T&C's Disney Dining Adventure!

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

7 days with dining plan!

When: 5/16-5/23
Where: Port Orleans Riverside
Who: Me (19) & DBF (21). He is a CM. This will be our 1 year anniversary trip.

Sunday 5/16
L: Earl of Sandwich
D: Contempo Cafe
Monday 5/17
B: Chef Mickey's
L: Tony's Town Square
D: Cosmic Ray's
Tuesday 5/18
L: Le Cellier
D: California Grill
Wednesday 5/19
L: Backlot Express
D: Studio Catering Co.
Thursday 5/20
L: Flame Tree Barbecue
D: San Angel Inn
Friday 5/21
L: Pinocchio Village Haus
D: Cinderella's Royal Table
Saturday 5/22
B: 'Ohana
L: TBD (QS at Hollywood Studios)
D: 1900 Park Fare
Sunday 5/23
L: Contempo Cafe

Reviews & lots of pics coming soon!

 

[candy0730]

Can't wait for your reviews. Have a great trip!

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

Ok so I'm back from an amazing trip! Port Orleans Riverside was sooo nice! The room was set up really well, and we had a great location. This was our first time having the dining plan, and we loved it! It was so great not having to worry about prices on the menus or worrying about total cost and stuff. The quick service places were a great deal, but the dessert was worthless and normally got thrown away. Some QS places would automatically give you a large drink while some just rang up the regular size and didn't give you an option. The coolest thing was getting specialty drinks at table service locations instead of the normal soda. Very few places allowed this though. We had great service, except for, surprisingly, at California Grill.

Earl of Sandwich: Late Lunch (OOP)
We got here at about 2 PM after we got checked into the hotel. It was so busy! I had to grab a table while DBF ordered because people were fighting over them. We ate here on our last trip and loved it so decided to come back. The sandwiches were amazing! Just like we remembered. We both just got sandwiches at $6 each. They had raised the prices here a little bit since last year.

Earl's Club (With Cheddar instead of Swiss)

Ham & Cheese

Contempo Cafe: Late Dinner (OOP)
This is the QS at the Contemporary Resort. We absolutely love this place. The food is really good, and the atmosphere is really cool with Chef Mickey's behind you and the monorail above you.

DBF's Bacon Cheeseburger ($8) with Coke ($2.39). I got the kid's cheeseburger meal ($5) because I wasn't that hungry. It came with a small water bottle, cup of fries, and carrot sticks. It was the perfect size.

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

Chef Mickey's: Breakfast (DDP)
We checked in at 7 AM for a 7:30 reservation. We got our picture taken and were seated at 7:15. We got put in one of the side rooms by ourselves, but eventually it filled up. Everyone complains about it being too loud but for a character meal it really wasn't. Our waitress was really great. She brought out coffee, orange juice, and water. We hit the buffet before the characters started coming around.

Breakfast Menu

Dinner Menu

Sausage links= very good. Bacon= very thin, cold, greasy. Mickey waffle= ok. Scrambled eggs= yucky, some weird taste to them. Cheese omelet= really good!, could have been hotter though. Cheesy bacon potatoes= yuck! these were so bad, tasted like cheesy bacon bits, actually had to spit it out. Vegetable Lasagna= cold and yucky, tasted like they cooked together broccoli stems.

DBF is obsessed with Mickey waffles. He loved them and the sausage. He thought the scrambled eggs were weird too, but he ate them.

More cheese omelet because it was so good. It was served weird though. It was just a huge pot of cheesy egg, not really an omelet. French toast was burnt and cold, ick. Green apples with cinnamon, grapes, and granola. This was amazing!!! I had seconds and thirds of this.

Of course he ate more waffles. He was really surprised about how bad the fruit was. It wasn't ripe or sweet.

So overall the food was ok. Some things were really good, some really bad. Nothing was hot though! It took forever for the characters to come around. The character interaction was really well done though. They started to play a song and then Goofy ran out and danced to celebrate all the birthdays and such. He came around first but was a really bad Goofy. He barely stopped long enough to take a picture with. Our waitress was really great about taking pictures with the characters for us. Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Donald were a lot of fun! The picture they try to get you to buy isn't worth it. It's just your family standing around a statue of Mickey. Why pay for that when you can take ones with the actual Chef Mickey?
Total Cost: $50 plus tip. 1 TS credit each.

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

Pecos Bill: Lunch (DDP)
We originally had a reservation for Tony's, but thought it was at 12:30 not 11:30 so we missed it. Oh well, I really wanted to eat at Pecos Bill anyways after all the great reviews. We got here at noon which we thought would be a mistake, but it really wasn't that busy! There was no line and we got a table no problem. It started to get really busy while we were eating and people started to wait in line for tables. Craziness.

We both got the Angus Cheeseburgers with Fries. They gave us a large Coke instead of a regular without us even asking. For our desserts we got a chocolate chip cookie and a carrot cake. The cookie was gross but the carrot cake was actually really good! You just had to dig through an inch of frosting to get to it. The food was excellent. The toppings bar was huge. It was just crazy busy though. If you look for it they have cheese sauce to dip the fries in.

We will definitely be back here next trip! Food was amazing!
Total: $27.49. 1 QS credit each.

 

[Linda67]

Great reviews. We really enjoyed Pecos Bills too

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

Cosmic Rays: Dinner (DDP)
The people were really nice here. They held the door for you and handed you menus as soon as you came in. It was so much easier than having to try to read the menu boards. There are a bunch of different lines, but it wasn't that overwhelming. We originally sat inside by the water, but moved outside even though it was really hot out. The seats inside were really low so you couldn't reach the table very well. It was really loud too. Outside was surprisingly nice. We sat in the shade on the water by ourselves and it was quiet! Such a nice break from the park all day. Since it was an EMH night Magic Kingdom was crazy busy!

They gave us a large Coke here too without asking. When you say you have dining plan they just assume you want a large and ring it up. We both got the double cheeseburger. DBF's had bacon too. Yes I will admit that I ordered and ate a whole double cheeseburger. I was so hungry from running around all day. We got the sugar-free brownies for dessert. I think they only had one other option and it wasn't that appealing. I normally eat sugar-free stuff but I couldn't eat that brownie! Not good at all. DBF doesn't but he really liked it, go figure. We will be back. The food was good and the view was really nice.

Total: $30. 1 QS credit each.

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

Le Cellier: Lunch (DDP)
I was so excited to eat here! We originally had a dinner reservation but needed to switch days so we could only get a lunch one. We showed up at 11:10 for an 11:50 reservation. We were starving so decided just to check-in early. We were seated at 11:30. It was cool and dark inside which was great after being in the sun all morning. Our waiter was great. He explained the menu and said we could get a specialty beverage with the dining plan. I got the Red Maple which was a raspberry smoothie made with Sprite and topped with raspberries. OMG THIS WAS AMAZING!!! I would come back here just for this! It was so refreshing and wasn't overly sweet at all. The raspberries were so fresh. I finished it in literally five minutes. So good!

They brought out the bread bouquet. It had sourdough, pretzel, and some whole grain bread. We didn't care for the whole grain bread because it had sunflower seeds and stuff in it. The pretzel bread was really good. I loved the sourdough.

Even though it wasn't included with the dining plan, we both ordered a cup of the soup. This was so good! It was really rich and salty though. We both only ate half of it. The bread dipped in it was really good. Next time we would just split a cup. We can eat, but this was just so rich! The lady at the table next to us ordered a whole bowl and ate it by herself in like five minutes!

DBF ordered the New York Strip Steak with Bercy Butter and Potato Gratin. He loved this steak! The potatoes were average though.

I got the Filet Mignon with Mushroom Risotto. Wow this was amazing!!! The filet cut like butter. It was cooked perfectly. I ordered it medium rare. The risotto was to die for!!!

We both loved our food, but all of it was sooooooooooooo salty! I couldn't eat all of the risotto because it was just way too salty.

For dessert we both had the Maple Creme Brulee. This was excellent! We were too full for dessert, but it was so good that we managed to eat the whole thing.

Lunch Menu

Dessert Menu

I really didn't know how this meal would turn out because of all the mixed reviews. Despite how salty the food was, this meal was exceptional! We will definitely be back next trip. It's such a deal on the dining plan too because it's only one TS credit each! My only other complaint is that for such a busy restaurant the women's room only had two stalls! The line went all the way into the dining room!

Total: $95.13. 1 TS credit each.

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

California Grill: Dinner (DDP)
DBF and I were so excited to eat here! We checked in at 7 PM for a 7:50 reservation and were seated at 7:10. We got a table by the window that looked out onto the Grand Floridian and Magic Kingdom. It was beautiful! You can't beat the view! We literally waited 20 minutes for our waitress to come to our table. She was not friendly and reluctant to take our drink orders. They did offer specialty beverages with the dining plan which was awesome. I got a virgin Strawberry Daiquiri. Of course it took the waitress another 20 minutes to come back to our table with it. This drink was fabulous!!! I finished it really quickly and wish I could have gotten another. So good.

We finally placed our order. Our waitress was MIA during our entire meal. We were starving so we asked for some bread. The table next to us had some, but most tables didn't. For how long you have to wait, they should automatically bring it out. It was really good bread too.

We both got the Oak Fired Filet of Beef with Cheddar Gratin. This steak was amazing! It was cooked perfectly. It did have a teriyaki barbecue sauce on it, which was good. Very mild, but very salty! The potatoes were average. It came with asparagus but we substituted green beans. They were excellent!

For dessert I got the Bananas and Caramel.

DBF got the Valrhona Chocolate Cake.

These were both incredible! The homemade strawberry ice cream served with the chocolate cake was to die for! It was so light and fresh. I could have just eaten a whole bowl of that.

Dinner Menu

Dessert Menu

The food here was exceptional. We were really disappointed with the service, especially for it being a signature restaurant. The waitress actually snapped at me when I asked for dessert menus. She said of course I wanted dessert menus and that she didn't need to be reminded. Wow really? We were nothing but nice to this chic. Oh well. We got our desserts just when Wishes was starting. They dimmed the lights and played the music. We chose to watch it at our table instead of the observation deck. It was really cool to see it from above. Definitely worth eating here for. After dinner, we went out to the observation deck to see Magic Kingdom all lit up at night. It was breathtaking. The only bad thing besides the service was how loud it was. Since the kitchen is open to the dining room you can barely hear the person next to you. Also, we got dressed up like a lot of the other couples there. But, there was this obnoxious family of like 8 that sat behind us. They had just come from the parks and were in t-shirts and shorts. They didn't even bother to take their visors and hats off. It kinda ruined the atmosphere. They say they have a dress code, but no one enforces it.

The views from our table

Such a waste to use dining plan here! We figured that they would allow you to get a first course here too because it's two credits, but no. It's just a main course and dessert.
Total: $128.21. 2 TS credits each.

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

Enjoying your reviews I thought signature dining included an appetizer I better go re read that brochure!

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

I'm glad! Yeah you would think it was included, but it's only if you get the deluxe dining plan. We only had the regular one.

 

[emmabelle]

Thanks for the reviews! So cute that you photographed the receipt.

 

[sjs314]

Loved the reviews so far, enjoyed very much the pics of menu and reciept and the pics of the food everything looked so Yummy

Can not wait to read and see more, great job

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

Haha thanks!

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

Thanks for the reviews! So cute that you photographed the receipt.

Haha thanks!

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

Loved the reviews so far, enjoyed very much the pics of menu and reciept and the pics of the food everything looked so Yummy

Can not wait to read and see more, great job

thanks! it was fun to do

 

[Cyndibear]

Enjoying the reviews and photo's. I too loooove the risoto from LeCellier infact we have a lunch ADR scheduled for our September trip---I'm going to get 2 side orders of risoto as my meal---can't wait!!

Can't wait for more of your review!

Cyndi

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

Pizza Planet: Lunch (DDP)
Ok so I have heard so many bad reviews about this restaurant. I wasn't planning on eating here, but DBF loves Toy Story so I agreed. WOW WAS I SURPRISED! lol. I LOVED this place! We went on a Fantasmic day at about 11:30 and it wasn't busy at all! We didn't wait in line to order and were the first ones to sit upstairs. So this place is awesome for dining plan! For your dessert, you can get a Mickey Rice Krispie on a stick...the same one that you can use your snack credit on somewhere else. We love these so that was awesome. You can save them to eat for later but for us that wasn't the case. The pizza was actually really good. The size was perfect and it was great having the salad too! They had a table to get dressings by the condiment bar. There were big packets of Ken's Italian, Ranch, and Blue Cheese. We sat upstairs so that we were away from the arcade. We had a window seat with a really great view! I was so impressed with this place! Really not that loud. I was really surprised.

Water bottle, large Coke, 2 side salads, 2 Mickey Rice Krispie's, Pepperoni pizza, Cheese pizza

Our view. The pole wasn't really that in the way. Just a bad pic. Haha.

Upstairs dining area.

We are so coming back here!

Total: $30. 1 QS credit each.

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

Backlot Express: Dinner (DDP)
Warning...DON'T EAT HERE! I was so excited to eat here because the menu offered items that weren't cheeseburgers. Ironically, at the end of the meal I really wanted one of Disney's cheeseburgers.

I got the grilled turkey sandwich on whole grain bread with arugula. YUCK! I ended up throwing this away. The bread was kind of hard and gross. There were wierd things in it too, like sunflower seeds or something? The turkey tasted like it came out of the pre-packed deli section. There were only two slices. And the argula...two little wilted pieces. I don't know what was going on with this sandwich. DBF liked his chicken tenders, but then again you can't really mess those up. lol. The parfait was really yucky too! The little blue dots are supposed to be blueberries. These were so small and hard. Ick. The marble cheesecake was ok, but had a wierd taste to it. I didn't like the atmosphere in here either. There were some cool movie props, but it was like sitting in a big concrete box. This meal was our worst at Disney!

Total: $30.19. 1 QS credit each.

 

[Tarzan&Cinderella]

Flame Tree Barbecue: Lunch (DDP)
Ok, so I have mixed feelings about this place. Pros: It was cool that they offered food that wasn't like any other place. It was also a really great deal on dining plan. The seating was amazing! I just wanted to sit there all day. Cons: The food was so greasy! We both felt sick after eating here. This isn't the best choice for park food. It's very heavy eating to be doing when it's really hot out and you are racing around the park.

Menu

Our food:
Water & large Coke. Ribs with baked beans & cole slaw. Chocolate mousse & key lime pie.

Ribs were so greasy! There was a good amount of meat, and the sauce was really good. We love ribs, but not these. The baked beans were ok. They had pieces of pulled pork in them which I'm not a fan of. We both don't eat cole slaw so I can't say anything about that. lol. The chocolate mousse was awesome, and the key lime mousse was surprisingly good.

Our view:
We walked all the way down by the water. A lot of people don't know you can go all way back there so it was pretty empty.
So nice!

Our friends: The ducks hung out the whole time, but it wasn't that bad. It was kind of fun because they came up really close to you. Just don't feed them because they went crazy with another family. lol.

So, we won't be back here. The atmosphere was amazing, but the food just isn't for us. Great deal on dining plan though.
Total: $35.15. 1 QS credit each.