazing delicious bread. It’s sandwiches done right in every sense of the dish. Sandwiches are either $6.99US or $7.45US. Which would be pretty much the best deal anywhere at Disney even if the food wasn’t fantastic.

Hawaiian BBQ – 10/10. I would text back the next day.

The Earl’s Club – 9.75 out of 10. Would inhale again.

Free Mac and Cheese – surprisingly good. I’d recommend as a side item provided you haven’t eaten 2 sandwiches and some chips and a Cherry Coke or three prior.

Holiday Turkey – I don’t know/10 – but Fallon did rave about this and she isn’t the sando aficionado.

Broccoli Cheese Soup – yes. I would taste again. Worthy of the Premium Plus crackers crumbled into it.

Cherry Coke from a fountain – 3 pops out of soft drink deliciousness.

Canada needs an Earl of Sandwich in whatever city I am in at all times. 

Broccoli cheddar soup, $2.99

Holiday Turkey – Turkey, cornbread stuffing, turkey gravy, cranberry sauce and mayonnaise $6.99 (no cranberry)

Sea Salt and Vinegar Chips – because America doesn’t seem to understand the amazing thing that is flavoured chips, so when you see them you need to grab them. Seriously – try All Dressed or Ketchup chips sometime, and tell me they aren’t life-changing.

Hawaiian BBQ – ham, grilled chicken, BBQ sauce, Swiss and pineapple $6.99

The Earl’s Club – turkey, bacon, Swiss, lettuce, Roma tomato and sandwich sauce $7.45

Original Chips – which are only good when they’re kettle cooked.

Mac N Cheese $4.99

Plaza Inn – Breakfast – January 28, 2017

This was our earliest day of our trip, we had a reservation at the Plaza Inn at 7:10am (so early!).

We checked in and paid for our meal ($32 each, minus the 15% we saved using my annual pass – so $58.62 after tax). We were led to a cute little table beside a window.

We were actually some of the first people in the restaurant that morning, it almost seemed like there were more characters around than people haha. Since the place was practically empty, some of the characters were sitting down at a table waiting for guests to arrive, and they waved us over, so Luke sat down and got this picture.

As people started coming into the restaurant, a few of the characters started moving off to meet them. I still managed to get this picture though 🙂

The food here for breakfast is a buffet, but it wasn’t self serve, the cast members serve you whatever you’d like. Since there was so much going on with the characters, I failed miserably at taking pictures of our food at this meal…

I did have half a slice of french toast and a Mickey waffle, and that little cup to the top right is syrup. I also had a made-to-order omelet which I forgot to take a picture of until I was half finished it. I definitely ate more than that, but I didn’t take pictures – I know I had some fruit at one point.

This is the only picture I have of Luke’s food. Isn’t it a wonderful shot? It looks like he had some eggs, some ham…and some other stuff?

When you check in and pay for your meal, you are given a button that says Plaza Inn. I love that they do this at Disneyland! These came home with us, and are currently living in the memory box I have for this trip.

And now – the main reason anyone goes to the Plaza Inn for breakfast – the characters! We’ve done quite a few character meals now, but this was unlike any other. Most character meals have 4-5 characters present – this one had 10! Yes, 10! And they were quite diverse… I can’t remember the exact order we saw them in, but we did see most of them more than once.

#1. Captain Hook

#2. Winnie-the-Pooh

#3. Fairy Godmother – she was adorable! She noticed my engagement ring and got really excited when she found out we had only been engaged for a few weeks. When we told her we were getting married at Walt Disney World, she told us that we would have to come back and honeymoon with her.

#4. Max

#5. Minnie Mouse

#6. Eeyore – he was actually the last one we saw, he just happened to be passing by us as we were leaving so we stopped for selfies <3

 

#7. Chip (I guess we didn’t get a pic of just him and Luke – only the group shot seen above)

 

#8. Dale – he was awesome! For some reason, he figured he should tie the strings on Luke’s hoody into a knot haha… he was so proud of his work!

 

#9. Tigger

#10. Rafiki – he was comparing beards with Luke haha!