What do you mean "No Dining Plan"? Review with Pics

[PrincessTrisha]

The next day my Dad and Josee went to Discovery Cove so there food was covered. My mom and I just planned on hanging around the hotel or maybe taking the monorail to one of the other resorts.

After our little incident in Epcot though, my mom was a little stiff and sore so we decided to just hang out at the hotel. I grabbed breakfast for the two of us from the lounge. It was the same as the day before, bagels, fruit and a couple of pastries.

For lunch I went down to the Contempo Cafe and got two meals for us to share. I had a difficult time deciding because there were a number of tasty sounding entrees.

I finally settled on the [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Steakhouse Salad - marinated beef, mixed greens shaved red onions, goat cheese, and vine-ripe tomatoes with mustard dressing and the Smoked Turkey Sandwich - topped with Brie, apples, apple butter and arugala on Challah bread. The sandwich came with homemade potato chips. [/FONT]

If they weren't served on paper and plastic, I'd say these were table service quality.

The steak salad:

It was loaded with tender pieces of beef (well done but not tough or chewy), large blobs of feta cheese (it was real feta and very fresh - like the feta my Greek friend gets), fresh lettuce and veggies and it was a very large serving. It came with the dressing on it but the dressing was perfect - I often find that people are either heavy handed or light on the dressing but the person who prepared this had it just right.

I really enjoyed this and would order it again - but only if they were out of our other lunch item.....

The turkey sandwich

Side view:

Top view:

This is by far one of the top 3 sandwiches I have ever eaten (believe it or not 2 of my current top 3 sandwiches of all time were discovered on this trip). The turkey and apple and brie just kind of melted together (not literally - figuratively) to create one wonderful soft, crispy, melty taste sensation. The arugala and the apple butter added just the right contrast to the bulk of the sandwich. The bread was able to hold up and didn't break apart or go soggy. I also liked how it was just lightly toasted - the edges were crispy but it wasn't crummy (as in leaving behind a bunch of crumbs). The chips were handmade and salted - very tasty and a nice side dish (better than fries and I am generally hesitant about any form of pasta or veggie side salad because of vinegar content).

My mom and I shared both of these entrees and were stuffed to the gills. We had put half the sandwich in the fridge but about an hour later, we got it out and finished it off. It was too good to risk it going uneaten.

If we had been on the dining plan, there were lots of good looking desserts in the bakery case but instead I grabbed some cookies and rice krispie treats from the Club lounge for an afternoon treat.

I walked down to the restaurant with $20 (and my key to the world card just in case) and walked back to the room with a tray of food and pocket change.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Love your reviews so far! You made me decide to go to WC in December! We have been hearing such mixed reviews, it looks like you had a nice experience there. Your pictures are GREAT!

I think if you know that it's not gourmet food - and with the skillet, you'll like some but maybe not all, WCC can be a very enjoyable experience. Hope you have a great trip in December.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

So our general experience the last couple of times at Ohana had been great food, lousy service. It held to that this time as well.

Our pager went off but there was some mix up and they sat someone else at our table. We waited and waited and waited again (standing near the podium because they took our pager) and then they couldn't find our ticket and finally they found our ticket and took up to a big round table that seats 7 or 8 people (we were 4) but that was okay.

We got two loaves of bread and our drinks:

This was the first night of Ohana serving the new lemonade (I think it's pomegrante?).

Then our server brought the salad. Normally they just put the bowl down but this guy went around and insisted on putting some on our plates.

Next he brought the sauces and the platter with the wings and wontons (they came together in one - I've never seen that before).

We've always enjoyed the wings but this was the first time with the wontons (before we had the old shrimp wontons which were little bundles and then the wonton chips the last two times). We enjoyed both of these which was a good thing since this was the last of the food we got for quite a while.

We waited and waited and waited. They brought the platter of the noodles and veggies to other tables but we never saw our server (nor did anyone else bring them to us). The table next to us was finishing up so they were done with the meat and the other tables around us were just seated so they weren't there yet so no one brought us any. When our server finally showed up, we asked for our noodles, veggies, and meats. He asked "Oh, more veggies and noodles" and it took me 5 tries to get through to him that no one had given us a first set!

After this though, things picked up and we got our sides and then all 4 meats came rapidly to the table. The pork, turkey and beef were all good and juicy. I hear the shrimp were good but my mom ended up with mine.

My mom only has the use of only one of her hands - the other one is folded against her body. I was trying to explain to the guy with the skewer to put her shrimp on my plate and he wouldn't - he just kept saying, when you want more, I can come back. I tried to tell him, her shrimp, for her, I'm peeling them, please put them on my plate and I'll peel them and put them on her plate. He wouldn't. Finally I said, "She can only use one of her hands - now I need to pick up her plate, slide her shrimp onto mine and peel them because she can't do it herself". He said, "oh, sorry then" and walked away. After peeling them (both hers and mine, I just ended up giving them all to her since the beef was a little pink and she likes hers fully cooked).

anyways - picks of the meal

The server also brought us all the yellow Lei's. I think he was trying to recover his tip (which he did) after getting off to such as weird and then slow start.

The meal was our most expensive of the week at around $130 (pre tip).

 

[MickeyNicki]

That turkey sandwich looks fantastic! I wish we stopped over there for lunch one day on our last trip!

I have to tell ya, your CL offerings look much better than the ones we had at the Poly last week.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

That turkey sandwich looks fantastic! I wish we stopped over there for lunch one day on our last trip!

I have to tell ya, your CL offerings look much better than the ones we had at the Poly last week.

The turkey sandwich is well worth the trip to the contemporary.

Funny enough, your pictures have me wanting to try the Poly CL. At least the soda is in a fridge (it's on the counter at the CR) and a whole plate of pineapple is like a dream come true for me. The one thing I will say looked better at the CR was the morning fruit tray - from your pics of the Poly, it seemed it was the Disney traditional melon, melon, grape combo whereas the CR had actual sliced fruits and a better variety. The IPO at the CR was awful but the CM's in the lounge were great (ending up fixing what IPO messed up) and when the Espresso / Cappacino machine was still broken on our 2nd night, the CM asked my Dad how many Cappacinos we wanted (2) and went down to the coffee place in the lobby and got us two (no charge). Unfortunately, without the good coffee maker, it was nescafe for a few days in the morning at the lounge (bleech).

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thanks for posting those pictures.

 

[msce2]

I'm glad we weren't the only ones who had that experience at Ohana's. The only difference we had was we were seated at a table for 7, but we were a part of 9. I couldn't even push my chair up to the table.

It looks like your family had a great trip!

 

[klacey1]

Subscribing! I really want to hear what you thought of the Wishes Dessert Party! I really hope this becomes a permanent thing adn they offer it on our next trip!

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Thanks for posting those pictures.

You're welcome. Contempo Cafe is one of the hidden gems of counter service.

I'm glad we weren't the only ones who had that experience at Ohana's. The only difference we had was we were seated at a table for 7, but we were a part of 9. I couldn't even push my chair up to the table.

It looks like your family had a great trip!

Too bad about the too small table - us being at the super big table, we had tons of elbow room!

Subscribing! I really want to hear what you thought of the Wishes Dessert Party! I really hope this becomes a permanent thing adn they offer it on our next trip!

Coming up shortly.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

During our Magic Kingdom day I booked lunch at Tony's Town Square to give us a break (after lunch Dad and Josee would stay in the park and I would take my mom back to the room for a rest).

My mom wasn't really hungry and Josee didn't think she could finish a whole meal so they decided to share a Chicken Parm and my Dad decided on the same thing. There was a pile of spagetti and a huge chicken breast, crispy breaded and then smothered with sauce and cheese. For $16.99 it was what I consider a good deal at Disney. It was a large portion of tasty food that was cooked properly.

My mom and Josee finished their shared lunch but I ended up taking some of my Dad's back with me to the hotel because it was too much for him to finish. The only downside was the bread that came with it - it was far too crispy and hard to be enjoyed.

Since we weren't on the DDP, I enjoyed a luxury I normally can't. I ordered two appetizers for my lunch.

First was the seasonal soup - this was a creamy pumpkin soup. It was very good - if you enjoy squash, you would enjoy this soup. It was served warm but not steaming hot. It was thick and creamy and very filling (even though it didn't look like a huge serving).

The second thing I ordered was the zuchini sticks. I was expecting what I've gotten in other restaurants - small chopped up pieces of breaded zuchini but these were so much better. They were a 1/4 of a zuchini cut lengthwise and then thickly breaded and fried. They were so good - crisp and thick and you could actually taste the vegetable inside. There were 4 on the plate - I had 2 and a half, my mom had half and my dad had half of one, and Josee had a half of one as well. Everyone was impressed. Even another server stopped by to exclaim "those are the biggest zuchini sticks I've ever seen!"

Everyone was very full after lunch so we didn't get any desserts. Of course everyone was aware that there would be a plethora of sweets available tonight as we were going to the dessert party.

 

[mickey916]

We must have similar tastes. We're booked for WCC, Ohana and Tony's in April. So glad you've given all of them positive reviews. The chicken parm and zucchini sticks look yummy!

 

[PrincessTrisha]

We must have similar tastes. We're booked for WCC, Ohana and Tony's in April. So glad you've given all of them positive reviews. The chicken parm and zucchini sticks look yummy!

Tony's gets a lot of so so reviews but we've had some really nice meals there. Of course, I've never understood going to a restaurant and ordering spagetti and meatballs (which people seem to do here) because it's a simple dish I regularly make myself at home. The chicken parm however, mmmm, mmmm, good.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

I had an ADR for the Plaza for before the dessert party (so we could have dinner before our sweets) but no one was really that hungry so we just had some snacks at the lounge (I love uncrustables - peanut butter, grape jelly sealed together in a round disk of white bread - it really brings be back to my childhood).

Anyways, we had to return to the park because I had paid for the wishes dessert party. In hindsight, for us, it probably wasn't necessary this trip. We had a MK view room on the 12th floor of the Contemporary and the club lounge which served desserts 8-10pm (Wishes was either at 9 or 9:30 all week) so in essence, we already had kind of the same thing at the hotel.

But, I thought it might be our only chance to experience it and it was one more thing I could do to make this trip special so I ponied up the $25 a person and booked.

Our table was second row back facing Main Street. We could see some of the parade (enough for me at least since I've seen it up close before.) We did end up going up to the railing to watch Wishes because the overhang and pillars blocked at least half of our view.

On to the desserts:

Plate #1:

2 Tirimisu and a creme brulee. My dad loves tirimisu so he had no problems eating both of these and my mom is a big fan of creme brulee. This was a pistashio one - tasty but I thought it could use may a little more nuttiness.

a donut hole, 2 chocolate covered strawberries, pineapple, a banana tart and a chocolate peanut butter tart. The banana tart and the chocolate peanut butter tart were outstanding - both of the fruit items were ripe and fresh and I have no idea how the donut hole was (my Dad got it and ate it).

Now these were the two plates my dad got for him and my mom. In my house I am known as an expert packer. One time we were driving home from the beach club and had so much luggage to pack into the car (with 4 people since I brought my cousin that time) that the guys at the valet stand had a bet that all of our luggage wouldn't fit. Ha, I won. I can pack twice as much into a space as anyone else. Hence, my plate:

A cannoli (okay but the pastry was a little hard), tirimisu, cheesecake (not good - didn't really taste like cheesecake), chocolate covered strawberries, mango shooter, raspberry shooter (these were....different.... we kind of liked them but not enough to finish one ourselves - we shared the two I got), a chocolate peanut butter tart and (not shown under the back strawberry) is a chocolate cheesecake cup (again didn't taste like cheesecake) and on top is a white and dark chocolate truffle (very good - obviously fresh made not mass produced manufactored).

We had water, some kind of red lemonade and later coffee.

After the fireworks, the place cleared out pretty fast and they were not encouraging people to stay (they cleared the food during the fireworks). I hung around for a bit despite that because I can't deal with the big crowds after leaving the fireworks (one of the reasons we usually either skip the fireworks in the park and watch from alternative spots or we watch from the front of the park to make a quick exit).

Overall it was a nice experience and watching the fireworks from up close without having to deal with the crowds was nice. The dessert were good but few were outstanding or even great. There was a nice selection so I think even picky dessert eaters could find something they enjoy. That being said, I'm not sure I'd do it again unless it was some kind of celebration trip or was able to do a walk up (where I didn't have to preplan but actually felt like eating copious amounts of desserts).

 

[PrincessTrisha]

My mom and I had an ADR for the Grand Floridian Tea room Thursday afternoon but decided instead to go to the Cafe for lunch.

We had been out shopping in the morning and my Dad dropped us off at the hotel around 1pm so we needed to wait an hour and half for our tea reservation. We were sitting in the lobby and I asked my mom if she would be offended if I ordered something cold at tea instead of hot tea because I was feeling hot and wasn't in the mood for tea (or coffee). She said we didn't even have to go to the tea if I wasn't "feeling it" (I had been in a very bad mood all morning and she knew it and was trying to make me feel better - I have a great mom). So I suggested the Grand Floridian Cafe for lunch instead.

No ADR but that wasn't a problem - we were seated right away next to a table who were just finishing up - here are some pictures of the rest of the restaurant:

We decided to order two different meals and then split them so we could each enjoy some of the others meal. Our server brought us an extra plate so we could do that.

The first thing we ordered was the Cobb Salad. My mom loves blue cheese (I like it) so this is something she like to order to get her fresh blue cheese fix. I asked if we could leave the Avacodo off (since my mom doesn't like it and I could take it or leave it) and our server offered that we could double any other item on the salad to replace it - so double blue cheese it was!

It was nicely chopped but minced (like I've found the Cobb salad at the Brown Derby to be - I enjoyed this one much more) and all of the ingredients were absolutely fresh. The dressing came in a pitcher on the side (along with one of those crispy bread things again) so we could control how much was put on.

The other entree we ordered was the Grand Sandwich (Open-faced hot Turkey, Ham, Bacon and Tomato, with a rich Boursin Cheese Sauce and Fried Onion Straws). When I suggested this my mom gave me a look confused - she'd being eyeing the fresh fish of the day but I explained that it had gotten some good reviews on "the boards" and I'd like to try it. Trust the boards, I said. They are usually right........

And in this case, they were spot on! This was the clear winner of the two entrees. It's like nothing I've ever had anywhere else and it was fantastic! I wouldn't have thought to serve the meats warm with tomato and then smothered with the cheese sauce but this was so good. It is definately a "fork and knife" sandwich (and we didn't eat the top layer of the bread - just the bottom layer). The onion straws are a favourite of my mom's and went very well with the sandwich to add just a little crunch to the cheesy, soft, smushy goodness of the rest of the sandwich. This is my number #1 favourite sandwich in the entire world right now. There is nothing better served between two slices of bread.

Despite being pleasantly full, we decided on a little sweetness. I really like the mini desserts at the GFC because I find them just enough. I ordered the key lime pie and my mom ordered the cheesecake and we each ate half of each one and then switched. They were both sweet and tasted as they should.

This was one of the stand out meals of the trip - unexpected and delicious.

My dad love the GFC and was so jealous when he found out that mom and I had gone there for lunch that he went there for dinner (and my mom happily returned with him while I stayed at the room and ordered my favourite thing - room service).

 

[PrincessTrisha]

So my Mom and Dad decided to go to the Grand Floridian Cafe for dinner (I'd made an ADR when planning our trip) but I wasn't in the mood to go out so I stayed in and ordered room service.

I sent the camera with my parents so here is what they got:

Diet Coke and raspberry lemonade.

Rolls and butter (my Dad loves butter)

My Dad ordered the Grand Floridian Burger - he's not a fan of lobster but I am so he ate the burger, sauce and asparagus but brought the lobster back for me (which I ate the next day) it was very good - better than the lobster tail I had at Narcossee's a few trips ago. It was cooked nicely, and firm not chewy.

My Dad said the burger was very good. The little tomato salad was okay but he ended up asking for a side of mashed potatoes (which they didn't charge him for).

the burger deconstructed:

Close up of the lobster

My mom ordered the roasted half chicken. She said this was very good and a big serving (my Dad helped her finish it) and the potatoes were tasty and roasted with herbs.

My room service dinner.

I ordered French onion soup to start. It's a favourite of mine but I only order it when I'm out (I don't make it at home). This was full of onions, covered with tons of gooey melted cheese and very hot.

(with flash)

(without flash)

For my entree I ordered the durbin spiced chicken but subbed mashed potatoes. This was a really great meal. The potatoes were incredible and the chicken was outstanding. If you like a little Indian spice you'd like this. It's not something I eat at home (I'm the only one who likes Indian spices) I was stuffed after finishing this but couldn't stop eating it because it was just that good.

(with flash)

(without flash)

It was also served with rolls and butter.

I just have to say - I room service.

 

[Linda67]

Another great review, thanks for sharing