The 12 days of... the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan! 11/16 Update ...Complete!

[TigerKat]

Great start, count me in!

 

[OurDogCisco]

Love the pictures and the review! You are off to a GREAT start!!!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I am in too! I love your little ratings booklets and your rating system.

 

[NitemaresSister]

Looks yummy! Can't wait to read what you have planned! Subscribing!

 

[PrincessBetsy]

I'm joining! Great review of CP! We are going to try lunch there on our next trip and I'm really looking forward to it! Can't wait for more!!

 

[PrincessBetsy]

Great review. I'm so-so about CP, but after reading your review, I think we might give it another shot. I never heard of the Pooh Ears-what are they?

I believe Pooh Ears are also known as puffed french toast. It is just french toast that has been deep fried and is absolutely delicious!!

 

[Peanut1200]

Joining in! Excellent pics!

...and congratulations on your future mouseketeer!

 

[mandibc11]

I love an organized planner! Count me in

 

[KarBear]

Can't wait for more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jiminy_78]

Day 1: Lunch at The Plaza

Mr.Bean's DW here, thought I'd jump in and help him out with some of the reviews since we dined at so many different places. I think you'll find I have a little more to say...I'll try to edit myself better for my next review.

After our filling breakfast at CP our 1:25 ADR for the Plaza seemed to come too quickly! DH’s sister is currently in the college program working at Epcot so she was able to come and hang out with us for the day at MK, which worked out great because it allowed DH to ride all the rides that baby was keeping me from riding. Because our initial ADR was just for the two of us, we thought we would check and see if we could change it to three people. We checked in at 1:15 and were told that since we were adding another person we would need to wait longer. We didn’t mind since we weren’t starving and took the time to enjoy the sights and sounds of Main Street while we waited for our buzzer to go off. We had never eaten at the Plaza before and quite honestly I don’t think I ever paid much attention to what the outside of the restaurant was supposed to look like, but now that they’re under construction it was really like we were eating lunch in a big wooden box. We were seated at a table for four and as I looked around the restaurant I couldn’t help but notice that there were other tables empty and there were very few “two person only tables” so I am not sure why we needed to wait the extra time when we would have most likely been sat at a table for four anyway?

Our server stopped by to say “hi” and let us know that she would be back to take our order. She didn’t ask us what we wanted to drink and while we weren’t super hungry we were thirsty. For months before our trip I had been going over the menus and this was one of the few restaurants where nothing jumped out at me as “ooh I want to try that.” This may have more to do with my being pregnant than anything else because there were items on the menu that I would have loved to try but wouldn’t be able to for one reason or another (deli meat, soft cheese, etc.) As part of the DlxDDP we were entitled to one appetizer, entrée and dessert with a non-alcoholic beverage. There are no appetizers on the Plaza’s menu only a mention at the top that you can add soup or a side salad to your entrée for a price and this is your only selection for appetizers. Since DH’s sister was not on the dining plan we made sure our server knew this and she asked about using her cast member discount and was told that she could do so on her part of the check, so with all the business taken care of we dived into ordering.

DH ordered a side salad for his appetizer and I ordered the soup of the day which was a tomato soup. I wasn’t expecting much from the soup and was pleasantly surprised, it was delicious. I love my tomato soup to have a little “substance” to it and this soup had a creamy base with chunks of tomato mixed in. (Side note, the server was careful to point out that this soup is not vegetarian.) Everyone at the table tried at least one bite of the soup and it was unanimous that we all liked it. DH’s salad was pretty good too, just your run of the mill garden salad, though he thought the dressing was delicious.

For my entrée, I ordered the vegetarian sandwich (fresh mozzarella, hummus, basil pesto, cucumber, roasted red pepper, tomato, and lettuce on a freshly baked foccaccia) with a side of french fries.

DH ordered the Plaza Club (smoked ham, turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise layered on toasted multi-grain bread) with broccoli slaw.

While I’m not sure that we took any pictures of it, DSIL ordered the Grilled Reuben (thinly sliced corned beef on grilled marble rye with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing) with ff and she said it was delicious!

My first impression when my sandwich was placed in front of me was that it was huge and I wasn’t sure how I was going to go about eating it all. It really was too big for my mouth, and the slice of mozzarella cheese was a very thick cut which overpowered the flavor of some of the other ingredients and made the sandwich difficult to eat. I think I ended up taking the cheese out to eat the rest and it was great. DH kept reaching over to steal some of the cheese off my plate. The french fries were another pleasant surprise, very hot and delicious. They were a thick cut and crispy on the outside just the way I like them. Because I wasn’t that hungry I didn’t finish the entire sandwich and felt a little bad about that (my first wasted food of the trip) but I knew that something amazing was just around the corner and I had to save room.

As I mentioned before, I had read and reread the menu at The Plaza before our trip and while I had not decided until I sat down what I would have for lunch I knew as soon as we booked this ADR what I would have as my dessert, the banana split. DH can tell you, I have the biggest sweet tooth, I actually think I have a mouth full of sweet teeth and knowing that dessert was included in every meal was enough to send me into sugar heaven. I had been looking forward to this banana split all day...and it did not disappoint.

DH ordered the hot fudge brownie sundae and we decided that we would share the two desserts amongst the three of us, and believe me there was plenty!

Our only “complaint” about the brownie sundae was that one of the brownies was rock hard, so hard that DH had a hard time even breaking it down into pieces. I always think that a brownie in a brownie sundae should be warm and soft, this was not. But we still enjoyed our desserts.

Overall impressions of The Plaza: our server was very nice but distracted; she would disappear for long stretches of time when we were left with no drink refills or a pile of dishes on the table. When we went to pay the bill (there were two separate checks) we were left for a long time just sitting there until another server came by and picked up DSIL’s check and said she would run that for us, she didn’t know or look to see that we had two folders on the table and she was gone before we could stop her. So we waited longer for our server to come back and run our KTTW card for the dining plan. She apologized for being absent which would have been enough of an explanation, but then she went on to tell us that one of their managers was in the hospital having surgery and she had been trying to pull up a picture of him on her phone to show one of her coworkers. We weren’t sure how to respond to this and honestly, it took a little big of the Disney magic away from the moment. DSIL even commented that she had been told during her training to never over share with guests.

The decor in The Plaza seems a little dated, a lot of gold appliqué and fixtures. The average age of the staff when we were there was around forty which isn’t bad but added to the feeling of the place being older. I am curious if they will do any renovations to the inside as they are working on the outside. Would we return to The Plaza? There are fewer TS options in the MK and now that we’ve tried them all, we’d probably return to The Plaza if we were paying OOP or just wanted a place to sit and catch our breath while we enjoyed some yummy desserts. It wasn’t the best value for the DlxDDP due to the limited appetizer selection. We left The Plaza very content with full stomachs and checking our watches to see how much time we had to enjoy the MK before our next ADR for CRT that night… the countdown was on and we still had four snacks to use as well…do you think we’ll use any snack points on our first day? Only time will tell….

The Ratings:
Food

Summary: Tasty sandwiches, and pretty good desserts (aside from the one rock hard brownie), limited appetizer selection

Decor

Summary: Limited seating, under construction at the time, no bathrooms, gold mirrors (seemed a bit gaudy)

Service

Summary: Very slow service, had to ask for refills (passed by numerous times), disappeared for very long periods of time

Cost
$51.47 (1 credit per person)

Overall

Summary: Good inexpensive meal if your paying OOP.. not impressed by the atmosphere or wait staff

On Deck: Day 1: Dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Thanks for the update on the plaza! Waiting for the next entry.

 

[dgagnon519]

signing on

 

[pumba]

fantastic photos and reviews......our countdown has begun and with your photos I am READY TO GO..
thanks for the great reviews so far

 

[jockey]

Brill reports so far, looking forward to more! I love your rating system!

 

[Hayley94]

can't wait for more + love the rating system!

 

[Leshaface]

Great reviews so far!

LOVING your rating system! I mean, can it be any more gosh darn cute!?!? Can't wait for your next installment!

Oh, and Congrats on your baby! DH is DYING to have a baby right now! Not gonna happen till i'm 30 at this rate!

 

[Laura Loves Tigger]

I'm in! I love your rating system. You are reviewing some of the places I'm cinsidering for my upcomin trip. Can't wait to read more.

 

[martinolichfamily]

I'm in!!

Great reviews! We will be trying CP and The Plaza on our coming up trip..both are firsts for us!
The Omelet at CP is a great thing! them! And those Pooh Ears just look yum-o!
The Plaza..wish you had a pic of the Rueben...I will probably be trying that!

Looking forward to your CRT review....that will be a first for us too!

 

[CristyKnight]

Way to go! You have easy to follow reviews

 

[poutytink]

Great reviews!! I'm in!