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

[mgentry210]

Last part of Victoria and Alberts - Desserts!
They have a very cool reverse osmosis coffee pot that they place on the table. These are really popular in Scandinavia. The one they use is like $300, but I found a stove top one on Amazon Prime for less than $40. It works exactly the same. Hubby loves coffee and that was his Christmas present two years ago.

First dessert was Citrus Timbale with Violet Sherbet
Light and fresh and delicious. It was perfect to transition from the rich beef course. The violet sherbert was slightly floral but not overpowering. It was a wonderful dessert but we were all waiting for the next course...

Peruvian Chocolate Timbale with Roasted White Chocolate Gelato
That roasted white chocolate gelato is the stuff of dreams! This is our 3rd time having this dessert and its a classic for a reason. So delicious! I can't eat ice cream usually (lactose intolerant) but I made an exception for this! I really don't know how she gets the texture on the gelato. Its decadent but light and smooth all at the same time. I did try making this one at home too for Thanksgiving and was pretty proud of how it turned out until I had this again. I need to go back to the recipe trials. If anyone wants to try, the trick to roasting white chocolate is the fat content. The higher the better. I wouldn't use anything less than 30%. You can find it at King Arthur or even Amazon. Hubby just said as I am typing this. It's his favorite dessert EVER!

Last course! “Celebes” Coffee, Tea and Friandises
By now we are all beyond full. I did eat one of the salted caramel ones. The red ones in foil are cherries soaked in some kind of alcohol. Perfect for breakfast the next morning! We boxed them up and I would up eating them one afternoon while everyone else was napping.

Wrapping it up... Wonderful experience! They gave us roses as we left that Sierra loved. One note - there was no take home bread time time. Not sure if that's specific to the chef's table or if they stopped doing it. Not a big deal because we are usually so full the next day anyway!

The chef's table is a completely different experience from the Queen Victoria room. Not better, just different more casual. I did really enjoy interacting with all the staff. I think since the menu hasn't changed a lot in 3 visits, its time to take a break unless they revamp it! Maybe just do the regular dining room. It looks like you have more choices. If you can manage to book it, we highly recommend it! There is only one table per night so its a tough ADR to get!

 

[auntfrannie]

I remember the herbed brioche bread and agree with you that it's the best bread ever! Looks like you had an amazing evening. Thanks for sharing your review!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

What an epic trip! Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Pfau]

A sauvignon blanc with bison is incredible. The earthiness of the meat and the crispness of the grape is perfection. I'm not typically a white wine drinker but will always choose this combination. How wonderful!

And - how wonderful that you exposed a young lady to such an exquisite meal. What did she think of it?

 

[DisneyJo]

Wow what a great experience, I wish I wasn't so fussy with my food and wealthier

If you're ever in London try and book the chefs table at Claridges, it's amazing

 

[mgentry210]

A sauvignon blanc with bison is incredible. The earthiness of the meat and the crispness of the grape is perfection. I'm not typically a white wine drinker but will always choose this combination. How wonderful!

And - how wonderful that you exposed a young lady to such an exquisite meal. What did she think of it?

All of the wine pairings were wonderful! That sav blanc was especially well balanced. Very crisp, but it didn't have that sharp edge that some of them can have. It worked great!

I was really proud of Sierra. She loved the meal and ate everything. She is normally a chicken fingers/fast food kind of girl, but this trip she really branched out and tried a ton of new food. To take a younger person to this type of meal they either need to be a budding chef/foodie or ready to try new foods. She definitely fell in the second category.

 

[luvpooh]

Sigh...I hope I can get back to V&A's soon. I think I've been 5 times, 1 being at the chef's table, but my last visit was in 2007 on my 30th birthday (and shortly after getting engaged) so it's been awhile. If our 2017 trip winds up being to WDW, I may have to consider putting DS in the kid's club and going again!

Thank you for sharing your review, as well as the others. I agree with previous posters, you're a great aunt and uncle!

 

[kastoney]

Thank you so much for sharing. You have a definite gift for describing food that is very much appreciated. We are doing V&A for the first time in September for our anniversary and you just got me oh so excited ; ) We're just doing the regular dining room largely so we don't have to leave our daughter in child care for so long, but I'm uber excited anyway.

We both did the wine pairings. It's not for the light weight drinkers. I drink a glass of wine pretty much every night with dinner so it was OK for me, but I was tipsy at the end. Definitely not able to drive. We went back to the hotel after and I fell right asleep. Full and tipsy!

Sounds like the perfect evening to me!

One interesting note is that it is served with a mother of pearl spoon so the flavor of silver will not effect the taste of the caviar.

We had something very similar at another restaurant a few years back and I still remember it right down to that perfect little spoon.

It was a very interesting pairing of Sauvigon Blanc and bison and then throw in kumquats.

Wow, that is an interesting pairing though it sounds like it works. You gotta know what you're doing to have sauvignon blanc with bison and pinot noir with chicken.

Another surprising wine pairing as well. Lamb and riesling? You would think no way, but this wine was pretty balanced and the sweetness of the wine paired perfect with the smoke and spice from the curry. Another success!

This sounds amazing. First, I love lamb but with smokiness and curry it sounds and looks amazing.

Next up was Poached Chicken Egg with Corn Foam paired with Lafond Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills 2011

I'm a sucker for a poached egg so I would totally love this.

Australian Kobe-Style Beef* with Potato Turnip Gratin

Wow 3 styles of kobe. Impressive!

That roasted white chocolate gelato is the stuff of dreams! This is our 3rd time having this dessert and its a classic for a reason. So delicious! I can't eat ice cream usually (lactose intolerant) but I made an exception for this!

This looks divine, though I'm a bit surprised that haven't had that much turnover on their menu. I'm all for sticking with what works, but for V&A I'd expect a bit more variation.

 

[vettegirl]

Amazing review of the chefs table!

 

[mgentry210]

Wow what a great experience, I wish I wasn't so fussy with my food and wealthier

If you're ever in London try and book the chefs table at Claridges, it's amazing

I will put it on my bucket list!

 

[mgentry210]

Sigh...I hope I can get back to V&A's soon. I think I've been 5 times, 1 being at the chef's table, but my last visit was in 2007 on my 30th birthday (and shortly after getting engaged) so it's been awhile. If our 2017 trip winds up being to WDW, I may have to consider putting DS in the kid's club and going again!

Thank you for sharing your review, as well as the others. I agree with previous posters, you're a great aunt and uncle!

Aww! So sweet thanks. We do love them all! I think we are going to get 2 new nephews this weekend (not the same mom) so our Christmas list just got longer.

Not sure if you saw my review of the Cub's Den or Mickey School as we called it, but she LOVED it! I think she really like the downtime from all the stimulation that is at Disney. She could just play and color or whatever she wanted. We really liked going to dinner without a kid pack in my purse!

 

[mgentry210]

Thank you so much for sharing. You have a definite gift for describing food that is very much appreciated. We are doing V&A for the first time in September for our anniversary and you just got me oh so excited ; ) We're just doing the regular dining room largely so we don't have to leave our daughter in child care for so long, but I'm uber excited anyway.


Sounds like the perfect evening to me!


We had something very similar at another restaurant a few years back and I still remember it right down to that perfect little spoon.


Wow, that is an interesting pairing though it sounds like it works. You gotta know what you're doing to have sauvignon blanc with bison and pinot noir with chicken.


This sounds amazing. First, I love lamb but with smokiness and curry it sounds and looks amazing.


I'm a sucker for a poached egg so I would totally love this.


Wow 3 styles of kobe. Impressive!

This looks divine, though I'm a bit surprised that haven't had that much turnover on their menu. I'm all for sticking with what works, but for V&A I'd expect a bit more variation.

Thanks for reading so far and all of your kind words. I'm always afraid when I do these things if anyone cares. It's a good stress release so I do it for me at least.

You will have a wonderful meal! Enjoy and happy anniversary!

 

[mgentry210]

Next up was an early morning breakfast with Darth Vader. We had a 9a reservation which was pretty poor planning on my part since we did the chef's table the night before. What can you do? You gotta grab a chef's table reservation when you see it. SciFi is a cool restaurant and the only one that Sierra specifically requested. We were all tired from the night before, not to mention full but we marched on. They were packed but pretty much on time which is rare for SciFi. Off for our photo-op! That's a border that I added from the MemoryMaker site.

They started us off with some pastries. I didn't eat the brownie things and the cinnamon swirls were pretty dry. I did like the light sabers though and ate about half of one. They were puff pastry crusted with a slightly cinnamon sugar.

Next you had your choice of fruit and yogurt or fruit salad. Our server made sure to mention that everything was all you can eat and to just ask if we wanted more. Still being so full from the night before the fruit salad hit the spot. I ate 2 and most of Lexi's. Sorry no pic - it's really dark in there. We all also ordered the standard breakfast platter. The potatoes were slightly cheesy and pretty good. Overall it was pretty good. I think we would have enjoyed it more if we weren't still stuffed!

The character action was really great. We saw everyone multiple times. These guys were very funny. Don't ask me what they are called but hubby was thrilled! It was pricey but I think we would be back just because hubby loved it so much.

 

[mgentry210]

We had a full day planned at Star Wars weekends and by noon we were starting to get hungry and thirsty and tired especially since none of us ate much breakfast. We grabbed a table at the Brown Derby lounge. It's in the shade and the table right next to the door gets quite a bit of the AC. I ordered my traditional glass of Fairytale Cuvee because it was our wedding champagne and hubby ordered one of the special Star Wars drinks - mainly for the glow toy. It was really sweet!

Hubby wasn't hungry since he was the only one who actually ate their breakfast. Lexi had a hot dog as usual. She ate most of it. No pic. Sierra and I split the fettuccine. The last time I had this it was terrible. Bland, dry, just yucky. This was pretty much the same. Sierra did like her portion though and ate most of it.

Our waitress saw me not eating and offered to replace it with something else. I changed it up and ordered the crabcakes. They were tasty. Lots of crab and that sauce packed a pretty good kick. Watch out if you don't like spicy foods.

It's a nice place to sit and relax to get out of the heat. Good spot for people watching too. We also had a good view of the stage and saw some of the Star Wars trivia. Hubby loved it. We stop here every trip and will be back. I just won't order the pasta.

 

[mgentry210]

I think is the reservation hubby was the most excited for - maybe even more than Victoria and Alberts. This is for one reason - Darth Goofy! We've never been to Hollywood and Vine before simply because we don't have little kids where the characters would appeal and the reviews on the food are usually pretty bad. Well, here's another one! When you walk in the picture is with Jedi Mickey. He was not a very nice Mickey. Just wanted to take 1-2 pictures and then moved us along.

The food on the buffet was all over the place. There were salads, italian, chinese, wings, classic kid foods. All of it was OK but nothing was done well. There was a Parmesan crusted chicken that was OK and I ate about half the tater tots off Lexi's plate. The tater tots were good and hot. Most of the food felt lukewarm as well. This was hubby's plate. He liked the tots too.

$60 for tater tots! Anyway we were here for the characters and with the exception of Mickey upfront they were fantastic. Probably the best interaction of the week. Chip and Dale were a hoot. Darth Goofy proposed to Lexi. Donald did the PotatoLand Dance (Lexi's favoritw in room short) Lots of fun.

We wrapped it up with some desserts. These were all just pretty sweet and bland. There was one exception and that was the chocolate peanut butter cupcake. The peanut butter frosting was outstanding. Good flavor of peanut, not overly sweet, lightly whipped. That's the only dessert I would order again.

Overall the food was pretty bad with the exception of tater tots and one cupcake frosting. This is not high on my list to return except maybe for the Star Wars dinner. The characters were really excellent. We saw all of them at least 3 times and they were a hoot! I would go only if you really like Star Wars, I mean look at hubby's smile in the Goofy pic. He was in heaven!

 

[mgentry210]

To go along with the Star Wars day for hubby, I went ahead and bought the Feel the Force package. I thought the dessert party would be a nice ending to the day and I HATE waiting in the sun for a parade. We started by picking up our lanyards before breakfast. We also got to pick reserve seating for one show. They picked the Ray Park show.

After breakfast it was almost time for the parade. The parade had a reserved seating area with unlimited coke products, popcorn, Mickey bars and strawberry bars. These were the full sugar strawberry bars. They did not have the no sugar added ones. Too sweet for me! The area was pretty shaded and we at several boxes of popcorn and at least 1 Mickey bar. There is no seating so everyone was sitting right on the pavement.

Once the parade started everyone stood up and shorter folks like Lexi and me had no view at all. We tried for a while, but I eventually took Lexi back out of the crowd and we watched the jumbo screen instead. It was too hot for her to be down there trapped. I would not buy the package only for this perk but it was nice to have a slightly less crowded place to sit.

The final piece of the package is the dessert party. Another poor planning on my part, we had just come from dinner about an hour before. No one was hungry, but we tried some items anyway. I can't remember anything standing out in my mind. The package also includes drinks and one signature adult beverage. The adult beverages were flowing! It was some kind of blue drink and it was fairly sweet and not very strong. I may or may not have slipped Sierra one or two.

All throughout the party there was a dance party that we all loved! The stage show was excellent and we had a perfect view of the fireworks. Wishes will always be my favorite, but the Star Wars was really well done. We loved it! We were going to stay for Fantasmic, but we were tired and maybe a bit tipsy so Fantasmic will have to wait again.

 

[Nancyg56]

I can't believe all that cooking spray on the omelets at Crystal Palace. Crazy.

I'm with you on Be our Guest. I always feel like I'm in the minority here, but the food just isn't great. There is much better to be had throughout the world, though I understand why you did it for the girls. #GoodAuntie ; )

Lapu lapu in the morning. Perfection!!!

I agree about BOG dinner. Once and done for us!

 

[kastoney]

Wow can't believe all the food today! While star wars stuff is generally lost on me, love the disney characters all dressed up like the star wars characters. And POTATOLAND!!!! That is my daughters favorite mickey short. Sorry the food for the day wasn't better though, but it looks like hubby was happy!

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

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

This was so funny - my family loved reading it. We truly love this restaurant and do go even if we are not staying at the WL. We actually request Paul when we go - we feel like he is part of our family. He took a cell phone out of my DD's friends hand and told the person on the phone that it was impolite for her to talk on the phone at the dinner table. He was so so funny. We took a picture with him and said it was going out on our Christmas card. Thanks for your reviews.

 

[miracledaughter]

Joining in, your pictures are making me hungry