Scooter Mom Rides Again! A Thanksgiving DR-Nov.21-25(Updated 12/26-closing thoughts)

[tallen429]

Oh I LOVE Garden Grill! Haven't been in years though.
Everytime I try to fit it into a trip, I either can't get a ressie or the times don't work. I'm thinking of adding it to my upcoming trip with middle DS in January since he's never been.

Looks as wonderful as I remember!

 

[jecskc]

Oh I LOVE Garden Grill! Haven't been in years though.
Everytime I try to fit it into a trip, I either can't get a ressie or the times don't work. I'm thinking of adding it to my upcoming trip with middle DS in January since he's never been.

Looks as wonderful as I remember!

Thanks so much for reading !!

We really loved it, too. It is one of those rare places that will eat well. We had trouble getting a decent ressie as well.

When I saw 3:15 PM on Thanksgiving, I was OK with it. Because I don't really mind eating dinner that early, working some of it off in a park and then eating a late snack if I get hungry later. So I snagged it and we were very happy with it.

 

[pumba]

I love your reviews and photos..
I could eat every morning at the Akershus breakfast...we had a great time last May...and the May before that...hahaha..
Thanks again ..will keep up looking for more FOOD

 

[jecskc]

I love your reviews and photos..
I could eat every morning at the Akershus breakfast...we had a great time last May...and the May before that...hahaha..
Thanks again ..will keep up looking for more FOOD

So glad you are following along.

We really enjoyed our breakfast there.

Thanks for stopping by !!!

 

[rachel09985]

Haha the character interaction was funny with your daughter. I can't believe she was telling Pluto to sit and shake. That is soo funny!!!

We ate at Garden Grill 2 years ago and just weren't impressed! They have changed the menu a bit so maybe that will help. It looks good though right now

 

[jecskc]

Haha the character interaction was funny with your daughter. I can't believe she was telling Pluto to sit and shake. That is soo funny!!!

We ate at Garden Grill 2 years ago and just weren't impressed! They have changed the menu a bit so maybe that will help. It looks good though right now

Well, we have a dog at home that can do all of that stuff, so she wanted to see if Pluto would. And he did !! It was hilarious.

We have been twice. Both times for Thanksgiving. And we enjoyed it both times. But you know, not everybody likes the same things. And that is fine. It makes the world interesting

 

[emmysmommy]

I'm a huge fan of the Akershus breakfast - everything looked sooo good.
Jasmine was very photogenic!

I really want to try Garden Grill sometime since I love Chip & Dale!! I'm not a fan of fish so I would ask to please leave them in a sustainable fashion elsewhere but not on my table!! I love that they did the pumpkin tarts for Thanksgiving - that's aweseome. The cake looks really good too!

Love the character interaction!

 

[jecskc]

I'm a huge fan of the Akershus breakfast - everything looked sooo good.
Jasmine was very photogenic!

I really want to try Garden Grill sometime since I love Chip & Dale!! I'm not a fan of fish so I would ask to please leave them in a sustainable fashion elsewhere but not on my table!! I love that they did the pumpkin tarts for Thanksgiving - that's aweseome. The cake looks really good too!

Love the character interaction!

Yes, we really enjoyed the breakfast there and we were glad it was a hit with everyone. Jasmine was very beautiful. She was DH's favorite

I like fish but something about the sauce on top didn't taste good to me. The medicine I am taking for my ankle makes some things taste funny, especially tomato based things. I am sure any other time I would have liked it. I am sure they would leave off the fish and put more yummy tenderloin on there for you. The tarts were so, so good. That was the only pumpkin I have had this season. I must remedy that over Christmas. I like me some pumpkin pie !!

Character interaction was good everywhere we went.

 

[marshallsmommy]

Garden Grill looks delicious, I have read other reviews where people end up feeling nauseous because of the rotating, did you feel anything? We have a reservation for January but I’m nervous that one of us will get sick!

 

[jecskc]

Garden Grill looks delicious, I have read other reviews where people end up feeling nauseous because of the rotating, did you feel anything? We have a reservation for January but I’m nervous that one of us will get sick!

I tend to get really motion sick really easily and we didn't feel it at all. It moves very slowly.

 

[jecskc]

Friday, November 23, 2012.

Lunch at Restaurantasaurous

The kids were starving and wanted to eat at Restaurantasaurus. I would have preferred something else, but that is what they wanted and I didn’t want to fight the crowd to get something different.

It might shock you to learn that the kids got chicken nuggets. NOT !!

I know ….. really stepping outside the box here.

They got chocolate mousse for dessert.

The top part was too sickly sweet, but once you pushed that out of the way, the mousse underneath was really good.

DH and I shared a burger.

It was good. Your standard CS burger and your standard CS meal in general. Nothing special, but it hit the spot. I will say that Restaurantasaurous has one of those toppings bars and DH enjoyed loading his half up with tasty tidbits from there. He brought me a pile of pickles that I loved.

 

[jecskc]

Dinner at Grand Floridian Cafe

We had a dinner ressie at the Grand Floridian Café on this night and it was for 6:30 PM. We still had to catch the monorail from watching the Christmas Castle Lighting at MK and get over there. So, yeah, we were gonna be late. DH was kinda freaking about it, but I wasn’t really worried.

So we got there finally – it took 30 minutes, by the way – and DH checked us in while I got a bio-break.

DS hopped on my scooter the minute I got off of it.

We waited a few minutes and got some photos.

Minnie in the beautiful marble floor.

Then we were seated.

We had a waitress who was very curt and brusque in that kind of a New Yorker kind of way. And there isn’t anything wrong with that, but she wasn’t really warm and fuzzy. She was nice enough, I guess. We discussed that we were on the dining plan and ordered some drinks. Our waitress brusquely reminded us those weren’t on the dining plan. Um, yeah ….. we know.

Anyway, I ordered a Magical Star cocktail.

This was yummy and glow-y.

DH ordered a nice red wine

We were brought rolls.

I just love the ones they have with the currants in them. Last time we ate here, they were served warm and they were delicious. This time, they were cold and kinda hard and that took away from their deliciousness.

So for dinner DH, DS and I ordered the

Bone-in New York Strip Steak - house-mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and bordelaise $29.99

This was just not good. It wasn’t inedible, but for $30 ??? It should be amazing and it wasn’t. There were potatoes underneath there and they were served as if they had been scooped out of a pan with an ice cream scoop. And they weren’t that great either. Some of them weren’t even cooked all of the way through. And the greens ?? Just some salad greens. Served under a warm steak and next to warm potatoes. I mean, who wants to eat that ?? I assumed they were a garnish and I pushed them aside.

The steak itself was cooked OK, but the actual steak was a very poor quality for a New York Strip. It was thin and sorta fatty and I get that some marbling is good for a steak, but this just wasn’t a good New York Strip.

Here is a photo of the one we had in September of 2011

Looks amazing, right ?? And it was.

The one we had THIS time – not so much.

DD ordered

Shrimp and Orecchiette Pasta - Prosciutto, Peas, and Asiago Cream Sauce $18.99

I asked for it to be just sauce and pasta. It came out with everything in it. And since DD is the pickiest person on the planet, I sent it back. And we eventually got the right thing. This was just OK as will. DD ate some, but wasn’t wowed by it.

For dessert, DS got just some vanilla ice cream

DD got worms and dirt

And DH and I got the

Dessert Sampler for Two - Fresh Berry Tart, Boston Creme Pie, Key Lime Tart, and Lemon Cheesecake $9.99

This was good and DD stole our solid chocolate Mickey for herself. I liked the lemon cheesecake the best.

So when we were done it took forever to get our bill. I went to use the restroom and DH stayed behind to settle. He tried to use our Tables in Wonderland card for the drinks, but the waitress told him that he couldn’t use it because we were on the dining plan. WRONG !!

So I wish I had stayed behind at the table so I could have set that straight.

She KNEW we were on the dining plan, but managed to charge our credit card $187 for the meal IN ADDITION to charging us 4 meal credits on our dining plan.

Thankfully DH noticed the screw up and got it all straightened out. He was in there for a while and we were wondering what was going on. He was pretty peeved when he came back to meet us.

I just have to say I don’t know what happened to this restaurant in a year, but we won’t go back here again. Our meal last year was amazing and we really enjoyed it. This time we didn’t. And I was happy we were on the dining plan. I couldn’t imagine anyone paying $187 for this meal. It wasn’t even worth $50. I mean the quality of this steak was bad and not even anywhere near worth $30. I realize that I DID pay for my meal being on the dining plan, but for some reason I don't feel like I paid that much for it.

It could have been worse. I guess. There weren't any rats. So that was good. The drinks were good and the desserts were good. We had a ressie here for our Spring Break trip and I cancelled it.

 

[jecskc]

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Day 4 – Part 1

Breakfast at Fairfax Fare

I got an egg and cheese sandwich with sausage.

I got for DH that had bacon in it.

DD wanted a cinnamon roll

And for a CS credit you could get a yogurt and a drink with it,

We also had a soda and some coffee. All of this was 3 CS credits.

This is just a basic CS breakfast. It was pretty decent food and filled us up.

 

[butiflfeet]

Too bad Grand Floridian Cafe was disappointing. We have a reservation there in January so hopefully they can get their act together

 

[jecskc]

Too bad Grand Floridian Cafe was disappointing. We have a reservation there in January so hopefully they can get their act together

I hope so, too !! We ate there last September and it was our favorite meal of the trip. Everything was perfect and delicious. Maybe we caught them on a bad night.

There are so many other places to try that we will spend our time doing that instead of going back.

 

[jecskc]

Lunch at LeCellier

We checked in for our late lunch ressie at Le Cellier. We were seated after about 10 minutes or so. DH ordered a Moosehead.

The rest of us had soda. We ordered the amazing Cheddar Cheese Soup.

Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup - Made with Moosehead Beer and Bacon
Cup $5.49 Bowl $6.99

This stuff so good every time. DH gets a bowl. I just get a cup so I don’t get too full.

Our waitress brought us out some pretzel bread.

We didn’t bother with any of the other bread because we knew all we would eat was the Pretzel bread. So good. This was warm and soft and salty.

Just like it should be.

DS ordered the burger

Le Cellier House Burger - roasted mushrooms, smoked bacon, maple barbecue, Black Diamond Cheddar, and crispy onions, and french fries
$14.99

He ordered it plain. Just bun, cheese and meat. He really liked it, but couldn’t eat it all. So DH and I each had a bite and it was really a good burger. The fries were fantastic. My very favorite kind. Thick and crispy on the outside, but soft and fluffy on the inside. DS didn’t have a problem finishing them and DD might have stolen a few herself.

DH and I both ordered the

Wild Mushroom Filet Mignon - Le Cellier signature dish served with wild mushroom risotto and white truffle butter sauce $27.99

Heaven on a plate y’all !! We loved this. The filet was very tender and delicious.

DD – aka the pickiest child on earth – chose buttered noodles. She about half of them.

For dessert, DD and DS ordered the chocolate moose.

I had this

I have been trying to find a description of it somewhere but I can’t. It was some kind of pecan pie stuffed in this glass with chocolate mousse on top. It was very rich and very delicious. I only managed half and DH had a few bites and really liked it, too. It was a huge portion. I very much enjoyed it.

DH had the Maple Crème Brulee.

He said it was very rich, too. But after he tried mine, he said mine was much more rich. The crème brulee was amazing and he loved it.

We really enjoyed this meal. Our server was amazing and had no trouble using our TiW card for the drinks and extra soups. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am about this restaurant going to 2 credits next year. I feel like we won’t go there when it becomes two credits. As amazing as I think this meal is. I am not sure I think it rates as two credits for lunch.

 

[jecskc]

After our delicious meal at Le Cellier, we caught the boat back to HS, headed out to the car and made our way back to SSR to get some rest. After an hour or two, DH took the kids back over to Disney Quest while got some laundry done, and packed some. They stayed for about 3 hours and got food from the counter service at Disney Quest and brought it back to the room.

DH and I split a hamburger

The kids each got chicken and french fries.

For dessert, they got two brownies and a strawberry shortcake.

All of this was your standard CS food. DD was in love with the brownie which was huge and very thick and fudgy. It was good though.

 

[212456]

Everything looks so good! Thanks for the reviews so far

 

[jecskc]

Everything looks so good! Thanks for the reviews so far

Thanks for stopping by Suzanne !! I appreciate your input.

 

[emmysmommy]

Yikes! Sorry about your GF Cafe dinner! What a disaster... even if the server can't control the poor quality/taste of the food, it's no excuse to not accept your TiW cards and to charge you for the entire meal + deduct your meal credits. I like your bright side - no rats!

As much as I love Le Cellier, I'm with you, I just don't think it is a 2 credit lunch experience. I wonder if they'll still have the lunch size mushroom filet when it becomes a signature lunch?? I'm a still a fan of the mushroom filet.

Do I see another chicken nugget meal in your kids' future?? Heck, why mess with a good thing!