My Christmas dining review 12/20-12/27

[Vickis3js]

First let me say that this will be a boring review DH's only request NO PICS OF FOOD. Of course he also said he would never buy DVC and he did so maybe next year I can convince him that I need pics of food LOL.

So it was DH we will call him Grumpy LOL, Me Pooh the planner, DD 8, DS 7, and DD 6. We had the basic dining plan and we paid oop for 2 TS meals because well I just couldn't decide which ones to get rid of LOL.

We ate at
Wolfgang Puck Express
FlameTree
O'hana Diner
Akershurs
Popfood court
Teppen Edo
Pizza Planet
50's Primetime
Crystal Palace
Pop again
Chef Mickeys
Whispering Canyon
ABC Commisary
Pop
1900 Parke Fair
O'hana breakfast

All in all we were fed plenty!! We had 15 snack credits left on our last day so the kids have 15 Mickey rice krispy treats to share with friends!

[TigerKat]

If it's about the food it won't be boring.......I'm in!:thumbsup2

[Vickis3js]

Ok we made no ADR's for this day, well I should say I made no ADR's since I am the one who did the planning. So we got all checked in around noon. Our room was ready so by the time we got out it was closer to 2. We decided to check out Epcot for a bit and then head to DTD and eat at Planet Hollywood to use our 2 vouchers. Well as you can see we did not eat there. We got to DTD and I realized I forgot our vouhcers. SOOOOO we decided to try WPE and we are so glad we did.

DH and I both got the rigatoni with chicken alfredo, ceasar salad and for dessert frozen chocolate yogurt. First off the portion is HUGE I couldn't finish it. DH who is a big eater didn't even finish all of his. I still can not believe that this place is a CS. We loved their sweet tea and DH loved their tropical unsweet tea.

DS and DD 6 got the kids Linguini with Tomato Sauce they ate every single bite. DS said it was the best he has ever had!! DS got the chocolate cookie and DD got the yogurt. Both were gone in seconds!

DD8 got the kids cheese pizza and loved it! She got the vanilla yogurt and I must say it was my fav. I was sad that I did not get it. It was wonderful.

I believe the total was around $70 and it was well worth the use of 1 CS. The guy who brought us our food was the nicest man. He did way more then just bring us our food so we left him a normal tip. I would soooo do this place again!

[Vickis3js]

Well we had hit Walmart the night before so we had poptarts and bagels for breakfast before going to Animal kingdom. I am not a big breakfast eater and the kids were too excited to even want to eat so it was perfect for us. I knew where we were going for lunch anyway so I wanted to be nice and hungry.

We got to Flametree BBQ a little before noon I guess. I knew I wanted the ribs and I convinced DH to get the half a chicken so we could split it. All 3 of the kids got the baked chicken drumstick with carrots and grapes.

Kids inhaled their chicken. I mean I put their plates down in front of them sat down and the 2 drumsticks were picked clean. I have no clue if they wanted to get on with the rides or if they were just hungry. They said it was really good. Even my picky 6 yo DD ate it all so it must have been good.

Like I said DH and I had planned to share our meals well if you asked me how the chicken was I couldn't tell you. DH being the brat he is ate it all before I could try it. He liked the beans, the corn bread and LOVED the key lime pie. He said it was the best he has had in awhile. He wasn't overly fond of the chicken though. I can't comment cause he ate it all.

The ribs were ok. I guess I am not used to the dry rub they were much better dipped in the BBQ sauce DH got for me. The beans were not bad though I expected worse. Now I did share my ribs since it was too much and DH came to the same conclusion. They were also cold by the time we found a seat and got the kids situated. We also were under the impression that DH and I had to order seperate since we had 2 rooms BUT much to everyones surprise they had combined the DDP for everyone onto our cards. So no more cold food!!!

All in all I think we would eat here again. Not much else in this park appealed to us. I just think we will order differently. I know the kids will definatly get the chicken again.

[chocolateMinnie]

great reviews so far, we loved Flame Tree BBQ, shame the ribs were disappointing.

[Vickis3js]

Now I had been looking forward to this place for months. I was getting a little nervous from the recent reviews though so I went in with open mind knowing there was a chance it would not be good. Well I can say it was our favorite meal all week long. I was even thinking of trying to get another ADR to eat there again.

We started with the bread and it was warm and soft and just delicious. The salad everyone ate and loved. DH said he wants me to find the recipe for it on the boards since he knows I can find anything on here. Yet I could take no pics to share with the board go figure LOL.

Next onto the wings and dumplings. I was not expecting any of my kids to eat the dumplings and thought I wouldn't like them either but I was WRONG!! They are so good. My 8 yo DD loved them. The other 2 thought they were ok. DH I think ate most of them. I tell you I should carry around a cattle prod to get the man away from the food. The wings well my DS who is not a big eater at all ate I think 4 of them!! He loved them. They were sweet and tasty and I would go again just for them.

The noodles did not impress too much. DH said they were flavorless. The kids liked them and so did I. The veggies DH and 2 out of the 3 kids loved. My and the 6 yo will not touch Brocolli with a ten foot fork! But the bowl was cleaned.

Now for the meats. There wasn't one I didn't like. The pork had so much flavor and was moist and just plain yummy. All the kids had one peice and at it all. The turkey was also flavorfull and moist but that we used one of the dips for just to give it a little extra flavor. It was my DS's favorite. Now the steak was my favorite. OMG it was cooked perfectly and was so good. It was also my DD 6's favorite. She ate all of hers, had seconds and then she ate half of mine. DD 8 and DH are the same there is no food that they don't love. They ate a lot of everything and enjoyed it all equally. The shrimp were very good just a tad spicey for me and the kids but we all did eat 1 or 2 DH on the other had loved them and ate many.

Now for desert our server asked the kids if they wanted the bread pudding or ice cream with Mickey sprinkles and well the heard Mickey sprinkles and thats all they needed. I am not a fan of bread pudding but I am a huge fan of bannans foster so I pretty much took 2 bites of the bread pudding and ate the ice cream with the sauce. I swear I could eat that stuff all day. It was so good. DH loved it all but he loves bread pudding anyway he can get it.

Oh I did try a Lapu Lapu and well it was a little too strong for me. But I got to say I tried it and I drank the whole thing. I just couldn't try the back scratcher.

O'hana is #1 on our list of places to go to again!

[MickeyNicki]

Great start! Looking forward to more!

[skellingtonfreak]

Can't wait for more!!

[SunnieRN]

Great report! Looking forward to more. Congratulations on DVC.

[Krissalee]

Enjoying your reviews - looking forward to more. Thanks for taking the time to post them!

[Vickis3js]

Well we had early ADR at Akershurs. I was not expecting much from here honestly it was my DD's choice to eat with the princesses and I was happy to oblige. So our ADR was for 8:35 we got there around 8:20 and we got the kids pic with Belle. I was wanting to get one of just the kids and maybe one of the whole family but the photog rushed us and we only got one with the kids. Oh well...

Ok so onto the food. Our server was the sweetest girl and she came with drinks quickly. We went to the buffet and it was smaller then I expected, of course I have no clue what I expected. Dh was in heavan they had Lox and Herring BUT no bagels. But he made due. The fruit was amazingly fresh. The strawberries were awesome. My kids filled their bellies with fresh fruit. We only had a few of the pastries and I LOVED LOVED LOVED the apple filled things. OMG they were so tasty and fresh too!

The platter came quickly and had the eggs, potatoes, sausage and bacon. Now the kids and I DO NOT like our eggs gooey and well thats what they were, which was a trend all week!! DH on the other hand loved them that way. THe potatoes were awesome my favorite all week. We were seated one table away from the door where the princesses come out so it was constant one after another. They signed took pics were on to the next family. Which made the kids happy.

I asked DH what his favorite breakfast of the week was and suprisingly Akershurs was his answer. I swear he talked about the Lox and herring for days. He really enjoyed the food here. My girls thought the princesses were the greatest and well my poor DS was unimpressed with it all. We definatly enjoyed this meal and we will more then likely go back.

[MickeyNicki]

Thanks for your Princess review, we ate there Oct 06 and really liked it and are planning on going back in 3 weeks!

What Princesses were there?

[Vickis3js]

Ok well I had originally booked LeCellier for dinner and about 3-4 months before I changed to Teppen Edo. I could only get an 8:30 and I tried calling daily for the last month to change it. All I could get was either later and the closer I got it soon became nothing. So since we had an early breakfast we left Epcot around lunch time and headed to the Pop to get something to eat and to take a nap.

I got the chicken ceasar salad and tie dye cheesecake. Salad was large and tasty. I couldn't finish it and my kids split what was left. Now the cheesecake scared me. I can normally taste darker dyes and I was pleasantly surprised that I couldn't. It was really good and it became my desert of choice when we dined at the Pop.

DH got a cheeseburger and fries and the cheesecake. Burger he hated but being DH he ate anyway. He was not impressed at all. He said it was way too salty. He too LOVED the cheesecake.

DD 6 got chicken nuggets and fries and grapes she ate them and said they were good but she has yet to meet a chicken nugget she hasn't liked.

DD8 and DS got the turkey sandwhich grapes and apple sauce. They ate it but said it was just a sandwich. My DS hated the apple sauce but my DD loved it and ordered it with almost every meal. I am telling you the child is weird.


We headed back to Epcot for our 5-6 return time for Test Track and then headed back to the countries. Because of the Dis I had to stop for the famous Grand Marnier Slushie and DH got the Grey Goose. They were sooooo good. What sucked though was it was like 40 outside so it made us even colder!

We then headed back to Japan and walked up the stairs to the restaurant the door opened and all you saw was wall to wall people. There were people sitting up the stairs, sitting all around the seating area and standing pretty much everywhere. No matter where we moved we were bumping into people. Now we did check in 40 minutes before our ADR but it was so cold the kids didn't want to explore the countries anymore. We waited for well over an hour to be seated so by that time my kids were not feeling it.

We were seated at about 9 and they took our drink orders quickly. We waited awhile for them to come though. DH and I ordered the green tea which was really good. The kids ordered the same thing as us. Which surprised me. DD's got shrimp and DS got chicken. DH got the chicken and shrimp and I got the steak and shrimp. What sucked was I had made this ADR because my DD who is autistic LOVES cooking shows and watching people cook. By the time we were seated she was too tired to enjoy it. None of the kids really ate much. DH and I enjoyed the food and girl who did the cooking, sorry I have no clue what the technical name for her was, was sweet as could be and she really tried to keep the kids entertained. For desert the kids got cookies and said they were good. THey were just prepakaged nothing special. DH got the green tea pudding. Um it looked gross. DH said it was interesting. His words for gross but I ate it anyway LOL. I got the ginger cake I took a few bites just to say I tried it. Nothing special nothing to really write about.

I don't think we would return here. It wasn't bad but it wasn't wonderful either. It was just the experiance and to be able to say we ate in Japan LOL. I didn't regret giving up our LeCellier ADR because there is always next time.

[Vickis3js]

Thanks for your Princess review, we ate there Oct 06 and really liked it and are planning on going back in 3 weeks!

What Princesses were there?


We saw belle for the pics. Snow white, Jasmin, Mulan and princess Aurora came around to the tables.

I think we will be returning on our next trip as well. Just trying to decide when we will be going!

[chocolateMinnie]

We saw belle for the pics. Snow white, Jasmin, Mulan and princess Aurora came around to the tables.

I think we will be returning on our next trip as well. Just trying to decide when we will be going!

we are going for breakfast next trip. Enjoyed dinner but Mulan seems to be a frequent visitor to breakfast so hoping to see her or Ariel then.:goodvibes

[Vickis3js]

Well the night before while waiting for the time to pass to be able to use our fast passes DH decided to stop and talk to the DVC people by Test Track. He decided that it was worth the time to make the trek over to look at the models and talk numbers. So we scheduled an 8 am appointment with the notion that we could be dropped out at DHS after being in the meeting for 1-1.5 hours. So we were scheduled to be picked up at 7:40. DH decided that a bagel in the room was not going to be enough that day and we headed to the Pop for breakfast. He said we will pay OOP for this since I didn't have it scheduled in as use of our points.

DH, DD6 and I got the breakfast wrap. It was yummy and OH SO filling. I ate only half. DS and DD 8 went with the kids pic of mickey waffles. They are now their favorite breakfast food and all 3 declared that Mom needs to make them at home. So they told Dad that he has to buy mom a mickey waffle maker. I guess no more throwing the kids a Eggo and proclaiming them home made LOL.

After that we were whisked away to SSR for our 3 hour tour. No lie we were there for 3 hours. Of course thats only because DH bought us DVC!!!! But it kinda ruined our DHS day. So DH decided around 12 that he needed to eat again. Since I had Pizza Planet on my must stop at for the kids we did. I was expecting to be able to just order 3 meals and share them since there was no kids meal but one look at the board and I knew that was no longer an option. They had added a kids pick. Which consisted of just a cheese pizza and the usual picks of grapes, carrots, cookie, or apple sauce.

The pizza is much smaller then the regular one. My kids ate it all easily. They all got a cookie and carrots and they ate them all as well.

DH got the pepporoni pizza meal and the salad. He liked it and finished it all. I don't remember what he got for dessert though...

I got the veggie pizza meal with salad. I couldn't finish either of them. So my kids ate what was left of the salad and the pizza just went in the trash. For desert I got a mickey rice krispy treat for the kids to share later. It is now sitting on my kitchen counter.

This was the busiest place. The line was almost out the door when we got there and finding a table was almost impossible. I don't know if it was the time we went or not since 2 hours later it was still as crowded. The kids weren't too impressed with it so next time we will try something else.

[Vickis3js]

Well we checked in about 15 minutes before our ADR and we waited for about 35 minutes for our table. They were turning people away constantly. The bar was packed and the living room you could not even walk into. So we just stood right outside the entrance door.

The Decor is so cool. We were at a table by the window that looks out by Indian Jones. Now my kids had all gotten their faces painted since riding rides and doing shows was out of the question that day. My DS had gotten his face done with skeleton and a snake or something rather ugly. Shortly after we were seated a waitress noticed him and screamed EWWW who let a monster in the house??? She got a few other waitresses into it too and we were all laughing hysterically. I was so excited I thought YES we will so get the whole experiance....but no. All the waitresses walk away to the tables all surrounding us and up walks our waiter. HE introduced himself handed us a basket and just told my DS to please set the table took our drink orders and walked away. He retuned with my Mowie Wowie and DH's Grandmas picnic punch and the kids shirly temples. Our drinks were yummy a tad strong yet yummy. He didn't return for about 5-10 minutes to take our orders. Needless to say he was not into it at all. I was so sad. I watched everyone around us getting that 50's prime time treatment that I had talked so much about and we got nothing.

DH ordered Uncle Charlies Tuna Casserole. It was not what he expected when he got it but he enjoyed it. He said it had a kick but the tuna was really good. For dessert he got the seasonal cobbler which was apple. He said it was ok he wished they had had the bread pudding but either they no longer serve it or it was just not on the menu and our waiter wasn't sure and since he took so long doing everything else we didn't want him to disappear and never return again.

I got the pot roast. I was torn between that and the chicken. It was very very very tasty!! I couldn't finish it. DH tried a bite and agreed it was very good as well. For dessert I got Dad's brownie sundae. I only ate maybe half. It was really good.

DD8 got the kids meatloaf. It was a very small portion so she finished it easily. Oh and for her appetizer she got the soup which she really loved. She enjoyed her meatloaf as well. She also got the make your own sundae for dessert and well my kids love sundaes especially when they get to put them together themselves!

DS and DD6 got the nuggets. DD got it with fries and DS got it with mashed potatoes. He ate his nuggets but hated his potatoes he is weird and I still have no clue why he didn't like them. For their apps DD got the soup which she barely ate but it had a lot of veggies and she won't eat veggies if theyare in things. Don't ask she is weird too. DS got a salad and he hovered it. They too got the sundae and I think they licked the bowls clean.

All in all the food was good. Service was slow and we so didn't get the experiance of it all. Would I come back? Maybe the jury is still out on that one.

[mcrabeck]

Thanks for the reviews. We had a similiar experience at 50's Prime Time- we too aren't sure if we will do it again but were glad we got to try it!

[Reagan&Co.]

Great! I even like NOT seeing the food (most doesn't photograph so well, ya know??).
Waiting for more!:lovestruc

[Vickis3js]

Ok well wed 12/24 was our Magic Kingdom day. I scheduled at 10:15 breakfast with Pooh at Crystal Palace. I think I was more excited then the kids. I LOVE POOH!!!! So we got there a little early, gave our name, and got out pager. We sat down on the porch and 10 minutes later we buzzed back. We were seated just to the left of the door right by the buffet. Our waiter was very quick in coming and giving us juice and getting us our coffee and the kids their milk and off the to the buffet we go.

Now I knew I had to try just 2 things here the puffed french toast and the breakfast lasagna. So we started with the kids buffet section and I got me some of the french toast.It was very tasty. Now on my first trip I could not find the lasagna. So I went with the usual eggs, bacon, potatos and some fruit. All were good. I did prefer the potatoes at Akershurs to the ones here. I think we all pretty much had the same stuff. On my second trip DH and I found the lasagna. It was very good and I was excited that I got to try it. Definatly too complicated to make at home so I will be looking forward to it again on our next trip. The food here was very good and we all really enjoyed that part of it. Now the characters where a different story. When we got seated they had just left our area so it took a long time for them to come back. We left and never saw tigger and pooh made a very quick stop for pictures because when we were gone he had signed all the kids books. The kids were a little sad about that because they got no one on one time with him. He just ushered them to all stand for a pic and then walked away. The kids were still happy and didn't want to hang out there anymore so we left.

All in all the food was good and our server was great it was just the characters that were a little off for us.

[Vickis3js]

Well we finished at Magic Kingdom and the kids wanted a night off. So we headed back to the Pop for diner. I was a tad upset since I wanted to try a counter service at the pop but I wanted to try their chicken penne alfredo.

So my pic is obviously their Chicken Penne alfredo. I also got a salad from the fridge section and used a snack credit. The peice of chicken was HUGE. It was very tasty too!! The pasta with alfredo sauce was also very tasty. Salad well was a salad. For dessert I got the yummy tye dye cheesecake. I could not finish my chicken, pasta or my salad. but somehow devoured the cheesecake LOL.

DH got a cheesesteak wrap. Now they had to make fresh meat for him since they were out of it. Now they don't make these individually they make a large amount of meat and then they make the wraps with them. So we waited awhile for it to get made. Now we watched them make them and OMG the amount of salt they put on the meat was ridiculous. I was standing a pretty far distance from the grill and I could see the salt on the meat before she mixed it in. DH ate it though and said it was alright, but then again as long as its edible he will say its alright. He did say how salty it was. he also got the salad and the cheesecake and enjoyed them.

DD6 got the nuggets with fries and pudding. She ate it all but then i didn't expect anything less from the nugget addict she is.

DS and DD8 got the pasta with meatballs. DS got his with red sauce and DD got hers with aldredo. They both ate it all and helped finish mine as well.

All in all it was a decent meal. Nothing special but nothing horrible.

[natalielongstaff]

great reviews, thanks :thumbsup2

[SunnieRN]

I'm glad you liked breakfast at crystal palace. Sounds yummy!
When are you taking your first trip "home"?

[Vickis3js]

I'm glad you liked breakfast at crystal palace. Sounds yummy!
When are you taking your first trip "home"?

Probably not until Dec 2010 :sad1: It may be this Dec we haven't worked out all the details yet. I know we are planning to do Universal this Dec and are planning to stay onsite there to take advantage of their FOTL. So I think we might bank our points and make our first trip "Home" a little longer and definatly get the savanah view!

[Vickis3js]

Let me start by saying I could have eaten at McDonalds and been happy today!! I didn't have to cook and clean up after my ungreatful family! I finally got to enjoy a Christmas with my husband and children and it was drama free. Knowing I hav many many many more of them makes me even happier!

Now onto dining....

I had planned a park free day today so I let us sleep in a little bit and scheduled Chef Mickey's at 9:45. I know I spoil them LOL. We got there about 30 minutes early, got our picture taken with the cardboard plate, and tried to not get pooed on by the birds flying around. I swear half the seats had bird poo on them. Well the wait was short maybe 10 mintues but in this time I realized that it was not their usual breakfast buffet but a Christmas Brunch :eek: :sad1:. To most thats probably no big deal but I am not one to mix breakfast foods and diner foods. They had a lot of non breakfast foods out as well. THe kids and I were looking forward to fruit and there was only one bowl of mixed fruit the others were salads. They had Mickey Waffles which were really good, french toast that was ok, eggs, bacon, sausage and breakfast pizza. They had no breakfast potatoes. I found the pastries and was so excited to see the yummy apple things I had at Akershurs but these were so not the same. Well they were but they were stale and not even close to as yummy. The characters here were really good though. That definatly made up for it because my kids were in heaven.

Would I go back I sure would just maybe not on Christmas Morning. The pics of their breakfast buffet always look so yummy and I kinda felt cheated. I did ask about a special Christmas menu about a week or 2 before and was told no so I think that upset me a tad more but then again I learned later to never really believe what you are told anyway.

So Chef Mickeys was good and I would go back!

[Vickis3js]

So after breakfast we headed back to the room for the kids to get changed because Santa had gotten them appointments for BBB and Mom had brought their dresses from home. After that we went to AKL to see our home resort for the first time and then we headed to WL to walk around a bit before our 6pm ressie. We got their early about 45 minutes early we just couldn't kill anymore time. We gave our name and were given a pager. It went off not even 5 minutes later.

Now I had called about 3 days before we left to check on Christmas menus. I was told that yes WCC had a special menu as well as their regular one. I also asked at the front desk at Pop to check for me what was on the menu before we left for DTD and was told what was going to be on the skillet and that their would be their regular menu as well. So when we were seated and told that it was a special fixed menu an that was that I was a little shocked. It was also different then what I had been told at the Pop. But we survived.

When we were seated the salad was already on the table along with some cranberry stuff. The salad everyone ate except my 6yo DS she does not like dressing on her salad. She is weird I know. The cranberry stuff I didn't try since I hate cranberries. Our was very nice he was teasing the girls about their crazy hair. He got our drink order and quickly returned with them. Here the kids could get the milkshakes. My 2 DD's got bubble gum :sick: they loved it I thought it was nasty. DS got a chocolate milkshake which was way too sweet for me but who am I to say anything. I got the magical star and DH got something with alcohol in it as well. I also got an iced tea and DH the same. I know I loved my drink my DH didn't.

Now onto the skillet it had turkey, roasted pork, brisket, and chicken for meats. Green bean casserole, stuffing and mashed potatoes for sides. It also had gravy. The kids ate a little of everything and their fav was the turkey and the chicken. None of them really liked the brisket. They thought the other stuff was ok nothing special. DH LOVED the brisket which my favorite was probably the pork and chicken. I loved the green bean casserole as well. The kids and I filled up rather quickly DH ate till he got bored then said he was done LOL So out comes desert a yule log or Christmas log or something log. It tasted like a stale tastycake. It was SOOO not the smores cheesecake or the cinnamon bowl thing I had been dreaming of. It was a total disappointment.

Now they did none of their shenanigans. They called for ketchup once and when DD asked our server for a straw he gave her a look and said she was a demanding princess and threw them on the table. That was it. Now would we go back. Probably but like Chef Mickey's not for Christmas.

[MinnieMom]

Great reviews. Thanks for sharing! So sorry your Christmas meals weren't as great as you had hoped, but at least there was no cooking or cleanup involved!!