The "don't you dare embarrass me" Dining review 8/24-8/30 [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

Renee845

09-04-2008, 12:56 PM

While I have no pictures to share, as I was not allowed to take any - from the first meal we had in WDW my DH insisted that I not embarass him by taking pictures, I have lots of info in what I hope to be an entertaining and no doubt poorly spelled group of reviews. I don't think you are going to miss much picture-wise, most of the places we ate at were buffets and I know there are many people out there that are not interested in pictures of buffet food anyway. I will however get some pictures up of at least my DD, she is always nice to look at anyway :lovestruc

We ate at the following places during our trip - not necessarily in this order, I am listing as I remember:

Earl of Sandwich
1900 Park Fare - Cinderella's Royal Table
Ohana Character breakfast w/Lilo & Stitch
Casey's
Hoop Dee Do Review
Hollywood & Vine - Play & Dine character breakfast
Mama Melrose - fantasmic dinner package
Tusker House character breakfast
Crystal Palace character dinner
Princess Storybook Breakfast - Norway
Coral Reef
Spirit of Aloha
Coronado Springs - Pepper Market & Rix Cafe
"The Castle" Cinderella Breakfast
Sci-Fi Drive In
Chef Mickey's - breakfast
Whispering Canyon Cafe

I think that is it but I will add to it as I go along - I don't have my notes with me right now, it is amazing how a week later you can just forget!

Renee845

09-04-2008, 12:59 PM

So there are three of us on this journey, and in the spirit of Snow White, I will name us as follows:

Happy - That's me, I am a very go-with-the-flow kinda girl, this is my first trip to WDW and quite frankly, I was just thrilled to be there!!! :woohoo:

Grumpy - My DH, while he handle the trip better than I expected, he lived up to his name!

PickyPrincess - yes, this is not a dwarf. but she is MY dwarf! DD turned 5 on this trip and she is the hardest eater on the planet!! Get her on a good day and she can eat forever, on others, you wonder if she had eaten anything at all.

So on with the review with day one!

Renee845

09-04-2008, 01:10 PM

We got in to FL relatively early, and even though we were beat (we had a 6:30 a.m. flight) we were pretty anxious to get out there and explore a bit. We went to Downtown Disney and spent the day taking it all in.

Lunch - Earl of Sandwich

Our first meal at Disney!!!

I had the Italian Sandwich and a Hawiian smoothie. I thought this was REALLY good! I had never had a warm italian sandwich before but it really hit the spot! The bread was nice and warm and crispy and the meat and cheese was everything you would want from a italian hero - YUM. The smoothie was good too! I am a big fan of the combo of pineapple and coconut, even without the rum! It really hit the spot.

Grumpy had the Earl Club (no tomato, not a fan), and a coke (he will ALWAYS have a coke) when I asked him how it was he said with a lot of surprise in his voice "really good!" So I would say that this sandwich was probably really, REALLY good because it takes a lot for DH to call anything "good".

Princess Picky was not really feeling the kid's options and was starting to get hot I guess because I saw a breakdown heading our way in the not too distant future, I got her a side salad with cucumbers and balsamic dressing and a small pasta salad that looked like it had some sort of dressing on it. With alot of pleading, she tried the salad and deemed it "good", one bite of the pasta salad, not working for her. I would say total, she had about three bites of lunch - not one of her best to be sure.

Renee845

09-04-2008, 01:17 PM

While I know this is not "food", it was an eating experience so I thought it needed some mention. After a pick-me up in the toy store DD was in better spirits and I figured let's add some sugar!!!! DD took great joy in creating her own slushy - much to my surprise she optioned for Minnie Mouse as opposed to Cindy and had a pink lemonade type frozen drink. She loved it - I am pretty sure I drank most of it though - hey, you want me to hold it, I am going to drink it!!!!

While we were there DD also created her own candy creation with marshmelllows, white chocolate and rainbow sprinkles, she enjoyed watching her "creation" come to life.

Grumpy discovered something in the candy case called "peanut butter heaven" and declared he MUST. He is a peanut butter and chocolate kinda guy and this BALL (about the size of a golf ball) was calling to him. He took one bite and declared - "oh my god" - Heaven? YEP. I took a bite, it was a very large peanut butter cup, so if you are into that, it was yummy!

Renee845

09-04-2008, 01:30 PM

Today is DD's 5th birthday and it was fitting to have dinner with her idol, aka Cinderella, so off to the GF we went!

First, I have to say we were instantly in love with this Resort! It was just so beautiful, I was almost sad to leave it.

We were pretty close to our ADR time - maybe a little late, so we were given the buzzer thing, which was fine for us and gave us a chance to hang in the lobby and admire the view. When we were seated, they of course made a wonderful fuss over DD (dressed in her Cinderella dress of course) and gave her a b-day button and Happy Birthday tiara.

As for the food, the things that I put on my plate were as follows:

Salmon with dill cream sauce, chicken marsala, mashed potatoes, prime rib, pasta with meatsauce and I got a bowl of the strawberry soup (I was on a mission to find that!) I would have to say that overall, the food was good, not great, good. I think the chicken and the salmon were my favorite, I thought the pasta was mushy and the sauce, had to have come from a jar. The strawberry soup was really good too, not life changing as I somehow expected it to be but yummy none the less.

Renee845

09-04-2008, 01:41 PM

Grumpy's plate was about the chicken marsala and pasta with meat sauce, I can't really recall much else, I should point at that by this point the three of us were dead tired and DD was about to have a meltdown because she had not seen Cindy yet - she passed us by at least three times now and it was getting ugly!!!

Princess Picky had pasta, pizza and corn niblets on her plate, I think she took one bite of the pizza and said YUCK and ate nothing else for the rest of the night - unless you count the frosting from the cup cake she was given.

The character interaction was ok here, believe it or not the red-headed step sister (her name is escaping me) was my favorite, she sat right down and chatted with DD for quite some time, to my disapointment, I did not really feel like Cindy gave her much attention at all, DD was thrilled, but I had hoped for something more.....magical.

Would I go back? Yes, I think I would, I would definately NOT make this the night of our arrival though, I think because we were so tired we did not enjoy it nearly the way we could have. It was her actual B-day so that was why I did it, but I think it would have been better had we not been up since 3:00 a.m.!

Irishgrl6975

09-04-2008, 01:48 PM

Subscribing popcorn::

However, are you sure MY husband didn't go on this trip with you? LOL My DH sounds a lot like yours. I can't wait to here how the rest of the places were.

Renee845

09-04-2008, 01:58 PM

Funny how things become a blur only a week later!

After a not so great night sleep, our first breakfast was set for Ohana with Lilo and Stitch. First, a word about the Poly - WOW - it was beautiful, in fact after breakfast we took some time to check it out and should we go back to WDW this is the resort I am aiming for!

What a fun place this was! DD was presented with another b-day button and a post card type b-day card wishing her a happy b-day signed by all the characters. She loved it!

As we sat down to breakfast we had pinapple and bread/pastries on the table and some super yummy juice concoction. DD was hesitant to try it, but once convinced LOVE it - in fact Grumpy and I think the juice gave her some sort of magical bravery because she was jumping up and down, joining the parade, etc.

The food was presented to us in a family skillet and had scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and seasoned potatoes.

Renee845

09-04-2008, 02:04 PM

I personally found the eggs to be too salty, in fact, I think every where we went I found that to be true, Grumpy on the other hand, said they were "pretty good" and DD ate them, so that in and of itself has to say something right? The bacon was hard and kinda plastic-like (for lack of a better word), I also think that can be said for any other bacon I experienced. The sausage was HOT, like YOWZA HOT, Grumpy, while admitted it was hot, seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, I did not even have DD try it. The potatoes were unlike any I have tried before, I can't say I loved or hated them, they were just different, DD enjoyed them so that made me happy.

I would definately go to this again, we truely enjoyed ourselves and I thought the character interaction was great. In fact, I have to thank Stitch for dragging DD into the first parade, she would have never gone on her own and really, can you say no to Stitch? We were still there in time for a second parade and she jumped into that one with no prompting!!! We left breakfast in very high spirits and ready to take on the Disney day!!!

Renee845

09-04-2008, 02:04 PM

Subscribing popcorn::

However, are you sure MY husband didn't go on this trip with you? LOL My DH sounds a lot like yours. I can't wait to here how the rest of the places were.

I wonder sometimes if ALL DH's should be considered Grumpy!!!

Renee845

09-04-2008, 02:33 PM

Since we moved from Movies to Coronado today we thought it be best to spend some time at the resort and make sure our luggage got to us and things went smoothly so we picked up lunch to go at the Rix Cafe and ate in our room.

Both Grumpy and I got Paninis, his Turkey and Chedder, me some sort of italian combo - strange, didn't we have this for lunch yesterday???? Anyway, the quality of the sandwich could have been better but considering it was sitting under heat lights how much can you expect from it right? Grumpy declared that it was sorta soggy and less than desirable and I thought mine was "ok" it tasted good and I was hungry so it worked for me! Princess Picky got a turkey and cheese sandwich and some grapes, after having a fit that cheese DARE touch her turkey, she ate a few bites of the sandwich, my apple, and a few grapes. I have to say this, what is it about the grapes there? They are soooo good!!!! Nice and big and crisp!! I swear I could make a meal out of the grapes there.

Next up - Hoop Dee Doo!!!!

Renee845

09-04-2008, 03:06 PM

So we get there by the skin of our teeth!!! We had some luggage issues but, that can be discussed in a trip report I may someday write.

We are catagory 1 seating, which is nice, we were right smack in the middle of the room and could see pretty well. I know I have not really mentioned the wait staff yet because for the most part, they were nice, but unremarkable, but the waiter we had here needed some sort of personality injection!!!! Just very life-less and not very friendly.

The show was lots of fun and my DD laughed a lot, I was not really sure if she was going to "get it" but whether she did or not, she laughed and had a great time. Grumpy seemed to enjoy himself and participated in the hoopla so for him, this is a big deal.

As for the food. It was ok, they had salad, cornbread, ribs, fried chicken, beans, mashed potatoes - did I miss anything? I ate mostly chicken and mashed potatoes, it was good, but not moving. The beans were, as my DH would call them "different" not bad or good, just unlike any baked beans I had every had before. Picky Princess on the other hand, LOVED the chicken!!! She ate, more or less 3 chicken legs!!! I had to ask for more of them. I had never seen her eat what she calls "chicken on the bone" with such gusto. I am pretty sure that was all she ate, but she enjoyed them - oh! She ate the salad and cornbread too. I should mention that DH and I really did enjoy the cornbread quite a bit. We had strawberry shortcake for dessert, while it was definately yummy, I think the fanfare in the shore introducing it was better than the actual dessert! DD does not like strawberry shortcake so she ate the whipped cream on top and was happy.

I feel I also need to mention that I may have fallen in love with one of the actors from that show!! I have no idea what his name was, he had dark hair and was absolutely adorable!!! You ladies KNOW which one I am talking about I'm sure ;) But would I go back? That is a tough call, I enjoyed the show but I can't say that it was worth the money we spent. Maybe someday we would go back, but I would not call that a must do.

Tomorrow off to Norway!!!

Renee845

09-04-2008, 03:38 PM

Boy were we looking forward to this one!!!! When I say WE of course I mean me and DD! We had an ADR for 8:55 or so, but we got there really early, it was so nice to stroll through Epcot when it was empty! Everything was just starting to wake up and it was such a pleasant morning.

We were greated and given the buzzer, we did not really have to wait long and my DD was thrilled when they announced our "Royal Family", and then we saw Belle!! I promise you my DD's eyes got bigger than her head, it was so sweet to see. We were seated almost directly across from Belle, at first I thought this was going to be a high traffic problem but it the end it worked out fine. We went to the cold buffet first and were treated with cheese, fruit, pastries...YUM. Princess Picky ate a cinnamon bun faster than I had every seen. She was really cranky this morning so I was happy to see her eat. The family skillet arrived with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and some potato casserole type thing. Once again I was not loving the eggs, I had mixed feelings about the casserole, there were some bites I really enjoyed and then some not....it was strange. We ordered a second round of eggs hoping DD would eat more, she didn't. This is definately one of those places were you are not there for the food. We got to meet Jasmine, Snow White, Aurora and Mulan (she was a nice surprise since we had such seen her movie for the first time before we left).

Would we go back? Definately, I think it was really worth it getting to the park before it opened, it made for a really good day for us. You are not there for the food, but if you were, there was something for everyone and we did not leave hungry. I loved the fact that a picture was included in this meal! You get a lot of princess bang for your buck with this one.

rosiep

09-04-2008, 04:20 PM

Thanks for taking the time to post. I am anxiously awaiting your review of Hollywood and Vine. I have a ressie for the Fantasmic dinner package...and then read horrible, horrible reviews :scared1:
Eeek!

dogodisney

09-04-2008, 04:37 PM

Did your DH enjoy the trip? I am enjoying your reviews. I hope I can read some more before I leave tomorrow afternoon.

butiflfeet

09-04-2008, 04:55 PM

I wonder sometimes if ALL DH's should be considered Grumpy!!!

I couldn't agree more!

The reviews are great so far! Keep them coming please :flower3:

Renee845

09-05-2008, 09:39 AM

Did your DH enjoy the trip? I am enjoying your reviews. I hope I can read some more before I leave tomorrow afternoon.

I would say he enjoyed himself - despite himself! To be fair though, we both came down with terrible colds while we were there so that made things tough. But we are in DISNEY whether he will admit it or not, I saw him having fun ;)

Renee845

09-05-2008, 09:45 AM

Ok, so to continue with our day in Epcot, after hiting a whole bunch of rides, we were definately ready to eat! We went to the Coral Reef for lunch which I was really excited about, I had heard mixed reviews but we had a diver planned for DD and I just could not wait to see her reaction! We got there more or less on time but we had to wait for a bit, I did not mind though because I was fairly certain that the wait meant we were getting a tank side table :cool1: I was right. It was really cool sitting there watching all the fish swim by us (although I was feeling a little guilty about my lunch selection!) Our favorite were the sea turtles! We also made friends with a sting ray that sat next to our table and did not move the entire time.

My DD was greated with her custome menu with her pictures on it and was THRILLED, I have to say, Debbi did a wonderful job. Shortly after our order was taken in came the divers, DD had no idea what was coming so DH and I watched anxiously as one swam up to our table and held out the sign for her, now she is 5 and can't read of course, but there are two words she can recognize with no problem, her name and "princess" So she knew it was for her and just tickled pink! The diver blew her kisses and danced around a little. It was so cute!

Now, on to the food!

Renee845

09-05-2008, 09:49 AM

I had the Mahi Mahi with seasoned rice and pinapple chutney. This was the first time I ever had Mahi Mahi and it was really, really good!! Nice and lightly flavored fish and I really enjoyed it. The rice and chutney was really good too. I also had the lobster soup, it was good, not life changing but I felt like I needed to try it.

Grumpy had a pork chop (he is not a fish person) with some sort of cream mushroom sauce and potatoes. I was shocked by this choice since he does not eat pork chops at home, when I asked him, he said "well you don't make them like this!!!" I take it that meant it was good. Both of us cleaned are plates!

Princess Picky had pizza with apples. The apples were suppose to have brown sugar on them and despite my trying to impress on my daughter that this was a GOOD thing, she insisted on them being plain. She ate them all, so whatever. She had a few bites of pizza and announced it was yummy.

MickeyNicki

09-05-2008, 09:52 AM

Sign me up!

Renee845

09-05-2008, 09:54 AM

For dessert Grumpy and I both had the Key Lime tart, let me tell you, this thing was soooooo good!!!! It was both sweet and tart in perfect balance and the fluffy white top was more like melted marshmellows then egg whites and sugar. Unfortunately, I was only able to eat half of it but DH happily polished off his and the rest of mine!!!

Princess Picky had the make your own sundae which thrilled her to no end, I mean lets face it, give a kid ice cream, m&m's, chocolate sauce and sprinkles and you are going to have a happy little person.

So I would have to say, this was one of the best meals of our trip. This might be because the majority of our meals were buffets, but we really enjoyed ourselves here.

Would we go back? Definately! The view alone was worth the trip.

MickeyNicki

09-05-2008, 09:58 AM

Renee845

09-05-2008, 10:01 AM

I should first start off by saying that this night had the recipe for disaster!! Shortly after we got on the bus to head over to MK for the first time it started to POUR, and I mean hard!! We waited under the awning for awhile thinking it would pass, it didn't. So finally we came to the realization that we had to make a run for it. DH brilliantly decided before we left that we did not need to take the rain gear with us...dope!!!! Luckily, DD had her stroller with a shade on top and her rain coat, so she definately did better than we did. What made it worse was, since we had never set foot in MK before, we had no idea where we were going. The girl that took our tickets was very sweet and directed us through the buildings on Main Street to help minimize the rain explosure. She did however mention I should buy a sweatshirt on my way through, which I didn't, and I was really sorry I did not listen.

We finally get to the Crystal Place and the place was packed!! I think a lot of people were just seeking shelter from the rain but the wait was a long one. I was seething mad, mostly because I was wet, I hate being wet. I may have changed places with Grumpy that night.

When we got to our table it was all decorated with mickey confetti to acknowlege DD's b-day, which was cute and DD was very happy to see that.

Renee845

09-05-2008, 10:07 AM

I have to say, the food here, was some of the best buffet we sampled. I had Salmon with some sort of mustard/honey glaze that was really, really good!!! I also had a pasta primavera with an alfredo type sauce and really enjoyed it, in fact, I went back for more, the pasta was nicely cooked and the sauce had the perfect flavor. I also had some mashed potatoes and a variety of different salads and green beans. There was lots of other things that could have kept me going back for more, but I was still wet and now freezing, so I was less than a happy camper. I will say that the quality of the food lifted my spirits. I just remembered the corn bread, this stuff was food but burned my face off!!! It was some sort of spicy thing that was tasty but HOT.

Princess Picky had some chicken nuggets, green beans and pizza, she really enjoyed the pizza and the green beans - to the point where I got her more of both, and if you have been reading all the while, you know that this is unheard of for her!!! The chicken she declared was good too but it did not get as much attention.

Grumpy went to town on a variety of different things too and deemed them all good, unfortunately I don't really remember what he ate, UNTIL he hit the dessert table. I swear to you, the boy was giddy!!!

Renee845

09-05-2008, 10:15 AM

Now I pretty much tasted everything Grumpy brought back to the table, there was, he tried so many things!! There was a chocolate layer cake with some sort of whiskey going on (YUM), tiramisu, banana bread pudding, and various other cakes. But the one that stuck out in my mind the most was the red velvet cheesecake - OH MY GOD, that was super yummy and quite frankly, made my night!! Every few minutes Grumpy would scout that table and come back with something new and a sparkle in his eye - needless to say, he enjoyed himself.

DD had ice cream and was perfectly happy.

So as we ate, of course we were visited by Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and Piglet. DD declared Piglet "just about the cutest thing EVER!" They were all lots of fun and thrilled DD to no end. They also did a little parade around the room which, much to my surprise, DD jumped right into. I am not sure why but I expected a little more from the characters because of some of the reviews I read but it was fun and despite being cold and wet I enjoyed myself.

Would I go back, most definately, if not for the desserts alone. I will say though, I thought this was the best buffet food we had all week, and possibly one of the better dinners we experienced over all.

Renee845

09-05-2008, 10:17 AM

Quick question for you, we did the Princess Breakfast at 8:30am before and the park was empty no one waiting to get in line for the entrance or anything. Did you find the same to be true at 8:55? That is the time I have booked for our Jan trip and I dont want to be packed with people that are trying to get into the park for rope drop.

Thanks!

I think we got there about 8:30 as well, we were early for that one, there were a few people milling around the entrance but for the most part it was empty, I would say get there a little early and you should be fine. Although I have never experienced January, but since we were there the first week of free dining I am sure it is somewhat comparable.

Renee845

09-05-2008, 10:45 AM

So today we hit Magic Kingdom, without rain :thumbsup2

We got there at rope drop and hit FantasyLand. It was our every intention to stop for breakfast but since the lines were practically - walk-on we just kept going!! Finally, when we could not take it anymore we went to Casey's for an early lunch. There was nothing really remarkable here, we each had a hot dog, a soda, french fries (DD had apple slices). And since we are on the dining plan I picked up two brownies and a bag of cracker jacks. Princess Picky did not really eat much, she picked at the french fries, had a apple slice or two and a bite of her hot dog. Grumpy and I ate like we had not seen food in weeks! Overall, the hotdog was good, not great, I have had better, but they were BIG, the fries were nice and crispy. The sodas you get on the dining plan are HUGE or you can get a bottle of water so that worked well for us.

We ended up having dinner there one night too while we waited for Spectro and Princess Picky ate the WHOLE hot dog, so take that for what it is!

I will say that timing is very important with this place, when we got there early for lunch I walked right up to the counter and ordered, the night we had dinner it was quite a wait to even order.

So for something familiar and easy, Casey's works in a pinch!

Renee845

09-05-2008, 10:52 AM

We were not really sure if this dinner was going to happen. The weather was really threating and it was constantly thundering with lots of lightning flashes. We we got lucky and was able to see the whole show.

We had catagory 1 seating, it was good, but could have been better, we were off to the side a bit with another table in front of us. The show itself was pretty true to the reviews I read, the first half of the show was pretty stupid but entertaining in a cheesy way - DD was happy anyway. The second half of the show was GREAT, we really enjoyed all the traditional dances and the fire dancer in the end was just amazing.

Food wise, when we sat down there was salad, pineapple and pineapple/coconut bread on the table. The dressing on the salad was sweet and I thought really yummy, Princess Picky deemed it too sweet (she is a balsamic girl) and Grumpy had no opinion either way, I think I ate the whole pineapple myself, Grumpy and DD don't "do" pineapple. I love it. I did not think it was the most amazing pineapple I ever ate but I liked it. The bread was really yummy though, you could just taste a hint of the coconut and pineapple and Grumpy ate it with gusto, Princess Picky would not go near it because it "smelled wrong" and I really enjoyed it.

Renee845

09-05-2008, 11:07 AM

The main entree came out on a platter with chicken, ribs, rice, veggies. All three of us really enjoyed the chicken, it was not dry at all and had a really good flavor. I also got DD a hot dog - just in case and she took a few bites but seemed to enjoy the chicken more - who knew? She also really liked the rice - I liked it too but was pretty sure I could get the same results from a Rice a Roni box ;) The ribs were tasty, but like the Hoop Dee Do, they were a little on the tough side - not as bad as the Hoop, but still tough. The veggies were mainly broccoli and carrots, we are not big broccoli people so I am not sure how much of the veggies were sampled there. Grumpy declared that he liked both the show and food here better than the Hoop Dee Do, I have to agree with him, I enjoyed both shows, but I think given the choice I would do the SOA again before I did the HDDR.

I should mention drinks here, Grumpy declared he wanted this huge 14.99 drink in a coconut head, it had what seemed every alcohol known to man in it, but you can keep the head, and he wanted it - well, we are on vacation, why not! I will post a pic up with I get a chance, the drink head was as big as his!!! Oh, and a warning, it was not a real coconut, just some stupid styrofoam thing, kinda a let-down. I had, naturally, a pina colada, I was in Hawaii after all right??? It was good :)

Renee845

09-05-2008, 11:08 AM

For dessert we had the chocolate volcano. Once again, the fan fare that led up to the dessert was better than the actual dessert! It was basically chocolate mousse shaped into a volcano with some sort of rasberry thing going on in the middle - DD proudly explained to her parents that this was supposed to be "lava" - yes honey, thanks.... I am not a huge fan of the combo of chocolate and rasberry together so I did not love it. It was good, it was chocolate, but, given the choice, I think I liked the strawberry shortcake better.

As an extra bonus, just after the show ended we were able to walk over to the beach at the poly and watch the fireworks over the castle, I had hoped it was going to be timed right and I was pleased to see that it was!

Overall, we had a really nice time, it was a really nice night.

Would I go back? Yes, in a heart beat.

Renee845

09-05-2008, 11:46 AM

We spent the entire day at Hollywood, it was a long one, we ate at Hollywood & Vine for thier character breakfast, Studio Catering Co for a quick lunch and Mama Melrose for dinner (Fantasmic package).

So our ADR was nice and early at Hollywood, the park had not opened yet so it was nice to get in before the crowds (I highly recommend this approach in every park). We go there at least a half hour before our seating time but was able to be seated relatively quickly. Now, I have heard alot of mixed reviews on this place, most of them not so great food wise, but most of my friends who had been there said they had the most fun at this character meal so I had some high expectations - characterwise.

We were seated off the main floor which was a bit of a bummer because all the entertainment happened with their back to us (and when I say all, yeah, not much, but I will get to that later).

I think this was our actual first breakfast buffet, the last couple we went to were family-style so I was pleasantly surprised at all they had to offer, you name it, they had it, they even had a toaster, which was a good thing because Picky Princess insisted that she wanted TOAST - she is such a pain in the butt! Both Grumpy and I had the typical scrambled eggs, bacon, some sort of potato casserole thing, mickey waffles, the same thing we seem to have every morning. I am guessing if I was feeling better I would have been more inventive, they had lots to offer, breakfast fajitas comes to mind. They had cold cereal which was a good thing since Princess is a big cold cereal fan. I did find however that she ate next to nothing that day. It is a good thing that we were on the free meal plan, when I think about what she did not eat, I would have wasted a fortune on her!

Renee845

09-05-2008, 11:51 AM

Everything tasted ok, I thought the potato casserole was gross though.

A word about the characters, of course they each went to our table and played with our daughter and had some little moments of dancing, but I just expected more, I guess this is more of a lunch thing, my friends who have gone kept telling me that this was the most fun they had......I am not sure how or where they had that fun, we must have missed it!

Would I go back? hmmmmm, well, most likely, the food was fine for what it was, I would like to try lunch simply for the fact that I feel like I missed the "fun" all my friends were raving about.

Renee845

09-05-2008, 11:56 AM

We found ourselves getting hungry and since we had such early dinner reservations we stopped here for a quick bite. Grumpy had a chili dog and fries, Princess Picky had a hot dog (shocker, I know) and some apple slices and I had the Caesar Salad wrap and a bag of grapes. I think I picked up some cookies or brownies or something here dessert wise, they were portable and we were not really planning on making this a long meal.

I did not like the wrap at all, I may have barely eaten half of it, there was just too much dressing on it and you just could not taste anything else. Grumpy ate his chili dog with no complaints, Picky girl took one bite, that was it, I finished off her hot dog and honestly, I thought it was good, it was better than Casey's in my opinion. I also like the fact that they toast the bun, to me, that makes a difference. The fries were good, nice and crisp, but really, how bad can you mess up a french fry?

I doubt we will go back here, we were not really there on purpose anyway, it was right in front of us when we decided we should eat something and the crowds were low so it was just convenient.

Renee845

09-05-2008, 12:55 PM

First, I hate that we had to make this ADR sooo early, I think it was for 4:30 or something, but, we ended up getting there late, Picky HAD to see the Muppets RIGHT NOW or she was going to die and rather than deal with that, we went.

Even though we were late, we were seated pretty much right away, I did notice that as our dinner went on, the place got more and more packed. It was cute to look at but I have to say, our waitress was not the most pleasant person on the planet. We were informed that because we were doing the Fantasmic package, we were entitled to appetizers even though we were on the basic meal plan. So I had a basic salad with some cheese covered bread and Grumpy had some sort of bread platter with a variety spreads, there was a tomato pesto, a half head of roasted garlic and some very scary colored greenish brown "stuff" after being dared to try it I determined it was some sort of olive spread. I tried them all, they were ok, I mean how much can you really say about bread?

Renee845

09-05-2008, 01:03 PM

Both Grumpy and I had the Penne Ala Vodka and Picky Princess had slices of grilled chicken and pasta (no sauce). Neither Grumpy or I were thrilled with the pasta dish, it was edible but I have had much, much better at our local resturant. I should also say though, I was feeling really terrible at this moment (when I got home I went to the doctor, I had strep). Grumpy declared it was "terrible", he ate the whole thing though - how bad could it have been I wonder?

Picky Princess hated everything about her dinner, and to be fair, it looked pretty bad, the grilled chicken looked gross and apparentely tasted so because she spit it right out. She was given elbow pasta (with all the other choices in here, why elbows?), she ended up mixing some sauce in it and ate some of it.

For dessert I had the spumoni ice cream, it was good, but anything cold on my throat would have worked at that point, Grumpy had some sort of lemon cream with strawberries, this was a strange choice for him, he ate it though and Picky had ice cream

Renee845

09-05-2008, 01:07 PM

Overall, we were all very dissapointed with this place, I read the reviews so I knew going in that this was not going to be an amazing eating experience but I suppose it could have been worse. I will say that I liked the idea of the dining package and having the reserved seating Fantasmic (the highlight of our day I am sorry to say, but that will have to be reserved for the trip report).

Would I do it again? Hard to say, I like the idea of the dining package, I would not go to Hollywood & Vine for just food so unless I decide to splurge and go for the Brown Derby then yes, I guess I would go back, I think that I would try to work it out so we made it to the Brown Derby though, I get the feeling it would have been a much better experience.

Renee845

09-05-2008, 01:21 PM

We had a 8:00 ADR which made me very happy, I wanted to be ready to go when the park opened! We get there more or less on time and had really no wait to get it. Unfortunately, we were seated waaaaaaaaaaay in the back of the resturant - are you kidding me?! We had to go through two rooms to just get our food, and the characters? Yeah right, we will be lucky to see anybody at this rate.

So once again, we had scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, mickey waffles, you know, the more I think about this, the more I blame being sick, tired and flustered by Picky Princess about my breakfast choices. With so many different things to try I was really having none of it. It was a challenge every day to get the PP to eat anything and balancing her plate and mine got to be too much by this time I guess. At this point I was SICK. Grumpy, not feeling much better than me had the same breakfast too. They had a special jungle juice thing going on (tasted pretty much like what we had at Ohana), it was good. Princess ate nothing, I filled her plate with the hopes that she would get something out of it, but no luck.

Renee845

09-05-2008, 01:24 PM

I can't tell you how aggravated I was by this location though, I think this really dampened my spirits, it got to the point where we had been there an hour and just saw one character. I sent Grumpy out for fast passes to the safari and Princess and I continued to wait for Daisy, we HAD to see Daisy.

I had heard really great things about this buffet and was excited to go there, maybe I was just too tired at this point to take advantage of anything new? Maybe it was too far away or too crowded? I don't know what my excuse was.

Would I go back? Probably, I liked the idea of being there early and close to the safari, I HATED where we were seated so maybe that was the real problem here. The food was fine, I did not really see a difference between this or any other buffet at this point.:confused3

Renee845

09-11-2008, 11:18 AM

It was HOT and we were DONE (well, not really but we just could not go any further) so instead of eating at the Flaming Tree as planned we headed back to the resort for a much needed swim and re-grouping. We had lunch at the Pepper Market. I can understand why people complain about the confusion with the cards, etc. but once you "get it" I think it is a nice idea. I also like the fact that we were seated and had our drinks brought to us, made life a little easier.

Grumpy had an individual cheese pizza, when I asked him how it was, his response was "I should have known better than to get pizza this far from NY" He said the sauce was clearly a "Ragu" and the crust was tastless. It smelled and looked good in my opinion and well, he ate the whole thing so I don't know what to tell you. Maybe if you are not a New Yorker, you would like it?

Princess Picky - had a kids meal of chicken fingers, french fries and a cookie. She RAVED about the chicken!! She was either really, really hungry or it was just that good!! Either way, it was nice to see her enjoying something.

I had the 1/2 chicken with veggies and french fries. The chicken itself was tasty but very dry, the french fries were really good, the veggies were a HUGE dissapointment, they looked wonderful, big chucks of eggplant, zucchini, squash, peppers and onions, they tasted terrible!! I am not a big veggie eater anyway but these are my favorites, they just were not good, they also left the skin on the eggplant which I don't like.

For dessert Grumpy had a churro and seemed to enjoy that, I had hot apple pie and vanilla ice cream it was GOOD, in fact, at that point I was enjoying it so much I felt like it totally made up for the lunch I just ate maybe half of!

Renee845

09-11-2008, 11:19 AM

Overall, I think when it comes to the Pepper Market you have to be careful what you order, I saw some people with taco salads that looked wonderful, so who knows, maybe we just missed the boat with this place or something??

Renee845

09-11-2008, 11:30 AM

I will tell you right off the bat that this was the biggest dissapointment of the trip for me. I was soooo looking forward to this place!! First, we got there about 20 minutes from our ADR time, I was hoping we were going to get seated early but I was informed that the wait was 30 minutes FROM our ADR time! Ok, fine, we walked around the resort which was lovely and checked out the geyser. When we were finally seated we were stuck on the outskirt of everything right across from where you check in, definately not a great location. Our waitress while very sweet was definately not going to bring us the fun I was so expecting. Princess Picky got to join in on a pony race but that was IT, sure we heard people screaming for ketchup periodically but that was IT, I wanted so much more from this place.

Grumpy had the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and veggies, he said it was "okay" but definately not great, in fact, he said MINE was better, and if you knew how I cooked, that is really saying something!!

I opted for the skillet, so, so much food!!! The salad was funny, half way through it I realized that the dressing was not really mixed together, half of the salad tasted really good, while the other half tasted like oil. The peel and eat shrimp were really tasty - just too much work!!! I enjoyed the mashed potatoes and the chicken was good, but somewhat dry. The ribs were tough and the beans were just odd, reminded me of Hoop De Doo, I was not really loving them.

Princess Picky had the cheeseburger with watermelon and worms in dirt, she took one bite of the burger, and ate the gummy worms, that was IT, Grumpy said that to him, the burger did not really look so great.

Renee845

09-11-2008, 11:34 AM

For dessert I had the smores cheesecake and Grumpy had the apple carmel pie (I think, I don't remember now, Princess was curled up on the chair ready to go to sleep!). The cheesecake was just cheesecake with chocolate sauce, mini marshmellows on top with a graham cracker crust - I could have done that!!! The cake itself was ok, definately not memorable. Grumpy said nothing through dessert so I imagine it was good but not so good that he had to tell me about it.

From beginning to end this was a bummer of an evening, of course, Grumpy and I are really sick at this point but that can't change the fact that we expected so much more from this place.

Would I go back? Doubt it, there are too many other places to try and I won't want to waste another night being dissapointed. If we do go back to the Wilderness Lodge, it will be to check out Artist Pointe.