The Mattnkatsmum Mini Food Report 2012 About This Page:

[mattnkatsmum]

Now I wish, wish, WISH, that I had some of that luxury stuff other people call time, I really do. And if I did, I’d write a lovely, long, detailed trip report like I used to do in my previous life, before I faced the odd annus horribilis or three. But I’m not going to dwell on that and I’m going to share with you a mini trip report based upon the food we ate this last trip, with a tiny bit of what we did to throw our gastric consumptions into context.

For those of you who don’t know us, we are:



Karen : aged 42. Loves all food. Eats all food.

Steve : aged 42 (but nearer 43 than me). Says he loves all food. Says he eats all food. But in reality, is a pretty faddy eater.

Kat: Aged 9. Faddy eater.

The Matt of my user-name-sake is my 20-year-old son, who is now a medical student and despite being offered a FREE trip to WDW, chose to spend his summer backpacking around South America. Well YAH BOO SUCKS to him.

So, this trip we were splurging on the DVC points and doing a split stay between BLT and BCV. I also decided (against my better judgment) to plump for the DDP, primarily as Kat is enjoying her final season as a Disney child and because I am far too cheap to fork out for the fully-fledged plan to eat the odd chicken nugget and the odd fry. I gave a whole nanosecond of consideration to the issue, and decided that we would choose the deluxe DDP for the BLT part of our stay (for no other reason than the fact that I wanted to eat an appetizer at the Cali Grill) and the regular DDP for the remaining 4 nights.

The net result of our experience on the Dining Plan was that we ate so much food that we needed a crane to lift us on to the plane home and to provide us with so many refillable mugs that we can spend hours entertaining ourselves with a game of Refillable Mug Jenga.

So, without further ado, I will get on with it. Actually, with a bit more ado, I have decided not to tell you where we ate. Not until I get there. And that’s because I have a really nasty tendency of reading through food trip report introductions, and seeing links to reviews of Sci Fi, Boma etc, and thinking ‘I KNOW what a zebra dome tastes like, I KNOW that that the food is mediocre at Sci Fi, but the atmosphere is fun, I’ll not bother reading’, and that is really unfair to the people who have made the effort, so I am not going to tell you in advance where we ate, so you can moan and groan with the rest of ‘em when my report is full of stuff you already know, but I’m hoping you’ll indulge me by reading along.

Right. On with it. I promise.

Flights from Manchester (England - not New Hampshire – I wish it was, the fares are MUCH cheaper) were with Virgin Atlantic. We paid too much money to upgrade to Premium Economy for a bit more leg room and a half-decent entertainment system. The food was distinctly mediocre – the usual monosodium glutamate plus colouring affair – but seemingly designed with either the very young or very old in mind.





Look. No lumps! Perfect for the toothless. What it was? I have no clue. The wine was nice, though.

Afternoon tea consisted of a sandwich, 2 inch x 1 inch, I kid you not, with some non-descript filling which might have been egg. I didn’t waste my memory card on the Virgin Atlantic 5 cent sandwich, but I regret it now, in case you don’t believe me.

We were the first off the plane, arrived at an empty customs hall, and didn’t wait too long for DME to whisk us away to Bay Lake Towers.

This is the view from our ludicrously point expensive DVC theme park / parking lot room.



It was nice enough, but not worth the points. I should have requested a room on a high floor.

The evening was spent at Animal Kingdom, which I highly recommend as an evening park in the summer. It was open until eight and was seemingly the park the masses forgot. The crowds were low and we got to ride everything we cared about with minimal wait. It was quite fantabulous.

Food wise, we were caught in a DDP conundrum. Being on the Deluxe plan, we had no quick service credits. Yes I know that is technically incorrect, but I’m not going to use my expensively acquired TS credits on a QS meal, am I? That would be silly. And a combination of jet lag and bellies full of Virgin Atlantic slosh (sponsored by Gerber) were conspiring against our appetites. So we decided to see what we could achieve with a creative use of some snack credits, ‘cause let’s face it, we had an abundance of the blighters.

First we bought:



Jalapeno Cheese Stuffed Pretzel $4.29

You can pick these bad boys up from Safari Pretzel. A jolly good snack credit value, I would suggest. If indeed snack credit value is your main concern.

We picked up a cup of frozen lusciousness too.



Frozen Lemonade $3.69

We carried our goodies over to the Yak and Yeti Counter Service (Anandapur Local Cafes) place and Steve and Kat pitched themselves in one of the little coves across the way overlooking the lake.



This was a smart move as there was some kind of Bollywood dance party going on, which I’m sure is fun if you’re up for that sort of thing but we were tired and it was loud and I fancied my pretzel in peace.

My Yak and Yeti Counter Service (Anandapur Local Cafes) acquisitions:



Pork Egg Roll (1) $2.49 x2 Basket of Fries $3.99



Chicken Fried Rice $3.99

Where to start? Right, value-wise, the Pork Egg Rolls were a bit of a dud, because even though you can buy them as a pair, only the single serving classes as a snack credit. They tasted ok. They were crispy and hot and had some veggies in there and I’m guessing the US has its own version of the Trade Description Act, meaning that if they were described as pork, there must have been some pig in there, though I honestly can’t remember, much meatiness going on. They were distinctly unmemorable – though in their defence, I might just not like egg rolls very much, as I never seem to be over-enamoured whenever I try them

The fries were Kat’s and she guarded them fiercely, but we did sneak a fry or three and they were lovely. The Yak and Yeti Counter Service (Anandapur Local Cafes) [sorry – I just dig the wholly unnecessary bit in parentheses, why not just Yak and Yeti Counter Service? Or Anandapur Local Cafes? – and I can’t stop myself from typing it] fries are different to your regular WDW generic fries and in my, not so humble opinion, are better.

The lemonade was delicious. That’s all I can say. Delicious. Spend those snack credits on this sweet, slushy, lemony, wonderfulness and you will be a happy camper.

I really wanted to love the pretzel. I mean, just look at it! Tis a thing of beauty. And I love to ask for anything with jalapeno (pronounced ‘jal a pee no’, if you are from Northern England – we don’t stand for any of this pretentious ‘hal a pay nyo’ nonsense in my part of the world, not that anyone has actually heard of a jalapeno here, but I digress. So I was really rather disappointed when I discovered it to be a rather bland, lame offering. I like my jalapenos as I like my men – hot and spicy - and this pretzel had more of a bitter taste, and I no more enjoy bitter pretzels than I enjoy bitter blokes. And I’ve met a few of those in my time. The doughy bit was nice and doughy, and the cheesy bit nice and cheesy, so I reckon I’ll try the cream cheese version at some point and maybe we’ll be on to a winner.

Now, at risk of sounding like a whiner, I didn’t rate the rice either, It was a whopping great portion of nothingness. It reminded me of that dried stuff that you get in packets and add water to. I have an image of the Yak and Yeti chef boiling a ruddy great industrial sized kettle and pouring over a vat of dehydrated rice. I’m sure he doesn’t and it’s all ‘fresh from the wok’. The same stuff made a guest appearance later in the week when we dined at the Yak and Yeti Not The Counter Service (Anandapur Local Cafes).

So, whilst not exactly enjoying gourmet cuisine, we killed a few snack credits, and were pretty stuffed at the end of our snack spree. Whilst I have been a bit critical of some of the food, it was actually great fun to have a mini feast in this way.

I was feeling a little guilty that the pleasure gained and the calories consumed were not quite in proportion, so on our way back to BLT we stopped by at the Contempo Café and bought this item of wonder.





Red Velvet Cupcake $3.99

And that, my friends, is how you SHOULD use those snack credits.

Coming up: The day of too much food.

[Disney Dork]

Great start. I just love a good cupcake!

[disneydani]

Awesome, awesome, awesome.....so glad you are back and doing some TRing...even if it is of the "mini" kind....cause you definitely have a wickedly funny way of describing it all!

As an aside, look how Kat has grown! (while you, of course, look younger than ever...) have her curls subsided or is she in the I-want-straight-hair phase? Izzy went thru that until she realized what a pain in the rear it was to blow it dry all the time....now she is back to her curls.

Danielle

[mfirst]

Great start - we the cupcakes from Contemp Cafe

[HollyH]

Great start and wonderfully written! You absolutely crack me up Karen, and I can't wait to hear more!!!

[ilovedisney247]

Karen!
I'm so glad to see you writing up your trip! I rather love your jokes and food commentary and have missed hearing from you.

[Colexis Mom]

What a great start Karen! Kat has gotten so big! Can't wait to hear about your gastronomic adventures!

[lauriep]

Oh, boy, what fun! Glad you're back with a mini-report.

The in-flight meal really looks beyond bad, but that red velvet cupcake looks scrumptious! Next time you're patching together an AK snack meal try the vegetarian egg rolls from the kiosk near Flights of Wonder. Not bad and $1.99 each.

[pick7499]

Loving this report! Can't wait to read/see more!

[dutchdisneyfamily]

Love your humor! Can't wait to read more!

[Ashli]

Great start! I almost cringe to say this, but that was the most disgusting airplane food I have ever seen!! And I thought I'd had some bad stuff....

Red velvet cupcakes are the nectar of life.

[MontiMouse]

Karen, you are so entertaining!! Love your reports and if you really want hot and spicy you should make a trip over to South Louisiana. I am a hot and spicy kinda girl too but I also demand flavor.

Looking forward to more and I love the surprise element of not knowing ahead of time where you will be eating

[buzzspal2]

I'm glad you are writing a food report. Kat has grown up so much and Matt in Medical school. Where has the time gone.

[thinkpink]

Great start!!! I love your writing style and humor! Great report and very entertaining. Friend me on facebook because I want to read everything you write!

More please!

[LLaffinPlace]

Karen, you have me chuckling straight through, and I am so glad you are granting us this much of a trip report.

I am sure the frozen lemonade was great, but given where you were, I would have headed straight to the bar or window to get a Yak Attack!