Dining reviews 5/15-5/22, A.K.A. How many times will my kid eat pasta and ice cream?

[mom2aredhead]

We’re back from a fabulous week at WDW, and I wanted to share some dining reviews while they are still fresh in my mind.

A disclaimer though - I am realistic…I am not going to proclaim every morsel of food to be wonderful just because it came from a Disney kitchen. So if you love to read dining reviews where absolutely everything is “Yummy” and “Fabulous”, you may be disappointed. There were some bright spots though.

We live in NY, so our trips to WDW are much more about theme park/family fun rather than being food oriented. I have good food at home. I do not have Magic Kingdom at home. So I try very hard not to make my family drop what they’re doing to leave a park and travel somewhere just to eat. I make ADR’s based on convenience to the park or area where plan to be that day, not the other way around. That being said, we skipped a lot of the restaurants that are the current “DIS darlings” (Le Cellier, Spoodles, Coral Reef) and went with convenient locations and times.

We are a small family – 2 adults and 1 very picky 4 ½ year old. We’re frequent WDW visitors and this was our 2nd trip using DDP. However, it will probably be our last if the plan stays as it is right now, especially if we go during especially hot weather again. We honestly just weren’t that hungry a lot of times, and with the menu changes and DDP changes they made since our last trip, I just didn’t feel it was worth it.

And I had no issue with the “tip thing” that everyone is complaining about. They brought over the check, and I would simply write “Cash” in the tip line, give them my KTTW, ask them to process the included items, and told them we’d be paying cash for everything else. Not a problem anywhere.

But now…on with the reviews:

DAY 1
We had an early flight out of Newark (7:30 am) and we arrived at AKL late morning with no plan. It was one of 2 days that were completely “open” and unscheduled. We checked in at AKL, and having just left dreary chilly weather at home, we decided to have lunch and go swimming for a while. So we headed off to Mara. We stayed at AKL and ate quite a few things here...I have never had a complaint and still don’t. It’s counter service food, but good, hot, fresh, and they really do move people through quickly. It’s fairly large with more than ample seating, both indoors and outside, and the CM’s there are especially helpful in making sure you’re using DDP credits the best way possible. Instead of trying to remember what we ate each time, I’ll just say that during the course of the week, between the 3 of us, we had:
African Stew, served in a bread bowl, which is one of my favorite things there, Turkey Ciabbata w/cous cous salad, Double Cheeseburger, Chicken Strips, Mickey waffles, Breakfast croissant, muffins, Zebra Domes, carrot cake..the usual counter service stuff, but all good. We used a lot of snack credits there for breakfast during the week on muffins, oatmeal, cereal and milk, yogurt. It worked out well.

Later that afternoon, we decided to go to Magic Kingdom. We found ourselves in Fantasyland around dinner time, so decided to grab some food at Pinocchio Village Haus. This is one of those completely ridiculous counter service restaurants that offers both pizza and chicken nuggets on the ADULT menu, but not on the KIDS menu…which I knew going in, but since we were right there, we went with the convenience factor. I told my son his choices, and he picked mac and cheese with grapes and applesauce. My husband had a turkey panini and strawberry cheesecake. I took one look at the mac and cheese that walked by me on someone else’s tray, and ordered a pizza combo that came with a salad and a strawberry yogurt for dessert, fully expecting that I would be either trading or sharing with my son. We got to the table, and the kid took 1 whiff of the mac and cheese, and literally gagged. It truly was that gross, and he didn’t even want it in front of him, so forget taking a bite of it. So he ended up eating a corner of my pizza and my strawberry yogurt for dinner, we shared the grapes, saved the applesauce, and we ere on our way back to AKL. Since we had woken up at 4:30 that morning for our flight, we were done pretty early.

DAY 2
Playhouse Dine at Hollywood and Vine
My son is still young, and still loves the Playhouse Disney gang. So much to my husband’s dismay, we were there for breakfast bright and early (8:00 am) the next day. We’ve been before, and knew what to expect. My son had mickey waffles and strawberry yogurt…a trend you will see repeated over and over and over again. My favorite thing there was the make your own breakfast burrito station…It had scrambled eggs with chorizo in them, soft tortillas, and a “fixin’s bar” containing salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, and tomatoes. They also have the usual breakfast buffet stuff – biscuits and gravy, some sort of breakfast “frittata” or “pizza”, fruit, pastries, etc. It’s honestly nothing special food-wise, but my son liked to get up and dance with the characters, and they spent quite a bit of time at the table when they came around – probably because it was so early and the place was not that crowded. I’m hoping that we’ll be done with this one soon. If not, we’ll probably go there for lunch instead of breakfast since we’ve done both and I liked the lunch food better.

Since we got to Hollywood Studios so early, and it was so hot that day, we decided to call it quits early and head back to AKL for a swim and a break. On the way out I stopped at Brown Derby…we had ADR’s there for 6:00 that night, but since we were leaving the park at around 2:00-ish, I just didn’t see us getting back there for a 6:00 dinner. Fortunately it was not a problem to change it to 8:00 pm, and as an added bonus, there were 2 Fantasmic showings that night, so we’d still make the later one. Well, some of us did anyway…one of us (the little one) fell asleep after dinner while waiting at the Fantasmic entrance and was not heard from again until the following morning.

Brown Derby
This was one of our favorite meals during out last trip in December, but I was a teeny bit disappointed this time. The menu here and on allears is old, and much to my dismay, they no longer have filet mignon on the menu. It was absolutely delicious when we were there in December and we mentioned that to the waiter. He said he would let the chef know that we enjoyed it last time and were disappointed we couldn’t order it again. Then we got to chatting, and he commented that it’s been tough to be a “signature restaurant” in a park – the clientele and their expectations are not the same as it would be at Cali Grill or some of the other signature restaurants located in the resorts, and as a result they needed to make a few changes to the menu. I thought that was an interesting opinion. We began with our (no longer included on DDP) appetizers – my husband had a crab cake and I had a raviolini, also new on the menu. It was 1 large ravioli filled with a few types of cheese served with a red pepper sauce. Both were very good. The server that brought them out joked that my husband must be a friend of the chef’s since he had not seen a crab cake that large before. They replaced the filet with a NY strip that, although not equally as good, was still very delicious…tender, cooked perfectly, served with a handful of new potatoes and a green that escapes me right now...watercress maybe? For dessert, I had a banana torte - not the one on the menu here – something new which was very good, and my husband had the flourless chocolate cake. We also split a bottle of wine. My picky little one had a chopped salad, which I promptly had to deconstruct to remove the offending tomatoes, macaroni, served plain with the meat sauce on the side (a trend that you will see repeated throughout our trip) and vanilla ice cream.

DAY 3
Since we were up and out early the 2 days before, we decided to take it a bit easy. So while my son and I slept in, my husband (who is incapable of sleeping in) ran out to the store and got us a 12 pack of water, and apple juice to keep in the room, and brought back McDonald’s for breakfast. We went for a swim, had lunch from Mara (except my son who ate a “lunchable” he spotted in the ‘fridge at the gift shop) and then it was off to Epcot. After visiting Crush, Nemo, and going Soarin’ we headed to our 6:00 Tutto Italia reservation.

TUTTO ITALIA
Once again, I was hit with a menu change I wasn’t expecting. We had been to Tutto Italia in December and had a fabulous meal. Gone were the appetizers we both loved (mussels and spicy meatballs), replaced by, of all things, fried calamari and tomato and mozzarella salad. Gone was the pork shank that was so tender it fell off the bone. So all of the raving I’ve been doing since eating there in December, telling people that it’s not “American Italian” food, and it’s stuff you can’t get at Mama Melrose…well that went out the window. We ordered our appetizers – I had Eggplant Caponata - kind of a chilled marinated eggplant salad with olives, pine nuts and raisins. My husband, (much to my dismay) ordered the calamari. For dinner, he had a pork chop, served with broccoli rabe and polenta, and I had “Sacchetti” – which were similar to Tortellini in a red pepper tomato sauce. For dessert I had a chocolate hazelnut torte and my husband had “profiteroles” (yes I looked that up on my receipt). These are kind of like cream puffs, drizzled with warm chocolate sauce. Really good. My son had…plain pasta, tomato sauce on the side, and vanilla ice cream. (You’re shocked, I know)
Now don’t get me wrong, it was still good, but I was definitely disappointed in the menu changes. I think we’ll be trying a new World Showcase restaurant next time.


Coming soon…
Table Service:
Crystal Palace Breakfast
Kona Café
Rainforest Café - surprisingly one of my favorite meals. I know - I'm as shocked as you are!
Tony’s Town Square
Tusker House
and a few “Quick Sevice” quick mentions

[suzimar57]

enjoying your reviews so far - especially the refreshing honest approach to quality - another jersey girl here!

[John's Mom]

You're off to a great start! :thumbsup2 I can't wait to read the rest of your reviews. popcorn::

[mcrabeck]

Thanks for sharing! I can't wait to read more!:surfweb:

[mom2aredhead]

enjoying your reviews so far - especially the refreshing honest approach to quality - another jersey girl here!

You're off to a great start! :thumbsup2 I can't wait to read the rest of your reviews. popcorn::

Thanks for sharing! I can't wait to read more!:surfweb:

Thanks everyone. Here's a few more...

DAY 4
Crystal Palace
This was probably my favorite character breakfast, even though I’m not a huge “Tigger and Pooh” person. Mostly because our 8:00 am reservation got us into Magic Kingdom an hour before it opened to take some fun pictures of a nearly empty Main Street and castle. Also, the food here really is better than a lot of other places (like the previously mentioned Hollywood and Vine). They have an omelet station in the middle, and the omelet guy also makes Mickey Mouse pancakes - plain or chocolate chip. Now, I’ve tried making Mickey pancakes at home more than once…the ears always fall off when I flip them over, so a big :thumbsup2 to this guy. He told me after the first 4,000 or so, you get the hang of it. They also have the standard breakfast buffet stuff – fruit (strawberries too, not just melon like other places), waffles, pastries, etc. etc. My son liked the little parade they did around the restaurant since he got to hold Tigger’s balloon sign. They all came around to the table, and we had fun.

On a side note - I don’t understand when people complain about “character interaction”. :confused3 If you’re in a restaurant full of people, including tons of kids that all want attention from the 3 or 4 characters walking around, how much time do you think you’ll be spending with them? I mean, a hug or handshake hello, quick picture with the family or kids, sign the book, have a nice day, let me finish eating before my food gets cold. Isn’t that about it? Sheesh.

So we spent some time at Magic Kingdom, headed back to AKL an afternoon break (this setting the alarm clock on vacation thing is starting to get old!) and headed off to our 6:00 Kona Café dinner reservation before returning for Spectro and Wishes.

KONA
People here RAVE about Kona. I just don’t get it. Maybe it's because I expected it to be better based on what I read here? Maybe because I've actually been to the state of Hawaii? I dunno...we ate there in December and I was completely underwhelmed. But my husband liked his meal and I wanted something close to Magic Kingdom, Chef Mickey’s and Cali Grill were booked, Ohana was out since my son hates Stitch (weird, I know), and the only time they had at Grand Floridian Café would have made us miss Spectro. So, Kona it is. Hooray!

I made sure I remembered what I ordered the last time so I didn’t accidentally order it again. I’ve done that…you know, something sounds good, you try it, hate it, but then the next time you go back to the restaurant it still sounds good, you forget, and you do it again? Come on – I can’t be the only one. So I walked in repeating my mantra in my head “No pot stickers…no pot stickers…no pot stickers” so I wouldn’t do it this time. Our server was nice – a little more chatty than I would have liked, but sweet. I ordered crab cakes for an appetizer to share with my husband, and was politely reminded they are not included anymore. No problem. I probably should have warned everyone that my husband and I love crab cakes and order them often, though I didn’t realize how often until I started writing this. I especially love when someone else makes them and I don’t have to. They were barely OK – they looked (and tasted) like they could have been pulled out of a frozen Costco appetizer sampler box…mostly filler and breading, a little crab, and a lot of salad in the middle of the plate. Plus they were small. And no, I was not comparing them to the ginormous one my husband had at the Brown Derby. They were just...small. (The phrase "crab balls" occured to me, but I want to make sure I don't get in trouble with the moderators :teeth: )But anyway, my husband got prime rib…last time he had filet mignon and although he liked it, he was very jealous of the prime rib at the table next to him. It was served with mashed potatoes and broccoli. He liked it. My son got…salad with ranch dressing, tomatoes dutifully picked out by his mom, mac and cheese, hold the cheese, and vanilla ice cream for dessert. Yeah - I know. You don’t have to say it. I had the Macadamia Nut crusted Mahi-Mahi with watercress salad, and sticky rice. It was OK. Much better than my last meal there, but the fish was a little dry and overcooked. I make nut crusted tilapia at home a lot, and it’s waaay better. Desserts were cheesecake for my husband, which he said was “fine” and I had the Kilauea Torte, which was probably the only thing there I REALLY liked, along with my Island Sunset drink.

So with promises that we don’t have to set the alarm clock in the morning, we left Magic Kingdom very late that evening, ready to tackle Animal Kingdom Park the following day.

Still to come...

Rainforest Cafe
Tony's Town Square
Tusker House

And a few quick services.

[MickeyNicki]

Sign me up....even tho I am a die hard Red Sox LOVER!!!

[mom2aredhead]

DAY 5
We slept in a bit, had a breakfast at Mara, then it was off to Animal Kingdom. After hitting up a few of our favorites, we found ourselves a spot for the 4:00 parade, then followed it “Out of Afica”, through Discovery Island, and over to Rainforest Café for…we need to think of a name when you combine lunch and dinner. Dunch? Linner? It was about 4:30, so I guess it was an early dinner. Whatever you call it, we were STARVING by then.

RAINFOREST CAFÉ Rainforest is one of those places here that gets a bad rap. It’s not on the DDP, so that completely eliminates it for a lot of people. And it’s a “chain” (oh…the horror!) so a lot of people don’t like it. You know – those same people that LOVE the YUMMY Stouffers Mac and Cheese at Liberty Tree Tavern?
We’re “Safari Club” members – it cost about $15.00, but they immediately mail you a $10.00 coupon, and send you other $5.00 coupons throughout the year. Also, it gives you 10% of the total bill, and you get PRIORITY SEATING - great when it’s crowded, which today, during “Linner” time, it was not.
We got an order of nacho’s to start. They’re typical nacho’s cheese, salsa, ground beef, beans (of course my son ate the chips that had only the cheese), and considering it’s a HUGE plate, we put a really good size dent in it. Most importantly, they went really well with my ice cold Corona. :thumbsup2
For our entrees, my husband had the “Maya” combo that had ribs, chicken and shrimp skewers, served with fries and a vegetable. He said the ribs fell off the bone, everything else was very good, and ate nearly every bite, even post-nachos. I had the monsoon grill, which was a piece of nut crusted snapper (not stuffed flounder as is listed on the menu here), a crab cake (surprise!) and skewered shrimp, which was served with rice and a slaw – not really cole slaw, more like that “health salad” slaw with vinegar instead of mayo. I have to tell you that the fish and crab cake here were soooo much better than the similar entrées I had at Kona. Not even a comparison.
I found crab cake pictures (Courtesy of the food porn thread – thank you!) of Kona Café http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=22981344&postcount=8940
(Coincidentally, the shrimp and scallops entrée pictured on that thread happen to be meal I had there last time that I did not like)

and now Rainforest Café (sort of – it’s the sandwich, but you’ll get the idea)
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=20784110&postcount=7766.

Now, the quiz…what do you see in the Rainforest Café crab cake that you don’t see in the ones from Kona? Ding Ding Ding! If you said “CRAB” you’re right. The fish was better too – it was a different kind (snapper vs mahi) but not nearly as dried out. Can you tell which meal I liked better?

So, moral of the story, Rainforest Café is good - give it a try. Kona Cafe - don't believe the hype. If you didn't like your first meal there, you probably won't like your next one.

(BTW, I purposely left out what my son ate for his meal, because I don't want anyone calling the department of children and families and reporting abuse since all I fed the kid on vacation was pasta and ice cream :rotfl: )

[mom2aredhead]

DAY 6
I actually had to go through my receipts to figure out what/where we ate this day. :confused3
We woke up relatively early as we had a photopass photo shoot booked at the Polynesian. So we grabbed a quick bite at Mara, went and smiled nice for the pictures (btw, I highly recommend doing the photo shoot if you’re in need of a new family picture like we were) and we monorailed to Epcot to ride Soarin’ again. But then decided that we wanted to see the new (to us) “Block Party Bash” and this would likely be our last day to do it, so we headed over to Hollywood Studios. We used some snack credits for a Vanilla Shake from Min and Bills, and paid cash for the souvenir Toy Story popcorn bucket that my son wanted to bring home to put his Toy Story people in. The “parade” was a bit disappointing, but I’m glad we saw it once. Now we know we don’t have to do it again.
Afterwords, we headed over to Pizza Planet for a late lunch…we had pizza combos with salad (Hooray – my son ate something other than pasta!) and chocolate chip cookies and Mickey rice krispie heads for dessert. It was good. Tasted just like the pizza at Pinocchios…or pretty much any other pizza place. I liked that my son could “legally” order pizza for lunch without breaking any dining plan laws. We hit a few more rides (backlot, great movie ride) and killed some time before getting in line for Fantasmic. On the way in, my husband stopped to get himself a turkey leg at Toluca , which he enjoyed while my son dripped an Itsakadoozie all over himself (not his fault - those suckers are big and melt quick when it's 90 degrees) and I had a mickey ice cream bar. :thumbsup2

[mom2aredhead]

DAY 7
It’s Pirate and Princess Day!
We had breakfast at Mara, then my husband and son headed off to the pool while I (sniff) starting packing some things to get ready to go home since the next day would be our last. Funny – we were all especially hungry that day. My husband and I both got the breakfast platters – scrambled eggs, bacon, a biscut and potatoes. My son had his kids Mickey waffles and handed over his bacon to his dad. Then the 2 of them decided they were still hungry, so my husband went back and got an adult Mickey waffle and they shared it. So 4 CS used for breakfast…credit hoarders everywhere are squirming right now! But you know what – we still ended up having some left over at the end of the week. We took it easy for most of the day and headed over to Magic Kingdom to make our 5:00 Tony’s Town Square reservation.
I made this ADR mostly out of convenience – we had already been to Crystal Palace for breakfast, we don’t like Liberty Tree Tavern, and since the dining choices are limited DURING the Pirate and Princess Party, we wanted to eat before it started.
Tony's Town Square
The restaurant opens at 5:00 for dinner, and that was the time of our reservation, so there were lots of guests and servers milling around the lobby when we got there. We were seated almost immediately in the room with all the windows looking out at Main Street – not ON the porch, but just inside of there. My husband and I decided to split calamari as an appetizer (I know – we’re so adventurous). It was good – not rubbery or greasy. I didn’t like the olive relish that was on it, but it was easy to work around. My husband had the strip steak, which he enjoyed the last time we were there, but not so much this time, since he said it was a little tough. It was served with potatoes and broccoli. I had a gnocchi dish, which I cannot find listed on a menu anywhere, and my receipt says “spinach primavera”, but I swear it was gnocchi. It was served in a bowl with lots of sauteed vegetables (mushrooms, peppers, spinach) in a balsamic sauce. It was different. I liked it. Do we even need to discuss what the little one ate? Not going there.
For dessert, I had what was supposed to be cheesecake, but it looked more like a large zebra dome from Boma or Mara, which, if that’s what it tasted like, would be terrific. But it was just OK – not what I was expecting, but OK. I ate the bottom part (the actual cheesecake with an oreo crust) but left most of the mocha-ish stuff on the top. My husband had spumoni, which looked like a big chunk of ice cream cake from a birthday party – very colorful and he said it tasted good. There was none left, so I guess he enjoyed it.

Later that evening, we were all hungry again. Not a good thing after having eaten a TS dinner a few hours before. I don’t know what was with us that day. So we found ourselves in Cosmic Rays just after the 9:45 fireworks ended (so maybe 10:15-ish?) having a hot dog (me) a cheeseburger (husband) and chicken nuggets (son) all with fries and drinks. They only had 1 “side” open with a slightly limited menu, but it did the trick and we were good to go until the end of the party.

[mom2aredhead]

Day 8
Sniff Sniff – We’re really going home today.
On our last day, we had reservations for the character breakfast at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. Honestly, had we not been on DDP and already paid for it, we probably would have skipped it since we were pretty tired that morning. Luckily the reservations were for 10:00, we were staying at AKL, and we had a rental car, so we didn’t have to get going too early.
Tusker House
I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, it was kind of like Boma-lite…regular breakfast items (eggs, bacon, waffles) with a few African specialty items like Beef bobtie and a sweet potato casserole, both of which were very good. There was also plenty of fresh fruit and the pastries were especially good, though my son only wanted to eat the Krispy Kreme donuts. They also had carved ham, which was good but really salty, even for ham. But I enjoyed the food…we all did.
Now, remember what I said earlier about character interaction? We don’t get hung up on how much time they spend at our table. As long as we can get a quick picture and hello, we’re good. But the characters seemed a little confused about the order they were supposed to be going to the tables, and their “handlers” were either MIA or not paying attention. We were told by our server that we would be one of the last on the way out of the room, but they ended up stopping by us on the way in and on the way out, so we had at least 2 visits from each one. Which did not sit well with some of our neighbor tables, who starting making a fuss. I mean, what was I supposed to do, tell Mickey Mouse to go away? Sheesh. It was also the one and only time I was reminded verbally that gratuity was no longer included on DDP, which did not sit well with me.
They do a picture outside in the courtyard when you first get there, which honestly is not very scenic and there’s no characters or anything there. It reminded me of the Chef Mickey’s picture they do when you check in. And it was the same deal – it was not a photopass picture, but it was a “package” that you could buy for about $30.00 or so. Since I had already paid for a photopass photo shoot and bought the disc, I declined spending another $30.00 on a non-character family shot where we were squinting in front of a brick wall thank you very much.
I think this is a good back-up if you can’t get into Chef Mickey’s since Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy are all there (and you can track Minnie down lots of places) and the food was decent. We got out just in time for our Kilimanjaro Safari fastpass time, and after riding we still had some time to kill before we had to leave for the airport. So what would any normal person do at this point…go clear across the property to Magic Kingdom, of course.
Main Street Bakery
WMy son really wanted to ride Small World 1 more time, and we only had time to do 1 or 2 Fantasyland attractions and grab a snack for later before we had to go. This was the only day I found the park to be crazy crowded. Maybe it was because of the morning EMH? Or it was getting close to Memorial Day weekend? I don’t know, but OMG, it was packed back there. On the way out, we stopped at Main Street Bakery for some “to go” food to have at the airport while we waited for our flight. Had I known how bumpy our flight was going to be, I would not have done this. :eek: It was not pretty. At all. :sick:
But, anyway…we grabbed 2 sandwiches – turkey/cheese and ham/cheese, which, with a CS credit, comes with a drink and a dessert. And you can pick (almost) anything for dessert, so I got a chocolate chocolate chip muffin, and my husband got a brownie. My son saw nothing that he wanted (do you believe this kid??) so we just got the 2 meals and left 2 CS credits behind. Our flight was delayed and he was hungry later, so we grabbed him something in the airport. Again, had I known…
:eek:

[iluvpluto27]

Excellent reviews. I didn't really get Kona either. I'd seen so many rave reviews i was looking forward to a really nice meal and it was just kind of blah. Nothing was really bad, but nothing was really good either, even dessert.

We're giving it a try again on our next trip to see if we just had an off night.

[mom2aredhead]

We're giving it a try again on our next trip to see if we just had an off night.

I thought the same thing in December, so I tried it again last week. Trust me, it wasn't an off night. That's just how it is.;)

[DisOrBust]

Please tell me they still had smoked salmon on the breakfast buffet???

Can you opt out of the picture gracefully. It's the reason we don't do Chef Mickey's anymore.

[quixoticvalue]

Can you opt out of the picture gracefully. It's the reason we don't do Chef Mickey's anymore.

I was wondering this as well.

PS-Thank you so much for your honest reviews. Not everything at WDW is perfect!

[mom2aredhead]

Please tell me they still had smoked salmon on the breakfast buffet???

Can you opt out of the picture gracefully. It's the reason we don't do Chef Mickey's anymore.

I was wondering this as well.

PS-Thank you so much for your honest reviews. Not everything at WDW is perfect!

I do not recall seeing smoked salmon, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. I don't care for it, so it's not something that I would be looking for. Sorry I couldn't help.

As far as the picture, I'm sure you could decline it. You are kind of cornered in that little courtyard area, but I'm sure you just politely said "no thank you" (like I've previously done at Chef Mickey's) and keep going. It's not like we were restrained or anything. :rotfl2: Honestly, when they first said they were going to do a photo I thought it was going to be a photopass one since the guy was wearing the photopass vest. So I was all in, having already bought the disc. Once we were posed and I went to hand him my card, he told me that they would "bring them to the table", and I knew it was one of those package things. I just said "no thanks" when the brought them over, and that was the end of it...it wasn't like they were pushy or rude or anything.

[TigerKat]

All this time I thought I was the only person on the DIS that wasn't WOWED by KONA! The first time we went it was pretty bad but we chalked it up to a "bad night". This past trip was even worse so no more KONA for us.

Enjoying your reviews very much!!:thumbsup2

[brookelizabeth]

Great reviews! I like your honest approach - straight up and simple. :thumbsup2

[kerri0616]

FYI...O'hana is NOT a character meal at dinner time. No Stich.

KJ

[mom2aredhead]

FYI...O'hana is NOT a character meal at dinner time. No Stich.

KJ

Thanks - I don't know why i didn't know that. Maybe we'll try it next time.

BTW, I just got one of those e-mail surveys from WDW about my recent park experience, and when they asked, I let them know that we probably won't be purchasing DDP again and I was very disappointed with some of the menu changes. I know that the chances of someone actually reading it and caring are slim to none, but it made me feel better when I hit the send button. Other than that, I had nothing but nice things to say.

[mom2my3kids]

Great reviews!!!

[Marthonica]

Love the honest report. We're going to WDW the 1st week of October (with our own 4.5 year old redhead!:lmao: He too will probably eat the same thing for every meal - plain pasta or chicken nuggets. Not such a diverse eater!!

I'm with you on the restaurant thinking...we have restaurants at home, we don't have Disney parks at home. I've made all our ADR's to match where we'll be, and I've tried to pick restaurants that will appeal to the whole family - not necessarily the ones I'd pick on my own;) We did decide to book Citricos for our last night and we'll probably put DS in the Mousekeeter Club for that one so we can actually enjoy a meal while we are there! I don't know about your family, but we don't generally find dining with our 4 year old to be relaxing or low key!

[mom2aredhead]

Love the honest report. We're going to WDW the 1st week of October (with our own 4.5 year old redhead!:lmao: He too will probably eat the same thing for every meal - plain pasta or chicken nuggets. Not such a diverse eater!!

I'm with you on the restaurant thinking...we have restaurants at home, we don't have Disney parks at home. I've made all our ADR's to match where we'll be, and I've tried to pick restaurants that will appeal to the whole family - not necessarily the ones I'd pick on my own;) We did decide to book Citricos for our last night and we'll probably put DS in the Mousekeeter Club for that one so we can actually enjoy a meal while we are there! I don't know about your family, but we don't generally find dining with our 4 year old to be relaxing or low key!

October is my FAVORITE time of year to go...if at all possible, try to get to Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party - it's a blast!

I agree about the relaxing dinner - my son is normally good in restaurants, but since he knows he's at WDW, I know a lot of my (non character) meals are basically on borrowed time before he decides he's done and wants to get back to the parks.

Have fun at Citrico's...we're going to try to a "grown up" dinner at Jiko next time.

[fenfur]

Thanks for your realistic view. I too don't get the "it's so good because it's at WDW" theory. Hey, they are a company trying to make money and feed thousands of people at a time, everything is not going be top rate, or sometimes even good.

So at most of the places you can get pasta plain? Do they have marinara sauce? That would make life SOOO much easier with one of my kiddos.

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

My stepson is also very picky and your review only confirmed what I was already fearing about the places we have reservations. So I guess you aren't the only one who will be feeding your kid pasta and ice cream for a week. I will make sure to stop by a store before the hotel so that we have a healthy breakfast and good snacks to balance out our Disney meals!
:banana:

[mom2aredhead]

So at most of the places you can get pasta plain? Do they have marinara sauce? That would make life SOOO much easier with one of my kiddos.

Pretty much any place they had "beef and macroni" or "mac and cheese", you could get the pasta plain or w/butter. If they don't have a tomato sauce on the menu, then probably not. The beef/macaroni is a tomato meat sauce, so if your kids are "dippers" like mine is, it doesn't really work.

My stepson is also very picky and your review only confirmed what I was already fearing about the places we have reservations. So I guess you aren't the only one who will be feeding your kid pasta and ice cream for a week. I will make sure to stop by a store before the hotel so that we have a healthy breakfast and good snacks to balance out our Disney meals!
:banana:

My son's menu is pretty limited at home too, though not quite this bad...so it's not really the WDW menus that are to blame for him eating pasta all that time. :headache: Blame me and his dad!
At home, we try to get him to at least sample whatever we're eating, but honestly, on vacation, I just didn't feel like dealing with the power struggle...it was my vacation too, kwim? Our breakfasts were relatively healthy - yes, he had lots of Mickey waffles, but lots of fresh fruit and yogurt too. And I brought from home a few "Jif to go" peanut butter cups and we made a few PB sandwiches (no jelly, no crust) for lunch...he also likes salad w/ranch dressing, which surprisingly was on a lot of the kid menus.

[emmabemmainc]

I loved your report!!! Very funny!

I have to tell you that I'm totally offended though(ok, not really...)--I am one of those people who LOVES Stouffer's mac and cheese but isn't crazy about Rainforest Cafe! LOL!! We have a RC about 25 miles away here in MI, and I'm always disappointed whenever we go--but we keep going, b/c my dd loves it. Give me some Stouffer's mac and cheese any day of the week! :rotfl2:

What can I say--I have the taste buds of a typical 5 year old!!??:rotfl:

[mom2aredhead]

I loved your report!!! Very funny!

I have to tell you that I'm totally offended though(ok, not really...)--I am one of those people who LOVES Stouffer's mac and cheese but isn't crazy about Rainforest Cafe! LOL!!


Sorry - it was not my intention to offend the Stouffers eating population of the world. :angel: I like it on occasion as well...although I have to admit I'm more of a Kraft blue box kinda girl myself. :rotfl:

It just makes me laugh when people bash Rainforest JUST because it's a chain restaurant (because they cannot possibly ever be good) but yet the Mac and Cheese at LTT is "delicious" just because it was prepared at LTT. Helloooo - it's still Stouffers Mac and Cheese...you know - like in the freezer section of your grocery store??? Same thing goes for most of the pasta dishes at Tony's. Do we not see the "sponsored by Butoni" thing on the menu? People are funny...guess that's what makes the world go 'round. thank goodness there are lots of restaurants in WDW to pick from!

[emmabemmainc]

Sorry - it was not my intention to offend the Stouffers eating population of the world. :angel: I like it on occasion as well...although I have to admit I'm more of a Kraft blue box kinda girl myself. :rotfl:

It just makes me laugh when people bash Rainforest JUST because it's a chain restaurant (because they cannot possibly ever be good) but yet the Mac and Cheese at LTT is "delicious" just because it was prepared at LTT. Helloooo - it's still Stouffers Mac and Cheese...you know - like in the freezer section of your grocery store??? Same thing goes for most of the pasta dishes at Tony's. Do we not see the "sponsored by Butoni" thing on the menu? People are funny...guess that's what makes the world go 'round. thank goodness there are lots of restaurants in WDW to pick from!

Oh, I know!! :thumbsup2

I don't dislike RC b/c it's a chain--it's just hard for me to find stuff there I like--I have to say though, their Volcano dessert is TDF! That is so good!

Just give me some Stouffer's mac and cheese and a large chocolate dessert with sparklers on it and I'm good!

[mom2aredhead]

I have to say though, their Volcano dessert is TDF! That is so good!

Just give me some Stouffer's mac and cheese and a large chocolate dessert with sparklers on it and I'm good!

Sounds like a great idea. I bet we could open that as a CS restaurant in Hollywood Studios like that - since people complain they don't like the ones that are there.

Sample menu...
Stouffers Mac and Cheese (from LTT)
(available with or without cheese, so my son could eat there too)
Krispy Creme donuts (from Tusker House)
Volcano Dessert (from RFC)
Island Sunset Drink (from Kona)

Sounds like a nice well balanced meal to me :rotfl2:

[emmabemmainc]

Sounds good to me!

Alcohol and carbs--YUM! What more could you ask for? :confused3 :rotfl:

I've been sitting her for the past 5 minutes, trying to think up a clever name..but I can't. I'm too tired! It must have been all those drinks and doughnuts I had last night! :cool1:

[mom2aredhead]

Sounds good to me!

Alcohol and carbs--YUM! What more could you ask for? :confused3 :rotfl:

I've been sitting her for the past 5 minutes, trying to think up a clever name..but I can't. I'm too tired! It must have been all those drinks and doughnuts I had last night! :cool1:

Hmmm...a restaurant that serves all alcohol and carbs...I can't think of anything clever either.
But here's an idea - We could decorate it with some sexy Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom pirate pictures to keep the husbands out. They wouldn't appreciate the subtle combination of chocolate and fruity alcohol anyway.:rotfl2:

[janets]

Hey mom, glad to see you had a great trip. I'm so sorry that your return flight home turned out to be a disturbing one. Did you fly Cont or JB this time?

I totally understand the need to eat where it's convenient w/ a 4.5 yo. I'm lucky that my older son is now over 10 and loves (and I mean loves) to eat so making nice dining reservations works for him. Younger one will be 6 before our trip in August but is a more particular eater than older one. He's a fan of chicken fingers and the pasta as well (but we like a cup of melted butter and a cup of sauce on the side LOL!). We usually find that we're okay most of the time at the World, as long as they have popcorn and Itzakadoozies!

Oh, and BTW, are you as sick as I am about the Yankees? I'm just dying here!

[emmabemmainc]

Oooooooooooo...I like the idea about the posters of JD and OB! And maybe, just maybe, we could hire waiters that looked like Jack Sparrow.....and they could carry doughnuts on their swords (sort of like the skewers at O'Hana)--and serve you that way!

Don't feel so bad about the Yankees you two--it could be worse-- you could be a Tigers fan like me! :rotfl2:

[mom2aredhead]

Hey mom, glad to see you had a great trip. I'm so sorry that your return flight home turned out to be a disturbing one. Did you fly Cont or JB this time?

I totally understand the need to eat where it's convenient w/ a 4.5 yo. I'm lucky that my older son is now over 10 and loves (and I mean loves) to eat so making nice dining reservations works for him. Younger one will be 6 before our trip in August but is a more particular eater than older one. He's a fan of chicken fingers and the pasta as well (but we like a cup of melted butter and a cup of sauce on the side LOL!). We usually find that we're okay most of the time at the World, as long as they have popcorn and Itzakadoozies!

Oh, and BTW, are you as sick as I am about the Yankees? I'm just dying here!

I'm looking forward to the day that I can make ADR's and confidently know that my son will eat like a normal person. What do I have, about 8...10 years?? Until then...pasta and ice cream all around!

Our flights were r/t on Continental, and started out great! It was a newer plane that had movies/tv/games free on demand in the seatbacks...so I was watching 27 dresses while my husband watched 30 Rock and helped my son play the Pooh and Tigger memory game. Once we hit around Virginia/DC, the weather changed, we ran into a wall of wind and the plane was all over the place. Quite a few people were airsick...you know it's bad when the flight attendents do a lap with glasses of water and wet paper towels. :eek: My brother in law flew home (to GA) from DC that same day, and said his flight was also miserable. Can't control the weather, unfortunately.

And oh yeah, speaking of sick - I am sooo sick about the Yankees...I keep telling myself that it's only May, but it's tough to watch. I guess we've officially entered the "rebuilding" era. And of course where I live, I'm surrounded by Met fans. :headache:

Oooooooooooo...I like the idea about the posters of JD and OB! And maybe, just maybe, we could hire waiters that looked like Jack Sparrow.....and they could carry doughnuts on their swords (sort of like the skewers at O'Hana)--and serve you that way!


OMG - Donuts on the swords - that's hysterical! And I love the idea of the look alike waiters. We really should work for the marketing department. :lmao:

[TigerKat]

Oooooooooooo...I like the idea about the posters of JD and OB! And maybe, just maybe, we could hire waiters that looked like Jack Sparrow.....and they could carry doughnuts on their swords (sort of like the skewers at O'Hana)--and serve you that way!



Now that sounds like my kinda place!:rotfl:

[mom2aredhead]

I've been sitting her for the past 5 minutes, trying to think up a clever name..but I can't. I'm too tired! It must have been all those drinks and doughnuts I had last night! :cool1:

Got it...

(Eye) Candy, Sugar and Rum

[mom2aredhead]

Or maybe "Aye" Candy...to tie in the whole Pirate thing :rotfl: :rotfl:
Sorry - I'm crackin' myself up over here.

[janets]

Oh, yes, surrounded by Mets fans...that would be living in my house. Husband and 2 sons. It's painful, let me tell you. But they aren't doing much better so everyone is sad at home.

I grew up in Queens and my dad grew up on Riverside Drive in Manhattan so he was a big Yankee fan, hence I have Yankee blue in the veins in one arm, Giants blue in the other. So at least half of my year ended well!

"Aye" candy....you guys crack me up :rotfl2: :rotfl2:

[emmabemmainc]

Those are great!!!! :rotfl2:

Aye Candy--that's so good!! I love it!

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

Sounds like a great idea. I bet we could open that as a CS restaurant in Hollywood Studios like that - since people complain they don't like the ones that are there.

Sample menu...
Stouffers Mac and Cheese (from LTT)
(available with or without cheese, so my son could eat there too)
Krispy Creme donuts (from Tusker House)
Volcano Dessert (from RFC)
Island Sunset Drink (from Kona)

Sounds like a nice well balanced meal to me :rotfl2:

Yeah I am totally down with that menu. Just maybe add those Dole pineapple icecream things. Yum!