The not so live version of dining w/ Disers, in Castles & on Safari! The Wrap! 2/26

[minniebeth]

Jumping in~ love your dining reports and really enjoying all your Dismeets!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Yay, your DISmeet breakfast!

Who wouldn't be a big fan of Kathy!? It would be awesome to meet at WDW.

Woo hoo! One healthy thing selected. Excellent.

 

[DnA2010]

I love KatMark's reviews!! What a great Dismeet!!


Yum, Tusker house brekkie looked great, have only done lunch, will have to try brekkie some day

 

[dvc4life]

And I forgot to say in my post yesterday great photos with Kathy and Mark. Looks like it was a fun meet.

 

[KatMark]

And I forgot to say in my post yesterday great photos with Kathy and Mark. Looks like it was a fun meet.

Where in Iowa do you live? We are there every couple of months as our youngest son and his wife live in Dubuque.

 

[emmysmommy]

Mr. DDW clearly needs a few more shirts!

That's funny!

Tusker house wow, ya big Buffett for sure. I totally get what you mean about the pros and cons of this Buffett
Fun dis meet!

Thanks! Too many choices for sure. And it was awesome meeting Kathy!

Man is that a lot of food on that buffet. Looks good though.

Sure wish I could have tried more.

Oh my goodness that buffet is HUGE and to me most of that food is either lunch or dessert

I agree Jo! Maybe it makes it easier to change from a breakfast to a lunch if they have selections that cross over meals? But yeah, many of those items I would imagine stay out all day.

Great photos with the characters. I agree this is one of the bigger buffets and I have always enjoyed the food. I just wish the service would be a little quicker. I think we are going to pass it up in 2014, but we will be back.

Hi Kathy!
Our server seemed to have too many tables since he was working up a quite a sweat. Good thing we didn't need a lot of drinks or it could have been a lot wait between refills.

I love Tusker House but Hunter doesn't want to be tied down to an ADR so I canceled the reservation I had made and we will "wing-it" in AK. Plus TH is what made Hunter not feel so good last trip...

Oh no!! I'd pass too if Hunter didn't feel well after eating there last time. I considered doing RFC for breakfast there based on Barb's meal but eventually cancelled since we have RFC here

Joining in loving it!!

Thanks for joining here princessnpirate!! Glad you are reading along.

I really like the tusker house. So much food (aka mickey waffles!) & cute character outfits.

Also, cute chicago themed gifts! How nice!!

Hi Jennifer. I was a little worried since those Mickey waffles were running low! The safari characters were precious.

Those gifts from Kathy were so perfect - Disney + Chicago!

Subbing in late too and loving it so far. I've got to splurge on club level some day. Safari aside with "free" food and alcohol I'm not sure Id ever leave. But I'm guessing that would be frowned upon.

I had a much different experience at Tusker. Im not usually a buffet fan but gave a few a try this trip for characters for my daughter. Tusker was hands down our favorite. Loved all the different options and variety. And of course copious amounts of Krispy Kreme.

Hi Kastoney! Thank you for joining and welcome. You are not late at all, I'm glad you are here.

Ha ha!! Well, you could just be a "regular" up at the lounge and keep those mimosas coming!!

Krispy Kreme was the first thing I ate - oh so good. I should have tried more things for sure.

TH is one of our FAVORITE meals. Seriously!! Can't imagine being in AK and NOT enjoying that breakfast! And the dancing with the characters is a HIT with the younger set!

Hi Christen! I'll give you Tusker House any day as long as I can keep my Kona Café!! They did have some character thing with the kids now that you mention it. I'd forgotten that.

 

[emmysmommy]

Jumping in~ love your dining reports and really enjoying all your Dismeets!

Thanks Minniebeth. I'm so glad that you are joining.

Dismeets are the highlight of our trips!

Yay, your DISmeet breakfast!

Who wouldn't be a big fan of Kathy!? It would be awesome to meet at WDW.

Woo hoo! One healthy thing selected. Excellent.

Hi Dani! Yes, definitely a great way to make a breakfast better is to throw in a Dismeet!

Ha ha!!! You have to give me credit for both the fruit and the eggs being healthy, yeah? My kid eats better than me sometimes. So sad.

I love KatMark's reviews!! What a great Dismeet!!

Yum, Tusker house brekkie looked great, have only done lunch, will have to try brekkie some day

Hi DnA! Mark's hat photos are hilarious! Nobody models those silly hats as well as him.

I can't even imagine all the lunch selections they would have out. Ahhh the choices!!

And I forgot to say in my post yesterday great photos with Kathy and Mark. Looks like it was a fun meet.

Thanks, it was awesome!!

 

[peachmermaid]

I really enjoyed tusker house. All of that food (mickey waffles!!) & characters in cute outfits. You are dedicated to your trip reports with all of the photos you take! Love it.

Speaking of loving it, nice Chicago themed disney swag there! Yay!!!

 

[dvc4life]

Where in Iowa do you live? We are there every couple of months as our youngest son and his wife live in Dubuque.

We live in Central Iowa. About 4 hours away from Dubuque. My ex-brother-in-law grew up in Dubuque.

And I love reading all your TR too Kathy!

 

[princessnpirate]

Subbing in!

 

[KatMark]

We live in Central Iowa. About 4 hours away from Dubuque. My ex-brother-in-law grew up in Dubuque.

And I love reading all your TR too Kathy!

We've been to Central Iowa for wrestling, I'm sure.

Thanks.

 

[suzimar57]

Enjoying your reviews again - in for the long haul here - waiting for the next installment!

 

[emmysmommy]

Subbing in!

Hi there!! I'm glad you are joining in here too!

I really enjoyed tusker house. All of that food (mickey waffles!!) & characters in cute outfits. You are dedicated to your trip reports with all of the photos you take! Love it.

Speaking of loving it, nice Chicago themed disney swag there! Yay!!!

Hi Jennifer! There were a whole lot of choices for sure!

Perhaps I need to put the camera down for a spell. Definitely it drives my family crazy.

A big shout out to Chicago for sure!! Love it.

Enjoying your reviews again - in for the long haul here - waiting for the next installment!

Hi Suzimar! Thank you for joining and reading along! Next installment likely tomorrow.

 

[emmysmommy]

Day 4: Mon. Aug. 19, 2013  Afternoon CL snacks
​

We had a late breakfast at Tusker House so we pretty much skipped lunch. By the time we made it back to AKL in the afternoon we decided on a quick snack to get us through until our dinner plans.

It was too early for evening appetizers but they had a selection of sweet and savory items to choose.

White Chocolate/Macadamia Nut cookies and Chocolate Chip cookies:

Granola Bars:

Gummy Bears and Kettle Chips:

Spiced Nuts:

Goldfish crackers:

Yogurt covered pretzels:

I didnt get anything at first since I didnt want to wreak my appetite for dinner but I went back and had some spiced nuts but they didnt last much beyond the ride down in the elevator to our floor. I loved the spiced pecans and cashews. Oh sooooo good.

I dont recall what if anything Em chose.

Bonus savanna view from our balcony photo:

Next Up: Grand Floridian Café Dinner

​

 

[emmysmommy]

Day 4: Mon. Aug. 19, 2013 Grand Floridian Café Dinner​

We had dinner plans with DonaldDoleWhip and his mother at the Grand Floridian Café this evening. Coincidently, Goofysonsmom (Vicki) and Andrew switched up their dining plans and decided to have dinner there as well. We were able to change our party size from four to six so we could dine together.
Once we were seated it became apparent that this wasnt going to be a quick or spectacular dining experience since service was lacking in many areas including being very slow. There were some positives as well so it wasnt all negative.

Menu:

Photos of our group:

We received our basket of the currant dinner rolls and regular dinner rolls. No one fought over them so I suppose they are not a fan favorite.

Basket of Rolls:​

We placed our orders and I chose 2 appetizers, the seasonal salad and the shrimp cocktail. I wasnt asked if I wanted them served together as a main course or separate with the salad first or vice versa. I had no preference so I thought I'd leave it to the house to decide. Em ordered the same salad and the Grand Floridian burger which is also served with chips.

When the first courses were delivered, I was presented with my shrimp cocktail and I thought my seasonal salad at the same time. There was a bit of confusion as I thought they were delivering both of my appetizers at the same time so I asked them to hold the shrimp cocktail a bit longer and I kept the seasonal salad. Turns out I hadn't paid attention when Em placed her order, that green salad was hers and I had returned my own dish. No problem. Em gets the salad and I try to get the attention of the server to explain my mistake. That was to no avail. We didnt see her for probably 10 minutes. And it was no use trying to get the attention of anyone else who worked there that night because short of getting up and going back into the kitchen myself, that wasn't going to happen since every hand signal or excuse me or other attempt to get attention were ignored.

In the meantime, I ate one of the dry, crusty rolls with salted butter. Em ended up sharing her salad since she wasnt a huge fan so all was well. I thought it was very heavy on the tomato; however, it did have some nice chunks of bleu cheese and I liked the fig-balsamic dressing and the pine nuts were a nice addition even if they were not as good as the walnut granola clusters they used to serve in their salad.

Seasonal Salad: Locally grown greens, heirloom tomatoes, bleu cheese, pine nuts with fig-balsamic drizzle ($5.99)

Entrees arrived and I found that the shrimp cocktail had changed from last year. It now had a verde sauce which had an odd taste to it that I didnt prefer. I'm a purist and love me some spicy cocktail sauce with extra horseradish. I asked for a side of cocktail sauce and although it wasn't spicy, it did improve upon the dish. The 4 shrimp were served on a bed of diced tomatoes. The same tomatoes as the salad there must have been an abundance of this item as tomatoes were in everything this night.

Shrimp Cocktail: Fragrantly poached shrimp served with locally sourced tomato-avocado and verde sauce ($12.99)

Em's burger was definitely the highlight of the meal. The lobster was an awesome addition and the spicy arugula just put it over the top. She really enjoyed this. She said the chips were good as well. (Sorry, nothing more descriptive was elicited from the kid!)

Grand Floridian Burger: Angus chuck burger, butter poached lobster with red onion marmalade and arugula on a brioche bun served with chips ($17.49)

There was a subtle clue as to dining with Vicki and Andrew in their live dining review in post #2446. My pink cased iphone is clearly in the photo with Andrews pasta dish!!

When it came time for dessert we were all in. Em (and several others) ordered the chocolate fondue with fruit and marshmallows while I split the dessert sample with Mr. DDW's mom.

Chocolate Fondue: Dark Chocolate Ganache with Marshmallows and fruit ($6.99)

Dessert Sampler: Serves two Fresh Berry Tart, Boston Cream Pie, Key Lime Tart, Lemon Cheesecake ($10.99)

Of the four options, I really liked the lemon cheesecake and the berry tart. I didn't like the Boston Cream pie since it was far too chocolaty. The chocolate Mickey didn't get eaten.

Although the service was lacking, the food wasn't stupendous, and drink refills were non-existent, I still believe this is a good option that can't be discounted for one bad evening. I prefer breakfast over lunch/dinner so we will keep this in our rotation for now.

It was awesome to dine with our Dis friends but sadly we had to say good bye to Vicki and Andrew as this was their last night at WDW.

Restaurant Photo:

Next Up: Boma Breakfast

​

 

[jmm476]

I'm pretty sure it was this dinner on the live thread that made me change my GFC dinner to a 1900 Park Fare breakfast for my upcoming trip. I just can't have slow service with a 2 year old! The desserts look great though. Did anyone take the chocolate Mickey home to eat later?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[vettegirl]

Hi Brenda! Just catching up, after our trip a few weeks ago I haven't been on the dis that much. How awesome you were able to meet Kathy and Mark! One of these days I hope to meet them. We love the TH for breakfast, the variety is great, and who doesn't love Donald Duck. BTW I am planning on going over to DL in either Nov or Dec for Christmas Season

 

[francis6306]

While I do LOVE Tusker House, I need to try Kona for a breakfast since you are bargaining! I can't let you keep something I haven't tried!

I'm sorry that the service wasn't up to par at the GFC. The burger does look amazing, but I'm afraid that shrimp cocktail wouldn't good to me. I rarely like verde sauce and I certainly don't like avocados! But that Chocolate Fondue… It's not on my "must do" list for now, though. But that's why I have your dining reviews!

I'm pretty sure it was this dinner on the live thread that made me change my GFC dinner to a 1900 Park Fare breakfast for my upcoming trip. I just can't have slow service with a 2 year old! The desserts look great though. Did anyone take the chocolate Mickey home to eat later?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

We LOVE 1900 Park Fare Breakfast with our kids!! I have taken my kids twice when they were 2.5 y/o and then when my youngest was 19 months. It's sooo yummy!!!!

 

[KatMark]

I'm slowly trying to catch up so I don't get any further behind (plus I need to occupy my mind on something).

I would like one of those cookies right now, please.

Sorry the service was lacking and the food wasn't stupendous at Grand Floridian Cafe. We had a reservation there in August and I cancelled it. I've read pros and cons and just haven't been able to commit myself.

I will say Em's burger looks wonderful.

for more DISmeets.

 

[klacey1]

I'm sorry your dinner wasn't that great! Em's burger does look fantastic. I do have to say I'm not that impressed with the presentation of the fondue. The fruit looks like it was just thrown on the plate.