We had an amazing trip to the World last week. Sad to be back and done with planning!
The Players -
ME - Semi-frequent traveler to WDW, likes most foods (sans kalamata olives and certain strong cheeses), loves wine and other adult beverages
DH - Watcher of budget, has already said this is a one and done WDW trip for him, loves seeing his dds have a great time at Disney, particular about service, will eat anything except squash in all forms.
DD9 - Less picky than she used to be, but still loves cheeseburgers, nuggets, pizza etc.
DD6 - The pickiest of them all! She will load up on foods she likes and then not eat at the next meal.
We did not have a dining plan. The way we ate was somewhere between the DDP and the DxDP. We ended up eating 21 meal credits (over 8 nights) and hardly any snacks. Our total cost out of pocket was a little over $2,400 ($300/nt) including tips so we may have been able to save money with a dining plan, but would have had to tweak what we ate and when. I like having the flexibility to go anywhere we want/order anything we want. Plus we got a killer deal on the room/tickets. I collected disney gift cards at a discount to help save a little bit. I kept telling DH it was free since we had a gift card, but he didn't really buy that!
Day 0
Travelling from the West Coast we didn't arrive to the Wilderness Lodge until 8pm. DH and I had packed sandwiches and snacks for the girls because we wanted them to go to bed at a decent time and adjust to the time change. After having our Amazon Prime Now delivery sent up and getting our luggage in they probably went to bed around 9. DH and I each took turns going downstairs to have a minute to ourselves and to get some real food.
I bought refillable mugs for DH and myself. This was the first time I've done this and I really enjoyed it. The pods for coffee don't really work for us (too weak and we drink a lot) so it was easy enough to just go down at 6am and fill up our mugs to have coffee while we got ready. With 8 nights, even one cup of coffee a day made sense to get the mugs! I walked around a bit to check out Geyser Point, but frankly I was confused at how it worked and didn't want to sit at a table by myself. Lol. I ended up at Territory Lounge. This might be one of my favorite places on Disney property. A nice waitress asked me why I looked wrecked (but in a nice way!). I explained I had been up since 4am Pacific time and was so tired. Turns out she was from a nearby city in Southern California and we talked about that for a bit. I ordered the Ani Tuna Tataki and a glass of Pinot Gris. The wine was very good, but the tuna bowl was a little odd. The ratio of tuna to rice was low (a lot of rice) and the sauce was... interesting. Not bad, but not what you would expect. The fish was good quality though. I left a lot of the rice in the bowl, I was more tired than hungry so it was fine. I asked for the check and explained my DH still had to eat. She said their kitchen was closing but I could take a glass of wine in a to go cup for him. He doesn't drink, so I got one for me! I got a chardonnay that was not as good as the Pinot Gris, but nice to have on our balcony. Dh ended up at Geyser Point (I think the QS section?) and had a salad with salmon. He said it was tasty, but small and wished he had ordered something else too.
Costs
Mugs - $40.45
Territory Lounge with tip - $47.47
Geyser Point - $17.42
More to come....
The Players -
ME - Semi-frequent traveler to WDW, likes most foods (sans kalamata olives and certain strong cheeses), loves wine and other adult beverages
DH - Watcher of budget, has already said this is a one and done WDW trip for him, loves seeing his dds have a great time at Disney, particular about service, will eat anything except squash in all forms.
DD9 - Less picky than she used to be, but still loves cheeseburgers, nuggets, pizza etc.
DD6 - The pickiest of them all! She will load up on foods she likes and then not eat at the next meal.
We did not have a dining plan. The way we ate was somewhere between the DDP and the DxDP. We ended up eating 21 meal credits (over 8 nights) and hardly any snacks. Our total cost out of pocket was a little over $2,400 ($300/nt) including tips so we may have been able to save money with a dining plan, but would have had to tweak what we ate and when. I like having the flexibility to go anywhere we want/order anything we want. Plus we got a killer deal on the room/tickets. I collected disney gift cards at a discount to help save a little bit. I kept telling DH it was free since we had a gift card, but he didn't really buy that!
Day 0
Travelling from the West Coast we didn't arrive to the Wilderness Lodge until 8pm. DH and I had packed sandwiches and snacks for the girls because we wanted them to go to bed at a decent time and adjust to the time change. After having our Amazon Prime Now delivery sent up and getting our luggage in they probably went to bed around 9. DH and I each took turns going downstairs to have a minute to ourselves and to get some real food.
I bought refillable mugs for DH and myself. This was the first time I've done this and I really enjoyed it. The pods for coffee don't really work for us (too weak and we drink a lot) so it was easy enough to just go down at 6am and fill up our mugs to have coffee while we got ready. With 8 nights, even one cup of coffee a day made sense to get the mugs! I walked around a bit to check out Geyser Point, but frankly I was confused at how it worked and didn't want to sit at a table by myself. Lol. I ended up at Territory Lounge. This might be one of my favorite places on Disney property. A nice waitress asked me why I looked wrecked (but in a nice way!). I explained I had been up since 4am Pacific time and was so tired. Turns out she was from a nearby city in Southern California and we talked about that for a bit. I ordered the Ani Tuna Tataki and a glass of Pinot Gris. The wine was very good, but the tuna bowl was a little odd. The ratio of tuna to rice was low (a lot of rice) and the sauce was... interesting. Not bad, but not what you would expect. The fish was good quality though. I left a lot of the rice in the bowl, I was more tired than hungry so it was fine. I asked for the check and explained my DH still had to eat. She said their kitchen was closing but I could take a glass of wine in a to go cup for him. He doesn't drink, so I got one for me! I got a chardonnay that was not as good as the Pinot Gris, but nice to have on our balcony. Dh ended up at Geyser Point (I think the QS section?) and had a salad with salmon. He said it was tasty, but small and wished he had ordered something else too.
Costs
Mugs - $40.45
Territory Lounge with tip - $47.47
Geyser Point - $17.42
More to come....