Mark Weaver and his family had never been to Disney World together before their March 2010 trip, and that was Mark’s first time back to the “World” in 10 years! As I’m sure you’re getting used to my “frequent visitor” perspective on these restaurants, I’m honored to share with you this dining trip report from a foodie who’s looking at WDW with fresh eyes. Thanks, Mark! (When Mark’s not dining in Disney World, you can find him contributing awesome news articles and features over at DisZine.com)

Our dining experiences at WDW were amazing. Sadly we missed 2 of our ADRs (and went home early) thanks to everyone getting sick on the last 2 days of our trip; however, we still had a great time and ate a lot of great food. Here’s an overall review of where and what we ate!:

Disney’s Pop Century Food Court:
After we checked in, we headed here to get some food that didn’t come from the cooler in the back seat of our car (YAY!). Overall, it was pretty good. I had the Parmesan Chicken which was very well done. The chicken was fully cooked — very crunchy, and the pasta with alfredo sauce was pretty good as well. I was able to get extra sauce at no extra cost which went very well with the breadstick. Speaking of the breadstick, I was actually surprised that it was not just a plain breadstick. It was seasoned with herbs and matched well with the entire dish.

My wife had the vegetarian lasagna, which she enjoyed more than she expected. It was hot, and very delicious, in her opinion. (I can’t say I’d touch it.. there was no meat! LOL!) She had the same breadstick as I did and also had the same reaction to it! Her salad was nothing special — just a typical green salad — however it was good as well.

The little guy had the kids’ pizza, which he literally devoured. He didn’t say much about it other than “it was good,” however the remains looked like a pack of hungry wolves had descended, which I can only take to mean he liked it…a lot…

Le Cellier Steakhouse – Canada – Epcot:
This one was highly anticipated, and did not disappoint at all! The meal started out with our trio of breadsticks. One was sourdough bread, the 2nd was a pretzel type, and the third was multi-grain. All were a match with the small butter balls that were shaped to form a certain mouse.

Seeing as we were on a budget, we decided to go with the “Chef’s Favorites” and split it between the two of us. I have to say, this was a very intelligent move in the money saving department; and if we had both ordered our own entrees, we would have rolled out of Epcot! We went with the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup for our appetizer, which is the staple for this place and rightfully so. It was amazing, and better than anything I could ever make at home. The soup was hot, delicious, and everything it was expected to be. I would also like to point out that even though our son a somewhat picky eater and currently on medicine that makes him less hungry than normal, he wanted his own bowl of soup! The staff was more than happy to give that to him. He cleaned the bowl, and this is not a small bowl of soup they brought him — it was the regular adult size bowl, and he LOVED IT.

We ordered the Shaved Prime Rib Sandwich with horseradish sauce and fries. This was very good. The picture is missing half the sandwich as we had already split it, however it was more than enough food for each of us. The sandwich came on a hoagie type of bun that was toasted along with what I want to guess is provolone cheese melted on top of the prime rib shavings inside. We asked for the horseradish on the side as I’m not a fan, however my wife loved it. This became her favorite meal of the week.

We ended the meal with the Maple Crème Brulee, which was the first time we’d ever had one of these amazing desserts. It was delicious and lived up to what we had heard: “if it’s done right, when the spoon goes through the top, it will crunch.” It did! The filling was creamy and matched wonderfully with the maple flavoring. Overall, we are looking forward to a return trip here in the fall.

Crepes des Chefs de France: I saw this place while we were waiting for Belle and the Beast to arrive for autographs and pictures and wanted to take a stab at the Chocolate Crepes. They prepare it right after you order it, so it was piping hot, moist, and chocolaty. So much so that I ended up wearing a bit of the chocolate sauce the rest of the evening (LOL). For 4 bucks, it was a wonderful snack.

Main Street Bakery:
This was, hands down, incredible. And it was by far the best breakfast we ate all week. The size of each dish is HUGE, and we each ordered one thing before we knew this. Needless to say we were full until dinner.

I went with the Ham, Egg, and Cheese Croissant, which was gooey, hot, and just wonderful. Normally I’m not a fan of egg in things like this, however it was fresh egg and not the processed stuff you get from most fast food places.

My wife had the Apple Turnover, and my son had the Warm Cinnamon Roll. Both thought their dishes were great — hot and moist. Not really sure what else to say about these dishes that wasn’t said about mine. Fresh and delicious.

We got a surprise as we went through the line at the Bakery! This trip was a 5-year-late honeymoon for my wife and me, and we had the “Just Married” buttons (hey, we were playing it like we just got married as it was the honeymoon! LOL!). One of the cast members at the Bakery noticed the buttons and gave us a massive chocolate chip cookie for free. When I say massive, I mean the thing was bigger than my head. We ate on this for a few days; it was wonderful and a nice added “surprise.”

Pecos Bills Tall Tale Inn and Cafe: This place was packed, however I was able to avoid the lines of ordering by using the new “DIY” ordering kiosk. It was just like what the Cast Members use, except a bit more guest-friendly. Every menu item had a picture, description, and price clearly listed, and it was easy to add and remove items from your order before confirming. They really should add this in other places like Electric Umbrella to help the wait times. OK, on to the food.

My wife had the “Deluxe” 1/3 pound Angus Hamburger, and she said this was the best burger she had all week. It came with BBQ sauce, a massive onion ring on top of the burger, and fries on the side. The kiddo and I split the regular cheeseburger between ourselves, and I can’t say it was anything amazing — just your regular plain ol’ hamburger.

Few notes here: At most places, when you order the drink, you get free refills. That IS NOT THE CASE HERE. You want a refill, you pay for another drink. I found that to be a rip-off, as you’re already paying 8 bucks for a burger with no drink. That said, the Deluxe burger was my wife’s favorite burger of the week, and the new DIY ordering thing was pretty cool.

Turkey Leg: I ordered one of these earlier in the day during the parade, and this thing was massive…and just…WOW. The Smoked Turkey leg can easily feed a family of 2 or 3. It was extremely flavorful, and we ate on this thing for the entire parade. Great snack!

50’s Prime Time Café: Our final table-service choice was here. A few notes before we get to the food: We almost walked out of here after we ended up waiting for 30 minutes after our original ADR time for a table (and we’d checked in 15 minutes early!). However we were finally seated and rewarded for our patience. Our server was in character, provided a great atmosphere for our meal, and was very attentive to everyone at the table, including the little guy.

We started with the Beer Battered Onion Rings, and these things were almost a meal in themselves. They were huge onion rings that were almost the size of a hat, and they were hot, crispy, and yummy.

The little guy went with the “Kids’ Pick,” which gave him 3 items (appetizer, main course, and dessert). He ordered the homemade chicken noodle soup, which was as advertised and came out extremely hot. We all had a bite of this as it was truly homemade and good. He then had the chicken nuggets, which were nothing special, but he enjoyed none-the-less. He finished it off with the DIY Ice Cream Sundae, which he loved to make himself and cleaned his plate.

My wife went with Dad’s Traditional Meatloaf. This was fresh out of the oven and quite delicious. The texture was great and was not the normal processed meatloaf you can get elsewhere. The flavors were wonderful. It came with green beans and homemade mashed potatoes, which were good as well.

I had Aunt Liz’s Golden Fried Chicken, and this was the meal I had been looking forward to all week. I love my fried chicken, and I dare say, if my mother didn’t live close enough that I can have her fried chicken any time, this would certainly be the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. It was hot out of the kitchen, extremely crunchy and moist, and just amazing. Remember how I said the kid demolished a pizza earlier? Well that’s what I did to the 3 pieces of fried chicken.

(Moment of silence for the chicken)

Overall
Our week at Walt Disney World was incredible, and the food was much better than expected. And at a few times, it was some of the best food we’d ever had. We are looking forward to a few return trips to certain places in the fall, and also to trying new places as well. We’re debating the dining plan, but I just don’t know if we can eat all of that food. Everything we had was bigger than you would find anywhere!

Thanks again for sharing your experiences with us, Mark! Now I’m seriously craving some fried chicken from 50’s Prime Time Cafe… .

If you’d like to see more pics from Mark’s trip, head over to his flickr page!