What We Ate Using the Walt Disney World Dining Plan (Days 5 – 8)

Yesterday, I shared what we ate on the first four days of our stay at Walt Disney World on their Disney Dining Plan.  Now, I’m going to finish up with our last few days.

Day Five on Disney Disney Plan

Park We Visited: Animal Kingdom

Breakfast

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Cinnamon Roll

Rix Cafe (Coronado Springs) – We made ourselves get up earlier than we had been doing for the rest of the week, knowing that morning would be the best time to see the animals.  So, we did what became our usual and ordered a couple of muffins, a chocolate croissant, and a cinnamon roll at our resort.  (Snack Credits Used: 4)

Lunch

Tusker House (Animal Kingdom) – Although Tusker House has been having character breakfasts, they only just began character lunches at the very beginning of December.  So, we got to visit when they had only been having the character lunches for a little over a week!

I really liked this African-inspired buffet.  I thought there was a fabulous variety of foods, including many, many things that I had never tried before.  My Mom didn’t really care for Tusker House.  The kids all seemed to like it about as much as the other buffet places, as there were definitely things that they were willing to eat as well (but not as many as at other buffet places).  I would say that if you have a lot of very picky eaters in your party, Tusker House may not be a top pick for you (or you might want to go for breakfast).

Even though the character lunch was a newer feature for Tusker House, it seemed well organized.  (Probably because they were already used to it at breakfast.)  We were able to see all of the characters there – Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, and Goofy.  (Table Service Credits Used: 4)

Dinner

Pepper Market (Coronado Springs Resort) – The kids and I all got cheeseburgers with fries (as well as drinks).  For dessert, I got a strawberry shortcake and the boys got ice cream sundaes.  Molly (the only “child” on our plan) ordered the macaroni and cheese.  In an odd choice on the resort’s part, it automatically came with chips and a prepackaged cookie.  First off — chips with macaroni and cheese?  What the heck?  Second – there were lots of fresh desserts in a bakery area — why make the kids eat an unimpressive pre-packaged cookie?  This was the one time that Molly was very visually not pleased at the discrepancy between a child meal and an adult meal.  (And, I was pretty irritated too.)

We all thought the food was passable, but it seemed to cinch the idea to us that on our next trip to Walt Disney World, we probably wouldn’t be staying at Coronado Springs.  While it was fine, it is really handy to actually like the restaurants at the resort.  (Quick Service Credits Used: 4)

Day Six on Disney Disney Plan

Park We Visited: Epcot

Breakfast

‘Ohana (Polynesian Resort) – I don’t know if it’s just because we had spent a week eating things like muffins and cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but this seemed like the tastiest breakfast that any of us had ever eaten.  Well, maybe not ever.  But, I can’t remember a better breakfast that I’ve had.  In fact, we’ve still been talking about it.

‘Ohana is all you care to eat, but it is served family style.  This was also fun after all the buffet places of having to get up (and having to deal with the kids worrying about missing characters).  There were breakfast rolls, seasonal fruit, Mickey waffles (which are insanely good), scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and fried potatoes.  When various items started running low, our server brought us out an extra order of only the items that we asked for.

We all also enjoyed seeing a few characters that we hadn’t seen yet.  We saw Mickey again, but also got to see Lilo and Stitch!  (Goofy never made it to our table, but we didn’t worry about it, and left without seeing him.)  When Lilo made it to our table a second time, she made hand gestures to say that she had been to our table, made it all the way around the restaurant, and was back to us again.  I was impressed that she remembered!

This is definitely on our list to do again!  (Table Service Credits Used: 4)

Lunch

Okay, so lunch was kind of crazy after our huge breakfast.  I’m going to go with the official stance that we had no lunch, but two snacks.

Snack 1:

Boulangerie Patisserie (Epcot/French Pavilion) – If you pay attention to only one thing I say in this whole two day series, let it be this, “Find this place, and eat there.”  It does involve wandering in to France and going into a little offshoot area on La Petite Rue (“The Little Road”).  There is almost always a line out the door, but the line splits when you enter, offering the same items on both sides.  So, don’t be intimidated.

(Oh, and if the name intimidates you, just call it the French Bakery.)

During Snack 1, we got two orders of chocolate mousse and two strawberry smoothies.  (Silly kids and their dumb orders.  Who wants strawberry smoothies when there are confections of all sorts?)

My Mom also got a chocolate mousse, but didn’t eat it all.  In addition, she got a french baguette pizza (which had a fancy French name), and promptly declared that we would need to eat there again that day.  We tried bites and agreed.

On a second stop for snack one, we went to Fife and Drum in the American Pavilion for an ice cream for Noah, as he didn’t want a French dessert.  (Snack Credits Used: 5.)

Snack Two:

Boulangerie Patisserie (Epcot/French Pavilion) – Yep, we went back several hours later and all got those French baguette pizzas.  Delicious!!!  Seriously – the cheeses they used were just amazing.  (Credits Used: None, we actually went ahead and paid cash for these.)

Dinner

Wolfgang Puck Express (Downtown Disney) – We didn’t end up eating dinner until around 10 pm.  In an unrelated note, I realized that I’m older now because that was just far too late to eat such rich food.  Boo!

My Mom stayed back at the hotel (and ate a ham and cheese sandwich she picked up at Boulangerie Patisserie, which she said was delicious).  We ended up at Wolfgang Puck Express and ate the same things we’d already eaten there — rosemary chicken for me, chicken strip platter for both boys, and cheese pizza for Molly.  (To read more about the total meal we tended to get at Wolfgang Puck Express, check out yesterday’s post, where I went in to more detail.) It’s important to note that Downtown Disney is very busy on Friday nights, and we had to wait in line for quite some time.  (Quick Service Credits Used: 4)

Other

Goofy’s Candy Company (Downtown Disney) – We popped in here and bought one package of candy and a very large Mickey Mouse cookie.  I thought the cookie was a snack option, but it was not.  But, when they rang it up, they accidentally gave it to me as a snack credit anyway.  (The lady helping to train the guy wasn’t happy with him for accidentally having done it, but didn’t reverse it.)  (Snack Credits Used: 2, because we were really starting to worry we wouldn’t use all of our snack credits!)

Day Seven on Disney Disney Plan

Park We Visited: Magic Kingdom

Breakfast

Cafe Rix (Coronado Springs Resort) – Yep, the usual.  (Snack Credits Used: 5)

Dessert at The Crystal Palace

Lunch

The Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom) – I was so psyched when I managed to get reservations here while we were already on site (but several days ahead of time).  This is a buffet that is also a character meal with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore.

The food was delicious, and the characters were wonderful!  (We’re big Pooh and Friends fans!)  There was a great variety of foods, something I really loved about the Disney buffets.  My favorite though?  The pumpkin cheesecake on the dessert part.  Yum!

We saw all of the characters, and they were wonderful.  Piglet was so cute (in appearance and mannerisms) that I couldn’t help myself but say, “Piglet – you are just too cute!”

I would definitely recommend doing this restaurant!  (Table Service Meals Used: 4)

Dinner

Our view while we were eating at Cosmic Ray’s

Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Magic Kingdom) – All three adults got Angus Cheeseburgers, fries, a drink, and a triple chocolate cake.   This time, we actually took advantage of the fixings bar that we hadn’t really noticed the first time, and we loaded up some of the burgers with sauteed mushrooms.  Yum!  Molly ordered chicken nuggets, carrots, grapes, and a drink.  (We all shared part of our dessert with her too.)  I really like this quick service restaurant.  (Quick Service Credits Used: 4)

Snacks

Aloha Isle (Magic Kingdom) – We ordered two Dole Whips to share with pineapple ice cream.  While we thought they were nice and refreshing, I wasn’t sure what the big deal was about these.  I would eat one again, but just not sure what the hype is about.  (Snack Credits Used: 2)

Day Eight on Disney Disney Plan

Park We Visited: None (though we did still have one day left on our passes)

Breakfast

Cafe Rix (Coronado Springs Resort) – Some more of the usual.  Well, except we also used the last of our snack credits.  (Snack Credits Used: 2; Paid for Ourselves: 3)

And, sadly, after we ate, we finished packing, called bell services, and drove home, waving to the Disney World sign as we drove past and promising to come back again as soon as we could!

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My sister has recently written about eating at Walt Disney World as a vegan.  If you have special dietary needs, you might want to check out her post.

Tip: One of my favorite resources for menus from all of the restaurants in the parks and resorts (as well as maps, wait times, etc.) is the Disney World Magic Guide app.  I used this about a million times during my planning and during our time at the parks.