Chloesmom
Mother to Princess Chloe
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2003
So we are just back yesterday and I was determined to write a dining report since I love reading other peoples reports. let me say that there are no pictures because it was raining the first 2 days and I didnt even have my camera and from then on it I figured I blew the picture deal.
This trip was just me and my daughter Chloe who is 8 and a diabetic. We were on the dining plan and stayed at AKL. You will notice that I stray some from the actual report because I have the attention span of well.. my daughter.
Ok.. hang on.. here it goes.
DAY 1 Garden View Lounge Tea and Kona
We arrived in Orlando at about ten am and by the time we got to AKL it was just after 11. We checked in but our room was not ready so we took off to MK until our 2:10 ADR at the Garden View Lounge for tea. We arrived about fifteen minutes early for our tea and let me tell you.. the GVL looks just like a raised up section in the hotel with a bunch of tables. We walked right by it the first time and then we noticed the podium. GVL does not open until 2 and no one is at this podium until 2 so dont rush to check in before this. We got in line at 2 and were seated as soon as we checked in. Our server was great ( I didnt get her name.. I am bad at that) and explained the whole deal to us including how to pick out a tea we would like. They bring you this box full ofdry tea samples to sniff and decide. DD decides she needs chocolate milk but I go for Nobo Wholefruit. Dont ask me anything else about this because I picked it just because it smelled good. It did have hunks of fruit in it and had to be served in a press pot because of this. I got the Buckingham Palace adn DD got the Mrs. Potts tea. For starters we each got some little sandwiches. Chloe's were ham, PB and J and I think tuna. Hers were on regular white bread and she deemed them tasty except for the tuna. She normally eats tuna so this surprised my. I got 5 different sandwiches which were less than tasty to me. My biggest thing is that the bread was so dry. First I had a watercress which was good then I had a chicken salad which had good flavor but I did not like the bread. Next was a shrimp salad which I did not even try. I am picky about shrimp so I let it be. I also had an egg salad which would have been ok but the bread killed it. Finally there was a gorgonzola and pear sandwich. Ok.. I am trying to figure out why anyone would do this to perfectly good gorgonzola. I love gorgonzola but ths was not good. I tried to pick the filling out and it was still bad. There was also an onion tartlet which was pretty good. More of those please.... Next I got scones and a jam tart. Let me tell you.. HEAVEN. Those scones were so good and the jam and cream with them was soooo good. I shared them with DD since she had nothing for this part of her tea. I could have eaten ten of them.. seriously. The tart was good also and I enjoyed it very very much. Next I had the trifle and DD got strawberries and cream. The trifle was very good and I ate all of it with help from Chloe. Her berries were now very naturally sweet and she deemed them " rotten" but they just weren't sweet. the cream did not even help this. Overall I would say the tea was good. I would do it again but without the sandwiches. I would just get those scones. Yummy. It is not on the DDP and my total with tip was about $35.
For dinner that night we went to Kona. I had not eaten here in a while so I was not sure what to expect. One word.. CHAOS. It was soooo busy. The lobby was packed and someone even elbowed Chloe in her head. We got seated about ten minutes after our ADR so it wasnt too bad. Our waiter was just ok. He was kind of annoyed by the DDP and was very strict about the rules and what we could get. DD was not allowed to get a smoothie which I understand BUT the table next to us who had a waitress and were on the DDP was allowed to get smoothies. I ended up getting one and giving it to DD. Next Chloe goes to order and we find out that if she wants fries with her burger it counts as her appetizer . I am guessing that she would have gotten a burger on a plate with nothing else if she did not get fries. ANyway she went along with this and got the fries.. all ten of them. I kid you not. Ten mcdonalds sized fries in a bowl. I wish I had a camera for the look on her face. She was not happy. I got the sticky wings for my appetizer which were good. I shared them with Chloe and she liked them also. I then got the char crusted filet which was pretty good. Not the best steak I ever ate but good. It came with asparagus which I love so that was a plus. For dessert we shared the Kilauea Torte. We asked for ice cream with it since I had read that it was rich and our waiter acted like I asked for a blood sample from him.Oh.. which reminds me. DD is diabetic and had to test her blood sugar. We are talking a drop of blood on her finger. Our waiter walks over and sees it and I thought we were going to lose him.. should have let us have the darn smoothie... All in all it was a good meal but I was kind of put off by the differences in what was allowed and not allowed in the DDP. The kids at the next table also got fries and the appetizer and were even allowed ot have the Kona cone for dessert while my DD was told only a sundae. She wanted the torte so thats why we split it. I am not sure I would come back here soon. Like I said it was good but not great.
Day 2 Boma, Rainforest Cafe, and Akershus
It was raining today so we decided to head to DTD for the day and do DisneyQuest. We had ADRs at Boma and it was great. Our server was great. His name was Albert. I remember this because we had him again later in the week. We had the jungle juice which if you have not had it.. get it. Its yummy. I drank 4 glasses of it. Its a buffet here so there is alot to pick from. Chloe had the potatoes ( which became her new favorite food I think), bacon, cereal and a bagel. She also had a big bowl of fruit. Chloe loves fruit.. loves it. She could live off of it if I let her. She ate it all up and was thrilled with our choice to eat there. I also had the potatoes, sausage, a choc. chip muffin, pap and fruit. I ate so much. I love pap but never make it at home. i wait to eat it there. I think its cream of wheat but Im not sure. I just know that with brown sugar and raisins its good. We paid OOP for this meal since I made an extra ADR and this was the cheapest. It was about $34 with tip.
For lunch I let Chloe tak me into RFC . I hate RFC. Its expensive and not very good. This time I found myself over run wit screaming kids and a rude tour group. We waited 30 minutes which was about 29 minutes too long since both me and Chloe had been run over several times by children from this tour group. One of them was kind enough to whack Chloe with a HUGE stuffed snake and we were lucky enough that it hit her on her insulin pump infusion site. The tour group nearly had one less kid with them. So thankfully we get to our seat. Did I mention it was Gay Days? No problem.. I didnt mind.. does not bother me.. but .. I would have preferred not to have to watch the 3 women at the table next to us go at it.. yes.. 3 of them.. touching each other.. playing footsie.. one smacked another one on the rump. They sucked food off of their fingers.. I know its not RFC fault.. and i would have been just as unhappy if it was 3 ( its actually the 3 thing that bothers me here) heterosexual people . I complained to a waiter when I went to the potty but he didnt really care. thankfully they finished before us and we got to eat some of our food without a stage show. I honestly dont remember what I got here.. a salad I think. Dd had nuggets and they were good. This was OOP also and it was $30 with tax and small tip. Our server was not that great aside from her allowing the side show. I would not go back... animatronic monkeys or not.
For dinner we had Akershus. Now.. we love this place. We have always had great service and loved the whole experience. We get let in right at our 7:50 ADR and are taken to see Belle in her gold dress. Chloe was in heaven since she had on Belle's Chirstmas dress. They take a picture which you have to buy and which I did buy because it was wonderful. Next we are seated and our waitress was great. She was very nice and attentive. She brought our drinks and took our orders and we went up to the cold buffet where Chloe made herself a sandwich adn ate more fruit. tried some cheeses and meats from here. Chloe had the grilled chicken breast which came with potatoes and corn. She ate it all up and declared it great. I had the braised short ribs. These were great. I loved the lingonberry BBQ sauce on these. It was yummy. Finally for dessert we had the plate of assorted desserts. Niether of us likes the rice cream so we skipped that but the cheescake and the mousse that they give you is great. We got more of each and ate it all. We were complately done with dinner before the princesses came around. We have done tis meal 3 other times and this was by far the quickest visits we ever had. Ariel walks up .. takes the book and makes chatter while signing her name.. twirls Chloe around stops smiles and lets me take ONE picture and then is off. I sat there for a sec wondering if she was really there or if I hallucinated. I have a pic so I guess she was there. The rest were all just as fast and Cinderalla even gave a lady at the next table grief because she was taking so long. Chloe did not notice really and did not mind the rush but I was bummed. Before they made chit chat and joked with Chloe and I missed that level of interaction. The princesses we saw were Ariel, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan and Belle. Chloe was sad that there was no Aurora but thrilled with Mulan ( not really a princess but who am I to judge). We would go back to this just because DD loves it so much. Thankfully the food is good so that I get soemthing for my money other than character interaction. This was one credit on the DDP.
Next installment will be Boma ( again) and 1900 Park fare.
This trip was just me and my daughter Chloe who is 8 and a diabetic. We were on the dining plan and stayed at AKL. You will notice that I stray some from the actual report because I have the attention span of well.. my daughter.
Ok.. hang on.. here it goes.
DAY 1 Garden View Lounge Tea and Kona
We arrived in Orlando at about ten am and by the time we got to AKL it was just after 11. We checked in but our room was not ready so we took off to MK until our 2:10 ADR at the Garden View Lounge for tea. We arrived about fifteen minutes early for our tea and let me tell you.. the GVL looks just like a raised up section in the hotel with a bunch of tables. We walked right by it the first time and then we noticed the podium. GVL does not open until 2 and no one is at this podium until 2 so dont rush to check in before this. We got in line at 2 and were seated as soon as we checked in. Our server was great ( I didnt get her name.. I am bad at that) and explained the whole deal to us including how to pick out a tea we would like. They bring you this box full ofdry tea samples to sniff and decide. DD decides she needs chocolate milk but I go for Nobo Wholefruit. Dont ask me anything else about this because I picked it just because it smelled good. It did have hunks of fruit in it and had to be served in a press pot because of this. I got the Buckingham Palace adn DD got the Mrs. Potts tea. For starters we each got some little sandwiches. Chloe's were ham, PB and J and I think tuna. Hers were on regular white bread and she deemed them tasty except for the tuna. She normally eats tuna so this surprised my. I got 5 different sandwiches which were less than tasty to me. My biggest thing is that the bread was so dry. First I had a watercress which was good then I had a chicken salad which had good flavor but I did not like the bread. Next was a shrimp salad which I did not even try. I am picky about shrimp so I let it be. I also had an egg salad which would have been ok but the bread killed it. Finally there was a gorgonzola and pear sandwich. Ok.. I am trying to figure out why anyone would do this to perfectly good gorgonzola. I love gorgonzola but ths was not good. I tried to pick the filling out and it was still bad. There was also an onion tartlet which was pretty good. More of those please.... Next I got scones and a jam tart. Let me tell you.. HEAVEN. Those scones were so good and the jam and cream with them was soooo good. I shared them with DD since she had nothing for this part of her tea. I could have eaten ten of them.. seriously. The tart was good also and I enjoyed it very very much. Next I had the trifle and DD got strawberries and cream. The trifle was very good and I ate all of it with help from Chloe. Her berries were now very naturally sweet and she deemed them " rotten" but they just weren't sweet. the cream did not even help this. Overall I would say the tea was good. I would do it again but without the sandwiches. I would just get those scones. Yummy. It is not on the DDP and my total with tip was about $35.
For dinner that night we went to Kona. I had not eaten here in a while so I was not sure what to expect. One word.. CHAOS. It was soooo busy. The lobby was packed and someone even elbowed Chloe in her head. We got seated about ten minutes after our ADR so it wasnt too bad. Our waiter was just ok. He was kind of annoyed by the DDP and was very strict about the rules and what we could get. DD was not allowed to get a smoothie which I understand BUT the table next to us who had a waitress and were on the DDP was allowed to get smoothies. I ended up getting one and giving it to DD. Next Chloe goes to order and we find out that if she wants fries with her burger it counts as her appetizer . I am guessing that she would have gotten a burger on a plate with nothing else if she did not get fries. ANyway she went along with this and got the fries.. all ten of them. I kid you not. Ten mcdonalds sized fries in a bowl. I wish I had a camera for the look on her face. She was not happy. I got the sticky wings for my appetizer which were good. I shared them with Chloe and she liked them also. I then got the char crusted filet which was pretty good. Not the best steak I ever ate but good. It came with asparagus which I love so that was a plus. For dessert we shared the Kilauea Torte. We asked for ice cream with it since I had read that it was rich and our waiter acted like I asked for a blood sample from him.Oh.. which reminds me. DD is diabetic and had to test her blood sugar. We are talking a drop of blood on her finger. Our waiter walks over and sees it and I thought we were going to lose him.. should have let us have the darn smoothie... All in all it was a good meal but I was kind of put off by the differences in what was allowed and not allowed in the DDP. The kids at the next table also got fries and the appetizer and were even allowed ot have the Kona cone for dessert while my DD was told only a sundae. She wanted the torte so thats why we split it. I am not sure I would come back here soon. Like I said it was good but not great.
Day 2 Boma, Rainforest Cafe, and Akershus
It was raining today so we decided to head to DTD for the day and do DisneyQuest. We had ADRs at Boma and it was great. Our server was great. His name was Albert. I remember this because we had him again later in the week. We had the jungle juice which if you have not had it.. get it. Its yummy. I drank 4 glasses of it. Its a buffet here so there is alot to pick from. Chloe had the potatoes ( which became her new favorite food I think), bacon, cereal and a bagel. She also had a big bowl of fruit. Chloe loves fruit.. loves it. She could live off of it if I let her. She ate it all up and was thrilled with our choice to eat there. I also had the potatoes, sausage, a choc. chip muffin, pap and fruit. I ate so much. I love pap but never make it at home. i wait to eat it there. I think its cream of wheat but Im not sure. I just know that with brown sugar and raisins its good. We paid OOP for this meal since I made an extra ADR and this was the cheapest. It was about $34 with tip.
For lunch I let Chloe tak me into RFC . I hate RFC. Its expensive and not very good. This time I found myself over run wit screaming kids and a rude tour group. We waited 30 minutes which was about 29 minutes too long since both me and Chloe had been run over several times by children from this tour group. One of them was kind enough to whack Chloe with a HUGE stuffed snake and we were lucky enough that it hit her on her insulin pump infusion site. The tour group nearly had one less kid with them. So thankfully we get to our seat. Did I mention it was Gay Days? No problem.. I didnt mind.. does not bother me.. but .. I would have preferred not to have to watch the 3 women at the table next to us go at it.. yes.. 3 of them.. touching each other.. playing footsie.. one smacked another one on the rump. They sucked food off of their fingers.. I know its not RFC fault.. and i would have been just as unhappy if it was 3 ( its actually the 3 thing that bothers me here) heterosexual people . I complained to a waiter when I went to the potty but he didnt really care. thankfully they finished before us and we got to eat some of our food without a stage show. I honestly dont remember what I got here.. a salad I think. Dd had nuggets and they were good. This was OOP also and it was $30 with tax and small tip. Our server was not that great aside from her allowing the side show. I would not go back... animatronic monkeys or not.
For dinner we had Akershus. Now.. we love this place. We have always had great service and loved the whole experience. We get let in right at our 7:50 ADR and are taken to see Belle in her gold dress. Chloe was in heaven since she had on Belle's Chirstmas dress. They take a picture which you have to buy and which I did buy because it was wonderful. Next we are seated and our waitress was great. She was very nice and attentive. She brought our drinks and took our orders and we went up to the cold buffet where Chloe made herself a sandwich adn ate more fruit. tried some cheeses and meats from here. Chloe had the grilled chicken breast which came with potatoes and corn. She ate it all up and declared it great. I had the braised short ribs. These were great. I loved the lingonberry BBQ sauce on these. It was yummy. Finally for dessert we had the plate of assorted desserts. Niether of us likes the rice cream so we skipped that but the cheescake and the mousse that they give you is great. We got more of each and ate it all. We were complately done with dinner before the princesses came around. We have done tis meal 3 other times and this was by far the quickest visits we ever had. Ariel walks up .. takes the book and makes chatter while signing her name.. twirls Chloe around stops smiles and lets me take ONE picture and then is off. I sat there for a sec wondering if she was really there or if I hallucinated. I have a pic so I guess she was there. The rest were all just as fast and Cinderalla even gave a lady at the next table grief because she was taking so long. Chloe did not notice really and did not mind the rush but I was bummed. Before they made chit chat and joked with Chloe and I missed that level of interaction. The princesses we saw were Ariel, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan and Belle. Chloe was sad that there was no Aurora but thrilled with Mulan ( not really a princess but who am I to judge). We would go back to this just because DD loves it so much. Thankfully the food is good so that I get soemthing for my money other than character interaction. This was one credit on the DDP.
Next installment will be Boma ( again) and 1900 Park fare.