Dessert before Dinner: a trifecta of dining reports? Update 9/22 LTT COMPLETE!

I cannot believe my boy had his Jr. Prom last night :sad1: I now how old he is but it's still unbelievable how OLD he is!

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And today we had my younger stepsons' baby shower - because you know now baby showers are for the moms AND dads now :rolleyes: which as you can tell I have no feelings on lol. I hope all of you are enjoying the weekend!

This brings me to the 3rd part of my dining report, the trifecta if you will. The report that I wanted to start last year but never got to, the report that I want to share because I haven't done any reports with my kids in them lately and I feel bad. Plus we had some crappy meals and those are always fun to share, so let's give it a go!

Trifecta Trip #3 (but really #1)
Happy Thanksgiving 2018!
For this report we need to go back - way back - to November of 2018 if you will. Believe it or not we let the boys come this time:

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It's like a Disney commercial! We were arriving the Saturday before Thanksgiving and this would be our 4th Thanksgiving trip. I have to say crowds and all this is, I think, our favorite time of year to go! Our plan for our first day since we were supposed to land around 10:30 was going to be a quick food stop at our resort QS, FP's at HS, and then dinner on the boardwalk. However due to our plane arriving over an hour late, waiting way too long for our ME bus and then Ricky not feeling well when we landed, we scraped the park plans but kept the food plans :D
Since we were staying at SSR for the first few nights of our trip this meant a late lunch at Artist's Palette, their QS location. They have a pager system there so after you order you find a seat and wait.

In our case we waited FOREVER which was like a bad theme to the day, but eventually our food came and I'll say it was worth the wait!

Steve got the:


  • Italian Flatbread Sandwich - Ham, Salami, Mortadella, Pepperoncini, Lettuce, Tomato and Provolone Cheese with Red Wine Vinaigrette Mayonnaise wrapped in a Flatbread and served with House-made Chips or Vegetable Slaw
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It might not look like much but it was meaty and tasty and those chips are delish! Meanwhile Chris went off the beaten path and got:

  • Cheeseburger Flatbread - Ground Beef topped with Onions, Pickles, American Cheese, Lettuce and Tomatoes with Mayonnaise, Ketchup and Mustard
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If you have read any of my previous reports you know Chris and it won't surprise you that he claimed to not like this. It also won't surprise you that he was in a pissy mood which is probably why he claimed to not like this because Steve and Ricky tried it and really liked it! The crust was flaky and light, the beef was spiced well so this was basically a huge open faced burger done a little differently.

Ricky as I said wasn't feeling well so he went simple:

  • Greek Salad with Chicken - Mixed Greens with Greek Vinaigrette topped with Chicken, Black Olives, Cucumbers, Feta Cheese, Red Onion, Pepperoncini and Tomato

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This was a little different for him but he liked it! Fresh lettuce and fresh veggies all around.

Mine was definitely the star though; I had to let everyone taste it and HUGE spoiler alert, we ordered this like 4 more times during our stay.

  • Smoked Turkey & Brie Cheese Sandwich - Sliced Smoked Turkey, Brie Cheese Spread and Fresh Arugula with a Chambord-Cranberry Mayonnaise
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And right now that's the best I can do since I cannot seam to locate my photo right now! It's a shame too because this sandwich is amazing! That cranberry mayo was outstanding and the turkey was so fresh. What will come as no surprise to @kastoney is that I took the arugula off :crazy2:

We weren't planning on getting desert but when the server did finally bring our food after waiting 20 minutes, she brought us a plate of cookies on Mickey :earsboy: for our wait:

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And if you get something free in Disney you EAT it! Just to give you another example of how great our first day was going, when they put the plate down Chris said "I call dibs on the sprinkle cookie" and it took Ricky all of 15 seconds to grab the sprinkle cookie and take a gigantor bite out of it. That went over well and really led to a wonderful family lunch.

We were definitely impressed with Artist Palette! Just their menu I think is better than most other resort QS's and I consider it one of the few pluses to staying here.

Teenage boys acting like toddlers aside this lunch hit the spot and gave us hope that we wouldn't totally dislike our stay at SSR. For the record since we booked this trip kind of on the late side for a holiday SSR was all I could get with my discount. It's not a bad resort! Just not quite our cup of tea. Something they do have that many resorts don't is a spa so we took a quick walk through after we ate:

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I know that gives you a great idea as to what the salon is like but hey, it fills up this post!
Full and not planning a park Ricky went to lay down while we unpacked and then took Chris for a swim in one of the quiet pools nearest our room until it was time to eat again. Ricky was still feeling crappy; combo of sinuses and stomach bug - but he wanted to come. My pictures from our dinner are much much better; where on the BW did we eat?
 
I cannot believe my boy had his Jr. Prom last night :sad1: I now how old he is but it's still unbelievable how OLD he is!
Loved all the pictures. Hope he had a great time. Though time is definitely rolling too fast.

For this report we need to go back - way back - to November of 2018 if you will.
Is that even in this century?

Believe it or not we let the boys come this time:

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While I do believe the boys came along, what I do not believe is that they actually took this picture with you. Did you use some of my amazing photo editing on this?

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It might not look like much but it was meaty and tasty and those chips are delish! Meanwhile Chris went off the beaten path and got:
It does look like much because I know meaty and tasty :P

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If you have read any of my previous reports you know Chris and it won't surprise you that he claimed to not like this. It also won't surprise you that he was in a pissy mood which is probably why he claimed to not like this because Steve and Ricky tried it and really liked it! The crust was flaky and light, the beef was spiced well so this was basically a huge open faced burger done a little differently.
This looks and sounds strangely delicious. What are we gonna do with that Chris? :confused3

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And right now that's the best I can do since I cannot seam to locate my photo right now! It's a shame too because this sandwich is amazing! That cranberry mayo was outstanding and the turkey was so fresh. What will come as no surprise to @kastoney is that I took the arugula off :crazy2:
Arugula or not I think this may be my new favorite food photo of all time :D
 
I’m glad you are adding in your Thanksgiving Dining review, I love checking out Chris’s antics during meal time:rotfl:

I would love the turkey with Brie and cranberry mayo, yum!!
 


All of those Artist's Palette dishes look great, seems like upgraded QS. We've never stayed there, mainly because we live in the Victorian horse capital of the world and SSR looks like all the big apartment complexes here. And we see all that horsey stuff every. single. day. I'm sure we'll stay there eventually when nothing else is left and there are many nice things about the resort, like the pools and the proximity to Disney Springs, so we'll just have to get over it.
 
I'm really excited about your most recent update especially after what happened a couple hours ago....

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We've not stayed here yet and this is going to be a resort only stay. It's going to be all about resort activities, pool time, and FOOD!

Can't wait to read more!
 


I cannot believe my boy had his Jr. Prom last night :sad1: I now how old he is but it's still unbelievable how OLD he is!
So grown up looking! We don't have Jr Prom here but Jamie's girlfriend is in grade 12 so he is going to prom with her. We are going suit shopping today. They are growing up WAY too fast.

And today we had my younger stepsons' baby shower - because you know now baby showers are for the moms AND dads now :rolleyes: which as you can tell I have no feelings on lol. I hope all of you are enjoying the weekend!
It's a long weekend here for the Victoria Day holiday so I am thrilled to have an extra day today. And we actually had a beautifully warm and sunny day yesterday which was lovely!

Since we were staying at SSR for the first few nights of our trip this meant a late lunch at Artist's Palette, their QS location. They have a pager system there so after you order you find a seat and wait.
I like the options on their menu!

This was a little different for him but he liked it! Fresh lettuce and fresh veggies all around.
I would love that salad too minus the red onion. Raw onion is evil!

And right now that's the best I can do since I cannot seam to locate my photo right now! It's a shame too because this sandwich is amazing! That cranberry mayo was outstanding and the turkey was so fresh. What will come as no surprise to @kastoney is that I took the arugula off :crazy2:
I would love that sandwich too but would probably ask for extra arugula. I am firmly in Kari's arugula camp!

And if you get something free in Disney you EAT it! Just to give you another example of how great our first day was going, when they put the plate down Chris said "I call dibs on the sprinkle cookie" and it took Ricky all of 15 seconds to grab the sprinkle cookie and take a gigantor bite out of it. That went over well and really led to a wonderful family lunch.
Teenage brothers are so caring and loving with each other. I really appreciate when mine are thoughtful and considerate, especially in public....;)
 
I cannot believe my boy had his Jr. Prom last night
OMG how did this happen!? :faint: :laughing: Anyway, he looks very handsome and happy!

Plus we had some crappy meals and those are always fun to share
:rotfl: Ain't that the truth!

Despite a little lunchtime grumpiness from certain someones, looks like lunch was still a success - your turkey/brie sandwich sounds amazing, and I would have picked off that yucky arugula too :crazy2: :laughing:
 
Disney should pay you to use this one!! :) Seriously, so adorable!

Just to give you another example of how great our first day was going, when they put the plate down Chris said "I call dibs on the sprinkle cookie" and it took Ricky all of 15 seconds to grab the sprinkle cookie and take a gigantor bite out of it. That went over well and really led to a wonderful family lunch.
#SiblingLove #AtItsFinest
 
Loved all the pictures. Hope he had a great time. Though time is definitely rolling too fast.
He did! And you'd be proud of his after prom activities but I won't post that here :rolleyes1 I was driving back from the riverfront after taking pictures and all I could think about were my proms in the early 1900's and I realized not only how old he is but how old I am :sad:

Is that even in this century?
It's actually from my prom century

While I do believe the boys came along, what I do not believe is that they actually took this picture with you. Did you use some of my amazing photo editing on this?
and yes I used the Kari Stone photoshop program on it :laughing:
It was a rare night the boys wanted to do something nice for me; a rare night indeed.

Arugula or not I think this may be my new favorite food photo of all time :D
See you aren't the only one that can make fun pictures! I'll try to top this with some EPIC Girl's trip pictures :woohoo:

I love Disney pixie dust!!!
lol it wasn't the Roy Disney Suite but at least we could eat this Pixie Dust!

I’m glad you are adding in your Thanksgiving Dining review, I love checking out Chris’s antics during meal time
He sure makes my posts interesting!

All of those Artist's Palette dishes look great, seems like upgraded QS.
I think it's one of my favorites resort QS if not my favorite. It's too bad the resort isn't near the top of my favorite list.....

We've never stayed there, mainly because we live in the Victorian horse capital of the world and SSR looks like all the big apartment complexes here. And we see all that horsey stuff every. single. day. I'm sure we'll stay there eventually when nothing else is left and there are many nice things about the resort, like the pools and the proximity to Disney Springs, so we'll just have to get over it.
I'm not that far from Saratoga NY; I do agree that they look like big apartment complexes. Like I mentioned this was our best choice with my TA discount by the time we decided to do Thanksgiving and my discount is so good I just can't pass it up! Plus we did end up doing a split stay with WL so I was able to deal with it lol but other than the proximity to DS (and the QS) I don't find many pluses to it

I'm really excited about your most recent update especially after what happened a couple hours ago....

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We've not stayed here yet and this is going to be a resort only stay. It's going to be all about resort activities, pool time, and FOOD!

Can't wait to read more!
YAY!! OK ignore what I said about the resort lol. I think it'll be great for a resort only stay; there are a number of pools to choose from and some of them are neat! they also seemed to have some cool activities going on and of course its so easy to get to DS. And it is pretty and the QS is good :goodvibes We ate at Turf Club when we stayed there in 2011 and it was really good too!
 
Wow! Congrats to Ricky! They make a handsome-looking pair :)
:thanks: Right now they're "just friends" so we'll see but she is cute! I love that so many kids go as friends now; when I was in HS you only went if you had a date-date and nobody went as "friends" which left many kids out.

Oh my goodness, how precious is this! You look like a fake family in an ad! :laughing: But seriously, this is such a lovely picture of you four. :goodvibes:lovestruc
HA HA fake is the truth! Thank you though, we have very few really nice pictures of the 4 of us and it reminds me that we can get along :rolleyes:

So grown up looking! We don't have Jr Prom here but Jamie's girlfriend is in grade 12 so he is going to prom with her. We are going suit shopping today. They are growing up WAY too fast.
It really hit me as I drove away after we took all the pictures :sad1: I hope Jamie enjoys the prom!

I would love that sandwich too but would probably ask for extra arugula. I am firmly in Kari's arugula camp
Ew lol! Now I can do raw onion and love it but NO NO NO arugula!

Teenage brothers are so caring and loving with each other. I really appreciate when mine are thoughtful and considerate, especially in public....;)
:sad2: and it's not even like they're 7 and 10.........

Anyway, he looks very handsome and happy!
thank you :goodvibes he had a really good time!

your turkey/brie sandwich sounds amazing, and I would have picked off that yucky arugula too :crazy2: :laughing:
I love how I can count on you to back me up when it's important :laughing:

Disney should pay you to use this one!! :) Seriously, so adorable!
:thanks: I'll have to try posting it on Instagram or something. Maybe I'll offer it to them in return for a stay in say, the Roy Disney suite :scratchin
 
I love the lantern photo!

I really should stop reading all these TRs as it's really tempting me to make a 2019 trip but I NEED to resist. However I'm currently seriously considering a trip for my birthday weekend in March of 2020...so that's less than a year away. :) I'm going to miss Disney at Thanksgiving this year, but we are on an every-other-year plan so perhaps Thanksgiving 2020 will also be on the radar. There will be so much "new" stuff by Spring and Summer of 2020 to see that I'm sure I can convince DH that a few trips are in order.

The prom picture was also very nice...saw it on FB. How sweet.

So hard seeing them grow up so fast.
 
Apparently there is a controversy, so I am happy to add my two cents - I will keep the arugula on the sandwich but I will call it "lettuce" and reveal my lack of sophistication. I will also eat raw onions, but only on hamburgers or hot dogs :)
:rotfl:to me it's all lettuce really, just "good" lettuce which is strictly iceberg and "bad" lettuce which is every other kind!

I love the lantern photo!
:thanks: I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it came out :love:

I really should stop reading all these TRs as it's really tempting me to make a 2019 trip but I NEED to resist. However I'm currently seriously considering a trip for my birthday weekend in March of 2020...so that's less than a year away. :) I'm going to miss Disney at Thanksgiving this year, but we are on an every-other-year plan so perhaps Thanksgiving 2020 will also be on the radar. There will be so much "new" stuff by Spring and Summer of 2020 to see that I'm sure I can convince DH that a few trips are in order.
Well listen to this, the kids have a 6 day Memorial break now and today Steve says we should go somewhere. We were thinking Boston or Salem Mass when Ricky blurts out "I want to go to Disney"! And Steve seriously considered it until we looked at flights :scared1: so once again I commend you for your strong staying-away-from-Disney will!
 
:rotfl:

Well listen to this, the kids have a 6 day Memorial break now and today Steve says we should go somewhere. We were thinking Boston or Salem Mass when Ricky blurts out "I want to go to Disney"! And Steve seriously considered it until we looked at flights :scared1: so once again I commend you for your strong staying-away-from-Disney will!

OH my gosh that's awesome. Actually I saw one of those new summer ticket deals and I did think...hmmmm...maybe this year? I also have not completely ruled out if we do Universal in the Sept/Oct timeframe as planned maybe we would splurge and just do MNSSHP as well. We will see. All I know for sure is that I've promised my daughter a Disney getaway for her HS graduation...in TWO years...so May/June 2021 we will splurge and probably get a 3BR DVC room and let her bring some friends along if she wants to do so. :)

Plus she is already determined to apply for the Disney college program as soon as she is eligible. :) She has already said she knows I'll come visit her while she's there. :)
 
I definitely want to stay at SSR at some point! The food at that quick service does actually look really good!

I had to laugh at your telling of the cookie story :rotfl: because I'm sure that did not end well hahaha but those are the family memories!!
 
Picking up where I left off with the first day of our Thanksgiving trip; Chris and I had gone swimming (well he swam I watched) while Steve and Ricky chilled. Eventually it was time for our diner reservation over on the BW which had made complete sense as we were supposed to do HS that day and then go back to HS after dinner so I could see the show and projections on TOT. While that would have to wait Ricky was feeling a little better so we kept the dinner plans and Minnie Van'd it over to Ale & Compass at the Yacht Club.

They had somewhat recently started serving dinner and I thought the menu looked really good so I was excited! I forced one of the boys to take this picture of us by the Yacht Club tree in the lobby first:

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As usual my picture resizing expertise is showing.....................but I always look better in pictures from farther away; fewer chins :-)

We arrived on time but had to wait a few minutes to be seated; when we were we ordered drinks:

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That's Steve's go-to Moscow Mule and my Schofferhofer which if you've never tried, is extremely refreshing! You can get it in Germany in WS and quite a few restaurants serve it too.

One thing about this restaurant is that it's dark, kind of like the West Wing at BOG. However this room was annoying because there was a really bright fluorescent light RIGHT over our heads and no matter how I moved my seat I couldn't get it out of my eye :mad:

But back to food! We were liking the apps so we got a few:
Roasted Garlic Shrimp
with House-made Focaccia

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Steve got this and he really liked it; Chris tried the shrimp and loved it too! The focaccia was a nice touch as well.
I'd had my carb loving eyes on these:
Parker House Rolls and Spreads
Bacon Jam, Pub Cheese, Citrus Butter
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Now these my friends were small little rolls of love with kisses of dips to go with them :love: I easily could have eaten them all myself except I had an entree coming and everyone else wanted to try these. Ricky and Chris split one, Steve had 1.5 and the rest were all me!
Now for the dips: my favorite was the bacon jam by far with the pub cheese a close 2nd. I didn't care for the citrus butter but Steve loved it; honestly all 3 went so well with the buttery salty rolls so these 2 apps were a win with us.
We got one more app to share but it doesn't appear to be on the menu anymore since I waited so long to do this report:

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I want to say it's crostini with a chili dip? Maybe? Well it's almost definitely crostini :P There ended up being quite a bit of this left because we were concentrating on the rolls and dips and this wasn't anything special. Sorry that's all I remember!

Ricky was still feeling fairly good and nobody was stealing anyone's food a la the sprinkle cookie episode of lunch when our entrees started coming. One thing I'll say is I remember service was vert good and the restaurant was also quite busy.
Chris will always get filet/steak if it's on the menu:

10-oz New York Angus Strip
with Maître d’Hôtel Butter, Truffle Fries, House-made Steak Sauce, and Watercress Salad

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First off Chris thought that was ketchup in the glass and it wasn't. Nor was it BBQ sauce, it was like a cross between the 2 and he didn't like it. He did love the truffle fries but unfortunately the steak was pretty tough and this boy is used to smooth as butter filet so it wasn't a hit.

Ricky got the chicken dish:
Brick' Lemon-Herb Half Chicken
Duck Fat-roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Broccolini, Sautéed Wild Mushroom, and Pan Jus

IMG_9533.JPG There was no way he was eating the broccolini so his focus was the chicken and potatoes. Unfortunately again this was a miss as he said the chicken had absolutely not taste and he described the texture as rubbery. The potatoes weren't cooked enough and were too hard to eat.

For my entree I got this:
Pappardelle Pasta with Chicken
with Spinach, Sautéed Mushrooms, Rebel Tomatoes, Roasted Garlic Cream, and Citrus Gremolata

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I ordered this because it kind of reminded me of the pasta dish I love at Narcoossee's, and while I didn't expect it to be THAT good I expected it to have SOME taste- which it did not. The chicken tasted grilled but that was all I could taste. Seriously the sauce and everything else was like watery and just blah. I was so disappointed! We were going from pretty awesome apps to pretty uninspiring entrees.
Last but not least Steve had this:

Cabernet-braised Short Ribs
with Roasted Vegetable Mash and Barbecue Demi

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His was the best out of everyone's but he still wasn't that impressed. The short ribs were ok and while he said they did have a somewhat smoky flavor it wasn't anything special and the veggie mash was eh.

Steve and Ricky got a side to share:

Lobster Macaroni & Cheese

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Like the apps this, according to them, was delicious with lots of cheesiness as well as great lobster flavor. Since Ricky didn't like his dinner this ended up pretty much being his dinner.

We did not get any dessert as between the apps and the little bit of entrees we all ate did fill us up and we were feeling let down after the entrees and Ricky was not not feeling that great again but we did walk the BW for a bit before Minnie Van-ing it back to SSR. Hoping Ricky felt better in the morning we unpacked and then wanted dessert and some drinks, and realized how inconvenient our building was for this :rolleyes: Maybe it's the whole resort I don't know, but the idea of taking the 10 minute walk to the food court was not appealing. We settled for the soda machine and no dessert and confirmed how much we prefer deluxe resorts that have everything under one roof like my beloved WL :cloud9: Even when we stayed in a pool view room at POFQ in Feb. we were closer to the food court than we were at SSR. Considering I had bought 2 of the Christmas resort mugs earlier that day I really hated getting soda from the machine!

Bottom line we were not fans of Ale and Compass even though we really liked 2 of the apps and the mac and cheese; the entrees were just too disappointing. I thought maybe it would be a new option for us but sadly I think not.

Our Thanksgiving trip was not off to the best start between missing out on park time, Ricky not feeling good and a crappy dinner, but luckily the next day was better princess:
 
Plus she is already determined to apply for the Disney college program as soon as she is eligible. :) She has already said she knows I'll come visit her while she's there. :)
That's awesome, I wish one of my boys was interested in the program. @Jenny Sanders son is doing the program for the 2nd time as we speak!
I plan on going at least twice in 2021 since both myself and MK are turning 50 :rolleyes1 so I'll be there in February and then in October and if I have it my way, more than that lol.

I definitely want to stay at SSR at some point! The food at that quick service does actually look really good!
I honestly don't love SSR but I'll take it over a value and as hard as I try I can't think of another resort QS that I've liked as much as Artist Palette!

I had to laugh at your telling of the cookie story :rotfl: because I'm sure that did not end well hahaha but those are the family memories!!
Exactly lol! Steve and I just looked at each other like, "did our 16 year old really just do that???"
 

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