Frist-thanks so much-I read so many of your reviews on here when making my ADRs. A big, big, big, Thanks to all you DISers out there!
RESTAURANT REPORT:
Day 1: Lunch at Big River Brewing on BW: Burgers and sodas and a yummy desert-Everything was fine-not spectacular but it was cool to eat outside and have a microbrew while watching the boats come in and out of the lake.
Dinner: Hoop Dee Doo Review-Favorite Dinner Show-DD loved the fried chicken and DH loved the ribs-I loved the cornbread-I dream about that butter on that cornbread. So good. Strawberry shortcake was enjoyed by DD-I had a bite but was so full of cornbread! Hahaha-Service here was excellent.
Day 2: Breakfast at Kouzzina: Good Waffles. Good coffee-we love coffee-and besides this place-we enjoyed our own homemade coffee in our room because Disney coffee is severly lacking most of the time.
Lunch: At BCV at Stormalong Bay. Veggie wrap (soooo good) and Hot dog(DD ate it in 3 bites)
Dinner: Fantasmic Package at Brown Derby. Was soooo nervous-heard some bad reviews of Brown Derby. Tried to change it to Mama Melrose several times-However-we really enjoyed it! Service was great too. We had the Cobb Salad for 2(fab!) I had the pork and DH had the filet. We loved the Spaetzle with the pork and my DH's Steak was excellent! Creme Brulee and cheesecake was yummy and DD loved the biscotti! This was a signature restaurant and felt it lived up to its signature status. BTW-Fantasmic Package is totally worth it. We walked into the show at 6pm for the 6:30pm show and sat in our prereserved seats and heard that people had waited 3 hours to get into it. I totally recommend booking this package.
Day 3: Breakfast: Cinderella's Royal Table lived up to its expectations. DD loved meeting Cindy, we loved being in the castle-so beautiful! We loved the pictures we got with the breakfast and DD loved her magic wand and the sparkles and little decorations all over the table. DD loved seing Cindy, Jasmine, Belle, Snow White. We decided this breakfast food was not our favorite. It was eggs, sausage, potatoes-standard american breakfast. It was fine-but not outstanding.
Lunch: We made our one planning mistake and took DD to lunch at Tonys Place in MK after playing in MK all morning. It was about 2pm. She had a complete meltdown. If you happened to be dining in Tonys place last week and heard and saw a little Cinderella having a complete tantrum -I am sorry-I am SO sorry! The waiter was obviously a little annoyed with us but he could have been a little nicer. The hostess/manager was fantastic, she brought over little toys and things to cheer DD up while we were trying to get the bill and get out of there but really-all DD needed was a nap. From that point on-we made it a POINT to always be back in the room between 1-2pm for naptime. We cancelled any lunch plans that interrupted with that schedule. DD was her normal angelic self the rest of the trip. Don't fight the nap people.
Dinner: Le Cellier: We had a 7:20pm adr-however we had to wait 30minutes for our table. We had the Cheddar Cheese Soup which lives up to its great name and the caesar salad. I had the filet mignon (minus the truffle oil-and the chef didn't mind me asking to remove it) which I liked-I didn't love the mushroom risotto, and DH had a nice steak. Our waiter was overworked and forgot to bring our bottle of wine. This was our only dinner alone and we were disappointed that that the service here was not as good as elsewhere. Our food was fine. Our deserts were yummy. We just weren't impressed with the service. I was expecting more here since they were so highly reviewed.
Day 4: Breakfast: Liberty Tree Tavern: Breakfast was standard american breakfast but it seemed better than CRT. Characters were great-Goofy, Chip and Dale, Minnie, Pluto.
Lunch: We skipped lunch and did snacks. Pretzels, ice cream(auntie gravity's icecream was the best!, turkey legs (my favorite snack in Disney is the turkey leg but this is not on DDP-I paid out of pocket)
Dinner: Biergarten: We loved the selection of the German Food at Biergarten DD loved her sausages-DH did too. I loved all the potato salads and macaroni salads and my sausage too! I did a beer tasting-and loved that too-they give you 4 little glasses to try- DD and I danced all night together to the German band playing and we loved sitting with the other family at our table-we really loved Biergarten-I highly recommend it. We got there at 5:45pm for our adr and didn't leave til 8:45pm-we really loved it!
Day 5:Breakfast: Akershus in Norway -Princess breakfast. DD loved the food at this breakfast as did I. You had a nice selection at this buffet. We ate granola (DD ate two bowls!) and yogurt and Hard boiled eggs-such a nice change from fried eggs and sausage. DH loved the eggs and sausage again-but that is my DH
I am going to risk it and say this: We could have done Akershus and not done CRT. We saw Cinderella at Akershus too. And Jasmine, and Belle, and Ariel, and Snow White. The food was better, the princesses were the same. And we got pictures to take home. Only difference was the location was prettier at the Castle and DD got a wand at CRT. If you are wavering on CRT and Akershus and don't want to spend the 2 TS per person on CRT-I would go with Akershus. Just my own opinion. Please don't flame me.
Lunch: Coral Reef: Fantastic location-we got a seat right next to the Glass of the underwater Aquarium-DD spent the whole time watching the fish and the divers-However-this was the worst meal of our trip. Don't-repeat-Don't get the crab cakes-I couldn't even swallow the first bite-they were awful.
DH had mixed greens salad which was fine. DH had short rib which was fine but I had Strip steak which was tough. Almost all the deserts have alcohol in them which is not ideal for a 2 year old to share so we ordered an icecream sundae from kids menu but it was just ok. DH had a mousse in a cup thing but it had booze in it and i didn't care for the taste. We were at Coral Reef for over 2 hours. It took forever for our meals to come out and to get the bill. The waiter was nice-but the service was very slow.
Dinner:Teppan Eddo: We all loved this meal. We eat at hibachi restaurants all the time at home too. Teppan lived up to our standards. DD loved the edamame and rice and DH and I had steak and chicken. We had the the tempura appetizer too-fabulous. Service was out of this world good.
We again loved sitting with other families and sharing Disney experience with other people.
Day 6: Breakfast: Tusker House Character Breakfast in AK with Donald Duck. Hands down, this was our FAVORITE character breakfast. Characters were awesome-we danced in a mini parade around the retaurant with noisemakers, and the selection at this buffet was AMAZING. I couldn't believe it was only 1 TBS. DD, DH, and I ate and ate and ate. Our waitress was so helpful and so nice too. I highly recommend this breakfast.
Lunch: We were still stuffed from breakfast but we stopped at the Tamu Tamu burger shack in Africa at AK and had the best cheeseburgers and chocolate shakes in Disney World. It says alot about how good the food is at Tamu that we finished those burgers and shakes after the huge breakfast we had.
Dinner:Captains Grille-The Yacht Club Resort. I don't know if it was because this was a our last dinner-but this was my favorite restaurant. DH and I shared the Captain's tasting for two-the shrimp were excellent-the bruschetta was so good and the onion tart was incredible. DH and I had steaks. They were perfectly cooked. My rib eye steak had an herb butter on it to die for and my garlic mashed potatoes were the best I have ever eaten!
DD loved the Homemade Gelato and we loved the chocolate cheesecake. Service was excellent. Again, I was surprised that this was only a 1 TBS dinner. It was totally signature in my book. The Yacht Club was so nice too-having dinner there made me definitely want to stay there at some point.
Day 7: Breakfast-latte from Boardwalk Bakery with croissant, mickey mouse chocolate chiop banana bread, and cinnamon bun. Loved every pastry and my latte was fantastic. Next trip on the Basic Dining plan-I am coming here more often for breakfast. Pastries were one snack and if you get the refillable mugs-free coffee. Cereal with milk was one snack too. I thought this place worked very well for the dining plan snacks for breakfast.
BTW-the Au Bon Pain at MCO is really good. I got a tomato, basil, mozzarella sandwich for me and DH to share and a fruit cup and a cheese cracker and fruit box for DD to eat on plane and she loved it. And that meal only cost us $14.00
So that is my very long report. Thank you to all of you for your recommendations and help planning our trip. I hope my report helps someone out there!
RESTAURANT REPORT:
Day 1: Lunch at Big River Brewing on BW: Burgers and sodas and a yummy desert-Everything was fine-not spectacular but it was cool to eat outside and have a microbrew while watching the boats come in and out of the lake.
Dinner: Hoop Dee Doo Review-Favorite Dinner Show-DD loved the fried chicken and DH loved the ribs-I loved the cornbread-I dream about that butter on that cornbread. So good. Strawberry shortcake was enjoyed by DD-I had a bite but was so full of cornbread! Hahaha-Service here was excellent.
Day 2: Breakfast at Kouzzina: Good Waffles. Good coffee-we love coffee-and besides this place-we enjoyed our own homemade coffee in our room because Disney coffee is severly lacking most of the time.
Lunch: At BCV at Stormalong Bay. Veggie wrap (soooo good) and Hot dog(DD ate it in 3 bites)
Dinner: Fantasmic Package at Brown Derby. Was soooo nervous-heard some bad reviews of Brown Derby. Tried to change it to Mama Melrose several times-However-we really enjoyed it! Service was great too. We had the Cobb Salad for 2(fab!) I had the pork and DH had the filet. We loved the Spaetzle with the pork and my DH's Steak was excellent! Creme Brulee and cheesecake was yummy and DD loved the biscotti! This was a signature restaurant and felt it lived up to its signature status. BTW-Fantasmic Package is totally worth it. We walked into the show at 6pm for the 6:30pm show and sat in our prereserved seats and heard that people had waited 3 hours to get into it. I totally recommend booking this package.
Day 3: Breakfast: Cinderella's Royal Table lived up to its expectations. DD loved meeting Cindy, we loved being in the castle-so beautiful! We loved the pictures we got with the breakfast and DD loved her magic wand and the sparkles and little decorations all over the table. DD loved seing Cindy, Jasmine, Belle, Snow White. We decided this breakfast food was not our favorite. It was eggs, sausage, potatoes-standard american breakfast. It was fine-but not outstanding.
Lunch: We made our one planning mistake and took DD to lunch at Tonys Place in MK after playing in MK all morning. It was about 2pm. She had a complete meltdown. If you happened to be dining in Tonys place last week and heard and saw a little Cinderella having a complete tantrum -I am sorry-I am SO sorry! The waiter was obviously a little annoyed with us but he could have been a little nicer. The hostess/manager was fantastic, she brought over little toys and things to cheer DD up while we were trying to get the bill and get out of there but really-all DD needed was a nap. From that point on-we made it a POINT to always be back in the room between 1-2pm for naptime. We cancelled any lunch plans that interrupted with that schedule. DD was her normal angelic self the rest of the trip. Don't fight the nap people.
Dinner: Le Cellier: We had a 7:20pm adr-however we had to wait 30minutes for our table. We had the Cheddar Cheese Soup which lives up to its great name and the caesar salad. I had the filet mignon (minus the truffle oil-and the chef didn't mind me asking to remove it) which I liked-I didn't love the mushroom risotto, and DH had a nice steak. Our waiter was overworked and forgot to bring our bottle of wine. This was our only dinner alone and we were disappointed that that the service here was not as good as elsewhere. Our food was fine. Our deserts were yummy. We just weren't impressed with the service. I was expecting more here since they were so highly reviewed.
Day 4: Breakfast: Liberty Tree Tavern: Breakfast was standard american breakfast but it seemed better than CRT. Characters were great-Goofy, Chip and Dale, Minnie, Pluto.
Lunch: We skipped lunch and did snacks. Pretzels, ice cream(auntie gravity's icecream was the best!, turkey legs (my favorite snack in Disney is the turkey leg but this is not on DDP-I paid out of pocket)
Dinner: Biergarten: We loved the selection of the German Food at Biergarten DD loved her sausages-DH did too. I loved all the potato salads and macaroni salads and my sausage too! I did a beer tasting-and loved that too-they give you 4 little glasses to try- DD and I danced all night together to the German band playing and we loved sitting with the other family at our table-we really loved Biergarten-I highly recommend it. We got there at 5:45pm for our adr and didn't leave til 8:45pm-we really loved it!
Day 5:Breakfast: Akershus in Norway -Princess breakfast. DD loved the food at this breakfast as did I. You had a nice selection at this buffet. We ate granola (DD ate two bowls!) and yogurt and Hard boiled eggs-such a nice change from fried eggs and sausage. DH loved the eggs and sausage again-but that is my DH
I am going to risk it and say this: We could have done Akershus and not done CRT. We saw Cinderella at Akershus too. And Jasmine, and Belle, and Ariel, and Snow White. The food was better, the princesses were the same. And we got pictures to take home. Only difference was the location was prettier at the Castle and DD got a wand at CRT. If you are wavering on CRT and Akershus and don't want to spend the 2 TS per person on CRT-I would go with Akershus. Just my own opinion. Please don't flame me.
Lunch: Coral Reef: Fantastic location-we got a seat right next to the Glass of the underwater Aquarium-DD spent the whole time watching the fish and the divers-However-this was the worst meal of our trip. Don't-repeat-Don't get the crab cakes-I couldn't even swallow the first bite-they were awful.
DH had mixed greens salad which was fine. DH had short rib which was fine but I had Strip steak which was tough. Almost all the deserts have alcohol in them which is not ideal for a 2 year old to share so we ordered an icecream sundae from kids menu but it was just ok. DH had a mousse in a cup thing but it had booze in it and i didn't care for the taste. We were at Coral Reef for over 2 hours. It took forever for our meals to come out and to get the bill. The waiter was nice-but the service was very slow.
Dinner:Teppan Eddo: We all loved this meal. We eat at hibachi restaurants all the time at home too. Teppan lived up to our standards. DD loved the edamame and rice and DH and I had steak and chicken. We had the the tempura appetizer too-fabulous. Service was out of this world good.
We again loved sitting with other families and sharing Disney experience with other people.
Day 6: Breakfast: Tusker House Character Breakfast in AK with Donald Duck. Hands down, this was our FAVORITE character breakfast. Characters were awesome-we danced in a mini parade around the retaurant with noisemakers, and the selection at this buffet was AMAZING. I couldn't believe it was only 1 TBS. DD, DH, and I ate and ate and ate. Our waitress was so helpful and so nice too. I highly recommend this breakfast.
Lunch: We were still stuffed from breakfast but we stopped at the Tamu Tamu burger shack in Africa at AK and had the best cheeseburgers and chocolate shakes in Disney World. It says alot about how good the food is at Tamu that we finished those burgers and shakes after the huge breakfast we had.
Dinner:Captains Grille-The Yacht Club Resort. I don't know if it was because this was a our last dinner-but this was my favorite restaurant. DH and I shared the Captain's tasting for two-the shrimp were excellent-the bruschetta was so good and the onion tart was incredible. DH and I had steaks. They were perfectly cooked. My rib eye steak had an herb butter on it to die for and my garlic mashed potatoes were the best I have ever eaten!
DD loved the Homemade Gelato and we loved the chocolate cheesecake. Service was excellent. Again, I was surprised that this was only a 1 TBS dinner. It was totally signature in my book. The Yacht Club was so nice too-having dinner there made me definitely want to stay there at some point.
Day 7: Breakfast-latte from Boardwalk Bakery with croissant, mickey mouse chocolate chiop banana bread, and cinnamon bun. Loved every pastry and my latte was fantastic. Next trip on the Basic Dining plan-I am coming here more often for breakfast. Pastries were one snack and if you get the refillable mugs-free coffee. Cereal with milk was one snack too. I thought this place worked very well for the dining plan snacks for breakfast.
BTW-the Au Bon Pain at MCO is really good. I got a tomato, basil, mozzarella sandwich for me and DH to share and a fruit cup and a cheese cracker and fruit box for DD to eat on plane and she loved it. And that meal only cost us $14.00
So that is my very long report. Thank you to all of you for your recommendations and help planning our trip. I hope my report helps someone out there!
