Sorry that it has been a while since my last post. Work has been crazy when we got back from Disney.

Today I will be doing my review of my initial reaction to Disney Springs, our meal at Chef Art Smith’s Homecoming and Sprinkles.

Brian and I went to Disney Springs in October of last year. At that time things were still under construction and a few new restaurants and bars just opened. After we arrived at Disney World for this trip, we quickly unpacked and caught a bus to Disney Springs. First, I was surprised that the busing system changed at Disney Springs. Now you are dropped off in one location and then you need to go to another location to get picked back up. By the way, they didn’t tell us where to go, but it was easy enough to find the bus stop. My initial reaction is that Disney Springs look like a swanky outdoor mall that you would see in Beverly Hills or Miami. It is absolutely beautiful and most of the stores I have never heard of. Getting around is a little difficult. I didn’t find any signs nearby directing where to go, but there was a Disney Guest Services near where the buses dropped off the guests.

We finally found Art Smith’s restaurant. We were early to arrive, but they were still able to get us in. Even though it was warm outside we opted to sit outside on the back patio. We decided to get an appetizer because we were going to share an entrée. We went with the Bunch of Puppies, house-made hushpuppies that came with pimento cheese and red jalapeno jelly. I am not a fan of spicy food, so I did not try the jelly or the cheese. The hushpuppies had a little bit of a kick, but nothing I couldn’t handle. They had a great flavor and had to be hands down the best hushpuppies I ever had.

I also got a craft cocktail called The Local. It was RumHaven coconut water rum, lime, simple syrup and fresh pineapple. I don’t drink often, so I didn’t want anything that was strong. This was a tasty cocktail and would definitely recommend it!

We got Lilly the chicken tenders with fries and mac & cheese, while Logan got the hamburger with chips and mac & cheese. Both didn’t each much of their meals. The mac & cheese was good, but missing seasoning. It could have used some salt, and I don’t like to add salt to my food. Logan’s burger was really big for a children’s size, and it tasted good.

Brian and I shared a side of the mac & cheese and Art’s Fabulous Fried Chicken. The chicken came with mashed potatoes and a cheddar drop biscuit. The fried chicken, again, was missing some seasoning. Just some salt and pepper could have done wonders. The mashed potatoes were delicious. The biscuit was nothing to write home about. The thing that got me the most was there were pickles on the plate. Nowhere on the menu description did it mention that. I hate pickles, so if you are not a fan either, be sure to let your server know.

There were some lovely sounding desserts available, but we opted out. Overall, it was nice to try a well-known chef’s restaurant but I guess I expected more. I give our meal/experience I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

After dinner we walked around a little bit before it started to get crowded. The kids got a kick out of the cars that turned into boats at The Boathouse. We sat there for a good half hour watching people in their car boats.

After we went to Sprinkles. We were not planning on eating any dessert, but we happened to walk past and decided to try it out. Sprinkles is a Beverly Hills-based cupcake bakery I have known about for years. Their mixes used to be available at Williams-Sonoma when I worked there (years ago). Now, I tried one of these mixes when they first came out and I thought the cupcakes came out dry and lacked in taste. There were quite a few cupcakes to purchase, we bought a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles, and a seasonal spice apple cupcake. We took them back to our room to eat. Overall, they were okay. I found their cake to be really dry. Even with the apple in the spice cake one, it was dry and not very flavorful. The frosting was tasty, although it melted off of our apple one before we got back to our room. I give these cupcakes a 2 our 5 stars. If I were you, pass them up. They are not anything special. Later on I will be highlighting another bakery we tried at Disney Springs, which was much better than Sprinkles.

Coming up… Look forward to reviews on Cinderella’s Royal Table, our room at the Polynesian and my write-ups on our drive down and Lilly’s first haircut.