BOYS MEET WORLD... NEW! Crystal Palace review on p. 6

[jillyjoey]

Applause -- Applause. Your reviews are awesome -- information and very entertaining. Are you are writer by profession - -if not, you should be. Cannot wait for the next installment.

 

[kahluacream]

Thanks for the compliment, but I'm not a writer. I certainly did have a lot to say about the next place we ate, though, so here goes...

MAY 8:
Whispering Canyon Cafe (Dinner)
Since we were staying at the WL, Whispering Canyon Café seemed like a great choice for a fun family dinner. It’s impossible not to overhear some of the antics from this restaurant when you wander around the incredible hotel lobby. Dash and Little Mickey had heard the hooting and hollering from afar, and they wanted in!

Let me give you some pertinent background information before I launch into our dinner ‘experience’… Both of our boys have entered this “girls are yucky” phase, so they prefer male servers in restaurants. (This sounds utterly ridiculous as I type it… Sorry!) Since all of the waiters at WCC wear western-style hats, Dash and Little Mickey thought these guys were real cowboys live and in the flesh. When we checked in at the podium, I mentioned that our little buckaroos would love to have a cowboy (with added emphasis on the ‘boy’ part!) for our server this evening. At the time, I was just trying to request a waiter as opposed to a waitress. What I didn’t realize was that each server at the WCC plays a part and has a persona; one of them being a cowboy-- the yodeling cowboy to be exact. Our hostess was very sweet about honoring my inane request, and secured us a table in the yodeling cowboy’s section. We were seated immediately. This would usually be a good thing, but the waiting area at WCC has a Lincoln log table that our kids just didn’t want to leave. Once I told them that we were going to meet a cowboy, though, it was all good!

Our table placed us right in the middle of all the action. We heard a waiter yell, “This is the last iced tea I will bring you!” as he placed what looked like a huge jug of tea in front of an embarrassed customer. Dash leaned over to whisper in my ear, “That wasn’t very nice manners, Mom!” Then a ketchup brigade raced by when a neighboring table requested the ever-popular red condiment. Now little Mickey looked confused… What in the world was going on here???

When we met our server, he introduced himself as the yodeling cowboy and began to yodel to us. In all of my thirty four years, I don’t think anyone has ever serenaded me with a yodel! What made this experience even more unique was that someone in the WCC actually answered his yodel!!! It wasn’t another cast member, but a red-haired girl who looked to be about nine or ten and was sitting behind us with her parents. No one in the restaurant knew she possessed a secret talent until she sprang to life with this amazing yodeling voice. You could almost hear a collective gasp from the crowd… There was another yodeler amongst us! She and the cowboy got into a little bit of a yodeling match, and I would have to say that she won hands down. Everyone in the restaurant broke into applause, and it felt like a very Disney moment!

Up to this point, we haven’t even tasted a bite of food . Dash and Little Mickey couldn’t even drink their drinks because they were delivered without straws. When the yodeling cowboy returned, Dash politely requested a straw. “You want straws, do you?,” the cowboy joked as he threw about twenty straws at the kids. Dash, who is the king of “please” and “thank you”, shot me another confused look. Little Mickey, on the other hand, cracked up and used this as a license for throwing things. You could almost hear his mind working, “Awesome! If the waiter can do it, then I can, too!” This was his kind of place, for sure.

When our food arrived, my DH was as happy as a pig in slop. (This simile works here because he did, in fact, make quite a pig of himself!) He ordered the all-you-can eat skillet which he declared fantastic. The ribs, pulled pork, chicken, and sausage smelled so good that I developed a bad case of entrée envy. Have you ever experienced this? It’s when someone at your table orders a meal that smells and looks ten times better than your own pick! As Swiper would say, “Aww, Man!” (I know you get this reference if you have preschoolers.) I tried to travel the health-conscious route, and selected the sautéed grouper for myself. What was I thinking?! Sheesh, this is a VACATION, after all… My fish was good, but not nearly as impressive as my DH’s feast. He shared his corn bread with me, though… Yum! I also loved the apple cider vinaigrette dressing on the mixed greens salad. As for Dash and Little Mickey, the grilled cheese kids’ meal received two big thumbs up!

As we finished our dinner, cast members started lining kids up for a stick horse race. Our boys hurried to the front of the restaurant, and claimed their wooden ponies. I stayed close by since Little Mickey was one of the younger participants, and I didn’t want him to get trampled by the masses. No worries, though... Little Mickey was definitely bringing it tonight, and he kicked it right into high gear. In fact, he was one of the first to cross the finish line! It was so cute to watch both boys gallop around the restaurant. One of the cast members made all of the children take a funny oath at the end where they promised to eat all their vegetables and never visit Universal Studios, and then he presented them each with a certificate.

Dash and Little Mickey galloped back to the table, and it was time to order dessert. The stick horse race gave Little Mickey a taste of freedom, though, and he no longer wanted to be confined to the likes of a chair. Stuffed, we decided to decline dessert. Cowboy Hill Bill, the yodeler, offered to pack up our desserts for us when we told him that our little guys were getting restless. (He talked us into taking the desserts with us since we were paying for them anyway on the dining plan.) So, we exited with a huge to-go bag filled with two orders of “worms in the dirt” and two pieces of kahlua chocolate cake. (These made great late-night snacks for us later, and the chocolate cake was sooooo good!)

Overall, this was a fantastic meal! Here’s how we rated it:

Food: A (Delicious!)
Fun: A+ (Great time!)
Fast: A (Wonderful service)

Next up: Easy one... Where can you have breakfast with dinosaur theme and a duck?

 

[zurgswife]

Glad you enjoyed your trip to WCC....The cowboy in my siggie picture is our favorite waiter at WCC...actually he is the only waiter I will ever get at WCC. I consider him one of the best shows at Disney..

 

[disneynewbee]

Thanks for the great reviews. We also have kiddos so we'll be going to most of the same restaurants. I love hearing the reviews of the kid friendly restaurants. Guess my kids will love Whispering Canyon since they love any excuse to act up.

 

[nluvwithmickey]

So glad I have an ADR for WCC! I cannot wait to see this for myself. The food seems delicious too.


First CM's, then WCC up next...I guessed it but I won't spill the beans. We have ADR's for all of the restaurants you have been to so far. Can't wait to read what's up next.

 

[swankybeth]

Great reviews! Looking forward to reading your next "mystery" review.

 

[BeckWhy]

OMG How fun was your experience! I love it! I can't wait to have kids to take them there. My bf and I will be eating there in Sept. I am so excited!

 

[kaysmommie]

Great Reviews! We can't wait for our ADR in September. DD6 will probably be a little shocked by some of the antics like your DS was. We also have a DS who just turned 2 and loves Mickey. Your reviews will help me out alot because our kids are around the same age. Alos we have ADR for Chef Mickey's our first night so DS can see Mickey. I guess alot of people think this is a good first meal at WDW.

 

[Tinkerbell_Girl]

Thanks for the great WCC review! I can't wait to eat there in Sept!

 

[misslissa]

I am loving your reviews! Thanks so much. I can't wait to go to WCC, we have never been and it is going to be on the first night of our trip.

 

[bigbabyblues]

You're reviews are great! I had my then 3-yo convinced that the games at Pizza Planet were for big kids, doubt that will fly next time though, he'll be 6 and a lot smarter.....

WCC was on my maybe list, but it got moved to the "must do" after your review, I loved it!

 

[dbenlee]

Glad you enjoyed your trip to WCC....The cowboy in my siggie picture is our favorite waiter at WCC...actually he is the only waiter I will ever get at WCC. I consider him one of the best shows at Disney..

Zurgswife, the cowboy "waiter" in your siggie picture was in top form last year when we were there. A child sitting at one of his tables lost a tooth during dinner. As soon as he found out he called the whole restaurants attention to it. He then proceded to inform all of the children there that if they lost a tooth while at WDW no to expect the tooth fairy to leave them any money. He quickly went on to explain that the tooth fairy had no rights on Disney property and that Tinker Bell did the job of the tooth fairy at WDW and she paid $20 per tooth! You could almost hear a collective gasp from everyone there, the kids with excitement and the adults with dismay. Our DS6 immediately went to work on the one lose tooth he had hoping that it would come out before we left Disney.

kahluacream, these are some great reviews. I look forward to reading your others.

 

[Alexsma]

Wow WCC sound great for our group there are 11 of us we can't wait. Less than 2 weeks our ADR for WCC is dinner our first night there!!! Yeah!! We opted for Chef Mickey's later in the week to wind down the magic

 

[lexmelinda]

Thanks for the fabulous and detailed reviews. I have a little guy, too and I made ADRs at WCC especially for him. I hope he enjoys it as much as your guys did. Can't wait to read your other reviews!

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

Love your reviews! I was having second thoughts about the WCC but now I will be sure to ask for the cowboy. My kids would love him too.

 

[phisigprincess]

I had fun just reading your review, I can only imagine being there!!! I'm making an ADR for WCC in Dec. and opting not to tell DFi what to expect. Should be fun.

 

[NurseGodwin]

Amazing reviews - thanks for sharing your memories with us!

 

[kahluacream]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. Those of you lucky enough to have WCC ADR's will love it! It's definitely on my family's list of restaurants we would like to visit again. And now, here's my latest review:

May 9, 2006
Donald's Breakfastosaurus

I have a little confession to make… Dining with Donald did not appeal to us for the food (which has gotten less than stellar reviews here on the DIS) or for the characters (most of whom we’d met at Chef Mickey’s on our arrival day). It was all about Expedition Everest! Eating early at Donald’s Breakfastosaurus would place us in the middle of the park before it opened to the public, and we hoped to beat the crowds to EE.

When we left the WL by bus, it was raining. When our bus pulled into Disney’s AK, it was pouring!!! There was a small queue of Donald’s Breakfast-goers being admitted to the park over on the right side of the entrance. We braved the torrential rain, passed through the turnstiles, and rented a double stroller before sloshing across the bridge into Dinoland. There were some poncho-wearing Cast Members lining the path to the restaurant and directing us where to go. “Take your time at the buffet,” one CM told us. “None of the rides will operate as long as there is thunder.” Awww man! So much for EE, I thought.

As we approached the restaurant, a sizeable crowd of wet and hungry people waited to be seated. DH went to check us in as I parked our stroller. I spotted some empty tables on the front porch of the restaurant. The challenge, however, was getting Dash and Little Mickey out of the pouring rain with the entrance blocked by everyone waiting to check in. A man sitting with his family on the porch saw the desperate look on my face, and offered to help. I hoisted my children over the railing and into the arms of a complete stranger, and then climbed over to join them. I still haven’t figured out the answer to this little conundrum: Do nicer-than-regular people visit Disney World or does being in Disney World just make regular people nicer??? Whatever the case, I was as grateful for this nice man’s help as I was for finally being dry again!

Within a matter of minutes, a CM called our name to be seated. She ushered in four or five groups of people at the same time. Mr. Nice’s family was seated at the table right next to ours. Our server invited all of us to start at the buffet before the lines got long, and said that she would be back for our drink order.

Up until now, our vacation breakfasts had consisted mostly of cold cereal and Pop Tarts. The big buffets in front of us looked really good, and it was a nice change of pace from grabbing something on the go. The “cold” line contained fruits and yogurt along with an assortment of bagels, muffins, croissants, and—my weakness—Krispy Kreme doughnuts. There was a second hot buffet with a much longer line. (It moved quickly, though.) Little Mickey headed straight for the bacon, while I managed to serve myself some quiche and breakfast potatoes. DH loaded up on the breakfast pizza and some eggs. Something seemed to be wrong with Dash; he didn’t want to eat much of anything.

Once seated back at the table, we got started on our meal before the characters arrived. I don’t know if it was the lack of quality breakfasts we had been eating in our room or the whole cold, rainy morning thing; but this hot breakfast tasted surprisingly good to me. There was no need to rush due to the weather, so we just took our time and enjoyed being together. We looked around the restaurant a bit, and pointed out some of the dinosaur bones and decorations to our dino-loving boys. Aside from hanging prehistoric-themed decorations on the walls and dressing the characters in dinosaur print shirts, Disney didn’t really seem to do as much with the whole dino theme as they could have here.

Anyway, Goofy ambled over to our table first. As he posed for pictures with our kiddos, Dash started patting his face. I got a really cute shot of him inspecting Goofy’s whiskers! Donald, Mickey, and Pluto also joined us for photos. They came and went pretty quickly, without quite as much interaction as we had from the characters over at Chef Mickey’s. The boys were happy just to meet Pluto for the first time, and added his autograph to their collection. Nice man’s wife, seated beside us, asked if I could take a picture of their family with Mickey. It felt good to be able to help them after Mr. Nice saved us from the rain!

At this point in the meal, we noticed that Dash had not eaten anything. I asked him if he wanted a doughnut, and he even turned that down. DH and I looked at each other and came to the only logical conclusion…. If he’s refusing Krispy Kremes, Dash must be sick! His forehead felt warm, so we decided to get the check. Our waitress gave us directions to the first aid center where, she explained, a registered nurse could take his temperature and administer a dose of Children’s Tylenol or Motrin. We thanked her, said goodbye to the nice family, and made a quick exit into what was now just a light mist of rain.

Here’s how we rated this character breakfast:
Food: B (B is for Better than expected!!)
Fun: B- (Character visits were a little brief IMHO.)
Fast: B (Pretty good overall.)

Next up: We’re headed to Africa for a tasty lunch… Can you guess where?

 

[gshumaker]

Thanks for the great reviews....keep 'em coming!!

 

[swankybeth]

Great review, looking forward to the next one. Hope little Dash was ok!