Dining Review - 16 days in Feb March with an egg allergy from uk

[jf256]

I just want to apologize in advance as I have very few pictures of the food - mostly because I was an idiot and completely forgot I had put my phone in my swimming costume pocket and went for a dip in the pool. We have a few pics but OH had pretty much eaten most of the food before I had a chance to ask 'can I use your phone'.
So instead of a really long review - with lots of pretty pictures I will just give an overview of the food generally on each day with some comments.

Who are we?
Jodi (F30) and Jack(M32) from the UK. I'm in HS Jack is self employed . I travel a lot for work but dont fly too often at the moment - jack does not and hates it - so there is a lot of anxiety around travelling for both of us.

Day 1 - Travel to Heathrow:
We took the train to Heathrow (new Elizabeth line is a dream) and stayed at the Hilton at terminal 2. The soundproofing in that room was incredible. We had a runway view but that was pushing it a little it was mostly the road with a bit of the runway. We ate at the restaurant on site (Apron) and hated it. Jack had a fish and chips and suggested that it tasted like it had been microwaved and i had a salmon greek salad that had no flavour at all. I also ordered garlic bread which was also terrible. It was very doughy like school dinner rolls with some garlic flakes on top. I barely touched mine and was still hungry - so we went to the runway bar at the top of the hotel and i had the samosas which were absolutely delightful. Huge and great value with lots of flavour. I did notice that there were a lot of curry options on the menu at the restaurant and after tasting the samosas wondered if the chefs were specialists in that area as they did look nice when they were coming out. Anyway - skip the apron and go straight to the run way bar.

Day 2 - Orlando Travel Day
Free breakfast at the Hilton was buffet style with no allergy information available. I asked if they could do me a bacon sandwich out the back as the bread didnt have any details and i watched someone drop eggs in the bacon - so wanted something safe. In the end they took so long to give me an answer that i had a banana and a yoghurt. Jack had a full english no egg because he didnt want to chance me feeling ill or something with them at the table - he said it was just okay and I would have been annoyed if i had paid - but with gold hilton status we got it for free.

We then headed to the amex lounge in heathrow terminal two where i did get a breakfast - they had some really nice rolls and the eggs are well away from the bacon so i had that and some cheese and a chia pot. Was good but no where near as good as the lunch / dinner offering in the lounge - the chicken they do is absolutely incredible.

Anxiety was getting the best of jack who just nursed a cup of coffee for the time we were there.

Plane food - with an egg allergy is borderline awful - we were in premium and i preordered the vegan option - it was inedible and i ended up speaking to the flight attendant who gave me the last thai veg curry which was really nice. If in premium I will no longer be preordering the vegan meal with virgin - as they send you the options a few days before with allergy information. The only issue would be the dessert and i think i can live without 2 slices of hard mango, 1/2 a strawberry and a single blueberry. The afternoon tea option was probably the worst thing i've ever eaten - a microwaved falafel gluten free vegan spinach wrap that was incredibly soggy. Jack had curry and a nice afternoon tea with two sandwiches. They really need to up their game on special diets because it was very disappointing to buy premium seats and then had inedible food.

We arrived in orlando exhausted and cancelled our boathouse reservation - we had allergy friendly beignets and strawberry and salted caramel sauce. I loved them but jack said they were a little dense. However; later on in the trip we ordered both allergy and non allergy friendly ones and he did say the difference was minimal - with the main difference being the size. The allergy ones are around half the size of the mickey ones but 3 were enough for the two of us.

We then went to scat cats and had tots with pulled pork, and nacho toppings, and wings with cajun fries. This was a lot of food. But was really good. The chef came out and spoke to us about it - as i can have cross contamination fryers we were okay with pretty much everything on the menu and the band was really good. I have to say that this was one of the best meals of our trip and started a bit of a tots obsession over the first few days.

 

[erinch]

Great start!

 

[DLo]

following along. looking forward to reading more.

 

[jf256]

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom - Snacksa and Lunch

We were up quite early due to the time difference and grabbed some coffee to have in the room via the refillable mugs. Joffreys 50th Anniversary Blend - was not for us. It was so bitter! We drink it black no sugar so there is no covering up bad coffee but this was not good.

We got to the Magic Kingdom - very proud of ourselves for making early entry. Only to realise that due to after hours - the park was closing earlier at 10 pm and early entry was brought forward. So we didn't really get their that early at all only around 10 minutes before park open. Well lesson learned make sure to double-check park times. We did get on 7DMT with only a 25-minute wait so were happy with that.

We had a few bags of crisps, cereal bars and fruit in our bag so we ate those in the lines to make the most of lower morning crowds (I think quite a few people didn't get the memo about opening early) just to stave off initial hunger. We are not huge breakfast people anyway - and my egg allergy makes me avoid most quick options for breakfast.

At around 11 we decided we were a bit hungry so we did what any rational grown adults would do for their first substantial meal and got ice cream. We were debating aloha isle but I couldn't actually find it - so we went to sunshine tree terrace ( I know now it's right around the corner lol). We checked the allergy info and got the orange cream. I am more of a sorbet than an ice cream person and I really enjoyed this. It was definitely a shareable size.

After our ice cream - we were obviously not satiated at all and we popped over to fantasy land and got some loaded tots from Friar's nook. There is no allergy ordering option on the mobile order so we had to wait in the queue. But the cast member spoke to us while we were in there and was kind enough to get me the allergy menu so I wouldn't need to queue if there was nothing I could have. I really like the fact that all the nutritional labels are pictured for review as a means of double-checking. Well, i was pleasantly surprised I could have the loaded tots - as i was expecting to just have to get plain ones while jack got something more exciting. They were really good - but nowhere near as good as scat cats and were only 1 dollar less in total. Scat cats were definitely a bargain.

I am a huge beauty and the beast fan and we went to gastons tavern to grab a lefous brew. I am actually allergic to birch and because apples have a similar protein and pollen makeup to birch I do suffer a mild reaction from it (oral allergy syndrome) but I wanted to try it and knew it would be fine to have just a sip with jack finishing it off. It was fine to just have a sip because honestly, it was awful. It had a really chemical aftertaste and the foam just did not go with the flavour at all. Went straight into the bin.
We went on a few more rides etc and then ended up at the Adventureland egg roll cart. I knew that they were actually spring rolls but I was very much not expecting to be able to eat them anyway. Well, I checked and was so glad that I did. I could not have the Cheeseburger Spring Rolls but I could have the 50th Pastrami Pepper Jack ones and they were one of the best snacks I've ever had. Jack grabbed both and said he had no idea why people raved about the cheeseburger ones - as the Pastrami ones blew them out of the water

We thought we better stop eating at this point because we had not only BOG at 430pm but a Dessert Party that evening.

 

[Counting Stars]

At around 11 we decided we were a bit hungry so we did what any rational grown adults would do for their first substantial meal and got ice cream.

I love this! Sounds like a great start to your trip Following.

 

[jf256]

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom

Be Our Guest

I am a massive Beauty and the Beast Fan and I knew that BOG was a non-negotiable. As we were only on property for the first few days we booked it for our first proper meal out.

We checked in via the app around 4pm for our 4.30pm reservation. By 4.40pm we were a bit over hanging around outside so we went into the castle and waited in the building. There is a waiting room with some coats of arms, knights armor, etc but it could really do with some seating as it's a large area and looks a bit empty without it.

I preferred to check in online as we do not have a US number so they couldn't text us - online i could make a note of my allergy and then get push notifications which was a much better system than waiting around. One thing you couldn't do online is put in any special seating requests - so I checked in and then asked at the hostess stand for the west wing.

I am very glad I did this - the room was so dark that we couldn't take any pictures but it was definitely the best room and we both agreed that if we were in any of the other rooms we would not have had anywhere near as good an experience.

Our server came over to us - and did not really introduce themselves - they were a bit cold to be honest and service was very average. It was just fine - but someone proposed to their girlfriend next to us and they did not really get any special treatment and seemed to be rushed through just as much as everyone which was a shame.

I was able to have the bread service as standard - it was just standard crusty bread but very good. We seemed to receive the same amount of bread as a table of 4 which was a good thing. I

Jack had the leek and potato soup which they did not provide additional bread for that which seemed a bit odd to me considering i got a baguette with my escargot. The escargot were really good - not the best i have ever had but they were very good. The garlic butter was 90 percent garlic and 10 percent butter and was really lovely. But i was legitimately tasting garlic butter for the next few hours. I'm not going to lie - it was not pleasant. The leek and potato soup was good but not where near as good as my mums.. so i'm glad i didnt get it.

For the main course i had the trout and i feel like it was the best thing on the menu value wise. You got a large piece of trout - stuffed with crab almonds , green beans etc. It was good but was very 'wedding / cruise like' food. I didnt manage it all because i ate about 4 bits of bread and i was stuffed from the snails but i could of. Jack had the steak with the sauce on the side which was a good shout. He didnt really rate the sauce and the portion was quite small but the steak was cooked to his liking (ruined.. well done). One thing we did note is that the vegetables were quite hard.

Dessert was a bit of a faff - orignally the chef indicated that all i could have was sorbet and i questioned why the plant based option would have egg - which i then ended up having. It was a vanilla cake with vegan meringue bites and lemon curd. It was just okay.

The vanilla cake was very generic- Jack really liked it he said it tasted like Tottenham cake which is basically a really cheap school dinner cake popular in north london. Jack loves tottenham cake as he is very much a basic b lol. I really liked the raspberries but when the best bit on a plate is the single raspberry garnish - not the best.

He had the dessert platter and said the macaron was the best he ever had.. i was a bit irritated by this comment as I went to Belgium in December and sourced him macarons from one of the oldest bakeries in Brussels - and spent ages in the queue and asking them to pick out the more exciting tasting ones - so he could have 'normal' flavors. I think I am just going to give up on him now - he likes what he likes.

We paid easily with our Food and Dining Credit Gift Card and was out of there within 50 minutes. This does not bother us as we are not sit around sort of people - but some people may have been a bit irritated by this.

We thought that BOG was expensive but not as 'overpriced' as some of the meals we had - we are not going to be going to disney any time soon as the flights etc are too difficult and its too expensive from the UK but if we do return in 5 years as planned i would like to do BOG again. We really enjoyed the experience and it was one of our most disney esque meals.


Happily Ever After Party

We booked the after hours dessert party after reading online that it was the most productive thing to do. We regretted this decision as we now realise that most people booking this are likely not fresh off a plane - with a 5 hour delay. It was a really long night, we were jet lagged and exhausted.
We checked in at the podium and went to the plaza viewing area - this was around 40 minutes prior. As I said we were exhausted and just wanted to sit down. I went and grabbed 2 blonde coffees from starbucks and we just chilled for a bit. The viewing area was perfect and i may do it again but i do think with 40 / 45 minutes we could of easily got a space elsewhere. As this is not that often occurence though i thought why not. Seeing all the projections in that position was incredible.
Regarding the actual desserts - obviously, we had eaten a huge amount of food at this point and it felt like 3am in the morning by the time we sat down after the fireworks.

We didnt really want a huge amount of food - and i was regretting not booking this for later in the holiday. I told them about my allergy and was told basically there is nothing on the table you can have except fruit and cheese - so they got me my own plate of lots of erin mckenna treats. I have to be honest - originally we were planning to go to erin mckennas but after that plate we didnt really bother ( we did pop in but the queue was long so we just left it).

The food was really dry and nothing really tasted all that great - it may be that it was old but that does tend to be a problem when you try to suit all allergies instead of just one or two. Vegan Gluten Free, Nut free etc is great however for those with multiple allergies who never get opportunities so i am glad it is avaialable to them but there are much better vegan options in disney than erin mckennas.

I ended up just getting a lot of cheese, pog juice and fruit

Jack said the non vegan plate was also just okay - very cruise like and everything just tasted sweet. TBH this did seem to be a recurring theme throughout disney, and tbh orlando in general. Nothing had a huge depth of flavour dessert wise.

I dont think we would bother with a dessert party again.

 

[Counting Stars]

Glad you enjoyed BOG- even if it wasn't stellar... I have heard many similar comments regarding the dessert parties- lots of sweets, none particularly good. I found myself also considering a dessert party- and after reading many of the reviews and still considering booking a dessert party I found myself wondering if I just wanted to see the fireworks without being skin to skin with 5000 others Sometimes I over-plan when we haven't gone in a long time- I just want to do everything, then find myself asking "what was I thinking?" Thanks for taking the time to post your reviews. Following.

 

[jf256]

Day 4 - Hollywood Studios

We got up early again - ate some cereal bars and crisps and made our way to hollywood studios.

I forgot to mention that we got Genie Plus for the first few full days in the park and found it really easy to use. We also got a ILL for Rise.

We rope dropped Mickey and Minnies - this was definitely not an us demographic and was a one and done for us. Why is the queue so shoddy - it is in a serious need of an update and considering it has just had one - it's not a good look?

Woody's Lunch Box

First meal was Woody's Lunch Box. I ordered the kids allergy friendly Grilled Cheese with Soup Dipper and Tots and an orange juice. This was incredibly cost effective and more than enough with the sides. I really enjoyed my sandwich but they took a really long time - the coffee machine needed refilling and the allergy sandwich took a lot longer than the other one.

Jack ordered the brisket with a side of tots. He liked it but said it was cold - and unfortunately this seemed to be a bit of a running theme throughout disney and really at all the places we ate - everything seems to be served at just under room temperature. Even the 'soup'.

If i was too eat here again i'd get the kids meal as it is a really good deal once you add sides and the soup on to it.

Got a coffee but again it was Joffreys and wasn't great.

Post Joffreys coffee we threw most of it and went to trolley cart and got a blonde (extra caffeine not as bitter - its my favourite starbucks coffee so jack tended towards that). It wasn't super hot like 27 degrees on the first few days so was able to get hot coffee with no problem drinking it. (This did become an issue in the upcoming days).

Star Wars Galaxies Edge:

We ordered some of the popcorn from Katsukas Kettle. I loved it - it was spicy sweet and it was the best popcorn i had all week. Jack quite enjoyed it aswell. It was a really interesting flavour combination

Then ordered some Green and Blue Milk. I did not like the Blue all that much but loved the green. Jack was the other way round but didn't really like either. He said that the green one tasted like a hippies ashtray.. referring to the rather herbal taste. The blue one tasted very medicinal to me and sent me back to being a child with an ear infection as it tasted just like 90s antibiotic medicine.

We did eat a meal in galaxies edge later in the week and i will note this further down the review.

Sci Fi Dine - Fantasmic Package

This was one of our favourite meals of the 2 weeks. We have noted especially since being back that more traditional american food seemed to be done really well.. and the more non traditional food from other areas in the world seemed to fall a bit flat.
I had the plant based spinach dip - I had read about it on Vegan Disney Blog and it got good reviews, it was also one of the only things I could have non modified. It doesn't sound really appealing but I am so glad I did - it was absolutely shocked at how good it was. Vegan cheese is normally incredibly disappointed but this was creamy, garlicky, flavorful.. all round an amazing plate of food. Jack loved it too. He had the onion rings which he said were really good but there were too many - and he ate them anyway.

We both had american burgers - i had mine sans sauce but with ketchup and mustard and an allergy bun and he had the normal one. I like rare steak but in the UK it is very very difficult to get approval from the FSA to serve rare burgers. Most companies will not do it and they have recently made it even more difficult. (You have to send your entire portfolio of suppliers, agree to be monitored, and send samples off to the lab regularly. - it isn't worth it as most people really dont like rare burgers).

I would not eat a rare burger it makes me feel very sick thinking about it due to the potential contamination processes vs a piece of steak. Jack has his steak welldone so likes his burgers really cremated. We explained this to our server and both were cooked all the way through and we had no problems as this is more of a cultural thing it was really nice that we weren't given funny looks or anything.

The fries were really tasty, as were the burgers but it was way to much for me even without half the bun - and i ended up leaving most of it. We did not get dessert as we were stuffed. Vouchers for fantasmic were given to us with our bill.
After Fantasmic we grabbed a bag of popcorn and a pretzel which we ate on the way home.. I love cheese and was utterly disgusted at myself at how much I loved the 'cheese' style pot thing that came with the pretzel.. we got a few more of them throughout the next two weeks.

We also grabbed a few more Blonde Coffees throughout the day.

 

[Derb]

I don't think your burger doneness is a cultural thing. It is common when ordering burgers here in the US to be asked if you want "some pink" or "no pink" in the middle of the burger. Most places won't do medium rare burgers, it is a safety risk.

 

[jf256]

Day 5 - Epcot

As it was a slightly later start to the day we decided to get beignets - we got 3 of each normal and allergy friendly ones and i also got jack the st paddies day version. I ate 1 1/2 and the other went in the fridge. It was a lot lot quicker in the morning to get the allergy ones (they gave us a buzzer) than the previous time when we went at 8pm ish. Jack said he couldn't taste the difference and would happily get the allergy ones next time to cut cost down.

Even though it was the first day of Flower and Garden we decided not to really do much of the festival - as we thought it would be absolutely packed with food bloggers etc and with my allergy I figured letting them get into the flow a bit would be much better.

One booth we did try was tangerine cafe - Chermoula Chicken minus the Garlic aioli. This was not great the salad was quite basic grains, and dried fruit - the chicken was not spiced all that well and very dry. I dont think the sauce would have saved it, to be honest.

Les Halles

After our Remy LL we popped into Les Halles as it gets really good reviews and seemed like something quick. Honestly wasn't enamored with it - had the pizza thing Pissaladiere and the Cheese and Bacon Pastry. Honestly i've had better 'French' pastries etc at stations in the UK. These were just very bland and tasted like they had been sitting for a very long time. Jack had an eclair which he said was nice but nothing special. This was a definate one and done for us - although if in the area i would have been nice to get a half baguette to have with some of the flower and garden food.

Allergy wise - it was very easy to obtain top 8 allergy information although those who are more concerned with contamination would be better to avoid as everything is very close to each other - however they did change tongs when picking stuff up and that was sufficient for my own allergy requirements.

Karamel Kuche

I love werthers originals my grandad used to keep a big bag of them in the car along with some soft mints and it was a tradition that we would eat them on the drive to our caravan in clacton growing up.

Walking into Karamel Kuche was amazing the popcorn smelled incredible. I did overhear someone get a bit annoyed they couldnt get hot popcorn which is a safety risk due to the hot caramel i am guessing but the cast member handled it very well.

We got a bag of popcorn and checked the allergy information and i was pleasantly surprised at the number of options I actually had. We had heard really good things about the butter bar and decided to share that.

It was not very nice - and ended up in the fridge in our room after having about 2 bites of it each - before we chucked it away. It was very greasy, and just tasted like a worse version of shortbread. Not for me. The popcorn was amazing though and i knew that would be one of jacks favourite things as he absolutely loves toffee popcorn - I am more of a sweet and salty type of person (hence why i loved katsukas) but it was nice and done really well.

Space 2020 Lounge

We managed to grab an early afternoon (2.30pm) reservation at Space 2020 - Lounge. Otherwise we probably would have shuffled our day around to not go to Epcot on the opening day of Flower and Garden. It was a really great experience - the virtual screens were really interesting but after about 10 mins the novelty did wear off and it was like eating in a normal restaurant.

We both got coffee and dessert and really enjoyed it. Vegan desserts are growing in popularity but there does tend to be 3 options whenever you go anywhere - and they tend to be - Some sort of chocolate cake/ tart, carrot cake or vegan meringue. So i have had a lot of vegan carrot cakes in the past few years- this was tied top with the best i have ever had. The other in case you were interested is a little vegetarian cafe in Letchworth Garden city that is just incredible. I would highly recommend this - vegan or not. Jack had the chocolate cheesescake and really enjoyed it- at $14 each these were really good value (wouldn't be out side of disney i suppose) but we were able to get the experience at a relatively low cost.

We were starting to fill a bit sick at this point we had basically just had carbs and sugar all day- and had dinner at Story Book Dine - at 7.30pm.

Story Book Dine

To Be Continued

 

[jf256]

Story Book Dine

We were really happy that we managed to grab this dinner. I don't know if it is any easier now that CRT has opened up with the princesses but it was really hard to get and we did not see any space available past our initial booking. We booked it the first week because we weren't 100 percent certain that we would get +5 on our Swan Reserve Stay (we did but had to call up both times as there was a glitch in my Disney experience).

I wore a pick your poison shirt I made with my Cricut via a design found on Etsy and it was so much fun interacting with Grumpy (who did not like my shirt and kept an eye on me when I was speaking to snow white) and the evil queen. It was an honestly great experience - the couple behind us had a very young baby and the number of interactions they had with them was also great.

Food was - it was average wedding/ catering food. Nothing super special.

The starter platter was not placed on the serving 'tree' as we both had separate dishes. However, the only change appeared to be the hunter's pie - I got the meatball thing that was on top but not the pastry. The soup was without a doubt the best thing on the appetiser list - the prawn cocktail was fine, and so was the meatball thing. But the soup was very good. If you like mushrooms you will love this dish.

Main course-wise - Jack got the prime rib well done and this was no problem - sometimes with carved meat it can be so we were pleasantly surprised by that. I got the fish. The fish of the day was salmon and that was fine but the risotto was not good. I really enjoy risotto despite not being a huge fan of a lot of rice normally. But this had a very dusty flavour. I honestly wouldn't recommend it unless like me you hate roast dinner-style food ( I know I'm a bad Brit) and can't have the gnocchi. If i was too go back again if the fish wasn't changed i might try to get the the mash and carrots that are on the kids fish dish.

The desserts were overly sweet with not a lot going on flavour-wise. Jack had an entirely different platter to me this time - as I got the vegan plate.
Vegan: Gooseberry Crumble - Nice but I like crumble a lot and like tart flavours. Rotten apple - didn't look all that appetising tasted like a protein date ball and seemed an odd choice of flavours. Chia Pudding - Absolutely vile. I normally like chia pudding but this was not good .. it was very slimy.

Normal: Gooseberry Tart - again was fine but he would have preferred to have crumble. Poison Apple - he hates overly rich dark chocolate so was a disappointing no from him. Cookies and cream - just fine lacked flavour but was okay.

 

[jf256]

Day 6 Animal Kingdom

We didn't learn our lesson and turned up late for our Animal Kingdom day. We went straight to Pandora and waited in line for around 30 minutes.. which was fine.

The first snack of the day was the impossible empanadas from Kusafiri Coffee Shop - This was a bucket list for me and we really enjoyed them for the price they were great value and really tasty. One of my favorite snacks. Like a spicy, flaky pasty and I loved it. Jack also enjoyed but it was right up my alley!

We did a few more rides and then hopped over to Satuli Canteen where we got a chicken and beef bowl (well-done beef) and adult cheeseburger pods to share. We mobile ordered and they didn't put the chicken in - and I couldn't be bothered to go back. This was a theme as the next time we went to Satuli Canteen they mucked up our order and the manager said that it was a common occurrence - so double check your orders. The salad bowl was really good we had it with the charred green onion vinaigrette. The boba balls were a really nice touch and it was nice to have something a bit lighter.

The cheeseburger pods - were okay. I don't really understand the hype. They weren't as great as Bao Buns - I've had a better 'Burger' Style Bao before and they weren't as good as a Mcdonald's cheeseburger. We did try them again later in the trip and actually got some ketchup and honey mustard with them and it was much better. (On a side note.. honey mustard is incredible.. the honey mustard we get in the UK is not even close!)

Later in the day we got hungry again and went to Eight Spoon Cafe for what was also hyped up baked mac and cheese. But this deserved the hype. The portion was a really good size for the price and it was genuinely very good. We got the pulled pork version and the worst bit about it for me was the pulled pork but Jack loved it. Really good full marks all around.

Still a bit snacky we popped to Trilo Bites and got the 'Buffalo Chicken Chips'. This was not a great experience. Essentially I made the mistake of pointing out to them that their allergy information was incorrect (the packets said the right ingredients but the overall allergen bit a the top did not). The dressing had egg but it wasn't included in the allergen section. No big deal.. can I have it without it. Nope.

They insisted on getting a manager to cook the order and said it was policy for that to happen. The manager was nowhere to be seen for 20 minutes.. and then took another 10 minutes to assemble the same ingredients they already had there. I genuinely think the staff panicked because the allergy info was wrong. But please don't leave people hanging around for 30 minutes without giving them an update. We probably wouldn't have bothered if we knew it was going to be that long.

The worst thing was it was not worth a 30-minute wait.. the chicken was dry and really soggy at the same time due to the buffalo sauce and I'm not sure that the Blue Cheese could have said it. Jack had some on the side and said it was very basic.

I'd of skipped trilo and gone back to get tacos or something at the smiling crocodile.
Jiko

We left the park around 645pm for our 7.30 reservation at Jiko. We managed to modify it on the day because we originally booked for 830pm but this would have been too late with jet lag.

I was really looking forward to Jiko. But I have to say it was one of the most disappointing meals - it wasn't bad but at the price point and for how much everyone raves about it - it was just good but not great. The bread service was lovely the giraffe bread was warm and the butter was really tasty. But it was just bread at the end of the day. I

The next issue is totally my own fault. I ordered the scallops as these are my go-to whenever they are on the menu. They were again just fine - not the worst I've had but nowhere near the best.

They weren't as charred as firm as I personally like them.

I got a tingly throat about 5 minutes after eating it. Panicked and then spoke to the waiter who brought out the allergy menu again - it had an apple in the fennel slaw and like an idiot, I'd glazed over it. As I've mentioned this particular allergy is to birch and I get hayfever symptoms rather than a full-blown allergic reaction.

The waiter was really good about it - as it was totally my fault. I took an antihistamine and water and was fine in 10 minutes.. but it did spoil my starter... I don't think I would have rated the food too high anyway. But I think unfortunately that experience made the rest of it not as good because I was honestly really annoyed at myself. So I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Jack had the wild boar and the flavour profile of the sauce was just off. It was not something either of us would get again. Jack said it tasted like a badly made deconstructed bolognese .. I liked it a bit more than he did but it wasn't the best.

For mains - I was moving between lots of options but settled on the Filet with mac and cheese as that seems to be the go-to. The steak was cooked beautifully and had a really nice seasoning on it. I just did not enjoy the mac and cheese at all. I like blue cheese and I do think the four cheese included a strong blue as it was overpowering and very acidic. Which didn't give it a nice aftertaste. Most of it was left on the plate.

Jack had the Slow-cooked Beef Short Rib, Hominy, Sea Peas, Mushrooms, and Carrots i didn't try but he hated the sides that came with it. But he did enjoy the short rib itself.

The restaurant is beautiful, and the service was incredible. The food was just not for us - and I don't think that it's the African flavors as we have been to Ethiopian and South African restaurants before and really enjoyed it. Everything just had a twinge of sweetness and I think I had overhyped it in my head and ruined the experience for myself.

If we go to Disney world again in 4 / 5 years as we are planning and UK brings back free dining. It's possible that we would give it another go. But out of pocket not so much. I'd probably go for the vegan options though as they looked awesome.

 

[fantasia73]

Thanks for the great detailed report! I have an allergy to coconut oil. Desserts are the hardest for me. Many times it's "you can have the sorbet". Anything else? "No."

 

[jf256]

Day 7: Universal and Lowes Portofino Bay

Breakfast Beignets

Before checking out we quickly grabbed a mixture of Allergy and Non-Allergy Beignets. I have mentioned this before but Jack stated that there really was not much difference taste-wise between the Allergy and Non-Allergy. Additionally, the wait was significantly shorter on this day than in the evening. I had the strawberry dipping sauce. Jack had the salted caramel which was just too much sweetness for me.
I also couldn't stop myself from grabbing him a St Paddies Day Beignet because it looked so pretty. It had some sort of vanilla cream in the middle and mint choc chip icing - essentially a mint choc chip milkshake. He loves mint choc chip its one of his go-to's for pretty much anything - but didn't really rate this. I think it was the combination of icing and cream - just a bit much with the already super sweet beignet.

Universal Checkin

We were going to Universal today - we checked out around 9.30am and were at Loews Portofino Bay around 10 am. We were initially planning to try and get in for early entry but as Hagrids was down for refurbishment and we had no intention of doing Velocicoaster we just had a relatively chilled morning.

We were on the Amex Fine Hotels Rate and with that we got a food and beverage credit of $100. Free Breakfast and a 4pm checkout the following day. I do wish we spent another day at Universal in the hotel but with the 4pm having one night was essentially having two full days. You also get early checkin when available - it wasnt available at 10.30am unfortunately but that is too be expected. We got a text for the room about 1pm but didnt go back until a bit later. You are also more likely to get an upgrade if available with this rate - and we were upgraded to a Bay View. We also got a free universal express pass for the two days we were there as Portofino is a deluxe hotel.

Universal Studios Florida

By the time we had checked in and got our express passes it was around 11 am we had a Starbucks coffee (nothing exciting for Jack just an Americano, and a pistachio cold brew foam from Starbucks - i preferred this to their other cold brew but cold coffee is just not my jam!) We got the boat over and got into the studios around 11.30 am. We were pretty hungry at this time - and wanted to try a couple of the things at one of the mardi gras booths.

We honestly didn't end up spending anywhere near as much time sampling the booths as I would have liked. We ate big lunches on the days we were in Universal and we were just too full most of the time.

Puerto Rico

We went to Puerto Rico which was near the mummy and to my surprise I could eat everything on the menu. This was really great because it was something we had never tried before the Mofongo Trio was pretty good - it tasted a lot like grainy mash with seasoning and had some interesting toppings. The Alcapurrias were good but it was a bit of a weird feeling eating bananas and beef - it was different at least although not something I would try again. This was really the first really really hot day (probably laughable to some people - but we were uncomfortable) and we were struggling with eating anything.

We went on pretty much all the rides in Universal Studios - Except Rip Ride Rocket. I like coasters but not super intense ones.

Simpsons Food Court

We then tried to go to the Simpsons Food Court. It was a bit of a terrible experience tbh. The queue was intense. I spoke to someone in the queue and they said I had to wait to get to the front to find out allergy info. Fine, I thought I should be able to get something - well the only thing that was egg friendly was the pizza - which looked awful like a cheap microwave pizza or a salad from the vegetarian section. Even the curly fries were not suitable as they were in the same fryer (normally I am okay but looking at some of the practices and how not great the employees were with questions about substitutions etc) we decided to just leave... this was after waiting in the queue for 20 minutes.

They have mobile order - if you don't have an allergy make sure to use that. If you do have an allergy - I genuinely wouldn't bother. One thing I don't like about Universal - is the inconsistency with mobile order and allergies - some places have allergy information, and some do. But most don't. I do think that Universal could do a bit better.

Belgium

We tried a couple of the booths including Germany to find something to share. In the end, we ended up at the Belgium Booth. We got the Frites with dipping sauces. The andalouse was vegan and was very close to a vegan fry sauce I had in Belgium and it was quite good. The other sauce didn't really do much but was fine.

Floreans

We had pretty much just eaten carbs at this point and I honestly wanted something with a bit more substance - but we were not having much luck at any of the booths and decided just to go get icecream and butter beer - because we are definitely grown ups who listen to their bodies when they screaming not to eat any more carbs. Jack had strawberry and peanut butter and mint. I had butter beer. Allergy info was relatively easy to get with the list being held behind the counter - and they actually offered to go to the back to get it which was nice.. but then they took around 5 minutes to get it and the lady at the counter was quite irritated when she realized we were still standing there and asked why we were there. I'm still not sure if she was irritated at us for being in the way - or the people out back for not being quick enough but we were clearly in the way.

Honey Dukes and Butter Beer.

We got the train over to kings cross and tried to get something for later at honey dukes. There was plenty in the case that looked like it would be fine providing as I am fine as long as ingredients are not present in the actual item. But the bakery attendant essentially said that nothing will be suitable and that they would not give allergy information as it is not safe from contamination. Again better safe than sorry but it could have been handled a little bit better. He was very abrupt and then just turned to the next person in the queue.

We went to the butter beer shop and had another mishap - I asked the question and was told that I could only order the vegan option. I had a feeling that this wasn't correct as i had done quite a lot of research and asked to see the allergy information. Luckily a more experienced server was just walking through and took the opportunity to show two of the servers how to pull up the allergy information as they had not been trained in this.

The booths in general were very good with allergies and were able to pull up the information pretty quickly - but I think additional training is needed for universal quick service and shopkeepers. I am a big girl who can advocate for myself but if a little kid who was really excited to be in honey-dukes was treated with honestly the same blaze' attitude or was looking forward to a butter beer and couldn't get one due to a mistake from a member of staff then I think it has the potential to really destroy the magic. Especially in the harry potter lands.

Trattoria Del Porto
As previously noted we had a $100 credit included in our Amex Fine Hotel Rate. We were not able to go to Bice with this as it is a 3rd party restaurant. Initially, we couldn't decide so we booked both of the restaurants on the open table and canceled Mama Dellas as I wanted to try the Pasta Cucina. This was a great shout for me - however, Jack wasn't super enamored with it. It is essentially a create-your-own pasta buffet where the chef cooks your meal in front of you. I was able to eat everything on there except the meatballs (as it is not fresh but dried pasta) and I loved it. I had a great big salad to start with loads of olive oil, sundried tomatoes, etc. I was honestly craving this as we had such a carb-heavy - and sweet heavy day. Jack didn't bother with the salad - to be honest, I think the interactive bar might not have been great for him as he hates being put on the spot and in hindsight, he should have ordered an ala carte. He had the bolognese with a few mushrooms and spaghetti. He didn't really enjoy the experience but ate most of the pasta (it was a big portion).

I personally loved it - I had two half portions (I asked for a smaller portion as I saw jacks size and knew I wanted to try a couple). I had a bolognese with mushrooms, chili, veg, etc, and lots of garlic, and then a mixed alfredo with prawns and chicken and mushrooms.

Our Server was lovely and spent a lot of the time running back and forward double checking ingredients and packaging for me - and she even got me some different bread without asking as she couldn't be sure that I could have the bread service. She was honestly lovely but did panic a little when she heard about my allergy. Again I will just say it - Universal Needs to just train their staff a bit better as there was no need to put that lovely woman through the amount of stress she was going through. If a simple allergy process was in place - it could have been avoided.

I would go back for this in a heartbeat - even though the ingredients weren't the best quality housemade pasta etc and the options were pretty simple - it was still one of my favorite meals in Orlando and we didn't have to pay anything for it!

If we do go back and get another credit for Loews we would probably end up at Mama as I'm not sure that Jack would want to go back for the Pasta Cucina.

They don't have many options for pasta on the ala carte menu. We sat outside and it was absolutely beautiful but the Mamas was right next to us and also looked really nice.

I will mention that $28.99 for an all-you-can-eat interactive experience for dinner plus bread and salad in a theme park hotel is incredibly good value.

We may or may not have had a leftover beignet each as a post dinner snack...

 

[jf256]

Day 8 - Mostly Islands of Adventure but with a few rides on the Mummy and Cowfish.

Trattoria Del Porto - breakfast
We had a bit of a lay in - because we had the express passes again - had the room until 4pm and Hagrids was still shut so we didnt worry about early entry. We had breakfast around 10am (cant remember the exact time)

With the fine hotels stay you do get a credit for breakfast. This caused a little bit of confusion at the hostess stand as I was trying to find out if you had to do the buffet and she didn't know. I sat down not knowing what to expect, to be honest - but our server was a lot more knowledgeable with what came included. Essentially you could have ala-carte options that were the same price as the buffet. I can't remember the exact price but i think it was around $30. So there was plenty of choice - that is if you dont have an egg allergy as most of the options have egg.

I opted for the breakfast sandwich without eggs this was Broken yolk eggs, black pepper candied bacon, cheddar cheese, tomato jam, arugula, ciabatta bun. The combined candied bacon, and tomato jam was way to sweet for me and i ended up removing the half of the bun that had the jam spread on it - it was quite an interesting breakfast and if you like a combination of sweet and savoury (i think the eggs would have balanced it a lot) then this would be a good filling choice even if you werent on free breakfast deal as this was $19 i believe. They also had a tofu scramble but i wasn't really feeling it. In hindsight i should have asked for the smoked salmon bagel with a side of tofu or gone for the buffet and either stayed away from the hot food or asked for a plate to be made up - as i didn't trust the process quite as much as i did the disney buffets (Which i didnt get breakfast at to be fair).

Jack got the buffet but had some of my bacon and said it was much nicer - he went very basic just a few bits of bacon sausage, eggs and breakfast potatoes.

Breakfast filled us up - we did a ton of rides - we didnt get anymore food - as honestly i became absolutely addicted to frozen cokes and had 2 of them that day.

Before we knew it - time had flown and it was time for our early 2pm reservation at cowfish.

Cowfish

I was really looking forward to Cowfish and all in all we had a good experience. It wasn't super busy and the food was although very novel tasted quite good.

I had:
*The All-American Bacon Double Cheeseburgooshi - $21
Seasoned premium black angus beef, yellow cheddar cheese, white cheddar cheese, and applewood smoked bacon wrapped in soy paper and potato strings then flash fried. Topped with dill pickle, red onion, Roma tomato, served over our house made Cowfish sauce, topped with ketchup and mustard. (Without the cowfish sauce.)

It was nice - I ate it all and got some house seasoned fries with it. But it really was just a novelty and i am not sure that i would get it again. I know it sounds silly but i was expecting hot rice - which i know makes no sense with sushi- and having a cold cheeseburger sushi blend was just a bit weird. If we were to go again and i was able to have it i think i would have gone for the bento box instead. As this would give you the best of both worlds.. and have proper order to things - like cold sushi and a hot burger.

Jack Had:

The Dynamic Duo
Beef burger, braised short rib, sweet roasted garlic, provolone cheese, toma to onion jam, lettuce, onion, tomato, onion roll and fries.

He really enjoyed it - at this time it was his favourite burger but the roll definately did not hold up. We usually cut our burgers in half - to enable easier eating.. but it just fell apart.

This took around an hour and then we went back to our room for a bit and to check out. The park closed at 6pm and we went back to ride the mummy ( I honestly adore that film and ride - i have an arcaheology degree so its one of my all time faves).

We wanted to go to voodoo doughnut after park close but saw the line and decided that we both actually still full. We got a boat back to Loews, picked up our bags and got an uber to the Swan and Dolphin (Swan reserve hotel).

I am doing this report mostly on memory as I noted before when we were at the swan i decided to put my phone in my swimming costume pocket and then went swimming and completely destroyed it (i needed an upgrade anyway). We must of eaten something else in the evening but i genuinely cannot remember what it was. I'm thinking it was most likely crisps or something else that we had packed with us.

Regaedless it couldnt of been that exciting or i would have remembered.

 

[jf256]

Hollywood Studios
Disclaimer: Apologies this is another day that is kinda sketchy memory wise but i will do my best. Some of the bits over the next few days might not be the exact days we ate things - so just bear with me. I don't suppose that really matters though as did eat them at some point!
Hollywood Studios was definitely our least favorite park in disney. Our overall least favourite was Islands of Adventures. But the food we had a Hollywood Studios was pretty decent overall.

Lunch

More Popcorn at Galaxys Edge - I genuinely really loved this stuff. I'm super weird with my tastes though I love a spicy floral. So I'm not surprised.

We got a Ronto Wrap between us - it comes without the peppercorn sauce which appears to be the only difference between this and the. I absolutely loved this and it was really difficult to split. So I'd get one each next time. I did ask for the pot of the vegan tahini sauce on the side that comes with the vegan wrap. This worked really well with the wrap and I would definitely recommend it if you have an allergy - or tbh even if you don't because I can't imagine peppercorn working as well. Tahini is one of my faves and it just fits really nicely with the flatbread-style wrap.

We were planning on going back and having the Tonto breakfast wrap at a later date (sausage, cheese, flatbread, and asking for plant-based egg) but we didn't in the end. I'm sure that would have been great.

Ogas Cantina
We went to ogas cantina on this day after lunch as we had heard the food wasn't worth getting in there. A few people around us did get food and tbh it didn't look great. I say save your money and get a wrap (they really were great)

We don't drink so we got two nonalcoholic items. It was very loud and we struggled to get the server's attention. Standing with a big group of people really wasn't for us anymore (tbh it never was for Jack - but 20s Jodi would have loved it - 30 Jodi - not so much). It was not something we would be rushing back to.

We got the hyperdrive and carbon freeze - as they were recommended as the most interesting drinks by our server and we did enjoy both. The hyperdrive was the nicer tasting but the carbon freeze was the more interesting looking. The green apple pearls were not a problem but I only had one.

I would like to note that we were aware of the fuzzy taun-taun before we went.. and confirmed with the server that there were no buzz buttons or numbing materials in our drinks. The reason for this is that when I have an allergic reaction - the first thing that happens is my lips and throat go numb. I've eaten food with szechuan pepper in it before and it really messed with my head and gave me a psychosomatic reaction. The worst allergic reaction i have ever had is when the server didnt relate to the bar tending that i had an allergic reaction and i had a cocktail that had 3 egg whites in. So mocktails already put me on edge a little and I know for a fact that the numbing would make me feel ill for the whole day.

Just something for those with allergies to consider.

Back to Woodys Lunch Box

We got some more tator tots and soup. As a little snack. I really enjoyed the soup dipper.

Jack Jacks Cookie Nom Nom - I cant comment on this. Jack enjoyed it but said like most of the 'sweet treats' in disney - it was sweet with not much other flavour and overhyped.

Ate dinner at Sebastians will carry on in next post - Spoiler it wasnt great.

 

[jf256]

Sebastians

I had heard really great things about Sebastians so i was looking forward to what seemed to be a pretty good deal (for a disney 3 course meal).

It wasn't - I've had better ready meals.

First Course was the salad - Allergy info was wrong on this one as the 'vegan' should of been the same as the non vegan one. It isn't because the nuts are glazed with an egg wash. Never mind at least they clearly knew about it.

I really liked the lime dressing that came with the salad and i ate a lot of it - jack hated it especially the dressing which he said tasted like vomit. He did really enjoy the bread and guava butter - which surprisingly enough I hated they were incredibly sweet and even when I swapped the butter out for plain and put some salt into I still couldnt even manage half of one.

The second course was the meats and sides. This was incredibly disappointing. I asked if I could try the jerk tofu on top of the meat dish - and our server just never mentioned it. I did ask the person who brought our food out but they said they will find out and never came back.

The chicken was fine - but it was honestly nowhere near as good as supermarket hot food counter chicken. The steak ordered well done came out rare so Jack didn't eat that. The pork was absolutely disgusting - why on earth anyone thought to put mint sauce on pork I don't know. Jack could just about stomach it so he ate that and i had the steak. The meats were not great quality ever - the steak was incredibly chewy and the chicken tasted like it had a lot of water pumped into it.

The most disappointing part of the dish was the bits that should have been done well like the rice and peas and the vegetable curry. It was without a doubt the worst blandest thing I have ever eaten in my life. It reminds me of the time when I was a student and couldn't be bothered to go the shop so I got some tinned tomatoes, curry powder, and frozen veg and just dumped them together - only worse.

Nobody around us seemed super impressed with the food - and the server just didn't come back until the end to give us the bill. So its not like we could of told him about it - despite us leaving a substantial amount of it.

For dessert I was brought out the vegan bread pudding and jack had the normal one. This was the best thing and the main reason i booked it. It was so nice to be able to get the same dessert with an allergy. We were looking at ohana but decided against it because the allergy desserts look rubbish. Jack isn't big into pineapple or coconut but did eat a little of it.

Bill came and we were out of there within an hour.

We would never do it again. It's a really poor imitation of Caribbean food and i dont think the family style works. Seriously not having Jerk chicken on a Caribbean menu should be a crime in itself but the meal just wasnt good and it wasn't worth the price just for the bread pudding.

 

[auntfrannie]

Wow! Sebastian's sounds so disappointing especially since others rave about it. I wonder if they got new management? It's always a let down to pay so much and not enjoy the meal. Thanks for the review!

 

[rhenkt]

Strange. We had Sebastian’s in February and it was probably my favorite meal I’ve had on any Disney property worldwide, including Tokyo, Paris, and as DL APs.

 

[jf256]

Strange. We had Sebastian’s in February and it was probably my favorite meal I’ve had on any Disney property worldwide, including Tokyo, Paris, and DL APs

Maybe they just had an off day but the service was not good, the food was bland and the quality of the meat poor. So I dont think thats an off day thing.. unless they had supply issues and got different food in?