Can you say 11 Character Meals? Plus V&A Chef Table! Star Wars too! Updated 7/23

[mgentry210]

Hello everyone! Just back from 11 days of Disney and I am full and tired! Here's a quick background on us. My husband and I have been married 2 and a half years. He proposed at Narcoossee's after Wishes, we were married and the Wedding Pavilion and honeymooned at the Boardwalk. Throw in about 5 other trips and we've been a lot over the last 5 years. We have annual passes and we typical just book our 3 fastpass+ and maybe one or 2 other rides and do deluxe dining with a late breakfast/early lunch and later dinner at a signature restaurant. In other words we take it easy and slow. NOT THIS TRIP!

This time we took our nieces with us ages 16 and 5. Mainly for the 5 year old I booked a TON of character meals. 11 Character meals. ELEVEN! 12 if you count Hoop Dee Doo. I will tell you at the end if I thought it was a. worth it and b. overkill. I bet you can already guess the answer to b.
And for my husband I booked both of the Star Wars meals and premium package. We did not do a dining plan this trip.

Here's the best part of all. I finally managed to get the chef's table at Victoria and Alberts this time! Woo Hoo! More to come on this one...

In the end I tried to blend our usual signature style dining with character meals for the kids.

OK. Let's get started.

Here the run down:
Frozen Royal Welcome In-Room Celebration
Wilderness Lodge Club Level
Whispering Canyon Cafe Dinner
Cinderella's Royal Table Breakfast
California Grill Dinner
Tusker House Breakfast
Mickey's Backyard BBQ
Cape May Breakfast
Wilderness Lodge Cub's Den
Flying Fish Cafe
50's Primetime Lunch
Mama Melrose Fantasmic Dinner
Crystal Palace Breakfast
Be Our Guest Dinner
O'hana Breakfast
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Rainforest Cafe Animal Kingdom
Victoria and Albert's Chef Table Part 1
Victoria and Albert's Chef Table Part 2
Victoria and Albert's Chef Table Part 3 Desserts!
Sci-Fi StarWars Breakfast
Brown Derby Lounge
Hollywood and Vine Star Wars Dinner
Feel the Force Premium Package
Askerhaus Breakfast
Cava de Tequila
Tutto Gusto
Narcoossee's
1900 Park Fare Breakfast
Hoop-Dee Doo Revue
Boathouse Lunch

Thanks for reading along with me!

 

[Newsies]

WOW!!! Watching!!! Sounds like a TON of fun!!!

 

[Nohal]

Wow can't wait to read more.

 

[Dislover1991]

Can't wait for your reviews!

 

[mom2cgj]

I'm in!! Can't wait to hear all about it!!

 

[vettegirl]

Here for the party

 

[mgentry210]

Our little 5 year old niece Lexi is a Frozen fan. We've watched it hundreds of times. Even I know all the words. ALL the words. I saw there is a brand new in room celebration called Royal Welcome or something like that. They decorated the room like Elsa had been there and left treats and surprises. It was a hit! Even with the 16 year old. The room had about 10 blue and purple snowflake luminaries all over the room. They lasted the whole trip and the effect was very pretty. There was a plush Olaf, a tote bag, embroidered pillow cases and an embroidered blanket. Lexi slept under that blanket every night. There was lots of candy and snacks and some light up toys. The best part was the Olaf banner on our door. She always knew which room was ours. There was another little one about the same age across the hall and he kept asking where his Olaf was. Sorry mom! It was pricey, but if you added everything up it was an OK value. I probably wouldn't have bought half the stuff so take that into account in value as well. The real value was the look on the girls faces. Here are some pics.

PS. I'm not sure why but my photobucket pics are posting super huge. Any ideas?

 

[mgentry210]

Since we were staying at the Wilderness Lodge, our first night meal was Whispering Canyon Cafe. This is our 3rd time at the Wilderness Lodge and hubby and I had both eaten there several times. We know the deal. The girls had no idea. Our 16 year old niece is your typical 16 year old girl. Everything we do embarrasses her and her phone is permanently attached to her hand. Underneath it all she has a good sense of humor and we decided to mess with her. Man did our waitress play along. Stop reading here if you don't want any spoilers for the fun.

Right off the bat the waitress took our drink orders and Sierra ordered a coke. I asked her if she would like a big one and she agreed. The waitress winked and off we went. She came back with a tiny coke. About 2 sips worth. She did NOT think that was funny and refused to drink it. The waitress came back and asked if she would like a larger one. Wary, she nodded. She came back with a half gallon size coke. To Sierra's credit, she drank almost half! By now there had been about 10 calls for ketchup and they were catching the vibe of the fun. Our waitress told her that there are no cell phones at the table. If she didn't put the phone away so would take her to jail. About 2 minutes later, she was still on the phone and out waitress was back with jail cell bars. Her little sister thought this was the funniest thing she had ever seen. She kept yelling Sister is in Jail! Our waitress kept going and got Sierra and a teenage boy at the table next to us (also from TX) engaged. It was very cute. Props to the kid he came over after and actually gave her his real phone number. From what I hear they are "friends." Bonded by being embarrassed by your family. I think she secretly loved it all.

The first night really set the tone for the trip. Our dining experiences were just that, experiences. It was more about the fun and characters than the food. But you are here to hear about the food. We ordered the family share skillet. The salad dressing was really good. It had a great tang. The rest of the food was good. Better than some of other trips there. It was all hot and fresh. Lexi ate her weight in ribs and corn. I also like the cornbread there was well. Hubby had the moonshine flight and I had some wine. He liked the flight but is more of a scotch guy. Next time we are staying at the lodge we will definitely be back. I wouldn't make a special trip for it, but it was a great first night meal.

All-You-Care-To-Enjoy Platter
Starting with Family-style Mixed Greens tossed in an Apple Vinaigrette Dressing and Fresh-baked Cornbread. Featuring Slow-smoked Pork Ribs, Barbecued Pulled Pork, Roasted Chicken, Oak-roasted Beef Strip Loin, and Western-style Sausage served with Seasonal Farm Fresh Vegetables, Mashed Yukon Potatoes, Corn on the Cobb, and Cowboy-style Baked Beans

 

[kcpinwdw]

Looks like your trip was off to a great start! Can't wait to hear some more!

 

[mgentry210]

Wilderness Lodge Club Level.

This is our 3rd time staying on the club level at the Wilderness Lodge. The staff all remembered us. It really was like coming home every day. They are all very friendly and sweet. We have also stayed club at Animal Kingdom and Boardwalk. Wilderness Lodge by far is our favorite. We didn't take any pics except one the first evening dessert. We also have a club level at the Poly in September and Beach Club in November booked so it will be interesting to compare.

When you stay club level there is a continental breakfast with pastries, coffee, fruit, yogurt. I'm not much of a breakfast person (ironic considering how many character meals are breakfast this trip), but hubby loves his coffee in the morning and Lexi had a banana practically everyday while waiting on the bus.

Throughout the day you can grab coffee, sodas, juice, lemonade and beer. There are also house potato chips with ranch dip, trail mix, goldfish, cookies and gummy bears. We hit this practically every day. Secret tip - They don't put the wine out during the day but if you ask, they are more than happy to bring a big ol' to go cup. It became habit when I got off the elevator. My lovely cast member (same girl every day) would ask if I would like some wine. Well its vacation so the answer is YES! Very nice to sip while i posted our pictures and everyone else took a nap.

From 5 to 7 there are evening appetizers. This is my personal favorite part about the club level. They have a nice selection that changes every evening. Usually 2 hot items, several salads, veggies and some kind of stew. This trip I had the chicken pot pie one night. The best chicken pot pie I've ever eaten. I usually don't care for it. Too doughy or dry chicken. This was spot on perfect! There is also beer, wine, sodas, juice, etc. I've seen posted here recently that folks are being served the wine by staff. Not here. Serve yourself! Gotta love the Wilderness Lodge! Neither hubby or Sierra took much advantage of this service but Lexi and I were down almost every night. She loved the kids coloring station!

The last service is dessert in the evening. We usually don't make it to this because we eat later and we are usually stuffed. This is the one picture I have from the first night. They also serve cordials, wine and the typical other beverages. Hubby would sometimes stop in for a cordial.

I really debated if it would be worth the extra money with the girls. Money wise it was probably a wash. Service and quality it was worth every penny.

 

[mgentry210]

Our first full day was all princess all day. We saw 11 princesses in total and I think 15 characters all together. We had a pre-park BBB. She loved it and looked so adorable! The pre-park was perfect. We were out right at park opening and while everyone else was running for 7 dwarves or Elsa (I had a FP later in the day), we hit Ariel and all the other character with no wait. We were the second to see Ariel that day! We then met hubby and sister at CRT for breakfast fit for a princess. Lexi at 5 is the perfect age for all of this. She didn't notice that we just me Ariel as a mermaid and less than 30 minutes later met her as a human princess. Throughout the trip she also never noticed any difference in the faces of the different princesses. Total credit for all of the acting!

Cinderella's Royal Table is expensive and the food pretty much stinks. Let's face it though, we aren't there for the food. We are there to eat in the castle! With princesses! Without waiting in line! We got the standard pastries that were pretty dry and nothing special. Sierra liked the sausage and I pretty much ate the potatoes and one piece of chewy bacon. Lexi was in sensory overload so I think I got her to eat maybe one bite of egg and a piece of bacon. For just the 2 of us I really don't have any plans to go back, but if you have a little princess it may be worth it to you.

 

[mgentry210]

California Grill was our first night dinner. We had a window table toward the back overlooking both the lake and the Magic Kingdom. It worked out to be a pretty good table because we could see the water parade, wishes and the park all from the table. I've had 2 meals here before. One was great, one was terrible. This one turned our pretty good. Most everyone was happy.

Sierra and hubby had the Tuna 4 ways to start. This was Sierra's first time eating sushi. She liked all but one of the preparations.

I had the heirloom tomato salad. I LOVE Disney tomatoes. This trip was no exception. Spoiler alert. More tomato salads to come. I'm not sure why our tomatoes aren't as fresh here in TX?

Right as were were finishing our appetizers we noticed off the back patio was a HUGE, gorgeous full rainbow. I don't think I have ever seen a full rainbow so large. It was so large we couldn't capture the whole rainbow with our camera. I hope someone had a wide angle lens with them. What a magical way to finish off our first day?!

With our appetizers being fairly large, hubby and I decided to split the filet. This was the same dish I had last time. Unless you are a pretty light eater or has a big appetizer, its probably not large enough to share. The risotto was good, but there wasn't enough of it. It was a good filet, but definitely not the best of the trip. It was solid.

Sierra had the pork 2 ways. Grilled Tenderloin, Goat Cheese Polenta, Mushrooms, Lacquered Belly, Applesauce. One was like a pork belly and she ate all of that one. She thought the tenderloin was dry. This dish is definitely large enough to share. She also tried polenta for the first time and liked it.

Unless it's breakfast anytime you ask Lexi what she wants, the answer is STEAK! So she got the kids steak. This child can eat more steak than me on any given day. She took one bite, pushed it away and said they didn't cook it right. It came with pasta underneath that she really loved though so it all worked out. This was her favorite pasta of the trip.

For dessert we all shared the California Strawberry Shortcake: Strawberry-glazed House-made Donut, Macerated Strawberries and Basil, Fresh Whipped Cream, Strawberry Milk. No one really liked the donut. It was greasy and the glaze tasted of artificial strawberry. That donut hole was a whole different story! We were fighting each other for our one bite. We would have traded that donut for a dozen of the holes. Really good. We finished up dessert and ended the night with Wishes on the deck. Great meal!

 

[mgentry210]

Tusker House breakfast was on the schedule for the next day. We eat here practically every trip. When it comes to a buffet, its pretty consistently one of the best at Disney. I can attest to this after eating almost all of them this trip! It was good. I ordered a mimosa to go with mine. It was pretty good. I had the regular orange juice not the jungle juice. It's too sweet for me. I like the potatoes here and the fruit was fresh. The only thing I did not like this time was the quiche. I found it grainy in texture. I do usually like it though. Maybe an off day? Starting a trend to be repeated over and over, Lexi ate ketchup with a side of eggs, 4 slices of bacon and a ton of watermelon. To her credit, both the watermelon and pineapple were consistently good this trip. Sierra ate 2 sausage links, a bite or 2 of eggs and a whole bunch of donut holes. Hubby always explores the buffet and eats a bit of everything. We will be back!

 

[mgentry210]

Our next dinner was a first for us. Mickey's Backyard BBQ! Very convenient when staying at the Lodge. Just an easy boat ride and a short walk. We were here for the party and not the food. And our expectations were met. This was BY FAR the worst meal of the trip. It was a cold buffet with sawdust hamburgers and hot dogs. I did find the pasta salad and mac and cheese OK. Lexi loved her hot dog. It was a hot dog and she is 5 and it was smothered in ketchup. There are also all you can eat Mickey bars. There is also all you can drink wine and beer for the adults. They were tiny glasses. I think I went back like 4 times and felt nothing. Maybe it was all of the dancing?!? Lexi and I had a blast dancing and meeting the characters. We danced with them all. These characters have some serious dance moves! Goofy was fantastic. And he let Lexi give him a big, sticky Mickey bar hug. This is another, great experience but don't go expecting great food. Unless we had a little kid with us, I doubt we would return. Hubby doesn't dance - BOO!

 

[mgentry210]

Another Breakfast buffet - Cape May Cafe with a day at Epcot planned afterward. Nothing really stand out for me about this meal. The buffet was passable, but nothing special that I remember. The characters were great, but we were in a smallish room right off to the right when you enter that's probably used as overflow or for private dinners. There were only a few other tables seated there with us. We were also stuffed in a corner so it was hard for the characters to navigate our table. They were nice but the interaction was brief and we only saw each one once. We all ate our now becoming normal buffet food for breakfast. It was OK. Again, unless I couldn't get in anywhere else or I had a small kid who loves the fab 5, I'm not coming back soon.

 

[mgentry210]

Next review is the Wilderness Lodge Cub's Den. We wound up using them 3 times this trip. This first visit was a test run before our reservation later that week at Victoria and Alberts. We hyped it up well in advance that she was going to get to go to "Mickey School." She is so excited to start kindergarten that "Mickey School" was just the best of both worlds. All of the 3 times we dropped her off there were only 2-3 kids. The last time, she was the only child the entire night. She LOVED it. That's why we threw in the 3rd night. She colored, played with toys, they did all kinds of arts and crafts, etc. Regarding the food, it was standard kids menu food. Pizza, Hamburger, Chicken nuggets, fries, grapes, milk, juice water. The food is included with the price of childcare. The first night she had pizza and said it tasted bad. She just ate fries and grapes. The next time she requested the burger and said it was delicious. I'm sure it was your standard kids burger. Lexi loved it and every time we passed school on the way to the buses, she would wave. She is a pretty fearless 5 year old and barely even looked up to wave goodbye when we left her there. The last night it was more of a "yeah sure, go away wave". I think I was more nervous about leaving her than she was. If you want an adults night out, our experience this trip was excellent!

 

[mgentry210]

OK - probably last one of the night. Been an bit stressed with work lately and haven't been sleeping so I was hoping this would help turn off my brain on work and focus on fun. I going to keep going until you just see afjlfjalkzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............ and then I will edit it in the morning. That's my head on the keyboard.

Next is the Flying Fish. Lexi was at "Mickey School" so it was just the 3 of us. Flying Fish is my favorite signature restaurant at Disney. It has never let me down and didn't again this time. I love it!

I typically just drink wine, but on vacation, especially when there is a boat, bus or monorail to take us home I have been known to indulge. The Flying Fish has one of my favorites, if not my favorite cocktail. Its a grapefruit martini with housemade grapefruit sorbet. I had it last time we were there and was thrilled they still had it! Its the right balance of freshness from grapefruit, sweetness from the sorbet and a hint of vodka. Love it! Did I say that I love it? My liver is happy this is 2500 miles away from our house or it might be a weekly event. Hubby had a habanaro margarita. He liked it and he loves everything spicy, but said he probably wouldn't order it again. Should have had the grapefruit martini!
[GALLERY=]

For appetizers Sierra was still happy with her tuna experiment at California Grill and both her and hubby split the Yellowfin Tuna Tartare and Crispy Tempura Tuna-Vegetable Sushi Roll with Sweet-and-Spicy Umami Sauce. I am pretty sure this disappeared as soon as it appeared.

Unsurprisingly I had the Fresh Mozzarella di Bufala Yellow, Ugli Ripe, and Tiny Tomatoes, Aged Balsamico, Petite Basil, Sicilian Olio Verde. The mozzarella was so soft and tender. It was excellent. The Ugli tomatoes were great too. It was wonderful all the way around.

For dinner we all had the charred NY Strip. No pics here. I had 2 martinis and I'm pretty sure there was some wine for hubby. Sorry! But I do remember it was delicious as always. Hubby and I shared and Sierra had her own. We also ordered the potatoes au gratin as a side. They are really great too!

Bottom line - Flying Fish I still love you and you are still my #1 signature restaurant!

 

[luvpooh]

Wow! Sounds like an amazing trip. I look forward to reading the rest.

 

[potsiemom]

great pictures

 

[honeybunches]

Following - such a fun trip. You are officially the best aunt ever!