Walt Disney World: It's always about the food. Always. Part One

Let me first defend my family's controversial food choice: We subscribed, hook, line and sinker, to the Disney Dining Plan way of traveling.

Across this country, our friends are cringing. Some of them are now asking themselves if they can still friend our family. They shake their heads and lament how the Disney Dining Plan ruins the Disney dining for everyone involved. Menus at restaurants are too limited because of the Disney Dining Plan. Expensive restaurants are overrun with ill-behaved children because of the Disney Dining Plan. Free Dining Plan offers by Disney should be wiped off the face of the earth as far as many of them are concerned.

At first I had no intention of paying for the Dining Plan. I convinced myself that we would spend more money on the plan than if we ordered off of menus. I had no intentions of paying for that many sit-down dinners. When I calculated the costs, the numbers said different. By the time I made reservations for the restaurants we really wanted to visit and I then added in the expected cost of table and quick-service restaurant meals, I learned that I would save money by purchasing the plan. Shortly afterwards, Disney offered a Free Dining Incentive for the dates of our trip. We qualified for the lowest level of the Disney Dining Plan for free, which I then upgraded to the Basic Dining plan, for less than half of the cost of the plan I originally booked.

In other words, I paid $750 for a $1500 meal package which will net us $1800-$2000 worth of meals.

Does anyone not understand why I chose Disney Dining Plan?

But it only gets better. During the Food and Wine Festival this year, every single food item on the tasting menus for the various booths throughout Epcot, is covered by the Dining Plan as a Snack Credit. Usually snack credits are only good for items that cost $4 or less. Many of the Food and Wine tastings run $4.25 or more. The Lobster Roll at one booth cost over $7 out of pocket. But each and every item we saw on the menus were Dining Plan Snack Credits. Today we easily ordered $28 to $36 worth of snack credits and that was only using 7 of our 55 snack credits.

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On Monday, our flight arrived late enough in the day that it was into the evening before we settled enough to have dinner. I planned for us to find a quick-service location for dining. In the last weeks before our trip, I learned that one of my newer online buddies, from an "endurance event message board," would be at Walt Disney World until early Tuesday morning. I had a short window in which to meet her. Anyone who knows me cannot be surprised that I would make plans to meet her, even if only for a brief photo op! My Crazy Runner Friend was dining at the Animal Kingdom Lodge's Boma! Restaurant. We learned that the Animal Kingdom Lodge also has a tasty counter-service location near Boma! Thus we dined at Mara.

Mara was a lovely option for our family. Doc and I ordered the chicken plate with couscous and a lovely vegetable side dish that I do not quite know how to describe. It was like a ratatouille dish, with no eggplant, and with spices that reminded me of Indian cuisine although it was supposed to be African. I think they may have used cardamom and/or cinnamon. Whatever it was, it was good! We selected water for our dining plan beverage and purchased the length-of-stay refillable cups for our Diet Coke.

Mr. Genius ordered a Vegetable Flatbread which included kalamata olives and feta cheese. He liked the cheese but not the olives. I have no complaints. All of us were also able to select desserts with our meal. Doc, Mr. Genius and I all selected the famous Zebra Domes. These are a cake base with a liquor flavored cold nougat like filling covered in icing. I understand this recipe was recently changed and some of my friends do not care for the new version, but we thought they were delicious!

That was Monday.

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On Tuesday we visited the Magic Kingdom.

One fun treat was using our snack credits at Mrs. Potts in Fantasyland. We purchased two sundaes to share between the five of us: One brownie sundae with fudge sauce and one strawberry shortcake sundae. Both were tasty and the boys were happy with them, too!

For dinner we went to Raglan Road Irish Pub in Downtown Disney. I have wanted to visit Raglan Road since I heard of it and the restaurant did not disappoint me! Having an 11-year-old at Walt Disney World is a Good News/Bad News proposition. Eleven-year-olds count as adults. They require adult admission and adult dining plan credits. The good news is that we get more adult entrees to try!

The meal started with Irish soda bread muffins with olive oil and Guinness reduction for dipping. The reduction was sweet and had an intense flavor. We all liked it very much, even the boys.

Mr. Genius ordered the fish and chips. The beer in the fish batter was very tasty. The tarter sauce had capers in it. The meal tasted so good!

I ordered Shepherd's Pie which the menu said had prime beef and lamb inside. We all found it tasty. I also ordered a sangria which they made with a cider instead of wine. I enjoyed it. Doc ordered a Guinness first but then had a flight of beers later - Guiness, Murphy's Red, Smithwicks and Harp.

Doc ordered the Mixed Grill: Lamb Chop, Banger, Black Pudding, Chicken Drumstick, Sirloin Steak, Grilled Tomato. The banger was outstanding. The lamb chop was wonderful. The black pudding... had ginger in it. Maybe if you like black pudding you'd like this. Doc didn't have anything bad to say about it, I think that the whole idea of black pudding just turned me off to the texture and the whole experience of the dish.

For dessert we had bread and butter pudding and a chocolate thing. I know, that was not very helpful. The chocolate thing was good. The bread and butter pudding was decadent.

Raglan Road met and exceeded my expectations! I would go back in a heartbeat. And next time I would order my own fish and chips!

I think I need an entirely separate post to describe today. Today we went to Epcot. Today we experienced the Food and Wine Festival. In part. We need to back and eat more!