We loved Deluxe Dining so much..we did it again! Dining review with pics! UPDATE 3/23

[lemondog]

Just returned from a wonderful 8-day, 7-night stay at WDW with Deluxe Dining. This was our second time doing the DxDDP and we loved it even more this time than the first! I think we had a much better handle on how many credits we had, so we didn't end up with a ridiculous amount of snack credits left at the end of the trip.

I will be reviewing the following restaurants:

Breakfasts:
CRT
Chef Mickey's
'Ohana
1900 Park Fare
Tusker House
Crystal Palace
Kona Cafe

Lunches:
Earl of Sandwich
Cosmic Rays
Les Chefs de France
Toy Story Pizza Planet
Pizzafari
Captain Cook's

Dinners:
'Ohana
Biergarten (plus bonus beer and pretzel review!)
Boma
Hollywood Brown Derby
Crystal Palace
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Tony's Town Square

Plus a few snacks and "adult" treats for good measure. Stay tuned!!!

 

[RachaelRol]

I am all in and first!!

 

[donnaf516]

Can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[weswife]

I am here!

 

[monorail girl]

Hi! Can't wait to hear your reviews. Just happened to read your other thread on the Resorts and saw your great pics of the Poly

 

[PalmettoPrincess]

Me too! I'm in! Can't wait!

 

[lemondog]

Let me quickly introduce us. There is me (38) who will eat most anything except for mushrooms and organ meats. DH (38) who is one of the pickiest eaters I know and of course the 3 female offspring: Superstar (8) who is a pretty good eater, Grumpy (6) who eats a nice variety but very sparingly and her twin sister Bashful (6) who eats a whole lot of very little. Basically, it needs to be mac and cheese or something involving cheese for her to eat it. On with the show...

Day 1:

We arrived at our hotel around 8:30 am and as expected, our room was not ready, so we headed over to Downtown Disney to shop and eat lunch. And that meant only one place for me: Earl of Sandwich! I love this place, and whenever I am in a city with an EoS I try to eat there.

We got there right around 11:15 so there was barely any line and plenty of tables to choose from. It was such a gorgeous day we decided to eat outside. One thing I noticed different from our last trip (7/08) was that they were a lot less strict this time on what you could have as a dessert. Before, it was either a cookie or brownie, period!! This time you could choose from a variety of items: cookie, brownie, rice krispie treat, pudding, parfait, or even a side dish like potato salad.

I opted for the Original 1762, basically a roast beef sandwich with melted cheddar. I subbed spicy mustard for the horseradish sauce. Your CS credit comes with a drink and dessert, so I had Diet Coke to drink and one of their fabulous brownies for dessert!

Delicious as always.

DH decided to try the Cannonballs, which is basically a meatball sub, with a Diet Coke and he opted for Potato Salad as his "dessert."

He was a little wary of the sandwich at first, he said the meatballs looked dry, but proclaimed the taste as divine and ate it all. We shared the potato salad which was a little on the sweet/tangy side, but still good.

Superstar decided on the kids grilled cheese with a Sprite and Rice Krispie treat.

She wasn't too thrilled with the look of the sandwich at first, after all it was round and not cut into triangles the way mommy does it. But I convinced her to take a bite and she declared "Hey, this really is good!" She ate about half the sandwich and was full, so we carried the rice krispie treat back to the hotel for a later snack.

Bashful, went for the kids turkey and cheese sandwich, with a brownie and milk.

Must have been fine, because we got no complaints.

Grumpy was in a particularly Grumpy mood after our long, overnight drive so all she wanted was a brownie. I gave her mine, and she shared her sisters' milk. Like I said, she eats sparingly.

All in all it was another great meal at Earl of Sandwich. An excellent choice for your CS credits if you are at/near Downtown Disney!

 

[dr&momto2boys]

Yum! I'm in!

 

[ddmeka]

We are planning on trying some of these restaurants in June. Can't wait to here the rest of your reviews.

 

[lemondog]

Day 1:

Dinner at 'Ohana!

'Ohana is probably one of our favorite restaurants at Disney, due to a combination of factors: 1. Location - we stay at the Poly so it's super convenient. 2. Food - We have never been disappointed. 3. Atmosphere - Can't think of a better way to celebrate being on vacation than wearing leis and sipping a fruity beverage out of a pineapple!

Speaking of which, my evening started off with my favorite drink, the Lapu Lapu.

Which is basically regular rum, 151 rum, and some fruit juices mixed together, all served in a hollowed out pineapple.

Our ADR was for 6:35 and we checked in about 6:30. There was a long line of people waiting to be seated, so I settled myself at the Tambu Lounge and ordered my Lapu Lapu. We waited about 20 minutes for our table, but it was worth the wait...right against the windows with a perfect view of the castle as it was lit up! I could only imagine how perfect this seat would be to view Wishes.

We were greeted promptly by our "cousin" who took our drink order, then we dug into the Pineapple Welcome Bread, which was warm and delicious as always.

Shortly thereafter our salad with honey lime dressing arrived. The greens are fresh and the dressing is light, but sweet and tangy. So yummy!

Next came the dipping sauces: sweet n sour, peanut and I think a chile sauce. I love, love, love the peanut sauce!

Our favorite side items came next: sticky chicken wings and pork dumplings!

These were divine and the wings especially were even better than I remember. We all inhaled them, especially Bashful, who is normally not a big chicken fan.

Next up was the steamed broccoli, which was FABULOUS! Perfectly cooked and seasoned.

Followed shortly thereafter by the Lo-Mein noodles, which were a bit of a disappointment. They were spaghetti noodles, which I had never seen before, and cold to boot. I ate only a few bites, but usually these are a favorite of mine.

Next came the meat, which arrives on big skewers!

This place truly is a carnivore's delight. On the menu were turkey, pork, steak and shrimp. The turkey was a tad dry, but alright dipped in sauce. The remaining meats were juicy and delicious! Grumpy had an especially good time peeling and eating the shrimp.

Finally, the part we had all been waiting for....dessert. 'Ohana is home to one of the best desserts on property, warm bread pudding a la mode with bananas foster syrup. Somehow I forgot to take the pic AFTER I poured the syrup on. Sorry!

And for the kids they brought ice cream with Mickey sprinkles, always a huge hit.

Once again we thoroughly enjoyed our experience at 'Ohana. The food was good and plentiful, service was fine, and the kids LOVE the parade and limbo and partying that go on. It's our favorite way to start off our Disney vacation!

 

[DLo]

Great start. We tried eos for the first time last year - we wondered why it took us so long. We always went to wpe. looking forward to the rest. Thinking about CP for b'fast next trip (have had lunch and dinner and enjoyed both). Looking forward to more

 

[SGMCO]

Looks good already!!
We're wanting to try Ohana for dinner this trip we usually eat
breakfast there. How are the shrimp?
Are the top of the shells split for easy peeling?

 

[weswife]

Great so far!

We ate at Earl of Sand. in 07. We did not like our meal. I enjoyed your pics. and written review. I think we were tired and did not know what to get. This lead to buying anything. I think we will try ES again this trip!!!!!

thanks!

 

[lemondog]

Looks good already!!
We're wanting to try Ohana for dinner this trip we usually eat
breakfast there. How are the shrimp?
Are the top of the shells split for easy peeling?

No the tops are not split, but my 6yo did an okay job peeling them herself. Honestly, if there was one thing I could change about 'Ohana it would be for the shrimp to be served already peeled.

 

[lemondog]

Day 2:

CRT Breakfast

I know, I know. Everyone always says this is not worth the 2 meal credits, but a) we were on the Deluxe plan so we had credits to spare and b) I have 3 princesses myself! I thought it would be a bonus to get into the MK before park opening so I made the earliest ADR I could get, at 8:05 am.

We entered the park right before 8:00 and were at the podium by 8:05. There was a line to check in, and then a line to get our pic made with Cinderella in the lobby. Once we FINALLY got thru the lines it was approaching 8:20, but once we got to the top of the stairs we were seated immediately.

Our server was great, he kept referring to us as the Royal Family, I was the Queen, DH was the king and he told the girls they better treat him as such, which he loved, lol. The girls were presented with their wands and wishing stars and once our drink orders were taken the food started arriving.

First up, a plate of pastries and sweet rolls:

These were your run of the mill sweet rolls. Tasty, but nothing special.

Next came the fresh fruit:

This was tasty, how hard is it to mess up fruit? I liked the fact that it included a few "different" fruits you don't normally find on the buffets...like mango and kiwi.

Breakfast here is pre-plated. The children all have the same meal: eggs, french toast and bacon.

The bacon was PAPER thin and chewy, so bad the girls would not eat it. But they liked the scrambled eggs and french toast.

Adults had the choice of 3 items: eggs with potato casserole, cream cheese french toast with bacon, or a cold plate with yogurt and granola. DH and I both opted for the cream cheese french toast:

Once again, the bacon was a joke. Very thin, very chewy. Just plain awful. DH loves his bacon, and he didn't even touch it. The french toast, on the other hand, was fabulous! Warm and puffy, with a sweet cream cheese filling, fresh berries and whipped cream. I ate every bite!

Soon the princesses started arriving and a sweet little wishing star ceremony was done with the princess wands (the little boys got swords). Grumpy and Bashful were very into it.

In the end, I would have to say that based on food alone this meal was DEFINITELY not worth the OOP cost of $180. However, if you have a little girl who loves the princesses, you really do need to try CRT at least once. Now we can say we have done it, and I am glad we did. The princess interaction was GREAT, the whole setting was magical and the waitstaff really did go out of their way to make everyone feel special. The best part is that we were done and at the rope to Fantasyland by 8:55...perfect timing!

 

[dizneeat]

Great reviews so far! Thank you for doing them for us!

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Yummy! We are doing CRT breakfast for the first time in August.

Can't wait for more updates!

 

[tortoni]

Great reviews so far, and cute kids! I'm in.

 

[RachaelRol]

Great reviews! Looking forward to more.

 

[lemondog]

Day 2:

Cosmic Rays lunch

After a full morning of fun in the MK, the girls naturally began whining that they were hungry. Our kids are big time grazers...they pick at their meals and graze throughout the day. Which is why the DxDDP works so well for us...our kids expect to sit down to a meal 3x a day, and also like to snack.

By now it was about 12:15 and with crowd levels at a solid 10 (as reported by touringplans.com) as you can imagine all the CS places were packed. Since we were in Tomorrowland we decided to try Cosmic Rays. I had heard good things.

The one downside to Cosmic Rays is that things are set up in 3 separate stations: 1 is chicken, 2 is burgers and 3 is sandwiches and salads. This can pose a big problem if everyone in your family wants something different. However we chose station 3 because it had the shortest line and all found something to eat.

DH was craving a burger, so he chose the Bacon Double Cheesburger with Fries. He chose a Diet Coke for his drink and Triple Chocolate Cake for dessert.

He said it was fine, nothing special. Although the topping bar was pretty amazing.

All 3 girls chose the kids Chicken Nuggets.

This came with a choice of 2 side items, either grapes, carrot sticks, applesauce or a cookie. Bashful had white milk to drink, Superstar had chocolate milk, and Grumpy chose apple juice. Oh, and if your kids are like mine and want Ranch to dip their carrots, that was readily available as well.

I was not hungry at all after that filling meal at CRT so I used a 2 snack credits to get a Diet Coke and a Yoplait Strawberry yogurt.

Will we go back to Cosmic Rays? Sure, if it's convenient. What we had was your standard fast food fare, nothing great but not awful. When it comes to CS, we're all about convenience, not seeking out the best food in the parks.