bellarella
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2005
Just got back and thought I'd add my $.02 on dining reviews, since I was always looking for them when I planned.
Day One:
Kona Cafe for late lunch. Walked up with no PS, were seated within 5 minutes. Good chicken sandwich, not a great mahi mahi sandwich. We didn't order that well because the other food looked fabulous.
Chef Mickey's for dinner. Had 8:30 PS, showed up at 6:30 and were seated within 15 mins. By far the worst meal we had. Even for buffet food this was bad. Peel and eat shrimp were floppy, prime rib was flavorless and tough (though DH said his was good, he got a very rare piece), kids hot dogs looked really scary, petite fours were flavorless. I am glad we got this meal "over with" early because it was soon forgotten. The character interaction was good and it did serve its purpose calm down the kids about seeing characters. For food though, I would not return.
Day Two:
Poly Room Service for Breakfast: Food was very good. Mickey waffles were fresh and crisp, good OJ (not from concentrate), Tonga Toast didn't float our boat, but we aren't huge banana fans.
Counter Service at MGM for lunch. I can't remember the name of the place, it was right around the corner from Brown Derby. We were too early for sandwiches (started at 11:30 and we were there at 11:15). Just grabbed yogurt and bagel and muffin.
Afternoon Tea at GF Garden Room. Very beautiful. DH ordered the Edwardian Tea and found it to be quite filling, with a nice glass of port. I wasn't totally impressed with the regular tea selection, though I must admit I'm not a huge fan of tea sandwiches to begin with. I love the atmosphere of high tea, though. Mrs. Potts Tea was very nice for the girls. Warning, they do have them drink from real china and the pot of chocolate milk, really is a pot of chocolate milk. The only downside here was that we did not a have a good waitress. She was not tuned into children at all. Most waitresses know to keep the clip going pretty well when you see two small children at a table. We were ignored without food or beverage, or even our order taken for quite some time and there were no crayons for the girls to keep them occupied. This, however, was a flaw of our waitress in particular, as we saw the others were much more attentive.
Dinner Captain Cooks. Standard food court hamburger. Nothing to write home about. Depressing atmosphere. Hopefully it will get updated soon.
Day Three
Breakfast in room with cereal brought from home.
Crystal Palace for Lunch. Definately make PS here if you want to eat. They were turning away walk ins right and left. This was a fabulous meal, especially considering it was buffet. The choices were fresh and flavorful. They had a nice carving station of steak and pork and some nice skillet pasta items. The salad bar had good choices and the desserts were very good. Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eyeore were all making the rounds and led one parade while we were there. The atmosphere, despite being loud, was very cool and refreshing, espeically if you get seated by a window.
Tomorrowland Noodle Station for dinner. Unfortunately we ordered poorly here too. The Chicken Noodle bowl was fine, but not great and more broothy than we had wanted. It looked like the stir fry bowl would have been a better bet.
Kona Cafe take out for late snack. Due to the disappointment at the Noodle Station, we were hungry an hour later (we had originally just split a bowl because we were still full from CP for lunch). We got the crab cakes and spicy wings at Kona and took them back to our room (the kids got a hot dog from Captain Cooks). Both appetizers were very good and made me wish again that we had time for a full meal there.
Day Four
Poly Room Service. Again very good, though I was bummed that the danish for the Continental breakfast was cheese (bleh -- but I don't like any cheese danishes).
Rainforest Cafe for lunch at the AK. Typical Rainforest Cafe food. Overpriced, but it was the one restaurant my DD was specifically asking for and it fit into our itenarary well. We had PS but they were basically worthless. We still waited about 15-20 mins for a table, even though half the restaurant was empty. The portions were huge and good, but not worth the money, IMHO (I much prefer Cheesecake Factory for this sort of meal).
1900 Park Faire for Dinner. PS on this Cinderella dinner were all booked up when we tried making them in advance. When we were at GF for our tea, I noticed that the restaurant was quite empty at about 4:30 and asked if that was typical. They said they couldn't guarantee anything, but that would be a good time to check. DH was great and went over with DD4. I expected just the two of them would eat since DD2 was napping. He managed to sweet talk a 5:30 seating for all four of us despite not having PS. Once again this place had great food for a buffet. Some of it was similar fare as Chef Mickeys, but actually fresh and cooked properly. Plus they had more interesting and better executed entree offerings. The pork with cherry and apple chutney was very good and the prime rib looked good here. Definately save room for dessert here. There selection wasn't as large as some of the other buffets, but each choice was superb. Their bread pudding was excellent and the key lime tart was also very good. The apple cobbler was hot and cooked just right. Good interaction with the characters as well.
Day Five
Accidentally skipped breakfast. The kids had some cereal. We had planned to grab something at Main Street Bakery, but left when we saw the line (others obviously had the same idea).
Snack of Funnel Cake. This is the second time we stopped at the counter service at the entrance to Liberty Square off of the circle in front of the Castle. They have great funnel cakes there. They are made fresh and are definately large enough to split (though I also could have eaten one on my own).
Lunch at CRT. It was very nice to go to lunch here. This is another one that you probably need to have PS for. The atmosphere alone is worth it. While lunch wasn't a character meal, Cinderella was in the lobby before going up to the restaurant. They don't make any guarantees about this, though. The food, while good, I didn't think was great. The flavoring of the dishes was rather heavy handed and would have benefitted from more subtlety. Portions were huge though and we ended up boxing a good portion of my meal (since we were leaving the park after lunch).
Leftovers for Dinner. We nibbled on the food left from lunch so that we could have....
Dessert at Kona Cafe. We went in for dessert only (didn't want to risk filling up by having dinner first.
). The volcano cake was very good as was the chocolate macademia nut tart. I wish I had room to try the guava mousse as well. Our DDs split the mickey cone which was a huge hit -- a free standing waffle cone surrounded by cotton candy and M&Ms filled with one scoop of chocolate and once scoop of vanilla ice cream, finished with a chocolate Mickey.
Day Six
Breakfast at 'Ohanna. I found this to be just "ok." Standard breakfast fare served family style, but no pancakes which is what the kids really wanted (but it did have Mickey waffles). It was one last chance for the kids to see the characters before we left and an easy way to spend the morning of our departure.
That's all! Feel free to ask any questions.
Day One:
Kona Cafe for late lunch. Walked up with no PS, were seated within 5 minutes. Good chicken sandwich, not a great mahi mahi sandwich. We didn't order that well because the other food looked fabulous.
Chef Mickey's for dinner. Had 8:30 PS, showed up at 6:30 and were seated within 15 mins. By far the worst meal we had. Even for buffet food this was bad. Peel and eat shrimp were floppy, prime rib was flavorless and tough (though DH said his was good, he got a very rare piece), kids hot dogs looked really scary, petite fours were flavorless. I am glad we got this meal "over with" early because it was soon forgotten. The character interaction was good and it did serve its purpose calm down the kids about seeing characters. For food though, I would not return.
Day Two:
Poly Room Service for Breakfast: Food was very good. Mickey waffles were fresh and crisp, good OJ (not from concentrate), Tonga Toast didn't float our boat, but we aren't huge banana fans.
Counter Service at MGM for lunch. I can't remember the name of the place, it was right around the corner from Brown Derby. We were too early for sandwiches (started at 11:30 and we were there at 11:15). Just grabbed yogurt and bagel and muffin.
Afternoon Tea at GF Garden Room. Very beautiful. DH ordered the Edwardian Tea and found it to be quite filling, with a nice glass of port. I wasn't totally impressed with the regular tea selection, though I must admit I'm not a huge fan of tea sandwiches to begin with. I love the atmosphere of high tea, though. Mrs. Potts Tea was very nice for the girls. Warning, they do have them drink from real china and the pot of chocolate milk, really is a pot of chocolate milk. The only downside here was that we did not a have a good waitress. She was not tuned into children at all. Most waitresses know to keep the clip going pretty well when you see two small children at a table. We were ignored without food or beverage, or even our order taken for quite some time and there were no crayons for the girls to keep them occupied. This, however, was a flaw of our waitress in particular, as we saw the others were much more attentive.
Dinner Captain Cooks. Standard food court hamburger. Nothing to write home about. Depressing atmosphere. Hopefully it will get updated soon.
Day Three
Breakfast in room with cereal brought from home.
Crystal Palace for Lunch. Definately make PS here if you want to eat. They were turning away walk ins right and left. This was a fabulous meal, especially considering it was buffet. The choices were fresh and flavorful. They had a nice carving station of steak and pork and some nice skillet pasta items. The salad bar had good choices and the desserts were very good. Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eyeore were all making the rounds and led one parade while we were there. The atmosphere, despite being loud, was very cool and refreshing, espeically if you get seated by a window.
Tomorrowland Noodle Station for dinner. Unfortunately we ordered poorly here too. The Chicken Noodle bowl was fine, but not great and more broothy than we had wanted. It looked like the stir fry bowl would have been a better bet.
Kona Cafe take out for late snack. Due to the disappointment at the Noodle Station, we were hungry an hour later (we had originally just split a bowl because we were still full from CP for lunch). We got the crab cakes and spicy wings at Kona and took them back to our room (the kids got a hot dog from Captain Cooks). Both appetizers were very good and made me wish again that we had time for a full meal there.
Day Four
Poly Room Service. Again very good, though I was bummed that the danish for the Continental breakfast was cheese (bleh -- but I don't like any cheese danishes).
Rainforest Cafe for lunch at the AK. Typical Rainforest Cafe food. Overpriced, but it was the one restaurant my DD was specifically asking for and it fit into our itenarary well. We had PS but they were basically worthless. We still waited about 15-20 mins for a table, even though half the restaurant was empty. The portions were huge and good, but not worth the money, IMHO (I much prefer Cheesecake Factory for this sort of meal).
1900 Park Faire for Dinner. PS on this Cinderella dinner were all booked up when we tried making them in advance. When we were at GF for our tea, I noticed that the restaurant was quite empty at about 4:30 and asked if that was typical. They said they couldn't guarantee anything, but that would be a good time to check. DH was great and went over with DD4. I expected just the two of them would eat since DD2 was napping. He managed to sweet talk a 5:30 seating for all four of us despite not having PS. Once again this place had great food for a buffet. Some of it was similar fare as Chef Mickeys, but actually fresh and cooked properly. Plus they had more interesting and better executed entree offerings. The pork with cherry and apple chutney was very good and the prime rib looked good here. Definately save room for dessert here. There selection wasn't as large as some of the other buffets, but each choice was superb. Their bread pudding was excellent and the key lime tart was also very good. The apple cobbler was hot and cooked just right. Good interaction with the characters as well.
Day Five
Accidentally skipped breakfast. The kids had some cereal. We had planned to grab something at Main Street Bakery, but left when we saw the line (others obviously had the same idea).
Snack of Funnel Cake. This is the second time we stopped at the counter service at the entrance to Liberty Square off of the circle in front of the Castle. They have great funnel cakes there. They are made fresh and are definately large enough to split (though I also could have eaten one on my own).
Lunch at CRT. It was very nice to go to lunch here. This is another one that you probably need to have PS for. The atmosphere alone is worth it. While lunch wasn't a character meal, Cinderella was in the lobby before going up to the restaurant. They don't make any guarantees about this, though. The food, while good, I didn't think was great. The flavoring of the dishes was rather heavy handed and would have benefitted from more subtlety. Portions were huge though and we ended up boxing a good portion of my meal (since we were leaving the park after lunch).
Leftovers for Dinner. We nibbled on the food left from lunch so that we could have....
Dessert at Kona Cafe. We went in for dessert only (didn't want to risk filling up by having dinner first.
). The volcano cake was very good as was the chocolate macademia nut tart. I wish I had room to try the guava mousse as well. Our DDs split the mickey cone which was a huge hit -- a free standing waffle cone surrounded by cotton candy and M&Ms filled with one scoop of chocolate and once scoop of vanilla ice cream, finished with a chocolate Mickey.Day Six
Breakfast at 'Ohanna. I found this to be just "ok." Standard breakfast fare served family style, but no pancakes which is what the kids really wanted (but it did have Mickey waffles). It was one last chance for the kids to see the characters before we left and an easy way to spend the morning of our departure.
That's all! Feel free to ask any questions.
