Eating around the world deluxe style. COMPLETED!! 11/6/08

[abc999]

We (me, DH, DD4.5, DS2.5) will be headed to the world in 10 days. We will be on the Deluxe Dining Plan, we have the following planned (at least I have the following planned, the kids do not know about the trip and DH leaves all the planning to me):

9/17 Kona Lunch (page 2) Narcoosee's Dinner (page 2)
9/18 50s Prime Time Lunch (page 2), Riverside Mill (page 2)
9/19 Yak & Yeti Lunch (page 2), Boatwright Dinner (page 2)
9/20 Liberty Tree Tavern Lunch (page 2), CRT Dinner (page 2)
9/21 LeCellier Lunch (page 3), Tokyo Dining Dinner (page 3)
9/22 Princess Storybook Breakfast (page 3), Tutto Italia Lunch (page 4), Yachtman's Steakhouse Dinner (page 4)
9/23 Chef Mickey Late Breakfast, possibly Earl of Sandwich or POR foodcourt for sandwiches to eat at the airport - See Closing Thoughts (page 4).

The question is to review or not to review?

[oybolshoi]

why wouldn't you? :confused3

[adsrtw]

My vote goes for reviewing! Enjoy your trip.

[MickeyNicki]

For me it is always a REVIEW! I love to read other people dining experiences, it helps me plan my own stuff!

[abc999]

why wouldn't you? :confused3

I need encouragement

[oybolshoi]

I need encouragement

Well, then ...

I encourage you to take lots of pictures and take good notes (or ask for copies of the menus) and then come back here and post those pictures and tell the rest of us about the good, the bad, the ugly, and the brilliant of your Disney Dining experience.

Remember - there are no rules! :thumbsup2

[wilma-bride]

Definitely review - and take loads of pictures :)

[abc999]

Well, then ...

I encourage you to take lots of pictures and take good notes (or ask for copies of the menus) and then come back here and post those pictures and tell the rest of us about the good, the bad, the ugly, and the brilliant of your Disney Dining experience.

Remember - there are no rules! :thumbsup2

Thanks for the encouragement. I shall review! :banana:

Here is the cast of characters... Me - I will not eat onions, scallions, celery, peppers and ginger. DH will pretty much eat anything but eggs. DD is a pretty adventurous, she will try anything at least once "How do you know you don't like it, if you don't try it". Her favorites include crab legs and steak, she does not like mushrooms. She will probably eat off DH and my plates. DS is a little tougher, he is at the age where we can't really reason with him, although we did get him to try shrimp yesterday. His favorites include steak, he also loves fruit and anything sweet. He will probably eat the kids meal that DD is entitled to.

I will probably start the review the saturday (Sept 27) after we get back.

[adsrtw]

Great! I can't wait!

[Melisa1]

looking forward to it and hope you have a great time!

[TigerKat]

Glad you decided to review, I can't wait!!!!:goodvibes

[suzimar57]

review, review, review!!! :yay:

[Minniespal]

Looking forward to reading your reviews:thumbsup2

[abc999]

I expect to do the first review on 9/27 or 9/28. I can wait for the trip, one week from now I will be at the WORLD!! :cool1: :yay: :banana:

[abc999]

I screwed up and posted Narcoosee's before 50's Prime Time

[abc999]

OK, as promised, I would review the restaurants and food that we ate at while on vacation at Disney. I don’t have any pictures, since DH did not want pictures of his food taken. As a compromise, he would help me by giving me his opinions on his meals, as long as I didn’t take any pictures. He was so adamant about no photos of his food that DD (4.5) got upset when I tried to take a picture of her with the candy monkey that the candy lady in Japan made for her. Anyway, on with the review…

Our first meal was lunch at the Kona Café. We had an ADR for 12:45, but we were very hungry after not eating much breakfast before our 7:00 flight. So, we decided to head over to see if we could get in earlier. The place was empty and we were seated right away at a table right next to the area where the dessert chef works.

DH ordered the Crab Cakes, Island Chicken Sandwich and Crème Brulee. I had the Wings, Steak Plate and Kona Kone. DD had the Chicken Strip Meal with Pasta. DS (2.5) shared our food (mostly DD’s). There were 3 cylindrical crab cakes on the plate. DH said that they were OK, he was not impressed and they were better at some of the other places (he had crab cakes 3 times this trip). The Chicken Sandwich had a big piece of chicken breast and it was very dense, not dry, just dense. The Crème Brulee was very good.

The wings were excellent. DD had 2 of them and she thought they were good too. There were probably 8 wings on the plate. They were a juicy and the not overly sweet like I thought they would be. I would have been happy with just a big plate of those wings, as I didn’t really care for my Teriyaki Fried Steak. The plate came with 2 small scoops of sticky rice, 2 very big pieces of steak, which was dipped in bread crumbs then deep fried, some pineapple salsa and a dish of macaroni salad. The steak was OK, but there wasn’t much flavor to it. The macaroni was room temperature, which was kind of weird.

The chicken strip platter consisted of pasta (DD doesn’t like sauce on her pasta), 5 good sized grilled chicken strips, a fruit bowl and some green beans and carrots on a Mickey plate. DS devoured the chicken strips, he ate 3 of them. DD had some of my wings, so she only ate some pasta and 1 of the strips. She didn’t like the green beans, because they had no taste.

The total cost of the meal was $67.03, $4.69 tax and $12.07 tip.

Overall, the meal was OK, but we probably won’t be going back for our next trip (which we booked bounceback for already) :banana:

[abc999]

That evening, we had dinner at Narcoosee’s. We had an ADR for 7:00 and we arrived a couple minutes before that. I asked for a window seat, as Wishes were scheduled for 8:00 and was told that the wait might be longer. I opted to not wait for a table, but they gave us one at the window anyway. The kids had a blast watching the castle change colors and watching the fireworks from the window was amazing. We didn’t really see anyone that was not dressed to code. DH ordered the calamari, DD had the chicken noodle soup and I had the fried shrimp for appetizers. DH and I both had the surf and turf and DD had the steak.

The calamari was good, but nothing to write home about. The shrimp was excellent. The batter was not too heavy, and the shrimp was cooked just right. The only problem was there were only three of them. The chicken soup was good. DD loved it because it had Mickey shaped pasta in it. The tenderloin medallions of both surf and turfs were excellent. We both asked for them medium rare and they were cooked to perfection. DH said his lobster tail was very good, but it was bland even with butter. My lobster tail was horrible, it was very mushy. I complained about it and the waiter brought me a new one. The new one was much better, I gave some to DH and he said his was even better than my second one. DD and DS both enjoyed her steak and she like the mashed potatoes as well.

We were so full that we decided to bring dessert back to the resort to eat later. I got the Almond Crusted Cheesecake and finally got to it for breakfast the next day and it was amazing!!!! I would go back just for the cheesecake. DH got the seasonal fruit dessert, which was strawberry shortcake. We didn’t get to the strawberry shortcake until 2 days later and it was good, but not even close to the cheesecake.

We would definitely go back to Narcoosee’s, for the view and the cheesecake. The cost of the meal was $185.31, $12.97 for tax and $32.50 for tips (DH had a beer and drinks are not included in the tip calculations).

[TigerKat]

I'm really excited to try Narcoossee's in November. That cheesecake is definitely on my radar!:thumbsup2

[abc999]

We had lunch at the 50’s Prime Time Café on our agenda for our day at DHS or MGM. We arrived 15 minutes before our ADR time and waited in the waiting area to be seated. There were numerous TVs around us showing various shows from the 50s. These kids were shown to our table where Aunt Elaine was our server. Aunt Elaine sat down with us and took our order. I had the Shrimp Cocktail (if you haven’t realized already, I love shrimp), on Aunt Elaine’s recommendation, the fried chicken. DH ordered the crab cakes and meatloaf. DD ordered the chicken soup and chicken nugget with fries.

We each ordered cokes and when they came, we thought they tasted off. So, Aunt Elaine went to check and they had switched the diet Coke and regular Coke lines. They bled the lines, but I was still able to taste a bit of diet in the regular Coke and she even made me do a taste test. We ended up with lemonades instead.

DD was upset because there were no Mickey noodles in her soup this time, instead they had elbows. The chicken nuggets and French fries were fine. The kids also had some of my friend chicken.

DH said his crab cakes here were much better than the ones at the Kona Café. They were more patty shaped here, had more flavor and had more crab in it. His meatloaf was good, but the portion was small for him. He cleaned his plate and then had some of my chicken.

Now, my chicken was amazing. The skin was crispy and the chicken was moist. There was a leg, a thigh and a huge breast. I ate the leg and thigh and a little of the breast, I am a dark meat person, so I didn’t really care for the breast. The mashed potatoes that came with it were also good. Unfortunately, I forgot to tell Aunt Elaine that I did not want the collard greens and wanted another veggie. I piled my chicken bones on top of the greens and got chastised for not eating my veggies and trying to hide them. All of the cousins sitting around us got to shame me.

The dessert menu at the 50s Prime Time Café is on a view finder, which was a neat touch. I picked the hot fudge sundae, DH got the apple cobbler ala mode and DD got the kid’s ice cream sundae. The hot fudge sundae was good and it was huge. DS and I shared it and we still couldn’t finish it. DH said the apple cobbler was good and I don’t think DD had a ice cream sundae at Disney that she didn’t like.

Finally, Aunt Elaine slapped the bill on the table and welcomed us back to the real world. The meal was $77.65, $5.44 tax and a $14 tip.

[abc999]

DH and I lived in central Florida for over 4 years and we were supposed to meet up with some friends in the evening at Downtown Disney. Well, some things came up and the friends couldn’t make it, so instead of heading to DTD, we decided to eat at the resort. We called to try to get a table at Boatwright’s, but they told us the wait was probably half an hour. So, we opted for the Riverside Mill. We should have waited…

DD wanted pasta, so we ordered a penne with shrimp, sauce on the side for her at the Pasta station. DH and I both got the roast beef from the carving station with corn and mashed potatoes. We have refillable resort cups, so we didn’t need a drink, but we got 2 orange juices and an apple juice to bring back to the room. For dessert, we got a Mickey Rice Crispy treat for DH and Itzakadoozie pops for the kids.

First the bad, DH and I both like our meat medium rare, we will go medium and rare if the meat comes that way. Well, there was no choice on the meat, it was well done. We should have decided to get something else at that time, but we didn’t. The meat was dry, so we went back and asked for more mashed potato gravy and soaked it. The mashed potatoes were good and so was the corn.

Now the good, or the very good, DD’s pasta was very good, the kids loved the pasta and the shrimp was cooked to perfection. They were not cheap on the shrimp either; there were probably 10 of them in there.

The total for this meal was probably around $45-$50. We did get 3 certificates for the 2 snacks and a mesh bag. We decided to wait until the day we left to cash in those certificates and we shouldn’t have. During the week, they ran out of mesh bags 

[HonnyDipp]

REVIEW!!! I'm looking forward to reading it when you return!:thumbsup2

[abc999]

For our day at Animal Kingdom, I chose Yak and Yeti. We ate at Yak and Yeti when it first opened last year and we were not impressed at the time. We figured we would give it another chance, as there are not too many table service choices in AK and being Asian, our kids NEED rice. I took DD to the restroom after checking in and DH and DS were seated before we even got back from the restroom. We were seated on the first floor, next to a window, we could see people walking around, but we were far enough so it wasn’t distracting. Our waitress didn’t seem to sure about what was allowed as an appetizer in the dining plan, I was going to order the dim sum basket and DH was going to get the string beans, but she said she had to check to see if the dim sum basket would count for an appetizer for both of us, so we got the pot stickers instead. She didn’t think to ask if we wanted them steamed or fried, we didn’t think to say we wanted them fried, so they came out steamed. The pot stickers were OK, a bit too much ginger in them for my taste. I don’t really like steamed dumplings, they probably would have been better fried. In the words of DH, the string beans were interesting. They were covered in a light batter and deep fried. My kids like string beans and apparently the batter was too weird for them, because they pulled the coating off before eating the beans. The thai chili dipping sauce that they came with was more sweet than spicy.

For our main course, DD got the lo mein with white rice and carrot sticks, I got the Shaoxing steak and shrimp and DH got the beef and broccoli. DD’s Lo Mein was really good, very flavorful and tasty. DH said his beef and broccoli was similar to average Chinese take-out. Now, on to my steak and shrimp, the presentation was really nice, a mountain of rice with the steak wrapped around it, skewers of shrimp around the beef with a bed of mixed veggies on the side. I asked our waitress what kind of veggies were they and she had no idea. Turns out they are peppers, snow peas, carrots, and mushrooms. I don’t eat peppers, so I didn’t eat the veggies. I asked for my steak medium rare, I will eat my steak rare, but this steak came out raw. I had to send it back and when they brought it back out to me it was well. Needless to say, I was not happy with my meal.

For dessert, DH and I got the trio of sorbets and DD wanted the kid’s sorbet instead of an ice cream sundae. I gave my sorbet to DS and DH gave his to DD while he ate DD’s lemon sorbet. We were impressed with the presentation, but not totally impressed with the flavor of the sorbet. Needless to say, we probably won’t be going back to Yak and Yeti. However, DH said we probably won’t even go back to Animal Kingdom next year and I agree. There just isn’t enough to do there with younger children.

The cost for this meal was $69.40 with $4.86 for taxes and we had to tip in cash because the cashier had no idea how to charge it to the room using our KTTW cards. I think we gave her $12.

[abc999]

After our day at Animal Kingdom, we returned to our resort (Port Orleans Riverside) and went on a carriage ride, then it was off to Boatwrights for dinner. I had read a number of positive and negative reviews on Boatwrights and I decided to go for so that we could have a relaxing evening at the resort and I am very glad I did. I had the salad and prime rib with mushrooms instead of potatoes. DH had the crawfish bites and the tenderloin medallions. DD had the chicken noodle soup and the mac n cheese. I had the romaine salad, which was ok, it was leaves of romaine with strips of fried prosciutto (imagine bacon) and asiago cheese with the house dressing; I would have preferred that my lettuce be cup up. Let’s talk prime rib, this was the first of three prime ribs that I had this trip and I must say that prime rib at Disney does not disappoint. My two favorite cuts of beef are NY strip and prime rib. I asked for the prime rib medium rare and it was cooked to perfection. The prime rib was outstanding and the mushrooms were good as well. DH said the crawfish bites were interesting, but they did not have much flavor, the portion was huge and he didn’t finish most of it. He also said the filet medallions were good, the portion was small and he wishes he got the prime rib. DD liked the mac n cheese and the chicken noodle soup. DH said that the mac n cheese did not taste good at all. DD got the ice cream sundae for dessert, DH the apple pie and I got the seasonal berries (strawberries). I went next door and got DS an Itzakadoozie, which they allowed me to bring in only because I told them it was for a child. We would definitely go back to Boatwright’s in the future if we were staying at Port Orleans.

The meal here cost $88.00, $6.16 taxes and we tipped her $18 because DS threw up a little at the table and she was really good.

[Krissalee]

Thanks for sharing your reviews - looking forward to the rest.:hippie:

[frdeb1999]

Thanks for sharing your reviews! :)

[suzimar57]

great reviews - i agree how good the almond crusted cheesecake is at narcoosees - definitely worth going there just for it!!!

[abc999]

Saturday, we went back to MK and we had an ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. We waited about 10 minutes for the table. I ordered the fried cheese and the William Penn pasta (applewood smoked bacon, mushrooms, marinated chicken, and basil with a creamy marinara). DH ordered the Crab Cake and the Pot Roast. DD ordered the pizza with chicken. The fried cheese was good and the portion was big enough so we could all share it. DH said the crab cake was good, not as good as 50s Prime Time, but better than Kona. I enjoyed the pasta and so did DS, but I thought the chicken was too dry. DH said the pot roast was also good but dry. Considering this review is the shortest so far, the meal was not that memorable and we probably won’t go back for lunch, but the choices at MK are very limited, so who knows.

The meal cost $78.18, $4.78 in taxes and $13.21 for tip.

[abc999]

Cinderella’s Royal Table (although I keep thinking Cinderella’s Round Table), we started by giving our names at the podium near the back of the castle and were promptly told that we could go in, get on line to meet Cinderella and then wait until we are called to go upstairs. While we were on line, a greeter came up to us and told us that she would be ready to take us upstairs as soon as we are finished meeting with Cinderella! Cinderella was great with the kids. I think DS is in love with her, he actually traded one of his nicest Buzz Lightyear pins for one of Cinderella, which he showed her when we met her. Of course at the same time, we found out that DD lost her Cinderella pin (no, he did not steal her pin). After the photos with Cinderella, DS was given a sword and DD was given a magic wand (I wish they would ask the kids which they wanted, because DD actually wanted a sword). There were numerous empty tables in the dining area, including a couple of them by the window. I asked our hostess if we could have a table at the window and she said she would check. She came back a little later and brought us to a table by the window, where we could see a good part of Fastasyland, most notably the Carousel.

Our waitress came and told us that the fairy godmother, Suzy and Perla do not give autographs and she gave us little pre-printed cards with their autographs already on them. She also told us the price for this meal is fixed and everyone gets an appetizer with their meal, DS is under 3 and they give him complimentary pasta with butter sauce. I got the spring roll, DH got the BLT salad and DD got the carrots sticks (no celery). We were brought some pretzel bread and it was really good. DH and I both ordered the prime rib medium rare and DD got the chicken strips. During the meal, we saw a number of people walking around with photo packages and looking at the pictures and then scanning the room to see if they could spot the correct family. They were much more efficient at this at Akershus, but I will explain that later. DH’s BLT salad was good and he cleaned the plate. My spring roll was good, but it was huge and I didn’t finish it all.

A server (not the waitress) brought out 2 portions of prime rib to our table; one looked like it was cooked to perfection, the other looked well, medium well. But it was way overcooked for my taste. We told the server that we both ordered medium rare and he was shocked that a couple would actually like their meat the same way. “You both like medium rare?” He then took the medium well plate back and brought out another medium rare. The prime rib was delicious!!

DD saw her brother’s pasta and decided that she wanted the pasta instead of the chicken strips and french fries, which worked out perfectly because DS wanted chicken nuggets and french fries. As we finished our main course, the waitress came back out and asked what we wanted for dessert. DD asked for the ice cream, I got the chocolate cream cheese buckle and DH got the sorbet. The buckle was way too sweet for me. DH said the sorbet was good. As we ate our dessert, Suzy and Perla came out and started making their rounds. They both stopped by our table really quickly. DD was sitting on the outside and they stopped long enough for me to get pictures of them (separately) with her. However, DS who was sitting on the inside was totally ignored, which really upset him. Then after a while, the fairy godmother came out and started her dance and little pep rally. She asked if anyone was celebrating anything and acknowledged them.

Overall, the meal was good and we really enjoyed it. The character interaction was not the best, but just eating in the castle was amazing. We will be going back next year when we are back at the world. The meal price includes gratuities and taxes and came to $131.08.

[jeminni]

thanks for the reviews :goodvibes

[abc999]

thanks for the reviews :goodvibes

You're very welcome :)

[DLo]

Enjoying your reviews. I understand about the pictures my dh would crawl under the table if i started taking pictures of the food. Keep up the good work . looking forward to the rest.

[abc999]

Enjoying your reviews. I understand about the pictures my dh would crawl under the table if i started taking pictures of the food. Keep up the good work . looking forward to the rest.

He is definitely not as into Disney as I am. He only goes because the kids like it. I am still amazed that I was able to talk him into a 3rd trip in 3 years :cool1:

[KatMark]

Enjoying your reviews very much. And it makes me want to remind people that if a place interests them, they should try it. Just because one person doesn't like it, doesn't mean you won't. Your reviews are a perfect example: We loved Yak & Yeti (and I normally don't eat anything resembling that type of food--that and Mexican just aren't my thing) and we absolutely disliked Boatwright's--bad service, horrible filets, rude CM. Each day at any given restaurant can be so different for any person.

[PixieDustandEeyore]

id try CRT forLunch and Breakfast as the character interaction is great. Dinner the character interaction is a bonus not mandatory unfortunatley

[Simba22]

OMG I'm sitting here at work drooling over your reviews! Thanks for posting! You are giving me some good ideas for our next trip!

[abc999]

id try CRT forLunch and Breakfast as the character interaction is great. Dinner the character interaction is a bonus not mandatory unfortunatley

I am not complaining at all about the CRT dinner, the food was good, service was good and we will be going back next time, since we are taking my mother and DH's dad and they have never eaten in the castle before.

[abc999]

Mirror Mirror on the wall, which is the hardest ADR to get of them all? Cinderella’s Royal Table is supposed to be the hardest ADR to get. I don’t think this is totally true anymore, since they started charging a credit card for the initial ADR. I though LeCellier was much harder, since I tried and tried to get a dinner reservation but couldn’t over a five month period, even though I called multiple times a day sometimes. LeCellier is small, very small, which is probably one of the reasons it is so hard to get a reservation there.

We checked in at the podium outside the restaurant and were told that it would take about 15 minutes. The CM told us that if we wanted to we could wait inside or go spend sometime at the Kidcot station, which was just past the LeCellier entrance. We were not given a pager or anything. Our kids went and got their masks and colored them, then we went back into the restaurant. While we were waiting, there was a CM asking trivia questions about Canada and handing out stickers to those who got the answer correct. We rechecked in when we got back there and shortly after we were brought to our table. Our table was next to the kitchen door, but we didn’t really notice the people coming out of the kitchen too much. Our waitress brought out a basket of breadsticks for us, I knew that the four of us would be fighting over the pretzel bread and asked for more, but she forgot all about it and we didn’t ask again, because the rest of our food started coming out and we didn’t care about bread anymore. DH had the Spicy Chicken and Chipotle Sausage, I had the shrimp cocktail and DD had the carrots (no celery) for appetizers. DH said his sausage was good and very spicy, the shrimp cocktail was cooked to perfection and the shrimp were big, the carrots were carrots. For our mail course, DD had the kid’s steak. DH had the NY Strip as is on the menu and I had the NY Strip with the mushroom risotto and the white truffle and herb butter sauce (I am not a big fan of filets, as I think it is too tender). The steaks were GREAT! DD loved her steak, which she shared with DS. DD and DS also shared a milkshake which came with her meal and the milkshake was really good, not too sweet.

For dessert, DD got her usual kid’s sundae, and we got a chocolate moose and a cheesecake. When the moose came out, DS screamed, “OH, a duck.” From the side, it really did look like a duck. The moose was pretty good. I didn’t really care for the cheesecake.

The meal cost $112.20, $7.30 in taxes and $20.20 for tip.

[abc999]

As I said previously, DH and I lived in Central Florida for close to four years. We were once again supposed to meet friends one day. Being the diligent planner that I am, I made ADRs for the day we were supposed to meet them, Teppan Edo for lunch and Tutto Italia for dinner, Yachtman’s Steakhouse for dinner the night before that, with a photo session before dinner at the Beach Club. Well, the week before, they called DH and told him that they couldn’t make it the night we were supposed to meet them, can we switch it to the day before. So, after calling Disney Dining (OK, so I was a little happy that I could call Disney Dining to make changes, but I was not happy I couldn’t get what I wanted). What we ended up with was Tokyo Dining for dinner with the friends, Tutto Italia for lunch and Yachtman’s for dinner the second night just the four of us. Of course the day we were supposed to meet them, they backed out because they were too busy.

So, the four of us headed to Tokyo Dining, we had a fairly late ADR, as that was all I could get at that late date. So, I went in to see if they could get us in a half an hour earlier. They were very accommodating even though we were early and had two less people. We were seating after a 10 minute wait at a table by the window, which would have been wonderful if we waited until after the fireworks to leave.

The waitress was very polite and told us what we were entitled to with our dining plan. DD could only get the chocolate chip cookie for dessert. We could each get an appetizer. DH and I both got the shrimp cocktail for appetizer, I got the Grilled NY Steak for my entrée, DH got the Roppongi Combo (which includes shrimp and scallops tempura) and DD got the Chicken Teriyaki, sauce on the side. The waitress brought over 2 pairs of rigged chopsticks for the children. The shrimp cocktail here was definitely a disappointment after the shrimp cocktails at 50s Prime Time and LeCellier. The other two places gave fewer shrimp, but the shrimp were much bigger. This time, we got 6 medium sized shrimp served in a golden cardboard box. The presentation was nice, but the size of the shrimp made it lacking. I would prefer better food over the nice presentation.

My steak was cooked to perfection and was very tasty. I was offered three choices of dipping sauces and I chose the ponzu sauce, which is soy sauce with a bit of tang. The steak was cooked perfectly and was very tasty with the ponzu sauce. The platter came with a couple of piece of broccoli and a scoop of rice. DH’s combo platter included three shrimp and four scallop tempura. DH said that the food was very bland, the combo came with the tempura dipping sauce, but DH does not like to dip his food in sauces, either the flavor is there or not. Also, he said there was just not enough, the portion was tiny. DD’s chicken tempura came nicely presented in a bullet train platter. Yes, it is a bullet train and NOT a monorail. DH and I were commenting on the monorail and the waitress politely told us that it was a bullet train, which is just a bit faster than the monorail. DD and DS pretty much polished the chicken teriyaki and rice off and I gave them some of my rice as well; they sure do love their rice.

Dessert time came around and we ordered 2 soft serve ice creams for the kids. How can a Disney restaurant just offer a chocolate chip cookie to a child for dessert? Come on, really, how much can soft serve ice cream cost? I am not sure if we would be back to Tokyo Dining, we will probably go back to Teppan Edo next time, the food portions are bigger and the kids love watching the chefs cook in front of them.

The meal cost $81.25, $5.29 in taxes and $14.62 for tip.

[abc999]

I booked the Akershus Princess Storybook Breakfast because DD loves the princesses and breakfast seemed the least foreign. We arrived at Epcot around 8:00 and there was a CM at the left side of the entrance gates with a clip board. She looked up our name and let us in immediately. We walked through the empty future world into the world showcase where we ran into a group of CMs looking at space for the Food and Wine Festival that was starting next week. About four or five of them gladly stopped what they were doing and talked to the kids and us too.

We got to Akershus and checked in at the podium outside and were told there would be a short wait. We were going to go look at the waterfall and were called in immediately. Belle was the greeter at the breakfast and we stood on line for the kids to take a picture with her. This Belle did not bend down to the kids’ level, so we have a picture of Belle towering over the kids. I understand that it is hard for the characters to kneel down all the time, but the picture is just odd looking.

We were led to our table as soon as we were finished visiting with Belle and we were placed in the same room as the cold buffet. Our waitress took our drink orders and we hit the cold buffet. We got some fruits, bread and cheese, these items were all good. Our waitress then brought us our drinks and platter of hot foods. The platter included eggs, bacon, sausage and potatoes. Our family is a bit strange about breakfast, DH and DS do not eat eggs, I do not eat bacon and sausage. The eggs were excellent; they were fluffy and cooked perfectly, not runny or overcooked. DH said the bacon was a bit bland, the sausage was good, but the potatoes were the excellent, excellent, excellent. DH, DS, DD finished all the bacon and asked for a second plate. Then DH asked for another plate of potatoes just for himself. He could not stop raving about them. A month after the trip, he looks at me one day and goes “I wish I had a plate of those potatoes from Shushshushshus (what he thought I was saying when I called for ADRs).

The princesses started coming around as we were almost finished with breakfast, there was Sleeping Beauty, when I told her “remember? You already signed the other day?” She got a little haughty and said, “Oh, I just wanted to add something.” She opened it to her page and kissed the book. After Sleeping Beauty, Mary Poppins came around. Why is Mary Poppins at a Princess Storybook meal? I just don’t understand it, there were four other princesses that could have appeared, Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White and even Pocohontas; really, why Mary Poppins? My kids had no idea who she was, but they just went along with it. While Mary Poppins was at our table, Jasmine skipped us and went to the next table. Sleeping Beauty and Jasmine crossed paths and Sleeping Beauty sort of put her nose in the air. I told DH, I guess there is some contention between the princesses. His reply was “Sleeping Beauty is jealous of Jasmine’s abs.” Jasmine came back to us as soon as Mary Poppins left and spent some time talking to the kids. Mulan was the last princess to come to our table and she spent the most time with the kids. Mulan asked DD if DS is her little brother. DD said yes and asked where her “Little Brother” was. Mulan said Little Brother was too big to carry around with her, so she just carries Crickee. She pulls out a little cage with Crickee in it. DD then pulls out her chain which has a little monkey on it. The conversation went on and on. Mulan then took pictures with the kids and looked like she was about to leave, when they started up the conversation again. Mulan finally finished up and left after giving DD a kiss.

Akershus was definitely one of the highlights of our trip, the food was good and the character interaction was really good. Later that evening we were talking about booking bounceback and his one of his conditions was we eat at breakfast at Akershus next time. So, we will definitely do this again.

The meal cost $80.91 with $4.94 in taxes and $12.05 in tips.

[mcrabeck]

Nice reviews. Thanks for sharing!

[chocolateMinnie]

Great reviews, particularly interested in your take on Akershus breakfast as we go there for the first time next year for breakfast (did dinner last year). I TOTALLY agree with the princess and Mary Poppins saga. We had Alice in Wonderland when we went for dinner there and she is so NOT a Princess. We didn't meet Mulan at dinner and we have fingers crossed for her or Ariel next visit. Also, at our CRT breakfast we got Wendy Darling. Great restaurants but I expect a Princess not a girl out of a film.

[abc999]

Nice reviews. Thanks for sharing!

You are very welcome!!!

Great reviews, particularly interested in your take on Akershus breakfast as we go there for the first time next year for breakfast (did dinner last year). I TOTALLY agree with the princess and Mary Poppins saga. We had Alice in Wonderland when we went for dinner there and she is so NOT a Princess. We didn't meet Mulan at dinner and we have fingers crossed for her or Ariel next visit. Also, at our CRT breakfast we got Wendy Darling. Great restaurants but I expect a Princess not a girl out of a film.

We really enjoyed the breakfast. I hope we get Ariel next time as well, she was the only princess we didn't see this time.

[oybolshoi]

Your reviews are great, even without the pictures. ;)

And I suspect Mary Poppins was at the Princess Breakfast because she is a pretender to the throne ... that, or she needed another spoonful of sugar and Akershus was the first place she could stop to find it. :laughing:

Thanks for sharing! :goodvibes

[WDisneyWforMe]

WOW another disappointed review of Y&Y, I think I need to cut my loss and plan a different meal for our trip in December for that day! Thanks for the reviews. The picture taking thing of meals really embarrasses some people, I think it's hilarious it's my vacation I'll take pictures of what I want :rotfl2: who cares what everyone else thinks!! :lmao:

Thanks again for the reviews.

[abc999]

Your reviews are great, even without the pictures. ;)

And I suspect Mary Poppins was at the Princess Breakfast because she is a pretender to the throne ... that, or she needed another spoonful of sugar and Akershus was the first place she could stop to find it. :laughing:

Thanks for sharing! :goodvibes

:rotfl: I think you are right about the sugar!!!

[abc999]

WOW another disappointed review of Y&Y, I think I need to cut my loss and plan a different meal for our trip in December for that day! Thanks for the reviews. The picture taking thing of meals really embarrasses some people, I think it's hilarious it's my vacation I'll take pictures of what I want :rotfl2: who cares what everyone else thinks!! :lmao:

Thanks again for the reviews.

Unfortunately, it is hard to ignore when the person you are embarrassing is sitting at the same table :)

[abc999]

Our next meal was lunch at Tutto Italia, we got there for our 1:00 ADR and the restaurant was practically empty. We were seated right away. Our waitress was very nice and she explained the menu to us. She taught DD how to say thank you and you’re welcome in Italian. The décor of the restaurant was very nice, the restaurant is beautiful. Tutto Italia is supposed to be temporary and is supposed to be closed in the near future for refurbishment, but I don’t see need for it at all.

I ordered the Minestrone soup, DH ordered the Calamari and DD ordered the Mozzarella sticks for appetizer. I ordered the Bucatini Gratinati, DH had the Grigliata and DD had the Penne Alla Panna. The Bucatini Gratinati was really good, but it was very creamy and heavy, I couldn’t even finish half of it. The Grigliata was very flavorful and DH finished the whole thing, the shrimp was overcooked, salmon was good, but the sea bass was excellent.

For dessert, we had the profiteroles (cream puffs with gelati in the middle and chocolate sauce), the pistachio gelati and vanilla gelati for DD. The desserts were good, the gelati was excellent. The profiterole shells were not very good though. I grew up in NYC and the cream puff shells from the Italian bakeries there are so much better.

We will probably go back to Tutto Italia eventually, probably not the next trip, but maybe the one following, if it is still there.

The meal there cost $116.00, $7.54 in taxes and $123.54 total. This was our most expensive one credit meal. This restaurant is definitely not worth the price if you are not on the Dining Plan.

[abc999]

Our last afternoon at Disney, the sky opened up and started to pour. We thought it would probably be a regular Central Florida storm, which would pass in a little while. The storm did not pass and we were scheduled for portraits at the Beach Club before dinner at the Yachtman’s Steakhouse. We walked from the Beach Club over to the Yacht Club and checked in. We were handed a pager and which went off after a short wait. The hostess, took us in, showed us the meat locker and explained that they had a butcher on hand, so if we wanted a larger or smaller cut, it would not be a problem. Then she took us past the dessert table and showed us all the desserts.

Our waiter came by and took our drink orders. Then he came back and explained the menu to us, the different cuts of meat, what he recommended, etc. He recommended the Porterhouse to DH “You are a big guy; you should be able to finish it.” He then took our orders. DH followed his advice and ordered the porterhouse, he also got the chilled seafood salad for appetizer. I got the prime rib, with mushrooms instead of potatoes and the lobster bisque for an appetizer. DD got the chicken noodle soup and the kid’s steak. DH really liked his seafood salad. I however did not like my lobster bisque at all; there was way too much sherry in it. DH thought I was being picky and he tried it and said that there was way too much sherry in it. Our waiter offered to replace it with the chicken noodle soup, which was actually really good.

The main course was phenomenal. DH said that his porterhouse was outstanding. This was the other restaurant that he requested we go to again on our next trip. The porterhouse and prime rib were both cooked to perfection. The mushrooms I had were amazing!!! I didn’t finish either my prime rib or mushrooms that evening and DH happily ate it for breakfast the next morning.

Neither DH nor I wanted dessert that evening, so once again, we gave one of our desserts to DS. Both DD and DS got the Mickey and Minnie puzzle dessert. The dessert includes a white chocolate puzzle with various food colors for the kids to color the puzzle and a cupcake. This dessert was more of an art project than something that they would actually eat.

We will definitely be going back to the Yachtman Steakhouse on our next trip. The cost of this meal was 143.58 with 9.34 for taxes and $28.00 for tip for a total of $180.92.

[abc999]

Lastly, we had an ADR for breakfast at Chef Mickey’s the day we were supposed to leave. After checking out, the kids asked to go to Magic Kingdom to ride a couple more rides. When we got to Magic Kingdom, we realized that we would not be able to ride the rides and still make our ADR, so we cancelled it. We ended up eating at Riverside Mill again. DH got a burger, I got the pasta with shrimp and mushrooms, DD got plain pasta with shrimp (no sauce) and DS got chicken nuggets. The burger was decent, the pasta was really good and the nuggets were good. I did find out that there are 2 different kinds of nuggets at Disney, one type, which looked more processed was part of the kid’s meal and the less processed ones, which were part of the adult meal. We still had 2 meal credits after lunch, so we ordered 2 sandwiches to take with us in case we got hungry at the airport or on the plane. The roast beef on the sandwiches were really dry and not good at all. I guess they were leftovers from the carving station the night before.

We really enjoyed the deluxe dining plan; we love to eat and used the longer meals as part of our down time for the kids. I know that this plan is not for other people, but we loved it, as we don’t enjoy quick service meals all the time. Overall, our meals cost $1417 before tip (not including snacks, which should add up to another $200 or so). We paid $200.14 in tips. We actually paid $444 out of pocket to upgrade to deluxe dining. So, the deluxe plan was definitely worth it for us.

The only complaint is we got a bunch of vouchers for eating at the counter service restaurants and we were supposed to get free mesh bags and 2 snacks with it. Disney ran out of bags before we were able to redeem them. Disney needs to realize that they need a solution if they run out of bags.

And on a final note, I hope you enjoyed all the reviews.

[TigerKat]

Thanks for taking the time to post your reviews. Can't wait to try Yachtsman next week!

[DISNEY1975]

I really enjoyed reading these. You describe so well, you dont even need pictures. I could picture almost everything in my mind!

I am going to some of the same restaurants in a few weeks. Im looking forward to it even more. One thing I have been drooling over for months was the sorbet trio...sad to hear it is not too good. Im still going to order it as there are 11 of us and I can mooch off of another persons dessert if I dont like mine!!

[kbeverina]

I really enjoyed reading your reviews--so glad you posted them!

[abc999]

You are all so welcome!! :goodvibes

[John's Mom]

Enjoyed reading your reviews! Thanks for sharing them with us. :goodvibes

[abc999]

10 months, 3 weeks and 5 days until my next review ;)